Chapter one: Thesis of Cruel Angels
He stood over a hill, overlooking the estates. His eyes glazed over, as his body, mindlessly, but gracefully, danced through the first kata of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. Anyone watching him would have thought he was fully concentrating on his movement, but in truth, his mind wondered to events in the past that had lead him to this unthreaded road.
Sandaime Hokage told him of the village's wrath for his destiny as the vessel of nine tails, telling him it was their blind ignorance that lead him to his mother's family.
He sighed at the thought.
The fanatical ignorance that was common with in the Leaf could sometimes be irritating. Looking back, he found himself amused at the shamed voice old man Sarutobi would use when he told him stories of the beginnings of his life. He would look at him with those wise but sad looking eyes and narrate the story of the night after Kyuubi's defeat.
It was only a few hours after Yondaime had sealed nine tails, he told him, when the village approached him looking for a permanent solution for their Kyuubi dilemma. They had taken it onto their hands to eliminate the fox's vessel and kill the fox demon once and for all. But, the boy's generous and loving aunty Ayane, who was here for his birth, protested, threatening the vengeance of the Uzumakis. The boy was their heir, she told them, and he was Haruka's only son. But they were indignant of their decision, telling her of their pains and misfortunes from the fox.
Her patience cut short, Ayane ordered her retainers to surround the blonde child, as she gathered his deceased mother's artifacts and prepared to leave. With her departure, Konoha's alliance with the old world samurai of the Uzumaki clan was dissolved.
At first, Sandaime told him, the villager's blamed the dissolution of the alliance on him. The ignorant idiots that they were, they even said it had been bad luck from his birth with in the village. It was only when he was three years old when Sandaime asked for him to be returned, and by that time, he had found out of his two other ancestry. It was actually then that the priest had exorcised nine tails from him, that the villagers had accepted Sandaime Hokage's reasoning.
The Uzumaki elders were furious at the Sandaime's proposal, they told they would never allow the last true blood Uzumaki into the hands of Konoha, just because of their mistreatment at his first few hours of life. They told him that only when the dishonor they had drawn by placing shame on the names of Uzumaki Naruto and Uzumaki Haruka was dissolved, only then would they allow Naruto or any other Uzumaki into the village. It seemed as though the nomadic Kazamas and the wealthy Yamanakas had the same view as his other guardians, for they too agreed to that decision.
It had actually had taken years just for old man Sarutobi to be able to see him walking through the paved streets of Konoha. Ten years to be exact, which is why he had joined the classes at the academy, so late in his life.
He shivered at the memory. When he came here, it seemed as though a law was placed on the children of Konoha not to be near Naruto. The decade's old grudge still held firm in the hearts of the people. Never the less, he knew of his family, of his origins and of their love for him, and so he persevered.
Ninjutsu was hardest on him since he had only the studied Kenjutsu that his clan teachers had taught him. And the only things he knew of the art of Ninpo, were the fragmented memories that the Kyuubi had left him as gifts for her sudden freedom. She wasn't truly free, but at least with in the sword, she would control her own reality. She may have been a demonic berserker that raged the lands since before the foundation of the shinobi countries, but no creature, no mater what race, kind, etc, deserved the fate Yondaime had condemned her to. To be slowly eaten away by, not getting a chance at redemption, not being able to be reborn, to just disappear as if you had never existed at all, a cruel fate reserved only for those without souls. And Kyuubi had a soul…………
At least, he reasoned, from with in the sword, the fate of those that would die by it would only be decided by the wielder.
He sighed mentally at the memory of Wave country……
He truly though he'd die back then, when the bastard Uchiha had discarded Kakashi's plan to fight along side him. With out him watching his back, he felt the wrath of Haku's senbon attack. The inner child that laid dormant with in him trembled. It had been the most painful, desperate, not to mention, life changing experience in his life. In those few moments, all his views on living with out a cause had dispersed. The thought of dying, the thought of his aunt's mourning, the thought of just disappearing with out really leaving his mark on the world terrified him. Hell, he had faced greater pains than that, but the thought of his almost death scared the shit out of him.
'I can't die a yet……Not while I'm still a virgin.' The same inner child that had trembled just seconds before, nodded sagely at the blonde's "Wise Reasoning."
Naruto unconsciously gripped Kyuubi as he remembered the great exorcist. The pain he had suffered still gave him nightmares, but the entertainment in her memories amused him to no end. It was his past time to skim with in the recesses of his mind, trying to unlock the great knowledge the demon fox had left him. Form them, he recovered lost languages, wrote maps to the ancient cities that once riddled the world, and recovered fighting styles known only in legends. His particular favorite was the Hiten Mitsurugi sword style of what the Kyuubi called the revolutionary era of an ancient continent called Japan, the continent the people of the shinobi countries were thought to have originated from.
"Oi Naruto!" her aunt called him, knocking him out of his stupor, from the bottom of the hill. "Your team mates are waiting for you!" she finished.
"I'm coming." He answered.
Placing Kyuubi into her sheath, Naruto buckled it down onto the sash that held down his plane whitekimono. Annoying thing he thought, but Ayane wanted him to dress like a proper Uzumaki, so he had dawned the offending material.
(i)
From the bottom of the hill, Ino once again stood fascinated at her fellow blonde's attractiveness. The grace and balance he had with every step, the cool and relaxed grin that adorned his face, the way the white kimono accentuated his toned figure.
She inhaled quickly, trying to cover the blush that now adorned her face. Of to the side, Shikamaru grinned, observing her reactions to his blonde haired team mate. 'Ahhh, young love' he thought sarcastically.
She blushed harder when his blue eyes met with her own. She didn't know when she started acting like this. Perhaps it was when she, along with Shikamaru and Choji, had met the blonde's entire family. They were a strange group. When they had arrived just a few weeks ago, she had thought they were from some rich noble's family, with the way the samurai retainers had surrounded the blonde boy's aunt. The farmers, and commoners that followed the main party, just served to enhance the element of respect that flowed around the Uzumaki clan.
A few moments later, a group of about two hundred, including the woman and children arrived at the gates, followed by a group of ordinary looking merchants. She found out latter, they were the Kazama and the Yamanaka main house. She stood by the blonde as he communed with his family, and later they had been introduced.
She just wished she had…..
"Oi, Ino! I've been calling at you for the last five minuets!" Naruto's obnoxious voice broke into her thoughts.
POW.
She once again, delivered a strike that was strong enough to send him six feet under, literally.
'Mental note: Tread carefully when around Ino' Choji and Shikamaru though simultaneously.
"Why? Why must I suffer such unlabored violence?" Naruto asked the heavens.
"Anyway, we came to see if your going to the festival." Ino told him.
"What festival?" Naruto asked dumbly.
"The festival for the chunin exam" Shikamaru sighed.
"Yeah, and there's lots of food too, so me and Shikamaru are going." Choji remarked.
"Oh…….Yeah, I guess. The one being held this weekend right?" Naruto tried to clarify.
"Yeah, that one." Ino answered.
"Yeah, I'm going……" he told them.
"Great, now lets go swimming." The blond girl remarked.
"How troublesome……" Shikamaru commented.
The four walk of to the Manor to pick up some food for their picnic. It had become a custom for them to do so every Wednesdays. It had been Ino's idea of team bonding, to go off and have picnics by the river that flowed through the training grounds of the village.
"We'll be going off now Ayane obasan!" Naruto yelled at his aunt before they left.
As the four walked out of the estate grounds, Ino took her time to examine the three guys on her team. Naruto, the heir of three legendary clans, Shikamaru, a genius of over 200, and Choji, an heir to one of the Leaf's backbone clan. She smiled a little at those facts, maybe they weren't Uchihas or Hyuugas, but they sure as hell weren't pathetic.
As they walked through the winding streets of the Leaf, she observed the Uzumaki heir for a little while more. He had discarded that foolish mask a long while ago, and even though he was a bit loud, he still had manners and grace that rivals that of Hyuugas. The air he carried him self in, was the same heir she felt and saw whenever she came around one of the Samurai retainers of the Uzumaki clan.
"So did you invite anyone else?" the little blonde samurai asked her.
"Um yeah." She answered, a little startled. "A friend of mine named Tenten and her teammate Lee." She told him.
Naruto sighed as he continued walking, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the wondering gazes of the villagers. He had a lot of work to do, living up to the clans reputations.
"Ino chan." He called, startling his teammates with the way he addressed Ino.
"We should hurry…" he finished simply.
(II)
Sandaime Hokage sighed at Hatake Kakashi. It had been the third time this week, the Jounin had come demanding of the return of his pupil. And frankly, he was getting annoyed. Couldn't he see it was for the good of the teams that Naruto was taken away from him. Naruto and Sasuke's point of views clashed too much, and because of that, they constantly fought against each other to prove otherwise. And the incident in wave country a month ago didn't help anyone.
He was a bit disappointed in Uchiha, quite frankly. His brother would have been ashamed with the way he chose to ignore a team's plan and to try and prove himself by taking on the opponent himself. He left an opening for the opponent to strike, and Naruto came as close to death than he and the village council would have liked.
The council knew of the boy's origins, which would be the reason they had elected Kakashi to be his teacher. Believing they could preserve the indomitable belief in loyalty that came to the boy by nature. But the way the Jounin had chose to ignore the blonde, they went on to the next best choice, which was Sarutobi's own son, Asuma.
That decision paid of as the four teens grew close, with the chunin exam so close they needed all the teams strong enough to compete. It would be hard though, trying to convince the other Kages to let a four man team compeat.
"Kakashi kun, please understand that decision came unanimously in the council, and that I cannot do anything to override that decision." Sarutobi told Kakashi. "Besides, with Naruto off your team, and the new teammate your getting tomorrow, you'll have a more peaceful team than your old one."
Kakashi sighed, disappointedly.
'Sasuke…' he thought angrily. 'He's worse than trash………..' the quote that Yondaime once told him came running around in his head.
(III)
"Those that discard rules are trash." Naruto commented out of the blue "And those that disregard a teammate or a comrade are below trash." He finished.
"Huh?" Choji looked at him strangely.
"Oh…Just something Kakashi sensei told me………" he thought back to the time when he, along with Sasuke, and Sakura fought together for the right of being genin.
"Good quote though…" commented Choji, as he sat by a sleeping Shikamaru. " Kinda reassures me that I have some one watching my back for me." He told Naruto truthfully.
The blonde opened his eyes to look at Choji curiously. He smiled at his analogy and went back to meditation.
Ino how ever chose this time to relax. She slept by Naruto, thinking of what to ware to show off her rival Sakura.
"Come to think of it…….Where is Sakura?" she asked no one.
"She's probably stalking Sasuke." Shikamaru answered her from his laid down position.
"Speaking of stalkers, there's someone in the woods….." Naruto commented offhandedly. "Probably your friends Ino." He continued.
"Hey Ino!" a dark haired girl called as she walked out of the woods. Dressed in a regular pair of jeans and a dark red t-shirt, her eyes glittered with curiosity as she watched the group.
"Hey Tenten!" Ino called out to her. "Come on! Let me introduce you to my teammates!"
Naruto watched closely as the girl approached. It had been in his time in team seven when he had come to the conclusion that women were indeed the most dangerous creatures in this world. Which is perhaps why sanins like Orochimaru, liked to emulate them. Upon further analysis with the only female member of his new team, Naruto came up with further evidence to back up his brilliant hypothesis.
'Must tread carefully, for the grounds I now walk on are indeed very volatile.' He thought. Such close proximity with two members of the said dangerous race was indeed a gamble for life.
He mustered up his pride, and acted on the manners that Ayane had drilled into him when he was but a young foxy lad in the old village. He bowed respectfully to the girl, as all samurai did in the presence of ladies.
"Chikoshiokai sasete, hajimemashite. Watashi no namae wa Uzumaki Naruto desu. Doso yoroshiku." He said softly, not paying attention to the way Ino gawked in surprise, or the way Choji stared at him admirably.
Off to the side, Shikamaru observed the blushing new comer and the surprised Ino. As Ino's surprise progressed into anger, Shikamaru smirked at the blonde's eternal obliviousness. 'Am I the only one that could see Ino falling for Uzumaki' he though in amusement.
When Tenten had approached the group, she had never expected the soft spoken blonde to talk to her with such grace. The way he smiled warmly at her brought butterflies to her stomach, the way he bowed, the soft tone of his voice when he had introduced himself, the way his aura made her feel welcome, she knew immediately that he was noble, or at least raised in a noble family.
"Onamae wa?" Naruto asked.
She blushed even more before answering.
"Ano Naruto kun, you shouldn't be so formal……Ikageta Tenten desu….and…..Dozo yoroshiku." She told him.
Ino for her part, felt somewhat angered at the blonde boy for what she thought was flirting. He didn't act this way when they had first met, granted that she was following him around. But that wasn't the point, the point was that he should've treated her the same.
'And Naruto kun! She only knew him for a little less then thrity seconds and now she's calling him Naruto kun!'
Choji however, vowed to follow Naruto example. He had seen the cherry red blush that had graced Tenten's face and had decided that he was the perfect example of a gentleman. That great ability to plant admiration into a girls mind was something he needed to make sure the clan continued.
Naruto smiled at the new girl before nodding to her.
"One must always remain polite in the presence of a lady." He told her, not knowing of the fire that he had inadvertently fueled.
"Excuss me?" asked an outraged Ino. "How come your never this polite to me?" she asked trembling with rage.
"Huh?" came his brilliant reply. "Why would I be polite to and uncute tomboy like you, you uncute tomboy?" he asked him bewilderedly.
'Baka….' Shikamaru though, closing his eyes to avoid the inevitable pummeling his blonde teammate was soon to suffer.
POW
As the other blonde laid on the ground twitching, Ino realized that she had just discovered a kinjutsu, 'mallet no jutsu'.
(IV)
She sighed, staring at the group from her hiding spot. She knew it was her mistake that lead to the team loosing a member, and she knew she was supposed to apologize to him.
Sakura was shocked at first when she had seen them getting along so nicely. Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji seemed to be the teammate that she and Sasuke never were. She also was surprised at the way he acted around his new team.
With them, he had been more obnoxious and annoying, but with Ino's group. He was graceful and acted with wisdom and tact, she didn't know he had. It was funny how assumptions always lead to disaster for her. She sighed sadly, and stood up, turning to walk away, as she had failed yet again to gather her courage to apologize.
She remembered how he had almost died when in Wave country, and it was Sasuke's fault. She chose to ignore that fact and had blamed the whole ordeal on Naruto's ignorance. When she told her parents how stupid the blonde was, she was shocked to see them actually disappointed in her.
The blonde's mask of ignorance was truly good. To be able to fool the people around him, including her self. And yet she felt a little insulted that he didn't think she was good enough to see who he truly was. Granted, she didn't exactly try to look beyond the blonde boy's mask, but that wasn't the point.
He had deliberately fooled her, and she was not happy with that. After all, wasn't she his crush. She felt tears streak down her face with the way he had told them of after their return.
He told Sasuke that he was weak and would always be weak, and that he would never be enough to defeat his brother. He told him that the way he was acting, he was only dragging the Uchiha name into the mud, that he would have been ashamed if he had been one of his relatives. He told him, that right after he had beaten the day lights out of him for turning his back on him on the bridge. For abandoning him when Naruto himself would have died that day for him.
"I almost lead myself to believe you were a good friend." He said. "But it seems all you Uchiha's know how to do is turning your backs from people."
And her……
Hot tears streaked down her face when she remembered what he said to her.
"I thought you were good and smart enough to a genin……But I seem to have been wrong about that. Your stupidity and your blind fandom of the Uchiha bastard truly sickens me…….I would fear for my life if he had told you to kill me……Not that I would actually be afraid because your already weaker than the most…….Your father would be ashamed of you, the great ninja that he is……Sarutobi sama, told me of his great loyalty to all his teammates, and his dedication to the being a shinobi. You…Your just dedicated to shaming your self in the name of your so called love. Which might I add is nothing but childish infatuation for something you don't understand……..I can't believe that I was in love with you…." He said before turning his back on the both of them and walking off.
When she returned home, her parents were disappointed even more when she told them of that day's incident. He was born with a greater burden than Sasuke, they told her. A fate so terrible, that Sandaime Hokage made a law to disallow anyone to talk about it. If he had told her she had problems, they said, the she did have problems.
His father was mad at Naruto until she told him the reason why he had yelled at them. Sasuke had turned his back on him and she had faithfully told Naruto that he wasn't good enough compared to Sasuke, that he didn't know of the great pains that the Uchiha knew. Her father yelled at her for saying that, inadvertently telling her of the pain he endured for the leaf.
She couldn't believe her ears when she hared he was the vessel of nine tails. He had seen greater prejudice on the beginnings of his life, and had experienced harsh realities that no teenager should ever know. And knowing that alone pained her to no end. Sasuke may have lost his family, but Naruto's family had died to protect her and her parents. And his well being was sacrificed so that she could live the life she had as a child. She knew then that Naruto deserved her kindness.
But it seemed the pain of a broken heart could not be easily mended. And seeing the way he avoided them, the way he acted indifferent when they met on the street, she knew he had not forgiven her.
She walked down the path warily, sadly reminiscing that which was and dreaming of that which should have been………
'I will be strong, I will not put myself in situations like Sasuke had, and I will never put another friend in the line of fire, nor will I ever put anyone ahead of another like I had in the past' she vowed, making a promise to herself, and a lost fox boy she though she knew.
(V)
Naruto smiled, looking at the direction where Sakura had been. If she had started trying to apologize to him, then maybe they could start over. This time, with out plaguing their relationship with obscene assumptions of love and idiocy the once had.
'I forgive you Sakura…….' He told the girl mentally.
(VI)
She gasped when she hared some one tell her of their acceptance. Turning her back, she stared in shock of the fox boy's smiling face. She smiled thankfully before turning to make her way out of the training grounds.
"Oi Sakura chan!" she heard him call. "Why don't you come over here and have some fun with us?" he asked her.
Gathering her courage, she stopped walking, and turned running to them. Happy that "Kami was back in Heaven and all was right in the world, once again".
To Be continued.
Author's notes.
To the reviewers, I hope this chapter clears up all the confusion you must have had erlier. As for the terms that were used:
Kenjutsu dose not mean "forbidden technique." But actually, the way of the sword. Its Kinjutsu, notice the "I" after the "K", that means forbidden technique.
And no, Naruto wasn't raised in the leaf, but rather with his family in the Samurai village. He just came to Konoha after his tenth year.
And the fact that Hiten Mitsurugi is mentioned in this chapter, is no coincidence. I'm trying to make the history of the shinobi world richer, and to make Naruto a unique character like all the rest of the other shinobis.
His bloodlines however will not come into play until a certain part in the story, most likely the chunin selection exam.
Please note, if you've had some confusion with the introduction of Tenten, and the Japanese wordings that I used, tell me and I will write down translations on later chapters.