Yukihana: Yay! New chappie!
Hisako: I bow to Devil of the Mist! He is now helping me come up with ninjutsu ideas for this story! The following techniques are his:
Mokuton: Morigakure no Jutsu. (Wood Release: Hidden Among the Forest Technique)
C-Rank
Allows the user to coat themselves in a nearly impenetrable armor of bark.
Range: Short
Type: Defensive
Mokuton: Ru-Tsu no Jutsu (Wood Release: Roots Technique)
C-Rank
A simple Jutsu causes roots to spring from the ground and trip an enemy.
The farther this Jutsu is used from the user, the more chakra it costs.
Range: All
Type: Offensive
Mokuton: Shibu Ya no Jutsu (Wood Release: Branch Arrow Technique)
B-Rank
Causes the branches on nearby trees to sharpen and launch themselves at the enemy.
Commonly used with the Mokuton: Jukai Kōtan. (Wood Release: Birth of Dense Woodland)
Range: Long
Type: Offensive
I will not be using all of these in this chapter. In fact, I won't be using any. This list will be repeated in all of the chapters and will be increased as Devil of the Mist sends me more ninjutsu.
Yukihana: Also, please note that this is an eventual AU. For me, that means that the first part of Naruto will be pretty much cannon, while everything after that will be my own storyline. For a good example of this look at The Gambler by ZenoNoKyuubi. (It's on my profile under favorite stories XD)
Hisako: Drum roll please! This is the much-awaited chapter-we finally discover what happened to the Kirisawas! Read on, my dear fans, to find out!
Yukihana: Also, I apologize to any real doctors or nurses who might be reading this-I'm not one, so I have no idea if the medical processes and terminology I'm using in here are correct.
Naruto
Slugs: 1
Toad: 1
Jaguar: 1
Wolves: 1
Tigers: 2
Phoenix: 7
Fox: 1
Salamander: 1
Dragon: 1
Tortoise: 1
Ino
Panther: 3
Tiger: 3
Cat: 4
Crane: 1
Same as Naruto: 1
Sakura
Dog: 3
Bear: 3
Wolverine: 2
Flamingo: 1
Inner Self: 1
Slugs: 1
Shikamaru
Deer: 3
Sloth: 3
Dingo: 1
Bears: 1
OR
Each of them gets a Celestial Contract: 1
Glossary
Kuni no Shinobi-Land of Shinobi (A.K.A Shinbi Countries, Shinobi Continent, etc, etc.)
Namikuji Sannin-Slug Sannin
Gama Sannin/Sennin-Toad Sannin/Sage
Dantetsu no Sannin-Legendary Sannin (Literally means "The Three Ninja of Legend")
Tsukurite no Kiseki-Miracle Maker (Literally "Creator of Miracles")
Meetings
Mokuton
Sarutobi was chewing on the end of his wooden pipe and fighting the enemy of all Kages.
Paperwork.
'Such an evil thing should not have been invented!' The Sandaime thought, just before he heard a knock on the door.
'Finally! Something to end this torture!' Chibi Hiruzen said, crying anime-style tears.
On the outside, he simply called out, "Come in."
When the door opened, it revealed a white-haired man with red tear streaks and a horned hitai-ate with the kanji for "Oil" carved into it.
"Jiraiya-kun!" the Hokage said in surprise, "It's been a while."
"Indeed, it has." The man said. "So, anything new around her sensei?"
The Sandaime took a deep breath. He was not looking forward to saying this. "Jiraiya…" he murmured, "I found your son."
For a moment, the Sannin forgot to breathe. Then, all of his anger, pain, and surprise, came out in one word. "WHAAT!"
xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
Halfway across the village, Naruto's Bijuu-enhanced senses picked up a loud shout, "Someone's in a bad mood." He observed, chuckling quietly to himself.
xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
"You heard me."The Sarutobi said.
"I was told he died in the Kyuubi attack!"
"That was an assumption. We couldn't find him and the hospital was in shambles, so…" the Sandaime said, shrugging helplessly.
"Where is he? Tell me now!" the Gama Sannin demanded.
"Jiraiya-kun! Calm yourself!" the Hokage ordered. "There are some things you need to know before you see him."
The Sennin groaned, but did as his former sensei asked. "I've lasted twelve years, what's ten more minutes?" he grumbled under his breath.
Hiruzen sighed before continuing. "Unfortunately, your son, Naruto, was chosen as the container for the Kyuubi."
Jiraiya's eyes widened. He knew of the life that all jinchuuriki were condemned to. "No…No way…"he said, in denial.
Jiraiya stared blankly past the Sandaime. 'Naruto...Kami, I'm so sorry…'
The Hokage was loathe to continue, but he knew he had to. "For the first five years of his life, Naruto was used as the village's scapegoat. I actually had to assign an ANBU detail to him every year on October the 10th. A few weeks after his fifth birthday, someone approached him with friendly intentions. It was a girl named Kirisawa Aya, a year older than him. She was boisterous, loud, and talented. Her family felt no grudge against Naruto, and they took him in. They were actually about to adopt him when that incident happened."
"It was three days after the Kyuubi Festival. The Kirisawa family, along with Naruto, was outside the village walls, wandering in the forest. The family was small; only containing Aya and her parents, Shizuka and Koujirou. They were both tokubetsu jounin. There was no warning; it was peaceful, and then, all of a sudden, two rouge shinobi from Iwagakure no Sato showed up."
"The Kirisawa Clan ended that night. All three of them were murdered in broad daylight."
"When Aya fell, Naruto snapped. His control of the Kyuubi went out the window, and he killed all of the rouge shinobi. Something in him broke that day. Maybe it was the Kirisawa's death, maybe it was the men he killed, and maybe it was a combination of both. But he eventually managed to put it behind him and move on."
"Naruto trained mercilessly until he got his chakra control to an amazing level. He eventually managed to find somebody willing to teach him medical ninjutsu. Naruto had an aptitude for it, and two years later he was actively helping in the hospital, and a year after that he became a fully qualified medic-nin. He's a lot like his mother, but he definitely has a more…even…temperament."
"Naruto also has a pretty good grasp on fuuinjutsu. I don't know a lot about his progress in that area, but I've seen glimpses."
Jiraiya paled. 'Oh Kami…Naruto…'
"Will he forgive me? For leaving him? For condemning him to the life he's had?" Jiraiya wondered out loud, loading himself with self-blame.
"Jiraiya, it will be all right. In the mean time, you should probably find Tsunade and talk to her."
"Yeah…"
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Maito Gai was standing in hospital room number 438, next to the bed his student laid in. Three doctors were there as well.
"Well?" the spandex-wearing jounin asked, "Is there anything you can do?"
The first medic, a purple-haired woman, shook her head as she looked down. "We can't do anything by ourselves. I'm sorry."
The third medic, a black-haired male spoke up. "Don't lose hope, however. Senpai may be able to do something."
The middle one, a blue haired female, nodded in agreement. "That's true. Senpai my work another of his miracles."
The purple one smiled slightly. "Yeah. They call him Tsukurite no Kiseki for a reason…"
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Naruto himself currently stood at the reception desk of the hospital.
Naeko, the woman currently manning the desk, greeted her superior in a scarily cheerful voice. "Hi Naruto-senpai!"
The blonde groaned. "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"
"More then I can remember! 673 at least!"
Naruto sighed, before recomposing himself. "I need Rock Lee's room number."
Naeko nodded and answered the blonde promptly with. "438."
"Thanks."
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Naruto opened the door to room 438 to be greeted by the sight of five glum expressions..
"What's with all the long faces?" he asked.
The male medic rolled his eyes and handed a clipboard to Naruto. "That's the prognosis. Can you do anything?"
The jinchuuriki glanced at the clipboard, flipping through the multiple sheets on it. Sighing, he momentarily closed his eyes before replying. "I think I have a solution. I will need a few days to prepare it and smooth out the wrinkles. I should be able to start the operation in three days. I'll be back tomorrow and the day after to check on you, Lee, so don't be surprised if I stop by."
Gai began crying his anime-style tears, pumping his fist up and down. "Your flames burn most brightly, medic nin-san! YOSH! I shall do one hundred laps around the village in celebration of your FLAMES OF YOUTH!"
The mokuton user chuckled nervously before disappearing in a puff of smoke, getting away from the creepy-ass taijutsu master as fast as possible.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
When Naruto returned to Lee's room the next day, he was surprised to find the Suna jinchuuriki in the room, about to crush the leaf genin's neck.
In one lightning fast movement, the blonde grabbed the redhead's wrist, effectively preventing him from using his sand.
"Why…" the Suna-nin murmured. "Why did you stop me?", just as he was thinking, 'Why isn't the sand protecting me?' in the back of his head.
"I'm not simply protecting him." The mokuton user said. "I'm also protecting you from yourself. IF you kill Lee, you will be no better than the monster that resides within your seal. Is that what you really want? The jinchuuriki and the bijuu are two different things, remember that. You are no more Shukaku then I am the Kyuubi. Remember, the moon is never truly alone, it has the stars for company."
Gaara's eyes widened. 'Who is this boy?' he wondered, 'To shake the foundation of my beliefs with a few sentences…Just who are you, Naruto?'
"If you need someone to talk to, just walk by the hospital. I'm probably going to be there for the rest of the month anyways." Naruto said. When the blonde was finished speaking, he released the redhead's wrist and left the hospital in a flurry of leaves.
Gaara stared at the spot he had stood in.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
The next day, after Naruto had finished checking up on Lee, he sensed a chakra formed of sand, wind, blood, and demonic energy. 'Gaara!' the blonde realized.
The Kyuubi jinchuuriki found the redhead a few blocks away, and started toward him. "Hey, Gaara!" he called.
The stoic Suna-nin turned to look at the blonde. "I thought a lot about what you said yesterday. I do not know if I can do it, but I would like to try." He said.
The blonde smiled warmly. "That's all it takes. You just have to try."
"Thank you." Was all Gaara said before disappearing in a whirl of sand.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
The next day, Naruto entered hospital room 438, prepared to heal Rock Lee.
Maito Gai was there, as he wanted to make sure his favorite student would be all right. The medic nodded a hello before walking up to Lee's bed. "Alright, Lee, I need you to sit up, back toward me. Tell me immeadiatly if anything hurts."
"Okay Naruto-kun!" Lee said cheerfully.
The blonde smiled slightly and placed both of his hands on the older genin's back.
Chakra formed on the tenketsu in his finger tips. Naruto carefully pushed threads of chakra into Lee's body, and began the delicate process of navigating his patient's body.
Every time a strand of chakra ran into a chip of bone, Naruto dissipated it. Every time he met a fracture in the arm or leg, he healed it.
The process was long and tedious, but much safer than the alternative method that the Namikuji Sannin used. About four hours later, the procedure was done. Naruto was exhausted but happy that Lee would be able to continue his life as a shinobi-the surgery had gone perfectly and Lee was as good as new.
Gai was ecstatic. "Naruto-kun's flames of youth burn most brightly!" the jounin shouted as he wrapped the blond in a bear hug.
Now, one thing about Naruto was that he was not, by any means, used to being touched when he wasn't in the middle of a fight. So the blonde panicked until he managed to squirm out of the embrace.
Once the jinchuuriki managed to get away, Gai and Lee sprinted out of the hospital, vowing to run 500 laps around Konoha. Naruto felt a bead of sweat slide down the back of his head as he thought, 'Those two are completely and utterly insane…'
Turning around, the blonde saw a woman of about twenty years old. She was of a smaller build with short black hair and wore a black robe with white trim.
Naruto tilted his head in curiosity. "Who are you? What do you need?" he asked.
The woman straightened up at being addressed. "My name is Shizune. I am Tsunade-sama's personal assistant." She responded.
The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Tsunade-sama is back? Then I suppose Jiraiya-sama would be too. They've been an item for quite some time."
"I suppose that's true."
"So why are you here, Shizune-san?"
"Tsunade-sama told me to find the person known as the 'Miracle Maker', which I understand to be you."
The blonde closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm no miracle maker. I just work hard. Besides, there are tons of people better than me."
"You are very modest. I've heard a lot about your medical exploits."
"Whatever you say. Why does Tsunade-sama need me, anyways?"
"Just curiosity, I believe."
"Hmm, okay. Anything else?"
"Well, do you know a person named Naruto? Tsunade-sama needs to speak to him as well."
The blonde smiled. "I'm Naruto. So it looks like you can hit two birds with one stone."
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Soon enough, Naruto found himself in the same room as the two loyal Sannin. 'Who would've thought that I'd be here?' he wondered idly. 'Not to mention, Tsunade-sama is probably a virtual library of medical information. There are so many things I could learn from her…And then there's Jiraiya-sama. Pervert that he is, he is the best seal master the Kuni no Shinobi has to offer at the moment. I wonder if he knows how to make medical seals.' Then, the blonde forced himself to come back to the real world. 'Hel-lo, earth to Naruto. These are the Dantetsu no Sanin we're talking about. There's no way they'd take on an apprentice.'
Tsunade sighed heavily. "Shizune, could you leave us for a few minutes?" she asked, even though it was more of an order.
The brunette nodded, glancing at Naruto, before replying "Hai, Tsunade-sama," and leaving.
Tsunade bit her lower lip, uncertain of what to say. 'This is the son I never met…what the HELL am I supposed to do?' she shouted in her mind.
Jiraiya nudged her gently. "Start from the beginning." He suggested.
The Namikuji Sannin nodded. "Ah.. Naruto, we have a story to tell you. Please be patient, and you'll understand in the end."
The jinchuuriki nodded, sitting down in a nearby chair.
Tsunade sighed again before beginning to tell her story.
"It was about twenty years ago. I was 25 at the time. It was also the middle of the Second Shinobi War-a four-way battle between Iwa, Ame, Suna, and Konoha. During all of this I met my first true love-a jounin named Yamamoto Dan. He was kind, sweet, and passionate-his dream was to become Hokage so he could protect Konoha to the best of his abilities. But then…the war took him."
"It was horrible. I was moping around for weeks, and I didn't do much except drink sake. Jiraiya finally knocked some sense into me, and we ended up spending more time together. Despite myself, I found that I was falling in love with the damn pervert."
"Eight years later, we had a child. He was born on a horrible day, the day of the Kyuubi attack. He was killed in the aftermath, or so we thought."
Naruto cocked his head to one side in confusion. "I understand your pain, but what exactly does this have to do with me?" he asked.
Tsunade looked down in sadness. "Naruto…that child was…you."
The Tsukurite no Kiseki felt all the blood rush out of his face. 'No…' he thought. 'It's not possible. There's no way. If it's true…why did they leave me alone? Why was I always ALONE?'
"No!" the jinchuuriki shouted. "It's not true!"
That was the snapping point for Tsunade. She broke down, crying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She sobbed. "Kami, I'm so sorry, Naruto."
"Naruto, please…" Jiraiya said. "I know we have no excuse for not being there for you…but can't we at least try and make it up to you?"
The medic shook his head. "No, no no! Why weren't you there? Why was I always alone?" he shouted, lunging across the room, hitting the Gama Sennin in the stomach.
Jiraiya choked slightly, before chuckling and wrapping the boy in a hug. "I guess I deserved that, huh?"
Naruto stiffened, before trying to escape the Sannin's grasp. But the older man only held on tighter. "I would never had left if I'd known you were alive…In the name of all things holy, I'm sorry." Jiraiya whispered.
The Sannin looked down in surprise when he felt his shirt become wet. He was shocked to find that the mokuton wielder was crying. "I have a family…" the jinchuuriki murmured. "What am I supposed to do?"
By this time, Tsunade had joined the family hug. "Watch and learn." She replied. "Watch and learn."