He still remembers the deaths of his parents as it has haunted his dreams for the last eleven years. They were butchered right in front of him. He of course was left alive so he could be eaten alive by the guilt of being too weak to save his parents. It happened so fast he wasn't even sure of what was going on till he saw the lifeless eyes of his mother and father. Then he saw him, the man with the mask. The one eyed mask with swirls with that red eye with three strange markings, dark cloak, and black spiky hair. The man had been looking for something his mother possessed something he referred to as the Kyubi. The masked man hadn't found it and believed it to be hidden somewhere else, he had spotted the young boy cowering in fear eyes filled with tears and relieved him of his fears by telling him he wasn't to die since he didn't kill trash. That's what he was to that man, trash. He disappeared before the boy in a swirling vortex mocking the boy that he would never be strong enough to avenge his parents. The boy was left alone with his parent's corpses. He collapsed to his knees and cried till he couldn't cry no more.

It was several hours before he was found by the local police. The boy's story was dismissed when questioned since it was impossible for men to disappear into thin air and merely thought the boy had been traumatized by the events that his mind had created some barrier of some sort to protect the boy. He knew what he saw and swore that he would make that man pay. He spent several days in an orphanage before he was approached by a man by the name of Hiruzen Sarutobi. The man had been friends of his parents and had asked the young boy if he wished to stay with him. He promised the boy he would have him trained in special arts in order to help him grow stronger. The deaths of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki would be avenged the boy by the name of Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki would make sure of it.

Hiruzen had taken the eight year old Naruto to his home country of Japan. There Naruto was introduced to a secret society of ninjas that has existed for hundreds of years. Ninjas had been kept alive secretly through the generations as a necessary evil to combat the things that normal humans could not. Naruto's parents had both been ninjas who had retired once they found out Kushina was pregnant with Naruto. The society was hidden well deep in undisturbed forests that the government of Japan had no authority over. Hiruzen was the current leader of the society. Once he saw it Naruto was awed. The society was in fact a village of ninjas. The Hidden Leaf Village as Hiruzen had put it. The Hidden Leaf was one of 5 major ninjas villages on the planet and all five competed with one another for resources and clients. Even hidden ninja societies had bills to pay.

Naruto was given training by a man by the name of Kakashi Hatake who was once a student of his father. Kakashi had taught him many things which included ninjutsu and taijutsu which were special ninja techniques. He had met other ninja trainees like Sasuke Uchiha and seven others during his time in Konoha as it was called. Naruto along with them were called the Rookie Nine. Hiruzen Sarutobi had been assassinated by a former pupil of his called Orochimaru and was replaced as village leader by Tsunade Senju who was another disciple of his. Sasuke Uchiha defected shortly after who felt like the village was holding him back from his full potential. A kill on sight order had been placed on him. Naruto understood how Sasuke was feeling. His family had been murdered as well but there killer was none other than Sasuke's brother Itachi who had fled years earlier. Naruto felt guilty about leaving the Hidden Leaf but he also had no choice. He had to avenge his parents and he needed power.

He fled Japan and headed to Russia. He had heard rumors of assassins dwelling there before he left Konoha. He figured he would learn killing techniques there. It had been several months before he had been approached by the assassins. It turns out they had been keeping their eyes on him since he set foot in their territory. They could distinguish those with skills and knew he was in search of them. He was approached by man with a white cloak whose face was covered with his hood. He had been invited to participate in their test. Should he pass he would be able to join their guild. The test was comprised of three parts.

The first part was physical combat with one of their members. He had learned that these assassins were well trained and very agile. It took him several hours to finally take down the assassin. He hadn't killed him of course. The second part of the test was psychological. He was gassed with a drug that makes the user hallucinate their worst fears. The drug would kill the user if he wasn't able to conquer his own fear. Naruto lived through his parent's murder for seventy-two hours before he had finally broken through the drug. He was given no time to rest. His final test came immediately. He was to confront his inner self. He was to meditate in front of an enchanted waterfall that would force Naruto to subconsciously confront his dark side. Should he lose he would be killed internally by the evil inside of him. Naruto had nearly lost to his dark side till he heard his mother's voice. He hadn't seen her but he was able to feel her presence and it filled his heart with warmth. He had realized he wouldn't be able to defeat himself so he accepted himself. His dark side had disappeared shortly after. He however was still stuck inside his mind.

He was in the sewers from what he could tell. He had followed the only path available and it led him to a giant gate sealed with a tag. There he had encountered the Kyubi that his parent's murder had been looking for. The kyubi was a demons that used to roam the earth in the old days. He had been sealed inside humans for centuries to prevent him from causing untold mayhem and destruction. The Kyubi was feared throughout Japan as the strongest of all demons. The kyubi took the form of a giant fox with nine tails and orange fur. It was an evil being its very presence emitted so much evil it was suffocating. It had tried barging through the cage when it noticed Naruto. The force alone was able to knock Naruto out of his own mindscape. The assassins had told him he was a container of pure evil and that the tests Naruto went through were to see if he would lose his mind to the beast. He was allowed entrance to the guild for three years Naruto trained within the art of the assassins.

Naruto had learned much from the assassins' guild and was allowed to leave on his own journey. He would never see them again however. The guild would be destroyed by an organization known as the Akatsuki in a few months. Naruto looked for the whereabouts of his parents murderers. His search turned up no results. He headed towards the United States after an encounter with Konoha Anbu. The ANBU were the elite guards of the Hokage or village leader of Konoha. His defection of Konoha had also branded him a criminal and he had a bounty on his head. He wouldn't be safe in this part of the world. Konoha had no power in the U.S. which is why Naruto had headed there. He had arrived in New York late one night. His flight had been what one of the rookie nine would call troublesome. It wasn't soon before he heard of a serial bomber terrorizing Manhattan. With nothing else to do since he wouldn't know of any information brokers for a while he set ought to deal with the menace. He encountered the source of the commotion. The man named Nitro was blowing up everything in sight. He emitted powerful explosions from his palms. The police had been unsuccessful in subduing him since their weapons had little impact on him. This would be a chance for Naruto to test himself against the super powered humans the United States was full of.

Thanks for reading and leave your comments. Suggestions are also welcomed. The story is set in the 21st century and this chapter is merely a prologue. The next chapter will have dialogue and will be in the present tense. For those of you who have read this before I merely updated some stuff. I'll also describe Naruto next chapter and some of his equipment. I'll update as often as possible.