The Legend of A Master
DISCLAIMER – I DO NOT OWN POKEMON OR NARUTO, THEY BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
Chapter 1 - The legend is born
Some say legends are made...
A few say legends are trained...
Others argue that they are created...
But very few realize that the answer is neither...
Legends are born...
It was a quaint day in the town of beginnings...
This was a town where legends were born and raised, where new stories of greatness began. Many veteran trainers, renowned for their skill and prowess; had received their lifelong partners in the infamous laboratory that called Pallet town its home.
But, this isn't a tale that recounts the glorious days of old, no. This tale will tell you the story of a new legend, the likes of which the world has never seen.
23rd July, XX92
Crying is heard from Viridian Memorial Hospital, as new life enters this world taking its first breath. A happy couple has been blessed with a beautiful son.
Yellow smiled softly at the precious bundle in her arms. She shifted her hold slightly to see pale skin and piercing red eyes. Amber orbs met tearful red ones as they both smiled joyously at their little boy. Her gaze was steady as an all-important question that was being conveyed through those eyes…
Red smiled as he stretched out his arm to stroke the infant's perfect face.
"Welcome Arion, we've been waiting for you"
As it so happened no one noticed the silver-haired shadow out in the hallway.
"You'll do."
9:30 PM, October 10th XX92
Arion crawled over to where his mother sat. The three-month-old was bright and curious, constantly exploring and taking in his surroundings. Red often joked that little Arion was born to be a shinobi with how much he moved. The mother held her little boy tightly as she smiled, she couldn't help it! her son was adorable.
"Yellow-chan!" an urgent voice pierced through the delicate silence that had cocooned the female dexholder. Her head snapped up on high alert as she shifted to give her husband a stern look. Her eyes widened in alarm when her lover appeared with his ANBU armour on, Wolf mask in place. His eyes glowed under the mask.
"Red-kun? What's wrong?" her eyes crinkled in worry as she frowned at her partner's distress.
"Bijuu attack, Minato-Sensei is in trouble..." Red was clearly fighting to stay calm. It was obvious that his family was safe here, thousands of miles away, but the village needed him right now.
"Do you want me to..." she started.
"No!" his voice was firm. He embraced his wife breathing in her familiar scent.
"Stay here and take care of Arion for me" Red's voice left no room for argument but this was Yellow, she was the only one who could argue with her husband.
"I'm a Senju, Red-kun. I can help a lot with healing the wounded..." She tried to reason.
"No..." his voice was weaker but this had a far greater effect on Yellow. The desperation in his voice was clear as day. He clung tighter to his lover's slender frame.
"Please, I can't lose you. I know you're strong that's why I need you here, to protect our son"
Yellow closed her eyes. She tipped his mask looking directly into his eyes. Leaning forward she kissed him tenderly.
"Come back to me alive, you hear?" She said. He nodded, kissing his wife as if to seal the promise, before leaning down to tenderly caress his son's chubby cheeks. He then dropped a kiss to the infant's forehead.
"I will..." he trailed off as his eyes spun to life settling into the signature pattern of the Sharingan. Pulling down his mask he then disappeared with a shunshin.
KONOHAGAKURE NO SATO
"Divisions 3 and 4, flank the sides! Support the Yondaime no matter what" the aged voice of veteran shinobi, Hiruzen Sarutobi rang out amidst the chaos. The ninja complied trusting the orders of "The Professor".
But alas it was no use. With a single sweep of one of its tails, the Kyuubi had easily thrown away all the approaching ninja. Minato was trying his best, a bead of sweat ran down his brow as he carefully considered his next move. This intruder was strong. His chance came with the entrance of his ANBU captain.
"Take care of the Bijuu, Yondaime-sama. I will keep him occupied" The ANBU said as he unsheathed his sword. Minato nodded and Hirashin'ed away. As the two shinobi gauged each other, it was the stranger who felt the chill first. This ANBU was a real threat.
Ōkami's eyes narrowed for a second. A single mature Sharingan was visible under his opponent's mask. An Uchiha was alive and he did not know about it? He closed his eyes and concentrated on his chakra signature. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew this chakra signature.
Impatient the spiral-masked man dashed forward, arms out exposing heavy chains clamped on his wrists. He swung his chains erratically forcing Ōkami to keep his distance. A couple of shuriken later, the ANBU captain discovered the speciality of this ninja...
Intangibility
"That's quite the ability you have there, masked man" Ōkami commented lightly as he sheathed his sword in favour of more ninja tools.
"And it will be your end," the masked man said weaving a hand sign. The solitary eye visible spun and both were being plunged into a pocket dimension. Ōkami found himself half in a dreary realm where everything echoed and half in reality. The masked man appeared swinging his chains agressively.
"First, he uses Sharingan but he also has Mangekyō?! This guy is dangerous"
Ōkami smirked to himself, opening his mouth for a smart retort...
"You really don't know how to use your eyes" Raising his head to display his own Mangekyō. The Shuriken pattern started to spin rapidly.
The masked man flinched, closing both eyes quickly disrupting the Kamui.
"How?! My Kamui was broken through so easily?!"
"Oh it was hard, I'm just that good!" Ōkami charged forward his hand ready. Thrusting his palm forward the strike connected with the masked man's navel, a spirally seal appearing on his body.
"A contract seal!?"
"With this, Kyuubi is no longer under your control," Ōkami said twisting his hand as he threw the motionless man quite a distance away. The masked man acted fast, his Sharingan spinning he transported his whole body into his pocket dimension. Ōkami stopped his charge at once, only a whisper of the masked man remained...
"I will rise again, beware Uchiha Itachi..."
Ōkami just remained silent. Recovering and sheathing his sword, he looked to the chaos with the Kyuubi.
"Just who was that man? I'll think about it later, for now, I have to help Minato-Sensei" he shunshined away.
He was met by a heart-wrenching sight. Minato stood there with Kushina. It was clear that both of them had been impaled by one of the giant claws of the Kyuubi attempting to protect a small blonde child. Minato's legacy...
As the final words were imparted from Minato to his son his eyes threatened to close as the hand seals and by extension, the seal, was completed, The Kyuubi had been sealed into the infant. Ōkami's own eyes widened behind his mask rushing towards them he frantically tried to analyze the situation. It did not help that his wife was aeons better at healing than he was.
"No-No-No Sensei you can't die on me. Naruto needs you, The village needs you... I still need you" Red whispered frantically trying to close the torn flesh of his Sensei and his Sensei's lover.
"I-I-Itachi..."
Wolf came to attention immediately.
"Come c-c-clos-er" his captain immediately bowed, shifting closer to his sensei.
"Protect Naruto for me. P-p-protect my son, I entrust this to you. You have a beautiful family of your own, please take care of what's left of mine" They were his final words before the legendary Yellow flash and his wife the Crimson Streak closed their eyes and passed on.
Red was left holding the blonde child. The only reminder of his Sensei left in the mortal plane. Sarutobi burst in at that moment.
"Wolf is that...?" He trailed off.
Red nodded trying to hand the newborn infant to the aged shinobi only to find Naruto clinging onto his plate amour. The boy's eyes were open now, revealing the same piercing blue eyes his Sensei was known for. With that Naruto started to cry as he was dislodged from Ōkami's grip and handed to Sarutobi. They had to go back to check the damage.
2 DAYS LATER
"We cannot let the Uchiha adopt the Jinchuuriki and that is final Itachi!," Koharu spat as she glared at the young but undeniably strong ninja.
"He may be a Jinchuuriki but I will not allow him to end up in some orphanage where you won't even let me see him. You've already stolen his freedom, I won't let him lose any more than he already has!" a stunned silence prevailed as the normally calm shinobi raised his voice.
"Uchiha-san is correct. The boy might be a demon container, but he's still human. In fact, he's doing this village a great service" Red eyes turned to find a surprising ally in pale orbs.
"We cannot let the Jinchuuriki be loyal to a single clan, it should be only for the village as a whole" Homura countered snootily, looking over his frames at the clan heads like they were troublesome children.
This whole situation was already turning out to be dangerous, Itachi's eyes narrowed as he kept a trained gaze on the two elders.
"And that is the final word. Naruto will be placed in an orphanage and at age 6 will be enrolled in the Konohagakure ninja academy" Sarutobi sighed out taking another drag from his pipe.
Itachi said nothing as he stood up and fire shunshined himself out of the room back to the Uchiha district. Yellow was patiently waiting for him as she fed their son. The sight of his precious family helped a great deal in loosening tense shoulders as he held his hands out for his little boy.
"So how did it go Anata?" Yellow asked. He shook his head in reply gently tickling the laughing infant as he kicked his little feet in delight.
"They're sure being quite stubborn, they don't know what will happen if Naruto goes on the streets. The whole older generation is aware that Naruto is the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, he'll be killed if the civilians get their hands on him" his eyes closed as he felt a headache coming on.
He felt gentle fingers caress his face as they sent soothing waves of green healing chakra into his temple. The pain faded into a dull ache as he sighed in relief.
"Honestly, I don't understand why he can't be given parental protection yet can be assigned an ANBU for all times of the day" Yellow nodded agreeing with her husband.
"ANBU can be controlled and assigned. They can have selective protection. I have a feeling they're not going to be doing their jobs. Guess then we just got to protect him the best we can" and they would.
For his sensei, Red would do just about anything.
4 MONTHS LATER…
"Do you want the toy little Arion?" the princess of slugs cooed as she fawned over her grandchild. Shizune was right behind her holding another brightly coloured toy as Arion eye's danced with amusement and childish joy.
It was going pretty well, Naruto was usually treated acceptably but what worried Red the most was the fact that Naruto seemed to be malnourished. Even with his best efforts, he could only do so much since he wasn't in the village most of the time. his greatest ally at this time has surprisingly been Hiashi.
Maybe it was because he was an expecting father too, maybe it was because the couple has been close friend's with Kushina and Minato before they passed. Either way, the Byakugan wielders were doing a great deal by keeping an eye on the boy and stopping any "accidents" from occurring.
He hoped that in due time Kakashi would be added to that force.
Shaking these thoughts away, Red looked adoringly at his own seven-month-old son as the boy gently stroked Vee, his Espeon.
"Papa!" a joyful shout broke his concentration.
His eyes widened as he felt moisture on his cheek. He was crying...
Tsunade for her part was equally shocked. As a medical ninja she had worked with several infants but Arion's development has been the fastest yet. Brown eyes turned to her niece as Yellow also entered the room.
"Mama?" the toddler called out questioningly raising his hands wanting to be picked up.
"Yes baby, I'm your mama!" she cooed immediately picking up her toddler.
"Do you know who that is Arion? do you know my little dragon?" Young red eyes turned to the Slug princess and her niece as he pointed with a chubby finger.
"Obaa-chan! Nee-chan!" Shizune gasped as the infant giggled; clapping his hands, obviously pleased with himself.
All the adults fawned over the smallest Uchiha-Senju as the boy laughed without a single care in the world.
23rd July, XX94
Today was Arion's second birthday but Red and Yellow had no idea what to get their child. The boy already had everything any child would love but they knew better than anybody that their son wasn't just any other child.
As time went on, Red had more obligations as the Champion of the Kanto region as well as a clan head, and that left little time for him to spend with his family. It wasn't ideal, but it had to be done, even if it broke his heart a little.
However, Red had observed in the little time that he spent with his son that he was going to be someone who would change the world. Akin to his mother who was a child of the Viridian forest, the boy was amazingly skilled at befriending, and soothing Pokémon. He also had an innate understanding of chakra being able to babble away with wild Pokemon with little to no effort.
"Kiddo, what do you want to do for your birthday?"
The boy seemed to think for a while and then his face split into a smile and replied...
"I want Tou-Chan and Kaa-Chan to take me to Konohagakure and see all the ninja over there."
It wasn't a strange request.
Red was the famous Uchiha Itachi, the head of the most powerful clan of the village hidden in the leaves. Renowned for his skill with his Sharingan [Copy Wheel Eye]. He was hailed as a prodigy that showed up once in generations. He graduated from the academy at the age of seven and made ANBU captain at the age of thirteen. He was also the longest-serving ANBU operative in the history of Konohagakure. Feared for his knowledge of numerous Ninjutsu, various styles of Taijutsu and his trademark art of Genjutsu, he was currently a prime candidate to take over as the Gondaime Hokage.
Yellow was known as Uchiha Izumi and she was no less deadly on the battlefield than her husband. Known and renowned for her amazing skill and prowess in the healing arts she truly was the niece of Senju Tsunade. But despite Yellow's best efforts, the slug princess still kept her distance from Konoha. However, she loved spending time with her grand-nephew.
Arion or rather, Uchiha Senju Sasuke was the heir to the two founding clans of Konohagakure. It was no wonder he would be a little curious about the place. Red smiled as he ruffled dark hair.
"Anything for you kiddo"
3 years later, XX97
Red was returning from Indigo plateau with a special gift for his son, after all, it was his son's fifth birthday.
He had checked up on Naruto recently and was outraged to see that the mistreatment had still continued. Ever since Naruto turned 2, the attempts were more obvious and dangerous as well. If not for the Hyuuga there was little doubt in Red's mind that Naruto would be dead. He had recently started to consider the possibility of permanently moving back to the Uchiha compound just so that Yellow could watch over Naruto and possibly make him come to them.
Looking around Red confirmed nobody was watching and commanded his Charizard, 'Char' to descend in his backyard. Jumping off his back he thanked Char for a job well done and returned him.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu [Fire Release: Great Fireball technique]"
An impressively sized fireball disturbed the surface of the small lake in their backyard. The flames were so hot, the edges were tinged blue. Red stood back lightly impressed.
Arion was proving to be a natural-born prodigy. Anything he had an interest in was instantly absorbed, but his true prowess lay in his eagerness to improve and master every skill he encountered. Whether it be his Kekkie Genkai, Shinobi arts, technology, languages, or cooking, he was enthusiastic to learn and perfect his skills.
He was a genius in every sense of the word and he was still only five years old. Red however couldn't take all the credit, there was also his other teacher to thank for his strength. But that was for another time...
"Hey kiddo", Red greeted his freshly tired 5-year-old.
"Tou-chan!" he exclaimed delighted and tackled his father into a hug. Red hugged back knowing how long the boy had been waiting for him to come home. Uchiha may be known for keeping hardened stoic masks but around family, smiles were common for the whole clan.
That was when he noticed Yellow smiling warmly at the scene, looking at her, he gave her a smile of his own, and then they diverted their attention to the child who was clutching Red as if his life depended on it as if Red would disappear if he let go.
"So are you ready to open your presents Arion"? Yellow's gentle voice broke the silence.
"Yes!" Was his prompt reply, Red laughing at his eagerness.
"Okay little one, this is from me," Yellow said, holding out a small metallic pendant to the boy.
Curious he took the smooth silver pendant shaped like a long and thin octagon with a royal blue stripe running on its border. Opening it, there was a picture of their entire family inside. Giving his mother a grateful hug the pendant was immediately hung around his neck.
When he turned to his father he saw the colour drain from his father's tan face. That is when he felt it too...
A large disturbance in the surrounding's chakra. The Pokemon around were obviously distressed too, they were burrowing around trying to escape. As he started to turn a large blast from behind, knocking the boy out effectively.
"Arion!" his father screamed before dashing forward to catch his falling son. He shielded the prone body with a chakra barrier before lifting up the still form and retreating. He closed his eyes in frustration.
Once he had safely lowered his son on the ground, he looked up his normally red eyes turning before three tomoes were revealed.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" Red snarled before releasing all of his Pokemon, Yellow doing the same, though with more silent fury.
The champion level Pokemon roared when they saw their master's child had been hurt. Even the normally calm Saur gave a growl of rage. As Red's eyes took in the enemies' identity he clenched his fist.
He was out of time.
He should have been more careful investigating. Tobi was a force to be reckoned with and if he found this place there's no doubt he wouldn't rest until all the Uchiha were killed.
His eye's met his lover's. Her eyes widen, misting with tears but they held in them understanding.
Grabbing the case he had wanted to give Arion for his birthday, he sighed before pulling out the letters he had never wanted to give his son. Slipping both of them into the case he closed his eyes as tears prickled the edges of his vision.
Calling over Char, he instructed him to take Arion to the edge of Pallet town and drop him off them. The couple hugged and kissed their child for what seemed for the last time. He whispered to his son, though he knew that the child couldn't hear him.
"We will always love you Sochi, never forget it" then Char took off leaving them to battle for their lives. Turning to face the enemy he cracked his neck and Yellow took on a Taijutsu stance. They were ready to fight...
Till the death.
Signing Off,
The Aura Phoenix.