Seals of Fate
My second chapter for this fic. It'll take a little while before he gets his bloodline. Please be patient with me. As always, plz review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its content.
Chapter 2: The Beginning of a Genius Ninja.
The young blond woke up at 6:00 AM with no trouble. A hyperactive four year old with nothing better to do learned that his future was to be a ninja.
(Flashback no Jutsu: Yesterday)
"Naruto!" Sarutobi yelled for the 50th time that day. He was looking around the estate for his adopted son, and even with the help of several clones, the boy was nowhere to be found! "NARUTO! IF YOU AREN'T IN FRONT OF ME IN THE NEXT 5 SECONDS YOU AREN'T GETTING RAMEN FOR A MONTH!"
Faster than you could say Hiraishin, Naruto was in front of the original Sarutobi. Having dropped from the ceiling, Sarutobi was once again surprised by the blond. Unlocking his chakra at age three, being able to control it at genin level by age four, and being able to perform the academy's basic 3 jutsus, was beyond what even the Yondaime accomplished.
"Yes Ojjisan?" Naruto asked in a military-esque voice. Standing at attention with his fingers in a salute, the young boy was dressed in a black tank-top, dark green camo cargo shorts, black ninja sandals (where he got them Sarutobi still couldn't figure out) and styled his hair so it was sticking up and in other directions. Whether the kid used mousse or just had naturally spiky hair, the Hokage couldn't figure out either.
"Naruto, I need to talk with you about something of great importance."
"Is this about when I henged to get into the women's bath house? A white haired man told me if I got their underwear he'd give me candy!"
"No, he was dealt with rather harshly about 30 seconds after you left, the nice man is now in a hospital, however never do that again, it is not a nice thing to do to people." Biting back a perverted giggle as he wondered whether or not he could do that himself, he continued. "No, I want to discuss with you your ninja training."
At this, the young blond jumped up into the air several times, shouting "This is even better than Ramen! Training! Training!".
Seeing the boy's enthusiasm, the Hokage continued. "Now, for your age you are already as skilled as the average academy student. Your taijutsu needs work, but for ninjutsu and genjutsu you are already at genin-level. However, it is not what you have that you should work on, it is what you don't have. For the next 2 years until you enter the academy, you will be studying all there is to know about the mechanics and theories of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu styles, in addition to research on the art of fuuinjutsu. I promise you, that if you abide by my schedule, you will be the best in your class and will probably graduate early."
"Studying? … How is that supposed to help? Can't you just show me some cool jutsus to learn?" whined Naruto. A tick mark appeared on Sarutobi's head. "Baka, you must train your mind before you can become powerful. Without knowing this, you will be unable to improvise, you will not be a great ninja, you will be limited. By knowing theories, you can create your own jutsu, you can become great, perhaps even as much as the Yondaime."
"Yondaime…" Naruto was quickly submerged in his thoughts. He had only had a brief four years of life, but he already desired to be Hokage. He saw what Sarutobi had done for the village, and had read about the accomplishments of the Hokages. Naruto learned all he could about all of them, their abilities, their lives, even some stuff he wasn't supposed to know that he stole from the Hokage's office while his ojjisan hadn't been watching. Naruto also loved the village. People were kind to him, not just because of his father, but because of his seemingly natural charisma. The village, aside from a few clans where the clan heads had gotten bits of the secret out, was kind to him, and for this, Naruto greatly loved the village.
Naruto knew he wasn't originally the Hokage's son, it was too obvious that he looked nothing like him. Add in the fact that Sarutobi wouldn't tell him who they were, and it became a mighty suspicious situation. Naruto was all the more grateful that people were so nice to him, even though he was an orphan. He had seen what happened to some orphans, and what happened when the Hyuuga branch decided a child was fated one way or the other, and Naruto decided he wanted to change the way the village worked, to help people who were not as fortunate as he.
Snapping back to reality, Naruto spoke. "I will do whatever it takes."
Sarutobi, surprised once again at the boy's resolve, smiled. "Excellent. First things first, go clean your room, and go to bed, you're gonna need lots of energy tomorrow."
With an enthusiastic "Yosh!" Naruto bounded up the stairs. For the next hour, clattering sounds could be heard until finally there was quiet, then soon after… loud snoring.
(End Flashback no Jutsu)
Today was the first day of Naruto's studies. Rushing to the bathroom he cleaned himself up. After a short bath, he emerged, wrapped in a towel. For his age, he was surprisingly buff. It's not every day you see a four year old with a six pack. This, of course, is because with all his free time, all Naruto would do was train himself. However, now all that time would be put to better use. Quickly dressing in an orange tank top and some black shorts, he made his way downstairs.
Sitting at the table, the young blond ate some milk and cereal, going through about half a box of the stuff in under 10 minutes, and left out the door to do his normal warm-ups. After 50 push-ups, sit-ups, punches, and kicks, the boy headed back inside with a light sweat. Though he didn't know where his stamina came from, he was happy to have it. Upon returning to the kitchen, he saw his ojjisan waiting for him.
"Naruto, in order to help you train and study to a greater extent, I am going to teach you one jutsu. It is a jounin level kinjutsu, and I don't expect you to get it for several weeks. It is called Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)."
Naruto's eyes lit up. Not only was he learning a new Jutsu, he was learning a Jounin level Jutsu. A Kinjutsu! Showing Naruto the one seal, Sarutobi explained how the jutsu worked, including its ability to transfer its experiences and knowledge back to the original, with the only drawback being making too many clones could incapacitate the user, and the massive headache that would be gained from dispelling the clones. Naruto then set out to the backyard to practice.
(3 hours later)
"Ojjisan-Sensei! Ojjisan-Sensei! I did it!" shouted five Narutos standing in the training yard out back. A non-believing Sarutobi looked out the window, only to see that there before him were five Narutos, none deformed, and without being dispelled from chakra depletion.
"wow" he whispered. "Naruto! Hold them for as long as you can, then come inside and rest." Sarutobi called from the estate.
"Kay!" Naruto continued to stand and hold the clones for quite a long time, until his stomach started rumbling, which meant time for lunch. Having held the clones 'alive' so to speak for a whole five hours, Naruto was plenty hungry, and headed inside to eat.
In those five hours, Sarutobi reminisced. Knowing that he had not taught his student one of the keys to his success, the old man looked over the house. It hadn't changed all that much since he had brought Naruto home four years ago. The estate was three stories tall, painted white. It had several rooms on the first floor, including his den, a library, a living room, a kitchen, and two bedrooms, including his master bedroom. On the second floor there was just one long hallway, stretching the length of the house, with 6 large rooms, 3 on either side of the hallway. Naruto's bedroom, and Asuma's, Sarutobi's son, old bedroom was located right next to it. The other rooms were either spare bedrooms or meeting rooms for the rare occasion that a meeting needed to be done in his private residence. The third floor was just one gigantic loft, with a gigantic bed, a hot-tub, a porch that overlooked the training ground, a smaller kitchen, and one giant bathroom. A family of 6 could comfortably live there, especially because of the various deep couches in the room, some surrounding a fireplace. One wall held even more books than the library, however mostly not having to do with jutsus or any ninja-related business. The training room could be seen from the porch, on the east side of the estate. In the attic of that building was a lockdown seal to prevent anyone but himself or someone related to him from entering. However, Naruto could also get in if he entered with his Ojjisan. The backyard was just one giant training field. It was as wide as the estate and training room, and stretched back so far it nearly entered the woods. When Naruto arrived, not much changed, other than the overall messiness that he eventually outgrew, but still, memories of Naruto flooded back, and yesterday's antics just reinforced his belief in the boy.
Hearing a stomach growling loudly from behind him, Sarutobi turned to see Naruto holding his stomach.
"I held the clones for five whole hours, can we eat now? I could've held them longer but I'm hungry." Naruto complained.
Sarutobi agreed, and the two went out for ramen. With Naruto's monster stomach, he downed 24 bowls of ramen before being satisfied. With a wave to his favorite ramen cook and daughter, Teuchi and Ayame, they were off back to the training ground.
"Now Naruto, the time you were able to hold those clones means you have at least high Chuunin-level chakra. But don't celebrate yet, you still have to learn to control it better. For the rest of the day and this week I want to do to trees what you did with the walls, climb up them with chakra. However, don't do this alone, get your clones to do it with you. Judging from your apparent supply, don't make any more than 9 clones at a time. Now get going! You have work to do!"
"Yes Ojji-Sensei." And with a gleeful laugh, the young hyperactive blond set off to his work.
(One Week Later)
Getting up from his bed, promptly at 6:00 AM, Naruto showered, pulled on some clothes, and headed down to talk with his Ojjisan. "Ne, what am I going to be doing now."
"Naruto, now is when you begin studying. I know this may seem boring, but with every bit of knowledge you gain, you are one step closer to becoming Hokage. Remember, knowledge is power, and a stupid ninja is a dead ninja. Do not complain, this is for your own good."
Leading Naruto into the downstairs den, he told the young, hyperactive blond. "This is your assignment for the next 2 years. Read every single book here, and up in the loft. You will find your chakra reserves and control will increase, and eventually you will be able to make more clones. You should have five assigned to each room, for now, in order to get an equal balance for the future. Do not overwhelm yourself with too much of either library. If you work steadily for the next 2 years, you can do this."
Gaping at his grandfather and sensei, Naruto slowly closed his mouth, and nodded a resigned, sad nod. He looked down for a moment, then looked up at his grandfather. "Ojjisan, I'll do it, for you. For my future, for my dream. I swear I'll do it, and I never go back on my word. That's my nindo." Then, giving his grandfather a thumbs up suspiciously similar to Gai's except without the scary hair and shiny glint on his teeth from an invisible light, Naruto created 9 clones, and went to work. The next two years would be interesting, very interesting indeed.
