A/N: Prompt the second!
I Choose You!, No Pairing
Naruto watched with a sick fascination as the mercenaries turned and ran. It seemed to bring about a different side of himself, a more… primal side. Seeing people flee in terror seemed to be like a balm to the sunburned skin that he hadn't even known he'd had. Thinking about it, Naruto began to feel nauseous, and looked around, glancing for anything else he could stare at that wouldn't make him feel like charging at someone, kunai in hand.
His eyes landed on the prone forms of Zabuza, demon of the mist, and Haku, the demon's apprentice. Both had fallen in very noble fashion. Haku had jumped in front of her master when she saw a finishing blow coming for him. Zabuza had done a suicidal rush at Gato, and his thugs, taking the annoying dictator down with a slice. As Naruto watched their bodies, his breath hitched as he saw Zabuza's chest struggled upwards, signaling a struggling for breath.
Before he knew it, Naruto was over, right next to the two of them. Sure enough, Zabuza was still alive, though just barely. A quick check confirmed that Haku was in a similar state. 'What the hell?!' Naruto thought. ' She took a hand, covered in lightning, right to the heart! How is she still breathing?!' Naruto would never truly know the answer to this question until he interrogated some medics.
'Not important!' he thought. 'They're both dying, fast! How can I save them?!' Naruto looked around, and saw that only the old bridge builder had shot him a look. The others probably figured he was mourning his foe, which was to be expected from a rookie gennin. After all, the psychiatrist in the academy had said in a general lecture that it was quite normal to… Wait! 'The Psychiatrist!' Naruto realized, and dug around in his equipment pouch for a much less frequently used item. As he fumbled, he unconsciously remembered the events that had brought these items into his possession…
Naruto, age ten, was in the office of the school psychiatrist. And fat old man was ranting again, saying things along the line of 'I've never had such a problem with any other students in the twelve years I've worked at this academy! If you have this much trouble controlling yourself and your emotions, you might as well just quit being a ninja now!'
The blonde boy looked up, catching the end of that statement. "But I've gotta be a ninja! I've gotta do it to become Hokage! And I'm great at controlling myself and my emotions!" Inside, the gennin-to-be was thinking 'If I wasn't, I would have throttled you seven sessions ago!'
The psychiatrist snorted. "Yeah, right. Let me tell you this, now, brat. The only way you could ever become a ninja with your crappy emotional control is if you turned out to be the carrier of a lost bloodline, or ungodly talented at kenjutsu, or…" The man stopped, trying to find even more outlandish things to say. "Had Jounin at your beck and call every day for the rest of your life!" Having lost his ranting speed and his momentum, the man waved his hand, shooing Naruto out of his door.
The man was ignorant of what he'd just done. As Naruto walked, he thought 'A Jounin? Whenever I wanted them? If that's one of the only ways I can become a ninja, I'll do it! Now, how do I get them? I don't think the old man would lend me one whenever I wanted one. If only I could tame them, like they were animals, this would be easy.' Naruto laughed, the image of Iruka-sensei being dragged around on a leash running through his mind.
But, as happened to Naruto frequently, just thinking of one thing set off a chain of many other thoughts. Thinking of Iruka had surprisingly made Naruto think of a lesson they'd gotten last week, where Iruka had blathered on about the importance of seals for two hours. He had mentioned that seals were typically used to make explosive tags, but could be used to store things and trap things as well.
It was the last two that Naruto thought of. A quick stop at the Hokage's tower to beg for some books, and another at a grocers who didn't seem to hate the sight of him as long as he had money, and Naruto was set. All he needed was some paper, a brush, a lot of ink, and a scroll with a freakishly long title that Naruto had mentally translated to 'The Complete and Utter Idiot's Guide to Sealing'. After a days practice, Naruto came to the quick and undeniable conclusion that his penmanship sucked.
The next few months passed slowly. The only sign at all, to Iruka at least, that Naruto was applying himself at all was his handwriting, which was worlds better then it used to be. But he was still falling asleep more then he used to, and his pranks had grown so they were more frequent and on a grander scale then they'd used to be.
What Iruka had missed was that all of Naruto's pranks revolved around writing and drawing. It wasn't uncommon to see odd designs scribbled on all the walls of Konoha, as Naruto tried out his fledgling sealing skills. When he turned eleven, almost exactly a year after his fateful run in with the academy shrink, Naruto had his first living success: a small squirrel was sealed into a slip of paper for a minute.
From there, his seals grew leaps and bounds. Soon, he discovered that neither paper nor wood would make good conductors for living creatures. Instead, metal seemed to work best. And anything in flat shapes or square shapes worked terribly. Soon, he developed a good relationship with a blacksmith who was new to the area. The blacksmith made a little ball, hinged so that it could swing shut. But after finding out he needed a locking mechanism, a small, circular lock was created in the front of the ball, which he supercharged with his chakra.
Then, only a month before his third try at the gennin test, Naruto finished it. It was a small ball, which would shrink and grow as he added and removed chakra from one seal. He had inked it extensively, literally covering it in seals for capture, containment, and comfort for those captured (or, the three Cs). He had managed to make a few that were, theoretically, sound, but he hadn't gotten a chance to test them out yet.
Now was the perfect chance. Looking around, no one had looked around at him yet. 'Probably giving me grieving time.' He thought, and finally located two of the small balls. With a quick blast of his chakra, they grew to normal size. Dropping one on each of the two, there was a blast of red light as the ball opened, and the two were sucked inside of it. That red light would both enforce the three Cs he had developed, as well as bind them to his will. They would still have their original personalities, but everything would be underlined by a drive to serve and protect him.
The locks in the fronts of Naruto's Ninballs (for lack of a better term) glowed red. According to Naruto's calculations, that should be the two of them instinctively fighting off his controls, and Naruto grinned in respect for their fighting spirit. But the ball dimmed, and there was a small chiming sound. A wide, victorious smile crossed Naruto's face, and he quickly shrunk and pocketed the two orbs. Now for the difficult part… explaining where the two bodies had gone.
After pushing two corpses into the ocean, and making up some story about giving the two a burial at sea, Naruto found himself reclining in the woods behind Tazuna's house. Looking around, Naruto saw no one was around, once again. Kakashi was still doing bodyguard duty, telling Naruto to relax for the day. Sasuke was confined to his bed after a near-death experience, and Sakura was hovering over him like an alien spaceship, preparing to beam up their subject for anal probing.
Naruto smacked his head quickly. 'Bad image! Bad image! Bad!' he thought, and forced his mind back to the topic at hand. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the two balls, now helpfully labeled with a Z and a H. Dropping them on the ground triggered a flash of red light, which coalesced into the forms of Zabuza and Haku.
The orange-clad shinobi fought back a cheer. They were both there, and both completely unharmed! Even their clothes were completely fixed, which was something he hadn't anticipated. Zabuza had his sword back, and Haku's mask hung from her belt next to her senbon pouch. The two looked around in shock, before finally settling to look at Naruto. As he steeled himself for his explanation, the words died in his throat when Haku kneeled elegantly before him. Zabuza grudgingly copied his apprentice, though he held his sword out, Samurai style.
Naruto blanched at the unexpected subservience. But that turned into a chuckle when Zabuza gruffly said "Can we move now, or do you expect us to stay like this all day." Gesturing for them to rise, Naruto heavily sat on the grass. Zabuza stared at him, half in amusement, half in shock. "So, are you going to decide to tell us what the hell you did to us?"
The third exam. The chunin exams. It was the final test to go onto the finals, which would be watched by important people from all over the world. And the only thing standing in Uzumaki Naruto's path was a snarling dog boy named Kiba. Oh, and his puppy. "Hey, ref!" Naruto yelled at the coughing man watching the battlefield. "Is that dog legal? I mean, it's living, and alive, and… yeah. But is it allowed."
The proctor coughed again, and answered "Yes. All ninja tools, or things you'd usually use in a real battle are legal here. Any problems?"
Naruto shook his head, and reached into a small chamber on his belt. This was another invention of his in the time he had been told to 'go find someplace to train by yourself'. It stored all his Ninballs, and gave him the right one when wanted it. Unless it was his chakra signature that opened it, they wouldn't come out, making it utterly useless to anyone else. As Naruto grabbed the ball marked with a Z, he heard a muttered gasp from the stands, and could practically hear Kakashi's anticipation.
After all, ever since he'd finished the chamber, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi had been dying to know what was in it. Sasuke had backed off when Naruto said "Sure, as soon as you show me all you can do", and Kakashi had been puzzling over Naruto's telling him to look 'underneath the underneath'. Sakura was the hardest to dissuade, and Naruto had even caught her trying to get what was inside of it once.
He heard the anticipation die a bit as he pulled out the Ninball, and smirked when he heard a comment about 'That baka, trying to fool us into believing it was something important.' Kiba, on the other hand, stiffened. 'What is it?' Kiba was wondering, as he hastily beckoned Akamaru towards him. 'Smokescreens don't work on us, but if he's smart enough to use one of his stink bombs… Nah, Naruto wouldn't be that smart.' But just in case, he pulled Akamaru close, preparing to move at any moment if it proved dangerous.
Naruto looked up at Hayate. "Has the match started yet?" he asked, and the sickly man coughed his agreement. "Ok. Then… Zabuza, I choose you!" he yelled, and threw the ball down. As the mist shinobi emerged, in a combat position, Naruto felt rather then heard the shock coming from behind him, from everyone from Kakashi to Sakura to Iruka, down to even the insane Sand Nin. Zabuza looked over his shoulder at his summoner.
"The big moment, eh?" Zabuza asked, a laugh in his voice. "Good job. They all seem suitably shocked." He refocused his attention on Kiba, who clearly got the message that this guy was bad news, and asked "We doing this?"
Naruto nodded, and pointed authoritatively at Kiba. "Zabuza, use Kirigakure no Jutsu!" he yelled, and his ninja hasted to obey. Soon, the entire arena was covered in mist so thick it would take a sword to cut through it. Which, actually, wasn't such a bad idea. "Zabuza, Use Non-Lethal Kubikiri Frisbee!" Under his bandages, Zabuza smirked, and drew his sword back to throw.
A moment later, there was a meaty thud, and the crack of stone. "Zabuza, disperse the mist!" Naruto called, and the mist faded into the ground. It revealed Kiba, slumped against the wall, a huge purple bruise emerging in a pattern identical to that of the blunt edge of Zabuza's sword. Akamaru, who Kiba had had the presence of mind to drop, was sniffing his master while whimpering in concern. Naruto pointed his Ninball back at Zabuza. "Zabuza, return!" A beam of red light shot from the lock, enveloping the former mist shinobi. Right before he re-entered his plush Ninball home, Zabuza flashed his middle finger up at the still-shocked Kakashi.
"Um… Winner!" Hayate yelled. "Uzumaki Naruto and his… missing-nin!" There was a smattering of applause, but most of the people gathered were still in shock. Naruto groaned, and leapt back up to the stands, where, sure enough, a blast of questioning followed.
The next week, Naruto groaned again as he bounded on the rooftops of Konoha. It seemed that the only place he could be alone was when he ran around. Anywhere else, and he would be found and harassed again. It had started when the third exam prelims had ended. The Hokage had immediately summoned Naruto to a closed meeting, with only himself, the Hokage, Kakashi, Iruka, and some odd guy who was head of technology in the village.
"Naruto, I'm very disappointed in you for keeping this such a big secret from us all. But if you just give them to me, and tell me where you got them, I'll forget all about it!" Kakashi said, going from serious and cold to doing one of those odd eye-smiles at the end.
Naruto snorted, and his reaction was shown clearly on his face. "I'm disappointed in you, Kakashi-sensei. For a man who claims to be my sensei, it disappoints me that you want to take away one of my few advantages, probably to give them to someone else. Besides, Zabuza and Haku won't work for anyone else."
Kakashi stood straight, as if he'd been slapped. The friendly sensei was gone, leaving the ANBU warrior in his place. "Naruto, as your direct superior, I command you to give me those… things. They contain far too much power for anyone in your position to have."
The Nin-Catcher reached into his Chamber, grabbing both of the Ninballs, expanding them to their regular size. "Kakashi-sensei, as your direct subordinate, I'm telling you to fuck off." Kakashi wasn't really paying much attention to what Naruto was saying. Now that the Ninballs were out of the chamber, he was preparing to move to grab them. Seeing the intent on his distracted teacher's face, Naruto laughed. "If anyone other then me touches them, they're keyed to release. Kakashi-sensei, you barely beat Zabuza. How would you like to face Zabuza and Haku?"
Kakashi backed off, suppressing his glower. The odd scientist was the next to speak. "Naruto, do you have any of those, only empty?" Naruto shrugged, and produced an empty Ninball. He handed it over willingly, content in the knowledge that it wouldn't function for anyone else due to the amount of his chakra it was steeped in. The man turned it over in his hand, mumbling under his breath as inspected it inside and out. "Remarkable. Simply remarkable." He said. "I approve." The scientist handed it back, and stepped back again.
Iruka was the next to step forward. "Naruto, where did you get these?" he asked, honest curiosity in his voice. "I've never seen or heard of anything like them!"
Naruto nodded. "You wouldn't have. I made them from scratch." The news that he had made them brought more shock into the room then actually using them had. Kakashi and Iruka were both shocked, though Iruka clearly had an undertone of pride on his face. The scientist looked calculating, and the Hokage was merely smiling again. With a gesture, the old man cleared the room of everyone but Naruto.
"Naruto-kun," Naruto's Grandfather figure started. "How do they work?" Naruto shrugged, not seeing the harm, before launching into a basic explanation of how he'd managed to make his first Ninball. The next thing out of the old man's mouth was unexpected, however. "Just promise me you'll use them responsibly, eh?" he asked. After a shocked moment of his own, Naruto babbled a promise.
The wizened old Hokage nodded, knowing Naruto's attitude towards giving his word, and knowing he would sooner die then make a false promise. "Well, Naruto-kun, you can go. I will keep what you have shared with me in strictest confidence. I shall instruct the others in this meeting to do the same. You may go now."
That had been a week ago, and Naruto hadn't gotten a spare moment to himself. At his apartment, Kakashi would try to get his secrets out of him, or at least make him get rid of them. At Ichiraku, the odd scientist would be there, asking him if he would consider a job in technological research. The only one being normal at all was Iruka, who seemed thrilled that his favorite student had done something no one else had dreamed of.
Naruto, lost in his thoughts, barely registered a splash as stepped down on the roof. But he did notice it, and glanced down absently. A brief double-take later, and Naruto had confirmed it was blood, which was abundantly spouting from a body next to him. There were footprints in blood leading to the edge of the roof, showing that the killer had already left.
'Holy Hell!' Naruto thought in horror. 'Who would do something like that?!' Reaching over, his hand shaking, Naruto found his two fingers on the throat of the man who he now recognized as the sick proctor of the third exam. '… He's alive! I gotta go get help!' But he knew, deep down, that he wouldn't be able to get medical attention to Hayate in time. There was only one real course for him to take if he wanted Hayate to survive. Naruto reached into his chamber and produced an empty ninball.
"Just promise me you'll use them responsibly, eh?"
Naruto shook his head at the memory. "Old man," he said, as if the Hokage was right in front of him. "If there's a more responsible way to use these things, I haven't found it yet." He dropped the Ninball, and Hayate vanished into it. Naruto stared down at the orb in his hand which hadn't even glowed, a testament to how close to death Hayate was.
"What did this to you?"