That's All I Wanted
Chapter 1
Naruto's wants and needs were simple. He wanted more attention from his parents, and he needed to feel loved. Growing up as the container of the Kyuubi and the son of the Hokage was a double edged sword, the people revered his father, and gave him a certain amount of respect for his heritage, but they still feared and despised the boy for the beast he contained. He was too close to the public eye to be ignored, or even allowed a semblance of peace from the citizens. Naruto was never physically injured by the population, they wouldn't dare touch the son of the Hokage, but their glares and whispers did enough damage.
Minato was at a loss as to how to deal with the situation. He had gone into the final battle with the Kyuubi fully expecting to lose his life, however the tables turned when the Third knocked the blonde out and performed the seal himself. The citizens grieved his loss, and honoured his sacrifice, while little Naruto was given back to his shaken mother, and stunned father.
Minato didn't try to hide his son's prisoner and was honest from the beginning with both Naruto and the public, he wanted his boy to be viewed as a hero, however the citizens were wary to accept the boy, believing him to be the demon himself, or at the very least corrupted by the demon's influence. Parents would shuffle their children away from him in the playground; his school mates were told bedtime stories about the demon and warned to keep away from him. As the village cut themselves off from Naruto so did his own parents.
Naruto was a quiet little boy, although very sweet he rarely showed any affection or emotions. Unable to play with fellow children he found difficulties with forming social functions, and was often left to his own devices. His imagination flourished under the circumstances, having no one else to play with he would come up with situations and single player games within his mind. He also took to reading, sitting quietly in the office while Minato signed scrolls. Minato and Kushina both being very active and rambunctious people found themselves unable to deal with a quiet and emotionally subdued child, unsure what was wrong with him. Being unable to deal with their little boy they began to leave him to his own devices more and more. No longer offering to read him a bedtime story, or tuck him in at night. They would rarely play with him, and often left the boy alone in the house for hours on end. Starved for affection but unable to voice his discontent the boy simply accepted his fate, and withdrew even further into his own world, devouring his father and mother's scrolls, and spending more and more time indoors.
Shortly after Naruto's fourth birthday, the family was blessed with another baby boy. Kushina was absolutely delighted, and Minoto beamed. They viewed their new son as a chance to start over, to right the mistakes they had made with Naruto, and as such they emotionally separated themselves from their son, to focus on their 'second chance'. Naruto despite the continued lack of attention from his parents was ecstatic over the birth of his brother. He viewed Yoshi as a playmate, and someone who would actually spend time with him. Minato and Kushina were pleased to see the change in their son, and began to take the boys to the park to play together. The citizens of Konoha were overjoyed with the birth of what they considered to be the "true" heir to the Hokage, but worried about the demon tainting the pure boy. They voiced their worries to Minato, hoping that he would keep the two separated, but he refused to hear a word against his son. It wasn't until Naruto was eight and his brother was four that a life changing situation happened.
The two boys were playing tag in the forest with a group of their peers, their parents watching the children play from their view in the tree's above. A chubby boy named Chouji was it, having been one of the first caught due to his clumsy and slow manner. Yoshi nearly flew over the ground, his red hair trailing behind him and his blue eyes shining in mirth as he taunted Chouji, coming close to the boy then speeding away at the last second. Needless to say Chouji was not amused, but the other children delighted in the boy's game. Naruto watched from an elevated vantage, hidden in the branches of the tree's while he practiced his stealth.
The blonde caught a metallic glint through the foliage and frowned. None of the children had brought their kunei to practice, and none of the parent's would have a weapon drawn unless there was danger present. Sneaking closer to the source of the shine he was shocked to see what appeared to be an enemy ninja who at the moment was eyeing his little brother carefully. Naruto shot into action leaping from the tree's and sprinting to his little brother who was laughing heartily with the other children. The enemy noticed the child moving towards his target and released his weapon towards the younger boy, hoping it would outrun him. Naruto heard the distinct release of the weapon and leaped forward, pushing his brother out of the way of the incoming danger. However the situation moved from the frying pan into the fire. Yoshi avoided the weapon, but the momentum of being pushing sent him tumbling off a cliff and into the river, knocking his head on a rock and sinking under.
The enemy ninja knowing he had been discovered fled the scene, while Naruto got up and dived into the river, frantically searching for his little brother. The adults on the scene were horrified, the demon boy, had pushed the other with what seemed like no provocation. A search for the child was quickly erected by the adults on the scene. He was found just a few meters from where he fell in barely breathing. The boy was rushed to the hospital where the doctors quickly cleared his lungs. Minato and Kushina came barrelling in to check on their little boy, while Naruto was detained by a ANBU member with a wolf mask.
"Yoshi, my poor baby boy, how is he?" Kushina asked the doctors, stroking her son's face, and pressing butterfly kisses over his cheeks.
"He has a mild concussion, a sprained ankle and a broken wrist. He appears to be healing at the normal rate but will have to be held for a day or so to make sure there is no other lasting damage. We were lucky to get him when we did, as it was he took in quite a bit of water. He's a very lucky boy not to have drowned."
"Thank you doctor." Minato said sincerely, giving the man a firm handshake as he left the room. "What happened?" He asked, turning to the ANBU holding Naruto.
"The other families and children reported that your son rushed his younger brother and pushed him into the river without provocation. They state that it was no accident, that he had 'just run up and pushed him as hard as he could.'"
"I was protecting him!" Naruto argued, struggling in the ANBU's grasp. "Honestly Dad, there was an enemy ninja in the forest with a kunei, he was watching Yoshi. So I ran towards him and heard the kunei release behind me so I pushed him out of the way. You have to believe me! I wouldn't hurt Yoshi for anything in the world."
"We swept the scene sir. There was no sign of any foreign chakra, or the kunei he spoke of. However that doesn't completely rule out the possibility that he's telling the truth, we haven't found the evidence yet but we're still searching."
Minato nodded gravely and sat down in the waiting chair beside Yoshi's bed, his eyes flickering between his broken son on the bed, to a pained Naruto standing completely rigid with the ANBU's hand on his shoulder.
Meanwhile in the forest Itachi bent down to pick up a foreign kunei hidden deeply within the underbrush. He quickly pocketed the item and returned back to the captain patrolling the area to show him his discovery. The captain took the item in hand and observed it closely.
"Have you told anyone else what you have found?"
Itachi shook his head and responded, "No."
The captain nodded before pocketing the weapon. "You tell no one what you have found. There will be dire consequences should this information leak out. Do you understand me?"
"Yes Sir. But why Sir? I thought the whole purpose of the search was to find evidence of the boy's innocence." Itachi asked his tone remaining neutral.
"Foolish boy. The mission was to look as if we tried our best. No one expected to find him innocent."
"And now that we know he is?"
"I repeat. No one expected to find him innocent. So no questions will be asked. Now return to your post. We'll go inform the Hokage that his son was lying." The man said with a satisfied grin.
Itachi reluctantly agreed. He was currently in training to become a leader of an ANBU squad, and the only way that he could accomplish his goal was to follow along with his squad leader's rules for now. It was only a matter of time before he would hold power in his own right. The pair disappeared in a flash of leaves, appearing outside the Hokage's chambers.
When Minato was informed that there was no evidence to back up Naruto's claim he was heartbroken. No matter how many times people had told him that his son was trouble he had never listened, and now his youngest was injured in the hospital because he didn't take the precautions he should have. He knew that he hadn't raised Naruto quite right, but he would have never in a million years expected his son to try and injure his little brother. He left the room with a heavy heart, intent on discovering why his son had attacked his little brother, and horrified with the prospect of telling Kushina about what their son had done.
Kushina was absolutely devastated when she heard the news, and even grabbed Naruto by the collar of his jacket and lifting him into the air. Shaking the boy and crying, 'Why! Why would you do that to your little brother?! Why would you hurt him when he loves you so much?' Naruto merely quivered in her grip, shaking his head back and forth saying, 'I didn't do it. I swear I never meant to hurt him.' Tears streamed down the child's face, even when Kushina released, moving back to cry into Minato's arm's.
"I have no choice. I can't keep you around your little brother if you intend to cause him damage. I won't punish you harshly because you are my son, but I can't allow you around him. As such you will not be allowed around your brother unless your mother or myself is present. You will sleep away from the main house, and will be sealed from the premises at night. You will immediately attend psychiatric sessions with Ibiki, and will be followed by ANBU for a year. Do I make myself clear young man?" Minato stated harshly.
Naruto looked as if he had collapsed into upon himself. "I'm telling the truth dad. Please believe me. I wouldn't hurt him. Please." Naruto begged.
"AM I CLEAR?" Minato said, his voice raised.
Flinching, Naruto closed his eyes and nodded his head. "Crystal." He replied softly.
Minato nodded and motioned for the ANBU figures nearby. The three came forward with silent grace, the form of one of the three clearly female despite the unisex uniform, while the other two appeared to be male.
"You wolf will be in charge of the mission of trailing Naruto for the next year. Under you will be will be Raven and Snake. Do you accept your mission?"
All three figures nodded.
"Good. Meet me back at my office later for future discussion and details. Dismissed." Minato said, with a flick of his wrist.
The three vanished leaving a slight breeze in the room. Minato gave a heavy sigh before rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. Kushina sat beside the bed stroking Yoshi's hand softly, and smoothing back his hair while the boy slept on peacefully ignorant of the situation that had just unfolded.
Naruto slowly slinked out of the room, once clear from the door he flew down the hallway, tears burning behind his eyelids as he scrambled past the outraged hospital staff. Fleeing into the forest the teen found himself where the event had taken place. Tears streaming down his face he franticly searched for the kunei that would redeem him, he even sought out the position that the ninja was hiding, hoping dearly that he would uncover some sort of evidence to clear himself. The longer he searched and the less he found the more frustrated he became.
The boy fell to his knees looked at the spot where his brother fell in, leaning over to look deeply into the stream , rocks scattered along the bottom. He stared deeply into his reflection in the lake before speaking.
"There's nothing here, but I know what I saw. I wasn't lying, I just wasn't... but there's nothing here. I couldn't have imagined it... could I? No. No, I couldn't. I wouldn't. I didn't." He said with finality.
Looking down in disgust the child smashed his hand into the water, disrupting his image and watching it distort with the ripples. Only then did he wipe the tears from his face away, before getting to his feet. The boy travelled to the Hokage monument, sitting in one of the higher towers that provided a perfect vantage for the boy to see the entire rock face. He sat silently for a long time, staring at his father's image engrained into the rock, his lips quivering, and his eyes watering before he bit back his emotion. He glared at the mountain, before smashing his fist into the concrete, making an indent into the rooftop.
"You are no longer my hero." He whispered.
The three figures watching the teen turned to one another, their worry apparent before turning back to watch the boy glare at the image well into the night.
The council celebrated with the news that they had accomplished their goal of separating the Kyuubi child from his parents, creating a divide that they would be able to use later on. The boy would make a perfect weapon against his very own father, they needed only to plant the seeds and allow them to grow. They had also simultaneously taken away Yoshi's protection. Without the Kyuubi brat there to protect him the boy wouldn't survive the next attempt at his life. Yes. It was all the council could hope for, and all they wanted... for the moment.
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Conscience: Another Naruto Angst story... how original.
Me: It will be original. Just stick around and you'll see firsthand. God. No patience.
Conscience: That's not what your mom said last night. Oh snap.
Me: --'