Chakra: a supernatural substance inside the body that is essential to the life of a ninja.
It's needed to perform even the most basic of needs for anyone that wields it. It flows through the body, and is produced usually in small quantities that can grow overtime.
From performing jutsus, to walking on water, even creating illusions, this power does it all. Everyone that's alive is born with chakra in them. Complete usage/taking of all chakra however, results in death. Ever since the beginning from what history could tell, this power has always been around. Upon being utilized properly, and efficiently, everything began to change. However, it made me sick.
They could use jutsus, cast illusions, climb walls, walk on water, jump higher, become stronger… Yet what about the ones who couldn't be like them? Why couldn't things be different?
If it wasn't for that stupid rule since the beginning-
"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullet!"
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
A ball of wind and a giant circle of flame collided with one another, canceling each other out. Two girls stood far from each other, a boy watching them smile before they began cheering.
"Kaa-san, Tou-chan, did you see that?!" Both of them shouted in unison, running towards their parents that happened to be two women; one blonde beauty, and a gorgeous redhead.
"Of course we did. We're so proud of you two." The redhead spoke, giving them a kiss to their heads.
"You two are growing up so fast. Makes me wanna cry a bit." The blonde stated, giving them hugs as they returned the gesture.
"If it wasn't for that stupid rule from the beginning, I'd be with them right now. If men could use chakra like they could, I wouldn't be sitting here to the side while my sisters get to be happy."
The blonde wrote down something in a small journal, letting his attention be taken away by the page he wrote on. Once he finished his previous sentence, his writing came to a stop for a second. Then a growl escaped his lips.
"Since I have to sit powerless in this powerful family, I can only imagine who has it worse than me. Especially with the stories I've heard before." He muttered to himself, his blue eyes darkening a little as they lost their shine to them.
If only we could use chakra. Maybe then I could live in a world where equality actually exists. Not this nonsense of women in power, where I feel trapped inside of a cage, destined to go nowhere in life. I may have it better off with no room to talk, but I'd give anything to be able to explore the world just one time. See beyond these walls of Konoha, and maybe even become strong.
Upon writing this, it was finally revealed as to whose inner thoughts these were, signing his name down on the last few sentences.
"I, Naruto Namikaze who can't use chakra, for the rest of my days, will forever hate the very existence of chakra." The Namikaze child wrote, looking at his family from the window of his bedroom. With that, he closed his journal.
There was a difference though. There seemed to be a smile on his face the moment he did it.
"Heh. It's been five years since I wrote that. To think I was so childish for placing all my hatred on a supernatural power that didn't do anything wrong." Those words were from that of a twelve-year-old Naruto, closing his old journal.
Currently, he was sitting in his room, having taken an old trip down memory before going back to the book he was reading. In detail, the book was called Endless Fireflies, telling the story of a boy who didn't want to slave his life away as an adult with no future. It wasn't until he fell asleep that he'd end up awakening to a mysterious girl in a world that shouldn't have existed. A dark world where the fireflies light the way.
He loved the story it was telling, and was nearing the end as the two protagonists needed to save this world from a man who wanted to destroy the endless fireflies with a dreadful life of a gray adult world, ending the beautiful future for all upcoming generations. The plot sounded dumb, but the story was definitely amazing. Then a woman suddenly appearing next to his bed awoke him from his escape in reality.
"Naruto-sama, why did you skip the academy today? Ditching isn't something befitting of a Namikaze." He sighed towards the kunoichi.
"Neko, I'm the smartest in the class, and excelling in all categories. One day of literature alone wouldn't hurt." She shook her head.
"Your mother is waiting downstairs for you. I suggest we get moving to her."
"..." The Namikaze groaned, grabbing Neko's hand. The woman didn't think much of it until she was yanked down onto the bed.
"Naruto-sama, please don't-"
"Yugao, stop talking please." Lowering his hand, he gently undid the straps to her mask, the woman below him not doing anything as her mask was taken away.
Her face was revealed as she stared into her master's eyes, not doing anything while he brought his face closer to hers. She blushed a tad bit, knowing what it meant every time he did this.
"Please don't ask me to not follow you around Naruto-sama. Your protection is my priority."
"I won't ask. However, did you tell mom I was skipping the academy?" He asked her, receiving a no.
"I had been watching you from afar the entire time." Naruto believed her words, sighing as he looked into her beautiful sight just a bit longer.
Naruto gave her the mask back, watching her cover her face. "Why do you allow me to take your mask when I wasn't supposed to ever see your face?" Yugao didn't respond, but she looked off for a bit and proceeded to take him out of his room to the kitchen. After arriving, the blonde was presented to an upset Kushina Namikaze, formerly an Uzumaki who took on the Namikaze name after marrying her husband (wife).
"Sweetie, I love you, but you should know that ditching school is out of the question." She gave him a stern look, her beautiful looks still radiating after all these years.
"Mom, I'm Valedictorian with nothing better to do. I want to do the stuff that you and mom (Minato) can do. However, men not being able to use chakra is stopping that."
She watched her son sit down at the table, the former Kyubi holder sighing as she rubbed her temples.
"Speaking of that, I overheard from Tsume that you tried to get Kira to teach you some taijutsu. What did I say about diving into something strictly meant for kunoichi?"
"Stay away from all related aspects and dangers as I can do more damage to myself than others. Yet I wanna at least defend myself if something does happen!" The boy yelled, getting a glare from his redhead mother.
"Don't start yelling in front of your mother. I love you dearly, but I will not allow you to dabble in such things. At least not yet."
She turned around to wash the dishes, responding with "As of now, your studies come first. Yes, my baby boy is smart, but there's still so much more to it than that."
"So I'm just gonna be stuck as a prisoner of my own family huh? Figures coming from you." The sudden crushing of glass made his eyes snap to her head, seeing her hair rise up like nine-tails.
"Naruto, when did you ever have such a mouth?" She looked at him, the tick mark making itself now.
The boy didn't respond, but cast a look to the side, hopping out the chair he was sitting in. He made his way to the door, hearing a "If you open that door, you're grounded as soon as you come back mister." He didn't care though as he opened the door, closing it behind him. The redhead mother sighed as she calmed down.
"Don't worry Kushina-sama. I'll keep a watchful eye over him." Then she disappeared in a shushin, making the older woman sigh.
"Naruto, please understand that we're doing this for your own good. Once you start…" Kushina began, coming to a halt in her words as she shook her head. She watched Naruto closely. Once he learned something, his pursuit of knowledge wouldn't end until he uncovered all of what he learned. THAT was the price to pay for having a son as curious, smart, and driven like him.
Meanwhile, the teen himself sauntered the streets of Konoha, taking a look around with his bored expression. He saw both men and women in their everyday lives, and could only smile softly at the civilians who were currently moving about. Happy families, shops trying to sell, and-
"What the…" he felt a breeze pass him by, the leaves he saw blow away in the wind. As he watched them, his eyes were captured by two Kunoichi that had jumped across a building, making him glare at them unconsciously before continuing on his way.
"No use dwelling on it." was his line of thought, and he continued onwards. On the other hand, Yugao watched him from a distance.
"Good morning Naruto-sama!"
"Hi Naruto-sama!"
"Wonderful day to be out, huh Naruto-san?"
He heard their words, smiling brightly as he said "Good morning everyone!" The hearts he melted were numerous, but the amount of blushes went beyond that. Although, some of the looks directed at him were more than just a blushing smile on the surface. Some of them wanted him BADLY.
"Hi Naruto-sama~" His attention was stolen by a beautiful woman older than him, with a seductive look on her features that made him shy back a bit with a nervous chuckle.
"Hello there to you too. Good morning." A small blush adorned his cheeks as the woman blew him a kiss, upsetting quite a few that wanted his attention.
On the other hand, Yugao remained unseen, watching the daily life of Naruto Namikaze. From visiting shops, to engaging with the people, he did all of what any normal civilian his age could do. As the minutes passed by though, something caught her attention. Her blonde master led her to a small little clover patch, surveying the surrounding areas as he began to pick clovers for some odd reason.
"It's been a while since I returned here. This time, I wanna see if I can find a four leaf clover. Maybe I might have some good luck today." Naruto said to himself, smiling as he began looking.
As far as he could remember, the Namikaze pre-teen made it his goal to check this clover patch in hopes of finding a four leaf clover. Because so far, all he keeps finding are shamrocks. Now don't get him wrong, shamrocks are cool, but a four leaf clover is even cooler.
Meanwhile, Yugao watched him for hours. Yes, hours. The purple haired beauty spent all day looking at the young man go through this clover patch, watching as he would shout about his unlucky search in finding a four leaf. Honestly, she found it cute, and at times found herself chuckling from his antics. Then a sudden scream of "YES" awoke her from her thoughts.
"Hell yeah! I found a four leaf clover! I was searching forever dattebayo!" The blue-eyed pre-teen crouched down and grabbed the clover, smirking as he knew this meant a lot of good luck for his future. Then something caught his attention. As he looked back down, not too far from where he picked up the four leaf clover he was now holding, there happened to be another clover he never saw before.
(The leaves of a clover are said to each contain one thing. In the first three, dwell integrity, hope, and love.)
Naruto crouched down, counting the number of leaves to the clover as he stared a bit in wonder.
(The fourth leaf is given over to good luck.)
He picked up the clover, staring the flower down as he became confused. Suddenly, Yugao appeared behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder as his expression became neutral.
"Naruto-sama, it's time to go home now. I want you to at least be able to celebrate having turned twelve today."
"Oh… I'm surprised you remember." He stood up, taking her hand as they headed home.
"Was there anyway I was going to forget Naruto-sama?" She looked down at him, her mask hiding the confusion she wore.
"Well no one, not even the villagers wished me happy birthday like usual." Upon realizing that, he slowly came to a stop as the woman turned to face him. "Something special was planned for our birthday, wasn't it?"
"..." She didn't say anything, but gave a slow nod. The blonde face-palmed after that, surprised by his stupidity of not realizing it sooner. He sighed while the night sky began setting in.
"Yugao, please teleport us to the house."
"Gladly, Naruto-sama."
Following his request, she immediately shushined them home, appearing in front of the double doors to the Namikaze compound. They soon walked inside, Naruto being welcomed to his parents and sisters huddled up together holding some cake and ice cream.
"Happy birthday Naruto/Onii-chan!" They shouted, making him blink slowly.
The pre-teen walked forward, smiling a bit as he said "Thanks everyone. Also, happy birthday to you two as well Naruko, Natsumi." His twins came over next to him, the blonde Naruko (practically being a carbon copy of Minato) giving him a hug as she smiled brightly.
"For being as useless as you are, it must be good to know that your family will always love that about you." Natsumi said, smirking softly as her hand covered her mouth. This in turn made Naruto and Naruko give her a deadpan look.
"Natsumi, none of that. Such words won't be tolerated." She received a glare from her mother, the carbon copy of Kushina sweating nervously as she tried to play it off as a joke.
On the other hand, Minato shook her head with a smile, walking over to her son. Towering over him, she pet his head and gave him a wink with a gentle smile. The boy didn't understand why she did it, but soon got his answer as she said "Since we're gonna be spending tonight together as a family for the fireworks festival, what would you like for your birthday Naruto?"
"What would I like eh?" He looked away from the older Namikaze, trying to think of something.
Every year they asked him, and every year it was the same thing. He just wanted to spend time with them as a family, but never asked for anything. He needed something that could keep him preoccupied. Something that would allow him to work, become a hobby, maybe even turn into an escape from the constant reality that served a reminder to him. That he was a man who couldn't use chakra. Then in the corner of his eyes, he spotted something on the table.
"What's that?" He pointed towards a small todachi on the coffee table in the living room.
"That's my gift, and no you can't have it. After all, a man such as yourself could never benefit from it. You're better off just being with me where I can watch over you." Natsumi said, brushing her head to the side as she was suddenly presented with a sweatdrop from everyone there. "What?"
"... Ignoring that, I meant "what is that next to her todachi?" I should've been more specific." The blonde questioned, Minato realizing what he was getting at as she turned to see her unfinished work currently being applied to the sword.
"Say, are you interested in learning about fuinjutsu, Naruto?" The blonde beauty crouched down to Naruto's height.
"What's fuinjutsu mom? I've never heard of it until now." Naruko asked beside them, getting a nod from Naruto as well, while Natsumi stood by her brother after being intrigued herself.
"Kushina, would you care to explain?" Minato asked, getting a kiss from her wife who said "Gladly darling."
"Ok my beautiful children, pay close attention. Fuinjutsu, also known by its alternate name as Sealing Techniques, are a type of jutsu that seals objects, living beings, chakra, along with a wide variety of other things within another object. Fūinjutsu can also be used to restrict movement or unseal objects either from within something or someone. It's commonly used for a lot of things, and it actually originated from my home land in Uzushiogakure, known as the Village hidden by Whirling Tides."
"Whoa! Can we visit there someday?! Maybe next year?!" Naruko jumped for joy, Naruto grabbing her hand as she began to settle down.
Kushina on the other hand became surprised by the sudden question, but smiled softly. "Yes. We'll visit Uzushio someday Naruko." Minato then stood up, placing her hand on Kushina's shoulder before kissing her wife's head.
"In fact, your mother was the very one who taught me sealing techniques. Thanks to her, I was able to invent my famous flying raijin, but don't tell anyone." Minato gave a cheeky smile. "Aside from that, we better get a move on for the festival, so I'll ask again just in case. Would you like to learn fuinjutsu Naruto?"
(And in the fifth-)
"Yes. Yes, one-hundred percent yes!" The blonde Namikaze exclaimed in excitement, Minato and Kushina smiling at the fact that another seal user would be in the house.
Having heard his answer loud and clear, Minato teleported off before reappearing back in a yellow blue, giving him a book. Before he could fully take it for himself, she made sure to look him in the eyes.
"However, as I give you this, I expect you to use this for safe purposes only."
"I also expect our son to not meddle in things that aren't within his power. Such as the line of a Kunoichi. Do you understand?" His eyes landed on Kushina who gave him a stern look. The boy nodded his head, smiling brightly.
"You can count on me. Also, look what I found." Suddenly, the pre-teen male reached inside of his pocket, taking out the clovers he picked from earlier.
"Clovers?" Natsumi was confused, wondering why he had them on his person.
"Yep. I found my first ever four leaf clover. Although, I also found this one." He revealed the other clover to his family, surprising them by the five leaves that accompanied this one. Little did they know, this finding, along with his gift, would start a chain reaction of a future yet to come.
(There lives the devil.)
"Also, you're grounded once your birthday is over young man."
"Dang it!"
Hello everyone after such a long time. It's Aruko Itsuka here with my newest story idea, and I'm not gonna lie, I've been trying to make this work for the longest. I've also been trying to write and update as much as possible, but being a sales representative can be crazy. Other than that, expect more updates from me, and I hope you all enjoy this new project. Because trust me, the start off to this story wasn't that good in my opinion.
Until then, I'll see y'all in the next one. Peace.
