The sealing had gone entirely wrong with the shinigami sneezing. The rest of the seal had gone off as it had been written out by the Fourth Hokage. Mostly.
Sort of.
Well, maybe not so much.
Unfortunately, nobody alive knew that the demon fox was NOT sealed away in Naruto Uzumaki.
Age four:
The little boy found himself locked out of the ninja orphanage, and looked up at the clouds that promised a storm. Was it the third time this week? He was getting tired of it but at least he had thought ahead this time.
The blanket he'd stolen from someone else's bed was where he'd hidden it behind a couple of loose bricks. If the rain held off, he'd be okay. Just needed to grab a couple of boxes in this alleyway.
The first drops of rain hitting the cardboard over his head caused Naruto to scowl.
If only he could find a place to be. A place he could call his own. He fell asleep like that.
It was in the alley that he was awakened by the sounds of violence, and peered out at the mugging taking place.
Small and alone, he turned from it and buried himself in the blanket. Try not to be noticed. He'd be blamed for it if he was found. Not that there was anything he could do about it in any case.
He fell asleep there in the cardboard box wishing that he somehow had the power to do something about things like that.
He wasn't sure where he was. A dank sewer? Except that there was this heavy gate he could slip through, and a light beyond that?
Naruto found the darkened stairs in the tunnel, leading up to a...
Naruto stared in wide-eyed wonder as he poked his head up. Around him was a shining field, knee-length grass everywhere. It was noon and there were only a few fleecy clouds floating overhead.
WHAM!
Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin, but settled for going halfway down the stairs.
WHAM!
Naruto slowly went back up the stairs to peek on whatever was making that noise.
There were wooden posts and targets not far away, and standing there was a guy. A BIG guy. A battlescarred sort of veteran warrior type.
"Come closer, kid, I don't bite," yelled the man as he continued setting up the targets.
Naruto hid back down for a few moments, watching as the man went over to a well and drew a bucket up from its depths. He drained the contents quickly and then tossed it back down into the depths again.
"Kid," said the man as he stopped and leaned against the well. "You want respect? You want to be stronger? You've got to work at it. That's what I'm here for."
Age eight:
Everything came so easy for that Uchiha guy. And most of the others. Well, phooey on them. Everything he got was from hard work.
Naruto continued doing pushups until he reached two hundred, then rolled forward and sprinted to begin running around the village.
"EEK!" squeaked a little girl as someone came hurtling towards her. Then the back of her head impacted the tree and she was aware of how much it hurt.
Coolness against the back of her head. Beneath her cheek, something warm and soft that smelled of forest and... ramen?
Lavender eyes blinked open. What was happening?
A strong hand gripped her shoulder. "Easy there. You took quite a hit."
Hinata realized she had her head on someone's leg and she was looking at his knee.
"EEP!"
Hinata realized WHO it was before she'd managed to roll away and look up into that familiar face. That made the WHY obvious. He'd surprised her and she'd managed to knock herself out. She was SO pathetic.
"So," said the blonde boy with the very blue eyes. "Do you want to train?"
"I - ano - that is - I -" managed Hinata, her shyness at war with her need to be polite and fascination with the boy that nobody liked for absolutely no reason that she could see.
"Yes?" asked Naruto.
"yes?" asked Hinata.
"Great!" said Naruto. "Right now you're injured though. So let me help you get home."
"Th-that's okay, really," said Hinata.
"No, it's not," said Naruto. "What're friends for?"
"F-f-f-friend?" asked Hinata.
"Sure," said Naruto. "We can meet tomorrow to train. How about right after class?"
Hinata looked at the boy, all golden like sunlight, with sky-blue eyes. With his arm supporting her, her knees somehow being wobbly, and feeling all warm. "O-okay."
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(Posted Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:12)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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