This story came to me at church of all places; I could just see a very young Naruto spilling the bloody guts out of someone while I was praying. How ironic... Well, welcome to One Day to Kill! This was supposed to be called many other things but it would just spoil the story line. :P
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; although I am going to be cosplaying him! ^^
'Crackle' 'Boom' and 'Snap' were the sounds that could be heard through the air of Konohagakure no Sato on that night; the weather was troubling an elderly man who sat inside of his office looking out of the open balcony. Konoha, as the village name was shortened to, never had weather as stormy as this; and it wasn't a shinobi causing this. The darkness of the night sky was interupted by yet another flash of lightning and a thunderous boom.
The elderly man was named Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the white haired man was known as Hokage; the strongest shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village. He had place seals on his balcony that kept the rain out, but that didn't keep the cold breeze from coming in. Never in his life had the Hokage seen the skies this disruptfull. Kami must have been angry at the village, but Hiruzen didn't care. The old man was worried for one thing only; the boy.
A six year old male was sitting in the corner of a makeshift fort of one blanket, a chair, and his matress. The blond child was curled up into a ball with a smaller blanket over his head and body, trying to cancel out the noise. The boy's name was Naruto Uzumaki; Konoha's number one trouble maker. Even at the age of six, the boy loved pranking the villagers; but even while he tried to get attention, everyone shunned him.
Naruto had been awakened by a horrible nightmare; a giant red fox had been chasing a older blond man. The man was taller than the boy by more than a couple of feet and he wore a cloak with red flames that were beginning to travel up the cloak to engulf him. He had cerulean eyes and looked just like Naruto without his famous whisker marks; Naruto just thought it was an older version of him.
But the figure was crying, crying in agony. The fox behind him and the flames of his cloak were the least of his worries. His arm was outstreched, trying to reach for something, something just out of grasp. The cloak burned away, leaving the man in a forest green Konoha Flak Jacket and blue Shinobi pants. Then there was his mouth, the pearl white teeth were straight and perfect. The man called out inaudiably but kept running, even though the fox behind him was catching up. The man looked back towards the fox and then turned his head back to in front of him. As the fox was upon the man, he cried out his last words before being sliced to pieces by the fox's claws and showing the young blond a gruesome scene.
"Naruto!"
That was when Naruto woke up to a large thunderstorm, it wasn't that he was scared of them, it was just he hadn't seen one that big before. Lightning he could deal with, it soothed the young male in a way; it was the thunder he hated. The thunder was killing any chances of the six year old falling back asleep, and Naruto needed his sleep; not that'd he try to kill anyone or anything.
The dream that the blond had was reoccuring, and this was the farthest it had ever progressed. This was the first time that the Uzumaki child had heard the man speak; it was like he was alive this day. If he wasn't six, then Naruto would have sketched the man's body and clothes and would have asked around the village; but nobody would probably tell him, they all despised him.
'Boom!' was all that was heard through the streets of Konoha at that moment until a bloodcurdaling scream was heard. Unknown to Naruto, that was the first fatality of the Uchiha Clan; why the Konoha Elders chose that night would never be known. More screams were heard throughout the night, male and female could easily be distinguished. By the end of the screaming it had to be about 3 A.M. and Naruto then heard a knock on his door. The six year old was hesitant but finally opened the door. There was a glimpse of an Anbu before there was no one standing before him. The blond looked down and saw a large package and a note.
Dear Naruto;
I can't believe what has come up; I have to leave tonight for Anbu business, you know what it's like. But I'm going to miss your birthday next week, and I had to give you your present early. I hope you like it! Anyways, I want you to do something for me, for your Aniki. I want you to look after my little brother for me, he's around your age and is going to be going through a troubled time for now. Naruto this is a super S-Ranked Mission from me alright? Protect your nii-san, protect Sasuke.
Love, your Aniki,
Itachi
Naruto quickly pulled the package inside and locked his door, his Aniki was leaving? Well, Itachi wasn't exactly his true Aniki, but he acted just like one; playing 'ninja' with Naruto and even taking him on a few of his more exciting C-Rank missions. But Sasuke never accepted the fact that he was now Naruto's 'nii-san', he didn't like the boy since he was too rambunctous and high spirited. Sasuke only wanted his Aniki, not having to share him with the blond Uzumaki.
The young male then opened up the package and found many articles inside of the box he uncovered. The first thing he found was a ninjato, the small sword was still much to large for Naruto to use, but it was the thought that counted. Then, there was yet another sword; Itachi's favorite bankai. Naruto shed a few tears as he figured that his Aniki, was never coming back. As he was about to close the box to throw it away when a piece of paper fell out. The boy thought it was another note from Itachi, but it was blank.
Naruto was now utterly confused, a blank piece of paper? There had to be some importance to it. The blond turned it all around in his hands but then stopped and sucked in some air as he recieved a small paper cut. As the Uzumaki held his finger in pain, a drop of blood fell onto the paper and was absorbed; what the blond saw next amazed him, text. The finger went from being the center of attention to just another thing in the room as Naruto read over the paper.
Dear Naruto;
I guess Itachi found you and gave this to you, and I guess I should introduce myself. But before I do, I must tell you that if you're reading this, I'm dead.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at this, he was being talked to by a dead person?
The reason I'm dead is that you will be born tomorrow, and there is a high chance someone will attack the village, and I'll have to seal myself and this thing inside of you. Me and your mother never wished for this to happen, but if it does, then I guess we were going to turn out to be bad parents.
The six year old's eyes widened, this wasn't just anyone, this was his father talking to him!
If you are reading this, then you have started a timer, you have 24 hours to complete a task for me, and your reward? I get to train you. It's possible I can come back from the dead and live again since I will most likely seal half my Chakra into you. But the task you ask?
You have to kill someone. Willingly. It doesn't have to be anyone in particular, but you must kill someone. You have 24 hours to do so, then the next part of the message will be revealed. Your 24 hours will be up once the current message has completely faded away.
The blond stood there shaking, he couldn't kill someone, he was only six! His father was asking too much of him. It was impossible for a six year old to kill anyone...
But then again, Itachi had killed plenty of people when he was just a few years older than Naruto himself. Maybe he could be like Itachi too? But it was too much for the six year old to take in and he procceeded to pass out in his makeshift fort, the thunder turning into a soothing beat to put the blond to sleep.
When Naruto awoke the next morning, he was being suffocated by a mass of blanket that had collapsed on him in the middle of the night. After clearing away the threat, the Uzumaki put his room back together and started to boil some water for his instant ramen breakfast. On the table was the note from his father and his ninjato; his bankai sword had been stashed in the back of his messy closet underneath the floorboards. No one would be able to steal it then.
The sound of water splashing on the stovetop was heard and Naruto deemed the water suitable for his instant ramen. After deciding on just a cup, he was happily eating his ramen only a few moments later. He sat down and read the note from his unnamed father once again, placing now the voice he heard from the dream into the note. He noticed that the top of said note was starting to dissapear; it wasn't kidding about the timer.
Civilans were off limits unless they were threatening a ninja's life, same with the other ninja of Konoha. Foreign ninja would most likely start a war; all of these went through Naruto's mind. Maybe the Hokage would know where to start? Naruto strapped his ninjato onto his back, wobbeling a little to get used to the weight, and stuffed the note from his father into his pocket.
Puddles filled the street from the rainstorm last night, and that seemed to put a damper on everyone's mood. But their moods decreased even more once one Uzumaki Naruto came parading down the street; clearly in possesion of a sword. Whispers of demon filled the air, but the six year old wasn't buying any of that today. He quickly walked to the compound where the Hokage Office was, and was greeted by Hiruzen Sarutobi walking out of the building as he was walking in.
"Naruto? What brings you to my office this early?" The Hokage questioned, Naruto normally wasn't up before 9 A.M. He eyed the ninjato quickly and turned to Naruto as he started to speak.
"Um, I was hoping I could talk to you Oji-san, in secret." Naruto whispered and the elderly Hokage nodded. The two males walked up the long set of stairs into the building and came upon the office that Hiruzen was sitting in not mere minutes ago. There were inaudible 'poofs' as silencing seals were activated, and three Anbu who were in the room shunshined out.
"Now, what was it you needed Naruto?"
"I have to kill someone."
Hiruzen nearly choked on the sip of coffee he had as Naruto said that flatout. He was thankful that the Anbu had left or else Naruto would be lying unconcious right after he said that.
"K-Kill? Why on earth do you, Naruto, need to kill someone?" Hiruzen asked in a stern voice, Naruto shuffled in his seat; he couldn't say anything about his father or else the Hokage would think of it as a lie.
"I have 24 hours, if I do, I can train with someone." Naruto chose his words carefully, one wrong move and the Hokage could have him dead himself in a second. But at those words, Hiruzen's mind was speeding at 100 miles per hour. Only one living person he knew would give that kind of offer for that task; Danzo.
"Naruto! You must not! I will not allow it!" Hiruzen screamed, the boy was only six, but he was acting sixteen. Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes, couldn't there of been a prisoner he could execute? He wanted to meet his father badly.
"But Oji-san," Naruto began, "I want to train!"
"And train you shall, but not by killing!" Hiruzen spat, but Naruto had had enough of this, he drew his ninjato and stabbed it into the Hokage's desk, only getting it a few inches in due to his minute strength.
"I want to see my father!"
Well that's it for now, you know how it is when you have a Summer Reading Project for school. v.v Well next chapter will be out soon, read and review!
Kyuubi Out.
