Naruto ran as fast as he could, his red hair trailing past him as he tried to keep his feet moving; he had to get as far from the Sandaime as possible. The young boy was struggling to come to terms with what the old man had told him, he may not have been told that he was a demon; but being told that he was a container of a demon had hit him harder. The whispering of the beast grew louder as Naruto ran; the Kyuubi promised nothing but death and hatred. Naruto ran faster trying to escape the voice howling in his head, knowing he would never outrun his own mind.
Naruto's eyes tightly closed, he couldn't bear to see the faces of the villagers now that he knew the truth; he could still feel their hate burning into his skin as he ran. He didn't want to be seen, nor did he want to be heard or touched. Naruto just wanted to run far from Konoha, he had run the streets enough times to know which would get him to the gates the fastest; it was all a matter of getting there before the Anbu stopped him. Naruto had a grave feeling no matter what his chances of escape were slim; he would either be captured by the villagers or the Anbu. They had stopped him before, no doubt on the orders of the Hokage to keep him in Konoha.
"The Kyuubi is trying to run!" An older man yelled; his voice was soon followed by roars of hate. Naruto soon found himself being followed by a mob of more than 30 people; Shinobi and civilians alike joined the chase, to an outsider it would look like a lynch mob chasing a little boy. Kunai knives and shuriken flew at the boy, his reflexes guiding him as he dodged most of them, a few of them only skimmed over his skin leaving small, painful cuts. Out of the corner of his eye Naruto saw 5 Anbu running at the very back of the mob, the little boy didn't know if they were after him or the mob; but he didn't care.
Seeing the Anbu only made him push himself to run faster, a dark growl that was building up in the back of his mind was adding fuel to the fire; the Kyuubi had more than enough reason to be growling at everyone around it; it had been caged and forced to endure whatever pain Naruto felt at the hands of Konoha. To Naruto the beast's growls were more terrifying than its whispers. The feral sound promising him nothing but pain and torment Naruto would never escape in his lifetime. 'Run, run little jailor or I will bring down the wrath of a true demon upon you.' The Kyuubi's deep voice growled lowly.
Naruto let out a yell of panic as he stumbled, the threat of the Kyuubi sent a shiver down his spine; it took all his will power not to fall over. If he fell it would most likely be his death at the hands of the villagers. Be it out of fear or a feeling of desperation, Naruto took to the alleys. The villagers had to follow in a more controlled group making it easier for the Anbu to pick out the Shinobi in the group and remove them, the fewer numbers following Naruto the better. By now the boy looked ready to fall from running from nearly one end of Konoha to the other in his mad dash for the village gates. The Anbu knew that there would be hell to pay should Naruto escape Konoha, some of them could care less what happened to the Jinchuriki; others didn't want to see Konoha's future weapon go to waste only to die in the woods.
They all knew the seal would kill the Kyuubi if it tried to kill Naruto, but they still didn't want to give off the impression that they'd go soft for one child; many of them held the Kyuubi inside responsible for their own losses making it hard for them to tolerate the boy. "Why don't you Anbu just let us kill the beast!" A villager yelled to the Anbu wearing a crow mask. The Anbu scoffed and kept running, an Anbu wearing a boar mask stopped for a moment. "Has it crossed your minds that you're telling us to let you kill a child?!" The young man yelled.
Boar had been trained by a student of the Yondaime, he was a young man by his own rights but the loss of the Yondaime had hurt many; but to his direct student the loss was world shattering. The Anbu running beside him wearing a Wolf mask stopped; his silver hair splayed out to one side and defying gravity, he shook his head before lightly putting a hand on Boar's shoulder. Boar had turned and made a small noise in his throat, he knew the man in the Wolf mask as Hatake Kakashi; he had been the only student lead by the Yondaime himself as a Genin. The man had seen more than his share of battles and even more of Konoha to know that Boar was wasting his breathe on the villagers.
They were too caught up in the past and in their own hate to see reason. As long as the boy was in Konoha, the villagers would pursue him; always watching and waiting for the point where the boy was at his weakest. "They're not worth your air." Kakashi murmured, Boar paused for a moment before he tightened his jaw and balled his fists."Kakashi… It his child…" Boar said quietly, he knew the villagers weren't supposed to know. There was no way they would see reason now, their hatred of the Kyuubi would leave them blind. "I know." Was all Kakashi had said before he nudged Boar to keep moving.
Kakashi moved quicker than he had before, he couldn't help but notice how close they were getting to village gates. Had it been anyone else in the village being chased out he wouldn't have cared, however this wasn't just any child; this had been the child that he was asked to watch over and refused to. When Kakashi had received a letter from the Sandaime he thought it was a joke; the name on the letter was for him but it wasn't written by the old man before him. Kakashi closed his eyes tightly for a moment; he wished he had followed the last orders of his sensei. With a burst of speed Kakashi sprinted to the head of the Anbu.
Kakashi couldn't help but see the disappointed face of his sensei behind his eyes, cold blue eyes glaring lightly as a frown graced his face; Kakashi shook the view from his head. He did not need his guilt to hinder him now. IT wasn't long before he saw Boar turn around and throw a smoke bomb into the mob from the corner of his eye. The response was volatile, kunai flew from the smoke and clipped Boar in the side; the wound wasn't deep but the pain was enough to make Boar stop running and turn to Kakashi. "Don't let him leave, by Kami don't let him leave." Boar said before being assaulted with more projectiles.
Kakashi nodded and took a count of how many Shinobi remained within the mob, cursing as he saw 2 Jonin and 6 Chunin; the other Anbu had fallen behind him as they weren't sure of who would be attacked next. Inu and his partner Neko had paired up, those two were formidable opponents; with Inu a close range fighter and Neko an up and coming Genjutsu user. Inu nodded to Kakashi before he jumped onto a lower part of the alley ways; Neko had already started a Genjutsu meant to get the civilians to stop chasing the boy long enough for Naruto to be caught. Naruto had skid to a stop seeing the village gates only a few yards in front of him, his legs burnt from the amount of running that he had done and tears begun to gather in his eyes.
He was tired all of these people were chasing him, everyone from the civilians to the Anbu were trying to stop him from leaving in one way or another; his small frame shook in anger and self-loathing that built up over the few years of his life. The Kyuubi snarling into his mind to keep moving had only added to the boy's state. Freezing the boy in place as unshed tears gathered in his eyes. "I didn't ask for this…I never wanted any of this." Naruto began to whimper as he held his head.
His fingers curled into the long red hair that hid his face from view, the boy fell to his side and curled up facing the gates; his freedom was only a few more yards away but Naruto couldn't move. All of his life he was told that he had no place in the village, that he wasn't worth the trouble of dealing with and now; now he had Anbu trying to keep him in Konoha against a mob set on killing him. A deep feral growl seemed to come from the boy's throat, his body shaking as a small amount of dark red steam rose from his form; Naruto seemed to writhe in place before going still.
A feeling of dread came over Kakashi for a moment at the sight of the red steam, he had seen that steam before; it rose from the Kyuubi in its fit on anger before it attacked Konoha and would continue to flow from its body during the attack and scorch all in its path. 'Kuso, this is bad.' Kakashi thought, 'I need to grab this kid, and fast.'
Kakashi forced Chakra into his legs, forcing them to work beyond their limits as he made a mad dash for Naruto; the steam slowing in its production as Naruto murmured quietly to himself. It seemed like the boy was pleading for something, Kakashi thought that he was begging for help; for someone to come and save him from the Kyuubi's influence. Once Kakashi got closer to the boy he saw how the boy curled around himself, trying to protect himself from any possible for of touch that he could; feeling as though a slow approach was best, Kakashi slowed his dash to a run and soon a slow walk. The slow walk had not quite gotten the effect that Kakashi had hoped for, with each step Naruto tried to curl into an even tighter ball, the steam slowly spreading over his body as if he didn't want to be touched or helped.
"Naruto…" Kakashi began slowly; he didn't want to spook the boy into running, "Naruto are you alright?" The question made Naruto freeze, he had never been called by his name; they had always spit the name of the Kyuubi and chase him off. The tone that Kakashi had used had also confused Naruto, it was soft and kind; much like people who trick him into coming into their house with promises of food; only to be beaten and thrown out.
Naruto shook his head as the steam burst outward. Kakashi had little time to shield his face from the heated steam, it was nowhere near as hot as from the Kyuubi but it burned none the less. Luckily for Kakashi it only seemed to redden his face and unprotected fingers like a mild sunburn. He would be feeling it for days after before the skin peeled away.
The thundering sound of footsteps had returned and brought the boy quickly to his feet, Kakashi turned to see the mob approaching. Killing intent hung thick in the air as Naruto once again began to run towards the gate. Kakashi growled to himself before running headlong into the mob to neutralize the threat. It was a mistake of desperation, higher level Chuunin and Jonin ganged up on the lone Anbu rendering him useless as the rest of the mob continued after Naruto. The young red head turned back only to be greeted by the sight of weapons being thrown at him.
Dodging everything from rocks to worn kunai, Naruto was more focused on avoiding getting hit over looking in front of him. Had Naruto been focused on the gates he would've noticed a rather pale man with silver hair walking toward him. The man looked to be around his early 20's yet held an air about him that wasn't entirely normal. With a wicked looking three bladed scythe on his back and a tattered cloak billowing in the wind made the male a sight to see in Konoha. It was a shame that Naruto hadn't seen the man before he crashed into him, sending Naruto on his back and silencing the voice of the Kyuubi as the man spit a curse.
The Mob on the other hand had a different reaction to seeing the strange man, encouraging him to inflict harm upon the child. "You there, don't let that demon spawn get away." A man shouted, "We've been trying to kill it for years." The strange man glared with pink eyes, his expression went from a frown to full blown scowl looking from Naruto to the mob. A few people in the mob took note of the strange man's pendant hanging from his neck. It was the symbol of a rather mysterious religion but none could place the name.
Whispers spread through the mob before the man stepped towards Naruto, lowering himself to look Naruto in the eye. "You're trying to tell me that this little shit is demon?" The man snarled standing up, "What kind of fucked up heathens are you?" The crass language of the man threw back the villagers; many had the decency to look insulted. Naruto froze as the man walked slightly past him, curtain that the strange man would hurt him like the villagers. Instead the strange man took the scythe from his back and shook in front of Naruto, his scowl never losing its disgust. The villagers weren't sure how to treat the holy man, a few foolish men decided to challenge the stranger's words.
"That boy is a demon in disguised; it killed many of our loved ones years ago." Naruto seemed to shrink into himself and once again try to make a run for it. Before he made it to the gate, he was suddenly lifted off the ground and thrown over someone's shoulder. Glancing up Naruto could see that it was the stranger, carrying him to the gate as the mob stalked behind them. The glare of the mob burned into the man's back before he turned slightly, glaring back at the villagers. "You don't seem to want it." The man said, his voice a sickened growl, "So I'm going to take it off your fucking hands."
Many of the villagers seemed to favor seeing the child go and proceeded to throw rocks at both the man and the child. The stranger's scowl turned to an impassive expression as he turned to walk away, leaving the mob behind as a few half-heartedly threw kunai and shuriken. When they reached the gate however the mob was cheering, thankful that the demon was leaving. Once Naruto and the hand had passed the gate however the man had turned with a sharp and venomous glare, vanishing before their eyes with a single warning. "Take warning heathens, for the giving of this child was not of saints; but sinners waiting to be punished."
A/n: Thanks to The-AU-Enthusiast for noting a chunk of this chapter was missing. I apologize if it's not exactly the same as the original chapter as I had to rewrite the missing bits. 2017 A/n: For those re-reading or new to this story I am revising it 2 chapters at a time to fix errors before updating. Please do not review demanding an update as I am going to be revising all my stories before adding to them.
