This is my first attempt at a Naruto Story, so I'm willing to take criticism if anyone of you say that this story's trash, cringe, and other hurtful words. That's to be expected, because I don't much about Naruto these days. Used to watch it when I was little, but nothing of the rated-M stuff. Because it's been so long, I don't know what everyone does, I don't know all the characters...and for that reason, am I starting off this story in such a way...that you're bound to hate. With that said, let's get to it...
What makes a Man into a Legend? Legends are born of rumors, and rumors spread like wildfire. Legends are set in stone, when the 'Hero' meets his end, and his story is known to all. The memory of the 'Hero' lives on through all who know it, and they remember in ways no one could ever picture it as. In a world where Legends are born, this story's hero is truly born, not in the village that despised him, but in a foreign land where he is welcomed and treated as human.
For now, we see the state he is in, homeless, weakened, alone. He finds refuge in the shadows, finds food in people's leftover scraps. This was his life at the age of 9. Darkness consumed him, despair drove him, and the worst part is...he didn't even know what he did to deserve this. He was welcomed into this world by people he thought they loved him, only to find them turn on him and cause him such pain. The Old Man in charge of this place told him once that he would make everything better, but that only seemed to be a lie.
9 years of vagrancy, hatred and survival. The boy was a hallowed shell now, emotionless, broken and uncaring of the world around him. Little did anyone know that the pain he had to suffer through only made him stronger in the end. While he suffered through the horrific acts of the village and its people, eventually, it all led to him learning how to survive. And soon enough, escape this nightmare. The boy who is currently known as Naruto Uzumaki would grow to become the Legend that the Nations will fear.
The day is October 10th, and the village of Konoha celebrates the day as a memorial to the defeat of the 九尾の狐鬼, the Nine-tailed Fox Demon. It had been turned into a day of festivities as people drink feast and play around like no tomorrow. Everyone of the villagers seem to enjoy themselves on this day, except for one boy. Our hero, Naruto, finds himself hidden in an alleyway, hoping that no one will find him this time. How he despises this day, as it was supposed to be the day he would want to celebrate with family who love and cherish. But instead, he only celebrates with his survival, as on this day, many of the village's folk band together with weapons as they proceed with the hunt. The hunt of 10 year old boy they mistake for a giant fox demon, out of the grief the felt for their lost loved ones, the villagers take their anger out on a child.
It's not like a beating Naruto has to take on a regular basis, as this is the kind of hunt they would dare to exploit every possible form of agony on the kid and then attempt to take his life, only to leave him bloodied and broken, unloved and ashamed. Year after year, the boy had to survive these vengeful people, learning little by little how to avoid them as best as he can. It's never enough as they always catch him. However, this year, he felt it would be different, as he peered out of the shadows to see the festivities going on...only to suddenly himself jerked back into the alleyway about a minute later.
Naruto stared at the mischievous faces of his soon-to-be attackers, five in total, looking at the smiles of bloodlust as they mocked him, calling him 'the demon brat' and saying how they were gonna enjoy making him suffer. It didn't take long for the hunt to begin, as Naruto ran deeper into the alley, hoping to getaway by any chance given. Unfortunately, this alley lead to a dead end, and seemed as if the 'fox' had been corned. The horrid villagers wasted no time advancing upon the boy, who awaited his fate. But then...something wonderous happened as the villagers learned then and there how dangerous a corned fox can be. Just before they could get him, the attacked watched in surprise Naruto ran up the wall behind him and jumped, doing a large backflip over them all.
Now that he was given a chance to escape, the boy ran out of the alley with the bewildered attacked chasing after him. Things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse as Naruto was chased right into the festival. And after bumping into a few villagers who were anything but sober, one bump lead to another in which lead to the destruction of a few festivities, attractions and the start of some small fires. Some luck, huh? Soon enough, did Naruto find himself the center of attention as the villagers surrounded with glare of hatred and murderous intent on their faces...
"It's that brat!"
"That little demon!"
"He ruined the festival!"
"We'll have to settle for kill him!"
But he was not afraid, staring back at them all with a straight face. 10 years of suffering, hatred, neglect, enough time to adapt to a way of life such as this. He knew what was coming, and this time, he was ready as he glared back at the attackers who chased him this far...
"GET HIM!" The lead attacker roared as all the villagers present practically jumped onto the kid, piling onto him. Fortunately, their stupidity was enough to accidentally push him out of the pile as Naruto quickly got back on his feet, just as the villagers realized he avoided their grasp. Before he could get away, more angry villagers came in with weapons in hand as Naruto was forced to move back, running over the pile of villagers which his attackers collapsed into. Deciding to go up to get away from these freaks, Naruto used his newfound agility to climb up a building to a second story...only to regret his decision as more attackers came out, forcing him to jump back down, one of the crazy villagers luckily breaking his fall.
A villager came in with a pitchfork in an attempt to impale Naruto, only to be surprised to see the kid dodge and grab hold of the gardening tool, snatching away and using it to deflect the blades and blunt instruments of his many attackers. He soon discarded it by pushing it onto another villager as he quickly turned to escaping. But these crazy, bloodthirsty villagers were just coming from everywhere and were even getting more difficult to evade as he was certain of the village's ANBU shinobi in the mix, seeing swords trying to cut him in half. But they were surprised to see the boy who's never been trained to fight suddenly evade their attacks with ease and punch them in the face, knocking two out at the same time.
Still, Naruto couldn't get out the area as it seemed like the entire village roused into an army, just to try and kill him. But he wasn't planning on dying here, nor was he planning on feeling any pain today as he seemed to dodge an ANBU's sword expertly and grab hold of it before kicking the highly trained shinobi away. Then came another one, but before it could draw its sword, Naruto suddenly ran up and jumped, delivering a roundhouse kick that the ANBU quickly dodged, but then he realized that Naruto had two swords in his hand as the one on its back was missing. The villagers couldn't believe it as the kid they've been trying to kill for ten years was suddenly fighting better than any ninja that they've seen, and he wasn't even using jutsus. As far as they know, the boy couldn't fight, even to defend himself, all he could do was run and hope to escape, but he never could. They always caught him, always beat him to an inch of his life and now, they can't even do that?! What was happening?!
They advanced upon the kid, and when Naruto saw this, he decided to take them one by one as he countered and pushed back every sword, every knife and every other thing in the hands of the villagers that could be counted as a weapon. Some ANBU even tried throwing shurikens and kunai at him, only to see them deflected and landed into the flesh of their brethren. Naruto took the offensive when he threw a sword at a shinobi, only to have it deflected an thrown into the sky. But before the ninja could retaliate, they found themselves suddenly kicked down by the boy, who caught the sword as it came back down. Then Naruto somersaults over the body before flips and finds himself once more surrounded by angry villagers and shinobi alike, taking a stance with both sword in each hand, pointing at the left and right of each other as he looked around him, seeing the entire village surround him. He would not back down as an golden orange aura unknowingly surrounded him.
The villagers were wide-eyed at the sight of the silhouette of what looked to be a great warrior looming over the young blonde. At first, they thought it was the spirit of the Kyuubi breaking free, but really, it was in the form of an armored warrior, engulfed in flames and its face undistinguishable except for that of a samurai's fanged mask. The silhouette guided Naruto's hands as he points the swords he wields all around the crowd that surrounds him. The villagers advanced, only to find themselves knocked away by clashing swords that seemed to have moved faster than sound. Try as they might, they could not touch the boy, but refused to be back down. They would not rest until they see this 'demon' pay for 'his sins'.
Just as it seemed as if Naruto was going to get out of this without being wounded, a tremendous pain landed in his back as someone managed to get him from behind. Not just with any blade, but with a tri-ponged kunai said to belong to the Fourth Hokage. The assailant who used it thought it wise to use the signature weapon of the Village's Greatest Hero in order to 'avenge his death'; oh, how little do these people really know. With the blade stuck in Naruto's back, he staggered towards the villagers who gotten the upper hand, as they each got a hit off the kid, one at a time, making him feel as much pain as they could make him feel. Naruto found himself falling face down on the ground as the attackers ganged up on him.
"At last!" said one of the crazed villagers. "It seems we finish the Fourth's job after all! Die, you demon!"
But before they were given the chance to rip the boy apart, yet another miracle occurred. Just before more blades could enter the boy's flesh...he vanished from their sight. They were bewildered by this, until the a breeze of wind pick around them and looked behind them to see Naruto, on his feet, holding the tri-ponged shuriken in his right hand. While his back was at the villagers, he turned his head and looked at them with such contempt, a fire was in his eyes, looking bright enough to burn the whole village down. The boy got into a stance, looking ready to run at them. His empty hand moving behind while his armed hand close to his face, looking ready to stab. Before the villagers could even decide to attack again, once more did his vanish and suddenly the crowd felt a great impact around them as many of them found themselves flying off their feet, getting smashed into buildings and the ground itself being covered in a long groove. Then the boy reappeared, sliding across the ground, only to suddenly vanish once more as what the villagers just experiences happened again, and again and again.
When it was over, that section of the village seemed decimated. All who present were on the floor, groaning in pain. All except for Naruto, who stood in front of it all as he dropped kunai to the ground and began to breathe heavily. And it was finally then that the current Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, arrived to be shocked by the scene of what looked like a great battle over the villagers...and the one kid left standing.
"Naruto? Are you alright?" He asked the blonde, but instead of a response, all he got was the kid looking into his eyes before he drifted onto unconsciousness. The Old Man caught him before he could hit the ground, but also took the infamous kunai of the yellow flash as he ordered his personal ANBU to climb up this mess. When Naruto was taken to this hospital, they found now severe injuries this time, just a few cuts and bruises that healed quickly. All the while, half the entire village seemed to be trying to take up whatever space the hospital could provide, as it came to a shock to Sarutobi to realized that Naruto did a number on them all. No doubt, would he have an earful from the Council who helped in ruining the boy's childhood. They lied about the demise of Fourth Hokage and about Naruto. 'And for what? They're creating a monster.' Sarutobi thought, knowing that those were their intentions...
But they would never get their monster. For the boy would soon have his own intentions that would tip of balance of power for all the nations. In his hospital bed, he dared to dream, as he found himself wondering what appeared to be a sewer. Until he came across a great cage with some type of seal as its lock, and within that cage was one of the many reasons for his suffering. What was said to have been dead, but in truth, lied dormant within his own bady.
"...Kyuubi." said the boy.
"So...I am revealed to you at last." said the Nine-tailed Fox before everything goes white.
And with that, Naruto suddenly found himself waking up in a hospital bed, wouldn't be the first time. What he had just witnessed was a revelation that he could not expect. It all made sense to him now. Ten years he suffered at the hands of the villagers who robbed him of his innocence. Ten years of living on the streets, forced into vagrancy by the Village's Council, who wished to see him rot. Ten years of misery all comes down to his fate going full circle. He looks out a window, seeing the Hokage tower in the distance...then clenches his fist, tightly...angrily...
Sarutobi wished he didn't have to deal with this, but here, he finds himself listening to the many complaints of the counsel, Shinobi and Civilian alike, calling of the death of Naruto Uzumaki. Due to what occurred last night, it seems the majority of Konoha was furious as 'the little demon brat' managed to work them all over. However, the Village's Elders had their interests peaked by these turn of events as Danzo Shimura wishes to take the little boy under his wing and turn him into the Ultimate Weapon. Hiruzen wouldn't have it; he let this Council destroy Naruto's childhood and practically run to many things without his say-so. He was not gonna allow anymore of it, not after last night.
"SILENCE!" He roared, shutting everyone up. "Now, I am well aware of the most recent events, regarding Naruto Uzumaki. But I will not punish him for your antics. It's bad enough that you've all gone as far as to leave him homeless, but what has happened, he is not to blame for."
"Hokage-sama, you were not there when he shows his true colors! We saw the Kyuubi hovering over the child like a puppet master is it guided the cursed child's hand to strike against our people! The boy is but a shell for the Fox, who is soon to come out and rise again if we don't kill the boy now!"
"And what makes you so confident that by killing the boy, you'd kill the Kyuubi itself?" the Old Man retorted. "You're blinded by your grief and rage, you do not truly know the consequences for even harming the child."
"But it is true that he is growing stronger." said Homura Mitokado. "The boy has been through, that is true, but it seems as if taking a beating no longer effects him."
Then Koharu states "He has lost emotions, and therefore is losing his humanity. Uzumaki is starting to become anything other than human."
"All the more reason as to why he should properly trained." then said the War Hawk, Danzo. "Sarutobi, it'd be best if you'd let me take the boy and I will make him into the greatest Shinobi Konoha will have at its disposal."
"...I agree with you on one thing, Danzo." Sarutobi said. "Naruto does need to be properly trained, but I will not see him be turned into a mindless weapon, knowing you will expose him to your ROOT tactics. We've put him through too much, and now, something else seems to have awakened inside of him. Something we cannot possibly control. The boy must regain his humanity, if he is to be one of Konoha's Shinobi, we need to show him that he can still find a home in the village, that he can trust other people. And he will learn how to do such thing AT the academy. We've stunted his growth for far too long."
"You really think that after all this time, we could just build the boy back up, after what has happened to him? His innocence may have taken from him, but he is not exactly a hallow shell, not from what our ANBU have seen." said another council member. "He didn't exactly fight like a beast, but like a warrior unlike any we've ever seen."
Sarutobi replied "All the more reason as to why we need to have him trained. To properly use the power he has awakened. Otherwise, who knows what he'll do if we don't-"
Suddenly, an ANBU came rushing in and spoke a panicked manor. "Naruto's gone!"
Everyone perked up in concern as Sarutobi asked. "What do you mean he's gone?!"
"He couldn't be found in the hospital, and there are no other traces of him anywhere in the village!"
This was unforeseen, as nobody could've expect Naruto to make such an escape attempt. Wasting no time, Sarutobi ordered the ANBU to search for Naruto and bring him back as the shinobi shushined away and their forces headed outside the walls of Konoha in search of the boy. Meanwhile, Naruto was running through the woods, wanting to put as much distance between him and Konoha as possible. He may not have had any training, but he could run pretty fast. While there was no exact direction he was going, he just wanted to avoid even coming to encountering Konoha's shinobi coming to get him...which could've gone better, as he was just spotted.
"Naruto, stop!" said one of them, but Naruto's speed only seemed to increase the moment the ninja got closer. Naruto wasn't going back, and he was determined to see that he would be free, no matter how far he had to run. But he couldn't run forever as he could feel himself growing exhausted, and that wasn't the worst part, the path he took made him come to a screeching halt as he found himself at the edge of the cliff, where a waterfall flowed between two statues. Naruto didn't know, but he was at the Valley of the End, and that's where he was corned once again by Konoha's shinobi.
"Naruto, you will come with us, quietly."
The boy stood still, standing tall against the several masked ninja who mean to subdue him by any means necessary. And if that means having throw a shuriken at his head, then so be it, as one of them did exactly that. However, before the star could come in contact with the boy, Naruto secretly pulled the same tri-pong kunai he was stabbed with yesterday, and managed to deflect the shuriken before unexpectedly launching the kunai into the shoulder of one the ANBU. And with that, Naruto bought himself enough time, as he took a step back and let gravity do the rest. The ANBU tried to run and grab hold of him, but they were too late as they watched as the boy fell into the water below.
The ANBU continued to search for him, albeit panicking. Unknown them was that Naruto's body was flowing away, seemingly lifeless, but his mind was at piece knowing that he was free. This is where a Legend is born, where it builds itself up from ruins that was destroyed. And this Legend will change everything...