A/N:

Well, here's chapter two for you all. Some character development and insight into Naruto's treatment by the village. Hope everyone enjoys. Read and review.

P.S. After reading through An Uzumaki in the Dunes (plug plug, absolutely great fic) I'm debating some of the later portions of this fic, maybe I'll do some Naruto/Temari, who knows? I am also not limiting Naruto to a single love interest in this fic. There won't be any harems though, and I'll try and keep it all believable.

Enjoy

Warning: Somewhat graphic scene at the end

A/N

He jumped back, narrowly dodging the kunai as it cut into his jacket collar. His opponent was serious. If that had been just a bit more on target it could have been a death sentence. 'No time to think about that now. I can't lose, not this time!' As he fell through the air, more kunai coming his way as his opponent rushed towards him, his hands flashed through seals. He had to time this just right. 'Wait for it...wait for it...now!' ending in the tiger seal he inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with oxygen, his hands rising to his mouth. He would only have one shot, but surprise was on his side. The teme would never know what hit him, he'd been practicing in secret for months to be sure of it.

Sasuke's eyes went wide as he saw the final hand sign, he recognized that jutsu, he had to dodge or he'd a dead man!

Naruto's feet hit the ground as he began to exhale "Katon..." *SMACK*

"NARUTO, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?" an irate Kago demanded, hand encircling the demon container's wrist. "This is a spar, not a duel to the death!" he spat, gripping a subdued Naruto a bit harder then needed.

"But Kago-sensei, it wouldn't have really hurt him," the blonde whined "the teme coulda dodged that!" he pouted, accentuating his defense with a coughing fit, smoke seeping from between his closed lips.

Sasuke stood to the side, hands now tucked into his pockets, an unreadable expression on his face. "Hn." the Uchiha contributed in his friend's defense, at least he seemed to be defending his friend, one could never be sure with the dark haired genius.

"NA-RU-TO!" a voice yelled as the blonde's eyes went wide. "How could you do that to Sasuke-kun! Gah, I can't believe you!" screamed a head of pink hair "Sasuke-kun, are you alright?" Sakura asked, in the sweetest voice she could muster.

The Uchiha deigned his fangirl with a small snort "of course, you think the dobe could beat me?" he asked, glancing at Naruto and smirking as he got the expected reaction to the obvious barb.

"Dammit Sasuke, you know I woulda had you!" the blonde yelled, his blue eyes wide in anger and managing to contradict his previous defense. "Hmph, your just angry cause I can do your jutsu!" Naruto said cackling, his now freed arms crossing his chest and his head nodding.

"Yeah right" came another voice, this one belonging to another blonde "there's no way you could ever do one of Sasuke-kun's jutsu, you just don't have the talent." Ino wasn't entirely sure what had just happened in that spar, but she knew her Sasuke-kun needed defending. 'I can't let forehead get all the glory for helping Sasuke-kun. I wonder what Naruto was doing anyway,' she thought ' Kago-sensei looks pretty angry'

"Naruto, I want to see you after class." spoke the object of Ino's thoughts. "And Sasuke, good job, but watch your aim with your kunai." their sensei spoke, grinning at the Uchiha "if you had aimed just a little more to your left you would have gotten your opponent right in the jugular. There's no recovering from that kind of a hit." 'And wouldn't that be nice.'

Sasuke looked somewhat puzzled but seemed to brush it off as the dark haired man announced that sparring sessions were over for the day and it was time for a pop quiz. "Hey dobe" he said in a whisper, walking over to his blonde friend "when'd you learn that?"

One hand behind his head Naruto laughed, answering in a loud voice "What's that Sasuke-chan, when did I learn that awesome new jutsu?"

Sasuke cracked one of his rare smirkles as Naruto had deemed them, a sort of cross between a smirk and a smile. The blonde had laughed heartily over that when he discovered the term, thinking it to be the greatest invention since, well, jutsu. Almost as great as Kiba's Uchihatards.

Again smiling Naruto dropped his hand to his side " Hmph, I've been training hard in secret, I'll be able to mop the floor with you soon teme." he intoned, nodding his head at his own words.

The Uchiha's response was only a small grunt. He had to admit Naruto had been improving a lot lately, both physically and mentally. He'd never say it to his face though, the blonde would never let him live it down.

Ever since arriving at the academy it was like a fire had been lit under him, as if for the past three months the blue eyed student felt some sort of compulsion to improve himself. It was maddening at times how hard his friend seemed to work, especially when the teachers seemed almost to sabotage him. There was nothing overt, but he'd found his blonde friend using wrong hand seals for even the simplest of jutsu, and he seemed to get punished more severely than was usual (even if he did deserve punishment most of the time). 'Either way, I'm gonna have to get in some extra training, Maybe Itachi will teach me a new Jutsu after class.' he thought, smirking to himself. After all, it wouldn't do for the dobe to catch up to the number one in the class.

Filing into the classroom Naruto glanced back at his sparring partner's face, seeing the smirk "Hey, we still doing training Friday at your place?" he asked, showing off his white teeth as he grinned mockingly.

"Hn."

"Hah, we'll see how you do against the great Uzumaki Naruto when you don't have your precious teacher there to protect you!" he exclaimed, turning around to take his customary seat by Hinata. "Hey Hinata-chan, did you see how awesome I was?"

"H-hai Naruto-kun!" the Hyuga heirress replied, a dark crimson staining her cheeks, her eyes glued to feet. 'His eyes are so pretty' she thought, bringing her fingers up and together as a goofy grin was plastered on her face. He had only recently started talking to her. Even after months of sitting right next to her day after day he had never seemed to even realize she was there. Then she had brought in some type of noodles for lunch about two weeks ago and suddenly he had been babbling on and on about the wonders of ramen and how great it was to her. Not that she minded, as long as he talked to her she'd be happy. "A-ano, Sasuke-kun. Y-you did v-very good as well..." she said, head titled downward, blush fading slightly.

Sasuke glanced briefly at the girl. She had such an obvious crush on Naruto it was almost sad, and Naruto was just as clearly completely oblivious to it. "Arigato, Hinata-chan." he intoned.

"Okay class, take out your pencils and I'll pass out your quizzess. No books allowed." their teacher continued with a grin "if I catch anyone cheating again that's an automatic failure."

"Now, you may begin."

After the quizzes had all been handed in, or thrown away in the case of one Nara Shikamaru (an empty quiz covered in drool was not something Kago was willing to deal with) it was time to end class. "All right everyone, good job today. Now, remember, no class tomorrow. Everyone go out and enjoy the festival." 'I know I will' he thought, glancing at the Uzumaki brat who was in the process of flicking something at a still sleeping Shikamaru. "However, remember that you still have homework due on Thursday, and I expect everyone to have it done." the class groaned and he knew there was no chance they'd all do it. "Listen, if everyone turns in their homework on time I'll get you guys all a gift, okay?" he grinned as the classes eyes lit up. They'd be sure to do it now.

"What kind of gift Kago-sensei?" asked one of the kids.

"That's a surprise. Now, everyone enjoy the festivities. Naruto, you stay here, I need to have a talk with you." he glared at the blonde as the students began to rise from their seats and file out the door.

"You better do your homework Shika or I'll...I'll smack you so hard...!"

"Troublesome..."

As the last of the students left Kago turned to Naruto, his eyes turning hard "Naruto, what do you think you were doing?" he demanded "If you had hit Sasuke with that jutsu it could have done serious damage! I won't have you running rampant in my class, god knows you've already caused enough harm in your damned life!"

Naruto hung his head, he was used to being yelled at by the villagers, being hated, even being physically abused on occasion. Hell, tommorow he knew he'd be in for another horrid day, it was always the same this time of year. But this hurt more than most, when he'd first met Kago-sensei he'd though he was great. He was cool, a ninja, and seemed happy when they met, Naruto had even told old man Hokage as much. Then over the weeks and months Kago-sensei had seemed to change and started yelling more at him and disciplining him for things other kids got away with. He didn't know what he'd done to change his teacher's mind about him, maybe he really was just a failure like Ino always said. 'But I've been working so hard, I MUST be getting better. I'm gonna be Hokage one day dammit!' he thought to himself.

Sighing Kago looked at the child as it thought to itself. Sometimes he wondered what was really going on in its mind, what devious schemes it was plotting. He smiled a predatory smile as a thought occurred to him "Your punishment for threatening the life of not only one of this classes students, but one of the best potential genin in many years, is eight hours of detention." he grinned, getting ready to spring his trap.

Naruto looked up, it was a bit more than he usually got, but everyone WAS always overprotective of the teme. 'Hmph, what's he got that I don't?' He answered the dark haired man with a sigh "Hai Kago-sensei."

"That is not all Naruto." the man spat "It is three thirty now..." he couldn't wait to see the look on the demon's face when he finally realized what was going to happen.

For his part Naruto was confused, he knew the drill. He'd do two hours a day until he'd finished however long the punishment was, cleaning chalk boards, rearranging chairs, all the boring stuff. There was no reason for Kago to explain it all over again.

"And I expect you to complete all eight hours of your detention today." the Chunin finished, an evil glint in his eye.

Naruto jumped up, beginning to panick "Ah, b-but!" he exclaimed "Can't I just do it Friday or something?!?" he begged "I'll be sure to have my work done! I'll even do an extra hour of detention! YEAH!" He had to get out of this somehow. I can't do eight hours of detention, not tonight!

"No Naruto, you risked the life of one of my students, someone you claim to be a friend no less. You will stay today," he emphasized the word today "I expect the classroom to be in perfect condition by tonight, and I'll be back to check on you." Oh this would be great, the perfect opportunity. "If I find you've skipped out on your punishment for ANY reason I will make sure to have you expelled from the ninja academy, and you will never have the opportunity to become Hokage. Now, get to work!"

Naruto's eyes widened. Expelled from the ninja academy! He could never be a ninja if that happened! And then, he couldn't accomplish his dream! 'Ah, CRAP CRAP CRAP!' He'd just have to stay and figure out what to do later, maybe he could sneak back home after finishing or sleep here. Yeah, he'd be fine. Lost in his own thoughts while his hands made their best effort to tear out his hair he didn't notice Kago leaving until the door slammed behind him. His eyes widened in terror.

'I'm alone...I'm alone outside of my apartment and tomorrow is October 10th!'

He could only think one thing. "Crap..."

The festivities always started on the night of the ninth. They began with groups gathering at bars throughout Konoha, mourning and celebrating those close to them who died that day nine years ago. By six o'clock the bars were full, by seven a few people had begun showing the signs of their drinking, those who had lost the most that day. By nine people had begun drunkenly cursing the Kyuubi and what it had done to their beloved village. By ten some had begun cursing the 'demon brat,' reminding everyone of what it had done, what it had cost them, what it was. By eleven...by eleven the mobs had formed. And they were out for blood.

11:30, Konoha Ninja Academy

He knew what night it was. He knew what was probably going on throughout the streets of Konoha right now, angry people looking for something to be angry at. Maybe this was just one of those things that had to happen for others to be happy. Maybe someone just had to suffer for the good of other's. These were the thoughts running through the head of one Uzumaki Naruto as he ran quickly out of the academy, hoping beyond hope he could just get to his apartment without anyone seeing him. 'If I can just get there I'll be fine. The apartment is safe, it's always safe!'

He didn't know why but the mobs never followed him into his apartment. Maybe someone was watching out for him, maybe it was blessed, maybe they didn't want to damage the infrastructure...he didn't know and it didn't matter. 'If I get to the apartment I'm safe.' This was the mantra he repeated to himself as he dashed through the streets towards his home, his heart pounding. He'd never been out this late on this night and he was scared to death.

They had a mission, they had a purpose.

"Kill the demon brat!" one screamed, promptly fallling over, almost smashing into the jagged edges of his broken beer bottle.

"Find it and make it pay!" another yelled, stumbling along the street.

Dashing around a corner Naruto came to a screeching halt. He'd found what he was most afraid of. A mob of thirty or so people were blocking the main road between the academy and his apartment.

"THERE IT IS! THE DEMON! GET IT!!!" screamed a man, fury filling his eyes.

"Ah shit." Naruto said, turning to run. He had to get away, had to get somewhere safe, had to get to the apartment. Turning the corner as the mob chased him he couldn't help but wish he knew henge. 'I've just gotta get away and get to the apartment' he thought 'if I get to the apartment I'm safe.'

As he turned another corner, the mob still following, a figure materialised in front of him. He skidded to a halt before a man wearing a chunin vest, his face covered in shadows, only his clothing visible. Naruto knew this man, he was familiar, if he could just remember! 'I don't have time, I have to get to the apartment!' he moved to go around the man.

"Naruto, what's wrong? It's me!" a concerned voice came from the man.

Naruto did a doubletake as the man turned and his face was illuminated. "Kago-sensei! AH thank kami! Sensei, there are people chasing me, please I need help! I finished my detention, class is clean! I even cleaned Iruka-sensei's classroom too!" he rushed out, relieved that help had arrived. Every thing would be fine now, Kago-sensei was a ninja, he could protect him from these people! He was like the ANBU!

"Okay Naruto, don't worry" Kago said soothingly "go hide in there, I'll deal with the people chasing you okay?" he said, gesturing to the alley directly behind him on his left. "Don't come out until I say it's safe."

As a relieved Naruto ran to hide in the alley Kago grinned to himself. 'This is just too easy.'

The mob turned the corner, running straight ahead when they spotted a man standing in the middle of the road, right in their path.

"Hey you, outta the way, the demon brat went through here!" one manage to slur.

"Yeah, we need to catch him!" another added with an emphatic nod of his head.

"Oh don't worry about him. He won't be going anywhere any time soon, I've made sure of it..." the man said, eyes glinting in the gleam of the street lights "Why don't you take a detour, say down that alley over there?" he pointed to an alley behind him.

"Wha...? Oh..." the leader of the mob began, realization hitting him "come on folks, our chance has come! GET THE DEMON!!!" his proclamation was met with a cheer.

As the mob began to pass him, their informant stopped the leader "Here, you may want this..." throwing him a gas can "Do us all a favor. End it!" he finished with vehemence, hate contorting his facial muscles into a gruesome expression, his scar accentuating the rage now apparent in his features.

It was dark in the alley. Naruto had hunkered down behind a dumpster. He knew this alley. He could hide here, Kago-sensei said so. He'd be safe here! 'Thank kami...thank kami..!' he repeated to himself over and over, knuckles clenching his knees until they turned white. He'd never think another bad though about Kago-sensei ever again! No more whoopie coushins he promised himself as tears began leaking out the sides of his eyes. Kami he had been so scared. He started, head jerking up. Was that a sound? He'd thought he heard something, glass breaking? 'Must be some dumb cat trying to get the leftover ramen' he thought.

As he turned to look for whatever made the sound, wiping the tears from his eyes he froze. There was someone here. "S-s-sensei?" he whispered, barely audible, hoping beyond hope. The man shaped shadow elongated as it moved towards him. It was laughing. "Why hello there, are you lost?"

'That...that isn't sensei's voice!' Naruto shrunk in on himself, trying to make his body as small as possible. If it wasn't Kago-sensei then he knew what it meant. Maybe he'd be lucky, maybe they'd get bored and leave before they did any serious damage. Maybe the ANBU would show up. 'Maybe they'll just decide to throw me a party and vote me in as the next Hokage' he thought to himself, almost laughing at his own stupidity despite the situation. He'd been in this situation before, they wouldn't get bored and leave before they did serious damage, the ANBU wouldn't save him, and there would be no party. 'But maybe, just maybe... Kago-sensei will still save me.' he wanted to cling to that hope no matter what. If he could just believe that then he could take anything. 'Kago-sensei will save me, it'll be fine, just you wait and see!' he told himself. A shadow loomed over him and he looked up. Into eyes filled with hate.

"Hah, so he wasn't lying, huh? Well folks, looks like we have a demon to deal with!" The demon looked so pathetic, curled in on itself, tears leaking from its eyes in the middle of a refuse heap. Some gelatinous, obviously rotten, substance, possibly some type of vegetable in its previous life, was caked on the side of its face, running down its cheek and onto the white collar of its jacket. The green ooze was dripping onto the beasts orange jacket and white undershirt, which were ripped in various places and a few small bloody gashes littered the demons other cheek, where it likely had tripped onto some gravel or fallen into a wall. "Not so great now are you fox?" the man's sadistic voice rung out as he glared at it. "Let the fun begin!" he yelled, raising his hand and throwing it down at the demon.

Naruto's eyes widened and he instinctively moved his head away and threw his arms up as the jagged edges of the broken bottle raced towards him. His vision burst into vivid colors, dots of purple floating in and out of view, green blobs racing through and mixing with blue. Reaching a hand behind him he felt something wet on the back of his head. He looked back up at the man "please...p-please...don't..." he begged "p-please dont h-hurt me...m-mercy!" The mans eyes seemed to harden even more.

"What about my family...we were just civilians...did they beg? Did you give them any mercy?!?"

The man struck again and again, Naruto let out a gasp as he collapsed to the ground, curling even further in on himself. He could feel the broken bottle digging into his back, traces of alcohol dripping into the cuts making them burn, blood seeping into the fabric of his jacket. He could feel something else piercing his jacket, something smacking into his head, his back, and his feet. Letting out a whimper he tried to think of something else, anything that would get his mind off the pain 'I'm gonna need to get a new jacket after this, this was my last one' he whimpered as something jagged and uneven was shoved roughly into the back of his neck and a kick to his ribs was met with an audible snap 'maybe I can try something like what Sasuke wears, he's cool right?' he tried to continue the thoughts as he felt a toe smash as some type of metallic blunt object collided with it 'I wonder if my toe will heal.' It hurt...Kami it hurt. He wondered idly if he made it out of this if he would be allowed back into Ichiraku's, they couldn't like him bleeding in their alley could they?

His mind was detaching itself from the situation, he felt himself fading into unconsciousness. The pain was getting harder to notice, he knew it was there but he was having a hard time feeling it anymore. His vision went completely black and he let unconsciousness take him with a final thought 'I hope Kago-sensei is alright...'

A splash of something on his face brought him back to his senses. Something smelt funny but he couldn't quite place it, something was happening, he was in some type of danger...if only he could remember... 'where am I?' He chanced a look behind him and coughed as something splashed down his face, pouring into his mouth and running into his eye. Sputtering and coughing he looked back down 'That's right! I'm in an alley...' he felt unusually proud of himself for some reason. It was good that he remembered, that was good...

"Now die demon.."

Naruto, that's right...that was his name. Naruto knew he was in pain, lots of pain. 'what's going on, what happened to me? Why do I hurt all over?' he thought. He heard something above and behind him 'that was wear that water came from...no... no that wasn't water...?' Time seemed to slow as he turned his head. Blurry shapes came into view as he looked upwards. Shadows in the shapes of people formed as his vision began to clear. Something was wrong, he knew something was wrong. Something was happening, something important! The figure closest to him leaned in as their eyes locked. Naruto had seen this man before, he was a bad man! The man lit something in his hand and it all flooded back to him. He knew where he was. He knew who he was. He knew what was happening. He knew what day it was...and with that in mind he screamed.

At midnight on October 10th a gut-wrenching scream pierced the village hidden in the leaves and Uzumaki Naruto was consumed in flame.

A/N:

Well, there it is chapter two. Reviews always greatly appreciated! More reviews the more likely I'll come out with another chapter sooner, I just kind of write when the fancy hits me. Also if any good betas out there wanna do me a favor I'm always open to grabbing one of you, currently I'm just throwing out my first draft. Hope everyone enjoyed!