Origin
The sun began to set over The Village hidden in the Leaves, casting a warm golden glow over the treetops and bathing the sky in shades of pink and orange. As the last rays of light began to fade, one of the two guards stationed at the gate to the village turned to his companion.
"Another long night," he muttered, rubbing his tired eyes. 'I can't wait to finally get off duty and head back to bed."
"Hey, what we do here is important," The other guard stated as he turned towards his yawning companion, "We must remain ever vigilant if we wish to protect this village from outside threats."
"I know, I know. I heard the speech. It's just-," Guard A sighed and leaned against the large column on the side of the gate, "Ever since The Fourth Great Ninja War ended and the five Shinobi Villages combined forces, there hasn't been any real threat to the village."
"Don't get me wrong, I love peace and all and get that Lord Sixth is being cautious against rogue shinobi and whatnot but no one in their right mind is going to attack the Leaf. So here I am, just going to look out into the darkness for hours on end. SO boring."
"Well, it's not all bad. The daytime guards are swamped with all the merchants constantly going in and out." Guard B pointed out.
"I don't mean, I might rather be swamped with work than bored out of my mind."
"Oh yeah?" Guard B went over to Guard A to elbow him, "And how exactly would you have gotten that lady you've been bragging about if you were such a busy bee? What was her name again? Martha, right?"
"Oh, shut up!" Guard A lightly shoved his teaser away.
"Wow, someone so serious all of a sudden! You know if you ever get bored again just tell me. I'll be sure to reminisce about all that heartfelt emotions you tell me about when drunk."
"If you do that I'll- I'll-."
"You'll what?"
"Give me a second, will you? I have to think of a good comeback."
"What the hell?!"
"No, I want something more subtle and vaguely threatening sounding."
"No, look!" Guard B pointed into the darkening trees.
Guard A glanced at the shrubbery and raised his kunai. "Who's there?" He yelled into the darkness.
Suddenly a young boy burst out of the dense trees. His clothes in tattered and soaked in blood. His hair was matted with sweat and dirt, and his bare feet were scratched and bleeding from running through the dense forest.
He then seemed to notice the two guards who were in a defensive stance.
"H-Hello," the boy said stammered, "Is this a dancing leaf hidden behind the trees?"
"I-If this is that village t-then can you call someone important – someone important?"
The boy's voice seemed to snap the guards out of their initial shock and they were filled with questions about this child.
"Who are you? What's happened? What's your name?" Gaurd A took out some bandages from his pockets and rushed towards the child.
"M-My name is... is..." the boy's eyes rolled up into his head as he struggled to answer the guard's questions and then his body went completely limp.
"Kid, you okay? Hey, call a medic! Don't worry kid, my associate has gone for help. Just stay here, try not to move. What's your name?"
The remaining guard rushed inside the leaf; leaving to get any medical shinobi was far safer than moving someone with an uncertain condition. The remaining guard studied the boy's physical condition, for he vaguely remembered some first aid classes he took a long time ago, and attempted to wrap his bandages around any of the biggest cuts on his body. Although the boy's clothes were soaked with unmistakable blood, the boy himself had not a scratch on him besides the small ones on his feet.
"Kid? KID! Oh no! Why isn't that guy back yet? Hey kid, stay with me."
If the kid was still conscious, he would have said that he wasn't planning on going anywhere else anyway. He was told to come here and besides where else would he go? This was the only place those silver lines led to.
However, he never would never tell his story even after he woke up as certain circumstances beyond his control made it impossible. By the time Guard B came back with a medical ninja, a jutsu in the boy had already taken its final payment.
"How is he?" Kakashi the Sixth Hokage asked.
"His condition is stabilizing, he still hasn't woken up," Saruka answered.
Kakashi had entered the secret hospital inside the Hokage's building where the boy was hospitalized.
"Have we figured out anything new based on the medical exams?"
"No Lord Sixth, no new information has been discovered."
Kakashi pondered for a moment about the information he already had. With the reports from the night guards, and the scroll the boy had on him, Kakashi had a decent idea of what happened but didn't have any concrete information to prove it. He had already sent out some tracking shinobi to find out where he came from but that venture had been unsuccessful so far.
Even so, the theory he had didn't answer where the boy came from, who he was, or what the symbol on the bottom of the scroll that was found on him meant.
"So, all we know is that he collapsed due to total drainage of his chakra but he was totally unharmed... What about you, Ino?" Kakashi turned to face someone else, "How is the reading of his mind to figure out his identity going?"
"I couldn't see anything," Ino responded.
Kakashi was perplexed, "He has amnesia?" to which Ino shook her head.
"The Mind Transmission jutsu can bring up a forgotten memory so it's more like his memory just doesn't exist," Ino explained.
"Isn't that impossible? Or are you saying that his memories have been wiped somehow?" Kakashi asked to which Ino nodded.
"That's what I thought too, so I dug a little deeper, and that was when something strange happened. I-"
"Hey guys! I heard you found someone strange!" A young man with spiky golden hair and blue eyes poked his head into the room.
"Naruto! Can't you see we're busy?! What are you doing here?" Saruka swiveled and faced the intruder.
"I was just in the area and popped by to see what was going on," Naruto said scratching the back of his head with a smile.
"Anyways, I like I was saying," Ino continued ignoring the interruption, "When I dug a little deeper, I found something strange. In places where some memories should be, there was just that symbol found on the scroll"
"The same one? Hmm I see," Naruto nodded his head sagely, "Kakashi-sensei, what are we talking about again?" Naruto whispered.
The Sixth Hokage sighed "What are you even doing here?" he muttered under his breath.
"Ino's explaining what happened when she tried to enter the boy's mind." he explained.
"Which boy? Oh, him. That's the kid who was found outside the leaf village right?"
Kakashi nodded, "The very same. We've been trying to find out where he came from the past few days but no clues have turned up so far." Kakashi paused and briefly considered telling Naruto about the various oddities that occurred in the process of trying to find the boy's identity but ultimately decided against it. There was no need to tell him and if he really wanted to know, he would find out when he became Hokage.
"At any rate, he would need somewhere to stay once he wakes up in case he doesn't remember anything," Kashihi said.
"He could stay at my place for a while" Naruto offered, "Our house has an extra room that isn't used right now. I'm sure Hinata and Boruto and Himawari could always use a playmate or something."
Kakahi nodded, "That'll do for now, thanks Naruto"
"No Prob - "Naruto was cut short by an urgent and rapid beeping that came from the monitor hooked up to the boy's bed.
"What's going on," Naruto asked as Ino and Sakura rush to the machinery.
"I don't know" Saruka answered back as she frantically checked all the machinery looking for the anomaly.
"Hey looks like he's in pain"
"NO! Naruto don't!" Ino yelled, sensing pure fear from the boy's unconscious body as Naruto reached toward him.
Suddenly boy's hand reached out and grabbed Naruto's and his eyes opened. But instead of his normal eyes, his eyes glowed white and he mouthed something while keeping a death grip on Naruto's arm.
The next instant, the surrounding air, the machinery, and the ground below for at least 50 feet... turned into bubbles.
? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ? ゚ムチ
Naruto could sense that something was wrong. He realized it the second the boy had grasped onto his wrist and the feeling only grew the longer contact was maintained. At first, he was just surprised, he had thought the boy was unconscious and in pain so he reached out to settle him down. When the boy grabbed him, he merely thought that he was just grabbing onto what was near him in pain.
Of course, it would be a simple matter to get out of the child's hold but the thought of using one of his jutsu on a child never crossed his mind. In a few moments, however, that would change. It was no longer that he wouldn't use his jutsu but that he couldn't. Chakra was leaving his body at an abnormal rate. It was leaving so quickly that by the time he noticed, about a third of his chakra was completely gone.
Naruto immediately looked at the boy to try and figure out what was happening. The boy had awakened but his eyes glowed a brilliant white and he was mouthing something. The boy wasn't looking at him although he was totally stealing his chakra. He was looking at nothing at all; just straight up at the ceiling.
Naruto forcefully disrupted his internal chakra much like how he normally escapes from genjutsu and as he did, the boy stopped chanting silently, let go of his wrist and everything around him turned to bubbles.
"What the-," Naruto batted away the bubbles that had suddenly filled his vision to see a giant hole where the bed once was.
Without a second thought, he jumped into the hole after the boy. As he was falling, he distantly heard Ino yelling at him to stop. Unfortunately, he had already committed to following the boy and resigned himself to a long lecture when he got back.
At the bottom of the hole, he found himself in a long corridor with intricate markings on the walls.
"The Catacombs?" Naruto said, immediately realizing where he was.
"ARGH. You NEVER listen do you!" suddenly Naruto heard Ino's voice yelling into his brain.
"Sorry, about that," he said "Just couldn't let him fall, you know?"
"Well, did you get him?" Kakashi's voice was also heard, speaking through Ino's Jutsu.
"No, the hole leads to the catacombs"
"Well, you better find him quick," Saruka also came on, "A person could get lost for their entire lives down there. We're busy trying to not let the room collapse on itself so you're on your own."
"Also, Naruto," Ino started talking again, "there's something you must know. The boy was unconscious the entire time. However, he was terrified and I think it was from the massive amount of chakra you have. So dial it back when going after him."
"Got it," Naruto said as the connection terminated. "You ready, Kurama?" Naruto asked the nine-tailed fox beast that was sealed inside him.
Did you not listen to a word she just said, Kurama replied, Chakra scares him and that form oozes chakra everywhere, just use regular Sage Mode.
'Right, sorry should've thought of that.' Naruto apologized.
Somewhere far, far away, a Naruto clone was meditating on a rock column, collecting sage chakra from the surroundings. Then that clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The Naruto in the catacomb suddenly underwent a subtle transformation. The skin around his eyes turned orange and his eyes turned into that of a frog; a telltale sign that he was infused with senjutsu or sage chakra.
Naruto used his newfound connection with nature to sense the life energy in the surrounding area and follow the boy's trail.
After a few minutes, Naruto caught up with the boy who had reached a dead end. Hearing somebody approach, the boy turned around to face Naruto, his eyes still glowing.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Naruto assured, his hands in the air, "I just want to help."
The glowing eyes ran over Naruto's figure as if assessing the truth of his words till they stopped at his headband.
"The Dancing Leaf," the boy said quietly, so quietly that Naruto wouldn't have heard if his senses hadn't been boosted by Sage mode. As the boy said those words the glow left his eyes and he began to fall forward as all the strength seemed to leave him.
Naruto dashed forward and catches him before he hits the ground. While Naruto retraced his steps using his own life energy and carried the boy, the boy's eyes flickered open for a moment.
"A fox?"
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.̗̲̲̥̙̺͈̗̉ͧ͘.̬͕̫̱̙ͤ͌ͧ͑̀.̢͖̗̘͔͕̩̠́ͭ.̝̞͒̂͗͢.̢͙͇̣̞̖͓͓ͥ͌ͥ̽.̯̱͔͍̗̻͋͝.̛̭̳̰̜̓̃ͨ.̳͇͙̟̙ͫ̀ͤ̒̀.̷̳͉ͨ͑.̫̩̮̰̋͝.̪̱̦ͬ͂̄̚͞.͕̬͕̗̿́͞ .̗̲̲̥̙̺͈̗̉ͧ͘.̬͕̫̱̙ͤ͌ͧ͑̀.̢͖̗̘͔͕̩̠́ͭ.̝̞͒̂͗͢.̢͙͇̣̞̖͓͓ͥ͌ͥ̽.̯̱͔͍̗̻͋͝.̛̭̳̰̜̓̃ͨ.̳͇͙̟̙ͫ̀ͤ̒̀.̷̳͉ͨ͑.̫̩̮̰̋͝.̪̱̦ͬ͂̄̚͞.͕̬͕̗̿́͞ .̗̲̲̥̙̺͈̗̉ͧ͘.̬͕̫̱̙ͤ͌ͧ͑̀.̢͖̗̘͔͕̩̠́ͭ.̝̞͒̂͗͢.̢͙͇̣̞̖͓͓ͥ͌ͥ̽.̯̱͔͍̗̻͋͝.̛̭̳̰̜̓̃ͨ.̳͇͙̟̙ͫ̀ͤ̒̀.̷̳͉ͨ͑.̫̩̮̰̋͝.̪̱̦ͬ͂̄̚͞.͕̬͕̗̿́͞ .̗̲̲̥̙̺͈̗̉ͧ͘.̬͕̫̱̙ͤ͌ͧ͑̀.̢͖̗̘͔͕̩̠́ͭ.̝̞͒̂͗͢.̢͙͇̣̞̖͓͓ͥ͌ͥ̽.̯̱͔͍̗̻͋͝.̛̭̳̰̜̓̃ͨ.̳͇͙̟̙ͫ̀ͤ̒̀.̷̳͉ͨ͑.̫̩̮̰̋͝.̪̱̦ͬ͂̄̚͞.͕̬͕̗̿́͞
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Something stopped. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe... left it is."
