Fairy Tales From Around the World

Naruto and Naruko

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.