On the outside, Namikaze family was perfect. They had Namikaze Minato, The Yondaime Hokage of Konoha as the father who was also the strongest shinobi in the village and the fastest one in the whole Elemental Nations, the mother was Namikaze-Uzumaki Kushina who was one of the strongest kunoichi in the Elemental Nations and their children Namikaze Tomoe and Namikaze Mito who were the jinchuuriki heroes of Konoha. All in all, it was a perfect family. No one could have guessed that they had another child by the name of Namikaze Naruto, the eldest of the Namikaze children.
Naruto was very different from any other child. Even though he had parents, he grew up like an orphan because no one cared for him. His godparents who were two of the Sannin brushed him aside for his younger siblings, his parents doted on his sibling, the village always held his siblings in a higher regard than him. Basically he was treated like an unwanted orphan even with the whole village practically worshiping his family. His parents didn't even bother to start his training. The only good thing his father did for him was to keep the knowledge of him being the container of Kyuubi s soul a secret from the villagers. This treatment caused a lot of damage to Naruto as he stopped being a bright and happy child at just three years of age, stopped asking anything from his parents at the age of five, stopped trusting his parents and other people close to his family at the age of seven and stopped trusting or depending on anyone by the age of nine. The only person he even cared about was not exactly a person but rather the soul of Kyuubi who was like a surrogate father to him. One may ask, why is a child was more at ease with the soul of a demon than other human beings, a demon who was well-known for his malice and hate. The thing was that Kyuubi was made from the hate of Juubi by Rikudou Sennin and this hate affected him due to his chakra. The other bijuu were also made by the chakra associated with different emotions of Juubi, hence when the chakra was removed from the Kyuubi, his hate and malice vanished but his knowledge and personality remained. Right now, Naruto at the age of nine and a half was watching his parents train his siblings in their styles as he just looked dispassionately. Even after all his suffering and loneliness in his life due to his neglect, he did not hate anyone in the village but this sucked out every emotion from his life, he stopped feeling jealousy, sadness, anger, happiness or even love. No matter what he did .or tried to do, he could not feel a single shred of love for anyone, be it his parents, siblings people around him or even the village itself. He could not feel any loyalty as there was nothing the village did for him. Even Kyuubi felt this as slowly, most of his emotions disappeared from him. Since his parents were not training or doing anything with him, he started looking for other ways to train. He could not train in Taijutsu as he did not have any instruction; neither could he train in Ninjutsu of Genjutsu as he did not know how to use chakra yet. The only thing he knew was Fuinnjutsu, which was quite limited despite his talent in the field. Without any instruction, Naruto reached level three in sealing arts by just reading books. He did not even know if he would be going to the Ninja Academy or not. As he scoured through the library, he saw a book on samurai. Since he had nothing to do, he begun to read.
He was so engrossed that he could not even tell the time. He learned about the history of the samurai, their code of living, their specialty in Kenjutsu and their beliefs. The section that got his attention the most was the section on Kenjutsu and its description including its types like Battoujutsu which was rare in Elemental Nations. Most of the people, even samurai used iaijutsu rather than traditional battoujutsu. He also learned how other weapons like naginata, katana, tanto were some of the most preferred weapons and how samurais create their own styles for their weapons. For the first time in his life, he felt hope which crashed because he knew his parents will never buy him any weapons, let alone a katana. He had seen his mother use a katana and wanted to learn but she never taught him, just his younger siblings. As he felt despair rising which was actually something he felt a lot before his emotions got lost, he heard a voice which associated with Kyuubi.
"Kit, you should not feel sad just because your parents are worthless, now what got my favorite kit so sad. Tell me and I, the smartest being in existence shall give you my wisdom", came the cheery voice of Kyuubi.
"I just read a book on samurai and Kenjutsu attracted my attention, but I know that my parents will never get me a sword. How can I become strong if I cannot even practice the one thing I want the most. I wish to create a style which is unmatched, no I want to create two unmatched styles yet I cannot do so. Do you have any idea on how to solve this problem, unmatched being of wisdom. , replied Naruto in a monotone which made the Kyuubi sigh.
"Kit, before you even create a style, you must practice how to handle a sword. But you cannot practice that with a sword right off the bat, you must first use a bokken and it can is used by budding Kenjutsu professionals when they are learning. Also I have a way by which you may get a sword but also a loyal friend who will always help you and be with you. You remember the thing about how a samurai s sword always remains loyal to him. That was how the samurais of the past worked. The ones who served lords have their sword to make them remember that they served a lord and the sword, which was provided by the lord based on the skill displayed by the samurai was not an instrument to kill but rather and instrument to serve. The ronin on the other hand stayed true to only themselves and their swords. They believed that a samurai does not need a lord as long as he has loyalty to someone and the samurai code. They served people but their loyalty was to peace because the samurai are killers but rather peacekeepers. There were also some samurai who were loyal to their sword and believed that they might be the keepers of peace but the sword is the hand of god. They used their skill to punish the evil and protect the weak. These were like ronin but they were not afraid to spill blood."lectured the giant fox soul.
"That was a good history lesson but how does that help me get stronger." , Naruto said this in the same tone but with a hint of irritation which was the only hint of emotion he showed in a long time.
"Go to the sections of swords and wood and fashion a bokken from the tree I tell you. I will teach you on how to unlock your chakra as well as, how to use both yin and yang chakra tonight. As for a real katana, you will learn that when the time is right for you to use a katana. And if you succeed in handling the bokken and being able to create a style, I will help you in getting a special sword which will put even the Kiri swords or the samurai swords of Tetsu no kuni to shame. This is a promise." Kyuubi replied.
With that Naruto quickly went to the sections of library which dealt with carving, swords, and the way by which wooden items were made. He found a book about the wooden equipment needed by a ninja and he found the correct procedure of making a bokken in a book. He quickly memorized the whole segment, which was easy due to him having a photographic memory and started moving towards the forests of Konoha which were rich in trees
. Reaching there, he suddenly heard Kyuubi s voice."Kit, you will need to use the tree which is about 30 meters away and smells like rose, it has the toughest wood when compared to different types of trees. It also has a dark reddish colored wood which is easy to recognize. Mark this tree and start making the bokken, but wait for three days to start, till then, use a kunai to cut a tree which has a very pale colored wood as it is very soft. We will use this pale colored to make a practice bokken and make sure that the measurements are right before making the actual bokken from this tree." Quickly marking the tree, he washed his hands and went home so that he can sleep and learn how to unlock his chakra from Kyuubi.
At Namikaze Home
As Naruto entered his home, he saw that his siblings had completed the training for the day and they were eating ramen now. There was a time when this scene caused feelings of sadness and jealousy to rise in his heart but now, he felt as if his heart was cold. Then he thought,'I got inspired by the samurai and I already feel detached from my family, well, I was always neglected but now I feel no love. Now even looking at them makes them as valuable as any other human being. I guess, this is the attitude of the samurai who serve the sword, a samurai who must not distinguish between duty and family. Whose honor as a swordsman and a human being makes them ideal. Ninja are hired thugs, who will serve the client rather than the people who need their skills and protection. You can no longer play favourites in the path of peace, the enemies of peace must be punished and the innocent people must be protected. Even if you are related by blood, a true samurai must not favor anyone. If the Elemental Nations cannot learn the value of peace, then I will change the world with my sword.' In his mind, the soul of Kyuubi smiled in pride at the thoughts of his container. While he was recovering his power, he did not have much of his youkai. His newly gained youkai was free from the taint of Juubi hence it will not change him. He went to rest while thinking about a gift which would help the kit.
His family looked so perfect from his viewpoint that he saw no reason to include himself in this scene, hence he quickly hid behind the door to listen in the conversation.
Tomoe groaned, he was able to complete the physical exercises and chakra control exercise which was tree climbing. As a result, he was very tired. The same could be said about his sister Mito. While both were dead-tired, they were happy with the praise they received for their training. As Tomoe thought about his family, his mind drifted towards his elder brother. While he cared for his brother, he was unable to think of him as someone he could look up to. His elder brother was weak and thus did not deserve the same amount of respect as any other elder brother. Similar thoughts were going through Mito s mind.
Kushina attracted their attention by clanking her bowl with the chopsticks and said,"Yosh! Today was fruitful, Tomoe nearly completed the tree walking exercise and Mito was able to get the basics of water walking down. If you both are able to complete the exercises by the end of the week, I will teach you the basic jutsu."
With this, the twins nodded excitedly and the family went back to their meal, completely forgetting about the fifth member who was now going back to his room. As he was going towards his room, he took one more look at his family, a family which did not even spare him a second glance. The family may look like a family full of light and goodness,but they will have to conform to the winds of change, or else, they will be snapped.
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