The Hokage was chuckling as he waited for the Dead Last of the Ninja Academy to show up. He knew that Naruto was responsible for the entire stork mess a few days ago, but there was no proof. He heard a knock at his door and nodded, while he took a puff on his pipe.
"Come in, Naruto," the Hokage said.
The ten-year-old boy came in and was carrying an odd box with him. He put the box on the Hokage's desk and sighed.
"I'm sorry. I did not mean for that to get out of hand," Naruto said, a bit meekly.
The Hokage chuckled. "There is no way to prove that anyone was responsible, so don't worry about that. What's with this box?"
Naruto took a deep breath and explained where he got the box from and the monk who gave it to him. He pulled out the red belt and placed it on the box. The Hokage leaned back in surprise at what he had just heard and opened the box up and pulled out one of the scrolls.
Unrolling the scroll, the Hokage shook his head and addressed Naruto. "That monk gave all this to you to protect and learn from. Why did you tell me?"
"I trust you," Naruto said with a smile.
"You really shouldn't, but I do appreciate that you do."
"I don't understand."
"Naruto, you will understand someday," the Hokage said with a heavy sigh and opened the scroll he took out. "I really think you should learn from the scrolls before trying to learn from any animals and when you are ready for learning from an animal, come to me. We really don't need another stork incident."
The Hokage shook his head, as he read the scroll. "If you can understand this, why were you having problems in school?"
"That monk gave me the ability to understand the language on the scrolls," Naruto replied.
"Ah. I see. You didn't learn writing very well in school."
Naruto shook his head. "No. Any time I tried to get help, the teachers just ignored me, except for Iruka-sensei."
The Hokage rolled the scroll back up and put back in the box. "That monk seemed to be a far better teacher to you than all the others you had, except for Iruka."
"Hokage? I saw that monk die, and...."
"I see," Hokage sadly stated, as he closed the box up and handed it back to Naruto. "I guess we should talk about life and death and what that means for a ninja. As to that box, it is yours. What is in it is yours as well. That monk gave it to you."
The Hokage dug around in his desk for a bit and pulled out a scroll. "Naruto, learn from this scroll. The technique will allow you to hide stuff on your person, and make it look like you aren't carrying anything. If you have a backpack with you, you could hide a lot more. I consider that box of yours an S-rank secret. Now then, let's talk about life and death."
Over the next hour, the Hokage explained to Naruto about life and death for a ninja and what he could expect as a Konoha ninja. After the talk, Naruto quickly learned the technique and quickly hid the box upon his person.
"Naruto?"
"Yes, Hokage."
"Remain Dead-Last. That way you keep the secret of the box a secret and make people underestimate you."
"I think.... All right, I will," Naruto said slowly.
As soon as Naruto left, the Hokage shook his head, as he thought about Naruto. 'Hokage or rebuilding destroyed temple, either one would make your father proud of you, Naruto.'
Naruto quickly went back to the abandoned building that he lived in and pulled the box out and a scroll that showed something called inner focus. He read through the scroll and found that it was a type of meditation exercise that allowed a person to examine their flows of energy from the inside out. Making sure he understood what the scroll said, he put it away and hid the box once more.
"Seems simple enough and it should help me remember things," Naruto muttered.
Naruto closed his eyes and relaxed his breathing, as he tried to find his inner self. What he didn't expect was the image of him standing out side a giant cave with iron bars blocking the entrance.
"What's going on? This isn't supposed to happen," Naruto muttered.
A giant form crashed against the bars, and Naruto looked on in horror at what he knew to be the Nine-Tailed Fox.
"What? How?"
"I really want to eat you," the fox stated.
"You're dead. You were killed by the Yodamine Hokage."
"No. He sealed me away inside a newborn infant. That infant was you. It's why the people of Konoha disdain you," the massive demon harshly retorted.
"How can I talk to you at all?"
"That technique you picked up from that Shaolin Scroll allows us to talk."
"You know..."
"Oh yes, I know about that monk and the box he gave you. I would suggest learning Vault of Heaven Noise. It will come in handy," the fox stated and gave a chilling laugh and shook its head. "That monk has earned my respect. He could tell at a glance that I was in you and still gave to box to you."
"Why are you suggesting a technique for me to learn? Is it some way to get free."
"If I help you, I'll get free quicker."
"I don't understand."
"Of course not. You are just a cub that is disdained and hated by almost everybody. As to that technique, it will help you without harming you."
"That makes no sense."
"Just learn the damn technique! Otherwise, you will be at their mercy! I'm not talking about Konoha. There are others who hunt you."
"How do I get out of here?"
"Just do what you did to get here," the fox stated.
After Naruto faded back out of the mindscape, the Nine-Tailed Fox gave a long laugh. "Yes, he is learning that technique. Soon, every person who uses the Sharningan will be at risk of permanent blindness if they confront him. I'll have to convince him to learn the other techniques and soon the Sharningan will be nothing more than a bad memory as their users burn out their own eyes trying to read the brat."
The fox demon started laughing, as he recalled what happened to Uchiha Sasuke and imagined all the other Sharningan users being afflicted by that.
Naruto opened his eyes in the real world and took a shuddering breath.
"The Nine-Tailed Fox," Naruto whispered. "That's why everyone ignores me. That's why the Hokage said not to trust him. He knew."
Naruto shook his head and pulled the box out and started hunting for the scroll with Vault of Heaven Noise on it.
"No. Hokage did what he thought best. I'll keep quiet that I know of the fox demon. Ah, here's that technique."
Naruto read over the technique and scratched his head in confusion.
"This still makes no sense. This technique will give me greater control over my inner self. It would make it harder for the demon to break free, not easier," Naruto muttered to himself and shook his head. "It still looks like a fun technique."
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(Posted Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:34)
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