I do not own Naruto.

…

"Why? What did I do wrong?"

Five year old Naruto was leaning against a bed, in Konoha's hospital. His heart was running a marathon, his legs felt like they were weighed with elephants, and his head felt like it was being smashed in with a bat repeatedly.

The nurses were murmuring behind him again too. He curled into himself tighter than possible as one of them gently rubbed his back with medicine. He would not talk to any of them, despite their best efforts. Physically speaking, he was in good health. Mentally speaking...was a different story.

Flashback…

'Run…run…run…do not…stop...must keep going!' Naruto thought.

His feet were carrying him faster than normal, but it still was not fast enough. It was never fast enough. The villagers around him stepped aside, the disdain clear on their faces. Tears were arrived at the brink of his eyes, but he pushed them back. He was not running fast enough anymore. The ANBU assigned to watch over him, was having a hard time keeping up with him though.

Stopping next to a stream, the young boy stared at his reflection in the mirror.'Demon…monster…outcast…is that what I am?' he thought.

His baby blue eyes stared back at him as if waiting for an answer. The villagers did not attack him physically. They were the more stay-away-from-the-demon-and-lets-hope-he-dies type of people. Sure, they would openly glare at him, and kick him out of the stores more often than not, but that was his life. He had come to accept it as such.

The old man visited him in the orphanage sometimes, and especially on his birthday, but it did not help much sometimes. He did not want to burden the man with his troubles. Sometimes the old man stopped by to make sure he ate his vegetables and drank his milk. And, of course he would not. The milk was from the devil.

" If you want to be strong like me someday Naruto-kun you have to drink your milk." The old man would tell him.

In addition, Naruto would happily reply, "Oij-san that would never happen. The day I drink that cursed milk, is the day I die."

The Hokage knew it was better to leave it at that. Naruto was stubborn and when he did not want to do something, he avoided it all costs.

Naruto's shoulders heaved for a moment. To the random bystander, it would like he was laughing, but that was far from the case. Those tears were reaching the breaking point, so Naruto shook all the bad thoughts away from a moment, getting a grip on reality again as he took a seat on the rocks.

The Hokage monument is-no was his safe haven. The striking sunset and sunrise were welcomed with open arms. There were no glares, but only him and the animals. As much as he hated to say it, he got along better with the animals than with the people of the village. With a few expectations of course. He was walking through the forest later that night when something "attacked" him in the face. He did not see it coming but he could feel it.

He could not see it, but he could feel it.

Letting out a groan, a fur ball smacked its tail against his bruised cheek running off in a different direction. He considered going after it, but he was not in the mood really to hunt that fur ball down.

Suddenly, a gasp escaped from his throat. His eyes clenched shut, and his breath started coming out in pants. Gripping his chest, he collapsed against the forest floor.

End Flashback…-Present time-

His back was still stiff from the forest floor. The nurses had left the room while he was sleeping, but there was one guest still there.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Oij-san?" What was that old man doing here? The old man chuckled silently, and Naruto felt his ears get hot. He turned away from that voice and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I heard you were in the hospital, and I decided to take a break and visit you." Naruto relaxed at his words. Turning to face him, his eyes were still closed.

"Thank you." The Hokage frowned at this.

"Thank you?" This puzzled the Old Hokage. "For What Naruto-kun?"

"For caring for me."

Startling the young boy, the Sandamine, pressed the boy against his chest. Despite the comforting gesture, it was lost on Naruto. Laying his head against the man, Sarutobi rocked him to sleep, humming a small tune as the blond closed his eyes. A tiny fist gripped the Hokage's robe with a surprisingly strong grip and nestled further into the warmth. Sarutobi smiled at the sleeping blonde, placing him on the cot again.

The nurses aroused him gently a few hours later, to do the routine check-up. He watched the nurses examine the boy carefully, as if he was fragile as a glass bowl. One of the nurses gasped softly in her hands, the other nurses curious about her weird behavior.

Sarutobi sucked in a deep breath as he walked over to the young boy. He almost dropped his pipe, but caught it before it hit the ground. Instead of Naruto's baby blue eyes, he saw that they were replaced with a much lighter sky blue in their place. Sarutobi blinked as Naruto shifted away from him.

'The boy must have known about this.' He thought.

Why? Why didn't he tell anyone about it? Was he afraid? And if so... whom? That fox. Could that bastard of a fox changed Naruto in some way?

would have sensed it if the fox had been responsible behind this. Throughout the night, Sarutobi had too many questions but with so little answers.

"The council," he thought out loud, "will not be happy with this development.

Later that Morning...

Naruto's head was hurting that morning. It was not because of a headache or anything other than that. His eyes were a little sore, but it was not so bothersome that he gave any extra thought about it. He had heard the nurses talking in the hall. He had hoped that these nurses were just like the others, but of course, Kami proved him wrong. Again. As long as they did not report this to the old man. He was fine.

"We need to talk Naruto."

"Damn it." He muttered under his breath. Why was Kami so cruel to him?

Eyeing the boy in front of him, Sarutobi sat his Hokage hat on the chair behind him. Signing, he took out the report the doctor had given him. "How are feeling Naruto-kun?"

"Better. Thanks for asking Oij-san."

"How your eyes?" Naruto stiffed, then tried to shrug it off, but Sarutobi had already seen it.

"Fine, 0ij-san."

"This report says otherwise, Naruto-kun."

Naruto turned away. He had hoped that it didn't come to this. Opening his eyes, Naruto turned back to the man.

"I didn't want you to know." He said quietly. When Sarutobi didn't respond, he took this as a chance to go on.

"I-I didn't think you would treat me the same if you knew. I didn't want you to be worried about me all the time."

"Naruto-kun you had a minor heart attack. Your anxiety levels are higher than most shinobi. You're not even in your teens yet. What- no why are you trying to go at this alone?" When he got no response from the boy, Sarutobi could only sign and leave the boy to his thoughts.

Three hours later...

The council was in turmoil. The civilian side was calling for Naruto's death as usual. The fear was evident in their eyes. Over the years, the glares had lessened sure, but the hatred was still there. Sarutobi, stood before them, arms crossed over his chest overlooking everyone else.

"If the child is blinded, we must take action while it's weakened." Shouted Koharu.

"You old bat, you would kill a child?" Tsume growled.

"Troublesome, this meeting is." Shikaku muttered.

"We're not killing any children, Koharu." Sarutobi stated, rubbing his forehead.

"Sarutobi, don't be foolish. The child is a threat to the rest of society. He should be detained from entering the academy. You should have let him join my ROOT program." Danzo said.

"Listen to me. All of you." The council quieted down. "As the Hokage, I have the final say. In addition, I say that until the boy is eighteen or older, he shall have a guardian protecting him until then. This meeting is dismissed."

Later that day...

In the all of Sarubtobi's years as a Hokage, he'd never thought he would see the day, where there was no paperwork in his sight for the first time in years. He'd sent his secretary to find one of his ANBU, who had just returned from a mission from Kiri.

"Hokage-sama, you called for me?"

Swirling around in his chair, Sarutobi made eye contact with the ANBU. He eyed the mark of the ANBU on the right shoulder. "Kurenai-san. Please take a seat. This'll take a long time. And please, remove that mask while it's just the two of us."

The masked nin calmly took the seat that was offered to her. The mask now lay strapped to her hostler on the floor. Her long ebony locks trailed down to her shoulders, giving her an untamed look as they curled at the tips. Her red eyes pierced through the Hokage, something not many shinobi could do. Clearing his throat, Sarutobi leaned back in the chair.

"I've met many people in my lifetime. Some good. Some bad. I've also learned that I can't protect anyone. Sometimes life's a bitch. Sometimes life just sucks. Sometimes no matter how hard you want to turn back the clock, you just have to learn how to move on from the past."

Pause.

"The point is that there is someone I know in the village right now that needs someone. In addition, unfortunately I can't be that person. Sometimes live is just-"

"You're talking about the Uzumaki boy, aren't you?" She asked quietly.

Sarutobi sweat dropped. "What is that obvious?"

"Kind of sir."

Pause.

"You're one of my best jonin in the village Kurenai-san. I need- no Naruto needs someone dear in his life. He may be all happy and smiling on the outside, but he's still a five year old child deep down."

"But Hokage-sama there must be a better candidate than me to look after the boy!" Sarutobi signed again for the thousandth time that day. He figured that he would be doing that more often.

"The boy's parents are dead. His godfather is nowhere to be found, and I highly doubt that you want Kakashi or Guy to care for the child."

Kurenai pictured a mini Kakashi reading that terrible Icha-Icha Paradise novel in public with no shame. Then she pictured something even worse than a mini Kakashi. A mini Guy. Might Guy was already turning one innocent child into a mini clone of himself. She would be dammed if she watched this sweet innocent boy be turned into a youth-wearing spandex weirdo.

"Now you see my problem. If you accept this mission, you will be paid a regularly monthly salary of an S-ranked mission, considering the responsibly of caring for such a small child. You will be named the boy's guardian until he reaches the age of eighteen or until either he or you dies. Whichever one works for you. I request a weekly to monthly check-up report on the boy as well. To make sure he is well fed and cared for of course. If there's ever a medical problem with the boy, I must be notified immediately."

"What kind of medical problems, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi signed again. He was doing that a lot these days. "I'm assuming that for the last few days, Naruto Uzumaki has been blind. What we do not know is whether it has to do with "it" or not yet. Or someone has harmed him. Also, I'm assuming that due from either isolation or something the boy is prone to having… anxiety attacks."

"But Hokage-sama! The boy is only five years old; you said it yourself. He is too young to have anxiety attacks. Isn't he?"

Sarutobi shrugged his shoulders as Kurenai face palmed herself.

"The only thing that I'm certain about is that, that boy needs someone right now. So are you going to take this assignment or not?"

Naruto heard voices outside. He could not make their names yet, but he could hear them.

"Naruto-kun? Are you awake yet?"

Shifting in the bed, he did not know what to make of the new person since he could not see anymore. He could not move around much, since last night the nurses thought that it was a good idea to bound him to the bed, just because they were afraid that he would have ran off or something. So okay, maybe he was going to go get a breath of fresh air. That didn't mean that he was not coming back, right?

"Do you always try to leave hospitals when you're not supposed to?" The voice giggled quietly. Definitely female. Still the blonde boy did not respond.

"Are you always this silent with strangers?"

"Do you always ask so many questions?"

A loud smack was heard down in the room. Okay, so maybe he deserved it. However, it was true! Sunday's were invented for all day relaxation. In addition, if you have not noticed he was not relaxed at all.

"Who are you?"

"Your new kaa-san."

Kurenai had expected a rude remark coming from the boy, but he did not react to the news. His shoulders were heaving; his whole body was trying to shrink. She would have to read up on the boy's history. At first, she thought he was laughing, but her heart froze when she noticed crystal-shaped beads rolling down his whisker marked cheeks. She encircled her arms around him, after a few moments of wiriness. She felt her dress get all soggy, but tried to push that thought in the deepest part of her mind.

It came slow. He clutched her shirt tightly in his two little fists, his body wracking with tears as he fought against the embrace. He punched her in the side and stomachs a couple of times, but they got lighter and softer as time went on.

"Demons d-don't h-have mothers. Demons d-do not h-have feelings. Why would you-u adopt a demon-n for an son?" He spoke in broken up sobs.

"As long as your heart beats and you have a soul, you're not a monster to me. You are too small to be a monster. Ignorance spreads faster than a wildfire. I adopted you because you have a heart. I adopted you because you have a soul. I adopted you because I want to get to know you." The boy's body wracked with emotion for the first time in a while as the mysterious woman gripped him closer to her body.

"I'll never let you go, Naruto-kun. I'll never let you go."

Edit: 2/14/13

End chapter of Striking Steel. I am in a good mood since I am off for Thanksgiving break. I am in mood to update my other stories too so let us see what happens, shall we? In addition, this is not a Naruto X Kurenai pairing story. In addition, this fic will be AU.

Edit: 7/24/14

Changed a few things around. Nothing major really. I'm going to go through the rest of the chapters and update them as well, and then update with a new chapter. I want to thank all of the reviewers for your critiques and please do keep them coming. I would also like to thank everyone for the favorites, alerts, and reviews left so far over the years.

Ja ne!