PART 1: Painful Prolog

Naruto's very first memory was a traumatic one, but certainly not the worst his life would give him. The boy was only 4 years old at the time and had spilt a glass of milk by accident. A woman shrieked, grabbing him by the hair and slapping him across the face twice on each cheek, hard enough to leave him swollen for a week. The woman was not his mother, in fact he could no longer recall what he called her. It was not long until even that abusive woman was out of his life.

At the age of 7 he was left alone in an old run down apartment, only a small care package was left at his doorstep every 3 days. The orphanage would not accept him and the adoption agency would not allow anyone to take him in. Even the law ignored the fact that minors must have a guardian. The entire village of Konoha in which this young boy lived, had turned their backs on him.

School was the only privilege bestowed upon him, getting an education would be Naruto's only positive focus during his childhood. If you can even call those years a 'childhood'. Whispered taunts soon turned to outright verbal abuse, then into physical abuse, it seemed to get worse everyday. Until at last the most brutal torture was inflicted on him, gang rape.

A few weeks after Naruto began to live alone, a group of men broke down his door. He was bound, gagged, blindfolded, knocked unconscious then taken away before he could even ask what they wanted.

The first thing that registered in the small boy's mind was the hardness of the floor against his right shoulder. He struggled against the ropes that bound his arms, only resulting in flopping from laying on his side onto his back. Then he attempted to scream for help, the gag muffled his cries.

"The demon is awake, didn't take it long to recover, as expected from a monster." The loathing in this stranger's voice was nothing unusual, in fact it was the only tone ever used when talking to or of Naruto.

"He'll wish he were still unconscious, or better yet dead, after we get through with him." A different voice, a second man.

"Finally I will get my revenge on you vile demon, for taking away my wife and child!" Another man, a very angry sounding man. Naruto tried to struggle again, tried to answer them but it was useless.

"There is no point in resisting, you're powerless against us now. Accept your justly deserved punishment!" A fourth man grabbed Naruto by the ropes across his chest and hauled him onto a wooden table.

He heard the trademark tinkle sound of metal just before the stab in his left shoulder, then his right. His howl of pain made it even through his gag, two long kunai held him to the table below. The men just laughed at the pitiful sounds the boy made. Naruto's ankles were untied and his legs forced apart…

It felt as if the torture lasted for hours perhaps even days, Naruto had no way of conceiving the time. Normally anyone else would have died or at least fainted from the blood loss. Naruto on the other hand, was aware of everything happening to him the entire time, 'thanks to being a demon' according to the offenders. However that could not have been the case, or it would not have been so easy for them to knock him out previously. They had obviously done something to him to make sure he'd stay awake, a drug or a jutsu perhaps.

When the men had finally had their fill, Naruto gratefully was able to pass out. Next thing he knows, he's woken up in an alleyway with hungry crows gathering around him. One pecks at the wound on his shoulder, he screams and the birds fly away disappointed that their would-be meal was still alive. The wound is closing now, slowly before his eyes, like his wounds have always done. Naruto gets up and drags himself home, those men were right, he did wish he was dead.

That night he let exhaustion claim him, instead of his usual dream of running from angry villagers; Naruto found himself standing in front of a massive and extremely tall barred gate with a paper seal in the middle keeping it closed. From amidst the darkness beyond, a low growl could be heard getting louder and a red glow began to grow, until the huge and terrifying face of a dark orange monster appeared; bearing a full grin of fangs larger than Naruto's entire body.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM, BOY?" Bellowed the face. Before Naruto could answer 'no', the question no longer stood.

"I AM KNOWN TO YOU HUMANS AS KYUUBI, THE NINE TAILED DEMON FOX." Naruto knew the story of Kyuubi, the demon that nearly destroyed Konoha seven years ago and killed hundreds of people. He staggered back and tripped on his own feet, staring in horror up at the fearsome beast.

"I HAVE BROUGHT YOU HERE TO MY DOMAIN TO EXPLAIN SOMETHING TO YOU."

"A SECRET THAT HAS BEEN KEPT FROM YOU." Listening to that loud frightening voice, watching those terrible fangs move as it spoke, Naruto couldn't take anymore. Tears streamed down his face, but his body remained as still as stone. The demon noticed and stopped it's speech, letting out what seemed to be a sigh.

The body of the demon began to bubble, slowly it shape-shifted into a new smaller figure. A figure of a woman with long blood red hair and long orange fox ears tipped with black protruding from atop her head. Nine orange fox tails swirled around her. She wore a red kimono with orange flames at the hem and a gold obi around her waist.

"Perhaps this image would be easier on you." The newly transformed demon spoke, this time with a normal but stern voice. "Now listen to me carefully, boy." Naruto gulped and finally willed his body to move, standing up and shouting with all the courage he could muster.

"My name is not 'boy', it is Uzumaki Naruto, Dattebayo!" Kyuubi smirked and folded her arms.

"I know, I know all about you Naruto."

"What do you know?! You know nothing about me!" Automatic response.

"I know everything about you, I know more about you than you know about yourself. For I have been a prisoner in your body since you were born." The conviction in the Kyuubi's voice hit Naruto right to the core.

"What? Impossible…"

"You know the story of the night the one your people call Yondaime trapped me into the body of a newly born baby. I was here inside you listening to the story told to you in school. You are the one I was imprisoned in."

"How… can this be? Why… are you telling me this?"

"It was for the best that I did not speak to you until now, if you knew of my existence to early it may have had adverse affects on your mind."

"Like this isn't totally freaking me out now?!" Kyuubi continued as if she had not heard.

"However I will no longer remain silent. I can not allow such atrocities committed against the body in which I reside. From now on you will listen to me and I shall teach you how to defend yourself."

"Don't you order me around demon!" Once again, ignored.

"The one that sealed me here was none other than your father…"

"WHAT?!" cutting her off doesn't get any more attention.

"…when he did, he made it so all my power would be at your fingertips while I remain inside you. You will use it to make sure that nothing like what happened today ever happens again."

"Why should I listen to you?! You're a demon, you must be the reason why my life is hell! This is all your fault!" Silence, Naruto glared at her with hatred from the other side of the bars.

After a long pause, Kyuubi answered him, "Do you want to be hurt again?"

"Of... Of course not!!" Naruto clenched his fists and eyes shut, fighting away the memories.

"Then do as I tell you."

After the talk with his 'inner demon' Naruto soon learned a few tricks. Stealth, to hide from his enemies. Speed to run when they found him. And where he lacked physical strength he used powerful raw red chakra to throw them off when he was caught. He didn't yet have the training to use the chakra for jutsus, he could only let it out in small amounts and in a raw form that still hurt his enemies but not seriously, just enough. Naruto enrolled into the Konoha Ninja Academy, an action widely frowned upon. No one wanted to let him become a ninja, but the village had been short of shinobi since the Kyuubi attack and in the end the council allowed him to enter. For the next 5 years he trained extremely hard, under the direction of his sensei Iruka and his now self-proclaimed adoptive mother Kyuubi.