Naruto woke up and instantly didn't recognise where he was. "This isn't the orphanage" he thought. "Ah Naruto my boy, I see you are finally awake". Naruto jolted his head around and was greeted with the sight of Sarutobi smiling down on him. "Hey old man, why am I here? Where am I?" asked Naruto, with a worried expression on his face.
"Unfortunately Naruto, last night you were attacked again." spoke Sarutobi with an almost pained expression. Naruto looked down and put his head into his hands. "Please... Just please, tell me why they hate me. Tell me why they beat me.". Sarutobi looked lost for words, he hadn't expected Naruto to ask him that. For the last 3-4 years Naruto had never shown any interest into why he was ever beaten up and attacked. Sarutobi decided that it would not be the best idea to lie to the child. Sarutobi took a breath.
"Naruto.. As you very well know, 7 years ago the Great Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Kyuubi, attacked the Village. Many lives were lost, but our great leader the fourth Hokage was able to defeat the demon and kill it. However, that story is not completely true. You see, my boy, he did not kill it per say. Instead, he sealed the great beast within a small boy. Do you have any idea who that boy might be?" Sarutobi asked. "So, it's me.. I'm the demon they always talk about. Maybe they're right, maybe I don't deserve to live.". "Naruto!" Sarutobi shouted. "Don't ever talk foolish nonsense like that again! You are the hero of the village, you are holding that great beast back. Only someone with a golden heart like yours could manage that. You are no demon, you are a saviour" Sarutobi explained to the young boy still with an unhappy and pained expression.
Naruto glanced up, unsure whether to believe the old man or not. Thoughts were rushing through Naruto's head, he had no idea how he was really supposed to react to the news that he had just been given. Though, through it all it showed that the old man really did care about him and that he wasn't going to treat Naruto badly like the others did. Naruto managed to whisper out "Thank you". Sarutobi's eyebrow raised in confusion, "For what?" he asked in response. Naruto paused for a moment, "For always being there for me when no one else was".
Naruto jumped up and embraced the old man in a hug. Sarutobi at first was unsure how to react, but after a few moments returned the hug. Sarutobi could hear the muffled sound of sniffing and crying in his chest that Naruto had burrowed his head into. He smiled but frowned when his thoughts turned to Minato, the fourth Hokage. He knew that Minato would be extremely disappointed in the village if he knew that Naruto had been treated like this when Minato had envisioned him to be treated like the villages hero and not the bane.
Naruto finally released the old man from the hug. Sarutobi seemed to ponder for a few seconds when he finally focused his attention on Naruto and asked "Naruto, how would you like me to teach you some ninja techniques for defending yourself against these attacks? It's the least I can do for you.". Naruto immediately started jumping up and down with joy and shouted his approval at learning the ninja techniques. It was no secret in the village that Naruto had plans on becoming the next Hokage and he regularly boasted to people how amazing he was going to be. He would tell others that he would surpass the old man and even the fourth Hokage, arguably the best and most skilled Hokage of all time.
Sarutobi still didn't think this was enough to help Naruto at the moment. "Tell you what Naruto, how about we get you out of that awful orphanage and get you into your own apartment?". Naruto looked up excitedly but with curiosity. He looked up to the old man and said "Well.. I'd love to have my own place, but I can't afford it. I don't have any money." Sarutobi smiled. "I'm sure we can solve that. I will pay for your apartment and will give you money each month to pay for food, clothes and other expenses that you might need to pay for." he said. Naruto smiled ear to ear and thanked Sarutobi for his kindness. Of course, the old man was more than happy to help out his friends son anyway possible.
After talking for a little bit more the Hokage asked Naruto to follow him to the Hokage tower, the base of command and operations in the village.
Sarutobi was an old man by any standards. He had short white hair that had started to retreat and a pointed beard, almost making a triangle shape. His worn face showed his many years being a military leader, his dark brown eyes had seen battle. Despite all of this, the old leader had such a loving and affectionate side to him. He treated Naruto with the utmost love, kindness and compassion possible. Naruto to Sarutobi was almost like a grandchild, he was treated like family.
Whilst walking through the streets, with Sarutobi, Naruto was still glared at with the usual dark stares and whispers of "demon" and "monster" could be heard. However, this immediately stopped when Sarutobi let off some killer intent to the surrounding people. Those who were not ninja found themselves collapsing to the group unable to breathe for a few seconds, even some of the ninja looked distressed. Naruto unsure as to why people were starting to collapse looked up to the old man. Sarutobi just winked at Naruto, as to let him know that it had been him responsible for the villagers predicament. Naruto smirked, he really did love the old man.
After a few more minutes the pair finally arrived at the doors of the large Hokage Tower. Sarutobi ushered for Naruto to go forward and walk through the doors. The regular staff in the Hokage Tower were all personally picked by the Hokage himself, so most of them held no hatred for the Naruto boy and some of them even greeted Naruto with a friendly smile. Naruto wasn't sure why people were being so kind to him here, no one had spoken to him yet but the smiles spoke volume in itself. Sarutobi was the only person who had ever really been kind to him so it was a nice change to see people treating him with respect.
Naruto wandered through the Hokage building following Sarutobi innocently up to his office. Once inside the office the Hokage ushered Naruto to take a seat in front of his desk. All was silent for a few moments while the aging Hokage prepared his pipe to smoke. Naruto sat nervously on the chair, fidgeting with his hands. The Hokage opened his mouth, "So Naruto, here's what we're going to do..." the next half an hour was used up by the old Hokage explaining to Naruto when they would be training, where they would be training, what they would be training.
The training schedule was vigorous, Naruto would have to wake up each morning at 5, get to the training grounds at 5:30 and would then train nonstop until 9:30. Training would include laps around the village, lifting weights and other physical activities. These were all in preparation to get Naruto ready for the real training, when he was to learn ninjutsu.