Hello, hello my readers. 12Ookami12 here back again with another installment of Thunder God's Legacy. I know, I know: It's been a long-ass time since I've uploaded and I do apologize for that. My personal life for the past few months has been very, very busy, which left me with little time to dedicate to writing. I won't promise a speedy update after this since I know that I likely will not be able to do so. So do bear with me.
NOTE: I'm gonna have to ask you guys to go back to chapter 1. I made some alterations to get the story flowing the way I want it to. Now while these alterations aren't exactly major and are kinda small, they'll give you a better understanding of the story.
Now to answer some reviews.
MDM11: Quite the list you got there, bud. I'll take them into consideration but I make no promises, especially for Hinata. I have nothing against her but I don't wanna be one of those guys who adds her all the time because she's easy to write for.
3headed-dragon: Thanks for checking out the fic man, really appreciate it.
Fenreldstormblade: Gracias mi amigo, gracias.
Dragon and Sword Master: Hope I can sate your curiosity enough to keep you reading XD.
Danirodriguez1995: I ain't gonna give up bud. I promise you that.
Wonderweed420: Well it didn't take four months, bruh. It took six XD.
Midnight Lost: Well your eager patience has paid off, here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy.
I would have responded to the guest who flamed me, but (shrugs) I ain't got time to waste with a coward who hides behind anonymity. He should have been more like Tenjo. He said what he had to say about the story and was upfront with his account and not a guest one.
Oh by the way, Tenjo. Your response is at the end of this chapter. It was a little too long to put up top with the rest.
Now that that is out of the way, onto the story.
"Normal Speech"
'Thought'
"Kyuubi Speech"
'Kyuubi Thoughts'
Locations/Perspective
Fully indented: Dream/Memory
Disclaimer: All rights to Naruto and Mortal Kombat are not owned by me.
Chapter 3
Upon leaving the hospital, Biwako decided to go to her husband's office, figuring that with the recent incident, he wouldn't have gone home yet.
The streets were near barren, save for the few establishments that operated at these hours. With the moon nowhere on the horizon, the street lights were the only source of illumination for the dark streets.
With no real need to watch where she was going, the elderly lady allowed her mind to wander. She thought back to her godson that was laid up in a hospital bed. For some time now, she couldn't get over the feeling that something was amiss—that something was just wrong. It had only been a little under a year since the attacks started up again, and initially, she had nothing to worry about; for Naruto was capable of defending himself and proved that when he successfully fended off a few attacks—long enough for his Anbu guards to show up and apprehend the assailants. On top of that, the Anbu guards proved their worth by quickly and efficiently putting a halt to any other attack that may happen.
BUT!
There were those handful of instances—just a few times, where the attacks were successful and her godson suffered dearly for it. What was even stranger, was that Naruto seemed to have almost no recollection of what happened. He knew that he was attacked, but it was as if he couldn't remember the events leading up to it and even those that happened during the attack.
The first time it happened—she didn't think too much into it and figured that he suffered a hit to his head that made him forget what happened, but when it happened the next three consecutive times—where he was still unable to properly recall what happened, that was when she knew that something was amiss.
There was also the fact that there wasn't a pattern for each successful attack. The second happened only a month after the first. The third—five months after the second. The fourth—two months after the prior attack, and this most recent one, only a mere three weeks since the last.
Her husband even had his best T&I operatives grill squad Nezu to see if they had something to do with it, but each time they came up squeaky clean—not even having Inoichi dive into their memories dug up any dirt on them. The fact that they did their job so diligently with only those few hiccups only added to their near spotless record. So with that fact in mind, Hiruzen didn't have a good enough reason to just up and replace them, since he needed every able-bodied shinobi he could get.
And it wasn't like the villagers had stopped their endeavors to 'avenge' their fallen loved ones during those time gaps. They had still tried on and off to go after Naruto, but were unsuccessful due to squad Nezu's interference. So it really seemed as if those instances where they succeeded, was just pure luck/coincidence.
Both she and her husband had long since come to the conclusion that there had to be a third party involved. But with Naruto being unable to remember anything and mind-walks proving ineffective, since each time Inoichi was unable to retrieve anything useful, they didn't have any evidence to narrow down the suspect pool. For no matter how Hiruzen wished it were the opposite—the number of people who hated the boy was still at an all-time high.
The lady yawned and rubbed the bags under her eyes. 'Best to think of this after I've had some rest.' She thought as her exhaustion was catching up to her. It was a hassle to get to work on Naruto. For one, he had to be brought to the hospital in a sealing scroll since it was too risky to carry him normally due to his electrified state. When he was brought in and unsealed, his body kept shorting out and exploding their equipment. On top of that, anyone who tried to get close to him were immediately electrocuted and left spasming on the floor. So while they waited for Naruto's apparent bloodline to subside, they had to work on their own injured staff to keep them alive. It wasn't until two hours had passed before it was safe enough for them to work on him. Luckily his tenant already had a head start in healing him, so she didn't have that much to worry about.
Seeing her destination come into view, she came out of her thoughts and proceeded to scale the tower until she made it to her husband's office.
Opening the door, she found her husband out of his seat and looking out the large window, down on his village with his hands behind his back.
"Leave us." The lady ordered.
Four hidden figures in the room nodded affirmatively before flickering away.
"How is Naruto?" The old man asked without turning around.
"He's fine. A little banged up but nothing he won't pull through." She answered.
"And the girls?" He further inquired.
"Physically speaking—they're okay; aside from the head injury that Ino suffered. It's a little too early to call, but at best she'll have some head-pains when she wakes up."
"I see that you didn't mention Sakura." The old man noticed.
Biwako paused and let out a small sigh before answering. "She's going to have some trust issues with men for some time. While they were unable to go through with the heinous act, the experience really shook her up. We had to put her into a medically induced sleep to get her to calm down."
"Hmm, I see." The old man said in a low crestfallen tone.
"We need to find out why this keeps happening. We can't let it happen again."
The Sandaime nodded. "I already have my personal Anbu doing an investigation. Hopefully they'll be able find something this time."
After that, there was a pregnant pause in the room. There was one more thing that Biwako needed to speak to Hiruzen about.
"Dear, I believe it's time we come clean to Naruto—about everything. His parents, our connection to him as well the burden he is carrying. We've kept him in the dark long enough."
Hiruzen turned to face his wife. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea, hime."
Biwako quickly grew irritated. "Why! Because that stupid council said so?"
"No." The aged leader quickly answered. "I agree that he does deserve to know about his parents as well as his burden, but…" he paused and let out a tired breath. "…I don't know if we should tell him about us."
Biwako lost her temper and looked at her husband with realization in her eyes. "This isn't about the council…is it?"
Hiruzen looked back at his wife before averting his gaze. "No. I've long since realized my mistake in letting that foolish council push me around."
Biwako walked a little closer to him. "Then what is it about?"
The old man heaved a weary sigh and removed the Hokage's hat from his head—replacing the hardened war veteran that was the Sandaime Hokage, with the tired elderly man that is Hiruzen Sarutobi. "Tell me, Biwa-hime. How would you feel if from the first time you were cognizant enough to understand the world around you—the most prominent thing you've ever known is hate? Time goes on and you have lived twelve years of your life like that—being hated and shunned for some reason that you are unaware of, with the occasional break being the few people that see you for who you are. Tell me, how you would feel if after so much time has passed, you learn that you have godparents who were there the entire time and should have been doing more to help you?"
"But we have helped him, Hiruzen."
Hiruzen lightly shook his head with a self-depreciating sigh. "As his godparents we haven't done nearly enough as we should have." The old man averted his gaze. "We…I made a promise to his mother during her final moments, that I would take care of her son—and so far, all I've done is fail him, time and time again."
"While I can agree that we should have been more active in his life, and that was pretty much out of our control. We have helped him where he needed it the most." Biwako countered.
"Compared to me, you have done more for him than I have."
"I believe you're selling yourself short, dear. Tell me, when the orphanage mistreated him and refused to keep him any longer, who was it that gave him an apartment and made sure to keep paying for everything so he wouldn't have to?"
Hiruzen didn't answer.
Biwako took a step closer.
"When the store owners tried to be unfair to him or refused him service—who put the fear of Kami into them to make them do better?"
Hiruzen didn't answer.
Biwako took another step closer. Now standing in front of him, she placed her hand on his shoulder.
"I want you to tell me, who was it that would always take even just a few minutes out of his day to let his godson know that he has someone who cares about him?"
Hiruzen didn't answer.
"Hiruzen, answer me." The old lady prodded.
He didn't.
"Hiruzen! Answer me!" The old lady prodded in a sterner tone.
Exhaling a small sigh, the old man relented. "I did."
"Yes. You did." She then took both of his hands in hers and made him look at her. "I know that you're afraid that you'll lose the relationship you have with Naruto if we tell him the truth—for it's a fear I have as well, but we can't let that stop us from doing the right thing, and right now, the right thing is to tell him what he deserves to know."
Hiruzen listened to his wife's words before closing his eyes and nodding.
Biwako then took the Hokage hat off the desk. "Now that that is done, I believe you still have paperwork to do…" she then placed the hat back on his head, "…Sandaime-sama." The old lady finished in a teasing tone.
The aged leader snorted. "Don't remind me." He then smiled and captured her lips in a quick kiss before wrapping his arms around her. "Thank you. I needed to hear that."
Biwako returned the hug. "No problem, Hiru-koi."
Just then, a purple haired Anbu bearing the Neko mask flickered into the room. "Pardon the intrusion, Hokage-sama, Biwako-sama, but I believe we've found something rather important."
Hiruzen let go of his wife and stood in front of his subordinate. "Show me."
"Hai." Neko then took four objects from a sealing scroll and showed them to her leader. "These were found at the scene."
Biwako's eyes momentarily widened. "Aren't those…"
"Yes." Hiruzen quickly answered before his gaze narrowed. "Can you confirm that these belong to them?"
"Hai, sir. The residual chakra left on these, perfectly matches those of squad Nezu."
The atmosphere of the room got tense as Hiruzen spoke again. "Hmm, it seems that squad Nezu has some explaining to do."
The girl was lying on her back on the dirty floor of a dark room that was only illuminated by a small lamp. She could feel her head throbbing as if her brain was pounding against its confinement. Her breaths were coming out in wheezes and she could feel the swelling and the pain that was centered around her right eye. Like the rest of her body and clothing, her platinum blonde hair was now callous, rough and matted with dirt.
She coughed and droplets of saliva as well as blood came flying out her mouth. She then pleaded in a small, timid, almost vulnerable tone. "Please…I beg of you. Stop."
Her plea was met with a harsh kick to the side of her abdomen, adding another bruise to the many that were already littering her small body.
Groans of pain came out of her mouth as she felt the bones of her ribcage almost buckle under force from the man's kick.
"Why should I stop?" An older male voice spoke. "We're just teaching you what happens to those who choose to befriend demon filth."
"But he's not a demon." The girl countered.
The man shook his head as if he were disappointed. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You don't learn, do you?" He finished that sentence with another kick to the girl's abdomen, this time sending her small frame tumbling along the dirt covered floor before she came to a stop lying face down.
Tears leaked from her eyes as a myriad of coughs erupted from her mouth. She moved her hand to put some pressure on her side and instantly regretted it. The moment her hand touched the area, it flared up in pain—causing her to groan and to grit her teeth to bear it.
One of her ribs was definitely broken.
Feeling the desperate need to get away, she willed her weak body to move. As she moved to push herself up with her left leg….
Crunch
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The blonde cried out as she felt the bones in her leg snap under the man's foot.
"Now where were you going?" The black haired man asked in an amused tone.
"INO!" a pink haired girl cried out from inside a metal cage.
Bang
A brown haired man hit the cage to silence the girl. "SHUT UP! IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT THAT WE'VE HAD TO GO THIS FAR."
The pink haired girl looked at her captor with fear in her eyes. Slowly, she returned her vision to her friend, and she could only watch with tears streaming down her face as the black haired man continued his assault.
Another kick sent the blonde girl tumbling once more, but this time she came to a stop on her back with her arms splayed out at her sides.
Ino was sobbing and wheezing as she watched the black haired man walk up to her, with a sinister smile on his face.
"Please." She begged one more time.
"Hehe." He chuckled as he lifted his leg over her face. "As my friend said, it's your own fault." He said before bringing his foot down.
Ino woke with a start —cold sweat dripping down her face and her heart pounding against her chest as if she had just ran a marathon. Rapid and shallow breaths rushed from her lungs as the hairs on her neck stood at full attention. 'Was that a…was that a dream? It felt so…real.'
A hand touched her shoulder and in her panicked state, Ino frantically slapped the hand away and looked to see who it was that touched her.
A male figure was seated in the bedside chair. He had long ash blonde hair that was tied in a high ponytail and his skin was of a tanned complexion. His eyes were dark navy blue, so dark that if you were to look into them, they almost looked black. He wore the standard Jonin uniform; the only differences being his flak jacket which was dark pine green and his obsidian black sleeveless jacket.
"Uncle Omo! You're back." Ino said in surprise.
The now identified Omo Yamanaka smiled at his niece as he lightly rubbed the hand she slapped. "That I am. I got back in last night. Though I don't think I like this particular welcome."
A small blush of embarrassment appeared on Ino's face. "Hehe, sorry about that."
The older man waved it off. "Naah, it's okay. So you mind telling me what had you so spooked? It must have been bad if it had you that panicked."
Ino faltered a bit here. Not sure if she wanted to tell him or not. Not that she didn't trust him, it was the fact that she wasn't exactly sure what it was she saw—if it was a dream or…something else.
Before she could make up her mind, the door opened and in walked her parents—Inoichi and Iliana Yamanaka, as well as Sakura's parents—Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno, following them was a female doctor.
Knowing what was gonna come next, Omo got up out of the chair and stood back. Not even a moment later, his brother breezed past him and grabbed his niece in a bear hug.
"I'm so happy that my Hime is okay. You have no idea how worried I was when I heard what happened." Inoichi said as he hugged his daughter tightly, much to the amusement of the others present.
"Da…addy! A…air!" Ino managed to get out as her face started to turn blue.
"Inoichi-dear, I think you're suffocating our little Hime." Iliana said in an amused tone.
Inoichi immediately let go with an embarrassed blush on his face. "Hehe, sorry about that Ino-hime. I was just so worried about you."
As her natural color came back to her face, Ino replied. "It's alright, Tou-sa…agh! What the hell!" She clutched the sides of her head as is suddenly flared up with pain.
The doctor that was accompanying the parents, quickly sprang into action and got a glass of water and handed it to the girl with two pills. "Here, take these. They'll help with the pain."
Without hesitation, Ino took the pills and downed them along with entire glass of water. In the next few moments, she felt her splitting headache slowly fade away until it was gone completely.
"Doctor, what happened to her?" Iliana asked.
"That is a result of the hit she took to the back of her head. We'll need to do some more tests to find out the true extent of her injury. But for now I think it's safe to assume that headaches will be worst of it…Hopefully." The doctor added at the end.
Everyone gave her deadpan looks. "Comforting." Mebuki quipped.
The doctor lightly chuckled to herself. "Please call me or one of the other staff if anything happens." With her piece said, she exited the room.
"Gave us quite the scare there, kiddo." Omo spoke up.
That's when everyone realized that there was someone else in the room.
"Omo! Brother, when did you get back?" Inoichi asked as pulled his brother into a hug.
"Been a while, hasn't it Otouto." Omo said as he patted his brother on the back a few times before letting go. "As I was telling Ino-chan here, I got back in last night. I heard what happened and popped in to visit her a little bit before you guys showed up."
"Well I'm glad you're back. We have to catch up once we get this mess sorted out." Inoichi stated.
"Sure thing, Otouto." Omo replied.
"Oh by the way, I should tell you that I bagged some Sasanqua flower seeds a few weeks back on a mission."
"Ya' gotta be kidding me. I've been trying for months to find that one for my collection. Where'd ya' find it?" Omo asked.
"I could tell you…" Inoichi smirked, "…for a price."
Omo laughed. "Name it."
Inoichi grinned. "I wanna know where you found those Amur Adonis seeds."
"Deal."
"And there they go. I swear it's like when one sees the other, the rest of the world just disappears." Iliana said with a roll of her eyes.
The brothers both chuckled and rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly.
Ino giggled at their antics.
With Mebuki, Kizashi and Sakura
While the Yamanakas were chatting away, Sakura's parents had gone over to their still sleeping daughter. Mebuki sat on the bedside chair while Kizashi went on the other side and gently shook his daughter awake.
Sakura eyes slowly fluttered open and she let out a low yawn.
"Good morning, Sakura."
The pinkette went as stiff as a board upon hearing the male voice. With her heartrate steadily increasing, she looked up and through foggy eyes, she recognized the male figure.
"It's okay, Sakura. It's me, Tou-san." Kizashi said in a reassurance as he tentatively placed his hand on her shoulder, to which Sakura had to fight down the impulse to flinch.
"I'm here as well, Sakura." Mebuki said as she placed her hand on her daughter's head and lightly rubbed it. "We won't let anyone hurt you."
Realizing she was safe, the pinkette allowed herself to calm down. "T-thanks. And sorry for… it's just…" Her eyes started to fill with tears and her lips started to tremble, as she found it hard to continue that line of speech.
"It's alright, dear. The doctors gave us a good idea of what happened." Kizashi said.
Sakura nodded. She then leaned over to her mother and wrapped her arms around her, with tears rolling down her cheeks. "They…they…they almost…" The words died in her throat and were replaced by sobs as she recalled what almost happened to her.
With an angry scowl on his face, Kizashi folded his fists tightly at his sides and cursed under his breath. "Bastards—every single one of them."
Mebuki held her daughter close to her and rubbed her back in a comforting motion. "Sshh, sshh. It's okay. It's alright, dear. You're fine now and we'll never let anything like that happen to you again. Do you hear me? We won't let anything happen to you."
Sakura nodded in the crook of her mother's neck and continued to let her tears flow.
The Yamanakas had ceased their chatter and had witnessed the scene with their family friends
Omo looked to his brother. "I heard bits and pieces of what happened the other night, but would you guys mind filling me in on the real story. I'm kinda lost here."
Sakura and Ino winced slightly as they recalled what happened.
Inoichi sighed and rubbed the middle of his forehead. "I'm in the same boat as you right now. Like you, I only heard bits and pieces of what really happened. But from what I was able to gather, their classmate—Naruto, was attacked and somehow the girls ended up getting involved."
"You mean the Kyu…" was as far as Omo got before Inoichi cut him off with a small glare, so he quickly corrected himself. "…that prankster who switched your shampoo with green hair dye and painted a monkey's ass on your face."
This managed to cut through some of the tension that permeated the room and had all of them laughing at Inoichi's expense; even Sakura managed to crack a smile.
Inoichi's eyebrows twitched at that not-so fond memory. He didn't even notice the damage until he walked in for work that morning, and because of that brat he was the laughing stock of the entire T&I department for over a month. Anko even snapped a few photos in case she ever needed some 'leverage' over her boss. "Yes. Him." Inoichi grumbled under his breath.
"So what'd he do this time to end up in here?" Omo asked in an intrigued tone.
"We don't know. That's part of the reason why I'm here. Aside from checking up on the girls, Hokage-sama asked me to get the girl's statements of what they witnessed." The T&I operative said as he took out a small recording device. "I'll be getting Naruto's after I'm done with the girls."
"LIKE HELL YOU ARE!" Kizashi, Iliana and Mebuki all yelled, making Inoichi cringe at their volume.
"The girls just went through a harrowing experience, so I think that it's way too soon for you to be questioning them about it." Iliana berated.
"I'm sorry, alright. I wouldn't be asking this of them now if I didn't have to, but this is a direct order from Hokage-sama." Inoichi countered.
"And it couldn't wait?" Kizashi asked with a noticeable bite in his tone.
"I wish it could, but the longer I wait to get their statements, the more likely the chance of them not recalling the events accurately."
Iliana and Kizashi went silent. They knew that Inoichi was only doing his job, even if it displeased them at the moment. Mebuki however was more open about her displeasure.
"No! That old goat can take his orders and shove em' right up that wrinkly ass of his. The girls will talk when they're ready to, and that's final!"
"Mom."
Mebuki turned around to face her daughter. "Don't worry, honey. You won't have to talk about it until you're ready."
"No, mom. It's okay, I'll...I'll talk." The pinkette said with some trepidation leaking into her tone.
"Are you sure, dear? You don't have to if you don't want to." Mebuki tried to reassure.
"Yeah…" She took a deep breath. "…I'm sure."
Iliana looked at Ino. "And you, dear?"
Ino nodded. "Yeah, mom. I'm okay to talk."
Inoichi let out a breath of relief and Omo chuckled while patting his little brother's back.
"Good." Inoichi said before he set the device on Ino's bedside table and sat in the chair. "Now let's begin."
It took about twenty minutes in total to get both of the girl's statements and to clarify that their recollection of the events were accurate. When he was done, he turned off the device and put it back in his flak jacket pocket. He got up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'They really were trying to kill him this time.'
Pretty much all of the adults were having similar thoughts, all of them wondering how an entire village could spit upon the wishes of their 'supposed' greatest hero like that.
"Dad." Sakura called.
"Yes, Sakura." Kizashi answered.
"Why were those people torturing Naruto?"
All the adults in the room tensed up at that question. "Uh, I…don't really know, dear. Must have something to do with the pranks he loves pulling." The pink haired man answered with a nervous chuckle.
"No, you're lying. There's something about Naruto that you're not telling us." Ino spoke up. "I caught uncle Omo's slip before daddy made him change what he was gonna say, and just now when Sakura asked about what happened, all of you visibly tensed up." The blonde girl then furrowed her brow. "So what's so bad about Naruto that people would try to kill him for it, and you guys are apparently afraid to tell us."
"Quite the keen observer you got there, Inoichi." Omo commented.
Said man shot his brother a glare. "You're not helping."
Omo saw the glare his brother was giving him as well as the looks the other adults were sending his way. "What? She already figured out that you guys were lying, and given the nature of what her and her friend witnessed; they are going to have questions. So sooner or later they are gonna learn the truth about their classmate one way or another."
"You know we can't tell them about that." Kizashi said.
"Tell us about what?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah. What so bad about Naruto that you have to hide it from us?" Ino added.
The adults, sans Omo, shot glances at each other, as if debating on what they should do. Eventually after a few minutes had passed, Iliana, Mebuki and Kizashi all gave Inoichi a reluctant nod.
The blonde man sighed and rubbed his eyes before nodding and taking a seat. "Ok, listen. I can't tell you the exact truth surrounding Naruto, because if I did, I'd be executed for it."
The girls gasped in shock. "You…you're kidding right? It's that serious?" Ino asked.
Inoichi nodded. "Yes. So do understand that what I'm about to tell you is not going to be the full truth."
The girls looked at each other, before they looked back at Inoichi and nodded.
Taking this as his cue, Inoichi began. "You see, on the day that Naruto was born…" He paused to come up with a good way to phrase his next words. "…well let's just say that there was an incident where a lot of good people were killed, including Naruto's parents who were loved by the village. Now because Naruto survived that day and so many others didn't, he became something of a living, constant reminder of that event. Needing something, or in this case someone to take out there negative emotions on, the villagers chose Naruto to be their lightning rod, so to speak."
The blonde man paused and held down his head while running a hand through blonde tresses. "Unfortunately, they never learned to accept their losses and move on. They were and still are pretty much stuck in a perpetual state of grieving, and over the years their grieving turned to hate, and as I'm sure you figured it out already, that hate ended up getting thrown on Naruto."
"So they hate Naruto for something that was completely out of his control." Ino surmised.
The adults all nodded.
"But that can't be right. I mean there has to be some people who know better than to blame a kid for something he didn't do." Sakura stated before looking at her parents for confirmation. "Right?"
It was Kizashi who answered. "Yes, you are right about that, but sadly those people are in the minority when compared to the vast majority of people who harbor hatred for him."
Quiet. That's what the girls were upon learning the truth…well part of the truth, about their blonde classmate. The revelation that the boisterous and exuberant blonde boy lead such a hate-filled life, made them reflect on the way they treated him. Sure he wasn't someone they would seek to befriend, seeing as how much of a troublemaker he was—constantly getting himself in trouble, not exactly the best student, in fact he was far from it, and how annoying he could be with his brash personality, but now—learning more about him, it made them think that they could have at least tried to be friendlier to him, even just a little bit.
"I know that my explanation was pretty vague, but it's all I'm allowed to tell you. Even so, I want to assure you that it is the truth." Inoichi said, looking at both of the girls.
The girls looked back on him and slowly nodded.
Inoichi then got up and moved to leave the room. "Feel free to think more on it if you want to, the law may prevent me from telling you the truth but it can't stop you from figuring out for yourselves. In the meantime, I'm going to go see Naruto."
"I'll come with." Omo said as he fell in step with this brother.
Inoichi nodded and just before he walked through the door, he turned and said. "Be back in a few." Before he and Omo walked out and closed the door behind them.
The Hokage's Office
"So, is that your full report on the incident?" A stoic Hiruzen asked his Anbu team as he put their written report to the side.
"Hai, Hokage-sama. No detail was left out." The one bearing the mask of a Nezu answered, with the other three members of his squad nodding in agreement.
"I see." The aged leader's eyes narrowed for a few moments before he spoke again. "Tell me again, how did you lose track of Naruto when you were the ones in charge of keeping him safe?"
"We were watching him as per usual. He was in the process of setting up one more of his pranks when he apparently caught sight of us, given that he locked eyes with me for a few seconds before he took off running. We pursued him but you know how slippery he is and how it is actually a challenge to keep up with him at times. We ended up losing him about ten minutes after the pursuit began. After that we searched for him but didn't find him until his chakra spiked when his apparent bloodline awakened. That's when we came upon the scene of the attack and immediately took him and the girls to the hospital for treatment." Nezu quickly explained.
"Hmm, and the rest of you can confirm that your leader's explanation is one hundred percent fact?" The Sandaime asked the rest of the team, who all quickly responded with, "Hai, Hokage-sama."
"I see." He then leaned back in his chair. "While it is unfortunate that Naruto has gone through another of these 'experiences', I'm just happy that he is still alive and that I can count on you four to be there to get him out of trouble."
All four Anbu bowed to their leader. "You honor us, Hokage-sama." The one bearing the Jakkaru mask remarked.
The old man nodded. "Very well then. Feel free to take the next few days off. That's how long it will take before he is cleared to leave the hospital."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama." They all chorused before moving to flicker out of the room.
"Hold on, hold on. Do forgive me but there is something that I forgot to ask." The old man said to stop them from leaving.
"What do you need to be answered, Hokage-sama?" The one bearing the Kumo mask asked.
The old man reached into his drawer and took out four pieces of paper with a sealing matrix visible on each. "What are these?" He asked as he put the sealing tags on his desk in plain view for them to see.
All four members of the Anbu squad felt their blood run cold when they saw those tags. They all shared one thought, '…Shit!'
"Come, come now. You've been answering very astutely throughout your report. Surely such a simple question shouldn't leave you with such a loss for words." The man said in a casual manner.
"R…right, Hokage-sama. It just caught us off guard for a second there. I didn't think that you'd need us to tell you that those are silencing tags, sir." Nezu responded.
The old man chuckled. "Well you'll have to forgive me. I'm getting up in my years and certain things are a bother to recall. Also while I'm at it, let me ask, aren't these the standard issue that are only available to Anbu?"
Doing his best to suppress his nervousness, Nezu quickly responded, "H-hai, sir."
"And the fact that the sealing matrixes are visible, means that these have already been used?" The Sandaime further questioned.
All four Anbu could feel sweat forming under their masks. "Hai, sir." Yagi responded.
"Ok then, one last question." The aged leader then narrowed his gaze before asking in a low and threatening tone, "Why were they found at the scene?"
All four Anbu swallowed nervously; it was Kumo that asked, "W-what do you mean, sir?"
"What I mean, is that I had a few of my loyal Anbu operatives scour the scene for anything that may have been out of place. They found these four tags all in specific locations that would allow for a silencing barrier to be erected."
Jakkaru went to speak but the Sandaime wouldn't let him.
"Furthermore, these tags require a constant stream of chakra to function properly. Which means that whoever used them, was there the entire time to witness what happened. Now I will ask once more. Why were they found at the scene?"
Knowing that they were caught, the Anbu squad moved to escape via body flicker, but the Sandaime wasn't having that and showed them why he was Kage. With speed that would make Might-Gai scream 'YOUTH!', Hiruzen incapacitated all four members and stood over them as he readjusted his robes.
The aged leader shook his head, "I have no words to convey my disappointment in you four. I trusted you and you betrayed that trust."
From his spot on the ground, Nezu asked. "H-how did y-you know that we were lying?"
"Simple. With the use of her sensory capabilities—Neko identified the residual chakra signatures on the tags to be yours. And as I stated before, the tags require a constant stream of chakra to work effectively. So that means that all of you were there and watched as they tortured my godson!" By the end, Hiruzen's calm tone had turned into a low growl, which hardly held back his anger.
Not trusting himself to be able to keep his calm much longer, Hiruzen signaled for his hidden Anbu to come out. "Take them to Ibiki and Anko. I want to know everything that they've been up to. No kid gloves, am I understood?"
Neko, Ryu and Tori nodded at their leader. "Hai, Hokage-sama." Before they flickered away with the rogue Anbu.
Hiruzen took this moment of solitude to recompose himself and let the anger he was feeling to subside.
With his temper reigned in, he took a breath and opened his eyes to look through his window; specifically he looked at the hospital. 'I think my visit to Naruto-kun is far overdue.' With a nod to himself, he excused himself from his office.
Back at the Hospital (A few minutes earlier)
The walk to Naruto's room was done in silence. Since it was only two rooms down from the girl's room, it took them no time to get there. Upon opening the door, the duo were met with the sight of a nurse carefully removing some of Naruto's bandages.
"It seems that you're almost fully healed, Naruto-kun." The pink haired woman said in a warm tone before she wrapped one of her arms around the back of Naruto's neck and helped him sit up in the bed. "Up we go."
Ignoring the pain coming from his back, Naruto managed to stay sitting up, which allowed the pink haired nurse to unwrap the bandages from his torso. As this was happening, he noticed that they had company. "Oh Inoichi-san, Omo-san."
"Hey there, kiddo." Omo responded. "Hey there, Joy."
The now identified Nurse Joy, turned around to greet the men. "Oh, Inoichi-san, Omo-san. How can I help you this morning?"
"Morning, Joy. You wouldn't mind giving us a few minutes with your patient, would ya'? I have a few things to ask surrounding how he ended up in here?" Inoichi asked.
"Sure, no problem. Just don't take too long. I'm not done cleaning him up yet, alright." The pinkette responded.
"Yeah, we'll try not to be too long." Omo responded.
Joy nodded and started to make her way out. As she passed Omo, she slowed down for a few seconds and locked eyes with him. With a sexy smirk and a sensual bat of her eyelashes—she exited the room.
Omo watched the almost cat like manner in which her hips swayed, right up till she exited the room and closed the door behind her.
So mesmerized he was, he almost didn't feeling the nudges from his little brother.
"He-he-he. Seems someone's caught the eye of our resident pinkette beauty." Inoichi teased.
Omo shrugged off the nudging and responded in a calm and cool manner. "Not my fault the ladies love me. You know, you could learn a thing or two from me."
Inoichi could practically see the shit eating grin that threatened to spread over his Aniki's face. With a roll of his eyes, the younger of the two responded. "Thanks, but no thanks. I already have my hands full with Iliana. Besides, the last time another woman so much as looked at me the wrong way, she threatened to introduce me to her broom version of the Thousand Years of Death.
Omo chuckled and responded. "Aren't you the one that supposed to be tearing up her a…"
"Ahem. Minor in the room." The blonde boy said to remind them that he was still there.
Inoichi awkwardly chuckled while Omo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You didn't hear anything?" Inoichi tried to play it off.
"A little too much for my liking." Naruto dryly replied.
"He-he, heeeeh. Yeah let's just pretend that didn't happen." Inoichi said before he regained his composure. "So Naruto, how're you feeling?"
"Good, all things considered." Gesturing toward his bandages. "Could've done without waking up in this sterile ice-box, but meh." Naruto shrugged. "What can I do for ya'?"
"We wanted to ask you some questions and get your recollection of the attack. Is that alright?" Inoichi asked.
Naruto squinted his eyes and he held his head, as all of a sudden, there was a stinging sensation at the front of his head.
"Naruto, you okay?" Inoichi asked.
The blonde boy looked up and for a split second and his vision flashed. Inoichi, Omo and the hospital room were all gone—replaced by a dark alleyway and the silhouette of a man whose features he couldn't make out. Before he could properly interpret what he saw, his vision flashed again and the scene returned to normal. 'What the…what the hell was that!'
Snap
Snap
Omo snapped his fingers to get Naruto's attention. "Naruto, are you still with us, kiddo?"
Naruto looked at him and once again his vision flashed, but this time—Omo was replaced with the dark silhouette before his vision flashed again and went back to normal. Now, looking at Inoichi's brother, Naruto couldn't stop the hairs on the back of his neck from standing on edge and the slight trembling of his arms.
Seeing his reaction, Inoichi grew concerned. "Naruto! What's wrong?"
Flash after flash occurred as a long buried memory started to resurface.
Naruto was backed into a corner, Surrounding him were the citizens of Konoha—civilian and shinobi alike. They were just standing there, looking at him with sinister smiles adorning their faces.
Step
Step
Footsteps could be heard approaching, and like a scene taken from a Christian doctrine, the crowd parted to make way for this new figure whose face was obscured by a black hood.
"Stay away from me!" Naruto yelled at the figure.
The person ignored him and kept moving forward.
Naruto took a few steps backwards before his back met the cold concrete. 'Shit!' He looked up to see that the hooded figure was now standing directly in front of him.
"What do you want from me?" The blonde asked.
"What do I want?" The figure parroted. He went silent before as quick as a flash, he lashed out and grabbed the boy by his collar. Displaying some impressive upper body strength, the figure lifted the boy off the ground and was now looking directly into his eyes. "I want to meet the monster that took my loved ones from me."
"What the hell is wrong with you people!? I never killed anyone!" The boy yelled as he tried to pry the man's hand from his neck.
"You seem to not remember. In that case, let me…" He held up his free hand and grabbed Naruto's forehead. "…remind you."
All of a sudden, Naruto's mind was flooded with memories that weren't his. Memories of a beautiful blonde woman along with two children—a blonde boy who looked to be in his teens and a little blonde girl who looked no older that eight. The picturesque scene of a happy, loving family, morphed into one of utter horror. They were all dead! Their bodies mangled beyond recognition and crushed beneath the tons of rubble that used to be their home.
As soon as the memory came, it went.
Wet.
His cheeks were wet.
Why were they wet?
He brought a hand up to his face and wiped it.
He was crying!
"Now do you see what you've done?"
With tears trailing down his face, the boy answered. "I…I'm sorry for what happened to you, b-but please, listen. It wasn't me. I-I swear, I'm not the one that killed your family."
Hearing this, the man got even more upset. "Playing innocent is not going to help you." The man said as he fixed his grip on the boy's neck and slammed him into the wall. "My wife, Redi-chan. You took her from me!"
The man's chakra slowly began to flare.
"My children, Ravel and Rizer. You took them from me!"
He started to direct his chakra to his palm.
"And now…I'm going to make you suffer!"
'Ravel? Riser?' Naruto's eyes widen as his mind finally caught up to who he just saw in the memory. 'That means…' "Y-you're…"
The man chuckled before he flicked his head backward. "Took you long enough eh, kiddo." In that one smooth motion, the hood fell from his face and revealed the man to be…
The memory faded, but the face of his attacker overlapped with the face of the man he was now looking at.
Omo!
"You still with us, kiddo?"
Naruto's eyes glowed bright blue and lightning crackled along his body. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" Holding up his hand, he fired a bolt of lightning that hit Omo square in the chest and sent the man flying through the wall with a loud crash.
"Brother!" Inoichi quickly ran through the hole in the wall and to his downed brother.
Omo was on his back and was groaning in pain. The front of his flak jacket was burnt off completely, while the rest of it was melting onto his skin. His chest was bare for all to see the smoking, black scorch mark now marring it.
Inoichi kneeled down and held his brother close to him. "Omo, are you okay."
With his eyes slowly rolling to the back of his head, Omo gave out. "I should have reinforced the damn thing." Before going unconscious.
Down the hall, the girls and the parents ran out to see what happened. Soon the hallway was filled with people—staff and patients alike, who were all wondering what just happened.
"We got an injured person here. Prep a room and someone get a stretcher, ASAP!" A staff member said.
The girls and the parents ran up to Inoichi, paying mind to not trip over the debris.
"Inoichi, what happened?" Iliana asked.
"I…I…I don't know. We were just about to question Naruto when something happened and…"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Suddenly, the bulbs all exploded, startling those present and sending fragments of glass flying everywhere as the hallway lost its illumination.
Inside the room Naruto was clutching the sides of his head as a lightning whirlwind raged on around him, frying everything it came into contact with and was growing with each pulse of his power. Wave after wave of excruciating pain racked the boy's body and mind.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" His screams hardly conveyed the level of agony he was feeling. It felt like his brain was tearing itself apart from the inside out. Another pulse emanated from his body and enlarged the electric whirlwind.
On the outside of the room, the onlookers had to back away from the opening, lest they get electrocuted. They could nothing but watch as the boy howled in agony.
Ino watched the blonde boy screaming in pain and that struck something within her. She didn't know why but seeing him in pain…hurt. It felt wrong to see him like that and she had this overwhelming urge to go and help him…to go comfort him. Not realizing the single tear that escaped her light blue eyes, she began to step into the room. "We have to help him."
Iliana quickly grabbed her and pulled her back to safety. "It's too dangerous to approach him now."
"But we have to do something. We can't leave him like that!" The young blonde beauty cried with more tears spilling out of her baby blue orbs.
As luck would have it, the Sandaime flickered into the hallway not a second after she said that. "I heard the commotion and came as quickly as I could. What's the…" He stopped mid-sentence when he saw the issue. "Oh!"
Another scream erupted from the boy's lungs and another pulse of lightning once again enlarged the charged whirlwind. Hiruzen could see the walls of the boy's room beginning to buckle from the force of the electric cyclone.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Inoichi was holding his older brother. "What happened to…Never-mind, we can figure this mess out once we get Naruto under control." Taking charge of the situation, he ordered everyone to clear the area and told them to evacuate the hospital just in case things get out of hand. Once he was alone with Naruto, he started to speed through his hand-seals before stopping on bird. Futon: Kaze Uzu Keimusho
The wind picked up speed and steadily it formed a wind sphere that encompassed the entire room and trapped Naruto inside. The wind battled against the lightning for dominance, but steadily is seemed that the wind began to nullify Zeus's element. 'Just a little bit longer, Naruto-kun.'
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" A powerful pulse of lightning erupted from Naruto's body which shattered the wind sphere and sent Hiruzen barreling through multiple walls before he came to a halt four rooms away from where he was. Shaking off the dizziness brought on by the hit, the old man looked up and he could see the ceiling beginning to crumble. "Damn it!" Doton: Raijingupira. Multiple pillars of stone rose up out of the ground and stopped just under the ceiling to provide support. 'That should hold until we get it fixed.' Looking in the direction of his godson, he could see that the boy was beginning to glow. 'This is bad. I need to get him under control before he levels the entire building.'
The old man quickly made his way back to the boy's room, whilst speeding through hand seals. "Forgive me if this hurts, Naruto-kun." Stopping on snake, he called out. Doton: Chikyu no Hiraishin. Four long and thin earth structures rose up out of the ground and surrounded Naruto's bed, each of them measuring about one hundred and twenty seven centimeters in height. Three pronged like structures sprang up on top of each rod before giving off and electric charge and began grounding Naruto's lightning.
"I hope this works."
Outside the building
Citizens of the village were going about their day as usual—kids going to school, adults going to work, patrons visiting their local businesses, however all actions came to a complete halt upon a loud clap of thunder.
Cla-cla-Boom
It was so close that it literally shook ground they were standing on. They looked up and the bright, vibrant blue sky was being replaced by a dull gray hue. Not so far off on the horizon, clouds that looked as if they were touched the darkest abyss approached with lightning striking the earth, scorching anything they touch.
The citizens looked on —rooted to their spots by an overwhelming sense of dread and apprehension.
A white haired shinobi, donning a light green flak jacket and a bandana styled Hitai-ate, was shaking in his sandals as he watched the sky light up as if someone had royally pissed off the thunder god.
The citizens were broken out of their bewilderment when a bolt of lightning came crashing down right on top of the white haired shinobi—shaking the earth as if it were hit by a high magnitude earthquake.
"RUN!"
That single panic induced scream sent everyone running in an alarm fueled frenzy, leaving behind the smoking skeleton of the now former academy instructor.
As if reacting to their panic, bolts of lightning began raining down on the village as if it were punishing them for their sins. Zeus's element struck without hesitation nor remorse, anything that got in its path, be it man, woman or child was shown no mercy.
A black haired woman was slumped down on her knees in the middle of the road. The world around her seemed nonexistent as she didn't seem to register the panic that surrounded her. Tears were freely flowing from her eyes as she continued to stare at the burnt and trampled remains of her daughter and husband.
"Dear, Kami! What is happening?"
Back in the hospital
Hiruzen looked through the window out on the chaos that reigning down upon his village. "Good Kami. What is happening?"
"As much as I'd like to blame the old goddess for this, she's not the one responsible here."
The old kage whipped around instantly to see who spoke. Standing there was a man that he could only describe as ethereal. This man was adorned in white, monk styled robes that he wore underneath a long blue, sleeveless vest that had gold trimming. Atop his head was a dark brown straw hat that shadowed his glowing blue eyes that like the rest of his body, radiated and danced with electricity.
The Sandaime furrowed his brows at the man. "Who are you?"
"Who I am is of little importance at this time. What is important is healing my descendant before he causes anymore damage to your village."
That little piece of information left Hiruzen's mouth agape. "Y…your descendant?"
"Yes. Do not worry about that for it shall be explained later on."
"How do I know that I can trust you?"
Without missing a beat. "For I am the only one offering to save this young man's life as well as the life of your village."
That shut the old man up. "Point taken."
The straw hat wearing individual nodded before moving toward the blonde boy. Hiruzen was gobsmacked when the man literally walked through the whirring lightning with no adverse effects to whatsoever.
The ethereal being placed his hand underneath the boy's head and almost immediately he stopped screaming. "You are in great pain, young one." He moved his hand down and lightly grasped the blonde's forehead. "Allow me to take it away."
There was a small flash in the man's hand before steadily he began pulling his hand back, as if he were pulling something out of the boy's head. Steadily he kept pulling until a few moments later he yanked his hand back and completely removed what was bothering the boy.
The effect was instant. Naruto fell back on the bed unconscious and the lightning subsided completely. On the outside, the dark clouds started to steadily dissipate and the lightning strikes came to a complete halt.
Hiruzen looked at the flame with a skeptical gaze. "What is that?"
In the robed man's hand was a little blue flame. "Chakra. An imprint left in the boy's mind which was set to destroy it upon being compromised. It wouldn't have outright killed him, but there wouldn't be much point to him being alive, seeing as he'd be brain-dead. It also seems to be the source of the young one's forgetfulness in terms of his attacks." He explained before closing his fist and extinguishing the flame.
"An imprint!" An image of Omo's downed body flashed in Hiruzen's mind before a frown settled on his face. "It seems that Omo has some answering to do."
"Regardless, now that that has been taken care of, I believe it's safe to say that your village has been spared a rather gruesome faith."
At this Hiruzen looked out the window, and while he could see that a good bit of damage had been done—it wasn't irreparable. He just hoped the casualties, if there were any, weren't too high.
Before the aged leader could give his gratitude, three of his Anbu flickered into the room. "Hokage-sama are you…" Tori stopped mid-sentence upon seeing the other occupant. They immediately drew their weapons and took offensive stances. "Who are you? State your business!"
"Stand down." Came the voice of their leader.
"But, sir…"
"I said stand down. He is not a threat to us, now stand down!" He reaffirmed in a sterner tone.
The three Anbu reluctantly nodded and re-holstered their weapons.
"Good, now everything is under control here. Tori, you and Taka go and survey the village and compile a report of all the damages. Hato, you gather a group and scour the village to do a search and rescue in case any of our residents are in need of help. You have your orders, now go."
"Hai, sir." With that they flickered away to complete their tasks.
Seeing that they were no longer needed, Hiruzen released his technique and allowed the rods to sink back into the earth. Going to his godson's bedside, he placed his palm on the boy's head and rubbed it lightly. He felt glad to see that he was better than he was a few minutes ago.
"I'd like to thank you by name but you have yet to share it with me."
"Well seeing as the crisis has been averted, I see nothing wrong with telling you who I am." The man said before stood with his hands folded over his chest. "I am Raiden—God of Thunder and Lightning and the protector of earthrealm."
And that is a wrap! I once again express my gratitude to all of you who have stuck with this story. Really appreciate it. I also wanna thank Fanreader26 for helping me with the scene where the dark clouds are converging on Konoha. Thanks man.
Any questions you want answered, feel free to leave it in a review and I'll get back to ya'.
Now I know that some of you are likely to point out that Inoichi could have simply done a mind-walk on the girls instead of doing it the old fashioned way. The reason why he didn't do so is because it is an invasive method that he'd rather not use on the girls unless he had to. Using it on criminals is one things, using it on his own daughter and her friend is another.
And yes, I used Hiruzen and his wife as Naruto's godparents because I'd rather not go down the rather cliché rabbit hole that is bashing Jirayia for being an asshole godfather. I wanted to try something different.
Also, I know that someone may point out that Kyuubi could have gotten rid of the imprint, but I say no, she couldn't. I did my research and I came to the conclusion that while Kyuubi does have access to Naruto's body and can heal him physically—she doesn't have access to his mind to do any alterations to it. She may be able to see his memories but that's it.
Now before anyone argues this point, remember that in Canon, Kyuubi hated being confined, especially when he was placed in Naruto. He hated it so much that he was willing to dedicate years to slowly leaking his chakra through the gate to get out. Someone with that sort of determination would have looked for other ways to get out, including trying to manipulate the boy's mind before resorting to the long way. The fact that he didn't, tells me that he could not access Naruto's mind to that degree.
Also do remember that Minato and Kushina both had imprints of themselves in Naruto's mind and Kyuubi had no idea that they were there until they revealed themselves. So here, even if Kyuubi did know that the imprint was there and was causing trouble, she wouldn't have been able to do anything about it unless Naruto gave her access to his mind.
More about the imprint will be explained in the next chapter, whenever I'm able to get it out.
Jutsu List
Doton: Raijingupira: Earth Style: Rising Pillars
Doton: Chikyu no Hiraishin: Earth Style: Earth Lightning Rods
Futon: Kaze Uzu Keimusho: Wind Style: Wind Vortex Prison
Response to Tenjo
Alright Tenjo you seem to be misunderstanding somethings about MY story.
Firstly, it is Fan-FICTION; that means that a writer (me) takes plot from a fandom and re-imagines that plot to make it DIFFERENT. So for you to come here on a site, literally called FAN-FICTION. N E T, looking for pretty much everything to follow Canon, is hilariously stupid, bruh. If you want Canon, go read the Manga or watch the Anime. Don't come here looking for it.
Now concerning your review for chapter 1: Let's see, firstly you called out the trope of the beatings, which at this point is pretty cliché, I won't take that from you. You see, this fic was a challenge I accepted and part of this challenge was to go with this trope. Sorry that you don't like it but, (shrugs) Oh well.
Now concerning what you said about the patrols. Have you seen Canon? No like seriously, the security in Canon is pretty lax. Don't believe me?
Orochimaru got in pretty much undetected until he wanted them to know he was there by leaving those dead bodies to be found. You can make the argument that he's someone who would know how to beat Konoha's security system. But you also have to remember that he was literally standing there with the rest of the Jonin as well as the Hokage in the preliminary room and no-one realized that he was there. You could say that the Jonin wouldn't notice since Orochimaru is above them in both power and experience, (and even that's a stretch) but Hiruzen has no business not realizing since he is a Kage and is stronger than Orochimaru and has way more experience.
Another point where the security is lax is when Baki met up with Kabuto and killed Hayate. Now you can give Konoha a point for having Hayate tail Kabuto, but that point can be taken back since once Hayate was made and he was battling Baki. There were no patrols going on that could have helped him and likely saved his life.
Now if you argue and say that they may have just not made it to that location yet, then that proves that they are not combing every part of the village at every minute and they do in fact miss areas. Also, Hayate wasn't found until the morning, HOURS after he fought Baki. So when you say that the villagers couldn't get away with torturing Naruto for that long, you have my rebuttal. Concerning the scream carrying a long way, you can see the reason for that in this chapter with the silencing seals. The reason the girls were able to hear it will be revealed in the next chapter.
Still don't believe me. Okay, here is one of the biggest examples of their lax security.
SASUKE'S DEFECTION.
He quite literally walked out the village. If you go back and re-watch the, he was in no hurry and was walking at a leisurely pace, almost dragging his feet. He wasn't looking for patrols and avoiding them, he was taking a nightly stroll that happened to end at Orochimaru's place. If Sakura wasn't conveniently there to see him, the village wouldn't have known he was missing until he was well out of reach. I know, you'll argue saying that the village was hit by an invasion not too long ago and they were short on people. That should make them want to batten down the hatches even more. Since they were rather weakened by the invasion, the most logical thing to do would be to close up the village and having those available work overtime to ensure that the village's security is ready to find any threats and stop any attempts of anyone leaving without authorization. Doing this would have at least tightened up the security during a time of vulnerability.
Now for the girls, the murder and rape which you brought up. Let's see: They walked in on the villagers torturing Naruto and about to kill him. They were threatened to leave and told to keep quiet. They refused after being given multiple chances to leave. Now I don't know about you, but if I was committing a crime and someone walked in on me and refused to keep quiet about it, I'd kill them to keep them quiet. Harsh but it is a logical move in that situation. LET ME MAKE IT CLEAR, I DO NOT CONDONE MURDER! IT'S JUST THAT IN THIS CASE, IT IS THE MOST LOGICAL MOVE FOR THEM TO MAKE.
As for the rape—I'll admit that it may have been a bit much, but again, in this case it makes sense. They have two admittedly attractive females that they are gonna kill anyway. In their minds, why not get my rocks off with them before we off them. NOW LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR. I DO NOT! CONDONE SEXUAL ASSAULT. IT IS A DISGUSTING ACT AND ANY MAN WHO DOES IT SHOULD BE CASTRATED VIA BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA. It is a bit much I will once again admit, but it served its purpose of pissing off Naruto enough to forcefully awaken his bloodline.
As for why the on-looking ninja would let it happen. Umm bruh, they are in the crowd of people looking to commit murder. If the girls got away, they would have gone to the trustworthy authorities and people would be getting busted left and right. The girls may not have seen all the faces but once people start getting arrested, people are gonna squeal and reveal who else was there. So yeah, logical move would be to allow it to happen.
As for the accusations, shouldn't you do that after a few chapters and not jump the gun on the FIRST CHAPTER. Admittedly that last accusation was true, but c'mon bruh, really? The first chapter? Way to judge a book by the cover.
Now let's move on to your review for chapter 2. First off let me get this out of the way. Who the fuck are you to tell me that MY Naruto is MEANT to be like CANON Naruto but with an added power. Get over yourself you fucking narcissistic bastard. I write what I wanna write, not what YOU wanna see me write.
Now that that is out of the way, let's continue. Did you actually read that chapter by any chance? Or did you skim through it and then come to me with bullshit complaints to make yourself feel relevant? I put it in the summary that Naruto is SMARTER, meaning, and stay with me now, MY NARUTO IS SMARTER THAN CANON NARUTO!
Now for your obvious misunderstanding of Naruto's age. Naruto met Kiyomi when he was 12, not 7 nor 8 as you apparently believe. If you had actually read the damn chapter or even the author's note at the top of the second chapter, you would have seen that detail and not need me to spoon-feed it to you like you're a damn toddler.
Now that I have addressed your reviews, I'm gonna address you directly. Let me give you some free advice, alright. When you go to read any fanfiction, it's best to do so with an open mind. Believe me, you'll enjoy them more if you do. Also if you're gonna leave a review, even if it's not exactly a "nice" one, at least leave some constructive criticism. We writers may not like the way you word it, but we can't say that you didn't leave some pointers as to what we may have been doing wrong. Don't be an asshole and leave a bad review or straight up tell us what YOU wanna see, just because, and I'm quoting you here; "I dislike that." Bruh, we are not writing to please you specifically. We write because we enjoy doing it and because there are readers that enjoy what we write.
Personally I would have greatly appreciated it if you did like what I wrote, but I know that I won't be able to please everyone. So in the future, if you read something you don't like from me, or any other writer, just leave it and find one you do like. Got all that? Great! Now have yourself a nice day or night, whatever time it is when you see this.
See ya.