I do not own Naruto and his
friends. This chapter is not beta-ed; possible grammar mistakes and strange
sentence structures or fragments may be found.
Towards Paradise by Ayurveda
Chapter I – The First Step
A Konohagakure ninja and an
instructor at the Ninja Academy, Umino Iruka worked part time as the Hokage’s
administrator for distribution of shinobi missions. The building had been
rather busy those few days with the increasing influx of clients applying for higher
ranking missions, ranging from serving as bodyguards to the client and
assassinating adversaries in the oligopoly to eliminate the small percentage of
competition.
Intrigued at the rising
amount of clients applying for protection, Iruka picked up another document
that was filed by a citizen from the Wave country that morning. The file
entailed the details of the mission, which was mainly protection needed against
insignificant bandits on the way home to Wave country.
Frowning, the chuunin
remembered the state the Wave country was left in after a businessman, Gato,
set his sights on the once flourishing country. It was an isolated island, cut
off from most of the other parts of the world. Apparently, the man was a
bridge-builder from the Wave country and paid just enough for a C-rank mission,
but with the distance between both countries and the reluctance to disclose
more information on the mission, Iruka suspected that the client was merely
trying to cut down the cost of the mission.
“Are you thinking the same
thing as I am, Iruka?” the Third Hokage inquired quietly, taking the mission
document from the chuunin’s hands. Iruka nodded firmly and thought about the
situation of the Wave country. The businessman, Gato, had overwhelmed the
citizens of the Wave country not so long ago and made them submit to his
doings. He monopolized the import and export industry of the Wave country,
which was essential for the economic growth. Other countries frowned upon his
barbaric methods but nobody lent a hand to the Wave country because there was
no substantial proof to put Gato out of his business. Gato had used underhanded
methods, especially by seeking assistance from shinobi from different hidden
villages of other countries.
“I believe there is
something more to this—” Iruka started, but was interrupted when the door
opened to reveal Team Seven and their instructor, Hatake Kakashi. The only girl
of the team, Haruno Sakura, was one of his top students on theory exams while
the only Uchiha left in Konohagakure, Uchiha Sasuke, was the acknowledged
prodigy who graduated at the top of the Academy. On the other hand, Noriaki
Ishida was an orphan just like Iruka, a confident and bright kid who he always
brought out to the ramen stand to eat. The jounin instructor of Team Seven,
Hatake Kakashi, stood by his team in a lazy stance and giggled softly while
burying his nose in his dirty orange book.
”Iruka-sensei! We are here
to receive a higher ranked mission rather than those boring D-ranked missions!”
Ishida yelled excitedly, showing his trademark double-victory signs with both
hands. His teammate, Sakura, nodded her head vigorously and then blushed when
remembering that she was in the presence of the Third Hokage andSasuke. Her
crush merely smirked at the hyperactive genin in front of him when Kakashi put
a hand on Ishida’s head to calm him down. Iruka nearly fainted due to the
outward disrespect to the Third Hokage and was proceeding to reprimand them
when the Hokage raised his hand to stop Iruka in faint amusement.
“Well, Iruka, send in their
newest mission client, Tazuna from the Wave country,” the Hokage instructed and
Iruka’s eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. The Hokage was going to entrust
a dubious client that they were discussing previously to a team that had no
field experience at all? The chuunin was about to retort but was quickly
silenced by the Hokage with a look.
Instead, Iruka resigned to
the Hokage’s authority and hastily made his way out of the room to invite the
latest mission client of Team Seven in. While Iruka was gone, the Third Hokage
filled Team Seven in about the details of the mission and emphasized on the
fact that the mission was approximately C-ranked. Upon hearing this, Kakashi
narrowed his eye and took note of the vague suggestion that there was something
more to the mission.
Sakura and Ishida proceeded
to dance happily around the room with Sasuke feeling much happier than he had
when they were receiving all those awful D-ranked missions. However, their
celebration was cut short when the door opened to show a gruff-looking man clad
in scruffy clothes and a towel around his neck. He held a sake bottle and more
than often took a long swig out of it. Eyeing the genin team that was assigned
to protect him, Tazuna exclaimed disbelievingly, “You can’t be serious that
you’re assigning these super weak-looking kids to guard me on my way home! The
bandits will get them in no time!”
Kakashi stepped forward and
closed his dirty little book; “You’re forgetting that they have a jounin
instructor with them at all times. There will be nothing that can happen to you
if there happened to be only bandits on your way home.” The half-drunk man
noticed the jounin stressing on the words ‘only bandits’ and gulped down some
more of his sake nervously. He could not possible know, right? Trying to cover
up his anxiety, Tazuna muttered angrily, “Well, you guys better be super
efficient in guarding me or I will be requesting for a refund!”
Ishida walked up to the
bridge-builder and gave him his trademark double-victory signs; “Rest assured
that we will get you home in no time!”
“Tiger, Boar, we have a new
mission,” Rat informed the other two ANBU members and the two turned towards
him with a nod.
Rat was the most suitable
animal that could represent him, besides fox. The element, water, governs a Rat
in the Chinese zodiac and although the good qualities are mainly disciplined,
systematic, charismatic and hardworking, the negative qualities are
manipulative, cruel, dictatorial, scheming and ruthless. The ANBU member
wearing the Rat mask thought all those qualities to suit him the best. Putting
on a Fox mask would give away his identity too much and the Hokage did not want
that. Smirking, he thought back to his little meeting with the council and the
Hokage, and could barely suppress the overwhelming delight in him.
The council had decided
that a C-ranked mission that could possibly go wrong would prove to be
disadvantageous to a genin team that had Uchiha Sasuke on it. The council
viewed the Uchiha as a valuable person that could restore the power of the
Uchiha clan and bring back the glory of possessing one of the most powerful
clans to Konohagakure. In short, the council dispatched three people from his
ANBU squad to oversee the progress of Team Seven and to protect them if any harm
befell on them. Although Team Seven consisted of the brightest students of the
Ninja Academy and Hatake Kakashi, who had a renowned reputation, the council
still feared that they might lose their treasured possession, Uchiha Sasuke.
Uzumaki Naruto took out his
mission file and filled his ANBU squad members in about the mission details. He
could finally carry out his elaborate plan for revenge… The one he had
took pains to plan ever since he was young and had dreamt of being a Hokage so
that he could be acknowledged by others. He had thrown away the dream long ago
when he found out about how he was so much different from the others. He could
accomplish things that others might never be able to. Growing up as a child
prodigy that might even overshadow the famous Uchiha Itachi, Naruto hid his
talents from the people of the village and only climbed to the rank of a normal
ANBU squad member at the age of twelve.
He waited silently in the shadows for the perfect opportunity to pass by and
this was it. He could finally pass judgment to the incorrigible people of
Konohagakure and change every thing of the village from the inside.
After his teammates were informed of their mission and the situation of Team
Seven, they waited for the genin team until they were passing through the main
exit of the Konoha gates. Naruto quietly assessed the genin team and their
teacher they were supposed to observe and protect. Giving a signal, Naruto
masked his chakra signature to the minimum and his teammates did the same. They
could not afford for Hatake Kakashi to discover their presence until the most
inevitable circumstance.
They followed Team Seven discreetly, travelling through the trees while Team
Seven and their client travelled on the ground. However, Naruto was rather
disappointed when only Kakashi noticed the suspicious-looking puddles on the
ground when there were already days without rain. The genin team was said to be
one of the best and yet, they seemed to be overconfident of their skills and
appeared to be too blind to their surroundings.
Naruto and his other two teammates monitored Team Seven and their progress
while Naruto’s mind was registering all the possibilities he could manipulate
Team Seven and this particular mission into his elaborate plan for revenge. He
was infamous in the ANBU for his strategies and training systems that were
mostly implemented for ANBU usage. Although the Hokage appeared to be sad and
somewhat remorseful about his maturity, he was surprised at Naruto’s display of
intelligence in his forte. The strategies and schemes that Naruto came up with
were near flawless and many enemies of Konohagakure feared the power of its
ANBU.
While Naruto was deep in his thoughts, Team Seven and their client were
suddenly attacked by two chuunin-leveled ninja. He saw how Uchiha Sasuke and
that boy Noriaki Ishida proved to be useful when they counter attack the two
opponents as their teacher supposedly ‘died’. The only person so far who proved
to be not beneficial to the team was the pink-haired girl. She showed weaknesses
throughout the entire fight as she screamed when Hatake fell and when the
poisoned claws injured the Noriaki boy.
The fight ended when their jounin instructor rounded up their opponents and
asked for information. Naruto concluded from the two chuunin that there was
misinformation on the client’s part and they would be encountering more
powerful opponents. The team looked worried but their jounin instructor
reassured them.
‘This is going to get more and more interesting,’ Naruto thought.
Kakashi was afraid it would come to this. At that point of
time, both Sasuke and Ishida were dealing the boy named Haku while Sakura was
left to defend the bridge-builder, Tazuna. He was counter-attacking the blows
that Zabuza was dealing him while trying to look for any openings for an
opportune attack. The last few days passed by slowly with him recovering from
his fatigue and training his team about tree walking with chakra. That was
after they had met with Zabuza and the so-called ‘hunter-nin’. Ishida was the
clever one who pointed out that the ‘hunter-nin’ might be Zabuza’s accomplice
and they had to hurry with their training before Zabuza had a chance to strike
back.
Glancing back through the thick mist at the ice dome made of twenty-one ice
mirrors that the boy named Haku had created, Kakashi narrowed his eye at the
thought that the boy had not attempted to fight them when he ‘collected’
Zabuza. That reminded him however, that perhaps, he was afraid of the three
masked chakra signatures that had been following him for the mission. Kakashi
had been called a field genius. He had discovered about the masked chakra
signatures since the fight with the demon brothers at the beginning of the
mission.
He dismissed it as an ANBU squad dispatched to ensure Sasuke’s safety, but
was slightly annoyed at the fact that the council and perhaps the Hokage were
probably thinking that he was incompetent to guarantee Sasuke’s wellbeing.
“Concentrate on our fight before thinking about your students’ safety,
Kakashi,” Zabuza taunted through the thick mist he had created with his
technique. “However, there is no way that your other two students can make it
out alive this time. Haku is a genius. To tell you the truth, I suspect that he
is far more powerful than me.” With that, Kakashi barely dodged from Momochi
Zabuza’s zanbatou that came from his right.
Kakashi smiled at that, “You will see. They weren’t called the best genin
team of their year for nothing.”
“Tiger, Boar, my shadow clone had informed me that their
client’s family is meeting some difficulties with Gato’s hired ninja. You two
go handle them. I will stay here and look after the situation,” Naruto
instructed his teammates and the other two nodded, taking flight in the other
direction. Although the mission that Team Seven had taken on should be of no
importance to them, Naruto exploited his teammates’ weakness of not being able
to leave women and children helpless.
He had made thorough research on them even before they entered his team.
Tiger had lost her brother since young and had made up for her guilt by
visiting the orphanage from time to time with gifts. Although it had only been
a short time, Naruto knew that Tiger would sympathize with the village’s
miserable situation and would want to save the kid called Inari and other
children in the village as well. Boar, on the other hand, had a strong sense of
justice and would never leave defenseless civilians to fend for themselves. His
reason for joining the ANBU had been because he wanted to help the helpless and
reinforce peace and stability in Konohagakure.
Naruto scoffed at this. Peace and stability in Konohagakure? What a joke!
However, if his plan could work… He would be the one who bring peace and
stability to Konohagakure!
“Ishida… Why…?” Sasuke sputtered, stunned at the sight in
front of him. His teammate, Ishida, had taken the needles meant for him.
Although he had activated his clan’s prized doujutsu, the Sharingan, his
injuries were still too big a burden to carry while fighting an overwhelming
opponent. He stared at Ishida in disbelief and his eyes traced the amount of
needles in Ishida’s battered body. His rival and friend noticed this and smiled
sadly at him, coughing up blood slightly.
“Sasuke… You have a dream… To kill your older brother… But I need to tell
you this… That accomplishing your revenge will not benefit you in any way,”
Ishida staggered towards him, hand reaching out for some form of support.
Noticing this, Sasuke rushed forward and held him by his shoulder, being
extremely careful about his wounds. Haku looked on behind his mask, seemingly
indifferent about the entire situation.
“I knew that I could count on you…” Ishida gave his trademark double victory
signs and continued, “but you have… to know this… Revenge will bring you…
nothing…” His hands fell. Sasuke’s eyes widened and for once, ever since his
brother had murdered his entire clan in cold blood, he allowed frustrated tears
to flow down his cheeks.
“Was that the first death of a comrade you’ve experienced?” Haku asked
quietly, walking towards Sasuke noiselessly. Sasuke’s tears fell to the ground
in sync with his enemy’s footfalls. Abruptly, being subjected to a fierce
determination, Sasuke got onto his feet and ran towards his opponent with a battle
cry. Haku looked on nonchalantly as he held up three more needles between his
fingers. However, another masked man who appeared in the ice dome suddenly
stopped Sasuke’s charge at Haku.
Eyes wide at the strength he could feel by the short stranger’s hold on his
wrists, he was even more shocked when the stranger released his hold and
proceeded to deliver a kick in Haku’s stomach. The speed that Sasuke had
witnessed was astonishing. Haku flew to the other end of the ice dome and
remained facedown for that moment.
“Who are you?” Sasuke averted his attention from almost gaping at the fallen
opponent to glaring at the stranger. Without providing an answer, the masked
stranger walked towards Ishida and knelt down to check for a pulse. That was
when Sasuke realized something about the stranger’s outfit. From the uniform,
signature spiral tattoo on the left shoulder and mask, he could confirm that
the man was from the Konoha ANBU. He could recognize it anywhere because his
brother was once part of the ANBU. He narrowed his eyes at this. Why would an
ANBU from Konoha come all this way to the Wave country? Why would he suddenly
interfere with his fight?
Naruto knew that the boy from Team Seven would want to ask many questions
from him. However, he had more important things to do first, as he noticed that
the opponent was slowly making his way up from his awkward position. Checking
the boy, Noriaki Ishida’s pulse, Naruto realized that he was still alive. The
opponent seemed to be unwilling to kill his enemies. Naruto narrowed his eyes
behind his Rat mask. Sacrifices were required for his plan. Since this boy was
an orphan… Not much people will miss him right? This will be the first huge
step he had to take…
Naruto first removed the needles so that he could avoid allowing other
people know that the needles were not the cause of Ishida’s death. The needles
merely landed Ishida in a state similar to clinical death and Naruto would have
applauded for the opponent’s precision but would have scoffed at his
unwillingness to kill. He then pretended to perform CPR and could explain later
that Ishida’s heart had stopped and he had to perform the CPR in order to
oxygenate the blood and maintain a cardiac output to keep vital organs alive.
As he placed his hands on the boy’s heart, he applied chakra to his hands
and pressed down gently to disrupt the flow of chakra to and from his heart.
This method would never be discovered as the real cause of death because the
chakra ran on many tiny chakra passages in the chakra system. Naruto bent down
to ‘check’ his heart pulse and was rewarded with no signs of activity. All ANBU
members knew the layout of the human body in detail but Naruto had trained
himself efficiently in specialised medic techniques.
Turning towards Sasuke, Naruto walked towards him and informed him, “Your
teammate is dead.” The voice was emotionless and of a tone that belonged to a
child. Sasuke’s eyes widened at both this and the revelation of his friend’s
death. Sasuke however, did not notice how Haku tensed up when Ishida’s death
was mentioned. Sasuke’s hands clenched into fists and they were shaking badly.
His head snapped into the direction where Haku was.
“I will kill you!” Sasuke
shouted, preparing hand seals for his favorite fire technique. Naruto stepped
next to him and lowered Sasuke’s hands. Turning his intriguing Rat mask towards
the fuming boy, Naruto finally enlightened him of his presence in the Wave
country, “My team was sent by the Konoha council and the Third Hokage to
protect you and your team. We have failed in protecting one of your teammates.
Please allow me to take care of the opponent for our mistake.” He was saying
that like commenting on the weather.
As if Ishida’s death was
nothing more than a mere mistake on the ANBU’s part.
Unsheathing his Ninjaken,
Naruto sprinted forward with his lightning speed and deliver precise strikes to
Haku. Meanwhile, Haku was having difficulties with avoiding both the Ninjaken
and Naruto’s kicks. With a sudden realization that Zabuza could be in danger,
Haku turned his head towards his precious person, the person he swore to
protect and he unknowingly left an opening for Naruto.
As Haku created a crystal
ice mirror so that he could conveniently place himself within the area where
Zabuza was at, Naruto pulled at the other’s arm and pierced deep into Haku’s
stomach with his Ninjaken, looking as if he was hugging his opponent. Eyes
dulling as the numbness began to overwhelm the agonizing pain and reflecting
the disappointment at failing to save his precious person, Haku whispered into
Naruto’s ear, “You… were the one… who killed the boy… Why…?”
Naruto smirked behind his
mask and pulled out his deeply lodged Ninjaken from Haku’s stomach, resulting
in Haku’s immediate death. He wiped the blood on his Ninjaken with his hand and
smeared the crimson liquid on his Rat mask. “Why you ask me?” Naruto muttered
under his breath, staring at the glassy eyes of the opponent he had murdered.
Sacrifices were needed for
his elaborate plan. It was inevitable.
His eyes gleamed behind the
mask as he turned towards a shivering Sasuke. The Uchiha had been horrified by
the ease a possible child had displayed when killing a formidable opponent. Disgusted
by how the ANBU had treated his kill, Sasuke turned away briefly and fought the
nausea that was threatening to overwhelm his body. Naruto turned back to Haku
again and knelt down, running his right hand down Haku’s face so that his
dulled eyes would remain closed.
Naruto smiled, “This is the
first step towards constructing a paradise…”
END of Chapter I – The
First Step
Author’s notes: Feedback and constructive criticism
are gladly appreciated. This story is inspired by Code Geass. Please pardon any
incorrect detail in the story—I haven’t touched the manga or anime for a long
time now. Thanks for reading!
First released on June 16, 2008