Author’s Notes: Here we are at chapter one. As usual insanity and other detours are bound to happen in this tale.
“Talking”
‘Thinking’
“Inner Personality/Kyuubi”
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…obviously.
Word had circulated quickly throughout Konoha about the incident at the Gates. Due to this Danzou wasted no time in approaching the Hokage about the matter. The leader of Root sat across from the Hokage, his loyal ANBU flanking him on either side.
“We can’t allow that man to roam free in Konoha. We have no idea where he has been!! For all we know he could be here to destr-!”
“That will be enough Danzou. Ginshin is many things but a traitor is not one of them,” Hiruzen quickly responded as he cut off the often paranoid war hawk, giving a stern look to the man as leaned back in his chair.
Danzou scowled at his former rival; he was merely concerned about the security of the village!
Danzou gritted his teeth as continued to bark out his allegations.
“Is that so? Then what do you call that unmitigated attack on the ANBU!?” Danzou queried harshly.
“Perhaps it was uncalled for. Or it could be…someone put him into the Bingo Book without my knowledge!!” the Sandaime responded as he slammed the said book down on the table, open to the page where Ginshin was listed. He continued and said, “Care to explain?”
“He disappeared on a mission. He clearly defected from the village!” the elder reasoned as he began to scowl at Hiruzen, his lower lip beginning to curl with disgust; he was growing more and more infuriated with the way his dirty dealings were coming to the surface.
“See to it that he is removed from the Bingo Book. The reason for his disappearance will be left to me and those who work in the Interrogation Department. Do I make myself clear?” the Sandaime explained, his voice getting more authoritative as he spoke, clearly fed up with Danzou and his schemes. The origin for Hiruzen’s exasperation was, that, every time Danzou had been left to his own devices it resulted in a huge mess that risked political ramifications.
The one eyed elder clenched his teeth as he clutched the arm of the chair; he begrudgingly muttered, “…Yes…Hokage-sama…”
“Good. Danzou, you may not agree with what he represents but there is an old saying, ‘better they with us than against us’,” the elderly Hokage commented as he lit his pipe and took a long drag of the tobacco.
The next morning at the Medical Corp. the silver haired Shinobi stirred, his eyes slowly opening; lazily he shifted his gaze about, trying to figure out where he was. The last thing he remembered was standing near the gates of the village where he left several ANBU broken and battered. His eyes soon set on a woman with a white lab coat, with long brown hair. He stared for a moment trying to figure out what was going on.
“You know you’re lucky they didn’t send you to the jail for that,” spoke the woman as she turned to face him, a gentle smile on her face as she looked at him. She had a diagonal rectangular marking on each of her cheeks. She wore a black top that was zipped up all the way to her collar bone, a black skirt with zippers that ran down each side and black stockings.
“…Rin?” he tiredly asked as he brought his hands to his head, still a good deal confused as he continued to look around. He soon felt the bandages that were around his forehead and winced some.
“Just get your rest for a moment, you need it. By the way, you were much easier to bandage up this time,” the brunette said with a playful smile on her face, tilting her head for a moment.
He looked to his right, noticing some clothes were resting on a chair including his rosary which he had lost when he got captured. A soft smile crossed his lips as he laid his head back down. Quietly he said, “…Rin…when did my sister show up?”
As the brunette was opening the door to leave she glanced back over her shoulder. She told him, “Just after you were brought in. Be honest, not many people are known for being able to incapacitate ANBU with a kick to the face or use of the Spear. I’ll go find you some food, you probably feel like you have a hangover right now…something you have experience with. In this case you’re just malnourished and dehydrated.”
As she left the room he closed his eyes and sighed slightly as he resumed resting, still quite exhausted from the ordeal he had been through. ‘That’s just like Yuuhasu-neesan but I can’t go home just yet…besides she would punch me in the gut or something,’ he silently mused, eyelids ascending at a slow pace; his eyes gazed out the window…damn he was glad to be back in Konoha.
Just as he was getting relaxed he witnessed an orange blur come flying through the window.
“Wouldn’t let ya in the front right?” tiredly Ginshin remarked as he made himself comfortable.
The blur of orange turned out to be Uzumaki Naruto who pointed directly at the silver haired Shinobi with an enthusiastic grin on his face. “Yeah…but…WILL YOU TEACH ME!?” boldly and loudly the blond asked, his blue eyes shining with enthusiasm as he looked at the tattooed Shinobi, hoping he would get the answer he wanted.
Ginshin raised his eyed brow as he tiredly stared at the boy, giving a jaded reply saying, “…Eh? Anyone ever tell ya you’re weird? My style isn’t exactly in high demand…”
“Of course…!! The way you took out those ANBU was really cool!!!” energetically the blond replied as he raised his fists to his chest excitedly; suddenly it clicked that he was just called weird, causing his expression to turn into one of agitation. He threw his fists to his side and angrily exclaimed, “I am not weird-ttebayo!!!”
“Keh…HAHAHAHA!!!” the tattooed Shinobi began to laugh loudly, amused by the reaction of the boy to the inference that he was weird.
“What’s so funny!? I am not weird-ttebayo!!!” the boy replied angrily as he scowled grumpily at the male, not seeing what was so funny.
As the Shinobi stopped laughing he grinned in a wolfish way, the grin slowly shifting to a wolfish smirk; he confidently said, “Bein’ weird…it ain’t bad. Weird just means different and that’s good.”
“Really…? ‘Cause people always like to talk about how great Sasuke-teme is...because he’s a genius,” Naruto responded as he tilted his head with a doubtful look on his face, finding it hard to believe it was better to be the way he was.
“Psh, genius is overrated…ya see my taijutsu is inelegant, my ninjutsu is over the top and viewed as too much…even my genjutsu is nearly nonexistent! But, ya see…people like us, the so called idiots, we got imagination,” with assurance Ginshin explained as he held his right arm out. A faint raiton chakra surrounded his arm. He soon ceased the flow of his chakra, ending the jutsu as he clenched his fist tightly; he smirked and looked to the boy with kindness, calmly advising, “On the battlefield knowledge means jack shit. Ya gotta rely on tenacity, courage and heart. That is the stuff a true Shinobi is made of. Screw the perceptions of what others think-ya gotta be the Shinobi ya wanna be.”
“Does this mean you’ll teach me!?” Naruto excitedly asked as he stared in awe, impressed by the jutsu that the tattooed Shinobi just performed.
Ginshin shifted his gaze and looked to the ceiling, a wild grin on his face. As he got comfortable he calmly said, “I’ll think about it but ya better get outta here or you’ll get in trouble.”
Naruto frowned, feeling as if he was getting brushed off yet again; he narrowed his gaze, not liking the answer he was given. He grumbled and walked to the window as he agitatedly said, “…Fine…,” before he descended outside of the building.
“Maybe you should do it Ginshin…,” Rin delicately spoke as she walked into the room, carefully holding a tray of food in her right hand. Slowly setting the tray on his lap she pulled up a chair and sat down, gently continuing, “Kakashi…chose to teach Uchiha Sasuke instead of Naruto for the next stage of the Chuunin exams. You are the only other student of Minato-sensei-his son deserves to have a teacher who will actually take the time to help him.”
He quietly stared at the tray of food; soba noodles, gyouza, spring rolls and a few cans of espresso. He picked up one of the cans of espresso, opening it quickly as he took a slow drink of the bitter liquid. He slowly shifted his gaze to her as he picked up one of the spring rolls and solemnly said, “…I dunno. My style shouldn’t be adopted by anyone, its ruthless aggression and extreme violence…not something he should be using. It’s only good for maiming and killing…”
Rin looked sadly at him as she played with the hem of her skirt, quietly, while lightly biting her bottom lip…she was just trying to find the right words to say. ‘…He still blames himself for that. What do I say? He’s my friend. I have to say something,.’ she thought to herself as she tried to find the power to speak. She slowly clenched her fists and looked at him with a determined look in her eyes; she assertively said, “That was one mistake Ginshin. You will make amends for it one day but your ways are anything but a means to injure or kill. Why else did you create a Ninjutsu like the Raijuu Tekken? It is clearly to disable your opponents.”
He opened his mouth to speak; that was when the door to the room was pushed open, interrupting him. A large man with many scars about his face walked in. He was draped in a black trench coat and a military uniform. His presence was almost too intimidating but it had little effect on Ginshin who crossly said, “Ugh…let me guess…the Gimpkage doesn’t trust me…big shocker…and you, the big, bad interrogation unit have been dispatched to break me and find out where I’ve been. Short version…! I was captured by Orochimaru…!”
“Sorry but the Hokage ordered this, more than likely because of Danzou. Tell us what happened…the whole story because we have other means of finding out what happened,” the scarred interrogator began. He looked sternly at the silver haired Shinobi, almost relishing in the fact he had the chance to break someone deemed unbreakable.
“Absolutely not; I forbid it! He’s still getting his rest!” Rin exclaimed as she stood to her feet, her eyes narrowing as she crossed her arms defiantly.
Coolly the scarred Shinobi stared at the brown haired Medic as he callously said, “I am sorry but I have my orders.”
A smirk crossed Ginshin’s lips, his piercings glinting in the light as he said in an almost challenging manner, “Don’t worry Rin, I’ll be fine. Ibiki should know I am unbreakable.”
“You can’t break him Ibiki so let me handle this,” calmly spoke a middle aged man who had entered the room. He had sandy blond hair that was short on top and front but long in the back, tied into a ponytail. He dressed in a black outfit with a standard flak jacket with a sleeveless red coat draped over the vest and his forearms were covered in arm guards. “Now tell us Ginshin what happened and I will confirm using my clan’s techniques...”
“Well…I guess I gotta tell the long version,” resignedly the silver haired Shinobi said before he downed the last of the canned espresso, knowing well it was going to be a while.
Hours later, after the interrogation, the Interrogation Unit left to report their findings to the Sandaime Hokage. The information having checked out allowed for Ginshin to be allowed to leave the Medical Corp.-that is once he was medically cleared to do so.
Of course Ginshin wasn’t going to wait as he slowly donned his clothing once again. He was now dressed in black cargo pants, a black tank top, elbow pads-one black and one white; his gloves followed the same scheme with a white glove and a black glove, each with a lacquered plate on the back of each hand, bearing the Jinketsu clan seal. He laced up his combat boot style sandals as he grabbed his coat, rosary and hitae-ate; he headed to the window.
“Well…looks like you can get out of here Ginshin,” Rin softly said as she walked in, her attention on the clipboard. She looked up and she saw him pulling his coat on before he leapt out of the window. Her face soon showed some anger as she dropped her clipboard and exclaimed irritably, “Damnit Gin! You are always so impatient!!”
She rushed to the window and saw the silver haired Shinobi swinging from the branch of a tree and clearing the wall. She sighed and cast off her white coat, unzipping the zippers on the sides of her skirt, allowing her to move more freely before she leapt out of the window and, spring boarding from a branch, she landed skillfully on the street.
The monochrome clad Shinobi leant against the wall with wild smirk on his face; he playfully said, “Geez…ya’d think I busted outta prison….again.”
The brunette spun around and looked sternly at Ginshin. She clenched her fists at her sides-her cheeks puffed out for a moment before she heatedly shouted, “You come back after seven years and as soon as you’re clear to leave you leave again!!”
“Calm down…I just wanted to get out of there…,” he quietly said. He raised his eyebrows and his hands, trying to reassure his friend that he wasn’t running away.
She shifted her gaze to the side as she clutched her bare upper left arm quietly; she softly said, “…Sorry…forgot you don’t like being in the Medical Corp. So, uhhh…how about we go out for some coffee…as friends of course!”
“Sure…sounds good,” nonchalantly he replied as he pushed off the wall. He slid his hands into the pockets of his sleeveless long coat, a slight grin on his face.
‘It’s good to have him back…it’s almost like it used to be…almost,’ she thought to herself as she followed him, a bright smile on her face as she ran up alongside him. She quietly held her hands behind her back as she walked alongside him; modestly she said, “…So…I don’t imagine you will be in a rush to go to the Jinketsu compound.”
“…Yeah…Neesan will punch me in the gut probably…,” he resignedly said as he walked, momentarily shifting his wolfish eyes to her, trying to figure out what she was getting at.
“…Well…umm…,” she nervously began to quietly fidget with her hands, anxiously biting her lip as she glanced off to the side before softly proffering, “…If you need a place to stay you can…stay with me…”
“Eh? Are ya sure? I don’t think Kakashi would like the idea of me living with ya,” sardonically Ginshin replied as shifted his gaze over to her. He slid his hands out of his pockets as he raked his fingers through his hair.
Rin looked away, holding her left shoulder, her body language giving away that it was a sensitive subject with her. She jadedly said in a hushed tone, “Gin…it’s complicated…”
“Sorry…I figured after seven years you two would be-” he began to apologetically say but realized he was making things worse with his words and quickly tried to correct his poor choice of words as he said, “What I mean is-”
“Gin…! I know... Let’s just drop it,” agitatedly the brunette said as she looked at him with a very grave gleam in her eyes…which was meant to tell him he better just shut up. She continued and said, “Do you want to crash on my couch…yes or no?”
He nodded his head, figuring it would be better to just shut his mouth and not speak for a few minutes. He knew that it would be a bad idea to anger her. The nice ones were always the most volatile when properly riled up.
As they were almost to the café a blur of orange and blond hair bolted between them and took cover behind Ginshin.
The brunette sighed and rubbed her temples and closed her eyes as she grumpily rasped, “Naruto, what did you do this time?”
“I refuse to be taught by the closet perv!” Naruto loudly explained as he pointed down the street to a rather thin man who was dressed in solid black, with round sunglasses and a bandana style hitae-ate he resembled a beatnik rather than a ninja. Ebisu; he was a self congratulatory tutor and Tokubetsu Jounin.
“Who would you have to teach you, that uncouth savage? Under my tutelage you will be honed into a perfect Shinobi!” boasted the black clad Shinobi, unaware that his words may have provoked the wrong reaction.
“Who’s the genius who saddled Naruto with this poser?” Ginshin coolly remarked as he stared at the Tokubetsu Jounin with irritation.
“It was probably Kakashi’s idea of making sure Naruto got a good teacher…,” commented Rin as she raised her hands upward and proceeded to shake her head.
“I would rather have him teach me than learn from you! He totally cleaned house yesterday! I never saw someone do so much damage-ttebayo!!” Naruto shouted as he crossed his arms in defiance, not wanting to even entertain the thought of learning from a closet perv…as he put it.
Ebisu’s brow furrowed with frustration and he venomously responded, saying, “What would he teach you…how to meet women and cause collateral damage?!”
“Oh my…you make it sound like I’m a one trick pony…,” Ginshin said in an almost disturbingly calm tone. He swiftly ran behind Ebisu and dragged his arms across his throat before he continued, in a quasi-smug tone, saying, “But ya see…I'm far from that… combat arts are the ways of the Jinketsu.”
As the black clad Shinobi listened he found his breath growing shorter; his own arms applied pressure on the carotid artery and his windpipe while Ebisu quietly rasped, “Understood…let…me…go…”
The silver haired Ninja released his hold, dropping the tutor to the ground, slowly walking away as he rolled his shoulders and composedly said with resolve to his voice, “I may not want to teach my brand of ninjutsu to anyone but…I will teach him…and help him avoid my shortcomings-it is what a teacher should do.”
‘He finally made up his mind, good,’ Rin thought to herself as she watched the silver haired Ninja walk towards her. A small smile crossed her lips as she was relieved to see some maturity coming from her friend.
Naruto was ecstatic to hear this as he was going to be taken under the wing of one of the strongest Shinobi he had ever seen and began to loudly speak how excited he was, “Whoooooo!!! I got a chance to be on a level playing field with Sasuke-teme!!!”
“Don’t be too excited kid ‘cause this ain’t as lax as Kakashi’s training,” solemnly Ginshin explained as he quietly rubbed his chin, waiting to see if the boy had the courage to go through with it.
“I never back down!!” loudly Naruto replied as he tightened his fist and raised it to the sky, showing he wasn’t afraid of the challenge.
“Well Rin, maybe we’ll get coffee later,” Ginshin apologetically said to the brunette as he rubbed the back of his head and chuckled lightly.
“It’s alright. We can get coffee some other time,” she replied as she beamed happily at him before she finally gave into her urges and hugged him, quietly whispering, “Welcome home. I missed you…”
Before he could do or say anything she stopped hugging him and walked away, leaving him perplexed and confused by the situation which caused him to rub the back of his head and mutter a confused, “Huh?”
“…Ginshin-sensei!! What are you going to teach me first!? I’m ready-ttebayo!!!” Naruto exclaimed with eagerness as he bounced around, waiting to find out what was going to be taught to him first.
The tattooed Shinobi snapped out of his confused daze and casually said, “Well, first off, we’re going to stop by the bank. I need to get some real food in me. Then, we’re going to get you some proper clothes…No one’d take you seriously so long as you wear that!”
Naruto’s head tilted as he was suddenly, very, very confused. He didn’t understand the importance of clothing when it came to training for the Chuunin exams.
Meanwhile as Rin was walking down the street she stopped as she spotted a woman who was carrying two swords in her arms. One was a long sword in a hexagonal scabbard, the guard a round disc with five gem stones inserted into it, representing the four guardians and a long weighted chain attached to the handle with the length wrapped about the scabbard. The other was a shorter, broader blade with a rectangular guard; it bore the Jinketsu clan seal on it.
The woman had long silver hair that came to the middle of her back, her hair loosely tied into a ponytail. Her eyes were a golden brown hue and shaped in a very gentle but wolfish manner. She dressed with a loose fitted silver jacket with black trim, a tight black t-shirt and gray cargo pants.
As Rin recognized who the woman was she exclaimed with a slight stutter, “Y-Yuuhasu-san!”
The silver haired woman grinned in a wolfish manner as she got close enough and handed the swords over to the brunette. “Give these to my idiot brother. He might need them,” she replied as walked over to the wall and leaned against it, taking a moment to rest.
“But-” Rin began to try and ask a question only to stop when the slightly older woman waved her finger for a moment.
“You know why…you are the one he is closest to. Look after that idiot for a while,” Yuuhasu responded as she pushed off the wall and began to walk back the way she had come. However, she stopped to look over her shoulder and say, “Ya know…of all the girls that have been with Ginshin…you were always my favorite. You liked him for who he was. He needs you so…take care of that idiot.”
As the words were spoken Rin found she was unable to speak or do anything-just stand there and nod her head. She didn’t understand what Yuuhasu was getting at; perhaps it was too soon for her to know or…maybe she was in denial about something, as only one thought moved through her head.
That thought was…
‘Ginshin…needs me?’
Author’s Notes: There it is-the first chapter. Now some stuff that needs to be said; no recommendations of who should go into Naruto’s harem-it is decided. No… Ginshin isn’t taking Jiraiya’s place-rather…he’s taking Kakashi’s place. J-man will be next chapter.
But there will be some changes to how some characters will grow as opposed to the canon. Proper influences will arrive through out to guide some of the Kunoichi.
Also Sakura will appear maybe next chapter.