Konoha

A mask. He always wore one. To everyone, he seemed happy. He was a good boy. He helped his elders, treasured his teammates, even went out of his way for them. But... home was different. He would come home, he would go to his room, and he would drop his mask. Because home, wasn't even a home. It was just a house, a prison. His father, a respected Uchiha, would abuse him. Because he was too much like his dead mother. That's why when the beatings stopped, he would go to his own little world, where his teammates cared, where his father loved him, where he was happy. But, as all dreams do, it eventually shattered.

His father had left him barely alive, and then kicked him out of the house. "You're no Uchiha. I never want see you again! Get out of here!", he had said. He tried to ask his teammates if he could spend the night over at their place, but Rin's father had said no. Kakashi had just said, "Go home. Why would you want to sleep here? You have a dad. Just go home." If Kakashi had cared, he would have noticed. If he had just looked, he would have seen. The slight waver of his mask, that he was covered in dry and fresh blood, that he was bruised, that he was slowly breaking. But no, Kakashi didn't look, or even care.

He went to his sensei's house, but made the mistake of looking through the window. His sensei, his precious sensei, had a look of complete love and happiness. He saw his wife holding her slightly round stomach, and put the pieces together. Another part of his mask was his foolishness. He was actually quite calculating and smart, but would never think that.

So with a small, sad smile, he walked. He wandered for a few minutes, before eventually succumbing to his injuries and exhaustion. He crawled into the corner of an alley and fell asleep. He was Obito Uchiha, an abused boy who had nobody. Sometimes even his sensei would leave him behind. He was only 10, dammit!

So, for the next two years he was to be alone, on the streets. A lot had happened, his sensei became Hokage, adopted Kakashi because of his father's suicide when he was six, and Rin even got engaged. She was legally an adult so no-one could object, and Obito just gave a small, sad smile to everything. Nobody had looked out for him, nobody had ever asked, where were you last week Obito?, nobody ever cared, or even loved him!

And then, the Kyuubi attacked. His sensei died, sensei's son was orphaned, Kakashi turned into a recluse, and Rin went into ANBU. They were only 13. But, that was 3 years ago. And this brings us to today.

Near Orphanage

Naruto was scared. The mean lady kicked him out and told him to never come back. The villager's glares were causing him to be shy and afraid. It was stunting his growth. Ah, but of course, some villagers and ninja had attacked him, and were still doing it. Kami shone on Naruto that night though, because the alley they had found the sleeping blond in just happened to be Obito's.

Alley

Obito had just gotten dinner with the money from some D-Ranks he did earlier and was walking to his alley. It was gray, and was a dead end. It was closed off from the 3 surrounding buildings and that gave Obito some privacy. He walked into it to see a large crowd, and caught a glimpse of a frightened, bruised little boy with blond hair and blue eyes. For the first time in 5 years, Obito felt rage. It was so intense that he lunged and beat up all the men without thinking. He was sure to have broke some bones, maybe even killed some of them, but he didn't care about that. He knelt down slowly and calmly, and said "Are you okay?"

"P-Please don't hurt me anymore! I'm sorry!" Naruto cried. Obito had another feeling of rage, but instead pulled Naruto into a hug. Naruto was confused, no-one had ever hugged him before, and he liked it. It was warm. He slowly returned the hug. "What's your name?"

"Obito. Uchiha Obito. Yours?" replied Obito, sensei never told him his name, but he probably had told his teammates...

"Naruto... Uzumaki." Naruto said.

"Why are you here alone? Shouldn't you be home, or the orphanage?", Obito asked quietly. Naruto just replied with a sad tone, "No, the lady kicked me out 'cus i'm a demon... at least she thinks. I'm just a little boy..."

That was it, Obito's last fit of rage came and was more intense than the last two. This awakened his Sharingan. He released Naruto and looked him in the eyes. Naruto gasped, and said "Your e-eyes... red..." Obito, realizing this, shut off the unintentional chakra flowing to his eyes. "Well... would you want to stay with me?" Naruto quickly nodded, and felt a great happiness. For once, he wouldn't be alone.

After that, Obito started doing missions more frequently, even B-Ranks at times, so that he could afford to find an apartment for him and Naruto. Without realizing it, Obito had gathered quite an expense. He had about 98387 yen. He was counting how much they had one day, and immediately rented an apartment to live in. It was only 9828 yen a month so he went out and bought a bed for him and Naruto, clothes for him and Naruto, and he stocked the fridge with food. That night, Naruto had a home cooked meal that was "almost as good as ramen."

After, he had enough money for three months rent, and about 2000 yen left over. He put 1000 away for food, and decided to buy Naruto some toys with the rest. A few months later, the Uchiha Massacre happened. Sasuke was the only survivor, and he remembered him being his much younger cousin before he was kicked out.

Obito would check on him once-a-month to make sure he didn't do something stupid. He always left little notes and gifts showing that he cared. He always signed them with his name, so that he knew someone in the family was watching out for him.

This caused Sasuke to take the blow much less then if he knew he was alone. Instead, he decided to train to protect his village, and not to kill Itachi. It also made him strive to find Obito, because he knew he was in Konoha. Now, we are going to the first major event of Naruto's Ninja career.

-Timeskip-10 years-

Ninja Academy

"Haha! Naruto failed again! What a loser!" Kiba laughed at Naruto. The whole class, minus Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, and Shino, laughed at Naruto as he came back without a headband. It was the stupid Bunshin! He couldn't get it to work, no matter what he did. He had worked on Chakra control ever since he was 5!

Sasuke was about to speak up for his friend, when he turned and ran out the door. Kiba chose the wrong time to say, "Now he's gonna go cry like a baby! What a-", because he was cut off when Sasuke's fist met his face. Everyone gasped at this. Sasuke was pissed. "If you ever talk about my friend that way again, you'll end up worse than a broken nose." Kiba looked confused. "But you didn't break my no-" Sasuke struck Kiba in the nose with his fist again, and stormed off after Naruto. He had become close friends with Naruto quickly, when Sasuke stuck up for him in front of some bullies once.

He found Naruto on his swing outside the academy. "Naruto, don't listen to them. They don't know what they're talking about." Sasuke said. Naruto just sighed. "I know Sasuke, but I promised my nii-san that I would pass... he would've been really proud of me." Although Naruto knew Obito would never be ashamed of him, he was still insecure. Sasuke was confused. "Nii-san? You have an older brother?" Sasuke asked. Naruto just nodded. "Yeah, Obito-nii is the one who has been teaching me the best he can on academy stuff."

When Sasuke heard the name Obito, he was shocked. "D-Do ya t-think I could m-meet him..." Sasuke stuttered out. Naruto looked over at him. Naruto just shrugged and nodded. They then sat there and talked the last two hours of school. Sasuke's ever growing excitement was hard to contain.

When Obito did come to get Naruto, Sasuke looked at him in awe. He was wearing a loose fitting short-sleeved black T-shirt under his Jounin vest, which was half-zipped up, and the regular blue shinobi pants with a kunai holster strapped to his right leg and the hip pouch on his left hip. He had some orange goggles on, but they on his neck hanging domn because his headband was on his forehead. Now that he seen him, he saw that Naruto dressed similar, except for the blue pants, Naruto wore a very dark orange.

"O-Obito?" Sasuke finally said. Obito smiled at Sasuke, "The one and only." Over the years, Obito had dropped his mask. This caused nobody to recognize him and most thought that he was dead. Sasuke ran and hugged Obito, which made Naruto confused. Obito just chuckled and waved Naruto over to hug him too. The three stood their like that for a while. Naruto then said that he forgot something and had to get it. Obito knew he just wanted some alone time because of the failed Genin Test.

Behind Academy

Naruto sighed and slumped against the wall. He couldn't believe he failed only because of the Bunshin! Mizuki found this as the perfect time to set his plan into motion. "Naruto!", Mizuki called. "I'm sorry about earlier. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but there is a make up test that is usually a secret, but I guess you can know."

"Make up test! Tell me!"

"Alright..." and Mizuki explained how he had to take the scroll from the Hokage Tower and go to a shack in the woods to learn 1 Jutsu before he found him. "And Naruto! You can't tell anyone, it's a secret."