Chapter One: The Boy from the Shadows
"Crap." One of the voices said, slightly hard to hear behind the wooden door. "They have us pinned down!"
He heard explosions up close, and explosions from far away. The harsh battle had a large range; several square miles contained the brutal fighting. Kunai thwocked into wood, embedded there. But he would just wait it out. The battles always ended. There was always some squad that decided to take residence in his house, using it as cover, a bunker to wait for an opening.
…
The girl smiled at her grandfather, her hero. She waddled over to him, her eyes moist with happiness. "Tank you Gwampa!" she said giggling as she munched on the pocky stick. It was vanilla. Her blonde hair reached to the base of her little neck, as she fell into her grandpa's lap. She looked at the sky. A slight frown marred her soft face, then a bright smile, and clapping.
"Gwampa, look at sky! Just like fireworks!" she said, her clumsy claps echoing in the vast courtyard.
"You silly girl, what are you talking about?" the grandpa asked lovingly, looking up. "Oh no…."
And their lives ended in screams.
…
"Are we all here?" asked a different voice, a higher feminine one. "Come on, use that new technique."
"Fine." Drawled the first voice. "Kage Fainda no Jutsu." There was a long period of silence, as everyone in the room waited to hear the man's findings. Breath after breath was loudly expelled, as the boy tried to avoid his being heard.
He wondered what the man was waiting for, until he heard, " What, you're going to blow up the closet?"
…
"Damn!" the voice shouted. "What the hell was that?"
The man looked tough, a dark green Jounin jacket garbing him, with plain black pants. He sprinted outside, and looked at the crater, as his eyes widened.
Tears filled his eyes, and he fell to the ground. "My… my father." He said brokenly. "AND MY DAUGHTER! Those fucking bastards… they GOT MY DAUGHTER!" He looked where the vast meteor had come from, and saw the advancing army with horror. They were all ninja, firing all kinds of jutsu at the city walls. Konoha was being attacked.
The man, Futoi, rushed towards the gates, grabbing every ninja he could find on the way.
He reached the gates, and remembered what they did to his daughter. Looking down, he used his most powerful technique.
"POTENSHARU JISATSU DENKOU NO JUTSU!"
Thousands of lightning bolts slammed into the army, and disintegrated the gate completely, and Futoi fell. He crashed against the ground, his scorched body already dead. The lightning fired off at Konoha citizens too, killing many ninja. The meteors continued to pound into the city.
Futoi's life had ended with screams.
…
He heard a loud shush, and realized with horror what was happening. He gripped the single kunai he had salvaged, and pushed the door open, lunging at a tall man with a Konoha forehead protector. Except it protected his forearm. His black hair stood up, matching nicely with a green Jounin jacket. Without a word, the ninja pointed towards the tag. It fizzled out.
"We're all accounted for, and one extra," the man said unnecessarily, swatting the boy aside. He hit the ground. Hard. "Stupid civilian. Kainashi is his new name. He won't bear it for long. You guys check out the supplies, I'll dispose of the boy, he looks infected."
The overall green-jacketed cast of ninja nodded, and all filtered through various doors.
The man got his first real glimpse of the boy, Kainashi. He was dirty, and his ribs poked far out of his body.
There were no tears, just heavy breathing. Kainashi stood up, wobbling slightly. He stopped wobbling, and threw the kunai at the ninja. He didn't move, and the kunai fell pathetically to the ground. A dark eyebrow rose up. The man stared at the wobbling kunai, embedded in the floor.
…
The army of ninjas continued to wreak havoc on Konoha, it being the last city in their quest to kill. They were mindless zombies, not caring who they killed, and felt no pain. To have one's chakra touch you was to succumb to their deadly ideals. There was one in charge. One who sat at a desk, far away, and revealed his motives to no one. He was Warui Dateotoko.
Many of the Konoha inhabitants turned on their own friends, daughters, sons, and parents.
They were a deadly force.
The few survivors of the attacks gathered in buildings, living for weeks in squalor and filth. And some of them were completely alone, some were in groups. But all searched for another, until there was one hive of people, in an underground city, waiting to make their escape.
They contained many notable ninja, and a certain Uzumaki Naruto, who had just returned to Konoha from a three-year-long training period with the already-claimed Jiraiya.
They finally decided to break free, and all charged out of the city, running away from the menace. The infected chased after them, and Uzumaki Naruto waved them away, ready to do his final good for the city that had scorned and beat him.
With a few swipes of an ink brush, the chakra of the Kyuubi was fully released, allowing Naruto to make a complete and impenetrable barrier. He fell down, dead, the nine tails of chakra fading. And the Kyuubi jumped out, and bared a toothy grin. Finally, it was free.
And the screams of the dying would start anew.
…
He heard a mutter from behind him, the boy probably angry about his mediocre throw.
"You're awful." He said truthfully, and then turned back towards the boy. He looked back at the kunai. Or at least he tried to. "What the?"
The boy almost crowed with pleasure. "Yes! I can't believe you turned your back to me!"
"Okay, so what are you going to do now?" the man asked, smiling. He recognized the technique. Kage mane, the shadow imitation jutsu was a double-edged sword, and he had already planned for the occurrence of this jutsu. Just like he had for almost any other jutsu.
It was Kainashi's turn to smile now. He bent over, and so did the man. He reached for the ground to his right. The man swore violently, picking up the kunai, and bringing it to his head. "Good bye, ninja." Kainashi said, smirking.
The ninja rolled his eyes, and sent a surge of chakra to his own shadow. It was instantly defined, being only connected to the boy by a thin strand of shadow. The shadow formed it's own hand seals, and almost instantly, the man was nowhere to be seen. And then… BAM! Kainashi was sprawling against the ground. "Where did you learn that technique?" He asked curiously, just wanting to know before he killed the child.
"From….Sh..ku." The boy whispered, barely able to speak after a vicious kick in the ribs. "He called… himself…. Shikaku…"
The man's eyes widened. "Shikaku? Nara Shikaku?"
The boy only nodded. "Did he mean something to you? Kind of like my life means something to me, you sick monster?"
"Please." The man said pleadingly. It was the please that main Kainashi cock his head to the side, and listen. "Shikaku… was very important to me."
The boy closed his eyes. "At least I can die with the satisfaction my killer is sad." He said, a slight smile on his face. Very slight. At five years old, he had quite the vocabulary for his age. It came from his constant watching and listening. That was what made Kainashi strong. It was what gave him value in life.
"No…" the man said, tears already streaming down his face. "He's dead."
"Yes, he is. He was a good person." The boy said, ready to start crying himself.
"Hey, we found some food and weapons!" a ninja shouted, and the man stopped crying instantly.
"Gather as much as you can. We're busting this place!" The man shouted back.
He looked at Kainashi, and whispered. "Alright, hold still. You're coming with us. I could use an apprentice."
"But the others?" Kainashi asked, wondering what the man had in mind.
"We are on our way to a temple, a fortress that we can hold against the infected." The man said. Kainashi nodded slowly. "I can hide you in one of the many rooms there, okay?"
Kainashi nodded, almost excited at leaving this house. "What about the time getting there?"
The man smiled. "Do you want to be exposed to more ninjutsu?" Kainashi smiled. "How do you feel about coming as a Fuuma Shruiken?" Kainashi's smile disappeared.
Author's Note: The boy has not eaten any of the food in the house because he did not know it was there, instead stealing from random travelers. The man's identity (if you haven't guessed it yet) will be revealed in the next chapter.