Naruto: Jinchuuriki no Taito

by Aero'Phoenix

At a young age, Naruto had acknowledged that life as an orphan would be terrible, he just hadn't expected to have most of his dreams crushed. Now 14 and holding onto his last thread of hope, Naruto finds himself one night having a nightmare... about a demon fox. AU.

Naruto: Jinchuuriki no Taito

By: Aero'Phoenix

...Chapter One...

. . .

He lay there, finally awakened, conscious and yet strangely wondering why?

His nostrils flared as it sucked in a deep breath, unintentionally causing a powerful gush of winds to rise and rush back towards his form.

"Finally... I awake." His loud booming voice, reminded himself, sensing the familiar emptiness around him, revelling in it, as his bloodshot crimson eyes snapped open. They went into focus, as he stared out into what revealed to be a mass and infinitely void of space, completely filled with darkness.

There was no landscape to stand on, not even the slightest hint of terrain, just the way he'd grown to hate it.

Feeling a sudden strain in the lower back of his neck start to irritate and cause discomfort, the entity went to craning his head to the side before shifted into a different angle, crouching down to tense his back in an arch, letting out an animalistic howl.

His orange fur shook as his chakra slowly started to coat his entire body, warming it as he had intended before letting it burst out around him violently, as it illuminated his form along with the vast space surrounding it, in a eerie glow of dark, murky orange.

Large, razor-sharp fangs, that looked like they could chew through the largest of skyscrapers, gleamed as the entity growled fiercely. He was finally awake, long since dormant in what he assumed was the vessel known as Uzumaki Naruto.

But it felt wrong, no... It felt different. It was as if the young Shinobi's chakra had changed in some way, it was indistinct, faint but it was there.

"Something's changed." His eyes narrowed. "This isn't the same brat... that stood up to me for finally claimed my power during The Fourth-" His eyes widened, memories coming back in a rush of crystal clear images and sounds.

"Hey, stupid fox!" Yelled a blond boy, spotting the familiar wool-clothed, blue headband with the metal-plated insignia of Konhanagakure's leaf symbol wrapped around his forehead, "Your in my body! So that means you're going to have to start paying rent by lending me your chakra!"

That had been his first encounter with the boy, only then remembering that they were plummeting down a large crack in the earth's terrain thanks to that damned Sannin.

Another image came past...

He recalled his vessel calling upon his energy, in the midst of an intense battle, against a bandaged boy with eyes paler than the azure moon. He remembered letting Naruto draw upon a large amount of his chakra, which also surprised him considering that the boy was able to let such a large quantity, into his circulation system which allowed the chakra to heal and sustain his wounds.

The entity blinked, all nine of his tails that were rumoured at that time to cause devastating winds and bring about fearsome tsunamis, wiggled behind him as he contemplated on what led to his recent slumber.

And then something hit him, how was it that he was able to slumber if the blond had successfully infused his entire being with him in order to end The Fourth Great War?

For him to have slumbered would only mean the unthinkable...

His eyes widened once again in surprise, the dreaded thought being confirmed by the coincidental memories as he let out an anguished whisper of his name.

"Naruto..."

Prologue

It had been a long day for Umino Iruka and quite frankly, he was tired.

In the long run, specifically in his line of work, he could without a doubt say that he loved his job as a teacher yet there were just some 'aspects' that couldn't be dealt with, when coming to handling certain students.

Mentally, if he could make a list of the type of problems he'd come across when having to deal with scholars, it would most likely be written out on a sheet of paper, much like this.

Students have always shown cases of irresponsibility when organizing their work ethic for the successful completion of a semester, which still, amazingly, annoyed him greatly, as in most cases it would lead to assignments being unattended or poorly worked on.

Check.

Particular individuals would more or less go to extremes in order to receive attention from their peers, a fact he'd seen time and time again, which undoubtedly led to juvenile activities such as property damage, disregard for lessons and a fuelled resilience to higher authorities, such as the staff, on lectures that told of bettering themselves at their work for a brighter future.

Check.

Certain individuals, rarely by choice, would be distant from the entire group of the class they were assigned to, often because of a lack of social skills in terms of interacting with the other pupils, often being caught seated at the back each of their classes and staring off into the distance instead of paying attention to the lesson at hand.

Check.

And as time would come to prove, much to his already agitated annoyance, that

Naruto, unfortunately, was one of those students.

'And a hell of a lot more' Iruka thought, quite bitterly.

Currently, Iruka being asked by the Principal, was to supervise today's detention session. Because when your boss required something from you, you couldn't exactly decline, since there was never really a choice of whether you wanted to, in the first place, to begin with.

What seemed to annoy him even more, was that the very 'problems' he'd been assigned to watch over for the past hour, didn't seem to care much for the predicament they were in.

Which made him wonder how exactly his job had suddenly turned into one highly frustrating game of capture and lecture the delinquents.

But, he'd assured himself, time and time again that, this was his job and there was a reason he was so damn good at it. He'd been doing it for years now and Earth be damned if he thought of letting these kids go down the same path he did.

See, it was a well known fact that Naruto, despite his consistency to fail at everything ever taught to him at school, was Iruka's most favourite student.

A fact that no one ever seem to catch on to when it came to wondering why?

In truth, it seemed very complicated in the eyes of many of his colleagues and pupil alike, especially when it came down to thinking of his character as a whole, was different compared to the young blond from the get go.

Naruto was, in more or less humble terms, brass, noisy and had never seem to have a grasp on the concept of manners whilst Iruka, in all his years of work, was polite, composed to a upstanding extent and had always showed respect to all who crossed paths with him, even those few that didn't deserve it.

Completely different, the general public would say as they referred to the two.

Yet Iruka knew, oh so well, that he and the juvenile fishcake shared one thing in common that still affected him to this very day and was probably the foundation of how he'd started to place value into Naruto.

It was something that would lead to him slipping back to memories those dark days, memories of eating off left over portions of finished dinners at the orphanage or fighting for blood for just that one bill that brought a sense of ownership or how in the darkness of that cruel woman's room, the whip seemed to always cackle as it pierced repeatedly through the thin layer of skin on his back on a cold night, or even how the lonely silent nights would cause tears to shed in a his quiet room as it made him realize how devoid of the life he lived... was, memories that would send the coldest of chills rushing down his spine.

It wasn't the fact that they were orphans, him and Naruto, that caught the interest of Iruka. It revolved around the fact that even now, in this economic system of making profit and having the average person settle for below average dreams in the cold and unforgiving city they lived in, seeing as most were left without a choice but to simply survive.

It was that they were both left to do it...

Alone

Acknowledging, only now, how it saddened him each time. To think of the young boy and all the problems he went through on a day to day basis, yet in a city such as theirs, cases like Naruto weren't that uncommon.

It was just his bad luck, he bemused, as cruel and as simple as the sad truth sounded in his mind, once he came down from his momentary trance, that he'd inherit such a diverse group of students, so diverse that without even having to try, they'd end up sticking out like sore thumbs.

He flipped through another page of his requested assignment, recalling quite clearly, how he informed all of his students to hand in on time and also take the assignment seriously because it was required for their grade in the not so far future. Marking them as he went through, he wondered why was it that a certain boy never seemed to take them seriously.

'Honestly, it's been three months... Yet he still hasn't changed' He graded the infamous blond's second portion of the history assignment, finding his poorly conceived cover up on why Konohakagure's infrastructure thrived compared to most cities villages in the long lost years of ancient China, to be quite pathetic. 'Damnit Naruto that was an easy one.'

He paused in mid-read, to look up at the students left in his care for the remainder of his now extended day and couldn't help but frown at what he saw.

A pineapple raven-haired boy who wore the signature white short-sleeved button up shirt, with the school's insignia sewed on the chest pocket of the shirts right and grey trousers that were wrinkled due to most probably not being ironed occasionally, was snoring lightly as he shifted a bit in search of comfort before finally going rigid and then relaxing...

On his school desk

Iruka sighed at the sight of Shikamaru Nara, turning his gaze away from the young farm boy, towards his other student, who also wore the same uniform as Shikamaru, have his cheek resting sluggishly on his palm whilst scribbling down something indiscreet on the desk as far as the young teacher was concerned.

Ignoring how much of a mess his brown hair was or how his toothy fangs always seem to stick out, he directed his gaze towards the back of the class towards the main cause of this detention session, spotting the familiar pattern of wild blond hair, accompanied by the calm sea blue eyes, dressed in the same uniform as the others with the exception of a Obsidian, strangely short-sleeved, Blazer covering his equally short-sleeved shirt, of a boy, who's appearance, seemed to stick out compared to the rest of what was going on in the class.

'Naruto...' Iruka breathed in deeply, hoping to calm the rage boiling down inside him from watching a boy with such vast potential, throw it all away for reasons he wouldn't even care to deliberate on whenever requested upon. 'I ask myself for the hundredth time again... What does it take to get that empty head of yours into paying attention to your work?'

The very blond Iruka's ill tempered thoughts were on, had his legs out, and crossed on the school's wooden desk whilst having his fingers interlaced at the back of his head as he seemed to ponder on something, whilst staring out the window. Naruto's lips formed a thin line as his brows slightly furrowed, as he seemed to be engrossed with something up in the sky.

Iruka took a moment to glare at the boy, waiting impatiently for him to pick up on it before finally letting out a defeated sigh and turned back to his desk's numerous sheets, slightly scattered across.

He then noticed the report he had gotten four hours ago, and lifted it from the slightly disorganized mess to take a closer look on what exactly had happened to get these children into such a predicament.

Student Name: Uzumaki Naruto

Grade: 8C

Assessment of Incident: Student was caught in a brawl just outside the school's entrance during First period. Reports confirmed that he had gone against three seniors and fractured a rib of one Taka Shinjiro, broken the nose of two, Kohana Shinzo and Mahikara Jin. Uzumaki had suffered only a broken nose whilst also spotting a large bruise on his right shoulder.

Time of Incident: 8:15

Date of Incident: 11/March/2010

Level of Offence: Level 3

Iruka frowned, slightly surprised that Naruto seemed so calm about things, even more so on how much damage he'd seem to cause in a three on one handicap, much less against seniors. He picked up a second sheet before thoroughly reading its contents.

Student Name: Nara Shikamaru

Grade: 8C

Assessment of Incident: Student has been consistently late for the First period of his classes for over two weeks straight. When asked if there was a personal problem revolving around his inconsistency with the school's time schedule, said student replied saying that the only problem was that the sun came out too early.

Date of Incident: 4-15/March/2010

Level of Offence: Level 1

Still carrying his frown as his hands searched for the last of the trio's file, Iruka mused that he wasn't all that surprised at the young Nara's tenacity when coming to making excuses, as he looked up to the three boys in suspicion, narrowing his eyes at the forced expressions of boredom on their faces. He reluctantly looked back to the sheet of paper he'd been searching for, proceeding to read on.

Student Name: Inuzuka Kiba

Grade: 8C

Assessment of Incident: Student was caught cheating during a formal test, having hidden a memorandum of the answers inside his trousers, Inuzuka was caught red handed by the teacher assigned to monitor and brought forth to the front of the class before being sent to the office to receive punishment permitted only by Ms. Inuzuka.

Time of Incident: 12:15

Date of Incident: 15/March/2010

Level of Offence: Level 3

Iruka sighed yet again, the son of the critically acclaimed veteran, as stupid as that sounded to him, was an idiot when it came to calculating formulas for a math quiz, which bothered him as he was pretty sure strategies needed carefully worked out calculations which required much like everything else in the world, mathematics.

He wondered which bothered him more. That they were snoring, scribbling and looking out of the window in silence or that they all simultaneously didn't seem to give a damn. 'What am I going to do with these three... ?'

He grumbled something of a cuss as he waited for the bell to ring, which only came moments later, to signify the end of his day.

Shikamaru stirred from his nap a few seconds later due to the sound of the bell with a loud groan, rubbing at his eyes before catching sight of Iruka's weary glare, narrowing his eyes as if to understand what exactly his sensei wanted from him. "What sensei?"

Iruka's glare changed into a dry look as he wondered how oblivious the Nara was, "You slept through the class..."

Shikamaru shrugged, not understanding or really caring why Iruka was patronizing him, "Well technically Iruka-sensei, this wasn't much of a class, more along the lines of a session made to keep us away from our 'intriguing' daily activities and since I find doing nothing but sleeping 'intriguing'... That's what I did."

Kiba, who had been listening in the whole time, stared at the Nara in astonishment, finding his interest in sleep and sarcasm to be insane. His mouth opened to speak before closing in realizing that this was the usual behaviour you could expect from the Nara, 'Figures, how can the laziest guy in school be so damn smart.'

Iruka, who looked like he was just about to snap at the lazy youngster a few feet away from his desk, paused momentarily when Naruto, uncharacteristically, walked passed his desk in silence, sparing no glance to any of the only three people inside the room. His brow furrowed in confusion, "And where do you think you're going huh? Naruto"

Said boy continued strolling towards the door, hands tucked in his pockets before muttering, "Out."

Iruka wasn't going to have any of Naruto's poor behaviour, not today. "Shikamaru! Kiba! You're both dismissed! Naruto, I want to have a word with you. Now!"

Shikamaru sighed before picking up his bag and heading out of class but not before pausing to look back at Naruto's expression hidden by the drop of his hair, slightly bothering him. '... Naruto?'

Seeing as the blond didn't even regard him, he decided to leave him alone as it was none of his business, mostly because it was too troublesome for his own good, as he left the class, Kiba following shortly after.

Iruka stared at Naruto's form as the boy walked back to a desk opposite his before giving him an impatient look which only seemed to annoy Iruka even more, "Now Naruto, I'm sure you know as well as everyone else does, that I'm getting sick and tired of your behaviour in class."

"Yeah I know Iruka –sensei," interrupted the blond, blue eyes strangely calm instead of its usual fierce or bored demeanour. "Just as always, you're pointing out everything I don't do."

Iruka's glare harden at Naruto's words, angered that he'd dare make such an accusation, saying it as if it were the only thing he'd ever thought of or done for him, "Well maybe if you'd stop messing up all the time I'd stop!"

Naruto, much to Iruka's surprise, kept silent at his words, not groaning or muttering something discreet as he usually would in order to disregard the seriousness of the moment, instead his lips started forming a thin line as his eyes flashed with something indistinct before looking down as his eyes yet again remained hidden.

Iruka couldn't help but be reminded of his past self as an image of a brown-haired little boy that looked a lot like him in his younger days, having dried tears staining his cheeks, adorned the very same look as the one spotted on Naruto.

But that boy had been standing in front of a graveyard.

Iruka's glare softened as he stood up and walked over to Naruto, resting his hand on the boy's shoulder, "Listen Naruto... I know it may not seem like it but I actually worry about you at times. You can't afford to go on like this next semester, everyone may think you just want to play around but I know you really don't want to fail."

Naruto didn't budge in the slightest, his muscles tensed when Iruka put his hand on his shoulder yet reluctantly relaxed as he chose to pay attention to his sensei's words. Yet something had him on the alert, he was most probably feeling this way due to how he'd always have to be on guard at the orphanage and his reflexes were just acting on the contact.

Iruka noticed this and yet kept his palm on Naruto's shoulder in hopes of getting the boy to relax, "I get that life hasn't been that easy for you but don't you think it would do you good to concentrate on your school work."

Naruto's hands balled into fists unconsciously.

. . .

Naruto took to sprinting, not really having much of a choice, as he realized how late he'd be for class if he didn't kick it up a notch.

'Well at least its exercise.' He thought, trying to make the best out of the situation. He looked back to his backpack, silently regarding the weight from the books he'd studied last night. 'I guess in a way these count as weights, definitely a boost.'

He grinned, shaking his head a bit, as he was glad that this week had started off smoothly, having heard no threats from the other orphanage kids since last Wednesday, he was pretty sure that things were settling down, if only for awhile.

Then again, there could be some ill-intent involved with the sudden retreat, which could be focused on critically trying to hinder his physical health, but that would be stupid...

For their sake

"And hell's just around that corner." True to his statement, the second he rounded the corner, the notorious High school he'd come to know as Jobashi Hai came to view, along with a group of preppy Senior Students dawning the school's Obsidian Blazer, talking up a bunch of cheer leaders.

Naruto didn't care about what they were saying, not really finding appeal with the group of girls as they were more likely materialistic and probably wouldn't find interest in a guy who was, as much as he hated to say it, broke.

He gradually slowed to a stop, not needing to catch his breath as his incredible stamina proved to be one hell of an asset, as it has been for over many years. Making his way up towards the entrance, he didn't pay mind to the snickers behind him until a raven-haired boy whose hair seemed to be stocked up with jell to reach its elegant wisp around his lean angled face, shouted out to him.

"Hey Baka! You're late."

Naruto sighed as he recognized the voice that belong to Shinjiro, Jobashi's so called star pupil, being that the guy was practically worshipped by every female residing on campus for not only scoring the second highest IQ score, the first going to Shikamaru, but also for secretly leading his own gang that apparently ran the school. He turned around to give the older male a sceptical look, making sure to have his voice drip with weariness as he asked,

"And your point is?"

Two large males, who had been standing behind Shinjiro the whole time, glared at him as one cracked his knuckles, "Seems like a certain freshmen doesn't know who he's talking to."

"Oh but I do!" said Naruto, in the most over-exaggerated tone he could ever use, clearly not the least bit scared at the larger duo's threat. "I'm talking to two big morons who's bellies are probably larger than their dicks and their oh so great leader who uses more hair related products than that character, Hilary, from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air show."

Shinjiro's jaw visibly clenched as the girls they'd been trying to impressive started giggling from behind him. His goons, Shinzo and Jin, didn't need to be told what to do as the glare he sent Naruto pretty much indicated that he wanted the boy crippled by the end of the day.

And so with much enthusiasm, the two larger males rushed towards Naruto, who had calmly removed his backpack, in order to fight properly by not being hindered by its weight.

Shinzo came with a straight angled fist which Naruto easily deflected by swatting away with his right palm. This in turn, caused Shinzo's momentum to be his downfall as Naruto reeled back his left arm to the side of his hip, only to deliver a bone shattering fist that caught Shinzo in the nose, subsequently causing blood to squirt out due to the impact of his knuckles as tears formed in his eyes.

What most people in the school didn't know about the blond was that he was actually well adversed with mixed martial arts as Naruto had made it a habit to always use the school's facilities to check out moves and Youtube and print out manuals that dealt with the proper ways of defence and offense.

Shinzo stumbled to the floor, clutching his broken nose in what felt like the worst flash of pain he'd ever felt in his entire life.

Naruto shook his head for a moment as he gave the male a blank stare, "Guess you've never been punched in the face before..."

Jin, who had snuck right behind Naruto, assuming the blond had let his guard, made to grab at him only to catch thin air as Naruto ducked down and firmly placed his hands on the pavement as he delivered a lightning fast swipe kick to Jin's ankle, causing the male to tumble towards the concrete by side before Naruto followed up with a thrust from his heel which also, coincidently, caught Jin in the nose.

Jin crashed into the concrete, semi-conscious as the blow from Naruto had dislodge his nostril, causing blood to flow out from its breathing holes, as his jaw slacked.

Shinjiro, who had been wide-eyed at the blond's speed and show of strength in combat, took a step back before growling, "Damnit I'm not afraid of this punk."

Naruto stood up, rather slowly, before turning his head to regard Shinjiro. "These are suppose to be your bodyguards? They can't fight for shit."

Shinjiro clenched his jaw yet again before suddenly chuckling lowly, "You know what? You're right."

Naruto's brows furrowed, confused at the preppy jerk's sudden switch from being frightened to laughing calmly. It was as if he didn't seem afraid of getting his ass handed to him. His lips moved to question the eccentric senior before being interrupted by Shinjiro's snarl.

"Well at least now I've got a practice dummy to work on!" Shinjiro smirked at the freshmen, the bastard had no idea what he was getting himself. "I ain't just the elite of the largest school gang in this city for nothing you know."

Shinjiro then went to removing his blazer, throwing it towards the grass besides the concrete paved entrance as his smirk grew at Naruto's calm composure, watching as the blond sighed. "I would've left for class by now but considering how late your goons made me... I'll just compensate for that by kicking your ass."

"I'll tell you what gaki, if you can actually lay a finger on me, I'll give you that pretty sweet custom made Blazer over there." Taunted Shinjiro, pointing towards the short-sleeved obsidian blazer with small white lines that ran along the edges of the collar and down the middle of the buttons that connected the fabric, stopping at the ends of the rings. "Though I doubt you'll be able to... you filthy little O-"

. . .

"And what good does that do huh?" Naruto all but growled out at Iruka's words, he suddenly looked up to Iruka-sensei with rage in his ocean blue eyes at Iruka telling him something so irrelevant to his life. "What good will reading a book do for me when I'm facing down a group of assholes trying to threaten me just to seem tough in front of everyone else!"

Iruka didn't lose his composure at the reaction, not even flinching in the slightest as Naruto fired back at him, 'So that's what happened.'

He sighed at the hardening glare Naruto was sending him, "So is that what happened Monday?"

Naruto's head snapped back stubbornly towards the ground as he ignored his sensei's question, still boiling from what had happened between him and those guys, whilst making sure to keep his calm facade in check the next time around.

"What did they say Naruto?" Iruka asked, a sad edge to his voice as his eyes studied Naruto's reluctance, carefully hidden in his now calm demeanour. Why was the boy always this reserved from showing his true feelings unlike everyone else?

Naruto, having had enough of being questioned, pulled away from Iruka's consoling gesture and picked up his backpack as he hurriedly made his way over to the door.

Iruka let his most favourite pupil go without question, knowing that he couldn't force the boy to open up to him, as he watched with a bit of sadness as Naruto's palm went to wrap around the handle. He wished for him and Naruto to finally cross that bridge so he could open up to him but decided to leave him to his business but not before muttering something he felt the blond needed to hear,

"Just don't give up... Naruto"

Iruka watched with apprehension as the back view of Naruto's form went rigid as if affected by the words, and considering that he couldn't exactly catch a glimpse of the young delinquent's expression, he would have been surprised to spot the now hollow look that adorn Naruto's eyes at his words as they seemed to be completely devoid of life.

Yet it lasted for only a moment as the hand gripping the handle, turned to open the door.

Iruka sighed as he closed his eyes, reluctantly turning away as he as he made his way towards his desk.

"Orphan"

Iruka froze in mid-step at the voice of Naruto, noting how no trace of emotion came from his tone as he turned to look at the boy standing in between the door, back still facing him.

"They called me Orphan..."

And with those last few words, the blond left, leaving a startled Iruka, frozen in place, in his now empty class.

A few moments later, finally recovering from Naruto's words, understanding why it was that he'd acted differently this past week compared to his loud and bombastic yet strangely calm self.

Iruka could only frown at the empty space between the door before going back to pack his things.

. . .

"What does Iruka-sensei want from me?"

It was a question asked to nothing but the vast skies above him as Naruto sat atop the poorly built roof of the orphanage he'd been living most of his life in, his wild blond hair ruffling against the cold breeze that went by as he took to committing to the only part of his life that ever gave him time to reflect on things alone in peace.

He looked up to the diminishing clouds, staring intently at the coral tainting its usual pure white colour as his mind pondered on why his teacher always seemed to snap at him every day.

It wasn't that he wasn't use to the behaviour, having gone through it every single damned day, it's just that Iruka-sensei seemed to have an agenda with his.

Having always been use to the cold stares of everyone around him, he probably preferred it better to not be considered anything important, instead of getting all the frustrated and what he assumed was, hate-filled snaps from his teacher about being irresponsible and not taking his assignments seriously.

'Like he cares, he's just like everyone else.' Naruto's blue orbs flashed with something akin to anguish at the thought as his eyes narrowed, wondering if life was really out to get him. 'Only difference is that he's got more hate against me for being so lowly in his eyes.' His narrowed eyes hardened even more as he openly glared at the sky.

His knees moved up to his chest as his arms crossed around his knees as a means to enclose himself against the pain and emptiness threatening to eat at him whole. 'Makes me wonder what I ever did to deserve this kind of life?'

Images flashed in his head, multiple memories of the city's unpleasant treatment to him since birth seemed to flash before his eyes.

The orphanage's cruel environment, seeing as contrary to popular belief, an orphanage was never horrible because of its surroundings, it was the large amount of kids in the orphanage that brought about the harsh standards that came with it. Naruto learned the hard way that in a place like the orphanage, the very person you called roommate, was just as much of an opportunist as he'd soon learn to become.

He recalled coming back from school late one day, pushing open the door and letting his backpack slide off his side as he let out a dejected sigh, only to come face to face with one of the older boys from the orphanage rummaging through one of his bags in search of food.

He distantly remembered yelling at the taller boy who had dirty auburn hair, a white t-shirt and black Bermuda shorts, "What the fuck do you think you're doing asshole!" spat Naruto, his colourful vocabulary originating from years of being cussed at by older civilians.

The boy froze, to which Naruto thought was out of fear, before he went stiff at the demented hunger in his glare as he turned to face him.

Naruto stuttered in surprise at the familiar face, "Tat-Tatsuo?"

Said boy didn't respond, which only led to Naruto backing away in fear before Tatsuo started approaching, a menacing grin adorning his face as he reached into his pocket only to pull out a rusted screw driver.

"Die!"

To say that the breath from his lungs had left him at the sight of the object would be an immense understatement.

Naruto blinked blankly for a moment, seemingly dazed at the memory, only to remember that he'd been ten years old by the time.

He had taught himself since then, to learn how to survive in such an unforgiving environment, doing things no one should have ever had to at such a young age, in order to make it past twelve, with only what he now realised was, the delusional hope of being adopted one day, a day that still hasn't come to pass.

That didn't bother him though, not anymore, as he'd long since given up on that ignorant dream, choosing to rather learn how to live by himself which when he thought about it, led to him developing an intense survival instinct, seeing as how he made it this far.

Then as the days went on by, life seemed to grow duller and duller by the minute. Nothing had seemed to interest him anymore, not the fighting, not even living seemed to be worth as much as the pain that came with it.

"It isn't enough of a purpose." Naruto muttered, having come to the realization that the pain wasn't worth it. "Fighting or just living for its own sake... isn't enough."

His glare became empty as the feeling of isolation and solitude that came rushing into him, seeming to finally take over as he stared into the defined coral sky, the setting sun increasing its depth as there were barely clouds left in sight, merely thin strands drifting across.

"Why am I here?" he seemed to ask to the skies above him, his tone revealing how empty he felt inside. "What is my purpose? Did I ever really have one to begin with?"

And much like every time he'd ever asked the question, hoping endlessly for a mysterious being to respond, he'd learn to understand that,

No answer came.

"Naruto!"

He blinked at the voice that sounded like it was coming from below. Quickly shifting over to peep down on who had called him away from his thinking spot, azure orbs focused on slightly sweat stained locks of blond hair before initiating eye to eye contact with angry obsidian.

At realizing who exactly was calling him, Naruto grinned nervously in an attempt to hide the hopelessness in his eyes. "Y-Yugito-san!"

Yugito-san had happened to be a fellow orphan like him and was one of the few that weren't hostile to him to a more physical extent. She was two years his senior and unfortunately due to her no nonsense attitude, was assigned to be a sort of prefect around the orphanage.

Naurto, being a boy that had recently entered the stage known as puberty, found Yugito to be very attractive, sometimes even outright blushing when near the teenager.

But he knew better than to try and develop feelings for the girl as his life wasn't exactly what most people would describe as happy.

So he instead decided to keep their rare conversations short and to the point from then on, making sure to avoid troubling her as she'd shown to have a short fuse when people consistently annoyed her.

Yugito had caught him at a bad time though, how did she even find him he wondered as he realized that he'd never told anyone about his habit to think things through on this side of the orphanage on the roof.

Naruto was prepared to ask her the question that been bugging him until she open her mouth in a snarl, hips placed sternly on her hips.

"Oh don't you dare Yugito-san me baka!" Yugito pouted as she glared at Naruto, trying to burn holes through his head. "You're going to be late for supper if you stay out this long. Besides, do you want the others to claim on your share as seconds?"

"N-No" He stuttered out in reply, knowing from experience how bad it was to get to the cafeteria late.

Yugito seemed too calm down at that, snapping her eyes shut as she swiftly turned her back to him with a huff. "Well then? Hurry it up and get down from there already so we both don't end up late."

Naruto frowned slightly as he composed himself and climbed off the roof of the building, confused at why Yugito came to fetch him as she could've just made him miss dinner. He took a few steps and past her by, trying and failing to show his confusion.

Quickly realizing that this was the first time that the girl had initiated any form of contact with him since they'd met, Naruto hesitantly turned back to her with a light grin. "Uhm... Thanks!"

Yugito's eyes slowly fluttered open, her black eyes echoing her stoic personality as she started walking past him, proceeding to ignore his gratitude. "Anytime now Naruto, the food's going to get cold."

Naruto nodded and kept a similar pace behind her, unaware of the small frown that momentarily graced her face.

Taking a chance, she turned her head slightly to glance at the handsome young boy. 'He seemed different earlier on...'

Catching on to the fact that he was being observed, Naruto's eyes trailed back to Yugito's face only for the girl to quickly snap her head forward and let out a shaky breath.

Naruto only raised a brow as they headed to the cafeteria.

. . .

And so they ate their dinner, today's special being miso ramen, at the cafeteria. They went their separate ways as they headed off to different tables, Naruto isolating himself from the rest as he chunked his noodles whilst Yugito went to sit at the table with the few girls that belonged to the orphanage.

Naruto went to his dorm room after that, not particularly seeing any need to stay behind as he really didn't have any friends here.

Locking the door to his room after freshening up and putting on a sleeveless black shirt along with black boxers, Naruto sighed as he plopped onto the single mattress, ruffling his wild blond hair a bit before letting his eyes drift shut in contemplation

Iruka-sensei's words were still ringing soundly in his head, along with Yugito-san's strange behaviour towards him today. He could've sworn he'd caught her openly ogling him earlier on. He brushed it off as his mind playing a nasty trick on him as he steadily drifted off to sleep.

If he was completely honest with himself, he wouldn't have minded two people like those let into his hellhole of a life.

. . .

Naruto's face felt cold.

He wasn't quite sure on how exactly he found himself laying flat on his face but he didn't want to wait long enough to really find out. He checked to see if he could move his arms, slightly relieved at them not being restricted, as he then pushed himself up off the wet surface, his brows furrowing at what he identified as muddy water.

"What's going on?" Naruto looked up to find that he was in some sort of worn down alley. He got to his feet, only to clutch his head at suddenly feeling disoriented. He let out a restrained groan, "How'd I end up here?"

He tried to recap on earlier events that led to the here and now whilst rubbing his temple for needed stimulation as the headache seemed to be getting the better of him.

As if things couldn't get worse, his muscles had started to feel weak, which didn't give him enough time to ask why the hell it was happening only now as he reached out to the wall besides him, breathing uneven as the disorientation turned into a headache that seemed to throb loudly inside his head.

Naruto's jaw clenched as he started stumbling towards the end of the alley, vision failing him as everything seemed to become a dark haze.

Willing himself to go onwards, Naruto could only make light images as he could barely see the end of the alley way in sight before finally stepping out, only to go rigid.

His vision had suddenly become clear, he realized that it was dark as the sky's pitch black seeped endlessly through the air above of him, yet that was far from what had his attention currently.

Just beyond him, stood tall buildings, slowly collapsing as fierce fires broke out, burning at the wood and letting out bright embers that drifted passed his face, so near that he could feel the heat radiating off them.

The place strangely, seemed deserted as he couldn't spot a single civilian, running for their lives as the unknown area seemed to continually burn and tear into rubble.

Something in the back of his mind told him to run into the growing fires and search for any possible survivors. The feeling was so strong that it caused him anguish and unrelenting pain, almost as if they were people he actually cared for, in that place.

He wondered why everything seemed as realistic as it did, as he thought about it, his other bodily senses gradually returned to him.

Naruto's arm slowly crept up to his chest as he gripped at his shirt, an ominous feeling suddenly enveloping his entire being at the silence that engulfed the area.

Was it just him or was everything suddenly dead silent?

It seemed that not even the burning from the ever escalating fire, had that all too familiar echo of scorching wood nor even the crumbling buildings that brought about dust and smoke mixed into one spiral of toxic filled clouds seem to make a sound at all.

There was nothing, not even a peep.

It unnerved him.

Instinct came into play as his body started moving of its own accord. He turned back so he could run away from it all, only to come face to face with a massive wall that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It stretched across the area, seemingly endless in width and height.

Naruto then noticed the large gate in front of him, a slight opening indicating that he could escape, it relieved him, and without a second's hesitation, he gripped with both hands at the large side of the door.

He started to pull with all the strength his muscles could provide, grinding his teeth at the incredibly heavy weight of the side of the door, before finally giving out and letting go as he stumbled back.

"What the hell is that thing made off" growled out Naruto as the door didn't even budge.

Naruto instantly tensed in alert at the creaking of the door as the ominous feeling came back to him in a rush as the gate revealed the endless amounts of darkness that lied ahead.

Unconsciously, Naruto started shaking as a strange dark orange like energy, started leaking out and covering the darkness till filling the seemingly endless space completely. Unfortunately, the strange energy started to slowly edge off the gate as it drew closer towards him.

Naruto's pupils shrank at the strange energy, the ominous feeling nearly suffocating him as it decided to draw back before all of a sudden, seven strands of the strange concentrated energy, suddenly struck out to wrap around his form in a bone breaking grip.

His eyes snapped shut at the excruciating pain the grip was inflicting, his mouth shooting open to let out a pain filled blood curling scream, only to find that no sound what so ever came out.

He didn't know how long it took for the grip to loosen but he was eternally grateful for not having to experience such pain anymore as it did. His eyes opened weakly, only to widen yet again as he went pale at the sight, his blood running cold.

The first thing that came to view in his field of vision, were larger than life, razor sharp fangs that were upon closer inspection, larger than the size of a regular house. What frightened him even more was that the edge of its lips were twisted upwards in a hunger glazed, malicious grin.

His eyes gradually looked up into the blood red crimson irises of the menacing beast, its deep crimson seemingly endless as he stared into them, only to realize that the energy strings were drawing his body closer to the entity's face.

Naruto was too terrified to notice that the beast's eyes were in fact, studying him as if trying to distinguish something.

A deep booming voice came from the beast as it spoke to Naruto, surprised at the fact that the boy's new body was nearly identical to the last one. "Damn gaki, you look nearly the same as the last time I saw you and that was millennia's ago."

"... Wh-what?" Naruto was too terrified to form any sensible speech, internally surprised, seeing that he was able to talk in front of something so menacing.

The beast's eyes flashed with amusement, not realizing how pathetic the boy had become in his new life surprised him greatly. His grin diminished though as he remembered that he had to get down to business. "Listen gaki, I don't have time to deal with you and chance is you're not going to remember most of this so I'll get to the point."

The energy seeping into Naruto seemed to decrease as the feeling of helplessness, seemed to gradually disappear. He guessed that it had something to do with this menacing entity.

Something about it felt familiar though, it was as if he'd been here before, as if he'd seen this monstrous entity looming over him, in the exact same way it did, before...

The beast smiled cruelly at Naruto, taking note that the boy wasn't even use to feeling murderous intent anymore. But then again he was the greatest bijuu in all existence so it did make sense that he'd been so easily overwhelmed. He went stale faced though as he spoke, "I am going to release five percent of your soul's sealed off chakra. This in turn will greatly affect your physical body as a whole and most probably have you looking a bit more similar to the way you were last time, seeing as one thing seems to be missing off your face."

Naruto grew confused at what the entity was telling him, "Wait, what are you talking about?" He couldn't put his finger on it but he felt as if there was a name he needed to find out.

One he'd always known.

"Who are you?" Naruto blurted out accidently.

The being stared down at him for the longest time, eyes boring into Naruto, flashing with something reminiscent of pain, as he finally spoke.

"The long lost part of your being, only to you, I was known as..."

Much to Naruto's displeasure, the entity seemed to begin dispersing into the darkness, along with everything around him. He barely heard the whisper of the name as he found himself drifting off into an endless darkness, not being able to catch the last part of the whisper as he left the dream world.

. . .

Naruto's upper half snapped upwards in surprise, the intense and vivid dream causing him to gasp out for air as he then took a few lengthy deep breaths as he tried to calm down.

He looked around frantically before calming down at the familiar one room setting of his dorm.

He got out of his covers as he made his way over to the bathroom, clumsily flicking the light on before gripping at the cold wall as pressed his forehead against the one mirror in his dorm, his breathing seemed to slightly calm down.

His eyes closed as he wiped off the accumulating amounts of cold sweat off his forehead. "That... was unreal."

He gradually lifted his head, his vision slowly focusing onto the reflection in front of him.

Nothing could prepare him for the sight reflected off the mirror.

Not the constant fighting he'd go through to improve his self taught arts in order to survive the threats he faced in his everyday life.

Nor the studying from barely salvaged books in the dumpsters he'd find at school that he'd constantly have to reattach pages with borrowed duck tap into when some would seemingly slip out.

Not even the resilience to endure anything, thanks to surviving eating the poorly worked on slop from the orphanage's kitchen that the annoying burly ogre of a woman seems to always dish out at him.

Could prepare him for the moment where he'd stare right into that mirror, only to find three horizontally symmetric scars on each side of his face that looked a lot like the only thing he could refer to as his mind processed the one question that was running along his mind...

"Are those whiskers!?"

. . .

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, let's just say the day I learn to bend a spoon with my mind, will be the day I start a team of misfits to recover Kishimoto's hundreds of copies to ownership to Naruto and burn it in front of him before mindfreaking his ass into signing over the rights to me.

Author's Note: This story is in fact not a Heavy AU that disregards the past from which the Naruto Universe world is based on, even though it may seem so at first, just stick around awhile to give it a chance as I'll work hard not to disappoint any of you guys.

It'll probably take a month, maybe more before I update this. I'm a VERY SLOW Writer even though I encourage people to hurry up with updates, even longer depending on the amount of reviews or lack thereof.

So I ask with as much helplessness in my deep, yet deprived of masculinity, voice that you...

Read, Review, Add to Favourites, Follow, whatever you can to show your fellow author support. Yeah?

Thanks again for reading Naruto: Jinchuuriki no Taito

Anyways I'm out. *Walks Away*