In a village hidden in the leaves, the day's quiet tranquility was broken by the enraged shouts of an angry mob.

"Demon!"

"Monster!"

"Freak!"

"Get 'im!"

"Where'd he go!?"

Setting her book down, the librarian looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows of the library in disapproval. The mob milled around, screaming obscenities about the target of their ire, before one member pointed and screeched out an alert.

"OVER THERE!"

"GET 'IM!"

With that, the mob thundered off after what they thought was a little boy of six years, the same boy that had snuck into the library and had hidden behind some bookshelves.

Naruto Uzumaki sniffled as he sat in a dark corner, tears leaving tracks in the dust over the three whisker-like scars on each cheek. His skinny, undernourished arms hugged his knees, his baggy and ratty clothes torn and soiled by the mob. He couldn't understand. Why did all the villagers hate him so?

The librarian, hearing the sobs, closed her book and went to find the source of the noise, not recognizing the sounds as those of crying. She had an idea of who-no, what!- was making that sound, and she'd be damned if she allowed the demon-child of Konoha to sully her library. Turing the corner, the sharp reprimand on her lips died on her tongue when she saw the mess that was Naruto. Suddenly, the librarian saw Naruto for who he was; not a demon pretending to be a child, but a hungry, lonely orphan hated almost universally by Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Suddenly ashamed, she turned away.

"Kid." Naruto looked up, eyes tearing over once more as he was sure the librarian was going to kick him out into the arms of the mob. "Stay as long as you need." With that, the library scurried away, determined to do something right by the child for once.

Naruto sat there in the dark for a long while, trying to figure out why the librarian hadn't thrown him out like each and every other time she'd caught him trying to read in the library. Deciding to take advantage of the librarian's offer before she changed her mind and kicked him out, Naruto dried his eyes and went to the history section. The history of the ninja village of Konoha, also known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves, had always fascinated Naruto. The awesome powers of the Hokages, past leaders of the village, fascinated the blonde boy. He read about the First's ability to mold earth and water chakra together to create wood chakra, the Second's affinity with water chakra that allowed him to manipulate the water in the air without a water source, the Fourth's godlike ninjitsu that let him teleport instantaneously. But what captured Naruto's imagination the most was the summons of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

As he read about the many battles fought and won by the Third alongside his faithful monkey summons, Naruto came to the conclusion that if he were to become the next Hokage, he'd need an awesome and powerful summons of his own. Purpose in mind, Naruto stood and went to search for what information on ninja summons. So intent on finding what he was looking for, Naruto didn't notice how dark it had become outside, nor did he notice the sandwich left on a plate on the table for him.

Since it was a civilian library, the information was limited, but from what he could gather, he puzzled out needing three things to summon. One, he needed to be able to use chakra, a lot of it, but being only 6 years old, 'a lot' meant different things than it did to an experienced Ninja, or even a rational adult civilian. Two, he needed a contract, which to Naruto simply meant he needed a piece of paper saying "let's be friends" that both parties could sign. He felt that part was rather silly, to his knowledge children didn't sign anything when making friends, but either way, wouldn't that mean he needed to find a talking animal to sign it first?

The third part seemed rather simple to Naruto. All he needed to do to summon an animal to him was to make five simple hand seals while channeling chakra. Easy. Steeling himself for what he was about to do, Naruto cleared an area around him, and meticulously went through each hand sign a number of times, just to ensure he had it down. Once that was done he found a blank piece of paper, and drew up a 'contract' for whatever he summoned to sign. By 6 year old standards it was airtight, and would hold up to any amount of scrutiny. To anyone else it simply read "I, _, do swear to be best friends with Naruto Uzumaki, and agree to help him become the best Hokage ever. This includes allowing Naruto to summon me so I can help him when he needs it, as long as I'm not busy and stuff. In return Naruto will help me out and be a good friend as well."

Deciding that this was the best contract ever written, Naruto began to make the required signs, instinctively pushing as much chakra as he could into his hands. With the final gesture, Naruto pushed his hand onto the blank summons contract on the floor with a cry.

"Summoning Te-"

There was a crack of power and light, and Naruto was gone.