An 9 year old Naruto was running from an angry mob of people, civilian men and a few Chunin that had gotten drunk and decided to beat him. He could never understand why most people hated him and called him monster ot 'Demon brat', it was true he did a LOT of pranks but still...Anyways, he was running and reached a junction, he went right but because he wasn't looking he tripped and fell on his face.
"Oww...shiet...kuso! My cabishaaaa...YAWN!" - someone groaned.
He looked back and saw a young woman/girl in the early 20s perhaps getting up from the grownd. Aparently she had been laying there when he tripped on her.
"Wha are ye loolin' at boy?!"
"Ii'm ssory! I was..."
"He went that way!" - an angry voice was heard from the corner behind him.
"Oh, no!" - he was scared.
"Bein chased, huh? C'mere!"
She grabbed him before he could react and dragged him. She shoved him on a lumpy matress and a couple of pillows and old blankets, shoved in the space between two houses, it was big enough for a person to sleep comfortably and was well-hidden. She took a knitted hat and put it on his head, wrapped a blanket over her shoulders and leaned over him, her face inches from his.
"Keep quiet." - she said as she put her hand over his mouth.
He could hear the footsteps coming closer.
"Oh, swwetie! I like id vhen yer so gentle! Kiss me more!" - she said in a slightly drunken voice as the mob reached their hiding place.
The men scoffed, glared and muttered things such as 'slut, no shame at all, youngsters these days' and such as they ran past them. After a few minutes she released him and took the blanket off. Just now he had the time to look how she looked. She wore wrinkled baggy clothes, her T-shirt even showed one of her shoulders, her pants were beige, torn on the knees and hung on her waist. She was barefoot, her skin having a darker, slightly tanned look, she wore no make-up or accessories. Her hair was jet black and shaggy, it was a few centimetres below her shoulders. A bunch of hairs stood up in a way that made her look like she had small horns on her head, her bangs fell in a way that it hid the upper part of her face, only two small slits for the eyes. Her eyes were a clear blue, much like his.
"Tthank you nee-san! You saved me!"
"Be a bit more quiet please. I'm groggy!"
"Ok."
"So, boy, do you have some food?"
"Yes, at home but..."
"Good! I wanna eat, lead the way munchkin!"
She gently pushed him out and ushered him.
"Ah, also keep the hat till we reach! I don't wanna run from an angry mob."
Naruto led her to his apartment.
"Wow, look at the place! Where are your parents?"
She ent down a bit and coked her head as she asked. Naruto had noticed she walked while being slouched and she wore flops too big to be hers.
"I don't have any."
"The same as me, eh? At least you are better off then me then."
He unlocked and turned on the lights. He was surprised by her lack of reaction because everyone that visited his home remarked how dirty it was. On the other hand she just looked around and continued after him.
"So where's the kitchen? Oh! Cookies!" - she grabbed a pack of stale cookies from the floor and started eating them.
"It's here."
He led her and put a kettle of water and two cups of super big instant ramen on the table. Meanwhile she looked around and in the drawlers. She could see only instant ramen, expired foods and rotting foods in the fridge.
"Hey, boy, when didja buy these?" - she pointed inside the fridge.
"Hmm...one-two days ago?"
"Really? I bet you are the reason there are less vegetables and stuff to find in the garbage these few years! Haha!" - she commented in a joking voice.
"I'm NOT! I boy these!"
"Really? They throw stuff like these in the trash, so why buy them when they are free?"
"Because they won't sell me anything better!" - he shouted and threw the knitted had in her face.
She looked him over again, now that he was in the light without the hat and her eyes widened for a second, not that it could be seen because of her bangs.
"Hey, your water's overboiling." - she bointed at the stove.
And truly the kettle was rattling and froth was coming out already. He hurriedly turned off the stoe.
"Sit, I'll get the water."
He just nodded and obeyed her. He watched as she poured the water in the ramen cups and sat on the chair across from him.
"So...what's your name nee-chan?"
"My name's Michko and yours?"
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And I'll be the Hokage dattebayo!"
"Quit down! It's late at nigh for kami's sake!" - she shouted.
He looked a bit scared by the look on her face. Even though he couldn't see her eyes, he knew she was glaring. The fact she was also snarling a bit with her sharp, pointy teeth gleaming under the lamp didn't help, so he clamped his mouth shut.
"That's better. Wait...did you say Uzumaki as in THE Uzumaki?!"
"As far as I know. I know that's my family name by looking the files they had on me in the kindergarten. Although my parents weren't there, at least I have a family name, right? Also what do you mean? Do you know who the Uzumaki are or something about them?"
"Do I know? Definetely! But how do YOU not know a thing?! It's in most history books in the libraries, also out of common sense people know about them! Wait! They didn't let you in the library, am I right?"
He looked ashamed.
"Yyes, the fact I pranked them after they kicked me out, literally, didn't help."
"Ha! Good one! They deserved it. Well...the Uzumaki are or were a very powerful, albeit not very big, clan of shinobi that lived in Uzu, or Whirlpool country, call it however. They were 'destroyed' quite a few years ago by the joint attack of few villages. In the end the place was destroyed and the survivors scattered across the other nations. They were crazy strong and had a fearsome Kekkei-genkai!" - she looked proud of herself.
"What's a kekkei-genkai?"
"Really? You don't know a thing, do you? Oh, it's ready. Itadakimasu!" - she started to slurp the ramen down.
"So, can you tell me?" - he also started eating.
"Well...munch...it's a special ability inherited by ... much like the Byak-gan of the Hugha clan or the...glup... Sharingan of the...Uchaha clan. AAAH! That was good!" - she finished her bowl and patted her stomach.
"Oh...you mean the Byakugan and the Sharingan are?! Wow! Do you think I have one?"
"Don't know." she picked between her teeth with her nail "I don't know what EXACTLY is the Uzumaki's kekkei-genkai, every clan keeps it secret to a point in order to keeb its weaknesses also hidden. Powerful clans even more so. You probably have to find someone fron the clan to find more about it and it's use."
"Sigh...a shame. And you? Don't you have a family name?"
"I had mut not anmore."
"Why? What happened."
"You see, I am not from the Fire country. I came here because of certain things that happened."
He stared at her with expectation. She hoped he'll give up but he didn't, so she gave in.
"I came here from Kirigakure."
"Kirigakure?!"
"Shhhhhhh!" she clamped a hand over his mouth "Quiet! I don't want to be evicted, so keep this quiet, OK?!"
He nodded. She released him and continued her story.
"I come from the now almost extinct Hengenin clan. It consisted of many members in the past, all with diferent family names but the same kekkei-genkai. My family's name was Kiryu. My father, a civilian, had maried my mother and joined the clan. Our powers were extremely useful for ninja and were sought a lot. That was untill the civil war started. The reason was the extermination of all kekkei-genkai for some sick reason, in fact it still rages on at this moment. They send hunter nins to look for escaped people and kill them. Our family and clan was killed first because of our ability to transform into practically anything and anyone to the point we became the real thing! My elder brother was in fact assassinated by his teammates and sensae for the reward they gave for every person killed back then. I was still a genin and could only run with my parents. Unfortunately we were ambushed and my parents died while I managed to escape by transforming in a rock. I traveled around, worked here and there, learned a few ninjutsu and other tecniques and so on. I also work as an information broker when I really need money, otherwise I just lay around and do nothing."
"But why? There are so many things to do!"
"Welp! When you live as long as me and experience the same things you get pretty apathetic."
"How old are you exactly?"
"Heh, a lady never tells her secret! Also age is irelevant to me! As long as I'm fine, it doesn't matter."
They continued to talk like that untill late night. They ate a few more cups of ramen. He told her how the vilagers hated him and only a few treated him nicely. Also why he wanted to be a Hokage.
"Yawn! I'm sleepy. Nee-chan, can you tell me a story?"
"What about?" - she asked as she threw a cup in the trash bin.
"I don't know. Hmm...what about the Kyuubi attack?"
"Why do you want to hear bout it?"
"It's always a sour area, all they had told me is that it attacked the village on my birthday and how many shinobi and civilians died that night untill the 4th killed it."
"Aiaiai! My dear 'Ruto! You don't know a thing! Tuck in the bed and I'll tell you the true story!"
He laid in his bed and waited. She sat on the chair next to it and started her tale.
"Ahem, this happened 9 years and some weeks ago. A weird masked dude went and released the Kyuubi from its prison, a woman that had just given birth, by threatening her baby. After that he sicked the fox on Konoha. The hypnotized fox raged on and destroyed many things because of the crazy psycho's unresonable sense of rightness."
Naruto tried to talk but a glare from her that told him 'wait untill I finish or else...' , so he shut his mouth and waited.
"In the end the fourth used his friggin huge frog summon to try and fight the fox but it was useless. When he finally realized it won't fall, he summoned a shinigami and used his own soul in order to use its power to seal the fox. There was one problem, however. Where was he going to seal it? It was too powerful for an item, also the his wife was dying from the events after her childbirth, so he took his son and sealed the furball in the baby's gut! With his final breath he told the old hokage to take care of his son and that his son was a hero, then he kicked the bucket. However, instead of a hero the child was treated as a monster. The 3rd did all he could but the idiotic counchil and vilagers mistreated the boy, not realizing he was not the fox, just its jail. In the end the kid became big and decided to become a hokage. The end."
Naruto stared at her, his mouth agape. He was a bit slow but understood what she meant. He was the container of the Kyuubi and that was the reason he was hated. He felt hurt but also relieved because of the truth. He recieved the answers he was looking for for so long from a stranger he met in a dark alley and knew for less than a day.
"Wait! You said the 4th's son. Do you say I'm the 4th son?!"
"Yes, I'm surprised no one noticed it. You are almost a carbon copy of him for kami's sake!"
"Tthen my mother?"
"She was an Uzumaki, the container of the fox. Only Uzumaki can be used as Jinchuuriki of the fox because no one else can handle it's huge chakra."
"Wow. I've searched for answers but no one told me because I was 'too young' but you told me. Thank you."
"No problem. If you want, for a few hundret ramen bowls, I can tell you a bit about your relatives and close friends of theirs."
"Please do! I want to know! As long as I can, I'll give you ramen to eat!"
"We have a deal!"
They shook hands. She then told him about Tsunade and Jiraya, how Kakashi was his father's pupil, a few other family friends and which Uzumaki she knew of. She also warned him about his parents' many enemies and made him promise not to tell anyone about what they talked about.
Time passed like that. She came to eat with him, he also visited her. After a year he invited her to live in his apartment building because no one lived there because of him. She accepted. Soon they became closer and developed a teacher-student relationship. She taught him a few useful tricks, how to walk on different surfaces, which helped a lot in his pranks. Now he could even prank the ANBU and get away with it. He also helped her gather a lot of juicy information. She even took him out on a few jobs with her. He really liked them. He was disguised of course, but still enjoyed every moment. He learned the ins and outs of the information brokering and that is as much if not more dangerous than a regular ninja mission, hence the high pay.
On one of they trips they met Jiraya, he had passed out because of alcohol, so they decided to prank him. During the few hours he was out he was:
shaved bald
dressed as a drag queen, makeup inclided
all his clothes were hidden around the hotel he was staying at
his mast shameful underwear was now used as a flag
his summoning scroll was in the women's bath
his notes and unfinished scripts for Icha-icha were burned and substituted by some written by Naruto and Michiko themselves
It was a HUGE surprise when they realized that not only had he mailed them to his publisher but it was currently the most populat book of the series. They laughed their asses off because their creation had been Jiraya's currently best selling book.
Naruto had also become very good at henge and used it to buy things that were not trash and overpriced. By the time he began the Ninja academy he had quite a few tricks under his sleeve. Although he still wore his orange clothes he was much better. Yes, he failed at the Bunshin but after 'borrowing' the forbidden scroll and copying every jutsu in, he learned the Kage-bunshin and passed with flying colours. Michiko smiled as he showed off his ninja headband to Iruka and herself.