Welcome to the rewrite of my first ever fanfiction, Hinata's Hero. If you haven't read the original feel free to do so; you can find it on my profile. In this fic I am taking the storyline of HH, and rewriting it using the knowledge I have gained since I first wrote it. This means more detail, better flow and less spelling and grammar mistakes. Hopefully.

I also intend to write it as it should have been written in the first place; which means I'm spending more time building a scene rather than rushing through a part I wasn't sure of. In this sense there will be a lot of extra info, such as a better insight into Naruto's mindset and some scenes that I previously left out in favour of a time skip.

Root - 1

Naruto turned into another alleyway, flying around the corner. He looked for all the world like an orange and yellow blur streaking through backalleys and dark streets. Thinking quickly as he navigated the maze-like streets, he spotted a route he had neglected to take thus far, and decided to take the chance. He skidded across the rough ground, dodging discarded trash and shards of broken glass as he did so, before ploughing forth as fast as his short legs would carry him.

Soon enough Naruto neared the end of the alley. Before him, a few meters away, was a fence. It was too tall for a boy of his age to scale, but not so tall that it would hinder someone as agile as Naruto; who took a flying leap onto a nearby dumpster before diving over the fence.

An adrenaline rush kicked in as he did so, causing him to jump a good meter higher than he should have. As a result Naruto landed a little harder than he had hoped; stumbling slightly. But he managed to regain his footing, and put on another burst of speed before turning the corner-

And running straight into a tall figure!

The sudden stop caused Naruto to bounce backwards, falling to a seated position on the ground. He mumbled an apology as he shook his head, disoriented by the recent turn of events. As his mind began to clear, the boy took note of the stranger turning around and grasping him by the collar of his bright orange jumpsuit.

The stranger snarled, pressing his face closer to Naruto's. The stench of alcohol and poor hygiene washed over the boy as the hand that held his collar began to lift him into the air. The man was about to voice his annoyance when he paused, turning Naruto's face to the small pool of light that splashed across the concrete.

An expression of anger turned to a sneer, malicious intent clear in his eyes.

"Well hello there, little fox." He began, his voice strangely soft in comparison to his rough outside appearance. "How nice of you to wander into my den"

Naruto awoke with a gasp, sweat streaming down his face as he escaped the throes of his nightmare. The silence around him was unnerving; It allowed him to hear his body respond to the panic he was feeling inside. The thumping heartbeat, the blood rushing in his ears, the laboured breathing… it was the same every time he had one of these dreams.

And in the two weeks since it had happened, he'd had those kinds of dreams much too often.

The boy knew that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep after waking up like that. It shook him up, dreaming like that; gave him a sense of hyper-alertness that would persist for several hours.

Naruto sighed shakily, climbing out of bed and heading to the bathroom to splash his face with some cold water. The sweat that had been pouring down his face had begun to dry, leaving it sticky and warm. Once he was done he climbed back into bed - but not before grabbing a scroll to read while he waited for dawn to break.

Might as well do something useful while I wait, He thought to himself.

He'd changed a lot since it had happened. Everyone in Naruto's class had known him to be outspoken, boisterous and overly friendly to people. He was one of the few people to have achieved 100% attendance (Though he often tried - and failed - to escape his sensei Iruka multiple times throughout the last few years), and he was always spouting off about how he'd definitely be the hokage one day. Believe it!

He'd made a habit of challenging himself to run home from the academy every day; attempting to beat his previous time. Each attempt had allowed him to improve on his speed, to the point that he was able to outrun most of his classmates. The only time he didn't compete in this challenge of his was when Iruka-sensei had invited him out to ramen.

But two weeks ago, all of this had changed. Naruto had begun to shy away from people. Ino Yamanaka would berate him for looking too long at "Sasuke-kun", and he'd look down and stay quiet rather than begin mouthing off at her as he previously did. Sakura Haruno would hit him upside the head for accidentally brushing past her and he'd flinch away timidly. The drastic change of behaviour had everyone confused. But Naruto refused to provide an answer.

The boy's eyes were sliding down the page as his mind had turned to the events of the past few weeks. No matter how many times he brought his focus back to the writing before him, he just could not concentrate. He was finally roused from his musing when the alarm clock to his right began to beep; signalling that it was time to get ready.

Naruto didn't particularly want to go to the academy today. It was hard to keep up the "I'm fine" pretence. But he had to get out of the house for a while, it was sending him crazy just staring at those grey walls. Besides; the academy provided a good place for him to concentrate on something other than his emotional state.

Unsurprisingly Naruto didn't have much of an appetite after the night's events. The panic left him with a sour taste in his mouth that not even ramen could help to cleanse. So he walked straight past the kitchen, and out into the cold.

Having skipped breakfast, he was relatively early to class, and was the first to arrive. He moved straight to the back of the classroom, picking the furthest, darkest corner so that it would be hard to make out his facial expressions should he find his emotions running too high. Naruto watched with a blank expression as others began to file in, chatting to one another and throwing paper plane notes while Iruka was out of the room. No one really looked at Naruto any more.

Once their sensei had finally arrived, and the class had settled down to do some work, the boy was starting to feel the recent lack of sleep building behind his eyes. Before he knew it, as hard as he tried to stay awake, the warmth and the tiredness combined forced his eyelids to slide closed; and he fell into a relatively deep sleep.

Naruto didn't wake up until the bell had rung for lunchtime.

He looked around, groggy from the deep sleep and frustrated at himself for being so weak as to fall asleep like that. Somehow he'd managed to sleep through 2 hours of lessons, breaktime and another 2 hours. Noticing that most of the students had already left the room, Naruto hastened to put his paper and pencil away and dashed towards the door, leaving the now empty classroom. He turned the corner and-

He ran straight into a tall figure...

Naruto awoke, curled into a ball. He was sobbing already, even before he'd regained consciousness, and there was a burning sensation in his lungs. Blood and Kami knows what other fluids were running down his legs, bare and exposed by the pants that were pooled around his ankles. It dripped onto the concrete below him, adding to the urine that his bladder had released while he was unconscious. He didn't dare move; if he even breathed too hard, pain wracked his body. He doubted that he'd have the strength to move anyway.

And so there he stayed, frozen in place, hoping that the pain would go away soon. The sobbing had subsided quickly enough, but the boy was still shaking from the shock of what happened.

"Help" He called in a feeble voice, throat torn from screaming. He tried to call again but his voice cracked, and fresh tears began to fall. His vision was fading.

And suddenly, Naruto was awake. Alert. Adrenaline coursed through his body, tense and twitching as he registered the hand that was touching his shoulder.

"No! Get away from me!" He croaked, believing that it was his attacker returning for more. He tried to sit up, tried to move away, but the hand remained, keeping him in the seated position he'd managed to get to. His panic was increasing.

"Please" He begged, losing all rational thought. "Please, don't do this again!"

But still the hand persisted. Naruto began to struggle more, trying to fight the hand away - before he was wrapped in an embrace. An unfamiliar voice whispered words of comfort to the distressed boy as he stilled; but he was too far gone to hear them. A powerful feeling was rising within him, building up. Forcing all other thoughts out of his head. The power was coursing through him. Then suddenly he felt a chop to the neck, and everything went black.

Naruto gasped loudly, pushing Iruka away with more force than was necessary. He was hyperventilating, still panicking as he tried to work out what had just happened. The boy locked eyes with his sensei for a few long seconds, as he finally understood. He jumped up abruptly, still shaking, before running towards the open window on the other side of the room and making his escape; leaving his shocked sensei staring after him silently.