I DO NOT OWN NARUTO IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM!

The strength of friendship

During the dark cold December night, a blaze roared up on the outskirts of the city of konoha. A normal sized fox no longer than 2-3 feet long stepped around in the now burnt down area of the woods. However there were two things strange about this fox 1. it had 9 tails and 2. it had as much chakra as all of the jounin on konoha added up and then a hell of a lot more. So far half of the village's jounin had set up an ambush and were waiting to attack. The 4th hokage himself was there. He gave the signal to capture and kill the possessed fox. Then the worst thing happened, the fox let out chakra it the shape of blades in every direction. Everyone was killed in that one simple hit. All except for one young blonde haired man. As he stepped towards the beast he made several hand seals. He was just a meter away and the beast was looking at the man with a killer intent that would have killed anyone else. The man touched the beast with his now glowing fingers and shouted release. At this the fox had suddenly calmed down and realised what she done.

Several years later

A short blonde haired child was sitting in the academy's playground on a swing, by himself. His perfect blue eyes would have melted the hearts of any that new his story yet almost everyone hated him. The 12 year old had found that the girl he had devoted himself to please and make happy actually hated him. He was almost at the point where he was going to try to kill himself until the bell rang and he decided to walk into his final lesson. As he walked in he noticed his instructor peer at him and the give him a huge smile. Naruto returned the smile and sat down. He didn't really pay attention to what he was being taught. After school he made his way as usual but suddenly stopped as he saw sasuke uchiha a black haired, skilled shinobi. Sasuke walked towards him and said a quick but fairly painful sentence

"Your too weak to be a good friend and or lover of anyone"

Naruto felt his sadness rise up but then sprinted home. He quickly locked his door and then jumped on his bed and began to cry his eyes out. Naruto had always tried to make friends and the closest he had gotten was sasuke-his rival. Naruto still however wanted to be his friend and was thinking of going to sasuke's home when suddenly a random image passed through his head…

It was a hot day and he was stood in the forest close by to his village. Naruto stepped forwards but stopped when he realised that this is where his father had been killed. Then a heat ran up his back and he saw a single fox with nine tails facing him.

Naruto woke up the following morning confused and slightly scared. It was a Saturday so naruto had no school. He decided he was going to train and soon left. As he walked out of the village into the nearby forest he remembered the dream and decided to go check it out.

He cautiously stepped up to the area to see a sight that scared him so badly he wished he was anywhere else in the world. He was as still as could be but his breathing had gave him away he was about to turn and run when the fox appeared in front of him. Now scared out of his mind naruto was stuck in his uncomfortable position. Randomly he heard a voice in his head.

"hello" said the fox

"What, this cant be real, I'm not speaking to a fox, I'm not speaking to a fox that killed many of this village's ninja. I must be asleep." Naruto shouted to himself wildly. The fox just touched him making naruto realise it wasn't a dream.

"I'm sorry to scare you and to pounce at you but you really remind me of someone I once knew" the kyubbi said.

"Who are you" naruto asked questioningly

"I am the 9 tailed kyubbi and well I guess I would like to know your name"

"Naruto Uzumaki"

"WHAT" the kyubbi screamed.

Naruto had been shocked by this and was becoming very scared.

"I knew your father" said the fox

"I already knew that, and I know that you killed him". Naruto replied in a some what angry voice.

Naruto had found out that his father was indeed that 4th hokage but died when he fought the kyubbi. The reason everyone hated the 4th and his son Naruto was because the 4th had let the kyubbi live because it was a "friend". The entire day was spent as the kyubbi had decided to tell naruto what had transpired that day. By the end of the day naruto was speechless. His father had befriended the entire kyubbi beasts and had visited them from time to time. Naruto now also understood why. The 9 tails kyubbi was a very nice fox if it wanted to be. Although it had shared the same loneliness that naruto had the fox seemed happy.

"Why are you so happy" naruto enquired

"Because I have found a friend" replied the kyubbi. For the first time naruto noticed that the kyubbi had a feminine voice but didn't really linger on thinking about that. She had called naruto a friend.

"I'm glad I met you today kyubbi and I hope we become good friends, but I must go now. Where may I meet you again?"

"Right here" replied the kyubbi

Naruto soon left and went to the village. It was late now and many people were heading home. Sakura was wondering down the street when she saw naruto a distance away and he seemed happy. This confused her and she strode up to him and said

"Oi you, what are you smiling about" sakura shouted

"Leave me alone" naruto replied calmly. This had shocked sakura since naruto loved her and always used to ask her on dates and such things but today he simply rejected her. He walked past sakura still carrying his heart warming smile. Sasuke had seen this as he had eaten his dinner in one of the restaurants and had in shock dropped all the contents of his dinner over his clothes. He left the money on the desk and ran over to naruto. Sakura seeing sasuke had sprinted to him and almost taken him out but at the last second he moved backwards and avoided her.

"Hey dobe, are you ok"

A/N- for anyone that doesn't know dobe means loser.

"yeah I'm fine thanks why are YOU asking" naruto said as he stopped and faced sasuke.

"Well I've never seen you reject sakura before and you seem different more… well happy" sasuke responded.

"Is that a problem?" naruto asked looking sasuke in the eyes.

"No I just thought that well maybe we can train together sometime"

Naruto had almost collapsed when he heard what sasuke had said. Not one friend in a day but 2. Could luck be shining on him?

"Yeah sure how about tomorrow?" naruto asked.

"Sounds great" sasuke said.

"Oh please can I come sasuke-kun?" sakura asked. "It'll be a pain having naruto there but I can cope"

"No sakura. I don't like you or the rest of the village and the way you treat naruto. All these years I made him a rival so he became strong and fairly independent but I never really saw how lonely he was, now I make him a friend and you bully him" sasuke finished. Sakura herself was pretty crushed by the fact that sasuke had said he doesn't like her, but naruto on the other hand was almost crying with joy that he had two friends. He could care less about sakura because now he had friends to talk to and help. While sakura sat on the floor dazed by what just happened naruto began to talk to sasuke.

"Hey sasuke, I need to talk to you can you meet me at my house tomorrow morning"

"Sure no problem, we can go train from there" sasuke replied. So the two left for there house's leaving sakura to cry her way home.

The following day naruto heard a knock on his door and as he lifted himself out of his bed he wandered who it was. He opened the door to see sasuke fully dressed for a day of training. He remember last night and smiled and asked sasuke to come in.