A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first real fanfiction so yay!
Summary: Naruto disappeared at the age of 8 but now he has returned to the Leaf village 5 years later and is stronger than anyone thought possible. Watch as he struggles with his past memories and friends as he is place on Team 7.
CHAPTER ONE of RETURN OF THE DEMON (from PiEcHiCk 98)
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Dark blue eyes slid over the tall, red walls that had protected the city within since it was built, only to be breached once or twice by a few lucky souls. The eyes glanced to the left where a tall white-haired man stood proudly as he too looked out at their former home.
"You still haven't told me why we're back at this Kami awful place." A surprisingly young voice stated. The eldest one tilted his head and pursed his lips, "No I haven't, but the truth is I like watching you squirm." His young companion glared up at his innocent expression.
"Oh come on Ero-sennin, you know better than anyone why I hate this place so much and why I left." The white-haired one nodded gravely.
"Of course I know Naruto, I know."
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The young blonde leaned against the brick wall that, along with the one parallel to it, made the ally he was currently hiding in. Despite everything that had happened that afternoon he still allowed a small smile to grace his whiskered face.
He did it, he got away. However the smile fell when he heard a dark chuckle come from behind him. His cerulean eyes widened 'You didn't think we'd let you get away that easily did you, demon?" The little boy, no more than 6 or 7 spun around to face three very angry, advancing men. One look at the green vests and the leaf hitai-ate told him that they were ninja. Ninja that were going to give him the worst beating he would probably receive all year.
As the men continued to approach Naruto stumbled back. He wasn't about to let these guys hurt him. One of the men laughed "Isn't it cute! He's scared of us!" he burst out into another round of laughter before calming down. "You should be scared you murderer!" he hissed.
Naruto's eyes widened "I-I'm n-not….. a murderer" he whispered out but they still heard him. The man on the right clenched his fists "The hell you aren't! You took away my wife and sister!" Naruto staggered back from the sudden outburst only to have two very strong arms wrap around him. He let out a panicked shout that was quickly muffled by a hand.
The seven year old thrashed in his kidnappers arms, hoping that he would at least inflict some damage.
The man who grabbed him chuckled in his ear "This is for my son you monster" Naruto tried to turned his head away from the foul stench of alcohol that filled the man's breath but couldn't. He let out a small whimper when the first blow landed on his chest. Naruto closed his eyes and tried to ignore the burning pain that erupted throughout his body.
Punches and kicks. That's all he could think of, each hit that landed was precise and hard and only when his attackers thought that they had had enough did they drop the young bloodied boy on the cold ground and leave him. When he could no longer hear their heavy footsteps he let the tears flow down his face, and even though he made no noise as they fell the only thought that roamed through the thick blanket of pain that covered his head was.
'Happy Birthday to me…'
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"Hey brat! Are you ready, the gates are coming up!" Jiraiya's shout broke Naruto out of his memories and back to reality. True to his words the large green gates with the familiar red writing on it where growing larger.
The young blonde unconsciously slowed his pace. After five years of travelling he found himself suddenly nervous to return to Konoha. The last time he was here he was eight and had recently started at the ninja academy. Now at 12 he found himself worrying. Will someone remember him? How are Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji? They'll probably be genin by now…
It wasn't that he really cared about them, quite the opposite. The only reason he showed any interest was because they were the first friends he ever made. But he had cut all ties with this pathetic village five years ago after what they did to him.
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Jiraiya eyed his apprentice wearily. He was sending off enough killer waves to scare off Orochimaru for Kami's sake! He turned his attention back to the gates again, already he could make out the two Chunin guards that sat talking quietly to each other.
"Naruto! You better rein in your feelings otherwise you'll scare everyone off!" Naruto blinked and seemed to snap out of his gloomy state.
"Yeah, yeah Ero-sennin. Sorry, I'll control myself once we get there." The blonde placed his hands behind his head and brushed off his sensei's warning. However Jiraiya felt the air surrounding both him and his student lighten.
'I'm sorry for bringing you back here Naruto… but you're father wanted you to be a Konoha shinobi. And I plan on keeping my promise…'
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"Hokage-sama"
Sarutobi looked up from his endless pile of paperwork and nodded to his assistant to continue. She smiled softly and a small blush appeared on her pale cheeks. "Ah, Jiraiya-sama is here and he says it's very important that he sees you…" she trailed off as her blush spread fully over her face turning it a deep red.
The old Hokage sighed and dismissed the young girl. Why, whenever Jiraiya came did he have to flirt with his personnel? A small frown marred his wrinkled face, his former student hadn't visited once in the last five years. Why would he suddenly pop up after so long without a signal scrap of news.
He didn't have to wait long for his answer for Jiraiya walked through the door followed by a shorter figure whose head couldn't be seen through the thick black hood that sat there. Jiraiya stood of to one side and allowed his former sensei to study his student in peace.
Sarutobi barely registered the Toad Sages presence. Instead focussing entirely on the unknown ninja. Everything on him was black, he wore a shirt that loosely hung down to his waist just above his baggy pants. Around his ankles was black tape that secured the ends of his pants before descending below his standard ninja shoes. Over his shirt was a black jacket with a hood. Of course all his weapons were sitting on his assistants desk, as was customary. His slightly tanned hand slipped from his pocket and reached up to touch the hood, after receiving a nod from Jiraiya it was pulled away.
Sarutobi stared in utter shock as his pen hit the desk.
There were only two he knew that had those spiky blonde locks and crystal blue eyes. They were Minato and-
-"Naruto?"
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"Naruto?" said person gave a very, very small smile. "Good morning Hokage-sama" was the boys polite response.
The Hokage studied his face after a few moments of stunned silence. He had lost a lot of his baby fat and his chin was pointier. His hair was longer and messier, he was sure that without the three whisker marks that adorned each cheek he could easily pass for his father.
Gone was the bubbly, young boy that would always go on about how he'd become Hokage. In his place was a ninja that looked sure of himself and most importantly-powerful.
He then turned to Jiraiya who was watching Naruto's face closely as if he was about to attack any moment. "Jiraiya! What is the meaning of this?" he shouted while glaring at the hermit. Jiraiya appeared behind his student and placed a hand on his shoulder to relax him because even though they couldn't see it, he was sure the blonde already had one of the weapons he didn't hand in at the ready.
"Naruto, why don't you go for a walk and take a look around town." The boy glanced at him and flipped his hood up to hide his hair. "See ya later Ero-sennin, Hokage-sama." The blonde disappeared after giving a nod to the other two occupants of the office.
Jiraiya waited a few more moments before he was positive the kid was no longer in the area. He sighed heavily and looked back at his old teacher who was still waiting for an explanation.
This was going to take a while.
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Naruto appeared on top of the Hokage tower and took a deep breath as he scanned across the large village. He took in the colours, scents and noises with a neutral expression. "So ignorant" he muttered as he watched a young boy run after his parents who were patiently waiting for him. These people had no idea of the pain that surrounded the world they lived in, so innocent, a young girl sitting on a bench next to her older sister, so oblivious, men haggling over some useless item, so utterly pathetic.
He glared up at the stone faces of the past heroes of Konoha. He stopped on the fourth and last face, the face of a great man, an amazing leader and a horrible father.
His fists clenched, he didn't hate his father…much. Sometimes it was just sort of good to have someone to blame when things got a little too tough on him. A bittersweet smile found its way onto his face "Funny, I hate you, yet want to be like you… you know sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if you hadn't died, maybe we'd be a happy family like those idiots down there." He gestured behind him to the crowded streets.
Naruto hummed quietly as he turned his back on the old Hokages, "See ya later old man."
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"I found him in an alley when he was eight, he had multiple broken bones and one punctured lung. The poor kid would have died without Kyuubi." Jiraiya stared out the window silently as he contemplated how to explain what had actually gone through his head when he saw Naruto.
"Even with the foxes healing chakra I could tell he was going to die, so doing the only thing I could think of I took him to the hospital. I wasn't counting on how much the village really hated him, they actually turned me away. Told me they refused to treat that demon! If I wasn't holding Naruto I would have….." he left the unsaid threat hang.
Calming down Jiraiya continued "I just sprinted out right then and there, took him outside the city. We both just needed to get out of there, I healed him up as best I could but compared to Tsunade, I'm no healer. When he woke up do you know the first thing he ask him was?"
Sarutobi frowned not liking the waves coming off his student as he retold the story. "He asked 'Are you going to kill me?' that shouldn't have even been in his head or any kids head. It made me so mad, I completely destroyed the tree I was leaning against, probably scared the living daylights out of him." He chuckled as he recalled Naruto's face.
"I told him who I was and how I found him, the next thing I knew I had an eight year old blonde crying his eyes out telling me how horrible his life was, daily beatings, threats, near death experiences that seemed to continuous to be accidents." His voice grew even bitterer.
"After three days the little squirt had told me how much he wanted to be a ninja and then Hokage, he reminded me so much of Minato I just couldn't stop myself. Next day we were headed out of Fire to begin his training, still think he conned me into it though."
After a minute silence Jiraiya turned to face the Hokage, every muscle below his wrinkled skin was still. But his eyes were drowned with different emotions. Hurt, sadness, pain, betrayal and disappointment were the main ones he could pick out.
"Jiraiya" Sarutobi's voice was shaky and barely audible but still managed to capture the attention of the white haired man. "What's he like?"
Jiraiya smirked softly to himself "Stubborn, rude, impatient, annoying, smart, devious and strong." He closed his eyes and continued "When the brat's fighting he's so similar to Minato, focused and accurate but most of the time, he definitely reminds me of Kushina. So headstrong and reckless…" he trailed off shaking his head.
"He's a good kid Sarutobi, never complained about what I was teaching or where we were going. Minato and Kushina would be proud" he glanced away from the window to look at the Hokage. "Sarutobi. You should know that it will take some time for Naruto to warm up to Konoha and you again. He's still believes you betrayed him-"
"I betrayed him! You're the one who took him from Konoha without my knowledge! I thought he was dead, someone I thought of as my own grandson, dead!" the old man slowly sat down after he regained some sense.
Jiraiya nodded silently and held his hands up in a peace gesture "Of course, of course. I know you would never hurt the boy willingly, but that's Naruto's thoughts. He believes Konoha is full of violent people who are responsible for his father's death-"
"He knows?" the aged ninja's voice was strained and outraged. Jiraiya swiftly turned to the other man, his face too was livid "Yes. Minato said to tell him when he was ready, he was ready at 9 and that's when I told him." Seeing his sensei wasn't going to say anything the Toad Sage walked to the door and without turning back he muttered.
"Naruto isn't the same as he once was; he's learnt that the life of a ninja is hard. Don't treat him like a kid, trust me he's more mature than most his age and if you apologise…..he might open up again."
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Well, how was it? Could you please REVIEW and tell me if there is anything you don't like or understand because I'm interested to read what you think.
Hope you liked it!
b(~_^)d
Ninjalover-02
