Date: September 24, 1195, NY*

Time: 12:00 AM

Location: Fire Country, Konohagakure no Sato.

I'm putting Naruto as the next Avatar after Aang, and in order for Naruto to be a natural fire bender, I'm changing the Avatar Cycle to Fire, Earth, Water, and Air instead of Fire, Air, Earth, and Water.

Chapter 1: The Avatar Awakens

A five-year-old blonde-haired boy walked through the streets of Konoha at night, taking a midnight stroll to help him sleep. He was well aware of the fact that it wasn't safe out here for him, with how most people in this village abhorred him, treating him as if he was a non-human entity, instead of the slightly shy Uzumaki Naruto.

As he sneaked through the back alleys, he couldn't help but think of why they hated him so much. His birthday is October Tenth, the night of the Kyuubi attack. From what he understood of studying Tailed Beasts, they aren't animals, they're masses of chakra, which meant that it was virtually impossible to kill one. So what happened to the Kyuubi if it didn't die?

The Kyuubi had to be sealed into someone, but who? At that moment, something in his mind clicked. It was him, wasn't it? He was the one that the Yondaime sealed the ninth tailed beast in. But why? Didn't he know that the villagers he protected over his tenure as Hokage would hate him? He wanted to be angry; he wanted to yell, kick, and scream, but he realized that he couldn't, because he understood. He understood the fact that it was subjecting one person to a life of being hated or have the entire village destroyed and to be honest, he would have made the same choice. As much as he hated it, it was the right thing to do.

The revelations about his tenant still clenching his thoughts, Naruto moved on, not focusing on the path in front of him.

Absentmindedly, the blonde hopped onto the next roof and got his foot stuck on the roof tile, and before he knew it, he fell to the ground. Holding his scraped knee, he slowly got himself up. He heard the slurred voices of the drunken men in the same house across the street, and he froze in fear. There was no way he was getting out of this unscathed.

He then heard the scuffling of footsteps and the door being opened. There stood five men, all with a weapon of some variety in their hands.

"Ah, look," one man said condescendingly. "There's the little demon. Shall we get him?"

The men cheered, and like a bolt of lightning, Naruto was off, running for his life, not daring to look back for fear of seeing them closing upon him.

Trying to shake his pursuers off, he ran into an alley he knew held a secret entrance to the other side of the wall, only to find that his knowledge had failed him. It was a dead-end, the roof too high to jump over.

Confidently, he lowered himself into a fighting stance, waiting for the sound of the stampede to near him.

"You can run, but you can't hide demon," the same man from earlier said as he walked closer to him raising his knife into the air, readying to strike him.

Instinctively, he lashed a fist out of the man, and in an instant, a fireball the size of the Uchiha Clan's Goukakyuu no Jutsu followed, burning the man and the men behind him to death.

Naruto stared at his hands in shock. What the hell was that? The Hokage had told him that ninjutsu is used with the application of chakra through the use of hand seals, and he used no hand seals and he felt no chakra leave his body, so what the hell happened?

Suddenly, he felt a soft prick at the back of his neck, and seconds later, he fell to the ground unconscious.

When Naruto woke up, he found himself in a sewer-like area, standing in ankle-deep in murky water, with gigantic, red wooden gates standing in front of him.

"Hello, anyone home?" Naruto called out, his voice echoing throughout the sewers.

"I'm here, stupid brat. Don't have to yell," the someone or something spoke from behind the cage in a gravelly voice. Naruto looked up to see the Kyuubi, a creature with burnt orange fur, black fur around his red, slitted eyes, reaching to his rabbit-like ears, and a rather human-like upper body.

"The Kyuubi, huh? Why have you called me here?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I am the Kyuubi, human. I have called you here to discuss what happened a few hours ago in the alley," Kurama responded.

"What about it?" Naruto asked nonchalantly.

"Can you explain to me what you felt when you use it?" Kurama asked, deciding to ignore what he said.

"It was pure instinct. I just lashed out my fist, and the fire appeared. But I noticed that no chakra was being spent, unlike I have read about ninjutsu," Naruto explained.

"You are right because your chakra wasn't being used. You are what's called a bender, a person who bends the elements that are water, earth, fire, or air, and in your case, all four of them," Kurama said in response.

"A bender? Why haven't I heard of that term before? And why did you say, 'in your case, all four of them'?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Nobody of your day knows of benders, because they are an old civilization of humans thousands of years ago that went extinct until now. As for your second question, you are a special breed, I might say, of bender. You are an Avatar," Kurama explained.

Naruto was even more confused now. "An Avatar? What's that?"

"The Avatar, initially formed when Wan fused with Raava, the spirit of peace and light, during the Human Convergence of 9829 NY, is the human embodiment of light and peace through the connection with the Avatar Spirit. As the only being able to bend all four elements, they consider it the Avatar's duty to master the four bending arts and use that power to keep a balance among the nations of this world, and mankind and the spirits. After death, the Avatar Spirit goes into a person in the next nation, dictated by the cyclic order of fire, air, water, and earth, and the cycle can only break if either the Avatar dies in Avatar State, Raava is removed from the Avatar and destroyed, or the Avatar State is compromised by a spiritual infection," Kurama said like reciting from a book.

Naruto stood there, speechless. So he was the Avatar, huh? To be honest, what the job entailed scared him. Having the world on your shoulders at any age, especially at five, was not an enjoyable feeling. It felt like he was being suffocated by the pressure to save everyone, but he had to do it, for the sake of the world and himself.

"If there are no benders, how am I supposed to learn to bend?" Naruto asked.

"Good question, brat. No idea." Naruto face faulted, causing Kurama to snicker. "Just kidding. All you have to do is visit the hidden villages around the world and while you're there, I'll teach you how to bend the elements."

"Is there supposed to be an order to learn the elements?"

"Not really. The only rule is to learn the element corresponding to where the Avatar is born. You were born in the Fire Nation, so you master fire bending first," Kurama explained.

"When am I starting training?"

Kurama smirked menacingly and kicked him out of the seal.

Naruto awoke in a hospital room, the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, standing beside his bed, staring at him with a look of seriousness in his eyes, and Naruto was nervous.

"Hokage-sama, am I in trouble or anything?"

"No, not at all, Naruto-kun," the Hokage stated, relieving Naruto. "Can you tell me what happened last night?"

Naruto nodded. "Last night, I took a midnight stroll, and as I jumped across a roof, my foot snagged on a loose tile and I fell off the roof. The noise alerted a small group of drunk villagers, and they chased me with weapons. I went into an alley I thought had a secret entrance, but it wasn't, so I slipped into a fighting stance. When one villager tried to attack me, I instinctually punched my fist out, and instantly, a large fireball bursted out and burned the villagers to death."

As he spoke, the memory of the villager's screams played in his head, and he vomited. He had burned several people to death without an ounce of care.

"Naruto, it's okay. I know you didn't mean to kill those people. Your animalistic danger senses kicked in and your instincts took over. There's no need to wallow over it," the Kyuubi said in his mind.

"Thanks for the attempt, Kyuubi, but this doesn't stop the fact that I killed those people," Naruto said back.

"Look brat, you were born a shinobi just as much as you were born an Avatar, and being a shinobi means that you can't go forever killing no one." Seeing that Naruto wasn't feeling any better, he added, "You have to stop this. It is your destiny to change this world, so it was them or the safety of the world."

"You're right, Kyuubi. I'm sorry, I know I will have to harden my heart to do what is right, I just needed a little time to cope with what I did," Naruto said.

Kurama looked apologetic before it quickly disappeared and replaced with coldness. "Stop speaking to me now. The old man looks worried sick about you."

Naruto nodded in obedience and closed his link.

"Hey, Naruto-kun, are you okay?" Hiruzen asked. "You spaced out for a minute there."

He knew that he was talking to Kyuubi, but he wanted Naruto to talk for himself.

"Yeah, sorry. Kyuubi was speaking to me again," Naruto explained, chuckling sheepishly. "He made a wild speech about wanting me to do more killing because he liked what I was doing," he lied flawlessly.

"Did you really have to tell him that?" Kurama asked.

"So, you want the Hokage to know that the big bad Kyuubi no Youko is just a furball with an even bigger heart," Naruto said with a smirk.

"Shut up brat," Kurama said, scoffing. "Continue with your story and stop talking to me."

"On with the story. I awoke in a sewer, and I met Kyuubi. He started explaining who I was and how I have these certain abilities. He said that I am the Avatar."

It shocked Hiruzen. He had read a book about the Avatar a while back, and he perceived it only a myth. There was no evidence of the civilization of benders existing, but now, looking at the boy in front of him, he had all the proof he needed to classify it as fact.

"I have read a few books on the civilization of benders and the Avatar. To bend all the elements is a fantastic power, but in the wrong hands, it can be very destructive, possibly even world-ending," he said, turning to face the window. "I want you to start your training immediately. When you master fire bending, I will have you go on a training trip for an unknown amount of time to learn the other elements."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I should have done more for you," he thought while walking out of the room.

As soon as he felt the Hokage leave the building, he climbed out of bed and replaced the hospital gown with his regular clothes and sneaked out of the window.

Kyuubi had already healed the injuries he may or may not have gotten, so there was no reason to be there.

He headed for his apartment, making sure he wasn't seen on the way. Upon entering, he undressed and put his pajamas on, getting ready for bed.

Since he was exhausted from not getting sleep last night, the blonde fell into a dreamless sleep quickly.

*N.Y. = Ninja Years, calculated by the creation of chakra.)

This is the end of the first chapter. Good? Bad? Ugly? Give me constructive criticism in the comments below.

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Dear TIP readers,

Thank you for sticking with me through 10 horrible chapters of my writing, I really appreciate it, but I believe the time is now, to let bygones be bygones and let this story go to the Fanfic Grave. It is time, gentlepeople, to put your memory of it inside of your hearts to be locked away forever.

The sincerest apologies,

GeassIsKing