Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

Reversal of Lives

A six year old Uzumaki Naruto was looking out over the Village Hidden in the Leaves from a lookout point above the village's Hokage monument. From this point, Naruto could see the entire village that refused to see him.

'Nobody cares about me. They act like I don't even exist.' Naruto thought glumly as he gazed at the tiny dots that were the villagers going about their day.

Unlike what most would think if they heard the truth of the circumstances behind Naruto's unfortunate life, he was not abused, at least not physically. Instead, he was ostracized; the people around him refused to acknowledge his existence. While some would argue that being physically abused would be better, as at least they would be forced to recognize him, the one being abused would likely disagree.

'They're never going to like me. What should I do?' Naruto continued to wonder.

In another lifetime, Naruto would have been much more hyperactive than a normal child his age. His boundless energy would require an outlet, leading Naruto to start pulling pranks. After one failed prank, the Third Hokage himself, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who would reprimand Naruto, and take the boy to a ramen stand for a free meal. There he would meet a kind man and his pretty daughter who would be the first to acknowledge Naruto. The Hokage would tell Naruto all about his role, and Naruto would gain a sanctuary, and a dream. He would seek to become Hokage, in order to gain the recognition he desired.

Due to different circumstances, this Naruto was quieter and reserved. He still had more energy than others his age, but not as much as his counterparts in those other lifetimes. This Naruto was slightly more focused, and much less optimistic. As a result, he was capable of making a decision his alternate selves could not, or would not make.

'This is it. Tonight, I'm leaving this village for good.'

It would be quite some time before anyone noticed Naruto's disappearance. Two years later in fact. It would be Sarutobi who noticed Naruto's missing presence. While checking to see how Naruto was doing now that he was in the ninja academy, Sarutobi would be disappointed to find the boy was never enrolled into it. Worse, no one had seen him in what seemed like years, and records of him were few and far between.

Sarutobi would blame himself for Naruto's disappearance. He had trusted those who worked for him to look out for the boy, and his trust was obviously misplaced. Many nights the elderly Hokage would wish he had taken a direct interest in Naruto's life, regardless of the dangers that would be caused by doing so.

Even more frustrating was that he had no idea what Naruto's fate was. There was no way to know if he was kidnapped, killed, or simply ran away. Unable to bear the shame of losing his successor and predecessor's legacy, Naruto's disappearance was swept under the rug. As far as anyone knew, the boy was still in the village, not that anyone cared.

Four years later…

It was now the day of the finals for the chunin exam, which was held in the Hidden Leaf Village this year. Eight finalists stood in the arena floor, some eager for their chance to be promoted. Others were eager for something far more sinister.

Soon the first match was called to begin by the proctor. Hyuuga Neji, the rookie of the year from his class faced off against his team-mate and class' dead-last, Rock Lee.

Despite what sounded like a one-sided match, Lee had flourished in the short time he spent training with his instructor, Might Guy. His speed and taijutsu skill had developed greatly. After an impressive match, Lee finally defeated his team-mate and self declared eternal rival at last.

The next match was between Gaara of the Desert, as he was known due to his ability to control sand, and Kinuta Dosu from the Hidden Sound Village. Both like and unlike the previous match, this one was also considered to be completely one-sided, and it was. Gaara won by crushing Dosu to death with his sand. Killing was not against the rules, but merely frowned upon. Although the proctor tried to intervene to save Dosu, he was too slow.

After that brief and deadly match came the one between Nara Shikamaru and Aburame Shino. Both were considered highly intelligent, and were suspected of holding back their true skills. True to form, they actions showed they were holding back somewhat, either from laziness, or a desire for secrecy. However, they showed a considerable amount of intelligence with their tactics. Shino was eventually declared the winner of their extended match when Shikamaru forfeited, claiming he was low on chakra and would not be able to win the next match in his condition.

Finally was the match between Temari, Gaara's older sister, and Uchiha Sasuke. The boy was the rookie of the year of his class, last of the Uchiha, and considered quite strong. He possessed a great deal of chakra that posed him much difficulty in controlling, though through much effort he managed to do so. Many hoped he would become great and rebuild his clan, making more powerful than ever. Some even believed he would be Hokage someday.

A few even thought that after defeating her, Temari should be arranged to wed Sasuke as part of a political marriage between the Hidden Sand and Hidden Leaf villages. Temari thought differently. As far as she believed, the Hidden Leaf Village would no longer exist at the end of the day.

As for their match, both were quite skilled, Temari with her battle fan and wind techniques, which had an advantage against Sasuke's new lightning techniques. Unfortunately, they were at a disadvantage against fire techniques, which were the Uchiha clan's specialty. After an exciting match, Sasuke emerged victorious, mainly due to his abundantly available chakra.

An intermission was called before the next round, and when it was over, Gaara fought Rock Lee. Again, while it was expected to be a one-sided match, Lee proved why you should never underestimate someone. He fought very well, and managed to push Gaara harder than anyone ever did. Ultimately though, Gaara won. Luckily, the proctor and Might Guy were able to intervene before Gaara could kill or cripple Lee.

Shino and Sasuke fought next. The bug user attempted to use his allies to drain the last Uchiha of his chakra to replenish his, but they found it tainted, as if there was something inhuman about it. While Shino's actions were distracting, and he was able to siphon some chakra, Sasuke's reserves proved too abundant to drain entirely. Sasuke's lighting and fire techniques also made short work of Shino's destruction beetles. Unable to deal with losing so many of them, Shino was forced to reluctantly concede.

Another intermission followed the end of the semi-finals, leading to the final match between Gaara and Sasuke. The two were keen about their fight. Gaara wanted to satisfy his bloodlust, and Sasuke wished to test his skills against a strong opponent.

Soon enough, the proctor called an end to the intermission and called the start of the final match of the chunin exams.

Sasuke was in a rough spot. Gaara's defences had proved impenetrable, even by his prized Chidori. After nearly being beaten by Lee, the sand user had become more cautious, and strengthened his sand considerably. Sasuke's attempts to cut through the armour of sand used by Gaara and strike the insomniac himself proved fruitless. Gaara merely used that time to strike back with sand spears and shuriken, which caused grievous wounds to Sasuke.

One of the benefits not possessed by Sasuke among his strange gifts was the ability to heal faster, which only a few redheads from a lost clan and one blond boy no one cares to remember did have. Sasuke remembered it though, as he had once seen that blond boy scrape his knees after tripping, and they healed instantly. The blond boy shrugged it off, as if he thought that was normal.

Sasuke had no idea why that particular memory came back to him, but kept it, and the whiskered face of that blond boy in the back of his mind, suspecting it was of importance.

Thinking over his chances, a part of Sasuke knew he had no chance of defeating Gaara. However, he refused to admit defeat, confident, or rather deluded that he could still win. Some might call him suicidal, and they may be right. Focusing his chakra into another Chidori, this time as much as he could to make it as strong as possible, Sasuke charged forward with it in another desperate attack to harm Gaara.

Or kill him, the Chidori was classified as an assassination technique, though it was more of a one hit kill move for heavy combat. It was unknown just what Kakashi was thinking when he taught it to Sasuke, along with either of their intentions.

Either way, it did not matter. The Chidori struck Gaara's sand sphere, but it was unable to strike at the one within it. The sand poured outward, encasing Sasuke, who blacked out from chakra exhaustion.

Sasuke awoke inside what appeared to be the prison from the Uchiha clan's old police headquarters. Only it was in disrepair, as it looked much worse than he remembered. The cells were strange as well, as they were filled by a dark haze. Looking into one, Sasuke was surprise when the haze lifted and a memory of his played out before him. It was of the blond boy he remembered earlier, only it appeared in much better clarity. Sasuke surmised he was in his mindscape, and the prison was its representation. He saw this memory as it was fresh in his mind for some reason he had yet to understand.

Continuing along and seeing more memories, some good and some bad, Sasuke eventually came to the end of the prison. A massive cell was before him; a slip of paper with seal written on it acting as the lock. A loud, guttural growl emanating from the cell broke Sasuke from his thoughts, causing Sasuke to seek out its source.

The origin of the growl shocked Sasuke. The being that required a massive cell, the being sealed in it, sealed in him, was the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon. It offered Sasuke something he desired, power, and Sasuke accepted it, not realizing the consequences of his decision.

An eruption of red chakra threw away the sand enclosing Sasuke and knocked Gaara back. It revealed Sasuke, covered in a cloak of the red chakra shaped like a fox with one tail. While Gaara had never met another power of human sacrifice before, and could not recognize its power being used, the people of the Hidden Leaf Village had seen it before, and recognized it instantly.

In another instant, their long held beliefs began to change, and not for the better. Uchiha Sasuke, their beloved prince who they hoped would lead them to greatness was the one who bore the burden of being the human prison for the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon.

The people were in shock. For years, who they thought was an unimportant orphan was the target of their hate, dismissal, and fear. He was not though; the real one was the Uchiha before them. If Uzumaki Naruto was not the host of the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, than who was he? Only a handful of people knew, and they were the ones filled with the most shame as they realized they were the guiltiest of all.

Author's note: I'm positive there was a challenge for a story like this once. I only remember a story based on it. Basically, Naruto is not the host of the fox demon, but is treated like he is. At some point, he leaves the village. That's all I remember. If someone knows who made the challenge, or the stories based on it, let me know. I doubt I'd take it up, but I have some ideas about it.

As for what those ideas are, I can share them. I can imagine a few things happening to Naruto. He could be found by Zabuza and Haku, help them with the Mist rebellion, and become a member of the Seven Swordsmen.

He could be found by Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage, who discovers his parentage and raises him to be his successor and take revenge on the Hidden Leaf Village while teaching him the secrets of dust release.

Or Orochimaru could find him and train him as his apprentice, leading Naruto to one day kill Jiraiya, the man who should have raised him. Similarly, Madara or Nagato could find Naruto and do the same.

Finally, Naruto could live in a small village, working as a peasant farmer on a dirt farm. Because he never learned how to use chakra, he lost the ability to do so as he aged. By the time he's found, Naruto is an adult and too old to become a ninja. The boy who could have been the next Hokage lives out a comfortable life as an ordinary farmer, marrying a girl he had grown to like and has a small family with her. He never knew conflict, just a life of hard work, having never been given his large inheritance from his parents and godfather.

In a twist on that, and based on another story with a slightly similar plot to the above idea, Naruto could have the wood release bloodline. By not having the fox's purified chakra in his system overpowering his own and giving Naruto the fox's wind affinity, his own would come out. This Naruto would be trained as a ninja by his love interest, a girl who's father was a former Stone ninja who was injured and left for dead in fire country during the third great shinobi war, who would also help Naruto. They'd teach him earth and water techniques to go with the wood ones he'd be forced to invent, as well as any other other skills they had. Eventually, Konoha ninja would find them, and Naruto would be forced to return to Konoha with his new family as their lives would now be in danger with his location known. This is my favourite idea.

Another idea is that Jiraiya or Tsunade could have found Naruto, confirmed he was not the demon host, and raised him themselves. Naruto could be living with the toads, or travelling with Tsunade, Shizune and Tonton.

Finally, Naruto could be dead, having died in the streets or the wild.

As for Sasuke, the village's rapidly changing opinion of him and the fox's influence on his unstable mind lead him to leave the village as well, becoming Orochimaru's apprentice. He doesn't have the curse seal though, as it would be too dangerous to give it to him, considering the unknown effects it would have on a demon host.

After Sasuke's departure, the people of Konoha seek out Naruto, whose parentage would have been leaked once it was known he was not the demon host. Whether they find him, or he finds them is unknown.

Again, this plunnie is free for adoption, provided you haven't adopted and finished a plunnie of mine already. I'll help as much as I can with it, even beta it if necessary.