Chapter Six: Shattered by Misconceptions
Pain.
Eyes clenched tight, fist throbbing, blood flowing. The sensation of falling filled his being as Naruto soared past his falling opponent.
The porcelain mask had shattered into a million pieces and like some prerogative irony he saw his own face instead of the girlish looking boy he'd met the previous day.
But it was just for a second. A trick of the eye, a feeling of kinship between two broken souls who had been tossed aside. The fear and malice that both had been shown in their brief moments of life and yet both standing on opposite sides of the same ideal.
Naruto hit the ground with a rough grunt but ignored the pain and stood to face his stunned opponent, "Fuck you. You think just because he took you in you owe your life to him? That your life has no meaning without him?" Naruto paused briefly, "You're right though. You and I, despite being both Shinobi, are different. While you accept your fate of being tossed aside, I won't. I refuse to just sit idly by and be used as others see fit. I can't accept that fate. I will fight for what I deem precious, and not what others declare as such. My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I am going to show you just how wrong you are!"
0o0 24 Hours Ago 0o0
Naruto's eyes fluttered open to a bright blue morning. He had worked himself to near exhaustion. The grass around him brushed upon his exposed skin and the beautiful scent of flowers filled his mind.
' ...'
The scenery around the blonde wasn't as beautiful as the smell had implied. Scorch marks and slashes marred the trees nearest to the Genin. Ever since the fight between Zabuza and Kakashi, Naruto had realized he couldn't hold anything back. He needed to practice the Jutsu in the Forbidden Scroll. While some of them were impossible at Naruto's current state, others were useable after some intense practice.
It was because of that intense practice that Naruto had been asleep. He had been overworking himself, staying later than his teammates and Sensei.
"Ah, you're finally awake."
Naruto's eyes instantly snapped towards the source of the smooth voice. On his guard, he observed a female picking flowers. The woman was beautiful. She was adorned with a pink Kimono and her face showed slight concern. Despite her delicate appearance, Naruto never his let his guard down. He knew all to well that even the most innocent of faces could be the source of your worst pain.
"Are you alright? Have you been abandoned?"
The leaf insignia adorned Naruto's forehead as the protector caught the woman's eyes. Naruto noticed her eyes travel to his forehead. The blonde's sweaty form was in a defensive position when the girl pulled out a rag.
"You're sweating. May I?"
She looked expectantly at him while holding out the rag. Considering it for a moment, the blonde shook his head and spoke.
"Who are you?"
Instead of answering, the woman put away the rag and smiled.
"I couldn't help but notice your headband. Are you a Leaf Shinobi?"
Naruto blinked before bringing his left hand to gently touch his headband. While he was still suspicious, he nodded his head. He then revealed a kunai and pointed it at her.
"I won't ask again, who are you?"
The woman smiled at the blonde like he told a slightly humorous joke.
"I am a friend, Ninja-san," she said as she looked at him. Pulling out a flower from the basket she was carrying, she smiled and placed it right next to the boy.
"Flowers," the girl began, "are lucky, aren't they?"
The question was posed to Naruto, but the boy was silent, still being cautious with the stranger that was before him. He didn't know why she was there, but if she wanted to kill him, she would have while he was asleep. The stranger looked at him, expecting a response, but she got nothing from him.
"All they have to do is sit there and be beautiful. They haven't a care in the world. They are a very good tool for conveying love and affection. Sometimes, I think it is a shame that humans don't stand for love and affection, don't you?"
Naruto again ignored the question, he was wondering what this stranger was playing at. It was a mystery hung over his head.
"What do you stand for, Ninja-san? What does your village stand for?"
Naruto looked away, unsure of how to answer, or even if he should answer. A thick silence fell between the two. Several minutes of pure silence passed before the boy spoke
"What are you doing here?"
"I am picking herbs for a precious friend, Ninja-san," The stranger paused before asking a another question, "Do you have anybody precious to you?"
This was a question that the blonde could easily answer. He did indeed have somebody very precious to him. Somebody who suffered along with Naruto and still loved the blonde.
"Yes."
The girl smiled at him, gently twirling a flower in her fingers.
"Would you do anything to protect that friend? Even at he expense of becoming a tool of destruction?"
"Yes."
He would kill as many people as he needed to make sure that Kit was protected and alive.
"Even at the cost of your life?"
This question was not so easy to answer. Would he sacrifice his being to save another's? Would he sacrifice his chance to get his revenge on all of those who have done him wrong? Could he honestly say he would?
"No. I wouldn't die for anybody. I have important things I must do before I die."
The girl looked puzzled before continuing with her questioning.
"But aren't ninjas required to die for the betterment of their village? If you aren't even willing to sacrifice yourself for your friends, then why become a tool for the village to use and dispose of?"
The blondes fists clenched at those words. He was not a tool for the people to dispose of. He was not some trivial pawn.
"I am not a tool," Naruto said angrily, surprising the stranger, "I am not some object for the villages use. I am better than that. I have dreams, and goals and feelings. I am so much more than a mere tool."
"Isn't that the way Ninja are treated?" The stranger pressed, trying to get Naruto to elaborate.
"I don't care. I wouldn't expect a girl like you to understand." Naruto said, " You weren't hated for something that you couldn't control. You have no idea what it is like be treated like dirt. Being treated as a tool is no different."
The stranger smiled at him before standing up, turning and walking away.
"By the way, Ninja-san. I am a boy."
"There you are Baka," Ino's voice shouted as she approached the boy. Naruto was heading back to the very clearing that the group had been training in, "I've been looking everywhere for you!" the blonde complained, "Kakashi-sensei and the others are waiting on you."
Naruto didn't respond. He just kept walking.
"Hey are you alright?" Ino asked but received no answer. Scowling, Ino ran in front of Naruto, "What's wrong with-" Ino stopped mid-sentence as she finally got a good look at his face. His eyes were wide and he looked shaken to the core.
"He's... he's a boy. That was the prettiest boy I've ever seen. Even prettier than..." Naruto once again began to walk back to the clearing, twitching every now and then.
"Who's prettier than who?" Ino was more confused than she ever had been in her entire life.
"Creepiest. Moment. Of. My life," Ino just kept staring unsure of how to react to this Naruto.
"Chakra Detection is all about concentration. We have to channel the chakra through our bodies and into the ground. Form a wave. Chakra Detection is similar to echolocation and it requires quite a bit of-" Kakashi paused to notice Ino and Naruto entering the fold, "Well well, it's finally nice to have the full class here. We are going over Chakra Detection, Naruto."
Naruto nodded and moved next to Sasuke and Shikamaru, preferring the familiarity of his team than the all girl team while Ino moved next to Sakura and Hinata.
"Now, in order to "echolocate" you have to send your Chakra out in bursts of waves expanding it out of your body. Since sources of chakra, such as animals and people, don't absorb chakra it rebounds back, effectively giving away the sources' location. Sensor types come in numerous shapes and sizes making them high value priorities for both allies and enemies. Take out the sensor and you make your enemy blind. However, if everyone can sense chakra it's not as big a blow as it normally would be. Of course sensing isn't for everybody. It is immensely difficult because your complete focus must be on controlling and shaping it into the correct form for an accurate reading."
The Genins exchanged looks of annoyance. Chakra Concentration was relatively easy, but this was on a whole new level. Sasuke doubted that any of them would make considerable progress in it.
"This is troublesome... Listen, Sensei, this is too much to ask of us. I doubt that we can master this within a year let alone a couple of days, or however long we have," Shikamaru put his hands behind his back and yawned.
"Listen, Genius, I don't need you to master this, I just need you to be good enough to detect some Chakra. Hinata," Kakashi turned to the timid girl, "Is the only one that has an edge on the Mist Jutsu. One out of six is not a good advantage. I don't care if you can't tell who's Chakra it is, all I care about is that you can sense it. That's all that's important. Sometimes, you don't have the time to prep for a battle properly, and you have to scramble and use what you got."
Kakashi then showed them the process of channeling your Chakra into the wave-like bursts and left them to it. He just leaned against a tree reading his beloved book.
"Hey, Sakura. You never did tell us what happened when you tried to find Naruto," Ino said while they were taking a break, "I mean, it's not everyday you storm after him like that. You into him or something?"
Sakura looked at her blonde friend with an incredulous look, "As if! I only went after him because I felt bad for the way we treated him. I mean, the things he said to that boy were..." She felt silent. She was at a loss at how to convey her sadness and disgust. What made her even more sick was that she herself contributed to the pain that Naruto must have been feeling. She couldn't help but imagine all of the sadness that must plague him.
"Hey, it's alright," Ino said, trying to comfort her pink haired friend as Hinata and Sasuke sat next to them, leaving Shikamaru and Naruto training out on the field," I would have go-"
"Then why didn't you?" Sakura cut Ino off, surprising the three, "It would have been better if you went with me."
"Well...," Ino began, not really knowing how to answer, but Sakura didn't let her finish.
"I mean, I shouldn't have been the one to go. Hinata," Sakura turned toward the white-eyed Heiress, "Don't you like Naruto? Why didn't you go with me? Heck you should've been the first person to go after him."
The question and statement pierced Hinata hard, and she averted her gaze from her friends. She was ashamed of herself as well, she should have gone, but she was too scared, and too timid. It was the reason why she had never tried to help Naruto, even when he was suffering. Ever since that fateful day when Naruto saved her, she had been watching. She had seen everything, but she had stopped nothing. This was just another thing to add to her list of failures.
"..."
Hinata couldn't answer her. She knew that Sakura was right.
"Didn't you guys feel sad for Naruto? I mean, the things Kakashi said..." Sakura said, getting quiet at the end.
"Of course I did, I mean, who knew?" Ino said. Sasuke was remembering what Inari had said, and her fists tightened a little. It hit home with her as well. She understood Naruto's pain in a sense. She even understood his anger at him.
What the boy had said hit her almost as badly as it did Naruto. While she did live alone, she wasn't alone. Not like Naruto. She at least had friends, who had even offered her a place to live with others over living alone in an empty apartment with only the bare essentials. And what did Naruto have? Possibly less than that. And he truly was alone. So alone that his only companion came in the form of a small fox. But it wasn't the loneliness that she understood best, it was the anger. The anger at not being understood. That it wasn't a want to change fate but to make it her own, only to be denied by simpletons who wouldn't, couldn't, begin to understand the shear volume of pain left in her heart. Her's was but 6 years, Naruto's was a lifetime. A lifetime of pain and loneliness. It amazed her, the resolve he had to have not shattered by now.
"And what about you, Sasuke?" Sakura rounded on her, "You are his teamate, and yet you won't help him. You should have went and apologized, just like I did. Honestly," Sakura stood up and looked at the three of them, "You three are completely unbelievable."
"You're one to talk, Sakura. You are one of the worst offenders. On numerous occasions, you have gone out of your way to put Naruto down. If anybody needs to apologize to him, it needs to be you and you owe him more than one."
Sakura stammered several times, trying to come up with a counter but found none. There had been many times when she would openly made fun of Naruto, in his face no less, just to fit in with the other children. Tears began to swell and roll down her cheeks at just how cruel she'd been to someone who'd done nothing to her. But despite her past actions, it was the present that truly mattered, and she was at least willing to begin making amends with the blonde, "At least I'm trying, Sasuke. I-I know I've done horrible things but I want to make up for them. Even if you never made fun of him, you still never really stood up for him. You're not as innocent in this as you think."
Just as Sasuke was about to retort, Ino interjected, "Stop it, both of you. Arguing isn't going to solve anything. Not to mention this isn't the time," Ino quickly glanced toward where Naruto and Shikamaru were still sparring, "Sakura is right though. All of us should've gotten to know Naruto before judging him. He deserves our apologies. We will do it at the end of the mission."
"T-thank you, Ino." Sakura said, wiping her tears away so that Naruto or Shikamaru wouldn't be able to see them.
Naruto's eyes opened to a familiar scene. He was looking up at the sky again, totally exhausted from the work that he had been doing the day before with his teammates and the girls. Something was different though, it was as if this morning was darker, more like the afternoon.
It took him a few minutes to realize that he overslept.
Rushing up to his feet, Naruto quickly looked to make sure he had everything. With all of his stuff packed up and ready to go, the blonde rushed towards Tazuna's house in a fury. He didn't want to be late to eat again. Pushing his sore and aching body, he came upon the house.
"Hey, Naruto," Kurenai spoke as Naruto entered into the dining room where Tsunami, Inari and her were eating. Kit was snoozing in the corner, "Kakashi and the others took Tazuna-san to the bridge," Kurenai said, "You'll be late if you don't hurry up. They left me behind because I am still recovering."
Naruto nodded and ran out of the house, the sword sheathed up on his side. "Hey! Ninja-kid!" Tsunami shouted, "What about your breakfast!?" Tsunami sighed as the blonde ignored her and rushed toward the bridge. "Men..." Tsunami mumbled and returned to Kurenai and Inari.
Naruto disregarded the strange looks he got from the people he passed, the sword hitting his side as he was making his way. He wasn't used to running with the weapon yet, and it slowed him down. His sole focus was to get to the bridge. Deciding that going through Forrest would be a faster alternative, Naruto ran out of the town and into the shrubbery.
"Hey, Leaf kid."
Naruto stopped in his tracks. His eyes narrowed as he searched for the source of the voice. Two figures stood in front of Naruto, both carrying Katanas. Naruto tensed up, preparing for anything these two swordsman would try to do.
"What are you doing?" The one with the hat asked, with a smirk on his face. His partner decided to don a similar smirk. Both had their respective hands on the hilts of their swords. Naruto blinked in faint surprise at the question, but decided to return with one of his own.
"What am I doing?" He responded, staring intensely at the two, slightly puzzled. He didn't have time to deal with them, but if he went Sword-to-Sword with them he would lose. Naruto was unskilled in how to handle a sword.
"Yeah," The one with the eye patch responded, "What are you doing?" With eyes shifting from one to another, Naruto moved his hand slowly to his kunai pouch. He had to make sure that they didn't notice a thing. He decided the best way to distract them would be to continue the conversation.
"Nothing," Naruto said, his hand still inching for the kunai.
"Nothing, huh? We noticed you're wearing a shinobi headband." The one with hat remarked. His hand gripping the hilt of his sword, anxious to pull it out and battle.
"So I am, what of it?" Naruto questioned back, continuing the banter. His hand still inching towards his pouch of kunai.
"You one of the Shinobi that bridge builder hired?" The eye-pach one continued.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."
"If you are, that would be bad," Eye-patch continued.
"Yeah, we would have to kill you." The other added. Both stepped toward the Genin.
"Why?" Naruto asked, trying to buy himself more time. He needed to have enough time to strike both of them down in a matter of seconds between each other.
"You might thwart our plans."
"What's your plan?" Naruto asked.
"We are supposed to kidnap the bridge builders whore of a daughter," the one with the hat said, licking his lips slightly.
"So, are you trying to thwart our plans?" Eye-patch asked, getting ready to strike. His smile gone, and a look of intensity came upon the mercenary.
After some feigned thinking, Naruto replied, "Yes."
"Then we are going to have to kill you."
"Really?" Naruto asked.
"Really."
"That's too bad."
"Why is that?"
"Because I already killed you."
"The hell are you-" the one with the hat was cut off as a kunai embedded itself in his jugular vein. As he fell, life fading from him, he saw the same fate befall his companion.
"Sorry but I don't have time to deal with the two of you," Naruto walked to the two corpses and extracted his weapons before continuing to the bridge.
0o0 Earlier 0o0
"I can't believe you let Naruto sleep in again but not me," Shikamaru complained as he and the rest of the shinobi along with Tazuna arrived at the bridge.
"Shut up Shikamaru. We couldn't find Naruto, that's the only reason we didn't drag him along too. You're not the only one who's tired!," Ino scowled at the lazy genin.
"All of you quiet. Now," Kakashi harshly issued the command.
Kakashi's tone threw the two bickering off and they bumped into Sakura and Sasuke who were in front of them in their current formation around Tazuna.
Looking around the genin began taking in the scenes of blood and gore of what was once Tazuna's crew. Body parts were strewn everywhere.
Sakura, Ino, and Hinata were horrified. It was too surreal for them. Shikamaru gave a dazed look at his first true scene of brutal manslaughter. Sasuke took it all in, detached from the loss of life, readying herself for the oncoming fight.
Tazuna simply lost his lunch.
"It would seem, you were wrong Hatake," Zabuza began to laugh as he stepped forward and out of the thick mist, "I hope you prepared those brats to embrace death!"
A/N Note:The Revolutionary Ronin here! Haha. Going first this time. Suck it Kozu. Best part is he's watching me write this live. Not much to say other than I'm back bitches. DBZA references. Find it. I dare you.
A/N Note: Hey, Shintaro Kozu here, and first things first: Fuck you Ronin. This is one of the shorter chapters, but that is mostly because we wanted the whole bridge scene to be it's separate chapter due to the estimated length of it. As Ronin mentioned before, we added in some fun little things for you in this chapter, hopefully we made this chapter in line with how we wrote our story.
Vote on our poll! (on my profile!)
Question of the Chapter: Should Zabuza live or die? (Note: This is just your opinion. This will probably not have an effect on his life or not, unless you impress me with your reasons.)
P.S Ronin is first because unlike him, I have a girlfriend.
P.S. Who wants a girlfriend when I can have all the bitches?
P.P.S Who needs bitches when you have a woman?
P.P.S Who needs a woman when you have women?
P.P.P.S Well played.
P.P.P.S I know.
