Prologue
Ronin... I'm sure you've heard the term before. Ronin were samurai, honorable warriors, who had no lord or master to command them. Samurai became ronin in two kinds of situations. The first was that the samurai's master either died or had fallen. The second, however, was when the samurai lost their master's favor. I am the second kind of ronin. If you wish to know how I came upon the path I walk, then I will tell you. But be warned: the life I lived is not a desirable one.
It all started twelve years ago...
12 Years Ago
The air is filled with the sounds of battle and death. Fearsome roars that shake the earth coat the air with tension and bloodlust like rainwater coats a street. Throughout the village of Konohagakure no Sato, a sense of fear and impending doom is shared between the villagers. At this time, the Kyuubi no Yoko, strongest of the Nine Tailed Demons, or, biju, was attacking the village. Its nine mighty tails could, with one swing, shatter mountains, shake the earth, and cause tsunamis of great heights.
It seemed as though the Kyuubi had appeared out of nowhere, hell-bent on making Konoha see its last day. Waves of Konoha shinobi swarmed the beast, attacking it with every ninjutsu in their arsenal. It seemed that Konoha would indeed be seeing its last day at the tails of the mighty beast. But the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, had one last ace up his sleeve, though it was one he could only use with but a heavy and sorrowful heart. For you see, this day was special for one other reason than the Kyuubi attack.
It was the day the son of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, and Uzumaki Kushina, the heiress to the royal throne of Uzu no Kuni (Land of the Whirlpools), was born.
They had chosen to take Kushina to a secret and protected location to give birth to their son, as not only did they both have many enemies far and wide, which had accumulated over the years, but Kushina was also the former jinchuriki of the Kyuubi itself.
Jinchuriki means "power of the human sacrifice", and is exactly what it means. A jinchuriki is someone with one of the nine tailed beasts sealed into their body. Often times they are used as tools of war, and treated as objects or attack dogs meant for nothing in life than to obey their masters. Jinchuriki are 9 times out of 10 beaten, abused, harassed, assaulted, and even sometimes nearly murdered by their villages, who believe that jinchuriki become that which is inside them; demons.
However, even though the Kyuubi had been sealed into Kushina, it is somehow out and attacking the village. That is because a wicked and black-hearted man in a strange and orange spiral mask appeared out of nowhere almost as soon as the child had been born. He slaughtered the ANBU that were assigned to protect Kushina, as well as her nursemaids, one of whom was Biwako Sarutobi, the wife of the retired Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He then took the child from Kushina and covered the babe in exploding tags. The Yondaime soon arrived, prepared to fight the masked man. However, he could not risk the life of his child, who was now in his first day of infancy. Thus the masked man disappeared with the child, with Minato following him closely. The two were using time-space ninjutsu to warp around, creating an epic clash between two powerful entities. After a long struggle, the masked man threw the child to Minato, proclaiming to the Yondaime that it was not over, and that one day he, Uchiha Madara, would one day return to finish what he started.
As Minato was gingerly but quickly removing the tags from his son, Madara had begun the process of unsealing the Kyuubi from Kushina's body, as a female jinchuriki's seal is weakest when they are about to or have given birth. Minato had arrived just on the scene as the Kyuubi was finally freed from his wife, draining almost all of her chakra, which human beings need to live. The Kyuubi was somehow brought under Madara's control and sent to attack Konoha, with the masked man finally disappearing for good. Minato reassured his wife that everything would be okay, and prepared to do something that was horrifying to him, his wife, and their son. He was preparing to seal the Kyuubi into his son at the cost of his own life.
As many know, the Kyuubi was the strongest of the nine Biju. Biju which have tails numbering 1-4 can all be sealed into common objects, like the Ichibi no Tanuki, which was once sealed into a teapot. However, if a Biju has more than 4 tails, it has to be sealed into a human infant to be kept away "permanently". Most of the Biju with more than four tails can be sealed with some ease into a human, but the Nanabi (Seven Tails), Hachibi (Eight Tails), and Kyuubi (Nine Tails) can only be sealed at the cost of the sealer's life.
And even then, the Kyuubi is the strongest of them all. A mere mortal cannot just seal it away by themselves. To do so would be impossible. Thus the help of a divine influence is required. In this case, the Shinigami, Queen of Death and She who Rules Over the Afterlife, must help the sealer. However, as a condition of her help, she requires that the sealer give up their soul to her once the process if finished.
Thus the current situation can now be fully understood. Namikaze Minato was willing to sacrifice his soul to an eternity inside the stomach of the Shinigami to save not only the village he had come to love, but also his wife and son.
To keep the Kyuubi at bay, the Yondaime summoned Gamabunta, the chief of the Toad summons. As the mountain of a toad battled the fierce demon, Minato prepared to seal the Kyuubi into his child. When the process was finished, his nearly lifeless body fell to the ground. With his dying breath and some naïveté, he wished for the village he had come to love to see his child for what he was; not a demon or monster, but a true hero.
But as most of us can see from common sense, his last wish was more than likely to be granted by only a fraction of the village's populous.
End of Flashback
12 years ago...that day stills weighs heavily in my mind. It was the day the way to my revenge and Konoha's fall would begin being paved, ironically not by my hands, but those who wished otherwise to happen. And who am I?
I am Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, heir to the royal line of Uzu no Kuni, heir to the Kiroii Senko, jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, the Child of Prophecy, and Commander of the Eternal Shadows. Betrayal has reforged me, made me reborn, cast me into a sea of darkness, and I have emerged a new man.
Konoha's last days are coming.
Storms are on the horizon.
And I stand in the center of it all.
I will have my revenge, whether Konoha is willing to give me it or not.
And the streets shall run red with the blood of the corrupt.
I am the Sword with No Sheath.