001. Naruto and the "Scrolls of the legend"

Just after third birthday, Uzumaki Naruto, who had completed his literacy training as required by Grandpa Third Generation, finally got permission to go out. Having felt enough loneliness for a long time, Naruto eagerly went out with a strong idea of finding a friend to play with.

On the street, whether it was pedestrians or shops, everything looked so fresh in Naruto's eyes.

"That's the kid in the form of a demon fox from Nine Tails, right?"

"Nine Tails demon fox eats people, right? I remember Lord Fourth Generation killed him."

"How could Lord Third Generation let him stay in the village? This is too dangerous. We will be killed by him sooner or later."

"Plague God."

However, as Naruto passed by, there was gradually whispering behind him, accompanied by disgusting looks from people.

Although Naruto was still young, he could clearly sense the strong malice in the eyes of the adults around him.

Moreover, this was not an isolated phenomenon; Naruto found that almost everyone was hostile towards him.

He tried to find friends who would often show up near his home to play, but they refused without hesitation. Their parents would not let them contact Naruto.

Occasionally, there were young and ignorant children who did not know this, and they were soon taken away by their parents for "education."

Then, soon, these children looked at Naruto with strong disgust.

Even when he wanted to buy some daily necessities with the pocket money given by Grandpa Third Generation, he would be rejected without hesitation and driven out of the shop.

The young Naruto didn't understand why they were targeting him so much.

Obviously, he had done nothing wrong.

Maybe there was a misunderstanding?

Since there was a misunderstanding, he thought of letting it go.

On the street, facing the hostile and disgusting gazes from those adults, Naruto spoke and exerted all his strength to refute loudly: "I am not a demon fox, I am Uzumaki Naruto! I don't eat people!"

Naruto felt that if he explained it carefully, the situation could improve.

Only...

This was just in vain.

Day after day passed, and Naruto couldn't change anything. People still looked at him with intense anger and disgust, and it became more and more intense.

On a new day, after eating instant noodles, Naruto came to the street again, and once again, he wanted to explain to people.

But, he didn't know from where, eggs and vegetable leaves flew over and smashed at him.

In the face of this overwhelming attack, Naruto couldn't avoid it and was submerged in a flash, his whole body becoming dirty.

Among the crowd, he didn't know who threw the stone that hit Naruto's head, causing pain and a big bump on his forehead.

"Kill this Nine Tails kid."

"For everyone, revenge for Lord Fourth Generation."

"How can such a kid be qualified to live in Konoha?"

Someone yelled with red eyes and rushed towards Naruto with a weapon, showing cold killing intent.

Naruto looked at the hideous and distorted faces that were constantly approaching him. While fearful emotions appeared in his eyes, his heart was a little blocked, and tears dripped from the corners of his eyes as he shouted: "I'm really not a demon fox, I am Uzumaki Naruto!"

However, no one listened to Naruto's excuse.

A long stick struck him with a cracking sound.

Naruto was so frightened that he closed his eyes.

However, the expected pain did not come. Two masked ninjas stood in front of Naruto, one of them blocking the surging crowd, and the other hugging Naruto.

"I'll take Naruto back first, you stop them."

...

As evening approached, Konohagakure Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, opened the door of Naruto's house.

When he walked into the living room, he saw Naruto sitting in a daze at the dining table. His expression was low, and he was obviously thinking about what had happened during the day.

At this moment, Naruto had taken a shower and changed clothes, but the big bump on his forehead that hadn't subsided yet clearly showed that what happened today was not an illusion.

"Naruto."

With a soft voice, Naruto raised his head, and when he saw the person coming, his eyes lit up. It was Grandpa Third Generation!

Since Naruto could remember, the Third Hokage had visited him once a month to inquire about his life and bring him the next month's living expenses. He always had a kind smile on his face. In Naruto's eyes, he was an amiable person.

Naruto had no family, and he regarded the Third Hokage as his closest person.

Seeing him, Naruto couldn't help but ask aggrievedly: "Grandpa Third Generation, am I really a Nine Tails demon fox?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen said gently: "Naruto, you are not a demon fox. I have ordered that everyone is not allowed to discuss this matter. Today's incident will not happen again in the future. You can go out with confidence."

Naruto was not entirely convinced; even though Sarutobi Hiruzen gave him a definite answer, he still couldn't help but doubt the authenticity of the villagers' words.

Was he really not a demon fox?

Then why did they hate him so much?

"Naruto, don't think too much. You are you, not a demon fox. Eat something, sleep well, get up tomorrow morning, and everything will be fine. Soon you'll grow up, and then you can go to ninja school. There, you can meet a lot of friends. But no one wants to play with you when you are feeling so down."

Sarutobi Hiruzen saw the hesitation in Naruto's heart and comforted him.

"Okay, I'm going to eat." Naruto suddenly became happier, opened the refrigerator, took out the instant noodles and milk, and started boiling water.

He had been taking care of himself since he could remember, and although he was still young, he had already learned how to fend for himself.

Seeing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled, took out a pipe, lit it, then turned and left.

After Naruto finished eating, he lay down on the blanket and eventually fell asleep, still pondering the events of the day.

Then, Naruto found himself in an empty space.

At this moment, he was sitting on the ground.

In front of him was a book.

On the cover of this book were colorful illustrations.

Some square characters were written on the cover, and when he turned the page, there were more dense and smaller characters than those on the cover.

These were Chinese characters.

They looked somewhat similar to some of the characters he had just studied, but they were not exactly the same. Naruto, who had just learned to read, was confused and didn't understand the meaning of these words.

The book seemed to sense Naruto's confusion, and the characters on it began to change.

After a while, these square characters were completely replaced with the universal characters used in the Ninja world, which he could understand.

At this moment, Naruto finally understood the meaning of the words written in this book.

"Scrolls of the legend"!