By Smertios
Author's Note: Welcome to my first fic: Seeking a Center. This story is an AU focusing on a world in which Naruto is able to find balance and security. Read and enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This fic is not produced for financial reward; it is produced purely in the name of artistic expression. It is therefore protected expression: etc. etc.
Chapter One: End on End'But I've got it now,
I've
got the rhythm down.
Cycles of end on end.
But if one wave
stops, another begins.'
Rites of Spring: End on End
In Konoha, it was common knowledge that the clan with the most beautiful compound was the Hyuuga clan. Beautiful Dojo, wonderful gardens, and an austere manner (referred to by the less reverent as being 'uptight'), made it a wonder of the Shinobi world. However, the Hyuuga Compound was not the largest. That honor fell to the Uchiha compound. It was a sprawling, but practical compound that made space for a fairly large clan without the arrogance or long tradition of the Hyuuga clan.
In the end, it was this size that contributed to their destruction.
Uchiha Itachi pulled his blade out of his Uncle's back and smiled. The spacious nature of the compound had allowed him to attack the clan family by family. This process was significantly less challenging than fighting the whole clan at once. With the Mangekyou Sharingan at his disposal, it was Child's play to quickly and quietly remove his relatives from the gene pool.
He walked into the next home on the row, his own, and came face to face with his mother. "Itachi… Why are you –"
A sword cut interrupted her in mid-sentence, sending her spinning to the ground. A cry of rage escaped from the corner of the room, and his father rushed towards him, Sharingan blazing. Itachi smirked. "Tsukiyomi."
The man stopped in mid-step and collapsed to the ground. Itachi placed his sword at the man's neck and whispered, "You will see something coming towards you from behind."
The head of the Uchiha clan jerked forwards, as though in fear of an assault from behind, and ran the katana through his windpipe. As he lay on the floor, slowly dying, Itachi prodded him towards his wife. There now remained one other member of the clan to be disposed of.
Sasuke, unlike the other members of the clan, was to be spared. It had been Itachi's hope that the boy would be loyal enough to him that he could bring him along when he left, but when the young Uchiha had received his father's approval, Itachi had been forced to rethink his plans. Sasuke would never be a significant threat to Itachi. The boy had always been too soft to be truly powerful. Therefore, Itachi was going to have the best revenge of all on the boy. He was going to let him live. The youngest Uchiha would be truly alone, and would swear to kill Itachi. When he finally got back up on his feet again, Itachi would kill him, savoring an extended revenge against his clan.
Itachi pulled his blade from his father's neck and turned. As he did, Sasuke walked into the home. The young boy's eyes widened, and he collapsed to the floor. "Why? Why did you do it?"
"They were just a measuring stick to test myself."
Sasuke's eyes widened in horror. "A measuring stick? That's why…" He coughed, as Itachi continued to stare at him. Then, sensing that his brother would not respond, continued, "That's why you did it? You killed everyone for that?"
Frustration flared in the back of Itachi's head, but he fought it down and closed his eyes in impatience. "It was very important for me to do so."
His younger brother rose to his feet, eyes blazing in anger. "That's just bullshit!"
Sasuke charged, rage blazing in his eyes. With a sigh, Itachi stepped off of the line of the charge and slammed his fist right into his little brother's stomach. The boy doubled over and sank to the floor. Itachi leaned over him, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. This was going to be fun. "I'm scared!"
Sasuke had begun sobbing, as he cowered away from Itachi. "D- Don't kill me!"
"You're not even worth killing, foolish little brother." Itachi smirked down at his little brother. "If you want to kill me… Hate me. Live miserably. Survive and run, run, run."
The boy scrambled to his feet and turned for the door. "No, little brother. You are not even worth my time… There is another in this village, whose power I need much more than yours. Run and survive for now, because you have only horror in front of you, and only tragedy behind."
With that, Itachi left his childhood home and leapt to the roof. His target should be reaching his apartment soon.
- - - - - - - - - -
Uzumaki Naruto was whistling jauntily as he made his way home from the Ninja Academy. Images of steaming cups of Top Ramen danced in his head, and his stomach was grumbling loudly. For all of his life, Ramen had been the one food he could count on. While other adults would refuse him service, the keeper of the Ichiraku Ramen Stand was always glad to sell Naruto more Ramen.
The young boy didn't know why everyone hated him, but he was willing to guess that it had nothing to do with his pranks or with the volume of his speech. After all, they had hated him before he had ever pulled a prank. Only the Hokage, Ichiraku, and Umino Iruka had ever given the boy any respect.
Not that Naruto cared. He would show them all. One day, he was going to become Hokage, and show them all that he was worthy of their respect. Then they would come crawling on hands and knees, asking for his forgiveness. He would give it to them, just so he could be better than they were.
He reached the door to his apartment and kicked it open. The door had long since been vandalized beyond repair, and the lock had given out years ago. If anyone wanted to break in, the only thing stopping them was a massive pile of laundry and the smell of rancid milk. The old bed gave a large squeal of protest when Naruto settled down on it. He never even noticed the large shadow looming in the corner of the two-room apartment. "Ahhh…"
Itachi rolled his eyes and wondered what the Academy was coming to. Any shinobi should have seen him the moment they walked in. He wasn't even really hiding. Not that he was going to complain, of course, since it made his job that much easier.
A few steps carried him over to the sprawled out 7-year-old and he brought a fist down on the boy's skull. Naruto's eyes rolled back in his head. Itachi scooped him up.
Moments later the two were moving across Konoha's rooftops at a dead run, heading towards the walls, and the outside world.
- - - - - - - - - -
Hatake Kakashi hated patrols. They were boring, long, and a waste of time that could be spent reading his new book Icha Icha Paradise Volume One. All in all, he couldn't think of a worse way to spend a perfectly good evening. The streets were practically deserted, and the rooftops were damp from the rain that had begun to fall a few minutes ago. That meant Kakashi was wet, bored, and tired; a very bad combination for anyone.
He chose to move over the roofs, rather than to walk down the streets, so that he could keep an eye on the city below, and stay fairly still. His segment of the city was dominated by apartment building and small businesses, and like most such areas had more alleys than any one ANBU could reasonably be expected to watch. To his chagrin, he was still expected to do so.
He was about to reach into his shuriken pouch to risk a bit of reading on the job, when a form across the street caught his attention. A tall shinobi with a sword at his side was sprinting across the rooftops towards the edge of town. Slung over his shoulder, a bundle was being roughly jostled by the uneven gait of the shinobi. Kakashi quickly began moving in the direction of the man, hoping to figure out what was going on, when he caught sight of a flash of blonde hair at the end of the bundle. Then he knew.
The Copy-Cat Ninja pulled out two kunai and sent them hurtling towards the knees of the fast-moving shinobi, but one went wide. The other slashed the side of the other ninja's knee, drawing blood. The man doubled his speed. Kakashi cursed, and sent an emergency frequency call to the ANBU standing watch at the walls, using his mask's radio. "Suspicious shinobi heading towards the South walls, carrying what appears to be Uzumaki Naruto. Please move to intercept."
"Roger."
Kakashi wasted no time in heading towards the walls himself. Even at a dead sprint, the other man was still moving faster than him. When he came to a turn in the street below, Kakashi quickly moved onto the same side as the advancing kidnapper, Kunai in both hands. "Halt! This is the ANBU!"
The man took one glance back, and then sped up even further. Kakashi saw the man's pupils were bright red, and put two and two together. 'Obito never trusted him. I can see why now.'
"Target Identified as Uchiha Itachi. Use care in intercepting him."
His fellow ANBU came into view in a moment. Hyuuga Hiroshi was a deadly fighter, and would give even Itachi a run for his money; especially if Kakashi joined in. The Hyuuga threw a set of three Shuriken directly at Itachi, clearly not caring if Naruto was hit or not. The runaway Uchiha simply jumped over them, and continued on. Hiroshi got within range, and shot a palm out at Itachi, who sidestepped at the last minute, and drove his knee into the Hyuuga's stomach.
Kakashi drew a kunai, and hurled it at Itachi's back. Itachi, caught of guard, was struck right through the right shoulder. With a grunt of pain, he turned to face Kakashi, anger clear in his face. "Uchiha Itachi, you are under arrest for –"
Itachi turned and ran. "Dammit!"
Much to Itachi's frustration, Hiroshi jutted out a leg, and sent the Uchiha prodigy careening to the ground. His bundle spilled from his arms. Itachi hissed out a curse and struggled to rise, but Kakashi had caught up to them and was holding a kunai to his throat. "Don't move."
Itachi's eyes darted around, seeking an avenue of escape. Then, with the look of a caged animal, he relaxed. Kakashi relaxed as well, convinced that the chase was over. That was his mistake. Itachi kicked him in the stomach, lifting him up and slamming him into Hiroshi, who still lay on the ground. "You should have let me take him, Kakashi. They don't want him here. They hate him. I would have given him purpose, and power. He would have lived up to the grand name of the Ninetails."
With that, Itachi fled, leaving Naruto lying on the rooftop. Kakashi sighed. This meant filling out reports and attending more meetings. Hiroshi stirred. "T- Taichou… Would you mind getting off of me?"
Kakashi rolled off of the abused Hyuuga and struggled to his feet. He scooped up Naruto in one arm, and Hiroshi in the other, and then slowly started towards Konoha's main hospital. 'So much for a nice quiet night of reading.'
- - - - - - - - - -
Konoha's Sandaime Hokage was in a very bad mood. In less than three hours a clan of his Shinobi had been wiped out, an S-rank missing-nin had escaped Konoha's ANBU, and Kyuubi's container had been attacked and kidnapped. Now he was sitting in a hospital chair, waiting for the orphaned son of his dead successor to awake whilst listening to a disgruntled Hatake Kakashi give his report. "Itachi said that I should have let Naruto go with him, and that Naruto would have become powerful being trained by him."
"That's the root of the problem…"
"Sir?" Kakashi was clearly confused by Sarutobi's musings.
The Hokage waved him off. "Don't worry about it. I was talking to myself."
Hatake nodded and made to leave the room. "Sir… Arashi-sensei… He knew this would happen. I know he left you instructions on what to do if Naruto ever came to be threatened by people seeking his power."
"He so badly wanted Naruto to be a hero." Sarutobi hung his head, disappointed with his villagers and with the plan's that the Yondaime had left behind. "He wanted people to realize that he was acting in their defense, and not a monster."
The container stirred briefly, and rolled over onto his side, curling up and whimpering lightly in his dreams. Kakashi moved towards the door again. "Maybe if he goes away for a little while, they will gain some perspective. Especially if he comes back powerful."
As Kakashi left the room, the Hokage sighed. "Would that they had such strength of character in them. No… Villagers, for all of their good intentions, are weak-willed and easily given to hatred."
He stroked the boy's blonde hair. When Arashi had left the care of his only child to his predecessor, he had given the boy to the wrong caretaker. As much as Sarutobi cared for the youngling, he was weighted down by the responsibilities of a Kage and growing older swiftly. He was too busy to take care of himself fully, let alone care for the poor, mistreated young man in the bed before them. Worse yet, there were few he could trust to watch over the boy at all. The hate of the villagers had spread to shinobi as well. Yearly there were attempts on his life by shinobi that were foiled by Hatake Kakashi and his ANBU.
Sarutobi cursed fate. He was tired. He wanted to retire to a home out in the country and write his memoirs before passing away to finally get some well-needed rest. Every day the weight of his robes grew greater. As much as he wanted to care for Naruto, he could not.
He reached for a pen and some paper.
'Master Tayuki
I write to you with gravest concerns regarding the well being of Kazama Arashi's son. The container of the Kyuubi is under constant threat from rogue-nin, and from the villagers of this village. I fear that he can no longer stay here safely.
It is with a heavy heart that I must beg you to take on the care and tutelage of one Uzumaki Naruto, who was commended into my care after his father's death. I know it has been some time since your Monastery has taken on a Shinobi as an apprentice, but I feel that Naruto can only be safe in a fully secluded location. Your teaching will undoubtedly offer him great opportunity for growth. It is my hope that you will find him a ready and able student.
He is exuberant, and often loud, but he is also dedicated to learning, and eventually gaining my position. Perhaps with a more stable atmosphere, he will be able to find his center and grasp the maturity and power needed to become Hokage.
I apologize for my solicitations, and hope this letter finds you in good health.
Signed,
Sarutobi – Sandaime Hokage'As he finished the letter, the door to the hospital room slid open, and Umino Iruka entered the room. "Hokage-sama. How is he?'
The Hokage felt a bubble of warmth grow in his stomach. For all of Naruto's suffering, there were still some who held the boy in the highest regard. Iruka, even though he had as much reason to hate Naruto as anyone, was one of the few who genuinely cared for the boy. "He is doing well. He suffered only a light head injury. He will regain consciousness soon enough."
The Chuunin nodded, and sat down on the other side of the hospital bed. "Hokage-sama… I would like to request permission to adopt Naruto. It is clear that he is not safe living on his own."
Sarutobi paused for a moment, and then replied, "I am sorry Iruka. It is no longer safe for Naruto to remain within the walls of this village. While I am sure that you would care for him well, you are only a Chuunin, and Naruto is threatened by S-rank missing-nin. I am sending him to the Nakayama Monastery, where he will be in no danger until he is well enough trained to care for himself."
Iruka seemed disappointed, but he nodded his understanding. "May I inform his classmates of his departure once he is gone? There is at least one who will miss him terribly."
'Hyuuga Hinata, will indeed miss Naruto. Although she would never say as much.' Sarutobi was charmed by the young girl's crush on his charge, who had little enough love in the world as it is. "You may. I hope to have him leave in two days or less, escorted by Hatake Kakashi. You may inform them then. For now, say your own goodbyes."
The Hokage stood up and left the room, carrying with him the note that Kakashi would carry to the monastery, high in the mountains.
Author's Notes: That is the end of the first Chapter. Thank you for reading this far. The next chapter: Runaway Return will be released soon.
Constructive Criticism would be much appreciated if you feel that there are things that need to be improved. I'm working without a Beta for now, so my grammar may be in serious need of improvement (although it appears to be correct from my read-through).
Thank you for reading so far.
Smertios