The tenth of October, a day for many as a time for mourning over a terrible loss that had happened years ago. Others it was a day for celebration, when one of the greatest shinobi to ever live defeated the greatest demon known to man over 7 years ago. However for one child who went by the name of Naruto Uzumaki, it was a day of pain and terror. Where every shadow was a possible threat and the slightest noise could spell out his death. It was today of all days that the seven year old child knew that he could not be found unless he wanted to suffer the consequences of being caught.
Currently the young blonde was darting between alleys and ducking behind trashcans at the slightest noise. His ocean blue eyes were tear stained and frightened as he ducked into a different alley hiding for a moment behind a large crate of empty sake bottles behind a local tavern. He needed to get to the Hokage's tower, the one place he knew he could be safe for the night. The problem however was now with the festival in full celebration getting there without being seen by anyone was almost impossible.
As Naruto slowly crept around the crate ready for his next sprint across the somewhat crowded street that blocked the final alley that would lead him to the Hokage's tower and one step closer to safety, his ears picked up the sound of several drunk men that were headed his way. Naruto not wanting to be found out crawled back further into the crate trying to hide completely from view, as the crowd of men slowly walked by his hiding place talking all the while.
"So Jugo, what are you going to do when we catch him?" At this a man from the middle of the crowd smirked evilly while replying, "I have something special for the demon this year, I am through with seeing him walking around everywhere acting like he didn't destroy half this village 7 years ago." With this the man pulled a wicked looking serrated knife from his belt and grinned widely.
"I'll make sure to put a smile on the demon's face that goes ear from ear," He chuckled while acting like he was slitting a throat, to be more precise the throat of a small child. The group laughed loudly at this as they stumbled their way past Naruto who was still hiding in the crate hoping to Kami they didn't find him.
Even if they hadn't said his name specifically Naruto knew they were out looking for him. He had been referred to as the demon brat as long as he could remember and no matter how hard he tried he could not figure out why. Naruto tried to crawl back further behind the crate but as he did his foot knocked over a stack of sake bottles that had been stacked up behind him. As the pile of bottles crashed to the ground Naruto cursed all seven layers of hell for his luck. He could only hope and pray to Kami that the group had gone far enough ahead to not hear the noise.
Unfortunately it seemed that Kami was on vacation, or he just truly didn't care about the blonde as a couple of the men came back to the alley and peered into it. Naruto crawled back as far as he could but being a seven year old child who was literally being hunted, he forgot one important thing. In a dark alley in the middle of the night a bright blonde head of hair was like a beacon for all who were looking.
"Hey guys," one of the man shouted at the group, "It looks like the demon came to us." The entire group over twenty strong now entered the alley blocking all available light to Naruto who unfortunately had backed himself into a corner.
"Please, I didn't do anything," Naruto pleaded to no use as the men stalked forward a bloodthirsty look in their eyes. Naruto knew that this may very well be the end, he was trapped in an alley and the men in front of him didn't look like they would be stopping after a few punches. That is if the knives the men were wielding had any indication to what was about to happen.
"Didn't do anything?" One of the men asked outrageously as he took another step forward, "You destroyed our home, killed and slaughtered our friends and family and we should just sit back and watch you walk around like you own the place?" The man spat out indignantly. Suddenly a foot lashed out and struck Naruto square in the chest causing him to yell in pain.
"I don't think so." He finished dangerously as the men behind him cracked the knuckles intimidating the young blonde further.
The young blonde still not knowing what he had done to anger these man so much could only stare in mute horror as the twenty men approached their knives raised ready to carve into their prey. Accepting that this truly was the end Naruto closed his eyes and waited for the pain to begin, "Maybe it will get better when I am in heaven." He thought to himself as he continued to wait.
He only had to wait a moment for the screams to begin, but what shocked Naruto was that the screams of pain were not coming from himself but from the men who had trapped him initially. After a minute the screams had stopped and Naruto hesitantly opened his eyes and found himself staring at a scene of carnage and blood. There were mangled bodies everywhere, on the ground littered in piles, there was a body behind him in a garbage dumpster his arm bent at an odd angle as it hung over the edge. Hell even when Naruto looked up he saw few were now hanging from a power line above him, their blood splashing on the ground below.
Standing in the middle of the carnage was a man that Naruto had never seen before. He was exceptionally tall easily over 6 feet and was broad shouldered with a huge main of white hair. He was wearing a red sleeveless long jacket with green shinobi pants and shirt underneath. As the man turned around to face him Naruto noticed his headband had the symbol for oil on it completely different from the usual leaf headbands Naruto was accustomed to seeing.
The man's eyes were the thing that attracted Naruto's attention the most. They looked at him with guilt, sadness, and above all rage at what had almost happened. Naruto who only had seen people look at him with coldness, well besides the Hokage, could only look on in confusion as the man continued to stare at him for what seemed like an eternity.
"Hello Naruto," the giant of the man said softly as he took a step forward toward him causing Naruto to instinctively back up causing a frown to appear on the older man's face.
"Naruto, I am not going to hurt you," he said gently this time staying where he was as he continued to talk. "My name is Jiraiya and I came here because I knew what these men were going to do to you and I was not going to let them hurt you."
Naruto who still was in shock at the turn of events could only continue to stare seemingly not able to speak. "What the hell?! I swore I was a goner there and now this guy shows up, kills all of those men and now says he's here to help me?" Naruto thought wishing that the Hokage would be here, he always knew what to do and always had made Naruto feel safe and standing here in a dark alley with a man who had just brutally killed over twenty people was not what Naruto called safe.
Seeming to sense Naruto's unease the man known as Jiraiya crouched down so he could be on eye level with the young blonde. "Naruto I need you to trust me and come with me before people start showing up and asking questions." The man said while gesturing to the bodies around him. "We need to go see the Hokage about this and I need you to come with me as I won't let something like this happen to you again." Jiraiya finished fiercely.
Naruto who was somewhat startled at the man's declaration could only nod in agreement on going to see the Hokage. Naruto knew the old man would be able to figure this all out and maybe if he was lucky would treat him to a bowl of ramen. At this thought all the thoughts of what had happened the last ten minutes disappeared and all that remained floating in his mind was a giant bowl of miso flavored ramen, with the steam rising above the broth. The thought of delicious noodles simmering in the flavored broth brought drool to the blonde's mouth as his stomach grumbled fiercely.
Jiraiya who had been watching Naruto closely could only shake his head as the blonde's eyes glazed over and the saliva started spilling from his mouth like a river. "Kid is as ramen crazy as his father had been." Jiraiya chuckled lightly knowing the look of a ramen daydream a mile away. His last student had a similar addiction and Jiraiya didn't even need to be told that was what the blonde was thinking he just simply needed to look at the face.
Knowing if he was anything like his father it would be at least 5 minutes before the blonde would be aware of anything. Without much of an alternative Jiraiya picked up the ramen crazed blonde and headed off at high speeds towards the Hokage tower.
On the way he could only think that Sarutobi Sensei had better have a damn good reason for this or tomorrow Konoha may need a new Hokage. Looking down at the young boy in his arms and knowing what would have happened if he had shown up even 10 minutes later made his blood boil and a growl to escape the back of his throat.
Jiraiya did not think of himself as an angry man, rather the opposite in fact he tried to have as much fun in life as possible. The fact was Jiraiya did not like to hurt people if he could help it but what he had seen back there was enough to make even a fun loving man like himself snap. He had saw red when the man had kicked Naruto and he hadn't even been aware of himself jumping down until he had landed in front of the man who had his knife raised.
It had only taken a minute to kill the men as none had shinobi training, merely drunken villagers who didn't know the difference between a child and a demon. He only felt slightly guilty over taking the lives of the men and it only took a look down at the child in his arms to steel his resolve even further that things were about to change for Naruto and hopefully for the better. As he jumped up onto the rooftops making his way to the hokage tower he whispered softly, "I will not let this continue any longer my Godson."