Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did I would be rolling in money right now.

Becoming a Legend

Chapter 3: The Hokage

We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. - Max de Pree

"What do you think it means to be Hokage?" Sarutobi Hiruzen, the God of Shinobi, asked staring down at the young blonde boy that sat in his lap looking up at him in wonder.

Naruto wrinkled his brow in thought before his eyes lit up and he beamed up at the Hokage, "Being Hokage means you're the strongest in the village and that everyone has to respect you!"

Hiruzen chuckled at Naruto's rather simplistic view on the title of Hokage. He remembered a time when he too believed that the Hokage was simply the strongest Shinobi in the village.

"Though that is true that is not the only thing that makes a Hokage young Naruto. No a Kage is only as strong as the village that he or she leads. The Kage gets its strength from the people in the village every single man and woman every single boy and girl.

Naruto was confused, if the Kage really did get their strength from the village then that must mean that the Kage really weren't strong at all if they had to rely on the help of the common people.

"The strength that the village gives their Kage is not a tangible thing it is not something that can be touched or seen. The villagers ignite in their Kage the will to protect," Hiruzen said looking Naruto in the eye.

"The will to protect," Naruto echoed still not quite understanding how the villagers could influence someone as great as a Kage.

"Yes my boy the Kage are the guardians of the village the ones who will do anything to ensure the safety of their village at all cost. But, without the villagers the Kage would lose all of their drive or will to protect the village. Without the villagers there is nothing to protect there is nothing for the Kage to strive for." Hiruzen picked Naruto up off his lap and pointed to the pictures of the Hokage that lined the walls of his office.

Naruto looked up at the picture of the Shodaime Hokage, one of the founding fathers of the village, and thought of the words that the Hokage was trying to impart on him.

The old Sarutobi pointed at the first picture,"Hashirama Senju the leading founder of Konohagakure no Sato: the man who was hailed as the second coming of the Rikudou Sennin, he who alone held the power to control every single tailed beast, the man that gave birth to the forests of Konoha, the first human ever to unlock the power of Sage Mode." He gestured towards the picture next to it, "Tobirama Senju the younger brother of Hashirama: the greatest Suiton user to ever grace the Village Hidden in the Leaves, a prodigy in his own right gifted with the strong chakra and life force of the Senju clan, the man who established the ANBU, the Konoha academy, and the Police force." He skipped over his own picture and glanced at the last picture that hung on the wall, "Minato Namikaze the orphan: the Yellow Flash of Konoha, the man who single handedly brought an end to the Third Great Ninja War, the man who brought about the destruction of the great Kyuubi, hailed as the fastest shinobi in shinobi history."

He gazed down at Naruto and let everything he said sink in to the young boys mind. He puffed on his pipe and let the boy try to figure out what he wanted him to learn with this short history lesson.

"Do you know what they all had in common?" The old man asked probing at the boy to arrive at the answer on his own.

Naruto furrowed his brow trying desperately to get the idea of the old mans lesson. Alas he slumped his shoulders in defeat and looked at the Hokage for the answer.

Hiruzen hid his slight disappointment easily and spoke, "They all gave their lives for the sake of the village. To ensure that the village survives no matter what you must endure. To kill in the name of the village, to bleed in the name of the village, to suffer in the name of the village that's what it means to be Hokage Naruto."

Naruto took in the knowledge that the Hokage gave him and looked at him determination shining brightly in his cerulean eyes, "I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that every sacrifice that the Hokages and the shinobi of this village makes is worth it. And when the time comes I will shoulder the burden of the village and sacrifice myself for the sake of Konoha."

The Sandaime was taken aback by the sheer determination displayed on the face of the tiny boy that stood in front of him. The will of flames that he had reminded him of his sensei, Tobirama Senju, whose love for his village out shined that of his older brother. Hiruzen hid a smile behind his Hokage hat.

You will go far Naruto the village will surely prosper under your lead.

Naruto was shaken out of his memories of the now deceased Sandaime Hokage as the door to the small chamber he was in opened and spilled light from the hallway into the room.

He lifted his head as much as his exhausted body could and gazed at the man who was responsible for his horrible state.

"I don't think its working," Naruto croaked his mouth dry and his lips cracked.

Danzo smiled crookedly as he gazed at the blonde who was cuffed to a chair, "Just a little longer surely then the Kyuubi will be forced to react and intervene."

"We don't have that much time left Danzo and I can feel my body getting weaker by the second," Naruto clenched his eyes shut as another bout of pain rocked through his body.

"Perhaps we should go ahead with "that"," Danzo suggested gesturing towards his covered eye.

Naruto sighed as his body sagged forward in defeat. When they had first arrived here the first thing they had tried was to get Naruto to connect to the Kyuubi by putting him in a near death experience. That had ultimately failed and Naruto had quickly recovered from his wounds that Danzo had inflicted.

Next they had tried meditation in an attempt for Naruto to reach the Kyuubi and try to communicate with it. That too had failed when Naruto had lacked the patience to sit still and began fidgeting.

Their latest plan was to get Naruto to use all of his Chakra in hopes of it allowing Naruto to access the Kyuubi's. That too didn't work and now Naruto sat utterly exhausted and questioning his reasoning for doing this to himself.

Naruto stared hard at Danzo, "What are my chances of survival?"

"Normally forty six percent but with your horrible state it is more along the lines of twenty." Danzo announced after doing some calculations in his head.

Naruto sighed and tried to think of any other way to gain access to the power that lay dormant inside of him. "There truly is no other way around this is there?" Naruto asked.

Danzo pitied the boy he had a strong will to be able to survive what he had went through so far and to still have hopes. "Kid this is the only way we will be able to have the power to stop the threat of the other major villages. You are the only person that can stop the mass destruction of Konoha and her inhabitants from ever happening. I know you may think me and my ways shrewd but if there is one thing that you know it is that everything I do and have done is always in the name of the village."

"Lets do it then."

Danzo led Naruto into another room this one better lit and more spacious than the cramped torture room they had just left. The room was all white and had only one door that was made of steel.

Naruto stood in the middle of the room facing a large window that showed him a view of the hall outside of the window. Danzo sat in a chair behind the glass window that was reinforced with chakra and fūinjutsu.

"Are you ready?" came the scratchy voice of Danzo over the speaker located in the corner of the room.

Naruto gave a nod in the direction of Danzo and sat on the floor cross legged and calmed his breathing as Danzo had instructed of him.

Danzo unraveled the bandages around his eye and blinked as his Sharingan eye was revealed to the world. As Danzo pumped chakra to his eye the tomoe spun and shifted into a pinwheel pattern. Danzo's eye made contact with Naruto's blue orbs and Danzo focused his chakra until it was concentrated into his Mangekyō Sharingan before he released it one big burst and Naruto's world shattered around him.

"Tsukuyomi."

Naruto summoned up all of the courage he could muster as the world around him shifted and the sky turned red. He looked down to find that his feet were bound to a cross much like his hands.

Danzo appeared in front of him clutching his bleeding Sharingan eye and looking disoriented. Naruto studied the world he found himself in now and noted that the moon hung in the middle of the sky and it as well as everything else was tinged in a blood red color.

"We must hurry this is the first time I've attempted this jutsu and i'm running low on chakra," Danzo said standing up and wiping the blood off his face.

Naruto stopped his inspection of his surroundings and stared at Danzo, "Now what?"

"Previous studies have shown that the Kyuubi is a beast of pure malice and hate. It feeds off of the negative emotions of its host: Anger, grief, envy, sadness, jealousy. I'm going to make you experience all of that in hopes of you being able to tap into the beast's power." Danzo replied as he made sure the bindings were tight.

"And if I do somehow manage to tap into its power what is the next step to achieving full control?" Naruto asked.

Danzo sighed running his hands through his hair, "That is what we haven't been able to figure out yet. Never in the past were we able to establish a connection to the Kyuubi. It's all up to you kid. Good Luck."

With that Danzo disappeared from Naruto's line of sight and the torture began.

First he showed him flashbacks of his childhood: the time he got kicked out of the orphanage for breaking curfew too many times, when he failed the exam at the academy for the first time, the first time he had tried to buy clothes and food without the Hokage's help. All were dark memories that he had tried hard since graduating the academy to forget.

He didn't want to remember the cold stares he got on his way to the academy every morning or the loneliness he felt when at the end of the day he would return to the same empty apartment and cry himself to sleep.

Naruto found out that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't close his eyes or look away from the scenes that were playing in front him dredging up the memories of his darkest days where he contemplated ending it all.

It didn't stop there it seemed that Danzo had sensed the Kyuubi's lack of response to Naruto's rather turbulent mindset and decided to kick it up a notch. Two people appeared in front of Naruto, a man and a woman, they knelt at his feet blindfolded as Danzo stood above them a kunai in his hand. Danzo looked at him before he spoke, "Choose."

Naruto shook his head understanding Danzo's motive. He wouldn't allow two people to die because of him never he would rather put his own life on the line. Choose Danzo's voice echoed again in his mind this time much louder and harsher. Danzo got fed up with his indecisiveness and turned towards the kneeling man before he slit his throat and his body slumped to the floor. The cries of the woman were not censored by the gag in her mouth and every sob tore at Naruto's heart.

"Stop please stop Danzo I can't take anymore please stop." Naruto begged tears pouring out of his eyes.

Danzo shook his head and slit the woman's throat before he disappeared once again. Naruto openly sobbed at the woman's death and tried desperately to forget the sound she made as she choked on her own blood and died.

Worthless

Weak

Dobe

Orphan

Weak

Weak

Weak

Weak

WEAK

Naruto curled in on himself as the words thudded around in his skull pounding his brain over and over again and again until he snapped.

He screamed breaking his restraints and and making the world around him waver fading back into reality before it became solid again. He roared his demonic chakra spilling out of him to form a bubbling cloak around his body. He fell to all fours and sat on his haunches as the genjutsu dispelled.

Danzo was knocked back and the glass cracked as Naruto forcibly removed himself from the genjutsu. Danzo stared in fear and shock as Naruto turned towards him, his once cerulean blue eyes now red and slitted like a fox.

Naruto stared at Danzo his senses increased, his anger spiking, and was that a tail wagging behind him? He was only partly in control of his body and the rest of his body was being controlled by the great Kyuubi himself. Naruto tried hard to calm his anger in hopes of wrestling control into his hands, but every time he felt like he gained an inch of control the image of the woman's desperate face would pop in his mind and he would succumb to the anguish and anger that burdened him.

The Kyuubi chuckled darkly in the back of his mind as he slowly began to control more and more of Naruto's body. It wouldn't be long now until the Kyuubi would wrest full control over his container and raze Konoha to the ground for imprisoning him.

Naruto succumbed to his own desire to see the people that had wronged him dead at his feet and he slowly began drifting away slipping more and more control to the Kyuubi.

The gate that Naruto now stood in front of was huge, it made the main entrance gate of Konoha look puny in comparison. Naruto whistled at the sheer size of it, its golden bars seemed to stretch on forever in both directions.

Naruto grew serious as he peered inside the cage at the huge beast that lounged with one blood red slit eye cracked open to look at his host with distaste.

The great beast lowered its head until it was able to make eye contact with its jailer. The Kyuubi let out a breath sending Naruto tumbling end over end before he landed, quite roughly, on his back a ways away from the cage.

"Heh weakling," the great beast rumbled shooting another hateful look at its jailer. "So you finally come to see me aye kid, and let me guess you didn't come to tell me that i'm getting out early did you?"

Naruto stared back at the Kyuubi trying his hardest to not flinch in the face of the monster that had destroyed the lives of many people, "You would be wrong in assuming that i'm here to let you out, however I believe we can reach a compromise."

"Oh really now?'' the Kyuubi asked shifting his paws around giving his jailer with a death stare. "Not interested."

"You haven't even heard what I was going to say yet." Naruto said already frustrated with the giant fur ball,

"Look kid you can't offer me anything that I want." Kyuubi huffed.

Naruto looked around the dim lit sewer he was in and made a show of seeing how deep the water was that went above his ankles, "How about your freedom."

The Kyuubi snorted and flicked one of its giant tails, "Thats rich kid as if you have the key to unlock this cage."

Red chakra bubbled in between the gaps in the gate and seeped onto the side where Naruto was.

"As you can see in the outside world i'm gaining control over your body, even if you did have the key to get me out of here what's stopping me from taking your body right now?"

"That would be me." Called a cool voice as a yellow flash revealed the man that Naruto looked up to the most. The man that he wanted to surpass and make proud.

"Tou-san," Naruto called not believing his eyes. The man that stood in front of him had the same spiky blonde hair as him. He wore his headband around his head proudly showing the Konoha symbol. He wore the standard Jonin flask jacket underneath a haroi. If the flames that licked the bottom of his haori weren't a give away then the kanji for Fourth Hokage surely identified this man as Konoha's Minato Namikaze.

The man turned with a bright grin staring at the son that he hadn't seen in twelve years.

"Dad?" Naruto whispered again as the man strode forward engulfing his son in his arms and hugging him tight to his chest.

"Yes, it's me son."

A/N: This Chapter was inspired by Tokyo Ghoul I freaking love that anime. So yeah I could have done a lot better with this chapter I just didn't wanna fill it up with too much of unneeded information. Anyways THANK YOU again to everyone that reviewed last chapter your reviews bring smiles to my face when I read them. Short question real quick, do you guys want me to use the Japanese version of jutsu or English? And if I do use Japanese, which i'm fine with, would you want me to put the translations at the bottom or directly by the actual jutsu? Right, now that that is out of the way on to other things, so I know everyone is going to be like WTF Danzo doesn't know how to do Tsukuyomi you idiot. Yes I am aware of that but it had to be done for the sake of the story trust me Danzo won't be using that again anytime soon. For this week instead of recommending a Fan fiction i'll recommend Tokyo Ghoul a really good anime. So yep go watch that, review this chapter, say no to drugs, and stay in school. Until next time this is Asura signing off BYE!