บท 19: A Snake Lady
"Everyone Thinks they're the Hero of their own Story"
3 Years Later
The sound of fighting was heard throughout the forest of death before an explosion erupted, causing over a hundred clones to disappear; in the center of the newly formed crater stood a nine-year-old Naruto.
Since the Uchiha massacre, Naruto had taken his training from serious to the extreme, so much so that even Kurama told him to slow down a bit.
Since Naruto knew about the Shadow clone secret, he used them every day to read about various things, study Fuinjtsu, Genjutsu, and other things, even read about politics and economy despite hating it, even though a clone did the reading.
The last three years, Naruto had taken upon himself to reach new heights; despite having the potential to become very strong, Naruto knew he needed allies to support him, he couldn't just suddenly announce that he was in charge from now on, would be much easier to have allies.
The only allies that could come to mind were Kumo; since he had noticed the more frequent visits from Kumo Shinobi inside the village, he wondered what it was all about but figured he needed to wait; the only other ally he could think of was Kiri.
A revolution had started on Kiri a year ago, Mizukage had suddenly decided to kill anyone with bloodlines, Naruto had figured out that someone was using Genjutsu on the Mizukage since no one doesn't suddenly decide that he wants to commit genocide.
But that brought up the question, who could achieve such feet? According to Kurama, putting a Jinchuuriki in Genjutsu is hard enough, but a Perfect Jinchuuriki like the Third Mizukage should be straight-up impossible.
On the other hand, Suna was an "ally," but an ally to Konoha, not to him; Naruto thought of a way to make them loyal to him.
He figured he could come up with something sooner rather than later; he knew out of the five Shinobi Villages, Suna was at the bottom, but that village could still be a valuable Ally.
One of the best ways to have an alliance was through marriage, like how Hashirama Senju married Mito Uzumaki.
Naruto decided to think of marriage at a later age, he was still only nine years old, and according to Iruka sensei, they needed to enjoy their childhood before becoming Genin.
When it came to his Mangekyo Sharingan, he was very secretive whenever he used it; all he could do so far was Susanoo and the strange Jutsu against Itachi three years ago.
His Susanoo was quite different from a normal one; according to Madara, he stated that everyone had different Susanoo; it mostly depends on what kind of emotions is primarily to someone.
An Uchiha driven by hatred would have a darker Susanoo, purple, ash color, and even pitch black.
Naruto's Susanoo, on the other hand, was gold except on his chest were the three tomoes of the Sharingan in red color, so far he could only use the Humanoid Susanoo.
It had been three years now, Naruto still visited the graves once a month, leaving fresh flowers and making sure that no one would dare to damage the Graveyard; he had seen Sasuke once.
When the Uchiha had seen Naruto, his glare had intensified so much that Naruto had wondered if Sasuke wanted to attack him.
Thankfully the survivor of the Uchiha clan had left, and from that day, Naruto had not seen him again in the Graveyard.
Later
The sound of a kunai whistling through the air toward him woke him several hours after he fell asleep. "Gaki, aren't you too young to be here? I admire your bravery, but it's forbidden for any shinobi lower than a chunnin to be in this training ground," said a feminine voice.
She jumped on the branch where the boy was and found to her surprise; he had vanished. "I believe that was unnecessary. Isn't attacking a fellow Konoha member and "loyal" to Konoha a crime?" asked Naruto appearing in Anko's face, hanging upside down from a branch above his resting place. "I had a good dream too."
"Alright, stop with the jokes. Who are you?" asked Anko. "Isn't it impolite to ask for someone's name before telling them your own?" he replied back. "The name's Anko Mitarashi. So what's your name?" asked Anko in a sarcastic tone. "Naruto Uzumaki, a fellow Konoha member and future Shinobi."
Anko gasped at the name. Everyone knew about him, the one who contained the Demon Fox.
"Never heard of you, now what are you doing," said Anko. "I wanted to take a nap and brush up on some training."
"That's amusing. Fall asleep before you could start?" "No, it was my training. To learn to distinguish enemies and the sounds they might make in an environment where the visibility is limited. The fact that I fell asleep just makes it more challenging." "Interesting; how about a spar?" "Here or on the ground?" Naruto's answer came in the form of a kunai launched in the direction of his face.
Naruto expertly dodged the kunai and summoned a few clones. 'Kage Bunshin without hand seals? That requires the mastery of the jutsu, 'thought a bewildered Anko.
Naruto unsealed some seal paper he had on him and quickly made an immobilization seal as his clones distracted Anko. "Hey boss, can you hurry up? This crazy woman tried to get her snakes to eat us," shouted a clone as it dodged a snake that Anko sent towards him.
"Finished! Seal!" shouted Naruto as he switched with the nearest clone and applied the seal on her with a single fluid motion. Anko was having fun dispelling the clones. They were challenging to hit, but that made it more enjoyable.
She was about to impale a clone where the sun didn't shine when she found herself unable to move. The clone that was about to be impaled glared at her before dispelling with his fellow clones. "I win, Anko," he whispered into her ear. "I was surprised you could keep up with my clones." Anko shook with rage as Naruto sat down in front of her and unsealed a box full of Dango.
"Yummy. This stuff is good. I should eat it more often," said Naruto as he gauged Anko's reactions. He laughed before removing the kunai from her hand and unsealing her. She almost fell over, but Naruto quickly caught her and offered her some of her favorite treats.
"So, what are you doing here, Anko?" Naruto suddenly asked as they were eating together.
"This is a place I usually visit; sometimes I train, sometimes I come here to self-reflect, you know. Boring stuff," Anko responded as she ate the treat with delight.
Anko greedily ate the Dango given to her as Naruto asked about her. Naruto learned she was a special jounin, not a jounin yet. She worked in the T & I department for the ANBU.
"That's quite a hard profession. Do you do anything else?" Naruto further asked, wanting to know if she would reveal more about herself.
Anko pressed her lips tightly, almost wanting to say something, but in the end, she just shook her head.
"Nothing comes in my mind, kid, you on the other hand, how is it possible that you're so strong at such a young age?" Anko asked curiously, she knew someone like him perhaps could train himself, but that wouldn't be enough to be this good.
"Well, I train with Kakashi-sensei, has been like this for three years now," Naruto explained, eating more of the sweet.
Since the Uchiha Massacre, Kakashi had taken upon himself to train Naruto whenever he could, sometimes giving a few tips here and there. Still, Kakashi could tell Naruto was holding back every time they fought, something he found both intriguing and strange.
Anko suddenly burst out laughing, almost spitting out the piece of Dango from her mouth. Naruto tilted his head to the side in confusion about her reaction, and he wondered what could get her to laugh so much.
She kept laughing for a long minute before she stopped, tears in her eyes, and saw that Naruto was looking at her as if she was crazy.
"Wait, Kakashi trains you, that means you must be his secret Student that he keeps talking about," she stated with a smirk that annoyed Naruto slightly before he raised an eyebrow.
He definitely didn't know that Kakashi-sensei was talking around about Naruto; he wondered what he talked about.
"That explains it; he states that you will soon be strong enough to be a Chunin," Anko added after stopping laughing like a madwoman.
Naruto fought the urge to roll his eyes; if he wanted, he could have become a Chunin a long time ago, but he needed people to think he wasn't that strong yet.
Powerful people were always watched and not doubting he would have less freedom to train if they knew even a bit about his true abilities.
"Well, Kakashi-sensei loves to brag sometimes," Naruto spoke before he ate all his sweets; standing up, he decided to go somewhere else to train.
"You know, kid, if you want, I can train you if you want," Anko suggested seeing him walking away.
Naruto turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow; he wondered what she could gain from training him.
"Why? Why would you want to associate yourself with a monster like me," Naruto spoke with a cold tone at the end, almost literally dripping venom.
Anko's smile slightly faded at his words; she had been there when an incident had happened, almost causing a riot.
Naruto was in front of the Hokage, beside him stood the whole Shinobi Council; the civil council wasn't there except a guy whose head was in bandages.
Sarutobi looked at Naruto with a calculating look, and it had been a year since the Massacre; from outside, Naruto hadn't changed much, but he had barely spoken to him since then, in some cases almost refusing to meet him.
But now, the man, Doro Kimono, had accused Naruto of attacking him for no reason without any provocation; he wondered what it was all about.
"Naruto, this man here Doro states that you attacked him without any provocation; what do you have to say for yourself?" Hiruzen asked with a dreadful tone.
He wondered what could have really happened, and he knew Naruto barely had any love for the village. Still, he didn't think Naruto would actually attack someone without any kind of provocation.
"I did attack him, but I found his version of how it happened a bit lacking. I was making my way to Ichiraku Ramen when this drunken idiot decided to throw his empty bottle at my head; I just dodged and went on in my way," Naruto stopped letting the information to spread.
Almost everyone was glaring at the civil who looked pale. The Kage gestured for Naruto to continue his version of the events.
"I just ignored him, but then he did something he should never have done; he called my mother a who..." Naruto stopped letting everyone know what the civil had said and tried to do.
Everyone who knew Naruto's mother was Kushina wanted to kill the worm. Calling a woman like her a Whore was an insult, not mentioning the high council, and The Kage knew that Kushina had been the Princess of Uzushiogakure.
Shikaku paid extra attention to what the reaction of The Kage would be.
"If it weren't for the ANBU that happened to be there, I would have killed the bastard," Naruto finished with an emotionless tone that made everything cold around the room.
The coldness from his tone made everyone feel a shiver through their bodies, and the way Naruto was glaring at the Man who had insulted him almost made the man shit his pants.
Naruto, of course, knew the ANBU squad followed him all the time but saying that would bring up questions to Hokage, making him wonder how he knew the ANBU followed him almost all the time.
Hiruzen gulped at the tone used by Naruto; it didn't help that Naruto's eyes were the same as someone who was definitely not joking.
"Naruto, while Doro had no right to attack you and say those words, you should not have tried to..." he stopped mid-sentence when Naruto turned his glare at him, if looks could kill, then Sarutobi would already be dead.
"Hokage-sama, you always told me my parents died protecting this Village from Kyuubi, that alone marks them as Hero of the Village, that died giving their lives for this place. You're the Kage; if a worm-like him can go around insulting heroes of Konoha and not get punished, then why should anyone respect you in return if you don't respect your own Shinobi," Naruto spat with venom in every word.
This caused gasps from everyone in the council, and even Danzo looked shocked at what the Kyuubi brat had said.
At this moment, Doro decided that it would be smart to talk.
"See, this just proves it. This world is like this because of monster Like You," he spat with a smirk.
Hiruzen expected Naruto to shout in anger, or perhaps get sad, maybe even cry from his words, but Naruto just looked at them dead in the eye.
"There are no other monsters like me. Only Me,"
What was discussed that day had spread like wildfire, Anko had been surprised, to say the least, one to talk like that to a Kage and walk outside with only a pat on the shoulder, but at the same time, Anko knew the truth because of Yugao, calling Kushina, The Red Death of Konoha a Whore was not just an insult but straight up shameful.
After that day, no one had dared to attack the young blonde or call him names, at least not in front of him.
"I don't care what people say, Uzumaki Naruto, unlike most of them, I don't care about what people think of you," Anko answered; she almost wanted to say that she had been insulted as well and still was from many Shinobi, who still called her 'The Snake Bitch' but she held her tongue, she didn't want Naruto to pity her.
The blonde smiled slightly at her before nodding in agreement to train together.
They started on mid-day and trained for hours until the night fell over the Konoha.
After a long day of training, The blonde had to say good night to Anko, who told him to come again to the Forest of Death if he wanted to train again.
Naruto stood alone in his apartment as he thought back at the letters left by his parents.
One month after the massacre, Kurama had let him know that his parents had left something for him in case anything happened. Apparently, Kurama remembered from when he remembered Kushina writing a letter for him, same for his father.
Naruto, of course, didn't know where the letters were, but Kurama remembered where Kushina, along with Minato, had hidden it.
' That had led Naruto to arrive in a house in a secure place of Konoha; arriving there, he saw the Symbol of Uzumaki Clan standing in front of the gate.
The gate had let him inside after cutting his finger a bit and spreading his blood on the seal.
The seal had accepted him, walking inside, the house looked clean much to his surprise, he had thought the walls would be broken, the paint of the walls falling off, and spider webs everywhere, but to his surprise, the house looked as clean as a house could get.
He wondered why but decided that it didn't really matter.
Soon Naruto had found a chest hidden inside the house inside; he had seen several things left by his parents.
The first things he checked were the letters left by his parents.
Dear Naruto,
This is your dad, Minato Namikaze. I'm genuinely sorry for the burden I have put on you by sealing the Kyuubi or Kurama if the furball has already introduced himself to you; again, I'm sorry for sealing Kurama into you as an infant. You have the right to be angry at me but remember I love you no matter what. I will not be here to guide you, but I am always with you in your heart.
If you're reading this, that means Hiruzen-Sama has told you about your inheritance; I know I'm not there, but I hope what you find inside will make up a bit for the last six birthdays without gifts. I got to go now.
Would you please tell Jiraiya-sensei not to try to corrupt you with his books or his behavior?
Your father,
Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime.
Dear Naruto-kun,
This is your mother, Kushina Uzumaki. I never wanted your life to be like this, but I write this as you come from my womb. I may not make it through but know that I love you unconditionally and will always love you even if I am no longer present to hold and comfort my baby boy. Don't worry. I will hit your father a few times for giving you this burden without giving you a choice.
Inside you should find my Katana sword, that belonged to my father before me, all the way to Prince Arthur Uzumaki.
The name of my blade is 'Mizuhi,' is traditionally in the Uzumaki clan that the new owner should give a new name to the blade of his family. I know you will come up with a strong name.
Your mother,
Kushina Uzumaki, Princess of Uzushiogakure.
Naruto had sobbed for the parents he would never live with; Kurama had confronted him and told him he would be there for him.
After a few minutes, Naruto checked inside the box.
Inside the box, he had found several scrolls, one of them describing how to use 'Rasengan' and several other jutsu. One of them was also 'Hirashin,' the teleportation jutsu that made his father famous and have the nickname 'The Yellow Flash.'
Jutsu left by his mother mainly were about Kenjutsu, different stances, and two powerful Uzumaki Jutsu.
"Uzumaki Style: Fire of Life"
"Uzumaki Style: Chains of Chakra"
Naruto had sealed the scrolls in a secret place. Inside the box, he found a Katana; the pommel held a red ruby, the hilt had strange markings he couldn't understand, the scabbard was made of gold. The chape had the Uzumaki Symbol, in red color. The locket had the word "Seal" written on it.
The blade itself was made of special steel used only in a few weapons around the world; the steel was called 'Arikian.'
"My name for you will be 'Dākusuchīru.'
Right now, Naruto was lying on his bed on his back, facing the moon through his open window.
Naruto couldn't help but feel something whenever he faced the full moon, something calling to him.
Closing his eyes, Naruto dreamed of his Parents and Uchiha Family; they were together and happy.
Tomorrow
It was a sunny day as Naruto, and his classmates were training in the yard of the Academy, under the watchful eye of their sensei, Umino Iruka.
While the rest of the children were running laps, performing kata's, or endlessly repeating jumping-jacks, Naruto was deep in focus. He was feeling for his chakra, the warmth storming through his veins, trying to wrestle it under his control.
Slowly, o so terribly slowly, the by now familiar shroud was starting to form around Naruto's body, its swirling motions an homage to the boy's clan.
As the blue glow started to grow brighter, it began to draw the attention of his classmates and his sensei. The other children stopped their exercises, gaping at the amount of chakra the blond was calling upon. Iruka started to approach his student hurriedly, fearing for what might happen to the boy should the swirling chakra prove to be beyond Uzumaki's control.
Again.
Before he reached him, however, Naruto gained a confident smirk, opened his blue eyes, and lifted his right arm parallel to his shoulder. Briefly, Iruka wondered what Naruto was up to when his question was answered by the sudden increase of the chakra surrounding the boy's arm.
With a single swing hitting the ground, the whole Academy shook like from an earthquake.
Within moments, however, the sky was replaced by the furious face of Umino Iruka, baring down upon him in righteous fury.
"Hehe, he... hey there, sensei." Naruto hesitantly ventured.
"NARUTO!"
Naruto could tell he had made his sensei angrier than usual.
The throbbing veins in the man's forehead were a big clue.
Being pushed a little further into the ground solely by the man's voice was also pretty enlightening.
"WHAT, IN THE NAME OF KAMI'S HAIRY BALLSACK, WAS THAT!?"
Filing away the expletive for later (it was a pretty good one, especially since it came from the normally prudish Iruka-sensei), Naruto went for his most innocent look.
Judging by how his teacher's face started to become redder and redder, it wasn't working really well.
"I didn't mean to! I just thought that putting more chakra would make the fist stronger! It would let me punch harder! The Akimichi do it!" Naruto yelled in desperation.
Choji, who, like the rest of the class, had been able to hear every word of the conversation, quickly paled and hid his face in his chips bag, not willing to face the wrath of his sensei.
None really blamed him.
Meanwhile, Iruka had been steadily reaching a boiling point.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA JUST HOW DANGEROUS THAT WAS?! YOU ALMOST DESTROYED THE ACADEMY!"
Instead of showing understanding, sympathy, or even horror at his own actions, Naruto's face simply scrunched up in confusion.
"Really?"
For a moment, Iruka blew up his cheeks, his fingers twitching with murderous intent. He closed his eyes and started counting to ten. Then started counting backward. Then started reciting all the old cryptology codes that he had learned during his days as an Academy student.
Finally, he slowly released an enormous breath through pursed lips, slightly ruffling Naruto's hair in the process.
Keeping his eyes closed, Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the rough skin of the scar that ran horizontally across it under his fingertips.
"Nevermind, let's go together," Iruka walked inside; Naruto smiled at Shikamaru, who high-fived him, their plan succeeded.
Walking inside, they started talking about Kiri and mostly about The Seven Swordsman.
"Hiramekarei. One of the Seven Swords of the Mist, used by the Seven Swordsmen."
Unseen to him, Naruto's eyes lit up.
"The Seven Swordsmen? Who were they? Were they strong? They sound strong."
Iruka sighed, opening his eyes in order to offer a sharp rebuke, but was stopped when he saw that every eye of every student was fixed intently on him, curiosity clearly visible in all of them.
Slowly, he started answering Naruto's question, warily keeping an eye on the alertness of his students, on the lookout for the tell-tale signs of boredom, now a trademark of every history lesson he had ever given.
"Yes, the Seven Swordsmen were strong. Very strong, in fact; their first installment can be considered to be on par with our own Sannin in terms of fame and abilities. Following generations were not as powerful, but are still considered the elite forces of Kiri, much like the Kinkaku Squad is to Kumo."
Surreptitiously he checked all the other students, checking for any signs of inattention.
He was shocked to his core; not a single one of them wasn't paying attention, all of them listening intently to his story.
"Really! That sounds awesome! Were the Ginkaku Squad really strong as well?"
"Kinkaku, and yes, they were." Iruka distractedly replied to Naruto's question, his mind running faster than the speediest of courier ninja (which was very speedy indeed).
'I can't believe it! They're actually paying attention! I need to capitalize on this, but how?' Iruka furiously thought to himself, glancing around the gathered students before his eyes landed on Naruto.
Who was still staring expectantly at him, obviously waiting for the rest of the story?
As a plan started forming in his head, Iruka grinned at the gathered students.
"In fact, the Kinkaku Squad was so strong, and they were instrumental in the Hokage being elected to be the Sandaime."
"REALLY?!"
Iruka's grin widened as he leaned down so he could look his students in the eye. He nodded and whispered in his most conspiratorial voice, "Really, really. Want me to tell you how? It's a story filled with a lot of adventure and great danger."
In unison, the entire class yelled out, "HAI SENSEI!"
"Let's Start the story then," Iruka smirked.
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