A.N. First story ever and writing generally takes me a while so may be a bit of time between updates

Lost Hope

Edit: Standard Disclaimer don't own story's non-OC's, not including this in later chapters because I'm not going to spontaneously own anything in this story other then the OC's

A young Naruto of eight years is running through a tall dark forest. The early evening sun is peaking through the canopy of the trees above as he runs deeper and deeper into the forest trying to get as far awayfrom Konoha as possible. As Naruto runs he is haunted by images of the hateful stares from the people of Konoha.

'What did I do to them? People I've never even met before look at me like I'm some kind of monster.'

Naruto keeps running until he finds a very large old tree. Deciding he'd run far enough away from the village he hides under the giant roots of the tree. Sitting down on the ground out of sight he is once again haunted by the eyes of the people.

'What'd I do?!' His shoulders slump 'Why do they always look down at me with those eyes?'

Naruto sits under the tree and thinks to himself for hours until the biting cold of night stirs him from his thoughts. Yet still he finds himself no closer to the answer that has eluded him throughout his childhood. Naruto takes out his frustration on the tree with a punch. Unfortunantly nothing was held back in the punch and Naruto only succeeded in hurting his hand. Naruto loosely grips his balled up hand and attempts to nurse the pain. A rustling above him distracts Naruto and he forgets about the pain. He looks up just in time to see a book falling out of the darkness of the tree above him.

"A book?" 'What's a book doing out here? Did somebody leave it out here? Does that mean that right now someone could be looking for this book? Would they be grateful if I found it for them? Maybe they'd be mad at me like the other villagers are.'

Naruto is too distracted by thoughts of what a books is doing out in the middle of a forest that he fails to realize the books heading right at him and it ends up catching him in the forehead.

"Gaahh" yells Naruto as he topples over onto his back. The book falls next to him and lands opened to a random page.

"Stupid book" grumbles Naruto as he sits up and rubs his forehead. Naruto glares down at the book but opens his eyes slightly when he sees the page the book opened to.

"It's blank?" asks Naruto in confusion. As these words leave Narutos lips a cold breeze blows through the tree chilling naruto to the bone. It was getting late and he had school tomorrow so Naruto picked up the book and ran towards Konoha. He'd find the owner of the book tomorrow after school and after he'd had a chance to read through it some.

Naruto could hardly wait as he watched the clock count down to the final bell. He'd been so excited about getting home and reading the book that he hadn't said a word all day as he just watched the clock. They wouldn't let him inside the library so he never got to read many books other then school textbooks (which he found boring) or the overly-priced training scrolls he'd buy but with how expensive those were they far and too few to keep him busy.

At the sound of the bell Naruto was running out the door and he made it home in record time. Usually Naruto took his time and even tried to delay himself from going home because he knew that all there was waiting for him was an empty house. Today however he had a book that he couldn't wait to look at and that gave him something to look forward to.

Closing the door he entered his apartment and pulled the book off a counter. Sitting down on his bed Naruto examined the cover of the book. It was crimson with small gold designs over the cover. One design in particular looked like it bleed down off the cover and when he turned the book on it's side he saw that the gold also covered the edge of the pages. Though the designs were interesting the book didn't have a title on the front cover or the spine. Thinking that the title might be inside the book Naruto opened the book to it's first page.

"This can't be."

The page was blank. He turned the page and found another blank page. Naruto kept turning pages and was always met with a new blank page. He started to frantically sift through the book hoping to find something.

'Come on there has to be something in it. No one would make such an elaborate cover and spine just to leave the book empty.'

As Naruto turned a page his finger slipped and the page cut his finger. He jerked his hand back but not before a drop of blood fell on the page. As Naruto nursed his cut finger he looked down at the drop of blood on the page. He was about to berate himself for getting blood on a clean new looking book when the blood seeped into the page disappearing into the page. Seconds after the blood disappeared words started to form on the page like a veil of wax was melting away leaving the newly formed pages open to his eyes. Naruto turned the page and found more words and sketches. Closing the book and opening it to the first page again Naruto read the only words present on the page.

"Namikaze Minato ... Who's that?"

Naruto turns the page and sees what looks like a small journal entry. The entry was short and to the point.

'We started our genin teams today. Ero-Sensei showed up late because he was caught peeping.'

Looking over Naruto noticed the date of the entry and was very surprised.

"This entry was written almost two decades ago. What was this book doing in the forest?"

Naruto decided that since the book was so old it was probably lost several years ago and was never found so it would be pointless to try and find the owner, this Minato Namikaze. So instead of spending the rest of the day trying to find the owner Naruto sat in his bed reading the journal of the man he would soon begin to admire. He read about Minato's first missions, the chunin exams, and the training he went through during his time as a genin.

Naruto woke to the sound of birds chirping. He rolled over and tried to fall back asleep but it was no use he was already up and would stay that way for the rest of the day. Getting out of bed Naruto started to boil some water, took a shower, and was out in time to eat his cup ramen before he had to leave for school. As he was about to leave the book caught his eye and he decided to bring it with him. Naruto emptied out a kunai pouch and set the book and a scroll in it before leaving for school.

Arriving early Naruto decides to read more of the book as he waits outside the school building. He turns to his page from last night and continues reading.

'Today I finally used the Flying Thunder God. It took months to develope it and will take even more months if not years to perfect it.'

Below this entry was a description of the Flying Thunder God as well as an explaination of how it worked. Naruto copied it down on the scroll with the rest of Minato's techniques and training methods. Silently Naruto vowed to himself that he'd both perfect and improve each technique and training method. Maybe then the village would see how great he was and then they'd have no choice but to acknowledge his existance.

"They all look so hard... and the hardest thing we're learning is Henge. How am I supposed to learn these techniques?" 'Oh well there's no way it would be easy or else it wouldn't be enough to earn recognition. I'll just have to try my hardest. I don't know who you are Minato Namikaze but look out because I won't stop till I've surpassed you.' Other kids start showing up and Naruto decides he should read the book later so people won't ask questions about it.

5 weeks later

For the past five weeks Naruto had continued to read the book and he was reaching the end. Tonight would be the night he finished the book and he was both excited and sad that the book would be ending. He couldn't wait to finish the book but at the same time he'd been reading the entries of this journal for a long time and he would miss having new entries to read. Naruto could tell that Minato was a man of many strong ambitions. He was the kind of man Naruto wanted to grow up to be.

Naruto was reaching the end of the book and these newer entries were dated around twelve years ago. Naruto could think of two men that were old enough to have met Minato (and talk to Naruto, the other villagers would shun him and his questions) Oyaji and Iruka-Sensei. Oyaji would be too busy with paperwork so that left Iruka-Sensei as his only choice.

"Remember class, this years exams are in three weeks so train hard to be ready for the exams." Iruka reminded his class. Iruka was about to dismiss his class when a raised hand got his attention "Naruto."

"You've lived in this village your entire life right?" Asked Naruto "Yes," was Iruka's reply "why do you ask?" "If you've lived here that long then you'd know a lot of people, right?" "Yes, where are you going with this Naruto?" asks Iruka.

Naruto asks "Who's Minato Namikaze?"

"Minato? He hasn't been called by his real name in a long time," Naruto gives Iruka a confused look before Iruka continues "Minato 'The Yellow Flash of Konoha' Namikaze was the one and only Yondaime Hokage." Naruto is shocked speachless.

'The Yondaime Hokage?! The journal I've been reading for the past five weeks was the journal of the Fourth Hokage?'

Iruka stared at Naruto's shocked expression 'What's gotten into him?' "Naruto? Is there something you want to tell me? Like why you asked me about that name and why you look so surprised."

Naruto wiped the surprised expression from his face and gave Iruka a nervous laugh while he scratched the back of his head "No, just curious. Don't even remember where I heard the name Iruka-Sensei."

Before Iruka could ask anymore questions the bell rang signaling the end of class and Naruto was already out the door. Naruto ran as fast as he could and didn't stop until he was in his apartment with the door shut and locked. Naruto turned away from the door and his eyes fell on the book lying on his bed.

'This is the Fourth Hokages'? No wonder I admired Minato so much. It takes a man of great ambition to become Hokage. That's why I'll follow in his footsteps. No, I can't just follow in his footsteps or I'll only be seen as his shadow. If I'm going to make the people of this village acknowledge my existance I'll have to be greater then Minato. Greater then all the previous Hokages. This will by my ambition, and I'll never let this ambition of mine die.' Naruto declared to himself with a fire of new found passion in his eyes. He would exceed all the hokages that came befor ehim there'd be no questions about it.

Naruto looked at the book and with shaky fingers opened it. He couldn't hide the excitement he felt and since he was alone he saw no need to. Naruto turned to the last entry of the book. The entries had been getting longer with time and this last entry was the longest entry yet.

' Things don't always turn out how you planned them. I wanted to do more for my village before I died but it seems fate has other plans. It's a cruel fate that the joyous day of my sons birth will also be the sad day of the Kyuubi's attack and my demise. My final act as Hokage will be to forfeit my soul to seal the Kyuubi's. A trained ninjas' chackra system is too developed to house the Kyuubis' soul without conflict so I'll have to seal him within a new and undeveloped body. I will use my first and only born son as the vessel. It is my dream, my hope, and my dying wish that the people of Konoha will see my son as a hero for the great sacrifice that will be made of him. As I write this I'm holding my son for the first and last time. His mother died giving birth to him so I'll be leaving him all alone when I die. If you are reading this son I'm sorry. All I can do is beg for your forgiveness; That I wasn't there to raise you myself will be a punishment of its own for me, but not enough to reprimand the lonely childhood I'll leave you with.'

Naruto stared at the book in shock and distress 'How sad, Minato made such a painful sacrifice. But worse, if his son had become a hero then everyone would know about him but since no one talks about him when they talk about the fourth that means the village didn't view the child as a hero. The very village Minato sacrificed himself for denied him his dying wish.' Naruto swore to himself that he'd find Minato's son and make Minato's dying wish come true.

"Such a great man. It will be hard to become a greater Hokage then him if not impossible., but I won't quit till I've surpassed him as the next great Hokage!" With that said Naruto opened his scroll of notes and began training. He had three weeks to prepare for the exam.

Later that night realization set in Naruto's mind about the serious nature of his declaration. The Fourth was a genius among geniuses and while not impossible it'd be close to it to outdo him. He would need a mentor and if he couldn't find himself one he'd have to teach himself everything he needed to become a great ninja and there was no way of knowing what skills were essential and even where to find information on these skills without access to the library. With all of this weighing down heavy on his shoulders he shrugged them as if it'd somehow alleviate the weight. Suddenly it dawn on him that none of this mattered he was Uzumaki Naruto and his very existence was a storybook of struggle and he'd be damned if his dreams would be easy. He fell asleep to the comforting thought that he'd already be working under familiar terms.

He woke early that morning and decided he'd need help to reach his dreams and without knowing what he was looking for he left his house in search of the unknown.