Opening Note: Sorry I didn't upload this hours earlier, but I've had a pretty busy day. I hope the story is making more sense to you guys than it is to me, I think I was pretty out of it when I wrote this... Doesn't mean I don't remember where I was going with it, these first two chapters just feel awkward to me, is all. Maybe the sentences are too long...? Meh. Anyways, stop reading what I'm saying and read the story! (Also, cookie to InfinityAtmo for noticing that Tamao's the header character for the Shaman King side, and hush-money to the people who brought up the issue of Kushina.)
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Disclaimer: I own neither Shaman King nor Naruto.
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A now slightly older Naruto (by one year) sat in a classroom in "the Academy", a place where aspiring shinobi came to learn. As he sat in the back row, watching all of the students intermingle, he began wondering if this was such a good idea.
He had begun wanting to be a shinobi when he had met Itachi. The older boy had dropped by while Naruto was learning to summon "shikigami", or to be more accurate the "ko-oni", the small beings that accompanied Yohmei (Yoh's grandfather, the head of the Asakura household). It turned out that, despite being from a shinobi clan, and indeed being a shinobi himself, Itachi took shaman lessons from the Asakura clan. Yohmei had told him that the Uchiha clan were once a grand clan of shamanic shinobi, but the ability to actually see ghosts had all but fled from their precious eyes, so their shamanic traditions had been discontinued. As he was, Itachi did not have access to the old Uchiha documents about shamanic techniques, which had long since been locked away, so he decided to learn from Yohmei instead.
Even though he was still "learning" from Yohmei, Itachi was very powerful spiritually. He had a spar with Yohmei so that Naruto could see what one could do with ko-oni, and thoroughly trounced Yohmei's ko-oni with his own, which had far outnumbered the master's forces. When Naruto had asked him how he had gotten so powerful, Itachi had merely smiled and said "Being a ninja helps." Naruto had a bare understanding of what ninja were, so Itachi taught him a bit about what being a ninja was like. Naruto was fascinated with the idea, but at first he didn't want to pursue it because being a shaman was "pretty awesome" as well, and he didn't want to take time away from his shaman training. Yohmei had laughed at that, told him not to worry, and said he'd go make arrangements for Naruto to join the Academy, saying that training to be both a shaman and a ninja at the same time might be better for him in the end.
But, he thought to himself, I wonder why he insisted on me going and not Yoh-sama... Naruto had taken to calling the boy "Yoh-sama", like Tamao did- less out of respect for Yoh, more to make Yohmei mad, as Naruto called him "Old Man" like he did with the Hokage. It didn't take long for the honorific to get ingrained in Naruto's head, so now even when he was thinking he called Yoh "-sama". It was the least he could do for the Asakura clan's taking him in, a great turning point in his life.
He observed the other children in the room. They were... well, children. Had he really expected anything different? He could see a boy not that far away from him who had a hairstyle that was oddly similar to Yoh's own hairstyle, though his hair was as dark as Itachi's was. Looking around some more, he could see a girl with the same hair color as Tamao (who had gone back to training recently), though the style was pretty different. As he was wondering if he would ever be friends with any of these children, a man who he guessed was the teacher- a man with a slightly darker skin color, brown hair in a ponytail- came into the room and stood in the front. "Alright, kids, settle down, it's time for class to start."
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Naruto had found class boring- he hadn't been told anything Itachi hadn't told him. Although, since this was only his first day of many, he guessed that that was probably exactly why Itachi had told him what he had- it was nothing that couldn't be found out by the public.
He thought back to "introductions"- he hadn't exactly won any points with that. They were supposed to say names, birthdays, and such, and answer any questions they were asked by the other students. Someone had asked him where his favorite place to hang out was, since he had stopped hanging out in the village- he had answered truthfully, "the graveyard", and when asked why, he had again replied with the truth- "for the atmosphere". He had found the idea creepy himself at first, but he was so used to it now that he had forgotten that other kids would find it off-putting.
So, when it came time for the kids to just hang around on the Academy grounds, he had found himself very much alone. He sat under a tree at the far end, just watching all of the other kids having fun. He looked down, and saw leaves at the ground near him. He quickly summoned up a few ko-oni- apparently Naruto was quite proficient in it compared to Yoh, who had been training for as long as he could think straight, and who could barely summon one of the beings by himself. Yohmei had laughed at Yoh's misfortune the first time Naruto had shown he could use the technique. He directed their movements, and they danced on the ground by his feet.
After a while, Naruto noticed that someone had walked up to him, and the 'leaves' (which they would've looked like to regular humans) stopped and stared at the newcomer. Naruto looked up, and saw that it was the boy who had introduced himself as 'Uchiha Sasuke'. "Those leaf-things... they're the same ones I see with big bro sometimes... what are they?"
Naruto was surprised- he didn't expect anybody else in his class to be able to see spirits. "You can see them?"
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah... should I not be able to?"
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know... you said you see them with your brother, right? Is your brother Itachi?"
This seemed to strike a chord. "...Does this have something to do with where Itachi disappears to sometimes? He won't tell anyone where he goes."
The blond shrugged again. "If he doesn't want to tell you where he goes, then it'd be kinda mean of me to tell you, wouldn't it?"
The other boy was a little agitated. "He's my big bro! It takes away from the time he spends with me... I deserve to know!"
Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Too bad!"
Sasuke seemed very angry now. "Why you-!"
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Naruto was in the nurse's office, getting bandages put on his injuries. The nurse seemed agitated. "Guess we shouldn't expect much better from you... but did you honestly have to pick a fight with Uchiha Sasuke of all children?"
Naruto shrugged, and winced in pain. "I was sitting by myself until he started talking to me. Not my fault he got mad because I wouldn't do what he wanted..."
Iruka, their sensei, walked into the room. "Well, we'll overlook it because it's the first day, but please try not to cause any more trouble, alright? I get in trouble too if you guys pull stuff like this. A teacher who can't keep his students in line isn't a very good teacher."
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Naruto was walking home when he noticed it- Sasuke was following him around. He thought for a moment on how to get rid of him, when he realized that the boy could see spirits, but didn't know what they were. Now sporting an evil grin, Naruto began hurrying to the cemetery. It was too early for most of the spirits to be out, but some were out during the day, and that would probably be enough to get him to go away.
Sure enough, once he got to the cemetery, there were some ghosts that were more than willing to spook Sasuke for laughs. Thus, Naruto managed to escape Sasuke... for now.
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It wasn't long before Naruto saw Itachi again. Itachi was the one who started talking first, after getting Naruto alone. "I hear from my brother that you said you knew me."
Naruto shrugged. "He could see my ko-oni, and said that he had seen yours, as well... did you know he can see spirits? But, he's scared of ghosts."
Itachi smiled at that. "Really now... maybe I should bring him here to see if he wants to become a shaman too."
The blond let out his breath in a huff. "He's not exactly the nicest guy. He tried to beat me up when I wouldn't talk about you."
Itachi was amused by this. "Is that so... well, I guess I've completed my training here, so I'll have more time to spend with him. Perhaps I can bring him here as my replacement?"
Naruto was surprised to hear this. "Your training's done? I mean, yeah, training has to stop sometime, but... that seemed fast."
The older boy chuckled, now further amused. "The length of training time depends on how strong the shaman is to start with- I've actually been training for a while. Yohmei-sensei is proud that a shaman such as yourself studies under him, you know. He wishes Yoh would learn your work ethic, he might catch up to you pretty quickly if he did."
The younger boy's cheeks gained a red tint of embarassment. "I just work hard, that's all... to be the best shaman there is!"
Itachi's eyebrow raised in height. "Oh? Do you plan on being Shaman King?"
He chuckled when at the sight of confusion in Naruto's eyes. "Eh? Shaman King? What's that?"
Itachi closed his eyes as he continued to smile. "...a title, you could say. Like the Hokage is to ninja, the Shaman King is the strongest shaman."
Naruto's blue eyes seemed to sparkle with energy. "Eeeh? Really?! Then, if I worked really hard, I could be Shaman King?"
The older boy nodded. "Supposedly. But unlike the title of Hokage, which few ninja aspire to, nearly all shaman want to be Shaman King. You'll have a lot of competetion... Yoh included."
The blond seemed a lot less energetic all of a sudden. "Yoh-sama wants to be Shaman King too?"
Itachi nodded again. "Well... it depends on why you want to be Shaman King. Some might want to be Shaman King for their own selfish reasons, while others might want to be Shaman King in order to save others. If your reason turns out to be better than Yoh's, in your heart... than there shouldn't be any reason for you to not try."
Naruto began thinking deeply. "A reason, a reason..." After a moment of silence, he shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Well, I can always find a reason later, right?"
Itachi's shoulders actually seemed to shake, and the older boy patted Naruto on the head. "Yes, I'm sure you can. Well, I'll be off, Naruto. You try to get along better with Sasuke, okay?"
Naruto's face contorted in a frown. "Feh, who wants to be friends with him?"
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It had been a year since Naruto had entered the Academy. Naruto had been rather shocked by the news- Itachi had murdered his entire clan, sans his own little brother. Itachi was a shaman, a kind one- yet, as a shinobi, he had been a harbinger of death. Yohmei had said that, as a particularly talented shinobi, it was entirely possible that the balance between those two sides of himself had caused his soul to collapse in on itself, and he had taken everyone he bared resentment for with it.
He had looked so serious to Naruto as he smoked his pipe. "You know, Naruto... the headlines of today's news... They could very well be repeated some years down the line, but with the name 'Itachi' replaced with the name 'Naruto'... and the clan 'Uchiha' replaced with 'Asakura'. Are you sure you wish to tread the same path Itachi did?"
Naruto was naturally unsure of himself for a moment, but then he remembered what Itachi had said to him once before. "...I told Itachi that... I wanted to be the best shaman there is! If I can't surpass him... how can I think about reaching the top?"
Yohmei smiled at Naruto's determination. "Heh... If that's your aim, then I suppose I can't really stop you. Now shoo, you're going to be late for school!"
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It had been a few days since then, and it was Sasuke's first day back in the Academy after mental rehabilitation. The boy had walked into the classroom, and all chattering had stopped as soon as the children realized who it was. The dark-haired boy walked up the aisle next to Naruto's seat, and continued walking past his preferred seat, face looking down all the while.
Finally, he reached Naruto's seat, and merely stood there, without looking at him. Naruto looked at the boy apprehensively- after all, this was not normal behavior. After a few seconds, Sasuke's eyes turned to face Naruto- the blond didn't even have the time to attempt dodging the backhand Sasuke delivered into his face.
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As the nurse examined at Naruto's bruised face, Iruka sighed in annoyance. "What did you do this time, Naruto?"
Naruto seemed quite irritated that he was being blamed. "I just sat there! He walked all the way up to my desk, stood there, and then he whammed his fist into my face!" The nurse touched his nose with a cloth, and he hissed in pain.
Iruka scratched the back of his head. "Well, looks like Sasuke's not quite emotionally stable yet, if he's attacking the other students... I'm going to go take him to see the Hokage. You behave yourself, alright? I'm surprised you didn't give him a good punch yourself."
The boy grumbled to himself as the teacher left. "Feh... I don't know what that kid's problem with me is..." His eyes... were they red? I must've imagined it... The nurse applied ice to his face rather forcefully, and the thought was pushed from his mind with just as much force.
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Random notes:
The "Yoh-sama" thing was just something I decided on for the lulz. Expect reactions from other characters finding out that Naruto actually has someone he calls -sama (If you're in this fandom but don't know what it means... it means something like 'Lord' or 'Master', so he's calling Yoh 'Master Yoh', but not in the same way that Amidamaru does). Also, yes, I admit that Naruto is a lot less energetic than he should be. I'm trying to make him 'older, faster', or something like that- he isn't out to get everyone's attention, so I figured that he'd be a lot calmer and mature for it.
I'm not trying to make Naruto super-powerful from the beginning, but for the moment his 'spirit' is more powerful than Yoh's (so if they tried the same techniques, Naruto's would be stronger)- it's just as much of a reason that Naruto's doing better than Yoh as the 'work ethic' comment Itachi made. It's not like Yoh was the strongest good guy in canon, so I hope you can forgive this ^_^;;; Plus, Naruto will DEFINITELY not be using the same abilities as Yoh, so their power levels won't matter too much. What powers will Naruto be using? Well... I plan on having Naruto's mochirei (Guardian Ghost for the dub fans) be revealed by chapter 5, you have plenty of time to guess until then. Though, I will say that his mochirei will NOT be the Kyuubi. Have I thought about it? Yes. I think it would be far more interesting to have anyone but.
For once, I have Naruto and Sasuke not being friends as kids (that's typical of my stories, new people). I thought this would be more interesting, even though Sasuke can see spirits.
Also, Itachi decided not to take Sasuke to see Yohmei for some reason or another. So, Sasuke has no shaman training right now, and I'm not planning on it before they become Genin.
I better get to work on finishing chapter 3, so see ya!
