(no subject)
Author’s Notes: Alright, to those hoping for an exciting chapter, this isn’t it. I’ll get to that in the next chapter, maybe. This chapter is mostly for information relating to the back story of the story. Of course, there’s no way I can cover everything without giving it all away, but no worries. I’ve got stuff in mind.
Forgive me if this seems choppy or what not. I’m still not all there in the head at the moment. I also haven’t watched Naruto or Inuyasha in a while, but I read the fanfiction constantly. Any notes and ideas from my readers would be greatly appreciated.
To PrincessVictoriaAnnMacbeth, ayka, and anthropomorphizer, thank you for reviewing. I hope I don’t disappoint you.
To everyone else, I live off of reviews. 134 hits, yet only 3 reviews. *shrug*
oOoOo
Truth
“‘And so, with a final burst of power, the Yondaime Hokage defeated the Kyubi, giving his life and protecting the village from the demon’s wrath.’ And that, children, is the story of the defeat of the Kyubi no Yoko. Now then, I want a paragraph each on your thoughts of this story. It is not just a fairy tale, but an actual part of our village’s deep history. The best way to remember history is to put your thoughts of it on paper. Again, one paragraph due tomorrow morning. Got it,” the teacher asked sternly.
“Hai, Iruka-sensei,” was the over all response.
“Excellent,” the teacher smiled. “You’re free to go.”
With a yell the children in the classroom began their usual ritual at the end of the day. The girls crowded around a dark hair child while the boys rolled their eyes.
“Hey, Sasuke,” a feral looking boy hollered. “Stop being emo, and they’ll leave you alone, ya know,” he finished with a toothy smirk. The white puppy on his head snickered strangely at its master’s joke.
Sasuke turned in his seat to glare at his verbal attacker. “Hn. Kiba.” Just those uttered words made the girls swoon.
“Sasuke-kun is so cool!” “No way a dog boy like Kiba could make Sasuke-kun loose his cool.”
Sighing, an onlooker reclined in his seat, his feet resting on his desk. “Troublesome. Do you want their wrath on you,” he asked Kiba who sat beside him.
“Hey! I was trying to get a reaction from Mr. Icy over there, that’s all Shikamaru!”
Shikamaru sighed again before standing to leave. “Troublesome. Come on, Choji. I’m hungry.”
“Alright,” his portly friend exclaimed. “Barbeque it is!”
“Hey, wait up! I’ll join you,” Kiba said as he too got up to follow his friends. He grabbed another by the elbow as he walked down, causing is friend to buzz in surprise. “Come on, Shino! You’re coming too,” he declared.
Pushing his dark glasses further up his nose, the boy commented, “Very well,” before taking his arm back to walk on his own.
With the other boys gone, Sasuke decided it was time to leave as well. Standing, he slowly started making his way through the crowd of girls around him.
“Wait! Sasuke-kun! Owe! Move it, Ino,” a girl with pink hair growled to a blond.
“Hi, Sasuke-kun,” Ino said sweetly before addressing the pinket. “What are you still doing here, Sakura?”
Mentally sighing, Sasuke continued to walk out of the room with the girls following shortly after.
In the back of the classroom sat the last student with his head in his arms. His shoulders shook and a small chuckle turned into a fit of laughter. Once again, everyone had ignored him in favor of their own thing. ‘Well,’ he thought sadly, ‘that’s the point, isn’t it? To make it so that no one notices me?’ Out loud he voiced, “Man on man. A whole paragraph on what I think of the Kyubi’s defeat? Now this is gunna be tricky,” he finished with a smirk. Turning his smirk into a wide smile, the boy got up from his seat and headed towards the door. Pausing at the entrance, he looked around the room before turning out the lights and shutting the door. He was always the last one.
Walking down the road through the market area of the village, the boy ignored the various glares and comments thrown at and about him from the villagers. “There he is again. When will someone just kill him and be done with it?” “The genin exam is coming up. Who in their right mind would pass someone like him?” The boy’s smile grew wider at each comment heard.
Such is the life of a jinchuriki.
‘What do I think of the Kyubi’s defeat?’ he thought quietly to himself as he walked towards his apartment. ‘I think that it’s a load of bull. There’s no way a human, despite how powerful he was, could take down one of the most powerful demons in history. No, the Yondaime, may he rest in peace, was forced to seal him away within a baby, giving his life to the shinigami in return for sealing the demon. Poor guy, forced to fight the other souls in that apparitions stomach for the rest of eternity. Isn’t that right though, ‘Kyubi’?’
“Hey now,” a sudden voice exclaimed. “How many times must I tell you to not call me Kyubi?”
The boy snickered, causing some nearby villagers to not so subtly edge away from him as he walked by. ‘Sorry, Shippo. I just find it so funny!’
“Hmph. Of course you would.” The rest of the journey was made in silence.
The fact of the matter was that Naruto Uzumaki knew the truth behind the truth. What was being taught at the academy was not the truth. Of course, what was considered the truth was not the complete truth either. It was true that the Yondaime sealed a raging kitsune into a baby boy, but it was said that the reason for the attack was unknown. Naruto knew the reason. A shinobi from the village had stolen the Jewel of Four Souls, the Shikon no Tama. Shippo had not meant to cause such a calamity. The misunderstanding of the century.
Naruto had learned the truth at the age of three. He still remembered the stench of the rotten garbage mixed with his blood in the alley as the villagers abused his body. The sound of his ribs cracking, the wet sound of his breathing as his lungs filled with fluid, and the numbness of his mind as his body stopped functioning. None of that mattered, however, when Naruto woke up in a large puddle of water in what appeared to be a sewer. His mind still numb, he chose a random direction and began walking, his footsteps making small splashes as he went. After an undeterminable amount of time, he came upon a large wooden set of doors with the words ‘Forbidden Sealed Chamber’ written on a piece of paper. Disregarding the warning, Naruto pushed open the doors, ripping the paper in the process. Beyond the doors sat a set of blood red eyes. Mesmerized, Naruto stumbled towards the set of bars which the eyes lay behind. As he approached, the eyes began to shrink. The silhouette of a giant fox slowly morphed into the form of a tall man. Reaching out a hand, the man beckoned the boy towards him. Seeing the sadness emanating from the red eyes, Naruto blindly reached towards the offered hand. Stepping up the small platform through the bars seemed to take more energy than he had. Once he was within reach, however, the man grasped the child into his arms. Naruto knew no more.
Waking up in his own bed, Naruto had thought it a dream until a voice had started asking how he was feeling. The rest, as they say, was history. Shippo had since taken care of Naruto, teaching him the basic ways of providing for himself. From hunting to thieving, Shippo taught Naruto what he needed to know to survive. At night, his lectures differed; Shippo would tell the child stories of his past. These stories told of the trials and tribulations of the Shikon no Tama and the fate of demon kind.
Mirroring the story of the Kyubi, Shippo and his friends were not able to defeat Naraku. Instead, the priestess Kagome used every ounce of her miko powers to seal the hanyo away into the only thing she had on her: one of her arrows. Unfortunately, due to the heavy strain of such a sealing, Kagome lost her life in the end. She was not the only one, however, as the demon slayer, Sango, too had lost her life at the hands of her little brother, still under the control of the vile spider. The half dog demon, Inuyasha, had been stricken with grief along with his monk friend, Miroku. It had taken many years and everything the team had, including the help of the wolf demon, Koga, and Inuyasha’s older youkai brother, Sesshomaru, to get to a point where defeat of Naraku was even possible.
In that time, Shippo had grown into a young man in his late teens by the time Naraku was sealed. A family of sorts had also been established in that time. Inuyasha had become a second father to the kitsune with Kagome as and obvious mother. Everyone else was seen as either an uncle or aunt. In time, the others of Shippo’s tattered family began to feel the same. It had given the group a collective heart attack when the two dog brothers had merely bantered after a quarrel with another of Naraku’s clones.
However, all things come to an end. With all of the trouble and damage done by Naruku, the humans had started to fight back, creating the first band of human shinobi. Not wanting to commit senseless murder and not wanting to be wiped out, it was by unanimous agreement that all remaining demons would seal themselves away to be awoken when the world was ready for them again. Those that didn’t comply were wiped out by the shinobi.
As for the fate of the jewel, Shippo had made a deal with the shinigami when the Yondaime had summoned it. The shinigami’s job was to take a soul, the soul of the shinobi who had summoned it, and to do as said shinobi had commanded, but when the specter had seen just what it was to seal away, the guardian of the Shikon no Tama, it refused. Ready to take off with the Yondaime’s soul, the shinigami was stopped by the kitsune. The shock of what was happening finally awakening Shippo from his daze like slumber, he wouldn’t allow another innocent life to be sacrificed in vain. Shippo instead asked for the shinobi’s wish to be granted and for the jewel to be guarded by the shinigami. Honored, the dark specter granted the kitsune’s wish, leading to Naruto’s current situation.
The fate of the jewel’s thief, however, remains unknown. All that Shippo could remember of the assailant was the undisputed stench of snake.
Naruto had reveled in the stories and lessons the kitsune had to teach, incorporating elements of each into his daily life. As such, he downsized himself, knowing that if he were to show too much, he would be cast out of the village if not slain. Yet he honed his skills in his pranks as suitable payback for some of the worst villagers. Booby traps, hiding, stealing, and running was all but a very important game to him with each aspect criticized and nurtured by the kitsune. As of now, Naruto unknowingly held the title of ‘Nigh Uncatchable’ among the Anbu.
Whistling a tune, Naruto opened the door to his apartment. If one were to see him as the idiot he portrayed, they would be surprised at the state of the place. It looked as though a maid had been by at least once a day. Not a speck of dust could be seen. Plants of different types and sizes lined a few of the walls and counters, each hiding scrolls and a few books on shelves in their vines. Walking into the kitchen, Naruto pulled a clean glass from a cabinet and opened the refrigerator door to retrieve the milk carton. Downing his glass of milk, Naruto shuffled to his room. On his desk lay a blank scroll, ready for his assignment. Sighing, Naruto sat in his chair, debating on what to say for his essay.
Forgive me if this seems choppy or what not. I’m still not all there in the head at the moment. I also haven’t watched Naruto or Inuyasha in a while, but I read the fanfiction constantly. Any notes and ideas from my readers would be greatly appreciated.
To PrincessVictoriaAnnMacbeth, ayka, and anthropomorphizer, thank you for reviewing. I hope I don’t disappoint you.
To everyone else, I live off of reviews. 134 hits, yet only 3 reviews. *shrug*
oOoOo
Truth
“‘And so, with a final burst of power, the Yondaime Hokage defeated the Kyubi, giving his life and protecting the village from the demon’s wrath.’ And that, children, is the story of the defeat of the Kyubi no Yoko. Now then, I want a paragraph each on your thoughts of this story. It is not just a fairy tale, but an actual part of our village’s deep history. The best way to remember history is to put your thoughts of it on paper. Again, one paragraph due tomorrow morning. Got it,” the teacher asked sternly.
“Hai, Iruka-sensei,” was the over all response.
“Excellent,” the teacher smiled. “You’re free to go.”
With a yell the children in the classroom began their usual ritual at the end of the day. The girls crowded around a dark hair child while the boys rolled their eyes.
“Hey, Sasuke,” a feral looking boy hollered. “Stop being emo, and they’ll leave you alone, ya know,” he finished with a toothy smirk. The white puppy on his head snickered strangely at its master’s joke.
Sasuke turned in his seat to glare at his verbal attacker. “Hn. Kiba.” Just those uttered words made the girls swoon.
“Sasuke-kun is so cool!” “No way a dog boy like Kiba could make Sasuke-kun loose his cool.”
Sighing, an onlooker reclined in his seat, his feet resting on his desk. “Troublesome. Do you want their wrath on you,” he asked Kiba who sat beside him.
“Hey! I was trying to get a reaction from Mr. Icy over there, that’s all Shikamaru!”
Shikamaru sighed again before standing to leave. “Troublesome. Come on, Choji. I’m hungry.”
“Alright,” his portly friend exclaimed. “Barbeque it is!”
“Hey, wait up! I’ll join you,” Kiba said as he too got up to follow his friends. He grabbed another by the elbow as he walked down, causing is friend to buzz in surprise. “Come on, Shino! You’re coming too,” he declared.
Pushing his dark glasses further up his nose, the boy commented, “Very well,” before taking his arm back to walk on his own.
With the other boys gone, Sasuke decided it was time to leave as well. Standing, he slowly started making his way through the crowd of girls around him.
“Wait! Sasuke-kun! Owe! Move it, Ino,” a girl with pink hair growled to a blond.
“Hi, Sasuke-kun,” Ino said sweetly before addressing the pinket. “What are you still doing here, Sakura?”
Mentally sighing, Sasuke continued to walk out of the room with the girls following shortly after.
In the back of the classroom sat the last student with his head in his arms. His shoulders shook and a small chuckle turned into a fit of laughter. Once again, everyone had ignored him in favor of their own thing. ‘Well,’ he thought sadly, ‘that’s the point, isn’t it? To make it so that no one notices me?’ Out loud he voiced, “Man on man. A whole paragraph on what I think of the Kyubi’s defeat? Now this is gunna be tricky,” he finished with a smirk. Turning his smirk into a wide smile, the boy got up from his seat and headed towards the door. Pausing at the entrance, he looked around the room before turning out the lights and shutting the door. He was always the last one.
Walking down the road through the market area of the village, the boy ignored the various glares and comments thrown at and about him from the villagers. “There he is again. When will someone just kill him and be done with it?” “The genin exam is coming up. Who in their right mind would pass someone like him?” The boy’s smile grew wider at each comment heard.
Such is the life of a jinchuriki.
‘What do I think of the Kyubi’s defeat?’ he thought quietly to himself as he walked towards his apartment. ‘I think that it’s a load of bull. There’s no way a human, despite how powerful he was, could take down one of the most powerful demons in history. No, the Yondaime, may he rest in peace, was forced to seal him away within a baby, giving his life to the shinigami in return for sealing the demon. Poor guy, forced to fight the other souls in that apparitions stomach for the rest of eternity. Isn’t that right though, ‘Kyubi’?’
“Hey now,” a sudden voice exclaimed. “How many times must I tell you to not call me Kyubi?”
The boy snickered, causing some nearby villagers to not so subtly edge away from him as he walked by. ‘Sorry, Shippo. I just find it so funny!’
“Hmph. Of course you would.” The rest of the journey was made in silence.
The fact of the matter was that Naruto Uzumaki knew the truth behind the truth. What was being taught at the academy was not the truth. Of course, what was considered the truth was not the complete truth either. It was true that the Yondaime sealed a raging kitsune into a baby boy, but it was said that the reason for the attack was unknown. Naruto knew the reason. A shinobi from the village had stolen the Jewel of Four Souls, the Shikon no Tama. Shippo had not meant to cause such a calamity. The misunderstanding of the century.
Naruto had learned the truth at the age of three. He still remembered the stench of the rotten garbage mixed with his blood in the alley as the villagers abused his body. The sound of his ribs cracking, the wet sound of his breathing as his lungs filled with fluid, and the numbness of his mind as his body stopped functioning. None of that mattered, however, when Naruto woke up in a large puddle of water in what appeared to be a sewer. His mind still numb, he chose a random direction and began walking, his footsteps making small splashes as he went. After an undeterminable amount of time, he came upon a large wooden set of doors with the words ‘Forbidden Sealed Chamber’ written on a piece of paper. Disregarding the warning, Naruto pushed open the doors, ripping the paper in the process. Beyond the doors sat a set of blood red eyes. Mesmerized, Naruto stumbled towards the set of bars which the eyes lay behind. As he approached, the eyes began to shrink. The silhouette of a giant fox slowly morphed into the form of a tall man. Reaching out a hand, the man beckoned the boy towards him. Seeing the sadness emanating from the red eyes, Naruto blindly reached towards the offered hand. Stepping up the small platform through the bars seemed to take more energy than he had. Once he was within reach, however, the man grasped the child into his arms. Naruto knew no more.
Waking up in his own bed, Naruto had thought it a dream until a voice had started asking how he was feeling. The rest, as they say, was history. Shippo had since taken care of Naruto, teaching him the basic ways of providing for himself. From hunting to thieving, Shippo taught Naruto what he needed to know to survive. At night, his lectures differed; Shippo would tell the child stories of his past. These stories told of the trials and tribulations of the Shikon no Tama and the fate of demon kind.
Mirroring the story of the Kyubi, Shippo and his friends were not able to defeat Naraku. Instead, the priestess Kagome used every ounce of her miko powers to seal the hanyo away into the only thing she had on her: one of her arrows. Unfortunately, due to the heavy strain of such a sealing, Kagome lost her life in the end. She was not the only one, however, as the demon slayer, Sango, too had lost her life at the hands of her little brother, still under the control of the vile spider. The half dog demon, Inuyasha, had been stricken with grief along with his monk friend, Miroku. It had taken many years and everything the team had, including the help of the wolf demon, Koga, and Inuyasha’s older youkai brother, Sesshomaru, to get to a point where defeat of Naraku was even possible.
In that time, Shippo had grown into a young man in his late teens by the time Naraku was sealed. A family of sorts had also been established in that time. Inuyasha had become a second father to the kitsune with Kagome as and obvious mother. Everyone else was seen as either an uncle or aunt. In time, the others of Shippo’s tattered family began to feel the same. It had given the group a collective heart attack when the two dog brothers had merely bantered after a quarrel with another of Naraku’s clones.
However, all things come to an end. With all of the trouble and damage done by Naruku, the humans had started to fight back, creating the first band of human shinobi. Not wanting to commit senseless murder and not wanting to be wiped out, it was by unanimous agreement that all remaining demons would seal themselves away to be awoken when the world was ready for them again. Those that didn’t comply were wiped out by the shinobi.
As for the fate of the jewel, Shippo had made a deal with the shinigami when the Yondaime had summoned it. The shinigami’s job was to take a soul, the soul of the shinobi who had summoned it, and to do as said shinobi had commanded, but when the specter had seen just what it was to seal away, the guardian of the Shikon no Tama, it refused. Ready to take off with the Yondaime’s soul, the shinigami was stopped by the kitsune. The shock of what was happening finally awakening Shippo from his daze like slumber, he wouldn’t allow another innocent life to be sacrificed in vain. Shippo instead asked for the shinobi’s wish to be granted and for the jewel to be guarded by the shinigami. Honored, the dark specter granted the kitsune’s wish, leading to Naruto’s current situation.
The fate of the jewel’s thief, however, remains unknown. All that Shippo could remember of the assailant was the undisputed stench of snake.
Naruto had reveled in the stories and lessons the kitsune had to teach, incorporating elements of each into his daily life. As such, he downsized himself, knowing that if he were to show too much, he would be cast out of the village if not slain. Yet he honed his skills in his pranks as suitable payback for some of the worst villagers. Booby traps, hiding, stealing, and running was all but a very important game to him with each aspect criticized and nurtured by the kitsune. As of now, Naruto unknowingly held the title of ‘Nigh Uncatchable’ among the Anbu.
Whistling a tune, Naruto opened the door to his apartment. If one were to see him as the idiot he portrayed, they would be surprised at the state of the place. It looked as though a maid had been by at least once a day. Not a speck of dust could be seen. Plants of different types and sizes lined a few of the walls and counters, each hiding scrolls and a few books on shelves in their vines. Walking into the kitchen, Naruto pulled a clean glass from a cabinet and opened the refrigerator door to retrieve the milk carton. Downing his glass of milk, Naruto shuffled to his room. On his desk lay a blank scroll, ready for his assignment. Sighing, Naruto sat in his chair, debating on what to say for his essay.