Sorry for not writing for so long. Originally I wanted to make a flashback to Narutos sixth birthday (latter you understand why) but I could not come up a good description, that did not made me feel bad to do that for a boy his age… so I rewrote that part countless times, until I dropped it finally.
I saw a few interesting question coming up after I uploaded the prologue episode.
Q: Wait a sec! How is Naruto supposed to learn how to dispel genjutsu if genjutsu are illusions affect the sight?
A: Genjutsu affect MAINLY the vision, because it is the most used out of the 5 sense, and we gain 70% of the information via seeing it, but genjutsu can effect hearing, smelling, taste, balance (shown by the sound ninjas in the chunin exam) and who knows what else? So yeah Naruto is good enough against most genjustu, but not against a genjustu expert. Well and there is the fact you can break genjutsu on others too, and for that you need to learn how to break it on yourself with only chacra.
Q(not really a question): Really hoping this is a NaruHina fic. I'll follow this and I look forward to the story's progression. I think you've got an interesting story here.
A: Well for a while it wont be romance heavy. Of course there will be love interests, and some fake and real date too, but the choice will be yours (the readers) at the end of one arc, in an indirect way. Yes indirect way, so you could only guess who will be with who after that.
Iruka POV
'What was that face? It was like someone who saw something they weren't supposed to see, but he is blind, and there was nothing… I need to speak with...'
But Naruto vanished surprisingly fast, for a few second, before Iruka spotted him again. It was strange. The face what Naruto had… it was troubling for the young chunin, but he had no time to think about it, because the kunai throwing training already should have started.
The rest of the day went of fast, and Iruka tried to get a hold of Naruto, but could not. The boy ran of fast, and considering how hard he worked that day, and how little the boy did until that day it was a small miracle. Well if he can not get a hold of Naruto, then he goes for the second best place. To the Hokage.
He was there fast, and as soon as a team who just got back from a mission left, he was granted entry to the office. When he stepped in, Hiruzens face told him, he wasn't surprised to see him at all. Like he know that there were questions to be asked, and he was already ready to answer.
"Hokage-sama. I come here to talk about one of my students." started Iruka, and the old Sarutobi chuckled a little.
"I assume it is about Naruto, and his abilities." said the Hokage.
"Yes, they are. First I was shocked how good his hearing was, but I was able to put that aside. The thing what bothers me is his ability to use throwing weapons. He asked me, to figure something out for him, but I can't do it without your permission." Iruka felt bad for saying this, but it was something what was needed to be done.
"There is no need for such a thing. He can not be the first one to throw, and he will be able to throw only to places someone else did before, but with his hearing it won't be a problem. Well maybe the first few time, but after that, nothing." come the rather disturbing answer. Did the old Hokage truly believed in Naruto to such an extent?
"I-I will see to it then…" after that come half a minute silence, before Iruka added something. "I saw something strange about the boy."
"What was that strange thing, you saw?" asked Sarutobi, without much concern in his voice, like he already know all the answers Iruka was searching for.
"Well he had a strange surprised face after I showed him how to dispel a genjutsu. While I did I felt like I was stupid, but after I saw his face… I can not put it anywhere." it was visible that Iruka cared for all of his students, but somewhat feared to say these things. He himself know that he feared what he might do to the boy. He doesn't hate the boy, but doesn't like him either, knowing what he holds… of course he wont act. Knowing the boy is a hero, but knowing something, and feeling something is different.
"Oh I see. Well you know how Naruto was blinded?" asked Hiruzen, but Iruka just shake his head. "Someone wanted to assassinate him, and went overboard with the poison. The mixture in itself was a destructive mix, containing more than twenty, and the blade was coated in so much, it was wet, and some drop dropped on his head, and flow into his eyes. They eat away the brain cells, connected to his vision, and the optic nerves, and on top of all it damaged his retina to some extent. Surprisingly the brain damage was healed by the Kyuubi but nothing else."
"It is horrible… but why is this important, for my question?" asked Iruka who started to be concerned about the boy. No one should suffer such a fate.
"I am getting there." answered the old man, before he continued. "He may be unable to ever see again with his own eyes, the Kyuubi mad sure everything is ready for an implanted one. Naruto may be unable to get one, for at least twelve more year, he can, and there was only one way to ensure it can happen." this made Iruka think. Why is it connected to his eyes… than it hit him.
"His eyes are chacra sensitive, like the sharingan, and the byakugan!" said an excited Iruka. "But if that is the case he should see every civilian without problem."
"Yes and no. It is a premature sensor ability witch mean he only can see chacra used, and that is only dearly too, or concentrated in any form. He can not even see me, or himself for that matter, and we have the biggest chacra reserves in the entire village." answered the Hokage. "And before you ask, no he isn't connected to any clan with kekkei genkai." 1
"But his name is Uzumaki. They where full of special abilities like the chacra chains, absorbing natural energies on the flow, paper manipulation and a few others." added Iruka. Times like these he know more than most shinobi. He was a teacher after all.
"They aren't kekkei genkais. They are chacra signature specific abilities. We know Naruto has something similar to Kushina's, but it is most likely to the Kyuubi's influence. I am not sure if the similarity is enough or not, to wield the chacra chains later, but no other ability seams possible." 2 the third seemed troubled by this fact, and that made Iruka question how much he does know about these things, and how much he told Naruto.
"And why did he seamed scared? I mean yeah, he saw something, but he should have been surprised or awed that he was able to do that, not fear it."
"It is because a special event on his sixth birthday. Up until that point, he was attacked by civilians every year, so that day I send a trusted ANBU to help barricade the house, and tell him it is a game of some sort. The ANBU told him if he is hidden in his there for all day, and only opens the door the next day I go for him, he wins a gift." The old man took a deep breath and remembered what happened after that. "When I got there the door was blown back, and burn marks where all over around the frame. I run in, and found Naruto hiding in his closet, with burn marks… from first to third degree burns all over his body."
"Who… who could do that to a child?" Asked Iruka, in a disbelieve that someone in the village can do something like that.
"It was a drunken chunin. Naruto remembered everything originally. When Inoichi was asked to look at his memories. After what he saw, his lunch left him immediately, and I and my ANBU could barely hold him back. After that, he wanted to erase everything from the boys mind but the boy protested, that he want to remember. Some was hidden away, but will slowly resurface after he is 12. Others was left for him, to remember, so he knows when to run"
"But that is just..." Iruka saw the sad face on the Hokages face. They shared the same opinions, but only one of them know what needed to be done to the betterment of the village, and only that man was able to bear the burden of a boy scared for life. Iruka bowed to him, than left, with a lot more question in his head than he came to the Hokage.
'Why do I feel like I should not be concerned about him, when he is a victim too?' And with that thought Iruka went to do his job, trying to put aside his more dangerous toughts.
Normal POV back in the academy
Naruto was scared. No that was an understatement. He know Iruka meant no harm, but his old memories tried to resurface, and he fought it all he could. He know that the worst was hidden from him, and he respected the Hokages choice, and tried to follow through what he wanted for him. He can thank his last two birthday for the man. He was escorted to the tower, when he woke up, and he was there with the man all day, before going to the Hokage estate, and sleep there. It was boring, but that was why they taught him to read, and write. The latter was still hard for him, but compared to the fact that he was blind it was superb.
An other good thing coming out of that was the fact that he found a book written by the fourth Hokage. He heard stories about the man, so he wanted to read that. Unfortunately the book was about sealing, so he couldn't understand it, so he started with the basics. He will read that book even if it killed him.
Well maybe he wont go that far, but everything else is free game. The Sealing for dummies was an interesting book, the sealing for novices where a bit boring but he finished it fairly fast. The second book was challenging, until he found out he need to learn how to draw more careful, and controlled way. Creating a circle, and then put everything right inside it, was something of a problem for him.
So now after a tiring day all he did was try to write better, while "spying" on others. He was only listening in to the louder conversations around town. No secrets, no dark things, and no crime… well it looks like he need to call the police again.
The boy rushed to the phone, picked it up, and called the local police force.
"Halo, what do you have to report." asked a bored woman voice.
"Uchiha-san it is me Naruto. There is a guy selling drugs to a young adult chunin male two street down from the main road, in the second alley way." the woman hit her head on the desk.
"Don't worry Naruto-san. That wom… you said male?"
"Yes. Definitely male. Both party. And around the same age too." answered the boy.
"You are a miracle worker." after that the woman put the phone aside to call in the incident, to the closest parole "I send a team, you call me, if they move out, before they arrive. Thank you." said the woman, before she put down the phone.
Like the woman said the two were soon caught and lead away. It was a day full of surprises. It was rear that someone did thing like this within his hearing range, after he called in so many of the crimes. He started a month after his worst birthday, and half a year later they already pinpointed how far is the safe zone, so there was rarely any crime or cope around there… Now he thought about it, the street mentioned was eight block away… his range was five and a half when he started.
It only meant he was getting better and better every day.
Two months later in the academy
Naruto was in learning on one of the boring lectures about skills practiced in the clan war era. Most of it was facts, like how little chacra people had, or how ninjutsu evolved through generations. It was useless, until a strange fact was heard.
"… They used chacra to enforce they body in a different way than we do today. Now it is about giving the fighters extra speed and strength, but in that time it was used to enhance the body. There are still some monks who use a similar method. Ninjas of that era where able to take hit from a shuriken, or kunai, without getting hurt. The only problem with this method is the fact it is needed to be trained outside of combat, when no physical work is done. This made the technique slowly disappear, after earth element users found out they can do it on their own in combat."
"But it could still be a life saver today, couldn't it? I mean if normal weapons can not kill someone, only enhanced ones, or jutsus, that mean fights between two side can resolve with less death." said Naruto.
"It may be true, but the fact that it can not be done while the person trained it made it less appealing compared to the extra speed and strength." Answered Iruka. "Sadly there is no known shinobi alive who uses it. There are of course documentation about it in the library, and it would be wise to train that way, but time is important for all of shinobi, in training, or not."
The concept was interesting. A chance to be able to defend yourself from stray kunai, even if you do nothing. So the fact that his first way lead to the library wasn't surprising. Iruka said there is a book about the thing, so he is going to learn it. When he arrived he asked the woman who was the librarian on duty, where he will find info about that technique. He was send to a special section of the civilian part of the library. It did not really had a name. What you could find there was mostly stuff what was shinobi related but no shinobi cared about, and every nation know about.
The book had an interesting title: Lost, and forgotten techniques. It caught Naruto of guard, but not more than the fact that said book was written by a woman named Mito Uzumaki. Naruto thought the woman was someone who he was related to in some way. It just made him more excited about the content… there and then his fate changed forever, and there was no human, bijuu or any other entity in the multiverse that can stop this from happening…
A year later:
Naruto every other time would have only loosely listened to the boring lecture Iruka was giving to the class, but not today. Today he was excited. He did not hear anything new, but the fact that this topic was even touched on the academy was something he couldn't have hoped for.
"… And that is why every aspect of a seal is important, and if anything was misplaced can cause more problem, than an enemy shinobi some times." Iruka Finished his speech, before looking around the class. "Now I will show you the three main seal you will use in your carrier." And with that he started to write… And Naruto started to get irritated more and more. "Any question?" asked the man, when he finished, and a yellow rocket landed next to him, and cleaned the blackboard.
"Iruka-sensei, please don't take this the wrong way, but you have no idea how to make any seals for fuuinjutsu..." and with that Naruto started to work… and the whole class got amazed by the shear speed and mastery in his movements. No one should have guessed that a blind boy can write with such a care, and speed. He wrote four different seal in the time it take Iruka to do one, ad they somehow new that this was better made too. "Iruka-sensei, please sit down. I am trying to teach the FOUR main seal we can come across our job. Well at least from your perspective."
"What are you talking about Naruto?" Asked the confused chunin. "The last two is identical." said the man, not knowing how much Naruto cared for this subject.
"That is a common mistake. Let me tell you why..." and with that Naruto changed into lecture mode, first going through the difference between the blood, and the chacra based storage scrolls, the explosive tags, and the flaming papers (It was used in the chunin arc, on the squirrel send at Sakura when she was alone before the three soon to be dead Oto shinobi attacked), then he told them what the individual parts did, and if messed up, how did they backfired at them. It ranged between vanishing, to blowing up in front of them, to actually causing an entire block to burn down from the heat the damn thing put out, and caused immediate combustion. It was scary to think that Naruto may have experienced most of these things on his own… really scary, but not as scary as some of the looks he got from some of the more fashion sensitive girls in class. They where unable to look at him anymore, and he NEEDED to go out into the open and give a lecture.
After the academy lessons ended
"Naruto!" shouted Ino, Sakura, and a great deal of other girls from class, who most of the time run after Sasuke.
"What? Did you learned how awesome it is to do things I do while I am blind?" asked the boy on a clearly joking egoistic way.
"We need to talk about your clothes… and your fashion of color." said every girl at the same time.
"Why? Last time I went into one of the sops, the shopkeeper said I should go out in these colors." said the surprised boy. He directly ask the shopkeepers to give him things he chose in a color that looks okay on him. He was blind after all, and did not wanted to look ridiculous.
"I highly doubt that" said a random girl.
"Do I look that funny? Or bad?" asked the boy. He should have known that the girls will come up with something unimportant like that, but he should listen to them this once.
"Did you look at yourself at all?" asked an other, before she realized who did she told that.
"Don't be sorry. It is hard to remember that I am blind, but like I said, I ask the shop keepers all the time, to get me something okay after I chose how it should look like." It was really a hard thing to do. He did not saw things, so he went with only the most basic stuff he could find. What has the least amount of extra fabric, so it can not close the door on his clothes and the likes, and the pants can not be too long either, or he step on it and fall. Originally the ANBU bought him clothes and they frequently brought clothes that were too big for him, what made his life harder, and those who wanted to hurt him easier. He was falling left and right thanks to the clothing and a little help from those who did not liked him.
Well if the next reaction he got was any indication,, then that was a mistake. He never wanted to remember what they said, and it is better left like that.
"Okay. Stop. It was enough. If you have a problem with how I look like, then help me buy something normal." and with that the boy was captured while the girls only said: "Down with the orange and neon green" over and over again… of course at the end he was in a shop with only one girl, who was Ino. The others were collected by their parents… before brought to Inoichi, most likely. And that should have been the reason why Ino wasn't gone at that moment either.
"Well it is differently better." Said Ino, looking at Naruto. It wasn't any different except it wasn't orange with neon green motive in it, but a white shirt, with orange flames at the bottom of it, and a red spiral at the back, while the pant was a lithely pocketed black shinobi cargo pant. The little orange still there felt okay, and it wasn't an irritatingly bright one. Of course he want Sasuke, but she can not help on that front.
"If you say so…" Said Naruto while suddenly looking behind her. "Hinata." Started the boy and went to the hiding girl. "I knew you would be around. I am somewhat unsure about Ino and the clothes she chose for me, but I know you would not lie to me, so, how do I look?" asked the boy, out of fear if he was pranced he may be dragged back every other day, and he had enough of this ordeal for sure.
"Y-you l-look g-good N-Naruto..." and before she could continue Ino appeared.
"It is a shame you did not wore this all day. It would have improved the lesson you gave us." Said the blonde girl.
"Uhm… N-Naruto. H-how do y-you know s-so m-much about f-fuuin..."
"Fuuinjutsu? Well do you remember the class last year when we were talking about that special training method where the shinobi strengthen their body over time?" the two girl was unsure. "Well I went to the library after that and searched for books about it, and I was send to search a specific book. It was about lost techniques and ones what was started to fade outside of special clans."
"And?" Asked Ino in a clearly interested voice. She smelled gossip.
"Well the book contained at the end a lot of fuuinjutsu, and was written by a woman named Mito. At the start her last name was Uzumaki, but at the end It become Senju."
"Wait. Mito Senju? She was the wife of the first Hokage. We learned about them not long ago." Said Ino in a surprised tone.
"Yes. After that I searched for the name Uzumaki, and found a lot of interesting things. Well mostly books, about fuuinjutsu, what I did not understand at first. Why only Uzumaki?" Naruto left that hanging for a few second before he continued. "Well the answer was surprising. There was a clan until the beginning of the second shinobi war, when they were destroyed by Kiri, Iwa, and Kumo."
"Wait. They did nothing in that war. We learned that yesterday." Said Ino again, and at this point Hinata was interested too.
"Well yeah. Uzu, the country of the Uzumaki clan was an Island surrounded by whirlpools. They where fuuinjutsu users. They wielded scrolls, that released jutsu like attacks, or barriers capable of stopping even the strongest jutsus. That was why the combined force of three main villages was almost too little to destroy the clan. Luckily there were members of the clan outside of the island, and they hide, mostly in Konoha, and around fire country."
"Wait. That mean you can be one of the last members of a clan." said Ino, on a surprised tone.
"Well there is hardly any evidence, but yeah. I know about two connection I have to them. Expect my name. It is the fact that I can study the art of sealing so easily and the fact that I have a lot more chacra than Iruka-sense. I may be unable to use it, but I have a lot more than he does."
"And these are all traits of that clan? That is more than enough to prove it!" said Ino excited about the news… she is already planing how to better present this news to others.
"Uhm… w-what a-about their g-general looks?" Asked Hinata In a tone that showed she was happy about the news.
"Well… that when most things fall. They had mostly red, blue, or orange hair color the first being the most dominant. Blond was one if not the rarest. It happened but rarely. My eye color matches, well most times. The last thing is how energetic, they are, and how cunning… I am not bad at the later, but me being blind, and taught in a different environment, doesn't help." the boy seriously put a lot of thinking into the matter at hand. He wanted to believe he has a legacy to live up to. He did not know why, but it was a very prominent feeling.
Of course it needed to wait. Naruto bought a few set of the same clothing, and went home, and then started to work on his seals, while focused his chacra into his skin and body in a specific way. He was already unable to cut himself, what was good, and next to that working on seals is not a physically draining thing to do, so he was able to do the two at the same time. And there is the fact if mastered both can save his life. He is already an adept seal user, and creator. There are several sensor seals he played with, and barriers able to handle low B level jutsus. Of course becoming an expert is a had thing to do… at least 4-5 years to develop the skill, speed and the high amount of seal he needed, but with the academy he had time… he had all the time he needed.
The end of the academy educative years
Naruto was twelve year old, and was ready to his written tests. If he is don with that, then the two year combat, and advanced shinobi training will began for him too. It was hard to reach this point for him. Dealing with his blindness the fact that he come to the school after the year started, the fact that many adult did not liked him, and crossed him in one way or an other… but he got here, and that was what counted. Well he already learned about an other way, but he did not wanted to use loopholes to reach a higher level. In the last two year his desire to live up to a non existent legacy just strengthened.
On the side note he was one of the physically strongest member of the class, what was helped by the fact that his body was stronger than normal, and had the highest durability with stamina rivaling most jounin. One time he run with a guy named Gai, and run six round around the village outside of the gates, and even up the hill, before starting to get winded, and three more before being exhausted. Of course the man made sure the boy was within the walls, then speed up to impossible speed, like it was nothing, finished twenty more laps, in ten minute, and then paying for three blow of ramen for Naruto. He wanted to pay for all of it at first, but Naruto insisted… and Gai was happy for it, after the 15th bowl…
The only thing that was against him was the fact that a teacher needed to make his test for him, for this event, and he know it wasn't Iruka, and it was somewhat scary. There were a few similar tests to this, and they where always above genin level knowledge. His only saving grace was the fact he can not watch tv, and play games like others… it forced him into the library, when he wasn't training, so he was able to learn things he wasn't supposed to learn at that age. Not like he had clearance to jutsus, but higher mathematical, physical and chemical studies. He did not wanted to learn them, but after one of those tests he was forced to. He did not know how to calculate the speed of a kunai when thrown from 500 meter away from a cliff to an enemy, if he had Jounin level skills, and there was a storm with a wind over 200km/h speed. No he wast taught that. He needed to learn things that helped him to that level, so he did it. He still barely made it, but he did not fail on any other tests after the first one.
So with these facts he was waiting. He was ready to do it. After this he will be trained to become a shinobi, after this… and then he got the paper, and started to read the questions… It was hard… no not hard, almost impossible to him, to do. He was on the verge to tell Iruka that the test is not on his level on knowledge, when he found the last two question, and smiled. Everyone had a shiver down on their spine from that sensation. Naruto was ready to break the system.
After the test the unfortunate teacher who made Naruto's test
It was impossible. He made the question's kage level, to make the thing impossible to the boy, after he answered so damn many jounin level question, but this time… he did not answered most of them, no, he left himself to the last two, and answered them in a way that not only was right, but went into a theory that in itself give him enough extra point to pass the whole damn thing. It was his mistake, yes. He was the one who asked for the theories behind the damn things, fro 1 point each, but to have more than twenty theory enforced into one that may be the key for every space time jutsu… of course it was almost impossible to test without someone capable of using them, but he needed expert level books to even reed the stuff. He was tempted to just cut it lose, but if the boy says anything to Iruka… that damn teacher would read every damn question, and run to the Hokage, with that test… and most likely every other test he made for the boy. Not even Sasuke, and Sakura, the two with highest grades got Chunin level questions, and Naruto who sometimes barely made it got… no the boy played him, and he know knew it. If the boy said anything after the first few, it would have been overlooked. After the fifth, he would have been stripped from his position as a teacher, and maybe striped from his chunin rank… if he said something now he would have been send to a prison for the rest of his life, if he was lucky.
Holding back a student is one thing, making it impossible for said student to pass was an other but to set up such a test for one person, who would most likely become an incredible shinobi, to cut said shinobis carrier before it begun is equal to killing a fellow shinobi in the middle of the street.
He needed to do something against the boy before he advances to the next phase of his training, or he would be unable to effect his progress anymore, and that would let to disaster. How could so many people look at him only as a reminder of that night, not the thing he was was something he will never understand. There is only one way a blind kid can answer as many question as he did… and that is if said boy wasn't a boy, but a monster possessing strength, power, and knowledge no human knows… he need to prove it…
And with that the nameless chunin went out to kill a student… he did not know what hell did he walked into.
1. Yes, I made sure everyone knows where I stand in the who can be an Uzumaki, and who isn't, but made sure to leave a door open for later changes. These things WILL effect the story and WILL be mentioned there too, but if I establish them now no one can claim I just pulled it out of nowhere.
2. I am thinking about giving Naruto a unique version of the chacra chains down the lines, but only if the right situation appears, which mean (at least in this case) this window will be open. It will be chosen by you, with the love interests in an indirect way (yes I build up a lot of things to that moment, but I have my reasons)