Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
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"Demon!"
"Trash!"
"Fucking Kyuubi!"
One after another they kept yelling at him 'What did I do to deserve this?' they hit him and stabbed him to the point where all he could hear was ringing and could barely understand the people that were yelling at him. He tried to look at his attackers but could only see blurs through his teary eyes. He tried to wipe the tears but whenever the boy would even start to move his hands his assailants would kick it back down to the watery ground.
"This is for my niece!" he heard someone yell right before he felt a hard kick to the back of his head.
The last thing he saw were the blurry faces of people at the end of the alleyway just walking by and occasionally looking at the beating with a smile on there faces as though he deserved every last bit of this.
"Oww my head" moaned the little boy as he slowly opened up his heavy swollen eyes to scan his surroundings.
He was in a dark smelly alleyway with the, ironically, bright shining pretty looking moon above. The boy tried to lift his hand but felt as though it was made of led, looking down he sees his arm covered with bruises and blood, his legs looked flimsy, and anyone could clearly tell that many of his bones were either broken or fractured.
'God what the hell happened to me?' he thought,and just like a train wreck all the terrible memories came rolling back to him.
**Flashback**
'I can't wait to get some ramen again. It's been way too long since I've visited the old man and Ayame-neechan, I wonder if they made that new recipe that they've been trying for a while to create' walking with a hop in my step excited to see two of the three people that actually cared about me in this village I continued on my way to Ichiraku's.
I was almost a block away to my favorite place when I got forcefully shoved into an alleyway I was walking by.
Sadly or luckily depending on which way you see it, I was now used to people randomly attacking me so instinctively I caught my self with my hands before my head could hit the ground
"What the hell was that for!?" I yelled, I knew the guy wasn't gonna answer me, they never do, whenever I got attacked they would just get me cornered and beat me mercilessly without even telling me what I did wrong.
I got back up trying to wipe the dirt off that had gotten caught on my jumpsuit when I was roughly shoved to the ground
"How dare you speak to me demon!" said a talk dark haired man
Judging by the way he was swaying and had a bottle of sake in his hand I concluded that he was drunk. Knowing that I was cornered to a wall in the narrow alleyway I knew exactly what this man was gonna do to me.
I never understood why the civilians of this village hated me so, they just did. I would get ridiculed while walking down the street, get yelled at for just skipping inside some of the stores that would actually let me in, and buying stuff was probably one of my biggest problems overall...besides the daily beatings.
A regular kid my age wouldn't have to worry about money, I mean why should they when they have their parents who would take care of everything for them from food to clothes to toys.
But sadly, I'm not a regular kid.
Since the day I was born I've been hated, I've always felt alone. Even when I tried to play with the other kids they would just tell me to go away saying that their parents said that I was just a monster in child form. After all the ridicule from the kids I would just go swing by myself all day, watching kid by kid get picked up by their parents, talking, laughing, and sharing smiles of pure happiness with each other.
I've asked where my parents were before and jiji had told me that they died during the Kyuubi attack, I've tried talking to him about what they did or just who they were but he wouldn't speak another word of them saying "I'll tell you when you're the right age Naruto-kun" every time.
Well I'm sick of waiting for all my questions about them to be answered
Were they ninjas that died heroically protecting the village? or were they just mere villagers who were too slow to evacuate and ended up dying.
I've had all these thoughts and dreams of my parents, feeding me, playing with me, and just loving me.
But guess what?...they were still just all dreams
They were all just happy fantasy lands that I would go to get away from the real world that was only cold and heartless towards me.
I hated my life, I hated the people I saw on the streets, but most of all I hated myself.
My worlds always been like this, cold, dark, and lonely
So when I finally felt like I was gonna crack, I created my fake mask, an emotional mask, that I would wear on my face whenever I was in public to hide my true anger and sorrow from the rest of the world. I would use it to show the people that whatever they did to me, wasn't going to work... plus it felt good to see the pissed off looks on their faces when they saw my smile.
No matter the number of hateful stares I got, I would remain strong.
Looking up at the man in front of me I knew how my day was gonna end up now, I knew that there was gonna be no ramen for me by the end of the day, but I at least had to try escaping.
I was about to make a break for it and try to run past him but stopped when I heard talking behind the drunk man.
"Asaki you found the little demon faster than I thought you would" said a man that was slowly walking up behind my attacker
Looking around the man in front of me, I see a group of people that started walking up next to the now known Asaki. By the way they looked at me with eyes of hatred I could tell they were by no means on my side, which by now I was used to
"Hell yea I got the little rat, Now let's show this kitsune what he gets for walking around a village that he half destroyed with a goddamn smile on his bastard little face!"
And so began the merciless beating that was only one of the many I have already endured
**End Flashback**
'Ughh dam that's right' thought the little broken up boy. 'Why do I always end up like this? Feeling helpless and broken all over? Do I really deserve all this? What did I do wrong?' Feeling too tired to even move the little 8 year old boy just sat there looking up at the stars trying to figure out how he was living like this on a daily bases.
He had thought before to just end it all but whenever he tried he would see a rush of red go through his arm that stopped the knife he would be holding just a few inches from his heart or vital point.
The boy was scared at first seeing his arm just stop as though on command, but after he dropped the knife, the red color would recede back into his body and he would have full control of his arm again
He had thought about going to tell his jiji about it, but was scared of how the old man would react if he found out he tried to kill himself, so he just kept it as a secret occasionally trying to stab himself just to see the red color stop his arm a few inches away from breaking his skin
The child oddly felt safe when he felt or thought about the red bubbly thing
It made him feel like someone was looking out for him and keeping him safe, even if it was from himself
He once thought that maybe it was his parents in the afterlife sensing that he was about to endanger himself so they would send the thing to keep him safe
But it was just a passing thought he threw away realizing what he said was just a dream that he only wanted to believe was true
The little boy's thoughts were cut off when he heard footsteps coming towards him from the roof. Too tired to even look up he just stays there waiting to see if the so called shinobi of the village that were meant to protect people were trying to get a few kicks on him too before the night was over.
*Thud*
Looking to direction of the sound he sees a girl probably a little older than him with purple hair that was tied into a pony tail, from the hiate that she wore on her head I knew she must have been a shinobi of the village
'Huh even the kids of this village are starting to beat me too now, go figure' I thought while taking a closer look at her appearance
She was wearing quite a revealing trench coat that went down to her knees, she wore a mesh undershirt that was lightly transparent and a orange skirt that was too small to even be called a mini skirt.
All and all he thought he wasn't on the verge of unconsciousness already he would've been passed out with a nose bleed... but that still didn't stop the sprinkle of red that appeared on his cheeks
Looking up at her eyes the child saw what he thought were one of the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.
She had soft honey brown eyes that sparkled under the bright moon
But what he was surprised to see was the deep worry in her bright eyes instead of seeing the malevolent ones he was so used to seeing
He was so caught up in her appearance he realized that the girl had been talking to him for a while
"-ello? Yoo hoo kid are deaf or sumtin?"
"Huh oh sorry what did you say?"
'She hasn't tried to attack me yet so she might just have found me by accident'
The purple headed girl just stared at him with a cocked eyebrow and repeated her question
"I asked, what happened to you?"
Getting his act together the kid put on his fake emotional mask and gave her a wide grin
"Oh you know just a hardcore version of tag" he said with a laugh
The girl looked at him as though he was crazy, and couldn't help but see that even with the full blown grin his eyes were anything but happy, they looked dim and almost lifeless.
Most people wouldn't have seen through his fake mask but being the apprentice of one of the three legendary sannin's she was taught human behaviors and actions and could easily see through his fake smile
She realized that he must not want to talk about what happened so she just filed away the info for later
The girl looked at the boy and just shook her head and gave him a chuckle
"Well kid you look like complete shit"
His smile immediately dropped to a pouty frown "Well that's a mean way of putting it" but looking down at himself once more and seeing his condition he guessed he couldn't really blame the girl for the insult, since he did basically 'look like shit'. Although who wouldn't after a beating the size of one he just took?
"Heh guess I kinda do" he chuckled
"Yea no shit" Starting to slowly pick him up in a piggy back fashion so she wouldn't disturb the surprisingly already healing wounds, she started running towards the hospital
"So kid how old are you kid?" the girl asked trying to make small talk on their way down to the clinic
"I'm eight and can you not call me 'kid'" pouted the blond haired boy not wanting to be talked down to by someone almost as young as him
Looking behind her back and seeing the pouting face she couldn't help but laugh at him
"Well I wouldn't if you told me your name" she retorted
"Heh oh yea I guess I haven't, names Naruto Uzu.. *cough*..maki, what's ….yours?" feeling a little lightheaded it was hard for him to even finish that sentence
Looking back she sees him barely lifting his head up with his eyes fluttering open and closed
Sensing that he was on the verge of blacking out, she sped up to get to the hospital quicker
"Don't worry about it kid" she replied not wanting the kid to over think himself
"Hey…you said you wouldn't…. call me kid if I…. gave you my name" said the irritated drowsy Naruto at being called kid again
Giving a Cheshire like grin the purple headed girl said "Well I lied, now close your eyes you need your rest shorty"
Too tired to argue or give an insult back Naruto just gave her a snort and slowly closed his eyes just wanting this horrible day to be over.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was many things, he was a powerful, strong, forceful Hokage of Konohagakure, and was also a loyal, friendly, and an overall nice man who loved and was loved by the whole village. He was looked up to by many for his superior intelligence and his strong will. Many saw him as a kind old man in the village... but in combat there was only two words anyone would describe him as, merciless and ruthless.
Serving and fighting in two of the three great shinobi wars he had learned that hesitance can and will get you killed in the battlefield in just a matter of seconds
He had learned long ago how he could get through so many bloody battles and still come out of it with his sanity intact, a method that was used by the anbu forces all around the shinobi world.
During battles he would wear a mask clad in the strongest metal found in the Land of Iron that hid his face from the rest of the world.
The mask was painted blood red with a silvery glow to it thanks to the metal. The eye holes were slanted with a black outline around it, under the eyes holes were what looked like thin black tears going down to the chin. There was the kanji for fire directly on the forehead of the great enigma of a mask.
With all these different designs though one of them was the most known one throughout the great shinobi world
It was a giant vicious grin was plastered onto the mask that spread like a curve all the way to the edges of the eyes
The teeth of the grin were shiny pearly silvery white that could have been seen across a forest, while the inside of the mouth had the deepest hollow black color anyone had ever seen
The grin was what scared his enemies off, but anyone who had been slayed by him or fought with or against him up close would tell you different
Up close you could clearly see through the mask's eye holes and the thing you would see behind it would give even the toughest ninjas nightmares
His eyes behind the mask was not of a kind man that the villagers saw him as, no, it was that of a man that was possessed, many thought it looked like the Shinigami himself was controlling the man to do his personal biddings
It was focused only on his victims and the blood that spew with every slice of his kunai
His eyes were bloodshot red with veins on it that made it look as though his entire eye was red
Many shinobis who have encountered him during battle could have sworn that his eyes glowed behind the mask but only the few that have survived their encounter with him in the battlefield could tell you that it really was
During battle Hiruzen would push enormous amounts of chakra to his eyes to see sharper and farther, only a handful of ninja's were able to do this due to their chakra capacity not being big enough to waste, but having a Kage level chakra amount, Sarutobi would send chakra through his eyes throughout battles to enhance his already great fighting abilities.
A rare side effect had occured though because of sending chakra through his eyes for so long in battle, his eyes now showed the chakra that he was sending through his eyes, giving it an eerily glow.
Since his eyes were bloodshot though, the glow from the chakra highlighted his red eyes making it look as if his eyes were glowing pure red.
With the mask onand his deadly glowing eyes together, the combination was absolutely frightening
When wearing his mask Sarutobi was not the leader of Konohagakure, he was not intellectual 'Professor' of the shinobi world, he was not even a man.
When that mask adorned his face, he was nothing but a cold hearted killer, the reincarnation of the Shinigami, a devil of pure malice.
Slicing and ending lives left and right, leaving trails of blood and bodies with kunai's stabbed in their heads in his wake. He was so scary on the field even his own ninjas were so scared of him that they would move out of the area their killing machine of a Hokage was at.
The image of the battlefield after it was done and seeing all the foreign shinobi that their Hokage had killed on the ground was so gory that even some of the ninjas that had killed over a dozen men puked.
Sarutobi just wearing his mask would scare his opponents off and running back to their villages not wanting to be slew by the legendary 'Shi no Kamen'
To the other nations he was an enemy that was fearless and deadly but to the villagers of Konohagakure he was always just a friendly man that always wanted to help around the village
Over time Hiruzen had gotten old and was now kinder and less violent than ever before. He would rarely ever wear his old battle mask on anymore because there was never any battles that the Hokage had to directly be involved in
He had not worn it nor had the crazy eyes behind it for over 40 years so many of the shinobi's of the village have forgotten how his face used to look like during battle
Naturally over time of being stuck behind a desk as Hokage and just growing of old age had his characteristic of being forceful wither away, replaced by the old peaceful man you now see today
The other shinobi nations see him now as nothing but a shell of his former self and the council and people of Konoha see him as just the nice old Hokage that, in the civilian councils case, they could push around.
So imagine their surprise when they see him charging through the streets on his way to the hospital, a giant scowl adorning his gentle wrinkly face with killer intent oozing out of him to the point where he made a few of the on looking civilians pass out and even some jounin's falter.
Charging through the doors of the hospital
"WHERE IS HE!?" yelled the Hokage to the front desk lady
"Umm….. who... Hokage-sama?" said the lady meekly
The Hokage gave her his full glare knowing that the woman knew there was only one person he had ever stormed into the hospital for angry on a daily bases
Desperately trying not to wet herself, she realized he must've been talking about the demon brat, though she wouldn't dare call the child that in front of the Hokage
Meekly trying to hide behind her clipboard from the obviously angered Hokage "Um….room number…. 276 Hokage-sama" came the quite voice of the greatly scared front desk lady
Hearing the room number he charged to the stairs to see exactly what those ignorant villagers had done to his unofficial grandson this time.
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Translations:
Shi no Kamen= Mask of Death
