Disclaimer: I do not Own Naruto, I am not that rich
"That's not funny" - Normal/Human speech
'That's kinda funny' - Thinking speech
"I really hate you" - Demon, Summon, Jutsu, etc speech
'That's not funny' - Demon, Summoning thinking speech
Konoha is a very pretty place, especially at night. The entire city is surrounded by tall oak trees created by the founder, Hashirama Senju, or the Shodai Hokage with the Mokuton, giving the village the name Konohagakure. This village had produced great and powerful shinobi, from the powerful Sannin, to the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
However, the most famous of all of the heroes of Konoha is none other than the Konoha no Kiiro Senko, or the Yondaime Hokage, a man who had single handedly destroyed armies of invading shinobi in seconds during the Third Shinobi World War. But his greatest accomplishment was one that cost him his own life. The defeat of the Kyuubi no Yoko on October 10th.
While many know it as fact that the Kyuubi was defeated by the Yondaime, few know that to defeat the demon fox, he had to use the Shiki Fuin, a seal which by using the powers of the Shinigami himself to seal away another for eternity.
On that fateful night, the Yondaime not only sealed half of the beast inside himself, but also the other half into the newborn baby, Naruto.
The Yondaime knew that the Shinigami could only seal half of the demonic being, so with his last breathe; he sealed the rest of the beast's yang chakra into the boy. His wish was for the boy to be seen as a hero, and as his legacy, to stand for all the people that gave their lives on that fateful day.
This brings us to the present, 6 years after the Kyuubi attack, where a young boy with spiky blond hair, bright blue eyes, and three whisker marks on each cheek, was running for his life from an angry mob of villagers.
Needless to say the fourth's wish had gone unheeded as many of the villagers and ninja pleaded for the boys execution, believing that he was the Kyuubi in human form. The only thing that had kept them at bay was the reinstated, Sandaime Hokage, who soon after the boy's status was released issued a law stating that those who were old enough to remember the Kyuubi attack were never to speak of it on penalty of death. While this stopped the populous from outright demanding the child's death, they soon found ways of going around the rule, by blacklisting him from shops and restaurants, forbidding their children from socializing with him, and the weekly beating, that with the help of the civilian court, went mostly unpunished.
In Naruto's opinion, October 10th, his birthday, was the worst of all the days in the year combined. The day of the festival was the day the ANBU were too preoccupied to watch over him, and for some reason the villagers hate was higher than normal. These were the days he was normally sent to the hospital for more than a week.
'Why?' thought the abused child as he ran down an alley with the mob close behind him. "THERE HE IS!" Screamed a woman with pink hair, "TIME TO FINISH WHAT OUR BELOVED HOKAGE STARTED!" she raised her fist causing the crowd to yell in approval.
'Nonono I can't get caught again' thought the blond as he took another left quickly realizing that it was a dead end. 'Shit"
The crowd circled around him with knives, rocks, anything that could do damage and began their assault. Naruto, long ago had come up with ways to cope with the pain of being hated for something he did not even know by smiling, playing pranks, and basically putting on the mask of the 'baka' but tonight, the pain felt especially worse and as he looked up to the faces of his a attackers, he was able to push out the words, "W-Why do you h-h-hate me?"
"BECAUSE YOU'RE A DEMON THAT'S WHY!" yelled one of the villagers with unmasked hatred, "YOU ARE THE REASON MY DAUGHTERS DEAD! BUT NOW I AM FINNALLY GOING TO GET REVENGE!" The man then took out a large kitchen knife and stabbed it through Naruto's chest as the crowd cheered in approval.
As Naruto felt the warm liquid fall down his body, he collapsed and was about to ask again when he felt a heat coming at his back. He looked but was too late as a medium sized fireball engulfed him in red embers. Naruto's screams of pain only seemed to excite the villagers as they cheered on the chunin, who had fired off a Gokakyo no Justu at the defenseless child.
Naruto could feel that he was in a lot more pain than normal, from what he could tell he had a broken arm, a punctured lung, and a couple of broken ribs, not to mention the 1st and 2nd degree burns he had all over his body. With bloody tears in his eyes, he slowly drifted to unconsciousness.
As a villager tried to deliver a finishing blow, the pink haired leader stopped him, "No, we cant kill him, even though he deserves to die we can't be assumed as the killers. It has to die on its own." She looked down at the bloody heap of the 'demon' before pointing at two chunin. "You two take the child away from the village and leave him. Then remove any trace you have on you of this deed and return."
The two ninja nodded before grabbing the child and leaving in a puff of smoke. The woman then turned to the rest of the mob, "The rest of you return to your homes and rejoice, tonight we celebrate the true death of the Kyuubi.
'Bored, bored, bored bored, BORED!' These were the thoughts of a young man walking through the land of Hi no Kuni.
The man was around 6 1' in his late twenties. He had toned skin with wild uncombed brown hair. His face was jagged with stubble and his eyes were a dull hazel. His attire was composed of a pair of standard shinobi pants with a matching jonin vest, tan boots, fingerless gloves with metal guards, and to top it all off, a red and white coat with the kanji for "fox" on the back. This man was Rakki Samayou, member of the Kumo no san-Soku.
'Why did I have to walk through Hi no Huni to get to Yu, I could have easily just taken a fairy from Taki. I could have stayed another night and found some…entertainment' complained Rakki as he trudged through the unending sea of trees. He looked up at the night sky, 'Well at least it is a nice night' he thought with a smile.
He had always loved nature, even before he became a ninja. He took in the smells of the forest. He loved the smell of the bark, the dew, the flowers, the …
He paused, 'Dried Blood?' Instantly he was on the alert. Highly trained calculative eyes darted from left to right as he surveyed his surroundings while he pinpointed the smells location. As soon as he had located the source of the smell he moved silently over to the clearing, but what he saw caused his eyes to widen in horror and shock.
Before him was a boy no older then 5 or 6, crucified to two pieces of wood with dried blood, and burns covering his skin. The boys hair was a dirty blonde which had bits and pieces burned off, while his clothes were nothing but shreds of burned clothe. But the most defined feature was the three whisker marks on his cheeks.
'Kami what the hell happened here!' as he rushed towards the unconscious boy. Without wasting a moment's hesitation, he removed the boy from the cross and began to work. You could never really be a good ninja if you did not know how to heal yourself.
As Rakki examined the boy he felt that something was wrong. 'From the damage it looks like this boy took, it should be a lot worse, he shouldn't even be alive.' Rakki scowled at the thought of what had happened to this child and decided that it would be beneficial to take the kid away from the area. After all, waking up in a place surrounded by your own blood is not a pleasant experience.
To throw off any trackers, Rakki placed some false tracks, looking as if wild animals found him and used him as a welcomed snack. 'If this is any indication, doesn't look like the boy is very wanted where he is from. It would be better if the thought he was dead.' Thought Rakki as he finished the false tracks. He then picked up the boy, and jumped into the trees.
Rakki was confused for the umpteenth time that night as he looked at the bandaged sleeping child by the fire. When Rakki had arrived at his present location, from his examination the boy had 2nd degree burns all over his skin, a couple of broken ribs and a shattered foot. Now two hours after, the burns had all but subsided, his ribs were completely repaired and his foot was slowly healing itself. Even the boy's hair had grown back to replace the burned spots and all Rakki had done was clean and bandage the wounds.
This all screamed one word through the young man's mind, 'Jinchuriki'. That would explain the beating and why it had happened, but the question was which one. From Intel he knew that Taki had one but they were too far away, the two in Kiri were much older, and the Ichibi Jinchuriki would not let others even touch his container.
Rakki looked at the boy once again hopping that he could get even the slightest piece of information. But sadly, he was at a loss. He looked up at the night sky for a moment before unsealing some fish he had caught earlier that day.
"Well" sighed Rakki as he cut prepared the fish, "He probably won't want to talk on an empty stomach."
The first thing that awoke Naruto was the smell of something delicious. He creaked open his eyes and was surprised to find he was not in the normal hospital room he would normally wake up to after a beating. Why surveying the area, his eyes soon passed over a young man wearing a red and white coat leaning over a small campfire. This only served to scare Naruto even more. Where was Jiji? What had happened? Was he in the village anymore? What was that heavenly smell?
It was at that moment the man looked straight into Naruto's eyes. They did not have the hatred that most eyes of the villagers had; they had a warm glow that seemed show kindness and warmth, more like Jiji's or the Ichirakus. That said man then picked up a cooked fish and tried to give it to Naruto.
"You know it would be easier to heal if you had something in your stomach", he said with a smile. Naruto did nothing but stare at the fish, causing the man to pout. "Come on, it wont kill you. Look", he then proceeded to take a bite out of said fish.
Gathering his courage, Naruto slowly reached out and grabbed the fish. He took a deep breath, and then took a huge bite, 'Well if it is poisoned, I might as well not die hungry too.' His eyes widened after the first bite and he screamed, "This is Great!" and proceeded to devour the fish.
Rakki chuckled at the boys hunger, watching as he ate like he hadn't in weeks. 'Probably hasn't' spoke a voice in his head which caused him to frown.
When the boy had finished eating three fish, he finally looked at the man and said, "Ano, but who are you?"
Rakki smirked and said, "Samayou Rakki", with a hint of pride, "and who might you be?"
The boy gave him a fox like grin and said, "Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha, and Future Ninja"
The boys last name caused Rakki's eyes to widen, 'Uzumaki? Could this kid be related to the Akai Chishio no Habanero?' He had had the unpleasant privilege of meeting the woman in battle. She was with no doubt a powerful shinobi, and had sent him home with a broken arm. Something not very common when you are considered to be on of the top ninja in the village.
He took the time to examin the boy again. While the boy's supposed mother had been a red haired, fair-skinned woman, this boy looked nothing like her in the sorts. The boy had tan-skin, blonde hair, and…bright blue eyes? This caused Rakki's eyebrow to rise. There were not that many people with blue eyes in this world, the only blonde haired, blue-eyed person that he knew of that had come out of Konoha was…The YONDAIME HOKAGE!
How could he have not seen it before? This boy was basically a chibi version of him. If the Habanero and the Konoha no Kiiro Senko had had a child, he would be the most powerful ninja in the world. Also with his junchuriki status, no man in his right mind would want to mess with him.
But this raised another question, if he was the son of the so-called, Hero of Konoha, then why was he hated. Obviously the Yondaime had kept his child's birth a secret, if Iwa had known they would have sent an entire army to kill the kid. This means that the hatred of the kid had to be because of his Jinchiriki status, with the only biju for Konoha to ever hold, the Kuuybi no Yoko.
"Rakki-san, Rakki-san, RAKKI-SAN!" screamed Naruto as he had watched the man stare into space for close to a minute, which for him was almost an eternity.
"Hm?" shaken out of his stupor, Rakki replied. He then gave a sheepish grin and said, "Sorry must have been thinking too hard".
Naruto gave him a mock glare, then looked around and asked, "Where am I and how did I get here?" Rakki adopted a sad look while he poked the fire with a stick, "I found you out here, beaten to a pulp, then crucified to a stake".
Naruto looked down to his feet with a shadow over his eye. "Oh", he shakily replied. Rakki knew that he should not ask but he had to know. "Does…does this happen a lot?"
It was silent for a few moments before he said in a quiet voice, "Yes…but I am getting used to it". This caused Rakki to subconsciously grit his teeth and ball his fists. No child should get used to being hated and hurt.
"Don't you have a guardian or something to watch over you?" said Rakki, trying to keep the edge out of his voice.
Naruto just shook his head, "No, I know that Hokage-jiji and the Ichirakus care for me, but there is little that they can do with Jiji in the office and Ichirakus in business. The ANBU jiji has that watch me sometimes help, but they only come to stop the fatal attacks, then leave".
Rakki was boiling with rage. No one, especially a child should have to deal with this. He was prepared to go to Konoha right now and massacre the entire populous.
"But the worse part is…" Rakki stopped his planning on killing everyone in Konoha to look at the boy, and when he saw his tears, all the rage dissipated. "I don't even know why", said Naruto as tears began to fall down his face, "They blame me for killing people I don't remember, doing things that I don't know, they blame me and call me a demon for things I wish I knew. If I did know I would apologize, but when I asked Jiji, he would avoid the question, and when I ask the mob, they just call me a demon and hit me harder."
Rakki looked at the almost broken child in front of him. A child who had seen things that others nightmares could not hold a candle to. He knew he had to help; he would not let this kid go back to that. He gained an impassive look on his face and spoke in a smooth, soft voice, "Do you want to know why?"
Immediately Naruto's head was up with a look of shock on his face. "Y-y-you know, and you'll t-t-tell me?" said Naruto the tears beginning to fall again. Rakki nodded his head, "Only if you want to know". Naruto pondered the question for a long minute before nodding for Rakki to continue.
"What do you know about the Kyuubi?" asked Rakki. "Not much other than it was killed by the Yondaime," said Naruto as he tilted his head in confusion.
Rakki shook his head, "No one can kill a tailed beast Naruto, since they are just large masses of chakra, and no one can kill chakra. The only way to defeat a biju is to seal it."
Naruto eyes widened in realization as Rakki continued, "The Yondaime used a special sealing technique to seal away the Kyuubi into a living vessel, a vessel whose chakra pathways are still developing, in other words…"
"M-me" Naruto stuttered, but then looked down and said with a broken voice, "I guess I really am a demon" only to be slapped upside the head by Rakki. "Never say that again", Said Rakki with a steel gaze, "I may not have known you for a long time, but from what I can see, you are not a giant, bloodthirsty, chakra beast. You are Uzumaki Naruto, a young boy who has been hated for absolutely no good reason."
Naruto stared at Rakki for what seemed like hours, before a small genuine smile, one which not even Jiji or the Ichirakus had seen, appeared on his face. "Thank you", he said, before tackling Rakki into a hug. He was surprised at first when the kid had hugged him, but he soon shook it off and hugged him back.
"Now", said Rakki as he put Naruto back down and patted the dirt off is coat. "I am going to make you a once in a lifetime offer kit" Rakki said with a grin, "How would you like to be a ninja?"
Naruto's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. All his life he had wanted to be a ninja, to gain the respect and love of the village. 'But if I go and train with Rakki-san, I won't be a ninja for Konoha' thought Naruto which caused him to frown. But would he really want to be in charge of protecting the people who hurt him, even if he would put everything on the line to save Jiji or the Ichirakus, would he do it to save the rest of the villagers?
Naruto thought of what Jiji would tell him if he was also here. The words, "Do what will make you happy" came to mind, and he would surely be a lot happier training to be a ninja away from all of the hatred.
Naruto closed his eyes before opening with a new determined look. "Hai, I will go with you Rakki-sensei".
"Ma ma", said Rakki putting his hands up in defense, "I'm not all for that respect stuff kit, Rakki will just be fine".
"Hai Rakki" said Naruto as he gave his new teacher a fox grin. Rakki smiled at this the looked to the stars. "Well Kit, you better get some rest. Tomorrow we leave this forsaken land and start your path to becoming one kick-ass shinobi of Kumo."
Naruto nodded before moving back to the sleeping bag, falling asleep almost instantly. Rakki smiled at the sleeping kid before moving his gaze towards Konoha.
"Today marks the day that Konohagakure fell as the strongest of the elemental nation. You will soon know the great treasure you have lost, when your shinobi cringe in fear when the name, Naruto is spoken. Remember this day Konoha, for this is the day that Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto began his rise towards greatness."
It had been two days since the festival and Hiruzen Starobi, Sandaime of Konoha, was in his office filling out a seemingly endless pile of paperwork. 'Why do I need to sign off about what kind of dog food the Inuzuka clan feeds their dogs with?' But this was not the reason he was upset.
He had not been able to go see Naruto for his birthday; he had even gotten him an orange jacket as a gift. He was not worried about the boy, Naruto had made him a promise that he would not leave his apartment all day for his birthday, because he knew that was when the villagers were at their worst.
Sarutobi frowned at the mention of the villagers; they had never liked the boy and along with the civilian council had tried to make Naruto's life a living hell. Sarutobi still remembered the rage he felt when he found out that Naruto had been kicked out of the orphanage and had been living on the street for a year.
The Shinobi council was mixed on the subject of Naruto, while the Inuzuka, Akimichi, Nara, Aburame, and Yamanaka clan tried on many occasions to make Naruto's life a bit better, even Tsume tried to adopt him, the elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, along with help from the Hyuga, Uchiha, and the civilian council stopped them and tried to place Naruto under execution for false charges.
Danzo seemed to have his own agenda, always throwing in the idea of Naruto being used as a weapon for Konoha, or in reality, a weapon for Danzo. Hiruzen scowled, 'The day that he gets Naruto is the day that Kakashi and Jiraiya give up porn'.
Deciding that his work was done for the day, Hiruzen walked out of his office to go visit his favorite blonde adopted grandson. As Sarutobi walked through the streets he got nods of respect, which he politely returned, smiling and waving at the children who walked by.
As he neared Naruto's apartment, he spied the new graffiti, of "DIE DEMON" and other messages painted on the wall. Hiruzen sighed and continued to walk up the stairs of the apartment complex, mentally filling to place a D rank mission to clean up the mess.
As he opened the door to the Naruto's apartment, he found that it was unlocked, not surprising because Naruto never locked his door. He peered around the room and found that no one was here. He sighed, 'Naruto must be off doing one of his pranks'. The room itself was quite small, the paint was peeling off, and the floor was covered with dirty clothes.
His eyes stopped when he looked on the table, before slowly widening with horror. On the table was a knocked over cup of cooked ramen. This was bad; Naruto and uneaten ramen were two things that would never be together unless something truly horrible had happened.
Sarutobi's mind instantly went into gear as he searched for any type of trail, when he found one leading out of he apartment he was off. He followed the tracks down the twist and turns of the alleyways until a familiar stench reached his nose, the stench of blood.
As Hiruzen turned the corner, he was greeted with the sight of an alleyway completely covered in dry blood. He quickly surveyed the site, finding lots of ash under a dumpster near the scene.
'Was a Katon justu used on Naruto?' he then found some barely visible tracks of Naruto leaving the area. 'So some of my own shinobi were apart of this hmm. They must have been chunin from how well they covered the tracks. But they did not suspect the I myself would be following the trail.'
Sarutobi pulsed his chakra and three ANBU quickly appeared by his side. "What do you need Hokage-sama" said one with a Neko mask.
"Neko, come with me to follow these tracks, Uma and Taka, go find a medic, I think we will be needing one." Said the Hokage before jumping off in the direction of the tracks with Neko close behind.
'Please be alright Naruto-kun' prayed Hiruzen as he jumped through the trees. After about 2 hours of tracking, the Hokage and his guard reached a handmade cross with dry blood on it.
Hiruzen paled, the blood looked to be a couple of days old while the ropes looked as if they had been ripped off by a wild animal. The animal tracks then proceeded to go deeper into the forest to devour its prey. "Hokage-sama", Neko said, "these tracks are a couple of days old, even if Naruto-san could have survived, and he would have been dead by now. I am truly sorry."
Hiruzen looked down to the ground with a grievous look before saying, "That is fine Neko, when we return to the village, I want you to gather Yuhi Kurenai, Hatake Kakashi, and Maito Gai and tell them to come to my office.
Neko nodded before the team of two started their long trip back to the village. 'Naruto' thought Hiruzen, 'I have not only failed you, but your father as well'.
This was odd, thought Kakashi as he pondered the Hokage's reasons for having him come to his office. It could not be a mission because he himself had ordered Kakashi to take a break. After Minato-sensei and his child had died, Kakashi had thrown himself completely into his own work, to stop the painful tug of loneliness from returning.
Kakashi had been one of the few besides the Sandaime and Jiraiya to know of the child's birth. He had had so many dreams of watching over the child like his sensei had after Kakashi's own father had killed himself.
He did however follow his late teachers final words to treat the boy with respect, even if it was hard for him to watch over the boy due to his continuous ANBU missions, had even protected the child from drunks and mobs before he could get hurt.
As he entered the Hokage's waiting room, he spotted Maito Gai, his 'eternal rival', and Yuhi Kurenai, a seasoned chunin. Both along with Sarutobi Asuma, who was currently part of the Shogonin Junishi, had been part of team Uzumaki under Kushina Uzumaki. Both her and Minato's teams had begun to train and do missions together when Minato and Kushina had started their secret relationship. Kurenai had often teased that Minato had a thing for Kushina, which everyone had quickly disregarded. That was until, they caught them making out at the training grounds.
After looking around, he nodded a hello, then pulled out his famous Icha Icha and, much to Kurenai's ire, began to giggle pervishly.
However his fun was short lived when the secretary appeared, informing them that the Hokage would see them now. When they entered the office, they were shocked to find that the normal Nin no Kami, whose power was known through out the five nations, was replaced with a sad and tired looking old man.
Gai was the first to regain his composure and responded in his usual tone, "Greetings Hokage-sama, what Youthful task do you have for me and my Youthful comrades!" The Hokage shut his eyes for a moment before opening them and responding, "Gai there is no task you must be doing or will do. I have asked you here to talk to you three of a matter of great importance".
Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow at this before asking, "How great of importance?" "SS rank", spoke the aged kage curtly. The three shinobi instantly stiffened up as Gai adopted his serious face and Kakashi put away his precious Icha Icha.
The Hokage nodded before sending his ANBU out of the office, and activating a silencing seal. He then began to say, "Now I must start with saying that I have not been completely truthful to you these past years". The Kage as he stood up from his chair, turning to look out the window. "6 years ago when you asked if the child of Uzumaki Kushina and Minato Namikaze survived, I admit I lied to you about his death."
The two jonin and one chunins' eyes widened. 'Sensei's Son survived!' Thought Kakashi with a mix of happiness and regret. Happiness for having the chance to repay his teacher, while regret for not being able to help the child earlier.
"Ano Hokage-sama", said Kurenai, who was still in a state of shock upon the revelation, "but who is the child?"
Hiruzen gave her a somber smile, "His name was Uzumaki Naruto, but you might know him better by what the villagers call him, the Demon of Konoha". Kakashi's eyes widened even more before he narrowed them in anger. He had seen the child on a regular basis and could have been able to help him. The horrors he had seen Naruto suffer were the things that he had envisioned protecting him from, and he had done nothing.
Kakashi looked around the room to see how his friends were handling the news. Gai, who normally wore a seemingly too bright smile on his face, was distorted into a mask of pure rage. His hands were fists just itching to pulverize the men responsible for what Naruto had gone through. Kurenai, who normally kept her emotions under control in the workplace, was on the curb of having a breakdown. She had been closer to Kushina then anyone, and had seen her as more of a mother figure. The thought of not being able to help the woman she admired most's child was agonizing.
Then it clicked in Kakashi's head. "Was?" he spoke with barely controlled rage. The Old Kage nodded sadly, "From what we can tell, Naruto was taken out of his home during the festival, beaten to a near death state, which not only was the work of normal weapons, but also Katon Justus, was then removed from the village and crucified for two day, where he most likely died and was taken away by some animal to eat."
That did it. In seconds Kurenai was on the ground sobbing, mumbling about how she had failed her teacher. Gai went to comfort her, but one could see the tears dripping down his face. Kakashi just stood still, still in a state of shock after finding out the way to repay his sensei for his kindness was gone. A lone tear drifted down his unmasked eye.
"I am sorry to tell you this", said the Hokage regaining their attention, "but it is obvious that some of our own shinobi were apart of this. Therefore we must make an example of this to anyone who tries to betray the leaf. You three will go discover who is responsible for this and make them pay dearly, in front of the entire village." Kakashi, Kurenai, and Gai all steeled their gaze, intent on bringing absolute hell to the men who had done this. "Make it gruesome" said the Hokage in a dark voice, "One must know the consequences of disobeying me, the Hokage, and their village. You are dismissed". The three were gone in an instant, trying to be the first to find the murderers so they could have first crack at them.
Akai Chishio no Habanero: The Red Hot-Blooded Hanabero
Kumo no san-Soku: The Three Paws of Cloud
Shogonin Junishi: The Twelve Guardian Shinobi
Nin no Kami: God of Shinobi
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