Title: Who am I?
This fic is AU. Any complaints regarding context can be forwarded to my left middle finger.
Summary: The search for an identity.
Prologue: The night it all went to hell.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Xxx That Night Near The Uchiha Compound xxX
Uchiha Itachi was engaged in the fight of his life. His entire clan had been slaughtered save him and his little brother. Itachi had escaped the surprise attack and taken down the assailants one by one. He had been surprised to see that as he killed them, they left no corpse. There would be no evidence.
"Itachi-nii, w-what's going on? W-what is w-wrong with M-mom and Dad?" Uchiha Sasuke sobbed. He had been late home from shuriken practise, only to find corpses of his family- uncles and aunts and cousins and grandparents, widely dispersed about the street. Sasuke stopped dead still. Just taking in the horrible sight of his family, not being able to move from the scene, completely paralysed by the shock of all the death. They had all been alive when he left. The silence was deafening. Anger, fear, confusion, sadness, all filled little Sasuke's head. Then the six year old heard a sound of clashing metal coming from the living room of his house. He ran to investigate; the sight that met his eyes were the worst yet, Itachi in mortal combat with a deadly enemy, and the corpses of both his parents, lying haplessly on the floor.
Itachi looked over to where his younger brother was. He had just succeeded in wounding his opponent; he wouldn't get up anytime soon. Itachi was filled with relief that his little brother was OK. The man Itachi had just been fighting was masked, but his grey hair showed. In a move quicker than his current state of health should allow, he lunged for Sasuke, trapping him in a genjutsu, before running as fast as his legs could carry him out of there. Itachi tried to give chase, but his concern for his younger brother was momentarily trumping his lust for vengeance. He looked over to the slumped form of his brother. It was obvious to the last Sharingan-master that his brother was caught in a genjutsu. He formed a one-handed tiger seal, and with the other hand touched Sasuke, he then said the word 'Kai', and headed for the family dojo, he had something to get, if he was to track down the bastard.
With the scroll of family HiJutsu and DouJutsu in his vest, Itachi ran out of the Dojo. ANBU were quickly coming to the scene, only to witness a bloodied Itachi run towards the village walls. A couple of ANBU gave chase. The remaining ANBU secured the perimeter, and had Sasuke admitted to the hospital. Despite the Older Uchiha's attempt to undo the genjutsu, it was too strong for just the 'Kai' to work. Sasuke was still under the effects of it, and thus was tricked into believing that the one behind the genocide of his family was none other than his beloved brother, Itachi. The boy fell into an uneasy sleep, constantly haunted by the sights he had taken in, cursing his brother and vowing revenge.
Xxx Same Time At The Hyuuga Mansion xxX
"Otou-sama, what's going on?" A six-year-old Hyuuga Hinata asked her father.
"I don't know, Hinata-chan, but find a place to hide while I sort this out," Hyuuga Hiashi said in a voice that meant business. He got into fighter-stance.
"Hai, Chichi-ue," Hinata ran deeper into the mansion, only to be grabbed by a ninja in all black, and knocked unconscious. The ninja then snuck the same way out that he had come in, while his subordinates kept the Hyuuga head busy. Finally they would get their hands on the secrets of the Byakugan. The black clad ninja covered the both of them in an invisibility jutsu, and made a mad dash towards the village wall, before calling of his teammates through his earpiece, whoever was left alive.
Xxx Same Time Close To The Hokage Tower xxX
"Alright, stupid child, you only get one chance at this, so make it count!" The Kitsune Youma growled at its six-year-old container.
"I know that, Baka-Kitsune!" Uzumaki growled back.
:Flashback:
Three months earlier:
Uzumaki Naruto was beat, to say the least. Being out all day training like no tomorrow would do that to you, especially if you were only six. Once he reached the bed in his rundown apartment, he fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.
:In Naruto's mind:
"Child!"
"Huh? Who said that?"
"Child! I demand your presence before me! Come to me at once and bow down in awe!"
Naruto started walking towards the source of the voice, not knowing what else to do. He didn't have to walk long before he saw the cage.
"Come closer, child!" Naruto was more than a little apprehensive. The gates to the cage were huge in every aspect of the word, and only held together by a little paper slip with the kanji for 'seal' on it. So if the cages size had any relation with the proportion of what it held, it was only natural for the six-year-old to be ever so cautious. He inched his way towards the cage, utilizing every ounce of courage his small frame could produce. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a clawed paw that indeed indicated that the cage housed something of equal size, swept at Naruto through the bars of cage, missing him by mere inches. The shockwave that followed the impact caused Naruto to fall on his ass.
"What the hell?" Naruto stubbornly got back on his feet.
"Don't flatter yourself mortal. Hell is nothing compared to being confined in this incredible small and messy mind of yours." The head of the biggest beast Naruto had ever seen reared its ugly face.
"W-what are you?" Naruto was scared shitless and awestruck at the same time.
"Foolish mortal. Do you know nothing? Have you not heard of Kyuubi no Kitsune? The King of Demons?"
"K-Kyuubi?" To say that Naruto was shocked would be the understatement of the year.
"Indeed, impudent child." The giant fox glared at Naruto.
"But- But I heard you were killed! In fact, they celebrate your death every year. How can you be here if you're dead?"
"I would think that is quite obvious. IT IS BECAUSE I'M NOT DEAD!" The fox roared with all its might.
"W-wha? But- but they celebrate your death every year… on my birthday…"
"Insolent mongrels! My power is absolute! I shall have my revenge a hundred times over when I get out of here!" The fox made an attempt to ram the gates, and when they wouldn't budge, it let out a ferocious howl.
"I am here, due to an unfortunate… fluke, the cause of which you know as the fourth Hokage. No mere mortal could ever hope to kill me, Hokage or not, so he sealed me within you. It is only a matter of time before I get out of here. My revenge shall NOT be halted by a mere mortal fluke!"
"N-no! I w-won't allow it! I won't allow you or anyone to hurt my village!"
"What do you care? They hate you, they want nothing more than to kill you, you should know this, it's not like they haven't tried, now is it? How many times have I been forced to heal your puny mortal body to prevent us from dying? I've lost count. Why should you care about this village when it obviously doesn't care about you?"
"N-no! I deserve that!" Naruto shouted, recounting the words of the villagers.
"Do you really? What makes you deserve it? Do you act so different, so much worse than any of the other children around here? The answer is no. They hate you, because they fear you, they fear you because of me, and rightfully so. Had I been not been in here, I would have killed them all in ways so horrible, that your human mind can't even begin to comprehend it!"
"N-no! I-I d-deserve… I-I…d-don't know… anymore…" Naruto was crying. He didn't care if the most powerful demon to ever have walked the realm of mortals were not three feet away from him. He didn't care as the previous words of the fox sunk in. Suddenly, Naruto's despair turned into pure rage, and the little six-year-old got to his feet defiantly glared at the giant beast.
"It's your fault, you damn fox! I hate you!" He shouted.
"Be that as it may, they still let it go out on you, don't they? As long as you remain the puny little runt you are, they will continue to beat you and hurt you, in hopes to eliminate you. The reason I contacted you, is because I grow tired of your weakness. It is affecting not only you, but me as well because you are my container. Therefore I am willing to lower myself to the point of offering you this deal: I will help you gain the power you need to earn the respect we both deserve, and all I ask in return, is that you do as I say, without question. Do we have a deal?"
"Will you ask me to destroy Konoha? Because if you do, I won't accept."
"Why do you still care for this place? Never mind, however this condition of yours is of little consequence, at least for the time being. Now this deal of ours will force us to leave this village. Are you prepared for that?"
Leave the village? That was definitely not what Naruto had expected, but he guessed it wouldn't hurt. He wasn't a shinobi, not yet anyway, so he wouldn't become a missing-nin, and after having contemplated the fox' words he seriously doubted that he'd be missed.
"Ok, I accept."
:Flashback end:
He had noticed the Alarms being raised. And all the ANBU and the Hokage himself were all out tending to the emergencies. Naruto couldn't have asked for a better chance. He snuck into the big red building, with little trouble. Thanks to the fox demon residing inside him, stealth came second nature to Naruto. One could say the tenant was paying rent, no matter how un-voluntary it might have been. His destination was the Hokage's office. Naruto had one goal, the forbidden scroll of seals.
"Alright, let's see, where to look?" Naruto thought to himself, he paused and looked out the window, to see a red moon shining over Konoha. His glance wandered around the room, and got stuck on an object on the wall.
"Aha, Sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain sight… well, I guess sometimes just wasn't this time, was it old man?" Naruto thought. He grabbed the scroll and prepared to get out, when his eyes rested on another item, which radiated pure power. It was the Raijin, Nidaime's lightning sword, but Naruto didn't know that. When active, the blade was a solidified beam of lightning, supposedly able to cut through anything. That might come in handy later on. Naruto decided to grab that too. When it was deactivated, it was just the hilt. No blade meant no sheath, and no sheath meant it would be easier to conceal. Naruto leapt into the night, destination: unknown, but it sure as hell wasn't within the walls of Konoha.
Tsuzuku…