3rd POV

Amaterasu had quietly kept her distance, from others at least not when she still couldn't protect herself. So she had kept a silent watch on Naruto, playing with him when no one would, passing her leftovers she had saved from her own dinner whenever the adults tried to punish Naruto for whatever small slights he had done to them by not giving him dinner. The last straw was when Amaterasu found a group of five year old bullies ganging up on Naruto who was playing by himself at that time. The Matron had taken one look and silently left the room without a backward glance. But Amaterasu didn't miss the thinly veiled satisfaction on her face when she left. The bullies by them had begun to kick and punched the young four year old who had crouched on the floor whimpering. The rest of the toddlers looked at the scene with no little amounts of fear that they would be targeted next. Amaterasu's eyes narrowed. Picking up a play block she hit one of the boys in the head with a solid thump.

"Stop that!" Amaterasu cried out, throwing caution to the wind. Throughout the time she been here she had enough of what people are doing to sweet Naruto. Amaterasu had to use little bit of her power, giving her small three year old body packs the power and strength of a six year old. It was also enough to crack the head of one of the bullies with her flying block. her eyesight had also became sharper, resulting in her unerring accuracy as she began throwing whatever toys she could get her hands on at the bullies.

The bullies cried and jumped around to avoid her flying projectiles which hit them with painful thumps. But Amaterasu soon found herself out of toys. She watched in dread as the bruised bullies walked towards her menacingly. She stood up, tiny fist curled into a ball as she prepared to fight. The odds were not good, one little old her and four bullies bigger and stronger than her combined.

The first bully to reach her raised a fist to strike at her. Amaterasu braced herself to duck and was surprised when a white blur tackled the bully to the ground. She looked into the serious eyes of Naruto who picked himself up from the bully. He was crying and bruises were on his arms and face but he was determined.

"You my friend." Naruto said in his simple language.

Amaterasu looked at Naruto in surprise and was a bit touched. Naruto like most of the toddlers could only speak broken sentences, and their thought processes were still immature. Amaterasu was an exception who was looked on by the adults in the orphanage with no small pride at her mastery of the spoken language.

Amaterasu reached out a hand and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"We fight." She said, knowing that Naruto probably still don't understand what does the word 'fight' means.

She launched herself at the bullies and Naruto's face brightened in understanding as he did the same. Their determination did not help them however, not with four who were stronger than them. By the time the matron returned, Naruto had a black eye and more bruises while Amaterasu had a split lip and several bruises as well. The four bullies however had fared no better, most with bruises on their bodies.

Amaterasu stood protectively over Naruto as the matron neared. For a moment the matron looked at their battered forms and a flicker of emotion passed across her face. Guilt, confusion and a bit of self-loathing.

She had said nothing however as she rounded up the injured children and began treating their wounds. That incident however caused a change in the way the matron treated Naruto. She no longer gave him cold stares or disgusted look, but she avoided him for the most part as if he was a bad memory to be forgotten. The bullies also stopped bothering Amaterasu and Naruto. And that's how the friendship between Naruto and Amaterasu began.

Two Months later…

Amaterasu looked on with interest at the old man who had come to visit Naruto. Out of all the adults, he was the only one that had treated Naruto with love and concern. she had seen him a few times at the orphanage before that but this was the first time she had taken note of the man.

All the adults at the orphanage also treated the old man with respect calling him "Hoka-age" something. It was one word that she still could not understand. Amaterasu watched quietly to make sure that the old man would not ill-treat Naruto before resuming her drawing.

When the Matron had introduced them to pencil and paper, Amaterasu had jumped at the chance of doing something artistic again. She had proceeded to draw people and things she remembered from the past of her life she can't seem to remember. The adults in particular had exclaimed at her detailed and well-drawn drawings, naming her a young prodigy. Amaterasu didn't mind, she hoped that the adults would gradually allow her to read the books and scrolls in the orphanage's library.

"That's a very nice picture. Though a very scary Dragon." A voice said behind her.

Amaterasu turned and grinned at the old man who had wandered over. Naruto was at his side clutching the old man's hand.

"It's orochi, the eight headed demonic serpent of massive size." Amaterasu said. she had drawn orochi. Though she cant remember seeing orochi before.

"Oh an eight headed demonic dragon serpent what I can tell from the picture." The old man mused. "

"I love drawing." Amaterasu said with a shrug. "I want to read too but the matron wouldn't let me." The old man stared into her eyes and than smiled. "Ah.. a child eager for knowledge, that's rare. I'll speak with the matron for you and bring a teacher to help you understand what you are reading. But I think she's just afraid you'll mess up the books and scrolls. Books and scrolls are hard to get for an orphanage you know."

"I'll take care of them. I promise." Amaterasu said quickly.

"Very well then, I'll hold you to the promise." The old man then bent down and whispered to Amaterasu as if phrasing a question. "I heard you are Naruto's friend?"

Amaterasu nodded as Naruto looked shyly at him. "He is my friend."

"Ah… good good." The old man nodded in satisfaction. "You seemed mature for your age. Take care of Naruto for me will you?"

"I will" Amaterasu promised, feeling that somehow she had passed a test.

Three Years later…

"Amaterasu! Hurry, I think the show's starting." Naruto whispered as they creep around the walls of the orphanage. Today was their birthdays. Amaterasu's thought drifted to the date of another of her birthday and quickly shook her head, the past was the past.

It was Naruto who had suggested that they sneak outside to look at the annual festival, one which the children at the orphanage were never allowed to join. The festival was one that celebrate the defeat of the Kyubbi, a nine tailed fox demon of immerse powers.

The fourth hokage was the one that had used his life to defeat it. Amaterasu still remembered how the matron had told them the story while showing them hand drawn pictures of the fourth hokage who had looked very familiar.

"Naruto, maybe we shouldn't." Amaterasu said trying to be the sensible one. They were seven years old, any kind of trouble could came upon them in the middle of the night in strange streets.

"Come on Amaterasu, we've never been to a festival before. Matron brought the other kids to them last year but not us." Naruto pleaded.

Amaterasu paused. It was true, though the fact was that the matron had refused to bring Naruto to the festival and Amaterasu had elected to stay behind with her friend. It was also part of the reason why Amaterasu was worried about venturing to the festival with no adults around to protect them. Somehow there was something about Naruto that most of the adults seemed to hate, though Amaterasu could never understand why, and the matron though no longer hating Naruto had seemed worried about bringing him along.

Naruto was a hyper but polite child and not born with vindictive tendencies as some of the children in the orphanage seemed to be. That's why Amaterasu had stuck with Naruto throughout these years. In fact they had exchanged a ceremony under the willow tree behind the orphanage during their sixth birthday. To Naruto, they were now blood siblings.

"Alright, but let's be careful ok…. Naruto! Wait for me!" Amaterasu shouted as she hurried after her sworn brother. The festival was unlike any others that they had ever seen. There were lots of people and stalls selling food and wares. There were also a lot of traveling ninjas doing all kinds of stunt. Naruto and Amaterasu pushed through the crowds looking at everyone and everything in awe.

"This is great! We should come out again next year!" Naruto said as they found a spot on a fence and sat on it. Amaterasu narrowed her eyes as she saw the odd looks some of the villagers were sending them. But since they didn't bother the two of them, she put them out of her mind.

They stood on the fence watching some wandering ninjas perform at the village square. Amaterasu was amazed at all the stuff that they could do. The people of this world sure was amazing. Naruto and Amaterasu stood on the fence watching the performance for hours. It was after they decided to slip back to the orphanage that Amaterasu realized something was wrong. Her wolf like ear's went up to everyone else see her this just think it was Her hair styled to be like wolf ears.

They were walking through a secluded part of the town when sounds of running feet and shouts sounded behind them. Amaterasu's wolf sense started going off and she grabbed Naruto's arm and started running.

"Amaterasu, why are we running?" Naruto gasped as Amaterasu pulled Naruto along with him.

"Something is wrong, I can feel it." Amaterasu said without pause.

Naruto gulped and put more speed in his legs. He trusted Amaterasu's instincts, after all the years of being with her, Naruto knew that Amaterasu would always had a sixth sense when something bad was about to happen.

"There he is! That's the fox bastard!" Someone cried as a mob of angry and drunk villagers came into view behind them.

"Demon!" Someone shrieked. Amaterasu grabbed Naruto and ducked to the side as a glass bottle of alcohol smashed into the road beside them.

"He's with another brat! They're together! Demons in cohort! Get them!" The man leading the mob cried.

Naruto and Amaterasu gasped as they tried to run away. Amaterasu might have been able to escaped, but Naruto being a seven year old lacked the strength and stamina to outdistance the mob for long. Naruto gave a cry as something smashed into his back with force and he fell to the ground.

"The fox brat is down! Get him!" Someone cried as the mob charged forward.

Amaterasu grimly placed herself in front of Naruto. She didn't know what was going on, but she had to buy time for Naruto to escape.

"Naruto, get up quickly! We have to run…." she didn't have time to continue as the mob smashed into her with wooden clubs and wine bottles.

Amaterasu fought them off with cold efficiency. Throughout the years, her goddess like strength had grown though she was still not as strong. She had the punching power of a sixteen year old though that was not doing much good against a mob of angry villagers. Her only saving grace was her agility but even then, she was knocked backwards by heavy blows.

Naruto cried out in pain behind him. A large portion of the mob had swarmed over to Naruto kicking and punching him. Amaterasu felt sick in her stomach, how could the villagers do this! They were just children!

"Get off Naruto!" Amaterasu shouted in rage as everything went red. She had never felt so helpless and angry before. "Get off him!"

Amaterasu pushed at the villagers with all her might, sending a few to the ground at her sudden increase in strength. One of them raised a glass bottle menacingly to smash down at her. Amaterasu instinctively stretched out her hand in a vain attempt to block it.

Clang!

Amaterasu blinked at the sound of the shield that had sun like flames around it appeared right before her eyes. The man stumbled. Amaterasu drew back her hands as the shield followed her movement. Amaterasu looked grimly at her attackers, at least now she has a weapon against the mob.

Amaterasu throw her shield at the legs of several of the villagers sending them tumbling down. She then proceed to pull or hitting the rest of the villagers from Naruto with her shield. Her wolf senses screamed and Amaterasu quickly twisted around, but not before something heavy slammed into her. Amaterasu crashed into the ground with a painful cry as one of the villagers landed on top of her and held her down onto the ground.

"You're with the fox demon, your life ends here." The man said with a maniac look in his eyes. Amaterasu could smell the alcohol in his breath. She gasped as the man formed a handseal and slammed his hand into Amaterasu's chest. All the strength immediately left her body as she lay on the ground paralyzed.

Amaterasu could only watch numbly as the man pinned her down with one hand, a knife in another. To her left, her heard Naruto screaming in agony. With what little strength left, Amaterasu turned her head. Through an opening in the mob, Amaterasu saw Naruto's pale bleeding face as a knife slashed down at him.

It was happening again. She felt like she was going to die and this time Naruto's going to die with her. But she refused to go down without a fight. She refused to die like a … helpless little kid… Something burst inside her, an emotion dark and shimmering with anger, a rage that seared through her.

Then there was a voice.

Do you wish for power, goddess of the sun?

It was a voice gentle yet at the same time terrifying. And this voice sounded in her mind.

Amaterasu had no strength to speak. But there were other ways of conveying her emotions.

I wish to live. Give me the power to protect my friends. Amaterasu screamed in her mind.

Time seemed to slow down as Amaterasu watched the ninja on top of her slashing down with his knife. She knew that she was going to die yet her human nature still allowed for hope. Hope that somehow, someone would answer her prayers and save them.

Then I grant you your wish Amaterasu goddess of the sun. The voice said.

Amaterasu felt the knife piercing her chest and then….

BOOM!

Something large and white, and red appeared behind the ninja and swept him off Amaterasu. It then proceeds to lay waste to the rest of the mob.

When the military police arrived at the scene, they found several severely injured villagers and ninja scattered on the streets, two young children that were bleeding to death and a giant dragon that was white and red that seem to have some of its body in a scroll painting while holding four different color orbs standing watch over them.