Chapter 2- Welcome to Kuraigakure!
Naruto awoke in the hull of a boat. He looked around found the man Kuro sitting in a chair across from the bed, reading a book. Upon hearing Naruto sit up in his bed, Kuro looked up and smiled at him as he closed his book.
"Goodmorning Naruto. I hope you slept well," said Kuro, standing out of his chair.
"Kuro-san, where are we?" asked Naruto, as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.
"We are currently on a ship bound for Kuraigakure. You've been asleep since last night in case you were wondering," said Kuro, saying everything with a honest tone.
"How much longer to you're village?" asked Naruto, as Kuro got a thinking look on his face.
"I'd say half an hour till we dock. C'mon we'll get you some food," said Kuro, as Naruto got out of his bed, "there are actually some people you should meet.
Kuro prepared a dish of food for Naruto and led him to the upperdeck of the ship. Upon getting to the deck, Naruto saw Aimi, Raikan, Miroku, Fu and Gaara. (A/N: yes I know Naruto doesn't know them all, but for the sake since you know what they look like I'll spare you.) Naruto was alittle surprised to see kids his age heading to this village like him.
'Maybe,' thought Naruto glancing at the two, 'they are like me?'
The group already on the front of the boat turned around to look at Naruto and Kuro.
"There you are Kuro," said Aimi, flashing a smile at the man in the trench coat.
"Perhps now we can begin the formal introductions?" asked Raikan, as Miroku gave a nod in agreement.
"Children," said Miroku, gaining the attentnion of all three Jinchuuriki, "my name is Miroku, I am the priestess of Demon country."
"My name is Kuro of the Kagemu clan," said Kuro, introducing himself fully.
"I am Aimi Ningyo and I am the only of my kind," said Aimi, with a hint of pride in her declaration.
"My name is Raikan Okami, and I reside with my pack," said Raikan in a montone deep voice.
"As I'm sure you've figured by now, each of you has been brought out of your villages to have a fresh start in a new life, but what you may not realize is that you three actually have something in common," said Miroku, as the three Jinchuuriki got wide-eyed at the news they were hit with.
"Each of you is a Jinchuuriki, a person chosen to contain one of the tailed beast, nine creature of immense chakra," said Kuro, as he decided to be blunt and not beat around the bush with these children.
"Is why you checked me for that seal on my stomach?" asked Gaara while Naruto and Fu looked at him.
"Yes, we had to look over each of your seals to make sure the strength was significant," said Raikan, kneeling in front of the children.
"Are we okay then?" asked Fu, a little nervous as she rubbed her stomach.
"Yes, the seals are in perfect condition and are not in any danger of breaking," said Aimi, smiling at the worried young jinchuuriki.
"So what're we going to do now?" asked Naruto, walking forward to Miroku.
"Now, we will show you around your new home," said Miroku, as she directed his attetion to the approaching shore line.
Everyone looked to see that they were approaching a large dock witth multiple ships in dock. They walked off of the boat and were docked in successfully. After paying for the use of the ship, Naruto, Fu, and Gaara were then led to a heavily forested area. They then came to a large stonewall of a mountain, with no opennings or caves as far as they could see. Miroku then walked up to the wall and went throught multiple handsigns. After taking her hand off the wall, the stones on the wall started to move, rearranging themsleves to form a passage way through the mountain. As they entered through the cavern passage, Naruto saw a light at the end of the tunnnel. When they finally got out of the passage, it sealed itself back as Naruto, Fu, and Gaara looked around their new home. As they gazed around, they saw that the entire village was actually inside a crater which provided a wall of protection for the village as well as an opening to allow sunlight to come in. Naruto thought it looked like the same size as Konoha as far as overall size. Naruto and the others were lead around the village by the shinobi of Kuraigakure. They spotted numerous buildings: estates, restaurants, a hospital, even a movie theatre. Eventually they got to the center of the village where Miroku turned back around and looked at the three jinchuuriki.
"Welcome to Kuraigakure, established hundreds of years ago, but was turned into a shinobi protected village by the Onikage with the intent of forming a strong domain while also becoming a haven for those who wished for it," said Miroku, smiling with pride as she spoke.
"Wait I thought this place was always a shinobi village," said Naruto, since Kuro made it sound like it had always been that way.
"Not exactly. The village was setup by a small group of travelers. They hallowed out that very tunnet that we came out of. They lived here for many years as a safe refuge for and brought in others and formed a tight nit community. However, bandits soon came into the area and made it very difficult for their trade to come out and were forced to remain in their hide out. One day, one of the families inside tried to get to another town to trade they were attacked by bandits. Then, as they were cornered, they were saved by a shinobi of unknown village. The family was grateful to the stranger and offered him a place in the village. The shinobi accepted and revealed that he had some allies that would come with him. As you can probably tell that shinobi was..." said Kuro before being cut off by Fu.
"The Onikage," said Fu, who got the attention of everybody.
"Precisely. And a few years later the town was turned into a shinobi vvillage and managed to clear out the bandits. The Onikage even managed to create better relations in demon country by defeating Moryo, a demon of unimaginable power. With that act he saved my life as well as my daughters. We ended up moving our own tower here and dedicated my time to studying new types of sealing. Needless to say, the Onikage is very respected and love by the people here," said Miroku, finishing up the tale.
"So can we meet the Onikage?" asked Naruto, as he felt like meeting this man who decided tto give him, Fu, and Gaara a second chance.
"Actually we need to report that we're back so yes we can," said Aimi, seeing the three jinchuuriki smile at the news.
The group made their way father ttowards the back of the crater and eventually came to the tallest tower in the whole village. They went up the stairs of th building and came to a door on the third floor.
"Come in," said a voice on the other side after Miroku knocked on the door twice.
As they stepped inside, Naruto and the others saw a man in his late thirties to early fourties sitting at a desk. He had silver eyes, Long black hair that was tied in a pony tail, a scruffy beard and a diagonal scar across his right eye. Body wise he had an above avergae body type. He wore a black short sleeve shirt underneath a blood red Haori, arm guards, black pants and black sandals. On his desk was his black colored kage hat with the kanji for 'demon' on it. Upon seeing who his guest were, the Onikage grew a smile on his face.
"Ah I was wondering how long it was going to be before you all got here. Now then, allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Masaru Seishin, The Shodaime Onikage of Kuraigakure," said Masaru getting up from his desk.
"Onikage-sama, I introduce to you Naruto Uzumaki, Fu and Gaara," said Miroku, even though Masaru knew the three already.
"I trust you have been told why you have been brought here?" asked the Onikage kneeling in front of the trio.
"Yes, and if you don't mind me saying sir, it all seems a little too good to be true that you're just letting us start over," said Fu, as Naruto and Gaara nodded in agreement.
"And I can understand why you would feel that way, but I promise you that it is true. You see, I myself know what it's like to be treated differently for something you had no control in, but I also know that a simple change in where you are can make a huge difference as well as give you a clean slate," said Masaru sincerely to the three jinchuuriki.
"Th-thank you," said Gaara finally, sporting a small smile.
"You are most welcome, to each of you. Now, if you would step out for a little while I need to discuss something with Miroku and the others," said Masaru smiling at the three as they left.
The Naruto, Fu, and Gaara sat on the bench outside and stayed silent for awhile, glancing at each other.
"So, it looks like the three of us are the same in a way," said Naruto, showing a smilel.
"Yeah I guess," said Gaara, as he didn't have good social skills.
"You think it's coincidence that we, the three of us, were brought together at the same place at the same time?" asked Fu, as she looked between Naruto and Gaara.
"I don't know, but it looks like we're going to be seeing each other for the time we're here," said Naruto, pointing out that they were joined by fate.
"What are you saying?" asked Gaara.
"Well, maybe we could all be friends," said Naruto, seeing a bit of shock from both of his fellow jiinchuuriki.
"You... want to be my friend?" asked Gaara in surprised.
"And mine?" asked Fu who was as equally surprised.
"Well yeah. I mean were in the same situation, we might as well get to know eachother," said Naruto, as he proceded to hold out his hands to his fellow jinchuuriki, "So, not to rush but what do ya say?"
After a couple of seconds, Fu took Narutos hand, to which he smiled at her and made her blush a little. They both looked at Gaara and gave him a smile. Gaara then hesitantly took Naruto's hand and gave a small smile.
"Alright then, from now on were friends and we'll always have each others backs," said Naruto, as all three smiled at their new found friendship.
At that moment, the door to the Onikage's office opened as the trio let go of each others hands. Miroku motioned for them to come back in the office as the Onikage had something to tell them.
"For the time you are here, I am placing each of you in the care of your rescuers, so Naruto will go with Kuro, Fu will go with Aimi, and Gaara will go with Raikan. I will also make sure you can be enrolled into our ninja academy should you choose to be. Get some good rest and welcome to your new home," said Masaru, as they all turned to leave.
"Thank you Onikage-sama," said the trio as they left with their respective guardians.
The trio of two split up and went theiir seperate ways. Naruto and Kuro walked for a couple of minutes before they reached a house. Kuro pulled out a key and unlocked the door as he lead Naruto inside his home. After walking around Naruto saw a woman with dark blonde hair tied in a bun with purple eyes, and she was wearing a red blouse.
"Welcome home Kuro. Oh, and who do we have here?" said the woman, kneeling in front of Naruto with a smile.
"This is Naruto, Haruki, and he will be living with us," said Kuro, putting his hand on Naruto's head.
"Well then, welcome home as well Naruto. I hope you enjoy your stay here," said Haruki, giving Naruto a big hug, which threw Naruto off.
He had never been hugged before so he didn't really know how to react. He slowly, however, moved his arms to hold her close to him. He was finally in a place that he could call home.
(Kuro's home, 6 years later)
Naruto woke up in his bed as the sun began to rise. During his time in Kuraigakure, Naruto had grown closer to Fu and Gaara as well as making new friends. Naruto had also recieved basic training in the ninja academy and even from Kuro. Thanks to his hard work and training Naruto was among one of the top ninja in his class. And as he sat up in his bed, Naruto felt a smile cross his face, because on this day, all his practice in the ninja arts were finally paying off and could be summed up in two words.
"Gradutation day," Naruto said to himself as he leapt out of his bed to begin his new chapter.
(A/N:Wassup! So, due to college and work, this chapter took a while and so will all future projects. Sorry guys but thats the way it is. I enjoyed working on this all the same to be honest and wil continue to enjoy my work. Tell me what you guys thought. Till next time.)
