Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor any of the characters. All of them are property of Masashi Kishimoto
Summary: Hatred breeds Hatred, It's the natural cycle of life, But hope shatters, and all that remains is Hatred, In the end, All that's left is Darkness. – "But… I want to die"
-/-/-
Hatred
For most. Today would just be a festival in memory of the ones they had lost in the kyuubi's raid, Six years ago.
For others. It would be the day they mourned the death of their parents, children, teammates, even the loss of the last remain of family they had.
For a certain child. It would be the day he was punished for no good reason, punches, screams, yells, and also his birthday.
However. Today it was much, much worse.
It was getting dark, sun shining brightly at the horizon painting the scenery Orange and girlish pink, Moon slowly rising at the other side.
This child, was walking through the empty streets of the poor side of the village. He hadn't anywhere to go, Less than a hour ago the orphanage's matron had shoved him out of the bed, Yelling how demons shouldn't sleep, and then, literally kicked him out of the orphanages gates, shouting offences and that the demon would not come back.
The kid was crying silently, letting a sob escape his lips each few seconds, innocent tears left his stinging eyes while the purplish-red footmark on his back hurt.
Moments later, an drunken man left an alleyway and bumped into the kid
"I-I'm very sor-ry" The kid sobbed
"Watch your step, Demon-child!" He watched as a small crowd started forming around him
The kid started to run, it was the only thing he could do to escape the cold glares of the civilians around him.
Minutes later, he found himself in a more commercial area of the slums he was on, it was already nighttime.
He walked through many stalls and shacks, all of them had someone trying to sell their products, then something caught his eyes, it was an ANBU-like mask resembling a fox, He stared sadly at the same mask for some time.
When the shopkeeper noticed the kid – the fox kid – he took the mask. "Do you want this?" The children's eyes lightened for a short moment, before his hopeful look was shattered mercilessly as the man threw the mask at the kid's face
"Then have it! Demon Brat!" The mat spat the words as if they were the most toxic of poisons, and once more a crowd started to gather around the kid, as they started to yell offences at the kid and to throw objects at him.
He started to run as fast as his legs could carry him, he just wanted to escape those glares, the dark, cold glares he received since he could remember
He ran, and ran, his legs started to tremble, and he turned left to bump in a few of shinobi, who took the easy way out of their problems – to intoxicate themselves with so much alcohol they had no common sense left
"Wadch oud stup'd Brat!" The group of ninja then glared at the child
"Ey! It's the demon kid! Let's teach him a lesson!" Another man of the group yelled
"Get the Kyuubi-brat!" Other spat
And then, he was mercilessly shoved away, punched and kicked, he couldn't defend himself, so he kept doing the only thing he could.
Run.
Moments later it wasn't just a bunch of civilians and drunken shinobi trailing him.
But in fact it seemed like all Genin, Chuunin, Drunken person and civilian was behind him, wanting to make the demon who made them suffer so much pay for it
The large rioting crowd was yelling, shouting, throwing all they could at the kid, who kept running.
He tried and tried to escape from them, they just followed him, if he hid, they found him, if he ran, they ran faster.
He pushed some trash cans into the road to try to get some distance from them, on which he succeeded, as he hid behind a rather large container, He waited in that same place for the crowd to disperse, in which he succeeded partially, then, a shinobi with the mask of an Owl appeared in a cloud of smoke.
His grandfather figure had taught him that if he needed help he should seek those masked men.
"T-Thanks… Pleas-" he was cut by the same masked man, who punched him in the face leaving a large purple mark and a split lip, the kid was then grabbed by the same man by his collar, and then was threw in the middle of the road, the crowd started to gather again
"Get the demon child!" he heard various yells.
Why him? Why? That's all that he asked himself, what had he done wrong to any of these people! He was a six year old that had to live in the cold cellar of an orphanage because the matrons didn't let him with the other children, he never got any friends and he was constantly shunned and punished for no reason.
If he could ask for anything that moment it would be for all that to end.
And then he heard nothing, all he could feel was pain, any normal child would be dead at this very moment, His right leg was limp, it seemed broken, he was sure he heard his left arm make a cracking sound, he had at least eight broken ribs, the same could be said of his left foot, there were deep gashes on several parts of his body as red and purple marks showed up where he wasn't bleeding.
He then heard a single thing; the sound of a sword being unsheathed, and then he felt a deep pain that started in his chest and ended at his back, he was completely sure his lung was now punctured, his heart was stabbed in the middle and his spine was almost cut in half.
This was the last thing he felt before everything went black
He heard slow, steady dripping, he could feel an cold dense liquid substance at his back, the place didn't seem to have any kind of smell.
And as soon his eyes opened he found himself lying down on a very opaque liquid on some kind of sewer, lit only by the yellow light of gas lamps.
He sat up and tried to discover in what place he was, he then heard soft moaning in the distance, he tried to make up the direction of the sad sound and started walking in that direction.
The place was a maze of dark tunnels stretching endlessly to the end of the world, the dark, moldy, cracked walls of the sewer let out an dark aura
The sewer then started to get darker as he started to spot many broken lamps, some kind of vine was growing on the walls, the moaning was louder and the liquid felt colder and clearer.
The moaning ended as he reached a larger tunnel, the walls were clear and well-kept, the greenish brown of the bricks was the same color if not brighter, the water was colder, much colder than ice, there were no vines and the room was well lit.
He kept walking the same direction and he reached large bars that made some kind of cell, and holding the two parts of the gate together was a piece of paper with the Kanji for 'Seal' on it.
He then spotted a pair of huge orange-ish eyes staring down at him
"W-Who are y-you!?" The child asked, scared.
The fox Snarledwith an growl-like voice "I'm the almighty Kyuubi no Yoko"
"… Where am I?"
"We are in your mindscape, Child"
"Wait… that means… why are you on my mind?"
The huge fox grunted "I've been sealed inside you"
"Why am I here?"
"I Don't know, but you're about to die-" The fox was interrupted abruptly
"W-What!?"
"You've been stabbed through the heart, a main Chakra coil destroyed and your spine cut in half, even if you survived, you would never be able to walk neither use chakra on your lower body half again"
The kids eyes started to water again, Why him!? He hadn't done anything to Anybody, Yet they attacked him and crippled him for life! The kid's emotion then changed, they were rage, anger and fury.
"But if you'd like to do the same to these people" The fox started to talk "All you have to do is remove this paper here, And you will never feel pain anymore"
The kid then moved forwards, looking upwards to the paper, tiptoed to be able to reach the seal and started to tear it, Before a hand grabbed his arm
"Naruto! What do you think you are doing!" A strong voice shouted, but at the same time it was warm and soothing
"Y-You know my name? W-who are you?" The now named kid glared at the man, sudden realization hitting his face "Y-You are the Yondaime Hokage! What are you doing in my mind?"
"Eh? So Sandaime-sama didn't tell you yet… Naruto, you cannot, for any means remove that seal, and even if you do you Are going to die" The man's gaze shifted to the kid's eyes
"B-But… I want to die" He said, with a few tears in the corners of his eyes
"Naruto… No… Please, What have they done to you… Naruto, Listen to me, I'm your father"
The kid's eyes widened, if he wasn't crying already, now he would be, The man crouched and opened his arms
"I-I Have a father?" The kid accepted the hug, enveloping his arms around the man's torso "I Thought you had abandoned me!" He then started to sob quietly
"I would never abandon you, I Love you too much..." Minato said, before turning his head to the gargantuan fox "Kyuubi, what have you done with my son!"
"What have I done? You should really ask this question to your Village, Minato!" The fox started to chuckle slowly "Just moments ago he was beaten pathetically and stabbed through his Heart…"
Minato's face then blanked, looking like all the blood on his face flushed, his mouth opened slightly and his eyes staring deeply into the fox's eyes.
"T-they have done… what?"
"Exactly what I just said Minato! Bwahahaha! This is precious, I'd like to imagine Kushina's face right now!"
"Then you won't have to wait any longer" Another cracked voice said, a feminine one at that
The boy's face shifted to the woman's, she had a beautiful long crimson hair and wore a long white dress with an green apron over it, she had dark purple eyes, if not blue.
"Naru-chan… You don't know how much time I've waited to meet you…" She launched herself forwards and took the boy in her arms "… how much I've wanted to hug you!"
"Y-You're my… mother?" he said as he used his sleeve to clear the tears on his cheeks, Her answer was a tilt of the head and a nod
"Oh this is so Beautiful… to bad he's going to die in a few minutes" The huge fox started to laugh maniacally.
"What have you done you stupid fox!" Minato yelled again
"I've just answered your question, Your child, he was hated, shunned and despised by your village, He even got thrown out of the orphanage, and the funniest thing is that it's his birthday!" The fox continued his wicked laughing
Minato's eyes looked broken, the same as Naruto's eyes, if he wasn't so stupid, maybe he could have saved his son, maybe all of them would be a family, together, maybe Naruto would have been seen as the hero holding the biggest danger to the village and not the demon itself.
Then he saw Kushina's eyes, they were the same as the others, but differently from the other two, she was broken inside, her will gone, as streaks went down from her eyes, going down to her jaw, where tears dropped down
"Minato…" She looked at his eyes
Now he saw that his sacrifice was entirely useless.
If Naruto didn't die, he would be crippled and would die eventually if not sooner.
If he Died naturally, the Kyuubi would deform for some time before materializing again and rampage the village once again.
If he Unsealed the Kyuubi, his son would die and the Kyuubi would rampage the village anyways.
The sacrifice he made to save the village was made worthless by the village itself. The village he died to protect.
It didn't matter anymore.
Minato looked up, at the seal.
"So it be, Fox, it doesn't matter anymore…" He walked forwards and ripped the seal apart, as the gates slowly started to open, 'Have my revenge for me' Were the words left unsaid, as he felt the Kyuubi's corrupted chakra leaving the place, and soon, it had disappeared, while a low chuckle was heard.
"Let's go, Naruto" Minato held one of the kid's hands, as Kushina held his other hand. And they walked into nothingness, As chaos erupted at the village.
-/-/-
Hatred breeds Hatred, Hatred is born from nothing and dies only with the hardest struggle, It's something powerful and unbreakable.
When love dies, it becomes hate.
One the world was loving, there was peace, but that peace was fragile, once a part of it broke, the remaining parts cracked down with it.
When hate dies, it does not become love.
When hate dies, it generates resentment, or longing.
When hate dies, it creates more hate, more destruction.
Now we wonder...
Will we ever live peacefully, in a world like this?
Nothing is perfect, Nothing ever was perfect.
Hatred is what moves our world.
The End
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