Naruto frowned as he glared up at the sky. Damn it was hot. He half wondered if they should've just broken in during the night. Nah, sneaking in under cover of darkness would have been boring. Besides, walking in during the day like any unsuspecting traveler was the way to go, least that's what his master always said. The twelve year old looked back at the chaos that continued behind him. "Tayuya!", he called out to his partner.
The red-headed girl standing on the largest ogre's shoulder suddenly played her flute off-key for just a second, saving probably another three chunin from near fatal wounds as the demons around her paused in that moment. Tayuya quickly regained her tune before rounding her hazel scowl from the shinobi to give her leader a full blown glare which roughly translated to, "WHAT!"
Obliviously Naruto waved a hand over at her and shouted, "We're breaking through!".
Tayuya nodded at the call and she set her demons on auto-pilot. The melody of her flute and she waved the instrument forward like a commander's saber. "Charge!". With that one word, something close to over a hundred demons began stomping through the road, towards where no one really knew, at least the red-head didn't. All she really wanted right now was to raise as much hell as possible.
On the other hand, Naruto just watched Tayuya's legion pass by with a huge grin on his face. He breathed in deeply, pride in his voice, "It does my heart good to see such an energetic young girl.". He flicked blood off of his knives before turning back to a group of seven ANBU, "Don't you agree?".
"Stay where you are.", a cat masked ANBU held out their sword threateningly, the porcelain mask muffling her voice just enough to distort the pitch and prevent it from identifying the individual. The ANBU's comrades also raised their swords in a threatening stance.
Sighing, the young boy closed his eyes as a red aura began to encompass his body. His crimson eyes opened again and the ANBU watched in hidden horror as Naruto's pupils extended from round circles into vertical slits then formed back into circles with two lines spiraling outwards, each. Three of the four lines were lit up with ever changing colors. "Buredogan", the kyuubi container whispered. He took a stance with both weapons in his hands inviting the seven adults to attack, "Let's play.".
Despite the one calling for his opponents to attack, Naruto rushed in first, split seconds after his arrogant call. His speed shocked them, speed which should have been possible only for jounin. The young man decided to pick off the cat masked ANBU first, that one seemed to be the leader. He swerved under the swing of his target's katana and thrust out his right knife, intending to gut them. Another katana swung and forced his blade down.
The boy jumped up and out of harm's way as another two ANBU tried to split him in three with their weapons. He jumped clear over their heads, a mischievous grin on his face as he appreciated the unique distorted sight his Buredogan gave him. Globs of color blotching up warped pictures of what he should be seeing. To most such vision would be considered a curse, but to Naruto it was a blessing. It was as senseless as it was beautiful. It was as if his eyes were trying to drive him into the brink of madness itself and that was exactly what it was doing. It drove him and anyone who looked him in the eye insane.
Beneath him, the ANBU were already feeling the effects of the Buredogan themselves. The madness manifesting in various ways. Fear, bloodlust, obsession, ecstasy, hate, passion, emotions that shinobi should always leave behind when in combat. ANBU especially were trained to reign in these emotions and keep them to a non-existent level, that's why they didn't go flat out insane when they made eye contact with the Buredogan when any normal person would. Instead their reaction times were sluggish by a moment and their movements felt more forced as they couldn't fall on their reflexes lest they lashed out.
Naruto landed without a miss in his step, balance just perfect for a second lunge the instant he hit ground. Once more he was upon the ANBU but instead of cat face whom a protective perimeter had already been set around, he decided to go for the closest one, frog face.
Grin stretching cheek to cheek, Naruto swung his knife in a reverse grip hoping sever the man's head from the nose up. He failed when the ANBU caught themselves just in time to bring their katana up for a block, the spike of fear strengthening the madness that simmered beneath the mask.
Offering no resistance, the frog ANBU was quickly pushed away by the twelve year old as the boy's left knife parried an attack from another ANBU whom he didn't even spare a glance to. Naruto stabbed the offender in the back when a chance presented itself due to the sloppy follow up. It took him longer than he thought to twist the knife out and he paid for it when one katana caught him right across the chest. Naruto growled but his grin didn't let up. His madness grew stronger as he punched the one who wounded him in the masked face. The porcelain fell into pieces before he could identify exactly what animal it was but if the blank eyes and bloody bent nose underneath was to go by, that particular combatant wouldn't be getting up soon.
For all his efforts to put the squad a man down, Naruto received another katana run through his shoulder from behind and out the front. The pain made him grunt but that was all it did, he had worse wounds before. He leaned back and felt the wound tear as the sword went all the way down the hilt. His back hit something and without hesitation he dug his left knife in his back-stabber's leg. The shinobi didn't scream, as fitting of an ANBU.
Hand now free, Naruto grabbed the blade sticking out of him. He taunted his opponents even as they converged on his somewhat helpless state, "If you're coming at me, make sure you're coming at me to kill.". With those words, he snapped off the katana sticking out of his shoulder, promptly sending it flying at the ANBU to his right who immediately fell dead as they projectile went right through the armor and into the heart. The boy leaned forward easily releasing himself from the snapped blade. He spun violently, slitting the backstabber's throat as the madness kept the shinobi from moving fast enough.
Before the bloody corpse could fall as it rained a spray of blood, Naruto retrieved his knife just in time to face a fifth attacker from his five o'clock. No thoughts, only action, he spun again with his knife poised to kill this assailant like he did the last. This was not to be as the ANBU hopped back, earning only another scar on his battle worn armor. "Tsk.", Naruto clucked his tongue. A scream cut through the disappointment as the cat masked ANBU came charging at him this time. He smiled as he took a swing as well.
"Enough!"
Both combatants stopped mid-swing, neither weapons close enough to decide the advantage but blades were poised to slice each other. The ANBU's katana inches away from the murderous child's blonde crown, while Naruto's blade was equally as far from splitting her head across the eyes.
Adjacent to their deadly pause, the most powerful ninja of the village alighted from his roof to roof sprint. Naruto took notice of the new arrival, the man was not in a battle garb. Those were a kage's formal robes. He clenched his fists tightly, the slight clink of his knives making the cat masked ANBU twitch the sword that was right above his head. He dropped his hands with a sigh. The boy knew he couldn't win, at least not with enemy reinforcements here. Besides, seemed like they weren't hostile anyway. At least that's what his Buredogan was telling him.
In a sign of peace Naruto sheathed his weapons, dispelled his doujutsu and raised his hands, careful to make sure they were in clear sight.
The Hokage stared at the bloodied boy before him, almost with disbelief that this was the taciturn Naruto he knew. "Neko.", he barked the ANBU's codename.
A second of hesitation passed before the mentioned ANBU did as told and hid their weapon as well.
"Take care of the dead and the wounded, I will take care of things here.", the sandaime hokage ordered. Cat face didn't argue, not with the hard look in Sarutobi's eyes.
"Understood.", Neko bowed before running towards her fallen companions.
Boy and Hokage stared at each other, facing off as they studied the other. Deciding it was time to break the ice Naruto sighed, "The guy with the broken nose is dead.".
Sarutobi noticed Neko stop shortly before kneeling down to check on the fallen ANBU with the broken mask. A few tense moments and a pronouncement, "He's dead.".
Grin stretching cheek to cheek once again, "Drowned in his own blood didn't he?". A grim silence fell over them all. "If anything,", Naruto continued clearly finding the whole thing amusing, "Some of the porcelain shards must've gotten in his eyes and nose. Even if he lived, he'd probably be little more than a blind man with a shredded respiratory system. Though I don't doubt he would have made a full recovery if he was got the attention of your medic-nin immediately.".
The tension in the air was thick, so thick that someone could have choked on it had they stumbled onto the scene. "You.", neko turned back to the child. The ANBU pulled off the mask and exposed a beautiful woman's face underneath. The woman code-named neko grabbed Naruto by the front of his dark blue, blood-stained shirt and easily lifted him off the ground. "You think this is funny!", she screamed. "You killed some of our best men and you have the gal to talk like you know so much better than us?". She was livid and Naruto for whatever reason burst out laughing.
"I should.", he stared her in the eye. "If I could tell he was dead without looking and you couldn't then I must know a tad bit more than you.", his voice was bored and his face still carrying that infuriatingly amused grin.
Neko screamed as she smashed his face in with her armored fist. Naruto went down, but he only chuckled at her as stray strands of purple hair now hung disheveled over her face.
The boy merely sat up and patted himself down, free of dirt and checking himself if any got under his jacket. He grumbled when he noticed his state of dress, "Dammit, I just got this shirt last week.". He pulled at it to inspect the bloodstains along with the rips from all the sword wounds he'd taken.
For all she was worth the ANBU code-named neko paused in her fury long enough to notice that Naruto was unharmed. The deep-slash across the boy's chest as well as the gaping hole made by one of her fallen ally's sword was nowhere to be seen. As if all their sacrifice had amounted to nothing against this boy. Her eyes widened as she fell to her knees. Her head spun before she finally blacked out and lost consciousness.
Naruto saw the whole thing and clucked his tongue twice disapprovingly. "Tsk tsk, I thought ANBU were required to be heartless unfeeling killing machines. Guess I was wrong.", the boy turned to Sandaime Hokage, "Or is Konoha's shinobi just slipping in quality?".
Sarutobi's eyes burned holes into Naruto's crimson gaze. Torn between happiness at the child's return and repulsed at the way he casually dismissed the gravity of his actions, at the way the the yondaime's legacy just insulted the whole of Konohagakure. "Is that really you Naruto?", the old man asked with trepidation.
"Yep.", Naruto nodded before thumping his own chest. "All here.", he grinned.
The old man frowned, "What happened to you?".
"Let's talk later.", Naruto waved the question off. "Right now I think I should stop Tayuya before she levels the whole town.", the boy grimaced as he noticed the dust cloud that was rumbling through Konoha at a frightening pace.
The quiet tick tock of the grandfather clock was the only thing that could be heard in the Hokage's office. Inside, the three lone occupants kept silent, content with waiting for the other to speak up first.
Sarutobi sighed from behind his oaken desk. This was pointless, it looked like Naruto wasn't going to talk unless he initiated contact. Feeling his old age crashing down on him, the old man thumped his shoulders a bit. When he finally worked up the nerve, he began, "Naruto.".
The boy in question raised a brow, "Yeah?".
"What happened to you eight years ago?", the Hokage finally let out the question which had haunted him through the years. "I've scoured Konoha for any sign of you, a search party was even sent out to look for you but they could find neither hair nor hide of you.".
Naruto shrugged. "I left Konoha with my master eight years ago. I had no idea about a search party looking for me.", the boy spoke honestly. "Though we almost had a few near-misses with some heavily armed Konoha nin who had been asking about me.", he professed.
"Why didn't you go with them?", Sarutobi furrowed his brows. "And who exactly is your master?".
"Master was a fugitive, he didn't exactly trust public authorities. Honestly, neither did I.", Naruto gave the old man a flat stare. "My master called himself Four, though he also went by the name Shi.".
"So you left with this man eight years ago? All without letting anyone know?", the Hokage raised his voice at how incredulous it all sounded.
The twelve year old scratched his head in thought before stuffing his hands in his pockets and speaking, "Yeah, that's pretty much it. Didn't really think anyone would care to know.", he laughed.
He laughed, Naruto actually laughed at the fact no one cared. Something was gravely wrong with this picture, Sarutobi let his head fall into his hands, his arms propped up against his desk to keep his head from falling any further. The old man rubbed his tired eyes. Paper work, council work, nightmares of Naruto hating him or worse yet, dead. But now with the boy he had wronged right in front of him, he almost wished his nightmares were reality instead, at least then he'd know what to do. The boy before him was too different from the one he knew, it was as if the boy was a completely different person. Problem was it was Naruto, the crimson eyes that haunted him so were proof.
"Did you know that a few days after you stopped staying at your apartment, the west gate was anihilated under cover of night?", Sarutobi asked the wayward boy.
"Ah", Naruto hit the bottom of his fist against an open palm, "That was us. They wouldn't let me and master out so he had to make them.".
Disbelief clouded the Hokage's face, "Those men were trained chunin and jounin, there were even some ANBU hiding in the shadows. How could one man cause such a slaughter?".
"Master was strong.", Naruto spoke solemnly, "no one could beat him.".
Finding the change in tone odd, the old man asked, "Where is your master now?".
Naruto's lips sealed themselves into a tight line. His next words the most shocking thus far. "He's dead.", the twelve yeard old replied, "I killed him.".
Sarutobi looked down on his desk. Slowly he sank back into his chair. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he asked, "Did you come back to find a home?".
"No.", the murder child shook his head, "I came to find a crew.".
Sandaime Hokage fixed Naruto with a tired gaze, one only a haggard old man like himself could give. "Why are you looking for a crew Naruto?", he asked bluntly, mind too emotionally drained to try tact anymore.
"Not just a crew jiji, I'm looking for a ship as well.", Naruto's words were soft almost sad, just like the smile on his face. It almost reminded the Hokage of the Naruto from eight years ago. "I don't plan on staying too long old man. In fact, I'm planning to leave the elemental nations behind and sail beyond the continent.".
It was as if time stopped, acting like a deranged lunatic was one thing, but to leave the continent, especially now Sarutobi knew that inside there was still a bit of the lonely boy he had always known still there? "Why?", was all he could say.
A look which could only be described as sorrowful pity crossed Naruto's face as he went up to the window to look over the city. "There's nothing here for me anymore, Sandaime Hokage-sama.", he turned to the door at his back and walked away to leave, "Not even the position my father held holds meaning to me anymore.", he said bitterly.
Eyes wide, the Sarutobi Hiruzen bolted up from his seat. "You knew?", the Hokage gaped.
Naruto stopped, nodding slowly in affirmation. "The furball in my stomach told me everything.".
"Everything?", Sarutobi looked down at himself, "Then you should know that your life is in danger.".
"Jiji.", Naruto called the Hokage's attention. "I'm a murderer. My life's always in danger.", with that he walked out.
As the sound of Naruto's footsteps faded, the third person in the room who had been silent throughout the whole drama decided it was finally time to hike it out of there as well.
"Wait.", Sarutobi called out to the one other person. "Your name is Tayuya right?", he addressed the red-haired girl who had been with Naruto when they attacked.
"What?", the girl scowled at the old man, holding back her usual fierceness. After all, this person was perhaps one of the few people to get such sincere reactions from her captain.
Konoha's Hokage sat down behind his desk. He reached into the familiar drawer where he kept his pipe. With hands that dared to betray their shaking, he lit up the dried leaves and puffed a calming cloud. "Do you know of Naruto's secret?", Sarutobi regarded her with barely held calm.
Tayuya looked away in annoyance, "'Course I know, damn hard not to when the thing itself makes contact so you can take its job of explaining exactly what the heck its saying to the idiot holding it.".
Sarutobi concurred, "Ofcourse.". He took another puff of the tobacco before plowing on. "You probably know this, but during the night of Naruto's birth the Kyuubi terrorized Konoha. The Hokage at the time was the Yondaime Hokage. He fought the beast but failed to kill it. In the end, he was forced to seal it in a baby.".
"His own son right? Captain S&M?", Tayuya grumbled refering to her sadomasochistic leader, Naruto. "If all you're telling me is stuff I already know then I'm leaving old man.", the disrespectful kunoichi moved to walk out.
"There's more.", Sandaime's firm voice kept her to her spot. Something about how he said those two words piqued her interest.
Closing her eyes, Tayuya leaned back onto the nearest bit of wall she could find. "Fine.", she looked at him, "but this better be good.".
"It might be.", Sarutobi shrugged with little enthusiasm. It almost felt like he was delaying the inevitable. He took another breath of his smoke. "The Yondaime was a master at fuinjutsu. He was also adept at making seals.", the man took another puff. "It was so great he had surpassed even his sensei the sannin Jiraiya. Tell me Tayuya, where does Naruto get all of his power?".
The girl furrowed her brows. "Well, obviously from the fox.", Tayuya didn't see the point of asking since it was damn obvious.
Sarutobi confirmed with a nod, "That's right. However, what about his looks? Don't you think it's odd? His crimson eyes, his elongated canines, the prominent whisker marks.".
"Well", the girl looked up with a thoughtful stare, "Yeah, what about it?".
"Naruto's eyes were blue when he was born.", the old man blew on his pipe. His mind pensive as they sifted through his memories.
"Err... is that pipe filled with crack old man? Or is it your brain that's cracked? You just said his eyes were red.", the girl irritatedly placed her hands on her waste.
Stern brown eyes met stubborn hazel. "And I'm telling you they were blue when he was born.", the third tried to remain calm. "They only turned red after the sealing. It was an influence of the Kyuubi.".
"But that's too weird.", Tayuya approached the old man's desk. "During the time I wasn't with captain, I've been told lots about people with stuff like that being sealed into them. There shouldn't be so much influence on their growth, especially when the seal was supposed to be put by the biggest badass of all time.".
"Exactly.", the Hokage sighed, "The seal itself was perfect. It was one that was meant to last, maybe a decade, maybe a century, maybe even forever but that was as long as nobody tried to so much as move it. However, what wasn't perfect was our plan. We didn't foresee the cunning of the Kyuubi. We had assumed that it was like the other tailed-beasts, all raw power and not enough technique to use their vast wealth of chakra properly.". A bitter smile was on Sarutobi's face as memories of the darkest night of his life flashed before his very eyes. "The fox had tried to dispel the seal, going as far to use seals derived from our own hand seals, it even did Kai.".
Eyes wide in disbelief, Tayuya breathed, "No way.".
Continuing on as if the girl had said nothing Sarutobi pulled at the dark memory. "For a moment, it looked like the fox would break out of the seal, but thanks to the Hokage's wife it was restrained just enough to put the seal into effect. In a last ditch effort, the Kyubi released its chakra in an explosive wave, one that would have destroyed Konoha under normal circumstances. Those circumstances were, not normal though. In fact, the circumstances were already in our favor. Even as the chakra explosion grew, it also shrunk as the first part of the seal began draining it of power. But the seal, was not made to take in so much power all at once. It cracked during the chakra sealing phase and seemed to have leaked into Naruto in great amounts, his human chakra itself being twisted by the tailed-beast's. We didn't notice the crack until it was too late.".
A look of concentration was on Tayuya's face. Her usual scowl was deeper than normal because of the thoughts that plagued her mind at this information, information she had not been told during all of her three years of traveling with Naruto who was pretty open about his monster problem. There must have been a reason that he kept this from her, but if he had a reason to keep it from her, what reason did the old man have in telling her. "Why?", she voiced out her thoughts, "Why tell me something like this?".
"The changes the Kyuubi forced on him.", Sarutobi's hands finally shook as his despair came pouring forth, the nicotine no longer enough to calm his nerves. "The red eyes, the deep whisker marks, they marked themselves so deeply in Naruto that the villagers hated him. They hated him with a passion that bordered on fanaticism.", the old man grit his teeth as he hiding his face in his hands, shame, guilt, everything pent up for eight years coming to the surface. "The worst part of it all, was that when everyone in this village hated him, practically called for his death. I who was supposed to be his protector, I who was supposed to be his acting guardian, did nothing. I didn't protect him, I didn't care for him.", Sarutobi's fingers curled, clawing into his face. "All because those red eyes of his reminded me too much of the fox!".
That was enough, Tayuya couldn't take much more of this self-pity, so she grabbed the old man and gave him a good hard slap. She pulled on him by the collar and screamed, "Pull yourself together you goddamned faggot!". The words echoed within the office, cutting off whatever self-mutilating thought the Sandaime was having in his head. "Stop being such a whiny little pussy! You're the Hokage for crying out loud! I ain't even surprised anymore at how bad your shinobi suck if their leader broke down crying at every little thing.".
"Naruto is like family to me.", the Hokage explained
"And so should everyone else in the village.", the raging woman shook her victim. Hissing a sigh, she let out all the anger and tension, finding whatever little bit of manners she had left in her. "Look, I got that you want to make amends, that you want to make him stay, but the past is the past. If you try to bring back what's trying to move forward then you're just dragging them back to square one. If you care then just let it go.".
Sarutobi looked at himself and laughed at his pitiful state, being lectured by a girl who wasn't even a quarter of his age. "I suppose.", he laughed bitterly, "but it doesn't change the fact that I hope he would stay.".
"Help him find his crew.", Tayuya told him, "If you do that then its enough.".
"Very well.", the old man sighed in resignation. "I'll try to placate the families of those killed today. I can probably buy you no more than three days for your venture before the populace demand for your blood.".
Tayuya grinned, "That's more than enough.". She turned and ran to the door, "Thanks old geezer, you ain't bad in my book.".
Stopping his guest again before they could leave, Sarutobi called Tayuya, "Wait.".
"What now?", grumped Tayuya.
An amused grin replaced the sadness in Sarutobi's face. "Take care of Naruto for me.".
The girl grunted before high-tailing it out of there. "He doesn't need anyone to take care of him. If he could raid one of Orochimaru's base and drag my unconscious carcass out while doing it, then people might need to take care from him.".
Author's Notes: Bah, didn't turn out as good as I hoped, but I pray that's enough to sate the plot holes from the first chapter. Buredogan, by the way, is a doujutsu that I thought up. I wanted to explain exactly what it was but sticking that in this chapter would've been seriously making the whole thing more awkward than it already is. Please don't mistake it for something in canon.