Trials and Tales

Prologue:

This story begins within the leafy walls of Konoha, a village that is fighting for its life as the devil's nine tailed menace strikes out with full force, with the birth of a single child and the downfall of an angry blood thirsty demon with nine flaming tails and taking it's blonde champion with it. A small child. The only child to be born to his parents, a child who caused death.

"Kakashi! Where is Minato!?" said the exhausted mother when the ordeal was finally over. "Where is he?"

The silver haired ninja shook his head his eyes wandering slightly to the ground as he tried to find words to describe the situation, quietly and bluntly he replied,

"He is dead…"

"Nani!? No! Where is my son then?"

"I would fear you would ask that… Iruka." Kakashi beckoned the brown haired teen forward who was carrying a small bundle swathed in bloody ripped robes of dirtied white cloth.

"Is he alright!? I remember Minato taking him! What happened is he alright?"

Iruka nodded wordlessly and passed the bundle to the mother, and glanced over at the door as Kurenai, Asuma and Gai entered just as she began coughing harshly.

"What is this!?"

The woman drew back harshly as if burned when she saw the swirling black tattoo on her newborn's stomach,

"No! Minato! H-he can't!"

"He did, we have won, yet we paid the price of losing him…" Kakashi's voice was thick with unspent emotion as he fought to keep tears at bay; Iruka grasped Kakashi's bloodied hand in his.

"What will you call him?" Iruka asked gently placing a hand on her shoulder; Kurenai walked over to the red head quickly and noted her pulse rate.

"I-I don't h-have m-much t-time left… I will name him. Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. H-he-" She never finished her sentence, with that the woman gave up, and her heart stopped beating, she breathed her final breath and lay back and was still and cold for all eternity.

"Kushina…" Iruka murmured as he put Naruto down on a bundle of blanket shreds, the October sun was weak, yet determined and it shone in thin golden shards through the ruined and burnt hospital window its feeble rays touching a golden finger on the tiny infant.

The other Jônin gathered round to stare at Naruto

"He is still… His eyes are closed, he should be crying." Gai commented, "Why is he so still?"

"I think he understands the graveness of this situation…" said Kurenai, wiping are eyes with the heel of her bloodied hand.

It is true. Naruto's eyes should have been open; he should have been wailing and screaming by now, especially since he was supposedly hungry.

"He has the Kyuubi sealed inside him. He has no need to do so. He is different."

The five nin looked up to see Jiraiya standing at the window, his arms folded as he gazed down at the sad little bundle with a single tuft of blonde hair peeking out.

"We must leave him now in the care of the Sandaime Sarutobi." said Asuma; he flicked his cigarette end out of the door. They all stepped back from the new born. The wind played through the trees, whispering quietly as it swept by mourning, as spirits joined it in its death song.

"Not one word shall escape to our youngsters that this child bears the Kyuubi no Kitsune. But it is highly unlikely that Naruto will survive. Not in this state anyway."

The Hokage instructed all the villagers and ninja as they looked up at him their faces drenched and pale as the rain fell down harder that ever, a streak of lightening tore the sky apart and the sound rumbled at fragile building complexes, causing them to wobble and shake.

"The sky is crying…For all that we have lost and gained…" Kakashi said as he turned to Iruka who was quietly sobbing into his black clad shoulder.

"It's not that… Naruto will die… Not one child has survived the Kyuubi yet… He is the only living relative that is closest to Minato!"

"I know… But we must be positive. Minato saved us all." Iruka stared at Kakashi before turning away to hide his ever flowing tears that threatened to never cease.

But dear reader, Uzumaki Naruto lived. He survived the demon Kyuubi, and this is his tale.

Part 1- Demon

Uzumaki Naruto lived.

But his existence in the village was caused for much speculation in the shinobi community.

"I heard he has this great monster fox spirit sealed inside him!"

"No! He can't! Are you serious?"

Naruto walked down the street his hands in his pockets as he heard a young woman conversing with her friend in front of the Yamanka flower shop, he bowed his head slightly when he heard them.

"Is that him? The demon fox that attacked 13 years ago?"

Naruto glanced up from where he had been staring blankly at his feet to the speaker, a tall man hugging his child close as if shielding him from the young blonde. Naruto stared hard at him, the man caught him looking and shifted nervously as he saw the cerulean eyes staring at him.

"He has no parents, I wonder who looks after him, and I heard that the Sandaime was taking care of him personally"

Naruto whimpered he couldn't take all these people whispering rumours about him, he broke in to a run, pushing people out of the way, hearing them mutter, 'filth' and 'It's that demon again! Shouldn't he be off somewhere murdering an innocent family?'

The blonde couldn't say anything back since everything the villagers were saying was true, he had nothing to say in his defence. He did have a murderous demon sealed inside him, he didn't have any parents, and he didn't have anyone in his life.

He kept on running, to where he knew he'd be safe from all the hostile stares, the muttering and worst of all the rumours. At last Naruto stopped at the pier, he sat down at the water's edge and threw a pebble into the orange and pink stained water as the sun set behind him, Naruto threw another pebble, this one was rough and sharp, unlike all the others which were smooth and flawless, an oddity, Naruto thought as he watched this odd little stone sink beneath the even surface of the water, the stone that resembled him.

Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through midnight locks of hair; he turned around and looked over at the pink haired girl who was standing a few meters away from him.

"… Sakura… Have you seen Naruto?"

The rosette looked up from her book and blushed slightly.

"No, he never came to training this morning,"

"Sasuke I think you might want to check the pier" Kakashi looked over the top of his own porn book, the raven nodded and walked off his hands shoved deep inside his short pockets.

Naruto blinked as he was snapped out of his reverie, he looked at his reflection. Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, three whisker marks on each cheek, orange clad body. He stiffened as he felt a familiar chakra presence wash over him.

"Sasuke… Why are you here?"

"Hn. I came to ask why you didn't come to training this morning Kaka-sensei was worried, in fact all of us were, and we didn't know where you were. Sakura was pissed at first but then started fretting over how you weren't here and thinking that you had hurt yourself somewhere." Sasuke sat down and dangled his feet in the water.

Naruto considerably brightened at the fact that his pink haired friend and crush had worried about him, but then his face fell.

"What's wrong?"

"Sasuke… the reason why I didn't come to training was because I was scared to face the truth."

"Truth?" Sasuke tilted his head to one side as if to see his friends face in a whole new perspective and scratched the side of his nose absentmindedly.

"The villagers… Y'know they spread rumours about me and I hate it" Naruto looked away since he didn't want his raven haired friend to see his tears that were coursing down his face. Sasuke, was slightly surprised as he heard Naruto break down, it made even his icy heart melt to hear his only friend so unhappy, thinking how crazy this might be, he put his arms hesitantly around the blonde's small frame and embraced him awkwardly for a few seconds.

Naruto hiccupped and stared in amazement at Sasuke, before flinging himself onto the Uchiha wrapping his arms around his shoulders and began sobbing into his shirt. Sasuke was now genuinely surprised and it had shown on his face because Naruto let go of him slightly. Sasuke retrieved his slightly cold posture once more and patted his friend gently on the back as he listened to Naruto babble on how the villagers hated him and he didn't know why.

"And they hate me Sasuke! They throw stuff at me and they hit me! They insult me, and I never did anything to them! Why? Sasuke! Why do they do this?"

Sasuke looked down at the blonde who was still crying softly on his shoulder, brushing aside a stray lock of golden hair Sasuke pressed his lips gently to his forehead before standing up once more.

"It's what my mother used to do when I was sad,"

Naruto looked up at him in disbelief, a small light blush dusted his tanned features, Sasuke ignored the heated stare and offered his hand to Naruto who grabbed it and hauled his body up.

"Listen Naruto, I really don't know what the hell you are going on about but it's going to be ok. Trust me, Kakashi and Sakura on this ok?"

Naruto sniffed and nodded, and then fell silent as he watched his best friend walk off back to the village, as the last rays of the dying sun disappeared behind the Hokage Mountain.