A/N – Hello, my great and fabulous readers. I would like to present the first fanfiction I've ever adopted from someone. Thank you WildeKitsune for letting me adopt this fanfiction from you. I've already had so much fun writing Insane!Naruto. I will try to do you right by my take on your fanfiction. Please give the former writer for this fanfiction support for their great story and plot line that they have allowed me to continue writing for. Posting for this story will be sporadic before I figure out which days I should post. Hope you like!
Summary: Five years ago, something terrible occurred that involved a boy who was only seven-years-old at the time. This event was caused the child's glass heart to shatter, becoming cold, and their mind to break, their sanity completely gone. Things have started to come to light and Hiruzen Sarutobi – the Third Hokage – wonders if he made a mistake. Insane!Naruto.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters from that anime/manga.
Naruto was alone in his apartment, seated on his bed. The boy's apartment was made up of just two rooms, the main room that had his bed, a table, and a small kitchen that he didn't know how to use yet. It had a white, plain wallpaper that was peeling off the walls. The carpet was once a dirty tan color until he started to come home with a bloodied body, the crimson liquid dripping into the carpet, effectively staining it. He hadn't figured out how to get the stains out yet. There was one window in the main room that looked out onto the street, several cracks branching out from all those times where people had thrown rocks at his apartment. The other room was his bathroom that never had hot water. It was simple; a toilet, a sink, and a shower were all there to accommodate his needs.
Naruto looked around the small apartment. The child felt lucky enough that the Third Hokage – Jiji, as he called him – could get this for him after the orphanage had kicked him out. Even though it was small, it fit the lack of things he owned.
It was better than living on the streets, that's for sure.
The thought made the child remember an incident two and a half years ago when he was about five or six. When the orphanage had kicked him out, Naruto had spent four weeks on the streets. It was hard in the beginning, but he learned which bins would have food in them so that he wouldn't starve and which alleys had a surplus of boxes so that he could sleep somewhere. However, that's when the villagers had found him.
That's when Naruto's beating began.
The first one had been the worst in his categories of memories. He could remember everything that happened that day. It sometimes made his bones ache when he thought back to what exactly went on during the time frame of him being pulled from a trash can that he was rummaging through to waking up in a dumpster with several broken bones and bloodied clothes.
Naruto could also remember how a nice old lady down the road from where he had been sleeping in one of the many alleyways in Konohagakure had invited him into her home to eat something when she had found him looking through her trash bins. As soon as the blond-haired boy was inside the nice looking civilian home, the old woman locked the door before proceeding to beat him with her walking stick. She kept screaming that Naruto had killed her only son and that she would never forgive him.
He got away by jumping through her kitchen window which left him bleeding from the broken glass.
It was then that Naruto started to notice how fast and efficiently he healed. After he managed to get away and stopped to examine the shards of glass sticking out from his arms, face, and side. He was about to start the painful task of pulling them out piece by piece but stopped just short, eyes widening as he saw the glass being pushed out of his skin, leaving no mark or trail of blood on his skin.
All his wounds had healed right before his eyes.
After the incident, Naruto didn't know what to think about the ability. He assumed – for now – that it was the same for everyone and didn't think twice about it.
When the boy finally got his apartment after the incidents had been reported to the Third Hokage by those masked ninjas that followed Naruto everywhere he went, Hiruzen managed to get an apartment for him. He appreciated it, even if he didn't have much. The old Sarutobi would visit him from time to time but he hadn't had the time as of late to just drop by and check up on the Uzumaki boy.
He sighed once more, a frown on his face. He turned to look at the calendar across the room, October tenth. So many things had happened on this day every year. He used to spend the day with Hiruzen but the old man was getting busier and busier so Naruto just decided to leave him alone on his birthday. Sure, the old man would get his a present every year, but it would always either get stolen or would go missing.
Naruto sat up from his bed. He stared out the window, the sun still high in the sky. He didn't want to go outside, afraid of what the villagers were capable of. The blond-haired boy's bottom lip was quivering, the silence of the room finally starting to get to him. Tears started to spring up in his eyes as he continued to stare out the window.
"Why?" He whispered out to no one. It was just a single word that had so many powerful emotions bouncing off them, "Why do I have to be alone? Why do the villagers hate me? Why… w-why?" Falling on to his back, Naruto covered his eyes with his hands and sobbed his heart out.
In his dreams, all he saw were faceless people, most definitely the villagers. They liked to hurt him, make him cry and scream out for help. Naruto's dreams were always the same when he found the time to get some rest. He never got to sleep for more than a few hours at a time.
When he did, it was always the same.
The nightmares were plagued with blood, his blood to be specific. Mobs of fists and knives came at him with such vividness that it would end up seeming surreal to the boy. They would stab him and laugh when he screamed. They cheered every time he was hurt, their voices seemingly echoing in his mind.
Other nightmares consisted of strange creatures and odd things. Some didn't even have a shape, like shadows in the backgrounds of his dreams. They called out to him in a haunting way, making his paranoid to even turn around to see what was talking to him. Their eyes were always piercingly white, staring at him from the darkness in his dreams. They had claws that pulled on his ankles, dragging him down so that he would drown in his own fear.
However, the thing that scared him the most about his dream, was the fox.
The Kyuubi no Kitsune.
Naruto's not sure why but the nine-tailed fox was always the clearest thing in his nightmares. It was always there, if he was asleep or awake, the fox would always make an appearance. The Kyuubi was bigger than anything the seven-year-old had ever seen, bigger than the Hokage monument, that's for sure. His blood red fur and teeth larger than most of the buildings in Konohagakure; it was the most frightening thing Naruto had ever seen.
Those blood red, cat-like eyes were the scariest thing about the Kyuubi no Kitsune though.
They were like large red pools of moving liquid fire, ringed in black with a large black slit as big as an adult male going down the middle. A never-ending battle of color inside the demon's eyes; red versus black, both fighting for dominance, neither winning. The eyes always haunted Naruto in his waking hours. They held no real emotion; no malice, no happiness, absolutely nothing. There was just an instinct, a primal need for destruction. And yet, they shone with an odd intellect. It was like the fox was both a beast yet an intelligent being at the same time.
Nevertheless, Naruto feared the Kyuubi no Kitsune.
Kakashi Hatake was perched on the building across the street. He felt his heart aching at the sight of the seven-year-old boy all alone and crying who ended up falling into a frightful slumber. No one should have to go through what Naruto had to.
The silver-haired man had been the boy's ANBU guard that watched over him since the Third Hokage had found the boy in a back alleyway, half frozen from one of Konoha's coldest days of winter. When Kakashi had first seen Naruto in the hospital, he honestly thought that the kid had died. He was glad, however, to find out that the boy had survived. Hiruzen ended up explaining the situation when he called the ANBU member to his office.
It was then that Kakashi had volunteered to be Naruto's ANBU guard.
The Sarutobi clan head had nodded, agreeing with him and set certain rules. Naruto was a civilian, after all, having not been put into the academy yet – he still had another year before the council was comfortable with putting a Jinchuriki in a class with the heirs – and Hiruzen explained that the boy couldn't legally have a guard.
So, they came up with another solution.
Kakashi had spent almost all his spare time after missions and in between meals watching the boy, making sure that he would always be okay. This made it to where he could stop anyone – usually the civilians but there were a few ninjas who's gone after his teacher's son – from attacking Naruto. The only problem with this solution was that he still ended up having to go on missions so nobody would realize that Naruto always had someone guarding him.
A sudden hand flew out from behind him, a white towel-like thing covering Kakashi's mouth. Fumes came off it, filling the ANBU's senses. He tried to fight the blackness in his eyes, the chemicals making his mind fuzzy. Eyes fluttered shut, darkness welcoming him.
:::^^^^^:::
Naruto was awoken, a loud banging coming from his door. He shot up, the Kyuubi's eyes still burning into his memory and he blinked the tiredness away. His eyes widened, instantly knowing what was going on, what was going to happen. He stared at the door, waiting.
He knew from experience that there was no point in hiding or running away, they always found him wherever he went.
Why even try?
It didn't take too long for them to get through the door – maybe two minutes at most – and when they did, Naruto saw many cheering people all crowded in the corridor outside his room. The blond-haired boy recognized some of the common civilians that appeared in some of the previous mobs. This middle-aged, fat man who had started to bald a few years ago with circle glasses that were always crooked. An older man with a long, white beard and one eye, a former ninja Naruto had assumed. There was also the black-haired lady down the street who always wore sweatpants and carried a bat.
Some stood there in the doorway for a moment, the fat man from before staring at Naruto with a smug look on his face. His voice was low and cold, turning around and went to wait outside. He stopped to look at his fellow villagers, a vile grin on the fatso's face, "Take it outside."
With those words, the villagers rushed forward, some already starting to cheer. Three or four people roughly grabbed Naruto off the bed, a startled shriek leaving him. He could vaguely catch sight of bottles of alcohol in their hands. The seven-year-old boy started to sweat; it was always worse when they got drunk.
Naruto was dragged outside, thrown into the streets where other villagers started to crowd around him. "This is bad." He thought to himself, "There has never been this many people before." They started to inch towards him like they did in his dreams, proceeding to beat, stab, and bludgeon the small child until there seemed to be nothing left to bruise and batter.
Not a single sound ever made it out of Naruto's mouth. He'd vowed after the first few times of being beaten that he would never give them the satisfaction of seeing him so hurt, even though it always seemed to make them more angered.
But as they stepped away from his body, Naruto started to heal.
The black-haired woman who liked to appear in the mobs every now and then came into view, standing tall and her voice scratchy, "Tie him to the post." Someone grabbed him by the hair, dragging him over as someone set up a log in the middle of the street.
Naruto began to feel nervous, mind running a mile a minute. He could only guess what was going to happen next. He should have put up a fight, even if it wouldn't do him any good. He felt his arms get pulled back, tied together with ninja wire around the post along with both of his legs. The wire was uncomfortable as it dug into his skin every time he breathed. The mob circled around the boy tied to the post.
The old man with the beard stepped forward this time. He grinned, exposing his yellowed teeth, "Tonight, we villagers shall right the wrongs that have been done to us. Tonight, we take revenge on the demon who took everything from us!" He threw his arm forward, pointing accusingly at Naruto. The crowd started to cheer loudly, words of demons and abomination filtering through the mob.
"You shall pay for what you did demon!" The fat man from before shouted out, low voice sounding slurred.
The black-haired woman cackled, "Seven years ago, the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked Konohagakure. It destroyed our homes and killed our families. That night, the nine-tailed beast was reincarnated as a child who will bring down our village."
"That boy is you!" The fatso shouted out, pointing at Naruto whose eyes widened in shock, "You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!"
"The Hokage may be fooled by its façade, but we are not!" The former ninja grinned, turning to stare the boy in the eyes.
"I-I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune? That's impossible, right? It should be impossible." His thoughts halted, flashing back to his nightmares of the large fox, "What if it's true? What if I'm the Kyuubi?" The mob drew closer, some holding sticks that were on fire. "If I'm the Kyuubi, it w-would make sense. The glares… the beatings… the hate, all of it. It's all because I'm the reincarnation of the Kyuubi no Kitsune." Tears started to form in Naruto's eyes, heart pounding in his chest. If he is the Kyuubi, he certainly doesn't remember all his wrongdoings. If he had killed all those people, he would remember.
Before Naruto had any time to truly think about it, the old man raised her hands and looked at his fellow villagers, "Light it up!" The mob rushed forward, setting fire to the area.
It didn't take long for the heat to start becoming too much for Naruto. He desperately tried not to scream bloody murder so that he could keep the vow of silence. He grits his teeth, allowing the teeth to leave his eyes. The seven-year-old could feel his skin start to sizzle under the heat, falling off his bones just as fast as it was coming back. "I can't do it."
He let it out.
All the years of continuous pain that these people had caused him, all the things they had done. He just let it all out.
Naruto screamed.
He screamed so loud that it made them stop cheering for a short moment before they started again. The blond-haired boy felt the skin on his bones melt off. The pain was indescribable; it was too much for the boy to handle. He was burning. He was healing. He was burning again. And he healed once more. The continuous burning and healing motion made him sick as he screamed in pain.
The villagers partied around his burning, screaming, and healing body, congratulating each other on a well-done job. Tears streamed down his face, hoping that anyone would walk in and save him. He knew the answer; no, no one was going to rescue him. He will die as a burning child – no, demon – on this damn post, reveling in agony, nothing but him and the flames that abused him so.
But until then, he screamed.
:::^^^^^:::
Hiruzen was bored, sitting in yet another boring council meeting that seemed to have to do with him. All they were talking about was civilian affairs that had absolutely nothing to do with anything shinobi related. He looked around with dull eyes at all the people present in the room. There was the civilian council – at least thirty of the most annoying people in the world – who just seemed to blend in with each other, nothing really standing out about them. "Insignificant." His mind supplied, looking at the other side of the room where the shinobi council was seated.
Unlike the civilian council, the shinobi side was made up all a collective group of amazing people; the clan heads of Konoha. The Nara's clan head was present as well as the man's two teammates who were the heads of their own respective clans – Akimichi and Yamanaka. You had the Abruame clan was run by a quiet but strong man. The Hyūga clan head was there as well, looking as polite as ever. A dark-haired man was there as well, representing the Uchiha clan. The Inuzuka clan presented themselves with their clan head as well, the woman as loud as ever. And of course, Hiruzen representing his own clan – the Sarutobi clan.
Then, across the room, there were the village elders. His two former teammates were in this group, Homura and Koharu as well as Hiruzen's longtime friend and rival, Danzō.
After a few seconds, Hiruzen noticed for the first time that all the civilian council seemed nervous about something. How could he not have noticed all the little ticks and nervous things about the civilians? Some of them kept looking at the clock to the Third Hokage. There were stuttered whispers all around the room, being caught up in some rather loud claims from the other civilians. They were also sweating, meaning that they were hiding something.
Hiruzen's warning bell was screaming, signaling to his ninja instincts that something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.
Then it hit him.
The room suddenly became very quiet as the temperature of the room dropped a few degrees. All eyes in the room shot to the old Hokage, some in curiosity – the shinobi council – while others were in partial fear – the civilian council – of what could be going on. Hiruzen's killing intent started to slowly rise, becoming somewhat visible as a dark aura surrounded him. Slowly, the Sarutobi man stood up, his head lowered. "What have you done?" He asked in a hushed whisper.
Everyone in the room suddenly stopped what they were doing, all turning their complete and undivided attention to the Third Hokage. They could barely hear what he said, even the shinobi had to strain their ears. Everything in the room was quiet, no one in the room wanting to be the first to break the silence that seemed to have spread around the room. Holding all those inside the room, squeezing their chest and stealing their words before they could even think of what to say.
Surprisingly, it was one of the civilians who broke the silence. He looked like any other middle-aged, brunette-brown eyed civilian with a simple gray kimono on. He stood up with shaky knees, scared of making any sudden movement, "W-What do you mean, Lord T-Third?" He stuttered out, elbows quivering.
"Did you think that I wouldn't notice? Did you think that I wouldn't realize that something was going on? I may be old, but I am not senile yet. Now, tell me… what have you done?!" Hiruzen's voice was slowly rising with anger, venom in his words. His eyes were hidden in the shadows of his hat that he received all those years ago when he became Hokage. Frightened men and women – mostly from the civilian council; the shinobis in the room could handle it – were shaking in their seats, looking pale. The other elders in the room all looked at their old friend in both fear and surprise.
Finally, after a few more seconds of silence, Koharu spoke. "Hiruzen, what's wrong?" She asked her old friend, voice worrisome.
It was at this point that the old Sarutobi man finally lifted his head, cold eyes being presented to the council. They were as hard as steel, his pupils shrunken in his stupor. His voice was like ice as he spoke, "Why are we here? Why are we all here? These are not shinobi matters. So far, we have heard nothing that couldn't have waited until the next official council meeting. So, I ask you all again, why are we here?!"
"Hiruzen-" Homura started, the older man raising his hand to stop him in his tracks.
"I was told that there was a very important matter that had to be discussed immediately and could not wait, yet, we have been her for three and a half hours. All you have talked about it basic information that has no real importance at all." He growled out, taking off his hat and setting it down on the table, "Why are we here?!" Again, nobody voices their words. No one moved from their spots, the tension in the room becoming more and more intense with each passing minute. "What is the date?" Hiruzen asked, malice in his voice.
Those four words froze all those in the room.
The civilians felt the sudden need to flee from the premises, wanting to get back home to their shops, husbands, wives, children; anywhere but here. The shinobi, upon realization of the day, looked ready to jump from their seats to right the wrongs that have been presented this evening. However, everything was quiet. The killing intent in the room continued to increase, shinobis contributing their own to the mix along with the three elders off to the side.
Suddenly, a woman with short brown hair and an expensive looking red kimono stood up from her seat. She kept her black eyes locked on the table before her, feeling eyes boring into her very soul. She gulped but decided to hide her nervousness. "Lord Third, we did what you were always too afraid to do. Even if you tried to save that demon's life, it would be too late by now." The woman in her twenties hissed out, hands balling into fists, "All those that were killed that night have finally been avenged, not by your hands, Lord Third, but by those who fought to kill the demon from the beginning! They have finally done it; Konoha is safe once more from that demon brat and we shall-"
Tsume Inuzuka shot up from her seat, the chair falling back behind her. The clattering sound made the civilian woman's head raise up in surprise, noticing the shinobis' hatred for her and the other civilians. The Inuzuka's clan head growled, practically frothing at the mouth, "You fucking fool! Do you know what you've done?! You're so stupid, completely stupid! If you thought that a seven-year-old boy is a demon, then you are sadly mistaken. The reason our village hasn't been destroyed is because of that young boy's sacrifice! How dare you?!"
At those words, some of the civilian's eyes opened wide with disbelief, horror, and complete realization on their faces. "What have we done?" They all simultaneously questioned themselves.
Despite what many would believe, many of the shinobi in Konohagakure did not hold a grudge against the boy – the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Some shinobi, however, did end up having some hatred for the seven-year-old boy. This was mainly due to losing everything – their homes, their family, everything – in the attack all those years ago. Every now and then, these shinobi would join in with the civilians – if there was a mob – to help attack the 'demon of Konoha'.
Before anything else could occur, Hiruzen Sarutobi started moving towards the large wooden doors, a rare seriousness crossing his features on his normally stoic face. Before he pushed open the door, he paused, hand on the doorknob. Turning his head to look back at the members of the council, he left with his words hanging in the air, "If anything happens to Naruto Uzumaki, anything whatsoever, I shall come back here. When and if I do, I will show you why they call me the 'God of Shinobi'. ANBU! Make sure no one leaves this room until I come back." The animal-masked ninja appeared inside the room.
And with that, the Third Hokage pushed open the doors and started to leave.
Only to stop dead in his tracks at the sound that pierced the world and assaulted his and everyone else's ears. He absently thought that someone must've applied a silencing seal to the door that so that no one inside the room could hear a damn thing. It was the only way to explain why none of them had heard that terrifying child's scream that seemed to echo across the village.
:::^^^^^:::
Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage of Konohagakure, was not happy. He should have known that something would happen, it always did. He thought he could trust his ANBU, he thought he could trust most of his council, but after this, he just didn't know who he could trust anymore. He was doubting everything he's come to know in the village he calls home.
Making his way down the hospital corridor to a special room set aside for when something like this happened. Hiruzen barely noticed that his killing intent was starting to send nurses and doctors alike to their knees, his temper starting to rise more and more at just the thought.
When the Third Hokage finally reached the white door, he stopped, staring at the silver doorknob. He wasn't sure if he could – i.e. should – go in. From what he saw when they got to the scene, the old man knew that it would be bad. It was a miracle, depending on your personal definition of the word, that Naruto Uzumaki – the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune – was even alive.
The old Hokage sighed, finally raising his hand and pushing open the door. His breath hitched at what was before him. A small, malnourished seven-year-old boy hooked up to several different machines, lying like a lifeless corpse in a hospital bed made of an adult man. He looked even smaller than ever. The boy's entire body was covered from head to toe in bandages. The only parts of his body that were visible thought the bandages were his closed eyes and chapped lips.
Walking into the room, the Sarutobi clan head sat in the single chair that was placed beside the bed. As he stared at the blond-haired boy, he felt tears rise in his eyes. He felt ten years older as he spoke, "I'm so sorry, Naruto. If I had known… if I had realized what was going on sooner, I could have stopped this… could have stopped them from hurting you so. You shouldn't have ever had to go through something like that; no one should."
The incident on October tenth, seven years after the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked Konohagakure, shall never be forgotten in the minds of those involved. Afterwards, Hiruzen set out to find the truth. He wanted to know to know what had exactly transpired that day and what had happened to the young boy.
It seemed that the civilian council had managed to round up a small number of his ninja to help them in their vendetta against the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. As soon as the meeting the Hiruzen was called to start, someone – possibly a ninja with some sealing experience – had applied a silencing seal to the door. After that, they had surprised the ANBU member who was guarding Naruto at the time – Kakashi Hatake – and used chloroform to knock him out without anyone knowing, the ANBU's unconscious body being found in an alleyway several hours later. The mob that went after Naruto pulled the blond-haired child out of his apartment. They had then proceeded to beat the boy to within an inch of his life; nothing that the Kyuubi couldn't heal, though.
Afterwards, when they had finally had their fill beating the child, they tied Naruto to the post they'd stolen from a training ground. After some big speech from one of the civilians which included breaking and S-class secret – telling Naruto that he was a Jinchuriki, holding the Kyuubi no Kitsune – before they set him on fire.
The worst part was that the boy had been burning for three hours straight, the Kyuubi trying to heal its jailer to survive.
Even after Hiruzen had left the meeting room, they found that they were too late to stop it. They had found Naruto in the middle of a large crowd dancing around the fire with such sickly-sweet happiness. Liquor in bottles was thrown into the flames as well as more wood to allow the fire to grow and grow. The crowd cheered every time that child in the center screamed his lungs out or cried out in pains.
What really hurt them the most – the group that had gone looking for Naruto – was that after arriving on the scene, they found that the boy seemed to be healing at the same rate as he was burning alive. Whatever clothes the boy had been wearing beforehand was gone, burned away long ago. There was a clear view of the child's sizzling skin falling off before growing back at a quick rate.
And then they noticed something that really made them sick; Naruto was still conscious, still screaming for help. Those people just stood there, laughing their asses off, drinking, cheering, and celebrating.
ANBU had to keep Hiruzen at bay from slaughtering those around in his blind anger, saying that it would be better to punish them for what they've done. After a few seconds, the Jinchuriki's screams still piercing the air, the Third Hokage called down, allowing his ANBU members to take away the people. The old Sarutobi man demanded they be taken to T&I immediately. Afterwards, they quickly put out the flames with a small water jutsu and took Naruto to the hospital quickly, hoping that the wounds would heal.
But it seemed that even the great Kyuubi no Kitsune couldn't heal everything. According to the doctors, Naruto had suffered third-degree burns over the entirety of his body. It seemed that his body would never be free of the scars.
Naruto will never be completely healed.
Originally Written by WildeKitsune.
Originally Named 'Darkened Paradise'.