Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any games, movies, shows, or other references that are made in any of my stories.
The Beginning of a Legend
A cool breeze swept through Konohagakure no Sato as the people rejoiced and were merry during the festival. Five years prior, the Yondaime Hokage gave his life to defeat the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacking the village. Although originally kept from the population, the Kyuubi was sealed by the man into the only child born on that day. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. From his beginning, Naruto was destined to be great. However, the hatred of those who have lost loved ones on that fateful day, has made his life hell.
Since he could remember, Naruto had been, to put it lightly, the pariah of the village. He was beaten regularly, as well as kicked out of stores, and what he could get was outrageously priced. The only kindness shown to him was from the Hokage, the Ichiraku's, and from a few ANBU and older shinobi.
Currently the village was having one of their annual 'Fox Hunts' as they liked to call it. As Naruto was running with the steadily growing crowd behind him, he knew the only way to escape was through the back alleys. As he turned the corner of another alley, he found a dead end.
"Damn it!" Trying his luck, he started to turn around when the blunt end of a kunai smashed into his temple knocking him out.
"Finally, now we can kill." One villager exclaimed as they started to advance, but were stopped by a few chunin.
"You fools! Don't touch him here. We need to take him out of the village first, then we kill him and let the animals finish him off."
"Why not just kill him here?" A random villager shouted.
"Because then that old fool can't trace it back to us, this is our only chance but we need to take him out now."
The civilians grumbled a bit, and reluctantly allowed the nin to take the demon into the forest, following behind waiting for their vengeance.
When they stopped Naruto was starting to regain consciousness, only to snap wide awake as he was strung up on a tree by kunai through the hands.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" The pain was quite intense and his scream could be heard for miles, but no one was coming.
With a malicious laugh, the lead chunin started speaking, "Ah, so you are awake now. Good, now you can feel the pain you gave us! Alright give the Demon what he deserves!"
The villagers descended upon him like vultures, with whatever they had, bottles, rocks, bricks, plywood, kitchen knives, and even a few swords. They skinned him, slashed off chunks of flesh straight to the bone, shoved shards of glass into his organs, but they kept him alive to prolong the pain. Then the shinobi used him as target practice for weapons and jutsu. All throughout this, Naruto screamed in pain and was given no break.
Just before he passed out, he asked in a shaky voice, "What have I done to make you hate me so much?"
"What have done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! You stole our family from us, you killed the innocents, YOU TOOK AWAY ARE FRIENDS AND FAMILY, AND KILLED THEM RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!"
As his vision was fading, he uttered one phrase that would haunt and guilt the participants for life, "I don't remember any of that, but I'm sorry for the pain caused to you. It is only fair to end my pitiful life anyway."
Stepping back in shock and cringing at the injuries they inflicted upon the emaciated boy, they only then realized their greatest mistake. Without, anything else, they turned around and listlessly walked away, ignoring the child left on the ground, having fallen from the kunai sometime during the torture, and was laying there unconscious. He would not be heard of again for some time.
Next Morning
Naruto awoke in a pool of his blood, with only the most serious of injuries healed. Painfully standing up he limped on into the forest to find civilization, opening up wounds with each movement. It wasn't until he reached a road that his strength failed him and he collapsed into the dirt, unconscious.
He stayed like that for hours until a small caravan of samurai spotted him, and rushed to his side.
"Dear Kami, what horrors has this child seen?"
"Is he alive, surely with those injuries…"
"Damn bandits probably beat the kid up and then the animals got him."
"Holy shit, the kids breathing. MEDIC, GET OVER HERE NOW. Mifune-sama, you need to see this."
An older samurai not wearing a helmet, with long grey hair and a beard, in traditional samurai armor, stepped towards them, while a medic from the back rushed up with another samurai carrying a large bag. As the doctor came to the boy's side, the wizened old samurai came close and his eyes were wide and mouth agape, at what he saw. As he stared at the wounded boy, his heart was moved with pity. "As soon as he is able, move him onto the wagon. He shall come with us."
"Mifune-sama, are you sure? Perhaps the boy lives near here, and they are looking for him."
"No, I don't want to take any chances. He could have been mistreated by those very people. We shall know when he wakes up, if he wakes." Mifune then walked back as his men placed Naruto in the wagon and they marched on to Iron country.
Two Weeks Later
Cracking one eye open but immediately shutting it due to the sun streaming through the window. "Damn sun, why can't you let me sleep." Trying, and failing, to stay in the most comfortable bed he had ever slept, he finally started to get up, but ended up falling onto the floor with a loud thud, and a groan. Finally aware of his surroundings, he noticed that he had no clue as to where he was. Just as he was about to get up, the door to the room slid open, and a woman stepped into the room.
"Ah, I thought I heard something. It is good to see you are finally up." She was of average height, with shiny straight black hair, that hung to her waist. She had a heart shaped face, with an angelic smile, as well as eyes so black, they had a violet tint to them.
"Am I dead?" Naruto asked with childlike innocence.
The woman was startled by a question like that being asked by a child. "No, why do you ask child?"
"I was killed and you're an angel, right?" Naruto responded in a slightly hollow voice. The woman blushed slightly at being called an angel.
'What has he been through?' "No, you are very much alive, my father brought you here. I am Mikomi, may I know who you are."
Naruto, not as depressed from finding out he was alive, and shouting with his usual exuberance, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo! I'm going to be the greatest ninja ever!"
Giggling and happy that he was out of his depression for the moment, got up. "Wait here, I will fetch my father, he was the one who brought you here."
Konoha
Hiruzen Sarutobi, veteran of three Ninja Wars, hailed as the Professor for his knowledge of jutsu and chakra, was close to banging his head on his desk, and killing the civilian council. Currently they were in a meeting to 'discuss the betterment of the village', at least they were supposed to. All that had happened was the civilians demanding he send out ninja to hunt down and kill his adopted grandson. The shinobi council were in the same boat as him, even Fugaku, who usually disagreed with him, and hated the boy being talked about. It had been like this for the past two weeks since Naruto's disappearance, and Hiruzen was reaching his breaking point. Just as he was refilling his pipe to calm his nerves, a pink haired banshee's shriek caused him to snap his pipe in half.
The room grew deathly silent, the Elders, especially Danzo, who was dreading what was about to happen. A dark and ominous aura came up behind the old man, as his hat shadowed his face. "Councilor Haruno." His voice barely a whisper but was almost booming in the silence. The pink haired woman shaking in her seat, and on the verge of emptying her bowels. "May I know what you were saying that caused my pipe to be broken?"
"Ho-ho-hokage-sama, I-I was just saying that we need to hunt down the demon, before he comes back to kill us!"
"I see, well then I should do something about this. ANBU take the civilians out of here, if any resist, Anko gets to play with them." The civilians all paled, more so than they already were.
A random civilian finding courage to speak up shouted out, "You can't do this, we are the Honorable Council!"
"Oh? I can't? Well last time I checked, I was Hokage, and I have absolute authority. From what you just said, that could be considered a threat to me, or in other words, treason. You are on very thin ice councilors, one more slip-up and I will disband the civilian council, now get out of my sight, and do not bring up another word about Naruto or you will be executed. AM I CLEAR?"
"H-h-hai, Hokage-sama."
As the civilians rushed out to change their pants, silence descended upon the room. "Ha ha ha! Oh did you see the looks on their faces, I wished one of them would have spoken up so they would die!" Tsume was struggling to breathe as she laughed at the civilians. Her outburst caused several other clan heads to chuckle, and even Hiashi was smirking at them.
As the laughter died down, they could still feel the God of Shinobi's presence. 'So Hiruzen has finally grown a backbone,' Danzo pondered, 'This will be a bit of a setback to my plans, but it will be better in the long run.' The elder felt a bit of pride for his friend/rival. "Hiruzen, there is still the matter of the Jinchuriki. What are you going to do about him?"
"I will send out a team to find him, and bring him back unharmed. If I hear that you have interfered, Danzo, there will be hell to pay. This meeting is dismissed." After he said that, the council members quickly filed out of the council chambers, lest they piss off the Hokage.
Hiruzen sat there for a few moments reflecting on the past few years. 'Minato… Kushina… I hope you will not torture this fool to long in the afterlife. I promise, that once we find Naruto, he will be given everything he deserves. It is time I stop taking crap from the villagers, and time I become Hokage again. Also please tell me the secret to paperwork, I don't know how you did it but please end my suffering.' After waiting a few seconds he stood up grumbling about having to face the real demon.
Back in Iron Country
Mifune walked into the room, while Naruto eating at a rapid pace. He looked at Naruto and thought that he looked familiar, but it seemed as though he was missing something. Naruto had just finished when he noticed Mifune in the room. He stood about six feet tall with long black hair and a moustache. He had cloth wrapped around his head, and stood straight with a katana at his side.
"Greetings little one, I am Mifune. May I know the name of whom I have rescued?"
With exuberance and a goofy grin, Naruto shouted out, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo! Arigato for taking me in. I shall leave as soon as I am able."
Mifune's mind was racing at Naruto's words. 'He claims he is Uzumaki, while I am inclined to believe him with the verbal tick, I need to find out who his parents are.' "Naruto, do you know who you parents happen to be?"
Naruto had a sad look at those words, "No, I'm an orphan, and Jiji says that he doesn't know who they are."
"Jiji, not to pry, but who is this Jiji, and where are you from?"
"Jiji is the strongest ninja! I'm going to be Hokage just like him, dattebayo!"
Mifune's eyes widened at hearing that. 'He has to be her son, there were no others in Konoha. She also kept sending those letters about 'her little maelstrom'.' "Naruto I believe I know who your mother was. I knew her personally, and was very close to her for a number of years."
Naruto's eyes grew wide, desperation written on his face, and he pleaded, "Please, I beg you Mifune-sama, tell me who they were, I want to know that they didn't abandon me. Let me know that the villagers weren't right."
Mifune was shocked at his response, "Your mother loved you very much. She sent me many letters about you when she was pregnant. And before she left for Konoha, she left most of the Uzumaki library here, to be guarded by my family. If you can open the scrolls, then I have no doubts as to who your mother is. Even if you aren't, I have an offer for you. I wish to train you in the ways of the samurai, or at the very least, self-defense."
"Arigato, Jiji. You are one of the few to be kind to me. And you may have my only link to family that I have. I accept to be taught by you!"
"Good. Now, once you have healed, we can see if you truly are an Uzumaki." Mifune walked out of the room only to be confronted by his daughter.
"Tou-san, you will let me care for the boy, right?" She asked in a sweet voice, with a dark aura surrounding her.
"O-of course, Mikomi. You can raise him as you wish." Mifune was shaking in fear from his daughter, and she immediately brightened, and skipped to Naruto's room with a quick thank you. Sighing in relief, he glared at a few of the younger samurai trying to hold in their laughter. 'Let them laugh, I still control their training.' He smirked.
Meanwhile in Naruto's room, Mikomi had an important question for him. "Naruto, if you would let me, I wish to adopt you as my own son. I have not had any children, and I wish to start a family at some."
Naruto started tearing up at her words. He hugged her tightly, and choked out, "Hai, kaa-san."
AN: So this is my first story, I am trying to improve my writing, and really wish to spread my ideas for stories I have wanted to make. Please comment, but keep in mind that 1) this is a fanfic, it does not have to follow any guidelines, 2) if you really don't like the story, don't read it, and 3) please no flames, at least offer some constructive criticism. Updates will be sporadic, and I may work on another idea at some times, I will try to get out the stories as fast as possible. I hope that many people will read this, and that you all enjoy the story and many others.