Konohas Shadow
Chapter one
Naruto was nervous, cold and agitated.
Naruto had sneaked away from the orphanage late at night, after he was sure that the house mother Morine Rea had fallen asleep. Walking down the streets, with no particular destination in mind, he was thinking over his current predicament. The teachers at the ninja academy kept him at an arm's distance, sure they helped when he asked but they almost always seemed uncomfortable when they did. It was the same with most adults they avoided him and whispered behind his back, they didn't even let their children play with him most of the time. The only one didn't treat him like an annoyance was Rea, she always gave him a warm smile and a hug when he came back from playing just like she did with the other children.
Thinking about her brought a smile to Naruto she was kind and loving everything he would want in a mother, of course he would never dare call her that he didn't want to do anything that would change her behaviour towards him.
Arriving at a park he found an empty bench and sat down, looking up he stared at the starry night sky while listening to the leaves of the trees swaying in the wind.
Was it something he did that caused this behaviour towards him? as far as he could remember he hadn't done anything to warrant it, he felt somber just thinking about it.
While he was contemplating all of this he began looking around.
'maybe if I became the next Hokage people would recognize me' he thought ' then they had to recognize me'.
Giving a sigh and looking ahead of him he noticed how some leaves started to swirl around in a certain spot. 'That's weird' he thought 'I have never seen leaves act like that'.
From the leaves an old man appeared, he looked to be in his late 50s early 60s he had a white angular beard that pointed down and black eyes, he looked at Naruto and gave him a kind smile.
Naruto stared at the old man for awhile with big round eyes. The old man chuckled amused.
"Hello Naruto-kun" he said with his grandfatherly smile "what are u doing out so late at night?" he waited for Naruto to respond. After awhile and not getting a response he asked again. "Naruto-kun? are you-" "how did you do that?!" Naruto asked interrupting the old man.
"Do what Naruto-kun?" the old man asked relieved that he hadn't scared the poor boy to death.
"Appear out of nowhere" Naruto replied excitedly "that was so awesome old man was that some secret super ultra ninja technique?"
The old man chuckled again amused by the boys words although calling him old man would usually be considered an insult, he decided to let it slide the boy probably didn't even know he was the Hokage. "That my boy, was the body flicker technique a technique most ninjas learn eventually" the Hokage replied.
"Body flicker technique?" Naruto asked "So it's not some super ultra technique?" Naruto visibly deflated from the mans words.
Quietly snickering at the boys words and loss of excitement the man replied "no it's not some secret super technique but it is a useful one". Before Naruto could reply the old man continued "It's quite cold outside why don't we continue this in my office? I have some questions I would like to ask you".
Naruto stared at the old man contemplating should he follow this man? he didn't know him, he was a stranger and Rea had warned Naruto to not follow strangers. Naruto finally said "I'm sorry Rea told me not to follow strangers and I should probably go back now"
"Rea?" the old man asked.
"Morine Rea the orphanages house mother, she takes care of me" Naruto replied giving a small smile at the thought of her.
"I see" the old man smiled at him happy that the house mother cared for him " I don't think she will oppose, I know her quite well".
Naruto was troubled, the man didn't seem to lie. "Okay" he replied after a moments thought.
Naruto and the old man began walking away from the park towards one of the largest buildings close to the mountain that had the faces of the past Hokages carved onto it. The old man looked at Naruto out of the corner of his eye wondering if the boy would make a connection with his face and the third one on the mountain. Not seeing the boy give any sign of recognition he gave a silent sigh 'to be fair to the boy I look older now compared to then'.
Deciding that he had enough of the silence Naruto spoke up "I was thinking about the adults attitude towards me" he said remembering the old man's question from before.
"What do you mean, are they treating you badly?" The old man replied, of course he knew what Naruto meant he was the Hokage after all. But he wanted to hear what Naruto would say.
Naruto looked around wondering if he should tell the old man, after a moment of silence he decided why not it was nice having another adult besides Rea give him attention. "No they don't really treat me badly" he said "It's more like they're avoiding me". "Rea is the only one that really notices me and willingly spends time with me" by the time Naruto finished his sentence he looked down on the ground sounding a little sad.
The old man looked at Naruto sympathetically but at the sametime proud over Rea 'maybe I should direct some more funds to the orphanage' he mused he knew the orphanage were short on money and he had wanted to direct more money to them but the council was against it. The man sighed 'well in the end I'm still the Hokage not them, guess I have to remind them of that fact' stupid really he knew that they thought they held some power but in reality it's just an illusion of power, he'd let them believe they held political influence to stop their nagging and complaining. The only ones of the council that knew their position were the shinobi side which was composed of the clan leaders, of course they weren't a fan of the civilians complaining either but they were necessary for the civilian population. He never let them take it to far though, some civilians wanted to stop Naruto from entering the ninja academy but he shot down that "advice" immediately 'really the only reason they don't want him in the academy is because they're afraid' he sighed. Whoever spread the rumor of Naruto containing the kyuubi needed to be punished but alas they didn't find the person or the source.
Arriving at the Hokage tower Naruto looked confused and turned towards the old man "why are we here old man? I thought we were going to your office" the boy asked.
The old man looked at him amused and replied "we are". Which further confused Naruto "but this is the Hokages building and only the Hokage and his staff work here" Naruto replied back "unless you are the Hokage but thats-" Naruto started but stopped himself after seeing the mans knowing smile "your the Hokage!" the boy exclaimed.
The Hokage looked at the boy amused "yes Naruto-kun I'm the Hokage". The boy paled 'I've been calling the Hokage old man ohh man this is bad Rea always told me to be on my best behavior if I ever met the village's leader' Naruto decided to apologize "I'm really sor-" But the Hokage interrupted him "it's okay, no need to apologize"
"Instead lets go to my office I would like to ask you some questions" Hiruzen said "okay" Naruto meekly replied.
Once inside Hiruzen's office he took a seat behind his desk while Naruto sat on a chair in front of him. Looking around Naruto took note of the room he was in, everything from the books on the bookshelves that were attached to the wall to the couch of to the side, the small corridor with a closed door at the end and finally to the large window behind the Hokage overlooking the village.
"So" Hiruzen started "how are things in the academy? are your studies going well" he asked. Naruto refocused his gaze to the man and answered "yes it's fine I guess"
"You guess?" asked Hiruzen "is something wrong Naruto-kun?" Naruto hesitated now that he knew the old man is actually the Hokage, the leader of Konoha, he was worried since he had complained about the adults in the village, maybe Hiruzen would be upset with him. As if sensing his thoughts Hiruzen said "I'm not angry or upset Naruto-kun" Hiruzen took a long look at the boy in front of him noticing the look of worry in his blue eyes "I'm just worried about your studies".
Naruto felt the honesty in Hiruzen's words and it felt nice to have someone worry about him so he answered the man "It's just some of the teachers feel reluctant to help me and it seems they rather avoid me"
"I see" Hiruzen replied 'I had hoped the teachers would at least understand that Naruto is just the container not the beast itself' Hiruzen sighed and then looked at the boy in front of him and decided to tell Naruto why adults acted that way.
"They're like that because they're afraid Naruto-kun" he said "afraid? Why would they be afraid of me" he asked confused.
"Because people fear what they don't understand" Hiruzen told him "What do you mean?" Naruto asked back, he was so confused right now.
"I can't tell you right now Naruto-kun but when you graduate from the academy then I'll tell you ok?" he said "what? You can't tell me wh-" Naruto started but got interrupted by Hiruzen who told him with a serious look in his eyes "I can't tell you now because it will put you in danger, when you graduate I'll tell you because you will be better equipped to defend yourself in case something happens, ok?"
Naruto looked disappointed and replied with a meek "okay" he didn't want to anger the first adult besides Rea that interacted with him especially not the Hokage and he knew from the man's tone of voice that he was serious.
Hiruzen gave a sad sigh 'I'm sorry Naruto but for now you will have to trust me I will tell you when you graduate' To get the boys minds of the previous topic he decided to ask "what sort of ninja do you want to be Naruto-kun?".
"What do mean old ma-" Naruto caught himself "Hokage-sama" after he corrected himself he gave a slight cough hoping Hiruzen wouldn't notice.
"No need to force yourself Naruto, in private like this you can call me old man if it's easier" Hiruzen said amused. "What I mean is do you want to be a ninja that fights on the front lines or do you want to support your future teammates with illusionary and medical techniques or maybe stealth and infiltration is more your style?" 'although illusionary and medical techniques would most likely prove a big hurdle for the boy, not impossible but extremely difficult' Hiruzen thought to himself 'and having more assassination/infiltration focused ninja would be nice, the few we have now would be the jonin in the anbu division, Mitarashi Anko and Hatake Kakashi'
Naruto pondered for a while they had gone over the different techniques in the academy. There were ninja techniques, illusionary techniques, medical techniques and body techniques. Ninja techniques had always excited naruto but maybe there was more to being a ninja than just throwing out technique after technique he decided to ask the old man.
"old man what would you say makes a ninja?, I just thought it would be cool to use awesome ninja techniques but now I'm not so sure anymore"
The old man looked at the boy with the hint of a smile on his face "certainly ninja techniques are important but you also need to train your body and mind even an E ranked technique could save your life" 'I might as well try and guide him in a direction' he thought "if you want my opinion I think you should focus on training your martial ability and your body with a few supplementary techniques to get out of hairy situations" 'most ninjas these days rely on chakra to enhance their muscles and strength that combined with ninja techniques leaves quite a strain on the chakra coils'
"So focus on my developing my body and mind with supplementary jutsu?" Naruto asked back "that doesn't sound fun I want to do awesome stuff with ninja techniques like" he thought for a few seconds "like creating tornadoes with my breath" he finished.
The Hokage chuckled 'typical children these days always want the flashy stuff' "In the end it's your decision Naruto-kun I just gave you my thoughts on the matter since you asked" He told the boy
Naruto lowered his head to look at the floor, it's true that he asked the man what he thought and he is the Hokage so surely he knows what he's talking about. Looking back at the Hokage he asked "Can you give me some help? maybe recommend some books or something, please"
The Hokage smiled "I can't give you any preferential treatment Naruto but you can find what you're looking for in the library" 'maybe I should introduce him to that, if he got the blood of the Uzumakis flowing through his veins maybe he can surpass Jiraiya we have need of more specialists in that area' "I do have a book I can give you Naruto-kun you don't have to learn it but it could be useful to you and the village as a whole if you managed to" with that Hiruzen got up and walked towards his bookshelf.
Naruto looked at the Hokage a little disappointed but he quickly got excited after hearing the man's last sentence. "what is it?" he asked.
Arriving at the shelf Hiruzen scanned the books until his eyes landed on what he was looking for, taking the book and walking towards Naruto he handed the book to the boy.
Naruto accepted the book and read its title which was "An introduction to the art of sealing" looking further down he saw the authors initials which were "U.K".
"Sealing arts?" Naruto muttered and opened the book. Seeing the boy begin to look through the book the man gave a soft smile 'Kushina always wanted to spread the art of sealing to more people to stop it from dying and giving the book to your son is the least I can do for you Kushina'.
Before Naruto could delve deeper into the book there was a frantic knock on the door and through the door came a out of breath voice clearly belonging to a female "Hokage-sama please open the door Naruto has gone missing".
Hiruzen gave a short chuckle while muttering "you're quite a troublemaker eh Naruto-kun?" and began walking towards the door.
Naruto gave a nervous chuckle as the Hokage began opening the door to the worried woman, who he knew was Morine Rea. Once the door was open he got a good look of the woman she was in her late 30s with a roundish face brown eyes that were currently displaying worry and a bit of panic and her black hair that reached to her upper back which was currently a mess she was panting as the door fully opened.
"Hokage-sama I'm so sorry to disturb you so late but Naruto has disappeared, I was going to the kitchen to get something to drink and on the way back decided to check in on the children. That's when I noticed Naruto was gone". She blurted out hurriedly
"Calm down Rea Naruto is fi-" Hiruzen started but got cut of by Rea "Please you have to send out people to look for him what if he's been kidnapped by another village?".
"He's just a boy and I can't lo-" She stopped herself when she noticed a tuft of blonde hair moving behind the man. "Naruto?" she asked.
Hiruzen gave a low chuckle at the woman's worry for Naruto it warmed his heart, he gave her a smile and let her in. She walked hurriedly towards the blonde and when he got into view she visibly relaxed, then she showed an expression of light anger.
"Naruto do you have any idea how worried i was!" she told him in a angry voice. "I'm sor-" Naruto started but got cut of "why would you go outside so late at night?" she continued and when she was finished she bent down and hugged him tightly.
"I was so worried something had happened to you" she whispered barely audible to the blonds ears. Naruto felt his eyes begin to water "I'm sorry I won't do it again" he said back.
Seeing their interaction Hiruzen smiled and decided to end things here so the two could get back to the orphanage "well me and Naruto-kun just got done talking so why don't you two head on home".
"But-" Naruto started but Rea interjected "no buts Naruto we're heading home and that's it, now say goodnight to the Hokage"
"Good night old-" Naruto stopped himself remembering Hiruzen's words from earlier, giving a light cough to hopefully cover up his blunder he corrected himself "Hokage-sama". Rea turned to the Hokage and apologized for the disturbance to which he said it was no problem 'no need to mention I found him through my crystal ball, keeping an eye on a young container is a necessity while they're so young' he thought.
"Come now Naruto we're heading home" Rea said as she and Naruto started to walk home "goodnight to you Hokage-sama" she finished when they were through the door. "Night you two" Hiruzen replied back as he closed the door.
Once the door was closed he took his seat behind his desk and thought about what the future had to offer.
On the streets Rea and Naruto walked towards the orphanage, Rea had calmed down and was now back to her usual calm self but she still hadn't released his hand, not that he minded.
"You're grounded for a week" she said after a while "What!?" naruto exclaimed "but-" "no buts Naruto you're just six years old you can't just leave at night" she continued "You are to go to the academy then straight home okay?".
"Okay" Naruto muttered while hanging his head dejected but also a bit happy that she cared about him and had been worried about him.
Arriving at the orphanage Naruto noticed that the other children were asleep, Rea had sent him to the room he shared with a boy a bit older than him "Lee is still asleep" he muttered. He was too excited to sleep the Hokage had given him a lot to think about 'he said he would tell me why people were avoiding me when I graduate so I might as well put some effort into it' thinking back to the "meeting" he had with the hokage he pulled out the book he got 'I wonder who U.K is' he wondered for a brief second before diving into the book again.