Meeting Yondaime

Chapter 1 (Revised)

Uzumaki Naruto. The five-year-old runs out of the gates of the village hidden in leaves, also known as The Hidden Leaf, into the wilderness of Konohagakure. Naruto had been running from the villagers, as well as the ninja who have always beaten him and cursed him. Although Naruto was young, and not able to understand why he was treated the way he was, he knew he was a container for something evil. Everyday Naruto faces his day scared and alone. His only friend was old man third Hokage. Yet even that wasn't satisfying enough, the old man only stopped by once or twice a month to give money for rent, groceries and such. Not something a five year old should be able to manage, but he did. He had no friends his age who would play on the swings or the slides with. Nor to play ninja. They all feared him. He always heard their mothers whispering to them to stay away. 

His dream to be Hokage, to be accepted by everyone one day. However doubt crept in his mind, mostly because he thought it would never, ever, happen. He thought that he might as well not go back anyway. It's not like the villagers cared for him, so why should he?  They'd never accept him the 'demon' they called him. 

Naruto ran and ran until he had no more energy in his physical body. Naruto tear's slowly started to spill from his eyes, eventually dripping off his chin. As his knees dropped to the ground, he shoved his fists into the ground, punching it over and over again until his knuckles began to bleed; unaware of the presence of another watching him above the branches. "Why do I even bother... No one cares for me anyway," muttered Naruto. 

 The ninja watching from above couldn't stand still any longer, he began to worry about the boy and jumped down from his hidden spot in the tree. "You'll get an infection if you continue to hurt yourself," the shinobi said, blinking at Naruto. Naruto froze at the sound of the voice and slowly turned his head. The man he stared at had blond hair, blue eyes, and was roughly six feet tall. Naruto realized that the man may have meant to hurt him and began to run, even though he knew it was probably useless, he didn't want to get anymore beatings. The man has flashed right in front of Naruto and grabbed his wrists as he squatted down to Naruto's height.

"Hey kid, I won't hurt you, I promise," said the man in a kind voice. "My name is Minato Namikaze but please don't tell anyone that."

The name seemed slightly familiar, along with the looks. It felt as Naruto had already met him before. Naruto couldn't pinpoint how though. "You promise?" Naruto responded, still unsure what to believe. For the first time... someone's being.... nice? Naruto thought. He wearily took a step back, despite his hands being squeezed in Minato's left. 

Minato nodded, and stuck his hand in his kunai pouch, eventually pulling out some pieces of candy. "Here, take these, you must be hungry. I promise I'm not going to hurt you." He let go of Naruto and grabbed a tri-pronged kunai, holding it out as well. "You can take this to defend yourself if it'd make you feel better."

Naruto cautiously grabbed the blade and candies, quickly unwrapping them and gobbling them down. "Yummy! Thank you Minato-san!

"Hey, how old are you?"

"Five years, three months, twenty days four hours, fifty-two minutes and twenty-nine seconds," Naruto responded confused as he looked up at the man he was hugging. Minato smiled and quickly did the math.

"Your birthday is on October tenth?" Naruto nodded slowly.

"Where do you live kid?"

Naruto shifted anxiously "I don't want to go home... Everyone there is so mean to me... Besides, they will look for me as long as I'm home by dusk..."

Minato frowned, feeling sorry for the kid. "Do your parents know about it? Do they know you're out here?" He couldn't leave the kid here, especially when most wild animals in the forest could kill a young boy out here by himself. 

"I don't have any parents..." Naruto stared at the ground, sucking the candy, and rubbing his bloodies knuckles. 

"Then who are 'they', that you just mentioned?" His eyes softened, knowing the feeling of being all alone.

"The ANBU shinobi, I live and look after myself, The only people come to visit me are old man Hokage and the ANBU to check on me for monthly supplies and money to live," Naruto plopped onto the dirt and drew random lines in the soil with the kunai. 

"What!" Minato said almost shouting. "You don't even live in an orphanage!?"

Startled, the boy hid his face instinctively behind his arms, preparing for any pain. "No... Please... Every orphanage in town kicked me out...

Minato felt bad and placed his hand on Naruto's sun-kissed hair. "I'm sorry I scared you. I promised I wouldn't hurt you, right? Come on, how about this, I heal your wound, then I take you home." Naruto gave Minato a depressed look but didn't argue and held out his hands. Minato stared at Naruto's hands for a few long minutes observing the boy's abnormally fast healing rate. He took a damp cloth, spit on it, and cleaned the dirt out of his cuts. "It looks fine, let's take you home before someone starts to worry about you." 

"Please no..." Tears spilled down the boy's checks, the sunlight bouncing off his face. "I don't want to go back... The villagers are scary..."

Minato choked slightly. Who would hurt such an innocent child to make him fear home like this?

-Later-

Naruto climbed down off Minato's shoulders anxiously, then began running into the Hidden Leaf Village. "Bye kid," Minato said as he slowly walked back into the forest, but before he was completely surrounded by the dark forest his curiosity got the better of him. "Hey, kid! What's your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto! Remember it old man!"

"Oi! I'm not old!" Minato yelled back before processing what he had just heard. Naruto? His Naruto? He was so close to his son and didn't even realize it until now. no. No. NO. NOO! Minato you baka! The pieces started falling together. The boy really did look like Naruto. Blonde hair, whiskers, blue eyes, and born on October tenth? Why didn't he see it sooner? If only his wife Kushina was here, she'd know what to do. Minato was tempted to run back to the village but he resisted the temptation and headed off, knowing it would probably only hurt Naruto in the long run. After all, he was supposed to be dead, he was the Yondaime, Fourth Hokage, as well as the Yellow Flash of the Leaf, of which who, have had many enemies...