On a cold and lonely street, a child ran. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. He ran, and ran, but all things come to an end. He tripped, and he fell. From a corner you could see many other people running. The dirty heap scrambled to his feet, but it was to late. He was hit in the head and thrown to the wall. He was kicked, scratched, punched and stabbed. Most of this happened in the first minute. But there was more. There was fire, oh so much fire. There was gasoline and knives. And there were ninja. You hear stories of ninja. Great people, they help the community by keeping it safe and getting rid of threats. Some even help with your chores. But these ninja were not kind. They were harsh and cold. Cold as the ice that encased there hearts. And then it was over. The pain, gone. The burning, gone. Now there was darkness, an abyss of loneliness. But yet there was feeling. The feeling of water splashing up against his sides. The child slowly stood wincing, expecting pain. But none came. He was surprised for a few moments but quickly recovered. He started walking along, his hand gliding across the surface of the wall.
"Hello?" He said quietly. "Is anyone there? Can you help me? Please?" He whimpered as a growl resonated through out the hallways. He slowly stepped into the room he believed the sound came from. "Hello?" He asked.
"Who dares disturbs the Kyuubi No Kitsune's sleep! Pitiful mortal!" The voice was coming from in the cage. Normal children would be scared, run from the supposed threat. But the child here was not normal. He had been shown true fear and he had stared it in the face. Until it made him see darkness.
"Kitsune? I like foxes. There really cool." the child said giggling slightly.
"Interesting." The Kyuubi muttered to himself as his face was shown from behind the bars.
"Why are you not scared child? Have you been scarred so badly as to not feel fear anymore?" The Kyuubi asked slowly as he began shifting throught the childs memory. The Kyuubi was not an ancient being for nothing. He had seen pain, and loneliness before. Many times, but this childs eyes held more sorrow than any creature he'd ever met. He watched the memories. He watched spines break and necks snap. He watched blazing infernos and bloody gashes. His eyes widened at everything he was seeing. All the beetings, there must have been over ten of them. All the pain this child felt. The Kyuubi's face retreated as he began to shrink. He stepped out of the darkness as a red haired man. His fox tails and ear twitching slightly.
"Come here child." The man said. The child didn't hesitate, he just walked closer and closer until he was inside the cage. The man walked infront of the child and brought his arms around him. The child looked up at the man as he hugged him.
"It's okay child. I'm here. I'll teach you to be strong. You'll never have to endure one of those harsh beatings again. I'll be your family, your friend and your teacher. Sleep for now child. You need rest." The man sat down and let the child lay his head on his shoulder. He covered the small figure with his tails as he, to went to sleep.
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A man with a mask was jumping across rooftops as he looked down. He saw a small child. He was so beaten up that he was barely recognizable. He quickly jumped down, grabbed the child and dissapeared. He appeared again at a hospital where he gave the child to a medic. She quickly treated the child, after the man threatened her. He suddenly dissapeared again, this time reappearing at the hokage's office.
"Hokage-Sama! Naruto Uzumaki was beaten again. I brought him to the hospital. I think you might want to go see him when he wakes up." The man with the mask said in one breath.
"Thank you for the information Dog." The old Fire Shadow said.
"Hai." The Man with the Dog mask said, as he dissapeared again. The Hokage slowly took out a pipe and lit it. A lone tear fell out of his eye as he put his head on his desk. He whispered to himself.
"Im sorry Minato-kun. I failed you and your son. Please forgive me."