Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Summary: A moment of weakness, and a would-be-savior steps away from his destiny. Even a child's decision can carry weight when it is ingrained into belief. And so the hero of the ages steps onto a different, darker path.
Chapter 1: Decision
"Naruto? Naruto, are you alright?"
The worried voice broke into Naruto's thoughts.
Blinking as his thoughts were wrenched back into the present, he quickly put his mask back on and shot an easy grin at the old man.
"I'm fine jiji! Just wondering what kind of ramen I should get. Pork's good, but miso's the best, dattebayo!"
The old hokage searched his eyes for a moment, but slowly nodded and turned back to his meal.
Naruto knew he hadn't fooled the hokage – it took a lot more than a mask and a simple smile to fool a kage-level shinobi, especially the god of shinobi – but he was nevertheless grateful that the old man had let the issue go.
He sighed to himself. While the monthly ramen meals with the hokage were one of the few highlights of his life, he couldn't help but feel resentful of how much better everyone treated him when he was walking with the hokage down the streets.
Oh, make no mistake, there were still the angry stares and vicious mutters whispered behind hands and from between clenched teeth, but at least people didn't pelt him with rotten fruit or shout at and insult him to his face.
He didn't have to worry about being kicked out of stores and restaurants either, at least not when the owners and employees saw who accompanied him. The Hokage was as respected and revered as Naruto was hated and feared.
It was the main reason Naruto had wanted to be hokage himself one day. But lately, Naruto had been wondering. Was it even worth trying to be hokage? He was intelligent enough to realize that for someone as despised as him to reach that level would mean he would have to work twice as hard as anyone else. He had nothing against working hard.
On the contrary, he had had to work hard to get anything in his life. Everything from simple groceries from the overcharging grocer closest to his apartment to maintaining a passing grade in an Academy filled with students who had access to resources and help he did not.
But would working hard be enough, if everyone hated him? Would he be able to change how they thought of him? Naruto put on a bright and sunny mask for the people around him. He did such a good job acting, that the people around him were largely unaware of how deep the unhappiness ran. Even those who knew him quite well, or were skilled in reading others, like Iruka and the Sandaime, simply didn't have the time to spare on him and let themselves see what they wanted to see.
They didn't realize that Naruto had so few happy moments, so few positive memories to draw from that even his love for Konoha would be corroded by the spite of the majority of its inhabitants.
Naruto...was tired. He would go on fighting, because that was what he did, because he knew no other way of life. He would strive to be a ninja, because to him ninjas represented strength and he wanted to be strong. But no longer would he seek to be hokage.
He had wanted acknowledgement. He still wanted that. But what kind of acknowledgement? He was honest enough with himself that one of his main reasons for desiring such a post was because the people who insulted him, who spat at him, who beat him black and blue on normal days and bloody on his birthdays, would be forced to respect him and follow him. It was a bitter thought, and he was not proud to admit to having it, but it was true nonetheless.
But once he was hokage, he would have to take care of those same people. He would have to lead and guide them well just like jiji did with them now. Could he do that? Naruto sat in thought for a moment before deciding.
No. He could not. Naruto loved his precious people – Iruka, Jiji, the owner of the ramen stand and his daughter Ayame – but he could not bring himself to care that much for the rest of the village. And that was what a hokage had to do wasn't it? Love the village and be willing to die for it? Naruto knew he did not love Konoha enough to do such a thing unless one of his precious people were directly in danger.
And it was not like the Hokage was all powerful even in the village was it? Naruto scowled down into his bowl of ramen. He knew jiji cared about him and tried to help him as much as he was able. But Naruto's apartment still got vandalized on a regular basis, and without a single murmur of protest from the landlord except for a jacking up of already exorbitant prices. He was overcharged when buying anything, whether it be groceries or a set of kunai, leading him to often eat at the ramen stand and to picking up rusted kunai from training grounds.
And it was all the fault of the civilian council! Jiji had taken him aside and explained how the civilian council had cited that the private sector was free to treat Naruto however it liked, considering Naruto was still a civilian himself and that shop managers were allowed to treat customers as they pleased. Another reason to graduate from the Academy and become a genin, as they could not be seen as to discriminate against the military.
And when Naruto had asked why Jiji as the hokage couldn't just force them, he had explained that a balance existed between the civilian council, the shinobi council and the hokage. Although the hokage was the head of all the shinobi forces, and thus essentially the military leader in Konoha, the civilian council managed affairs such as trade, prices, the flow of goods, crops, craft production and imports and exports, among others. As the Hokage, he could not go against them without them retaliating, even damaging the village by restricting the goods the went into or out of the village.
He had sincerely apologized to Naruto, who while he had accepted the apology, just couldn't let his bitterness go. Especially when the Hokage had refused to tell him just why the civilian council would be willing to go to such measures over a simple orphan - or why, for that matter the whole village hated his guts. But it proved to him that even jiji couldn't completely protect him and that he could rely on no one but himself.
If even Jiji didn't have the power to get people to obey him in his own village even though they all loved him, then what hope did he, Naruto have when it was obvious how much they hated him? No, Naruto decided firmly. The path of becoming a hokage was not for him. It wasn't...enough, or else not quite what he was looking for. But what else was there? His eyebrows scrunched in thought.
I want to be a ninja! The words he had used when convincing Jiji to enroll him in the Academy came back to his head. Yes, he nodded to himself, a resolute expression crossing his face. Becoming a strong ninja was the first step. Everything else could wait until then. He had time. With that decided, he gave a genuine smile and dug into his cooling ramen noodles.
The Hokage who had been watching him while he was sunk into his contemplative silence was unintentionally reassured by this display. Assuming by the look on his face that he was going to be alright and probably going to prank someone or something of that nature, he too finished his noodles and companionably walked with Naruto back to his apartment.
Meanwhile the Kyuubi in its cell chuckled malevolently. The red mist that had been hovering outside the bars of its cell was slowly drawn back into the behemoth's body. The Yondaime had been clever, taking measures to prevent the creature from unduly influencing its host. But he had not known to take into account the demon's own nature.
An entity formed of endless hatred, it was a creature of terrifying destructive impulses in its rage against the world itself. But hatred could take many forms, and the Kyuubi could be subtle when necessary. The red mist it had allowed to permeate the corridors of its host's mind was nothing special to the Kyuubi.
It was merely a vapor, a breath of youki that had been stripped of any destructive powers the instant it had emerged from the bars of the cage that held it's master imprisoned. The Kyuubi could not even embed any special commands within it, the seal on its cage preventing such a course of action. But the vapor was still a part of Kyuubi, and carried within it a small portion of Kyuubi's boundless hatred.
So diminished was it by Yondaime's seal that it could have no obvious physical or mental effect. Rather its effect was more insidious, compelling its host to feel more negative emotions when he felt about something strongly enough. Oh the Kyuubi was careful not to use too much red mist, hence drawing it back when he felt it had accomplished his purpose.
The creature wanted a strong, independent host, not one that was broken or tied to a worthless village that had dared to imprison it. It would ensure that the jailer would feel no loyalty to this place and would deny it the use of the creature's power. And part of the demon's work was already done. The boy felt little loyalty for the place that had abused him for so long. Only the slightest push had been needed. No more red mist was required – any more would risk pushing the host's feelings of apathy towards hatred, and the Kyuubi did not yet want the village to think of it's host as a true threat. Until it knew exactly how the Yondaime's seal worked, it would take no chances. Now, to sit back and wait.