Hiro clambered into bed, thinking about what had just transpired outside. What the hell had even happened? How'd he suddenly get fiery red eyes and sharp teeth? And what was with the threat he'd given Rin's dad? It was as if someone else was speaking through him.

Hiro shook his head, forced himself to sleep. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was in a different place. Hiro frowned and stood, trying to get a bearing of his surroundings.

"What the hell?" he said, as he walked on.

Wherever he was, it was dark, that was for sure. Some sort of artificial dim orange light was coming from somewhere behind him. Hiro was treading through dark murky water that reached his ankles, but not so dark that he couldn't see his reflection. He saw himself in his normal clothes, accompanied by his black and red coat.

Hiro frowned intently, trying to figure out where the hell he was. He walked on, and saw a massive structure of huge trees, twisting and turning, forming bars, doors and an incredibly gigantic roof that twisted together in a dome, bristling with leaves.

Hiro blinked. It was a cage.

He reached out, brushing his fingers lightly across one of the thick trunks. Whatever the cage was holding, it would have to be something massive, because the cage itself was larger than the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Okay…" said Hiro.

Then, as if on cue, a single gigantic glowing red eye opened in the darkness of the cage, and looked down at Hiro.

Hiro widened his own eyes and found himself retreating as fast as he could. For all his worth, Hiro was barely the size of the eyes' pupil.

The bearer of the eye snarled, giving off a deep, guttural sound capable of breaking windows, exposing white teeth the size of buildings.

The figure reared back, snarled again, and bashed its head against the doors of the wooden cage. The result was a powerful shockwave that made the water ripple with violent waves and sent Hiro flying back.

Hiro hurriedly got to his feet and looked at the huge creature. It was so dark that he could barely see inside the cage, but he imagined that it had black fur, seeing as how it blended with its dark surroundings so well. It smashed its head against the doors again, and Hiro stumbled, seeing but not quite believing that the doors were closed by no more than a simple piece of paper that held the word in Japanese: SEAL.

The beast roared and smashed its head yet again against the wooden doors. Amazingly, the doors held, giving off no more than a slight shudder.

Hiro stepped back, his wet footsteps echoing through the dark space. For the first time, the beastie seemed to take notice of him.

"You," it snarled, and something from behind it snaked forward, wrapping itself around one of the wooden bars. Another one joined it. And another. And another.

Hiro blinked. Those things were tails.

"RELEASE ME!" Beastie roared. It wrapped its tails even more tightly around the bars and wrenched, trying to snap them apart to no avail. "Open these doors, Uchiha!"

"I-I don't under-," Hiro stammered, but abruptly stopped. "Wait a minute," he said cautiously, "how do you know I'm an Uchiha? How can you even talk?"

Beastie stopped struggling and leant down to look at Hiro, washing blood-red light all over the boy.

"I should know, boy," Beastie replied. "I'm the one who knows you best, better than anyone in this world, better than yourself, even."

"W-what?" stammered Hiro. "What're you talking about? I think I'd remember if I ever met a huge beast with teeth the size of buildings."

The beast smiled, showing off his massive teeth. "You do not remember, do you child? Well, I don't expect you to. Your parents were… rather difficult that night."

Hiro's heart plummeted. "What? What do you know about my parents? We've never met before this."

Beastie gave another of his deep snarls. "Enough games, Uchiha. Break the seal. Release me NOW."

Hiro somehow mustered the courage to play a wiseass, and decided to ignore the 100 feet tall beast making conversation with him. "Where are we anyway?" he asked, looking at his surroundings.

Beastie snarled and came down again, bellowing. "DO NOT TOY WITH ME CHILD! BREAK THE SEAL! IT'S TAKEN ME THIS LONG TO GET YOU TO COME HERE!"

"In which case, you will have no problem answering my question."

Beastie reared back, obviously trying hard to keep his temper in check. "Where do you think? We are inside you."

"Excuse me? I think I'd remember if I had a sewer, a tree cage and a huge raging animal inside me."

"Enough! I have told you where we are, now release me!"

Hiro smirked. "No."

Beastie roared in outrage, blasting hurricane force winds at Hiro.

Hiro screamed, covering his head with his arms. Suddenly, the coat glowed with a familiar protective red aura. The winds blasted past Hiro, blowing his spiky hair across his head and causing his clothes to ruffle. But other than that, there was no effect.

"WHAT? How DARE you use my own chakra against me!?"

Hiro should have cowered. He should have screamed and ran. Any other pre-teen would have done so.

But arrogance and courage blossomed from somewhere deep within Hiro. "Shut up!" he shot back. "Don't you dare diss my coat! Shout at me all you like, I don't really give a damn, but don't you dare insult my heritage! Next time, keep your Hokage-Monument sized mouth SHUT!"

Beastie blinked his giant cycloptic eye. He gave off a deep rumbling noise and it took Hiro a moment to realize that the monster was laughing.

"WHAT IS SO FUNNY?" Hiro hollered.

"You have fire in your heart. Just like your great ancestor. I suppose I'll need that to survive in your body. This is why I can wait. I have patience. And I will be free, one day."

"What? My ancestor? What're you-?"

"Go now. See how it all began. See how we met. Your memories will be cleared."

Hiro stared into the eye of the beast, and everything else became blurred.
For the first time, Hiro remembered where he had seen that eye before. He had seen his own eyes exactly like that, right after he had threatened Rin's dad.

The eye was composed of black rings, like the Rinnegan, but with three tomoe circling each of those rings, like the Sharingan. The entire eye glowed with blood-red light. But whose eye was it? Who was the massive beast living in Hiro?

He was about to find out.

XXX

When Hiro woke, he was in the old Uchiha compound. He stood and looked around, confused. It was nighttime, and everyone was asleep. Hiro frowned. All the Uchiha were dead. Then how-

His thoughts were broken by a blood curdling scream behind him. Hiro spun and saw a little boy, no more than about five or six, running towards him. He recognized the boy. They used to be friends, and his name was long since forgotten by Hiro.

Hiro opened his mouth to form a question, but the boy seemed to take no heed of him. He ran towards Hiro, and just when it seemed like he was about to crash into him, he passed right through Hiro like he was a ghost.

Hiro screamed and stumbled as the boy kept running. Hiro watched as the boy attempted to run, when a young man suddenly appeared before him and drove a kunai into his little chest.

Hiro scrambled back in horror as the boy's Sharingan awakened, but was unable to do anything about the blood dripping from his body. The child let out a final shaky breath and collapsed, not to move again.

The young man crouched down. Hiro couldn't believe that he was no more than a teenager. Hiro looked at his blazing red eyes and a single name came to him.

"Itachi Uchiha," Hiro said softly. He scrambled back frantically, despite the fact that the idea that all this was all just in head was beginning to form.

He ran away, all the time watching helplessly as his clan was massacred. He ended up hiding behind a building, staying away from the gutter running thick with blood. He looked ahead and saw Itachi talking to a boy halfheartedly on the street. He attempted to listen, but stopped when he saw a man jumping away with a small boy in his arms.

Hiro jumped after them, and was led to a forest with a perfect view of the bloody clan household. Hiro looked at the man's face as he leant down to the little boy. He could tell he was an Uchiha by his red eyes, but it took a moment for Hiro to recognize the man's face.

Hiro gasped when he realized who the man was.

The man was his father.

Hiro was at a loss for words as his father crouched down and spoke to the little boy.

"Hiro," he said, "you have to be very quiet. Ok?"

The boy nodded and Hiro realized that the little boy was the five-year-old version of himself. This entire ordeal was a vision.

Hiro's father stood and Hiro got a better look at him. He had a pale, handsome face, an athletic build, and had a black and red coat identical to Hiro's draped around his shoulders.

Hiro's father closed his eyes and scrunched his face up in concentration. There was a rumbling sound, and a moment later a tree sprouted from the ground, twisting into the air. Once it stopped moving, a woman in green and black clothes jumped from the top, landing in a crouch.

Hiro took yet another sharp breath. The lady was wearing the traditional emblem of the Senju clan on her shirt and had a lean, strong, muscular build. Her eyes and hair were dark, and her face was beautiful.

It was Hiro's mother.

"What happened?" she asked worriedly.

"I don't know," said Hiro's father angrily. "One moment everything was fine, we were all sleeping, then suddenly Itachi Uchiha comes out of nowhere and massacres the whole clan."

"What?" Hiro's mom recoiled. "The entire clan? Everyone's dead?"

"It sure seems that way."

"But- what about–,"

"I checked the entire place with my Sharingan. Only two Uchiha left. Itachi and his little brother. He hasn't killed him, for some reason."

"Itachi? Kid's only fifteen. How'd he kill everyone?"

"Mangekyo Sharingan. No idea how he got it."

Hiro's mom thought for a moment. "It's unlocked by guilt."

"So?"

"So hasn't Itachi's best friend been missing for a week?"

Hiro's dad widened his eyes. "Dear Kami. He kills his best friend, acquires one of the most powerful and rare doujutsu in the world, then uses it to kill his entire clan."

They went silent for a moment but quickly composed themselves.

"This isn't good for Hiro. If we're right, then Itachi will be out to get both him and me," the man said. "And I don't fancy going up against him alone."

"My cousin was in Root," said Hiro's mom. "He died recently, but upon his death they found some secret Root files. No one saw them but me. I burned them after I read them, but the files themselves said that Danzo-Sama was experimenting with Uchiha. All Sharingan wielders. The report also mentioned dead Uchiha, all with their eyes pulled out."

"Root and Konoha are up to something. They know about the coup we were planning. Now they're after our eyes."

"We can't protect Hiro anymore."

Hiro's father covered his face with his hands. After a thought, he lifted his head. "No. We can't. But we can definitely make sure that Hiro has all the power he needs to defend himself."

Hiro's mom's voice became angry and firm. "No. we are not going to resort to it."

"But it might-,"

"Shut the hell up. That thing is the sole purpose of most of the wars in the world. If it enters Hiro, we don't even know if he'll be able to control it."

"Just listen. I think-,"

"I don't give a damn what you think! YOU WILL NOT SEAL A TAILED BEAST INTO MY SON!"

Hiro's father suddenly stepped forward and kissed her warmly. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "But Hiro needs all the protection he can get. And I can't guarantee we'll always be there for him."

He stepped back ad Hiro saw tears well up in his mother's eyes, an incredibly rare thing for Senju.

"You've seen how people treat that boy… Naruto. How can we let our own son go through that?"

"I have faith. No one needs to know that Hiro is a Jinchuuriki. And if the Sealing Jutsu goes as planned, he won't have just the Beast in his mind."

Hiro's mom closed her eyes, and he was sure that she would refuse. But then she opened them and said with fury: "Fine."

The two adults went to see their son, and it was a task to keep the sadness out of their voices.

"Hiro," said his mother, "we are going to… go away for a little while."

"Go away? But you just got here, mom."

"Hiro," said Hiro's father as his wife choked back a sob, "remember what I told you? About your mother's family and mine? Remember how I said they don't like each other?"

Little Hiro nodded.

"Well, because of this, people aren't going to like you. They'll be afraid and they'll be angry if they found out who you were. So… we are going to take a little break. Your mother and I... we need to give you the best chance, to make sure that you can protect yourself."

"But… but I want you there."

The man smiled warmly at his young son. His son who would someday have the power to destroy everything they had known, and adding to the power they were giving him…

But he had faith.

He hugged Little Hiro. "We will be. We always will be. And don't you dare think otherwise. Because you are an Uchiha."

"And a Senju," said his mom.

Hiro's father took off the black and red trench-coat and handed it to his confused son. "This will protect you." He smiled warmly at his son for the last time. "I love you, Hiro."

He bent down and kissed his son's forehead. His mother came and hugged him warmly, tears streaking her face.

Suddenly the real Hiro knew what was going to happen.

"No," he said, but his voice was unheard as his father and mother stepped away and did hand seals, preparing to perform their last Jutsu.

"No," said Hiro again as the wind picked up. "No! No, no! Don't do this!"

Hiro's voice began to get drowned out as the wind became more and more violent. His father's eyes glowed red as shadow and crimson light began to seep out of the ground at his feet. His mother clasped her hands together and green chakra swirled at her feet. Soon, the red, black and green chakra swirled together all around them, and at that precise moment, thunder boomed, lightning flashed, the ground shook and the trees whipped violently.

"Mom! Dad!" cried little Hiro. "What's happening!?"

The two powerful Shinobi didn't answer as they gritted their teeth in a mix of pain, concentration, and fury.

"Stop!" Hiro yelled over the noise. "STOP!"

Then the booming laughter came, louder than all the noise.

Hiro gasped. That was the same laughter he had heard from within the cage of trees.

The laughter continued, a deep, guttural roar that was tripled, as mocking as it was loud.

"Give our son the power he needs," said Hiro's father. "Protect him, no matter what."

"You hurt one hair on my son's head, demon," said Hiro's mom, "and I'll rip you apart with my bear hands. Count on that, you son of a bitch."

The colorful mixed chakra rose like a blooming flower, rising high and spiraling in one of the most beautiful, extravagant sights a person could ever hope to see.

Then it all suddenly came down and tore itself into Hiro's chest.

Little Hiro screamed as the chakra ripped itself violently into his body, the red and black chakra became more solid and dark, and the green chakra tightened, forming… wood. The chakra burned away most of Hiro's shirt, burning a familiar seal into his chest. Red chakra imbued itself into the trench-coat, burning 9 magatama and a swirling circle into Hiro's back.

Older Hiro yelled at them to stop, but they just contorted their faces in pain and anger. Then, the last of the chakra entered Hiro's body and everything went silent for one moment.

Then the little boy screamed, and a massive explosion obliterated the forest and everything in it.

XXX

The scene shifted, and Hiro saw himself in Konoha's hospital. He saw his five year old self sit up on the bed and breathe heavily.

"Mom?" the little one called. "Dad?"

Suddenly, a doctor strode in, a blonde lady with a nice smile.

"Hello there," she said kindly, sitting on the foot of his bed.

Older Hiro recognized her. Her name was Dr Rei Saiken, and she was practically the only person who cared about Hiro.

"Hi," replied Younger Hiro uneasily.

"What's your name?"

"Hiro."

She nodded. "That's a nice name. You got a surname, Hiro?"

Hiro was about to tell her. It would have been so easy to tell her. Such a simple question, strengthened by her pretty reassuring smile. He would have told her for sure, if not for the deep voice in the back of his mind.

Not that, the voice guided. Remember your father's warning. Not that part. She can't know your surname. No one can. Not anymore.

"Just Hiro," said the little boy in the coat that seemed to swallow him. "I don't have a surname."

Rei hesitated then nodded. "Ok. Hiro, I need you to tell me something. What's the last thing you remember? At all?"

"My… my father and I were running from the Uchiha compound."

"What were you doing there?"

"We were just… walking by, and saw a lot of people being hurt. Miss, what happened to everyone in the clan? And… my parents?

Rei hesitated again. "Hiro," she said gently, "when we found you, you were in a forest, near the Uchiha compound. Everything was gone. Destroyed. We… we didn't know anyone was there was there was but you. I can only say… I think your parents died in the explosion."

"No," Hiro immediately denied. "No, that can't be right. My parents were there… and we talked… but then there were these bright lights and… pain…"

Tears fell from Hiro's face and Rei leant forward and hugged him.

"Oh, Hiro," she said, "I'm so sorry. You must be going through hell."

Hiro sagged in her grip. His eyes watered, but he didn't cry out.

Don't be a baby, the voice in his head said. You need to be strong. If you want to survive, you need to be strong. There's no one left for you in the world.

"Don't worry," said the doctor. "I promise you'll be fine." She leant back. "And, you have a visitor."

She stood and left the room, and exactly three seconds later a little girl with blonde hair and dark clothes walked ran in.

"Hiro!" yelled Chi Uchiha as she went to her cousin and hugged him.

Hiro reacted to her embrace and hugged her tightly.

Still one person, Older Hiro thought.

After a long minute of embrace, the two untangled themselves and began talking.

"Hiro," said Chi, "where are all the Uchiha?"

"Shush," replied Hiro. "No one is supposed to know we're Uchiha. Did you tell anyone?"

Chi paused for a terrifying moment but said, "No that never came up."

"We can't tell anyone."

"But why can't-,"

"We just can't. My parents thought it would be dangerous. I trust… I trusted their judgment." Even as he said the words, he could feel his innocence fading. He had to take care of Chi now.

Chi didn't bother arguing with her cousin but tears came to her eyes. "They're all gone."

Hiro tried to comfort her as she collapsed in his arms and broke into tears.

XXX

Hiro opened his eyes and sat upright. He turned frantically, and immediately fell over. He groaned, and realized that he was on his bedroom floor. He rubbed his head and tried to figure out if everything was just a dream, but the booming laughter in the back of his head said otherwise.

You wish, boy, said Beastie.

Hiro stood defiantly. Only one way to find out.

He ran to the bathroom and took off his shirt. He stood with his back to the mirror and craned his head round with difficulty. He applied a tiny bit of chakra to his back and saw the swirling circle and nine magatama there.

He collapsed and sagged, and finally realized lots of things: his parents died for him. He would always protect Chi. He was a jinchuuriki. He finally knew why he reacted so violently to Mr. Kizune. He knew why he was such a smart-mouth. He knew why his coat was so special. And he knew what the beast inside him was.

He should have forseen it. The tails… the dark fur… and the eye. He would need to find out why, and how, he was able to survive that thing being sealed within him. It was a god. It was a source of unlimited power.

It was the Juubi.

XXX

AN: Ha-ha, facepalm! I know, I know, another Jinchuuriki, eeps. Sheesh, he's not going to be overpowered. He's definitely not more than Naruto. Um, just throwing it out there, I could use some ideas on who Hiro should fight in the chuunin exam finals. I have an idea, but you are the fans, so you decide. This is Shadowmeister, see y'all next chapter, you cock-a-roaches.