Masked Koi: Chapter 1. "Namikaze"


The bamboo forest was a forgotten part of Konoha. Its leaves were not abundant enough to create useable foliage for its ninja, for the other lands had trees with sturdy trunks and branches that spread out to catch all the rays of the sun it could possibly get. However, as Konoha's name suggested, it had the best of trees but its bamboo was not considered to be as important or symbolic of their village for various reasons. A main one was that Hashirama didn't grow bamboo from his jutsu; he grew regular trees.

Bamboo used to be a part of everyday homemaking, but the introduction of recyclable materials such as paper and plastic had pushed the bamboo to be out of the mind of citizens. Also, paper and plastic had originally arisen due to a sudden spike in population after the Second War, leading to a higher demand for such convenient products. Before plastic was commercially available, but after the population spike, people turned to bamboo as a resource. It was a resource people were familiar with and trusted and relied on, but overharvesting led to a decline in the number of bamboo growing. Of course, one could simply plant more seeds and allow nature to take its course, but the kind of bamboo that the people needed and wanted was a special kind that took ten years to grow to a useable size. With bamboo no longer an option, plastic and paper were needed and within a year became commonplace.

After ten years, the bamboo had grown back but the people had grown used to plastic and saw no need for such antiquated things. It still had charm and was often used in gardens, but again, with the growing population led to smaller homes and smaller gardens. Only a small portion of the bamboo was used. The hasty farmers had believed that putting more seeds in the ground would hasten the growing process, but like clockwork, the bamboo had needed ten years. The results were an infestation of bamboo and new families needed homes so the bamboo, perfectly good material to be using, was cut away and the ground cleared and leveled for the citizens of Konoha.

Now, the remnants of the mighty bamboo stood alone in a far corner of the village. It brought solace to the young boy who would bring books here and read, unable to do much of anything else. To him, a boy whom the village somewhat shunned and its Hokage "too busy" to deal with him, it was a place of understanding. He understood the bamboo's cries of the want to be acknowledged and not forgotten. However, there was nothing anyone could do. Times had changed and people had to move on, or they'd be left behind by the past.

This boy was Namikaze Naruto. His father, the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, was a kind man. Minato, however, had a dark side. It wasn't that he harmed his son, it was the opposite; his son harmed and haunted him with reminders of the past.

Four years ago, the Kyuubi had been unleashed upon Konoha. In the fight, both Uzumaki Kushina and Sarutobi Hiruzen had lost their lives. The former had sealed the last half of the Kyuubi into her newborn son and the latter had brought the other half of the Kyuubi down in his death using the Shiki Fuujin. In the meantime, Minato had been fighting a man, whom he had killed, with eerie ringed purple eyes. Minato had arrived by Kushina's side to hear her last words.

Perhaps was cruel fate, or a punishment, that Minato could not recall Kushina's words.

At any rate, Minato's heart broke when he thought of his wife. His son had inherited her red hair and facial shape and his mannerisms were similar to those of his late wife's. Minato felt tremendously guilty that night, for he was unable to save those he cared about. Kushina's death still weighed heavily on his mind and he could not bear seeing his son, a mirror image of his wife. To cope, he buried himself under the piles of mindless paperwork, which never depleted. It was something that calmed him down and despite the pleas of his students, he rarely saw his son.

As a result, Naruto grew up without any parental figure in his life. He'd tried pranks and paint, but after being brought into Minato's dreary office Naruto saw that being annoying wasn't the answer.

Naruto also loathed the look in his father's face, the look of guilt and weariness. It made him angry, so angry, that his father wouldn't even look him in the eye and muttered something about please leaving his office. Naruto did anything to make sure that he'd never see the disappointed look in his father's eyes again. However, at four years old, he was too young to enter the Academy and too young to start training. Or, at least, that's what Kakashi had said when he'd asked if he could start.

Naruto rolled over on his back and stared at the tops of the bamboo, reaching up into the sky, towering over any tree in Konoha. Still, no one dared look at them, for they're just a reminder of the past, something brushed aside enough to not be in the way but not terrible enough to be completely ripped out of the ground and thrown somewhere else.

A soft breeze played with the boy's bright red hair. Images of his father, promising to come home early last night, something Naruto figured he'd forget anyway. Anger bubbled up inside the lonely heart of Kushina's son and the book he'd brought to the forest of filtering light and calm was thrown far, far ahead of him. The book, adequate for the area, was about bamboo and made a sound as if dropped into a pond.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock and his short legs carried his quiet soul over to where his book had fallen. Naruto saw his book, still in one piece, but saturated with water until water seemed to flow out of it like a new tributary. Naruto blinked and saw that the book was being held up by someone, being shaken lightly, held by its spine gingerly.

He froze, unsure of what to do. He'd never had to approach strangers before; they either stayed away from him or approached him with sweets. Naruto gulped hard, seeing the somewhat intimidating figure of the person trying to rid the pages of the water. Then, the person laid down his book and knelt by the pond with a fish, a beautiful orange and black colored fish, and carefully held the small fish in both hands. Blood seeped out of the fish and dripped down the thin fingers of the masked person. The fish didn't move despite the amount of pain it must've felt from whatever had hit it.

Oh.

Naruto lowered his eyes and took a step back, guilt setting in.

"Where do you think you're going?" the person asked, setting the fish on a rock and dipping their fingers in the pond's clear water to cleanse them. The person stood, towering a bit more than twice Naruto's height, and seemed to emanate a rather terrifying aura.

"S-sorry. I didn't think that would happen. I just…I was just angry," Naruto mumbled. "I didn't mean to kill the fish. Please don't tell Tou-san."

"Tou-san?" the figure asked. Naruto recognized the voice as a female's voice.

"Yeah. He's the Hokage. Everyone knows who my father is. Aren't you a Konoha citizen?" Naruto asked, his blue eyes glinting with curiosity and confusion.

"So you're Namikaze Minato's son, huh? Shouldn't you be training or something? I thought all boys idolized their fathers and from what I've heard, Minato was quite something in his youth. How come you're all the way out here, reading about nature instead of Konoha's history and jutsu?" the woman asked, picking up his book and shaking it once more, this time with a bit more force.

"I don't know any ninjutsu or genjutsu or taijutsu and I'm Kakashi-san said I was too young to start really learning it or training in it. I don't have any other hobbies than reading so I'm stuck here," Naruto said.

"A tree without sunlight will never grow as it is blocked by the shadows of much taller, older, wiser trees. However, if one is to change their perspective, with even just the slight adjustment of the way light hits a leaf, the tree has a chance at prospering and growing to be taller and stronger than its previous shadows," the woman said.

"I don't understand," Naruto said. "What're you talking about?"

"One day, you'll understand that," the woman replied. Naruto could hear the grin in her voice. "If you want to become a ninja, you must become strong, especially you because you're the Hokage's son."

"How can I become really strong?" Naruto said, close to whining.

"Find someone to teach you," the woman said, her hands blurring and then exhaled a sharp gust of wind to dry the book off. She handed the book back to the young boy and Naruto tried to peer behind her mask, trying to see behind her mask. She wore a red scarf and dark clothes but her long-sleeved shirt had the stitched image of a carp, or koi, with white, black, and orange pattern on it. Naruto was mesmerized by it for a moment before remembering she'd done some kind of jutsu.

"Wait…what did you just do to my book? How come it's dry so fast?" Naruto asked, yearning to know more, to ask more, to soak up everything he could because it looked as though she had the answers he was looking for. His heart raced, having never wanted something so badly (except for his father's attention and smile and pride) in his life and his blue eyes shone with something that the woman knew would turn into determination. She frowned behind her mask.

"A Wind Release Technique," the woman said.

"Will you teach me?" Naruto asked, the words spilling out of his mouth. "I promise I'll study and be good and listen to everything you say so please, teach me!"

"Following blindly is what gets shinobi killed. I'm sick of that," the woman said.

"Huh?" Naruto asked. Is she…rejecting my offer? She can't! I need this!

"Tomorrow, here, same time. See ya," the woman said and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.


"Kakashi!" Naruto came running towards the Copy Ninja, who was relaxing in a park with an orange book in hand. Kakashi quickly put the book out of sight of the boy and eye-smiled at the normally quiet boy who nearly never asked questions, much less ran up to him with something to say.

"What's gotten into you, all of a sudden?" Kakashi asked, looking quizzically at the boy who kept fidgeting and squirming on the bench. His blue eyes shone with curiosity and something akin to lighting a fire to determination.

"What time is it?" Naruto asked.

"Well, it's noon, twelve, or midday if you like. Why?" Kakashi asked, genuinely surprised.

"Well, I…" Naruto frowned. Should I tell Kakashi-san about her? She didn't seem to like Konoha shinobi or something and she avoided my question about if she were a Konoha shinobi or not.

Kakashi raised a single brow, waiting patiently. Naruto tugged at the bottom of his shirt. It's a surprise, isn't it? I think I should surprise Kakashi-san with my skills when I get good because he probably knows about her. Kakashi-san knows a lot of things but he's too busy with missions to really teach me. Yeah, it'll be a big surprise for Kakashi-san! He'll think I'm so cool, and then, maybe, just maybe, Tou-san will see me as Namikaze Naruto!

"I was wondering when your birthday was because…I was planning something and I thought this time would be good," Naruto said haltingly. Kakashi suspected the falsehood of such a statement, but let it slide because what harm could a four year old with no knowledge of shinobi arts or much of anything else pose?

"September 15," Kakashi said. "What are you getting me?" Kakashi smiled under his mask at the innocent look on Naruto's face. It was as if Kushina were here, trying to explain why there was no more ramen left, despite the sheer amount she'd made and only having spent ten minutes gone in the kitchen to get seconds for everyone.

"It's a surprise!" Naruto said, as if were obvious. Then he grinned. "But you're going to love it!"

"What, is it a girlfriend? Kakashi's in serious need of one of those," a smirking voice said behind the redhead boy.

"Girlfriend? What's that?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing you need to know," Kakashi said, glaring at Obito.