So, now that the arc with rescuing Gaara is over (even if it was lack-luster in execution), then we can get into the true introduction of the new Naruto. Like I said in a previous chapter, I will proceed with the main story-arc, but at times I will take a tangent before returning to the main Shippuden Story. This is one of those moments.
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In the Present...
The Long-haired blonde strode through a forested area. Having slaughtered Deidara like the trash he was and giving Gaara back along with two Akatsuki corpses, he was tired. It was evident in the way his eyes were half-lidded, and his soft lips in a natural frown as he made his way back. It wouldn't be long before he found himself falling over, only to find himself, not on the ground but on the back of his companion and friend...
"Kuruma..." The young-man would say, opening his eyes slightly and grasping onto the fur of the fox. The large, horse-sized fox with five tails waited as the young-man adjusted himself for comfort, before shooting off. Both of them felt the wind pass by and graze their skin, allowing the cool breeze to calm their nerves after the battle. The cerulean eyes of the man closed, and the frown that was once upon his face slowly replaced by a relaxed smile... And it was this relaxation which allowed him to descend into a deep slumber...
This slumber would be interrupted by the feeling of his shoulder being shaken. With a small groan, the man opened his eyes and his gaze fell upon... a child? His vision still blurry from being asleep, the man squinted his eyes to get a focus on the child in front of him...
"Naruto-saaaan! Wake up silly!" The child would shake his shoulder, laughing at him. It was at this moment the child came into focus. Black hair, brown eyes and a bright, toothy smile on his face. And it made him smile. The man would bring up a hand to ruffle the hair of the child.
"Murayama-chan... I'm home already?" He asks.
"Hai, Naruto-san. Kuruma-san brought you home." The child, Murayama said to the young-man. Said young man stood up and stretched, cracking his knuckles, back and neck before letting out a satisfied sigh as his eyes fell upon the town he was brought to. The town that accepted him. Home.
YuanHan Village.
"Guys! Naruto-san is awake!" Murayama called, and more children, with different colored hair all ran to him, waving their hands and laughing. The blonde-haired man smiled, before looking forward... and moving forward. The soft smile staying on his lips as some of the adults around the village smiled and waved at him, doing their laundry, selling their food, playing with the children, and so on. They all greeted him, and they all trusted him.
He felt a sudden wave of coolness wash over him, as he looked up and saw the shadow of the mountain next to the village fall over him. He turned and dismissed the children silently, before turning and making his way up the path of the mountain. He passed small trees and bushes, small stone shrines and so on before reaching the top to a quaint little house. The blonde slid-off his shoes and turned around, sitting cross-legged on the porch-floor, looking over the village.
Yuanhan Village. Named after the mountain, he lived on. An unknown language, and a rather interesting name for the mountain. "Yuanhan" which apparently meant "Resentment." Which seemed to contradict the way the village acts in general. This wasn't a rich village, but it was homely, fun and full of love and support...
And who was he? He felt something furry brush his hand, as he turned and his blue eyes fall onto the small, single-tailed, red-eyed and orange-furred fox which sat next to him... Who was he?
He was Naruto Uzumaki. And he was very much alive...
"Naruto." He heard a deep, abrasive voice state as his ear twitched. Naruto's attention shifted back to the fox.
"Hai, Kuruma?" The nine-tailed fox- in it's chibi form, looked up at him from his sat position.
"You've learned a lot... And applied a lot of your intelligence. You've made a name for yourself, both in and out of Yuanhan village... do you think you're ready?" The fox would ask. Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Ready for what?"
"To leave..."
At that, Naruto's expression fell, looking once more upon this village. He stared unblinkingly, albeit sadly upon the landscape which was dyed a bright orange as the sunset upon it.
"I can't stay here forever... But I don't want to leave..." He says to his furry friend, who nodded in understanding.
"War. War is upon us, Naruto... The Akatsuki is rounding up all of us... It will put them in danger. We must..." Kuruma would say, looking upon the village as well.
"I know..."
"They're coming." Kuruma said, standing up and walking back inside of the hut. Naruto looked at the path and saw a small-group of people. A village elder, as well as some men and women, as well as children... Murayama amongst them, who wore a sad smile upon his face. Naruto stood, walking over to the group, bringing both of his hands together and bowing to them. The group, kept their hands by their sides and bowed in return.
"Naruto... You've protected the village well. And you've gained our respect. When your companion took you in, and up to the mountain... We weren't sure what to expect. This mountain was the legacy of our founder, the YiLing Patriarch... and you've proven that your noble heart can survive the darkness of this village, and you've proven that you can wield this darkness, to serve the light. Come..." The village elder would say, motioning a wrinkled hand to come. Naruto was silent, approaching the elder. The elder turned and grabbed a set of clothes, before handing it to Naruto, on top of it a fox-mask (Reference in my Profile). Naruto looked down to look at the clothing... confused at what this meant. Then, everybody who gathered at his home, brought their hands together and bowed to him.
"With this... we name you... the YuanHan Patriarch. Thank you..." The elder finished. Naruto looked at the crowd, restraining tears in his eyes, biting his lip and taking a deep breath.
"Thank you... I was never happier when you accepted me into this place. For the first time, I felt... welcome to a place. And I wanted to preserve this as best as I could... I'm happy to have this place to call home." He says, struggling not to let tears fall from his eyes as he smiled softly.
"Will... you welcome me when I come back?" He asked. The elder looked at him, and the others looked up from their bows and at each other. He was... leaving?
"You said it yourself Naruto... this is your home, and we will always welcome you with open arms." The Elder said, smiling. And one by one he saw the other villagers nod and smile at him- all except one. The sound of sniffling cut through the silence, and Naruto looked down to see Murayama wiping his eyes.
"Murayama... come here." Naruto would say, and the little boy walked over to him. The blonde placed a hand on the boy's head. "You're a strong boy... I expect you to protect the village while I'm away... okay?" He says, looking at the kid who looked up at him. Biting his lip, the boy closed his eyes and nodding really hard. Naruto ruffled Murayama's hair, before bowing once again.
"Thank you all..." He says once again. The villagers then left, and Naruto retreated inside and began to pack, sealing all of his belongings into various scrolls, and then all of those scrolls into a singular, larger scroll using Fuuinjutsu. He then laid down on his bedroll, closed his eyes, felt Kuruma join him curling up and then drifted off into a deep slumber...
When Naruto awoke, it was still dark... early morning. He looked over at the clothes that he was given. He sighed, sitting up and began to slip on everything they gave him. It surprised him what they included, and how expensive everything felt... and it made his heart ache. He didn't do anything that warranted such things... but he was thankful nonetheless. They gave his black pants, somewhat baggy and knee-high cloth boots with reinforced steel toes, painting a gold color which wasn't shiny. They gave him black, long-sleeved robes, with gold highlights, and a black and gold metal belt which kept everything in place. Upon the black robes, he saw, a golden dragon embroidered on the shoulders. They also gave him matching black and gold metal gloves, which he wore. He inspected himself, seeing the long, coat tails flow as he spun around was satisfying... Finally, the last two items where the mask they gave, and the red cloak. The red cloak was like a long-sleeved haori, with gold designs and highlights, and on the back... the Uzumaki swirl. Smiling to himself, he slid his arms through the sleeves and his look was complete...
He decided to wear his head in a pony tail to make it less distracting for him, and the length of the tail made it just below his shoulder blades. And finally, the mask which he secured to his face. The mask was white, and had red-designs on it. Simple, but aesthetically sound, similar to ANBU masks, he noted. (Again, everything is on my profile, albeit some changes).
When Naruto exited the bedroom, he saw Kuruma standing in the doorway, his silhouette shadowed by the Moonlight which descended upon him. He was about the size of a horse, and all nine-tails were shown, resting on the floor.
"Are you ready?" Kuruma would ask, and Naruto nodded.
"Kneel..." Kuruma would state. Naruto followed, kneeling on one knee.
"As the village people stated, you... are the YuanHan Patriarch. The first disciple, of the YiLing Patriarch. You have succeeded his work, and now his treasures will be presented to you..." Kuruma said in a formal manner. He lifted one of his tails and used that same tail to push forward a black, leather sword in a scabbard. It was perfectly symmetrical, black, being the main color with silver accents here and there. The guard was small, and the blade, double-edged.
"This is the YiLing Patriarch's sword. When he created and named YuanHan mountain, he buried this sword at the base, in the center of the mountain. Where it absorbed the Resentful energy of the surrounding corpses for generations... now it falls to it's first, true user... You." Kuruma stated. Naruto then reached forward and gently picked it up, as if it was a fragile item. He brought his head up to look at it, silently marveling at it's beauty. But he knew that he wasn't done yet, so he put the sword down on the floor, to the right of his kneeling form. Naruto heard the sound of scraping as he looked up and saw an ornate, wooden and gold chest pushed in front of him by another one of Kuruma's tails.
"This... is the Stygian Tiger Amulet... Forged from Iron, and laid in the center of the mountain, it's an item of darkness. Full of resentful energy... use it well." Kuruma says, as Naruto opened the chest revealing a beautifully designed amulet, black in color with a small, crimson tassel hanging off of it. Nodding, he took out his flute, one of the first things he received, made of a blackened Jade and reached for the amulet. The moment his fingers made contact with the cold metal, Naruto closed his eyes as his head exploded in pain as it was barraged with the sound of a thousand, anger filled screams from people of all ages, crying out to him... But then they were all silenced when he took deep breaths and the pain went away. He then tied the amulet to the end of his Black-Jade flute.
"You are fully armed... You are now, the YuanHan Patriarch." Kuruma finished, as if it was a practiced ritual. The fox then knelt, looking at Naruto, who walked over, adjusted his mask and sat on Kuruma's back.
"We must go... There are others who need our assistance." Kuruma stated, to which Naruto nodded. He took once last look at the village he lived in for the last few years, before nodding again, and Kuruma took off and away from the village...
"Goodbye." He felt himself say.
A considerably shorter chapter as opposed to the last one, but I think this one is a bit more fleshed out than the chapter before the previous. I'm pretty satisfied with it... I hope you are as well. I'm very happy to everybody who followed the story from the beginning and everybody who is following the story now! Once again, I implore all of you to watch MoDaoZuShi (Most of the episodes are on Youtube) or The Untamed (on Netflix), in order to gain a better background.
And with that said, the winner of the Waifu vote is Ino Yamanaka! yay~
I'll be incorporating her later into the story, so don't worry.
Feel free to provide feedback and share the story with your friends, again, Flames will be ignored.
I'll see you guys in the next chapter!
Nitro 3
