Demon: Alright, chapter 2! I think I'm getting back into the flow.
GoodWriter: I hope so, lest you get another threat.
Demon: True, speaking of which, where is Creeper?
Lexboss: He said something about one of his favorite authors abandoning a story he liked and took off.
Demon: I feel sorry for that poor bastard.
GoodWriter: Indeed.
Demon: Now, then. Since I had a scathing PM about how I didn't put a disclaimer on the first chapter, I added it to shut him up.
Lexboss: Can't they read your profile for that? You said before you hated putting it on stories.
Demon: Apparently jackasses can't take the time out to read the profile for a disclaimer. Oh well, let's get to the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way.
"Talking" – Thinking – Demon/Summoning Speaking/Jutsu – Demon/Summon Thinking
The Orphan Trio, Chapter 2: Setting Things Straight
The three children walked towards the Hokage Tower, one smiling at making new friends and the two others fuming silently at the way the first was treated. Toshi, trying to calm himself a bit, pulled a small book out of his backpack and started reading. Naruto happened to notice the book and smiled.
"Oh, so you read that pervert book, too?" The blonde asked, much to the surprise of the two boys. Toshi looked over his book, sweat-dropping. "What do you mean 'pervert book'?" He asked, confused. Naruto started walking backwards, looking at Toshi.
"Well, an Anbu named Dog reads a small book that some women call a 'pervert book'. I think it was called Ic…Ich…" Kurohi cut Naruto off, "Icha Icha?" Naruto nodded, "That's it, thanks!" Toshi chuckled as he showed the cover of the book.
"Sorry, Naruto. I don't read that stuff. This is a small history book on Iwa. I'm reading up on some of the things I was learning about before I left." Toshi replied, looking back into his book. 'Let's see… here I was. "The village's main weapons in wartime were its jinchuuriki, who contained the tailed beasts in Iwa's possession. While many hated the jinchuuriki and treated them badly, the village leaders considered the jinchuuriki as weapons and would train them excessively." Man, that would suck to be a jinchuuriki,' Toshi thought as they approached the tower.
While Toshi read his book, Kurohi and Naruto were talking to each other. "So, why were those idiots chasing you?" Kurohi asked Naruto. The blonde frowned sadly and shrugged. "I don't know. They just chase me every day and call me 'monster' or 'demon'. They say that I killed a lot of people, but I never did anything to anyone. The worst I ever did was that time I put a paint bomb in the old man's office, but he thought it was hilarious and thanked me for giving him a break from his paperwork." Naruto replied, seeing they reached the tower. "Let's head inside, the old man's probably working on some papers."
As they walked in, Toshi heard Naruto's reply and started to think. 'Wait, Naruto's been chased nearly daily; clearly they hate him for some reason. They call him "monster" or "demon". They think he killed a lot of people…' Toshi's eyes widened suddenly and he stopped. 'Could he be a…a…'
"Toshi!" Toshi snapped out of his thoughts and saw Kurohi and Naruto waiting for him at the stairs. "Come on, man. We need to see the Hokage!" Kurohi called impatiently as they started walking. Toshi quickly followed; his eyes hardening. 'I need to ask the Hokage about this.'
(page break)
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed as he finished his paperwork, for the time being anyway. He knew that his assistant would show up any minute with more stacks of the damned papers. 'If only I could find a way to deal with this shit…' His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Enter." He called, looking at the door. He smiled as he saw Naruto enter, but gained a confused look as two boys followed him inside.
"Hey, old man! Look at who I met today." Naruto said happily as he sat down on the couch on the side of the Hokage's desk. Sarutobi looked at the two boys with a calculating gaze. One seemed a bit frustrated but curious, the other completely livid. The livid one, Kurohi, yelled to the Hokage.
"What the fuck is wrong with your people? We hear about how Konoha would be a great place to live, and yet we walk five minutes in and see a mob chasing Naruto! Those assholes are lucky I can't create a physical clone right now otherwise they'd be in some serious pain." Kurohi exhaled sharply, feeling slightly better at venting his frustration.
Sarutobi looked over to Naruto, who was slightly nervous at his new friend's outburst. "Naruto, were you chased again?" The old man asked seriously, gripping his chair's arm. Naruto looked down and nodded. "Yeah, they threw rocks at me to knock me out of my tree and started chasing me." He responded sadly.
Toshi perked up a bit as he heard Naruto's statement, specifically two words. "Your tree? What do you mean?" Naruto flinched and looked away. "Well, after I was kicked out of the orphanage, I had nowhere to go. I tried to live in an abandoned building, but the villagers burned it down. So, I started living in the trees. The only reason they don't burn them down is because they'd be executed if they even thought of doing that." Naruto explained sadly.
Kurohi was absolutely furious. "I'm about ready to kill those idiots. I've been here only fifteen minutes and already I'm ready to get the hell out of here. Toshi, I think we should just bring Naruto with us and find somewhere else to live. This is bullshit!" The child raged. Sarutobi sighed sadly. "I'm afraid that wouldn't be possible. The council wouldn't allow Naruto to leave the village permanently, even if the civilians would enjoy it." He explained, not expecting the next sentence spoken.
"It's because he's a jinchuuriki, isn't it?" Toshi stated calmly, shocking both Sarutobi and Kurohi and getting a confused look from Naruto. The old Hokage gulped and quickly did some hand seals. Once he finished, the privacy seals in the room activated. Hiruzen quickly looked at Toshi. "How did you know about that?" He asked seriously. Kurohi looked at Toshi, who shrugged.
"Well, I read about how jinchuuriki are treated and hated by the villagers in their villages, and it almost mirrors Naruto's condition. The only difference I see is that Naruto probably hasn't been trained, otherwise he'd have fought back and probably hurt or killed the villagers." The boy explained, looking over to the blonde. Before Sarutobi could respond, Naruto spoke up. "What's a jinchuuriki?"
Toshi and Kurohi glared at the Hokage when this was asked. "Seriously, you god-damned monkey?! You don't even tell him why he's being attacked daily? This is even more fucked up than I thought!" Kurohi shouted in anger.
Toshi nodded in agreement. "I agree with Kurohi on this one. At least the other jinchuuriki are aware of their condition. My family was friends with Han, one of Iwa's jinchuuriki. Han told us that while he hated his 'condition', he felt he trusted the Tsuchikage slightly more because he was informed about it when he was old enough to understand. On the other hand, Roshi, the other jinchuuriki, left Iwa when he found out about it…in his thirties!" The Iwa native explained.
Sarutobi sighed, knowing Toshi had a point. "I understand. I had kept it a secret so Naruto could have a normal life." He admitted, shaking his head. Kurohi scoffed, "Yeah, look how that worked out." The aging Hokage couldn't argue with that one.
"Lord Hokage, will you tell him or should I?" Toshi asked, pointing his head toward Naruto. Sarutobi sighed and looked at the person he considered a grandson. "Naruto, what do you know about the Kyuubi attack?" He asked, hoping this would be easy to handle. Naruto thought for a moment before responding. "It attacked the village on my birthday, and the Fourth killed it at the cost of his life." He replied, hoping he was right. Sarutobi sighed again before continuing.
"That's not entirely true, Naruto. The Kyuubi could not be killed; it was a being of pure chakra. Instead, the Fourth managed to seal the fox away inside a newborn baby. That baby, Naruto, was you." He explained. Naruto's eyes widened and he started to shake. "You mean I'm the Kyuubi?" he asked quietly, looking down.
"No you're not!" This time, Toshi was the one to shout out, surprising even Kurohi. Toshi continued his rant. "You are not the fox! You only are the container of the fox. Naruto, you are keeping the beast locked away." Naruto didn't seem to believe Toshi's words, but the boy wouldn't let Naruto think otherwise. Grabbing something off of the Hokage's desk, Toshi called Naruto's name. As he looked up at Toshi, the boy showed the object, a gumball, and swallowed it whole.
"Now, Naruto. The gumball is inside me. Does that make me a gumball?" Toshi asked seriously. Naruto looked at him like he was crazy. "Of course not, you just swallowed it." Toshi nodded. "Good, now say you are me and the Kyuubi was the gumball. Does that mean you were the Kyuubi?"
Naruto's eyes widened again as he realized what Toshi was implying. "I'm not the fox? I'm not the fox!" He happily cried as he hopped around. Sarutobi coughed to get the boys' attention. "Naruto, as you can see, Toshi is right. You only contain the fox. In fact, the Fourth wanted to have you seen as a hero of the village. If you were to die, then the fox would be released and would destroy Konoha." The old man explained, happy to see Naruto was handling the news better than he thought.
"Okay, now that that's taken care of, we need to get the main purpose of this meeting out of the way." Toshi said, getting everyone's attention. Kurohi looked at Toshi skeptically. "Toshi, you're not seriously considering staying here after what we saw, are you?" He asked, surprised. Toshi looked at Kurohi, then at Naruto.
"I admit, I'm appalled at what I saw, but we did promise Naruto we'd watch out for him. And since he can't leave the village, we might as well join. However," The boy paused, looking at Sarutobi seriously, "if anyone tries to attack Naruto again while we're here, we will be more aggressive in stopping them. We're not going to stand by and let the villagers mercilessly beat a child." The old Hokage sighed before grabbing a couple of blank papers.
"Actually, I have an idea that might help you out. First, I know of a place you can live close to here. I'll take care of the rent for the three of you until you become ninja and can afford the place yourself. Don't worry; the landlord is an old friend of mine who actually likes Naruto. Also, I'll give the two of you a monthly stipend like Naruto to pay for food and whatever supplies you need." He said as he signed the papers and stamped them. As the boys gave their entry papers to the Hokage, he gave them the stamped papers.
"Finally, those papers give you three the authority to follow through with a law I had written for Naruto's safety. If anyone talked about Naruto's 'condition' in public, they'd be subject to execution. While this one is basically useless now, it did lead to a couple clauses. The first, which has yet to be needed, will cause anyone who tells their children of Naruto's 'condition' to not only be executed, but the child as well.
"The second clause, which I just wrote, states that if Naruto is attacked by anyone for reasons regarding the Kyuubi, then he and whoever else that has the authority to do so can fight back to defend Naruto, and any level of force is allowed." Sarutobi said, smirking. As the three accept the papers happily, the Hokage stands up to walk the children to their new apartment. As they begin to leave, Toshi has an idea.
"Lord Hokage, do you have any knowledge in seals?" The boy asks, surprising the old man. Sarutobi smirks as they leave the office. "Well, not much, but I can do a few simple seals. Why?" Toshi smiles as he continues. "Well, do you think you can place a security seal on the apartment?" Sarutobi nods in understanding. "Let me guess, a blood or chakra seal to keep the three of you the only ones able to get in?" He asks, getting a nod in confirmation. "No problem, I'll do it, but I'll need to add my blood to it so I can enter as well. Just in case it's necessary." Toshi nods, accepting the condition. The other two just wonder what the Hokage and child are talking about.
(page break)
After making it to the apartment, and talking to the landlord to confirm the renting, Sarutobi quickly got to work placing the security seal. Once the seal was finished, and the blood of each tenant added, the group opened the door to find the apartment. The apartment had three rooms, two bathrooms, a large kitchen and a large living area. While the apartment was barely furnished, the three kids felt this would be more than enough to begin with.
Before Sarutobi left, Toshi decided to ask the old man one more thing. "Lord Hokage, when is the ninja Academy starting?" Sarutobi smiles, realizing what he was getting at. "Well, Toshi, the Academy begins in one month. I'll arrange for you three to enter then. In the meantime, there is a training ground nearby that is specifically for Academy students and prospective students. By the way, Naruto." Sarutobi pulls out a small scroll and tosses it to the blonde.
"In that scroll is a couple jutsus I want you to work on. You guys can look too. They're the three jutsus required to pass the Academy. If you can get those three done quickly, you'll be able to get a leg up on the others." Waving behind him, the Hokage left the apartment to return to his office, knowing there was another stack of papers waiting for him.
'Sure, giving them that scroll may be considered favoritism, but what the hell. Naruto hasn't had any training yet because of those idiots. They may call it favoritism; I call it making up for lost time.' Sarutobi smirked as he walked on.
Demon: There we go, chapter 2.
Lexboss: That was surprising.
GoodWriter: I wonder how people will take the fact that Naruto learned of the Kyuubi already.
Demon: Well, I find it ridiculous that Sarutobi wouldn't tell Naruto in canon. While it may not be the best thing to learn, at least Naruto would understand why others hated him.
Lexboss: Still, some might not like the way he learned about it.
Demon: Better than a damn traitor letting him know. Besides, I always thought that keeping it secret would do more harm in the person's trust for their village than good.
(Creeper walks in bloody)
Creeper: What'd I miss?
Demon: Not much, just another chapter. What the hell happened to you?
Creeper: I just had to have a 'talk' with a certain someone.
GoodWriter: If I see something in the paper, I'm calling America's Most Wanted.
Demon: Alright, getting off track again. Anyway, read and review!
Lexboss: No flames!