Originally, I was planning on going back to my other story. Unfortunately, I seem to be having some trouble in getting the next part to come out in the way that I want it to. So to the fans of 'The wild horse mage knight' (whom I know at least one reads this as well), it'll be a little while more before that one's updated.
So, to give me something to do while I wait for inspiration to strike, I'll continue writing this one.
As usual, I own nothing but my own ideas and characters.
Chapter IV: A deal with the devil
Time branches out into millions of paths for all decisions we make. An absence of one can lead into a million changes. … How much did your absence change?
-X-
To say Sarutobi was shocked was an understatement. Naruto… his surrogate grandson Naruto… the very same Naruto he'd failed and lost due to his ignorance and hope towards the minds of the civilian populace… was standing before him and the entire council of Konoha. He'd lost the whisker marks on his face and his body had changed drastically, but that smile was still the same, and he'd recognize it anywhere.
"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE BRAT!"
Evidently he was the only one that recognized him, not that that was surprising. The civilian part of the council hated him to an extreme and none would ever have cared to know him, whereas the shinobi part, while having nothing against him, certainly didn't have time to deal with one child outside of their clan. Ironically, it was the same fat merchant who shouted at his grandfather years ago that had made the cry.
The Outburst didn't seem to faze the child at all. In fact, he was smiling. No, scratch that, he wasn't smiling, he was smirking, his face inclined towards the floor and a sadistically mischievous glint in his eyes that would put a certain snake mistress to shame. A spark of déjà vu hit every councilman and woman present as a shard of their altered memories returned to them. What would come next… they wouldn't enjoy one bit.
A sudden burst of power, dark, palpable and suffocating, enshrouded them as the blonde's posture straightened and a sudden air of regal elegance surrounded him. More memories of why the azure haired man had frightened them so returned to them. His declaration of being a demon had been no joke, and apparently, neither was the upcoming announcement from his descendant.
"I am the crown prince of the netherworld of Megiddo. His name barely registered in their minds, all they saw was a man who could bring them to the brink of unconsciousness without breaking a sweat. If he could do this while holding back… they could only wonder morbidly just what would happen were this child to ever get serious.
The civilian council was spared from such thoughts though, as by the time that Naruto had reigned in his aura, every single one of them had slipped into blissful unconsciousness. A smell of what should only rightfully belong in a toilet came off of more than a few of them, forcing the two horned wolves, the woman in fur and the Inuzuka matriarch to grimace a little; the last one only a bit more at ease. Suffice to say, whether they're going unconscious was a good thing or a bad one was up for debate.
As soon as the torrent of power stopped and the shinobi council and Hokage could breathe normally again (along with everyone else in the building), the blonde's introduction finally entered the groggy minds of the six seated clan heads. The five new arrivals found their wide eyed reactions rather comical, especially the one with sunglasses. They could almost swear that the white of his eyes had become visible for all of a second behind them.
"Uzu… maki… Naruto? Are you really?" Tsume asked, a little skeptical. The child certainly did smell of foxes, as she had expected… but then again, so did the other four; the fur clad girl especially.
Naruto gave her an annoyed stare. "Yes, it's me! You know, the dead last for the one and a half years I spent at the academy, Konoha's pariah, the local jinchuuriki. Look I know I look a little different, but geez, is it really that hard to believe?" complained the blonde, but none of the humans in the room heard the latter part. They all stopped listening by the end of the first sentence, shocked into silence.
"H… how do you… how did you learn about that?" Sarutobi questioned in disbelief. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out just how Naruto could have found out with the laws he'd put in place, let alone while outside the village.
At this, Naruto gave a sly grin. "Jiji, don't tell me you've forgotten? My grandpa said that when he came here, he told everyone that he was the Overlord. I assure you, that was no joke, nor is my being his heir. The biju had been my grandpa's eyes and ears on this world since they were created. You honestly don't expect him not to know about me or the other jinchuuriki do you? Hell, he knows who everyone of them is." That, of course, was a bluff. But then again, another one of his agendas was to get all the tailed beasts back and keeping other demons away from this dimension, so it would probably become true one day. After all, he couldn't have unaligned or rebellious demons trying to take over the Elemental Nations before or after he did now could he?
But still, while a bluff, the declaration had more than one purpose behind it, and it looked like the council fell for every single bit of it, hook, line and sinker.
"Yo… your grandfather… controls the tailed beast?" asked the leader of the Akimichi clan, making himself heard for the first time since the meeting began, fear obvious in his voice. Everyone seemed to be thinking along the same lines as they all tensed up.
Unsurprisingly, all of them were very relieved when Naruto shook his head. What came after washed all their relief away. "He doesn't control the tailed beasts, they just work for him. Kind of like how the ninja work for the Hokage, so long as they don't do anything that would completely anger their leader, they're more or less free to do as they please. And if you don't believe that…" at this he turned to the woman in fur, "Kasumi!"
"Yes prince," she replied with a curt nod. Then, with a wide eyed audience, all the fur covering her body unfurled, revealing nine white tipped, scarlet tails.
The reaction was immediate on both sides. Once the implications of the girl's appearance sunk into the collected ninja's battle hardened minds, they'd sprung into action, getting ready to take the fox demon down… and just as fast, they had once more been treated to a full blown youki explosion. None of them even managed to wonder why no other ninja had appeared as back up yet. All they could comprehend were their own gasping breaths as they fell to their knees.
"Tsk tsk… you people really should know better than to act up like that in front of me. Kasumi here, the one you call the Kyubi no Yoko is my vassal. I can't just let you try to hurt her like that… key word being 'try'. You couldn't beat her thirteen years ago when she wasn't in her right mind. What makes you think you could touch her now when she's stronger and thinking clearly?" said the demon prince, withdrawing his power once more.
Realization hit them hard right then, as the rational parts of their minds caught up. They'd just tried to attack the Kyubi no Yoko, a being that needed the strongest shinobi they'd ever had in their village and his strongest seal, along with his soul, just to stop it. And they also needed a new born baby at the time, who was now giving them a withering glare. And given the fact that they were currently short on babies and had someone possibly on the same, or possibly even greater, level of power as the Kyubi's in their presence on her side… well, suffice to say, if they made the wrong move here then they were infinitely beyond royally screwed.
Each of their battle hardened minds analyzed the situation as best they could, trying to think up of something to turn the conversation into a less insulting direction … and then something else he said caught their interest. "You… said that she wasn't in her right mind. Could you explain this part to us, Naruto-san?" Shikaku asked.
This question got a smirk to form on Naruto's lips, "Actually giving us a chance to explain despite knowing full well what we are. It seems there are people in this village who might be worth giving a chance. I wonder how they'd take to being turned into demons. If they're really looking to strengthen Konoha, it would only be in their best interests, after all."
"You all seem to be rather comfortable, dealing with demons as you are. Or is that perhaps because you only want the power of one on your side?" the blonde asked, eyes scanning each of them for their reactions. His smirk grew at almost unnoticeable twitches they gave, "yes! It'll take a lot of work, but I think these people would be able to accept being turn into demons if given enough coaxing. Now if only I could give them a good example."
"Very well then. Seeing as all of you are willing to agree, I suppose it is only right that I give you an explanation."
And so Naruto told them of the involvement of one of the co-founders of Konoha that night. How Uchiha Madara had orchestrated the whole attack. All were surprised at that, but as expectedly, only one of them truly fully believed the story.
"How do we know you are telling the truth?" Inoichi asked his fellow blonde, his face set in a doubtful scowl.
But even with that much doubt set on him, Naruto's smirk never left. "You don't. All I can say is that this knowledge came from the shinigami himself. The same person who helped the Yondaime seal the Kyubi inside of me."
Once more, it seemed Naruto had shocked the council speechless. The shinigami. Had it been anyone else claiming that, they would have laughed at his or her face. But current circumstances forced them to believe him. When they thought about it properly, even demons would be incapable of beating death itself (as far as they knew), so it would stand to reason that only the shinigami could reverse the effects of a sealing he took part in. The Kyubi's presence was proof enough.
"Naruto… just what on earth happened while you were away?" Sarutobi asked, unable to think of a better question to clear up everything.
There was no hesitation to answer, simply an unseen smirk. He'd been waiting for that question. True, he had expected it to be asked by the Hokage in private, but the fact that it was in front of the shinobi council would only work to Naruto's advantage. And so, Naruto started telling them all about the netherworld, his companions, or rather 'vassals' as he called them, and all he'd learned, minus, of course, the details of his human heritage (and the name of his mother as well). That… that he was saving up for a special occasion. It also became rather clear that he didn't want any of the civilian council awake while he told them his story, and had Kasumi put them to sleep as soon as they showed signs of waking up; even the advisors.
Naruto's summary of the past six years ended with the mention of the trial for alliance, the very reason he'd returned.
"So… you expect us to sign an alliance with a kingdom in Makai?(1)" was the question raised right after by the Sandaime, to which Naruto gave a dismissive shrug.
"Why not," he said casually, "it could only be good for you. After all, the biju work for us, and they wouldn't dare attack a place allied with grandfather. Not to mention you'd have stronger forces on your side should you ever be attacked. … That is, of course, only if I think your worthy of an alliance," he finished with a vicious grin.
There was no argument to those words. True, they'd be literally making a deal with the devil… or at least as far as they were concerned, but considering these very same demons could, with the resources of an entire kingdom rather than a single village, quite possibly field an army many times larger in number than their own forces., with some possibly even capable of matching the tailed beasts… well, self preservation tends to have very great effect on many a man's decision. Still, the last thing he said…
"And why, pray tell, wouldn't we be?" the Hyuga head inquired, a little offended.
At his question, all five of the netherworld envoys snickered… or at least the three humanoids did. The two demonic wolves on either side looked like they were doing the same, but it was hard to tell.
"Why, you ask? Well let me see: I was beaten during most of the time I lived here in the village, simply because I was a jinchuuriki. If we just went on with the alliance, they'd end up treating everybody else from Makai the same way," he explained, his tone making it sound as though it was obvious… which it kind of was. "Now, if that were to happen, then believe you me, this village would be razed to the ground within seconds. While the demons under grandfather's rule are willing to accept being around humans, they don't do well with discrimination. Even amongst us, such a thing is considered a horrible crime. And criminals in the netherworld are handled very differently, compared to how you humans go about it."
"As it is, you're all lucky Konoha's still standing. Gramps may have been one thing, but it took nearly all of his army just to stop grandma from coming here and vaporizing the place… if she didn't decide to torture you all to all levels of hell and beyond. There's a reason they call her the most sadistic demon in existence after all," he ended with a smirk at the shiver visibly running along their spines.
Those awake in the room prayed that a certain interrogator would never wind up meeting this woman, if what he said was true; and they had a feeling he wasn't exaggerating. They wanted to get information from their prisoners, not send them into a mental asylum… if there was anything left to send.
They were broken out of their frightened thoughts by Naruto's following question. "So, are we gonna do this or not?"
The Hokage looked towards the shinobi council for their response. Truthfully, this was something he wanted to happen, not just because of Naruto, but because, if the alliance was formed, Konoha would be far safer than it ever was before, should war strike. And he had no doubt the boy telling the truth. The shinobi council seemed to see this too, as each of them gave a nod to his unasked question.
Only one question was asked in return to the teen. "Do you promise to serve Konoha loyally, while you are one of our shinobi?" this was something mandatory for the Hokage to ask.
Again, Naruto's smirk was upon him. "Yes. But I take orders only from the Hokage."
With a nod of approval, the Hokage smiled. "Very well, then we humbly accept your grandfathers proposal. Follow me to my office so we may discuss the matter of your stay here. Dismissed," he concluded, just as the civilian council was starting to wake up, each of them thoroughly confused.
-X-
The double door of the Hokage's office closed just after Agni's and Rudra's tails had trailed past them. And immediately afterwards, the calm smile on the Sarutobi's face switched to a slight frown.
He walked past his desk, looking through the window at the busy streets of Konoha, his hands gripping each other behind his back. "I take it you know who your mother is then? Do you know of your father as well?"
For his part, Naruto remained neutral. He'd expected this after the events of the council meeting. It was pretty obvious the sandaime knew of his heritage. That didn't mean he couldn't try to give the guy a heart attack.
"Know who they are? I've been living with them for the past six years," he said, as if it were an obvious fact. The Hokage didn't think so, apparently, as he turned quickly in surprise. Naruto almost thought the old leader had turned into a marionette with how much his head turned.
"Li… living with them? How! I saw their corpses myself! I buried them myself! How could you have been living with them for the last six years?" Ah yes, that was another incident that he'd left out of his little story.
"Heh… are you forgetting old man? I've met the shinigami. Hell, my grandpa fought the shinigami! You didn't expect me not to have asked about having them brought back to life did you?"
The face of the sandaime upon hearing the news was priceless. Still, just so he wouldn't get any ideas about retiring now… "I mean sure, it wasn't free. I still need to take down a bunch of guys and give their souls to him for it to be permanent. They can't leave the netherworld until then either. Not to mention they don't have their original bodies anymore. But still, I managed to learn a lot from them about being a ninja, even a few jutsu."
That didn't seem enough to completely pacify the head of the Sarutobi clan, but at least he wouldn't think about having the two of them come back to Konoha. They'd probably tear the place apart, and he didn't want that to happen… unless of course he couldn't get any major forces in Konoha to join him, in which case he'd be glad to have his grandmother visit, and god only knows what would be left of the village once she was done. It was likely to be somewhere between nothing and a river of blood and decapitated bodies though.
"I see," replied the Hokage, finally getting over his surprise. There was probably no point in asking him if he wanted to make the information public. The fact that he skirted over this detail in front of the shinobi council was enough to indicate it. Still, this new tidbit of information left something for him to fish out.
"You said something about learning some jutsu from your parents?"
Once more, Naruto's grin appeared on his face as he held out his hand and from under his coat, palms open and facing the ceiling, as if holding a goblet. Slowly, a midnight-blue orb of rapidly spinning energy formed above his open hand, causing the Hokage to widen his eyes.
The expression on his face told all he obviously wanted to ask. "Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, if that's what you think old man. This is dad's Rasengan, a youki version of it. And this is only the version that dad created. I managed to combine this with grandpa's signature attack, and believe me, if I wanted to; Konoha would be reduced to dust with just that one move."
There was humor in his voice as he said that, but whether it was from amusement or because he was joking, Sarutobi couldn't tell. He certainly hoped that it was the latter though. If the Kyubi it… herself was submissive to him, it was pretty obvious that no one in Konoha would stand a chance against the boy. He only hoped that nobody would do anything stupid.
"I… see. Well, I certainly hope it won't come down to that," was all the Hokage could respond with.
"Umm… excuse me, Hokage-sama," the raven haired girl, Charlotte, as she had introduced herself, called out.
"Yes, Charlotte-san?"
"I don't mean to be rude and interrupt yours and the prince's business, but I believe the primary reason for our being called into your office was so you could inform us of our accommodation while we stay in this village."
"Ah, yes, of course," his business face replaced his previous expression of shock as he took a seat in his chair. "Well, seeing as you are its rightful owner, even if the knowledge isn't to be made public, I suppose it should only be appropriate that you make your residence in the Minato's home," he explained, pulling out a key from a hidden compartment in his desk before tossing it to them, followed by a map and a swiftly written and stamped letter. "I've made sure myself that the residence was kept clean and untouched by others until you were to be told of your heritage. While it isn't as extravagant as the clan compounds, it's certainly nothing to laugh at either. There should be more than enough room for you and your companions there. Just follow the map and it should be easy to find. The letter is for the academy, just give it to the receptionist and they'll point you to the right way." Naruto nodded, "Alright then. And if there is any resistance… well, I'm certain you will be more than capable of handling it."
And with that, he let them leave the office, which they did with a nod from their leader. Sarutobi slumped into his chair as soon as they were out of sight, heaving a sigh. "I'm getting too old for this shit, especially now with this netherworld business. Heaven help us all if they end up getting angry at us… oh wait, they already have an alliance with heaven. …oh well, hopefully whatever damage he does is only directed at those who spat on his father's last wish. I've been trying to find a good way to clean up shop since he disappeared anyway."
-X-
Naruto was generally considered to have taken a bit more after the human side of his family, as far as patience went. There were few things that would annoy him and he'd always base punishments on fair justice, something only strengthened by his time spent with the angels, the defenders of the earth and of course, his ever chivalrous cousin. As such, his vassals would always find it rather amusing when a lot of the female populous would stare at him with lustful eyes. It always seemed to freak him out.
While he didn't have his grandfather's childhood (demon wise) fear of big boobs –something which apparently stemmed from nearly suffocating from them as a ten year old– he certainly wasn't very comfortable about being the target of so many others' lust. And for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why many of the women in Konoha would act the way they did towards him.
Make no mistake, he was very well built, and showed it proudly; but that was more to ward off possible attacks from overly weak demons that would just serve to annoy him. He was also considered quite handsome… by netherworld standards, considering his grandfather's tribe of origin, which explained why so many female demons took an interest in him. His power helped in that regard too.
But these were humans, and as far as he could tell, looking like someone who hasn't eaten in days like he did certainly wasn't a very big turn on. Still, he wasn't going to approach one of them to ask about it. Not that he was actually afraid. If they tried anything, he'd just be able to plow himself right out of it, but this would bring quite a bit of unwanted attention to his person, so he simply chose to stay on his course; one he hadn't taken in six years.
Unbeknownst to him though, the two females trailing behind him were both giving off heated glares towards all the heart-eyed female populous of Konoha.
Finally, he and his companions reached their destination: the ninja academy. It was just as he remembered: cylindrical center, lots of branching areas as classrooms, three stories high, grey and red walls with guard rails on the roof, a wooden swing on a tree near the entrance. Nothing at all had changed.
"Well prince, it seems this is your stop. Are you sure you'll be fine on your own? We really don't need you causing a massacre on our first day," Charlotte inquired in worry… which party she was worried about was anyone's guess.
Naruto reassured her with a confident grin. "Oh don't worry too much, I'll be fine. Now, you four go off to pop's place and set everything up. I wanna train in the item world after I'm done with this place for the day," he ordered, throwing them the keys to their newest center of operation before walking into the academy, his hands entwined behind his head yet still somehow letting his coat hang from his frame.
Once they were out of sight, the two women, turned towards the direction of the direction of their newest base of operations, all the while ignoring the amorous stares of many of the male population of the village. Naruto wasn't the only one that attracted the opposite sex.
-X-
Normally, Mizuki's smile was just a façade he used to hide his distaste for the Hidden Leaf village. But now, with his plans going so well and the promise of Orochimaru's power in sight, his smile had become quite genuine; it just wasn't for the same reason that everyone else thought it was. Now all he had to do was wait for the genin exams next month where the Hyuga heiress, Hyuga Hinata, in all her self-doubting glory would fail and be tricked into stealing the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing for him. After that, it was simply a matter of killing her, taking her eyes and then running off with the scroll and an unsealed Byakugan to his new master. "Heh, and maybe I can indulge myself in a little… pleasure, before she dies. Her body's certainly more mature than all the others her age."
He was just about to lead them out of the class for taijutsu practice, a caring smile hiding his scheming smirk as his hand reached for the door knob…
*CRASH!*
Right before it was slammed into the wall, crushing him in between. A pained groan was heard as the man tried to get back his senses, and failing miserably as unconsciousness took him over.
The reaction was immediate as all eyes in the class, including the teacher's, were drawn to the person now poking his head inside. He looked around at the mixture of curious and wary faces, idly noting some of the females in the class looking at him in much the same way as those outside. "Ah great… as if I didn't already have enough of those. Oh well, who knows, there might actually be a few gems in this class."
"This Umino Iruka's class?" he asked casually, staring at what was obviously the teacher of the class: a heavily tanned man looking to be in his early twenties with brown hair tied into a spiky ponytail at the top of his head, and a scar over his nose, garbed in the standard Konoha chunin uniform.
The man gave an unsure nod as he regarded the boy. Something felt… familiar about him. Still, he'd kicked the door to the side and ended up really hurting Mizuki, so he was still a little wary. Of course, it could have been an accident, but you don't become a chunin by making assumptions. "Yes, this my class. Who are you and what do you want?"
A wide grin was his reply. "Uzumaki Naruto!" the blonde proudly introduced, getting a plethora of reactions. Those in the class that remembered him looked at him in, some who barely did took on thoughtful expressions and those who didn't know him at all just looked curious. Iruka was among the first group. "The Hokage sent me here. I'm supposed to join this class today," he explained, handing the letter from the Hokage to the scarred instructor.
Iruka took the note from the boy's hands quickly and read through it. It was a clear order: Naruto was to join the class taught by Umino Iruka and was to take the graduation exams at the same time as his students; simple enough from the get go. The boy though… well Iruka didn't really hold a grudge against him, but having him in class would feel rather awkward, and that was without taking into the account just how much time was left until the exams. Still, orders were orders, and there's only one excuse to go against those from one's kage.
The brown haired chunin turned to the oddly dressed teen. "Alright then Naruto. It's good to have you back here in Konoha. We were just about to go and have the weekly taijutsu matches. You can participate if you think you're up for it… as soon as we… extract my assistant from the wall," he said the last part in an awkward drawl, looking past the black clad blonde and towards the now revealed door where the silver haired chunin was stuck in a daze.
He didn't look injured, save for a slight bruise on the head, so there wasn't really any blame to be thrown about, and from the surprised and curious look on Naruto's face, it seemed he hadn't intended for such a thing to happen either.
"Oh, would you look at that, I kicked a teacher into the wall on the first day…cool," he grinned, talking as if what he did was a good thing… which to him, it was; after all, defeating a teacher earned you a big grade at Evil Academy. Then he turned his head back around to face the teacher. "Yeah… umm… I don't think he's gonna be up any time soon. Can we just start these spars now? I really need a good warm up."
A sweatdrop came from everyone as they witnessed his reaction. Seriously, how the hell do you not notice kicking someone into a wall?
Shaking his head to clear it of the thought, Iruka once again looked at the downed man and he had to admit, even he thought Mizuki probably wouldn't be getting up for at least another half hour. He'd been caught off guard and hit his head –along with a good majority of his body– really hard. Heaving a sigh, he simply decided to go with the kid's suggestion, mentally reminding himself to inform the infirmary.
"Well… I guess… since Mizuki seems really out of it. Alright, everyone, you know the drill. Get marching! And there'd better not be any fights until we get to the actual sparring!" the teacher ordered, his eyes darting to two girls in particular; one blonde, the other a pinkette.
All of them complied immediately, some giving worried glances towards the silver haired shinobi, whereas others –mostly the least diehard Sasuke fangirls– sent a few very interested glances Naruto's way as they went past him.
The blonde prince followed right behind them as they walked to one of the larger sparring areas at the back of the academy. Having left before the end of his second year, Naruto had never really had a chance to see the practice areas used by the senior students of the academy. Now that he did see it though… he was sorely disappointed. The entire length of the field was completely clear; nothing like the training fields he'd expected to see. Hell, the kindergarten training field in evil academy looked ten times harder… and those were for demons that actually were more than half these guys' ages. In a field like this, the only thing you needed was power and technique, never any planning. How the hell was this even an academy for ninja –people who are supposed to use their heads just as much as their body– in order to win was a mystery to him.
No one seemed to notice Naruto's mental tirade though, as all of them sat down by the sidelines of the rectangular space. Iruka turned to regard his students, his newest one in particular.
"Alright then, seeing as we have a new student with us today, that makes your numbers uneven, so I'm going to have to ask one of you to have two matches today. Any volunteers?"
Immediately, a majority of the female students started asking a raven haired boy in a blue, high collared tee-shirt –Sasuke, apparently– to step up for it, and for once, he was willing to comply; two fights meant twice as many chances to improve after all. "Tch… not like fighting any of these losers could really help me get stronger."
Before the last Uchiha could step up though, Naruto had already approached the teacher, getting the man's attention.
"I'll go for it," he aid to the man, a confident smirk was on his face, one that could easily be mistaken for arrogance, "I need a good work out any way." That final statement seemed to make most of the class think it was the latter, and apparently, a good section of Sasuke's fangirls also thought it was a direct insult to 'their' Sasuke-kun.
Despite the slight clamor, Iruka didn't bother to try and tame the masses of young naïve girls but rather opted to stare at Naruto with a questioning glance. "You sure you can handle it?" he asked. Truthfully though, he was pretty sure the boy could. While his build was rather… odd, to say the least, he was still able to lift a sword that was probably as tall as he, as far as Iruka could guess. Add in the fact that the coat hanging off his shoulders hadn't fallen off despite some rather rough movements in navigating past the crowd of students and it either spoke of good chakra control or even better bodily control, both of which could give a big advantage in a any match.
Naruto's confident smirk seemed go a little more feral at the question. "Handle two fights? Against any of these guys?" he asked, gesturing to the plethora of students behind him, his amusement clear in his voice. "Sensei, if at all possible, I'd ask for a two on one against the two best fighters this class's got."
Now Iruka's eyes were narrowed, his face frowning disapprovingly, just as the complaints from behind the blonde increased in volume. If there was one thing Iruka hated in a person –besides disloyalty– it was arrogance, that was why he didn't like the Uchiha: the boy was quiet and a genius, but he also regarded everyone of his classmates to be useless in comparison; never working with them in teamwork exercises and always opting to finish everything on his own.
"You're being a bit arrogant there aren't you, Naruto?"
The boy's grin didn't even seem to falter. "It's only arrogance if it's baseless, otherwise, it's pure confidence. I'm pretty sure you would be able to say the same thing and take on the top two in this class. Perhaps with difficulty, but inevitable nonetheless. I may be a little egotistical, but being arrogant will only get you killed."
The statement truly did surprise Iruka. Indeed, Naruto was telling the truth, that much he knew. If he, or any other chunin of the same level were to challenge his top two taijutsu students in a fight, he certainly wouldn't consider it arrogance. He didn't know Naruto's skill level either, so it really might have just been that he was that good; and if so, this was as good a time as any to get a measure on that… well, either that, or teach him to be a little more humble, whichever one happened, it could only be good, and if it was the latter… well, one Uchiha Sasuke was enough for a single class and he'd also get the former as well.
"Alright then, if you're so sure in yourself, I'll let you give it a shot," the scarred teacher announced, surprising his students and causing Naruto to grin even wider. "Sasuke, Soren, looks like you guys are up."
The two boys stood up immediately after they were ordered, getting into the middle of the ring and getting into their own fighting stances as Naruto kept an eye on both of them. The Uchiha he had a vague memory of: the guy had just lost his family when he left and was hell bent on revenge from what he saw. "Note to self: do not turn this one into a demon for demonstrative purposes. Demons centered on revenge tend to be mentally one tracked and would just be a bad example."
The other guy he didn't remember at all. 'Soren' looked like a rather big for his age; the largest in the class from what he could see and was about as fat as any Akimichi without any of the benefits, likely just a guy who capitalized on his size more than anything else. He looked the part too: His clothes were slightly ragged to give him a more intimidating look, and he wore grayed bandages on his arms. In the very least, he was smart enough to make himself look tough, but anybody experienced enough would've been able to tell that all the signs were fake. He had decent stance though, so he at least had some form of skill. "Oh great… I get to go against a big mook and an emo avenger wannabe in my first fight. Seriously, maybe I should give these a tutorial or something, just to make it more challenging… nah, only the main character ever gets the tutorial, and I sure as hell don't need it."
"Alright then Naruto, since you're new here, I think I'd better tell you how these spars work," Iruka started, completely unaware of the irony. "You win here either by ring-out, knock out, or when I make a decision. Also, this is a pure taijutsu fight, that means no weapons, ninjutsu or genjutsu, so I'm going to have to ask you to place your weapons outside the ring."
Naruto gave an annoyed stare at the academy instructor, but complied nonetheless. He walked to the edge of the ring, grabbed the handle of the sword under his coat and slid it out without disturbing the ebony leather, revealing a deep, violet nodachi. The hilt was pure black and shaped like two crescent bat wings, touching at the tips to form a circle, contrasting the light grey, two and a half foot long handle.
As soon as that was laid on the ground, his left hand reached for the device on his right hip. How it was a weapon, no one in the room but Naruto himself knew, but it was still pretty impressive, appearance wise. The night-coloured handle of the weapon fit perfectly into its wielder's hand, getting darker as it rose to connect with the longer part of the weapon. Near the base of larger area was a ring, a guard of sorts from the looks of it, and a curved protrusion of metal where Naruto's index finger rested. The only part that could be seen clearly was rather intricate in design: a rectangular shaft, deep blue in colour and as long as the blonde's forearm with patterns of silver, crisscrossing over each other, forming the outline of a horned skull on each side. Those who had better eyesight amongst the students took notice of two holes present at the end of the apparent weapon.
Ignoring the questioning looks from all those on the field, Naruto returned to his previous position, getting into relaxed posture. His two would-be opponents both sent him a glare at the sight of his fighting stance, or rather, the lack thereof; his shoulders were slightly slumped and his arms hung limply beside his torso.
Iruka took no mind of this and merely signaled to begin the match. The rookie of the year and the largest kid in class both charged at their blonde opponent, Soren throwing a powerful right hook, while Sasuke dove to the side and tried to deliver a kick aimed at the back of the blonde's head.
Naruto, upon seeing their attempts… didn't even bother to dodge? Iruka stood just at the side of the ring, staring at Naruto oddly as his posture remained unchanged despite the two clearly connecting hits.
The blonde boy let out a snort in irritation. "I hope that's not all you've got. Seriously, I don't even think you'll be able to get my coat off of me."
Both of Naruto's opponents jumped backwards, their glares intensifying at the blonde's nonchalant reaction. "Care to try that again?"
With a growl, Soren charged at his opponent once more, throwing an assortment of punches and the occasional kicks. The big kid knew only the very basics from the looks of it. This time, Naruto decided to dodge each and every strike. He weaved in between Soren's limbs as they flew past him yet never in a way that it forced off his only upper clothing. However, despite the larger boy's failure in landing a hit, he couldn't help but smirk; the blonde 'coward' as he'd recently dubbed him, was just a few steps away from the edge of the ring. Even if he didn't land a hit, he'd still win, and then he could take down the Uchiha and show everyone who was the real strongest in their class. Just five more steps…
Four…
Three…
Two…
One…
And his smirk dropped there as the blonde boy stopped his fist cold, the shorter boy's feet just millimeters from crossing the white line. Soren tried to force the fist out of the other boy's grip, only to find his hand clasped in an unyielding grip. When he attempted another punch with his left hand, it was stopped as well. He tried a kick next, but stopped soon after when Naruto bent his hands back and tightened his grip, nearly crushing the fingers underneath it.
The spiky haired blonde looked bored as he watched the struggling human's face, before turning to look at his other opponent, who had yet to move.
"Aren't going to help him?" he inquired, a little confused. Konoha shinobi were supposedly all about teamwork weren't they?
The raven haired boy gave out a snort. "As if. Weaklings don't deserve my help. Less so if they're as stupid as him. I can take you down by myself."
Naruto's brow arched at that, "okay, this guy's got problems. I mean sheesh… even demons help out their enemy's enemy, if only to get rid of the target faster… although who they help can be pretty random sometimes." Despite his thoughts though, in the world of the living, he simply gave an uncaring shrug, threw Soren's arms apart and grabbed his chin before lifting him up with effortlessly. The entire audience watched, stunned at the blonde's feat, just as he swung the larger student and slammed him right outside the white line of the ring, head first.
Nearly all eyes were wide, and certainly all were on Naruto as he turned around to meet his remaining opponent, who was also staring at him in surprise. Various thoughts were running through all the audiences' heads as they continued to stare.
"This guy… where did he get that kind of power?"
"So… so strong. I could never match up to that."
"*sigh* troublesome…"
"Wow… I wonder if he'd mind doing that to a whole cow? Those things are really tough to turn on the grill."
"Whoah… not even Sasuke-kun's strong enough to do something like that."
"Damn this guy's good."
"B… big deal! Sasuke-kun could probably do that too!" "Yeah right… even I'm not stupid enough to believe he could do that."
"Well, are you just going to stand there or what?"
All were broken out of their stupors by the blonde's taunt, sending a halfhearted glare at his opponent.
Sasuke smirked. "Alright, you're good. Which means I'll only get better by beating you." He charged at the blonde as those thoughts crossed his mind, right after his opponent had gotten half way to the center of the ring. Once near, his right fist flew towards his target's stomach, only to reveal it to be a feint and switched into a back hand swing aimed at the back of the head at the last moment, which then turned into a leg sweep after the hit was blocked. A victorious smirk washed over the Uchiha's features as the hit nearly connected. This however, changed quickly into a howl of surprise and pain caused by the sudden stomp on his shin.
Naruto, just as the sweep was about to connect, had raised his foot and crashed it down once Sasuke's leg was right below it. There wasn't much power to it, barely even a fraction of his own. There was no cracking of bones to indicate anything getting broken. There was, however, the very audible cry of the last Uchiha as his leg was smashed into the floor.
Not giving the raven haired boy any chance to recover, Naruto took advantage of the blue clad boy's current position, turned around, and kicked him square in the stomach, sending him flying to where Soren had stood before, the air completely knocked out of his lungs.
The Uchiha only had time to stand up before he was put under assault again. This time, he was hit by a high kick to the chin that sent him flying into the air. Then, repeating his earlier actions, Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the chin and swung him down onto the floor, head first, sending him into unconsciousness.
Everyone gaped at him in awe and disbelief at the ease with which he took down the number one contender for rookie of the year. Even Iruka had to rub his eyes before he called for the end of the match. Immediately afterwards, an amalgam of screams calling for Naruto's disqualification came from a small part of the beaten boy's fan club. The rest seemed to either just accept it, or in some cases even jump ship over to admiring their newest classmates, arguing with the other group of girls over the validity of the blonde's win and shouting just as loudly.
Naruto ignored all this as he walked towards the two pieces of Nether reaper. With well-practiced movements, he sheathed the blade in the space between his back and his coat, while holstering the gun back on his right hip with his other hand.
His weapons back in his possession, Naruto made his way past the arguing females near deaf males towards the very back of the gathered students where he took his seat. Everything after that, he simply ignored. No one else in class fought in a way that interested him much, save for a few.
There was the boy with the pineapple haircut –Shikamaru, if memory served him right– who beat his opponent by, literally, tripping him, right out of the ring. Whether the guy was a quick thinker for predicting that, or whether the other guy was just stupid, he didn't really know, but it was the most amusing fight he saw.
The Hyuga girl he was more confused with, rather than actually interested. He'd learned quite a few things about Konoha's clans from his parents, along with how they fought. Jyuken, as a form of taijutsu, was barely limited in the academy bouts, usually giving the Hyuga clan members a great advantage over the rest. The girl –Hinata, from what little he remembered– had none of it. Her movements were far too stiff, as if she were afraid of fighting, and her form was generally horrible. Little wonder that she lost.
This second one interested him for a completely different reason than the first though. With the girl, he was more interested in the fact that she was unmarked by the caged bird seal, meaning she was a main branch member, and still did horribly in her fight.
As the possibilities of the girl's situation sunk into Naruto's mind, a wide smirk made its way to his features, unbeknownst to all those in the room. "Looks like I just found the perfect opening. And so soon after I just got here."
Let me clear a couple of things up:
1-Yes, Naruto is, to an extent, evil. He's the grandson of two powerful demons, what did you expect? Sure, he won't be outright merciless, but he'll definitely do a hell of a lot of underhanded things to get his plans to succeed, including taking advantage of a person's insecurities. He has his honor, having been in a lot of contact with angels, Flonne and the DOE, so don't expect anything really horrible, but he's not going to be all 'I'll let you go if you surrender' unless he's in a really good mood, or it's just going to be a disadvantage for him.
2-This story will be a Sakura/Sasuke/Civilian council bashing. However, while Sakura and the civilian council will be given the classic treatment (if a little altered in terms of the former), the Sasuke bashing will be taken into a different direction. Honestly, I like seeing him as an over arrogant, glory-seeking guy that's a general asshole, but I don't like going with that one in my story. Instead, he'll be much like the fake Zenon was. You know, the only overlord out of thousands that the real Zenon (Rozalin) didn't kill. Sound familiar to you?
Now, I received a review asking me about Naruto's power level. This is something I've decided to post here now so that no one else has to ask. I'm putting them in context of the levels in Disgaea without the reincarnation factor. Along with that is a list of feats that those at the same rough level will be capable of doing. Also, unless stated, the list assumes only those with average-genius incarnations.
-X-
Ability scopes:
Lvl-1 to 2 (Good for nothing): Normal human civilian, depending on health. Normal ability scope.
Lvl-1 to 5 (Useless): Ninja academy students. Normal ability scope.
Lvl-1 to 10: Genin to chunin. Normal scope ability.
Lvl-10 to 30: Elite chunin to jonin. Normal scope ability.
Lvl-30 to 45: Elite jonin to lower kage (A to S rank shinobi). Normal scope ability.
Lvl-45 to 75: Average kage to higher kage (As in Minato's level). Normal scope ability.
Lvl-75 to 100: Lower, untrained demons. Madara would actually be about this level as well.
Lvl-100 to 500: Average demons. Can take down an entire shinobi village solo. And not Pein solo, I'm talking 'solo' solo, as in no divided bodies.
Lvl-500 to 2000: Demon lords, when at their prime. The tailed beasts fit into this level. Can destroy mountains with no trouble at all, even the less offence oriented kind.
Lvl-2000 to 4000: Higher demon lords. Can destroy whole continents with little effort.
Lvl-4000 to 6000: Average overlord level demons. Can destroy large planets.
Lvl-6000 to 8000: Very powerful overlord class demons. The ten generals fit at the top of this level. Think SS2/3/4 Goku, depending on level.
Lvl-8000 to 9999: Top class overlords (Laharl, Adell, Zetta, Pram, etc.). Makes the universal spirit bomb look like a low grade grenade.
Characters:
Naruto- 7500
Kasumi (Pre-unsealing)- 1900
Kasumi (current)- 3000
Charlotte- 2500
Agni/Rudra- 2500
Well, that's all the relevant information for now. Other's will be revealed at a later date, along with special techniques and evilities. (By the way, is it just me, or does Gaara's native evility practically scream 'blood insanity?)
That's all for now. Thanks, all of you for taking the time to read this far. I'd love for you to give me your opinions, so make sure to review, don't mind criticism so long as it makes sense.