Hey. New story time. What can I say? The last two chapters inspired me. Enjoy and let me know what you think. Thx!
Disclaimed.
He had nightmares for years after the first time he lost control of Kyuubi's chakra. He'd been at a park when he was four with other children, some of who were children of ninja, some of civilians. He was the only child unaccompanied, apparently. In reality, there was an ANBU around somewhere; he couldn't see him, but he could faintly smell the usual scent of a fully equipped ninja. The metallic tang of the man's kunai, shuriken and well-oiled ninjato, the slightest whiff of blood that never quite washed out of used ninja equipment and the even slighter undertone of the harsh soap used by shinobi to remove scent from themselves and their clothing. The scent of the man was one Naruto associated with death, an oddly comforting scent because Naruto's father smelled the same.
Although Naruto envied the attention the other children were getting from their parents, he knew why his couldn't be there. His mommy died the day he was born and his daddy was the Hokage and often busy. He didn't blame his dad though, since he'd heard time and time again how important his job was. He might have complained more even then, but when he'd finally asked his dad why he didn't have a mommy like the other kids, his daddy explained that a bad guy had attacked his mom while his dad was distracted protecting him right after he was born. Her wounds would have proven fatal anyway, but before she died she helped his dad defeat the evil Kyuubi. She was considered a hero in the village and his dad honored her name by giving it to him, making him the last Uzumaki in Konoha.
The other reason he was named Uzumaki was to keep Iwa from finding out about him. His daddy had made many enemies during the last war and if Naruto were openly acknowledged as his child, assassins would target him. Well, he had been targeted anyway, but not until he was three and not as often as he would have been otherwise. His parentage was an A-ranked secret in the village and something that was never discussed, but everyone knew anyway and so eventually there had been leaks. It probably didn't help much that Naruto lived with his father and sometimes spent his afternoons in the Hokage's office with him.
The assassination attempts had frightened Naruto badly, at first. Even though the assassins never got past the ANBU and Naruto's father's careful guard, Naruto could still hear the fighting and smell the blood of his would-be killers. He'd been inconsolable after the first one that his father had gotten involved in personally. His father had had to come and hold him to get him to calm down, even though Minato had been covered in drying blood at the time. Hence why Naruto found the scent of ninja with old blood on them comforting, assuming they weren't trying to kill him that is. So even at the age of four Naruto understood the necessity of not appearing in public with his father. More than that, he knew that Konoha had many enemies and that it was his dad's job to protect everyone the same way he protected Naruto.
He also knew that his dad's job is what allowed him to assign an ANBU guard to protect Naruto at all times. Naruto's mommy died protecting him and helping his dad do his job and his dad was always working hard to make sure Naruto was safe and had a safe home to live in. So Naruto didn't complain when his dad was busy a lot of the time, instead he felt grateful for his dad and mom and everything they'd done for him and wanted to be like them when he got big. That didn't mean that he didn't miss them, though, especially his mommy. His dad always told him how much like his mommy he was, even though he looked more like his dad than her. He wished that he could have met his mommy, but once his daddy had told him that if he worked hard, he might get to meet her one day after-all, so Naruto guessed he'd just have to wait for then.
But that wasn't what entertained Naruto's thoughts this day. Today there were an unusually large amount of ninja children at the park and a few of them were playing target with dull shuriken and straw targets that they'd brought along with them. You could always tell the difference between children raised by ninja and civilian children. It was in the way they moved and their posture. There was also a marked difference in their eyes. Children of ninja knew that their parents risked their lives on a daily basis. They knew that one day they would do the same and most importantly, they knew they could lose everything they loved one day out of nowhere, although some knew it better than others.
These ninja children were mostly older than him by about a year and looked like they might be entering the academy soon. Naruto wanted to join them, but he found himself hesitating at first. The one they were all gathered around at the moment had long brown hair with a strip of cloth winding underneath it and covering his forehead. He was wearing a dark brown yukata and woven thong sandals and had oddly blank, pupil-less white eyes. He looked unapproachable even surrounded by other kids, and Naruto was strangely nervous of facing the boy. Then he looked back at the target the boy was throwing shuriken at and forgot his hesitation. The boy didn't miss a single mark and Naruto wanted to compare his own abilities to those of the gifted child. So he waited until the boy paused in his throwing and walked up to him.
"Can I try?" He asked. The boy turned his head and regarded him with an unnerving gaze. Naruto tugged at the edge of his orange jacket nervously and looked back at the boy. The boy noticed this and shot his jacket a look of distaste. After seeing that he wasn't going to go away without a response, the boy asked grudgingly and somewhat snidely, "Can you throw?"
"Yes." Naruto responded politely. The boy handed him the pouch of shuriken he'd been using and stepped back wordlessly. Instead of watching, however, the boy stared off at the trees with disinterest. Well that was fine with Naruto. He was just glad that he got a chance to show people his age his skills. He usually spent his time practicing since his dad was away so often, and the only times he actually spent with kids his age were on the rare occasions he came to the park. Even then, he mostly just played tag and hide and go seek with the civilian children, although they sometimes didn't want to since he always won. He had met a few ninja children his age, but they never practiced these sorts of things at the park, saying that they had to do enough practicing at home already.
So since this was the first time he got to show off to other kids, he pulled out three shuriken with one hand and threw them all together, landing one in the target's straw forehead, another in its throat and another in its sternum. The kids around him were quiet for a second and then gathered around him, asking his name, who his parents were and where he'd learned to throw so well. When he said that his mom was Uzumaki Kushina, purposely failing to mention whom his dad was, they got even more excited. One girl, Tenten, even started gushing about how cool it was that his mom was the strongest kunoichi of their parent's generation and had helped the Hokage save the village from Kyuubi. He grinned broadly, enjoying the attention and feeling proud of his mom, although a little sad too.
Then, suddenly, the austere boy from earlier spoke, voice cutting through the chatter like a knife, "If she was so great, then why is she dead?" Everyone fell silent and Naruto stared at the boy for a moment, stunned, before getting angry. He knew the answer; his mom died because his dad had been protecting him and couldn't help her. He hated that this boy had touched so close to the truth and that the bastard was questioning whether his mother was a hero or not.
He stormed up to the boy, got in his face and yelled, "Because she was fighting a demon! And won! If it was anyone else, she would have kicked their ass!" He stared angrily at the boy, fuming. How dare he talk badly about a person who died defending his home!
The boy just stared at him impassively and spoke with condescension, "Wrong. She died because it was her fate to die." Naruto couldn't believe his ears; the boy was completely ignoring his mom's bravery.
"Maybe that's true, but she didn't have to die protecting the village! She could have left Kyuubi to the Hokage and lived a little longer! Instead, she chose to protect everyone and die!" he shouted at the cold boy. Why didn't he get it?
The boy sneered, "How nice that fate gave her a choice." Naruto was infuriated by this point and aimed a punch at the older boy. He easily dodged, however, and Naruto quickly followed after him. This continued for a couple of minutes, the boy sneering at him and him growing more and more furious. And as the chase continued, Naruto felt something change in him. He broke out in a cold sweat even as he felt his body heat up like he had a fever. His vision went hazy and red and he felt an intense ache spread throughout his body. More than anything, though, he felt rage like he'd never experienced before.
He quickly upped his pace and closed with the boy, but instead of dodging this time, the boy struck out at Naruto's approaching arm, leaving it dangling at Naruto's side uselessly as he clutched it in agony. For a second it seemed the chase was over, but then Naruto straightened up and attacked the boy with the same arm that had just been disabled. In his surprise, the other boy left himself open and Naruto got in a direct hit on the boy's jaw, knocking him to the ground. He didn't stop though and pounced on the larger boy, pummeling him into the ground all the while growling, "Is this fate too then, bastard, or did you bring this on yourself, you arrogant asshole? I can't believe my mom sacrificed herself so that ungrateful bastards like you could live!"
The other kids had long since backed away from the fight fearfully and even the parents were hesitant to get involved with the boy radiating the same chakra as the Kyuubi. Before they could decide either way, however, there was a yellow flash and Naruto felt a pain on the back of his neck. He started to lose consciousness and the last thing he heard was the boy beneath him croaking out of bloodied lips, "So then you know a little of what I feel, now."
When he dreamt of that day it was always the words of the boy he'd beaten that haunted him. That and the fearful look on the faces of the other children when he woke up a little later. The boy, Neji was his name, had to go to the hospital and Naruto was no longer able to go to the parks or playgrounds around Konoha without being chased away by concerned adults. Because of this, Naruto didn't have further interactions with children his age until he went to the ninja academy.
His father told him that he had the Kyuubi sealed inside him that day, as well as telling him that his mom had been the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi before him. He told him about what really happened the day he was born and how they'd been faced with the choice of sealing the Kyuubi in Naruto entire or Minato sacrificing himself to seal half of the Kyuubi's chakra permanently, either one of those two options or Naruto's mother dying with the Kyuubi and it eventually coming back anyway. To guarantee Konoha's safety, they'd decided to seal Kyuubi in Naruto and Kushina had argued that it was more important for Minato to be there for Naruto and the village than to permanently seal half of the Kyuubi's chakra. Minato reflected sadly that she won all their arguments even to the end.
Minato listened to Naruto tell him what happened at the park and told him that Neji had also lost a parent, to prevent war with Kumo. He told Naruto that what happened wasn't his fault; that he was the first child Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi and that he didn't have the experience and strength that Mito-sama had yet nor the robust chakra that Kushina had been born with.
"I'm sorry, Naruto, we really didn't have a choice at the time." Minato sighed, hugging the sniffling boy on his lap. They were sitting on Naruto's bed. "I didn't expect the Kyuubi's chakra to manifest so early, I was planning to tell you when you entered the academy. I wanted you to live like a normal child for awhile." He shook his head and gently pulled the boy into a position where they were looking each other in their identical sky-blue eyes. "You may not have chakra as strong as your mother's, but yours is still stronger than normal. That's why your body can handle the Kyuubi's chakra, even at this age. If you train your will, I believe you can control theKyuubi's chakra and keep what happened today from ever happening again. Your mother believed that you would even learn to harness the Kyuubi's chakra someday, which is something she was unable to do. If you want to try, I'll start your training tomorrow. It'll take a lot of hard work to be able to stand up to the Kyuubi's influence, but your mom will help when the time comes and you'll get to meet her then."
Minato smiled somewhat wistfully at that. Naruto sat thinking for a while before wiping away the remainder of his tears and smiling tremulously, "I'll make you both proud, dattebayo!" Minato smiled widely at that, "You already have, Naruto." he responded fondly.
After that Naruto spent a few hours each day training with his father to control Kyuubi. The training itself was tedious for a four year old; especially one with Naruto's energy, but it was also Naruto's favorite part of the day. His dad spent the time focused entirely on him no matter how busy his day had been and had confided to Naruto that he was glad of the excuse to get away from work and spend some time with his son.
The training consisted of spars with his father interspersed with meditation exercises and chakra control exercises. The spars were designed to frustrate him and push him to his limits purposely so that he could test his self-control. The meditation helped his calm down afterwards and taught him patience as well as strengthening his mental energy. The chakra control exercises were by far the hardest, though. Naruto's chakra control was beyond bad. He could barely mold chakra, but he had a lot of it for his age.
His dad told him that it was because the fox was in his body from such an early age, its chakra was always leaking into his system and mixing in, making his reserves large and unwieldy. Still, he'd need precise chakra control if he were going to use his comparatively small amount of chakra to control the fox's chakra one day. There was nothing for it but to slowly but surely improve over time, and so Naruto stubbornly spent several hours alone each day training his chakra control and meditating. He also spent a considerable amount of time training his general skills, which his dad and his ANBU watchers would sometimes help him with. On days where he did particularly well, his dad would ruffle his hair and smile at him proudly before calling a break to take him to get Ramen as a reward.
Naruto knew from conversations with his ANBU watchers that the council had given Minato a great deal of trouble over him. They had agreed to make Naruto's status as a Jinchuuriki an S-rank secret and keep it from all civilians not on the civilian council and any ninja that were Chuunin rank or lower and hadn't been involved in the Kyuubi attack. His dad had argued that Naruto would be in enough danger just being his son; if it were known that he was a Jinchuuriki too he would stand to be targeted by any and all of the other villages. They had reluctantly agreed, but after the fight with Neji, the civilians on the council were claiming that the Yondaime was endangering the children of the village and many of the ninja on the council wanted to keep Naruto out of the academy.
Minato dismissed this as ridiculous; an untrained Jinchuuriki is far more dangerous to the civilian population, but he couldn't dismiss all their concerns. So he agreed to isolate and train Naruto personally until he was ready to join the academy. In exchange, there would be no further restrictions put on Naruto afterwards provided he did nothing to earn them. What the ANBU told him was that his father had vouched for him so that he wouldn't be locked up or killed and would be allowed to go to the academy with the other kids. What they didn't say, but what Naruto could guess, was that if anymore incidents like the one with Neji occurred the consequences for him and his father would be much more serious.
So Naruto trained hard and when he was seven his dad deemed his control good enough to enter the academy. At the breakfast table the morning of his first day at the academy, Minato talked to him about what to expect. Minato warned him that he would still need to work on his control everyday because his seal would weaken, as he got older. He also reluctantly explained to Naruto that his reception at the academy might not be the warmest.
Minato sighed, a tired sound Naruto had gotten used to. He knew how hard his father worked and did everything he could to ease his father's worries. That's why he'd started pulling pranks on his father whenever he got too serious or too weary. Most people would be annoyed, but those times were some of the few in which Minato would laugh and relax. He always talked about how Kushina used to pull pranks on him, too, and how proud she would be of her son becoming such an accomplished prankster at such a young age. He was careful not to prank his father when he was genuinely busy, though. The ANBU were less amused when the boy started pranking them too. Still, they put up with the treatment from their Hokage's young son anyway because the pranks marked the rare occasions the boy would smile and laugh when his father was absent.
So as he listened to his father sigh, he had to fight the urge to pull out one of the small water balloons in his utility pouch and throw it in his dad's face. Somehow, he didn't think the effort would be appreciated much at the moment. "After the fight with Neji, I had to allow the parents to explain to their children what happened. That was the other stipulation the council managed to stick me with." He grimaced. "Sorry about that, I would have gotten that idea thrown out too, but they reasoned it would be worse if people were allowed to come up with their own explanations, which is true. As a result, though, the children and teachers at the academy know you carry the Kyuubi and may treat you badly or be afraid of you. Honestly, the best you can hope for, at first, is that they will ignore you. It's not going to be easy, but..."
Minato got on his knees in front of Naruto's chair and clasped the boy's small hands in his own. It always astonished him how a child so small could bear such a large burden so well. "The reason they will act that way is because they don't know you, all they know is that you're a Jinchuuriki, so they'll assume the worst. It's not fair, but it is something that you can change. Let them get to know you and most, if not all, of them ought to start treating you better."
Minato smiled mischievously. "Off the record, I suggest you prank the hell out of anyone that gives you trouble. You know what they say; don't get mad, get even." He became serious again. "They're just regular people, Naruto, just like you. They're capable of kindness and cruelty, strength and weakness, fear and sorrow just like everyone is. They love their precious people and feel sadness and rage when those people are taken from them. Promise me you wont give up on them. Try to forgive them. I know you can bring out the best in them, even though they're inclined towards their worst where you're concerned. Please promise me that you wont give up on the people of this village, Naruto."
Naruto had never seen his father plead with anyone before and couldn't help but do as he was asked. "I promise, dad, I wont ever give up and I always keep my word, dattebayo!" His dad grinned and hugged him, "I know, Naruto. No matter what happens today or in the future, don't forget that I'm proud of you and I love you."
Naruto grinned, "I love you too, dad!"
Thinking the right moment had come; Naruto broke the water balloon in his hand and let the water run down the back of his father's neck. "Aaagghh! Naruto!" Minato pulled back and gave him a half-hearted glare while trying not to laugh. "Finish getting ready while I go change my shirt, brat."
His father dropped him off at the academy, despite the usual need for secrecy. It wasn't really a secret anymore, although the laws hadn't been revoked. After the parents told the children that had been at the park that Naruto carried the Kyuubi, the children told the others, until it became more well-known that Naruto was a Jinchuuriki than that he was the Hokage's son. The children probably thought the Hokage was just keeping an eye on him, although anyone with eyes could tell they were father and son. But still, nobody talked about it, and any speculating children were quieted immediately. Even that most non-secret of secrets did its part in keeping him safe from assassins, after all; as long as his parentage wasn't publicly acknowledged, spies couldn't be sure they had the right boy and that could make all the difference.
After his dad left, Naruto felt nervousness creeping up on him, but mindful of his promise, he plastered a bright smile on his face and entered his new classroom. The children did double takes and moved out of his way fearfully, but he just kept smiling and took a seat in the middle of the room. There was an empty space to either side of him as the class settled in, but he continued to ignore the situation in favor of examining his new classmates and teacher. The teacher was a young looking chuunin who introduced himself as Iruka and had a scar running over the bridge of his nose and onto his cheeks. He kept shooting nervous and slightly angry looks at Naruto, although he had the decency to try to hide them. Naruto smiled at the man reassuringly, matching names to faces as the man called roll. At the same time he couldn't help but think that the man wasn't succeeding at instilling much confidence in the other kids if he was afraid of one of them.
When the man called Naruto's name, he jumped up excitedly, trying to make a good impression, "Hi everyone! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you!" The room was silent, you could hear a pin drop. Naruto let out a foxy grin, undaunted before raising his hands in a half-ram seal. The grin made several of his classmates shiver in fear, noting his elongated canines. Naruto ignored them, merely calling out, "Oiroke no Jutsu!" A puff of smoke revealed a buxom and very naked blond who batted her eyelashes at Iruka-sensei and cooed, "And I'm Uzumaki Naruko, pleasure to meet you, handsome." The man's eyes bulged and he fell backwards with a bloody nose.
The other children were stunned before Naruto turned back into himself and fell into his chair helplessly laughing and pointing at Iruka saying, "I got you! Hahahaha!" The other children reacted belatedly, some of the boys holding their noses and some laughing right along with him. The girls blushed furiously and two of them, a blond he'd heard called Ino and a pink-haired girl named Sakura punched him on the head simultaneously. He whined and clutched his head in mock agony, but secretly he was happy. The classroom had already lightened up considerably and two of his classmates had felt brave enough to hit him. If this was the reaction he got by being a goofball, he silently swore to avoid being serious as much as possible when lives weren't on the line.
A few people reacted differently, however, which intrigued him. There was a girl with pupil-less eyes like Neji who blushed like the other girls but unlike the other girls, fainted dead away, which he thought was hilarious but a little worrisome. One boy with a high gray collar and shades didn't react at all. There was another boy too with pineapple hair who sat next to a fat boy that stared and munched his chips unbelievably fast. Naruto thought the first boy's name was Shikamaru and couldn't help but notice the intelligent and somewhat knowing gleam in the boy's eyes before he muttered, "Troublesome." and put his head down on his desk to go back to sleep. One boy smelled like dog and laughed louder than all the others, but was otherwise not noteworthy. And finally, there was a boy with hair that stood up in the back comically who huffed and muttered, "Idiot." before turning away dismissively. Interesting. He'd noticed a long time ago that ninja tended to have weird quirks and personality traits and he could already tell which of the students had already started developing theirs. It wasn't a sure thing, but he had a good idea now which students would be his comrades in the future. He grinned roguishly, looking forward to having these people at his side in the future.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted, however, when Iruka came to and lurched to his feet. The man's head somehow seemed much bigger than it ought to be and Naruto could see the explosion coming. "Everyone shut up! Naruto, detention during lunch! Now, pay attention to the lesson!" Everyone settled down and Naruto grinned, already planning his next prank.
By the end of the day he'd managed to get him after class detention as well and frustrate a very stressed-out Iruka by responding with non-answers to every question the man asked him. He felt a bit bad for the flustered Chuunin, but didn't let it faze him. As his dad suggested, the only way to get the villagers to relax around him was to surprise them out of their fear. So he was going to dedicate himself to surprising and annoying the villagers in harmless ways for the rest of his time at the academy. He could always worry about being respected when he became a genin.
Not that he was under any illusions about some of the older villagers coming around so easily. His dad had explained that as stupid as it was, some of the villagers blamed him for the Kyuubi attack itself. He figured that they would come around one day or not at all, but it wasn't really his concern. All he could do was not give up like he'd promised his dad. So there he was cleaning up basically the entire academy single-handedly under Iruka's watchful eye when he felt a shiver crawl its way up his spine. A second later he smelled the familiar, sharp scent of several peoples blood and knew that something very bad was happening. For him to be able to smell blood from so far away meant there must be a lot...
"Neko-san, I smell blood. A lot of it." Naruto said clearly. Iruka looked at him puzzled for a second and opened his mouth, but before he could ask what Naruto was talking about, an ANBU with a cat mask and long purple hair appeared next to Naruto. Iruka blinked, twice.
"Can you tell where it's coming from, Naruto-kun?" the ANBU asked.
Naruto scrunched up his nose and sniffed the air a couple times. "It's hard to tell from in here, but probably south-east."
Neko frowned, "All that's over there is the Uchiha compound." She turned to Iruka, "Excuse us, Iruka-san, I'm afraid Naruto's punishment will have to wait until later. I suggest you lock up here and head home quickly, there seems to be some trouble."
Before Iruka could respond, the ANBU picked up Naruto and disappeared via shunshin. The last thing Iruka heard from the pair was Naruto's far too cheerful, "See you tomorrow, Iruka-sensei!" Iruka couldn't help but note, 'he acts like this sort of thing happens everyday. What a strange boy.'
Neko ran towards the Hokage residence carrying Naruto. Once certain that they weren't being pursued, she stopped and radioed for the nearest ANBU patrol. "This is Neko. Who's closest to the Uchiha Compound?" she broadcasted. Torii immediately responded, "Me and Nezumi are closest."
"Naruto-kun smelled a lot of blood coming from that direction, can you check it out while I take him home?" Neko asked urgently. Not waiting for an answer, she picked up Naruto again and sped off.
Torii gave a quick, "On it. Out." before him and his partner rushed towards the Uchiha clan compound. It was well-known in ANBU that little Naruto's senses were better than most and his sense of smell in particular could rival some of the Inuzuka's dog's noses. So if ANBU were told that Naruto smelled blood, they would look until they found the source.
Torii hung back as they approached the compound's entrance, expecting trouble. Standard procedure for two-man ANBU patrols was that one, often the more experienced of the two, would engage the enemy on first contact while the other stayed back long enough to radio for backup. The man in the rat mask was the senior of the two, so he took point as they entered the compound.
They were completely unprepared for the sight that greeted them. Torii nearly dropped his radio at the sight. The streets were awash with blood in the dimming red-tinted dusk. The silence was eerie and crows were already gathering near bodies splayed at unnatural angles, pecking at sightless eyes. The smell of death hung heavily in the late summer air. Fortunately the bodies hadn't started decaying yet, but it was only a matter of time before the stench of rancid meat was added to the mix.
Upon hearing groans from a few of the downed clan members, Torii came back to himself and radioed for backup and a medical team as calmly and quickly as he could. Meanwhile he and Nezumi were running through the streets, trying to find the killers. They arrived at the Uchiha main house just in time to see a young teenage boy clad in black step out of the front door. His long black hair was pulled back in a familiar low ponytail and his sword was covered in a mix of fresh red blood on the blade and drying, brownish blood around the hilt.
The killer was Uchiha Itachi, the heir of the Uchiha clan and the captain of one of ANBU's own squads. The fourteen year old hadn't been a captain even a year yet, but he was considered one of the most efficient of them all. 'Brutally efficient', thought Torii somewhat hysterically. He knew they were outmatched, even though the boy's eyes were trailing blood down his cheeks from overuse. These eyes were different from the ones the Uchiha usually wielded, and Torii's instincts told him that that was very, very, bad for them.
Torii started to radio the killer's identity while Nezumi distracted Itachi, already knowing that neither of them was going to survive. Before he could, however, he felt a sharp pain to the back of his neck and started to black out. He tried to yell to Nezumi, but realized it was futile when a black blur moved past him to knock out his partner the same way. 'Damn, didn't even sense him' he thought as he slipped into unconsciousness.
Looking up from the two unconscious men, the black-shrouded figure signaled Itachi to go, which he quickly did. After ensuring the boy's escape past Konoha's walls, the shadow disappeared.
In a bunker accessible only by Hiraishin, the Yondaime Hokage peeled off his black coverings grimly before using Hiraishin to transport himself back to the seal placed in the desecrated Uchiha compound.
-R&R