Forging of a New Weapon
Naruto stood in front of the Hokage with an obvious frown of annoyance on his face as the older man in the room paced back and forth slowly. "What do I do?" muttered the Sandaime for the twelfth time in the last ten minutes. Sure he has taken on an apprentice but his job as the Hokage was quite demanding too, especially with all the paperwork that was still piled high on his desk. "Ahah!" exclaimed the man as he suddenly came upon an idea that was quite…ingenious now that he thought about it.
"Oi can we go now?" asked the annoyed blonde boy as looked crossly at the Sandaime, who sighed.
"Just a little bit longer, and then we can go," replied the Sandaime with a small smile at his young apprentice's impatience and excitement. When he had asked Naruto if he wanted to become a shinobi, albeit in the boy's own words for him to understand better, the little blonde was ecstatic! He was practically jumping up and down ready to start learning the instant the Hokage had asked him the question. The following day, Hiruzen had ordered one of his ANBU that always remained in his office to fetch a certain ANBU captain, one Kakashi Hatake to his office immediately. The masked ninja gave a small nod before disappearing from the tower in a puff of smoke.
"So, so what are we going to be learning today Jiji?" asked the little ninja-to-be to the Sandaime with an excited expression as he hopped on his feet. The Sandaime couldn't help but chuckle. He himself was like that when he had asked the Shodaime and the Nidaime what they were going to teach him in very much the same fashion, though he was about nine years old at the time, if his memory served right. "Ooh are you going to teach me some crazy super power like throwing fire from my mouth or maybe creating thunder in my hand?" the blonde asked as he looked innocently at the wide eyed old man.
"Naruto, how do you know those techniques?" asked the Sandaime, a little worried that the Kyuubi might be messing with the kid's head already, or filling his head with crazy ideas, or other scenarios that involved a nine tailed fox and very negative things.
"Umm…I saw them," replied Naruto, blinking twice as the Sandaime's eyes grew even larger.
"Where?" asked Hiruzen, slightly relieved that the Fox was not involved.
"The places where little super people show off their super powers to a big super person," replied Naruto confusing the Hokage a little bit.
"Are you saying that you watched young genins practice with their Jounin instructors in the training grounds?' asked Sarutobi, just so he could get what Naruto was trying to say clearly.
"Uhh…huh?" the young jinchuuriki scratched his head as he looked at the Sandaime with an expression that showed complete confusion.
"Okay, can you describe some of the people you saw?" asked the Hokage, intent on finding out exactly what his apprentice had been up to.
"Okay. So there are usually four people, and one of them is always big. So this one big person looked very funny because he was wearing a cloth on his head and also wearing dark glasses. You know like the kind people wear when there is too much sunlight?" Naruto looked at the Hokage and once he nodded, the boy continued. "He was also wearing a dark blue over all and kept telling his students about shortcuts to greatness and only he had them," finished the blonde as he looked at the Sandaime with raised eyebrows.
"Hmm, maybe I have to rethink whether I want Konohamaru to be with Ebisu once he comes of age," Hiruzen thought, he had looked for an honest and good teacher for his grandson and found it in the humble, albeit a little eccentric, Jounin but he was turning out to be a bad apple it seemed. "Have you seen anyone else?" asked the Sandaime and got a vigorous nod from the blonde.
"Yes there was this other person who also wore a cloth over his head and had two really big scars on his face. He was also wearing a very long jacket," replied Naruto but he looked a little scared as he mentioned the scarred Jounin.
"Hmm," said the Hokage as he thought deeply about how the blonde had seen them without being noticed. "Where were you hiding Naruto while you were watching all this?"
"Well I am usually up in the trees and sometimes I just peek over the fence but other than that there really isn't any other place where you can hide and the super people will not notice you," replied the jinchuuriki with a shrug. Yet he had the feeling that the scarred super person knew he was looking at them because he had looked exactly at the spot where the blonde had been hiding before they left.
"You called for me?" asked Kakashi as he poked his head through the slightly open door and when the Hokage nodded he came in. "What can I do for you?" asked the silver haired Jounin as he looked at Naruto and smiled at the whiskered boy, knowing of the jinchuuriki's parentage and his connection to the young Uzumaki.
"I want you to stay in my office," replied the Hokage simply and smiled at the confused look on the silver haired teen's face.
"Umm…what?" asked the masked Jounin as he scratched his head much like Naruto had done moments earlier.
"So I am going to take Naruto out to train but then who would be in my office if there is an emergency? Therefore I need you to stay in this office and contact me if there is an urgent need for the Hokage," explained the Sandaime already expecting the incredulous look that crossed the teen's face. "Don't worry all you have to do is sit in the office and wait to see if I am personally needed, my clone will do all the work. Shadow Clone Technique," a second Hiruzen popped into existence next to the original one and calmly sat down behind the desk as he started doing the paper work. "Kami, why in the world had I not thought of that, it was probably invented for the purpose of defeating paperwork it seems," thought the Sandaime before turning back to look the masked Jounin.
"Why me?" asked Kakashi almost pleading the Hokage to reconsider his decision but the Hokage had a perfect excuse to make Kakashi stay and even enjoy it.
"Hmm, I thought you would be happy to get some free time," replied the Hokage as he looked at the young Jounin with a smirk, confusing the masked ANBU captain even more.
"What makes you say that?" asked the Jounin as a little indignation crept into his voice; after all he was a Jounin of Konohagakure and not a messenger.
"But I thought you would enjoy the free time in the office catching up on some of the juicy stuff in the new series called Icha Icha that came out only few weeks ago and if I remember correctly you were asking for a break just to catch up on your reading weren't you?" the Hokage's smile broadened as he saw Kakashi's eyes grow wide, comprehension setting in. He quietly sat down on one of the empty chairs and pulled open his book, amazingly, at the right page on the first try.
"I will see you if you are needed," said the silver haired Jounin absently as he concentrated completely on the new series he had recently discovered and had promptly fell in love with, before even knowing that the author was his now deceased teacher's sensei, the Great Toad Sage himself! "By the way where will you be taking him to train?" asked Kakashi as the Hokage reached the door to his office with Naruto close in tow.
"Why Area forty-four, the Forest of Death of course!" replied the Hiruzen and a small shiver ran down the Jounin's back. Even full grown Chuunins hated that specific place in all of Konoha, it was no wonder the Sannins turned out to be some of the most fearsome warriors in all the elemental nations if they had started their training in there from the first day.
IN AREA 44
Sarutobi walked into the Forest of Death as he set Naruto down after a quick sushin and told him to follow closely. "So Jiji, what are we going into the scary forest for?" asked the blonde as he followed closely behind the older man who seemed unperturbed by the darkness that was looming before them.
"Naruto, this is where we are going to be training from now on," replied the Hokage as he chuckled seeing the young boy gulp and his eyes darted about trying to detect if they were safe in the place. He had to give credit to the kid though, for he had followed the Sandaime step for step where as Tsunade had tried to make a run for it when he had brought her with her teammates into the forest for their first day of training, and she was nearly twice the boy's age back then. They reached a big clearing in the forest that Sarutobi had first created to train the Sannins, and for some reason no trees had grown back in this place even after all these years. It was conveniently right next to the small river that eventually led to the Valley of End which was created when Madara Uchiha fought Hashirama Senju, for the role of the Shodaime to the village of Konohagakure.
The Sandaime turned back towards the blonde and knelt to face the young boy. "Now Naruto I know that this place scares you but there is a reason why I have brought you here to train on your first day. All I am asking you to do is trust me, do you trust me?" asked the Hokage and saw young Uzumaki nod vigorously. "Then you will find out everything about me and this village in due time." Hiruzen stood up and walked back to the center of the clearing before beckoning the boy to join him. Naruto did as he was instructed and stood in front of his teacher, looking up at him expectantly. "Naruto, I want you to form the Tiger seal, like this, and then push out with as much pressure as you can," ordered the Hokage as he showed the boy how the tiger seal was formed. So the blonde did just that, he held his hands in a tiger seal and tried to put out as much pressure as he could, he could feel something trying to come out from deep within him and grasped onto it like a leech.
"Oh dear Kami," muttered the Sandaime as he at first noticed a faint aura of blue surrounding the small child before it seemed like a dam had broken, and with a huge blast chakra started to pour off the boy like a roaring waterfall. The wind picked up at the sudden outpour of raw power and the trees surrounding the clearing bent in nearly a half when the wind picked up in full power. This went on for eight minutes before Naruto's chakra started to wear off before the blue aura disappeared completely. Naruto knew something had happened as he saw the Hokage's eyes were ready to pop out of his skull. "The boy's chakra reserves are already past a regular Chuunin? That is extremely rare even for Uzumakis," thought the man in wonder.
"So how was that Jiji?" asked Naruto tiredly as he wiped the sweat that beaded his forehead.
"That…that was very impressive, very impressive indeed," replied the Hokage as he came forward and sat down across his apprentice before entering lecture mode, after all he was not known as the 'Professor' for nothing. "Now Naruto, I am going to explain how your training will progress, and do not think that I will be easy on you at all. This will be the hardest thing that you have done in your life and without your full dedication and cooperation this will amount to nothing. Are you ready to give everything in you to become the best Shinobi you can under my tutelage?" There was nothing but pure seriousness on the older Shinobi's face, and the young Uzumaki knew that his training will end if he showed any hesitation right now.
"I will try my best Jiji!" proclaimed the blonde loudly as his voice echoed off the forest. "Umm…I still have a question though," he said in a small voice after the echoes died off.
"If you have any questions, doubts, or troubles then never hesitate to ask me, that is after all why I am here," assured the Sandaime with a kind smile, like he had so many times to put the child's heart to rest, and like all the other time it worked this time too.
"So what is a Shinobi?" asked the blonde boy making Hiruzen slap his forehead, this was going to be a long journey turning Naruto from a mere child to a full Shinobi, but he had made a promise to his successor that he will take care of the Yondaime's legacy and he intended to follow his promise with everything he had.
"Naruto, the people that you refer to as super people have an official name because of their powers, they are collectively known as Shinobis," replied to Hokage and the blonde's eyebrows rose and his mouth formed a little 'O' as he understood the Sandaime's previous comment. "Now, I believe you should listen to this carefully, this is going to be what you are going to do every day until I tell you otherwise. Every morning you will run for three laps around this clearing to build up your stamina before we start our training. Then there are three things that we will specifically concentrate on in the beginning and that are the basics of every Shinobi's foundation. For the first part of our training, we will concentrate on chakra control and your ability to dodge or avoid any physical or chakra enhanced attacks that can be avoided. This will not only increase your speed, it will also increase your perception of incoming attacks and reflexes to their utmost," Sarutobi stopped and watched as the boy literally drank in every word he had said. "Then I will teach you about sealing and Fuuinjutsu. Fuuinjutsu is very delicate and requires lots of practice and hard work before one can perform even the most basic of sealing techniques. But if you become proficient in the art, you will have a very high quality of jutsu arsenal that will allow you to overcome even the toughest of situations."
"I thought there were only three types. Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu, what is this Fuujinjutsu?" asked Naruto in a curious voice and made the Hokage chuckle once more.
"Where did you learn that?" asked the Hokage once his amusement died.
"I was just peeking through the window of a classroom in the big school, and there was this teacher with a large mark on his nose that was teaching about the types of jutsus there were. He never mentioned Fuujinjutsu, but he talked a long time about the other three and what their uses were," replied the blonde and he still remembered every word that the teacher had said.
"Well that is understandable. You see, the academy only teaches the basic level of knowledge that a shinobi needs to know so that they can become successful genins if they try hard and learn all that can be learned in the classes. The actual training of a Shinobi starts after they have become genins and start to do missions with their Jounin senseis and teammates. The Jounin senseis teach them everything according to their specialties and try to make them as competent a ninja as they can possibly become. If someone is from a clan then their training usually starts a lot earlier and shinobis from clans are therefore usually stronger than ninjas that do not belong to any clans," The Hokage saw as the child's face contort, as if disagreeing with the knowledge he was given.
"But isn't that unfair Jiji? What if the ninja without a clan works really hard, he still won't be able to become better than the one from the clan because the clan ninja has years of head start," Naruto's speculation was indeed correct, and to Sarutobi's surprise, quite perceptive of the little blonde.
"Yes, you are quite right Naruto. But our village favors those with clans and special bloodlines because they are the shinobis that rise through the ranks fast and have the possibility of becoming some of the strongest ninjas of Konoha," replied Sarutobi and he still thought that Konoha gave too much credit to Kekkei Genkai wielders, especially after what happened with the Uchiha clan, only made his doubts turn to confirmed beliefs.
"Still don't like it," said the young jinchuuriki as he scrunched his nose up in absolute dislike to the belief.
"And you don't have to believe that either. In my opinion, the way to becoming a powerful ninja, and an even better person is to always try hard and have the will to never give up. That is the way of a true ninja," concurred the Hokage as he stared at the young blonde with a smirk. He knew that no one in the village knew about his parents but he was the combination of two deceased bloodlines that were considered the best of the best, and not just in Konoha but in all the elemental nations.
"So if I work hard every day then I will become a really strong ninja right?" asked the blonde ecstatically with a bright smile on his face.
"Of course," replied the Sandaime, "I will make sure of that," he added, but in his thoughts.
"So what now Jiji?" asked the Uzumaki eagerly and Sarutobi stood up before Naruto followed suit.
"From now on, every time we train you will call me sensei and other times you can call me what you usually do, understand?" asked the Sandaime and was answered with a very enthusiastic reply from the energetic child.
"Hai sensei!"
"First we will begin with taijutsu, I will attack and you try to dodge or avoid every one that you can," ordered Sarutobi as he got into a simple stance. Naruto, jumped back as he put a little distance between the two so before staring at his teacher with intense concentration. Suddenly, the Sandaime ran, faster than Naruto could react, and he felt the breath leaving his body as an elbow buried itself deep into his stomach, lifting him off his feet, and sent him sprawling on the ground a few feet away. He slowly sat up and coughed but looked up with admiration shining in his eyes.
"That was amazing!" he shouted as he jumped back to his feet before walking forward and standing across from the Hokage, ready to try again. The Sandaime smiled, seeing the child's eagerness to not give up and took up the same stance as before. Sarutobi launched the same attack again but his apprentice was ready this time. He ducked, so the older shinobi launched his leg out and was surprised when the blonde jumped above his leg before flipping, effectively dodging his hand swing that he threw when he saw that Naruto had dodged his kick. The Hokage raised his brows, Naruto turned out to be better than he thought.
"Alright Naruto, now I am going to put it up a notch because I want to find out what your limit is," stated Hiruzen as he got into a stance that lead into katas, and Naruto nodded saying he was ready. The Hokage charged, this time intent on just landing a blow on his apprentice but the blonde dodged him lithely by jumping, then flipping, before ducking and finally sliding under his arm as they both stopped.
"How was that sensei?" asked Naruto as he turned to face his teacher with a mischievous smile on his face.
"How did you learn to do that?" asked the Sandaime in a shocked voice.
"Learn to do what?" asked the blonde innocently, oblivious to the fact that many found what he just did quite hard, even though the Hokage was going easy on him because Naruto had no training in the shinobi arts at all.
"How did you learn to avoid attacks in the manner that you just did?" asked the Hokage, he could see that the blonde's style was unrefined and quite rough at best, but had dodged the fast katas that he had thrown to test his student's limit.
"I just saw you coming and dodged just like you asked," replied the blonde, surprising the older shinobi even more.
"Hmm, let's see just how fast you are," said the Sandaime as he charged at his student again, this time without any warning. They practiced this for another couple hours before Naruto dropped on the grass like a bag of sand from exhaustion. After regaining his breath and drinking some water from the small river he went back and sat down next to his sensei.
"Naruto, I know how good your physical capabilities are, now I am going to teach you about your chakra control," said Hiruzen as he stood up and walked towards a tree and walked up on it like he was walking on the ground. Naruto stared at his sensei, as the man walked up the tree before calmly walking back down looking at Naruto with a small smile. "Your turn," said the Sandaime as he came to stand by his apprentice.
"Umm, what do I have to do exactly?" asked Naruto as he looked up at his sensei.
"You have to concentrate the flow of your chakra to your feet so that you can stick to the tree while you are climbing it," replied Sarutobi and Naruto tried as he walked up to the tree to give it a try. He concentrated a little bit of the power that he had done earlier to his feet before attempting to run up the tree. He got about three steps before sliding back down and landing on his butt. He stood up and prepared to try again when his sensei stopped him.
"Naruto, don't try to run up the tree but just walk up so that if you do make any progress, I will be able to tell immediately, okay?" the Hokage got a nod as his answer before his apprentice tried again. When the blonde was not able to even take a single step, the Hokage gave him a few pointers and kept supporting the boy until he grasped the concept and by the end of the hour was able to make it halfway up the tree before his concentration broke and he just fell from the trunk. That was understandable thought the Hokage as he caught the blonde, after all he had just used up almost all of his chakra when he had shown how big his chakra reserves were only a few hours before. "Alright Naruto, that is enough, I am going to introduce you to the basics of Fuuinjutsu now, so come have a seat." Naruto followed his sensei back to the middle of the clearing, where they both sat down across each other and Sarutobi pulled out a medium sized book and a new notebook.
"Naruto, this is the book that they used in Uzushiogakure to teach the beginners the basics of Fuuinjutsu," said the Hokage before opening the book to the first chapter.
The Hokage showed Naruto how to perform many of the strokes properly and asked Naruto to practice his strokes every day until he became adept at them before could move on to more advanced things. Once that was done, the Sandaime stood up and put his white and red robes back on that he had taken off when he had started training Naruto. "Naruto do you know how to read?" he asked as he finished buttoning up his robe and picked up his hat.
"Yeah, we learned how to read and write at the place where I lived," replied Naruto as he put the Fuuinjutsu book and the new notebook into the pocket of his oversized orange jacket. Then the Sandaime suddenly froze as he remembered that Naruto had been kicked out of the orphanage two days ago, and he had completely forgot about it with all the things he had to do to make Naruto his official apprentice.
"Yeah, a fine sensei I make," thought the older man to himself sarcastically as he mentally cursed himself for becoming so careless about his charge. "Naruto, I know that you have nowhere to go, so come with me to my house, you will be staying with me until we can figure out a better arrangement for you, oh and I wanted you to have this," the Hokage held out a rather large leather bound book that was labeled "The Rise of Hashirama Senju and the founding of Konohagakure No Sato of Fire Country".
"Eh, what's this?" wondered Naruto loudly as he looked at the label on the fat book.
"Naruto, if you are going to become a Shinobi of this village, it is a requirement that you know the History of our village and how it was formed," lectured the Hokage as they walked towards the Sarutobi Mansion.
"So does this talk about the long haired man whose face is on the Hokage Mountain?" asked Naruto as he pointed at the sculpted face of the Shodaime Hokage on the mountain.
"Yes, and I will give you more books after you are done with that one that talks about all the Hokages of this village," said the Sandaime with a smile at the blonde.
"Even you?" he asked as he smiled at his sensei.
"Yes," replied Hiruzen with a chuckle. "Even me"
They finally reached a huge structure in the outskirts of the village and the duo walked in through the two large gates that led into the grounds that surrounded the mansion. "Is this where you live?" asked Naruto as he turned to look at his teacher who gave a small nod. "Sugoi," breathed the blonde as he took in the sheer size of the mansion itself. The Hokage and his apprentice walked in through the double wooden doors in the front of the mansion were greeted by four people in the living room who were waiting for the Hokage.
Kakashi looked up from the book he was reading and said "Yo".
Iruka stood up from the place where he was sitting and bowed to the Hokage who waved him off and he sat back down. And, there was a woman who was holding a small boy in her arms as she turned around and asked with a soft smile "How was your day Father?"
"Baa...ba ba?" said the boy in her arms.
"It was quite…interesting," replied the Hokage tiredly as he sat down next to Kakashi with a heavy sigh.
"And who was your new apprentice?" she asked as she looked curiously at the little blonde boy who was still looking around at the house with wonder.
"Well you are looking at him right now," replied the Sandaime as the three ninjas in the room broke out into light laughter at the young woman's startled 'Oh my!'
"So Kakashi, I hope there was nothing too troublesome that you had to do while you waited in my office today?" asked the Sandaime, and the ANBU captain promptly closed the book with a snap as a serious expression came over his face.
"Well, there wasn't any urgent need for the Hokage but the council members have requested a meeting with you tomorrow evening regarding the progress of your new apprentice," replied the silver haired man before standing up. "I do believe that I have to meet up with Gai for something important, is there anything else you might need?"
"No thanks, from tomorrow you can join back to your regular duties in the ANBU headquarters, and thank you for taking care of my office today," said the Sandaime and the masked Jounin nodded before promptly disappearing in a swirl of leaves. "Ah Iruka what brings you here today?"
"Nothing too important Hokage-sama, you just need to sign these papers for next year's term and these are the new entrees for next year's students," Iruka handed a folder to the Hokage who quickly scanned it before signing the places where his signature was needed.
"Hey aren't you a teacher at the big school?" shouted Naruto suddenly as he recognized the scar that ran across the man's nose.
"Yes, I am and who might you be?" asked Iruka politely.
"Naruto Uzumaki," replied the boy before giving the man a dazzlingly bright and large grin.
"Nice to meet you Naruto, my name is Iruka. I didn't know you went to school though aren't you a little young to be going to the academy?" asked the Chuunin curiously.
"No he doesn't go to the academy yet," confirmed the Hokage. The young woman put the baby she was holding down as he waddled over to his grandfather and pulled on his robes.
"Naruto, I believe you need a good wash," she said a little too sweetly for the boy's liking, and there was an evil glint in her eyes. "Come on, it's time you got a good scrubbing." She promptly picked the boy up and took the thrashing and protesting blonde inside.
"She really is something huh?" asked the academy instructor with a smile as he remembered that she had done the same to him about five years ago when the Hokage had brought him here after the Fox attacked the village.
"Yeah said the Sandaime as he picked up Konohamaru as smiled when the toddler yawned widely. "I think it's time for you to go to bed," said Hiruzen he rubbed the boy's head and he snuggled up against grandfather's chest and the soft robes he was wearing.
"So Hokage Sama, if I may, why the sudden interest in the child?" asked Iruka, he was genuinely surprised when he heard that the Sandaime had taken on an apprentice and the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no less! The Hokage sighed tiredly before replying.
"There was an attempt on the his life the day before the celebration and I decided that he needed to learn how to defend himself, so that he could at least get away if he was ever attacked again, but I just couldn't ask someone to take over his training, so I decided that the best way he would receive it without the council interfering too much would be if I took him in as my apprentice. They argued and tried to make me choose someone else, but I somehow was able to get the votes of the clan heads and it was decided. Let's just leave it that," said the Sandaime tiredly. "Why don't you stay over for dinner, I have a few things to discuss with you anyway?"
"As you wish Hokage-sama," replied the Chuunin as he put the folders back into his work bag while the Sandaime carried his grandson to bed.
Everyone was finally seated on the dining table and Naruto was staring at the steamed vegetable on his plate with a little frown on his face. He was currently wearing a comfortable looking cotton shirt and pajamas, both fit him quite snugly. "What's wrong Naruto?" asked the woman that had given him the scrubbing of a life time in the bath minutes before.
"I don't like veggies," he said confidently as he looked at the Hokage and Iruka, who were staring at him like he had lost his mind.
"Naruto, vegetables make one of the most important parts of a ninja's diet. If you don't eat your vegetables, you won't get the needed nutrition that a ninja's body needs to grow and cope with the intense physical exercise that they have to do every day to stay strong, and mentally focused at all times," lectured Iruka. He had learned over the course of the year that, many youngsters shared the thoughts with Naruto about vegetables but he drilled it onto his students that even though they did not taste well, they were very important to the body, especially those training to become full-fledged shinobis in the future.
"Eh, are you serious?" asked Naruto, his eyes as big as saucers.
"Of course, and veggies help you grow big and strong too," confirmed Iruka as he held a piece of broccoli tantalizingly on his fork before putting it in his mouth. That was all it took for Naruto to grab his fork and start shoving the steamed vegetable in his mouth, even though he looked like he was about to throw up.
"So father, where are Naruto's belongings? I don't see him with anything other than the clothes he was wearing," asked the woman as she remembered the horrible looking jacket and pants that Naruto was wearing when he walked into the mansion.
"Umm, he was thrown out of the orphanage he was living in," replied her Father-in-law as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"I see, and whose idea was it to give him those horrendous clothes anyway?" she wondered out loud.
"Well, he did say his favorite color was orange," said the Hokage meekly as comprehension dawned on his daughter-in-law's face.
"Tomorrow I am going to take the boy shopping for some decent clothes," stated the woman more than asked and all the Hokage could do was agree, Naruto sorely needed the essential objects that most kids took for granted, and he still needed to find a good place for the him to live in, but until then the young blonde was living with them. That night, Naruto felt quite exhausted as he climbed into the comfortable bed that Jiji had given him. He was ready to go to sleep but he remembered that he had a responsibility as his gaze fell on the leather bound book that Sarutobi had given him that day at the end of their training. He slowly picked it up and flipped it open to the first page that was labeled Part I.
THE NEXT EVENING IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER
The Hokage sat down in front of the council to listen to the proposal they wanted to present for his apprentice. He knew that the council will not make it any easier for the young Jinchuuriki, but the biggest hurdle was making Naruto his official student, and that was already done. Relieved by the knowledge Sarutobi sat a little straighter and motioned for them to begin the meeting. "Hokage-sama, since there is no way that we can divert your mind from making Naruto Uzumaki an apprentice, we propose a deal for you to ensure the safety of this village, and all its inhabitants," said Homura out loud, and stopped until the Hokage motioned for him to proceed.
"Since it is already clear, Naruto Uzumaki will not be trained to use the power of the Kyuubi because it was quite well known by the statements of the previous jinchuurikis of the nine-tailed demon, that controlling the Fox's power to its full capacity was impossible, and any kind of training in this matter makes the vessel lose control of their emotions and go berserk with the high levels of raw power. Secondly, we wish to test the progress of the Jinchuuriki after two years to judge whether his apprenticeship is going according to the village's benefit or not." The glass wearing council man was quite weary of his old teammate's wrath and was sweating profusely by the time he was done reading what Danzo had prepared for his speech.
"Agreed, Naruto will not be trained to use the powers of the tailed beast in him as long as he is within the walls of Konoha, but what kind of skills are we talking about when you say that you want to test the boy's progress?" inquired the Hokage, mildly interested as to what exactly Danzo wanted to prove with this test of his. Koharu Utatane stood up, and with a curt nod to Hiruzen, she began to speak.
"The council has decided that since Naruto Uzumaki will represent Konoha as the alleged student of our Hokage, we want to make him as prominent in the example of a young Shinobi as possible for Fire Country and for Konohagakure. As such we will test him to see if he can perform simple genin feats in all three forms of shinobi arts," stated the council-woman as many murmurs and whispers ran through all the people seated in the chamber.
"With all due respect council members, I ask how one can expect such skills from a seven year old when we normally expect these coming from children at the age of twelve or higher," asked Inoichi Yamanaka, as he stood up and addressed the rest of the council.
"The same way we expected of the Sannins, then Hatake Kakashi, and also Itachi Uchiha," replied Danzo as he stood up with the support of his cane.
"But that was only permitted because it was in times of war and we needed able shinobis no matter how young or old they were. In the times of peace it is quite unjust to ask this of a seven year old," shouted Inoichi, clearly disgusted with the council's stubbornness against the young jinchuuriki and the fact that they did not care for anyone but themselves. It was clear that Danzo had wanted the jinchuuriki under his control, and was lashing out against the Hokage because he was denied his pawn that could help him gain the highest seat of power in Konoha.
"Understandable argument if you were talking about just any young Shinobi of Konoha," retorted the bandaged war-hawk. "But we are talking about the student of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the former sensei of the Sannins, and the Sandaime Hokage of the strongest shinobi village in all the elemental nations." Inoichi was about to argue but felt a hand on his shoulder and looked down to see the face of one of his two closest friends, Shikaku. The Nara shook his head lightly indicating that he should stop fighting the council's wishes if he knew what was good for him and his family. The Yamanaka clan leader sat down with a defeated sigh, he knew not matter how bad the situation seems, his friend was always right about certain things, this being one of them.
"What happens if my student does not meet the presented requirements?" asked the Hokage; his voice rang out like thunder as the barely contained fury of the Sandaime could be felt like the sting of a whip in his voice.
"Then," replied Danzo, completely unfazed by the Hokage's anger; "the jinchuuriki will be moved to more appropriate guidance."
"Very well," replied the Hokage, much to the surprise of the majority of the council members present in the room. He had seen firsthand the unlimited amount of potential that the boy seemed to possess and would flourish if harnessed properly, but now he was going to train the boy no holds barred. The wanted a weapon? Fine, but they will get a double edged sword with no hilt; a weapon that cannot be wielded by anyone.
As the council was dismissed, many of the council members were surprised that the Hokage had accepted the council's proposal. Only shinobis that were exceptionally talented or a prodigy of unparalleled proportions, they cannot achieve the goals that was being set for the young jinchuuriki of Konoha. In the history of the village, only a few had been able to pull off such feats at the age of seven. One of those was Kakashi Hatake, and another one was the man that had brought the Uchiha clan to its very knees, Itachi Uchiha.
As the Hokage left the council chamber, he noticed without much effort as he was followed by three Jounins. He did not have to turn around to know that the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was following him back to his office, and he also had a pretty good idea about what they wanted to talk about. The Hokage sushined back to his office, closely followed by the three members of the most renowned strategy-strike team in all of Fire country, and ordered his ANBU to leave his office before putting up a sound seal around the office. As he did, four other shinobis joined them in the office as well, they being Kakashi, Gai, Tenzo, and Kurenai.
"I assume you are all here to discuss the matters regarding Naruto Uzumaki?" asked the Hokage knowingly as he sat down tiredly in his chair and looked at all the shinobis present in the room.
"Yes Hokage-sama," replied Chouza Akimichi in a diamond hard voice, sounding really angry and pissed off.
"Do elaborate your intentions," said the Hokage nodding as a small smiled caressed his old and wrinkled face.
"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, why the hell did you accept this ridiculous proposal that the council presented for Naruto?" asked Inoichi, making quite a few in the room to snicker at the choice of his words and the contradiction that the sentence itself presented.
"Because," said the Hokage carefully choosing his words so as not to put off any of the time bombs that were ticking inside his office right now. "He is capable of achieving these goals and more in two years time." Many jaws hit the floor, but there was one that was smirking under a mask.
"How can you say that?" asked Gai as he recovered from the shocked silence that had enveloped the room a few moments before.
"I don't know how, but the boy had picked up some taijutsu skills just by observing young genins in training with their senseis. Now call me dumb, or that I have gone senile with age but no ordinary young boy should be able to do that unless he is given proper instruction in the arts of a shinobi," replied Hiruzen, once again making the room go silent.
"Well that wasn't what we were here to discuss anyway," said Inoichi in a low voice and the Hokage looked at the man curiously.
"So why are you here?" he asked when Inoichi just stood there staring out of his office.
"I have seen the boy since he was very young," replied the blonde Jounin as a sad look came across his face. "It is unbelievable the amount of spirit he possesses, he was shunned since day one and yet he goes about like nothing in the world can bother him. If there was anyone else in his place, he would have crumbled, broken. But this boy, it is as though the spirit of the sun itself burns within his little body, and that smile of his. So pure, so innocent, and so…bright, all I want to say Hokage-sama is…please preserve it. Do not let his spirit fade; do not let that smile get lost through the pains that the world will undoubtedly inflict upon him, please keep the brightness that always lights his eyes. The eyes that never rebuke or judge anyone no matter how many cold stares and harsh comments it sees, it always shines brighter than all the stars in the sky. Please keep that smile of his intact Hokage-sama…" by the time Inoichi's voice faded many in the room realized just how much this man cared for the young boy that bore the burden of this village's safety inside him.
"Inoichi," said the Hokage in a heavy voice as he also came to the realization that Konoha's people might not be as misguided as he had originally thought. "I cannot promise you whether his smile will be there or not even after he grows up, but it rally gladdens my heart to know that there are people like you out there that view the boy for what he truly is and not the monster that is inside him. Maybe, with support of people like you, that the smile you are talking about will be there upon his face even after all the loneliness and harshness that he faces in Konoha."
Inoichi nodded as he deftly wiped his face before heading away from the Hokage's office. It had been a really long day indeed.
As the Hokage rested his head back on his chair a smile graced his features. Maybe, just maybe, life may not be as bad for the blonde jinchuuriki as he had initially thought it would have been. There is always hope.
Hiya there guys, how's it going? So here's the next chapter in the story and this one is kinda long but I thought this needed to have all the information that I have put in to make the story really work. So there is going to be a time-skip in the next chapter, and we will see a bit of Naruto's social life as he grows up (trust me there won't be much). Yes, ideas will be taken into account and any critical reviews will be welcome as I am still an inexperienced and young author on this site.
Thanks,
Tanneal.