Chapter 3: Training and Hidden Truths
Michiko was standing on the roof of her house as the sun was beginning to rise above the trees. It was going to be the first day of training for Naruto Uzumaki. Michiko was excited about it, too. She wondered how the boy was going to handle the training. Her students were able to handle it fine after a few days.
Who knows? Michiko thought, shrugging with a smile.
"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto wake up!" A male voice said as he shook Naruto awake. Naruto sprung up from the bed and look left and right. Trying to remember how he got into the room. Then he remembered. He ran away from Konoha, met Michiko-sensei at one of the towns, invited him into her home, met her other students, and fell asleep in his new room. How come he forgotten so much in so much time? It was quite a mystery to Naruto's state of mind. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on the person who woke him up. The blurriness cleared up and he saw Jotaro sitting near his futon.
"Come on, get change and fold up your futon. Then come down for breakfast." Jotaro said.
"Hai." Naruto said, sleepy.
"Today's the first day of training, Naruto-kun." Jotaro said.
"Really?" Naruto asked, excitedly. Then he jumped out of bed and quickly went into his backpack to pick out some clothes. Throwing out all of the objects out of his backpack is a better word for it. Jotaro sweat dropped when he saw all of Naruto's things flying out of his backpack. He began to wonder how the kid was able to stuff everything in that backpack.
A Few Minutes Later:
Naruto quickly ran down the step, hurrying towards the breakfast table. Whatever was being cooked, it smelt delicious. He reached the corner and saw all of Michiko's students: Kagome, Yuma, Jotaro, and Taka at the breakfast table. Kagome and Yuma were bringing out the food, Jotaro was bringing out the bowls, and Taka laid out the plates along with the utensils.
"Naruto-kun, you're up." Kagome said.
"Get some breakfast before it's all gone." Taka said.
"Hai!" Naruto said as he went to help Jotaro with the bowls. After everything was laid out, everyone began to serve themselves.
After breakfast was over, everyone cleaned up the table and made sure to wash, dry, and put the dishes away. When that was done, everyone brought their pouches that was filled with their ninja gear and attached them to their back pocket. Naruto noticed that there was one left over on the table near the door.
"That's yours, Naruto-kun." Kagome said.
"Really?" Naruto asked.
"Hai!" Kagome said with a smile, "Now, come on or we'll be late for training!"
"Hai!" Naruto said, excited as he grabbed his pouch and attached to his back pocket.
At the Training Field:
Michiko stood in the small training field, waiting for her students to show up. She was excited to teach a new student in her training. She was hoping that Naruto will handle it. She didn't want him to become dead weight to them. Then her students arrived into the field.
"Good morning, my students." Michiko said.
"Good morning, Michiko-sensei." Naruto, Kagome, Yuma, Taka, and Jotaro said in unision.
"Today will be the first day of training for Naruto, so I want you all to help him in training. But I will be present for it as well." Michiko said.
"Hai!"
"Naruto, how good are you with kunai?" Michiko asked.
"To be honest, not all that great." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.
"Well then, we'll start at that and then we'll go onto harder things, okay?" Michiko asked.
"Hai!" Naruto said.
For the next two hours, Michiko and the others were helping Naruto with kunai practice which soon turned into shuriken practice as well. Later afterwards, everyone practiced their taijutsu with each other. The next day, they were trying to do Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Naruto tried it, only for his doppelganger to look like a poor imitation of himself (no offense, Naruto). But Jotaro and Taka helped him out with that. That had been the routine of their training for the past two months. Soon enough, Naruto was a master of making doppelgangers of himself.
When he finally master it, endurance was next on the training agenda. Surprising, Naruto was able to keep up with all of them when they did a three mile run around the forest. Naruto told them that he was always getting chased when the jounin tried to catch him whenever he did a prank. Then he told them what kind of pranks he did in order to get chased. They laughed at what shenanigans he got himself into. They only wished that they were there to see those schemes in action.
6 Years Later:
"Make sure you have everything packed. We'll be leaving tomorrow." Michiko said in the living room where everyone was packing their clothes and other items they needed.
"Hai!" Everyone, except Michiko, said in unison.
Tomorrow, they would be leaving the house in order to explore the other shinobi nations. Everyone was excited about it. Naruto was more excited than all of them. Even though, he had only traveled a week after he left his village when he was five. He had only been to one town after leaving it. But now he'll be traveling further than that town.
Michiko decided to tell them. Something she wanted to, but didn't want to tell them. But she believe that they would be able to handle it. They had to in order to understand themselves better.
Later that night:
Michiko and the others were in the living room once more. Everyone sat in a circle around a round shaped table. Michiko clenched her fists and unclenched them as well. She was going to tell them. She took a deep breath and let it out.
"I have something to tell you all. Something I've been wanting to tell you. But I wanted to wait until you were older when I would tell you this." Michiko said.
"So what is it?" Kagome asked.
"Have you ever heard of Orochimaru?" Michiko asked.
"I've heard of him. He was a student of the Sandaime of Konoha. He became an S-rank criminal because he was doing illegal experiments and he's trying to find ways to become immortal." Taka said.
"Hai. But what some people don't know is that Orochimaru has a half brother named Naraku. He's also been doing illegal experimentation as well." Michiko said.
"What kind of experiments did he do?" Jotaro asked.
"Cloning." Michiko said.
"Cloning?" Kagome asked.
"They took the DNA of powerful shinobi. Orochimaru experiments on his prisoners and sometimes kidnapped his fellow Konoha shinobi for his experiments. Naraku was from Kusagakure and he was doing the same thing as Orochimaru. He disappear after his last failed experiment. What he didn't know that there was a survivor of that experiment." Michiko said.
"Really? Who is it?" Naruto asked.
"You're looking at her." Michiko said. The room was quiet at that moment.
"Michiko-sensei, are you saying that you're…" Yuma began to say.
"Hai, I'm a survivor from one of Naraku's experiments. I was injected with the DNA of the Sandaime of Kumogakure when I was an infant." Michiko said, "I was found in one of Naraku's hideouts in the Lightning Country. The Yondaime of Kumogakure adopted me and trained me to become a kunoichi. When I was 16, I encountered Naraku." Michiko said.
"You did?" Naruto asked, curious.
"Hai, I finally killed him for all of his crimes." Michiko said.
"What happened after that?" Kagome asked.
"The Yondaime let me on temporary leave since I was still trying to cope with Naraku's death. So he let me go on my own to explore for awhile." Michiko said, "Two months later, I found another one of Naraku's abandoned labs and found the four of you there."
"Wait, are you saying that we're…" Yuma began to say.
"Experiments made from Naraku's lab." Michiko finished, "Kagome-chan, you were made from the DNA of Konoha's Yondaime. Jotaro-kun, you were made from the DNA of Konoha's Shodaime. Taka-kun, you were made from the DNA of Izuna Uchiha. Yuma-chan, you were made from the DNA of Hayato Hyuuga."
The four of the five were shocked about this. They had no idea that they were made from Naraku's lab. But they were the only survivors though. In some way, they were glad that Michiko-sensei had found them before someone else would use them for own benefit.
"What about me, Michiko-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Naruto-kun, you are an jinchūriki. The nine-tailed kitsune to be most exact." Michiko said.
"A jinchūriki? So you mean that I…" Naruto began to say with wide eyes.
"The villagers hated you because you have the kitsune, that nearly destroyed your village, sealed inside of you, Naruto-kun." Michiko said, sadly.
"That's the whole reason why they hated me?" Naruto asked, eyes shaking. He remembered the time when he lived in Konoha. Almost everyone called him a 'demon child', 'monster', or 'freak'. They also said that he should just die. So the beast inside of him was the cause of his misery and the village's hatred of him.
"Hai. But that didn't matter to me, Naruto-kun." Michiko said, "Actually, it doesn't really matter to us."
"Huh?" Naruto asked, confused.
"To us, you're Naruto Uzumaki. A great shinobi in training with a big heart and mischievous attitude." Michiko said with a closed eye smile.
"Really?" Naruto asked, tears began to form in his eyes.
"Hai!" Everyone, except Naruto, said in unison.
Tears began to fall from Naruto's bright blue eyes and went down his cheeks. He tried to wipe them with his sleeve, but...they wouldn't stop.
"T-Thank you...hic...every...hic...one...that means...hic...a lot...hic...to me." Naruto said between hiccups. Everyone could tell that Naruto was being a little bit emotional right now. But he was happy.
Kagome got up and hugged Naruto. Then Michiko got up along with Taka, Jotaro, and Yuma. They pulled the two in a group hug.
At that moment, Naruto was even happier than ever before. He had found others who accepted him for who he is. He was glad that he met them.
With the ANBU:
"We've been looking for Naruto Uzumaki for 6 years, Kakashi-senpai. Can't we just head back and report to the Sandaime?" The cat mask ANBU member asked.
"No, Tenzū. Sandaime-sama said that we have to bring him back alive. We can't go back without him." Kakashi said.
"I know that, Kakashi-senpai. But no one has seen him. It's like he vanished into thin air." Tenzū said, "We also have no leads as well."
"I suppose you're right, Tenzū." Kakashi said, "But should we tell Sandaime-sama?"
"We'll just tell him the truth and see how it goes from there." Tenzū said.
"Sounds like a good plan." Kakashi said.
"Who knows? We might run into him on the way back." Tenzū said.
"Let's hope that will happen." Kakashi said.
