Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Genius And The Idiot ❯ The Death of Uzumaki Neji ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1: The Death of Uzumaki Neji

 

Chiba, Japan - Mid Afternoon

 

 

His mother was finally laid to rest.

 

As Naruto stands in front of the simple craved stone in the middle of the cemetery, his mother's last words played across his mind…

 

-Flashback-

 

Naruto kneeled beside the hospital bed of his dying mother, clasping her frail hands as tears brimmed at the corners of his sapphire eyes. His mother smiled weakly at him through her own tears. “You look just like him.”

 

Naruto smiled back, though he has no idea who his mother was talking about. All that mattered to him then, was his mother.

 

She reached up to fondle him across the cheek. “Promise me you'll find him.”

 

Naruto hastily wiped off the tears with the back of his hands as he perked up at what seemed to be his mother's death wish. “Find who?”

 

Her chest heaved as she breathed deeply. “Your father.”

 

Naruto widened his eyes. “Fa.. father? You never mentioned him before. Even if I asked-”

 

His mother cut him off by placing her hand on his mouth, implying he should let her finish what she wanted to say. “You'll find what you need to know in the red box under my quilt. Uzumaki Hatori was his name.”

 

Right after, her hands fell from Naruto's grasp…

 

“Motherrrrrr!!!”

 

-End of Flashback-

 

Naruto turned his attention to the clouds.

 

As much curiosity he has about the man whose blood flows within him, Naruto couldn't help but harbor doubts towards the man.

 

It's been twenty four years.

 

For twenty four years, Naruto had hoped to meet the father, yet for twenty four years, there was no news from him. Naruto twisted his lips in bitterness when he averted his attention back to his `mother'.

 

(Do you seriously think he would want me when he didn't even bother to come after you?)

 

…

…

 

Naruto sighed, his eyes downcast. Then the red box in his hands piqued him. For as long as his mother lived, she had never allowed him to go near the box, much less opened it. And along with some of his clothes, the red box was one of the few things he managed to grab before he was thrown out of his quarters for failing to pay the rent for months. He flipped it open and the first thing that caught his eye was a rather old picture.

 

A picture of him when he was just a baby and his mother carrying him in a tender loving way. Beside her, holding her by the shoulders and smiling charmingly at the camera was… his father?

 

“You look just like him.”

 

It has to be!

 

They have the same blue eyes, same spiky blonde hair that stood at the back of their heads and the same face! It was like he was a replica of him!

 

Naruto scrambled through the box for more, but found nothing more than a number of dried flower petals, a couple of poetic post cards and letters, a crumpled A4 hand-drawn portrait of his mother when she was younger, a couple of old movie tickets, a straw ring and… a address.

 

(The place where my father lives?)

 

He read through the address carefully, for it seemed foreign to him. Then with a set of determined eyes, he looked at the picture, particularly focusing on the man with the handsome smile.

 

“Uzumaki Hatori huh…?”

 

With that, he popped the things back into the box, secured it, straightened his bag over his shoulders and gave a bow to his mother. When he straightened his shoulders, he grinned, mimicking the man perfectly before he took off to take the earliest train available to Tokyo.

 

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# The Genius and The Idiot #

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Tokyo, Japan - Mid Afternoon

 

 

“We're sorry to inform you that your grandson, Uzumaki Neji, was involved in a car accident a few hours ago. And… he died instantly.”

 

It's been three months since the accident, yet the words of the police officer at their doorstep late one night played over and over again in the mind of Uzumaki Tsunade, the matriarch of the great Uzumaki family. She squeezed her eyes shut and fall back on her wing chair, rubbing her temple in an attempt to soothe the throbbing of her head.

 

As much as Neji looking annoyingly favorable to his mother's side of family, the prominent Hyuugas, Neji was nevertheless an outstanding child and the perfect successor to the huge Uzumaki conglomerate. Not to mention he is, or rather was, her one and only grandchild… or grandson so to speak.

 

She worried her lower lip and turned her attention to the morning papers stacked neatly at the side of her tinted glassy desk, her eyes narrowing at the headline - `Lineage of the Uzumaki Family in crisis'

 

Screw them.

 

The Family has been hitting news headlines ever since Neji's accident. For the first two months, the vultures (The term Tsunade called the media) have reported every single detail of Uzumaki Neji. From the 5Ws 1Hs of the tragic accident to his personal life, they have never failed to overlook any part of him. The major news stations have even set up special time slots to discuss him much to the extent Tsunade thought they knew Neji more than she does.

 

And now, they have moved on from Uzumaki Neji as a person to his family as a whole.

 

Prior this, the vultures have been ceaselessly hot on her tails, trying every means in their best polite efforts to fish out information on her plans for the Corporation as well as the Family.

 

But so far, none has been successful.

 

Tsunade stood up and crossed the room to the window. She shoved the drapes aside and found the leeches still lurking near Uzumaki grounds. The cameras began their flashing the moment they caught her staring at them in her study room.

 

Disgruntled, Tsunade shoved the drapes back.

 

“I don't think they'll be satisfied until they know what you'll do next. The whole world is looking at you now, Tsunade-sama. May I step in?”

 

Tsunade snorted and turned to face her secretary cum confidant, Uchiha Kenshiro. The man of fifty-three has been with the Uzumakis for as long as she could remember and now, even his younger son of twenty-four, Uchiha Sasuke, has been recruited in the company as the Marketing Sales Manager in their headquarter of hotels that stretches all the way from Tokyo to the United States of America.

 

Indeed. The Uzumakis are one of the riches families in Japan, or perhaps in the whole wide world. The fact that they always hit the `Top Ten List of the Richest Families in the World' in Chimes Magazines, New York every year tells just as much.

 

BUT

 

Their male descendants were ALWAYS plagued with mishap.

 

The patriarch, Uzumaki Gennosuke, Neji's great grandfather, died in a yacht explosion when he was out fishing in the sea with a few of his closed business acquaintances. Oddly enough, the others survived with minor injuries.

 

Her own husband, Uzumaki Jiraya, died in his sleep at the mere age of sixty-seven eight years ago. The doctors could not diagnose the cause. The heart simply stopped beating. Tsunade could still feel the shock coursing through her old body when she awoke the next morning to find his cold quiescent body beside her. She nearly went down with grief, but her newly founded responsibility managed to pull her up - The head of the family, the matriarch of the Uzumakis.

 

Five years down the road since Jiraya died, Tsunade have strictly nurtured their only son, Uzumaki Hatori, to be the successor to their great business. She gave him the best education, engaged the best tutors to edify him from art to the financial world, making him a proud graduate in the roll of honors list in Universities all over the world. At the mere age of twenty-three, Hatori was already a regular in the `Top Ten List of the promising youths in Japan' in Money Magazine, Japan's top magazine of the financial world. She has even arranged the perfect marriage for him - wedding Hyuuga Shizuka, the elegant daughter of the prominent Hyuuga Hisashi, who owned estate businesses all over the world. In short, she has given him everything a mother should have. But alas, tragedy struck. Hatori's health deteriorated around one year after his marriage. The doctors blamed it on his unreasonably long hours of work. They advised him to play hard as well. The psychiatrists' diagnosis was that he held a lot of things on his mind. They advised him to unleash the knots in his heart and poured out his woes to his family.

 

But Hatori did none of that.

 

Instead, he retreated deeper and deeper into his own world, burying himself in the endless work as the MD of the huge conglomerate. Everything she, or Shizuka, his wife said fall on deaf ears.

 

Until one day, he coughed blood. Neji, who was three then and the only one in the family who managed to hold his attention, burst into the room to embrace his father, when he found him sprawled on the ground grasping helplessly for breaths. Even after the grand funeral for his father ended, the servants would often found the young master in a daze.

 

And now, Neji himself…

 

“A penny for your thoughts?”

 

A deep voice interrupted her thoughts, and Tsunade lifted her gaze to meet Kenshiro's. Realizing she has been spacing out, Tsunade quickly motioned him in with a wave of her hand. “Did you find him?”

 

Kenshiro advanced into the room and closed the door behind him. “Not at the moment.”

 

Tsunade crossed the study room and resumed her seat behind the desk, hands entwined. “How come?”

 

“He already left by the time my men arrived at his place. Apparently, he was thrown out.”

 

Tsunade raised an eyebrow over that, but she remained silent, guessing just as much.

 

“He didn't pay for his rent for over eight months.” Kenshiro explained. “And it seems that he owes a lot of debts. Almost everyone in his neighborhood is tracking him down for the money he owed.”

 

Tsunade heaved a sigh. “See to that.”

 

Kenshiro nodded. “Hai.”

 

“What about the mother?”

 

“She died two weeks ago. Lung cancer is the killer.”

 

For a moment, Tsunade just stared at Kenshiro. Then she said, “Keep me updated.”

 

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# The Genius and The Idiot #

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Sasuke leaned by the wall at a corner, hands shoved in his pockets, watching his father as he retreated out of the study room. His father caught him and came by his side.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“Not that it was important to you.” Sasuke retorted coldly, turning his black orbs away.

 

Kenshiro frowned, displeased with the attitude that his son has been giving him. “Sasuke.”

 

Sasuke responded by walking away.

 

---

 

Here is a longer summary this fic:-

 

Naruto is an illegitimate child in hopes of meeting his father one day. On his quest, he met Sakura, a guiltless but feisty girl who believes in finding true love. Day by day, bit by bit, Naruto finds himself falling for Sakura. When Sasuke, the rich snob, came into the picture, Naruto finds Sakura drifting further away from him and nearer to Sasuke. He hated Sasuke for it and the feeling was mutual, for Sasuke hated Naruto for fitting into the same rank as him and snatching the place of his best friend, Neji. In their spirited clash of wills, Sakura's world was torn apart… and so was Tenten's.

 

A/N: My apologies to Neji fans out there. I had to kill him because I'm just not good with the Hyuuga. Had tried to fit him into the fic but it just didn't work out. I guess my limits are only Team 7 -gave it a thought-

 

And to my readers of my other fanfic, `Forgotten Ties', I have to inform you that I'm calling a timeout for it, because this fic has been on my mind for some time and I just have to write this out to see how it goes. There are also other ideas coming up but I think I should put them on hold. I will try to continue the chapters (under way) of `Forgotten Ties' along with `The Genius and The Idiot'. This fic won't be long… hehe… at least not as long as `Forgotten Ties'.

 

So now, click the review button to tell me what you think of this fic!

 

Thanks for reading!