'Who is naruto uzumaki'
This question when asked to the citizens or ninjas of konoha would reward you with a variety of different responses. Some spat his name like it was a poisonous venom on their tongue, others spoke his name in hushed whispers as if he could hear every word that escaped their lips. Few spoke of him in a good light and very little would just ask who you were referring to.
He is a loser, he is a trouble maker, he is a pest, he is a beacon of hope, he is our end, he will be a new beginning.
All these responds will come in one form or another depending on who you asked but among there own explanations of who they thought naruto was each person always said the same thing.
'I don't know much about him'
This simple phrase though worded differently from person to person always stayed the same. It was because of this naruto had gained to another title to his name that mainly only shining used for the boy
The enigma
Plain, simple and explained who naruto was in the eyes of konoha and those closes to him. Fluctuating characteristics, skills, behavior patterns and even what the boy did on a day to day basis had left many Naras and interrogation specialists scratching their heads either from frustration or confusion.
One such example that most brought up when asked what was so confusing about him was his stealth and evasion skills that allowed him to not only paint the homage monument in broad daylight without anyone noticing but also out running Chunnin, Jounin, and ANBU level shinobi when sent to chase him was a feat not many could claim to have achieved, the fact he was wearing a neon orange jumpsuit only made the entire situation even more ridiculous and shamed many of the ninjas that failed on that day. Konoha residents who knew of this feat could only pray for his enemies on the day he decides to wear dark clothing, poor bastards wouldn't even know they were in danger till it was to late.
Team 7 however was finally being introduced to this so called enigma naruto however and just like many before them it left each member just as confused and dumbfounded as the last. At first it was almost unrecognizable as he seemingly acted like his usual self, or so they told themselves, it didn't take long before the changes in characteristics became obvious. Naruto was calmer and only on occasions yelled out loud like he normally would, he also seemed more anxious about something and would constantly dart his eyes about the area he was in and before where he exuded an aura of confidence and determination was now an aura of warmth and determination as if in some way he had been humbled.
Next came the physical and behavioral based changes, his eyes had begun developed dark circles under his eyes and slept less then he normally would have. He also seemed to have become more subdued than he normally would be, hell even the amount of times he asked – read: yelled – for sakura to go on a date had lessen and he wouldn't be yelling at the top of his lungs as he became more and more focused on his own little world.
But the biggest change however was in his skills, from the point of view of team 7 naruto seemingly grew in skill by leaps and bounds, his agility and quick decisions in his spars with sasuke showed that awhile he lacked the strength to beat sasuke his increasing speed and strength were proving to be pushing the uchiha to try harder in their matches, all of this however was from team 7's point of view in which they saw naruto just have a random boost in strength and skills but the answer was much simpler than that, naruto just used the skill set he already had to its best potential that he had overlooked as unimportant in the line of shinobi hence the increase In skill.
That didn't mean that naruto was lazing about though as he stumble upon the knowledge of the shadow clones 'hidden' feature, the ability to return whatever knowledge the clone gained back to the original when he dispelled a clone he had been sparring with, of course it had taken a while for naruto to actually find a use for it could you blame him though imagine you were told your cloning ability let you gain the memories of the clones you summoned, first instinct would be to switch places, have them read books you couldn't be bothered to read yourself or have them pretend to be your long lost twin, no matter the changes naruto still wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed yet but eventually he discovered that while muscle mass didn't return to him muscle memory did and thus began his ingenious plan of sending several hundred shadow clones to practice tree walking and incorporate ideas for his fighting style kakashi suggested he add to his fighting style or try to get better at.
Unfortunately that plan immediately backfired and naruto had been knocked unconscious for 6 hours from the equivalent of a whole year's worth of training being crammed into his head all at once when the clones dispelled but at least he was better at tree climbing.
This shift in character and strength had sent his other two teammates into training as well, sasuke for the reason his superiority complex he had unknowingly developed refused to let naruto close the gap in strength that divided the two while sakura had begun training as a way to gain sasuke's attention due to his attention being on naruto who had begun to train, it was, in her mind, A sure fire way of getting sasuke to notice her.
This had all happened in just the space of one week and a half.
(=====)
Naruto jolted up from his futon as he tried to steady his racing heart and quick breathing, after some deep breathes naruto found himself calm once more.
'damn nightmares just can't let me sleep can you', naruto ranted mentally as he got up from his place of rest to take a shower and begin the day ahead of him, entering the bathroom naruto took a glance at the mirror and frowned at the dark circles under his eyes that though were barely noticeable still was visible, ever since the less than pleasant memories of his childhood had resurfaced his nightmares had gotten even more gruesome and horrifying causing his sleep time to be cut short.
After taking a quick shower and changing naruto was about to head out to begin his training only for him to pause when he heard the shouts of inari from downstairs, quickly rushing down naruto was met with the sight of Tsunami being held down by what looked to have a samurai If the katanas the wielded were anything to go by while inari had a kitchen knife aimed at yet another samurai. It didn't take a genius to know who these two were, they were more of gato's men.
That thought had naruto freezing in place as his mind replayed the results of the situation he deduced.
'they were Gato's men'
Naruto felt the almost overwhelming sense of numbness try to take control of his emotions once again as he tried to push that feeling down, as he naruto grappled with his emotions he had not realized that he eyes began flashing to different patterns while the ground beneath him creaked ominously. As the emotions grew stronger naruto found himself giving into the numbness and before he knew it his body felt the exact same it had that night a week and a half ago, and seemingly within a blink of an eye naruto vanished.
(=====)
Inari was not having a good day, at first it had begun like any other his family and the three members of team 7 had eaten breakfast and leaving naruto to sleep as he had returned late last night after a long training session. Sakura had loudly complained about naruto constantly getting time off guarding duty due to training schedule, inari wondered how non of the team were deaf as of yet or how naruto slept through the girls loud complaints, he was sure some people in kumo had heard her. After team 7 and his grandfather left inari had helped his mother around the house for a bit as per normal when a knock at the door had gotten her attention, it wasn't long before inari heard the yell from his mother and the sounds of struggling, he had grabbed a kitchen knife and ran only to be met with the sight of his mother being held down by two samurais.
"LET MY MOM GO!" inari shouted at the two, still holding his knife out at the two samurai who just laughed.
"Really I'm so scared" the black haired male who was holding down tsunami snickered, "if your so sure you can take us on go right ahead." he beckoned inari brandishing his own katana.
He didn't expect the brat to actually attack him so when inari had ran at him and swung his knife he had quickly moved out of the way, at his side inari heard the second samurai click his tongue.
"You just couldn't stay still could you" the Bluish-white haired male sneered, unsheathing his sword he swung down at inari who had closed his eyes waiting for the flood of agonizing pain to course through his body, he waited and waited and waited, yet no pain was felt instead all there was, was a short gasp that he heard behind him and a wet squelching noise in front of him, curiosity tugged at him wanting to open his eyes and find out why he wasn't in pain yet. He felt his eyes slowly begin to crack open,
"Inari keep your eyes closed"
Only to snap shut once again when the emotionless command from naruto reached his ears, soon after he felt the familiar felling of his mother's arms encircling him in a hug, when had she gotten by his side?
"You did well in protecting your mother inari, I am sure kaiza would have been proud of you"
Though naruto's voice was uncharacteristically kid of any emotions it did little to stop the feeling of pride and happiness that welled up inside inari's chest.
"Tsunami take inari upstairs for a short time so I can deal with the samurais" naruto ordered as inari heard his mother's agreement before he was rushed upstairs.
(=====)
It was times like these waraji hated his job, it was simple at first:
Wait for the konoha ninjas to leave with the old man
Kill the old geezer's family while he was away
Bring their corpses to the bridge for the old man to see
Then have him watch his village burn before killing him
Simple really in its explanation and so far everything had gone according to plan. That was until the fourth konoha ninja they forgot had sprang to the brat's defense and stopped zōri from killing the brat. Now standing tall over his partner was said ninja who held zōri's sword in his grasp still freshly stained with the blood of his companion that hold a hole through his wind pipe, as the boy flicked the blood onto the ground with motion of his hand, his hair shadowing his eyes from view.
"YOU DAMN BASTARD ILL KILL YOU!" waraji roared, he had just seen his friend be killed by this kid. Had waraji not let the anger get the best of him he probably would have approached the blonde with more caution realizing the terrifying aura that surrounded him but anger was a strong poison.
Swinging his katana down the boy's frame he smirked in triumph as his blade glided through his body,
POP
Only for the triumph to be short lived as the boy exploded into a cloud of smoke and before he was able to make a move to look for the blonde he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, glancing down Sarah I was greeted to the sight of a sword protruding from his lung. He attempted to glance back at his enemy and killer to condemn him not with words - the blood rushing into his lungs would turn any attempt at talking into a painful and bloody coughing fit - but his eyes