Son of the Titania
By: InuYasha'sReincarnation
Summary: When trying to stop the Tower of Heaven, Erza Scarlet was thrown into a dimension where ninja ruled the lands. Meeting a blonde haired man, she fell in love and bared a son; Naruto Scarlet. Ex-quip!Naruto NarutoX?
I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail
Chapter 3: Of Training and Goals Part Two
"I don't get it," Naruto stated as he jumped back from a low swipe from Tenten, "Sasuke hasn't been to class for a week," charging in and giving a swing of his sword from left to right, "and when he does come back he's now all gloomy and quiet."
His strike was blocked by Tenten's short sword as he expected and used it to try a quick disarming technique he had recently learned. Sadly for him, she knew the move and made to counter. She sent a kick into his gut pushing him back to gain space between them.
"I don't know, maybe something happened to him of something." Throwing a couple kunai at her friend forcing him to dodge. "Have you asked him what's up?"
"Yeah, but he barely says anything and just disregards me." Closing back in on the girl, Naruto summoned a second sword and started on the offensive. He had just recently started training with using two swords and had found it was a natural feeling. Coming in with a lunge with the left hand, Naruto predicted her movement and adjusted the right-hand sword to slash as the girl reacted.
Tenten seeing the move quickly shifted to evade the blades. Using her sword to deflect the constant attacks from Naruto, Tenten continued to try to find a way to get space between them. While she was no slouch at close-range fighting, she had always been better at a distance.
"Well I'd say just keep trying." Twisting her body and grabbing Naruto's arm in mid swing, she threw the boy to the ground and planted a knee into his gut leaning over him. "Looks like I win," Tenten smiled as she pressed a kunai to his neck.
Before Naruto could make a move or reply, the sound of clapping filled the small training ground. Both of the young children turned and looked at the sight of their trainer walking towards them. Getting up to their feet quickly, they brushed themselves off and stood side by side as they looked up the purple-haired woman.
"Ah very good job you two." Yugao applauded as she looked over them, "Tenten, very good use of getting your opponent off balanced and countering. And Naruto, you have shown a lot of progress with dual wielding, but there is still much for you to improve on." The two children listened as Yugao broke down their spar and informed them about what the future of their training would contain. "Well, I believe that is enough for today. You two got classes tomorrow and I have a couple of meetings to deal with. I might have a mission to take care of, so I will contact you when the next time I will be able to instruct you two, but I expect you to continue to train and work on mastering what you have already been working on." Getting a nod of understanding from her two students, the ANBU member wished them a good day and released them for the day.
"Yugao-sensei?" Naruto spoke up getting the older woman's attention before she took off. "Umm… I was wondering if you could help me with dealing with Sasuke."
Yugao stood silently as the blonde asked her. She should have seen this coming. With what had happened with the Uchiha and how close the two boys had gotten, it was no shock that Naruto noticed something had happened. When Sasuke had first missed class, Naruto had wanted to go and check on him, but she had been able to persuade the boy into holding off at the time. But she knew with the dark-haired boy returning to class and his change, she could tell it would no longer work to keep Naruto in the dark.
"I would suggest you go ask the Hokage about that, Naruto." Yugao replied after a moment. It maybe skirting answering the boy, but she did not really want to talk about that night. She had seen death before and the bodies of those that had crossed the wrong people, but to see that many civilians, young and old slaughtered just through her off.
"Yeah, I'll go do that," Naruto stated as he pounded fist into his open palm and nodding his head.
"So Naruto," Sarutobi spoke as the boy slide into the seat in front of his desk, "What brings you here today?"
Fidgeting in his seat, Naruto started, "Well, I…umm… was wondering what happened with Sasuke and was looking for some advice." Looking up at the elder hokage almost pleading. "I mean I asked Tenten and she didn't know anything and Yugao-sensei just said to come ask you."
The Hokage leaned back in his chair as he thought about the boy's problem. Of course Yugao would want to avoid it; as she was the one to find Sasuke in the first place. And the entire area was a mess from the massacre. "Naruto," he began, "What you ask is something not easy to answer."
"But I want to do something. I mean he's a friend and I don't want him hurting."
Stroking his beard, the aged leader thought out how to best work with the young blonde in front of him. He knew the two boys had started to grow a bond over the last few months and saw it as a good sign for the child. But now with what had happened recently, it might cause a rift to start growing inside the boy.
"Naruto, I believe you still remember what I had told you about secretes within this village." Earning a nod from the boy before he continued, "What I am going to tell you is what some call and open secret. It is something that most people know about but it is never openly talked about, understand?" Another nod was his answer. "You see Naruto; about a week ago there was an incident with Sasuke and his family."
"What happen?" the boy asked wondering about it. Never having a family of his own he could never quite understand the concept.
"His brother, who I believe you had met before, was an extremely skilled shinobi." Naruto had already known this by his talks with Sasuke, who wanted to be as great a ninja as his brother. "But a little over a week ago, something inside the young man snapped, and the result was not a good one. When he snapped, he went into a blind madness and in the progress ended up his killing the rest of clan before escaping the village." Sarutobi felt it would be best at the moment to keep out the part about the young boy being put under a genjutsu and forced to relive the night and the slaughter.
Naruto sat stunned at the news. For that to happen to a friend of his, much less anyone, it was no wonder he had changed. That type of trauma would affect anyone. "Is…is there anything I could do for him then." Now even less sure there was, the boy might be tormented too much.
Looking at the boy with a sad smile the hokage replied, "Naruto, the best you can do is continue to be there for him and keep trying to reconnect to him. But at the same time do not make that all you do. If you let your life be determined by just one friend you will not be able to evolve and grow. And if you do that you will not be able to reach your goals." Wanting to change the topic, the hokage took this as the chance. "On that note, how has that worked with you on deciding on a goal, Naruto?"
"It's hard Old Man, I mean I want to get stronger but that's about it at the moment."
Sarutobi nodded before replying, "Understandable, but who do you want to get stronger for? Yourself? Or for others?" Gaining a look from the boy, he continued. "You see Naruto, many in Kohona believe in what we call 'The Will of Fire'. It is a saying that we believe in that lets us see that the entire village is like a large family and every Konoha shinobi has the power to fight for what they love, cherishes, and fight to protect the village, as previous generations had done before them. When you fight for something other than yourself you will find the strength to protect it."
Taking a glance at the clock Sarutobi noticed the time and addressed the young boy, "Naruto, we're going to have to cut postpone this conversation until a later date, I have a meeting in a few minutes that I have to see to. Think about what I said and I will talk to you later."
Naruto understood and stood to leave. "Sounds good, I'll see you around old man." Turning and exiting the office barely sparing a glance at the next person that was entering. The only thing that really stood out to the boy about the man was the wrappings around the man's head and even over the right eye. Figuring it was not his place to say anything, Naruto chose to leave quietly and go and check if Tenten was free.
The elder man just watched the boy leave with his uncovered eye. Standing up while using his cane to help him walk, the black-robed man entered into the Hokage's office. "Greetings, Hokage-sama."
"Hello, Danzo." Motioning for the elder to take a seat. "Hope you are doing well."
The now named Danzo slid into the chair and replied, "Yes, I'm about as well as expected. Many of my garden plants have started to grow exceptionally well."
The hokage narrowed his eyes at the other man's words. Such a saying was a code that the bandaged elder wanted to talk about events that were off the record and needed the top level of secrecy possible. Snapping his fingers, Sarutobi instructed the ANBU in the room to leave and activated a silencing seal to seal off the room.
Danzo straightened up at this, now no longer having to hide behind the façade of a frail old man, but instead show the true leader of the ROOT. When the project was disbanded it was only done so publicly, but after talks between the two it was decided that the project would continue in the shadows and allow for the darker aspects of Kohona to continue away from the eyes of the many. While Sarutobi did not agree with all of Danzo's techniques, he knew the benefit of having a task force that could perform a job and leave no trace that could lead back to Kohona.
"What is it you need, Danzo," Sarutobi asked seriously. Very rarely would the wounded elder would start off with the ROOT information. Usually the man would address the village as a whole before moving onto that point. That way was always best to throw off people that could be listening.
"I have just come to ask about how the boy's training was going." Danzo replied offhandedly.
"He is preforming far above expectations, but why do you ask? He does not need you checking in on him," the Hokage replied staring down the other man.
"I still believe it would be best if you allowed me to train the boy." Danzo stated, "A weapon like that would push Kohona into an era where none would be able to oppose our strength."
Sarutobi let out a sigh as he stood. "Danzo, we have been over this. The boy is too well know and recognizable to just disappear for the training your desire."
"Then I should have been training him since birth. With me as his teacher he would have no need of that and as such the village would have respected him for his power. "
"You still do not understand the way villagers work, Danzo." Sarutobi stated as he looked out the window over the village. "If we had done that, then I have no doubt that he could have been stronger than many of the that came before shinobi before him, but if a war were to happen and suddenly there was an unknown shinobi with the ability of use the power of the Kyuubi, it would have caused fear and unrest with the villagers."
"As such it would be more beneficial if we allowed them to know who he was and watched as he did not use its power to turn on them, but instead be trained in the open to protect. Through my talks with Naruto I have been convincing him to grown stronger to be able to serve Kohona and try to earn the civilians respect."
Danzo grunted as he stood moving next to the hokage. "You know that is an unreasonable aspect of the human condition. Their fear and hatred of the beast will never allow them to come to respect the one who holds the beast. No matter how much he protects them. They will see him growing stronger and their fear will follow suit."
"Yes, I know, but he does not understand that." Sarutobi hated the fact that this was the life the boy had to live, but he knew it would be for the best in the end. Or at least he hoped. "But that is part of why I had it forbidden to inform the younger generations about his condition. If the younger villagers see his strength and desire to protect, then it will lessen the blow of the hatred of their elders."
"Such emotions are impractical, Sarutobi. The boy should be trained to do the complete the job and that's all there should be to it. If the boy was trained as I wanted, he would already be strong enough to show the full might of Kohona and we would not have to concern ourselves about other villages attacking. "
"Danzo that is where we disagree greatly. You believe a shinobi should never have emotion and just complete the task assigned. And while I agree that the mission is important, it is also important to make sure that the safety of the village and those in it. In your system where is the drive to improve?" The Hokage inquired. He did not let the ROOT leader answer before continuing, "You see, people need emotions, especially the ninja. It allows them to feel, it allows them to have a drive to improve and get stronger." Danzo replied with a grunt, obviously not agreeing with the man.
"You, Danzo, want them to display nothing and serve Kohona without a second thought of sacrificing themselves or teammates. But where would that leave us? Just a bunch of dead bodies rotting away in unmarked graves. Your ROOT ops do not think on their own and only follow orders from the top. And I know you well enough that you have many of your corps only set to follow your own orders, even above that of mine." Turning and locking his eyes on his old training partner. "But you really should reconsider that approach, Danzo. We are not getting younger and who knows when death may claim us. It could happen at any time, maybe the village gets attacked or even while we are sleeping peacefully at night."
The two men stood quietly as the subtle threat hung in the air. Danzo knew that the conversation had ended and any more prodding by him would not end in his favor. And as such shifted back to his elder persona and exited the office.
Naruto sighed as once again Sasuke ignored him. He had tried to keep friendly with the Uchiha but the boy would not let him get back in. Even late into their second year of the academy Sasuke continued to say gloomy and alone. But he did find it was easy to get close to him by becoming a sparing rival, but outside of that Sasuke would just stay to himself.
Of course since the incident Naruto had been able to make friends with others in his class. Looking around he saw that only one of his friends left in the class was Kiba Inuzuka. There was something about the wild boy that Naruto found to fun to be around. Of course if he got to wild, a light tap on the head would calm him down instantly.
Kiba was just one of the friends he had made since the new school year started. He had also befriended two others in two boys named Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. But seeing the two were no longer in the class meant that Shikamaru had already disappeared to find someplace to sleep and Choji had followed him. Those two were pretty much inseparable from the moment Naruto had met them. So it did not come as a surprise to see them both missing.
"Come on, Kiba, let's go grab some food." Naruto said as he walked up to the brown-haired boy and headed out the door.
"I don't see why you still try," Kiba said as they took a seat next to one of the trees in the small park near the academy.
"He's a friend and he is hurting. I can't just let it go without trying." Naruto replied as the two brought out the small lunches they had brought.
Kiba let out a grunt, "Maybe a friend to you, but from what I see he wants nothing from you." That was what it looked like for the young Inuzuka. Coming from a clan that fully believed in working with people and being loyal, it threw him off that Sasuke would just throw away a friendship. Especially if said friend was trying so hard to keep the friendship alive.
Before Naruto could reply a loud squeal interrupted the two and forced them to cover their ears. Looking back they both groaned at the sight behind them. They apparently without noticing sat down near a few of the girls in their class. And they seemed to be on their favorite topic of choice as of late: Sasuke.
It was not long after his change from the happy boy to the one he was today, that they started to appear in force. It was not to say he did not have a few that liked him beforehand but now it was almost unbearable. It seemed as if they heard there was a small chance the boy liked something, it would start a new frenzy through the group.
The two let out a sigh as they listened to the girls behind them start talking about their next plan of attack in trying to get the dark-haired boy's attention. Neither of the two could understand it, but it did get annoying at times. Sharing a look and giving a nod the boys chose to try something that Naruto had come up with not long ago, with a little help from Tenten and Yugao.
"You know, Kiba," Naruto spoke up just loud enough for the girls to hear him, "I wonder what they will try next in getting Sasuke."
"Yeah, they have tried about everything" Kiba replied highly exaggerating his voice. Taking a glance and noticing that they were starting to gather the attention they were trying for.
"Who knows, maybe they will realize that he probably doesn't want the type that only cares for looks."
Kiba let out a chuckle at that. "Yeah seems like they have tried that for too long and haven't been taking their training seriously. I mean smarts and looks are one thing, but we're ninja we need to be strong too."
"Yap that sounds like something Sasuke would want. Someone able to fight for themselves and be able to protect the family when he is off on missions." Of course many knew that he had been a friend with the Uchiha and as such the girls would believe that he might know the boy the best. Heck a couple of them even had tried to get him to set them up with the boy, though that never worked for them.
The sound of shuffling was their only reply as they finished their small conversation. The two boys looked over their shoulder as they watched the girls take off towards the training field. "Kiba," Naruto spoke up after a moment, "How bad should I feel that we just kinda tricked them into training?"
The animalistic boy just shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "Don't know, but if it helps them in the long run, then I'm good with it."
Naruto agreed with him on that account. From what his teachers had been telling him, their future was not going to be an easy path and they needed to be as strong as they could be to survive. "You know I still don't get why they are all going after him. I mean, come on, not a single girl in our class is interested in me."
Kiba just let out a laugh at his friend as he felt a sweat drop appear as he glanced over to where he could tell a certain pale-eyed girl was hiding behind a tree.
"So he seems to be taking well to the Uzumaki style," Sarutobi spoke as he watched Naruto spar against Yugao. The two had been going at it for a while now and did not seem to be slowing down. Apparently Tenten had come down with a small virus and had not been able to make it to the training for the day.
"Agreed, it is highly impressive for a third year to be this skilled with swordsmanship." Kakashi replied not taking his eye off the match. "His physical strength is almost unmatched for his age group and his speed as greatly improved also. The only problem he has seems to be his control over his chakra. Or more just how much of it he has."
The hokage understood this, with the Kyuubi inside him and from what he was told about the seal that was holding the demon back he knew that Naruto would have a high amount of chakra. "How have the control exercises you and Yugao been putting him through been going?"
"Not as well as we had anticipated. He has shown a skill of learning the techniques quickly but they have yet to show any promise on helping him." The silver-haired ANBU replied, "At the rate he is showing and the growth of his reserves, I find it hard to believe he will ever be able to create a simple bunshin for the graduation exam."
Sarutobi stood silently as he thought about the information. To have enough raw chakra to be unable to perform such a simple clone technique would be a problem. Especially for one of his stature. "Hmm, I will look into it and see if there is anything to be done to help him." He could already think of a few ideas that would help the boy and improve his strength for the future, but he would need to be surer of the boy's mindset and drive.
The two men stood and watched the spar while quietly taking to each other about the boy and his training. It was not long until the signs of experience started to show and Yugao took complete control of the match and ending it with a few quickly moves.
"Hey, Old Man," Naruto said happily as the two came up to the two men.
Yugao sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as her young student did this. "Sorry Sir, I've been trying to teach him manners but it has been a slow process."
The hokage just waved her off knowing that the boy was a still young and meant no disrespect to him. Besides sometimes it was nice to not be treated as the hokage at times. "Hello, Naruto, I see you've been working hard."
"Yap, Yugao-sensei has been teaching me a lot," he replied with a smile. Then his face shifted as if he remembered something. "Oh yeah, I figured it out."
The three adults shared a look before Sarutobi locked his gaze back on the boy. "What did you figure it out?" There were a lot of things that concerned the boy that he could have figured out and very few of them would be good for him to know at the moment.
"My goal!"
The elder man inwardly relaxed at the news. Last thing he had wanted to deal with was the boy wanting to talk about his parents, or much less the Kyuubi. Those were conversations for later days. "Really now? And what is it?"
"I want to be strong enough to protect everyone. Even strong enough to take your hat, old man."
"So you want to be Hokage?" Sarutobi asked. If the boy did, it would be a sure thing to ensure the boy was loyal to Kohona. "You know that would be a very challenging goal."
"If that is what it takes to protect my friends then I'll do it." Naruto stated proudly.
The three adults just smiled at the boy as he made the statement. Each of them slightly lost with their own thoughts of how the boy's decision would play out over time.
"So you ready Naruto?" Tenten asked as she sat down next to the boy, resting her back against the stone that sat in the middle of the training ground. The two had gotten up early to get in a little training and to burn off the any nerves the young boy had. It was finally the day of graduation testing and Naruto could not wait for it.
"Yeah, I'm finally going to be a real ninja," the blonde said excitedly who lay on the ground looking up at the clear sky, "Just can't wait to do some exciting missions. Maybe even get to test my swordsmanship versus a rogue ninja."
Tenten could not help but laugh as she listened to her friend. She could not wait to see how he reacted to the missions that genin typically took. Since she had graduated she had been able to say quiet about the mundane task by stating they were unable to talk about shinobi matters to non-shinobi. Of course her friend bought it and let it slide even though both Yugao and Inu had been giving hints and advice to them for years. "We'll see. You never know what you're gonna get."
The two friends rested in relative silence until the sound of an alarm went off jerking the two to attention. "Well, it's about time for you to get to the academy." Tenten informed Naruto as she looked at the alarm clock they had set. There had been more than once that the two had been late to classes and/or meetings.
The two rose to their feet and shut off the alarm. Giving a stretch, Tenten gave a grin at Naruto, "Hey, how about a race to the academy? I might let you win this time."
"Let me win?" Naruto replied arching an eyebrow, "I've won the last three times we raced."
"You just keep telling yourself that. It wasn't even close and you know it." Tenten knew all the buttons to push with Naruto. If there was one thing she had learned of the boy over the last few years it was he had a really competitive side and hated lose.
Naruto threw the clock into the small bag he had brought and spoke with a challenging tone, "Fine, guess I'll have to show you who's better."
"3…2…1…Go!" Tenten quickly counted and shot off towards the academy. Taking a moment to realize what had happened; Naruto stared wide-eyed at the sight of the bun-haired girl running off.
Before he could take a step to chase his friend, Naruto felt as if someone was watching him. Flipping back around, the boy's eyes roamed the field trying to see where the feeling was coming from. Of course being surrounded by ninja, one could have someone watching them one moment and then be gone the next. But the feeling was still strong as Naruto locked onto the stone as the source of the disturbance.
"Come on, Naruto!" the bun-haired girl called out to the distracted boy, "You're gonna be late."
Naruto stared back at the stone for a moment longer before turning and running to catch up to his friend. "Hold on, I'm coming."
Neither of the two children noticing the ghostly figure of a young girl that stood atop the Memorial Stone that was watching the young blonde as he ran off. Her green eyes filled with mirth as she started to fade. "Interesting," the pale blonde spoke to herself as she vanished into thin air.
((AN: Now with Danzo and ROOT I fully believe they were still running even with Sarutobi in charge and while he did not support war or combat he knew the benefits to having a force like that at his disposal. And when he died the main reason that Jiraiya was the first choice for the next mantel of Hokage was due to he would be more open to the aspect of the ROOT operations, due to the spy network he ran and knowing the darker sides of shinobi. Instead when Tsunade was made Hokage it forced Danzo to step back into the shadows and make his moves quietly and when the chance came up that is why he really tried to become the Hokage instead of letting Kakashi take over.
Now we're gonna start getting into the mainstream and up to the start of the series. So the real fun will be starting. ))
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