Title: Covenant
Author: bubblytokki
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimers: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in this story.
AU. Why stay in a village that loathed him?
Pairings: Probably none. I find that pairings or focusing on them hinder my stories… so gomen nasai. ^^
Chapter 3-Konoha
Naruto was angry. No.. it wasn't only anger… there was disappointment mixed in with heady disbelief. Of all things Itachi could have done.. it was this. The one time he decided to relax and let Itachi take the night shift, Itachi dropped him here. And it pissed him off. It didn't make any sense to him why Itachi would do such a thing. They had been inseparable for the past two and a half years. During that period, Naruto had insured that he would be the one killing all their irritating pursuers. He had focused all his energy on making Itachi smile easily. Naruto had succeeded to some extent. Although it wasn't quite what he had expected. Ironically, Itachi ended up only smiling for him, rather than the everything that Naruto had been aiming for. Still, it had been a start… and now he had nothing, because Itachi was gone. More like… Itachi had left him in front of the gates of a town he despised with a letter of introduction to the Hokage he fuzzily remembered.
He crumpled the scroll in a tight fist. For some strange reason, he didn't feel betrayed by Itachi. His anger was fueled by the knowledge that Itachi would fall prey to the darkness and this own inability to be there to save Itachi. Naruto knew the extent of Itachi's powers. Especially since during their many brutal training sessions, he would fall prey to them himself. He knew that once Itachi unleashed his abilities on the unsuspecting populace, they wouldn't stand a chance, because the only person capable of handling Itachi, which was himself, would not defend them. There was no way in hell Naruto would go against Itachi. Even if Itachi pulled crazy stunts like this one.
Naruto swore that he would beat some sense into Itachi's head. Swiveling around hastily, he paused as something fell out of his pocket. It was a letter from Itachi addressed to him. Muttering under his breath, he opened the scroll and read its contents.
"Introduce yourself to the Hokage," Hahaha. It was the biggest joke Itachi could've pulled and Naruto wasn't laughing.
"Re-enroll in the ninja academy and train to become a shinobi." Itachi had to be kidding. Naruto bet the scars on his cheeks that he could probably kill the jounins of this pathetic town easily. What could he learn from this town of sissies and 'let's be peaceful' people?
"Learn their secret techniques." Now this was interesting. He supposed to be able to be a peaceful little town, some kind of power was at hand. Naruto's eyes gleamed as he thought of the techniques he may learn. A gleam, many enemies would be wary to see. That is, if they even survived, which was unlikely.
"And once you have gained enough power to overpass me, join me once again, if you can find me." He groaned. Itachi was one of the most elusive people he knew. If Itachi did not want to be found, it wasn't possible to find him. It was a good thing Kyubi had the most sensitive olfactory organs, otherwise it would be impossible for even Naruto to find him.
He was tempted to ignore the letter and turn back to the road. He didn't want to be tied down by the town he had deserted. There was no reason to… well… except for that cursed little letter. He hesitated, torn between the desire to find Itachi and the ingrained habit of listening to Itachi's orders.
Kit. It may benefit you to heed the letter.
Naruto stilled, silently contemplating Kyubi's advice.
They were strong enough to seal me. There are many things you can learn here…
Naruto sat down on the dirt road, ignoring the questioning glances of the gate patrollers. If he left right now, Itachi would probably be angry that he didn't follow instructions. At the same time, he had a feeling he could win over Itachi anyway. So that was a moot point. However, Itachi and Kyubi did have a decent argument. There were techniques begging to be mastered.
This triggered Naruto to jump to his feet. He would master the techniques and rise in ranks as soon as he could. But… that would attract too much attention. His eyebrows furrowed as he frowned. If he garnered too much attention, when he left, there would be a big fuss and tons of anbu to irritate him. He started pacing in agitation.
Aha! He thought victoriously. He would act like the fool and steal techniques. Nothing else would disarm them as easily as a stupid idiot who couldn't do anything correctly.
Naruto smiled as strolled passed the guards, flashing his pass, and it wasn't a pretty sight to see.
~~
"Uzumaki Naruto…" The Hokage murmured thoughtfully as he read over the letter at hand.
Naruto forced himself to fidget. It would be unnatural for a twelve year not to fidget under the steady gaze of a scary looking old man. He pretended to look nervously at the floor as he calculated the strengths of the shinobi sitting next to the Hokage. They seemed strong by the way they were hiding their chakra, but they would be easy to defeat. He mentally sighed, this better be worth it.
"So… you were taken in by this elderly couple, who passed away a few weeks ago… leaving you this letter to bring to me," the Hokage intoned, scratching his beard thoughtfully.
Damn… onii chan thought of some crazy story… Naruto thought bemused. He should have read the letter before handing it over to the Hokage, but it was too late now.
Hoping he looked convincing, Naruto summoned tears to water his eyes. He sniffed as he answered, "I don't understand why they had to die…" His voice trembled as he continued, beseechingly looking at the Hokage from under his eyelids, "I didn't know where else to go…"
The Hokage sighed and walked over to kneel by his side. Wary, Naruto continued his act… but was prepared to bury a kunai in the Hokage's neck if need be. He forced himself to wail as the Hokage started to pat him on his back.
"I really miss them," Naruto whimpered as he sniffed. "They were like my su…surro.."
"Surrogate parents?" The Hokage kindly finished for him.
Naruto nodded as cutely as he could. This guy was a sucker.
"Yare, yare," the Hokage muttered. "It is a relief to see you doing well. I was concerned when I learned of your disappearance a few years ago… did they treat you well?"
"Yeah… they did," Naruto answered, chewing on his lower lip as he pretended to remember. "They found me a couple years ago, wandering around, and they took me in because they didn't have children." He forced himself to cry openly now, and clumsily brushed away the twin rivulets of tears climbing down his face. "I really…really loved them."
The patting continued.
"Your apartment has been left vacant for your use. You will have to continue the academy and I will arrange for your living costs," the Hokage said kindly as he continued patting his back.
Naruto sniffed and stopped crying.
"Really?" He infused innocence in his voice and acted on a compulsion he couldn't ignore, perhaps it was from another stream of consciousness. "Then someday… I want to be Hokage just like you!" Naruto declared hotly, jumping into the Hokage's arms to embrace him. The arms circled around him and gently squeezed him. Naruto smirked inwardly. It was too easy.
"Yare, yare…"
~~
The transition into the town was surprisingly easy. The people here were all suckers. Luckily none of them seemed to remember that he was the vessel of the Kyubi and treated him like the orphan that he was. He didn't really mind and actually liked being left alone, but it wasn't in the character he had to play.
It was fun carrying out pranks. The Hokage took a liking to him and protected him from the vengeance of the townspeople as he cheerfully pulled as many pranks as he could. Itachi would never allow any pranks to succeed, whereas the people here…were soooo gullible. It also maintained his creative skills. In Itachi's company, he would not be allowed to waste chakra to create the sexy-no-jutsu…but he was bored, and boredom was never good for hyperactive people like himself. Besides, the jutsu enabled him to sneak out the secret scrolls and boy did the scrolls contain some juicy techniques.
Since he also had to play the part of dead-last, he happily ditched school classes at the slightest opportunity. Irritating Iruka sensei was worth the frustration of forcing himself to fail the tests. It was difficult failing the tests, since they were all so easy, and literally one would have to be a grade A idiot to fail them.
Life was actually fun, catching up on a childhood he never really had. He didn't begrudge Itachi for being the stoic not so playful person that he was, but traveling with Itachi forced him to be more grown-up. Besides, staying in the village would hone his skills of acting and knowing that he would be pursued when he left, the art of fooling the enemy needed to perfected.
He had weird classmates though. All the girls were interested in this Sasuke guy. He didn't get a chance to check the guy out since the poor guy was always surrounded by girls. Estrogen it seemed, was a terrifying force and Naruto was smart enough not to get involved, even when he was acting stupid. And there were many weird clans; there was the dog clan, the bug clan, the shadow clan, and who knows what other weird clans there were?
The only sane person in the whole school was Iruka sensei and boy was it fun getting a rise out of him. Strangely, Iruka sensei brought out familial feelings by the way Iruka sensei always chased after himself when he was ditching class. That kind of persistence was admirable and Naruto begrudgingly respected the weaker chunnin. Which was saying a lot since his respect was hard to earn.
Finally, on the long awaited day of academy finals, Naruto had to use all his self-control to barely pass the exam. He couldn't destroy the expectations that he had worked so hard to set in place and was placed in team seven. He hadn't bothered to remember the names of his teammate. They weren't worth his time. He also ignored the silver-haired jounin that was assigned as their instructor. All he did was recall that they were supposed to meet at some training grounds at dawn or something like that.
He could care less.
The idyllic time had been fun, but now it was bordering on repetitive and tedious. He wanted to find Itachi now, but knew he had to be patient. It was more than a little difficult, and he was in a foul mood as he walked to the meeting place four hours behind schedule. Half a year had passed ever since he had entered the town, and he had learned most of the secret jutsus in the scrolls that were not bloodline limit techniques. He doubted there was anything else to learn that would interest him.
He learened kage bunshin no jutsu, rasengan(which was a specialized jutsu of the Yondaime), many other jutsus that he barely remembered the names of and the seal.
He had unsealed Kyubi once he found the technique in the scroll, but Kyubi had opted to stay in his body. Not that he minded, since Kyubi was a paternal figure, but it felt refreshing to know that the Kyubi harbored no malice toward himself, even after being sealed for thirteen years. It was as if Kyubi wanted to be absorbed into Naruto, because that would be end result of the long term cohabitation. It was a disconcerting, and somewhat tragic thought. Naruto did not want that to happen, but if Kyubi desired not to leave, he could do nothing about it.
"YOU'RE LATE!" his female teammate hollered indignantly as Naruto strolled into the area.
He gazed back her steadily, taking in the pretty features of her girlish face and dismissed it. Naruto had seen more luscious babes than her(how else was he to master the sexy no jutsu?). He glanced over his other silent teammate and took a step back in surprise.
Itachi chan? No…this guy is younger… who? Naruto thought reflectively. Memories of the stoic Itachi bubbled up, ruining his mood even more. He missed him. He had tolerated six long months without him and he wanted to be back with him.
Itachi chan…
"Ne…who is he?" Naruto asked diffidently as he pointed at the Itachi look-a-like.
The girl replied dreamily, "He's Uchiha Sasuke…"
"Uchiha…" It wasn't too difficult to put two and two together. So that's Itachi chan's little brother eh… I wonder why he never told me about his family. Ah well…
A gust of wind discouraged any more conversation as the tardy teacher finally appeared. Naruto took the effort to look at his instructor unlike the cursory glance he had spared at their first meeting. His instructor's eye was lazy and the other one was covered with the forehead protector. Silver hair jutted out toward the sky and a small pocket-sized book jutted out from his vest.
Recognizing the book for what it was, Naruto exclaimed, "Pervert!"
His sensei merely raised an eyebrow in muted surprise.
Scratching the back of his head bashfully, Naruto turned away to look at the trees. This sensei would be annoying.
"Oy," the sensei said coolly. "Let's introduce ourselves now. Your name, your goals, your dreams, etc. You start." He was pointing at Sasuke.
Sasuke morosely stared back to the sensei, gloom reflected in his voice as he stated, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. My goal is to kill a certain man. Dreams, I have none."
Naruto speculatively glanced over at Sasuke. Soo.. he's an avenger eh.. boring..
"My name is Haruno Sakura. My goal is.." at this she glanced over at Sasuke. Naruto withheld the urge to snort. "My dream is …" It was another love-struck moony-eyed gaze at Sasuke. Naruto was disgusted. The girl would be a liability.
"How about you, gaki?" the sensei asked, pointing directly at him.
"Eh… My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My dream is to…" Naruto trailed off, desperately searching for something to say. "… is to be the Hokage! My goal is find someone. That's all you need to know."
The sensei gazed at him steadily, as if he was searching for what was unsaid and shrugged. He seemed to be satisfied with what he saw.
"My name is Hatake Kakashi, my goal is none of your business… my dream is also… none of your business.."
Naruto sweat-dropped. This guy was weird.
Kakashi took out two bells from his pocket and dangled the bells in front of their eyes.
"This is a test. If you fail, you will return to the academy for a year. You have until noon to get the bells, which is two hours. Only nine genin will be able to graduate…" He stopped speaking and whipped out the perverted book. "You can start now."
None of them moved. Naruto did not care about the exam. There wasn't much more he could learn from the town anyway. He just wanted an excuse to leave and search for Itachi. He quietly wondered if six months were long enough in Itachi's expectations. He decided to stop the act of playing the idiot. If Itachi had been around, Naruto doubted that Itachi would appreciate him playing at stupidity.
He felt Kakashi sensei's discerning gaze and turned away stubbornly, crossing his arms. Passing was none of his concern.
"Sasuke, you can't be an avenger if you are too scared to attack me. Come at me with killing intent, or you'll fail and never catch that man," Kakashi sensei goaded coldly.
Naruto stepped out of the way as Sasuke rushed at Kakashi sensei. He inwardly grinned as Kakashi easily disarmed Sasuke and in moments had him in a deadly hold. None of them had noticed the shadow of the clone that had followed Sasuke and celebrated exultantly as he grasped the two bells in his hand that the clone had retrieved.
Kakashi sensei looked up in surprise.
"This is boring," Naruto stated calmly as he threw the bells back at Kakashi sensei.
"Uzumaki Naruto was your name right?" Kakashi inquired almost politely.
Naruto warily nodded. "What's it to you?"
"You've had an interesting past have you not?"
Naruto glared at Kakashi, whipping out a kunai. "As I said before, what's it to you?"
"I wonder what you have learned surviving on your own. Your academy results were…interesting."
"Hmph," Naruto replied as he turned away to go to his lodgings.
Naruto ducked as he felt three kunais whizzing toward his head. He turned and gracefully threw the six kunais he already had in his hand toward Kakashi, while grabbing the three that were just flying at his head.
" As I thought," came the all-knowing irritating voice. "You've had training. Who trained you?"
Naruto replied coolly, "None of your business."
Kakashi gazed steadily at Naruto before turning back to the others.
"Sakura, Sasuke, you pass. Thank Naruto," Kakashi stated and disappeared. Naruto followed him without hesitation.
Kakashi knew something and he wanted answers.
~~
AN: wow.. I'm on a roll for this story.. ^^ We'll see how long this will last.. I suppose although it is an AU, it will have some correlation to the storyline. It probably will follow very very loosely to the original plot considering that Naruto is really strong. Hopefully this chapter wasn't too bad.. _
Response to reviewers:
drownin' in my tears: Thanks for reviewing again. It's encouraging that you are continuously reading my story.
shadow eclipse: For now I'm updating madly.
af-zero: I always like the Zabuza-Haku relationship. It had a certain loyalty aspect that I appealed to me. But, I guess this makes things a little more twisted.
pyr00tje: Naruto is more worldly in my fic. He knows that death is necessary for a security.
Greg: Thanks for the critic. I tried to fix it. I'll try to upload the fixed chapter.. ^^;; when I feel like it. :)
elxreaper: Thanks, I'll do my best to.
Wolf catalyst: I always thought that Itachi was capable of depth. He is one of those really cool, strong silent types that I wish were my own. ~_^
lil washu: Itachi only smiles for Naruto, because Naruto makes such a big effort. Itachi knows that Naruto is similar to him so he smiles for him.
rubymoon17: I'll try to~!
cards344: well.. here it is...
satorabonai: ehehehe.. I couldn't help it. After a while, people grow on each other so... Kyubi ends up loving Naruto like his own kit. The relationship of Itachi and Naruto is similar, but with different backgrounds. Naruto isn't just a tool...
insanechildfic: Thanks.
sorry for being your troubles: Thanks.. I'm glad that I answered your questions.. ^^:;
Skittles the sugar fairy: Teeheehee.. I guess this changes things a bit.. :)
Judiann: Thanks. I like to think of Naruto as he would be ten years from the anime reflected in the age he is now. It just seemed more fitting that he would be mature in the right circumstances.
moonfairy: Thanks~! Naruto seems to be able to devote more of himself to those who accept him unlike Sasuke.. which is why he appeals to my Itachi.. ^^
eaglesage21: I hope you still like it even though I diverged in this chapter.
Gopu: Thanks...
psi-neko: well.. here is the Konoha bit. Hopefully it answers some questions. (more like brings more up.. ^^;;;)