Naruto: Acolyte of Jashin
Draknal: This was just a thought that came to mind a while ago. I figured I should post this before too many other stories like this come out, and then people point at me saying things like, "You copied off of (insert author here). You suck! You aren't original!" I don't want to have to deal with it. If there are spelling errors or incorrect translations, then I apologize.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, just the plot of this story.
Prologue
October 10th. Many find this day to be one of celebration; the day that the Yondaime Hokage defeated the fearsome Kyuubi no Kitsune all those years ago. Although he lost his life in the process, the blonde Hokage had stopped the rampage of the enraged bijuu.
For one boy though, this was a day he dreaded more than any other of the year. While most young boys his age would be ecstatic about their birthday and getting gifts, the presents he received instead were assassination attempts. Why? He had absolutely no idea why. The villagers just never seemed to like him.
Every time he walked through the village streets, he was met with harsh glares and whispers. Some people even went so far as to throw things at him. It usually never went beyond that though. The only exception was October 10th, where for some reason, random groups of villagers became brave enough, or drunk enough, to pursue the boy and attack him.
This occurred every year without fail, no matter where he tried to hide. If he was in his apartment, the mob would simply break his door down and proceed to beat him. If he was in the streets, they would grab whatever was available, corner him, and attempt to kill him. They wouldn't succeed though, as ANBU would show up and stop the assault. They always arrived a few minutes after the beating, acting as if they didn't know that he was going to be attacked in the first place.
Afterwards, he would end up in the hospital, being tended to, quite begrudgingly, by the doctors there. Then the Hokage would come and visit him, and of course he would apologize on behalf of the villagers, saying that they didn't deserve the sacrifice of the Yondaime. Following that, he would take the hyperactive blonde out for ramen, at the only stand or restaurant that would allow him there, Ichiraku's.
Finally, with the day over, he could rest once again knowing that he had an entire year between this and the next attempt on his life. However, he still had to get through today.
Uzumaki Naruto definitely did not like his birthday. To him it didn't symbolize that he was another year older, it symbolized one more year of survival. Sitting on his bed, the recently turned seven-year old looked at his clock. It read 6:21pm.
With a sigh the blonde laid on his back, staring up at his ceiling. 'Well, I only have to get through six more hours,' he thought sadly.
He had gotten through the earlier half of the day with ease. By simply staying in his apartment he would usually be okay. After all, the villagers had better things to do than trudge over to his run down apartment complex.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the morning or afternoon that he had to worry about, it was the evening. At night, the celebration would take place, and the villagers would drink to their heart's content. That alcohol had to go somewhere, and it usually went to their heads.
Because of said toxin, they would formulate the brilliant idea in their minds of attacking the "demon child." To them, he was simply a demon in sheep's clothing, waiting to unleash his unrivaled fury on them…
The young blonde hopped off of his bed and slipped on his sandals. Maybe if he went to the Hokage Tower and met with the old man he wouldn't be attacked. After all, no one was that stupid, to attack the person that the Hokage thought of as a grandson, while in his presence.
Making sure to lock his apartment up, the young jinchuuriki set off in the direction of the Hokage's office. If he was lucky, the villagers weren't too drunk yet.
'I wonder what jiji-san is doing…' he pondered, trying to keep his mind off of the topic of the villagers.
Slipping through the shadows, something he had become quite good at, he drew ever closer to the looming structure that was the Hokage Tower. He had learned in the short span of seven years that if you weren't seen, you weren't paid attention to. And if people didn't pay attention to you, they wouldn't attack you. That was what he was trying to accomplish.
"Hey, the demon is over here!"
However, what he hadn't counted on this year was a few Chuunin who had decided to join in the "demon" hunt.
And he had been so close too! Seeing the mob heading in his direction he took off as fast as his seven-year old legs would allow. Having lived through the beatings of previous years was enough of an incentive for him to not get caught.
The members of the mob had longer legs, and therefore, a longer gait than Naruto. He knew this, and because he knew that, he had learned different tricks to help him avoid getting caught. His first trick; use traps.
Rounding a corner and heading into an alleyway, he jumped over a wire that he had set up. The mob, not far behind him, ran into the alley. With the mixture of drunken stupor that some were in and the lack of sunlight, many of the villagers did not see the tripwire and tumbled to the ground. Some of the more sober mob members were able to avoid it, and the Chuunin simply scoffed at such a simple trap.
However, they soon noticed that the demon child was no longer in sight. But that wasn't possible! How could he have gotten out of the alley without them seeing him? Traversing the entire alleyway, they found no sign of the obnoxious child. Assuming he had simply given them the slip for the moment they decided to search elsewhere.
After they left, a small section of brick wall began snickering. Lowering his camouflage sheet, Naruto let out a sigh of relief. He looked over the brick wall patterned sheet, silently thanking Kami that some people were stupid enough to fall for such a simple trick.
That was tactic number two that the blonde had employed when it came to his survival. Play on other people's stupidity. Most people in Konoha were simply villagers, and as such they had no training in spotting illusions or things that were slightly out of place. It was a little odd though, that two Chuunin would not be able to see through that.
"Well, that was pretty clever you little monster," came an amused voice from behind the child.
He froze, too scared to look behind him. That was the voice of one of the nin. Apparently they had known he was there. Not bothering to turn around or ask questions, he did what came naturally, he bolted.
Naruto knew that the two ninja would be right behind him. Running out of the alley, he decided to use tactic number three, which was to use his size to get into small places where others wouldn't fit.
He accomplished this by crawling into a sewer pipe, much to his chagrin. A smirk came to his face, knowing the ninja could not follow him. A kunai whizzed by his face, wiping away his grin. The Chuunin may not have been able to follow, but the same couldn't be said for their projectiles, their pointy projectiles.
Eventually he made his way deeper into the sewer, where projectiles could no longer reach him. He scrunched his nose in disgust as the smell of sewage assaulted his senses. Putting that aside, he thought about his current course of action.
'I can't just stay down here all night. Someone might come down in after me,' he frowned.
There were several exits he could choose from. Unfortunately, he figured that the ninja were most likely waiting at the end of some of those exits, backed up by a mob no doubt. There was one exit though, which connected with the outside of the village that he could take. It was covered with a metal grate, but the thing was old, rusty, and in need of serious repair.
"There's no way they'd be waiting for me there!" he grinned, happy that he would finally have a year of peace on his birthday that didn't involve beatings.
After several minutes of crawling, he managed to find the metal grate. Kicking it repeatedly showed promising results, as the piece of metal creaked and groaned in protest. Finally, with a loud CLANG it gave way and fell to the ground. Looking both ways, the jinchuuriki found that the coast was clear.
"Ha! You didn't get me this year you big dummies!" he proclaimed, proud of his accomplishment.
"Who are you callin a dummy?" came a voice from above.
With a bit of disbelief and a great deal of fear, Naruto looked up. The boy was flabbergasted. Standing horizontally on the wall above him were the two Chuunin that had been pursuing him… and one other person.
For the first time in all the years he had been chased or beaten, the blonde felt true fear. The other arrival was a Jounin… as identified by his attire.
That fear added a great deal of adrenaline to his system, and using that as fuel, he dashed into the forested area. He wasn't running for the sake of not being beaten, he was running for the sake of staying alive.
Weaving through the trees, he hoped to confuse or at least put some obstacles in between him and the following ninja. Kunai and shuriken would zip past him, some managing to knick him, opening small cuts.
X-X-X-X-X
Several minutes later the young blonde stopped behind a large tree to catch his breath. Even with his unnaturally high stamina, he had to stop every now and then to rest. His pursuers took this time to corner him, dropping out of the tree branches above.
In a flash, the two Chuunin had apprehended the demon container. The Jounin stood back, grinning all the while.
"You gave us quite a chase you little demon, but even you can't run forever," he commented, drawing his katana.
"Let me go! I never did anything to you!" the boy shouted, trying with all of his might to escape the grips of the Chuunin. His efforts would prove futile.
"Never did anything to us?" the man inquired. "You killed thousands! You murdered my fellow ninja! For that you will die!"
Naruto had no idea what to make of that. Killed people? By the thousands? He was a seven-year old for Kami's sake!
"I'll be sure to kill you nice and slow. Just be a good demon and hold still," the veteran ninja grinned maliciously. Pulling back his katana, he looked as though he was going to charge and stab the boy.
He stayed like that for several moments, completely unmoving. The Chuunin found this a little odd, seeing as how big a deal the man had made about this just moments ago.
"Sir?" one of them asked.
The man suddenly slumped forward, a large scythe with three blades protruding from his back. Each of the persons present let out a gasp of shock, not sure what to make of this.
The Chuunin, worried for their own safety, released the demon brat and drew kunai. They turned their attention toward a new arrival who had just made his way into their line of sight.
He was a large man with slicked back, silver hair and a plain black cloak. Around his neck was a hitai-ate with a slash through it. That meant he was a missing nin…
Naruto watched the man with awe. He had just killed a Jounin, one of the best ninjas that a village had to offer. Part of him wanted to run up to the man and embrace him, while thanking him for the assistance, but another part told him to sit still and stay seated on the ground with his back to the tree he had been caught at. He chose to follow the latter of the two thoughts.
"Who the hell are you?" one of the Chuunin asked, readying his kunai, just in case.
The man seemed to regard them with indifference. He made his way towards his imbedded weapon and pulled it from the deceased man's body. Resting the weapon over his shoulder, his face seemed to light up with joy, the same kind that a child would show if they had been given a new toy.
Kneeling down, the man almost seemed to be praying. "Jashin-sama, I ask that you accept the sacrifice that I offer you today. May you be satisfied with the deaths of these heathens."
Hearing the word "death" seemed to put the two Konoha nin on edge even more than before. Not wanting to waste the opportunity given to them, they dashed towards the man, intent on striking to kill.
The nukenin simply sidestepped the charging men, skewering the one closest to him with a swing from his weapon.
The other Chuunin, wanting to get some distance between him and his attacker, leapt into the air. "Why do you defend the kyuubi brat?!" he roared. "He must die!"
He soon flashed through a few handsigns. "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"
A large fireball soon descended on the silver haired man. He didn't even seem worried about the attack, although he wondered what the hell the Konoha nin was babbling about. Something about a kyuubi?
Seconds later the fireball impacted with the ground and erupted in an explosion. Satisfied with his work, the Chuunin turned his attention back to the blonde jinchuuriki. That is, until a scythe blade made its way around his neck.
"How?" was the last thing he muttered before the blade was drawn back, slicing the nin's neck open. He fell to the ground, gasping and clutching at his neck. Seconds later his movement stopped completely.
The scythe wielding nukenin knelt down once again, preparing to pray to his god of darkness. He was stopped when a quiet voice made its way to his ears.
"T-Thank you nin-san…" the blonde boy mumbled. He was going to say more, but stopped when the man's rose pupils focused on him. His soul piercing gaze made Naruto feel as though he was burning a hole through him.
Closing his eyes, the man whispered. "Forgive me Jashin-sama. I have not killed all of the beings present, as I promised I would. I have failed you, and shall now repent."
Standing back up, he drew his scythe and stepped towards the blonde child, who could only watch in fear as the man drew closer. He raised his weapon, ready to strike down the child who had kept him from fulfilling his promise to his lord. He stopped however, when he felt a tug at the back of his mind.
It was a spiritual tug, meaning that Jashin was trying to communicate with him, as it normally did. It never spoke to him, just simply hinted at things with vague notices, such as this. He withdrew his weapon and returned it to the strap on his back.
Turning back to the scared boy in front of him, he knelt down so that he was at eye level with the blonde. "Jashin-sama sees great things in you and wants you to come with me. So, you interested?"
Naruto was a little shocked at the recent turn of events. He had been chased by a mob, nearly killed by nin from his own village, then rescued by a strange man, only to be nearly killed by him as well, then offered an opportunity to leave his village by same said man.
"You mean… leave my village?" he asked, slightly intrigued.
The man nodded. "Yeah. They don't seem to like you anyway."
This was true. They never acknowledged him in a positive way, and tried to kill him every year on his birthday. The only person that cared for him was the Hokage, and he wasn't around all the time.
"You mean I can go with you, and never have to go back there?" Naruto inquired, hope in his voice.
The nin frowned. What did it take to get through to him? "Fuck kid… how many times do I have to ask? I'm offering you a chance to leave this shit hole and travel with me."
"Yatta!" was the response he got. "Yes! Please!"
Standing back up, he turned on his heel and began his trek through the forest, in the opposite direction of Konoha.
"Hey wait!" cried the blonde as he ran after his savior.
"I'm not gonna wait around all day damnit," the scythe wielder chuckled. "You got a name?"
"Um… it's Naruto… nin-san." He waited a few seconds, hoping that the nin would give him his name in return. When all he got was silence, he decided to ask. "Nin-san, what's your name?"
"Hidan," was the answer.
"Hidan-san, why were you out here? Don't you have a village you should be at?" the blonde youth innocently inquired.
He received no answer at first, simply a brief glance in his direction. "My village didn't like how I praise my god, Jashin-sama. So I left. I've been traveling for a while. Call it a pilgrimage of sorts," he grinned.
Oh yes, pilgrimage was putting it lightly. By "pilgrimage", he of course meant, killing every living person he came across, in the name of Jashin. His travels just happened to take him past Konohakagure.
"Where are we going?" Naruto asked.
"You know, you ask too many fucking questions. We're heading wherever I feel like going. Anything else you want to ask?" He followed this up by grabbing the handle of his scythe.
The young boy shook his head from side to side quite vigorously. This action made the silver haired nin smirk.
"Good."
-End Chapter-
Draknal: Well, please let me know what you think. Unless it's a flame. I'm new to the Naruto "story posting" community, so I can't claim to be perfect yet. I'll update when I can.
Please leave a review on your way out. I'd appreciate it, and it just might encourage me to update more often.