The young blond allowed himself to focus solely on the supposedly incredible rings that were covered in detail by the tome, he allowed himself to marvel at the amazingly ornate Vongola and Mare rings, almost laughed at the Arcobaleno pacifiers and froze when he turned the page to the 'six hell rings'.
There in a photo of the six legendary rings, was HIS ring. The exact same silver ring with 666 inscribed on it was located in the photo along with an ornate ring with a hazy, open mouthed skull appearing over it like some form of illusion, a simple ring with what seemed like several worm like tentacles erupting from a single point on it, a greenish yellow ring with a red padding around the gem that looked exactly like an eye, an ornate ring with four claw like clasps keeping the sapphire gem embedded in it in place and last but not least, a blue ring with what could only be described as a segmented horn protruding from it.
Naruto couldn't help but stare at the rings before finally snapping out of his stupor and proceeding to study the pages concerning these rings in detail, with his first discovery being that they were THE most powerful mist attribute rings in existence, however they each also possessed a unique ability that the book referred to as 'war doubling potential'.
The problem with the rings was that they were each cursed, the users soul was slowly consumed by the rings. However when he read about his own ring, his heart missed a beat. His ring had another curse… misfortune. Everyone that had ever worn the ring had been cursed with bad luck until the day they died.
Thinking about the fire at the orphanage, it had been 'bad luck' that his neechan had been the one to die… was it possible that her death had been caused by the ring? If so, why should he still wear it?
The spiky haired blond was about to remove the offending piece of jewellery when he remembered why he had kept it. He had told her that he would wear it because he wanted to and thinking back on things, he realised that it was his own selfishness that made him keep the ring and now that he knew what the ring could do, should he really throw it away? For one thing there was no way of telling if the ring really did bring misfortune or if it was just coincidence that the wearers were all unfortunate.
Then there was the power this ring could possess, if what the book was saying was true then it was entirely possible that this ring could grant him enormous power… if he had a mist affinity that is.
"What would neechan tell me to do?" he thought to himself as he closed his eyes in thought, "she'd probably tell me to follow my heart wouldn't she," a small smile came to his lips when he remembered one of the things she kept telling him to do, "what does my heart want to do? It wants to keep the ring… to use it to protect the people I care about," he finally decided, his will firmly set on his current course of action.
Slowly opening his eyes, the whiskered blond was shocked to see a light indigo flame glowing fiercely from the hell ring set upon his finger. Quickly looking around he was thankful that no one had noticed it yet and as soon as he turned back to the ring, the flame was nowhere to be seen.
Calming his breathing, Naruto thought back to what he was doing before the ring ignited… he had just decided to wear the ring no matter what. Now that he thought about it, he had just put his entire will into his decision, in other words, he had just made his resolve to protect everyone he cared about with the cursed ring,
Once again thinking about it, the ring lit once again, this time it's dim light being obscured by the blonds newly placed hand. He simply stared at the flame for several minutes before letting it die once again, before getting up from his seat, his mind thinking over the ring currently resting on his finger and the knowledge he could gleam from the book.
Slowly walking over to the woman that had comforted him earlier, he took a deep breath as he was about to do something he had never done before.
Haruno Isako was still cursing herself over opening the young blonds wound as she went through the list of books that would be disposed of, removing each one as she came to it and putting it aside for the whiskered child to take when he decided to leave.
"Um, excuse me," came the quiet voice of the young blond as he stood behind the woman, causing her to turn around and look at the child.
"I'm sorry but I've not finished getting the books ready yet, do you think you could stay a little longer?" she asked him with a kind smile though her jade eyes showed another emotion Naruto had only seen in the eyes of the old man before… one he still couldn't recognise.
"A-actually I wanted to ask if I could borrow this book," he muttered quietly slightly surprising the librarian at the request.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought you were wanting to leave now, but anyway, wait… isn't that the same book as before?" she suddenly asked, curious as to why the child would want a useless book like that.
"Y-yeah, it's really fun to read," the spiky haired child said, not wanting to give away too much, he knew that if people didn't know what you could do, you could get away with so much more.
Isako gave a small smile, before telling the blond something that brightened his day.
"That is one of the books on this list, so if you want it, it's yours," she told him with a happy grin that carried on to her eyes this time.
Naruto's eyes widened as a large smile spread onto his face at the revelation, by the end of the day, the book would be his, meaning that he could begin training with his ring almost straight away… though he would have to learn some genjutsu to make any real use of it… hopefully he would be getting at least one book that could help him with that tonight.
With more enthusiasm than he had ever had since his neechan's death, the blond went back to his table and continued reading where he left off… quickly reaching the introduction for something called 'box weapons'.
XXX XXX XXX
"Thank you," Naruto said with a small smile as the pink haired librarian helped him take his new books home.
"It's alright, I don't often see children your age read so much and it would be a shame to see all these books go to waste just because you couldn't carry them all, as for the food, I was hungry as well so it just seemed right to get you something as well," the pinkette told him with a gentle smile that made the spiky haired blond feel safe in her presence.
Continuing to walk in silence, led the way to the apartment he stayed with some of the other orphans. It was small, only one bedroom, a small living room with an open plan kitchen and a single bathroom. The apartment was in poor condition, with wallpaper falling off the walls, while a few holes created a small draft and the furniture was in a condition that would be expected on a scrap heap.
The reason for this was simple, it was a bottom of the range area within Konoha and the apartment was meant for people that could barely afford to feed themselves and the Hokage didn't have the time or spare resources to give the orphans any better than what they were currently given… besides it was only temporary until the orphanage was rebuilt.
Slowly opening the door, the pair were greeted by a sight they didn't expect… the old village leader sitting at the single table that existed in the apartment.
He was an old man that wore the ceremonial robes and hat of Konoha's leader every time he was seen in public or handing out missions, while his face was decorated by a white goatee, several liver spots and a couple of creases that ran down from his eyes. His name was Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no sato and also known as the 'Shinobi no kami' due to his strength in his prime.
"Your caretaker told me you would be back sooner or later, now come on Naruto-kun, the orphanage has been rebuilt enough for you to go back," the aged Hokage said calmly, his eyes widening slightly when he noticed the other person to enter the apartment, "ah, Haruno-san what are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, the library was throwing away some old books and I thought Naruto-chan here would like to have them, I was just helping him carry them here," she explained to the Sandaime, surprising him with the honesty behind her words.
"I see… however I must ask that you do something else with those books, the orphanage doesn't have the room available for now," the 'Shinobi no Kami' stated quietly before proceeding to stand and walk towards the door, "come on Naruto, let's get you back to the orphanage," the old ninja said with a soft smile.
"No."
Sarutobi blinked. And blinked again. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" he asked wondering if his hearing was worse than he thought it was.
"I said no… I don't want to go back there… I have too many memories of neechan in that place," the young blond told him with sadness clear in his tone while his arms were crossed over his chest and his head held low.
Sarutobi could only flinch at the comment, he had forgotten that the blond understood what had happened to the young woman, then again all the paperwork he had to deal with didn't leave him much time for remembering things like that.
"So what do you want to do Naruto-kun?" he asked hoping to find some form of inspiration from the former bundle of sunshine.
"I… I want to stay here," came the surprising response, not only because of the state of the apartment but also the conviction that saturated his voice, if the old man's guess was right then he wouldn't be capable of swaying the blonds decision… that didn't mean he wouldn't try though.
"Why would you want to stay here? The apartment is practically falling apart, you wouldn't have anyone to help you if you needed it," the aged Hokage started only to get interrupted by the third person in the room.
"If he needs help he can always ask me, I'll be more than happy to help him when I have free time," Isako told the Hokage with a smile etched onto her face.
"Don't you have a daughter of your own to look after?" Hiruzen asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, but I also have an unemployed husband that needs to start pulling his weight around the house more," the pinkette said with a slightly viscous grin making itself clear at the edge of her lips, causing the Hokage to take an involuntary step back… he had learned to fear that look back when his wife was still alive, "and he could always come over here and fix the place up, he has plenty of time to spare."
"Really?" came the wide eyed response from the blond who just looked at her, his arms still folded with his right hand hidden. Giving a calming smile and a single nod was all she did before the blond gave a massive grin and his eyes began to tear once again.
Looking at the happiness on the blonds face, the aged Hokage decided that it was time for him to say his piece and let the blond settle in to what was from now on, going to be his apartment.
"Well I can live with that, however, I will be checking up on you whenever I get the time so things had better be going well if you want to keep living here," the old man said calmly, earning an enthusiastic nod off the youngster before deciding to make sure the blond knew something important, "one other thing Naruto, since you are an orphan and will basically be living alone, you will need to come to my office every Sunday to receive your weekly allowance."
"Weekly allowance?" Naruto asked puzzled due to the fact that he had never heard the word allowance before, "what's allowance? And why is it weekly?"
"An allowance is a bit of money that you get given so you can buy things like food and clothes, the reason it's weekly is so you don't spend it all at once," Isako told him with a small smile as she noticed the blond focus intently on her explanation… if only her daughter was as focused as the boy in front of her.
She had tried to get the girl to read and learn more but in the end the little girl opted to play with flowers and mud… not a nice combination when she decides to bring it in the house.
"Oh I get it, thanks Jiji," came the enthusiastic statement from the blond, earning a warm smile off the old leader as he proceeded to walk towards the door.
"It's quite alright Naruto-kun, just make sure you don't get into too much trouble now, I'll see you soon," and with that the aged leader left the apartment, curious as to why the blond never showed his right hand throughout the entire conversation.
"Well, I guess that's all that's left for today, I guess I'll see you tomorrow Naruto-chan," the middle aged woman said with her usual smile.
"Maybe… I was going to go and get a head start in my ninja training with the books you gave me," the child told her with a small smile that once again managed to reach his eyes.
"So? You WILL be coming back tomorrow night so don't try to argue with me young man," she told him in a stern, almost motherly tone, causing the blond to turn his head away nervously.
"O-okay, Isako-san," Naruto said, using the name he read on her name badge back in the library.
"Well, I'd better get home now, who knows what my husband will be thinking right now," she muttered the last bit to herself as an annoyed expression made itself present on her features.
"Alright, then I'll see you tomorrow," the blond said happily as she put the pile of books she was carrying on the table the Hokage had been sitting at.
"Yes, now be a good boy and don't push yourself too hard tomorrow," and with a quick ruffle of the child's hair, Isako left the apartment, closing the door behind her.
Once he was certain the woman had truly left and wouldn't be returning, the blond let his arms down for the first time since he got to the apartment, revealing a small burn mark on the back of his left arm, the same shape as his ring.
"Dammit, this ring is really annoying… I mean why can't it stop making that fire? I don't want everyone to know about it yet," the whiskered child muttered to himself as he used cold water to try and cool down the mark.
He was definitely lucky that he had a VERY high tolerance of pain otherwise the old man would've realised he was being hurt regularly during their conversation. So the blond would have to practice both igniting and killing the flame instead of just lighting it like he thought he would have to.
Feeling drained from everything that had happened earlier, the blond opted to simply make his way to HIS bedroom and collapse on the old and worn mattress before allowing sleep to claim him.
XXX XXX XXX
Deep within a massive cage held in a boiler room, a powerful entity was desperately thinking about what it could do. Why had its container been involved in a series of coincidences that allowed him to rediscover the power known as dying will flames? Even back when it was complete it had difficulty with that power, but now, it was nothing more than a mass of power with an evil aura… and it knew for a fact that dying will flames could cleanse auras… which would effectively kill it and leave its power for the blond container.
It was a scary thought, it, a being that had existed since the time of the Rikudo Sennin, a being famous for its overwhelming power, would be at the mercy of a mere child if he ever discovered the truth.
It was then that the being known as 'the Kyūbi no kitsune' realised that if it wanted to live, it would have to compromise with its host… something it had always been too proud to ever consider before… but it realised, pride is worth nothing in death, and would do whatever it needed to in order to ensure its survival.
Now if it could only figure out how to talk to the brat.
XXX XXX XXX
The next morning we find Naruto going through several physical exercises in one of the training grounds just outside of the village in an attempt at a good warm up since according to the book he was reading, a good warm up was an important part of any training session.
Normally children wouldn't be allowed out of the village but for him circumstances were different, unlike many other children he was naturally talented at stealth… hence why he was the only one to be capable of sneaking out of the orphanage… just like he had done with the village today.
Finally finished with the warm up, Naruto proceed to walk back to the book he was reading so that he could figure out what to do next.
Taking a seat on a large rock, he started to read the books explanation of chakra and its uses… quickly discovering that the energy acted like water in how it flowed through the body in a series of 'pipes' before being released through the tenketsu which acted like a tap.
Finally finishing the section concerning the manipulation of chakra, Naruto proceeded to do something the book said should be a simple exercise, using chakra to glue a leaf to your forehead. The symbolism of the exercise didn't escape the blond, gluing a leaf to your forehead was like declaring your loyalty to the village, almost like wearing its hitae-ate like one of its ninja.
Placing the leaf to his forehead, the blond proceeded to channel a small amount of chakra before trying to use it to attach the leaf… his eyes widening in surprise when it flew off his face like a bullet.
Giving an annoyed grumble at using too much chakra, Naruto retrieved the leaf before attempting the exercise again and again and again.
The blond couldn't understand it, no matter how hard he tried he simply couldn't get the leaf to not fly off his forehead, which according to the book meant he was using too much chakra… the only excuse he could think of was that he simply had too much chakra to do the simple exercise.
Because of his revelation, the blond proceeded to assume a meditative pose as his mind began to race over ways of minimising his chakra usage.
For several hours he sat there, unflinching as he focused on his objective of improving his control when something finally came to him.
If chakra acted like water, then if he could slow the flow then he would be capable of gathering less and being more precise with how much chakra he could use at a time.
Due to this idea, the small blond started to focus on his rapidly flowing chakra coils and for the first time he was amazed at what was going through his tiny body. Every 'pipe' in his body was filled to bursting point and flowing almost too fast for him to keep up with, actually feeling his chakra in such detail made one thing clear to the blond, it was no surprise he couldn't gather small amounts of the water like energy.
Calming his breathing, Naruto did what made sense to him, he focused on his chakra and using his willpower alone, he attempted to slow it down, with very minor success, however since he had at least a little success, he kept at it and for the rest of the day, the blond simply sat there, willing his chakra to slow down… his ring blazing with his resolve to complete this stage of his training.
XXX XXX XXX
That night a mentally exhausted blond made his way back to his apartment, his books in hand as he proceeded to put more concentration into controlling the flame his ring would emit, his real focus being on keeping his resolve without igniting the indigo flame. He was succeeding to some degree, as long as he focused on keeping the flame dead then it wouldn't light itself, however if he lost his focus it would spark to life in an instant… something that he didn't want to happen.
Coming across the front door to the small flat, Naruto was caught off guard when he found it unlocked, he was certain he had locked it before leaving that morning. Slowly turning the handle and inching the front door open, Naruto's caution was thrown out the window when he saw a familiar head of pink hair in the kitchen.
"Hey Isako-san," the blond said with a happy tone, though it lacked any enthusiasm, as he proceeded to collapse at the kitchen table.
"Hello Naruto-chan, Hokage-sama gave me a spare set of keys earlier today, I hope you don't mind me coming in too much," the middle aged woman said with a small smile.
"Heh, I was just worried someone had broken in," the whiskered child muttered quietly as he let his head hit the table.
"So how did your first day of training go?"
"(sigh) I found out my chakra flows way too fast," came the depressed response from the five year old.
"What do you mean it flows too fast?" the pinkette asked him in confusion, she knew nothing about ninjas due to being born and raised a civilian like many of Konohas inhabitants.
"I mean I can't use small amounts of chakra yet… so instead of training like I was hoping to, I'm having to learn how to slow my chakra flow so I can use small amount before I even try to do any kind of normal training," the blond admitted with his eyes staring into space.
"Well if you are already being forced to put so much effort into controlling your chakra then when you've finally got it under control you should be better than everyone else your age shouldn't you?" Isako asked, both hoping to lift the blonds spirits and understand it herself.
"I never thought about it that way… heh, thanks Isako-san," came Naruto's response as enthusiasm leaked into his tone and he managed to find the energy to sit up and focus on his chakra coils once more.
Since the beginning of his meditation earlier that day, he had managed to decrease the speed of his chakra flow by about half a percent, so although it wasn't much, it was there and with practice, he was hoping that within the year he could get his flow to a point where he could control it enough to stick that damn leaf to his head.
Isako looked at the blond with a small smile, to think that he was still prepared to continue with his training despite coming across such a setback, it warmed her heart to see such determination in a child so young… if only her daughter could be more like him then she would go far in life.
When she finally managed to pull her mind away from how she wished her daughter would be, she noticed something she hadn't before, the indigo glow that came from the direction of the blonds hands. She had to admit that she didn't know what was happening over there and despite her interest, she decided that she should focus on the food she was preparing for the blond instead of what he was doing in his own home.
Once the meal had been prepared, the librarian placed a dish in front of the whiskered child who immediately quit his meditation and with a quick 'itadakimasu' proceeded to eat the dish at a ferocious pace, shocking the woman with his appetite.
Once again she began to wish her daughter was more like the little blond, she was such a fussy eater and would never finish her meals, something that wasn't good for a growing girl to do, especially considering the fact that she was planning on becoming a konoichi when she grew up.
"So Naruto-chan, what was that glowing when you meditated?" she asked out of nowhere, shocking the blond, though he managed to catch himself before she noticed.
"Don't worry, I was just releasing a little bit of chakra to try and slow my flow," he said without missing a beat, he had to admit, considering that he hadn't even thought of an excuse, it was a pretty good one to use on a civilian that knew nothing of ninja.
"Oh, sorry, I never even thought about that," the slightly embarrassed woman said, she should have realised it would be something like that, he was trying to control his chakra after all.
"Heh, it's alright, oh by the way, thanks for the food, it was awesome!" the cheerful blond said loudly, earning a happy smile off the middle aged woman, her daughter was never that enthusiastic about her cooking.
"Thank you Naruto-chan, now I hate to say it but I really should be going home now," she said with a hint of regret in her voice as she proceeded to stand from the table.
"Oh, alright then, I'll see ya tomorrow Isako-san," and with a small smile, the emerald eyed woman ruffled the blonds' hair before leaving the small apartment and locking the door behind her.
"(phew) if she knew anything about ninja and chakra then she wouldn't have fallen for that… I really need to learn how to keep that damn flame dead," the young blond muttered to himself as the light indigo flame burst into life once again, "dammit, do I really have THIS much resolve in everything I do?"
Focusing on his resolve and the flame on his ring, the young blond spent the rest of the night trying to get the flame to stay dead for as long as possible, before his concentration slipped and he found himself unable to continue, at which point he dragged himself to his bed, where he fell asleep almost immediately courtesy of his mental exhaustion.
