A/N: Well people I'm finally back from my seven month hiatus and I bring forth a new story for your consideration. As with all of my work, this will be a strong Naruto fic with a pairing to be confirmed later. There will be brutal violence, excessive swearing and, should inspiration hit, lemons. This is far from my best work, but after so long, I'm just happy to have been able to write anything. Anyway, this is a fairly unexplored idea and I think it may turn out interesting. Enjoy!
Unstoppable
Chapter 1
"Yondaime-sama, you must come quick, a demon is attacking the village!" a nameless chuunin cried desperately as he burst into the Hokage's office.
Minato Namekaze, Yondaime Hokage of Konoha was immediately on his feet.
"The Kyuubi is here? Shit! Why the hell would it be attacking us?" the blond asked no one, confused at the actions of the beast long proclaimed as the defender of Fire country.
"Forgive me Hokage-sama, but it is not the Kyuubi no Kitsune, it's the Hachibi no Kyogyu!" the chuunin corrected, his tone growing more frantic by the moment.
"The Hachibi? What the fuck is the bull/octopus doing so far from Lightning Country?" Minato demanded, even more confused by this revelation.
"Forgive me if I'm out of line sir, but does it really matter right now? We need to do something before it reaches the village!"
The young Hokage nodded.
"Gather as many ninja as you can and hold the demon off for as long as possible. I need to take care of a few things, but I will be there as soon as possible."
Minato waited till the chuunin left before activating his infamous Hiraishin Jutsu, leaving behind nothing but a bright flash and the aura of a man who was about to do something he would probably regret for the rest of eternity.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::14 years later::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
It had been a long fourteen years since the fateful night when the Hachibi attacked Konoha. The village had been rebuilt and even managed to grow larger, but still the wounds of what was lost that night were felt by all of those that survived. Though, for one particular boy, this was more literal than for most of the village's other occupants. This boy was Naruto Uzumaki.
For some unknown reason, or at least it was unknown to him, the vast majority of the people living in Konoha, both ninja and civilian, decided to take out all the pain, anger and hatred they felt because of the attack, on him exclusively.
Naruto had, since he was pretty much capable of doing so, wondered why it was that they chose him.
As far as he knew, he was nothing particularly special. He was an orphan, like so many children were following that terrible night. He had blond hair and blue eyes, a rarity in Konoha, but hardly just cause for child cause and attempted murder. The only thing that could be considered unique about young Naruto, were the two small lumps on his forehead, one positioned a few inches above each eye.
Granted his "horns" were quite strange, but in a village that included whole clans of people with pupil-less eyes or swarms of bugs living inside them, he found it hard to believe that they were the reason for his pariah-ship.
Shaking his head to clear the familiar, but currently unhelpful train of thoughts, Naruto returned to the large scroll he was reading.
'Focus Naruto! You have to learn a technique from this scroll or they'll send you back to the damn academy for another year.' he mentally scolded himself.
The scroll in question was the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, or at least that's what it had said on the shelf Naruto had stolen it from.
Usually the blond would never do such a thing, but after failing his academy graduation exam for the second year in a row, he had been approached by one of his teachers, who told him of the alternate exam. It basically entailed Naruto stealing the scroll from its guarded location in the Hokage's office and learning one the high level techniques that it contained.
Finally, after more than two hours of intensive practice, he had managed to successfully complete the first technique, the Kage Bunshin Jutsu.
And just in time too, as Iruka, his other sensei from the academy, suddenly leapt from the trees surrounding the small forest clearing.
"Naruto! What the hell do you think you're doing?" the chuunin yelled, the rage and disappointment in the man's voice clearly evident, and thoroughly confusing for the young blond.
"What do you mean Iruka-sensei? I'm completing the alternate graduation exam. I took the scroll from the tower and even managed to learn one of the jutsu inside, just like Mizuki-sensei told me to." Naruto replied, only growing more confused as Iruka's expression darkened during his explanation.
"Naruto come with me now! We need to get to the village before-" Iruka started, only to be cut off by a gruff voice from the other side of the clearing.
"Before what, Iruka?" the voice taunted snidely.
"Mizuki!" the scar faced chuunin yelled as his long time comrade emerged from the tree line, a vile smirk on his face and two huge shuriken on his back.
"What's going on Mizuki? Why have you done this?" Iruka demanded, trying to understand the situation.
"Why? Why? You of all people should know why Iruka!" Mizuki roared furiously. "I lost everything fourteen years ago in the attack, just like you and so many others. Yet while we suffer and grieve, the monster that slaughtered our families struts around the village like it's done nothing wrong! It even took the form of the Yondaime to torment us further! I refuse to live in a village that allows a demon like that," the irate chuunin indicated to the very confused form of Naruto, "to spit on my family's sacrifice with its continued existence."
"What are you talking about? I've never hurt anybody?" Naruto insisted, becoming quite frightened by the crazed look on Mizuki's face.
"Don't act like you don't know what you are, demon! Just because that fool the Sandaime created that law to keep it a secret, doesn't mean we don't all know about the sealing anyway!"
"What sealing? What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto demanded, having become frustrated by the chuunin's evasive answers.
"Playing ignorant to the end, huh? Fine, I'll play along."
"No Mizuki, you must not speak about that, it's forbidden!" Iruka pleaded, only to be ignored.
"Fourteen years ago Konoha was suddenly attacked by one of the legendary demon lords, the Hachibi no Kyogyu. The ninja of the village fought hard to protect their homes and families, but nothing worked and many were killed by the evil creature. After the battle had been raging for hours and the beast was nearly at the village gates, the Yondaime appeared upon his summon, Gamabunta. The Hokage ordered everyone to retreat and before anyone knew what had happened there was a bright flash of light and the Hachibi vanished. When the ninja returned to the battlefield, they found the dead body of the Yondaime and a newborn baby with a complex seal on its stomach."
Naruto's entire body was frozen as he realised the implications of the story. He would have laughed in disbelief had Iruka's pained face not confirmed it as true. And with an almost audible click, the puzzle pieces fell together and realisation dawned on the teen.
"That's right you filthy demon, that baby was you. You are the Hachibi no Kyogyu!" Mizuki yelled. "And now I'm going to finish the work that the Yondaime started, by killing you once and for all!"
Naruto's body was still frozen as the traitorous chuunin hurled one of his giant shuriken at him.
Squeezing his eyes tightly closed, time seemed to slow for Naruto as he heard the distinctive sound of death approaching, followed by the dull thud and squelch of flesh being pierced.
Slowly, cautiously, Naruto opened his eyes as he felt a confusing lack of pain, only for them to fully snap open in shock as he found his vision blocked by the slumped and raggedly breathing form of his favourite sensei.
"I-Iruka-sensei? Why?" he asked as he caught the injured man before he could fall to the ground.
"Because while you may have a monster inside you...you're no demon. You're just a lonely kid looking for attention, just like I was. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful to you over the years Naruto. I was just too afraid of the stupid villagers to do the right thing. Learn from my mistake Naruto, never let anyone stop you from doing what you feel is right."
Naruto nodded, tears streaming down his face as he felt his beloved sensei's body start to go limp.
"Stay strong Naruto. And know that no matter what happens, I'll always be here watching over you." Iruka whispered weakly as the life drained from his eyes and his spirit passed on.
"I always said that his idiotic compassion would be the death of him one day. What a pointless sacrifice, I'm just going to kill you anyway. The fool threw his life away for nothing." Mizuki declared coldly, his voice showing no regret for the death of his long term partner.
"Shut up." Naruto growled darkly as he gave his sensei one more embrace, and then moved to stand.
"You say you hate me for dishonouring the sacrifices the people of Konoha made, yet you do the same thing with Iruka-sensei. I may have a demon sealed inside of me, but you're the fucking monster here." The blond stated as he pulled a kunai from Iruka's pouch and slipped into a fighting stance.
"Who cares wha-"
"I care!" Naruto roared, cutting Mizuki off. "And for what you did to Iruka-sensei...I'm going to kill you!"
Before the chuunin could blink, Naruto was upon him, slashing wildly with his blade, managing to score a few deep cuts before the more experienced ninja snapped out of his surprise and began to defend himself.
Mizuki grunted as he blocked the enraged demon container's slash with a kunai of his own.
"Not bad, brat. But you'll have to do a lot better than that to defeat me!" the traitor taunted before suddenly increasing his speed and landing a vicious kick to the blonde's stomach, sending him flying into a tree.
Immediately after the impact Naruto released a horrific shriek of pain, as four kunai were embedded in each of his limbs, pinning him to the trunk.
"You know, for years it's been speculated as to what would be the best way to kill you without releasing the demon from the seal." Mizuki stated conversationally as he strolled over to the immobilised teen.
"Some said that a simple kunai to the heart would do it. Others claimed we should incinerate you so there wasn't even a trace left. But me, I came up with a different theory." he declared proudly, crouching at the glowering blonde's feet.
"It occurred to me, that the best way to hurt the beast, would be to strike at it directly, and since it's now housed within your abdomen, that's the obvious target. But then came the more difficult question, 'how do you kill a beast that is nothing more than sentient chakra?' For quite a while I was stuck on this point, then one day it suddenly hit me, 'to kill chakra, you must use chakra'. "
The story paused as he ripped open Naruto's jacket and shirt to reveal the boy's stomach and drew a strange knife from his holster.
"This blade is made from a special material which can conduct chakra." As if on cue, the weapon started to glow a vibrant blue.
"Any final words demon filth?" the chuunin taunted with a wicked smile, which diminished slightly when his captive smiled.
"Yeah, you're not leaving this clearing alive."
Pressing the blade to the boy's abdomen enough for him to feel it, Mizuki sneered. "What the hell are you talking about brat?"
His grip on the weapon faltered slightly when the blonde laughed.
"Can't you feel it? There are more than a dozen high level chakra signatures approaching at faster than jounin speed, which means that the Hokage and his personal anbu will be arriving here in less than a minute. You're fucked, Mizuki-teme." Naruto taunted with a pained grin.
The traitor's eyes burned with hatred as he felt the incoming chakra too, knowing that the demon was right. There was no way he would survive the night, not after killing a fellow Konoha nin. Turning his hate filled gaze back onto the horned source of all his problems, he grinned evilly.
"A may die here tonight brat, but Iruka and I won't be the only ones!" he cried as he rammed his chakra loaded blade to the hilt in the center of the spiraling seal, taking great pleasure in the boy's agonised scream.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened in horror as he heard the tortured scream he recognised as belonging to Naruto.
He had been following the blonde's actions with his viewing orb and had not thought it necessary to intervene until it was too late and Iruka had been fatally wounded. He had immediately set out with his personal anbu squad, hoping to reach the scene before Mizuki delivered on his promise to kill the young container.
But from the sound of that scream, he may already be too late.
Redoubling his pace, he arrived in the clearing moments later as a massive torrent of demonic chakra exploded violently from the wounded boy's body.
Snapping his head to the side at a twig breaking behind him, the aged Hokage found his veteran anbu companions staring at the scene in terror that could be recognised even through their masks.
"What should we do Hokage-sama? The seal is breaking!" the rat masked ninja asked frantically.
"Tenzou!" Sarutobi yelled, summoning the anbu captain, who was immediately at his side. "Can you restrain him?"
"No Hokage-sama. My manipulation is not powerful enough to deal with this much demonic chakra. The most I could do would be to set up a containment field that might slow him down and keep the surrounding area from the toxicity." the captain answered monotonously.
"Very well, do so immediately. We'll just have to hope that Naruto's will is strong enough to maintain control." the Sandaime stated wearily, feeling his age more than ever.
It had taken more than an hour for the tainted chakra to die down enough for Tenzou to use his suppression technique and bring it under control.
Moments afterwards, the Hokage was at the side of the blonde he considered a grandson, though to be honest, it was hard to recognise the stationary figure as the horned mischief maker.
His form had changed drastically as a result of the seal's rupture and the subsequent outpouring of demonic power.
He had grown almost exponentially, from his starting height of barely five feet to easily over six and a half, maybe even seven feet tall. His muscle mass had also increased dramatically, from a borderline malnourished teen to that of a lean fighter or athlete. His horns too had changed, having now emerged from the skin, the blood red protrusions reached a full two inches at the sharp tip.
Shaking himself to regain his composure, Sarutobi stood from his crouched position and turned to his most trusted subordinates. Having sent most of the squad off to secure the perimeter, only Tenzou, Eagle and Cat remained.
"Eagle, use your Byakugan to scan him." he ordered, getting a nod from the masked Hyuuga.
"There don't seem to be any major differences from the network of a normal shinobi, except of course that his coils are at least five times larger than even the Yondaime's and the normal chakra has been completely replaced with demonic chakra. Other than that, everything seems to be fine."
"That's a relief at least. We'll need to take him the hospital for a full medical scan to make sure the demonic chakra isn't harmful and there are no other complications."
"What of Mizuki, Hokage-sama? I haven't seen a trace of him since we entered the clearing." the cat masked anbu asked as he moved to help Eagle lift the enormous blond.
"You're standing on him." the old man replied simply, causing the younger nin to look to his feet where he found nothing but particularly sooty dirt.
"Standing that close to an eruption of demonic chakra, I'm surprised there's even that much left of the traitor." Sarutobi continued thoughtfully as they left the clearing with their unconscious passenger.
Naruto slowly opened his eyes to find himself staring at the familiar ceiling of one Konoha's hospital rooms.
"Glad to see you're finally awake Naruto. You had us worried for a while there." a familiar voice greeted warmly.
"Jiijii?" the blond rasped as he turned to see the kind face of the Hokage smiling down at him.
"That's right. How are you feeling Naruto?" the old man asked as he passed the boy a cup of water.
Sighing at the soothing effect the liquid had on his dry throat, Naruto's eyes suddenly clouded with sadness.
"So it was real then? Mizuki did trick me and Ir...Iruka-sensei is really dead." he stated softly, choking back a sob at his beloved teacher's name.
"I'm afraid so Naruto. But you shouldn't feel too bad for Iruka. He died protecting someone he cared for deeply, that is how he would have wanted it to be."
Naruto nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes.
Sarutobi noticed the boy seemed to hesitate, as if he was trying to decide if he should ask a particular question. "What's the matter Naruto? You know you can talk to me about anything."
Taking a deep breath and gathering his will, Naruto turned to the man he considered family more than any other.
"What Mizuki said...about the demon...it was true, wasn't it?"
The Hokage let out a weary sigh. "Partially. Whilst it is true that the Hachibi was sealed inside of you, you were never a demon. And apart from your horns and rapid healing, you were never affected by its presence...at least until Mizuki ruptured the seal with that damn knife."
"What do you mean ruptured? The Hachibi didn't get free did it?" the blonde asked frantically.
"No, no, no. In fact, in that aspect Mizuki's plan actually worked. As far as we can tell, the Hachibi was completely destroyed and all of its power was transferred to you."
"Does that mean that I'm a demon now?" Naruto asked, his eyes practically radiating depression and self loathing.
"Honestly? We're not sure." Sarutobi replied, wincing when the boy hung his head. "What we are sure of though, is this: no matter what you look like, no matter what you technically are, it is what's inside that determines who you are and what you do. And at the end of the day, that is all that truly matters."
Naruto lost his battle for control and let the tears flow as he grasped the old man in desperate embrace.
It was a few minutes later when the blond regained his composure and pulled back as his eyes suddenly widened.
"Jiijii, what did you mean when you said it didn't matter what I looked like?"
Releasing a nervous chuckle and rubbing the back of his head in a disturbingly accurate imitation of the former container, Sarutobi thought carefully about his answer. "Well Naruto, let me put it to you this way, I'm standing up right now."
Naruto's face scrunched comically as he tried to recognise the significance of that statement. Like a light switch, realisation dawned and he stared down at his body, which now towered over the Hokage, even when he was seated and the old man stood.
"I'm tall!" he declared with excitement only attainable by someone who has yearned for something their entire life and finally received it.
Grinning widely, Naruto shifted his position and tried to get out of the bed, only to fall flat on his face in front of the snickering Hokage.
"Perhaps you should take things slow until you are more accustomed to your new size." Sarutobi suggested as he helped the boy stand, letting him lean on the wall for support.
"Holy crap! I'm huge!" he declared as he stood at his full height and almost head butted the ceiling.
"Maybe we should go for a walk, Naruto. It will help you adjust and it'll give up a chance to discuss some things."
Naruto took note of the serious tone in the powerful old man's voice and knew it was in his best interest to agree.
"Sure Jiijii. Do you happen to have any proper clothes though? I don't really feel like walking around the village in a hospital gown that barely reaches my butt."
Sarutobi blinked and looked down, only to quickly look away as he realised the boy, no, man, was somewhat...exposed in his current attire.
After receiving, and modifying, a spare uniform from one of the Sandaime's ever present anbu bodyguards, they were ready to leave, though Naruto did complain that he looked too "piratey" with the pants that barely passed his knees and the shirt that they'd had to turn into a makeshift vest, since it wouldn't fit around his chest or arms. They'd also used one of the discarded sleeves as a headband to cover his new horns, which would only bring unwanted attention from the villagers.
After staggering awkwardly for half an hour around the village, Naruto managed to find his stride as they reached one of the village's training grounds.
"What are we doing here Jiijii?" the blond giant asked as he looked around, thoroughly enjoying the new perspective his height had given him.
"As I said before, there are few things that we need to discuss."
"And they're the sort of things best discussed in a secluded location where no one can hear us?"
The Sandaime nodded as he sat down and indicated for Naruto to do the same.
"As you have probably realised, your containment of the Hachibi was the main reason for your...treatment by the villagers over the years. And, whilst the demon's demise may cause some to change their attitude towards you in a positive way-"
"The majority of them are probably going to take this as proof that I am the demon they always said I was." the blonde concluded, getting a saddened nod from the Hokage. "So, what are we going to do? I can't exactly hide the changes and I'm willing to bet most of the ninja at least, felt the chakra release from when the seal was destroyed."
"As far as the official record is concerned, you had nothing to do with Mizuki's treachery. Iruka managed to kill him and stop his plot, but not before he was fatally wounded." Hiruzen stated firmly in his "Hokage voice".
"And my changes?"
"Since no one but myself and my student Jaraiya knew the inner workings of the seal, we will say that the Yondaime designed the seal so that you would absorb the demon after your body reached a state where such a thing could happen safely, which is actually true, it just wasn't meant to happen for about another decade or so."
"They're still not going to be happy with the idea of me wielding this kind of power."
"Which is why you are going to be sent on a special training trip with one of my anbu, so you can learn to control and utilise your new abilities and, therefore, become a powerful defender of the village. The council and ninja will appreciate that logic, as will the smarter civilians."
"What new abilities? I thought I just got more chakra." Naruto questioned, confused by the Hokage's choice of words.
"That's what we had initially thought too, but while you were in the hospital we discovered something amazing."
"Really? What is it?" the blonde asked excitedly.
"It happened when a nurse tried to take some blood from you with a syringe." Sarutobi started, but then paused as if considering something. "Actually, it might be easier if I just showed you." he declared as he walked over to the blond and pulled out a kunai from beneath his robe.
"What're you gonna do with tha- Ah, what the hell Jiijii?" Naruto screamed as the old man slashed at his arm.
"Look at the wound." Sarutobi instructed with a grin.
Taking the advice, Naruto was shocked to find that his skin was completely unmarked.
"What the hell?"
"Watch." The Hokage instructed as he raised the kunai and tried to stab into the giant teen's arm, only for it to completely fail to penetrate his skin.
"That's incredible! It just feels like you're lightly poking me with your finger, it doesn't hurt at all!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Yes it's quite remarkable. We were curious to test the limits of your defense, but with you unconscious it just didn't seem right."
Naruto grinned as he realised that "the Professor" barely managing to reign in his curiosity. "Alright Jiijii, let's see what this freaky skin can do."
The grin that spread across the old man's face almost made the blonde nervous.
"Anbu!" he called, immediately resulting in four masked figures appearing before them.
"Let the experimentation begin." Sarutobi stated with what was very nearly a sadistic grin.
An hour later, Naruto had been stabbed, slashed, smacked, whacked, burnt, zapped and crushed by every weapon, jutsu and attack that the Hokage and his four anbu could come up with, and they had managed to draw some conclusions.
With the exception of ridiculously large swords like zambatou, Naruto was pretty much completely impervious to blades, unless they were enhanced with chakra, but even then the damage was greatly reduced when compared to a normal person.
In terms of blunt force trauma, it was much the same as with blades, in fact, it was only after they had resorted to A-rank jutsu and King Enma's staff form that they caused any real damage to the blond.
Unfortunately, his resistance to elemental damage was not as extreme. He could brush off C-rank fire, wind or lightning jutsu, but a solid B-rank could still burn, shock or cut him.
Having finished testing to, what the Sandaime felt was a reasonable degree, the old man now sat across from the young blond, who had been forced to replace his outfit after it quickly became apparent that his invincibility did not pass on to clothing.
"Well Naruto, now that we've thoroughly tested the limits of your inbuilt armour, I believe it's time for us to discuss your upcoming training trip." Sarutobi stated after getting comfortable and lighting his pipe.
"Ok. What're the details?" Naruto asked, getting a smile from the Hokage, who was glad he could be serious when the situation called for it.
"You will be leaving tomorrow morning with Tenzou, one of my most trusted anbu captains. You will be travelling to a remote area of Fire country, where you will be able to train your new abilities without having to worry about spies or innocent bystanders. This is for the best as I suspect that your demonic chakra will lend itself more towards mass destruction than subtlety, and until you get it under control it may be harmful to others."
"Doesn't that mean that your anbu will be in danger?" The blond asked with notable concern in his voice.
The Sandaime gave the kind hearted boy a comforting smile. "You don't have to worry about Tenzou, not only is he one of the village's most powerful shinobi, but he also possesses the mokuton bloodline of the Shodaime, which lets him suppress demonic chakra, so he will be able to restrain you should you lose control."
Naruto nodded appreciatively as that had been one of his main concerns, he had heard once, that demonic chakra contained latent bloodlust, which had been known to cause other jinchuruki to lose control.
"How long are we going for?"
"A year at most, maybe shorter if Tenzou decides the full time isn't necessary. Either way, you will be back in time for the gennin exam and team placements."
The sun had barely breached the horizon the next morning when Naruto left the village with his new sensei, neither sparing a glance back as they started off on their journey.
Chapter End
A/N: As I said, far from my best, but better than a lot of the shit I've been reading recently. Special points will be awarded to anyone who can guess which character I got the inspiration the new Naruto from. Next chapter will arrive eventually, till then, let me know what you think.
Mr Chunk
P.S. For those waiting on updates on my other stories, sorry, but they probably won't be coming for a long while, if at all.