The sun rays fell as a blanket of white upon the greenery. In their glow the nascent leaves of spring lied papery and delicate, drinking in the energy the trees crave. The air had such a gentle heat of the new season that most of the Konoha villagers could be spotted outside their homes – enjoying this wonderful day. Therefore, youngsters could have been spotted running around in the nearby parks - simply savouring the scenery of season.
The sun gleamed through the now open window in one of the rooms at the Namikaze's Residence, giving it an almost deserted look. If not for the dark, ideally folded clothing in the only one standing old wardrobe, Minato and Kushina would have thought that their eldest son was not living with them anymore. Also, looking around the room they could not spot any additional traces of anyone's presence – no books, no posters, no clothes lying around like in the case of their younger son. Just this one, Naruto's Journal, which Minato recognised straightaway.
This notebook was Naruto's 6th birthday present. Till now Minato remembered Naruto's happy face when he received it and how delighted his son was that his birthday was not forgotten. However, this situation was nothing more but one of the many proofs that Minato have failed as a father. He, of course, forgot about his oldest son birthday and when Naruto approached him, he grabbed the first thing that came into his hands. A plain, black, old notebook.
"So, was I correct?" A quiet but sound voice could have been heard.
Minato put the book in the exact spot he had found it – on the top of the wardrobe, which was the only furniture in the room beside an old bed.
"Leave Orochimaru. Just leave" Minato gritted through his teeth subsequently continuing "You understand noth..." but when he turned around to face his guest, Orochimaru was already gone. Therefore, he looked at his wife, who for the entire time did not utter a sound, and yelled awaiting a response.
"How dare he? How dare he come to OUR house and accuse OUR son of being a POSSIBLE traitor just because his performance at the Academy is not the best?!"
Nevertheless, Kushina looked around the relatively vacant room one more time and walked away ignoring Minato's outburst. On her way downstairs, she studied the pictures hanging around the residence, each presenting their children during some activities. None, however, had their eldest son in them. She could not rationalise this. She remembered entirely the day of Naruto's birth and what a joyful experience it was for the entire community. They received many congratulations from both, ninjas and the civilians. People went out on the streets celebrating the birth of the Namikaze heir! A year later, she was pregnant again- giving birth to Menma and Naruko. But, this day was nothing but joyful. The beast attacked the village, making the innocent suffer. With little choice, willingly to sacrifice his own life, Minato sealed the Kyuubi into their newly born children. Those two had been viewed as heroes since their bodies have been used as an imprisonment for the deadly beast.
However, one mystery remained unsolved – how did Minato survive? Why did the Shinigami not take his soul? All Minato could recall from the night was seeing the Death Ripper that spared his life for reasons unknown. Since then Kushina and Minato started to take greater care of her youngest, leaving the older one out. However, their actions have been 'justified' when Jiraiya announced that the Kyuubi containers will save the world. Believing the Toad's prophecy, the Namikaze family agreed that Naruko and Menma's training must be prioritised. Did they concentrate on the training so much that they completely forgot about their oldest? But how? How one can forget his own flesh and blood?!
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"Fail again Naruto" a rather annoyed voice could have been heard, followed by whispers mocking the eldest son of the Hokage. What made things worse was the fact that Naruto was repeating the year, which made him the oldest in the class.
Acknowledging the teacher's comment Naruto collected his failed test and remained seated at the very back of the class. There was no anger, no sadness, no joy or resentment. He did not even appear bored as he sat on the chair near the window. For all the presence Naruto brought to the classroom he might as well have been a store mannequin. However, he received occasional glances from the classmates as well as some glares from the very front of the classroom. Before him, at a little distance, reclined a rather medium-height Konoha nin, with a wide, round face, and a stern expression. His head was ash-blond; and his whiskers, which were the nine-tailed beast mark, were proudly presenting itself on his tanned cheeks. Menma's eyes were like a knife in Naruto's ribs, the sharp point digging deeper. Where there had once been love was an emptiness, but not in any vulnerable sense. Uncomfortable with the void, Menma had filled it with an emotion he was more at ease with – raw anger. The unmoving lethal stare was accompanied by deliberate slow breathing, like he was fighting and losing.
Contrary to Menma's quiet display of anger, another set of eyes showed disapproval. Naruko felt ashamed of having such a weakling as a brother. Even though she possessed great strength, her features were small and perfectly related. Her strawberry-blond hair flowed down her back like a red ink of a tilted piece of parchment. Her eyes were fox-like and had an icy greyish green hue like the first sprouts of plants in the snow. Her brows and lashes, drawn in a darker hue, gave touches of character and distinction. She had one last look at her older brother believing that something flashed beneath the surface of his emotionless expression and she hurried to investigate the sudden shift. Unfortunately, it was too late, the emotion disappeared before Naruko could identify it. She felt like reaching desperately for an escaped balloon; the string dangling so tantalisingly close but the wind pushed it away and it was lost forever.
Anyway, why should Naruko be bothered about someone like him? Having received training from prodigies such as Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kushina and the Hokage himself, both Naruko and Menma possessed a great set of skills as well as power. Particularly, their training revolved around the usage of Kyuubi's chakra, thus their power seemed to be almost endless for any ordinary opponent. They had no time for failures and scums who could not be bothered to take their training seriously. They had to be perfect at all times, regarding their looks and training - much to some students' annoyance, such as the well-known Sasuke Uchiha. The only heir to the Uchiha clan did not lose easily due to his pride. However, having no one else to train with, but the classmates he was very much dependent on himself. Having had his entire clan massacred by his older brother he was blindly seeking revenge, hoping to gain more strength after graduating the Academy. His only worry was that other people, such as Naruto, might potentially hold him down in this pursuit of a pure power. Receiving his 100% score, he set the paper carefully aside praying quietly for the year to be over, as no theoretical knowledge will help him achieve his goal.
A different reaction to such score could have been observed with Naruko and Menma. Both Namikazes' seemed quite satisfied with yet another ideal rate. They were believed to be the strongest ninjas alive. Having been trained by the top ninjas in the whole Konoha and possessing the power of a nine-tailed beast left them rather vulnerable to failing.
Giving the test results back, Iruka had one last look at his class before he let them go, so they could enjoy what was left from the day. The sensei glanced slowly at the back of the class though, seeing his oldest student slowly packing his staff to a rather worn out bag. Iruka could not understand such notable difference in knowledge and training between Naruto and his younger siblings. He could not comprehend why the others were the villages prodigies, some believing them to be more powerful than Itachi even. Naruto, on the other hand, was perceived as the deadlast of the entire Academy. How? Whenever he saw Kushina and Minato interacting with Naruko or Menma he could see straight away the pride, joy and love. However, he never saw them speaking with Naruto at any occasion. He could not meddle with Hokage's family but had to remain neutral. But had he? "Hope he passes the final exam this time, though..." he whispered after leaving to enjoy the sun himself.
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"Where is your brother?" both parents almost yelled as soon as the youngest Namikazes entered the Residence.
"Ym…Hi mom, hi dad. I dunno. Probably in his room?" Naruko responded while Menma remained silent with an annoyed expression on his face. He could not understand why his parents even bothered asking about that idiot. It is not like he wasn't an embarrassment enough for him and Naruko. He had to constantly hear some stupid remarks at the Academy of having a weak bloodline and having a deadlast as a brother. So embarrassing. Just plain humiliation. He was the younger brother, not the other way around. Yet, it was him that was stronger, smarter and more powerful than Naruto! Naruto should be just like any older brother – someone to look up to. And what does he represent? Nothing. Just utterly nothing but stupidity and being a damn looser. How much he hated that useless guy was an understatement.
"Well, is he with a friend?" Menma's internal rant was interrupted by Kushina who seemed to be quite determined to find out Naruto's whereabouts. "I don't think he has any friends as to be fair. He usually keeps to himself" he heard his sister calmly respond.
"How come he doesn't have friends? Everyone has some!"
"Mum. I really don't know. Please address this with Naruto, not me…" He knew this tone too well. His sister was getting slightly annoyed now. And he could not be bothered anymore with such interrogation over nothing anyway. Therefore, he did the only rational thing. He left. "Wish you were dead" as soon as the doors to his room slammed behind him, his whisper could have been heard.
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Meantime, Naruto was walking slowly towards the river. His face did not betray any emotions as he made his way through the village. As always no one bothered him. No one spoke to him, no one even looked his way. Just as he was invisible. He came to appreciate this feeling, as he did not have to be troubled with anyone and could mind his own business.
As he approached the river and sat down in the shadows raindrops started slowly to fall making a small smile grace his face. "Better" his raspy whisper broke the silence.
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First of all, THANK YOU for all of the lovely messages, reviews and in general interest in the story. It is a pleasure to find out that there are people who actually enjoy what I wrote. Thank you, you really made my day!
To answer some of the questions:
I do not want this to be any Naruto-harem story. I might consider a pairing at some point, but it won't be the main priority of this story
Yes. I am considering having some other power being used instead of chakra.
Also, please be aware that this is not my first language so apologies if I made your eyes burn with my mistakes. I will get better…I hope! ^^