Story Title: Uzumaki & Namikaze's Legacy
by minato4yellowflash
Disclamer: All credits of Naruto characters and setting of this story go to Masashi Kishimoto. I only own my ideas ;)
Proudly presents you the first installment,
Chapter 1: Night
夜 (よる)
A/N: Redone on 8/12/2013 and re-posted. Fixed mistakes and gave the story more depth... Since this is a re-write of my old story, it currently has only 2 chapters posted up. More are coming soon. You're also welcome to read the old (completely barmy and a slightly different plot) version of this, which has 12 chapters. Enjoy!
Ha,ha,h-ha...h-h-ha...
A ragged young child ran around the dark alleyway and panted heavily, his tiny lungs bursting with the need of air. He staggered to the wall in front of him and slid down, utterly exhausted.
Today was October 10th, the day of the Kyubi Festival, where civilians and shinobi alike gathered to celebrate the defeat of the mighty Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Some, mourned for the Fourth Hokage's noble death. For a certain young orphan with flashing blonde hair and ocean-blue eyes, it was a Birthday.
And it was the day, that the said child repeatedly dreaded. It only brought forth a new wave of pain, humiliation, sadness, and loneliness.
The Konoha residents' animosity against him grew worse, and that emotion morphed into a deadly thirst for revenge. Revenge against the loved ones, every man, woman and child that they lost to the monster, on the fateful night.
So naturally, the hostility sometimes went a bit too far.
Like today. It had happened once before, too. That was on his second birthday.
Since he was so little back then, everything he had experienced that night had only remained as vague memories.
But he remembered one thing acutely: It had hurt. A lot.
Everything hurt, and he didn't know why. And so he had cried. He had bawled, wailed, and screamed his throat sore...until the pain finally stopped.
When the pain stopped, he found himself in a small chalky-white room. And Sarutobi-jiji was there, at his side looking very worried. He had black bags under his eyes, and he aged face looked so haggard, as if he hadn't had slept at all in a long, long time. When he woke up, his face brightened and he looked so happy.
He had never seen so much joy in the old man's eyes. His relieved face was forever etched into his memory. Jiji had said that some bad people attacked him by mistake.
And he said he was sorry. When Naruto had asked where he was, Jiji said that he was in a place called a hospital.
But now, running away from the angry and drunken people, he knew that they weren't attacking my mistake. They were doing it on purpose, wanting so badly to hurt him.
And he knew, that these people were the same kind as the ones that assaulted him. He didn't remember the people, but he felt certain. Was it...instinct?
But it wasn't time to think about that.
The sounds of an angry mob got closer.
"He went this way!" "Get him!" "That demon, wait 'till I lay my hands on it...!"
Naruto whimpered fearfully. He didn't know why these people were going after him. He had no idea. And he definitely didn't know why they were calling him 'Demon'.
He didn't want to get caught. But he knew that it was inevitable fate. Back then, they got him. And this time, they will, too.
He knew.
It was over.
But nevertheless, the young boy was not the one to give up easily. So he scrambled up from the ground, ignoring his protesting legs to the best of his ability, he ran to get away.
Run, run, move...legs...!
A minute later, he stopped to a dead end.
Hot tears welled up in his eyes out of fear, and he started to cry silently, quiet sobs and hiccups escaping his mouth. He turned his back against the wall, backing up step by step as the drunken mob approached.
They grinned madly, drunken breath exhaling from their eagerly open mouths, as they towered over the trembling boy and raised their weapons, whatever they had in hand. Some held broken beer bottles but there were the others, the professionals -the boy knew that they were shinobi- that held kunai and some, ninjato.
They stepped forward.
"No! Stop! Why are you doing this? Please, stop!"
Naruto cried out, river of hot tears streaming across his whiskered cheeks threatening to drown the Elemental Nations in tears, as he backed a few steps more, desperately trying to furthen the space between him and his assailants.
Thud.
His back hit the cold, rough wall.
"Oh, so you're begging for mercy now?" A man jeered, gazing down at his target with contempt. Then his voice turned into one that could possibly match a feral beast, "When you've killed all my loved ones, do you think we will spare you?" He roared.
A shinobi dressed in chuunin uniform stepped out next.
"There's no where to run, demon! You will die today, and then we will be praised as heroes for killing you!" He spat out he words like foul meat, but triumph coloring his voice at the end.
He then cocked his arm back in a single split-second and threw a sharp kunai coated with slow-acting poison straight at the boy.
The child screamed out in pain as the sharpened-edge grazed his shoulder, and clapped a small hand on the wound on his right shoulder instinctively.
Then as if on cue, the mob attacked.
They threw punches and kicks at him, while the shinobi embedded him with kunai. One even had a Fuuma Shuriken in hand, and the child let out a high-pitched shriek as he looked up from his cowed position, petrified, fearfully eyeing the large shuriken. It's purpose seemed to be only to terrorize him, however, as it missed him by a hair. He curled up in a tight ball, doing his best to shield his head.
One slashed his ninjato at his stomach, making Naruto scream in agony as he crumpled in a life-less heap against the wall.
After a few more assaults, the mob, finally satisfied, or fearing to be discovered by ANBU, drew back.
Then the one who seemed to be the leader said something to a shinobi next to him, while the addressed man nodded.
He went through a series of hand signs, then brought his hand upon his smirking lips and arched his back, inhaling deeply,
Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!
Stream of menacing flames shot out of the man's mouth as he exhaled and formed a gigantic ball of fire, licking the air hungrily. It headed straight towards the still body of the blonde.
The mob broke off into wide grins, knowing that the Demon was finished for good as they clapped themselves high-fives and on their backs, leaving the area.
The fire engulfed the defenseless boy in no time.
Naruto had no strength left enough to scream, as his face controlled into agony, his mouth opened in a silent scream.
His entire body burned as it was consumed by the flames, and he felt his skin melting in the heat.
As the fire continued to burn the past his skin and to the muscles and bones, Naruto felt his eyes closing.
So I die here, like this… His mind was surprisingly calm when he thought this, and a small smile even creeped into his face.
Maybe it was better off like this, with him dead?
Then the villagers would be able to smile.
They never smiled at his presence. They just looked at him with those eyes.
Always whispering and pointing at him.
All his life he had been unloved and unwanted, except for Jiji and a few ANBU.
All his life, the short life of 4 years…he struggled and craved for affections and acknowledgement.
Shops ran him out just for being there.
The majority shot him harsh glares or pay him no attention as he was an unwanted animal that should have been erased.
Parents pulled their children away from him and yelled at him to stay away from them and their families while telling the children to keep away from him all together.
It was the same at the orphanage, too. The other children shot hateful looks at him, following the actions of the grown-ups.
They never allowed him to play together. They all laid their mistakes on him, and the care-takers believed it willingly, glad for an excuse to punish him.
He had seen that one time, when one of the care-takers gave a kid his same age a cookie for bullying him as a reward.
Many nights alone Naruto spent crying and brawling not knowing why or what he did to deserve the bitter life he was forced to live through.
He continued to smile sadly as he thought, "Jiji should be here soon…I wish I could have said goodbye to jiji and Kakashi-nii…I hope they won't be too sad…"
Just as the last of his consciousness tried to slip away, he heard a deep growl from somewhere within the dimmed depths of his mind.
His eyes widened as he heard the mocking murmur.
Foolish... To attack me with fire...
Cackling could be heard in the background, but before he knew it, it was replaced by a soft, sleepy murmur...
Flee this place, if you want to live, boy...
When the deep, rumbling voice faded, the incredulous child found himself to be miraculously fully healed without a single scratch, and sure enough, the flames had disappeared into thin air, like they hadn't existed in the first place.
But the dirty-blond boy did not pay much heed to it, for he could only think about those words, playing over and over inside his head.
Run, run, run…
His body seemed to move on it's own accord, as Naruto stood up on shaky legs and began to run.
It didn't matter where he was going.
He had had enough.
He would do as this mysterious voice inside of him told him to. He didn't have a reason to live his life anymore.
He wanted to die so badly, yet somehow something inside of him wanted to trust this voice.
If he stayed in the village, he knew that sooner or later, he would surely die.
And he knew that he couldn't count on the voice saving him a second time.
But maybe, just maybe, if he followed this voice, he might find something.
Maybe a reason to live. A reason for his purpose.
So Naruto ran.
He staggered blindly, stumbling across the pebbles in the way.
Luckily, the guards were asleep, snoring away lazily -an embarrassment to the shinobi name-, and so Naruto took this chance as he dashed to the gates.
Unfortunately, they were closed, but somehow Naruto found some strength to push in ajar slightly, just a small bit in order to slip out.
Even when he made it safely out the gates, he continued to run without even pausing for breath, and without looking back at the village that had been his home for four years.
He was afraid that if he stopped, he would lose everything, everything...
And so, he ran...
...Dissapearing into into the depths of the moon-less night, never to be seen again by anyone in Konoha for the next nine years to come...
To be continued...