Disclaimer: I am just a fan. I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 3: Lost and Found the Wandering Hermit
Trapped within Jiraiya's Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari, Kyuubi, Naruto excreted tiny condensed balls of red chakra from all over his body and swallowed them, by the time he finished ingesting the last chakra ball his quarters had shrunken restricting his movement. In a last ditch effort to escape being crushed, Kyuubi, Naruto opened his mouth and released a blast of highly condensed chakra at close range. The result was a magnificent explosion which freed Kyuubi, Naruto propelling him like a rocket. The shockwave hurled Jiraiya ten feet and irrevocably devastated the surrounding area.
Naruto will be found unconscious miles from the location of the battle by an old man and spend the next two and a half weeks drifting in and out of consciousness, "Uuugh, where am I?" Naruto asked the shadowy figure hovering over him groggily.
"You are somewhere safe so rest. You still have not fully recovered from your injuries."
Feeling nothing but pain Naruto heeded the advice, closed his eyes and drifted back into unconsciousness. He will sleep another three days before he is roused by the growl of his stomach. Naruto sat up slowly; his body hurt terribly and he did not want to move, but his stomach ached more. He was about to stand when he spotted a pair of make shift crutches. He wondered what they were for, but the ache in his stomach overrode all his thoughts save one "Man, I am starving!" Orienting himself to his surroundings and allowing his eyes to adjust to the dimly lit area he discovered a stone table with three bowls alongside a plate of buns. Attempting to stand he is greeted by a sharp pain in his right leg and collapses back onto the bed. Using the crutches he makes his way over to the table and snatches a bun when an Old Man walks in carrying a tray holding two cups and a teapot.
"Aaagh, I see you are awake and just in time for lunch. May I join you?"
"Who are you, and where am I?" Naruto blurts out after he finishes swallowing.
"There is plenty of time for questions later. Right now, its time for lunch and from what I saw you need to eat."
Naruto nods for the Old Man to join him at the stone table, and although his body still ached all over, Naruto felt far better after he finished eating. After both were done eating, the two of them sat at the table in silence sipping tea, and allowed the food they had eaten to digest; neither of them wishing to lose the comfort and contentment found after a good meal. What seemed like an eternity passed before the Old Man broke the silence with the tale of how he came to find Naruto naked, unconscious, and barely alive in a small crater sized hole by a stream.
"The way you looked. I was surprised you were still alive. I didn't think anyone could look as you did and still live. Once I realized you weren't dead, I wrapped you in one of my spare traveling cloaks and brought you here. Now that you have regained consciousness perhaps you could tell me your name, and were you are from?"
Naruto tried hard to remember who he was and where he came from, but he could not remember anything accept waking in this dimly lit place and being greeted by the Old Man.
"I don't know; I can't remember anything accept waking up here."
"Well, you were pretty beat up, so it's not hard to believe that you would be suffering from amnesia."
"Amnesia?"
"Memory loss kiddo, but I wouldn't worry. I'm sure it's just temporary; sometimes a person suffering a traumatic experience or receiving a hard blow to the head forgets things, and the way I found you tells me maybe you had a bit of both. You'll get your memory back eventually. For now though I would just focus on healing up."
The old man gathers up the dishes and turned to walk away when Naruto stopped him.
"Hey, old man do you have a name or am I going to be calling you Old Man all the time, and you never told me were this place is?"
"The name is Yoshikawa, Kenichi and you are right, I didn't tell you were we are. All you need to know for now is that you are safe and have a place to heal up Haguru-kun." (Haguru - to stray from, to get lost)
"Is that my name? I thought you said you found me?"
"It is now, unless you want me to call you boy all the time."
Naruto takes hold of the make shift crutches and works his way back over to the bed to lie down.
"Thank you, Yoshikawa-san. I know you didn't have to do this. I owe you."
"Nothing in Heaven or Earth is more appreciated or honorable than saving a life. You owe me nothing." Yoshikawa replied as he turned to leave, shutting the door behind him.
Naruto lied in bed alone with his thoughts staring at the ceiling of his new room until he fell into a deep slumber. He was awakened by the sound of dripping water, everywhere was pitched black accept for an eerie light emanating from a huge gate with some kind of seal attached to it. Naruto slowly made his way to the gate until only a three foot distance separated the two. A pair of eyes pierced the darkness behind the gate and a tired guttural "Boy" echoed forth as red chakra slowly escaped from the gate. Naruto sat up breaking into a cold sweat and panting excitedly. "It was just a dream!" he told himself before falling back to sleep.
A little over a month and a half has passed since Naruto was found and he was wandering around his cavern home almost completely healed amazing Yoshikawa, who witnessing Naruto's wounds guessed it would take twice as long as it did. What he found even more amazing was the fact that there was virtually no scarring save for some whisker like scars on the boy's face that made him look fox like.
Yoshikawa had given Naruto the layout of the cavern places to go and places that were off limits giving the excuse that those areas were still under construction and dangerous. It took years for Yoshikawa to make the mountain home through the use of jutsu along with a little physical labor the caverns had been given all the amenities one would expect to find if he was visiting the house of a noble lord.
Naruto obeyed Yoshikawa's request out of respect and a sense of gratitude, but today he would be caught being a little too curious. There was one place that Yoshikawa had frequented often which when he was not around was always locked, and it was this particular door that had caught the eye of our hero. Yoshikawa left disappearing to wherever it was that he went to on occasion, and Naruto seized upon this opportunity to attempt entry into the forbidden zone as he had come to call it. He reached for the handle to the door and was enveloped by darkness.
"Uugh, what happened? Where am I?"
"You are in your room that's where you are!" answered an all too familiar and stern voice.
"NO WAY!! How did I get here? Last thing I remember was touching that door…errrr, uuuh…I mean tripping and hitting my head on the door in the corridor." Naruto shouted in amazement as he jumped out of bed.
"Am I supposed to believe that? We both know that you deliberately disobeyed a simple request! The more important question is what am I going to do with you now?" Yoshikawa said inquiringly.
"What does that mean?"
"I mean you have shown that you are not to be trusted alone, and if I can't trust you then you will have to go." Yoshikawa answered as he turned his back to Naruto.
"You're sending me away for what? Trying to find some answers, trying to learn something about the person who saved my life. You're getting rid of me for trying to find out something… anything!"
Tears begun to stream uncontrollably down Naruto's face.
"All I do is roam the places you allow me to mindlessly! I don't ask you for anything because you don't owe me anything, but I need something to do so I am not tormented by the thought of who I am being gone. Do I have family, friends? Do I have anything to go back to, anything at all, or am I how I feel, alone. I don't think the answer would matter much as long as I had one."
"You are the first person I have ever allowed into my home. Why I didn't walk past you that day I don't know, but I didn't, and now you are here. I suppose since I saved your life I am now responsible for it. Get some rest, because starting tomorrow you are going to get your wish."
"What is that suppose to mean?" Naruto sniffles.
"I am going to give you something to do." Yoshikawa turns and walks away leaving Naruto to contemplate the fate that awaits him.