Naruto learns quickly.
He has to, when he's surrounded by children that hate him and workers that neglect him. He has to learn fast when the orphanage matron tosses him out and he takes to living on the street, to scavenging for food and fighting off older street rats that think him easy prey.
Naruto learns quickly, and the first lesson he learns is to never trust blindly.
He doesn't trust the men and women in masks that finally find him and bring him to the Hokage, he doesn't trust the smiling old man that tells him he'll be safe, that promises he'll be taken care of.
Where was he when Naruto suffered in the orphanage? Where were the men and women in masks when he had to dodge angry civilians and learn how to throw a punch, to keep himself from showing weakness?
They give him an apartment and an allowance and Naruto keeps quiet and watches all the while, wonders just why they're doing this-wonders how he's useful.
It's not like it matters though, not since he has a plan.
The goal is simple, really. He just wants-no, needs-to leave Konoha behind.
But Naruto isn't dumb, he knows no six year old can survive long enough to reach another village.
He needs to be stronger and smarter and faster, he needs to be better than everyone else, better than the trackers the village will send (and he needs to know why he's useful, why he's important, why ANBU spent so long looking for him.)
So he signs up for the academy, he does his best to fake a smile and pretend he just thinks it's cool, that he actually admires the shinobi that follow him.
After all, the academy is useful. It teaches its students combat and survival skills, how to control the chakra he feels buzzing under his skin. It teaches skills he'll need if he wants to escape Konoha's clutches.
The growling won't stop. He hears it in class, he hears it when he's trying to sleep-it just won't stop! Even worse, he can practically feel the smug amusement that comes when he snarls under his breath-the smug amusement coming from his mind that he knows doesn't belong to him.
Naruto's had enough.
He stays up late one night meditating, trying to figure out what's wrong with him.
One moment the boy's fighting to stay awake and the next moment he blinks before finding finds himself knee deep in water.
"Ugh," Naruto mutters, walking through the dirty water and doing his best to ignore the squelching sounds beneath his shoes. He has to figure out where he is.
He was about to fall asleep and the next moment he's here-wherever here is. Naruto stops, mind frantically working. He can't have been kidnapped in such a short time, this feels too real to be a dream-oh.
"This sucks," he says with feeling, looking up at the dripping ceiling above him. His mind is a freaking sewer? Really?
Whatever, it doesn't matter. What matters is finding whatever keeps making noise and getting it to stop.
There's no sound, though, nothing besides the water sloshing and the squelching that comes when he moves.
Nothing until he takes a turn and ends up staring at the bars of a cage that reaches up and up and up.
There's a snarl, then, a sound that sends a shiver of fear down his spine, a sound that makes him freeze.
A sound followed by a clanging against the bars and a muzzle sticking out. Naruto only barely keeps himself from flinching.
His gaze wanders, following the shape of the beast's head to its body-to the nine tails lazily waving in the false air of his mindscape.
Naruto blinks, ice in his veins and head pounding, before he think again.
That explains, well, everything.
Come to visit? The fox growls, cold anger in its voice-a cold anger Naruto easily recognizes.
"You're keeping me up. I can't do anything with all the noise." He responds, folding his arms and doing his best to look confident.
So? The fox asks, voice turning sharp, Why should it matter? I have no interest in helping Konoha turn my jailer into a weapon.
"And you think I do?" Naruto asks, taking a step forward without thinking about it.
"I hate it here! I hate that everyone hates me! I hate that I'm only alive in case I'm useful, I hate that they expect me to kill for them but they treat me like shit!"
He's close to crying now, hands clenched into fists at his sides as he stares the fox down.
"I'm gonna graduate. I'm gonna become a shinobi, and then I'm getting out of here. You can help or you can be quiet, but stop making noise!"
Somehow he can tell the fox is surprised. He watches it watch him before it sighs and lowers itself back down to the ground.
You're not like her at all, it mutters before resting its head against the bars.
All right, little Uzumaki, the fox says, giving Naruto a considering look. My name is Kurama. If you really want to leave Konoha behind, I'll help you.
Naruto knows not to trust someone immediately, knows that if you take someone-especially someone dangerous-at their word you could end up dead.
But something tells him Kurama is telling the truth.
"Alright," he tells the fox in a shaking voice, "that works."
Good, the fox growls back, obviously pleased. But now you should sleep.
The first thing he registers is the cold of the floor beneath his head, followed closely by the sunlight peaking through the curtains when he opens his eyes.
Naruto moves to sit up, wincing at the scrapes that came from sleeping on the floor, when he freezes before rushing to the toilet.
He's hunched over the toilet, doing his best to avoid looking at the vomit staining the chipped enamel, when he hears the fox again.
Oh. Kurama speaks up, sounding almost embarrassed. Should've expected that.
"What did you do?!" Naruto demands in between heaves, finally staggering to his feet and turning on the sink.
I may have changed some of your chakra systems and modified the seal.
The boy gulps in a mouthful of water before spitting it out, turning the knob again and splashing it over his mouth and neck.
He's ready to yell back at the fox when he stops, looking in the mirror with wide eyes. He's still nauseous, sure, but there's something else.
There's a weight just beneath his heart, a strange pulling sensation demanding he follow.
"What?" Naruto gasps out, "what is that?"
That, and the fox actually sounds pleased, is what you humans call a bond.
"What?!" he practically screeches, twisting in surprise.
The modifications to your systems and the seal triggered your soulmate bond early. Congratulations, the fox replies, clearly smug.
"I can't have a bond!" Naruto insists. "Bonds are for important people, bonds are for people who matter. Not, not-"
A street rat? The demon container? The fox replies. Face it brat, you're one of the lucky few with a soulmate.
Cheer up. When we're ready to leave all you have to do is follow the bond out of Konoha.
"So the stories about bonds are true?" Naruto asks tentatively.
Depends on which stories you're thinking of. You can't read minds or anything like that-but simple things like emotions can be exchanged if the bond is finalized. Even if it isn't, whoever they are will still want to help you. Let's hope you've managed to snag someone way above your station. Not like that'd be hard, though.
"Go fuck yourself," Naruto snaps back, the curse coming easily after a year living on the streets.
The fox only laughs in response.
They've got a plan. It's a pretty terrible plan, if he's honest with himself, but it's their best shot at escaping Konoha.
At this rate he has another year until graduation. All Naruto has to do is wait until the bond becomes impossible to ignore and then leave. The specifics of the plan is where it gets complicated.
He's spent hours discussing just how to fake his death with Kurama and neither of them have settled on an answer they both like. He needs to fool the Hokage, he needs to fool ANBU, he needs to fool the council. Managing to fool all three is a tall order.
The old man's also been acting off lately, acting almost guilty. It's why Naruto's opening the window to the Hokage's office at midnight, bypassing the intruder seal on the floor and sneaking over to the desk. It's simple enough to open, even if Kurama insists on keeping a running commentary the entire time.
None of the reports he can find shed any light on the situation, not until he triggers a latch that unlocks a false bottom on the final drawer.
Naruto takes the report and flips through it before biting down on his lip until a bit of blood trickles down.
It's a report on him. A report with phrases like "inadequate loyalty," "hostility shown towards figures of authority," "appears to resent village."
What makes him stop, what makes him bite his lip to keep from screaming, is the note in the margins.
The note that says "termination is strongly recommended. New container needed."
Fuck.
Fuck, the fox says a moment later, echoing his own thoughts.
He's not naive enough to think the Hokage won't go through with it, not naive enough to think the old man won't bend if the council applies the right amount of pressure.
Naruto grabs the report and tucks into the scroll in his jacket, pressing a hand over the spot before leaping back out the window.
The report didn't say when "termination" would happen, just that it would, and he can't afford to wait to find out.
It's a quick dash across the rooftops to his apartment where he carefully lifts up a loose floorboard.
Food, clothing, medical supplies, it's all in the scrolls hidden under the floorboards.
A flash of panic overtakes him before Naruto shoves it aside. He can't afford to panic, not when his life is on the line.
Naruto has an unbelievable amount of chakra, two years of training from the nine tailed fox itself, enough supplies for a month, and a knot in his chest pulling him away from Konoha.
It'll have to be enough.
"This is the worst."
Naruto had fled Konoha in the middle of the night, had spent the last two days stumbling along as the pulling of the bond urged him onwards, and constantly had to stop or speed up to avoid the ANBU tracking him. He was cold and hungry and angry and didn't think it could get any worse.
At least not until it started raining.
Now his clothes are soaked through-his only set of clothes, since the warming seals he'd tried to apply had the unfortunate side effect of setting the other set on fire.
His clothes are soaked through, his rations are wet, Kurama won't shut up, and now he's reached the coast.
The pull is urging him onwards but it's not like he can swim. He can't swim, he doesn't have chakra control for water walking, and there's no sign of a boat or even any signs of civilization around.
And his soulmate hasn't moved. His soulmate hasn't gone to look for him, his soulmate has stayed wherever they are (and he pushes aside the creeping whisper that says they don't want him, that says they won't care when he's dragged back to Konoha.)
With a sigh Naruto swings up and into one of the weird trees growing along the coast, settling into the branches. All he can do now is wait, either for his bonded to come looking or for ANBU to finally find him.
This is the worst.