Disclaimer! I own all the Naruto manga, but I don't own Naruto!
Naruto Uzumaki was hated. He didn't know why, but he just was. Sometimes he wished that the wind could just carry him away to a faraway place so that he could be free of the hate. He knew however that wishes couldn't get you anywhere. A boy could hope though. This is where we find ourselves at in this moment in time. With a sapphire eyed, blonde haired boy who adored the color orange, crying all alone in his bedroom, wishing that the winds of change could just blow him away.
'Why do they hate me so much?' the boy questioned to no one. A question he had asked far too many times in his admittedly very short life. A question that no child should ever ask themselves.
'Did I do something wrong?' was another question that the boy never had an answer too. He couldn't recall anything he did that could result in the mass amounts of hatred that he suffered each day of his existence. It came in many forms. It sometimes came in the way of being denied his existence. It also came in the way of beatings that he had no way of avoiding and no way of proving since all the evidence disappeared within a matter of minutes. It seemed that everything was against him.
The boy who was barely visible in the few rays of moonlight streaming through his window was obviously malnourished. His bones could be clearly seen protruding out of his skin. His cheeks were hollow and his eyes were sunken. He was also shivering heavily from the cold due to the landlord cutting off his heat. The baby fat that was usually present in a child's face was completely gone. It was obvious that the boy was heavily suffering. No one cared about his plight. As far as anyone was concerned, the 'demon brat' deserved every bit of suffering he got.
'I don't want to live anymore if this is the way it has to be.' It was a thought that absolutely no one should have. Anyone who had this thought should banish it immediately since no matter how bad a situation is, once you hit rock bottom, there is nowhere to go but up. The boy however didn't have anybody to tell him that. The one person that would, was very busy at the moment. And so he went to sleep, hoping that he would never wake up again.
Elements acted in strange ways. Once in a while, the spirits that controlled them would die out and be reborn as other beings. With these rebirths came events that coincided with the particular element's nature. For example, the rebirth of the Fire Elemental Spirit would result in mass destruction to anything surrounding it, or how the rebirth of an Earth Elemental Spirit would result in a massive boost in the growth of nature. Things like that tended to happen when a Elemental Spirit was reborn.
At this very moment in an undisclosed location within the Elemental Nations, the Elemental Council was holding a meeting.
"I see that Wind isn't here at the moment." Kasai commented while scratching his flaming jaw. Kasai was Fire Spirit who had a draconic appearance. He had a dragon's head with a human abdomen and a dragon's tail. The color of his skin and scales was the color of the flames he represented.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious you flaming bastard." Kaiyo drawled while hovering lazily around the area. Kaiyo was the Water Spirit who took the form of a horse. Her upper body was all horse and the bottom part was just wisps of water. Her skin color was the color of the waters in the deep part of the ocean.
"Quit messing around Kaiyo!" Sanda stated authoritatively. "Kiryu hasn't reincarnated in the last thousand years. This must be a sign." Sanda was the Lightning Spirit in the form of a wolf man. His head was a wolf's and he had the body of man. His skin and fur was the color of ash with yellow strips representing lightning running along his body like a tattoo.
"I agree," A melodic voice echoed out across the chamber they were in. This was the voice of Chikyu the Earth Spirit. She took no other form because nearly everything was within her domain. She preferred to talk in a disembodied manner since it tended to freak people out.
"Kiryu's rebirth must signal something great. A great change. Whether it be for the worse or for the best is yet to be determined. We must be prepared to deal with it either way." Chikyu continued sagely.
All the spirits nodded in agreement with the disembodied voice of the Earth Spirit. Whether they liked it or not, the winds of change were brewing.
Time Skip (A Couple of Years Later)
Today was the day of the Genin Exam. The day where Naruto Uzumaki would become a shinobi. Another step towards the future he wanted. A future of freedom. He had discovered a lot of interesting things about himself over the last few years. He learned that he housed the Kyuubi no Yoko whom he thought the Fourth had killed. He learned this when he picked up a book on Jinchuuriki and discovered that he had a seal on his stomach. If that wasn't enough, he had actually met the beast and was on sort of friendly terms with it.
He also learned that he had a very strong affinity to wind when he accidentally picked up a piece of chakra paper that someone had left lying around. When he channeled chakra into the paper, the paper ripped into a million of tiny pieces instead of just half like he read in the books about chakra when he was starting out in trying to become a shinobi. He had become pretty skilled with his wind affinity after training with it for several years. He had instinctively known how to use it like a fish knew how to breathe in water.
He was also no longer the malnourished boy he was before. With the Hokage giving him monthly stipends and him learning the Henge no Jutsu, he had easily gained access to food supplies that were denied to him when he was still oblivious to the truth. With the help of Kyuubi, Naruto had managed to shape his body in the image that he wanted. He was by no means super muscular, but the muscles that he did have were well defined and rock hard. He also stood at a solid 5'6, which was pretty tall for his age group.
Overall, the years had been good to Naruto. Still, Naruto held a bitterness in his heart. He knew that he would never be accepted in the village. He knew that no matter what he did, he would still be seen as the demon. Even if wanted to change people's minds, what was the point? If people could change opinions the moment he did something right, what was stopping them from changing their minds when he eventually messed up? It was a useless endeavor in Naruto's opinion. He wished to be a shinobi because it allowed him to roam outside the village. Away from all the prejudice. A way to be free. The stronger he became, the longer he could stay out of the village without the fear of being hunted down. He took inspiration from Jiraiya the Toad Sage. A man who was rarely seen within Konoha but still acknowledged as one of its best. He wished to have freedom like that, and now he was a step closer to reaching it.
Dressing for the day, Naruto looked in the mirror and liked what he saw. He was wearing a custom made white hoodie with orange trimmings and a big Uzumaki crest on the back. He also wore black ANBU pants along with his shinobi sandals. He also holstered his kunai pouch on his right leg. Satisfied with what he was wearing, Naruto made his way to the academy.
The academy wasn't located very far from where he lived. It was probably only a fifteen minute walk. But it was a still a walk filled with glares from the general populace of Konoha. Not that Naruto cared anymore. He just blocked it all out and went on his way. They weren't worth his time and effort.
Reaching the academy, Naruto made it into class just as the bell rang. Looking at the class, he could see that apparently there was some sort of incident between Kiba Inuzuka and Sasuke Uchiha that had sparked the ire of all of the Uchiha's fangirls. Not wanting to have anything to do with that, Naruto made a beeline to the back to avoid any unnecessary attention. He missed the pale eyed gaze of a person sitting in the middle row. The teacher, Iruka Umino, who was seated at the front of the class waited for everyone to settle down before entering into lecture mode.
"Today is the day that you take the Genin Exam!" Iruka started before he was interrupted with a chorus of cheerful "Yeah's" and "Finally's" emitted by the entire class. Iruka coughed to get everybody's attention back before continuing.
"It has been a long year but I am very proud of all of you and I wish you all the best. This is the first step in your ninja careers so make sure you take it seriously. Now that all of that is out of the way, let's begin."
The written exams weren't that hard. With the Kyuubi helping him out with the things he didn't know, he was sure he would pass. Even if the examiners decided to try and sabotage him. Again. The kunai and shuriken area of the exam was also easy with the training he had undergone. He scored just enough to pass since he wanted to keep his skills lowkey. Now came the harder part. The ninjutsu practical. The first two jutsu were the Henge and the Kawarimi. It was fair to say that he passed those with flying colors. The next part was the issue. The Bunshin no Jutsu. The one technique that he wasn't able to do because of his massive chakra reserves. This one required a bit of deception on his part. When it came time to perform the jutsu, Naruto put his fingers in the hand seal necessary to do it. However instead of doing the Bunshin no Jutsu, Naruto did his own technique called the Kaze Bunshin no Jutsu. It was basically him using his wind affinity to create living and breathing clones. Since the teachers didn't really check on the clones themselves, as long as they looked like the original then the student would pass. It was safe to say that Naruto passed this Genin Exam.
Iruka stepped forward to give Naruto his Konoha hitai-ate. "Congratulations Naruto Uzumaki. You have become a Genin of Konohagakure." Iruka stated before leaning forward a bit to whisper in Naruto's ear. "I'll treat you to some ramen later." Naruto's previously stoic face broke into a tiny smile at Iruka's words. Naruto nodded to slightly to show he agreed. Quickly recomposing himself, Naruto's stoic expression returned before he grabbed his hitai-ate, muttered his thanks and left the room.
A lot of teachers in the room frowned, as they watched Naruto leave. They however, could not do anything to prevent him from doing so. While all the others were dissatisfied that the 'demon brat' had passed, one was dissatisfied that his plan had fallen apart. Now he had to re-plan everything.
"Congratulations again on passing Naruto. I am so proud of you!" Iruka stated with a wide grin on his face as he slurped down the delicious noodles of Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto himself had a wide smile on his face at the moment. Ichiraku Ramen was one of the only places where he felt safe enough to freely express himself.
"Thanks Iruka-sensei! I'm really glad I passed too!" Naruto said softly as he finished his fifth helping of the delicious noodles before raising his hand to order another one. The owner of the stand, Teuchi Ichiraku, and his daughter, Ayame, were very happy to see their number one customer looking happier than usual. Naruto and Iruka continued to sit and chat for the next half hour before Iruka had to leave on another errand.
As Naruto left the stand and headed on home, he saw a suspicious sight. 'Why's Mizuki-sensei going out of the village at this time of the night? And with a big familiar scroll on his back also?' With these thoughts in mind, Naruto decided to follow.
Naruto trailed Mizuki until he stopped when he was a certain distance within the forest surrounding Konoha. Suddenly, Mizuki, sensing somebody, turned and launched a fuuma shuriken straight at Naruto's direction. This in turn forced Naruto to dodge and land on the ground right in Mizuki's line of sight.
Mizuki's face turned into a scowl when he saw Naruto. "Ah… The demon brat. My luck must be off the charts tonight. Not only do I get to steal the 'Scroll of Seals' but I also get to kill the demon brat."
Naruto had no visible reaction to this, but his thoughts were running wild. 'How did Jiji lose that scroll to this guy?'
Seeing Naruto's non-responsiveness, Mizuki decided to up his baiting. "Do you want to know why the village hates you so much? It's because you are the Kyuubi! The demon that nearly wiped out the village years ago!"
Hearing that, Naruto couldn't help himself and grinned. "I know."
Than without any further ado, blood spurted through the air and a head fell on the ground.
A/N
Alrighty! That is all folks. I know that this seems very rushed but I didn't feel like writing the beginning of the Naruto series all over again. I also just wanted to use this chapter to sort of paint a picture of my Naruto's backstory even though it wasn't much. Obviously I'll be diving more into Naruto's backstory in later chapters, but for now, I think I'll be content leaving you guys in the dark. Next chapters will of course be longer but for now, I'll be dropping the mic. Don't forget to leave a follow, favorite, and review. Much appreciation.
-I Would Like To Call GG
