Stave 2
The Fugitive / Naruto's Past
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Previously…
Naruto, without a given family name, was held captive at a Correctional Facility in the Land of Fire. He was only trying to do his good deeds for his closest friends when his house in the apartments caught fire which was a trap set by the crooked and blind villagers and the other Konoha Ninja. Itachi helped give the means of escaping from the prison and with his Fuinjutsu, Naruto has just escaped.
And now…
-PC-
The alarms and klaxons of the Prison went off just Naruto stealthily managed to escape, knocking out the guards without killing them and hid their unconscious bodies in the shadows. He "borrowed" some supplies from the confiscation room and used a grappling hook to climb over the walls and escaped into the forests in the Land of Fire.
-PC-
Meanwhile, Itachi, carrying the still injured Hinata, got word from his crows that Naruto has made his move. Anko worries that Naruto (who happened to take him as her apprentice after Kakashi deliberately left his former student for the upcoming Winter Chunin Exams after Naruto passed the preliminaries) is likely planning to do something reckless to prove his innocence.
"The brat is such a pain at times," she said, "But I don't blame him after all those years of those morons putting him down. He couldn't make any new friends besides me, Itachi, and Hinata-chan."
"Tsunadé-sama and I were the other two that Naruto seemed to trust after he saved us from Orochimaru and Kabuto," Shizuné mentioned.
"That old monkey and the councilmen are being corruptible by embezzling our village funds," Tsunadé said as she revealed the village's true motives, "And they'll surely try to kill Naruto just so that they get his family's hidden treasures. No doubt that Danzo and the Elder Council are the back of all this. And if they reach the Daimyo first and convince him to their cause, we'll be in deep trouble and the Will of Fire will be nothing more than the Flames of Destruction."
Hinata is saddened that her boyfriend is caught in the middle of a terrible crisis and that made her fear more than her father and her clan.
Occasionally, the group stopped to rest as they recalled the times when Naruto had been living in hard luck and hard times.
-PC-
Let us turn back the clock a few years.
Itachi (11) and Anko (13) remembered they saw Naruto (no last name) when he was a young boy living in the streets, searching for some sustenance and something to wear after he was kicked out of the orphanage by the matrons. They helped Naruto live in the apartments near the Forest of Death until he decided to find a place of his own. They even helped the poor boy learn to trust very carefully, because in the world of Ninjas, "trust" is a very hard thing to build and is very easy to tear down. Itachi taught Naruto how to read and write as well as teaching him the basics of Fuinjutsu (to which he picked up really easily), and how to do techniques with lockpicks and screwdrivers.
Anko did her part with Naruto on how to cook, appreciate one's cooking, how to learn forestry and understand about anything good and bad on which flora and fauna after the shoppers refused the boy any business, and how to handle the torture against the T&I during interrogators.
Both people also trained Naruto how to do the art of self-defense with bare hands, weapon tactics, and the best part: setting various traps for hunting prey or capturing unwary in inquisitive ninja.
-PC-
Later, while hunting for some wild game and giant leeks, Naruto stumbled onto a hidden base where he found some important tools and some ideas and hypotheses about what to do with what and human experimentations that Naruto read turned out to be very dubious with the results.
So he told Itachi and Anko about the discovery and they were surprised that a 5-year old found one of Orochimaru's hidden bases. They removed the dead bodies and hazardous materials so that Naruto wouldn't worry about being homeless and losing his supplies to the idiotic snoopers.
And in that very base is where he found some furniture to have his own living space and some rooms where there are tools to plant and farm crops with the use of artificial sunlight made by special types of UV bulbs and lamps and have made composts with the harvested husks from fruits, vegetables, or plant material into mulch before starting his crops all over again. The older ninja noticed that Naruto is much healthier than the other children his age. They fumed themselves in a terrible jealousy.
-PC-
Later, Naruto heard some news about the ambassadors from Kumogakure wanting to speak to the Hyuga clan during Peacetime, which turned out to be a big farce as they kidnapped little Hinata (3) under the cover of night. So he set some non-lethal traps to trip the kidnappers and drop the bag containing Hinata and she let out a cry loud enough for any wary Konoha nin to hear, and Itachi and Anko captured the kidnappers red-handed as Hinata (who was wearing nothing but training pants at the time and her robe was stripped off) hugged the first person, that is Naruto, and the boy calmed the girl's fears and kept her warm.
Since then, Naruto and Hinata became close friends, and the kidnappers were sent to Anko to make them loosen their tongue for their real motives. They were forcibly sent back to Kumo, completely stripped of their belongings, and carted away by the wagons, with their hands and ankles tied with special rope.
Naruto also learned about why there is a thing called "Peacetime" - the time where all wars must be in a temporary ceasefire; "All Souls Day" (Day 4), where the people must honor the fallen soldiers and comrades in battle; "The Day of Giving" (Day 6), where the legend is told of the Sages giving out presents to the people who are nice and the naughty children were left with coal and matchsticks just to keep the fires warm, no presents; and lastly the final day - New Year's Day (Day 10) where people celebrate the new year with a bang, but the day after is where they must leave for the Winter Chunin Exams or resuming their battles during wartime standards.
(During the stay at the orphanage, Naruto only got the latter and he didn't do anything intentionally wrong. The coal is the only thing that he has for drawing on paper. Still, he gives his presents to his friends, however few they are.)
But when came the time for the academy, the teachers did close to nothing to help with Naruto's education, showing favoritism to certain students and leaving others in utter confusion, and most of the other students were told by their parents to stay away from him because of the fear of this 「Law」enacted by the Hokagé and the Councilmen, and Naruto didn't know what this 「Law」is really about, and the clergy didn't let Naruto gain entry whatsoever.
Not to mention, the teachers deliberately failed Naruto twice, all because of his sudden absenteeism before the tests and leaving out any other things into consideration.
(Actually, Naruto was delayed by the stark raving mad villagers who wanted him severely injured or intentionally killed just to "honor" the 4th Hokagé's wish, and poor Naruto couldn't make it to the academy on time.)
And when Naruto "failed" the Pre-Genin test the third time, the teachers, including Iruka Umino demanded that their failed student to be rejected and be sent to a different academy as a civilian, leaving the unfortunate boy very much vulnerable to the outside forces, and that's when Mizuki begin to show his true colors by giving Naruto a "make-up test", which in actuality, he gets to kill two birds with one kunai; particularly the ridding of the abhorrence. (Gryyyck!)
Itachi told Naruto to go along with the ruse and find more techniques that the academy never taught him in the first place, including the problem to his [Clone Art]. And the boy succeeded by bypassing the area, due to the lax security, and found the target site to buy him time to read the contents, including the [Multi-Shadow Double Art]. Naruto even found hidden letters addressed to him by the 4th Hokagé and his wife, but had to hide the letters for later.
Unfortunately, about an hour into the reading with his Doubles, Naruto sensed someone rapidly approaching, but it's not Mizuki. It was Iruka, who is under the mistaken impression that the failed student has gone too far, as he found Naruto first.
The Chunin scolds the boy because he's presumed that Naruto is the big troublemaker, But Naruto tries to tell Iruka that he was blowing his cover while trying to catch the real culprit, but Iruka didn't believe him; not a single word of Naruto's seemed to get through to him.
But just as he was about to drag the "culprit" away, Iruka was struck from behind with a giant shuriken thrown by none other than Mizuki, killing him instantly.
Mizuki, a disgruntled Chunin, found what he was looking for: a stooge to get the Forbidden Scroll, a better employer, and find a better place for himself and his fiancée (but mostly for himself, the selfish bum). Killing Iruka is a given bonus.
Naruto became very angry that Mizuki used him just to get a spot for Orochimaru's cause and get a better pay raise. But the real problem is that Mizuki revealed a forbidden secret and it's: Naruto is the son of 「worthless」 parents. Those words cut and chill Naruto to the bone. He doesn't know what happened to his parents ever since the day he was born. That distraction is enough opportunity for Mizuki to eliminate Naruto with his Shuriken, but then, Naruto unleashes his traps: a falling vase covering Mizuki's head upon landing. Mizuki couldn't get his head out of the pot as he tried to remove it before Naruto triggered the second trap, a floor trap that popped up with a giant spring, sending Mizuki flying towards the third trap: the [Hammer Log] Pendulum Trap, as he and the log swung away until they get slammed into a tree, greatly injuring him.
Mizuki ranted to Naruto that he can't get away with this atrocity, but unfortunately, the nameless boy did get away with it by means of Itachi putting the traitorous Mizuki out of his misery.
The traitor's head is worth vital information for Inoichi to pry with his Mindbending Arts as Anko follows close behind and notices the traps disappearing as she sees Naruto crying, asking them about his parents; whether they're alive or otherwise.
The two older members told their close friend that his parents were valiant heroes that protected the village after a madman in an orange mask attacked on the day he was born. They fought to the bitter end to stop the madman and his army of rogue-nin. The people blindly blamed the child for letting this misfortune happen to their village.
Naruto understood the truth about why he was treated like a Cinderella boy. And that was when he remembered the stowed letters that he stashed. Itachi suggested Naruto send the letters back to the hidden base until the people and the Hokagé learn the truth. Then he'll go back to return back to the Hokagé building together with him and Anko.
So Naruto summoned a double to take the letters to the base, but told him to look sharp for any snoopers that want to send out more false information and rumors toward the public. The double obeyed and took a different scenic route.
-PC-
Hiruzen is indignant at Naruto for stealing the Forbidden Scroll just to prove that he's ready to tackle the Ninja life. But Itachi and Anko objected and said that Naruto is more than qualified to handle what it takes as a Genin, no thanks to the academy's dumb ideas for sabotaging their students, the people injuring the boy enough for absenteeism, and Mizuki and Iruka are through doing their parts with their Hokagé's dirty work. The proof was from the memories of the deceased teachers' heads.
This puts Hiruzen in a compromise: Naruto is almost 16 and he's 2 years overdue than an average Genin was ought to be and he still despises Naruto for the death of his departed wife (he thinks). So he decided to give the boy the Iron Headband on one condition: that he must pass the True Genin test to see if he can get along with Itachi's younger brother Sasuke (the so-called top-ranked of his class) and Sakura Haruno (the so-called smartest kunoichi of her generation).
But Naruto complained that those two lamebrains are disgraces to the Ninja Academy because, personally, Sasuke still hates his brother for his achievements accomplished at his age and with Sakura and most of the other kunoichi (except Hinata) are being such mediocrities just to attract Sasuke. That, and both of his "partners" still hate Naruto for 「what」he is. (He would rather partner with Hinata and one other person that can learn to trust him.)
But Hiruzen refused and was ordered to wait until the following weekday for their assigned Jonin sensei (who turned out to be Kakashi Hatake, Konoha's № 1 bottleneck in Itachi and Anko's book). Naruto is forced to take the compromise, but he still wouldn't be able to like it.
-PC-
For the next few months or so, Naruto was able to pass with his partners, but more often than not, he ended up "getting the brush" during the main test and their D-ranked missions, taking him for granted for his efforts. And whenever they tried to have a chance for a C-ranked mission, the Hokagé said NO to the requests. But Naruto noticed that he and his partners have done as many D-Ranks as possible, and he demanded, "What's the point of not doing higher ranked missions if we keep doing "chores"? We're supposed to be Ninja, not civil workers and caretakers cleaning up after others all the time!"
Hiruzen is beginning to regret having Naruto "wanting" things, but the boy's right. The law stated that if the newly developed team is willing to handle C-Rank missions after they have to complete the required number of D-Ranks, to which they have more than enough. So the Hokagé gave in and gave Team Kakashi a mission.
And after a few weeks, they returned and completed the C-Rank. However, Kakashi deliberately left out a lot of details about what really happened during the mission details and blamed Naruto for his "shortcomings". So Hiruzen bought the Jonin's fabrications that he and the other Genin had done all the work and docked Naruto's pay grade, leaving him with little pay. Even when he cashed his check from the payroll office, the clerks dishonestly cut Naruto's pay even further, due to "Abhorrent Taxes".
What was Naruto's response, along with Itachi and Anko's? The three of them gave the fraudulent idiots a good beating and angrily left the office. (The clerks were given big black eyes each.)
Later, after the Summer Chunin Exams, of which the proctors prejudicially kicked Naruto out and promoting a different student, Hiruzen request the downhearted Genin another chance by finding Tsunadé to help with the hospital's assistance for the injured, due to Orochimaru's intrusion along with Suna, Kusa, and Kumo's involvement with the invasion. Naruto was to be escorted by Jiraiya, Sannin and Toad Sage. But the Sannin is a real procrastinator when he is gawking at the other beautiful, younger women, and Naruto is worried that this lecher is eyeing Hinata who is prettier, diligent, and kinder than those shriveled pieces of shoe leather for kunoichi of Konoha.
So the boy with no surname had to use some traps and his Doubles to convince the sage to get moving and to find Tsunadé sooner. Along the way, Naruto found clues to the person's whereabouts and it led them to a place known as Tanzaku-gai (Poem Card Town) where she and her assistant Shizuné started to like the boy after he was left alone to his vices, albeit an ugly start.
While having a lunch conversation, Naruto told Shizuné about his troubles with her while Tsunadé is alone with Jiraiya. She listened to what the young man had been through unfairly and he had to live with it.
Shizuné said that her teacher was forced to leave Konohagakure for a time, not knowing of Naruto's status and well-being. She relates her sympathies to Naruto because she lost her uncle Dan, who is actually Tsunadé's fiancé before he got killed at the wrong place at the wrong time during the 2nd War, and Tsunadé swore to sue Hiruzen for allowing such dangerous tactics, leaving Dan and the other soldiers to their untimely, yet intentional deaths. But the Hokagé and the Councilmen banished her and Shizuné for a set time until she had learned her lesson, Hiruzen's words.
After some training and convincing, Naruto eventually brought Tsunadé and Shizuné back to Konohagakure safe and sound, with some interruptions along the way, courtesy of Orochimaru, Kabuto Yakushi (the vile traitor), and some Sound Nin. But when Naruto asked him for his end of the deal, Hiruzen gave him nothing: no chance of a field promotion whatsoever, due to Jiraiya's lies, as well as not earning a single ryo for his efforts.
Naruto's response to the old Hokagé was, "I've been cheated, dattébayo! For years, I wanted to be of service to you, slaving over hot stoves, and what thanks do I get? You all are acting like you're wishing me that I were dead to you and your miserable village! So here are my demands: I want to sign the W-32N papers to find me some jobs outside of the village representing Konohagakure and that I want to see Hinata-chan, no "ifs" "ands" or "buts". She was injured not only from her cousin Neji, but also by her entire clan, darn it! I don't want to see her get branded for doing her efforts in the exam."
At first, the Hokagé and the Councilmen were about to reject the nobody's demands, but Tsunadé convinced them to reconsider because the young man suffered far too much, and Naruto has the rights to do so, since the W-32N (32N spells as "San-ni-n") was established when she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were given those said rights after the 2nd War. Also, Hinata is Naruto's closest friend because he has no other friends that care about him, other than Itachi and Anko.
So Hiruzen gave Naruto a pen and the W-32N papers as the young man double-checked the typed papers to see if anything's out of place and signed the X on the line.
After that, the W-32N papers were notarized and Naruto was given Sannin rights to help with his training and his chance to help Hinata with her injuries. Tsunadé and Shizuné joined Naruto because they knew how close the Hyuga girl was to him.
However, along the way, the Hyuga clan tried to impede the trio's progress, telling them to leave immediately. Naruto's answer: a left cross to the jaw of one clan member, sending him flying and crashing out of the window. The other members charged at Naruto for his insolence, but he, along with Tsunadé stopped them as they entered Hinata's room where they discovered that the Hyuga Medics were planning to poison Hinata; the latter were caught with their plans down and were immediately subdued.
Itachi and his team of ANBU arrived and arrested the clan members for their crimes against their fellow citizens and clan members. The ringleader later confessed that it was Hiashi and the Hyuga elders' idea to finish off Hinata just like they did to her mother and they'll probably do the same to her little sister, Hanabi.
A little bit of "persuasion" from Anko and the clan members was carted off to jail, but Hiruzen allowed parole or shorter sentences, much to her and Naruto's dismay.
-PC-
[Back to the Present Time]
The party of 4 and a pig just finished with their camp. Tsunadé and Shizuné checked on Hinata's injuries and the young Hyuga's leg is healing along very nicely. By tomorrow, Hinata will be able to walk before considering some rigorous exercises. But time is not on their side when they have a meeting to attend at the Daimyo's court.
Anko noticed that some of the ANBU are coming towards them. There were about 5 of them as the leader of the group declared, "Tsunadé Senju, Shizuné Kato, Itachi Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga, in the name of Danzo Shimura, the 5th Hokagé, you all are under arrest for desertion. Come away with us peacefully."
They were not regular ANBU from Konoha, they were from the ROOT Foundation, Danzo's goons. They realized that Hiruzen must have some means to let his former comrade-at-arms, that is Danzo, to take over the Village through most likely foul intentions.
"And if we refuse?" Tsunadé asked, knowing about the consequences.
"Then die," the ROOT answered, but he and his posse were surprised by Itachi's flash bomb. He decided to hold the enemy off until his friends made it there. And Anko helped carry the limping Hinata as they, Shizuné, and Tsunadé made their escape.
-PC-
Meanwhile, Naruto is taking a different route through the forests to avoid the Village that had threatened him. Unfortunately, he was encountered by Team Asuma (Asuma, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji) who were in his path, blocking him.
"I don't have time for this," Naruto said to them, "And don't think for once that you have forgotten the way all of you treat me like I wasn't invited to your little games."
He still remembered the times when they had done him wrong many times before; Ino stole Naruto's rent money for her shopping, Shikamaru falsely accused Naruto for stealing his family's prized deer and venison, Choji for stealing Naruto's lunch to keep his appetite down, and Asuma Sarutobi for making Naruto his "training dummy" during his angry drunken impulses with his trench kunai (kunai combined with knuckle dusters), injuring the boy.
"Naruto, you must surrender," Asuma warned, "The Councilmen has placed a bounty on your head for your escape."
"We're sorry to have done this to you," Ino tried to make her "friend" listen to reason, "Daddy grounded me because I stole your hard-earned money just so I can get some new clothes."
"My mother gave me a good scolding because she gave you some of her venison when you were hungry," Shikamaru said.
"My parents weren't very happy that I took your lunches, just because they're all fruits and vegetables," Choji added.
"It was my mistake on my part, too," Asuma said.
"And I suppose that you would expect me to forgive you, in this time of unsettling peace?" Naruto questioned their motives, "I've been framed by the likes of you just because somebody burned my house down, along with Hinata-chan and the other residents trapped inside and you downright insulted and assaulted me. Now you begged me for forgiveness?"
He knows a trap when he sees one when Shikamaru uses his [Shadow Possession Art] to ensnare Naruto with his shadow, but Naruto jumped to a different tree and its shadow, where Choji was hiding and uses his [Expansion Art] to extend his arms and Ino uses her [Mind Possession Art] to pry into Naruto's mind, but something is amiss! Ino is looking into Choji's memories, not Naruto's. Naruto was actually a double that poofed itself out and the original knocked the Ino-Shika-Cho members, making them kiss the dirt.
Asuma tries to sense Naruto and slices some trees with his Wind Slash from his Chakra and kunai, but the attacks missed their mark. That was when Naruto uses his trap ability: by activating the [Hotplate Mine] Trap that Asuma just stepped on, giving him the "hot foot" and then the mine exploded, sending the Jonin flying forward rather highly right into a tree and fell right on top of a big branch from a nearby tree, hitting him in the sweet spot before he hit the ground. (Ohhh~!)
Naruto swiped Asuma's dropped trench knives and other supplies and said, "Stay out of my way. Forgiveness can wait."
And Naruto escaped by means of his Chakra Chains and swung away, leaving his foes in a daze.
And when Team Asuma tried to get up, they stepped on one more set of traps of their own. They stepped on Naruto's [Changing Room] Trap, forcing them to lose their clothing from this humiliating prank. Ino shrieked in utter embarrassment that her top, skirt, and wraps disappeared, leaving her in a red and white dress, while the other men were wearing festive costumes.
"Curse you, Naruto!" Ino yelled while hiding her red skirt as she felt a draft.
"What a drag!" Shikamaru complained, dressed in a reindeer suit and had a red clown nose on his face.
"That Naruto sure knows how to hurt a guy!" Choji said, wearing the red suit and hat.
"At least, we won't have far to crawl," Asuma said to his students while sporting a white beard and robes, "Let's go back to the village and get redressed before we resume the pursuit. Naruto has got to be stopped."
And the team retreated to rethink their strategy.
-PC-
[Elsewhere, in the Shadows]
A clan of people from an unknown location is watching the situation as it unfolds.
"This young man must have gotten Kushina's pranking abilities and her hidden traps."
"He even invented some new tricks up his sleeves."
"Should we tell those idiots and the poor boy the truth?"
"Let them have their fun. We'll know when the time comes for Konoha and the whole world to have peace on this planet once and for all."
"Hear! Hear!"
"Good. As successors of the Sage of 6 Paths, we must prepare for war to protect that peace and put the successors of the Sage of Reincarnation, our sister tribe, and those crazy idjits in their places! All in favor, say yea (aye)."
"Yea!"
"Oppose?"
Nobody disagreed.
"Good. Motion carried."
The mysterious crowd cheered as they prepared to go meet with the Daimyo.
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To be continued…==»
»-Line Break-«
A/N: This section mentioned much of Naruto's past, and to him, it was unfair. It may be a different calibre as Scrooge's or even the Grinch's. It pretty much sums it up to how in this version played for him. The mysterious group in this scenario will play a role in this story, and the clue is that it's not Danzo's affiliates, Orochimaru's gangsters, Konoha's secret society, or even the Akatsuki (minus a few members). The group is actually from a civilization thought to have been destroyed during the 2nd War, but we'll see them a little later.
The traps Naruto used are based on Koei Tecmo's "Deception" series, with some storage seals tinkered until they were activated. Don't worry, though. He has them arranged to "Humiliating" and "Elaborate", but not too deadly. He wanted to see his victims feel utterly ridiculous and revolting.
And the heat will be on!
-blukmage19