Of
Two Minds
Prologue:
Judgment
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It was just past two in the morning, and despite the
lateness of the hour, the wailing hadn’t stopped. The moans of the injured and
the dying still echoed through the air. Bodies were still passing through the
open gates of the
And the Hokage was dead. Chaos now reigned over the people.
At least the demon hadn’t breeched the walls of the village… at least there was that.
Just inside the village wall a makeshift morgue was formed. It was here the remaining clan heads met to take stock of their losses and determine what the village hidden in the leaves should do next.
“What is the final tally?” the head of the Uchiha clan asked as he walked down the line of the dead.
A woman walked up to him carry a pad. She wiped some dried blood from her eyes and counted the marks on the pad. We lost one hundred and thirty total: Seven-five chounin, thirty jounin, twenty-five gennin and of course…” her voice quieted to nothing. There was no need to mention the loss of the hokage.
“So many,” a comment was heard. The situation had become so desperate that even rookie gennins had been called to do their duty for the village. “I am still unsure how the Hokage defeated the beast…”
There was silence as one turned to another looking for an answer. So much had happened at once. There was so much confusion. The most powerful members of Konoha’s most powerful clans had used every skill, every ninjitsu, genjitsu, and taijitsu. All they had tried proved ineffectual against the beast. They may as well have been throwing rocks at it. As powerful as he was, how did the Hokage alone defeat the Kyuubi?
“I only saw a part of it,” a quiet voice ventured. Everyone turned to the weak voice. A bloodied man lay on a bedroll. He was heavily bandaged and those who looked at him doubted he was long for this world. “The Hokage used a forbidden jitsu and summoned the Death God. The Death God sealed away the soul of the demon in exchange for the life of the Hokage.” The man coughed harshly, blood splattering against the already saturated ground. “Afterwards the Kyuubi’s body turned to dust and the Hokage was dead.” The man, grown weak from speaking, closed his eyes and turned his head away from the clan heads.
There was silence for a moment, before the newly ascended clan head of the Hyuuga asked the question on everyone’s mind. “Sealed? Sealed into what?”
Eyes again turned to the man who had witnessed the events, but he had lost consciousness. “Well, I guess we should be thankful that the beast can no longer harm the village,” the Hyuuga concluded. “In any case, we should see to the securing of the village. We are extremely vulnerable now. Another village may seek to take advantage of our woeful state.” With the old Hyuuga clan head, his father, killed in battle Hiashi Hyuuga walked solemnly back toward the family estate, alone. There was much he needed to do.
While the Hyuuga’s comments were the sentiments of many, there were a few who disagreed and had remained silent as the others discussed the situation. The danger had not passed and the others were fools to think so. Merely sealing the demon was not enough. At best that was merely passing the burden on to future generations. At worst, they had merely bought themselves time. The Kyuubi had to be destroyed. If not so that those who had died against the demon could rest in peace, than for the safety of the village.
Two men and a woman receded from the group. They knew where the demon had been sealed. The woman had accompanied a nursemaid who had carried the newborn child of the Hokage from the weak arms of his mother to the battlefield where a jounin carried the small baby to the trembling arms of his father. The demon now sealed in the star-crossed child, the jounin returned the baby to his mother where he remained.
They debated whether or not to inform the others, but the three person group wondered if the others had the strength to do what needed to be done. The risk was too great. The group of conspirators doubted the mother would just hand over the child no matter how much sense it made. She too would need to be sacrificed for the good of Konoha. No, the others were not likely to agree or the debate would carry on too long, making the final decision all the more difficult. They would do this. Their souls alone would bear the weight of this sin. Perhaps then the gods would not curse Konoha for this act of inhumanity.
When would this ill-fated day end?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tears cascaded down Kushina’s eyes as her arms weakly held her newborn son, the only link she had left of her husband. She ran a hand through the child’s soft blonde hair. “I will tell you of your Father, Little one. I will not let you forget him or how much he loved you.” Kushina promised her sleeping child. The mother and son rested in the master bedroom of their family estate. Most of the attendants had been dismissed when the decision was being made to place the burden of the demon on the newborn child. This was a moment for family alone. The house was virtually unguarded.
The only one standing at her side was her husband’s mentor and teacher, the Third Hokage. “How are you feeling?” he asked quietly trying to hide the concern he was feeling. He was familiar with the technique the Fourth had used, and the seal on the child’s stomach did not quite fit the description given in the scroll.
“I am as well as can be expected I think… but I am so very tired and hungry.”
The Third nodded. “I will bring you some broth. I will return as quickly as possible.” The kitchen was actually in another building on the large estate and with the attendants gone it would be thirty minutes before the Third returned. When he did reenter the bedroom of his former student, what he saw sickened him, but for this night of horrors, it was just another death. Lying near a broken bedroom window was the body of Kushina. She had been stabbed several times in the back and chest, a blade still protruded from her breast. Lying near by was the body of someone the Third did not recognize. It was unclear how the person had died. But where was the baby? A cry answered his question and he examined Kushina further, beneath her lay the baby. Obviously she had sacrificed her life to protect the child.
Picking up the baby, the Third was amazed that in her weakened state that Kushina had been able to protect the child. As much as he would like to believe that Kushina in some miracle of maternal love had been able to kill the intruder, the Third could not bring himself to do it. The childbirth had left Kushina too weak to even stand. The Third’s eyes turned to the dead man on the floor. There was not a mark on the man. It appeared as if he had simply dropped dead, his face twisted in fear as if he had seen the devil itself. Kushina was no genjitsu user and if she had not killed the man, who did?
The answer was obvious and dreadful. The Third placed the small baby on the bed and examined the seal on the baby’s stomach. It was barely visible. He would need to consult the Forbidden Scroll further as he recalled that seal did disappear and only showed itself when chakra was used, but should it be fading so soon after forming? The baby, who had been quite silent through the whole ordeal, opened his eyes and met those of the Third causing the former and future Hokage to double blink. Perhaps his memory was poor, but he could have sword the child had blue eyes. In the light of the room those eyes now appeared to be a deep purple.
“What am I to do with you, Little One?” The Third asked of the still unnamed child, who appeared to be listening. “I have no doubt that someone will try again to take your life and even if I claim you I can not guard you through out the day and night.” The Third paused in thought. Who could he trust with this knowledge? Who would look towards hope as opposed to fear? Regretfully, he could think of no one he could trust completely… Not with this task. Even he had his doubts. But he would believe in the Fourth’s words that Konoha was a place of hope and honor. That the sacrifices made by him and his son would be looked on with pride. The Third turned sad eyes on to the still form of Kushina and added her name to the list of heroes in his heart. The sacrifice of all three of them…
His decision made, he was still left with how to ensure the child’s safety, when an old saying popped into his head. The best place to hide a tree was in the forest.
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When they had heard a woman’s scream they thought that noble, but dark deed had been done. However, when their compatriot failed to return from the bedroom window, they had begun to doubt. When they heard the Third’s voice, they knew he had failed. Trying to decide upon their next action, they watched as the Third slipped out of the rear entrance of the building, a bundle wrapped securely in his arms. They followed him all the way to the Konoha Orphanage.
The Third spared a glance at the orphanage where he had anonymously left the child of the Fourth. Feeling that directly presenting the child to the orphanage’s personnel would defeat the protection of anonymity he wished to confer on the child, he had merely left the bundle on the doorstep. He stayed in the shadows only long enough to ensure that the baby was taken safely inside. Taking a deep breath the Third prayed that he was making the right decision before returning to his own home. Tired and deep in thought, the Third completely missed the two shadows lurking near one of the orphanage windows.
Konoha was still in danger, the child still needed to be killed. Sneaking into the darkened building, they quickly came across the lone attendant and knocked her unconscious before she had even known they were there. Sneaking further inside, they soon found themselves outside the door of the nursery where the babies were kept. Both the man and the woman withdrew long blades from their sheathes. “Can you do it?” the man asked.
The woman nodded. “For Konoha… I can.”
The man returned her nod. “You saw the child when you were with the nursemaid. What does it look like?” he asked in whisper.
“It is a male child with golden blonde hair and blue eyes… unnaturally blue eyes. He appeared quite small too. Even as a baby, his resemblance to his father is obvious. We will have no difficulty spotting him.”
The man nodded and slowly opened the door. The lights in the room were dim, but it was not difficult to see. The room was rectangular in shape and two rows of ten cribs each lined the walls. The man crept over to the row on the left, the woman the row on the right.
Each reached down and removed the light sheets that covered the sleeping child at the beginning of each row. Their eyes widen in glee at their luck, and both turned to the other almost simultaneously. “He’s here,” they parroted each other. What followed was looks of confusion.
“What are you saying?” the woman asked coming over to the man’s side. “I’ve seen the child and he’s over…” her words died on her lips as she spied the baby beneath her. It was identical to the child she had seen in the other row. Both turned to the crib next to them and removed the sheet covering the waking child. It too was identical to the two previous children. A quick inspection of the other babies returned similar results; all the children were identical and resembled the child of the fourth Hokage.
“Now what do we do?” the woman asked in quiet panic.
The man’s eyes looked wildly from one baby to the next, desperately trying to find some identifying mark, some flaw in the illusion. There was none. “That demon fox is no doubt the cause, but its tricks won’t stop us.”
The woman turned to look at the man in horror. “What are you saying?”
The man raised his blade and walked determinedly toward a crib. “We do what we came here to do.” His knife descended with a quiet thud, meeting disgustingly soft resistance. “For Konoha…” He came to the next crib in the line and repeated the dark act.
The woman stood frozen as she watched her companion kill a third and a fourth child. It was only until she heard the child she was standing next to begin to cry did she move. In panic, her own blade descended and silenced the baby in death. Committed now, she moved on to the next, tears clouding her eyes. When it was done and all the children lay forever still, the two murderers made their way slowly to the door. “It’s finished,” the man said solemnly. “Konoha is safe.”
The woman shook her head, looking at the small splatters of blood that dirtied her hands. “No…” she said in a whisper. “There is one thing left that needs to be done.” Before the man could ask her what that one thing was, she had plunged the knife into her own heart. As she slumped to the floor, she directed her fading vision on the still cribs that were now coffins. “Please… Please forgive me,” she begged with her final breath.
The man looked at her and then at his own hands and finally to the two rows of cribs. Yes, there was one final act that needed to be done. After all the death and sacrifice, did he really think he could just walk away? Did he think of himself as some kind of hero? Maybe a little, but no more of a hero than the children lying here dead. How could he ask of them what he could not ask of himself? He plunged his own sinned blade into his stomach, and with the bright blood that flowed out, he wrote down the details and reasons behind this act of barbarism.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Up in the rafters, unseen and quiet, a newborn baby wrapped in the tails of a dog sized fox, looked on at that bloodied scene. The child’s red eyes reflected the subdued light in the room like a predator of the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, the grizzly scene was discovered by the morning shift of the orphanage and an emergency meeting of the clan heads was called for the second time in just twelve hours. When the confession written in blood was found, the whole story of last night’s events began to unfold as the Third, holding back tears, told of what he knew. As it turned out, the three who attacked and killed the Fourth’s wife Kushina and had massacred the infants at the orphanage were respected members of the Uchiha, Hyuuga and Inuzuka clans. It was decided that no further action would be taken against the involved families as the participants were all dead and with the madness of yesterday, it just seemed everyone was emotionally numb.
It wasn’t until the bodies of the slaughtered infants were brought out that the Third noticed that Naruto’s was not among them. The change of his expression from one of depression to one of confusion was not missed by the gathered leaders.
“What is it, Lord Hokage?”
The Third delayed his response for a moment as he confirmed his suspicion. “Naruto is not among the dead…”
“Naruto?”
“Naruto Uzumaki, the Fourth’s son,” the Third explained. “Naruto is the name given to him by his parents and since few knew Kushina’s maiden name, it seemed appropriate. His body is not among the murdered children.”
“Then the Kyuubi is… the Kyuubi might still be alive?!” one of the head’s exclaimed in worry. While no one would have admitted to approving of the actions taken by the three members of the Uchiha, Hyuuga and Inuzuka clans, a majority of the family heads gathered had felt great satisfaction at the knowledge that the horrid Kyuubi was finally dead. Their emotional numbness was quickly wearing off.
“Search the village! It must be found!” Hiashi Hyuuga ordered.
“He,” the Third corrected.
“What?” another asked.
“He, not it. Naruto Uzumaki is not an it.”
There was silence for a moment as the former hokage’s words were taken in. “Regardless of semantics,” the Hyuuga continued. “We need to find this infant.”
“What does the child look like?”
“Do we have any clothing of the child or anything with his scent? My dogs could track him easily.”
All eyes turned to the Third, the only person alive who had spent any amount of time with the child. He returned their looks with one of his own. “And what will be done with Naruto once he is found?” From his tone the others could deduce that he would withhold information if he thought the boy would come to harm.
The matriarch of the Satoshi clan spoke up. “It is impossible for an infant to disappear on its own. Someone must have taken the child from the orphanage before those three acted. It could be someone who seeks the Kyuubi’s power. It is in the child’s interest as well as ours that he does not fall into the wrong hands.”
The Third could not argue with that logic. He quickly described the child and provided the Inuzuka clan with the blanket he had used to cover the baby as he clandestinely made his way to the orphanage. Seconds later the meeting dispersed and the search for the infant, Naruto Uzumaki, began.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“This way?” Tsume Inuzuka asked of her partner, Kuromaru, a large black and white dog. The animal barked an affirmative and she in turn signaled the other members of her party. “The target is near.” They were in the forest that surrounded the village only a kilometer north of the main gate. The morning sun was bright in the sky and wind swirled through the trees. Suddenly, Kuromaru became very timid. It was a very strange sight to see such a fearsome looking animal become so timorous.
“I would turn back if I were you,” a woman’s voice called out. “Know your place, dog, and take your human pets back to their village.”
Kuromaru barked something in answer and took several steps back.
“What’s going on?” one of Tsume’s team members asked.
“Kuromaru is saying that we are not strong enough to take them on.” She turned to meet her teammates’ eyes. “He suggests that we retreat for now and return with a larger force.”
“I would suggest you not return at all,” the woman’s voice cut in.
“Who are you?” Tsume asked. “A child was kidnapped from an orphanage in our village. We are only concerned with his welfare.”
“Kidnapped? You humans tried to kill him. Leave now or die.”
“There!”
‘A genjitsu?’ Tsume decided in fright. ‘And a quite powerful one.’ She turned to her remaining three teammates. “We should retreat for now. We’ll need a defense against her genjitsu before we can rescue the child.”
“Hahaha, rescue? Who are you trying to fool? You’ll need to be far more cunning if you’re going to trick us. And while I don’t know what this genjitsu is that you speak of, regardless none of you is a match for me,” and then the voice was silent once more.
When the group returned with genjitsu experts and a much larger force they could find no trace of the woman who had spoke or the infant Naruto.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More searches were called for and all proved fruitless.
Time passed and the Third was asked by the village council to resume the position of Hokage until a worthy replacement could be found. One of his first acts was a standing order to find and bring back Naruto Uzumaki. But as the years continued to progress without incident, the events of the Kyuubi’s attack began to pass from the village consciousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seven year old Sakura along with her best friend Ino slowly made their way to one of the village training grounds. They had both just been released from their afternoon classes and the two girls wanted to practice some of the moves they were introduced to earlier in the day. Both girls were quite strong in genjitsu but their taijitsu and ninjtsu needed work. Their teacher Iruka, agreed to give them some additional instruction and would meet them at the training ground nearest the main gate.
“Hey, hey, Ino guess what? I heard that Sasuke likes girls with long hair. I’m going to grow my hair long and see if he notices.”
Ino’s expression darkened slightly, but she made no comment about what her friend had said. She had already known that piece of information about the much sought after Sasuke. Even at the young age of seven, parents were angling their daughters to pursue the lone heir of the Uchiha. Reaching the training ground, the young blonde spotted the perfect opportunity to change the subject. “Hey, who’s that over there? I don’t recall ever seeing him before.”
Sakura looked in the direction that Ino was pointing. Sitting atop one of the training logs was a young boy with spiky blond hair wearing a bright orange jacket and blue pants. At the base of the log on which the boy sat a large golden brown dog paced back and forth. The boy watched the dog with a look of amusement until he noticed the two girls looking at him. He waved enthusiastically at them before hopping down from his perch and running towards them. The boy’s dog followed at a more sedate pace.
“I don’t know who that is. Probably just some villager’s kid,” Sakura answered, before the boy came with in earshot.
“Hi,” the boy greeted. “Are you guys ninjas? Are you going to practice? I think that ninja magic stuff is pretty cool. I got tricked good by a ninja once… never again!” The young boy thumped his chest. “I’m gonna learn all their tricks and become even more powerful than any of ‘em!” He began to rub his chin with a thoughtful expression on his face. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they made me hokage or something.” The strange boy smiled even larger and turned toward his large dog. “Wouldn’t that be funny?” he asked his canine companion. Much to the further mystification of the girls, the dog nodded its head.
Both girls frowned at the boisterous boy. Looking at his appearance, his clothes looked like something someone had the good taste to throw away. He had several strange marks on each cheek that resembled whiskers and his eyes were incredibly blue, almost hypnotizingly so. Everything taken together just gave the seven year old a very weird vibe. Sakura felt particularly uncomfortable at the way the boy kept staring at her.
“You have very pretty hair,” the boy said in quiet awe of Sakura. “You even have green eyes,” he marveled. His hand began to reach out as if to touch her hair, but Sakura took a step back, giving the boy pause. He was about to say something when a man’s voice drew the girls’ attention away. The boy’s mood darkened at the interruption, his eyes turning midnight blue in color.
“Uh… that’s our teacher we got to go,” Sakura said quickly, wanting to get away from the weird kid.
“Yeah,” Ino immediately agreed, backing away. The two turned and ran to their sensei. “What a loser,” Sakura said in a stage whisper to her friend.
“Really,” Ino agreed. “Though the way he was staring at you, I think he likes you.” Ino snickered seeing the frown form on Sakura’s face.
Iruka waved the two girls over. “Are you two ready to start?”
The girls nodded and their practice began in earnest. After a half hour of practice, Iruka noticed a blond boy standing half a field away. The boy was about his student’s age and was mimicking the moves the girls were practicing. ‘Probably a village child,’ Iruka decided. There were plenty village children who wanted to be shinobi but couldn’t because the family needed them around the house or to earn money for the family’s wellbeing. The truth of it was that a majority of the ninja families were more than financially well off. While the monetary benefits of a child being a ninja were high for a family, so were the risks. There were few financially struggling families who could afford to lose a child healthy enough to work the field or in the shop to a mission. It was more than likely this boy was such a case.
The boy attempted a combination of kicks and punches that caused him to lose his balance and tumble to the ground. This elicited open laughter from Ino and Sakura.
The boy looked in their direction and frowned, before dusting himself off and trying again to execute the combination that had tripped him up.
“You know girls,” Iruka began disappointed in their actions. “Your skills in tiajutsu aren’t so high that you should be laughing at that boy.” Having said that Iruka made his way over to the boy.
‘The male is coming this way,’
“So, are you afraid of him?” the boy asked the dog, trying again to string together a number of punches and kicks without success.
‘Of course not, though he appears to have a high degree of spirit, I am quite confident that I could kill him easily.’
“Then there is no need to worry.”
‘Killing him will only draw attention to ourselves.’
“Then lets not kill him,” the boy said with a smile and turned to greet the newly arrived Iruka. “Hello!”
“Uh, who aren’t you going to kill?” Iruka asked half jokingly, having heard the tail end of the conversation the boy was having with his dog. ‘Probably just pretending.’
“You,” the boy said looking up at Iruka with a wide smile and his eyes shut. The boy’s face reminded Iruka of some of the expressions on the beckoning cat and kitsune trinkets sold by street merchants. When the boy began to laugh, Iruka laughed with him sure now that the boy had been joking.
“Haha, My name is Iruka. What’s your name?” The young instructor asked. He quickly became puzzled as the boy’s expression became bewildered.
“Well,” the boy began. “There is some dispute to that and I haven’t completely decided. You can call me whatever you like in the mean time,” the blond suggested still grinning like a fox.
Now Iruka was really confused. ‘What does he mean, he hasn’t decided.’ He kneeled down and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Then what do your parents and friends call you? I’ll use that name.”
Again the boy froze and Iruka was
puzzled by the fact that the child in front of him had yet to open his eyes.
Increasingly worried about the boy, Iruka finally
noticed the large dog next to the boy. The beast was looking up at the child
intently, as if it were waiting for the boy’s decision as well.
Suddenly the boy’s eyes came to life and Iruka was momentarily stunned by how unnaturally blue they were. “Okay,” the boy started with a snap of his fingers. “How about this? The woman at the orphanage had called me Naruto Uzumaki, whatever that means. Someone else insists in calling me, Kiyata. Personally, both work for me.”
“Kiyata?” Iruka wondered aloud. “I don’t ever recall hearing a name like that before. Though,” Iruka said beginning to chuckle. “It kind of sounds like a girl’s name.”
“It is,” the boy confirmed, and his eyes became lidded once more. “It’s appropriate at times.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Iruka didn’t know why, but he felt he could breathe easier now that he wasn’t looking into those azure eyes.
“Mean by what?” the boy asked, frowning in puzzlement.
“Mean by what? What do you mean by ‘It’s appropriate at times?’”
The boy canted his head at the man. “Just what I said. You feeling alright? You’re not mental or anything?”
‘Me?! You’re the loon!’ Iruka knew better than to say out loud. The ninja instructor saw the dog shake his head and walk toward the shade of a tree where it lay down. Iruka couldn’t help but agree with the dog’s sentiment. Another thought popped into Iruka’s head. ‘Where have I heard the name Naruto Uzumaki before?’ Looking closer at the boy, Iruka couldn’t help but think he looked familiar, like a face from his childhood.
“Okay, Naruto. You said that you live at the orphanage?” An occurrence that was not the least bit strange considering what happened near seven years ago.
“No, I didn’t,” Naruto huffed and crossed his arms across his chest.
Iruka double blinked. He was beginning to believe that Naruto had mental deficiencies. “Earlier, you said that the people at the orphanage gave you the name Naruto Uzumaki,” Iruka said slowly.
“Yes,” Naruto said mockingly, mimicking the tone of voice Iruka had used. “But I never said I lived there.”
“Then you live with your parents?”
“My father committed suicide and my mother was killed,” Naruto said with little emotion.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Why are you sorry?” Naruto asked with genuine curiosity. “It’s not like you knew them nor had anything to do with their deaths.”
Again Iruka frowned at the boy. “While both those things are true, it’s sad when anyone dies and is taken from the ones they love.”
To this the boy said nothing, but turned away from the young instructor and again began practicing the moves he had seen the girls do.
Iruka could tell that the boy no longer wanted to talk, but the teacher could not leave certain questions unanswered. “Naruto, if you don’t have any parents and you don’t live at the orphanage, where do you live? Do other relatives take care of you?”
Naruto paused, and turned his head as far as he could in Iruka’s direction. “Sort of,” Naruto claimed cryptically and continued with his self instruction.
Iruka still was not satisfied. With all the time Iruka had spent with children, he could tell that there was something out of the norm with Naruto and his family life. He could also tell that the direct approach was not likely to reveal any information. He needed another tact. “I see your practicing taijutsu,” Iruka said in a pleased tone. “I happen to be an instructor at the academy.”
That had more than won Naruto’s full attention. “Really? I think ninjas are pretty cool! Some of them have tricks I’ve never seen before. I appreciate a good trick. I want to learn all I can about being a ninja!” Naruto again tried to perform some of the moves he had watched more experienced ninja do. He looked quite foolish, but the determination in his eyes was unmistakable.
“Two of my other students are here practicing,” Iruka began. “Why don’t we go over there and join them? I could help you improve your technique!”
Naruto’s smile at hearing that could lighten the darkest night. “That’d be awesome. By the way,” Naruto said in a much quieter voice. “What’s the name of the girl with the pink hair and green eyes?”
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Days and weeks passed with Naruto watching the other children practicing the ninja arts at the training grounds and on occasion receiving instruction from Iruka. The young teacher kept pressing his eager student about his personal life and asking him why he didn’t ask his guardians to enroll him in the academy, but Naruto would always answer cryptically. Naruto’s most repeated answer about why he didn’t enroll in the academy proper was that he was of two minds about that. Iruka could only guess that Naruto was referring to his male guardian.
As the years pasted, Naruto became quite infamous around the training grounds. Most of the young ninja in training were quite amused by his antics. Naruto’s hearing was far from normal and he could easily discern the laughs and jeers. But no matter how many times the boy fell, tripped or otherwise made a fool of himself, he would pick himself up, dust himself off and try it again. Not that everyone found his actions funny, one person at least thought them inspirational.
Eleven year old Hinata Hyuuga peeked behind herself to make sure she was alone. Finally, she had been given permission to go to and from school without an escort. After the incident with the envoy from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, the young Hyuuga heir had been escorted almost everywhere she went. In her father’s eyes her skills were no where near adequate enough to defend herself. But now that some years had passed since that incident and the village’s defenses had improved she was now allowed to walk freely within the village walls. The greatest news out of this was now she would no longer have to sneak out of the family estate to watch him, him being Naruto Uzumaki.
Seeing no one behind, she stealthily made her way to the training grounds near the boundaries of the village. Activating her bloodline, she soon spotted Naruto practicing his balance on a length of rope he had tied between two trees. Slowly and without making a sound, she approached closer. Through the past three years of watching him, Hinata had learned that Naruto had above average hearing and more than once she had drew his attention to her hiding places. Whenever that occurred, he would call out causing her to run off. She wanted more than anything to go up to him and introduce herself, but she lacked the nerve and she hated herself for it. ‘At least I’ve gotten a lot better a stalking people,’ Hinata thought derisively, as she reached her hiding spot. She quietly watched him for several minutes until events compelled her to reveal herself.
Naruto scrambled his way up the tree and tentatively placed a foot on the taught rope. Thinking his footing secure, he was about to place his second foot on the rope, when he lost his balance and fell to the ground. Forgetting her shyness, Hinata immediately ran to his side to see if he was okay. When she reached him, she found him unconscious and his leg was obviously broken. Using what she knew of first aid, she first checked to make sure his neck or back was not broken. Finding no signs of either, she splinted his leg with two sturdy sticks she found and some twine she carried in her pack. Next she attempted to call for help, but due to the lateness of the day and the remoteness of the training area, no one heard her. Now she was faced with a dilemma. She could either leave him here alone, while she left to get further aide or she could bring him to the hospital herself, possibly risking him further injury. In the end, she could not bare leaving him out here alone. With his broken leg, she decided against any of the dragging techniques, instead she maneuvered the smaller boy into a firemen’s carry and carefully brought him to help.
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Naruto woke with a start, and bolted to a sitting position. He was lying in a bed in an all white room. Scanning the room, he found nothing else of note. It was an empty room except for the bed, a folding chair, and a small wooden desk. Taking note of the scents in the air, Naruto could find nothing that was familiar to him. Looking out the window, he could see that it was well into night, but he could easily make out the buildings of the village. Now having a general idea of where he was Naruto attempted to move, but a piercing pain soon put an end to that idea. He looked down to see that his left leg had been placed in a cast. Not understanding the cast’s purpose, he attempted to remove it, but that was proving difficult. He began to make so much noise in his pained struggles that a nurse soon arrived to see what the commotion was about.
As the door opened, Naruto turned maroon eyes in that direction, his face twisted in a snarl. Seeing the rather beast like expression on the boy’s face, the nurse closed the door in fright. Naruto turned his attention back to freeing his trapped leg. It was when the door opened a second time that Naruto was finally able to shred the plaster cast with his sharpened claws.
Guarding the hospital during off duty hours happened to be one of the tasks given to genin.
