Hello, all you beautiful people! This story is a depressing, mature story featuring Naruto and his growth in Konoha in an Alternate Universe! As such, he will be OOC eventually starting from chapter 2, after his life-changing event in chapter 1! This will also, eventually, feature a manipulative, ambitious Sarutobi who seeks to forge Naruto into a weapon.

DIsclaimer: I do not own in any way, anything from Naruto. Not even a plushy. Nor am I making money from this work of fanfiction. It'd be nice, but I'm not. Boo-hoo for me.

Chapter 1: Beginning

For a beginning, there must be an end.

A hickup ran through Naruto's shuddering, broken body - a tremble, much like the last leaf on a branch, brown, nearly dead. It was only a matter of time before the leaf would be blown off by a gust of wind. It was only a time before the child's lifetime was over. It was only mere moments when the four year old child took a final breath, and released it.

He had struggled for four years as an orphan, faced an abusive caretaker, an abusive orphanage, and an abusive village. And in only four years, what should have been some of the brightest and best of a child's life, ended in a way that should have brought tears to the hardest men's soul - Orochimaru's, perhaps.

Yet none of the crowd who had been a part of the child's demise shed a tear, and if any guilt was felt, it was swallowed underneath the oceans of hatred that each person had at the Kyuubi, the fox of nine tails that had decimated the ranks of shinobi and - more importantly - the Yondaime, the hokage who had captured the hearts and souls of all of the village. This was divine judgement, in their eyes.

And so, as the villagers walked away from the bloody, gaunt form of the malnourished child, there was an air of congratulation as they slapped their backs with blood hands, and left bloody footprints on the walkway. Lips were stretched in jubiliant grins, as they went back to their every day life.

And so, on the night of Naruto's fifth birthday, under the cold, passionless eye of the moon, the blonde-headed child died. That should have been the end of his story. Those sightless blue eyes should never have seen another sight. But fate - aided by a certain nine-tailed demon sealed inside of the boy - had other plans.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

'What... what is that?'

Without warning, memory surged through the boy, bringing a hint of physical pain, which was easily overshadowed by the devestating emotional pain brought about by the memories of what the villagers of the leaf had done to him.

"Demon! Monster! Damned Fox!"

His chest burned as he panted, bare feet - too poor to have shoes, too unliked to be given any - slapping across the paved ground, callouses that should have taken years to develop having been formed seemingly over the course of this desperate run for freedom, to get away from the hatred.

The run was futile, of course. A boy so small had to take three steps for every one that a man or woman had to take, and while desperation gave him wings, hated gave his pursurers endless energy, and each yell, each shout, seemed to drive the fervor of the others to higher heights.

He didn't understand it, as he dashed around a corner. He thought he'd had more time. The past two years, this kind of hatred was supposed to sart later on this day. The day of the Kyuubi's defeat, and Naruto's birthday. This group must have decided to start the 'celebrations' early... And this time, ninja seemed to be a part of the group, rather than the - oft late - protectors.

A stone caught him in the shoulder, causing him to stumble, which resulted in his fatal mistake. He tripped. He fell. His arm snapped in a sickening, loud crackle as he landed upon it. And even as the first sob escaped him, a fist impacted his cheek, the ring on one of the fingers cutting through the flesh to the bone. Not even that was as horrifying as the other part - the force shoved him further onto the arm, making the bone snap through his flesh.

A howl that had more in common with a wounded animal escaped him - just one - and then he was silent as a kick rammed into his weak ribs, making them shatter and crackle, driving the breath out of his mouth and making him wheeze...

His life ended less than a minute later, blue eyes, haunted through life, staring at the backs of those happy villagers who felt they'd just done a great service to the world. Those sightless eyes were asking 'why.'

As though the final memory that raced through his mind had been spoken outloud, a deep, rumbling sound that sounded more like a force of nature than a voice growled gutterally, "Come. I'll tell you why."

Blue eyes widened as the blonde spun around, feet smacking in the liquid that dribbled down dilapidated walls - blood, he noted in a passive way - only to see that there was light down at the end of the tunnel.

An older person would have been more afraid. An older person would have been crazy to follow that harsh, inhuman voice. Anyone would have been sane enough to know that following such a voice was pure stupidity.

Naruto, however, had seen what human cruelty was. He'd been shown terror since the first moment he could remember - which was a lot, in his 'five' years of life. And so he followed, listlessly, as though in a dream. And which each step he took, the blood he splashed through seemed to grow thicker, as though trying to tell him the path he was going to follow was a hard one, that would result in plenty of pain and death.

He slipped into the room and scarcely had to glance around before his cerulean orbs were captured by the massive doors, created by bars, that dominated the room. But they may as well not have been there, as two massive, crimson eyes gazed out, slitted, inhuman, angry. Not at him though, he was sure of that. He'd experienced enough killing intent to know that the diffused pressure, while thick, wasn't focused entirely on him.

That fact alone caused him to relax, before whimpering out, almost a pained mewl, "W... wha.. whe..." His mind seemed to be short-circuited, not sure what was going on, or where he was.

And so that booming voice began to speak, white teeth flashing into reality beneath the crimson eyes, "You, Naruto Uzumaki, are in your mind. And I, am the great Kyuubi!" The roar that escaped from the beast as it stated that fact nearly seemed to cause the entire landscape to quiver and quake, and it revealed the great pride that the creature took in it's place.

For Naruto though, the former statement was overshadowed by the latter statement, which seemed to dredge horror and despair out from him, despite the fact that he'd assumed he had no more to give. Eyes opened wide as the blonde stared at the demon, and then fell to his knees, eyes clenching shut, crying silently as he whimpered, "What... What did I do to send me to this hell? I tried to be good." He quivered, curling up on himself, hands clutching his belly as he sobbed, "I tried to be good, b... but I wasn't good enough." Clearly, in his childish mind, he'd done something so great that not only had the villagers hated him, but death itself had consigned him to being tormented by the Kyuubi!

And yet, if he'd been watching, those harsh, slitted eyes would soften and lower, sliding down so that they framed the seal adorning the cage. "Nothing, child, has been done by you. You have sought to be good for the villagers, and you have seen their thanks. I offer you another choice - be good for me, and I shall ensure that you are never alone again."

The blonde's eyes snapped open, gazing at the creature in what might have been a desperate need that caused even that great demon's heart to clench in symphathy, and, quietly, as though afraid that to speak louder would pop the dream that he was sure was currently taking place, "Y... you'll... care for me?"

The great, massive eyes moved up and down, a silent nod, before the creature replied, "All you need to do, child, is to remove a small strip of this parchment." The eyes that had frightened Naruto initially, but that already sent a throb of childish love at the fact that they were a part of the first creature to give a damn about him, glared at the paper that was on the forefront of the jail cell.

And so, Naruto, eager as he was for love, stepped forward and did so eagerly - so desperate for affection and acknowledgement that he was willing to make a deal with the deal. And so, a small strip of the seal was torn from the sheet - and Naruto screamed.

Red energy began to leak out from the cage, wrapping around Naruto, invading him, pouring in through his skin. It felt like fire, it was agony, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt! Screams and crying were wrenched from his throat, before, after an eternity passed and the energy that had grasped him vanished, he fell to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

And the Kyuubi, most feared of the bijuu, gazed down at the boy whose life had just been given back to him with an almost maternal reverence.

After all, she - for the Kyuubi was a she - had been with him since the day he was born, since his first meal, his first dream, nightmare, birthday, and childish rejection of friendship. She had been there for him, every second of every day, watching, unable to help, until now, when death had brought him to her door far earlier than had been expected.

And so, with all the tenderness that his biological mother would have shown, a tail slowly slipped through the bars of the door, and wrapped around the unconcious child like a blanket. Quietly, she crooned to the kit that she thought of as her own, and wept at the monstrosity of those who would do such terrible things to an innocent.

Unknown to anyone but the Bijuu in Naruto's belly, crimson chakra flared out of the seal at his belly, enveloping his tiny form, and rapidly began to repair the damage that had been caused to him. As the wounds sealed and blood was restored, a small smile formed on Naruto Uzumaki's face - the first true one of his life - as he knew that he was safe and protected. After all, he had someone that could never be taken away from him like the others had been.

End of Chapter 1

-Hello! I'm sure that you have some questions about the story. It's a story about Naruto being raised by the Kyuubi, in addition to a manipulative Sarutobi who wanted to create a weapon for Konoha. I'll get more into that later.

In addition, this is my first story, so be sure to leave me a message! Preferably no flames, but any constructive criticism is appreciated and lurved.