Disclaimer: I do not own the franchise Naruto.
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Naruto could feel the blood beating through his veins. He could feel his breaths, the cold, smelly water pooling around his body, and he could hear the heavy drops of water smacking the ground. His head was pounding with questions, as it always did on nights like this, after the cruelty of ignorance let monsters attack a child. Questions that at four years old he was still too young to fully understand. He struggled to move, to open his eyes and look around, and with each twitch of his aching limbs he remembered another cruel curse. Words, that just like his questions, he could not understand. He struggled for what seemed like hours to sit up, stiff and cold, and when he could, he shakily propped himself up on his hands and knees. Slowly, timidly, he opened his eyes, wincing as water dripped into them, and looked up. As the large blurry form in front of him became clear, new resolve entered his heart. Staring at the great monument to Konoha's leadership, he vowed that he would make the villagers respect him by becoming the Hokage.
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Naruto could feel the blood beating through his veins. He could feel his breaths, the cold, smelly water pooling around his body, and he could hear the heavy drops of water smacking the ground. His head was pounding with questions, as it always did on nights like this, after the cruelty of ignorance let monsters attack a child. Questions that at four years old he was still too young to fully comprehend. He struggled to move, to open his eyes and look around, and with each twitch of his aching limbs he remembered another cruel curse. Words that, just like his questions, he could not understand. He struggled for what seemed like hours to sit up, stiff and cold, and when he could, he shakily propped himself up on his hands and knees. Slowly, timidly, he opened his eyes, wincing as water dripped into them, and looked up. As the large blurry form in front of him became clear, he instinctually scooted back, fear pushing new strength into his body. A deep, growling laugh echoed through the sewer, causing ripples in the dark, putrid water. Naruto whimpered, too young and too scared to say a word.
"Come here, little gnat… I will not hurt you…" The monster murmured unconvincingly, as red eyes narrowing slightly and nine enormous tails undulated slowly in the warm air. Naruto stayed frozen in place, afraid to disobey but terrified to move any closer. The fox let out a growl of irritation, and began to snarl again. "I said come here!" This time, there was no hesitation, and Naruto scampered forward, fear making him stumble.
"Wh-wha...?" Naruto barely managed to squeak out, shaking, and the demon laughed.
"Too afraid to even speak. What a worthless species. To think that this is my host, that a scared little maggot like this could even dream of containing me!" The monster roared, thrashing its tails. "If not for this seal I would eat you alive and burn this pathetic village to the ground!"
Suddenly, it paused. Then began to laugh again. Naruto began to cry, thoroughly confused and frightened by the sudden changes in demeanor. The beast finished laughing and looked down with a wicked gleam in its eyes. It lowered itself down and began to speak gently to Naruto, releasing the pressure of killing intent that had paralyzed the boy.
"There, there, human, don't wail. I said I wouldn't hurt you, didn't I? I'm very sorry to have scared you. That wasn't nice of me, was it? Hmmmm... I think I should give you a present, to make up for it. Don't you agree, little worm?" Naruto wiped at his tears, and the Kyuubi continued. "All you have to do to get your present is tear off that little piece of paper on the bars. Then you'll get everything you deserve." Naruto slowly began to crawl forward, wary of the demon but unable to resist the manipulation. He paused, hesitant, and in an instant, a great sweep of red bubbly light collected around his waist and legs and lifted him to the paper. "That's right gnat, that's all you have to do... just rip the paper. Such a small price for such a great reward!"Naruto pulled back, and a deep snarl reminded him that he had little choice. He steeled his resolve, and the fox eyed him eagerly as he reached to touch the top of the seal.
Naruto ripped the tag almost halfway before intense pain rushed through his body. The fox howled in glee as Naruto screamed. In the corner of his eye, Naruto caught a glimpse of a blonde man reaching out for him before pain overtook him again.
A great wave of the boiling red light swept past the boy, flooding the sewer-like space with malice and hatred.
As the world faded, the last thing Naruto heard was laughter.
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When Naruto awoke in a bright, white room, he immediately sat up and glanced around, terrified that he would see the monster grinning down at him again. Instead, he was met with the worried stare of the Sandaime, and the guarded eyes of an unfamiliar white-haired man. He then felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, and grabbed at it with a startled gasp.
"W-what happened?" Naruto whispered, "Jiji, wha-"
"That is what I was going to ask you, Naruto-kun," the Sandaime interrupted, his eyes boring holes through the four year old. "What, exactly, happened to you last night?"
Naruto looked down at his hands. "W-well, I was kicked outta the store, and it was rainin, so I was walkin, and someone threw somfing, and-and I fell... and they threw m-more stuff... then I woke up and..." Here, Naruto starts to cry, the fear and shock of the experience too much to bear, "Th-there was th-this sscar-ry m-monster a-an it kep' laughin an, an g-g-growlin an th-then it t-told-d me-e to r-rip a p-paper c-cuz it-t w-was sorry an-an it hu-h-huuuurt, Jiji I w-was so-o scaared..." The two men trade concerned glances as the blond child sobbed.
"Naruto," Sarutobi began, but stopped when Naruto leapt into his arms. He slowly closed them, enveloping the little jinchuuriki in a comforting hug. "Naruto, I am going to tell you a story, and I need you to listen very carefully to me." The boy sniffled, seemingly consoled, and nodded his assent. "About four years ago, a great demon attacked Konoha. This demon was the the nine-tailed fox. It destroyed a great portion of the village, and killed many civilians and shinobi. The fourth Hokage battled with the demon, and eventually was able to subdue it. He sealed it into a baby... and in the process lost his life." Hiruzen looked into the timid, curious eyes of the little boy and felt his heart break. "He sealed it into you, Naruto. The kyuubi was the monster you saw last night, and the piece of paper you broke..."
The white haired man finally spoke. "That paper you ripped was the only thing holding that demon back from destroying this village, gaki. You're lucky I was close or you'd be dead. And so would a lot of other people."
Naruto paled. "It... it's i-in me? N-no! No no, g-get it out! Jiji, p-please, g-get it out... I don wan' it!"
Sarutobi sighed. "I'm sorry Naruto. I truly am. But the process of extraction would kill you, even if that was something we could consider. I am also very sorry that this is not the end of the bad news I have brought to you. When you ripped the paper, you damaged the seal that the Yondaime created. Jiraiya here was able to fix some of it... but not all. In short, you are no longer simply a container for the beast. You are..." Here he hesitated, looking towards Jiraiya.
The white-haired shinobi sighed. "You're it's jailer. You will have to use willpower to hold it back. It now has a much wider range of access to your body and mind, and it will take advantage of this. Gaki, I'm sorry, but you're in for a hell of a time."
The Sandaime spoke again, hesitant. "Naruto-kun... I'm afraid people may be rather more unkind after this incident. I have tried to keep it quiet, but... there is little I can do." Naruto didn't really understand, so he buried his face in the Hokage's robes. Jiraiya took the opportunity to continue his speech.
"You have to promise that no matter what it says or tries, you will resist it to the best of your ability. You can't let it escape again. I'm not entirely sure what the effects will be of a weaker seal, but I can guess."
Jiraiya paused, looking thoughtful.
"You will probably have some sort of power. But it will come at a terrible price. This monster inside of you is manipulative and cruel. It loves destruction for the sake of destruction, and chaos and hatred are it's favorite things. It will say things to you. Attempt to make you trust it. Pretend to be a father, a mother, a friend, or a teacher. It will promise you power, strength... you must resist it. You have to cage it, now, with your own strength as well as the strength of the seal. Do you understand?" Jiraiya looked at the boy, who seemed more scared than resolved, and sighed. He could only hope that the kid would take this speech to heart, and that most of it hadn't flown over his head.
Naruto, on the other hand, was afraid and confused. He didn't understand half of what this guy was saying. All he could figure out was that the big scary monster was inside his head and would kill everyone if he didn't keep it in a cage.
He had no clue that the rest of his life would be spent in a battle of wills against a chakra construct that had thousands of years to his four. He didn't get that he would be even more of a pariah, that his time in the ninja academy would be filled with hatred from his peers, that his life as a ninja would be full of blackouts and bodies. He didn't know that there would be an ANBU squad dedicated to controlling and monitoring him, who were ordered to subdue him with any means necessary if he showed signs of releasing his burden.
But he would.
In time.
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AN: Yeah so I'm completely rewriting this, as you can tell. For those of you that might think Naruto's a little crybaby, he's four. He's literally a baby. He's allowed to have no idea how to talk, and be traumatized by a demon that scared the shit out of grown ninja. UM, five guesses as to who the blonde man in the sewer was! I couldn't very well leave him out, that would be a biiggg plot hole. But, Naruto kinda takes to heart the whole "manipulative Kyuubi" thing, and so daddy-o isn't gonna have much luck getting through to his protege.
When he ripped the seal, Naruto kinda let a lot of Kyuubi-chakra out. Luckily, Jiraiya was in town, so he was subdued before he could hurt anyone. Sadly, this event was enough for the council to decide that everyone NEEDED to know about the danger, so the rule regarding not-telling-kids-about-kyuubi was taken away. Yeah. Not so fun for Naruto.
Also, Kyuubi will talk to Naruto in his mind. He will not keep Naruto from sleeping, (which is too gaara), but he will give Naru-kun vivid nightmares.
See you next time,
Avvi