Naruto: The First Step

Chapter 7

Naruto woke up early that morning and took a bath. He then ate his breakfast hurriedly and brushed his teeth aftwerwards. He was excited to see Sakura again since she was his first friend. But he needed to go to the Hokage first.

He ran towards to the Hokage tower where the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen was in, early in the morning. Naruto knocked softly at the door, receiving a "Come in!".

He entered shyly. He saw the Hokage doing his daily paperwork and sipping his morning coffee.

"Oh. Naruto, what brings you here?", the old Hokage asked while putting down his mug of coffee.

Naruto shyly approached the Hokage.

"How was your day yesterday?", the Hokage asked.

"It's fine. The usual 'you-don't-belong-here' kind of drama. But I got my first friend and her name is Sakura.", he softly said, his face downcast.

"The Haruno girl, eh?", the Hokage said while looking at the papers.

He noticed Naruto being silent. He looked at him from the papers and saw the boy's sad expression.

"Was she mean?", he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"No! She isn't.", Naruto said, almost instantly while shaking his head and waving his hands frantically."It's not that."

"Then what's the matter? Speak up, child."

Naruto sighed.

"Why don't I have any parents?", Naruto asked.

Hiruzen's eyes widened.

"What do you know about them?", Naruto asked.

Hiruzen sighed.

'What will I tell him?', he thought.

"Well...", he started.

"Your parents are from the Uzumaki clan and not much of their history was known. All I know that your mother died giving birth to you.", he lied.

Naruto sadly looked down.

"What about my dad?", Naruto asked.

"He died the night the Kyuubi attacked.", Hiruzen lied again.

He felt guilty lying to a child but what could he do? He was the Hokage but even these things troubled him. He had to lie for the child's safety. Rather, the village's safety.

Naruto nodded.

"Okay. I'll go now. Have a good day, Sarutobi-sama.", Naruto said then left.

Hiruzed sighed again. He stood up and looked out the window of his room.

'I'm sorry for lying to your son, Minato. But I did that to protect him like Kushina made me promise.', he thought while looking at Minato's face on the mountain.

He sighed inwardly as he thought of the memory of that dreaful night.

Flashback 6 years ago

The retired Sandaime Hokage was woken up by screams of people from outside his estate. He immediately wear his gear and rushes out of the estate.

He approached a woman who was running by.

"Miss!", he called out.

The woman looked where she heard the voice. Once she noticed the Sandaime Hokage calling her, she told him what happened.

"The Yondaime Hokage and the Lady Kushina is fighting off the Kyuubi far from this area!", she informed then continued running.

In a second, an ANBU officer appeared beside him. He immediately noticed who the ANBU was.

"Where's Minato and Kushina, Fugaku?", he asked.

Fugaku asked him to follow as he was jumping from roof to roof to reach where Minato and Kushina was. When they reached the area, their hearts broke at the sight.

Minato lay dead on the ground while Kushina was dying. He saw baby Naruto on a ritual altar, wailing. He rushed to the baby and took him in his arms. He tried to calm him down which worked all too well.

He then kneeled beside Kushina.

"Kushina...", he started but was cut off.

"Please take care of Naruto.", she said.

Hiruzen nodded sympathetically. Kushina smiled then died. He stood up and turned to Fugaku.

"Not a word of this to anyone, Fugaku. That is an order.", he seriously said.

Fugaku nodded.

End of Flashback