Naruto
Disclaimer: This episode of Naruto is of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Naruto. "Naruto" and all related characters, names, etc. are ©1999-2006 Masashi Kishimoto/SHUEISHA Inc. Naruto is a trademark of Viz Media LLC. All rights reserved.
Note: This series contains content from both the manga and the anime and takes place shortly after the very first chapter/episode of Naruto and will have our main protagonist acting a bit OOC for the rest of the series. Read to discover how and why.
The Demon Within
Number 3:
The Jônin Instructor Kakashi!
'Naruto's thoughts'
'The nine-tailed demon fox's thoughts'
'INNER SAKURA'S THOUGHTS'
The third Hokage and the senior shinobi next to him both gave Iruka startled looks. "The Nine-Tails," the old man slowly began, "is influencing Naruto?" He looked sternly at the chûnin before him. "Iruka-san I do hope for your sake that you are serious, for joking around on such a matter is not something we take so lightly in this village."
"I assure I am completely serious Hokage-sama!" Iruka replied, his expression conveying his words. "The Naruto I saw today was different than the Naruto I know and have taught since he started at the academy." He stopped for a moment to shake his head. "Most of the differences were subtle but I easily noticed them."
The partially masked jônin tilted his head to the side slightly. "And what differences did you notice Iruka-sensei?"
With a sigh he began, "Well it looked like he was a tad taller, perhaps a couple of inches or so. Those odd marks on his cheeks that look like whiskers looked deeper…more pronounced. The most startling difference I saw was his eyes. They weren't blue…they were a deep purple!" He paused for a moment to scratch the back of his head uncomfortably. "Naruto and I locked eyes for a moment and I saw…it was…I know something malevolent has happened to him. There may have been more changes about him but I couldn't get a better look at him from my vantage point."
The third Hokage scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm," he muttered, "this does indeed sound interesting and does bear looking in to. It just so happens both Kakashi-san and myself were about to visit Naruto's residence before you came Iruka-san. Perhaps you would like to join us?"
The chûnin nodded and the three shinobi went off to the dwelling of the child whose young body harbored the most terrifying demons to have ever existed.
The three shinobi entered Naruto's apartment, the oldest of them narrowing his eyes as soon as he set foot inside. "Kakashi-san, Iruka-san…can you sense it?"
The jônin nodded once with his hands in his pockets. "It's faint but I can definitely detect a foul, evil power…" he paused and tilted his head towards the Uzamaki boy's bed, "…and it's coming from over there."
The scarred chûnin hung his head and let out a defeated sigh, knowing his fears seem to be justified. His attention was drawn towards a framed photograph on Naruto's dresser of the two of them that was just taken the other day. In it both of them are smiling cheerfully with Iruka ruffling the younger boy's hair while the energetic youth flashed a 'peace' symbol with his fingers. 'Oh Naruto,' he thought to himself, 'what have you gotten yourself into?' Kakashi looked over Iruka's shoulder to take a peek at the photo and studied the young boy's features closely.
The Third Hokage walked over to the bed and pulled his pipe out of his mouth with a frown. "It pains me to say that you were indeed right in your suspicions Iruka-san. I haven't felt this dreadful chakra in twelve years and now from what I can sense, it appears that the seal on the nine-tailed demon fox has weakened enough for it to come out slightly and has made contact with Naruto. I am guessing it did so while the boy was asleep since that would have been safest to make its move." He paused to shake his head. "What all else happened I can only imagine. Kakashi-san, I want you to keep a close eye on Naruto and report anything about him that seems suspicious. He's a good child…just misunderstood because of his unique situation and I fear the nine-tails might try to taint him. He has a hard enough time in this village as it is and I do not want things getting worse for him."
Kakashi nodded once before he turned around and left Naruto's apartment to meet up with his new group of rookie genin to teach.
Some time later cell number seven were back in class while waiting for their jônin instructor to arrive. They had patiently waited while all of the other cell's jônin arrived and took their respective teams away one-by-one but the last team left some time ago and they haven't seen nor heard a peep from anyone on the outside since. Naruto sat on a desk near the top of the class while he rested his head in the palm of his right hand, boredom etched across his face. "This is taking waaaaayy too long," he muttered out loud. He yawned quite loudly afterwards. "What's this guy's deal?"
Down up at the very first row of desk Sakura leaned onto a desk near Sasuke while blowing up at the hair falling down on her forehead. "I know this sounds really weird but I actually agree with Naruto." She looked over to her left to her crush and her cheeks reddened very slightly. 'If only Naruto weren't here I'd be all alone in this room with Sasuke-kun!' she thought to herself while Inner Sakura added, 'LET'S TAKE OUT THAT MORON SO SASUKE CAN BE OURS!'
The young Uchiha took half a glance towards the girl who was much too close for his comfort and held in a sigh, wondering just how badly both she and that blonde haired dunce will stall his own progress.
Even the nine-tailed demon fox was losing its patience at the tardiness of its host's jônin 'instructor'…that and the apparent lack of action that it was craving. 'I find this most dissatisfying young cub,' it said after a long period of silence. 'The belatedness shows both disrespect towards you and the others as well as incompetence on the part of your soon to be instructor. I hope for their sake that either he or she is quite skilled.'
'Me too,' the young shinobi thought while letting out a huff of annoyance. 'I really want to pull a prank on him but I know you probably wouldn't want me to.'
'I would not have minded if you had found an amusing way to prank on your soon to be jônin instructor child,' it admitted and getting its host to look momentarily surprised. 'Do remember that I am a fox. Pranks and mischief are what we foxes are known for and one aspect of you that I particularly enjoy witnessing.'
"Maybe next time I will," He muttered under his breath with a smirk. After a few moments of the unsettling quiet, he had begun to stare out the windows to his right with a wistful look in his eyes. 'I was really getting into our training earlier…even that fall into the dumpster was kinda fun!' he added while holding in a chuckle.
'That was…amusing, Naruto's Sensei admitted with a slight nod, 'though next time I would advise against such a foolish action. True you were fortunate enough to have that dumpster below you but next time you may not be as lucky.' It paused to cringe its nose. 'Though the smell alone had me desiring that you fell onto the ground instead.'
Naruto cringed as well. 'Yeah, you're right. That stuff did stink pretty bad! I thought having stronger senses would be really cool…but the smell of that dumpster kinda got me to not like them as much.' He subconsciously rubbed his nose. 'I also wish I had bought more than one pair of my new clothes.' He looked down at what he was currently wearing, his dark blue undershirt and a pair of black shorts he didn't know he even had and discovered them while digging through his closet. 'I didn't want to toss my new clothes but those things really stunk even after washing them three times! Poor Froggy-kun is going to look so thin after this!' he added in despair, thinking of his cute wallet in the shape of a plump green frog.
The fox spirit nodded. 'Yes. With your new acute senses such things will become more prominent. I now advise you to bathe continuously and avert yourself from such unsettling stenches. Later we shall work on honing your senses so you will have maximum control.' It paused for a moment as it sensed a presence slowly coming nearer to the classroom. 'I also understand your monetary plight but more important matters are currently at hand, namely your long delayed jônin instructor has finally arrived.'
The young shinobi looked up in interest a moment before the front door to the classroom opened and an adult shinobi entered looking quite bored from what they all could see of his face. "Oh, hello," he calmly said to the three young genin left in the room, "I'm glad to see that you guys are patient." Naruto snorted loudly and obviously before turning his attention back towards the window and the world outside. The jônin instructor glanced at him while studying the boy intently. 'So that's Uzamaki Naruto,' he thought to himself. 'Iruka-sensei was right to be suspicious. This young boy in front of me does indeed look slightly different from the kid in the photo with him. Add that to what we all sensed in his room…I guess I will have to keep a closer eye on him like Hokage-sama wanted.'
Sakura stood up and bowed politely. "Good afternoon sensei. It's nice to meet you." Inside of her though, Inner Sakura was in a rage. 'WHY'D IT TAKE YOU SO LONG TO GET HERE?' she shouted while throwing fists left and right. 'I ALMOST DIED OF BOREDOM WAITING YOU BIG SNEAKY LOOKING JERK!'
The Uchiha boy looked the jônin up and down, his expression remaining cold and indifferent. He thought, 'This guy doesn't look anything special at all. Man, things just keep getting worse for me today.'
Cell seven's instructor turned around and started to walk away. "Its too nice of a day to spend it in this stuffy classroom," he said over his shoulder. "How about we all go up to the roof and enjoy the weather?" Without another word he leaves the room and slides the door shut behind him.
Sakura and Sasuke wordlessly follow, both wondering what exactly their jônin instructor has in mind. Naruto got to his feet and stuffed his hands into his pockets while grumbling under his breath with a scowl. 'Man,' he thought, 'what kind of joke did we get stuck with?'
'Do not be so quick to judge pup,' the nine-tails said from inside of him, 'though he may look lazy and incompetent, I scanned over that jônin and I discovered his concealed left eye is a Sharingan or Mirror-Wheel eye. Curious though as to why he has it on only one eye.'
The young shinobi walked out of the classroom a few steps behind his team while he continued to converse with his Sensei. 'Sharingan?' He questioned. 'Mirror-Wheel? What does all that mean Sensei?'
The fox spirit nodded. 'Of course, please allow me to enlighten you. The Sharingan is a rare Kekkei Genkai, a trait you are born with that lies within your family blood, of incredible power. It is an ocular ninjutsu that allows those who posses it to be able to penetrate, reflect and duplicate any and all genjutsu and ninjutsu seen as well as some light forms of taijutsu.' At the boy's awed expression, it continued, 'There is more to discuss about the Sharingan and some of its other abilities as well as other Kekkei Genkai you will encounter in this and other villages but that is for another time. I suggest you increase your pace young cub, the others are far ahead of you now.'
Naruto looked up to see both Sasuke and Sakura already walking up the stairs to the roof while he was only just a few steps out of the classroom. "Crap!" he shouted while rushing to catch up.
Up on the roof the jônin instructor leaned against the railing at the edge of the roof with his arms folded across his chest while his new cell sat down several feet in front of him. "Now I'd like you all to tell us a little about yourselves."
"Like what?" Sakura questioned.
"…You know," he replied with a shrug. "The usual. Your favorite thing…what you hate the most…dreams, ambitions, hobbies, things like that."
"Don't get me wrong," Naruto begun, "but isn't it more polite for you to do that first? I mean we pretty much know squat about you so how about it coach?" The Haruno girl nodded in agreement as inside of the young man the demon fox smiled toothily at its host's brashness. It suspected that this was the boy's way of acting out at his instructor instead of pulling a prank on him for being so tardy.
The jônin glanced at the violet-eyed boy for a moment, still looking quite bored. "Oh…me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm the kind of person who doesn't feel like talking about his likes and dislikes!" He tilted his head to the side slightly. "My dreams for the future are none of your business…but anyway, I have lots of hobbies…" he deliberately trailed off, letting them know that he was done discussing himself.
Sakura looked at her teammates and was about to say something when Naruto cut in, "Wow," he started in a tone similar to Kakashi's, "its like I've known you my entire life now." Sasuke let no emotions show though he was surprised that the dunce made such a good smart-ass comment.
The pink haired kunoichi let out a snort of laughter and quickly covered her mouth with both of her hands. 'Nice one,' she thought while glancing over at the class clown on her right. Her eyes widen slightly as she takes in his new apparel. 'Wow, he actually ditched that dorky orange getup of his. He looks totally different without it…and…kinda cool…though he's nowhere near as cool as Sasuke-kun!' her mind quickly added after such a blasphemous thought.
'Impressive young cub,' the Kyuubi congratulated, 'it appears that I have already begun to rub off on you.'
Cell seven's instructor was a bit annoyed at a twelve-year-old making fun of him but decided to let it pass for now. He would have his revenge…soon enough. "Well now it's your turn," he began while looking directly at the vessel for the nine-tailed fox demon. "Since you're already in the mood to speak why don't you go on ahead?"
Naruto adjusted his hitai-ate leaf forehead band before saying, "My name is Uzamaki Naruto! My dream is to one day become the greatest Hokage to ever exist! And when that happens all the villagers will have to acknowledge my existence at last!"
Kakashi's visible eye rose slightly after hearing this. 'Well, hasn't he turned out interesting…' he thought to himself.
"…As for my likes, dislikes and hobbies," he paused and tapped his chin thoughtfully, "I'll let you know those when you show up on time!" The fox spirit inside of him let out a bark of laughter, quite enjoying this show. The Uchiha boy shook his head and let out a barely audible sigh, despite the fact that his opinion of Naruto did go up a tad.
Sakura gaped at the light yellow haired boy while her much more expressive inner psyche gave a large thumbs-up while shouting, 'OH YEAH! YOU GOT BURNED!'
The Copy Ninja was again annoyed at the young blonde haired boy but continued to not show it and reveal any weakness in front of the young genin. He continued. "Right then, let's move on."
The introductions soon ended with Sasuke telling little more than the two before him, though his mentioning plans of restoring his clan and having someone he has sworn to kill did come as a surprise to his teammates. The Haruno girl told as little about herself though it was easy to tell what was on her mind as she continuously stared at her crush and blushed deeply. She was quite adamant to voice aloud her hatred of Naruto, much to the chagrin of the young man in question and amusement of his 'prisoner'.
"I believe we all understand one another," Kakashi began after a moment of making sure nobody else had something else to say. "Formal training begins tomorrow." At hearing this Naruto put his hands on his knees and smiled widely, a speck or two of laughter escaping him. The jônin ignored the hyperactive boy and continued, "Our first project involves only the members of this cell."
The young container for the Kyuubi nodded once before asking, "So what are we going to do?"
The partially masked shinobi let out the briefest of smirks…though the young genin in front of him could not see it. "Survival exercises."
Some time later Naruto was sitting in a clearing by a river and forest where Kakashi said they would be training the following morning. He looked curiously over at three wood stumps sticking out of the ground to his right. "I wonder what those are for?" he thought out loud. He suddenly rubbed his nose as he caught a light scent of smoke in the air, a scent he didn't like too much. The young man looked around for a few moments and he soon found a cigarette butt near the tree stumps. He leaned forward and took a tentative sniff and leapt back at how strong it still smelled. "Bleh!" he coughed out while spitting onto the ground, "that thing still smells pretty fresh. I guess somebody was here before I was."
'Good deduction child,' the Kyuubi praised. 'My assumption is that one of the cells has already been here to train. I suppose this is a regular spot for such an occurrence.' It paused for a moment in thought. 'I am curious to know whether or not the cell that was here not too long ago passed or failed.'
That last statement brought about a mixture of emotions inside the young genin from excitement at proving himself worthy to become an actual shinobi and a bit nervous at Kakashi's warning that this test had a sixty-six percent rate of failure meaning that most of the other genin he graduated with would be going back for more training.
Inside of him the dreaded fox demon sensed its host's nervousness. 'Do not concern yourself over such a trivial matter,' it assured the boy, 'now that I am on your side it would be quite unlikely that you not pass this test. You are faster, stronger and a great deal more agile than you were the previous day. Your chakra consumption and control now are at a level of any above average ninja. After tonight's merge your senses will be more honed, which will turn you into an excellent tracker. The only possible way that you cannot exceed in this test would be through the faults of your own team members.
'Yeah…yeah! You're right!' he mentally exclaimed while his high spirits rose back to their average levels. 'You know…this is a nice spot,' he thought while he looked up at the bright, late afternoon sky. 'Wow, the clouds and the sky look really cool. I guess I can understand why Shikamaru likes to stare up there all the time.'
'I would highly disapprove you of doing such a thing young cub,' the demon fox commented. 'You need to train diligently now if you wish to accomplish your dreams. Now I highly recommend scouting out a suitable amount of space around this current area since this will be the location of your real test. Search for good spots to conceal yourself for I doubt this jônin instructor will make things easy for you children. If this were a one-on-one exercise I would have advised also placing down traps but I know you do not wish to possibly harm your teammates if they were to accidentally fall into one of them.' The fox spirit's host nodded in agreement. 'Now scout this area and familiarize yourself with the landscape until the sun is setting on the horizon and when that time has come we shall return to Konohagakure to eat then we will return here to resume your training.'
"Yes Sensei!" the boy enthusiastically responded out loud as he went about exploring the clearing and forest. In a short time he found several well concealed hiding places both in the trees and on the ground inside some thick bushes. He spent the next three hours walking a mile radius all around the meeting spot for tomorrow's 'survival training'. Naruto quickly got acquainted with the various surroundings he encountered in that entire area and discovered how much more of an advantage having heightened senses was. Though he had trouble focusing on them entirely, the young shinobi was able to clearly see tracks on the ground and sniff out the hiding spots of several small furry animals. 'This is so cool!' he thought in pure enjoyment at his new 'skills'.
'Indeed,' the Kyuubi agreed. The honed senses was just the first of many steps it needed the boy to accomplish before he could become the perfect vessel to use against this wretched village.
It knew the boy would not be invincible by any means but as long as he used his head more, especially during battle, he would ensure both their survivals. The demon fox would feel more at ease after the chakra merge was complete because when it was done, Naruto would heal at an astonishing rate, even at injuries that would be almost certainly fatal to any normal person or even ninja. Soon the boy would also be ready to learn vast amounts of various jutsu techniques that it had seen over its vast lifetime. Though the fox spirit itself could not perform these techniques it could easily instruct it's host on how to properly use them. It suddenly took notice of the sky and said, 'Well young cub, the sun has begun its descent so you may take a break to go and feast, but might I suggest you place a Henge no Jutsu over the marks on your cheeks?'
'These marks?' he thought while rubbing the whisker-like marks. 'Why?'
'An experiment of sorts,' it truthfully answered. 'You have had to live with the adults of this village and their constant looks of hatred for your entire life.' The young man drooped his head down in remembrance. 'Your appearance has slightly altered from what it used to be and you are wearing different clothing. If you cover your…birthmarks…I think it may be possible for you to walk around with others not readily knowing who you are.' After a brief moment it added, 'You might also desire to place a Henge no Jutsu to alter your eye color back to its original state. Violet eyes do tend to stand out more than cerulean ones.' With an excited gleam in his eyes, Naruto did the hand sign of the O-hitsuji and focused his chakra and in a puff of smoke, he emerged looking exactly the same only minus the whisker marks on his cheeks and his eyes the bright blue they originally were before the merging. 'Well done,' the fox spirit replied. 'Now we may enter the village and you may eat to your heart's content.'
"Alright! Ramen here I come!" Naruto cheered as he rushed off towards his favorite ramen spot for a much needed ramen fix. The young genin arrived much faster than normal due to his enhanced speed…much to his pleasure. In his book, the faster he could get to his ramen meant he could spend extra time eating more and more of it and that was a good thing…a very good thing.
He was just about to enter Ichiraku, the young genin's favorite ramen shop and home to the best ramen in Konoha, when his nose suddenly caught a familiar scent…one he remembered smelling earlier. 'Hmm…' he thought, 'that's definitely not Sakura…but whoever it is does smell kind of nice.'
The nine-tailed demon fox caught the scent the boy was currently fixated upon and smiled, instantly knowing who it was and supremely happy at the girl's wonderful timing. 'You should remember that scent child since you were sitting next to her earlier this day.'
"Hinata-san?" he muttered under his breath as he turned around only to come face-to-face with the shy kunoichi.
"O-Oh!" she responded as she saw who was in front of her, a cute blush spreading across her face. "He-hello Naruto-kun." She looked away and begun to poke her two index fingers together.
"Hi there Hinata-san," he greeted in return. "What are you up to?"
"I-I was just going for a walk." A small smile formed on her face as she realized that she's alone with her crush at the current moment. Granted they were in the middle of town with random people walking to and fro…but to the young Hyuuga, they were currently more alone together than they have ever been before. She took a quick peek up at his face and her smile faded slightly at what she saw. "N-Naruto-kun," she slowly began, "what happened…wh-where are your birthmarks on y-your cheeks?" the young genin reached up and gently touched the Uzamaki boy's cheek where she felt the three whisker-like marks but could not see them. When she realized what she was doing her face, Hinata's face flushed a brilliant crimson and she was about to hastily remove her hand when it was quickly, yet gently halted by Naruto.
A brief look of pain passed through the young man's eyes as memories of the past coursed through his mind. He quickly regained himself and replied, "I covered them with a Henge no Jutsu. I…I just wanted to try something new," he softly replied, looking, really looking into her lilac eyes. 'Wow,' he thought to himself, 'even though she's got no pupils and that's a little creepy…her eyes are kinda pretty.' The Kyuubi inside of him wisely choose to be silent and let things run its course, though it was smiling quite widely. The young man realized he was holding her hand and promptly let go, his face reddening as much as hers. "S-Sorry," he muttered while rubbing the back of his head.
Hinata looked away as well, a happy smile on her face at being touched by her big crush. "I-It's okay," she replied while pushing her index fingers together again. "I didn't m-mind."
An awkward silence passed between the two for a few moments before Naruto finally said, "You know Hinata, I was…planning on getting a bite to eat at Ichiraku's…but I hate eating by myself all the time and I wouldn't mind a little company…" he paused and the young Hyuuga heiress looked up at the shinobi in surprise, hoping he is doing what she thinks he is, "…so if you don't mind…would you like to get some ramen with me?" The quiet kunoichi nodded with a shy smile. With a large smile the vessel to the dreaded nine-tailed demon fox grabbed her hand and dragged her inside. "Great! You'll love it here Hinata-san, they've got the best ramen in this entire village!"
The young woman let out a much larger smile than she had ever shown before as she was led into the ramen shop.
To be continued…
Translations:
O-hitsuji: Ram
Author's notes: Hello again dear readers. I hope you enjoyed this new chapter and the little extra length to it. I dunno but I'm feeling something off about this chapter for some reason. I'm not too sure what it is but something about it just doesn't hit me as being quite right. If you can find out what, please let me know and I'll immediately make appropriate changes.
I was planning on going off a little differently near the end but I decided to add the part with Hinata in to give the end a bit of a cute factor. Trust me, things will get more violent soon enough. I plan to have Naruto and Hinata talk a tiny bit in the beginning of the next chapter then move on to the 'Survival Exercises' with Kakashi-sensei. Heh, that's gonna be fun! – lighthawkdemon
Questions or comments? E-mail me at: lighthawkdemon (at) Y!
