No one taught Naruto to walk. They simply left him in the pen with the other babies and tried to cope with the huge influx of orphans in the aftermath of the Kyuubi's destruction. Not greatly burdened by the lack of attention, Naruto developed quickly on his own. Constantly surrounded by the (somewhat) controlled chaos of far too many young children, he had ample exposure to both language and emotion. Day after day he watched with solemn blue eyes the riotous swirl of life all around him. Perhaps it was this busy environment, or perhaps it was simply his innate intelligence (or something more sinister…?), but Naruto developed extraordinarily fast.
At the beginning of his second month he spoke his first word. The staff were duly astonished, but dismissed the occasion in favour of more important concerns. At 3 months he had started to crawl, and by the time he reached his 5th month, Naruto had already taken his first, hesitating steps alongside the fence of his pen. But as busy as the carers were, he was nothing more than a passing footnote, marvelled at and avoided as much as possible until the moment he started speaking full, reasoned sentences at 6 months.
Soon after, the rumours began. Whispers of demons and unnatural growth. All knew of the fate of the Kyuubi and the loss of their most beloved Sidaime. Six months was not enough time for the resentment to fade away- deaths were still at the forefront of everyone's minds, and the gaping scars in the town of Konoha bore testimony to the viciousness of the attack. And so when the news came of the demon container's abnormally fast development, the first thought was that this, the most powerful of the demons, had somehow found a way to influence its host and was even now plotting its escape. The whispers spread, rumors growing in size and viciousness. Soon even the orphanage children knew that Naruto was 'dangerous' and small, tentative efforts at friendships were curtailed by elders who made sure his 'corruption' could not infect his peers.
The village waited with a grim detirmination for the day that the Kyuubi would return to kill them all whilst the young prodigy continued his rapid growth, alone and uninfluenced by a single kind word or gentle touch.
