Ruins, that's all he could see around him as he glided elegantly through what was once the greatest hidden village in the world.
'It's a pity so much magical blood had to be wasted.' the man thought as he sidestepped another dead body.
Most people ignored the man, or simply didn't notice him as he made his way towards his destination.
The man couldn't help but admire the scale of destruction around him, the power of the Nine-Tails was truly astounding. It bothered him that so much magical blood was spilled but he knew that if this village wasn't taken down, all of his plans for the future would be destroyed. Ever since that blasted Minato Namikaze entered into his war, he and his Death Eaters hadn't won a single major battle. Minato didn't need to send his armies, as he could just go to the battlefield in an instant, no matter where he was previously. After he gave his special kunai knives to those damnable Order of the Phoenix members, his Death Eaters began being captured, it was so simple for Minato to appear and overpower his enemies, and then hand them over to the Order of the Pheonix of which his wife was a member.
Lord Voldemort was a smart man. He knew he couldn't take Minato in a one-on-one fight, that man was just too powerful and much too fast for the dark lord to contend with. So, he had to go with his 'partner's' plan. A tenuous partnership at best, but still, the masked man did deliver, and the devastation around him was a testament to how well the plan had worked. The only rub being that the Fourth Hokage was still alive. The two had prepared just in case the fox had been sealed and the village survived, to infiltrate and kill the new host, while the Fourth was weakened, thus ending the village for sure. Sadly, it seems his partner was not in decent health after the first attack, so Lord Voldemort was left to finish plan B on his own.
Voldemort strode purposefully into the busy hospital, he had placed a powerful notice-me-not charm on himself, which let him easily outmaneuver, and pass by the many shinobi and civilians present in the building. Eventually, he made it to the room where he knew the Jinchuriki were.
He opened the door and stepped in. Two Anbu black ops members fell from the ceiling in front of him swords drawn, their eyes were on the door, but with the Notice-me-not charm still active, he appeared invisible to them.
The Dark Lord let out only the lightest of chuckles before he wordlessly sent two curses right at the Anbu, and given how close he was, they were unable to dodge. Both curses struck true, right in the Anbu's chests. Both men wailed in agony, as they began to dissolve. Their armor and skin melted off, and soon their organs began to fall out of their bodies. With all the cries of pain echoing out all throughout the busy hospital, no one could hear the two warriors die in agonizing pain.
The Dark Lord moved past the pools of flesh that used to be the two ninja and made his way over to a nursery on the far side of the room. Two children awaited there. One was crying loudly, obviously startled from the deaths of the Anbu, while the other just stared at him.
Voldemort looked between the two children, it saddened him that innocent magical blood such as this had to die, just to kill one man. If that nuisance Lily hadn't managed to convince her husband to get involved in the war in Britain, he would have no reason to be here, and these two innocent children wouldn't have had to die. Sadly, however, he was here, and now he had to kill them. He gave both children a once over.
The crying child was blonde of hair and had deep blue eyes just like Minato, she wailed loudly and if it wasn't for the sizable power she was giving off, coupled with the slight trembling of the room from all the magic flowing off of her, he would have killed her immediately just to put an end to this. Yes, Lord Voldemort was a man of charisma and elegance, and he didn't enjoy hurting children, especially magical ones, but this was Minato's child, for her, he would have to make the exception, even if he wouldn't enjoy it.
He glanced over at the other child and was surprised to see her staring up at him. Only a day old and yet the look in the infant's eyes was intense. Voldemort sensed power in her eyes, they were a very dark blue, almost black if the light wasn't good. Her hair was a deep red nearly black as well. If it wasn't for her facial features, he would think that this child wasn't really Minato's. Obviously, she took more after Lily but still.
Voldemort stared into the child's eyes and was surprised to see understanding in them. She looked like she knew why he was there. This caught Voldemort off guard, but he quickly recovered, dismissing the thought as absurd. Still, he knew this would be something that would bother him for quite some time, this infant had an unnatural awareness to her, she seemed so understanding, and yet remained content. It was surreal. Voldemort raised his wand and aimed it at her.
There was a moment, a single quiet moment where he almost felt like he was upon a stage, performing an act. As if the strings of fate itself were being plucked, guiding his actions in this moment. He silently cursed whatever malevolent entity had guided him to this moment of cruelty. He stared at the child for a moment more, feeling a pang of sadness echo through him, he could only sigh, and return his focus to his purpose. Summoning his hatred, he uttered the words, "Avada Kadavra."
He watched as the eerie green light shot from the end of his wand at the child, he saw the light impact her stomach, and he watched her flinch. But instead of going still, her eyes shot wide and in his last moment, Voldemort saw something that no one had seen in thousands of years. He watched in slow motion, the green light of his spell, still hovering in the air, as the child's eyes changed. Her pupils became tiny, and her iris turned white, and then to his awe, her whole eyes turned a lavender color, and black rings appeared.
In the half second that it took for this to happen, Voldemort became the first person in generations to lay eyes on the legendary Rinnegan.
Suddenly, he saw the green killing curse begin to contort, the energy coalescing against what looked like some kind of shield or barrier, that had appeared around her body. He watched her crib warp and shatter, and he watched as the barrier expanded and the energy of his killing curse came hurtling back at him.
And as the Shinra Tensei, infused killing curse slammed into him, the Dark Lord had but one thought, as his whole body was vaporized, as his mind and soul became a wraith, that though, was that this child, this infant, was a power unlike any he'd ever seen before, and would one day change everything.
As Voldemort's wraith hovered in the air for a second, it glanced around the now ruined room. It spotted the blonde child lying on the floor covered in blood red chakra that seemed to shield her from death. She had some splinters embedded in her skin, but they were quickly pushed out by the demonic energy and healed almost perfectly. For some reason, the demonic energy caused a mutation to occur, along her cheeks, three whisker-like marks appeared.
The other child, the one who had just killed him was lying on the floor directly before him, her eyes returned to their normal state, and she began pawing at the air, a gentle cry escaping her newborn lips.
Voldemort knew that to stay was to risk death, so with a swift motion, his wraith flew out one of the now open walls, leaving the hospital room behind, just as a doctor came rushing in to investigate, slipping on the dissolved bodies of the dead as he did.
-A few minutes later-
"What the hell happened here?!" Minato shouted as he walked into the room on crutches. He was exhausted from sealing the Nine Tails, and he was still suffering from the injuries he incurred from fighting the Masked Man.
"I'm not sure my lord. The room just exploded. We rushed in here and found the two children unharmed, but their Anbu guards have been turned into slag." One of the Anbu informed him.
"Where are my babies?" Lily Namikaze's voice could be heard as she entered the room.
"Here, my lady." a dog masked Anbu replied, he was carrying both children in his arms.
"Oh, thank god." Lily sighed as she stepped up and took both her children.
"What caused this?" Minato asked himself aloud.
"Hm... perhaps an investigation is in order so that we may garner some information." A voice spoke from the doorway.
Minato glanced over and spotted an old friend.
"Headmaster." Lily greeted with a smile, getting one in return from Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore sensei," Minato said with a little happiness crawling into his voice.
"Minato my boy, it's been too long. I heard of the Nine-Tails' rampage, I and the other members of the order came as quickly as we could. Though it seems the danger has passed already." Dumbledore replied as he stepped into the room.
"Yes, the Fox has been sealed. But it seems something is still going on." Minato replied as he glanced around again.
"I wonder if this has anything to do with Severus's mark fading." Dumbledore remarked aloud.
"Snape's mark faded?" Minato asked curiously.
"Yes, not more than a few minutes ago, his mark began to burn and then faded, he sent me a Patronus with the news." Dumbledore replied as he pulled out his wand and made a few motions in the room.
To his amazement when his wand passed over the ashes that sat in the center of the room, the dark mark appeared over them.
"My goodness..." Dumbledore's eyes widened in awe, as he looked at the mark.
"That's Voldemort?" Lily asked, recognizing the mark, and the spell Dumbledore used to identify who used magic in the room.
"How is this possible?" Minato asked as he too realized what was going on.
"Somehow one of the children must have done it." Dumbledore stated.
"That's impossible, these children are a day old, there's no way they killed a wizard as strong as Voldemort." Lily replied as she glanced at the two bundles in her arms.
"Allow me to check." Dumbledore stated as he stepped over to Lily, she allowed him to wave his wand over the two children, and to his surprise, the youngest, Naruko, began to glow red. They also took notice of how she now sported whisker marks on her cheeks. It only took them a moment to make the connection between the marks and what had happened.
"The Fox." Minato stated as he looked at his youngest. "Its power must have somehow deflected Voldemort's attack."
"I think you are right." Dumbledore said as he eyed the child with shock.
"She killed Voldemort." One of the Anbu stated in shock.
"She's a hero." Another said as the news of the Dark Lord's death began to spread through the ranks.
"Not only is she a hero for the village, but now all of wizarding Britain as well." Lily said with a gentle smile.
"Killed the strongest Dark wizard alive at the age of one day old, that's my girl." Minato said with a proud smile.
If any of them had bothered checking the sleeping older child, they would have seen her eyes glow with the Rinnegan when Dumbledore used the spell. It lasted for only a moment before the visage of those legendary eyes faded away once more, taking the truth with them.
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-Seven Years Later-
'Run!' A voice situated with her own mind shouted at her, it was a familiar thing and so she complied.
Narumi ran through the streets and back alleys at a quick pace, she was more than fast enough to avoid the crowd of drunken fools behind her, but she didn't want to go too fast lest one of the ninjas notice and question her about her speed.
She passed through the streets of the village that she'd called home her whole life. Though in truth the place was more like a prison.
Over the last seven years Konoha had been rebuilt and repopulated, though the echoes of that faithful night still lingered strongly in the minds of the people. For most, the village was a serene and gentle place, filled with laughter, and smiles, and neighborly friendship. For Narumi Namikaze, this village was hell.
It wasn't long before she lost her pursuers and arrived at her favorite place in the village, Ichiraku's ramen shop. The food there was tasty, but the thing she loved about this place was the genuine friendly nature of the owner and his daughter. The two were kind with everyone they met, but their willingness to extend that kindness even to the village pariah elevated them in her eyes. It was the one place that she actually felt content within the confines of the village. The one place she felt a semblance of safety, if only for a brief moment.
She sat down and the friendly chef Ichiraku smiled brightly at her and asked if she wanted her usual. She nodded, and the man got to work making her food.
Narumi had grown a lot in the last seven years, she was tall for seven, though was slightly underweight. Her hair was now down to her mid back and was still the same color as the day she was born, whenever it was dark out, her hair and eyes looked to be black. Her skin was pale like her mother's, and she was quiet and reserved most of the time, unlike her sister, who was loud and boisterous.
Her Sister, Naruko Namikaze, the Girl-Who-Lived. Hero of Britain, Slayer of the Dark Lord Voldemort. What a bunch of nonsense. It was annoying to Narumi, so what if her sister was the Girl-who-Lived? It's not like she actually did anything. The Nine-tails did most of the work.
'True.' The Voice remarked as Narumi thought about her sister.
The Voice had been with her since she was born, it was always there, offering her advice, training her into a better fighter, teaching her how to use her immense power. It was deep and gravely, definitely belonging to a man. And at times it could be harsh, and even antagonistic, but it was always there for her, and it often referred to her as it's grandchild. At certain moments it may even speak with a gentle, almost fatherly affection towards her, which Narumi yearned for, and desired. She tried to hide how much those moments meant, though deep down, she knew the voice was little more than a figment of her imagination, and as part of her imagination it would know all of her thoughts and feelings. She often lamented that the voice wasn't real. It hurt her to know that the one constant in her life, the one thing that held so much meaning to her, wasn't real, so she chose not to think about it. Chose to ignore it, and treat it as if it was real.
After a moment more, Narumi received her first bowl of Ramen and quickly began munching. As she ate, her thoughts turned towards her ramen obsessed father and sister, the two loved the stuff, even more than Narumi did. Her thoughts darkened at that. Her appetite beginning to fade.
At first, it saddened Narumi when she thought about how little her parents cared for her, they never really talked to her or listened when she talked, no it was always about Naruko. Naruko this, Naruko that. 'Daddy, can you train me? No, I need to teach your sister.' 'Mommy, can you show me magic? No, I need to teach your sister, maybe later.'
That's how it always was. She would ask and get shot down. Her relationship with them was quickly becoming antagonistic. Her parents hardly ever noticed her, and when they did, it was only when she really proved herself. Yet in those moments, she couldn't help but notice the disappointment in Minato's eyes, and in Lily, she saw what could only be described as resentment.
She never understood why this was in either of their cases. What father wouldn't be proud of their daughter's accomplishments? What mother would resent her daughter's growth? The conclusion she was beginning to reach with them, was that they were simply terrible people. It was the only thing that made sense. After years of trying to figure out what about her was so wrong that it would earn their ire, and finding nothing that made sense, she was left with only that conclusion.
At this point though, Narumi was just beginning to move past it, she had stopped asking her parents for help, and just stuck with the voice, it never lied to her, and though it wasn't always kind, it did help her, and support her, and when she accomplished her task, she was complimented. These simple things meant the world to her. Just a simple, 'good job' was all she needed to be happy, but her parents wouldn't even give her that.
She had reached her breaking point with her family after a recent event. That event effectively cut her off from ever going to them for help or for praise ever again. When she first saw her father perform tree walking, in a demonstration to Naruko and her pals, Narumi immediately decided that it was a good way to impress him without showing off just how far ahead she really was, and when she went to show her parents and godmother, what she had accomplished they were less than pleased.
When they found her hanging from the ceiling a proud grin stretched across her face, they didn't praise her, they didn't acknowledge her. When Naruko saw her, and began to pout angrily at her accomplishment, Narumi should have known she'd stepped in a mess. It was when one of her friends asked who Narumi was, causing Naruko to storm away in a fit of jealousy, that really set off her parents and Godmother. Lily had called her down from the ceiling and held her by the arm as she admonished her. She had yelled at her, for trying something like that without their permission. She called her rude, and cruel for trying to outshine her sister in front of her friends. Tsunade's words mirrored Lily's, finding fault in the small child. Minato's cold stare was the worst. The disapproving look on her father's face, shattered something in her. In that moment, through her heartbreak, she could remember feeling a rage that was not her own. It was so intense, and terrifying, yet it didn't touch at her, but rather wrapped around her like a protective veil. She didn't know it's source, nor could she rationalize the feeling in the moment. Poor Narumi was stuck under their hateful gazes for what felt like an eternity, if it wasn't for Uncle Remus and Kakashi being in the room at the time, Narumi was sure the slap her mother had prepared for her as retribution for this perceived act of defiance would have landed. She was glad they were there. Kakashi was her father's student and like an older brother to her, she really liked him, while Remus was one of her mother's friends from her school days, he was always kind and treated the twins equally.
Through out of all the bad that occurred that day, they were the one good thing that came from it, she knew that if push came to shove, she could rely on those two to help her out. As when they saw Lily's hand raise, Remus let out an angry growl and was at her side in a flash, and Kakashi was immediately between Lily and Narumi, separating the girl from her mother. It was only as Narumi backed away that she finally noticed just how tight her mother's grip had been on her forearm.
"That's enough I think." Kakashi had stated, his look heavy and warning.
"Kakashi what are you doing?' Lily asked, blinking in surprise, her eyes quickly flickering to Remus and seeing the glare on her old friend's face.
"Stopping you from hurting your child. And you." Kakashi stated pointing at Minato who looked taken aback by Kakashi's intervention. "You saw what she was about to do, you were really going to let your wife hit one of your children, your heir to be exact?" Kakashi asked with a dangerous look in his eyes.
"This is none of your concern Kakashi, she needs to learn to be patient, and not act out like this." Minato replied.
"Act out? She did no such thing. All I saw today was a child showing off what she had learned. Obviously, something she learned from watching others since I doubt anyone has taught her that. You should be proud of her. What reason could there possibly be for such hostility?" Remus asked with another growl as he eyed the two darkly.
"She could have hurt herself for one, and spying on people is another issue we need to address. She needs to learn that not everything happens when she wants it to happen. Gods, it seems all she wants to do is keep pushing and pushing, always trying to one up everyone around her, especially her sister. One of these days she's going to get hurt. She needs to learn patience; she needs to learn to accept 'no' as an answer. She just does whatever she wants, all the time, and damn the consequences. Hurting others. Getting into fights. Pulling cruel pranks. You think for a second, she didn't do this just to show off in front of Naruko's friends? Don't be a fool. If she ever wants to become leader of this family, she needs to stop acting like a bully. If she doesn't shape up, then the role is going to Naruko. The only reason it hasn't already is because poor Naruko already has enough on her plate." Minato replied coldly.
Remus and Kakashi both stared at Minato with wide eyes, unable to believe the garbage the Fourth Hokage was spewing right now. Narumi for her part, felt her blood run cold. Her father actually thought that about her. He actually thought she was a bully. All of those things he mentioned, all of it, it was true, she got in trouble a lot, she pulled pranks, she got into fights, but all of it was either to defend herself, or retaliate against someone who'd wronged her. Narumi had never in her life hurt someone who was innocent. Hell, she could clearly remember helping innocent people when in danger. She beat up some bullies for bullying other kids on a few occasions. It's just who she was. How could they not see that? Were they blind, or did they just hate her?
The idea had soured her spirit, and before she even knew what she was saying, words spilled out of her mouth.
"I hate you." Everyone heard someone say. They all glanced around until their eyes fell upon Narumi, who had her head bowed.
"What did you say?" Lily asked, unsure whether she heard her right or not.
"I said that I hate you." Narumi growled as she looked up at them her eyes had taken on a crushing blue appearance, they almost looked like bottomless pits the kind that if you looked into them for too long, you would fall in and keep falling forever.
"You little brat! Don't you talk about your mother and father like that! Apologize now!" Tsunade barked out angrily. As she saw the look of shock and anger on Minato and Lily's faces.
Narumi glared at them for a moment, staring at each one of their faces and the angry looks they held. She didn't see any love in their eyes, any regret for the things they said. The lack of compassion and remorse was what put the nail in the coffin for her. Finally, she let out an angry huff, as tears spilled out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. At the sight of her tears, she saw pain flicker onto the faces of Remus and Kakashi.
"You know what? I'm done." Narumi muttered, feeling the need to just be done with all of this.
"What?" Remus asked.
"I'm done with those three. I couldn't care less about leading this stupid family. And I don't care about being your daughter anymore either. I'm leaving." Narumi stated as she turned and started walking out.
"Get back here young lady. You are not leaving." Lily shouted at her, as she broke out of her stupor.
Lily pulled out her wand but before she even had it raised Narumi vanished in a Body Flicker.
"She can perform the Body flicker at seven. That is astounding." Remus stated, to which Kakashi nodded.
"Truly. She's truly remarkable. It pains me to see her treated so poorly for her gifts. You'd think given how gifted these three are, they'd know how to appreciate such talent." Kakashi offered in agreement, casting a rueful glare towards his former teacher.
"Well, what are the two of you waiting for? Let's go and find her." Minato sighed as he walked past them, his tone made it seem like he found the task to be annoying, rather than out of any sort of desire to make amends or fix this situation.
"Why?" Remus asked with a defiant look in his eyes.
"Remus..." Minato replied angrily, sensing his old friend's reluctance.
"You've never shown any interest in her emotional state before, no point in pretending to anymore. When she's ready, she'll come home, but for now, I'd say the three of you need to take a big step back and really examine what happened here today, because this, this was not how good parents react. This is not how family treats each other." Remus admonished them before sighing and turning to leave, deciding that he'd spent enough time in this village for now, and with the full moon approaching in a few days he had the perfect excuse to take his leave of it.
"Ya know, if Obito and Rin were here, there'd likely be no shortage of words to rebuke you. Unfortunately, it's just me, so you'll have to deal with my candid silence." Kakashi stated ruefully as he too vanished in a Shunshin, leaving a disgruntled looking Minato behind. The Fourth Hokage stared at where his student had been for several long moments before feeling a tug at his heartstrings. The image of Narumi's crying face flashed into his mind, and for a moment, Minato was reminded of a ghost, which caused his blood to run cold. He shook the phantoms free, and chose to heed Remus' advice, Narumi would return when she grew tired of this tantrum. For now, it was best to wait. He and Lily needed to have a long talk. Their feelings towards their eldest had really shined through today, and the influence they had on Tsunade was not helping matters either. They needed to get a handle on this before Narumi returned, lest matters become worse.
It had been about two weeks since that terrible day and she hadn't been home since. Sometimes a few shinobi would corner her, and try to force her to return home, but it was never really her, she had a few shadow clones wandering the village, a technique the voice had taught to her, so they never were able to corner her. She was a master of pranking, and because of the viscous pranks she had already pulled on a few of the shinobi, they had since become wary of approaching her and had just decided to follow at a distance. It seems her father had adopted the approach that she'd see how hard it was to live alone and come crawling home sooner or later, as long as she didn't leave the village and his Anbu kept an eye on her, she could do whatever for all he cared.
Narumi actually found it easier to live on the streets, because she didn't have to deal with heartbreak every time she went home. There were times when she would be locked out of the house, they would forget to include her at dinner, or even forget to take her on their trips. Now though, she didn't have to deal with any of that. At times, she did miss her twin sister. She and Naruko didn't have the best relationship, at times she downright hated her twin, but they were still sisters, and the voice often spoke of the importance of bonds between siblings, even if it would occasionally offer humorous criticism in regard to Naruko being an airhead, or a rambunctious brat.
People in the village were fast learning just what kind of terror Narumi Namikaze could be.
People learned fast that, she was not to be trifled with, as she'd turn her full focus onto them, and make their lives a living comical hell until they came begging her to stop. Now only the drunk or socially suicidal would dare mess with her.
Narumi allowed herself to finish her meal in quiet contemplation. Once done she placed the money on the table, said goodbye and left for her next adventure. Whatever it was, she was sure it would be fun.
-To be Continued-