January 3rd, Konoha

A blond boy with whisker marks laid on the ground in an alley. Motionless in a pool of his own blood. One would think he was dead if it was for the slow but steady rise and fall of his chest. This boy was Naruto.

Naruto had spent his whole life hated by his village. But instead of hating them as well, he protected them. On multiple occasions he saved the village. Such as when he fought of the Ichibi Shukaku during the Chunin Exams.

He helped out countless civilians during D-Rank missions, even after Kakashi had stopped accepting them. Always willing to give someone a smile when a glare was sent his way.

But even Naruto wasn't invincible. The glares still hurt. So he closed his eyes when he smiled so that he didn't have to see them. After learning about why the villagers hated him, he stopped trying to escape or run away when one attacked him out of spite.

He kept all of this from his teammates and friends, so that if they asked around because of it they wouldn't find his secret.

Now he paid the price for allowing an attack. A former Shinobi had attacked Naruto with a hidden kunai, stabbing him in the side. After that, the ex ninja continuously and relentlessly stabbed the thirteen year old boy until he seemed to be unconscious, basically dead and left to bleed out.

~~~~~~~~~~

An hour or so later, his team stood frustrated at the front gates. This was their first official B-Rank mission (not counting the surprise A-Rank mission to Nami no Kuni). Their blond teammate had been the one who seemed most excited for the mission, but was nowhere to be seen near the gates.

"Come on Kakashi-sensei, can't we just leave without Naruto-baka?" This was his first teammate Haruno Sakura. She had short bubblegum pink hair and emerald green eyes.

"No Sakura, we can't, he was assigned this mission with us. It seems like Sasuke over is also willing to wait for him." Kakashi, Naruto's sensei spoke. The silver haired man normally was late by at least 2 hours if not 3, so he couldn't necessarily fault Naruto for being late for the first time since they became a team.

"Hn. The dobe is never this late. We might as well just go and find him." Was the reply that his raven haired teammate gave.

"Is that concern I hear in your voice Sasuke-chan." It was rare for him to say things like that. Kakashi was sure that if it was Sakura that was an hour late, he would be the one begging them to leave while Naruto would want to look for her.

"No. I just know that the dobe was too excited about this mission to miss it."

"Ugh! Who cares, Naruto-baka will just hold us back anyways!" Sakura yelled.

"I guess we should go look for him. Sasuke, Sakura, come with me."

The three went walking through the town until they came to the red light district. This surprised Sakura who immediately thought it was because Naruto might be doing perverted things here.

At least until Kakashi came up to a shoddy and broken down apartment building. They climbed up the stairs that were close to the doorway until they reached a door labeled 106.

Kakashi knocked. Only to hear no reply. He knocked again. Same thing. They were about to leave when a pretty lady came up the stairs and went to room 107, the one right next to Naruto's.

"By any chance would you happen to know where the tenant of room 106 is?" Kakashi took his chances with the woman. There were two things he predicted could happen. She could get disgusted by the mention and not answer them. Or she would know Naruto enough that she didn't hate him.

"Oh, you mean Naruto?" She got a curt nod from Kakashi. "He said he was leaving for his first official high rank mission. The boy was so excited he said he barely slept a wink. I think he went out of the back door, the landlord always hated to see him." She smiled as she talked about him. A clear sign that she liked the young boy.

"Thanks, we've just got to pick him up that mission." The three walked out of the building through the back door and walked the narrow and unfamiliar streets.

A man seemed to be bragging about something to another. The other man seemed to be surprised, then happy.

Team 7 walked along for a bit longer until they heard strained breathing, a sign that someone was injured. The breaths came in similar intervals, revealing the person to most likely be unconscious.

They turned a corner into the alley and saw their blond teammate lying on the ground face up. A tear was streaked across his sad and content face, and there were no signs of a struggle. What mortified the genin was the pool of blood their teammate laid in. It was clearly his own, and multiple stab wounds everywhere but the heart. Indicating that the person who did it wanted Naruto to suffer and bleed to death.

"Naruto!" All three yelled in unison. No nicknames, just Naruto.

Kakashi and Sasuke were the first to run up to Naruto's body, the former carefully taking a medkit out of his mission storage scroll to stop the bleeding and wrap Naruto up.

Sakura fell backwards in fear. What had happened to Naruto? "This can't be real..."

Kakashi turned to Sakura. "Run to the Hokage's office and tell Lady Tsunade that Naruto is in critical condition and needs help!"

Kakashi was distressed. After loosing all of his teammates, you would think he'd gotten used to it, but it was the exact opposite. With everything death, he felt worse and worse.

Sasuke on the other hand was sweating buckets and worried. The guy he had come to view as a brother, the one who talked him out of leaving the village with Orochimaru, was nearly dead. Motionless in Kakashi's arms as Sasuke wrapped up his midsection.

Kakashi motioned for Sasuke to grab onto him, and shunshined to the hospital as quick as he possibly could.

The head doctor saw Naruto and his condition. This doctor had been one of the few to help Naruto as a child. At first he was being forced by the Sandaime to heal Naruto, but after getting to know Naruto, he had started to like him a lot.

"Get an OR ready! We have a patient in critical condition!" He yelled, but no one listened. No movement from a single person as they started at Naruto in disgust.

This was the first time Sasuke was seeing the prejudice against Naruto firsthand. During their battle at the valley of the end, Naruto had mentioned being ostracized from the village. But Sasuke thought it was only the glares.

"What are you guys waiting for?! Hurry!" Sasuke spoke up in a deadly and threatening voice to the staff who just then started getting things ready. Naruto was soon ushered into the OR, where only the head doctor was allowed in.

A minute or so after the operation started, Tsunade ran in and got cleaned up for an operation. She was the only other person besides the head doctor and Shizune allowed in.

Not long after Tsunade got there, Shizune and Sakura came. Shizune said nothing and got cleaned up just like Tsunade, before putting on scrubs and going into the OR.

The mission Team 7 had been on was currently suspended, as they al were waiting in the waiting room.

"I can't believe they would all just stand there and watch as Naruto was dying!" Sasuke was pacing back and forth. He and Naruto's bond was no longer just that of rivals. If he were to come pare it to one he had before, he would say he liked Naruto more than he ever did Itachi, even before the massacre. Due to the fact that Naruto was his equal unlike Itachi.

After a 7 hour long operation, Tsunade came out with blood covering her scrubs. The head doctor and Shizune right behind her.

The three other members of team 7 looked at her expectantly. "Naruto should live. If the operation had started even a minute later, he would be dead."

Team 7 let out a sigh of relief. Glad that Naruto was okay. "If it wasn't for 'that' Naruto wouldn't be alive." Sasuke and Kakashi knew what she was talking about immediately.

Sasuke had seen firsthand how well 'it' could heal Naruto during their battle at the valley of the end. Because he was prepared for it, Naruto had been able to heal a huge fist sized hole in his chest Sasuke had given him. Although he wasn't left without scars. But because Naruto was probably not ready for a singular attack, let alone the large amount he received, the wounds took longer to heal. Naruto had also told him about 'it' during their fight.

As for Kakashi, he had known since Naruto's birth. The only one confused was Sakura. "What are you talking about?"

Tsunade realized that the rosette didn't know, and planned to keep it that way. "It doesn't concern you."

She nodded, obviously disappointed because she could tell the other two knew what they were talking about, but soon got over it.

This time it was Kakashi that spoke. "When can we expect Naruto to wake up?"

Tsunade looked sad. "I'm not sure. With the strain he's been put under, it could be anywhere from a day or to to a few years."

The news shocked Team 7 to the core. They had known it wasn't going to be pretty, but a few years was a lot of time.

"Kakashi, I think during that time we should move him 'there' if this ever lasts a year. It might do him some good to tell him the truth after he wakes up."

He simply nodded and walked out. Motioning for his genin to follow him. This was going to be tough news for the other genin.

~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto woke up outside of a huge castle like mansion. He walked up closer to the door, and when he put his and on it it opened.

He was majorly confused. Not only was he in a place he didn't know the location of, but he was pretty sure he was stabbed within an inch of his life.

He continued down the large hall, eventually coming upon a part so dark, that he was afraid to keep going. Not because he was afraid of the dark, but he could feel negative emotions coming out of there in waves for some reason.

A pair of glowing blood red eyes opened, the pupils were slits instead of round, but that didn't matter to Naruto. He could feel the pressure of the creature bearing down on him.

"Welcome to our domain. This is where you'll be stuck for quite some time." A deep male voice came from the direction of the eyes Naruto saw. The voice was soft yet commanding, and regal but casual at the same time.

"Our? I only see you in here." Naruto spoke for the first time since he arrived at the strange place.

"Mean my and your domain. This is within your mindscape, where I reside." Once the man finished his sentence, blue flames came to life on torches attached to the wall.

The new light illuminated the man who was revealed to be sitting on a throne. He had shaggy red hair that reached his mid back, and two fox ears poking out at the top. His face held the same whisker marks scars that Naruto's did. Behind him were nine tails made of fire. He wore only black skinny jeans. No shirt or shoes. That allowed him to show his muscled upper body. The muscle was very visible, but incredibly lean.

"Why am I here? Apparently this is my mindscape, but why is it this weird castle?"

"That is an easy question to answer. Your heritage."

"Heritage? But I'm an orphan?"

"That doesn't mean you never had parents. You were born to two extremely powerful S Class Yokai. Namikaze Minato, a Vampire, and Uzumaki Kushina, a Vampire as well. The two had. Escaped the arrogant nature of Vampires and befriended me. That was nearly 5 years before my attack on Konoha."

"Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage?! Not only that, but he was a Vampire?! So does that mean I'm..."

"Calm down, my ears are sensitive. Yes it does."

"Wait, attack on Konoha...nine flames...! You're the Kyūbi? You're a lot different than all of the other times I met you."

"What you met was just a small sliver of my youki. It was accidentally imbued with only my hatred towards humans and locked away in a more accessible part of of your mindscape."

"Why did you do it? Why'd you attack Konoha? You said my parents were your friends, and my dad was Hokage at the time." Although not yelling, Naruto used an accusatory tone.

"It was due to a Genjutsu affecting my mind. At the time, I was near Konoha when a man in a mask approached me. From there the Genjutsu forced me to attack Konoha. I was still able to talk, so your father made an agreement with me. He would seal me int you, and I would protect you and your secret. That's why I'm sealed in the first place."

"Really? What about me being a Vampire? And why haven't I had the urge for blood or something? On top of that I really like garlic bread and sunbathing and nothing has ever happened."

"Just like I said, I kept your secret. I was able to suppress your vampire blood with my youki, stopping you from having urges for blood. As for garlic bread, vampires aren't weak to garlic. They're only weak to water."

"Hm..." Naruto looked at his hands with a strange emotion. It wasn't quite disgust, but disappointment. He was a monster, and a demon. He didn't feel bad for denying the villagers. He felt bad for denying his parents. He lived just as if he was a normal human, faced the glares for the sake of the village.

"While you're sleeping, I will slowly release your youki into your body. This process will take about a year. During that year, I'll train your youki in here with you."

"What's this youki thing you're talking about? I've never heard of it."

"It's what we Yokai use instead of chakra. When you thought I was giving you chakra, I was actually giving you youki that was being changed into chakra via the seal on your stomach. It's very similar to chakra, and once I'm done releasing it into your body, it should combine with your chakra. Allowing you to use both. But I'm not too sure if it will work properly."

"Wow, that's so reassuring." You could almost see the sarcasm dripping off of his voice.

"Then, another year will be spent with me breaking the seals on you memory."

"Memory seals? Like what's keeping you in is keeping memories out?"

"Yes. But these are completely separate from my own. When you were 7 or so, they were placed on you. Stopping your memories of the last year from reaching you. It even worked on me. If I had t been awake for the sealing I wouldn't have know they were even on you."

"Memory seals, Huh. Whatever happened that year had been filled in with fake memories. Please remove it Kyūbi-san." Naruto asked politely, something he rarely did. He had a feeling that those memories would be very important to him soon.

"Well then, the first thing I'm going to teach you is how to create Kitsune-bi (Fox Fire). The most commonly used technique among Yokō. My race use it in various ways." He snapped his fingers, and at the top of his pointer finger, a small blue flame was created. He then extinguished it and continued on.

"Since you can already use my youki, I figured this would be the best and fastest to learn first. From there I'll teach you a fighting style, and last but not least, your vampiric abilities."

Naruto gave the Kyūbi a big smile. "Let's get to know each other over the next couple of years."

The toothy grin reminded the Kyūbi of Kushina, but the gaki's face was reminiscent of Minato's. "Sure, Gaki." The king of Yokōs smiled down at Naruto from his throne. It was going to be fun seeing the gaki's face when he wakes up completely different.

~~~~~~~~~~

It has been a year since Naruto entered his coma. During this time, Sasuke poured everything into his training. Whenever Kakashi wasn't knee deep in missions, the two trained together. Sasuke had already decided, that he would follow in Kakashi's footsteps as the next copy nin, and personal guard to the next Hokage.

"Oi, Kakashi." The raven haired boy called out to his former Jonin sensei who was sitting on the dock where Sasuke and Naruto first met. He had quit being a Jonin halfway through Naruto's coma six months ago, and went back to being in the Anbu.

Kakashi noticed his student and waved him over. "Yeah Sasuke, what's up?"

The fourteen year old sat down next to his sensei, holding his knees to his chest like a child. "Do you ever think Naruto will wake up? It's already been a whole year, and he hasn't so much as moved a finger."

Kakashi looked at his young student. He was the reason Naruto still had a chance to live, and yet was wondering if he was ever going to wake up. "Don't worry Sasuke. It's Naruto we're talking about here. As soon as he's ready, he'll wake up." Kakashi stood up and tapped Sasuke on the shoulder.

"It's about time we tell you the truth about Naruto. Since you reminded me that it's been exactly a year, we're gonna move him."

"Move him, like you said in the hospital? Where?" Sasuke stood up, now almost as tall as his sensei.

"His home."

Sasuke looked appalled and puzzled. Why would they move him to such a shitty place when the hospital is working just fine. Nevertheless, Sasuke followed Kakashi to the Hokage tower, where they were going to ask permission.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tsunade had been extremely stressed recently. It was officially the one year anniversary of Naruto falling into a comatose state.

There had been a few attempts on his life by nurses, but other than that, his coma life was pretty quiet.

She was absorbed in her thoughts when a knock came on the door. "Come in." She said, sitting up straight in her chair.

It was Kakashi and Sasuke. She was worried about the two's mental health after what happened with Naruto, but they seemed to be coping the best they could.

It was Kakashi who spoke after closing the door and activating a privacy seal. "I'd like to move Naruto into the Namikaze Mansion today."

Tsunade just nodded, as if it was completely normal to be moved to a mansion in the middle of a coma.

"Wait, Namikaze?! I though you said he was moving home!" Sasuke had the first outburst he had in a while.

The busty blonde sighed. "Yes, Namikaze, the Yondaime's mansion. It's his birthright. Haven't you noticed how similar Naruto looks to him. The blond hair and blue eyes. Take the whiskers off and remove his tan, then Naruto will just be a carbon copy of the Yondaime."

Sasuke pondered and though for a bit. "You're right...but how come the villagers didn't know this? If they had, Naruto wouldn't have had to go through all of that pain?"

Tsunade sighed again. "That's very true. However, those were the Sandaime's decisions not mine. The only thing I can assume is to protect him from foreign enemies. I had my mind split on when to tell him, and planned to do it after your guy's B-Rank..."

Sasuke nodded. "Let's go Sasuke. I'll need your help in moving the equipment."

With that, the two disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't take it anymore! I need to go back!" Naruto yelled as he ran through the halls of his mindscape.

"Get back here! It's the last day of your training, after today I still need to disable the memory seals!" The Kyūbi chased after him, but this was Naruto's mind, not his. The fact that he could change the hallways at will was annoying to the large fox.

Over the last year, Naruto had gained gigantic amounts of youki. Enough to give most B Class monsters a run for their money without even transforming into his vampire form. But his youki reserves would increase one last time today. Today as the final day of his training with the Kyūbi, and the day he would add his chakra to his youki, basically doubling his reserves.

"Fine." At the mention of his memories being restored, he transformed the hallway they were in into a large empty training room with skylights.

Naruto sat down in the middle, in lotus position. The Kyūbi was behind him on his knees with his hands hovering over Naruto's back.

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch, for you at least." That was the only warning Naruto got before his body felt like it was on fire. It was like he in the middle of ten thousand suns, burning him alive.

This feeling lasted for ten minutes, him being unable to even scream out in pain during the experience. "I don't suggest you try to move for a bit. I'll return to the throne room and start working on the memory seal. It's not like you'll remember every little detail though, you'll only remember what you would've if the seal hadn't been placed."

The Kyūbi was enveloped in swirling blue flames before disappearing to the throne room.

"Damn him and his dramatic exits." Just talking made Naruto's body cry out in pain.

~~~~~~~~~~

"That's good Sasuke, you can set it down now." Kakashi and Sasuke were currently at the Namikaze Mansion and Sasuke was carrying the heart monitor.

A bit after that, Naruto's body started heating up in the real world to incredible degrees. "Kakashi! What's happening to Naruto?!" Sasuke was the first to notice, and he realized that it wasn't normal body heat.

He activated his Sharingan to see a red and purplish aura surrounding Naruto. Kakashi followed in suit and pulled up his headband.

"Don't worry Sasuke, this could be a good thing...it looks like the Kyūbi's chakra is attempting to heal whatever is causing the coma."

Kakashi and Sasuke sat down next to Naruto after confirming he was okay and started talkin to him. It was something they did once a month while visiting him. They talked about arbitrary things and even how Sasuke said he was going to be Naruto's Anbu during his time as Hokage. It was one of the things he promised after Naruto went under.

They talked about the rest of the Konoha 12, and how things were going at the moment. They swore that whenever they started talking about certain things, a smile would appear on his face.

The two guys weren't sure when Naruto was gonna wake up, but waited for the news excitedly. They could've never imagined that instead of being weak after two years of sleep, Naruto would be stronger than when he started.