As Naruto struggled against the ropes that tied him to the post, he kept calling for the rest of Team 7 to come back. He suddenly heard a metallic ching and then felt the ropes loosening. Naruto fell to the ground and looked at the post. Standing beside it was a man dressed in a black bodysuit with some sort of yellow armor over the chest and weraing a yellow mask. The man was holding what looked to be a long spear head with a very short shaft.
"Wh-who are you?" Naruto asked.
"My name? I was once known as Hanzo Hasashi of the Shirai Ryu clan," the man replied and shook his head. "Now? I go by the name Scorpion. Teamwork? Some message that was, taking those two away and leaving you tied up like that."
Hanzo's voice was deep and had some strange qualiy that made Naruto shiver a bit.
"Mister Hasashi? Why....?"
"Please call me Scorpion. My old name means nothing to me after my wife and son were murdered, along with my entire clan. You remind me of my son. I guess that's why I stopped and cut you down. I am also disgusted with your teacher," Scorpion stated.
"Are you out for revenge against those who murdered your clan?" Naruto asked.
"Quan Chi? No. What happened to him was far more severe than me ramming my spear through his brain. After Shinnok was slain and me killing Onaga, I really don't have much to do at the moment. So kid, how about I train you in secret?"
"But Kakashi is my teacher," Naruto responded.
"Kid, Kakashi is too wrapped up in the glory of that Uchiha brat. He will sabotage your efforts to learn in order to give that Uchiha a boost in confidence."
"But...," Naruto started to object.
Scorpion held up a hand to silence him. "You know this to be true. You don't know the very basics. All because the Forth Hokage sealed the nine-talied fox in you. Excluding the one called Iruka, your teachers did their best to keep you stupid. I'm quite sure the teachers were falling over themselves in trying to help out that Uchiha kid."
Naruto felt tears well up in his eyes, as he stared at Scorpion.
"Does Kakashi hate me that much?"
Scorpion shook his head. "He doesn't hate you at all. He's just to enamaroed of the Uchiha to consider your feelings. That girl, Sakura Haruno, will also be sabotaged in her efforts to become skilled. There is a difference between hate and not caring."
"Which is worse?" Naruto asked, as rubbed his eyes.
"That depends. For a teacher, both are destructive. In your situation, no one caring would be worse. If someone hates you, that means they do care about you in a way," Scorpion replied, as he crossed his arms across his chest.
Naruto sniffled a bit and nodded. He looked into the face of Scorpion and saw his white eyes.
"Are you related to the Hyuuga clan?" Naruto asked.
Scorpin gave a chuckle that caused all the hairs on Naruto's arms to raise up and quiver.
"No. There are other conditions that can cause a person to have white eyes. If you notice, I do not have those prominent veins on the side of my head," Scorpion said. "I never got your answer about me training you in secret?"
"Why secret?" Naruto asked.
"Ah that. In my own way, I would instill a sense of terror in Konoha that would exceed the nine-tailed fox," Scorpion said and gave a shake of his head. "Maybe someday I'll tell you why. There is also the fact that the Council will sabotage any effort on you learning to be a ninja. At any rate, do you accept my offer?"
Naruto closed his eyes for a bit and then nodded.
"Right then. When you aren't on a D rank mission, I'll train you. I do know where you live," Scorpion stated.
"How are you going to avoid the ANBU?" Naruto asked.
"The body switch technique is good, but not that good compared to true teleportation," Scorpion said.
Scorpion uncrossed his arms and vanished without a trace.
"What what what?" Naruto stammered, as glanced wildly around.
Naruto at first thought he was dreaming, but a glance at the severed ropes quickly changed his mind. Naruto made his way home, dodging any ANBU patrols. Once he was home, Naruto thought about what Scorpion had told him and decided to see how long it was before anyone came to find him. The next morning, Naruto felt himself being woken by someone shaking him.
"I brought you some breakfast," the voice of Scorpion said.
Naruto shot bolt upright in his bed and was about to shout when Scorpion's hand covered his mouth.
"I see you're testing Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura," Scorpion said in a slightly amused voice. "I wonder how long it will be before someone checks on those posts. Eat up and head to the basement of this building."
"Why?"
"You need to food to survive. If you're talking about the basement, I've set up a training area that we can use and keep an eye on things to see when we need to get you back into your room," Scorpion stated.
Scorpion headed into another room to give Naruto privacy to get ready. After that was done, Naruto looked at the breakfast that Scorpion had brought. It looked to be a wide variety of various foods.
"No ramen?"
"You need a balance of all four food groups. The bananas and apples take care of the fruit and vegetables. There is some milk as well. As to ramen, that is a nice supplement or replacement for lunch, but doesn't give enough nutrition by itself for long term benefits."
Naruto finished the meal and he felt full after eating for a short period of time.
"My stomach feels full, but I usually eat more than this," Naruto said in confusion.
"Actually, you haven't. Ramen is made up of mostly of flavored water. Water is ejected from the body in a multitude of ways and the main one in your case is sweating," Scorpion replied with a shrug. "Come on, let's get to the basement. By the way, can you make a single clone and leave it alone for quite a while?"
"Er, yes, but why?"
"I'm going to take that clone and tie it back up at the post, as a test for Kakashi."
Naruto nodded and created one Shadow Clone. Scorpion put one hand on the clone and vanished with it. Naruto shook his head in disbelief and headed down to the basement. When he entered, he saw that nothing had changed at all. He hunted around the basement, searching for the training area. After a bit, he stopped and scratched his head.
"I thought that Scorpion said there was a training area here."
"So I did. You just don't see it."
Naruto jumped and spun around.
"Stop doing that!"
"They never taught you how to sense chakra or how to hide your chakra pressence, did they?" Scorpion asked. "You should have been able to sense me the moment I teleported in. I wasn't shielding at all. At any rate, the portal is over here."
Scorpion led Naruto to a corner and a blue disk opened up in front of the two. Naruto looked at Scorpion in confusion.
"It's a portal between worlds, Naruto. We're heading to the Nexus where you can practice without being spied upon or sabotaged."
The two of them went through the glowing portal. Naruto shivered and held himself, as Scorpion looked on in amusement.
"Feels like you're sunburned in the middle of winter, doesn't it?"
Naruto nodded and looked around. The two of them were standing on a stone platform with the image of a dragon head painted on the floor. Tattered red banners with the symbol done in black fluttered in a breeze that Naruto could not feel. Looking up, there was a line of stone benches and beyond those benches were bookcases filled with scrolls and tomes.
"Welcome to where I train. Those books up there have styles and manuvers that can be taught to anyone with the proper training, barring such oddities like having a tail or four arms and so on. By the way, catch," Scorpion said, and tossed a dark object at Naruto.
Naruto caught the object and stared in confusion at it.
"What's this?"
"That is a Ninja-to. It is the sword of a Ninja. The scabbard can be used as a blow tube to shoot poisoned darts or used to stay underwater indefintatly by breathing though one end and having the other stick above the surface. The wire and rope tied around the scabbard you'll be able to figure out on your own soon enough. Judging by the way a lot of people use animals, you will also need another tool," Scorpion said, as he pulled a brass whistle on a chain from his pocket. "This is called a dog whistle. The pitch is too high for a human to hear, but a number of animals can hear it and it is painful to them."
"I can't accept this," Naruto said.
"You will if you want to live. There's a bag full of shuriken and kunai near that bookcase," Scorpion said, as he pointed with his right hand. "They are of better quality than the garbage that you are using."
"But..." Naruto began.
Scorpion took one of Naruto's kunai away from him and held it up. "For the money you spent on this kunai, I could have bought three kunai of the qualtiy that is in that bag. When you are on assignments out of Konoha, take money with you and buy gear in other towns."
"How do you know that?" Naruto asked.
"I am a ninja. It is my job to find out information that people try to hide," Scorpion said.
"That's a ninja's job?" Naruto asked.
"I do not believe that you are cut out for being a ninja," Scorpion said, and then held up his hand to stop Naruto objecting. "A ninja's main jobs are to gather information in secret and terminate a target when they least suspect it, such as takng a wire and slicing the throat of a sleeping six-year old girl."
Naruto blanched, as he stared at Scorpion. "Murdering children while they sleep?"
"Yes. Murder. I recall that my grandfather once slipped poison into the baby food of a boy who was only three months old. His family was trying to set up a revolution to take control from the rightful goverment, so the baby was assassinated to head off any thoughts of raising him to continue the crusade and to distract that boy's parents until they could be caught and then executed for crimes against the goverment," Scorpion replied. "That's what ninja do. They kill the helpless in secret or steal information."
Naruto looked like he was about to throw up.
"They never taught you that, did they? It's even worse for the Hokage. On a regular basis he has to have people executed for crimes and they aren't allowed to put up any sort of resistance. Take that Mizuki person who tricked you. He was led into a chamber and one of the loyal ninja cut his head off with a sword, while his hands were tied behind him and a bag was put over his head."
"That's horrible," Naruto choked out, with tears in his eyes.
"It's the truth. You can ask the Hokage himself about it. I've heard you want to be Hokage; will it make you happy? You are after people who will respect you and like you for who you are. Being Hokage will only have you deal with those who are good at hiding their real faces."
"What about you?" Naruto asked, as he fought a constricting feeling in his throat.
"My wife and son are dead. They are what made me happy. I want to pass on my clan's knowledge before it is lost forever," Scorpion replied calmly.
"There has to be a better way," Naruto mumbled to himself.
"There is, but you do not have to know it just yet," Scorpion stated calmly. "At any rate, let's get you up to where you are supposed to be. Let's find out what your elemental affinites are first."
Naruto nodded and Scorpion dug around and brought out four balls that were each a meter across and made out of clear crystal. Scorpion set them down in a cross pattern with Naruto at the center of the cross.
"Shouldn't there be five?" Naruto asked.
"That depends. The way I'm going to teach you, no. There are four elements and then there are combined elements. To be a jonin, you need to know two elements. Concentrate and let your chakra flow out of you and into the spheres and do your best to keep the fox's chakra out of it."
"How am I supposed to do that?" Naruto asked.
Scorpion tossed him a scroll and Naruto opened it up and frowned.
"Don't tell me, you can't read," Scorpion said in disgust. "All right then, this is what you do."
Scorpion proceeded to explain how to let the chakra flow out of him. Naruto was easily able to pick it up and did as Scorpion directed. One sphere lit up with a blue light and a sound of cascading water. Another sphere almost floated off its pedestal and glowed with a green light that dwarfed the others. The remaining two spheres lit up, but only half the strength of the blue one. They glowed red and yellow.
"Wind and water? Hm. That means you might also have the ability to use ice. I'm actually surprised you have any earth affinity at all."
"What about lightning and wood?" Naruto asked.
"Those are combined elements. Wood is combined earth and water. Ice is combined wind and water. Lightning is combined fire and wind. Crystal is combined earth and fire. Metals are a type of crystal, so they go with the combined earth and fire," Scorpion explained, as he grabbed som books and handed them to Naruto. "Study these books, they will help you learn how to read. I need to see if someone will agree to teach you to use your elemental affinites, including ice. It's not going to be easy."
"Why do you say that?" Naruto asked.
"I was tricked into believing he killed my family and I almost killed him. He might not appreciate me visiting. I will be back in a bit. Every book here has secrets in them that can be gained if you know how to read. The books are calling you stupid, since you can't understand them."
Scorpion vanished and Naruto was quick to take up the challenge that Scorpion set out. He wasn't going to let any book call him stupid. After a couple of hours, Scorpion reappeared with a person dressed like him only in blue.
"Naruto? This is Sub-Zero. He has an ice affinity and his long lost friend Smoke had an air affinity," Scorpion said.
"It took you a while," Naruto said. "Does he still hate you?"
"That was Quan Chi who caused all that hassle. I wonder if he was the one who started the feud between out two clans in the first place. It took a while, because he had to dig out some scrolls to help teach you," Scorpion stated.
"You also have a demon sealed inside you. I want to make sure that thing doesn't get loose," Sub-Zero added. "I have a bloodline limit that naturally uses ice, however I do have access to scrolls to teach the use of air, ice and water abilities for those who don't. I will teach you how Smoke used to teleport and then Scorpion will refine that, since he's been doing it for so long."
Around about noon, Scorpion sent Naruto back to his room and then Kakashi showed up a few moments later. As soon as he was there, Naruto dispelled the clone that was still tied up to the post.
"Here you are? Why didn't you join us at our meeting?" Kakashi asked.
"What meeting? You left me tied up to a post. I got free and came home and went to sleep. I even left a clone still tied to the post to see if anyone would come free me," Naruto replied. "Is that all?"
Kakashi growled a bit and shook his head. "All right. We'll start taking on missions tomorrow. I have no idea why you didn't come see me, as soon as you got free though. Your team missed out on going on missions today."
After Kakashi left, Scorpion appeared behind Naruto.
"What a jerk. He blames you for not going to him after getting free," Scorpion stated. "Team Seven should really be called Team Sharingan. You and Sakura don't mean anything to him. However, we have the rest of the day to get through some stuff."
"Will we have time to do anything?" Naruto asked.
"How long did it take you to learn the Shadow Clone technique?" Scorpion countered. "You didn't really know how to read and yet you figured out how to do that highly demanding skill from looking at the scroll for less than five minutes."
Naruto nodded and felt tears comming to his eyes once more.
"They wanted you weak. They have issued a challenge that you will always be weak and unskilled, because of what they have done. Will you let them win?" Scorpion said.
A fire shown in Naruto's eyes. "No. I won't let them win."
Naruto quickly headed back to the basement and the portal to the Nexus. Scorpion just shook his head in amusemnt.
"Easy. Really easy to get him motivated. Just issue him a challenge."
As the days passed, Naruto went on D rank missions with Team 7, but kept his training from Scorpion and Sub-Zero going and secret from everyone. Excluding Iruka, those two had shown him more support than he had recieved in his entire life. The two of them taught him several martial arts he had never heard of, but was eager to learn. With their help, he was able to get his air and water affinities down and then took special lessons from the two. From Sub-Zero, he learned of the various ice based techniques and how they could be beaten. Scorpion was easily able to teach him how to teleport without causing a chakra pressence. After about a month, they finally explained how they met and about Mortal Kombat. Scorpion explained he was the current Champion of the Elder Gods and it was his duty to keep the various realms safe.
"Why were you chosen to be Champion?" Naruto asked.
"I was both evil and good. I was filled with love for my family and hate for the one who took their lives away. The oppisite extremes in one person made me the best choice to become the new Champion," Scorpion replied.
"There is also the fact that you've been banished to the Netherworld at least six times and keep coming back," Sub-Zero said, chuckling a bit.
"Your brother is slowly doing the same thing I am," Scorpion said.
"No, he's not. You still have compassion in you. If you didn't, you would have never spared me. My brother tried to kill me," Sub-Zero said.
"Banished to the Netherworld? But..." Naruto stammered out.
"Oh, that. I am what's called a spectre. I am sort of a tangible ghost. I would scare your vilagers more than that the nine-tailed fox of yours would," Scorpion replied, shaking his head. "If I do a good job as Champion, the Elder Gods may return me and my family to life."
"They're that powerful?" Naruto asked in shock.
"Consider your Death God an ordinary genin. The Elder Gods would be like your fourth Hokage in comparison," Scorpion explained.
"What about you?" Naruto asked.
"Scorpion's strength varies on which realm he's in. Here at the Nexus, he could easily take on all the tailed beasts of your world at once and win," Sub-Zero said. "I think we should bring Nightwolf in for the next stage of the training, since he's the expert with spirits and the like."
"Nightwolf? Strange name. Does he have a wolf summoning contract?" Naruto asked.
"No. He can turn himself partially or fully into a wolf. He has the ability to talk to and be talked to from those who have departed from life," Scorpion said. "I can't teach what he can, since I am dead."
"I have never heard of abilites like that," Naruto said.
"As I told you before, you are being kept ignorant. Another reason is because Nightwolf does not live on your realm," Scorpion said. "Hm. That brings up a point. All your technology comes via summon scrolls or things that fall through the cracks like paper mills. I am gathering more information about Konoha than an army of ninja, all because I have access to spy cameras and the ability to pick up those signals."
"Right. Will any of you teach Sakura?" Naruto mumbled, as he shook his head.
"Not right now. She has to understand she is worthless in a fight first and then want to improve herself. She also has to start seeing people as they truly are," Scorpion said. "You might have to point it out harshly to her. Before you object, sometimes you have to hurt in order to heal. Hurt her pride and she just might learn to stand on her own."
Naruto sighed sadly and nodded.
"After Nightwolf is done with you, there is nothing more we can teach you at the moment in regards to martial arts. It will take time for your muscles and reflexes to develop properly," Scorpion stated. "That will be a lot of training and hard work though
"What about other stuff, to keep from being bored?" Naruto asked.
"Sub-Zero is currently head of the Lin Kuei, so he can probably teach you about being a leader and what sort of responsibilites there are. He is also somewhat decent at high-technology. It might actually make you more well rounded."
"Heh. The Dead Last getting all this education," Naruto mumbled and gave a bitter laugh.
"The reason you were Dead Last was because they taught to your weaknesses and ignored your strengths," Scorpion softly replied. "I think it is time to bring someone in on your training with us."
"Who?"
"Your teacher Iruka. He should be able to help you in public with what we've taught you. Hopefully, with his help we can come up with a convincing cover story."
"He is an Academy instructor; he won't have the time," Naruto objected.
"Even better. He'll know how to spot easy lies and lie better than most."
"Why are all of you helping me?"
"Me? I've covered some of my reasons. Sub-Zero is trying to make up for what his brother did before and after his death, along with what his clan had done in the past Nightwolf, when he shows up, will be helping you, because that is the sort of person he is. His reasons will be strange, but he will have them."
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(Posted Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:48)
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