Naruto was rooted to the spot just outside Nanami's house. It seemed like ages before the midwife finally opened the door. Seeing the dour look on her face immediately brought Naruto to the point of panic.
"Nanami is fine," the woman told him, calming him down significantly.
"What about the baby?" he queried, hoping that it was just oversight that the midwife hadn't mentioned that.
"Your granddaughter is … healthy," she answered, seeming to pick her words carefully.
Naruto was certain something was up now, and practically pushed his way past the midwife. He was convinced the power he'd used to heal Nanami must have transformed her baby into some sort of hideous monster the way the midwife had been acting.
When he entered he saw Nanami resting with her daughter and his eyes immediately searched the baby for anything that might be wrong. But he couldn't find anything wrong with her. That was until he got a look at her eyes, perfectly normal looking brown ones.
He let out a huge sigh of relief at that. The lack of the Byakugan would be a huge deal to the Hyuga, but Naruto could hardly care less at the moment. Seeing Naruto, Nanami smiled at him.
"Father, I'd like you to meet Harumi."
They Hyuga had refused to let Naruto's father be buried on clan ground. Ichiro had married into the Hyuga clan much as Naruto had himself, but Naruto's father wasn't a Hyuga. It wasn't a huge inconvenience, Naruto and Nanami had spent a day traveling until they were well off clan ground and held their own funeral to see him off.
No, the real problem was Harumi's lack of the Byakugan. Naruto had underestimated how much trouble that would cause. Some of the Hyuga were convinced that they'd let their blood grow too thin and they needed to implement policies to keep it pure.
Others had an even worse opinion. There were those who thought that Harumi's eyes were a sign she was cursed by the Biju. They quickly learned not to say that within Naruto's hearing. The worst part was, the Nibi couldn't even do much to dispel that rumor. She said that the Byakugan was a gift of the Hachibi, and that for all she knew, it could have been his will that Harumi be denied it.
Still, Naruto was convinced he could just ignore the talk, but even that proved too much to hope when, less than a year after Harumi's birth, his daughter pulled him aside. She informed him that the clan leadership had decided that Harumi would be denied entry into the clan registry. Worse, she was to be expelled from the village.
"You can't be serious," Naruto protested when he heard the news. "We won't let them do that."
"It's the right decision, father," Nanami responded. "At best she'd grow up an outsider in the village. At worst, she truly is cursed. and harboring her could cause our clan to lose the favor of the Biju."
"You can't possibly believe that nonsense about the curse?" Naruto sputtered out in disbelief that the clan would have gotten to Nanami with that talk.
"I believe it's possible," she admitted. "Ichiro was never particularly reverent of the Biju. This could be my punishment for marrying him anyway."
"You are at least planning on going with her, right?" Naruto asked hopefully, but her lack of reply was all the answer he needed, causing his scowl to deepen.
"It's not as if I'm happy about doing this," she finally said. "Nevertheless, my place is here, and the clan will make sure she has a good family. She'll be happier this way."
"I'll take care of her," Naruto stated in a tone that brooked no argument.
"She won't be allowed in the village no matter who raises her," Nanami insisted.
"Then I'll leave the village," Naruto snapped back. "After all I don't have your precious Byakugan either."
"Father, be reasonable," she said soothingly. "It's different for you, you're the Conduit. Besides, it's our job to protect you."
"Feel free to continue to protect me," Naruto said, "you'll find me by Harumi's side."
In the end, Naruto had chosen the site of his father's grave and set to work building a home. His daughter had consented to keep Harumi until he'd finished constructing it. Secretly, he'd hoped this extra time would serve to change her mind, but sadly such was not the case.
Naruto moved into the home, which he was embarrassed to say was rather poorly built. Still the surrounding area had plenty of trees, and Naruto soon set to work on a replacement in his free time. All in all, he repeated the process of building a new house and then tearing down the old one a dozen times over the course of the next two years. Finally all that practice paid off and he had a home he was proud of.
This was much to the disappointment of Harumi, who loved nothing more than to watch him tear apart one of their old houses until it collapsed. As far as raising Harumi went, Naruto doted on her more than he had his own daughter. He wanted to do his best to make up for the girl growing up without either of her parents, her only companions being her grandfather and the Nibi.
If it weren't for the eyes, Harumi would still have looked every bit the Hyuga. Two generations had erased most of the Naruto's own features from the girl. The only real mark left was that her otherwise straight black hair had one large spike in the back left that refused to stay down.
Raising her was such a joy that Naruto was almost willing to forget his vow of vengeance. Yet whenever he considered it, he just remembered Hanabi's body lying there in a pool of blood and his flames of anger were stoked back to their previous fury. So with his goal still in mind he continued to train whenever he could.
This wasn't as easy as he'd like. He had a couple of friends among the Hyuga who would occasionally risk the clan's wrath to come out and spar with him. To his eternal dismay, Nanami wasn't one of them. Harumi had formed a rather large rift between father and daughter.
Even ten years after her birth, Nanami refused to so much as come visit her. In response, Naruto stubbornly refused to ever stop by the Hyuga village, much less return permanently as Nanami kept demanding. As such, they only ever communicated through letters, despite being less than a day's travel from each other. And even those letters grew less frequent and more bitter over the years.
Naruto didn't limit his training to himself, either. He did his best to ensure Harumi could defend herself. Nor did he ever leave the girl alone, always fearing Akatsuki might again go after those he cared about. But for whatever reason, they never did.
For their part, the Biju began to make it clear they wished to return to their own realm in the near future. Also that they opposed his plan for vengeance, as it would put his life at risk. Naruto tried to convince them to help wipe out Akatsuki if they were so worried, but they insisted that they would not act as the aggressor against human.
If Naruto decided to pick a fight with Akatsuki, they were forbidden to get involved even to protect his life. If Naruto insisted on going through with it, he would be on his own. Their warnings never swayed him, however, and it was shortly after Harumi's twentieth birthday that Naruto finally decided he could delay his vengeance no longer.
Breaking that news to Harumi was probably the hardest thing he'd ever done. She'd begged him to stay. She'd begged to go with him. She'd begged him to simply perform the ritual as the Biju requested and take her as well. When Naruto turned down each request she tried one final tactic.
"Instead of spending your time getting vengeance for grandmother, wouldn't it be better to find some way to be with her again?" Harumi asked him.
"I would give anything if I could," Naruto answered, "but my soul is tied to the Biju."
"Then convince them to untie it," Harumi insisted. "And if they refuse, find a way to break free yourself. I'll help you do it. Together I'm sure we can find a way."
Naruto couldn't believe he'd never considered the possibility himself. He supposed that's what you got from having it ingrained in you since you were six years old that the end result was inevitable. He didn't know if it was even possible to do, but it was certainly worth looking into. Naruto even considered taking Harumi up on her offer and staying.
"No," he finally said after much deliberation. "I swore an oath while standing over your grandmother's body. I won't break my word. I will swear a new one to you, though. As soon as I'm finished dealing with Akatsuki, the first thing I'll do is come back here to find you. Then we'll find a way to free me from the Biju, just like you said."
"I'll only ask you one more time, but please, stay here for my sake," she begged him.
For a moment Naruto thought her eyes flashed red. But that must have just been a trick of the light caused by her tears.
"I'm sorry," was all he answered before engulfing her in a hug and giving his final farewell.
Despite his vow to return, he had to convince the Nibi to physically restrain Harumi before he was able to escape. Even then, it took all his will not to turn around and run back. Instead, he kept moving forward.
Finding his first member of Akatsuki turned out to be easier than he'd expected. He'd simply been asking around in a nearby town the man had approached him, having heard about the person asking after him. He was dressed in a full suit of black armor with the red clouds painted on it. The stylized armor and sword made it clear the man was a samurai.
The samurai were supposed to be unparallelled warriors, but Naruto didn't despair. How many of them had more than half a century of training while still being physically in their prime? Not to mention the power of the Biju he could call upon to aid himself.
The two wasted little time with chatter, both clearly eager to kill the other. Unfortunately for Naruto, the fight didn't go as well as he'd hoped. If anything, the samurai was even a little faster than he was. And with the added range of his sword, and the skill with which he wielded it, Naruto was unable to get close enough to actually hit him.
Meanwhile, he'd taken countless cuts, especially upon his arms when he did try to attack. All of them quickly healed themselves, but for the first time since he'd become the Conduit, he could actually feel himself growing weary.
He wasn't sure his healing would last much longer, and he doubted he could live through a decapitation if one of the frequent attacks aimed for his neck got through. Realizing he would have to change tactics, his mind raced until he came up with a plan.
Continuing to dodge he carefully watched his opponent, waiting for him to make the move Naruto needed. Finally he made a thrust at Naruto's neck, which Naruto quickly danced to the left of. But rather than leaving it at that, he brought his right arm up and slammed the forearm into the point of the blade, skewering it.
With the strength his power gave him, he was easily able to twist his arm to the side and wrench the sword from his opponent. Then, not giving him a moment to recover, he dashed in and slammed his fist into his opponents helmet, following through and slamming him into the ground.
The metal of the helmet caved in from the force of his blow, and a quick check confirmed the samurai had not survived the attack. Finally removing the sword from his arm, he saw the wound healing much slower than usual, as if struggling to do so. Finally it did close, leaving Naruto feeling as if he could barely stand.
He sat down in the middle of the road to think, none of those who hadn't fled the fight looking particularly eager to object. He was beginning to have doubts about his ability to follow through on his plan. That fight had been a much closer thing than he cared to admit.
Nor did it seem likely his strongest opponent would be the first he faced. Not to mention they might not be so kind as to fight him one at a time. No, he wasn't about to give up, but he would need to prepare. Since the samurai were such powerful warriors, he would learn from them himself. And if he was going to learn their ways, he may as well learn from the best.
With his mind made up, Naruto set off for the Land of Iron.
It turned out to be slightly more complicated than simply showing up at their door and asking for training. The guard had openly laughed at him saying that samurai began their education as young children and he was much too old to start.
When Naruto proceeded to give the armed and armored guard a beating with his bare fists, they brought someone a little more willing to listen. Even so, gaining admittance had required Naruto to reveal that he was the Conduit to Goro, a samurai who looked to be pushing 50 and currently was in charge of the school.
After convincing him, Goro had made him swear not to reveal that fact to anyone else. It seemed that even among the samurai of the Land of Iron there were those who did not look upon the Biju in a friendly light.
Naruto was very pleased with progress he made in his training once it began. The samurai had techniques to use the bodies own chakra to grant increased speed. It was something his previous training had caused him to do subconsciously, but with more direct control, the results were significantly improved.
Even better, with some practice he did on his own, he was able to find a way to use the power of the Biju in a similar manner, so his speed increased as well as his strength. Within the first year he'd progressed to the point where the samurai he'd killed wouldn't have been a threat to him at all. Still, his time spent training with Goro showed that there were potentially far more dangerous opponents out there, so he continued his studies.
His progress with swordplay wasn't quite as smooth. Despite how his body looked, he was over sixty years old. Juken had been central to his fighting style for most of that time, and he found it near impossible to give that up and start from scratch.
He finally began to make progress when he gave up learning the style of the Land of Iron and began to develop his own style of swordplay based on Juken. It wasn't an easy task, considering Juken was made for unarmed combat, but he pressed on, and Goro's help he was able to make great strides.
At the end of ten years, even Goro was impressed with what they'd come up with. It was now an effective sword fighting style, but anyone who was trained in Juken would clearly be able to see many of the same tactics and flows of movement that they were familiar with.
Naruto had never planned to stay for a full ten year, but Goro always seemed to talking into staying "just a little longer" to make sure he was ready. Finally, he'd had enough though and could be delayed no longer. He told Goro that while he wanted all of Akatsuki dead, he didn't want it to be of old age.
Besides, even with old trainees departing and new ones coming in, it was commonly discussed how Naruto didn't seem to be getting any older. Goro consented, and Naruto wished the old samurai a fond farewell before setting off to finally get his long awaited revenge.
Naruto quickly set into a routine of traveling around, asking after members of Akatsuki, then hunting them down and killing them when he found a lead. Thanks to his ten years of training, none of his opponents proved particularly dangerous.
The most annoying part of the journey was that the Kyubi apparently had some sort of telepathic link to him, and hounded him endlessly to return to perform the ritual. Naruto had broached the subject of releasing himself from his position as the Conduit, but the Kyubi refused completely. All he would say was that Naruto had agreed to take the position and they intended to hold him to it.
After ten years of this, however, it became clear to Naruto that Akatsuki was replacing their numbers as fast as he could kill them. These days, not only did they have those who never wanted to live under the Biju to recruit from, but those angry that the Biju had abandoned them as well.
It was only after Naruto had finished training in the Land of Iron that he'd learned the Biju had left their posts and ceased any interference with the humans only a few years after he'd left home. They could still be found in whatever area the Biju had made their home, proving they'd yet to return to their own realm, but they refused any pleas for aid or advice.
When asked, Kyubi told him it was because they were weary from their time in the realm of mortals. Naruto, however, secretly wondered if this was just a ploy to get him to perform the ritual. Whatever the reason, it was making it nearly impossible for Naruto to complete the eradication of his sworn enemies.
Naruto decided to take a different approach from that point on. He redoubled his efforts to hunt down Akatsuki and did his best to advertise his efforts. He wanted it known throughout the world that donning that accursed cloak was as good as a death sentence.
His efforts began to bear fruit, and within ten years it was becoming very hard for him to find anyone who would admit to any affiliation with the group. People didn't even want to talk about Akatsuki anymore for fear of the 'blond demon killing all who opposed the will of the Biju.' Naruto found that quite funny considering he was in direct opposition to the will of the Biju himself, as Kyubi constantly reminded him.
Naruto was beginning to think his decades long quest was nearly at an end. Most of the leads he'd been getting lately turned out to be nothing but a dead end, and the one he was currently following seemed likely to be another. Someone claimed to have heard rumors of men in cloaks secretly meeting in a nearby cave.
When Naruto arrived there, he didn't see any sign of light inside. Wishing he'd had the foresight to bring a torch, he improvised by summoning the power of the Biju to create a glow around him. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing, and he wanted to get this wild goose chase over with.
He traveled through the cave for some time until it opened into a large cavern. His senses told him something was wrong even before torches began to light up all around him. Once his eyes adjusted to the sudden light, he saw that there were more than a hundred members of Akatsuki surrounding him.
"I see you came," one of the figures called out smugly. "Our days of sitting idly while you hunt us down are over. You see before you every last remaining member of our organization. One way or another, it all ends today."
"Perfect," Naruto replied, doing his best to sound more confident than he felt. "You couldn't have given me a better gift."
"You may change your mind shortly," he shot back. "Ever since you started your attempt to exterminate us, we've been hiding our strongest members, training them hard specifically to kill you. This isn't just a hundred members of Akatsuki, this is a hundred of the strongest members Akatsuki has ever had."
Naruto didn't know if the boast were true or simply meant to intimidate him, but either way he couldn't afford to let them make the first move. He needed to get his back to a wall, so he picked a target near a promising section and charged him.
His opponents reacted quickly to his charge. While he succeeding in stabbing his target through the chest with his sword, and scattering the rest enough to give him so space, he paid for his gains. He'd taken a spear in the side, a throwing knife of some sort in the back, and had several deep cuts from sword swipes that were already healing.
He pulled out the spear and the knife to let those wounds heal as well, but it seemed the boast regarding their skill wasn't empty. Naruto couldn't afford to make an exchange like that for every kill he got. Nor were they giving him any time to think up a plan as the throng was already charging toward him.
Summoning more of the power of the Biju than he'd ever called on before, his aura flared out in an impressive display that caused most of his opponents to halt their charge and eye him warily. One large man who was particularly brave continued unerringly in his assault.
In response, Naruto shot his aura out toward the man, who finally stopped in his tracks as he attempted to dodge. His efforts came too late as the white light enveloped him. His companions looked on with morbid curiosity to see what would happen, but their friend seemed perfectly fine as Naruto's aura retreated. Indeed the man calmly stood up and dusted himself off.
"Was that supposed to hurt?" he mocked Naruto. "If anything I feel refreshed, like I just woke up from a good night's sleep."
Naruto cursed that his act of desperation was so futile. He shouldn't have attacked with it. If they were still afraid of the light, he could have thinned their numbers before they got their act together again. He'd just hoped it would prove an effective weapon.
"You must really be desperate if you're trying something as pathetic as that," the same man who had first spoken called out. "Although before you die, I would like to know what we did that could have made you pursue us so doggedly."
"You killed my wife," Naruto spat out in reply.
"Surely that can't be all," he responded, clearly trying to anger Naruto. "You know I actually met your wife, don't you? I visited your little village of demon worshipers to spy on you prior to our operation. I even got to chat a bit with Hanabi."
Naruto started a bit that he actually knew her name. Was this not just a lie made up to goad him into acting carelessly?
"She was a pretty enough woman for her age, I'll grant you that," he continued. "But she was hardly very feminine at all. Honestly I found her quite dull. I can see how it might be a minor inconvenience to lose her, but surely there was something else that provoked you."
Although Naruto was probably playing right into his hands, the man's words succeeded in enraging him. They were also sealing his own death as Naruto vowed that venom spewing mouth would breath its last breath tonight no matter what happened.
"I was going to tell you we'd be sending you to her shortly," he sneered, "but then I remembered, you'll be joining your demon masters in hell, won't you?"
Making light of Naruto's eternal separation from Hanabi after playing a part in killing her? If Naruto thought he was angry before, it paled before the fury that nearly pushed all rational thought to the side. He could feel his anger seeping out of him, and the white aura around him turned blood red, as if corrupted by his rage. It almost felt as if it was setting his skin on fire.
"You think you can scare us now just by changing the color?" the large man he'd previously hit with his aura asked with a laugh. "We've already seen how harmless your little light show is."
Finishing his speech, he charged at Naruto again. Almost by instinct, Naruto lashed out again with his aura, and this time his opponent didn't even try to dodge. Only in contrast to the previous attack, the large Akatsuki member was certainly not refreshed. A better description of what happened would be burned alive.
While his foes were still standing there stunned by what had happened, Naruto sent out a second wave of the red aura at the group's unofficial spokesperson. It lashed out faster than the man could react, and Naruto pressed so much power into the attack, that when he finally let up, nothing remained of his tormentor but a pile of ashes.
The room erupted into chaos at this point. Some charged Naruto in an attempt to take cut him down. Others tried to flee. There were even some who threw down their weapons in surrender and begged his forgiveness. Naruto burned them all, not allowing a single survivor. What had looked to be the hardest fight of his life turned into a complete massacre.
When it was finally over, Naruto collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. He was even more exhausted after his final fight with Akatsuki than he'd been after his first. Lying there with the fruits of his labor, Naruto felt somewhat cheated.
Shouldn't there be some great sense of vindication? Some sort of weight off his back? He'd finally fulfilled his oath his swore half a century ago. Yet he couldn't find the least bit of pride in that. He felt as empty as he ever had.
Even though his strength had quickly recovered, Naruto continued to lie on the cave floor throughout the night, reflecting on what he'd done. He was surrounded by charred flesh, melted armor, skeletons some of which were half burned to ashes themselves.
He began to wonder how many of them had anything to do with Hanabi's death. How many had truly deserved to die? There had even been a few women among them. How many wives did he kill? How many husbands and sons and brothers perished in his quest for vengeance?
He may have sat there for days if he hadn't remembered another oath he'd made. He'd promised Harumi he'd return as soon as he had dealt with Akatsuki. Remembering that vow brought a sudden epiphany. Chasing down Akatsuki had brought him no joy, but back before he'd left, the time he'd spent with his granddaughter, he'd actually been quite happy much of the time.
Promise or not, he was a fool for having ever left. But one thing was certain, after thirty years away, Naruto was going home.
Author's Notes:
I decided to break the prologue up into three chapters, although the third will probably be relatively short. There's a good chance I'll finish it tomorrow. It makes for a nice thematic cut into three parts. 'The Good Old Days', 'Vengeance', and I'll probably name chapter three 'Passing Time.'
A few things I'd like to note is that it is my vision of this world that all bloodline limits were originally gifts from various Biju. Also, upon the start of the story, ninja did not even exist yet, as such. Although they're now starting to pop up, as we'll see in the next chapter.
Next up, just to clarify a bit, given how drastically I'm changing the lore, you may be surprised by how similar Konoha will look once it catches up in chapter three. That said, I'll make sure to shake things up there (or is that then) too.
One final item is that I left a rather important hint to a major plot point in this chapter. I thought I made it fairly obvious, so if you think you know what it is, you're probably right. If you don't have a clue, I can give more hints, or confirm a guess upon requests. But I won't say any more here in case there are those who want to figure it out on their own.
