I apologise for the small delay, i had some difficulties refining this chapter to standarts i approve of, and i have to admit that i might need some help in the future,So, If anyone is willing to Beta-read my chapters before they come out, please reach out to me via private messaging.
My warmest thanks to Maximainium for his review on chapter 2; Those really motivate me to write more of this story.
I don't own Naruto.
Chapter Three: Unknown Fear and Fear of The Unknown
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."
― Plato
Kurenaï Yuhi was walking the streets of Konoha in a cheerful mood, she had been called by the hokage to receive some kind of special mission, "not even a few months into my ninja career and I'm already getting special assignments!" she happily thought hoping it would be less boring than those D-ranks she has been doing with her team for the past weeks.
Reaching the hokage tower, her excitement and relative inexperience made her skip directly to the village leader's office, but as she was trying to turn the door's knob, she was stopped by a gruffy voice "I guess I now know how my poor little secretary feels everyday"
"Hokage-sama ?!" surprised by the voice, Kurenaï turned only to find the mighty god of shinobis sitting on his secretary's desk with a noticeable grin on his face
"Could you please lower your voice, Kurenaï-san? It's still early in the morning, and you might wake some people" calmly reprimanded the third
"Yes sir" adopting a lower volume, she asked with a hint of confusion "but may I ask, why are you here instead of being inside your office?"
"Perhaps this will become apparent when I explain your assignment"
Kurenaï nodded her head prompting him to continue
"I want you to take care of an orphan for me" Hiruzen declared with a serious tone
"An orphan, Hokage-sama?"
"Yes, he escaped his orphanage yesterday and I thankfully managed to find him in the forest not far from the village"
"may I ask why don't we just send him back to the orphanage?" inquired the red-eyed woman
"He is the nine tail jinchuriki, host of the Kyûbi no Yôko "the moment those words left his mouth, he noticed the kunoichi's body tensing and her eyes twitching, but the old man didn't comment, he then added with a sigh "I don't want to risk him escaping again, who knows what would happen if I don't manage to find him again in time"
He wasn't necessarily lying, but he knew it wasn't the real reason either, after Naruto's birth, and upon noticing the heated glares he attracted from the populace as he was walking the streets of Konoha with the baby in his arm, he decided that he would send him in an orphanage out of the village and forbid the caretakers (and with them, everyone in the village) from telling the younger generation about the boy's relation to the kyûbi, he at least hoped that, this way, he would be able to make friends and live somewhat of a happy childhood; But he could not have been farther from the truth, it apparently resulted in the blonde being isolated and depressed, and once he reached the breaking point, he escaped; Sarutobi was, in a bizarre way, thankful it happened, as he now had a chance to undo his failures towards the boy.
Trying to keep a calm front, Kurenaï asked her superior "and what would that exactly include?"
"Well, the poor boy doesn't have anyone in this village, I would just want for him to have someone to help him settle and be there if he needs anything, I would have gladly taken this position, but I'm afraid I have too many responsibilities to attend to"
Understanding her leader, she nodded before asking "And how long will I have to look after him?"
"Until he's able to take care of himself, I don't think it will be until his adulthood thought seeing as the young man is quite mature and smart for his age, on top of that, I'm very confident he will choose to join the academy, your responsibilities toward him would then be reduced considerably"
"you also don't have to worry about him living with you Kurenaï-san, I already started the paperwork for the boy to get his own appartement, but It will take a few weeks for that to happen, you can take him in, but If you don't want to, I can let him stay with me."
"No, it's alright, I will find a solution" she quickly answered not wanting to disappoint her superior
"Well then that settles it, I just want to ask you one last question…" Hiruzen's face turned into a serious expression as he added "Do you have anything against him?"
Feeling the knot in her stomach tighten, she nonetheless found the courage to answer her hokage "No, sir"
"I hope im not making a mistake" thought the man in question noticing the uncertainty in her voice
"Well then, let us wake the beast" he got up from his secretary's desk and stopped at his office door turning to his subordinate "Shall we?"
Answering him with a nod, she followed her hokage as they entered the room.
The moment Kurenaï saw the blonde limp body sleeping on the couch her first thought was "He looks so innocent…so what is it with this feeling in my stomach?"
Naruto was softly awakened from one of the best nights of his life by a hand shaking his shoulder; And as he opened his eyes, he could only see one thing : Red, so deep he could lose himself in it, but after a few seconds, came a voice with a hint of discomfort "ehm…could you quit staring please ?" , getting out of his haze, Naruto suddenly noticed he was staring right at the eyes of the older raven-haired women that had just woken him
"Sorry Onee-san" he apologised "I didn't mean to"
Now smiling softly, she declared "no harm done; My name is Kurenaï Yuhi, nice to meet you"
Thinking for a moment about how to tell the young woman her name he opened his eyes and declared with a beaming smile "and I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the next hokage! "
"yes, now I have something else that defines me… and I'd rather it be this than the demon child"
Surprised by the boys answer for a few moments, Kurenaï then softly laughed with a hand covering her mouth "Well aren't you the ambitious one?" she didn't even notice that the knot in her stomach had vanished
Naruto blushed a bit before joining her laughing.
Shaking his head, relieved that his doubt about the young kunoichi were unfounded, the sandaime mumbled in a pseudo-dejected tone "what is it with the younger generation ignoring their elders…"
"Ojii-chan!" Naruto jumped from the couch to hug his happy looking grandfather figure upon noticing him as a surprised Kurenaï pondered "how close did they get in one day?"
"good morning, Naruto, I hope sleeping on the couch wasn't too uncomfortable"
"it wasn't that bad; And at least now I can brag about having slept on the Hokage's couch" teased Naruto with a grin
Smiling back to the boy, the hokage's face then turned somewhat serious as he declared "Naruto, I'm sorry to tell you that I won't be able to look after you that much because of my hokage duties…" not minding the sobering of the blonde's features he added "However, I've assigned my best Kunoichi to do exactly that" pointing at the lone female in the roam he then added "if you need anything, you can just ask her, but don't cause her any problem, okay? "
Now excited from the prospect of making a new friend, Naruto enthusiastically nodded "Yes Jii-chan!"
"But that doesn't mean you can't visit your poor old grandpa from time to time, I for one wouldn't mind you brightening my otherwise gloomy work filled day"
"You bet I will, Hokage-jiji! "beamed Naruto to his grandfather figure
"now as far as I would love to spend the day with you, I have duties to attend to, so I'm going to leave you in Kurenaï-san's care" he states as he turns toward the Red-eyed woman, who nods at the mention of her name.
"Oh, and Naruto, before I forget, do you want to join the academy?" asked Hiruzen
"the academy? what's that?" questioned the boy with a hint of confusion
"it's the place where you can become a ninja, you're going to need to be one if you want to become hokage" declared the old man with a slight teasing grin on his face
"then you shouldn't have even asked, old man! I will become the greatest ninja ever!" Naruto boldly declared
"I know you will" smiling warmly at his surrogate grandson's ambitious goal
"Let's get going, Naruto-san" called the woman with a soft voice
"I'm following you, Onee-san, see you around Jii-chan!" he said while waving a hand to his grandfather figure as he left the office with the raven-haired woman
After walking for a few minutes in konoha's street and making sure he knows the direction to her house, Kurenaï showed him around her place briefly before calling for him "Naruto-san"
"You can call me Naruto!"
Reluctantly she obliged "…Okay,Naruto" before adding "I have to go train and perform missions with my team for the whole day, so I'm obliged to leave you alone right now, I'm going to give you money to buy food for the day and maybe even some clothing, I presume you only have the stuff you are wearing right now, don't you ?"
"ehm yes" admitted the blonde with a noticeable amount of embarrassment before adding "I don't mind that, i'll explore the village while I'm at it as well!"
Nodding, Kurenaï then added "Do as you please, but stay away from the red-light districts east of the village, they aren't a very welcoming place for someone as young as yourself"
"Roger that, Kurenaï-nee!" he enthusiastically answered before taking off running, leaving a surprised Kurenaï sighing at his antics "well I guess it's not that bad after all" she finally thought with a smile
Naruto was excited about exploring this new environment, liftin his head up, he was shocked to notice the four faces sculpted into the hill that was towering the village, he was especially surprised to recognize the third face from the left, "jii-chan ?!" following his discovery, he naturally felt the urge to climb and sit on top of his jii-chan's face "im pretty sure I'll be able to see the whoooole village from up there "
After an exhausting mountain climb and as he sat on the cold rocky ground, he was amazed by the sheer amount of life present in the village he was gazing at "if I want to become hokage, I'll need to know every street and corner of this place!" he thought in the most determined spirit, until he was interrupted by a gurgling sound coming from his belly.
"Maybe I need to grab something to eat first"
After getting a sandwich from a random restaurant, Naruto began his self-assigned mission, as he ran aimlessly through konoha's sun blessed streets, it reminded him of the feeling he had yesterday when he escaped the orphanage, a burning fire that pushed his legs to move on their own as he felt the cold breeze of the air hitting his face, yes, it's going to get some used to, but Naruto was finally free.
Deciding that he had explored enough for the day, Naruto went on to search for clothing shops, he didn't necessarily mind the ones he had on, however it was going to be hard to survive with just his shirt and pant.
But the moment Naruto entered a store he felt an adult hand gripping him with force from behind "You!" stress begins to fill him as he turned to the man with a questioning expression, trying his best not to anger him more than he already seemed to be
"Yes, sir?" answered Naruto hesitantly
"We don't sell our products to demons, leave now, or I will make you" spat the store owner as he pointed to the exit door of his establishment
A look of utter horror came upon Naruto face as he quickly ran off the shop, "how did he know who I am…was he friend with the orphanage caretakers? what if other people know…?"
To his great dismay, his assumption turned out to be right as he had a very similar experience in every shop he tried after that, even the ones that weren't selling clothes; Rapidly, the cold hard truth came crashing down on his earlier hopes of freedom as he realised "This village is just going to be a bigger cage for me…"
"but wait! that restaurant I tried this the morning! the owner didn't throw me out"
Naruto took off running, praying that at least one establishment in this village won't treat him as a pariah, but those thoughts turned out to ashes as he was thrown out from the very place that had served him earlier, " 'I didn't know you were a demon this morning, that's why a served you' as if I had grown horns in one day" joked Naruto; now understanding that rumours of a blonde demon child running amok spread like wildfire in the village, he couldn't help but sigh in a dejected manner, accepting his faith.
He was on his way to Kurenaï's apartment when he smelt something the likes of which he never smelled in his life, "what is this? why does it smell so good? "attracted like a hungry predator, Naruto diligently followed the smell until he found its origin, a small ramen stand 'Ichiraku Ramen', even knowing what the result would be, Naruto mustered as much courage as he could and hesitantly walked in, closing his eyes as he waited for the inevitable.
"well don't just stand there, boy, come take a seat!" came the cheerful voice of man in his fifties
Taken aback by that statement, Naruto hesitantly asked "yo-you're not going to throw me out?"
"and why would I? are you a wanted criminal or something? You look kinda young for that "joked a very confused ramen cook
"I guess you haven't heard yet…people say I'm a demon kid…" dejectedly declared Naruto with a shy voice
"Oh, I heard, but I don't see any horns on this small head of yours, boy, now are you going to order something, or are you just gonna stand there all gloomy and depressed? "teased the man with a grin
As Naruto hesitantly sat, he was met with the gaze of a girl in her late teens "What would you like to order? "asked the girl with a soft smile
Quickly glancing at the menu, the blonde just chose a random item and informed the teenage girl.
After waiting for a few minutes, he watched in awe as the dish was served, "it's so colourful! and that smell…oh kami"; Before he could even realise it, Naruto was sitting across a very empty bowl with a content smile.
"That was amazing oji-san! I've never had anything so good in my life" exclaimed the blonde
"Well thank you little one, you can have another bowl if you want"
Naruto was now feeling weirdly thankful that he wasn't able to spend money on anything else as he now was enjoying the best food of his life.
"Kami-sama, in all of the nine years since we came to this village, I've never seen someone enjoy my food so much, what would be the name of this ramen-eating monster?" asked the man in a happy tone
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, you better remember that name because I'm going to be the next hokage! "confidently answered the blonde before adding "how about you two ji-san, nee-san?"
"My name is Teuchi and I run this stand with my beautiful daughter Ayame" he calmly stated while pointing to a smiling girl in her late teens.
After eating four bowls of ramen in a cheerful and light atmosphere, and a quick promise to come again, Naruto took off his seat and decided to go back to Kurenaï's house, he was feeling so happy that at least two people in this village other than his jiji would accept him, "perhaps it's not going to be so bad living here " he kept walking lost in his thoughts, so much so that he didn't even notice that the sun has set and it was starting to get dark.
Now feeling somewhat lost Naruto walked in a fast pace towards a random direction hoping he would bump into a place he'd recognise, "I hope Kurenaï-nee isn't worried…"
after strolling aimlessly for a few minutes, Naruto suddenly tensed as a deep voice came from behind "Are you lost little boy?"
not daring to meet the person's gaze Naruto just stared at the ground as he answered truthfully "yes I am sir, could you please help me o…" he was cut off by the man roughly pinning him to the wall of the alley, trying to ignore the wrenched smell coming from the man's face , Naruto struggled a bit before he felt an adult-sized fist collide with his stomach, Screaming, Naruto winced as tears threatened to fall from his eyes, he had never been hit before, this pain was new to him, and for all he could think, he couldn't understand what was happening "wh-why" he weakly protested
this time, the fist came crashing onto his young face; "Why? Hahaha, do you really think I need a reason to beat the shit out of you? I know what you are, and unlike the others, I won't calmly stand by looking at you roam freely in our village" venomously uttered the man as he spat on the young kid's face before adding "your face looks so innocent, it doesn't really suit a demon like you" as he said that, Naruto noticed the man slowly taking a knife out of his pocked; Naruto was tetanized, he felt something he had never felt before, a kind of fear that was unknown to him; Naruto feared for his life, with tears now freely streaming down his beaten face and, he weakly trying to struggle against the man's grip, but it was too strong, he was still a meek child, his mind filled with dread as he watched the psychotic smile on the man's face as the sharp object came ever closer to his face.
"yes…after I'm done marking this face of yours, you will always remember exactly who you are" slowly spat the man menacingly
That night, Konoha's usually calm nocturnal sky was filled with high pitched screams of agony for dozens of long and painful minutes, and then, silence, as if nothing ever happened.
"Am I going to die here… in this dark and miserably alley? "a mutilated blond weakly thought as he was sobbing on the dirty ground
"maybe it's for the better… maybe the world would be better off without me, and I would be better off without the world…" now somewhat accepting his faith, he turned towards the sky, laying on his back, admiring the stars for what he thought would be the last time.
Of all his long twelve years of existence, the only memory that came upon him was that of his encounter with his grandfather, yes, those stars were like the suns of this world…maybe that's where he was going now, this thought brought him some semblance of peace, so he closed his eyes, awaiting his demise…
'…Did you already get bored of your poor old grandpa?' "no…" he sobbed
'…I for one wouldn't mind you brightening my otherwise gloomy work filled day' "jii-chan…" he whimpered
'Your new home' "I don't want to disappear" he suddenly screamed with all the air left in his damaged lungs, mustering what life he had left he fought tooth and nail against the soft tug of death, and at last, his battered and beaten body finally moved, wincing at the unmeasurable pain as he got up leaning against the wall "I will NOT die here "he thought with fiery eyes
"…I must be in the red-light district…east…yes, I think I know the way now…" the boy started limping, now, seemingly with a clear destination in mind.
"another thrice be damned Tora retrieval mission" Kurenaï thought as she reached her house in the evening; she was already excepting the blonde to be there spreading chaos, after all, he was still a twelve-year-old boy she thought smiling softly.
But upon opening the door, the only thing that was there to greet her was silence and darkness, feeling her heart-rate accelerate with each passing second, she rushed in looking for the blonde, only to find her residence empty, fear started taking over as she sprinted toward the Hokage tower to inform him of Naruto's disappearance, swiftly assigning an anbu team to look for him; The hokage then ordered her to go back to her appartement as he speculated that the boy might be heading there, nodding formally, she returned to her place and decided to just wait at her door, feeling the fatigue spread through her body, she let herself into a sitting position with her head buried into her legs, what happened to the boy ? where is he ? was it all her fault ?
Losing track of time in her worried and tired state, she did not even notice the hand that was softly put on her shoulder, swiftly raising her head to its owner, Kurenaï froze.
She was met with Red, one so deep she could lose herself in it, one that reminded her of that fateful night she became an orphan, when both her parents were slaughtered by that demon.
Looking at the face that was staring at her, she saw bloodied whiskers that were reflecting the moon's light.
"Kurenaï-nee?" a voice came from the same face as it began approaching her, she was shaking in fear, was he going to murder her like he butchered her family? Was he there to finish the job he had started twelve years ago?
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She roughly shoved the boy who fell on the cold ground, before hearing a whimpering voice "…Please don't hurt me…"
Suddenly regaining her senses, Kurenaï watched as a bloodied boy was crying in front of her, recognizing him despite his injuries, Kurenaï tried launching herself toward him but her body was still frozen "Why…why am I shaking? he's hurt…I have to help him…" she thought as she bit her lower lip
"…you too?" was the final thing that came from the boy's mouth before he fell into unconsciousness
"NARUTO!" she cried as she finally found the courage to approach him with blood dripping from her clenched fist.
Sitting on a chair not far from Naruto's hospital bed, Kurenaï couldn't help but feel her entire being drowned in shame looking at the worried and deeply saddened expression of her leader as he was looking over the injured boy
"Hokage-sama…" she tried weakly before being stopped by the shaking of Hiruzen's head
After what seemed like an eternity, she finally heard him solemnly declare "I was a fool not to expect this…" he then added with no small amount of sorrow "I failed you once again…Naruto" tears threatened to fall from his old and tired eyes as they gazed upon the pale and bandaged face of his grandson
Turning toward her kunoichi, he found her staring at the ground in disgrace, "you are relieved of all your shinobi duties until Naruto joins the academy and starts living on his own, you will use this time to teach him to take care of himself and more importantly avoid danger, is that understood?" he declared in a tone that didn't leave much to debate.
"Yes hokage-sama…" she answered still staring at the ground.
Hiruzen then left the kunoichi with her thoughts as he still needed to find the person that this and make sure they don't ever get to see the light of the day again.
Kurenaï didn't know if it was worry, guilt, or a combination of both that led her to stay in the hospital room for the night, but she couldn't care less, the boy didn't have anyone, the least she could do was be there when he wakes up
Naruto wasn't expecting to see someone as he woke up, even less so the raven-haired kunoichi that pushed him away so aggressively the night before, yet when he thought about it, he remembered the look on her eyes and the shaking of her body, he didn't feel it was hatred, he felt something else…but what? realisation struck him as he compared it to how he felt when he got attacked "…She's scared of me?"
Watching her wake up, he was yet again confused by her distress at noticing that he was looking straight at her.
"Naruto...I-I'm so sorry for what happened to you…" she feebly said noticing the blonde flinching at the memories of yesterday before dejectedly adding "I wanted to wait for you to wake up before asking the hokage to assign someone else to take care of you"
"why would I want anybody else?" calmly asked the blonde
"don't you remember how I treated you yesterday?!" she cried in distress
"but you don't hate me" stoically stated
Lost for words kurenaï could only stare at him
"I remember the look on your eyes, it wasn't hatred…I think it was fear; I don't know if I'll be able to be accepted in this place…I don't know how to change people's hatred…but fear is easy, although I don't know why you would be scared of me, I just need to show you that I can't even hurt a fly" he finished with a small smile
"oh, though I did hurt some poor fishes with hokage-jiji" laughing while an embarrassed expression adorned his features
Feeling the ache in her heart starting to calm down, Kurenaï approached naruto's bandaged body, she thought she could relate to him as she was orphaned herself, yet the pain she saw in his expression the night before told her that he was enduring far more than she could ever imagine, she couldn't comprehend how he found it in himself to keep smiling, he didn't turn his back on his dreams, he didn't turn his back on life, trying to reach out to this unknown force she saw in him , she once again felt disappointed in herself as her arm began shaking, but the moment she tried to retract her hand, she felt warm fingers grabbing it, and looking at the beaming smile on the boy's otherwise tired face, she once again relaxed and responded with one of her own "you are so bizarre, Uzumaki Naruto, but maybe one day I'll be able understand you"
If you feel any dip in the quality compared to previous chapters, feel free to notify me, either by posting a review or by private messaging me; It would be of great help to me.