Chapter 02: The Red Beast of Konoha
Kanga Shoto, The Vengeful Red Beast of the Leaf, was in a melancholy mood.
Five years gone from this village, leaving barely a year after the death of his sensei Itosu Sakon, and for those years traveled the expanse of the elemental countries, even venturing far to the west in search of the fabled barbarian lands where the milky white opals originate. A solitary existence for a man disillusioned by the hate and stupidity of the village he once called home.
Dashing through the trees on the outskirts of Konohagakure, Shoto came within sight of the great painted gates of the village hidden within the leaf, the faces of the four Hokage rising on the mountain side above the sprawling city. It would be a gross understatement to call Konohagakure a village. With close to a hundred and fifty thousand, it was one of the largest cities within the elemental nations, a powerhouse of the shinobi villages, yet because of that, Konoha had become arrogant and self righteous.
Konoha-nin were ignorant for the most part, jumping to conclusions and holding a mob mentality while the corrupt council of civilians and the few noble shinobi families holding them back, pulled the strings. Unlike other shinobi nations, where actual shinobi ruled the village, Konoha was pretty much the opposite. While they still had a Kage and a circle of primary clans on the council, it was the civilians who ruled, not the shinobi for whom the village was founded. The current Hokage was nothing more than a figurehead. Yes he fought against the corruption of the civilian council, yes he tried to be honorable and to do what was right for the village, but he could only do so much.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was old, much too old to be leading the village. When Namikaze Minato, the Fourth, was in power, he quelled the council and brought back what Konoha was before, but at his death at the hands of the Kyuubi, the council once again seized power away from the Sandaime, marginalizing the power of the Shinobi clans' political strength until only a few powerful clans held sway.
It was because of this, that Shoto became disillusioned. Kanga Shoto was once one of only two successors to the Konoha taijutsu sage Sakon Itosu, the man who mastered a hundred taijutsu forms, and the creator of the style of taijutsu known as the Goken, the Strong Fist. Shoto and his sworn brother Maito Gai, were known as the Twins Beasts of Konoha during the last great ninja war, and he served both the Sandaime and Yondaime faithfully with his skill and power. But after the death of the Fourth, a power struggle broke out between one of the civilian clans and his master's clan the Itosu. The Ayukawa, a clan only two decades new to the land of fire, and whom, with their considerable wealth, bought their way onto the civilian council, sought a way to take advantage of the political and economic instability caused by the Kyuubi attack and subsequently the Fourth's death, in order to corner the market on imports from Kusa. Since Itosu's civilian family members were Konoha's major connection to Kusa, the Ayukawa tried to find a way to marginalize them, and they found it through Itosu himself.
Gai and Shoto's master was an hard man. Proud and aggressive, he led his clan with a single minded ferocity that made him legendary and the Itosu clan powerful within the civilian and shinobi ranks. But his one flaw was his anger. His anger knew no limits and it was this that they exploited. The Ayukawa sent one of their people to assault Sakon's daughter, leaving her for dead after kidnapping her from their compound. When Sakon discovered this and had a Yamanaka mind-walk his daughter for the identity of the perpetrator, he was enraged and called the man out in a challenge. He ended up killing the man to regain his family's honor and retribution for his broken daughter.
Though just in his actions by the old code, the council, under the direction of Ayukawa funds and bribes, altered several laws using their power within the village council to do this secretly, making formalized duels illegal. Sakon was charged with murder and was called by the council to be executed, his family holdings liquidated and given to the Ayukawa as payment for their son's death.
That enraged the shinobi on the council, but they could do nothing, so impotent were they that Sakon, their greatest Taijutsu Master, was made to cut his own belly, his family thrown out onto the streets where they were starved out, eventually being forced to leave, seeking refuge in a village somewhere to the south of Hi no Kuni.
Shoto and Gai were on a long term mission then and had no knowledge of their sensei's death. When they returned and realized what happened, the two boys flew into a murderous rampage. Their master, the man whom they thought of as a father, was murdered by the corrupt council of mere civilians. It took the combined power of three ANBU units to contain the Twin Beasts of Konoha, and both he and Gai would have been executed on the spot for their actions had it not been for Sarutobi, who put his foot down and managed to quell the council long enough for them to realize that those two men were the only successors to the Goken, the Leaf's strongest hidden taijutsu style.
Angered by the actions of the council, Shoto decided to leave Konoha for a time. Given permission by the Third, he was placed on the reserves list and allowed to go on a long term mission to reestablish spy networks, something that would take years to do. He asked Gai to come with him, but his ever optimistic friend declined, even though he was loath to stay in the village after what they did to their sensei. Gai always wanted a disciple, to pass on the knowledge of the Goken, the other styles his Sensei had taught them, as well as his 'unique' outlook on life. So far, from the letters he had received from his ever optimistic green spandex loving friend, there was no one to be found, but Gai's 'Fires of Youth' would not be quelled.
Shoto was of a different mind. Konoha lost the will of fire. The Will of Fire, the drive for greatness through work and effort, the desire for honor and righteousness, the purity of personal strength and camaraderie, that was what the Shodaime had instilled in his people, yet the Konohanin of now were nothing of the sort. All one had to do to realize that he was right was to look at the two great clans of Konoha, the Uchihas and the Hyuugas.
The Uchiha were an arrogant and lazy clan. The secret of their success was their ability to copy the hard work of other clans. Ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, everything was stolen from the other clans of Konoha and used against their owners to establish their dominance. They were pandered to by the council, given everything, even the prestigious charge of leadership within the Military Police, yet they lacked the will of the old Shinobi, the Will of Fire. They were dishonorable thieves, who were more business men than warriors. Money grubbing and power hungry, they used underhanded political tactics and pull to destabilize the economics of other great shinobi houses, pulling them from power. It was also rumored in hushed voices within the shinobi circles, that they were involved with the Kyuubi incident as it was a well known fact amongst even partially informed ninja that the Uchiha's powerful doujutsu the Sharingan was able to control demons.
The other great shinobi family, the Hyuuga, were the opposite of the arrogant pandering Uchiha. Though powerful, thanks to economic ties, they stayed above the petty money grubbing schemes of the Uchiha and focused on their image and prestige. To the Hyuuga, blood purity was everything. The small main house, consisting of no more than a handful of members, were protected by the branch house consisting of over a hundred byakugan wielding Hyuuga. The family was so crazed of blood purity, that they practiced frequent inbreeding between those of first and second cousins, as well as utilizing liberal infanticide in choosing their heirs. It was rumored that through the genetic defects brought about by this liberal practice of inbreeding, the sharingan was born. Suffice to say their arrogance was more than noticeable and a testament to how low the great shinobi clans sunk.
Sighing he alighted on one of the branches, if he hated this village so much, why the hell was he back? That thought plagued him over and over as he watched the lights of the city flicker in the darkness. So much injustice…yet it was still good to be in a familiar place. He grew up here. Though an orphan, he was taken in by Gai's parents when he was six and living on the street. They gave the poor street rat a home and accepted him as one of their own. It would be good to see Auntie and Uncle once again.
Jumping down from the tree branch, he straightened up his gear to make himself presentable. Though his brother enjoyed wearing, he thought with a shudder, green spandex and those hideous orange leg warmers, Shoto was more of a conservative shinobi. Always the utilitarian, Shoto wore a simple mesh shirt as to keep himself unencumbered, thick linen wraps on his arms, and a pair of shinobi pants, secured to his calves by another set of linen wraps. Of course, they were red, he had to keep up with the mystique of the Red Beast of Konoha, but other than his pack, he carried nothing else.
Running his hand through his short spiky hair and slicking his closely trimmed moustache and short pointed black beard down, he made his way to the gates and the guards stationed there.
"HOLD!" came the shout from the first guard chewing, of all things, a senbon.
His dental bills must be astronomical, Shoto thought, as he stopped and set his heavy bag down next to him. As the shinobi with the senbon walked forward, his partner with the scar on his face was further in, several projectiles in his hand, ready to throw at a moment's notice.
"State your business here, stranger," he said, his voice calm, but his hand twitching involuntarily towards his weapons pouch.
Shoto observed the man for a few seconds. Clearly he was a newly raised chunin or something of the sort, a jonin would have either recognized him from the personnel reports or sensed him earlier. He surmised a similar situation about his partner in the back. Both were much too twitchy to be jonin.
Mumbling he muttered, "Damn rookie chunin," getting a frown from the other shinobi as he reached towards his hip pouch.
"I'm not a chunin, stranger," he said with a haughty air, "And you will keep your hands where they are, or I'll have my friend there skewer you with a few sharp pointy metal implements."
Shoto grinned, willing to bait the guard to get a rise out of him, "Then what are you kid? A genin?"
"I'm a tokubetsu Jonin," he replied with a slightly strangled expression.
The older man chuckled, "My, my, my, Jonin eh? How typical of the fucking council…Damn political appointments…" before the boy could retort, Shoto said, "And I'm not reaching for a weapon, kid, I'm looking for my ID and my hitaiate."
Nodding, he allowed Shoto to do such. Pulling out his leaf hitaiate, he tied it around his upper arm and pulled out his ID badge, handing it over to the younger man.
"Says here you're…Jonin…Class A…Kanga Shoto…" his eyes widened as he looked up into Shoto's eyes, then hand wraps, sure enough blood red chakra wraps, "Sweet Kami…the Red Beast…" immediately, he signaled for his friend to stand down and turned back, "I'm sorry sir, please enter!" he said, saluting the other man.
Shoto just rolled his eyes as he took back his ID and picked up his heavy pack.
Jumping easily to the rooftops he made his way to the civilian sector of Konoha. Sure he should have checked in with the old man first, but he had family he didn't see for so long and he knew Auntie Shina would be making dinner right about now.
In no time flat, he found his way to the small home of Shina and Yoshinobu Maito, Gai's parents and the mother and father Shoto never had. They took him in when no one wanted him, they clothed him, fed him, taught him, provided for him, and loved him. It was because of them that he turned out the man he was today, and he would forever be in their debt.
Fixing his spiky black hair, he alighted on the doorstep and knocked on the heavy door of the modest home. A quick shuffle could be heard and a familiar chakra signature was felt behind the door.
"HELLO MY YOUTHFUL VISITOR! HOW-" Gai cut off as he recognized his estranged friend, "SHOTO! MY BROTHER!" he said, grabbing the other man and lifting him off his feet in a bear hug, "MY MOST YOUTHFUL FRIEND! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ARE FINALLY BACK IN KONOHA! FINALLY THE TWIN BEASTS WILL RETURN THE WILL OF FIRE TO THIS LAND AND A NEW SPRING TIME OF YOUTH SHALL BLOSSOM IN THE LEAF!"
Shoto, who was used to his brother's over enthusiastic greetings, simply used chakra to deaden his hearing for a time as to prevent permanent hearing loss, and bearded the man's hug. After a few minutes of shouting about youth, he let Shoto down and they walked in, only to be tackled by a crying Maito Shina.
"Oh!" she cried, "now both my boys are home! Finally, after all these years!"
Shoto felt a little guilty he'd put his auntie through all of that. Of course he sent letters as frequently as he could, telling them about his exploits and sending money when he completed a mission, but he had been away for over five years, a very long time for someone to be away and he was glad to be home.
"I'm sorry auntie," he said hugging her, "I'm back, at least for a little while."
She smiled up at him, "All I ask is that you come and check in once in a while, Shoto," she said with a smile, then frowned as she poked his gut, "And maybe eat a little more. You're still a growing boy and you need all the strength you can muster."
He chuckled. At twenty three, he was already an old soldier in the shinobi ranks, but he figured that even if he was fifty, Auntie Shina would still try to fatten him up with the same excuse.
"It's good to be back Auntie," he said, then caught sight of the grinning old man who walked forward and slapped him on the back.
"Welcome home my boy," Maito Yoshinobu said with a wide grin, his thick graying eyebrows so reminiscent of his son's, "It's good to see you once again. Your exploits have reached us even here."
Chuckling, "Don't' worry Uncle Yosh, they're not all true."
Yoshinobu laughed, "I sure hope not. I don't think your auntie could take it if you were put within the ranks of Super Pervert like Lord Jiraiya."
At that, he cringed.
"WHAT!?" Gai yelled, "MY EVER YOUTHFULL BROTHER SHOTO, A SUPER PERVERT! HOW UNYOUTHFULL! I WILL HAVE TO-"
Shoto interrupted him, "Oh come on, Gai. It was a joke by the old pervert. I managed to meet up with him in Kusa where he was trying to peak. Managed to get him caught and he was sour at me, so he tied me up and threw me into the onsen. Honest!"
Rolling her eyes, Shina pulled him into the home, "Alright Shoto, we believe you. Come, we've just sat down to dinner…"
The Maito family and Shoto caught up on current events. He regaled him of stories traveling with the famed Gama-sennin, meeting Hanzo the leader of the Ame-nins, and seeing the barbarian lands to the west and of their strange fighting weapons and customs. In turn, Shina and Yoshinobu told him about the village, the small rumors and gossip, and about various goings on within the family. A few hours later, it was starting to get dark.
Gai accompanied him as they made their way from roof to roof.
"You think the old man is still there?" Shoto asked.
Gai shrugged, "Hokage-sama usually does not leave the tower until late in the night. The council has been giving him much grief lately."
Shoto nodded, "That's what Jiraiya-sama told me when we met up last year. He suspects the Uchiha are on the move again. What do you think?"
The green spandex wearing man frowned, "You already know what I think of the Uchiha Clan my brother."
Chuckling, he replied, "The word 'unyouthful' comes to mind, Gai."
Gai grinned, "Yes, well, it's becoming harder and harder to protect sensei's techniques from them. They keep trying to spy on me while training, hoping to copy the Goken. Already they've bastardized several of sensei's techniques, though they have not figured out how to utilize them without breaking their own bones."
Shoto scoffed, "Typical Uchihas, trying to get power without having to work for it. How have you kept the council off your back?"
Scowling, his friend replied, "The Sandaime."
"He interfered?" Shoto asked, surprised, "I'm shocked to see that he's actually showing some backbone for once."
Gai grimaced, "It's not his fault, my brother, you know very well that when Yondaime left us we would fall to disaster. The civilians are at fault on this one, but at least Sarutobi is trying. For someone of his advanced years, his youthfulness is unmatched."
"So I assume they tried to force you to teach the Uchiha?" he asked.
The other man nodded, "Yes. They wanted me to demonstrate the movements and have the Uchiha copy them with that most unyouthful eye of theirs. Of course the shinobi clans refused to grant them permission, but the civies were going to go over their head until Sandaime-sama stepped in. I think it was from that day, that he started to regain his youthfulness."
Giving Gai a quizzical look, he asked, "You mean he's reconsolidating power?"
"Yes, in a most youthful fashion, my brother," Gai said with a proud grin, "You see, Sarutobi has been using his influence for the past year…ever since the incident with the Uzumaki boy," he grimaced at the thought and Shoto scowled, "Using his contacts, he usurped some of the more prominent civilian clans and brought in his own agents. Though the more powerful clans like the Ayukawa," both men scowled at the mention of the accursed clan's name, "the Ichinose, and Danzo's little faction were putting up resistance, the third was able to get some of the smaller but influential civie clans on his side. Couple those with the loyal shinobi clans and currently there are just three factions."
Shoto smiled, "The Uchiha and their pandering whore civie clans-"
"Most unyouthful wording, my brother," Gai said frowning at Shoto, "But your description of their activities do ring true."
The other man shrugged, "Then we have the Hyuuga who are pretty much neutral in everything…though they do tend to side with Sarutobi on important issues…and we have the Hokage's block, effectively breaking down much of the support from the civie councils and the thieving Uchiha," Shoto nodded, "Very nicely done."
Gai smiled, "Yes, Sandaime's youthfulness is growing. THE SPRINGTIME OF HIS YOUTH SHALL RISE AND THE WILL OF FIRE WILL BRUN ONCE AGAIN!" he shouted, clenching his fist and his eyes tearing up.
Rolling his eyes and sighing in exasperation, Shoto asked, "So what about the Uchiha?"
The other man sighed, losing his enthusiasm, "You know as well as I that they hold such unyouthfulness my brother. Their dealings are clouded by their secrecy…but the Hokage has been able to discern several meetings between the Uchiha and several missing nin. We know not who they are…but such a thing can only lead to inevitable disaster."
Shoto nodded, "What is the old man doing about this?"
Gai shook his head, "He's been trying to persuade them from not following the path that they are leading. We believe they are going to be administering some kind of coup along with the members of Root."
"Root!?" he said, surprised, "I thought Sarutobi had that division disbanded?"
"No," Gai said, "Danzo, in his eternal winter of unyouthfulness, has continued to train those children and kept Root going. Sandaime has known this but was hoping to utilize the organization in another way."
"Shock troops?" Shoto asked.
Gai nodded, "Yes. Root members bring in much money to the village. They don't balk at suicide missions and bring in a substantial part of the pay, but we both know that Danzo will try to regain his lost power, probably by attempting a coup with the Uchiha. We know nothing as of yet, such speculation…"
Jumping over one of the larger walls, they entered the commercial district, several blocks from the Houkage's tower.
"You know," Shoto said, "If they're moving, then we need-"
Immediately he froze and sniffed the air.
Gai, who had trailed ahead several meters, quickly came back and frowned, "What is it Shoto?"
Shoto took another sniff. It was faint, his sense of smell may be stronger than a normal human's thanks to his years as a shinobi, but it was nowhere near as strong as an Inuzuka, so he was having trouble localizing it, but he knew exactly what it was.
Looking Gai right in his eyes he said, "Blood. Human blood, and lots of it"
Immediately, the two men dashed off to see what was going on. Blood in the commercial district of Konoha meant only one thing, murder.
Gai, whose nose wasn't as attuned as Shoto's dashed off to check the main streets, but Shoto checked the alleys. As he came upon one he heard whimpering and sadistic laughter.
"HA! NO HOKAGE HERE DEMON! NO ANBU TO SAVE YOU NOW! YOUR BLOOD IS MINE!"
Immediately, Shoto knew exactly what was going on. No one else in the village would ever be called demon except the boy.
Cresting the rise, he caught a sight that widened his eyes. Blood was everywhere, matted onto the tattered clothes of the child that lay before the wild eyed chunin who was hefting a kunai. The man was playing with the boy, dragging out the torture. Naruto was completely incapacitated, his eyes leaving only a crack as he bleed out, dying with every second. His blonde hair was matted with his own splattered blood, and several stab wounds littered his chest, a huge rent from his collar bone to his sternum torn open showing the white of bone and pink lung tissue.
"Dynamic Entry…" Shoto muttered and disappeared.