Lessons of Experience
Chapter 6: The Lord's Prayer
By: BukkakeNoJutsu
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. We have an open relationship.
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Canvassing a section of the woods surrounding Konoha, Umino Iruka stumbled across Mizuki just as the gray haired nin was wiping a bloodied kunai clean on the clothes of his victim.
Giichi's face was frozen into a rictus of terror with his throat slashed ear-to-ear. The scent of blood was heavy in the air.
Iruka gaped at the cruel act, before noticing a large scroll, discarded to the side.
"Why Mizuki?! For power?! You piece of trash!"
The gray-haired nin sneered.
"Well, if it isn't the do-gooder, and the demon brat."
Iruka looked back in shock to see his blonde student a few paces away. Even from this distance, the scarred chuunin could see the blonde's eyes glistening with tears.
Naruto wasn't close at all to Giichi, but it still hurt to see his life snuffed out senselessly.
Mizuki continued to talk, mocking the newcomers.
"This little shit was too sloppy in retrieving the scroll. I had to silence him."
The arrogant nin addressed the blonde boy.
"I was counting on you to fail, Naruto. I have always hated you and I wanted you dead instead of Giichi. You are the ninetailed fox demon that the fourth Hokage failed to kill twelve years ago. You killed my family along with Iruka's parents as well."
The world came crashing down around Naruto. Everything made sense; the glares, the loneliness, and the hatred.
On the verge of a breaking down, Uzumaki Naruto pleaded to Iruka, one of his few pillars of support.
"Am I really a monster, Iruka-sensei?
Iruka did not even require a single second to respond.
"Absolutely not, Naruto. The Yondaime sealed the fox into your belly, but you are not the demon. You are its jailer, and it your prisoner. You have protected the village your entire life."
Iruka turned to face the traitor.
"Uzumaki Naruto is just like me. I was also a lonely orphan who started playing pranks to get attention. He's a great kid and my favorite student, but you, you're nothing but a worthless traitor."
Hearing Iruka's heartfelt words instilled Naruto with a new sense of confidence.
Mizuki, growing impatient, threw his recently cleaned kunai at the pair, forcing them to scatter.
"You two are the same alright. You'll both die by my hand."
With that, the traitor unstrapped the giant shuriken at his back and readied himself to attack.
Iruka pulled out a pair of standard-issue kunai and prepared to rush at his fellow academy instructor when Uzumaki Naruto stuck his arm out barring his path.
"He's mine," said the whiskered boy with an uncharacteristically cold demeanor.
"Naruto…You can't possibly…"
"I'd do as he says," said a newcomer entering the clearing.
Iruka glanced at the stranger. He was an old man with short-cropped white hair and tanned skin bearing the faint tracery of scars. He wore simple clothes of a white shirt and black pants and sandals. The stranger carried a simple one-handed sword, its razor edge shining white in the sunlight.
"Who the fuck are you?" exclaimed an incredulous Mizuki, "And why are all these assholes popping up out of nowhere?"
"My name is San, retired jounin of Konoha, and I'm helping with the recovery of the forbidden scroll of seals. The answer to your second question is that karma is a vengeful bitch."
"What are you doing here, Old Man?" asked Naruto.
"With the scent of blood this heavy in the air, I came running. I heard some of that bullshit that bastard was trying to feed you. Rest assured, I would not have made you my student if your heart was anywhere but the right place."
He graced the blonde with an approving glance.
"Butcher him like a pig."
Naruto did not have to be told twice. He reached into his pack pulling out a single black knife in his right hand, before speeding off to confront Mizuki.
Iruka was a little put off by Naruto's non-standard choice of weaponry, and was not able to conceal the look of worry
The gray-haired shinobi almost laughed.
"Are you guys fucking serious, sending a little kid against an elite chuunin? I thought you guys got all pissy when I carved up the first one."
San placed a reassuring hand on Iruka's shoulder, whispering, "Trust me. This will be good."
Iruka could tell something had changed instantly with Naruto's demeanor. Even when Naruto thrashed the Uchiha earlier in the day, it had been with a sense of playfulness, although vicious to be sure. Here, the blonde was cold, with no jokes, and unnaturally focused. It was immediately unnerving.
Such subtleties were lost on Mizuki.
As the blonde closed the distance, the gray-haired shinobi struck when Naruto appeared within range. With his right hand, he swung his giant shuriken in a diagonal strike, hoping to slice the blonde open from left shoulder to right hip.
Naruto would have none of that. As the killing blow came closer, the jinchuuriki dodged minimally, lashing out with a single cut. That single cut sent Muzuki's weapon to the ground, along with the thumb of his right hand.
Before the traitor could marvel at his new stump, it traveled north, in a new location below his elbow.
Mizuki screamed.
Naruto relentlessly continued his attack. His knife slipped between the chuunin's ribs on his right side, puncturing a lung and making continued screaming a challenge.
Still, Mizuki persisted.
Then, the blonde boy sank his blade to the hilt in the traitor's abdomen, with such force that Mizuki's back slammed against a tree. Naruto kneed the bottom of his right fist, transferring the energy of the blow directly into the knife held within and aggravating the already mortal wound.
As if that were not enough already, San's apprentice used his right knee again, this time placing it against the top of his fist and the back of the blade.
Uzumaki Naruto dropped his weight like a stone.
The black knife tore downward through the abdomen and past Mizuki's groin, finally free of his abused flesh.
It was far too late for Iruka to flinch away. Naruto's entire bloodthirsty counter had taken only a few short seconds.
San interrupted the silence and Mizuki's death-throes, addressing Iruka.
"Take the forbidden scroll of seals back to the Hokage. You are not going to want to watch what happens next."
Looking quite pale, the chuunin grabbed the stolen item and made his way towards the Hokage's Tower, after saying his goodbyes to San and Naruto.
San walked up, comforting the shell-shocked blonde nin.
"Naruto, you did well, but there is one last thing you can learn from this dying bastard."
The old man dispelled his sword and summoned a small knife. Using his left hand, he carved a triangular symbol onto his right palm.
"Give me your right hand."
Naruto nodded dumbly, transferring his knife to his left.
San carved the exact same symbol into Naruto's hand.
"You know that technique I use to heal your injuries in training?"
"Yeah, sure."
"It is not medic-nin jutsu. It's a technique from my uncle. It's more like a contract. Do you remember how my uncle had to look for alternative ways to become an effective ninja?"
The young boy nodded. He remembered everything.
"The technique is actually an invocation to an old god of violence they have up north named Jashin-something or other. He's largely forgotten right now, except for some small, crazy, homicidal cults. Stay away from those crazy fucks, you hear?"
"Uh…okay."
"The technique's not intended to heal. The invocation to Jashin restores your enemy for the main purpose of committing even more violence against them. It's great for torture and interrogation, and, as my uncle discovered, it works alright in training. The method only works for injuries committed by your own hand, and regenerates only things attached to the body. Your target has also still got to be breathing. Let's hurry up before the pansy craps out on us."
San pressed his right palm to Naruto's whispering an ancient prayer.
Naruto felt an absolute cold in his palm that swiftly disappeared, leaving skin unblemished.
"This technique can't be learned or copied. It can only be inherited. Repeat those words to invoke it."
San gestured towards the shivering body of Mizuki with disdain.
"This useless shit-stain here is a traitor to Konoha, and a child-killer. It's chakra-intensive, but use the prayer as many times as you feel necessary."
The ANBU team that eventually arrived was treated to the nightmarish sight of a limbless Mizuki weeping under the careful ministrations of a 12-year-old blonde boy and his elderly teacher.
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Iruka consulted with the Hokage at the end of a day that had just been bizarre and disturbing.
"Are you sure that it is a wise idea to put them on the same team? They'll likely end up killing each other."
It was a very rare occasion that Umino Iruka felt the need to question the wisdom of his leader.
The Third Hokage just smiled in response.
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End Chapter 6
C&C welcome.