~~Motivation: I listened to these songs almost constantly while I typed this chapter and began the story, in order of the effect they had on the story, they are...

My Curse – Killswitch Engage

Orange Range – Asterisk

Lonely Day – System of a Down

Chop Suey – System of a Down

~~A/N: Hey, it's your author here, just saying that this is my first fanfic EVER so I'm really eager to get this thing started. I've actually tried to get one up a few times, but it never seemed to turn out right. This is the first I've actually followed through with, so hopefully it turns out OK. Now that that's over with, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… If I did, it probably wouldn't have played out the way it did…

~Fallen Angel~

~A Naruto Fanfiction~

This is my curse (The longing)
This is my curse (Time)
This is my curse (The yearning)
This is my curse

My Curse - Killswitch Engage

~Chapter 1: My Curse~

Naruto Uzumaki sat on top of the Hokage Monument, watching the sunset in the waning hours of the evening, pondering on what he should do. He sat cross-legged, his signature orange jumpsuit blending in with the orange and yellow hues of the darkening sky.

In all regards, Naruto should've been relatively happy. He had helped to stop a very bad case of treason, graduated from the academy (though it was unorthodox), learned an advanced technique, and saved his favorite teacher all within one night.

A slight pinch interrupted his thoughts as what used to be a large gash on his chest finally sealed itself together, thanks to his miraculous healing powers. 'No, not mine, the Kyūbi's'. He thought bitterly. That night he had also learned about his 'burden'.

'Less of a burden, more of a curse,' He decided. At least it finally explained why he was hated by almost every person in Konoha. It finally explained the glares and curses he received from the civilian population practically every day. The constant murmurs of "What's he doing here?", "Why is he even allowed inside the village?", or "I don't know why he's even trying to be a ninja, he'll never be allowed to graduate," finally had meaning behind them. He hadn't noticed before, as he'd learned to tune them out after so many years, but with the new knowledge of his 'burden' it seemed impossible now.

He sighed. Why did everyone have to hate him so much? Couldn't they see that he was only the container, the jailer, and not the Kyūbi itself? The people of this village were idots.

As he pondered, he thought back to what had compelled him to come to the top of the monument in the first place.

~~)(|)(~~)(|)(~~)(|)(~~

Naruto's eyes creaked open as he woke from his dreams of foxes and traitors. The first thing he noticed was an irritating wailing coming from the alarm clock on his bedside table. He gave a surprised shout as he reached out his hand, searching for the sleep button, and instead rolled off of the bed in tangled heap of sheets and flailing limbs.

After several minutes of mortal combat with his bedsheets, and effectively awake, he stood up and finally silenced the annoying clock. He never really woke up this early, but he wanted to make sure he wouldn't be late for team assignments today. He was an official genin of Konoha now, and being a ninja came with responsibilities.

He groggily slumped into his shower and let the cold water run over himself for a few moments so he could fully wake up before proceeding with the rest of his morning rituals, which included finishing his shower and brushing his teeth, to keep that 'Nothing you say will affect me' smile of his bright and shiny.

He gathered what little gear he actually had, which now included Iruka's old headband, and left his apartment. As usual, he locked the door (not that it really did much) and headed out into the semi-crowded streets of Konoha.

As he took his time strolling down the busy streets snaking towards the academy, he received the glares and mutters he had come to expect from the villagers. Most of them failed to notice the worn headband he now bore with a smile, and those who did figured it was a trick of some kind, since in their minds there was obviously no way Naruto could've graduated.

As he walked, he started thinking about that night. About when Mizuki had revealed his 'burden'. It may have just been because of the way he had said it, but there were so many different emotions and feelings running through Naruto at that moment… emotions he hadn't felt in a long time.

He had created a kind of… outer wall against these emotions. Kind of like a second Naruto. This second Naruto was his main line of defense against the hate filled glares and shouts of the villagers. He rarely let anyone see his true side. The side of him filled with sadness, loneliness, and to a certain extent hate. Hate for the village that had shunned him. Mizuki had been the first person in a long time to break through that wall, if only momentarily. However, a broken wall that is constantly assaulted is never repaired. The resentment and ignorance of the villagers saw to that.

But he shouldn't start thinking too deeply about these things.

When he shook himself out of his thoughts and regained awareness of his surroundings, it took him a few seconds to notice he was standing in front of the academy. As he entered the familiar building he checked the clock mounted on the wall.

Damn, he only had a minute until team assignments started! The one thing he actually woke up early for (besides ramen) and he was still going to be late!

Scowling at himself for losing track of time he rushed to academy classroom, shoved the door open, ran inside, and slammed the door closed loudly.

The rest of the room, however, was deathly quiet, and everyone was gaping (and in some cases glaring) at him… was he late?

The silence was broken by the bell signaling the start of class, startling everyone out of their stunned silence. "What is Naruto doing here?"

And so began the onslaught of questions, shouts, and outright insults about various things related to Naruto and graduation.

"I thought he failed the graduation exam?" shouted one graduate from the back of the room.

"He did, I took the test right after him! They were talking about him failing for the third time," was the response.

"Well then why is he even here?"

The conversations shouted across the room over the din put a damper on Naruto's mood.

Luckily Iruka saved his mood from taking too much damage. "Alright everyone that's enough, quiet down!" he shouted over the ruckus while gesturing for silence. "Naruto officially graduated from the academy a few days ago, the night of the graduation exams," he said sternly, as if daring the class to speak against him.

Iruka put a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Well Naruto, you got here just in time," he said with a slight smile. "Why don't you go take a seat so we can get started?" he gestured to the rest of the class.

Naruto scanned the classroom until he realized that there was only one open seat… and it was next to Sakura and Sasuke.

He sighed. 'Well, shit.' He cursed under his breath. He could already tell he was going to have a bad day.

He grudgingly walked up to the seat, dragging his feet with each step.

When Sakura realized where he was headed, she stopped fawning over Sasuke for a second (A surprise, really) and glared at Naruto before returning to her favorite pastime.

Naruto reluctantly sat down next to Sakura, though he was slightly cheered up by the sight of his crush.

Then Sasuke decided to speak up. "I don't care what you or Iruka-sensei says you don't belong here dobe," he said with his hands clasped in front of his face, staring straight ahead looking uninterested like always.

"Just shut up teme."

Naruto didn't feel like taking any crap from Sasuke today, and his response was automatic, so he hadn't thought about how Sakura would react… if he had, he probably wouldn't have said anything.

"What was that, Naruto?" she shrieked, interrupting Iruka's speech and earning looks from the rest of the class. "You will NOT badmouth Sasuke! He's right anyway, you don't belong here!"

Iruka was about to reprimand Sakura, partly for interrupting his speech, but mostly because she had shouted at Naruto, but he never got the chance.

"You can shut up and back off too Sakura."

His voice was barely audible, but the silence was so complete that everyone in the class heard it. Naruto never said things like that to Sakura right? Apparently, he had changed the night he graduated.

"W-What?" she managed to stutter in response.

"I told you to be quiet and back off," he stated calmly, head down, his hair shadowing his face.

Sakura sat in shocked silence until Iruka cleared his throat rather loudly as most of the class was staring and he wanted to get back on track. Everyone woke from their silent stupor and returned their attention to their sensei.

"Let's get on with this, we don't have much time left because of the interruption, so I guess I'll have to skip my graduation speech," Iruka said pouting slightly. Some of the class chuckled.

Most of them cheered. Iruka sighed.

"Well then, let's get started. Team 1…"

~~)(|)(~~)(|)(~~)(|)(~~

"…And team 7 will consist of Naruto Uzumaki…"

At the mention of his name Naruto's head shot up off the desk a little too quickly as he grew dizzy.

"Sakura Haruno…"

At the mention of her name, and upon realizing she was on Naruto's team, Sakura hung her head comically. Against everyone's expectations, Naruto… did nothing.

'Wow, he really has changed,'

"And Sasuke Uchiha."

At this point Sakura leapt up and cheered, while Naruto hung his head just like Sakura had moments before.

"Shit…" he mumbled. However, he mumbled it just loud enough for everyone, including Iruka to hear. 'Damn, I'm in for it now,' he thought, bracing himself for a lecture or a reprimand.

He never got one. Instead Iruka just chuckled a little and smiled sadly at Naruto. "Sorry, but I didn't make up the teams Naruto," He said with the sad smirk still on his face.

As Iruka finished up the list and left to let the jounin pick up their teams, Sakura glanced at Naruto repeatedly, trying to figure out what had happened to him.

'He's never been like this before. He'd usually be asking me out or berating Sasuke.'

After a little while (Well more like a few hours) they were the only ones left in the classroom.

Sakura was absolutely fuming. "I swear to Kami, if he keeps us waiting for 5 more minutes I'll beat him into next week."

'Shannaro! This is time we could be spending with Sasuke-kun!' chimed her mental self.

Then, almost as if he had heard Sakura, a man opened the door and walked into the room. He wore what could be described as generic jounin equipment. A dark green vest, black pants and undershirt, with white bandages wrapped around his right leg. What really stood out to the three genin was his face, or rather that they could barely see it at all. He had a mask, matching the color of his pants and undershirt that covered the bottom portion and his headband came down and covered another half of what was left. All you could really see was the upper right third of his face. That and his grey almost white hair, which seemed to defy gravity.

'Hmmm. I thought for sure Naruto would try pranking me… Oh well, all the better for me,' He raised his hand in greeting. "I'm Kakashi, and I'll be your jounin sensei while you're genin. We're meeting on the roof, so don't take too long," he said, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"He tells us not to take too long?" Naruto grumbled before getting his head up off the desk and practically dragging himself out of the room.

Sakura silently nodded her agreement and follow, with Sasuke close behind.

~~)(|)(~~)(|)(~~)(|)(~~

"Well then, let's hear a little about each of you. Your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, that sort of thing," their new sensei said to them with his patented eye smile.

Sakura raised her hand, and their sensei nodded towards her.

"What are we supposed to say? Can you show us first, so we know what to do?"

His face, at least what they could see of it, took on a thoughtful look. After a few minutes of careful contemplation, he responded. "Well, why not? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I like many things, and dislike many others. My hobbies… well I really don't feel like telling you that. My dreams…" he trailed off and left the rest hanging.

'So all we really found out was his name' the three of them thought in unison.

"Anyway, we'll start with you on the right," he said, pointing at Naruto.

A few days ago, Naruto would have started on about ramen, just like Sakura and Sasuke currently thought he would. However, in light of the recent days' events and his new knowledge, ramen was surprisingly the least on his mind right now.

"My name," he started calmly, almost quietly, "is Naruto Uzumaki; I like few things… one of them being Iruka sensei, as well as anybody else I can trust. My dislikes… are people who judge others for things they have no control over, and people who betray their friends and their village. My hobbies consist mainly of pranking people. And my dream…" here he regained his usual cheerful manner, "is to surpass the Hokage's, all of them, even the Yondaime!" He shouted, adjusting his headband a little.

Both Sasuke and Sakura were shocked, the latter more than the former, for she was the only one who had noticed he had said nothing about her throughout the entire speech. Was this the same Naruto as only a few days before? It didn't seem like it to either of them.

Kakashi interrupted their thoughts. "Hmm, not what I was expecting, but OK. Next."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha… There are many things I don't like, and I don't particularly like anything," Sakura's face looked a little downcast at this. "And my dream is not a dream, it is an ambition: The restoration of my clan, and to kill a certain man."

Both Sakura and Naruto gave Sasuke looks, Sakura's awed and somewhat shocked, Naruto's annoyed and irritated.

'That's to be expected.' Kakashi thought. "OK, and lastly the girl,"

"I'm Sakura Haruno, and the thing, well person I like is…" At this point she glanced repeatedly at Sasuke and squealed quietly. "My hobbies…" Another squeal. "My dreams for the future…" The biggest squeal yet. Then suddenly: "I dislike Naruto!" she yelled bunching her fists. "He's rude, he never leaves me alone, and he's the dobe of the class!"

Naruto looked down, his fists clenched beside him. 'I'm starting to wonder why I bother chasing after her. I have as much chance with her as she does with Sasuke.' He thought bitterly.

Kakashi noticed the look. 'Well, better get on with this before they attack each other.' He sat forward a little, catching the three ninja's attention. "That's enough of that. We will start our first assignment tomorrow."

Naruto's face lit up. "Oooh, what's the assignment Kakashi-sensei? Tell us, tell us!" The others seemed to silently agree, though weren't willing to show it.

"It's not a mission; it's… a graduation exam." He said, pausing for effect.

"But we already took the graduation exam! I thought we were supposed to get cool missions now?" Once again the others silently agreed.

"The exam you already took was just to weed out the weak ones. This is the true graduation exam, and you must pass to continue your shinobi career. You must fight me. Be warned: This test has a 66% chance of failure. Anyone who fails will get sent back to the academy,"

Naruto was silently fuming. He had already taken the graduation exam. He had defeated a chunin traitor! Why did he have to take another stupid exam?

"Oh and you'd better skip breakfast tomorrow. Otherwise… you'll throw up. The rest of the info is on these printouts. Don't be late," He disappeared in a plume of smoke after handing out the papers.

Sakura instantly took the opportunity to ignore Naruto and ask Sasuke out on a date, which he promptly rejected in favor of going off to wherever he goes to do... whatever it is Sasuke does in his free time.

Naruto decided to get home quickly so he would have more time for training. He had to beat Kakashi the next day, he couldn't fail!

As Sakura walked down to the busy street below while pondering how to get Sasuke to go out with her, she realized Naruto hadn't even talked to her on the roof.

'He didn't ask me out? Whatever, more time to see Sasuke-kun!' Maybe she would stop and get Sasuke a gift…

~~)(|)(~~)(|)(~~)(|)(~~

Naruto was walking through the streets of Konoha yet again, after a hard day of training and formulating strategies for defeating Kakashi. He was a jounin after all; Naruto couldn't just charge in and expect to win, even with shadow clones.

Naruto was jolted out of his thoughts as he ran into somebody, knocking her to the ground. He then noticed the person he had just knocked down had pink hair, and he could only hope it wasn't the one person he knew who had pink hair… But apparently even Kami hated him. 'Well, I'm in for it now'.

As Sakura got up off the ground, Naruto could practically see the tick mark on her forehead. Before he could offer an explanation, he was slugged in the face and sent flying backwards into one of the vendor's stalls on the side of the street, the wood splintering and cracking as he crashed through the flimsy build.

"Hey, what gives kid?" shouted the now former stall owner, shaking his fist at Naruto. "Do you know what you just destroyed? You're going to pay for that, you brat!"

Naruto was on his feet in an instant, holding his hand up defensively. "N-n-no! You don't understand! It's not my fault!" He stuttered quickly.

"I don't care whose fault it is, you destroyed my stall and you are going to pay for it, one way or another." He said, cracking his knuckles. Naruto quickly realized just how large this man was. He looked more like a blacksmith than a stall owner. He could probably hit harder than Sakura when she was angry, and that was saying something.

Said pink haired girl had by now recovered from the fall and stomped up to Naruto again.

"Come on Sakura, you gotta tell this guy it wasn't my fault!" He shouted in growing anxiety. Other villagers were beginning to notice the argument, as well as just who was in it. Many had stopped to watch and some had decided to side with the vendor, though that wasn't very surprising to Naruto considering his… reputation.

At this point a surprisingly strong fist hit him square in the back, knocking Naruto forward and onto his hands and knees. Before he could recover another fist belonging to the man whose stall Naruto had destroyed impacted with his face and sent him several feet backwards into a crowd of angry people, several of which grabbed him and succeeded in pinning him down.

'Dammit, if I retaliate and fight these guys I'll get into even more trouble' Naruto thought with a frown.

Several of the citizens and vendors were now walking towards him with menacing looks; some of them were even pulling sharp objects out of who-knows-where. Naruto was pretty sure he had caught a glimpse of at least one person pulling out a butcher's knife…

"You're going to pay for what you've done, demon!" Many of the bystanders cheered at this. Much of the crowd now had various weapons out, whether they were rusty kunai, kitchen knives, or some rock they had picked up off the ground. "You took my daughter away from me you demon!" Frantically, Naruto looked around for a way to escape. He spied a fair-sized block of wood that was probably going to be used for repairing the nearby roof it was sitting on.

Naruto quickly tried to work his arms free to do the seals for the jutsu, but the villagers holding him down were just too strong. The man whose stall he had crashed into earlier came out of the crowd with that butcher's knife he had seen earlier, advancing towards Naruto menacingly. "I guess I'll have to thank that pink haired girl for giving me an excuse to do this," he said with a smirk.

Just before the man swung the cleaver down, the villagers let go of Naruto, so as not to get hit if the guy's aim was off a little, of if the demon tried something. Naruto tried using this to bring his arms together and do the seals for the Kawarimi, but he wasn't fast enough.

Before he could even bring his hands together, the butcher's knife came down into his chest. Luckily it didn't have enough force to get through his rib cage, but it hurt like hell.

Naruto shouted, but tried to ignore the pain and do the hand seals, and just as Naruto replaced himself with the block of wood, he heard several loud thumps that sounded suspiciously like several large knives, rocks, and various pointy objects impacting a block of wood.

Before the mob could see where he had gone he ripped the butcher's knife out of his chest (which probably wasn't the best idea considering he had just done more damage), threw it off the roof – away from the mob of course, he didn't want to get busted for 'Harming an innocent civilian' – and jumped to the nearest roof in the opposite direction of the mob, not noticing the utterly shocked look on Sakura's face as she walked away from the mob, shaken at what she had just witnessed, her gift to Sasuke lying forgotten in the street.

After several minutes of traveling, Naruto finally reached his apartment complex. He had been given this apartment by the Sandaime Hokage himself after he had been thrown out of the orphanage, not that anybody really cared. If it was his, they hated it.

Speaking of which, he noticed several lines of graffiti scrawled across his door, which happened to be broken off of its hinges, ranging from "demon scum" to "child killer". He sighed. 'At least they're coming up with some new shit, instead of the same "demon" crap every time' He thought.

He pushed the broken door open and slowly walked into the apartment.

Compared to how much damage they usually did, it wasn't that bad. His furniture was broken but it wasn't that big of a deal. The walls were mostly intact, even if there was graffiti all over it, just like the door. The damage was pretty much the same throughout the entire apartment. However, when he took a closer look at his bedroom, he noticed a broken picture frame lying face down on the floor along with broken glass. There was a ripped piece of paper pinned to the wall with some sharp object; Naruto didn't really care what it was.

Naruto slowly picked up the picture frame. He recognized it. It was a gift given to him by the Sandaime. The picture was a picture of Naruto, Iruka, the Teuchi's, and the Sandaime, with Naruto giving a genuine smile in the middle.

Or at least it used to be. Naruto finally took a closer look at the picture pinned to the wall. It was part of the picture that belonged in the picture frame lying on the floor.

The people who had trashed his apartment had ripped the picture into three pieces. The one currently pinned to the wall showed Naruto by himself. They had carefully ripped the picture so that no part of anyone else was in the picture. Graffiti above the picture said "You don't deserve anything, demon,"

Naruto gritted his teeth, his fisted clenched at his side, willing the tears not to come.

But of course, they did. With a cry of both extreme rage and heart-wrenching sorrow Naruto threw the frame to the ground and leapt out the window.

~~)(|)(~~)(|)(~~)(|)(~~

As he finally reached a decision, he slowly stood. If that's what they wanted, he wouldn't disappoint.

He straightened and looked down upon the village that had shunned him from birth. They had sunned him for something he had no control over. Many wanted him dead. Maybe they were right… maybe he was a demon. Maybe he shouldn't have friends, or family.

Before he could turn back on his sudden decision, he slowly walked forward, building speed as he moved. He was vaguely aware of a sound, in the back of his head, but he ignored it, just like he had ignored all the villagers for so many years.

Before he knew it there was no ground beneath his feet, and the feeling of weightlessness overtook him. He felt like he could fly, and he twisted his body towards the sky, looking up at the side of the cliff as he fell, down, down, down. Maybe there was a place for him up there. Then again, his burden would probably drag him to hell.

Again, he was vaguely aware of something in the back of his head, a voice. Except this time it was louder, and it sounded angry, almost fearful. He couldn't make out the words. He watched the ground rushing up at him. What was it like to die?

Abruptly, a surge of intense power flowed through him. His vision tunneled, and his body moved seemingly of its own mind, like it was trying to save itself. It didn't matter anyway. The ground was so close, and he was going so fast there was no way he could survive the impact. He felt drowsy, like he could sleep for an eternity…

The last thing he remembered before he blacked out was the sharp image of a snarling fox's head, and that voice shouting angrily at him.

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~~A/N: So? What did you guys think of my very first chapter on this site EVER? Not to be a review hog but... PLEASE REVIEW! Gotta know how I did, right? :P