Hi! This is the prologue for Mask of the Fox. I hope you like the story! Check out my other story Away From Konoha. Please leave reviews!

"Talking"

Thinking



Prologue

The ANBU were searching the area for him. His eyes were the cause for all the trouble in Konohagakure.

"Amaterasu!" exclaimed the red-eyed man. A black fire erupted from his eyes and one by one, each ANBU member was consumed in a fiery death.

"Capture him! We can't let Itachi escape!" exclaimed the ANBU captain.

"Yugao, we can't fight him! Most of the ANBU is already dead!" informed another ANBU member.

"He stole the scroll that shows where all the Tailed Beasts are located! We need to kill that traitor!" said Yugao aggressively.

"Yugao, you go back and take care of the Uzumaki kid. Komachi and I will take care of this guy," said the ANBU member.

"Thank you Towa. Whatever you do, don't get yourself killed, got it?" said Yugao.

"I won't, just go already!" assured Towa. He ran to the edge of a building and leaped to the next.

I need to protect Naruto, thought Yugao. She ran to Naruto's apartment and broke down the door. "Naruto, wake up!"

"Huh? Who's there?" asked Naruto. Naruto was seven at the time of the Great Konoha Tragedy. Akatsuki members entered the village and stole items of great significance, including a scroll given to the Third Hokage that showed the location of all nine Tailed Beasts.

"Get out of bed!" shouted Yugao.

Naruto immediately got out of his bed and ran to the door.

"I'm sorry for doing this," said Yugao before punching Naruto in the stomach. She picked him up and leapt off the building. Yugao kept running until she reached the Hokage Mansion. She ran inside and knocked on the Third Hokage's door.

"Come in," he said.

Yugao opened the door and dropped Naruto on a couch at the far corner of the room.

"He is safe," said the Hokage with a sigh of relief.

"Towa and Komachi are still fighting Itachi. So far, Itachi has killed 18 ANBU members," stated Yugao.

"I see…And Naruto, he knows nothing of this, correct?" asked the Hokage.

"No, and we do not plan to tell him anything about this any time soon," said a person walking into the room.

"Ah, Kakashi, it's good that you came," said the Hokage.

"Why is the fox brat here?" asked Kakashi.

"Don't call him that!" yelled Yugao. She smacked Kakashi across the head.

"Both of you stop!" yelled the Hokage. He lifted a scroll off his desk. He broke the seal on the front and let it roll down, revealing a series of endless swirls, leading to the center of the paper. There was some writing around the swirls that the three couldn't understand. "This scroll allows Naruto to be given the same freedom everyone else in the village has, unlike the rest of the Jinchūriki. Do you know why?"

"No sir," said Kakashi and Yugao.

"Because of his mother, the only known person to have the Rinnegan besides the Six Realms Sage," explained the old man. "If you get him angry enough, he could acquire the power to destroy as much as 20 ANBU members."

"What are we supposed to do about that?" asked Kakashi.

"Watch over him or else he might do something that we would all regret," replied the Hokage.

"Yes sir!" the two ANBU members yelled before leaving the room.

When they left, the Hokage noticed, "They forgot to take Naruto back to his apartment…"

Naruto lay snoring on the couch, oblivious to everything.

He should stay here for the night. I don't want the Akatsuki to find him at his apartment, thought the Hokage.

The next day, Naruto was going to go the Ninja Academy for the first time. How will the day at school shape his future?