(A/N) Hey everyone, Im sorry about the late update, most of my free time has been spent working. but I havn't forgoten about this story. I thank everyone for their reviews, wether their good or bad I would like to read/hear them.
Reviews:
The poll will be remaining open for one more chapter after this. But enough of that lets get on with the story.
The sun was setting over the village basking everything it's rays could reach in a reddish-orange glow. On top of the Hokage mountain sat a young boy, but he wasn't just sitting, he was playing an ocarina. The melody seemed to float on the breeze that blew over the village.
Many of the villagers that were closing up their shops, or heading home all stopped what they were doing to listen to the soft yet sad song, one thought crossed everyone of their minds, 'Who could playing this sad melody?'
All across the village shinobi and civilian alike, all stopped to hear the song. As the last rays of light faded and darkness engulfed the village, the melody on the breeze came to an end. For several minutes nobody moved from their spots.
~Hokage Monument~
Naruto sat on the ledge on the rock face, ocarina resting on his lap. As he sat he remembered the talk he had with Hiruzen before he vanished for a month.
~Flashback~
"You sure your going to be ok Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked as he walked Naruto into the gate of training.
"I'll be fine Jiji, I'll be back in four weeks. I have to rebuild my muscles, work on my control, finish a few special Jutsu, and create my own private Ärms." Naruto said as Sarutobi sat him down by a tree.
"What is an Ärm?" the older of the two asked.
With a sigh Naruto started to explain, "You see the ring I gave you?" he paused to see Hiruzen nod, "That is an Ärm. It stands for Arcane Reforming Metal.((A/N)Not really just cant find what it really stands for.)That one on your finger doesn't need/have to reform to work. But others like for example this place, it's normally just a intricately designed chain that can clip to a belt. each one has unique abilities that are only shared with others of the same type. They could be things from simple farming tools to creatures on par with the Ichibi, if not stronger. The imagination of the maker dictates what they are to be."
Sarutobi was stunned at the possibilities, "Would you be willing…"
"I am not going to be giving these out like candy on Halloween." Naruto said sharply.
"But in the right hands they can be used to protect this village and it's inhabitants." Hiruzen pleaded.
"And in those same hands it could tear down our world as we know it." Naruto countered with a small glare. "These are to be considered clan craft. Not you or the council can make me hand them over for their own greed."
As Naruto spoke he started to walk back towards the door. As he was about to walk through Narutos' voice called out, "But that doesn't mean I wont give some to those I feel deserve them. You're an example of that."
Hiruzen smiled as the door closed behind him.
With the door closed Naruto started working on building up his abilities again, knowing it would take longer this time around. 'But first,' Naruto thought with a deflated sigh, 'I have to relearn to walk….' he said as his head fell forward
~flashback end~
As Naruto stood with the ocarina in hand, he looked out over the sleeping village, "Let the prank wars begin." he said before disappearing in a small white light.
In the trees further back from the ledge sat one of the ANBU with a raven, "I should inform Hokage-sama." he said vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
~One Year Later~
7:20 am
Naruto sat on the edge of his bed inside his rundown apartment which, once again, was given to him by Sarutobi. 'I really hate this place' Naruto thought as he grabbed his clothes and left to take a shower. As he turned it on he was blasted with freezing cold water, causing him to flinch, 'I only have to be here for another six years.' after washing off, he quickly dried off and got dressed in a pair of black cargo pants, a dark blue shirt with an orange spiral over his heart. His hands were wrapped in bandages going up into his shirt. Over the wrappings, he ware pair of black fingerless gloves.
As he left the apartment, Naruto's mind started to wander. While he absently walked towards the academy his mind brought up why he was in his current predicament.
~Flashback one month prior~
Naruto stood in front of the council. Some would say it was because the civilian side wanted to blame everything on the boy, others would say because of the pranks. Only those who guessed both were right.
Naruto was standing in front of the council because for the past eleven months the whole village had been pranked ten times over, excluding a few people. Everyone would say this was a normal occurrence, but there was a catch, no one could actually place blame on the young blond for any of the pranks.
Now Naruto, Tsunade, Shizune, Hiruzen and Jiraiya all knew Naruto had done the pranks. But none of they would say it out loud for two reason, first off there was no evidence that Naruto was behind the pranks, the second was he was always near one of them when the prank occurred .
"Hey Jiji, can you tell me why I'm here? It's not like I've done anything wrong." Naruto said in a child like voice, "I haven't done anything since I'm going to the academy soon like I promised."
At the word academy the civilian side was in an uproar, mostly Sasaki. While everyone could hear her speaking in a normal voice, the civilian side could hear her screeching. 'I've got to thank Jiraiya/Naruto for these seals.' was the thought that passed through the minds of the shinobi and elder council.
"Silence!" shouted Hiruzen finally shutting up the civilian side, "Now Naruto-kun you were called here for two matters but I can see it has been turned into three." he said with a tired sigh, "First was about you needing a permanent housing until you can find a better place to live. As a shinobi in training you need to have a known place of residence, where you can be found at a moments notice." he said as the small boy nodded. "The second was about all of the pranks that have been happening for almost a year. Did you have any hand in setting up or the execution the pranks?"
"Not in the lea…" Naruto started to say before Sasaki called out.
"You lie boy. I know it was you don't even try to deny it." she spat out with venom lacing her words.
"Those are some pretty bold words you speak, considering when ever one of the 'pranks' were set off he was seen no where near the scene for days prior or at the time of said 'pranks'." Tsunade said in a off-handed matter.
"Who else could have defaced the Hokage monument with those blasphemous creations." Sasaki said glaring at the older blond.
"I don't know who could have created those statues, but I think it makes the monument feel more complete then with just the faces. If I didn't know better when I first saw them, I would have thought the previous Kage's were alive again." said Jiraiya.
~Inner flashback~
Jiraiya, Tsunade, Hiruzen and Shizune all walked up to the top of the Hokages monument like Naruto asked them to. Once they arrived at the clearing overlooking the village they saw what looked to be four chairs sitting back from the rock face over looking the village.
As they approached they noticed what looked like people sitting in the stone chairs, in the first chair sitting above the Shodaime's head was a full color life like statue of Hashirama Senju, Shodaime Hokage. He was dressed in a pair of black pants with a black jacket which had red armor, similar to that of a samurai's, attached to them. His long, black hair moved down his back, vanishing into the chair. Sitting in his lap was another full color statue of his wife, Mito Senju. She wore an elegant kimono fitting that of royalty. Her dark red hair was held up into buns with ornaments decorating it. Both had content looks on their faces as they looked out over the village.
In the second chair was Tobirama Senju, Niidaime Hokage. He wore a similar outfit as his brother except with the armor being a deep blue with a white fur lining around his neck. Framing his face was a metal plate in the shape of an lower-case n. sitting alone but with just as peaceful of a look on his face as his brother.
Tsunade dropped to her knees as she saw her dead grandfather, grandmother and great uncle, looking as they did in their prime.
Hiruzen put a hand on the blond woman's shoulder in comfort before looking towards the third chair. To say he was shocked would have been an understatement.
In the chair sat a younger version of himself with his dead wife. Both looking no older then they did when he took the position for the first time, During the first great shinobi war.
Hiruzen shed a single tear from his eye as emotions he thought he had long lost, surfaced.
Jiraiya sat on his shins in front of the fourth chair. Their sat his last pupil and his wife, the Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze. Minato wore a standard Jonin outfit and vest with a white cloak with red flames running along the bottom border. Kushina wore a pair of form fitting black pants and a black long sleeved V-neck, her long red hair trailing down her back. Both who had a hand on top of her stomach. Eager smiles crossed their faces as they looked at each other, love filling their eyes.
As Jiraiya sat there Naruto walked up to him from the side, "I know they forgive you, they could never hate you for doing what you had to do." he said as he places a hand on Jiraiya's shoulder.
"What was it that I had to do, that would make them forgive me?" Jiraiya asked still looking at the statues.
"You were protecting me from enemies outside the village." Naruto said as Jiraiya turned to look at him, "They understand just like I do."
~Inner flashback end~
"I agree with Jiraiya-sama. They give a more familiar feeling to the monument." Stated one of the clan heads.
"Whatever. I still think they should be removed from the top. Or at least remove that woman from the Yondaime's statue. We all know that I was the closest female to him before his death." said Sasaki with spite in her voice.
Everyone inside the room except the civilian side had sweat drop of the side of their heads. As Jiraiya was about to say something, Tsunade stopped him with a subtle shake of her head.
Clearing his throat Hiruzen spoke up, "The statues will remain as they are. Now Before we get side tracked again." He said with a small glare at the civilian council, "We need to discuss young Naruto's lack of residence. In which will allow him to be enrolled into the academy this next semester."
At that the civilian side broke out in shouts again, though everyone else only heard normal voice levels.
"People like 'him' don't deserve to be put in to schools with children like ours'." said one of the fatter members of the civilians.
At this Shikaku raised his head of the table in front of him and looked at the civilian side, "Need I remind you, it's people like him" he said pointing at Naruto, "That keep the power balance between the nations on equal levels." he said muttering something under his breath before placing his head back down.
Noticing the tension in the air, Naruto Decided to play ignorant and turned to the aged Hokage, "Hey Jiji what did Nara-san mean by people like 'me'?" he asked scratching the side of his head like he trying was trying to understand what they were talking about.
Catching on to what Naruto was doing, Hiruzen looked towards the boy, "He means those willing to become the next generation of ninja in the villages." he said playing along.
"It doesn't matter one bit, since he is an orphan and civilian we of the civilian council have say in who from amongst us are allowed into the academy. And we deny him entrance to the academy." Sasaki said with a sneer, "The only way he can enter now is if he was a part of a clan. And since he's not, he wont be entering this year or any year after." she said with a smug look.
~Flashback end~
Naruto was brought out of his musings when he heard some boys laughing. Turning to see who it was he saw three boys surrounding a shorter, younger girl. They were shoving her between themselves. As he started to walk over one of the boys slapped the girl, knocking her to the ground.
He started to walk faster but once he was the girl's face and heard one of the boys say 'Hyuuga' he instantly knew who it was. Laying there on the ground with tears in her eyes was Hinata Hyuuga , the first girl to ever confess her love to him, (even if it was in another parallel world.).
As Naruto rushed forward, he noticed that one of the boys had his back towards him. He smirked at their stupidity, 'This should teach them' he thought as he neared the boy. Jumping into the air he kicked out, hitting the larger boy in the side of his face sending him skidding on the ground three feet away.
He could have launched the boy to the village walls, but he didn't want to kill the boys. Maiming them would be fine though.
The two boys snapping out of their stupor, rushed Naruto with their fists raised.
The taller one being the slightly faster one reached Naruto first. Ducking under the taller boys fist he reached out for the smaller boys fist. Grabbing the boy he turned and flung the boy over his shoulder towards the larger boy.
The largest boy was just starting to get up. He held the right side of his face, which was beginning to swell. He heard his two friends yell and charge the boy, but once he looked up he saw his smaller friend heading straight for him.
The tallest boy turned around and charged again, only to see Naruto jump over his reach landing in a crouch by the Hyuuga girl.
~Few minutes prior with Hinata~
Hinata was walking with her Chunin guard, Kurenai Yuhi, to the academy to start her first day. As they walked the crowd started to get bigger. After a few minutes of walking through the crowed she was separated from her guard and pushed into a group of older boys.
"Watch where your going brat." said the larger of the three boys
"G-g-g-go-men ne." she stuttered out, her face looking towards the ground hopping the boys would leave her alone.
"You think that's going to be enough?" said the smaller boy as him and the taller boy started to move around her.
"Yeah, we could have been hurt badly and all you can say is 'sorry'?" said the taller boy as he pushed her.
Tears started to form in her eyes as the boys continued to shove her and laugh. The whole time she kept her face downcast trying to hide her tears as she kept muttering ' I'm sorry'.
The larger boy was starting to get mad at Hinata, 'What, is that the only thing she can say!' he thought before he moved his hand to slap the girl to get her to shut up.
As she fell to the ground she felt tears starting to fall down her cheeks faster, if not faster then she was saying 'I'm sorry'. she looked up pleading with her eyes for them to let her go.
"Awww is the baby crying?" said the shorter boy as he laughed hearing the constantly sniffling.
The taller boy looked at the girls face seeing her eyes, "Shit guys, she's a Hyuuga!"
"Don't worry a doubt she going to say anything about this am I…" the larger boy was cut off due to a foot hitting the side of his face.
She was a blond boy land where the larger boy was standing prior.
As soon as she blinked the other two boys were charging the blond. They failed to hit him and the smaller boy was tossed at the larger boy that was just starting to get up.
Blinking once again she saw the blond boy land next to her.
~Back to The Present~
Turning towards the girl, "Head up the street and you'll reach the academy soon." he said as he pointed in the direction she thought Kurenai was.
As the taller boy was about to charge again, an older persons voice called out from the crowed, "The demons attacking some boys and the Hyuuga heiress!"
'Shit!' was the first thought to cross his mind. Turning back towards Hinata, "Someone will be here for you soon Hime-chan" he said before he started to run in the opposite direction he had pointed then down an ally.
~With Kurenai~
The day had started off as a normal one. She was assigned to bring the Hyuuga heiress to and pick her up from the academy while they were having classes. She had picked the young girl up from the Hyuuga compound. As they walked the streets started to get crowded from the parents that have already dropped of their children at the academy and were starting to do their shopping.
As she walked towards the academy she felt something off. Slightly turning her head, she spoke softly, "Stay close Hinata-Chan, we don't need you getting lost."
When she didn't hear a reply she turned fully to see her young charge was nowhere in sight. Panicking she jumped to the roofs trying to find the young girl in the crowed. She started to panic more with every passing second, the sound of someone yelling caught her attention farther down the street.
As she neared the area the shout came from she caught a glimpse of blond hair before a group of villagers and other ninja started to chase.
Seeing that her charge sat sitting on the street she quickly moved in and took the girl towards the academy.
~With Naruto~
Naruto ran as fast as he could, well not exactly, he ran as fast as the mob chasing him had expected him to. 'Damn I really hate having to keep my training secret until the second semester.' he thought as he ran.
The mob that was chasing him had several ninja spread out in them. He knew that if he was caught he would be in trouble, and not from the old man either.
As he ran he tried to remember which alleyways went through and which were dead ends. At the next alley he took a right, only to notice it was a dead end halfway through. 'the one day I need all of my luck I forget Andarta and Lady Luck is on a fucking vacation!' Naruto thought as the ninja part of the mob finally caught up to him.
Turning to look at the mob, Naruto started to sweat, "I don't suppose we can talk this…" he started to ask as several ninja started to pull out kunai, "I didn't think so…" he sighed as they started to approach him…' I'm so fucked right now.' he thought with a whimper as he muttered about damned promises.
~Three hours later Academy class 1-A~
Hinata was sitting in the back of the room by herself, she was placed into the class that held almost all of the clan heirs and heiresses.
Their sensei was Iruka Umino. he had brown hair that was held up in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar across the bridge of his nose. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit with a forehead protector and flak jacket.
Once class had started, he walked into the room and immediately started to take role. Once it was Hinata's turn she called out an intimidated introduction like the others of the class had given.. once he neared the end of the list his face turned into a scowl, the next name he called out was spoken with indifference. Which was 'Naruto Uzumaki'. As soon as he heard no response he brightened back to normal before calling the last few names.
After he was done Iruka started to explain what their curriculum was going to be like for the next six years. Giving a brief description on the Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Medic-Ninjutsu, chakra control, and their academic classes.
It was at this point that something fell into the door causing half the class to jump in surprise.
As Iruka moved towards the door opening it, what he saw, but Hinata couldn't, left him shocked.
~With Naruto Two Hours Prior~
After an hour long betting and nearly getting killed several times, the several ninja and few civilians that stumbled onto them had left what they thought was a dieing or dead boy. They really didn't care to check.
After he was sure they were gone he decided to still head towards the academy. 'At least it was only two miles away. It'll only take less then two minutes.' he thought. that was until he heard something, "Too bad you have to play weak and cant just run over the roofs yet." Kyu said with a jovial hint to his voice. "Screw you too buddy." Naruto thought bitterly as he remembered how he had to either halt his outer healing or speed up the internal healing when needed. The later had caused scaring on the outer skin level.
As he walked, many of the civilians started to grin evilly once they saw his appearance, which he had three kunai still in his shoulder, leg, and lower back. The only thing that stopped them from attacking the boy was the several ANBU following the boy from the rooftops.
During his trek Naruto had to make several detours as the civilian and ninja populations started to gather around him. Once again the only reason he wasn't getting attacked was because of the ANBU.
Once he finally arrived at the academy he noticed several lists' posted by the door. Scanning over them he noticed his name was crossed off and the classroom. As he entered the building he noticed the secretary was not insight of the door or hallway. Moving down the hall he found his class. Deciding to take a quick breath before removing the kunai. As he started to remove the first from his leg, he took a step to rest a hand on the door. Only to miss the piece of chalk on the ground, where his foot was to be set.
Now Naruto was able to noticed two things, first was when his foot shot backwards sending him face first towards the door. Second was that turning mid fall when you have sharp metal objects in your body is a bad idea, which he learned as soon as he hit the door.
After the initial impact Naruto felt two of the three kunai still buried into his skin went deeper them he would have liked. Using the door frame to help himself up, he got to his feet with his head drooped down. That was when the door slid open. looking up he saw his teacher was Iruka. with a mental smirk, "Sorry I'm late Sensei." he said before wincing.
~Cliffhanger no Jutsu~
(A/N) I know it's been over 2 months since my last post. work has been taking most of my free time. I haven't given up on this story. I've been stuck at this point for several weeks but i got it done. Hope you all like it. And just a reminder, the poll ends with chapter 11.
Current standings.
Sarutobi:
Live 9
Die 4
Haku:
Live 12
Die 1
Boy 4
Girl 11
Zabuza:
Live 11
Die 2
Harem:
Yes 12
No 3
Harem if yes:
Hinata: * Was voted to be paired with Naruto.
Temari: 10
TenTen: 7
Yugito: 8
Samui: 8
Kin: 6
Mei: 8
Karin: 4
Fuu: 7
Ino: 6
Kurotsuchi: 6
Haku: 10(If girl)
Kurenai: 5
Tayuya: 2
Shion: 3
Koyuki: 4
Toki: 2
Haruna: 1
Mikoto: 2
Hana: 4
Anko: 2
Yuugao: 1
Haruna: 1
Other: 2