Laughter of the Broken
"Speaking"
'Thinking'
"Demon/Summons speaking"
'Demon/Summons thinking'
A/N: Ok I have been told that my story is pretty close to the story Black Flames Dance In the Wind: Rise of Naruto, which a very amazing story by DevilKeys Writing, so I would like to reassure everyone that there are some very key differences between mine and his story. First, my Naruto has more emotion than the Naruto of his story. Also, DevilKeys Naruto is more dead and cold than anything else while my Naruto is more of joker like and besides that, DevilKeys has Naruto with the power of shadows like mine but the difference is that he focuses more with gods and demons and has a soul caliber x over. Besides, in the Black Flames, the story is more focused on what I call the supernatural genre. In any even if many of you think that I was copying or plagiarizing it I assure you that I was not trying to do that in any way or sense. Besides, if you look at every single story with a dark Naruto, you're bound to see similarities in them. Just can't be helped, and also do not worry Deathmask, I have NO desire to have Hinata inside the harem or any Hyuuga for that matter. Sometimes, even I become tired of the arrogant white-eyed pricks and the timid Hinata. Anyway on with the story.
Naruto watched in amusement from his perch in his tree as the Uchiha once again failed to climb the tree, while his fan girl once again cheered him on. He chuckled as he remembered the reactions of his teammates when they learned of the exercise and his mastery of it.
Flashback
"Ok team, today we're going to work on your chakra control," Kakashi said to his team who were gathered around him in a clearing about twenty minutes away from Tazuna's home. Haku and Zabuza were sitting in a tree a couple feet away. Well Zabuza was in the tree reading Icha Icha Paradise while Haku sat at the base reading some medical books on the human body.
"So how are we going to do that sensei?" asked an intrigued Sakura.
"Simple, we are going to climb trees," Kakashi said with an eye smile, while both Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped at his statement. Naruto just picked his teeth absentmindedly, completely disinterested with the topic.
"How is climbing trees going to help us with our chakra?" demanded an irate Sasuke. Naruto snorted and the Uchiha immediately rounded on him, "Whats so funny dobe?"
"Nothing, nothing," Naruto said with a smile while he waved his hand dismissively at the cold youth. "Please sensei continue with your explanation," the Uzumaki said with a grin.
"Thank you Naruto, anyway Sasuke, can you climb a tree without using your hands?" asked Kakashi to a now interested Sasuke.
"But sensei that's impossible!" protested Sakura. Naruto snorted while Zabuza and Haku looked at the girl as if she had grown a second head.
Kakashi just eye smiled and approached a tree. Stopping for a second, Kakashi made the ram seal and then proceeded to walk straight up the tree without the use of his hands. Sakura look shell-shocked while Sasuke was clearly amazed. Naruto just smirked at his sensei, who was now hanging upside down from a tree branch.
"Perhaps a better word for this exercise would be called tree walking or another name is surface clinging," Kakashi told his students with an eye smile. Zabuza rolled his eyes at the man and went pack to reading his book. "The goal is to send chakra to your feet and use it to cling to the tree," Kakashi directed while throwing a kunai at each one of his students feet, "Use those to mark your progress as you go along. Also I suggest you get a running start," Kakashi instructed.
Immediately both Sakura and Sasuke grabbed the kunai, concentrated, then made a mad dash for their respective tree. Naruto meanwhile looked at the kunai and just shrugged before slowly walking towards his tree.
Sasuke was about five feet up the tree before it gave a loud crack and he was thrown off, though he was able to make a mark before he fell. Looking up, he saw a shallow crater the size of his foot on the tree near his mark and mentally cursed. 'If I use too much chakra I just get thrown off but if I use to little, five bucks says I land on my ass.' Sasuke thought. Suddenly he was broken from his thoughts when he heard a joyful cry from Konoha's Pink Banshee.
"This is easy!" Sakura called. She was sitting on a branch halfway up the tree, her kunai stuck in the main part right next to her. 'Beat that Ino-pig! Sasuke will be mine in no time!' Sakura thought triumphantly and looked down at her crush expecting to see some form of awe. Instead she saw a look of barely controlled annoyance on his face.
"It seems the only female on the team has the best chakra control," Kakashi said with an eye smile. Sakura got a look of confidence on her face and looked over to see how her other teammate was doing. She was surprised to see him just standing there looking at the tree, absentmindedly twirling a kunai in his hand. Kakashi also noticed this and asked, "Naruto, anything wrong?" called out the jounin.
"He's probably just too stupid to figure out how to do it," Sasuke jeered. Sakura laughed a little at that and was about to agree when Naruto did something that made everybody's jaw drop.
There was Naruto, walking up the tree and taking his sweet time doing it. While this was impressive for a genin, what was more impressive is that he wasn't just walking, he was doing that while he was balancing a kunai on his nose and each hand as he did it! What really amazed everyone though was that each kunai was ramrod straight and he showed absolutely no problem doing it. Using his sharingan, Kakashi saw that he was using chakra to do it all. Although there were some small influxes and the kunai would waver sometimes, Naruto would immediately rectify it and kept his chakra flow steady.
After some time Naruto reached the top of the tree, nearly 20 ft off the ground, and casually flicked the kunai in each of his hands away and just shook the last one off his face like a dog. Clapping his hands together in a satisfied manner, Naruto jumped off the tree and landed on the ground below with a soft thud, chakra cushioning his fall.
"Now what was that about being too stupid? Hmm, dobe?" Naruto asked Sasuke mockingly, a toothy grin on his face seeming to scream false innocence. Needless to say Sasuke had been pissed, not only at being outdone by a clan less orphan but as well as being called a dead last. Sasuke then threw himself at the exercise with new determination, vowing he would make Naruto pay for showing up an Uchiha.
Flashback End
"As fun as it is to watch the 'avenger' fall out of a tree again and again, don't you think you should do some training of your own?" Kyuubi suggested to her mate as she laughed at the Uchiha boy.
'Oh I suppose you're right my dear, but there's just something about watching an arrogant spoiled brat struggle to achieve something that isn't just handed to him that's just so deliciously amusing,' Naruto replied.
"True, but remember Naruto, we still need to defeat that snake and you aren't at his level just yet, even with my chakra you can only control one tail and after that you're smoked" Kyuubi reminded.
'Alright, alright, just remind me again why I'm training without using your chakra' Naruto asked.
"Because of several reasons, one, while most of my chakra has melded with yours, the process isn't complete and it will do more harm to you than good in a prolonged fight," Naruto grimaced as he remembered when he used the fox's chakra for longer than an hour. He had spent the rest of the day knocked out cold and woke up with every cell in his body felling like it had been set on fire, 'And that wasn't even using ONE tail' Naruto noted.
"Second, Orochimaru was teammates with Jiraiya and we have to assume that he has a way to seal off your chakra and in effect mine as well. Finally, you can't always rely on my chakra, what would you do if someone found a way to cut off your youki when you become a hanyou? Every shinobi needs a fallback and a surprise," Kyuubi said in a lecturing tone.
'Fine, what do you suggest we work on then? I still have to work on my project, and I'd rather it be tested before the chuunin exams' Naruto replied.
"Why not just use the villagers? Its worked before," Kyuubi replied.
'Because, the villagers are starting to understand not to approach me, even when they're drunk and I'd rather not go after them and have to deal with the council, I barely avoid them with the 'self defense' excuse, besides, I'd rather not just test my things on them for no real reason, makes me feel to much like Orochimaru' Naruto replied with a slightly disgusted look.
Kyuubi nodded at that, "Then I suggest you work on your ninjutsu and shadow manipulation, Alala says you need to work on your fire and earth techniques so you can fight better with her and the rest of the pack, also you really need to utilize the shadows for more than hiding, transporting and storage. Nothing beats the look on a person's face when they realize they've been stabbed by their own shadow," Kyuubi instructed her container.
Mentally nodding at her, Naruto created twenty-nine shadow clones. "I need 10 of you to work on the fireball technique while the another 10 work on the mole technique. The rest of you help me with using the shadows in combat," ordered the original. All twenty-nine of them gave a salute and twenty rushed off to practice the jutsu till they used up their reserves.
Now left with the other nine Narutos, the original and his copies started to manipulate the shadows into weapons and shields. Needless to say, it wasn't very easy. One clone created a wall of shadow that was made to block projectiles, but that proved to be ineffective since the shadow only slowed the projectiles down. Another tried to use them as projectiles but that proved useless, since the shadows literally couldn't leave the ground or the user's body, however he did manage to send a kind of shadow whip from his hand. The biggest blunder was when one tried to create a sword out of them, all that happened when he tested it was that it left the shallowest of cuts, not even deep enough to draw a trickle of blood or dispel a clone.
"GAAAAH! This is stupid!" shouted one of the four remaining clones, "Fucking shadows are only good for making a quick escape and those damn techniques the Nara use and even then all we can do is hold somebody still or suffocate them with it! And that just wastes chakra and leaves you open for punishment!" finished the clone with a pout.
"Relax Ichi (one), at least we're getting somewhere," chirped an excited clone to the first one's left.
"Like where San (three)?" snorted Ichi. "All we've done is make a failed shield and a sword that couldn't even dispel Ni (two)," declared the clone while he jabbed a thumb behind him towards a lazy clone. "The only decent thing we've made is a whip! And I don't think our enemies are looking to get kinky!" Ichi practically shouted.
"Why is it that of all the abnormalities of a shadow clone, you had to be the one whose primary emotion is anger," sighed another clone while rubbing his temples.
"At least I have emotions Shi (four)!" shot back Ichi.
The original turned towards the other two clones and noticed that they were just sitting there watching the two argue. One seemed incredibly interested while the other just seemed bored. "Let me guess, San, your curiosity and Ni is lazy?" inquired the true Naruto. At that the lazy Ni just nodded while San turned to answer.
"Yup, so what do you think boss? I believe that we're overlooking something obvious since Kyuubi said she's seen people impaled on their own shadows," San said excitedly.
Without warning Shi appeared right in front of San, "Say that again," he demanded with a serious expression to a very surprised San.
Cocking his head to the side and backing up a bit San asked, "Say what again? 'I think we're overlooking something?'"
"No after that," stated Shi as everyone watched in some confusion.
"Kyuubi has seen people impaled on their own shadows before?" San offered.
There was a pause as Shi slowly digested this information when the proverbial light bulb went off. "OF OURSE! It's so simple! San you're a genius!" Shi cried in triumph.
"What the hell are you screeching about? You sounded like the pink haired banshee when she got a piece of hair from Mr. Broody's duck ass locks!" Ichi shouted while trying to get his hearing back.
"Shut up Ichi, now as for why I did that I have just figured out how to use the shadows in combat!" Shi stated proudly. Now he had the attention of everyone and they were eager to hear how.
"So how do we use them in combat?" Naruto asked his logical clone.
"Simple boss, for the most part we have tried using the shadow as a sword which didn't work at all, then as a shield which killed one clone, then we lost another four due to Ni's whip, which, Ichi, can actually prove to be quite useful," Shi lectured his angry counterpart. Ichi just rolled his eyes and gave Shi the one finger salute.
Ignoring Ichi, Shi continued, "For the most part we just used the shadow as a blunt and cutting tool, when it's better used as a PIERCING weapon," he exclaimed. The original facepalmed while the curious clone laughed at the sheer simplicity of it! Ni just shrugged and turned back to watching the clouds while Ichi just had a blank look.
"What exactly does that mean?" Ichi asked while the other three stared at him as if he was insane except for Ni.
Ni sighed, "It means we use the shadows like spears and spikes, not as swords, but I'm pretty sure if you infuse some wind chakra into the shadow swords they'll cut deeper and there is a way to make that shield a LOT more effective," stated the lazy clone without looking up from his cloud watching.
This time, Shi and the original had flabbergasted looks on their faces while Ichi got a look of understanding on his face. "How would you make the shield better?" San asked Ni.
"Troublesome," muttered Ni, "Just watch" he ordered as he got up. Using the shadow of a nearby tree, he created a portal on its trunk but didn't enter it. Then using his own shadow and bringing it up to him he flung a kunai into it. About a second later, the same kunai flew out of the shadow portal on the tree's trunk and nailed itself into another tree a couple yards away.
Turning back to the others he said, "Get it?" The Narutos just nodded in amazement at the, once again, simple solution. "Good," and with that he promptly dispelled himself.
"I think that will do for today," said the original as he dispelled all his clones. Wincing a bit from the information, Naruto looked up and noticed that it was getting close to dinner. Making a note to himself to work on his project afterwards, the dead-haired blonde headed back to Tazuna's home, his mind already buzzing with the various methods of killing and torture he now could do, and all with a simple mental command and if at most, a flick of the wrist. He chuckled darkly, the future promised to be very entertaining for our little psychopath.
Tazuna's Home, Dinner
Team 7 were seated around the table along with Zabuza, Haku and of course, Tazuna's family. Dinner was a simple meal of fish, rice, and some vegetable stir-fry. For the most part everyone was having a nice time, just making small talk. Even Naruto was having a good time, occasionally answering the question thrown his way or adding in his comment, but for the majority of it he just basked in the warmth of this feeling of contentment.
"So, Sasuke, how far have you gone on the tree?" Kakashi asked, trying to make the brooding avenger come out of his perpetual dark mood.
"I'm nearly at the top, by tomorrow I'll have it done," Sasuke stated simply.
"Good, then you'll be able to work with Sakura on water walking," Kakashi eye smiled as he turned to his female student, "Speaking of the water walking, how are you coming along Sakura?"
"Its really hard sensei, but I've nearly got it mastered!" she said with confidence. Sakura had come a ways from the academy, granted, she still didn't have much going for her besides book smarts but her skills were coming along smoothly. All of them were nearly up to high genin level but she still needed some jutsus other than the academy basics.
Kakashi eye smiled at his student. "What about you Naruto? Need any help with anything?" Kakashi asked his black clad student.
Naruto smirked at the man. He knew Kakashi was trying to make amends, but he wasn't going to forgive Kakashi just yet. "Not really sensei. All I need are some test subjects and I'm sure Gato's men will be more than willing to volunteer," Naruto said with a dark chuckle.
"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" shouted Inari, now completely fed up with these ninja and their carefree attitudes. "You're all going to die no matter how hard you try! Gato will kill you like he did every other person that stood up to him!" cried the young boy. Everybody was shocked at the quiet boy's sudden outburst, well everybody except a certain maniac.
"Yes, yes, big bad Gato will kill six trained shinobi, no offense pipsqueak but just because you, a boy whose spirit is as broken as the rest of this village, couldn't beat him doesn't mean we can't," Naruto said with a dismissive wave.
Angered at the blonde Inari said, "Shut up! What do you know of our pain? What do you know of what life is like here? You've had it easy in that big village while we've had to slowly starve and die! What do any of you know about suffering?" Inari accused, tears in his eyes. At that Naruto froze and stared at the boy.
"Really? I know nothing of suffering?" asked Naruto with a smile that unnerved everyone deeply as killing intent started to slowly leak off of him. "Allow me to tell you a little story Inari," the temperature started to drop and Inari started to get the feeling that he should run, but he couldn't move. He could only sit there and listen to whatever story that Naruto wished to tell.
"A little longer than fourteen years ago, a child was born, but both of his parents had died. One from childbirth, and the other died in combat. Both of them were highly respected and dedicated shinobi of Konoha, but for some reason everyone hated and feared the child of these ninja," Naruto paused for a second his smile disappearing. "Before the child could talk, it had more assassination attempts on its life than a daimyo and once the babe reached the age of three, it was thrown from the orphanage," he chuckled a bit, "Not that the babe cared too much, for the matrons would always frown upon the child and scold it for no reason. They gave it the worst place to sleep, hardly any food and all the other children would be mean to it, never allowing that child to play with them, an act the adults encouraged,"
"Regardless, after the child was thrown out, not minutes later a mob attacked him, shouting words such as demon, fox brat, and other such insults. Of course the child ran, it was not the first time it had been chased by a mob, but it was the first time it got caught," Naruto said darkly.
"They beat the child then, they stabbed it, hit it with various blunt objects such as sticks, pipes, hammers and so on. There were ninja in that mob, so the child felt the pain of being hit with kunai and shuriken long before it would begin the academy for shinobi. They even used jutsus on him, but the most painful was when it got burned by a fire one," here Naruto's smile came back but it was anything but happy.
"The child screamed as its body caught on fire, the flames licking away at his skin ever so slowly. It begged for help, for them to stop, but they only said it was what it deserved for what it did to them,"
"Soon the poor youngling was left alone in the alley, the flames long since extinguished. Yet now, the question of why was placed in its mind. Why was it so hated? Why did people hurt it? Why was it forced to be alone?" Naruto asked the last part quietly. For a moment the killing intent evaporated and the temperature went back to normal. Then it came back again as a manic smile appeared on Naruto's face, "But then that night happened,"
"It was only six years old when the villagers finally shattered its mind. They had pinned it to the wall, a kunai through each hand, when a silver haired chuunin stepped forward and plunged another kunai into its heart. In that moment it did die, just not in the way you would think. They broke its mind, left nothing but a husk of anguish and insanity that killed them all. It slaughtered them, no, it butchered them and laughed throughout the entire affair. After finally exhausting itself from killing its tormentors it fell asleep, and in its endless nightmares it found out the reason it was hated," pausing the blonde took off his goggles but kept his eyes shut tight, a deep frown upon his face.
"It had a demon sealed inside of it. The village hated, hunted and shunned it simply because they couldn't tell the difference between a kunai and its holster," Naruto snapped his eyes open and gave a maniacal grin, his dead ice blue eyes glinting with that ever present spark of insanity.
"Now can you guess who that child was Inari?" Naruto asked, his eyes boring into Inari's making him shake in terror.
"Y-Y-You," Inari stammered, now extremely terrified.
"Ding ding ding! Give the boy a cigar!" Naruto cackled, making everyone shudder fearfully, "I was in fact that child and I do have a demon sealed in me! I have to endure the hatred of the villagers day in and day out, except now it's more like fear than hatred," Naruto giggled. "I suffered because of something I had no control over, so SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH YOU INSOLENT GAKI! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF SUFFERING!" Naruto snarled at the child, the KI now reaching unbelievable levels, making even Zabuza and Kakashi shake in fear. "You have everything I and many others have ever wanted! A home, food, people who care about you and yet here you are, bitching and moaning because your father died trying to save you all! Instead of honoring his death, all of you have just rolled over and accepted death with only your grandfather trying to save this place! If you had truly loved that man you called father, you would be doing whatever you could to carry out his mission to save this place, not sitting here and spitting at his memory! So grow up, dry your eyes and grow a pair because if I EVER hear you whining about your fate again, I'll feed you to my hyenas and use whatever is left over as a paper weight!" Naruto threatened. With that, the broken youth gave a mad laugh and disappeared into the shadows.
When the killing intent finally released and the room returned to regular temperature, Inari passed out. After Tsunami put Inari in his room Zabuza turned to Kakashi and asked, "Is that true?"
Sighing, Kakashi gave a nod, "Yes, every word of that is true, because of the demon inside him, the villagers and some ninja would do anything they could to make what they believed to be the monster incarnate suffer. They would beat, stab, slash, burn and whatever else they could do to try and kill him. Even when he went to the hospital they hardly ever treated him and when they did they did the most minimalistic of things, hoping that the demon would finally die," Kakashi replied with a lost look in his eye. "Naruto has experienced things that not even I would be able to stand, all because people couldn't see the child that just wanted acceptance," Kakashi said with a voice laden with regret.
"So that's why hes like that? That's why he's so…" Sakura asked trying to find the right word.
"Sadistic? Insane? Broken? Take your pick Sakura, I'm just surprised that he hasn't killed everyone," Kakashi replied dismally.
"Because if I did, then what would be the point? I'd just prove to the entire world that I'm a monster, besides I don't want to kill EVERYONE in the village… just a large portion of it!" cackled the voice of Naruto, making everyone leap away in fear.
"Damn it Naruto don't do that!" Sakura screamed at the blonde who was now grinning madly at them, his goggles back in place over his eyes. She noticed that only Naruto's body from the waist up was normal, the rest of him vanished into a black mass on the floor.
"Actually I'm not Naruto, I'm a clone he sent to watch over Gato's movements. Did you know Gato has about several hundred slaves at his compound? I find it odd that most of them are scantily clad women," mused the clone before it shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyway. Boss wanted me to tell you that Gato plans on attacking the bridge personally with about, oh 200 mercenaries? Regardless, the attack will happen the morning of the day after tomorrow so you might want to tell the workers to stay away from the bridge," Naruto informed. With that, the clone disappeared in a poof of smoke, the smoke eerily forming a smile before vanishing.
"Zabuza-sama," Haku started, gaining everyone's attention. "If you ever piss that boy off, you're on your own," she finished.
Zabuza nodded at that, "Trust me Haku, when we get to Konoha, I'm making DAMN sure I stay on his good side," stated the demon of the bloody mist. On that note everyone headed to bed, wondering where Naruto had gone.
Unknown location, Chemical Lab
Naruto smirked as he stared at the luminescent sickly yellow fluid in the test tube, the light produced by it glinting eerily off his goggles. Naruto gave a chuckle as he eyed his new toy. "You and me are going to have a lot of fun together," Naruto whispered to the liquid as a predatory grin consumed his features.
Next day
Naruto was sitting next to Zabuza watching as Sasuke and Sakura practiced water walking. A small cough catching his attention, he turned to see a very timid looking Inari behind him.
"Um, Naruto i… I just wanted to..," Inari tried to say before Naruto brought up a hand and cut him off.
"Kid if you're going to apologize then I'll only accept it on one condition," Naruto stated. Curious, Inari asked what condition. Smirking Naruto said, "I want you to stop crying, and honor your father's memory," the Uzumaki declared with a small smile, not one of malice or mockery, but just a simple smile.
"How do I do that?" Inari asked.
Naruto chuckled at the boy and just ruffled his hair. "You'll find out sooner or later, unless you're denser than concrete," Naruto said teasingly. Inari smiled a bit at that and sat down next to the Uzumaki and swordsman to watch the two genin attempt to water walk. After about an hour had passed Kakashi appeared.
"Alright you two, take an hour break then we'll start up again," Kakashi ordered his students, his nose buried in his book. Sakura gave a relieved sigh and collapsed on the shore while Sasuke just grunted and walked towards Naruto's position.
Naruto sighed as he watched the Uchiha approach him, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Zabuza or Inari. "What's wrong kid?" asked the swordsman, the look in Inari's eyes mirroring the demon's question.
"Just watch, and Zabu, you may want to keep your eye on him when he's near Haku," the blonde said in a bored tone as he produced a knife from his sleeve and proceeded to flip it in his hand. Finally the Uchiha halted in front of the three and regarded them as if they were barely above vermin.
"Dobe, fight me," demanded Sasuke. Naruto just quirked an eyebrow at the Uchiha and sighed.
"What are the terms?" he asked lazily, catching the knife so the blade was gripped between his thumb and index and middle finger.
A bit surprised the Uchiha got a smug smirk and said, "You choose, give yourself whatever handicap you need,"
Suddenly Naruto got a sadistic smile on his face and Sasuke immediately wished he hadn't let the blonde choose the arrangements for the battle.
"Alright then my duck assed opponent, here are the rules," Naruto declared, ignoring the scowl Sasuke sent him, "We fight till first blood, meaning whoever bleeds first loses. Also neither of us can use kunai, shuriken, daggers or ninja wire, other than that anything goes," said the blonde with a smirk.
"Fine then," Sasuke spat as he got into a ready position while Naruto stood up. Noticing the fight, Sakura, Kakashi and the newly arrived Haku sat down to watch the spar.
"First move goes to you my friend," Naruto said as he bowed low, a devious smirk hidden from the Uchiha's view. Snorting, Sasuke charged the blonde, confident that victory was in the bag. Naruto just leaned to the left, half his body now a shadow, easily dodging the Uchiha's downward strike. Growling, Sasuke followed up his attack with a rising right knee strike, but once again Naruto dodged by using turning his upper body completely horizontal, a feat that should have been impossible without leaving the ground! Somehow though, Naruto did it, the shadowy mass that was his waist down never leaving earth.
So it went, Sasuke would strike and Naruto would dodge easily, bending his body in astounding ways. "Would you hold still and fight already?" Sasuke demanded breathing a little heavily from the effort of trying to land a hit on the blonde.
"Tempting offer, but I rather like the work out," Naruto grinned. Snarling in anger, Sasuke leapt back and began doing handseals at a rapid pace. Finishing, Sasuke formed a ring around his mouth and exhaled a giant fireball from his lips. As the flames consumed his teammate, Sasuke smirked, confident he'd defeated his teammate.
As the flames disappeared Sasuke looked to see what the effect of his technique had done to Naruto. He smirked as he saw what seemed to be the charred remains of a human corpse.
"Did you hit me?" asked a voice directly behind Sasuke, causing said boy to whirl around to face the toothy grin of one Naruto Uzumaki. Leaping back the Uchiha glared at the boy who didn't seem to have a scratch on him, not even a speck of soot.
"How the hell did you dodge that?" Sasuke demanded, a hint of fear in his voice.
"Ah poor little Sasuke still lives in the dark," Naruto said in a voice dripping with false pity, "Seems you still don't understand anything," the blonde said disapprovingly.
"And what do you know outcast?" Sasuke snarled, now thoroughly annoyed with the Uzumaki.
Naruto chuckled at him, making a cold chill run down the black haired youth's spine. "I know a lot Sasuke. I know that in the last moments of people's lives, they show their true selves. Want to know how many were cowards?" Naruto asked with a snicker. "I know that the crippled hawk only fools the monkey with his charade of disability, I know why the guardian attacked her charge and I know what the leaf has hidden from the maelstrom," Naruto answered cryptically.
"What the hell are you talking about you insane freak?" Sasuke said as he swung at the blonde with a roundhouse kick.
Naruto caught the leg and laughed. "Fine then Sasuke allow me to tell you something I'm sure you'll love to know," Suddenly Naruto's mouth appeared right next to Sasuke's ear and whispered, "I know the REAL reason why your family was murdered by Itachi, for he was nothing more than the pawn, the hired gun, the puppet,"
Shell shocked, Sasuke froze. Naruto laughed and sent a shadow spike at the black haired boy, it barely missing his head and causing blood to trickle down the boy's cheek. "I believe this match is mine, Sasuke," Naruto declared simply, straightening up and walking away, leaving behind a group of very confused people. As the blonde left Sasuke's shock started to turn to fear.
'How does he know?' thought the Uchiha.
Next day, at the bridge, early morning
A small man wearing a pin stripe suit and a gold topped ebony wooden cane stood in the mist. He peered over his sunglasses at the mob behind him and smirked. 'Today that bridge builder dies and Wave will become mine' thought the pudgy midget known as Gato. Currently he was standing on the nearly completed bridge with an army of mercenaries behind him, just waiting for the bridge builder, his workers and bodyguards to show up.
Slowly the clap of boots meeting concrete met the ears of everyone and a figure emerged from the mist. Once it stopped the figure was revealed to be a person in a black trench coat with blonde hair and goggles. Gato stared at the figure who smiled back, "Hello Gato, I'm here to kill you," said the black clad teen in a pleasant voice.
Gato quirked an eyebrow and burst out laughing at the teenager in front of him, soon followed by the guffaws of his mercenaries. "You're going to kill me?" Gato laughed, "You're just a single brat! What the hell can you do?" they continued to laugh at the boy even as the mist seemed to get thicker than before.
Naruto smirked and shook his head at the man. "You honestly think I'm alone? Trust me while it would be easy for me to eradicate you and your bunch, quite a bit of people have a bone to pick with you Gato," as he finished speaking, two more figures emerged from the mist. The figures were none other than Zabuza Mamochi and Haku.
"Hello Gato," Zabuza said coldly.
"Zabuza? How the hell are you alive? I was sure those leaf nins killed you!" Gato shouted in surprise.
"We found a better deal, and that deal involves removing you," Haku said simply.
Gato growled at that but he wasn't too worried. "So what? Not even the three of you together can take down my army!" Gato snorted.
"Oh?" asked Naruto, "Then allow me to introduce MY army," with that, the mist cleared revealing every single villager of wave armed with whatever they could get their hands on, ranging from farming tools to kitchen knives to pipes and sticks. Every one of them had a VERY pissed expression on their face.
The mercs unconsciously took a step back at the sight as Gato started to panic a bit. While the businessman was confident his men could eradicate the three shinobi, he wasn't too sure that his army could take on an entire village and three shinobi. Still, Gato was stubborn and he refused to be beaten.
"Ha! I'll give an extra thousand ryo to the one who brings me the brat's head! Try and keep the women alive boys, so we can celebrate our victory later tonight," Gato called out. The mercs roared in approval and started to charge.
"Time to test my project," Naruto laughed as he revealed his hands, or rather he revealed his right hand. On his right hand was a specially modeled glove that instead of regular fingers, each finger including the thumb was crafted into a syringe with an inch long needle, each 'finger' filled with that eerie yellow fluid Naruto had created that night a few days prior. Laughing madly the boy plunged his new device into a merc's chest.
Not seconds later the man's eyes grew wide and a look of horror overcame his face. "No! Get them away from me!" he screamed and immediately started swatting at himself, as if trying to get something off of him. Soon the man was nothing but a frantic mess, wildly running around in fear, even knocking into his own allies. Suddenly, the merc gripped his sword and started swinging randomly, trying to kill something that wasn't there and even harming some of his own allies.
"I do believe my fear toxin works quite well," Naruto said with a maniacal grin to himself. "Then again the scientific method says to repeat the process," he cackled, once again jumping into the fray.
Gato had long since retreated to the back of the pack and was now watching in horror as every one of his thugs was viciously and mercilessly killed! They dropped like flies to the speed and accuracy of Haku, were cleaved in half by Zabuza who would appear then vanish only to do it once more, and how they were just decimated by the angry villagers. What scared him the most was the blonde, how he would appear out of nowhere like Zabuza, stab his men then leave behind now frantic and hysterical mercenaries, all screaming and running around in terror. Now the blonde was causing his men to flee in terror AND was now shooting them with a purple revolver, laughing like a lunatic!
Gato knew he had lost and he knew if he didn't escape now he was going to be visiting the Shinigami very soon. So Gato tried to run, only to bump into the very last thing he wanted to bump into. Slowly looking up, Gato came face to face with none other than Naruto Uzumaki.
"Hello my pudgy little friend, were you planning on going somewhere?" asked the boy in a pleasant voice.
"Look, I'll give you anything you want if you let me go!" Gato said quickly, not really wanting to die.
Naruto just got a grin on his face and lifted his gun, the barrel taking up most of Gato's vision. Naruto pulled the trigger and Gato screamed in fear, his eyes shut tight. Feeling no pain, Gato opened his eyes to see what happened and was met facing the gun again, only this time, there was a banner with the word 'BANG!' on it. Naruto laughed at the tycoon's face and said, "So if I let you go you'll give me anything a I want?" Naruto asked with a malicious smirk.
Gato smiled to himself and said, "You got it kid, so what do you want? Money? Women? Land? Name it and its yours,"
Naruto chuckled in his throat and pointed the banner between Gato's eyes. "I want your life," Naruto stated. Before Gato could ask what he meant, Naruto pulled the trigger once again. Immediately the banner flew straight in Gato's head, piercing his skull and puncturing his brain, resulting in instant death. As Gato's corpse fell to the floor, a banner stood proudly from his forehead like a flag with the words 'HA HA!' imprinted on it.
Naruto smirked at the body of the tyrant. "Bye, bye Gato, say hi to Mizuki and the other villagers for me," laughed the blonde as he set out to get rid of the remaining mercs. Today, Wave was finally free, and the future looked promising.
A/N: Haha! I have finally finished the chapter! Next we will do the start of the Chuunin exams. If you have a question on why I gave Naruto fear toxin that will be answered fairly soon. Anyway, be sure to R&R and give my other stories a look!