Disclaimer: Not mine, neither fandom, unfortunately.
Warnings: Violence, and occasional gore, not really implemented as of yet, rating may go up later.
Note on Side Pairings: Most will not appear until very late into the book, if at all, it is more than likely they will remain implied and not actually seen, except of course MinaKushi which will likely remain.
A little bit of a note for that pairing within a note, that pairing has a lot of contradiction for me. I always found Kushina abusive -If you hit your spouse or child in an unfriendly way it is considered abuse in my opinion- regardless of my liking of her character. So their relationship may not end up staying together.
The man who came from the main tent, was not what he had been expecting. Although in hindsight, he wasn't quite sure what he had been expecting. Perhaps someone with short hair, a battle-scarred face and stomping footsteps. Or a woman with a fierce scowl and big body who could lift ten men with one arm. He wasn't quite sure, yet he knew with a certainty that was rather unfamiliar to him, that this man, was not it.
He was tall -perhaps the same height as the white haired Alpha he had met-, his muscles were definitely fit for a military Captain, there was no question in that, and his eyes were hard and sure, under no disillusions about what he was to do. His black sky hair was tied into a jagged ponytail at the top of his head and kept up with a crimson red swordhilt hair tie, For everything the man seemed to be the perfect man of war, yet something clamored within the blond's mind, that no, no this man was not all that he seemed.
"Listen." A deep monotone voice, somehow uncaring, equally demanding -attracted the attention of every Alpha -and himself- to the tall black haired man. Who, did not have a top on, and instead wore only a pair of black specially designed pants for war, and a stern expression which demanded obedience. Naruto was half tempted to kiss the man's feet from instinct alone, he refrained from that action. "You will assemble swiftly and silently every morning. Anyone." The man's gaze drifted almost casually towards the white haired Alpha who was undoubtedly taller than him and stood leisurely compared to the other soldiers. They had obviously had a meeting prior to this one if such a gaze spoke the words Naruto thought they did. "Anyone caught doing otherwise will answer to me."
Naruto, who was still as a rock, and equally as unbreathing as one held ever stiffer as the pink haired woman to his left him shifted and let out a mumble to herself that was discourteous to the Captain. "Tch, tough guy, how well of you," she said, and Naruto fought the urge to step away as the man turned, no resemblance of emotion on his face, but his body was relaxed, he was certain of his abilities it seemed. For a moment his hand ghosted over the weapons, no other indication of him having heard the woman other than his abrupt turn after she spoke. He settled on a long spear, gave it a mere slightened look, then drew, and threw it high into the air. It landed on a tall wooden training post at the very top, deeply embedded, there was no way it could be retrieved. The Captain turned, something mocking in the way his shoulders drew back, as he looked to the pink woman who had mocked him.
"Sakura, yes? You volunteered to get my spear? How gracious, please, continue." The man, who had yet to introduce himself, gestured vaguely to the poll, as he stepped back, to examine how the woman would climb such a structure.
"Cha! I'll get that spear, and with my shirt on too." By the way, her muscles clenched, Naruto could only assume she had no idea how to go about getting it, but at least her words held a confidence. They all peaked around to watch her attempt.
However, the Captain, in turn, had clicked his tongue and grabbed something from the ground near the weapons. He strode behind her, his feet didn't make a sound on the grass and stone, and Naruto could barely fathom how that was possible, would he learned that, he hoped he would. -His father had one coming after this after all.-
The items the man held were large gold circular -weights? He assumed, tied onto a long piece of black fabric. They were dropped directly in front of Sakura's feet as she was about to make another step, landing exactly where her foot would have been. She jumped, though to her credit didn't make a noise, and kept her dignity rather intact.
"This-" He held up a golden weight, placed which was then placed on Sakura's left hand. "-Represents discipline." Her arm sagged slightly for a moment, but she held firm once more keeping balance, The Captain held up the second weight, placed into her right hand. "-and this represents strength." The arm was carelessly dropped, and Naruto felt a twinge of sympathy when she staggered around trying both to stay upright at the abrupt change, and to compensate to the weight she now held. Their Captain walked around, his gaze intent on the other soldiers.
"You will need both to reach the spear."
Sakura made quite the spectacle of herself, attempting to climb the tall pillar, for although her strength was great, it seemed not to aid her in climbing such a smoothened surface. She fell quickly, not even half way up the wooden surface, and landed ungracefully on her side one of the weights hitting into her abdomen. Many of the other's around him laughed, though he held his tongue he knew they would be expected to get the spear just as she was. Naruto had no idea how he would achieve such a thing, he had not the arms of an Alpha or even a Beta, he simply hadn't the type of life that befitted such a thing.
The Captain sighed quietly, and the adviser beside him wrote something on his parchment.
"They are quite the lost cause Madara, perhaps you should stop now before someone dies early." The smooth voice drawled out, although there was no humor or mocking in an the undertone, it was as if the man beneath the coat was speaking plain fact, and Naruto felt annoyance well up in him from the remark. Who was he to say such a thing? At least, he reasoned, they all had a name to put to their Captain, not that they would ever be using it, of course, still, it was nice to know, at least for Naruto, he had no clue to what the Alpha's thought, he doubted they cared.
He looked to the wooden pillar, and sighed, he would certainly not be put on any sort of 'good' list after this.
What followed was by no stretch of any definition of fun, there was a long period of time, which was spent simply trying to retrieve the spear of which no one, could figure out a feasible path as to how.
After that, each of them were passed a bang, and learned -or rather attempt, as the Captain tried to teach them something of value with said item, many of the soldiers tried to find the correct way to place their hands, many others were managing to wield the weapon but were only succeeding in hitting the person next to them. Naruto found himself to be in the first category, yet also trying to use the weapon, ending with many people glaring at him as he hit them in the head. His bang was taken away rather quickly after that, The Captain rudely sweeping it out of his hands as it were.
Then there was the bow and arrow training, which was disastrous, if not more embarrassing then the training with the bang. The expectation was to be able to pin fruit to a tree with your arrows. Naruto had been tricked by Kakashi, who had put the fruit on his arrow fore him before he even set aim, his bow was taken away from him before he could even use one arrow.
Though through it all, the worst part had been sparring, the Captain had chosen him to practice with, to keep an eye on him apparently, which Kakashi had so helpfully pointed out. That had resulted in nothing but a grievous failure as he was knocked into the tall white haired man. Who had growled quite viciously at him for it?
Now he was resting in his tent, nearly defeated by fatigue as he listened to Iruka and Kakashi bicker, really it was Iruka yelling lowly at Kakashi for being an idiot about something, which Naruto could not register, and Kakashi giving acknowledging grunts every once in awhile.
He had been confronted several times in the days following, often enough that it became a ritual of sorts. Jiraiya, the tall white-haired red-lined Alpha had questioned both his legitimacy, and his ability to go through the training, pushing his mental capabilities to restrain his anger every day, and it had been so ridiculous he had tried to punch the man at one point, only to end up with a bruised and pained fist. At which point he had sworn to get stronger to give the man a taste of his own medicine. It hadn't helped that the man had only laughed at him afterward.
Sakura had been, almost worse, she hadn't been bad in the beginning, mostly ignoring him, and ignoring his pitiful attempts to fit in.
It was when she started to pay attention to him did everything start to get all the more difficult. She wasn't arrogant like the older Alpha, but she had more pride in her gender than anyone he had ever met. Her pride and ego were large and when he had overstepped his boundaries -as she had put it- she had gotten involved in trying and swaying him into another direction forcefully. Her insults had actually been punishing, although not at first.
When she had started she had tried for his pride in his gender, which he had not fell pray to, as he knew himself a pitiful lie as it was. Once she had figured out that wasn't going to affect him she had gone after his more fragile personal doubts.
One day it had been on his family, on their honor, and their failings as parents. Which he had actually contemplated that night, the words had sunk in, and he had worried for his mother and his father, how they fared. Then paranoia had set in and he wondered whether or not they actually felt proud or cared that he was gone, or if they were glad for his disappearance as the scourge of the family. Sleep had forsaken him that night.
The next day, Sakura had been smug, her expression had stayed on her face throughout training, afterwards, while everyone had been fruitlessly attempting to climb the training post, she had confronted him, her eyes an emerald gleam in the light which in the setting sun flared with an orange fire that could only tell of vindictive intent.
"You really are quite pathetic aren't you? You have nothing, don't you? No brains, no skill, no strength, what shame you must bring to your family. How exactly are you an Alpha again?" She had walked away after that, and although it was a simple blow to his gender again, and could, therefore, be ignored, it had lit something in his mind that made him want to fight her, and prove who he was. It was for other Omega's, of his Mother's righteous anger, Tsunade's brother's pride, his own rebellious nature, and urge to do something other than what society dictated of him.
He felt motivated like he hadn't originally, to prove to himself, to her, to everyone that Omega's were just as capable as Alpha's, he had this kind of weight on him, yet it felt light.
That night, he thanked Sakura silently for giving him something more to fight for.
Ino, the blonde, strange-eyed female Alpha, had not been like her counterparts. She was kind and had actually spoken to him, their conversations around the others had been brief, and quiet. However, when in a more secluded area, they were both loud, brash, and unyielding. During the day's when they had no training, the two of them would go to the riverside, as many others, and while still in their clothes splash around, Ino would start a fight of some sort, a ridiculous one with no meaning, and playful banter, where they would indulge and laugh at strange insults thrown to each other.
Ino was just as, if not more, loud than him when she let loose, she would scream at unseen people, sometimes the very trees themselves in an anger that didn't make any sense to Naruto. Mostly however it was out of spirit and excitement that she yelled and found himself joining in more often than not as their training progressed.
This training had always been the most taxing, it wasn't as if he hated it, in fact, he was beginning to enjoy the more physically demanding exercises as of late. Even so, the long hiking with rice and unstable bamboo sticks was unnerving, perilous mountain drop not included. As it was today he was hiking with Ino, both of them were rather tired, but were still somehow managing to keep up with the others.
Something hit him in the head unexpectedly, Ino for her part seemed to see whatever it was for her gaze turned questioningly on the pink haired woman in front of them, or rather her back for that was all they could see of the girl. Naruto didn't look at her, not wanting to think of her strange attitude towards him.
His foot slipped. The gravel underneath him gave him no footing, his leg dangled dangerously over the edge of the cliff the rice he balanced over his shoulders slipped down over onto one side, and his whole body diverted towards the cliff. Unexpectedly he found himself automatically grasping the edge and twisting the rice and bamboo off his shoulders. The grasp lurched his body, his muscles straining at the abrupt change. The rock bit into his skin and his entire body felt both like a heavy rock that gave him great pain, yet it also felt as if it were floating, that, he assumed was the rush adrenaline.
He heard something above him, and then a large hand grasped his wrist and pulled harshly upwards, it was sudden and made his whole body hurt, but nevertheless appreciated. He scrambled onto the surface, his breath having left him at some point during his rescue. Quickly he found himself staring up at the man who had rescued him, who as it turned out was Madara, their Captain, which in itself was strange, as the man had been leading them in front of everyone. Behind him stood Ino, clenched fists, and a twisted face.
He stood quickly, only after realizing he wasn't standing in the first place, not that it really mattered, with his height, he stood yet still had to tilt his head back to look at their Captain properly.
"Are you fit to continue?" The way the Alpha stood before him a tall imposing visage, superior and commanding made Naruto's gut tighten and his anger rise. It was reflective, but he could not stop his mouth in time.
"That's it you bastard! No, were you hurt? Or anything! Aren't you supposed to be invested in our well being?!" For a moment, the man actually looked contemplative, yet his expression certainly didn't stay that way, it fell quickly into something blanked and unreadable.
"You were careless with your footing, that certainly isn't my biggest concern." The confidence in his tone was staggering to the blond. While the man had certainly saved him from certain death, yet the confidence -or was it ego?- he held was something in and out of itself.
"I think everyone's little mishap, footing, slip, trip, or otherwise is of your concern 'Captain.' You need to be aware of all of us in order to lead us properly." Vaguely he noted that his teeth ground together as he spoke, he hadn't been this angry for a long time. A horse came up beside Ino, the rider being none other than the adviser himself, his long coat foreboding now.
When he spoke his voice was chilled like the river in winter. "That is simply it, your thought on the matter is not relevant." Something lay underneath that statement, and it wasn't reflectant on the man who said it, but it spoke of something more refined, far more ingrained. It made Naruto pause for a second, of course, then he registered the comment, and his anger spiked evermore. This time, he held his tongue as the adviser walked back to the front of the lineup, the Captain close on his heals.
Naruto stared at the ground in shame and anger, tempted to blow over and yell at the two of them, his hands turned to fits, and he walked back into line with Ino beside him. He looked up, only to find the Captain glancing at him from his peripheral vision, the side of his face gave away no emotion, but his jugular gulped, before turning away. Naruto felt his anger leave, and his body go hot.
He thought not as to why.