The Rogue Uzumaki (Rewrite)

A new friend

Uzumaki Naruto walked home with his hands in his pockets and his head bowed, trying his best to ignore the whispers. He normally had the will to deal with them, but not today. He had to endure bad whispers all day from his classmates from the academy.

Naruto stopped in front of a shop that sold masks, taking an interest in one with red features resembling a dog. He tilted his head as he looked at it, it looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it.

He was suddenly pushed hard in his chest, knocking him off his feet and to the ground. Groaning, he sat up and looked up at his attacker. The shopkeeper towered over him, glaring.

"Ow! What was that for? I was only looking at the masks." Naruto rubbed his head.

The shopkeeper picked the mask he was looking at off the display. "What? This thing?" He threw the mask at Naruto, hitting him squarely in the face. "There, now get away from my shop, Demon!" He glared at him with those eyes.

Naruto glared back. Picking up the mask, he ran away, forcing himself through the crowd of villagers that started to gather.

He ran to the Hokage Monument mountain, his safe haven. He sat on the carved head of the Fourth Hokage, his hero. He couldn't explain it, he just felt a connection with the Fourth Hokage. He always felt better when he sat upon Lord Fourth's head and watched the village from atop it.

They always treated him like that. Why did they hate him so much? He never did anything to them. Naruto grits his teeth and gripped the mask harder. Standing up, he threw the mask as hard as he could. He watched as the mask soared high into the air before falling to the village grounds below, beyond his vision.

Naruto was surprised at how the action made him feel slightly better. His stomach rumbled and he yawned. He was tired and hungry. It was time to go home.

Fortunately, Naruto was able to avoid anybody on his way home. He entered his apartment without trouble and sat down at his lonely dinner table and waited for his water to finish heating so he could start cooking his dinner, ramen cups.

But while he fidgeted, he noticed a hole on the top seal and looked closer. He could smell fungus coming from it. He threw it away with a grumble and checked his stash, but they were all the same. Knowing they were his favorite food, the market shop keeper must have kept the bad products and restocked them just before Naruto entered to give the worst experience.

Angrily, Naruto stomped on all them and crushed them. But his rage wasn't sated. He kicked his table over, sending his water boiler crashing to the ground and cracking open.

The villagers, all of them. They all hated him and did things like this to make his life as an orphan harder.

Naruto looked out his balcony at the moon, knowing it was far too late to go to the Ramen stand. He sighed, he'll have to go without until the morning.

Naruto kicked the table again, causing one of the legs to snap off from the force.

Since he still had some anger, Naruto decided to train with his training dummy in his training room. He mostly used the room to train in his jutsu and taijutsu kata, but he repurposed an old sleeping bag and hung it up to help with his taijutsu, or when he needed to let off steam like today.

He threw as many kicks and punches as hard as he could in rapid succession, but soon realized that any of the villagers could defeat him with how he fought. It was embarrassing for someone training to become the best ninja in the village, the Hokage.

The Hokage was always the strongest and smartest shibnobi of the village, and as far as Naruto could tell, the same was true for the other villages. They were all the most important and most respected of their village. Naruto had wanted to become the Hokage to earn their respect, but now he wasn't even sure he wanted that respect.

"Done already?" A deep voice asked behind him. Naruto spun around and threw a kunai forward and watched as it passed straight threw his visitor as if he were nothing more than a clone.

"Nice shot. If it wasn't for my special Jutsu, you would have hit me." The man complimented him with an easy laugh and quick clap of his hands from his position in the dark corner of the room.

Naruto squinted and looked closer at the man. The man wore black clothes that was equiped with armor in the cloth, grey gloves, and standard shinobi sandals, no different than his own. But the most strange about him was his mask. It was bright orange, no different than Naruto's jacket. It swirled in a strange patteren into the eye hole on his right side. There was no hole for his left eye.

Naruto stared at him in confusion. He knew that once shinobi were promoted to Jonin rank they sometimes wore different outfits like this. But this was by far the farthest anybody went that he'd seen. Was this one a jonin? What did he want with him?

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, trying to make his voice even and calm.

"Names, not really my thing these days. Some call me this, others call me that. But I suppose you can call me Tobi, if you want something to call me."

"What do you want with me, Tobi?"

"I saw that little commotion earlier, wanted to check on you. That guy was super rude. You didn't deserve that treatment, you were only looking at the masks, right?"

Naruto widened his eyes as he looked at the stranger. "Right."

"Oh, I believe you dropped this. I thought I would return it to you." Tobi disappeared and reappeared in front of him, holding the mask Naruto threw over the Hokage Mountain. He slid it over Naruto's face.

"There. Isn't that better? Masks are good to hide behind. Makes it easier to hide pain as a shinobi, and good for undercover work. And if they're made from strong enough material, they can act as armor." He tapped his knuckle against his own mask in a joking manner.

"Well, Naruto, I got to go, but I'll check in on you soon. Oh, here. Here's a something I want you to try. It's a pretty advanced Jutsu, but I believe in you. I know in no time you'll master it."

He handed Naruto a scroll, no different than one he might find at the library or at the academy. Tobi then started to get sucked up in some swirling votex. "See you later, Buddy." He waved at the blonde kid just before he disappeared.

Naruto sucked in a breath and suddenly needed to sit down. What just happened? A jonin came to him to check on him? And he returned his mask to him? He believed he could master an advanced Jutsu? He called him Buddy.

Naruto breathed out a unexpected laugh. Buddy. He called him Buddy. Naruto made a friend.