Chapter Text
The Written Memoirs of Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, Konoha’s Fox
By, Hokage Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze
Author’s Notes,
Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, The Konoha Fox, is an accomplished shinobi and hokage. Having topped kills in the billions and being the still ever current Hokage & jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox. When reading, readers should be forewarned that some content may be unsuitable for genin and it is advised to skip some chapters within the Konoha Fox section or Shipuden section as those may contain content not yet suitable for Academy Ninja. Thank you and enjoy this Manga-Esque history book, may you too achieve your dreams!
When again dawn broke across the ninja village of Konoha, all was right with the world as every day seemed to be. Birds chirpy chirped and clouds rolled across the sky and towards the rising sun. All the while the sky along the sun was awash with pink hues.
Though one may believe that such a village as Konoha was peaceful and seemed to have been for generations, this appearance was but a false concept to onlookers beyond. Then again, such onlookers would know such as well. For the peaceful village was marred in past conflicts of the world in two World Wars. Each more devastating than the last and taking many lives, though the most recent seemed merely an intro when but three years later, it occurred.
The attack.
On the night of October 10th, a beast of all encompassing power came upon the recovering village. A great fox spirit. The Nine Tailed Fox, Kyuubi No Kitsune.
No one knows why it attacked nor how it escaped its mysterious container but regardless it did and with a furious vengeance. The Fox’s tails swished erratically and with rage as it’s eyes unfocused and filled with hatred bore down on the village. It toppled trees, destroyed outer buildings, and killed defending shinobi like they were but mere ants. Were it not for the Fourth Hokage, the great beast ,the demon, would have destroyed the village. To save the village hidden in the leaves, he paid the price…
Naruto Uzumaki was turning six years old soon and it couldn’t come sooner, the young boy practically vibrated in excitement at turning six. Six meant, he could go to Konoha’s Shinobi Academy you see. A dream, the young boy had since…well no one can quite say.
Naruto Uzumaki was quite…mysterious as it were. He had all the energy of a child and even the thought process of one but the way he sometimes spoke and the way he acted was odd. Sometimes the child would be like any other, bouncing off the walls and chattering away like a beaver on a sugar high. Other times though, young Naruto would display an awareness that was adult-like or even that of a wise leader.
This oddness though, only served to further the villagers’ laughable theory that they also pushed. Even the Third Hokage believed it’s insanity. It was the other kids, Naruto’s fellow orphans that were real interesting. For they viewed the blonde as a type of ‘Inner Hokage’, much to the blonde’s chargin whom deeply resented ever being associated with the role of Hokage…
Today was no different of his inner role doings. He almost felt like sighing as once again he had to deal with two fighting newbies. It was always the newbies…
“Say it again, you red haired shrimp, I dare you!”
“You not top dog, Igon be! Your nothing but a uh…a dumdum! Yeah!”
Naruto’s eyes rolled as he walked up to them, always the newbies…
“Hey, can you two knock it off?”
He liked to be nice…
“Eh???” The littlest one said, eyes blinking confused.
“Back off runt, your talking to your new boss!” The older one growled, glaring at Naruto.
Naruto at this age was quite short with stuck up blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes that shone of intelligence. He wore a black shirt with orange vest, tan khaki shorts, and blue sandals.
The blonde frowned at the boy, he wanted to be nice, he liked being nice…
“Kid, your not my boss.”
The older’s eyes blazed with fury, “What. Did. You. Just. Say?!”
The blonde inwardly sighed, it was this type of the newbie… Usually he had to deal with this kind once a year, however it seemed he would be dealing with another this year. Oh how lucky…
“I said, ‘You’re not my boss.’”
The kid growled deeply before attempting to throw a punch…one that Naruto easily dodged, causing the boy to fall flat on his face.
Naruto Uzumaki sighed…it was always the newbies…
After a morning of…reordering as it were in the ranks of the orphanage, Naruto Uzumaki was out and about in the village on a leisurely walk, all the while, the villagers went about preparing for the Kyuubi Day Festival. A festival quite well known in Konoha as it celebrated the defeat of the Nine Tails at the hands of the Fourth Hokage.
As he walked his stroll, he ignored the looks. The looks were…not hateful per say, rather…admiring, hopeful? It’s always confused Naruto. Whenever it was so close to October 10th, Kyuubi Day and his birthday consequently, those looks would always be very prominent. The night was most interesting though. Every night, whether drunk, Trainee, or Genin; Naruto would always get a surprise visitor that broke into the orphanage to see him.
Drunks would sway and then yell in glee, “Lord Fourth! Your back!!” before ultimately being dragged away by his friends…well guardians is more correct, but he likes to think of the bunny, dog, and cat as friends. They were all quite…interesting, especially Dog as he seems to be quite overprotective of him. Almost obviously so…
The Genin were ,as a Nara would say, troublesome . Every time the group of three would spot him, they would challenge him to a battle. Something Naruto felt quite strongly about as who in their right mind challenges a civilian, much less a five year old child! The Genin tend to be…quite funny though as the groups of Genin tend to begin asking him all sorts of questions of advice, life, and such. At least until their Senseis find them, in which case, it quickly becomes extremely funny. The looks upon the poor Genin as they’re lectured is always very humorous.
The Trainees meanwhile, upon spotting him, tend to try to follow him and copy him. That or beg him to be their Sensi. Neither of which tend to occur as they tend to be dragged off by miffed Orphanage Workers…Keepers…?
Either way of pronouncement, he hated them. Him and a lot of the other orphans. The workers were mean, cruel, and greedy. He hated them for that which is why so many suddenly found themselves mysteriously…pranked as it were.
Naruto kicked a rock along the dirt path, his feet scrunching up the dirty path before a ball bumped into his foot. Picking up the blue ball, he gazed curiously at it before a young child came up.
“Excuse me mister! Can I have my ball back?” The little one exclaimed to which Naruto smiled, nodded and then handed the ball over.
The little child ran off, giggling away happily as they yelled a ‘thank you’ behind them, heading towards smiling…parents…
He winced internally, that topic could never seem to be shaken off ,he began to strut along the path once more in thought of them…parents. He had often wondered what they were like, so many questions without answers…
Naruto stopped then as he spotted a mask hanging in a stall and upon its wall. It looked kinda like Dog’s mask, an Anbu mask…or at least an impression of one. It had squiggly red lines along the side, a dog-like smile, and a pair of white do-
Naruto fell backwards, not out of shock or fear, rather he was shoved back to the ground with a yelp.
“Wha-hey!” The sudden yelp escaped the blonde as he was shoved to the ground roughly.
He chided himself on the inside, he knew not to get distracted. It was almost a rule, Never Get Distracted and Lose Sight of Your Surroundings . It was how he dealt with the bullies and newbies of the Orphanage after all…
The blonde rubbed his head, his gaze looking angrily at an equally angry shop keeper.
“What’s your problem!?”
His yelling seemed to halt the earlier busy street as bystanders turned to look at the scene.
“What were you staring at and why Demon?” The man growled.
Naruto, not one to think when angered, replied, “I was just looking at your dog mask, I thought it looked cool!”
The keeper seemed to gain a glint of a predatory nature, “Cool you say..?”
Faster than Naruto could dodge, the keeper threw the mask at the young boy, shattering it on the kid’s face. The young child hissed in pain, nicks, scratches, and bruises appearing on his face from the force of the hit.
So, it was one of these types again, the type that believed him to be a demon of some kind. He hated these types… They always seemed to increase around a time to be celebrated…
He took a deep breath before standing up defiantly and simply walking away, leaving behind a smug shopkeeper who yelled many…not nice…words after the blonde.
Seeing this sight angered many villagers. He…their…the kid shouldn’t have to deal with that, deal with those types.
Quick as a flash, that once smugness became pure confusion, angry confusion. The villagers in the area had quickly surrounded the man, shouting their own words that were not nice once so ever. The children of the area gazed on, others asked their parents why the villagers had gotten so angry, and one child stared baffled but not outwardly showing it.
“Hnn, what’s their issue?”
The child looked to be around the same age as Naruto, his beady little eyes looking on in bafflement.
“He must have attacked the boy.” A woman mused to the child as an old man cackled.
“Hah!” ,the old timer cackled, “Serves the fool right, no one attacks our Ho-“
“Shhh!!!!” The woman screeched a whisper at the old man, “We can’t talk about him , you know that!”
The old man huffed, all the while, Sauske Uchilla’s eyes stared off curiously…what could be so special about a boy, a boy who was most certainly not apart of a clan…
Meanwhile, near the great reservations of Konoha Naruto stormed into the great forested wilderness that surrounded the area. His cuts healed once he reached his spot and began to perform his way of blowing off steam, training . It was all simply another day in the life of Naruto Uzumaki…
It was hours and hours later as Naruto sat by a campfire, under a slowly starring night sky in his favorite spot which was situated by Konoha’s Great Lake in Nidame Park. Atop the fire lay two caught fish cooking as Naruto ate the first cooked fish. What he did now was often a situation reserved for celebration or for the weekends, today however, he made an exception.
That day, he simply needed anything to make himself feel better, the week thus far had been bad… Normally he had a good or great week but this week…it just was nothing but bad. Bully after bully having to be stopped, troublesome newbies, harassment to be a Sensi by Trainees more than usual, and shopkeepers both inside and outside the village being abnormally mean or cruel to him. Granted the last reason was a small percentage but still quite upsetting nonetheless.
Lost in thought, the blonde continued to gobble down the fish, his whiskered face illuminated by the fire along with the old ma-
Naruto’s eyes widened, startled as he leaned/jumped back in startlement into, staring in shock at the old man. The man wore ragged clothes and had hair grey as grey thunderous clouds with a small grey goatee to match. Wrinkles covered his face and his brown eyes shone with much wisdom.
“W-who are you?” Naruto stuttered out, still quite startled by the old man that he hadn’t even heard approach.
“‘Who am I?’” The old man repeated the question, chuckling out in mirth. “Oh nobody, just an old man passing through.”
The old man smiled softly, his wise eyes and sagely face illuminated by the fire. It was then his stomach made a growl, the man grimacing as Naruto smiled softly.
“Are…you hungry?” He attempted to offer, his nerves still quite rattled.
“If you don’t mind?” The old man asked, his kind eyes softening.
Naruto reached down and took out a cooked fish off the fire, handing it to the old man. “Here, eat this.”
The old man took it, eyes soft and smile soft. “Oh thank you…?”
“Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki.” Naruto said, smiling.
“Thank you Naruto, oh, this looks so good. You cooked this very well.” He said, quite impressed.
Naruto chuckled, beaming a little, his nerves forgotten. “Heh, well I did catch it so of course, it’s gonna taste good!”
The old man chuckled, “Is that so?” ,He quickly blew on it after a bite, “Ooh! H-Hot!”
Naruto laughed at that, as did the old man at the old man’s antics, the way he dramatically blew on it and then yelled out about how it was hot was quite funny to Naruto.
The two sat there in silence for a couple of hours as the sun went away and the stars finally broke into the sky.
When the moon could be seen above the clouds, the old man turned to Naruto. “I don’t mean to be rude but…what are you doing out here? Alone?”
Naruto’s gaze lowered to the fire, his form slumping. “I…I came out here to blow off some steam to train…”
“Oh? Whatever for?” The old man asked, grey brow raising in curiosity.
“For the ninja academy but uh…it’s sorta become a habit to do it when I get angry or upset…I’ve just…it’s been a rough week….” He said, quite saddened.
The old man smiled softly, “You know, you remind me of an old friend, Naruto.”
“Huh?” The blonde looked up from the fire and to the man.
“Whenever he got too upset, he would train too to blow off some steam, though granted, his had been very extreme.” The old man laughed fondly.
Naruto smiled at this as he listened, “Naruto? Look at those stars.”
The old man pointed above into the starry sky, and Naruto looked above, his blue eyes shining as he gazed at those twinkling wonders.
“Each one of those stars is like our world’s sun.” ,Naruto turned to look at the old man, “What do you think? The sheer amount is incredible, eh?”
He turned back to look back into the wondrous sky, “Yeah…it is.”
The old man smiled, “Yes, this world is boundless.”
Naruto for the first time that day, smiled and with softly closed eyes, said, “You sure know a lot..”
The old man chuckled before he then turned to Naruto and with a smile, spoke once more. “Compared to the vastness of the world, man’s existence is very insignificant. The things that insignificant humans fret about are petty indeed.”
Naruto chuckled, eyes opening as he gazed back to the man. “No kidding, this world…it’s big, huh…it just…goes on and on…like a big shining sea…”
It was then that both stomachs growled despite the fish that they ate. As one they turned to each other before cracking smiles and laughing.
Though Naruto knew he had to go back to the orphanage, he decided to stay a little longer. He just couldn’t leave the old man, which is how he found himself cooking some mushroom soup.
He turned to the man, smiling, “Want some mushroom soup, gramps?”
The old man seemed a bit guilt ridden as he frowned, “Are you sure you can spare some?”
Naruto nodded, laughing and smiling, “Absolutely, you tell great stories!”
The old man then broke into a smile, laughing, “Thank you and you are a great audience! Hm…are you sure these mushrooms are safe?”
Naruto laughed, “Won’t know until we eat them!”
The old man smiled as Naruto filled the bowls he had on him with stew.
The Third Hokage was happy to have made Naruto’s day better…
The next day, Naruto had received punishment from the workers for not being back before dark. He took it in stride and never regretted the night before, how could he? He had helped feed an old man, a homeless old man by the looks he had seen the night before. To have helped and feed him was worth all the punishment he had received.
Currently, he was not at the orphanage however. No, for he was at what he dubbed his Thinking Spot which was sat atop the Fourth Hokage’s head. The giant head was carved into the side of a grand mountain, three others to its right. Each a Hokage of day’s past or in the case of the Third’s, day’s present.
Naruto sat, dragon fly on finger and smiling as he talked to it. “He’s right…the old man…compared to the world, I’m…I’m just…”
Naruto’s eyes closed in thought, a frown on his face. “I’m so small, whatever I do…it…”
His frown deepened before it disappeared to be replaced by a beaming determined smile on his whiskered face, “But I’m me…I’m me, I’m me! That’s who I am and I’ll make sure I matter!”
The dragonfly buzzed it’s wings as if in approval before flying away. All the while, Naruto stood, a determined smile and gaze on his face as he stared off.
Down below, an old man with a goatee and wearing ornate robes and hat, smiled. Konoha’s Fox had been born.