Rise of the Science-Nin
Chapter II: Home Coming?
Miamoto-sensei's quote of the day: "Chakra is not a mixture of spiritual and physical energy as some ninja claim, thought it will increase if you train your body and your mind, which gives rise to that myth. Chakra is an energy which permeates every cell of every living organism, it is a radiation of the electromagnetic spectrum given off by cells when their mitochondria turn chemical energy into electrical energy. It is unmatched by anything else, manmade or natural, and despite our best attempts, we cannot recreate it, for to recreate chakra would be to create life itself."
0&0&0&0&0&0&0&0&0&
Sakabutai frowned as he gazed up the Hokage Monument from about a half mile away from the gates of Konohagakure no Sato. The appearance of the giant effigy made the loss of his adopted son all the more real. He was sure they had been spotted by at least three sets of patrols coming in, and he could feel at least two more sets of eyes on him, even now. Only a fool would think the two Chuunin at the gate were the only thing guarding a ninja village. Breathing somewhat heavily, Miamoto looked down at the boy with the sun kissed hair standing beside him. Since they had left the Snow Country five weeks ago, Naruto had been a whirlwind of different emotions, vacillating between exuberance at seeing more of the world, and gloom at the knowledge that he would soon be separated from the man who had raised him and taught him nearly everything he knew. Sakabutai could appreciate Naruto's feelings. Even though he had seen his own children grow up and leave his home long ago, he had never had one taken from him before they were ready. He almost regretted deciding to adopt the little blond haired bundle of energy nearly 12 years before, but the child was such an apt apprentice and a wonderful son that Sakabutai loved him as much as he had any of his natural children, and would have made the same decision over again, despite the pain he was feeling at his eminent loss.
Naruto felt both jubilation and in his heart and a heavy feeling in his gut as he look up at the giant faces in front of him. Some part of him knew instinctively that this day would herald the end of his childhood. "So those are the Hokage." He said. His father nodded. "The First and Second, Senjuu Hashirama and his little brother Tobirama, both hailed as geniuses for the creation of their signature ninjutsu. There was the Third Hokage, the second oldest ninja in the elemental nations, master of over 1000 jutsu and known as The Professor and The God of Shinobi. He has never been beaten in combat, even once." Miamoto snorted a smirk on his face. Naruto himself chuckled a bit.
"That young upstart never faced me." said Miamoto. Naruto shook his head slowly, somewhat amused. His father could definitely beat Sarutobi, if they fought in the Snow Country. Many of his father's jutsu were techniques that utilized ice and snow. Then there was the famous Miamoto family bloodline. They were completely immune to the cold, and even grew stronger from it. In the middle of a natural blizzard, their chakra would never run out. There were even jutsu that turned normal water into ice, which only a Sakabutai could use. And if a Miamoto remained in the mountains of the Snow Country, where the Village Hidden in the Snow used to be, they aged extremely slowly. Miamoto was over 200 years old, and the last known holder of the bloodline, yet he didn't look a day over 50. All of his ancestors and children had died or fled during the first and second Great Shinobi wars. Outside of their snowy domain, many with the Hyoton bloodline were hardly a match for other ninja, used to fighting in warmer climates, and had fallen prey to the vastly superior numbers employed by their enemies. It was during the first war that Miamoto had invented the chakra armor as a way of combating the Hidden Snow's weakness outside of their home turf. This had evened the odds for quite a while, but over time the disparity between the amount of shinobi in their enemies' villages and the Snow village grew too great. What use was it if a Snow Jounin could take on ten Rock Jounin and win, if there were twenty more waiting to finish the fight afterward? The desertions and the deaths sped up during the second war, until the Snow village had less than twenty ninja remaining, mostly Miamoto and his close family. At last, he couldn't keep them together any longer and most of his children left to seek their fortunes elsewhere, forsaking their homeland and bloodline. The only ones left were Miamoto and his wife, who had died three years before he adopted Naruto. Miamoto would never admit it, but adopting the young child over a decade ago had probably saved his life. Without anyone to tie him to the mortal plane, he had been beginning to contemplate committing suicide.
Naruto humored his father as he watched the old man get lost in thought, as he often did. Naruto never complained, as he had the same propensity except when training or working on chakra theory or his inventions. He was glad to have been raised by such a good parent, even if they were almost as physically dissimilar as could be. Miamoto was tall and lithe, while Naruto was short and powerfully built. Miamoto, despite his age, moved with a speed and grace that was matchless. Naruto moved slower than the average ninja, or so he had been told, but he made up for it with power and precision. Miamoto's hair was black turning to steely silver, long, straight and tied into a pony tail, a complete contrast to Naruto's short and wild bright blond spikes. The ancient ninja's wrinkled features looked like they could have almost been feminine, were the age lines ironed out, while Naruto's facial features at eleven exuded the kind feral masculinity that many men in their twenties tried to cultivate and failed at. He smiled sadly; this may be the last time he really looked at the man who had raised him for months or years.
Miamoto broke from his musings, and shook his head softly. "Please continue, son. Who is the final face engraved on that rock?" The old ninja said this with a slight smile.
Naruto, with a blank face, replied, "Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage. Inventor of the Advanced Shunshin, the Rasengan, and the Hiraishin. The most powerful ninja the Village Hidden in the Leaves has ever produced. He gave his life to seal a daemon into my stomach. Genetically, he is my male parent." He said this with a frown on his face. Ever since Sakabutai had told him about his lineage and the reason he had been an orphan less than a day after he was born, Naruto had alternated between admiration and loathing for the man whose seed had sparked his life. He had also refused to refer to the Fourth Hokage in any sort of familiar way, afraid that it would distance him from the man who had raised him since he was a baby.
"Maa, don't be so emotionless, son. You know, I wouldn't care if you called him PopPop and started dressing exactly like the guy. I know whose son you are." A humorous smile lit the old shinobi's face. Naruto gave a light chuckle and smiled again, even if it was faint.
"Well. Lets go inside. Time to meet your countrymen." Naruto nodded, his eyes shining with determination.
They walked together toward the gate, the lingering eyes of the ANBU in the tress behind them sliding over the backs of the two cloaked foreigners. Miamoto stopped at the registration booth at the gate, looking down at the two chuunin there. One was leaning against the back of the booth, tufts of unruly brown hair escaping from under his bandana, the other one, spiky locks fanning wildly from the top of his head and a bandage across his nose, and was sitting on a stool. They both perked up a little when the two shinobi across from them stepped forward.
"Welcome to Konohagakure no Sato, please state your business," said Kotetsu. Izumo eyed them lazily. Neither of them looked particularly competent, but Miamoto had met people much dumber looking who were very powerful.
"Miamoto Sakabutai, retired ninja of Yukigakure no Sato, here for an arranged meeting with Sarutobi Hiruzen." Stated the ancient ninja. He was too old for games, and these days he liked to get right to the point.
Both of the guard's backs because straighter, and the one in the back spoke. "I see. Papers, please?" Sakabutai held out his travel papers and the pass from Sarutobi which allowed him to meet with the man without first being interrogated or searched. At the sight of the pass, one of only four, the guards exchanged a look, and both of them cast genjutsu dispelling techniques, and then the authentication jutsu. The pass glowed a light red. The chuunin immediately relaxed somewhat, and the one in the back bowed slightly, still never taking his eyes off of the two foreigners. "Greetings Miamoto-sama. The Hokage gave us orders to expect you within the next few days. Please, let me escort you and your charge to the Hokage."
Izumo stepped out of the booth, and gestured for them to follow. The snow-nin and his adopted son walked beside the gate guard, toward a massive tower situated in the middle of town. Naruto had thought they would be getting strange looks from the villagers, and he admitted to himself that they might even turn into hostile glares if they recognized him, but he realized that nobody was paying much attention to them. There were plenty of foreigners arriving each day to do business or trade their wares; even foreign ninja weren't too uncommon, as Konoha was allied to one degree or another with several other hidden villages. Plus, the place was enormous. He guessed that nearly a hundred thousand people lived here, judging from the size of the place. They were currently passing through the edge of the market district, and Naruto's face was just one of many. In their rough traveling cloaks, he and his father were quite nondescript.
After ten minutes of brisk walking, they arrived at the base of the tower. It was even larger than he had thought. Some of the apartment buildings and warehouses he had seen were more massive, but this was the single tallest human created structure that Naruto had ever laid eyes on. He smiled nervously, anticipation and anxiety warring with each other in his stomach. Izumo led them inside, meeting the eye of an alert guard on the ground floor and making a quick gesture with his left had. The guard relaxed an iota. He led them up the stairs. And up. And up. Finally, at about the 30th floor, by Naruto's reckoning, they reached the top floor. There was a large auditorium on one side of the hallway, with several dozen seats and a central podium. On the other side was a closed door, which looked extremely durable. Naruto focused just a hair of chakra to his eyes, and could almost see the door glowing with seals. This would be the Hokage's office.
Izumo knocked at the door in a special pattern, and it opened almost instantly. The three stepped into a large office, containing an old man behind a desk who was currently filling out some paperwork. A pipe jutted from the side of his mouth. He looked up at the visitors. Izumo simultaneously bowed and saluted which Naruto thought looked slightly ridiculous, and then spoke. "Hokage-sama, your expected visitor, and his charge." Sarutobi lazily returned the salute.
"Thank you Izumo-san. You are dismissed." Izumo bowed low once more, and then departed. Naruto snorted. Kiss-ass.
Once they heard the man's feet descending the stairs, both of the old men shared a look and broke out into a light chuckle. "A new chuunin, Hiruzen?" asked Miamoto.
"Hai. Very new. He just made grade last week. He's only D-rank and somewhat lazy, but he's damned good at sniffing out lies, and I needed another full time gate guard. If his ability to read people keeps developing, he'll probably go to T&I." The two ancient leaders shared a small grimace. The torture and interrogation department of any hidden village was both a bane and a blessing, and shinobi who could read or manipulate others and had no specialties with a higher priority were their mainstay.
"It's been a long time, old friend," said Miamoto around a smile."
"Over ten years," replied Sarutobi, "And you don't look even a day older." Sakabutai didn't return the compliment. Sarutobi looked like he had aged enough for the both of them.
The old Hokage raised himself from his padded chair, and gestured across the hall as he started walking in that direction. The other two followed him into the council chambers and they each took a seat on one of the loose chairs to the side of the speaking floor. "So, tell me… How have you been, Naruto?" asked the aged Hokage.
Naruto looked into the man's eyes, and saw a veneer of compassion overlaid upon a soul made of tempered steel. This man cared for people, something many ninja lost the ability to do as they aged or gained strength, and yet he saw that beneath that lay resolve that no one could crush. The man would protect his own ninja to the death, by utterly crushing whatever had the audacity to threaten them. Naruto resolved that the smart thing to do would be to put himself in the former group.
"I am well. The journey was long, but I got to see many new things along the way. I even got to fight a bandit! This tower is amazing." Naruto realized he had started to ramble, so he stopped. The Third's eyes were gleaming with mirth, and he wore a true grin.
"It's always something amazing, to explore new places. I sometimes forget how novel our "village" must be to those from much smaller lands. We are the third largest city in the elemental nations, after all." He smiled again, this one a bit sad. "I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to grow up here. I'm sure your father has explained to you why."
Naruto nodded, no expression on his face now.
Sarutobi looked even sadder. "I tried my best, Naruto, and many of the ninja in this village saw you as a hero, but the villagers wanted a scapegoat. Many of them lost their lives when the Kyuubi attacked, and in their grief the survivors looked for anything to lash out at. I fear that if you had remained, at the least you would have been completely shunned by most civilians. And group dynamics being what they are, the ninja may have started following their lead. As it is, you have a fresh start. No one remembers the name Uzumaki Naruto, outside of a few friends of your birth father. You will just be another new shinobi at the academy when you start tomorrow. I doubt those who remember you even know your name, and they certainly haven't told their children about your condition. You should fit in just fine." The old man smiled again as he finished his oration.
Naruto nodded. "I understand Hokage-sama. Please don't have any regrets about sending me away, my childhood was excellent. My father…," he met Miamoto's eyes, and he fought down a nearly inaudible sob, "-did an excellent job of raising me and teaching me the things necessary to become a ninja. I had it better than most orphans, I think, and I couldn't have asked for a better home to grow up in." His eyes shined with unshed tears.
Sarutobi cleared his throat, somewhat uncomfortable. He knew when he asked his old friend to raise Minato's son that this day would eventually come, but he still didn't feel good separating a parent from his child. He had even given Sakabutai the option of living in Konoha, but he had to decline. If he spent even a few more months away from his homeland he would grow much weaker, and perhaps even die. In the cold of snow country he might live another two hundred years. If he returned to the ruined Yukigakure where he had raised the young junchiriki… then Naruto would always have a home to return to if things went bad in Konoha, he would always have a father to write to and visit. Sakabutai had long resigned himself to the fact that leaving Naruto was best for him, in the long run.
It sure hurt like a motherfucker right now, though.
The two old men talked for another hour, perhaps two, the blond haired 'tween, now both their charge, making a foray into their conversation at time. Around noon, Sarutobi sent his secretary out for lunch, and she returned with some cheap ramen from some booth or another. Noodles were not a native dish in Snow Country, and having only visited two small villages in the place where he grew up, the experience was a novel one for young Naruto. He made the middle aged lady who brought him this "ramen" give him directions to the place she purchased it. Both his father and the Hokage laughed at the enthusiasm that the lad showed for the simple food.
Toward the middle of the afternoon, everything that needed to be said between the three had been said, and another chuunin by the name of Iruka had been sent for, to meet his new student and to show him to the place he would be staying.
A chuunin of middle height with a scarred nose and a bushy pony tail walked in, just as Miamoto finished delivering the punch line to a bad joke. Sarutobi, having a pretty weird sense of humor gave a light chuckle, and Naruto only groaned, having heard it several times before. In their little part of the Snow Country, his father's terrible and often made-up on the spot jokes were legendary. Iruka stood at attention off to the side, waiting for Sarutobi to acknowledge him.
The Hokage stood up, followed by the other two. He waved the young school teacher over. "Naruto, I would like you to meet Umino Iruka. Iruka-kun, I would like you to meet your newest student, Uzumaki Naruto." The name tickled the back of Iruka's brain, but when he tried to call us the information, it refused to come. Oh, well, he thought.
"Pleased to meet you, Uzumaki-san," said Iruka, giving him a small bow. Naruto smiled, instantly liking the polite young instructor for some reason.
"Hajime-mashite, Iruka-sensei," spoke the young jinchuriki, bowing a tad lower than the older ninja. "I hope I learn a lot under your tutelage, brief as it may be." Iruka smiled at that. He had been told that a new student that had been out of country for most of his life would be joining his class late this year, only a few weeks before the graduation exams. He had been concerned that this was only going to set the boy up for failure, as that was far less time than needed to introduce even the basics of the ninja trade to a beginner. The Hokage had assured him that Naruto had been using chakra since he was three(!) and that he had had personal training from a ninja of nearly Kage level since then. Iruka concerns had vanished at that point, and given way to anticipation to see what this new student would be capable of. Even a shinobi of mediocre talent would be something special if trained by a ninja of that skill level.
Iruka turned to the Hokage. "You wished for my to show Naruto to his new residence, sir?" The Hokage nodded. Iruka turned back to Naruto.
Naruto realized that this was it. This was the last time he would see his father until after he became a ninja, and maybe for years after that. Thanks to a technique his father had taught him, he would be able to write to him, but he knew it wouldn't be the same. He turned to his parent, tears beginning to form in his eyes. To his shock, the older ninja looked like he himself was nearly ready to weep. Miamoto Sakabutai reached down and embraced his son, feeling the young man shake against him, and then they separated, both hardening their features though both their cheeks were wet. Neither Sarutobi nor Umino were immune to the emotions passing between the two.
"You have made me proud, my son," said, the old Snow-nin, "continue to do so. Become a strong ninja of the Leaf."
"I'll miss you, dad." Said Naruto. The old man smiled down at his son. A scroll appeared so suddenly that it seemed to materialize in his hand, and he passed it down to his son. "This is for you. It contains some techniques I have been meaning to give you. Learn them." He turned to his old friend, the past and present Hokage. "Sarutobi. Take care of my son." The old Leaf-nin nodded.
And then Miamoto Sakabutai was gone.
The two Konoha ninja blinked. They hadn't felt any chakra, so it had to have been pure speed, but they hadn't felt a rush of air or seen him depart. Naruto sighed, used to the old man's antics.
"You were going to show me to my new home, Iruka-san?" asked Naruto.
0&0&0&0&0&0&0&0&0&
Author's Note:
If you are reading this, chances are good that you have just finished devouring the second chapter of "Rise of the Science-Nin. With your eyes. Anyhoo, please leave me a review. And if you haven't reviewed the first chapter, review that one as well. I demand it. ;) Anyway, is Iruka going to take Naruto to a house, or a shitty apartment? Help me decide. A big house might be a little scary for a young kid on his own, but a ghetto'partment in the shady side of the leaf might underwhelm or piss off the young kid, after having an entire nearly-empty hidden village to romp around all of his life. Or maybe, Sarutobi has decided to let him do a home-stay with some nice ninja family? :D Place your suggestion in the comment box, per favor.
I introduced "Miamoto-sensei's Quote of the Day" this chapter. These are going to be quotes, mostly about the nature and manipulation of chakra, that Sakabutai taught Naruto as a child. They will almost definitely conflict with cannon in detail, but not in application. I think it's pretty cool, but let me know if you think it's stupid.
Peace out until next chapter.