This is my first fanfiction, unless you count the embarrassing amount of self-insert x original character stories I used to write in middle school. I always hate when authors make the pairing a guessing game, so I'll state them here:

Neji/Naruto (main), Lee/Sakura, Kankuro/Kiba, Shino/Hinata, Chouji/Ino, Kakashi/Iruka, Shikamaru/Temari, others to be decided

I hope that my story is at least somewhat enjoyable. Constructive criticism is much appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters associated with the series.

Five years ago on October 10, a monstrous beast attacked the village of Konohagakure. The foxlike entity caused mass destruction and killed many shinobi and civilians that day, leaving families torn apart and homeless. It seemed that the village would be unable to stop the demon's violent rampage; everything they threw at it was ineffective, easily swept away by the nine tails of the beast, and the malicious aura it released made most men cower in fear. The villagers despaired that their precious home would be reduced to nothing but a crater in the ground. However, there was one ninja who was able to face the nine-tailed fox head on, undeterred by the immense killing intent released by the chakra monster.

The Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato.

The blonde man bravely faced the beast, standing upon his toad summon which rivaled the size of the fox. There was no moment of hesitation on either side before he and the beast clashed, with Minato managing to drive it slightly away from the village. The battle lasted hours and an exhausted Minato, seeing no other choice, had to make a very difficult decision.

He had to seal the creature within a child.

In exchange for his own life as well as his wife's, he sealed the beast inside a newborn, his own child: Uzumaki Naruto. With his dying breath, the Yondaime's last request was that the child be known as a hero for imprisoning the beast and keeping it from destroying the village. He died, hoping that the villagers would honor his request.

The Sandaime Hokage did his best to keep his promise to the Yondaime. However, many of the villagers of Konohagakure saw the beast instead of the child; hate and anguish blinded them to the reality of the situation. They had lost family, friends, and lovers to the beast and were outraged that it was still alive and able to roam freely around Konoha. Even with the Third's law in place, they took upon themselves the job of showing the beast just how unwelcome it was in their village.

It started with verbal attacks.

The villagers would spit slurs at him and refuse to let him into their shops. The child was hard-pressed to find a shop where the owner and patrons didn't shout in anger whenever he passed by. Though it was announced forbidden by law, they regularly alluded to him being a demon. They told him that he should die. They said he was worthless. They said something as evil and wretched as he was didn't deserve to live.

When that stopped being enough, when it no longer dulled the pain in their hearts, they began to hit the blonde boy. They beat him whenever they saw him, his presence seeming to reopen old wounds. He never knew what he did wrong; no matter how long he stared at his chipped, water stained ceiling, he could never understand why he was hated so. His only relief was that his injuries healed quickly. His small comfort was short term.

The villagers, once they noticed his bruises and cuts healing almost immediately, began to use him as stress relief for more than just that caused by the attack of the Kyuubi. If they lost their job, they'd blame it on him. If a child came down with a severe sickness, it was his fault. He would be beaten until they were satisfied. It didn't matter to them that he was incapable of doing most of what he was claimed to have done. Luckily the physical abuse he was subjected to never escalated to rape, as the villagers were disgusted with the idea of touching the demon that intimately.

They terrorized the boy to the point he was afraid to tell anyone about it, even his grandpa, the Sandaime. It was only a matter of time until the aging man found out, though.

One day, one of the Sandaime's ANBU happened to pass by during one of Naruto's daily beatings. The ANBU, Dog, quickly broke up the mob. His anger was visible to the villagers, causing a few to run. None escaped. Most were unconscious and sporting various injuries by the time Dog was done.

Gently lifting the hurt boy into his arms, he hurried to the Hokage's office to report what happened. The Sandaime was enraged, ordering that the mob members be rounded up. He called a public meeting, using the caught mob as an example. A year or two in prison didn't faze the villagers, though.

The Sandaime ordered that there be at least one ANBU member with Naruto at all times when he noticed the physical abuse continue in spite of his warning. In hindsight, he realized he should've had a guard around Naruto since the beginning, that he had put too much trust in his beloved village.

For a while, this stopped the beatings. The villagers still scowled and yelled at him and refused him entrance into their stores, but he no longer had to fear the random attacks.

Until village security was threatened and all of the ANBU members were required to report to the Hokage. This was a distraction, though. The angry villagers, some of whom were skilled ninja, managed to trick the Hokage and his ANBU.

Of course it helped that one of the mob members was an ANBU veteran.

The day was October 10, Naruto's fifth birthday.

The villagers broke into his small apartment, which he had to live in since no one would take him in, and proceeded to attack him. This time was different, though. Usually they would only use their fists, and most of the cuts were received from being pushed to the ground. This time they were using knives, stabbing and ripping into flesh.

The boy screamed, tears streaming down his face as the mob cut through tender skin. He cried, thinking that this time the villagers would finally kill him. The last thing Naruto remembered was one villager raising a kunai and then unbelievable pain erupting in his right eye before he passed out.

He awoke in the hospital, finding out that he had lost his eye. His attackers had been executed, the ex-ANBU being stripped of his title shortly before execution, but they took with them Naruto's childhood.

He was no longer the bubbly young boy that often grinned in spite of the words and fists thrown at him. He now lived in fear of everyone around him, expecting a beating wherever he went. The Sandaime made sure that no one laid a hand on the young boy again. He knew he had acted far too late.

He silently begged the Yondaime for forgiveness.

A few weeks later found Naruto looking at his bathroom mirror. Bandages were still around his right eye, but a morbid curiosity possessed him. What did his eye look like? Was it all mangled, or was it just an empty socket?

Slowly, he started to unravel the bandages. He wanted to stop, but his hands kept moving. It was like he wasn't even in control of his own body anymore. He knew he should leave the bandages alone but he couldn't help himself; he needed to see what was underneath. What was hidden behind the bandages shocked him.

His eye was there.

Or rather, an eye was there. He did not recognize it as his own. His eyes were blue, but this one was red with slitted pupils similar to that of a cat's. Or a monster's.

This was not his eye.

His heart rate rose and he felt panic begin to overtake him. That was when he heard a deep rumbling from within his mind. The deep growling voice, surprisingly soothing, explained to him the truth of his birth as well as the fact that, yes, that really was the boy's eye. It told the blonde the sealing had caused him to become half demon due to the type of seal used and the demon's own chakra.

Naruto was afraid. He really was the monster the villagers made him out to be. With this revelation he really looked at himself in the mirror. Aside from his eye, he noticed that his canines were long and sharp, much more so than a normal human being. His nails even had a jagged tip. Slightly pointed ears poked out of his shaggy hair, and the markings on his cheek were dark and whisker-like. Things that he had never noticed, but the villagers must have.

The beast inside him, who had revealed that it had been controlled the night of the attack, tried to console him. It said he would be okay, that he was fine. But Naruto knew.

He was a monster.