The Namikage

Chapter 1: The Issue of Beginnings

By DeathGodSlayer

"Namikage-sama," A long black haired boy entered the office, hair tied back formally, he was dressed in very formal robes, fitting loosely over his body. "You seem perplexed." He continued.

He continued to stare out the window. "I was just thinking Haku," He replied calmly. "Just about the day we met, and how we came to this village. Do you remember what it was like, Haku?"

"I do." Haku spoke in return, staring out of the window, how the village lit up with happiness. "This land was impoverish, filled with sadness. But you, Namikage-sama, you created it, gave life to the area and created a village almost equal to the five great nations. Chousekigakure, from Nami no Kuni."

"It was not me alone who made this village prosperous, I have you to than, Haku. And the money of a corrupt man." The Namikage stared up at the sky, shining brightly for his village. "And the will power necessary to pull it off."

Haku smiled, stepping closer to the Namikage, looking out of the window more clearly. "Yes, but you never would have done all of this if it wasn't for him..."

Those stares, they were constantly on his back. Never leaving for one second. And it was beginning to annoy him. His blue eyes could only glare at so many of them in return, but they would always outnumber him.

'I need something sweet.' His mind told him, a smile growing on his face. He changed direction, ignoring the villagers when they jumped from him getting too close to them.

There was a popular candy store near the edge of the main shopping street in Konoha, all the children in his Academy class spoke about it constantly, especially since it was having some big sale this weekend.

'I can't wait! I'm gonna buy half the shop!' Naruto thought enthusiastically as he ran down the street, eager to get to the shop.

It was finally with his vision, as expected, children clamoured inside and outside of the shop, desperate to get in a raid the shop for whatever candy the shop had left. Naruto noticed the large queues, but he was never one for waiting.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" He yelled as he jumped over the crowd, using them as a makeshift higher platform, ran over the top of them and jumped into the shop. Landing safely over the crowd sandwiching the door, Naruto turned around to tease them, sticking his tongue out and pulling his lower left eyelid.

"Absolutely not!" A man shouted behind him, all the squirming of the children in the door halted, staring in utmost shock. The pleasant, friendly shop owner, always adorning a gentle smile on his face, glared furiously down at Naruto. Sheer fury spread across his face, a broomstick clenched tightly in his hands. "I won't have you anywhere near my shop! Now get out!" He began pushing Naruto back out the door with the broom, the children spreading like the rumoured shinobi with enough power to split the sea. One particular hard push and Naruto yelped in pain, dropping the money he had been saving for months, finding penny after penny after penny scattered across the streets of Konoha and collecting it.

The elderly man bent down to pick up a bundle of the money, looking back up to Naruto with a look of disgust. "And return this to whoever you stole it from!" He angrily scattered the money at Naruto's feet, who stood there with a stunned silence, a tear dropped from his eye.

'Why?...' He asked himself, the stares of hatred, the barring from shops he visited for the first time, the denial of any decent to call his own. Anger began growing inside him, his teeth clenched together.

"What the hell did I ever do to you?" The young boy screamed at the old man, giving him quite a scare, leaping back and retracting the broom.

Naruto's body darted around in a circle staring at the eyes of the surrounding crowd of adults and children. "What the hell did I ever do to any of you?" He screamed again, looking around, no one seemed to want to answer him, either looking away or hardening their gaze on him. "ANSWER ME!"

"Ku ku ku ku." A deep voice chuckled evilly, the voice echoing through the streets. "I know what you did."

Naruto froze as the voice called out to him, looking around for it's origin, he eventually just quietly replied. "What do you know?"

"This isn't the place to talk about it." The voice replied highly amused at the situation. "You must get away from Konoha, leave immediately. And I shall tell you everything that has been kept secret about you."

"But I don't want to leave Konoha." Naruto replied truthfully, despite all these horrible people's harsh, hate filled stares. He liked Konoha, it was always sunny, the Jiji Hokage was always there for him and the old man at the ramen stand were always so nice to him. "Besides, it's not like I could get far, what with the guards blocking the main gates, and I could never outrun them for long."

The voice only replied with a deep dark chuckle. "Very well. Were I to give you the tools to escape, would you take them? Would you free yourself from the cage that is Konoha, and fly freely through the skies. Would you leave behind all these hateful people, who you have done nothing to bring them harm."

"Yeah." Naruto spoke in agreement, taking one more look at the people around him, who were listening intently to him reply, staring at him as if he was some kind of monster.

The voice laughed louder. "Excellent. We leave immediately."

Pain flooded him. Entering every area of his body like a flowing current of electricity, Naruto felt power surging through him. Not a good type of power though, this one was filled with dark intentions.

The crowd began taking steps back in fear, the ones at the back beginning to opt to running away. A thick red shroud enveloped the boy, seeping through his skin, the usually thin whisker marks thickened and darkened, the eerily familiar bright blue orbs morphed into blood red with long slitted pupils.

Instantly the crowd dispersed, screaming and shrieking in sheer terror, yelling that 'it had returned.' Naruto choose to ignore it. He felt stronger, faster, better.

He lunged forwards, his speed had improved greatly, but he felt off balance, dropping his hands to the floor, he sprinted on all fours, weaving through the screaming streets of Konoha. Ignoring any opposition in his way. People dived out of his path, yet no one made any attempts to stop him, even the shinobi had frozen in fear of him.

Suddenly the gates came into view, staring at him like a big barrier, growling Naruto picked up his speed, hoping to blast through the open gates and ensure his escape.

The two guards had prepared themselves, staring back ready to attack, however, the kunai in their hands rattled slightly. They weren't completely devoid of fear of the thing approaching them.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Naruto roared, his words were backed with a shockwave of sorts, erupting from his mouth, it blew the two guards back, separating them and opening the gates. His path was clear.

His speed increased, in a split second his world had changed, one moment he was behind Konoha's walls, the next, he was outside them. He ran down the path, his speed tearing it up. A smile adorned his angry face.

He was free.

Sarutobi felt the surge through his old bones immediately, staring at the front gates of his village from his office window. 'Naruto...' Sarutobi looked at the gates sadly, Naruto was most likely long gone by now, but he would still be traceable by even Chunin.

"Sandaime-sama!" A mob of civilians and Shinobi exploded through his office door, very little space save for behind his desk was available. "You must have felt the surge of Kyuubi's chakra too! Proper action must be taken! The Jinchuuriki must be arrested for attempting to harm the civilians!" A Chunin shinobi called out for Naruto's blood, cheers of agreement came from the mob.

"And why does Naruto deserve an arrest?" Sarutobi asked, calmly slipping onto his comfy chair.

The villagers looked at their aged leader baffled. "Did you not hear us, Sandaime-sama? He released the chakra of the Kyuubi, created a menacing scene in the streets and fled the village immediately!"

"And who is to blame for that?" Sarutobi asked tiredly, how his old bones ached. "The Yondaime Hokage had left one simple wish, his death wish. One that Konoha refused to honour. You, the villagers and shinobi discarded young Naruto like littered trash. You refused to acknowledge his very existence, and thus his anger built up inside him, allowing the Kyuubi to manipulate his negative emotions more easily. This could have been avoided, but it has happened. Aren't you glad that young Naruto is gone, that is, after all what you wanted from the beginning."

"But he was a nobody, Sandaime-sama. High praise should only be directed at those with the highest standing, such as yourself, the Sannin, the Uchiha." The civilians shouted, although the shinobi seemed to have silenced.

"Yet, the Yondaime himself started out as nothing. Where in the history books has a Namikaze been named? He was unknown, but was given the opportunity to flourish. Something that was denied to Naruto." Sarutobi sighed. "Besides, Naruto-kun could never have just been nothing, both in his heritage and his status."

"What do you mean, Sandaime-sama?" The mob had called considerably, now looking at their aged leader genuinely confused.

"His Jinchuuriki status. All of the five great shinobi villages MUST have a Jinchuuriki, it is s display of the Kage's power. That is why Takigakure is close to being named the sixth great ninja village, it came into possession on Nanabi after it ran amok and fled Sunagakure." Sarutobi explained. "Without a Jinchuuriki at all, Konoha will now look weaker in the eyes of the other shinobi villages, especially considered Kumo, Kiri and Iwa all have two Jinchuuriki each."

"And, for some reasoning I can not comprehend. I could never understand what went on in the mind of the Yondaime Hokage, Minato. He was also so relaxed and calm, but for some reason or another, the vault containing the secrets to the Rasengan, the Hiraishin and all his other jutsu will only react to the blood of the one he deemed the hero of Konohagakure, Naruto Uzumaki." Sarutobi sighed heavily, he may have just given away the true identity of Naruto, but he did not give any specific reason.

The mob looked startled, being told by their leader that their village was now weaker was never a good thing. "We must bring Naruto back immediately." One villager spoke, soon cheers of agreement came from everyone, perhaps they were just after the Yondaime's jutsu, or perhaps they wanted to save face and have Konoha keep it's title as the strongest village, but it was certainly not just because they wanted him back.

They began leaving almost immediately, vacating the room on their search for Naruto outside and leaving the aged man alone, turning in his chair to face the sun in the window, Naruto's shining smile, even in the face of all his adversity just as bright.

"Naruto, I cannot force you from your path. If being away from Konoha is what it takes for you to be happy and free, then it is a loss that Konoha will have to take, after all, you'd probably be put under constant supervision should you return here, maybe even jail."

Naruto ran far, he hadn't looked back once, the red shroud had long since faded, yet his body still continued to carry him far, passing from blue clear skies, filled with resemblance and nostalgia, to dark grey clouds, who knows what lay underneath them.

A drop of rain hit his face, followed by more splashing across his body, it was a gentle rain.

"Seems even the heavens themselves are trying to cleanse you of Konoha's neglect." The voice had a musing tone to it.

Naruto stopped, it was as far as he could go, literally, an inch further and he would have fallen off the cliff into the sea below.

"This is far enough!" Naruto barked back at the voice, leaving Konoha, running away, it was all his idea, and what had Naruto actually got from it? "Now tell me what you know?" He ordered.

The voice replied with a evil, victorious chuckle. "I'd rather just show you..."

Naruto felt his body drain, he knew the feeling, it happened regularly when he trained himself. 'I can't black out now.' Naruto fought against the urge to collapse, his eyes caught glimpse of the fall below him, he'd die if he fell from here into the blue ocean below.

But he couldn't continue fighting the urge to fall into unconscious. 'Please, let me fall backwards.' Naruto prayed to any god out there. Have him fall back onto the ground, rather than forwards into the see.

Naruto stood in front of a large cage in a dark room, the room light up with the opening of two blood red eye, each over towering over his body. A mouth opened to a wide sly grin, revealing a set of sharp white fangs, even the teeth were bigger than Naruto's entire body.

"You want to know why they hate you." The beast in front of him chuckled with that familiar dark voice, the room lit up further, revealing a large red fox, nine tails curled around it's body as it sat in the cage. "I am the reason they hate you. It was all my doing."

"I-I know you..." Naruto shakingly pointed to the beast, fear paralysing him, he had heard the stories, read the books. "Y-You're the Kyuubi. You tried to destroy Konoha nine years ago. But you were beaten by the Yondaime Hokage-"

"I WAS NOT BEATEN!" The Kyuubi roared at Naruto, Naruto dug his feet into the ground below, he felt as if the roar itself would carry his body away. "He has merely halted my attempts to destroy Konoha and take my revenge on him! And now my opportunity has arose!"

"Then why did you help me escape!" Naruto shouted in return.

"Simple." The Kyuubi had calmed considerably. "The Sandaime Hokage..."

"Jiji." Naruto looked at the red beast incredulously. "What's he got to do with anything?"

"Believe it or not, but that man is a God among Shinobi." Kyuubi replied with slight more interest. "Even in his ripe age, he is still one of the most powerful shinobi alive. He almost has enough power to equal my respect for Hashirama-sama. I couldn't risk attempting to escape under the Sandaime's watchful eye, who had inherited the very will of the Shodaime. So I waited, waited until their hateful stares bore into your very soul. And this is the result of my patience. I can finally escape this cage in peace! Away from any interference!"

That same red liquid oozed from the Kyuubi's cage at a rapid rate, flooding the room the two resided in, cutting off Naruto's escape, it spilled over his feet, before wrapping around his body.

'Yes, on the outside, he will have hit the eighth tail!' Kyuubi stared with anxious glee. 'One more and he won't have the control to stop me from escaping. This is it!'

Suddenly everything stopped, a bright light expelled from the small seal keeping it's cage shut. Cutting straight through it's chakra and wrapping around Naruto's small frame like a shield, the light shone brighter breaking down Kyuubi's chakra, shining it from existence.

'What is this?' Kyuubi could no long look at the light, it was like a miniature sun. 'What little tricks did the Yondaime and that Kushina put into my seal?'

"You bastard." Kyuubi heard a voice speak, Kyuubi could see the light dimming through it's eyelids. Opening them, he found he was still looking at the sun, but this one was only similar in colour, and spikily framing a man's head. "How dare you do this?" The man glared at Kyuubi over his shoulder with frozen blue eyes, holding the smaller blonde bundle in his arms.

"THAT'S MY LINE!" Kyuubi roared ferociously down at the man, hate leaking from it and onto the man. "I THOUGHT I WAS FINISHED WITH YOU! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, YONDAIME!"

'What? Yondaime?' Naruto began awakening, his eyes hazily opened, revealing himself being carried in the arms of the of the person whose back he chased the hardest. Everyone loved him, recognised his face. The Yondaime Hokage.

"Yondaime!" Naruto jumped out of the man's arms in a bumbling heap. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be dead- wait, you and I look a lot alike." Naruto pointed out, he had only seen the rocky carving of the Yondaime's image on the mountain. "How come I've never seen any pictures of you before?"

Said man only chuckled, completely ignoring the threat of the Kyuubi, scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I...don't like having my picture taken. I only do it when it's absolutely necessary." He spoke rather embarrassed, an emotion Naruto didn't expect the hero of Konoha to have.

"So what are you doing here, Yondaime?" Naruto quizzically asked.

The Yondaime's smile faltered, forming a sad expression on his face. "You should probably already realise this by now, but I had to seal the Kyuubi inside you. But I sealed a portion of my chakra into the seal so I could come help you if you were in a pinch. It was the least I could do, I committed something you had no consent in, so I'm sorry."

'So that's it.' Naruto thought with a sadder expression. 'We were taught that the Yondaime defeat the Kyuubi, but never how. So this is why...' Naruto remembered there hateful stares, suddenly a motive came behind them, the villagers were still hurting.

But it wasn't Naruto's fault. None of this was, yet they still hated him. Something Naruto doubted he could ever truly forgive.

"Although..." The Yondaime continued. "I'm surprised to see you so young, I wished this meeting would have waited until you were a little older. How old are you exactly, Naruto?"

"You know my name!" Naruto's face lit up, the fear of the Kyuubi standing near him all but vanished. "The Yondaime Hokage knows my name! Take that Kiba and Sasuke!" Naruto jumped in glee, before looking at the Yondaime, he smiled widely back down. "Sorry." Naruto replied embarrassed. "I'm nine."

"Nine..." The Yondaime sighed. "I'm sorry Naruto. You're life couldn't have been easy, living with the Kyuubi and all. I had asked that you be treated as a hero, but I realise that I could have done so much more for you. I could have survived and you could have had a father."

"My father?" Naruto screeched. "You know who he is?" He spoke hopefully.

The Yondaime grinned widely, flashing both sets of teeth, he pointed to his own face with his thumb. Naruto's eyes widened. "You're my dad." He replied shakingly. "That's...so...COOL!" Naruto's face lit up again. "So I really am destined for greatness!" He yelled in joy. "I told them I'd be a super powerful shinobi!"

He stopped in his tracks at that moment, realisation struck him, the Kyuubi, no matter it's intentions had shown him the truth. "But I can't go back to Konoha. I just can't."

"I understand." The Yondaime smiled weakly. "But whatever you do, just know that I'm proud of you." He smiled again, earning a wider smile from Naruto.

Looking back over to the Kyuubi's cage, he tutted disappointed. "Well, going up to eight tails really did a number on the seal. I can fix it this once, but that's it." He turned fully to face the seal, slapping his hands together.

"What?" Naruto's eyes widened, a tear forming in his eye. "But I've only just met you, I just found out who you really are!"

"I know and I'm sorry. But I have to restrengthen the seal." The Yondaime replied sadly. "This is probably the last time we will see each other. But you still have something to look forward to. When the time comes when you're ready to finally control the Kyuubi you'll see what I mean."

"But I don't want you to go!" Naruto wrapped his little arms around the Yondaime's waist, hugging his back, he wanted to help, he didn't want his dad to go so soon, he had just got one!

Minato felt a wave through his body. 'What?' He thought. 'I am nothing more than a ghost, yet Naruto's chakra. I can feel it flowing through me.'

Taking the initiative, Naruto summoned a mixture of Naruto's and his own chakra, it morphed around the seal on Naruto's stomach and the paper seal of the door, what was once tattered and burnt was replaced with a brand new looking sheet of paper. The seal on Naruto's stomach contorted back to it's original form.

"You bastard, Yondaime!" Kyuubi smashed against the cage bars. "I will get out! Mark those words!" The Kyuubi repeatedly battered against the cage, in a futile attempt to free itself.

Minato sighed in relief. 'Amazing,' he looked at his hand in astonishment. 'I still have so much chakra left. Enough for another use, and now Naruto's own chakra is incorporated into the seal, I wonder what will happen to his control over the Kyuubi's chakra.'

He felt the clutching around his waist loosen, spinning his head, Naruto was exhausted, falling backwards onto the ground slowly.

Minato turned and gave a gentle tap to Naruto's head, he suspended in the air, floating down the corridor leading back to the conscious world.

"Do me a favour Naruto," Minato smiled as his son's body floated away. "make it so you don't have to see me for a few more years at least. But I'll always be here, in case you ever need me..."

Naruto's body began going numb, he couldn't control his wobbling movements. His body fell forwards, tumbling from the cliff to the sea below, the last thing Naruto felt was the spray of the salty sea water hitting his face, just before he submerged into the blue depths.

"So where are we going, Zabuza-san?" The scruffy black haired boy asked him, a cheerful smile on his face.

"We need to find somewhere recluse, where we can hide and strengthen our forces." Zabuza replied annoyed. If he knew there were going to be so many questions, he would have made Haku join him.

"So why are we walking down a beach?" Haku asked again, obviously not getting the hint to stop asking questions.

"Beaches help my think, my home was near a beach so I would also walk down the beach when I needed to think. The first time I ever thought of a Coup d'etat was as I felt the sea between my toes." Zabuza replied. 'No more questions after that.' He ordered himself in his mind, he hated thinking about his home.

"Well- wait Zabuza-san look!" Haku pointed forwards along the beach. A small blonde boy had washed ashore on the beach, laying face down motionlessly. Haku immediately darted towards the boy, while Zabuza took a more leisurely pace.

Haku skidded across the wet sand, flipping the boy onto his back, the boy was obviously unconscious. Haku cradled his head, giving it extra support.

"Leave him, Haku. Let's go." Zabuza ordered, looking impassively to the blond boy.

"But we have to do something to save him." Haku returned, looking back up to Zabuza with a pleading eye.

"Why? This boy has done for us except waste our time." Zabuza returned annoyed, however his eyes caught a black marking on the boy's stomach, using his foot to roll the boy's soaked orange shirt up, it revealed to be part of an intricate design.

'A seal? For what?' Zabuza questioned, suddenly his mind clicked. He had been needing to increase the number of hands that he possessed. 'Whatever it is, it must be of importance. Perhaps he will be of use to me.'

"Very well, Haku." Zabuza sighed, earning a smile of appreciation from Haku, crouching down to one knee, Zabuza placed his hand over the boy's chest, a sea blue colour shroud surrounded his hand.

"What are you doing?" Haku quizzed, it appeared to be some sort of medical jutsu.

"I'm using my chakra to attract the water in his lungs. Now shut up, I need to concentrate." Zabuza ordered, as he felt the water moving around in his lungs, he gently guided it up the boy's oesophagus and out of his mouth, where it dribbled out.

But the boy began coughing hoarsely, his body searching for anyway available oxygen. He spluttered and wheezed, all the while Haku rubbing and patting his back.

The boy's eyes fluttered open, looking to the two people hovering over him. "Who are you?" He asked weakly.

"The people who saved your life. You should be more grateful to us." The taller man spoke, bandages covered the lower half of his face and he carried a large sword on his back, his attire was similar to a shinobi, but it's design was different to any Konoha shinobi uniform.

"My name is Haku, and this is Zabuza-san." The closer boy spoke, with long scruffy black hair and hazel eyes. He smiled down at the boy.

"Haku, Zabuza. Thank you for saving me." He replied weakly, trying to sit himself up.

"Save you gratitude." Zabuza corrected himself moments ago. "If you are truly thankful, then you will join me, and repay your debt to me and Haku."

'Why shouldn't I go with them?' Naruto asked himself, he had nowhere else to go. And this man looked strong, he could protect him until he was ready to venture out on his own. "Okay." Naruto smiled, nodding in agreement.

"Good. Now we leave right away, don't lag behind." Zabuza spoke, beginning to walk on as Haku helped the boy to his feet. "And what's your name." Zabuza spoke, not looking back over his shoulder.

Haku helped him to stand, sling his arm around his neck, but still Naruto grinned. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki."

A/N: Well there you have it! Chapter 1 of my new fic, The Namikage, my take on the whole, Naruto leaves Konoha and goes to a new village cliche. Remember to R.E.R, Read, Enjoy, Review. If you don't mind allow me to explain where I got the idea for this fic.

Well there I was reading through Mizukage by Dragon6, when for some reason or another I thought about all these Naruto leaves/moves/gets taken to Uzugakure at a young age and is put in charge of the entire village, and I just sat there thinking; 'what an unbelievable idea/' no offence if you have done a story like that, but putting a 6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13 year old in charge of an entire village, WTF, the same could be said about Gaara, who was 15 when he became Kazekage, although unbelievable, but more beleivable than a 8 year old becoming the leader. History lesson. King Henry VIII's son became King when he was 9, you know what happened? He died. That might not have anything to do with being the leader, but still. Anyway, I wanted to make a believable version of that idea, so you'll see why in the coming chapters.

On the topic of next chapter, in no way am I slowing my production of Demon Lacrima. This is to just get the idea out of my mind and posted. I will update Demon Lacrima regularly and this irregularly. Sometimes I may update 3 chapters, othe rtimes I may not update at all, but at least expect one chapter every month.

Well anyway, thanks for taking the time to read The Namikage. I hope you will stick around to see where I go with this fic.

D.G.S