Welcome to yet another rewrite of Drops. To any newcomers, this fic is gonna get gross pretty fast, and probably remain that way for the rest of the fic. So if you are easily perturbed by words on a screen, you have been warned.


"Raindrops keep falling."

Naruto's life had started on a night that he would have loved to remember.

The kyuubi's attack only laid the foundation. Thanks to Minato Namikaze-Naruto's father and the Hokage-using a seal handed down through the Uzumaki family, a seal he modified specifically to seal the kyuubi in case of an emergency, the only deaths were those of ninja who had sacrificed themselves to buy time for Minato to complete his seal. Thanks to their efforts, the kyuubi was sealed, and both Minato and Kushina survived the night, much to the kyuubi's shame.

Thanks to the quick sealing and minimal losses, Minato gained even more fame, cementing his status as a double S-rank ninja and the Village Hidden in the Leaves status as one of the strongest shinobi villages.

Things were going well, all things considered. He had secured two jinchuriki for the village and suffered only minimal losses, and while he wished they hadn't suffered any, he knew it could have been so much worse, and that the village would only become stronger for the loss. They're was just one little hitch getting in the way of a perfect recovery. Namely, one of Konoha's clans, and how much his newborn son resembled them.

His son had been born with midnight-black hair, of all things. It was entirely unexpected, considering the hair colors of his parents, and even their parents, and it was only made more baffling by the fact that his sister, Aris, had been born with their Father's blonde hair. Combine that with tensions against the Uchiha-the most prominent of the black-haired clans-and the night on which he had been born, and you got a lot of people thinking that Naruto was a bad omen.

And those people, unluckily for poor Naruto, knew quite well of the kyuubi's fate.

Minato, unwilling to keep it hidden from the villagers whom had lost loved ones to the kyuubi, publicly announced that he had sealed the kyuubi inside his children, hoping that they would be hailed as heroes or, at the very least, accepted among the populace.

If his future self could see him now, his past self would have ended up with a kunai right between his eyes.


It was yet another bad day for the six-year-old Naruto. The type that seemed to happen often, as far as he was concerned. His mother was training his sister, Aris, outside without him, once again (1), and his father was at his office, working on . . . whatever is it was he did to keep the village running.

Which, of course, led to yet another day of being both bored and lonely.

Not that he really acknowledged the latter.

Naruto was a fairly unique looking child. Pale skin, which contrasted nicely with his fairly long jet-black hair and cerulean blue eyes that seemed to glow in the dark, combined with a fairly average height and a build on the lithe side of things, led to a regal look rare even amongst the Uchihas and Hyuugas, who were famed for their noble-seeming dark hair and pale skin.

Naruto may not have been overly rambunctious like his sister was, but he was still fairly carefree (2), and he had enough of a mind to get curious. And without any way to satisfy his curiosity besides books (items for which he had gotten good at borrowing from the family library) and by asking his family questions (when they weren't busy working or training), he got bored often. And for one such as Naruto, boredom led to ideas about how to cure said boredom.

He had done everything from set up pranks around the house (which his family tried to laugh off) to simply doing some of the family's chores, like cooking (which his family did, in fact, appreciate. Minato did not, in fact, love ramen as much as Kushina and Aris did).

But he had started to tire of his old way of doing things a while ago.

It didn't help that his sister would be going to the academy soon (right after their shared birthday, in fact), and as he had ample chakra reserves (he had learned how to activate his chakra coils and measure his chakra from a few borrowed scrolls), he wanted to go as well.

His parents had told him that it was too dangerous, due to his lack of training.

He avoided pointing out who's fault that was. Even at his young age, he understood at least some social decorum, even if he didn't really care for it. Reading a lot did that for you.

And so, he had been plotting. Trying to think of a way to show his parents that he would do just fine in the shinobi academy, a place where he felt he could finally escape his endless boredom and curiosity.

The solution he eventually came to was, in his young mind, simply genius.

He would sneak out of his house, explore the village for a little while, all the while remaining out of sight, and just when they noticed he was gone, he would come right back in through the front door.

In his mind, the plan was perfect. Simple, easy enough for him to pull off, and, if done right, impressive. After all, it wasn't everyday that a child his age escaped a clan compound on their own, and with the skills he had developed pranking his family, it would be easy.

And as it turned out, today was the perfect day to enact his plan, as the female members of his family seemed to be doing Kenjutsu practice, if the noises of clashing wood he heard through the walls were any indication. A task which they both tended to get rather absorbed in. And as his father was still at his office, he wouldn't notice his disappearance either.

It was times like these that he was glad his room didn't have any windows. Nobody would notice he was gone until they came to call him for dinner.


When he had first left the house, running away from a rather organized mob of villagers hadn't been on the agenda.

He most definitely didn't plan on it being this way if it did happen.

"Ya know, you can stop chasing me now! I mean, I haven't even done anything yet!"

They, of course, weren't listening.

"Demon child! Your birth is an omen of ill times!"

"The Uchiha brought the kyuubi to Konoha, they must have! Why else would you take on their appearance, demon!? (4)"

And so on and so forth.

All the while yelling at the top of their lungs.

He was sure that even his Mother would have been proud. Maybe.

Suffice to say, things were most definitely not going according to plan.

At least they were still leagues behind him.

I'm just glad there aren't any ninja in that crowd. These villagers are way too slow to catch up to me, but a ninja might actually stand a chance.

Spotting an alleyway, he darted into it, finally having had enough of the villager's chase.

Only to have his escape brought to a halt when a ANBU, one of Konoha's famed black-ops shinobi, appeared in front of him.

Did I just jinx myself? For real?

That was the last thought he had before he was swiftly chopped in the neck, knocking him unconscious.


Upon waking up, his first thought was predictable.

Definitely jinxed myself.

Shaking off his grogginess, he attempted to take stock of his surroundings.

Now, where am I?

First things first, he decided to take a look at his arms and legs.

Looking to his hands, he wasn't entirely sure he could believe what he was seeing.

The overwhelming pain when he tried to move said hands quickly proved his situation to be quite real.

His hands had been nailed to posts on either side of him.

Looking down, he saw what his legs had been chained to.

Is this . . . a pyre?

For the first time in his life, he experienced real fear, felt it begin to creep in on his conscience. Looking around, he attempted to find answers to the questions that were beginning to filter into his brain.

Then he spotted her.

Her hair was a deep blood red, deeper than even his Mother's, and when combined with her matching red eyes and pale skin, she looked like some sort of specter, a vengeful spirit. She had her share of scars, with one over her left eye, another across her nose, and what appeared to be a burn scar covering the entirety of her right arm. If anything, her scars only added to her unique beauty, and with a well shaped face, and a decidedly feminine body, with what one could see through her ANBU uniform, he found himself entranced.

Said trance quickly evaporated once the pain reminded him where he was.

In the end, he decided against asking any questions.

The pain was far too distracting.

He needed a way out.

Looking around, he didn't like what he saw.

Concrete walls, with plain windows. Looking up, he could barely see girders above his head through the darkness.

A warehouse? For real? I feel like I'm in a freakin' horror novel!

Then the door opened, and in came the mob from earlier, carting a large cauldron.

The first he smelled was hot oil. The kind that burned well.

His fear only deepened, and quickly turned into primal terror.

His screaming, however, only began when they poured the oil over him.

It only grew louder when they set the oil ablaze.

Feeling his skin melt, only to heal, was agonizing beyond words.

After about two minutes of this, the woman was left with nothing but nausea.

She knew the punishment would be harsh, but this . . .

Turning to the leader of the mob, she attempted to intervene.

"Isn't this enough, Cardigan? There's no way he can recover from this."

No way he could be used to bring anymore harm to their village.

Cardigan was a simple looking man. Brown hair, brown eyes, and a relatively average build, the only thing truly notable about him was his eyes. They seemed lifeless, but within, their was a hint of an almost zealous purpose. This man had been out of town on a mission when the kyuubi attacked, and his wife, the love of his life, had died defending the Hokage, without him at her side. He never forgave himself, nor did he forgive the kyuubi.

Turning to her, he gave a simple response.

"He's a Jinchuriki, Rosa. Even more than that, he's one of the holders of the nine-tailed fox. A beast that is well known to be the strongest of the Bijuu."

Seeing the look of nausea on her face, he continued.

"Sit back, relax, and enjoy the light show. In the end, he may not die, but he will be far too broken for the kyuubi to use him to bring further misfortune upon the village. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Looking back towards the subject of their discussion, she noticed he had stopped screaming.

"What I want is the return of my family. That isn't going to happen. And so, in the end, I have to settle for maiming the host of the beast who did it."

But was it really the right thing to do?

Cardigan simply nodded.

"That's true for all of us. If we're lucky, once the Hokage catches wind of this, he will send us to be with our loved ones. We will be free of our suffering, at long last."

Unbeknownst to all of them, the subject of their ire's mind had broken a while ago, and since then, he had been listening to their every word. A smile stretched upon his face.

Naruto had just discovered the perfect way to extract just a teensy bit of vengeance.

Forgiveness.


The Hokage and his wife were not pleased when they were informed of what had happened under their watch.

The walk through the halls of the hospital was tense, silence filling the air. The nurse leading them through the halls didn't know what to make of it. Minato seemed both angry and worried. Kushina . . .

She looked conflicted.

Before Rosa could ponder this further, they were all intercepted by the head doctor, Kurihara Yosuke.

Brown hair roughly tied into a ponytail, combined with a face covered with the stress lines that only working in a ninja hospital could provide, it was nonetheless easy to see Kurihara had once been a beautiful woman. One with a well shaped face, chocolate eyes, a curvy body, and lightly tanned skin. At forty years old, she hid her age remarkably well.

"Minato-san, Kushina-san." She seemed pissed. At what, they couldn't tell.

Probably for the best they didn't realize her anger was directed at them, or more specifically, their negligence.

"How is he?" Minato wasted no time.

Kurihara let out a sigh, deciding to put her anger aside for the moment. She had a job to do.

"Physically, he's going to be fine. More than fine, actually. Not even going to be any physical scarring." Kurihara replied. The doctors had been truly surprised when his wounds healed faster than they could patch them up. She was just relieved to see that the kyuubi was working so hard. Gave her hope that there was some good in that fox after all.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Minato caught on to something she had said. "More than fine?" That piqued Minato's interest.

"Yup. As you know, the seal is designed to allow the kyuubi to turn its' chakra into a sort of protective force. Healing wounds, blocking out discomfort, and so on and so forth. The kyuubi, for one reason or another, decided that the best way to protect its' host was to filter the chakra into reshaping his body. More specifically, super-charging his growth hormones and changing his muscles. He's grown five inches from his original height of three feet seven inches, and while his growth has slowed down, his muscles still appear to be undergoing some kind of change." Kurihara explained.

"What kind? Is it harmful?" Minato asked.

Kurihara shook her head.

"Actually, they appear to be becoming more malleable, as in, more receptive to training. They also seem to be becoming . . . denser, for lack of a better term. We don't know for sure, but it seems like his muscles will be able to hold more strength in a smaller area than a normal human. In other words, he may well remain lithe his whole life, and still be able to lift something twice his size without even using his chakra."

"That's . . . good news? With an advantage like that, it may be safe to enroll him into the academy. What about his . . . mental state?" Minato asked.

Kushina remained silent.

Here, Kurihara released yet another sigh.

"As he hasn't woken up yet, probably due to his growth and possibly the trauma, we can't say for sure. With what those . . . animals did to him, however, he may well be scarred for life."

At this, the nurse decided it was time to make her escape.

"Only thing we know for sure is . . . well, you'll see for yourself."

Casting a glance at Kushina, Minato pondered what she meant.

He didn't have to wonder long.

Entering his room, they almost didn't recognize him.

With his larger muscles and increased height, he didn't look at all like he did that morning.

When they finally did notice him (he was the only patient in the room), they were shocked.

The ends of his hair had turned stark white, a permanent reminder of what had happened that day.


(1) Kushina, as I'll go into next chapter, wasn't comfortable with Naruto. Minato, seeing how Kushina kept him locked in the house, figured she was just trying to protect him, and did nothing about it.

(2) Naruto, being as sheltered as he was, with his only contact with the outside world being through books (of which some were, admittedly, pretty dark), and his family, he could either look on the bright side or become moody and depressed. He chose the former.

(3) About enough to make a thousand shadow clones. Not quite as much as his sister, but still far more than anyone would expect from a child his age.

(4) With Aris being so loved, some of the villagers quickly began to think that the kyuubi attacked to cleanse the village of the Uchiha. Since Naruto is the only "Uchiha" outside of the protection of their district besides the ninja, they quickly took to hating him. As for those who still blamed the kyuubi, they also directed their hatred towards Naruto, believing he inherited its' evil.


Rewrite, done. Still gruesome.