September 9, 1974, Hawkins Laboratory, Hawkins, Indiana
In room #9 a small child was drawing, he had bright red hair, and green eyes, he was no more than 4 years old and was wearing a hospital jumper, unlike his "brothers" his hair was not shaved, as his powers regenerate it once cut, he was doing a very simple drawing, yet very impressive for a child of his age, it was a fox in the forest, when he finished a voice sounded in his head, the voice was deep and fierce, but with a touch of kindness.
"You are getting better every day, much better than the doctor" The voice spoke mockingly
"Yes, Papa draws badly" The child spoke laughing
"I told you not to call him that, he can't be trusted, and his not your father" The voice spoke angrily which frightened the child, noticing this the voice decided to take his attention away "Can I ask you a question, is that me in the drawing?"
"Yes it is, I wish I could see you for real" The child spoke
"That would be nice little friend, but it's difficult, I'm very far away" The voice replied
"What a bore," the child said irritated and sad
"But you know what we can do? the plan" The voice spoke
"SERIOUSLY, how? didn't you say it would be impossible for us to get out of here?" the child asked
"It used to be, now we can, but we need to leave the room now and you will have to obey me, ok?" The voice spoke
"Ok!" the child said excitedly
"Good, now let's go out now" the voice spoke
The child puts the drawing away and hides it under her arm inside the sleeve of his hospitalar gown, opens the door, and tries to leave by going to the basement, but someone interrupts her path.
" Hi Nine, what are you doing?" Asked a man with blond hair and white nurse's clothes
"Hi Peter, I was on my way to the Rainbow Room" Naruto made up
"Really? It turns out it's the other way" Peter said
"Tell him you got confused, he'll understand since you don't normally leave the room" the voice spoke
"I got confused, thank you Peter" Nine spoke
"You're welcome, but it's good not to get confused, you know the Pope doesn't like you wandering around" Peter spoke gently, as Nine left towards the Room, he turned and walked away.
"what a bummer, now we won't be able to leave," Nine said annoyed
"Calm down, I had already thought of that, the plan will work out I have a trick that will soon happen," The voice said confidently "But in the meantime go do something, so they don't get suspicious"
Naruto looked around and decided to try and control a small metal ball through a maze, he stood there for a while until a little girl with braided blonde hair and carrying a stuffed tiger stood beside him and started to look at the maze.
"Hi, you're Eleven, right? I'm Nine" He spoke excitedly, but got no response, he didn't know if it was because of her age, as she seemed to be younger than him, or she just didn't like to talk much. "That's a really cool tiger, I have a friend like that too, but he's a fox"
"Fox?" The girl asked
"YES, he's like that, look," Nine said showing the drawing
"Cute" Eleven said looking at the drawing
"I like the girl, she knows things," The voice said arrogantly but was ignored by Nine
Nine then felt a tingling in his neck
'Hey, what was that?" He asked the voice in his mind
"A warning, the plan is starting up again, now say goodbye to your new friend and head towards the door"
"Bye Eleven, my friend is calling me," Nine said leaving, Eleven got up and walked over to a little girl who was playing on the floor and started playing with her
Nine reached the door and it was opened abruptly by a blonde woman with a gun.
"GO NOW" The voice shouted telling Nine to run to the basement for his escape
He passed behind the woman who didn't notice him, and started running to avoid the security guards who were after the woman, he ran to the basement, and as the voice had commanded he used his powers to unlock it and then ran through a tube into the forest.
What he didn't know was that someone knew of his escape.
"That's interesting, very interesting" Peter spoke with a psychotic smile.
~In the middle of the forest
Nine was running in desperation, and it wouldn't be long before they found out that he had escaped, he then eventually reached a highway, he walked but stopped in the middle when the light of a headlight approached him, but he froze in fear and couldn't get out of the way, luckily the driver managed to stop the car before running him over, but he fell to the ground with the fright.
"Geez, what was that?" A female voice asked
"Wait I'll see" Another voice now from a man as he got out of the car and saw the fallen child "Oh my god, Kushina get out of the car, come here quick, what the fuck"
"What's wrong, why this desperation Minato, DID WE HIT A CHILD?!" The woman named Kushina screamed in fright
"No, but I think we scared him" Minato calmed his wife down and ducked down "Easy little buddy, it's over, sorry about that"
" Sorry? SORRY? I SHOULD RIP YOUR HEAD OFF AND STICK IT IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR..." The voice stopped when he realized that the only person listening to him was a child "Sorry kid, I didn't mean it"
"No problem, you didn't say anything too much" Nine spoke not understanding what his friend said and leaving the couple confused
"Hey, little friend, who are you talking to?" Kushina asked
At that moment they both became nervous, Nine didn't know what to say much less the voice that for the first time in a long time was quite
"...Tell the truth..." The voice replied
'What? But they won't understand and will end up sending me back!' Nine spoke in his mind
"Not if you prove it" The voice spoke
"I was talking to a voice... She helped me escape from the lab upstairs and..." Nine was interrupted by the older man
"The lab? Did you escape from there? I knew they weren't what they said, can you tell us more? I am a police officer, and my wife is a journalist, we can stop whatever is going on" The man spoke agitatedly
"Minato, look at the boy, he said he hears voices in his head, there must be a treatment center there for mentally insane people" The woman whispered
"Why would you have one when you have Pennhurst in the neighboring county? Besides, there's that article from that woman Terry Ives, who said they kidnapped her daughter, I'm sure something is going on there, trust me" Minato spoke to the woman
"Hey, kid, let me talk to them, this isn't going anywhere if I don't intervene" The voice ordered and Nine agreed, then the boy's green eyes turned red and bright, with a sharp pupil.
" Hey you morons, you want to listen to me?" The fierce voice growled at the adults who turned to the child
"Who said that?" The couple spoke at the same time
"It was me, now calm down, blondie is right, the child speaks the truth, I know because I have looked after him since he was born" The voice spoke
"And who are you?" Minato asked half annoyed by the nickname, but with curiosity
"That doesn't matter, what matters is simple, the boy is special, and in that lab, there are others like him, and they are being trained to become weapons while being brainwashed by a man who made them believe he is their "father", I thought his name is Brenner" The voice answered quickly
"And is there anything else you know that might help us expose them?" The woman leaving her skepticism
"Yes, especially if you count that the lunatics from the lab are hunting us right now" The voice spoke alerting the couple
"So what are we waiting for, get in the car, our house is far from the city so they won't get suspicious, plus we've recently moved," Minato said going to get in the car along with Kushina, leaving Nine controlled by the voice outside
"How can I trust you two? For all, I know you could be working for them" The voice spoke through Nine's body
"Trust me, we would never hurt a child, we know what it's like to have a bad life" Minato spoke looking at his wife and back at the "possessed" child
The voice looked at the two of them seriously, until he broke down, the red eyes turned back to green and Nine started to cry and ran to them hugging Minato's leg.
"He trusts you, and so do I," Nine said softly
"Calm down, calm down, let's go, when we arrive we'll talk more, but what's up, what's your name?" Minato asked
"I don't have a name, they gave me a number, they called me Nine" Nine spoke
"Then we'll take care of it later," Minato said gently, but with a hint of hatred for the way, the child was treated
They drove for almost half an hour until they reached a two-story wooden house, not very big but quite comfortable.
"Well, we've arrived, home sweet home" Minato spoke as he opened the door "Now let's make something for dinner and talk some more"
"Alright" Nine replied
"Well, while Minato cooks, I'll chat a little with you dear" Kushina spoke, Minato tried to retort but the look on his wife's face silenced him
"Your friend said that you are special, and in that lab, there are others like you, can you explain it to me?" Kushina asked
"I and the others are experiments, that's what he said, they trained us to control our abilities" Nine spoke
"Abilities?" Kushina asked
Naruto raised his hand and as if by magic the lights in the room began to glow and the chair that Kushina was sitting on began to levitate, and then returned to the floor, when the chair touched the floor Kushina noticed Nine wiping his nose with his wrist and a blood stain smeared on his face.
"How do you do that?" Kushina asked curiously, slightly concerned by the blood on the child's face
"I don't know, but I can do this from a very young age" Nine spoke
"I understand, now let's clean up this blood" Kushina approached the boy as a concerned mother "But can you explain this blood?"
"My friend said it's because when I use my powers I push myself too hard it increases the pressure on my head, that's why it bleeds" Nine explained
"Then wouldn't it be better not to use your powers?" Minato came in
"I already asked him that, but he said no, he said it would be better for me to exercise them more so that if I use them unconsciously, I won't get hurt" Nine replied
"So your powers are like a kind of muscle that needs to be exercised, fascinating" Minato spoke making Nine fill with pride
"Nine, can you stay here for a little while, there's something I need to talk to Kushina about privately," Minato asked receiving a nod from the little boy
"What is it Minato?" Kushina asked a little concerned at the serious look on her husband's face
"Kushina we have to stay with him" Minato replied
"What, Minato are you crazy? We can't just pick up a child from the street, we must take him to the orphanage, there it will be good for him" Kushina spoke with sad eyes
"So the Lab guys can take him back? You saw him, he was scared" Minato spoke
"He's a kid who was running in the middle of the forest and almost got run over, of course, he was scared" Kushina spoke with her voice a little shaky, but still confident
"They were training him to be a weapon, his name is a number, for God's sake!" Minato tried to argue
"I KNOW!" Kushina screamed ending in tears "I know..."
"Kushina, calm down, it's alright" Minato tried to calm his wife to no avail
"NO, it's not ok Minato, I can't take care of a child, I can't," Kushina said still crying
"You know it wasn't your fault, it was an accident, that man was completely drunk" Minato tried to convince his wife
"SHUT UP, that was my fault, I should have been able to save us both, or it would have been better if I had died instead" Kushina continued crying, and murmured 'Menma, my little angel, why did it have to be you"
"Kushina, you have a second chance at hand, we both do, we can have the family we always wanted, and still give a caring family to that child in the room" Minato spoke "Wait... what was that noise? NINE!"
They ran into the room and saw the door kicked in, they ran into the middle of the forest where they found Nine sitting on the ground crying, they got closer and saw that Nine was covered in blood, and in front of him several dead bodies and one almost dead man
"WHO ARE YOU? ANSWER" Minato shouted furiously, for having invaded his house to kidnap a child, but the soldier didn't answer which made Minato punch his face in anger
Meanwhile, Kushina went to check on Nine and saw bruises on his face and arms that were not there before, Kushina was speechless, the image of a boy a little younger than Nine overlapped him, the boy was in a similar situation but in a more serious way.
Kushina's mind went blank, she walked close to the fallen soldier, the wind stirring his red hair as if he was floating, she caught the dying man by the neck with one hand and supported the other on the back of his head and with a quick movement and a snap, he fell to the ground lifeless
"Never touch my son you bastard" She shouted at the corpse before it fell unconscious
Minato approached his wife and took her back home along with Nine.
~A month later, on October 10,
After the events of that terrible night that changed the lives of three people, things started to work out, Nine started living with Minato and Kushina and slowly healed Kushina from the trauma, although she sometimes called him Menma.
"Good morning Nine, it's time to get up" Kushina woke the child "Breakfast is ready"
"Good morning, I'll be right down," Nine said getting out of bed and going to change clothes, a simple outfit a black shirt and white shorts, the first clothes he got after the Lab jumper
Reaching the end of the stairs Nine is surprised by Minato and Kushina
"SURPRISE!" The two shouted in unison
"What?" Nine was confused
"We were thinking about it for a while and decided to do it today" Kushina spoke "Since it's your birthday, your friend told us it was today, if you were confused"
"Thought about what?" Nine asked
"Nine... Do you want to be our son?" Minato asked quietly laughing at the child's shocked face
"YES, I DO!" Nine ran over and hugged them
"We're glad to hear that" Minato spoke
"Can I ask you a question?" Nine asked
"Of course!" Kushina replied
"Now that I'm your son... can I have a name?" Nine asked leaving Kushina and Minato in shock, they then realized that he didn't really have a name, and had a mixture of sadness and hatred remembering their son's past.
"Of course dear, of course, you can have a name, any ideas?" Minato replied, Naruto crack a huge smile
"Yes, yes, I got it out of a book!" Naruto said excitedly
"What book dear?" Kushina asked
"A book I found in daddy's office, the author's name is Jiraya I think" Naruto spoke and Kushina looked at Minato with a very expressive angry look that said "I hope it's not the book I'm thinking of or you're a dead man Minato"
"And what is the name of that book?" Minato asked nervously at the look on his wife's face
"I think it is, The Legend of a Determined Ninja!" Naruto said and Minato breathed a relieved breath
"And what name did you choose for that book?" Kushina asked switching her angry look to a gentle one
"The name of the greatest hero of them all, NARUTO!" Nine shouted excitedly
"Hm... Naruto Uzumaki... Great name, good choice son" Kushina said with a smile
"Hey!, why can't it be my last name?" Minato asked annoyed
"Because with mine it looks better," Kushina said simply getting an affirmation from Nine, which made Minato fall to the ground with a dark cloud over his head and start making circles on the ground as he mumbled sadly while Naruto and Kushina laughed
"How the hell can he do that? Does he have some strange power? Strange family" The voice spoke to itself
~Two years later
Nine, now known as Naruto Uzumaki lives a normal life with his parents, however unfortunately he can't go to college or stay in the city for long to avoid being seen by the Lab people, but today his parents let him go to a park to play, however, he had to use his powers to disguise himself by changing into a miniature version of his father, to the pride of his father.
There he found two children running around, one with hair and one with brown hair.
"I'm going to get you Will" The black haired one shouted
"You'll never make it Mike" The brown haired one apparently named Will shouted
" Hey, can I play with you guys?" Naruto asked the duo
"Sure, we're playing hide and seek" Mike spoke "Now that you're in you're the seeker, count to 20"
"Right" Naruto leaned on a tree and started counting
The trio continued to play until sunset when the parents started to pick up the children
~One year later
Naruto, Will, and Mike's friendship grew with them becoming best friends, shortly after they met Lucas Sinclair who soon befriended the group, another thing that happened was that Naruto and Minato met Will's father and brother, although not in the best way, Minato had arrested Will's father, Lonnie Byers, for hunting in a forbidden area, and what didn't help the friendship between the two, was that Will's father had made his eldest son, Johnathan, kill a rabbit, which really unsettled the child of just 10 years old.
But otherwise, things were going well for Naruto and his family, Naruto decided to erase the bad memories of his past, and replace those memories with good things, Nine, once his "name" as a test subject, is now a nickname, which is often shortened to just "N", The number 9, that he once saw as a symbol of torture, he saw as his new lucky number, having found his family on 9/9.
But this good time was to end, on October 10th, 1977, the family left home to celebrate Naruto's birthday in a different way and when they arrived home it was completely destroyed, the door completely broken, shards of glass scattered on the floor, broken furniture, everything shattered, Naruto got close to the wall of the house and with his powers he saw what happened, they came back, those monsters from the lab, Naruto told his parents what happened, Minato was furious but he controlled himself, they couldn't stay in Hawkins anymore they had to go somewhere else, they then they took suitcases and put their things away, it was time to leave, Minato decided to go to Oregon, in a small town like Hawkins where they wouldn't be again so soon, on the way they stopped in Las Vegas, where they met Minato's father and mother, the writer and ex-combatant of the Second War, Jiraya, and the renowned doctor, Tsunade Senju, Minato told his parents what was happening surprising the couple, who were touched by his grandson's story, although at first they were skeptical about the powers part, until he proved it.
The family now with 2 more members moved to Oregon, to a wooden house near the forest for Naruto to train his powers without being disturbed or seen.
~ October 10, 1978
It was Naruto's 8th birthday, and he was in the forest surrounding his house, training his powers, lifting and throwing rocks, destroying small stones, and channeling psychic energy into attacks by cutting tree branches when suddenly he felt a tingling sensation in the back of his head and quickly ducked and dodged a big fox that jumped over his head, the fox was bigger than a normal one, The fox was half the height of a full-grown wolf, the fox charged again and Naruto tried to throw a rock at it to scare it, but it deflected and with a swipe of its tail returned the rock to the boy, Naruto sent out a burst of psychic power to try and attack the fox, but it didn't move, then in his mind, a sphere of psychic energy appeared in thought, and the boy tried to replicate it.
He opened his hand and began to channel psychic energy into his hand until a spinning sphere appeared in his hand, it destabilized and exploded throwing both Naruto and the fox away, Naruto passed out, his nose was bleeding, his face was red and veins popped out on his temple due to the stress caused by the powers so uncontrollably.
When he opened his eyes Naruto saw that he was in his room, and at his feet, the fox was sleeping.
"He didn't let anyone take him out of there" Tsunade spoke as she picked up a glass of water along with some medicine "I should beat you for being so irresponsible, but that would be against my duty as a doctor and your grandmother, now rest, in a little while come dinner will be ready, and take the medicine"
Naruto took the medicine and almost vomited, then took the water in a single gulp to clear the taste.
"Where did you come from, little fox?" Naruto asked
"That I can answer" The voice spoke "He is a gift, a friend who will stay with you forever, and who can help you with your training"
"But how did you convince him to stay with me?" Naruto asked
"I didn't need to, you know the bond we have? You and this fox have it too, technically he is your fox version" the voice replied.
"That's amazing, thank you so much for always looking out for me," Naruto said to the voice as he caressed the fox's head
"Now you need a name" Naruto spoke as he thought "...I got it! How about Kurama?"
As he spoke the fox licked him as if in agreement
"Great Kurama, now let's go down we have to introduce you to the family," Naruto said getting out of bed
~One week later
Naruto and Kurama were running around town but stopped when they ended up knocking another child off his bike.
"Sorry, I didn't see you go by" Naruto apologized before realizing something "WHERE ARE YOUR TEETH! Oh my god my mum will kill me if I break someone's teeth"
"No problem and you didn't do anything to my teeth, actually I don't, I have a condition called cleidocranial dysplasia" The boy explained "Nice to meet you, my name is Dustin"
"Nice to meet you, my name is Naruto, so you don't have a tooth?" Naruto asked
"Yes" Dustin replied sadly thinking Naruto would say he's weird like the others say
"That's pretty cool" Naruto spoke "Hey, I forgot to introduce, this is Kurama"
"Wait, is that a fox? How is it so big?" Dustin asked curiously
"I don't know, but I wish I knew it too," Naruto said
Naruto and Dustin talked all day until Dustin's mother called him back home.
~ 5 years later
Naruto's life couldn't be better, except for a headache and other similar effects of mental exhaustion from his powers on September 8, 1979, and the fact that his new friend, Dustin, had moved to Hawkins.
But that ended on 6 November 1983, on this day he had a nightmare, more like a vision, where he hunt an older version of his friend Will in the forests of Hawkins, captured him, and dragged him into a dimension that looked like a shadowy version of Hawkins City.
And this continued to haunt him, and things only got worse, constant nightmares would leave his powers out of control at night, and it all got worse within a day.
"Naruto I have to tell you something, I know what is causing these nightmares" The voice replied
"And what is it?" Naruto asked
"Me, our contact, but I can make it stop, these visions, are reflected back to you from me, and to me from somewhere, if I stop communicating with you it will stop" The voice spoke seriously
"But, will you leave me?" Naruto asked sadly
"Never, I'll always be inside you, it's not because I'm not in your head that I won't be by your side" The voice spoke "You'll know what I mean soon enough, goodbye friend..."
~A week later
The nightmares stopped, no more crisis of control, but that voice that was helping him disappeared, he never felt this way, even with his family by his side he felt alone, the only one he allowed to be by his side was Kurama, then one night.
Naruto was sleeping and started to hear a voice
"Naruto, wake up, wake up Naruto"
And then Kurama was pushing him with his paws
Naruto opened his eyes and saw the fox on top of him staring at him
"Kurama? What happened?" The boy asked
"Nothing happened, I think" The fox spoke scaring Naruto who fell off the bed
"KURAMA, YOU SPEAK!?" Naruto shouted surprised
"Yeah, I think? Just kidding child it's Me, well, sort of" Kurama said and Naruto recognized the voice
"Is that You?" Naruto asked
"Yes, sort of, this body has its own personality so I don't take all of his mind, let's say he will be a messenger for me, and I will use him to talk to you when I need to" The Voice, or now Kurama said
"And if you're talking now it's because something happened right?" Naruto deduced
"Exactly, your friends are in danger, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and especially Will, and that girl you met at the Lab before you ran away too, Eleven" Kurama spoke
"Then I have to do something to help them" Naruto spoke
"You will help, but then, they can keep themselves safe for now, but you have to train, they will face some things they won't be able to solve easily, I will give you 1 year to train to exhaustion so I will let you go help them, if not it's easier for you to make everything worse than help" Kurama stated
"Alright," Naruto said irritated, but he knew he had no way to argue with him "Let's train"
"Good, now sleep, tomorrow your torture will begin," Kurama said with a sadistic tone making the boy swallow dryly
End.
—
Here goes one more chapter, I knew you guys were missing this story
Well, this chapter serves to pave the way for official participation in the series, and opens the possibility of some OVAs, like what happened to Menma, Nine's dead foster brother, or Jiraya's adventures in WWII, Spoiler alert, interesting characters appear there.
Now some important details:
Naruto's powers are different from Eleven's, One's, Kali's, and the other experiments, his powers have a wider variety besides just telepathy, and telekinesis
Shown powers:
· Telekinesis / Telekinetic Force Manipulation
· Empathy
· Psychometry
· Aura Attacks
· Telekinetic Shape Shifting
Accidental:
· Emotional Empowerment
· Emotional Manipulation
Next Chapter: MADMAX