Chapter One

"Scattered Clouds, Disappearing Mist."

- A Japanese Proverb

Uzumaki Naruto was not a normal child.

That is to say, he was not like the other children in the orphanage. He never shut up and sat down, and any attempt to make him do so would be a waste. He was stubborn as a mule with mud stuck to its shoes and porcupine needles sticking out of its stomach.

Whether the fiery attitude was because of his nature, or simply a massive bone to pick with the world, no one could figure. He spent his days consciously or unconsciously making life hell for his caretakers. By the time he turned six, he had already been transferred between Konoha's only two orphanages at least twelve times. No one knew how to deal with the cranky beast that was this child.

If it were any other child, Danzo would have dismissed such behavior as an anomaly, but nothing worthy of further investigation. However, his scouts reported that the child was unusually energetic and possessed naturally fast healing. Danzo, of course, was familiar enough with the Uzumaki and their physical abilities, but he had never truly encountered such a monster.

He had met Uzumaki Kushina before-the girl had fled to Konoha when Uzushiogakure went down in flames-but her abilities, while impressive, were no match to those of this particular Uzumaki. If he could get his hands on this one, he'd be guaranteed a fine shinobi. It was rare for such a skilled orphan to pop up. Danzo knew this by heart, as he had been forced to train most of his Root personally.

There was something that piqued Danzo's curiosity, though. The ANBU Library, stock full of all sorts of documents and records, had only listed in it two Uzumaki refugees: Uzumaki Kushina and her late mother. If such was the case, then Naruto must have been related to Kushina in some way.

There was very little physical resemblance. There was no record of any children or spouses in her file, either. The orphanage didn't have anything on Naruto's blood relations, too. It was strange. How did another Uzumaki slip through the village's nose? Danzo would have to have a word with the bookeepers.

Nonetheless, he had seen enough. Naruto would be a perfect subject for village's use. Still, he had his doubts that such a child would be suited to Root's stealthy methods. He would do better as a frontline ninja, some sort of taijutsu or kenjutsu specialist with all that stamina. Luckily, Root had a few kenjutsu specialists in it.

Perhaps they could instruct the boy? He had already decided that his future would not lie in Root, but he could still help such a promising child start as a shinobi. Very few civilians got themselves into the Academy, yet Danzo was convinced that with some extra training Naruto could make the cut.

And so, he dispatched Neko and Kitsune to recruit the young Uzumaki.

Naruto was having a bad day. Unfortunately, instead of landing on that big bully Shisui the hot pink paint bucket spilled onto the matron.

She was not amused, and he was confined to his room.

Then, when he escaped (he knew it was a good idea to steal some hairpins from the matron's quarters) he was caught trying to jump the fence. When the caretakers pounced on him, he was forced to use the pepper spray he'd been saving for another occasion.

Despite the initial victory, a passing genin team had pinned him to the wall with kunai as a favor for the matron. This time, he got confined to the small, nigh impenetrable steel "shack" (bunker) out by the latrine. And to think, he had to waste some perfectly good explosives busting out from that bunker's door.

Still, he thought that no one would expect to find the tunnel he'd dug under the latrine. But as he was passing through the gate, some random caretaker had found her way into to the hole and followed him. When he finally thought he was scot-free, the damn woman had his ass hauled in front of the matron.

So then they had to place him in the matron's quarters. After several trips that Naruto had made into the room, she had removed all the destructible items and nailed all the furniture to the ground. Then, she had the windows and the door reinforced with steel.

Apparently, she didn't believe that he would be clever enough to bust through the weak wooden walls. A package full of fireworks and a hidden lighter later (it seemed the matron had a hidden smoking habit) and the whole room came crumbling down right after Naruto had finished his hasty exit.

He turned around right there, only to find the utterly furious face of the matron. Laughing nervously, he was then dragged wordlessly out to the middle of seemingly nowhere. One of the many mini-forests in the Konoha Training Grounds, he suspected. He couldn't tell, since the caretakers had made sure to knock him out some way into the trip.

And it was in that situation he now found himself in. They had tied his hands and feet together, an uncomfortable position to say the least. Moving his hands closer to the pockets of his cargo pants and gently patting had revealed that they had found and removed his trusty switchblade. He'd have to prank the caretakers hard when he got out of here. Did they know how long it took for him to get his grimy little hands on one of those suckers?

Cleary they didn't respect a little effort coming from their resident delinquent. He supposed this was akin to a transfer. Except instead of getting transferred from Orphanage Number 1# to Orphanage Number 2#, he was getting transferred from Orphanage Number 1# to the big bad outside world. It was about time they got that fed up with him.

He had been out of the old orphanage grounds on as many occasions as he managed to climb over the fence. In those times, he'd learned a few tricks (mostly about thievery and lockpicking) as well as opened the door to a whole new array of pranking materials.

But surviving on the streets? Naruto was unsure whether that would be all that great of an idea. He had met some of the orphans that had, for whatever reason, not entered the orphanages. They were some seriously tough guys, and no six-year old kid would be able to stand up to them.

That didn't matter in his mind. Naruto was no average six-year old kid, after all. Let them try their hands at mugging him. They'd get a fist to their faces for the trouble.

It occurred to him then that thinking about such things should probably wait until after he foiled this particular plot to get rid of him. He was lucky that they hadn't found the pocket he'd cut out on the inside of his burnt orange hoodie.

Retreating his head inside of the oversized thing was simple enough, as was grasping the kunai in his teeth. Pulling back out, he dropped the kunai into his hand. He twisted his wrist slightly, allowing the blade to rest on the rope binding him.

Gently, he began to rub the kunai against the rope. It was thick, he noticed, so this was likely going to take a fair bit of time. With that in mind, he sped up. The rope was being cut through barely any faster than before. Sighing, he gave up and went back to his previous speed.

Where was this forest, anyway? Far enough away from the village that it would probably be at least a few hours before he made his way back. Considering it was already close to sunset, Naruto resigned to the fact he likely wouldn't be back in Konoha for at least the rest of the day.

Dwelling on that was a mistake, it seemed, as he had unintentionally sped up the kunai again in his anger. The rusty old thing fell out of his hands and onto the grass, where it seemed to hit a rock or something and bounce off out of his reach. Not desiring to wiggle his way over there right away, Naruto decided to sit still for a moment and take in his surroundings.

He was in a clearing. And, as he already previously observed, in the middle of nowhere. He hoped the matron and caretakers got lost on the way back and got taken down by some rabid wolves. A thing he hadn't caught his eye quickly, besides what he had taken in when he had first awakened.

There was something-no, someone approaching fast from the forest. He couldn't get a decent look at his or her appearance, as they were wearing some sort of heavy brown cloak. He could do little but wait as the object made its way into the clearing.

The masked man (he was going to assume he was male from the way he stood straighter) paused briefly, looking right at Naruto. Although he knew that he wasn't much like other six-year olds, he was still slightly frightened at the sight of such a weird mask.

It was all white, with whisker-like markings on the edges. Besides that, the image on the mask was a blank, neutral face with droopy eyelids as if it were some sort of drowsy animal. He had seen one or two ANBU before, but this one had a mask with no sort of color or personality to it. Strange.

A few seconds later, the apparent partner of the man arrived. This one was likely a woman, he deduced quickly from her shorter height and thinner frame. Her mask had slightly longer whisker marks, with thin, predatory eyes.

She shared a short look with her partner, who nodded before she set her eyes on Naruto with more intensity than the other ANBU. She gazed over him, like he was some sort of Civilian School Science Project, before her droopy-eyed comrade spoke up.

"We mean you no harm, Uzumaki Naruto. We are under orders to bring you to Danzo-sama for shinobi training. We apologize for any inconvenience the matron of your orphanage caused when she secured you for transport."

It took five seconds for it to click.

"Secured me for transport? What the hell do you mean, secured me for trans-"

He was silenced by a swift kick to the head.

A/N

Alright, so were finally getting somewhere with this story. Sorry for the whole "introduction" thing last chapter, I know it was kind of overwhelming. I have two things to make quick note of here:

1. No, Danzo (along with most of the ninja in Konoha, even the high-ranking ones) are utterly unaware of Naruto's Parentage.

2. 55 asked if Naruto would still be hated. No, he's just a regular orphan. Just a really bratty and clever "regular" orphan.

Actually, there's a third thing. Naruto is owned by its writer and artist, Masashi Kishimoto. I'm only saying that once.

As of 8/11/13, corrected logical fallacy with gag.