AN: Alright, this is the rewrite. I didn't like the original that much so I decided to rewrite it. Of course, don't expect frequent updates. Actually, I want to know if you actually like the rewrite before I continue to much more. So, please tell me what you think.
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It was a hot, partially cloudy day in rural Japan. Jonathan Barli stood from his crouched position and stretched his back. With a sigh, he took a gulp of water from his canteen. False alarm. There was nothing here of historic value anymore.
Jonathan bent down to retrieve a shard of pottery. Some jackass had decided to dump old, unwanted pottery in an old archeological site. Jonathan sighed again. He had really been hoping to find something, anything.
The tall man dropped the pottery shard and wiped the sweat from his brow before attempting to remove the brown hair plastered to his tan skin.
"Damn," Jonathan muttered, "Those bastards probably did this on purpose. They always say my son's a bother," he growled, weariness toning down his irritation with his peers.
Jonathan glanced around, searching for his ten-year-old son. He saw the boy running toward him, hands cupped in front of him. The boy was grinning, his brown eyes closed happily.
"Daddy, Daddy! Look what I found!" The boy waved his cupped hands and laughed joyfully.
Jonathan smiled at his running son. But, before the boy could reach his father, he screamed as the ground shifted beneath his feet. "David!" Jonathan yelled as he sprinted towards his son.
He yelped as he fell through an unseen hole. He hit the bottom of the hole with a painful thud and groaned.
"Daddy?" David said, voice quivering.
Jonathan sat up with a groan, "David? David! Are you alright?" He exclaimed suddenly, worriedly.
"Daddy, I'm scared," David cried out again, fear making his eyes water with tears.
"Its okay, I'm here, don't worry," Jonathan soothed. He reached into one of his pouches on his belt and pulled out a small flashlight. He stood, David's hand clutched in his larger palm, and squinted into the darkness.
At the other side of the small cave-like hole a podium stood. Cautiously, Jonathan, with David close to his side, walked up to the podium. On the podium there was a large, leather bound book. Written on the book in kanji was: Journal of Uzumaki Naruto.
Other than a thick layer of dust that was obviously untouched, the book appeared intact despite it looking worn from use. The book didn't look fragile or decayed, just a bit worn.
Cautiously, Jonathan picked the journal up; it was slightly heavy. He clutched it tightly and backed away from the podium.
Back at the bottom of the hole, he was dismayed to find that the hole was too high up to climb out of. It was a wonder neither of the two were hurt.
Jonathan reached into his back pocket and pulled out a dirty silver cell phone and dialed his friend Yuki's number. He didn't like asking for help, but he wasn't so arrogant to think that he didn't need anyone's help. And Yuki was the only person in the area he knew would definitely help.
The phone rang a few times before a distinctively feminine voice answered in Japanese, "Hello?"
"Hello, Yuki-chan," Jonathan answered in Japanese. He was fluent in the language as well as several other languages. "I need you're help," he stated bluntly, not one to beat around the bush.
The line was silent for a moment before Yuki's soft chuckle vibrated in the man's ear, "So the great Jonathan wishes my help. I feel honored," Yuki said in a false respecting tone.
Jonathan's lips tightened into a disgruntled line, "I'm stuck in a hole with my son," he stated, his lack of amusement obvious in his voice. Jonathan had forgotten that Yuki loved sarcasm and always seemed amused in one way or another.
Yuki gasped, "Davy-kun is with you. Oh poor, poor Davy-kun must be so scared and dirty and hungry and thirsty and…" Yuki would have continued if Jonathan hadn't cut her off.
"David is perfectly fine, Yuki-chan," Jonathan stated irritably, looking down at his dirty, wide-eyed son and wincing. "I'm at the old dig site. Bring a latter or something we could use to climb out. Alright?"
"Right!" Jonathan hung up before she could say anymore. He let out a tired sigh and looked down at his son.
"Are you okay?" He asked again, placing a tan hand on the boy's head. David, who had been staring curiously at the journal, looked up at him and grinned.
"This is cool!" David exclaimed, moving his head out from under his father's hand in mild, 'I'm too old for that' protest. "Hey, Daddy, could ya read that to me?" He pointed at the journal clutched safely in Jonathan's hands.
Chuckling at his son's antics, Jonathan contemplated that for a moment, before sitting down and opening the journal. David sat in his lap, peeking curiously at the strange writing. Jonathan chuckled at the boy's confusion.
He cleared his throat and began slowly.
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Dear Journal,
Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto and you're my new journal. Old man Hokage got you for me for my birthday. I'm seven now and am going to start the ninja academy tomorrow. I had to hide you for awhile so the villagers wouldn't find you and destroy you. They always try and hurt all my stuff.
Wait, do you know what a Hokage is? Um, well, an Hokage is the leader of the village Konohagakure. Konoha is a really big ninja village and the Hokage is the best, strongest ninja in the village. I wanna be Hokage, then maybe people will stop hurting me and breaking my stuff.
That's right, I'm gonna be the strongest ninja ever! Then nobody will hate me and beat me at night and on my birthday's or during the Kyuubi festival that people say I can't attend. The festival celebrates the day Kyuubi, an evil, horrible nine-tailed fox demon attacked the village and was killed by the forth Hokage. But, the forth hokage lost his life so everyone is kinda sad too.
People are so mean to me, I wanna know why, but old man Hokage won't tell me no matter how much I ask. He won't tell me who my parents are, though he says he doesn't really know. But, he said he's going to give me a scroll my mother left me. He said that he'd never seen the woman in Konoha before and that the scroll was hastily written and that he had been unable to open it. He told me that ninja had found the woman at Konoha's gates in labor, I don't know what that is, and that they quickly took her to the hospital while most of the ninja prepared for Kyuubi's coming attack.
But, I can't wait to get the scroll tomorrow and see who she was and where I come from. Maybe people hate me because I'm an outsider. But, I don't see why they call me demon and monster if that's it.
Seeya,
Uzumaki Naruto!
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"Daddy, that person sounds sad," David said, looking up at his father with wide, uncertain eyes.
Jonathan put an arm around his son's shoulder, holding him tighter, "Yes, he does," he whispered sadly, grateful that he had his son and his son had him.
"Hey you two," a voice called from above. Jonathan looked up to see Yuki's smiling face looking over the edge of the hole, outlined with light. Jonathan closed the journal and stood, bringing David up with him.
"Aunt Yuki!" David exclaimed happily, waving up at the woman.
"I stole my husband's latter," she stated cheerfully, amusement lacing her voice.
"You stole me from my game, too," an irritated man said as he peaked over the lip of the hole.
David's grin grew wider at the sight of the man, "Uncle Tim!" He yelled happily. Tim was the brother of the boy's mother, Clara. Sadly, Clara had passed away long before David had the chance to get to know her.
Tim hefted the latter down into the hole and held it steady. Carefully watching, Jonathan let his son climb up first before following. Jonathan squinted in the afternoon sunlight.
Yuki was smothering David the moment he was out of the hole, sending scolding glares at Jonathan each time she mentioned how dirty the boy was. Jonathan and Tim just watched patiently.
"So, who was winning?" Jonathan asked quietly when Yuki turned back to David after another of her glares.
Tim looked confused for a moment before his eyes lit with understanding, "Oh, the Eagles," he answered.
"Oh." The two fell into silence.
Finally, Yuki stood, David's hand held in hers, "C'mon, let's go get you cleaned up." She once again glared at Jonathan.
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"Daddy?" David asked, tugging on his father's hand before he left the boy's bedside. The two were staying at Yuki's house for the time being.
"Yeah?" Jonathan answered turning back to the boy.
"Can you read me more?" David asked, eyes shining with hope.
With a nod, Jonathan turned to retrieve the old journal. He brought it back to his son's bedside and sat on the bed. With one last look at his son, Jonathan opened the journal and began to read.
Dear Journal,
The first day of ninja academy was so boring. I thought it would be cool. I thought we'd be learning how to use chakra and kunai and shuriken and learn super cool jutsu. But all the teacher did was talk, glare at me, and ask me questions that no one in the class knew and then scold me for not knowing the answer. I was hoping the teachers would be different from everyone else.
But, I was wrong. They're asses. If I didn't know how to read or write, I'm sure they would have used that against me and done nothing to change it.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you chakra is like the energy everyone possesses but only ninja learn to like use and get a lot of. I remember Old Man Hokage saying chakra was like a mix of body energy and spiritual energy, or something like that.
I got my mother's scroll though. I haven't read it yet. I'm going to read it now.
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I pushed my journal to the side, instead focusing my attention on the scroll my mother wrote. The scroll was small and not very old and a seal was located on the end of the paper. Old man Hokage told me that it would only open if I smear my blood on it.
I used my abnormally sharp teeth to cut my thumb. I wiped the blood on the seal before the wound healed. I opened the scroll and began to read.
Naruto,
I am Uzumaki Hitomi, your mother. I told the blond man who took you away your name before he left. I know I am not going to live. I am feeling weak, I feel my life draining away. So, I'm using the rest of my strength to write this scroll to you and then I'm going to seal it up so only you can read this and learn your secrets.
I, like you, am a wolf demon from the Kogane clan. We are a strong clan of demons. That's all I can say.
I was hardly able to get paper. Everyone's in a panic. I don't know why and I don't care. All I know is that I sense our lord, Kyuubi no Yoko. He is the king of demons. I know the humans can't beat him so maybe he'll find you. I can only hope. This scroll, I know, will somehow find you.
I do love you.
Uzumaki Hitomi.
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So, I really was a demon. Now that I think about it, my teeth were always a little too sharp, my ears a bit too pointy, my hair to golden to be natural, my eyes too blue. I should've known when my nails became sharp and long when I became angry. My body was always in perfect strong shape even when I didn't eat or when I did eat it was ramen. I guess another clue was that my wounds healed extremely quickly, almost like regeneration.
But, how did the villagers know I was a demon? My mother certainly didn't tell them she was a demon and the differences between my body and the humans weren't so different that they could assume I was a completely different species. The most they could assume is that I was a freak, but not a demon or a monster.
I wonder why they are so strange.
Seeya,
Uzumaki Naruto.
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Jonathan looked down at his son to find the boy asleep. He smiled gently at David and closed the journal. Jonathan stood, "Goodnight, son," he whispered as he went to the bed on the other side of the room.
Jonathan didn't fall asleep immediately as his mind was occupied with thoughts of Uzumaki Naruto's journal. It didn't seem like much of a journal. In fact, it seemed more like a fictional story. Ninja, chakra, Hokage, demons? He'd never even heard of chakra or a Hokage. But the journal was obviously old, he wouldn't doubt that.
The terminology was weird too. By the time hospitals were around, the word village wasn't really used, instead town or city would. And Konoha sounded large, like a city, so why was it referred to as village? And the leader being the strongest ninja was strange, too.
Plus, demons didn't exist, so why did the people think they did? The journal had to be fiction, so why did he feel it wasn't?
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Thanks for reading and please review with constructive criticism as it helps me most. You know, what I need to improve on, what would be best for the story, all that junk.