I do not own this franchise…at least that's what my therapists tell me.

The Institution

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

A small blond-haired boy stared up at the person yelling at him.

"I didn't do anything." He whimpered turning his blue-eyed gaze towards the floor.

Suddenly he was thrown back from a punch to his cheek; collapsing onto the floor, he made no effort to stand. This had happened so many times that by now it was almost routine. The man would yell at him…then attack.

"Of course you did, you little bastard miscreant. You think I don't know? You can never keep your mouth shut, not even this once, can you? You monster, you deserve everything you get."

At this point the child began to cry and hid his face beneath crossed arms, protecting his face, as more blows rained down on him.

"What are you?" the man asked, demanding an answer while continuing the pattern of abuse.

A murmur was all that was heard in response, which only enraged the man.

"I said…WHAT ARE YOU?" he screamed

"A monster" the boy choked out.

"That's right." the man said stepping back to view his handy work. "…and what do we do with demons and monsters?"

"Slaughter them." the boy whispered cringing.

The man laughed in sadistic enthusiasm for what he was about to do. He swung his foot around and slammed the boy in the side, testing out his aim as he prepared for a more serious blow.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THAT BOY?"

/

"This is one of the most extreme cases that I've ever seen." the man told the court. "Not only has the victim been dosed with many varying psychotropic medicines (none of which were prescribed for him); he has suffered both physical and mental abuse. There is no evidence that he has ever had any sort of formal education, and he has no known relatives."

"Is it true that you were the one to apprehend the perpetrator of these crimes?" a lawyer questioned.

"That is correct."

"…and you witnessed some of the defendant's actions first-hand."

"Yes."

"Well then, Mr. Hatake can you tell us exactly what you witnessed."

"…I was on a routine patrol in the Shibuya area. I had just taken my break and was on my way back to meet my partner when I heard yelling and screaming coming from the back area of one of the shops. Upon further inspection I found the defendant, Mizuki, preparing to deliver what appeared to be a fatal blow to a child. I then called for my partners back-up immediately and we took custody of him with minimal force."

"and why is it that the victim is not here to give testimony today?" came the last question.

"He is currently still in the intensive care unit, and the psychologist reports suggest that he is too traumatised to face such a large crowd. Therefore he has given a written testimony, that has been received by the judge, as evidence."

The court room was silent as Kakashi completed his testimony. At this point the judge allowed the defence attorney to take over the questioning. The sinister appearing man, named Danzo, approached the bench.

"Mr. Hatake you appeared to have taken the boy to see to see a psychologist…."

"It is standard procedure." Kakashi responded coolly.

"Yes, however, is it ethical to take him to see a psychologist that you have been known to…'fraternise' with?" The man smirked

Kakashi stoic face turned a touch colder at this comment. "It is true that I am in a relationship with Iruka Umino. However, our personal lives have no bearing on our work, or as you suggested our 'ethics'."

There were mixed reactions to this debate among both the jury and the audience. Whether it was due to the fact that they were homosexual, or whether they believed either made a valid point was unclear.

"Regardless of that comment I would request that the court seek another psychologist to examine the boy, as I do not believe that he is as unhealthy as his supporters might be trying to convey."

The judge seemed to consider this, before he could respond however Danzo continued.

"This was also the first time that my client had raised a hand against the boy, and the reasons he did so were merely disciplinary."

Ibiki Morino stood up at this point. "Your defence has no basis in court, as Mizuki is not actually legally listed as a parental figure or carer for the child. Therefore disciplinary action is not an excuse."

The judge nodded to show that he supported Ibiki's statement.

"Can we please call the last witness to the stand?" he proceeded with the case, dismissing Kakashi from the stand, and Danzo's argument.

Mizuki rose to his feet and stomped his way over to the podium, as soon as his hands were un-cuffed from the rings of metal he had been restrained with. The usual routine was followed before the man sat and stared aggressively at the courtroom's inhabitants.

Danzo was the first to question him.

"Mizuki….What was the reason behind your actions in this situation?"

The man leaned back in his seat and scowled. "That idiot boy had just lost me $120, 000."

"…and why did you hit him?"

Mizuki shrugged. "He needed to be punished."

"How did he lose your money?"

"He gave away valuable information to a client of mine, that enabled him to take control of these funds, and steal them away."

"…And in regards to disciplining him…do you believe that is your right?"

"Hell yes, It's my right to punish the brat if I want to. I been looking after the fucking brat for long enough, he belongs to me."

"That's all I had to ask for the moment." Danzo smirked again, walking back and just barely missing colliding into Ibiki's shoulder as he walked up to the defendant.

"Can I ask you, Mizuki, what you do for a living?"

The man looked startled at this question and straightened up a bit.

"I am currently unemployed." he responded hesitantly.

Ibiki came closer to him. "And yet you came by $120,000 sitting idly by, with no work involved in producing it?"

Appearing even more flustered the man started sweating and fidgeting nervously. "I had it in my bank account."

Ibiki smiled, this was starting to turn in their favour. "That's strange, as when we checked your financial reports and balances, you have never had more than $5000 at any one time."

Mizuki broke. "It's not my fault, the boy should have just done as I told him. Then we'd both be better off. I shouldn't have to feed that demon, he should earn the money for the both of us. He's lucky I took him in at all, he was worse off with the people he was with before me. He probably deserved them, he's a monster, nothing more. He deserves to die, I'll fucking kill him myself!"

With that the crazed man leapt over the desk to attack the lawyer; only to be quickly subdued by the officers that were positioned around the room.

Once the noise within the court died down, following the removal of Mizuki, the judge announced that they would reconvene at a later date, when Mizuki would be sentenced for a number of crimes and misdemeanours accompanying the verdict from the jury.

Iruka, Ibiki, and Kakashi immediately made their way forward to the judge as everybody filed out of the room. Iruka stepped forward

"We'd like to discuss the future of the boy….Naruto Uzumaki."

/

Chapter 1- Consequences

"Naruto get down here right now!" Iruka yelled up the staircase a cup of coffee secured in one hand, the other holding the morning paper.

"I'm coming." a voice shouted down the stairs in response.

The next moment a blond boy came running down, and waved cheerily at Iruka before the settling himself at the kitchen table.

"When you're finished I'll drive you to school, okay?" Iruka sat down opening his paper.

A unintelligible sound came out of Naruto's mouth which was at that moment stuffed with some pancakes. Iruka took that as an okay and proceeded to finish his coffee. He quickly checked over his adoptive sons outfit. Orange skinny leg jeans, and a black v-neck shirt, perfectly reasonable. Iruka could remember the multiple times that Naruto had tried to go to school in his boxers or pyjamas. That could have been awkward.

Soon they were driving down the road towards the school and Naruto was bouncing up and down in his seat excitedly.

Iruka laughed at the boy's enthusiasm. Pulling over at the curb he gave a quick farewell, letting the boy out.

"Naruto you forgot your bag again!" he shouted before the blonde ran off. Spotting the item in question thrown on the floor of his car.

Rubbing the back of his head bashfully Naruto grinned, before grabbing his bag and quickly speeding off again.

Chuckling the older man once more waved off the boy and made his way to work. For the past 2 years Iruka had been working at one of the only Mental Health- Open units in the country as a psychologist. The 'institution', as it was known to those who worked and resided there; was only half an hour from his house, which was convenient and the pay was very good. The only downside to the job was that some of the patients cases were quite depressing. Iruka was a kind-hearted man at the worst of times, and it hurt him to see practically all the young people he worked with suffer. Though that was the exact reason he chose to work there. Unlike many other mental health practices, this one did not separate the age groups into juvenile centres and adult clinics. It was primarily for teenage and young adults. Tsunade the owner and manager had thought that this system was best, as the classification for such ages was difficult.

Parking swiftly, Iruka realised all of his contemplating had led to him being slightly late for work. Locking his car Iruka walked to the entrance of the large complex and nodded at the receptionist. Collecting his name tag and signing in, he then proceeded to his office thankful he didn't have an appointment this morning.

Settling down Iruka pulled the first file of the top of his mound of paperwork. Confirmation of medication forms…Iruka frowned. His first piece of work for the day and it was already too much trouble. Right away he found a discrepancy from the original version of the form, on one of the papers. He had at first sent this form to Tsunade for her perusal and confirmation, so they could order the medicine. This time it appeared someone had added an extra prescription to Sasuke Uchiha's name. Sasuke was under his own supervision, as Iruka was his psychologist, so this was extra suspicious. Especially since Sasuke didn't have any pre-existing medical condition that would require the particular prescription written. Iruka decided to resolve the situation immediately, making his way to Tsunade's office, he didn't want Sasuke's already fragile health to degrade by being given the wrong medicine.

"Iruka!" A happy cry of his name, had Iruka changing his course. Popping his head into the staff room he saw that a number of the employees had gathered together. Smiling his entered the room fully and said hello to everyone.

"Why are you all here? Shouldn't you be working?" he pretended to be disapproving, the smile on his face belied his teasing though.

One of the women smiled in return. "Asuma and I had an important announcement to make."

The man that Iruka knew to be Asuma came and stood behind her putting a hand lovingly on her shoulder.

"I'm pregnant." Kurenai announced happily to him.

Obviously she had already told the others as they did not too surprised by the revelation.

"That's wonderful!" Iruka gushed moving to embrace the woman. "How far along are you?"

"About a month." She giggled. "Thank god I'm not fat yet."

Asuma smirked. "You won't be fat, you'll be pregnant. Completely different."

"Sure it is." she humoured him.

"Well that's wonderful, I'll see you later." Iruka said, once again starting out for Tsunade's office.

This time there were no interruptions in his journey and he was soon knocking on the woman's door.

"Come in." Tsunade answered. "Iruka…to what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked.

Iruka took a moment to look at the women. She looked nice today; she was wearing a teal coloured jacket that went well with her blonde hair and succeeded in drawing attention away from her rather well-endowed chest.

He showed her the sheet of paper that had been worrying him. "Did you authorise this extra prescription for Sasuke Uchiha?" he pointed it out for her.

She frowned. "No" she answered slowly as if she was trying to remember doing so.

"Well I didn't either." he said.

"Don't worry about it." she alleviated his fears "I'll take care of it."

"Was there anything else?" she asked.

"Nope." he answered just as the phone rang.

"This is Tsunade speaking." the women said holding the phone to her ear. She glanced up at Iruka. "Yes he is here…." she responded to whoever was speaking.

Iruka raised his eyebrow. Why would they ring Tsunade's office if they wanted to talk to him?

"Alright, we'll come immediately." she sighed hanging up slowly.

At this point Iruka became worried and when she turned her gaze up towards him, this feeling increased exponentially at her expression.

"Sit down Iruka." she said tiredly waving at the chair.

"Who was that?" he asked hesitantly

"The brat's school." she answered and Iruka straightened in his chair.

"Was it about Naruto?" he asked

She just nodded standing up. "He's had another attack," she said. "You know what that means don't you."

Iruka nodded and stood up as well upset. "Do you mind if I use your phone to call Kakashi?" he asked.

"Alright, get him to meet us at the school, if he can get the time off." she said.

/

Naruto jumped out happily from Iruka's car and started to walk towards school. Only to be called back by Iruka for forgetting his bag again. Rubbing the back of his head bashfully he ran back quickly to get it. Bidding his adoptive father a second goodbye he dashed off quickly, hoping no-one noticed his error.

Running up the front steps, Naruto made his way hastily to the class room. Hoping he would have a little bit of time to talk to his friends before the bell rang. Suddenly thoguh the blonde boy felt a force pressing against his back, and he fell forward, tripping slightly over his own feet. He threw out his hands to prevent himself falling face first and as a result grazed them against the hard ground.

"Ow…." he sat up properly, holding his bleeding hands gingerly. "What was that for?" he turned around.

One of the older students was standing over him; a couple of his friends were visible in the background gawking and laughing as well. That pained him more than his hurt hands ever could.

"What do you think it was for, you homo?" the leader chuckled to himself.

Naruto realising they were just bullies silently stood and started walking away. Better to try and ignore them, than start something he possibly couldn't finish.

"Hey I was talking to you!" the boy yelled and stomped after him.

Naruto just continued to ignore him, he was used to this by now, there was no point in simply entertaining his harassers. That was until they started with a new taunt, one that struck home with the boy. One they hadn't thought to use against him before.

"I said…I was talking to you…SLUT!"

He stopped dead, long repressed memories came flooding back into his mind. So sudden he did not know whether to cry or turn around and attack. He stood shaking, frozen on the spot. He was aware of his would-be-bully grabbing his shoulder and yelling something further into his ear; Naruto was so out of it, he could not even tell whether it was derogatory or not. Before Naruto knew what had happened someone new had a hold of him and was steering him towards an unknown destination. Yelling back at the students that had prompted the situation.

When he came back to himself he was sitting alone in an office that was all too familiar to him. The dark grey walls, and plush leather seats seemed extremely foreboding to him at the moment.

"Naruto are you feeling better now?" a voice asked from the doorway, spurring Naruto to quickly rise from his seat and do an about face.

"I'm feeling fine now, Mr. Yakushi…I'll just get to class."

The silver haired man walked further into the room adjusting his glasses as he did so. He situated himself just in front of Naruto, leaning against his shiny desk and smiled down at him.

"Don't push yourself Naruto…and I thought I gave you permission to call me Kabuto. You know you gave the other students quite the scare with that attack earlier. You haven't had an attack that severe in a while, have you?"

Naruto shuddered not liking the reminder at all. The last big one he had was at school as well, luckily it was only him and one other student. The student just so happened to transfer school the next day as well.

"It really wasn't that bad." he lied.

"You remembered something again didn't you?" Kabuto's smile faded "What was it?"

Naruto tried to move away from the teacher, not ready to confront his issues, not yet…and certainly not with this man. He always had a bad feeling when the school's councillor was around, and he was a person who believed in trusting his instincts.

As he attempted to move away Kabuto seemed to become incensed. He made a grab for the student hissing.

"Naruto you have to tell me, it's for your own good." He said latching onto Naruto's wrist.

Immediately Naruto started to shudder, another attack coming. He knew this man, had met him before. He gasped; that's why Kabuto was always asking him what he remembered, and why Naruto was always suspicious of him.

"TELL ME!" the teacher roared as soon as he saw his students scared face.

"NO, Let Go!" he pulled his arm away, memories bombarding him.

It became to much for him, the combined battle between Kabuto and himself in reality and the increasingly traumatising psychological one.

Naruto started screaming, the convulsions tearing him away from Kabuto, to the floor. As soon as he hit the floor he scrambled back into a corner and held his head in his hands, still screaming.

The disturbance was such that it compelled all the teachers and not a few of the students in the vicinity to come running.

"What happened?" One of the teachers asked Kabuto, while the other teacher present ran to check on Naruto.

Kabuto put on an innocent façade. "I don't know one minute we were talking, the next he was having an attack."

"I'll go and get the principal, you look after him." Kabuto suggested.

The other teachers nodded and the councillor ran off.

"Shhh…quiet down now." One of the teachers attempted to calm the boy. "You're alright now."

Naruto's voice was hoarse by now; and his hands were bleeding from where his nails cut into them from the pressure of his grip as well as his fall.

"Come on now, the rest of you back to class." the another teacher ushered the students out, closing the door behind himself as he attempted to ward off the stragglers.

The one that remained, an English teacher (though Naruto couldn't identify that at the time), approached him. He slowly raised his hand and tried to place it on the teens shoulder. As soon as he came near though the blond boy gave a scared exclamation and bit the hand as it came closer. From that moment on , no-one tried to touch the boy and contented themselves by being supportive and attempting to calm him verbally. That was, until the principal showed up with Iruka and his boss in tow.

As soon as Iruka saw the poor boy he ran up to him and embraced him. Ignoring the struggling arms he gathered Naruto onto his lap and rocked him softly.

"Oh...Naruto." Tsunade whispered sadly.

"Naruto, it's Iruka calm down." the psychologist ordered firmly.

"I-Iruka?" Naruto finally calmed down a little. Still shaking he pried open his eyes, that had been shuttered firmly for a while. He stared with wide eyes up at the man, tears welling up them.

"Yes, its me…now what happened?" Iruka asked soothingly, hugging Naruto to him closer.

Naruto was still out of it however, and his attack had taken a lot out of him both physically and mentally.

"I-I….ruka." he murmured before promptly fainting into his guardians arms.

/

Rei; "That's the end of the prologue and first chapter."

Sasuke; "You're an idiot. Why didn't you have them separately?"

Rei; "Because unlike some people I hate short chapters, and one chapter means less to download than two chapters."

Sasuke; "Those are stupid reasons."

Naruto; "I have to agree with the bastard there."

Rei; "Yeah well I control you…so yeah."