AN: This is my very first attempt at writing anything, in my opinion I think it turned out rather well.
I'd appreciate if those who read this would leave a review on any mistakes that you may have noticed so that I may edit and improve my story.
Thank You!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Naruto the Fox Boy
- Chapter 1 -
Konohagakure no sato, October 10th, 7 years since Kyuubi attack-
In a small apartment, sat a young boy. The boy had blonde hair that went to his mid back and was done in a style not unlike that of Madara Uchiha's, it slightly got in the way of his eyes but he didn't seem to care much. He had three whisker like birth marks on both sides of his face, and sad dull blue eyes that portrayed the loneliness the boy currently felt. He was wearing a black long sleeve shirt with the Uzumaki swirl on the chest and black anbu style pants.
The boys name was, Uzumaki Naruto, and he was currently staring out the window of his living room. He had all the lights in his small apartment off as he gazed down watching the annual festival celebrating the defeat of the mighty Kyuubi no Kitsune. He didn't dare step foot out of his apartment on this dreaded day... But as he stared down at some of the smiling faces of the villagers he couldn't help but wish he was one of them down there laughing, and enjoying some of the stalls and game booths set up upon the street that his window overlooked.
While even though today was Naruto's birthday, a day that any other child would be celebrating and enjoying with their family and friends, this day had only really ever brought Naruto emotional, mental, and more often than not, physical pain to the young boy. His only comfort was in the old man Hokage that would stop by and his few friends he had made over time.
Ever since young Naruto could remember, he had always been shunned and hated by most of the villagers. When Naruto was staying at one of the village orphanages when he was younger, the only memories he had of the place was of feeling envious of all the other children there, and crying himself to sleep at night. He never knew why he was hated so much, just that it had always been like that.
While the other children received love and affection from the caretakers, and were all well taken care of, Naruto was often scorned and hated by both the caretakers and other children alike. He would often be locked in his room with nothing to do but stare out his window wishing he could be like the children he'd see walking with their families down below.
He was only ever allowed out in order to shower periodically and do chores around the orphanage when all the other children where outside playing in the orphanage's small park out back. He always had the small amounts of what could barely be considered as food brought up to him, and not even that if the caretakers decided that he didn't do a well enough job with the various tasks assigned to him that day (which was often).
While the Caretakers never really physically harmed Naruto, he received more than enough emotional trauma from all the insults and name calling he received from caretaker and fellow orphan alike. Shouts like 'Demon child' and 'murder' plagued the young boy during his short stay at the orphanage.
When Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha had stopped by to check up on young Naruto on his fifth birthday, as he did every year, he had taken little Naruto out for ramen at his favorite ramen stand "Ichiraku's" for a few bowls of ramen and to have a short talk with the boy to see how he was doing.
Shortly after the Hokage had brought Naruto back from his annual visit on the boys birthday, The head caretaker had been exceptionally angry at seeing his smiling face that night, as she had lost her son in the Kyuubi attack five years ago. And like many of the other villagers, had blamed Naruto for the damage and death the giant fox had caused.
So that night after a few bottles of sake, the head caretaker had stormed up to Naruto's room and after a slurred verbal thrashing and shouts of 'Demon' and 'Killer' she had dragged Naruto down the stairs to the front door and quite literally thrown him out into the pouring rain.
After the scared Naruto had heard her shout at him never to return, he took off running, tears pouring from his eyes, mixing with the cold droplets of water falling from the sky.
That was the beginning to the next year Naruto had spent on the streets, hiding in alley ways from the villagers and scrounging for food and anything useful that he could find in garbages. He had quickly learned not to be found at night by the villagers when he had been beaten nearly to death by a small mob one night on his way back to the bridge on the outskirts of town that he slept under for shelter.
Flashback no Jutsu!
Naruto had been on his way home, not really paying attention to anything even though he knew he should since it was getting dark. But he simply couldn't, he'd just kept staring at the object in his hands and grinning his wide fox-like grin, as today Naruto Uzumaki had found something extra special, a beginners guide to chakra, He had been absolutely ecstatic about it as he figured if he could learn how to use his chakra, then he'd be able to better defend himself.
He had seen the ninja bounding from rooftop to rooftop and had even seen some of the awesome things these 'Jutsu' could do as he'd watched a few shinobi training and practicing in one of the training grounds near his bridge, really wanted to learn how to do the things he had seen.
Naruto had been walking through an alley way heading towards his "home" when a group of villagers had seen him crossing the street. They had noticed him walking alone, and promptly started following him. Naruto had been blissfully unaware that he was being followed until he'd turned down a thin alley and a middle aged man had stepped out in front of him.
"Well, well, well, it seems the demon pest is alone. You really should watch where you're going, its awfully dangerous out here, but then again maybe now we can finally have a little revenge and put an end to your wretched life," the man said smiling cruelly.
Naruto stumbled backwards, fear evident on his face.
"P-please m-mister, just leave m-me alone." stuttered out Naruto, taking a step back.
"You can't fool me with that fake ass innocent act, I know the real you, monster! No, I think well have a little fun." the man replied.
Naruto quickly turned around to run when he noticed there where about four others behind him. Dread immediately set in when one of the people behind him took a few steps forward.
"I'm going to make you pay for what you did demon!" he said before he charged at Naruto and punched him square in the face.
Naruto had hit the ground hard. And like some signal, the others quickly surrounded him and proceeded to beat him with all the anger and hate they had.
Pain. Pain was all Naruto could register. He could feel nothing but a rain of hits coming down upon him, his arm broken in at least two places, leg broken, and a bunch of blood pooling beneath him. He tried to scream but all that came out was gurgling from all the blood filling his mouth.
The group continued to beat him for a few short minutes until they decided to stop.
"We probably should go guys, before any shinobi notice us." the others agreed, and they quickly ran off leaving the broken boy and a ruined blood stained book behind.
He had awoken in the alley way covered in his own dried blood but nearly fine the next day due to his unknown tenants help. The only reason the mob had not killed him that night was because their fear that a shinobi of the leaf would find the body and they would inform the Hokage, and they'd all be hunted down and executed.
Flashback end no Jutsu!
The following weeks after the incident Naruto had been EXTRA careful and aware of his surroundings. He had also wondered about how he had healed so quick. He decided he'd ask the kind old man that used to come and visit him at the orphanage if he knew why, that is if he ever saw him again.
The rest of the year went relatively fine, he'd only received a few beatings when he'd not been careful and been seen by a few drunk villagers. His appearance had changed some too, his hair was now down to his mid back, he was now 4ft tall and had small lean muscles from running everyday, and his clothes were slightly too small.
On the day after his sixth birthday had arrived Naruto was walking down a street, it was mid day when a woman wearing a cat mask suddenly dropped down in front of him.
"Naruto Uzumaki?" the strange lady had asked.
Noticing the sword she carried, Naruto gulped and took a step back and turned to run when he felt someone grabbing his shoulder in a strong grip.
"Gah! Let me go!" yelled Naruto trying to pull away.
Neko just looked at him through the cat mask in slight worry and said "there's no need to be afraid Naruto, I'm not here to hurt you, the Hokage sent me to find you.
"I don't know any Hokage!" Naruto yelled back at the woman holding him.
"Naruto relax, the Hokage is the old man that used to come visit you every year at the orphanage, he is also the leader of the village. Neko said.
Naruto's eyes widened at hearing that.
"You mean the old man! You can take me to him!?" Naruto practically yelled.
"Yes Naruto, I can, so do you want me too?" Neko asked even though she'd take him to him even if he said no.
"YES! Bring me to jiji!" Naruto shouted.
Neko just giggled and stated, "very well then Naruto, hold still."
"Whaa?" before Naruto knew what was happening she had grabbed his shoulder and the next thing he knew he was standing in front of large double doors and slightly dizzy.
"Gah! How'd we get here!?" shouted Naruto startled by the change of scenery.
"That little Naruto, was a shinobi technique called shunshin, maybe if you ever become a shinobi when you're older I could teach you." Neko stated and knocked on the door. After a few seconds they heard a "come in" from the other side. Neko pushed the door in and stepped inside with Naruto in tow.
The inside of the room was round and fairly plain, besides pictures of the past hokages on the wall there was only really a curved desk in the middle of the room and windows behind that. In a chair behind the desk sat the old man Naruto had truly missed. He was Hiruzen Sarutobi, an old man with wrinkles and all. He had on his white and red Hokage attire Naruto had always seen him wear when he'd visit, and a tobacco pipe in his mouth.
Neko kneeled in front of the Hokage.
"Hokage-sama, I have retrieved Naruto as was requested." Neko stated.
Hiruzen looked up from his paperwork at the young blonde boy with wide concerned eyes, and promptly jumped out of his chair. Now for his age it was pretty impressive to see the old man practically teleport across his desk over to them, and capture Naruto in a tight hug.
"Naruto my boy! Where the hell have you been!?, I got worried when I went to check up on you the other day and the caretaker said you ran away yesterday! Why on earth would you do that!?" Hiruzen stated keeping Naruto held close.
That's when he'd noticed Naruto was crying into his robes and he took a look at Naruto and noticed the tattered clothes and dirty skin.
"Naruto what happened to you why are you so dirty and your clothes!" Hiruzen asked.
"jiji *sniffle* the lady at the orphanage threw me out..." Naruto quietly said, voice slightly muffled by the Hokages robes.
"WHAT!? Naruto when did this happen!?" the third worriedly asked looking rather angry as did Neko if the clenched fists were anything to go by.
Naruto was reluctant to say at first but the comfort he received from the old mans hug soothed him a bit.
"l-last y-year on my birthday jiji." he said quietly while looking down.
"Oh my dear boy... Why didn't you tell me?" asked Hiruzen sadly and taking him up into a tighter hug.
Naruto sobbed into the Hokages robes and sniffled, "I d-didn't know w-where to find you.." Naruto cried from relief of finally being reunited with the old man, and hugged the Hokage.
"It's alright now my boy. I'll fix everything but I need you to tell me a few things, okay?" asked Sarutobi.
"Alright jiji, I'll try." Naruto said, letting go of the old man.
Hiruzen brought Naruto over to the couch in the room and sat him down.
"Okay I need you to tell me about your life in the orphanage and how you survived after they threw you out, is that alright?" the Hokage asked.
Naruto agreed, although he was reluctant to do so, and he sat and told the Hokage about his treatment at the orphanage, and how he lived after being thrown out up until Neko found him. To say the Hokage was pissed would be a massive understatement.
"Neko! I want you to go and drag that no good caretaker to Ibiki and Anko-chan, I want some answers for this!" the Hokage ordered sternly.
"Hai Hokage-sama!" Neko said before shun-shining away.
"Now Naruto, why haven't you said anything to me when I came to visit you at the orphanage?" the Hokage asked.
"Well... They always promised to let me play in the playground and that they'd give me extra food if I was a good boy and didn't say anything bad about the orphanage... And they usually did, just not the last time I guess." said Naruto looking down.
The Hokage looked even more upset at this point.
"Thank you Naruto for telling me this, it means a lot to me for you to be able to trust me and I promise you I'll sort all this out." Said the Hokage.
"Alright jiji." said Naruto, then he got up and hugged the old man. Sarutobi couldn't help but feel horrible for not finding out sooner but he promised himself that he'd do whatever he could from now on for the boy.
"Well Naruto, there's absolutely no way I'm sending you back to the orphanage, so tonight you can stay with me and in the morning we'll see about finding you a place to stay, okay?" Hiruzen stated while smiling down at the boy.
The moment Naruto heard that he immediately embraced the old man in a giant bear hug.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" shouted Naruto as he hugged Hiruzen. Hiruzen couldnt help but to smile and hug the boy back.
'He truly is a strong boy to deal with all he's been through and not give up.' Sarutobi thought to himself.
The sun was just setting when Neko made it to the orphanage and knocked at the door, a few moments later the head caretaker, a woman in her late thirties named Yuki Kabayoshi, answered the door.
"Hello? Ah, anbu-san is there something I can do for you?" asked Yuki.
"Yes. You are to come with me to anbu headquarters for questioning." Neko swiftly stated.
"What? Why? I haven't done anything wrong." said Yuki started to sweat a bit, wondering if the Hokage had found out about what she had done with the demon brat.
"Regardless, my orders are a direct command from Hokage-sama himself, now if you'll please come with me." the anbu requested.
Yuki was now starting to sweat bullets, 'Shit, Hokage-sama must have found out.' she thought to herself. She knew she couldn't run, she didn't have a chance in hell to outrun an anbu, so she decided to just face the consequences and hope she wouldn't be executed for kicking the demon brat out.
"Very well then, I will go with you." Yuki said, resigning herself to her fate.
Neko, was a little disappointed that she didn't try to run so she could rough her up a bit. Unlike quite a few others, Neko never saw Naruto as the Kyuubi. The few times she'd accompanied the Hokage when he'd go to visit the boy, she'd only ever seen a lonely little boy. Even though she'd never actually spoken to the boy and had only seen him from the shadows, the times she did see him he was always alone and quiet usually until they made it to the ramen stand at which point he'd become fairly hyper-active.
So the fact that this "caretaker" had thrown little Naruto out and left him to fend for himself had really disgusted Neko. She would have adopted him a long time ago if she wasn't in the anbu, but with that being her job she didn't have time to raise a child. Besides she didn't want to adopt him just to risk dying on him someday as the life of an anbu was high-risk.
"Thank you, then we shall depart now." Neko said, grabbing Yuki's shoulder and shunshining to anbu HQ to be dropped off in a holding cell until she could be questioned.
It was already dark outside and Hiruzen was at his desk fighting his arch nemesis, (paper work) when he looked up at the sleeping form of Naruto and signed. He had really wished he could bring him home so the boy could sleep in an actually bed for once after his long year on the streets, but instead he had to stay and do the cubic-fuckload of paperwork that seemed to be never-ending.
Naruto had fallen asleep shortly after their discussion, so Hiruzen had laid him down on the couch and ordered his secretary to bring in a blanket and pillow for the boy. The Hokage could hardly imagine how hard it must have been to live all alone with no home at such a young age.
'I promise from now on I'll look out for you Naruto. That's a promise to both you and Minato.' Sarutobi thought to himself sadly.
Just then there was knock at the door of his office and Hiruzen quietly told them to enter. Shortly after he had said that, Neko walked in and kneeled.
"Hokage-sama, I have delivered Yuki-san to her holding cell so she can be questioned in the morning." Neko said.
"Thank you Yugao, you should go home and get some rest, you are dismissed." spoke the Hokage.
"Hai, thank you Hokage-sama." the newly named Yugao said before shunshining away leaving the Hokage to do his dreaded paperwork.
'Sometimes I really hate this job.' the third thought to himself as he got back to going through papers.
The sun was rising and shone through the windows in the Hokages office and straight into Naruto eyes. Naruto woke up groggily with a yawn when he realized he was laying on something soft. He sat trying to figure out where he was. He was used to waking up on the hard ground. When he opened his eyes and looked around, he noticed he was in an office, he turned his head and noticed the old man from what he thought had just been a dream laying at his desk with his head on the desk snoring away.
That's when it all came back to him and his eyes suddenly started to tear up, as he didn't have to worry anymore. He had finally found the nice old man from his past and he had promised to help him. On top of that he had also found out that the old man was the leader of the entire village none the less. For practically the first time in his life, Naruto actually felt safe. And with the comfort of the couch Naruto drifted back off to sleep.
One hour had passed when Hiruzen slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he had noticed was his horribly aching back, the second thing he noticed after sitting up straight was the young blonde boy sleeping on the couch across the room with a small smile on his face. After standing up and stretching his sore muscles, Hiruzen slowly walked over to the sleeping boy and gently shook him awake.
Naruto slowly opened his eyes for the second time that day when he noticed someone was shaking him. When he took a look to figure out who it was he noticed it was the old man. When Naruto was fully awake he sat up on the couch and stretched.
"Good morning Naruto-kun, did you sleep well?" asked the Hokage.
"Good morning jiji! I slept great!" Naruto said happily.
"Well that's certainly good, I was wondering how would you like to get some breakfast with me?" asked the old man kindly.
Naruto's eyes seemed to shine brilliantly at the prospect of eating actual food with his jiji.
"We can even head down the street and get some ramen if you'd like." Hiruzen offered.
The Hokage's answer was an overly happy blonde jumping up and hugging him.
"Well I guess that's a yes?" the Hokage couldn't help but to chuckle at the blondes actions.
The trip to the ramen stand was filled with glares of hatred at the young blonde boy, and looks of confusion at why the 'demon' was walking with the Hokage. When they had finally arrived at Ichiraku's they were greeted by a beautiful brown haired teen and an old man that seemed to have a permanent smile.
"Welcome to Ichiraku's! What can I get you?" Ayame said not looking up from wiping the bar.
"Well hello there Ayame-chan, I'll have two miso ramen's, one for me and little Naruto here." the Hokage said with a pleasant smile.
"Ah! Hokage-sama and Naruto-kun! Father come look who decided to come visit!" spoke Ayame after looking up at who was talking.
"Hey! I haven't seen little Naruto in quite some time! Where have you been?" asked Teuchi.
"It's a long story Teuchi-san, I'd be glad to tell you later but for now I believe it'd be best to let little Naruto-kun here eat." Hiruzen stated trying not to dig up bad memories for the boy.
Teuchi took a look at the boy and noticed he was looking down at the floor looking solemn, he also noticed the long untamed hair and worn clothes.
"Ah, that's alright Hokage-sama. Two miso ramens coming up!" said Teuchi as he started preparing the ramen.
Ayame was currently leaning on the counter looking at Naruto, she too had noticed his appearance and had a guess what had happened and wanted to cheer him up.
"Well Naruto since we haven't seen you in awhile, how about we give you a few extra bowls free of charge?" Ayame offered.
Naruto looked up wide eyed at her and merely nodded his head dumbly. A few minutes later Teuchi came back with four miso ramen's, three for Naruto and one for the Hokage. Once they had received there bowls they both dug in. Naruto ate with gusto since it had been so long since he had eaten anything that wasn't out of the garbage. Naruto was on his third bowl when he looked over at his jiji and noticed him already finished, and waiting patiently.
Once they were finished and Hiruzen paid, they said their goodbyes and left with the promise to return soon. They were both walking down the street when the Hokage looked over at Naruto.
"Well Naruto, I was thinking since we're finished eating now, that we could go buy you some clothes and get your hair cut, how does that sound?" Hiruzen asked looking down at the boy who just looked up and nodded with a big smile on his face.
It was a short walk until they made it to the nearest shinobi clothing shop. Sarutobi wanted to get Naruto clothes that were more durable since he knew it'd probably be a while until he could get new clothes. When they stepped inside Naruto was excited to finally have something new that actually fit him.
"Okay Naruto go pick out an outfit that you'd like and well see about getting a few sets for you." the Hokage said looking down at Naruto's smiling face.
"Okay jiji!" Naruto said excitedly and ran off looking at all the different clothes options. A few minutes later he came back with a midnight black long sleeve shirt, a pair of anbu style black pants with a few pockets to hold small scrolls and explosive tags, and a pair of black shinobi sandals. When he returned to Sarutobi with his selection they walked up to the checkout counter.
"Will that be all?" asked the man behind the counter with a sneer in the boys direction, not liking that he had to serve the 'demon brat'.
"Actually I'd like it if you could put this symbol on the chest of the shirt? And we'd also like ten pairs of that same outfit please." the Hokage asked handing the man a picture of the Uzumaki clan swirl symbol.
"Yes I can do that, will that be all?" asked the man.
"Yes that will be all, thank you." stated Hiruzen.
Naruto looked a little confused at why the old man wanted the symbol put oh the shirts but otherwise didn't question it, he was just happy he was getting new clothes.
"Okay welI can have one shirt done now so you can have a pair to take with you now, and I can have the rest done by tomorrow. I can also send them to an address when there finished, if you'd like?" the man asked.
"Yes that will be fine, and just have them sent to the Hokage tower please." the Hokage said.
With that they only had to wait a few minutes till the man came back with a shirt with the swirl sewn on it and handed it to the Hokage along with one pair of pants and the shinobi sandals.
"Alright, for all ten pairs plus labor and delivery that will be 23,316." the man stated and accepted the money from the Hokage and put it in the register.
With that the Hokage handed Naruto the clothes and had him go to the changing rooms and change, when he came back out the Hokage noticed he looked pretty good in his new clothes.
"So how do they feel?" the Hokage asked.
"They feel great, they're really comfortable! A lot better than the worn down clothes I had." Naruto said happily and with that he hugged the old man and thanked him for buying him the new clothes.
After they left they headed to a barber shop just down the street to deal with Naruto's messy hair. When they arrived Naruto and the Hokage walked to the counter and requested to have Naruto's hair cut. The woman behind the counter was reluctant to serve the child but having the Hokage there made it so she couldn't refuse. So she had Naruto sit in a chair and asked him and the Hokage how they'd like it cut. The Hokage looked down at Naruto with a slight nod signifying he could choose.
"Well if you can I'd really like it to stay more or less the same length and just not so messy please." Naruto requested.
The woman looked a little confused at the polite way the supposed 'demon' had asked but shrugged it off. And after getting everything ready began her task. A whole lot of shampoo, conditioner, brushing and a little cutting later and Naruto had basically a blonde Madara Uchiha's hair style. When she was done she had him look in the mirror and asked what he thought.
"Wow... It looks amazing! Thank you so very much ma'am!" Naruto said with a true beaming smile to which the hair stylist couldn't help but smile back which initially shocked her, but she decided perhaps she had misjudged him and assured him it was no problem. Hiruzen smiled when he noticed her mood towards the boy change.
'You're already on you way to changing how the villagers see you Naruto.' thought Hiruzen with a proud smile. And with that they paid for the cut and left after being reassured that Naruto was welcome back anytime.
After leaving they headed back towards the Hokage tower. On the way they notice the looks that Naruto was receiving from a few of the girls his age. Which made Hiruzen chuckle and Naruto blush a little, as he was used to being the center of negative attention and never before had anyone looked at him like that.
When they made it back they walked up the stairs and into the Hokages office, Sarutobi took his seat behind his desk and Naruto sat on the couch.
"Well Naruto, I have some work I really need to get done so how would you like to go to the park? I'll have Neko escort you there if you'd like to go." offered the Hokage.
"Yes please, I'd very much like to go!" Naruto said happily.
With that, Hiruzen snapped his fingers and Neko appeared kneeled before the Hokage.
"Orders Hokage-sama?" Neko asked.
"Ah, yes Neko, I'd like you to accompany young Naruto here to the park by the academy building if you wouldn't mind." said Hiruzen.
"I would gladly do so Hokage-sama." Neko stated standing up and turning towards Naruto.
"If you'd please follow me Naruto-kun we can be on our way." Neko told Naruto. And with that they were on there way, once more leaving the Hokage to his paperwork.
Neko and Naruto were walking down the street towards the park, and once more Naruto was receiving strange looks. It wasn't everyday you seen an anbu just walking down the street in brood daylight. But either way they were approaching the park when Neko turned to Naruto.
"Well Naruto, the park is straight ahead, I'll be watching from the shadows okay?" Neko asked Naruto and received a nod in return before shunshining away in a flurry of leaves.
With that said and done Naruto kept his pace towards the park, but when he arrived he noticed two girls being bullied by two older boys that were maybe a year or two older than Naruto himself.
The first girl was crying with her knees pulled to her chest. She had shoulder length bright pink hair tied up with a red bow, and bright green eyes. The second girl was standing over her protectively, she had shoulder length blonde hair with bangs on both sides with a red hair clip on the the side.
When Naruto seen them being bullied he charged forward stopping about five feet away and shouted at the bullies.
"Hey! Get away from them!" he shouted at them.
The bullies turned to see some blonde boy yelling at them.
"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do if we don't?" mocked the first boy.
"If you don't leave them alone right now, I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!" snarled Naruto his face scrunched up in anger.
"Hahaha yeah right! Like a little brat like you could beat us! Don't make me laugh Baka!" laughed the second boy.
That was all Naruto needed to hear as he charged forwards determined to prove to them not to underestimate him. When he got within two feet of the first boy he lunged with his fist back ready to punch with everything he had, when he was right in front of the boy he fired his fist forth striking the surprised boy directly in his left cheek with his all, the bully went out like a light.
The bullies friend looked on in shock at what just happened, they were used to the kids they pick on not fighting back, but that shock quickly turned to anger and he turned and ran straight towards Naruto, when he was right next to the angered Naruto he tried to throw a right hook at Naruto's face but was severely surprised when his fist was blocked by said blonde.
Naruto had just gotten over the shock of how quick the first boy fell, when he turned to his left just in time to see a fist heading straight for his face, and as if acting on instinct, he threw his left arm up and caught the boys wrist in his hand and without thinking counter attacked with a right hook of his own which struck its mark with a smacking noise. The boy fell holding his cheek and looked like he was about to cry. The boy didn't seem to want to continue as he stood up shakily, walked over to his unconscious friend, slung him over his arm and quickly left.
Once he was gone Naruto turned his attention to the two girls he had just rescued to find them both looking at him in awe. He slowly approached them a stuck his hand out to help the pink haired girl that had stopped crying up.
"Are you two okay?" Naruto asked with worry lacing his voice.
"Y-yes.. I think we are alright thank you." the pinkeye said taking his hand with a small blush on her face.
"Yeah what Sakura said." was the blonde haired girls reply.
Once he had helped the pink haired girl up, he turned to face both of them and smiled, causing them both to blush.
"Well my name in Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki!" he said with a bright smile.
"Well its really good to meet you Naruto-kun, my name is Ino yamanaka, and her name is Sakura Haruno." said replied Ino with a blush realizing the affectionate suffix she had used.
"Yeah thank you so much! I don't know what we would've done without you Naruto-kun." Sakura said with a bright smile and slight blush.
"Hey it was no problem at all! There's was no way I was going to let them treat you two like that!" Naruto responded sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
"Well still, it means a lot that you defended us, so thank you... " said Ino as she took a step forward and kissed Narutos cheek causing them both to blush crimson and earning a small glare from Sakura. But before Naruto could respond to the kiss, a man walked up with long blonde hair reaching his back, which was spiky on top and ended in a pony tail in back. He had blue green eyes, he was wearing a standard flak jacket over a black outfit with hand-guards, and over that he was wearing a sleeveless red hoari.
This mans name was Inoichi Yamanaka, Ino's father and head of the Yamanaka clan.
"Well now, who ever said chivalry was dead." joked Inoichi looking at the blushing face of his daughter and Naruto, he had seen the whole fight and was quite impressed with the boys determination to stick up for complete strangers.
"Well my boy, I thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart for defending my daughter and her friend, you two are welcome to play anytime you like, And who knows maybe when you two are older you can date my daughter." Inoichi said purposely teasing both his daughter and the young blond boy.
Both Ino's and Naruto's faces flushed crimson in embarrassment, and Sakura's in jealousness causing Inoichi to burst out laughing. When he calmed down he turned to his daughter.
"Yes, well come on sweetie, we've got to get you and Sakura-san home for lunch otherwise your mother will kill me." said Inoichi.
"Alright daddy, well it was nice meeting you Naruto-kun!" Ino said and turned to leave with her dad.
When Ino was standing by her father, Sakura turned to Naruto and quietly walked up to him and placed a kiss on his cheek. Blushing she ran off to catch up with Ino but yelled over her shoulder as she was leaving.
"Bye Naru-kun, I'll see you later!" Sakura said.
Naruto just stood there for a little while with pink dusting his cheeks, when he regained his bearings he looked up at the sky and smiled, he had just made his first two friends.
Yugao had been watching everything from a rooftop across from the park, she couldn't help but smile at the actions of the blonde for defending the two girls, and giggle when they each kissed him. She decided to go talk to him so she left in a shunshin.
Naruto had just sat down on a swing when Neko appeared in a swirl of leaves.
"Well someone seems to be a little ladies man." Yugao teased with a smile behind her mask.
"Wah? But I didn't even do much, I just stuck up for them." said a confused Naruto.
"Well Naruto, sometimes thats all it takes." Yugao said in a matter of fact fashion.
Naruto just seemed to nod while looking down. Yugao noticed this and questioned him.
"What's wrong now Naru-kun?" questioned Yugao.
Naruto looked up at her with a slight sad look on his face.
"Well its just that they are the first friends I've ever made." he said quietly looking back down.
Yugao held a frown behind her mask. What she had heard from the boy was sad. Sad because it was true.
"Well little Naru-kun, I'll be your friend too. In fact when we get back to the tower I'll see about asking Hokage-sama if it's alright to tell you my identity, that way I won't have to wear my mask around you." Yugao stated.
Naruto looked up at her and smiled. He got up from the swing and hugged her.
"Thank you so much Neko-chan." Naruto said smiling making Yugao giggle and hug back.
It was a few hours later when they were heading back to the Hokage tower, Yugao had decided to play with Naruto since he didn't have anyone else to play with.
When they arrived at the tower Naruto was feeling great. Today he had made three new friends and played at the park with someone else for the first time in his life. They walked up the stairs and soon arrived in front of the double doors leading to the Hokages office. When Yugao knocked on the door, they heard the Hokage call them in.
"Welcome back Naruto, did you enjoy your time at the park?" asked Sarutobi.
Naruto looked at him with a big smile and nodded. Then Yugao stepped forward and explained there time at the park in detail.
"Ah, I see well done Naruto, it isn't everyday you save a pair of girls, let alone a clan heir and her friend. I must say I'm truly Impressed and quite proud of you." Stated Hiruzen with a genuine smile on his face.
"It was nothing jiji!" Naruto shouted embarrassed while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"Well you might not think so, but I'm sure the girls and Inoichi are thankful you did. Ah and I have some good news for you Naruto, I was able to find you an apartment to stay in. Now it's a little old but I made sure everything in it still works, so you should be fine there. You should be able to move in tomorrow sometime, as I have yet to furnish the place so tonight I think you might have to stay here again. I hope you won't mind." the Hokage told Naruto.
"Really old man? You mean it? I finally have a home?" said Naruto starting to tear up.
Yugao and the Hokage smiled sadly at that, but the Hokage nodded none the less.
"Yes, and I'll be taking care of the bills so you won't have to worry about that. And I'll be giving you a monthly allowance of 20,000 for food and whatever else you may need. Now I know it's not much but if you're smart and only buy what's necessary, you should be fine." Hiruzen told Naruto.
Naruto didn't even respond with words, instead he charged the old man, wrapped him in a bear hug and starting crying into his robes. Hiruzen just sat there and held the boy for what felt like hours but in truth was only a few minutes. When he looked up he noticed Yugao was still there.
"Is there something you still need Neko?" asked the old man.
"Actually yes Hokage-sama. I was wondering if it would be alright for us to reveal my identity to little Naru-kun here, I wish for him to know the real me." asked Yugao.
The Hokage seemed to ponder this for a brief while and then looked down at Naruto and noticed the expectant look he was giving. When he looked back up he nodded to Yugao.
"Very well, but first Naruto, you have to promise to keep her identity a secret, it's very important that you don't tell anyone who she is when she is wearing her cat mask, okay?" the Hokage said sternly. When he got a nod from the boy he turned to Yugao and nodded.
With that, Yugao removed her mask revealing a very pretty young woman with the same purple hair that went down to her waist. She had brown eyes and a shade of red lipstick.
"Well Naru-kun, my real name is Yugao Uzuki, but when I have the cat mask on you must always refer to me as Neko. So what did you think?" asked with a smile that was actually visible to the boy.
Naruto walked up to her and hugged her close.
"You're very pretty Yugao-chan." Naruto said happily.
Yugao held Naruto close and smiled.
"Well you're not that bad yourself." Yugao send sending him a wink and laughing at the blush on his face.
The Hokage held in his laughter and cleared his throat gaining their attention.
"Well then Yugao, if you wouldn't mind could little Naruto-kun here stay with you tonight?" the old man asked looking at Yugao.
"Sure I really wouldn't mind at all." said Yugao looking down at Naruto. "that is if he doesn't mind."
Naruto just hugged Yugao tighter.
"I don't mind Yugao-chan!" said Naruto looking up at her.
"Well alright then, I'll see the both of you tomorrow, and Yugao I'm giving you tomorrow off from any of your duties." said Hiruzen.
"Thank you Hokage-sama." said Yugao and with that she grabbed Narutos hand and shunshined home.
'Hmm, she would've made a great mother for the boy.' Sarutobi thought to himself once they were gone.
"Well nothing left to do now but send some genin to furnish Naruto's new apartment, and finish my paperwork." said the Hokage to no one.
The sun was already setting when Yugao and Naruto arrived in front of a small apartment building in a swirl of leaves. Naruto was wobbling back and forth, dizzy.
*giggle* "Sorry I forgot that can be disorientating the first few times." Yugao said taking hold of Naruto's hand and walking up a set of stairs.
"Here we are, room 203, home sweet home." said Yugao opening the door and walking in with Naruto in tow.
The inside of Yugao's apartment was pretty nice, to the right of the door was a small open kitchen connected to the living room. The living room had a couch up against the wall with a coffee table directly in front of it. It also had a small tv on a tv stand across the room. To the left of the door was a short hallway with four doors. Two right next to each other on the right side of the hall which lead to two separate bedrooms, the door at the end of the hall was the bathroom and the door to the left of that was a laundry room.
Yugao turned to Naruto and smiled.
"Alright Naruto, your room is down the hall first door on the right, the bathroom is at the end of the hall and my room is next to yours." Yugao said with a smile.
Naruto looked up at her and smiled, followed shortly by a yawn.
"Thank you for letting me stay here tonight Yugao-chan." Naruto said as he hugged her quick.
"Think nothing of it Naru-kun, i'm more than happy to help you when you need it, now we should probably get to bed okay Naruto?" said Yugao with a smile, receiving a nod from the boy, she lead Naruto to his room for the night.
"Now if you need anything, I'll be right in the next room okay?" Yugao stated making sure he knew she was close by if he needed anything.
Getting a nod and another yawn from the boy she turned to her room.
"Well goodnight Naru-kun, sleep well." she said, entering her room.
Naruto entered his room, it wasn't very large, which didn't matter at all to Naruto, inside the room there was a single twin sized bed with a desk next to it. The only other interests points of the room was the closet to the right of the door and a window on the far side of the room.
Naruto walked over to bed and laid down, the first think he noticed was how soft it was.
'How long asked has it been since I've been in a bed?' Naruto thought to himself sadly before falling into a dreamless sleep.
Naruto groggily woke up to the smell of food and the sun shining bright and in his face.
'Ugh I will destroy you someday for waking me up everyday sun, but I wouldn't mind waking up to whatever that smell is.' Naruto thought to himself as he slowly stood up and stretched. And with that he walked over to the door and exited his room.
Upon exiting his room he noticed Yugao standing in the kitchen cooking something he had never seen before, but it was making a wonderfully sizzling noise and smelled delicious.
"Good morning Naru-kun! I see you slept well, I hope you're hungry because I made bacon and pancakes." Yugao said when she noticed Naruto exiting his room.
"Uhm yeah I slept great Yugao-chan, but what's bacon?" Naruto asked looking confused.
Yugao looked up from cooking with a huge grin.
"Ohhhhh you're going to love it! Everything will be done in a little bit, so why don't you go to the living room and wait." she said excited to watch Naruto try his first piece of bacon.
It wasn't long until the food was done and Yugao brought two plates of bacon and pancakes out to the small table that was in between the kitchen and living room.
"Alright Naruto come here, as weird as this sounds I want to watch you eat." Yugao said with a slight giggle.
When Naruto got up and walked over to the table, he was a little weirded out by her staring at him, but sat down at the table anyways. He looked at the plate and slowly reached his hand down and picked up a strip of bacon. He looked at Yugao out of the corner of his eye and noticed she was grinning which made Naruto a little nervous. She wouldn't poison him right? Well there was only one way to find out, and with that he took a small bite and chewed.
Yugao was sitting there watching Naruto chew when he just stopped, making her a little unsure if he liked or not. You couldn't cook bacon wrong right? That was until she looked back up and nearly burst out laughing when Naruto practically smashed his face on the plate consuming as much bacon as he could.
"Well I told you you'd like it, but once your done you should go shower and we can be on our way to meet with Hokage-sama later." Yugao told Naruto with a smile.
It wasn't long till all the food was gone at the rate Naruto was eating. And he had showered, brushed his teeth with a spare toothbrush Yugao had, and had gotten dressed. They were just about to leave her apartment when there was a knock at the door.
When Yugao answered it, standing there was a woman with light brown pupil-less eyes and violet hair styled in a short, spiky, fanned ponytail. She was wearing a mesh body suit that went from her neck down to her thighs, an orange mini-skirt, and a tan overcoat that didn't hide much. She was also wearing a Konoha headband. This woman was Anko Mitarashi, one of Yugaos friends.
"Yes Anko? Did you need something? I was just about to head to the Hokage tower with little Naru-kun here." said Yugao looking at the smiling face of Anko.
Anko was about tell Yugao that her and a bunch their friends were going to hang out later, and ask if she wanted to come, but stopped short when she heard that last part. She looked from Yugao down to a long haired blonde kid and back to Yugao with an evil grin.
"Well Yugao-chan, I'm all for dating younger guys, but I think you're taking it a bit far." joked Anko, really enjoying seeing both her friend's and Naruto's face flush crimson.
"Whaaa? Oh shut up Anko! Anyways we were just about to leave to go see the Hokage. So if you wouldn't mind." said Yugao a little irked at her friends joke.
"Oh? What a coincidence! I was on my way there too! We can walk together!" said Anko with a grin.
Yugao really didn't want to but she couldn't exactly say no since they were going to the same place.
The walk from Yugao's apartment to the Hokage tower was spent trying not to kill Anko for constantly making jokes about Yugao and Naruto sleeping together. Which made both Yugao and Naruto blush, much to Anko's amusement. When they arrived, they walked up the stairs and knocked on the door, where they received an "enter" from the other side. Upon entering they were greeting by the smiling face of the Hokage.
"Ah well hello again, Yugao-chan, Naruto-kun. Ah Anko-chan, what is it I can do for you?" the Hokage asked looking at her expectantly.
"Hey old man!" Anko said walking up to the Hokages desk while taking a few pieces of paper out of her coat and handing them to him. "I was able to get a confession from the woman that Yugao-chan here so graciously decided to gift me with." she said to the old man.
The Hokage looked up at her and smiled.
"Very good Anko-chan. As is expected from someone with your... Errr... talents." the old man praised.
"Thank you old man, but she wasn't even a slight challenge to crack. The next person you send better be able to take some punishment so I can have some fun." Anko told the old man with her ever present grin.
"Very well Anko if that is all, then you are dismissed." the old man said.
"Yeah old man, I'll see you around." Anko said turning and walking to the door, when she got to the door, she turned to Yugao. "Oh and Yugao, me and a few others are going to the dango shop later on, you should come too." she said turning back and heading out the door after getting a silent nod from the girl.
The Hokage turned his attention back to Yugao and Naruto.
"Okay with that taken care of, Naruto, Yugao, I'd like for you both to come with me." the old man said standing up and walking to the door.
Naruto turned to the Hokage with confusion clear on his face.
"But where are we going jiji?" he asked with curiosity.
"Why to your new apartment of course." Hiruzen stated as if it were obvious.
And with that all three of them began they walk to the boys new home.
They arrived at an old apartment building in the slums of the village. It was two stories and mostly vacant. They walked up to the second floor and down a hall until they reached a door near the end of the hall.
"Well here we are Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said opening the door and walking in followed by Yugao and Naruto.
The inside of Naruto's new apartment wasn't anything special. It had a small open kitchen straight ahead from the entryway with a living room to the left of the doorway. The living room had a couch, a coffee table and a few bookshelves filled with various books. There were two doors on the far wall of the living room. One of which lead to the bathroom and the other lead to a smell bedroom.
Once inside the Hokage turned to Naruto as him and Yugao were looking around.
"So? What do you think Naruto?" he asked hoping he didn't hate the place.
Naruto looked up at him the tearful eyes and strongly embraced the old man.
"Thank you so much for everything jiji!" Naruto said still clinging to the Hokage.
"Ah think nothing of it... It's the least I could do for you after everything you've been through." he said sadly.
Naruto spent the next hour inspecting his new home. The Hokage and Yugao had left about a half hour ago so that he could get used to the new apartment. He had checked out the bookshelf and found there to be various books on chakra theory and other educational books such as math books, history books, and even a little orange book.
When he got into his room he noticed the queen sized bed and nightstand first. He walked over to his closet and opened it to find the nine other pairs of his current outfit all neatly organized inside. All in all he really liked his new home. It symbolized a new beginning, and a fresh start to life. And with that he laid down to get some rest.
October 10th, Naruto's 7th birthday - present time
It had been a year since Naruto had moved to his new apartment. The year had gone by fast for Naruto, he had spent it either hanging out with Sakura and Ino, or spending time with Yugao and even Anko when Yugao was on a mission. He began to look up to Yugao like he would an older sister and she at him a younger brother, and he had even gotten closer to Anko, even though she'd spend a lot of the time they spent together either flirting with him or trying to maim him. Naruto had also noticed the budding rivalry between Sakura and Ino over trying to gain his affection. Which he did find funny considering he had spent his whole life hated and now had two girls chasing after him.
Currently Naruto was sitting at his windowsill with all the lights off, watching the crowd of villagers outside his apartment building grow. And with each person that gathered so too did his anxiety.
The Hokage had left already after stopping by earlier in the day and taking him to Ichiraku's for all you can eat ramen. And Yugao was out of the village on a mission. So Naruto was growing increasingly fearful of what he was almost certain was going to happen, so he locked his door and windows and snuck off to his room and hid in his closet.
It wasn't long before there was a loud pounding at Naruto's front door followed by shouts of 'Demon' and 'Monster'. As he sat in his closet, eyes tearing up, all he could do was wonder what he had ever done to deserve this. When he heard the sound of his door being busted in he was hoping for a miracle; anything that would save him from the fate that seemed to be awaiting him.
It was only a short wait filled with the sounds breaking glass and furniture being torn apart, courteous of the angry villagers trashing his apartment, before his bedroom door was kicked in. Naruto was peeking through the closet door trying his best to keep from crying as he watched the shadows enter his room. Suddenly his bedroom window exploded inward as a blur landed in the center of the room, standing there was none other than Anko Mitarashi.
Anko was walking down the street heading home after spending a bunch on purchasing a large quantity of her favorite treat. As she walked while chewing on a dango stick, she noticed a crowd of villagers bunched up around the entrance of an old apartment building.
"Well this certainly seems peculiar." Anko stated with a grin.
Deciding to check it out she took to the rooftop across from the apartment building. Peering inside one of the windows of the building she noticed it was Naruto's room. Then it clicked on what day it was and why there was a mob of villagers. Her face scrunched up in a snarl when she seen Naruto's bedroom door get kicked in. Sprinting towards the edge of the building she kicked off. Tucking herself into a ball, she barreled towards the window one thought on her mind
To kick the asses of every idiotic villager dumb enough to try and hurt Naruto.
The few villagers that had mad it into Naruto's room fell back in surprise when the window in the room suddenly exploded, sending a shower of broken glass across the room. When they looked up they noticed Anko standing there with an evil grin that just screamed a promise of pain.
"What do 'you' want snake bitch? Are you here to help us get rid of the demon brat for good? If not then just leave and we won't have to hurt you." a skinny middle aged man said with a smirk.
"Listen here you piece of shit, I happen to care about that 'demon brat' you're talking about." Anko said sending the man a death glare making him flinch. "Oh and by the way..." Anko spit the dango stick she had been chewing out like a dart impaling the mans leg causing him to scream out in pain and the other civilians to look on in shock. "If you ever call me that or try to hurt little Naruto-kun again I'll kill you." Anko stated looking completely serious.
With that she walked over to the closet and opened it revealing a shaking Naruto with unshod tears in his eyes.
"Come on gaki I'll take you to the old man." she said holding her hand out to Naruto whom quickly took it in his own and stood up. "As for everyone here, leave now or I'll send you all to the hospital with broken bones." Anko said glaring at the crowd that had accumulated in his doorway.
"You bitch! I'll kill you!" the same man from before said while rushing her with a small knife he had pulled out of his coat.
Anko didn't even flinch before letting a kunai drop out of her sleeve and into her awaiting hand. grabbing the wrist he had the knife in with her free hand and twisting it till there was an audible 'crack', then she turned and stabbed the man in the shoulder causing him to scream bloody murder. She proceeded to kick the mans knee on the side causing it to shatter and his to crumple to the floor screaming, her on-top of him, before she head-butted him knocking him out.
Standing up, she dusted her self off and turned back to the crowd who were all looking pale at what they had just seen. Slowly they started to disperse fearing what might happen to them if they stayed.
"Well that's better, always nice to work of some anger and maim a person or two." she said turning to Naruto smiling. "Okay let's go gaki, gotta let the old man know about this." she said looking at Naruto. Getting a nod from the boy she grabbed his shoulder and shunshinned to the Hokage tower.
The Third Hokage sat behind his desk with a small orange book in hand, letting out a perverted giggle every few seconds, when there was a knock at the door. Quickly throwing the book in a drawer on his desk and slamming it shut he turned his attention to the door.
"Ahem, come in!" he shouted recomposing himself.
The door opened to reveal Anko and Naruto walking in. The Hokage became serious when he seen the looks on the pairs faces.
"What's wrong Anko?" The third asked taking his pipe out of his mouth.
Anko walked up to his desk with Naruto beside her.
"Well I was just out taking a walk when I noticed a mob around Naruto-kuns building. It would seem they are looking to rid the village of him." she told the old man. "Lord Hokage, I feel it's only fair you tell Naruto why." she said glancing down at the confused face of Naruto.
The Hokages eyes widened when he heard what happened. Looking at Naruto he noticed the boy was physically fine, so he turned his attention to Anko.
"I presume I have you to thank for saving the boy then?" the Hokage asked. Receiving a nod from her he breathed a sigh of relief. "Well I'll send a team of anbu to investigate this." the old man said making a small hand gesture signaling the anbu in the room to go investigate.
"jiji why do they all hate me?" Naruto asked looking down at the floor. "was it something I did? Or did my parents do something bad to make the whole village hate me?" he said with tears starting to fall from his eyes.
The Hokages eyes widened at hearing him ask that.
"No! Naruto-kun you did nothing wrong my boy!" the Hokage sighed and looked down at the young boy. "Naruto I'm going to tell you a secret about your birth and you may not like it, but I think at this point it's best if you hear it from me." Hiruzen stated looking at the young blond boy.
Naruto looked up with a shocked look on his face. So there was something different about him, something that needed to be kept a secret. For all his life he had wondered why he was hated so much and he was finally going to find out. He looked up at the old man with an expectant look in his eyes.
The Hokage looked down at Naruto with a small grimace for what he was about to drop on the boy.
"Naruto the truth is, seven years ago on the day you were born the village was attacked..."
And there's chapter one!
Now remember I have never written anything before, this is my first attempt at writing. But I'd really appreciate if you would leave a comment letting me know how I did, if you noticed any plot holes, or even what you'd like to see in the next chapter!
Thank you all for reading, until next time!