7A/N: Hello again, readers! WYW here with a new story. I've finally gotten around to my rewrite of canon!
I've been trying to work out how I want to write a canon remake and I've finally settled on one. It's been nagging at me ever since I've started. I've played around with many stories, as my followers are aware, and I've abandoned many of them. But here I am.
This is a canon rewrite with an OP Naruto. It will follow the canon arcs, mostly, with obvious changes due to the changes in Naruto's background. Not a harem, although I think I'll do NaruInoHina for the ship. Slow first chapter but it picks up.
As always, leave a review and follow for more. But this is my attempt at doing a canon rewrite without a weak MC.
I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters. I only claim any original jutsu I may create.
•••Shonen Jump•••
Chapter 1: Meet Naruto
•••
Naruto Uzumaki has always been a peculiar boy. Being the host of a powerful chakra entity generally omits any chance of normalcy, but Naruto was beyond that. From an early age, he'd shown a brightness far beyond other children and an extreme fondness for nature. He was always happy and cheerful yet also very observant of those around him. And to those people, he'd had all the makings of a future prodigy.
So at the age of 4, his godparents made sure to begin teaching him. Tsunade Senju, the legendary medic nin and one of the most powerful kunoichi in history, and the legendary Toad Sage Jiraiya began educating him on shinobi history and had him participate in light exercises until he grew more to truly engage in shinobi drills. Naruto soaked up every aspect of their teachings like a sponge. By 6 years old, he had reached the level of a seasoned genin.
Young Naruto's raw talent had been nothing short of remarkable. He was well versed in basic combat and precise chakra control by this time. But when the time came to begin learning jutsu, Naruto unlocked two powerful abilities, much to the shock of his Sannin godparents and the reinstated Sandaime Hokage.
His two powers, both legendary in their might, were the Adamantine Sealing chains and the heralded Mokuton, or Wood Release. The chains could easily be explained, since Naruto's mother had the same kekkei genkai during her life. But the Mokuton was a complete mystery. When the fabled bloodline emerged in Naruto, Hiruzen Sarutobi tested to make sure Naruto, and by extension his father since Kushina was a full blooded Uzumaki, was in no way related to the Senju clan. So, the mystery expanded further since the results came back negative.
Opting not to worry about it too much, the legendary shinobis dived into training young Naruto and honing his skills even further. Naruto took it all and never backed down. When he turned 9, it was time for him to enter into the Konoha shinobi academy. By this time, Tsunade had come to terms with her feelings for Jiraiya and the two were officially married. Life could not get any better for the prodigal child. The only reason he was not a full shinobi already was of his own volition, opting to grow into shinobi life with his friends, the other clan heirs.
Today marks the start of Naruto's academy life. It is also the day that will set the history of the shinobi world on a course of change, yet nobody could have possibly guessed it.
•••
As Naruto walks into the classroom, most of the children already present look at him with expressions of shock and surprise. It is no secret that he is easily the most powerful child in the village. Nor is it a secret that he is the heir of the Uzumaki clan, it's sole surviving member, and the child of their hero, Minato Namikaze, and container of the nine tailed fox. At 9 years old, he is treated as royalty within Konoha, and many of the civilian children can only look on in awe of the boy they try so hard to emulate.
Naruto simply disregards the stares, nodding in acknowledgment and nothing more. He turns his gaze to his friends from other shinobi clans, namely Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akamichi, Ino Yamanaka, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Hinata Hyuga. He smiles at them all and waves, which is reciprocated. He goes and takes the seat next to Hinata.
Naruto always appreciates the company of the Hyuga clan heiress. Hinata is a kind girl with a fierce determination to protect her family. Her ambition is to unify the two houses of her clan, the main and branch families. Hinata's father is close with Naruto and his godparents after two fateful events that forever changed the Hyuga clan.
After the birth of Hanabi, Hinata's younger sister, their mother, Hitomi Hyuga, became afflicted with a near fatal illness. It was only thanks to Tsunade's treatment that the Hyuga matriarch survived the ordeal, forever earning the gratitude of the Hyuga patriarch and his family. Years later, during peace talks with Kumo, Jiraiya interfered in a crack plan to kidnap Hinata herself, preventing the plan from even beginning. When Hiashi learned of Jiraiya's involvement in preventing the attempt on Hinata, he was even further indebted.
Since then, Hiashi and Hitomi made a point to involve the Sannin family and Naruto in gatherings and events, treating them as an extended family of the Hyugas. Naruto and Hinata were exceptionally close, and marriage talks between the two families were commonplace.
Striking up a conversation with the Hyuga heir, Naruto also notices in the far corner of the room the Uchiha heir. Sasuke is the unfortunate sole survivor of the Uchiha clan massacre. It was sudden and unexpected, not even his godfather could have seen it coming. Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, slaughtered the whole of the Uchiha clan, women and children as well, in the dead of night. He then left Sasuke as the sole survivor, forever traumatizing the boy and leaving him with a festering hatred and an insatiable thirst for vengeance.
Naruto had tried to make friends with the Uchiha survivor. But every attempt was met with immediate rejection. See, Sasuke is nothing if not prideful. Naruto is the Son of Heroes, his father is the sole reason that Konoha still stands in the wake of the Kyuubi attack. Their love for the Yondaime is therefore transferred to him, his son. Talks of the poster child of Konoha travels fast, and his immense strength is well known. Naruto is a prodigy whose prowess is said to be on par with Itachi's when he was Naruto's age. That only served to stoke the fires of rivalry even further, since, in his mind, Sasuke needs to be at least on Naruto's level if he were to even hope of catching up to his brother and exacting his revenge.
So, Naruto decided to leave well enough alone. If Sasuke didn't want to be friends, then that was his problem. He personally held no opinion of the Uchiha heir. 'Stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours.' That was the unspoken agreement between the two.
The bustling of the classroom was halted when Iruka and Mizuki, the chunin instructors of the class, stepped into the room. Iruka is the one to speak. "Okay, class, thank you for settling down. My name is Iruka and I'm a chunin of Konoha. This is my assistant instructor, Mizuki. During your time here, we will be your instructors."
Class begins and so does a new chapter in Naruto's life.
•••
"For the conclusion of the day, we will be doing light sparring. Follow us to the academy training grounds and we will get started." Iruka exits the room alongside Mizuki, the two engaging in light conversation as the rest of the class follows them. Many of the civilian kids, as well as Kiba, are excited to do some sparring and testing each other's strength.
For Naruto, the class was exceptionally boring, having known all the material and even correcting Iruka and Mizuki on some occasions, much to their embarrassment. He lets out an exasperated sigh.
Shikamaru picks up on this and comments. "Troublesome. This is going to be auch a drag."
Naruto scoffs. "You're just lazy, Shika. It's a Nara trait. I'm annoyed because the classes were too easy."
Shikamaru returns the sigh. "Obviously, I know the material too, Naruto. But these spars will be such a drag. I'm just going to forfeit." Naruto chuckles at the shameless laziness of his friend.
He turns to Hinata who is walking beside him. "What about you, Hinata-chan? What do you make of the classes?"
The adorable Hyuga heiress chuckles nervously at Naruto's question. The girl is wearing black athletic tights, a white and lavender hoodie, and sandals. Her shoulder length hair flows freely down her back. "Well... I kind if tuned everything out since the material was nothing new..."
Naruto hangs his head. Perhaps he should just graduate early.
Arriving at the academy training grounds, Iruka explains that the children will be paired off and will engage in taijutsu-only sparring until one is incapacitated, is forced out the ring, or forfeits. "No lethal strikes allowed," the scarred chunin emphasizes.
The spectating children sit in the stands while the two participants engage in combat. The matches were relatively boring. Naruto has been engaging in spars with the likes of Jiraiya and Tsunade, and occasionally, Sharingan no Kakashi. While his Sannin aunt and uncle regularly kick his ass, he's able to push Kakashi into using his famed Sharingan. So spars of this magnitude are of little interest to the 9 year old prodigy.
That is, until Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno are called to the ring. Sakura is a civilian girl who comes from a fairly prominent merchant family. Her father, Kizashi, is also a former jounin. They are avid supporters of Naruto's Sannin godparents while Sakura has a rabid crush on the last Uchiha.
Ino, on the other hand, is one of Naruto's closest friends. She's been a day one friend of Naruto's and the two share a close bond. Coming from a clan of mind walkers, Ino is the heiress of the Yamanaka clan. Naruto is also acutely aware of her crush on him which leaves him in an awkward position between the two girls he's closest to.
As Naruto watches the two girls enter the ring, he sees them exchange prematch banter. "Ino-pig! I'm going to crush you and show Sasuke-kun why we're meant for each other!"
Ino stares at Sakura wide-eyed in disbelief. "Umm... ok? Let's have a good match, I guess?" Ino drops down in a taijutsu stance which Naruto recognizes as her clan's form. Ino has a healthy athletic build, a clear distinction from Sakura's scrawny, near boyish build.
As the match begins, it is clear that Sakura is outmatched. Her crude hand to hand style is a far cry from Ino's style, which takes advantage of Sakura's bullheaded charging and retaliating with swift combos resulting in accumulating damage. After a little over a minute, Sakura falls unconscious in the middle of the ring. Ino stands proudly, not suffering a single scratch.
As Sakura is carted off to the infirmary, the next to contestants are called to the ring. "Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki!" The air becomes still for the briefest of moments. It was a dream matchup. Sasuke, heralded as a 'genius', and Naruto, a genuine prodigy if Konoha has ever seen one.
The two stand facing each other. Naruto has an outward blank expression, not showing emotion, and therefore, intention. Sasuke, however, is trying his best to glare a hole through Naruto. Even Mizuki and Iruka can sense the tension in the air. Mizuki takes it upon himself to clarify to the boys. "Now boys, remember, no fatal blows or jutsus are allowed. We are only here to measure your strengths and ranking in the class, not to hurt one another. Am I clear?" The boys nod absentmindedly. Mizuki sighs, seeing the futility in his words. He nods to Iruka who nods back. And Iruka signals the start to the match.
Sasuke is the first to engage, showing his inexperience by charging aggressively without considering the consequences. He throws a right punch followed by a left kick, which Naruto parries both. The resulting action throws off Sasuke's balance and Naruto delivers a right hook to his gut. Spittle and blood fly out of Sasuke's mouth as his eyes go blank and his face contorts into a silent scream. His whole body buckles and he was sure he accidentally relieved himself in his shorts before everything goes black.
And the whole arena goes silent as Sasuke is sent crashing into the far wall.
Naruto stares, gaping like a fish. He was sure he was holding back his strength. He didn't even enhance his fist with chakra. "I... didn't kill him... did I?" He turns to the chunin instructors as they look towards the crater Sasuke left in disbelief. Gathering themselves, they rush towards Sasuke, making sure he's ok.
They pull Sasuke out the rubble. Checking his pulse, they are relieved that he is only unconscious. A foul smell assaults the chunins' nostrils and Sasuke is quickly rushed off to the hospital. Kiba emphatically bursts out in laughter, shouting about how Naruto 'knocked the shit out of the emo prince.'
Recovering from the initial shock, the sparring matches continued until everyone had their measure. Iruka and Mizuki concluded the day and dismissed the class. Before leaving, Naruto approached Iruka and Mizuki.
"Umm, Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei, is Sasuke ok?" he asks.
The two chunin smile at the boy for showing concern for his classmate, who clearly held some kind if personal rivalry with Naruto. Iruka answers. "Sasuke should be fine, Naruto. Though, I wouldn't recommend visiting him. He seems to not be fond of you." Naruto nods solemnly. He feels guilty for having hurt Sasuke, even though the boy did not like him.
Mizuki took this chance to speak to Naruto. "Naruto-kun, may I ask why you are only now joining the academy? You are clearly at least chunin in strength, why hold yourself back?"
Naruto smiles wistfully. "Mizuki-sensei, everyone knows what I carry." Mizuki nods. "I have very little sense of normality in my life. My parents died protecting the village. My godparents, Auntie Tsunade and Uncle Jiraiya, are two of the most powerful shinobi in the Elemental Nations. I hold two very powerful and rare kekkei genkai. If not for Auntie Tsunade and Uncle Jiraiya, along with the ANBU squads assigned to guard me, Iwa or Kumo would have captured or killed me long ago. I don't associate with civilian children all that much and the kids in this class are the only friends I have that share my age. I don't want to leave them behind. I'll graduate when they graduate. I'd like to have some normalcy in my life for once."
Iruka and Mizuki are taken aback by the words of the child in front of them. Naruto is essentially the Prince of Konoha. Smiles and waves greet him as he walks down the streets, he regularly receives gifts from merchants, and praises are sung for him from every corner of the village. Yet now, for all his strength and stature, he is but a vulnerable boy only wishing to be treated normally. The two chunin smile for Naruto and nod in acknowledgment.
"I see. I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner, Naruto-kun." Mizuki responds apologetically, offering a kind smile. Naruto nods and leaves for the day, heading to meet up with his fellow clan heirs.
Iruka turns to Mizuki and eyes him appraisingly. He says, "How surprising, Mizuki. I didn't think you'd be so accepting of Naruto, seeing as how he's the kyuubi's container."
Mizuki chuckles. "The difference is that Naruto-kun is the container for the kyuubi, not the kyuubi itself, Iruka. I won't be so blind as to lose sight of that. And even if Naruto-kun is loved as the son of the Fourth, we fail to see that he has his own struggles."
Iruka chuckles in response. "Of course. It's our job to help him and the other children as much as possible, as they are the future of Konoha."
Mizuki looks to Iruka and nods. "Let's do our best, Iruka. But first, how about we get a drink. It's been a long day."
"Sure, why not? You're treating though!" Iruka and Mizuki share a laugh and head to the local watering hole for the shinobi forces of Konoha.
•••
Sasuke wakens with a start in the Konoha hospital. He clutches his gut, feeling immense soreness. It all comes back to him, the spar, the punch, the overwhelming loss at the hands of his self-imposed rival. Sasuke clenches his teeth at the memory. The only other time he remembers losing so crushingly was against him.
A medic nin, no older than 14, walks in. Sasuke looks up at him as the young medic notices he's awake. The boy speaks up. "Hello. My name is Kabuto Yakushi. I'm responsible for your care while you're here." Sasuke offers no response and only nods at the boy.
Kabuto decides to ask Sasuke a few questions. "So, what caused the injuries that brought you here, Sasuke-kun?" Kabuto notices Sasuke's brow furrow at the question. He presses further. "I know it must be... hard for you to accept what happened... but you must understand, Sasuke-kun, I need to hear what happened in order to complete the report."
"I was too weak, ok!" Sasuke snaps. Kabuto recoils in surprise at Sasuke's sudden outburst. Sasuke growls, "He destroyed me! He didn't even try! That damned... Uzumaki! I didn't even land a hit!" Sasuke clenches his fists and grits through his teeth. The humiliation was too much. How could he ever hope to catch up to his brother if he can't even beat some nobody Uzumaki?
Kabuto smiles gently. "I see. I think I understand." He crouches down beside Sasuke's bed. Sasuke raises a questioning eyebrow at the older boy. "How about this. I feel for you Sasuke-kun. Once you are released from the hospital I will offer some tutoring for you. I may not look it, but I'm quite a skilled shinobi in my own right. I'd gladly teach you, if you'll accept."
Sasuke is taken aback by the offer. On one hand, his pride as an Uchiha is screaming at him to only rely on himself. But on the other hand, he knows he'll never reach the levels Naruto has alone, let alone Itachi's level. Swallowing every ounce of Uchiha pride he has, he turns to Kabuto. Sasuke nods in acceptance to the proposal. Kabuto nods and stands. "Good. Now rest up, Sasuke-kun. If you don't recover fully, you'll only further injure yourself."
Sasuke nods and lays back down, closing his eyes. Kabuto leaves the room smiling, closing the door behind him. A small chuckles escapes the medic nin's throat.
"Orochimaru-sama will be pleased..."
•••
Naruto enters into his family's compound after leaving the company of his friends. He sees his godparents cuddling on the sofa of the sitting room. He smiles at the sight. "Hey Auntie Tsunade, Uncle Jiraiya. I'm home!"
The couple look up and see the smiling visage of their beloved blonde. "Naru-chan! How was the academy?" Tsunade asks as she gets to her feet. She pulls Naruto in a motherly hug and kisses him on the forehead.
Jiraiya chuckles. "Boring, huh Naruto?"
Naruto sighs and nods his head, releasing his hug with Tsunade. "Yeah, Uncle Jiraiya... I knew everything they were teaching and even had to call out some of the mistakes the chunin instructors made. Although... I accidentally sent Sasuke to the hospital..."
Tsunade gasps. Jiraiya actually had the audacity to laugh, earning a glare from his wife. Tsunade turns to Naruto. "Naru-chan, why did you do that? You know that the other children aren't nearly as strong as you are."
Naruto shakes his head. "But Oba-chan, it was an accident. I didn't enhance my punch with chakra!" Tsunade looks at Naruto with warmth in her eyes. Tsunade is extremely protective and loving when it comes to Naruto. He and Jiraiya are the two most precious things she has left in her life. She pulls him into another loving hug.
"I know sweetie. Your strength is a result of all our combined efforts in training you and you have no idea how proud we are of you." Naruto relaxes into Tsunade's grip and return the hug with just as much love. "Just be careful the next time you spar. I know you were this time but remember, you can hurt us if we aren't careful. Just imagine what you can do to children who haven't been trained as hard as you, Naru-chan."
Naruto nods into Tsunade's shoulder. "I will, Oba-chan."
Tsunade pulls back and kisses Naruto's forehead once more. "I love you, my little Naru-chan."
Naruto smiles. "I love you too, Oba-chan." He rushes over to Jiraiya and wraps him in a hug. "I love you too, Jiraiya-ojichan!"
Jiraiya chuckles and ruffles Naruto's hair before pulling him into a hug. "I love you too, Naruto."
Naruto rushes off and hollers back at Tsunade and Jiraiya, "I'm going out back to train! Let me know when dinner is ready!" Tsunade and Jiraiya chuckle, waving back at Naruto.
Jiraiya turns to Tsunade. "You spoil him a lot, you know."
Tsunade looks down solemnly. "I know... it's just... when I look at Naru-chan, I see him, Jira-kun. I see Nawaki." She grips the front of Jiraiya's shirt, pressing her forehead into his chest. "I don't want to lose him too... I want to keep him as long as I can, and protect him with my everything..."
Jiraiya wraps his beloved wife in a warm, comforting embrace. "I know, Tsuna-chan. But he will grow into a man before we know it. All we can do is be there to support him as much as we can. He has to live his own life." Tsunade nods into his chest. A smirk adorns Jiraiya's face. "Although... we can try to have one of our own."
Tsunade's face heats up as she looks into Jiraiya's eyes. "B-But... We're too old... I can't have children anymore... I can't-" she's cut off by Jiraiya pressing his lips to hers. She gives up resisting and wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him in deeper.
Jiraiya pulls back and stares deeply into Tsunade's eyes, his own full of love and desire. He whispers in a husky growl, "Then I'll just keep going until I definitely knock you up." The legendary Toad Sennin scoops up the legendary Slug Princess and carries her off to the bedroom. He made sure to activate the silencing seals on their room. He doesn't want to scar their little Naruto with what he's about to do to his Oba-chan.
•••TBC•••