Author's note: This is the first story I've uploaded, so well thought out reviews would be much appreciated, as opposed to one-liners and flamers. Thank you, and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't now, never have, and probably never will own Naruto

The Beginning

A young boy was running through his village, Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The child was around five years old, had beautiful blue eyes, and spiked blond hair. His most distinguishing feature was the three whisker-like scars on either side of his face. A mob of villages were chasing after the boy. Shouts of "die demon" could be heard coming from the crowd. The boy ran through alleys and shops throughout the village, hoping to elude those chasing after him. Unfortunately, he found himself cornered in one of the alley ways. There was a wall behind him, in front of him, several Konoha-nin.

"This is the end of the line for you, demon. You've plagued our village for years, pulling pranks and all forms of mischief in the time since the Yondaime defeated you. We will not allow his sacrifice to be in vain; we will finish you off once and for all," spoke one of the ninjas. He was tall, had long dark hair, and red eyes with the tomoe seal of the Sharingan. He was joined by two more ninjas bearing the same eyes. The group of them made a set of hand seals, and shouted, "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu."

Three large fireballs hurtled towards the young boy. Upon his face was a look of fear. He knew his pranks were not the "good" thing to be doing, but he felt that, despite his mischief, he did not deserve this. Tears streamed down his eyes as the fireballs hit him. He screamed as the pain sent his body into shock. Afterwards, the three ninja, members of the infamous Uchiha clan, approached the child, and kicked him several times, to make sure he was dead.

"Good riddance," spoke the leader of the group. "Let's go, Fugaku," spoke another member. As the mob dispersed, an member of the elite group known as the ANBU approached the boy. He wore a porcelain mask depicting a weasel. Behind the mask, he was crying as the site he saw. He ran up to the boy, and checked for a pulse. The boy was still alive, and his body was healing at a somewhat rapid rate.

"I never knew I would be so grateful for the demon's presence," though the ninja to himself. He took the boy to one the place he knew he would be treated properly, the Hokage's tower.

He raced into the building, not bothering to alert the guards of his presence, and raced to the Sandaime's office.

"Hokage-sama!!" shouted the masked ninja.

"Oh, Kami, what happened to the boy?" spoke the Hokage.

"He was attacked by another mob led by my father and other members of the Uchiha clan."

"I will tend to the boy, Itachi, and will keep him under watch. Thank you."

"I do not deserve thanks; I should have tried to stop them."

"Itachi, there is little you could have done. You would have become a victim yourself; as great as your skills are, you are no match for half the village. You did well."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama. Is there anything we can do?"

"I'm afraid I can bring no laws to bear on your clan. It will be opposed by the civilian council. I have no solid proof of their involvement. I'm sorry, Itachi. For now, the best I can do is protect the boy from further attacks."

The masked ninja nodded, and left the boy with the Hokage. The Hokage took the boy down into a room located below the tower; a secret room where the boy could not be found by others. "Minato, I'm sorry this has become the fate of your son. Forgive me," the Hokage thought to himself. The Kage of Fire began a series of seals, forming green chakra at his hands, and began healing the boy. Meanwhile, in the depths of the child's mind, a creature began stirring. It was locked up on a large cage, located in what appeared to be a sewer. The Kyubi, the nine-tailed demon fox, awoke from it's five year slumber, and reflected on what had happened to her.

"Where am I, and how did I get here? The last thing I remember was... I was out with Madara. He told me he had something to show me, and then... he showed me his Sharingan... it was different than any Sharingan I saw in my encounters with Uchiha clan members over the years... and... fire, people running in fear. What were they afraid of? Who is attacking them... oh no... it's me!! How is this possible!? That Sharingan... Madara... he... tricked me!!" The fox began crying profusely. In all her years of life, she thought she would never find someone to care for, and then she met him. She finally felt love. And now she felt betrayal. Her sorrow turned to anger, than to sorrow again when she realized what had happened. "That man... this one known as the Yondaime... he sacrificed himself to protect his village, and sealed me in this child... he told me never to reveal to the child the truth, but I must tell him about me. I can help him. He should not suffer for things beyond his control."

The boy began to stir, but there was something different about him. There was a small aura of red chakra around the boy, and his eyes were red with black slits. The Sandaime backed away, and then the boy spoke. His voice was strong, yet feminine.

"You, you are the current Hokage?"

"And you must be the Kyubi. What do you want? Do you plan to use this boy as a vessel for continuing your destruction of my village?"

"I never wanted to destroy your village. I was tricked by... someone. Tricked into attacking your village. I feel much regret for what happened. I do not come out asking for forgiveness; I wish to let you know I shall protect this boy from now on. I will help him to grow strong."

"Very well, Kyubi. I must make one request. Do not tell the boy about the attack. I have made it a law that the truth of the attack never be revealed to the younger generation. It was my hope that this would prevent the violence the boy has suffered. It saddens me to see the boy suffer like this."

"It saddens me, too. I will keep the truth from the boy. I will leave it to you to determine when the time is right..."

"No, it was never for me to decide. This is the will of the Yondaime that the boy will not be told the truth until he reaches the rank of Chunin."

"So the boy is destined to become a ninja. Very well. I will help as I can. There are limits, though. It's hard enough to speak as is with this seal in place."

"I'm sorry, but I can not release the seal. To begin with, I do not know how. Second, I'm not so quick to trust a demon."

"I understand. I hope to earn your trust in time. I grow tired, I've done my best to help heal the boy. Fighting the seal is very tiring. Please, protect the... boy..." the demon's chakra faded, and the boy's eyes turned back to blue before closing. The boy was sleeping peacefully. The Hokage had a faint smile on his face as he left the room, locking it tight, to make sure no one would disturb the child.

The demon fox within the boy looked around at her new home. She used her remaining chakra to return to her human form. A flash of light preceded the appearance of a beautiful woman. Her hair and eyes were a matching red. She had the ears of a fox, as well as nine, red tails. She sat down, and rested with the boy, thinking to herself, "If I am to reveal myself to this child, it should be like this; I do not wish to frighten him, and perhaps he may find comfort with me, if no one else in the world."

The Hokage looked out his window. Moments ago he summoned Itachi, the one person he could trust with the boy. "You summoned me?" spoke the masked ninja.

"Itachi, for this mission, you will not need your mask. At least, not for this part." Itachi removed his mask as the Hokage continued,"Itachi, I will place the boy in your care. I heard you recently found an apartment to live in outside the Uchiha clan compound. I want you to live with the boy there. Keep him well guarded. When you take the boy into public, bandage his scars, and make sure no one finds out who he is. To the best of my knowledge, the villagers believes him to be dead, and will not be looking for him."

"Very well, I accept."

The next morning, Itachi took the boy to his apartment. He didn't expect to see his younger brother, around the same age as the boy, to be there.

"Brother, who is that with you," asked the child.

"Sasuke, this boy is Naruto. He will be staying here with me," spoke the ninja.

"Why can't I live here with you, nii-san?"

"That is for father to decide. Sasuke, you must not tell father about Naruto. Let it stay a secret between us, okay?" Itachi gently flicked the forehead of his brother. The boy smiled, and nodded. Itachi knew he could trust his brother. His brother looked up to him, more so than their emotionally distant father. When Naruto awoke, Itachi asked the boy what he could remember from the past day's events. Itachi was happy to hear the boy had no memory of what happened. Some things were best forgotten. Itachi told the boy that they would be living together for a while. He didn't explain why. He warned Naruto that he must not go out into public without him, and that he had to hide the whisker marks. Naruto whined a little, but decided to listen to Itachi.

"Hey Naruto, how about I take you and my brother to one of my favorite places to eat tonight?" spoke Itachi.

Naruto was excited. Later that evening, Itachi went to get his brother, and they headed off to Ichiraku Ramen, Itachi's favorite restaurant. Naruto and Sasuke started talking to one another.

"So, you're the one who gets to live with my big brother? What's your name?" spoke the dark haired boy.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" spoke the blond, with a voice of pride.

"Uchiha Sasuke, proud member of the Uchiha clan." spoke the dark haired boy.

"I like your clan. Everyone who is part of the clan Itachi nii-san is part of must be cool!"

"Don't be so quick to trust everyone, Naruto. Not every Uchiha is a good person, but many are," Itachi interrupted. He didn't have the heart to tell the boys how badly his father wanted to kill Naruto. It hurt him to think about it. He was also worried about Sasuke. He was concerned his father might influence him in the wrong manner. He did not want his younger brother to be corrupted by the beliefs of the Uchiha leaders. Itachi was considering going to his father to ask to look after Sasuke, under the banner that he would train Sasuke personally.

The boys started talking happily together. They didn't take long to get to know one another, and were bantering on as if they were brothers themselves. The group made it to the restaurant together.

"Hey, old man, I have a couple first timers with me today," spoke Itachi.

"Oh, ah, and who do we have here," spoke an older man, the owner of the restaurant.

"This boy is Naruto, and this is my younger brother, Sasuke," said Itachi.

Both of the boys were a little shy at meeting a new person. The old man smiled, and asked what the group wanted. Itachi ordered a pork ramen for himself, and another for the boys to share. Itachi struck up a conversation about his last mission outside of Konoha. It had something to do with fighting off two cells of Iwa-nin on his own. The two boys kept talking about boy things. Sasuke talked about how he was looking forward to being in the ninja academy soon. Naruto liked the sound of the academy, and spoke of wishing to join. The group finished their meal, and thanked old man Teuchi for a pleasant evening. Itachi dropped off Naruto at their home, and went with Sasuke to talk to their father.

"Father, I have a request to make," spoke Itachi.

"Very well, Itachi, what is it you want?" spoke his father.

"I want to ask if you don't mind Sasuke staying with me for a while. I will be able to give him special training. I know that you are busy with the police force, and that you don't have as much time to spend with Sasuke. I would be able to train him in my time away from the ANBU. I believe this would be very beneficial for him in his entry into the academy."

"Hmm... I see, and what do you think, Sasuke?" spoke the older man.

"I want to stay with Itachi. I want to learn some of his cool fire jutsus!" spoke the young boy.

"Very well, Itachi. I will let Sasuke stay with you, but don't be a stranger, okay? Don't be afraid to stop by every now and then. Your mom would be rather upset with me if I let you two go without telling you this."

"Don't worry father, I'll be sure to stop by as often as I can," Itachi spoke, though he had no intention of visiting his father very often at all. Itachi left with his brother, smiling at how easy he accomplished his "mission."

"So, I'm going to get to live with you, nii-san? This is great! So, when are you going to start training me?" said Sasuke.

"Easy does it now, first of all, I'm going to train Naruto, too. And second, after my next mission. If it's alright, I want to rest for the next couple of days. That last mission I had was rather tiresome."

"Okay, nii-san," spoke Sasuke with a hint of sadness in his voice. Itachi and Sasuke made it back to Itachi's apartment. The apartment itself was rather large. A couple bedrooms, a nice kitchen, plenty of space. The perks of being an ANBU. Naruto was still up, waiting for Itachi.

"Ah, Naruto, you're still awake? You should be asleep," said Itachi.

"I wanted to wait for you. Wait, Sasuke?" spoke Naruto.

"Sasuke will be here with us for a little while. Now, let me set up your room. You two don't mind sharing a room, do you?" spoke Itachi. The two boys nodded. Neither one really had friends. Naruto was hated by just about everyone, and Sasuke was held to the confines of the Uchiha compound. After Itachi set up a second bed, he left to boys to rest. He went over to his room, and thought things over. "I hope this works out. This will be for the best. Having them both here will give them both someone to talk to. Someone their own age. I can't be around all the time. But those two will always have each other to keep company," Itachi thought to himself as he drifted to sleep.

As Naruto drifted off, he found himself in a sewer, with an elaborate gate with a sign on it with the word "seal." Inside, there was a beautiful, young looking woman, with the features of a fox.

"Where am I?" spoke the young blond.

"We are inside your mind, Kit. I am Kyubi no Yoko. I was placed here a while ago," spoke the beautiful demon.

"Why were you put here?"

"Never mind that, Kit. It's not important. I just want to tell you something. I'm here to look out for you, Kit. You'll always have me here. I'm always around if you need to talk. There's one more thing, if you ever find yourself in a tight spot, I can lend you my power. I can protect you."

"Itachi nii-san will protect me."

"I know he will, but who will help him? I can help you to be strong, one of the strongest ninjas ever."

"You mean, I could be even strong enough to become Hokage?"

"If that is your goal. A little hard work, and anything is possible."

The boy smiled, and shouted over and over again that he was going to become Hokage. Kyubi rolled her eyes, and thought over if it was worth it. "Uh... this kid is going to give me a serious headache. I think I liked it better when he was quiet and shy."

"So, how do I get out of here, Kyubi?"

The Kyubi stood still for a moment. "Uhh... you just think of leaving, and you do. This is your mind, after all."

Naruto did as he was told, and drifted off to sleep, leaving Kyubi to herself. "I hope he never has another outburst like that again. These ears are too old to have to put up with that... well, not so old, but sensitive" Kyubi thought, realizing she accidentally thought herself as old. She made a bed in her room and went off to sleep, thinking of ways to give her "prison" a makeover.