Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or Mistborn.
Prolouge
Naruto sat quietly in his hidden spot at the ninja academy. Not really hidden, but no one beside him decided to stay here. An alcove built into the side of the 2nd floor. From within it, Naruto could watch for any sign of well...anything.
Not only that, but it was the best place where he could find solitude. 'When you're alone, no one can hurt you.' A deep guttaral voice inside his head whispered. The voice spoke to Naruto on several occasions, but never actually admitted who or what it was. Naruto figured he was crazy. In it's own way, it was trying to help him. Which was more than most people ever tried to do.
For as long as Naruto could remember, he'd been alone. Alone and hated. The villagers all saw him as some kind of demon, or monster, or so he's been told. He would've learned that on his own eventually, due to their treatment. Being ignored, belittled, and generally treated like dirt really sent you a message. As long as Naruto pretended to be weak, unassuming, the villagers generally left him alone.
He heard shuffling behind him, and tensed as he heard the door open. "Naruto!!" Iruka said, sticking his head through the door. "There you are!! You're late for class!!"
'If I cared, would I still be sitting here?'
Iruka-sensei was a short man, possibly in his early twenties. He had light-tanned skin, dark brown hair, with a very noticable scar across the bridge of his nose. He wore the typical chuunin outfit; dark green vest, long sleeve shirt under it, with baggy black shinobi pants. His ankles were taped up, and he wore tradiotional shinobi sandals.
Iruka's whole appearace was vastly different from Naruto. With his blonde hair down to his shoulders, and managing to stick out in every direction, he looked like a skater, or maybe an emo. Naruto himself wore a tight black shirt, with form fitting black shinobi pants. He wore traditional black shinobi sandals, but he usually prefereed to go barefoot. In his left ear, he had a single ear ring stuck in his ear.
'I look as emo as Sasuke...' Naruto thought dispassionately.
When Naruto realized that Iruka had started lecturing about some random crap he didn't care about, he wordlessly got up, to follow, or possibly lead Iruka back to the classroom.
XxXxXxX
"There you are!!" Mizuki lifted one of his fingers, and jabbed it toward his face. "Where were you?"
Naruto shrugged, having realized long ago that Mizuki followed the majority of the village in hating him. Mizuki glared, before turning to address the rest of the class. "Thanks to Uzumaki here, pop quiz on the henge jutsu for all of you!!"
The class groaned in unison, before lining up to begin their 'quiz'
"Thanks a lot Uzumaki, you're such a loser!!" Some girl harped to Naruto as he walked by. Naruto just gave his wordless shrug. The less he talked to people, the better off he'd be.
XxXxXxX
After an flawless execution of the henge jutsu, Sakura...predictably...
"Did you see that, Sasuke-kun?" she turned, asking happily.
Sakura was a girl, (obviously) about the same height as Naruto with...light pink hair down to her mid-back. Naruto thought the hair color was fake, but he was one of what 3 blondes in Konoha? Who was he to judge? She wore a red chinese shirt with short sleeves with white circular designs on the sleeves and chest area. She also wore dark blue shorts under the short. Naruto called her 'Harpy Number 1'
Sasuke, the boy in question, was a dour looking kid with black hair that spiked in the back with dark black eyes. He wore a dark blue t-shirt with a large collar with the usually Uchiha fan symbol on the back. He also white shorts that stopped just above his knees. On his arms he wore white and blue arm guards.
'Those 'guards' don't look very useful...'
Sasuke completely ignored her, and went up as he heard his own name called.
"Uchiha Sasuke"
Wordlessly, Sasuke moved into position in full view of the class and performed the same simple hand seal as Sakura. Likewise the earlier results were repeated exactly.
"All right," acknowledged the real Iruka with another nod of approval as Sasuke transformed back to normal and went to extend the pass line behind a annoying, chattering Sakura.
Mentally shrugging, Iruka surveyed his clipboard once more and after making some notes called out the next student.
"Next up, Uzumaki Naruto."
"This sucks," grumbled a boy with a long gravity defying ponytail.
The boy was wearing a grey colored with green trimmings open jacket with a chain net shirt underneath it. He wore dark brown pants with traditional black sandals. His name was Nara Shikamaru and in Naruto's opinion, the smartest, and laziest person he'd ever met.
"This is all your fault," chimed in a girl next to him.
Yamanaka Ino had long blonde hair done in a ponytail. She wore a sleeveless purple dress with no sleeves and a large collar. On her legs, she wrapped bandages, making them look like white colored shorts. She too, wore the traditional blue sandals. She also wore arm guards on her arms that in Naruto's opinion, were VERY useless. Also known as 'Harpy Number 2'
Naruto walked on, ignoring the two. Naruto was way to used to glares and the like to care even slightly. As Naruto moved into position, he formed the ram hand seal, and transformed into a perfect transformation of Iruka. Iruka nodded, stiffling a grin just as quickly as Mizuki hid his scowl, both of which Naruto noticed.
XxXxXxX
"Naruto I really worry about you" Iruka admitted as they both ate at the ramen stand that is Ichiraku's Ramen. Which was the most obviously BEST place in the whole world...in Naruto's opinion of course. Iruka, The old man, and Ayame were essentially the most important...practically the only important people in Naruto's life. He would do anything to protect them. First priority was to get stronger first...
"Why?" Naruto asked, blowing a blonde bang of hair out of his dark blue eyes. He considered cutting it again. It was getting kind of long...
"You're so quiet! You don't even try to make friends!" Iruka explained, his voice raising as he dropped his plate. Iruka could never really talk without raising his voice, or gesturing.
"Neither does Sasuke. At least I talk...sometimes." Naruto snorted.
Iruka sweatdropped. Not only was Naruto blunt, but he couldn't refute his logic either. Not about Sasuke anyway.
"Besides, most of the villagers hate me anyway." Naruto continued, either not noticing, or ignoring Iruka's flinch.
"That's because the villagers are idiots!" The old man, Teuchi exclaimed. He had graying hair that was partly visible under his funny cap. He wore an apron, and sweatpants...and...a shirt.
Naruto sweatdropped, 'I've never seen him in anything else...'
Ayame his daughter, nodded in agreement. Ayame was a beautiful girl of about 17 with long brown hair, and brown eyes to match. She wore the apron, along with sweatpants, but her funny hat was mysteriously absent. 'Never seen her wear it anyway...'
Naruto shrugged off his random thoughts, and continued to enjoy his time with his 'family'.
XxXxXxX
"We will now start the final exam," Iruka announced to the class. "If your name is called come to the classroom next door. The subject will be the bunshin technique."
Naruto's right eye twitched violently. He had no problem with all the other jutsus, but the bunshin no jutsu...Naruto could get it about 50% of the time
"Will Inoue Rei come to the testing room please?" called Iruka sensei.
Naruto frowned. He thought he knew everyone in the class. Maybe he only bothered learning the loud, flamboyant ones? That doesn't explain Sasuke...The ones from important clans. He'd never even heard of an Inoue Clan.
There was a moment of silence before a redheaded girl got up and began to walk towards the testing room. She had dark, crimson red hair that she wore cut down to her shoulders. Her eyes were a golden amber hue that shined brightly. 'Looks too naive to be a ninja' Naruto thought, dismissing her worth because of the innocence in her eyes. Of course, the only ones without that particular innocence in their eyes were Naruto and Sasuke. Rei wore a dark blue chinese cheongsam(sp?) with tight white pants. On her feet she wore chinese shoes.
'Who was that? I've never seen her before,' thought Naruto to himself.
Naruto drifted off, knowing that he would have a long time before his name was called.
Not even five minutes after he had nodded off did a soft thump beside him catch his attention. He lifted his eye slightly to stare at whatever interuptted him. He saw the same girl, Rei sitting down next to him, only now wearing an Konoha headband on her forehead. She grinned happily to herself, before Naruto's awakened state.
"You don't seem that nervous" She said, looking at him.
Naruto shrugged, he wanted to pass, but it was no big thing to him if he failed. She took his silence as a 'no' because she kept talking. "My name's Rei. Inoue Rei. And you are...?"
'Why do you care...?'
'She will hurt you.'
"Uzumaki Naruto"
Naruto blinked. The voice seemed to think everybody he met was going to kill him, either that, or it demanded that he kill someone. Naruto ignored the voice as he continued to speak to the girl.
Another possible friend couldn't possible hurt him...could it?
"Nice to meet you!" Rei chirped.
'This girl is WAY to happy...'
"Likewise"
"Not much of a talker huh?" Rei asked with a pout.
Naruto smiled a little. He couldn't help liking this girl.
"Hmm..."
Rei sweatdropped, realizing that Naruto was TRYING to annoy her now, and it was working...
Naruto's smile grew a bit larger. Talking to her this long and not one insult from the girl. It was rare to find someone who actually liked his company. Nartuo liked the feelings she brought him.
"Hey Naruto, what do you want to be?" Rei asked, eyes wide and curious. "I want to be a...
"Uzumaki Naruto," came Iruka's call as Naruto rose to enter the examination room.
"Bad timing!! Well See ya later. Good luck!! Rei said cheerfully.
"Thanks." Naruto said as he walked to the testing room.
XxXxXx
Naruto eyed the forehead protectores the moment he entered the room. No matter what he said, or thought he wanted to pass. Failure wasn't an option. Not again. Naruto walked towards the examiner who turned out to be Iruka and Mizuki, not surprising Naruto in the slightest. Mizuki was a lanky young man with black eyes and silver hair. He wore the common chuunin uniform.
"Go ahead when you're ready," encouraged Mizuki with a fake smile that Naruto saw through.
Naruto took a deep breath and closed his eyes. An unnoticed aura surrounded him, swirling around him in the shape of...mist? Naruto quickly formed a handseal
'Please work!!' Naruto begged.
"Bunshin no Jutsu!" cried Naruto.
There was a poof of smoke and when it cleared, Naruto was standing in the middle. On both sides of Naruto were dead forms of Naruto. He inwardly grimaced at the look on Iruka's face.
'Shit...'
"YOU FAIL!" roared Iruka much to the dismay of the blond youth.
"Iruka-sensei, his other abilities are good and he did replicate. Maybe we can pass him?" piped in Mizuki drawing a suspicious look from Naruto.
If Naruto had any hopes of passing the exam, they were quickly dashed by Iruka's next statement.
"Mizuki-sensei, everyone is able to produce at least three replications. But, Naruto can only produce one that will merely be a bother. I cannot pass him," stated Iruka simply.
"I…understand," replied Mizuki before Iruka dismissed Naruto.
Naruto left the room, pissed and generally angry at everybody. He failed...again.
'Hurts doesn't it?'
'NOT in the mood.'
XxXxXxXxX
Naruto watched all the new graduates and their happy parents with barely concealed envy. He watched from HIS alcove at all the faces that lit in smiles as their parents congraluted them. He did not trust his actions if one of the villagers pissed him off at this point, so he stayed out of sight. Naruto knew that he would never have that kind of happiness, due to being an orphan. He's had to 12 years to get used to that though. It no longer bothered. Failing, however, pissed him off no matter how often it happened.
"What...?"
"No sneaking up on you huh?" Rei's soft voice came from behind him.
"How did you find me?" Naruto asked, displaying none of the anger, or annoyance he felt.
"Everybody knows that you like to stay here. It wasn't hard."
Naruto twitched, mentally noting that he needed to switch around where he like to stay. Neither child spoke for a while. It wasn't really necessary. Rei stood behind him, watching Naruto, while he watched the crowds.
"You're a lot less timid than you look." Naruto said. Naruto felt Rei's eyes on him, but he didn't elaborate. 'Why don't I want to avoid her like everyone else? Why is she different?'
"Maah...You're so weird!!" Rei yelped, stamping her feet. "That was so random!!"
"You're not exactly normal, Rei..."
XxXxXxX
Iruka lay in his bed that night as he gazed up at the sky. Naruto hid it well, but he could see the disappointment, the anger on his face. Iruka wasn't really sure if Naruto was ready or Not. Without meaning to, him mind went back to his conversation with the Sandaime.
Flashback cuz It's needed!!!
"You wanted to see me Hokage-sama?" asked Iruka.
The Hokage quietly rolled up the scroll he was reading. After staring at Iruka for over a minute, Sarutobi spoke.
"Iruka, what do you know of the Yondaime?"
"Hokage-sama…" begun Iruka only to be silenced by the Third raising a hand into the air.
"I know, Iruka. However, before we address that, please humor an oldman."
Although it was a simple request, Iruka treated the words of the Sandaime as an order and so nodded his consent.
"The Yondaime was a young man, who became famous in the War with stone, earning the nickname "Yellow Flash" of Konoha. Eventually once, the Kyuubi attacked, the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto, dying in the process.
Sarutobi nodded, at the usual response. "That...is what any adult could tell you. I've seen your closeness with Naruto and you've seen his potential. I'm trusting you with this S-Class secret."
Iruka gulped, but steeled his resolve. He saw Naruto as a little brother, and would do whatever he was able to protect him.
"The Yondaime was a man of great power. He'd been endowed the gifts of the gods...or to be more accurate the shadows."
Iruka simply followed along, having no idea where he was going with this.
"The Yondaime was a Mistborn. They're a special brand of people, who display powerful sets of abilities, like bloodlines. By ingesting certain alloys of metal, they can gain attributes. Strength, speed, senses, that and much more. A mistborn ninja is about as powerful as a army of ninja. I feel that I must tell you this Iruka since I have reason to believe...that Naruto might possibly be a Mistborn. Or at least have some sort of special ability."
Iruka gasped. How did one accept that one's student that just failed...might be one of the strongest ninja they'll hope to produce?
"As you know, only the adults know that a Kyuubi is sealed in Naruto. I made that fact absolutely secret and severely punished those who broke the rule. Because of that, the children don't know about it. That is the only hope Naruto has really. The Yondaime wanted everyone to see Naruto as a hero, a living prison for the beast that nearly destroyed us," explained Sarutobi.
Iruka nodded being well learned in the tale. However, a certain scrap of information puzzled the Chuunin.
"Wait..." Iruka asked in confusion. "Did the Yondaime pass his powers onto Naruto? When he sealed the Kyuubi"
Sarutobi shrugged before continuing.
"It's amazing really, the Forth choose a baby that just had it umbilical cord cut off and sealed the fox within him. Naruto became the container for the nine-tailed fox, but the adults of the village do not see Naruto as I do. There are even a few who believe that Naruto is the nine-tailed fox himself. The attitude of these people are being passed down into the children. Even IF Naruto is a mistborn, I doubt he'll have that many attachments to the village."
Iruka's eye's widened as he remembered Naruto's earlier statement.
"That is why I know Naruto can trust you, Iruka. You who like myself have never viewed Naruto as the Lord of Demons. So that Naruto can benefit just as much as yourself from that trust, I shall grant your request."
At this, Sarutobi finally opened the black book to reveal pages of old parchment with the official Hokage seal pressed into the pages. Seizing a waiting quill from its' ink bottle, the Third carefully crafted a note with special instructions concerning Naruto. Folding it neatly, the Third handed the official document to Iruka.
"See to it that Naruto receives this note and gives it to a certain person," Sarutobi instructed.
Iruka caught the meaning behind his elder's words and nodded.
"I will"
Flashback end!!!
XxXxXxX
"A...note?" Naruto asked warily.
"Yes, the Sandaime feels that you'd benefit greatly from this meeting." Iruka explained
"Where?"
That'd been half an hour ago, and he was still waiting! He didn't like the way the others in the bar were eyeing him. Any minute now he felt like they were going to strike him...
Naruto tensed as he felt someone new enter the room. This man wasn't that tall, but he gave off a large presence. Naruto couldn't explain it...but he wanted to trust this man. 'First Rei, now this man. What the HELL is wrong with me?' No matter what he thought, he wasn't just going to 'trust' him, or Rei for that matter yet. The man was around 5'8 with sandy blonde hair coming down to his shoulders. His eyes were a pale blue, reminding him of Ino Yamanaka's eyes. He wore...an suit oddly enough. The man walked right up to Naruto's table, grabbed one of the chairs, and flipped it around, leaning on the back for support. He pulled out to cups of what looked like ale, and handed one to Naruto.
"Naruto right? I'm Kelsier, nice to meet you."
Naruto blinked, that wasn't a question. Should he introduce himself, since this man already knew who he was. Naruto and Kelsier spent several minutes staring at each other.
"You aren't drinking." Kelsier mentioned, pointing at Naruto's cup.
"You might have put something in it."
"There's no need for me to do that." Kelsier said mischievously. "After all, you're going to drink this pretty easily." he continued, pulling out a vial of liquid. Naruto could see a dark residue hidden in it. Despite himself, he was curious.
"What is it?"
"Telling you that wouldn't make it a mystery would it?" At Naruto's stare, he continued. "The vial is filled with an alcoholic solution and some flakes of metal Naruto."
"Metal?"
"Two of the basic Allomantic metals." Kelsier explained
"I have no idea what that is." Naruto said.
"You're a blunt one aren't you?" Kelsier replied, chuckling. He handed the vial of metal to Naruto, who eyed it warily. He'd eaten worse things so why not? He drunk the vial in one gulp.
"Do you feel anything...special?" Kelsier asked, leaning forward eagerly.
"What am I supposed to...!!" Naruto started, but he did feel SOMETHING. A big source of power inside of himself. Seeing Naruto's eyes widened, Kelsier sat up a bit. "Aim it at me." he commanded.
Warily Naruto reached for his energy source...and threw it at Kelsier. He smiled and leaned forward eagerly again. "Okay you can soothe, but can you riot too?"
Naruto frowned, having no idea what he was talking about. He guessed that his 'big' source, was really 2. He looked carefully, and did see that what he thought was one was actually two similar sources of energy. He felt one of his 'sources' depleted, so he used the other on Kelsier. His smile widened greatly and he laughed, startling Naruto.
"Sorry, but...I never thought I'd see another Mistborn. There VERY rare. So tell me...who were your parents?"
"What's a mistborn?" Naruto asked, ignoring Kelsier's question.
"Fine...be that way." Kelsier said, pouting. "Mistborn are manipulators of metals. We ingest certain metals, that give us abilties. You can go from increasing your strenght, you senses, to shooting metals towards people. You can even control emotions, to an extent. Your Yondaime was a mistborn." He added casually making Kelsier's eyes widen.
"As you can see, I'm not a ninja. That doesn't mean I'm not powerful though. I could probably tear apart half the village if I wanted to." Kelsier bragged, flexing his muscles.
'He's lying. But what's if he's not? I'm not a ninja anyway...so being a...'mistborn' could be more interesting. I could be free.' That thought appealed to Naruto more than anything else.
"Are you here to train me?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah. But I want you to remember one thing. Normally mistborn are sheltered in clans, and become some special assasins. Like it or not, they're powerful. But you're not a ninja Naruto. We're not ninja. We don't have to play by their rules...that makes us stronger.
"Good. I want to become so strong, that nobody can hurt me." Naruto stated, eyes flashing a dark blue.
'Kill him.'
Naruto smiled. Ignoring the voice suddenly seemed a lot easier than before.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The difference between this Naruto and canon Naruto...this one is more jaded. A more jaded Naruto spends his time learning survival skills than playing pranks.
Naruto Uzumaki-Class:Civilian, Mistborn
Age:12
Strengths: High Observational skills
Weakness: Voice inside head, possibly insane
Rei Inoue-Class: Genin Mist(?)
Age 12
Strengths(?)
Weakness(?)
Kelsier: Class: Mistborn, Shinobi
Age: 35
Strengths-pushes and pulls(Iron and Steel)
Weaknesses-Riots and Soothes(Brass and Zinc), his rashness.
Guess this could be a prolouge. I've been gone for a while...sorry bout that. School just got REALLY hard, and I'm dealing with just fine. I think I'm going to make this a NarutoxOC. I just finished the Mistborn trilogy...and haven't seen any fics on it. So...here's my try at it. Meeh...I'm about to go to sleep. I'll try ta make the next chapter longer when I'm not sleep deprived.
Leave reviews people!! Tell meh ya opinions!!