Disclaimer: What part of fanfiction says I own Naruto?
A/N: Hey you guys! I feel like I'll be saying this for every chapter haha… but I'm sorry for the late chapter. I'm not sure if you'll believe me, but my pet cockatiels had little chicks! I'm very excited, and I've already spent 2 consecutive nights dreaming about them, and imagining the chicks falling out of their nestbox!
Enough excuses though! Time to write for everyone's enjoyment!
Onwards!
Chapter 8
Of Petals and Pasts
"For this exercise, please get into pairs. I hope you will choose someone you don't know, to get more familiar with the class."
Naruto looked around, trying to find someone he could go with. It almost seemed like everyone had already picked their partner, already chatting with one another. Was there no one else? 'There!'
Sitting at the back of the class was a lone girl. She had short, black hair with bangs framing her face. Her eyes were strange… they were white, with no visible pupils. 'She isn't blind, is she?' Naruto wondered. He trotted over to her, seeing as she did not have a partner. The girl noticed him approaching, nervously tracking his movement.
'So not blind… They look so unique. The Hyuuga clan?' he mused, and smiled reassuringly. He was glad to see her reply with a tentative wave.
"Hi! I'm Naruto. Would you like to be my partner?"
The fair-skinned girl seemed to squeak, and bring her forefingers together. "Uh-um… y-yes… I'm H-Hinata…" she stuttered out. She had noticed the blond boy from the very beginning, recognising him as the Hokage's son. From what she had seen, Naruto was always lively, not afraid to talk to others and make friends.
'Naruto is the complete opposite to me…' she thought desolately. She couldn't help it, as she was naturally very shy. Even when Hinata wanted to make friends, she would be overwhelmed with anxiety, unable to bring up the courage to talk to anyone. A part of her understood that she was different… so plainly shown every time someone looked into her eyes.
She wasn't blind. She saw how the kids outside of her clan reacted to her. To her eyes. When she was much younger, she had never realised how unnerving they were to outsiders, since everyone in her clan had the same eyes. Now, she understood. To everybody else, she was a freak. The girl with the dead-
"-eyes."
Hinata jerked back from her thoughts. "S-Sorry?" Internally, she felt her hope plummet. 'Of course… of course the first thing he would point out are my weird eyes… Naruto is no different to them… and I cannot blame him. After all, they are…'
"That's okay! I said you have pretty eyes," Naruto repeated. "You are a Hyuuga, right?"
Hinata stared, dumbfounded. "Wh-wh-what d-did y-you say?" she eventually stammered out. 'I must have misheard… There's no way…'
Naruto nervously scratched the back of his neck, a habit he had picked up from Minato. "Um…" He wondered to himself, 'Did I say the wrong thing?' "I said… you have… pretty eyes? And I asked if you were a Hyuuga…"
"…"
Neither of them spoke for a while, one too shocked to say anything and the other too busy trying to work out what was wrong with his words.
The teacher gave them a quiz on the history of Konoha, to see their level of knowledge. Naruto was grateful that his dad was the Hokage… after all it was required for the Hokage to study about the village they were going to lead. And he would often teach some of it to Naruto. After the quiz, the pairs were to exchange papers, and try to mark them, or write down answers when they thought the other was incorrect.
'…Huh?' Naruto ogled at Hinata's answers. Well… they weren't really answers. In the place of any words, there were pictures… doodles of small flowers. It was actually quite impressive, as there were many different kinds of flowers drawn, with unique shapes and patterns on the petals.
'The flowers are… very pretty… but how am I supposed to mark this?!' He turned worriedly to the side, where he found Hinata staring dazedly at the front of the room, not focusing on anything. She hadn't even looked at his answer sheet.
"After you have finished marking, please hand them in. There will be prizes for good answers!" the teacher said, causing the children to become excited. Thinking quickly, Naruto rubbed out Hinata's name at the top of the sheet, and replaced it with 'Naruto Uzumaki'. He grabbed his own paper and did the same, but replacing his name with 'Hinata Hyuuga', making sure the writing style was different. Then he went through, hurriedly marking the answers, being fairly confident they were correct
He glanced at Hinata, who hadn't seemed to notice his actions, and he let out a long breath. '…I hope she's okay…' he thought as he handed in their answers. 'I think I am to blame for her… state, so I should take responsibility. She'll probably know the answers anyway.'
Unbeknownst to him, someone saw his actions, and noted it down on a scroll.
The bell rang, signifying the end of class and the start of lunch. Everyone rushed out, eager to eat and play outside. Though there were a few exceptions…
"Naruto, how did you go in the quiz?" Sasuke asked as he came closer.
"Well… I answered them the best I could… sorta…" Naruto grinned sheepishly. "I know you probably aced it. Who was your partner?"
Sasuke glanced around the room, before saying, "His name was Shino… I think. He didn't really talk a lot, but he answered them all really well."
Ino popped into their conversation, sliding over to Sasuke. "It was easy! But it's not like the quiz really matters. Now let's go outside!" she whined, glaring at one corner of the room in particular. Shikamaru was sleeping, while Chouji sat eating a sandwich.
"Wait! I need to make sure Hinata is alright," Naruto said. He waved a hand in front of her, finally bringing her out of her reverie. "Hey, are you okay? I'm sorry about what I said earlier…"
"No!" she all but shrieked, startling the group. Instantly Hinata became beet red from embarrassment. "I-I mean there's n-no need to apologise! I was j-just stunned… No one has ever… uhm… said that b-before…" she trailed off into a whisper, her forefingers pushing together.
Naruto blinked, before a wide smile alighted his face. "Oh! Well I was being very sincere. Would you like to join us for lunch, Hinata?"
"I…" she felt happiness well up inside her. "I would love to," she murmured out, silently proud of herself that she managed it without stuttering.
"Alright!" Naruto cheered. "Shikamaruuu," he sang, winding his way around the tables. "It's time for you to wake up and go outside!"
For the past few days Naruto became quite close to the trio he met at the entrance meeting. Close enough to know that Ino was the active, talkative one; Chouji was the kind, constantly eating one; and Shikamaru found everything troublesome.
That very Shikamaru who was currently trying very hard to ignore Naruto. 'What is it with blonds that make them so energetic…'
Right on cue, Ino also came along, shaking the 'sleeping' boy. "You're so lazy Shikamaru! Get up!"
'…and troublesome…?' he finished. "Okay, okay, I'm getting up…" he mumbled, slowly rising from the table. Apparently too slowly, as Ino and Naruto both grabbed an arm each and dragged him out of the classroom. Shikamaru just sighed and let it happen.
"Wait for me!" Chouji cried, chasing after the disappearing kidnappers.
Hinata watched all of this happening with a slightly open mouth. Being the only two left in the room, Sasuke nervously chuckled.
"Um… Hello, I'm Sasuke Uchiha… and yes… they are always like that…"
…
Eventually the group managed to sit in a shaded spot on the grass. Everyone had nicely packed bento made by their parents. (Chouji's one was triple the size of Naruto's… and that's saying something.)
"-and then I was caught by Kaka-nii! It's not fair! He's too fast…" Naruto pouted. "Ninja are too amazing!"
"Your father is the Hokage, isn't he?" Ino questioned, and received a nod. "Then he probably passed down his amazing speed to you! So when you become a ninja, you'll be even faster!"
'Uh oh…' Naruto internally cringed. "…About that… I'm not actually gonna… become a ninja."
"WHAT?!" Ino and surprisingly Sasuke shouted.
Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, the only visible proof of his shock. 'He's not training to become a shinobi? That's… unexpected.'
"Why not?! I mean, you're the Hokage's son. Why wouldn't you be a ninja?" Ino exclaimed in disbelief.
Naruto shuffled uneasily. 'Because I'm actually a demon sent here by Kyuubi to protect me from whatever is going on in the Demon Realm… Like I could ever say that!' "…Well, er, Dad thought it was for the best…" which was true.
Everyone gave him a look clearly indicating their incredulity. Naruto prayed for an interruption…
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, BASTARD?!"
"I didn't expect that to work," Naruto uttered, astonished. Many people in the vicinity turned to the commotion happening in the middle of the play area. A boy with spiky brown hair and red triangles on his cheeks stood, pointing furiously at another group of kids.
Sasuke began to rise, scanning for a teacher. There were two talking to each other further away, not noticing anything amiss.
"What do you want?" one of the kids sneered at the brown haired boy.
"I asked you what you said!" he retorted, narrowing his eyes. "Why don't you repeat that for me?"
The apparent leader of the group scoffed as the two lackeys sniggered. "Fine, I'll say it for everyone to hear. I heard that the Inuzuka's are the dogs of Konoha."
A roar of rage erupted from brown-haired boy, and he threw himself at the group's leader. Sasuke shot forward, ignoring the slight cheers of excitement from the crowd at seeing a brawl. Naruto followed afterwards, and together they managed to grab a hold of the flailing boy and away from his target.
"Stop struggling! Don't cause a scene in the first week of school!" Naruto hissed, dragging him backwards to where the rest of the group were seated.
"Leggo! I hafta pay him back for insulting my clan!"
"This isn't the way to do it, getting into a fight will only land you into more trouble," Sasuke said calmly. Naruto whistled.
"Wow Sasuke… I'm impressed. You're usually so introverted!"
The black haired boy just rolled his eyes. "My entire clan are the Konoha Police, it's in my blood."
Finally their captive stopped fighting, and soon he was sitting on the grass with the rest of them. Shikamaru glared at them.
"You two… stop charging into situations you aren't involved in… it would have been troublesome if the teacher saw you," he chastised in a low drawl.
"Sorry! It's just Sasuke over here just can't stand people breaking the rules!" Naruto wrapped an arm around said boy's neck. "It's in his blood!" he crowed. Sasuke replied by shoving the blond away.
"Erm… I guess I should be… thanking you guys…"
Everyone turned to the speaker, surprised at how much calmer he had become.
"I'm Kiba Inuzuka… and I won't forgive that guy!" he shouted.
Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Yeah, about that. Why did he call you that?"
Kiba's face darkened. "He's being ignorant! I'm guessing you don't know, but my clan is famous for our ninken! Our dogs can do a lot of things, like-"
"Tracking and fighting, right?" Naruto interrupted.
Kiba gaped at him. "H-How did you know?"
"Kakashi summons ninken, and he taught me all about it," Naruto replied with a grin.
Kiba furrowed his eyebrows. "Kakashi… where have I heard that before… AH!" he barked, pointing at Naruto. "As in Kakashi Hatake?! How do you know such a famous ninja?"
"He's my babysitter!" Naruto chirped back cheerfully.
"EHHHHH?!" Kiba squawked in shock. "Wh-Who are you?!"
"You're such an idiot! Don't you see the resemblance?" Ino snorted, grabbing Naruto's head. "Blond, spiky hair," she tugged on it, causing a subsequent yelp. "Blue eyes… ring any bells?"
Kiba leaned in closer, scrunching his face up in concentration as he stared at Naruto.
Meanwhile, Naruto squirmed under the scrutiny. "Ino… not everyone would recognise me-"
"I got it!" Kiba suddenly shouted. "He's… uh… is you're clan something to do with foxes?"
Instantly the colour drained out of Naruto's face, and his eyes widened. "W-w-w-why would you a-ask that?" he stuttered out, trying to act natural. To the side, Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at the reaction.
"Well you have whisker marks… and you kinda smell like a fo-"
BRRRRRRRING!
"Aw, lunch is over," Ino pouted. "And you! He's the Hokage's son!"
"WHAT?!" Kiba exclaimed, completely forgetting about his previous question. "Is that true?"
"Yup, it's true." Naruto let out a sigh of relief, but he also frowned a little as he stood up. 'I… I didn't realise I smelled like a fox… Neither Pakkun nor any of the other ninken mentioned anything.' He sat down, ready for the next class.
'It's impossible to think that the scent of my past can still linger on me. It's been over two years! Then… I am completely human, aren't I? Father told me that I was no longer a demon, I am a human. And I feel human… no… I don't know if I feel human. I feel different to when I was a demon though. What else can I be, but human?'
There was another individual whose brain was working overtime as well. Shikamaru concentrated best when he sat in a meditative pose, but he didn't have time for that in class. 'Why did Kiba say that? It's true that Naruto has strange markings on his face. I assumed that they were mere birthmarks… is there a possibility it's something more?'
He had to stop his internal questioning when the teacher started talking. 'So troublesome… but I guess I have to do well this year.' He glanced around the room, trying to find something. But he couldn't sense anything. '…Right… an evaluation ninja would not let himself be seen so easily.'
…
A long, long time ago, the Demon Realm could only be described as a living nightmare. There were no records of how the demons came to be, but they knew one thing. Survival of the fittest. They discarded their sentiency in exchange for pure feral instinct; eat or be eaten. This carried on for an indeterminate amout of time, an endless cycle of attacking, defending, and attacking.
But this cycle was bound to end. The energy of the world was becoming unstable. Whole regions of land would disappear without warning, taking any demons with it; and following this were showers of burning rock, destroying the earth and killing anything in its path. It seemed as if the demon race was fated to die.
Then, on top of the tallest mountain, light vanished. The peak was completely shrouded in darkness. Any demon who tried to go near it would be consumed by it; petrified, and killed with blackness burning their eyes.
This was it. This was the end. This darkness was here to destroy the Demon Realm.
And yet, the inconceivable happened. The darkness receded, releasing its hold on the mountain. It rolled back to reveal the entire previously pointed peak of the mountain had gone, leaving behind a large, flat surface.
And that was not the only thing left behind. Towering over the land were nine beings, each with a different number of tails.
The Ichibi resembled a tanuki, its body made completely of sand, with dark blue markings over its body. It had the ability to command sand at will, and had power over wind.
The Nibi resembled a nekomata, its body was completely engulfed in cold blue flames, and swirling black markings. One eye was yellow, the other was green. It had the power over darkness.
The Sanbi resembled a shark, its body a dark blue colour. It had a large sharp horn on its head, and three fins in addition to its three tails. It had the power over water.
The Yonbi resembled a rooster, its body covered in dull red feathers. It's four tails were lizard tails, with green scales, and red ends. It had the ability to control poisons of all kinds.
The Gobi resembled a wolf, its body covered in white fur. Each long tail had a different element swirling around it; wind, water, earth, lightning and fire. This enables it to have some control over all five.
The Rokubi resembled a weasel, its golden fur standing almost upright. Its ears, feet and the tips of its four six tails were black. It had power of lightning.
The Shichibi resembled a badger, its body black with white stripes covering its head. This being was the smallest, however this size was huge compared to all other demons. It had power over earth.
The Hachibi resembled a snake, its body black on top and silver underneath. It had eight heads and eight tails. Its body was so enormously long, even curled underneath itself several times over was not enough, and the rest of its tails wrapped around the very mountain it sat upon. It had powers similar to the Nibi, however many times more powerful and evil.
The Kyuubi resembled a fox, its body's red-orange fur rippling like flames. It was the second largest being, next to the Hachibi. Its eyes were blood red, and surrounded by black that reach into its long ears. Its black claws dug into the ground, and a mere flick of its tail sent gusts of super-heated wind in all directions, only hinting at its unimaginable strength. It had power over fire. Wrapped around its neck was a giant beaded rosary, dark red with black seals.
These nine beings changed everything. As soon as they appeared, the energies of the realm miraculously stabilised. The beings, later known as the Bijuu, divided the land amongst themselves, ruling over them, and the demons. Order settled over the realm, with Kyuubi as the King of Bijuu, its infinite power proving it worthy of the title.
The land ruled by the Kyuubi became the most advanced. Kyuubi taught its followers the ways of humans, leading to the creation of tools and houses, using the resources of its surroundings. But they were limited by their emotions. They did not understand the concept of family, of playing and having fun. The idea of bonds, of friendship, of love.
No matter how hard he tried, Kyuubi could not recreate what he once had. And, slowly but surely, even his own recollections of his past faded away.
A/N: Finished chapter 8!
I thought the last chapter was a little dull, so I wanted to make this one a bit more interesting!
Also, I'm wondering how the readers will react to the teeny tiny hint of Naru/Hina I stuck in there. Obviously seeing as they are 4-5, there won't be any actual romance yet, cause that's just wrong. In the predecessor story, I made it a Naru/Hina, but there wasn't actually that much in it.
Sooo, if you would like, don't hesitate to review or pm me whether you support the Naru/Hina pairing. I can either:
Focus on the pairing quite a lot. To be honest not very preferable, as the main plot is definitely not meant to be romance.
Have some romance, but not that much. This I can get on board with.
No romance at all, or Hinata has a one sided crush. This isn't a bad idea either, since I'm not extremely confident at my romance writing ability.
OR! Perhaps even a completely different pairing? This would be strange haha, but if someone does suggest another I would be happy to think about it. I'm a bl fan, but since I didn't label this fic as that, it's not likely there will be any shounen ai pairings.
Anyways, thank you all so much! *chucks plushies of chibi Naruto at everyone* Constructive criticism is appreciated!
