At six years old, one could truthfully say that Naruto Uzumaki was an open book. He was loud, obnoxious, colorblind, and always up to mischief. It also didn't help that her was seemingly as dumb as a door knob.
This all would change, however, when he overhears a conversation between a genin team and their sensei.
Huffing and puffing, Naruto barely managed to curl into an abandoned squirrel nest. He'd previously been running away from a couple of bullies who didn't like it that he had taken their self-proclaimed swing set. Naruto arrived just in time to hear a conversation that would change his life forever.
"All right maggots, gather around." The jounin sensei commanded when his team had completed their laps. "Today you're going to learn about masks."
"Masks? Like the ANBU?" one of the genin asked.
"No. These types of masks are more personal." Sensei responded seriously. "Unlike the masks you see the ANBU wearing, or the masks you see for sale during the festivals; these masks are used for deception. The types of masks I'm talking about never fade away. They may disappear, or never be used more than once, but they cling to you for the rest of your lives. Using this type of mask, you can never falter in your façade or else you will be discovered and killed. If you use it enough the mask will become a part of you and you a part of it. Whatever you do, you must never create a mask so close to yourself it's transparent. That is the downfall of many ninja-not just genin or chunin, but also jounin as well." His speech completed the jounin dismissed his team to go and think over what he'd just said. Never did he notice that someone else was listening as well.
Jumping out of his makeshift hiding space Naruto thought about what he'd just heard. I've never heard about masks before. No one at the playground had ever mentioned one either. Jiji hasn't ever told me of that! Maybe I should create my own mask! Just for fun! Then when I become a ninja, then I'll already have one and be able to skip that step while everyone else is left behind! I'll have the best mask ever! Believe it! His resolve settled Naruto raced off towards his beaten down apartment in the Red Zone of Konoha. In his excitement, he completely disregarded the people around him with a one-minded focus to get home and create a mask.