A/N: Welcome to the first chapter, hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

No beta was harmed in the making of this chapter.

Chapter One: A Contract

Tragedy strikes those most unfortunate, but even more tragic are the people who have fate's target hanging over their head. Naruko Uzumaki, a girl barely the age of six, was one of the most tragic cases of all. The true story began on the day of Naruko's unfortunate birth, but it was one dark stormy night that set her fate in motion.

Naruko had always been alone, at least ever since she was old enough to make herself food and take care of her health. She had no parents left and the orphanage had not wanted to keep her, so with money her family had left her after their deaths she was bought a small apartment all for her own. Naruko had no friends and no one she could talk to. For whatever reason, all the children in the village avoided her and all the adults treated her worse. There wasn't a day that went by where she wasn't glared at, called ugly names and shoved around by the villagers. The only ones who didn't treat her like dirt were the lovely people at the Ichiraku Ramen stand where she frequently ate; Teuchi and his daughter Aiyame. They were kind enough to let her eat at a discount and the more she got to know the owner and his family, the more she got free meals!

Ichiraku's ramen was where she had been on the night it all went down. It had been dark and rainy, and Naruko had run out of bread to make herself sandwiches. By the time she decided she had wanted to eat, it was too late for the market to be open, so she had decided Ichiraku's was the best solution.

Naruko had never been afraid of walking herself anywhere on her own. Most people avoided her all together so there wasn't much to worry about. The walk there had been uneventful, and Naruko enjoyed three whole bowls of steaming hot ramen before she called it quits. Just because she was a girl didn't mean she wasn't allowed to eat a lot.

It had began to rain when Naruko decided to walk home.

"Hey Naruko, are you sure you'll be okay out there, going home by yourself and all? It's raining and dark." Said Ichiraku himself, a kind man who couldn't bring himself to ever be unkind to the girl.

Naruko looked over at him and gave him a big grin, her blue eyes lighting up happily. "I'll be okay! I always am!" She gave him a thumbs up and hopped off her stool. "I'll see you again soon!" She yelled and ran out into the rain. As much as she was told by Teuchi she shouldn't be doing anything that would make her sick, Naruko loved walking in the rain. There was something so refreshing about the way it could wash away all the bad things in life. It was because of this that Naruko decided to take the long way home. What she didn't realize were the eyes following her every move.

Naruko turned the corner and headed down a small alley way, going towards the empty neighbourhood where construction had just began. Sometimes she liked to walk through it and imagine that she could live in one of the houses that were being build, with her very own family. That night, the street lanterns were dim and made it harder to see, but still light enough for her to make out objects and shapes. Since the last time she had been there the houses had grown taller and wider, closer and closer to being finished.

"Oof!" Naruko winced as she fell back onto her rear. She looked up and brushed her soaking wet bangs out of her eyes to see the dark figure of a person. Tall and thick, just like the buildings around her.

"Hey kid, watch where your going." The person growled. "You got my jacket covered in your filth."

Naruko blinked in confusion and fear. She stood up and turned to run away. She had always been told to never talk to strangers and something about this guy gave her the creeps. Naruko didn't get far though, because as she ran back the way she came, she bumped into another person.

"Not so fast demon witch." The man in front of her cackled. She heard the squishing of shoes in the mud behind her and looked back to see two men accompanying the man she had originally run into. Four in total.

"What do you want!? I just want to go home!" She yelled over the sound of rain.

"Oh look, the brat speaks." One of them laughed loudly and then kicked Naruko's back, sending her sprawling forwards into the mud. Naruko cried out in pain and tried to look back but a foot made contact with her head and kept her face pressed into the ground. "Shut up little devil. Grab her and follow me."

Naruko was grabbed from the ground and dragged along with the four men. She screamed for help desperately. The men didn't even bother covering up her mouth; they knew no one was coming for her. No one was around to hear her cries.

Naruko was dragged into one of the unfinished homes and dumped on the floor, crying. She knew she was trapped. Shivers ran across her body and the heavy pressure of dread knotted in her stomach.

"Why are you doing this!?" She cried desperately, but she was only laughed at. When she tried to get up and run, she was thrown back down against the wooden floor and pressed down by one man while another used rough rope to bind her. The frayed rope bit into her skin and made her bleed. Naruko sobbed as the men laughed and called her names. The torture started quickly and didn't end for hours.

The four men hovered over her laughing as she screamed. One man kicked her in the stomach, another crushed her fingers with the heel of his boot. When she tried to bite one of them, she received a punch to the jaw that made her dizzy followed by a kick to the side of her head, causing her to roll onto her stomach. Blood spewed from her mouth and seeped into the floor boards. She heard the sound of clanking metal and one of the men suggesting they 'get to the real fun'. The next thing Naruko knew was the pain of a knife digging into her back. Naruko screamed in torture as a man slowly dragged a knife diagonally across her back and then repeating the motion on the other side, creating a large 'X' in her skin.

"Stop! St-Stop!" She begged, choking on the blood in her mouth. "Please!"

They didn't listen. Instead they rolled her over onto her bleeding back and stabbed a kunai into her wrist, going through the skin and pinning her to the floor. Naruko's screams of pain were laughed at by the men.

"This is what you get. You shouldn't even be alive you stupid demon!"

More knives. More cuts. Soon enough Naruko looked like a human pin cushion. She was slowly losing her consciousness; her eyesight began to blur, the smell of blood faded and the sounds of laughter and name calling were drowned out by the sound of her own beating pulse.

Do you want to die?

The deep voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once. Naruko closed her eyes and stared at the inside of her eyelids, wondering if she was hearing things.

Do you want to die?

The voice repeated itself again, and this time Naruko knew it was speaking to her. She couldn't muster up the strength to speak, so instead she just thought her answer to herself.

Why would I want to live? All anyone ever does is treat me like I shouldn't exist. I have no friends, I have no family. Why should I live? I did nothing to deserve this!

To Naruko's surprise, the voice answered back.

Such a pitiful girl; one who's very life was stained red from the day she was born.

Naruko lay there, crying in pain beyond what she had ever felt before, but somehow she could only focus on the voice she heard.

Who are you? She thought.

Who am I? Open your eyes and you may see.

Naruko did just that, but when she opened her eyes again, she was no longer in the room with those men hovering over her. She was no longer pinned to the ground and bleeding. Instead she found herself sitting in a dark room she had never been in or seen before. In front of her sat a cage larger than she had ever seen; taller than the biggest building in her town. The silver bars that covered the cage were thick and looked strong.

Naruko stood and began walking towards the cage curiously.

Where am I?

Right where you were before, but this time you are inside of your mind.

My mind? How is that possible? And where are you?

Right in front of you.

Before Naruko could ask any other question, two large eyes appeared before her inside of the cage. Naruko gasped and stepped back in surprise. The eyes came closer and closer and until the eyes were attached to a face and that face was attached to a body. Naruko's own eyes widened.

You're the…

Yes, I am. The nine tailed fox demon. The very one that destroyed your village on the very day you were born… And I reside within you now.

Naruko stumbled back and fell to her knees. How is that possible!? The hokage killed you and saved the whole village! How are you inside of me!?

No Naruko, I was never killed, that is just what you were told to believe. I could never be killed, instead they decided to seal me away in a vessel. You are that vessel. Those who were there know this, and though they were sworn to secrecy, they tell their children to avoid you. He exposed his teeth in a fierce frown as he looked down at her.

Naruko's eyes welled up with tears and she began to cry. She pointed at the demon. It was you!? You're the reason why everyone avoids me, calls me names and picks on me!? They think I'm a monster because of you!?

It would seem that is the case. He said and watched the little girl cry. Somehow it made his heart shift. Naruko… Do you want to live? I can make all of the pain go away… I can stop any that oppose you. I can make you the best ninja there ever was, I can raise you to show everyone that you are not a demon. We can defy them together.

Naruko looked up in disbelief. He could do that? Well, he was a demon after all, but why would she ever want the help of a demon?

I can make the hurting go away. I will lend you my power. We can become one, and with me… You will never be alone again.

Naruko gasped and looked up at the fox demon. She stared into his eyes, and for a moment she saw it… A kindness she hadn't seen from anyone else. Coming from the demon who had destroyed her village. Yet, somehow she knew he was telling the truth; he would truly help her.

You will help me? I wont be an embarrassment anymore? I can show them all that I am not a monster? She asked and wiped her tears, slowly standing up.

Come to me, my child, and I shall give my power to you. I will protect you from all harm. He said as he stared down at her with those red eyes.

Okay… She said and slowly stepped forward, looking up at the beast. Naruko walked towards the cage and stopped in front of it.

With more bravery then Naruko had ever felt before, she reached out, her hand slowly sliding through the metal bars to rest on the fox demons orange fur. Their eyes met and for a moment Naruko knew she would be okay.

Yes, thats it child, He whispered through her mind, Now sleep.

Naruko's eyes slowly became blurry and everything went dark. In that instant her very fate was sealed.

When Naruko awoke she found herself laying in the middle of a hospital bed, covered in bandages and attached to a wire that hooked up to a machine reading her heartbeat.

She was safe now? Away from the bad men who had hurt her? The fox demon had been telling the truth, he had saved her and protected her.

Naruko looked over as a nurse came into the room. The nurse screamed in fright, obviously not expecting Naruko to be awake or even alive. Once she gained her composure, the timid woman walked over to the girl. Something about the way she stared at Naruko made her feel uncomfortable, like she had something on her face/

"You're awake now…" The nurse stated, though that much was obvious. "We didn't expect you to… well, to wake up at all."

Naruko furrowed her brows in confusion. "Miss… What happened? Where am I?" She asked. Why was she in the hospital? She actually felt good, great even. Her body felt better then it ever had been.

"Oh dear, you don't remember?" She asked and then pulled up a chair to sit next to the girls bed. "Well, last month there was a terrible fire in the new housing district. it destroyed all the houses there. While people were trying to put out the fire… They found you laying there covered in wounds… All by yourself."

Naruko blinked in confusion and then nodded. Somehow the demon had saved her… with fire? She had been in the hospital for a whole month? She was too relieved to be alive to even question it further.

"I'll go and get a doctor, you just stay right here." The nurse said, her voice shaking as if she didn't want to say anything that would make Naruko angry. Naruko didn't understand.

When the nurse had fled the room, Naruko slowly moved to the ledge of the bed and hopped down. She pulled the IV from her arm easily and slowly walked over to the mirror that was sitting in the bathroom. Naruko's breath was taken away, and she suddenly realized why the woman had been afraid. Where Naruko's old eyes had been a light blue with tiny round pupils, her eyes were now a spectacular kaleidoscope of blues and sitting right in the middle of her eye was a slit pupil, just like that in cats eyes. Kyuubi's pupils. Naruko reached up to touch her eye to find that yes, they were in fact real.

The rest of her face was covered in bandages. Naruko reached up and began pulling them off, pausing when they too showed her more surprises. Where her cheeks had once been smooth and bare, were now mauled with three scars in the shape of whiskers on each side, just like the fox demon.

With her new eyes and new scars, Naruko felt like she looked like a whole new girl… And she was okay with it, because she was a new girl. She was going to be strong from now on. Tougher and better than anything that came her way.

Naruko was going to be the best there was and Kyuubi was going to help her get there.