The Pathless Sage
A/R: Thanks for reviewing guys. I must say, I am pleasantly surprised at how popular this fic has gotten in only a couple of days. I hope to see this story grow and bloom into a nice and plump one that everyone can enjoy.
Allow me to take the time to once again remind readers that this story will NOT be a harem fic. I have something of an ... allergy, you will, to harem fics. Thus, I read none but the best and most well explained harem stories myself.
On with the story!
"Naru-bou, Naru-bou, wake up!" Hiruzen was shaking Naruto by his shoulders, attempting to wake the small, blonde boy. Naruto was sweating profusely, his small frame shaking violently without the Hokage having anything to do with it. Whatever was happening to Naruto, it was scaring the Third and he wanted the boy awake as soon as possible.
Slowly, Naruto's eyes fluttered open slightly. He felt something on his shoulders and he was wondering what it could be. Ignoring the Old Man shaking him, he sat upright and rubbed his temples.
"Naru-bou, you okay? You were shaking like a leaf and leaking Chakra. You really scared me for a bit." Sarutobi half shouted, half spoke. He was shaken up and most of all, worried about Naruto and his Seal's condition.
It took Naruto a few precious seconds for him to get his bearings and drape is legs over the edge of the Hospital bed, precious seconds that the Old Man spent worrying about him.
"Don't worry, Jiji. Everything is fine, but I think you would want to know about what happened while I was asleep," Naruto said, at which Sarutobi arched a perfectly groomed eyebrow. "It's quite important to my status as a ninja and whether you want to still let me pass through the Academy."
"Why wouldn't I want to let you through the Academy? Naru-bou, don't tell me you did something stupid..." Sarutobi trailed off, waiting for Naruto to answer with patience that could only be accumulated through the endless years Sarutobi spent as a ninja.
Naruto shook his head. "I can't tell you here, not while anyone could walk in on us," as if to prove his point, a Nurse walked into the room with new sheets. Not the same Nurse as before, that one was still recovering from what she saw earlier.
"Does this have something to do with Naruto leaking the Kyuubi's Chakra earlier?""Fine, meet me in my office in an hour or so, but first go to your apartment and get cleaned up," with that he vanished in a swirl of leaves.
"I believe all my belongings have been taken care of?" at this, the Nurse only nodded a silent head, "Good, then I believe the time for me to take my leave is long overdue." He too vanished in a swirl of leaves.
-TT-
Naruto walked into his apartment to find the messy flat completely clean and void of any mess. "Strange, my house is always messy, regardless of how careful I am," Naruto thought in confusion. He had more than a reason to be confused, his apartment never stayed clean for more than an hour, even after he cleaned.
Naruto was immediately on high alert. Years of beatings, torture, evasion and stalking the streets at night for supplies had driven home one thing into his young mind. Caution. [1] Even when entering the apartment, he had made no noise. His presence gave nothing away, not a sound, not a smell. He had learnt long ago how to mask that using Chakra. Several run-ins with the Inuzuka Clan had taught him the importance of masking the latter.
Taking no risks, Naruto prepared two Chakra Entrapment Seals, one in each hand, and started walking towards the living room. This time too, he walked through the door without a single squeak, without a single noise.
At this point in time, even though he was young of age and shallow of heart, he was a master of stealth. No matter what the Villagers said or did to the young boy, no one could deny it. Right now, Naruto was using every single ounce of those skills in stealth to keep himself hidden, lest he run into something unpleasant.
He had no idea. No idea just how unpleasant his discovery could have been, if only his discoveries had nothing but good intentions towards him.
There, sitting on his old and ragged couch were two men, well that's what Naruto assumed they were. One was taller than the other by quite a fair margin, and they both slumped backward as if asleep.
They were wearing long black cloaks adorned with red clouds, simple hats made of straw covered their heads. Naruto had heard about this legendary criminals, he had seen them in the Bingo Books that he stole from the trashcans.
Akatsuki.
A/R: Thanks for reading and read the entire Author Rant if you want to take part in shaping this story's plot. :P
Please continue to review if you have been doing so in the past, or please do start if you already haven't been. Reviews are a great motivation to write more and they are particularly effective as a medication for a condition I have. The condition is widely known as Procrastination and many authors, that I know of at least, suffer from it.
Concerning Sasuke and Sakura, I would like some help. If not through reviews, then through PM, please let me know. This concerns how this story is going to turn out and may affect a significant portion of the plot depending on how it turns out. I had originally planned for Sasuke to stay in the Village and be a good guy, but depending on how this 'Poll' turns out, I may have to reconsider my ways. This may also alter the way some things go and some personality traits of a small number of characters, namely Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto.
Do you want Sasuke to be a complete and utter asshole beyond repair and reason, and do you want Sakura to be a completely devoted Banshee of the Emo King?
I have also been reading Naruto the One Man Team recently and I have come up with a fair few ideas from it. Will you guys be interested in me going through with some of those ideas, regardless of whether this story may turn out similar to another or whether do you want me to stick with Cannon?
It may seem like I am leaving a lot up to the readers, but I will not be leaving EVERYTHING to the readers. But since it will be the readers that ... well read the fic, I thought it might be a little more interesting to leave some of the finer workings of the story up to the audience to decide upon.
The next chapter may be a little later than usual since I will be waiting for a response from the readers until I decide on the content for the next chapters. Unlike other authors that stack up on chapters, I write and publish right away.
Meh, I am rambling again. I need to stop doing that.
[1] : If anyone cares to remember, please remember that at this point in time, Naruto hasn't learnt anything too great. Just the two Uzumaki Clan Jutsu and the Academy Jutsu. Naruto also has no knowledge of the Shadow Clone Jutsu or the Mass counterpart of it.