Chapter One
"Unknown Whisper"
"Normal talking"
"Thinking thoughts"
I do not own any of Naruto's characters as you may already know
Beta: GetWithIt
Date: October 10
Location: Leaf Village, Orphanage
Music and laughter spilled from the Leaf's orphanage, where a great number of people had gathered to celebrate a special occasion, the princess' birthday. The princess, a 6 year old Natsumi Namikaze, was a small girl with bright blonde hair kept in twin ponytails, lively blue eyes, a contagious smile, and three thin whisker-like marks on each cheek. For the occasion, Natsumi wore a white shirt with the Leaf's symbol on it and vibrant orange pants.
The attendees were mainly composed of the resident orphans and a great number of the clan heads' children. All the kids were playing a game of tag in the orphanage's back yard, excluding two boys, one with a black hair pulled back in such a way that it resembled a pineapple; while the other was a chubby brunette snacking on potato chips. They'd rather sit and look at the clouds then run around with the other kids.
"You're it Natsumi!" yelled a boy with a distinctively feral expression.
"I'll get you back Kiba," shouted Natsumi. "Just you wait!"
Kiba simply stayed where he was and said in a confident voice, "Nope, I got you - you can't get me now." Then he smiled cockily at her. Put out, Natsumi looked around, trying to decide who she should tag instead. There was Ino, over by the orphanage wall, and Mu, an orphan boy, not too far from Ino… but where was Shino? He was the only kid playing who had yet to be tagged.
Natsumi spun around, taking in the entire backyard, "Okay, I see Kiba, Ino, Mu, Ren, Misa, Choji, Shikamaru, and Gaje...where is he?!" she thought with no small amount of frustration.
Meanwhile, Shino was sitting up on tree branch, camouflaged by the leaves, simply observing as the birthday girl kept moving her gaze from one place to another as if she were looking for someone.
In a clearing some distance away from the bright lights of the orphanage was boy with blonde hair, three wide whisker-like marks on each cheek, and plain, dark clothes. He would be relatively unassuming, were it not for his dull, empty black eyes – eyes that lacked even a hint of childish happiness. It was his birthday too, but he preferred to spend his time alone in the forest, well away from other people. "You don't need them," echoed in his ears.
It was peaceful in the clearing. The skinny boy walked towards a tree with a hole in its trunk and stuck his hand in up to the elbow. From the hollow he pulled a wooden box about a foot in length. He crouched and placed the box on the grass, before opening it to reveal rows of carefully polished shuriken. With a bored expression on his face, the boy took a shuriken between his fingers, turned around and set his gaze upon a square board with a small red circle at its center.
The target hung on a tree that was actually quite a distance away where the boy stood. The blonde took a deep breath, pulled his arm back, before snapping it forward and releasing the shuriken. The projectile hurtled through the air and landed in the middle of the red circle with a quiet 'thunk'. "Good job." The boy gave no indication that he heard the whisper and turned around to retrieve a second shuriken from the box.
He turned back to his target, pulled his arm back, and repeated the motions with a solemn efficiency. This time, however, he was met with the sound of metal hitting metal. At the sound the six year old spun and gathered five shuriken in his left hand before turning once more toward the target.
He bent his knees a bit and started by quickly taking one at a time and throwing it at the board. Each time he threw a shuriken he was met with the sound of metal striking metal.
Back at the birthday party Kiba's voice had once more risen to a shout. "YOU ATE HALF THE CAKE!" he yelled indignantly when he saw that Natsumi had indeed eaten half the cake, "You were supposed to wait for everyone!" He threw his hands in the air in frustration.
"But I couldn't wait," Natsumi said in an insincerely sad voice. Barely a moment later and she was up and yelling "Jiji!" when she saw an old man, better known as the third Hokage, enter the yard.
"Well hello Natsumi-chan," said the Hokage with a smile, "Are you enjoying the party?"
"YES I AM! I made a bunch of new friends, like Kiba, and Ino , and Choji, and Shikamaru and Shino," answered Natsumi happily. The Hokage smiled at the news that she was getting along with everyone.
Back at the clearing, the blonde boy was going through a set of complicated taijutsu movements he'd copied from a man in a green spandex suit. The man had the biggest eyebrows the boy had ever seen, to the point of expressing a little bit of shock when he first saw them, but as for the taijutsu movements he was practicing, the boy was completing them flawlessly.
Back at the birthday party the Hokage knelt before the birthday girl. "Well Natsumi, I have a gift for you," said the old man with a smile.
"Yay! What is it? Let me see, let me see, lemesee!" Natsumi responded exuberantly. The hokage chuckled and pulled a necklace from his robes. The necklace consisted of a golden metal circle with a spiral strung through a simple leather string.
"Do you like it?" asked the third Hokage.
"Um..." Natsumi looked at the necklace closely. "I do!" she responded with a smile and quickly put the gift around her neck. "Thank you Jiji" she said. The girl turned to go back to her friends, but the Hokage stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Natsumi, have you seen Naruto?" Natsumi turned around and placed a finger on her forehead and closed her eyes, as if she were concentrating really hard.
"Nope, no clue," she replied after a moment. Natsumi then turned around and ran back to the other kids. The Hokage sighed heavily, as Naruto tended to be conspicuously absent whenever he visited. He would have more time if not for the massive amounts of paperwork he had to do. The elderly man looked out at the horizon and noticed the sun was setting already. "I guess I'll give him the necklace tomorrow," the Hokage thought.
The boy from the woods, Naruto, was walking back home after his training. He hadn't noticed the time and it was already dark, making him a bit nervous. He'd been attacked for no reason before, so he'd come to the conclusion it was dangerous after dusk. As Naruto walked, he kept his gaze down in order to avoid eye contact with anyone. He turned into an alley he regularly used as a short cut to the orphanage, but failed to notice someone in his way until he bumped into that person's legs.
"If it isn't the little demon?" said a man with a sadistic smile. Right away, the blonde recognized the stranger's clothing as that of a ninja. Naruto didn't respond. He just tried to walk around, but the man grasped him by the hair and threw him to the ground. The boy barely showed any signs of pain, but he did feel anger starting build in response. "You are going to let him do that?" The boy turn his eyes toward the man, the man lost his smile. "What's that frown for?" the man asked and proceeded to kick the boy's face with the bottom of his boot. "Get angry."
The boy ended up hitting the back of his head as well from the force of the kick. "Let your anger out." The boy clutched his head and started twisting on the floor, the man looked at the boy with a smile, let out a small laugh, and then he kicked the boy on the side, sending him into the wall from the force of the impact. "Kill him." Naruto clutched his head harder and started saying "Stop, please!" The man was happy to see the demon suffering. "Kill him." "No, please, stop!" the man kicked the boy again. "Kill him." Tears started flowing from the boy's eyes. "Kill him!"
The Hokage was back at his office, looking out into the dark with his pipe in his mouth. There was a knock on his office door. "Come in," he said, taking the pipe in his hand, not turning away from his window. He heard two pairs of feet enter the office. One clearly belonged to a small child, the other to an adult.
The Hokage turned to see one of his ANBU operatives with a small boy covered with blood. Even the boy's blonde hair looked red with the amount of gore that covered him, his shirt nearly red as well, but what disturbed him the most was the barely noticeable smile that adorned the boy's face.