Note: This story was started on the 17th of April 2007. Most of the characters, techniques, sites and names have been taken from the manga “Naruto”, created by Masashi Kishimoto.
The Prologue takes place over three years before the Shippuuden Series when Naruto was still at the ninja academy.
Prologue
There existed nine demons that possessed great amounts of chakra. The first one had one tail, the second one two and so on. These demons were called Bijus. Some of them were sealed in bodies. The body which contained a Biju was called Jinchuuriki. Kyubi, the nine tailed demon fox, was said to be the most powerful of the nine. It was said that Kyubi could cause floods and raise mountains to the ground with a simple movement of one of its tails. One day, Kyubi attacked the ninja village of Konoha. At the time, a man known as Yondaime Hokage (Hokage the Fourth) was the leader of the village. Finally, after a long, hard battle, Yondaime was able to seal Kyubi in the belly of a new born baby; Naruto Uzumaki. The demon fox had finally been defeated, but at a high price. In addition to the countless lives that were lost, Yondaime gave up his life in order to execute the sealing technique and save his village. That day, Konoha lost its greatest warrior. Naruto whom Yondaime wished to be considered as a hero for receiving the demon was hated and rejected by everyone in the village. However, having taken an oath never to tell the truth about Kyubi and Naruto, none of the people who knew about this fact could speak of it. However, they still kept their children away from him. Naruto grew up as an orphan, alone and pushed away by all for twelve years. Later, just before becoming a genin, he discovered the truth about Kyubi and found out why he had been alone all this time.
Main Introduction
Konoha was a beautiful, windy village, built within a forest. Trees and plants could be seen everywhere. The ninja academy, the place where children learned how to become ninjas was built next to a big mountain. Four faces were carved into this mountain; the faces of the first and second Hokages, the founders of Konoha. Hokage the fourth and the Hokage who was in charge of the village, Hokage the third (Sandaime Hokage) also had their faces carved in the mountain. The Hokages were the strongest ninjas in the village. Moreover the Hokage was the leader of the village. Each time a Hokage retired, he had to choose a successor. Hokage the fourth was Hokage the third's successor. He died when he was still young and hadn't chosen someone to take his place. Therefore, after his death, Hokage the third retook his old position. Our story starts at Konoha's ninja academy with a little boy who was getting yelled at:
Uqy! You almost hit Naruto with that shuriken, the target’s over there!” yelled Iruka angrily while pointing at a target. “I….I’m sorry. I…I didn’t mean to…..” replied the timid Uqy. “Don’t worry ‘bout me teach’! A lame throw like that could never hurt me! Ha Ha Ha!” declared Naruto proudly. However, Iruka was still worried despite Naruto’s “comforting” declarations. “Still…how could you have missed, this is supposed to be a piece of cake for you, considering the fact that you’re in this class. Remember Uqy you’ll soon be presenting your final exam to become a beginner ninja. It’s the day after tomorrow. You’ll have to do much better than that!” Iruka was trying to encourage and motivate Uqy. It didn’t seem to be working. “O….Okay.” the boy said without a change in attitude. Five minutes later the period ended and Iruka left the class. The rest of the class then turned towards Uqy and started to make fun of him. He went out of the class and began to think. In light of this terrible failure, Uqy thought he should see what he could do in a real life situation. Suddenly, as if it was meant to be, Neji Hyuga walked in front of Uqy. Neji was already a genin. Therefore, Uqy thought that if he could beat a beginner ninja passing the final exam would be child’s play. Uqy blocked his way. “Something wrong?” Neji asked. “I….I’d….” said Uqy hesitantly and slightly frightened. Neji told him he didn’t have time for this. To his surprise, Uqy challenged him to a fight. Neji smiled. “Are you sure? You’re not even a genin and you want to fight me? You don’t stand a chance.” announced Neji confidently. “A headband or a rank is not what defines a ninja,” was the reply he received from his opponent. By simply uttering the word “outside”, Neji made it clear he had accepted the challenge.
Neji and Uqy headed outside of the academy. There was a big garden. The students usually spent the recess there or inside the classroom. News of the fight traveled quickly across the academy and students began to gather around the two fighters. Almost every student was now part of the crowd that surrounded these two. Neji inquired about Uqy’s resolve; he didn’t want to embarrass his in front of his peers. “B…Bring it on,” said Uqy while trying to muster as much courage as possible. The fight began as soon as these words were spoken. Uqy took three shurikens in his right hand and a kunai in his left hand. Neji stayed still. Uqy charged and threw the three shurikens, but not one of them came close to the still immobile Neji. “Oh no!” he thought. Neji wasn’t impressed. Uqy jumped and tried to hit Neji with his kunai. Neji ducked. He then hit Uqy with an open handed uppercut. Uqy’s kunai flew away and fell on the grass as did its owner. Neji simply used the word “pathetic” as a description for his opponent’s skill. Uqy hadn’t expected Neji to be so strong; he had only received one hit and he was already in a lot of pain. “Are you done?” said Neji mockingly. Uqy got up and resumed his attack. He was punching and hitting Neji. However, Neji evaded or blocked all of his attacks. Uqy delivered another kick, but Neji jumped backwards and took advantage of Uqy’s missed attack to counter while he had a clear shot. He hit Uqy right in the middle of his chest with a spinning back kick. Uqy was sent ten meters back and fell on his knees. Neji had anticipated this victory before the fight’s beginning. He turned around and started to make his way through the crowd when he heard a voice.
“Where are you going? The fight’s not over yet!” Uqy was back on his feet. The look on his face was still the same, however. Neji smiled. Neji smiled and asked why Uqy was doing what he was doing, why he was going through so much trouble. “There’s no way YOU can beat me!” he announced proudly. “We’ll see about that!” answered Uqy. “Very well, guess I’ll just have to finish you off.”
Neji took three kunais in each hand. He held each one between two fingers. Uqy tried to attack but Neji was too fast. He threw the kunais at his opponent. Uqy saw them moving towards him. He closed his eyes and waited till they hit him. It seemed like forever before he heard the kunais piercing his clothes. He felt no pain. Something was wrong. He opened his eyes and saw that they hadn’t hit him, but he was stuck on a tree. Neji ran quickly towards him. He looked right in his eyes. “Just as I thought, no guts at all,” said Neji while smiling. Uqy tried to free himself, but the kunais were too deep inside the tree and he wasn’t strong enough to take them out. Neji punched him several times in his stomach, then he went on Uqy’s right side and kicked him twice very quickly; the first kick was on his shoulder and the second one on his neck. Uqy flew away from the tree and landed on the ground. He tried to get up, but failed.
“Like I said YOU can’t beat me!” were the final words that were spoken and brought forth the end of the one sided fight. Neji walked away and the students started to leave one by one laughing at Uqy.
The next day, as soon as Uqy walked into the class, everybody began to make fun of him. “Hey Uqy! I heard you got your butt kicked by some other guy! Man you must be such a loser! I would never lose a fight against anyone!” stated Naruto loudly. The period began and Iruka walked in. He had, of course, learned about what had happened. The students sat down and, as usual, Uqy sat in a dark corner, alone. The students were all looking at him and smiling. Naruto wasn’t paying attention to what Iruka was saying and when Iruka asked a question he was unable to answer. Iruka snapped. “THAT’S IT! SURPRISE TEST FOR EVERYONE! Come on, get in line. You will use Henge no jutsu (transformation technique) to take my appearance!” shouted Iruka angrily. The students began to turn one by one into Iruka, but when Naruto’s turn came things were a bit different. He transformed into a sickly Iruka that was fat and short. He was scolded by Iruka because everyone else had succeeded. “Okay! Okay! I get it you don’t have to yell so hard!” said Naruto while putting his hands on his ears. Suddenly, Iruka exploded. He dismissed the class very loudly and punished Naruto by forcing him to stay at the academy after hours.
Later that day, Uqy left the academy and wanted to go home when he was stopped by two students in his class. One of the students who had witnessed the fight tried to provoke him. Uqy didn’t answer. The first one’s friend ordered him to answer the question. Uqy tried to walk away, but one of them grabbed him from behind and the other one punched him in the stomach. “WE can fight you if you want, see?” said the smirking student. The other one smiled and told him to give Uqy another punch. Uqy was going to take another punch in the stomach when the student’s hand was stopped. It had been grabbed by a girl in the same class as they were. “Hey! What’s the deal? Let go of me!” shouted the bully.
The other student threw Uqy on the ground and charged at the girl, but she kicked him on his chest with great speed. At the same time the first student, whose hand was still being held, tried to hit her with his other hand. She easily blocked his hit. He then hit her with a low kick, but she jumped over his leg and landed on his foot. Afterwards she hit him with her knee on his stomach and he fell to the ground. The girl threw a shuriken that came a millimeter away from the second student’s neck, who had hit a tree and she took a kunai and put it at the first student’s throat. Ino smiled and announced he was dead.
By that time Iruka who was with Naruto had heard all the commotion and so had some students who were going home. Iruka rushed to the scene. When he got there, he told Ino to let her opponent go. Ino obeyed gladly. Iruka gave the students a lecture about picking on other kids and gave Ino a lecture about hitting her fellow students. After the lecture was over Ino turned around to ask Uqy if he was alright, but he was gone. She tried to ask the other students if they knew where he was, but no one knew. No one cared. Uqy didn’t have any friends and almost everyone made fun of him, so it was kind of obvious that no one could know where he had gone. Ino left the academy and began to look for him, but her search was in vain. She didn’t really like Uqy, she didn’t even know him. She just saw him in class as did everyone else. He had never been seen anywhere else. She figured he was probably at his house, but the reason she hadn’t already looked there was that she didn’t know where his house was. After a while she decided to head home.
Meanwhile, Naruto and Iruka were still at the academy. “Why do you always have to do things like you did in class Naruto? Because of that, you can’t go home now,” said Iruka. “What do I care? It’s not like there’s anyone waiting for me there!” replied Naruto. Iruka remained quiet for a while. He knew what Naruto was talking about: Naruto was an orphan and he had never met his parents. He didn’t want to go home because that would make him remember that and he would feel lonely. Iruka knew exactly how Naruto felt, because his parents had been killed when he was nine, while fighting against Kyubi. He had done the same thing as Naruto; he always played jokes and pretended to be happy just so other people wouldn’t see through him. Naruto didn’t have any friends. Everybody always stayed away from him and hated him. However the reason for this was a mystery to Naruto. Iruka smiled and called Naruto. “What now? If you want to give me another lecture you know I’m just gonna fall asleep like every time,” he said. Iruka laughed and told him it was that. “Pack your things,” he added. Naruto asked why. Iruka told him he was going to buy him dinner.
Suddenly a huge smile appeared on Naruto’s face and he packed and ran as fast as he could while Iruka was still walking. Naruto knew what Iruka was going to do; he was going to take him to “Ichiraku’s” the best noodle restaurant in Konoha. Naruto never ate anything without noodles. Iruka was tall, had long brown hair that he always tied and wore the typical Konoha chuunin outfit. Iruka also had a horizontal scar across his face. Seeing that Naruto was running confused Iruka slightly. Iruka asked Naruto why he was running and told him it was still early for closing time. “Of course! I know that! But I wanna get there as early as possible because once we get there we’re not leaving before closing time!” said Naruto while laughing. Iruka also laughed. “Typical Naruto” were his last words before he followed Naruto.
As Ino was headed home, she noticed a small wooden house that she had never paid attention to before. She was intrigued and her inquisitive spirit took a hold of her. She knocked on the door and waited around five minutes before she received an answer; it was Uqy. He opened the door slowly. “W…What are you doing here?” asked Uqy while hiding behind the door. Ino smiled and said: “I was just wondering if you were alright. Those guys were really rough on you.” Uqy said he was fine hesitantly. “I’m Ino…” Before she could complete her sentence, Ino was interrupted by Uqy. “I know who you are. You’re Ino Yamanaka,” he said. “That’s right! How’d you know?” she asked. “I…I just do,” he answered. Ino asked about his name. “Uqy” he said. She smiled and asked him whether he was going to invite her in. At first, Uqy thought that someone was playing a prank on him. However, Ino looked sincere, but Uqy still had his doubts. He told her to come in hesitantly.
Ino came in. The house didn’t just look small from the outside; it was also small on the inside. It was apparently made out of three rooms: a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom. Its size wasn’t weird, it was the division. There was no bedroom, not even a bed. The furniture was very simple. Ino sat down in the living room while Uqy made some tea. A few minutes later, Uqy came back with some tea and the two began to talk. Ino asked why the students had been teasing him. “You don’t know?” he said surprised. “Don’t know what?” she asked. Uqy told her he had challenged a genin and that he had lost terribly. He also told her that most of the students had watched. Ino tried to make him feel better by telling him there’s nothing wrong with that since genins were much stronger than students. “I couldn’t even hit him with my shurikens,” he declared shamefully. “Well, if he was fast that’s also natural,” she said. Uqy told her he hadn’t even moved even more ashamed than before. “Oh….I…see…” was all she could say. It was a very awkward moment. “Now you see why they were picking on me. Everybody does that, but you’re the only one who ever stood up for me. W…Why’d you do that?” he asked. Ino told him she never could stand seeing someone being bullied. “Besides, they were two on you. So I just evened the odds,” she added.
Ino and Uqy talked about a lot of things. Ino noticed that there was nobody except him in the house. She tried to ask him about his parents and his family a couple of times, but he changed the subject every time. They talked so much that they lost track of time, when they realized it, it was already eleven o’clock. Ino said she had to get up early the next day because she had to help her parents at the shop. “Oh…A…Are your parents going to punish you?” he asked sadly. Ino walked out, without answering the question and as soon as she did it started to rain heavily. Uqy accompanied her outside. “You really don’t need to get out and stand in the rain for me,” she said. “It’s okay. It’s just rain,” replied Uqy. Ino was a little angered because they were going to get all wet. “It’s just rain,” he said simply. Uqy just stood there in the rain. He really didn’t seem to mind. Ino walked away. Uqy waited until she was out of sight and said two words sadly: “thank you”. He then ran quickly to his house and went to the basement.
Two hours later: It was still raining heavily. The little boy was sitting all alone on a chair in an empty room, weeping. He was holding a picture, he and two ninjas wearing the full ninja gear were in it. They were all smiling. They were his parents. The investigations had been halted and everyone had forgotten them. They were no more than a mere memory, carved, in the boy’s mind and heart. He had tried to become stronger and tougher, but in vain. Today had been one of the best days of his life. He had made a friend, not just anyone: Ino. Suddenly, he felt a cold chill running down his spine. He turned around and saw six kunais headed towards him. He knew they had finally come for him, after so long. He closed his eyes then opened them quickly and he screamed out of anger. He tried to jump in order to evade the attack, but it was already too late; it was over.
Later that night, two ANBU units had been deployed at the crime scene. They had already begun looking for clues, but had found nothing. Three Jounins had just arrived. One of them was reading a book; “make out paradise”. It was Kakashi. He asked what had happened there. “Murder. Follow me to the basement,” said the first ANBU member. As they reached the basement, they saw ANBU members searching for any kind of clue that could lead them to the killer. The leader told the three to look towards the other end of the basement. There was a body, mutilated in the most disgusting and atrocious ways. It had been decapitated and the head was missing. It had one kunai in each leg and hand, one in its heart and another one in the stomach. Kurenai was disgusted and asked what kind of person would do something like that. Asuma who was more accustomed to these things plainly said: “Plenty of psychos out there…”
“Any idea on who could’ve done this and why?” inquired Kakashi. He received a negative answer from the ANBU leader. However, he told Kakashi that they knew Uqy was being targeted. “Targeted?” asked the intrigued Kakashi. Kurenai was checking Uqy’s files, his grades, activities… “I don’t understand why any one would want to target him; there’s nothing interesting in here,” she said while looking in the files for something important that wasn’t there. “That’s because that’s his new file,” declared the leader. “New file? What do you mean?” asked Asuma. “He’s the kid from the Dragon Clan,” was the answer he received. “What?! That was him?!” asked the stunned Kakashi. Asuma who was also stunned said: “I can’t believe they got to him after all these years!” Kurenai asked what they were talking about; she had never heard of the Dragon Clan. “That’s because it became very small after the great wars; there have only been four members of the Dragon Clan in Konoha for the past fifteen years. However, this clan possessed powerful secret techniques and its members were highly skilled,” explained Asuma. “You said four, but he’s the only one here. Where are his parents, his family?” she asked. “You want to know about his family? Very well. He had an older brother, he was assumed to be dead during the fight with Kyubi twelve years ago,” was the answer the leader gave her. “Assumed to be dead?” Kurenai asked carefully. “Yes. His body was never found, but he was one of the ninjas who were right at the front lines. In other words, he was practically face to face with Kyubi. He was very strong, a prodigy, an elite ninja. But he was barely eleven years old. He couldn’t have survived. His parents, however, never gave up hope and always believed he was still alive…to the very end,” said the leader. “To the very end?” she asked. “Yes. You see, when Uqy was five, his parents were murdered…right in front of him,” declared the leader.
Kurenai was shocked by the information she had newly received. The leader stated they didn’t know who had committed the crime; it was one of Konoha’s few unsolved crimes. There was still something Kurenai hadn’t understood; if he was a member of such a great clan, he should’ve been pretty strong. However, the files she held showed that his grades were slightly below average. “I wouldn’t blame him, after what he went through,” said Asuma without providing further information on the matter thus forcing Kurenai to ask what he was talking about. The ANBU leader explained: “Like I said, his parents were killed right in front of him. How do you think a five year old is going to take seeing his parents being killed right in front of him? But that’s not all…The killers wanted to kill him too, but they weren’t going to waste any chakra on him. So they attacked him with their weapons: that night Uqy was pierced by ninety three shurikens…” “Yet he survived,” said Kakashi. “When we got there, he was still alive. He was covered in blood and could barely move. He stayed in the hospital for three months, but he survived,” he added. “Wait a minute. “We” got there?” Kurenai asked.
Kakashi told her he had been leading the rescue team back then. “Kakashi’s the one who found and saved the little boy’s life. A minute later and he would’ve died,” said Asuma. She asked them how he had survived. “Whether the killers spared him on purpose or whether he prevented them from hitting his vital points, I have no idea,” said the leader. “Why would they let him live?” she asked. “A good question. But so is this one; how could he have been able to keep every one of his vital points intact with ninety three shurikens coming from every side around him?” answered the leader. Asuma asked whether they had found some kind of evidence. The answer was negative.
Kakashi spotted something else next to the body. It was a picture, smeared with blood and water. He looked around, but saw no leak, no glass and no possible source of water. He noticed there were some traces of water on the floor next to the body. He put some on his finger and smelled it. It was salty. “He was crying,” announced Kakashi sadly. “W…What?” was the question Kurenai asked. “This water is salty, there’s no leak and no source of water. Even if there was one or if it was tap water, it wouldn’t be salty, rainwater isn’t salty either. So there can only be one answer: he was crying, while holding this picture,” explained Kakashi. “Kurenai, what does the file say about his social life? Does he have any friends?” he asked her. “Not a single one,” she said sadly. “In other words, no one’s gonna miss him… Just makes our job, keeping his death a secret, easier…” added Asuma sadly. “Yeah…” said Kakashi sadly.
End of Prologue
[Reviews - 0]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +
Chapter notes: Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning: Use of violence and bad language. Be advised.
Constuctive critisicm is appreciated.
Please comment and rate.
Hope you enjoy.
Remember, this is just the prologue.