Assassin's Legacy: Chapter 12

The Curse that Follows


Namikaze-Uzumaki Household (A month after the triplets' tenth birthday)

"Again!"

Menma looks up and growls at his father, "I can't!"

Minato looks at Menma with such a disappointed frown that something inside Menma withers.

"Son, you have made no progress in the-"

"Stop. I don't want to hear it right now. So just stop."

Minato is glaring at him now and Menma glares back.

Kushina who was suddenly there began scolding the boy, "Menma I know you are frustrated but that is not an attitude we expect from you!"

Menma scoffs, "Frustrated? You call this frustrated?"

Menma wants to scream and rant, he is tired of holding back, so he does just that, "It's been three years and I still can't go past two tails without going on a rampage! Nothing you say is helping me. This whole training you are putting me through is useless. I have been listening to you and working my very best ever since I can remember and the result is always a bloody failure. You have no idea how angry I am."

"Menma!"

"No, don't you dare yell at me!"

Minato tries to intervene before this all goes too out of control, "Menma you need to calm down. Right now."

Menma turns his attention on to his father, "Or what?"

"I think Menma, that you need to get a better attitude..." Jiraiya comments idly from where he is watching.

The old hermit has visited on occasion to help the kage and wife in training their two children but as far as he can see everything was falling apart, including their family.

Jiraiya notices how Menma's face hardens when he hears Jiraiya's comment. There is a bitter look on the kid's face.

"A better attitude, huh? Or what you're going to disown me too?"

The comment takes both Minato and Kushina by surprise but not Jiraiya. Because Jiraiya knows that this has been coming since three years ago.

"Of course not," Kushina rushes to disagree and Menma just scoffs.

"I don't want to train anymore. We can continue this later," without listening to what his parents have to say Menma walks away.

Minato sighs at his son's attitude. Menma gets worse every year after Naruto had been disowned.

Now three years after Naruto was disowned his family was falling apart.

"Minato, how are we supposed to deal with this?"

Minato looks at Kushina and sighs, "I honestly don't know..."

Looking to the side he sees Mito standing near the edge of the training field. She fidgets when he looks at her and runs after her brother.


Menma stops running when he thinks he is alone but he is surprised by a voice from behind him.

"Why are you angry?"

Menma looks at the girl standing behind the tree. Menma had run to the park after he left the training field. He wasn't in a mood to play and just wanted to be left alone so he had moved to a quieter abandoned part of the park.

Menma looks at the girl suspiciously, "Who are you?"

The girl fidgets nervously, "My name is Akumu."

Menma raises an eyebrow at her, "Nightmare? Who names their kid that?"

The girl glares at him then, "Well I can ask them if I ever meet them."

Menma frowns at that.

The girl turns back without another word and runs into the more wooded area of the park. Menma feels the smallest amount of guilt but he had no plan on apologizing... But still...

He ran after the girl after a moment of thinking.

He couldn't find her even after searching for a while. The deeper he went into the woods the darker it was getting and he was about to head back when he heard something.

Thanks to the demonic chakra he had much higher senses, higher than an Inuzuka and that's saying something.

After concentrating for some more time he hears it again. It sounds like an angry growl.

There is a clearing ahead of where he is standing and he can see the flash of someone moving in the clearing.

Cautiously he moves towards the clearing and enters it.

He gapes when he sees the clearing. The place is beautiful. A small pond of to the side with water Lillie's floating along the surface of it and many other exotic flowers and plants growing on the edges, it looks like a part of heaven.

In all his life Menma has never known that a place like this existed in Konoha.

"What are you doing here?"

Menma looks to the side when he hears the panicked question. It's the girl from earlier, the one he was running after. He feels really foolish for not paying more attention to his surroundings.

"I followed you," he blurts out.

The girl, Akumu, looks a little panicked at that.

"You can't be here. This is my place."

Menma raises an eyebrow at that, "your place? This is the Konoha forest Akumu, this belongs to nobody."

The girl looks really scared then.

"But," he says, "I won't tell anyone else about this place if you really don't want me to."

"I really don't," the girl snaps.

Menma smirks, "so then you won't mind if I spend some time here would you? Who am I kidding you really would, but then again I really don't care."

Oh if looks could kill Menma would be six feet under by now.

"You're an arrogant bastard."

Menma scoffs at that, "well you are a nobody with a freakish name."

Akumu's glare hardens and she looks away.

Menma spares the girl one more glance before moving towards the pond. It's at that moment that Akumu chooses to strike.

She moves like a viper and attempts to strike at his back. But Menma wasn't trained by a Kage and two S class shinobi for no reason, he grabbed her by her outstretched hand and flips her into the pond without even turning to look at her.

Menma is grinning smugly when Akumu comes up spluttering and spitting out water with a water Lilly caught in her long brown hair.

Menma bursts out laughing at the sight.

"I'll kill you!" She screeched.

"I'm waiting."

At the end of the day both of them are wet and dirty and bruised. Akumu more than Menma. After a while of Menma kicking her ass, Akumu had started playing dirty. She still only got a few hits in.

"That's the most fun I've had in a while," Menma says, "a long while."

Akumu grunts, "Fun for you maybe."

Menma gives her an unimpressed look and Akumu caves because somewhere along the way she had let go of the anger and did really enjoy it.

"Maybe it was a little fun," she says reluctantly and Menma grins.

"Let's do this again."

"What, you kicking my ass? No thanks."

Menma notes the bitterness in her voice when she says that. He thinks about it for a moment before saying, "I'll teach you how to fight. To fight like a shinobi."

Akumu sits up startled, "wh-what?"

"I said I'll teach you. Did I really hit your head that hard?" Menma asks mockingly.

"Asshole," she calls him but there is tentative hope in the way she looks at him and Menma knows that he is doing the right thing.

"So?" He asks.

"Fine."

Menma smiles at that, even when she tries Akumu can't hide the joy in her words.

"I thought you would be more like him..." Akumu trails of wistfully when Menma is not looking at her.

He turns to her with a confused look, "Like who?"

She hesitates slightly before answering him, "Naruto."

Menma sits up suddenly, "You know him?"

She too sits up with a sad expression, "Not really. Didn't get a chance to do that before he went away... I know he is your brother and that he got disowned."

Menma grits his teeth and stays silent.

"He used to come and play with the kids at the orphanage. They all adored him. He was so nice... I..." she stumbles a bit in her words, "I used to have this huge crush on him."

"Used to?" Menma asks.

She blushes, "Okay maybe I still do have a slight crush on him."

"Oh," Menma says and stays silent for some time.

"I came to talk to you, to ask if you knew anything about him..." she admits.

Menma appreciates her honesty but more than that he feels angry at her.

"I honestly didn't expect anything... But this... this was fun. You are much nicer than I thought. Still an asshole though," she smirks, "I don't want to start any friendship on wrong notes, that's why I am telling you all this. If we are to be friends, then we should start on a clean slate..."

Menma looks at her startled before his usual cocky expression comes back, "Who says I want to be friends with you?"

She raises an eyebrow condescendingly, "You don't?"

Menma narrows his eyes at her, "Well I don't."

She snorts, "Oh man, you're such a bad liar... You do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No"

"Yes"

"No"

"Yes"

"No"

"No"

"Yes" Menma only realizes his mistake after he said it.

"Hah!" Akumu crows with a delighted laugh. Her laughter is contagious and Menma was soon laughing along with her.

"Hey," she says after their laughter settles, "I want to be your friend because I like you. This has nothing to do with my crush on your brother."

Some knot in his chest loosens when he hears that.

"I don't know anything about him..." he says softly.

She hums, "He's probably out there somewhere... Becoming a doctor as he wanted. Maybe he has a lot of new friends there. Maybe he is happy... He deserves to be happy..." there is a wistful tone in her voice.

Menma's throat closes up and he just nods instead of using his words. He was the one responsible for Naruto's leaving. maybe if he hadn't been such a horrible human being Naruto and Akumu would have been great friends by now. There was no doubt that Naruto would be a much better friend than Menma could ever be, but there was something about Akumu that made him want to protect her. The girl looked like she needed someone in her corner, a friend and Menma needed one too.

He can help this girl and ease the guilt at having gotten his brother kicked out. Because for some reason, Menma really likes this strange girl and she reminds him of Naruto in some strange way.

"By the way, I don't like your name."

"Yeah? Neither do I," Akumu snaps.

Menma rolls his eyes, "well then change it."

"Change it?" She asks dumbfounded like it's the first time she even thought about it.
Then after a moment of silence she admits, "the name... I know it's not great and I don't really like it either but it's the only thing I own. I know you don't understand, but I don't want to get rid of it."

She's right Menma doesn't get it but he says, "Alright then keep the name. But I am calling you Aki from now on."

"Aki... Red..." She whispers fingering a strand of red hair. It's not that her whole hair is red. Her hair is predominantly brown but under the right shade of light it looks red. And there are a few red strands mixed in as well.

Menma feels satisfied when she ducks her head with a smile. Maybe this day wasn't a complete waste after all.


Mito was waiting for him when he got back home. His parents were nowhere to be seen nor was Jiraiya.

He sighed and moved to his room ignoring her. She followed him like he knew she would.

"Where were you?" Mito asked softly.

She changed a lot in three years. She was more soft-spoken these days, and Menma was the only one who understood that her 'calming down' as his parents had called it was not all that good.

She was nervous almost all the time these days.

"At the park," Menma replied with a sigh.

Mito looked at him sharply, "Are you lying to me?"

"What?"

"I went looking for you. You weren't at the park."

Menma looked at Mito who was staring at him with her pursed lips and narrowed gaze. He suddenly realized that he didn't want her to know about Akumu.

"I went with a friend after a while." He shrugged.

"Which friend?" Mito asked pointedly.

Menma suppressed the urge to growl, "Do I have to tell you everything?"

Mito looked away in silence. Menma sighed when he saw her face. Ever since Naruto's banishment she was very clingy to him. He didn't know why that was, maybe a therapist could help more with Mito. He wondered what was going on in her mind, it couldn't be all that healthy. Sometimes he thought that both of them needed to spend time with a Yamanaka.

"You fought with mom and dad..."

Menma looks at her when she says that.

"I was a bit frustrated."

He tries to justify even though he feels like he doesn't need to.

"What do you think they are going to do?"

Her question doesn't come as a surprise. Mito was always worried about their parents' reaction.

"Probably nothing. Might increase the training a bit."

Mito bites her lips in worry, "What if they-"

Menma knows exactly what she is going to say, "They are not going to disown us just because I shouted a little Mito."

That was what always plagued her thoughts. That and Naruto.

Menma was more than ready to tell his parents the truth about those pranks. It took some time, for him to come to terms with the fact that it was indeed their fault that Naruto was disowned. He had hoped that if they told them the truth, Naruto might be brought back home. He didn't think that a kid his age could survive without a family.

The thing that stopped him was Mito. As much as she acted like a spoiled princess she did love Naruto. Unlike Menma who had never spent time getting to know the younger blond, Mito and Naruto were inseparable for the first five years of their life. Menma still didn't understand why she acted the way she did to Naruto.

After he was gone, Mito was frantic. She wanted him back just as much she feared what would happen to her if her parents found out the truth. She constantly feared that her parents would find out the truth one day and would disown her like they did Naruto.

"Mito" Menma called sharply when he saw that Mito was drifting again. She does this all the time, zone out and gets engrossed in her own thoughts.

"Do you think he's alright?" she asks quietly.

Mito was looking at him beseechingly and Menma knew that she didn't want the truth just comfort. Comfort that her actions hadn't killed their other sibling. Menma finds himself saying the exact words that Aki had told him.

"He's probably out there somewhere... Becoming a doctor as he wanted. Maybe he has a lot of new friends there. Maybe he is happy... He deserves to be happy..."

Mito nods at that. He knows that she doesn't believe him. Always think that the worst had befallen their brother.

"You should go to sleep," Menma says noting how tired she looked.

She nods but doesn't move other than to shuffle her feet nervously. Menma sighs and nods. Mito gives him a shy smile before climbing into his bed instead of going to her room.

Menma isn't tired, not enough to sleep but he changes his clothes and climbs into bed after his sister. Sometimes when he thinks about Naruto he feels like a shitty brother and person but other times like this when he is holding Mito close and letting her sleep in his arms he feels that he could be a better brother if he had another chance with Naruto.

Mito curls into his warmth and is drifting off to sleep.

"I love you brother."

Menma smiles at that, "Love you too sis..."

Menma closes his eyes and dozes, trusting their mother to wake them up when dinner was ready.


It became a habit for Menma to go to the park after training every day.

Menma and Aki would meet in their secret clearing and Menma would teach her how to fight, as he promised.

He often asked her why she didn't join the academy and she replied that not all of them were that lucky. Menma didn't know what she meant by that and she didn't elaborate any further.

They would talk about Naruto sometimes. Where he could be right now and what he could be doing and all that.

"Why did you do it?" she asks him that evening.

Menma looks at her confused, "Do what?"

"The pranks... Why did you blame him for it?" she's looking at him with that intense gaze of hers. Her brown eyes looking almost golden in the fading sunlight.

Menma is startled and doesn't know how to answer her. Did she know about the pranks? How did she know?

He must've asked that out loud because she starts speaking, "Everyone at the orphanage knew. Because Naruto was there most of the time you accused him of something."

Menma pales at that and swallows nervously, "Are you angry?"

She looks at him confused, "Why would I be? Naruto always forgave you so easily. He said he understood why you did it."

Menma looked down shamefully.

"I just want to know too. Why did you do it?"

"We, Mito and I, always thought that nobody knew," there is a self-deprecating smile on Menma's face, "I was just high on the feeling that we had the capacity to fool two Kage level shinobi so we did it again and again until it became a habit... We blamed him for every prank and every mistake we did. We even got the other kids to side with us... We thought that we outsmarted mom and dad and... it was fun because they were supposed to be smart and strong and we outsmarted them..." Menma says ruefully.

Aki was looking at him with a peculiar expression like she wanted to say something but instead she kept silent allowing him to speak.

"So we did it again and again. Then the other kids started doing it too and we didn't find anything wrong with it because it was something we did and Naruto kind of got used to taking the blame I guess... Everyone thought that he was the problem child and we didn't think much of it. It wasn't such an important fact but then they disowned him. We didn't want that to happen to him. I mean, we didn't like him all that much because we never got close to him... But he was still our brother. I don't know..." Menma looks frustrated, "I didn't know that the way I was treating him was bad. I didn't know that it was wrong to treat our brother like that because mom and dad never told me it was wrong and I thought they would correct me if I was wrong. I trusted them."

Menma fell silent but since he started speaking, he wanted to say everything. He trusted Aki enough to do that.

"I didn't hate Naruto. I never hated him even though I acted as I did. He was always just the background member of our family and I got used to treating him as something insignificant. A part of me..." he swallowed heavily because admitting this was difficult but Aki looked at him with kind, warm eyes and he found the strength to speak, "A part of me was always jealous of him I think."

"Jealous of him?" Aki asked surprised.

Menma nodded, "Yeah... I still am. I have always been the Hero of Konoha... In truth, I am the jinchuuriki of Konoha, the weapon. And my father was the Hokage. I don't know what destiny my parents think they're preparing me for but I understood even back then that my fate had already been decided. There is only one future for me and that is to fight for this village...

Naruto wasn't like that. At first that included Mito as well. Both of them had a freedom of choice that I did not. At first, it was fine because I was too caught up in the fame and the praises of the people. But slowly I understood that I had restrictions that neither of them did. And I got jealous. So I ended up tormenting them... Then Mito awakened her bloodline and he got the same treatment I did. I don't know why she treated Naruto the way she did especially when she and he were that close before but maybe she just learned it from me... It's not like my parents ever took the time to correct me on my behavior."

They stayed silent for sometime before Aki asks him, "Do you understand now, that what you did was wrong?"

Menma nods, "Yes I do... Mito took it very hard. His banishment, I think she didn't know how to deal with it, she still doesn't. It was worse for her since she used to be close to him at a time... But we are always so afraid. Afraid that if they find out our parents might do the same to us. Not to me, they couldn't banish me because I am the jinchuuriki but Mito... she always worries. The guilt, the fear... It's not good for her."

Aki is looking at him with something akin to pity in her eyes and Menma looks away from her.

He hears her take a deep breath and he wonders what she was going to say. Was she going to say that she pitied him, that he was pathetic? But instead what she said was something else.

"Menma, I was telling the truth when I told you that you are a bad liar."

Menma looks at her a little confused, "What does that- Do you think I am lying?"

Aki shakes her head, "No Menma... I meant that..."

"What?" he asks seeing her perplexed expression, "Tell me."

She looks regretful and nervous as she speaks and it makes Menma nervous too.

"Do you really think that you and your sister, barely seven at that time with no training in sabotage or espionage, managed to fool two S class shinobi who survived the Great Shinobi wars?"

Menma takes a moment to take in her question then he replies perplexed, "I... They couldn't have known the truth Aki... Why would they treat Naruto like that if they did?"

As much as he wants to say that she's wrong, something in him stops him.

"Look," Aki says with a hardened expression, "I am really sorry for saying this but Menma your parents are not ordinary civilians. One of them is the Hokage Menma, the Hokage," she emphasizes, "Think and tell me. Do you really believe that your pranks and lies fooled them?"

Menma thinks, he thinks and thinks and his thoughts all circle back to the instances his parents had never once questioned Menma and Mito when they lied about Naruto.

His parents who could always tell he was lying when he said that he wasn't hurt or tired or that he didn't eat the cookies. His parents who could always tell when Mito hated the new girl or when she lied about not needing help.

His parents didn't give a second thought when they lied about Naruto...

Something in him shattered as all the moments when Kushina and Minato were too eager to isolate Naruto, to blame him, to keep him away came to his mind.

It couldn't be... They wouldn't...

"I have to go..." Menma staggered to his feet.

"Menma-"

He didn't wait to listen to what she had to say.

Menma ran.


"Naruto..."

Naruto opens his eyes groggily when he heard someone calling his name.

"Naruto..."

His eyes are wide open as he takes a good look at his surroundings. He is in a forest. Huge trees all around him blocking any and all light.

He stands up quickly and looks around for anyone but he is alone as far as he can see, which is not much.

"Naruto..."

There it is again, that voice.

Naruto swallows nervously before asking, "Who are you?"

"You know me Naruto."

The voice sounds like it's coming from behind him but there's no one there when he turns to look.

"I don't think so..." Naruto says glancing around, "why did you bring me here?"

The wind rustles and the sound of fluttering feathers reach his ears. It unsettled something deep inside him.

Suddenly he gasps and clutches at his back. He almost falls down when his back hurts like someone is dragging a knife across his back in some pattern.

But there is no one behind him, no weapon carving into his back as he feels. Yet his hands come back stained red from the blood that seeped through the clothes on his back. The cuts on his skin sting horribly but his clothes remain intact.

The pain sharpens and he falls down onto his knees with a scream.

There are a thousand invisible knives carving into his back.

It's isn't the pain that makes Naruto tremble though, it's the fact that he knows the pattern being traced into his back.

The mark of Eien. The symbol of the curse placed upon him.

"What is going on?" Naruto asks painfully scared.

"It's getting closer Naruto."

"What is getting closer?"

"The time for you to wield me."


Naruto sits up in his bed with a silent scream.

He is drenched in sweat and shaking like a leaf, his back hurts but there is no blood staining his bed as he had expected.

It was all a dream.

No, it wasn't just a dream. Naruto knew that as instinctively as he knew that something had changed.

With a trembling hand he called upon his chakra and created a shadow clone.

Quickly discarding his t-shirt he let the clone take a look at his back where the mark remains.

The clone popped out of existence and the blood drained from Naruto's face as he received the memories of the clone.


Hai everyone,

I want to thank you all for being patient with me. I'll try to update as much as I can but I make no promises since I am still a student and has to worry about classes and stuff.

First of all about this chapter, I would like to clarify that there won't be any incest between Menma and Mito. They only share sibling bond that got stronger after Naruto was banished. Them sharing a bed has no sexual undertones or budding incestuous romance. No offense to anybody who loves incest pairings, I honestly have no problem with them but I am just trying to clarify that there won't be one here.

It's like that scene back with Nagin where a simple hug got a lot of attention and had you guys asking if Naruto was gay or if Nagin and Naruto were a pair. Let's take a moment to appreciate the fact that Naruto, Menma and Mito are all ten years old. Hugs are just hugs (hugs make everything better and everyone should get lots and lots of hugs unless they don't like them of course), platonic bed-sharing is just platonic bed-sharing (I used to sleep with my siblings and it is very normal at a younger age where I am from).

Again, I really am not trying to offend anybody just making things clear.

There won't be any pairings until the kids get older, at least in their late teens. Crushes between the kids are an exemption because I always find them adorable.

I offer another sincere apology for my lack of editing skills.

Thank you.

I wish you people have a great day.

Iris Evergreen