Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ All for One ❯ Happy Birthday ( Chapter 3 )

All for One

 

It was the tenth of October, the day the Yondaime defeated Kyuubi. There was a large parade, with floats of the yellow-haired hero. There was liberal amounts of sake being consumed, by everyone everywhere. There were little kids staring at the Hokage Monument, swearing that they would be just like the Yondaime. And unnoticed by the drunken guards, there were three figures creeping over the wall.

 

Momochi Zabuza and his two chunin assistants were in town not to celebrate, but to do their job. And today, their job included killing the now six year old Uzumaki Naruto. `I hate being in this village.' Zabuza thought. `It brings back so many bad memories. We've got to get this job done quickly.' Zabuza was worried, because he had been forced to leave Haku back in Kiri while he performed this mission. `That girl needs to work on her heart of ice before she comes on assassination missions.'

 

“Ruko, who's the target?” Zabuza asked as they bounded across rooftops. He knew already, but he liked to make sure his back up did as well.

 

The chunin swallowed, wondering how he got assigned to work with the demon of the mist. “Uzumaki Naruto, a young prodigy.”

 

“What clan?” Zabuza asked. He had never heard of an Uzumaki clan, and he was honestly curious which clan had adopted the boy.

 

“Umm, the dossier doesn't say, but it says he's been living with a Morino Ibiki.”

 

`Hm. Never heard of a Morino clan before. Must be newly risen to the rank of high clan. At least it's not them.' Zabuza thought. He noticed that they were almost at the address, and halted the chunin. “We're here.”

 

With a keen eye, Zabuza noticed several traps set all over the doors, windows, and walls of the building. `Hm, guess we weren't the first attempt on this boy.' The two chunin with Zabuza looked at the building, but noticed nothing.

 

“Zabuza-sama, are we entering?” one asked.

 

`Idiots.' Zabuza thought. “Yes. You enter first, so you can deal with any resistance. Then you” he gestured at the other chunin, will go in second to aid him in any way possible. Then me. I'll be rearguard.” The two nodded, and entered the building in the designated order. In his head, Zabuza counted. `Five, four, three, two, one.' When his count reached zero, a plume of fire erupted, incinerating the first chunin. The second one was quickly pierced by no less then eight kunai.

 

`Nice traps! But now, in I go!' Zabuza thought. Then he whispered “Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu (Water Clone Technique)” and two more Zabuza's appeared out of the water vapor in the air. They entered, followed closely by Zabuza. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he thanked his foresight as he saw both of the water clones being attacked by six bodyguards. `Wow. This kid is really well protected!' Then both of his clones were destroyed. `These guys are good.' He thought, and made twenty more clones to keep them busy. As the bodyguard engaged the clones, he slipped up the stairs.

 

`Now where is it?' He thought, ignoring the sounds of pitched battle coming from below. Zabuza slipped into one of the doors, and grinned as he saw a young boy sleeping soundly, cuddling a puppy. `Wow, this kid sleeps through everything! Well, easier to kill then. Better do this fast, and avoid the dog. I hate killing dogs!' Zabuza drew Kubikiri Houcho off of his back, and drew it back to decapitate the boy.

 

But a flash of pain in his right arm caused him to drop the sword. He looked at his arm, and saw a tiny reptilian creature biting it! `Oh no! Not this clan!' he thought, and spun around, pulling a kunai to slice the creatures off. But before he got the chance, they retracted into the sleeve of his attacker: Mitarashi Ryuto, third most powerful member of the Mitarashi clan.

 

“Zabuza-kun, how far you've stooped.” Ryoto said. “Being paid by angry villagers to kill a small boy. You've fallen far, Mitarashi Zabuza.”

 

Zabuza groaned. “Sister, it's Momochi Zabuza now. I gave up that foolish clan name when I left Konoha and joined Kiri!”

 

“Didn't you once have a code about not killing family members?” Ryoto asked.

 

“I still do, but I don't plan on killing you, Ryoto. I'm simply going to incapacitate you, then fulfill my mission.”

 

Ryoto shook her head from side to side, making little tsking noises. “If you still maintain that code, then why are you trying to kill our nephew?”

For the first time in a long time, an emotion crossed Zabuza's face: shock. “Nephew? He's a member of our- I mean, your clan?”

 

“Is your information so bad that you didn't know that Naruto over there is a member of all of the thirteen clans of Konoha? Yes, he is your nephew, and if you touch him, it will spark a war between Konoha and Kiri.”

 

Zabuza quickly schooled his face back to normal. `Why didn't we know about this? I'm fairly certain that being adopted into thirteen clans is not a common thing!' Zabuza stooped, never taking his eyes off of his sister, and picked up Kubikiri. He placed it back in it's sheath. “Our information network needs a lot of work then. There is only one thing I refuse to do, and that is kill family. It was nice seeing you, sister.” He assumed a handseal, and a think bank of fog wafted in. When it cleared, Zabuza was gone.

 

Ryoto shook her head, then realized there was still fighting going on downstairs. But as soon as she remembered that, all sounds of battle ended, and Naruto's room was quickly filled with his bodyguard. They were all breathing hard, but most were uninjured. The exception was Aburame Nokoto, who had a deep gash in his side. “Who was that?” Hizashi asked. “He was a cut above the other assassins!”

 

The Mitarashi bodyguard stated, “That was Mitarashi Zabuza, missing nin of Konoha. He abandoned the village ten years ago, and is now known as Momochi Zabuza, demon of the mist.”

 

Itachi nodded. “That makes sense. He did use all water jutsus, and he did sacrifice his comrades to enter the building.”

 

“I'd better go report this to the Hokage.” Ryoto said. “The rest of you, stay on guard. If the mist was smart, they would have sent two forces.” The bodyguard nodded, and dispersed. Ryoto jumped out the window, heading to the Hokage tower.

 

Zabuza, at this time, as already well out of Konoha. On the outside, he was cool and composed. But on the inside, his head was spinning. `There was no way our intelligence wouldn't have noticed the fact that the kid was a member of thirteen clans. There is absolutely no way! And they sent me on this mission with only two lousy chunin that they knew I would sacrifice anyway!'

 

Zabuza growled out loud. “They set me up!” He headed back towards Kiri, where he would be getting Haku and leaving, before they could try again.

 

Ibiki sat in Naruto's room, waiting for the boy to wake up. “Well, Naruto.” He said to the sleeping boy. “Your birthdays always are eventful.”

 

The next morning, at 4:30, Naruto woke up and saw Ibiki dozing by his bedside. “Hi, Ibiki-nii-san! What're you doing here?”

 

The loud voice woke Ibiki up. `Only Naruto could be so loud in the morning.' He thought, and then tried to think of a good excuse for him sitting by Naruto's bedside that didn't involve assassins. “Uh, I just wanted to wish you happy birthday!”

 

“OH YEAH! I forgot it was my birthday!” Naruto yelled. “Can I have chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast?”

 

“Of course. I'll get right on them.” Ibiki said, then ran out of the room thanking Kami that Naruto still accepted such weak excuses.

 

After a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, Naruto ran off to begin his training regime. `Wow, it's already been seven months since I started this stuff! It's been a lot of fun!' He skidded to a halt outside of the Sarutobi compound, where Goki was waiting for him.

 

“Happy birthday, Naruto-kun!” Goki said.

 

“Thanks, Goki-sensei! So, what're we gonna do today? Work on forms? Increase my weight?”

 

Goki chuckled at his student's enthusiasm. “Well, Naruto-kun, since it is your birthday, we'll be doing something new!” His grin widened as Naruto jumped for joy at the news.

 

“What is it? What is it?” he questioned.

 

“Naruto-kun, you'll be learning a new style of taijutsu!” Goki said, and Naruto grinned happily.

 

“Which one? I hope it's a good one, not like that academy stuff.” Naruto said the word academy with disgust. He had learned their taijutsu style in a matter of weeks, and had judged it as terrible. It allowed no flexibility, and relied only on punches. Naruto loved surprising people, so needed more flexibility, and had discovered a talent for kicks. He had also learned the gentle fist style from Hiashi, and found it lacking.

 

“I'm letting you choose one of three styles.” Goki said. “Your choices are Iron Fist style, the Shimmering Foot Style, or the Slashing Falcon style.”

 

Naruto thought for a moment. He didn't really like punching, and the first style had the word fist in it, so the Iron Fist was out. But both the Slashing Falcon and the Shimmering Foot sounded interesting. It was time for Naruto's tired and true method of making hard choices: putting it to a vote. He had three people to ask. “Goki-sensei, which is better for you, the Shimmering Foot or the Slashing Falcon?”

 

Goki thought for a minute. “I prefer the Shimmering Foot myself.”

 

The next person to ask was himself. `Yo! Me! Which one's better?' Almost instantly, Inner Naruto answered. `Slashing Falcon! Up in the sky, slashing, like a falcon! Sounds damn useful and fucking awesome!' `I just asked a question. No need for cursing!'

 

`Ok, that's one for each. Time for the tie breaker.' “Kouken, which one do you think?” Naruto asked. The dog woofed at him, and Naruto looked back at Goki. “Shimmering foot it is!”

 

Goki blinked for a moment. “You understand what he says?”

 

“Doesn't everyone?”

 

The muscular Sarutobi shook his head to clear it of confusion, and then began to explain the basics of the Shimmering Foot style. It relied on rapid movement and almost entirely on kicks, leaving the hands free to use weapons and jutsus. Goki demonstrated by doing a few spinning kicks while doing Bunshin no Jutsu to confuse an imaginary enemy. Naruto ran out of his Taijutsu lesson at the end, holding a scroll with the basic katas of his new style.

 

At the Hatake compound, he was in for a similar gift. He found Kakashi in record time (three minutes) and hid for him for another record time (also three minutes). But right before the end of Stealth and Tracking, Kakashi stopped the lesson. “Naruto-kun, it's your birthday. And because it's your birthday, I have a gift for you!” Naruto cheered, and Kakashi pulled out a scroll.

 

“What's that, Kakashi-sensei?”

 

“This, Naruto, is a copy of the jutsus of the Hatake. There are thirty-eight jutsus on this scroll, all incredibly advanced. All of these were created by Hatake members, and more will be added. It's sort of like a rite of passage. To be recognized as an adult in the Hatake tradition, you must create an assassination jutsu.”

 

“Wow.” Naruto said, in awe that Kakashi was giving him such an important scroll. “Do you really think I can master them?”

 

“Maybe, but not for a while. I've only master Thirty-Two of them, and I made two of them!”

 

“Which ones?”

 

Kakashi unrolled the scroll, and Naruto could see that the techniques were in order D-Class Jutsus to S-Class Jutsus. He stopped at the B-class, and pointed at one. “Chidori.” He said proudly. Then he continued to unroll until he got to the S-class. “And it's big brother, the Raikiri.”

 

Naruto looked at the Raikiri. “Cool!” He rolled the scroll back up. “I'll try and master all of them!” He put the scroll in his bag next to the one about the Shimmering Foot, and then took off for his next lesson.

 

The rest of his day went like that. He learned something new at each lesson, or was given a gift. The Hyuuga's gave him another scroll, this one detailing the Hyuuga jutsus. The Yamanka taught him the basics of their primary jutsu, Shintenshin no Jutsu. The Inuzaka's gave Kouken a shiny new collar, because it was the dogs birthday as well. But they also gave Naruto a matching collar, which let him summon Kouken no matter where he was.

 

The Aburame gave him a small hive of bees, which he ran home to place in his room immediately. The bees gave him another form of security, and they attacked any unauthorized person who entered the room. Plus, they gave him an unending supply of honey.

 

The gift from the Yuuhi clan was more difficult. Naruto had soon discovered that while he could master most jutsus without effort, genjutsu took a little more time and concentration for him. But their gift was a scroll of low level genjutsu, which he vowed to learn as quickly as he could.

 

The Akamichi gave him a restaurant card, which would give him free food from any restaurant for a month. The Haruno's taught him a jutsu that let Inner Naruto take over his body for a short amount of time. The Naras gave him a shiny new Shogi board. The Shinkotamas gave him a new kunai set.

 

Then he got to the Uchihas, and entered his usual training room. Sasuke wasn't there, which confused Naruto a little. But then, instead of Itachi, Fuguku was waiting there. “Fuguku-tou-san! Where's Itachi-sensei?”

 

“Itachi is currently on a mission, and won't be here today.” Fuguku said. Naruto nodded. That made sense. It wasn't the first time one of his tutors had had to leave for a mission. But usually, the tutor just left a lesson plan and Naruto followed it. A replacement, and a clan head at that, was extremely unusual.

 

“Now Naruto, demonstrate what you have learned from Itachi so far.” Naruto complied, and began performing the jutsus Itachi had taught him. He started with Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu, then moved on to the other ones. There was the basic Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique), an earth jutsu known as Doton: Maruishi Meiun no Jutsu (Earth Style: Boulder Doom Technique), then proceeded through his list of about fifteen jutsus.

 

`Hm, he's about middle gennin, as expected. Well, that's just his ninjutsu knowledge. With everything else he's learned included, he's probably more like low chunin.' Fuguku thought. “Naruto, I have a question to ask you.” Naruto ran up, breathless from performing so many jutsus in a row. “Naruto, which clan is your favorite?”

 

Naruto looked at him in confusion. “Fuguku-tou-san, I can't favor one family over another. It's impossible.” Fuguku nodded. That answer was all he needed to know.

 

“Ok, Naruto. You can go now.” Naruto took off, headed towards the Mitarashi residence. But when he got there, there were a couple guards at the door.

 

“What's going on?” Naruto asked.

 

“Sorry, Naruto-kun. Anatomy training is canceled for the day.” One of the guards said. “It appears that Anko-chan has either run away or been kidnapped, and almost all of the clan members are searching for her.”

 

Naruto looked at him, his face blank with shock. But quickly, as he had been taught by his many senseis, he schooled his face back to normal. “Oh, ok. Tell Ryusha-kaa-san and the others that I hope they find her.”

 

The guard looked at him in pity. It was hard on a seasoned Mitarashi clan member to lose the heiress, but this kid was one of her best friends! Then, the guard remembered something, and he called Naruto just as he was walking away. “Naruto! Ryusha-sama asked me to give this to you, and tell you `happy birthday'.” He threw a scroll at Naruto.

 

Naruto quickly unrolled the scroll, and got a second shock. He sat down in surprise, gaping at the scroll. “This- This is, a blank summoning scroll for the dragon! You're not supposed to get this until you're fifteen!”

 

The guard chuckled. “Apparently, she feels you're ready.”

 

“Thank you very much, Guard-san! And thank Ryusha-kaa-san thank you!” Naruto exclaimed, and ran home, practically skipping.

 

But another person in Konoha was feeling anything but joy. That person was Uchiha Fuguku. As soon as Naruto left, Fuguku had called a clan meeting, which consisted of every adult Uchiha except Itachi, who was on a mission. Also left out were the children. Sasuke was practicing his Goukakyuu, and their triplet daughters Kurochi, Hishin, and Metsuki were out playing in the streets of the Uchiha district.

 

“I have called this meeting to discuss our plans.” Fuguku stated. “As you all are aware, we have the superior bloodline in Konoha. But the Hokage refuses to acknowledge that simple fact, instead allowing those pathetic Hyuuga the spot of first clan.” That was met with angry murmuring by the rest of the Uchiha.

 

“So we must annihilate the Hyuuga. Unfortunately, that would never be allowed by the Hokage, and we would be destroyed by the other clans. But there is a simple way that will allow us to destroy the Hyuuga, and show them that we are in right here!”

 

Fuguku's wife, Mikoto, asked “What would that be?”

 

“It is simple. All of the clans prize Naruto.” There was some more angry muttering. Unlike the other clans, the Uchiha had only adopted Naruto because he was a powerful asset to the clan. “And if he was with us, we would as well. But he grows too powerful, and out of all the clans, ours is the one he likes the least. What we must do is assassinate Naruto, and pin the blame on the Hyuugas. The other clans will side with us then, to avenge their precious fox, when we move to utterly crush the Hyuuga.”

 

The other Uchihas thought about that for a moment. On one hand, would be the death of a six year old boy. But on the other, they would be killing a demon, destroying their mortal enemies, and becoming the most powerful clan in Konoha in one fell swoop. A sadistic smirk crossed onto the faces of all the Uchiha, as one by one, they agreed to Fuguku's plan.

 

“But there is one problem. And that is Itachi. He is utterly devoted to that boy, and won't let anything happen to him. So we must, as much as it pains me, eliminate Itachi.” That sobered the room, as Itachi was generally well-liked throughout the clan. “Are there any volunteers to do this difficult task?”

 

There was a moment of silence, then Uchiha Shisui stood up. “I volunteer. Itachi is my best friend, and the best I can give him is a painless death.”

 

Fuguku nodded, closing his eyes. “Thank you, Shusui. Your bravery is commendable. Please see to it when he gets back from his mission. We will await your report before we begin the second part of our task.”

 

Itachi had just returned from his mission: a delivery to the nearby Waterfall village. Ordinarily, it would have taken about three days to do it, but Itachi had been worried about leaving Naruto for even a day, and had pumped all the chakra he could into his legs to get there and back in under a day. He went to his suite of rooms for a quick shower. He had just enough time to eat and get clean before he went on Naruto guard duty. Of course, ninja were exempt from that duty if they had been on a mission, but Itachi didn't want to risk it with an assassination attempt earlier that morning.

 

But when he got to his suite, there was already someone there. “Shusui! Good to see you! What're you doing here?” he asked, but then turned around to begin undressing for his shower. But Shusui didn't answer his question. But he did hear Shusui moving, so assumed that he was going around Itachi so he could look at his face and not his back. But his assumption was dashed when the footsteps stopped and Shusui wasn't in view. Then he heard a whisper, too low for most people to hear.

 

“I'm sorry.”

 

With only that as a warning, Itachi dodged as a katana lodged in the dresser he had been standing in front of. As Itachi followed the rule of `disable first, ask questions later', he drew a kunai and threw it at Shusui's arm. But Shusui moved to dodge, and slipped on an old shirt Itachi had thrown on the ground a couple of days ago. He fell… right into the path of Itachi's kunai, which lodged in his chest. He fell down, bleeding heavily.

 

Itachi ran up, and pulled the kunai out. “I'll just heal this really quickly, and you'll be fine. Come on, stay with me man! I've got to heal this!” But just has his hand started glowing green with healing chakra, Shusui grabbed it.

 

“No… I deserve this.” He rasped out. “Itachi, you have more important things to worry about. The rest of the clan, the adults of the clan… They're… after Naruto.” With that, and a last bloody rasp, Shusui lay dead.

 

“SHUSUI!” Itachi screamed, and held his dead friend for a minute. Then, his grief stricken brain processed Shusui's last words. `No one touches my little brother! NO ONE!' he thought, and looked up with eyes that blazed with the Mangekyou Sharingan. Like lightning, Itachi took off towards Naruto's home.

 

At the home, the other members of the bodyguard were having a lot of trouble. They, and Ibiki, were being overwhelmed by the attacking Uchiha has. Hizashi was already down, but still alive. That was part of the overall plan to make it look like the Hyuuga were to blame for this. But the other ones were going down quickly. Ibiki was bleeding on the ground, and Ryoto was on her last legs. Chouda was absorbing a lot of punishment, and other members of the bodyguard were nursing various injuries.

 

Huddling in a corner of his room, where Ibiki had told him to hide, Naruto was shaking in fear with Kouken on his lap. All of his friends were down there, fighting unknown attackers, and he couldn't do anything to help! `You dumbass, use the distress signal!' Inner Naruto yelled. Naruto slapped his forehead when he remembered what Hiashi had said once Naruto learned how to flare his chakra.

 

Flashback

 

“Naruto, I'm going to teach you something very important.” Hiashi said. “If you ever, EVER, are under attack and you fear for your life, or that of your friends, flare your chakra as much as possible. All of us know your signature, and will move to help you quickly.”

 

End Flashback

 

Naruto got up, and stood on legs that were no longer trembling. He placed his hands in the ram seal, then focused his chakra. Soon, it was flaring brightly in a blue aura, as strong as he could make it. The aura filled up the room, and began casting light on the roof.

 

At the Hyuuga compound, Hiashi sensed the flare. He spit out the tea he had been drinking, and yelled, “Distress signal! All Hyuuga! Prepare for combat!”

 

All over Konoha, that scene was being replayed in eleven other clan compounds. Forces of countless shinobi rushed from their homes in their current state of dress, all going to protect the child that was one of them.

 

The Uchiha felt the flare too. Fuguku cursed. “The other clans will be here shortly! I'll go take care of him! Some of you put on your disguises and continue this! The rest, act like you felt the signal too!” His family nodded, and some donned cowls. Fuguku rushed up the stairs, and into Naruto's room, where he was still putting out that exceptional amount of chakra. It stopped as Naruto looked at Fuguku.

 

“Fuguku-tou-san! You got my signal!” he yelled, mistakenly believing that Fuguku was here to help against mysterious attackers.

 

“No, No, Naruto.” Fuguku said, finally allowing his hate of this boy to bubble to the surface. “I'm not here to save you. I'm the leader of those here to kill you!” With those words, he drew raised his katana, which was already slick with blood, and prepared to slay Naruto.

 

Naruto gaped in shock. `Why would Fuguku-tou-san want to kill me? He's my tou-san! He swore never to hurt me!' Naruto thought. But then Inner Naruto spoke to him once again, and Naruto began shaking in rage. “I see.” He said in an extremely calm voice. “You never were my tou-san.” He saw the blade arching down toward his face. But then he saw something odd: A kunai arching over his shoulder. Instinctively, Naruto dived to the ground, and a kunai passed right over where he had been before, right where he had seen it a moment ago. The kunai struck Fuguku in the hand, causing him to drop his sword with a curse.

 

Fuguku looked at Naruto, who was staring at him from the floor. But instead of the confused and hurt look he expected, he saw hate and rage glaring at him from red eyes with one comma in them. `Sharingan!' Fuguku thought. `I've got to do this now, before he gets accustomed to it!' He pulled the kunai out of his hand, and stabbed at Naruto. Naruto, though he saw it coming in advance, knew he couldn't move in time.

 

But suddenly, the kunai stopped. A hand had grabbed Fuguku's wrist, and the owner of that hand was now trembling in rage. “You tried to kill me.” Itachi said. “You tried to kill my little brother.” He looked Fuguku in the eye, and said, “I won't kill you. I will, however, disable you so that someone can.” His Mangekyou Sharingan began spinning rapidly. “Tsukiyomi!” He yelled, and Fuguku was affected by the most powerful genjutsu an Uchiha could produce.

 

Fuguku found himself in a world that was shades of black and red, tied to a post. “Welcome to my world, Tou-san.” Itachi said. “I'm not very good at controlling it yet, but for the next hour, you will be burnt repeatedly by my Katon jutsus.” With an exhalation, a fireball torched Fuguku. He screamed in agony. “Fifty-Nine minutes, Fifty-nine seconds to go.”

 

Naruto had no idea what just happened. All he saw was Itachi-nii-san show up, look Fuguku-tou…, no Fuguku, in the eyes, and Fuguku had let out an earth shattering scream, and crumpled up on the floor. Itachi walked over to Naruto. “Are you ok, Naruto-kun?” Itachi asked, concern in his voice. Naruto looked up at Itachi, his eyes still red with one comma. Itachi gasped. “Naruto, you've awoken your sharingan!” That announcement, which once would have made Naruto jump for joy, only registered as a dull sound in Naruto's mind. Suddenly, Naruto began getting extremely tired.

 

“Itachi-nii-san, I don't feel so good.” He managed to get out. Itachi instantly realized what was going on.

“Naruto-kun, you're suffering from chakra depletion. If we don't teach you how to shut off your sharingan, it will kill you!” Naruto blanched in fright, and Itachi cursed himself for not being more tactful. “Naruto, look into my eyes.” Itachi said, stressing the importance with every word. Naruto looked up, and saw Itachi's bladed sharingan dissolve into the regular sharingan, then slowly turn back into his dark eyes.

 

Some part of Naruto copied that movement, and his own Sharingan shut off. Itachi breathed a sigh of relief. `So the eye usually does have to copy other eyes shutting off before it knows how to do it itself. That makes an odd amount of sense.' He looked down, and saw the boy had fallen asleep curled up in his lap. Itachi could hear the other clans arriving, assisting the beleaguered bodyguard. By this time tomorrow, there would be no Uchiha clan, save for Itachi, Sasuke, the three young girls, and Naruto.

 

Itachi looked at the sleeping boy, who he had devoted every fiber of his being to protect. “Well, Naruto-kun, it has been a very eventful birthday.”