An Unlikely Friend

I do not own Naruto, because if I did well…if I tell you that, what's the point of me writing this fanfiction? So read it, and you'll know what it would look like if I owned Naruto.

Prologue

Six years ago a calamity ravaged the village of Konohagakure. The Kyūbi no Yōko, a most fearsome bijū, capable of leveling countries with a swing of its tails, battled against the shinobi of Konoha.

Many ninja and civilians were slain, but for naught, as not even the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, was capable of defeating the demon.

Finally, in an effort to defend the village and people that he held so dear to him, he sealed the Kyūbi's chakra into a newborn, sacrificing his own life and wreaking havoc upon the child's life in the process…

A certain sunny-blonde headed boy sprinted down an alley way, trying to avoid the citizens of Konoha. Now, normally, it would be a waste of time to point out that a person's hair is blonde, but currently this is not the case. In fact, in the village of Konoha, there is but a single person with sunny-blonde hair. Thus, he is easily identifiable…

"Come back here, demon brat!" Although this is not a good thing in the slightest.

It's not that this routine was new to the young Uzumaki Naruto. Back in the orphanage he had endured taunting by the children and anger from the adults. Something was broken or someone had done something wrong? It had to be Naruto's fault. There went dinner for the night.

Things had only gotten moderately better when Naruto had run away and the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had granted him his own apartment and stipend.

Sure there was no one around to pick on him or make him skip dinner at home, but it's not exactly easy having dinner when no restaurants will serve you and no grocers will let you buy fresh groceries.

Even that he had gotten used to. But then there had been the mobs. It seemed that any time himself, alcohol, and villagers were involved, things were guaranteed to turn out badly.

Several minutes earlier, he had made the mistake of taking one of the routes home which led him past a bar. If there was one thing worse than hateful civilians, it was drunken, hateful civilians.

Turning a corner, Naruto dashed into an alley way. Immediately, he hid himself behind a large pile of trash and peeked out to see if he could spot any of the mob members running by.

"Stupid grown-ups. Always chasing me around and yelling at me. What did I ever do to them?"

For a moment, he pondered if he should do something that indeed deserved their hatred, since they were intent on leveling at him anyways, but immediately shook that thought off, wondering where it had come from in the first place.

Realizing that he hadn't heard any footsteps in a while, Naruto came out of his thoughts and, looking both ways, stepped out of the alley and began to make his way home.

That was until he ran face first into another child not too much taller than himself. After all, without any parents, it was hard to be admonished about watching where you're walking.

Rubbing his head in reaction to pain that was already fading, Naruto looked at the person that he had run into to see if he recognized him or her.

The boy sitting across from him, rubbing his head just like he was, had short, spiky black hair and a silly blue shirt with a big collar. When the boy opened his eyes, Naruto could see that his eyes were really black…what was that color called? Tonics? No. Chronic? Nu-uh. Well, anyway they were really black.

Whoever this boy was, Naruto had never seen him playing at the playground with the other kids. Naruto had never even seen him around the village for that matter, which surprised him.

Naruto once again snapped out of his thoughts when he saw a hand near his face. Darn, he really needed to stop spacing out like that. Seeing that the hand wasn't about hit him, he looked up to see the other boy holding out his arm.

"C'mon. You don't wanna sit on the ground all day do you?"

Blinking, Naruto took the boy's hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. The entire time he was wary of a prank the other child might be trying to pull, like the kids in the orphanage.

"I'm Sasuke, by the way. Who're you?"

For Sasuke's part, he was mostly just confused as to why the blonde boy seemed so stiff. It was as if he was afraid something was going to happen any minute.

Although to be fair, he was. After living the life he had, it was almost impossible not to expect bad things to happen on a regular basis. Murphy seemed never to need a break where he was concerned.

"I…I'm Uzumaki Naruto! My dream is to be the next Hokage!"

Naruto had learned early, well earlier, in life that false bravado was better than showing how scared he was. People seemed to make things even worse when they knew he was scared.

Moving close to Naruto, Sasuke stared right into his eyes for a moment before shaking his head vigorously.

"I don't think you have what it takes. You don't seem very strong. How old are you anyway? Three? Four?"

Naruto squawked indignantly, momentarily forgetting his anxiety in rage at Sasuke's observations.

"WHATDOYOUMEANTHREE? I'M SIX, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR EYES?"

Laughing outright, Sasuke pointed at Naruto, instantly gaining his attention.

"Six? You look even weaker than I thought. You're so small and there's no meat on your bones."

Naruto quieted, eyes becoming downcast in a matter of seconds. It wasn't his fault he was so small. It was almost impossible to grow when barely anyone would even sell him food.

It didn't take a Hyūga to see the change that the last statement had wrought in him. Sasuke confirmed this only moments later by appealing to Naruto's stomach.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it. I was just saying. How about you come eat dinner at my house tonight? Mom will make sure you get plenty of food in you."

Come eat dinner at his house..? No, he couldn't have heard that right. No one had ever invited him to eat anywhere except for the Ichirakus. And he figured that was because he ate there so much already.

And this boy, Sasuke, who he had just run into, was inviting him for dinner. If this was a dream, Naruto hoped that he would never wake up. Nothing this great had even happened in his life before.

"HELLO? Are you still there, Naruto? I said you should come eat dinner with me!"

Sasuke really couldn't understand this kid. One moment he was happy, the next sad, and then spacing out. He really couldn't figure Naruto out at all.

"Ah! I'm here! What's wrong with you?"

In Naruto's defense, it had been a stressful day. He really couldn't be blamed much for zoning out as he had been. Still, he really wished it would stop happening. It was embarrassing.

"Why're you yelling? C'mon, let's go. We'll be late for dinner if we take much longer."

Following this declaration, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and began dragging him along towards the Uchiha compound.

Naruto didn't realize it, but this would be one of the major turning points of his life. After all, how often was it that you became the best, well only, friend of a clan heir? Not that Naruto knew this, so don't tell, alright?

Naruto staggered back into his apartment belly full of food and head full of thoughts.

In Naruto's mind, today would go down as one of the best days ever. Not only had he made a new friend, but his friend's family had liked him!

Well, his mom had anyway. His dad had stared at him for a minute when he first came in and basically ignored him after that. But, it was different from the villagers. When they ignored him, it seemed like they were doing it on purpose and only to him. When Sasuke's dad had ignored him, he just seemed like he didn't care. And he ignored Sasuke an awful lot too.

Then there was Sasuke's older brother, Itachi. He wasn't really sure if Itachi liked him, but he had seemed friendly enough. Although somewhere in the back of Naruto's mind he thought that Itachi's smile looked forced, like his own when he walked down the street.

Naruto is after all, a fairly observant child. Observant enough even that he caught the gleam in Mikoto's eyes as she looked at him the first time. The only person he had ever seen look at him that way was Sandaime, when the old man thought he wasn't looking.

He wasn't sure what it meant, but with how she had accepted him afterwards and how Sandaime-jī acted towards him, he was starting to think it was a good thing.

As Naruto moved automatically through his nightly routine and headed to bed, these thoughts continued to whirl around in his mind.

"I wonder if I could go hang out with Sasuke tomorrow. His mom said I was welcome any time. I bet he'd know something fun we could do."

Drifting off, Naruto had one last thought on the matter.

"He even said he wanted to be a ninja. I bet we'll be the greatest ninja anyone's ever seen."

-Roughly a year later-

Naruto and Sasuke trudged back to Sasuke's house, each one half-supporting the other in an attempt to get their exhausted bodies to finish the journey.

Sasuke had had the bright idea of trying to train until Naruto got tired. It seemed like the kid never ran out of energy, and he wanted to see how true that was.

Unfortunately that also meant training past the point of exhaustion himself. If it weren't for Naruto he was positive he'd have to wait for someone to pick him up and take him to the hospital or home.

The past year had brought many new things for the two, not the least of which was their entrance into the academy.

Flashback

Sasuke reached down and grabbed Naruto's arm, pulling him to his feet.

Thus far their in-class spars had always ended this way. While Naruto had the stamina and toughness to last longer than Sasuke could, Sasuke was the more experienced and technical fighter and so had the advantage over Naruto in these short battles.

All around them, various girls in their class cheered for Sasuke or shouted taunts at Naruto. Not that it mattered to either of them. Both had quickly become accustomed to tuning out Sasuke's 'fan-girls' so that they could get at least some enjoyment out of the monotonous school days.

As they stepped out of the ring, Sasuke attempted to convince Naruto for the umpteenth time to come to his house so that they could work on their homework together after class.

It was a mystery Sasuke just couldn't figure out. Naruto always insisted on going home to do his work by himself. At first, Sasuke had believed he just wasn't going to do it, but as the weeks and eventually even a month passed by he had watched Naruto turn in his homework day after day, but continue to refuse his invitations. What was more, although he always had more energy than the rest of their class, many mornings it seemed as though he hadn't slept very much and was still groggy.

Returning to his seat as the sparring wrapped up, Sasuke decided that he wouldn't go home tonight until he figured out why Naruto insisted on doing his homework by himself.

Hours later…

Sasuke released a breath of relief as he saw Naruto sit down on his bed and pull out their homework for the night.

He was currently peeking through the bedroom window trying to unravel a piece of the mystery that was Naruto. He had been following Naruto for the better part of the day and he had to say that it was exhausting.

Although he had noticed it before, it had become apparent to him that Naruto was, for some reason, paranoid. He was continually looking over his shoulders and taking odd routes through the village that were extremely difficult to follow, even for someone who somewhat knew him.

After several hours of almost being spotted and briefly observing a day in Naruto's life without himself, Sasuke had come to several important conclusions.

First, and most important, Sasuke had realized the villagers seemed to dislike Naruto as much as they liked Sasuke himself. He hadn't really noticed it before because, as far as he could tell, they were more interested in beaming at him than glaring at Naruto.

Second, this dislike seemed to extend all the way to his treatment by merchants and other adults he had to interact with. He had seen Naruto turned away from several stores and eventually resort to a dinner of ramen at Ichiraku's. Of course Naruto had already taken Sasuke there, and Sasuke knew they were friendly, but it was puzzling.

Third, with the exception of the Ichiraku's and his own family, it seemed that Naruto's treatment was a concerted effort by all the adults of the village. He had noticed that their teacher didn't seem to like Naruto, but he had attributed it to Naruto's loud, obnoxious nature. But he had not seen a single adult today who didn't either glare and mutter curses at Naruto or ignore him completely as if he didn't even exist.

As Sasuke tuned back in to the world around him and went back to watching Naruto, he saw the sum of what all the adults had been doing to Naruto.

"If a sh-sh-Oh! Shuriken! If a shuriken is t-thrown from…"

And then it clicked for Sasuke. Naruto was an orphan. If the people there had treated him anything like he had seen today, of course he couldn't read very well. In fact, from what he was hearing, Naruto could scarcely read a kanji.

Sasuke was about to stand up and go bang on the door when he thought about it. Naruto had not told him about this, so clearly he was embarrassed about it.

They had not been friends for too long, but they had quickly gotten close and he didn't want to mess that up. There was just something about Naruto he couldn't help but like.

Slowly backing away from the window, Sasuke made his way home. His mother would be upset at how late he was, but he thought the information he had found out would more than make up for it.

Following Day

"Hey, Naruto. Why don't you stop by my house before you head home? My mom says it's been too long since she's seen you and she misses her favorite blonde."

Though Naruto would have preferred to head home and get an early start on his homework, he was for the most part unable to turn down an honest invitation.

Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, he grinned at Sasuke.

"Of course! Let's head over now. What're you waiting for –tebayo?"

Upon arriving at the Uchiha compound, Sasuke had Naruto head into the house, while he went to "run an errand for his mom."

"Naruto-kun! Where have you been? Sit down, I'm about to start making food now."

Sitting down at the table, Naruto answered with a smile on his face. "Sorry, Mikoto-san, I've been training really hard after class. But, I'm getting super strong, I'll be able to beat Sasuke in no time!"

Giggling, Mikoto handed him an open cookbook. "I'm sure you will, Naruto-kun. Now would you mind helping me? I need to add these ingredients in a certain order and it will be easier if you read them off to me."

Paling, Naruto looked towards the door hoping Sasuke would arrive soon. "W-why don't you wait for Sasuke to get back? I'm sure he'd love to help his mom."

Smiling benignly, Mikoto shook her head at the young blonde. "Nonsense, Sasuke's out running an errand. Go ahead, read off the ingredients so I can add them."

Taking a deep breath, Naruto began attempting to read the ingredients off to Mikoto from the cookbook. It soon became apparent that even this was above his level, as he stumbled over words and took long pauses to figure out even simple items.

Looking up at his only friend's mother with tears in his eyes he rambled out an explanation amidst hiccups. "I'm s-sorry I c-c-can't read this there's too many kanji and I can't read kanji very well and and and-"

Shushing the distraught, little boy, Mikoto went over and grabbed him up in a hug, slowly rubbing circles into his back. "It's alright, Naruto-kun. It's not your fault no one taught you. You just needed to ask for help and I would have been happy to. Sasuke wants to help you too. Come over here every day after class and Sasuke and I will help you learn to read and do your homework. How's that sound?"

Naruto nodded his head into her shoulder as tears leaked down his face. She wanted to help him, to teach him. He was so happy he couldn't put it into words. He thought that might be why he was still crying even though he wasn't sad anymore. Sasuke and his family were the best. He hoped nothing ever happened to them.

End Flashback

As the two boys stumbled into the Uchiha compound, they noticed that something was amiss. None of the usual sounds were coming from the shops and homes. In fact, there didn't seem to be any sounds coming from the compound at all.

Walking further up the street, the boys froze as they were confronted with the gruesome sight of several dead Uchiha. On the ground lay two shop owners that they had gotten to know fairly well and were partial to both boys.

Naruto kneeled down to get a closer look and flinched back when he touched the skin and found it was warm. They had only just been killed. That meant whoever had killed them might still be around.

Naruto was so wrapped up in the corpses and what it might mean that he barely even noticed Sasuke lifting himself off of his shoulder and dashing down the street towards his own house.

It was only as Sasuke turned the corner that Naruto realized what had happened and went to call out to him. This action was promptly stopped by the gloved fist that buried itself in his undersized abdomen. Coughing harshly and expelling a bit of saliva and blood, Naruto lifted his gaze to see a single red eye gleaming from inside of an oddly patterned mask.

"Now, now, let Sasuke take care of his business. I want to talk to you anyway." Rearing back, the masked man backhanded Naruto across the face sending him skidding along the dirt until he came to rest against a wall. Before he could even look up, the man was back in front of him, lifting him by his shirt.

"Uzumaki Naruto. What a pitiful child. Do you know that this whole village hates you? Of course you do. You must have noticed by now. So I wonder why it is that you stay here when there is nothing to gain."

Trembling, Naruto looked the man right in the eye. "Just because some people don't like me doesn't mean anything! Sasuke likes me! And so does his family! It's like I even have my own family now!"

Smiling under his mask, not that Naruto could see it, the masked man responded. "You've got Sasuke, that's true. But his family is dead. They've all stopped breathing and I'm sure their bodies are cooling as we speak."

Growling and baring his teeth, Naruto continued to yell at the man. "You're lying! No one could kill Itachi! He's stronger than anyone I've ever seen! He's probably strong enough to be Hokage soon!"

The masked man shoved Naruto into the wall and chuckled, his voice laced with malice. "Oh, did I forget to mention? Itachi isn't dead. He's the one who killed everyone else. You see, he's fed up with his clan and wanted to test his power."

Naruto flailed his arms wildly attempting to do some form of damage to the man for his words, irises slowly becoming slits and claws lengthening. "Liar! Itachi would never do something like that. Even if he's been acting a little weird lately, he loves the clan and he wouldn't hurt his parents or Sasuke like that!"

The masked man stepped away from the wall and tossed Naruto carelessly to the ground. "If you don't believe me, ask Sasuke when he comes out. And remember, if the hatred of this village ever gets to be too much for you, let the Rain wash it away."

Standing up, Naruto went to attack the man, but he was gone. There was not a trace that he had ever been there except the dull ache in Naruto's stomach and jaw and the blood streaks in his hair from where he had landed.

Turning around, Naruto took off towards Sasuke's house, hoping beyond hope that the strange man had been lying.

Of course that seemed unlikely as Sasuke came tearing around the corner and ran right into him. Both of the boys tumbled to the ground forming a tangled mess of limbs as both were too distraught to calmly extricate themselves.

Finally, Naruto managed to pull away from Sasuke, pulling his friend off the ground after him.

"Sasuke! What's going on? What're you running from?"

Their eyes met and Naruto could saw something he thought he'd never see in his friend's eyes. Terror. Had they not both been in such an emotional state, they would have noticed that neither had their normal eye color, having traded them out for almost matching pairs of red eyes.

"I-Itachi! H-he killed dad and mom. He killed everyone! C'mon, Naruto, we have to run!"

Staring wide-eyed at Sasuke, Naruto's mind stopped. He couldn't process this. How could the older brother of his only friend do something like this? Why had that man knocked him around and taunted him about this?

Later, Naruto would look back on this moment and wonder how he had even been able to move. At the moment he could wonder about nothing and so his body went on autopilot as he and Sasuke fled the deserted Uchiha compound.

All the while a pair of red eyes watched them from atop a power line and a voice echoed softly in Sasuke's head. "Foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me. And yet survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life, and when you have eyes as mine, come to me."

The two of them would never be quite the same after that, not that anyone would realize it until it was too late.