====================Frozen Tears In A November Rain==================
One bright and sunny day in a bustling village, we find an unusual sight. We find a tall, husky pre-teen laying, bleeding on the ground. Standing over him is a small, rather skinny child whose only distinguishing features we can see are three small lines, much akin to whiskers marking either cheek, and a shock of unruly blonde hair. This blonde looked rather calm, not at all displaying the elation that many other children would exhibit after dispatching a much stronger foe. The elation that, for example, the second smaller child sitting sniffling on the ground was just beginning to display. Our victor, without uttering a single word, not even a groan, moan, nay not even a whimper of discomfort at his own bloodied state, left without turning around, or even waiting to receive the thanks his protectee was starting to offer. The blonde walked away, smiling a little to himself, before he himself fell prey to larger children, bordering their mid-teens. As he struggled valiently to overcome his aggressors, he saw the kid he'd just protected, laughing at the assualt, indeed, even casting stones at our silent blonde.
The pummeling, for that is all it can be described as, continued for almost 15 minutes before a tall man wearing a mask reminiscent of a dog appeared, dispersing the crowd. Picking up the now unconscious blonde, he muttered to himself as he witnessed perhaps the most shocking sight of the day; the twisted, marred flesh, ruined by many punches and kicks, was starting to repair itself. As the man watched, the child's face reformed in it's correct shape and size, the cuts to arms and legs were closing, even the crushed fingers were expanding again, regaining their former size. Deciding that said child did not need to be hospitalized, he delivered him back into the hands of his stewards at the orphanage.
------------The Next Day---------------
Naruto, as our protagonist is called, decided he really hated being the good guy. He was never thanked, instead, spat upon and cursed. He wished, one day, to speak out against the bullies and other injustices that oft are visited against his "fellow" orphans. However, he was often held suspect in such events when he was actually defending the "victims". Despite the numbers of times this had happened, seemingly in spite of the orphanage's matron hate-filled words and often harsh punishments, he never once said a word to defend himself. In fact, in the time he was in the orphanage, he never said a word to anybody. His only vocalizations were pained moans and sometimes screams in his sleep, which he was punished for when they woke the other children.
No, he actually rather hated always standing up for those who never appreciated him. On the other hand, though, he NEVER tolerated bullies, under any circumstances. If only there was a way for him to be able to stand up to them without getting beaten up by kids who hit rather hard. Like those guys in the green vests who sometimes helped him out...
Running, literally, with these thoughts in mind, our "hero" happened upon a class of academy students deeply involved in group sparring sessions in a field by the school. Hiding in the bushes, Naruto watched them, trying to remember their movements so he could go practice them later. He found the exercise rather calming, helping him to focus his thoughts, even if trying to use those movements felt so...foreign to him when he was fighting the bullies. He found that he much preferred to make a few quick, small blows to the neck, or pinch off arteries, even if he didn't quite know he was doing it. At this point, he really only knew that if he hit somebody in a certain place, in the right way, they would go down, usually staying down. In order to aid his memory, which needed very little aid, he took to sketching things that intrigued him. As he was watching, he took out his notepad, and started sketching the students forms, trying to draw how they moved. So intent was he in his observations, he failed to notice a man come up behind him. It wasn't until the man spoke into his ear that Naruto even realized he was there. As his brain registered the calm, "Having fun," he quickly turned around, palming his pencil as he did so, ready to strike out if need be.
When he turned, he saw a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties, or so Naruto guessed, for he didn't give much away. He was a tall man, but not overly so. He had piercing blue eyes and long, shoulder length black hair that somehow was neatly combed back, but still looked wild, mane-like. Quickly realizing that he might be in severe trouble, Naruto braced himself for a fight he knew he'd never win. The man, who until now was crouching, stood up, revealing his true height of just under six feet tall. The man reached out towards Naruto, causing the boy to recoil slightly.
"Whoah. Easy there buddy. I'm just going for the notebook. Hand it over and we won't have a problem. There we go. That's a good lad."
With that, the tall man in the green vest, which Naruto vaguely recognized as an unofficial symbol of rank, opened the notebook to the pages Naruto was just drawing on. Looking at them, he couldn't help but gasp in shock. The sketches were rendered in such exquisit detail that the unnamed shinobi, for that's what he must be if he was wearing a vest of that style, would have never believed this eight year old boy in front of him had drawn them if he hadn't been watching as he had done so.
".......Wow. You did these? Those are rather good. Have you ever tried to sketch other things and sell them? You could probably make quite a bundle if you presented them the right way."
Naruto simply stood there, still on his guard. He assumed the man was just trying to get him to loosen up before attempting to hit him.
"Hey, c'mon kid. I'm not a monster. You can talk to me, you know." The man tried to put his hand on Naruto's shoulder in order to reassure him. As he did so, he saw a blur of motion and felt a sharp stab of pain. When he looked down at his hand, he found Naruto's pencil lodged firmly in the delicate triangle formed from the carpus, radius and ulna. With his good hand, he grabbed Naruto by the neck, then performed a shunshin no jutsu and appeared in the hospital.
Ten minutes later, the man's wrist was fully healed, and he was hauling a struggling blonde with him to the Hokage's tower. Dragging the kid with him, the shinobi requested admittance to the Hokage's office. After being told to wait for a few minutes, they went and sat in the waiting room, only to find themselves alone, without any magazines or old newspapers.
"Young man, you know you did a very stupid thing, right? You attacked a chuunin of the Leaf. Why?"
His questions were met only with silence, and a calm stare.
"What's wrong? I'm not going to hurt you. We're comrades, right?"
Naruto nodded his head after a moment's hesitation. And with that, the door opened to the Kage's office. With a small nod from the secretary, the ninja ushered his now less frightened looking companion into the office with him. In front of them, a wizened old man sat at a rather plain desk, with few personal effects on it. Only a few pictures graced the smooth, if somewhat worn, desktop. Looking at the elderly man, Naruto felt a sense of energy and vitality from him, even if he couldn't say it in those exact words. Naruto took note of the ceremonial robes and hat, done in red and white with the kanji for "fire" embroidered in the center of the hat.
"Ah, hello. How can i help you today, Chuunin Shin'ichi?"
"Hokage-sama, with your permission, i'd like to train this young man. I see incredible amounts of potential in him to do things very few have done in this village."
"Oh? And why do you feel that way? Why should I let you take this eight year old boy to train and interrupt his childhood, instead of letting him go to the academy when his class would start in the beginning of next month?"
"My lord, we had an....altercation shortly before coming here. I caught what I thought could have been a teki-nin observing and documenting our academy students. It turns out it was only Naruto. However, upon finding him, I confiscated his notebook in order to make sure that no confidential information got out. Look at what I found, Hokage-sama."
With that, the newly named Shin'ichi handed the notebook to the Sandaime. When the old man opened it, he audibly gasped.
"Naruto, did you really draw such things?"
Again, Naruto simply nodded. Shin'ichi was quick to chastise him, however.
"Naruto, when the Kage deigns to speak to you, you should better manners than to be so rude as to not speak to him."
Naruto looked down at the floor, his eyes glazed slightly, a clearly sullen expression on his face. The Sandaime, however, was quick to intervene on his behalf. After explaining that Naruto was a mute, Sandaime turned to look out of the large window behind his desk. Sighing, he asked what Shin'ichi's intentions were.
"Lord Hokage, I would like to have Naruto attend medical school. During our time off, I will train him in the ways of the ninja, if he wishes it. Hokage-sama, even in his untrained state, this kid could give many genin a run for their money. He managed to actually get the drop on me. After I took his notebook, I tried to reach out to pat him on his shoulder. He moved so fast, I barely noticed. He stabbed me at just such a point that I'd bleed heavily, but not die from it. He stabbed me with a pencil that I didn't notice he had in his hand."
"Ah. I see. Well, he has been getting into an increasing number of fights over the past several years. It's very little wonder to me that he could inflict an injury. In fact, in every one of his fights, he managed to take down a larger opponent, who by all rights should have won without a thought. Why, just yesterday he beat a twelve year old into the hospital. Mind you, he does these things in order to defend those who can''t defend themselves. I even saw him fight off a group of three ten year olds last spring. They were kicking a puppy that wouldn't retrieve a ball."
"Then I have your permission, Hokage-sama?"
Giving his consent, the old man kindly but firmly dismissed the two of them. Once they were gone, Sarutobi, for so the venerable village leader is named, paged his secretary and asked her to bring him several forms he would need to fill out in order to make the new arrangements official. With a sigh, Sarutobi wondered what hassle the silent boy would bring him next.
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Well, not too much of an intro, but i've been nursing this thought for well over a year now. Hopefully this will be well received. Anyways, you guys (and gals) have a great day. Please drop a line and let me know what you think. By the way, i know he's too young to be trained as a medic (corpseman, in my mind) but we're talking just study, maybe a nursing assistant at this point. On a similar note, i do have my team for him picked out already. As far as any pairings go....He's a kid, you idiots. Maybe after a few years i'll have him stumbling into that hilariously ackward time known as puberty.