Timeskip one year*
It had been a whole year since naruto began his training. During the year he had gotten the leaf balancing excercise down completely and was half way through the rock balancing excercise. He had worked through the basic offensive katas of his hummingbird taijutsu style and had managed to reach 2 tomoes for his sharingan. He had reached the level courtesy of yet another serious attempt on his life.
And for once in his life he was truly traumatised.
Flashback no jutsu*
He was walking down the streets after the sun had set, and was going to his apartment while ignoring the glares they shot his way. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Naruto was pulled into an alley and he fell down on his back. Regaining his bearings, Naruto saw three people donning the Leaf's forehead protectors and flak jackets surrounding his way out the alley.
Naruto's stomach dropped in dread when they pulled out kunai knives at him, and their smiles were downright evil. He had shivers running down his spine in fright at the vulnerable situation he found himself in. Naruto got up, and dashed through an opening, zigzagging his way down the alleyways while the three men followed hot on his tail.
Naruto knew they could have caught him by now if they so desired, being trained shinobi and all, but were probably enjoying the thrill of the chase. They were giving him some time, at the very least. Naruto tried to run even quicker when the men chuckled right behind him, apparently amused from his lame attempts at escaping them.
Naruto suddenly came to an abrupt stop when he saw the alley come to an end, and all he had ahead of him was a wall - a dead end.Naruto turned around just as the men turned around the corner and took a step back, then another, and another when his back hit the wall.
The shinobi began laughing at his miserable face when Naruto's back hit the wall and his eyes misted over with unshed tears. A lone tear rolled down his cheek when the men took out shurikens, not the practice one he was used to seeing, but the real deal. Without any hesitation or remorse, they chucked a volley of them towards him. Two shurikens lodged themselves in his right thigh and one in his left, another once in each of his forearms and a vicious scream in agony tore through his throat. Naruto fell down to his knees, whimpering in pain while they laughed at his misery.
"How the mighty have fallen," one of them taunted. "So, how does it feel to bear the pain that you inflicted on so many other humans, Kyūbi?! We know that we can't kill you or you'll regain your strength and be free off your bonds, but we can torture your vessel and break you from the inside out. Don't worry, you'll soon be numb from the pleasure we'll inflict upon you.""Why?" Naruto whimpered dizzily. "Why do you people keep doing this to me?! What have I ever done to you?""What did you do you say, Kyūbi?" they sneered furiously. "You killed so many of our villagers, and now you have the gall to ask what you did?! And to top it all of, you have the guts to join the Academy to regain your strength?! We'll make this a night to remember."
As soon as those words were said, Naruto curled up into a ball and prepared himself for the pain he knew was coming. No one noticed his cerulean blue pools bleed red when they were beating, kicking and stabbing him on all his non-fatal points. Naruto didn't know how long it continued for as his body grew number and his whimpers turned incoherent, all the while pleading if someone would save him.
At the Hokage Office
Hiruzen, having gone through a long council meeting, the point of which he still had trouble comprehending, was annoyed at being pointlessly held back for so long. They were arguing and asking pointless things off of him that, in his honest opinion, were beyond ridiculous. Moreover, he still had to go and complete all the pending paperwork that must have piled up on his desk in his absence. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as his back hit the leather of his chair.
He inked his brush and started scribbling away at the stack of folders.He must have been at it for hours since the sun was beginning to set in the horizon, Hiruzen realized tiredly. The thought of not being able to go see Naruto for congratulating the boy on making the cut for the Academy saddened him. But he promised himself that tomorrow, at Ichiraku's, he would treat the boy and listen to all his babbles for the entire evening.
Hiruzen had just about finished on his train of thoughts when Kakashi came striding in the door, an act that made Hiruzen grow a bit confused."Mission accomplished, Hokage-sama." Kakashi sighed lazily, further confusing Sarutobi."What mission is that Kakashi?" he questioned as if the masked jōnin had grown a second head. "I don't remember assigning you any missions. Weren't you supposed to be watching over Naruto tonight?" he asked with a hint of worry while Kakashi looked at him perplexed."But, Hokage-sama, the elders sent two ANBU's saying you were busy in a meeting." Hiruzen blinked, caught off guard. "Plus, this mission required my immediate attention. They even told me that they had assigned someone else to watch over Naruto while I was away."
Hiruzen gulped thickly, "Kakashi, I never issued any missions of importance that might have need of your specific skill-set today." he admitted with a dry throat. "And as for the council meeting, it was a useless gathering of civilians that really had no point in me attending. What was this mission you were on anyways?" he asked dismally."I was told to watch a specific part of the village wall. There had been a possibility for a breach of security. But it was most likely a fluke, as everything was fine according to the barrier team. Coincidentally, there was no point in me tending to the mission as well." Kakashi's words furthered Hiruzen's worries.
Hiruzen's and Kakashi's minds simultaneously began connecting dots. The useless council meeting summoned by the elders and the civilian council, Kakashi's fake mission, absolutely no breach in security, the ANBU detail...Hiruzen stood up, "Kakashi," his voice turned desperate. "Please tell me that you made sure someone was assigned to protect Naruto while you were gone, didn't you?" he asked uncertainly. Kakashi mechanically shook his head, his lone eye widening as he too finished connecting the dots.
Hurriedly, Hiruzen took out his crystal ball and desperately tried to locate Naruto. A few moments later, the crystal all locked onto his signature and an image became clear. Hiruzen' blood ran cold. He stood up abruptly as three ANBU came in front of his desk and Kakashi stood by their sides - all four looking ready for the kill. Hiruzen vanished in a tempest of flames, everyone else followed suit and rushed in the same direction with only one thought in mind.Let us make it in time!Meanwhile, in the Alleyway…It must been have at least four hours since his torture began, and the beating was still going on.
Naruto's body had fallen completely numb a while ago, and the numbness kept increasing as the pain was finally becoming too much for him bear. But Naruto was being forced to remain conscious, since the attacks being inflicted on him weren't allowing him to fall unconscious. The attackers were now getting pretty tired and annoyed as well.
"Hey," one of them heaved. "…He's hurt and everything, but not broken like we were ordered to. What should we do?" one of them asked as another one of them smirked."I have an idea," he suggested. "…After this, the Kyūbi will have a hard time staying sane, much less become a threat to the village." he promised.
The other two looked at him, intrigued as he started to tear apart the little blonde bundle's clothes in tatters. The others got the gist of what he was about to do and smirked themselves. Naruto, meanwhile, mutely whimpered as his clothes were torn apart, and he tried to think just what it was that they were planning to do with him; was there even something that could be worse than this?Finally, when he was in nothing but his undergarments, the man who had suggested this plan started to undo his pants.
Naruto clenched his eyes shut and wordlessly waited for whatever pain was about to come.This was the scene Hiruzen, Kakashi and the ANBU walked into. They all had their eyes widened at what the perpetrators were thinking of doing to the boy and when they heard the two men standing on the side, laughing, Hiruzen lost it. He threw a kunai at the man who was undoing his pants' jugular, who dropped dead without a sound while the two other fell to their knees from the killing intent he unleashed. They were terrified at being caught, sure, but were thinking of the consequences that it would lead them to.
"ANBU!" Hiruzen barked.The three ANBU behind him stiffened, "Orders, Hokage-sama?!"
"Take these bastards to Ibiki. Tell him everything that has occurred in the alley, word for word, and tell him that he has a week to play with them as he sees fit. Especially tell Anko what they were about to do. I'll talk to them later when they are done getting details out of them, and then I will plan their most painful execution, personally, and have them disgraced in front of the whole shinobi forces before being sentenced. Dismissed." he bellowed, and the ANBU took the two alive, whimpering, and begging shinobi away.
Kakashi burned the corpse right then and there, and the both of them walked over to Naruto slowly and steadily so as to not alarm the frightened boy who had tucked himself in a corner to get out of harm's way. He was curled up in a tiny ball, holding the two kunai knives he had pulled out of his own thighs, both of which bled profusely. He was shaking, trembling in fear, but he kept a little guard up. The thing that surprised the Kakashi the most were Naruto's eyes. His usual deep blue cerulean pools now bled red as two tomoes circled in his right eye and a single one in his left. Naruto barely managed croaked out some words, his body still trembling uncontrollably.
"Don't come any closer." he warned them as he kept up his shaking hands pointed at Hiruzen threateningly. Tears streamed down Hiruzen's own cheeks as he focused his attention on the terrified child. The shock of his unsealed eyes was nothing to Hiruzen at the moment compared to the iciness in the frightened words he'd just heard. Hiruzen continued walking closer, slowly with his hands up, while Kakashi held himself back, not wanting to scare the child even more than he already was.
"It's alright Naruto," Hiruzen cooed softly. "No one is going to hurt you anymore. It's me, your old man, don't you remember me, Naruto-kun?" he asked soothingly.
Naruto cried even harder, his kunai still held up in front of him. "Please don't hurt me," Naruto sniffled. "I'll go, and I'll never come back. Just, please, don't hit me anymore. It hurts, it hurts too much. Please, leave me alone! I wanna die and go see my father the old man told me about. He watches over me from above. Please go, I'll kill myself, I promise. Please don't hurt me anymore…" he choked out.
Involuntary tears flowed through the adult's faces at hearing what the boy had just admitted. It became was too much for Hiruzen's heart seeing the amount of trauma Naruto was presently under. It was so much that he wasn't even recognizing him, HIM! Hiruzen moved like lightning when Naruto pulled the kunai to his throat and snatched it away in a single, slick motion.
The kunai was discarded aside and Hiruzen wrapped his arms around the boy, who struggled coarsely at first, but then hugged him back when Hiruzen's familiar, welcoming scent hit his nose and he cried in his chest."Shh." Hiruzen hushed the boy. "It's alright, Naruto, you're fine. I'll take care of everything, you'll be better in no time, now calm down." he whispered comfortingly and smiled when the boy's crying trickled down, and he finally fell unconscious from sheer exhaustion. Hiruzen stood up with the boy in his arms, turning to Kakashi, he nodded and both vanished in a Leaf Shuushin.
Flashback no jutsu kai*
Naruto had to stay in the hosipital for 2 weeks before he was allowed to leave. Hiruzen had been worried about how this incident would affect naruto and his loyalty to the village. However his fears were unfounded when naruto told him that he wouldnt be able to look his father in the eye if he gave up so easily.
He said "You said it yourself jiji I have inherited the will of fire from my dad. I will do any and every thing in my power to protect those who he died protecting. I will carve my own path and make him proud." He finished with a foxy grin showing that he was alright.
However hiruzen wasn't known as the professor for nothing he immediately saw that naruto had put on a mask and it would be very very hard getting through to him.
"Damn you villagers. You have taken away the last bit of innocence of a child." as he thought that he silently let out a few tears before looking up to the sky and thinking "Im sorry minato I failed you."
After the incident naruto had once again pushed himself into training and was now reading more advanced notes on the sharingan and was practicing a few moves that came with it. He had worked through the basics of shuriken jutsu and had developed a good aim.
As a well done gift hiruzen had gifted naruto his very first jutsu scroll. It was called The Shadow shuriken clone jutsu and it caused a single projectile to be multiplied depending upon the chakra used.
Needless to say naruto took it in like a dry sponge to water. It took him a month to completely master the jutsu and after that he managed to derive 3 jutsus from it. He created the Shadow Kunai clone Jutsu, Shadow giant shuriken jutsu, and finally the multiple shadow giant shuriken jutsu.
Needless to say hiruzen was very impressed and even added the 3 jutsus he created under his name to the konoha jutsu library. They were ranked as C ranks. Naruto finding solace in ninjutsu asked if he could learn any more jutsus only to be put down by hiruzen who said he was only 5 and the arsenal he had right now was good enough.
Another thing that happened was naruto and hiruzen decided to put a seal on narutos eyes that would allow him to use the sharingan but it would still show his eyes to be the usual blue they were. Over the year naruto had developed a friendly relationship with the librarian who after meeting the blonde several times quickly saw that he was in no way kyuubi but was a victum of his own circumstance.
She spent time with him and taught him things like, cooking, maths, and manners. Needless to say the blonde couldnt stop grinning when he knew he had another person out there who cared for him.
For his second year of training he had decided to master the basic defensive katas of his taijutsu style, add his jutsus in it to make it more effective. To master the rock balancing excercise and also gain some ground in the tree walking excerise. Then to improve his control on his sharingan using his fathers notes which were quiet detailed on the excercises needed to improve his control over his eyes.
Half way through the second year naruto had finally started getting his first piece of appreciation it had happened during the kidnapping incident staged by kumo. They had almost successfully kidnapped the heiress of the hyuga clan Hinata hyuga and the heiress of the Uchiha clan Sayuri Uchiha.
"Strongest of the 5 villages my ass there defense is so lax they didnt even notice me entering there compounds and kiddnapping these brats." thought the kumo jonin as he made way to his exit point.
It was at this moment that the sack he was holding started moving and muffled crys could be heard from it. Giving the sack a voilent shake he harshly whispered "Quit your whining or I'll kill you." The voices were reduced to whimpers.
The kumo jonin was about to restart running when he was interrupted by 10 kunai landing right infront of him. He stopped and looked up to see a blonde kid no older than 5 glaring down on him.
"Get out of my way kid, I may let you live if you leave without making any noise." sneered the kumo jonin.
"Oh I'll leave al right but only after drop the bag you are carrying." naruto replied with a strong voice.
"Oh well I'll just have to kill you." said the kuno jonin as he threw 4 kunai at naruto. Naruto following the projectiles with his sharingan used his own kunai to parry the projectiles before throwing a single shuriken and going through his handseals and shouting "Multi shadow giant shuriken clone jutsu." The single projectile divided into 10 parts and enlarged into the fuma shuriken size.
The jonins eyes widened when he saw the projectiles coming his way. He had no option but to jump in the air which was exactly what naruto wanted him to do. Following the jonin naruto used both his sharingan and natural flexibility to deliver his strongest offensive taijutsu technique hitting a strong kick to the jonins temple.
Losing his balance he dropped the sac middair. Naruto however caught it before it reached the ground. He then quickly opened the top and saw 2 girls around his age both had black hair. There eyes were shut and they were huddled against eachother with tears running down there faces.
Naruto quickly undid there bindings prompting them to open there eyes and look at him. Naruto then said "run to the Hokage tell him what happened, I will hold that guy off and give you enough time to escape."
Both the girls looked shocked a boy just there age had managed to free them. One of the girls then said "b-b-but w-what about you?"
Turning to look at the jonin who was regaining his senses naruto said "I will be fine just get the Hokage to get here as quickly as possible." both the girls hesistantly nodded before running off to the hokage office.
The jonin after regaining his bearings snarled at naruto and said "You shouldve left when you had the chance brat now I will take my time killing you." Saying that he disappeared and appeared before naruto and punched him hard in the stomach, causing naruto to cough out blood. The jonin didnt stop his assault and then kneed naruto in the face broking his nose before kicking him into a tree.
As soon as naruto impacted the tree his head started bleeding and he was about lose his consciousness but fought to stay awake as he knew that the girls were still in danger.
The man looked at naruto with a maniacal grin and said "So you are still awake huh this might be fun after all." He weaved through handsigns at a quick pace and shouting "Lightening style :- howl of the wolf jutsu". As he said that a 3 meter long wolf made of lightening appeared and rushed towards naruto.
Naruto closed his eyes accepting death however it was at this time his body glowed blue and 4 blue chains erupted from his back and wrapped themselves around the wolf disintegrating it. Naruto on his last legs was working on pure instinct and will power followed his gut as the chains quickly wrapped themselves around the unsuspecting jonin hindering his movement. Naruto using the last of his chakra pumped it into his good hand and legs and launched himself at the jonin before hitting on the face as hard as he could knocking the jonin out.
As soon as the jonin fell down the chains disintegrated themselves and naruto wobbled his way to a tree and leaned into it falling unconscious himself. This was the scene that the hokage, the hyuga clan head Hiashi Hyuga and the uchiha clan Head Fugaku Uchiha along with there daughters walked into.
"ANBU take the kiddnapper to Ibiki for questioning. Tell him to get the information out before the raikage comes for his meeting." said hiruzen the ANBUs saluted before disappearing with the body.
After this hiruzen rushed to naruto and began checking his vitals, after feeling them to be stable he sighed before lifting the boy up and moving to the group.
"Ano is he alright.?" asked the hyuga heiress in a shy voice as she played with her fingers.
"Yes he is fine he is only unconcious. He should be fine after a few days at the hospital." hiruzen replied in a kind tone. He was extremely proud of what his grandson had done the will of fire was indeed burning brightly in him.
"Eto will we be able to visit him when he wakes up?" the Uchiha heiress asked as she fondled her skirt while looking at the ground.
"I think that can be arranged don't you think so Hiashi?" asked Fugaku to which the hyuga clan head nodded and said.
"It will be possible, this boy has garnered the favor of the hyuga clan, we will paying for his entire recovery." announced hiashi.
"And the uchiha clan will be responsible for his security during the days he will be at the hospital." announced Fugaku.
Hiruzen nodded at that and left with naruto taking him to the hospital. As the others left hiruzen thought "Security and pay? don't make me laugh you only want to keep an eye on him. "
3 days later.*
Narutos eyes fluttered open and he saw the familiar ceiling of the hospital. He struggled before sitting up and spotted hiruzen sitting on a chair.
"Hey ji..." he was broken off by a voilent cough which prompted hiruzen to quickly make his way toward him and hand him a glass of water. After a long drink he looked at hiruzen again and grinned before saying "Hey jiji."
Hiruzen then stood up and said "Dont you hey Jiji me mister, what were you thinking when you confronted a Jonin. You could have gotten yourself killed. What do you have to say for yourself.?" he scolded.
Naruto looked down, tears welling in his eyes and in a low voice replied "Im sorry Jiji."
Hiruzens eyes softened at that and he scooped naruto up in a hug he let the boy cry it out before saying "What you did was foolish on one hand I am slightly angry that you put yourself in danger but on the other hand I am immensely proud of you. You stood for your fellow villagers and became the light for them in that dark moment. You are a true carrier of the will of fire. I am proud of you."
Naruto then looked up and smiled before asking "Jiji how long was I out and are both of those girls ok?"
"You were out for 3 days dont worry i informed the academy of your absence you can go there from tomorrow. And yes both of them were fine they visited you while you were out. Now get some sleep you have school tomorrow." said hiruzen
"Alright Jiji good night see you tomorrow." said naruto as he rolled over and fell asleep.
BANG THATS IT FOR THE CHAP HOPE YOU LIKED IT.
