Chapter 3: Training
"Vengeance is an idiot's game" - Arthur Morgan.
Otsutsuki Ashura was chosen as the successor of Ninshu because of his ideals of peace; however, this didn't agree with his elder brother, Otsutsuki Indra. Indra thought that since he was the eldest, he should lead the world in his father's place. Angered at his younger brother and father, he tried to fight his brother for the position.
After the battle between them, Indra, feeling humiliated from the defeat by his brother, left promising to destroy Ashura and his brethren.
Ashura took his role as successor to Ninshu very seriously, going so far as to travel the four corners of the world just like his father in hopes of teaching people about the special property that allowed one to be one with it... not just nature, and be one with everyone as well.
He even gained some followers during his travel. Just like his father, he too shared his chakra with his followers. His children started calling themselves Senju and Uzumaki. He had two sons and a daughter.
On the other hand, when Indra heard the exploits of his younger brother, he too gained some followers who were against the ideals of 'Peace through love' and wanted to bring peace in the world through power alone. His children gained the power of the Sharingan. He had four sons and two daughters.
His descendants started calling themselves Uchiha, ironically, who too held hate for Ashura's descendant.
Time caught up to him, just as it did for every living thing, and it took his life away. Indra, who was a genius, also had a similar fate. Despite all of his natural genius, he was also someone that time removed.
Everyone had to die at some stage.
Their descendants fell very short of their ancestor's wishes. They forgot their burden and tasks they should have carried on through their blood.
∞ ∞ ∞
Naruto looked at the giant fox behind bars. The Kyuubi had orange, silky looking fur, with black markings around his eyes connected to his, funnily enough, rabbit-like ears. The upper body was humanoid, including the hands. The lower body was just like a fox, barring the nine long swaying tails in the back. The fire was the closest thing they looked like.
The red, slitted eyes looked him closely with a hint of malice. Naruto spoke first.
"You're The Kyuubi!" Naruto half-shouted, and suddenly everything made sense to him; it clicked in his head as he had just found the last missing piece of the puzzle. The glares, the words, the hatred behind the eyes of everyone suddenly made sense. Kyuubi was sealed inside him.
Naruto's face pales, and he finds himself looking downwards, he had many questions in his head, but many of them, Why Me? Why did the fourth sealed Kyuubi inside me? Why do people hate me then? I'm the reason Kyuubi is not out there killing people. Do they not understand how seals work? Naruto asked himself in confusion.
Naruto stood silent and just kept his gaze at the floor, and he didn't understand it; why did the fourth Hokage choose him? Did he choose him because he had no parents and therefore much more accessible to burden him rather than someone with parents?
Kurama looked at him with concern written all over his face; while true, the citizens didn't try to harm him, except three times. However, still, he knew Naruto suffered from the number of insults, glares thrown at him every day, but most importantly, he longed for love, for someone to call a friend, for someone to call family.
While Naruto wondered why Kyuubi had attacked his village, sure everyone around him said that Kyuubi was a demon, but was it just that? Did he attack the village for no reason other than just being a demon?
"Go ahead and ask your questions." the Kyuubi snickered at seeing the boy face fault at having his mind read.
"I only have one question. Why did you attack Konoha?" he asked firmly before gulping a little as he saw the giant fox narrow its eyes angrily. Its tails shifted some as it took a deep and calming breath.
Apparently, it was a sore subject.
"A masked man with the Sharingan ripped me out of my previous container and put me under his control with that accursed kekkei Genkai. I was then taken to your village and forced to rampage through it until your Fourth Hokage came and sealed me into you, and that's how we got here. I should warn you that man apparently needed my power for something far beyond simply rampaging through some human village, at least before he was stopped and released his control over me just before I was resealed. He would likely return in the future to try and rip me out of you, and I don't need to tell you that, with this seal, would result in certain death for us, boy." the Kyuubi spoke with an angry undertone.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the prospect of being hunted in the future for what he contained. He decided to move on and worry about that later.
While Hagoromo wanted to talk with Naruto, his time was running out, and he needed to explain everything before he left.
Coughing and earning the attention of both Kurama and Naruto, they turned their heads to him.
"Kurama, you said you knew why The Uchiha Clan didn't take care of Naruto, so can you shed some light in this manner," Hagoromo asked calmly.
Kurama glanced at Naruto for a second, and he wasn't sure how the little blonde would react, knowing that the whole reason why he was alone was that Hokage had refused for anyone to adopt him.
The ponytail guy, like a cactus, had requested to raise Naruto. Still, the Hokage had refused, saying that Naruto would strengthen the influence of the said clan and bring unbalance, Kurama didn't fully remember, but Naruto had been in the same room when that happened. Kurama had listened to the conversation since Minato and Kushina had made sure that Kurama could help Naruto from the very beginning for anything and even talk to him even without Naruto being in his mindscape.
Kurama, of course, understood why the Uchiha's clan request to raise Naruto was declined. They had suspicions about why Kyuubi had suddenly stopped and not thrown the Bijuu bomb in the middle of the village right before being teleported away by Minato.
"The Hokage declined any request of any clan to raise Naruto since it would bring unbalance amongst the village, and you can guess why families with no Shinobi background didn't try to adopt Naruto", Kurama spoke with a hint of anger but sadness as well.
Naruto's eyes almost fell from his eye sockets; why? Why did you do this? Does he not know that everyone else hates me? Does he not care about me? Naruto asked himself and feeling his chest hurting like never before, tears rolling down his cheek; it wasn't enough that he lied to him about his parents but denied him the right to be raised by a family that could have loved him, his chakra started rising, and a loud cry escaped his mouth.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAHHH"
Naruto started slamming his fists on the floor, the floor cracked like glass, crying and sobbing, his eyes hurting as someone had just burned his eyes, his chest feeling like he wasn't breathing, and pain spreading around his body like a sickness.
Kurama and Hagoromo were about to confront him when trees suddenly grew around Naruto, each with a pointy end and growing around without an actual course; trees and branches started even growing around the walls and the roof.
"Naruto, Calm Down. You're not alone, You might feel alone, but I'm your friend," Kurama said with a kind tone. That surprised even Hagoromo.
The trees stopped growing, and slowly the trees that had grown around Naruto, moved away showing Naruto on his knees crying his eyes out. Slowly raising his head, Both Hagoromo and Kurama gasped at the Rinnegan in both of his eyes.
Rinnegan?! Hagoromo thought confused, he knew Naruto would eventually possess the Rinnegan because of Senju and Uchiha blood, but this was way sooner.
Before he could actually say anything, the Rinnegan slowly disappeared, and his eyes turned blue again. The moment his eyes turned blue, Naruto felt dizzy, and everything started blacking out. Slowly his body fell in the water.
Naruto gasped and opened his eyes to see that he was still in the corner where he was hiding, but he saw several trees had grown all around him. He saw that no one was walking around the street, the streets were empty, and the only thing he could see was the darkness surrounding the streets, the wind blowing around and hitting his face, his sun-kissed hair dancing with the wind, Naruto could hear the tiny sound of a cricket near him.
Slowly getting up, he started walking and came out from the corner he was hiding, only to feel several ANBU coming his way.
He turned around in time to see the Old Hokage show up in front of him and hug him. Naruto was taken back; he thought to return the hug for a moment, but he didn't know what to feel; he felt his anger rising like an angry river. He didn't return the hug; instead, he just had a blank look on his face and stared at one ANBU looking at them.
The ANBU had a crow mask, and a sword tightened behind his back, dark hair and dark eyes, but what caught Naruto's attention was his chakra. He could feel that his chakra was slightly similar to his.
∞ ∞ ∞
Hiruzen Sarutobi received information that Naruto's wasn't in his apartment, and ANBU couldn't find him; after searching around the village, they all had felt the sudden surge of power, arriving there, he was both relieved and worried about seeing Naruto all alone in the street.
The old Hokage noticed the trees that had grown and wondered, why? But one thing that bothered him the most was that Naruto didn't return the hug and didn't feel relaxed in his presence like he usually did, like every other time. This time, Sarutobi almost felt like Naruto wanted to pull away from him as fast as possible.
Pulling away, he saw little Naruto trying to avoid his eyes. Instead, he looked downwards and had a blank look on his face; Sarutobi noticed Kakashi looked worried by it. He kneeled at his level and decided to talk to him in his apartment. Naruto didn't say anything and was silent throughout the whole road to his apartment. Usually, he would get excited whenever he spent time with him, but this time he looked like he wanted to do anything but that.
Arriving in the apartment, Sarutobi first walked inside, followed by Naruto, who was still silent and refusing to say anything. He walked up to his couch and sat on it and still not looking at the Hokage.
Deciding to break the growing silence between them, the old Hokage coughed and walked close to Naruto.
"Naruto, what happened? Where were you? Did someone hurt you?" Hiruzen asked kindly, softly grabbing his hands resting on his lap; Naruto flinched slightly from his contact, which Hiruzen noticed.
"N... nothing happened. I just fell asleep, and when I woke up, I saw the trees," Naruto answered, not looking at the Hokage, still keeping his head down. Sarutobi sighed, knowing he wasn't telling the whole truth but decided not to pressure Naruto.
Moving his hands away, he stood up. "Do you need anything, Naruto?" The old Hokage asked, wanting to know if the blonde needed anything.
Naruto wanted to scream, 'I need a Family' but kept that on his chest like a burden, and instead, he looked up at the old man.
"I need books to read; the library doesn't really like the 'demon' spoiling their books" Naruto spoke with venom and spat when he said 'demon'.
Hokage's eyes widened, not knowing that information; he hadn't thought that people might refuse to sell Naruto various essential things.
Nodding his head. "Anything else?" Sarutobi asked, but Naruto just shook his head, and Sarutobi left the room.
∞ ∞ ∞
Naruto clenched his fists tightly in his lap, his pants almost being torn from the strength of his fingers, his teeth clenched, and anger rising inside him again.
"Naruto, don't worry. If you need to talk to someone, talk with me," Kurama suddenly spoke inside his head.
Naruto was surprised to hear Kurama's voice, and a small smile formed on his face; he closed his eyes.
"Thank You, but I still didn't get your name," Naruto said gratefully.
"My name is ... Kurama, brat", Kurama replied with a slight smile on his face.
Naruto nodded his head in understanding and wondered why Kurama was kind to him; at the same time, he asked if he would ever meet Hagoromo again, he still had questions.
From what he understood, Indra sought a single individual's strength, while Ashura thought that true power came from people working together.
Naruto thought that both had a right in that the leader needs to be stronger than the others to protect them while accepting the help of others and not relying only on his own strength.
"Sleep Naruto, tomorrow we will start training," Kurama said, and Naruto listened to him.
Naruto soon reached an excellent training field with Kurama's help, and the Hokage had given him many books to study and even ninja weapons and tools to train. Naruto had woken up at 6 AM, ate breakfast and left the apartment.
Soon he reached the training field, and Kurama suggested to start by unlocking his chakra.
"Good now to unlock your chakra, and you need to meditate," he said and saw Naruto raise an eyebrow wanting him to elaborate.
"What then?" He asked, putting his hands behind his head.
"Well, when you meditate, you will feel this feeling, and you need to pull it towards you", Kurama added, remembering what Kushina had gone through.
Naruto nodded his head fast and quickly sat where he thought was alright in a mediating position, holding the fingers of his hands together. Naruto could feel the grass softly touching his legs whenever the wind came around. He closed his eyes and started focusing on finding the feeling that Kurama was talking about.
After a few minutes, Naruto felt a very warm feeling on his chest, warmer than even fire; it felt like a fire on his chest.
Soon the grass and the trees around Naruto started growing; the grass started moving violently around Naruto, almost like from a strong wind flying around.
The ground started splitting slightly around Naruto; the grass on his right side caught ablaze, and on his left side got soaked wet. In front of him, the grass was split in half, almost like from a blade, and behind Naruto, the grass turned brown and crumbled like earth.
Suddenly his chakra exploded, Naruto released his chakra, but the chakra risked being felt all around the village. Kurama made sure to close it before the whole village came here to see what was happening.
Opening his eyes, Naruto saw the results of his chakra; a few small trees had grown around him, and the grass was a mess around him.
While this happened, in a branch close sat a weasel masked ANBU, Uchiha Itachi. The eldest son of the Uchiha clan leader was among the most trusted ANBU of the Sandaime Hokage, along with Inu AKA Hatake Kakashi. Graduating from the academy at the age of 7 and joining the ranks of elite ANBU at the age of eleven, Itachi was considered the greatest prodigy from Konohagakure after Minato Namikaze and Hatake Kakashi, and his clansmen even said that he was the second coming of Uchiha Madara.
As he sat atop the branch of a tall tree, he keenly observed young Naruto, who appeared to be meditating to unlock his chakra. It had been over an hour, and Itachi was immensely impressed by the boy's patience. Usually, children this age tend to be impatient and hyperactive. He was confident Naruto had reasonable control over his mind.
The weasel masked ANBU was one of the few people who knew that Naruto was the legacy of their late Yondaime Hokage and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki. Having known Minato and Kushina personally and Yondaime was like a father figure to him, his mother had once said that she planned to threaten Hokage for not letting her adopt Naruto, but father was able to talk to her down and not do something reckless.
As Kakashi had left the village for some urgent mission, he had asked Itachi if he could look over Naruto, and he had readily agreed to keep an eye on the young boy. He knew what the boy contained, and because of that, the kid had no friend growing up whatsoever, and it reminded him a little of his own childhood.
Because those who held great power often find themselves standing alone even in a crowd full of people. Uchiha Itachi in no way was an arrogant person, but he knew he was a powerful and intelligent shinobi, and he was yet to reach his prime age. He was startled when the blonde unlocked his chakra and caused havoc in the training field.
To say he was surprised would be an understatement. He wondered how could a kid have this much chakra, and he knew that wasn't because of the Kyuubi.
"You can come out now; I know you're there," said Naruto; opening his eyes, he came face to face with a boy wearing a mask around eleven or twelve years of age, waving down at him.
"Hello, Naruto-Kun," said the weasel masked ANBU kindly, as he offered his hand to a slightly wary blonde.
Naruto didn't move a muscle for a few seconds as he blankly stared at the masked shinobi in front of him. Due to his lack of positive interaction with people growing up, he was always wary of them.
He smiled in return as he did not sense any negative feelings from the masked ANBU.
"Who are you, and why is an ANBU spying on me?" he already knew the answer.
"Cautious, huh? It's a good thing to be." stated the weasel masked ANBU as he lowered his hand.
"You still haven't answered my question..." said Naruto, as he was still trying to sense any emotion from the masked ANBU. Staring at the young boy for a few more seconds, Itachi removed his mask, revealing his face. Naruto was mildly surprised by the shinobi's actions.
Naruto always thought that ANBU weren't supposed to show their faces unless ordered by the Hokage or if they weren't working.
"I'm not here to harm you, Naruto-Kun. I simply wished to talk." Itachi replied. He remained rooted in his spot, to not raise any unnecessary suspicion in the young child's mind in front of him. Hearing everything from his Inu-senpai gave a vague idea about the blonde's personality.
From what he heard, Naruto was far more mature, calm-headed, and smarter than kids his age. He could see his own reflection when he looked at the blonde.
"Why would you wish to associate yourself with me?" asked Naruto, a bit sceptical, at the raven-haired ANBU. Itachi clearly noticed the awareness in the blonde's tone.
He wasn't surprised or startled by Naruto's actions. In fact, he was impressed by the blonde wariness. Tensing of the biceps was a clear indication that the blonde still did not trust him. Growing up, Naruto never made any friends because the villagers feared what resided within him. The very village of Naruto's protecting tramples every day of his life. After all, it is human nature for people to fear for what they do not understand.
Closing his eyes for a few seconds, he took a deep breath and made up his mind about what he had to do. He wasn't a very impulsive person, but this was something that he really felt like doing. Itachi calmly walked closer to Naruto and poked him on the forehead lightly.
As Naruto looked up, his eyes widened as he saw the small smile that was present on the shinobi's face. At that moment, Naruto felt a wave of happiness wash over his mind.
"You are not what people think you are, Naruto. The villagers are misguided and blinded by the hate that shadows their minds. Do not think so low of yourself. The shinobi world we live in is indeed a ruthless place. But we shinobi are those who endure for a reason and protect what is important to us." Itachi explained.
His mother had told Itachi to look after Naruto whenever he could, and if he could, sometimes help him as a big brother would.
Naruto gave him a smile in return as he himself witnessed the horrors of shinobi life from Kurama's perspective.
"So are you going to give me your name?" asked Naruto.
If Itachi was embarrassed at the moment, he did not show it on his face.
"My name is Itachi Uchiha." introduced the raven-haired teen.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you, Itachi-san," replied Naruto giving a slight bow of his head.
Itachi was shocked by the manners of the boy. Kids this age introduced themselves like they were being chosen as the next chosen Hokage.
"Would you mind if I train with you, Naruto-Kun?" Itachi asked.
Naruto smiled and nodded his head. "Very well," Naruto said and took five steps back and turned to look at Itachi.
The young Uchiha knew Naruto had no real stand in Taijutsu but decided to fix it once after this spar.
Soon they both rushed towards each other...
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