Character Thoughts

"Character Dialogue"

_ = Scene Break

Chapter 5 - Initiation

In the centre of a small forest clearing, a young man sat, his legs crossed and his eyes peacefully closed in quiet serenity. As a small breeze passed through, his small, red ponytail fluttered briefly, his black t-shirt and ANBU-style trousers slightly rustling under the wind. With calmed breathing, his chest rose and fell as a frown appeared on his face.

Ocean blue eyes now opened, hardened and focused, he gazed at the large, golden gate before him and sighed in both confusion and defeat. As the water he stood on began to ripple, he took a deep, calming breath as an infamous coat of orange fur appeared on the other side of the cage. Piercing red eyes glared into his heart as the young man stared unflinchingly at the ancient being.

After standing for a moment, his many tails dangerously meandering in the air, a spark lit within his eyes, raising an eyebrow and sitting down, his head now next to the cage and Naruto. "You've changed in these years, boy." He began with hidden intrigue, its bellow causing the elements to quake but still struggled to faze the small human before him.

Glancing toward the water reflection of himself, his whiskers being the centre of his attention, he turned back to the Kyuubi. "I've gotten older, I don't think I'll ever change." The Uzumaki muttered to himself, the ear of the bijuu twitching in response, as the once hopeful, spark-filled blue eyes held a callus tone.

After a few moments, the fox began to laugh hysterically, much to the human's confusion. Upon calming down, he looked on at the boy with a humorous stare. "You are truly hilarious, human." He uttered in a jovial sarcasm as it looked immediately switched into a dark and serious glare. "You think I am a fool?" He asked with deadly intent, the air becoming denser, with the water within the mindscape being more unsettled and violent.

Getting close to the cage, his right eye getting between the pillars of the gate he glared at the redhead. "I know what you are planning, boy. It is the only reason why you've gotten so far." He began, his tone threateningly serious and stern, as he finally gained a reaction from his host, with a confused frown. "I could've made your life a living hell if I wanted to, make you suffer with me. But your existence provides me with the most entertainment I've had in a century, that is why you're alive and a ninja." He elaborated, his speech halting for a second, closing his eyes as the pressure skyrocketed in its intensity, the calm water being torrential waves of energy crashing around for as far as the eye could see.

Reopening his eyes with heart-stopping ferocity and murderous intensity, he glared promisingly at the young Uzumaki. "Do not test me. Else you'll be the first of many victims of this village when I decide to finish what I started." He cursed, retreating away from the cage to his original seated position, placing his head onto his forward legs.

As the mindscape began to calm and relax, so too did Naruto. "If you already know my plans, then why re-emphasise something I won't do? You know what I wished for and you know what I think about what's happened to you and your siblings." He replied with honest ignorance, a raised eyebrow and a straight expression on the boy's face seemingly satisfying the bijuu's patience as he huffed.

"Because, I cannot see everything you think, everything I see is information and thoughts that you let me see." The bijuu answered with a calm demeanour, to which Naruto looked at him offended, his body slumping and his expression blank. With a sly smile, the fox chuckled a little, much to the boy's annoyance. In this thought, Naruto turned around and began to walk away, much to the Kyuubi's adulterated surprise.

"If we are here just to converse and mock me I don't need to be here." Naruto projected as he continued to walk away into the darkness away from the cage, as the Kyuubi's initial shock turned to equal annoyance and more predominantly disrespect.

"I just told you not to test me." He started in a calm, cold voice, his voice echoing through the endless tunnels around the mindscape as Naruto turned around and looked into the blood-red eyes of the fox he harboured.

"Then let me make this clear. You have as much power over me as I do you. Be careful of what game you play, because I don't need your power." He coldly remarks, much to the Kyuubi's abject rage at the mortal's inputence. As Naruto's form faded into the darkness of the mindscape, the ancient fox looked on with a calmed demeanour, narrowing his eyes and scowling.

Getting up from the light-ridden water, and turning toward the inner sanctum of his prison he looked back one more time and smirked. Chuckling slightly, he too was embraced in the darkness, "How amusing…" he muttered to himself, his hushed voice echoing quietly across the cage.

With the frown on his face persisting, he reopened his cold blue eyes and glanced around him as he took a deep breath in and out. After doing so, he stood up and stayed as still as a statue. As his eyes glanced to his side, he saw the grey arm guards that many within the shinobi world feared. Twitching ever so slightly, he felt a sharp pain in the bottom of his back as he dropped to the ground.

Looking at the fallen redhead with an emotionless look, he bent down and attempted to grab the back of the bloody Uzumaki shirt only for the body to become a cloud of smoke. With widened eyes, he spun around and saw nothing in front of him or the treeline but quickly felt a sharpness and presence directly behind him. "The unseen ones who support the great tree of Konoha from the depths." the blank-masked man uttered under his breath, as he quickly felt the kunai retreat from his back, quickly and carefully turning around to face the boy.

"Your decoy working as promised?" He asked in blank intensity, his tone harsh and professional the boy nodded in response as he continued to stare at the man's eyes intently. "Very well, I'll take you to your test, Uzumaki." He quickly stated, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder as they both disappeared from the clearing.

Blinking rapidly, adjusting the now-found darkness of the large stone arena that surrounded him, he quickly glanced around, taking in his environment. His glances quickly centred to the podium that rested at the front of the arena, of which he was in the centre. Noticing his escort quickly vanishing from the arena his attention lay focused on the heavily bandaged man in front of him.

"Prove to me and to yourself, that you have what it takes to become ANBU. To become a ROOT of Konoha." He proclaimed, his voice powerful but Naruto reacted unflinching with cold-hearted determination in his glare, of which Danzo smiled in pride. As he finished his proclamation, three ninjas surrounded him. All of them wore the same uniform and held the same cold look in their eye as Naruto's attention continued to lay upon Danzo.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw multiple kunai shooting toward him as the third man launched himself right in front of him, crouched and ready to jump. Glancing at a loose pebble off near the attacker on his right, he then looked back in front of him, the ANBU drew their tanto now closing in on his stomach. Quickly kicking his right arm, holding his, and then his face the kunai all landed in his shoulder and back as he immediately went into a puff of smoke, the ANBU he'd kicked coming to a stop after a few moments of gliding across the stone floor.

The two other ANBU frantically analysed their surroundings, both of them spinning to meet any unseen strike only to find none. At that moment, as the third ANBU lowered his head in pain, a blur shot past them, causing them all to focus their attention on where the redhead had been. Only once did their gaze lay at the centre of the arena did they quickly jolt their heads up toward the ceiling.

Shooting toward them, a Naruto with a tanto met each of them, with each of them staggering as they deflected the strike. At the moment that they staggered, two of the Naruto's dispelled, leaving the third ANBU with fear pacing through his eyes as the tanto came closer and closer to his neck until he saw nothing.

A cold silence swept the arena, the sound of dripping blood bouncing from the stone that surrounded them as the man's body dropped to the floor. With a firm grip on his tanto, Naruto continued to gaze at the now icy cold body beneath him, the coldness of this moment freezing him in place.

Upon hearing two pairs of sandals race toward him, his expression steel as he spun around, sheathing his tanto and flowing through hand signs. Noticing this, the two remaining ANBU split immediately as they continued to rush him but now coming from both directions.

Futon: Ruppusho, Naruto chanted in his head, as he grasped his hands together, creating a strong, shaped gale of wind that wildly smashed around him, forcing the ANBU shooting toward him to retreat. Noticing their separation, he quickly charged toward his left-most opponent leaving a clone behind to launch kunai and shuriken shadow clones at the remaining attacker.

Upon arriving, he quickly swiped at his feet, forcing him into the air but as he wound up a strong, bone-crushing punch his eyes shot open as he quickly tilted his body back, placing his hand behind him to keep him from hitting the floor as a bullet of fire shot past him. In this moment of vulnerability, he kicked away his opponent and retreated slightly, gathering distance between his remaining enemies.

With narrowed eyes, he saw the two of them recover quickly and resume their charge toward him, launching volleys of fire and water at him at varying sizes. Realising quickly what was about to happen he cursed to himself. As he, for a brief moment, closed his eyes, as he landed on the ground, he got within a few metres of him.

Within the next moment, small sharp chains erupted from the ground and ensnared the both of them. With shock-ridden eyes, they mentally berated themselves at noticing the small holes and glowing yellow light coming from behind the boy's feet, as they then watched with defeat, as the boy slowly approached them, a kunai in hand. Closing their eyes, they tensed.

Clapping, echoing throughout the arena, the sounds clapping erupted behind them, the sound of a cane following swiftly after. "That is enough Uzumaki-san, you've proven more than enough." An aged voice of the elder uttered behind them, with feigned joy at the outcome before him. Naruto, on the other hand, continued to look, almost glare, at the elder, the emotions locked behind his eyes fighting to break out.

"You've done well, Naruto. Much better than even I would've thought." He praised, as he watched closer, gesturing to him to release his captive as he quickly obliged. Dropping to the ground, they quickly knelt, not daring to even glance at their leader. Kneeling himself, before the boy, he placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "Taking a life is never easy, Naruto. But we must do what it takes to defend our home. I hope you can live with that." He reassured the stone-cold young man, as the Uzumaki only nodded at the words.

Standing up, he quickly returned to the centre of the arena, with Naruto following behind him. Arriving there, noticing the body now gone, with traces of ash remaining, Naruto raised an eyebrow but quickly looked away after a moment longer. Suddenly, another ANBU, accompanied by a long black-haired young woman appeared next to him. Nodding to Danzo, he quickly disappeared much like his escort did to him.

Not taking his eyes off Danzo, he watched the proud smile wash over his face as he cleared his throat. "You too have proven to both me and yourselves that you have what it takes to become a ROOT of our great tree of Konoha. It is such that I welcome you to ROOT." He proclaimed, the serious tone of his voice slightly killing the persona he attempted to provide.

"You'll be instructed and taught to the best of our abilities. You'll be cooperating and living with one another and most importantly, you'll put your utmost trust in each other." He ordered Naruto's eyes went slightly wide in shock, as he noticed that his would-be teammate held the same reaction. "Your training starts tomorrow, you'll be collected in the same location as today. You're dismissed." He concluded as a pair of ANBU appeared behind them, bowed, grasped their shoulders and shunshin away.

Now alone, an evil smirk pressed itself onto the elder's face, chuckling in joy. "He is every bit ruthless and cunning as I would've hoped for. You made a mistake not giving him to me, Hiruzen." He muttered to himself as he turned around, looking toward the podium he'd stood on just a few minutes ago. Squinting his eyes, he could make out a head of red hair, upon recognising it his smirk remained.

"You better not disappoint me, Naruto." He muttered to himself as he disappeared from the arena leaving a curious set of innocent eyes to ponder on what they just saw.

Blinking rapidly as he squinted at the light above, Naruto sighed in exhaustion as felt the absence of his escort who'd brought him here only to leave in the next second. But, gritting his teeth, he attempted to clear his mind when the thought of his teammate crossed his mind. Somewhat relaxing, but still, on guard, he closed his eyes in concentration and began to feel the pull of chakra that he'd felt from her.

Upon feeling that pull become stronger and clearer, her location became known to him as he quickly got up and made his way to her, dashing into the tree line. His thoughts were both suppressed and rampant at the same time, A strong chakra, black eyes and hair, and elegant posture, were his current thoughts, his eyes narrowing at his conclusion. "Uchiha," He muttered to himself in bitterness.

Soon, he reached the clearing that she lay situated in, rather surprised to see that she'd been training after their exam, given the smoke that emanated from some of the small craters near her. Let's see if she's any different from her arrogant clansmen, he spat in his mind, as he carefully revealed himself, emerging from the bushes on the clearing's outskirts.

Hearing the rustling of the bush he'd just walked through, she turned around and saw him, the shock in her eyes too much to hide. Soon, her shock turned to a small smile as she waved to him as he reciprocated the gesture. Walking over and sitting across from her, his eyes never left her person, waiting for any sort of confrontation. Seeing her eyes glance at his arms and his overall posture he attempted to relax but quickly found that his body would obey that command.

"Your tense." She gently commented as she looked at him with concern with now slightly on guard herself. Hearing these words, he immediately sighed in relief, much to her confusion as he now put his behind him as he lent backwards. "Umm, Hi?" She greeted in absolute confusion as Naruto seemed to return to reality, as he quickly straightened up much to her humour.

"Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto and your new teammate, Uchiha-san." He greeted formally, much to her shock as she slightly flinched at the mention of her clan but smiled it off. This, however, was not unnoticed and quickly turned Naruto's warm demeanour more caring and serious. "Do you wish not to be mentioned with your clan?" He asked, with the Uchiha waving her hands and shaking her head in denial.

"I'm Uchiha Hitomi, Naruto-san. I was only shocked by the fact you knew I was from the Uchiha off of a glance." She quickly introduced and explained to the Uzumaki, and Naruto quickly nodded his head in understanding, noticing the anticipating look from his teammate.

"Uchiha are quite unique here in Konoha, at least to me. Sensing your chakra was the most telling feature. The other feature is something I am quite glad you do not possess." He explained, only to see her narrow her eyes in annoyance at the other feature, causing the redhead to sigh in painful nostalgia. "Uchiha has always been arrogant and bullies, they take whenever they want and whatever they want because they're Uchiha." He quickly spat in disgust, looking toward the ground with slight rage as he turned to face Hitomi with a warm smile, only to see the look of guilt in her eyes.

"I see," She muttered to herself, her hands clenching in slight rage at the actions of her fellow clansmen as she sighed in fatigue. Turning her head to meet the Uzumaki's gaze, "I hope to show that not all of us are as bad as you think, Naruto-san" The Uchiha beamed, as Naruto smiled all the while, the hint of sadness kept hidden from her black eyes.

"You've certainly started on the right foot, Hitomi-san." He commented with warmth, as he then stood up, offering a hand to her when he did. Accepting it, she took his hand and Naruto backed away a few metres. "Now, let's see if you're any good at being a ninja." He mocked, with a playful smirk as he saw the fire light in her eyes. Charging at each other and clashing with their forearms, a smirk plastered on the pair of them.

Slightly winded, Naruto wiped some sweat from his forehead and laughed a little. "You're not too bad Hitomi," He laughed out, a smirk on his face as he watched Hitomi struggle to catch her breath, laying on the ground with sweat dripping from her body. Amid her tiredness, she laughed heavily at the comment.

"Not too bad…" She wheezed out through her heavy breathing as Naruto began to calmly walk over to her, "Not too bad, he says," she muttered as she looked at him with slight concern at his lack of exhaustion. "How, in kami's name, are you not tired?" she asked in exhausted confusion, almost annoyed at how unbalanced the chakra supplies were through their sparring.

Crouching down opposite her, "Do you know what I am?" he asked in a slightly saddened tone, a smile still on his face. Upon shaking her head, Naruto's face dropped a little, a frown plastering away the happiness on his face. "My clan, the Uzumaki, were always known to have large amounts of chakra but that is not the true answer to your question…" He began, the bitterness in his voice flooding his tone and his anger coming to the forefront.

"What do you know of the attack thirteen years ago, Hitomi?" He asked in a neutral tone, the change of expression likewise worrying the Uchiha.

"The Kyuubi assaulted the village and destroyed large parts of it until it was stopped by the Fourth. I've heard that it was killed but I found that hard to believe…" She uttered to herself, her gaze toward the dusk sky above as her eyes slowly widened in worry and realisation. "Why does it relate to you, Naruto?" She asked in stalwart concern, her eyes wanting and needing an honest answer.

All the while, Naruto watched, a sad smile on his lips as she looked at him. "On the night of my birth, Namikaze Minato sealed the Kyuubi in me to prevent the further destruction of the village, at the cost of his soul." He explained with a thankful but also bitter smile on his face, as he avoided seeing her reaction.

Still, silence prevailed between the two of them, until the sound of water hitting the earth broke through. "My clansmen…" Hitomi muttered in rage, as Naruto looked up in worry only to see Hitomi's eyes, tears falling down her face in guilt and shame. "Our village…" She cursed, as Naruto's eyes widened in paralysing shock. "Have been disrespecting our hero…" She uttered as if she couldn't believe it, a small tear forming in Naruto's eye. "For petty ignorance." She quietly said to herself as Naruto could only watch the sight before him.

Latching onto her, he embraced her in a tight hug. Feeling him shake as he did, she gently rubbed his back, returning the embrace. "Thank you so much," was all the Uzumaki said as a lone tear flowed through his eye. Upon uttering it, Hitomi seemed to tighten her grip, leaning her head toward his and looking up to the sky, a burning sensation originating from her eyes.

Closing her eyes in pain, a small smile graced her face, as she reopened her eyes and looked to her right at a head of red hair. Naruto, after a few more moments of the embrace, much to his teammate's shock, stood up with her still attached to him. As they stood, Hitomi quickly unlatched herself from him and then both shared a laugh.

"You know," Naruto spoke up, both of them smiling at the humour of the situation that had just passed, but the words caught the Uchiha's attention. "No one has ever called me a hero…" Naruto muttered with a warm but unsettled smile as Hitomi's eyes widened a little at this.

Looking away toward the outskirts of the clearing, with a hint of red on her face, she muttered "No one's ever treated me like a normal person…" she muttered with a warm, grateful smile as she looked back to the young man's reddening whiskered cheeks. With an awkward silence, the both of them staring into each other's eyes, their lips began to quiver.

Bursting out in laughter, they both began to exit the clearing as they noticed the darkening of the sky. With them playfully punching the other's shoulder for slight offences caused by the other, they walked their way to the walls of the Uchiha clan compound. With a smile on his face, Naruto stopped as Hitomi jumped on the wall.

"This is as far as I go I'm afraid, I'll see you tomorrow Hitomi," Naruto spoke as he noticed the initially confused expression that plastered itself on her face but quickly became disheartened and slightly disappointed. With a smile, he bowed his head as Hitomi did hers. Upon doing this Naruto put two fingers on his forehead and waved, shunshining away and leaving Hitomi alone on the Uchiha compound wall.

With a warm grin, she turned toward her clan's home and jumped down, her excitement for the next day immeasurable.

Upon arriving at his door and opening it, Naruto quickly felt the urge to vomit, to which he raced to the bathroom. With tears flooding his eyes, the images of the man he'd killed flashed through his eyes, the pain, the fear and the look for mercy.

It scared him.

It shook him.

But the moment and feelings he had just shared with her, felt comforting and releasing. It soothed his heart in a way that calmed the sense of disgust for himself. Thinking long and heart amid laboured breaths, he smiled. Initiating his motivations and courage he stood and looked at himself in the mirror of his bathroom.

"I do this for people like her."

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.

Hitomi had finally arrived and I hope that this interaction between the two seemed genuine enough to be convincing, and more so, I hope the fight was entertaining I'm not trying to create Jutsu rn and I'm not trying to buff Naruto to be using S-Rank Ninjutsu at 13 without supervision lmao.

Discord is here (Rcf7q3xd5N) and as always I hope to see you all in the next chapter and beyond.