Chapter Text
A long time ago there lived a fox spirit called the Kyubi. It was very powerful and could be used for great destruction. It also had another lesser known power.
This power was known by an elderly man named Orochimaru. He was from the Konoha kingdom and was one of the legendary 3 warriors called the “Sannin”. The Sannin were well respected by all. This helped by the fact that one of the Sannin named Jiraya was the man who trained the current king for battle when he was a child, though he wished to be known as an author as well (it didn’t always work out). The other great Sannin, Tsunade was a respected healer and known for her physical strength and beauty. Orochimaru was more secretive, always doing research on something or other.
What Orochimaru wanted was to stay young and youthful forever, so that he could know everything there was to know. He obsessively studied ways to increase his life. One day, he discovered the Kyubi’s healing powers.
He went to the forest where the beast was known to lurk and captured him.
“Hey, let go of me you bastard!” The fox snarled
“Listen here you little fox” the man said in his usual creepy voice “I hear you can heal people”
“Well ya, why, are you injured? I won’t heal you, I hate visitors, always asking me to heal them for nothing in return!” The fox replied
“You don’t just heal the injured, you can reverse aging too, can’t you?” Orochimaru asked with a creepy grin.
The beast had no idea how to answer that. Though it didn’t matter, Orochimaru had already pulled out a knife.
“Let’s see, you tell me how I can use you to reverse my aging, or I’ll slit your pretty little neck” he tells the beast.
“Ok ok! Fine, you have to sing a song!” The kyubi yells frantically. He really didn’t want to die.
“A song?” Orochimaru questioned
“Yes, it goes something like ‘Kyubi gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine. Heal what’s been hurt, change the Fate’s design, save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine.’ Try that”
Orochimaru put his hands on the Kyubi’s head and started singing, the orange beast glowed the same colour as his fur. Orochimaru grinned wickedly.
Once he was done he looked 20 years younger than he had before. His long dark hair had been getting some grays, but now it was all silky and pure black like it was before.
He looked in a little pond nearby and found the wrinkles that had previously been on his pale face had disappeared.
So this is what the beast was capable of? It would be wise to keep him on his side.
Orochimaru promised to get the beast food daily and to make sure no one else visited him, remembering that he hated visitors.
“Well thanks, I guess…” the orange beast replied cautiously. The man had freed him now, and he’d promised food. It was the best way he’d been treated for a while, even if it was the bare minimum.
Orochimaru knew the citizens of Konoha would be suspicious seeing as he now was younger, so he decided to become even more reclusive than he usually was.
For a good couple of years that’s how he lived. Jiraya had died of old age, but Orochimaru was still physically no older than his early 20s.
That was until the queen got pregnant. At first the kingdom was ecstatic, the royal couple had been trying for years to conceive. However, soon Queen Kushina got severely ill. Even Tsunade didn’t seem to be capable of keeping her symptoms from worsening. King Minato tried his very best to make sure his wife would be cured at any cost.
The royal advisers had wanted to check Orochimaru’s laboratory, as he did so much research he must have had SOMETHING that could lead to a cure. The problem being that he rarely left his laboratory, and that he refused to let anyone see even a word of his research.
The guards did notice that he would secretly leave his laboratory in the late hours of the night to go take a walk in the forest. One of these days, they made their move.
They all looked everywhere for an answer, and soon they discovered all his research on the Kyubi. They took the documents and left quickly.
King Minato was extremely relieved to hear of this. He ordered the guards to slay the beast seal him into Queen Kushina.
When Orochimaru returned and found his documents on the Kyubi gone, he was furious. But not as furious as when he snuck out the following night and found the beast gone.
“Nooooo!” He screamed, falling to his knees in the forest.
He decided to leave the kingdom and plan his revenge.
Queen Kushina recovered really quickly after eating the remains of the Kyubi, and the kingdom let out a giant sigh of relief.
Soon enough the child was born. He had golden hair, large blue eyes, and whisker marks on his cheeks. He was so adorable that the kingdom had grown to love him in just a few hours. The king and queen had decided to name him Naruto after the character in Jiraya’s book.
Orochimaru had been waiting for this day for months. He snuck into the window while the royal couple was sleeping, which was not easy as he rapidly aged once he didn’t have access to the fox’s power.
He walked over to the young prince and sang the song the fox had taught him years prior. The little boy started growing. Orochimaru soon grabbed him and ran out of there.
The king and queen had woken up in the commotion, but all they could see was a shadowy figure jumping out of the window with their son.
The kingdom had spent the night and next day searching, but finding nothing.
Orochimaru had hidden Naruto in a tall tower very far away, deep in the forest and hidden in the leaves. There was a staircase hidden, covered in dirt and leaves. Only Orochimaru knew where it was.
Back in the kingdom the king and queen were devastated. They were going to be a complete, happy little family, and had that ripped away from them.
They decided to light lanterns and float them into the sky every October 10th, the date of their dear son’s birthday.
They hoped their son would see this as a sign, and return home to them.