Chronicles of the Lost Soul:
Of Lone Wolves and Lonely Foxes

summary: This takes place year and a half after naruto leaves the village. Jiraiya has returned to Konoha for some important missions that need his skill which means Naruto's training is put on hold. This does not sit well with him. On top of that the fall festival is approaching. Families are getting together seeing as that is what the festival is all about and he is the only one without family. Little does he know, that is all about to change.

notes: I do not own Naruto nor any other well know characters, objects, moves, etc. mentioned in this story. But I do own the original characters and moves that I created. So no stealing them. This is my first Fic

Blahh: normal speech

(Blahh): "Thoughts" and sound effects

(Blahh): Deeper thoughts-examples: kyuubi, inner sakura, other.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1 The stranger

A tall boy was standing in a dimly lit room. He was panting; he had been running hard, as he was pulled by a young woman who was dressed in clothes that identified her as a woman of high religious and social ranking. She was carrying a ornate wooden box along with a wooden staff with a crystal in the center of it in her free arm. The unmistakable sound of an alarm along with the muffled sounds of people running and shouting was audible in the back ground.

"High….(pant)…Priestess…(pant)" the boy managed to say in labored breath. "Why…" he started but was cut off when the woman silenced him with a finger.

"Shhhhhhhh, young one. There is no time to talk right now." the Priestess said.

The woman shoved the things she was carrying into his hands, one of which was already holding an object that looked like a short sword. The woman walked to the far end of the room. She made a strange gesture in the air before there was a crackle of energy, followed by the creation of a hole filled with swirling blue, white, and yellow light. The sight caused the boy to jump back in surprise. To him there was no other way to describe it but as a hole. The hole seemed out of place yet not.

"The spirits have spoken, you are the chosen one," she said calmly "You are the one who must lead the House. No other is fit for the position." she said as she walked back smiling.

"You must take these and…" she began, but she was cut off by a computerized female voice that spoke over her.

"An unauthorized temporal warp has been detected. I repeat. An unauthorized temporal warp has been detected" Said the voice. The boy simply stood there with a blank face.

"Priestess, that can't be right. That is impossible. I can't be the…" the boy stammered with the sword shaking in his right hand. A mildly angry and annoyed look replaced the blank one.

"I can't High Priestess, someone like me could never… " he began, looking down to hide his face before the woman pulled him into a hug.

"It is ok child, it was meant to be. It is your fate to come here and it is your destiny to take it, the spirits have spoken."

The boy's face tautened in anger at those words. The boy began to speak, but the priestess cut him off.

"You must not concern yourself on the how and why. Such things are not foreseen by the spirits. Now you must go." The room went silent as she finished and all that could be heard was the ringing of the alarm. The boy's eyes were hidden in the mess of hair and the shadows cast by the flashing lights on the walls. His mouth was set in a pained grimace, his jaw clenched. His fist tightened around the hilt of the sword .

"Do not think about what has been said about you. You are a good person with a kind heart, but you have to leave. There are too many people who do not trust you like I do. You must go and hide until I can show them the truth." The woman said soothingly, but the boy in front of her did not move.

"You can not stay here, it is to dangerous." She said, a bit of worry creeping into her voice. The arm carrying the sword twitched

"Please, you must go, and I must…" the Priestess began, but she never finished her sentence.

"Die." A cold and heartless voice finished.

The sound of a blade cutting through flesh suddenly filled the room. The Priestess grabbed her chest in response and gave a weak gasp of pain before she slumped to the floor. The boy stood there, blood splattered on the front of his clothes and face.

"You…" a new voice said slowly.

"You… you killed the High Priestess…" said a tall dark haired man wearing strange black clothes with bones etched and imbedded in the fabric. Power and authority seemed to radiate from him.

"You Bastard! You….you must Pay!" he said as he brandished a sword.

"Guards come quickly; the High Priestess has been murdered!"

The boy still stood there not moving. Blood from the Priestess was beginning to pool at his feet. His gaze was locked on the corpse of the now dead Priestess. His eyes were lifeless yet hungry as they looked upon the corpse.

Guards entered the room and froze when they saw the priestess on the floor and the boy holding the sword now covered in blood.

"Oh my Lord… he…" a guard began but was cut off by the sound of another guard vomiting, so no one heard the rest.

"He has killed the High Priestess. I don't care what she said about you, you killed her. Killing the High Priestess is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable. No man nor woman is exempt from the punishment. I knew you couldn't be trusted from the beginning!" the dark haired man said with a disgusted look on his face. The boy said nothing. His mouth twitched in a demented smile. "You must die. Kill Him!"

The guards seemed hesitant to move forward. The boy seemed un-phased by their presence.

"Move aside cowards, we are not afraid to die" was said by more guards dressed similar to that of the tall dark haired one as they entered the room. The only real difference was that they carried long white pole arms made from what looked like bones. They raised there weapons as eerie blue mists formed around the blades. "Kar'soon!" one of them shouted. A bolt of the blue mist shot towards the boy who looked up to see it coming, dodging it in time. He turned to run towards the hole the priestess had made.

"Stop him before he gets away!" the dark haired man shouted as he fired similar blue bolts of mist.

Blood splattered on the ground as the boy used his sword to deflect the blue mist.

"No!" the tall man shouted as the boy reached the hole. As he dove through, he looked back. Four more people had entered the room, though they were not guards. He knew them... Of the familiar faces, only one really caught his eye… it was a girl. He knew her... Her cheerful face, the one he remembered, the one she always had seemed to wear, was gone. A look spoke of shock, sadness, and confusion that now covered her face. Their eyes met briefly in what felt like an eternity before the hole closed. The last thing he saw was the girl embracing another familiar face that was struggling to move forward. The image of her sorrowful face was burned into the boy's mind, never to be forgotten. The boy was carried off as if he was trapped in a swirling torrent of water. As he stared off into nothing his body began to tremble.

"My God... What…..what have I done..." he said as he closed his eyes tightly, tears running down his blood stained face.

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It was the day before the Fall festival in Konoha. Everyone was busy decorating their homes, shops, and the like. Families were getting together and preparing for the next night. Almost every able bodied person, even the Hokage herself was helping set up. All ninjas, apart from ANBU were on leave so they could help as well. The only person not helping out was a young boy with spiky blond hair and bright blue eyes. His name was Uzumaki Naruto. He watched it all from afar as people ran here and there setting up for the next night. The reason he was not working was not because he didn't want to, but rather because no one else wanted him to. Earlier he had tried to help, but every time he did he was shouted at to go away. Even as he walked down the street, people would give him hateful looks as if he was some foul creature. He even tried to visit his friends.

First he went to see his team mate Sakura only to be punched out the front door when he tripped and grabbed her… well… a part of her that you should never grab, in order to not fall on some delicate decorations. He could still feel the pain from her punch. Next he tried Shikamaru, but he said it would be too tiresome to hang out and that he was working. Then Chouji, but he sadly turned him down as well, while eating a bag of chips. Then he tried Kiba, but he was chased away by a pack of angry dogs when he stepped on one of their tails before he could ask. He didn't bother visiting Shino because he didn't like him very much, besides Shino wasn't exactly the kind to socialize. He didn't bother with Ino or TenTen since they were not very close, plus they never got along very well. He thought about visiting Lee, but he didn't know where he lived. Though he had a good idea of what he was doing right now. In a last ditch effort, he even tried to visit Neji and Hinata, but he didn't get anywhere near the house because the guards were amongst those who gave him that glare.

With no one to hang out with, no family to be with, and no reason to stick around he simply decided to watch. Sitting atop of the Hokage monument he watched the people moving about, full of content and excitement while he sat there with sadness and misery slowly eating away at his heart.

He was not really surprised though. This is how it had always been for him, ever since he was born. It was because he was the container of the Kyuubi. The giant nine tailed demon fox that had attacked the village 13 years ago. Even though he knew why people hated him, it didn't mean that he didn't mind it. While he acted as if it didn't faze him, deep down he was hurting. It hurt even more now that Sasuke had left the village. They might not have been real friends, but that was beside the point. When Sasuke had been around he had not felt so alone since neither of them had a family, but now he was gone. It was on such days as these that the loneliness truly hurt him.

No matter how much he told himself not to cry, there was a small part of him that did. Family, it was the one thing he wanted the most. From time to time he would think about what it would be like to have a family. From a single parent to a sibling to a cousin, any amount of family would be better then none. Someone to correct him rather then penalize him when he was wrong. Someone to help him when he had a problem. Someone to help share burdens. Even now with friends, who he thought of as family, it was not the same. They hadn't even seemed to be super excited to see him after he came back a few days ago after being gone for a year and a half. Right now he almost wished he had not come back. Maybe if he had stayed away longer they might have really begun to miss him. But hey, if coming back home for a while so Jiriaya could buy him some extra time before Akatsuki decided to come after him, it was ok with him.

As he leaned back he noticed a patch of clovers. He grabbed one at random, not really caring about getting lucky. He sighed as he looked up at the slightly cloudy sky. He could barely make out what looked like the vague silhouette of some lone bird circling near by. Then he looked at the clover that he had picked. He was mildly surprised when he saw that it was a four leaf clover. He gave himself a small half smile.

("Looks like today is my lucky day.") he thought half heartedly.

("Yeah right") he immediately told himself afterwards.

("I will never get a break. I will always be alone like this.") he thought as he went back to watching the village.

If he had not been so out of it he might have noticed that a strange sound was coming from behind him. However he could not help but feel the sudden impact of an object hit the ground along with the sound of trees breaking. He immediately got up and slowly walked over to investigate.

As Naruto approached the place where he had heard the crash he saw a few trees had been hit by something. Naruto began wondering what could have done this when he heard a grown followed by some coughing. When he peered over the broken tree limbs he saw a fairly deep crater. The only thing more bizarre then the craters sudden appearance was what was in the crater itself. Naruto could see a pair of legs sticking up at an angle through the dust cloud, they were twitching slightly. Another grown came from the crater.

(drawn out groan) "Oooowww!" the figure said as it made to sit up.

"Oh man" (groan) "I am gonna feel that one tomorrow." The figure began to stand up. Naruto strained his ears in order to try to hear what the figure grumbled next.

"Why does that" (groan) "always happen?" the figure said. The person began to dust itself off.

"I swear if I ever see that guy again, I am going to ring his neck." he said as he bent over to fold something up.

"Life time guaranty… (groan), my ass. (snort) I ought to find him and jam this thing up his…" was all he could make out before the figure trailed off.

"Hello?" Naruto called out. The man's head snapped up as he heard Naruto.

"Huhh…" the figure said as he turned around.

The dust had cleared enough for Naruto to make out the fine details of the person standing in the crater. He was young and tall, somewhere in his late teens. He had short and spiked back blonde hair that was darker then Naruto's with a small goatee. He had blue eyes that had a relaxed and thoughtful look to them, though they were currently open in surprise. He was wearing tan cargo pants with a pair of light brown sandals. He had on a gray tank top and a long dark tan green over-shirt, partially buttoned up, with long sleeves with what looked like the heads of wolfs etched on the shoulders. A pair of worn black fingerless gloves adorned his hands. He was also carrying a black backpack with what looked like a travelers walking staff running through it. The two stared at each other for a few moments with the same thoughts running through their minds.

"Uhhhhhh, Hi…" the young man said, grinning slightly.

"Hey, who are you?" Naruto said accusatorially, approaching the teenager. His eyes flickered between the figure and the crater he was standing in.

"And what the heck happened here?" Naruto added.

"Uhhhhh….," the teenager began slowly while his eyes moved around rapidly as if looking for something in the trees

"Would you believe me if I... uh... was to say I was simply... umm... hang gliding and I crashed….." he finished up with a smile. There was a hint of something in his voice that sounded mildly like panic.

Naruto stood there looking at him for a minute. He remembered his mission to the bird country and the kite that had been used to make the cursed warrior fly. He could only guess that "hang gliding" as he put it, was related to it. Then he recalled the lone figure he saw flying moments ago. That must have been him Naruto thought.

"Oh" Naruto said.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah," the teen said with a bit of relief in his voice "I am ok. This isn't the first time it's happened."

"Are you sure, I mean, you just when through a bunch of trees." Naruto gestured to the broken tree limbs.

"No really I am ok" he said again. "My equipment broke my fall." he said as he scratched the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly.

"I appreciate your concern for my health, but I am ok. I am sorry if I interrupted anything important. You can go back to whatever you were doing."

An awkward silence followed this pronouncement of being uninjured.

"…..ok then…" Naruto said, depression was present in his voice. He had gotten the distinct impression that the teen wanted him to leave him alone. Naruto turned and returned to his previous sitting position atop the monument. In a matter of seconds the depression that had been on his mind earlier had returned to him in full force.

("No one… really wants to be around me… no one, not even a……")

"Beautiful view."

The voice shook Naruto out of his brooding. When he looked to see who the voice belonged to he was surprised again to see the teenager he had been talking to moments before. He was looking out over the village, smiling slightly. He looked down at Naruto, "May I join?" he asked gesturing to a spot next to him.

"Uh sure…." Yet again Naruto was surprised; he could not remember the last time someone had asked his permission for something. Heck he was sure no one had ever done that. He stared at the teen as he slowly sat down. He continued to look out over the village, watching as the small ants that were the villagers moved around.

"Nice looking town. You live their?" he said after yet another brief silence

"Yeah…"

"Looks like something is going down, or is it always like this?" He said as he focused on the people running around

"Yeah, the fall festival is tomorrow. Everyone is using today to finish setting up." Naruto replied. The teen raised an eyebrow.

"Fall festival? What's it about? He asked.

Naruto's face darkened at the question. He was about to say something rude, but he remembered that this guy had asked him politely and it was obvious that he wasn't from the village. Maybe he was from another village or something. ("Whatever") he thought.

"Family and unity." he answered curtly "Everyone in the village is supposed to get together and decorate their homes and whatever else they own. Stuff like that."

"Ooh, cool, I love festivals. They are so full of life that they seen to have a life of their own." he said cheerfully. Naruto simply stared at him after that statement. This guy was weird. The teen looked up suddenly then turned to look at Naruto.

"Wait, if everyone is down there working, then why aren't you helping your family?"

Naruto's face fell. The small bit of good spirit that Naruto had gotten back when he had started talking to the teen suddenly dropped back to zero at the question.

"….I don't have a family…." Naruto said darkly looking down. Naruto had a sudden urge to get up and leave. This guy had pushed the wrong buttons at the wrong time. Naruto was about to get up and storm off, when the teen interrupted his thoughts with something he had never heard anyone say to him.

"Oh… I am sorry dude," The teen said in a sad voice. "I didn't know that was a sore topic for you. Please forgive my stupidity for bringing that up. I can only ask for your forgiveness" He bowed his head in an act of apology.

Naruto didn't know what to do, this was another first for him. Here was someone asking for forgiveness for something he didn't know anything about. The indignation that had started inside him disappeared.

"Its ok, you didn't know."

"No, it isn't. Is there something I can do to make it up to you?"

Naruto was about to decline the offer, but his stomach interrupted him with a request. It gave off a loud growl.

"Heheh" He gave a nervous chuckle and gave him his trademark foxy grin. The teen was about to respond when his own stomach growled as well. Naruto Sweet dropped. Both their stomachs growled in unison. There was an awkward silence before they both burst out in laughter.

"Well it's decided then," the teen said as he slowly stood up. "Let's get something to eat. Do you know of any good places to eat?"

Naruto's mood skyrocketed as they decided to get something to eat and he had the perfect place in mind.

"Ichiraku's!" Naruto yelled out as he jumped up.

The teen laughed again. "Well at least you know where you want to go. That's a good thing. Well let's get going." He turned to start walking, but he stopped and turned again and again.

"Ummm, how do we get down from here?" he asked.

Naruto laughed again. He was beginning to like this guy. "Come on I will lead the way." Naruto turned to take them off the monument when he realized something.

"Hey, I never got your name" Naruto said.

"I was going to say the same thing" the teen said.

"Well I am the great Uzumaki Naruto, Future Hokage of Konoha!" He yelled out with his old gusto. The teen chuckled jovially as he extended his hand in a hand shake.

"I am sorry for not introducing myself sooner, call me Jareth, just Jareth and it is a pleasure to meet you." he said as they shook hands.

"Uh… forgive my ignorance but, what is a Hokage?" Jareth asked as Naruto led them down the path to the village.

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My little corner- Coming next chapter

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Next Chapter- Food, Fight and Flight or Hey, what's that behind you?