Warg
by Lord Dragon Claw
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Chapter One: Shattered Chain!
Kyubi, the Nine-Tailed Fox, the King of Hell, the Greatest of the Bijuu... was running for his life from a bigger threat.
Unfortunately for Konoha, the Ninja Village of the Leaf, Kyubi wasn't watching where he was going and he ran straight into some of the larger buildings. The ninjas who lived therein began to attack the fox, much like wasps defending their hive.
The fox's fear turned to annoyance. He began to fight back (read: he slaughtered large numbers of them for their stupidity).
But then the bigger threat loomed closer. Realizing his predicament, Kyubi bolted off in another direction. As the much larger threat drew closer, the temperature began to drop. Snow began to fall, but it was the middle of summer! Stalking out of the storm clouds and fog was a beast that made the one-hundred-forty-foot-tall Kyubi look like a baseball does in comparison to a basketball. The ninja of Konoha soon realized that it was a giant wolf. Smoke poured out of its nostrils, and its eyes glowed as if they were made of a bluish flame. Upon its legs were enormous shackles dragging huge chains. Around its neck was a collar of titanic size from which hung three more broken chains.
The beast took a single step forward, revealing the gigantic crater of a paw print and a thick sheet of ice. When the appendage reached the ground again, powerful tremors and shockwaves emanated from the impact site, toppling trees, leveling buildings, and crumbling mountains. In one step, the impossibly-big wolf did more damage to Konoha than the titanic fox had done it the ten minutes it had attacked.
The Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, the fourth leader of Konoha, was speechless, but he still had the presence of mind to begin his powerful sealing jutsu. He had his only son with him - upon the child's torso, centered around his navel, was a series of seals created to capture a powerful beast. Well, the looming threat certainly was a powerful beast.
Completing the first part of the jutsu, the Yondaime summoned the Shinigami, the God of Death.
Who dares summon - HOLY SHIT! HE GOT OUT!
Waving his arm, the Shinigami halted the progress of time to discuss things with his summoner.
Let me guess... You summoned me to seal that beast into that child, correct?
"Er, yes. Originally, I was going to seal the Kyubi into him, but I think that I should go after that... um... thing instead."
Do you know WHO that is?
Minato shook his head.
That is Fenrir, Herald of the End! Gleipnir, the chain which kept him bound and sealed, must have broken! I would gladly seal that wolf away without taking your soul, but I'll actually need your soul in order to be strong enough to actually seal him!
"Well, at least he'll be stopped."
Wrong, mortal! Fenrir cannot be stopped. He cannot be killed. He cannot even be harmed! He can only be slowed or contained. What we'll attempt to do will be a little of both.
"Will the seal contain that demonic wolf? I designed it to hold a demon after all."
Demon? Fenrir is not a demon. Fenrir is not a god either. He is something greater. In fact, he ate a god - and that was when he was only a quarter of his current size! But yes, the seal will hold, for two decades at the least. As long as the boy is not killed, that is.
"What about my son's mind?"
We won't be able to totally block the wolf out, but at the very least the boy would stay in control. I certainly hope, for the sake of the world, that your son is treated well by the people of your village. This is as long as I can halt time though. And after the sealing is complete and I eat your soul, you'll have five minutes to control your body.
"Very well."
The Shinigami waved his hand in the opposite direction, and time resumed.
"What is this?" asked Fenrir, sounding amused. "A Death God? What can you do? And a foolish mortal? Ha ha ha! Your destruction is imminent!"
Not today, Fenrir.
The Shinigami swallowed Minato's soul. And then he grabbed Fenrir. The wolf began to lose the feelings in his extremities, and then he realized what was going on due to the familiar experiences he felt.
Fenrir looked at his new cage. Gleipnir, or more accurately the tattered remains of it, had combined with his new cell to keep him from attacking the bars.
What a fragile jail they put him in! If he wanted, he could be out in two decades! But why should he bother? It had been eons since he had been as small as his container was at the moment! With a little prodding, he could convince his jailor to smash stuff for him. It would be much more interesting than indiscriminately smashing entire cities with a single footstep. Besides, since he had gotten so big, he couldn't even see the fear and other little emotions as they played out on his victims' faces in any detail anymore! But now he could, especially since he could experience what the child he was trapped within experienced.
Yes. Fenrir was content to remain within his prison, as long as the boy agreed to smash stuff. But he wasn't about to let the boy get killed and this opportunity be wasted. Nor did he want to miss a single moment! With that decision, the wolf exerted his will upon the boy's body, making it stronger, tougher, faster, and a whole slew of other abilities and skills. Now, all he had to do was wait.
Minato handed the boy to Sarutobi Hiruzen, his predecessor for the title of Hokage, and asked that the boy be considered a hero. Then the Yondaime dropped dead.
The Sandaime, now again the Hokage, tried to explain that the boy was the savior of the village to the civilian populous. What he didn't anticipate was them calling for the child's blood. With the stomping of that enormous paw, about half the remaining civilian population were extinguished (only twenty percent of the total population, civilian and ninja, were killed by the Kyubi) - and those that were still alive wanted vengeance!
In response, some laws were passed, and the boy, who was now known as Uzumaki Naruto, was placed in a random orphanage. Nobody was allowed to speak of the beast within Naruto, especially not to the younger generation.
Something that no one understood was that Naruto didn't sleep. Ever. The various guards and other people who came in contact with the baby never saw him sleep. Someone had to be up with him throughout all the hours.
Unfortunately, some of those assigned to keep him entertained had secretly brought knives or poisons with them, and tried to kill the wolf-brat. The poisons were ineffective. But the interesting part was what had happened to the knives...
SNAP!
"... the hell!"
The baby boy looked up at the woman who tried to stab him in the heart, curious as to what this new game was supposed to be.
The woman, who had lost her brother, father, and daughter during the night known as "the Attack of the Two Beasts", was astonished that the knife didn't break the infant's skin. Rather, the skin indented a little, and then the blade broke in two.
Suddenly, a pair of ANBU rushed in through the open window. One retrieved the child and the other subdued the woman. The Hokage was going to hear about this!
Hiruzen rubbed his temples, trying to stave off a headache.
"So," began the old Hokage. "You're telling me that not only does the boy never sleep, but you've found traces of poison in his bottles and that woman just tried to stab him but her weapon broke?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
The Hokage could not believe how stupid the people of the village were. They were attacking their savior and disgracing the name of their hero! Not only that... not... only... wait a minute! Naruto could not be poisoned! He couldn't be stabbed! Hiruzen had heard of a similar power wielded by the Ichibi's Jinchuuriki... was it possible that the blonde boy also had an "ultimate defense"?
The Hokage grinned. "ANBU, call an emergency meeting for the ANBU Corps. Be sure to keep any members of ANBU Ne out though."
"Hokage-sama, what is this about!" asked one of the various ANBU at the ANBU Headquarters.
"As most, if not all, of you already know, one of Naruto's caretakers attempted to assassinate him."
"So we'll just increase security," said an ANBU Captain, wearing a dog mask.
"I don't think that such would be viable without doing other things. I originally wanted Naruto to have a normal life, but... it seems human nature has once again prevailed over common sense. Now, as you all know, Danzou wants him trained as a weapon. I think we will actually do that, but I refuse to have him trained by that idiot war hawk as I know that Naruto's humanity would be suppressed and there would be the possibility that Danzou could eventually use him in a coup d'état against my authority. Therefore, I propose that he be trained and/or raised by at least one of the ANBU here. Anyone?"
Two ANBU raised their hands: a woman wearing a tiger mask and the ANBU Captain who wore the dog mask.
"Interesting," commented the Sandaime. "I declare you both temporarily released from your posts and assigned the double-S-ranked mission of training Uzumaki Naruto."
The ANBU Captain removed his dog mask to show that he was wearing another facemask underneath. He also had a forehead-protector lopsided on his face covering his left eye. His shock of silver hair let the Hokage know that this was Hatake Kakashi, who was the student of the Yondaime at one point - and he'd be training the Yondaime's son. Perfect!
The other ANBU brought her mask off of her face to reveal black hair and fierce hazel eyes. Her face was soft, muted even, but she had high cheekbones. The Hokage recognized her as Nara Maiko, the younger sister of Nara Shikaku, the current Head of Clan Nara.
"So," said the woman, trying to get Kakashi to talk. "We're both taking care of the child."
Kakashi, merely reading his little orange book, nodded.
"Do you think we'll have to live together, or do you think we'll just be neighbors?"
The white-haired man shrugged without taking his eye off the book.
"You know, you'll probably have to stop reading that smut once the boy gets old enough."
Kakashi finally looked at her. But it was more of a condescending gaze than anything else. Oh, his half-lidded cyclopean stare was infuriating! But the masked man ignored her ire and went back to reading his book.
Just when Maiko was going to attack Kakashi with her shadow, an ANBU dropped by with a missive from the Hokage. Maiko broke the seal and quickly read it. Her face became downtrodden.
Curious, Kakashi closed his book and took the scroll from Maiko.
From Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage
To Nara Maiko and Hatake Kakashi
I have assigned both of you a three-bedroom apartment that is both near the Ninja Academy and near the Nara Estate. Please take young Naruto there. You are to both tutor him and train him. You will both be allowed to accept missions, but both of you cannot be on a mission at the same time, for obvious reasons. And Kakashi, you had better not read that smut near the child or leave it lying around once he gets old enough to walk.
The address of the apartment is below.
This message will self-destruct.
Quickly memorizing the address, Kakashi threw the scroll into the air where it detonated into a fireball.
The silver-haired man looked at Maiko to see that she was smirking.
"I told you so," the Nara woman said.
"I don't have to stop reading it," Kakashi said, his eye closing and turning into an inverted "U". Maiko assumed that it was one of Kakashi's infamous eye smiles. "I just have to keep it out of the boy's sight and reach."
Maiko's smirk lessened a little.
The three of them lived in the apartment. Kakashi had to admit - despite not being able to use two of the rooms it was still bigger than his old apartment. Naruto was kept in Maiko's room until he was old enough to not need a crib.
Maiko and Kakashi trained the boy. They taught him how to read and write. They taught him mathematics. They also began him on his chakra control, which it seemed he desperately needed. Kakashi was annoyed though - because Maiko, in her own smug way, had taught Naruto how to walk on walls first rather than teach him how to hover a leaf; therefore, he couldn't just put his beloved Icha Icha books on the top shelf in his room anymore. He had to hide them much better than that, and it seemed Maiko kept trying to get Naruto to look for anything orange.
On the other hand, Maiko was also annoyed. Apparently, Kakashi thought it was funny to teach Naruto stealth by having him steal her clothes while she was in the bath and put them in the washing machine just as she was ready to get out. On top of that, it seemed that Naruto had begun to pull pranks on her; and some of the pranks were complicated enough that there was no doubt of Kakashi's assistance in them!
But it wasn't all a prank war between the two adults, using the child as their pawn while teaching him useful skills in the meantime. Once, the Nara and Akimichi Clans had a large dinner and invited Maiko to come. Kakashi, unfortunately, was off on an A-rank mission, so Maiko had to bring the never-sleeping blonde boy with her...
"Maiko-chan! How nice to see my little sister again!"
"Hello, Shikaku-kun!"
"And... Oh, you brought little Naruto-kun with you!"
"Say 'hi', Naruto-kun."
"Hi," responded the blonde in a bored monotone.
"He sounds like an Aburame," commented Shikaku. "How about you go and play with Shikamaru and Chouji?"
"'Kay."
"He seems really distant," said the male Nara.
"He usually is," replied his sister. "The only times when he's emotional is when he's having fun, or breaking things, or pulling a prank." Maiko turned to Shikaku. "So, what's been happening in the village council?"
"Some of the civilian members are still trying to call for Naruto's death. As usual, the Hyuga, Nara, Akimichi, and Aburame Clans forbid it. The Uchiha seem to be pushing for it though. Danzou, as single-mindedly as ever, wishes to train Naruto. The Inuzuka Clan is actually neutral about it, as is the Yamanaka Clan. The Kurama Clan is one of the few ninja clans to actually be openly calling for Naruto's execution."
"And the conflict with Kumo?"
"Should be resolved when their ambassador arrives later this month."
"Cool!" exclaimed Chouji when he saw that Naruto could already walk on walls and the ceiling.
"Can't ev'ryone do dis?" asked the blonde, obviously confused.
"No," replied Shikamaru. "You must be a... what was dat word agin... genus?"
"But... Maiko-sensei tot me to do dis," responded the blonde boy.
"It's still vewy cool!" stated Chouji, very excited. "Hey, my daddy says dat I'ma going ta go to da Acad'my next Fall... are you?"
"I know I am," said Shikamaru. "Naruto?"
"I dunno. Lemme ask."
Naruto raced across the ceiling, startling many of the ninja who were attending the dinner party. A couple even tossed shuriken in his direction in reaction, but the boy ignored the weaponry as they bounced harmlessly off of his hide.
"Maiko-sensei!" called the boy as he leapt down in front of the now-embarrassed woman. "Am I gonna go to da... what's da word? Aka-demi? Demi-aku? Da skool dat kids go to ta become ninja! Am I gonna go dere in da Fall?"
Shikaku laughed at the boy's antics as Maiko explained that Naruto's enrollment into the Academy was up to the Hokage. Chouza, Chouji's father and the Clan Head of Akimichi, came over to the brother and sister to explain something.
"As Chouji is very excited about Naruto and wants to be his friend, I think that I'll put the good word in the Hokage's ear to have him enrolled in the Academy."
"As will I," stated Shikaku.
Afterward, the ninja who threw the stabbity objects at Naruto came to Maiko to apologize, explaining that they were startled and simply reacted as any ninja should.
Maiko seriously considered sending Naruto to the Ninja Academy - it would be good for him to be around children close to his age so that he'd learn some better social interaction skills. Also, it would be good to send him there just to spite the Uchiha and Kurama Clans, as well as the civilians! Naruto really was a nice boy, even if he was a bit distant and enjoyed breaking things...
End Chapter One.
Author's Notes
Ohgawdthisisbad. No, seriously. Placing this in the brain dump, especially since I forgot where I was going with this.