Former Fox of Leaves
A Naruto Fanfiction


The peace of the streets was broken, not previously silent but only filled with the sounds of daily villager bustle throughout Konohagakure, as a whole mess of items was sent cluttering across the earthen street, and among the various things that were sent into a cluttered heap was one such blond-haired boy.

He let out a whine of pain as he rolled off a hard object that he'd landed his back on, thinking he must have suffered a bruise, but it was quick to leave his mind as he was smacked over the head by hard bristles.

"You heard me, get out of my shop! And don't come back!" a man yelled, anger and a hint of fear familiar in his voice. The blue-eyed-blond gazed up with startled, tear-filled hues that betrayed his hurt and confusion.

"Why? I just wanted to buy some food! I have money to pay!" the boy shouted back, his voice cracking slightly.

"I don't care! I don't want your money, just stay away from me! Get going! Shoo!" The man took another swing at him with the broom he was brandishing in-hand like a weapon, making the kid flinch as the bristles raked across his face, scratching it.

He leapt up and ran several feet away before whirling around, fury showing in his own deep blue eyes. "Fine! I won't come back and buy anything! Your food's no good to me either!"

The boy paused and glanced around, getting stared at as people whispered audible insults about him, hateful and fearful looks boring into him. Those eyes.

"What?!" He demanded, glaring at them challengingly, daring them to come out and say what they thought about him out loud, instead of talking as if behind his back. He heard them anyway, so why did they even pretend like it was some sort of secret?

The only secret was the reason why everyone hated him.

"Why do all of you look at me like that? I didn't do anything! I'm just-" he stopped, tears falling over his cheeks to leave tracks before he turned and bolted abruptly, pain clenching his chest. "Just stop looking at me like that! I didn't do anything wrong!"

He ran until he was too exhausted and his leg gave out, the boy tripping and crashing into the ground. He yelped out in pain as a rock cut through his knee and made it bleed. He ground his jaw angrily and slowly sat up, clutching his leg and carefully examining the wound, red trailing down his leg.

He bit back sniffles and tears as it ached, sparing a glance upward. Even now…people were staring at him from afar, skittishly turning partly away and whispering, as though he were some kind of diseased vermin that was going to spread to them all.

He bit his lip and struggle to his feet, limping off down a less travelled street if only to escape those damning gazes, forcing back small sobs that tried to bubble up.

If he was any other kid, some adult would be at his side, asking if he was alright. They'd wipe away his tears and try to take care of his wound, and then quiet his crying and have him off again to play with other kids, with friends that he would have had.

He choked back another sob and furiously wiped his tears away with his forearm, casting a hateful glare at passersby that continued to stare and managed to scare them into running away, fearful beyond reasons that he could understand.

So what. Let them hate him. He didn't want to be friends with people like that anyway.

He trudged along, avoiding everyone else as much as he could and ignoring the wound to his leg, until the blood flowing down it had dried and crusted on. The sun was going down, night soon approaching, but he didn't feel like returning to his home.

What did it even matter, anyway? His place was empty. No one was expecting him to come back or anything. Hell, he might as well have never returned there at all. Even if he disappeared from the village right now, no one would miss him. No one would give even the slightest damn, except maybe the Third Hokage. That old man was the only one who ever treated him like he wasn't an abomination undeserving of the very breath in his body.

He paused as he gazed down the slope beneath the path he was walking, a familiar route. Just like yesterday, that cocky black-haired kid from the Academy – Sasuke, that was his name, right? – was sitting on the end of the bridge by the water. He was here again today, and tomorrow he'd be in the same place once more.

One of his only true daily routines, Sasuke glanced up at his watcher. Normally he'd get a glare, and the blond-haired boy would turn his head away sharply, sticking his nose in the air with a guise of superiority.

At the moment though, he just didn't really feel he had it in him, downcasting his eyes to the ground in front of him and continuing to limp along with his hands in his pockets. He came to stop at the park, already vacated by all the other kids, their parents having picked them up already and taken them home long ago, he was sure.

With a sigh he moved to sit on one of the swings, teetering back and forth a couple of inches even as night descended. He wished someone would come and pick him up, tell him that they were going home together, and then have a mom to cook dinner for him and hassle him about a bedtime, so then she could tuck him in and maybe tell him a story until he fell asleep.

That was a comfort he knew he wasn't ever going to get. Not in this stupid village.

"Naruto Uzamaki." He jumped slightly and looked over to an adult figure cloaked in black, shocked that someone had called him by name. Everyone in the village always just referred to him as 'that boy'. "It's a little late to be out alone, isn't it?"

"Yeah? And what do you care?" the boy questioned petulantly, sticking out a lower lip in a pout. The man stepped closer and he was able to get a better look at the mask that covered his face, only having one eye-hole, but not a mask he'd seen before. The boy hummed curiously and tilted his head. "Hey, you're not an ANBU, are you?"

"No, I'm not. In fact, I'm not even a part of this village, but I've seen how the villagers treat you. They can be quite cruel, can't they?"

Naruto blinked at the mysterious masked man in confusion before his eyes saddened.

"I don't know…why they hate me so much..." he mumbled. "I didn't do anything to them, but for as long as I can remember they've been that way."

"It's because of the power inside you."

Naruto glanced up, now more confused than ever. "Power? What sort of power?"

"Tell me, you've heard the story, about the nine-tailed fox that ravaged this village seven years ago, haven't you?" the man questioned curiously.

"Yeah, everyone knows about that." Naruto hummed. "The fourth Hokage defeated the fox and died saving the village." He lowered his head slightly. "My parents died defending the village too. That's what Lord Third told me, at least."

"The nine-tailed fox that attacked the village back then was not killed, but in fact, it still lives on."

"But…everyone says they killed the fox monster. You mean it's still alive? Then, it could attack again. If the village doesn't know, then-"

"Everyone in the village knows that the fox still lives," the man interrupted, catching Naruto by surprise. "In fact, it lives in this very village. The villagers and the fourth Hokage could not kill the nine-tailed fox, so instead, they sealed it into a human baby, and as it began to grow up, the villagers came to fear and despise this child."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, looking somewhat horrified. "Hold on…you don't mean that…"

"That's right. You're the nine-tailed fox now. That is why the villagers hate and fear you. They'd like nothing more than to be rid of you, because they can only see you as a monster. To them, that is all you are. Not a human, not a boy, but a beast."

Fresh tears welled up in the young boy's eyes, turning them to look at the ground in shock and pain.

Now…all of those things that people called him, a monster, a demon, and looking at him with those eyes…it all suddenly seemed to make sense. Even his teacher at the academy, Iruka...looked at him like that and told everyone to just ignore him and his antics, as if he didn't even exist. That was even worse than being scorned by the villagers. As if it wasn't even worth acknowledging him for the trouble he caused to annoy everyone for treating him the way they did, much less acknowledging him for anything positive.

"But I'm…I'm not a demon…I'm not the monster fox…I'm…I'm Naruto Uzamaki." He whispered, pain tight in his chest.

"That's right, you are Naruto Uzamaki." The man spoke, drawing the boy's attention. It was so foreign and attention-grabbing that anyone would call him by his name. Not demon, or monster, or that boy. "The villagers here can't see your power as anything but a nuisance to suppress and fear, but that power is such a powerful gift. You can make that power your own, and become a powerful ninja. More powerful than any before you, even more than any of the Hokage of this village. In fact, you could probably become one of the most powerful ninja this world has ever seen, and create a world where you're recognized and respected."

"You…you think so?" Naruto fumbled meekly, a spark of hopefulness in his blue eyes.

"It's possible, but here, in this village, the people here would only get in your way and prevent you from being the great force you are destined to be. If you left this village and came with me, though, I could help you realize that potential," the masked man promised, extending a hand. "And in return, you help me to realize a world where hate no longer exists."

Naruto blinked at him several times before getting to his feet, reaching for the hand that was offered him. "I…I do want that. If people will really recognize me and stop hating me, then show me how to use this power."


A/N: So just one thing about Naruto and the flash-back of when the Kyuubi attacked the leaf village, why the heck didn't Obito simply come back a couple years later when Naruto was still young and take him then? I mean sure, Minato wounded him the night of so he couldn't really get Naruto right then and there, but why wait some sixteen years to get him when he'd be powerful and hard to capture instead of recover and come back in like two or three or four years while Naruto was still a little kid? No one else besides Minato and Kushina even knew about Obito's involvement in the Kyuubi's attack since they died before they could tell the Third Hokage or anyone about that anyway, so it would have been relatively easy, I would think.

Anyway, that's where this idea came into play. More chapters to come.