A/N:
This is my first Naruto Fan Fiction. So please bear with through any mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuations. I have personally read many Naruto Samurai Fan fictions, and if any parts of this story resembles previous works from other authors, I am sorry in advance. Message me and I will give credit where credit is due. I'm somewhat new to the writing gig, but I am going to finish this story before moving on to one of my other story ideas (the summary for this is already written). I will try to update every few days. Now on with the disclaimer:
DISCLAIMER:
Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto. All characters, scenes, jutsu, and situations are property of the master Kishimoto himself. All I did was tweak a few ideas, plug in a few plot holes, and blow it to kingdom come. There will be no more disclaimers after this, So enjoy.
"Blah" - Talking
"Blah" - Thinking
"Blah" - Demon/Summon talking
"Blah" - Demon/Summon Thinking
"Blah" - Jutsus
Begin
If you were to ask anyone in the Elemental Nations which was the greatest, they would tell you one thing, "The Land of Fire." or, "Fire Country." as it is more commonly known by. However, everyone had a different reason why it sat firmly on the top. Some people claimed that the bountiful forests, and serene lakes were the most majestic. Some people assert that the Fire Daimyo's palace, which was the grandest of all the Daimyos' palaces in the Elemental Nations displayed their prosperity. But only the experienced know that what makes Fire Country the greatest wasn't its majestic forests or bountiful lakes, nor the lavish palace of the Daimyo's Court. What made the Land of Fire the greatest was the people, but not just any people, these were special people, these were unique individuals that carried within each and every one that special spark called the "Will of Fire." These people are called NINJA, and it is in the village of these special individuals called Konoha that our story begins, with a very special boy who is about to embark on a very special journey.
Konoha Streets
Panting, a desperate boy with whisker birthmarks on his cheeks runs through the back alleys of Konoha. You would figure that the boy would be happy on this day because it was October 10. The day that the Yondaime of Konoha, the strongest of all the Hokages of Konoha, killed the greatest enemy of Konoha the Kyuubi no Youko fives years prior. All day celebrations were being held to remember all the shinobi that died on that day. It was a day of joyful camaraderie, well except for one boy.
Naruto wasn't having a good day at all. He was currently being chased through a back alley of the local civilian shopping area by a group of drunken men. He didn't know why, but he was never allowed to participate in the Kyuubi Festival. So, when the Matron of the orphanage told him that he could participate, he was overjoyed.
Naruto wasn't well liked in Konoha. He wasn't sure why but every time he went into town people would glare at him. Parents would shoo him away from their kids in the park. Shop owners would run him out of their stores and it showed because all the boy wore was a pair of tattered shorts and an old shirt that started its existence white, but over the years became a dull grey and frayed at the ends. Even in the orphanage the matron would only give him the food after everyone had their fill. The other children, picking up on this hostility, learned to never associate with Naruto.
In fact the only people in all of Konoha who had even given him the time of day was the Sandaime Hokage, the leader of Konoha himself, and a nice father/daughter owners of the local ramen stand Ichiraku's Ramen. Every month the Hokage would visit Naruto and give him his monthly allowance while taking him to Ichiraku's for free food and company.
However, today when the Matron told Naruto to scram from the orphanage Naruto thought that the villagers might forget about their animosity toward him if it was on a night of celebration. "Well bang goes that theory." Naruto thought as he had to dodge a broken bottle shattering against a wall where his head had been prior. It hadn't taken more than asking for a stick of dango before the villagers, who had been drinking the entire day, to start chasing him.
Feeling a flair of pain in his shoulder blade Naruto takes a look and sees a kunai sticking out and thinks, "Kuso, there must be ninja in the crowd, I have to find a place to hide before they catch me, those knives are sharp." Summoning a burst of energy from nowhere, Naruto rushes across the corner into an adjacent alleyway only to see that it was a dead end . "Kuso, I need to find a place to hide."
Looking around desperately he couldn't find anything to let him climb up the wall and onto the ninja walkway and get away from the mob. He could hear the scuttling of their feet getting closer. He saw a dumpster along a wall, and taking a deep breath be took the plunge into the bin and waited.
"Where did he go?" one of his pursuers asked the others. The group of people looked at each other in puzzlement before starting to head away from the alley. Slowly one by one everyone left until five shinobi remained easily identifiable from their green chuunin vests and hitai-ate. Finally the leader turned to the others and said, "Let's go. We'll catch that little demon next time." In a puff of smoke the shinobi disappeared from view.
Waiting a few minutes Naruto Slowly climbed out of the Dumpster and though, Those people are crazy I need to get back to the orphanage." Naruto runs around the corner, but is makes an abrupt stop when he sees the five shinobi he thought had left.
"Did you think we would fall for such a rudimentary trick? We are chuunin for a reason." said the leader, a man with his hitai-ate wrapped around his shoulder and a ninjato strapped to his back. Turning to his companions he draws some shuriken and launches them at Naruto pinning him to the wall while asking, "What should we do with the little demon here, huh?"
"Let's teach the little street urchin a lesson," replied one of his companions who had his hand reaching for a kunai in his weapons pouch.
"If we do we'll need to move from the city so that ANBU don't catch us." commented another of the attackers, fiddling with a senbon that he twirled between his fingers.
"Good idea," replied the leader as he started to do handseals, "We don't want him to make a racket and get us caught." Finishing up his seals he walked to Naruto and placing his index and middle finger onto his forehead exclaiming, "Akumu Nemuri no Jutsu"(Nightmare Sleeping Technique). The next thing Naruto knew, darkness was overtaking him as fell into oblivion.
Naruto's Dream scape
Naruto looked around and all he could see was chaos. Before him stood all of Konoha surrounded in flames, the cries of dieing shinobi filled the skies as a deafening roar filled the air as killing intent washed over Naruto, freezing him in place with fear. From over his shoulder he could hear a familiar voice ringing out.
"Minato, you can't do this. This is madness." With trepidation Naruto turned his head to see a very somewhat younger Sandaime standing decked out in his shinobi finest beside a tall man who was hard to explain. He wearing a long white coat with flames crawling up the bottom under which he wore black long sleeve shirt that could be seen coming from the torn sleeves of his coat and a pair of dark navy shinobi pants. His entire presence seemed to exude strength and confidence.
"Jiji,? What are you doing here? Where am I?" Naruto asked with confusion, while the Sandaime didn't seem to register his existence.
"Use another child, or at least let me do the sealing, he should at least have his father to look after him." The Sandaime tried to reason desperately with the man.
Naruto was confused, why was the Hokage not acknowledging him? Looking at the other man, Naruto notices the bundle that was in his arms. Walking up to the duo, Naruto peer over the bundle noticing a sleeping baby's face. The baby had golden hair that seemed to radiate and his eyes were a perfect shade of ultramarine, similar to his own, which he got to see when the baby woke up to star at him intensely.
"Sarutobi, you know that I cannot ask others to do what I am not willing to do myself." The man, Minato, said to the elder of the two, no one still seemed to register that there was another presence among them other than the baby that still looked a Naruto without a word. "And frankly old man, you don't have the necessary strength to seal something that powerful. I am the Hokage and that means I'm willing to do what must be done for the good of the village."
Naruto had a realization. "This must be the Yondaime Hokage, but this must be when he kills the Kyuubi." he thinks.
Passing the bundle over to Sarutobi the Minato flashes through seals before exclaiming, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu"(Summoning Technique). There was a big boom and out of a giant poof of smoke came the biggest toad Naruto had ever seen towered over them dressed in a hakama. Minato walked back over to Sarutobi and took the bundle into his arms and leaped up onto his head.
"Are you ready to go Gamabunta?" asked the Yondaime while they faced against the equally intimidating form of the Kyuubi .
"As well as anyone can be bozu."replied Gamabunta who placed his hand onto the shirasaya sword he kept on his side.
"Lets go!" yells Minato and they both launch themselves at the fox-like figure.
Naruto sways as the world around him goes fuzzy and when he rights himself, he is looking over at the remains of the battlefield. There was a charred mark upon the field that seemed to stretch for miles, and trees were toppled everywhere their roots pointing up to the heavens. The battlefield looked like the site of a catastrophe.
Hearing rustling from behind him Naruto turned to see the sight of the Yondaime covered in blood coming from numerous gashes that could be seen on his clothing clutching the baby in his arms. Sometime during the battle the child lost his blanket, and upon his stomach their was black markings that looked like eight spires connected together with a swirl.
"Minato,"Sarutobi happened upon the scene and noticed that he was on the verge of death and started doing handseals.
"Don't bother Sarutobi," Minato said, "I died the moment I used the Shiki Fujin(Corpse Demon Seal Exhaustion) I'm just living on borrowed time"Minato smiled before passing the child over to Sarutobi.
"What are we going to do?" Never before had Naruto ever heard the Sandaime's voice sound so lost.
"You'll just have to take back the title of Hokage again, but make sure that everyone knows he is a hero. Because everyday he lives he protects Konoha from the terror of the Kyuubi." Staggering over to the two Minato places a kiss onto the child's head before he falls to the ground dead.
Wiping a tear from his eyes the newly reinstated Sandaime Hokage smiles down at the child and said, "Your father is a greater man than I am, a true testament to the 'Will of Fire' Naruto"
Naruto's eyes widen at this revelation. Shaking his head in shock Naruto fall down on his ass. Trying to orient himself he barely hears the Sandaime next words, "We'll have to change your name though, your father had so many enemies, even in Konoha. Perhaps Uzumaki, your mother would be proud pass on her family name to you."
Smiling at the sleeping babe in his arms, Sarutobi rubs his hand over his hand and finishes with, "I hope you appreciate the trouble the council will be raising one you wake up..."
"Wake up..."
"Wake up..."
"Wake up Demon!!!"
A Forest Surrounding Konoha
"Wake up Demon," the leader of the band of shinobi jolt Naruto awake with a low level suiton jutsu.
Naruto Startled awake to see his captures standing in a semicircle around him. Struggling to escape, he notices his hands are tied to a relatively thick limb of a tree while the rest of him his dangling, with his feet perilously off the ground.
"It's no use trying to escape," explained the leader as he fiddled with one of his shuriken, "the Ayatsuito no Jutsu(String Reeling Technique) is used to tie down an opponent, and since I used chakra to reinforce the wire you wont be making any extraordinary escape." The man laughed to himself and turned towards his buddies and said, "Whose up for some target practice?"
"Why are you doing this? What did I ever do to y-?" Naruto tried to plead, but was cut off by sharp pain in his shoulder. Looking over to his shoulder Naruto saw a shuriken extruding from his skin, no longer being held by the leader of the shinobi group.
"I don't need to explain anything to a demon like you!" The leader shouted angrily. One of his subordinates scowled at the bound boy and said heatedly, "We don't need a reason to hate you. Because of you, our families were destroyed.
"But, I didn't do anything." Naruto tried to plead again. His pleas fell on deaf ears as the leader tossed another shuriken into the captive blonds other shoulder. Naruto felt himself tear up as the stinging sensation from the shuriken was made worse when the blood which had begun to soak both parts of his shirt began to cling to his wound.
"Oh look, the little demon is crying for his mommy." one of the other shinobi chuckled mockingly, "but no one is here to help you. No one can hear you scream, just the animals, the trees and the night sky. So cry out all you want, cry unto heaven." Taking out one of his kunai from his pouch, his assailant stalked over to the frightened boy and cut the tattered shirt from the boys underdeveloped frame. Turning to his accomplices he asked, "Is anyone up for some target practice? X marks the spot." before proceeding to carve Several circles inside one another with a big X quartering them all. The leader started smirking as the rest of the guys got ready to throw their weapons at the restrained child.
Naruto couldn't tell you how long his tormented sick, twisted, and demented game of target practice lasted, but he could tell you that at no time was he unconscious for any of it. His capturers were very skilled at causing Naruto pain, but not allowing him to settle into the deep abyss of unconsciousness. The very air that night was ripe with his screams of agony, but was unheard by anyone that could care.
The boy's body was now a sight to behold, crisscrossing scars could be seen extending from his collar-bone to his lower chest. The skin, which had preciously been somewhat as pristine as a young orphan could get it, was now soaked red with the amount of blood that had been dispelled from throughout the shinobi's wicked sport. The child vocal chords were ruptured from screaming too much, and his eyes that had days before been shining sapphires just days before had dulled significantly. The boy whose spirit had been boundless had broken.
"Oh look, our toy has been broken. It's no more fun now that we can't hear him scream." The leader of the band stated, tilting his head sideways to look into the now broken boys clouded eyes he asked his accomplices, "What shall we do with him now?"
"We can't let him go, he has seen our faces enough to commit them to memory." One of the other shinobi commented.
"We should kill the boy now, and be done with it." Another submitted.
While the assailants were discussing what to do with the boy, neither of them noticed another presence enter into the clearing. Upon spying the scarred and bleeding child strung up on the tree, a clam seemed to settle over the man while a cold fury emanated from his presence. Clearing his throat the man settled a glare laced with very potent killing intent.
The leader, who had seemed the least affected by the glare leveled the man with a calculative look. The intruder was wearing a pair of black hakama pants with a deep blue kimono, the image that made the ninja pause was the sight of the dai-sho that was tucked securely into the folds of his oba. Taking an appraising look at the strangers face he notices that the intruder seemed to be in his early forties. Looking over his shoulder to his men, he notices a couple of them trembling in their boots.
"Come on guys, this samurai doesn't know what he is getting into. We can take him on, and then finish the demon brat off once and for all." The leader tried to rally his comrades together. Unfortunately for the newcomer he was able to succeed in bringing his accomplices out of their terror driven state and arm themselves with their weapons.
The newcomer sighed and taking another look at the strung up boy, he closed his eyes while saying, "It is a sad thing to see a child suffer, but for grown men like yourselves to do something so terrible just shows how far from the path you have strayed," sadly shaking his head.
Taking advantage of his opponents momentarily lack of visibility, the leader of the group of tormentors pulled his ninjato from off his back, while rushing towards the samurai. The samurai, as if expecting an attack dodged the sword strike just before it could pierce the skin of his neck. Opening his eyes, the samurai narrowed them in his attackers direction before continuing his statement.
"For people like you, the only recourse to be taken is...DEATH!" Moving faster than any of the watching shinobi could see, the samurai vanished only to reappear in the exact same spot he had started a second later with his sword half-sheathed, "I hope enlightenment can reach you in your new home...in hell." With a click the samurai fully sheathes his sword as the air became misted from the blood of the five tormentors that spewed forth from numerous fatal wounds that erupted from their bodies.
Turning back to the broken boy, the man kindly undoes the wire wrappings around the boy's arms The samurai notices the grooves that the wires carved into the boys wrists. The man jumps into action immediately. Ripping off one of his sleeves of his kimono, the samurai proceeds to wipe the blood from the boy's wrists and chest.
"Amazing," the man thinks to himself, "It's amazing that the kid is even alive." taking hold of his wakizashi the samurai cuts his other sleeve of his kimono off and fashions some primitive bandages that he wraps around the boy's wounded wrists and chest. Hearing a sound that was so faint it seemed to almost not to have been made, the man repositions the boy so that his ear was next to the kids mouth so he could better hear.
"W...Wh...Why?" The frail little thing could barely get out through his ruptured cords.
Pulling his head away from the young boy so he could see the confused and scared look in his eyes, the samurai responded, "In this world there are people who do things that are bad. For money, for fame, for power. But you should never try to understand these people, for theirs is not a mind filled with reason. They should deserve your pity and not be given a second thought. Now do not talk, you need to give your throat a chance to heal." Nodding his head, for the first time that night, Naruto let himself give into unconsciousness in the arms of the strange man that saved him.
Smiling at the boy who was fast asleep in his arms, the lone samurai contemplates what to do with the little one. Taking in the state of the boy's ragged pants and malnourished body, he could successfully assume the boy was not properly cared for. And taking into the fact that no one would ever let a child out alone after dark, led man to believe that the kid was an orphan.
Settling his resolve that man opted to take the boy to the nearest shelter, and then decide what to do when he was better. The man knew that there was a village nearby that was full of ninja, but spying the hitai-ate on the ground had a leaf insignia he ditched that plan.
"They might not be too happy with me killing five of their ninja." The man thought. So he settled for the next nearest town, which was just twenty minutes away. Gathering his wits about him, the man proceeded to clean up any evidence he was there. After picking up the boy, the man proceeded to rush in the direction opposite the bloody clearing leaving the sight of five corpses to be discovered by ANBU a few days later...
