Chapter 5: Declaring Destiny
--Konoha Common Training Grounds, 23 July, Year 74--
Naruto whined as got up, "Can't believe I fell asleep for 4 hours!" He wanted to get home by 7:30 pm. It was 11 pm now.
He had academy first thing in the morning tomorrow, His school hours were from 8 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon.
He was making his way out of the training grounds, He went up to the desk to sign out.
"6 hours Uzumaki!? What you wanna be Hokage before graduating!?" The On-Duty Chunin said as he laughed.
"Haha, very funny Mr. Itabe." Said Naruto as he signed out, "I only came to train for 2-3 hours after the academy, and ended up falling asleep." He mumbled the last part.
"Huh! What was that?" Asked the Chunin.
"I said, I fell asleep!" Naruto almost yelled out. Itabe tried to control his laughs but the man failed gloriously.
"Bahahahahaha! Our sleeping Hokage! Feared through all known lands! Hahahaha" Said the man as he continued laughing.
"STOP LAUGHING Y'KNOW!" Naruto said using his now famous verbal-tic.
"Hahaha, Sorry Sorry Uzumaki. See you tomorrow man, Goodnight." Said Itabe as we waved him off.
"Yeah, Yeah Goodnight Mr. Itabe." Said Naruto.
This was something he found weird as well, Some of the younger shinobi were nice or neutral towards him. There was Itabe, Sumiko, a Weird-Grey-Haired guy, etc. The last guy didn't mention his name, he was kinda cool, but still, he had weird hair.
At the same time, those older than them were complete opposites.
" 'Sigh' Forget that, I'm hungry." He said as he walked towards his home, he passed the Konoha Stadium, Word was they were gonna host Chunin exams next time, meaning the coming summer was gonna be great.
He continued on his walk home, halfway through the Civilian district he saw a blur move above him, he heard a cry as well, it sounded like a girl.
He turned around and ran towards it, he saw a tall man with a shinobi vest on, he had a face mask covering his face. The girl was still crying and hitting the man on his arms. He heard the man shush her as he made his way in.
Maybe it was some shinobi taking his/her daughter home, who knows? Not his business.
-----
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* He looked up as the microwave finished warming up his food, he opened the latch and stared at the steaming plate, Rice, Stir-fried vegetables, and Some chicken. He gazed for a few more seconds before cursing and running out of his house.
'Goddamit, I was home already! Why is this bothering me? We live in a shinobi village! It could be just as I thought.' He yelled out in his mind.
'Or maybe it isn't, maybe someone got kidnapped after all this is a shinobi village.' Thought a part of him. 'Ahh, fuck it!' He thought as he picked up his pace.
He was about to reach the building again when he heard a murmur behind him, he turned to see 2 genin, he knew they were genin because they looked young and had no shinobi vest on.
"-iha girl was kidnapped!" He heard one of them say and before the other could reply.
A chunin came up to them, "Go help with the search brats." He said quite sternly before his eyes fell on Naruto.
"Listen brat, Go home now, and that's an order! All civilians are to stay inside their homes until further notice from the Hokage." He said.
"Wait sir, I saw someone, uh, a tall man in shinobi gear take a girl inside that house." He said before pointing at the door.
"Huh, did you now." The man said before reaching for a band on his neck, All Naruto knew was Shinobi used it to talk to each other from long distances.
"Iwashi coming in, I have a lead, requesting back-up, the girl is in a house with the kidnapper, It's on Branch Road, Apartment complex 3, House 211, Civilian District. Out."
"Meiko coming in, Teams 1 and 4 are on their way, Out."
"I would tell you to go home, but there might be more intruders or maybe even traitors. Follow me." The man said and follow he did.
"Stay hidden here, I'm gonna go check it out." He said as nudged Naruto under the stairs.
"Are you gonn-" Naruto said a bit loudly, the man clamped a hand on his face.
"Shh, the enemy might hear us and take action, keep quiet and stay here. I'm not alone, backup is on its way, I can hold a single man off for that long." He whispered and moved too fast for Naruto to follow.
Naruto heard a loud wail from the girl as soon as the man moved in through the window. He felt his heart beat faster and faster, he felt blood rush to his face.
'Why did I come out?' He thought.
A loud crash was heard as the Chunin who was with him seconds ago, was lying in front of him with scars all over his vest but worst of all, his face was practically melted off.
Naruto started shaking, before letting out a barf and puking all over the stairs. He choked back everything and ran out on the road, he couldn't stand looking at that face.
He kept remembering the man's face, how confident he'd been, is this what Tobirama had meant in his book?
He saw Shinobi approaching him at high speeds, before they could ask he pointed towards the building and started vomiting more.
One of the Kunoichis placed a hand on his back as the rest entered the building.
"IWASHI!" One of the shinobi yelled and turned the man over.
"God dammit all!" Said another as they raided the house.
Their attempts were futile as 3 out of the 8 had been killed and 3 had been severely injured. Naruto could finally see the man, he was breathing heavily, and he had a few cuts on him, but what scared the blonde was the smile on the man's face. The wide smile, the crazed eyes, the blood-soaked hair, it was too much. The remaining 2 moved to attack the man, the ones who were injured were providing whatever backup they could.
The man's eyes landed on Naruto, He smiled wider and through 3 kunai attached with paper bombs at the frozen kid.
Naruto saw them, the look in his eyes, the smile, the kunai coming towards him. He closed his eyes not being able to face any of this. He felt himself being shoved out of the way. He opened his eyes and saw one of the injured shinobi had shoved him away and taken the attack for him.
Naruto would never forget the sound of the paper bomb hissing, He would never forget the look of cool confidence on the leaf nin's face as he said, "Our job is to protect the young leaves bastard!"
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
Naruto flinched with every note that exploded, the man was completely gone, and a mixture of bones, flesh, and blood remained.
For the first time in forever, Naruto started crying, wailing almost. Just as the man started laughing loudly.
'What can I do? What is this? Do I want to be a shinobi?'
He had seen a lot of blood being spilled today, he felt like giving up, but he saw that the shinobi were still fighting.
He suddenly remembered something from Minato's book. It took him a moment before he made his decision.
He saw the Shinobi pouch of the now-dead man in front of him. He picked up 2 kunai's.
"BACK UP! Code black!" A kunoichi yelled before attacking the man.
"Hngh, I guess I'm at my limit." Said the kidnapper. Naruto saw his headband gleam under the moonlight, 'Stone Shinobi' Thought Naruto.
"Remember this, as the final act of Seishi Nakata!" The man said before throwing the kidnapped girl high in the air. He started going through hand seals, the kunoichi was approaching him.
Naruto had been inducted into the academy, he had got the chance to access his chakra.
He understood why Mr. Sarutobi said those books would come in handy, Every fight wasn't about flashy techniques, it was about why the fight was taking place itself.
The girl, he needed to save her, that's all.
He had read about chakra control in tsunade's book, he didn't need the control right now.
He through both the kunai's at the man to distract him, and jumped on a broken wall. Naruto pumped as much chakra as he could into his legs and pushed himself as further as he could.
No one expected him to fight.
His brain was mush by now, he felt numb all over yet he could hear the beating of his heart clearly.
He leaped for the girl, just as the man released a torrent of flames towards them. Lighting up the entire area.
Naruto had his eyes closed most of the time but the moment he saw the girl, he wrapped his hands tightly around her and closed his eyes again. The flames came close to them, and actually grazed Naruto's legs.
He expected a painful landing, but someone caught him in mid-air.
He looked up and his eyes met a set of red eyes with 3 black dots. He heard a few gurgles, he looked in that direction to see, a kunai lodged into the man's throat, he had been too consumed by his anger, to see the 2 kunai Naruto had thrown.
"Yh-gakh!" The man looked enraged as he reached out for the guy holding him. Naruto's eyes widened as he realized.
"I killed him." He said as his arms coiled tighter around the girl in his arms.
"Ugh" He heard as looked down. 'The girl!', he thought.
He released her and looked at the bodies around him.
'I hope this is a long nightmare.' He thought as his eyes shut themselves, he felt numbness all over his body, right before he passed out.
He could still hear his heartbeat.
-----
Konoha Hospital, 25th July, Year 74
It had been 2 days since Naruto had passed out from shock and exhaustion. The young blonde had no idea about what was happening in the village throughout his slumber.
In his own right, he made a decision from reading something in a book, A book written by a Hokage himself!
--
'It is hard to carry an ambition, it is hard to turn a dream into a reality, it is hard to make great choices but that is why they hold so much value. It is hard but it has a great outcome. No one is going to hand you your dream life, you have to become the man you want to die as, the choice is yours.
I declared myself the Hokage long before the people did, you gotta respect your dream before asking others to bet on you.
Start living as if you have already made it, and things will move according to the plan!'
-Minato Namikaze
--
'I will be the greatest Hokage, and the people who hate me will crown me as one!'
-Naruto Uzumaki
He had declared his destiny, It didn't matter what the gods above thought, he would live his dream or die trying.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone