Thanks for the support for those that reviewed.
Now, onto the story!
This has been rewritten!
I do not own Naruto, if I did, he'd have a kickass sword, which he will have in my fanfic.
The Uchiha Massacre has not taken place yet!
(Konoha – 8 years after the Kyuubi attack)
'Its been more than 3 years' Thought Naruto as he walked towards his new home.
He had spent nearly 3 years in Paradise lost. It earned him many things, like information, secrets,, followers, and power.
He learned many things in Paradise lost, such as those that can be trusted, those who will betray, those who you seek for help and those who can be allies.
In truth, he could have left Paradise lost a months ago but he decided while he was in the den of secret holders to learn as much as he could.
Danzo, Kyuubi attack, Yondaime, Konoha, Civilian Council, anything could be learned through there, including various rumors that might or might not be rumors. But very few things interested him above all else.
The Uzumaki clan.
The name peaked his interest when he heard some old people reminisce about a long forgotten clan known as the Uzumaki clan. Those old buzzers couldn't stop talking about them, apparently they were a rowdy bunch. Some would call them loyal friends and some would call them demon's in human skin.
What surprised Naruto was their description of them. It was their red hair, almost a trademark for Uzumaki. The other being extremely proficient with seals. Of course, that immediately brought up the old memory of his dear friend, Uzumaki Natsuki.
Apparently the Uzumaki were attacked out of fear from 3 shinobi villages, and it was one hell of a battle apparently. After that, the Uzumaki scattered and if they had to guess there were only a handful left.
Of course that brought up more questitons like, if Natsuki was an Uzumaki, then why wasn't she treated better? Ushiogakure and Konoha were allies according to his information so why were they condemning an Uzumaki, who's potential is exponential.
So in order to find out he sent spies to find out. With the money he won from Paradise lost, many mouths were loosened, especially from the Civilian council. He had yet to go through the reports but he would do so once he got settled in.
That was roughly 2 days ago.
He spent his first day looking around Konoha after getting his citizenship in Konoha. When he looked around things seemed more…grey. He noticed, everything seemed to have darkened. Maybe it was the effect of Paradise lost or maybe he lost his naïveity and innocence.
But still, he had several things he needed to do, such as get back into contact with Natsuki. He really needed to get back in touch with her. It wasn't like he liked her or anything, sure they were friends but when your trapped, one tends to think.
One needs to cling onto hope, whatever hope necessary to get passed whatever emotional stress they're experiencing while locked up. Also his deepest bond with anyone in his short life was with her and they did separate in less favorable circumstances.
He was worried about her, hours upon hours of thinking of worse scenario's of what could have happened were in Naruto's head. He just wanted closure honestly, to make sure she was alive and kicking, most likely someone else's butt with her attitude.
He had already taken care of registering to be a ninja. There was no problem whatsoever, it seemed that one didn't even need parental permission to register, it was only a formality. Really, he might not have been a spy but Konoha is too lax with their security, he was pretty sure that there were spies all around Konoha already.
He quickly snapped his mind out of his thoughts as he arrived in the room in which he would be spending the next 5 years learning how to be a ninja. He knocked on the door, signaling he was there.
He overheard the teacher, Iruka Umino if he remembered right telling the other kids that there was going to be a new student joining them.
"Come in." He heard the voice through the door.
Uzumaki Natsuki was having a normal day for once. She woke up, she ate some ramen, and then walked to the Academy where she had been spending the last 3 months in. She had her expectations up, honestly it wasn't going as she hoped. It didn't help that she didn't have many friends, it was probably a bad idea to go ballistic on them the moment she walked into the class. But in her defense, they were asking for it.
Really, boys could be so stupid. On the very first day, the boys walked up to her and started calling her names, she didn't say anything because she thought they were being stupid. But when they called her a Tomato, all bets were off.
Only her friends can call her that. Actually lets correct that, not even her friends could call her that, only her best friend. Actually lets correct that once more, only her best friend could call her that and hope to live with his head not sustaining large amount of blunt trauma. Only her best friend that went missing.
It had been 3 years since that day. She still wore the present she got from him, it covered her hair from getting in her eyes, and it was orange, really it was perfect for her. That's what made it more sad.
She really couldn't blame it on him. She also knew she couldn't blame it on herself either or the villagers, or maybe they were all at fault. Natsuki for not telling Naruto about her problems, Naruto for provoking the villagers and the villagers for taking her best friend away to unknown places.
She cried so much that day. She really couldn't look at anyone for a few months. She was fine with the occasional rare beating, it only happened when everyone was piss drunk or on her birthday. She couldn't even look at the Hokage either, she felt compelled to blame him at least for a while, why couldn't any of the Anbu people keep watch over the village? Why couldn't they save one child?
The Hokage looked into the matter personally. While he was tempted to say it was an imaginary friend and the villages hate was getting to her, there were several reports that stated that Natsuki had been indeed playing with a young boy named Naruto, the Ichiraku family also supported it.
The Hokage started to get suspicious and sent Anbu to pick up the Matron's in Natsuki's orphanage. It had only been 3 days since Natsuki was sent to the hospital and the matrons were jumpy. As soon as they heard they were going to the T&I department did they squeal like pigs.
Apparently they had been selling children in the black markets. Originally they had been planning on sending young Naruto in some point in the future but it was a perfect time and they wanted to cover their tracks. They had done so too hastily, the Matrons used thugs and 'adopted' children from the orphanage and then took them into the slave rigs never to be seen again. They had set up a meeting with Naruto in the near future and send him away.
Apparently they had something against Naruto because they were Kyuubi haters, and seeing as how he refused to leave Natsuki, they grew mad. As the months started passing, they couldn't hold it in anymore.
The Hokage was outraged, the Matrons claimed they did it for the good of Konoha…they were executed shortly.
When the Hokage visited Natsuki in her new apartment, she didn't even once look at him in the eyes. It hurt, how could he, the 3rd Hokage not protect a single child.
The Hokage put Anbu to guard Natsuki from that day forward, the occasional beatings became a thing of the past but it took a while for the red head to trust him once more, and even then it wasn't what it was before.
Of course, that didn't stop Natsuki from giving into despair. She tried to make friends, in fact, she helped out the Hyuuga Heiress, Hinata from being picked on. Nothing like a kick in the face to make stupid bullies from running away. Then there was Ino and Sakura who she helped from another girl named Ami.
They hung around each other for a while until they all entered the Academy. That's when it started going downhill. Hinata started training more since the Kumo incident and Ino and Sakura became enamored with the young Uchiha Sasuke. She made friends/acquaintances with his sister Hitomi but she didn't like to hang around the boys often, it brought back some memories.
So right now she was sitting in her chair, half-listening to Iruka-sensei talking about some random fact about how to throw a senbon or something, or maybe it was how to sharpen a kunai?
She was conflicted, she knew she wanted attention, but how to get the attention was the problem. She really didn't want to cause problems for the third but with all the glares she was receiving, she wanted to maybe she could play a prank on the villagers, yeah that would be a good stress reliever.
Suddenly there was a knock on the sliding doors. Everyone wondered who it was, that question was immediately answered by Iruka-sensei who seemed as if he remembered something.
"Ah, that reminds me, we're getting a new student. He just moved to Konohagakure so make sure you guys show him how great Konoha is alright?" Iruka said.
There was a resounding "Hai." In the classroom.
'Ah, there's a transfer student.' She thought looking out the window, not so much a thought as much as a passing cloud,
The door slid opened and for some reason the footsteps were heard throughout the class. The sound of chalk grinding against the board, as the new student wrote his name. The sound of clatter was heard as the chalk he used lay on the bar of the chalkboard.
"Hello." The new person said, it struck a chord with Natsuki.
'Th-That voice!' She thought. She still remembered his voice. Sure it sounded slightly deeper but it was still his voice. Slowly turning with her eyes shut. Slowly she opened them up, hoping it wasn't some or of dream or twisted joke.
Blue met purple.
The same purple eyes that would gaze at her, showing no resentment, no hate, no loathe, just whatever he felt at the moment. The same purple eyes that reminded her of a night sky, how she missed those eyes, the eyes of her best friend.
He wore a grayish sweater with a large vertical black strip down the middle of it, he had a black undershirt and had black shorts on. His hair was slightly more tame than before and he still had baby fat around the face. But overall he looked the same as before.
Naruto stared at the girl, the first thing he notice was her red hair, the long red hair that he liked, it was his favorite color after all. He could see the birthday present that he bought for her that seemed like a long time ago. Her blue eyes, so pure and innocent, oblivious to the darker side of the world.
She wore a fishnet shirt under a white kimono top. She wore blue khaki pants and her shirt had a white spiral behind it. Of course he realized what that symbol was and already planned on asking her where she got the shirt because someone knew about the Uzumaki clan and held back information.
"Nice to meet you, I look forward to working with all of you." Naruto said, returning to his 'new guy' persona. It would look too suspicious if he suddenly called her out at the moment, apparently Natsuki was thinking something similar or maybe she had a reputation she wanted to keep.
"Alright Naruto, there's a chair available next to Natsuki. Natsuki raise your hand." Iruka said, Natsuki slowly raised her hand and saw a small smile spread from his mouth. He walked towards the seat next to hers, she couldn't stop hearing the murmurs of the girls he passed by, 'oh he's cute' or 'his blonde hair is so dreamy', oh how she wanted to kill them all at that moment.
Naruto sat on his chair next to the red head and introduced himself "Hello, names Naruto, what's yours?" He said with a smile.
It stung. Did he not remember her or was he just a different person that just looked astonishingly like her friend. Or maybe it was someone trying to hurt her again. One way or another she was going to find out.
"Hi! Name's Uzumaki Natsuki, future Hokage –teebayo." She grinned.
"Nice to meet you." He said with an amused voice. She started to lose hope that he was her friend or even remembered her, just as she was going to sigh in resignation she heard a mumble that was meant to be heard, "I'm glad you enjoyed the present I gave you." She turned her head to Naruto only to find him looking ahead.
She was going to get answers.
In Naruto's opinion, the Ninja Academy so far was a waste of time. It doesn't really take that much time to train a chakra user to get to genin level. During the previous world wars, genin were being sent out of the academy within 1 year of preparation, not 5 years.
There was also the fact that the standards were lowered radically. From what he could tell, the standards were lowered to levels that even civilians could have a chance to pass. The poor fools signed up to their deaths by doing that.
So it wasn't a surprise once taijutsu and throwing practice started. As expected, civilian students did bad to ok grades in both terms. Clan students however was different. They were raised in a manner that befitted a future shinobi, but in times of peace the knife tends to lose its edge. They weren't to Naruto's standards, but apparently they were somewhere between normal to great. He felt a bit insulted in their capacity so far, hell he'd been targeted by assassin's in Paradise lost already, by children younger than them.
Paradise lost is that kind of place.
There were some that did catch his eye, such as the Uchiha twins, the Nara who deemed everything too troublesome and the Inuzuka whose Taijutsu was upper tier in the Academy.
However he was concerned about the treatment of Uzumaki Natsuki. Her taijutsu stance was sloppy but the proctor made no announcement to correct it, and with target practice, he could see upon impact with the target, it did not stay or missed. He could easily tell due to his experience with cheaters in Paradise lost that the Kunai's and Shuriken were dulled or bent slightly so there trajectory was off and that the weapons don't stick to the wood.
It seemed that even hatred seeped into the shinobi ranks.
But she did have a few things above the rest.
That was her endurance and energy.
That's why he wasn't surprised when class went on break for lunch that he was whisked away within a second that the teacher left and before all the girls noticed he left before they could maw..err ask him questions politely.
Naruto found himself on the roof, pushed against the wall by a very angry Natsuki. She had an aura that just screamed 'You die now.' Behind her.
"Where the fuck were you? Where did they take you!" Natsuki growled. She was really pissed for some reason.
She had been desperately wanting to find out. What kind of hell hole did she damn her friend to?
"It doesn't matter. I'm here and that's what matters." Naruto stated in monotone.
Wrong answer.
Naruto got a right hook to the face. Strike one.
Man did she pack a punch.
But Paradise lost isn't a place for kids.
Naruto stood his ground, that punch rattled his brain but nothing serious.
"Where!" She asked again.
"Doesn't matter." He stated.
She punched him again. Strike two.
"Tell me!" She yelled out.
"No!" He said.
Another punch. Strike three. All bets are off.
This time he caught it and retaliated. He kneed her stomach causing her to spit saliva. Moving back a step, he performed a roundhouse kick, sending the girl skidding across the roof.
Naruto stared at her coldly, "You don't order me around, just because you were my friend doesn't give you control over my life."
Natsuki coughed for a few seconds before staring at Naruto. "You bastard." She sneered.
"Bastard…I probably am but that doesn't mean anything to me. I came back just to see you but I guess I was a fool to believe everything would be fine." Naruto said with a neutral expression.
He couldn't help but ask himself, was he trying to reclaim his childhood? Why did he return in the first place? Was it for her, was it worth coming back to the corrupt village known as Konohagakure?
Natsuki charged forward, ignoring the sting in her eyes. The person who she believe to be her best friend… what was he now? Did she believe just because he was back that nothing had changed? That everything would be alright, that they could still live in the naïve innocent world they created when they were young?
No, as time marches forth, so do people. Now, two different people were standing in front of them. One person, who would trust her friend above all else was fighting against that person. Her previous mindset of positive attitude had been shattered since that day three years ago. Now she was in turmoil with herself, clinging onto past belief or search for anew. She was so sure that the boy in front of her would help her, but maybe she was wrong.
Across her stood the boy, with cold eyes. The eyes that wouldn't frighten her or glare at her with intense hate were gone. In there place stood an indifferent boy who would cut off his own arm if it meant it no longer served any use. They weren't the eyes she missed, he wasn't the boy she missed. It was like someone took his soul and put whoever was occupying his body.
"Who are you!" She screamed out as she threw punches and kicks at the boy who moved to the side without any care.
"Pardon?" He asked.
"Who are you? Your definitely not the Naruto I know. Tell me, what did you do to him!" She yelled out desperately, clinging to hope that it wasn't the Naruto she knew.
How Kami hates her.
"Really, since I'm not some cheery guy who would help someone for the hell of it, I'm not Naruto. Because I'm not like I was 3 years ago I'm not Naruto. Because I'm not the person you hoped I'd be, I'm not Naruto. Am I right?" He asked, pinning the girl to the wall, her hands behind her as she struggled to break free.
"Let me go, Teme!" She yelled out.
"Or what? You'll try and attack me again, you could see that didn't work. To be honest, your skills are pathetic. But what surprises me more is that you did nothing to try and fix it. Were you so much in the past that you didn't move forward? Did you join the Academy to get stronger, but you've done nothing to improve. What is it you want?" He said.
"Screw you!" She shouted, she was angry, how could he read her like a book. Her fears were coming true, her insecurities about everyone was proving true, she couldn't trust anyone.
"Why did you not ask for help? Were you too afraid? Were you too scared to even ask?"
"Shut up!" She yelled, not wanting to hear what he was saying.
"Then tell me, what were you expecting when you came here? Why did you want to become a shinobi!" He yelled at her.
"SHUT UP!"
"THEN TELL ME!"
"Because I didn't want to be weak! I didn't want to lose someone again!" She yelled out, she somehow found the strength to break free of her bindings and stared at Naruto with Fury.
"It was my fault, it was because of me that you became whatever you are. It was because of me you were sent to whoever know where. All of it, it was me." She started crying, tears were coming back.
Naruto just stared. What he feared was right. The incident left a bigger scar on her than she realized. It wasn't that she wanted to protect, it was because she wanted to protect herself. She wanted strength to not feel pain anymore, she wanted to isolate herself. Create a wall between everyone else and herself, only relying on herself for everything. He didn't want her to turn out like other Jinchuuriki, the boy in Suna was a perfect example. So he did the one thing he could do.
Smash that wall and get through her defense.
This was the result.
A frail girl scared to get hurt.
She didn't trust anyone, and without anyone to trust, she was slowly loosing herself.
It sickened him to do this to her.
"You idiot!" Naruto yelled at her, punching her, sending her sprawling on the floor. "Those were things outside of our control! It was bad, horrible but if we let that change us then why even live! When things go bad should we give up! When we think we can't handle it do we throw away everything!" Naruto yelled.
"Then, what do I do? What can I do to make up for it?" She said.
"Live…live a better life. Don't throw it away look for happiness dammit!" He reached and grabbed he collar, looking at her in the eye. "There are people in the world that have had it worse than us, I've seen them. They've fallen, oh kami how they fell. I'm not going to let you turn out like them. Even if I have to make you hate me, I'll make sure it doesn't happen."
He…he cared? That was the thought that was running through Natsuki's mind. She thought whatever happened during his time away turned him into whatever it was that was standing in front of her. But apparently she was mistaken.
"Don't try and be by yourself! We human's want to be alone but we can't BE alone. We seek out other people whether we want to or not. So its time to be selfish, we're greedy people after all, we want happiness and some are willing to do whatever is necessary to get it. But what about you? Will you look into the past and ignore the future?"
Her mind was still reeling. He wanted to help her…HE…wanted to HELP HER. It was such a foreign thought to her, one of the rare few that helped her, it brought a warm feeling from her stomach when she thought of it. But he was right, before he came she was thinking of playing a prank to get attention but at the same time she wanted them at a distance.
What was she doing? This wasn't like her at all! Sure, he might have changed but so had she, but between the two of them, she was worse. If she met up with her past 5 year old self, she was sure that she would kick her own ass. Why shouldn't she, she was acting like she was a damn wall flower.
Naruto saw the flare in her eyes. The same flare that she had years ago, unfortunately he didn't see the punch aimed at his stomach…or the kick after it.
Naruto was sprawled on the floor looking at the clouds pass by as Natsuki overshadowed him. He couldn't help but grin as she was doing the same.
"Quite a welcome home, isn't it." Naruto asked.
Her grin got larger, "Yup." She said as she sat down next to him.
It was an sincere and awkward silence.
Naruto decided to speak.
"This isn't something kids like us should be talking about is it?" Naruto said, getting comfortable and sitting up right.
"Nope." Natsuki answered with simplicity.
"The world is really messed up"
"Yup."
"But at least we know we can rely on each other, right?"
"Mhm."
"You gonna actually say something?" Naruto asked.
"Hmm…" She shrugged her shoulders.
They didn't notice that they were getting closer to each other each time they talked. By the end, Natsuki was laying her head on Naruto's shoulder, Naruto was too tired to care, it was a bit of a rollercoaster after all. By the time there break ended, Natsuki grabbed Naruto and said,
"You tell anyone, I'll kill you."
Naruto nodded, already knowing it would happen, it was within the possibilities after all. He watched her walk back to the classroom. He waited a bit before a man in his late 30's came out.
"Is that all?" He said.
"Yes, thank you for your service." Naruto said. The man nodded and vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Naruto sighed, he paid someone to put up silencing seals to prevent any ninja or people from wandering to the roof, so the conversation went by without anyone knowing it.
'All according to plan'
"Shut up Kuro-Ou(Black King)."
'Come now, is that any way to speak to a king?'
'You and your disillusions Kuro-Ou. This wasn't a plan, this was to break her shell she created around herself.'
'Manipulation you mean. But it matters not, it would be bad to have an unstable Jinchuuriki.'
'She'd be an insult to the Uzumaki name is she did.'
'Oh! Your going to keep that promise? How rare.'
'Of course, she's meant to do bigger things, and I want to be by her side when it happens.'
'You do know that sounds corny right. It's not like you love her or anything, yet anyways.'
'I know, but… things will become interesting if I stay by her.'
'…We really have changed haven't we?"
'Yeah, and there's no going back.'
'I prefer it this way, and seeing as you are me, then you feel the same. Don't wait too long to let me play once more, until next time.'
'Until next time, partner.'
Naruto let out a sigh once more, really Paradise lost did more to him that he thought. Another personality inside him mind, one that he created himself…and now, free to communicate with each other…it was like his other half or something.
They both accepted each other, but unlike ying and yang, black and white and all that stuff, they preferred to stay in the middle, stuck between both, capable of being both yet none at the same time.
Life was troublesome, that was for sure.
But he'd be lying if he said he didn't care.
Just a step at a time.
Take things as they come…
…and see what life has to offer.
Yo people, I was bore d and I decided to do something, and this is that something. I know I went a different way then the first version but Naruto needed a background, otherwise he'd be a self insert, sure I could have given him some sort of super cool bloodline since he didn't know who his parents were but that's not enough.
Anyways, I'm redo-ing the pairings. Sure it will be a harem but I'll keep it secret this time, no fun if you already know who's going to be in it.
But I do want an opinion on something. Do you think I should bring in an OC for a pairing, I mean, you tend to get sick or same pairings over and over eventually right? Maybe a change of pace.
But anyways, I'm going to work on either The way Fate Dealt the Cards or a High school of the dead crossover, I'm not sure which one.
Please ask quesions because I'm getting a feeling some people want to ask.
Till next time.
