Naruto – Legacy of the Yondaime Hokage

Chapter 2 – Sandaime's talk, Naruto's vow

Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto. Naruto is the property Masashi Kishimoto. This is just a story using his characters and I'm not looking to make any money out of this.


"Demon/Inner Sakura" talking/thinking

"Flashbacks"

"Normal"


Warnings – Strong (though not invincibly strong), smart Naruto, Major OOC and possible Lemons (unsure at this point)


Naruto looked up after a few moments of thinking about what the woman had told him, only to find that she wasn't there. She had already gone and Naruto felt his depression return. He had not long just killed someone who was going to kill him and even though he had no memory of doing it, he knew that he had been the one that ended the man's life. Well, the bright side was that he had scared off the rest of his attackers who had seemed to flee as if he had become some kind of crazed psychopath who was going to kill him and yet, the fact that killing the man scared off the rest of the crowd who were out for his blood did little, if anything to brighten his mood.

"Hate them back," the woman's voice echoed in his head, "Reward hatred with hatred. If they attack you, fight back. Kill more of them; make them pay for what they did to you. Strike fear into their very souls. Kill anyone you see if it helps. If they see you as a monster, then become one; show them what a monster can do. Destroy this village if it makes you feel better. Do whatever it takes to make this village suffer for what you've suffered."

Those words bounced about his head as he looked at the still body of the man he had killed. He didn't know what to feel anymore. At first when he realised what he'd done, he felt absolutely terrible. He really couldn't find the words to accurately describe how he felt, but it left him feeling dispirited, dejected and depressed. He honestly didn't know what to feel other than raw emptiness; like he was falling into a bottomless pit of never-ending darkness with no life line to escape. He honestly couldn't believe he'd done such a thing and the very thought that he had frightened him to no end.

However, then this mysterious woman had shown up and basically told him not to let it bother him, but to suck it up and kill more people if they tried to beat him again. That had been the woman's underlying message. Sure, Naruto could admit to himself that he hated the villagers. He already knew how to reward hatred with hatred. They hated him and they wouldn't give him a valid reason as to why leading him to wonder if he had been born to be hated by the world and he had decided that if they were going to hate him, then he'd just return that feeling. However, when it came to acting on his hatred, Naruto always made those who wronged him pay through pranks, like that time he let off a stink bomb in the village's General Store because he couldn't get a pen he wanted and when he stole it, the ANBU came and took it off him and returned it. In retaliation, he planted a stink bomb in the store and let it off, which caused the store to be closed down for a whole week, though the owner never got the opportunity to return as the Sandaime had him executed for his mistreatment of Naruto. However, Naruto wondered if he could really go higher and kill those who sought to hurt him. The man he'd killed had been the former store owner's brother and it was obvious that he was upset that his brother was gone and blamed Naruto and sought to kill him for it.

Could he do something similar? Could he seek to kill those who wronged him? Pranks were pranks and they didn't seem to be effective in making the people's hatred of him go away. In fact, his pranks seemed to make it worse and Naruto wanted desperately more than anything to make the villagers' hatred of him go away. Could killing them and striking fear into their hearts be the way to go? He had to admit, it was tempting, but it didn't make the guilt over the man's death or the dejection, depression and dispirited feelings that accompanied it go away. Could he really live with himself if he killed more villagers? He clenched his eyes shut and violently shook his head and thrashed about as he clenched his fists and brought them to the sides of his head.

"This is all so confusing," he thought, still on his knees, "I hate this. I don't know what to do."

He felt as if there were two sides of himself that were currently at war with one another; like he had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other arguing over whether Naruto should take up the woman's advice. Naruto had to admit that if the crowd's reaction to killing the man was anything to go by, then killing the next person who decided to try and kill him and the person after that and so on would probably get the villagers to leave him alone. However, on the other hand, could he really bring himself to do it? Could he become a monster and kill without remorse and take pleasure in making everyone suffer for what he suffered? The man suffered the loss of his brother and wanted to make him suffer. However, Naruto had a growing fear, a growing fear that if he did do what the woman told him to, he'd end up regretting it later on and things would only end up worse. He didn't know why he felt that way. Maybe it was the fact that he was ashamed and frightened that he'd killed the man and as tempted as Naruto was to follow the woman's words; it didn't lessen nor change his feelings towards the man's death.

"Naruto?" a voice came, causing Naruto to come out of his mind's inner struggle and look up.

Standing in front of him and looking down at the body was a man with whitish silver hair wearing a grey dog mask with black covers over the eyeholes, though with tiny holes and thin material making it easy for him to see, a tight black sleeveless shirt with grey armour over it strapped over his shoulders and appeared to have a zipper at running down the centre at the front. He also wore black gloves that ran up most of the length of his arms with grey arm guards over the top up to the elbow, standard shinobi trousers with bandages wrapped round his right thigh near the top that helped hold his kunai and shuriken holster in place and the regular shinobi sandals along with bandages that ran from his ankles up to halfway between his knees and ankle, giving his trousers a somewhat baggy look where they met the bandages and he had a ninjato strapped to his back and a black spiral tattoo on his left shoulder that looked like a curved wavy line and an upside down question mark minus the dot that curled when the line started to curve

"Naruto, what happened here?" the man asked, though look down at the man's body and seeing the glass shard lodged in his throat, he could pretty much guess what had happened or at the very least, Naruto had killed the man.

"I-I-Inu-san," Naruto said as he eyes widened in fear at the man's presence, "I-I-I didn't mean t-t-to."

Fear now overwhelmed all other emotions from within Naruto. This man, codenamed Inu was one of the four people who Naruto could honestly say like or at least tolerated him. He was an ANBU whom Naruto had come pretty close to throughout his life. Inu had been the one who would mostly come to his rescue from the villagers whenever he suffered beatings. He was the one who caused the ninjas assigned to protect him who were intentionally allowing themselves to be distracted to get on with their jobs instead of indulging in whatever they were doing. Inu had saved Naruto's life more times than even the Sandaime cared to count. In truth, Naruto looked to Inu as a saviour and an idle next to his number one hero, the Yondaime Hokage.

However, now that Inu was here, what would happen now? Naruto knew that Inu had already put two and two together and deduced that he was the one responsible for the man's death and it scared him. He feared that his idle would turn on him since he always had a small fear that he was on the villagers' side and was only looking out for him because of orders from the Sandaime and was biding his time… waiting for the opportunity to do away with him to present itself and well… Naruto saw that this was as good an opportunity as any.

"Inu-san… p-p-please," he pleaded as he stared up at the masked man with horror written all over his face, "I-I didn't mean to. He was… was c-c-coming at me w-with a knife and… and I-I-I don't know what happened a-a-a-after that."

Naruto felt really pathetic at the moment. As truthful as his explanation was, he knew that if Inu was secretly on side with the villagers, then it wouldn't matter. Inu would either kill him right here and now or find a way to get the Sandaime to side with the villagers and make him look even worse than the people already believed him to be. He hated that he was so hated in the village for no apparent reason other than the fact that he was simply alive. He remembered some of the villagers screaming how his very existence was a crime against humanity and for a moment, the woman's advice that he should start killing those who hurt him suddenly became a bit more tempting.

However, Inu looked down at Naruto and stared into his eyes for a moment and saw the fear and uncertainty in them. He then walked over to Naruto and knelt down on one knee and placed his right hand on top of Naruto's head.

"Naruto, it's okay," he said in a comforting tone as he wrapped his left around the boy's waist, pulling him closer to him, "I'm sure that you were only defending yourself."

"B-b-b-but I killed someone," Naruto said in a raised voice, surprised that Inu said such a thing and still on guard in case he was trying to lull him into a false sense of security so he could double-cross him.

Inu sighed as his head dropped to look at the ground. He then brought his head back up to look at Naruto straight in the eyes before he placed both hi hands on his shoulders.

"Naruto, yes you did kill someone," Inu started explaining, "However, given how others have treated you in the past, I think it's save to say that had you not killed him, he would have killed you."

He paused as he looked towards the dead body and noticed a knife lying not far from the man's right hand, causing him to nod before turning back to face Naruto.

"However, this is a very serious issue and I'm afraid that it's going to have serious repercussions for you in the immediate future," he went on, "So, I'm afraid that you're going to have to come with me to see the Hokage."

Naruto looked up at Inu cautiously as he contemplated whether or not to believe him or not. For all he knew, it could still be a trap. In all Naruto's years of being hated, he had learned to read people's feelings through their eyes. He remembered the ice-cold glares he received whenever he passed anyone by when they weren't looking to kill him. Through those glares, he learned how to read a person's feelings just by looking into their eyes. The eyes seemed to by the one thing that could not mask a person's true feelings. Naruto had seen neutral and indifferent expressions on some of the people's faces and whenever there were situations that dealing with other people was unavoidable, Naruto saw that some of them would put on polite and happy smiles, but just by looking into their eyes Naruto knew how they really felt about him. A person's facial expression could hide a person's true feelings, a person's body language may be able to hide a person's true feelings, but a person's eyes couldn't hide their true feelings. Whenever a person tried to hide their true feelings behind masks of politeness and neutrality, their eyes reflected their true feelings. It was something that Naruto learned very early on.

Unfortunately, in this case, Inu's eyes were hidden underneath his dog mask. As easy as the material that covered the eyeholes made it for Inu to see, Naruto just couldn't see his eyes through the material, so Naruto knew that he had to be extra cautious while around ANBU since their masks shielded their eyes from his gaze. The ANBU seemed to be more loyal to the Sandaime that the regular ninja, though Naruto's experiences in the past had taught him that one could never be too careful. One time, an ANBU did participate in one of the villagers' beatings, though he was quickly dealt with, but the experience had scarred Naruto and from then on, he knew never to trust anyone; even those who were seemingly loyal and obedient.

"Please Naruto, you'll have to trust me on this," Inu said in a semi-pleading, yet serious tone as if sensing the blonde's insecurities.

Naruto just continued to stare at him suspiciously, but at the very least, he got up off his knees and Inu stood up and took his hand in his own.

"I assure you Naruto that we're going to the Hokage," Inu said as he walked out of the ally with Naruto, "I honestly don't know what will happen to you, but I think it's save to assume that the villagers will now want your head more than ever."

Naruto flinched at this. Somehow he knew that it was true. As soon as those who had fled calmed down and realised that they were in no danger, their anger and hate would no doubt return even stronger than ever now that he had gone and killed someone and from what Naruto remembered, the villagers' anger and hatred had been more intense than it had ever been before and with a villager's death only adding to that, Naruto knew that the next few days were going to be even more of a living hell than before… that is assuming he survived that long. All he could do now was trust Inu and hope that he wouldn't lead him to his death. Naruto knew that he was no match for Inu… heck, he was no match for the man that he killed and only managed to kill him because he caught him off guard and Naruto then realised that going with Inu was not a choice. He had no choice but to trust him and hope for the best, though the woman's words on how he should become a monster and kill everyone seemed to become increasingly tempting as his wariness about Inu grew with every passing second.


Later that night at the Hokage Tower, much to Naruto's relief, both he and Inu stood before the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen himself as he listened to Inu's account on what happened. Needless to say, the old Hokage just sighed and shook his head once Inu finished as he knew that the next few days were going to cause him a major headache.

"So, you came across Naruto in an alley next to a dead body with a shard of glass lodged in the man's throat and Naruto here admitted to killing the man," Hiruzen said as he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Hai," Inu said with a nod as he turned his head and looked down at Naruto who was standing next to him on his left side.

Hiruzen sighed once again as he shook his head. This was just perfect. Ever since the Yondaime sacrificed his life to seal away they Kyuubi no Yoko, he had been forced to reinstate himself as the Yondaime hadn't gotten round to naming his successor before the beast attacked. Since he assumed his old post, it had been one major problem after another and many of those problems centred round Naruto and the villagers' hatred of him. When he first retook his old post, he had honoured the Yondaime's wish that Naruto be made a hero and tried to see to it that the boy had as much of a normal life as a Jinchuriki could possibly have. He even made a decree that no one was to tell Naruto or the younger generation of Naruto's connection to the beast that almost destroyed their villager and slaughtered so many of their loved one, hoping that the younger generation would come to accept Naruto. Even those who were caught whispering about it were dealt with. It was why the former General Store Owner was executed. His ranting over how Naruto had stolen a pen and let of a stink bomb in his store afterwards had almost caused him to spill the beans and Hiruzen remembered when the man actually had the nerve to lash out at him when he tried to calm him down.


Seven months ago, a few days after Naruto's theft

Everyone ran of the General Store after an explosion occurred at the back and a foul odder quickly spread, causing everyone in the smell to quickly run outside with their hands over their mouths as they struggled to prevent the contents of their stomachs from making their way to the outside world and some failed miserably as they vomited right there on the street.

"Eew, gross," a woman who was just passing by commented as she witnessed a man throw up right in front of her, just missing throwing up over her chest by a few centimetres.

She was about to deliver a vicious slap to the man who dared try to vomit on her when her nose caught a faint whiff of the smell coming from inside the store and heard the sound of coughs and vomiting, prompting her to look to her right and she saw an awful lot of people outside the general store struggling to cope with the foul smell that passed through their noses. Her eyes widened at this, but before she could ask anyone what had happened, she heard a child's laughter from behind her, causing her to spin round.

"Ha, ha, ha! Take that!" a blonde haired five-year-old with big blue eye and whispers that appeared to be painted on his cheeks said as he pointed at the scene, laughing as if what happened was one of the funniest things in the world, "That'll teach you to overcharge me you grouchy old prune."

"Oh, it's just him," the woman thought as her face twisted to an expression of disgust and contempt, "Another disaster orchestrated by that vermin."

She then snorted in disgust before turning and stormed off, wanting to get as far away from the "demon brat" as possible.

"YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE TROLL!" the store owner screamed as he glared daggers at Naruto as his eyes radiated fury, hate and pure rage, "I'M GONNA SKIN YOU ALIVE FOR THIS!"

"Ha, ha, just try it you decrepit old prune," Naruto said tauntingly as he turned round and bent over before looking back at the store owner and slapped his own butt, "By the way, kiss my ass old man."

The store owner felt an eyebrow twitch as he watch Naruto's antics and struggled to restrain himself from lunging at the boy and ripping his throat out. He was sure that it was what Naruto was hoping for and he knew that it would probably lead to another humiliating situation.

"What's the matter, ya scared?" Naruto continued to taunt, "You said you were gonna skin me alive, well here I am; come get me if you can."

"You…!" the man growled in a dangerous tone as he clenched his fist and raised it in front of his face.

"By the way, I just found out that your momma was so fat, she makes even the fattest Akimichi look slim and grossly underweight. How the hell did your daddy make love to the bitch?"

That was all it took. The store owner exploded with rage as he lunged at Naruto, who was already running away.

"YOU INSENSITIVE LITTLE FOX!" he screamed just as two ANBU appeared and moved to restrain him as Naruto rounded a corner, "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!" YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR INOSOLENCE DAMN KYUUBI!"

This caused everyone in the area to gasp, as they were well aware of the Sandaime's decree and this furious man just broke it; not that anyone could blame him. He was letting his anger and rage take control and it was clear that he was seeing red.

"Alright, alright, calm down," one of the ANBU said as he held him back from chasing after Naruto.

"LET ME GO!" the outraged store owner screamed, "HE HAS TO DIE! THAT THING MUST DIE! WE MUST FINISH WHAT THE YONDAIME STARTED!"

"Shut up!" the other ANBU said in a serious tone as he placed his hand over the man's mouth.

However, the livid man just responded by manoeuvring the top of his mouth over the ANBU's fingers and bit down hard, causing the man to scream in pain and release him, which caused everyone else who were watching to gasp in shock as the store owner turned to the other ANBU and drove his knee into his crotch. The men in the crowd all winced and unconsciously covered their own crotches with their hands.

"He's in for it now," a man said as he watched the store owner start to chase after Naruto, only to be restrained by more ANBU.

"YOU BUNCH OF DEMON LOVERS!" the irate man screamed in outrage, "HAVE YOU ALL BEEN BRAINWASHED! THE KYUUBI MUST DIE! YOU DARE PROTECT IT!"

"Okay, that's enough out of you," a new voice came causing everyone to look in the direction Naruto had run off in to see the Sandaime walking towards the enraged store owner with an ANBU wearing a dog mask behind him.

"Calm down," the Sandaime went on in a seriously hard tone, "You're lucky there are no children present to hear your annoying rants. Now calm down!"

The man's reply was to spit in his face and give him a glare of pure rage and hate.

"You demon loving old relic," he spat with pure venom dripping from his voice, "You dishonour your chosen successor by allowing that thing to roam around freely when it should have been laid to rest the moment it was born. I say that we rise up and put you to death next to that disgusting vermin you love you much."

The Sandaime just gave the man a hard stare with no visible reaction. The rest of the crowd gasped at the man's words. Talk like that could be seen as treason and as kind and caring as the Sandaime was, everyone knew better than to get on his bad side. He was one of the greatest shinobi that Konoha had ever produced while he was in his prime and though much of that strength had left him since then, the villagers still knew that he was still more than capable of defending himself if the situation called for him to do so, which was why none of the villagers ever spoke openly about how they felt about his fondness for the "demon brat".

"It is you who dishonours my chosen successor, you all do," the Sandaime replied, turning to face the crowd as he said the last part, "It was the Yondaime's dying wish that the boy be seen as a hero and yet, none of you honour it. You disrespect him by persecuting the one he chose to keep the monster at bay from destroying our village."

"You lie!" the store owner said in a dangerously low growl, "There's no way the Yondaime would want us to look up to that walking monstrosity. He basically sealed the beast into that human form so we could finish the job. How dare you even suggest that twisted notion."

The Sandaime sighed as he shook his head before giving the ANBU a hard stare.

"Take him away, I'll deal with him later," he ordered as he shot the man a harsh glare.

The ANBU all nodded and dragged the man off, leaving the Sandaime shaking his head as he knew that this would only create another problem for him to deal with.


Present

Hiruzen shook his head as he remembered that incident. He hadn't wanted to execute the man, but he felt that he had no choice. The man was clearly going to reveal everything if he had been allowed to live and from what Inu had told him about Naruto's victim, Inu had recognised him as that same man's brother. The General Store was now under new ownership, but he remembered old owner's brother violently objecting to that notion as he said that that store had been in his family for generations and he should run the store in his brother's place. However, Hiruzen had shaken his head at that and forced the selling of the store as a form of posthumous punishment for the man's dead brother. He knew that the dead store owner's brother blamed Naruto not only for the death of his brother, whom he had been close to, but also for the loss of his family's store. However, he hadn't expected the man's hatred to be the cause of his demise just like his brother's. He just knew that this was going to have serious repercussions in the coming days.

"Why did I agree to take this job back?" he thought with a depressed sigh, "Since my reinstatement I've had to deal with nothing but trouble."

He then cleared his throat and gave Naruto a kind hearted smile before his face became serious.

"Okay Naruto, Inu-san here's told me that you killed someone and though I'm sure that you were only defending yourself, I'd like to hear your side of it," he said in a serious, yet gentle tone.

"Hai jiji," Naruto said with a nod before he started recounting what had happened; how he was out for a walk and happened to stumble upon the festival celebrating the Kyuubi no Yoko's demise and how someone saw him and a crowd of villagers chased him into an alley and how the man advanced on him with a knife and how his mind went blank and how he remembered seeing the shard of glass he remembered holding in his hand lodged in the man's throat.

He also recounted how the crowd all fled after that and how the looks on their faces reminded him of the two orphanage matrons that threw him out of the orphanage after he lashed out at them for siding with a boy that tried to steal his teddy bear and then how the mysterious woman came and told him to go and make the village pay for his suffering.

Hiruzen's eyes widened after hearing Naruto's story of the woman before hardening into a deadly serious look.

"You say that she came in and told you to kill more villagers?" he asked in a tone that Naruto knew meant that he was in no mood for dealing with trouble and he had the look to back it up.

"Uh huh," Naruto said in a more confident tone than before, as he felt safe, "I was depressed… still am at what happened and then I heard this woman's voice. She asked what was wrong and I told her and so then went on to tell me what I should go and kill everyone, strike fear into their hearts and destroy the village and I have to say that I'm kinda tempted to do that, but I just don't know what I should do."

Hiruzen gave Inu a look and then motioned to the door with his head, indicating that he would like to speak with Naruto alone and Inu nodded and gave a bow before leaving. Naruto watched him go and then turned back to face Hiruzen, a man who he had come to look up to as a grandfather.

"Jiji?" he said in a confused tone, "Where'd Inu-san go?"

"I sent him out," Hiruzen replied as he gave Naruto a serious look, "I want to talk to you about what this woman said to you. Now can you tell me what she looked like?"

Naruto shook his head.

"I didn't see who she was," he said with a sigh, "I was looking down at the ground the entire time. I couldn't believe that I actually killed that guy. Sure he was going to kill me, but…"

Hiruzen let out a disappointed sigh and shook his head. He had been planning on having the woman hunted down and brought in for questioning, but unfortunately, due to Naruto's depression, he couldn't do a thing because Naruto hadn't bothered to look up to see who was talking to him. The fact that someone had told Naruto to retaliate against the village for his suffering was troubling. If Naruto decided to follow the woman's advice and then discovered that he hosted the Kyuubi, Hiruzen feared that the Kyuubi would use the situation to its advantage and that could potentially spell disaster for not just Konoha, but the entire Five Great Elemental Shinobi Nations as a whole. If someone was looking to incite Naruto to retaliate against the village then it was imperative that this person was found and apprehended. Unfortunately, all he had to go on was that this person was a woman… didn't really narrow it down all that much. Anyway, Hiruzen knew that he would have to do something about it. If he couldn't catch this woman, then he would make sure he'd derail whatever plans she may have for Naruto and he'd start by making sure Naruto understood that what this woman wanted him to do was wrong.

"Naruto, your depression over what you did is understandable, but you did what you did because you had no other choice," he started to explain, catching Naruto's full attention, "As a Shinobi, I've killed more people than anyone could ever imagine and I still remember how I felt when I made my first kill. I wasn't thinking clearly and my enemy was coming right at me and I just acted without realising what I was doing. It's depressing, I know and the guilt and pain afterwards is so overwhelming it's almost unbearable. If it wasn't for Tobirama-sensei, who became the Nidaime Hokage and my immediate predecessor, I probably would have contemplated taking my own life."

"What did he do?" Naruto asked curiously, clearly intrigued at what his grandfatherly figure was telling him, "You felt the same way I did, but how did you deal with it?"

"Tobirama-sensei explained to me there are instances throughout life where one person may have no choice but to kill another person," Hiruzen replied with a sigh, "As difficult as that is to live with, it's true. Just about everyone feels sick about their first kill, though there are exceptions. It's a horrible feeling having to take the life of another and yet there are people out there who enjoy it and only kill just for the fun of it. However, in your case, you killed because that man would have killed you had you not done anything. Survival is the most powerful of human instincts and as much as those idiotic villagers believe otherwise, you're just as human as the rest of them. You were in a situation where it was either him or you and your instincts took over to protect you."

Naruto looked on in wonder and awe as he listened.

"My… instincts?" he said with a look of wonder on his face.

"Yes," Hiruzen replied with a nod, "The instinct to survive is so powerful that it could, at times overwhelm everything else and cause you to act without thinking. If someone was going to kill you, then your instincts would tell you to kill that person before he can kill you. As shocking and as upsetting as this is to hear, sometimes you must kill your enemy to protect yourself and your home. Ninjas are trained killers who do missions for the village, but also protect the village from those who seek its destruction and to do that, they must sometimes kill the enemy to do so otherwise the enemy would kill them and then destroy everything they fought to protect."

"I-I-I think I understand," Naruto said with a nod, though he still seemed a bit unsure of himself, "But what about what that woman told me?"

Hiruzen sighed and shook his head.

"Don't listen to her Naruto," he said in a harsh serious tone as he gave the boy a hard stare, "Whatever you do, you mustn't listen to her. People who go down that road always end up dead."

Naruto was taken aback by his grandfatherly figure's sudden change in tone and he took a few steps back with a small hint of fear in his eyes, causing Hiruzen to sigh.

"Naruto, I'm sorry I startled you," he said in a gentler tone and sighed, "However, you mustn't go down that road. It'll only lead you to a premature grave."

"O-o-okay jiji, if you say s-so," Naruto said in a hesitant tone as he gave the old Hokage an uneasy look.

"I know it's tempting considering what you've been through your entire life, but by going down that road; the road of vengeance you'll end up becoming just exactly what you set out to destroy if not worse," Hiruzen explained, giving Naruto a serious look, "Revenge is a powerful thing and the desire for it is part of human nature. However, those who go seeking revenge only end up hurting themselves in the end and are left with nothing. Is that what you want?"

Naruto shook his head. All he wanted in life was acknowledgement that wasn't covered with hate and scorn. He wanted to be accepted by the village and to have the one thing it seemed that fate had denied him; people who he could call family, people who didn't judge him for whatever reason the villagers had for hating him and the more he thought about, the more he came to realise that taking the woman up on her advice would mean that he would still be denied those things.

Hiruzen nodded at Naruto's expression as he knew that Naruto realised the logic in what he was saying.

"So, if I were to kill more people, I'll just be like the people who try to kill me?" he said and Hiruzen nodded.

"They call me names like demon and monster you know," Naruto said as he looked down at the floor with a depressed look on his face, but he then looked back up at the old Hokage with a determined look in his eyes, "So what you're saying that if I did do what that woman told me, I'll not only become just as hateful as they are, but I'll be proving them right?"

Hiruzen nodded.

"If you take revenge on a monster, then you become just like that monster," he said in a serious tone, "Though you have every right to defend yourself and I won't hold it against you if someone else ends up dead because you were defending yourself. That is within your right as a human being, but if you kill out of hatred, you'll become every bit a monster as the one they see you as." "May Kami help us all if that ever happens," he added in his thoughts with a wince, remembering that Naruto had the Kyuubi sealed within him.

Naruto's determination did not waver for a minute he then looked Hiruzen right in the eye.

"Then from this day forward, I, Uzumaki Naruto vow never to kill another living soul unless I have no other choice," he declared in a seriously hard tone, "I don't know why everyone hates me so much and I'm sure they have their reasons, but I'm gonna prove 'em all wrong about me someday. I'm gonna strive to prove myself to everyone and then I'll become Hokage someday."

Hiruzen chuckled as he watched Naruto making his declaration and the edges of his lips curled into a smile. Leave it to Naruto to brighten up one of his dull moods.

"Besides, what would Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-chan think of me if I did go on a killing spree of the village?" he went on as he thought about the owner of the Ichiraku Ramen Stand and his daughter, "They'd no doubt abandon me."

Ichiraku Teuchi and his daughter Ayame where perhaps the only two villagers who didn't regard him with such hatred and scorn. They didn't participate in any the beatings nor did they chase him away from their stand. They were the only ones who treated him as if he was a person and not some kind of monster. Ramen was Naruto's favourite food and he visited the Ramen Stand frequently and both Teuchi and Ayame enjoyed his company. He realised that if he were to give into temptation and become a monster, then he'd be abandoning them and they, along with Inu were his only friends and that only served to strengthen his resolve.

"I won't kill again," he said to Hiruzen in a serious tone and a determined look in his eyes as if he had given the nail a final strike with the hammer, "I'll become a ninja and prove everyone wrong about me; I swear it."

Hiruzen nodded with a smile on his face.

"That's the spirit Naruto," he said, glad that Naruto's spirits, as well as his own had been lifted.


Later that night, Inu was standing in the Hokage's Office, Inu stood before the Sandaime awaiting orders. Ever since Naruto's vow and declaration, Hiruzen had been deep in thought, knowing that the next few days, if not weeks will become difficult as Naruto's killing would no doubt send shockwaves throughout the village, making the villagers' hatred more intense than ever before and the fact that it happened on the anniversary of Kyuubi's defeat only made matters worse. Yeah, Naruto had picked a fine day to lash out and defend himself and the old Hokage knew that an awful lot of people would be demanding Naruto's head as they feared that they would be next. He also knew that it would be increasingly difficult for Naruto to keep his vow, especially since he had decided to become a shinobi, as killing was part of a shinobi's job. At least the shinobi of Konoha exercised the rule of only kill as a last resort and only kill those you need to kill. Wasn't always possible, but at least they made an effort to minimise innocent fatalities unlike other Hidden Villages in other nations, though Hiruzen knew from experience how hard it was for a shinobi to hold back, especially in a fight for survival and getting caught up in the moment was commonplace when dealing with enemy ninja that you were ordered to capture, not kill. However, he cast all those thoughts aside and gave Inu a serious look.

"Hokage-sama?" Inu said as he looked at the old man curiously.

"Kakashi, I feel that I must discuss Naruto with you," Hiruzen said, placing his elbows on the desk and clasped his hands underneath his chin, which he rested on top of his hands, "I fear that the next few days are going to be trouble for him."

Inu or Kakashi he was called while off duty put his hand over his mask and removed it, revealing his face. The lower was covered in a black mask that covered his nose and mouth and looked as if it was part of his shirt as it was made from the same material. He also wore a black hitai-ate that ran diagonally over the top part of his face, covering his left eye and in the grey metal part of the hitai-ate was the village's insignia, a diagonal straight line that moved from right to left downwards at the top right hand side that almost immediately went into a spiral pattern and a point like an arrow pointing in a diagonal direction downwards at the bottom left hand side.

"Is this about the incident earlier?" Kakashi asked curiously as he stared at his superior with a questioning look on his face.

Hiruzen lifted his chin off his clasped hands and nodded.

"Yes, unfortunately, I fear that it's going to send ripples throughout the village and unfortunately the villagers' attacks on him will only increase in future, since today's also the anniversary of the Yondaime's death and the Kyuubi's defeat."

Kakashi nodded with a sigh. He had been one of the Yondaime's students back when the Yondaime was a jonin and he was also one of the few people who knew the truth about Naruto's parents. He knew that Naruto was his former sensei's son. Naruto was like a miniature version of the Yondaime, at least in appearance. How the villagers didn't make that connection was beyond him, though he suspected that many had made that connection and since many of them believed that Naruto was the Kyuubi's human form, he wouldn't be surprised if they believed that Kyuubi had chosen to take on a human form that resembled their beloved Yondaime just to mock them. It disgusted Kakashi to no end how ignorant and delusional the people of Konoha were. He let out a dissatisfied growl as he thought about it.

"Minato-sensei, did you save the village just so they could take their anger out on your son?" he said aloud as he clenched his fists and Hiruzen saw the anger within Kakashi's visible onyx black eye, "What sort of father are you? Many people lost loved ones as well as their homes and you believed that they'd respect your dying wish to see your son as their hero when he contains the one responsible for their suffering? You should've just let the village burn and fled with Naruto and Kushina-san."

"Kakashi, don't blame Minato for what happened," Hiruzen said in a pleading tone as he knew that Kakashi blamed his former sensei for Naruto's hellish life, "As you already know, he wouldn't abandon the village for anything, even if he did foresee the kind of life his son would be subjected to. Understand that he was a kind and caring man who would do anything to protect all that he cared for and he just couldn't bring himself to seal the Kyuubi in a random child if he wasn't prepared to sacrifice his own child."

"I know," Kakashi said with a frustrated sigh as he calmed down, "But still…"

He had to admit that there was truth in the old man's words. He remembered during the attack that his sensei's best friend offered his own child in Naruto's place, but Minato had denied his request, saying that if he couldn't bring himself to use his own son, then it label him a hypocrite in all he stood for. Unfortunately, the man had died during the attack, which meant he couldn't take Naruto in and unfortunately, his widow sided with the villagers in their quest to eradicate the "demon brat".

"Kakashi, I know that you're upset about Naruto's predicament and perhaps having someone to blame seemingly makes it easier, but it's not going to help anyone. Unfortunately, the villagers are too blinded by their anger and hatred to realise that."

"Yeah, they know that Naruto has the Kyuubi sealed away in him and they use him as a perfect scapegoat," Kakashi remarked bitterly.

Hiruzen nodded with a depressing sigh.

"However, if you're implying that Minato lacked foresight then you're right," he said as he turned to look up at Kakashi, "They don't understand the truth and humans have always feared what they don't understand. The Kyuubi killed a lot of people before Minato sealed it away and it was his dying wish that Naruto be seen as a hero, but human nature being what it is caused the villagers to dishonour this request, many claimed that it was an outright lie and some kind of trick by the Kyuubi made to fool them into harbouring it until its power was restored."

Kakashi nodded with a growl.

"Anyway Kakashi, I've decided to give you a mission concerning Naruto to help get him through the next couple of days," Hiruzen said as he remembered why he called Kakashi into his office.

"A mission concerning Naruto?" Kakashi said as he stared at the Sandaime with a curious and questioning look on his face.

Hiruzen nodded.

"Yes, when he was in here earlier, he expressed a desire to become a ninja," Hiruzen explained as he gave Kakashi a look that said "You don't have a choice in this", "He also made a vow never to kill again unless absolutely necessary, but I know him. He'd rather not kill at all, even if there was no other option."

"And the village call him a monster?" Kakashi said as a humourless joke only to be silenced by a glare from Hiruzen.

"Someday, I know that he'll be forced to break that vow and I'm not sure if he'll have the courage to do it," he went on without commenting Kakashi on his "joke", "Your mission Kakashi will be to train Naruto in the ways of the shinobi and help him overcome this fear of killing and the reason I'm asking you this is because I don't trust those senseis at the academy, especially that new one, Mizuki. I don't trust them at all with Naruto's education. They'd no doubt do everything in their power to sabotage his progress or perhaps have one of the other students kill him under the cover of a sparring accident. So, I'm intrusting his education to you, though he still will attend the academy and will report back to you on what his senseis have taught him and you will correct the errors in those teachings."

"But Hokage-sama, why me?" Kakashi said with a surprised look on his face, as if he couldn't believe what was happening.

"Because Kakashi, aside from Umino Iruka, who's also new as an academy sensei, you're the only one I trust with him," Hiruzen said as he gave Kakashi a "Refuse and you'll regret it" stare, "However, Iruka will be too busy to teach him anything. Besides, you're his father's student. Don't you think that you'll be doing your sensei proud by helping out his son? If Minato knew the treatment his son was getting, no doubt he'll be weeping in his grave or from within the Shinigami's belly. I've already informed your superiors in the ANBU that you'll be taking extended leave for a few years."

Kakashi thought about it for a few minutes as he assumed a thinking pose (the same one he took when he first met Team 7) and then after a long silence, he nodded.

"Okay, I'll do it, I'll train him if that's what you want," he said as he gave the Sandaime a look that told him that there were conditions attached. "However, I'll only teach him what's taught at the academy and nothing else. I won't teach him any jutsu other than those that are taught at the academy. He'll have to learn new jutsu like elemental jutsus on his own."

"Understood Kakashi," Hiruzen said with a nod, "I was about to tell you that anyway, not to teach him anything other than what's taught at the academy."

Kakashi then bowed and then turned to leave the office.


Glossary

Inu – dog (also Kakashi's ANBU codename as he wears a dog mask)

Hai – Yes

Jiji – Old man (also a suffix i.e. Hokage-jiji – Old Man Hokage)

Hitai-ate – Forehead Protector (acts as a means of identifying which hidden village a shinobi's from)

Ninjato – ANBU issued katana

Kunai – A small knife with a diamond-shaped blade, handle and ring at the bottom of the handle ninjas normally use for melee or ranged combat

Shuriken – Sharp four-pronged metal stars that ninjas normally use for throwing and can prove deadly if used correctly

Nidaime – Second

Jutsu – Technique (i.e. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone Technique)

Jinchuriki – Power of Human Sacrifice

Kami – God (also associated with divine deities)

Shinigami – Death God

San – Most common suffix used at the end of someone's name which could mean Mr or Mrs and is a title of respect and can also be employed in a variety of different ways.

Chan – Used as a suffix at the end of someone's name and can have a variety of different meanings. One such meaning is the same as the "Kun" suffix when addressing females, though it can be used as a suffix for males as well. However, it's usually used for babies or young girls. Can also be used for cute animal (i.e. neko-chan – cute cat), lovers and very close friends regardless of gender.

Sensei – Teacher (also used as a suffix at the end of a person's name when someone is addressing a teacher, doctor or other authority figures)

Sama – A more respective suffix than the "San" suffix used at the end of someone's name when they're being addressed by someone much lower in rank than they are (English translations normally use Lord/Lady or Master/Mistress whenever they come across this suffix.)


Author's notes – That's another chapter done and it's a bit longer than I thought and I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed at the number of reviews my first chapter got; only two. I'm hoping that this chapter will get more reviews. By the way, I've corrected most of, if not all the spelling errors I made in chapter one. The description of the ANBU uniform, I got from the Narutopedia Wiki site and I'll be using Narutopedia as well as watch the anime to get the information I need. I have to say that my Japanese is terrible and it's only through watching anime in Japanese with English subtitles that I've managed to pick on what certain words mean (i.e. Nani means What in Japanese and Hai means Yes or Yes sir) Also I got the information about the Japanese honorifics from Wikipedia. Also, I know that this fic may be starting of slow, but give it a chance. If all goes to plan, I'll be entering canon territory (when the manga and anime start) by about chapter six, seven or eight. To anyone who believes that the mysterious woman is Kushina, Naruto. I'm afraid you're wrong, it's not Kushina. It you read chapter one, it states that the woman was looking after her six-month-old child during the Kyuubi's attack. The next three chapters will have Naruto meeting the three girls I plan on pairing him up with, as you already know as being Sakura, Ino and Hinata and maybe I'll dedicate one or two chapters to their interactions with Naruto before going into canon territory.