Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any Naruto related things except for my own ideas.
(One month later)
Naruto and the genin that passed the preliminaries stood gathered in a jam-packed arena. Naruto smiled with what he had learned the previous month.
(Flash-back)
Naruto was looking through a scroll on water manipulation and found a section that would help him greatly. According to the scroll, when using the mist, you could create floating bodies of water. The water could be reinforced with dense chakra that the opponent couldn't move. Or drown the opponent. Either way worked.
When looking at his win manipulation scroll, if he could get the 'Fuuton: Air Lack' jutsu down, he could suffocate his opponents. The jutsu only needed the requirement of being able to use mist, surprisingly. Using his ice release, Naruto should be able to draw all the air away from his enemy and freeze them into ice shards and slowly create a dome without air. By slowly we are talking five seconds.
They were very, very happy with this knowledge. He smirked under his mask. He could kill off his opponents in the final exam.
(End Flash-back)
Genma looked at the genin in the arena.
"You are allowed to do anything possible to win, but nothing that can kill the spectators, even if you do manage to blast through the barrier somehow." Genma said, spitting the senbon out of his mouth. The senbon lodged itself into a nearby flying crow that had bright green eyes. One of the genin recoiled.
"Naruto Kōri no Shi and Katama. You two will fight first." Genma said, his eyes flickering over the genin with laziness. All the genin except Naruto and this Katama person left, heading to the stands. Katama stood at five foot six inches, short green hair, and dark pink eyes.
He wore ANBU style clothing, only instead of the normal light grey, he had a light green. He had bubblegum, pink in color, constantly blowing out of his mouth and popping. His headband tied around his forehead. His posture screamed lazy though.
"Ne, I have to fight the weird freak?" Katama said. Genma shrugged.
"Begin." Genma vanished in a shunshin. Katama looked at his fellow genin and formed a half ram sign.
"Big Bubble Bomb Barrage." Katama started blowing out several large pink bubbles of gum. The bubbles floated lazily in the air, just waiting for something to touch them. Naruto raised an eyebrow.
Then he smirked. Of course, Katama couldn't see the smirk itself, but he could see the insanity starting to overflow in Naruto's eyes. Katama took a few steps back, getting ready for whatever was to come. Probably that mist thing from the preliminaries.
Naruto put his palm on the ground. "Suiton: Puddle Room." Naruto said, barely loud enough for Katama to hear. Katama rose an eyebrow this time. Water gushed from around Naruto's palm, until the entire arena floor was covered in water about two inches deep.
"What can that do? It's totally useless." Katama said lazily.
"Wrong. I have a Kekkei Genkai. Aside from my ice release. I can sense anything in nearby bodies of water, to the point of if you drop a pin in water a mile away, I can throw a senbon at it and hit the pin in the tiny loophole. There is no hiding from me now. Hiding in the Mist technique!" Naruto explained. Thick mist covered the arena. He could sense Katama walked towards a bubble as quietly as possible and hide under it.
"Suiton: Mist Blob," Naruto formed a few hand-signs, and the mist around Katama's head thickened into a floating dense body of water.
Katama struggled to get free, but he was losing oxygen fast. He couldn't move his head either. The mist dispersed. Naruto looked at all the spectators, including fellow ninja, the hokage, and the citizens.
"You know, for all this village has done for me, I think I'll repay you. Or more specifically, him," Naruto said, pointing at the slowly drowning genin. "I have to wear a facemask everyday because of you all. I can honestly say…" Naruto started chuckling.
"You made me the monster I am today."
Naruto started laughing. The people of Konoha watched on. Some had guilt settle in their stomachs. Others had anger, fear, regret, and a great many other emotions overflow them. But Naruto suddenly stopped laughing.
"There is nothing you can do to save this kid here. Once I do the jutsu, which I already did, not even I can stop it. He is as good as dead." Naruto glared at the crowd with ice cold eyes. "So, I will do this one mercy, one that none of you ever gave me!" Naruto shouted.
Katama looked scared. He trembled in place, but still couldn't say anything. If he tried, he would lose his precious air. Naruto walked over to Katama, forming a spike of ice in his palm.
"The judgement has called for an execution. I will purge this world of imperfection, one by one, starting with you." Naruto raised his hand and thrust the spike towards Katama's head. Katama closed his eyes, expecting to feel pain. It never came though. He opened his eyes, and the sight before him shocked him.
Five jonin stood about Naruto, restraining him. One jonin walked from somewhere, cast some sort of jutsu, and the blob of water around Katama's head popped. Katama dropped to the ground, coughing and wheezing. Naruto glared at him and struggled to get free.
"I will purge this world. Mark my words." Naruto hissed. Katama jumped back, away from the insane white-haired boy, away from death. Naruto grinned under his mask. Then he turned to a puff of smoke. The real Naruto rippled into sight a few feet away from Katama. He reached up and pulled his mask down. He didn't want to, but they said it would help him prove his point.
Several gasps came from the crowd. Across his right cheek, a long angry red scar traveled from just above his left eye to half an inch from his chin. Naruto glared at the crowd.
"Thank you. Thank you for showing me the respect I deserve." Naruto said sarcastically. "That… That is why I will burn Konoha to the ground."
(Up in the Kage Spectating Stand)
Hiruzen stood up suddenly. "No…"
The ANBU around him looked at him. "What should we do sir?"
Right then, the arena covered itself with the mist that Naruto summoned. Hiruzen panicked. "Quick! Restrain Naruto before he can leave!" It all clicked in place. Naruto's odd behavior. His hesitancy to answer Kakashi's question. His distaste for the village, the villagers, other fellow shinobi. Killing two fellow genin in the forest of death. Trying to kill Katama in the arena.
(Back with Naruto)
Naruto dashed through the forest, trying to get away from Konoha, to get away from that hell. Along the way, he pulled his mask back up. He moved his hair back to covering up his left eye. He sensed ANBU gaining on him. He would need their help. They readily agreed. While dashing away, chakra, black in color, enveloped Naruto. His eyes turned from the normal ice-cold blue to full black. Even the whites of his eyes became black.
But he had a neon blue slit in the middle of his eye like a monster. Under his mask, his whisker birth marks darkened. His teeth became slightly longer and sharper. Naruto's fingernails became more claw like and sharper. His senses sharped. He could see farther. He could sense more clearly the ANBU. He could smell things more easily. He heard the far-off fluttering of a bird's wings. Time slowed. A nearby humming-bird's wings appeared to beat very slowly.
Naruto turned his head to the side, and saw the kunai slowly traveling to where Naruto would be in just a moment. He turned his head to the other side. He saw the wave of shuriken coming. His emotions faded. He felt energy surge from his stomach to his chest, arms, legs, hands, feet, to everywhere. The four ANBU revealed themselves. Everything still in slow motion for Naruto.
They compelled Naruto to look into the eye holes of the ANBU. Naruto did so. His eyes meeting with every ANBU's eyes. The stopped mid-air, frozen in fear. Heartless eyes of a cold-blooded boy met the fear filled eyes of ANBU. They had told Naruto what they did to his eyes. His new eyes could make anybody who looked into them feel intense fear. Naruto turned, and dashed off into the forest, leaving the ANBU behind.
(With Hiruzen at the tower)
Hiruzen sighed. He had watched the encounter the ANBU had with Naruto. His eyes had intrigued the old Hokage. He had a feeling it was something to do with the Kyubi. Afterall, black chakra had surrounded Naruto's form. Hiruzen sighed sadly. The boy already had talked with the Kyubi.
He should have known that it would have been in the chuunin exams that Naruto would defect. All the chuunin teams were currently out on the battlefield. Most of the jonin and ANBU were also on the battlefield. That left only two options. ROOT or other genin to go after Naruto.
If he let ROOT go after Naruto, Danzo would try to capture Naruto and use him as a weapon. But if he let other genin go after Naruto, they may be able to convince Naruto to come back. Genin it is.
"Bring me Sasuke, Sakura, and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio." Hiruzen said. The only ANBU in the room nodded and left. A moment, the five requested genin arrived with the ANBU.
"Thank you. Dismissed." Hiruzen said. The ANBU bowed and vanished. Shikamaru stared lazily at the Hokage.
"What do you need us for?" Shikamaru said.
"I need you five to accept a B-rank mission. Bordering A-rank."
Sakura, Ino, and Choji grimaced. "What's the mission?" Shikamaru said.
Hiruzen smiled sadly. "To retrieve Naruto. We cannot have him join Kumo. Or any other nation for that matter. You heard what he said in the arena. I want you five to either restrain him and bring him back, convince him into coming back, or… if you have no other choice… kill him." Hiruzen said. The five genin before him stood stock still in shock.
"Why is this considered bordering A-rank?" Sasuke asked.
"Aside from his ice-release and his water sensing, or whatever he wants to call it, he contains something. Naruto used to be a good little boy. Fairly normal, well, as normal as you can get with what he has. That all changed after the incident." Hiruzen paused.
"He has the nine-tailed fox inside of him." The Hokage said, and let that sink in. "The villagers hated and still hate him for that. They believe his is the nine-tailed fox demon. So, they shunned him. Sometimes, drunken villagers, angry villagers, and angry shinobi would take out their anger on him by beating him. I did my best to stop those… but it only stopped after the incident." Hiruzen said as if reliving a memory.
"What is the incident?" Sakura asked, scared of the answer.
"On his birthday when he was seven, the council tried to stop me from finding out. They held a meeting that I was required to attend. They even managed to have a sound barrier set up outside, so I couldn't hear anything going on outside the room. When I found out and went to Naruto… what I found was horrific." A tear fell from Hiruzen's face.
The five before him stood still, waiting.
"They tortured him."
The genin's faces paled. "His blood was everywhere… he had knives stabbed into him at random places. He had that long cut from just above his eye to his chin. I had the villagers and shinobi who caused this executed. The medical ninja told me he had several broken bones, bruises, and several more cuts than I saw. It took a month for him to recover. Unnaturally fast. With that amount of injuries, he should have recovered in three or more months. Not one. When he woke… the shine was gone. His eyes were empty." More tears fell from Hiruzen's face.
The girls of the five genin started crying. The boys of the five paled further.
Hiruzen looked back at the genin, his gaze sad and cold. "They really did make him part of what he is today. They stole his happiness. There is only so much pain one can withstand, and that was his breaking point. I should have let Jiraiya or even Tsunade take him with them on their travels. He wouldn't have been hurt so much then. Since the incident, Naruto had contact with the Kyubi, I am assuming. It would explain his further detachment from humanity. I have reason to believe he has OCD, PTSD, and maybe schizophrenia."
The Hokage sighed again. He really was too old for all this.
"If you accept this mission, be extremely careful. If possible, confront him in an area with little to no water. Do you five accept?" Hiruzen said, his voice becoming professional. The girls stopped crying and started sniffling instead. The boys gulped but nodded.
"Good luck."
With that, the five genin left to chase after Naruto.
(With Naruto)
After an hour of running, even with their help, Naruto needed rest. Looking around, he realized he was in the valley of the end. He spotted a tree with branches big enough and sturdy enough to withstand his weight. Running over to it and climbing up, he fell asleep for a short period of time.
(Two hours later, with the retrieval team)
The five arrived in the valley of the end, four of which turned to Sakura.
"He's here."
Unlike what most people know, Sakura can sense Naruto. She isn't a sensor, but after being exposed to his chakra long enough, she could track it. Sasuke nodded, but still spoke.
"Where in this place? If you could tell us that would be nice. This place is huge."
Sakura put her hands in a ram seal. Releasing a few waves of chakra, the waves bounced off of something. The chakra it bounced off of was large, cold, demonic, and insane. A shiver went down the pinkette's back. Sakura pointed towards a tree.
"He's up there. Sleeping I think, otherwise there would already be mist." Sakura said. Right then, the leaves of the tree rustled a little. Naruto dropped out of the tree, landing on his feet. He looked about, looking everywhere, until his cold eyes fell on the retrieval team. He turned and dashed towards the large body of water. Shikamaru freaked out.
"Don't let him get close to that water!" Shikamaru shouted, casting his jutsu. A long line of shadow stretched from his own shadow, linking to the shadows of trees to make itself longer in an attempt to cut Naruto off. The shadow shot out in a line in front of Naruto. The white-haired boy merely jumped over it.
Sasuke ran towards Naruto, already flashing through hand-signs. Naruto turned mid jump and swung his arm about as if throwing shuriken. "Fuuton: Razor Shuriken!" Shuriken made of light grey wind flew towards the group. Sasuke slid under one while the others ducked and followed suit. At the edge of the valley, Naruto stopped. Below the water flowed. Naruto jumped off the edge.
Without thinking, Sasuke and Sakura followed, but Shikamaru held his two teammates back before they could jump. Naruto landed on the surface of the water and ran to the center of it. He arrived there right as Sasuke and Sakura landed on the surface of the water.
"Last chance. Leave and live for another day, or I kill you all." Naruto said, his voice emotionless as he unsheathed his chokuto.
"No. Come on Naruto, yeah, you didn't have the best time in Konoha, but come on. That isn't a reason to leave. Come back." Sakura said.
"So be it. I must purge imperfection from the world. Today, that means all five of you." Naruto said coldly. "Hiding in the mist technique." Thick mist covered the middle of the lake, but not enough to cover Sasuke and Sakura. The two jumped back when spikes of ice with black tips shot out from the mist.
(With Shikamaru)
"Alright, so everybody understands?" Shikamaru asked. Choji and Ino nodded.
"I distract him long enough for him to turn his focus on me." Choji said. He started munching on a bag of chips he pulled from his jacket.
"I use my genjutsu so he can't notice anybody else or anything else other than Choji." Ino said. "What are you going to do Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru sighed. "If we wait a few minutes, it will be doubtless that Naruto starts changing this area into his own custom arena. This may or may not have its own shadows. If it does have shadows, then I can trap him easily. If not, I'll improvise. Let's get this troublesome thing over with." Shikamaru said. His two teammates nodded. The moved to the edge and watched.
They watched as ice platforms started to form on the floating water, slowly getting larger. Shikamaru looked up and noticed the sun setting. Perfect. When the sun went down, Shikamaru would have many opportunities to attack using his shadows. Naruto would need something to see with, so that meant he would probably do something for light. Light and dark made shadows.
The trio watched as the platforms connected. The ice eventually covered the entire lake like an ice-skating rink. On the edges, Ice started creeping up like pillars.
(with Sasuke and Sakura)
Sasuke jumped to his left when a senbon flew towards him. It missed by a mere centimeter. If it had hit him, he would have been dead. He dashed towards Sakura who had been analyzing the mist.
"What do you think we should do?" Sasuke asked. Sakura paused her study of the mist.
"We need to keep that mist there. We can't let it expand." She said.
Sasuke stared at her incredulously. "How do you suppose we do that?"
Sakura bit her bottom lip, and then answered. "Fire attacks constantly. Hopefully that will stop him from expanding the mist. Otherwise- "
She was cut off when three clones of Naruto rushed out of the mist. Each had claws of ice on their hands and feet. Each had thin armor made of ice. On their forearms, their shoulders, thighs, shins, and torso. Their white hair waved as they ran. The claws on their feet digging into the ice ground as they ran, preventing them from sliding or slipping while propelling them forwards in long strides.
"Move with swiftness, no forgiveness." One clone said as it ran.
"All I've witnessed, ruthless, vicious." Another said.
"Makes me cold at heart, unbothered." The third said.
The first clones reached Sasuke. It dove to the right and followed with a left upper-cut slash. Sasuke leaned back and brought his right leg up in what he called a 'pummel kick.' His leg shot forwards like a cannonball from a cannon. The clone jumped to the left at the last second and then jumped high into the air.
Sasuke heard a gasp off to his left. He turned and saw Sakura jump back from a clone while holding her right arm. Blood dripped from her hand holding her arm.
(With Sakura)
The girl jumped up, still holding her arm, barely dodging a swipe from the clone.
"Stop this Naruto! Do you know what you've become?!" Sakura shouted. She knew Naruto had heard. If he hadn't heard though, his clone would transmit the information to him when it popped.
"It's to late. Now, give me a single reason why I should let you live?!" The clone shouted, jumping up to Sakura. The clone brought its left clawed-hand down in a swipe. Sakura twisted mid-air, making the swipe miss by inches. A little of her pink hair fluttered to the ground from the swipe. Sakura quickly landed and jumped backwards.
The clone followed her, still making swipes and slashes. Sakura noted the look in the clone's eyes. Unlike the original, insanity, anger, and fear didn't appear. Its eyes had regret in them. Like it was sane. Then again, it probably didn't have the Kyuubi in it.
"You have a home in Konoha, Naruto! You have friends in Konoha! Come back!" Sakura shouted. The clone hesitated for a moment. Then it got back to attacking Sakura after a split-second. The clone managed to scratch Sakura every now and then, small shallow cuts appearing on Sakura.
The clone charged again. This time, instead of jumping away, Sakura dove forwards. She planted her hands on the ice, using chakra to let her stick to it, she swung her legs out in a kick that the clone obviously wasn't expecting.
The clone jumped back as Sakura jumped towards it. She curled herself into a spinning ball. Sakura held her fists above her head as she spun, applying her green chakra to her arms and fists. The clone landed on the ice and dashed to the left as Sakura landed, still spinning. The spinning ball of green and pink slammed into the ice, making spider-web cracks form in a four-foot-wide circle. The ball of pink and green rolled quickly towards the clone that barely dodged.
Sakura stopped spinning, and stood straight up, and chucked some shuriken at the clone. The clone got hit in the face as it tried to dodge. It dispelled into a cloud of white smoke that drifted up. Sakura looked over to Sasuke, who constantly dodged the attacks from two clones. Rushing over, she joined Sasuke, trying to lighten his load a little.
(With Naruto inside the mist)
Naruto paused when he received the memory feedback. After a minute, a slow grin covered his face under his mask. Tonight, he would escape his cage. Tonight, the defection would be complete. Tonight, he would be free. Time to begin the real fight.
(A/N Section)
Hello. Sorry if this is a bit fast. Anyways, I have a few things to address.
Sakura is stronger than the normal Sakura. I just won't let anybody extremely weak fight Naruto. That would make a boring fight. Plus, if she is stronger, then that makes better fights to write.
Sasuke is less of an emo. You have already noticed, I am sure. More caring than normal. No negotiations.
Finally, Naruto could potentially be convinced through people convincing his clones. He could potentially be healed. If you don't know what that means, he could become more human-like. He could feel want and need on a more average-human level. But that does not mean it will happen.
Anyways, bye!