Divine Maelstrom

Chapter One

Konohagakure

The village hidden in the leaves, one of five famous ninja villages scattered throughout the Elemental Nations. It could be said that the village had produced a number of well-known and formidable ninja. Four of which lead the village as the Hokage, two of those having helped in the founding of the village.

Since the founding of the village there had been three Great Shinobi Wars and though the village suffered casualties they always managed to wind up victorious. Many credit this feat with the Konoha forces working in teams and following the will of fire taught by the first Hokage. Others credit it to the efforts of ninjas like Minato Namikaze or Kushina Uzimaki just to name a few. The fact that the village's enemies sometimes had two Jinchuriki (Human Sacrifices) in their forces never seemed to help since Konoha had the strongest of the Biju sealed in one of their ninjas. This Biju was the Nine Tailed Demon Fox also known as the Kyūbi no Yōko.

One night the fox was freed from its seal and started to destroy Konohagakure after being placed under a genjustu when it was freed from its container.

Sadly many Konoha ninja died that day including the Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze and his wife Kushina Uzumaki. Before he died the Yondaime sealed the Demon into a new born baby boy. This child was not just any new born, but was his first and only son.

This sweet and innocent child was Naruto Uzumaki and from day one his life had been a living hell.

Six years had passed since that fateful night and people had mourned the loss of friends and family. Those that could heal from their wounds returned to duty or to the civilian work force and the village eventually recovered physically. Emotionally the people looked for an outlet of for their grief and this led to rumours of the demon fox surviving and taking a different form to hide amongst the humans to one day destroy them from within.

One of the more popular rumours was that the fox had possessed a child and was bidding its time before twisting the child to its will and slaughtering everyone who was a threat to its survival.

A few drinks and a bitter member of the civilian council let slip that the so called demon was none other than Naruto Uzumaki.

This slip of information would lead to a horrible scene about to take place in the streets of Konoha.

It was a cold, dark, and stormy night in Konoha. A rarity considering that Hi no Kuni was well known for its warm weather year around.

Rain fell from the sky striking roofs and turning the dirt roads to mud. One would think that this weather would drive people inside to seek warmth and shelter from the cold but not this night. For this night was the tenth of October and anniversary of the demon foxes defeat. And just like every year the more bitter of the village population spent the night hunting the demon in human form.

If one were to listen closely they could hear the batter of small feet splashing through puddles at a dead run followed by shouts of hatred and grief over the sound of rain hitting tile.

Breathing haggardly, Naruto ran as fast as his six year old legs would carry him as he silently prayed that they wouldn't get him again. It had become something of a routine for the young boy to run and hide from large mobs of angry villagers. This had helped his stamina and speed by leaps and bounds as he actively tried to escape his pursuers.

Knowing he shouldn't but deciding to anyways, he quickly stole a glance over his shoulder to see the horde of villagers. Most of them drunk and very few of them sober, chasing after him with hatred in their eyes and weapons in hand. Looking forward in fear after seeing this scene he used that image to speed up as he kicked himself off one wall down an alley and away from another mob trying to cut him off. He allowed a small grin to appear on his lips as he heard one mob crash into the other enticing screams of pain.

Unfortunately, he didn't notice the end of the ally way slowly being filled with villagers looking to harm him. Panicking, he quickly scanned his surroundings, noticing a small ledge he could jump up and get a boost onto the roofs. Naruto quickly ran up the wall at an angle before his foot found the ledge he was hoping for before he cried out in agony.

His right leg had taken a kunai in the calf causing it to collapse underneath him. Naruto lost his momentum and gravity pulled him harshly back down to the alley floor. With a crash he landed in a pile of metal bins. Knowing he had no chance of escape he tried to bury himself further into the pile in an attempt to escape the villagers.

This wasn't to be as one of the pursuers reached a hand into the pile and grasped his hair. With a jerk he pulled the boy up and flung him to the and straight through a fence on the other side of the alley. The mob followed the trajectory of the young boy as he slowly rolled to a stop, his leg bleeding profusely now that the kunai had pierced deeper into his leg.

Through blurry spot filled vision, Naruto never saw the kick rushing to his abdomen. He felt it connect with his lithe frame and vomited blood on the sandal of the ninja who kicked him. This caused the ninja to stomp on his left hand breaking four of Narutos fingers and drawing a horrendous scream from the child.

The cries and yells of the mob calling for his head started to fade to a minimum as he teetered between consciousness and the painlessness that was unconsciousness. Every time he was about to pass out one of his attackers would stab him with either a shard of glass or a kunai causing him to scream.

Naruto sobbed in pain and never understood the unfair treatment. Every time he asked what he had done to deserve this treatment, he would be kicked, punched, or stabbed before being insulted or called a demon. The beating finally stopped and the alley way became quiet as the mob dispersed happy with the so called justice they had distributed. Feeling it was safe to finally uncurl from the fetal position Naruto got up and started to stumble towards the entrance of the ally way. His journey was interrupted when a shadow appeared in his path before he felt a chop to his neck knocking him out.

The villagers had acted like they were done with him but a few of the more blood thirsty of them convinced them and the ninja to return and ambush the boy when he felt safe. They were finally going to kill the demon and finish what their beloved Yondaime started.

When Naruto finally woke up it was to feeling two rusty nails being hammered through both of his wrists and through both his feet which were placed one over the other. He screamed in pain and hot tears fell from his eyes. He begged to be let go only to have his jaw broken when one of his assailants hit him with a hammer. He felt the world around him start to move and opened his eyes only to see he was being crucified like a criminal from before the founding of the village. Since his jaw was broken he couldn't call out for help from his 'jiji' the Hokage.

Looking around he saw that he was outside of the village on the main road looking back at the gates in the distance. He watched as the crowd parted for a figure that slowly made their way to the base of his cross and started to walk up the wood. Pain filled blue eyes met two red hatred filled eyes with totems spinning hypnotically. It wasn't long before Naruto realised that he couldn't breathe or move even with two nails in his arms and one in his feet. He saw a sinister smile on the face of this individual as he withdrew a rusted dull kunai from his pouch before yanking Naruto's head back.

"There's no one to save you now, Demon!" he cackled gleefully as he savoured the far-away look in the young boy's eyes. Trailing a loose finger across his broken jawline and cheek before leaning in, "I hope you rot in hell for eternity!" he whispered with as much malice as he could before slowly and steadily dragging the dull rusted kunai across the boys neck severing both arteries.

Feeling his throat slowly being cut open Naruto tried to scream but the only thing to come out was a loud gurgle. He felt his blood start pouring out and down his body and just slumped forward finally giving in and embracing what he knew came next, 'So... this is what death feels like?' he thought to himself before everything went black.

The Villagers cheered in victory for they had finally finished what was started six years ago to the day. They looked at the dead beaten body of the so called demon and felt pride in the torture that they had put the beast through. Raising their weapons they cheered for the death of the demon and headed back towards the village with smiles on their faces at the murder of a child.

When the crowd actually dispersed the rain stopped and the light of the moon broke through the cloud cover to shine on the dead, broken, battered form of a six year old child hung on a cross. As suddenly as the rain had stopped it started again this time coming down harder and mixed with golf ball sized hail which broke windows and left welts and bruises on those stupid enough to still be outside.

It wouldn't be until morning that the body would be discovered by a merchant on their way to sell their goods in Konoha.