The story so far...
Life was never going to be easy as a Jinchuriki, and Naruto felt the full brunt of his burden from a young age. After leaving the orphanage, he managed to find himself a routine as a street urchin. He was soon found by the third Hokage, Hiruzen, along with Kakashi.
Being curious by nature and surprisingly sharp, Naruto seeks out Kakashi Hatake to receive training from him and uncovers secrets about his upbringings. He came face to face with his inner demon and managed to find common ground with him. He learned about his heritage, and shortly after meeting the eight tail's host by chance, dealt with the knowledge in his own way.
Armed with this new knowledge and an interesting ability inherited by his mother, Naruto makes a promise with the nine tails as his witness. He vowed to reunite him with his other half, a task that could only be done by finding a missing mask, and free the remaining beasts along the way. And even though it was an ambitious dream, one that even he doubted would ever see the light of day, he wished to bring peace to the world.
After becoming a Genin at 8 years of age, he and his classmates; Sho and Yuna became known as 'team 5'. A cheery, newly minted Jonin named Tomoda became their instructor, and the four of them quickly became close friends.
But not all stories have a happy ending in the elemental nations. Coming back from an easy mission, the team was ambushed by the snake Sanin; Orochimaru. Tomoda was killed, Yuna had mysteriously disappeared and Sho was branded with the cursed seal of heaven. With Naruto and Sho being the only ones confirmed to have survived, things seemed bleak for the remaining members of team 5. Jiraiya the toad Sage and Kakashi were quick to search for them and fend off the snake sannin. As they were about to make their way back home, an unknown event made Naruto freeze up and lose consciousness.
Life was never the same for Naruto after that. He grew withdrawn, almost as if he were absent. A shell of his former self. He began to hear voices, have strange dreams and witness visions, his worse nightmares playing before his eyes. An unknown weight was placed on his shoulders, one that made him feel such intense guilt that he chose to hide his face from the world.
Time went by as Naruto was put under probation, waiting to be assigned a new team, but whispers about the snake sannin made him grow impatient. Choosing to ignore orders from his superiors, he followed Kakashi and his squad, but was quickly found out by Kakashi's sharp instincts. On this trip, he met the seven tail Jinchuriki, Fū, along with the beast herself, Chomei.
But one should never disobey direct orders from their Kage. Due to his insubordination, Naruto was stripped of his rank and forced to start over from square one. Discouraged but not defeated, Naruto forced himself to remain patient and wait the years out until he received his freedom again. Eventually, he graduated once more and was placed onto team 7, with Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake.
Their first C-rank classed mission went awry and they all fought a hard battle against two A-ranked missing nins and a renowned swordman of the Mist village. It was there that Naruto took his first step towards companionship between himself and the nine tailed, learning his name and earning his trust. The Chunin exam began soon after, with the team being confidant in their abilities. But alas, fate had different plans for him and he was once more ambushed by his snake tormentor...
Many have asked for this since i take so long to upload (my bad) but here's a summary of what's happened so far. I will call this chapter 24 purely to avoid confusion with the chapters and titles, and the next chapter will be chapter 25, but this is not the 'official' chapter 24.
To summarize this summary: shit happened, next chapter will be chapter 25: Snakes in the grass part 2.
Till next time.