AN: Another new one coming at ya, ladies and gents! Another idea that's been on my backburner for a long time and one of the few non-crossover ideas I have stored up! This should be the last of the ideas I have for now, so I should be back to my regular schedule, so fret not, as I have not abandoned any of my other stories! As always, kiddies, no flames!

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto; all rights go to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 1: The Madness of a Lost Fox

"Naruto-kun!" Ayame-nee-chan's voice rang in my ears. "Happy birthday!"

I look up at her and Teuchi-jiji, a bright smile plastered to my face, muttering a halfhearted 'thank you' as I dig into the special recipe miso ramen that they only made for me on my birthday.

It was heavenly.

It was delicious.

It was…

Gone.

The bowl shattered on the floor of the small establishment. I was pulled backwards out of my stool, into a waiting crowd, all civilians and a few Shinobi leading the whole pack. Looking back, I can now safely label them as three Chuunin, a Jounin and a lone ANBU, who was the ring leader.

"Sandaime-sama has explicitly stated that he shouldn't be harmed…" Mused the ANBU leader. "But what evidence would he have anyway? This freak can heal from damn near anything!"

I try to squirm, I try to fight, but there's only so much an eight year old boy can do against a fully trained and war-hardened Jounin. But I still persisted. I must have gotten in a crotch shot at some point, because the bastard let me go and I would have bolted had two of the Chuunin not gotten ahold of me.

Pain. Searing pain filled my gut as I felt two kunai being pushed further and further into my abdomen, followed by blissful unconsciousness as the ANBU all but caved my face in with a straight kick. I woke up in a dumpster in an alley somewhere far off from Ichiraku's where they had assaulted me. In hindsight, the entire group was drunk. The ten or so people there stunk the entire place up with the stench of sake, which explained their harebrained idea to assault me, knowing that there'd be witnesses. It was brought forward to Sarutobi-jiji, who stripped the Chuunin and Jounin of their ranks and positions and sent them to a Shinobi prison. The five other civilians went "missing" that very same day… yet the ANBU ring leader was left untouched because the fool of an old man couldn't accept the notion of his ANBU being corrupt.

Of course, it was all thanks to the eyewitness reports of Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-nee-san, but I didn't learn that until much later. This was the start of it all, I suppose. My descent into sweet, delicious madness began here. See, because the ANBU ring leader got off with not even a slap on the wrist, he decided to pay back the witnesses, as he had access to the reports. This was while I was at the Academy for the day…

"He's quiet today…" Muttered one of the students.

"Good." Sighed another. "I don't think I could handle even hearing his voice today."

"He dreams of becoming Hokage!" A girl giggled. "What a joke!"

"A dead last like him can't even become a Genin, much less Hokage!"

"QUIET DOWN!" Yelled one Umino Iruka while using his patented Big Head Jutsu. Once the comically large head returned to normal size, he cleared his throat and spared a woeful glance up at the back corner of the room, to the normally hyperactive bundle of blonde energy that was Uzumaki Naruto.

He had his head down, looking out of the window he was seated next to, not even paying attention to a thing the young scarred Chuunin was saying. Iruka couldn't even begin to suspect what was going on, but he decided to let the little blonde knucklehead work through it on his own. Little did he know that he was making the biggest mistake of his life.

"They all hate you." A voice began echoing within the boy's head. "They all hold nothing but contempt for you. They all wish you were dead…"

'I know…' Naruto seemed to physically curl into himself as the voice pressed on.

"Let's show them…" The voice seemed to smile. "They call us 'demon', they call us 'monster'… let's show them a real demon!"

'No…' Naruto clenched his eyes shut. 'That's what they want. They want a reason to get rid of me…'

"How can they get rid of you if they're all dead?" The voice chuckled darkly. "All you have to do is surrender yourself to your desires…"

Iruka took another glance up to the corner of the room and he saw now that Naruto was on the verge of tears. He was about to call upon the boy to answer a question, but the door to his classroom was opened and one of his Chuunin friends motioned for him to step out for a moment.

"Mizuki-sensei." Iruka called out to his assistant, who perked up at his name being called. "Could you cover for me while I step out?"

"Of course, Iruka-sensei." Mizuki smiled as he stepped to the head of the room as Iruka stepped out. With a glance up at the vulnerable demon, he inwardly smirked. "Alright, since Iruka-sensei's stepped out, how about we do something actually fun?"

"What's that, Mizuki-sensei?" Asked one Haruno Sakura.

"A round of sparring, just to get you guys out of the classroom!" Mizuki couldn't help but smile at the group of kids cheering at his suggestion, and even before he could instruct them to meet up outside, they all were already rushing for the door, with one Uchiha Sasuke indifferently leading the way and the fox brat the last in line.

As they all lined up on the border of the sparring circle, Mizuki stepped into the very center of the circle and faced his students. "To get things started off…" He paused to look over this class and eyed Sasuke first. "Uchiha-san, care to start us off?"

Shrugging, Sasuke stepped into the circle, being cheered on by the entire female populace of the classes that were out and about with them.

"Uzumaki-san!" Mizuki called out to Naruto, who flinched at his name being called. "Help Sasuke-san start us off, if you would!"

In contrast to Sasuke, Naruto either got complete silence or was booed and had insults hurled at him, which only stopped when Mizuki held up his hands for silence. "You two know the rules." He regarded his two young charges. "Give us a good show!"

After Mizuki stepped back, Sasuke and Naruto seemed to go into a bit of a stare down, with neither one moving. Mizuki, in particular, was confused by this. Were they measuring each other up?

As Sasuke stared at the blonde in front of him, memories of that night from a year ago began to resurface. He knew the look in Naruto's eyes, it was not unlike the look he had after the Massacre, which led to the question of what's happened to the boy to break him Usually, he'd be bouncing off the walls and demanding for a match, but not today… something was off, and young Sasuke might be, but he knew enough to trust his instincts.

"Mizuki-sensei…" Sasuke looked over to his sensei. "I forfeit." Yes, it was a blow to his pride and yes, this was making him look bad, but Sasuke honestly felt for the kid in front of him… possibly because he reminded him of himself just a short year ago.

'Thank you, Sasuke!' Naruto mentally beamed at the Uchiha, despite them both now being booed.

"You're not allowed!" Mizuki barked. "This is an educational spar, so make the Seal of Confrontation and get to fighting!"

He didn't know why he did it, but Sasuke, upon being berated by his Sensei, grabbed Naruto by the arm and sprinted off for the exit, the now very surprised Uzumaki trailing slightly behind him as they ran through the halls of the Academy, out the front door and got lost within the streets of Konoha. They ran for what felt like hours, but was in reality only a few sparse minutes until they made it through the gates of the Uchiha District and into Sasuke's house.

As Naruto doubled over with his hands on his knees as he tried to regain his breath and Sasuke leaned back first against the front door he just closed, the latter eyed the former critically.

"What's up with you today, dobe?" Sasuke asked after a few more breaths. "You're not your usual loud, obnoxious and annoying self."

"That… bothers you?" Naruto asked as he stood to his full height.

"When the only praise you get is from a bunch of girls and old people who are only interested in your family name, you tend to get used to the odd friendships here and there…" Sasuke scoffed, then furrowed his brow when he realized he confessed something he didn't want to.

"F-Friend?" Naruto was stunned. "You… actually consider me a friend?"

"W-Well…" The Uchiha stammered. "I… don't exactly have that many. And since what happened…" He stopped himself from going any further, as the memories were starting to return.

"We both've gotten the shorter end of the stick…" Naruto nodded.

"What's happened to you?" Sasuke asked in curiosity.

The conversation then moved into the living room of the Uchiha Estate as Naruto went into detail about what had recently happened, as well as how he'd been treated growing up. It was a long conversation that ended with Sasuke sitting on the edge of his chair, bug eyed and jaw solidly on the floor.

"By Kami…" The Uchiha breathed. "Naruto… I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Naruto sighed as he shook his head. "I should be the one that's saying that to you. I know about the Massacre, I know you've been through more than I have."

"That doesn't matter!" Sasuke slammed his fist down onto the arm of his chair. "What matters is that we've been through similar situations! We need to stick together, look out for one another!"

"The Village wouldn't accept their rising star to be seen with the Demon." Naruto shook his head once again.

"I don't care!" Sasuke declared as he shot to his feet. "It's just us, looking out for one another, us against the world if need be! This world has taken just about everything from the both of us, I say we fight back!"

"Where's this determination coming from, Sasuke?" The blonde asked, eyes wide at what he was hearing and from who.

"I'm just sick of waiting around for something bad to happen again!" Sasuke growled. "I'm tired of sitting around being helpless! I'm—"

A sudden growl from both of their stomachs cut the rousing speech short. "Very hungry, apparently." Naruto managed a smile and a short laugh at his new friend's expense.

"S-Shut up!" Sasuke barked.

"Lucky for you, I know a place that makes some killer ramen!" He shot to his feet and marched towards the door while dragging the Uchiha behind him.

"I don't even like ramen!" Sasuke protested.

"You will after today!" Naruto declared as they began their second march through the village.

It took no time at all for Naruto to drag Sasuke straight to Ichiraku's, and when they arrived, he lightly pouted when he saw that they were closed. It'd make sense, considering what had happened, but he was still a bit put off.

"Well, they're closed." Sasuke huffed. "Maybe we can go and get some actual food now!"

"Let's at least go and check on them!" Naruto fired at his new friend as they made their way up the stairs of the overhead apartment that Teuchi and Ayame lived in. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Naruto lifted up the welcoming mat and retrieved the spare key they had and slid it into the lock. "Hopefully they can squeeze us in for at least a couple of bowls!"

"Whatever." Sasuke sighed.

As the door opened, both kids were treated to the horror that lay within. Objects were strewn about, glass and pictures were broken, tables were flipped on end, chairs were toppled over and near the far side of the room was…

"Teuchi-jiji!" Naruto screamed out in horror upon seeing the man slumped against the wall with a gaping and still bleeding slash across his chest.

"N-Naruto…" Sasuke gulped, the memories of the Massacre now flashing through his head full force. "H-He's dead…"

"Ayame-nee!" Naruto ignored the Uchiha beside him and ran into the apartment. "Ayame-nee!"

Upon reaching her bedroom door, Naruto all but broke it off its hinges and immediately froze upon what he saw. Laid upon her bed was Ayame, the yukata she slept in torn and rent asunder, mostly at the chest and waist, her breasts exposed to the air, her legs spread open… and a slit throat with her eyes open, glaring into his own cerulean orbs. Standing to the side of the bed was the ANBU from before, now finished redressing himself after having his fun.

"And the demon brat returns…" He rounded upon the boy with a hand upon the ninjato sheathed upon his back. "I'll let you join your whore here in death, if you like."

"Naruto!" Sasuke came racing in, unaware of the danger he was now in, or of what he was about to see. "Naru…" The name died in his mouth when he rounded upon the scene.

"And the last of the traitorous Uchiha as well?" The ANBU stifled a laugh. "Today's my lucky day. I'll kill the demon and finish what Itachi started in one fell swoop!"

As the ANBU charged with his now unsheathed ninjato, a searing pain filled his chest for a fraction of a second before he fell to his knees and felt the ninjato leave his grip. Looking down, he saw a hole in his abdomen that had been burned clean through, and as he looked up, he saw glowing red eyed glowering at him before his own ninjato was brought down upon and through his neck, ending his life via decapitation.

"Naru… to?" Sasuke softly called out to his friend.

"Ahhh…" An inhuman voice sighed. "Free at last…" This was NOT Naruto's voice.

"Naruto?" Sasuke called out again, this time louder.

"The ANBU was right about one thing, Uchiha…" Naruto turned to face him just as a red substance began to bubble out of his body, then took the shape of a fox, complete with three tails swishing randomly behind him, with a fourth now sprouting. "The Massacre isn't nearly over… your goddamned clan has been a thorn in my side for a very long time…" As Naruto opened his eyes, blood red began to bleed back into them once again as a feral smirk settled into place. "And now I have the opportunity I've been waiting for!" He cackled. "Now be a good Ningen (Human) and DIE!"

(With Hiruzen: Same time)

He knew that feeling, he knew that Chakra signature. As soon as the wholesome negativity of it all began to seep into the Village, he knew right away what was going on. As Hiruzen rose to his full height, he snapped his fingers together and his personal ANBU squad immediately dropped out of their invisibility Genjutsu and took a knee.

"Gather what forces you can and put the village on alert." He ordered. "The Kyuubi's been released.

"Hai!" The Captain of the group sounded her compliance before she and her team disappeared to do his bidding.

No sooner did an explosion of Chakra rock the village to its foundations, and once Hiruzen saw where it came from, he froze. He could only speculate what had happened to the Ichiraku family, but he now knew that whatever happened was the catalyst for the Kyuubi to take control. Shedding his robes, Hiruzen unsealed his helmet to complete his armor's look and readied Enma as explosion after explosion rocked the village one after another. He was coming, and Hiruzen would be damned if he let a Bijuu get the better of him. He took in a breath and readied himself for battle… until he saw the path of explosions take a turn for the Academy.

"NO!" He exclaimed as he all but dove out of his window and began a hard sprint to said place.

He would arrive too late. He could already see the smoke in the distance, he could hear the screams… and when he arrived, he saw the carnage for what it was. Bodies of Shinobi and students everywhere, the entire place on fire with more people stuck inside… and the monster itself in the middle of the courtyard, covered head to toe in the blood of the Shinobi, villagers and students, the countless hundreds of people he had already killed, dripping off of him slowly as he smirked and lifted the ninjato he was holding up and licked a bit of the blood off of it.

"My first taste of Ningen blood in just over eight years…" A dark chuckle escaped him. "And how are you, jiji? Haven't died of old age yet, I see." One of his now seven tails swished playfully behind him, as if mocking him.

"Let Naruto-kun go, monster…" Hiruzen snarled as he readied Enma. "NOW!"

"The kit wanted this, old man." The Kyuubi smirked through Naruto's body. "That Ichiraku girl he was fond of got raped and killed by one of your ANBU, so he all but begged me to kill the fucker… so I did!" A serious look then settled onto Naruto's face, red eyed now lit with a fire. "I'm taking better care of him than you ever did. He's under my protection now, he's under my guidance now…" In an instant, he had crossed the few odd meters between them and reappeared behind the aged Hokage, ninjato poised. "And you will NEVER have him back!"

Quickly turning and parrying the ninjato upwards, Hiruzen then slammed his left hand into Naruto's abdomen, where his seal was. "Gogyo Fuin (Five Elements Seal)!"

All was silent, save for the crackling of the fire and the screams of the people still inside the Academy… yet Naruto stood still. The now eight tails faded away, his eyes returned to their natural blue, he dropped the ninjato and collapsed to the ground in a heap, tears pouring out of his eyes the entire time.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun…" Hiruzen apologized, for he knew what had to happen next. Too many people had died; too many people had seen him in his Version 1 form. The people would scream for some sort of retaliation. He pushed such thoughts aside as his ANBU team reappeared at the head of a rather sizeable force of Jounin. "The situation has been taken care of." He called out to the group. "Take our Jinchuuriki and bind him. Hold him until we're ready to render judgment."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." A few of the Jounin stepped up and collected the boy.

"The rest of you, start reporting in the casualties and collecting bodies." As he spoke, a few other Jounin and some Chuunin began putting out the fires with some Suiton Jutsu and began evacuating the Academy. "I want the reports on my desk as soon as possible." He tried to ignore the terrified looks on the faces of the survivors who were being led out one by one "You have your orders." He finished with a sigh.

As the group began to get to work, Hiruzen ran a weary hand down his face, the thoughts of what had to happen running through his head again. He'd have to fight tooth and nail to avoid an execution, but he'd fight that fight if only to save his surrogate grandson's life by giving him life imprisonment. He was still their Jinchuuriki, after all, so he still had a use.

(Some time later: Council Chambers)

"… Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee, Higurashi Tenten, Akimichi Chouji, Aburame Shino…" One Shikaku Nara continued reading off the casualty list from who died in the attack on the Academy. "Umino Iruka, Hirako Mizuki and countless others that we couldn't identify." He put the list down and sighed. "The rest have undoubtedly been scarred for life at what they witnessed. I'd recommend full psyche evaluations for the survivors."

"And what about Uchiha Sasuke?" Asked Danzo as he shifted in his seat. "Have we identified his body?"

"Uchiha Sasuke is also confirmed dead." Shikaku sighed wearily once again. His body was identified along with what remained of Ichiraku Teuchi and Ayame, along with an ANBU agent."

"What remained?" Danzo pressed.

"An explosion of heat and Chakra rendered that entire district a burned out husk, as that was where the Kyuubi was freed." The ANBU Commander noted.

"We can't ignore this!" Koharu raged. "The Uzumaki boy lost control and hundreds died!"

"We need a new Jinchuuriki." Homura agreed with his colleague. "Preferably someone more forthcoming to our advice, someone more malleable and controllable."

"Out of the question!" Hiruzen declared. "Naruto-kun will surely be punished, make no mistake, but he shall not pay with his life!"

"He still has uses as our Jinchuuriki, it's true…" Danzo hummed. "Give him to me, Hiruzen, I'll ensure that this never happens again."

"He won't be executed, nor will he be made an emotionless slave!" Hiruzen flared his Chakra to make a point.

"You're too close to the boy, Hiruzen." Koharu shook her head. "Your emotions are getting in the way of the rational course of action."

"Tread carefully, Councilor." The wrath of the God of Shinobi now fell upon its next victim. "This is not a democracy. What I say goes, and you will remember who is Hokage. You all will." His gaze now fell onto the Council as a whole. "Am I perfectly clear?"

"… Perfectly, Hokage-sama." Danzo suppressed a growl.

"Now, he shall be imprisoned for life." Hiruzen reasoned as he toned down his temper. "We have a cell that's below the village that we haven't had to use since Hashirama-sensei imprisoned the Kyuubi within it. We put him in that cell and fabricate a story for the villagers saying that he's been killed and that the Kyuubi is now no more."

"And we bring him up whenever we need to use him." Danzo nodded. I agree to this plan."

"As do I." Homura also nodded.

"Dragon-san, Shikaku-san?" Koharu looked to the ANBU and Jounin Commanders respectively.

"… We agree also." Dragon inclined his head in an acquiescing bow after he and Shikaku shared a look.

"Then it's decided." Hiruzen nodded as well. "Take him down there immediately."

(An unspecified time later)

Dark. It was always dark down in his hole. He didn't mind, the darkness didn't scare him. He had been down here for Kami knows how long, so he had gotten used to it. Not one minute went by that he didn't think about what he had done… and he didn't care. He had been imprisoned for it in this abyss, yet he didn't care. Every single one of them deserved it as far as he was concerned. They broke him, so he broke them back, an eye for an eye.

He didn't know how long it had been since he saw the surface or the sunlight, and he didn't care. He was perfectly content to wait until he got to be let off the leash once again. They had told him right before locking him in his hole that he was now nothing more than a glorified attack dog and that they'd bring him up as needed when Konoha needed something or someone killed or destroyed.

Like hell he'd ever listen to them.

As he leaned back against a wall, Naruto sighed in boredom. This was usually when they'd bring him something to eat and drink, but they were late today.

"Oi!" He called out to the darkness. "Bring me my food, I'm starving over here!"

The sound of the barred cell doors clinking open was his answer, yet he didn't smell food… he smelled blood. A shiver went down his spine at the coppery scent and he waited in anticipation for whoever it was that killed his guards to show themselves.

Bright yellow eyes then peered at him though the darkness and he responded in kind by opening his eyes to peer back at the yellow with his glowing blue slit-pupiled eyes that soon turned red.

"Magnificent." A voice called out to him. "I can feel the power radiating off of you, young Uzumaki."

"Kurama-nii says that he recognizes you." Naruto spoke with a smirk. "Hebi Sannin (Snake Sannin) Orochimaru…"

"It's such a shame that these Konoha wretches are letting you waste away down here, Naruto-kun." Orochimaru returned the smirk with his own.

"Oh, if only something could be done about that…" Naruto rose to his feet and innocently began walking towards the man. "What's this, my cell door is open? How did that happen, I wonder?"

"Wonder of wonders…" Orochimaru chuckled as he joined the boy in walking towards the exit.

"Now nothing's stopping me from just walking out…" His smirk grew feral. "Perfect."

"You must have been longing to see the sun again, Naruto-kun… well, now's your chance." Orochimaru's smirk also grew as they exited the cell together and began riding the elevator up to the surface.

"I've been longing to stretch my legs again." Naruto shook his head as he stared up to the top of the shaft. "I must thank you for giving me this opportunity."

"You're very welcome." Again, the snake chuckled. "Just give me a good show on our way out."

As the elevator came to a stop at the top, Naruto began to cackle as he sprang into action, Orochimaru, however, began to sink into the ground so as to not be spotted during Naruto's now renewed massacre of the relief force who just showed up.

As the dying screams began to be silenced one by one, Naruto kicked open the doors leading into the reception area of his prison and he had to shield his eyes from the light of the setting sun. Now being re-acclimated to the sun after a few moments, Naruto took in a lung full of fresh air and smirked victoriously.

The Mad Fox was free.

AN: And done! What do you guys think? As I stated before, this one's been on the backburner for a long time, so I figured I'd release the first chapter to see how you guys like it. Personally, this is probably gonna be one of my favorites to write, but I wanna see how you guys have received it!

Now, onto the pairing issue. Naruto's insane, he's consumed by madness and has been influenced by Kurama for the duration of his imprisonment and he'll be an Otogakure Shinobi eventually. Who would be a good match? Fair warning, there's gonna be a harem of around three to five girls, so we got some room to work with. If I had to go with my gut, I'd say Tayuya as a definite choice, maybe even Kin, but what do you guys think? Give me good reasons for your choice of girl(s)!

This is ZeroDivisionRaijin, signing off!