Thanks for all the reviews! Here's another chapter for you readers! Don't forget to review at the end.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. What I do own is um...uh...stuff.
A Different Path
Chapter 2 – Kiru-sensei
Naruto opened his eyes to once again face the white ceiling above. He wondered where he was before remembering what happened yesterday. He ran away from the village and learned about the Kyuubi being inside him, only to wake up in the home of a man named Kiru.
Naruto heard a few noises that sounded like chopping coming from outside. He leapt up and looked out the window to see him swinging his sword around with one hand, cutting down the trees in one clean slice, causing them to topple down with a great thud.
Naruto, who hadn't seen anything this cool before in his whole life, stared in amazement at the power and speed of Kiru's movements. He piled all the chopped lumber in one big pile, before taking a few of them to a small pit encircled with rocks.
Naruto watched him lay down the wood inside the pit, then do something with his hands and amazingly shoot a ball of fire out of his mouth. Naruto's cerulean blue eyes widened in awe as he watched the little fireball engulf the pit.
The awestruck child quickly ran out the door of the room and out of the house. Kiru came closer into view as the silver haired man turned his head to face the incoming rascal. Naruto skidded to a stop and looked up into the eyes of Kiru.
"Wow! That was so cool! How'd you do that? It was so cool! How could you shoot fire out of your mouth like that? That was the awesomest thing I've ever seen! Can you teach me how to do that!?"
Naruto was practically beaming with excitement. His huge grin and big eyes pierced through the silver haired man, looking on with growing anticipation. Kiru on the other hand was stunned that he had awoken so soon and wondered why that grin of his was so familiar, but was broken out of his thoughts when Naruto tugged on his jacket.
"C'mon Kiru. Please teach me how to do that." The blond haired boy pleaded, giving the cutest eyes he could muster.
How could a cute kid like that be thrown in the streets and treated like dirt made Kiru wonder, before giving in to his pleading face. What did he have to lose, besides his solitary lifestyle of course. But then again, that would mean that he would have way more responsibilities on his hands, having to protect and teach the kid for years.
He thought that he should deny the kid, but then he took a look at his face. His eyes were all big and blue while his bottom lip stuck out a bit more as he held his hands close to his chest. One look was all that took to get the silver haired man to make a decision.
"Sure kid." He said, sighing in defeat.
"Whoohoo! Alright! Now I can be as cool as you!" Naruto jumped in excitement. Now he finally had a teacher to teach him how to defend himself.
"Hold on there. What about returning to Konoha?"
Naruto's jumping ceased as he stood still, his back turned to the man. Wondering what was wrong, Kiru started to speak but was cut off by a sad voice.
"Everybody hates me in Konoha. I've never had a good life there, always having to dig through garbage or steal food to stay alive when the old man at the ramen stand couldn't get me any food, which was often. The villagers call me names, hit me, and give me these glares. I'm lonely there, with no one to help me."
Kiru was pained to hear this. How could those villagers treat this innocent boy like that when he's done no wrong, at least that's what he gathered. He's heard of the Kyuubi attack that happened years ago and pondered whether or not that had something to do with this boy. His thoughts, however, were broken as Naruto started to turn to him, noticing a something drop from his face.
"But your different. You don't give me those glares. You don't treat me like trash. You're the third person to ever treat me like that. Can I stay with you and become your student?"
By now, Kiru's eyes softened as he looked at the boy in front of him. He's lived a life far more cruel than most adults have lived, experienced more torment than most people he knew. How cruel were the people from Konoha? Finally, the silver haired man spoke through the lingering silence.
"Don't worry kid. I'll be your sensei. I'll teach you how to do all those things you saw me do and I'm also guessing you don't know how to read or write yet, right?"
Naruto's eyes lit up with joy and happiness that Kiru hadn't seen in a long time. He watched him jump up and down, and felt the impact of him crashing into him with a giant hug and a thousand thank yous.
"C'mon. Let's get you cleaned up and fed. We'll start tomorrow."
"Thank you, Kiru-sensei. I'll make you proud." Naruto said, looking at Kiru straight in the eyes.
"Don't worry about it kid. I'm sure you'll make a fine ninja."
The next morning, Naruto had just finished taking his shower, thankful that he's not so dirty and foul smelling as before. His skin shined with radiance, his hair nice and spiky, and a wide grin plastered itself on his face. Today was the first day of his training with Kiru.
Coming out of the bathroom, he quickly changed into the worn out white-yellow shirt and blue shorts. He entered the kitchen only to meet the contorted face of Kiru. Wondering what was wrong, he immediately thought that he was going to break his word and not train him anymore. However, he was proven wrong by what his sensei said.
"Those clothes are...disgusting. Come with me." Kiru beckoned, walking to a closed door to the left. Naruto followed on, into a roomroom filled with all kinds of cloth, some type of machine, and some other weird stuff.
"Hold still while I measure you." The navy eyed man instructed, taking his size measures.
After finishing, he wrote it down somewhere and sat at the machine.
"This will take a while so I'll have you doing some basic training. In my room, which is next to yours, are a set of chakra weights. They should be in a corner somewhere. Bring them here and I'll tell you what to do next."
Naruto did as he was told and headed for Kiru's room. Opening the wooden door, he entered the basic room and began searching for these so called chakra weights. He searched the corner by a drawer and accidentally bumped into it, earning a noise that sounded like a thud.
He turned around, frightened by the noise, and noticed something an object laying face down on the ground. He went over to the fallen object and picked it up. He noticed it was a picture frame, and held a picture of a younger looking Kiru and a red headed woman. The woman held a peace sign while smiling a heartwarming grin, while Kiru stood there, arms crossed with a small grin on his face.
Naruto lingered on the red headed woman before putting it back on the desk. He quickly looked around the room and found the weights. He picked up, finding that it was light as a feather and trotted back into the previous room. His thoughts went back to that grinning woman in the picture and wondered why he felt a sort of...connection.
Entering the room, he saw Kiru doing some stuff with the machine. Navy eyes looked up to see the blond haired child standing there with the chakra weights. Stopping his actions, he motioned for Naruto to come over.
"Good, you found them. Now, while I work on your new clothes, I'll start you off on some basic training. Bring those weights over."
Naruto strode over to the tall man and gave him the weights. He saw a faint bluish aura appear from Kiru's hand and then over to one of the weights.
"These are special weights that get heavier the more chakra is put in. Don't worry, I'll teach you what chakra is later. Now, there are several exercises I want you to practice. I want 50 push ups, sit ups, jumps, kicks, punches, and laps around the house. Do you have any questions?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously, "Um...what's a push up?"
Kiru just sighed as he got up and demonstrated to Naruto what those exercises looked like. After making sure Naruto knew how to do them, he then showed him to how to properly stretch before starting any type of training. It was quite a lot for a small child like him to do, but he knew that he would succeed. There was something in the blond haired child that made Kiru certain that he would succeed.
"Don't worry Kiru-sensei, I'll have them done before lunch." The whisker faced child yelled, before turning around and slowly trodding outside. The weights were a lot more heavier as Kiru put about 10 pounds on them. Kiru watched with soft eyes before returning to his work.
It was about noon time and Kiru was watching Naruto train. He had finished Naruto's new set of clothes as the determined child displayed them during training. He now wore dark blue khaki pants, a white long sleeved shirt with a red spiral in the middle of it and on the upper left arm sleeve. He wore black ninja sandals as well as a weapons pouch on his right thigh.
Naruto was about halfway done with his laps and was exhausted. Though, that didn't stop him at all and only made him more determined to keep going. This was his first day of training and he didn't want to quit his first day. By now, he had gotten used to the weights and felt as though they weren't even on at all.
The new training clothes Kiru had given him did make it easier for him to run, especially the new ninja sandals and pants. He felt more like a ninja with the weapons pouch as well. He had questioned his sensei about the spirals, but only got a "just for decoration," from him.
It was about 1:00 when Naruto finally finished his last lap. He practically fell over after finishing the last lap and was sweating profusely. He fainted from exhaustion, but luckily Kiru was there to pick him up and carry him to his room. Naruto would eat when he woke up.
Just as Kiru had predicted, as soon as he woke up two hours later, Naruto had asked him to make some ramen. This had surprised the navy eyed man, but met his demands. He couldn't believe how the child at it so fast as if he had been starving for years, which was probably true.
"I've never seen someone eat ramen that fast before." Kiru said as he watched the child pat his stomach satisfied with his meal.
"That's what the old man at the ramen place told me the first time he saw me eat. After that, I've been kind of addicted to it. He was really nice, but sometimes wouldn't give me any because it would get him and the store into trouble if I was caught getting food from there. I don't have a grudge against him though."
"Hmmmm..." Kiru said, lost in his thoughts.
"What is it, Kiru-sensei?" Naruto asked, seeing the deep thoughts his teacher was in.
"Well, how do you do it?"
"What?" His confused cerulean eyes looked towards his sensei.
"I mean, you've been given all these horrible things, but you're still alive. You keep on living when you could have ended your pain. Not that I'm suggesting anything, but why do keep on living?" Came his question. Naruto pondered for a bit, before turning his gaze back to navy blue.
"There was this one guy who gave me this blanket. He gave me this look. It was different, not like the villagers at all. It was weird to see it directed to me and so I kept my eyes on him. He smiled. It wasn't evil or dark, but a light and good smile. He said to me that I was a special boy, who would someday bring good to the village.
He said that I had something in me called the something of Fire and that I should use it to change the village and all its people. He said I was a strong hearted, strong kid that could get through any obstacle. I'm not really sure what he meant at the time, but I knew he was different. He was the first person to ever say that to me.
He gave me this blanket, which I kept with me all the time. I guess it was like a reminder of him and what he said, something that will always be in my mind and in my heart. I kept on living, hoping that his words were true and that I could change things."
As Kiru took this in, he couldn't help but feel amazed at who Naruto was. That person was a very important person in his life, given what Naruto told him, and he seemed to be one of those rare, pure hearted people, just like Naruto.
"So do I." Kiru spoke, breaking the silence.
"Huh?" Naruto asked, confusion flashing across his eyes.
"I also believe you can change things. From what I've heard, Konoha has become rotten. I believe you will be the one to bring peace and harmony to that village. That person was right. You are a strong hearted person, pure as pure can be. I am honored to be able to train a person such as yourself."
Naruto started tearing up form his sensei's words and could tell they were sincere. Jumping out his seat, he quickly latched on to the other man, pressing his face against his chest. He looked up to face the gaze of the silver haired man, before wiping them with his arm.
"I couldn't protect that precious person, but I promise that I will get strong enough to protect you one day. You're one of my precious people and I want to be able to protect you as well. And when I become strong enough, I can go back to Konoha and use my strength to change it. To make it so that they're all my precious people so that I can protect them."
"Just like the Hokage?" Kiru said, tears forming in his eyes.
"The what?"
"The Hokage. He's the person that protects the village of Konoha and all its people." He stated, noticing a slight sparkle in Naruto's eye.
"Then that's what I'll become. I'll become the next Hokage!"
Whew! Sorry that took so long to update. I know it seems there might be some holes, but those will be cleared up in later chapters. Please review.
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Thanks to: The Celtic Kid, Advent Griever, Krymsom, rickp2006, MiKe2vIcIoUs, dbzgtfan2004, and Tori Kay for their reviews.