Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto
Italics means personal thoughts
Prologue:
Everyone has recessive and dominant traits. These traits make up how a person is. Whether they have blonde or brown hair or black eyes or green is all determined by these traits. When it came to a ninja's ancestry though, these traits take on a greater role. These traits can determine whether a person gets a kekkai genkai... or not.
The thing about kekkai genkai was that as long as there was a person with the bloodline somewhere in direct familial connection, then somewhere down the line another person could have that bloodline even though they could be generations apart. It all came down to genetics... and a lot of luck in some cases. In one particular case, a lot of luck was an understatement. What this person received could be considered Lady Luck herself turning luck in his favor, for it had been a very distant cousin with just the tiniest bit of blood connection between them. Through genetics and a shit-load of luck, Naruto Uzumaki gained a kekkai genkai. The problem was that no one knew it.
Chapter 1:
Naruto Uzumaki was a boy who wanted one thing. Well, two things, but one came out of desire from the other. Naruto wanted acknowledgement. Almost no one in Konoha gave him acknowledgement, and Naruto was determined to gain it by one way or another. He had even decided on the method in which he would gain acknowledgement. He was going to get a summoning contract! Then the summons would acknowledgement him, and everyone would respect him for having a cool summons!
Naruto had learned of the summons and contracts from Iruka-sensei's latest lecture. It had centered on the information of the Sennin, and how each one had their own animal summon. Naruto was over-joyed to find out that he could have a whole specie of animals acknowledge him just by signing some piece of paper. After class he had immediately gone to see the Hokage on how he could get a summoning contract.
Busting through the door, Naruto found the Hokage doing paperwork. "Jiji! I need a summoning contract!" Naruto shouted excitedly. He then bent over panting. He had run all the way from the Academy at top speed.
Sarutobi sweat-dropped at the scene before him. Naruto-kun, his pseudo grandson, had just bust into his office shouting something about summoning. That wasn't a scene Sarutobi saw everyday. Now all he had to figure out was why Naruto-kun wanted a summoning contract considering the boy was only seven years old.
"Naruto-kun, can you please explain to me why you need a summoning contract?" Sarutobi asked patiently. When it came to dealing with Naruto Uzumaki, patience was the best way to go. Naruto was usually too hyper for anything else. Patience was the only way to deal with the boy without going totally insane.
"Well, if I get a summoning contract then the animal summons would have to acknowledge me." Naruto pointed out with his seven year old logic. "Also the villagers will acknowledge me because I have an animal summon. I mean, they acknowledge the Sennin, and the Sennin have animal summons. When I get my animal summons, they will respect me, and they will no longer look down on me." Naruto finished proudly. He couldn't wait to get his contract.
Sarutobi was, to put it simply, surprised. He had no idea that Naruto's outlook had been so focused on acknowledgement. Of course Sarutobi knew that the boy wanted to be respected, but to get a summoning contract based solely on that fact? It was quite strange. It was also worrying. If the boy never got the acknowledgement he strived for, what would he do then? Sarutobi was worried indeed. Worried so much in fact that he decided to actually give Naruto some help.
"Well, I am sad to inform you that I don't know of any contracts laying around anywhere." Sarutobi slowly said. "But I can give you a book that will tell you all you need to know about the summoning jutsu. It should help you later on in life when you do get a summoning contract because I know you will get one someday Naruto-kun." Sarutobi finished with a smile.
Naruto's face had at first fallen when Jiji started speaking, but he soon broke into a wide grin when he heard the confidence in the Hokage's voice. Naruto knew that he would always be acknowledged by Hokage-jiji. It was always uplifting to know that someone was always there for him, no matter how bad it got in the village.
Sarutobi got up and walked to a bookshelf in his office. Carefully scrounging through titles, he finally came to the one he wanted. Summoning and All That Comes With It written by Sarutobi Hiruzen. He was quite proud of the book which he had written around twenty years earlier. It listed detailed reports of everything the summoning jutsu could do including partial summons and specialty summons. The book also listed many of the summoning contracts located in the world though the locations themselves were missing.
Sarutobi handed the book over to Naruto who was looked very excited. Naruto was in truth very happy. First he would learn all he could, and next he would get himself a summoning contract one way or another. He took the book from Hokage-jiji's hands and started flipping through it right there. The first page listed all the different animals and tiers of summoning. Naruto was amazed at all the different possibilities. He couldn't wait to get his hands on one of those contracts!
Sarutobi chuckled as he watched Naruto tear through the book. The boy could hardly sit still during class, but get him something he truly enjoyed and he would devour it in no time. Naruto would be much smarter if he would take that approach to all his studies, but alas it was not to be. Sarutobi's smile turned sad though as he saw just how much Naruto resembled Minato-kun. Both had the same look as they quickly read a new book that grabbed their interest. It was uncanny.
Sarutobi turned back to his paperwork after he saw that Naruto wasn't going anywhere. Naruto was totally absorbed in his book. The sounds of paper turning, pen scratching, and a stamp stamping soon filled the office. Hours passed as each individual was focused solely on what they were doing. Finally the sun was just about to set, and Sarutobi was almost ready to call it a day.
Naruto was in a world all his own. He didn't notice the time passing except for an occasional growl from his stomach which he quickly repressed. He wanted to know everything he could about each animal, and what they could do. One thing that really amazed him was that he could summon just a part of an animal that was specially designed to complete an objective. The best example Naruto found was where Jiraiya summoned the stomach of a toad to trap enemies. There were also ways to summon more than one thing at a time. It was fascinating!
Towards the end of the book, Naruto finally found just what he was looking for. The hand-seals! He was so giddy he was shaking. He couldn't wait to try them out! Slowly shaping each seal, Naruto ran through them a couple of times. Naruto wanted to practice because he just knew that he would have a contract soon, and after the contract would come acknowledgement. Faster and faster he did the hand-seals until he was just about ready to declare himself satisfied. Deciding to try it one more time, Naruto decided to put chakra into the hand-seals to check out how it would feel when he had his contract. Not thinking anything would go wrong, Naruto channeled his chakra and performed the hand-seals.
Looking up quickly at the spike of chakra in the room, Sarutobi quickly saw Naruto performing some hand-seals. Eyes widening at what he was seeing, the Hokage quickly jumped up to try to stop Naruto before it was too late.
"Naruto! Stop!" Sarutobi yelled out. It was too late though. As Naruto looked up with a confused look on his face, he was suddenly engulfed in a plume of smoke. Sarutobi was shocked. He couldn't believe this was happening! I should have been paying better attention! Why the hell did I give the boy the book anyway! It had totally slipped my mind that i had written the hand-seals in there, but that is no excuse! The book was only meant for high-classed shinobi, so why the hell did he give it to a little kid!
As Sarutobi berated himself, he quickly called in his ANBU. "Quickly summon Kakashi and Anko. Hurry!" He barked out. He was furious with himself! This mistake should have never happened. Sarutobi only hoped that it was not too late to fix the mess he had made. Running through the hand-seals, Sarutobi cried out, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
An old monkey suddenly appeared in the office. The monkey looked around him curiously. It had been a while since he had been summoned, and he was not expecting to be summoned inside an office.
"What do you need, Sarutobi?" Enma asked with a confused look on his face. Enma was used to battles, not offices.
"Enma, I need you to search your home to see if a young boy was just reverse summoned there! Naruto Uzumaki, a blonde seven year old, was just practicing the summoning jutsu when he placed chakra into the jutsu and was reverse summoned. I need you to see if you can find him. Now!" Sarutobi shouted. There could be no delay. Naruto-kun could end up in many bad places where the summons would more likely eat him than anything. The boy had to be found!
Enma looked at his summoner strangely before giving an amused chortle. First the man's own apprentice reverse summons himself while practicing the jutsu, and now another boy does the same thing. Sarutobi should just stop trying to teach anyone this jutsu, Enma thought in amusement. He reverse summoned himself to go about his summoner's orders.
"Damn it! Why can't Jiraiya and Tsunade be in the village when I need them? If they were here, I could cross two more animals off the list on where Naruto-kun could be." Sarutobi muttered to himself. Just then he heard a knock on his door. With a quick shout to enter, Kakashi and Anko both came in.
"Finally! Took you both long enough." Hokage-sama said impatiently. Kakashi and Anko looked at each other in confusion. They had both thought they had made haste in answering the summons. Kakashi had even not bothered being late because of the use of ANBU to summon him. That was not normally done. He should know; he was in ANBU.
"Naruto Uzumaki has just reverse summoned himself into a summons's home. The problem is that I have no clue which animal it was. Your job is to get your summon to search their home and try to locate Naruto. Now!" The Hokage ordered.
Kakashi and Anko's eyes widened after hearing what happened. They quickly bit their thumbs and made the hand-seals. Appearing in the room was a small pug and a three foot long snake. Anko and Kakashi gave their orders quickly. Both summons nodded before disappearing back to their realm to start looking.
Sarutobi was besides himself with worry. He knew of the dangers different summons presented. Thats not even including if any animal actually tested Naruto to see if he could sign the contract. That would open a whole new can of problems. A species by itself was enough worry for the old man right now. If Naruto somehow ended up with the shark summons, I shudder at the thought. I mean the boy doesn't even know how to swim! This could go so wrong. Minato-kun... have I failed your legacy already!? Sarutobi thought in despair.
With Naruto:
Naruto was confused. He was just in Hokage-jiji's office, and now he found himself here. Wherever here was. Looking around, Naruto noticed that the main feature around him was very dull colors. There were lots of brown, dark green, and even a very dark purple which Naruto was sure shouldn't be found in nature. What took him even more by surprise was that all the colors were almost too dull. It was like someone had brightened them way past what they should look like... just in reverse.
Naruto found that wherever he was, it was going to take him forever to get back to Konoha. Surrounding him on all sides were what looked like mountains. Naruto couldn't be sure, but it really seemed like he was in some huge valley eclipsed on all sides. Inside the valley Naruto noticed some trees to the south, what seemed like a lake to the north, a swamp to the east, and caves to the west. All in all, it seemed like a separate world all in a single valley. Naruto was awed. Then he heard the hissing.
Naruto looked around slowly as he could hear a hissing sound coming from all around him. What he found scared the hell out of him. Gulping, Naruto turned the other way hoping there was something he could do. Unfortunately, the other way was blocked too. Naruto was surrounded on all sides. Slowly slithering on the ground and coming in from all directions were snakes. A number beyond counting was encircling the bewildered blonde, and frankly, it was scaring the shit out of him.
"Nice snakes," Naruto muttered in fear as the snakes kept getting close to him. "Good snakes. You don't want to hurt me right? I like snakes. I mean I help out every snake I see in Konoha." Naruto stuttered badly. "Do you know where Konoha is? Please take me there." Naruto pleaded. He was really getting desperate.
Naruto suddenly saw a path being cleared through the snakes on his right. Thinking his prayers were answered, Naruto made his way for the path. His prayers were quickly dashed as the snakes closest to him formed ranks. What scared him even further though was a huge white snake coming through the cleared path. That particular snake was much bigger and deadlier looking than the other brown snakes around him. If Naruto had to guess, he would say that it was the boss snake.
"Hss, Human," The snake hissed menacingly. Naruto was shocked... to the point of almost fainting. "How did you end up here, Manling?" The white snake asked.
"Um... the last thing I remember I was practicing the hand-seals to the summoning jutsu with chakra added, and the next thing I know is that I am here. Um... where is here Mr. Snake, Sir." Naruto asked with a slight tremble in his voice. Naruto was trying not to show it, but he was scared to death. Here he was, a seven year old kid, and he was surrounded by probably thousands of snakes with one talking to him. Naruto figured he had good reason to be terrified.
"Hisisisis," said the snake. Naruto really didn't know what that meant, but he figured it might be laughing. He just really hoped laughing was a good thing. "This must mean that you are predisposed to summoning snakes. Interesting." Hissed the snake. Naruto brightened at hearing positive words come out of the snakes mouth.
Eyes widening, it finally clicked to Naruto. The snakes around him were summons! That meant that he had partially succeeded in getting a contract! All he had to do now was sign it, and acknowledgement would soon be his. Life was suddenly looking up... except for the part where he was surrounded by thousands of snakes who were looking decidedly hungry.
"Follow me, Human. I will take you to a place where it will be decided if you will be allowed to summon snakes or be eaten. Follow me." So saying, the white snake started slithering away. It was going fast to. Naruto had to start running to catch up. He was amazed that a snake could move that fast.
Naruto saw that they were headed to the caves in the west. Hearing a noise behind him, Naruto turned and saw that the other snakes were following them. He gulped before steeling his nerve and kept running. So what if there were a lot of freaking snakes following him, he wouldn't be scared. Just in case though, Naruto started praying for some good fortune.
Following the white snake into the caves, Naruto found that even though it should have pitch dark there was still some kind of light. He found that there was some lichen growing on the walls that was glowing. It was pretty cool looking. Naruto eventually got bored of staring at the glowing plants, so he started keeping count of all the turns he was making. That eventually got boring too as he quickly went over 100. They seemed to be heading deep into the cave system as well as up.
Naruto had to give it to the cave system; it was huge! They had been in the caves for over an hour, and all they did was climb. The thing that scared Naruto the most though was that he could hear snakes. Not only the ones behind him, but he could also hear them all around him. He occasionally got a glimpse of snakes on the walls and ceiling as well. It was enough to push even Naruto close to hysteria.
Finally the white snake that he was following started slowing down. Meaning Naruto only had to go at a moderate pace to keep up. He carefully made his way through and over the rocks before coming to an opening. Naruto looked around in amazement. He was in a large cavern that opening up to the outside at the far end. Then his eyes got even wider as he saw just what he was sharing the room with. It was literally the largest thing he had ever seen in his life. In front of him was a gigantic purple snake!
"You have got to be kidding me!" Naruto moaned in fear. To make it worse, the room was quickly filing up with snakes that seemed to be coming from everywhere! Dropping from the roof, slithering along the walls, and even coming in from the opening to outside. Naruto noticed some more of the powerful looking white snakes there as well. At that point, Naruto really just wanted to start crying. The only thing that stopped him was the thought of what the snakes would do to him if they thought he was weak. Naruto was determined to get a summoning contract even if he was scared to death.
Naruto noticed that the giant purple snake was starting to move. That was when he realized that the size he thought the snake was, was totally inaccurate. The snake was a whole different beast when it was lying then when it was moving. A very scary beast.
"Who disturbs the great Manda, king of the snakes!" The giant snake hissed angrily. Great, its already angry, Naruto thought in despair. He decided to wing it.
"Manda-sama, my name is Naruto Uzumaki! The white snake that led me here told me that I was predisposed to summoning snakes because I was practicing the summoning jutsu without a contract and I ended up here. I would like to show the world that predisposition. I would like to gain a summoning contract with the snakes!" Naruto stated with fervor. What might have started out weak with fear soon turned to a passionate speech. Naruto was intent on getting acknowledgement, and he knew he would get it if he had a summoning contract.
Manda narrowed his eyes at the small human in front of him. His kin even now surrounded the boy, and yet the boy still wanted a summoning contract. While this fact was slightly interesting, it really did not have any influence over Manda's decision. What did have an influence on his decision was the already high chakra reserves the boy possessed.
Ever since Orochimaru had given that girl the snake contract, Manda had been angry. The girl couldn't even summon the higher level snakes! She was a disgrace to the snakes. Manda wanted to feast on flesh, yet the girl couldn't even summon him! Maybe the boy in front of him could be different...
Manda slowly slithered closer to the blonde boy in front of him. Circling the... Naruto... Manda tasted the air around the boy. Flicking his tongue out, Manda gathered all the information available to him. What he learned intrigued him. The boy tasted of pain and suffering but also of hope and strength. If at his young age he has this large of chakra reserves, I can just imagine him later on. Hisisisis, yes I might just let him summon the snakes, Manda thought amusedly.
Moving his body until he was completely wrapped around the boy, Manda decided to start the testing. He wouldn't allow anyone else to sign the contract unless they passed a series of tests. Manda had learned his lesson from just listening to Orochimaru's advice on that girl. He squeezed tighter and tighter to see if the boy would yell out or cry. Suddenly he struck at the boy's head.
Naruto was scared. There was no denying the fact that he was absolutely terrified. When Manda had wrapped around him, the only thing that kept him quite was his intuition that he was being given a test. Naruto figured that if the snake boss wanted to kill him then he could have just gobbled him up in a second. I probably wouldn't even make a snack. Looking up at the huge jaws, Nope, there is no way I would make a snack.
After these thoughts was when it looked like the snake boss really was going to eat him. Naruto flinched badly as the snake boss snapped at him, but he made sure to keep looking the huge snake in the eye. Naruto figured that any sane person would have flinched too if a snake as big as a small mountain snapped at them.
Manda looked at the boy in his clutches. The boy seemed to have good control over his fear. Even though Manda could taste the stench of fear heavily on the boy, Naruto seemed to not give in to it. That was enough to pass the first portion of his test. Now it is time to see if the boy can take snake venom, Manda chuckled humorously.
"Not bad, Naruto Uzumaki. Let us see if you truly have what it takes to sign the snake contract." Manda hissed menacingly. Manda uncoiled himself from around Naruto. Looking to the white snakes that were in the room, Manda hissed his command. "Bite him."
Naruto's eyes widened at the command. I thought this was a test. How am I supposed to survive if these snakes bite me! Naruto looked on in fear as the seven white snakes in the cavern slithered towards him. The closer they got, the greater his fear. Naruto thought of running, but he knew it was pointless. He was surrounded by thousands of snakes after all. Hoping that the snake boss wasn't trying to kill him outright, Naruto decided to bare the bites without running.
When the seven snakes neared, they swiftly struck. Each white snake was of a higher order than the common snakes. They each were possessed of an intelligence that was not known in any of the smaller snakes. This allowed them to do certain jutsu that did not require hand-seals. They also possessed venom powerful enough to kill a bull in seconds. Their intelligence though allowed them to control the amount of venom they put in their bite. Thus the test by Manda.
Each white snake carried a different venom that would produce different effects in the person bitten. Some caused paralysis throughout the body causing death, while others stimulated the pain receptors in the brain to overload causing strokes. Each venom by itself would cause great pain in a person bitten and eventually death. The snakes did not release enough venom to kill Naruto though, for the poisons would combine together to produce a new poison inside of him. If he survived, Naruto would pass the test.
"Yahhh!" Naruto screamed. Pain filled his mind until all that he could feel was pain. The sound of the snakes, the feel of the rocks under him, and his own screams all faded away to be replaced by the pain of the venom flowing through his body from the bites. "AH ah ah YAH!" Naruto sobbed. "AH!" Curled up in a ball, Naruto alternated between screaming in agony and crying. The snakes looked on impassively. Manda would not accept a weak summoner.
Five minutes passed. Then ten. Naruto continued to scream and thrash around in pain. Slowly his screams subsided until all he could do was moan in pain. Sobs racked the boy as he rocked back and forth on the ground. He didn't care about looking weak in front of his, hopefully, future animal summons. All Naruto cared about was getting through the agony and surviving. Naruto was focused on staying alive.
Thirty minutes passed, and Naruto was finally gaining control of himself. He was extremely lucky that the venom of the snakes that bit him was a short-term venom. The reason it was short-term was because it usually killed in seconds to minutes. Since the snakes used a non-lethal dosage, the venom's effects did not last long. That was not to say that the suffering was not great, it just did not last as long as it could.
Naruto slowly climbed to his feet after spending the last bit of time rolling around on the floor. Struggling his way to his feet, Naruto managed to look Manda in the eyes. He was going to pass the test! Naruto wouldn't accept defeat.
Manda chuckled to himself. The boy might have some potential. Manda mused to himself. The question is if I want to tap into that potential. He won't be able to have the power for a few more years, but maybe my daughter can start instructing the boy in some of the snake jutsus Orochimaru invented...
"I have decided." Manda hissed. "You amuse me boy, and I believe that there is potential in you. I will allow you to sign the snake contract, but you will have to be trained by the snakes." Manda continued looking at the boy as Naruto started smiling. Manda hissed in amusement. The boy would surely give him many sacrifices in the future. All he had to do was be patient while Naruto was trained.
Changing thoughts, Manda decided to drive home the nature of their bargain. He would not have another failure!
"Naruto Uzumaki, I will not have another failure as a summoner." Manda said in warning. "You will be... taken care of if you don't live up to expectations. Do not fail!" Manda finished in a hiss before leaving through the opening that led outside. He had orders to give.
Naruto was surprised. He wasn't expecting to be threatened. Looks like I will just have to be good. I will not fail the snakes! Naruto turned to look at the entrance he came in at. It was still blocked by snakes. He started looking around in confusion. As far as he could see, there was no viable way out of the cave.
A white snake slithered up to Naruto. Opening its mouth, a scroll popped out. "Naruto Uzumaki. Sign this in blood, and you will be the new summoner of the snakes. Do not fail us." Surprised, Naruto quickly used his teeth to cut open his thumb. He signed the scroll with only a slight grimace from the pain. Going through all the trials and fear was forgotten. The only thing in Naruto's mind was the happiness at finally taking the first step to gain acknowledgement.
Then Naruto realized he had no idea on how to get back to Konoha.