Hello everyone, this is my first story based on a challenge. I hope yo like it. The idea was given to me by Umi no suiro.

Chapter One: A heart of flame

Running, running was all he could do now. They were serious this time. They were going to kill him. The rage of the men was strong, and all he could do was desperately try to outrun the experienced ninja. Naruto was fast, yes. But a five year old couldn't outrun jonin forever.

Naruto ran for his life, dodging kunai and shuriken. He was glad that they hadn't resorted to using jutsu, but even without it, he would be dead in a few minutes if he didn't hide. Naruto ran for a few more minutes, and finally saw a place to hide. It was a large box at the side of the corner. Naruto had a small smile as he jumped into it and saw his assailants run past him. He jumped out and watched for a second as they kept running. Naruto laughed and turned around to make it back to his crappy apartment and suddenly felt a large pain in his chest. Naruto felt the area on his chest where his heart lay, and the cold touch of metal was all he felt. Naruto looked up and saw that one of the jonin had fallen behind, and had stabbed him in the heart with a kunai. Naruto felt warm blood flowing down his small body as he fell to the ground. Naruto fell back onto his back. He looked up at the night sky. He closed his eyes as his body went limp, and his mind invited the darkness.

In Naruto's mind

Naruto woke up in water, and quickly got up to breath. Where was he? Naruto looked around at what looked like a sewer, and found several paths leading different ways. There was only one path leading to light, so he followed it. There where several pipes on the ceiling. There were red pipes, purple pipes, and blue pipes. Although, some of the blue pipes where almost see through, and the blue liquid that was in it was spilling out. Naruto continued down the path until he entered a large room. The first thing he noticed was a giant cage with a piece of paper on it labeled 'Seal,' written in large letters. Naruto's curiosity got the best of him and he walked to the cage. Inside was a giant fox with nine tails. The fox hadn't seen him yet so he got as close as he could. When he reached the bars the foxes eyes looked at him and the fox jumped up. It opened it's mouth the growl at Naruto, but Naruto smiled the fox before it could. The fox stopped and looked at the boy, seeing what he would do next.

"Hey, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! What's yours?" Naruto said, acting like this was normal.

"My name is Kurama." the fox said, surprised at the boys bravery. Or stupidity. The fox looked the boy in the eyes, noticing the color fading from them. That's when he realized the boy was dying.

"I feel tired… so tired." Naruto said as his body swayed. He feel to the ground soon after, the color almost completely gone from him. Kurama had a choice to make. Let the boy die, and die with him, or save the boy, and live. Well, Kurama didn't usually give up so easily, so he decided to save the boy. Kurama focused his chakra on the spot where the boy was wounded and healed the boys wound. When it was almost done healing and there was barely a scratch left, the fox felt a lot of his chakra pulling to it, and he felt his chakra ignite a flame in the boys chest. He watched in amazement as the chakra that was now a light red made its own stores in the boys chakra.

'There's no way. This boy has a kekkai genkai? Well that's a shocker.' the kyuubi thought.

"What… what the, where am I now? I was just in such a warm place. It was like I was on a cloud…" Naruto said as he woke up.

"Kit, you don't have much time before your attackers realize that your alive. You better wake up." Kurama said.

"Right! Okay, see ya foxy pants!" Naruto said with a smile.

"Kit, if you ever call me that again I will kill you from the inside. Are we clear?" Kurama asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Crystal!" Naruto yelled as he closed his eyes and woke up in the ally where he had "died."

Naruto pushed himself up, feeling a burning in his chest. He stood up, only to see his attackers standing there laughing. They hadn't noticed him yet. He decided that now would be a good time to run away. He quickly and quietly climbed to the roof of the building they were next to, and jumped off the other side. He rolled when he hit the bottom and ran as fast as he could to his house. When he got there he closed his door as quietly as he could. Today was the day when he would finally leave the village. He just couldn't take it anymore. There were to many attacks on a daily basis, and most of the time he feared for his life.

He packed some of his things and decided to write a note to the hokage. The old man was the only one who was nice to him, so he was sad to leave him… but even then, he knew he could be happier where he planned to go. After writing his note, he made his way to the library, where he snuck in through the roof and found a few books that would help him. He then made his way into the ninja section and found several jutsu books, taijutsu books, kenjutsu books, and genjutsu books. Hopefully he could get strong and be a help the other village. Naruto already had a jutsu book, and had learned a jutsu from it. It was called 'Wind style, floating steps justu. He kept searching for anything else that could help him, and after he didn't find anything, he finally made his way to the gates. He couldn't go out the front door, so he had to think of something else. Naruto remembered he had a jutsu that might be helpful. 'Wind style, floating steps jutsu.' Naruto read the description from the book. The jutsu made platforms of air, which someone could step on. He wondered why more people didn't use the jutsu, but then he read the warning that came with it. Warning: Huge chakra consumption. Naruto had already learned it, so he didn't need to freak out. Naruto started to reconsider leaving, but he finally decided he would go and went through the hand signs. "Bird, monkey, snake, rat, dragon… Wind style, floating steps jutsu!" Naruto yelled as several platforms leading up the wall appeared. Naruto quickly jumped up them, feeling exhausted from the chakra usage the jutsu required. Naruto made it to the last step only to find he was short. There was at least another twenty feet to go, and there was no way he could make more platforms. Naruto tried to think, but then he noticed the platforms below his own disappearing. Naruto had to think fast. He channeled chakra to his feet and tried to perform a chakra exercise he had seen a jonin do. He channeled the chakra and started running up the wall, but realized he was about to get launched off. He quickly angled himself and shot upwards. He landed on the top of the wall and jumped off the other side. He forgot that the wall was so high up, and had to quickly make a single chakra platform. He hit it and it shattered, but it slowed him down just enough for him to not hurt his legs. He quickly ran into the forest, and nearly feel over from the amount of chakra he had used. He decided to rest until morning and once he was sure he was far enough he found a tree and fell asleep against it. That night, he dreamed of a village where people actually treated him nicely. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, something that hadn't happened in awhile.

The Next Morning

Naruto woke up with a yawn, and quickly made himself some breakfast. Naruto made some ramen and quickly ate it. It wouldn't be long until someone would come for him. For some reason, even though he was a citizen, the guards at the gates never wanted him to leave. Naruto wasn't sure if he was something special, or if everyone just hated him that much. Naruto ran as fast as he could on a trail that would lead him to his new home.

After a few hours of running, and about an hour of swimming, he finally made it to his destination. The land of waves. The small village didn't have any ninja, and no one knew who he was, so he didn't need to be scared. He walked into the land of waves, (This is before Gato Destroys the place.) and found that a festival was going on. Naruto smiled. This was gonna be great. Naruto walked around the festival, and was amazed. The only festival in Konoha was on his birthday, and no one let him get near it. If he tried, he was beaten and hurt, and so he never got to see what it was like. Naruto looked around for something that looked fun, when he realized he was broke. Naruto sighed. He would find a way to get money some other time, but for now, he had to find a place to stay. Naruto had an idea. He pulled out one of the random books he had found. It was titled,'construction for beginners." Naruto smiled. He would just go into the woods and build his own home. Naruto made his way out of the village, and walked into the forest while reading his book. Naruto realized he would need a jutsu that could cut things. He looked at his jutsu book and found a simple jutsu that might work. 'Wind style, wind blades. C rank jutsu.' Naruto smiled. Bingo. Naruto was a very fast learner, but this might take him more time. He'd have to practice this one a lot more. Naruto sighed. Looks like it would be another night of sleeping on his bag and eating ramen in a cup. But Naruto still had some day left. Maybe he could learn the jutsu in time. Naruto started going over the hand signs and trying them while putting different amounts of chakra into it. He kept going and the hours just ticked by...

A Few Hours Later

Naruto had finally gotten the jutsu down. He kneeled as the exhaustion started to get to him, but he smiled. He could finally build a home. Naruto looked up at the sky and realized it was already midnight. He sat down against the giant tree he planned to build on, and that night he dreamed of the place he would build.

The Next Morning

Naruto quickly got up, and followed his morning routine before setting off to work on his new house. Naruto set to work getting the proper materials he would need to build his new house. By noon that day, he had everything he would need. He had made several wooden walls that he kept together with metal strips that he wrapped around the boards. Naruto had done this, using an ability Kurama said he had. He had called it the scorch release, and Naruto had invented a new jutsu with it. He called it scorch release, burning palm. It did what the jutsu said it did, and his hands became enveloped in flames. When he touched the metal, it was bendable, and he could wrap it around the wood he had chopped into boards. He got the metal in the village with the money he had from a few allowances he had received from the third hokage. It totaled just over 1000 ryo. (A/N 200$) And he had bought the metal strips for 100 ryo each. Naruto also built a floor the same way. Naruto had used up most of his materials, but he now had the floor down and two of the four walls up. Naruto had passed another day, yet decided to stay up and finish his little home. Naruto put up the other two rounded roofs and attached them to the tree Naruto looked up at his completed house and smiled. It had a floor shaped like a circle and the walls ended up being like a dome. Naruto decided he needed some windows and, using the wind blades cut three squares out of the dome. He grabbed some sand and, using his new scorch jutsu and keeping the sand in place with wind chakra, made the window. They were a little sloppy, but they were pretty good for a five year old. Naruto had always imagined having a house like this, but he never thought he would be the one to build it.

"So this is the start of my new life..." Naruto said to no one but himself. "I think I might just be happy here."

In Konoha

The third sat at his desk, staring down the paper work that towered above him. He sighed, he needed to do the paper work but… he had to see Naruto more!

That's what the hokage thought as he smiled and jumped out his window so his attendant wouldn't see him leave. He made his way through the village and on his way to the apartment, he heard some chunnin yelling about a boy's body disappearing. When he realized they were talking about Naruto, he ran as fast as he could to the boys apartment. When he got there he knocked on the door, only to have it fall over. He practically jumped into the room, looking everywhere for the blonde… and then his eyes rested on the letter. He opened it only to find it was written for him. He read it slowly taking in every detail.

"Dear old man,

I Might not see you for a long time, but I hope I can return someday. Don't come looking for me, because you'll never find me. I wish things in that village were different, but there not. There horrible, and right before I wrote this letter I was attacked by chunnin. I'm sorry that I had to leave, but I didn't want to die. If you ever do find me, you might just have to force me to come home. I only want to see you again after I am strong enough to be hokage.

- Love, Naruto

Author's note: Sorry about this chapter… it's a little messy. I got this idea for the story fromUmi no suiro, if you didn't read above. Hopefully the next one won't be as messy. The next chapter is gonna be a time skip, and there's gonna be a smallish shocker coming up. See ya!