Hey, guys, it's paracuties. First time writing a Naruto fanfiction; please point out if fights or situations sound totally stupid, or if they're acting a little (or a lot) OOC, and please DO NOT point out that this is a totally overused, boring idea. I know. But it's written by me, and I'm pretty sure that there's no other story that sounds like this one. Besides, there's a plot twist at the end—if I ever finish this story, that is.

Also—I am really behind on Shippuden. Like, really behind. And I have not read the manga. Well, maybe that very tiny part in the beginning, but so far, in the manga, I have not even met Konohamaru yet. So. A lot of the facts and stuff I know about Akatsuki, Madara, etc. is from fanfictions I have read. So let me know if something's wrong. But ALSO keep in mind that this IS an AU. There will be certain changes; certain differences that I need to have to allow my story to work.

Anyway, no flames, and enjoy.

Naruto growled angrily. He knew both he and Sasuke were running low on chakra, and they were both panting heavily, obviously tired. But he also knew he had to bring Sasuke back, no matter what.

"Come on, you coward! Bring it on!" he yelled, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. With his Sharingan, it was difficult to catch Sasuke off guard, and instead Naruto could only try to dodge all his hits. Unfortunately, Sasuke caught his chin, and he was propelled backward, crashing painfully into the rocky surface next to the lake. Arms and legs shaking with the effort, his muscles protesting against the harsh treatment, he pulled himself up again, and clenched his teeth. He'd have to use the Rasengan. A dark, lavender tinted Rasengan tainted with demonic power started bubbling in his outstretched hand, his left hand already shaking and being affected by the Kyuubi's power. Sasuke's Chidori formed too, turning a strange, dark and evil color, appearing even darker than black, which fit his new form that he somehow transformed into—using the bruise that had appeared on his neck after the second Chuunin exam. But then something happened. As their two powerful orbs met, both arms straining as their arm and shoulder muscles burned, trying to hold the gathering of chakra still and aim it at their target, the almost unbearable amount of Chakra seemed to explode, and then it was kind of quiet inside after a bit of a tussle between him and Sasuke. It could be described as silent, but it was as noisy as…well, a Chidori. It could be described as peaceful, but the tension was overwhelming. Time seemed to pause right then and there, and there was a small, very small feeling of understanding and calm, before the whole world seemed to just consist of pale, dreamy colors, the colors of childhood for most children.

After a moment however, time sped up again, and he was lying next to Sasuke on the rocky, slick ground, raindrops splattering on his face. He blinked, then sat up slowly, with his Rasengan still in his hand for some reason, although as he leaned over Sasuke to check if he was unconscious, he let the Rasengan die out. There was a noise next to them, and all of a sudden Kakashi-sensei was standing there, staring at Naruto with a strange look in his eyes, as if he thought Naruto was going to actually harm Sasuke with evil intentions.

"Oh! Kakashi-sensei! Uh, look, I saved Sasuke!" He smiled a little nervously, scratching his head, wondering why Kakashi-sensei kept on staring at him like that. "Oh!" He pulled himself off of the ground with a little difficulty, and stopped standing next to Sasuke so closely to show that he obviously wasn't going to harm him. But Kakashi-sensei just kept on looking at him.

"Naruto…can you come with me?" He scooped up Sasuke and put him on his back, Sasuke's arms slung over his shoulders, then jumped into the forest and sped off. Naruto stood there in confusion, then followed as best as he could, fall out of the trees a couple of times, and almost fainting from exhaustion while trying to keep up with him. The medical shinobi appeared, and one put Naruto on his back, where he promptly fell asleep, although not before hearing Kakashi-sensei say quietly, "I saw Naruto leaning over Sasuke with the Rasengan in his hand. I wasn't sure if, well…" The world went dark after that.

"Naruto, please…please bring Sasuke back. I couldn't stop him." "Sasuke!"

I wake up in cold sweat. "Sasuke!" I try to yell. Key word being "try". All that comes out is a slight rasp, and I instead choose to look around my surroundings. I'm in a fluffy, clean bed, not at all creaky and hard, and next to it is a window with the curtains closed. My apartment only has one small, grungy window that keeps getting stuck every time I try to open it. The walls are white, with not one bit of paint peeling or damaged from small holes made by rats. I recognize this. It's the hospital. What?

And this time I yell, "SASUKE!" because I've realized that I managed to stop him. There's something more foreboding and dark swimming around in the back of my mind, but I choose to ignore it for now in favor of this miraculous event. I stumble out of bed, gripping the IV pole tightly, and wander out of the room, looking for Sasuke's. He happens to be in the room across from mine as I peer into the window, and I burst the door open and run to his side before I can stop myself. The people currently inside halt their conversation, and I grin brightly, saying, "Sasuke's alive! See? I saved him!"

"What are you talking about?! Kakashi-sensei told me...," the pink-haired kunoichi chokes off, staring first at me, then at the man next to me. Suddenly, she lunges across the bed and grabs the front of my shirt, hissing, "I can't believe you would do such a thing!"

After seeming to think for a moment though, her eyes narrow and she whispers, "No…I can believe it. You've always had a grudge against Sasuke…you would try to kill him."

I turn, staring wide-eyed first at her and then at the silver-haired jounin next to me, and then remember. The memory hits me such force that I can only blink at him in shock, wondering again why he would suspect me of trying to kill Sasuke. Why would I ever do such a thing?!

"Kakashi-sensei…why…what did I ever do to make you think that?"

He sighs, and says in a clear voice, "I wasn't sure. You can never trust anybody so completely that you can't ever think of them as a suspect in the ninja world. Ninjas are full of secrets and dark, scary things, and…I always thought you a little strange. I know you—well, live in that place, grew up in that place, yet you always give off such a happy persona, and I was afraid there might be…something else behind all of that." He looks a little sad, yet still holds true to his word.

I know what he's talking about. I grew up and lived in the red light district, barely able to scrounge off the few scraps I could steal. Yes, Konoha had a red light district. It wasn't a perfect, happy little place. I wonder bitterly why I had even bothered to try to trust them. Even if my mind screamed at me to never trust these people, my heart told me to give them the benefit of the doubt. And look where that had gotten me. All the bitterness I had felt throughout my life building up but stubbornly pushed away swelled up then, and I make a decision I had contemplated for years before "friends" had come into the picture.

I'd leave. I'd leave and never trust anyone ever again, and become so powerful they would be forced to cower before me and I would earn the respect of all the powerful shinobi. Without another word, I storm out of the room, ripping out the needle dripping foreign substances into my body.

As I run out the hospital doors however, I slow down and begin to regret my rash decision. It was only a mistake, a mistake that could easily be fixed. But as I'm heading down the street, I can hear whispers coming from little clumps of people standing and gossiping on the side of the street.

"I heard…killed Sasuke…no, tried to kill the Uchiha boy…" "Is he a murderer?" "It's obviously expected…fox-brat…" And the rumors went on. News apparently travelled very fast. Even my so-called friends…Shikamaru and Ino walk past me, heading towards the hospital to visit Choji, giving me wary looks. I want to scream at them, scream and shout and tell them the truth, but they have already left, leaving me alone on the street with my shaking hands. And now, two ANBU guards appear at my side.

"You're being called to the Hokage's office," they say monotonously, then grab my arms and shun-shin to our destination.

Tsunade-sama is sitting at her desk with her hands folded underneath her chin, as usual. "Naruto…I have heard from Kakashi…did you try to kill Sasuke Uchiha?"

I shake my head vehemently. "No! It's all a mistake! You-you don't actually believe him, right?!"

"He said you were holding a Rasengan while leaning over Sasuke, but when he arrived, you immediately backed up and laughed nervously, which he found a little suspicious."

"That's…well, that is true, but—"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but the council has outvoted me for the time being. You are on probation now, and you are not allowed to have any more missions or do anything shinobi-related until the final decision is made. I'm truly sorry, I'll try my best to fix this, so don't be too upset right now."

Tsunade obaa-chan has a sad and desperate look in her eyes, but I don't notice it past my surprise and fear.

Yeah right. This was all just spiraling downhill, and I knew the decision would be made to either execute me, getting rid of me forever, throw me out, so I won't be such a threat, or somehow cripple me enough to force me to stop being a ninja, and stop being such a threat. I couldn't believe this. She was like an older sister, or possibly even mother, to me. I thought she thought the same. My impulsive decision apparently was right. I had to leave. I excused myself, and then shuffled out the door. Some part of me kept hanging on to the hope that this whole situation would just end up being a nightmare though, and I kept hoping, hoping, hoping, for days, and then two weeks went by like this, until I couldn't hold out any longer. Nobody would listen. Nobody would care. And so my decision was set in stone.

At my apartment, I packed my meager belongings into scrolls, trying to bring as much as I could of my shinobi equipment. Once I was packed, I set the old backpack next to the bed, took out that crystal necklace Tsunade obaa-chan—no, not obaa-chan anymore—had given to me, and then proceeded to write a letter:

Hello…well, whoever found this:

I'm leaving. I'm leaving the village, and you can't stop me. Nobody can, and nobody will. I'm going to become such a feared shinobi that you will finally have a good reason to hate me—people hating me because I'm the container for the Kyuubi are stupid. There should be a valid reason. Anyway…well, I'm not sure why I'm writing this letter, but… I guess what I'm trying to say is: Bye. Thanks, I guess, but in the end it seems I put my trust into everybody's hands too easily. Yes, I probably should've known better, growing up in the red light district and everything, but…well, I wanted to try and keep hoping for something, though I guess that totally failed. And also, you're welcome. I'm sure nobody wants me, the demon, hanging around. I'm doing you all a favor.

Don't try to find me. I'll just escape again and again, and if you put me in jail…let's just say, I'll kill you before it gets that far. I hope I'll never see any of you again.

-Uzumaki Naruto

At midnight—at least it seems to be around midnight, the sky's as dark as it could possibly be—I grab my pack, swing it onto my shoulders, and after giving one last glance to my old, dumpy apartment, I climb out the window and into a couple of bushes two stories down.

"Youch!" I hiss, barely able to keep myself from yelling out loud. The bushes here are really thorny, but at least I heal fast. I pull them out after maneuvering my way out of the bushes, and continue on my way. I'm not exactly sure how to get past the guards, really, but I examined it enough during the daytime that I can see the whole layout of the wall and guard positions in my mind. The top of the walls are filled with spear tips and other dangerous wires, although if I could jump high enough over them I wouldn't have trouble with that. Unfortunately, that option is out of the question, as I can't let the guards see me, and jumping straight into the open air would definitely guarantee that. The walls are constantly checked for cracks or weak points, so I know I wouldn't be able to find one of those and get out quick enough. There are ways to move around underground, but I don't know those jutsu. Unfortunately. The main entrance is kind of my only option, but…wait. If I put a henge, would they realize it? I didn't think so, because after Uchiha Sasuke was taken back after even a prodigy like him tried to escape, well…there wasn't that big of a chance for an idiot like me. But I would be able to do it. I know I would, and I would be able to get farther than he had because he had been trapped inside that container for a while, being carried by one of those weirdoes; one of Orochimaru's pets. So I decide that I should at least give that a try.

Adjusting the straps on my pack to secure them, well, securely on my back, I put my hands in the right symbol, and there's a slight puff of cloud and a popping sound as I turn into one of those merchants always travelling back and forth trading precious materials. Then, stepping onto the main road, I walk a short ways before I'm in view of the main entrance. The guards look at me curiously, but I nod to them as if I am just a regular merchant, passing through so I can deliver the goods on time. They nod back, and return to their posts. After ambling along for almost half an hour, I am finally positive they are not following me, and take to the trees after that. As I'm weaving through the dense forest, I take care not to slip on the slick branches, the storm drenching me and the leaves providing me little-to-no cover at all, but at least it'll cover my tracks. I smirk. I look totally different. I am dressed in black, which can blend in well with my surroundings. I'm not the happy-go-lucky Uzumaki Naruto anymore…I am Kamikaze Kokuei, a mere silhouette, a dark shadow that lurks in the back of people's minds…

It's hard to live while travelling. But I've grown accustomed to travelling, so by the time I reach the Village Hidden in the Mist, I'm only slightly worn out, mostly from thirst. It doesn't take too long for the boat to go across the short span of ocean; the hard part was getting people to allow me to do that. They didn't especially want to rent out a boat to the likes of me; a little kid, and the "demon brat". But I paid them with almost all the money I had earned from missions, so…the boat should have arrived back in its original port by now. The one person whom travelled along with me was very efficient with the winds and all kinds of stuff to do with travelling on moving bodies of water.

The guards at the front entrance of Village Hidden in the Mist look at me, and then ask, "What is your business?"

I answer evenly, "I'd like to become a citizen of this village." I'm unsure if they'll just let me in like that, but then one nods and takes me by the arm, leading me to the Mizukage.

Once inside his office, I glance around curiously, noticing that it's very differently designed from Konoha. The buildings are much shorter, flatter to the ground; the only building having much of a height at all is the building I am currently inside, where I can look out the large window facing the village. "Hello, Naruto, what can I help you with?"

Then, the Mizukage says, seeing my startled expression, "The Land of Waves has been a good place for the Land of Water to…well, gain a lot. We know who you are, Naruto. You helped Tazuna finish the bridge that could connect that little Land of Waves to the whole world. The bridge is named after you!"

"Uh…well, actually, my name is Kamikaze Kokuei. I'm not Naruto."

The sudden revelation allows me to catch a glimpse of blank surprise on the Mizukage's face before he smoothes out his expression and continues evenly, "Oh, I'm sorry, you resemble someone I know. Very much, in fact. In that case, what is your business here?"

"I'd like to apply for citizenship. And still continue my job as a ninja, of course."

"Hmm. And why is that?"

"I…I've always wandered around my whole life, and I've watched ninja do many techniques…I think I'm qualified to be a ninja. I can show you my skills, if you like."

"Yes, but I must make sure I have your loyalty. How do I know you're not a spy?"

"I am not hiding anything. Do I seem suspicious? If it makes you feel better though, I'll let you have ANBU or whoever you trust the most watch me until you consider me trustworthy. That could be a week, or five years, I don't care. As long as you grant me citizenship and let me continue as a ninja, I am satisfied."

"Well…that certainly does work, but why would you be that important? Why would I bother wasting my ANBU on a young child to watch if they're a spy or not, when I could just kick you out and save myself the trouble?"

I pause. He has a point there. "But…well, you should know that I'm very strong. I can do a lot, whatever you want me to, as long as, as I said, my career as a shinobi continues. Please, I have nowhere else to go."

He stares at me with an eyebrow raised, then calmly says, "Alright then, we could always use an extra hand with the requests handed in…come here, Kamikaze Kokuei."

I sit obediently in the chair across the desk from him, and wait as he writes out a bunch of stuff, stamps it, and then hands it to me, telling me to go to another office and get my picture taken, so I can get an ID. After that, I'm supposed to go to the training arena where they can evaluate my skills. I do all of that, and finally, finally, I am allowed to have my own free time before I will be assigned to a jounin teacher tomorrow morning. I decide to get familiar with my surroundings. Wandering around the shops, I feel very satisfied and accomplished, and more relaxed than I have ever been. Nobody stares at me and whispers, "demon", "monster", or any of those words, and I'm treated as a normal customer. Fortunately, there is a ramen stand, although it is nowhere near as good as Ichiraku's Ramen. I miss them. They're one of the few people I will miss, because I know they won't believe such a thing as me trying to murder Sasuke. However, I don't know about the rest of my teammates. If Sakura believed such a thing…she was on Team 7. She and Sasuke were closer than any of the other classmates I had back in the Academy days. If she believed such a thing, why would someone who did not know me at all, besides as the Academy Naruto, believe I wasn't a murderer?

I go through a couple more bowls before I'm satisfied, pay them, and go look for a hotel to stay in for the night. I'll get an apartment tomorrow.

So. How was that? I wrote it a while ago, but I just made a couple slight changes. Again, no flames, and leave a review. It keeps me interested, excited, happy, motivated, you name it. All those positive emotions.

However, not accepting flames doesn't mean I don't accept constructive criticism. I would LOVE that. It'd really help. And, you know, point out any grammar mistakes I make. I tend to do that.

I'm going to stop blathering away now…

~paracuties