Once upon a time, in a large forest outside a ninja village, there lived twin siblings named Naruto and Naruko Uzumaki. They lived in a small cottage sitting on the edge of the thick forest near their village. Their mother, Kushina, died when they were young and their father, Minato, remarried years later, but their new stepmother, Asana, was very harsh and spiteful towards the two of them and they didn't know why.
Even though things seemed fine and dandy for everyone at first, the family was dirt poor and they were starting to run out of food. Asana was growing very worried, but only for herself and not for her stepchildren. After a while, she came up with a plan so that she and her husband wouldn't starve to death.
She decided to leave the twins out in the forest the next day so that they wouldn't be able to find their way back home and she and her husband would only have themselves to worry about. That night, Naruto overheard his stepmother talking to herself about her evil plan and decided to do something about it.
The next morning, the group of four went out for a walk in the forest, just as the stepmother had planned. But Naruto was prepared. He gathered up some sparkling stones from outside the house the night before and hidden them in his pockets. As they walked, Naruto kept leaving more stones on the forest path one at a time. And soon, they stopped and made a small fire.
"Alright, Naruto and Naruko. Your father and I are going to go chop some wood somewhere over there and when we're ready to go home, we'll come back and fetch you. So don't leave this area, understand?" Asana said.
"Yes, ma'am," Naruko said.
"Yeah," Naruto added.
"Good. We'll be back."
And with that, the wicked woman and her clueless husband walked off into the trees in a different direction, leaving the children behind. A few hours passed. It was almost sundown and their father and stepmother hadn't returned. Naruko was beginning to worry. She sat close to her twin brother near the dying fire.
"I'm getting a little freaked out, big brother. Mom and Dad are pretty late," Naruko said.
"Sis, Mom left us out here on purpose," Naruto began. "I overheard her plan last night."
"What?! Oh no! What are we gonna do?"
Naruko began to cry, but her twin brother comforted her by wrapping his arms around her shoulder.
"Don't worry, lil' sis. Look at the path. I gathered up those stones on the path last night and I dropped them on our way here."
"So, what you're saying is that if we follow these rocks on the path, we'll get back home?"
"Yup."
"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go!"
The twins stood up and followed the stones left on the forest path and just when the moon had risen high in the clear night sky, they were back home with their father again. He had been worried sick about them and he greeted them with warm open arms.
"Dad!!" they shouted with joy.
"Naruto! Naruko! You're okay! I was so worried about you!" their father cried with joy as he hugged them. "Your stepmother told me she lost track of you while we were in the forest! But I'm just so glad to see that you're both okay!"
"We're kinda glad too, Dad," Naruko smiled.
"Yeah," Naruto nodded his head.
On the outside, she appeared to be happy that the twins safely found their way home. But on the inside, Asana was furious and shocked at them. She decided to play out the same nasty scheme the next morning. Naruto couldn't gather any stones again, but he had a backup plan.
Naruto used a small piece of bread he was given to make a path back to the little house, but little did he know that his plan was going to backfire, horribly. As the two sat down by another fire further in the forest this time, they fell asleep and by the time they woke up, the sun was almost completely under the horizon.
"Come on, Naruko. It's getting late," he said to his twin sister as they stood up.
"But how? You didn't leave any rocks on the path this time, did you?" Naruko asked.
"No, not this time, but don't worry about that. I left a trail of... Oh no!" Naruto gasped in shock as he looked back at the path.
"What is it?" Naruko looked at what her twin brother was seeing and she saw it. The path was bare and the bread crumbs were gone.
"The bread, no!"
"Oh no! The birds must've gotten the crumbs while we were sleeping! What'll we do, big brother? Now we can't find our way home. We're completely lost out here."
The twins slept on the cold, hard ground of the forest the entire night and in the morning, they were back on their way trying to get home again. But they were really hungry and they didn't have enough strength to keep going.
"Hey, what's that smell? Smells good," Naruko said with her nose high in the air.
"You're right. Smells finger-licking good. Wonder what it is," Naruto said sniffing the air as well.
"Come on! Let's check it out!"
The twins followed the smell further down the path and they soon came upon a house and their eyes widened in awe and surprise. This was no ordinary house. It was made entirely out of sweets! The walls were made out of gingerbread, the roof was made out of peanut brittle, the walkway was made out of rock candy, and so many more delicious things were seen all over the building along with a sweet aroma filling the twins' noses.
"Wow! Would you look at this?!" Naruko said as she ran toward the candy house. "I've never seen anything like it before. Have you, big brother?"
"Nope, never!" Naruto said as he joined his sister.
"Whose house do you think it is?"
"Who cares? It's food! I'm starving!"
"Aw, the heck with it! I'm hungry too!"
The twins were overcome with excitement when they saw it and they immediately started to eat parts of the house. Naruto was trying some of the roof while Naruko was eating part of the window pane.
"Taste good?" Naruko asked with her mouth full.
"Yeah! You?" Naruto answered after swallowing. "You bet your boots it does!"
"Nibble, nibble, like a mouse. Who is eating up my house?" A new voice said from inside.
The twins froze in place, unaware of where the voice came from or who it belonged to. Then, out of the candy-coated house, came a strange-looking woman with short light purple hair and eyes. Naruto and Naruko backed away from the stranger in fright. They didn't know what to expect from her.
"Hello, children," the woman said kindly.
"Oh, is this your house? We're really sorry to have disturbed you, ma'am," Naruko apologized.
"Not at all, not at all. Look at you, poor little children. You two are welcome to stay with me as long as you need to," the woman offered.
"What? Oh no, we couldn't. We don't want to impose," Naruko said.
"Oh no, no, no. Really, I insist. It's no problem at all. Come with me and I'll make you both something proper to eat," the woman said as she activated her magic, lifting the children off the ground and into her candy house.
So the twins stayed with the woman for dinner that night and she even let them sleep in her bed for the night as well.
"Thanks for being so nice to us, ma'am," Naruko said.
"Yeah," Naruto agreed.
"Oh, you're welcome, little ones. It's the least I could do. See you two in the morning," the woman said sweetly as she walked out the door and turned off the lights.
The twins soon fell fast asleep in the woman's soft bed. But soon, Naruto and Naruko were in for a horrific surprise. The next morning, the woman had transformed herself into a man with a snake-like appearance: he has very pale skin, golden eyes with slitted pupils, purple markings around his eyes, and fang-like teeth. He also has pronounced cheekbones and straight waist-length black hair with some locks covering and framing his face or to his shoulders.
He took Naruto out of bed and locked him up in a large cage, just like a captured animal in a zoo. This evil, grotesque creature was really a horrid warlock named Orochimaru who wanted to eat Naruto and Naruko for dinner. When Naruko woke up, she saw her twin brother gone and the tall creature standing before her. She screamed.
"Oh, Naruko. Don't you recognize me?" The Warlock asked as he levitated the girl off of the bed and dropped her onto the floor.
"You?! What... What's going on here?! What are you doing, you rotten, disgusting old crow?!" Naruko demanded. "Where's my brother?!"
"Not to worry, dear. Naruto is fine, just incarcerated," Warlock Orochimaru answered, revealing the cage with Naruto sitting inside.
"Naruko!!" he cried, reaching his hand through the cage bars.
"Naruto!! Let him go!!" the girl cried as she tried to grab her twin brother's hand, but Orochimaru quickly stopped her. "What do you want him for?!"
"Is it not obvious, my dear? I'm starving and your brother is going to be my next meal!" The Warlock said, looking at the blonde girl in the eye.
But then, a thought popped into his head.
'I can't eat these kids yet,' he said to himself. 'That boy is too much scrawny, far too tough for my taste. And this girl is too skinny, but just as strong and tough as her brother. They have to be fatter or my meal will be ruined.'
He quickly ordered Naruko to make a large meal of different kinds of food, some treats, and a barrel of beverages for her twin brother to eat and drink and he ordered her to watch him every minute to make sure that he eats it all up. Naruto already had a plan on how he and Naruko can escape the Warlock's clutches and Naruko understood what he was up to.
Many days had passed and Naruto's plans was working so far. He found an old and thick candy cane and he used it to trick Warlock Orochimaru into thinking it was his hand, which worked because of the Warlock's horribly poor eyes. But after a few weeks, Warlock Orochimaru grew very impatient and decided that today would be the day for him to finally eat.
"That is absolutely, positively it! I can't wait any longer! I'm eating you first thing in the morning!" Warlock Orochimaru shrieked, stomping his foot on the floor.
"What?! No, no, no, no! You can't eat Naruto now, Mr. Orochimaru! He just needs more time that's all! Yeah! More time and, more food! That's it! More food! Just don't do this! Not now!" Naruko pleaded furiously.
"No! I've already made up my mind and there's nothing you can say to stop me. Go and get some water from the well and some firewood for tomorrow. NOW!" Warlock Orochimaru demanded, pointing his hand at the door and glaring at the girl.
Scared out of her wits, Naruko ran outside to get more water and firewood. As Warlock Orochimaru watched the young girl, he said to himself, "I'm so hungry, I can't stand to wait. Maybe I should try and eat Naruko first, then Naruto afterward."
Naruko overheard the Warlock's hushed words and she quickly came up with a little hare-brained scheme of her own to save herself and her twin brother. The next morning, sometime after dawn, the Warlock roughly woke Naruko up from her sleep to start her work. He led the young girl to the oven outside and he opened the door, revealing the yellow, bright orange, and red flames dancing against the stone walls inside.
"Now Naruko dear, we'll be baking some bread to soothe my hunger until we cook Naruto, and I need you to climb into the oven and make sure the fire's hot enough," he said, pushing the young girl towards the oven door.
"It's fine, real hot," Naruko said, feeling the fire with her hands.
"Climb into the oven and check it properly. You won't get it done that way," The Warlock said.
"But how am I supposed to get in? I don't know how."
"What are you talking about?! You simply get in! Understand now?"
"Really? Cause I don't think I'll fit."
"Of course, you'll fit, you imbecile!"
"You sure about that?"
"Even I'll fit, you fool! Watch!"
So the Warlock unknowingly stuck his entire head and arms inside just mere inches of the flames. But while he was distracted, Naruko used her leg to kick Warlock Orochimaru into the burning oven entirely, all while the Warlock was screaming and cursing at her. Naruko slammed the metal door shut on him and went to rescue her twin brother.
"Come on out of there, big brother! He's in the oven! Now we're free!" she declared as she unlocked Naruto's cage door.
"Oh, thank you so much, lil sis!" Naruto cheered as he climbed out of the cage and hugged his twin sister tightly.
"I'm just glad he's gone."
"Me too. I've never been so excited in my whole life."
"That was pretty scary huh?"
"Yeah. Come on. Let's get out of here."
"Gladly."
After the magic around the candy cottage vanished and the Warlock was gone for good, the twins gathered the treasures Warlock Orochimaru had stolen before and they went back into the forest to try and find their way back home. And soon enough, after a few hours of walking, they found themselves back at their cottage and with their father again. Their stepmother had passed away from a heart attack and now it was only Naruto, Naruko, and their father. And they all lived happily ever after.