Author's Notes: Hope you guys like my new story! It may be a little confusing but I tried to make everything clear. Please review cuz if no one likes this story then I'll just stick to my other one! Sry if there are some mistakes. I wrote it in a rush!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Illusory Reality

Prologue

Naruto sighed, folding his arms behind his head as he lay beneath a lone tree under the clouds. Things could have been better but who was he to complain, right? He's worn his mask so long that he sometimes even fools himself. It was his ultimate defense against the glares and hateful words, against the world.

"Sasuke…"

It has been a few months after the betrayal of his supposed 'best friend,' but it has been much more hectic now that Sasuke was actually alive and back. The villagers were more than happy to have their Uchiha prodigy back, and Naruto couldn't have been more disgusted. His mask was cracking and he knew it. The others were beginning to notice as well and he couldn't slip up in front of them.

"Sasuke…you bastard…"

Naruto decided to distance himself from the others; he needed time to think without the constant ridicule and mockery of his intelligence. Don't get him wrong, though. Naruto loved his friends and village, but they have really taken a toll on him. Things were changing, he was changing and although he may change, the village would always be the same. They would never forgive him for taking away their precious Yondaime, no matter if he had completely no control over it. That's just the way his life was, and it was never going to change.

He had accepted it long ago, so why did it hurt so much?

"It hurts because you are weak. You let your emotions ride and blind you. You may not be like the Uchiha, who was completely lost in the dark, but you too, are driven by your emotions."

'Oh? And what are these emotions that you speak of, oh great immortal fox?'

"Don't mock me, brat."

'Terribly sorry, your highness.' Naruto could hear the Kyuubi growling lowly in his mind and let a small pass his lips. 'So tell me, oh great and powerful ruler.'

"You better shut your trap before I change my mind and don't tell you at all."

'Fine, fine. Please continue.'

"Don't say that like it's a privilege, whelp."

Naruto was about to reply, but the demon interrupted before he could get anything out. "You are the dirt beneath my feet, scum to the demon realm, the-"

'Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…' Naruto pretty much just zoned out, figuring that the fox needed to vent. He got into this type of mode every once in while, but he didn't even bat an eyelash at it anymore.

"…-eak, pathetic, useless monkey-"

'Hey, hey, hey! Who are you calling a monkey!' He shouted in his mind, completely drifting over all the other insults.

The fox sighed exasperated, "You are if that's the only thing that you actually caught!"

'You actually expect me to listen to your rants? Nuh-uh, no way. Sorry, wrong number. Go find yourself a vessel that will be your brainless mind slave because this vessel ain't gonna be one of them.'

The blond just sighed when he received no reply. 'Listen, Kyuu I-'

"Naruto!" The blond turned to face a very angry and red-faced, pink haired fangirl. "Where the heck have you been? I've bee, looking for you everywhere!"

"Well, you found me. So what do you want?" Sakura almost face-faulted at his blunt reply, but ignored it.

"You didn't show up today."

Naruto didn't even bother looking up at her from his position on the ground. "Show up for what?" He knew what she was talking about.

"You know what I'm talking about!"

He almost laughed at the irony. "I'm sorry. I really don't. So, if you're not going to tell me, could your please leave and give me some peace and quiet?"

Sakura's face grew red with anger. "You baka! You're such an idiot!" She yelled.

"That's nothing new." He retorted. "But if you must know, I just thought that Sasuke would have easier time training without me holding him back." He stated calmly, enjoying the wind running over his face.

Sakura just narrowed her eyes, "I don't believe you! You just jealous of Sasuke-kun!" pointing her finger at him accusingly.

Naruto snapped his eyes open and sat up. His eyes staring at her, "You think I'm jealous?" Sakura couldn't tell if his voice sounded sad or angry, seeming like it was a mix of both. "I can't believe that you would think that! You don't know me at all." With that said, he stood up and walked away, walking away from her and so much more.

As he stood up she could have sworn that she heard him say, "Not that anyone ever has," as he passed her but maybe she just imagined it. Sakura couldn't help but feel that she touched a much deeper subject than she meant to or even realized. For some reason her conscience was screaming as her to call him back, but she didn't. Looking up and gazing at her teammate's back, Sakura made up her mind. With a determined face, "I'll apologize to him tomorrow," turning around, she then walked back to the village.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto sat at the bank of a stream under the shade of a tree with a knee pulled close to his chest and resting over his folded leg. He sighed heavily as he rested his forehead on his knee. He still couldn't believe the nerve of that girl.

"I can't believe that she thought I was jealous. Does she not know me at all?" He whispered to himself. Naruto ran their conversation over and over in his head again and again. He wasn't nearly as angry with her as he was disappointed.

"Can you blame her, kit? You've had your veneer on so long that you can't see it from her point of view."

Letting loose a small bitter laugh, the blond brought his eyes up to gaze at the ripples in the stream. 'Do you honesty think that she tried to know me from the beginning? That's a joke.' He hissed.

"Did you give her or anyone else for that matter a chance?" The nine-tails responded sharply.

'Why do you side with her? Honestly, turning on your own host. Am I that pathetic?'

"Kit, I am taking no one's side, and even if I was do you truly think that I'd turn on you?"

Naruto didn't reply and just listened. The demon understood and kept speaking. "I'm not saying that you are the one at fault here."

'So, I'm right then.'

"But" Kyuubi purposefully emphasized on that word. "I'm not saying that she is either because, to be honest, I think that you're both wrong, but that's not the point."

'I thought that was your point.'

"…Shut up."

'I really don't know why I acted the way I did.'

"Perhaps it is time for the mask to be taken off and buried."

'No, no. I'm not ready, even after so long. It's like I don't even know who I am anymore. Actually, I don't think I ever did.'

"Then we will walk down that path together, kit."

'How can you sound so sure?'

"Someone has to do it…for the both of us."

Naruto brought both of his knees close and wrapped his arms around them. He closed his eyes in exhaustion, burying his head onto his knees. 'I'm just so tired, Kyuu, so very tired. I don't think that I can keep this up any longer. All I want now is to rest…rest in peace...away from all the…harsh words…and dark glares.'

'Is that too much to ask, Kyuu?' This was the lingering thought that drifted softly from his mind right before the blond fell into a sleep filled with nightmares.

A soft voice responded back softly, "No, kit, it's too little." His answer was left with no reply, as the boy had already fallen into the shadows.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Kit. Kit! KIT!"

"H-huh?" Opening his eyes and standing in alarm.

"Wake up, kit. Someone is approaching and he smells like a snake." The fox growled low in his mind. "I hate the smell of snakes." He hissed with Naruto nodding in agreement.

'Should I go tell obaa-chan?'

"No time. He's already here." Naruto looked up in apprehension, his eyes landing on the face of the Snake Sannin, Orochimaru.

"How nice to see you, Naruto-kun." He spoke in a sweet hiss, which was contradicted greatly by his sick twisted smile that seemed to promise pain.

"What do you want, you bastard?" Naruto jeered at him calmly.

Orochimaru smile turned into a frown, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the demon vessel in front of him. "I came for Sasuke-kun, of course." His smile planted firmly on his face.

Naruto tensed and sneered at the man, speaking in a deadly calm tone underlined with anger and hatred. "He won't go with you."

Orochimaru just smirked at him. "We'll see about that now won't we?" Naruto growled in response, eyes flashing red.

"I must say that I am quite impressed that you actually brought him back to this weak village, Naruto-kun. We both know that he will never achieve his goals if he stays here, so he will always come back to me. His seal gave him a taste of the power that he can have if he comes with me. That's it, isn't it? You're standing in my way because you know that he will come to me eventually."

"Shut up!" He yelled.

The Snake Sannin just let out a malicious laugh. "I must pay you back for all the problems you have caused, setting back my plans. It doesn't matter anymore because you won't live to see tomorrow."

Naruto didn't bother to answer as the nine-tails' chakra swirled around his body. He grew claws and the whisper marks on his face became more pronounced. He charged at the Sannin, throwing a punch, which Orochimaru sidestepped, sending the blond a kick to the side, which he avoided. Naruto bent low and proceed to do a sweep, but Orochimaru jumped over it and twisted around to give him a roundhouse kick, sending Naruto through the air and into a tree.

Pain shot through his back as Naruto stood up, spitting the blood out of his mouth. Smiling bitterly, he used his favorite technique. "Let the games begin."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hokage-sama!" A whole Anbu squad appeared, standing tensely before their leader.

"What?" Tsunade sighed irritably. She was tired and didn't feel like putting up with whatever they were going to say. The Anbu captain stepped forward and addressed the situation at hand. "A major chakra outburst appeared just a few miles beyond the Western Gate. It appears to be an attack to retrieve one, Uchiha Sasuke."

Tsunade sat up straight, her whole demeanor changing. Her eyes grew serious as the information swirled in her mind. "How can you be sure?"

"The same group of Sound nins that participated in the capture of the Uchiha months ago, are on the way, but that is not our only problem."

The Slug Sannin grew tense and nodded stiffly signaling the captain to continue. "Orochimaru is also on the way."

Standing up hastily, her eyes became hard, "Is he beside the others?"

"No. He is currently engaging in battle."

"Currently engaging­—with whom?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What's wrong with him?!"

"He has suffered from multiple injures, going from fractured bones to internal bleeding. Your son was in critical condition, but he is currently stable."

"Stable? You call that stable?! He's wearing an air mask and has an infusion pump connected to his arm!"

"P-please calm down, Hokage-sama." The medic shrunk back nervously, just then a woman with short raven hair grabbed unto his arm. "Arashi, this isn't helping! Do you think this will make things better?" Arashi looked down at his wife, seeing the tear stains on her face and immediately felt guilty.

"I'm sorry, Yumi. (AN: I gave her the same name as the one in my other story!) I forgot that I'm not the only one who's in turmoil." Turning to the medic, he bowed his head in a silent apology, which he accepted with a nod of his own. He then turned back to his wife and held her tightly while they spoke with the medic.

"C-can we see him?" Yumi questioned anxiously.

The man just shook his head. "I'm sorry, but we are still healing his wounds. He may be stable, but the chances of him surviving through the night are slim."

Arashi's grip tightened around her. "W-what? Why didn't you mention this before?!" She shouted at him and looked ready to pounce on him, but her husband's grip held firm. Yumi turned into his embrace and started to cry into his robes.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Arashi asked desperately.

"Can you tell me how you found him?"

Arashi sighed, and then began speaking on what he had received in the report. "A huge chakra outburst appeared just outside of our border, so I sent an Anbu squad to scout it out, and he was found in the middle of the area without so much as another signature near the vicinity."

"I see…" Hurriedly writing something on his board, the man quickly bowed and excused himself back to a patient's room.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He had no energy left to move on. Naruto may have the Kyuubi power but there was just so much that his body could take. His hard eyes scanned the trees when he heard a faint sound. Jumping up into a tree before the kunai struck the place he had been seconds before. Orochimaru was far ahead of him though and the blond never saw the kanata that was stabbed through his back and ending on the other side.

"KIT!!!"

Falling to the ground and rolling unto his back, Naruto's glazed eyes landed on the Sanke Sannin as he approached. Licking the blood, Orochimaru sick smile grew twice as wide as before, piercing him one more time through his naval and hearing the earsplitting scream that pasted through the vessel's lips.

Hands still holding the katana, Orochimaru bent down to Naruto's ear. "I'll be sure to tell Sasuke-kun how sweet your death was."

He was dying and he knew it. No one could save him now, he thought as the life in his eyes faded away.

"I won't have it end this way, kit!"

Suddenly, the seal glowed with intensity around the katana, which was pierced right in the middle of his naval and the seal. Red chakra poured out of Naruto's body, enveloping both Orochimaru and him. It swirled around them uncontrollably and grew larger with every second.

"What's happening?!" The snake grabbed the blond's shoulders and gripped them hard, shaking him roughly, but still received no response.

With that the red chakra shrunk and wrapped around the two of them before they disappeared in a blinding light.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ugh…my head…" Naruto moaned, bringing a bandaged hand up to his head before opening his eyes. "I'm in the hospital?" His cerulean eyes scanned the nicely lavished room. He was apparently residing in one of the nicer rooms because he had his very own bathroom connected to his room. Tilting his head to the side in confusion, wondering why he was there in the first place. "What? They must have forgotten that they're treating the demon." He mumbled bitterly.

Naruto raised his hand on to his throat. "Wait, m-my voice…" Scrambling out of the bed, ignoring his injures and the pain shooting through his body, he ran into the bathroom and turned to the mirror and stared…and stared.

Making sure to count to ten and take deep breaths, the blond reined his voice in and made sure to keep control. He wasn't going to lose it, not now, at least.

"What the hell? Is this some kind of joke? A genjutsu?" He stared into his reflection. "No, then what is it?" Naruto hadn't changed much…expect for the fact that he was…oh, I don't know…ten! "Well, maybe eleven. I don't know."

"I'll just ask Kyuubi about it. He has to know what's going on."

He tried numerous times to call out to the fox mentally, but there was no answer. The connection seemed to be blocked as if it ceased to exist at all. Gazing at his reflection again, he paled as the information sank in. His face…the whisker marks were gone. Fear dawned in his eyes and gripped at his heart.

'Kyuubi…oh no, I-I have to see him!'

Naruto hurried back to his bed and began to get ready to mediate. He tried to make himself comfortable before he heard the door open and an Anbu mask popping in. On instinct, Naruto quickly opened the window, cursing under his breath. Hopping onto the ledge, he grumbled, "What, they're guarding my door now?" He then jumped out and scaled the building with his right arm, which was less injured. After jumping out, Naruto could hear the other Anbu guards running in and calling after him. "Naruto-sama!"

'Since when have they called me that?' He cringed at the pain running through his arm. The cuts must have reopened and blood was soaking through them. 'My chakra control sucks! I won't be able to stay on much longer. I'm losing control!' He could barely stay on the building before his control gave out. Luckily, he was low enough to flip and land gracefully onto a rooftop. Glancing back briefly, he turned around and made a sprint in the direction of the forest.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Arashi was annoyed. No, he was beyond annoyed, he was annoyed and frustrated. He had been trying to work on his paperwork all day, but couldn't because all he could think about was his son.

Seven days. That's how long his son has fallen into a coma after making it through the first night. He could barely eat. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't think about anything else, and it was driving him mad. Running a hand nervously through his hair, Arashi sighed warily. This was how he always got when one of his children got hurt or sick.

Tapping his fingers against his desk restlessly, he thought of his son for the umpteenth time that day. Naruto was about to turn eleven, and on the verge of becoming a shinobi, but Arashi wasn't sure if his son could survive in the shinobi world. Of course, he never doubted his son's potential, he was just worrying, but he had reason to worry. Naruto wasn't the brightest of his class, in fact, he was dead last.

What made it worse was that he was also arrogant and stuck up because he was the Hokage's son. He was stubborn and possessive and threw tantrums when he didn't have things go his way. He also despised his siblings, claiming that he was spending all his time with them, but the truth was that his son was just pushing him away.

Arashi hated to think these things of Naruto, but all the facts were there and he couldn't deny them. Arashi loved Naruto dearly, but sometimes he just wished that he turned out differently. The way that he imagined his son to be like. He would admit that he has been very lenient in Naruto's case and he has given him everything he has ever wanted, spoiling him rotten. But one can't buy love, it just isn't possible.

"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!" The blonde hokage looked up from the pile of paperwork that he had been staring at for the pass hour, gazing at the Anbu that had just burst through his office doors.

Raising an eyebrow in question, the Yondaime fixed his eyes on him. The said Anbu shifted slightly in embarrassment. "I-I have news on your son."

Within a second the Fourth was on his feet and in front of the other shinobi, displaying the speed that earned their leader the name of the Yellow Flash of Konoha. "How is he? Is something wrong? Has he woken up? Is he alright?" He shot out questions faster than the other could comprehend. Stunned speechless, the Anbu just gawked at the Yondaime. Good thing he was wearing a mask or he would have looked like a fool.

Arashi waited for an answer and quickly grew impatient. Folding his arms around his chest, he tapped his foot on the floor. "Well?"

The other shinobi seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in before straightening up with whatever dignity he had left. "I have good and bad news, Hokage-sama. Which would you prefer to hear first?"

"The good." The reply came automatically as the Yondaime's gaze became more intense, causing the other to shift nervously. "Naruto-sama has indeed woken up." Arashi's eyes shifted to the door, growing restless. He needed to see it for himself!

"The bad?" He asked hurriedly, staring longingly at the door.

The Anbu member's head bowed down and he mumbled something that the Fourth didn't quite catch. "I can't hear you. Could you speak louder?"

"Err…we can't…umm…find him."

"What?!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tsunade hastily gathered as many Anbu squads that were available and ran off to the exact area where the huge outburst came from. The whole vicinity for a quarter of a mile was destroyed, leaving a wide but shallow crater. It was obvious that the battle was fierce, but the question on all their minds was left unanswered.

Who won?

Of course, they all suspected that Orochimaru had won, but one should never and I mean never, as in never ever underestimate the nine-tails fox demon, Kyuubi's power. Orochimaru wasn't present at all and when the Sound nins hastily retreated in fear, they had to assume that it was because their leader was gone.

So, it was on that day that Tsunade, with a broken heart, announced to the village that Uzumaki Naruto had died in battle bringing Orochimaru with him.

"You're lying!! You're lying!! YOU'RE AL LIARS!!" Everyone looked to see Sakura crying hysterically and being held back by Lee and Ino. She fell in a crumpled heap onto the ground and promptly broke down.

"I-I n-never got to tell him h-how sorry I was."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yay! I'm done with the beginning! Just a reminder that if you guys don't like the story then I'll just discontinue it and stick to my other story! So, review please!!

Hope you enjoyed it and see you next time!!

Well, that was the last time that I'm going to be writing about Naruto's original world or at least for a while. I know that it might be a bit confusing, but I like it in that order so I hope that you guys could stay with it!

Much Love!

xxFrozenSn0wxx