Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I also don't own a brain witty enough to write anything else smartass here so just take that.

NARUTO: DRAGONHEART

Prologue


It was a bleak and dreary midnight, with the moon obscured by clouds and the bustling metropolis enveloped in a gloomy, blue-tinged atmosphere. Children ran across the curb while cars honked at each other, and people strolled through the city, exploring the various neighborhoods and absorbing the mood of the nightlife. The city's buildings were covered in neon signs that flashed pieces of text and digital banners that advertised new products and technology to anyone who cared to look at them.

Standing atop one of the city's taller buildings, a man with dark hair peered down at the city's defenseless citizens. He concealed himself by donning a porcelain mask with black markings over his face and wearing plain, dark clothing. He grimaced in distaste, though it did not show on his face.

"How carefree…" said a voice to the masked man's right.

The man in a mask winced. Hearing the other speakers was unexpected, despite the fact that he was already dimly aware of his presence. He turned to look at the person sitting next to him, observing his unusual raven hair and the tails of his lab coat that was blown by the night breeze. "Are you ready?"

The man nodded. "Preparations are complete, at least on my end. As for you, well…"

"Worry not. I refuse to back out after everything we've done," he declared as he stood from his resting place.

The raven hair chuckled. "But are you really prepared to do it?"

"I sometimes wonder about that myself."

He sighed. "I'll leave you to yourself then. You have"—he glanced at his watch—"three hours."

The masked man watched as his acquaintance walked away while gazing up at the sky. He sobbed in silence, burying the last of his feelings in his heart.

XxX

"Don't worry sir! Our nurses are quite exceptional at delivering babies, if I do say so myself. They cost nearly a fortune's worth to hire however they have never once failed a delivery in their entire career! They have delivered the children of many large figures in our city today, including the past few Hokages. There is nothing you need to concern yourself with."

A blond-haired man glanced at his unconscious wife with a troubled expression on his face. For some strange reason, his intuition had kept screaming at him as if his wife and his unborn son were going to be brutally slaughtered before his eyes. His mind wandered to images of blood and murder. Though he prided himself in having excellent senses, he sincerely wished that his feelings were only anxiety. "I'm still worried…"

The blonde was speaking to the head guard who was in charge of protecting the patients and staff of this hospital as it was frequently used by many prominent figures in the city, such as high-ranking members of the city's council and the previous Hokages. There were, of course, multiple other guards but he personally considered the head guard the most sociable.

"Even if someone tries to kidnap your wife or murder your son, the guards the previous Hokage has stationed here possess state-of-the-art equipment and knowledge, and were personally trained by the highest-ranking ANBU members! Ease up, Hokage-sama."

He sighed. "I suppose so, but I have a really bad feeling about this for some reason. And my intuition is never wrong."

The guard merely laughed. "I guess that that'll be the first time it's wrong!"

A voice called out from the room his wife was in. "Unfortunately you won't be able to watch us while the procedure is taking place. I ask you to please go to the waiting room until we call on you again."

"Y-yeah, that's fine," said the blonde nervously, still anxious for his wife.

The guard playfully elbowed him. "Don't worry, your wife and unborn child are in safe hands!"

He faintly smiled, shaking the guard's hand. He was definitely just anxious and stressed. It was their first child, a completely new experience for him. It was likely just a minor case of his overprotective paternal instincts toward his child. At least, that was what he kept telling himself as he sat down in the waiting room.

"Sensei! We're under attack!"

The blonde jumped as he recognized the familiar voice that came from behind. He twisted his neck around fast enough to give him whiplash, staring behind himself in shock. "Kakashi?!"

The man behind Minato had an urgent look on his face, filled with worry. He was Minato's student, at least the last remaining. "I know you're worried about your unborn son, but he won't be alive if the attack reaches here!"

Minato's face morphed from that of a concerned father to the face of a man who had faced countless battles and hell on earth. His expression suddenly became extremely serious as he spoke. "Tell me the situation."

Kakashi nodded grimly. "Remember the local gang that I defeated a while ago?"

Minato nodded. They were extremely annoying to get rid of, but the city managed.

"Yeah, well it turns out that they were in possession of Hero Water."

His eyes widened. Hero's water was the secret weapon of Takigakure, why would some random no-name gang have it? As Minato's face looked like he had reached a conclusion, the younger of the two shake his head.

"I know what you're thinking. It's not Taki, trust me. Taki is too small to want to wage war with us." said Kakashi. "I'm not even sure if it's Hero Water, but that would be the only thing that's explaining the kind of destruction I'm seeing."

Minato looked conflicted. He wanted to go and help his city, but his wife was right there. He couldn't just abandon her. "Kakashi, I can't—"

"I promise, I'll stay here and protect her. Please Sensei, I'm begging you. They're going to destroy the entirety of the Hatsu district, I can hear the screams from here."

"Kakashi…"

Minato's student pleaded as much as he possibly could. Even though Kakashi was a Jonin, the destruction seemed even more powerful than something an S-ranked mercenary would cause. "Sensei, please!"

Minato hesitated for a second before hearing another explosion. They were close to the hospital already? "Fine. Stay here and protect my wife."

"I promise."

Many years ago, Minato had programmed a prototype chip that would allow him to use space-time ninjutsu with chakra. It was based on a technique that the Nidaime Hokage himself had created. He activated this Hiraishin seal chip and teleported toward the closest location in the district where he could hear the commotion. Only recently he had become the Hokage so he hadn't managed to place his electronic markers around the city in all locations yet. Unfortunately, the Hatsu district was one of those locations he hadn't placed anything yet, as it was a fairly peaceful part of the city.

"Please be okay…"

XxX

Jiraiya was a legendary mercenary. He was one of the strongest people who were still alive, and there was nothing that could get by him without his notice. He was trained by the Sandaime Hokage, also a legendary mercenary known for possessing the legendary epithet, the "God of Shinobi." He himself trained one of the world's most powerful ninjas, and the newest Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

All of this meant nothing as he stared at the lifeless body of Minato Namikaze, drenched in blood as he cradled his child and dead wife in his arms. Torn from his body, the remains of his limbs lay scattered over the concrete floor. Behind him, in a twisted wreck, were the remnants of a battle that would haunt Jiraiya for eternity and beyond.

"I'm sorry," Jiraiya seemed to mouth out as the last embers of life faded within Minato's eyes, ensnaring him with the rest of the dead. The child cried out as if to scream to the world that it was alive. Jiraiya took the boy in his arms, his hands shaking as he cradled him. He gazed at the lifeless body again, imagining the terminal descent of the fingers of Shinigami tearing out the soul of what was to it only another man. One gleaming, single katana had erased all that had once been his pride, joy, and the source of his inspiration. It now lay deep in Minato's heart, dripping with blood, forever to salt the memory of what once was. Forever he would hang in of the silent, of the mouthless, of those who never had the capacity to speak, for they too felt the binds of death tie around the veins of their hearts.

Minato's wife lay on her back, sprawled across the ground as she cradled a child that wasn't there. Her lifeless eyes stared at the endless sky as if to enjoy the beautiful moon before her death. Though her expression was blank it held that of one who screamed in terror before her death. Blood trickled down her forehead as her soul became bound within the rose-like thorns of death, suffering miserably for even the last minutes of her life. Her skin still held the warmth of a kind woman, one whose future could have been that of a kind, beautiful mother. But for those who experienced battle, such a future was a haven unreachable.

Jiraiya reached out as if to embrace the gray hands of the defeated spirits that faded to naught but a wisp in the misty haze. Tears dropped to their skin, trickling down their bloody remains. Or perhaps it was rain, Jiraiya could not tell. Little warmth remained left on their faces as they paled to blue, their blood turning cold. The eyes of an assassin watched from the narrow alleys, staring at the lifeless bodies with tears of his own. He raised his hand to touch the wisps that faded away, though he grasped at nothing but the mist of the night. The man turned away to escape the pain as he ran across buildings to distance all that once was.

The white-haired man noticed the assassin but failed to do anything in his own pain. Jiraiya stared at the sky, chuckling as if he had gone mad. "Hello, sensei."

Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, exited the shadows as he walked to his student's side. He, too, gazed at what was to be his replacement. "You know what the boy has right?"

"Minato's last will, yeah."

The wisest of them turned his head to the other. "You can't take him."

"I already knew that," he said, tears still staining his face, masked by the endless rain that embraced the death of those he held dear.

"I didn't say you can't still know him."

"Where will he go?" asked Jiraiya as he looked at the boy, fast asleep in the comfort of his arms.

"I'd say the orphanage."

"Does he have to?"

Hiruzen nodded sadly. "You can't stay here and Kakashi is too busy with his work. Where else?"

"I can stay for him—"

"No, you can't. You know how much you're needed out as our spymaster."

Jiraiya frowned. "He's the last of his clan."

"He will go to the orphanage until he is strong enough to take care of himself."

"But—"

Hiruzen cut him off. "No buts Jiraiya."

"He—"

"—Will be in safe hands, I promise you that," he said, cutting off Jiraiya again.

Jiraiya sighed as he looked up at the sky. He will definitely see the child again, he was sure of that at the very least. But he wished there was some way he could take care of the boy. "His name… it was after the character from my book right?"

Hiruzen nodded. "Naruto."

Jiraiya smiled. "Naruto it is then."


Author's Note:

So, here's a story I've been working on. I've been scrutinizing the first chapter and may have revised it over a million times before I was satisfied. Honestly, I'm still not satisfied, but nothing's perfect, right? I gave it my best, I wrote notes for the plot beforehand, so this is what I got for you all. I only hope that it doesn't take as long to release the next chapter because I don't like keeping people waiting. I really don't know why this took so long, it's literally the prologue. I'll explain how ninjas are mercenaries later and make it somehow a part of the dialogue, I'm awesome like that.

Here's the premise: What if Naruto had been placed in a more modern-ish, sci-fi kind of setting? Imagine if chakra was just an extension of nuclear energy. Sealing was just the act of programming chips. Ninjas were more like mercenaries who knew how to utilize this energy. Jutsu requires special tools to use hand signs, and everything is related to something technical. AU, inspired by the premise of Kenchi's Soldiers of Fortune.

I'm not really one for writing stories, this would be my first "official" one. I've written short snippets and parts of stories in the past, some fanfictions I planned on starting but never really liked the premise of, but this one is actually kind of interesting. Kenchi has the best ideas huh?

Oh, my name's Rehan by the way. Yeah, I'm Indian, got a problem with it? Also, I'm a delusional 13-year-old with my only passion being programming, which might inspire some of this story. If that turns you away then you really didn't want to read anything in the first place. No Yaoi, no relationships with a literal goddamn bijuu, and no harems. Single pairs only if I even have any in the first place. Still deciding. Anyways it took forever to write this, I'm tired, and need some sleep, so go away and do something else.

Review, review, and review some more! Or don't. Actually please write reviews I'm pretty sure I completely fucked this prologue up. I'm gonna go do something else while you do that.

Rehan out.