Puppet Master of Konoha
So, this came to me one day and I've been trying to refine the idea. I hope you like it.
Note: I will be taking several liberties in regards to several elements of the canon Naruto universe to accommodate for the plot I have in mind. There may be details that wouldn't work in canon, and that is because this isn't canon. For example, Naruto will be just an idiot in this fic, due to my reasoning that he actually is quite capable of thinking on his feet and probably was sabotaged by bigoted teachers that didn't want the Kyuubi brat to become a Shinobi. Remember this, because it will help explain Naruto's path later on.
in any case…
Disclaimer: Kishimoto-sensei owns Naruto and all works in its universe.
"STOP HIM!"
"GET THAT GAKI!"
It was a familiar sight for the citizens of Konohagakure no Sato as several Chunin and Jonin level Shinobi dashed through the streets in pursuit of their target, a blond child wearing a bright orange jumpsuit, as he shot through the streets and back alleys of the Hidden Village.
An outsider might wonder why a child was getting such a response from the village Shinobi, but the reasoning was simple. This was Naruto Uzumaki, an orphaned child that sought to gain attention and recognition from the adults and his peers by pulling off pranks on the general populace. Now you may ask, why would professional Shinobi react so violently to simple childhood pranks? Well, Naruto's pranks were far from simple. One time he snuck into the Inuzuka Clan compound and laced the shampoo for the Clan's Ninken partners with neon blue hair dye that left the hounds brightly colored for days, and another time, he managed to avoid the Hyuuga Clan and their Byakugan long enough to plant and set off paint bombs around their compound. Considering that both clans are renowned for their tracking skill, you can see why the Shinobi pursuing the blond were having such a hard time.
This time was just some graffiti around the Uchiha compound, but he was still proving extremely elusive, even for the various Shinobi in pursuit of him. As the Shinobi raced through the streets in pursuit of their target, they passed by an empty alleyway filled with old crates and trash and all seemed quiet, but when the Shinobi were gone and out of earshot, one of the crates was engulfed by a poof of smoke that cleared to reveal a grinning Naruto crouched in its place.
"Henge for the win," smirked the blond as he got up and dusted himself off, "sorry guys, looks like today is the day you almost caught Uzumaki Naruto."
His gloating was cut short however when a hand reached out from behind him and placed a firm grip on his right shoulder, causing the blond to stiffen and begin to sweat.
"Well now, what was that about almost catching you, Naruto-kun?" asked the figure from behind the boy.
"I-I-Iruka-sensei," said Naruto nervously as he recognized the instructor that somehow never failed to catch him after a prank, "…I can explain?"
"I'm sure you can," said Iruka with a frown, "and I look forward to hearing it."
xXsceneXx
"Naruto, why do you keep doing these things?" sighed Iruka as he supervised the blond as he scrubbed the paint off the Uchiha Compound's walls, "You can't just keep cutting classes, not if you want to graduate this time around."
Classes had ended for the day, and Iruka had brought the blond a scrubber and cleaning solution, telling him under no uncertain terms that the paint would all be gone before he went home, one way or another, leading to this scenario where Naruto was giving the walls a thorough scrubbing to remove the evidence of his prank.
"I know," huffed Naruto as he scrubbed the brush up and down the wall, "but the lectures are so boring! I'd rather be learning how to fight and kick ass with awesome Jutsu!"
"Knowledge can be a powerful as any Jutsu," countered Iruka as he pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh, "how about a deal Naruto-kun? You listen to tomorrow's lesson, and I mean really listen, and I'll treat you to ramen at Ichiraku's for a week?"
"Really?" asked Naruto eagerly.
"It's a promise," said Iruka, "now you'd better get back to work cleaning these walls so you can get enough sleep to pay attention tomorrow."
"Right!" exclaimed the blond as he began to clean up the paint even faster than before, causing the scarred Chunin to chuckle at what it takes to motivate the blond troublemaker.
Little did he know the changes this small conversation would have in the future of the Shinobi world.
xXsceneXx
The next day, Naruto arrived bright and early at the Academy, ready to follow through on his side of the deal he made with Iruka. Internally he sighed though. While he was getting a week's worth of Ichiraku ramen for this, these lessons on the history of the Shinobi World could really be so boring. After all, what kind of Hokage needed to know boring facts like who was the Shinobi that helped establish the first trade routes between Hi no Kuni and Yu no Kuni, or the founding members of the Shugonin Jūnishi? The Hokage was the strongest Shinobi in the Village so he just needed to learn a whole bunch of awesome Jutsu, right?
As he walked in, and took his seat, he started to become lost in his thoughts, not really noticing as the rest of the class arrived and began talking and joking with each other, ignoring the blond like they normally did on the rare occasions that he kept to himself, though one student, a girl with hime-cut black hair and pale lavender eyes cast a shy glance at the blond before staring down at her desk as she played with her fingers. Soon enough, Iruka walked into the room and placed some papers on his desk before facing the class.
"All right, settle down everyone," said Iruka, but seeing that the gathered students had not heard or listened to his request, he sighed as a vein throbbed on his head, "SETTLE DOWN!" he yelled, using a subtle Genjutsu he had developed when he became a teacher that made his head seem to expand in size to get their attention.
That got the attention he wanted and the students found their seats as Iruka pinned some maps to the board behind him, "Now," he said, "today we'll be continuing our lesson from yesterday on the Third Shinobi World War and its effects on the Shinobi world as it is today…"
As Iruka went on with his lecture Naruto tried his best to listen, he really did, but his attention slowly began to waver as the lesson went on and on. While the Chunin began to go over the different battles of the war and their impact on Konoha, Naruto began to feel his eyelids get heavier and heavier and his notes were starting to look more like doodles in his book's margins. All this changed though, when the black-haired girl from earlier, who happened to be sitting next to the blond, softly poked him in the side, jolting him awake. As he re-focused on Iruka's lecture, his sleepiness and disinterest faded as he listened to what the Chunin was saying.
"…another impact of the war was that of the rise of several significant Shinobi in the various Hidden Villages," said Iruka as Naruto now listened intently, eager to hear more about powerful Shinobi and what they could do, "among those like Namikaze Minato and Hatake Kakashi, our Village's Yellow Flash and Copy Ninja, there were several among the other Villages that rose to significant standing in the Bingo Books."
"Um, Iruka-sensei," said Naruto as he raised his hand.
"Yes, Naruto-kun?" asked the Chunin with a sigh, 'Maybe it was too much to ask him to remain focused for so long.'
"What kinds of powerful Shinobi came from the war?" asked Naruto, "I mean, other than the ones from Konoha. And what kinds of cool Jutsu did they have at their disposal?"
"Pipe down, Naruto-baka!" yelled a pink-haired student, "Just because you can't focus, don't hold back the lessons with your stupid questions."
"No, that is a valid question," said Iruka, "knowledge of other villages is just as important as knowledge of ourselves. One example of a Shinobi that rose to fame during this time was one from Sunagakure named Sasori, who earned the title of Akasuna no Sasori, due to his battles staining the sands of his homeland red with the blood of his enemies. He was in fact one of the most noted members of Suna's Puppet Brigade, creating many of the Puppets used even today by its members, his skill earning the position of S-Ranked Shinobi in our Bingo Books."
As Iruka went on about noted Shinobi from other villages, Naruto couldn't help as his thoughts lingered on what Iruka had said about this Sasori person. Sure, he was from another village, but the thought of a Shinobi invoking fear in his enemies as he directed an army of deadly puppets at his opponents, each one tricked out with hidden weapons galore, it sounded so badass. Heck, he could even see the potential in his pranks. Yes, he had promised to listen more in class, but he did not promise to cut back on the pranks.
Well, Uzumaki Naruto always kept his word after all.
xXsceneXx
Once the classes were done for the day, Naruto headed to the Konoha Library to see if he could look up more information on Akasuna no Sasori and the Puppet Technique he used. He knew that the librarians there didn't like him for some reason or another (he never even pranked them that often) and didn't like him touching the books (they said he 'dirtied them' or something), but he had established a workaround for it.
With a quick Henge, Naruto adopted an appearance with slightly longer hair that was colored black instead of blond, with his eyes now colored dark brown and his whisker marks gone. Also, his orange jumpsuit was replaced with a red shirt and pants. Walking into the Library, he waved a greeting at the librarian and asked to be directed to the section on Shinobi from other Villages that fought in the War.
"What does someone your age want to know about the War?" asked the elderly librarian manning the front desk, raising a wrinkled eyebrow as she gazed down at the disguised blond over the edge of her desk.
"Well, our sensei was talking about the Third Shinobi World War in class today, and one of the Shinobi he mentioned, this guy named Sasori, seemed pretty cool," said Naruto, "so I wanted to see if I could find out more about him."
"I see," said the librarian, "well, sections 32A-E are about the war and the various Shinobi that prominently featured in it, and I believe it was section 32-D that had our records on Sunagakure's contributions."
"Thanks!" said Naruto happily as he rushed off to find the section the librarian had pointed out.
"It's nice to see children interested in learning," said the librarian to herself as she went back to sorting through the scrolls that needed to be shelved.
Thanks to the directions, Naruto was able to find the books he wanted with ease and even lucked out at finding several tomes detailing information, not only about Sasori, but of the basic techniques on which the Kugutsu no Jutsu fighting style was built around and observations made by Konoha Shinobi about their puppet design.
"This is awesome!" exclaimed Naruto as he flipped through the pages of the book when suddenly a thought struck him.
If Sasori was able to become such a badass Shinobi with his mastery of puppets, maybe he could be one as well? As he continued to flip through the pages, his excitement grew, and images of him directing an army of puppets as he rose to be the next Hokage began to coalesce in his head. Making a decision, Naruto gathered up the books he wanted and headed to the front desk to check them out for the week. Once he was finished, he made a beeline for his apartment, where he undid his Henge and opened the first of the books about Sasori and his techniques and impact on the war.
And for the first time ever, Naruto began to seriously study, and thus set in motion events that would shake the Shinobi world to its core.
