AN: hi all, Sorry for the late update. I meant to do this yesterday, but started reading fanfiction and there went my weekend. Sigh. Worth it though.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; I just think he's awesome.
Warning: May contain spoilers and/or clichés, if you are bothered or offended by either; why are you reading fanfiction?
'thinking'
"speaking"
jutsu
demon speak
Chapter 4.
The Sandaime smiled wearily as he watch the small, dirty, little boy dressed in rags, excitedly exclaim over his new accommodation. 'Oh Minato how we have failed you,' sighed the Hokage silently as he waited for the hyperactive little boy to calm down. It was not a very large or fancy apartment, built as emergency accommodation after the Kyubbi attack, it could best be described as Spartan at best and yet its new owner clearly loved it.
'Though small for his age, Naruto is big in personality,' mused the old man fondly as he watched the boy bounce from wall to wall.
They had met in person for the first time the day before, much to his dismay the Hokage had allowed himself to rely on the reports of those trusted with Naruto's care for reports on the boy's development as he had been too busy to make time for him. 'And we all know how well that turned out,' he thought in self-disgust.
The Sandaime had received a message from Teuchi Ichiraku, a ramen vendor and retired ninja he had known for many years, stating that he had someone at his stand that the Hokage had to meet urgently as a matter of village security. The Hokage was justifiably surprised by the fact that this mysterious person was in fact young Naruto, whom he was assured was still living at the East Gate Orphanage
He was outraged to find out that this was not the case and that this young child had been left to live on the streets for the last month scavenging from the village's refuse to survive. The fact that this situation had remained unreported in a ninja village such as Konoha was cause for great concern for the Hokage.
Surprised at first by Naruto's small size he heart had instantly been captured by the boys innocently wary blue eyes, so much like his dear old friends.
"Hey Old Man?" asked Naruto recalling the Hokage to the present, "Are you sure I can have all this to myself?"
"Yes Naruto," chuckled the Hokage patting him on the head, "It's all yours. I will have someone deliver food to you till you're old enough to handle grocery money yourself. Ok?"
"Thanks Old Man," exclaimed Naruto loudly grinning from ear to ear. Naruto would of course have preferred to have had the money but who would trust a six year old to handle his own finances.
"There are clothes in your room Naruto, Why don't you wash up while I go and do some work and I'll come back in an hour or so to take you out for dinner?" asked the Hokage.
"Great!" exclaimed Naruto as he dashed off to his room.
The smile fell from the old man's face as he turned to the door and ordered his Anbu to assemble in his office. 'A watch will need to be organised,' mused the Hokage, 'He cannot be allowed to fall off the radar again. Anything could have happened to the boy.' And with that thought he and his escort shushin'd away.
Meanwhile Naruto at that moment was lost in nostalgia. 'Wow I haven't seen this for a few years,' thought Naruto fondly as he ran his hand gently over the end of his bed. 'Not since the complex was destroyed in the Pein attack.'
Naruto's apartment building was located on the edge of the academy complex, built as emergency housing for homeless ninja after the Kyuubi attack. His apartment was on the top floor of the apartment building furthest from the stairs. Making it easy for the ANBU team assigned to guard him to do so. The apartment itself was small, being comprised of a combined living area and kitchenette, a small bathroom and one bedroom. It was sparsely furnished, but quite comfortable.
The front door opened onto a long room, approximately three metres by six metres, with two windows flanking the door and two doors on the opposite wall leading to the bedroom and bathroom. To the right was the sitting area, it had a two seater brown couch pushed up against the wall with a side table at each end and a red fire symbol wall hanging above it. In front of the couch was a round beige rug with green trimming and a large green leaf symbol in the centre and against the back wall was two large bookcases on either side of the bedroom door.
To the left of the front door was Naruto's kitchen comprising of a sink under the window with a cupboard underneath, a small worktop with two more cupboards underneath along the side wall with two upper cupboards above it, a small gas range, a small refrigerator by the door to the bathroom and a rubbish bin just by the front door. In the middle of the space was a small four seater table and chairs.
His bedroom was even more sparsely furnished with only a single bed, a side table, small wardrobe and a chest of draws at which Naruto now stood. "Ah I remember this!" he exclaimed happily as he pulled out a white t-shirt with the fire symbol on the front and a pair of orange cargo shorts. "This was my uniform for the first few years of the academy before I outgrew it and needed to buy my own outfits. Too bad I'll only be able to buy that bright orange jumpsuit though. I would really like to get something in black and orange like Ero-sannin got for me if I could." Naruto said wistfully to himself as he moved toward the bathroom to wash up.
It may not have been the most fancy of places but the apartment was now home once again and with a more stable base of operations Naruto was now free to focus fully on his training to get stronger. His immediate goal was to build up his body strength in preparation for the chakra influx he will experience on his eighth birthday when the Kyuubi would begin to awaken.
He hoped that by improving his mind and body he could more easily balance out the sudden surge in chakra levels that had messed him up so much the first time, resulting in his poor grades at the academy and his birth as Konoha's Prankster King. Chakra being the combination of physical and spiritual power it stood to reason that by strengthening his mind and body he would achieve balance and control of his chakra. Or at least that's what he hoped.
He also needed to work on his muscle memory, Naruto knew intellectually how to do many things but he would need to train his body if he wanted to be able to do them instinctively as he had before. This meant hours of repetitive training not only for his Taijustu but also for such things as hand writing, hand seals and senses training, such as sight and hearing. After all to accurately create and control any jutsu, a ninja needed both chakra control and the hand seals that directed the jutsu, clumsy hand movements could result in a weak technique or even failure of execution. Now that he had a relatively private space away from prying eyes Naruto could start work on training this essential fine-motor skill.
After a quick wash, Naruto dressed himself and decided to check what he had available in his new apartment. Kakashi-sensei had always emphasised the need to inventory available resources when entering any new situation.
His bedroom contained one bed with a pillow, sheets and two blankets, with a further spare blanket in the wardrobe as well as a couple of towels and a small grey jacket. In the chest of draws on the wall facing the bed he found four more white t-shirts and four pairs of orange cargo shorts in addition to what he now wore as well as enough underwear to last a week. By the bedroom door he found a pair of child-sized, blue ninja sandals. The oversized nature of all these garments meant they should last him for a while.
In the bathroom he had five packets of soap and two bottles of shampoo, two tubes of toothpaste, a toothbrush and one hair brush in the cupboard beneath the sink as well as a small first aid kit. "Well at least I have enough toiletries to last a while," he said to himself.
The bookcase nearest the couch was empty waiting for Naruto to fill it with training scrolls and academy books, but the bookcase between the two doors was half filled with scrolls and books. At head height Naruto fond a set of maths, reading and writing primers as well as a beginner's cookbook and a scroll detailing basic home maintenance such as cleaning techniques and reminders too turn of taps and lights before leaving the apartment. 'To bad I couldn't use these last time, they would have been handy.' On two shelves below the books, Naruto found reams of paper, blank scrolls, a box of pencils and a beginner's calligraphy set.
In the kitchen Naruto found some basic cleaning products and a bucket below the sink as well as a step stool so that he could reach the taps. The next cupboard contained set of four plates, bowls and cups and in the draw above Naruto found four sets of chopsticks, four spoons and a set of cooking utensils. In the last lower cupboard he found a small kettle, a wok and three cooking pots of various sizes, of which only the kettle had been used in his previous life.
Naruto then dragged over a chair so that he could reach the upper cabinets. The top shelf of the first cabinet was packed solid with ration bars of various flavours and the lower shelf with various varieties of cereal. Naruto let out a loud whoop as he opened the second cabinet to find it chock full of instant ramen cups, premium brand.
'I haven't had some of those flavours for a while,' thought Naruto as he hopped down, 'but I wish there was a little more variety like maybe some rice or canned foods. Oh well, I'll just have to collect my own food from the forest.'
Whilst true that Naruto's early diet consisted almost entirely of ramen, leading to his severe lack of growth the first time around, and though he did in fact love ramen, instant ramen he could take or leave. It was not till Naruto's travels with Jiraiya that he was able to sample the many other foods on offer and obtain the nutrients that his starving body craved, leading to his late growth spurt that surprised so many on his return.
For much of his childhood instant ramen was his only option owing to his inability to cook and as it was the only thing sold to him, albeit at an inflated price, that was guaranteed not to be spoilt or just past it's use-by date.
Last but not least Naruto moved to examine the contents of his small fridge and was pleasantly surprised to see it contained not only milk but also bottled juice, meat and a selection of fresh vegetables. 'Of course,' thought Naruto, 'whoever stoked the apartment mustn't have known it was for me. Well at least I have something decent to eat for the next few days.'
Naruto looked at the time on the clock above the stove and saw that he still had half an hour or so till the Hokage was due back. He walked over to the bookcase and grabbed a pencil from the box and a couple of pieces of paper and sat down at the table to practice his hand writing while he waited for the Hokage to arrive.
'Once I get control enough to write properly I can move on to brush work and hand sign practice,' he thought with a sigh, 'one step at a time I suppose, at least I'm learning patience at last.' He chuckled to himself as he finished one page and moved onto the next.
When the Hokage arrived a little while later to pick up Naruto he smiled proudly to see him so industrious. "So Naruto, what would you like to have for dinner?"
"Ramen!" cried Naruto excitedly as he jumped up from the table and hurried over to the Hokage's side.
"Ramen it is." chuckled the Hokage as the two made their way out the door.
A short while later found the two seated side by side at the Ichiraku Ramen stand's counter. Both inhaled happily as two bowls of the rich, steaming, noodlely broth was placed before them.
"So Naruto," started Sandaime after a moment of silent eating, "How do you like your new home?"
"It's great Old Man, thank you so much." exclaimed Naruto happily.
"You are most welcome Naruto. Is there anything else you can think of that you would like?" asked the kindly old man.
"Well," started Naruto hesitantly.
"Yes?"
"I would like it very much to be a ninja please Old Man." said Naruto in a rush.
"Do you know what that would mean?" asked the Hokage gravely, somewhat taken aback.
"Hai, it means I would become stronger and able to protect everyone." exclaimed Naruto excitedly waving his hands in the air.
"Everyone means even those that dislike you, Naruto," clarified the Hokage gently.
The smile fell from Naruto's face as a look of sadness overcame his young features. "They don't mean too Old Man," said Naruto gently, "They are only sad and frightened. If I protect them and their precious people they won't have to be sad or frightened ever again and then I'll be able to free them from their hate, believe it."
'Oh my,' thought the Hokage, "Very well Naruto I will allow you to become a ninja. But remember it is a great responsibility and so you must work very hard."
"Hai, Old Man, thank you." cried Naruto as he launched himself forward and hugged the Hokage exuberantly.
"Your parents would have been so very proud of you Naruto," the Hokage chuckled as he ruffled the young boy's hair affectionately.
"You knew my parents?" asked Naruto innocently.
"Indeed I did. But before you ask, I'm sorry but I can't tell you who they were until you are older but know that they were great people and loved you very much. In fact I thought of your father as almost a son." explained the Hokage.
"Then may I call you jiji, Old Man?" asked Naruto.
"I don't know," mused the Sandaime out loud, only to be hit with Naruto's most debilitating attack as a child the puppy-dog-eyes no jutsu.
"Please," begged the six year old child holding his hands up under his chin and smiling whimsically.
"All right," laughed the Hokage raising his hands in surrender, "But only if you call me Hokage in front of others. After all I am the leader of the village and my young ninja's need to show me respect." He continued half-jokingly.
"Hai jiji," Naruto cried snapping off a half creditable salute.
Chuckling again the Hokage marvelled at the precociousness of the young boy. "Come now, we must return you to your apartment. It is time for all good shinobi to be in their beds." said the Hokage as he laid a hand on Naruto's small shoulder. Then the two turned as one and exited the ramen stand.