Author's Note: This fanfic is a collaboration between DrunkManSquakin and AdVictoriamCustodes.
DMS: The origin of this fanfic is basically that I created an Inuzuka OC for one of AdV's other projects, a girl who is basically a perpetual loli, purely because she was named after a relatively small dog breed.
One thing led to another, and well… this happened.
AdV: What DMS means to say is that we… or I, I don't remember, had a pretty simple premise for a short side-project of Naruto fucking said loli. An orangehaired loli, thus her name xD… shush, we're not revealing it yet.
Somehow it blew way ― waaaay ― out of proportion.
Like 2 World Wars out of proportion…
Enjoy this disaster in the making!
Summary: In a timeline where no more than a handful of souls knew of his prisoner, Uzumaki Naruto graduated on his second, rather then third try… his career going down a different road as he kicks things off with a different team…
Warnings: AU, violence, character death, lemons, arranged marriages, drug use, incest, rape and forced impregnation, sexual domination, prostitution, lolicon (legal in context), harem, group sex, vore, dark humor, crude humor, lewd humor, alive Rin, dead Obito, no Akatsuki, no Bijuu (Demons yes, Tailed Beasts no), no Kaguya, no Madara, no Pain, and no Tobi… because Tobi is a good boy!
Disclaimer: Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, Boruto: the Next Generation, and the movies, games, and other media associated therewith are the intellectual property of Masashi Kishimoto and Shounen Jump. A Different Road is a non-profit fanfic made for funsies and neither of its writers claim any ownership of the source material. Please support the official release.
...or don't, because Boruto is garbage.
A Different Road
Arc One: Genin Buntai
Chapter One: Divergence… and Then Some!
"Next!"
Hearing the call, one blue-eyed, blond-haired, nervous-looking boy perked up and turned his gaze towards the examination room as yet another student walked out of it without a headband.
That was the third one in a row.
Wetting his suddenly dry lips, the blond straightened his back and made his way inside. He was relatively short among his peers, despite being one year their senior, sporting a wild mop of golden tresses and three whisker-like birthmarks on either cheek. He was garbed in an ugly-ass, orange and blue tracksuit with a white collar; blue, steel toe boots, and a bulky pair of blue swimming goggles as a placeholder for the Konoha headband he was hoping to acquire. (1)
"Uzumaki Naruto." Their teacher, a rather fat, relaxed looking chuunin, one of several teachers in the room, said as soon as the blond walked inside, flipping a set of papers over a clipboard, "Final test score of 65…'' the sensei paused, seeming mildly impressed as he gave the blond an approving look.
That was way better than last time… Naruto was feeling rather confident in himself, calming down quite a bit after hearing the score.
He had crammed his heart out for that. Though Naruto was complete shit at memorizing information, he did his absolute damnedest and clearly, it paid off.
…even if he didn't remember half of it by now.
"Don't get too confident, though," the man lectured him. "Under typical circumstances, you only need to have mastered two of the four techniques we teach at the academy to pass, but since your score is lower than a 70, you will need to display mastery of at least three. You ready for that?"
Naruto took a deep breath and nodded. While he always struggled with written exams, it was in the department of practical skills where he truly shined. He could easily pull off Henge no Jutsu and Shunshin no Jutsu pretty well, and he wasn't a slouch with the Nawanuke no Jutsu either… so if all goes well, he had this in the bag!
"The first one I'd like to see you perform is Bunshin no Jutsu."
Naruto groaned at that. Of course, the guy would choose to start off with the one he sucked at!
"Now, now, none of that. A loss in mind is a loss in kind," the teacher lectured wisely, putting down his clipboard. "To pass, you have to perform a minimum of five clones, either in sequence, or in sets, under 30 seconds."
Forget five, he couldn't make one!
"If you can't achieve that, we'll move on to Henge no Jutsu, which will be 5 rapid transformations in under another 30 seconds, based on the images you see behind us."
He pointed a thumb at the portraits of a few villagers, chosen at random, hanging from the wall. "Nawanuke no Jutsu will be next, where you'll be tied up securely with a blindfold and have one minute to escape, and finally, we'll take you out to the back to see how far and quickly you can perform Shunshin no Jutsu. You should be able to perform three ten-foot teleportations in one minute at your level. If you can achieve these results for at least three of those techniques, then you pass. You get all that?" (2)
Naruto nodded his head.
"Good. You can start on my mark." the teacher said, pulling out a pocket watch, ''...aaand Mark."
Naruto quickly gathered his chakra and did the hand seals. Five seconds later, there was a poof of white smoke and as it dissipated, the… thing that was revealed couldn't rightfully be called human; it had three legs, two where its arms should be and one of its two arms replaced its right leg and a second arm was growing out of his forehead. Both of these limbs sported left hands… and a total of seven fingers and five thumbs. This tangle of limbs masquerading as a clone of its creator twitched and gurgled horrifically and with a second poof, it vanished
One of the teachers sighed.
"Well, that was certainly… spectacular if nothing else," a third commented, holding back a chuckle.
He failed.
Truly it was; he'd honestly never seen someone perform the technique that badly before.
Naruto blushed and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Right," the other teacher said, breaking the awkwardness of that moment, "on to Henge no Jutsu, then. Wait for the mark."
"Right." Naruto spread his feet and got ready.
"Mark."
Starting with the image of the old lady, Naruto only needed to perform a single hand seal for this technique as he was quite intimately familiar with it, even if it did take way more chakra than the Bunshin.
In a puff of smoke, his appearance instantly changed. No longer was he a scruffy little boy; he was now a hunched-over old lady with her white hair in a bun, sporting a brown and yellow dress.
Seeing how women were harder for him to transform into, he opted to take on the visage of a teenage girl next and get her out of the way, too.
Of course, one would think it was quite easy for him to perform, given his frequent usage of Oiroke no Jutsu, his patented Ninja Centerfold, with which he tended to torment his pervy-ass teachers… but it wasn't. Their facial structures tended to be very different and getting the lady-bits down was actually pretty hard, in fact, as he'd never actually seen those beyond some very… interesting artwork.
Hence why the technique included a small cloud of lingering smoke that obscured those naughty bits...
Ahem…
That said, the girl in question had dark hair reaching down to her hips and wore a short, red halter dress. Around her nose and cheeks she possessed a small scattering of freckles, which Naruto always found hard to replicate, but he managed.
The sensei nodded, signaling for Naruto to continue.
With the two women out of the way, the blond transformed into a small boy, no more than 8 years old, wearing a blue shirt and dark green trousers. He was apparently of the Aburame Clan, so Naruto didn't have to worry about changing his eyes in any way for this one, which made it easier. How the members of said clan never went blind from constantly wearing those sunglasses, even at night and indoors, he would never know, but he wasn't complaining.
In general, it was easier to add things than alter set characteristics when using Henge.
The last two images were of grown men. One was in his late twenties and looked to be a construction worker? Naruto honestly didn't know why, but he seemed the type. He was fairly tall and muscular, with bristly, black hair and a scar on his chin. This one was also a bit easier for Naruto to perform.
He was garbed in jeans and a tee under a brown apron.
The second, meanwhile, was surprisingly tricky. A somewhat heavy-set old man with balding hair. This one took a bit more concentration to perform than Naruto had anticipated, as he'd underestimated how hard it would be to replicate the receding hairline.
This one was garbed in some moderately fancy attire, that being a formal shirt and slacks with some expensive-looking shoes. He sported several rings and a golden watch. These too proved harder than expected to replicate as it was hard to make out the details in the picture… that and he'd never been anywhere near such fancy accessories in his life, but he managed.
Once the teachers were satisfied, one of them nodded and Naruto released the transformation.
''Good job, Uzumaki." The overweight one said, scribbling something on his clipboard, "Your replications were almost perfect and you finished with half the time to spare. In the future, pay closer attention to the texture of people's clothing and watch the height. Those were the primary issues you had."
Of course, judging someone's height from nothing but a picture was a skill in itself, so they weren't going to dock any points for that.
"On to Nawanuke no Jutsu, then," the head instructor announced, reaching for a blindfold as he stood up, the floorboards creaking under his mass, "Would you mind sitting on the chair next to you?"
"Surething, sensei."
"Alright, Uzumaki. This is the last technique you need to perform. Whether you pass or fail depends on how well you perform here."
"Right," Naruto replied, looking about as ready as ever, standing in the courtyard of the Academy.
Shunshin no Jutsu was the trickiest technique they taught in the academy, as it was an honest to goodness teleportation… and that shit was hard.
How it worked was deceptively simple, though. The user spread out his chakra towards the point in space he wished to teleport to and relocate to it, bending the space around him with his chakra in the process. The problem occurred with the distance. The further one wanted to go, the further the chakra had to go, exponentially. But the further it got, the harder it became to control and hold together, as chakra naturally dispersed outside of a living body.
Bending space without the aid of seals was also very difficult and required a lot of concentration and teleporting to a farther away location made it harder for that reason as well.
While there was technically no maximum range on paper, most people had a hard time comfortably teleporting more than 10 meters or so. (3)
Doing so repeatedly puts tremendous stress on the user's body as well.
Naruto, however, was pretty confident that he could achieve this, as Shunshin no Jutsu was how he tended to get out of some hairy situations when one asshole or another got honeyed and feathered or some shit.
He only did that to someone who started it of course…
"Get set. Aaaand… Mark."
Naruto nodded, making the required hand seals and with a poof, he was gone. Seemingly simultaneously, a second poof appeared above the red x where he was supposed to teleport to and the smoke dissipated to reveal Naruto himself, his appearance slightly ruffled.
The blond sighed, taking a shuddering breath as that took a bit out of him. Chakra control was never his strong suit, but he had a lot of experience in using this technique under pressure. What might prove to be a problem, however, is that he only ever needed to use it once or twice in the span of five minutes, not three times in one.
Still, he had a test to pass! Blazing through the hand seals once more, he performed the next teleportation, targeting a yellow x in the ground about ten feet away. He reappeared slightly off-target, but covered the required distance. Now a bit fatigued from the technique and the previous exams, he took a moment to compose himself.
Looking towards the last x on the ground, this one green in color, he was determined to pass. And with that thought in mind, he cast his final Shunshin for the test.
"Fuuuck," Naruto groaned into his desk, his head buried into his folded arms.
He never felt so physically and mentally drained in his life.
Off to the side, a girl with brown hair spared a glance at him.
One couldn't really tell from her expression… or lack thereof, and her sunglasses didn't help, but she was rather concerned for the poor blond as he seemed to feel like utter shit.
The girl in question had long, flowing locks and was already starting to fill out, despite being only twelve years of age, thanks to the intensive physical training regimen of Konoha's ninja academy.
It was a rather common occurrence as the strain tended to make puberty hit early, though her chest was still flat as a board.
She was garbed in a simple, black dress and a large, beige coat, as was also rather common among those of her clan, regardless of what time of year it was.
How they pulled it off in Konoha's relatively hot climate, no one quite knew.
The girl was also never seen without a large case, which stored her shamisen, as she was a bit of a musician and often practiced in her freetime. (4)
Hesitating for a moment, the girl addressed him, doing her best not to come off as creepy… not having interacted with him much.
Talking with others was hard.
"Are you okay, Naruto-san?"
"Huh?" He looked up to see who would even bother talking to him. "Oh, Higurashi…" the blond stared at her.
So much for not seeming creepy…
He blinked.
''...Uh, yeah. I'm 'kay…''
"That is …good,"
She managed to say…
Truth be told, she was rather fond of him… despite the unsettling aura that clung to him like some dark, looming presence… one that seemingly deterred most villagers from interacting with or trusting him.
Because of her abilities and hive, she could tell that something was off about his chakra. Higurashi didn't know what, but was quick to blame that.
It didn't help then, that his reserves were massive, compounding the unfortunate effect.
Poor guy.
At the same time, however, she was rather anxious about approaching him, afraid that she might scare him off, given how interacting with members of her clan tended to give outsiders the heebie-jeebies. Something about their lack of expression was just… unsettling for most people, but to the Aburame, it was perfectly normal.
"If you need anything, I am happy to help," she said, trying to be friendly.
Considering they were about to become actual genin, it was not unlikely that she'd never get the chance to talk to him again… It truly was now or never to make friends.
Naruto stared at her like she was an oddity.
"What would I need help with now that we've graduated?" He asked, a little pointedly, if not accusingly.
"You seemed like you were feeling unwell," Higurashi pointed out with a shrug, keeping her composure even as his eyes narrowed. Don't let your shoulders slump! "If you need to go to the infirmary, do not hesitate to let me know."
Blue eyes blinked.
''...Oh."
Feeling a blush on his face, Naruto looked away, smiling ― it was rare for his classmates to be nice to him… it was weird, but in a good way.
"T-Thanks, but I'm fine. Just tired is all." He shook his head and glanced back at her, his smile wider, "Nothing to worry about."
"That is good."
"Wooooo! Got it in one!" Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin as their conversation was interrupted by an excited, feminine cheer.
It was followed by a familiar yip, that of a puppy.
Those responsible were a girl with pale skin an black hair and her ever-present, canine companion. Naruto recognised them as Kishu and Byakkomaru, respectively.
Truth be told, he'd never seen them look so… energetic before, seeing how the girl was typically more reserved… or half-asleep… or just taking a nap. But at the same time, it was understandable. He was excited too… just too tired to show it.
He hadn't gotten a lot of sleep… or any sleep, really.
Cramming was such a pain...
As it turned out, though, Higurashi didn't really need to worry about anyone finding her creepy, not with this girl in the same room as her, anyways.
Always garbed in black, frilly dresses and sporting dark makeup like she was overtly dolled up to attend a funeral or some shit, Kishu was the class' resident edgelord… lady… whatever.
She was not shy about her dark sense of humor and weird interests, either.
Her apparent ability to communicate with a literal dog only added to that weirdness in the eyes of the many kids without any shinobi background…
… and the fact that she was one of the only three girls in this particular class seemingly drew more attention to it.
The one Naruto started with was almost half girls.
As for the pup in question, he was a stocky breed of some kind with thick, white fur, a black nose, and brown eyes. He had a curled tail and pointed ears and appeared to be about six months old or so. (5)
That all said, to hear Kishu shouting and cheering was still… odd. Almost jarring, in fact.
The rest of the students followed suit, some passing, some failing, with the last one being a pale-eyed boy with a perpetual scowl and a stick so far up his ass it had to be a world record, and a few moments later, the two teachers made their way into the classroom as any students who failed were dismissed.
"Congratulations," the class' primary instructor called out with a friendly smile, "Those of you who have passed, I have but a few words to tell you."
"Ugh. Here we go again." One of Naruto's classmates further in the back groaned in exasperation.
This chunin-sensei in particular loved his speeches. And nuggets of wisdom. And the sound of his voice.
"First and foremost, your team assignments will be on Monday at 8am, in this classroom." Those words made more than one former-student-now-genin perk up. "Secondly, I want you all to remember the lessons we have taught you. Respect the teachings of the Second Hokage and you shall surely not be led astray."
Pausing for a moment to let those words sink in, the teacher then bowed to his now-former students.
"Best of luck in your respective careers," he said. "You're dismissed."
Huh… not a speech for once.
Not that Naruto was about to complain.
As the newest batch of Konoha's genin stepped out of the Academy and into the courtyard, they were greeted by their parents and siblings.
Naruto, being among the handful of orphans in this class, didn't have any of those, so he allowed everyone to rush ahead of him while he lagged behind.
Coming to a stop as soon as he stepped out of the building, he looked around at all the moms gushing over their babies for becoming real ninjas, proud fathers and excitable siblings.
It was moments like these that made him feel lonely.
Shaking his head, he looked up, towards the Hokage monument, and raised his hand like he was making a grabbing motion.
Clenching his hand over them, he grinned.
"Just you watch! One day my head will be there too!"
"Just try not to get ahead of yourself." a familiar, feminine voice told him, suddenly and from behind him, as he felt a hand ruffle his hair. "You're still young so there's no rush."
"Rin-neechan!" Naruto cheered, turning to face her with a beaming grin, "You actually came!"
The happiness in his voice was unmistakeable…
"Had to pull a few strings," she admitted, pulling her hand back and placing it on her hip, which was cocked. "But I wanted to see how you did."
The woman smiled, noting that he was now sporting a blue-cloth headband with a metallic plate. Entraved in the center was… what Konoha tried to pass off as a leaf for some reason. It didn't look like one at all with that odd swirl in the center, but that was neither here nor there.
"I see you passed this time! Congratulations!"
The woman in question was on the tail end of her mid-twenties, though she did look a bit younger than that. She was a rather shapely and pretty one, too, with shoulder-length, brown hair done up in a ponytail and dusky purple eyes. Upon her cheeks, she sported a pair of rectangular, violet tattoos, and she was garbed in a simple, black and brown dress as she was off duty at the moment.
Her name was Nohara Rin, and she was Naruto's physician… as well as something of a big sister to him. (6)
"Of course I passed, Rin-neechan!" Naruto boasted, chest puffing out like a peacock as he grinned, "I'm awesome like that, believe it!"
She affectionately flicked him on the nose, pulling out a displeasured grunt.
"Now, now," she lectured goodnaturedly. "Don't let it get to your head; you still have a long road ahead of you, after all." She ruffled hair once more for good measure.
"Rin-neechan! Stooop!" Naruto complained.
She couldn't help but chuckle at that. The blond was rather cute when he got all flustered.
Meanwhile, one of Naruto's female classmates could be heard giggling at the exchange, only adding to his embarrassment. Kishu found it rather amusing as she passed by, being the last to leave the Academy, her dog in tow.
"So cute…'' she mumbled once her back was turned to them. Her dog let out a yip, seemingly in agreement.
Unfortunately, Naruto's hearing was quite a bit better than your average gennin's, so he heard that loud and clear. And now, he could feel his cheeks burning!
Rin raised an eyebrow.
"Got an admirer, there?"
Naruto blushed harder at that, giving her a rather adorable glare.
"Nee-chaaaaan!"
The medic chuckled again before easing up and gesturing for him to follow. "Alright, I've had my fun," she teased.
"Hmph!" Naruto crossed his arms, looking away with a pout.
"Oooooh, you look so adorable like that!" Rin cried out, smashing his head against her bosom.
Naruto waved his hands around wildly in an attempt to free himself, but her grip was tight and she wasn't letting go.
"Riiiiiin-neechan! I can't breathe!"
And so, a new tale began… one with a different team, different friends… and a very different outcome…
And plenty of lewd shenanigans along the way…
DMS Notes and Trivia:
1: Yes, he's wearing steel-toe boots. Fun fact: the characters in Naruto wear sandals and open-toe boots purely because the original mangaka, Masashi Kishimoto really liked drawing toes. Not complaining or anything; in fact, I found it rather endearing, lol. But, because a desire to draw toes is not a factor here, the characters of this story will be sporting more… realistically-varied footwear, depending on multiple factors.
AdV: To be fair, the footwear of medieval Japan leaves much to be desired XD.
2: Given what we see in the show, the only logical explanation for how Kawarimi no Jutsu works is that it is some kinda spacetime technique that teleports the caster into the space of their target and vice versa. AdV thinks this seems kinda OP for a basic technique taught in the academy, so in this fanfic, it's been nerfed to more of a skill. Basically, through a bit of deception and a strategic use of Bunshin no Jutsu, the user makes it look like they switched places with an object, when in fact, the person being deceived was attacking said object the whole time.
AdV: Basically, it's 'a skill' and not 'a spell'.
3: Alright, strap in; this is gonna be a long one.
Again, given what we see in canon, teleportation, as in actual teleportation, is the only logical explanation for the displays of Shunshin we are shown, particularly in the cases of Orochimaru and Gaara using Shunshin during Chuunin Exams' preliminary round.
"Oh, but ninja are trained in assassination; surely he could have just slipped by all of the other ninja there!"
Yeah, no. First off, ninja are also trained in anti-assassination, hence escort missions being a thing… and a clearly common one at that! Surely, some of those elite ninja in the room and the Hokage himself would have noticed him zipping on by… alongside the nonexistent "invisible" bodyguards that Hiruzen totally had because it would have been stupid for him not to. And don't get me started on the noise Orochimaru would be making as a result of running that fast!
AdV: Rule of Cool and Suspension of Disbelief only go so far. Consistency, pretty please!
4: Like the loli mentioned in the notes above, I originally created Aburame Higurashi for another project. But AdV and I liked her so much that she was introduced here.
Her name, Higurashi, means cicada, so of course she has a thing for music. =3
AdV: Originally just a side-character that became best girl. She's now the main pairing…
DMS: It's like she came to life and demanded our attention and I love it! XD
5: No, this is not the loli mentioned in the notes above. But, like said loli and Higurashi, I originally created Kishu and Byakkomaru for another project… and like Higurashi, AdV and I liked Kishu so much that we had her introduced here.
Kishu is named after kishu inu, a type of Japanese hunting dog. Byakko, meanwhile, means "white" and, as per convention, his name ends with the "maru" suffix. He's also modeled after the dog breed in question.
As for why Kishu is a gothic lolita… mostly just shits and giggles, lol. She has relatively pale skin because the dog breed is most commonly white. Byakkomaru, meanwhile, was given a coat of the aforementioned color to provide additional contrast against Kishu's dark attire.
6: She always struck me as the motherly type, so of course I'd imagine Rin going out of her way to help Naruto if she were alive.
AdV: We need a storyline in which she actually goes mamma on him and raises Naruto instead of being just a 'neechan'.
Parting Notes: And there's the other done! At last!
This story was sitting in our backlogs for such a long time, so we revisited it last night… and were pleasantly surprised by how… complete the first arc was. It still needs some editing, mind you, and the final chapter of the arc needs to be rewritten, seeing how our plans for the next one have changed so drastically, but that will not be an issue.
We will be updating once a month, methinks, to ensure that another content drought like the one with VO doesn't happen. XD
AdV: Meh, we'll see… this will be easy to edit yeah, but we also need to edit VO and write SLD… and any random oneshots we think up… I'd prefer to do 'one of each' cycles to be honest.
DMS: True… XD
We will definitely see what the future holds.
But, yeah, this will definitely do wonders in preventing burnout more… reliably than our random oneshots. To the readers of Vulpine Overlord and Snake-Lady's Daughter, rest assured that updates are nigh.
The Mirran, unfortunately, is still on the backburner until Spyash2 and I figure out what to do with it, but it hasn't been abandoned.
Until next time, eh? =3