An alarm rang at four in the morning startling a boy, of twelve years, still not used to wake before six in the morning. Groggily rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he walked into the bathroom and washed his face. He has broad forehead, narrow chin and high cheekbones. The most distinctive feature about him was featureless pale eyes that distinguished him as the member of Hyūga clan Looking into the mirror he rubbed his forehead slightly. Even after three years, it was still a surprise to see his unmarked forehead.
That night three years ago was something Neji will never forget in his life.
It was a warm summer night and he was rudely awakened by heavy shaking of earth. With his limited sensory knowledge taught to him he recognised that the earthquake was not normal judging by the heavy chakra spike near the door of the compound. His father put on his battle armour before he could comprehend raced out of their room just before Neji recognised the beginning of genjutsu which came down on him in form of illusory white feathers. Immediately activating his Byakugan, he dispelled the illusion, and ran to the place following few Chūnins.
The entirety of Hyūga clan gathered around a single man who was leaning on a pillar in their dojo carelessly eating something from the bowl he bought. Activating his Byakugan to get a clear look of his face, he was stunned at the chakra levels of the intruder. He saw many persons in Konoha with high chakra levels and including Hokage-sama's wife, he never felt such chakra from a single person. He easily dwarfed all of their chakra levels
"Greetings to the Hyūga Clan. Sorry to wake you guys up at his late hour but well it's important and I'm slightly behind the schedule. So pardon me."
"What are you here for." His uncle asked in a frosty tone, veins bugling out as his Byakugan activated and winced slightly on seeing that bright chakra of the intruder. But he didn't deactivate his bloodline and glared at him.
"Well…" the intruder drawled out smoothly. "there're few reasons I came here for but main reason is to kill." he said moving smoothly to the center of the room
"Insolent bastard... Get him." An old main house coot ordered the branch house and his father opened the fight. Neji moved closer trying to get a good look of the fight.
Neji saw never saw a real fight between shinobi in his entire life. Sparring yes, a real fight never. But he did know that the person fighting his clan outclassed everyone he has ever seen. It was like he was not even fighting but his moments are graceful and looked like he was dancing to a tune only he could hear. He was like a stream, pliant but force to be reckoned with.
Every Grid Palm which is his father's signature attack was deflected to another combatant. The few branch house members used their limited ninjutsu tolerated by traditional old relics used them in tandem with other members. But the man simply weaved between their attacks and laid devastating blows on his opponents.
"Weak fools." A Main house member shouted trying to use Eight Trigrams: One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Palms on his exposed back only to have it swatted away like it's nothing. He danced in between the attacks of Main House and Branch House with uncanny ease. Rotations shattered under the fists of…. isn't that a Jūken stance? It is more flexible and less rigid but it is a Jūken stance. But Neji was sure that he never saw any Jūken technique in which chakra forms into large guardian lion-shaped shrouds. Gale Palms passed were dodged easily. Realising that it is a fight they cannot win he tried to get out for reinforcements.
He wondered why no ANBU arrived in the compound as he ran out of the compound trying to alert the ANBU. He might hate the Main House and his Uncle as they tortured his father but it didn't mean he wanted them dead. On arriving outside the compound, he saw a purple barrier in form of a cube over the entire compound, preventing the entry of the ANBU. He, for first time felt helpless and unable to do anything while his Clan is being slaughtered inside.
"Child, what are you doing here?" A sharp voice asked startling him out of his thoughts. "It's past your bedtime."
Neji raised his head hopefully that at least with one more shinobi they might have little more chance of not dying but his hope is crushed when he saw the man who was talking to him was the same one who was fighting his clan in the compound.
Scurrying back in fear he pressed himself to the wall and rolled himself into a ball shivering in fear. He heard footsteps coming at him slowly and deliberately as if approaching a wounded animal. He raised his head slowly to look at his would-be-killer.
Instead of harming him the man, kneeled in front of him and slowly raised his hands. "I mean no harm to you or anyone, kid. Please relax." He said soothingly. "In fact I'm here to set you free. What's your name?"
"Neji. Neji Hyūga." He replied. He saw the man's eyes widened a bit but he composed himself.
"Your eyes must be exceptional, Neji-san…" the man's clone spoke in an ethereal tone. "I used an A-rank genjutsu to make everyone less than chūnin to make them asleep. Your eyes must be exceptional to resist it'"
Neji looked at him with fearful eyes but didn't say anything. "Come on, Neji-san." He said lifting him calmly and carried him into the compound. "Boss might've completed fighting your clan."
They reached the dojo and the man stood outside without doing anything. Neji activated his Byakugan and looked through the door. He was shocked when he saw all Main and Branch House members were frozen in their place unable to move a bit. They are glaring at him with hatred in their eyes.
"You bastard." His uncle seethed at the intruder baring his teeth akin to a bloodhound. Neji never felt such killing intent from his uncle and other Main House members. They always have good control over their emotions as members of Hyūga clan but in face of death they lost every code of conduct. They looked akin to wild beasts and Neji shivered. The person who bought him here popped with slight smoke.
"Who the hell are you?" Horensa, one of the clan elders seethed. "How dare you disrespect our noble clan you commoner?" The intruder didn't say anything and dragged an ornate chair usually used by his uncle and sat on it crossing his legs, closing his eyes. "You came like a thief and tried to kill us. Even if you escape, the entire leaf village will be out for your blood. They will not rest until you are killed."
He remained silent for few minutes. "Please stop talking." The voice that came out from his lips is soft, calm and controlled. But it chilled their spines and compelled them to obey.
"Let me…tell you a story." He started. "A story of a beautiful young girl, innocent and gentle. She gave to whoever asked and her kindness was a light to many. But this young woman… had a curse that she never deserved. The curse of a family, a…. noble clan," he said with great contempt glaring at the entire clan. "Cursed to be born few minutes after her sister. Cursed to be gentle, caring and shy. She loved everyone without any partiality and that love was seen as weakness. In this clan they had an odd…. tradition. Anyone who is perceived weak was given a seal. A seal that protects…" here he kicked one of the elders on his ribs causing him to cough out blood "their bloodline from being stolen. There is an unfortunate side effect for this seal. It's also a slave brand. A slave band capable of causing great pain to the recipient and possibly kill them."
"Even after being sealed, it didn't put a damper on her kindness. She willingly served her clan and decided to be a good medic to help others. Showed kindness to those who are oppressed. Until one day she came across a child. A street rat who is once nobility. The first born of the fourth Hokage, name Naruto Namikaze. Even though she lost her brother to Kyuubi…" he said closing his eyes as to reminiscence over his memories, a pleasant smile covering his features. "treated him like a child instead of monster he was supposed to carry. She'll be eighteen this year if her life isn't cut short. On a day of celebration, you know tenth of October two years ago, she was murdered. I managed to... neutralise all the perpetrators. Only one left. Sorry for the inconvenience. Well before she died, she had a wish I want to fulfil. I need entire clan for that. So my apologies." He said not sounding apologetic.
There was a silence following his words until Horensa shouted "It is her fate to serve those superiors to herself." He shouted with crazed glee. "You must be talking about that bitch Hitomi. She befriended that bastard demon son of the Hokage. Even after my warning, she helped him. I personally broke her and killed her. What are you going to do about it? You too will not escape your fate. You'll die." He shouted grinning crazily with bloodlust. "At least she made a good whore and died elevating my stress. Her screams are particularly delicious."
"I was actually wondering what to do to catch the culprit. I got identity of all the other shinobi except yours. Horensa isn't it?" his voice smooth as silk. But there's pressure in the air that weighed on them. Killing intent, they recognised it. Cold, compressed fury coming out of him large waves. "Well you actually made my job easier."
The man rose from his seat and without any warning there were several replicas of him poofed into existence. He had the clones apply seals to each and every member of Main House and cracked his knuckles. He then pulled Horensa by braid and dragged him to the centre of the mud platform he raised without any hand-seals.
He pulled his katana out of its sheath, studying its gleam in the strong moonlight. "You know," he said calmly. "If there is one thing that I really hate, it is child abuse. Well, that and rape." Looking over at them, he let just a trickle of his killing intent through to make his point and to keep them quiet through his demonstration. "Can't say murder as what I've already committed many. Besides we are shinobi. It's basically on our resume."
"Now this is just a demonstration and we got a subject who confessed raping a minor and my friend. Watch..." he said with murder in his tone. "Watch closely the penalty you'll pay if my friend's final wish is unfulfilled." With a hand-seal he activated the seal on the man's body.
Initially nothing happened but suddenly Horensa started screaming to the point his voice got hoarse. The intruder waited for few seconds and the formal Kimono Horensa wore was completely stained with dripping blood. A clone appeared next to Neji closing his eyes and used a seal to stop using his bloodline. The entirety of Hyūga clan activated their Byakugan. They saw a layer of skin being peeled off by sharp wind blades.
"The girl was my first and only friend. You along with twenty shinobis above Chūnin level brutally raped her, bludgeoned her with furniture after closing the tenketsu at her throat preventing her from crying." He said with tears falling down, his first facial emotion since he entered the compound. "Sake bottles were shattered on her head for consorting with 'Monster Brat'. Stripped, humiliated and tortured as her friend begged from side-lines not to punish her for his sins. Sins he never knew. Forced to watch her friend being lit up after playing 'Nail the Fox' with sake bottles, helpless unable to do anything." His voice raw with emotion.
"After her friend lost consciousness, salt was applied on her wounds. Got bored and well, you were the one who activated the Caged Bird seal and ended her life. Then discarded her body and went on to pay for all your companions' bill to celebrate. You are the one who dragged my friend into the bar for that night's 'festivities'. She was sixteen that time and you killed her. I…" he said raising his hands which have a noticeable tremor in it "held her i-in t-this hands and cried unable to do anything." He closed his eyes and curled his hands into tight fists nails drawing blood as they digged into his skin.
Using another hand-seal he regenerated the skin back. ""So then... is this my judgement?" Horensa asked glaring at the man after taking deep breaths. "Why would you even care? We taught that demon brat a lesson. She's just a collateral damage."
The intruder shook his head and scoffed. "It's not judgement, Horensa-san. It's revenge. My small revenge. I actually came here with intention to kill you and that... would be a judgement. But death… is a mercy to a bastard like you." He snarled out baring his teeth. With one swing of his katana, Horensa's fingers were cut off as he let out a blood-curdling scream. The katana in the intruder's hand turned deep orange, signalling use of Katon. He then cauterised the wounds with it. He then drew another seal on his body and activated it. Initially there is no reaction but there's suddenly a smell akin to rotting corpse came from him as he writhed in pain.
"There…" he said gleefully showing patch of skin which seemed to be infected by worms underneath his skin. "Within six months, these worms would make your flesh so rotten that not even a dog would be able to stand ten feet near you. Your muscles, tendons and ligaments will hyper-regenerate and will turn into bone. You'll spend the last year of your life in hell as those worms will eat each and every part of your living body. And you'll feel the helplessness of my friend as you feel your body destroyed inside out. By the time you die, on seeing your body even your wife will be disgusted. Unable to move, unable to even clean your ass your body will be so rotten that no living creature will be able to stand few feet near you without puking. Cysts will form in your stomach causing abdominal pains and every time you shit, blood oozes out. No person in this world will be able to save you and you'll die a death that will be whispered in repulsion. I internalized the seal. Can't be removed by any seal master and you can't kill yourself. Hyper regeneration will prevent you from dying and you'll prolong your suffering."
The Main House members turned green at gills almost ready to vomit at the words of the intruder. They glared at him heatedly but fear in their eyes is clear as crystal.
"Now…" he said dramatically "to the next order of business." Above the heads of six out of seventy members of Main House, a dark red flames flickered into existence with Hiashi among them. "So you guys are the seal-masters of this dratted clan huh?" He gagged all of them and walked towards the eldest one among them. "Now… let's keep it simple. I'll ask you a question and you will answer me." He said severing off the pinky finger.
"Now this is just a small demo what I'll do if you do not play by my terms. He said looking into his eyes ignoring the pain in his prisoner's eyes. "Answer only the question you've been asked, nothing more and nothing less. If one word , just one other word comes out of your mouth another finger will be cut off. If it's a lie, I'll get creative. Trust me you don't want that. Am I clear?" He said pulling out the gag.
The elder didn't say anything and the man unsheathed the katana and cut off his thumb. "I asked am I clear?"
"Yes." He croaked out biting his lip to prevent screaming from pain.
"Good..." He said his tone getting softer. "you are learning. Now, where do you keep the scrolls for Caged Bird seal?"
"Even if it kills me I'll never reveal clan secrets out…AARGH!" He screamed clutching his bloody hand as other finger was severed. The man reinserted the gag. "Now that's not my answer is it?" Six clones popped into existence and they stood before the gagged members. "Let's try again. And if you don't answer…." He trailed off leaving them to their own imaginations. He gave each of them a paper and pen. "Write them own."
"Where are the scrolls for the Caged Bird Seals present?" He asked. All six of them started writing. After a minute they handed them to the clones who looked it over. A snap of finger later the red flame above their heads covered their body and slight colour change is seen. Above three of them the red was partially covered by green. Hiashi's and other two elders' remained red.
An other hand-seal made all their bodies writhe in agony on the floor. Hiashi felt worse than one thousand white-hot knives, boring into the skin. His bones were on fire and his muscles felt like molten steel has been poured over them. He felt like his head is splitting and begged for unconsciousness. The intruder kept it up for five minutes which, to the victims, seemed like fewhours and let it off.
"Now I did tell that if you try to lie I'll get creative." He said cracking his knuckles. "Well I am in a really bad mood and don't have much time to waste. So brace yourselves." He said touching the heads of the seal masters. This time the pain was thousand times worse as they felt information being forcibly stripped from their minds. To make sure, he pulled memories from all members of Main House.
Creating few hundred clones, he gave orders to destroy the scrolls. "Now…" He turned towards the seal-masters. "You are to remove the Caged Bird seal from each and every Branch member from children to elders."
"It is impossible." Hiashi growled out through gritted teeth. "The Caged Bird seal can be only removed by death of a recipient. Unless you want us to kill all the Branch House… There's nothing we can do."
The intruder rubbed his temples and reactivated the seal. This time, Hiashi was lifted off his feet. He writhed through the air like a drowning man, thrashing and howling in pain, and then, with a crunch and a shattering of glass, he smashed into the front of a bookcase and crumpled on the floor with heavy muscle spasms just on the brink of unconsciousness. He was splashed with ice-cold water and was bought back to consciousness.
"Hiashi-san. Didn't I… tell you that lying to me was not advised." He said voice turning softer, icy and deadly. "Or… did you peg me for a fool? One Hundred and thirty-seven years, four months, twenty-six days from this day. Iroha Hyūga, the then clan head was killed by a Kaguya shinobi just after the formation of Konoha and has no children of his own. His younger brother Hoheto, a Branch House member, got his Caged Bird Seal removed and Yamanakas were hired to remove the memories of Branch House that their Clan Head was one of them. It also helped that both of them look alike." He announced to the stunned clan.
"You bastard!" A Main House member, who could be easily over hundred years shouted. "It is one of the clan's most dangerous secrets. It is forbidden." The man simply shrugged and Neji for first time in his life gained hope that he and his father would be free from servitude. But none of the seal-masters except for the old elder who got his fingers severed knew about the seal. He released them from the paralysis seal.
"Well then…" he said his fingers lightening with chakra. "I'll enter the knowledge of how to remove that seal into your heads. No funny business. I'll give four clones for each of the main House to…" "If they are to be freed their freedom should be death." A Main House member with crazed glee in his eyes shouted his hands curling into hand-seal required to activate the Caged Bird. A few of the Main House members followed suit only to get their both hands chopped at the wrist by the clones of the intruder. "oversee the unsealing process." He continued as if he isn't interrupted at all."If you tried to harm them anyway... well you saw the demonstration of my clones. I'll make it look like a child play." He said pressing the chakra laced fingers to their head.
At those words there's appearance of 300 clones. The Main House members tried to subdue them but were easily overpowered and are made to kneel with katana at their throats. The remaining clones formed a diamond formation around the seal masters and before dawn the entire Caged Seals were unsealed. Neji was promptly knocked out and was laid in his bed when the seal-masters arrived.
The intruder is said to have branded a seal on the tongues of the seal-masters which prevented them from teaching the Caged Bird to anyone. He also made few Branch house members shave off the hair of Main Branch members. He also killed few members before he left the compound.
Horensa was thrown out of the compound after three months after the Byakugan was removed from his eye sockets. The Branch house members tried to kill him but he recovered from any poison, wound and anything. But every second was hell for him. His muscles, ligament and tendons started converting into bone making his every motion torturous. He cannot be killed but every attempt on his life made his condition more and more worse that he begged for his death. No medic in Konoha including Tsunade Senju was unable to help him in anyway. Kushina Uzumaki said that she could remove the internalized seal but needed the blood that was mixed in sealing ink. After two months the stench became so horrifying that no one could stand at fifty feet near him. He was thrown out of Konoha a month later.
Few months passed and in the month of October an Uchiha came to their compound saying that they found his body. The persons sent to retrieve his body came back looking green and they couldn't touch their food for two days unable to contain their nausea.
The clan, in Neji's opinion, changed for the best. The once main house tried to force the branch members by various means of extortion, fights etc but ultimately failed as for each member of main house there are at least five branch house members. They finally got off their high horses when all the branch members fought them and bought all the main house to their knees. Few elders were completely paralysed and they finally understood their days as royals have ended. Hiashi was still left the clan head as he is the only one who has full knowledge of politics. Many of the main house were turned to police and were still held in incarceration for raping few branch house women when they're in power. The man killed only the bastards who killed using the Caged Bird.
Shaking off the thoughts, he immediately brushed his teeth and made himself scrambled eggs to eat. He wore a beige-coloured shirt, a dull blue shirt beneath that, and mesh armour beneath that and paired them with dark brown shorts, blue shinobi sandals, and wrapped bandages around his right arm, chest, and right leg. Pulling his hair back into a ponytail, he tied his fore head protector around his neck and raced to Training ground five.
One of his team-mates was waiting for him calmly and Neji saw that he's fifteen minutes early. "Good morning Neji-chan." The bluish-grey haired girl shouted grinning at him like a loon. She wore single robin egg blue-coloured, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her thighs, with cream-coloured spandex leggings and black-combat boots. She had oval shaped face with obsidian almond shaped eyes, small nose and thin lips. She has her hair cropped in pixie cut.
"Shin-san…" Neji called her exasperatedly. "Please tone down. It's 4:45 in the morning and people will be still sleeping… And don't call me Neji-chan." Few seconds later a twin loud shouts of "YOUUUTHHH" were heard making Neji release a sigh and raised his hands to the sky as if asking what had he done to deserve such idiotic team-mates, while Shin laughed boisterously from the side-lines.
"Ahh…Neji-chan. When I first saw you at the Academy I thought you are a pretty girl. I mean which boy has such beautiful, expressive eyes, delicate features and such shiny, well-maintained long hair." She snickered at the growing tick-mark over his forehead. "Even I am jealous of our hair, Hime-chan." The ground was filled with boisterous laugher and death threats for next few minutes.
"YOSH! My Youthful students." A man with shiny bowl-cut hair, dark brown sharp eyes, oval shaped face with defined jawline shouted at them. He had remarkably thick eyebrows, sharp nose and shiny teeth. He wore a green spandex jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers, and the standard Konoha flak jacket, which he left unzipped. His red forehead protector is worn around his waist like a belt. "Today we are not training as I've invited my part-time student to test his skills against genin." He then separated the two genin who were tangled up as a mess of limbs, one grinning while blowing a raspberry and other scowling at the first one.
"Part-time student, Gai-sensei?" A boy with same bowl-cut hair and ridiculously large eyebrows asked grinning slightly. He had heart-shaped face, round black eyes, small nose and thin lips. He wore a white, short-sleeved kimono-shirt with a martial arts belt and dark pants with orange striped leg warmers and blue shinobi sandals. "Is he strong?" he asked excited about fighting a powerful opponent.
"He is still an Academy student Lee. But his Flames of Youth burn so brightly that they rival my own." He proclaimed giving a 'nice guy' pose a thumbs up, wink, and winning smile - complete with the proverbial ping.
"What is this part-time student business about, Gai-san?" A beautiful woman stepped out into the clearing followed by a girl. She has beautiful heart-shaped face, warm hooded brown eyes and pouty lips covered with bright red lipstick. She wore a sleeveless and collared black reprimandh mesh-armour underneath bandages, finger-less gloves, cargo pants with standard issue shinobi black sandals. "You said he's an Academy student right. Why are you pitting an academy student against genin even though they are green ones?" she questioned scowling at the eccentric man. "And this team is cream of the crop from this year."
"Ah Yūgao-san. It is the responsibility as Jōnin-sensei to kindle the Flames of Youth of the leaves of great tree." He said grinning at her brightly. "Don't worry about my adorable student. He can handle himself well."
"Now my adorable Youthful genin…" He called them "He will be here around quarter less six. So go through stretches and prepare for the fight. And Lee you can remove those weights for this fight "
"Ne Ten-chan…" Shin called her girl teammate in between their stretches. The bun haired-girl was one who Shin could call a real and first friend and rival. She had expressive leaf-shaped brown eyes, heart shaped face, small nose and pouty lips. She wore a blue sleeveless qipao-style blouse with red sleeve trimmings and yellow fastening buttons and dark green pants. A pouch is adjusted to her thigh and wore a standard forehead protector with blue sandals. "How do you think the part-time student of Gai-sensei looks like? I mean he said that the boy is as 'Youthful as himself'" She made air-quotes "I bet that he too wears spandex, has hair in bowl-cut and is loud as our sensei."
Tenten giggled at her teammate's words. Shin despite her boisterous personality, thankfully, was not a fan-girl. Initially at the academy both of them are hard-core rivals for top Kunoichi easily outstripping the rest of the Kunoichi by miles. The competition between them would've turned sour if not for the fan-girls. Tenten and Shin both lost their friends during second year at the Academy and they bonded over their mutual dislike over the fan-girls. From then they worked hard to prove that kunoichis are as good as shinobi.
"I think we would have not missed an eccentric boy in the Academy, Shin-chan. But who knows. And how's your little brother, Sai, isn't it?" She asked. "Last time I saw he's such a cutie… Is he still in the orphanage?"
"Yes, Ten-chan. He's still in the orphanage. I was hoping to get him out when I saved enough money. He's second strongest shinobi in his class and is ranked seventh overall. He's still pouting at getting beaten by kunoichis. Our junior class is said to have five really good kunoichis who are dubbed as 'Ice Queens'" she whispered enthusiastically. "Sai said that a new girl was admitted by special permission from the Hokage and was said to be really good at Taijutsu and Genjutsu."
"That must be Hinata." Neji said proudly from their back. "She's my cousin. My stuck-up uncle's disowned daughter. She has been fine then. Only decent member of once Main house. Rest of them are devious ones."
"Really Neji-chan. Is she your cousin?" Shin asked bouncing up and down. Both the kunoichis loved learning about upcoming kunoichis and powerful ones before them. "Can we meet her please…" She begged both the kunoichis giving him puppy-eyes.
"I'm sorry. You can meet her at the Academy or outside but I can't introduce you guys. She lives with some Jōnin named Kurenai Yūhi after my uncle disowned her. She's really, really shy girl. Cute, but shy."
"YOSH! There he comes." Gai shouted and the team saw a blond haired kid coming towards them. Each of them observed the newcomer.
The boy moved in liquid-like, a smooth boneless stroll that allowed a slow slide in their direction. Hands in pockets, head held low, shoulders slumped - it made an unnoticeable picture. Feet seem to wander aimlessly, but always manage to end up where their owner intends to be. It's a walk that the most of the people dismisses without second thought.
Neji was not most of the people. He saw a person walk with same carelessness once in his life and he freed him from his servitude. No one walks with that much carelessness unless they mean to. It's a carelessness that hides a truth. He saw Tenten, Lee, Shin and hell Yūgao-sensei herself dismissing the boy as not-a-threat. They are wrong.
The boy approaching them is a predator. A person accustomed to be at the top of food chain and confident enough to fight all the members present and walk out alive. He is nearly up there with their sensei, probably just below him. This is a person he cannot afford to underestimate. He instantly tensed, anticipating a fight, noticing that Gai-sensei gave him a smile in appreciation from their backs.
"YOSH! My Youthful students. This is Naruto. Remember our team introductions. Please introduce yourselves." He shouted giving them a 'Good Guy' pose. "I'll go first. I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey. My hobbies are pottery and gardening. I like training youthful students to reach their full potential and hate unyouthful persons. My dream is to fight my eternal rival without any handicaps and win."
Yūgao sighed lightly and spoke up. "My name is Yūgao Uzuki. My hobbies are star-gazing and watching moon. I like calm persons and hate loud ones and perverts." Here she threw dirty look at Gai. "Dreams are to get married and settle down peacefully."
"I'm Neji Hyūga. My hobbies include meditation and gardening. I like herring soba and my father. I once disliked Main house of my clan but now just obnoxious people." He got faraway look as he remembered a face which set him free. "My dream is to fight and get acknowledged by a certain man and make my father proud and I will be the greatest master in Gentle Fist, better than the fossils of once Main house." All of them except Naruto and Gai looked at him confused. And Gai saw Naruto frowning slightly.
"YOSH! My name is Rock Lee, Konoha's Beautiful Green Wild Beast. I like medium spicy curry rice and curry pilaf and hate unyouthful people. My hobby is to train using Gai-sensei's training regime. I will become the strongest man in the world without use of chakra. Aspiring Taijutsu specialist." The frown grew deeper.
"My name is Tenten. I like Chinese food and Sesame dumplings. I hate arrogant people and those who look down on kunoichis. My hobbies are collecting weapons and fortune telling. My dream is to become a legendary kunoichi on likes of Uzumaki Kushina, Tsunade Senju etc." Now he looked irritated. "I am an aspiring Weapons specialist."
"I'm Shin. My hobbies are training and painting with my brother. I like soba noodles and barbeque. I hate arrogant people and those who look down on kunoichis. I will become a Kenjutsu Master better than the likes of Ameyuri Ringo the only female in the Seven Swordsman of the Mist."
They turned to the blond haired boy who's now outright scowling at them. He composed himself and spoke "My name is Naruto. I like training. Hobbies are gardening. I dislike few people. Dreams for future... no dreams." He said calmly. "Now please can anyone of you recite rule seven of shinobi handbook?"
The four genins looked at each other and Neji spoke up. "Erm… A shinobi should never reveal any information to any potential enemy. Why are you asking this Naruto-san?"
"I wouldn't have asked that if you didn't fail the test set before you by Gai-sensei." He said his voice turning cold and sharp when they started glaring at him. "Aspiring Gentle fist specialist, aspiring Weapon specialist, aspiring Kenjutsu specialist, aspiring Taijutsu specialist. It won't be a problem if you are a Tokubetsu Jōnin or higher. The specialisations to them mean that they perform best in that field but have back-ups. But as a genin or a chūnin it means they knew only that and nothing else. Why on earth did you say your favourite foods? It's a sure-fire way for an assassin to kill you using food."
"So…" he said calmly "you fail the test. Yes, saying those might've been acceptable during genin team introduction. They are the team you will fight with and lean on in near future. You have to trust them with your lives after all. But I'm here as an enemy. To fight you guys. And you gave away your strengths on a silver platter."
The team looked down in shame for a moment when his voice cracked like a whip. "And for log's sake don't show weakness in front of a potential enemy. He'll exploit it for sure."
"So my Youthful students." Gai said in serious voice. "This is a lesson well taught to you by your junior. Never forget it." Yūgao looked stunned but composed herself.
"Now…" Naruto said taking off his cream coloured hoodie, leaving him in white T-shirt with spiral symbol on it and loose cargo pants "the training is simple. All four of you will come at me once with intent to kill. The test ends when all of you surrender, knocked out or if you survive past the time limit. All of you win if one of you satisfy condition. Neji's challenge is to close at least one of my tenketsu, Lee must land a solid hit on me, Tenten's challenge is to hit me at least once and Shin is to cut me anywhere except my hair. Yes, even clothes are considered. Best of all I'll use only three C-ranked or below techniques, Academy three and Taijutsu to win." He smirked at them challengingly. "To each person if you guys win, I'll teach a B-rank technique and if you lose, well you owe me a favour. Time limit is 15 minutes. If you survive until then you'll win."
Before Yūgao could say anything, Gai picked her up and jumped to the nearby tree as his students are left frothing at their mouths. "Is he insane?" Yūgao shouted. "He is just an Academy student and our students are known to be the best of the best among the genins even if they graduated few months ago. They are enough capable to fight with both of us even when we are fighting at high chūnin level. They'll slaughter him."
"Relax Neko-chan." Gai said calmly smiling at her. "They'll not injure him. And Naruto said that he'll teach them a B-rank right? I don't know anything above C-rank ninjutsu and genjutsu. And they kid trained with Sandaime-sama. Our students and him will gain something out of this experience." Yūgao scowled but simply nodded.
"How dare you underestimate us you little shit…" Tenten growled out with Lee and Shin scowling at him. Neji activated his Byakugan and all of them entered into their respective stances.
"Hmm… Did you guys say something?" He said slumping his shoulders and took out an orange book with title 'Icha-Icha Paradise' on it. Tenten, Shin and Yūgao growled on seeing it. Lee, however "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"
"Maa Lee-senpai. Please keep your tone down." He said not even looking at them. "People are sleeping. And this is an interesting book. Reached at particularly good part?" he giggled reading the book
"How UNYOUTHFUL! DYNAMIC ENTRY." Lee shouted, launching at him at low chūnin speed with a high kick. Just a microsecond before the foot made contact, the boy simply stepped side-wards and allowed Lee to overshoot and backhanded him on his shoulder. The combined momentum of Lee's Dynamic entry and the backhand caused him to bounce on the ground four times before adjusting himself and skidded on the ground. All this time he never took his eyes off the damned book.
The other genins are instantly wary. Tenten pulled out her scrolls and Shin pulled out her katana. Neji immediately fell into standard stance of Jūken and Yūgao looked at them carefully. Lee bounced back from the attack and immediately sent a flurry of punches towards the blond haired boy which he dodged without taking his eyes off the book. Tenten used her accuracy to try and hit him but Naruto simply plucked them out of air. Lee saw an opening in his guard and tried to kick him only to get his leg caught and thrown towards his team. Immediately they assumed semi-circle formation.
"Lesson one: Taijutsu." He said calmly. And before they could even comprehend, he reappeared into their midst. Proving their reflexes, all four of them attacked him immediately. Neji covered his hands with chakra and attacked him ferociously, Lee pulled of his leg-warmers and threw flurry of high and low kicks, Shin slashed at him using chakra to form wind blades and Tenten back flipped and took out a kusarigama and attacked him.
"Konoha Senpū." Lee shouted jumping in the air to deliver a round-house kick and Naruto side stepped the attack, dodging easily but Lee's didn't get discouraged and suddenly jumped back.
"You are in the range of my divination." Neji said softly. "Jūken: Hakke Sanjūni Shō. (Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-two Palms"
"Two Palms, Four Palms, Eight Palms, Sixteen Palms Thirty-two Palms." He shouted speed of his attack increasing exponentially with time. But Naruto simply deflected all his attacks batting them off before kicking Neji on his chest sending him towards Lee. A quick seal-less Kawirami preventing him from getting ensnared by Tenten's kusarigama and wind blade in his direction.
They both looked wearily trying to find the blue-eyed Academy student. According to what Sai said, Naruto was just your run-on-mill shinobi, just average in everything. Their information is wrong. Either it's not the same Naruto his brother is speaking about or he's hiding his skills in the Academy. Till now he didn't use any of the ninjutsus except for Kawirami and yet was overpowering them like it's nothing and damn if it didn't hurt their pride.
The four of them stood back to back not to give the kid any chances. Lee pulled out a pair of tonfas out, Tenten pulled out two scrolls and tensed her muscles in preparation. Neji unsealed a scroll which released large amount of water. Shin held her katana channelling lot of chakra into it that it resembled blue flames. The boy reappeared in the field with the book back in his hand. With Neji facing him all the others dispersed in rhombus formation with Naruto in the center.
"How the hell is he still an Academy student?" Yūgao shouted at the eccentric man who is… eating Yakitori? Dear log…. When did he get the fried chicken without alerting her? "That is easily the level of tokubetsu jōnin."
"I did say that he can youthfully handle himself well didn't I Yūgao-san?" Gai said munching on piece of chicken. "The only reason he's not an Elite Jōnin is because Sandaime-sama wanted him to form bonds with rest of his peers. He was worried about the kid's mind, and with damn good reason. So Naruto was still in the Academy. And FYI he's holding back."
"A-A Jōnin? At this age?" Yūgao hissed out with clear disbelief in her voice. "Are you pulling my leg Gai-san?" At age of twenty, she's still a green jōnin and was given a field promotion recently. Even now few of the elite jōnins didn't accept her as a jōnin completely. Maito Gai is not just an elite jōnin, he is tied with Orochimaru and Jiraiya of Sannin for the third most powerful shinobi in Konoha. For him to give praise to this boy who's not even out of the Academy, it's humbling.
"Don't think short of yourself, Yūgao-san. Naruto to reach the point he's at now was not because of being a prodigy like my Eternal Rival. The person standing there is the result of blood, sweat and tears. Before he turns eighteen he'll be able to fight both our Sandaime-sama and Yondaime-sama together and win. That's how youthfully he trains. It brings tears to my eyes to see a ninja pushing himself at the Spring Time of Youth."
"But… still a jōnin. Tokubetsu jōnin I can accept but jōnin. It's ridiculous."
"So you guys got serious then. Lesson Two: Ninjutsu." With a battle cry all four of them attacked at once.
'Tiger Dragon Monkey Hare Snake Cross arms' Tenten went through the hand seals shouted placing two scrolls in upright position. The scrolls rose up after she completed hand seals and spin around each other cloaked in smoke shaped like a dragon. When the smoke dispersed, Tenten jumped in between them and threw the summoned weapons with great velocity. "Mizu Hari (Water Needles)." Neji shouted concentrating his chakra on the water causing a vortex which launched thin needle like water projectiles. "Hiryū: Kaen." Using one sword wielded in her left hand with his right hand gripping her left wrist for support, Shin jumped high up into the air and slashed her opponent causing a blue flames shaped in form of a dragon launch towards her opponent. Lee used his tonfas and raced in opposite direction of attacks to engage Naruto in near range combat.
Naruto stood simply leisurely. The genins timed their formation well and it's clear that they fought while conserving their chakra. Tenten didn't use all her weapons and the assault continued for a minute. Neji with his Byakugan saw that Naruto was still in that same spot. The smoke from the attacks went down to show Lee flailing his arms and legs with Naruto holding him in choke-hold position all the time reading his porn without any concern. All the weapons and attacks clearly stopped two meters from him clearly.
"Fūton: Rasen Fūjinheki. (Wind Release: Spiralling Wind-Wall.)" He said nonchalantly. "My first C-rank technique. That leaves me two more techniques along with hmm…. one more minute left. Time to wrap this up."
Suddenly both of them disappeared Neji with his Byakugan saw Naruto approaching from the underground. "Lookout he's coming from the underground." He shouted and tried to jump up a tree only to get caught by his ankle buried to his neck. His Byakugan showed Lee a twenty meters away in same position. Shin and Tenten managed to jump up on a tree.
"Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Earth Release: Hiding like a mole technique). My second technique I suppose." He said moving fluidly in between the weapons and wind blades thrown at him with ease. "Well to the next lesson. Lesson Three: Genjutsu."
Both Tenten and Shin saw imaginary circle of leaves spinning around and envelop them, falling away shortly after. Before they could disrupt their chakra the illusion set in and they started frothing at their mouths and fell unconscious. "Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell-Veiwing Technique). Hmm…still twenty seconds left." He said. "And this is my final technique a D-rank one. Your students lost Gai-sensei"
Yūgao was stunned by the way all her genin were defeated. Even she wasn't that fast. There are no hand-seals, no time to react and all of them are defeated. If it was a real life mission or if the boy is not toying around with her genin they would've been dead in few seconds. It was skill in likes of Kakashi Hatake, Uchiha Itachi and few elite jōnins. The spandex wearing eccentric man didn't lie about the boy's skill.
"Acted just like my hip and cool rival, Naruto-kun. Well did you like my team?"
"Gai-sensei. They are really good team and you seemed to have lucked out with kunoichis. Well if you allow I'd like to teach them individually." He said looking at the heads which are scowling at him. He then created a shadow clone and pulled two of them from the ground and with a chakra pulse Tenten and Shin are awakened. Both of them glared so heatedly that Yūgao wondered why there isn't a hole scorched through his head. Gai was grinning at them while Yūgao-sensei was looking thoughtful. Their opponent of the day simply looked at them in boredom "If you wish, I'd like to teach you guys a few things and techniques. Meet me near the gates of the Sarutobi compound at five. It's up to you." He said "As for acting like Hatake-san...well it pisses people easily." before walking towards the exit of the training ground.
"I'd take up that offer if I were you." Gai said seriously. "The boy was really good at Ninjutsu, genjutsu, and fūinjutsu. I can fan your flames in many things but it's the first time he volunteered to teach. Hell he volunteered to come to this session even though he refused for last two months. And that is residence of Sandaime Hokage, so even if he didn't teach you anything you'll learn something from Sandaime-sama. And remember this lesson 'in this world there are kids younger than you and stronger than me.' So never underestimate anyone."
All six of them looked at the boy who disappeared from their view like a ghost in silent, seal-less utterly professional shunshin.
Minato and Kushina were interrupted from their seal designing by sound of knocking on the door. He has been busy last night reading the reports from Kiri and their proposals for alliance. With the knowledge that Yondaime Mizukage is dead due to Naruto's kidnapping, he tried to send messengers to Kiri for alliance. But the country is in complete lockdown and no access is given. Even Jiraiya-sensei's spy network couldn't get any information about Kiri. But due to stoke of luck, the Mizukage herself asked an audience with him. She apologised for the inconvenience and said she's not willing to take any risks at this stage. She also said that due to abduction of Yondaime Mizukage's son, they have to tighten security so much that even Kiri members are not allowed even with rigorous checks.
They decided to meet each other in Tetsu no kuni for proposal of the alliance and Minato has to take care of each and aspect. Yesterday night the preparations have been completed and he left a Kage Bunshin to his office last night in case of extra paperwork. Today Naruto decided to skip few classes in the academy it seems, so Kushina and he decided to design another seal.
"Are you expecting anyone Anata?" Kushina asked puzzled. "Dan-nii and Jiraiya-sensei usually just come to our house through the window. Tsuna-nee just bulldozes through our door. And you left clone in the office right?" Minato nodded "So who's here? Might be Orochimaru-sama."
"I'll get the door." He said walking to the hall. He threw out a chakra string with one finger. Eighteen feet between him and the door, far enough to avoid the blast radius of an explosive tag if they'd put up a trap.
The string latched onto the lock and with a quick tug it was undone, the knob turning before the door was pulled slightly open.
"Minato-kun?" an aged voice called him softly.
"Hiruzen-sama?" he blinked owlishly wondering why the aged Hokage is here.
"Can I come in Minato-kun?" Hiruzen asked softly. "And if possible call Kushina too. Need to speak with you two. It's about Naruto."
Minato went stiff at those words and fear crawled through his body at the thought of something happening to Naruto. Maybe that's the reason why he didn't attend the Academy. Before he can ask anything, Hiruzen raised his hand. "Nothing happened to Naruto-kun he's perfectly safe. I was actually waiting for one of you to approach me about him. But you didn't seem to. So I left Konohamaru-kun and Aya-san at Hyūga compound to meet you. Natsumi-chan was there and ganged up with Hanabi-chan to tease the Konohamaru-kun."
Minato and Kushina, who came to the hall sat on one of the sofas stiffly looking at the old man who lit his pipe. "Relax Kushina and Minato, I'm not really angry at you two. Disappointed…yes. But not angry."
"I… you should be furious Hiruzen-sama. Our behaviour was despicable and unforgivable. Back at our home the entire family will be disgraced and will be treated as scum of the society." Kushina said sadly. "How is he?"
"He's well… complicated." Hiruzen replied smile dimming down a bit. "Lovely kid but complicated one." He lit his pipe and took a puff. "I was here to speak about his absence last year. The time when he's kidnapped."
"What's there to speak about it old man?" Kushina asked confused. "We even had Inoichi mind-walk through his memories. I still don't know how the Akatsuki left him alive but I ain't complaining."
"Each and every one of those memories are fabricated."
"WHAT?" Minato shouted his mind going through several possibilities.
"Exactly what I said. Each and every one of those memories are fabricated by your child." Hiruzen said to the stunned parents. "In fact he was actually out of Konoha for more than six months. Six months fighting with the then Kiri rebels and gained an infamous rep among the purists. How much I wish that the brat to unlearn everything he's taught."
"Why the hell would Naruto join the rebels, Hiruzen. And I call bullshit. Inoichi was the best interrogator and saw those memories himself." Kushina shouted
Hiruzen sighed and took a puff of smoke. "The first thing that rang alarm bells in my head is when he said he's kidnapped. Even I can't sneak up on your kid unless he allows it. Hell, no one could come within two feet of that kid unless he allows it. He trained himself to be unparalleled in stealth and detection."
"Hiruzen-sama, you know better than anyone in this world even a Kage could be killed by an Academy student if he let his guard down. And the Akatsuki were not your run-of-the-mill shinobi. They are group of S-rank missing nin. It is possible for them to fool an Academy student. And even he lied about being captured by Akatsuki why on earth would he fight in a war he has no relation to and even if he did why would he bring the child of the head honcho he opposed? And..."
"Minato... Naruto himself confessed fighting in that goddamn war." He replied silencing any words that came from their mouths. "I managed to wrangle all the details from him and... well I was worried about the kid." He then pushed the Bingo Book of Kirigakure opening the page on which Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto was written striking out Unknown at the name in a beautiful calligraphy. He watched calmly as the faces of the both Kage-level shinobi turned more ashen at the information on the book.
"Is this some kind of a sick joke, Hiruzen?" Minato asked coldness seeping into his tone. "He's a child going to be twelve years old in two months. The Bingo Book must be wrong. Even if he's hiding his true skills, there's no way he's this powerful when he's nine... And look at this kill count. 756 confirmed kills, out of which 10 are elite jōnins, 55 chūnins and a village. No child is that ruthless..."
"Not that ruthless..." Hiruzen sneered coldly at the blond haired man. "One look into his mind, Inoichi was unable to sleep properly for few weeks.
Do you have any idea what Naruto-kun is capable Minato? Do you think he's some snot nosed grumpy brat who couldn't hurt a fly... Did you remember three years ago just a few days before Hyūga affair, I bought thirty-two members to be Orochimaru test subjects. I got the permission through the civilian council Minato... those spineless cowards who turn green at gills at thought of human experimentation. And their own families signed them off gleefully without any remorse. No friends came to their defence. Didn't you... just for one second wonder why. Why even after inhumane experimentation no complaints came to your office?" Minato looked shocked for few moments not thinking about this before in his life.
"Naruto is that reason." Hiruzen replied his tone going icier. "The sheer intellect, cold blooded tactics, uncanny drive and apathy towards his enemies damn not a person you should cross under any circumstances. The kid systematically destroyed their reputations, family bonds and everything they built in their life with well placed tactics. He made them scum of the earth and destroyed them to a point where their own child spit on their faces. He made their lose everything they held dear and then... he punished them. An advanced seal made them undergo torture for many days before trapping them in their own minds. I sent them to TI not knowing that tit-bit. They spent the final year of their life with fear helplessly unable to fight back, shout in pain or anything while being experimented on. A proverbial hell. That's what your son is capable of doing, Minato." He hissed out coldly. "As for power... the final bastard he went after is one Hyūga Horensa." On recognising the name both of them turned shell-shocked.
"Ah.. I assume you now know the perpetrator of Hyūga affair is." He smirked.
"Ino-chan... please open the door. You have been locked up in that room for last three days." Inoichi pleaded hysterically from outside his daughter's room. "Just tell me what's wrong and I'll do anything to make it up for you. Your mom is silent on this matter but... please Ino-chan come out."
"Benten... just what happened that our Ino is behaving this way..." The question was cut by squeaking of the door and his only daughter walked out timidly.
Inoichi immediately raced towards his daughter, his wife following him. Both of them hugged the girl who awkwardly hugged them back.
Inoichi immediately pulled back and looked at his girl. She seemed to have cried too much judging by the heavily swollen red eyes and looked a bit gaunt. But surprising thing is the hair which she took a great pride in was cut off at the shoulder, her clothing changed from that restricting violet dress to a kimono Benten bought. It is a loose fitting, lavender and cream coloured kimono with lavender cuffs over mesh armour with navy blue pants and black, high-heeled sandals. Her dress was tailored not to hinder any of her moments and she looked beautiful in it.
'If my memory serves me right, she hated that kimono calling it blight to fashion... It suited her..' he thought proudly. 'She now looked like a true kunoichi. Even with red eyes and gaunt face damn if she didn't look fierce.'
"I'm late to school papa." She said giving him a small smile. "And have been absent for two days. Iruka-sensei will be pissed off if I skipped any more classes."
"So what happened, Benten?" Inoichi asked coldly. "I was patient as I was concerned about Ino but tell me the name of that fucker who made my child cry."
Benten sighed inwardly. "It's Naruto."
All the anger in his tone melted away giving way to spine chilling horror. He collapsed on the chair shaking away the darkness which threatened to consume him.
"Tell me that Ino didn't unknowingly insulted Hitomi." He begged eyes wide in horror as he remembered the members the child targeted. Images of his daughter eyes wide open unblinking in horror, trapped in her own mind able to understand everything around her but unable to respond, passed through his mind as he struggled to contain his panic. "Or reminded his time with his family."
"Luckily it's not about Hitomi." Benten spoke calmly. "She called him a friendless, talentless, cold-hearted asshole who will amount to nothing. And his parents threw him out as he's a disgrace to his family. To be fair he did call her a waste of space. And no need to panic, the boy might be ruthless but not unnecessarily cruel."
"Naruto never throws first punch, Benten. So which of his friends did my daughter insult?" Inoichi wailed mournfully. "As much as I loved that girl, she's insensitive to others' feeling and hurts them without any care."
"His sister and Fu-chan. Remember that cheerful Taki girl, one who held the seventh tailed beast. Both of them are good friends, so I'm not surprised he chewed out our girl." Inoichi looked surprised. "Don't look surprised. We thought he will turn like Kakashi when he's a genin cold and unfriendly but that girl is persistent. It took Fu literally two years to break down the wall of Ice around the boy. And you of all persons knew how deep can he love. I swear that the boy might be a part Uchiha. He can certainly love to that extent." She said not noticing her husband wincing slightly at the words
"But still it's a relief that Ino broke out of her fangirl ways. I hope she will not fall back to it." Inoichi mused. "Bigger relief is that Naruto didn't held any anger at Ino. As he chewed her out it's possible that he didn't hold a grudge. Thank log for that."
"I thought you never minded her fangirlish ways Inoichi." Benten asked surprised. "I clearly remember you saying not to reprimand her ways saying that she should be allowed to be a normal child."
"I may be a father Benten, but I'm the shinobi who saw the worst world has to offer. I worked in the darkest and most horrendous part of this already dark life after all. I cannot deny my child whatever she asks as her father." He said smiling lightly. "But as a shinobi and the clan head of Yamanaka, I wanted her to be ready for the outside world. Fugaku and I were the ones who pushed Hokage-sama to enforce stricter regimen for the Academy especially for the kunoichis."
He lighted a cigarette and continued "I hoped that the stricter and more rigid syllabus might break out of her fangirlish ways but it seems that I've failed. Should thank Naruto for that it seems."
"Anyway how's the boy now. I haven't seen him since last year since he returned after being kidnapped by Akatsuki of all bastards." He asked softly. "How on earth is he sane after enduring all that shit I never knew. A fully grown shinobi would have gone nuts." He mumbled to himself.
Benten simply smiled as she saw a flash of blond hair ducking down from the window and running away.
"He was trained to be the best of the best, an assassin without any equal. He was taught to be ruthless and unforgiving, a perfect human weapon since he's six years old child. He can switch off his emotions at will." Hiruzen said calmly. "So I'm not really surprised at this information."
He was immediately hit by very strong killing intents courtesy of two Kage-level shinobi. It was so powerful that even a jōnin would loose control over his bowels but Hiruzen simply raised his eyebrows. Before he could even blink there's a kunai a few millimetres from his right eye. But the old man just took a puff and looked straight into glacial eyes he was accustomed to see in the child he loved like his grandson and cocked his eyebrow.
"Assassination is not a place for a teen let alone a child of six years old Hiruzen." Minato growled out coldly. "I was the one who set age limit of sixteen years for ANBU. Give me one damn good reason for teaching him all of that."
"A common misconception in Konoha is that I was the one who taught Naruto-kun everything he knew except for Taijutsu he learnt under Maito Gai." Hiruzen replied coolly. "It is exactly that. A misconception." He then caught the hand holding the kunai and reversed their positions in milliseconds. Kushina tried to engage him but the coldness in his eyes stopped her advance. "And here I am to tell everything you need to know about your child."
Pulling back the kunai he added some tobacco and relighted his pipe. "When he's five years old, Naruto was admitted to the hospital with his mouth cut from ear to ear and second degree chakra burns. He was beaten up and was nearly killed by few of the chūnins. You guys forgot to key in his chakra and he was lucky that his chakra network was not fully formed. Result is that he was in a real horrible condition. The chūnin medics Tsunade left in charge of admission in that wing refused to admit him and he was thrown into the bins near the hospital. In that dark point of his life he met a ray of hope. Her name... Hitomi Hyūga."
'As a one of the Hyūga clan member I may be bad at Taijutsu but I really found my calling in iryo-ninjutsu.' A beautiful girl of sixteen years old thought to herself smiling at her newest achievement. Becoming a chūnin just an year after being a genin, she managed to climb up quickly in the hospital, thanks to her innate knowledge of human body and her Byakugan. Last week she managed to reach trainee combat med-nin section after her mastery in everything in the hospital and she was the seventh one who was selected since Tsunade-sama initiated the program. The selected members before her didn't complete it and only one who came close was a person named Kabuto. Hopefully she'd be the first to master the Ninpō Sōzō Saisei — Byakugō no Jutsu after Tsunade-sama.
Not wanting to waste resources, she was kept as an incharge of shinobi section where chakra burns etc are treated. Today the hospital was rather lax as it was the festival in which the fourth Hokage defeated the Kyuubi.
It was a bitter day for her. It was a normal day until... She blinked to repress those memories.
Hearing a commotion near the entrance, she ran out seeing two chūnins throwing what seemed to be a four year old child into the bin.
"What the hell is happening?" She shouted frostily with her Byakugan activated. On seeing her the chūnins winced before putting on a flirty smile. "Ah nothing Hitomi-chan. Just cleaning out the trash."
Behind both of them a near unintelligible moans came. Pushing away both of them she looked into the bin in which a small child of around four years was moaning in agony. His entire body was covered with deep cuts. From his torn clothes she could make out ribs poking out of him chest and few are certainly broken. His fingers and legs are bent in odd angles and there was a steadily increasing pool of blood underneath him. His entire face is covered with blood and only thing that's clear was his eyes which were dilated. His mind is few moments away from shutting down completely.
"What the hell are you waiting for? Prepare a stretcher and bring O- negative blood immediately." She barked out hotly.
"Hitomi-chan... Do you know who that is?" One of the chūnins asked slowly.
"I don't give a flying fuck who he is. Did you guys forgot the three most important rules Tsunade-sama taught us? The very first rule is 'No medic ninja shall ever stop medical treatment until the life of the patient have come to an end.' " she shouted. "I don't care whatever your personal prejudice against this kid but we have a duty. Now prepare for his treatment." She snarled out.
"No.." the chūnin replied. "I refuse to treat the beast who killed my friend and my brother exactly five years ago." Before she could speak he grinned maliciously. "Or did you forget the beast which killed both your parents and your little brother?"
"W-what a-are you s-speaking?" She stammered out.
"Oh you didn't recognize this beast, Hitomi-chan..." The chūnin said wiping out the blood on the child's face revealing three thin lines on the child's face which were slashed diagonally with a knife. She looked at him in stunned silence.
"On that day Naruto should have been dead." He said exhaling out smoke. "The girl's parents were killed in the Kyuubi's attack but she personally witnessed the death of her brother. Her five year old brother was killed by a roof thrown out by swipes of Kyuubi's tails. Before her very eyes the roof fell down on her little brother and she was unable to help him as he bled and died before his own eyes. She became a medic for that reason. So that she'll be able to prevent any death. A diamond in rough."
"So what's his name?" She asked softly.
"The name of it's disguise?" He asked. "Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki."
"Well the Kyuubi, now Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki... one of the citizens of Konoha needs our services. Then why the ruddy hell are you watching on without healing him."
"Hitomi-chan.." "Shut up..." She growled. "Even if he's Kyuubi, he's now a citizen of Konoha and comrade in our future if he decides to be a shinobi. Now prepare everything needed to heal him." She barked out as they scrambled away.
She remembered it clear as she saw her mother and father left the compound to assist civilians. Saw the roof crushing her brother to death, her sweet five year old brother killed before her own eyes as he ran for a plushie toy he loved. Remembered holding him in her hands when he died and she's unable to do anything.
And the cause of that was lying helplessly in front of her. But when she saw his face why did she feel like seeing her own brother. He's doesn't look like a beast but just a small child
Cleaning his wounds, she removed the rags he wore and started healing the internal damage. The chūnin bought a bag of blood which she hooked up the child. She began to heal all the wounds on his body and then reached his face. Except to stop bleeding there's nothing she could do for him. The boy's face was carved out with wind chakra and for first time she thought who between the boy and villagers is the real demon.
Her kindness is what saved your child from dying." Hiruzen smiled wryly. "If she allowed her prejudice to overcome her duty, he'd have been dead. When she saw past her prejudice, she saw a child starving for love. She became the first person Naruto loved as if she were his own family. She became a mother-figure to him. His first precious person so as to speak."
Both Minato and Kushina while being thankful to the girl, couldn't suppress a small amount of jealousy at the girl. She gained her son's trust and love after all.
"So we have to meet the girl and thank her then." Kushina spoke softly "and have to bear her ire for abandoning my child."
"Even if you wish to you cannot meet her." Hiruzen replied closing his eyes.
"What do you mean, Hiruzen-sama?"
"She's dead." He replied, lips thinning out. "Murdered in cold blood in front of your son's eyes."
"W-wha..." Minato spluttered. "W-what a-are you s-speaking?"
"I'm not surprised that you have never heard of it." Hiruzen replied."Horensa was not a fool and covered his tracks efficiently. Her sister is a Main Branch member but she never cared about her death when she learned that Hitomi is helping Naruto. Well she's one of the 'Naruto is Kyuubi' bandwagon members and thought that her sister is consorting with the killer of her parents. Horensa never told what they did to her sister, just that she's lynched for help the kid.
In hospital it was told that she died and they buried her without telling the causes and according to the pact, no outside shinobi must interfere in the clan matters."
His eyes turned hollow. "On that night, Naruto simply his away from the festivities. But he's a child who wished for a small toy. A fluffy frog plushie and he lingered near the stand. He was caught and badly beaten up.
Fortunately Hitomi saw that and pulled him away using a minor genjutsu on his assailants. She started healing his wounds when she suddenly got seizures all over her body. Naruto scared out of his wits, hugged her and saw she's clutching her forehead in pain. He pulled off her forehead protector and he saw an ugly green pulsating seal. The Caged Bird seal.
Minato took a sharp breath while Kushina gripped the chair with enough strength to crack the wood. "As you understood, a Main Branch member activated that dratted seal and paralysed her.
With Hitomi incapacitated, both of them are dragged into a bar. They put chakra restraints on her and then thirty or so assaulted her everyway possible. They held your boy down and made him watch as she's mutilated saying it was his fault she's going to die. All the night Naruto begged them to stop and if he did wrong he's to be punished. After two hours, his torture started. I really don't want to repeat what he has experienced, Tsunade told you what happened. Almost every bone in his body was shattered, he lost almost all of his blood. After he went unconscious, Hitomi was killed with Caged Bird seal and Naruto was left to bleed out and die."
Both the parents started crying wordlessly at the picture painted by the old what their son endured.
"So you taught him assassination to take revenge on those bastards." Kushina spoke wiping away her tears.
"I met Naruto-kun for the first time when he's little more than seven and half years old. He's sent to assassinate me." Hiruzen replied blankly. "He's really good but not enough to kill me though."
Hey guys long time no see. Sorry for late update but life was hectic these days. Anyway I will try to update once in two weeks from now as I am free.
As always read and review