DISCLAIMER : I do not own Naruto. All the characters were created by Masashi Kishimoto.
Whoa, I'm doing a speed update right now! Didn't expect to publish another chapter this soon. Oh well, I really had nothing to do today. Here's a little back story on Naruto.. Enjoy!
Chapter 4 : A Fragment of Memory
Naruto slumped at his couch while staring blankly at the TV. Three empty ramen cups were in front of him, some of the broth and noodles were spilled on the table. The blonde switched the cannel again, but nothing seemed good enough. He was still thinking about Sasuke. It was already Sunday, so it was two days after the kiss. And he still didn't have the balls to call Sasuke to apologise or something.
He turned on his air conditioning, because the heat was getting into him. He took a look of his small studio apartment. His bedroom was at the back of the room, with an ugly green blanket and orange sheets and a wardrobe next to it. Across his bed was the bathroom, with only a small shower inside. He had an ancient TV in his living room with a bland looking couch. His kitchen was small as well. Oh well, he already saved up to move somewhere else, and with the pay check later, he could move to a more spacious place.
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The blonde opened his wardrobe and crouched so he can reach the safe deposit box. After entering the numbers, he took out the item inside and placed it on his kitchen table. Even though it was super heavy, he always treasured this thing. It was the only item he had as a memory of his parents that he never met. His godfather, Jiraiya the pervert, was the one who brought him up after his parents' death when he was a baby. When he was 12 years old, the old man finally gave this to him and explained everything.
The item wasn't just any regular thing. The item was beyond precious, the only priceless thing that Naruto had. It was a small statue of a nine-tailed demon fox. The colour of it was orange, and the details of it was magnificent. Its nine tails almost looked like a flame, the blonde was sure if this thing was a real monster, it could wipe all Konoha clean. The fox itself almost had an angry expression, its jaw opening wide with very sharp looking teeth. Its eyes looked evil to him, as if it was filled with hatred.
But the real treasure was the orb that the fox was holding with its jaw. It was an orange gem, the old pervert said the jewel was called spessartite garnet. As Naruto tried to touch it, the jewel glows even more with bright orange aura. It looked really warm. This jewel was the very reason for Naruto's love of the colour orange.
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"Hey, kid, I need to talk to you."
Naruto looked at his godfather while he was sitting down on the park's swing. He ran away from their apartment because the pervert refuses to answer his questions on how he didn't have parents. His eyes were red from crying, before he replied the old pervert he wiped the rest of his tears.
"What do you want?"
"Look.. I'm sorry if I can't be honest with you. But I just don't want you to get hurt, Naruto. I promised your parents."
Naruto stopped sniffing and stared at the silver-haired man. "Will you tell me?"
Jiraiya smiled. "Sure, kid. Here, have an ice cream first." He splited his the ice cream into two, and gave the other to Naruto. The blonde took his ice cream and held Jiraiya's hand. They walked back to their place.
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Naruto polished the statue so it could glow. This statue was the only thing that was clean in his place. He carefully touched the gem again, and it glows once more. The orange glow was very heartwarming to him, even if the fox seems evil. He tried to recall the conversation he had with his godfather, when the perverted old man told him the truth.
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Naruto sat on the table and tapped his fingers. What took the old man so long? He said he was going to show him something. Ah, there he was.
Jiraiya carried a large safe deposit box and placed it on the table. He punched in the code and opened the box. The silver-haired man took out the item and placed it on the table.
Young Naruto had his eyes wide open. "Oh sweet! Its so cool! Its a demon fox statue! Ero-sennin, this is awesome!"
Jiraiya sat down next to him and smiled. "This is yours, kiddo."
"Really!?"
"Yeah," said the man. "Try touching the orange gem. The thing is called a spessartite garnet."
Naruto touched it, and it glows even more. At this point, the blonde's eyes were sparkling like the galaxy. "So cool!"
"Naruto, this was once your mother's. Your parents wanted me to entrust this to you." His eyes were now serious.
Young Naruto stopped his gibberish and listened to the man.
"That night.. when your parents died," the perverted old man started, "They were on a case, kid. As I told you before, they were police officers. They weren't just some random cops, the two of them were the most trusted officers. Your father, Minato, was the chief inspector. They were investigating this..very deep case. It would cost the lives of many if they failed."
"So, after gathering a lot of information, they knew that there was a masked man causing trouble across town. Your parents interrogated a lot of people to get that. Sadly, one of them told the masked man that the cops were looking for him. Then, the man entered your house, right after your mother, Kushina, returned home after giving birth to you. She left you at your crib to go to the bathroom for a while, and when she returned, the masked man was holding you in his right arm, with the other hand holding a knife pointed at your face."
Naruto's hands were sweating now. He almost died as a baby. That thought was scary.
"The man threatened your mother to give him the statue. He said he needed the gem. Of course, she refuses. So, the man.. uses his knife to carve those scars you have now, boy." The pervert's expression became darker. "I was helping Minato to sort some documents in the office, and we were on the way home. When I parked the car, we can hear your mother's scream from inside the house. Both of us ran inside, to find that your mother's stomach was stabbed by the man. She was already holding you next to her, but the man was holding the gem in his hands. But the colour of the gem was decreasing, it was going to disappear, and the man didn't understand. Your father shot his back, causing him to drop the gem and screamed in pain. I took the gem, boy, kept it safe in my pockets. As your father was battling the man in a fist fight, I tried to talk to your mother. She was losing her consciousness, but she explained to me what happened. I tried to suppressed her flowing blood, but it cannot be stopped. Her body was still weak from giving birth to you."
Naruto was sobbing at this point. His mother.. his mother.. sacrificed herself.. for him. Jiraiya put his arms around his shoulders to ease his tears.
"Should I continue, kiddo?"
While sniffing hard, Naruto tried to answer him, "Y-yeah.. s-s-sure.. I'm o-o-okay."
Jiraiya cleared his throat to continue. "Kid.. After your mother.. passed away, the gem stopped glowing. The colour became dull and..greyish. The man screamed in anger, and stabbed your father as well. When that happened, I tried to battle the masked man, but he escaped. I held your father in my arms. He was like a son to me. But he insisted to stand up, to picked up the gem and its statue. He said we have to give it to you, he was sure that you could take care of it."
"Now, kid, pay attention. This statue and its gem.. it was not an ordinary one. It is bound to you. It is yours because it has your blood inside. The statue needs an owner to make the gem glow to perfection. The only way to change its owner is..to kill the previous one. You cannot remove the gem without the owner present, making it the ultimate security. The only way to take it off, is by the owner's hands."
Naruto stared at the statue in front of him. Even if he felt sad, his heart was filled with warmth. He could feel it, his parents' love for him, and his trust for him. He stood up and stare at the silver-haired man.
"Ero-sennin, I promise that I will keep this safe, until forever!" he pointed his chest with his thumb. "And I promise you, I will be an officer myself, to bring justice to Konoha! I won't let this thing happen again!"
"That's my boy," said the man while grinning ear to ear. "You want some ramen?"
"Hell yeah!"
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Naruto moved out from his apartment when he was 18, just when he entered the Konoha Police Academy. The pervert was travelling the world, he hasn't returned yet. He said he needed inspiration for his porn. Who knows where he went. But the man still cares for him every now and then. Jiraiya paid half of his tuition and his rent. Naruto kinda missed him, though. He was already an adult now, so he paid for his stuff alone. His godfather said that he would return soon, but he still hadn't drop by to his place.
The blonde picked up his phone and tapped on Sasuke's name. Should he made the call? Nah, he decided to text the teme.
'Are you okay, Sasuke? Look. I'm sorry abt Friday if things got awkward for us.. I want us to be friends. We're gonna see each other tmr anyway. Don't want things to be weird. Please forget what happened?'
-Naruto'
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After fidgeting with his phone, he received a reply from the raven.
'Ok. But no more drinks with you.'
Naruto smiled and puts his phone on the couch. He stretched his arms while walking to his wardrobe. He changed to his training clothes, and went out for a run.
There was it. I planned this plot for like months, I hoped y'all liked it! So the bijuus in this story will be in a form of gems. Hmmm, I wonder how this would continue..?
You can try to search spessartite garnet on the internet. I did a research on big jewels, and this one seems to portray Kurama.
Post any comments/recommendations as a review down below.
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Love, myfavoriteramen
