Chapter 37: Tears Of Yesterday - Naruto's Story Part One

It rained heavily upon the Hidden Leaf. No one really bothered to go outside except for the few children who wanted to play in the puddles of mud and water.

Naruto was small and had just went outside as soon as he spotted other children playing outside of his window. Not even caring about the fact that he wasn't properly dressed to play out in the rain at all, the little boy hopped into the small pool and attempted to make friends with the children.

However, they quickly recognized his presence and were quick to leave the area as they were told numerous times by their parents to not socialize with him.

"Fine then! I didn't wanna play with you guys anyways, ya know!" The four-year-old yelled as the children walked away.

He stood still and stared at his reflection in the puddle. Why didn't no one want to play with him? Why did everyone hate him? Why was he all alone?

His stomach growled. Naruto placed a hand on it as if to stop it from doing so. The child had no money. No food. He ate his last cupped ramen the day before and the hokage wouldn't bring any money to him for at least another few days. The child walked through the streets of Konoha in hopes of finding something he could eat. Anything would do really.

Even a piece of candy from off the streets.

Down the road, the kid spotted something. It was a small restaurant! His little feet scurried to where the opened shop was and took a peak inside.

"But I don't like my noodles straight!" A little girl threw a tantrum as a teenaged boy sat next to her in the noodle shop.

"Nia, just eat it; I didn't bring you here just so I can waste my money." The boy replied rather annoyed.

"But Iruuukaaa!"

The boy pinched the girl's cheek, "Stop crying and please eat already before Uncle kills me if he finds out you haven't eaten."

"No," The toddler pushed her bowl away, "I like it curly!"

Iruka groaned and let go of his little cousin's cheek, "Why do you have to be so picky?"

At the entrance, Naruto drooled over the ramen that Nia just wouldn't eat. The smell entered through his nose and made him all the more hungry. However, when he took a step closer, he made a noise, and Iruka turned around.

Immediately, the memory of his parents' deaths came racing into his mind. His anger intensified like never before.

"What're you doing here?!" He leaped off his seat, "Can't you see that you're not welcomed here?!"

Naruto always had to see the look in older people's eyes whenever they spoke to him. They all hated him. No one cared that he was alone or that he was an orphan or that he was hungry. No one.

Taichi, the owner of Ichiraku, noticed Iruka's behavior.

"Lets all calm down. The kid's probably hungry, Iruka. Let him stay and eat." He insisted.

Naruto's eyes sparkled but Iruka's only became more aggressive.

"Nia, we're leaving!" He demanded as he slammed some money on the counter.

"But I'm hungry!"

"We'll stop and get some cookies; Don't you like that better?"

This promise immediately lifted the girl's spirits, she hopped off her chair then ran to where Iruka was by the entrance. However, as she did, she caught wind of Naruto and stopped.

She looked at him for a second as she wasn't used to seeing Iruka get so mad at someone. He was usually very kind but something about the kid just really pissed him off. Like earlier, Naruto's stomach growled.

"Are you... hungry too?" The girl asked rather shyly as she was a bit more strange and awkward with strangers.

Naruto nodded and looked down as if he were about to cry. With her little feet heading back to her chair, Nia used the wood to climb herself up then grabbed her small bowl of ramen.

Iruka turned and saw this action and quickly scolded her.

"What do you think you're doing, Nia?! Put that back up there now!"

Not listening to what her cousin had to say, the child only hopped off the short stool, making sure that the ramen didn't spill out, and handed it to the small hungry boy.

"They didn't make mines curly so I don't want this." She said as she then got gripped on the arm by Iruka and taken somewhere else.

Naruto held onto the bowl and watched as the little girl cried as Iruka scolded her harshly for interacting with the lonely boy while they walked outside in the rain.

Again, the smell of the food risen into Naruto's nose and he quickly forgot about the two who just left. The kid met eyes with what would be his most favorite dish of all time. It was the first time he was introduced to miso-pork ramen.

"Hey kid," Taichi noticed the way Naruto's eyes sparkled as he gazed at the man's cooking, "Why don't you take a seat. You look pretty hungry."

His kindness caught Naruto off guard. It was the first time someone would let him stay and eat at their shop. Almost as if he were shy, the boy brought himself up onto the stool and set his bowl down.

Taichi and his young daughter, Ayame, stared as Naruto kept quiet and didn't eat.

"What's wrong?" The daughter spoked softly, "Aren't you going to eat?"

Naruto lowered his eyes, "I... don't have money."

Taichi and Ayame looked at one another before the man smiled to Naruto and responded, "It's on me, kid. Just eat till your tummy is full and don't be afraid to come back. I'll let you eat here for free until you're able to pay for yourself."

This made the kid grin widely. He quickly nodded his head then digged his hand into the soup. Ayame chuckled then gave him a pair of chopsticks.

"This may be better to use instead of your fingers." She said.

Naruto thanked her then used the chopsticks the best he could. He never got the hang of using it since no one was ever there to teach him but with Ayame's assistance, Naruto finally did get around to using it correctly.

For the next few days he came back over and over every time he felt hungry or even when he was merely bored. The owners were also very kind to him and made him feel at home.

"See you tomorrow, Naruto." Taichi yelled as Naruto left the shop.

The little boy said his goodbye and walked through the streets of Konoha once more. The people of the town always whispered about him every time they spotted him and some hid their children as always. It was in the afternoon and the boy wanted to see who was at the park.

When he got there, he noticed only a few children were there. He recognized them as the children of famous clans such as the Nara and Yamanaka ones. When he turned to his right, he spotted something very cruel.

A young girl was getting picked on by three slightly older boys. They called her names and even made her try and kiss their feet.

"Stop that!" Naruto came to the rescue and stood protectively in front of the girl.

"Or what?" A bully responded as he cracked a smile.

"I'll beat you up, ya know!"

"What?" Another bully leaned forward with his hands on his hips, "You're gonna beat us up? You're not even taller than that Byakugan monster, how do you expect to beat us three up?"

"With my shadow clones!" Naruto made a sign.

For a second, the kids actually became frightened but then laughed as soon as they realized the four-year-old didn't even know how to use chakra properly.

"Wow, you actually had us scared for a second, little kid," The biggest bully spoked, "But just for that, here's a little gift!"

The kid took a swing at Naruto and was able to knock him down with one blow. The other two ganged up on the smaller boy and beaten him till he literally lost consciousness. They were about to get back to Hinata when they were scared off by her guardian. This usually happened when the girl would get bullied. Naruto would just pop out of nowhere and protect her the best he could. After that, Hinata would usually be dragged away by her guardian.

Naruto layed there unconscious for a good hour till someone finally spotted him. It was a young Sakura and Ino! The two had been playing when they saw the blonde lying down with a beaten and somewhat bloody body. However, the sight of him scared them off and they left him on the ground.

Not too long after, the kid was finally able to wake up but did so with an intense pain from various parts of his body. He had a black eye, a swollen cheek, and bruises on multiple parts of his small body. He remembered what had happened and leaped to get back to his home.

As he leaped in pain, no one did anything to help him out. It wasn't until a certain women spotted him in the crowd. Immediately, she dropped her two kids hands and kneeled down to the little boy. She asked if he was okay but as she did, he fainted into her arms.

She noticed just how badly he was injured and turned to the people that kept either moving forward or watching as someone actually offered a hand to the jinchuuriki.

"Is this how you people treat an injured child?! Where are your hearts?! Even if this boy is the host, he's still a child! Isn't it our job to protect and care for them?!"

No one said anything. They just looked. The woman shook her head and lifted the child up. She motioned for her two little girls to follow and took the three to her home.

She sat Naruto down and held her hands out. She was a medical ninja and began to heal the boy on the bed she layed him on.

"Misumi!" The woman called for her younger daughter, "Go watch out for your father. Make sure he doesn't step inside this room."

"Kay, Mommy." The little girl ran out the room to do as her mother said.

The one little girl left in the room watched as her mother tended to the boy's wounds.

"Mommy," She tugged on the woman's shirt, "That's the boy I was telling you about. The one who Iruka hates."

"Nia, Iruka doesn't hate this boy. He hates what's sealed within him."

"What does sealed mean?"

Her mother responded, "I just meant that there's something in this boy's stomach that makes people either hate or fear him."

Nia blinked and stared at Naruto's stomach but didn't see anything.

Her mother only smiled then said, "His shirt is covering what's on his stomach, sweetie. Do me a favor, and let me tend to his wounds, all right?"

Nia nodded as she watched her mother do her job for a bit. After a while, the woman broke the silence.

"Nia, listen to me with what I have to say..." She began as she stared at Naruto with sorrowful eyes, "The villagers and even the hokage may tell you to ignore this child and to even hate him. However..."

A tear fell out of her eye and landed on Naruto's face.

"This boy has done nothing wrong. We were all told that the fourth was able to save us by placing the nine-tailed fox within this boy. Though we all don't know why he chose this little boy, I just feel as though he may have made the right choice deep inside my heart for some reason."

Nia continued to watch her mother spill genuine tears onto the orphaned boy. Her mother was always a happy woman. She hardly ever cried. This may have been the first time the toddler seen her mother cry this way and it deeply affected her greatly.

"Mommy, why are you crying?"

The kind woman glanced at her daughter then replied, "Whatever happens, never lose your kind spirit, Nia. I know this little boy must be hurting just as bad as everyone else in this village. Always being forced to have people ignore or call him names and even beat him till he can't move."

Nia's mother then stopped healing Naruto for a second to lay her hand on her daughter's cheek, "If this little boy happens to be in your area and attempts to make friends with you and everyone else, don't let the other kids or adults have you do what that they want you to do. If it's your desire to interact with this child, do so. If it really isn't, then let it be—but only if it's truly your desire not to do so."

"But Mommy, what if the other kids pick on me too?"

"Don't let them bother you. If you know you're doing what you know is right, their attitude towards you won't matter, Darling."

Nia pouted but nodded anyways. She then gazed at Naruto once more.

"Daddy's gonna get mad at me but okay Mommy, I'll be nice."

•••

It had been another few days after Naruto was healed. He never did find out who was the one to place him back on his bed in his house but he did find some flowers, a fridge full of food and beverages and a letter.

On it read:

My mommy took kare of u :) she said that she evn gave u food :) She evn let me halp her. Pie is grose and I hate it so you can have that 2. Bye bye

Though the spelling and punctuation was terrible and there was no name left in it, this made Naruto smile. After all, when he looked in the fridge, he did see some pie and other food. He even saw some of his favorite cupped ramen!

The few days after that went surprisingly well for him. However, they were only temporary as he was soon talked about by many in the village.

"I can't stand this kid walking around." One whispered, "He shouldn't be allowed to be here! He's the nine-"

"Shh!" A woman next to the man hushed, "Lower your voice, we're not allowed to talk about this."

Naruto walked with his hands in his pockets but after hearing more people talking about him as if he couldn't hear them, he pulled down at his bottom eyelid and stuck his tongue out then ran.

'I'll show them!' He thought as he ran toward the hokage monument, 'They won't be laughing at me or ignoring my existence once I cover the hokage's faces with paint!'

So, grabbing a couple buckets of paint, Naruto headed to the Hokage monument and stood atop their heads as he looked down to the ground. He opened the can and took out his brush. He had a rope tied around his waist so he wouldn't fall then jumped off the stone faces.

"Take this!" He shouted as he whipped some green paint on the third hokage's face then mixed in the green with a red and painted all over the other kage's faces.

Some people spotted his actions and raced to Hiruzen, the third hokage's, office.

"Lord Hokage! That boy with the nine-tails in him is painting all over the great hokage monument again!" One ninja reported.

Hiruzen sighed and stopped his paperwork.

I guess he's finally had enough of being ignored... huh, Minato?

As Naruto gained more and more attention from the people of Konoha, he was eventually caught by a few jonin and had to listen to them scold him about why he shouldn't have done what he had.

His clothes and face were stained from paint. Though the villagers did give him the attention he desired, they only gave him an even icy glare than they ever had before. Naruto saw this and walked away feeling a bit defeated.

'Not even that got anybody to see me any differently...' He thought as he walked through a crowd who only whispered about hating and wanting to throw him out the village.

Some even whispered about wanting to kill him so they wouldn't have to fear the Nine-Tails from being released.

---

A/N- That was sooooooo depressing for me to write but it was very interesting for me to do. Poor baby Naruto T-T you didn't deserve any of that hatred! You're too awesome for that 😭

This was a pretty long chapter imo but thanks for reading! Please comment and vote before you go and have a great day guys :)