If it's on this site, then it should be obvious that I don't own them.
Naruto Uzumaki, who normally ran about Konoha with a bright and cheerful smile, was currently running in pure terror for his 8 year old life. It was his birth day and Naruto had decided to visit the festival celebrating the defeat of the Kyuubi by the Yondaime for a change. While most of the venders sent him their usual hostile stares and he was occasionally denied service the festival for the most part was enjoyable. The experience had been a wonderful birthday present for Naruto who so rarely got presents.
Unfortunately for Naruto, the evening had not ended nearly as well as he had hoped it would. As Naruto was heading back to his apartment, he had the unfortunate luck to run past a bar where a bunch of drunken civilians and a few Chunin were just coming out of. In their drunken haze, one member of the parity decided to play 'pin the kunai on the demon brat'. Very quickly the rest of that person's friends and fellow drunks decided to join in on the new sport.
All of this lead to Naruto running as fast as he could to the Hokage tower trying to seek safety while barely avoiding badly aimed shuriken, kunai, and even some low level fire jutsus. Any and all civilians that saw the seen didn't bother to help or hinder Naruto in his quest for safety. They were all too busy putting out the fires on their property as swearing to have the chunins' hides for the outrage. A few of those civilians might have wanted Naruto gone from Konoha but not at the expense of their property. The boy was an annoyance as far as all those civilians were concerned; the ninjas on the other hand were a menace.
Luckily for him, Naruto knew pretty much every back alley and cubby hole in Konoha so he wasn't in too much danger. Quickly turning to his right Naruto ran into an alley in the storage sector of Konoha. He then hopped on a trashcan, hopped from the trashcan to a fire escape, and used the fire escape to climb up onto the roof of a particular warehouse. Once he was safely on the roof Naruto hurried over to a spot that he knew had loose tiling. As soon as he reached the particular spot he was looking for Naruto pealed back the roof tiling and hopped onto the now revealed rafters.
Naruto firmly grabbed the opened roof tiles and pulled them back into place, leaving him all alone in the dark. Resting his head on the support beam behind him Naruto let out a soft sigh. This cubby hole of his was not the warm, loving safety that Old Man Hokage provided but it would do. Figuring that it would be safe for him to leave in the morning Naruto settled down and got ready to spend the night in the dark rafters.
A few faint tears started to form in Naruto's eyes as he thought about his situation. Why did some people ignore him and others hate him so much? It just wasn't fair! Other orphans were either adopted into a loving family or were taken care of by the caretakers at the orphanage and yet he was all alone. Except for the old man, and later the owner of the raman stand along with his daughter seemed to be the only people to care for him. Although he might put on a brave and cheerful face, Naruto felt only emptiness and sadness when he thought about his life.
Quietly, as if he was saying a prayer, Naruto whispered out looking towards where he knew the opening of his hiding spot to be. "I wish I had parents and a family that would love me. I wish that people would stop ignoring or mistreating me. But most of all I wish I had someone there for me, someone who could help me and teach me how to defend myself. The old man is wonderful and I couldn't wish for a better grandfather, but he's too burdened with taking care of the entire village to watch over me all the time. Is that too much for me to ask for?"
After he had finished his heartfelt conversation, Naruto sighed and closed his mouth. True he had long ago realize that he had been given a bad hand, but that could always change. The old man had signed him up for the ninja academy and the thought of starting classes tomorrow cheered Naruto up. Maybe after he became a ninja, he'd be able to prove that he was worthy of respect. Naruto closed his eyes and dreamed of the day when all of the people who ignored him would come to respect him.
"HOW THE HECK DID I END UP IN THE SEWERS?!" Naruto yelled out at the top of his lungs as he looked around him. Much to his surprise, Naruto had discovered that he wasn't safe in the rafters like he was expecting but up to his knees in smelly sewer water. The walls around him seemed to be made out of stone and looked like they were covered in slime. Above his head every few feet were small light bulbs that gave off a dull and dreary light. A faint breeze came down the tunnel Naruto was in and gave him a slight chill.
Looking around him, Naruto's face started to droop. Arms dangling by his side, Naruto complained in a tired tone, "Just great. Some 'better day' this it turning out to be, I mean how can this day possibly start off worse? I'm in the middle of the sewers, I'm cold and tired, I've probably missed the start of school, and to top it all off I haven't had any Raman!"
As if in response to question, a voice echoed throughout the sewers to answer him. The voice was smug and condescending, as if a prideful person was finding the whole situation completely amusing. "You think that this day is pathetic? Kid, from where I stand it's you who are pathetic not the day." Naruto let loose an indignant cry which earned him a reproach from the mysterious voice. "Quiet kid, you try my patience. If you truly weren't as pathetic as you seem to think you are, then you wouldn't be standing about in that filthy sewer pouting. Instead, you'd be busy trying to find a way out."
At this point, Naruto had his hands across his chest and was steaming mad. He was only eight years old for crying out load, how was he supposed to think though these sorts of things. Still, as much as he didn't want to listen to that annoying voice, Naruto was forced to admit that it had a good point. Naruto turned to his right and was about to start walking in that direction with the annoying voice called out, "That's not the way out boy." Huffing in frustration, Naruto turned to his left and started walking down that path. Upon reaching a crossroads Naruto, in order to avoid hearing that condescending voice, turned to go down the left path.
Things didn't go as Naruto planed and that voice bellowed once again, "No, no, no you stupid excuse for a buffoon! Are you totally unable to figure your way out on your own? You may have all day to wonder around down there kid, but I don't. Take the right entrance from where you came out and head down that way. Ignore the next four entrances as you head down that path until you reach a Y-intersection. Once your there take the right passageway and at each junction after that take the path that has a 'D' marked above it."
Naruto spent the next few minutes standing where he was a grumbling. He'd never been here in his life so how could this voice expect him to find his way around! After blowing off some steam, Naruto started to follow the directions that the mysterious voice had given him. As he continued to walk in the direction indicated, Naruto noticed that the stone walls around him seemed to be getting cleaner and newer looking. Also, the water he was walking in was slowly getting lower and clearer at the same time.
After what seemed like an hour of walking to Naruto, he finally saw a bright light that signaled that he had reached the surface. With his spirits lifted at this sight Naruto raced as fast as he could out into the light. Clearing the exit of the sewers, Naruto found himself in the middle of a meadow surrounded by strange trees. Turning around, Naruto saw that he had just emerged from what looked like a cave in the middle of a mountain range. Glancing over to his right Naruto saw a glistening clear spring gently flowing down from a miniature waterfall. The scene taken all together was the most beautiful thing that Naruto had ever seen in his short life.
"Well, well, well, look who's finally figured out how to get out of that sewer." Naruto frowned and turned to face the source of the voice. To Naruto's surprise, the voice belonged to a rather large muscular man with long white hair. The unknown man's face was like a hard chiseled statue's, full of sharp angles and currently set in a grin. Naruto's companion was dressed in a blue tunic with black trousers and a blue cape over his shoulders. Something about the man screamed that he was dangerous and extremely powerful.
However, although Naruto's danger sense was buzzing in the back of his head, Naruto didn't feel the need to run and hide. His companion might be dangerous, but Naruto instinctively knew that he wouldn't be harmed by the white-haired man. Curiosity soon poked its head and Naruto said, "Ah mister? Where are we and who are you? That last place I remember being before I fell asleep was up in the rafters of a warehouse. I want to know how I got from the rafters and into that sewer."
The man put his hand to his face as if he was trying to prevent the onset of a headache. Shaking his head, the unknown man looked Naruto in the eye and said, "Look kid here's the deal. You're currently in your mindscape as your body rests in the outside world. In other words, you haven't really left those rafters that you seemed to be so worried about. As for whom I am, I'm the infamous Explorer Wizard DARK SCHNEIDER!"
-Hi, Historian of the Kais here. Just so my readers know; I am not abandoning Mother Moon or Prince of the Planets. I just wanted to start taking care of an itch in Naruto fanfiction that was demanding my attention. I've gotten the chants for some of the spells off of the Bastard episodes that have been posted on YouTube, if anyone has a better list of the chants and spells I would much appreciate them. Also, While I am deeply touched by the offer to proofread my works Rukatoloveforever, I've taken a look at the works that you've posted and from what I can see you most likely won't be able to help me on the points that I need help on. Yes I know that this is shorter then I normally post but I felt that this was a good cliffhanger and didn't want to needlessly stuff the chapter to reach 5,000 words.