Story: Indemnity

Author: theanti

Last Edit Date: 6/9/05

Chapter 1 : On the road again
Can one man really go against fate so hard? Is it possible to overcome fate? Can a nobody become a somebody? In dreams these things seem so superficial as we make our own universes. However in the real world is it that easy? Can a dropout become Hokage? If one man can it is certainly him. The Godaime Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village of Konoha thought this everyday about Naruto. Uzimaki Naruto has great things expected of him. Fulfilling them is another thing.

It was a morning like any other. Rushing out the door and almost being late for a mission. That would be the case until reality sunk in for Naruto. It was after that incident. Naruto had lost a lot of faith in himself. His best friend had betrayed him and his village. Uchiha Sasuke, the last of the Uchihas, a lousy piece of scum.

'Don't worry about it kid, the Uchiha was a loser anyway. Saving him wasn't important. Let him go to the snake for now he will gain no real power from the snake. All that will come of it will be him losing his body if he stays around there for too long. Avengers never gain power until they learn to protect what they have rather then grieving over what they do not.'

'Shut up you stupid fox get out of my head. I don't want to listen to you right now. If you keep this up I may do something I will regret. Whatever you do don't even try and push it fox.' Naruto yelled at the Kyuubi.

'Insolent boy if you won't talk to me with respect I won't be so kind as to give my power to you anymore. You know my proper name. I am the Kyuubi Kitsune the strongest of the tailed youmas. If you value your existence then use my name!'

'No thanks. I will let you keep you powers. All they do is get me in trouble. I will not be forced to accept you as you are less then me at this time. Just a figment of my imagination is all you are. From now on why don't you keep your powers to yourself.'

'As you wish. Henceforth you shall be reverted to a normal human form without my presence you may feel a bit weaker till your chakra pathways get used to your own chakra.'

With that the Kyuubi withdrew from Naruto taking its power with it. Naruto suddenly felt weaker then ever. It was almost as if part of him was gone and in essence that is how it was. Even though Naruto had always had his own high amount of stamina, the Kyuubi just added to it. Without that extra Naruto was still had quite high stamina, but the extra amount just was not there. Naruto suddenly wondered if it was worth trying to be Hokage anymore. Whether or not it was worth putting up with all the looks, insults and pain.

'Just once,' he though, 'let them see me as the boy not that fox I guess it will be easier now at least.'

As soon as the fox withdrew itself from Naruto, the whisker marks started going away leaving no outwardly visible proof it was within Naruto.

'It is time for a change, from now on Uzumaki Naruto trains for himself. It is time to work on getting that Uzumaki recognition. I will be the best Hokage in Konoha history.'

After that Naruto ran all the way to the Hokage's office running right past the guards posted at the entrance.

"Oi, sorry Hokage-sama we did not see him coming and were unable to stop him. Do you wish for us to escort him out?" asked one of the guards.

"No, that is all right. I've been expecting him for some time now. Leave us alone and if anyone else comes tell them I am busy. Leave us now if you will." The Hokage then turned and faced the brat who had just raced in.

"Tsunade-baba, I need to train. I want permission to leave the village to train on my own means. I don't know when I will be back, but rest assured I will be back to gain my rank as Hokage. If you don't give me permission I will leave anyway. The only reason I came to see you is for an official release from duties. I don't want to become a missing nin now do I." Naruto smirked then continued. "If there is nothing else I'll tell you that I'd like to leave as soon as possible."

"Hmm, ok." Tsunade said handing him a pass. "Here is your pass. You can leave, but I will be keeping an eye on you. Take these with you too. They will help you learn some skills. Also included in there is a scroll on taijutsu information it will teach you the basic stances in the taijutsu as well as tell you how to move from them. I suggest you increase your speed about tenfold to effectively use that style though. I must admit getting that style's scroll was a bit of a pain. It was the same style the fouth used." She said as she gave him some scrolls. It wasn't hard to notice that his whisker marks were gone by the older woman. She couldn't help but noticed how much he looked like him. A few more years and he would probably look like a clone of him. 'Hmm, wonder how that happened there,' she thought as he was walking off.

All night Naruto could hardly sleep from the anticipation. 'Training to become stronger, it will be at my pace not the one of that old pervert or lazy Kakashi-sensei. I don't need them now. Kyuubi will help me if only to protect him self. I do not fear him and I know where to go if I need to learn more about him. It's time for me to get stronger.'

As morning finally came upon Naruto he had managed to get in a few hours of sleep and at the first light of dawn he jumped from his bed so he could get on his way. He didn't feel like packing the same old clothes. They didn't seem to fit him anymore. He didn't want to be the loud person he once was. He had changed since everything had happened. He had become stronger and more determined.

'I'll just have to get some new clothes when I get to the next town,' he thought. 'No use staying here any longer. This place just brings back too many bad memories. Memories I don't want to have to see anymore in my nightmares. The future is imminent and its time to train.'

As he ran out the door he remembered to pick up the notes he had written out before hand. As he passed Kakashi's house he dropped one there, another at Iruka's house and finally one at Sakura's house. Those people, his precious people, needed to hear where he was from him, not from the mouth of the Hokage. He felt almost sad about leaving the notes. He probably should have seen them and told them himself, but that just wasn't an option now. As he approached the gate a guard called out to him.

"Hey, you there, where do you think you are going?" the guard asked.

"Just to train," he replied with a grin and showed the guard his pass which was approved by the Hokage for an unlimited about of time.

"Ok," replied the guard. "Have fun or whatever." The guard couldn't be more pleased as how the Kyuubi brat was leaving the village. 'Hope he doesn't come back too soon,' he thought as the kid ran off into the distance.

Once he was finally outside the gate and running through the forest he let out a loud yell.

"Yippee! Its time the world recognized Uzimaki Naruto," and with that he sped off. He couldn't help but wonder what he had gotten himself into. No matter though, he knew this was his calling. No one could stop him now from attaining his goals.

After countless hours he finally reached a small town in the country of fire. It was about dinner time and he guessed it was as good a place as any to stay up for the night. After two bowls of ramen, he had to stop. After all he couldn't afford his ramen addiction anymore since he was paying for it all. He decided to set up his camp at the edge of the forest near the village.

He pulled out a book and started reading on basic ninja tactics and chakra control. After a few hours it had gotten dark and he had tired from the constant amount of knowledge being absorbed into a brain so he decided to go to sleep. He summoned a small frog just larger the Gakimichi to watch over him while he slept. Just to make sure there would be no disturbances.

As the morning finally approached, the frog jumped on Naruto a few times to wake him up and then it disappeared. Naruto decided he was not ready to eat yet today. For a strange reason his excitement took over his need for food at that moment. He packed up his stuff and ran to the village to look for a clothing shop.

He quickly found one that was open and went in. He talked to the store owner for a few minutes taking notice on how the people in this village were so much unlike his own. They did not see the boy as the fox, but rather they respected him as the ninja he was. He almost inwardly cringed at noticing how stuck up his village was. He had known they were wrong, but he never knew any other way. Now that he had seen it he didn't know how he had put up with it for all those years.

After about an hour of shopping with help from the shop keeper Naruto exited the shop in one of his new outfits. They were perfectly fitting for him he thought. One consisted of a dark red sleeveless shirt and black training pants with two pockets on each leg. His shirt was covered in a chain mesh top and a utility belt holding his weapons was fastened around his waste hanging from a belt. He wore dark black boots on his feet and fingerless gloves on his hands. Instead of wearing his head band around his head like normal he now had it wrapped around his right arm. He would get a mask soon of the ANBU fashion to make him stand out even more people would still recognize him too much with his face ever so slightly altered. He resigned that it could wait a while before he got to that stage.

When he looked in a mirror he noticed now that his blonde hair didn't suit him anymore with his new atire. He knew just what to do to fix this. He sat down and started to work his way through his brain following the old passage way which was far too familiar. When he reached the Kyuubi's container he yelled at the fox.

'Hey you, damn fox. I don't want your power but do you think you could change my hair. I know you still want your container to be recognized so can you give me hair the color that yours was, that flaming red color? I don't want you to be to prissy about being not recognized after all.' he said to the fox.

'So you dare talk to me you insolent fool. It is sad that you know me so well in the regard that I want you recognized as my container should be. By the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, King of the Youma, I hereby grant you your request. You are lucky this seal restricts me from unleashing my wrath on you physically but I guess I will just have to settle for your dream torture. From now on you shall have the same color hair as me, but you best be warned that I am watching you. A brat like you would best take me seriously if you wish to survive.'

'I never said I didn't take you seriously. I am just not in the mood to put up with your overinflated ego right now. Since you've done what I have asked I may ask for your power again some day, but today is not that day.'

It was after only a few days traveling that Naruto once again found himself in the Wave Country after crossing the Naruto Big Bridge. It seemed as though a lot had changed in the Wave Country. Their economy seemed to be flourishing and they were once again a happy peaceful town. Tazuna had been appointed the leader of the country as which Naruto noticed on a sign as he was going over the bridge. When he reached the end of the bridge he saw another sign.

This bridge, the Naruto Big Bridge, was named after a visiting shinobi who put his life at risk and taught this country the meaning of hope.

'It seems this is another place where people don't see me as the fox. I am beginning to like traveling around,' he thought.

"Hey, you there, who are you and what are you doing staring at that sign for so long." A guard yelled at Naruto, "We don't like people loitering around here."

"Ahh, it's OK," said Naruto, "by the way does Tazuna still live in the same place. I haven't been here in a while to see him and Inari."

"Well if you know them, then you wouldn't mind telling me your name. You must understand we are just trying to protect our leader." The guard explained to the young shinobi.

"Hai," said Naruto. "If you want to know my name all you have to do is look at that sign," he said with a grin.

"Oh, I'm sorry Naruto-san. I didn't know who you were. Please follow me I will take you to Tazuna." The guard said somewhat embarrassed.

The guard lead Naruto through the streets to a big house in the center of town next to what looked like a government building. As they went to the door the guard knocked and then stood next to Naruto while they waited. After about a minute a boy came to the door to see who it was.

Author's Note:
More to come soon. Just finally got this chapter to the point I wanted it at. Expect next within the week hopefully.

'Text' – Kyuubi talking to Naruto
'Text' – Thoughts
"Text" – Speech

Naruto 'talks' to Kyuubi throught his 'thoughts'.