Uzumaki Naruto: Path of Kings
Summary:
When a young boy steals a forbidden scroll, he finds out that not only did he have a clan, but that he has the power summon a power left behind by his ancestors. With this new power backing him up, he might just survive his destiny. AU. Follows Canon events roughly until the time skip. This will be the first in a three-part series.
A.N.:
Hi fellow writers and readers. This story will be my first in a long time so please excuse any grammar mistakes. If you find one and it annoys you, please point out which chapter and paragraph it's in in a PM. As a warning, as of right now I have not watched much of Shippuden and I have not read any of the manga. I will also be using the English versions of saying jutsus. After the time skip I will be diverging from canon and going my own route. If you don't like that then don't read.
I am taking elements from Final Fantasy VX, mostly the weapons, and mixing it into the Naruto universe. There may be some cameos of characters from Final Fantasy XV later in the story.
In this story, Naruto is going to gain the power of the Armiger, if you don't know what that means here is a quick background to what it's all about:
Armiger: Phantom Blades
The Armiger Arsenal is made up of the Royal Arms of the past Uzumaki Kings found throughout the Land of Fire, and their use is a special ability of Naruto's. He's able to attack viciously, cycling through the various Royal Arms that he will acquire during his journey. While Armiger are summoned, Naruto will have greatly increased power and speed. As Naruto finds and absorbs the powers of his ancestors the more powerful and faster he will become. Here's the only problem for Naruto: the more swords he uses in battle the more chakra is used up. Each weapon requires at least the amount of chakra a jounin has to be summoned. Since Naruto has Kage levels of chakra, he will be able to summon only four weapons by himself throughout the story. There are thirteen weapons in total that Naruto will be able to find.
I plan to make three parts to this story:
Part 1: The Path of Kings: Beginning of canon to the time skip.
Part 2: Journey for Power: one-shots of the time skip
Part 3: The Power of Kings: End of time skip to end of the War
This is of course the first part and will roughly follow canon, but I'll be changing certain events how I see fit.
I don't really know what I want to do for the pairing. Really anything will work and I don't plan to have any romance come into play until Part 3. There will be hints in this, but nothing major and no I will not go into lemon territory. The closest you will see of that is Pervy Sage. There will be a poll to help determine the pairing and it should be up by the time this chapter is done. Just know that this is to help me determine what you guys want, I may decide to go a different route later if the plot develops a certain way. But please do vote because I would like to get hints of pairings into the plot as soon possible.
The choices will be:
Hinata, Sakura, Ino, Tayuya, Kurosuchi, or other.
If your choice was "other" please PM me who you want.
Language will remain rated T for now, but after the second part that may change.
Last thing I want to say is that this Naruto will be the Naruto we all know and love at the beginning, but by the third part of the story he will be more mature then he was in canon. You will still see parts of old personality when he knows he can be his true self, but when in battle he will be far more focused and ready to beat the crud out of any in his way.
Enough of the talk though I want to write a story and you want to read one so let's begin.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Naruto or Final Fantasy. This is a work of Fanfiction and all diversions from the original sources were created to be free entertainment for myself and fans.
"Human Talking"
'Human Thinking'
"Biju Talking"
Chapter 1: Blade of the Mother.
It's the middle of the night for the denizens of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The only movement that could be seen were shadows moving across the roofs. The Anbu were out tonight, making sure none dared to disturb the peace, but little did they know the tranquility would only last for a few more minutes. Then all hell will break loose from its rusty gates and descend upon Konoha.
For the rest of their lives the Anbu out that night will wonder how they missed a twelve-year-old boy dressed in bright orange tiptoeing "stealthily" straight into the front doors of Konoha HQ.
Konoha HQ records room
Naruto had a big problem. Mizuki had given him a clue as to when he should make his way to Konoha HQ and had even told him which room he would find the scroll, but now he realized that he also should have asked asked his sensei what the scroll he was supposed to find looked like because the room was filled with shelves upon shelves of different scrolls.
'How am I supposed to find the scroll that Mizuki-sensei said I need to pass the test when there are HUNDREDS of scrolls in here,' Naruto thought with a face fault. 'but if I don't find it I'll never become a ninja.'
With that, Naruto gained a determined face. He ran into the room and started looking through the shelves praying to Kami that he could find any clue that one of these scrolls was the one he needed. He didn't notice though that he had left the door open in his haste to find the scroll he needed.
An hour later a very tired and bored twelve-year-old was looking through the last shelf. The room was now a mess, countless scrolls laid about the floor as though a maelstrom had blown through the room throwing everything into the air.
Naruto took the last scroll he had yet to toss on the ground and looked at it. The scroll looked like all the rest. he opened it up and started reading the first paragraph. Just like the last few hundred scrolls it was just another villager complaining about taxes and other things villagers like to complain about. Even Naruto knew nothing would come of the complaint because he's had to pay his taxes too and they were always sent to the Daimyo of the Land of Fire. Any complains send to the Hokage would mean nothing because the money went through the Daimyo first and then the Daimyo would fund the Village.
Naruto remembered all of that because Iruka had forced him to read a book about village funding after he had pranked Mizuki by putting a whole box of pushpins on the teacher assistant's chair. Mizuki had jumped up so fast that day that he had flown up and hit his head on the ceiling.
Naruto sighed happily as he remembered that day. For him the classics where always the best.
He frowned again when he broke out f his memories and looked back down at the scroll. Huffing in frustration he threw the stupid thing at the wall as hard as he could. He accidently hit one of the wall lamps causing it to hang by its bottom nail.
Naruto cringed, 'I hope I don't have to pay for that.'
Turning around Naruto started heading toward a pedestal that held a humongous scroll on it. Naruto had thought that this was the most likely candidate for the scroll he needed when he found it thirty minutes ago, but once he tried to lift the scroll he almost pulled a muscle. It was near impossible to pick up because of the massive weight that had to be twice his own, so he moved on to looking through the shelves. He had hoped that he could find something that wasn't so heavy, but it seemed only this scroll could be the one he needed to become a ninja.
Naruto was just about to try to lift the massive scroll again when he heard a load click behind him, near the place he had broken the lantern. He looked at the wall that was next to the broken lantern and noticed a thin crack had appeared in the wall that wasn't there before.
Walking over to the wall, Naruto began studying the strange crack that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. His eyes squinted as he tried to figure out how such a straight crack could have been formed just by throwing a scroll at the wall.
He reached out a hand to the crack to see if it was really there, but as soon as he touched the crack one side of the wall came out and whacked him in the head. Naruto was knocked onto his butt from the surprise of the wall suddenly "attacking" him.
Naruto rubbed his head as he tried to relieve the pain. Once he got over the shock though he suddenly jumped up ready to give the wall a good punch in return, but stopped dead when he noticed what he had thought was a wall was actually a door made to look like the wall.
Naruto got an excited look on his face when he finally noticed what the hidden door had kept hidden until now. Inside was a scroll, bound in blue leather that had the symbol on the seal that Naruto recognized as the same swirl that was on the back of flank jackets ninja of the hidden leaf wore. The only difference was that the seal on this was white like his lucky talisman that he wears on his shoulder. The old man Hokage had given the talisman to him as a good luck charm when he had entered the academy.
After quickly grabbing the scroll Naruto yelled out, "This must be what I'm looking for, dattebayo!"
"Naruto?" Said a voice behind the celebrating blond. A surprised Naruto froze in the middle of his celebration dance and quickly turned around to find the speaker to be the person he saw as the grandfather figure in his life, Sarutobi Hiruzen otherwise known as the Hokage of the Hidden leaf village.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had seen many things in his long career as Hokage, but never had he seen something like this. Apparently, an academy student had been able to break into one of the most secure places in the village, make a mess of the records room and only be found now because of the sheer luck that the Hokage had been forced to do paperwork all night and had heard a loud bang against the wall.
Hiruzen sighed as he felt a headache starting to surface.'What i wouldn't do for my pipe right about now.' He thought as he watched Naruto start to panic with a blue scroll that had the Uzumaki symbol on it in his hand. 'Wait, Uzumaki symbol-?'
His thoughts where cut off as Naruto formed a handsign and called out, "Sexy justu!"
Naruto hedged into beautiful blonde girl that looked like a girl version of Naruto. The Hokage's jaw instantly dropped to the floor and a few seconds later he was rocketed backward by a nose bleed. why would a simple hedge do that? Well the only thing keeping the "girl's" decency in check was a swirl of smoke that just barely covered her assets.
Naruto canceled the hedge and frowned, 'Who would have thought that the old man was such a pervert?' Naruto shrugged that thought off and grinned. 'I'm going to become a ninja for sure!' with that he started making his way to the place Mizuki told him to go after he got the scroll.
Ten minutes after being subjected to Naruto's hedge the Hokage snapped out of his perverted fantasies and stood up. He checked his surroundings to make sure that Naruto had actually left the room and he found that his assumption that Naruto had fled was indeed correct.
Sarutobi lifted his sleeve revealing a seal on his arm. He activated the seal and two seconds later he was surrounded by his personal Anbu guard.
"Get every ninja available to look for Uzumaki Naruto." Sarutobi ordered his men. "I want him brought to me unharmed and the scroll he is caring. Go!"
His men immediately went to carry out their superior's orders. The Hokage looked over toward the hidden compartment that not even he had known about till now.
'Minato must have put that there, but what was so important in that scroll that made him hide it like this?' the Hokage thought with a look of concentration. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 'What have you gotten yourself into this time Naruto?'
Outskirts of Konoha
Naruto sat down next to the hut that was near the outskirts of the village. He put the blue scroll on the ground in front of him and yelled out in an excited voice, "Now all I have to do is learn a jutsu from this scroll and I'll be a ninja, dattebayo!"
He opened up the scroll and leaned down to start reading, but stopped dead when he noticed something.
"Ahhh… I don't understand any of this! It's just a bunch of kanji!" he yelled out and slammed his hand directly on the paper. He closed his eyes in frustration, 'I knew I should have checked inside the scroll before I left!'
Unknown to him he had subconsciously channeled his chakra to his hand that was on the paper. Only when the paper started glowing did he reopen his eyes. He quickly stood up when he saw that the kanji had started glowing. He was forced to cover his eyes as he was consumed in a bright light.
Outside Konoha HQ
A small gathering of squad leaders stood in front of the Lord Hokage. Almost every single one had a scold on their face.
"Lord Hokage this is not just a prank! This is a serious crime!" One of the squad leaders exclaimed.
"That scroll contains secrets of the Fourth Hokage!" Another with an eye-patch said.
"If an enemy gets those secrets it could destroy our entire way of life." Said the first speaker.
Iruka, one of the sensei at the academy, grit his teeth. 'If any of these shinobi find Naruto first then they might kill him because of their anger.' He thought as he remembered what the Hokage had told him before this academy year had started.
Flashback
Konoha Academy- 1 year ago
"Iruka." The Hokage said.
"What is it…Lord Hokage? Iruka asked a bit nervously.
"I know how you feel. You grew up just like Naruto. Without knowing the love of a mother or father. The warmth of a family." The Hokage answered.
Iruka thought back to when the nine tails had attacked. He had wanted to help fight with his parents, but had been taken away from the battle by a chunin. That was the last day he had seen his parents. Their bodies were never found, most likely buried deep in the ground by the tails of the fox.
'Is Naruto really going through that pain?"
Flashback end
Outside Konoha HQ
"Fine then." The Hokage said in a stern voice, "Bring Naruto here at once!"
Every squad leader immediately jumped up and headed in different directions. Iruka checked everywhere he thought the boy might go. He checked Naruto's apartment, the academy, on top of the Hokage monument, and even his normal hiding spots that he used after he pulled a prank, but no luck.
Stopping on one of the tallest buildings in the village Iruka took a short breather, 'Where would he go? I have to find him!'
A few miles away from Naruto's position
Mizuki was pissed, 'That stupid brat grabbed the wrong scroll!' Mizuki thought with a scold, 'At least he seemed to grab something import. Whatever knowledge was hidden by the Fourth should be enough to satisfy Lord Orochimaru and I'll be able to finally get rid of that Kami forsaken demon!'
With that thought Mizuki sped up toward the place where he would meet Naruto.
Outskirts of the Village.
Once the blinding light dimmed to a faint glow Naruto carefully opened one of his eyes to see what was going on. What he saw made him open both of his eyes pop wide open. Before him was a beautiful ethereal sword that glowed with a pale blue light.
Naruto stared at its beautifully crfted hilt and deadly looking blade in awe until he suddenly felt the urge to reach out and touch the sword. It was like something or someone was telling him that this was meant for him. So boldly he followed what he thought where his instincts and did just that, but as soon as he took a step forward the sword started to rise into the air.
Naruto tried to reach out to it, but he soon found out that there was no need. The sword came arching down at a great speed and hit him straight in the stomach, disappearing into his body.
Feeling as though he had just been hit in the gut by a rhino Naruto fell over unconscious.
Within the Seal
The great nine tailed fox or as many called it the Kyubi woke from its slumber as he felt a familiar presence heq had not felt in little over a decade. Looking beyond the gate that keep it imprisoned he saw a sword sticking out of the "water" of the sewers. The Kyubi's eyes widened when it recognized the deadly blade and who had been the owner of it.
The sword lightly pulsed as the Kyubi whispered a name, "Kushina…"
Outskirts of Konoha
Naruto shot up in shock. He was breathing heavily, sweat was dripping down his face, and he felt a soreness in his stomach. Taking a few more deep breaths to calm his racing heart, he looked over at the scroll and noticed that it was now no more than a blank piece of paper.
'Where did that sword go…' Naruto thought, but the question was left unanswered as Naruto heard footsteps coming from the forest.
Iruka stepped into the small clearing with a sigh, 'Good, I got here before anyone else.'
Walking over to the blond prankster, Iruka said, "It's all over."
Naruto grinned up at Iruka and rubbed the back of his head, "Hehehe… Got me already, not bad. Your quick sensei I only had time to open the scroll."
'He's been out here for a while now, but he's only now opened the scroll?' Iruka thought to himself 'He looks like he's been through the ringer with all that sweat and dirt on his face.'
"Listen Iruka-sensei! If you can just give me another hour I promise I can pass the test! Then I can graduate and be a real ninja!" Naruto exclaimed hopefully.
"Test? Where did you get that idea?" Iruka asked confused.
"Mizuki-sensei told me about it, dattebayo! He told me where to find the scroll and this place…!" Naruto slowly stopped his rambling as he noticed the stunned and fearful look that had just formed on his sensei's face.
'Huh?...Mizuki?' Iruka thought.
Naruto was about to ask what was wrong when he was suddenly tossed to the side by Iruka.
"Look out!" yelled Iruka as he tossed Naruto to the side, but in doing so he got hit by a dozen kunai. The kunai where thrown with so much force that they dragged Iruka to the door of the hut and pinned his clothing to it.
"I see you found our little hide away." A voice said from on top of one of the trees near the edge of the clearing. Mizuki leaned out of the shadows of the branches showing his face that had been hidden, but a moment ago.
"So, that's the way it is huh? I should have known!" Iruka said as he struggled to free himself from the kunai.
Mizuki ignored him in favor or looking toward Naruto. "Naruto! Give me the scroll now!" Mizuki demanded.
"Wait a minute what's going on here?" Naruto was so confused, 'Why is Mizuki-sensei attacking Iruka-sensei' he thought.
"Naruto don't let him get the scroll!" Iruka warned as he started taking out the kunai. "It contains forbidden jutsu that could put the village in grave danger! Mizuki used you to get the scroll, for his own power."
Naruto looked up at Mizuki in shock. He couldn't believe what was happening. 'Is it true? Did Mizuki-sensei really trick me?'
"Naruto, Iruka is just trying to scare you because he doesn't want you to have the scroll." Naruto was shocked at Mizuki's words and looked at Iruka.
"Stop lieing to him Mizuki!" Iruka yelled, "Don't let him trick you Naruto!"
"Hahaha… Oh I'll tell you who's really lying" Mizuki said sinisterly and Iruka's eyes widened.
"No, you can't its forbidden!" Iruka yelled out desperate to shut Mizuki up. If Naruto heard what Iruka was thinking Mizuki was about to tell the boy, it might just break him.
"They have been lying to you your whole life. Ever since the decree twelve years ago." Mizuki continued with a smirk.
Now Naruto was really confused, "Wh-what decree?"
"Everybody knows besides you. Iruka is trying to hide it from you even now, look at his face he'd do anything to shut me up." Mizuki said all the while his smirk grew.
"What is this decree and why does everybody else know about it?" Naruto asked. He needed to know why he was never told about this decree.
"Don't tell him Mizuki, its forbidden!" Iruka desperately yelled. He was still trying to get the last Kunai out of the door so he could shut Mizuki's loud mouth once and for all, but the darn knife wouldn't budge.
"The decree is, no one can tell you that you hold the spirit of the nine-tailed fox inside of you!" Mizuki exclaimed. Naruto stumbled backward in shock. This was too much for the young boy and Mizuki was reveling in the child's despair. Mizuki laughed and continued, "The fox that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body. You are the nine-tailed fox!"
Naruto stood there remembering every single time a villager had glared and insulted him, every time a store owner kicked him out. It was all because they thought he was the Kyubi, the nine-tailed fox. 'Is it true? I'm…I'm the nine-tailed fox?'
Seeing Naruto become so devastated hit a cord in Iruka's heart. That kind of pain that he is saw in Naruto's eyes when he heard Mizuki say he was the Kyubi is a pain that should be on no child's face.
"They've all been sneaking around, hiding things from you your whole life! Didn't you think it was strange how they treated you? Like dirt, like they hated you for just being alive!" Mizuki proclaimed.
"No! It can't be true!" Naruto cried out. Chakra started swirling around him as it began to react to the turmoil in the boy's heart.
"Naruto!" Iruka cried out worried about the boy's present state of mind.
"That is why you will never be accepted in the village." Mizuki continued, his plan to distract the brat was working perfectly. "Even your beloved sensei hates your guts."
Mizuki's words brought back Iruka's memories of when he had spoken to the Hokage a year ago.
Flashback
Konoha Academy- 1 year ago
"Iruka, Naruto never had a mother or father to care for him. He was shut out of everything and doesn't know why. Some people don't even look at him. How would you feel if everywhere you went people turned their backs on you?" the Hokage stated. Iruka looked down in thought. "That's why he gets in trouble, so people will pay attention to him. He doesn't show it, but he is always thinking about the family he doesn't have. He is hurting inside."
Flashback End
Outskirts of Konoha
"Die Kyubi!" Mizuki yelled out as he threw his windmill shuriken at the frozen Naruto.
"Naruto get down!" Acting on instinct Naruto fell to the ground covering his head expecting pain and possibly death, but after a few seconds and nothing happening he looked up. What he saw terrified the blond more than what Mizuki had just told him.
Iruka had broken free from the door and had used his body to stop the giant shuriken before it reached Naruto. Yet in order to break free for the door Iruka had to remove his chunin vest. Any protection it would have offered was now gone and one edge the shuriken was now sticking out of Iruka's body.
"Wh-why" asked Naruto, confused why Iruka would save him after all of the trouble he had caused.
"Because we are the same." Iruka stated in a shaky voice, blood dripped from his mouth and hit Naruto's cheek making the blond flinch. "When I lost my parents, no one seemed to care. They didn't have time for me and forgot I even existed. My grades dropped and I became the class clown. I just wanted them to see me, for them to know my name. My school work wasn't enough to get their attention so I did crazy things and I-I had to pay for it. It was hard. I know that's how you feel Naruto." Tears streamed down Iruka's face as he looked at the boy that reminded him so much of himself. "You feel lonely and it hurts inside and I could've been there for you more.
"I let you down and I-I'm sorry." Iruka fell to the side. He was starting to feel lightheaded from all of the blood loss, but he had to finish this. "No one should be alone like that."
"Ha-ha don't make me laugh! Iruka always hated you. He was orphaned because the nine-tailed fox killed his parents and that beast is now inside you! He'd say anything to get that scroll from you!" Mizuki said with a grin.
Naruto was about to run away,this was all becoming too much for him to handle, but he stopped when he heard Iruka's next words. "Naruto! You aren't the nine-tailed fox. You're its jailer! Mizuki is wrong and so are the villagers. I know it's not fair, but you keep the fox at bay each day." With each word, more blood came out of Iruka's mouth. His vision was getting fuzzy. "You are Naruto Uzumaki, a citizen of the village of the leaf and you keep us safe every day. You've taken the scorn of the villagers all your life and no matter how many times they knock you down you get back up. Each time you grow stronger from it. You are not the beast that you hold prisoner, you are Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Le-…" Iruka was silenced as a kunai hit him in the throat, but he looked one last time into Naruto's eyes and tried to relay everything he wanted to say to him in that last look.
Iruka's head went limp and Naruto felt a hole form in his heart. 'He-he can't be de-dead.' Naruto thought as crawled over to his fallen sensei. "I-Iruka-sensei." He shook Iruka's body a few times as tears fell like a river down Naruto's face. "Come on you can't prank the prankster… You-you can't be dead…"
"Oh, it's no prank Naruto. I hit him in one of the major veins in the neck, he was already going to die though with a windmill shuriken that deep in the back. I'm surprised he was even able to breathe." Mizuki stated sinisterly. He started to approach Naruto, thinking he could end the brat now while he was crying over his precious sensei's body.
Once he was right behind the blond he took his second windmill shuriken and raised it above his head. 'Now you die Kyubi!' Mizuki thought as be started to bring down the giant shuriken toward Naruto's head.
What Misuki failed to notice though was Naruto's hands had been getting tighter as they griped Iruka's undershirt and the boy's body getting tenser as he approached.
When the shuriken was just inches from Naruto's back, the blond quickly spun around with speeds befitting a jounin and deflected the shuriken with so much force that it ripped the weapon out of Mizuki's hands and sent him stumbling backward.
"You! You killed Iruka-sensei!" screamed Naruto with a voice filled to the brim with nothing, but hatred.
Mizuki looked at Naruto with a mixture of awe and fear. Naruto was covered in an aura of charka so dense it looked like he could touch it. His eyes blazed with an azure glow that seemed to look into his very soul, but what truly took Mizuki's attention was beautiful yet deadly looking sword within the boy's tight grip. The sword produced an ethereal light from its edges and it pulsed with power every few seconds.
Despite the intimidating sight before him Mizuki quickly shrugged off his shock as he remembered who he was really dealing with, a brat that failed the academy exam three times. "Not bad…for a little punk, but just because you somehow got a fancy new sword you think you can beat me?"
"You killed my sensei. I'll kill you!" stated Naruto completely serious. He would avenge the man that believed in him if it was the last he did, believe it!
"Such big words. I could destroy you in a single move!" stated Mizuki confidently. No way could he lose to this brat!
"Take your best shot fool! I'll give it back to you a thousand-fold!" yelled Naruto as he lifted the sword in front of him. Naruto did wonder how the blade had come back, but he had to take care of Mizuki first before he worried about it.
"Let's see you try. Show me what you can do nine-tailed fox!" with that said Mizuki prepared himself for a fight, but he was already too late.
Naruto had allowed his instincts to take over. He suddenly appeared in front of the traitor and thrusted his sword straight into Mizuki's heart.
To the Anbu, who had just arrived and were preparing to enter the conflict, it looked like Naruto had teleported to the traitor, leaving behind a trail of blue chakra in his wake.
Naruto's glare slowly turned into shock as he realized what he had actually just done. Stepping backward and releasing the sword from his grip. He watched as the sword faded into nothingness leaving a gaping hole in Mizuki's chest.
Mizuki looked down at his wound and then back to the stunned Nauto. He could only think two more words before darkness claimed him. 'S-so fast…'
Naruto watched Mizuki's body drop to the ground. When he heard the dead weight hit the ground he involuntarily flinched from the noise. 'I-I really killed him? I-I…' Before he could think anymore than that he felt a huge wave of exhaustion hit him and he fell into the darkness of sleep.
Before Naruto could hit the ground though an Anbu with a rabbit mask caught him and quickly checked his vitals.
"Sir, the boy's heart rate and breathing are fine, but he seems to have an extreme case of chakra exhaustion." Rabbit said to the Anbu commander, Wolf.
"Take him to a secure room in the hospital and make sure that he gets proper treatment." Rabbit immediately took off with Narut toward the Hospital. " Frog! What the status of the chunin."
"Both are dead sir, the kid hit the heart directly and the other most likely died from blood loss. It also seems that the blade burned the tissue inside the body." Frog reported.
Wolf nodded and directed his next orders to the last Anbu member, "Snake, inform the Hokage of what happened here."
Snake replied with a "Yes sir" and shunshined out of the area.
The Anbu commander signed and said, "Well Frog, let's start cleaning up this mess."
Konoha Hospital
1 day later
Naruto sat up on the Hospital bed as soon as he awoke thinking that he was still under attack, but immediately regretted that action because it caused him to developed a massive migraine. He fell back into bed groaning and he tried his best to fight off the pain in his head.
He looked to his side when he heard chuckling, but dropped the glare as he noticed who it was laughing at him in his time of pain.
"Old man… wh-what happened? Why am I in the hospital?" he asked as he tried to remember what had caused him to be hospitalized.
The Hokage stopped chucking and gained a serious look as he asked his own question. "What is the last thing you remember Naruto?"
Like a flood all the memories of the night prior poured back into Naruto's head. With the memories came countless emotions including anger, regret, sadness, and pain. Lots of pain.
"Mizuki-sen… I mean Mizuki killed I became really angry and I think I k-killed Mizuki." Tears started to fall from Naruto's eyes as he tried to contemplate taking a life like he did. "I-I didn't mean to kill him. I was just soo angry and I just…" he trailed off not really knowing what else to say. No words could excuse what he had done. He had killed in cold blood, as simple as that. "I really am a demon, aren't I?"
"Naruto I want you to listen to me very carefully." The Hokage said in a serious tone. Sarutobi looked into Naruto's bright blue eyes that once held mischief and innocence, but now held only pain and regret. "You are not a demon and you are most certainly not the Kyubi. I know what Mizuki told you, but Iruka was right. You hold back our destruction Naruto and for that I thank you. You've taken the scorn of the village all your life and yet you have always stood strong."
Naruto sighed believing the old man's words as the truth. The Hokage was the only person left who Naruto held close to his heart. If he couldn't believe the person he saw as his grandfather then who could he believe? But one question still was bothering Naruto. "Old man, why did Iruka do it? Why did he sacrifice himself for me?" Naruto asked.
"Well that's very simple Naruto." The Hokage grinned at the boy, "Iruka saw you as one of his precious people. He would have done anything for you." The Hokage stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the village below. "I never asked you before Naruto, but why do you want to become Hokage?"
"Huh?" Naruto cocked his head to the side and squinted his eyes as he thought of an answer. In the end, he gave his honest answer. "I want people to respect me and see me for who I really am. Naruto Uzumaki not…" Naruto looked down and said in a low tone, "the demon brat."
"That is all well and good Naruto, but do you think Iruka was able to become a ninja with that type of motivation alone?" Naruto shrugged and so the Hokage continued. "Somewhere along the line Iruka learned the true meaning of being a ninja. Can you think of what that is?"
Naruto thought for a few seconds. He thought of Iruka's last moments. How he sacrificed his life so readily for Naruto's own. And he remembered the Hokage's words about why Iruka would do such a thing. He put the two together and had his answer.
"To protect those precious to him?" Naruto said.
"Yes, Iruka saw everyone in the village as precious to him, and you above all others Naruto." The Hokage replied. "That is what I think it means to be a Shinobi. To grow strong in order to protect that which is precious to you."
Naruto suddenly jumped up with a grin on his face, startling Sarutobi, and he yelled out with his fist out in front of him, "Then on my word I will become the strongest ninja in the village and take that hat from you, old man! I'll become Hokage and protect the village like you and Iruka have done, Dattebayo! Because i never go back on my word. It my nindo! My nija way!"
The Hokage couldn't help but smile as he looked upon the excited preteen in front of him, 'Nothing can keep you down for long, can it Naruto? I have no doubt you will succeed in your dreams and maybe just surpass us all.'
"I have no doubt." The Hokage replied fondly. "Oh! And before I forget, I have a present for you Naruto."
"Really?" asked an excited Naruto.
"Yep, now close your eyes." Naruto did as he was told, with a huge grin on his face. He felt something being put on his forehead. "Ok you can open your eyes now." He opened his eyes and started feeling his forehead, but found there to be a piece of cloth and metal. He immediately knew it was an Hitai-ate.
"It was Iruka's, I'm sure he would have wanted you to have it." Naruto beamed in awe and pride. "Congratulations Naruto, you have passed the academy." The Third Hokage praised.
Naruto was just about to run out the door to get twenty bowls of ramen to celebrate, but was stopped by the Hokage's hand being put on his shoulder.
Sarutobi reverted back into his serious Hokage persona as he said, "Now Naruto before you go out celebrating you are going to tell me everything about the scroll you stole AND you're going to clean the mess you made in the records room."
Naruto paled. He had a feeling he was going to need a rain check on that ramen tonight.
A.N.
Wow, that was the longest chapter I have ever written. I hope you liked it though. This story is going to be a long one and it's my goal in life now to get this done.
I will try to get two chapters out per month. I'll be heading back to college soon so that's just how it's going to be.
I know a lot of you might be unhappy with Iruka's death. In fact, I am too, but I always felt like this was a great way to get Naruto to take things more seriously.
And yes, I know I took a lot out of the anime. That is just because I thought the confrontation between Naruto and Mizuki was done perfectly. It will get different from here on out.
Any comments, negative or good, will be helpful. Tear the story apart, please! I want to know what I'm doing wrong.
Also, don't forget that there is now a poll for who Naruto will be paired with. It will be up on my profile page. You'll get to pick the two you want most so don't miss the chance to get your voice heard.
If you liked the story, please chick that follow button so you don't miss my next update! And write a review. It'll get me motivated to write more.
Thanks for reading. Until next time!