Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. That honor belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Summary: At the age of 5, Naruto is being beaten to the brink of death by the villagers. As they prepare to end his young life, Naruto is saved by someone he'd soon call his brother in all but blood. From the forgotten back alleys of Konohagakure to the most dangerous entries of the Elemental Nations bingo book, these two shall rise to be legends. NaruIno. OCHina.
Pairings: OCxHina NaruxIno
A/N: This was my first ever attempt at writing a story when I was younger and once I found it, decided to pick it up and give this an honest attempt. I'm not entirely sure just how far I plan to take this story (I literally decided to start writing this again on a whim, trying to find a hobby), but rest assured if my readers seem to like the general idea I have going on here then, I'll be sure to try and be constant with my updates to this story. I appreciate all constructive criticism, just no flames please.
Demon Talking/Time Skip/Title/Inner Sakura/Author's Note
'Someone Thinking.'/Flashback
'Demon Thinking.'
"Jutsu."
"Someone Speaking."
F~T~L
Chapter 1: First Friend
Lightning races through the air amongst the raging rainfall covering Konohagakure. It being late into the evening, the traffic and commotion that normally accompanies the streets and alleys of the village have quieted and surrendered to the roars of the clouds and the tears from above. From the tiniest of babies to the oldest of citizens, everyone seemed to be retiring for the night to their homes and their beds. However, this wasn't the case for one such soul.
Another bolt of lightning flashes across the skies and as Konoha is illuminated briefly, one could see a child tearing through the village streets like his life depended on it. Which considering who it was, it probably did. The child had sunny blond hair darkened by the rain and clumps of the dirt and mud from this escape. His ocean blue eyes were wide with fear and his cheeks, adorned with three whisker-like marks on each side, showed twin trails of streaming tears mixed in with the outside elements. Barely clothed in faded, torn tan shorts and a dirty white shirt with a red spiral on the center of the back, the little 5-year-old was cursing his short life and praying for anybody to save him from his current predicament. Naruto Uzumaki had just been trying to get some shelter from this harsh storm after having been kicked out from the orphanage that afternoon. It hadn't been the first time that he had gotten kicked out, but the lady in charge of the orphanage told him to never come back this time. He had no idea why the lady in charge at the orphanage seemed to not like him, or why she chose to toss him out to fend for himself when he'd done nothing wrong in his opinion. Then again, she wasn't the only one. A majority of the village, grown adult to children his age, seemed to hate him for some reason. He had always tried to be as good as the other children, but the woman in charge always seemed to find a reason to punish him only. Which finally led to her finding some petty reason to simply toss the young boy out to the savages on the streets. It took only a bit of wandering around the village, trying to find shelter from the storm, for little Naruto to find himself in his current predicament. He went looking around trying to find an alley or somewhere to sleep for the night and through the storm until he could go see his Jiji in the morning. Though in that short amount of time for his search, he didn't notice the accumulation of angry villagers that had seen their "resident demon" wandering the streets defenseless and decided to teach him a lesson.
Shooting down the usually-packed market district main street, Naruto rounded around a corner and fell back into his sprint away from his pursuers. Taking a chance, he glanced back around his shoulder to see how much distance was between him and those after him, and immediately wished that he hadn't. Following quickly around the corner, hot on his tail, was a mob of villagers holding makeshift weapons of all design/purpose. They had every and anything from kitchen knives down to rotting 2x4's with nails in them, the mass crowd surely didn't discriminate in anything they could find to hurt the poor boy. Glaring hatefully at the boy, they resumed their cries and chase for blood, slowly catching up. Seeing the Hokage Tower in the distance, the boy tried to quicken his pace, hoping that he would make it to his jiji so that he would protect him. Unfortunately for the blonde child, one of the old drunks in the crowd of rabid villagers managed to score a hit on him with a thrown bottle to the back of his head.
"GAH!" The bottle had shattered on impact with his skull, imbedding shards of it in the back of his head, blood quickly started blending into the boy's already dirty mane of hair as he stumbled and fell onto the wet, unforgiving ground beneath him. 'I was almost there,' little Naruto grit his teeth and tried to force himself back up through the terrible weather and the pain, trying to settle his gaze back on the Hokage Tower through the haze that seemed to start to lightly cloud his vision from the injury and the rain, 'just a little further...gotta make it to Hokage-jiji...he'll save me from this.' Naruto had just managed to get the strength to make it back to his feet, when once again his hopes were extinguished, and fear gripped his heart, as the sound of the mob's angry cries and jeers seem to rush to his ears through the storm, and a large, rough hand snatched him up by the back of his shirt and tossed him into an alley adjacent to him.
For a second time that night, Naruto crashed against the ground roughly, adding some scrapes and a few bruises to his growing list of injuries. "We have you now you little demon," sneered the man who tossed Naruto, glaring hatefully at the little spawn beneath him, "we will end you tonight and finish what our beloved Yondaime should have 5 years ago. Tonight, you will atone for the all the sins you committed on that terrible night, all the lives you took shall be paid in your blood tonight you little- FUCK!" He spat out at as he finished his statement with a vicious kick to the young boy beneath him, sending Naruto to the back of the alley and smashing into the wall with a cry of pain. The mob cheered on and descended on the boy after he slid to the ground off the wall and proceeded to do whatever they could to try and inflict pain and "righteous" justice for their dead loved ones. They kicked, punched, stabbed, and cut the poor boy with whatever they could find, all the while screaming vile things to him.
All Naruto could do was curl up into a ball and try to protect himself as much as he could. He tried to bite back any screams of pain, he wouldn't give this terrible crowd of people the satisfaction of hearing him cry out to their attempt at revenge for a crime they say he committed, but he couldn't remember hurting anyone.
'Someone...anyone...please help me! I don't want to die here, I haven't even had a chance to become a ninja yet...' Naruto's eyes began to dim, as his determination to survive this ordeal began to wane, he began to let his eyes shut and accept his fate. Seeing the "demon" start to give up, the bloodthirsty mob grew more excited (if that were possible for them) and grew a bit more vicious in their beating until one of them, the one that nailed Naruto with the bottle from before, snatched him up by his neck, choking him if he wasn't already beginning to choke on his own blood, and suspended him against the wall, holding a knife to the boy's throat.
Grinning, the fat civilian, started ranting smugly, "The village will praise us once we spill the rest of your demon blood out in this alley. We'll be celebrated as heroes of the village for the rest of our days, with it being all thanks to you. So...do you have any last words demon before I end you right now?" He gazed at Naruto in glee, just ready to swipe the knife across the boy's jugular and end their torment with his death. Naruto's bloody, dirty hair covered the rest in his face in shadow as he heard the man taunt him and could just feel his anticipation.
"...heh," they heard the boy chuckle lowly for a second, "yeah...I have some last words for you..." Naruto threw his head up and spit the mix of saliva and blood he had in his mouth straight into the fat civilian's face. The loogie hit the man square in his forehead and he recoiled back a step in shock. The man choking him, now enraged, began squeezing out whatever life was in Naruto, forgetting that he was going to slit the "little demon's" throat in his rage. His partners-in-crime continued with their cheers for him and their calls for Naruto's death, but the boy's sudden fierce and determined gaze stayed locked on the man's own now surprised ones, "I can't die here...I still have people I have to protect and idiots like you to prove wrong about me...I still have to become Hokage so that I can show all of your ugly mugs that I'm not what you say I am... that I'm Naruto Uzumaki...that I'm not a demon!" A bright, booming flash of lightning accompanied the end of Naruto's proclamation and the alley was suddenly illuminated and silent.
Everyone in the alley shut their eyes to clear their vision from the intense light show the storm had produced, and as they regained their senses and looked back towards the "demon" only to see Naruto on the ground, staring in surprise and growing relief towards the shadowed figure who looked to have suddenly appeared protectively in front of the child, their body positioned as if they just performed a vicious jab-like punch. Shock ran through the alleyway once they realized that the man who was previously about to end Naruto's short life was now indented into one of the walls, completely unconscious. The man's face was contorted into one of surprise as if he hadn't even been anywhere aware of what hit him, which no one was, with blood already leaking from his now busted nose and from his lips. Everyone slowly turned their heads back to the figure as it straightened back into a standing position, and their shock grew that much more substantial once they realized that the mysterious assailant turned out to be a child, seemingly around Naruto's age. The child turned out to be a young boy with skin tanned like some of the residents of Kumogakure, and raven black hair that was maintained and spiked upwards with snow white highlight-like streaks coursing through it but was kept short and had one bang that was also snow white (think of his hair being styled like Ultimate Gohan's from DBZ). The boy's eyes, set in a furious gaze towards the mob, showed them to have a surprising case of heterochromia. The boy's left eye displayed an electric blue iris, while his right eye showed an angry ruby red iris, vastly in contrast with its usually much calmer visual counterpart. The boy's attire consisted of a simple blood red long-sleeved shirt with the kanji for 'finesse' on the back, with black ANBU-style pants leading to the white bandage wrappings his ankles/shins. On his feet were black shinobi sandals and finishing up the ensemble was a white scarf that wrapped around the lower half the boy's face and neck and fell freely behind him in the wind.
They hadn't even seen the boy move onto the scene or period for that matter. One moment their dreams were finally about to come true with the blood of the demon being spilt for their fallen loved ones. The next this mysterious boy, who couldn't be any older than the demon he was protecting, suddenly appears and stops their revenge in its tracks. Who was this new arrival anyway?
The boy stopped glaring at the mob briefly to glance over his left shoulder behind him towards Naruto, who propped himself against the back of the alley so that he wasn't laying on the wet ground. The anger in his blue eye giving way to concern for the other child's well-being and current safety.
"Hey! I'm going to get you some help, just stay behind me and I'll get you out of here." The boy finally spoke to the dumbfounded blonde, who nearly forgot about his current predicament due to the newest developments. The child's voice was young, indicating his age, and was spoken out through a calm, yet concerned tone. As if the pure rage wasn't anywhere near evident in his eyes a moment ago when they were directed to the villagers.
"O-Okay...," Naruto stammered out, still shocked. Not only had someone come to his rescue, they looked about the same age, and the boy didn't seem to hate or shun him like all the other kids once their parents warn them about him. Naruto watched the boy nod and then turn back to the mob of angry villagers, both unaware of the red chakra that started to heal and close his cuts and wounds gained from the previous attack before being saved.
The boy looked back at the villagers, who looked to be growing out of their shock and instead seemed to be more upset that some little punk had dare stopped their "righteous" execution of the "demon". The anger in his eyes returned full-force as he spoke to the crowd, his voice still calm, but everyone could hear the confusion and fury in his tone, "someone mind telling me why the fuck you're beating on a defenseless kid and why you all feel like this is okay?"
Someone else stepped from the crowd, a civilian man in his early forties named Hoshiro, and angrily addressed the pest that was interrupting their fun, "didn't your parents teach you anything kid? That thing you're trying to protect is a demon not a human child. We're doing this village a justice and honoring our fallen heroes and families by ending its pitiful existence once and for all!" His answer was followed by a bellowing chorus of approval from the crowd, still calling and jeering to harm the poor blonde Uzumaki.
The mysterious child shook his head in disbelief of the idiocy of the people before him. He leveled Hoshiro with a blank stare, "the only demons I see here are the idiots who think that harming a child my age, or any child for that matter, is justice."
That only seemed to piss off the mob more, "Boy, I'm going to only give you one chance. Move out of our way, run along home, and let us finally end that little shit. Or else-" Hoshiro paused his threat to brandish a rusty kunai knife at the boy, "-you're going to get killed right along with him." He smirked, expecting for the boy to be scared out of his wits and trying to make a break for it...
...
Only for the boy to continue to stare at him blankly, "...so what you mean to tell me is...that you all really are as stupid as you all look then? Wow. I don't think I'll be moving though without taking Naruto here to go get some help though. So, anybody feeling bold enough to take another step towards my friend here-" the boy shifted so that his arms were hanging limp to his sides, angry red-blue eyes boring into Hoshiro's, "will have to deal with me as well."
The middle-aged man snarled at the short little pest in between him and his ticket to fame in Konoha. He'd show this boy a thing a two about respecting your elders, and then crucify the demonic spawn himself. As the man took a step towards the newcomer, the sky lit up with lightning again and the boy vanished just as suddenly as he appeared. Hoshiro's eyes widened and the mob's chants and demands went silent as the boy up and disappeared, as if he was a spirit in the harsh winds of the storm. Even Naruto became startled and began looking around alarmingly for the boy that came to save him, only for him to be nowhere in sight. The man looked around for the troublemaker, and seeing no sign of him, grinned maliciously towards the blonde who gazed back, afraid for his life again.
"Well, it looks like he took my adv-"
Hoshiro didn't get to finish his gloating as he was suddenly blasted off his feet from a fist imbedding itself into his stomach and sending him rocketing into the mob behind him causing everyone to either fly into the walls or the air from the impact. The boy from before was standing where Hoshiro was previously, his body still positioned as it was from sending the villager flying. Naruto couldn't believe his eyes. Initially, despite being saved, he was still fearful for the mysterious child's life. But now... after witnessing that same kid seemingly flickers in and out of existence and then send a whole mob of villagers packing with just one punch?
This guy was awesome!
The boy straightened up and moved his bang, wet from the rain, out of the way of his eye and observed his handiwork. Most of the villagers were already unconscious from the force of the collision Hoshiro had made with them; those that were still awake after the initial impact were on their way to the same destination from the following concussions they received from bouncing off the surrounding alley walls. Hoshiro himself had plowed through the set of human bowling pins and made himself a nice him-shaped hole in a weapon shop across the street from their position, his eyes already rolled into the back of his head and completely unconscious himself.
Naruto watched as the mystery guy shook his head, sighed, and turned and made his way towards him. He kneeled to Naruto's eye level while he was propped against the back wall of the alley. "How are you holding up Naruto? Can you move?"
He snapped out of his daze, "yeah, I think so." The blond tried to move his legs, which felt surprisingly better than he remembered them to have felt before and realized that he could. Though he quickly winced and realized that while he could, it wouldn't be too good to move around until he got some medical attention. He looked at his body and saw wisps of red chakra sealing some of his wounds clothes and working slowly on the few bigger bruises and lacerations that remained. He made a mental note to ask jiji about that later. It had not been the first time he had noticed it, what with how often he got hurt or injured of course. Naruto looked up and saw that the boy saw the same thing while giving the blonde his own quick check over and helping him up. "Thank you for the save! I was almost a goner there, hehehe." Naruto thanked him, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
The boy gave a small smirk and pushed the red chakra he saw to the back of his head, "It's no need to thank me, when do you need a reason to help out someone in trouble?" He hooked one of Naruto's arms around his shoulders and supported him as he took a couple of experimental steps. "Is there somewhere I can take you until you fully recover? That red chakra seems to be doing a good job, but you should still see someone. And after seeing how these idiots are, I would prefer someone you actually trust." After establishing a slow, steady pace that Naruto felt comfortable with, the two walked towards the end of the alley and passed the many comatose bodies lying around the alleyway.
Naruto allowed a grin to cross his face as they made it to the end and turned the corner back onto the market district street. "Well, I was running towards Hokage-jiji, but those assholes managed to catch me. I know you probably heard me yell my name before in the alley, if you didn't already know about me already, but I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage! What's your name dude? I haven't seen you around Konoha before. Not that I'm complaining, you were just so cool!" The blonde's child-like enthusiasm despite what had just transpired to the boy quickly grew infectious and the raven-haired child's face began to grow a small smile as well.
"Arashi. Arashi Kazuma. Nice to meet you Naruto. And I'm not exactly from around here." Arashi chuckled as he hefted Naruto up a little more so that he most of the other boy's weight onto himself. "Thank you by the way. I couldn't just let them hurt you like that, so I stepped in and helped. There's nothing else to it." He finished, nodding to his own statement as if it was a finalized rule. The boys continued their journey to the Hokage Tower, as the storm began to end.
F~T~L
Hokage Tower (Some Time Later...)
Hiruzen Sarutobi, The Third Hokage of Konohagakure, was currently sitting at his desk staring in disdain to one of the many piles of paperwork that never seemed to leave this office, no matter how many dotted lines he signs. He sighs drearily and picks up yet another blasted sheet of his old enemy and reviews it. After skimming over the contents of another proposal from the egotistical civilian council, he snorted in amusement and stamped the file in question "DENIED". He shook his head, lately the civilians had been trying to overstep their boundaries in shinobi matters. Their wealth as merchants and being members of high society corrupting them into thinking that shinobi were only around for their bidding and missions. They'd be in for a rude awakening one of these days, and he'd be glad to be there, enjoying the show and their following meltdowns.
As he made the notion to reach for another tragic piece of paperwork, he paused as he began to hear a commotion coming from his hallway. He almost didn't notice it, but then the hushed tones he first starting hearing began to escalate until he could swear there was a shouting match behind his office doors. Hiruzen sighed as he stood and began walking towards the door, his mind already piecing together what must be happening after having recognized the voices. He opened the doors once he reached them and came to slightly peculiar sight.
It seemed like he was going to have to fire another bigoted secretary. Hiruzen was practically ready to light his pipe the moment he swung his door open. There, as he expected, was Naruto and his secretary having an argument with each other at the top of their lungs. His secretary (soon to be former) was glaring daggers at Naruto with eyes full of contempt and loathing. The Hokage could already tell that the boy was simply just trying to enter and come see him only to be harassed by her, and most likely resulted in aggression and annoyance once the secretary let a few choice insults slip. He shook his head sadly, the citizens of Konoha had fallen so low in the Sarutobi's eyes.
Before speaking, however, Hiruzen scrutinized the situation closer and realized that there was someone else with them in the hallway. He turned to his secretary and spoke suddenly, startling her from the hate and anger she was directing to Naruto, "I see you are among the rest of the village who holds unwarranted amount of ignorant hatred for little Naruto here. That is fine, Naruto? You and your friend here are welcome to come in and speak with me if you would like to." The two boys walked past the Hokage into his office, with Naruto blowing a raspberry to her, as he stepped to the side to allow them entry. He turned his eyes back to the young lady that used to take his calls and appointments as she glared daggers at the blonde child, "You may go now. You're fired and will be replaced by one of my ANBU until someone less clouded in their judgement takes your place. Good day." And with that Hiruzen left the dumbstruck girl close to tears as he walked back into his office, closing the door. Leaving his former secretary to stew in her own mistakes, as she collected her supplies and left the tower.
The Hokage reentered his office and made his way back to his chair overseeing the village. As he sat down, he got comfortable and got his pipe from one of the drawers of his desk. He had always had one packed and ready to be lit for particularly stressful days in his office. After using a small katon jutsu, he took a deep inhale of his tobacco as he peered at the two small individuals in his office. Naruto was sitting in his seat, waving back at his ji-chan joyously, obviously happy to see the man. He smiled seeing his adoptive grandson, though that smile lessened considerably as he took in his attire and the dirt and grime that the rain didn't wash off the boy. It was obvious to The Professor that the boy had another run in with the more ignorant faction of the villagers and they proceeded to harm him. He'd get to the bottom of who left the boy in such a condition and he'd be sure to inform Ibiki to have a field day with them. Though upon closer inspection he could see that the most prominent of the injuries the child seemed to have sustained had already healed, if the remains of demonic chakra he could see/feel was any indication. 'That fox certainly is good for something after all,' he mused silently to himself as he waved back to the young blonde child, amused with his energy and antics.
He panned his eyes to look at the other child in the room, who seemed to be patiently waiting for the Hokage to address the two, if the calm, level stare that he received back told him anything. If he was being honest with himself, he hadn't recalled ever seeing the child before today. The professor racked his brain with who his parents could be and was drawing a huge blank. He just couldn't think of any Konoha shinobi or civilian with eyes like the boy's that he could have inherited them from. Coming to a decision, Hiruzen decided to just ask the child of his history.
Exhaling the smoke from the pipe, the man regarded the two children in the room, "Naruto-kun I wasn't expecting you today. I can see that you had another run-in with the villagers." At this the boy lowered his head and nodded. He never really understood why everyone didn't like him. Had he done something wrong that he just couldn't remember? "Though I assure you stopping by is absolutely no problem, I must ask, what is your side of what happened? I see that you feel a little better than whatever condition you were in before by looking at the damage to your clothes. And who's your new friend here?"
Naruto looked up to his jiji and beamed despite his previous train of thought. The Hokage had always been like a grandfather to him and had always protected him from the hate he felt outside this tower. The man had always played with him and told him cool ninja stories when he visited him. When he couldn't visit him himself, he always made sure he had one of those Zoo guys to check up on him. Speaking of which it had been a while since he had seen Inu-nii and Neko-nii.
"What's up Hokage-jiji?! Thanks for letting us past that meany secretary of yours, she was being a pain in the ass just like the last time." Sarutobi cringed to himself, he had forgot about the language the boy had picked up living at the orphanage and off the streets. "Some of the villagers felt the need to try and hurt me again, and you know I wasn't just going to sit there and fold for that, so I booked it." Here the boy grew a sheepish grin and scratched at the back of his head. "Though that didn't last long before someone managed to nail me with a bottle to the back of my nugget." The sheepish grin grew strained at this point, and both other occupants in the room could tell his eyes would be reflecting his pain had they been open and on display. "As you can see," he spread his arms outward, as if displaying his almost healed body, yet destroyed clothes indicating his earlier run-in with those bastards from before, "they managed to wail on me pretty good...hehehe almost managed to finish me this time too Hokage-jiji."
Both boys felt a spike in pressure in the room that had them both go wide-eyed and swallow the sudden lump in their throat. As quickly as the pressure came, it vanished, and both looked to 'The Professor' and noticed that his Hokage hat was overshadowing his eyes as he sat behind his desk. He exhaled his smoke from his pipe, "Inu!" A dog-masked ANBU agent appeared in the room via leaf Shunshin (Leaf Body Flicker) and bowed to the Sarutobi. "Hai Hokage-sama?" A lazy voice drawled out from behind the mask. "Little Naruto here has just informed me that he has been attacked again by some of our more ignorant bunch of villagers. This time they took it too far though, and I can't simply let that go unpunished. So, can you please gather your team and go to the alley in question where all of this took place and arrest those responsible? Make sure you take them to Ibiki and Anko, tell them to 'have fun'." He finished with a smirk that the ANBU agent mirrored behind his mask as he saluted to the Hokage. The Third looked back towards the boys. Naruto was surprised at the sudden arrival of one of his jiji's Zoo members, but upon seeing who it was quickly grew a huge smile and beamed at the man. The other boy, whose name he still hadn't learned yet, made him raise an eyebrow in surprise, before he masked his contemplation. The boy showed no surprise of his ANBU's arrival. The child merely glanced at his operative and then resumed his patient, blank stare down with the Hokage, still waiting to be addressed.
"Inu-nii-chan!" Naruto waved at his older brother figure vigorously with a mega-watt grin on his face. The dog-masked man had always protected the blonde whenever he could and whenever he was assigned to via mission from the Hokage. Though he never seen the man's face, he had easily made a place in Naruto's life as one of his precious people. Those that he vowed to get much stronger so that he could protect them with every ounce of power.
The grey-haired scarecrow of a man turned to the boy in question, and despite the surge of anger he felt at seeing Naruto's attire, he shoveled it down and waved back to the boy humorously. He had always tried to do what he could for the boy he saw as a little brother. The man knew of the child's status in the village and how the population resented him for something outside his control. Kakashi had tried to adopt the boy in the past only to be denied for the boy's 'protection'. It was under the excuse from the 'esteemed council' that the boy being adopted would be too much of a power shift in the case of the clans trying to sink their claws into the boy. In Kakashi's case, they didn't want one of their best ANBU to be tied down and away from doing the influx of missions the Konoha shinobi had to take following the Kyubi attack.
The Hokage cleared his throat so that he gathered the room's attention again. Everyone's focus snapped back to the Third and he took another hit of his pipe. After another exhale of the smoke, the man began speaking, eyes still analyzing the other child in the room.
"Inu you have your assignment, you can have some time to spend with Naruto-kun after you go arrest those fools if you like." He said. The man being addressed nodded and took off in another shunshin headed to his destination. "So, Naruto-kun, who is your friend here?"
The blonde beamed at his adoptive grandfather, "This is my new friend Arashi Kazama. He saved me today from the douchebags trying to kill me and helped take me here. He was so fast I barely even seen him move before he sent them all flying with one punch. He's awesome!"
Hiruzen looked over to the blonde in brief surprise before settling his eyes back over to the newly introduced Arashi, who was looking back at the blonde with a small smile as he heard the blonde speak about him. 'Sent them flying with one punch? He looks like he is no older than Naruto-kun! Just who are you and what are you capable of young one?' The Third Hokage smiled and spoke to the boy for the first time. "Well it's nice to meet you Arashi-san. I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of The Hidden Leaf Village. ThoughI must thank you for saving Naruto-kun. Had you not arrived when you did I fear I may have lost him today to the people of this village who give in to their ignorance." He smiled his grandfatherly smile and the boy gave a small one back in kind, nodding in greeting and respect to the leader of the village.
"It's nice to meet you as well Hokage-sama. And it was no problem, he needed help and I wasn't going to sit there and continue to let them do that to him." Arashi's eyes hardened a bit as he spoke of protecting Naruto, something that surprised both the blonde and the Hokage. "Besides Hokage-sama, you should never need a reason to help someone in need. I will always do what I can for those in need and those that can't protect themselves." As he spoke, the Third saw a familiar spark evident in the boy's eyes. One that he had known all too well, as it was the same spark he had in his youth, before it evolved into the roaring Will of Fire that he has only seen in the greatest of Hidden Leaf ninja. This boy would be great if he continued to strive to protect the innocent.
"That's an awesome goal Arashi!" Naruto grinned widely to his new friend, who gave another small one in return. "When I become a ninja, I won't stop until I become the strongest Hokage ever! That way I can protect all my precious people and the people of the village will finally respect me." The blonde's own eyes hardened as he spoke with passion regarding his dream, before his trademark grin crossed his face again. "You could even be my right-hand man Arashi!"
Arashi chuckled at the blonde's infectious enthusiasm and nodded, "I don't see why not. I can't protect everyone on my own anyway," the boy shrugged, "who better to have as a friend than the future Hokage to strive towards peace with me." He finished with a reserved, genuine smile towards his new friend, who's eyes widened at being claimed as Arashi's friend. The surprise quickly shifted to excitement as Naruto nodded vigorously to Arashi's statement.
"We're going to the be the strongest team ever! Believe It!" Naruto fist bumped with Arashi as both boys gave one more resolute nod to the other before they turned back to the Hokage, who was watching the interaction between the two boys and feeling pride well up in his chest. The future of Konoha seemed to be in great hands with these two. He looked back to the new young prospect of the village and addressed him, "Arashi-kun, while I have no problem with you staying here, or even with Naruto-kun for that matter, I'm afraid that there's still a little we must speak about before we can settle this matter for now. Namely anything you know of your past or lineage so that we can have it for our village records, especially since you would like to be a shinobi in our ranks someday."
At this, Arashi's mood noticeably dampened and his eyes went downcast. "I'm an orphan. My father was a ninja from Kumogakure that fell in love with my mother, who was from a small village in Kusagakure. My parents had settled down to have a life together on the outskirts of the Land of Fire once my kaa-san got pregnant with me. One where we could live together peacefully and not have to worry about the strife from the ninja world. For the first handful of years of my life everything was going great." His eyes darkened more as he continued to recount his short tale. "Last year, our home was attacked by a group of missing ninjas while I was out in a nearby field practicing on a training technique that my tou-san had just taught me. I came home...and our house was on fire...the land around it showed battle scars from weapons and jutsu...and my parents were there laying together on the ground...dead with wounds and slit throats...not a sign of the bastards who killed them anywhere nearby." Arashi clenched his eyes shut as he remembered what happened to his family. His hands balled up tight to the point of his knuckles turning white as pain went through him from the memory. He was so distracted by the telling his story that he didn't notice the other occupants of the room gazing at him sadly. Hiruzen because another young soul has had to pay the price of the hatred that exists in their cruel ninja world. Naruto because he could feel for his new friend and sympathize with the pain of being alone and an orphan just like him.
"I'm sorry for making you go back through the pain of having to remember such a tragic event. It's truly a shame that the ninja world is full of so much hate and needless bloodshed. You two are the last bits of hope and light I see for this system shrouded in darkness. The Will of Fire I sense burning within you two will be just what this village may need." The Third Hokage smiled as he sensed the previous sullen mood lift and the two boys smiled back at the old man, in return. "Arashi, would you like to stay with Naruto-kun? I'm going to be giving him his own apartment to stay in and I'm sure he would like a roommate to keep him company."
Arashi's eyes lit up in happiness as he smiled a bigger genuine smile and nodded, happy that he could stay with his new friend. Naruto's reaction was more excitable as he gave a loud cheer and started doing a jig in his chair, ecstatic that he finally had a friend to call his own. The two boys turned back to the Hokage as he continued speaking after his response. "Well I will definitely be taking care of this paperwork right now. Did you two want to go to your new home and rest? It seems like the both of you had a long day." The Third inquired, watching as both boys seemed to take that fact into account as a yawn registered between the both simultaneously. He reached into a drawer in his desk and fished out a key and an envelope that he tossed over to his adoptive grandson. "That's the key to your new apartment and in the envelope contains the instructions on how to get there as well as the first monthly stipend I will be providing for you two until you get of age to make funds your own way. Which I suspect will be by way of missions once you all graduate from the academy." The two boys nodded and grinned in thanks and appreciation. They couldn't believe that their lives had just taken a turn for the better for a change. Both boys bowed and thanked the Hokage for his help as he dismissed them with the promise to swing by their new home the next day to check up on them. They left and headed home, laughing and joking as if they had already been best friends for years.
The Hokage watched as they walked home together from his office window and couldn't help the smile that crossed his face. His eyes followed them down the street as he fell back into his thoughts. 'Arashi Kazuma, what an interesting young child. To have already seen something like that at his age and still have the desire to protect like he does? That boy will grow to be great, him and our resident troublemaker.' He chuckled as he lit his pipe again and sat in his chair once he seen the boys turn a corner out of sight. 'Looks like you made a hell of a friend Naruto-kun...let's see what you both accomplish down the road.' Hiruzen exhaled a smoke cloud and glanced over to the picture of the Fourth Hokage hanging on his office wall. 'Things will sure be a bit more interesting in Konoha that's for sure.'