Chapter II

Heroes- New and Old

-

"I am Iris," the young woman said as she began to walk away. "Please forgive me, Maxim…" She stopped for a second before continuing. "Nay… Naruto…"

Her footsteps echoed hauntingly through the darkness of the night.

Naruto was left there laying on the wet floor roof, unmoving and barely breathing.

Drop… Drop… Drop…

All was silent in Konoha. It was almost deafening… as though it marked a beginning of all things to come, or the end of everything there is.

-

"The time has come," a voice whispered; its message carried in the wind. "The eternal battle between the Sinistrals and Mankind has started…"

-

They are growing restless…

One strong gust blew across the barren plains throwing the topsoil into the air. The discarded gravel soon found its way onto the carcasses of both demons and humans.

'Pathetic…' There was a sound of a sword being sheathed. Then, foot steps were heard walking away, leaving numerous fish like corpses in its wake.

Kappa…

Suddenly, the earth started to shake violently. A mound of solid earth rose from the ground, revealing a golem made of iron. A haunting shrill came from its mouth as a human like body began to appear. Once raised, the golem began to stumble its way towards a indistinguishable figure several yards away.

Damn!

The faint figure instantly went on the assault. He grabbed one of the two katana's on his side and held it in Iai striking position. In one quick flash, the golem was brought down.

The figure sheathed his sword once more.

'Zantetsuken...' He walked towards the golem and inspected it. As soon as he was finished, he began to walk back towards his village, his mind boggled of questions.

A strong gust blew again. This time, however, it had brought a shower with it. The moons light began to disappear as the silhouette of the village began to disappear in a mist of fog.

'The rumors are true…' He shook his head and sighed. 'I can't believe it. Kappa are coming a shore and Iron Golems are about. Something foul must be in the air.' He grimaced at that thought. 'Father…'

He stopped for a second. Someone was calling his name.

"Daisuke!" he heard distantly.

'Kaname…' He instinctively hid both of his katana's under his black cloak as he neared the village's gate. His childhood friend would cause such a ruckus if she should ever see it.

As he neared the village Ryoushimachi, he saw a silhouette of a female running towards him.

With out a doubt, he was in some sort of trouble.

He smiled. The constant worrying over his well-being told him all he need to know about his friend.

Feeling that the small shower had lightened up, he looks into the sky.

Upon the sight he beholds in front of him, he instinctively grabbed his katana.

His eyes narrowed.

Right above him, a full fledge red moon was spiraling across the sky at a speed that can baffle even the brightest of minds. A bad omen it was.

The night before, it was the moon was in its crescent state. But now, for the moon to become something like this, something foul must have risen.

Without warning, something large flew overhead. It looked like a huge fire ball of some sort.

"Daisuke!" Kaname yelled again, causing him to look at her again. A large tsunami was closing in behind her.

-

"Ancestor!" The decrepit elf looked at the small child running towards him. "Ancestor!"

The said elf replied in a calm voice. "What is it, Suki?"

"Look out side!" She jumped up and down in excitement.

"Why?"

"There's something awesome going on outside!"

The older elf began to chuckle. "Let me guess; another fight between the Torres kid and Michael to see who is fit more to be your groom." She shook her head, her neatly combed blue hair getting tangled while doing so.

"Something is flying across the sky! It is like a shooting star!"

The elder elf lifted one of his eyebrows in amusement. Kids these days. "Oh? I thought it was still morning. Silly me," he said, patting the small girl on the head.

Suki stomped her foot in anger. She knew what he was doing, and didn't like it one bit. "No, ancestor. There really is something flying across the sky! It looks like a fireball!"

"I thought you said it looked like a shooting star." The elder elf began to chuckle seeing the look on her face. He could already tell that she was going to have one of those fits.

"Hmph! Their both the same!" She grabbed his wizened old hand. "Come on! You're going to miss it!"

"Alright… alright." He got up from his chair. It felt like ages since he got up, though it really has been several minutes. That was the price to pay for being alive for more than a millennium.

The elder elf slowly made his way out the door.

"Over there Ancestor!" Suki pointed towards the sky. True to her word, something made its way across the sky, but by no means was it a fireball.

The elder elf faked a smiled. "That's nice." He patted her head again before continuing. "Now, go play." She nodded; an 'I told you so' look was clearly expressed on her face. She took off a second later, oblivious to a grimacing look on the elder elf's face as she did.

He looked down at his ring.

'So, they have returned.'

-

Sigh…

That was the tenth time the 3rd had sighed.

'Things are just getting a bit too complicated for someone my age…' he closed his eyes for a second. Other than his grandson trying to 'defeat' him by putting some…cough extra ingredients in his coffee this morning, a more irritating matter was taking place, right under his nose.

He looked outside for a moment.

'My god, my god, I didn't do it!' he distinctly heard. 'I would never do that to…' the villager was cutoff… literally.

The 3rd sighed once more. 'Executions are becoming bothersome…' A sudden thud plagued his ears one second later. 'May his sins speed his soul to hell…' Sarutobi crossed himself.

The villager that had just been executed was found guilty of destroying property of Uzumaki Naruto. Though this was a common thing, the punishment has to be severe. What used to be just a fun game of torture against a poor boy now became hate crimes.

At this point, Sarutobi slammed his fist onto the desk, instantly damaging it beyond repair.

Usually, when dealing with situations like this, Sarutobi would fine them to they have nothing left. But this was a different case.

Graffiti and flaming items was one case, but to go as far as destroying all his rations and money…

The 3rd's eyes narrowed as the pencil he was using to make a proposal to the council shattered into fragments and fell all over the desk.

'No man or child should ever go through that kind of abuse… past, present, or future.'

Suddenly, there was a knock.

"Hokage-sama…" the secretary said behind the door. "Umino-dono is here to see you." Sarutobi nodded… almost forgetting that he had asked Iruka to join him around six to discuss Naruto.

"Ah, yes… Send him in." The door opened suddenly and Iruka promptly bowed before walking in.

"What is it, Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked politely. The 3rd waved him over towards the seat in front of him.

"Come, sit Iruka. We have much to discuss…"

Iruka bowed again and before taking a seat.

'What's with the formality?' The 3rd raised an eyebrow for a moment before remembering what they where doing. 'Damn, I must be getting so old to the point of losing my memory.' He shook his head. 'Pity…'

"As explained earlier," the 3rd started. "We are here to discuss about Naruto. I have just received word that he once again took the genin exam, and failed horribly." He paused for a moment.

It was hard to believe that the last of the Uzumaki was Naruto, who, without a doubt, possess no prowess or talent in becoming a ninja. He sighed, again. The Uzumaki Line was a truly powerful ninja clan, whose bloodline is far superior when compared to the Hyuuga's. Naruto, who was a pure-born clan member, should at least have some talent in the ninja arts. But, alas, he doesn't. Sarutobi shook his head before continuing.

"May you verify what lead him to failing?"

Iruka nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama…" He coughed before continuing. "Though Naruto tried extremely hard during this exam, he only passed one out of the three tests." Iruka paused at this moment and reached into his vest to pull out a small folder. He skimmed through it lightly before coming to Naruto's file. "He failed the first test, which is about realization and dispelling gen-jutsu." He turned the page before continuing. "Miraculously, he passed the second test, which was a timed tai-jutsu match." Iruka coughed again, almost in disbelief as the 3rd raised an eyebrow. "His opponent is one of his classmates, Hikari Akane."

Sarutobi's jaw almost dropped to the floor. It was too unbelievable! The Hikari family was all-powerful in the arts of Tai-jutsu. Their tai-jutsu style, the Hikari-Ryuu, if not for the Hyuuga-Ryuu, was considered a one of the best fighting style in the whole east continent.

'The Hikari Clan must be furious with the embarrassment.' The 3rd thought.

As to the opposite of the Iron Fist, this fighting style does not focus on speed or strength. In fact, speed is an un-needed necessity when using the Hikari Fist. Their fighting style only focuses on graceful movements and strong blows, nothing more. Someone like Naruto, who has no tai-jutsu style whatsoever would never stand a chance.

His curiosity got the better of him. "How?" Sarutobi asked.

"Well," Iruka began, feeling a bit flustered. "As you know, the Hikari clan's Blood Limit increases their sense of smell, sight, and touch by a thousand fold." The 3rd nodded, wondering why Iruka was starting to shudder. "Well; Naruto's tactic against this Blood-Limit is rather… ingenious, if not embarrassing. In retaliation to Akane's fierce blows, Naruto, who was at a safe distance from her of three meters… pulled down his pants… including his boxers."

Sarutobi winced. He can already see the headlines on the daily paper tomorrow. Prodigy Hikari Akane was defiled by local demon; comments on whether to disembowel him or castrate him on page 4.

"Ah-hem…" Iruka held his hand over his mouth. Albeit Sarutobi is the 3rd Hokage, that doesn't give him the right to ignore him. "Akane was immediately petrified by the sight. …If my memory serves me correct, I believe she mumbled something about "Going blind…" and yelled obscenities about "Her virgin eyes…"." Iruka looked at the 3rd. If it wasn't for the seriousness of the current situation, he would have been laughing his head off. The look on his face was priceless. "While she tried to regain mobility, Naruto made an attempt to knock her down… without pulling his pants up first. …The foul smell emitting from his… anus was rather pungent, even from five meters away. By the time he got near her, Akane already keeled over. Tragic."

-

Akane sneezed, nearly missing a step that would have left her plastered on the alley below. She craftily jumped from one building to another, stopping every few seconds to remove some of her green hair from her mouth.

'Naruto…' she thought. Akane clenched her hands in anger. 'HOW DARE HE MOCK ME!' She landed a few rooftops away from Naruto's apartment. 'I'll kill him… no… I'll first reduce him from three legs to two, and then kill him. Oh yes, he will pay.' Ghastly thoughts popped into her head, all of which began at 'Because of him, Father scolded at me,' and ended in 'I'll decapitate-disembowel-dismember- Naruto!'

Several seconds later, she arrived on Naruto's rooftop. She grabbed a kunai from her pouch and made her way to the fire escape.

Something caught her eye. She looked towards the far end of the roof and saw something shining from the moonlight. Akane at first paid no heed to whatever it was, but like Pandora, curiosity got the better of her. She moved closer before gasping.

It was a sword!

But that wasn't what she was gasping about.

"Naruto!" Tears came to her eyes.

-

End.