Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Obsession with strength

~Streets of Konoha~

Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha, hands lazily placed in his pockets as he watched people go by him. At this point barely anyone looked at him, they gave him a wide berth but the glares and whispering had all but subsided. It seemed now that he was out of the village more the general populace of Konoha couldn't be bothered.

His mind wandered back to two weeks before today when he had passed out because of the 'red'. At first, after he had woken up, he had been ready to jump up and start his training again.

But something stopped him and he took a second and assessed what it meant to use this power. The 'red' hurt him, it hurt to wield, it burned his insides, and left him tired and exhausted, so much so that he passed out after only a couple seconds of maintaining it.

He had thought about quitting his training, running away from the power. After all, the characteristics he knew the 'red' changed about him only proved what the villagers and that man thought about him. That he was a monster.

~Flashback~

Naruto stood in the center of a clearing, the ambient sounds of the forest combined with the wind blowing in his face, made for a relatively relaxing night. Naruto smiled stupidly to himself as he watched his shaking hands, illuminated by the moon, the shadows of trees dancing along his body.

He had mastered it! He had finally mastered the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. His shallow panting slowed as he recovered from his grueling training, suddenly a gust of air blew directly into his face knocking him over.

" Hey, what was that for?" Naruto shouted. His face made up in irritation, Naruto looked up at the shadow looming over him.

"Naruto what do you think you're doing, stealing the forbidden scroll like that", Iruka exclaimed in anger. This boy had committed treason, a clear betrayal to the village and he didn't even have the decency to attempt to get out or evade the village's search teams.

"What do you mean Iruka sensei, don't I get to become a ninja now? I learned a jutsu from the fancy scroll and everything", Naruto said. His dazzling blue orbs filled with cheer and hope.

"Where did you get that idea from Naruto?" Iruka said. His brain froze, before slowly putting together a puzzle in his mind's eye. The only person who could have made Naruto believe such rubbish would be someone Naruto was comfortable with and found trustworthy. Outside of Iruka and the Hokage that could only leave-.

Suddenly the sound of metal cutting through the air became all too apparent, Iruka cursed as he reached for a kunai and deflected the incoming shuriken, in a quick motion he threw the same kunai at a point above Naruto's head sending another kunai veering off course.

"Mizuki," Iruka spat, contempt dripping from his voice, as he stared opposite Naruto and himself, finding Mizuki standing atop a tree branch. A sick smile stretched across his features as he stared down at Iruka and Naruto.

"Protecting the little demon Iruka? I thought you would have wanted revenge for what 'it' did to you, to the village. But I guess I was wrong." Mizuki spat out his words like venom. He looked over at Naruto and the genuine confusion on his face baffled him until it didn't.

"So you don't know do you? I thought you had been playing innocent this whole time, but it figures. Your owners wouldn't want their little demon to know the dirty little secret that everyone else does."

"What are you talking about? I'm not a demon, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, you better believe it!" Naruto retorted. He didn't want what Mizuki was saying to be true, but he also couldn't deny the truth in his words, this secret that everyone knew, explained the glares, whispers and, isolation he suffered his whole life.

"Sorry, they never told you 'Naruto-kun'," Mizuki teasingly said. "Would you like to know what they've been hiding from you-"

"SHUT UP" Iruka roared, pure rage marring his face," You've spouted enough garbage to my student, now you die!"

With those words, the two chunin vanished into shunshin's, simultaneously appearing mid-air, kunai at the ready. Mizuki sent two strikes at Iruka, which the other chunin in turn skillfully blocked, about to go for a counter-attack, Iruka was caught off guard by the following roundhouse kick to his ribs.

He recovered quickly though, and as they both landed they vanished again, reappearing among the trees. Naruto found himself entranced by the dance of death the two ninjas performed, one word rung through his head as he watched,' Strength'.

He became lost in their movements all until a kunai darted so close to his face he could feel the very wind part as the kunai sliced through it. "Take the scroll and run Naruto, get away from here," Iruka called out desperately.

At that moment Naruto did something he would never forgive himself for, like a coward he turned his back as his sensei fought for his life, and ran, he ran and ran and ran. Naruto laid his back against a tree and curled in on himself, tears falling from his eyes as he sniffled. 'What type of Hokage would he be if he couldn't even face a traitor.'

He had abandoned Iruka and now he was probably dead, Naruto couldn't help thinking that he was the only one of his classmates who would run, who wouldn't have stayed and fought for his teacher.

'Pathetic, stop feeling sorry for yourself and go help him!' his inner voice spoke. Naruto furrowed his brow, the faint sounds of battle rang out in the distance, he was going to be the Hokage, he couldn't sit here on his but and do nothing, it was time he corrected his mistake.

~Original Clearing~

Iruka was tiring quickly, he hadn't been out in the field in years, Mizuki had been slowly running him into the ground over time, and Iruka was now on the losing end of this fight, the large gash across his cheek a testament to that.

Ducking under a kick aimed at his head, Iruka lost balance, Mizuki seeing this opening quickly swept Iruka's remaining foot from out under him looking down on him in disgust. "Looks like this is the end of the line Iruka, it was fun while it lasted but I have a scroll to collect", Mizuki sourly said.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SENSEI YOU TRAITOR", Naruto shouted. His anger dialed to eleven, the forbidden scroll strapped tightly around his back. Standing upon the branch of a tree, he stared angrily down at Mizuki.

"Do you think a runt like you can even think about touching a chunin like me? You couldn't even make genin you freak", Mizuki taunted.

"He isn't a freak, he's Konoha's Uzumaki Naruto", Iruka exclaimed, before slamming a kunai into the space behind Mizuki's knee cap." Now Naruto"! Iruka shouted, his voice brimming with the pride of a teacher.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto cried out, suddenly in a blast of smoke the trees were filled with clones of the blonde. In unison, the clones spoke, "You may be more skilled than me, and faster too, and your stronger, but what can you do about an army!" With a battle cry, the clones jumped down onto Mizuki, his wails of pain only fueling the clones' drive to exact revenge.

As Naruto picked up Iruka, he spoke softly" I promise sensei, I'll become the strongest I can, stronger than Sasuke, the previous Hokage to! So that I'll never turn my back on a comrade in need again, I swear it on my honor as the future Hokage".

~Flashback End~

Remembering that incident, Naruto could only grit his teeth at his stupidity, running away from a challenge again, just because he was afraid of the outcome. He had made it onto Team 7 expecting Kakashi to show him how to be a better ninja, but he was left disappointed after the only thing he had learned was tree climbing, Sasuke had awakened his fancy eyes in Wave and had left him behind again, 'he was still so weak!'.

This had resulted in grueling training, focused solely on drawing on and controlling the 'red', his progress was slow but once he had sharpened his will, overcoming the hate and gaining control of the small portion of power he could draw on had become easier. He had even learned to direct the power, resulting in the discovery of his brand new move. There were still 2 weeks left before the exams and he planned to work even harder, he was going to win the whole thing after all, or his name wasn't Uzumaki Naruto.

Author's Note: Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed the second chapter of Those Blessed by Wind. This chapter wasn't so much about the red, but why in the last chapter Naruto kept comparing himself to Sasuke and his sense of inferiority because of the shame of leaving Iruka behind, not being 'strong' enough to fight with him and feeling like he isn't progressing at all as a ninja. Sasuke to Naruto is the peak, the standard to measure himself by.

I'm going to do more flashbacks, most likely not as chapter-encompassing as this one was, but these will be about Naruto's treatment at the hands of his classmates. This chapter also shows why exactly Naruto doesn't know about the Kyuubi, don't worry though Mizuki revealed enough for that to be a plot point in the future, that will have a great effect on Naruto. Next chapter will definitely be about the Sand Sibling's.

I'm working on a timeline for when I'll update the story, and I think every two days is good, unless I have something pressing to do on release date.