The third Hokage leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes as he smoked his pipe. It had been almost five months since Naruto went missing from the orphanage. He had gone to celebrate Naruto's 5th birthday just a month ago, only to find out that the boy had been kicked out four months prior.
Now there was almost no trace of Naruto in the village, and with the village short-staffed as it was, he was forced to use his own shadow clones to search for Naruto. Not in his Hokage robes or battle armour of course, he didn't want to cause a panic. He disguised his clones in simple clothes that he believed Naruto would recognise. He was also someone the boy trusted, so he expected the homeless five year old to come running to him sooner or later. But he never did.
He was about to inform the council that Naruto had gone missing when he got a report from a civilian ramen chef, Teuchi, about a young boy who was rummaging in his trash for food. He had then fed him ramen in exchange for washing the dishes. After that the boy disappeared once more.
He would then show up irregularly with loose change that he believed the boy went scavenging for.
Hiruzen now knew where Naruto would eventually be, but not when, or where he stayed. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a long sigh. The council searching for the boy was a last resort he did not want to use, which left him only one option. And that option would be returning from a long mission in a day's time.
"Where are you Naruto.." Hiruzen muttered as he sent his disguised shadow clones to search throughout the village yet again.
Meanwhile with Naruto
The reason why Hiruzen could not find Naruto was due to the simple fact that Naruto wasn't in the village. Currently, he was training his overall body strength and endurance by swimming against the current of the small river that flowed under the bridge just outside Konoha. He had secured himself by tying a rope around his body and to a tree stump so that he wouldn't get swept away once he got tired.
He held on for as long as he could, which in his weaker body was less than ten minutes, before swimming back to the riverbank for a break. Naruto found that water added resistance, making swimming a great muscle building exercise to grow new muscle and maintain his existing muscle mass, as well as increasing his cardiovascular fitness.
The fact that it was also winter and that the water was ice cold only improved his endurance. Kurama would make sure he wouldn't die of hypothermia anyway, so he didn't see the harm.
The current Naruto hated the Naruto who came up with this idea. It was freezing. "Brrr" Naruto shuddered as his teeth chattered. "Ku-k-kurama-a, did-did'nt you say y-you would p-p-protect me from the c-cold?"
"I said I wouldn't let you die of the cold, Gaki. Now suck it up and get into the water again."
He repeated the exercise for three sets before moving on to his main purpose for coming to the river. He was going to attempt to water-walk.
"You got this Naruto. You've done this before, you can do it again." Naruto muttered to himself before stepping onto the water. His feet sunk a little but he felt his Chakra at the bottom of his feet. He moved his other leg, and both feet began sinking. Grimacing, Naruto forced more Chakra into the technique before he lost control and fell into the freezing cold water.
Coughing, spluttering, and shivering on the riverbank, Naruto ignored the cold best he could to recall what Jiraya told him when he was learning to water walk the first time.
"You need to be emitting a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of your feet and using the repellent force to walk across the water's surface." Kurama sighed. "I didn't expect it to be this bad after all your tree-walking."
"Hey!" Naruto cried indignantly, "This technique is more difficult to master than tree walking! The amount of chakra that I need to emit changes constantly- Ahhh! It's cold!" He ended his sentence mid-way and shuddered as a gust of wind blew by.
"Idiot!" Kurama shouted. "Have you learnt nothing? Remember your breathing exercise brat!"
Naruto clapped his hands together, realising that it was the same fundamental concept. "Of course! I just need to feel the water beneath me and focus on synchronising my Chakra flow with the flow of the water!"
Stepping onto the water again, he closed his eyes and felt his Chakra within him, swirling in a powerful torrent that felt like a whirlwind, and breathed in deeply, trying to regulate his breathing to mimic water, specifically the flow, flexibility and adaptability of the liquid around him.
He was standing perfectly on the water. Opening his eyes, his lips curved upwards into his signature bright smile. His breathing had changed yet again, the pure wind Chakra now flowing out of his body in perfect harmony with the flow of nature Chakra around him. Naruto laughed, the feeling was exhilarating.
He then broke his concentration and had to steady himself before falling into the water. Then one foot sank. Then the other. Then he fell in once again.
"Perhaps his body and Chakra network and simply still not developed enough." Kurama mused. "Well, this needs to become second nature to him."
"You have your work cut out for you Naruto!" He laughed.
"Shut up you idiot fox! A-achoo!"
Time skip 1 day
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST HIM?" An Inu masked anbu, better known as Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan, slammed his fist onto the Hokage's table, throwing respect and etiquette to the wind out of concern for his sensei's son.
"Watch yourself Kakashi. Think before you act." The old Hokage warned him firmly, releasing just a bit of his Chakra as a show of strength.
The man with over a thousand jutsu grimaced, before collecting himself and stepping back. "I apologise for my outburst, Lord Third. I was simply concerned for the well being of my sensei's legacy and allowed my emotions to control my actions."
"As am I, Kakashi. I worry for him." The old man stood up and moved to the window. He was outraged to find out that Naruto had been left to live on the streets, for all he knew, 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.
Much to his dismay he 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. as his grip on the windowsill tightened and shattered the wood.
"I'm trusting you to find him Kakashi. Whatever it takes."
The copy ninja bowed with a "hai" and shunshined out of the room.
The old Hokage tuned back to look out of the window once more. "This village has truly failed both of you. I hope you can forgive me, Naruto, Minato."
Meanwhile
Naruto was simply walking along the streets of the village, but bundled up in a orange jacket and a scarf that the Sandiame had gifted him for his fourth birthday. He was still shivering slightly, feeling the effects of the freezing river from yesterday.
It was then that he heard soft cries he knew all too well.
"Eh? That's Hinata's voice" He muttered. Just then he heard a meaty thud, as if a fist had made contact with flesh, and her faint pained cry. Quick as thought Naruto took to his heels and raced towards the sounds. Three large youths that he recognised from last year's Pre-Academy graduating class were standing over a small, huddled Hinata curled up at their feet. Their fists clenched, the youths were hurling abuse at the small Hyuuga heir, taunting her weakness and kicking her with their feet.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing you brats? Get away from her!" yelled Naruto as he rushed forward and pushed them away. Crouching down he rested his hand on the back of the sobbing child and gently asked if they were okay.
The child looked up into Naruto's face to reveal the tear stained face of a young Hinata Hyuga. "Hey now it's okay you just rest here and I'll take care of those bozos for you," he gently reassured the girl with a smile as he wiped her tears away with his thumbs. Patting her on the head he stood up and faced here tormentors.
"You would hit a little girl? What is wrong with you?" he demanded indignantly.
"Oh look, the little cry-baby princess needs to be saved by the village loser," taunted one of the youths, "Maybe you two should stick together it could be a club of losers."
"There is no such thing as a loser. If you are trying your best and never give up anyone can be someone." stated Naruto calmly, "Though I suppose you could call someone who uses their strength to pick on others losers, but I'll just call you pathetic instead."
Enraged, the three youths charged at Naruto with flailing arms and growls of outrage. Naruto calmly sidestepped every punch, kick and shove weaving his way through their uncoordinated attacks before eventually punching one in the back of the head and knocking the other two heads' together effectively knocking them out.
Dusting his hands together Naruto nodded his head in satisfaction and turned to meet the awestruck look on Hinata's face. Kneeling down in front of her once more he took her chin in his hand and raised her head to survey the damage.
"Oh, that's going to be a beauty of a bruise," he said as he gently poked at the swollen, red flesh on her small cheek, "Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"N…n…n…no," Hinata stammered timidly, just then her eyes widened as Naruto felt a sharp pain to the back of his neck and slumped sideways as he lost all feeling in his body.
"How dare that Beast lay hands on a Hyuga, much less a member of the main family. Come my Lady we must leave at once," exclaimed the pompous voice of the shinobi who had attacked Naruto and who then grabbed the girl by the hand and dragged her away despite her protests.
"Ow, that could have gone better." mumbled Naruto after he had surged his chakra to release the pinched nerve point which had resulted in his temporary paralysis. "That will teach me to let my guard down I suppose."
"Still…Hehe! Hinata was so tiny!" Grinning to himself Naruto rested his hands behind his head as he hummed softly, making his way to ichiraku's.
On the way however, he was stopped by a dog-masked anbu. "Kakashi-sensei." Naruto thought with glee, as it took everything he had not to run over to the younger Kakashi sensei and wrap him in a hug.
The young Kakashi let out a sigh of relief as he found Naruto safe and sound. Still, he had to punish Naruto for not contacting the Hokage for months. "Uzumaki Naruto." He said in his best Minato-sensei voice, one that conveyed disappointment and slight frustration. "Hokage-sama requires your presence."
That's when it clicked for Naruto. "Kakashi-sensei's mad, but why- oh. Oh crap. That's what I forgot."
Scratching the back of his head, Naruto chuckled sheepishly at the silver haired anbu. "I uhhh… got lost on the road of life?"