I don't own anything but the plot. Though that was influenced by many different things and people. Kenchi618 was a big inspiration for me to get back into writing. If you haven't checked out his stories, I highly recommend you do so. That being said, on with the chaos!

Chapter One - A Dark and Stormy Night

It was a dark and rainy night that we find a small child stumbling through the forest, seeking shelter from the storm. This child was no more than five years old, but he was all alone this dreary night as he had been forced from his home by angry villagers and chased out of the village for the only crime of being alive when their loved ones were not. For this night was the fifth anniversary of the defeat of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Nine Tailed Fox. And this child was none other than the young Uzumaki Naruto, the being that contained the Kyuubi after it's defeat, however that little bit of information was kept from the child, as well as anyone that didn't already know thanks to a law passed by the Hokage.

Young Naruto stumbled through the underbrush, his only thought at the moment was trying to find someplace dry and warm to take shelter in until the storm passed, and he could head back to the village. It was a vain hope that things would get better, but it was the only hope he had. As he wiped the water from his eyes, he spotted what looked to be a cave in the side of a nearby hill and he made his way there as quickly as his trembling limbs could take him. By the time he reached the cave entrance, Naruto was shivering badly and was barely able to make it inside before collapsing to the ground. He curled into a ball and tried to stay warm as much as possible.

After a few minutes, Naruto crawled further into the cave and started looking around for anything to help warm himself up. However, as he crawled along the ground, he felt it shift under him, and before he could do anything, he fell through a hole that appeared beneath him as the ground shifted around him. Naruto let out a scream as he tumbled through the air before landing hard on his back. Dazed and breathless from the fall, Naruto just laid there for a few minutes before slowly making his way to his feet.

He groaned in pain and leaned against the rough rock wall that he had fallen down as he strained his eyes to try and see anything. However, it was pitch black around him, with no light to be found anywhere. However, Naruto felt a faint feeling of warmth from the general area in front of him, so with nothing else to go on, he carefully made his way forward, one hand on the wall and the other stretched out in front of him.

After what seemed like an eternity to the young boy, following a faint feeling of warmth in a pitch-black cave, Naruto started to notice a faint light filtering through the darkness. He mindlessly made his way towards the light, vaguely aware that the warmth he was seeking was coming from the same direction. After a long while, Naruto entered another chamber and had to blink as the light grew noticeably brighter, though that didn't help him see the sudden downward slope in the ground and he slipped in the dirt and tumbled down the slope.

When Naruto finally came to a stop, he barely had the energy to look around him, though what he saw took his breath away and gave him a surge of energy. All around him were glowing blue shards of crystals jutting from the ground and walls. The floor of the cavern was covered with broken shards of the crystals and Naruto vaguely noticed that he had cut his hands and arms on some of those shards. Looking around in shock, Naruto noticed off to one side of the cavern was a particularly large and bright crystal, easily as tall as he was. He also noticed as he crawled closer that this particular crystal was also radiating a soothing warmth that helped to chase away the bone deep cold he had been feeling, as well as the feelings of despair and hopelessness. He found himself curling into a ball beneath it and he slowly closed his eyes before finally slipping into a deep sleep.

Naruto never noticed that the cuts on his body glowed briefly with a blue light before closing and quickly healing. His body glowed briefly again with a bluish aura while some of the smaller crystals around him stopped glowing completely before the light faded away into his skin, briefly outlining his muscles. Wisps of energy flickered in the air around Naruto as his breathing slowed and his body stopped shivering. As he slept, Naruto never could imagine the profound changes that were occurring in his young body.

Several hours later, Naruto slowly woke up, feeling far more refreshed than he should have considering where he had fallen asleep. As he looked around, he was shocked to find that he could see quite clearly, as if it were much brighter than it really was. He stood up and made his way to the wall of the cavern, only then noticing that it was much smoother than it should be, and there were drawings and weird markings on the wall. However, the young boy had no idea what they meant, and he looked around, trying to figure out what to do.

Naruto saw the tracks he had made coming into the cavern and followed them up the slope and into the other cavern. He stopped a few feet into the other chambers of the cavern as the light faded away, and though he could still make some things out, Naruto couldn't see anything clearly anymore. So, he explored by hand for a while before making his way back to the crystal cavern in defeat.

However, now that he was warmer and able to concentrate, Naruto's normal energy was back and he started exploring the crystal cavern with gusto. The crystals were largely centered around the enormous crystal that was stuck in the wall, but there were some other large ones further down the cavern, though not nearly as big. But the cavern eventually ended in another wall with more drawings on it, so Naruto made his way back and sat down under the same crystal he had slept under the night before.

As he sat and thought about his situation, he idly picked at the ground with his fingers, tracing the outline of something under the dirt next to him. After a few minutes, he looked over and noticed that he had been slowly uncovering another crystal, though this one was loose. After another fifteen minutes, he was able to pry it out from the ground. Naruto held it up in front of him and noticed that it emitted a faint glow.

With a surge of energy, Naruto scrambled to his feet and rushed out of the cavern, holding the crystal in front of him to light the way. Sure enough, he was able to see much better now that he had a source of light. He looked around for a few minutes before heading back. He looked around and saw a few smaller crystals that he could carry poking out of the wall and went to work freeing them from the dirt and rocks.

A little while later, Naruto had several glowing crystals, most the size of his young hands, and he stuffed them into his pockets, keeping two out to hold in his hands. With far more energy and optimism than before, Naruto quickly made his way back through the tunnels, carefully following his tracks in the dirt until he came to the spot where he fell. Naruto carefully put his crystals away and noticed that he could see some light from up above.

He scrambled up the rock wall, but he wasn't being careful, and he found himself sliding back down. With tears of frustration in his eyes, Naruto grit his teeth and tried again, being more careful where he grabbed this time. This time he made it all the way up and he rolled away from the hole and laid there for a minute to catch his breath. As daylight slowly crept across his face, Naruto grinned with happiness and stood up before rushing out of the cave and just standing in the light of day.

He was about to rush off back to the village, but Naruto had a sudden thought that he might want to come back here someday, so he looked around and found a good spot on the wall. He brought out one of his crystals and wrote as neatly as a five-year-old could, 'Naruto was here.' He didn't realize it at the time, but the crystal was able to mark the wall very easily, far better than a normal crystal should have.

Having marked the entrance to the caves, Naruto sped off into the forest, unconsciously knowing exactly where to go. Trees and roots that he blindly stumbled into the previous night he now avoided automatically. Within an hour, he was back at the village walls and approaching one of the entrance gates.

"Halt! State your business," said one of the chunnin manning the gate as he saw Naruto approaching. When he got a closer look at the dirty and scraped up Naruto, his expression turned into a sneer. "Oh, it's you. I thought they got rid of you last night, demon brat."

The other chunnin suddenly stiffened as he saw a person suddenly appear behind his partner. "Uh… Choy… I don't think," he started to say before the new arrival turned to him, showing a porcelain mask with the depiction of a dog's face on it.

"Shut it, Tanaka, I think it's time we rid the village of this creature once and for all," Choy growled out in anger. "After all, it's just you and me here, no one else will know."

Naruto backed up in fear as he could literally feel this man's anger, hatred, and pain. It nearly overwhelmed his young mind. He could barely stand in the face of those negative emotions, all directed at him. However, those emotions vanished as the ANBU grabbed Choy's shoulder firmly.

"I disagree," said the ANBU softly but firmly. With a negligent flick of his wrist, the ANBU sent the chunnin flying through the air, crashing against the wall. He turned at looked at Tanaka. "Detain him until I come back. He has several questions to answer to Ibiki." Ignoring the suddenly pale face of the gate guard, the ANBU knelt down next to the shaking Naruto.

"It's ok. I'm going to take you to the hospital now, Naruto," he told the boy gently. When Naruto stiffened slightly, the ANBU noticed. "What is it?"

"I…can't go there…they said they'd kill me if I ever showed up…" Naruto muttered softly.

The ANBU had to take several deep breaths before replying. "Don't worry, Naruto. I won't leave your side and I'll make sure they take good care of you," he told the boy.

"You shouldn't have to," Naruto said under his breath, though the ANBU heard him clearly.

'The kid's right….' He thought to himself as he led Naruto through the gate. He turned to look at Tanaka once more, motioning with a tilt of his head towards the unconscious Choy. "Make sure he doesn't go anywhere, or you'll be taking his place."

Tanaka nodded his head furiously and immediately set about securing his partner, not wanting to incur the wrath of an ANBU Captain.

After taking Naruto to the hospital, Inu, the ANBU, sent a shadow clone to the Hokage, informing him of what had happened. After only a few minutes, the Hokage arrived at the hospital room where Inu was watching Naruto grudgingly let a nurse look over him. The nurse on the other hand looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment. But with constant looks at the ANBU that had brought Naruto in, she did her job as she was expected to.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood next to Inu and watched Naruto carefully. "How bad was it?" he asked after several minutes of silence.

Inu paused briefly. "Some villagers came across him after he had been purposely locked out of the orphanage by the Matron. They chased him towards the west gate, and were ignored by all ninja guarding that sector, apparently," Inu said softly but respectfully. "When he ran out the gate, they let him be and so he spent all night and most of the morning lost in the forest. When he made his way back, I overheard one of the ninja assigned to the gate suggest that they finish what the villagers started."

Hiruzen's expression darkened as he listened and thought. He had been kept so busy lately that he hadn't had the time to focus on helping young Naruto, the son of his dear friend and successor. He vowed then and there to change things and to be there to help Naruto, as it was obvious that not many others could see past his burden. The old Hokage looked at Inu thoughtfully and resisted the urge to light his pipe, as he was in a hospital.

"Inu, I will be making some changes regarding young Naruto. I want you to select ANBU that you can trust to look past his burden and see him for what he truly is… a young, innocent boy with no family," Sarutobi told him firmly. "After you have done so, I want you to look into the Matron of the orphanage. If she has done this to one child, there is a chance she has done this to others."

Inu nodded and saluted his leader. "As you command, Hokage-sama," he replied. He started to turn away before stopping and turning back. "Hokage-sama, I would like to be part of Naruto's protective detail as well."

Hiruzen chuckled and a slight smile came to his lips. He nodded to Inu. "I had a feeling you would request that, Kakashi," he said softly. "As long as you don't neglect your other duties, I have no problem with you watching over Naruto as well."

Kakashi twitched slightly at the Hokage using his real name instead of his code name, but that was his leader's right to do so. Though he was very proud of the seals on his mask that helped protect his identity. There weren't very many people with gravity defying silver hair, after all. His mask made it seem that his hair and eyes looked normal to other people. "Thank you, Hokage-sama. I'll get right to work."

Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving Sarutobi alone in the hallway. A few moments later, the nurse exited the room and gulped at seeing the Hokage standing there.

"Hokage-sama...I didn't know you were here," she said hesitantly.

Sarutobi looked at her evenly and then turned to look at Naruto, who was sitting on the bed and looking out the window, pouting slightly as he scratched at his cheek. "How is he?"

"He's…perfectly fine, Hokage-sama," she said as she gathered her courage. She also knew that she hadn't done anything wrong, so she should be fine. "I know that Inu-san said that the boy spent the night in the forest with the rain and cold, but besides being dirty, the boy doesn't have anything else wrong with him."

Hiruzen nodded slightly as he looked at Naruto. "Very well, thank you for your fine work. You're free to resume your normal duties," he told her idly. He waited for the nurse to leave before straightening his robes and walking into the room. "Hello, Naruto. I heard you had an interesting evening."

Naruto turned and looked at the Hokage in surprise, though not because he hadn't expected someone to come in, but the opposite. He had felt the Hokage watching him and could feel his emotions, something that he had never been able to do before. He had thought it was his mind playing tricks on him, but when he had heard the door open and then heard the very distinctive voice of the Hokage, he knew that he had gained something unexpected from his adventure.

"Yes, sir," Naruto finally said, looking at the leader of the village suspiciously. He had seen the old man around and certainly knew that he was the leader of the village, but other than that he hadn't had much exposure to him. "I'm sorry for leaving the village, but I didn't got many options."

"Have, Naruto," Hiruzen corrected him with a slight smile. "You didn't have many options. And I'm not here because you're in trouble, quite the opposite in fact."

Naruto looked at him through squinted eyes. "If I aint in trouble, then why you here, old man?" he asked suspiciously.

Sarutobi let out a laugh at Naruto's bluntness. It was rather refreshing considering that most people tended to treat him with extreme respect and flowery words. Deciding not to correct Naruto again, he approached the boy and sat down on the bed next to him. "Do you know who I am, Naruto?" he asked after a minute or so in thought.

Naruto looked at him in confusion. He was still uneasy about his new ability to sense emotions, but it was telling him that the Hokage genuinely cared about him and wasn't lying to him…yet.

"You're the Hokage. You run the village," Naruto told him with a shrug. "The old lady that runs the orphanage said you're the strongest in the whole village." He hesitated but decided to push his luck, seeing as things had been going good for him so far. "She also said that if I ever got in trouble, you'd make me disappear forever. I think she was hoping for that. She doesn't like me."

Hiruzen had to suppress a surge of anger as heard Naruto say that so easily. No child should be that aware or accepting of hatred, especially so young. He placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, noticing that the boy tensed up when he did, and turned the boy to face him. Naruto looked up at him, his bright blue eyes shining with innocence and yet they held a deep pain hidden inside.

"Naruto, I promise you, I would never do something like that to you. I'm sorry to say that the Matron lied to you. But I think that it's time to take you out of the orphanage, for your own good I'm afraid. While you are there, I'm afraid that I can't protect you as well as I could if you had your own place," Sarutobi said gently. Naruto perked up with excitement, so Hiruzen continued before Naruto could interrupt him. "Now I want to be clear, Naruto. Living on your own will be very difficult. I'll help you as much as I can, but you will have more responsibilities as you will have to take care of yourself for the most part."

"No different than now," Naruto said with a shrug. "But at least I won't have to go back, right?"

"Yes, Naruto. You don't have to go back there ever if you don't want to," Sarutobi told him with a smile, though it didn't seem real. He didn't expect Naruto to catch that the smile was forced, so he was caught off guard when Naruto looked at him with curiosity.

"You aren't happy, are you, sir? You're smiling but it don't feel real to me, like you're pretending to be happy…for me?" Naruto asked him, his head tilting to the side.

For the first time in a very long time, Hiruzen was caught completely by surprise. "What are you talking about, Naruto?"

Naruto shrugged and looked away, a little embarrassed. "Don't know how, but since last night…well, I can feel things…from people, ya know? Those ninja at the gate, the nurse, that ANBU guy…you," he said while rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"You can feel emotions?" Sarutobi asked in surprise. Such abilities weren't unheard of, but they weren't very common either. "And you say this only started last night?" Getting a nod from Naruto, Sarutobi really wished he had his pipe at the moment. It was possible that the heightened emotions from the previous evening, combined with the boy's burden, could have provoked a change in his abilities, given him something to help him identify and deal with those that sought him harm.

"Hokage-jiji?" Naruto said hesitantly after a few minutes of silence.

"Hmm? Oh, my apologies, Naruto, I was simply thinking about what you told me. Such abilities have been documented before, but as far as I know, none have been seen in your lineage before," Sarutobi told him. He immediately knew he had made a slight mistake in his wording when he saw Naruto perk up.

"You knew my parents?" Naruto asked eagerly.

Sarutobi groaned internally at the situation he had put himself in, especially since he now knew that Naruto could feel if he was lying. "That is a difficult question, Naruto, with no easy answers," he told the boy. He looked out the window, rubbing his chin in thought. Finally, he turned back to Naruto. "I won't lie to you, Naruto. Yes, I knew your parents, however," he said as he held up a hand to stop the questions he saw forming in Naruto's mind, "for various reasons I can't tell you anything about them right now."

"Why not?" Naruto asked, tears forming in his eyes from disappointment.

"Your parents were both ninjas, and they made enemies during their careers. For your safety, no one has been told anything about your parents, though there are some that already know the truth," Sarutobi told Naruto sadly. When he looked into the tear-filled eyes of the boy in front of him, Sarutobi sighed in defeat. "When you graduate from the Academy, I will tell you about your mother. That's all I can promise you now."

Naruto could feel that there was more that the Hokage wasn't telling him, but at the same time, he could feel how honest he was being with him. Naruto looked down at his hands, thinking about what he had been told. For some reason, his mind felt clearer than before. As if yesterday he had been thinking through a fog, and now that fog was gone. Just like with his body.

"Ok," he told the Hokage confidently. "I'll be the best ninja ever, and when I graduate, you'll tell me about my mom? What about my dad?"

Sarutobi chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair. "When the time comes, you'll find out all about him."

Naruto nodded and smiled at Sarutobi before jumping off the bed eagerly. "So, let's get started! When can I start at the Academy?" he asked eagerly.

Sarutobi laughed as he stood up as well. "You won't be able to start at the Academy for a while, Naruto," he told the boy, ignoring Naruto's pout as he led the boy out of the room. As they walked, a sudden thought came to him. "Naruto, you might not be able to start at the Academy, but there might be someone that can help you with your abilities. I'll have to talk to them first, but would you want…"

"Yes! Of course!" Naruto shouted in excitement. He then realized that he had interrupted the Hokage and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Sarutobi simply smiled and led the excited boy to the Hokage's Tower, where hopefully they could find a decent place for Naruto to stay.

Ok, so this is my first fanfic in a very long time. I've even created a new penname for myself. To those that can figure out where I'm getting my inspiration from, grats to you. If you guess correctly, I may give you a sneak peek into what I have planned for this story.

Please read and review. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. As I said, I haven't written in a very long time…as in years.