Requiem of a Demon
A/N: Don't worry, I'm not gonna bitch about lack of reviews for all my fics. I've come to terms to the fact that a portion of readers on will always be ungrateful to the authors who write, note I said a portion. Some won't have time, some won't care to. Check profile for update status for all fics. Also, if you for some reason get your panties in a bunch for previous opinion, don't leave a note, PM me. If you don't have an account, shoot me an email at , but don't leave a review to just complain about said opinion!
I
Outside Uchiha District
October 10, 1109 NE
Never had the boy hated Konoha like he did then, there, and now. The desolate moonlight left a shady reflection in the boy's eyes. The idiotic villagers deemed it to ruin his ninth birthday, which really didn't surprise the kid, they ruined it every year as far back as he could remember. Today was October 10, the ninth anniversary of the Kyuubi's defeat, which as you know, was his birthday.
The boy was far from stupid, he knew himself to be the container for the fearsome Kyuubi no Kitsune. Despite the fact that he was intelligent, it didn't take long to realize the coincidence of Kyuubi's defeat as well as the day of birthday. That and there was usually a malignant voice in the back of his find, prodding, pushing him to do things, bad things.
One thing he'd never understand, as he laid there, beaten and limp like a broken puppet, he wondered about the intelligence of the villagers. Since, he the pariah happened to be the jinchiruuki of the Kyuubi, why did they insist on beating him and mistreating him? The human mind is fragile in itself, and one wrong blow could unleash the Kyuubi upon the villagers, supposing his nine year old body could harness the raw power of the Kyuubi. As the villagers gathered around his body, the nine year old wondered perhaps it'd be best if he showed the villagers who the real demon was.
He betted that maybe they'd stop beaten him then if he could rip their innards out and hang them on it. Then he'd laugh maniacally and watch as they gagged on their own blood, slowly choking, the life leaving their eyes.
He knew it was pointless to scream, they'd beat him some more. It was better for them to think he was dead, that and his throat was sore for the previous screams.
Despite how unequivocally evil the Kyuubi was, he knew it was time to heal the boy, doing it only out of self-preservation. The raw power of chakra that was running through the boy's coils was enough to send the bastards running, and there laid a nine year old boy, beaten, broken, and bereft of his hopes and dreams of being Hokage. A nine year old boy, beaten, and bloodied, laying outside the Uchiha district like some dog, ironically enough, the villagers had taken his eyes. There had definitely been shinobi in the crowd, Naruto knew that since it had been a kunai that slashed across his eyes and then gouged out. A kunai had robbed the kid of his precious eyesight. His throat hoarse he laid there, waiting to die, but God was in a jovial mood, since death never came.
II
Staring into his little brother's one tomoed Sharingan for the last time, Itachi disappeared, tears welling in his eyes. His mission was complete, and he finally stepped out of the districts entrance before breaking down, sobbing quietly. He a fifteen year old ANBU Captain had slaughtered his entire clan, save for his little otouto Sasuke. He had to make sure Sasuke never forgot, and with his Mangekyou Sharingan he had used Tsukyomi on him forcing Sasuke to relive the slaughter of his clan. It had been cruel, but necessary, done to force Sasuke to foster hate for him, so he could redeem Itachi by killing him when he was older. All was set, now he just had to gather up his bearings and find Uchiha Madara at the Valley of the End.
Lost in his own pain, it took him several moments to hear the soft sobbing and sniveling of a young boy. Itachi hardened his gaze and stared at the kid, who had apparently been attacked.
'Though it would have been next to impossible to hide in that atrociously orange jumpsuit.' Itachi thought.
Recognizing the blonde hair immediately, he knew who the boy was, the 4th Hokage's Legacy, his son. Though he doubted the boy knew it, the only reason Itachi knew this was because as ANBU Captain he had access to highly classified to top secret information.
It disgusted him to think of how they treated the boy. While the villagers didn't know of the boy's parentage, they knew he was the container for the Kyuubi and had mistreated him severely for it. Itachi walked over to him and nearly gasped in shock, they had taken the boy's eyes clean with a kunai from the looks of it.
'How could they?' Itachi's black eyes began to change into the form of the Mangekyou out of anger. The boy had been beaten and then urinated on, then they gouged out his eyes with a kunai, meaning shinobi had been involved as well. All on the boy's ninth birthday.
Itachi never really cared for the boy, simply because as ANBU Captain he never really had the time to interact with the jinchiruuki, but the boy looked to be Sasuke's age.
"Who's there?" The boy called out fearfully, trying to scramble up to his feet. Feeling bad about the situation, Itachi reached and pulled the boy up to his feet.
"Uchiha Itachi, ex-ANBU Captain." He replied shortly.
"Itachi-san, are you here to hurt me too?" the boy said, his arms shooting out to feel his immediate surroundings. Looking at the boy, Itachi could only see his brother Sasuke, and how he had hurt him. Wrapping the boy up in a fierce hug, he hugged him like he could never hug his little brother. "No Naruto, I'm not here to hurt you." Itachi said calmly, his eyes watering slightly.
"Why not?" The boy bursted out angrily, fighting against Itachi's embrace. "I'm the Kyuubi, I don't deserve to be loved or cared for. I'm not supposed to have dreams like everyone else. Please just kill me Itachi-san." Naruto begged, blood oozing out of his punctured orifices.
You are just a weapon, nothing else, you cannot have dreams, you are not meant to be love, nor should you love anyone else. You are a shinobi!
Danzou's words never left the young Uchiha, he had always taken it to heart, living solely by the old decrepit bastard's words.
"If you're not gonna kill me, just give me a kunai, I'll do it myself." Naruto spat at him, reaching with outstretched arms.
Itachi's heart broke for the boy, it was so cold that someone at his age had to live such a hated life. "What was your dream?" Itachi asked, releasing the boy.
"To be Hokage, that was my dream." Naruto said sadly, "Now all I want to do is protect myself, but I'm blind! How am I supposed to defeat what I can't see? I can't even become a shinobi now, that's all I wanted, to become a shinobi that made its village proud." Naruto said, sniveling once more as he hung his head down in defeat.
Itachi reached into the bag he carried, pulling out a scroll. He had been saving them, as per Madara's instructions, also it was supposed to be a reminder of his actions. But perhaps Shishui would be proud of him. Itachi unsealed the large scroll in his bag, where it poofed out of existence, leaving only a small jar which held two objects.
Uchiha Shishui's eyes.
"Naruto-kun. I'm going to give you you're eyesight back, this might hurt a little." Itachi spoke. He opened up the jar and pulled out the first eyeball out. Groaning in disgust he had implanted the first eye into Naruto's socket, sending chakra to his hands. His hands lit up with green chakra and the first eyeball was in. Then he grabbed the other and pushed it in, healing the socket afterwards. "Can you see now?" Itachi asked.
It was blurry for Naruto at first, then clearer, better than Naruto had seen before in his life. Naruto nodded and as he looked up to stare into the eyes of his savior, he saw blood red eyes with what looked like a three pronged shuriken surrounding the pupil.
"Thank you Itachi-niisan." Naruto went to hug him when Itachi used two fingers to poke him in the forehead.
"Tsukyomi."
Naruto was immediately thrown into the genjutsu. "Naruto-kun, this is my world of Tsukyomi, in here three days is only a second on the outside, I will do what no one has ever done, I will show you the truth about you. Naruto-kun, when I poked you in the head, I transferred part of my power to you. Now, let me show you what happened."
After the technique was dispelled, Naruto blacked out. Itachi grabbed him and shunshined away, dumping Naruto at the hospital near the Hokage's office, then he left, never again looking at Konoha.
'Sarutobi-sama, you better take care of Naruto and Sasuke. Both are vital to my redemption.'
III
Naruto woke up the next day, still a bit sore. He was back in a hospital, which in itself was pretty common. Brushing a stray hair out of his eyes, he grimaced remembering the dreams that he had, of some giant conspiracy in Konoha, the reason why he was so hated. In the dream the villagers took his eyes and some Uchiha named Itachi gave him his sight back.
Staring into a mirror and no longer seeing his typical azure color, now replaced by twin green orbs. Apparently the dreams had been real as well as everything else Itachi showed him. Naruto stood up, ripping out the IVs in his arms, they'd tried to kill him before by pouring lead into the IVs. Seconds later a nurse and few med nin came bursting in to stop him. Naruto barreled through them, leaving the hospital.
He hurried out of there and made his way to the Hokage Tower. "Are you here to see the Hokage?" A chuunin by the name of Genma asked.
"Yes, Genma-san." Naruto replied shortly, looking down at the deck. Genma nodded in surprise, Naruto never had been that polite nor stood that still before. Something was off with the boy. Genma then allowed access, Naruto walked down the halls, no glimmer in his eyes, no fake smile plastered to his whiskered face.
Today he was unequivocally him. No more hiding his emotions behind a cheerful, idiotic exterior. Naruto knocked on the Sandaime's door. "Come in." Came the curt reply. Naruto opened the door, and stepped inside.
"Ohayo Sandaime-sama." Naruto said off-handedly, giving the Hokage a small bow.
The Hokage was perplexed. He knew Naruto was never formal with anyone, and he never bowed to no one. "Are you alright Naruto-kun? I heard about the attack last night." the aged Hokage said, looking at Naruto rather sadly.
"I'm alive, am I not?" Naruto asked dismissively. "Alive isn't everything, for what it's worth I'm sorry Naruto-kun." Sarutobi apologized to the boy.
"I find that hard to believe today, Hokage-sama." Naruto replied calmly. The Hokage's sad features turned into an angry snarl. "What did you say?" He demanded.
"I don't think you're too regretful, Lord Sarutobi. I constantly get beaten up and nearly killed, but what have you done about it? You create a law that you don't enforce, and then the villagers get scared less by it. I don't pretend to be you grandson, nor do I pretend to think you actually care about me on more than an impersonal level. Most likely you never will." Naruto finished.
The Sandaime was stunned to say the least. "Naruto-kun, I'm sorry if it doesn't seem like much to you." the third Hokage said calmly, seeing as Naruto had made some perfect points. He indeed had created a law that forbade anyone to mistreat him or mention that he was the Kyuubi jinchiruuki, yet it was never really enforced, the villagers would go to jail for a few days, and then released again.
"The supposed hero of the village, the Kyuubi jinchiruuki, son to Namikaze Minato, and yet that didn't stop them from gouging out my eyes." Naruto yelled, green eyes turning blood red with one tomoe in each eye. "I've had it with this village, the next time I get attacked by anyone, leaf nin included, I will fight back, and I will kill if I have to. This is my law, my new nindo. No one has done anything to help me, except for Uchiha Itachi, and he has shown me the truth, I'm disappointed Hokage-sama."
"Where did you get all this information from?" the Sandaime asked.
"A well that never went dry. The only person honest to me in Konoha, and that definitely wasn't you." Naruto replied coldly, suddenly bursting into smoke, forcing the Hokage to realize that he'd been talking with a Kage Bunshin.
"Where the hell is Naruto going?" Sarutobi asked out loud.
IV
3 Days Later
Sasuke didn't want to get up out of bed, here in his comfortable king sized bed, he could pretend…
He could pretend his mother was downstairs cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast, and that father would be ready for another round of the fireball jutsu. Big brother would be in the woods practicing his shuriken technique, ready to carry Sasuke around on his back when he'd 'hurt' his ankle later.
All he had to do was stay in bed and he could pretend. 'Itachi-niisan wouldn't of killed all the Uchihas.' Sasuke thought, dismissing the notion that his big brother could do something like that.
Sunlight filtered in through an open curtain and snuck its way into Sasuke's eyes, blinding him for a second. He could only pretend for so long. He stood up out of bed, subconsciously rubbing his forehead where big brother used to always jam him.
'They're all really gone.' Sasuke thought, falling to his knees on the side of the bed, offering a prayer for his clan. Thinking about it all caused tears to well up in his eyes so he didn't, quickly pushing the thoughts of the Uchiha massacre.
"Run little brother, run. Cling to your pathetic excuse of your life, life for nothing other than killing me. Foster all you hate and devotion to me, so that one day we can fight again."
"I'm your big brother Sasuke. I'll always be there for you, even if it's only as an obstacle for you to overcome."
Hot tears flooded his eyes, numbing his cheeks.
"Big brother…" Sasuke panted out, sobbing, gripping the edge of his bed tightly. "Why? Why did you do this?"
Off in the distance, he heard a knock on his door. Wondering exactly who'd be knocking on his door today, Sasuke stood up and headed towards the door, wiping the evidence of his tears to the best of his knowledge. Opening the door, he was surprised by the sight that greeted him.
It was that dobe… the Uzumaki kid from class.
"Dobe… What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, head hung low to pretend he hadn't been crying.
"Sasuke, I'm sorry to hear about your family." The blonde boy said sincerely, brushing an unruly lock of spiky hair out of his eyes.
Sasuke stared at him, something seemed to be off. Especially his eyes.
Rather than the usual vibrant blue, Naruto's eyes seemed to be some sort of jade, and that was a color Sasuke only saw on a few people. Naruto seemed to be dressed in funeral attire, with some sort of black ceremonial gi, black shinobi sandals, and a black jacket.
"What's with the clothes, dobe?" Sasuke asked, feigning annoyance. He had to get going anyway, the Uchiha's funeral was in an hour.
"It's part of the reason I'm here, Sasuke. I know it's hard to lose everything and even though we aren't friends, perhaps you'd like me to accompany you to the funeral?" Naruto asked honestly.
"Why do you even care to?" Sasuke snapped at the outlandish question.
"Well mainly cause there's gonna be a bunch of old codgers there, people who didn't really care too much for the Uchihas, talking because they like the sound of their own voices and whatnot, and perhaps you'd want someone to be there for you. It sucks to be alone, to lose it all, and that I know, so I felt really bad when I heard about what happened."
Sasuke pondered it for a second. Was the boy offering him his friendship? What did he have to gain out of it?
"Why?" Sasuke asked, tears welling in his eyes again.
"Both my parents died on the night of the Kyuubi, and all my live I've lived alone, hated by all the villagers, and knowing that you lost it all, just compelled me to be here, because knowing there's someone out there like me kills me, because I wouldn't wish this on anybody." Naruto explained, tears welling up in his own eyes.
"You really wish to accompany on this?" Sasuke asked timidly.
Naruto nodded.
"Let me put on the Uchiha ceremonial clothes, and then we'll head out. Can I offer you something to drink?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah, some water would be cool. It's kinda hot out here."
Sasuke nodded, and the two of them stepped into the house, the dark bitter day lessened, now that Sasuke had a friend to help him through the pain.
A/N PT2: For those who read this, thank you, and for those that review, I appreciate it.