I do not own Naruto.
Prologue
In the Village Hidden in the Leaves all was well on day of the Kyuubi festival except for one 5 year old child. Uzumaki Naruto, the container of the Kyuubi, ran through the streets of Konoha while rocks, sticks, and kunai were thrown at him by a couple of older boys. Shouts of "Demon, Hell-spawn, shit head and some other very colorful names" could be heard in the background, but by now all noise had been blocked off from the frightened child, after focusing on trying to find a way to escape the guaranteed beating if he was caught. He looked over his shoulder once more, pleading to Kami that they had given up the chase but to his disappointment they had not given up. In fact they seemed to be playing with him, leading him into a secluded alley way so they could hide the inevitable scene from the public. Stumbling, Naruto fell to the earth scraping his knees and arms releasing a stream of blood. The walls of the alley splattered with blood and suddenly Naruto became extremely nauseous. The sight of blood had always made Naruto uncomfortable. Still hoping to escape, he scrambled to his feet in one last ditch effort to get away.
Naruto's mind was in a crazed frenzy as he racked his brain to think of a plan to maybe persuade the bullies to leave him alone. All of the money that he had was spent on ramen earlier that day and the rest was back in his safe box under his bed. Anything of value that Naruto owned at all was in that safe box. There was nothing that he could think of to get out unscathed. Besides, judging by the cruel words and jeers of his pursuers Naruto figured they wouldn't be interested in anything he had to offer.
As Naruto half-jogged half-limped down the alley, he took a wrong turn. A large brick wall loomed above his head, taunting Naruto's inability to climb it. Naruto skidded to a stop and tried to go back the other way, but the crazed boys had already cornered him.
"Damn it" He exclaimed as his every muscle and fiber tensed in anticipation. If only he had payed more attention in class, he could have escaped these nobodies with a henge or something of the sort. Iruka-sensei was just so boring though, so it was practically impossible to even stay awake. Who the hell cared what kind of tools ninja used two hundred years ago? Who cared about the tragic death of the daimyo's great grandfather by seppuku? It really was unfortunate that almost two-thirds of the material at school was useless information. Otherwise Naruto would pay more attention... Well probably.
Suddenly one of the boys, the one with fiery red hair and numerous scars marking his face, lunged forward to pin Naruto to the wall. The boy, for no reason at all that Naruto could tell of, started to cry silent tears down his face. He was telling Naruto something in a voice laced with anguish, although Naruto was unable to make out the words. To avoid the full amount of pain Naruto was sure to receive, he had reverted into a semi-unconscious state. The world around Naruto was now little more than a blur of hazy colors and indistinguishable noises.
Suddenly Naruto's world erupted in pain as the wind was knocked out of him. The blows rained down upon his body, sparing nothing at all. The pain was unbearable. A kick to the chest, rocks thrown at his arms, a punch to his childish face, even a sharp kick to his nether regions. There was hoarse screaming that Naruto could barely recognize as his own. The pain felt like it went on for hours in what had only been a couple minutes. To be tortured like this on his own birthday was the worst experience in his entire life.
And then as Naruto was on the brink of unconsciousness the now familiar feeling of blows to his body disappeared. He had stopped screaming and fighting the punishment, opting to curl up in a ball and sob. Through half-lidded and confused eye Naruto watched as a figure about the same height as the other boys detain them with detached ease. The figure had not even allowed the others to explain their ganging up on a defenseless child.
As the figure turned towards Naruto and walked his way, Naruto's body finally pushed him into a comatose state.
Uchiha Itachi had been on Anbu rounds through the village on the night of the Kyuubi festival. Many ninja had been relieved of their duties for the festival with the exception of Anbu. Though Itachi had never been interested in games or festivals so he was content with missing the festival in favor of his shift. The village's safety was of much greater importance to him anyways. Itachi's first and most important duty would always be to the Hokage and his village. Most Uchiha would stubbornly disagree with that line of thinking, but the prestige resulting from being a child prodigy had its perks.
As Itachi had been jumping from roof to roof he had felt a fluctuation of odd chakra in one of the poorer districts. The amount of chakra that Itachi had sensed had been abnormally high for anything but a fight. And since the source of chakra was nowhere near any training grounds, the fluctuation needed to be looking into. A few jumps later and Itachi came upon the pitiful scene of a group of boys taking turns beating a child in a secluded alleyway.
Upon further examination Itachi recognized the young jinchuuriki Naruto. The Hokage had issued an order to all Anbu that the protection of Uzumaki Naruto was a priority in the chance that he might prematurely use the Kyuubi's power or even worse, release the demon altogether. Itachi disappeared from his perch on a wall, coincidentally the same wall that had been taunting Naruto earlier, and landed in the middle of the group of attackers. With a few quick movements he knocked all of the surprised boys back down the alleyway. Itachi advanced on them as they struggled to regain their composure. He weaved in and out of the mob with an elegant demeanor. It was almost as if Itachi was dancing with a crowd full of people all at once.
They had never even stood a chance against Itachi. Their surprise at his abrupt arrival had made them that much easier to disable. The Anbu had not even broken a sweat or ruffled his clothes.
Itachi looked over to the broken boy, peering into a hazed set of blue eyes. They seemed to display an exhausted sense of calm before becoming unfocused and finally closing. Itachi quickly walked over to the boy and pulled up his shirt.
The Hokage had informed Anbu that if Naruto ever used the Kyuubi's chakra, that the Fourth Hokage's seal on Naruto's stomach would become visible as a result. Itachi studied Naruto's stomach closely to be for certain that the seal wasn't there. Finding nothing, Itachi became confused as to what the strange chakra he had sensed earlier. The chakra had to have come from Naruto as he couldn't sense anything special coming from the little 'mob' of people attacking the boy. Itachi had assumed the chakra had come from Naruto's tenant, but the absence of the Fourth's seal disproved the Kyuubi's involvement. Also, all of the stories that Itachi had heard of the Kyuubi had described the chakra as malicious and overbearing. The chakra that he had sensed was more along the lines of a slightly more chaotic or rapid version of chakra. He would have to study the boy more once he had recovered from his injuries.
Curious about the Naruto's chakra, Itachi activated his sharingan to look at his chakra system. At first glance the sheer size of Naruto's coils was extremely abnormal for his age. The potential this boy possessed could be phenomenal if he was given the right training. Focusing closer on boy's chakra, Itachi noticed that Naruto's chakra was indeed different. Instead of the normal soothing blue hue most people had, Naruto contained a much lighter blue. Bordering on white even. The flow was indeed more chaotic and erratic and seem to be concentrated in certain parts of Naruto's body. Itachi noticed that they just so happened to be where Naruto's injuries were located.
Itachi checked over Naruto's body to maybe find a purpose for the concentration of chakra. To his surprise, Naruto's injuries were healing before his eyes. In fact there was little more than a couple of cuts and scrapes left on his body.
'The ability to heal oneself without knowledge of medical jutsu or consciousness. A side-effect of a bloodline perhaps?'
Itachi could only wonder what the implications of such an ability could mean.
Itachi showed up at his front door carrying Naruto on his back. Normally he would have hopped through the window to his room without bothering to go through the door. However the boy's chakra was extremely curious and Itachi wanted his father's opinion.
Just as Itachi expected, Uchiha Fugaku opened the door as soon as he had arrived. The man was paranoid and cautious to the extreme and as such, he was always on high alert. Especially now that the tension between the clan and the village had increased to a threatening level.
At the sight of Uzumaki Naruto, Fugaku eyes widened in surprise.
"Father..."
Fugaku glanced outside both ways, checking to make sure that no one had been watching, before ushering the two into the house.
"Did anyone follow you?" Fugaku asked, cautionary as ever.
Itachi answered in the negative.
"Report."
"Uzumaki Naruto was attacked and beaten by a group of adolescents in an alley. I noticed a strange chakra coming from the boy and investigated. The chakra, from what I understand is not concerned with the Kyuubi." Itachi answered in a brief and polite tone. Fugaku activated his sharingan to study the chakra more easily.
As Itachi said this Mikoto, Itachi's mother, appeared in the front hallway. At the mention a beating she quickly hurried over to take the boy from Itachi's arms. As Mikoto checked over the boy she noted the condition of Naruto's body. "Are you sure Itachi? The poor boy doesn't have more than a couple scrapes."
Mikoto carried Naruto into the living room and placed the boy on the sofa to let him rest.
Itachi nodded his head and followed her. "I believe that the boy possesses the ability to regenerate health."
Fugaku smirked and immediately started scheming of ways to incorporate the jinchuuriki into his plans. Of course it would prove to be useful to have the Kyuubi jinchuuriki in the clan's grasp in the coming days. The sharingan's ability to control the Kyuubi could help dispose of any resistance aimed at the clan.
The upcoming coup d'etat against the Hokage that the clan had planned was proving to be more difficult than it was previously thought to be. Fugaku had learned from Danzo, one of the village elders, that Uchiha secrets were being leaked to the village. Of course all would still go smoothly in the end, it was just a matter of preparation and control over the jinchuuriki would better prepare the clan.
The three family members continued to talk about Naruto, gradually the chakra in his system increased higher and higher and became more and more active. Fugaku was the first to notice since he was already studying the boy with his sharingan.
Bursting into action, Fugaku grabbed his wife, who was kneeling over the boy, and leaped to the edge of the room. "Itachi back away!"
Itachi had moved away as soon as Fugaku had moved and was watching the sleeping form of Naruto with curious, red eyes. In a matter of seconds the rising chakra rose to the very breaking point before Naruto himself exploded. However instead of blood and gore, the room was filled to the brim with miniature versions of Naruto. A cacophony of high pitched shouts and laughter enveloped the entire house. The little Narutos hopped around, creating mayhem with anything that they came into contact with. The scene would have been quite amusing if the miniatures weren't destroying everything.
The Uchihas had taken shelter from the onslaught of mini Narutos behind various pieces of furniture. Though it did little to hide them from the destructive crowd.
And then as soon it had started, the little figurines began to collaborate together on the couch where Naruto had laid previously. Piling on top of each other to take the form of a human shape before becoming Naruto once more.
The now still form of Naruto remained asleep, as if nothing had happened at all. His slumber seemed to look much more relaxed than earlier.
The three Uchiha all stared at the boy with varied expressions. Itachi, of course showed no emotion another than a slightly raised eyebrow. With Fugaku, you could easily see the scheming glint in his eyes. And finally, Mikoto almost had her jaw to the floor. Which was the more appropriate response for anyone who would witness such a scene.
Thus was the situation that Uchiha Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother, decided to walk in on.
Was looking through some old files on my computer the other day and I came across this. Some of you may recognize some elements of the story since I had it posted on here a couple years ago. I eventually took it down because of inactivity but I decided to see if I could repost it with better detail. Anyways hope you guys like it!