Chapter 3 - Home [1]

I woke up early as always, not because I wanted, every day, the matron of the orphanage slaps me till I'm awake, it hurts but it healed almost instantly, washing the pain away.

''Demon brat, I won't even repeat what I do every day, go to fetch your own food, shoo!'' The matron of the orphanage, as always, kicked me out of the orphanage as the kids of it looked towards me in fear, what did I do to deserve this?

I'm always wondering that question but nobody replied it to me, I'm tired of this, one day, I'll get strong, strong as the Hokage but I won't make you respect me, I'll take revenge from everything you all did to me, I remember all of yours faces.

Before losing myself in anger and hate, I calmed myself by thinking of Jiji and his kind eyes, gentle words, also the 'Ichiraku Ramen' owner and his daughter, they treated me well and it helped me calm down, I knew that losing control wouldn't help me, it would only make things worse.

So I swallowed all feelings of anger and hate I had before going to the old forest that, today and tomorrow were the only days that Jiji could meet with me, I decided to talk with him, I needed to do this, I... I can't take this anymore...

[Third Person P.O.V]

Hiruzen was walking through the streets of Konoha as the villagers bowed and greeted him respectfully 'Ah... It's always good to walk here and greet them, it's much better than the time where the village had problems with war, the atmosphere nowadays is bright...' he thought to himself and then added 'And today is one of the few days where I'm able to meet little Naruto...'

''Good morning, Hokage-sama, how was your day?'' One of the villagers said while smiling respectfully but Hiruzen just nodded and replied ''It was good, thanks for asking.'' before walking faster, he didn't want to delay his meeting with little Naruto.

It didn't take long before he arrived on the same Forest and got to the river, where he and Naruto were always meeting, then, he saw the familiar blonde kid, sitting at the border of the river, waiting for himself to arrive, Hiruzen smiled gently before saying ''Little Naruto, I'm here again, want me to catch some fish?''

However, he was shocked after seeing that the boy's usual wide smile wasn't there, instead, he was met with Naruto's sad face, tears were dripping down continuously ''W-What happened? Little Naruto? Are you ok?!'' he said with a worried expression.

''J-Jiji, can you t-tell me something?'' Naruto ignored his question as he said with a trembling, frail tone.

Before Hiruzen could say anything, Naruto continued ''W-Why? Nee nee, Jiji, why they treat me like this? Why do I always have to endure their hate? Why do they keep hitting me, cutting me? Why? Why do they keep cursing me? Why can't I be like a normal kid? They don't give me food, they hit me, they cut me, they curse me!''

Naruto's sentence started with a broken heart, a broken mind of a kid that never had anyone that cared for him except Hiruzen and the 'Ichiraku Ramen' owner and his daughter recently, in the end, he was shouting with anger, his heart and mind was broken, almost beyond repair.

'What? How?!' Hiruzen thought in panic but the first thing he did was to hug the boy, his heart ached after seeing the boy, that was only 3 years old, crying over and over again, not because he didn't get the toy he wanted like normal kids would do but because people mistreated him.

Looking towards the kid he treated as if he was his own grandchild, Hiruzen stood there, saying sorry continuously till the young, broken Naruto calmed down ''My child, tell me, what happened? What had they done to you?'' Hiruzen said as his heart ached 'How couldn't I have noticed this?'

Unknown to Hiruzen, Danzo was hiding all information from coming to him and even more, the Anbu that were assigned to protect Naruto didn't do their job, they only silently watched the young boy being tortured, hoping that one day, the boy would die.

As Naruto told everything, Hiruzen face was filled with rage, at that time, he disappeared before reappearing, two Anbu members in front of him, kneeling while sweating profoundly ''I won't hear your explanations, you know what to do...'' he said with a cold voice, his eyes devoid of any emotions.

''Yes, Hokage-sama...'' Both Anbu said in despair, they knew what they had to do, they then kneeled in front of Naruto and said ''We're sorry!'' before disappearing, their end was coming and as soon as they found a hidden spot, they slashed their own necks.

Hiruzen was enraged, this could only mean someone dared to leak the information about Naruto, he didn't know what the boy, that he loved from the bottom of his heart, it ached, knowing that if he adopted the boy, it would become obvious that he is the son of Minato and Kushina, both being people that had thousands of enemies from different villages, he couldn't let danger fall to Naruto while he's not strong enough to protect himself from even Genins.

What shocked him was the most next part, with a trembling voice, Naruto said ''Nee nee, Jiji, I'm the son of the F-Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, he's supposed to be a hero, I'm his son, w-why they treat me this way?''

''...'' Hiruzen fell in silence for a few seconds before he said ''Naruto... I'm sorry for not telling you, it was to protect you, your father had many enemies, I know... What happened to you, I... It was my fault, if I had looked carefully, I would have noticed it, I'm sorry, please... forgive me...''

He couldn't adopt Naruto as it would bring way too much attention to the young boy and his identity would be revealed way sooner than he wanted.

''My child, I'll punish the matron of the orphanage, I can't deal with the Villagers that did all of that to you, but, from now on, you'll live at a big house, all food will be delivered by one of my Anbu, one that doesn't have any hate towards you, I know you won't forgive me for not stopping all these evil actions but... this is the least this old man can do to you!''

Hiruzen said, different from the anime and manga, he gave Naruto a big house and all of his food would be taken care by himself and delivered by an Anbu member, then, he continued ''That same Anbu will also live with you from now on, his job will be to take care of you and your training!''

Naruto merely nodded and wiped his tears, even if what his Jiji was doing made him feel better, the hate he felt towards all the villagers did to him was still engraved deep within his young heart, Naruto still remembers their faces and even being so young, he made a vow to himself that he would have his revenge.

''Thanks, Jiji, I don't blame you, all this time, you were kind to me, let's eat fish!'' Naruto said with his trademark smile, even if his heart was broken, he always felt happy when he was besides Hiruzen, the only person that cared about him, that loved him.