Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way possible.
Author: Hey everyone! I know that the idea in this fic is pretty popular and all too common, but lately something's been telling me to just write something, so this is a pilot chapter. If I get more than three constructive reviews by the end of the week, I might just put this up as a regular fanfic. Hope you guys and gals enjoy at least a bit of it.
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Chapter 1: Truth and deception
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The shadows loomed overhead.
"Where am I?" asked the little blond boy.
A scoff was heard in the far reaches of the abyss.
"Who are you?"
"Stupid child! Don't you know? Or are you as simple-minded as you look?" replied the voice.
A giant kitsune suddenly appeared, making Naruto yelp. That just made it scoff again. It sighed, obviously annoyed.
"Well, if you MUST know, I'm Kyuubi no Kitsune, the fabled Nine Tails Fox." said the red and white kitsune with a smirk.
Immense blue eyes grew even wider.
"I've heard about you! You're the demon that nearly destroyed Konoha! But then the Hokage at the time destroyed you!" replied the excited child.
That made Kyuubi laugh.
"You must be sadly mistaken! That baka jan didn't have the strength to destroy me!"
"That's not true! The Hokage even told me himself that that's what happened!"
That just made the demon laugh even harder.
"You are just incredibly GULLIBLE! That's not what happened at all! The truth is-"
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"Naruto! Wake up!" ordered the Hokage.
Naruto opened his eyes slowly as grumbled. His small figure suddenly shot up as he realized that he was lying in his bed in the apartment that was given to him a few months ago.
"Where am I? What happened?"
The child doesn't remember. How odd… thought the elderly man as he sucked on his pipe.
"What do you mean you can't remember?" yelled out a voice.
Naruto turned his head towards the voice and there they were, five smoldering shopkeepers crossing their arms and staying in a perfectly still position while glaring at the six-year-old boy.
"That ruffian destroyed all of my produce!" said an old woman, holding a mass of red pulp. It was only after staring at it for a long time that the young boy realized it was an apple. Or at least, used to be an apple.
"And he broke my magazine racks! Now how will my customers find what they want to read? How am I supposed to pay for my wife's medication?" said an old man with a small spot of white hair that shot straight up.
The three others, who were obviously related because they had the same face shape, walked up in front.
"He destroyed the entrance to our toy store!" said the first one, a tall man with graying hair.
"He also broke all of the windows!" added the second one, a plump balding man.
"Not to mention that he drew on my face!" finally said the last one, a short scrawny man with marker all over his smaller face.
Soon all the five adults were all hollering on the top of their lungs: the three toy makers saying that the boy should be put to jail, the old woman saying that he should pay for all the damages, and the older man saying that he should clean up and restore the shops to their original state.
The Hokage's anger just kept on rising, and rising, until finally…
"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT YOUR MOUTHS?"
The room suddenly fell silent, the only noise coming from Naruto, who had been blinking in confusion during the old time.
The leader sighed.
"Can't you see that the boy doesn't remember a single thing?"
"He's probably lying-" started the old woman
"I said silence."
The elder 'meeped' before shrinking considerably onto herself.
"Now as I was saying," continued the Hokage, letting out a puff of white smoke, "was that Naruto tells me that he doesn't remember and that I believe him. I know the damage is considerable and that all of you are furious that your businesses won't be functional for a while, but at least give the lad the benefit of the doubt and think to yourselves, 'Does Naruto do this regularly?'"
The five heads shot down and nodded in approval. It was true that the boy was a pain to the neck, but prior experiences showed that the farthest he went to annoy them was to either take a fruit or vegetable and devouring it without paying, mixing up the magazines and leaving action figures on the floor. True that that was annoying, but the boy always came back to either pay, help or receive his punishment with a straight face, for he still had a conscience and felt guilty doing all of those things.
One by one the shopkeepers left the apartment until finally there were only Naruto and the Hokage remaining.
"Domo Arigatou Hokage-sama! You just saved my butt there!" said the blond boy with a huge grin.
"Naruto…" replied the old man with a tired voice.
"What? Did I do something wrong?"
The man sighed.
"No, you didn't do anything wrong. It's something that brought all these events that did…"
"Gomen Hokage-sama, but I don't really understand what you mean…"
"Naruto, remember what I told you about the Nine Tails Fox?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"That isn't really how the story actually goes. You see-"
"No I don't see…"
"Quiet child, I'm trying to tell you something important here!" said the old man with an angry expression. He regained his composure.
"Gomen, I didn't mean to do that Naruto."
"It's okay, people usually look angry when I'm around…" replied the boy with a sad look in his eyes. That just pulled a few of the Hokage's heart strings, which wasn't that much of a good thing, seeing that he was aging, but I digress.
The little boy's face suddenly lit up.
"I almost forgot! Hokage-sama, I saw Kyuubi!"
"What did you just say?" replied the old man after coughing out smoke. How did the child know the youkai's name? It was taboo to say its name in front of the spunky child; for fear that the kitsune would awake inside of him.
Unless it was never asleep to begin with.
"Naruto, what did Kyuubi tell you?"
"Not much. I mean, he was kind of scary and all, and also calling me stupid and gullible. He was about to tell me how he wasn't fully destroyed by the Hokage of the time, but then you woke me up." continued Naruto.
The Hokage let out a huge sigh and slumped forward.
"Naruto, the truth is that what I told is a lie."
Naruto blinked in confusion. The Hokage continued.
"Six years ago, Kyuubi wasn't destroyed, as he told you himself. In fact, the Hokage of the time made a deal with the kami, stating that if they gave him the strength to seal Kyuubi into the body of a newborn child, that his village not be harmed and that he himself would be the sacrificial lamb on the altar, to be sure that it would work. A few days later, a child was indeed born. It was brought forth and was donned a seal on its belly. You should know it: it's in the form of a spiral…"
"You mean that…"
"Naruto, Kyuubi was sealed into your body all those years ago. It was agreed that no one would speak of it to you; for fear that Kyuubi would awaken inside of you. But now I wonder if he was dormant to begin with. What happened today clearly demonstrated that the youkai could possess your body without your consent and do what he pleases. Today he might have ruined a few shops, but in due time, he might use you to avenge his defeat and take lives."
Naruto's face darkened during his speech. His fists gripped the thin flannel blanket firmly, and the Hokage thought that he saw small tears rolling down the boy's face, so he stood up, straightened his clothing and headed to the door. He shut it after looking back at the little form.
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Days followed each other, and after one week, the old man was worried that not one single shopkeeper had come to file a claim of misconduct in regard of Naruto. In fact, some of them came to his office, wondering where the boy was.
He sent a chuunin, a certain Iruka, who wished to become teacher for the academy more then anything else, to see what was going on. After three hours of searching, the young man came back with only a piece of wrinkled paper and gave it to the Hokage, saying that it was important. He took the paper with his equally wrinkly old hand and read. It was a farewell letter from Naruto, written in his round childish handwriting.
"Ohayo gozaimas Hokage-san,
If you're reading this, it means that I'm gone. Leaving Konoha's probably the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's my decision. Since I don't have any legal guardians (and I understand why now), I could do what I want, and I want the world to be my oyster ( though I don't really know what that means). I don't know when I'll be back; I just need some time alone.
Naruto"
The old man dropped the paper in stupor. Iruka gave a brief salute and left the Hokage to himself.
What could he do? If he warned the villagers, they'd wonder why the boy left to begin with. And that would lead to many sticky situations in regards of the children who didn't understand why they had to shun Naruto out in the first place.
He sighed as he chewed on his pipe. That would mean that this would have to be silenced.
A few days after, people stopped wondering why there wasn't any vandalism of any kind anymore, and just kept on doing what they did every day before and while Naruto was here.
The only person who actually realized that he was gone was a shy young girl with white eyes, but no one actually noticed her either, so that was put aside as well. People just assumed that she was sad over a frivolity that most children at that age were sad about and that every adult had to ignore in order to move on with their daily lives.
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Then one day, as some children were playing in a stream, one of them tripped on something. When adults were warned about it, some ran to the scene and comforted the children as they looked in disgust what the child had tripped on.
The children had found the body of a blond boy in mid-decay.
The funeral was crowded by all the villagers of Konoha, all there to see the proceedings out of courtesy. The white eyed girl was the only one who cried for him.
"Well" said a plump woman in her thirties, "at least he'll be with his parents now."
"A boy that naughty would have never been able to enter heaven." Said her husband, a balding man.
The Hokage sighed heavily, a large puff of smoke dispersing from his mouth.
"I agree that Naruto wasn't the most polite boy of the village, but I'm sure that the gods will forgive him and let him in without a problem. Remember, what he did was just a small series of harmless pranks. Nothing worth being damned eternally for."
Some villagers nodded in agreement.
"If he had actually died that is…" replied the old man to himself as he left the proceedings.
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Author: And voilà! It is done! Remember, give a constructive review that says what needs to improve and what's okay, not the all too common "Oh my god! I love it so much! You have to update soon!" crap. I've become the kind of author of which that just ticks off.