A/N: Here is yet another revision for you all. I am trying to get my chapters both thicker and more detailed without going overboard and making them suffer from the dreaded "Wall-o-Textitis". In any case, here is the revised first chapter of Naruto: The Mystic Fox for you all. Enjoy!
The moon shone down on the village of Konoha, full and bright as it watched from above. A shadow could be seen running as fast as its small legs could carry it through the streets. Shouts of anger and hate followed it from shinobi and civilian alike "Get the demon! Kill it and we'll be heroes!" A random Jounin shouted from the mob as they chased after the shadow.
'Damn. Don't they never stop?! Every year it's the same thing… Why do they always hurt me and treat me like some monster?' The shadow passed under a streetlight and a shock of blonde hair above a pair of brilliant cerulean eyes could be seen as the shadow was revealed to be a small boy.
He turned a corner only to find a dead end and cursed under his breath. Looking all over he tried to hide in a corner of the alley and huddled into the shadows.
The shouts drew closer as the mob appeared at the end of the alley and one of the people started knocking over trash cans and smashing boxes trying to find the boy "Where did that vile brat get to?! Spread out and search everywhere!"
The boy leaned as far back against the wall as he could and, without realizing it, fell right through into a dark cavern behind him. His yelp of surprise made them turn to his hiding place and race toward him but all they saw was his feet disappear before the wall closed up again making many grumble before storming off to go home since their prey was now gone.
A lone ANBU, her long purple hair swaying in a gentle breeze and cat mask hiding her features from view, stood on a nearby rooftop, and had watched this all happen with concern. She would have stopped them if they had actually caught her charge but he always seemed to get away and it made her smile how he could outwit even the supposed best of the village. 'I have to report this to Sandaime-sama. Please be okay Naruto-kun.' She then made a handsign before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
~*~*~*~*~(Konoha, Underground Cavern)~*~*~*~*~
After shaking the dust and pebbles from his hair and patting his pants to get rid of the dirt he looked around and saw adimly glowing light in the distance. It flickered and danced as he watched and he decided that anything is better than facing that mob out there.
As he walked slowly down the empty path he jumped when two dark holes in the walls above him blazed into light with a small burst of dull green flame. He shook himself and chuckled nervously as he continued on deeper into the cave. His eyes scanned everywhere in case of hidden danger. thanks to his past, he had developed a kind of sixth sense for danger and also gained much better reflexes thanks to that. He felt his jaw drop at the sheer size of the cavern he had found.
"Where am I? This place is so big. How did they hide it from everyone without them knowing? I mean, someone must have been here before. This place is really clean for a hole in the ground…" He said out loud and an echo came back making him grin "Echo!" And again 'Echo! Echo…! Echo…..!'
As he walked even further, he began to feel kind of strange. Not in a bad way; just more safe and peaceful than anything. When he got to the end of the tunnel he turned to see a large room with lots of those funny fires lining the walls and it gave the place an eerie glow. He walked toward the middle of the room and saw what looked to be a statue of a man sitting with one leg over the other in front of him. The hands were forming a handsign but wasn't one he knew. It's eyes were closed and it had shoulder length hair that fell over its left eye. It's clothes were weird to the boy as he walked up and studied it.
Suddenly, a mirthful chuckle echoed around the room and made the boy fall backwards on his ass "Ouch… What was that? Who's there?" He called out nervously into the gloom and looked all over the room only for his eyes to turn and spot the only other thing in the room; the statue.
He got up slowly and walked cautiously towards it. The boy reached out a hand and poked at the cheeks, chest, and even the nose of the thing. To his shock they all felt real and alive. He steps back in fear as the right eye opened slowly and stared at him before the statue cracked a wide joyful grin "Hello there my young friend. Can I help you with something?"
He tries to run but his legs wouldn't move and his heart was beating like a drum 'What is this thing? I thought it was just some random statue?!' He thought frantically and as if reading his mind the man chuckled and nods "Yes, I was a statue…until now that is. When you entered this room you broke my seal and woke me up. I bet you are wondering who I am huh?"
All the boy could do was nod and gulp as his mouth became very dry at the thought of this man being alive and wondered how long he had been down here. And for that matter how he had been able to survive down here since he had not seen any food or even water down here earlier.
The man moved around and stood slowly before falling on his own ass. He laughed at himself and got up again. He stretched out his stiff muscles and cracked his knuckles and neck before nodding and smiled warmly at the boy "What is your name, little one?"
This made the boy a bit angry and shouted "Hey, I am not little you jerk! And my name is Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." The man grinned again as he studied the boy and then kneeled down to meet Naruto's eyes, holding out his hand for Naruto to shake "I am pleased to meet you Naruto-kun. You can call me Moncris."
Naruto reached out slowly and shook hands with him before removing himself from the wall "Why are you down here and where is this place anyways? I was in the alley and then the next thing I knew I was inside the tunnel back there…"
Moncris nodded as he looked around and then made a few handsigns and a low table appeared in his old spot on the floor at the center of the room. He sat down and motioned for Naruto to take the seat on the other side, which the blonde did after a few seconds "Now then, to answer your questions; this is sort of secret getaway I made back when I was last in the village. I worked on some of personal skill down here so that I wasn't seen by others who might try and steal my personal jutsu. By the way, Naruto-kun, what is the village like now? The last time I was up there, a huge battle was going on between a powerful fox demon and a blonde man in a long white coat. Do you know how it ended?"
Naruto, being a huge fan of the Yondaime Hokage knew exactly what battle the man was talking about "Yeah! The Fourth kicked the fox's ass and killed it. He's a hero now but he died fighting it. I want to be Hokage too. It's my dream to be the best Hokage ever so that everyone will finally accept me instead of treating me like some kind of monster." His eyes were bright at first but they dimmed when he mentioned his dream.
The man smiled sadly and shook his head "Naruto-kun, I have to be honest, that doesn't seem like a good reason. Do you know what it means to be Hokage? It is not easy and you would have to do a lot of hard things if you became Hokage…"
The blonde tilted his head to the side a bit as he listened to the man "Why would it be hard? The Hokage protects the village right?"
Moncris nodded but then held up a finger as he explained "Yes, but that is only one small part. A good Hokage not only protects the village but he fights for those who can't do it themselves and helps everyone under his care when he can. But even though he is a good person he must also be strong enough to make choices that could hurt others if it means that even more people can be saved because of it. If the Fourth had chosen to do things another way, and it turned out to be the wrong choice, a lot of people in the village could have died because of his choice. Do you understand, Naruto?"
Naruto scrunched up his face as he thought it over and then lifted his head, his eyes burning with a determination and resolve greater than his years "Then I will do that! I will do whatever I can to help everyone and make them feel safe. I will protect the village with everything I have! Dattebayo!"
Moncris nodded with a wide grin and said "And if you need my help along the way then you shall have it. But first, I have something for you." He made a silver necklace with a leaf symbol on it appear on the table before Naruto. The boy picked it up and looked at it in awe "What does it do? And how does it let you help me?"
Moncris smiled softly at him and pointed at the leaf on the necklace as he took a deep breath and began his explanation "That necklace is covered in hidden seals that have all kinds of powers. The most important one is that if you hold it tightly in your hand and even think my name, then I can teleport to you and help you out when you need me. Another important power is that should you be attacked you can hold it and shout 'Reflect' which will make you glow for a little bit and anything that tries to hit you will bounce off and hit the person or thing with double the force they tried to hit you with. However, it must be re-filled with chakra after a certain amount of uses so be careful okay?"
The blonde was speechless as he felt a few tears leaking out of his eyes. He screwed them shut as he shook gently. No one had ever been nice to him except the old man, Neko-nee-chan, and the Ichirakus. Yet this random guy had given him such a cool gift and offered to help him even more should he need it.
The man almost fell over when the blonde jumped over the table and hugged him tightly around the stomach. He smiled kindly and held him as the boy cried into his cloak. After a few minutes he felt Naruto stop shaking and then he lifted his head to smile at Moncris; a true smile that made the man grin back.
"Okay. Now to get us out of here and have a chat with an old friend of mine. We will come back here later to train if you want." Moncris said as he chuckled and stood up with Naruto. Naruto snickered as he nodded and wondered how his new friend would get them out of the cave.
The brown-haired man flashed through a few hand signs and looked down at the boy "Ready? Hang on tight, this can be a wild ride for first timers." The kid nodded and after grabbing a small handful of his cloak, they both vanished into thin air.
~*~*~*~*~(Konoha, Hokage's Office)~*~*~*~*~
Hiruzen Sarutobi was on the verge of having a heart attack. Neko had reported to him the situation and he had immediately sent out a small force of ANBU to try and find his surrogate grandson but they all failed. He hoped the boy was alright and just in hiding. Sometimes, that boy was more of a shinobi then any Jounin or Chunin under his command.
As he sat back in his chair and took a long puff on his pipe to calm his frayed nerves, said boy popped up right in front of his desk with a shout of "Hey Hokage-jiji!" The aged Hokage nearly fell out of his seat at that as he rushed over to check on the young man. He stopped dead when he noticed the cloaked man next to Naruto.
As the Professor studied the man he noticed a crest on his cloak holding it closed and his eyes widened as he realized who he was. 'But he was thought to be dead…' The man carefully got his attention and put a finger to his lips with a small smile and a wink.
Sarutobi relaxed a bit as he dropped down in front of Naruto and hugged him warmly "I am glad you are safe Naruto-kun. When the ANBU couldn't find you I hoped you had just gone into hiding again."
The young blonde cracked a wide grin as he pointed at Moncris and exclaimed "Yeah I was hiding but then I fell into a cave and found this really weird statue in a room down there. At first it was just a dumb rock but then it came alive and turned out to be Moncris-san. He told me he would help me out with becoming Hokage one day and that he wanted to be my friend. He also gave me this." He lifted the pendant to show off to his jiji who smiled kindly and ruffled the boy's hair as he looked at Moncris.
"So, you are Moncris-san is that right? And how do you plan to help him? I take it you get something out of it too since not many would help Naruto-kun without a reason." The Sandaime said carefully, trying not to sound anything other than polite. The boy just yawned before he went over and laid down on one of the big couches. After he got comfortable he curled up holding his leaf pendant in his small hand and was quickly asleep.
Neko, her mask now lifted up to rest on her head, dropped from the ceiling and gently put a blanket over the sleeping child, move his head into her lap as she watched the man carefully. She was thankful that he had helped out her otouto, but still didn't know who he was.
Moncris got a serious look on his face and let loose a small amount of his KI which made Neko tense up and reach for her katana and even the famed 'God of Shinobi' broke out in a cold sweat "I remember you, Hiruzen-dono. I will only say this once…you should and could have done more to help him over the years."
Sarutobi sighed and his face seemed to age dramatically as he looked sadly at the snoring youth in his ANBU's lap before he signaled the other ANBU to leave the room. They wanted to protest, but after he gave them a hard glance they did as he asked. Neko gathered up her charge and moved further down the couch with him for protection.
Sarutobi activated the protection seals and looked deep into his old friend's burning hazel hues "I know but I have done all I can for now. He wants to be a shinobi so I was going to enroll him in the academy when he turns six. Plus, with you helping him, perhaps he has an even better chance. Are you going to be living with him to keep watch over him?"
The cloaked man turned his head to look out the window and regarded the village scornfully before he nodded "I might have to. If the council starts to act up then send an ANBU to come get me. I won't let you face those vultures without some back-up. For now, I am going to take the kid to his apartment and let him sleep. Tomorrow we will figure things out completely."
Neko held the boy close to her as she glared at the man as he approached her and seemed to regard her. He smiled at her warmly and nodded, speaking softly so as to not wake the boy "You are still as pretty as always, Yugao-chan. You might not recall, but we do know one another. I met your parents a while back and you. You were such a joyful child. Thank you for protecting him for so long."
His words made her lean back in shock and worry. How did he know her? As she took in his face and hair, as well as his attire, here brown eyes grew large as she gasped out "Moncris-oji-san?" He chuckled and patted her head like he used to do when she was small, making her eyes unknowingly brim with tears.
Moncris picked up the snoozing blonde and held him close as the child shifted to lay his head on the man's shoulder. He looked at Yugao and smiled "Come with us. You have probably been worried sick about him. Why don't you stay the night and keep watch was he sleeps?" She could only nod as she laid a hand on his chest and they all vanished as silently as they had appeared.
The Third sat back behind his desk and turned his chair to regard the village outside his window with a slight smirk on his old features.
He chuckled as he thought of the havoc Moncris would cause should they get him mad enough 'After five years of anger and abuse, I wonder if the villagers will be smart enough to leave him alone when they see his new friend. If not then I hope they learn quickly. Never mess with a Magi.'