12 years ago

The sky over Konoha was bathed in an orange glow as fires burned within the hidden village. In the heart of the village, a great beast roared, standing proud amongst the destruction.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune, the 9 tailed demon, and the greatest of the Bijuu.

Across the town, in a small hidden cottage on top of the Hokage's monument stood a man, his blonde hair being powdered white with soot.

Minato Namikaze. The Yellow Flash. The Yondaime Hokage. Father of... twins.

Yes, in each arm, Minato held a single child, each taken from his wife mere moments ago. A boy in his left arm, a girl in his right.

The only distinguishing feature each of them had was their hair. The girl's was a red like the Kyuubi's miasma, the boy's a startling white. The midwife, Biwako Sarutobi, whife of Hiruzen Sarutobi, had said that the boy's hair was an early sign of albinism, but when he opened his eyes, it was clear that he wasn't merely albino. The startling green eyes had gazed around without fear upon his family as he was held to his mother, Kushina Uzumaki. They held a gleam of almost... pride in seeing all those he would ever trul hold dear together in one room in love and nurture.

What he didn't know, was that it would be the last time.

Minato had known of the possibility that the 9 tails would break free during the birth of the children (as Kushina had been the jinchuriki). To prepare for the possibility, a series of seals designed to eventually transport the Kyuubi into it's new host, which would unfortunately have to be one of his children.

Minato sighed, placing Naruto on the ground and Narumi on the preconstructed seal diagram at his own feet. As the diagram began to glow, a startled Narumi began to cry, and the Kyuubi in the distance roared in seeming defiance, before he was absorbed into the seal that had been placed at the place most likely to be the target of a rampant Kyuubi's rage: the Hokage Tower.

A series of seals lit the streets of Konoha, unnoticed amongst the fire and the soot that fell like snow.

And as the fresh seal cooled on Narumi's stomach, Naruto let out a single, solitary tear... almost as though he knew of what was to come.

Present

"Iru... Iruka-sensei?" A white haired boy held the head of his unresponsive teacher in his lap.

The man had good reason to be unconscious, having just taken a demon windmill shuriken to the back in order to protect the very student who now held him like he was his last lifeline.

"We did it sensei... wake up. We did it. We beat him sensei... Sensei?"

No response came from the chunin instructor who's life had swam out in the river of blood, and drowned in the pool of red beneath them.

"Sensei please! Stop playing with me sensei... sensei wake up. Sensei?"

Tears began to stream down onto the chunin's face as Naruto felt his young heart break inside of him. After everything that had happened this eve, after the conflict with Mizuki, after stealing the Forbidden Scroll, it had seemed like they had finally won. But the cost... the cost was just too high for him to pay.

Naruto laid Iruka's head down on the grass and stood to his full height. He took off his slightly torn, blood stained orange jacket and laid it over Iruka's body in a way that it covered his head. With his head down, he grabbed the Forbidden Scroll and began to walk deeper into the forest in the rain, leaving two dead Chunin.

Flashback

"Sensei?"

Iruka looked down at Naruto as he walked him through the slums to his apartment. Why the boy had been allowed to live alone in the slums he would never know, but it was better than homelessness.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Why do we need ninja?"

Iruka looked back at the road in front of him, giving it some thought."Naruto, ninja are beings of will. We exist to fight, bleed, and die for what we love."

Naruto looked down, whispering just under the volume Iruka could decipher,"But I have no one to love."

Flashback End

Naruto sat in a clearing over a hundred meters from where he left Iruka and Mizuki, under the largest tree he could find. His green eyes were once again dull, much like they were during his period in the darkness of the slums.

They scanned the scroll relentlessly, looking for anything that could be potentially useful. Naruto knew that there would only be so long before the Hokage found him and took him back to the village. When he got there, there would be no Iruka. Nobody to protect him, nobody to teach him... nobody to make him feel loved. So he would need something that would give him a trump card if civilians started to form mobs against him again, or if any of the kids in the upcoming year in the Academy were to try to usurp him.

What he didn't realize is that there are actually multiple Forbidden Scrolls within each hidden village. The scroll he had was Forbidden Scroll 13X, which contained village secrets directly pertaining to Hokage's and their families.

And so when reading over the scroll, which was generally full of irrelevant information, Naruto came across a particular patch of caligraphy- a seal, he quickly realized- that was labeled Uzumaki.

Even in his state of emotional numbness, with fresh tear tracts drying permanently into his pale skin, Naruto was innately curious. It was that curiosity that drove him to apply his own blood on to the seal and add in chakra. What was expelled from the scroll was another scroll.

The scroll was much smaller, however. Small enough that Naruto was able to quickly shove the scroll into his pants as he stood due to rustling in the bushes.

A grim faced Hiruzn stood there, alone, in his robed and distinguished glory. As soon as he looked at the pained look in Naruto's eyes, he opened his arms and received the boy as he sobbed into his chest.

That night found Naruto sitting on his living room floor with a headband sitting on his table. The scroll lay off to the side, bereft of it's contents. What were its contents?

Books.

Numerous enough for Naruto to make stacks. From what Naruto could tell, the books covered everything from the Uzumaki clans genealogy to ninja techniques that were specifically designed for the clan.

But what he held closest to himself were what shocked him beyond the realization he had living family.

First was a journal, a compilation of notes of Mito Uzumaki that had apparently been noted in by one of the most notorious traitors in Konoha history: Orochimaru of the Sannin. It wasn't just a journal on Uzumaki history.

The Hollow Bloodline: The Darkside of Uzumaki History.

The book had fallen open in Naruto's attempt to organize the stack, and what he had read had disturbed him, Apparently, his green eyes and white hair were the sign of a bloodline of immense power that only appeared every few generations within the Uzumaki family. However, the bloodline was associated with a single event in which over 200 people were massacred by an insane Uzumaki who allowed himself to be consumed by its power.

The second thing he found was a picture. It showed a blonde haired blue eyed man with a hair style similar to his own sitting with a red haired woman with purple eyes, both smiling while a red haired girl, who Naruto would say was about 6 sat in between them. The man and woman Naruto could easily recognize. Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, two of the greatest shinobi the world had ever seen. But the girl was young... unknown. That was until he read the letter, the third thing he had found.

It read as follows:

Dear Hurizen,

We hope that this letter finds you well. We are just letting you know that we are alive and that we will be starting Narumi's ninja training soon. We hope Naruto is doing well. We shall return in about 6 or 7 years so that Narumi can join the graduating class, and maybe get put on a squad with her brother. We have been conferring with the Toad Summons, who you know have a deep spiritual and natural connection to prophecies, and we have reason to believe both Naruto and Narumi have the potential to be the ones who will bring peace to the world. We do, however, believe Narumi will have a better chance, having access to the Kyuubi's chakra and all. We will not begin teaching her how to use it, however, until her completion of the Chunnin Exams. We have not told her of its existence within her.

Love,

Minato and Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze

Ps.: Don't let our son get spoiled from the hero worship! We know letting everyone think he saved them from the Kyuubi was a risky plan, but he can't be the child of prophecy with an inflated ego.

After rereading the twice, checking it for authenticity as best he could, and reading it again, Naruto began to quake in grief, confusion, and rage.

"They told them I Had Kyuubi. I don't have Kyuubi. How did I survive? Why would they do this? Reason no one loved me. Reason no one helped me. Reason I met Iruka. Reason Mizuki chose me. Reason I killed Mizuki who killed Iruka. Reason Iruka died. Iruka dead. They killed Iruka. It hurts. I'm hurt. I'm broken. I'm... dead."

And with that thought, Naruto passed out on the floor.

Naruto woke up standing in what appeared to be a giant reflective bubble. He had enough space to walk around inside, and around him seemed to be a surround theatre style image movie of his life. All his pain, really. It hurt him to watch. It felt like every second was just another open wound.

"Why watch then?"

Naruto turned around, startled by the voice. In front of him stood... him. Except different. Everything about him that was pale and colorless seemed to be a shade of black on this version of himself. And where his own eyes were green, his mirror image had purple eyes.

Naruto was dumbfounded,"Wha-what?"

Dark Naruto smirked,"You've seen this all before, haven't you? Why let it happen again?" He put a hand out, almost like a hand shake.

Naruto looked at the hand,"But... eventually. After it's all cycled through enough times... will we get to the point where someone loves me?"

Dark Naruto sighed, shaking his head,"You know how this plays out."

Naruto turned his head to the side, nodding. He began to reach out for the hand,"I guess I'll just have to learn..."

As the hands connected, dark and light became one, and in their place stood Naruto, but changed. His hair became more ashen, like the soot that fell the night of his birth. On his cheeks, purple lines extended down from his eyes and went straight to his chin. HIs eyes now held black sclera, and the iris was green toward the pupil, but purple as it traveled to the sclera.

"... to love myself."

Then he punched the bubble, and it broke like glass.

Believe me. I'm back. Sorry about the whole "ask for beta then forget about fanfiction for months" thing. But here's the rewrite you all wanted (at leat the ones that actually cared about story arc). Enjoy.