Disclaimer: I own nothing

IMPORTANT NOTICE ON UPDATING: I will not update this frequently, this will only be updated once I complete the full story. This is simply the Prologue.

At the start of the next century, in the beginning of the tenth month, a crying child was born. Born with the reddened tender skin that all babies have in birth, a tiny amount of hair on it's little head, it's small hands held in fists. It's eyes were closed, but in time, they would open and the most beautiful shade of blue would bloom and tempt many a person in their beauty. It was clear, even in a cave hidden from both Heaven and Hell this child showed great promise.

This child born from a woman of great spirit -as he would come to have- and whose heart was large but was now darkened by sadness. For this woman, with hair the very shade of molten rock, knew that she would not survive to see her child grow and change before her. She knew this, and yet she did not weep, instead she smiled in a manner that one can only do on the brink of death, and brought her child closer to her breast. Whispering in a weakened, yet spirited voice she told the baby her last parting words.

"My child. Do not forget or forsake me; for what I have done was out of love, and in time I hope you can know my reasons behind it as you love in return. Grow strong in all you do, work for yourself, and do not bend to another's desire. Be who you know you truly are, whoever that may be. Love and love in return as I have. Find someone who you care for, and never let them go. Goodbye, my child, I'm sorry I won't be there for you as you grow." Her lungs forsaken her at that point, yet at least her eyes were closed in peace.

The baby's wails grew in volume, perhaps it sensed it's mother's passing, who's' to know?

Although it seemed they were to good fortune for the new life, for as they pitched into splitting screams. A young passerby heard the commotion and was drawn to the crying, fearful that it was a child in need of aid.

This man was a young university student, on his third year into becoming a teacher, at only twenty years of age, he was considered equally by his pers as both a foolish boy as well as an ambitious man. Yet even those that doubted him considered him a kind and gentle person. It was by pure happenstance he was out here anyway, as it was he was actually doing a favor for his friend who had lost a precious item of his in the woods.

So the man mindful of the brambles and thorns at the entrance to the cave entered with cautious a mind. Wondering to the Heavens as to why anyone would leave a baby in a cave. His footsteps became hurried, even as his mind was weary.

There he stumbled across a scene that held beauty and tragedy in equal measure. A pale woman with blood, and what looked to be afterbirth underneath her crossed over legs -he quickly looked away to give some semblance of respect to the corpse and focused instead on the child crying loudly clutched tightly to the woman's chest. The baby was wrapped in a ripped up piece of the woman's green dress. Carefully, he approached the child and gently tried to pacify his hysterics, cooing softly and clutching the newborn tightly.

The poor man was in a panicked state, he was quite apt around children, yet babies were not in his expertise, and the poor child wasn't calming as he had hoped. He bit his lip as he thought of just what his next action should be.

He ached to help the woman, pay her some respect at the very least for the child he was holding, if not for his own piece of mind. Yet the circumstances being what they were it was clear what his priority was in this situation. The newborn would need help, help that in most likely cases he could not give. He had to go to a hospital, so many questions would arise, this he knew.

He had an incurable fear of confrontation.

Now, however, he could not simply ignore the situation. He looked down to where the woman lay, eyes closed, and mouth open. He bowed as deeply as he dared with the child in his arms and whispered in a hoarse pity filled voice, a gentle apology.

He almost left the cave then but thought better of it. The warm scarf on his neck was made of wool and woven tightly, soft and made without harmful chemicals, they would help protect the newborn from the crisp wind October brought. The bright red scarf was wrapped around the child overtop the scrap of green dress, and tucked over it's ears.

Thus the baby stopped crying.

At this juncture, however, while exiting the cave. It was clear to the young man, that he had not heads or tails as to what he would do at this point. His car was parked on the shoulder of the highway, not too far to walk even with his new companion. Unfortunately, he had no ways of driving, the child in his arms could not ride without support, and he had nothing suitable in his car to provide that.

He knew he had roughly 2,000 yen on his person, so he could pay taxi fare to the nearest hospital in Chigasaki, nevertheless even if he managed that, he would still have to get to his apartment in Yokohama which would cost more than he had. Although he did know someone who lived just outside of the town who may give him a lift.

Regardless, he had little choice and this seemed to be the best course of action. The only thing to hope for was whether or not his flip phone decided to work. Sometimes he found he had trouble with the thing, it was still so very austere to him, even with his young age. Quickly he grasped his phone in his pocket and dialed -this was made difficult by doing so with his nondominant hand-

"Hello? A taxi Mt. Tanzawa to Chigasaki Hospital. Thank you, name? Umino." When he spoke his accident was mixed, and his speech patterns were strange, it was clear that he was not Japanese. Luckily he was fluent enough to get his main point across most of the time. It was of no help that he was trying to keep his voice down as to not rouse the sleeping newborn in his arms.

Said child was now at peace, and blissfully unaware of his surroundings, his tiny head so small against the twenty year-old's arm. It was rather adorable to the young man, and he smiled while walking, though the image of the child's poor mother lying dead in that cave haunted his mind. It was a memory he'd like to purge from his mind forever more.

Still, the man on the other end of the line had given him something to think about. He didn't know the baby's name, and while perhaps not wise he couldn't deny his desire to name the child himself. It was strange, and maybe even selfish but he felt the strong urge to relate their names to each other. He spent no time to contemplate on whether or not that was wrong.

In the cab the name came at him swiftly, not unlike a kind summer breeze it didn't force itself in front of his eyes, it was more like a suggestion from a friend over tea. Simple, nevertheless nice and welcomed. The name's meaning was simple enough; maelstrom. Even as the thought of the name crossed his mind there was a distinctive feeling that it would suit the child perfectly in whatever path it ventured in. Perhaps a great stir would be caused, or perhaps those around him would be rocked backwards and forwards with intense emotion in the years to come, to the young uni student the name was simply perfection for the new life.

In front of him, he saw the cabbie incline his head towards the backseat where he sat, a pleasant smile on his face.

"Is the little one yours?" He spoke in Japanese, though the man understood every word, he had no idea how to respond to such a heavy question. Yet on his young light brown face, a small smile broke out from his serious cast eyes.

"Yes."

"What's the name?"

"Naruto. Umino Naruto." A child just like any other, lain with great potential.

The car was filled with a warm laughter from the driver, not in mocking, simply irony, and good nature.

"Whirlpool huh?" (2)

1: The name is taken from a Black Sabbath song of the same name, I thought it fit well enough. Although most of the inspiration for this fic actually comes mostly from Metallica songs, throughout the fic you will probably see them brought up in subplots either in a hidden meaning/dialogue/paragraphs directly correlating to the lyrics of songs by Metallica. (As a side note it may include No Leaf Clover Which was written specifically for S&M or the Metallica and San Francisco Symphony collaborate)

2 : For Naruto, I decided to use the other meaning of his name as it fit the story better: Meaning: A Maelstrom i.e a whirlpool of extreme violence. Umino: Meaning: A pool of…) essentially Naruto's name as a whole just means whirlpool or if you want to get clinical it means Whirlpool Pool.