It's about time I got an update out for this story, as I have been slacking on it for a while because I find it much more difficult to write than Amenaza. But, here it it, in all it's glory, so enjoy this chapter of One Twentieth of a Whole! Don't forget to review. Now, it's time for the always stimulating Q&A's!
Gen. Malaise: I never really thought that far ahead, which was a mistake on my part, but thinking about it now, it looks like it will be best to push Naruto's birth back two years. And, to tell you the truth, there won't be any main OCs in the story besides Naruto's siblings. I won't pull any bullshit such as Naruto being on a team with OCs, because I'm well aware how detrimental it can be to the quality of the story. So, most OCs will be supplementary.
Jiraiya still is Naruto's godfather; I just haven't brought it up yet because it hasn't reached a level of importance. The last thing is that I wanted Minato to have problems, but I probably took it over the top. He knows it's his fault, and some of his reason for the sealing the Kyuubi was because of the prophecy, and to lose that basically means some of his reasoning is null and void.
bakapervert: Not really.
Disclaimer: I don't have a clever way to say that I don't own Naruto!
Chapter 2: The Will of a Ninja
As soon as Naruto took that seat in the fourth row, he was immediately wishing that the clock would tick faster. Yet, much to his chagrin, the clock only seemed to move slower than ever before. It was tantamount to how much he would hate it here.
Iruka wasn't done talking just yet, and now he was going over the many rules and regulations of ninja academy, Naruto absent-mindedly noticed this, but the boy was able to shrug these off quite nicely, as if he wasn't one to be affected by such things. He didn't think he'd be getting into very much trouble at this place, anyway. Naruto lazily grabbed a stack of papers when the girl directly in front of him gestured for him to take them, and passed them back after taking one and realizing that it was a syllabus.
He gave the piece of paper a once over, taking his time and struggling greatly with many words that were too big for him. As he finished reading the syllabus, the one thing that really stood out and bothered him about the information was the pure leniency they had against fights. It said that fighting would not be condoned, but it didn't mention any punishment that would be associated with it.
It didn't state anything like this in words, but Naruto's mind was basically working out this, "You're going to be ninja, so you'll have to get used to combat." Which was partially true by the way, though the ninja academy shouldn't be condoning the use of fighting against those who will be your comrades. The ninja academy was already proving to be a rat hole, with boys that seemed to harass him every chance they got, and the lenient punishment system.
Iruka was talking again, going over something about their lesson plan for the day. They would begin with the history of Konoha, along with some basic weapon identification, and then they would break for lunch afterwards.
He slumped his head down on the desk, but couldn't do that for longer than five minutes without Iruka yelling and throwing chalk that hit him painfully in the head. Naruto would then sit back up, and much to his embarrassment, would show off his small, slightly pudgy body and a confused look on his face.
The other kids in the room would laugh uproariously at his stupidity, the boys from before having extra mocking jeers on their faces.
Iruka would shriek at him to sit up straight and listen, but Naruto couldn't sit up fully straight without having his feet dangle in mid-air, which made for a very uncomfortable positioning during the long lectures.
He ignored pretty much everything that Iruka said, avoiding punishment by sitting up and making it seem like he was actually paying attention. But, that didn't stop it from being bad. He felt the stares of those boys for every second he was in the classroom, their fierce eyes burning into his skin deeper and deeper.
After what seemed like eons, the clock finally reached the allotted time and the bell rang to confirm the class's lunch time. But... Naruto wasn't so sure he was looking forward to it. It meant that he would have to spend time with his peers, which was a thought that troubled him greatly. Before that, the authority of the sensei and the classroom had held them back, but now... they had no such restrictions.
The other students seemed to fly from their desks, eager to eat their food and talk to their friends. But, not Naruto. The small boy waited for all the other kids to file out of the class, and it wasn't until Iruka-sensei was sitting at his desk grading papers that Naruto swung his stubbly legs out of the desk and began walking awkwardly towards the door.
Iruka, who had previously so immersed in his paperwork, finally looked up when he heard the door open for one last time. The very young Chuunin put down his papers, and smiled brightly at the young Namikaze. Naruto, on the other hand, wished he could've melted away on the spot.
"Oh, Naruto, I almost didn't see you leave! Your father personally dropped by the academy earlier to drop off your paperwork. Great man, he is! The finest Hokage we've ever had, I believe. I'm sure you're excited to follow in your father's footsteps, aren't you? Though, you'll never make it unless you pay attention in class!" Iruka laughed heartily, never giving off the impression that he too had trouble in the academy.
Naruto lifted his head, but didn't turn around to face his teacher. A slight tinge of red entered the boy's cheeks. He wanted to correct his teacher's mistake, but for some reason, he couldn't.
"Yes..." muttered the boy with an air of finality, as he wandered out of the door.
At lunch, Naruto watched as the other kids sat and played amongst themselves, trading foods and laughing on the playground. He, on the other hand, sat on a small bench to the right of the main area, quietly eating his lunch.
Due to the rest of his family being ramen fanatics, it was hard to find anything that wasn't the stuff. But... he had managed to scrounge up a simple ham sandwich and an apple for his first day at the academy. He wouldn't be caught dead carrying the abomination that was ramen, as Naruto vehemently loathed that tainted substance. The taste, the texture, the smell... they all drove his crazy. He wanted to puke at the mere sight of the poison, but due to the fact that he was around it so much, he guessed he had built up a sort of immunity to it.
A small smile came onto his face as he remembered that Haruki had cried for an hour when she had spilled her ramen one day, but the memory was cut off as he saw a large (to him) shadow fully enter his vision.
Naruto looked up, a voice in his mind telling him that this wasn't going to end well. Standing directly in front of him were three boys, the same ones that whispered those insults at him during class.
Naruto folded back into the bench, trying to appear as small as possible under the sneers of the much larger boys.
The boy in the middle, who seemed to be their leader despite being the smallest, had a few choice words to say about the young Namikaze.
"Hey... you're the Namikaze kid, Hokage-sama's son, aren't you? Being from that family, I wondered what kind of super child prodigy would be joining the academy, but it turns out you're just some scrawny little kid unworthy to be a ninja!" the bully raised his fist, and brought it straight down onto Naruto's cheek.
The six-year old gasped in pain, before being hurled from the bench to on the grass. His food was ripped from his hands, and made a nice decoration all over his clothes. He reached up to his face, feeling the scuff mark that the bully's fist had created.
Naruto didn't have time to take any sort of counteraction, and he was immediately afterwards lifted from the ground by his collar, locking eye-contact with the bully and dangling almost a foot off the ground.
The bully continued.
"My dad spent his entire life working hard to become a great ninja, and you couldn't imagine how proud he was to learn that I was capable of becoming a ninja. It's a lot different from you, who is only here in the first place because your Hokage-sama's kid. A spoiled brat who doesn't deserve the Namikaze name!" the bully roared.
Naruto turned his head, trying to hide the fear in his eyes as the other two kids began cracking their knuckles threateningly.
The leader bully dropped Naruto onto the ground roughly, and began to imitate his lackeys. They hovered over Naruto like menacing giants, with an evil glint in their eyes and their fists outstretched.
Naruto attempted to shield his face with his arms, but it did next to nothing against the fierce onslaught that was to come.
"Just stay calm. Nothing happened to me during school today..." Naruto muttered to himself. The boy managed to avoid a severe beatdown, but couldn't avoid numerous bruises, as well as a few cuts on the face and a swollen lip.
He was currently standing outside his house, the Namikaze compound, considering his father refused to live in the Hokage mansion. Regardless, the building was still one of the biggest buildings in the village, dwarfed only by the Hokage mansion and the Hyuuga compound. Naruto especially thought it was a bit overkill, since only four people, not including their ANBU guards lived in the estate.
Speaking of which, there were two of them right now outside the entrance, their masks not giving away their true feelings. He didn't know if they had noticed him yet, but if they did, they didn't seem to mind that he was doing nothing more than linger outside the entrance to his house.
The six-year old straightened his posture so it didn't look like he was hunched over in pain. He smiled a wide grin, one that looked so out of place, yet it hid his injured lip from view. He walked through the strong wrought iron gate to the main complex. As he approached, the ANBU guards that were stationed there bowed to him. Naruto highly doubted they actually held that level of respect for him.
He entered the doorway, and the first thing that struck him was the lack of noise. Usually, this was a bustling home, with sounds and voices all mixed together. Sure, his father would surely still be at his office doing the always dreaded paperwork, but his mother should've at least been home.
The small boy entered the main living room, and noticed the extra ANBU guards all over the grounds outside of the house. But... his mother, and the usual servants were no where to be seen. He supposed the servants had retreated to their section of the compound for now, but where was his mother?
He stared off into space, not knowing what to think, that he didn't even notice a strange-shaped object heading straight towards him.
The thing smacked him on the face, eliciting a high-pitched grunting noise from Naruto's mouth. The object fell towards the ground immediately, and Naruto reached down to pick it up.
It was a large teddy bear, worn a little with age but not old enough to be considered an antique.
"Ha Ha Ha! I gotcha, Onii-chan!"
Naruto recognized the voice immediately, placing down the teddy bear to look at his sister. Namikaze Haruki was a spritely young girl, always happy and eager to do her best in the world of ninja that their parents were exposing her to. Her blonde hair was out of its usual ponytail, hanging loose past her shoulders. She wore a loose fitting white shirt and a small blouse, similar to her mother's clothes when she was younger. This was proof that she would be training today, as on days off she usually wore dresses. Whereas Naruto was small and scrawny, Haruki had a more healthy body and complexion. Her skin was a healthy tan, and despite being barefoot, she already stood just as tall as Naruto.
Naruto grinned weakly; that would explain the extra ANBU guards stationed all over the place.
Haruki's grin turned into a frown as she saw her brother's forced smile.
"Are you okay, Onii-chan?" she asked.
Naruto's grin flattened slightly, as he saw the worrid look on Haruki's face. She knew something was wrong with him, and he didn't want to come off as even weaker.
"I-I'm fine, Haruki-chan," the boy stuttered, pleading to whatever Gods there were that his spacy sister would believe it.
The girl put her hand on her chin, making a loud humming noise while appearing to be deep in thought. After a few seconds, his contagious smile was back on her face.
"Okay!" she chirped, before the little girl bounded off towards the center of the living room to play with her toys. Naruto sighed in relief; it was already humiliating enough that his younger sister was already the same size as he was, but he didn't need to give off the impression that he was weaker than her too.
The quiet boy went into their large kitchen and shut the door behind himself, blocking both the sight and sounds of Haruki. He took a seat at the counter and laid down his head on the cold, marble table. He bit his lip; what was he doing? A thick bubble of shame arose within his stomach. Shame for his fear, fear for the ninja world when his sister stood against the deadly occupation, eager to train and learn. Shame for his body... which was so small and weak it didn't even belong on a four year old...
He didn't deserve to be born into this family, and that realization all came crashing down on him at once. If he couldn't even handle the ninja academy, he had no right to even become a ninja. He didn't have the will...
The boy didn't even flinch for over an hour; he had decided he would do nothing more than quietly wait for one of his parents to get home...
The boy finally lifted his head up as he heard the slamming of the front door, followed by loud and hearty laughter by two individuals. He also heard Haruki shriek in joy, knocking something over before thundering over to where the laughter was.
He meekly opened the kitchen door and stepped out into the open, where he was greeted by the sight of his parents. His father, still wearing his patented Hokage robe, was holding up his mother bridal-style, with both of them having huge grins on their faces.
Their grins widened when Haruki ran up to hug Minato around the stomach, and widened even further when Naruto stepped out of the kitchen. The husband and wife pair kissed each other, before Minato finally let Kushina down onto the floor.
Haruki was confused at this odd behavior, after showing her distaste for the kiss, of course. Usually, her mommy and daddy would come home separately, or if they did come home together, her daddy wouldn't be carrying her mommy.
Kushina walked over to the main part of the living room, decided to rest her tired body on one of the couches. Minato smiled softly, beckoning for both Naruto and Haruki to come sit with them.
Haruki rushed over to sit on the couch, leaning against her mother as she sat. Minato kept the grin on his face, watching as his wife stroked her long, blonde hair. Haruki closed her eyes, her breathing slowing to a rhythmic beat. He then looked over at his son, who had slowly walked right past him to sit adjacent to Kushina.
Minato looked at the rest of his family, and closed his eyes softly, making his way over to where the rest of his family was sitting. He stopped at the foot of the couch, and then wrapped his arm around Kushina.
"Naruto... Haruki... your mother and I have a very important announcement to make..." he muttered lowly, and Kushina smiled at him as he did. She lifted her hands off of the now paying attention Haruki, and placed them on top of Minato's hands.
"Yes..." she said softly. "It turns out that we're going to have another baby... You two are going to have a little brother or sister..."
Dead silence rang throughout the room, and both Naruto and Haruki looked gobsmacked at the revelation. Naruto slid down the couch, breathing heavily and his eyes wide in shock. Haruki retained that dumbfounded look on her face, before a wide, wide grin split onto her face, and she squealed to the heavens in glee.
She crawled onto her mother's lap before the woman could even react, getting right in her face with numerous questions.
"Mommy! Mommy! Is it true? I'm gonna have a little brother or sister? When are they coming? Is it in your tummy right now? Can I feel it?" she asked rapidly, next to no pause appearing in her massive amount of questions.
Kushina laughed.
"Yes, dear, he's in my tummy right now, and he should appear in about eight months or so." she answered, and Haruki whined in disappointment. Kushina laughed again.
"You'll just have to be patient, honey. It takes a while for a baby to be delivered. But, enough about that. You know what time it is; it's time for mommy and daddy to take you outside to train!" Kushina said, bracing herself for the oncoming "Yay!".
"Yay! Training! Training!" True to Kushina's thoughts, the girl immediately brightened up at the prospect of training, immediately running over to the back door that led to the personal Namikaze training grounds.
Minato and Kushina laughed and kissed, before following their daughter arm-in-arm outside.
Before they exited, Minato turned around one last time to talk to Naruto.
"Naruto... always remember that you have the same training options as Haruki does, and we'll gladly give you those. We can start right now if you want..." Minato said, his voice significantly more subdued.
But, Naruto merely thrust his head into the couch and said nothing, wanting to appear as small as possible.
Minato and Kushina frowned, and Kushina whispered something to her husband as they walked outside.
Naruto heard his mother say one last thing before they fully disappeared.
"Alright Naruto, make sure you run upstairs and do your homework! We'll be back inside before dinner. I'm making ramen tonight!" she added as an afterthought.
Naruto gagged a little.
Naruto had dragged himself off to his room a little later, wanting to avoid the intense sounds of cheering that were coming from outside. He threw his backpack over to the side as soon as he entered his room and, to his great annoyance, he could see his sister and parents going over a whole bunch of taijutsu stances through the window. To his ire, she got them almost immediately, earning infernal applause from his parents.
He slumped down on his bed; he didn't know why he was thinking that way about his sister. It wasn't her fault that he was afraid of being a ninja, but the whole thing was just plain infuriating to live through.
He arose from his bed after a couple minutes, deciding to go into the house's study to avoid dwelling on this too much. He picked up his homework, some continuation of the basic weapon identification they had gone over this morning. He didn't quite understand it, and Naruto figured that there would be valuable information on it in the study. He grabbed his utensils and paper, and headed out down the hallway, apologizing as he accidentally bumped into one of the maids.
The study was at the very end of the mansion, past his parent's bedroom. It was a comforting room, with its rustic wooden floors and walls. Numerous shelves held many books on almost every subject imaginable, a direct result of his father being the most powerful man in the village.
He heard one last shriek from Haruki, before he shut the door behind him and blocked out all noise. His brain was throbbing from all the stress, and he didn't want to have anymore issues to deal with.
"Easy Naruto. This is the study, it's quiet and away from any problems. I can take my time in here and calm myself slowly. Just find a book on ninja weapons and I can get this over with already." he thought.
He placed his materials down on his father's study desk, and began browsing through the wide variety of books available on the shelves. He shuffled through a book on Katon jutsu, before he finally found a book similar to what he was looking for.
But... the book next to it is what dragged his attention from it.
It was a gold-bound tome, complete with ornate writing and design. It fell greatly out of place with the rest of the books in there, with their simple design and worn out covering. But, this one, it looked very old, but seemed to carry its age well.
He traced his finger across the gold title along the spine of the book, feeling a sort of connection with the words.
"The Nine Bijuu... " he sounded out the title, and it felt smooth and right coming out of his mouth. He looked around to see whether anyone was watching, before greedily snatched the book from his case and hurrying back to the desk.
He slammed the book down on the wood, and it practically seemed to open by itself. It landed directly on the introduction, and despite his eagerness to read it, Naruto hesitated. He didn't know why, but this book gave off a bad vibe. Like the information held within this tome was something he didn't want to know.
Nevertheless, curiosity stained Naruto's conscience long enough, and as soon as he read the first word, the small boy couldn't stop. He read through the words at a slow rate, morbidly fascinated by the beings described in these pages.
And, as soon as he finished the introduction and flipped the page, he was greeting to a fairly lifelike drawing of a large, distended yellow tanuki, ugly, blue veins coursing through the creature's entire body. It was drawn standing in a forest, its wide mouth opened in an expression of drunken glee. Several trees were being crushed underneath the creature's massive body weight. There was a caption with a title at the bottom of the page, one that read "Ichibi".
And so, Naruto read about the Ichibi, the Nibi, the Sanbi, the Yonbi, and he was halfway through reading about the Gobi when his mother called him for dinner.
After a long, unpleasant dinner, Naruto was back in his room, reading the precious material that seemed to captivate him. He read the through the rest of the Gobi section, then about the Rokubi, Nanabi, and Hachibi. But... as he came across the picture of the last Bijuu, the great fox Kyuubi, he froze. He dropped the book on the floor, it's page being strewn in the wind. He clutched his head in agony, whimpering slightly as all the repressed memories came swarming back to him.
There was barely anything that Naruto had remembered at that fateful night, yet he remained traumatized over the years. All he remembered... was an orange-masked man... and nine long swishing tendrils.
But now... that terrible picture, of the evil nine-tailed fox, made him remember more. More specifically, the fox itself. He remembered it, in all its fearsome glory, outside the village of his home. Its devastating attacks ripped through everything in sight. He remembered hiding behind his mother, as his father rushed to engage the beast in mortal combat. He remembered the fear he had felt that time. All of it.
Naruto gave a big lurch, and fell onto the ground with an loud thud, as all the horrible memories came back to him at once. He had landed next to the book, and Naruto's mind screamed at him not to read anymore. But... despite all his reluctance, the boy couldn't keep away.
He read through all of the Kyuubi section, becoming more and more horrified with every passing word. This was the beast that was considering a natural disaster, one that no mortal man could defeat.
He turned the last page to the Kyuubi section, breathing heavily but still noticing that there was more. The epilogue section covered some more minor details, and as soon as Naruto closed the book, he felt sick to his stomach.
He struggled to his feet, looking out the window as he placed the book on his bed. There was a full moon out tonight, and the book mentioned something about the Ichibi being the most active during it.
"If there are things like that out there in the world, then I definitely don't want to become a ninja..." Naruto whispered to himself. There was more to the book that had bothered him than the Kyuubi. The fact that the epilogue had mentioned that these beings were often sealed into humans, that could use their power. These humans, that always became ninja, were called "Jinchuuriki". And the second thing, the epilogue had also made mention of a "Juubi", but beyond that single word, there had not been a shred of information about what that was.
Naruto weakly picked up the golden book, deciding to bring it back to the study. It was late, and Naruto would dwell on what this meant for him in the morning. Apparently, the ninja world was a lot deeper than he gave it credit for. The thought was scary.
Naruto crept out into the dark hallway, looking for any signs of a person. He sighed in relief; the servants as well as Haruki had already gone to bed, and the only light came from a cracked door near the end of the large house.
That was his parent's room.
He crept over the entrance of the study, which was in fact right next to his parent's room. He knew they could sense a "Chakra Signature" or something, but he prayed that they weren't able to now.
He waited outside the door for a while, knowing that if he turned the knob to the study door, then he would be giving himself away to highly capable ninja like them. Fifteen minutes, and his parents still hadn't gone to bed.
He rested his head in his lap, but shook awake when he heard his father mutter something.
He strained his ears to hear, and was able to pick up on what his father was saying. But, he wasn't sure he wanted to.
"-Don't know what we're going to do with him. He doesn't even want to be a ninja..." Naruto heard, and he already knew they were talking about him.
"I don't know if he's even capable of even becoming one... His chakra reserves are small, and the only thing that will make him a capable ninja is will, which is something that he clearly lacks..." That was his mother talking.
"Let's just hope the new baby takes more after Haruki. As much as we love him, Naruto's attitude and appearance isn't very well liked outside the family. People seem to think he's disgracing the Namikaze family... ever since it got out that he's afraid of being a ninja..." he heard Kushina agree with him after that.
Naruto almost stopped breathing after hearing that. He knew that his reputation around the village wasn't golden, but he didn't think that would rub off his family.
"So... my family... they're being disgraced because of me... " Naruto wasn't entirely shocked at this news; after all, that boy who had beat him today surely seemed to think that was the case. But... for it to be extended throughout a large portion of the village.
Naruto bit his lip... he didn't want his family to suffer because of his fear. That was low. He would definitely become a ninja, no matter how much he didn't want to. He did have the will to make it so his family's name isn't tarnished. He wasn't weak anymore... and he wasn't about to let his traumitization take over his entire life.
He would become a ninja. Though... Naruto wouldn't know until later how hard it really was to suppress one's true feelings.
"I don't think it really matters that much. Haruki is going to be the heiress of both the Namikaze family and Uzumaki clan no matter what. After all, she is a Jinchuuriki, and she is taking after me in carrying the Kyuubi. Not to mention all that stuff you believe about the prophecy."
Naruto slapped his hand over his mouth, in order to prevent himself from gasping.
Haruki was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. What's more, his mother was the previous Jinchuuriki of it! What the hell?
Minato seemed to agree with him, sealing the finality of the statement. His sister was the Jinchuuriki of the fox, and she was destined to become the heiress of the two clans. No matter what he did, that fact would never change.
The lights finally turned off, signifying that his parents had gone to sleep. But, Naruto stood sat there stock-still, trying to digest the new information that had just been given to him.
Woot! Chapter 3 done! I hope you all enjoyed the latest chapter to One Twentieth of a Whole.
Please Review!
Happy trails,
Alban55