Title:The Child of Darkness
Rated: T (most likely going to be changed)
Category: Naruto
Pairings: None
Summary: A rare power bestowed upon him, tainted by the hate he was surrounded by. He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in. Grey!Naruto EventuallyExtremelyPowerful!Naruto
XOX
OMG! Evil-Pain gave us a whooping five reviews! AND WE MADE IT TO 30 REVIEWS! WOOT! We have 31! Maybe 40 by the end of the month? On top of that, we have 61 favorites and 81 followers. ^_^ We're getting there! Oh, and a double post today. *sheepish look* Chapter 7 was actually supposed to be posted last night but I fell asleep. Whoops. Righto, on to reply time! (I didn't do all the reviews for chapter 6 so I'll do those too!)
evil-pain: I'm just gonna answer all your reviews at once. YES! No NaruHina! Naruto and Sasuke will remain friends for sure. Weeeeeell I'm doing a pairing. However, I can't really do NaruTen 'cause they don't really look like a couple to me. I already have Naruto's pairing planned.
clizasanimeluver98: -grins- Hope I spelled your name right by the way. And yeah I hate cliffhangers yet I have a lot of them in my story. So here's a question to everyone: should I do longer chapters? The wait wouldn't increase or anything since I type quite fast.
myrddin767: ^_^ Glad ya like the story! And I'll be sure to not disappoint.
war12345: Thank you very much! And will do!
prettyflower34: Yeah kinda but that works its way right into my story, seeing as Naruto is always left in the dark, hence the title. ^_^ As for the action… well I dunno how much action an eight will get… Soooooooo I've been planning a time skip!
TigrezzTail: Yesh! Poor Naru-chan! Oh by the way, thank you for sticking with me all this time! I was looking back at my old stories and saw your reviews. Made my day that I still had someone with me even though I fell off the face of the earth. Anyone else who was here before, let me know so I can give you a shout out!
So yeah, chapter 8. COMPUTER! KEYBOARD! ACTION! LET'S GO!
Posted: February 23, 2013 (It was 3 minutes past midnight -.- and then I fell asleep, so ignore the double post thingie.)
XOX
Chapter 8: A Piece of Paper?
XOX
Iruka sighed as he was faced yet again with the task of quieting his… 'angels'. He suppressed his urge to yell – it wouldn't look good on his record if he kept this up. 'Remember the resolution you made before the ceremony, Iruka,' he thought. 'No more yelling.' The Chunin took a deep breath and let it out his nose. Suddenly his eyebrow started twitching wildly and his head snapped up. "SHUT UP!" The children scattered and sat down. Iruka heaved another sigh and relaxed, giving his class a once over. "Now then, as I announced at the reopening ceremony, the regime has been upped. So today, we will start with elemental manipulation. Because of that," he gestured to the door, "I have invited four shinobi to demonstrate." Sakura's hand shot up. "Yes Sakura?"
"Sensei, why did you only get four shinobi to demonstrate if there're five elements?" the young girl asked? Iruka twitched.
"I was getting to that, Sakura. Now if you would all make a single file line and head outside, I'll continue my explanation there." Of course, the children didn't listen to their sensei, the opportunity of meeting awesome ninja and learning new techniques fueling their excitement. Iruka grumbled – he didn't know why he bothered anymore. The students spaced out as they ran outside, sitting down on different patches of grass. Sasuke grinned and waved at his brother and waved back, a small smile dancing on his lips. Alongside the Uchiha genius was the infamous copycat Nin, the Hokage, and his son. Naruto mock saluted at the old leader, earning a chuckle and a salute back. Iruka stood in front of the four shinobi and smirk on his face. "As you may or may not know, starting from the right, these fine talented men after, Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi, you all know the Hokage, and Sarutobi Asuma, lord Hokage's son." Each of the shinobi nodded to their names. "There are five main elements that just about any shinobi can manipulate; Earth, Wind, Fire, Lightning, and Water. When we shinobi utilize them, they are Doton, Futon, Katon, Raiton, and Suiton. The earth absorbs water, water extinguishes fire, fire absorbs wind to make itself stronger, wind cancels lightning, and lightning destroys earth." The ninja-in-training were surprisingly quiet, the dynamics of the workings of jutsu fascinating them. "Each of these elements comes with their own disadvantages however. Lightning and fire are hard to tame, wind is hard to grasp due its abundance, water falls apart easily and is easy disturbed, and earth has no real offense. At the same time, lightning can be used to disable, water pressure can drown and severely injure, earth is good for defense, wind can be extremely sharp and unnoticeable, and fire is hazardous enough."
"So it's like Yin and Yang!"
Iruka chuckled and nodded. "Each shinobi has at least one elemental affinity. When a person specializes in an element, it is much easier for them to understand and work with that element. It's like a calling, per se. Because this is the land of fire, we have an abundance of Katon users as well as a clan who specifies in the element – the Uchiha clan. On the flip side, Futon is weak to Katon, which explains our lack of Futon users in Konoha. Suiton, which cancels Katon, is also rare here in Konoha. I'll stop here and let our shinobi demonstrate." The Hokage stepped back first flying through handsigns at expert speed before slamming his hands on the ground.
"Doton: Doryuheki!" Instantly, a stone wall shot up behind the aged Hokage, standing awfully tall. The children burst into small cheers and chatters of excitement. Hiruzen stopped channeling his chakra and let the wall sink back into the ground. The students clapped grins and happily in response
"Hokage-sama, if you may," Itachi quipped politely. Hiruzen nodded, standing back with the other demonstrators. The elder raven stepped away from the others flying through his own handsigns. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" A large fireball illuminated the sky, earning cheers of approval from the students. Naruto snickered and nudged his friend.
"Can you do that?" Sasuke glared at him.
"Of course I can. It's my clan's prized jutsu. I just can't hold it that long." Sasuke smirked. "What can you do?" Naruto blinked, realizing he had no experience with elemental manipulation. Instead of replying, the blond stuck his tongue at his raven friend, pouting. The fireball died out with a lack of chakra being channeled to it. Itachi silently stalked back over to the group, motioning for Kakashi to go next. The lazy then pointed over to the sole wind user, who sighed and rolled his eyes. The younger Sarutobi pulled out an oddly shaped set of knives, slipping his fingers in the designated wholes. He lightly swung his right hand and a deep groove appeared in the academy grounds, kicking up a small tuff of dirt. When the dirt cleared, there was a crescent shaped cut in the ground. The students made noises of approval. Finally, with no one else to go, the grey haired sighed, stepping away from the group after Asuma had returned. A made a few handsigns and held his hand down towards the ground.
"Raikiri!" Lightning cackled in the grey haired man's hand, creating a small circle around him. There were many shouts of excitement at this and Kakashi canceled his attack, though staying in his place away from the group. Iruka stepped back in.
"How there are instances where a shinobi may have two affinities. Even though a shinobi may have only one affinity, they can still learn more than one elemental release," the Chunin explained. "Kakashi, take it away." The scarecrow-like man eye smiled and tossed a bottle of water in the air nonchalantly. He instantly flashed through another set of handsigns.
"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" The bottle burst into pieces as the water flowed and swayed to form a small water dragon that circled Kakashi slowly. Iruka quipped in again.
"When two elements complement each other, like water and lightning, you can combine the two to make an even more powerful jutsu." Bolts of blue lightning started to dance about the dragon, keeping the children amused. Kakashi stopped his chakra flow and let the water splash to the ground. "Now that you all have an idea what each of the elements look like, here's how you find your affinity." He started passing out pieces of paper. The students stood and starting eying the paper with confusion.
"Iruka-sensei, this is just a stupid, ordinary piece of paper! What is it supposed to tell us?" Hiruzen chuckled, his eyes zeroing on the little boy.
"Patience now, young one. I'm sure your sensei will explain in a moment." The boy's eyes widened and he flushed in embarrassment.
"H-hai, Hokage-sama." Iruka smiled as he finished passing out the slips.
"As I was saying," Iruka said, staring pointedly at the young child who interrupted. "Here is how you find your affinity. This paper is special, cut from the trees created by the Shodaime and his Mokuton, which stemmed from his kekkai genkai. Therefore, this paper is highly reactive to chakra and given a certain reaction, it will tell you of your affinity. Now then, one by one I want you channel your chakra into that paper. If nothing happens, don't worry. It just means that your body is still developing and your chakra systems have to yet to choose an affinity. If it splits in half, you have wind, if it burns, you have fire, if it becomes damp, you have water, if it crinkles, you have lightning, and if it crumbles to dust, you have earth. Now then, starting over here…" Naruto watched as all the other students started getting results and he grinned, ready for his turn.
"I don't see what all the excitement is for. I already know I'm a Katon user. It's in my blood," Sasuke said. Naruto grunted, glancing over at his killjoy of a friend.
"Well just because you know your affinity doesn't mean everyone else does," the blond said with a grin. "In fact, you go before me. I want to go last." Sasuke rolled his eyes and shrugged. Iruka smiled at the raven, who nodded and channeled his chakra. The piece of paper crinkled before bursting into fire, startling the three males.
"Sasuke," said Iruka, a brush of awe coating his tone. "You have two affinities! Not even I have two affinities!" In result, Sasuke got shouts of jealousy from the other males of his year and high pitched squeals from his, well, fangirls. Amy stood in front of the crowd of girls, a smirk pulling at her lips.
"Of course Sasuke-kun has two affinities. He's the best." The purple haired girl slid up next to the younger Uchiha. "And that's why he needs a strong woman by his side." Ino growled and shouted out.
"Amy, you don't even have one affinity, unlike the rest of us." The class roared with laughter and the girl flushed as pink as Sakura's hair, moving away from her object of affections in embarrassment. Iruka quieted them down and motioned towards the last student to go.
"Well Naruto, it's your turn." There was muttering among the students.
"Oh this will be interesting."
"Yeah, I bet he'll have no affinity."
"Heh, like you Amy?"
"Shut UP!"
Naruto huffed and channeled his chakra in the paper. It split clean in half and floated to the ground. Iruka smiled and opened his mouth but the two halves of the paper split in halves themselves. One by one, each small square reacted. One caught fire, one crinkled, one became damp, and the last square crumbled. Slowly, each element turned black and rose from the ground waving back and forth. Naruto's eyes widened. 'Like my shadow,' the blond thought. Hiruzen narrowed his eyes.
'There's only two other times I've seen something similar to this. In Mito-sama and Kushina-chan… If I remember correctly though, both of theirs reacted and turned white. Those two must have some type of special chakra, which was why Kushina was chosen to become the Jinchuuriki. From what I can see, this same special chakra has been passed on to Naruto-kun. But why are the wisps black and shadowy instead of white…?'
The rest of the yard was struck into shocked into silence. Iruka gulped. "Amazing…! I've never seen anything like this!"
"What does that mean, Iruka-sensei?" a random student asked.
"Naruto has an affinity for all the main elements known to man. It's like he's one with nature itself!" Hiruzen's eyes widened.
'That's it! The Uzumaki clan was famous for its sensor abilities. They were one with nature, so being such positive people, always happy and joyful, their special chakra ended up white. Mito and Kushina had husbands and family and friends to keep them happy and positive, even with their burdens. Naruto however,' Hiruzen thought, a frown overcoming his face. 'Naruto has none of that. In fact the exact opposite, he's hated and alone. Those negative, dark emotions have changes his Uzumaki light into darkness... Oh Naruto-kun, Minato, Kushina… how I've failed you.'
"That's an outrage! Sasuke-kun should have all five not stupid Naruto-baka!" The crowd of students started shouting things of agreement. Naruto snorted and grinned, clasping his hands behind his head.
"Don't get all mad at me! You're just jealous because I'm awesome." Kiba stepped forward.
"You're the dobe of our year for a reason, Uzumaki. This doesn't change anything." Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Of course it doesn't. Even though we are starting element training soon. This'll be my strong point." Shikamaru sighed.
"Troublesome. Naruto, regardless of your affinities, it doesn't matter if you don't have the chakra reserves to perform the jutsu. Judging from your failed attempts at Bunshin, your reserves are probably really small," the lazy genius summarized. Kiba smirked at Naruto's crestfallen face.
"Shikamaru's right! Once a dobe, always a dobe, huh?"
"Actually Shikamaru-kun, no matter how flawless that conclusion is for an academy student, you're wrong," the Hokage said. The lazy Nara sighed and sat on the ground, laying back to watch the cloud, offering a small 'troublesome' as a reply. "Bunshin is a very basic technique, given its E ranking. It is a test for you academy young ones because your chakra systems are still being developed. Bunshin require a very minimum amount of chakra, because it's so easy. Typically if an academy student can't perform the Bunshin, Shikamaru's conclusion would be correct. However," Hiruzen trailed off. "Naruto's clan is known for their large chakra reserves and control over the five elements."
"The Uzumaki clan is not one of Konoha's clans!"
"Exactly," Itachi said. "The Uzumaki clan had a large island to themselves, Uzushiogakure." There were gasps that echoed all across the yard. "Hokage-sama, if I may." The old leader nodded, knowing the young protégé could explain it better. "Iruka-san if you would turn around please, to show the children the Uzumaki clan symbol. As you can see children, each Konoha Chunin and up has the Uzumaki spiral somewhere on their uniform. This was used to symbolize the pact and alliance between Konoha and Uzushio. The Uzumaki clan is also a distant relative of the Senju clan, the clan of our village's founders. The relationship is what caused the alliance. In the Second Great Shinobi War, the Uzumaki clan was taken down. However, they didn't go down without a fight. They weakened the opposing forces enough for Konoha to defeat them. So while you bash Naruto for being a 'nobody', his clan is what kept Konoha from destruction many years ago." Kiba grumbled.
"What does it matter? They're all dead anyway," the Inuzuka muttered. Naruto glared at him.
"I'm still here, dipshit." The brown haired boy growled.
"That's it, Uzumaki! You're in for the ass kicking for your life!"
"Bring it on!"
"That's enough boys," Iruka interrupted. "Now then, I'm sure all of you want to get home to your parents and show them your new abilities. So after lunch, you all can go home IF!" he shouted at the end. "If you calmly enter the building and take your seats. Now thank these four for teaching you guys today."
"THANK YOU!" the class shouted together before trailing into the building. Itachi motioned Sasuke over and poked him in the forehead.
"Father will be proud of your accomplishment." The younger Uchiha glared at the ground, the thought of his father dampening his mood. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto staring at the two, waiting for his friend.
"No he won't. He'll probably keep comparing me to you."
"You seem to be forgetting that I only have one affinity, Otouto. Fire, just like the rest of our clan – even father's sole affinity is fire."
"But you can copy jutsu with your Sharingan." The raven lowered his tone to a whisper. "And you have the Mangekyou. Nobody else has that."
"And you seem to be forgetting you've unlock your Sharingan too. Even though it's at the lowest level, I can train you this evening if you'd like. Plus I'm pretty sure I've got some Raiton jutsu up my sleeve. How's that?" Sasuke seemed to beam at the thought of training with his brother. He didn't notice Naruto's gaze darken, envy dancing in his eyes. The blond turned away and started stalking towards the academy. "And surely if you'd like, I can train your blond friend too." Naruto stopped walking peering over his shoulder. Itachi smiled at him and Sasuke smirked.
"As soon as he stops pouting, Aniki." The blond whipped around.
"I'M NOT POUTING!" Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Sure you aren't." Naruto grinned at the two brothers, sticking his tongue out at the youngest. He grabbed his friend and started dragging him towards the academy, waving over his shoulder at the elder raven, one thought on his mind.
'I have a meeting with the old man.'
XOX
And cut! So this was one of the longer chapters – a whopping 3,071 and counting. So this was just a little sneak peek at some more of Naruto's abilities and a peek at his past. Also his developing relationship with Sasuke, and a little one with Itachi. So yeah. REVIEW! THIS IS IMPORTANT! Okay so I figured the summary is kinda... bland. So I've been wondering if you guys could come up with a new summary. A dramatic one. I have something in mind, might have changed it, but I'd like suggestions. Ja Ne!