Once upon a time, there lived a monstrous fox spirit with nine tails created by a mysterious sage. And he was so powerful that whenever he shook those tails, landslides and tsunamis would result. It rampaged through the village hidden in the leaves and slaughtered men, women, and children alike.
The suffering people gathered their greatest shinobi clans to fight this monster.
Men, women, elderly, and children lost their lives.
Finally, risking his life, one great shinobi sacrificed his life to imprison this fox.
He was the Fourth Hokage. The fire shadow, the champion of the village, the savior.
But even saviors only have so many miracles that they can perform. A vessel is needed for such a task. A simple vase or an iron prison will not do. The vessel must be alive, and the vessel the Fourth used was none other than an infant whose parents were not long for this world, a destined orphan.
The Fourth died soon after leaving behind this newborn with an overwhelming burden.
That infant's name was...
.
.
Naruto waited impatiently at the table with his arms out in front of him, the tips of his toes tapping against the floor. He was now twelve years old.
Though still rather short for his age, he had grown up from the days when he was only starting at the academy. Rather than the simple, bland clothes of a civilian child, he now wore an orange and blue jacket with a white collar and red spiral crest on his back. He wanted an appropriate sense of flair fitting a future kage. Funnily enough, his yellow hair had not changed in the slightest. It was as spiky as ever.
At the moment, his clothes were wrinkled due to sleeping in them. The pouches on his waist and the insides of his pockets were filled with kunai, shuriken, paper bombs, and other tools of a shinobi. He was going to need them very very soon.
They were in his apartment, a spacious place with several rooms, ill-maintained as only he alone lived in there. There was a bedroom, a study room, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. The kitchen was where they were in the moment, sitting across from each other at the table.
Actually, only he was sitting at the table. She was sitting on the table itself with her back towards him, kicking her feet back and forth.
She had come in through the window, nimbly like a wild cat. With her movements, there was no need to balance herself. None of her motions had any waste nor flaw in simple moments like these. Movements ideal for any action. Oftentimes, she would come and go as she pleased as if she lived there.
It was morning. The radiant sun had risen over the horizon and the mountains.
His forehead protector was being inspected like a vase at the marketplace, turned up and under the light. The spiral leaf symbol of the village was engraved on the front. When a student graduates from the academy, they are entrusted with this to show that they are a shinobi from the land of fire.
Natsumi suddenly kept it near her mouth and took a curious little gnaw at it.
The sound of metal shearing rang through the kitchen, like an iron bell falling onto concrete.
"Hey, it's the real thing."
"Bastard!" Naruto hurriedly snatched his new prized possession back. Her fangs left two new scratches on the left at the top and bottom, they cut in deep till the point that they would never be missed. He hadn't even gone on a single mission yet.
"I am a bastard~." She was resting her back on the table as she tilted her head back and smiled innocently at him, ignoring his anger as if it didn't exist. "You fall for silly things really easily, so I was worried you'd get tricked by a mean person."
With her prominent fangs and dark eyes, it was difficult to tell even a hint of sincerity from this girl. Even her innocent smiles looked rather immoral. Her cheerful upside-down smile looked like a gleeful demon's frown.
"My sensei gave it to me himself, of course it's not fake!" he scolded at her, blue eyes glaring.
Reaching over and blindly rubbing his head roughly and clumsily, she more or less dismissed his words entirely. "Yeah yeah, good job at becoming a ninja." Natsumi fell back and leaned into the chair, giving him a quick glance. "You said you couldn't figure out one of the tests..."
"Oh! One of my sensei betrayed the village and tricked me into stealing something, but my good sensei protected me from him so he couldn't steal the thing he tricked me into stealing. He was gonna kill my sensei, so I beat him up with the even better jutsu I learned from the scroll I stole and that's how I got my sensei's approval."
"That's nice." She gave an unimpressive response and had already gotten up and was checking the pot filled with rice to see the grains bubbling amongst boiling starchy water. She opened up a leave-wrapped bundle to reveal thick slices of wild boar meat coated with spices, tossing it all into a wok shimmering with red oil, chili flakes, and garlic. "You're growing up, so it's only natural that you would start getting into more fights."
Naruto looked over at her.
She didn't talk as loud as she usually did before, but her voice carried more spark and intensity. Though there were more than a few things that changed a little over time.
A polished copper kettle took its place on the stove, its metal surface shimmering with the heat. The soft rumbling of boiling water eventually came to be, at which point the liquid turning to vapor was poured through a dark filter filled with ground coffee beans. Light brown drops accumulated into a gentle stream and rested in two fragile mugs. Cold milk from the fridge and sugar from the pantry was added to each.
"Drink up while it's hot." She slid a mug over to him before flicking the wok on the stove and setting its contents ablaze.
The coffee was still boiling. A small sea of golden foam rested at the top.
Looking through the hazy steam coming up from the mug, Naruto looked at her face, then lower at her neck. Her neck was still covered by the strange scaly scarf. There was never a time he had seen her when she wasn't wearing it.
When he asked about it, she only said that she always had it.
That didn't explain a lot, but that was expected by now when it came to things concerning her.
In the passing years, her growth was even more noticeable.
Her hair that matched the color of cherry blossoms was well nigh a source of light on its own, continuing to reach her knees. It would curl into soft, wild peaks like a vibrant fire. Every aspect of her figure was beginning to mature. Her legs grew stronger and longer. Her teeth became pearlier and sharper. The clothes she wore were beginning to hug her body.
Peering at her with a brazen look, Naruto only touched the mug, tilting it slightly. "I don't like coffee."
She pouted a little, raking her fingers through her hair, "Hey hey, don't avoid bitter things so much. It's good if it smells nice. Don't you know?"
He stuck his tongue out at her.
She downed his mug with one uncivilized swig and took her time with her own, taking smaller sips of boiling liquid. When the drink cooled, the mug was warmed back up with her hand.
Pouring milk into the empty mug, she set it down in front of him.
For a while, she only listened to the sounds of the waking country while keeping an eye on the nearly finished white grains, narrowing and relaxing her eyes.
". . ."
"Make any-" She stopped herself from using the wrong words. "Did you make any friends recently?"
Naruto thought about it, crossing his arms and leaning his chair back, balancing precariously on his toes. "I have a team now. A new sensei too. I really like one of my teammates, but I really don't like the other one. Kakashi sensei doesn't seem all that reliable though."
"Hmm... hmph, well that's alright I suppose." Natsumi poured cold milk into the empty mug and slid it towards him, starting to smile darkly with a bright look in her black eyes. "Just as long as you stay feeling fired up about it."
She asked him some more questions while draining the rice. In the same pot, she piled the slightly charred game meat on top of the rice before cracking two eggs in the oily, spicy, and newly empty wok. While the eggs fried, the fat and juices from the meat seeped into the rice. "So you only like one of them? What's wrong with the other guy?"
"Oh!" Naruto straightened up and leaned over the table, "One of my teammates is this really cute girl from my class, Sakura. She's really smart and pretty and has pink hair!"
"I have pink hair."
He waved his hands in rapid denial, "Different pink."
"Boo."
"And the other guy!" Naruto angrily crossed his arms. "I really didn't want to be stuck with him! He's this arrogant hotshot who's really popular in class and keeps showing me up all the time. And not only that! But he even said that his goal was to kill some guy... I thought he meant me for a second."
"Maybe he just needs a friend?" Natsumi suggested as the sound of oil sizzling swished behind her.
Naruto lifted his shoulders in a half-shrug. Every time he had seen Sasuke, the guy kept to himself and never talked to anyone if it wasn't necessary. He was always looking serious and pissed off about something too despite being the top student of the academy. He even ignored the fact that every girl in the school was into him. Lucky bastard.
"Hell, it's your feelings anyway." She set the pot down on the table with a thud, rattling the wooden legs. "Now eat up."
"I can't. I have survival training. We all gotta fight our new sensei."
She subconsciously bared her teeth. "So?"
"He said we might throw up if we don't skip breakfast."
"Don't care. Just eat."
"But-"
Fire erupted from her breath, her hair, and her skin, letting the flames completely envelop her like a sun. Her hair flickered and flowed around violently as if it had come alive on its own. A deep, glowing red spark seemed to glint in one of her dark black eyes. The posture of her body seemed intended for combat, or perhaps being suited for the hunt would be more accurate. Her feet burned their prints into the floor.
"I made breakfast."
At that moment, he couldn't tell if the sweat rolling down his back was from the heat or from the fear.
Naruto didn't say anything more and began eating breakfast.
She walked him to the training ground after breakfast. They passed many streets and buildings that seemed to stack on top of each other like tiny mountains. Red slanted roofs and paper signs were plentiful.
Naruto noticed that walks through the village were always more peaceful when he walked alongside the girl from a foreign place.
Even though it was the start of the day when everyone was bustling and active, it was as if they were traveling in the middle of the night. There were no whispers, no stares, and no encounters.
All that was left was a bright and sunny day.
When they reached the grassy clearing, she waited standing still while he continued walking. There weren't any drawn out goodbyes. When his back was farther than three meters away, she paused for only a span of two seconds before turning back and leaving to do whatever it was that she wanted.
Much of the time, she was elsewhere.
A snowy tundra, vast and desolate landscapes cloaked in an eternal winter. Towering peaks of ice and snow loomed on the horizon, their jagged spires reflecting the pale, silvery light peaking through grey clouds.
A turbulent desert where the very sands seem alive. Towering sandstorms twist and writhe like serpents in the scorching sun, obscuring the horizon in a swirling maelstrom of golden grains. Gigantic, sand-covered monoliths rise like forgotten sentinels, their secrets and corpses buried beneath millennia of shifting sands. Mirages beckon the weary traveler, promising cool oases that vanish as quickly as they appear, leaving only thirst and despair.
A scorching volcano with a colossal caldera that belches forth molten rivers of lava that snake their way down the mountainside, casting an eerie red glow across the land. The air shimmers with heat, and the ground quakes with the rumblings of the restless earth. Here, obsidian spires pierce the sky itself, growing with every eruption.
A flooding island amidst an endless ocean for its very landmass is comprised of living coral, pulsing with vitality. Monsoons batter the island, causing rivers to swell and cliffs to crumble, reshaping the landscape with each passing storm.
A tumultuous forest with ancient, gnarled trees that seem to move of their own accord, their branches reaching out like skeletal fingers to ensnare unwary travelers. Bioluminescent flora cast an eerie glow, illuminating the forest floor and revealing massive insects and invertebrates that eat whatever enters their environment.
There were times when these journeys would take her months. Admittedly, there were times when she had gotten lost as well. When she had gotten lost, she had ended up getting tangled in another myriad of problems entirely.
It was the way she lived her life. It was a life that she loved. She loved it so much that she would forget herself.
So she came to make a habit of taking her time with little things like this every now and then. Stop and smell the roses.
A good fight could make her heart beat fast. The blood would rush through her body as her senses came fully alive. The comfort of being strong was enough to warm her chest and brighten her eyes.
A good meal could make her belly satisfied. Even as a little child, she was a big eater. Food was food, and she was grateful for whatever she could get, but variety was always welcomed, meats preferably though some grains and vegetables could be nice from time to time.
A good night's sleep could make her mind rested. Sometimes she would sleep for days at a time. She once woke up buried beneath the snow. Another, she was being carted away by bandits.
Everything in the world that she wanted was something she would take.
But she was never ashamed to be wanting more. She was never ashamed of desire nor greed. There were things she still had trouble grasping, and she was not lacking for time. So therefore, she would not hesitate in trying new things to see how they would go, even if they were destined to end.
Nobody talked to her as she walked through the village, nor did they look at her, nor did they see her.
She could hear her own blood rushing throughout her body. The sound was louder than anything else.
She sneezed and melted the ground beneath her.
"Damn, I'm already feeling a little lonely..."
Her heart began to slow down. For the first time in years, she felt cold.
'When was the last time I spoke to my brother..?'
A man with spiky silver hair walked into the training grounds, his body relaxed and lazy. He wore Konoha's standard infantry clothing. A black mask hid the lower half of his face while his forehead protector was pulled down to cover his left eye, perhaps because he no longer had his left eye. His appearance didn't command much respect from his new students, though the feeling was mutual.
His first words towards them were casual and lighthearted.
"Hmm..." Kakashi Hatake rubbed his clothed chin. "How can I say this?... My first impression is... I don't like you guys."
He asked about their likes and dislikes but didn't say much about himself.
As of now, he was a jonin and they were genin, but they would not be recognized as genin unless they passed his test.
Kakashi took his time cranking an old clock, setting an alarm for noon.
Click.
"Alright, that's good to go." He then proceeded to pull out two silver bells from his pocket, each attached by a red string.
Neither yellow haired Naruto, nor black haired Sasuke, nor pink haired Sakura had any idea what kind of test would be reliant on bells. If anything, such things seemed more suited for children's games.
"Here are two bells. Your assigned task for the day is to take them from me before the time's up. Those who don't have a bell by noon get no lunch. You'll be tied to a stump while I eat a delicious bento right in front of you.
Two stomachs were already empty. One was feeling grateful. It was clear that their sensei's advice was not made for their benefit.
"One person only needs one bell. However, as there are only two bells, one of you will definitely be tied to the stump. Also... the person who doesn't take a bell fails. At least one of you will be sent back to the academy.
Shuriken, kunai, bombs, traps, use whatever you have at your disposal. You won't have even a one percent chance at succeeding unless you come at me with intent to kill."
The casual atmosphere was gone. The man who seemed lazy and unreliable was setting up a cruel test, all while seeming to be nothing but bored and disinterested.
"But..." Sakura was the first to raise concern, a girl with fair skin and light pink hair that went down her back, wearing a red qipao dress that complimented her green eyes. "You'll be in danger if we do that...!"
"Yeah!" Naruto agreed, smirking confidently. "You were so slow you couldn't even dodge the eraser I set above the door. I'd kill you in five seconds with real weapons!"
Sasuke said nothing and slowly raised his guard.
Their new sensei slumped his shoulders and gave the rowdy genin a drowsy look with dead fish eyes, "You know, it's usually the smallest dogs that wind up barking the loudest. Well... ignore him for now and start when I say-"
Naruto dashed in without waiting for him to finish his sentence.
In his left hand, he held a razor-sharp kunai. In his right hand, smoke began to form at his fingertips.
"Got-!"
There was no one in front of his charge. Instead, his dominant arm was wrenched behind his back and a hand gripped the back of his head. He couldn't turn his head to see what was happening. All he could do was move his eyes.
"-you?"
"Calm down. You didn't let me say start yet."
Nobody had expected the Jonin's movements. Nobody could see his movements.
Kakashi closes his eyes shut and let out a yawn. "Yaah, well, at least it seems you're taking my intent to kill advice seriously. Good kid. I take it that you've acknowledged me then?"
Naruto strained against the hold, only feeling pain for his efforts. He smiled anyways. "Fought... scarier."
The white haired man let out a chuckle. "Hehe, seems like I might like you guys after all. Enough wasting time." He let go.
"Begin."
Fire burst from the tips of his fingers. He swung around and slashed away with a stream of fire. Smoke exploded everywhere and the jonin was gone.