Chapter 2: Unknown Enemy Territory

Naruto walked at a leisurely pace, his hands stuck inside his pockets and his face tilted upwards as he watched the sunlight stream through the tree branches that hung above him. His hair framed his face, a few strands covered his eyes, and his skin glowed as a few beams of sunlight struck it. "This is the life!" the happy ten year old said with a small smirk, his eyes closing as the smirked slowly became a large grin. He took his hands out of his pocket and interlocked them behind his head as he kept walking. Three days, three days of no beatings, harsh stares, and definitely no more mean villagers! The blonde thought as he let his grin slowly fall off until his mouth was only slightly curved up, his eyes now open and watching the path he was walking.

"Even with my bright idea…" Naruto muttered before looking at a rabbit that jumped on his path. His stomach growled loudly, the small furry creature looked up trying to detect where the noise came from. It was startled when it found itself staring at the drooling form of a giant with blonde hair, blue eyes, a perfect face*, and two very sharp looking canines, slightly longer than the rest of its teeth, bared. "I'm still starving…" Naruto groaned as the rabbit shot off into the underbrush that it had dared to emerge from.

Naruto's small grin slowly faded as he began to think about what he was going to do to hold himself over for food. If anyone's up there listening! I could use some help! Naruto thought in his mind, not wanting to yell the request out loud. Naruto stopped walking and waited for a few moments, waiting for some type of miracle whether it is a box of food falling from the sky or a bowl of ramen appearing in front of him. He waited for a minute before his exasperated sigh escaped his lips and he continued walking.

XxXxX

"I...need…food!" Naruto moaned as he laid against a tree his hands on his roaring stomach, his head resting on his right shoulder as he stared at a small rabbit that jumped out of the underbrush that was on the underside of the brush. I've seen that rabbit so many times now… The starving blonde thought sadly as he imagined a nice lunch that consisted of rabbit, specifically a white rabbit; the same rabbit that was staring at him now. Naruto's blue eyes widened as the rabbit cocked its head at him; its red eyes caught the sunlight and seemed to glow.

"You hungry mister?" the rabbit asked suddenly and Naruto yelped as he quickly shot up and pressed himself against the tree. He stared at the rabbit in utter disbelief.

"Did you just talk?" he screamed as his hands dug into the rough bark, trying to find some sort of wooden weapon. "Rabbit's don't talk!" he screamed and the rabbit laughed, laughed at him!

"Silly, do you want some food?" the rabbit asked as it hopped forward and landed on the ground in front of Naruto. It was an extraordinary leap, that rabbit's mouth was open, a grin, and its eyes wide with delight. It small paws were stretched out and the sun made its fur sparkle. "Here, some carrots for you!" the rabbit said happily its eyes closed as a smile stretched across its furry face. "Eat-Ahhhhh!"

"So good!" Naruto moaned as he bit into the screaming rabbit, completely ignoring the large pile of carrots that appeared next to the small animal. "Thanks for the offer bunny!" Naruto said with delight as he ripped his head away, a sharp jerk that took a chunk of meat with it.

"Ahhhhh! It hurts! Ahhhhh!" The rabbit screamed uselessly as Naruto dug into it, moaning as he filled his stomach. "Stop! Ahhhhh!" The rabbit continued screaming as Naruto ate it.

"So good, but…how are you cooked already?" Naruto asked as he looked at the rabbit that was now dead. He waited for an answer before he went to take another bite of the small animal.

"What are you doing?" a sudden voice asked and reality suddenly smacked Naruto in the face.

The blonde looked up from what he was eating and found his eyes staring at a man sitting on a wagon, a horse was pulling it but it was a stand still right now. Naruto looked at the man before looking down at the rabbit he was eating and groaned. In his hand was a branch that looked like it had been torn apart with an axe and the marks looked like bite marks. Naruto spit out a mouthful of wood splinters, wiping of his tongue.

"N-nothing, just making sure that the tree… is healthy." Naruto said with a small grin. The man stared at him before sighing heavily and motioning for Naruto to get up.

"Come on, hop on. I'll let you stay with me and my family tonight." The man said and Naruto stared at him hesitantly for a second before he jumped to his feet. He got to the side of the cart and jumped up as the man moved over slightly to allow him some room to sit. "So what's your name? Unless you want me to call you… Ki-taberu?" The man proposed and Naruto shook his head.

"No! My name is uh, it's not Ki-taberu! My names Kazeshio!" Naruto said happily, his grin made it seem very unlikely that he was lying about his name, even though he was. He knew that if started giving his name out now, Konoha would, with no doubt, track him down again and take him back. Even though he was young he knew this much as it was, so he was forced to lie.

The man stared at him for a second before chuckling. "My names Kaiyu, nice to meet you Kazeshio, care if I just call you Kaze?" Kaiyu asked and Naruto shrugged.

"Suits me; I think my names to long as it is. Kaze works just fine pops!" Naruto said; his white teeth shone as he grinned at the man who had found him. Guess someone was listening! Naruto thought happily.

XxXxX

"So where are we heading?" Naruto asked impatiently as he stared at the sky, his eyes were feeling slightly heavy since he had been doing the same thing for the last four hours. Next to him was a half eaten loaf of bread, his fifth one now. Kaiyu had gladly supplied him with some of the man's own food after he heard Naruto's stomach growl like a rabid dog.

Kaiyu's eyes briefly flickered over towards Naruto, who was still staring at the sky and the sun which was just starting to decline from its peak. "We're heading to my village." The man said and Naruto shifted his gaze slowly from the sky to the man.

"Your village? Wait, what village?" Naruto asked curiously and the man chuckled as he whipped the horse's reins, the animal picking up the speed in response. Naruto waited for an answer and the man finally told him.

"We are going to…"

XxXxX

"This is so stupid…" a teen ninja said as he kicked a rock in front of him. "Removal from the Ninja corps for 3 months!" the teen hissed in anger as he slammed his foot down on the rock sending sharp shards flying forward where they embedded themselves within a larger boulder. Kōriyama Doyū had just been put on punishment for very petty reasons, reasons that only angered a few people. Doyū had been found reading a biography of his favorite ninja, his idol if you may. For that the leader of the village had been outraged and without hearing Doyū's reasoning he had kicked the boy out of the ninja corps for three months and after words he would be on probation for 6 months.

"Because I might be a danger! I was only reading a damn book about the Yondaime Hokage!" Doyū grumbled as he bent over and grabbed a good sized rock off the ground, about the size of his fist. He glared at the boulder that he just destroyed and started making hand seals; the rock he had picked up was held in his hand as he made the hand seals around it, the ability to do this took some practice and also required more focus but Doyū was able to learn how to do it after practicing for years.

Tiger, Hare, Dog, Dragon, Ram, Ram, Tiger, Dog, Hare, Dragon, Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Dog…

He was in a secluded rock outcropping so he could do what he wanted for the most part without any consequences.

Doyū landed on the last hand seal and brought his hand out, allowing his chakra to flow through the outstretched limb until it pooled in his palm, the palm that held the rock. He had been practicing his clans techniques for only a couple months due t the fact that he was a late bloomer and developed his bloodline much later than usual within the clan.

"Kōtsuton: Tsumetai Jidangan!"

Doyū came from a very rare and weird clan, but despite the rarity and the weirdness they were one of the most powerful clans in Iwagakure. Kōriyama, the clan of the Ice Mountain, had a bloodline that was definitely not heard of in a country such as Tsuchi no Kuni. His clan was able to use the Kōtsuton style, Frozen Earth style. He had read up on his clan and found that they came from a mixture of a clan of ice users in Kirigakure and a clan of earth users in Iwa. Somehow the Bloodlines merged slowly and gave birth to the Kōriyama clan.

The rock that was in his palm shuddered briefly before it slowly turned white as frost covered it and then suddenly it blew apart, sending a hail of white rocks flying at the boulder. Doyū watched carefully as the small bullets smashed into the boulder and the effects were devastating. The bullets hit the rock and instantly froze the spots they touched which then led to the projectiles, which were traveling at high speeds, to destroy the frozen chunk of rock which left a decent sized crater. The technique was the only Kōtsuton technique he knew since he was still getting the basics down, or so his mother told him.

In the Kōriyama clan those who had inherited the ability to use the frozen earth style usually awakened their bloodline around the age of 12 to 14; Doyū had just awoken his and he was a few months past his 16th birthday. His mother had been shamed that her son wouldn't be able to continue fighting like his entire family had, she even acted like he didn't exist sometimes but after his bloodline had finally awoken she had become the perfect mother. She had begun to train her son, teaching him the only technique he knew and when she saw the results she had given up on him. She said he needed more practice before he could safely use anymore techniques and since then she hadn't really approached him about training.

Doyū scoffed as he surveyed the damage his technique had caused; yeah, he needed practice all right. He had just taken the clans C-ranked technique, one of the ones that everyone usually learned first and turned it into a deadly B-rank technique, maybe an A if he learned to control it like he wanted to. The original version of the technique only sent a large rock flying at the target and when it hit them it would freeze the area it hit while also slamming into them which only hurt them on the surface. Doyū, with the free time he had due to the lack of bloodline training, had taken the technique to new levels.

Now I just have to take it to the next step… the teen thought as he stuck his hands in his pockets; they were cold. That was one of the side effects that he suffered from when he used his bloodline; where ever he focused the chakra he would chill that part of his body. Of course there were ways around that problem but he had never been taught how nor had he had the training to adjust his body to his bloodline. Doyū ignored his cold hands as he was used to them and started to survey the damaged boulder.The boy's goal was to transfer the technique from small bullets to large rocks that could easily punch straight through another larger boulder; could shatter other objects. In order to do that he had to learn how to transfer his chakra into larger boulders and all sorts of other things, he found it to be very confusing.

"I'm good for the day…" he said as he turned away from the damaged boulder and began to walk back to his clan compound. He had no other jutsu to practice since he only knew a few. He only knew a grand total of 6 jutsu, not because he had poor control, nor because he wasn't trained by his sensei. He only knew a few jutsu because Doyū was a strong believer in focusing ones attention completely on the technique being learned and he wouldn't start to learn another one until he mastered the technique he was learning and if he could, improve the technique.

His last jutsu that he was working on was Tsumetai Jidangan but he was starting to fear that improving it anymore was a lost cause, he had done all he could to master it. He didn't want to make another mistake and spend a long time on a jutsu he couldn't expand on anymore; he had done that with the jutsu he had learned before Tsumetai Jidangan, it was the Doton: Iwa Bakuhatsu technique. It involved focusing ones chakra into one fist while, with the other hand or another appendage that chakra could be focused through, was held against a rock connecting the chakra and slowly deteriorating the inner rock which would allow the user to then strike the rock making it explode outwards, sending thousands of shards flying at their opponent.

Doyū had spent five months perfecting the technique until he hit a stump that he thought he could overcome. He had made it so that he could use the technique faster, quieter, and also have the ability to control the size of the rock shards. After that he had decided that he wanted to be able to use the technique without even touching the boulder, but after several failures and wasted time he had finally found out that when he tried to focus his chakra through his feet, like he had been, he only targeted the ground around him and didn't get much chakra into the rock which then led to him hitting the rock and only shattering a small portion of it; and he usually bruised his fist and he even broke a couple knuckles once.

"Why do I have to be such a perfectionist?" he idly asked as he walked back towards town, his hands warming up inside his pockets. Little did he know that a certain shadow was following him, watching him as the Tsuchikage had ordered!

XxXxX

"Whoa, this is where you live?" Naruto asked in awe as he and Kaiyu entered Iwagakure's large gate, the large gate that showed Naruto that he had done it. He had officially left Hi no Kuni and he was now in a new part of the Elemental countries, a foreign part he had never been to before. The man chuckled slightly as he pulled on the horse's reins as they entered the village, making the horse slow to a steady trot.

"Yeah, she's a beauty isn't she?" he said as he looked upon his village with pride. The man grinned and looked at Naruto happily. "You can come and stay with me and my family for a couple weeks if you want to." He said and clamped a hand on Naruto's shoulder and squeezed it affectionately, offering the boy some support and encouragement. "Until you figure out what you're going to do." He said and Naruto nodded; a small grin on his own face.

The blonde had told him about his wild flight from Konoha, how he had left the village and was going to wander around until he found a new place to call home. The man had taken the news a lot better than most would; the idea of a 10 year old boy wandering wasn't one that really gave most adults comfort. It was probably due to the fact that Naruto already grew up with mobs chasing him and beating him; hiding in the streets and stealing to survive, that made the man accept his long term quest.

"Where do you live?" Naruto asked curiously looking around, seeing small houses that were carved into large boulders or large rock walls. He had never seen or heard of anything like this. Though there were some rock houses there were also wooden houses that were built to, probably more comfortable then solid stone houses. He glanced over at the man just in time to see him point off into the distance.

"Over on the other side of the village, we live with some of the other merchant clans; in an area slightly secluded from the other civilians. We like our privacy." Kaiyu said with a hearty laugh and Naruto laughed hesitantly, not knowing what was so funny. I like this! The blond thought as he and the man laughed, attracting the attention of a few civilians and ninja alike. "I can almost smell my wife's cooking…" Kaiyu moaned as his mouth began to water. "A special slab of meat, rolled around in honey, a special herb, BBQ sauce, and a thin layer of oil… My favorite." Kaiyu said as he wiped the drool away on his face.

"That sounds so good…" Naruto whispered as his stomach growled in agreement. The blonde smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry I- Whoa look out!" the small blonde shouted as he let his gaze flicker towards the road briefly. Walking in front of them was a brown haired teen that looked pretty angry and focused on other things, other things that weren't the road.

"Oy!" Kaiyu shouted as he pulled hard on the horse's reins in order to stop. "Watch it!" he ordered and the teen looked up, a look of surprise crossing his face as he jumped to the side, avoiding the horse narrowly.

"Sorry!" the teen apologized with a look of disdain, not aimed towards Naruto and Kaiyu but rather aimed at himself. He was a ninja and he should have been aware of his surroundings. "Wasn't paying attention, have a lot of things on my mind." He said holding out his hand towards Kaiyu in a friendly gesture.

The man shrugged and took the boys hand and shook it firmly, and then he released it and tightened his grip on the reins. "It's okay; just make sure you don't die a painful death. Doubt you want to go down in history as the ninja who was killed in his own village by a villager and a horse!" Kaiyu jokingly said and laughed deeply, the boy laughing also at the joke. Naruto just settled for glancing off somewhere else as Kaiyu and the boy began to converse slightly.

"Ah, so you're a Kōriyama?" Kaiyu asked after Doyū told him his name. "Interesting, you don't exactly look like one." Kaiyu muttered to the boy who grunted in annoyance at his appearance.

"Yeah, I know. I should have light blue hair but for some reason… I got cursed with brown hair." The boy muttered and with a sigh he raised his hand in a farewell. "Anyways, I have to get going to the Kōriyama's right now." Doyū said with a voice full of boredom and also what seemed like a small trace of apprehension.

"Well it was nice meeting you Doyū!" Kaiyu said and shook the boys hand again.

"You too." Doyū said as he pulled his hand away, and that was when his gaze flickered over to the blonde sitting in the wagon. No way. The boy thought and began to walk away just as Naruto turned towards him, the boys blue eyes shining. No fucking way.

XxXxX

"There is no way in hell… that kid looked exactly like the Yondaime did…" Doyū whispered furiously to himself. He was walking quickly towards his house, he needed to read the Yondaime's biography again, and he had to find out if the man had any children. "I know all there is to know but…I never heard of him having a kid." Doyū said trying to convince himself that the boy had just inherited the Yondaime's face by luck. Doyū picked up the speed as he ran to his compound.

XxXxX

"Tsuchikage-sama! Our guards have reported a very interesting traveler entering the gates." A man said as he stared at the old man before him. The man was glaring at the wall furiously as he clenched and un-clenched his hands.

"Yes, the boy that is traveling with the merchant. I saw him enter… looks just like the Yondaime doesn't he?" the old man muttered angrily as he slammed his fist down on the table suddenly, startling the man in his office. "Go to the vault and get me the scroll that has Yondaime's blood sealed within it. I want that boy in my office in the next day, it is with the utmost concern that we find out just why he looks like our greatest enemy." The Kage said as he sat back in his chair.

"Hai Tsuchikage-sama!" the man said and quickly ran from the room to fulfill his orders.

Yes, we will have our revenge still. The old man said as he opened his drawer and pulled out a book that he had taken from a boy earlier, Doyū. It was the biography of the Yondaime Hokage. He opened the book up and slammed it on the desk, his hand covering the right page and as he pulled it away he revealed a picture of the Yondaime standing in front of Konoha's gates; his arms were crossed and the wind blew his cloak lightly and ruffled his hair.

"Yes, we will get revenge with that boy. Yondaime, for your sake you better hope he isn't your son." The Kage chuckled; his fingers tapping against his desk lightly as he stared at the picture of his enemy. "We shall have our revenge at last." The Tsuchikage whispered and grabbed the book in his enormous palm and proceeded to smash it together with his other hands, destroying the book.

"HAHAHA!"

XxXxX

"Itachi, I know this is a lot that I am asking from you… do you believe you can handle this?" The Hokage asked the raven haired teen in front of him, Uchiha Itachi. The teen was kneeling in front of the old man, his head bowed and his hair cascading down so that it covered his face, hiding his pale features from sight.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. I must do as I must." Itachi said vacantly and stood to his feet, his hair falling back so that it revealed his face, his Sharingan blazing. The Hokage nodded sadly, his old hands closing together as he sighed.

"Itachi, you know who is a part of this Coup; only take out the leaders…" The Hokage said and Itachi nodded hesitantly, the only emotion that the boy had truly shown that night.

"Are you sure Hokage-sama? If the Uchiha clan lives then… there can be other insolent members, those who wish to bring destruction upon the village for their own greed." Itachi said this, showing more care for his village then his clan, a true ninja.

"Then I am expecting you to make sure that such a thing doesn't happen, if you will become the clan head that is?" The Hokage asked Itachi the question hidden within the old man's statement, catching the teen off guard. Itachi's resolve faltered for a split second before he recomposed himself.

"Hai Hokage-sama, I will become the Clan head…" Itachi said with a bow. "The Uchiha clan will experience a change they have never felt since Uchiha Madara abandoned them."

XxXxX

That night Uchiha Fugaku was killed by his sons own hand, along with 15 other men who planned to take down the Sandaime Hokage and rule Konoha. That night Uchiha Itachi became the clan head of the Uchiha, confirming his position when he was forced to hold his father's head above the Uchiha ninja who tried to defend their leader, when he was forced to tell them of the crimes that the 16 men had committed in secret.

XxXxX

I hoped you enjoyed the chapter despite the fact that it's slow moving right now. Doyū is my last introduced O.C for now and I don't really plan on making anymore. I changed the events of the 'Uchiha Massacre' so that Itachi was ordered to only kill the leaders of the Coup, there for extinguishing any flames of rebellion, for now. Itachi is the clan head, and in my story all events have ripple effects; which means that this event changes a bunch of events. I can't remember that much more right now, sorry that the chapter is short; I hope that next chapter will be slightly longer.

Next Chapter will feature Gaara (I will comply with one reader's requests and stop referring to her as Gāra) and Rei. I am still trying to decide on whether or not to include Naruto in the next chapter, if you think I should just let me know.

*In this story Naruto doesn't have whisker marks. I find that they can get old after awhile and I want him to be different, hence the absence of the marks. Now, before I get flames about his whiskers I want to just remind people of one thing. Naruto doesn't really have the whiskers because of Kyūbi, it was never clarified. If you go back and read the chapter in which Naruto was born you'll see that he was born with whisker marks and that means that he had them before the Kyūbi was sealed inside him. Kishimoto never stated that the whisker marks were a side effect of Kushina holding the Kyūbi which means I can go off of my assumption that the whisker marks are just an odd birthmark, one that Naruto doesn't have in this story.