Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Rotten Roots ❯ Blood Fox and Black Fower ( Chapter 1 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Zagger the Bloody Angel 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Suspense / Action / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.20.2011 | Updated On: 06.20.2011 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 809 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Suspense / Action / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.20.2011 | Updated On: 06.20.2011 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 809 | Status: Work In Progress
I Do Not Own Naruto. Kishimoto and TV Tokyo own the rights.
No one ever noticed the day I changed. Then again, how could I blame them? Hardly anyone ever paid any attention to me so it wasn't too much of a shock. The only ones that ever cared were the old man, his long time friend and a certain girl my age... No, there were others but they had passed on now.
I had almost forgotten the Uchiha clan had always supported me. Now that I think about it without their support for the first nine years of my life could truly have been hell like. Instead I was simply hated from a distance for no one would try and cross their clan.
I still don't understand why they supported me and made sure that I was at least fed and taken care of at the very least but I am thankful. They kept me safe for as long as I can remember... Even now they still protect me even if it wasn't like they did before.
Rubbing my left eye, the eye with a deep scaring surrounding it, I sighed. How was it that no one noticed that I had two different eye colors? Seriously, black and blue aren't even that close in coloration. But no one ever noticed except for one person, my lover.
She had to keep her distance during class, trying to play it like she always did even if she had no feelings for the last Uchiha. Hah, I still have more respect for his clan's murderer then I do him. At least Itachi, while arrogant, did not hold it above anyone. He simply just proved he was better then everyone.
But after class every day she would leave in a hurry, making sure no one followed her to meet me in our spot... The spot where she had found me trying to take my life two years ago after a vicious beating that caused me to lose my original left eye.
A guardian angel? Maybe she was. I no longer really thought anything of it. She was mine for she was there for me in my greatest time of need and her support and with the support of the old man and his closest friend I came through that dark time. I was not unscathed but I came through and my desire to prove my worth was even greater.
Yet I had no reason to protect this village. For all I care it could burn to the ground and I would simply watch it burn for entertainment for what it did to me soon as I had no one to protect my being. But it was because of the friends that I would prove my loyalty, if only to them, and make sure this village stood.
They helped me become who I am today and I will not fail them. Today is the last day of the academy... Now I can finally begin to show who I truly am. But I still had to make sure I scored badly enough to be put on the team with Sasuke for my first mission.
For if he ever showed the signs of fleeing this village and attempted to do so my mission was simple. I was to kill him and bring his body back to see if it was possible to still recreate the Uchiha clan.
If not, oh well. There was still Itachi and it wouldn't be difficult to convince him for he was still loyal to the village.
But now as I waited to be called on, I couldn't help but twitch. Why did I have to use my mother's name? I love her dearly but for the love of... I'm pretty much last in everything because of it! It's rather annoying for I am last in nothing. The only advantage was that when paired up I was almost always with her since we were last on the list...
"Uchiha Sasuke." I heard Iruka call before the raven headed down to take his test and most likely ace it without the slightest difficulty.
Thankfully since I was right after him I knew my wait was nearly at an end. It was so torturous to wait here and play this stinking idiot like I had for these two years and be kept away from my lovely angel. I might not care for many things but she was one and every second I had to watch her play the airhead bimbo that she use to be was agony as I am sure it was it is the same for her.
"You did well Sasuke... Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka stated, handing Sasuke his head band once they exited the room before turning his gaze to me and sighing.
The dolphin is still an enigma to me. At first there was no doubt he hated me with deliberate passion, pushing questions upon me that it even took the Hokage a moment to answer correctly and giving me the most furious looks that anyone ever gave me. But he slowly changed as he watched me...
He became kinder, always trying to help me and sometimes he even altered my tests to try and make it easier for me. At first I thought he was playing an angel but it became apparent that I reminded him of himself and he couldn't sit back and let me suffer alone. Despite this... He never notice once that I was now playing this part nor did he ever see my onyx eye.
Entering the room with Iruka, I noted Mizuki holding a clipboard. He sneered as usual, for his hatred of me never died and in fact probably intensified for having to be around me for so long, before Iruka sat next to him. "Alright brat... None of your pranks. All we want is to see you perform a Transformation, a Replacement and to create two clones."
"Oh I promise I won't do anything." I used my usual chipper voice before switching to my cocky, never going to lose attitude. "This is easy! I'll become Hokage for sure if this is all I have to do!"
"Just do it Naruto..." Iruka sighed and rolled his eyes, feeling like I was trying to stall them which was somewhat true... My persona sucked at Clones.
Using a Replacement was never difficult so I switched out with the log within the room, making sure to goof up slightly. Once Mizuki scored the grade, somewhat grudgingly for he didn't want to give me a passing grade for it I did my 'famous' jutsu and turned into a nude female version of myself.
Both Iruka and Mizuki still had not gained immunity to my Sexy Jutsu, something I was rather irked by for even the old man and friend were easily defeated by, and I had at least expected them to be use to it by no and just had blood trail down their nose. Instead they nearly pass out before Iruka finally screamed at me.
"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL?! WE CLEARLY SAID NO PRANKS!"
"But it wasn't a prank... It is a transformation jutsu. A very effective one at that." I tried to convince the fuming dolphin and the semi awake silver haired chunin.
Iruka simply twitched at me and I swore I could read his mind for a moment or he muttered lightly and I heard him say 'I WILL CRUSH YOU!'. That was actually rather weird for that exact moment I felt Iruka could do exactly that despite our gap in skill... Strange.
"Just get on with the Clones please..." Iruka sighed, not going to give in that it was indeed a transformation and it was extraordinarily effective despite its indecency.
Deeply sighing, for both knew my persona hated using Clones, I acted as if I was praying before I formed the seal necessary to create the clones. However I was not going to fail this so I made sure my chakra followed just perfectly before performing the jutsu.
And there two visible clones poofed at my side without any deformity in them in the slightest. Of course I couldn't let either know that I had done this on purpose and had to make it look like an accident. "WOAH! I DID IT! HAHA! Am I great or what?!"
As Mizuki twitched, Iruka sighed at me once again before lifting a head band from the desk and walking besides me to the door before pushing it open. "You passed Naruto. Good job. Yamanaka Ino, let's go!"
"YES! This will prove once and for all that I'm the one for Sasuke forehead!" The said blonde grinned before jumping up and sprinted down, almost knocking me over in the process.
With her words she easily was able to temporarily distract those that would notice what she had actually done for Sasuke had rolled his eyes, Iruka slapped his forehead and Sakura screamed out at Ino. "Not in a thousand years Ino-pig!"
After Iruka entered the room with Ino, I couldn't help but smirk. Not a single one noticed that when they ran into one another she had nuzzled her cheek against mine and planted a small note in my hand. Thankfully Shikamaru was asleep otherwise he would have noticed despite whatever was said or done. He knew Ino well... Or at least the old Ino.
Making it to my seat, I slipped the note onto my desk to see what was written and sighed. Ino was going to fail the exam. It had to be done for this was her first mission and she was going to draw out the traitor Mizuki. They had information that he had contact with Orochimaru and if that was true...
Burning the message with my intensity of my chakra, I could only sigh once I heard Ino's echoing scream. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I FAIL?! I CAN'T FAIL!"
Today was going to be a long day... Hopefully I would get some time with her before our lives as ninjas began.
"Hey there..." I said having made it to our secret spot, the spot of my death... Or the death of who I was.
She was so beautiful sitting there. Her golden hair swayed within the wind leaving a few strands hanging in the air, shining brightly like they always did. Slipping in behind her, pressing my chest against her backside, my hands wrapped around her waist and I softly nuzzled my nose into her collar bone.
And like always Ino could only smile and softly giggled within my embrace before her sky blues met my sapphires. "Stop it... You know what that does to me."
"Obviously. Why else would I do it?" I chirped back at her for she was the only one I could ever be happy around now... She was my heart and held all of my joy and love.
Hearing her scoff, my fellow blonde simply glared at me before leaning back into my touch and laid her head against my own. "Today we truly begin our lives as ninja... As Elite Roots to forge this great village anew."
I said nothing and simply gazed at the burning sun above, reminiscing on the day she became his. The day that everything changed for him.
***(Memory Lane)***
"Why... Why does it have to be like this?!" I screamed out while pained ripped through my body like it never had before or after that one time.
Ever since my caretakers had stopped coming to take care of me others came... To cause harm to me. Most the time it were just beatings and while I was enraged at what was happening... I could take it.
I wasn't sure why I could but I just could. Maybe it was my naivety to believe that maybe their anger would abate towards me if they let it out. Or maybe it was because I had begun to already accept it as some sort of punishment for something I did.
But this day... It was different. They didn't just stop with fists and kicks but instead brought out clubs and blades. And this time there was no one to stop them like there had been on many occasions. They did whatever they pleased and wrecked my body with unimaginable pain.
I don't remember much about then for I must have blacked out when the pain hit its peak. When a knife had struck my left orbital and destroyed my blue eye.
And when I awoke... I was still there and not in a hospital bed. No one had come for me. No one had stopped them from ravishing my body with their weapons. They had allowed this to happen. They allowed me to be their toy...
I picked up one of the blades they had left and drug myself from that spot, despite my hemorrhaging wounds, broken bones and the lack of an eye to see properly. And without anyone seeing me I made it to my spot... The spot I hid myself when things become too much to bare.
On my father's head on the monument though at the time I did not know such.
Everything was too much. No one cared for me. Not a single soul despite the old man saying he did. He did not come for me in my greatest time in need nor did anyone else. I was determined to end it all at that very moment but the strangest thing happened.
Someone came for me at the very moment I ripped the knife through my wrist. It was a girl my age with platinum blonde hair and innocent sky blue eyes. A girl, that when I remembered, indeed had a crush on the class favored.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She screamed at me and slid down the cliff to make it to the head.
One wrong step and she could have been dead but she didn't seem to care and managed to make it just fine despite being losing her footing for a moment. In that instant she was on me, took the knife and had brought what little cloth she had on her to stop the bleeding.
Stifling a gasp seeing the rest of my wounds, she simply looked at me with terror in her eyes. But it wasn't the same look I was use to. She was frighten at what happened to me, not what I was. "Naruto... Hold on! I'll go get some help..."
"Why?" I simply asked. I wasn't sure myself at the time. Was it because I wanted to know if she wanted to help me or was it because I was shocked that someone other than the old man was showing me kindness.
It seemed she hadn't expected that question. Her body was shaking at seeing me like this, not that I could blame her. My wounds were horrific and for a ten year old to see such was traumatizing. She was only beginning to understand my pain.
But it was at that moment I realized why she was there in the first place. Her entire body trembled but she managed to bring forth enough courage to answer my question. "Be... Because... We're alike."
She didn't care about who I was. She didn't care that my blood was pouring onto her and her clothes from both my wrist and the rest of my wounds. She didn't care that I was the dead last in our class. She didn't care about any of that.
She was there to help because she liked me.
***(Memory End)***
She was somewhat wrong in her assessment. We were very different but despite that... We were very similar in personality and she was drawn in because of that. And despite what we had gone through we were still very much alike. We both had our fake persona of a loud and brash wannabee ninja but on the interior we quite and dark.
"Hey, are you listening?" Ino's voice pierced through my thoughts and turned my attention to the slightly annoyed blonde.
Without knowing it at that very moment she had become my angel. Maybe she knew, maybe not. But whatever reason she had for being there she saved me and started this chain of events.
"Not really... I was just remembering when we first met." I stated knowing how to keep out of trouble after saying I wasn't listening to her.
Ino frowned at me for a moment before sighing out loud and laying her head back against mine. "I was too... Everyday I am... Unsure about what has happened. I don't regret it for I'm with you but... What would have happened if I hadn't gone looking for you on that day?"
"I would be dead and you'd probably be a Sasuke fan girl having long forgotten about me." Naruto honestly answered for from what he knew it had been one of those spur of the moment things for Ino for she decided to crush on him after being paired with one another in a group activity.
"I don't think so..." Ino sadly commented, turning in her seat so we were facing face to face and eye to eye. "I don't think I would have moved on so easily after hearing if you died like that. I had been crushing on you for a while before... I was just using Sasuke to try and make you jealous."
Simply rolling my eyes for the last thing she said, I sighed before brushing my hand through her long flowing hair. "And you'd thought that would work? Don't forget I was ten and incredibly dense. I wouldn't have ever noticed something like that then."
"Fair enough... But I have you now so I'm satisfied." Ino grinned before she nuzzled against the side of my face until her nose met to my collar bone. "I wanna leave my mark..."
There was nothing I could really say or do about it. If she wanted to leave her mark who was I to refuse. I was hers just as much as she was mine. It was her right to mark me if she felt the need to do so.
After a moment, letting her lick, nibble and suck on my collar bone before a hickey formed, she came to my face before our lips touched. I so wished that we didn't have to hide our relationship like this. Her father wouldn't mind too horribly much from what I knew of the man but...
Our relationship had to be secret. It wasn't for some stupid reason like to protect her from those that wished to harm me. Nothing like that. Our relationship was to be secret because it started the very moment we began to train and were accepted into the Root program. If one discovered us our connection to Root would quickly be identified and he would be in trouble.
And unlike other Roots we were allowed to keep our thoughts... Our personality for we had a different purpose. One that would eventually lead to the rebirth of Konoha. Well... that was part of the reason. The old man was the other.
He would not let us become emotionless weapons and made sure Danzo did not turn us into other Roots. The man agreed without any conflict for he would accept whatever grounds so that I could be his tool to recreate this village the way he believed... The way even the old Hokage saw as necessary for he finally began to see the corruption in the rotting roots.
"Ino..." I softly spoke after she broke our kiss and leaned against my shoulder. "Shall we get going? If we want to capture Mizuki we better get started."
"I know... But just give me a moment. I can feel your heart beating..." She said keeping me seated for she did not want to move at this moment.
And I wasn't going to say otherwise. She looked content and that was something I did not want to disturb. She was my heart and I would do anything and everything to keep her such.
Despite not being an official part of her mission, he really wanted to put Mizuki through hell. The chunin had been a thorn in my side after he had joined the academy and always did his best to fail him or set it up to where there would be no choice but to fail, like being matched up against Sasuke weeks after the Uchiha massacre...
There was also the fact that he had been snooping around for far too long and while he kept his relationship with Ino a well hidden secret he could have stumbled across them during a secret meeting or noted that Ino's discrete glances towards him every now and then during class in our earlier days when they weren't so hidden about it.
However that might have been enough for him to figure out something was going on between the two of them. And if he did know... Well Naruto would have to take care of it and either wipe his mind or destroy the evidence. They could not afford to have our cover as Root agents blown.
"There anything good in there?" Naruto had to ask for he noted that Ino had taken to copying a few of jutsu from the scroll that might be useful to learn.
"Quite a few actually. I noted that you know some in here and even I know one or two but all of these jutsu are high classed or have a terrible price to them. Take this one... Impure World Resurrection. It requires live human sacrifices to bring forth the dead within the Pure World." Ino commented going back over one of the jutsu she had copied from the stolen forbidden scroll.
Moving to her side and glancing at the jutsu, Naruto made a quick note to learn the jutsu. Just from hearing what Ino said he knew the jutsu was well worth the price. To bring one back to life, even if only temporarily, and have them controlled under one's will was a deadly combination. And after seeing what it required...
He had to make sure to learn it. He might not ever be able to revive his mother or father with the jutsu but if it was possible to obtain the DNA of powerful ninja it would be a useful tool. "I see... Despite the human sacrifice portion it doesn't seem to have a price. Hm, I might want to test that for myself."
"I figured you'd like it. There is also a few others here that I've copied but outside of that there isn't much we already don't know." Ino chirped for she knew her fiancé well and knew that the revival technique would catch his fancy.
But before she could say more she frowned for she caught an approaching signature. "...Company. By the chakra residue it's Iruka but Mizuki is not too far behind."
"I'll take shelter. Treat Iruka as a bystander until proven otherwise. Mizuki is our target." Naruto ordered before dispersing in a swirl of leaves, leaving Ino somewhat disheveled and making it seem that she had been trying to learn one of the jutsu.
The blonde couldn't help but smile at her lover's genjutsu. If there was one thing that Naruto was better then absolutely anything else it had to be his illusions. Despite having a horrid time picking them up at the start, once he learned how to wield them he took them to new levels never seen with such low level techniques.
And if he started to use the high level techniques that he had mastered... She shivered. She wasn't sure if Uchiha Itachi could easily pierce through some of Naruto's best illusions.
Taking a deep breath and preparing for her farce, Ino's gaze fell onto Iruka just as he jumped into the clearing. It was obvious that he was furious but at the same time she could see the worry written on his face. "Ino... What the hell?! Why did you steal the Forbidden Scroll?! Do you know how much trouble you can get into?!"
"But... I was told to take it." Ino explained looking rather confused at the events transpiring before her, playing her roll perfectly. "Mizuki-sensei told me to take the scroll and learn a jutsu from it to pass."
"What?" Iruka looked startled at this information, knowing that Ino was telling the truth about the situation. "That can't be... Mizuki!"
Iruka cringed in pain, failing to his knees just a windmill shuriken lodged itself into his back side, his chunin vest armor being able to keep it from completely piercing through along with proper chakra placement having sensed the attack at the last second. "Sorry Iruka... But this village has held me back too long."
"I originally hoped Naruto had failed so I could convince him to steal the scroll and get rid of the pest at the same time... But he had to get lucky and create those clones of his." Mizuki growled out, holding a kunai to Iruka's throat for a moment before his gaze turned to Ino. "However this would cause him far more agony..."
"You see she has been going out with the fox demon this entire time... It took some time and my best stealth to just get peaks at the two with one another. It seemed the bastard knew what would happen if someone learned he had a girlfriend..." Mizuki drew another windmill shuriken from his back before stepping down onto Iruka's back and lodging the shuriken further into him.
"Don't take this personally Ino... For you would have been a good kunoichi someday but the moment you started going out with him sealed your fate. You become the demon's whore and will suffer with him!" With a hefty heave, he tossed the shuriken with more then enough strength and speed to kill the young girl for she was nothing but an academy student.
"NO! INO RUN!" Iruka cried out, trying to break free of Mizuki's hold but with his wound and the pressure being placed there was nothing he could do. He was going to watch one of his students die before him and be able to do nothing about it.
Or so he thought.
At the very moment the shuriken was about to slice into Ino, the girl simply chuckled before both her arms began to glow and runes rapidly raced down her arms. It was then the windmill shuriken split into dozens of pieces and hit the trees behind her without so much leaving a scar on her body. And in both hands there was katana made of a blackened metal that blend into the shadows around her yet seemingly glinted from the sharpness of the edges.
"So you think such a puny weapon can hurt me, the lover of the demon as you say?" Ino darkly chuckled as she rested the two katana at her side and glanced directly into Mizuki's eyes. "Before I kill you for betraying our village... I will show you the light and by the end you will realize that you are more of a demon then Naruto has ever been!"
"FUCK YOU!" Mizuki screamed out at her before pulling forth a kunai in his dominant hand and a handful of shuriken in his other before tossing them towards Ino and charging.
"Dance of the Falling Leaves!" Ino cried before she simply twirled, avoiding almost every shuriken with the motion and the few that would have hit were cleanly cut in two from a flick of her wrists.
With this motion it gave Mizuki the time he needed to close their distance and pierce her with his kunai. But just as he was about to do so the right handed katana came down and seemingly missed his kunai at first despite feeling slight contact for his momentum had been stopped. It was then the tip of his kunai fell to the ground below leaving the weapon quite useless.
Mizuki's eyes widened for he had never seen such a thing before for the kunai from this village were among the best made in the world and were extraordinarily durable. For one to slice through one so easily either meant there was incredible force involve or the blade was imbued with a well refined element.
Jumping back just as Ino twirled her katana and motioned for a cut, the chunin narrowed his eyes seeing the smiling girl. Before he could draw on anther windmill an intense pain filled his abdomen forcing him onto his knees and bringing his hands to his stomach. Bringing them to his eyes he could not believe what he was seeing.
They were soaked in his blood.
"How... How is this possible?! I saw your slice! You never hit me!" Mizuki screamed in agony for blood poured out of his gut and he tried to stop the flow.
Ino simply grinned and flicked the blood of her left katana. Flipping the handles within her grasp and placing the blades against her forearms, the two swords melted into the runes before they too began to disperse. Ino's grin, however did not as her sky blues pierced into Mizuki's. "Oh but I did. What you saw was the after image of my swing."
"You never stood a chance against me. I may not be a ninja as of this moment but I am capable of defeat a good portion of the jounin of this village. A chunin like you could never touch me in combat." Ino growled out before she made the motions for her family's signature technique. "Now I do believe I said I will show you the light before this is over!"
"Naruto, cover me and make sure nothing happens. Erase Iruka's memory of this event as well." Ino barked at her lover, who simply formed from the shadows next to Ino.
"Allow me to take over for you are better at the mind wiping." Naruto stated closing his left eye for a moment before kneeling down before the trembling chunin before him. "I've always wanted to make him suffer like he made me for so long."
"If you wish my love." Ino sighed and released her hand seals for she rather had done a little mind scoping with Mizuki but Naruto was effective with his methods.
Moving to the wounded and stunned Iruka, who was trying to get up and call someone to his aid, Ino stood before him and performed one of her clan's signature jutsus. "This may sting but you must forgive me. It is better for Konoha if this did not get out. Shintenshin."
In that moment Ino's body went limp as her soul temporarily invaded Iruka's being before she quickly made work and took his memory of this event and shatter it. And just before she returned back to her body, she hit the correct mental nerves to send Iruka into a deep sleep that would last for a day at least.
When she returned to her own body, her vision fell onto her lover's twisted glare focused solely the silver haired chunin. She winced for a moment, for she hated to see Naruto like this despite knowing the reasoning for it. She at times still preferred the old Naruto... The one before all of this had happened.
Still... She loved him. He was still the same with her as he was from the beginning. His personality towards everyone else may had warped and she would have to deal with it. She lost him once and she wasn't willing to lose him again.
"Mizuki... What is this? Are you afraid?" Naruto's voice was loud enough for Ino to hear and she noted his eyes were now piercing into the chunin's. "No... You have hated me wrongly this entire time. I never have done anything to justify your hatred. If anything I did everything to prove I wasn't the demon!"
"But now you get to see your just desserts and see the beast you have created! Now behold this false eye of mine and tremble before the power it possesses!" Naruto roared out, his black eye now bleeding crimson and temporarily showing what it was.
It was the Sharingan, the legendary eye of the now fallen Uchiha clan. But it was only temporary for it became warped, just like it's user, and formed its most powerful stage.
The Mangekyou.
"Tsukiyomi!"
Ino winced. That genjutsu was the ultimate torture far none. While his time was limited there was nothing that was not possible within that dimension for what Naruto control with it was disturbing. He controlled space.
She had heard that Itachi, the only other known Mangekyou possessor, controlled time with his. Ha, an extend amount of time of torturous sessions was nothing compared to the things Naruto could create within his mind. The Uchiha had to rely on real and physical objects within the illusion to do their effect.
Naruto did not.
Mizuki's screams started almost soon after he muttered that one word. Whatever Naruto had put him through was horrifying, that was for sure. She had only been a witness to its power once for a test run and despite Naruto dampening what he was capable of with it she was still quite horrified at what could be done.
Soon Mizuki's body crashed to the muddy earth below, blood flowing from his mouth. He was brought deep within the jutsu that his mind had been warped severely damaged enough that it caused internal damage. Then was the wound she had given him, dicing deep into his intestines holding back just enough so his bowels did not spill onto the ground and kill him instantly.
A small part of her wished that she had. It would have spared him the dementia that was her lover. But despite this pitiful guilt she felt an overwhelming satisfaction. His goal was to harm him and take her away from her lover. Ha, he deserved it more then what she pitied of him.
"What has happened here?" A voice caught their attention before an Anbu unit dropped down, the leader with purple hair speaking before her gaze fell onto Naruto and his warped Sharingan. "I see... I want a full report, Blood Fox."
"It was not my mission, Neko-chan... It was Black Flower's." Naruto responded, turning to his blonde lover and smiling, allowing his false eye to revert to its onyx state.
While the other Anbu were unsure what was happening, the captain sighed for she knew these two had been Root agents for over a year now and were designated Anbu. They simply had not received their ninja rank, that was the only purpose of their graduation.
...And the missions the two were given out to perform. To evaluate their youth and to weed out any and all problems.
Turning to the young Yamanaka, she sighed as her brown eyes met her shining blues. This was going to be a long night.
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No one ever noticed the day I changed. Then again, how could I blame them? Hardly anyone ever paid any attention to me so it wasn't too much of a shock. The only ones that ever cared were the old man, his long time friend and a certain girl my age... No, there were others but they had passed on now.
I had almost forgotten the Uchiha clan had always supported me. Now that I think about it without their support for the first nine years of my life could truly have been hell like. Instead I was simply hated from a distance for no one would try and cross their clan.
I still don't understand why they supported me and made sure that I was at least fed and taken care of at the very least but I am thankful. They kept me safe for as long as I can remember... Even now they still protect me even if it wasn't like they did before.
Rubbing my left eye, the eye with a deep scaring surrounding it, I sighed. How was it that no one noticed that I had two different eye colors? Seriously, black and blue aren't even that close in coloration. But no one ever noticed except for one person, my lover.
She had to keep her distance during class, trying to play it like she always did even if she had no feelings for the last Uchiha. Hah, I still have more respect for his clan's murderer then I do him. At least Itachi, while arrogant, did not hold it above anyone. He simply just proved he was better then everyone.
But after class every day she would leave in a hurry, making sure no one followed her to meet me in our spot... The spot where she had found me trying to take my life two years ago after a vicious beating that caused me to lose my original left eye.
A guardian angel? Maybe she was. I no longer really thought anything of it. She was mine for she was there for me in my greatest time of need and her support and with the support of the old man and his closest friend I came through that dark time. I was not unscathed but I came through and my desire to prove my worth was even greater.
Yet I had no reason to protect this village. For all I care it could burn to the ground and I would simply watch it burn for entertainment for what it did to me soon as I had no one to protect my being. But it was because of the friends that I would prove my loyalty, if only to them, and make sure this village stood.
They helped me become who I am today and I will not fail them. Today is the last day of the academy... Now I can finally begin to show who I truly am. But I still had to make sure I scored badly enough to be put on the team with Sasuke for my first mission.
For if he ever showed the signs of fleeing this village and attempted to do so my mission was simple. I was to kill him and bring his body back to see if it was possible to still recreate the Uchiha clan.
If not, oh well. There was still Itachi and it wouldn't be difficult to convince him for he was still loyal to the village.
But now as I waited to be called on, I couldn't help but twitch. Why did I have to use my mother's name? I love her dearly but for the love of... I'm pretty much last in everything because of it! It's rather annoying for I am last in nothing. The only advantage was that when paired up I was almost always with her since we were last on the list...
"Uchiha Sasuke." I heard Iruka call before the raven headed down to take his test and most likely ace it without the slightest difficulty.
Thankfully since I was right after him I knew my wait was nearly at an end. It was so torturous to wait here and play this stinking idiot like I had for these two years and be kept away from my lovely angel. I might not care for many things but she was one and every second I had to watch her play the airhead bimbo that she use to be was agony as I am sure it was it is the same for her.
"You did well Sasuke... Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka stated, handing Sasuke his head band once they exited the room before turning his gaze to me and sighing.
The dolphin is still an enigma to me. At first there was no doubt he hated me with deliberate passion, pushing questions upon me that it even took the Hokage a moment to answer correctly and giving me the most furious looks that anyone ever gave me. But he slowly changed as he watched me...
He became kinder, always trying to help me and sometimes he even altered my tests to try and make it easier for me. At first I thought he was playing an angel but it became apparent that I reminded him of himself and he couldn't sit back and let me suffer alone. Despite this... He never notice once that I was now playing this part nor did he ever see my onyx eye.
Entering the room with Iruka, I noted Mizuki holding a clipboard. He sneered as usual, for his hatred of me never died and in fact probably intensified for having to be around me for so long, before Iruka sat next to him. "Alright brat... None of your pranks. All we want is to see you perform a Transformation, a Replacement and to create two clones."
"Oh I promise I won't do anything." I used my usual chipper voice before switching to my cocky, never going to lose attitude. "This is easy! I'll become Hokage for sure if this is all I have to do!"
"Just do it Naruto..." Iruka sighed and rolled his eyes, feeling like I was trying to stall them which was somewhat true... My persona sucked at Clones.
Using a Replacement was never difficult so I switched out with the log within the room, making sure to goof up slightly. Once Mizuki scored the grade, somewhat grudgingly for he didn't want to give me a passing grade for it I did my 'famous' jutsu and turned into a nude female version of myself.
Both Iruka and Mizuki still had not gained immunity to my Sexy Jutsu, something I was rather irked by for even the old man and friend were easily defeated by, and I had at least expected them to be use to it by no and just had blood trail down their nose. Instead they nearly pass out before Iruka finally screamed at me.
"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL?! WE CLEARLY SAID NO PRANKS!"
"But it wasn't a prank... It is a transformation jutsu. A very effective one at that." I tried to convince the fuming dolphin and the semi awake silver haired chunin.
Iruka simply twitched at me and I swore I could read his mind for a moment or he muttered lightly and I heard him say 'I WILL CRUSH YOU!'. That was actually rather weird for that exact moment I felt Iruka could do exactly that despite our gap in skill... Strange.
"Just get on with the Clones please..." Iruka sighed, not going to give in that it was indeed a transformation and it was extraordinarily effective despite its indecency.
Deeply sighing, for both knew my persona hated using Clones, I acted as if I was praying before I formed the seal necessary to create the clones. However I was not going to fail this so I made sure my chakra followed just perfectly before performing the jutsu.
And there two visible clones poofed at my side without any deformity in them in the slightest. Of course I couldn't let either know that I had done this on purpose and had to make it look like an accident. "WOAH! I DID IT! HAHA! Am I great or what?!"
As Mizuki twitched, Iruka sighed at me once again before lifting a head band from the desk and walking besides me to the door before pushing it open. "You passed Naruto. Good job. Yamanaka Ino, let's go!"
"YES! This will prove once and for all that I'm the one for Sasuke forehead!" The said blonde grinned before jumping up and sprinted down, almost knocking me over in the process.
With her words she easily was able to temporarily distract those that would notice what she had actually done for Sasuke had rolled his eyes, Iruka slapped his forehead and Sakura screamed out at Ino. "Not in a thousand years Ino-pig!"
After Iruka entered the room with Ino, I couldn't help but smirk. Not a single one noticed that when they ran into one another she had nuzzled her cheek against mine and planted a small note in my hand. Thankfully Shikamaru was asleep otherwise he would have noticed despite whatever was said or done. He knew Ino well... Or at least the old Ino.
Making it to my seat, I slipped the note onto my desk to see what was written and sighed. Ino was going to fail the exam. It had to be done for this was her first mission and she was going to draw out the traitor Mizuki. They had information that he had contact with Orochimaru and if that was true...
Burning the message with my intensity of my chakra, I could only sigh once I heard Ino's echoing scream. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I FAIL?! I CAN'T FAIL!"
Today was going to be a long day... Hopefully I would get some time with her before our lives as ninjas began.
"Hey there..." I said having made it to our secret spot, the spot of my death... Or the death of who I was.
She was so beautiful sitting there. Her golden hair swayed within the wind leaving a few strands hanging in the air, shining brightly like they always did. Slipping in behind her, pressing my chest against her backside, my hands wrapped around her waist and I softly nuzzled my nose into her collar bone.
And like always Ino could only smile and softly giggled within my embrace before her sky blues met my sapphires. "Stop it... You know what that does to me."
"Obviously. Why else would I do it?" I chirped back at her for she was the only one I could ever be happy around now... She was my heart and held all of my joy and love.
Hearing her scoff, my fellow blonde simply glared at me before leaning back into my touch and laid her head against my own. "Today we truly begin our lives as ninja... As Elite Roots to forge this great village anew."
I said nothing and simply gazed at the burning sun above, reminiscing on the day she became his. The day that everything changed for him.
***(Memory Lane)***
"Why... Why does it have to be like this?!" I screamed out while pained ripped through my body like it never had before or after that one time.
Ever since my caretakers had stopped coming to take care of me others came... To cause harm to me. Most the time it were just beatings and while I was enraged at what was happening... I could take it.
I wasn't sure why I could but I just could. Maybe it was my naivety to believe that maybe their anger would abate towards me if they let it out. Or maybe it was because I had begun to already accept it as some sort of punishment for something I did.
But this day... It was different. They didn't just stop with fists and kicks but instead brought out clubs and blades. And this time there was no one to stop them like there had been on many occasions. They did whatever they pleased and wrecked my body with unimaginable pain.
I don't remember much about then for I must have blacked out when the pain hit its peak. When a knife had struck my left orbital and destroyed my blue eye.
And when I awoke... I was still there and not in a hospital bed. No one had come for me. No one had stopped them from ravishing my body with their weapons. They had allowed this to happen. They allowed me to be their toy...
I picked up one of the blades they had left and drug myself from that spot, despite my hemorrhaging wounds, broken bones and the lack of an eye to see properly. And without anyone seeing me I made it to my spot... The spot I hid myself when things become too much to bare.
On my father's head on the monument though at the time I did not know such.
Everything was too much. No one cared for me. Not a single soul despite the old man saying he did. He did not come for me in my greatest time in need nor did anyone else. I was determined to end it all at that very moment but the strangest thing happened.
Someone came for me at the very moment I ripped the knife through my wrist. It was a girl my age with platinum blonde hair and innocent sky blue eyes. A girl, that when I remembered, indeed had a crush on the class favored.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She screamed at me and slid down the cliff to make it to the head.
One wrong step and she could have been dead but she didn't seem to care and managed to make it just fine despite being losing her footing for a moment. In that instant she was on me, took the knife and had brought what little cloth she had on her to stop the bleeding.
Stifling a gasp seeing the rest of my wounds, she simply looked at me with terror in her eyes. But it wasn't the same look I was use to. She was frighten at what happened to me, not what I was. "Naruto... Hold on! I'll go get some help..."
"Why?" I simply asked. I wasn't sure myself at the time. Was it because I wanted to know if she wanted to help me or was it because I was shocked that someone other than the old man was showing me kindness.
It seemed she hadn't expected that question. Her body was shaking at seeing me like this, not that I could blame her. My wounds were horrific and for a ten year old to see such was traumatizing. She was only beginning to understand my pain.
But it was at that moment I realized why she was there in the first place. Her entire body trembled but she managed to bring forth enough courage to answer my question. "Be... Because... We're alike."
She didn't care about who I was. She didn't care that my blood was pouring onto her and her clothes from both my wrist and the rest of my wounds. She didn't care that I was the dead last in our class. She didn't care about any of that.
She was there to help because she liked me.
***(Memory End)***
She was somewhat wrong in her assessment. We were very different but despite that... We were very similar in personality and she was drawn in because of that. And despite what we had gone through we were still very much alike. We both had our fake persona of a loud and brash wannabee ninja but on the interior we quite and dark.
"Hey, are you listening?" Ino's voice pierced through my thoughts and turned my attention to the slightly annoyed blonde.
Without knowing it at that very moment she had become my angel. Maybe she knew, maybe not. But whatever reason she had for being there she saved me and started this chain of events.
"Not really... I was just remembering when we first met." I stated knowing how to keep out of trouble after saying I wasn't listening to her.
Ino frowned at me for a moment before sighing out loud and laying her head back against mine. "I was too... Everyday I am... Unsure about what has happened. I don't regret it for I'm with you but... What would have happened if I hadn't gone looking for you on that day?"
"I would be dead and you'd probably be a Sasuke fan girl having long forgotten about me." Naruto honestly answered for from what he knew it had been one of those spur of the moment things for Ino for she decided to crush on him after being paired with one another in a group activity.
"I don't think so..." Ino sadly commented, turning in her seat so we were facing face to face and eye to eye. "I don't think I would have moved on so easily after hearing if you died like that. I had been crushing on you for a while before... I was just using Sasuke to try and make you jealous."
Simply rolling my eyes for the last thing she said, I sighed before brushing my hand through her long flowing hair. "And you'd thought that would work? Don't forget I was ten and incredibly dense. I wouldn't have ever noticed something like that then."
"Fair enough... But I have you now so I'm satisfied." Ino grinned before she nuzzled against the side of my face until her nose met to my collar bone. "I wanna leave my mark..."
There was nothing I could really say or do about it. If she wanted to leave her mark who was I to refuse. I was hers just as much as she was mine. It was her right to mark me if she felt the need to do so.
After a moment, letting her lick, nibble and suck on my collar bone before a hickey formed, she came to my face before our lips touched. I so wished that we didn't have to hide our relationship like this. Her father wouldn't mind too horribly much from what I knew of the man but...
Our relationship had to be secret. It wasn't for some stupid reason like to protect her from those that wished to harm me. Nothing like that. Our relationship was to be secret because it started the very moment we began to train and were accepted into the Root program. If one discovered us our connection to Root would quickly be identified and he would be in trouble.
And unlike other Roots we were allowed to keep our thoughts... Our personality for we had a different purpose. One that would eventually lead to the rebirth of Konoha. Well... that was part of the reason. The old man was the other.
He would not let us become emotionless weapons and made sure Danzo did not turn us into other Roots. The man agreed without any conflict for he would accept whatever grounds so that I could be his tool to recreate this village the way he believed... The way even the old Hokage saw as necessary for he finally began to see the corruption in the rotting roots.
"Ino..." I softly spoke after she broke our kiss and leaned against my shoulder. "Shall we get going? If we want to capture Mizuki we better get started."
"I know... But just give me a moment. I can feel your heart beating..." She said keeping me seated for she did not want to move at this moment.
And I wasn't going to say otherwise. She looked content and that was something I did not want to disturb. She was my heart and I would do anything and everything to keep her such.
Despite not being an official part of her mission, he really wanted to put Mizuki through hell. The chunin had been a thorn in my side after he had joined the academy and always did his best to fail him or set it up to where there would be no choice but to fail, like being matched up against Sasuke weeks after the Uchiha massacre...
There was also the fact that he had been snooping around for far too long and while he kept his relationship with Ino a well hidden secret he could have stumbled across them during a secret meeting or noted that Ino's discrete glances towards him every now and then during class in our earlier days when they weren't so hidden about it.
However that might have been enough for him to figure out something was going on between the two of them. And if he did know... Well Naruto would have to take care of it and either wipe his mind or destroy the evidence. They could not afford to have our cover as Root agents blown.
"There anything good in there?" Naruto had to ask for he noted that Ino had taken to copying a few of jutsu from the scroll that might be useful to learn.
"Quite a few actually. I noted that you know some in here and even I know one or two but all of these jutsu are high classed or have a terrible price to them. Take this one... Impure World Resurrection. It requires live human sacrifices to bring forth the dead within the Pure World." Ino commented going back over one of the jutsu she had copied from the stolen forbidden scroll.
Moving to her side and glancing at the jutsu, Naruto made a quick note to learn the jutsu. Just from hearing what Ino said he knew the jutsu was well worth the price. To bring one back to life, even if only temporarily, and have them controlled under one's will was a deadly combination. And after seeing what it required...
He had to make sure to learn it. He might not ever be able to revive his mother or father with the jutsu but if it was possible to obtain the DNA of powerful ninja it would be a useful tool. "I see... Despite the human sacrifice portion it doesn't seem to have a price. Hm, I might want to test that for myself."
"I figured you'd like it. There is also a few others here that I've copied but outside of that there isn't much we already don't know." Ino chirped for she knew her fiancé well and knew that the revival technique would catch his fancy.
But before she could say more she frowned for she caught an approaching signature. "...Company. By the chakra residue it's Iruka but Mizuki is not too far behind."
"I'll take shelter. Treat Iruka as a bystander until proven otherwise. Mizuki is our target." Naruto ordered before dispersing in a swirl of leaves, leaving Ino somewhat disheveled and making it seem that she had been trying to learn one of the jutsu.
The blonde couldn't help but smile at her lover's genjutsu. If there was one thing that Naruto was better then absolutely anything else it had to be his illusions. Despite having a horrid time picking them up at the start, once he learned how to wield them he took them to new levels never seen with such low level techniques.
And if he started to use the high level techniques that he had mastered... She shivered. She wasn't sure if Uchiha Itachi could easily pierce through some of Naruto's best illusions.
Taking a deep breath and preparing for her farce, Ino's gaze fell onto Iruka just as he jumped into the clearing. It was obvious that he was furious but at the same time she could see the worry written on his face. "Ino... What the hell?! Why did you steal the Forbidden Scroll?! Do you know how much trouble you can get into?!"
"But... I was told to take it." Ino explained looking rather confused at the events transpiring before her, playing her roll perfectly. "Mizuki-sensei told me to take the scroll and learn a jutsu from it to pass."
"What?" Iruka looked startled at this information, knowing that Ino was telling the truth about the situation. "That can't be... Mizuki!"
Iruka cringed in pain, failing to his knees just a windmill shuriken lodged itself into his back side, his chunin vest armor being able to keep it from completely piercing through along with proper chakra placement having sensed the attack at the last second. "Sorry Iruka... But this village has held me back too long."
"I originally hoped Naruto had failed so I could convince him to steal the scroll and get rid of the pest at the same time... But he had to get lucky and create those clones of his." Mizuki growled out, holding a kunai to Iruka's throat for a moment before his gaze turned to Ino. "However this would cause him far more agony..."
"You see she has been going out with the fox demon this entire time... It took some time and my best stealth to just get peaks at the two with one another. It seemed the bastard knew what would happen if someone learned he had a girlfriend..." Mizuki drew another windmill shuriken from his back before stepping down onto Iruka's back and lodging the shuriken further into him.
"Don't take this personally Ino... For you would have been a good kunoichi someday but the moment you started going out with him sealed your fate. You become the demon's whore and will suffer with him!" With a hefty heave, he tossed the shuriken with more then enough strength and speed to kill the young girl for she was nothing but an academy student.
"NO! INO RUN!" Iruka cried out, trying to break free of Mizuki's hold but with his wound and the pressure being placed there was nothing he could do. He was going to watch one of his students die before him and be able to do nothing about it.
Or so he thought.
At the very moment the shuriken was about to slice into Ino, the girl simply chuckled before both her arms began to glow and runes rapidly raced down her arms. It was then the windmill shuriken split into dozens of pieces and hit the trees behind her without so much leaving a scar on her body. And in both hands there was katana made of a blackened metal that blend into the shadows around her yet seemingly glinted from the sharpness of the edges.
"So you think such a puny weapon can hurt me, the lover of the demon as you say?" Ino darkly chuckled as she rested the two katana at her side and glanced directly into Mizuki's eyes. "Before I kill you for betraying our village... I will show you the light and by the end you will realize that you are more of a demon then Naruto has ever been!"
"FUCK YOU!" Mizuki screamed out at her before pulling forth a kunai in his dominant hand and a handful of shuriken in his other before tossing them towards Ino and charging.
"Dance of the Falling Leaves!" Ino cried before she simply twirled, avoiding almost every shuriken with the motion and the few that would have hit were cleanly cut in two from a flick of her wrists.
With this motion it gave Mizuki the time he needed to close their distance and pierce her with his kunai. But just as he was about to do so the right handed katana came down and seemingly missed his kunai at first despite feeling slight contact for his momentum had been stopped. It was then the tip of his kunai fell to the ground below leaving the weapon quite useless.
Mizuki's eyes widened for he had never seen such a thing before for the kunai from this village were among the best made in the world and were extraordinarily durable. For one to slice through one so easily either meant there was incredible force involve or the blade was imbued with a well refined element.
Jumping back just as Ino twirled her katana and motioned for a cut, the chunin narrowed his eyes seeing the smiling girl. Before he could draw on anther windmill an intense pain filled his abdomen forcing him onto his knees and bringing his hands to his stomach. Bringing them to his eyes he could not believe what he was seeing.
They were soaked in his blood.
"How... How is this possible?! I saw your slice! You never hit me!" Mizuki screamed in agony for blood poured out of his gut and he tried to stop the flow.
Ino simply grinned and flicked the blood of her left katana. Flipping the handles within her grasp and placing the blades against her forearms, the two swords melted into the runes before they too began to disperse. Ino's grin, however did not as her sky blues pierced into Mizuki's. "Oh but I did. What you saw was the after image of my swing."
"You never stood a chance against me. I may not be a ninja as of this moment but I am capable of defeat a good portion of the jounin of this village. A chunin like you could never touch me in combat." Ino growled out before she made the motions for her family's signature technique. "Now I do believe I said I will show you the light before this is over!"
"Naruto, cover me and make sure nothing happens. Erase Iruka's memory of this event as well." Ino barked at her lover, who simply formed from the shadows next to Ino.
"Allow me to take over for you are better at the mind wiping." Naruto stated closing his left eye for a moment before kneeling down before the trembling chunin before him. "I've always wanted to make him suffer like he made me for so long."
"If you wish my love." Ino sighed and released her hand seals for she rather had done a little mind scoping with Mizuki but Naruto was effective with his methods.
Moving to the wounded and stunned Iruka, who was trying to get up and call someone to his aid, Ino stood before him and performed one of her clan's signature jutsus. "This may sting but you must forgive me. It is better for Konoha if this did not get out. Shintenshin."
In that moment Ino's body went limp as her soul temporarily invaded Iruka's being before she quickly made work and took his memory of this event and shatter it. And just before she returned back to her body, she hit the correct mental nerves to send Iruka into a deep sleep that would last for a day at least.
When she returned to her own body, her vision fell onto her lover's twisted glare focused solely the silver haired chunin. She winced for a moment, for she hated to see Naruto like this despite knowing the reasoning for it. She at times still preferred the old Naruto... The one before all of this had happened.
Still... She loved him. He was still the same with her as he was from the beginning. His personality towards everyone else may had warped and she would have to deal with it. She lost him once and she wasn't willing to lose him again.
"Mizuki... What is this? Are you afraid?" Naruto's voice was loud enough for Ino to hear and she noted his eyes were now piercing into the chunin's. "No... You have hated me wrongly this entire time. I never have done anything to justify your hatred. If anything I did everything to prove I wasn't the demon!"
"But now you get to see your just desserts and see the beast you have created! Now behold this false eye of mine and tremble before the power it possesses!" Naruto roared out, his black eye now bleeding crimson and temporarily showing what it was.
It was the Sharingan, the legendary eye of the now fallen Uchiha clan. But it was only temporary for it became warped, just like it's user, and formed its most powerful stage.
The Mangekyou.
"Tsukiyomi!"
Ino winced. That genjutsu was the ultimate torture far none. While his time was limited there was nothing that was not possible within that dimension for what Naruto control with it was disturbing. He controlled space.
She had heard that Itachi, the only other known Mangekyou possessor, controlled time with his. Ha, an extend amount of time of torturous sessions was nothing compared to the things Naruto could create within his mind. The Uchiha had to rely on real and physical objects within the illusion to do their effect.
Naruto did not.
Mizuki's screams started almost soon after he muttered that one word. Whatever Naruto had put him through was horrifying, that was for sure. She had only been a witness to its power once for a test run and despite Naruto dampening what he was capable of with it she was still quite horrified at what could be done.
Soon Mizuki's body crashed to the muddy earth below, blood flowing from his mouth. He was brought deep within the jutsu that his mind had been warped severely damaged enough that it caused internal damage. Then was the wound she had given him, dicing deep into his intestines holding back just enough so his bowels did not spill onto the ground and kill him instantly.
A small part of her wished that she had. It would have spared him the dementia that was her lover. But despite this pitiful guilt she felt an overwhelming satisfaction. His goal was to harm him and take her away from her lover. Ha, he deserved it more then what she pitied of him.
"What has happened here?" A voice caught their attention before an Anbu unit dropped down, the leader with purple hair speaking before her gaze fell onto Naruto and his warped Sharingan. "I see... I want a full report, Blood Fox."
"It was not my mission, Neko-chan... It was Black Flower's." Naruto responded, turning to his blonde lover and smiling, allowing his false eye to revert to its onyx state.
While the other Anbu were unsure what was happening, the captain sighed for she knew these two had been Root agents for over a year now and were designated Anbu. They simply had not received their ninja rank, that was the only purpose of their graduation.
...And the missions the two were given out to perform. To evaluate their youth and to weed out any and all problems.
Turning to the young Yamanaka, she sighed as her brown eyes met her shining blues. This was going to be a long night.
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