Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Reflection of Oneself ❯ Replica ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Reflection of Oneself

Chapter 3: Replica

Life.

It is the essence of the world around us, the nurturer - the Mother of All.

It is unknown why it does the things it does and one has ever come close to learning its secrets, which belong to it, alone. If not for Life's gentle caress, we would remain cut off - permanently apart of the spirit world, where everything is neither living or dead, just tightly bound with the cocoon of eternity. But while it can be precious as a newborn babe's first smile, it is, at times, very cruel - giving only to those it sees fit, whether they be worthy of the blessing or not.

Thought it has many names and it is known in different ways by all, one thing is always the same and that is it is what lies beyond the mark of passing - once Death has taken life away. Life is the eternal cradle of creation that grants being to the departed once more.

The final link, the never-ending cycle continues.

So even though it can be cruel and it can be kind, Life is, in itself, freedom and power.

Sasuke stared through the large one-way window as if in a trance, staring at the sleeping boy on the other side and was almost physically sick. The child was Naruto. Although it was inconceivable, the sleeping boy possessed all the same physical traits that Naruto had - he had the same hair, the same shapped eyes, the same button nose, the same skin tone and the same round cheeks adorned with even those the same damned whisker-like scars.

It was Naruto, and yet it was not.

Sasuke knew for a fact that he had killed his golden haired former teammate all the years ago. So it was impossible that Naruto could be alive right now, much less not having aged a day in twelve years, and yet this boy was an exact replica of his old friend - hauntingly so.

“So Sasuke-kun” he heard Kabuto repeat from beside him. “Do you like my little creation?”

The raven-haired man's blood ran cold.

“Creation?”

The medic laughed. “Of course. I've been working on him for these last twelve years”

Sasuke glanced at him, his dazed expression turning cold.

“What are you talking about?”

“He's the only one of nine brother experiments that survived the genetic cloning process. In all but personality and memories, that boy you see before you is Uzumaki Naruto”

He grit his teeth, reigning in on his emotions. “How is that possible?”

“Why I came to retrieve you that day” Kabuto replied. “I knew how much of a waste Naruto-kun's death was, so I stole some blood from his corpse in order to create a clone. Like I said, I create nine but only the one you see before you survived the whole process.

The Uchiha felt sick.

He could hardly believe what he was hearing. So the boy on the other side of the glass was Naruto, in some twisted sense. The fact that Kabuto had stolen blood from the friend that he had killed made his blood boil. Naruto didn't deserve having been treated like that - even dead he was still being tormented. Sasuke had long since known the truth about the Kyuubi and its role on his dead friend's life. He had long since come to realize he behavior towards the younger boy all those years ago had only made things worse.

He turned and looked back at the boy, Naruto's clone. A clone… Sasuke couldn't help feeling cheated knowing the truth. He wasn't Naruto, only his copy. The Uchiha knew that he wouldn't be the same as Naruto, seeing as this clone was only recently `born' and would not possess Naruto memories.

Simply seeing the blonde's mirror image wouldn't make his guilt go away, it would only make things worse.

“Does he have a name?”

Kabuto shook his head. “No, I haven't named him yet, though I referred to the all the clones as the Kyuuzano, which makes for a suitable surname. I thought it was fitting, seeing as there was nine of them”

“Would you like to name him Sasuke?”

Both men turned, glancing in shock at Orochimaru. Sasuke was confused, wondering why the snake would suggest such a thing and Kabuto looked slightly insulted.

“Nani?”

The pale Snake Sannin smirked, his golden eyes glinting.

“I think you should name the boy” the other man replied. “You will be the boy's sensei, after all”

“NANI? Why do I have to train this gaki?” Sasuke found himself hissing with much venom. “I don't want to have anything to do with him”

Orochimaru smirk only grew wider.

“Is that so? You would really abandon your old friend's only legacy? Leave him for the wolves to feast upon once he has been released upon the world. How heartless of you”

Although Sasuke knew that the sannin's words were only a baited trap, they still dug deep. He was right, in a way. Could he really allow the closest thing left to Naruto die? It would be like he had killed him all over again…

Sasuke growled softly. “Very well, but I must ask, why have you chosen me for this job when there must be other better suited?”

“Because you knew his predecessor” Orochimaru glanced at the sleeping boy again. “Although this boy isn't going to be exactly our Naruto-kun, there are chances that he may possess some of the same attributes, which you would be the best suited to deal with. Besides, you are the only one here in Oto talented enough to train this child. Don't disappoint me”

Without another word, the older man faded from existence, leaving Sasuke alone in the corridor with only Kabuto as company. The gray haired medic didn't look at all happy, but was holding back his own rage rather well.

Sighing miserably in defeat, Sasuke turned back to Kabuto.

“But why is he so important? The Kyuubi died with Naruto, so with it's charka at is command, what use is he to you now?”

Kabuto nodded.

“The demon my have died along with Naruto, as that was how the Yondaime's seal binding it was meant to do. But as I have come to learn, our little clone does possess the Kyuubi's power”

“How so?”

This was something Sasuke needed to know. Never jump into a situation blind…

“When you fought with Naruto-kun, he summoned up a vast amount of the demon's power to fight you with am I right?” the medic asked, crossing his arms.

The raven-haired man nodded.

“There you go. Due to the way the Yondaime had created the seal, it was causing both human and demon chakra to mix. By the time Naruto had finished puberty, his charka would have completely purified the Kyuubi's chakra and turned into his own. However, when he summoned it, he was forcing raw demonic energy through his system, thus damaging his coils and cutting off almost half of his lifespan. From the tests I ran upon the blood sample I procured, I discovered that it had caused a side effect”

“What kind of side effect?”

“Naruto-kun's blood was irrevocably changed”

“So you mean that even though he's a clone, he possesses the Kyuubi's chakra?” Sasuke asked dubiously. “And that it would be like possessing a kikkai genkai?”

Kabuto nodded. “Very much so. The extent of what our boy here possesses is still unknown, but with time that will be discovered. While he possess a demon's chakra, he may have the ability to take it form as well” he frowned, shaking his head. “But have other things to do right now. I'll have one of the chuunin alter you to when he has woken up. I'm sure you'll have your hands full”

Then Kabuto was gone as well, having turned and entered the laboratory on feet away. Now Sasuke was really alone. What had he gotten himself into? A whole lot of trouble that was for sure.

Looking back at the clone once more before leaving himself, he said to the sleeping figure. “You'd better not cause me any trouble”

And as he vanished, the boy smirked unconsciously in his sleep.

-.ooOoo.-

He came awake in a world full of noise and light. Not long ago it had a world of silence and shadows. It had been comfortable there, secure and peaceful. It hadn't lasted, however, as he had taken from the tranquility and thrust into the unknown.

And when his eyes finally opened, a collage of strange sights were revealed to him, everything so unlike the images he was accustom to. It caused him to shiver involuntarily without control at odd times, making feel as though when they had ripped him from his womb, he had forgotten something.

This world, he hated it… and yet, he love it…

The world around him seemed to move irately, without stop, driving him mad. After what seemed like hours, the small collection of strangers that had been whispering and fretting over him finally dispersed, leaving him in blissful silence before once again, there were more - this time there were only two.

His brilliant blue eyes fell first upon the figure to the right, a tall man with long gray hair yet he was still fairly young. His eyes then wandered to the second figure and he froze. This man was also tall, although shorted then the other, and bore raven locks as black as the night.

Then the grayed haired man was speaking to him, a fake smile plastered across his face. But he couldn't understand what he was staying - the words coming out of his mouth were so foreign.

But he refused to give that man anything.

Then the raven-haired man rolled his eyes, either having expected his reaction or lack there off. Or maybe had didn't care at all. Although this dark man was intimidating, there was something oddly familiar about him, which was impossible since there had never been anyone but himself in the tranquil place.

Who was he?

-.ooOoo.-

Three and Half Weeks Later:

“We'll be working on creating a Chakra Flame now. Try focusing your chakra into your hand while visualizing a small flame hovering an inch over your palm. If you can hold the flame for over ten - fifteen minutes, then I'll consider upping your training. Till then, you will follow the prescribed guidelines that Kabuto has described for your health. As soon as your finished, succeed or fail, we we'll be done for the day. Any questions?”

A thick silence hovered over the training field that one Uchiha Sasuke had been given for the privet training of his new pupil. Said pupil was currently zoning out from where he sitting on a nearby log, his eyes glazed as he stared intently at the sky, watching a bird's progress across the azure backdrop.

As much as he liked the silence, the boy's lack of attention was causing Sasuke to seethe.

“Hey gaki, are you even listening to me?”

The blonde boy finally snapped back into reality, cocking his head to the side like an owl and frowned. Dazzling blue orbs stared blandly, yet intelligently at the raven-haired man who was standing before him.

He seemed confused.

Sasuke withheld a shudder at the boy's look. Since his awaken a little over three weeks ago, the young Uchiha was still trying to adjust to being near the clone of his former friend. The boy, still unnamed, was almost an exact opposite of Naruto. He was dressed in a basic Oto training gi - a white top with a purple sash, white pants and purple slippers. The clothing caused the boy to looked at least two - three years younger.

He also wielded a good learning rate. From what the raven-haired man could remember, Naruto had once been able to learn at an incredible pace. It was only do the hate because of Kyuubi that the blonde had been neglected when it came to the teachers teaching anything. What he had learned had been from watching others doing it.

After only three week, the boy had already learned the basics of communication (although his speech still needed improvement), the history of the Elemental Countries and physical training. But it seemed that while he could understand many things, every now and then there were words and actions and emotions that still confused him.

Sasuke watched as the boy reached into his supple bag and pulled out the dictionary thatKabuto-san had given him. He began leafing through the pages; most likely looking for the word that resembled the one his sensei had just referred to him as. With a smirk, Sasuke waited. He always referred to the boy as a brat.

Finally he stopped, his finger tracing down the page until he found what he was looking for. The older man watched as one slender golden brow twitched slightly. He was annoyed, but he was doing a damn good job at not showing it - something that wouldn't have happened if this was really Naruto…

Brat (brat) n. Derogatory. A child, especially an irritating one.

The boy frowned again and the Uchiha waited patiently for a response.

“Ahou”

Sasuke's bottomless black eyes widened at the quite boy's first use of an insult.

“Baka!” he snapped tersely, slight waves of killing intent escaping him. But the boy was not deterred at all. “I'm trying to teach you here, so enough with the insults!”

“Same to you Sasuke-sensei” the blonde replied tonelessly, crossing his arms. “You think me stupid? I not as foolish as you think”

It was the most he had spoken in once sentence. It shocked Sasuke, the amount in which he had spoken, but he refused to let it aggravate him, and settled on a few peevish mutterings about `baka blonde look-alikes' and whatnot.

Then something he had muttered must have caught the blonde's attention because the blonde youth suddenly perked up, which was out of the ordinary compared to his shadowy, lacking consistence.

“Matte”

Sasuke sighed, casting a withering look his direction. “What do you want now?”

The boy smiled. A strange smile that looked so foreign on his face - Naruto had always been so bright and goofy.

“What that you just speak?”

“Huh?”

“That word. I like” the blonde repeated. “May I keep it?”

Sasuke snorted with mirth. “You mean you want that to be you're name kid?”

“Yes”

“Why?”

“I have no name and you not name me,” he replied curtly, almost causing Sasuke to flinch. “So I name self”

The Uchiha refrained from the flinching and settled on rolling his eyes.

“Have at it then”

Now a real smile appeared across the boy's face. It was like the one's that Naruto had once possessed - so bright and shinny that it could light up a room - albeit that this one was rather a slyer one. It was almost as if Sasuke could the ghost of Naruto in the boy's blue eyes. It seemed that no matter how much he was around the boy, the youth's odd fluctuating personality seemed to more frustrating.

Thankfully he wasn't acting like Naruto, or Sasuke wouldn't know how to react…

“Good. Then I be Nanikato, Kyuuzano Nanikato”

“Whatever” Sasuke replied, dusting his hands. “I'm done for the day”

The newly dubbed Nanikato nodded. “When you be back sensei?”

There was a sort silence in which both man and boy could practically hear him saying `if it was my choice, then never'.

“Same time as always”

Then Nanikato suddenly stood, fisting his hand and punching it into the air.

“Then I be here, dattebayo!”

What happened next, neither of them would ever forget.

Within a spit second of saying that last word (and Nanikato would later recall having no idea why he had said it in the first since he no idea what it meant), the blonde would find himself being slammed roughly against the closest tree, his sensei's right hand wrapped dangerously tight around his fragile neck.

“Never, ever, say that again!” Sasuke hissed with rage, more venom in his voice then ever before. “You're not him so don't even try to be!”

“Like - who - sensei?”

The raven haired man looked at Nanikato, watching as the boy chocked while refraining from fighting back even though it was getting hard to breath. It was in the span of those few seconds that jolt shot through the elder of pair. As he looked into the clone's eyes, he really did see a shadow of Naruto behind them, as this very incident suddenly reminded him of when Naruto was dying in his arms.

Sasuke dropped him.

Nanikato proceeded to start coughing hard, dragging in deep breaths as a single hand clutched at his abused throat tenderly.

“Who?” Nanikato repeated, still coughing.

He gazed defiantly up at Sasuke, his damnable blue eyes demanding answers. But he wouldn't get them. Seconds later the raven-haired man vanished in a cloud of smoke, a look on his face was too hard to discern, leaving his student to continued to gaze upon the his sensei had once stood.

`Whom you speak of sensei?' Nanikato thought, shivering in the now deafening afternoon silence. ` And why is it I feel I already know?

-.ooOoo.-

Translations/Original Jutsu

Kyuuzano - Of the Nine

Nanikato - One way or another