A Single Misunderstanding

Chapter 1: Of Signs and Seals

This story explores the idea of a single misunderstanding and the ripples throughout the world it has. For story purposes, the Kyuubi Incident and its subsequent sealing occurred 5 years earlier than in canon, making Naruto 5 years older than the canon events. The rest? You'll have to read to find that out.

Konohagakure no Sato. Also known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Its tall buildings stood gleaming in the bright summer sun. Various areas still bore signs of ongoing or recently completed construction due to the attack from the Kyuubi no Yoko five years prior. Amidst the middle of these buildings was one of the largest, the Hokage Tower. In a spacious office on the top floor of the tower sat Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, and official ruler of the shinobi village. He was currently quietly and calmly filling out various forms and documents related to the official business of the village. Well, he was trying to at least.

"Hey! Jiji! Jiji!" A loud and energetic voice rang out throughout the office. It belonged to a young boy who was currently sitting in the office, his short legs swinging back and forth, not quite long enough to reach the ground from where he sat on the couch. He grinned at the Sandaime, his excitement palpable.

"Yes? What is it Naruto?" The elderly Hokage looked up from his paperwork at the young boy in his office, Uzumaki Naruto. Children being present in his office wasn't a typical occurrence, but the Hokage had taken a special liking to the young boy.

An orphan of the Kyuubi attack, and a victim of its solution. The great beast had been sealed into the young boy on the day of his birth. This status resulted in much of the village ostracizing him, so the Sandaime took extra care to look after the boy, believing much of the animosity to be a direct result of his handling of the matter after the attack.

"Are you gonna teach me like, some super cool ninja stuff today?" The young boy asked him excitedly.

"Ah. This again…" Sarutobi thought to himself. It was a very common question from the boy, who idolized the shinobi around the village, and the Hokage himself. But at five years of age, he was still too young to begin attending the Shinobi Academy.

"You know my answer Naruto. You're still too young to start the Academy. I promise when you turn ten we'll get your application filled out." The Hokage patiently explained to the energetic youth.

Naruto's lips pursed in a slight pout for a moment, his bright blue eyes darting off to the side for a moment in dissatisfaction. This didn't last long before a new idea sparkled behind his eyes. "Okay, I get that. But can't you teach me something about being a ninja? Pleeeeease! It doesn't even have to be a super cool jutsu or anything. But you're the Hokage! You gotta know like, tons of cool stuff!"

The Sandaime leaned back in his chair for a moment, picking up his pipe and taking a drag from it as he mulled the idea over in his head.

"Tell me Naruto. What do you know about jutsu?" The Sandaime asked. The young boy was almost vibrating with excitement to answer.

"They're like, super duper cool things that ninjas can do! They shoot fire and lightning and look super awesome while doing it! I wanna do that too! I bet I'd look super awesome too!" Naruto nearly shouted his answer at the Hokage, barely able to hold back the awe and desire in his voice.

The Hokage sat for a moment, his pipe hanging loosely in his mouth, smoke lazily drifting upwards. Naruto tensed, waiting for his elder's response.

"Do you know what it takes to use a jutsu, Naruto?" The boy gave him a blank stare. Hiruzen chuckled lightly at the expression. After all, most five year olds aren't going to be very well versed in the mechanics behind shinobi techniques. "Jutsu are a wide and varied field of techniques that shinobi can use. You'll learn more about the specifics when you start the Academy, but nearly all of them share two things in common. Chakra, and seals."

The boy eagerly leaned forward, his head nodding up and down. His attention was wholly undivided, like a man wandering the desert told he could have water if he listened.

"Chakra is the combination of physical and spiritual energy that nearly all living beings possess. This energy is used to power and create jutsu. On its own, it can have many potent effects. When combined with seals, they direct the chakra and shape it. The right seals will combine to create different effects." The Sandaime could tell that Naruto had understood some of what he said, but not all. He wasn't exactly accustomed to instructing five year olds, so his explanations often went mostly over the young boy's head.

"So… chakra is the power… and seals tell it what to do?" The boy asked, thinking through the explanation.

The Sandaime smiled at the boy. "That's a very simple way of putting it. At your age, it isn't recommended to start working with chakra too intensively. Your body is still developing, and you don't want to strain it too hard. But you could start looking into the seals for jutsu. The more you learn about them now, the more you'll understand when it comes time to study techniques. A thorough understanding of the theory behind the seals can help you understand the intent of a jutsu."

Another blank stare.

"What I mean is, if you learn about seals now, learning jutsu later will be easier." The boy's face lit up at that simplified explanation.

"Really! That's so cool! Are you gonna teach 'em to me?" The Hokage laughed at the boy's excited outburst.

"I wish I could Naruto. But I don't have much free time today. Why don't you head down to the library and check out a book on Seals?" The Hokage offered with a kindly smile.

Naruto's gaze turned towards the floor and swung his legs more in concern than excitement. "I dunno Jiji… the last time I tried to go to the Library they told me I couldn't get any books. They said I needed to be an Academy Student or at least have an adult with me to get a library card…"

Sarutobi looked over the boy's crestfallen expression. He grabbed a spare scroll on his desk and began scrawling something on the inside.

"I'll tell you what Naruto. I'll write an official letter that you have the Hokage's permission to obtain a library card. You'll have access to all the books and scrolls available to regular patrons of the library. How does that sound?"

Naruto jumped up onto the couch in excitement exclaiming, "Really Jiji! That's awesome! Thank you!" He continued to bounce atop the couch in joy while Sarutobi finished writing the letter, and handed it to Naruto.

"Now remember, find a beginner's book or scroll about Seals. Maybe we can talk about what you've learned next time I see." He said with a grandfatherly grin.

Naruto excitedly snatched the scroll out of his hands and darted out of the office, with a distant "Thanks again Jiji!" as he took off down the hall.

Sarutobi picked up his pipe and took another long drag of the scented tobacco. He slowly exhaled, watching the smoke curl and wind gently through the air, thinking to himself.

"I can't remember the last time I saw someone so excited about learning the handsigns for Jutsu…"

A short time later

The Konoha Library

Mibashi Fura sighed and leaned her face on her palm. To put it plainly, she was bored. Extremely bored. She stared at the entrance of the library for a minute, then she stared at the wall for a minute, then she stared at her desk for a minute. Finally, her gaze returned to the entrance to restart her routine.

Entrance, wall, desk. Entrance, wall desk. Entrance, wall, desk. Child, wall- she sat up and blinked, making sure she wasn't hallucinating.

Sure enough, a blonde kid awkwardly grabbing the bottom of his orange shirt was standing in front of her desk.

"Oh, uhm… hello. Welcome to the Konoha Library, I'm Mibashi Fura, the Librarian on duty today. How can I help you?" She asked the nervous child.

He looked up at her, nervous energy causing him to shift from one foot to the other. He looked up at her for a moment before quickly averting his gaze.

"I-I'd like to g-get a l-library card… please…" The young boy managed to stutter out.

Fura blinked in surprise. "A library card? This kid clearly isn't old enough to be part of the Academy… and I don't see any adults with him either…"

"Well, what's your name kid?" she asked.

"U-Uzumaki Naruto…" he answered, the floor still holding his gaze.

"Well that explains it." Fura sighed slightly and looked down at the young boy. "Well Uzumaki-san, I'm very sorry, but if you aren't part of the Academy, or sponsored by a guardian, I can't grant you a library card and access to the library."

Fura frowned as she spoke. She didn't enjoy turning the boy away. She had to follow the rules. Despite his clear eagerness to learn, she couldn't help him.

"Uhm… I have this…" The boy held up a scroll towards the librarian. She took the scroll and unfurled it, reading over it quickly, trying to keep the surprise from showing on her face.

"Permission from the Hokage himself? Sheesh, this kid has the luck of the Kami or something." She rolled the scroll back up and handed it back to him. "Alright then! Since you have the Hokage's permission, I'll get you a library card."

Naruto bounced up and down on the balls of his feet in excitement. He was actually going to get a library card! He was going to learn all sorts of cool stuff about being a ninja! Fura smiled as she filled out a card with his name. It wasn't often she saw someone, a child no less, this excited about being allowed to be in a library.

She finished filling out the card and stamped it, marking it as an official library card, granting him access.

"Here you are Uzumaki-san, your library card." She said as she passed it over to him. "This card will grant you access to the library and all scrolls and books here. We have plenty of general information, but not much on shinobi related specifics. Those are contained in the Shinobi Library, which you'll gain access to if you pass the Academy and become an officially recognized shinobi."

Naruto nodded at her explanation. It only made sense that most of the information related to shinobi wouldn't be accessible to civilians.

"Now, was there anything you were looking for in particular?" Fura asked, smiling at the boy.

He scrunched his face in concentration, trying to remember precisely what the Hokage had told him to look for. In his excitement, he'd nearly forgotten the advice passed to him from the old man.

"Jiji told me to look for um… seals! Yeah! He said to look for something that talked about seals." Naruto excitedly shouted, earning himself a quick shushing from the librarian. He had the wits to listen and quieted down afterwards.

Fura thought for a moment after his request. "Seals? That's not a common thing to for a child to be looking into. He's too young to start working with chakra, or learning any actual jutsu. Must be something to keep him busy for a while." Fura directed Naruto towards a small section of scrolls and books in the back of the library, where the available information about seals resided.

While not commonly used by non-shinobi, seals were occasionally utilized in other lines of business and for varying purposes, so some information about them was available to the public. Handseals were also common knowledge, but those scrolls resided in an entirely different part of the library, far from where Fura had directed Naruto.

He walked to the section Fura had described, and started looking over the titles. Most of them sounded far too complex for the young boy. The Theory of Sealing, Sealing: Through the Ages, The Practical Business Applications of Seals and Their Primary Uses.

"How is any of this supposed to help me become a shinobi!" Was the thought running through Naruto's head. "Well, Jiji said it would help, so it's gotta be important!" Determined to follow the advice of his grandfather figure, Naruto kept digging through the shelves, searching for something that would help. Eventually, he pulled a small book from the shelf.

"Seals and How to Use Them. A Beginner's Guide." He read the title out loud to himself. "This sounds perfect!" The boy excitedly ran back to the front of the library to check out the book. With the text now in his possession, he excitedly hurried back to his apartment to start reading.

He was ready to take his first steps towards being a shinobi, and seals were the best way to start, so he understood.

Uzumaki Naruto was planning to take the shinobi world by storm, and this book was the key to the first steps on his adventure.

A/N: A short start to the story, with much more to come. I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter, and look forward to more.