Konohagakure, a large village filled with powerful shinobi left and right. But one of them is going to be stronger than everyone else. And his name is, Naruto Uzumaki. A 7-year-old boy with bright yellow hair and blue eyes. Features most common in his father, Minato Namikaze who was the only other person with this type of hair and eyes.
Naruto stared out his window at the break of dawn. "It's my birthday." He said in a voice full of pain and sadness. One would say sadness and sorrow. There was a mob of villagers with pitch forks, kunai, and torches surrounding his small apartment.
"Old man, why does everyone hate me so much? Am I really a demon child?" Naruto asked the man standing behind him. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage looked down at Naruto and held back tears.
"I'm very sorry it has to be like this, Naruto. But, I made sure they will never be able to get in here again." Hiruzen was referring to an incident where a village snuck into Naruto's apartment and nearly killed him with a knife. It would have worked if it wasn't for an Anbu who came in and stopped him.
"Old man, do I… why was I born?" Naruto asked. "Why was I born? Was it just to be hated by everyone?" Naruto then turned to look at Hiruzen. Tears rolled down his face like a waterfall. "Please tell me… do I really deserve to live?"
Hiruzen didn't know how to respond. He simply brought Naruto in for a hug while listening to the villagers outside yell out words of discouragement.
"Demon!"
"Spawn of the Devil!"
"Nine-Tails brat!"
"Naruto, there's something I came here to give you." Hiruzen reached into the inside of his robe and pulled out a small scroll. "This is from your father. He told me to give it to you when you graduated from the academy, but I felt like now is a better time than ever." Hiruzen handed Naruto the scroll. "I'll be back in a little bit. There are things that I have to do. But when I come back we'll have a little party of our own."
Hiruzen's body flickered out of the apartment leaving Naruto there in the middle of the room alone and with a scroll. "From my father?" Naruto questioned with a smile. He opened the scroll which was longer than expected for something so small… :)
'Dear, Naruto. Or maybe your name isn't Naruto. We're still between Menma and Naruto. I hope we go for Naruto. If you're reading this… I'm not here with you. I hope your mother is. Anyways, my name is Minato Namikaze. Or as most people know me, the Fourth Hokage. I want to say congratulations on graduating from the academy. There are a few things I wanted to tell you before I end this.
If something went wrong while your mom, Kushina Uzumaki is giving birth then I decided on this. If the seal broke or I couldn't fix the seal in time then I sealed the Nine-Tails fox inside you. Not all of it. Just half. I'm not worried though, the villagers should treat you like the hero you are.
And as a congratulations gift, I'll give you three high-ranked jutsu.
The first one I want to teach you is the Kage Bushin no Jutsu or the Shadow Clone jutsu. Place your hands together like this… there was a poorly written picture of the hand sign needed.
Next is the Rasengan…'
Before Naruto could continue reading he heard loud bangs on the door. "Not again…" Naruto said. Fearing for his life Naruto ran to the small window on the opposite side of the room. It was about two stories down but a broken ankle is better than death.
As one of the villagers broke into the apartment Naruto leaped out the window and landed on his right leg hearing a loud cracking noise. "Where'd he go?" One of the villagers asked from inside.
"Look! He jumped out the window!" Another shouted.
"The Nine-Tails?" Naruto questioned as he ran. Ran away from this cursed village. "They were right… I am a demon."
For hours, Naruto ran and ran as far away from the village as possible. But, he couldn't get as far as he liked. Naruto collapsed in the middle of the forest with his scroll clenched in his hand.
Whether it be fate or luck from the gods, a tall man with a bald head and a long black beard appeared in front of Naruto. "Oh, dear. What's a child doing all the way out here." The man picked Naruto up and brought him back to his small wooden cabin deep within the woods.
Two days later. Naruto awoke with a rope around him and he was handing it from a tree. "You're the Nine-Tails?" The man asked holding the scroll up so Naruto could see. "I can tell since it says it right here. And those whisker marks."
"Please…" That was all Naruto managed to get out.
"Do you know what you did? You killed my family. My wife, my daughter," The man wiped some tears that were leaking from his eyes. "Even my infant son. I have nothing! No one! All because of the Nine-Tails."
"Kill me…" Naruto weakly asked. Tears rolled down his face and onto the floor.
The man gave Naruto a look of pure hatred. "That's selfish of you to ask. Do you think all the people you killed… the Nine-Tails killed asked to die? They had lives of their own. Families. They didn't ask to throw their lives away."
The hours Naruto spent up there turned to days, The days turned to weeks, and the weeks into months. Six months Naruto hung up in the tree. Hiruzen sent Anbu after Anbu to find Naruto but all "faild". If they wanted they could have found them but even they lost loved ones in the Nine-Tails attack.
On this day, the rain poured harder than ever. Naruto's hair had grown long enough to cover his eyes and it went down the back of his neck. His bright blue eyes seemed to be gone. The color was there but the life in them was gone.
"Naruto's your name, right?" The man asked but received no response. "It's time for you to die, Naruto. I'll take you up to that mountain and end your life." The man walked over to the tree and cut Naruto down letting his body fall to the ground before using the same rope to restrain him.
"Why am I still alive? Why was I born in the first place? I'm just a demon." Naruto questioned as he was dragged up the mountain.
"Do you like the view?" There was a clear view of Konoha from there. "Are you ready to die?"
Naruto didn't respond. This caused the man to look down at him with a scowl. "Six months. You spent six months begging me to kill you and now you're second-guessing yourself?! You are the Fourth Hokage's child! Annonce it to the world! Tell the world what you want the most!"
"I want to die…" Naruto told him yet again.
"The people of the village hated you, right? Called you a demon… a monster. Things like that. And now you're here and going to die. Even if you ran away and where would you have gone? Were you prepared to live a life on the run? Stealing, killing, and doing whatever it takes to survive? Ask yourself, is that the life you were prepared to live, Naruto?"
Naruto thought about this for a second. What would he do? He doesn't know how to use Chakra or make a meal for himself. He'd just die like he's going to right now. The man placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto, this is where you die."
Naruto prepared himself for the sweet embrace of death but it never came. The ropes around him loosed and fell off. "What?" Naruto questioned.
"Naruto, you're how old? Seven, maybe eight? No mere child should be held responsible for such devastation. It's like I said, this is where you die, Naruto." Unlike most things, Naruto understood this. This was the mountain where Naruto Uzumaki died. "So, what will you be going by now?"
Naruto thought for a moment. The rain stopped and the sun broke through the clouds shining brighter than anything any of them had ever seen.
"I am Menma Namikaze, son of Minao Namikaze."
