Jinchuriki
Chapter 0: Prologue
Naruto frowned. He was not in a good mood. Slowly rolling up his sleeve, ensuring the least painful method of revealing his battle-scar, Naruto's gaze rested upon a nasty looking bruise.
"He went this way!" A vendor yelled, directing the crowd of 'rioters' down the street.
Naruto managed to squeeze his legs together and duck his head, trying to make the best out of this barrel; the only thing in the alley that hid him from the angry mob.
His arm hurt, and his frown deepened. He was not in a good mood.
Several minutes later, a mop of bright blonde hair and two blue eyes could be seen poking out of the top of the barrel.
Using his extraordinary stealth skills, the seven year old demon fox of Konoha made his way back to his apartment. He needed time to think over his plan, and what went wrong.
Naruto Uzumaki; master prankster, never failed. Never. So what had went wrong this time? Something he didn't foresee? Impossible; Naruto had planned this prank meticulously. Hours and hours of work went into this master plan of his. He had planted several smoke bombs in areas around the city far from his crime scene to cause ruckus, and lessen the chance of any ninja around his target. Not only had he failed, he had been hurt! He knew that the villagers hated him, but they NEVER resorted to violence. Naruto was not an idiot, he knew that the old man looked out for him, and kept the villagers from pounding his head in.
Naruto came to the conclusion that a ninja threw the rock at him. He thought he could sense one before his prank, but nodded it off, assuming that said ninja was just running a patrol, perhaps not even on duty. Who else could have had aim like that when Naruto's plan was executed perfectly, and he was completely hidden by several smoke bombs. Yes, he nodded inwardly, definitely a ninja.
Around the old man, Naruto acted like he didn't have a care in the world, but that was a lie. He secretly despised a lot of people in the city, and wanted to do things to them that would be considered 'questionable', at the very least. Sometimes he wished he didn't, since the old man taught him that a Hokage needed to see past a devouring emotion such as hate.
Naruto sighed, all of this thinking made him hungry. He couldn't go out and get ramen, since that mob would still be out there. He made the preparations for his instant-ramen goodness. While the water was boiling, Naruto removed his shirt to once again check the damage to his arm. After surveying the multicoloured lump, he took out an ice-pack from his freezer and applied it with pressure to his puffy bruise, as to bring the swelling down.
Five or so minutes passed, and Naruto sat down with his bowls of ramen. He slurped the noodle-y deliciousness, stifled a yawn, and then continued slurping.
He yawned, stretched his arms, headed to bed, and realised that he wasn't really looking forward to the 'talk' that he'd be getting tomorrow from a certain Kage.
A shirtless blonde could be seen sprawled across his bed snoring like a horse only moments before he woke, the following morning.
Grabbing a quick breakfast composed of cold ramen and milk past it's expiration date, Naruto plastered his fake toothy grin on his face. He stepped out of his apartment complex, and immediately noticed someone watching.
Didn't take them long to come after me, Naruto thought as he walked towards the playground, hoping none of the kids were there at this hour. The man followed him to the park, but never confronted Naruto. Managing to catch a glimpse of the stranger, the container noticed that he had short black hair, stood about six feet tall, and had a casual, yet serious feel to him. None of that seemed to interest him, however, the facial expression did. The man did not look at him with hatred in his eyes, nor did he look like he was a spy of some sorts. He looked curious, simply curious.
You may ask, 'that seven year old brat managed to notice that much about a person from a quick passing glance?' And I would answer yes. Naruto was able to take in many features about a person with a simple look; he was that good. The skill had happened to be something Naruto picked up after years of mixed hatreds towards him. He needed to know if someone was a potential threat.
Twenty minutes later, and the man still kept his distance. Naruto was getting irritated, and decided that he would confront the man himself. Taking his time, the boy walked in the direction of the black-haired stranger. A small smile seemed to appear on his face, although the seven year old couldn't see why.
The two opposites stood head-to-head. Well, more like head-to-belly-button, as their height's were quite different.
There was a moment of silence before the taller of the two knelt down and smiled at his opposite.
"You wouldn't happen to be Naruto Uzumaki, would you?" Naruto knew he didn't need to answer, as the man clearly knew that he was, in fact, Naruto Uzumaki. Formalities were formalities, he supposed.
"Can I help you?" Naruto's eyes slimmed at this; trust was not something that was easily found when it came to the demon container. However, that didn't mean he couldn't be polite; the man seemed to like formalities.
"I came to Konoha to offer you training." His innocent smile only widening.
Naruto chose his words carefully, as this man may have been serious. "I don't know you. What's so special about me anyways? Don't you know who I am?"
"I know exactly who you are, Naruto, and believe it or not, you happen to have incredible potential to be a great ninja!"
"Let's walk." Summoning up a chuckle from the man, the duo took a stroll through Konoha, and ended up back near Naruto's nearly-abandoned apartment.
"I don't know if you were serious about training or not, but I want to know what's so special about me, and why you chose me to become a ninja."
"Why don't you sit down? You may not like what you hear."
The duo took their seat on the curb, and the story began. " I assume you know about the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and how the fourth Hokage defeated it?" Naruto nodded. "Seven years ago, when the demon attacked, the Yondaime Hokage stood against it, in a battle like no other. However, the Kyuubi was simply too strong to be killed. So, instead of fighting a battle that was already lost, the Yondaime sacrificed himself sealing the Kyuubi into a newborn child." Naruto let this information sink in before the man finished. "The child that contains the Kyuubi no Kitsune, his name, is Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto's eyes widened at this. He didn't want to believe it, but it seemed so obvious now. He knew that he was born the day of the attack, and it made complete sense. Konoha hated him because of what was inside of him. But he wasn't a demon, it was only sealed inside of him!
The man watched as the boy's face turned from shock, to realization, and then finally to anger. He looked like he was going to cry, but he must've forced the tears back, since none were shed.
"Naruto, I want to train you to become a legend. You will become a warrior that would rival a Kage. You could make sure that your childhood is not repeated with another. You can prove that you are an exceptional ninja, that you are not simply the container for some demon! You have incredible potential, and I can bring that out of you. Konoha's ninja academy is filled with teachers that show the same hate towards you as the rest of the village."
Naruto was silent for a long time, but he wasn't pressured into talking. He knew this man was right, his dream of becoming the Hokage seemed so far-fetched now. His teachers wouldn't teach him anything, and nobody would recognize him for what a great ninja he could become. But… this man, he could teach him the art of the ninja. Naruto would prove himself to be not just the best Konoha shinobi, but rather the greatest shinobi to ever walk the earth. Naruto smiled.
"I agree to train with you...-" Naruto couldn't finish the sentence, as the man still remained anonymous.
Said man rested his hand on Naruto's shoulder and replied, "you can call me Tobi-sensei."
Author's Note: This is the prologue to an idea that was been plaguing the depths of my brain for some time. I'm not much of a writer, since I seem to lack the skills to display emotion in words. However, I wanted to write this story, just to see how it would turn out. On a side note: I'm Canadian, so you'll probably notice some spelling differences from the stand American English. Also, I don't thoroughly check over my work, nor do I have an editor, so spelling and grammatical mistakes are inevitable.
Hope you enjoyed the prologue! :3 - Ecksido