A/N: Naruto is the property of Musashi Kishimoto and T.V. Tokyo, so please support the official release. Got that? Yeah, you'd better…

Hello to all of those who are still bothering to return to my First attempt at a story, I am terribly sorry about the slow release. The rest of my furniture had arrived and I had to unpack it all. Thank you to the two who decided to leave a review.

Alone Shadow Dream: As do I, thank you for being the first to review.

Uzumaki Misaki: Ah yes, foreshadowing: The act of hinting of future events. I'm glad you noticed that, because it will impact the story quite a bit. If you manage to guess at what's coming, than you get a virtual cookie.

Well, let's get on with the story!

Chapter 2 of Hunger Eternal: Hajime!

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The boy awoke to a foul smell and a vicious throb in his leg. It took him a few minutes for his sleeping mind to piece together what had happened

Opening his eyes, he surveyed his surroundings. It was cold, dark, damp, smelled bad, and he would likely die if he stayed here much longer. All in all, it was not that much different from the alleyways up on the surface. At least here in the sewer, he was not going to be attacked, plus he had a roof over his for the first time since he'd been kicked out of the orphanage. That was the beginning of the downward spiral in an already miserable life. He doubted that he would ever forget that day.

Flashback

The boy stood outside of the building that had been both hell and home for him his entire life. This boy was Naruto Uzumaki, one of many orphans that had lost their parents during the Kyuubi attack six years ago. Although Naruto did not know who his parents were, he had heard many things about them; both good and bad. The Hokage had told him that his parents were brave ninja that volunteered to hold the front lines against the Kyuubi, and that they died before the Yondaime could stop it. On cold nights, when Naruto was unable to fall asleep in the cramped confines of his cupboard, he liked to imagine what his parents would have been like. In these fantasies, his father was a tall man with the same unruly blonde hair that sat upon Naruto's head. His father loved to smile and would always pick Naruto up and throw him into the air before catching him on his way down. He loved dreaming of what he thought his father was; he had even asked the Hokage if his dreams were true, but the old man had sighed and told Naruto that he did not remember. Naruto noticed that he usually dreamed of his father when he was at his happiest, but that was not very often.

More often were the times when he cried himself to sleep in frustration and woe. It was times like this where he dreamt of his mother. At first he expected his mother to be similar to his father, but if anything, she was the exact opposite. Where his father's hair was a light blonde, his mother's was jet black. Her face was likewise sharper, and her eyes the color of the midnight sky. Any doubts as to her authenticity as his mother were dispelled.

The woman had to be his mother, she just had to be. No one else would hold a child like that and sing strange unintelligible song to him until his troubles were gone.

Besides, she even had the same strange facial tattoo that he did.

Unfortunately, he had heard other things about his parentage. The matron had once told him that his parents were petty thieves that escaped during the Kyuubi attack and were cut down by the Anbu before they even made it out of the village. Naruto tried not to listen to her and remember what the Hokage had told him.

This became harder to do when he stopped coming.

For as long as he could remember, the Hokage had always visited him at least once a week and told him stories about all of the things that he'd done in his time as Hokage. These were the best days of Naruto's life not only did he get to spend time with the only person to ever care for him, but on days when the Hokage showed up, the matron would let him take a bath and he would get clean clothes too. When he was dressed, the Hokage would sometimes take him out to dinner at Ichiraku's ramen stand. Yes, those were the best of days.

Then, one day, he stopped coming. Naruto had waited by the door to the orphanage each day for a month hoping that he would show up, but he never did. Surely the old man would not abandon him too. After the Hokage failed to shop up for an entire month, the matron had thrown Naruto out the front door and told him to not come back.

So now he stood in front of the only place he had ever known as home, wishing that the Hokage would come and help him. It took two solid hours of waiting before Naruto realized that no one was coming this time. This time he was alone. So he did the only thing he could do, he walked away and began looking for a new place to sleep.

The boy shook his head furiously in a vain attempt to clear it of memories of the way things were, who he once was. Using the wall to ease himself off his injured leg, which would not support his weight, he limped along the dank walkways looking for someplace warm.

During his search, he came upon a ladder that led to a manhole, the only way back to the land above. Deciding that going back to the surface so soon after escaping from a beating would just give them even more cause to be mad at him, the boy turned and limped down a slightly warmer tunnel.

He barely made it another yard before his only good leg gave out as well. He simply did not have the strength to continue, it had been nearly a week since he'd eaten anything that could be considered food. Surviving off scraps of rotten meats and vegetables was not the kind of diet that gave the boy much protein. He knew that if he managed to find a decent place to sleep he would manage to get better; he always did after he slept for a while. After resting for a few minutes the boy steeled himself and set off in serch of a warm place to rest.

After close to an hour of walking and resting, the boy noticed that the tunnel he was walking down was getting warmer and warmer, until he came to a dead end that positively radiated heat. Deciding that the was likely the best place to stop for a while, the boy curled into a ball, laid his back into the corner and fell into a comfortable sleep. Perhaps his mother would be able to make him feel better, she always had before.

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Sarutobi looked over his trackers, Tsume Inuzuka, her daughter Hana, Shibi Aburame, and Hiashi Hyuga. The best trackers that his village had to offer stood before him waiting for orders. With their incredible sense of smell, the Inuzukas and their canine companions could follow a scent better than a team of bloodhounds. Shibi could literally be all over the village at once with the help of his hive of insects, and Hiashi, with his byakugan, can see in every direction for hundreds of feet and could even see through walls. With them on the case, it wouldn't take long. Clearing his throat, he addressed his trackers.

"The majority of you can already guess why you are here, but for the sake of Hana here, I shall be clear. Three days ago, I stopped by the local orphanage intending to see Naruto. Imagine my surprise to find that Naruto is not there, nor has he been for the past year and a half."

At this point, Sarutobi was interrupted by Hana. "Hokage-Sama, was he adopted? After all that time he's spent in the orphanage, I didn't think anyone would-"

Sarutobi gave a sad chuckle at her question. "No Hana, he was not adopted, but thrown out onto the streets to die." He could barely stomach the words, but he forced them out anyway. "For the past 18 months, Naruto has been living on the streets and I don't even know if he is alive. That is why I have assigned the four of you this mission. You are the only ones who can find him after this long. You are the best trackers this village has to offer, don't let me down, dismissed."

The four ninja left at one and began their search.

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In an underground bunker, somewhere underneath Konoha

Danzo, Koharu, and Homura were sitting in what seemed to be a military planning room with several maps lined up along the wall. They detailed everything from the Elemental Nations to a map of Kirigakure. Danzo was seated at the head of the table and was facing his two advisors.

"Sarutobi has thrown quite a wrench in our plans, recommendations?

"Advance plan Delta and increase recruitment?"

"Negative, Sarutobi will notice and we no longer have the pull with the council that we used to. I suggest we activate plan Beta, Sarutobi should be dead by then."

"Hmm...no, we cant risk the boy falling into Sarutobi's hands. If we lose him, all of our plans will be ruined. No, we will push plan Alpha ahead of schedule."

"Lord Danzo, do we have the means to support such an action?"

Danzo folded his hands together and did not speak for a long time. When he finally opened his mouth, he spoke with an air of determination and surety.

"Perhaps not, but if we do not act now, everything that we've worked on for the past seven years, will crumble. We begin in one week. In one week, Sarutobi will be no more, and I will be Hokage."

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Back on the surface the search for Naruto was not going well. Hiashi have already searched the village several times, but couldn't seem to find the boy anywhere. It was as if he has simply disappeared.

Shino had also confirmed his absence from the village, his bugs had combed through the entire village and still there was no sign of the boy.

Tsume and Hana, along with their companions were having different, yet similar results. Naruto's scent was all over the place, mostly in alleyways and gutters, but all the searches were dead ends.

Neither of the Jonnin was looking forward to giving the news of their failed mission to the Hokage, but grudgingly, they trudged back to the Hokage Tower and reported in to their leader.

Tsume decided (read as: drew the shortest straw) to be the one to deliver the bad news.

"Hokage-Sama, we have been through the entire village, but we've seen neither hide, nor hair of the pup. His scent doesn't extend beyond the village, so is seems that he never left. However since we are unable to locate him..."

The obvious implications were not lost on the venerable Hokage. If he never left, but the greatest trackers couldn't find him, then there was no longer a 'him' to find.

"Very well, your mission is canceled, you...you are dismissed."

As soon as the four left the room, Sarutobi sighed and swiveled in his chair to face the window.

"What am I going to do?"

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The boy awoke to a peculiar sensation, one that he could not at first identify. It was like nothing he had ever felt. He decided to do a quick diagnostic to reveal the cause of the sensation. Limbs…check. Digits…check. Cut from rusty metal on thigh, not check. "Wait a minute, not check?"

The boy looked again and sure enough, his leg was uninjured. Hell, so was the rest of him for that matter. That's when the invisible light bulb turned on. He wasn't in any pain. He tried standing up to test his growing theory and sure enough, his limp was gone. His ribs, broken from a villagers boot, were whole. He felt revitalized.

It was then that the child noticed another anomaly; he was no longer in the sewer. He now seemed to be in some kind of cave tunnel.

Figuring that he had no reason to stick around, he set out to explore his new surroundings. The tunnel he was currently walking down was large, maybe large enough to accommodate a fully grown adult, but there were numerous side passages of varying sizes. He would explore those later, but for now he stuck to the main passage.

There were also several small streams built into the wall that looked to stem from the tunnel he was now walking down. The trickle of water branched off into several of the side passages but the boy ignored those too. So intent on reaching the end of this tunnel that he was not even thirsty.

When at last he reached the end, he was shocked to see that the room ended in a giant stone cage. The bars were large enough that he doubted he could wrap his arms around them and clasp his hands together.

There was also a large paper covering several of the bars with some funny writing on it. As he studied the strange cage in the even stranger tunnel, a dry, rasping voice tore through the chamber.

"So, the host has finally arrived to greet his guest. It's about time; I was beginning to think you'd never show up."

Startled, the boy looked around.

"Who said that? Where are you?"

A dry, grating laugh, the same as before, filled the room. Then, a pair of glowing red eyes opened from within the cage.

"Hmm…you're not very bright, even for a mammal. However, it's hard to expect too much from you, given the life you've lived up until now."

The boy was rooted to the spot from the sheer amount of power that was behind those eyes. Managing to get out a sentence he choked, "Who are you, where am I, and how did we get here?"

The voice laughed again.

"Do you wish to know who I am? Very well, tell me child, what do you know of the story of the Kyuubi no Kitsune?"

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A/N: and that's likely a good place to stop for now, I know that there are some discrepancies in the text and the cannon, these are intentional. I may have also been a little vague on certain other aspects in my story, these too, are intentional.

Please keep in mind that this is a Fan-Fiction, things will be quite different because of a certain action that took place before the story began.

Also remember the following facts if you would.

This is not a yaoi, there will most likely be some sakura bashing and maybe more than a little sasuke/kakashi bashing, this is a dark Naruto story, there will be darker themes later on, most likely this will not be a harem but I have not discounted the idea of a small one, one last thing, the pairing is undecided but it. Will. Not. Be. Sakura. Got all that? I hope so.

Oh, and by the way, I'm looking to read a certain Fan-Fic I read a while ago, but I can't find it. It took place in the forest of death, and Naruto awakened some kind of bloodline and his skin fell off like a snakes. Anyway, he remained covered in blood during his fight with kiba and he had strange black markings all over him. Anyone know the title of this story? I'd give a sneak preview of the next chapter to the first person that could tell me. Thanks!

Anyway thanks for making it this far into my writing and I hope you were not offended by my quasi rant a moment ago. I hope to see you all again on another installment of…

Hunger Eternal

Signed: The Immortal Artist