Summary: Smoke and Shadows, both are results of fire. However, not everything is as it seems with the Smoke and the Shadow, especially their loyalty. They meet with the shared goal of leaving the fire. The same fire that gave them both scars be they mental or physical. They leave to hide in the mist and grow stronger to hopefully escape the fire forever but they both know that'll never happen.
Pairing: Naruto x Fem Shikamaru
There will be side pairings
A boy sat in the streets, his only clothing being a torn shirt and a pair of black shorts. He had dark red hair and dull blue eyes that looked like a lake. The boy was leaning up against an abandoned building along the main road and his eyes watched every person walking by.
He locked his eyes onto his next target, a red headed woman with a weird looking outfit. She had a weird dark blue vest and some striped pants. He shook his head and observed the pouch on her right leg.
'Maybe there's some food in there.' He thought while his stomach grumbled at the mention of food. The red haired child stood up and began to walk towards the lady. He changed his expression from depressed to pleading.
He walked up to the side of the woman and grabbed her sleeve, tugging on it slightly. She looked down immediately and her eyes softened. "D-Do you have any food ma'am?" He added a stutter to the question and made sure to make his stomach growl.
"I don't have any food but I got a few ryo in my pouch." The woman reached into her pouch and pulled out a few bills. "I'll give it to you if you tell me your name." His eyes sparkled a little bit.
"Uzumaki Naruto" He said quickly. The woman smiled and handed the bills over. "Terumi Mei, It was nice to meet you." Naruto gave a quick bow and ran off into the crowd of people. Mei reached down into her pouch and let a smirk play at her lips.
'With stealth moves like that, he has to be a true Uzumaki. I do wonder why he's on the streets though.' She thought. Mei continued her way to the Hokage's office with her thoughts on the little Uzumaki and her missing kunai.
*With Naruto*
The red headed boy sat in the abandoned building surrounded by stolen items. Sitting in front of him was a steaming bowl of ramen. He'd managed to get it from the Ichiraku's once the other customers left.
It wasn't like they didn't want him to be seen there but he didn't want them to lose business because of him. Naruto clapped his hands together before digging into the Miso Ramen. Within a few seconds, the ramen was gone and Naruto stood up.
He walked over to a makeshift bed made from old covers and reached under the pillow. Out came the kunai he stole from Mei and he turned around with it in a throw ready position. Naruto held it like that for a few more seconds until a rat ran across the floor.
The blade flew through the air and stuck into the rat's side. Naruto let out a breath he was holding and moved to grab it. "Lunch is secured."
*Hokage's office*
Mei stood across from Hiruzen's desk with a smile on her face. "Thank you for your time, Hokage-sama. Would you mind if I ask you a question that doesn't have to deal with the trade?" Mei asked, earning a nod from the old man.
"There was a redheaded boy in the street that asked me for some food. I gave him some money in exchange for his name. He said he was an Uzumaki, is he a true Uzumaki?" Mei didn't notice but Hiruzen grew slightly nervous.
"No, he was named after the woman that protected him during the Kyuubi attack. His parents died that same night that he was born and we didn't know who they were so we just gave him her name." The old man said while blowing out some smoke.
"Alright, thank you for your time Hokage-sama." Mei left with a bow. Whenever she was gone, Hiruzen let out a much bigger puff of smoke. "Tora, head to the orphanage and ask the headmaster where Naruto-kun is. If you sense any lies, you're allowed to use force."
*With Mei*
It didn't take the Kiri jounin long to find the red headed boy. After some questioning of the locals, she learned that 'it', as the villagers called him, lived in an abandoned hotel in the middle of the village.
It didn't take her long to find the building considering all the keep out signs and graffiti. Once entering the first floor, she heard multiple curses strongly echo from wall to wall. Heading towards the source, she found Naruto putting out a fire that had a burnt rat over it.
"It seems like you burned it." She commented. Her response was her own kunai embedding in the wall beside her head. "Your aim is off by a little bit." Mei said, grabbing her kunai out the wall.
As she began walking towards her fellow redhead, she noticed how much he was shaking and how his eyes looked around for escape points. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I want to talk to you.." She glanced at the burnt rat. "Maybe over some ramen?"
The moment Mei caught onto his sparkling eyes, she knew he was an Uzumaki. "I take it you know the best place around here?" Naruto nodded and began walking towards the entrance. "I guess you can start talking on our way there." The boy said.
Mei walked beside him and sighed at how he acted. "Well I guess I'll start with why I'm even speaking with you. As you can already tell, we have the same hair color. I believe that you are a member of my clan.
The Uzumaki clan was once a feared clan throughout the nations, they were masters of Kenjutsu and Fuinjutsu. Every member had unnatural vitality, chakra reserves, healing abilities, and very dense chakra. Our chakra is so dense that we could make shapes out of it which most did in the form of chakra chains. Two of the women from our royal family were able to become the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi due to their chakra. A jinchuuriki is one that holds a bijuu or tailed beast by the way.
Anyways, the Uzumaki were so powerful that it took 3 of the elemental nations and multiple weeks to take them down. Survivors of the clan were sent around the world. The siege happened when I was just a little girl and I had to flee with my mother to Kiri as the land was blocked by shinobi.
Whenever we got to Kiri, we changed our name to Terumi and started again. A few years passed and my mother passed from an incurable disease. Going back to my earlier statement, I believe that one of your parents was a survivor of the siege and that you're a member of the clan." Whenever she was done speaking, they had reached the Ichiraku stand.
"Order whatever you want, I'm paying." Mei said. This was the real test to see if he was Uzumaki. "5 Miso and 5 chicken please Oji-san." Mei's wallet cried in pain at that simple sentence. 'Uzumaki indeed' She thought while ordering a simple vegetable.
While they were waiting for their food, Mei decided to continue. "I believe that only one of your parents was an Uzumaki as none of our members ever had blue eyes in our entire history. I also believe that you're the Kyuubi jinchuuriki while your mother was the previous one.
You were born on the date of the Kyuubi attack plus the fact that you are treated differently by the villagers just seals it all together."
Naruto didn't speak while he thought it all over. "I've known about Kyuubi since my 4th birthday. It's kind of hard to ignore your torturers calling you the Kyuubi spawn while they carve it into your skin.
It is news to me that I have a clan though." Mei was very unnerved about how unfazed he was. 'They must have really destroyed your mind. To think that they would do that to a 4 year old disgusts me.'
Whenever the steaming ramen came out, Naruto dug in. Once watching the 10 bowls of ramen disappear in mere seconds, Mei stood up while putting some money down. "I want you to start growing stronger. Your burden is one that you need to grow strong to hold up. I want you to know that you will always have a place in Kiri with me but you need to grow strong to even think about leaving Konoha, they won't let their weapon leave.
Just a bit of advice before I leave, start eating more healthy things like vegetables and steal them if you must. Also, whenever you unlock your chakra, make sure to do it in a secluded area." Mei set some ryo on Naruto's lap before leaning in.
"You can have my ramen." She whispered before walking away. Naruto sat there for a few moments before chowing down onto the ramen. The red head thanked the ramen chefs before leaving and encountering an ANBU member.
"The Hokage requests your presence in his office." The masked woman said while placing a hand on his shoulder. Naruto scoffed inwardly, 'Like I have a choice.' He quickly threw on his happy go lucky mask before the ANBU member used a shunshin.
The two appeared in Hiruzen's office and Naruto turned to the old man. "What do you want Jiji?" He asked, raising his tone to a happy one. "Why didn't you tell me that you were kicked out of the orphanage Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked in a parental tone.
"I tried to tell you but the lady at the front desk said that you were busy and to come back the next day. I came back but she just kept telling me the same thing." Hiruzen's eyes narrowed at the boy's words and he nodded.
"I'm never too busy to see my favorite future Hokage." The old man said, a smile on his face. Naruto let out a fake giggle and waited for the man to speak again. "Since the orphanage won't treat you fairly, I'm going to give you your own apartment to live in. I'm even going to give you an allowance until you become a shinobi."
"WOW, thanks Jiji!" Naruto shouted, jumping to hug the man. Once his face was hidden from the geezer, he frowned. 'A mask can detect a mask old man. I know you don't care about anything but my loyalty.'
*A few days later*
Naruto sat in his new living room with all of his furniture against the wall. The boy was in nothing but a pair of frog boxers that he'd just gotten. He was in a meditative stance and he had been in it for a few hours. Unlocking chakra was harder than one would guess.
Naruto finally felt the warmth in his stomach and pulled on it. The moment the warm lump reached the surface, an aura surrounded Naruto. It was a dark blue aura with gray wisps of smoke coming off of him.
Naruto noticed that he couldn't feel the chakra surging through his system like the book said he would so he gave another tug. It seemed successful as he could feel the chakra surging through him.
At the same time, a pulse of the dark blue chakra was sent out. The dome impacted the ceiling and walls causing them to shake. The tangible chakra turned to smoke and vanished after it impacted the objects.
Naruto fell back onto his floor, convulsing slightly with a nose bleed. He would stay like that for two hours until he woke up. After gaining his bearings and brushing away the nosebleed, he spoke.
"So I'm a sensory ninja. I must be pretty powerful too considering I can feel pretty much all of Konoha." The redhead stood up and walked towards the sink. He turned the water on and washed the blood from his arm.
"I wonder if I could speak with the Kyuubi now that my chakra is unlocked. Kyuubi is in my mind so he should be able to hear my thoughts." Naruto said before observing his messy living room.
'Kyuubi, take me into my mindscape if you can hear me.' He waited for a few minutes before letting out a sigh. "He either can't hear me or he's just a dick." The boy said while walking towards his bed.
When he reached the comfy thing, he sensed a few chakra signatures appear in his walls. 'They have to be ANBU guards.' Naruto figured. He silently wondered when they would leave while laying down.
*That night*
Naruto's eyes opened from his fake sleep and he gazed at the clock. It was midnight and the ANBU had left just over an hour before. "They must have a schedule that relates to my hours of activity. I usually sleep at 10:30 and wake at 6 so that should be the hours they're gone." The redhead jumped out of bed and lifted the mattress to show three books.
The titles read, "What are Jinchuuriki?", "Uzumaki clan", and the one Naruto grabbed, "Beginner chakra control and activation". The Uzumaki walked to his desk and turned on the light to begin reading.
He flipped to chapter two and started reading. A few minutes passed while he read the chapter before closing the book. Naruto ripped a small piece of paper from a sheet and placed it on his forehead.
After 4 hours of training with the exercise, Naruto grew bored and stopped. "Perhaps learning my affinity will give me some motivation." The redhead knew that he needed to find chakra paper to figure out his affinity so he'd have to steal it from somewhere.
He put on a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants before embarking on his journey of theft. The Uzumaki chose not to wear his sandals as he walked out into the early morning. After throwing his hood up, he walked south to the main road.
There was one shinobi shop that he knew of that was run by civilians and it was very lightly guarded. Only Genin went there if their lack of vests told him anything. Once in the alleyway behind the shop, he nearly laughed at the poor lock on the back door.
After searching for a little while, he found a nice sized stone to smash it open with. Like he guessed, the door opened with no trouble and no alarms sounded. A silent prayer left him when he noticed the steel grate over the windows and glass door.
Naruto kept a keen eye for quality while he broke the glass and observed the goods. A few minutes of stealing later, he had a full backpack, which he also stole, of stuff. In the backpack were training weights, kunai, shuriken, chakra paper, shinobi durable clothing items, and a katana that stuck out.
Naruto began his way to the exit whenever the front grate started sliding up. He heard shouting coming from the back door and cursed. In a moment of quick thinking, he threw the backpack into the roof tile, hoping that it got stuck above them.
The redhead saw that his plan worked and cheered slightly before realizing that he was still stuck there. He saw a very angry looking old man with a sword walk from behind the counter and closed his eyes, waiting for the pain.
Surprisingly, it never came. He opened his eyes and noticed the man with the sword was looking around. "The bastard must've cleared out." The man cursed while looking through Naruto. For a moment, the boy thought he was invisible so he looked down at his hand.
A scream almost left his throat when he saw that his hand was a dark gray smoke. Looking down at the rest of his body, he saw that it was smoke as well. "I told you not to smoke in here, Ji-chan." A little girl said, pointing at the floating smoke Naruto.
The boy guessed she was the one who opened the front grate. "That cloud looks too dark to be from my cigars. Also, is it just me or does it look human shaped?" The old man said, observing cloud.
As if from sheer will, Naruto made himself a smaller cloud of smoke and moved up. It was a weird feeling to compress yourself and fly. "C'mon, we can study your smoke later. Let's go report this robbery to the police." The girl said, dragging the old man through the front door.
Naruto's smoke form reached the ceiling and he reached out a hand. A small piece of the cloud turned to a hand form and pushed at the tile. Once the tile was moved to the side, he grabbed the backpack.
He noticed that the bag started turning to smoke as well and he threw it onto his back. The cloud of smoke grew bigger as he drifted out the open front door. A breeze lifted up and he got blown away.
Naruto noticed that his body, or cloud, stayed together despite being blown away as the wind left him on a rooftop. When he reached the roof, he willed himself back to his human form and fell to his knees.
After making sure no piece of him was missing, he silently prayed to Kami. 'Is this one of those Kekkei Genkai things from my clan?' Naruto mentally asked himself. "Either way...THIS IS AWESOME!" The boy began willing his hand to smoke and back to regular multiple times before feeling tired.
"I guess I would get weak after using my new Kekkei genkai for the first time." He sighed before an idea hit him. The boy threw the backpack from his shoulders and pulled out one of the shuriken.
He placed it in his palm and focused. After a minute or so, the shuriken turned to smoke and blew away in the morning breeze. Naruto reached out for it and mentally pulled back on it. Surprisingly, the small cloud came back to his hand and went into his skin.
After panicking for a little while, he forced it out and it solidified in his palm again. "Interesting. I guess I have a new place to hide my things." The boy said before placing his backpack back on and turning into a smoke cloud.