Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Darkness. The dark was no enemy to the young shinobi. No. It was his friend. Yes. A friend, a messenger, a reminder. A result of the full moon ever so slowly disappearing under a canopy of clouds.
Death.
A call. The child frowned, his once bright eyes shining in the night as they laid themselves on the target. His heartbeat slowed, hand reaching up, clasping itself onto the handle of a blade, tugging it free without so much of a sound.
Kill.
The sound came again, and the boy disappeared, the moon was gone now, its brightness hidden by the dark heavy clouds.
A splash, a cry… silence. Once again, attention moved to the moon, freeing itself from the ensnarement of the clouds. The light returned, but like always, was too late.
Darkness was now apparent in a different location. The black of spilled blood, its smell slowly seeping into the air.
A smile illuminated the area as the child appeared at his side. Red clouds on a black background.
There is no need for the light anymore.
The sun rose on the hidden village of Konohagakure, its light latching itself onto the four faces on the cliff wall before creeping higher into the sky.
A bird cawed, the first of many. The Village awoke. Stores opened, streets filled up, Genin eyes opened for the first time that day, excitement present.
None of them were present of the impending doom that their oh so happy village was about to face.
"A three week stay please." Lost in the commotion outside, a masked figure spoke, passing a few wads of cash over to a hotel keeper.
"Would you like a brochure? There are many enjoyable areas in Konoha this time of year." The woman said, passing a key back to the masked man.
His eyes curved in what was interpreted as a smile. "No thank you."
The man thanked the hotel keeper and walked up the stairs, stopping on the third floor before striding down the narrow hallway until he reached the room marked on his hey. The door unlocked with a small click.
He walked through the door frame, closing the door behind him. A small seal removed itself from his hand and stuck onto the door, growing larger until it encompassed the entire room.
The man gave the seal no heed as the ink slowly sunk into the wall, disappearing from sight. With an audible sigh, the figure collapsed onto the bed, his right arm peeling the mask from his face and flinging it onto the nightstand.
"Friggin' mask." Naruto Uzumaki said, rubbing his face. "Guess we're both stuck here again." He scowled, talking to himself. The memories that happened so long ago were still branded into his mind.
Monster.
Murderer.
Useless.
Trash.
The boy rubbed his eyes before he rolled over, subconsciously relishing the feeling of a bed. The travel from Amegakure had been a long one, and beds were a rare delicacy in his line of work.
The blond sighed, closing his eyes as the location changed. A room came into view, not much different than the one his physical body was presently residing in. "Ah, it's you... I was having the most pleasant dream." A smooth voice echoed in the blond's head as an image of a grinning fox appeared.
"Dreaming my ass." Naruto scowled, but the fox paid no heed. It jumped off the bed before walking over to him, rubbing itself on the blond's legs. "To send you back… This place, It still stirs terrible memories for the both of us."
The fox paused, a line of concern marked on his face. "Perhaps they wished for confirmation. A test… so to speak."
Naruto's eyebrows furrowed. "I have already done what they wished. For so many years, even with the seal…" His hand subconsciously moved to the base of his neck before it stopped.
No. They trusted him. If anything, he trusted them, and that was all that mattered.
After all, they were the closest ones to family he had.
He shook his head, doubt wouldn't help. There was a mission to be completed, and Kami be damned if he couldn't do it.
The blond scratched the fox behind the ears, earning a purr before transporting his conscience back into the physical world.
"I'm always here for you boy, whether you need it or not." The fox smiled and hopped onto its bed, settling into a much needed nap.
It was still early when Naruto finished settling in. The ever so small sliver of light that was the sun still growing in size, the light was slow, the blond, however, was not.
The boy found himself on a paid private training field, allowing himself a rare smile as his fingers brushed against a palm-sized protrusion just above his heart. It was true, although the location would change, its dependence on currency didn't.
Training was one of the few thing Naruto enjoyed. Or, was allowed to enjoy. It took his mind off things, polished his skills, molded his anger. Surrounded by a well placed genjitsu, what was there to be afraid of? He trained, polishing his hand speed, perfecting his taijutsu. With his enormous chakra reserves, there was no fear of exhausting it all in one run.
It was when the sun had risen into a quarter of its path when he stopped. The blond scowled. Not fast enough, not good enough. Little did he know that the training he went through was enough to kill a grown man, possibly even cause an elite Jounin to pass out.
But this blond teen had done it. A bit fatigued and boasting a shirt now made of more sweat than cotton, but by kami he had done it. Naruto sighed before noticing the sun's position.
It was almost time.
It was mid afternoon by the time he arrived at the building that was marked as the first stage of the Chunin exams.
The place was old, worn down but still usable, one after another groups of genin walked through the front door. Naruto paused before summoning two Kage Bunshin. A few quick modifications with a combination of genjutsu and henge, and the blond soon had two other "genin" to enter the exams with.
A quick seal to make sure that they wouldn't disperse on contact and he was finished. The two nodded at their original and led the way in.
The first floor was relatively empty, a table rested in the front of the room, the instructions for the first exam stacked neatly on it. Naruto's bunshin walked over and grabbed one, handing it to its original in the process.
Genin Exam Takers,
The first stage of the test will begin in room 3-A7,
any late arrivals will not be tolerated.
Naruto frowned. An awful waste of paper for just a simple message. He stretched his neck, a satisfying pop echoing out, and headed up the stairs.
It wasn't even until the fifth step when he heard yelling coming from the floor above. He stepped up and found himself in the middle of what seemed was very close to becoming a fight.
"What the hell!" Screamed a raven haired Genin shooting past the blond, followed by two older shinobi. Naruto frowned. Wasn't this a bit strange? "Sasuke-kun!" A high-pitched voice yelled. The jinchuriki turned around as a pink haired girl brushed past him.
Sasuke? Why did that name seem so familiar? Naruto's frown deepened as his eyes set on the two older shinobi chasing the boy. A Henge?
A poorly completed one at that.
The corners of Naruto's mouth curved upwards at the fox's words. He recognized the two, both of them were keeping watch over the main gate at the time he arrived in Konohagakure.
The raven haired boy turned on his heel, a fist whipped out and found itself firmly planted in the taller shinobi's face. He turned to the other shinobi, his left leg forward, a slight bend at the knee, fists held over the chest.
Naruto's eyebrows furrowed. An Uchiha… The fighting style of the long exterminated clan had long since been burned into his mind.
The brother of the gloomy one huh?
Naruto frowned. Sasuke Uchiha; he had caused a lot of pain to the blond as a child. An itch pulsed on the jinchuriki's hand. No. The blond had a promise to keep. "What the hell do you mean it was supposed to be part of the test?"
Sasuke frowned. He had realized his mistake a long time ago, but god forbid, he wouldn't lose face over such a stupid mistake.
The shinobi scowled, carefully watching the Uchiha. "This was supposed to keep the less skilled occupied while the ones who understood went to the real exam room. Thanks to your genius, the exams now have an extra nine genin who don't deserve to be part of it."
Each word hurt the Uchiha's pride, but he wasn't going to stand for it. "I'm an Uchiha!" He screamed. "I demand justi-" A loud smack echoed throughout the room as the raven haired genin was smacked back.
Naruto smirked as the older shinobi's eyes widened, scanning the room for the culprit but only found the Uchiha's other teammates and Naruto's team standing in the exact spot they always were. The pink haired girl frozen as she viewed her crush's immobile body lying weakly on the floor.
Doesn't seem to deserve the family name, no?
Naruto snorted. Technically that was true… He flexed his fingers. They stung, but with a strange pleasurable feeling.
Admiring his handiwork, he shrugged, waving his hand at the two bunshin behind him, and walked towards the stairs, not once looking back.
Upon reaching the door to the real exam room, Naruto halted. The door was a plain one, but for some reason, hatred radiated from it. No. Not from it. Behind it.
Naruto sighed before waving his hands at his "teammates" the male bunshin walked forward, placing his hand on the handle and pulled the door open in one smooth motion, revealing a large room, jam packed with shinobi from different lands.
All eyes immediately shot towards him. Killing intent radiated from every corner of the room, but the blond did not react, shrugging as he led the trio to a remote corner of the room. Over time, the glares from the surrounding genin receded, but unbeknownst to him, two pairs of eyes did not leave his back.
Each belonging to different lands. Sabaku no Gaara and Nii Yugito, the only two jinchūriki that were publicly known to be representing their villages in the genin exams. Both gazing at the masked boy who had just entered the room.
If one looked close enough, it would have been found that the two were shaking faintly. The girl studying her spasming hand and the boy looking extremely afraid.
Mother had gone silent.
It was a while until the Konohagakure genin arrived, and to Naruto's amusement, each and every genin in the room excluding his team shot the younger genin with murderous looks.
The Konohagakure genin group had expanded. The original trio became twelve people. Four genin teams. Naruto studied them, most of the group was made up of Kekkei Genkai users.
To the blonds pleasure, he found two Hugas in the mix.
Konohagakure really wants to make a show this time mn?
Naruto smirked under his mask as his eyes rested on a brooding male in the back.
Even better. A branch member.
It wasn't until another man stood up did Naruto's attention leave the group. Another Konohagakure genin? No.
The blond frowned. What was he doing here?
Walking towards the genin was a face that Naruto recognized. Kabuto Yakushi, the snakes pet.
The blond watched as the purple clad spy conversed with the Uchiha descendant, pulling out cards. His eyes followed their actions along with most of the genin in the room.
"Since you guys are new and all, I came over to help. We are from the same village after all." Kabuto said, pushing his glasses further up the ridge of his nose as he flipped over a card, pushing chakra into it.
"These are my info cards. Look here, as you can see Konoha has the most teams participating. Of course that's a given since we're on home turf. But just about every shinobi village has brought genin here to participate. We've even got a team from Amegakure this year, a rarity considering we're not on good terms with them."
Naruto felt eyes turn toward his team before returning to the spy
"Do your cards hold individual information?" asked Sasuke, bringing Naruto's attention back to the rookie group.
Kabuto smirked, "Of course, all I need is a name, or even initials and I can find them for you."
"Give me everything you have on Rock Lee of Konoha, Sabaku No Gaara of Suna…and a look at the Amegakure team."
Naruto frowned as Kabuto gave the Uchiha the statistics he wanted. The Uchiha studied two of the cards before frowning at the last three. "I don't think you gave me the right cards. These seem to have no information on the Amegakure team."
Kabuto was about to speak up when a burst of smoke appeared in the front of the room.
The proctor of the first exam had arrived
Naruto sighed as he stretched once more. Was every exam going to be as easy as this one? He looked down at the paper in front of him, easily filled within the first few minutes of the test. The pink haired girl had made sure of that.
He looked around, amused by the others expressions. Many of them were shaking with frustration, and when the last question arrived, slowly trickled out of the room.
Soon the number of genins became less than a quarter of the original number. Upon realizing that the final contestants would not budge under the ever impending fear of failure the proctor revealed the ruse.
It was all a trick. There was no tenth question.
How pathetic.
Naruto sighed as the first exam ended. Konohagakure was not meeting his expectations.
Hailed as the strongest hidden village, The Village Hidden in the Leaves was supposedly the shinobi state consisting of the most prestigious Anbu with shinobi as numerous as the stars.
But from what Naruto had seen, it seemed like everything he'd heard was complete and utter Bullshit.
Such thoughts clouded the blonds mind as a window exploded in the background, revealing a beautiful woman dressed in scantily clad clothing.
A quick introduction revealed her to be one of Konoha's elite Jounins before she kept back out the window, becoming for the remaining Genin to follow.
The group followed her to a gated forest, its depths hidden in the dark even though it was broad daylight.
The purple haired kunoichi turned around and smiled.
"Welcome one and all to the second stage of the Chunin Exams, training area forty-four. Or as I like to call the Forest of Death."
And there goes the first chapter of A Tale of Leaves and Fire. This fanfic will be centered around a darker version of Naruto so if you don't like that, sorry. Flames are welcome and reviews really make my day. Please follow and continue supporting this story. Thank you.
~Author guy