A Social Experiment

Chapter 1- A Fear of the Unknown

Warnings: AU, Mild Violence, Possible Swearing

Disclaimer: Naruto © Kishimoto

A Challenge by EDelta88.

--o0oOOOo0o—

Death, death and destruction.

It rained down on Konoha during that week.

On October sixth, the Kyuubi was spotted at the Fire temple. One message was all that escaped.

The rest had been hidden in the devastation the biju had caused.

On October seventh, it came within sight of the Hokage temple, tearing through the grand forests that surrounded Konoha.

It approached, closer and closer, until on the ninth, it had breached Konoha's walls.

The Yondaime had been seen, tired, drawn, and weary, frantically scribbling out seal designs with his brush.

Some ridiculed him, but others could not help but wonder if the Yondaime would be the savior of them all.

Then dawned October tenth, where shinobi fought for their lives, their families, and their very homeland.

If the Kyuubi managed to get past…there would not be a Konoha to go back to, whether they survived or not.

They fought for the hope the Yondaime offered, the possibility living to survive the nightmare.

He capitalized on the time they gave him.

And the Kyuubi shivered, vanishing into the Shinigami's grasp. No one knew what happened; and no one knew the truth.

The only thing that Sarutobi found was a small, quiet boy.

He gently traced the black spiral seal on the baby's stomach, marveling at the seeming simplicity of the seal.

It was Minato's last wish. He would protect this boy, Minato's son.

This boy, this child, with blonde hair, and blue eyes.

--o0oOOOo0o—

Uzumaki Naruto was far more than what he seemed to be.

Namikaze Minato had been more intelligent than most gave credit to.

He would not wish the fate of a jinchuriki on anyone.

But if anyone would have this fate, it would be no one but him.

Namikaze Minato, now named, Uzumaki Naruto.

There were no newborn children that day; if there were any, they were dead. The Konoha General Hospital had been worst struck on the west wing, where the Obstetrics ward was.

Minato could only assume the worst of his unborn child and pregnant wife.

So he did the only thing he could, modifying an impossible seal to do something even more absurd.

Turn him into a child, and use him for the sealing instead.

And beyond all chances, it worked.

The younger form of Minato Namikaze was being mistaken for Naruto Uzumaki, what his son would have been named.

Minato hadn't told anyone, yet.

Questions had once flitted angrily through his head; would Konoha honor his dying words? Would her people look past the taint of a demon? Would they, at least, treat the jinchuriki with respect? If not for the jinchuriki himself, then for Minato.

It seemed not.

Civilians scorned him; calling him what he was not. Shinobi feared him; but they, at least, treated him with decency.

Well, at least the jounin and the ANBU did; they were far too loyal to the Hokage to do anything else. He couldn't speak for the chunin that tried their hand a killing a child.

And it continued in this vein for ten years.

--o0oOOOo0o—

Minato woke at five-thirty, his internal clock never letting him sleep any later than that.

He frowned.

Just once, he would like to sleep in, like when he was a child, but….

Ninja instincts stayed with you forever.

The rare times he did sleep in, he was one- heavily injured, or two- recovering from poison or wounds.

He rose from the small futon, carefully rolling it up and placing it within the small closet. It was filled with blue, black, or orange clothing.

Minato ignored the clothing for now, instead focusing on the small pack deposited on the floor of the small storage area. He opened it, and inspected the folder within, making sure that the homework inside was correctly done, with some carefully orchestrated mistakes. Despite the fact that he was the Kyuubi jinchuriki, in this day and age, he refused to act entirely dumb for the villager's sake of mind. It wasn't Minato's problem; if they worried about the Kyuubi jinchuriki attacking them, they should have treated him better.

If they did attack, he would fight back. And he would drag their asses to the Sandaime, where they would be quietly executed as per the law.

But, Minato frowned; he hadn't wanted Danzou recruiting him with all the 'living weapon' shit the man pulled. He refused to ever, ever work under the ROOT commander's orders. So, he acted like a somewhat average, dense ten-year old academy student. While he did pass under the man's radar, it was difficult. And too often, he let things slip.

When the Sandaime watched him act out, it was with a mischievous twinkle in the old man's eyes. Minato was sure the Professor knew far more than he let on, at least, about the second persona that he showed to everyone else.

It became confirmed when Sarutobi handed him a jutsu scroll and a book on fuinjutsu.

Luckily, his acting had improved since then, and Minato pranked poor Iruka-sensei and acted out because, as he explained to the Sandaime, he was bored.

And Sarutobi covered for him, knowing that 'Naruto' was actually a prodigy, and a powerful asset to Konoha.

He allowed 'Naruto' to live on his own (because Minato had once asked to; the orphanage people were only getting more and more frightened by his growing proficiency in taijutsu); he gave 'Naruto' scrolls and books to learn from behind the council's back, and treated 'Naruto' like a grandson.

Minato was grateful for that.

There were others, too. The heart of Konoha had not vanished entirely. Iruka, the Academy teacher, bought him ramen, despite his initial dislike of the Kyuubi jinchuriki. 'Wolf' (and Minato laughed so hard when he first spotted the ANBU dropping by-it was Kakashi, after all; who would have thought?) brought vegetables and knocked at the door to give them to him. Minato had not been so amused when he spotted the ANBU breaking up a civilian riot, full of people ready to kill a child, for the demon inside. Kakashi mostly watched the apartment, never talking, but instead being a silent presence.

There was also Ayame, and Teuchi; the ramen stand owners, and Minato often had to hide a smile when Ayame chased out customers with an iron pan for calling 'Naruto' a demon.

But even if there were so few that knew 'Naruto' for what he truly was; a simple, lonely boy, they were worth protecting Konoha for. And that was all Minato needed.

Minato sighed and pulled on a blue turtleneck sweater with an orange spiral on the back (his homage to Kushina), preparing for the absolutely brain-meltingly boring day up ahead.

--o0oOOOo0o—

Hm..

Minato smirked, standing in front of his classroom at the Ninja Academy. It was nine-thirty, which meant he had arrived at the Academy exactly an hour late.

Perfect. He'd always wanted to see how Obito felt, being so tardy to team meetings and practically any other appointment they had.

Oddly enough, all Minato felt was an strange anticipation of Iruka's and the students' reactions, despite the fact he'd pulled this trick many, many times before.

He shrugged. Oh well. If he got some enjoyment out of this, even if it was slightly sadistic, it would be interesting. Maybe next time he'd try three hours late. But…nah. He did have some sense of pride, after all.

Minato casually strolled into the room like nothing was wrong. "Hey, Iruka-sensei!" He waved a hand lazily at the fuming teacher, whose full name was Umino Iruka.

"NA-RU-TO…!" Minato stood back and observed the effects. A bit angrier than usual, maybe…nothing special. The man's brown hair, pulled back into a spiked ponytail, shook angrily as he leaned over the desk to glare furiously at Minato, who stared at the teacher, wondering vaguely how painful the scar across the man's nose had been. He scanned the other students' faces. Oh, look, Kiba's jaw had hit the desk! And there was a loud cracking noise!

He hoped that the desk, and Kiba's jaw, was repairable.

"UZUMAKI NARUTO! YOU ARE ONE HOUR LATE TO THIS CLASS! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?" Er…okay. Maybe he'd pushed it a bit too far this time… Iruka's face was completely red, and the man looked like he was one step away from making sure that the Uzumaki line would end with him. Minato shuddered at the mental image.

He tipped his head up in thought. "Well, my alarm clock broke…"

"THAT'S THE SAME EXCUSE YOU USED YESTERDAY!"

"I had to help an old lady across the street?"

"For…an…entire…HOUR!?" Iruka got out through gritted teeth.

Minato shrunk back, raising his hand to scratch at the back of his head in a nervous gesture. Laughing sheepishly, he shrugged. "Yes?"

"THAT'S IT! DETENTION, AFTER CLASS, NARUTO!"

Minato winced. He hadn't been that bad had he? Well….there was that time two days ago that he painted everything in the teacher's lounge in bright orange…and when he rigged the chalkboard eraser to explode when Iruka used it for wiping the board…and then, Mizuki pissed him off with the display of stupid prejudice towards him, so Minato doused the man in itching powder with the classic bucket over a door…okay, maybe he'd been extremely irritating this week.

Understatement of the year. He'd been a right little hellion.

"Sorry?" Minato managed, in a weak voice, backing off slowly to an empty seat. He couldn't help it. He was bored!

Iruka panted furiously for a moment, about to continue his rant, before sighing and massaging his temples. It would be a waste of time, anyhow…. Naruto never listened.

Minato quickly sat, thankful that the man hadn't continued ranting. He folded his arms on the desk, and quickly fell asleep. Next to Shikamaru, the resemblance in attitudes and postures was amazing. Needless to say, Iruka didn't appreciate it.

"NARUTO!!! WAKE UP! AND YOU TOO, NARA SHIKAMARU!"

--o0oOOOo0o--

Minato and Shikamaru finally escaped the Concrete Box o' Hell (the Academy) two hours after the end of school, at five o' clock in the evening.

Their detention had been to stay back and clean the Teacher's lounge until it met with Iruka's high standards.

While Minato really didn't mind, he pretended to grouse and whine as much as the next child.

He was now secretly grateful he'd arrived an hour late, now. He'd only stayed an hour longer than the usual school time, instead of two, like Shikamaru.

He sighed, stuffing his hands deep into his pants pockets. "Hey, Shikamaru? That was-"

"Troublesome. Just troublesome." The lazy Nara finished. The boy rolled his eyes, slouching. For a minute, Minato toyed with the idea of setting the Nara's spiky ponytail on fire just to see if he would react.

On second thought….nah. Too much trouble. Oh shit. He vaguely hoped he wasn't getting too lazy.

Author's Note:

Kay, before I say anything else, this story is based off a challenge from EDelta88. Seriously, check out his stories and forums. Some of the ideas he has are excellent. Not to mention, he's a great author.

That said, how do you like this chapter? It's pretty short, really, but I just wanted to get a feel for how this story was going to go.

Everybody in character? Plot is relatively solid? No plot-holes? (By the way, if there are plot holes in the freakin' first chapter, I will trash this it and rewrite. Honestly….)

Please review.

Till' next time….