Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto-related merchandise and/or characters.
He honestly thought that this would be his big break: by bringing Mizuki the scroll containing the (unbeknown to Naruto) forbidden jutsu he had asked for, the boy believed that Mizuki would train him or at the very least acknowledge him and thank him for actions.
And what did he get, instead?
"That's right, kid: you're the container of the Kyuubi, the demon that laid waste to our village 12 years ago - that's how people are going to see you for as long as you live and long after you die. In fact, why don't you do us all a favor and go to hell right now!"; Iruka, who was injured by a giant shuriken to the back, could only watch helplessly as Mizuki drew his kunai, racing forward to claim the life of the young blond...
When Mizuki's words registered within Naruto's mind, a part of him died - or rather, shattered - as many puzzle pieces finally fell into place and his miserable life made sense to him in a cruel and unforgiving manner: indeed, so long as the Kyuubi was a part of him - even if Naruto's mind was left completely unaffected - all hopes of leading a normal life have been effectively crushed.
Those voices he kept hearing in his head finally made sense, too: all that taunting and whispering that came from seemingly nowhere, was the Kyuubi's doing in hopes of mentally breaking down the boy into tearing off his seal in desperation - how ironic it was, then, that the Kyuubi failed to realize that while it could not break the boy by torturing him, merely revealing its identity would have done the job that much faster and that much more efficiently.
With the truth revealed and his soul in shambles, Naruto didn't know whether to cry, despair or run amok in pure, unrestrained fury; but then it came to him: when life becomes so hard, so frustrating and unfair, what was the only thing he could possibly do?
He laughed.
At first, it was merely a low chuckling sound that made Mizuki stop in his tracks; a few seconds later, it sounded like the kind of luagh you'd make after hearing a decent joke, but it soon became louder and more maniacal, finally reaching its climax as Naruto bellowed in demonic, insane laughter that had his head rearing up to the skies and scared off just about every animal within hearing radius. Even Iruka, who had seen quite a few disturbing sights in his life up till then, could feel the blood freezing in his veins at the sight of his now mentally unstable pupil.
The laughter came to an abrupt end as Naruto's head dropped, his tone cold: "This would normally be the part where I'd start denying things or just accept it all and try to protect Iruka-sensei by fighting you; instead, I'm just gonna go ahead and thank you, Mizuki: if it hadn't been for you, who knows for how long I would've lived in a lie and how much effort I would've placed in protecting a village that sees me as the reincarnation of evil, itself. Allow me to properly thank you by letting you be the first one to witness my newest technique... Shadow Clone Jutsu."
About a hundred Naruto shadow clones came into being with a 'poof!' of smoke, all of them circling the original Naruto as well as Iruka and Mizuki, preventing the latter's possible escape.
Though frightened, Mizuki smirked and taunted Naruto: "What are you trying to pull? Even if these are shadow clones, a single strike to their vital organs will all but destroy them in seconds; what makes you think, then, that I won't stab them in the heart the moment they come after me?"; Naruto finally raised his head, filling Iruka with shock and Mizuki with dread: the look on Naruto's face was of pure calm, and yet his eyes were half-lidded and showed no emotion - not anger, not sadness, nothing. It was like looking at the face of a dead man.
His voice as cold as before, Naruto answered: "Take a good look at these shadow clones, Mizuki: do you see any hesitation in their eyes?"; to Mizuki's shock, all of the clones had those exact emotionless eyes that sent sent shivers down his spine and they were all in position to leap at him as soon as they heard the command to do so.
"Take him out."
It was over in a matter of seconds: Mizuki, in spite of his rank and experience, was overwhelmed by the number of shadow clones, as well as the way they silently came at him scaring the living hell out of him. He soon found himself held in place by five remaining Kage Bunshin - the rest being dispelled by the original - with his body too weak to resist them all; that, however, was the least of his concerns, for in spite of how badly beaten up the chuunin was, Naruto did something at that moment that caused Mizuki's breathing to momentarily cease: he had picked up his (Mizuki's) kunai and was slowly making his way to the wounded chuunin, the kunai ominously shining in the pale moonlight.
His voice shaky, Mizuki pleaded: "P-Please don't do it, Naruto! I-I swear I won't tell anyone about this, so you'll be able to go back to the academy tomorrow as if nothing happened - isn't that what you want!"; having reached Mizuki, Naruto's expression remained unchanged as he got the kunai in position and calmly said: "You have nothing I want, Mizuki - even if you did, I doubt you'd just hand it over and let the whole thing go: after all, this would be the perfect excuse for you to telltale on how the demon has finally broken out of its imprisonment, right? But don't worry, Mizuki: I'm sending you off to a better place, where you won't have to face bloodshed and sacrifice; in a way, you should be thanking me, now."
This is where Naruto would begin his life anew: with the end of another's life.
"Goodbye, Mizuki."
"He stabbed Mizuki, you say? What's the extent of the injury?"
"Fortunately, he missed the heart by mere millimeters so Mizuki's going to live; however, there's no doubt in my mind he intended to murder the man, Lord Hokage."
"This is a rather serious accusation, Iruka; do you have any evidence to back it up?"
"I'm afraid not: the only way for me to prove it is to catch him in the act once more."
"Hmm... Iruka, you said that he had no emotions in his eyes - would you mind elaborating on that?"
"Yes, Lord Hokage: as he approached Mizuki, Naruto had a vacant expression on his face, the kind of expression you'd expect to find upon looking at war orphans and the likes."
"I see... If that's true, then he might come after Naruto soon enough..."
"Excuse me?"
"Never mind, it's just the ramblings of an old man. Tell you what: if you deem Naruto too emotionally distraught in order to become a genin, you have my permission to hold him back in the academy; however, I will not accept such a decision if it is done because of his... other circumstances. Understood?"
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
"Iruka-sensei?"
Said teacher snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed the slightly concerned looks he received from the majority of the class, realizing that he had been in deep-thought for over a minute or so and going against his character.
"Uh, anyway, where was I? Oh, yes: I will now divide you into the teams in which you will receive and accomplish missions together in the future as genin; if you have any complaints regarding your selected teammates, I urge you to approach me after the class is dismissed. Now..."
Naruto hadn't been paying attention as Iruka announced the distribution of teams: said blond was silently staring at the village outside of the class windows, the class surrounding him almost non-existent in his mind. As one would expect, the events of the night before had not left Naruto's mind: he heard that Mizuki would live, both irritating him and calming him; yes, Mizuki deserved death on the account of wanting to betray the village, but murdering someone wasn't going to bring Naruto any closer to his goal, now that he thought about it in retrospective.
"...Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha."
All three reacted differently as Iruka's words registered within their minds: Naruto sighed in exasperation, Sakura groaned (Inner Sakura cheered) and Sasuke... well, he was just being Sasuke.
Having noticed something rather fishy about this team, Shikamaru raised his hand and said: "Iruka-sensei, it's not like I'm trying to rain on his parade or anything, but Naruto technically isn't a genin - doesn't that mean he can't be a part of a team?"; realizing his mistake, Iruka rubbed his head as he sheepishly said: "My bad, I guess; well, just so that there won't be any doubts in the future, I hereby declare Uzumaki Naruto an official genin of the Hidden Leaf village!"
Said boy, whom Iruka expected to at least comment on everything that's been going on, merely returned to staring at the village, any words spoken lost on him.
Taking a moment to recover from Naruto's lack of reaction, Iruka continued: "Uh, well, each team will be individually summoned back to this classroom in order to meet their team-leaders later on today; I hope you all bring pride to our village as the next generation of shinobi!"; as the students gradually left the classroom, Iruka called out to Naruto and had him stay for a conversation.
Lowering himself to Naruto's height, Iruka said: "Whether or not you're aware of this, Naruto, I have no idea: fact of the matter is, you shouldn't be allowed to become a genin - actually, you should have been in Ibiki's hands right now for interrogation regarding Mizuki's injuries. Still, after giving it some thought, I've decided I'd allow you to become a genin and join a team; would you like to know why?"
"..."
"It's because I believe there's a part of you that doesn't want to be cold and violent: somewhere inside that mind of yours, there's a great ninja... one that's waiting to take the world by storm. I'm not just saying this in order to cheer you up - having seen you fight, I believe that you can find it within you to utilize your potential and overcome the events of last night. Do you understand?"
"Spare me..."; Naruto began walking away from Iruka, not even turning to face the stunned chunin as he said: "Whatever bond it is you think you have with me, you'd best let it go: that part of me you've warmed up to is dead."; "Naruto, I - !"; "Later."
As Naruto left the classroom, his words kept echoing in Iruka's mind: "That part of me you've warmed up to is dead."
While Sakura was upset with Team 7's leader not showing up in time, Naruto and Sasuke were rather indifferent regarding the matter; Sasuke, however, couldn't help but ask himself just what in the hell was wrong with Naruto - by now, he should have started complaining about how lazy their leader is, but the blond was as stoic as the last Uchiha, himself.
"Yo."
Turning their heads to the classroom door, Team 7 faced their leader who went on to introduce himself as Kakashi Hatake, jounin of the village and their current team-leader. Not wasting anymore time, he had the team make their way to the roof of the academy and told them to introduce themselves to him and to each other.
Realizing it was his turn to speak (he wasn't paying attention to what the others were saying about themselves), Naruto introduced himself: "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. My hobbies used to include eating ramen and pulling pranks on people, but I'm over those. There's nothing I like in particular, and what I dislike is almost the entire village's population, these two idiots (*pointing at Sakura and Sasuke, who glared at him*) in particular. My dream isn't really all that grand: there's someone I'm looking for - someone with the power to grant me my deepest wish. I will find that person... Nothing else matters."
Kakashi's visible eyebrow was slightly raised: "Shouldn't your dream be turning into a powerful shinobi or something like that? I suspected you'd at least have some kind of a common aspiration."
Naruto closed his eyes and said: "When it comes to people, it usually is the case, sensei. Me? I'm no human - I'm a weapon."
The village lay in ruins, everyone in it either dead or on the way to meet their maker.
Ash covered the skies as fire consumed everything in sight, people and constructions alike - an infernal sight to behold.
He ignored the cries for help and the mourning of people over their beloved ones - for him, there was but one thing he could care about in this hell, and he was coming close to finding it.
He eventually arrived at the village's gates, both Izumo and Kotetsu - the gate guardians - lying lifelessly on the ground, pools of blood surrounding their corpses.
Something else caught his sight at that moment - yes, there was no mistaking it: Naruto's journey had come to an end.
"I've found you..."
Awakening to the sound of his alarm clock, Naruto yawned as he contemplated the meaning of this recurring dream; as it turned out, his mind couldn't get enough of seeing everything around it in ruins, hence the dream repeating itself. What bothered Naruto the most, however, was his inability to remember one detail alone: the identity of that person.
Realizing it would do him no good to sit around and try to make sense of his dreams, Naruto silently put his clothes on and got himself ready for whatever was in store for him on that day; while he was expecting recent events to turn some attention towards him, Naruto couldn't say he had expected the ANBU member appearing before him out of nowhere, telling him that the Hokage has requested his presence at once - Naruto knew it was going to suck, but he shrugged it off and made his way to the Hokage's tower.
"Good, you've arrived; take a seat, Naruto."; Naruto complied and took his seat in front of the Hokage, the latter's expression a mixture of interest and concern for the young genin.
Making sure they were alone in his office and that the sound-blocking jutsu he had placed were still holding up, Sarutobi lit his pipe as he said: "Mizuki was discharged from the hospital today, Naruto; you need not worry about him, though: he's currently being interrogated by Ibiki Morino and Inoichi Yamanaka, some of the best men this village has to offer."
"..."
Faking a smile, Sarutobi continued: "So, I hear you're in Kakashi's hands now, eh? Well, I can vouch for his abilities, if my word counts in your eyes; after all, I don't expect you to -"; "Hold it right there!"
Sighing, Sarutobi prepared himself for the inevitable as the door swung open and charging into the office was a young child, a helmet(?) on his head and a long scarf trailing behind him, basically inviting disaster.
"Alright, Grandpa, it's time you and I fight it out for the title of Hokage! Ready or not, here I - !"; Sarutobi shook his head as the intruder tripped over his scarf, resulting in his face meeting the ground in a rather painful manner; though the boy recovered quickly, the damage had already been done and he knew that this attempt - like the many ones before it - was a failure.
"Konohamaru... how many times are we going to have this conversation? If you want to be the Hokage, you must take the same path everyone else your age is taking, a path that does not include charging into my office."; trying to save face, Konohamaru quickly turned an accusing finger at Naruto and said: "Ah-ha! You placed some sort of trap to make me trip, didn't you! As if the great Konohamaru would trip over his own feet! ...or scarf."
Much to Konohamaru's annoyance, Naruto wasn't even paying attention to him, leading the younger of the two boys to angrily stomp on the ground: "Hey, are you even listening! Don't ignore me like I'm a fly or something, I'll have you know I'm the Hokage's grandchild!"; "That's not going to do you much good when you go through with your punishment."
Gulping at the familiar voice, Konohamaru lowered his head as he turned around and acknowledged the newcomer: "I'm sorry, Ebisu-sensei, but-"; "No buts! This is the third time you've pulled this little stunt and I'm beginning to lose my patience!"; "Aw, c'mon, it's only the third time, right?"; "Third time IN A WEEK!"
Sarutobi's attention turned to Naruto as the teen rose from the chair and made his way to the door, the Hokage calling out to him: "I apologize for this intrusion, Naruto, but we're not quite done conversing just yet."; not even turning his head, Naruto responded: "I don't have time for this. If you had something important to tell me, you would've brought it up as soon as I sat down. See you around."
Outraged by Naruto's audacity, Ebisu started ranting about how the "brat" ought to have his tongue tied if only for this heinous act, but he was quickly silenced by Sarutobi who sent him on his way, Konohamaru leaving with him; while the Hokage was messaging his temple and trying to understand Naruto's radical change of behaviour, Konohamaru was occupied with thinking about Naruto's voice - or rather, the cold and uncaring tone his voice carried.
'What happened to that guy...?'
Naruto, who was busy training that afternoon, quickly threw a kunai towards the source of the noise of a twig snapping, revealing the newcomer as none other than a somewhat frightened Konohamaru.
Looking at Konohamaru for about a second or less, Naruto turned his head around and continued training alone, the younger boy not too sure just how to approach the mysterious blond.
"Uh... hi."; as lame as Konohamaru's greeting was (so he thought), he had gotten Naruto's attention as the later turned to him and stared at him with his vacant expression, his voice matching perfectly: "Why are you here?"; scratching the back of his head, Konohamaru slightly lowered his head as he said: "I, uh, kinda wanted to apologize... for what happened back in Grandpa's office. I mean, you probably had no idea I was going to show up, so you couldn't have set a trap or anything like that, right?"
"..."
"A-Anyway... I was kinda wondering about something and I was hoping you could answer this question I have."; "Whatever. It's not like I've got anything better to do."; fidgeting, Konohamaru mustered as much courage as he could and asked: "Did something happen to you? Not right now, I mean, but in general; it's just... you look really sad and I guess it kinda bugs me, you know?"
Naruto scoffed: "Don't bother with me, kid. I'm not the kind of person you wanna be associated with. Don't you have better things to do with your time, anyway?"; "I'm kinda done training for the day, so I really don't mind talking to you for a while; but why would you tell me not to bother with you? Are you... mad at me?"
Naruto shook his head: "So naïve. Why waste your time on me? Your parents are probably worried about you."; realizing that Naruto wasn't going to open himself up to him anytime soon, Konohamaru decided to take the initiative: "You wanna be friends?"; Naruto laughed a small, humorless laugh: "Good one, kid."
Slightly upset by Naruto's reaction, Konohamaru stomped on the ground once: "I'm serious! No one should be all alone, ninja or not! Besides, having a friend can't hurt, right?"; "Do as you like."
Smiling, Konohamaru waved at Naruto as he began running home: "Meet me here tomorrow evening and we'll train together, ok? I don't know how tough you are, but I'm looking forward to it!"; Naruto could only shake his head at Konohamaru's spirit as he thought: 'It's like looking at a younger me... but... I can't get sidetracked. One wrong step and I'll never find that someone...'
Ahh... So you've made a new friend today, eh, kit?
...
So young and tasty looking... I must admit, your choice of friends is remarkable.
He's not my friend. I don't give a rat's ass about him.
Aww, did I hurt the little kit? Don't forget: one who lives alone, dies alone.
You're one to talk.
...
...
Do you hate me, kit?
?
I'm the reason everyone hates you. My presence here is the reason for your misery. Do you hate me? Do you resent me?
Don't make me laugh.
What?
You're stuck inside of me - that's not something I could control. Life is life, I suppose.
And what I've done to the village?
You're made of chakra and hatred - you once told me so yourself. I can't blame you for wanting to break out of here and destroy stuff... It's in your nature.
I see. What if I try to hurt you? Will you hate me then?
I'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen.
I'd like to see you try, kit; a mere human could never hurt me.
Alright... Suit yourself.
What? The cage... Why is it shrinking...?
You're the almighty Kyuubi - I understand that. In here, however, all that power you have means nothing. I'm in control, here - learn your place, pet.
Nngh...! M-My bones...! It's as if they're about to pop out of place...!
Have you ever heard of Prometheus?
What...!
I've been reading books a lot more often ever since that night - helps me vent out my frustrations. In one of the books I read about ancient mythology, I came across the tale of Prometheus: it is told that he stole fire from Zeus, king of the gods, and gave it to the humans down on Earth, below Mount Olympus; as punishment for his actions, Prometheus was bound to a rock while a great eagle ate his liver every day only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day.
Do you see where I'm going with this? This is the punishment for your vanity, Kyuubi. I can't kill you, I'm well aware of that; but there's nothing stopping me from controlling your prison, torturing you again and again by having it shrink down against your body, the bones in it popping out of place and tearing through your skin and fur... just like they're doing right now.
Damned kit...! How dare you...!
Like I said... learn you place, Kyuubi. I'm the one calling the shots from now on.
RRRRRRAAAAAHHHHH!