Hi guys, yet another story. I know.
However, please enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own neither Bleach or Naruto.
She hadn't always wanted to be a ninja.
When she was younger, she was completely oblivious to the presence of shinobi in contrast to her peers. Even the cilivan children had at least heard of it from their parents, seen some boasting, fresh genins, or read about it. But she was completely oblivious.
You couldn't blame her, however. It was a once in a month time occurrence for her to even be allowed to leave her room in the orphanage, and that was simply because of the Hokage's monthly visits to her, still trying to be some sort of guardian even though she had the status of an orphan.
One time, the Hokage had come unexpectedly. Unknowingly to her, she was five by then. The matron didn't have time to prepare for the visit of the Professor, leaving Naruto unbathed, not well-fed and in rags. For bystanders it would've been a rather funny to see the matron pale so quickly when she saw the leader of the village.
However, said leader was everything but amused when he saw Naruto's state. The girl was surprised to see him, only used to seeing him on the days where she was treated incredible- they were also her favorite days, and she always looked forward to them. The poor child didn't know that being clothed, bathed and fed were the bare minimum requirements. She didn't know that all the other children had far more frequent baths, more food, and love- something she never got from anyone, except for here surrogate grandfather.
Everything went by too fast for Naruto after that. Suddenly, she wouldn't live in the orphanage anymore, she had her own home, her own money, she could go outside whenever she wanted- she had control.
She never saw the matron after that. To this day, she still doesn't know that her dear grandfather had given her a rather special... experience in the form of an intimidating, buff man: Ibiki.
It was inevitable that she got told about the ninja's and that Konoha was a Hidden village. When she had given him a curious look when the subject ninja was brought up, he had thought that maybe she wanted to become a ninja. Naruto still remembers the conversation.
''Naruto-chan, are you maybe interested in becoming a ninja?'' he had asked her friendly, already his thoughts getting too far ahead of himself, thinking that of course she would want to be a ninja, look at her parents.
She had cocked her head to the side and blinked. ''What's a ninja?''
Hiruzen had tensed and he had looked as if someone had ripped open a wound, thrown salt over it and then rubbed some ice on the freshly opened wound. The realisation came crashing down on him, the education she got in the orphanage had been nonexistent, it seemed. He knew she had it bad, having picked up some clues before- but this was the next level. Someone not knowing that a ninja village had ninja's, while living in one?
It had to be unheard of.
Guilt clenched his heart and he had to hold back the urge to pinch his nose and sigh- Naruto wouldn't react well to any kind of negative emotion, even if it wasn't directed at her. That thought made him almost wince. He was partly to blame, since he put her in the hands of that cruel, vindictive woman.
''Well, Naruto-chan, a ninja is...''
He had explained in great detail what a ninja is. He had even gone over the risks, the Hidden villages and the Academy, to name some subjects.
When he was finished, the only thing she had said was, ''No.''
His eyebrow rose, not quite understanding her. ''What do you mean, Naruto-chan?''
''I'm not interested in becoming a ninja,'' she responded simply, referring to Hiruzen's first question. He put his chin on top of his hands and hummed, a thoughtful had crossed his face. That was definitely not the reaction he expected. ''Why are you not interested in becoming a ninja. Naruto-chan?''
Now, it was her turn to hum, even though she already had her answer ready. ''Ninja's are supposed to protect the village, right? They can die for the village. I don't want that. Not for this village,'' her finger twitched, ''I want a normal life.''
''I don't want to die.''
That was a valid concern and reason, but it was rather frightening that a five-year-old thought like that. Most children at her age would be ecstatic to become a shinobi, and later, when they were of age at 8, they would back out. Some held on longer and were in the Academy for a year, and then dropped out. But then they were 9, and most of the time their reasoning was that they simply didn't like the Academy.
Naruto had a certain type of maturity and sense of survival she shouldn't possess at her age.
She would make a perfect shinobi, had crossed his mind, but he quickly suppressed it. He smiled at her, hoping to relieve the tension that had appeared because he had been quiet for far too long.
''You don't have to, not when I can do something about it.''
It was rather ironic, Hiruzen had wanted to calm her down with that- he wanted to let her know he accepted her decision. He would never know that that particular sentence made her want to be a ninja.
A couple months later, she had finally gotten used to living in her own apartment and being in control of herself. Her surrogate grandfather tried to come by as much as possible, but he caught up with his job a lot, which she understood.
Always so mature, so understanding.
They had gotten a lot closer, Naruto even referred to him as Jiji, something that warmed his heart. The brilliant smiles she gave him, quickly made him forget all his other worries, like snow before the sun. He had affectionally dubbed her Sunshine. She had also met Konohamaru, who she quickly warmed up to and saw as a younger brother.
Unfortunately, all good things end.
It was her sixth birthday. The naturally calm girl was jumping up and down from excitement, she was sure her grandfather would come by, it was her birthday! A giggle left her lips as she thought about what they could do on her birthday, already many plans forming in her head. She was unsure of which she would perform, but she was sure about one thing: baking a cake.
Which ended up in a dilemma, she didn't have enough chocolate, and needed some, fast. However, it was already dark outside. It didn't help that the day of her birthday, was also the day of the Kyuubi festival. She had never gone to a festival, but Jiji had warned her against going out on her birthday.
But, I really need that chocolate...
Jiji would forgive her if she did go outside, she was sure of that, but he had warned her for a reason. He had said it was dangerous, and he didn't tend to exaggerate. He could be overprotective, but with valid reason.
She frowned. To go, or not to go.
Something inside of her screamed not to go. Her instincts were going crazy, no no no no don't!
However, having lived in comfortable, good circumstances had made her instincts less vital to her. She hadn't been in danger since she had left the orphanage, and it showed. After a couple minutes, she discarded what her gut was yelling at her, grabbed her coat, keys and money, and left.
The first thing she noticed where the charming lights she saw from the outside from her apartment, looking over the village. It was gorgeous. A small, pleased smile lit her face up and that completely squashed any reign her instincts had.
The last thing she would feel that night is regret.
The last thing she would remember that night is pain.
The last thing she would see that night is blood.
No, that was a lie. The last thing she saw, was her life flashing in front of her eyes.
White, blinding light was what she woke up to. Everything had happened in a haze, and the memories of the attack hadn't immediately come to her. The last thing she saw before she was met by darkness again, was silver hair.
It had continued like that for two times, that she had woken up, seen things through a haze, and then went back to sleep. The fourth time she woke up, the Hokage was also next to her, holding her hand.
''J-jiji?'' she croaked out, twitching her finger.
He smiled softly, but it didn't meet his eyes. He nodded sharply to the silver-haired man sitting next to him. The man left and gave her Jiji and her some time.
''Do you remember what happened, dear?'' he murmured softly, rubbing soothing circles with his calloused thumb on her hand. His face steeled when he saw her dart her eyes around worriedly, looking for a threat when the memories came to her. He thought that was a habit she had finally grown out of when she had left her former ''home''.
His other hand twitched. When the people who did this to her were caught, he will personally have a nice, pleasant talk with them, before handing them over Ibiki and Anko.
A small nod was all he got. Her face was stricken with pain. He sincerely didn't want to ask her anymore, but it was necessary, also for her.
''Can you tell me, sweetie?''
After pausing, she did, even while stuttering and sometimes completely stopping mid-sentence. He carefully and patiently kept listening to her, making notes mentally of everything. After some time, he noticed she slowed down and her eyes were drooping. An exhausted sigh slipped out his lips when the girl he saw as a granddaughter, fell asleep.
She would be traumatised, he knew that for sure. This would also definitely not help her animosity against the village. He couldn't blame her, honestly. He was almost beginning to hate the village.
You could imagine his surprise when the next day, he walked in and saw her already awake, holding a book in her small, dainty hands.
''Hello, Naruto-chan. Slept well?''
She placed the book down on her upper legs and nodded with a smile. He withheld his surprise, he hadn't expected her to openly smile again. It had taken months for him to accomplish that after getting her out of the orphanage. He sat down one of the plastic chairs next to the bed.
''Jiji,'' she began, lifting her eyes up to meet his, ''I want to become a shinobi.''
There was a fire, one that reminded him so much of her parents.
Of course she would want to be a ninja, look at her parents.
''Why the change of heart, Sunshine?'' he asked softly.
There was a slight pause. ''Because I want to get stronger.''
He nodded, he could've expected that after the incident. ''You don't have to be a shinobi for that-''
''-And I want to be able to protect.''
And, protect, she will.
Hiruzen didn't know that a certain speech of a certain silver-haired shinobi, that took place minutes before he arrived, had changed her mind. Now he looked at the cover of the book, he could see that it was about ninja's.
Years flew by. She had grown so much. Naruto was now a lot taller and was well known around the Elemental Nations because of her skills. People interested in pursuing flocked to her, and she discovered she had an aptitude for leading, which she did. Very well. Everyone was so sure she would become Hokage after the war.
If she survived, of course.
Sadly, Sarutobi wasn't there to see any of it.
That was the life of shinobi. Kill, or get killed.
She had always been the person who killed. She was the predator. She was stronger. She was not as weak as when she was six anymore. Her life was a lot more gruesome now, and there wasn't a sense of false security cloaking her from the world.
However, our golden blonde ninja wouldn't change it for the world. She had changed so much, for the better. She had wanted to protect, and she did. She became a shinobi for a reason. She wanted to get stronger and protect who were important to her. The beginning number had been small, but eventually had covered the whole village. Something she would've never expected she would do in her younger years.
What she also didn't expect was to die for her village, but again, here she was.
Exhaustion had already been dragging her down, but when her killer performed his final attack, when he also took his last breath, she was done for. There was no regret. No flashing life for her eyes. There was pain and blood, an incredibly amount- but she had become used to that. She didn't mind dying with her comrades for her village.
And so, Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto, drew her last breath.
At a certain point, this took a rather morbid turn, I know. I changed my music to something more depressing, oops.
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Have a great day,
Rogue