A/N: Hey there! This is my first Naruto fic. It's gonna be a probably a small harem since I think Naruto deserves all the love he can get, but seeing as I haven't chosen who will be a part of it, I'm leaving it up to you guys to decide who you want to see in it. The only characters I won't be considering are Tsunade and Shizune as I have other plans for them. Odds are I'm either gonna be starting with Kurenai or Hinata, but I will probably flip a coin or something to decide between those two. Anyway, I started writing this because the idea has been swirling around my head for sometime, and I wanted to practice writing a more action heavy kind of story compared to Scattered Petals.

I hope you guys like it and tell me what you think!

It was the eighth anniversary of the defeat of the fearsome Nine-Tailed Fox Demon and the people of Konoha were celebrating all throughout the village. She smiled as she watched the celebrations from her perch atop the Hokage Monument, the feelings of unity and happiness washing over her from the people below. But something pricked at her mind as she immersed herself in the feelings of the village. Amidst the happiness there were small concentrations of sadness, particularly near the cemetery, as well as a large congregation of hatred and anger. While both were somewhat to be expected, considering the nature and history of the day the villagers were commemorating, she focused on the mass of fury gathered near the opposite edge of the village and felt the sadistic glee lying just beneath. This feral happiness grew as the group emitting these feelings began moving quite quickly through one of the gates towards the forest surrounding the village. She continued to watch for a moment before deciding to follow as she felt several surges of chakra coming from the group.

She leapt off the mountain and it took her just over a minute to make it to the top of the wall on the other side of the village just out of sight of the two shinobi guarding the village gate. She paused as she felt the mass of anger stop moving about three kilometers from the village. The cruel joy grew and her eyes widened as within the nauseating mixture of hatred and euphoria was the smallest pinprick of fear.

Faster than she had ever moved before she dove into the forest, only sparing the barest thought to making sure she remained unnoticed. She came to a stop on a branch high up in a tree overlooking the clearing where the mob of civilians and shinobi alike were gathered. She watched as they shouted and jeered as several of them ganged up on the source of fear, brandishing weapons and jutsu alike. Eventually they grew bored and moved away to give another group a turn, and as they rejoined the rest of the mob she saw the target of their malice.

It took everything she had to rein in her anger and not wipe everything in that clearing along with the rest of that puny village off the face of the planet when she looked upon the broken, bleeding form of the boy. His hands and feet had been pinned to the tree behind him with kunai while not a single part of him was not covered in cuts, scrapes, bruises, and burns. What remained of his clothes were in tatters, and from what she could see, he was extremely malnourished.

The next group had taken their place and started attacking him when she decided that enough was enough. She was just about to jump down and erase these disgusting mortals from this plane when the boy raised his head and looked directly at her as if sensing her intentions. With what little energy he had, he gave her a minute shake of his head.

She could feel his will fighting valiantly against his fear and desire for the end of his pain. She could feel the sadness and loneliness deep in his heart along with the smallest speck anger and bitterness festering at the bottom of his heart. Her eyes widened in understanding as she focused more on the boy and felt a separate mass of chakra within him.

This boy was the container of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. That was why the villagers hated him so. They mistook the host for his tenant and were using him as a justifiable outlet for their darker urges and feelings. Knowing this, she was surprised by how small and deeply buried the boys own darker feelings were.

She contemplated this and came to a decision just as a villager gave a shout and cleaved a butcher knife through his right shoulder forcing the boy to close his eyes and throw his head back in pain. His mouth was open as if to shout his agony to the heavens but the most that would come out was rattling gasp.

"Hah! Can't make much noise without those vocal chords of yours, can you demon?" The man jeered as the others of the group laughed along.

Deciding she had seen enough, she focused her chakra into a genjutsu and used the illusion to will everyone in the mob to leave and return to their homes. Though it was not nearly enough in her opinion, she would follow through with the boy's wish to leave them unharmed, at least until she knew his reasoning. She waited until the last villager had left and dropped down to the ground just as the boy managed to wriggle the kunai impaled through his left hand out of the tree. He had put the handle of the kunai in his mouth and started to pull when the last of the flesh connecting his arm to his torso gave with a sickening tearing sound. His mouth opened once more with a silent howl as his body started to drop without the support of his other arm in the tree.

Acting on instinct, she was in front of him in less than a second and gently catching his falling form. She pulled the kunai out of his feet and looked down at him with teary eyes. It amazed her that even on the cusp of unconsciousness, she could see glimpses of a mind behind those fading eyes that analysed her with a speed that she didn't even think the boy was aware of as it blurred the line between rational observation and honed instinct.

It didn't take long for him to succumb to the blood loss from his severed limb though and she started to pour her chakra into him in order to keep him alive while his slumbering tenant and what she could feel was inherited genetics did what they could to heal him. She wished she could have done more, but the laws governing her were quite strict.

That being said, though, there was no way she could just leave him there. She did a quick scan of his memories and was disgusted, though no longer quite as surprised, to see how horrible his life was. Deciding at that moment that the young man in her arms was more worthy than any other, she scanned his memories more closely and was both relieved and angered that he considered the leader of this village a sort of surrogate grandfather when the man allowed such cruelties to befall not just one of his own villagers, but a boy he considered himself close to.

Standing, she gently cradled the boy, Naruto, to her chest and almost cooed at the gentle expression on his blood and tear stained face as he cuddled closer to her. Her resolve set, she didn't even bother moving, not wanting to jostle her charge, and focused on her destination as she focused on the location of this so-called Hokage.

Perhaps it was time for the God of Shinobi to receive a visit from a real God…

*(OoO)*

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned as he signed yet another piece of paperwork. Though the sounds of his villagers enjoying the festivities that night should have filled him with content as they drifted through his window, he couldn't help but worry for one boy in particular.

Despite his best efforts to convince the people of Konoha that Uzumaki Naruto was a hero who kept a calamity made flesh at bay with his every breath, they simply were too lost in their pain and hate and ignorance to believe the boy was anything but the monster he housed. Recognizing his failure to uphold the last dying wish of Naruto's father, he declared any knowledge concerning the boy's status as a Jichuuriki classified at the highest level, only to be discussed with others by the Hokage, or Naruto himself once he knew.

Unfortunately that plan too backfired as the secret still got out, causing the rest of the adult population to regard it as the village's biggest open secret, and for their hate to trickle down and infect the minds of their children.

Hiruzen sighed as he once again contemplated telling Naruto the truth about what he held within himself. He knew the boy was far more intelligent than he let on, and it was only a matter of time before he pieced the truth together himself. This line of thinking led to him wondering about how Minato and Kushina would react if they knew how poorly their son was treated. It always broke his heart whenever Naruto asked him about his heritage and he had to lie through his teeth. Both Minato and Kushina were legends in their own right, and if any of their numerous enemies knew they had a son, he wouldn't last a week.

Heaving another sigh, Hiruzen reached for another piece of paperwork when his office was lit up by a pillar of brilliant white fire. He tensed as the fire died down and a figure appeared. By the time the fire was gone, leaving a tall beautiful woman with flowing black hair standing in front of his desk, his four ANBU bodyguards had sprung from their place hidden in the shadows and had their swords drawn against various vital points on her body.

"Who are you, and how did you get in here?" The ANBU wearing a dog mask asked.

Hiruzen watched as the woman looked Kakashi up and down before turning her attention back to him and leveling a glare at him so powerful it made him want to crawl forward on his hands and knees and beg for forgiveness.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi, Thrid Hokage of Konohagakure, I find you lacking." She said calmly.

Forcing his face to remain calm in spite of the crushing fear coursing through him, Hiruzen looked her up and down. At first glance, she did not appear to be much of a threat. Her body had an almost soft look to it, which along with her elegant white and orange robes made her look like a member of royalty. Even so, he remained wary. One didn't get to be as old as him by taking things at face value.

"It would be wise to answer my friend's question, lest you find yourself lacking a head, madam," Hiruzen replied, struggling to maintain his calm collected façade.

The woman's eyes burned with a cold fire. "I see no reason to lower myself to answering the questions of a broken man who uses his gifted eye to look only on the losses of the past as he hides behind the mask of a dog." Hiruzen's eyes widened while Kakashi stiffened before he and the other ANBU moved to incapacitate her before bringing her to interrogation. They didn't even have a chance to move as all the ANBU around her slumped to the floor unconscious when a massive amount killing intent fell upon the room. Hiruzen gasped as a pressure even greater than the one he felt eight years ago pushed down on him. "Nor do I take commands from an old man whose fall from grace has allowed the people of his village to ruin the life of the purest soul among them!"

Hiruzen held himself up on his desk and his eyes widened as the bundle in the woman's arms shifted and he caught sight of a flash of blonde hair. "I d-don't care who you are," he gasped as he fought with everything he had to rise to his feet. "If you s-so much as think about hurting Naruto I will make sure you never leave this room!"

Surprisingly, the pressure on him lessened as the woman gave him the barest hint of a smile.

"Now isn't that funny," she mused as she carried Naruto over to the couch in his office and sat down.

"What is?"

Her face softened even more as she looked down at the slowly breathing boy in her arms. "My name is Ameterasu." Hiruzen's eyes widened in recognition briefly before narrowing in suspicion. "I find it funny that you would challenge and threaten me, a Goddess who could wipe you from this plane of existence with nary a thought, while under the presumption I meant to do young Naruto harm, but you won't lift a finger against the people of your village –the strongest of whom could hardly pose a threat to you, even now in such a state of… atrophy –when they do this."

Ameterasu shifted her arm to reveal the broken and bloody form of Naruto. In a flash, Hiruzen was in front of the boy, looking him over. When his eyes fell on the bloody stump where Naruto's right arm was supposed to be, he could no longer restrain himself. Tears fell from his eyes and a sob tore its way through his throat.

"Naruto… I'm so sorry!" Kneeling on the floor, Hiruzen Sarutobi wept for the injustice of the world. He wept for the pain the boy he saw as another grandson must have been in. He wept for his own weakness and stupidity for allowing this to happen behind his back. After an indefinite amount of time, his tears slowed and he felt a soft, warm hand cradle his cheek. He lifted his face to look into the warm silver eyes of the woman above him. "Please," he begged, "If you are who you say you are, please heal him!"

Ameterasu looked down at him with pity. "I'm afraid I can't do that. The laws that govern me are much stricter than yours. At the moment it is only my chakra that is keeping him alive. If I stop providing it to him, not even his regenerative abilities or those of his tenant will be able to save him before he succumbs to his wounds."

"Then why have you come here?" Hiruzen asked. "Was it just so I could see the suffering my failures have caused?"

"You think far too highly of yourself Hiruzen Sarutobi," Ameterasu replied snidly. "I descended to this plane because I foresaw a great conflict. One so terrible it threatened all I have created. The laws I created may prevent me and any other being not of this plane from interfering directly with the affairs of its inhabitants but it does not prevent me from delivering blessings upon the select few I deem worthy."

"And you found Naruto to be worthy?"

"That remains to be seen," Ameterasu replied. "But after having observed his memories, I have deemed him fit to take my test, and in order to do that he must remain on this plane."

Hiruzen watched stupefied as Ameterasu held out one of her hands with the palm up. There was a bright flash of fire and out of nowhere she was suddenly holding a large sphere of what looked to him to be a shiny dark metal. She took the sphere to the stump of Naruto's arm and pressed the two together. His eyes widened as the metal seemed to become fluid before covering the remainder of the boy's arm. Naruto writhed in pain as the black metal destroyed what remained of his arm, and Ameterasu stroked her hand through his hair, shushing him quietly while the metal bonded to his torso providing a black covering over the edge of his pectoral and collarbone. He continued to toss and turn in her lap as out of the now flat stump more black liquid started to flow before solidifying.

Hiruzen couldn't tear his eyes away as the black fluid solidified into a perfect replacement for the bones of Naruto's arm. Once the bones were finished forming, what looked like thousands of tiny black threads shot out and coiled around the bones forming an exact facsimile of the his muscles.

With the reconstruction finished, Naruto settled back into Ameterasu's lap. "Now," Ameterasu said quietly, "I may not be able to heal him, but someone else can."

There was a flash of fire as the Goddess teleported someone else into the office, and Hiruzen couldn't keep the shock off his face when he heard a familiar voice shout.

"Shizune! More sake!"