DISCLAIMER: I in no way own Naruto...Ya'll need to remember that...

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The Twice Caged Bird

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Chapter 1: Deception

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"Yyyyaaaaawwwwnnnnn!" a little boy yawned as he woke up. The young child, no older than six, stood up from his bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He had bright blonde hair and had strange whisker like marks on his cheeks. As he woke up, the boy slowly opened up his startlingly cerulean blue eyes, unfocused from fatigue. He stretched his little arms and slowly walked over to his small kitchen.

Even though he was so young, the poor child lived alone in a small apartment in the red light district of Konohagakure no Sato. He had been alone ever since he could remember. The Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had told him his parents had died the night he was born, and despite his begging and pleading, Sarutobi refused to reveal their names to him. Not even the puppy dog eyes he would occasionally use on the elderly man would work. He'd always just use some excuse or try to change the subject. He knew the old man was hiding something from him, but the old man was the closest thing he could count as family. So he trusted the man to tell him in the future, even if he didn't like to wait.

Even if he felt alone, he didn't let it get to him. He was Uzumaki Naruto and he'd be Hokage one day! He'd show those villagers who looked at him with hatred and ignored him that he was someone special and should be respected. He'd be the best and strongest Hokage there had ever been!

After a breakfast of cereal and some fruit he got dressed in his normal street clothes. He wore orange shorts with a blue tee shirt. Over the tee he wore a thin orange sleeveless jacket. He never knew why, but the color orange just always had a way of cheering him up when he was sad, so he had taken to wearing a lot of it. He wore it so much that it eventually became his favorite color. He just left his pajamas on the floor with the rest of his stuff in his messy apartment and walked over to his window sill.

He grabbed his small watering can and started to water his little cactus plant, Kakutasu-chan. He smiled down at the little plant, taking note of the small pink blossom on it, due to bloom any day now. He always loved watering plants, it made him feel calm and he felt like he was raising them like his own little family in a odd sort of way. Shaking his head to clear it of thoughts of family, which would inevitably just make him sad, he put the watering can away, grabbed his keys, and his wallet named Gama-chan, and left his apartment.

. . . .

It was early morning and the streets were relatively empty. Naruto needed to hurry today with his daily routine and head home before too many people woke up. Today was the day of the Kyuubi Festival after all. An anniversary of the day the Kyuubi no Kitsune was defeated by the valiant sacrifice of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage.

And by extension, Naruto's birthday.

However, unlike most six year olds, Naruto was not looking forward to his birthday. He never had. There were no celebrations, no cake, only the occasional present from the old man, and there was definitely no friends or family to spend the day with. Just loneliness and for some reason, a LOT of angry villagers. As long as Naruto could remember, the villagers held nothing but contempt for him. He had no idea why, but wherever he went there were angry stares, muffled curses, people spitting at him, or people outright yelling at him to leave, or at the very worst, commit suicide.

It wasn't all that bad really, no one ever tried to actually hurt him. It was just the loneliness and isolation that got to him. Having no one to talk to, no one to play with, no one to lean on...is a traumatic thing for a six year old.

But on his birthday...it always got so much worse. His birthday was the only day where the villagers would actually try to harm him. They would always come at him in groups and try to break into his apartment or catch him on the streets. These people were usually just a group of drunken slobs that the little boy could out run and hide from easily. But last year was different. The groups were more organized and they were actively hunting him, and actually managed to catch him. He ended up in the hospital with his arms and legs broken and a severe concussion, among other less pressing injuries. He wasn't even safe at the hospital that day. If it hadn't been for the Anbu guards that the Hokage assigned to him that night, then fifteen villagers would have gotten into his room to finish what they started.

Even the doctors treated him with contempt. Only ever coming into his room to give him a small portion of food, and never to check on his health. Even with their terrible treatment of him he was still somehow able to fully recover in three weeks.

Naruto decided after he got out of the hospital that he would NEVER let himself be put in there again. He started making plans on what he would do on his birthday the next year and made several fail safes to make sure he never got caught again. And right now, he was starting to enact plan A.

The blonde boy raced down the streets of Konoha as fast as his little legs could take him as he went to his first stop. Ichiraku Ramen.

He walked into the small stand where Teuchi and Ayame were waiting for him. Teuchi was a very kind older man and always treated Naruto kindly. His daughter, Ayame, was the closest thing to a big sister that lonely blonde had. He told them the day before that he would be dropping by to pick up a big order of Ramen early in the morning, so that he wouldn't have to leave his apartment to get food until the next day, at least. They knew exactly why he was coming at five in the morning and had six extra large bowls of Miso Ramen with extra pork waiting for him to pick up.

When the two saw him they smiled sadly at the sweating child. "Alright Naruto, don't worry about pay. Today, your food is on the house. Happy Birthday, and good luck. You should hurry on back to your apartment. Oh, and don't you worry about the ramen getting cold. I used a trick a friend of mine taught me a long time ago to keep them from cooling off in the carrying case." Teuchi said to the small boy in a slightly rushed, yet also happy, tone. He ruffled Naruto's hair as the bond happily took the food and left with a hurried 'thank you'. Teuchi shook his head and sighed.

"What is our world coming to when such a sweet child is treated like a goddamn demon...no...a demon would be treated better…"

. . . .

Naruto raced back through the streets and into his apartment. He took the large carrying case off his back and set it on his table in the kitchen. He quickly started on the next phase of plan A.

He went over to his bed and started pushing it across the room. He pushed the bed up to his door and blocked it off. He continued to stack things up against the door until he was confident no one would be able to break in through his barricade. He didn't bother bracing the windows since he lived on the top floor of the apartment complex and no one he could think of would have a ladder tall enough.

He settled down in a small fort of pillows he made in the corner of the apartment away from the door and his windows. He looked at the container he had his ramen in and noticed a strange piece of paper on the side of it with some sort of strange writing he couldn't understand. He shrugged his shoulders, deciding to ignore it for the moment, and opened the container. His eyes widened and had stars in them as he saw what Teuchi-jiji said was true. Somehow the ramen didn't get cold and stayed fresh inside the container. He took a bowl out and started eating. He sat there thinking for a minute.

It was only seven in the morning...what in the world could he possibly do all day!?

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Three, agonizingly boring hours passed and he sat in his little homemade fort staring at the ceiling, kicking his feet in the air and humming to himself. After another ten minutes he stopped moving and just laid there. A few seconds past before he exploded. "I'M SO BORED!" he yelled while flailing his arms and legs. He got up, huffing angrily, and started pacing the floor. "What to do, what to do, what to do, what...to...do…" he started saying before he stopped and looked back at the take out container from Ichiraku's. He walked over to it and looked at the little piece of paper on its side. "Hmmmm" he hummed to himself as he leaned in, looked at it closer than he had before.

It seemed like the more he looked at it...the more he understood it. He started making out meanings of the odd little lines. He furrowed his brow just looking at it and concentrating on somehow translating it.

"...Contai...Contaimen...Containment...Se...Sea...Sal? Containment Sal? Why would we wanna contain Sal? Who the heck is Sal? No, wait...Seal...Containment Seal? That makes more sense...But what does that mean?" he said to himself as he continued to look at the seal. After an hour of concentrating on the weird scribbles, that he guessed was writing, his stomach growled. He stopped studying the seal and opened the container for another bowl of his addiction. However, when he got his second bowl out he noticed another piece of paper on the inside, and a note. He took out the note, opened it, and began reading.

"Naruto,

Happy Birthday! I'm so sorry you can't celebrate it like everyone else. The villagers are just big old mean pigs! Anyway. Hokage-sama showed you how to properly channel your chakra right? Well I've got a little surprise for you. Channel some chakra into the seal on the outside of the box. Trust me, you'll definitely like what's inside of it!

-Teuchi"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and scratched his head. "Inside?" he said to himself as he looked back at the seal on the container. He shrugged and put his hand up to it. "Rrrraaahhh!" he growled as he channeled his chakra into the seal.

As soon as his chakra touched the seal it popped into smoke and Naruto jumped back in surprise. When the smoke cleared he gasped. Sitting on the table next to the container was a small scroll and a pair of green goggles. But not just any goggles, they were the goggles he had been looking at, and wanting to be able to buy for over a year! His eyes blurred with tears as he picked up the goggles and put them on his forehead. "*Sniff* Thanks old man…*sniff*" he mumbled to himself as he started to cry a little. After a little bit he wiped away his tears and picked up the scroll. On the front of the scroll there was the kanji for something called Fuinjutsu? He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, before he decided that the old man wouldn't give him anything harmful, and finally opened the scroll.

Inside the scroll it said it was all about basic containment seals and storage seals. His eyebrows rose as he saw another weird drawing like the seal on the container and took in a breath when he figured out what the scroll was.

It was an instruction manual on how to put big objects into little drawings! Or at least, that's what Naruto's six year old mind came up with. He put the scroll down and started to eat the ramen he got out before it got cold. Once he finished he took the scroll back over to his little pillow fort, and sat down to start reading it. He was so enthralled by this so-called 'Fuinjutsu' that he didn't even notice the time flying by.

. . . .

When he finally looked up from the scroll he noticed the sun was beginning to sink as his stomach growled again. He got up from his comfortable fort and opened another Ramen. He sat down to eat and noticed something.

The halls outside his apartment weren't as quiet as they were before.

Before he could figure out what was making the noise, something crashed into his door. Hitting it hard enough to bend the door inward, moving his bed slightly. He dove for his fort and hid underneath a blanket. He held his hands to his ears to drown out the curses and constant banging at his door. He started to cry and shake as he heard more and more shouts come from outside. He looked over to his window and noticed the sun had finally set. He sat there crying for what seemed like hours before the shouting and banging stopped. He waited for another hour before getting up to look out his window.

But as soon as he did, a brick crashed through it, hitting Kakutasu-chan, making it fall to the floor, shattering. He jumped back to avoid the shattered glass and ran back away from the window. Tears began to fall down his face again as he heard the shouting and cursing coming from outside. He walked over to a small part of his apartment wall. The wall looked a little off compared to the rest of it.

The piece of wall was removable and led to a escape route he made three months ago. He was shaking and started edging closer to his escape route. That was, until a voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Oh, is the little Demon scared?"

Naruto looked over to the broken window and his eyes widened as tears spilled down his cheeks from fright. There crouched on the window sill was a shinobi wearing the standard Konoha Chunin uniform. He wore a blue bandana that held his Konoha Hitai-ate. The bandana covered shoulder length grey hair and his face was set in a sneer. "Don't worry, little Demon. I'll put you out of your misery."

But before he could make a move to attack Naruto, the boy dove through his fake wall and dashed through his escape route as fast as his little legs could take him.

"Oh ho! The Demon wants to play tag? Alright then Demon, I'll play!" the shinobi said as he jumped back out the window and followed Naruto at a leisurely pace.

. . . .

Naruto's escape route took him into one of the many training grounds that surrounded the village proper. It was getting very close midnight and he could barely see where he was going. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was escaping the voice taunting him as he ran. "Yes! Run little Demon! Run as fast as you can! But it won't matter for long. Tonight, Demon, you pay for the pain you've caused! I'm going to kill you, and I'm gonna do it real slow, too. Just so you know what it feels like to suffer like we did all those years ago!" the voice yelled, finishing with a maniacal laugh that seemed to carry throughout the forest from every direction.

Naruto was starting to breath heavily, both in panic and fatigue, but was still moving as fast as he had been when he first began to run. Which was shockingly fast for a six year old.

He made it to a large clearing with a small stream and three thick wooden posts stuck into the ground. The voice sighed irritably. "That's enough running for you, this just ain't fun anymore..." it said as Naruto felt a sharp and intense pain shoot through his leg. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in pain. He fell face first into the ground and skidded forward several feet, as a result of how fast he was moving. He continued to whimper in pain as he looked down only to see a kunai sticking out of his thigh. Tears of fear and pain ran down his face as he began to hyperventilate. He started crawling away from the voice frantically, trying to ignore burning pain in his leg long enough to gain more distance.

He HAD to survive! He was going to become Hokage someday. He was going to show everyone he wasn't a demon. He still needed to hear about his family from the Old Man. He just couldn't die here!

He stopped moving when a shuriken stuck into the ground in front of him. He paled when he saw the chunin from before stand in front of him again. He started shaking again, whimpering quiet 'I'm sorry's' and 'Please don't hurt me's'.

The Chunin just got a sinister grin on his face when he heard him beg and plea. "Oh, the Demon doesn't want to die huh? Well too bad you little fucker!" The Chunin yelled as he kicked the boy while he was down, rolling him onto his back with a bloodied nose. "You should have thought of that before you attacked Konoha, and killed so many fucking people!" he roared as he pulled another kunai from his holster. He brought it up above his head and gave a crazy smile and laughed maniacally.

"NOW DIE!" The man shouted in a crazed glee. Naruto flinched, his hands coming up to protect his face as best he could, his head turning away with his eyes shut tight, waiting for the end to come.

But before his attack hit the poor child he was stopped.

"Hakke Kusho! (Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm)" a new voice suddenly shouted out, stopping the man's laughter cold. Less than a second later, the crazed Chunin was knocked away from Naruto by an invisible force and bounced, spinning rapidly across the ground painfully until he hit a tree. He slid down the tree in a boneless heap as blood ran from his head and his twisted limbs.

Naruto stared at the man with wide eyes before another person made themselves known. "Oh Kami! Are you alright!" the voice said with concern. Naruto looked to the new man, rushing towards him. He had long dark brown hair and eyes so pale they almost glowed in the dark. He had what looked to be a bandaged wrap on his forehead and looked over Naruto with a careful and concerned gaze. Naruto shakily nodded before he finally fainted from blood loss.

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When Naruto next woke up, he was in a room he didn't recognize. He slowly sat up when a pair of hands gently pushed him back into the bed. "Don't try to move yet dear. You were really hurt and need your rest." a kind feminine voice said to him. Naruto looked to the woman who was sitting next to him in confusion.

Like the man that had saved him, she had long dark brown hair and pale eyes. Her facial features were soft and slightly rounded. Also like the his savior, she had on a bandage wrap over her forehead, holding her bangs out of her face. She smiled at him and put a hand on his arm for comfort.

"Don't worry dear, you're safe now. You're in my house. My name is Hyuuga Mina. My husband Hizashi found you in the woods and said that you were hurt. You've been asleep for about seven hours now." Mina said to him in a calming and sweet tone.

Naruto nodded and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Mina-san" he said with a parched throat. Mina smiled at him and gave his arm a light squeeze.

"Why don't I go get you something to drink?" she said as she stood up and started to leave the room, sending him one last look to make sure he was really okay.

As soon as she left the room, not three seconds later, an elderly man walked in. He had short grey hair and a kind smile. He also had pale eyes, however, unlike the last two people he had met with the same eyes, the man was without the bandages on his forehead. "Hello, little one. How are you feeling?" he asked in a kind tone.

Naruto smile slightly. "I still hurt a bit, but I'm alright I guess." he responded in a still dry voice, his thoat beggining to throb from the lack of water.

The elderly man nodded slowly in response. "Well, can you tell me who your family is so I can go tell them where you've been?" he asked the blond, noticing instantly that the boy's expression took a turn as a frown crept onto his face.

"I don't have a family…" he mumbled casting his eyes away from the man in front of him in something akin to shame.

The old man took a concerned breath as he heard the boy's words. "Oh, well I am so sorry to hear that, little one. It must be painful to live alone." he said to the boy.

Naruto hesitated for only a moment before he nodded in agreement. "It really is…" he said as tears came to his eyes.

The old man raised a hand to Naruto. "Oh, don't cry little one. Say, how would you like to join our little family? We have plenty of room and would be happy to have you." he said with a smile. Naruto's eyes widened as he looked at the man.

"Really?" he breathed, hardly containing his happiness. The old man nodded with a big smile. Naruto beamed happily and as he nodded quickly. "Yes! Yes I'd like very much to join your family!" he said eagerly. The elderly man laughed jovially at Naruto's eager tone.

"Then welcome to the Hyuuga Clan. Naruto." he said to the boy. Naruto raised an eyebrow, at the man. How could he possibly know his name? Naruto hadn't ever told him it.

Naruto's eyes widened in horror as the old man's smile turned from warm and kind, to evil and sinister, saying one single phrase.

"Brand him."

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(A/N): To be continued….

Bulba Fett: Alright! I finally got around to doing this! Nothing much changed in this chapter, just some basic editing and paragraph restructuring, along with a few added lines of detail that was needed to make the flow more interesting :3 Bet some of you can already tell that the structuring is A LOT better than the original (Thank god for that, I read through the original 11 chapters and YIKES! I hate myself a little for that)

Remember to REVIEW! And like always, we'll see you next time!