DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto.

"Die you Daemon scum!" they screamed at him.

Running through buildings, around carts, dodging rocks, sticks and other projectiles flying near his head, was a four year old Naruto Uzumaki. His golden hair, dirtied from not bathing in so long was stuck to his forehead as sweat glistened on his face and ran down his chin. His bright sapphire blue eyes showed his obvious fear of the villagers chasing him, civilian and ninja alike. He just managed to barely escape an earth jutsu that was most likely meant to crush him and bury him alive.

'What the hell?' he thought. 'Aren't ninja supposed to help protect people? Why are they also attacking me?' he continued to run forward, not looking at where he was running since his attention was directed to the quickly approaching mob behind him. His distraction caused him to run into the legs of a long white haired woman. He grunted loudly as the force of the recoil had him falling to the ground. The woman turned around to see what had knocked into her. She looked down and her gaze fell upon a dirty little blond haired boy, who was rubbing his butt on which he had fallen. She bent to pick him up but to her surprise, he recoiled and hit her hand away.

"Don't touch me!" he screamed as he tried to scramble away from the woman. The pale haired woman blanched at his statement. 'Hurt him But why would I-'her thoughts were interrupted as the mob that was chasing the young Uzumaki finally caught up to him.

"Finally! You caught the daemon!" the self appointed leader of the mo gasped, quite out of breath for the boy had given him a very long chase. "Now hand him over, so we may punish him as we see fit." At this point, the other members of the mob began to grin and laugh in a sinister way. This shocked the woman greatly as she had never seen this cruel type of reaction shown to a child, no matter what the crime.

Standing protectively in front of Naruto she began to speak to the leader of the group. "What has the child done that is so heinous to warrant your hate towards him?"

"Judging from your accent ma'am you are not from around here, so you protect the daemon not knowing of his crimes. That thing is a monster! A daemon that has killed our friends and family!" he shouted as he pointed at the young boy, who at this point was stunned that somebody had defended him. So stunned he was that he remained seated on the ground behind his personal savior, hiding behind her legs. The mob agreed with their 'leader' and shouted in jovial agreement. A woman who had lost her husband and their only son in the Kyuubi attack screamed at the foreigner, "Hand him over so we can exact our revenge!"

"What is wrong with you people!" the woman cried. "Can't you see that this is just a young boy who has done nothing to you? Look at him! He doesn't even look like a hanyou, far less for a full blown rampaging murderous daemon. He can't even hurt you people!"

The villagers were shocked. How dare this woman, this…this FOREIGNER insult them like this. How could she defend that scum of the Earth, that MONSTER that killed their friends and loved ones. They came to the assumption that the daemon was controlling the mind of the foreigner, preying upon someone who didn't know his blood thirsty tendencies. The 'leader' decided upon himself to remove the 'daemon influence' from the woman. His pain from loss, and his fury at the boy flooded all ration thinking and common sense from his mind. I cannot let another innocent woman get killed by the daemon, he thought. "The daemon has controlled her thoughts!" he shouted at the group. "Let us cleanse this woman and destroy this daemon from our world, once and for all!" The group shouted in agreement. They raised their makeshift weapons and crude projectiles and started towards the woman and the boy.

Seeing that the villagers were truly blinded by their hate, she turned around and bent down to pick up Naruto. He began to struggle against her, but her grip remained strong as she held on to him. She began to run with the boy as the mob resumed their demented chase. Projectiles were thrown at them, some narrowly missing, others hitting their mark. The sharp rocks tore at the woman's clothing as she ran. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side as a particularly large piece of rock hit her in the head. Her footing lost, she tripped and fell to the ground in a huff, twisting sideways so that Naruto would not feel the impact of the ground. She felt a pain in her ankle; she had twisted it when she fell. The leader of the group was fast approaching. He reached her and a wicked expression crossed his face.

The woman looked defiantly at the man. Her hazel eyes began to glow with a soft white light. The leader made to hit her, but before the hit landed a man wearing all black and a white mask in the shape of a tiger snatched his hand out of the air. ANBU.

The new comer glared at the group, the killing intent rolling off of him in waves. A deep baritone voice came from behind the mask. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. The civilians, not accustomed to feeling this much malice directed at them muttered and trembled nervously. Some of them with weaker constitutions embarrassingly lost their lunches or even the hold on their bladders. The ANBU then focused his steely glare on the civilian leader whose wrist he held. "Now," he questioned, "what were you going to do with this?"

The man in question, slightly shaken from the killing intent directed at him responded "I was going to do the world a favor and rid it of this daemon once and for all! Look! It has even controlled the mind of this young woman. We must free her from her suffering at the hands of the daemon!" The ANBU stared incredulously at the man. 'Is this man serious? He has really lost his mind.' That however did not defer his anger at the mob. He made a quick signal. Suddenly, three more ANBU agents appeared next to him wearing similar masks.

"You people are going to be taken in to have a friendly chat with Ibiki. I'm sure he will have a lovely time getting to know you better. Now take them out of my sight. And as for you," he said as he turned to the leader of the now dispersed mob, "you are going to see Inochi Yamanaka for mental and emotional counseling." The three ANBU then directed the civilian mob to the Interrogation headquarters.

As they left, the Tiger ANBU turned towards the woman who was trying to get up, but favoring her left leg. He bent to help her regain her footing. The woman looked at the ANBU's hand that he offered her and smirked as she took it. "It's about time you got here Tiger-kun. Where the hell were you?"

Naruto looked at the woman in shock. Here she was, his own personal savior talking to this scary ANBU in a very casual, borderline rude manner. He just stared at this woman as if she was an angel sent down from Kami herself to help him on this day. The ANBU chuckled under his mask. "I am sorry Akemi-chan. We were preoccupied with other matters. But we made it here just in time. Do you want to go to the hospital to see about your ankle?"

Akemi sighed as she looked at the ANBU in the tiger mask. Even though his face was covered, she knew he was looking at her with a somewhat guilty expression. She knew he was going to worry unnecessarily about her twisted ankle. She took a quick look over her injuries and came to the conclusion that she did not require a visit to the hospital; they were only minor cuts and bruises even thought she was really dirty. . "No, I'll fix it at home." She replied. She then looked over to Naruto and crouched down to look at him. He flinched as she looked at him straight in his eyes.

"Hello," she said to him. "Don't cry now. The bad men have gone away. You're okay now." She reached out to wipe away his tears when he hit her hand away.

"I'm not crying!" he responded indignantly. "I'm a boy and boys don't cry!" To him, crying was not a thing for him to be doing. When he cried, the villagers laughed and hurt him more, so in his mind, it was something that should never be done. Well, when he can be seen anyway. Akemi and the ANBU then shared a quick glance at each other.

"I am Akemi Tsukino. And what is your name?" she asked.

He responded that he was Naruto Uzumaki. Akemi then asked him where his parents were. Naruto just looked at his feet and replied that he doesn't know, he grew up in the orphanage. She asked if they knew where he was and he responded guiltily that he normally runs away because they treat him badly. Akemi sighed and looked at the boy. It was painfully obvious that he was underfed and was poorly taken care of. His tanned skin had a variety of substance on it, including mud and dried blood. His clothes were mismatched and poorly fitting. They were also torn in various places. Akemi had made up her mind.

"Naruto? Would you like to come and have dinner with us?" she asked him. Naruto was in shock as no one ever wanted him around. But he was hungry as it is and didn't think twice as he eagerly nodded his consent. Besides, he thought, she saved me from the crazy villagers. If she wanted to hurt me she would have helped them beat me.

Akemi smiled at him and then turned to the ANBU who was still standing watch over her. "Tiger-kun," she whispered to him, "Go back and do your duty. We will see you at home." The ANBU looked at her as she started to walk away from him, hand in hand with Naruto. With a sigh, he jumped to the nearest rooftop as he set of to the Interrogation headquarters.