Shōgun:

A Story of The Elemental Nations

Chapter II: Rebirth

Well, it's been a little bit, hasn't it? As always, life got in the way. When I started writing fanfiction I was a single guy working the graveyard shift. Now I'm a married father of two and I can barely find time to unwind, let alone write. I know that this isn't the story most of you hoped I would update first, but it's the one that I feel I can write the best, as it's a complete AU. If I can keep writing after this, which I hope is the case, be on the lookout for updates to my more popular tales. Enjoy!

Naruto clutched his knapsack to his chest, shaking in fear from his place under the ruined wagon. The bandit's attack had caught his convey completely by surprise. His group probably would have been OK, but the Jounin sensei of the Genin team guarding the caravan had been killed by a sniper's arrow in the opening attack, before he even knew what was happening. Seeing their teach die messily with by an arrow through the throat had demoralized the three apprentice nin and the mob of over twenty bandits were able to dispatch them, though not without losses. In the end the only survivors were Naruto, who had hidden when the attack occurred, and less than a dozen bandits sporting kunai and shuriken wounds.

Their mission complete, and their spoils all the richer due to their comrades deaths, the remaining bandits quickly made off with anything of value to lick their wounds, leaving the twice-cursed boy alone amongst the dead. Even the oxen and horses had been killed in the conflict.

Naruto lay still for at least a day and a night, slowly rocking back and forth, his young mind temporarily shattered. He knew he deserved this for what he had done to the baby. He deserved worse, he should have been killed with all of the others. At the same time a savage, primal part of him was glad that he still lived. This made him feel more guilty yet. As time passed Naruto grew hungry and thirsty. He drank from his canteen sparingly, taking small sips. He had no idea when he would see more water.

He ate of the sole food he had; a cookie one of the traveling merchant's children had given him. The boy's name had been Kenji, Naruto remembered. Later, when he peeked his head out from under the wagon Naruto saw Kenji's body. It reminded him of the baby... only two days ago. Two days and two lives ruined, by mindless violence. By people doing anything they wanted. By people who acted outside of the law. As he wandered around the ruined caravan, looking at the bodies, he made up his mind. He decided that as long as he lived, he would fight those who went against the law. He would become strong, even if he couldn't become a shinobi, even if he never learned a single ninjutsu.

He grew hungry on the third day, and ate a piece of one of the horses. He sliced it off of the beast's flank and coated it in salt from a barrel left behind by the bandits before devouring the raw flesh in abject hunger. He repeated the process again, this time storing the meat in his bag. He filled his canteen from the water cask and took two more besides, and started walking away from Konoha. He wasn't going to Kaido, he knew. He was going to find somewhere he could forge his own destiny. He had seen proof that even veteran Shinobi could be taken down by a single arrow. He had seen that that there was strength in numbers that trumped even skill. He had learned much. All the sun kissed boy needed now was a cause, a place, a person... Something to believe him and help him become what he needed to become.

Naruto walked for three days before he saw another human face. It came in the form of of Samurai, one of the many parties of Fire soldiers that patrolled the Daimyo's roads to keep them safe from disasters like the one Naruto experienced. There weren't nearly enough Samarai to be in all places at once, which is why bandits thrived even on protected roads.

The leader of the patrol, a high ranked man of the Samarai class named Oda Nobuhide, saw the boy first. He released his tightly coiled chakra for less than a second, letting it bounce against his surroundings and return to him. He detected no traps or threat from the boy, so he dismounted his war horse and approached the child.

Naruto, weary beyond belief, let the man approach. The noble, seeing the state of the child, knew what had happened. The bandits were growing bold this season. He knew that the child's life was over. If anyone else had survived the attack they would be here with him.

Nobuhide was a fierce but gentle man, a veteran warrior and a husband of fifteen year with no children. He knew himself or his wife to be sterile, and no offspring would be forthcoming to succeed him. As a ranking Samarai and minor daimyo with a small fifdom he was expected to take a mistress to sire an heir if his wife couldn't. In spite of his arranged marriage he had fallen head over heels in love with his gentle wife, so much that he could not bear to take another. Adoption was not an option; no noble would ever give up a son.

The minor daimyo pulled off his shining red helmet, letting his waist length blond hair that was beginning to go grey spill out. He knelt down to the boy and put his enormous hand on the child's shoulder. Blue eyes met blue, and Nobuhide saw nothing there. This boy had seen death, and it had almost entirely claimed him.

The Samarai picked up the child, cradling him like a newborn, and climbed aboard his steed. When his men questioned what he was doing with the child, he smiled.

"I am taking my son home," said the warrior. The boy had been delivered to him by Kami, Oda knew. What other chance was there of a boy sharing his extremely rare eye and hair color coming to him? He knew that his wife would be pleased, and smiled.

It was not the way things were done, but his men did not question him. Nobuhide was a fair leader and powerful ruler. All of them knew what the boy's fate would have been if their daimyo hadn't interceded.

Though he knew it not as he drifted off on horseback, Uzumaki Naruto had died. He had died and been reborn a Samurai.

Let me know your thoughts! The good and the bad please.