Disclaimer…don't own Naruto or its characters
Uzumaki Naruto ran as fast as his ten year old legs would take him. Tearing through the streets of Konoha whilst mobs of villagers that sought to tear him piece by piece followed a good mile or so behind Naruto could only focus his thoughts on one word,
'Why…'
By now the villagers had been successful in pinning him to a tree; they brandished their select instruments of torture while yelling threats of death to the demon all too similar to the abuse and hatred Naruto received during recent years this kind of thing however happened every year…on October tenth. The savage beating continued for what seemed like hours before someone impaled a sharpened pole through the young boys shoulder and with what seemed to be an attempt at lifting the boy into the air a heavily muscled villager hoisted the hard iron forward completely severing the limb and all dreams of the feature along with it.
"You think he's had enough?"
"Yeah…go break it up…"
"Hai, taichou"
From the safety of his moonlit rooftop the nameless ANBU watched as the massive crowd dispersed leaving nothing but a few scattered weapons and a shivering, bloody child.
"Take him to the hospital, Ill report this to Hokage-sama…"
"Hai"
The female ANBU held the child close against her chest effectively warming the small bundle, a tear slipped from under her mask.
"I…am so sorry Naruto-kun" she lifted her mask revealing black hair and a pair of sharingan
"If only…If only I could adopt you, I would be able to embrace you as a son…and not a victim of their hatred"
The two approached the hospital and she hesitantly released the mortally wounded Naruto into the hands of the waiting nurse.
In the Hokage tower:
Sarutobi took a long puff out of his pipe "So..They went after him again?" he turned to an open window as the wolf ANBU appeared just outside of it. "Hai, Hokage-sama. I-It's much worse this time…they ripped his arm clean off" Sarutobi sighed creating a cloud of smoke that rose slowly to the ceiling.
"So Kakashi, at what point did you decide that it was enough?"
Kakashi dropped his head as the Hokage motioned the crystal ball resting on his desk "You still have that thing? Then I assume you already know of Mikoto's wishes of adopting Naruto"
Sarutobi began stroking his beard as in deep thought "Yes…It is a shame but I cannot allow her to adopt him. Naruto has a special trait that I think must be able to develop over the years. Hopefully his determination to be acknowledged will drive him to become an all out stronger shinobi"
On the upper parts of the roof Mikoto stood holding back tears as best she could.