This is my second attempt to my original Naruto story, I've taken the time to redo much of my previous way of thinking and I feel comfortable enough to give this another try. But before we begin let me lay down a few things to know beforehand. Naruto was born during Kushina's generation, he will be different from his canon self. The rest you may find out for yourself.

Now with that all out of the way, on we go!

"My teammates said for me too leave him be, to turn around, and walk away as if I never saw him. Yet something in me cried out to help this child and now I know what that feeling was... it was my humanity.'' ~Hatake Sakumo

Naruto: Rise of Kazama Naruto

Prologue: The Beginning

It is said there can be no life without death, and just the same if there was no death then there would be no life. There can be no inequality between Life and Death, there must be a balance between the two so that the cycle can continue. So that the natural course that was set up for mankind was never disrupted. For they knew, it was an instinctual matter for all of mankind, that if something disrupted the natural order of their world. It would cause an imbalance in the cycle that was created to flow endlessly, and because of that imbalance than they knew the world was doomed to the consequences of it.

The imbalance happened long ago before the Era of Shinobi, by the actions of a woman desperate to end all conflict and death...and the consequence...

Was the birth of the Shinobi Era...

And the place of this was the Elemental Nations, a massive continental landmass that scoured much of the planet with a vast number of smaller islands dotting the continent. And it was on this continent of which all it's denizens and inhabitants were made to suffer for centuries for the consequences of disrupting the natural order. This suffering was through another cycle that was formed, an endless loop that always went on with chaos, destruction, and death with no counter balance of peace, calm, and tranquility.

War, Death, Strife, and Pain. An endless cycle that soaked the Elemental Nations in the blood of it's son's and daughters for hundreds and even thousands of years. None knew peace, no temporary relief, no calm. Only endless conflict that spilled constant bloodshed and caused death in every corner of the world. It was a land, a world where the darkest of mankind thrived as they lusted for power, where the greedy took from the weak and killed anyone that stood in their way. It was a world where the strong and influential controlled the weak and helpless.

Truly, Death had its shadow cast over this world for so long no one truly knew what it meant to have a peace of mind. No one was spared from the violence, men and women were thrown into the fires of War to protect their villages and even to fight for their Daimyo's desire for more land and influence. Hell some fought to protect themselves and flee as far as they could from the conflict.

And the children...the children were made to suffer these horrific acts at tender ages some were taught to kill as soon as they could walk. Their first gift would often at times be a kunai to kill and take the life of another. As they grew, they were left damaged, scarred and beyond repair by the violence of the world that they were brought into. While some developed a mindset that they were born to only kill and be killed in return. As if it was all a demented game created by the Kami, playing with their life's as they saw fit.

It was...a Hell on Earth...

But... what happens when you have an irregularity in this chaotic world? What if this anomaly was born by the very consequences that were created by the one who caused this hell? What happens if you have a child, a mere newborn that was not born like other unborn children are, became that anomaly? A child that was cursed the very moment he was conceived to be a miraculous yet cursed gift to the world. A child whose very first sensation when he was brought into this world was the warm sensation of lying in a puddle of his dead mother's blood. His very first breath of life was the inhaling of a thousand dying around him. The very first thing he would see when opening his eyes is a blood red sky and a battlefield engulfed by the elements and swarmed with the bodies of hundreds of dying men and women?

This is the story of that child, the child born through the consequences that were created by the desire of a woman who angered a God and disrupted the natural order.

Border of Oni no Kuni

Hatake Sakumo, age 18, had seen his fair share of violence, and warfare in his rather short career of being a shinobi. He still remembered his first kill when he was thrown on the battlefield for the sake of protecting his village, Konohagakure. The memory was still fresh in his mind, as was the other memories of all the other atrocities and genocides he'd committed in the name of Konoha. War had quickly taught Sakumo that war was never clean, it was dirty, it was grizzly and it would test your mettle every moment you took a breath.

However, he'd surpassed every limit thrust upon him when he first became a shinobi, he was already becoming a rising supernova in Konoha's shinobi ranks. Already beginning to overshadow the Hokage's very own students, his very name was beginning to strike fear into the hearts of every enemy shinobi. Some even became fearful of even being on the same battlefield as him, some even fled at the mere mention or sighting of him. It was a reputation that was built upon all of his victories and accomplishments as a Konoha Shinobi.

So yeah, Sakumo had seen his fair share of all that War could possibly throw at him. He thought he would be mentally prepared for just about anything now since he was more seasoned. More tempered and worn by all the chaos war had too offer. However, that was not the case as he stood upon what was supposed to be a Kumo incursion that was coming through Oni no Kuni and was said to be traveling right to Konoha's backdoor.

That Kumo incursion was now reduced to what he and his squad saw, and that was hundreds of Kumo shinobi corpses lay strewn upon the dark crimson soil. None of them were even recognizable as their bodies were far too mutilated to even be described. Some were just lumps of flesh, every single one was either bisected by the waist or dismembered. The stench of death and blood was so putrid it encompassed the entire battlefield. Organ's were falling or sliding out of the bodies of the many shinobi and kunoichi while others seemed to have been crushed.

''What... happened here?'' one of his teammates, Uchiha Suryu, muttered whilst his other teammate, Shimura Issei squatted down and grabbed a pinchful of the dirt they stood upon. And his intense brown eyes narrowed when he felt the sticky substance mixed into the dirt, and he took a small sniff and frowned in disgust as he threw it down.

''Whatever happened here it was recent the blood's soaked into the soil and it's still fresh. Who or whatever that did this must still be nearby, be cautious.'' he warned to which Suryu took in stride while Sakumo was still shocked at the bloody display laid out before him. His trained eye took in the blood spectacle with keen awareness as the shock began to fade away.

'This couldn't have been done by a shinobi it's far too sloppy plus there is only a handful of shinobi I know that are powerful enough to wipe out this large of a force. And none of them have been sighted in this area so... what could have done this?'

Snap!

His ears twitched as the sound of a twig snapping caught his attention, so did his two teammates and they spun around kunai in hand, but what they saw would forever be burned into their minds for the rest of their life's.

It happened so slow...

It was a wounded Kumo shinobi, his eyes were completely wide in fright and he was crawling towards them as he was missing both legs. His hand went out to them, trembling as he was he was able to speak out in a fumbling mutter. Even as blood leaked from his mouth, nose and ears.

''H-help me...he's...he's...a monster...'' than his and their eyes widened a shadow walked out from the grass behind him. And the wounded shinobi turned to look and soon let out a horrified scream.

''No...no...NO! NOOO! Stay away from me! Help...help meeee!'' he screamed towards the Konoha shinobi just before the shadow vanished before the "shadow" landed on the shinobi's spine which followed a harsh crack from the man's spine. He was about to let a howl of agony just before a tiny hand wrapped around his mouth before a bloody kunai impaled itself from the back of his skull and in-between his eyes. Thus silencing him forever, ending his life in one swift moment.

And it was than three shinobi saw just who it was that just killed the shinobi. The "shadow" turned out to be something they never expected it to be.

''Oh my Kami...'' Suryu whispered, and Issei and Sakumo could understand his shock for it was a child, a boy to be exact, that barely even reached 5 year's old. He was of average height for a child his age, but that the only similar thing he shared with other children. For his clothing was barely still clinging to him, being only in tatter's and it seemed too many sizes small for him. You couldn't tell what color they were since the boy was literally drenched in blood. From his very long spiky hair which seemed to be stained in crimson blood to his bare feet. His hair dripped with blood while torn flesh and bits of organ and brain matter was stuck underneath his nails. He would have looked like a child raised on the street's as a beggar and sewer rat without all the blood.

However they noticed the bloody kunai gripped fiercely in his right hand and both Suryu and Issei stood up straighter, tense and nervous. Getting ready if the child attacked them as well.

But Sakumo was a whole other case entirely as he stared at the boy, his shock slowly began to fade and be replaced with a deep depressed look in his eyes. For as he looked upon the child he saw the way his body was barely standing, relying solely on adrenaline and the boy's own willpower. How he knew this? Simple.

It was the boys face which was non-expressive, seemingly dead to the world while six bloody line marks marred his cheeks. His eyes on the other hand told Sakumo all he needed to know. His own dark black eyes met a pair of emotionless azure, eyes that had no life in them, they were as lifeless as the corpses strewn around the boy. There was no life in those eyes, no sense of purpose, no drive, nothing. He saw nothing in this kids eyes besides the instinctual drive to survive.

Survival Instinct had awakened in this boy...

Slowly Sakumo raised his hands dropping his kunai as he did so causing his teammates to look at him strangely. Than Sakumo walked towards the motionless child who had been staring at them almost like a statue before his gaze pinned directly on the Hatake.

''Be at ease, we mean you no harm...'' he said as his teammates glared at his back, thinking Hatake had finally gone insane or something. ''What the hell are you doing Sakumo! Get away from that kid! There's something really off about him!'' Issei shouted whilst Suryu seemed to agree with a nod. Although, his Uchiha pride was wounded, something even deeper than silly pride was telling him to run, to flee as far and as fast as he could from this kid.

''I agree, I think we need to just turn around, walk away and think as if we never saw this whole incident happened. We can always tell Hokage-sama that the mission had false information or something.'' he said, yet Sakumo did nothing, but shake his head. He was displeased, disappointed with the way his teammates were reacting to this kid. Yes, his eyes were not natural, but what Sakumo saw right now was a boy relying on his instincts to survive in a world like theirs, all on his own.

He didn't see an unnatural kid...he saw a child that needed help.

Although it wasn't all that uncommon to find kids that were younger then you, but were far more deadly and stronger than some of the strongest Jonin shinobi. This kid was probably the youngest of those types he'd ever seen. Yet, something urge Sakumo to help this child, to help him and pull him out from this blood filled abyss he was stuck in.

He took each step forward slowly and cautiously, dropping all of his weapons as he did to show he was completely unarmed. Yet the kid was still gripping onto his kunai with fervor, but Sakumo was a patient man, year's of warfare had tempered his patience.

''It's alright... I'm not going to hurt you... I just want to help you, where are your parents?'' he asked whilst the boy seemed to answer with simplicity.

''Never knew them...died when I was...born.'' he said causing Sakumo to frown, that was a similar case with all children born in times of war.

''Then who raised you? Where is your caretaker?'' he asked and the boy answered in kind. ''A friend of fathers...raised me...until he died...when I was 3. I been living in forests ever...since.'' he answered, his lack of education was evident due to the way he was speaking. Yet Sakumo was amazed that this kid had been living on his own like this since he was 3 year's old. Sure, he'd heard of equally stranger stories, but still it was shocking to hear. Still he inched closer to the boy who had yet to even let up in his stance.

''I see, that is quite amazing for a kid your age. Now why don't you tell me, what happened here? Did...did you kill all of these shinobi?'' he asked and the boy at this point looked down at all the dead people with not a single emotion in his dead blue eyes. As if he was seeing nothing of significance or noteworthy, yet he finally gave a nod.

''Yes...they...trampled my...home...and...I stole this...and stabbed one...then another...and another...and another. I couldn't stop until they fell...until they fell asleep again.'' he said gripping the kunai. Sakumo felt his eyes widen truly at this news, but quickly pushed down his shock for the time being as he inched closer to the boy.

''I see, you were defending your home, you are in the right. Now...'' he said before he kneeled down so he was eye level with the boy. His eyes warm and inviting to the boys cold and dead blue ones. ''Seeing as your home is gone, why don't you come with me? I know a place that will treat you greatly, my village is just a few days of travel from here. What do you say?'' he said with a smile while ignoring his teammates gestures for a big 'no!' and a 'Don't invite the murdering child to Konoha, teme!'

The boy seemed to tilt his head as he stared at Sakumo with an almost inquisitive expression before he spoke. ''Will they...attack me, hurt me?'' he asked, at this Sakumo hesitated. Konoha was very wary of war orphans, especially now in these times when a kid was a viable option to be a sleeper agent or a Kamikaze time bomb from another village. But as he looked at the boy he could tell he was neither of those. He was just a kid that was trying to survive, fighting tooth and nail to survive in this world. His will to help this boy grew beyond levels as he looked at him, he felt if he left this boy alone something important to him would die along with it. And he knew what it was...

It would be his humanity, what made him human would die if he left this child to fend for himself.

''No, they won't hurt you, not while I am with you. So, will you come with me?'' he said reaching out with his hand to which the boy seemed to eye for the longest moment with a monotone expression before his grip on the kunai loosened for the slightest moment.

''….Ok...''

Sakumo would have let out a giant sigh of relief as the boy reached out and grabbed his hand with his much smaller and bloody one. At this, Sakumo decided to introduce himself. ''Good, my name is Hatake Sakumo, what's yours?'' he asked and at this the boy blinked before he looked up at the sky with what seemed like a glazed expression.

''My name is...Naruto...'' he said before looking directly at Sakumo.

''Kazama Naruto.''

And so it was, with Sakumo's selfless act in saving this child that he had altered the wheel of destiny and weaved the fate of the world in a whole new direction. And whether that direction was good or bad, shall remain unseen.

For the future was always changing...

Konoha-East Gates

Sakumo let out a exhausted sigh of relief as he saw the gates of his beloved village coming into view. He looked over his shoulder to see his teammates were just as exhausted if not more so. It had been a long tiresome trek back from Oni no Kuni and back to the borders of Hi no Kuni. They had ran into a few mercenary camps and rogue Kumo, Iwa and even Suna shinobi, but in the end they'd finally made it into the borders of Hi no Kuni in 3 days time. They'd passed the Konoha border patrol on the way and feeling more assured of no more ambushes they high-tailed it at the break of dawn on their fourth day.

Than Sakumo's eyes landed on his newest addition to his squad, the boy he had picked up from the location of where their mission was supposed to take place. Instead, he'd found this boy in the middle of the complete genocide, and even more surprising the very same boy who had committed the genocide. His teammates had complained about bringing the boy along, but he'd hear none of it and muted them out for the rest of the trip.

Every child deserved their chance to live out their life's no matter how dark and terrible their life's were beforehand. He was just glad to give this boy that new chance and no manner of complaining from his teammates would change that.

Nevertheless, he'd figure he would need to carry the boy as they would need to travel at shinobi speeds, but the boy proved to be surprisingly very skillful in tree-jumping which Sakumo theorized that the boy must have learned how to do it from living out in the woods alone. Which was amazing in of itself since tree-jumping took a good amount of chakra control, knowing at least the basic tree-climbing exercise. It also required endurance and stamina to be able to keep up the chakra flow at the soles of your feet otherwise you would risk slipping and falling which would prove to be fatal at times. And good enough control so you didn't slip, but also didn't accidentally blow yourself off the tree.

So, Sakumo was pretty amazed the boy seemed to know this exercise, it took even himself, at the age of 7 to learn the tree-climbing exercise and that was with the aid of his parents help at the time. This boy on the other hand had no one, but himself to actually learn and master a basic chakra control exercise which is made many more levels difficult when you only have yourself.

Self-taught technique, remarkable.

There was another thing Sakumo learned about the boy as he traveled with him and that was the fact the boy had a very abnormal level of endurance. Having not even broken a sweat with even keeping up with seasoned shinobi with tree-jumping, and even at Jonin-speeds. It was both scary for his teammates and highly fascinating to Sakumo.

Looking at the boy he smiled a bit when he saw the small glow of wonder in the boy's eyes as he looked upon the tall walls that kept Konoha inside and away from the outside elements. It was a remarkable sight for those that first saw the giant walls that stood between Konoha and the elements outside. So the boys fascination was understandable. Although, he did take a second look and he was glad to have given the boy a small dip before they got to Konoha. It wasn't a bath by any means, but the boy needed to be washed and cleaned before coming to Konoha. It wouldn't look good if they arrived with a boy that look and was stinking of death, and of dried blood.

So, Sakumo had taken it upon himself to wash the boy...by throwing him into a lake.

What? His dad did the same thing to him and that was to teach him how to swim.

Although that did earn him a painful punch to the nose, it was a relatively fast one to by the annoyed kid, but kami he had a mean right hook! Yet it had done the trick as some of the blood had come off. The rest he had to scrub off, he wasn't clean by any means because he still stunk of blood, but he at least didn't look like it. Because of that quick scrub Sakumo saw the boy had a surprisingly healthy tan complexion and his hair was very long reaching to his back, having never been cut for kami knows how long. His hair was surprisingly a natural shade of crimson even after he washed out the blood. Their was also the six scar's that marred his cheeks which Sakumo theorized seemed to had have happened earlier in his life.

Because they sure as hell weren't birthmarks, they were far too deep to be.

He also had to replace his clothes with something because what he had was literally falling apart, so they stopped by a merchant town and got him some simple clothes. A black short-sleeved shirt with the Hi no Kuni insignia on the back with a pair of dark blue shorts and plain blue sandals. The sandals had been hard for the boy to get used too since, in his own words, was more used to being bare foot.

Overall, Sakumo would say he looked relatively normal...besides the stench of blood coming off him that is.

''Ahh, it's so good to be back home!'' Suryu said while Issei agreed with a nod. ''Yeah, I can't wait to kick back and take a breather.'' he said

Sakumo on the other hand just chuckled, but he had to agree. Even if this mission was easy, the amount of missions they had to take a day was quite a few if not multiple due to the warring times they were in. It's just the way it was, so having a small breather was rare and should be taken for granted every chance you got.

Soon they came closer to the gates just before they were confronted by the gate guards, ''Halt! I figure why you and your team would be coming back Sakumo-san, but that kid isn't supposed to be with you.'' the shinobi said with suspicion clear in his eyes and a steel edge in his voice.

''Their was a minor disturbance during the mission and we found him near our mission's designation location. After consideration, I brought him along and see if Hokage-sama will allow the boy sanctuary in Konoha's wall. And before you ask...'' he said when he saw them about to question him, he silenced them with a hand and continued. ''I made sure for any and all deceits or hidden agenda's, and the boy is clean. He just wants a place to call home, and Konoha's laws on War orphans still stands, and you two don't want to refuse a kid from having a home, do you?'' he said narrowing his eyes dangerously causing the two to freeze from the cold edge in his eyes before they slumped in defeat.

''We got it, go on through. Hokage-sama will want to see you as soon as possible.'' they said and Sakumo nodded at that before he, his team and the ever quiet Naruto walked on through.

''Alright, well I think I'm gonna head back home and see how the clan's doing. Maybe see how Mikoto is doing with her training while I was away.'' Suryu said while Issei groaned as he crossed his arms. ''Lucky you, I gotta go do check up with Danzo-jii-san, he's gonna grill me for something I'm for sure.'' he said scratching his head.

''Haha, well go on ahead, but don't tell Danzo of what happened out there Issei, okay?'' his teammate already understood the importance of what happened out there it was a very sensitive subject and would only be spoken of with their Hokage. Giving a mock salute he vanished, then Sakumo turned to Suryu. ''You too, okay?'' he said and Suryu nodded as well.

''You got it.'' and taking one last look at Naruto, the Uchiha vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Giving out a sigh, Sakumo turned his head to look at Naruto and what he saw brought a smile to his face, the boy was just gazing all over Konoha. Deciding to give the boy a better view he acted. Putting his hand on the boys shoulder, they too vanished in a swirl of leaf's.

Only to reappear atop a water tank, than Sakumo stretched out his hand revealing all of Konoha to Naruto's eyes. ''Well Naruto, welcome to Konohagakure no Sato, your new home!''

Naruto still dazed by the technique looked around him and was taken in by the sight of the giant village around him. His eyes soaked in all of the village that was going to be his new home and his gaze went to even the Hokage Mountain before it went to the village as a whole. Than a small smile began to stretch on his face, it was the smallest one, but Sakumo saw it.

''….Home...'' he said as if it were a foreign thing to him before he said it louder and a tad bolder.

''Home...this is...my Home.''

Done, I made this longer than what I usually do, so is this good or bad? It's just a prologue to get the story rolling. Criticism and opinions on it will be very much appreciated.

Now I'm very tired so goodnight!