Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Ruroni Kenshin, or Bleach.
Chapter 17: Meeting
It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Konohagakure no Sato. The people were enjoying the last of the weekend to spend some quality time with their families. Children were enjoying the sunny morning for a playful romp in the park. However, five kids, soon-to-be teenagers, were having a quiet breakfast in one of the secluded tables in the Akimichi Restaurant.
These kids were Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and his partner, Akamaru; and Hyuuga Hinata.
They all decided to come together for an impromptu meeting at the behest of the Nara heir to talk about a person that made a huge impact in their lives.
Uzumaki Naruto.
"Thank you for coming here today." said Shikamaru as a form of greeting.
"No problem, Shika. What's up? It's kind of rare for you to call all of us for a meeting so early in the morning." said Kiba while feeding Akamaru some leftover bacon from his plate. Ever since they started in the Academy, the clan heirs have been gathering in the Akimichi Restaurant once every weekend to talk about anything under the sun. It had been Shikamaru who started this trend since he wanted the heirs to be closer as a group considering their parents were in the shinobi council. "Though this is the first time we gathered without Ino. I don't know why you didn't invite her this time around."
"Troublesome dog." Shikamaru grunted. "Anyway, I called all of you here to discuss Uzumaki Naruto and I don't think it would be a good idea to invite someone who hates his guts because of the beating he gave to her paramour."
Everyone in the group nodded because they knew how Ino hated Naruto for showing up her 'Sasuke-kun', which was also the reason why she wasn't invited to their training program. Also, the mention of Naruto piqued everyone's curiosity and was leaning forward in their seats to hear what the Nara genius had to say.
"I want to discuss Naruto's position here in our group. I know he is not a clan heir but he should be one." finished Shikamaru, opening the discussion for the group.
"Naruto is part of a clan?" asked Shino making everyone look at him with a raised eyebrow. This annoyed the bug user since it has been a regular occurrence every time more than two words left his mouth. "Contrary to popular beliefs, I do know how to talk normally. I just don't find it logical to do so without good reason."
"As you wish, Shino-san." said Hinata, not stuttering this time since she already got it out of her system ever since they started training together. "Now Shika, what do you mean that Naruto-kun should be one?"
"Ever since we started training under Naruto, with excellent results I might add, I dug into the Nara clan archives. As you know, being the clan that comprises of strategists, we keep comprehensive records of all historical clans here in the Leaf. I found out that Naruto belonged to a clan a long time ago if his surname is anything to go by and I don't think that he was given that name just because he is an orphan."
"What do you mean?" said Kiba with a tilt of his head, almost making Akamaru fall since the dog was perched on top of his head.
"I discovered that there was an Uzumaki clan here in Konoha before its last member, Uzumaki Kushina, passed away during the Kyuubi attack. During the founding of Konoha, Senju Hashirama struck an alliance with the Uzumaki clan of Uzushiogakure no Sato (Village Hidden by Whirling Tides) and the clan have played a pivotal role in the founding of the village and its many successes. According to the records, the Senju and Uzumaki clans were relatives of sorts, which is why they allied with each other so quickly. In fact, that is one of the reasons why our Chuunins and Jounins proudly wear the Uzumaki swirl on their flak jackets and why the Konoha symbol has a swirl in the middle."
"What did you discover about the Uzumaki clan?" asked Chouji.
"The Uzumaki clan was a powerful force in the Elemental Nations. They have a bloodline, of sorts. They were known to have longer lifespan than an average human and have a powerful regenerative ability, healing wounds in a day that would take weeks to heal. I also found out that the first ever Uzumaki to make a home of the Leaf was Uzumaki Mito, the wife of the Shodaime Hokage." Shikamaru informed them of the information he gathered while reading through the collective scrolls in the Nara archive.
"Whoah! Wait a minute here. So you're saying that Naruto is royalty considering that he descended from the Shodaime." Kiba asked incredulously.
"I didn't say that, troublesome dog." Shikamaru grunted in annoyance for being interrupted. "As far as we know of Naruto, he is an orphan but he is a true-blue Uzumaki if you notice how fast his wounds healed during our many spars together. If that doesn't give testament to his Uzumaki heritage, I don't know what will. Besides, I don't think that Naruto is descended from the Shodaime since no Uzumaki ever started a clan here in Konoha. I also discovered that Uzumaki Kushina was brought here to the Leaf from Uzushiogakure before it was destroyed by the collective force of Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri."
"What else do you know of the Uzumaki clan? I don't think that's everything you want to tell us, Shika." asked Chouji. "Spit it out already."
"Fine! If you want me to finish then stop interrupting me. You can ask your questions later WHEN I'm done. Alright?" this got a nod from everyone. "Good. Now, aside from their body-based bloodline, the Uzumaki clan was known throughout the entire Elemental Nation as powerful Fuuinjutsu users. In fact, many of the seals we use today came from them and is one of the reason why they were wiped out. The shinobi world feared their prowess in sealing that they decided to wipe them out before the clan became a threat. According to some ancient scrolls and my dad's notes that I 'borrowed' from him, the Uzumaki clan was also the clan that was mainly used to house the bijuus, especially the Kyuubi since only their bodies were capable enough to handle such power."
"Wait…don't tell me…." exclaimed Kiba but stopped when he saw Shikamaru's glare. "Continue, please."
"According to my dad's journal, the first container of the Kyuubi was Uzumaki Mito who sealed the Kyuubi inside her body during the battle of the Shodaime and Uchiha Madara in a place now called the Valley of the End. The next vessel was Uzumaki Kushina. In fact, not a lot of people know that Kushina was a vessel of the Kyuubi. I was only able to find out because my dad is part of the council so he is privy to such information. Now, we all know that the Kyuubi attacked 12 years ago, now tell me. How old is Naruto?"
"Well, Naruto is 12 years old, almost 13…" Chouji answered but trailed off when realization dawned in his eyes. "Wait a minute, don't tell me…"
"You realized it, didn't you?" said Shikamaru, eyeing his long-time friend. "Fact one: Only an Uzumaki can hold the Kyuubi. Fact two: The previous containers of the Kyuubi were all Uzumaki and lived in this village. Fact three: The Kyuubi attacked Konoha exactly 12 years ago and was 'defeated' by the Yondaime, which I think is a load of bull since no human could ever hope to defeat or kill Kyuubi in battle since bijuus are un-killable, so to speak. And finally, fact four: there is only one Uzumaki left here in Konoha who displayed all the bloodline traits of the clan, who coincidentally also have whisker marks on his face, like a birthmark. Now tell me…are you all thinking what I'm thinking?"
"It would seem that our trainer and friend, Uzumaki Naruto, is the vessel of the Kyuubi no Yoko." said Shino causing everyone look at him in shock.
"You know, I just realized something." said Hinata after getting rid of the shock of the revelation, making everyone look at her in interest. "When I was young, I used to hang out in the playground near the orphanage. I noticed Naruto-kun play alone and when I try to join him, some of the civilians would stop me and tell me that nothing good would come out in playing with him. They said that he was a demon in disguise."
"I also noticed that the villagers tend to glare at Naruto every time we leave the Academy, though most of the people who do so are civilians. The shinobis we meet tend to give him a nod of respect, though not all of them." Kiba mused.
"So where does this leave us?" asked Chouji, not really sure where this was going.
"Nothing. Naruto-kun is our friend and our ally. He helped us become strong, stronger than children our age and we can never repay him for that. He isn't the Kyuubi and he hasn't shown any destructive influence that is usually associated with the bijuu. In fact, he has a carefree and laidback attitude that is a total opposite of the Kyuubi." said Hinata with a hint of steel in her voice as if daring anyone to contradict her.
"Simmer down, girl. We didn't mean it like that. Naruto's a great guy and he is our friend, no matter whatever he holds inside that insane body of his." Everyone gave him a look. "What? Don't you agree? That boy is a powerhouse. You remember the sparring session we had a few weeks back, him against all of us? He kicked our butts from here to next week. We are strong, yes, but he is way stronger than all of us."
Everyone gave a grunt of agreement. They remembered that group spar and couldn't help but be amazed at the speed and power Naruto had in his body. He wasn't even winded, for Kami's sake. Afterwards, they made a vow to get stronger to give Naruto a challenge. Not defeat him since that would be impossible since he would just get stronger as they do, but give him a challenge to make him sweat a bit.
"Anyway, now that we know of Naruto's secret, I want you all to promise me that we will keep it a secret no matter what. I'm not sure why but it would seem that the adults kept this information from us for a reason. I would theorize that the Hokage made this a village-wide secret punishable by death or something if it ever came out. So no telling that we know, alright?" everyone nodded in agreement since they wouldn't want the Hokage to come down on their collective asses. "Now that's over and done with, I would like to propose to invite Naruto into the group and induct him as our 'leader' of sorts."
"Leader? Do we really need one?" asked Chouji though the idea had merit.
"We don't really need one but considering how we changed under Naruto's tutelage, it would seem that he became all our 'boss', so to speak. I think I'm not the only one to think that about him, correct?" declared Shikamaru and raising an eyebrow at the group as if daring them to disagree. He was surprised when everyone nodded in agreement. It would seem that they all held Naruto in high regards as he had.
"Good. Now, any ideas how we are going to invite Naruto into the group without Ino breathing down our necks?" he asked the group.
"It is impossible to change Ino-san's attitude towards Naruto if she still holds a grudge against him and her common sense lacking because of the Uchiha." said Shino in monotone. He ignored everyone incredulous stare but his eyebrows started to twitch in annoyance.
"You're right on that one. Ino already has a partnership with her best friend, Sakura, to annoy the hell out of Naruto for hurting their Sasuke-kun." said Kiba, making her voice all girly when mentioning Sasuke's name before snickering making everyone follow suit though Shino only twitched meaning that he was amused.
"We can't invite Naruto and Ino at the same time into the group since that would be a disaster. I suggest that we still hold our weekly meetings without Naruto to avoid suspicion. Besides, we meet with Naruto everyday anyway though I'm sure we are going to have a schedule change because our fourth year in the Academy would start tomorrow. Speaking of which, do any of you have any idea what that slave-driver have in store for us while we attend school?" asked Shikamaru, shuddering when he remembered all the exercises they have to go through.
Sure, they improved because of it but it doesn't mean that he liked it. He saw the rest of the group shuddering as well as if remembering long-forgotten torment under the hands of the somewhat sadistic Kyuubi container. Naruto might be laid back and carefree in his attitude but he was a taskmaster and slave driver during training.
"Naruto-kun didn't say anything about the changes in our training program once the Academy starts but from what I gather of his views on training, we would still continue our early morning run, maybe a spar or two since the Academy starts at 9am. I don't have anything else to add except for that."
"Troublesome slave driver." grunted Shikamaru. "Anyway, we'll just have to ask him tomorrow when we see him in the Academy. Anyway, that's all for now, anything else you guys walk to discuss while we're here?"
Naruto was confused as he lounged around in his favorite tree beside the Academy. It had been two weeks since the fourth year started (his second year in the Academy), and the actions of his friends were mind-boggling.
One, they started to seat themselves around him, with him in the middle as if they were protecting him or something.
Two, every time Ino or Sakura would come and bug him, one of his friends would be present to herd them away.
Three, they had this look in their eyes that made him very uncomfortable. It was an "I know something about you" look.
Four, he was quite surprised when Kiba and Chouji started calling him 'boss'.
Sighing, he was about to go to sleep with his instinct kicked in. He jumped from the branch he was lying on to see it impaled by shurikens. He channeled chakra to his feet and stuck to the trunk of the tree before looking down. There, standing below his favorite tree, was Uchiha Sasuke giving him an arrogant smirk.
"Why did you attack me, Sasuke-san?" Naruto said calmly though he was inwardly annoyed. He was usually a laidback fellow and just amused himself with the Uchiha. But being attack without him knowing? That was a change in his book.
"So what? It's not as if you were hurt." Sasuke said with a smirk.
Naruto raised an eyebrow before noticing that the grounds were filled with people. It would seem that they have garnered quite a bit of attention or Sasuke herding everyone to their area for something he had in mind. Naruto decided to go with the latter since subtlety was not one of the Uchiha's strong points. Arrogance was.
"I challenge you to a shinobi duel, dobe." demanded Sasuke. Naruto simply raised an eyebrow.
"And why do I accept such a challenge?" asked Naruto calmly though there was a tinge of irritation in his tone.
"Because if you don't then you're nothing but a two-bit coward who's nothing before the might of an Uchiha." declared Sasuke causing a lot of his fan girls to cheer.
"I see; If you really want a fight then its fine. However, I want Iruka or a shinobi to officiate the match. Since you challenged me to a shinobi duel then it is a shinobi duel you are going to get."
"Why do I have to do that? Hiding behind a teacher, dobe?"
He was about to retort when Shikamaru beat him to the punch.
"A shinobi duel is an official contest between two shinobi opponents. It is mostly used and granted by a shinobi official when the two parties disagree over something and require a method to settle an argument without resorting to death. In a shinobi duel, it is necessary to have a third-party shinobi of Chuunin or above rank to officiate. Jounin-level shinobi duels are often officiated by the Hokage in front of the whole shinobi force, which is in the Stadium. Considering that we are still Academy students, it is necessary for a Chuunin to officiate a shinobi duel and a training ground would have to be assigned for the battle. It is necessary to have an audience that would act as witnesses to avoid misunderstanding." said Shikamaru before closing the book he was reading from.
Everyone was looking at him as if he had two heads on his shoulders. In fact, Naruto could swear that everyone was looking at him because he was standing upside down on a branch on top of him. Show-off Nara.
"How in the world are you doing that, lazy ass?" demanded Sasuke since sticking on solid surface was an advanced shinobi art. He wanted to know how it was done.
"That is for me to know and for you to find out." Shikamaru drawled as he walked upright to a branch and sat himself before placing the book back into one of his pockets. "Anyway, do you want to continue with the shinobi duel you demanded from Naruto? If you are then I suggest that you go to Iruka-sensei to officiate the match…unless you're afraid of Naruto?"
Sasuke growled before stalking off to look for their sensei to officiate the duel. Naruto turned his head to give Shika with a questioning eyebrow raised.
"You don't have to do that you know." Naruto pointed out before jumping down on his shuriken ridden branch and picked out one of the projectiles. He studied with a careful eye and pocketed it before doing the same with the rest.
"Troublesome blonde." said Shikamaru with a sigh. "Let's face it; Sasuke has been uncontrollable since this year started and had been pestering you for a challenge. This time though he demanded a shinobi duel which is a serious thing to let go. Since he demanded it then might as well make it official to shut him and his fan girls up. No one can ever deny the shinobi duels was often used to match strength with their opponents. This will clarify everyone that you're not to be touched."
"I know. I do read, Shika. However, it is nothing but trouble to indulge in Sasuke's demands. If he loses, which I stress that he will lose, then he would be more annoying." said Naruto before resuming where he left off, relaxing.
"Fine." Shikamaru said with a grunt. "Anyway, we haven't had any of our group spars for a while now, want to indulge in one this weekend?"
"Sure, why not. It would help you guys in your teamwork drills…and give me a workout." Naruto added the last part with a cheeky grin making the Nara glare at him.
"Troublesome blonde."
End of Chapter 17
Date Uploaded: July 14, 2012
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