A Whitebeard Legacy

Chapter Two

A Broken Dream

There were times at the end of the day when Naruto would sit back and recount the events that lead to the situations that he got himself into to.

Most of the time it was from the pranks he pulls, trying to get the attention of the villagers, so he wouldn't have to feel so alone all the time. If he could just get one person to look his way he considered it a successful day. While this would lead to him being punished and having to clean up the mess he made after the academy let out, it was better than sitting at home alone in the dark with only his thoughts as company.

The end results of his pranks were never that bad, from cleaning paint off a shop wall or fixing a broken fence, it would all be done in an afternoon and he would be sent home with arms slightly sore. He could handle things like that, it made him feel like he was doing something, getting closer to his dream of being Hokage. It was that dream that looked farther away than ever before in the current moment.

"And it's all my fault," he thought, blue eyes staring sightless at the wooden planks above him. He could try to blame Mizuki,or Ikuka or even the Fourth Hokage, but in the end he was the one with the demon nine tails sealed inside him. All of it became clear to him in that forest, why he was hated his whole life, who could love the one that killed their friends and family just thirteen years earlier.

A growl brought him out of his thoughts and, looking down with an annoyed face, he grumbled, "Shut up already, will you, it's your fault we're down here in the first place," placing a hand on his empty stomach making the metal cuffs around his wrists clank slightly.

When he had run away from the village after Mizuki had told him why he was hated so much, he hadn't thought about much of anything besides getting as far away as humanly possible. It wasn't even a few days later that he had started to wish that he had the hindsight and time to bring some food with him. He was able to survive on the occasional fruits and berries that he was able to find, but it was mostly his chakra that was used up in keeping him alive.

That was probably the reason he was in such a low guarded cell right now, he could feel his chakra steadily weakening and he must look like death warmed over. They didn't think he would pose much of a problem and they were right, he legs felt like jello he didn't think he could stand on them to save his life.

A clicking sound on the far side of the room made him look that way before he had to squint a the sudden light that filtered through when the door was opened.

'It's day time again," he thought as a man quietly closed the door back before silently making his way towards Naruto's new home for who knew how long. The young man was wearing blue jeans, with a white sailor shirt and a blue tie around his neck, the white hat that usually adorned his head was gone, probably forgotten in his hurry.

Naruto knew this man, in a manner of speaking. He didn't know the guy's name, too much of a risk, he was told. Naruto had since dubbed him the leftover man, as that's what he brought Naruto. The leftover man was the only one to visit him. When he did he brought the leftovers of whatever meal he had just finished, though only when he felt the risk of being caught was low, which wasn't everyday.

As a roll of bread and a waterskin was passed through the bars, Naruto let slip the question that had been plaguing him constantly, "When can I have my necklace back?,"

The man flinched, shooting a look at the door, worried that someone had overheard Naruto's loud voice. "I wouldn't hold your breath. That necklace is the only piece of proof they have," he whispered.

"Proof of what?," Naruto exasperated, this was not the first time he had heard that.

Gulping the man looked hesitant, obviously debating if he should tell the boy what he knew.

"Please," Naruto begged, "I've been locked up in here for days, it's only fair that I know the reason why,"

Sighing leftover man relented to the big blue eyes that were pleading with him, "It's what they need the prove that you are a child of a pirate,"

"Child of a pirate?," Naruto asked, face scrunched up in confusion, "That's crazy! How can I be a child of a pirate? I'm from a ninja village that's nowhere near the ocean,"

Running a hand over his face the man sighed, before taking back the water skin, "I don't know what to tell you kid. They think that's what you are, and I can tell you now it's not going to lead to anything good," he said, standing up and heading through the door.

Slumping back against the wall Naruto's mind was running. The child of a pirate? How insane was that? Not even in his wildest fantasies about his parents were they pirates. The thieves of the sea just wasn't something that was thought about much in the Leaf Village, besides in the few odd books.

"Could it be true though?" Naruto thought. No one ever told him much about his parents besides that they were killed by the Nine Tailed Fox. Just one more reason to hate himself.

Thumping his head against the wall behind him, he put those thoughts in the back of his mind feeling a migraine coming on. There had to be some mistake. A mistake that would be fixed once they docked...wherever they were sailing and he would be let go. He wouldn't be anywhere near the leaf village, but that was fine with him, he would make a new life in this land where no one knew of him or the Nine Tailed Fox.