Naruto knew the story.
Everybody did.
Coinciding with his birth, a great demon appeared close to Konoha, and was rapidly approaching. In some versions of the story, this demon was powerful enough to shake the earth with its presence, cause storms in its passage, destruction in its footsteps. In some versions, mostly the ones heard from people who did not quite believe that anything that strong couldn't be stopped by only two people, it wasn't quite that bad.
But you could tell which of the citizens were actually around back then. Those were the ones that saw him and flinched, or cringed, or tried to pretend that he wasn't there. No, Konoha hadn't suffered much, because of the intervention of the Oni-Baku and the sacrifice of Yondaime, but even its approach had caused earthquakes. And even if only mere dozens died rather than thousands, they all remembered the fear, the oppressive weight of just the creature's presence.
Walking along, he caught his image in the display of an electronics store full of video cameras and TVs.
He was changing again. When he wasn't paying attention, his whole body glowed red.
Before, it used to take extremes of emotion to make Its power escape. Now it seemed to flow out of him for the smallest thing.
If he was even a little nervous, maybe his eyes might turn red.
He did not have to be all that angry anymore for the red light to thrust out of his fingers in scythe-claws coming out the tips.
He wasn't even upset or anything at the moment and even then his pale blond hair was all shades of red and orange, standing on end, bristling, looking eerily like fire.
Naruto put his hands over his belly, grimaced, and squeezed, trying to imagine his chakra coils tightening up, restricting the thundering currents of energy through his flesh.
He just wanted to freaking walk to school.
"Naruto? Are you alright?"
Just like that, the flames were snuffed out. Or rather, the power ebbed back, calming.
"Um, hi, Cat-girl."
Today, Sakaki wore beat-up sneakers, baggy jeans ripped open at the knees, a man's shirt that was so big it billowed around her when she moved. He could still see the pale scars on her hands against her tanned skin, and felt again that conflicted anger at himself.
She was smiling at him, and he shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.
"Come on. With Iruka-sensei, you don't want to be late the first day."
"Okay."
Naruto glanced sidelong at her as he walked at her side, practically covered by her shadow. He had not seen her since that day the month before, and hadn't realized at the time how crazy tall she was.
Then he noticed that, if anything, the nasty looks got worse. He knew the reason people were nervous around him, but what was their problem with her?
She was the top student in the Academy these days, smart and tough and really pretty - the students from younger classes knew about her even before that exhibition fight. Haruno and Yamanaka and their bunch spent half their time talking about how awesome she was, and the other half wondering if they could be like that too, sometimes looking down at their slender bodies and sighing. When their class had watched her beat the so-called Hyuuga prodigy, and even that normally indifferent prick Uchiha had watched her closely... Most of the boys stared shamelessly when she'd done that crazy power-up thing.
As for himself, Naruto had once thought she was probably just like those too-cool-for-everybody-else types just like Sasuke. She didn't seem to talk much, she was aloof and cool and superior. She was the number one of her year - didn't that mean she was probably just like the prissy jerk?
The first time they'd spoken was after his stupid stunt with the sewage, and then. Then he didn't know what to think anymore. He couldn't figure it out, the feeling of her touch easing his hurts and the quiet acceptance in her eyes when Its blades came out of his fingers and pierced through her hands.
Watching her as they maneuvered through the early morning crowds of civilian students going to the various technical schools and private institutions and businessmen and laborers getting ready to do their thing as captains of industry and such and housewives on their way to the markets looking to get the first pick of fresh fish and vegetables, Naruto found himself absorbed in her face, the almost-smile she had for everybody, even when there were only frowns or open disdain or the snobbish tilt and turn of a head away in return.
It made him kind of mad, it brought out the splinters in his head that made him want to do more than just prank those people, to hurt them, to watch them bleed. But she just seemed so... okay with it all.
Naruto blinked when they were only a couple blocks away from the Academy, and only then noticed that she had taken hold of his hand to keep them together through the masses of people on the way.
They walked through the gate when it hit him and he turned a little pink, snatched his hand away. Most of his classmates were already at their assigned training area, but he didn't want anyone seeing him like this.
Not that it meant anything anyway.
She was already looking up at the windows of the main school building, from which a tiny girl with pigtails was waving at her.
Then Sakaki turned her smile on him, and it softened, was less open, but still more alive. It drove him a little crazy - he could feel the desire to rip her up with Its claws, but it also reminded him of her embrace, and how nobody'd ever held him like that before.
"I'd introduce you to my friends," Sakaki said, "but we're both about to be late. Good luck this year Naruto. I've got Mizuki-sensei again this morning, and then Iruka-sensei after lunch. Which means you probably have Iruka in the morning. Try to give him a chance, okay?"
The smile for him faded back to that passive not-a-real-smile, and he just did not understand how he felt at seeing it.
"Umm. Thanks... I guess. Good luck too."
She tilted her head, not quite a bow, but close. She leaped about thirty feet straight up onto the side of the building, and lazily walked the rest of the way up the wall to and through the window. She didn't even leave footprints on the light beige paint job.
Naruto hazily made his way through the west entrance through the long hallway towards room 122, wondering if he'd be able to learn that walking on walls trick too, or if it was another of the many things out of his reach because of Its power filling up his coils.
Stupid Yondaime with his stupid experimental seal. Stupid demon.
But did Naruto really want to be just like everyone else, or was he actually happy to be known for something, to stand out just for being himself?
Maybe though, he was trying not to think about the old man Hokage saying stuff about getting stronger by trying to find something to protect. Wasn't that obvious? He had to get strong to protect himself. Everybody had to.
But he was thinking of how angry Sakaki had looked at seeing his wounds, and how it had taken him so long to figure out that she was angry for him.
Then that crazy blond guy who took his lumps on Naruto's behalf... what insane shit was that anyway?
He went through the doorway and was numb and ignored the usual snide remarks from the snide-talking group that only wished they could be as cool as the quietly indifferent cool bunch of lone wolves that were surrounded by bubbles of space, radiating that aura of not needing anyone else.
Sasuke and Shino acknowledged him with their typical lack of response and he stuck his tongue out at them.
Already feeling bored, even just walking in between the desks and the chairs, he felt like being a heel and as he brushed by the Yamanaka's support group, who were starting to cast appraising glances at the Uchiha, he slipped a cockroach out of one of his pockets and dropped it onto Ino's back.
Naruto sat in a random chair and looked down at his hands and flexed his fingers, watching the red blades materialize and fade. Found himself still confused about why the hell that guy had done that for someone he didn't give a shit about anyway.
He did laugh at the howls of that silly blond girl when she finally noticed it crawling onto her hair, but it wasn't quite as much fun as he'd thought it would be. What had happened to today's resolution anyway? He was supposed to have done that to the first Academy chick he saw that morning. Why hadn't he done it to that too-tall, too-busty girl?
Naruto's laughter at Ino shrieking as she crushed the bug under her heel and frantically brushed at her hair became a soft chuckle, became indifference again, became a bored frown.
He could deny it to himself and say that he didn't owe her anything, but the thought of trying any kind of prank, even a little one, on the Cat-girl, made him remember the fathomless shadows in her eyes as she'd held him, made him remember Its blades hurting her and making him feel like a real shit.
He hated it. He had to do something to even things up between them. Somehow.
And then he winced as a piece of chalk smacked into his forehead, disintegrating into a cloud of dust from the impact.
"Hey, orange boy! I said get up and say something about yourself."
...Naruto had a feeling this was going to be a long year.