AN: I do not own anything besides this story idea. All credits go to the creator of this wonderful manga and anime with sad songs, Kishimoto Masashi.
Also, I'm going to mess with the timeline and some stuff because I don't want to repeat what we already read or seen from the franchise.
Naruto
Tiny hands repeatedly clenched, waiting to grab the edge of the dumpster. A young boy, no older than four years old, uses his leg to spring himself up. He feels power he can feel inside him propel him higher than anticipated. His spiky blonde hair suspends in mid-air and settles down once he lands inside. He kneeled and shifted through all the foods the chef threw away. Stuffing his face and biting half-eaten food that customers didn't finish or want. Roaming this side of town was always a boon. He ate uninterrupted as he fills his belly. After the orphanage, he knows its important to study habits and body language of people to know when is the right time to act.
As he was finishing his meal, his head turns to the side to see a small platinum blonde girl looking at his direction. He ducked inside the dumpster, to hide from the girl so he can come back to this treasure full of food. Sweat slides down his forehead as the girl's footsteps become louder and louder. He slows down his breathing and tries to calm his racing heart. He will fight if he has too. It wouldn't be the first time he got into a brawl. He remembers a few of the older kids in the orphanage trying to bully him, the boy who, for some reason beyond his understanding, everyone fears. He fought back, but the older kids outnumber, and while he was down, the kids were kicking all over his body until he let his hatred for everyone he ever met consume him. He blacked out, but regained consciousness after seeing his hands covered in blood, the sounds of the world amplified until it became unpleasant, and the strong smell of blood filled his senses. He felt the air shift like numerous wasps were coming for him, so he bolted out of the orphanage.
That incident was months ago, and the boy learned to survive on his own in either the woods when the season was warm or in the streets of Konoha when it got too cold. He looked up, seeing the darkened sky as flurries of snowflake float to the ground. Abruptly, the winter sky was blocked by the blonde girl, looking directly at him. His instincts told him to slash at her, but his mind stopped his body from lashing out. He looked at her eyes, which for some odd reason, she had no pupils. It was like looking deep at the lake and staring at its depth. Knowing there are life and wonders beneath the surface.
'Her eyes are pretty.' The boy thought. Suddenly, she smiles at him with her cheeks blushing. He never seen a smile directed towards him before. He felt his chest tightened, and the constant anger he cloaks himself day in and day out crack just a little. The resentment he kept against everyone for ignoring his existence and fearing him for something he could not yet comprehend.
"Wow! Your eyes change color. That's cool! Now you have pretty eyes like me!" the little girl exclaimed. The boy picked up on the last thing she said and wondered if she can read his mind or if it was apparent what he thinks about her eyes. "Yes, I can read your mind."
The boy looks at her with curiosity and interest. He sits down and tilts his head, which got her focusing on him more intently in return like he was some sort of puzzle to figure out. He wonders if she is one of those ninjas he sees around town. "Nope! Not yet, at least. Papa said it wouldn't be for a while before I can go to the Academy and be a ninja."
"How are you doing it? Reading my mind, I mean?" The boy asked her. His voice is rough, like an animal growling, but coming from him, it sounded more like a cute little animal squeaking than something more intimidating. Either way, she smiles like talking to a boy sitting inside a dumpster in a winter night was ordinary.
"My clan specializes in ninjutsu that deals with the mind. My Papa already taught me how to read people's thoughts just by having our eyes look at each other, but he said it would only work on people who don't know how to use chakra. I can't use it at a distance, in motion, or with stupid people." The blonde girl explained. "Say, why are you inside a dumpster at this time?"
"Why are you outside looking at a dumpster in the middle of the night?" The boy counters with a question of his own. He doesn't need anybody getting nosy and eventually causing him any troubles. He has been surviving on his own since he can remember.
"Well, I heard some noises outside and wanted to check it out," she explained. The boy thinks that sounds stupid because if it were him, he would just ignore the noise or let a grown-up handle it. "Well, I didn't want to wake up my parents and make them cranky, okay! Plus, I can tell there was only one person outside. At first, I thought it was the Hokage because you felt kind of as big as him, but then I thought, why would he be here in the middle of the night? Anyway, can you please get out of the dumpster? My arm is getting tired, and it stinks in here."
He complies and jumps out of the dumpster as he lands on his feet. A couple of yards away from the girl, he waits for her to join him. Seconds later, she joined him on the ground as well. They look at each other and fully see each other for the first time. The boy sees the girl wearing an orange hoodie, blue pants, blue shinobi sandals, black gloves, a black scarf wrapped around her neck that ended on her shoulder, with an orange clip holding the left side of her hair. As he observes her, she also looks at him. He wears black shinobi sandals, white shorts with holes on them, and a black shirt with a red swirl centered in the middle. His attire isn't suited for the winter, the girl thought.
' He looks cold and hungry... Maybe.. '
"You know, its rude to stare and judge an orphan trying to eat." the boy snarled. The girl just smiles at him, which made him angrier.
"I'm not judging you. I was just thinking instead of dumpster diving for food, why not come inside my house and sneak into the kitchen. We have some leftover red bean soup from dinner." the girl said, extending an open hand so as not to startle him and letting him feel as he has a choice of whether to accept or not her help. The boy looks at her hand, open for him to take like he saw so many kids do when he observes them play as he sits on the swings by himself. He wonders as he looks at her hand if she can be the one to push him while he sits on the swing. "We can do that as well!"
Startled, he looks at her. He stares at her and wonders why. Why does this girl want to help him? Why is she so pleasant? What's in it for her? Is she trying to trick him? He doesn't think she is. He usually can understand on an instinctual level how people are feeling, what emotions are coursing through their minds. All he can sense from her is patience and kindness. He never felt directed towards him. So, what feels like the most significant step of his life, he swallows his trepidation, step forward, and takes her offer hand.
With a flash as fast as lightning, the air changes around him, and he let go of her hand. Seeing the way her eyes widened and the way she tilts her head to the side, the girl can also sense the direction the wind changes around them. One second, it was just the two of them in the alley, the next, there was a grown ashy blonde man, wearing a flak jacket the boy sees most ninja wear, standing right next to the girl. The boy instantly jumps back and growl at the newcomer.
"Papa! What are you doing?" the girl yelled out. The blonde man uses his arm to shift the little girl behind him as he looks at the boy in front of him. His eyes widened as he sees the red glowing eyes and whisker marked cheeks—the canine-like teeth that are showing and nails that look as sharp as claws.
"WHAT AM I DOING?! What are YOU doing outside at this time of the night?! Baby Girl, what is the meaning of this?" the blonde man asked.
"I'm trying to help my new friend here!" she yells at her father. The blonde man looked surprised by his daughter's statement but kept backing her to their house door. The blonde man narrows his eyes at the boy, who looked ready to pounce him at any moment.
"Don't worry about-" the blonde man was interrupted as at that moment, the boy launched himself at the man at blinding speed and struck him so hard, he flew across the streets and went through the front door of the opposite house. The little girl screamed, and it was this sound that halted the boy's steps as he looks at her. She flinched from him, and that reaction hurt him more than he thought it would be. He tried to reach for her, to hold her hand, but that only made her step back from him with fear in her eyes. He sees her lips trembling and hands shaking from freight. He took another step, trying to get closer, and suddenly his whole body was engulfed in a grip so big, it can only come from a giant.
"Now, what is all this ruckus?" The boy squirms and glares at the newest person to enter the scene. A tall, fat man with spiky red hair and purple markings on his cheeks wearing a black outfit completed with armor. The boy, feeling his movement restricted to an uncomfortable degree, started getting angrier—the feeling of being confined, like a nightmare suffocating him to no end. Feels like before when his windows were barred, his door was locked, and there was no way out, nowhere to be free. He remembers the loneliness, seeing them run around each other, seeing couples come in and take someone with them. Everyone smiling, but him. It was never him. The family he has been searching for will not go for him. He will never be good enough. He will never be love.
The pain, emptiness, and anger that filled that endless pit of hatred and sorrow. All that emotions seem to come from the markings in his stomach he sometimes sees. The boy yelled to the world and let out a mighty roar that sizzles the air with fire. The snowflakes melt around him, his insides burn, and he blocked the pain with more fury. Translucent bubbles appear on his body that seems to burn the big hand encompassing him. The fat man yelped out in pain and immediately let him go. The bubbles grew in numbers until it covers his whole body and condensed, becoming a wispy red cloak with a tail and ears. The boy land on all fours, and the blonde father, daughter, and tall fat man could not help but think he looks like a fox in that instant.
The boy growls, ready to pounce and attack again when abruptly, a tall white-haired man landed in front of him and slap his forehead with a piece of paper with some kanji symbols written on it. Instantly he felt his energy leaving him, and the feeling of being drained of all strength was too sudden for the boy that he took a clumsy step back. The white-haired man looks to be reaching for him but was too slow to catch the boy falling on his back.
Fortunately, the boy was caught by a blonde woman with two loose ponytails. As his vision begins to darken, all he could feel was a few wet drops that land on his forehead and a female voice telling him, before his eyes closed.
"I'm sorry, Naruto.."