Chapter 1
Present day (Four years after the Kyuubi attack)
The child now grown to a young boy named Naruto Uzumaki was not in good shape. The last four years have not been kind to the little boy. He was the very picture of pity; he was wearing a ragged white shirt, which was stained with dirt and grim. He wore blue shorts that had holes near the pockets and the legs were fraying off. His skin hung to him like a blotched canvas over a skeleton. Bruises were visible on parts of his exposed body. His blond hair was matted down with dirt and grime so bad some parts looked like brown hair. His clear blue eyes that should have sparkled with life were instead empty and dead. Flashes of emotion could be seen in his eyes every now and then, but none of the emotions were nice ones. Shoes were missing from his feet, instead there was bits of dirt and much collected on the soles of his feet. Truly Naruto was a lost soul.
If this wasn't bad enough he was currently being chased around town by a small mob of villagers. Though the villagers were not allowed to talk about the Kyuubi being in Naruto, that didn't stop them from making his life a waking nightmare. Instead of calling him Kyuubi, he was referred to as demon or demon child. Where most children would have received charity in his position, the villagers only saw him with contempt. There were are few people willing to help out the orphan, but the villagers even saw to it that those people couldn't get near Naruto. Things couldn't be worse even if the villagers did call Naruto the Kyuubi. The mob was chasing Naruto for coming to the annual festival that marked the anniversary of the Kyuubi attack. They saw his presence as blasphemy against the Fourth's memory. This day was also Naruto's birthday though he didn't really know it.
Naruto had been kicked out of the orphanage he had been placed in when a baby. This was a little over a year ago. While in the orphanage his treatment was minimal at best. No one tended to his injuries or helped him with learning. As such he had little knowledge of dates, letters, or much else a young child may know. No one ever celebrated his birthday since it was the same day as the festival, and being who he was no one wanted him around on that day. The Third would usually come by and give Naruto a present, though he never had it for long, before it was taken by someone else out of spite.
Since being ejected from the orphanage a year ago, Naruto had been living on the streets. It was a hard life of eating out of trashcans and sleeping wherever he could keep out of eyesight of the villagers. Naruto had developed nearly a sixth sense when it came to danger and being able to sense someone coming. It was a necessary trait for his survival. Anytime someone saw him alone in an out of the way place, there was a fair chance they would attempt to beat him. Usually in a large crowd no one would try to harm him for fear of repercussions from the Third. However, on the festival day there were too many people drunk to really care. So Naruto found himself being chased across town with many people promising bodily harm.
The crowd finally cornered Naruto in a dead end alley on the outskirts of the business district. Fear could be seen in Naruto's eyes as the crowd taunted him while brandishing all sorts of weapons. The weapons ranged from the impromptu weapons like sticks, brooms, and bottles; to the professional weapons like swords and kunai. Naruto had many nicks and fresh bruises from the chase as the mob had been launching projectiles at him throughout the chase. Fearing for his life Naruto let out a scream in hopes someone would help him. Thankfully this would be a turning point in the boy's life….