Prolog
Within the village hidden in the leaves, lurks a dark secret. So, of corse, everybody knew. Except the generation that the rumor was about.
A few years ago, the king demon. of all hideous beasts nearly destroyed the village. If it wasn't for the heroic efforts of Yondaime, the Fourth Hokage, the thriving community would have been destroyed. In an act of heroism he defeated the fox demon. and sealed it within the body of his newborn son. He had hoped that the little boy would be looked at as a hero, but somehow he knew that would not be so. People have the tendencies to see only what they wanted to see, so instead of seeing a little boy, they would only see a demon. Perhaps if they knew who he was, what he was, they would treat him differently. But then again, perhaps not. It was the same problem really. We see what we want to see, not necessarily what is true.
And so we find Uzumaki Naruto, curled up in the shadow of some off road alleyway in the streets of Konoha. Once again the villagers had been after him because of what he was. It was October tenth, the anniversary of the fourth's self sacrificial death. Today he turned seven, not that anyone cared. They'd rather he was never been born, and they let him know it. As was tradition, the villagers chased the little boy until they grew tired or until he escaped.
He didn't know why they hated him. He didn't know why they wanted him dead. He didn't know why no body loved him.
He was just a kid! He hadn't done anything wrong! Not yet anyway... Naruto knew he would do something wrong eventually. He was bound to, after all, he was the demon child. He was always treated differently form the other kids. No one ever came to stop the bullies when the started hitting him, in fact, the grownups would encourage it, sometimes even joining in. What was worse were the ones that did nothing at all. They did not help or hurt. They only stood, laughing as he silently pleaded for their help.
Naruto was small for his age, he always had been. Perhaps it was his in-ability to get something to eat everyday that caused it, or perhaps it was simply because he was not cared for. Like the promising sprout that you forgot to water for a week that had become shrived and dry. He had been living on his own since he was four. He had to steal most of the time to get food, and he only had one pair of pants. More often then not the 'demon child' could be found picking things out of rubbish piles, or like now a days, simple staring at the happy families and passers by. Hardly anyone ever noticed the painfully bright pair of blue eye watching from the shadows.
But, of corse when the did Naruto ended up finding himself like this. Alone in an ally, hurting and bruised.
Slowly Naruto rose to his feet, brushing away the dirt and gavle that had accumulated on his cloths. Not that it made much or a difference. Still, it at least seemed a little cleaner.
Stealthily he made his way to the mouth of the alleyway, cautiously checking to see if it was safe to go.
Sarutobi looked down to see the boy attempt to get up, and finally, after a few tries he succeeded. Yondiame would be ashamed. To think that he had sacrificed himself to have his son be treated like scum. Movement caught his eyes, Naruto was peering cautiously around the corner before scuttling out of sight.
"Bring Umino Iruka and Hatake Kakashi in... I have a mission for them."