The shadows

ch6

It was nighttime, and Naruto was lying in his bed. One of the skills he learned during the war was how to meditate in this state. Usually, Kurama would stand guard and use sensing skills to keep an eye on the things around him, but since it wasn't necessary now, he was just meditating.

Naruto decided to visit the door that was triggered today. It was a door to his memories of hunger. Naruto was kicked out of the orphanage at the age of 3. No one looked for him at that time, and since the matron kept giving Sandaime fake updates about him.

Naruto was alone and scared in a world that hated him, but his biggest problem was finding food. It was his third birthday when he was kicked out, so it was in the middle of October. It was cold for a boy who was only wearing a shirt so worn out you could see the other side.

He didn't even have pants or shoes. The shirt was dirty and oversized, reaching his knees. It had a few holes in it as well. When he was kicked out, he was trying to find a place to stay when villagers started chasing him.

He was so scared and tried to run away, but there was no way a three-year-old could outrun a mob of angry adults. They caught up to him and beat him to an inch of his life. He didn't know why he was hated and was so scared.

He blacked out mid-beating, and when he woke up, he was in a dumpster in an alley. He saw some rats eating out of the dumpster, so he also looked for food. He saw some stale bread and pieces of leftover and ate as much as possible.

He couldn't care less if the food was in the garbage as long as he could fill his stomach. He wanted to stay but knew he would be found and was so cold, so he started searching for clothes.

He couldn't find anything except another torn shirt, but it was better than nothing, so he also put that on. It didn't help his blue feet or shivering form, but there wasn't anything he could do. He was so scared to go into the streets that he stuck to alleyways.

This went on for a while. He found a few more clothing items, and although he was cold, he was much better. He even found some used bandages and cloth and wrapped them around his feet to keep them warm.

He had accepted this as his new life; it was near spring when he was discovered. He usually went looking for food at night when there was less chance of him being found, but he hadn't eaten anything for two days, so he was starving.

He was searching a dumpster behind a restaurant when the owner found and chased him. He escaped, but the villagers started poisoning the trash, hoping to kill him.

He didn't know it at the time but noticed that whenever he ate from the garbage, he would get sick and throw up, and then he noticed the dead animals near the trashcans. His senses warned him that it must be the food, but there wasn't anything he could do.

He tried eating the dead animals, but it was worse. Then one day, he saw a cat catching and eating a mouse, so he decided to do the same. He tried running after all kinds of animals. He caught a few birds and rats, but it wasn't often enough.

One day when he was exploring, he noticed a cat missing a limb and was so hungry; all he wanted to do was catch and eat the animal. He thought that since it was missing a limb should be a simple task, but the cat was fast.

Before he realized he was in the jungle and lost sight of the cat. It was all for the better since it was the beginning of a new phase for him. He started following the animals in the jungle and learned a lot from them.

He learned about plants that were safe to eat and how to hunt. He mostly ate fish but could catch other animals if lucky. He learned a lot during that year. Before he realized it was wintertime and the food became rare.