A young boy, no taller than 4 feet was seen running frantically across the alleyway, on his tail a mob of eleven or twelve villagers. To kids his age, this would seem confusing and frightening, but not for this said boy. For him, it was a regular occurrence.

Wearing a grey tattered hand-me-downs, and shorts with stitches and holes in many places, he sighed as he hit a dead end. 'Great, it's like kami just hates me.' He thought bitterly.

He realized a while ago that crying and begging won't do anything, so he just dealt with it. The boy with dull, seemingly lifeless eyes just knelt down, his hair shadowing his eyes. 'I wonder how long it'll take for the ANBU to "rescue" me this time.'

One of the villagers sneered at him. "So, you brat, finally realized that running would do you know good?" No response. "Answer me, trash" he screeched as he kicked the boy hard in the chest. He flew a couple of feet back but didn't as so much flinch.

A couple of people laughed at him, and before long they all started attacking him. Punching, kicking, stomping, slapping wherever they could, before finally, after what seemed like hours, which, by this time, he was already in blissful unconsciousness, an ANBU with a dog mask, short, gravity-defying silver hair appeared at the scene, along with another ANBU with long, purple hair, a cat mask and a weasel masked ANBU, a bit shorter than the other two, with black hair done in a pony-tail appeared.

The ones with the dog & weasel mask grabbed the villagers and body-flickered out of there, most likely shunshnined them to the T&I Department, while the cat-masked one picked the boy up in a fireman's carry and roof-hopped to the Hokage tower. She dropped him off in front of the Hokage's office, where she knocked on the door. A muffled "Come in" was heard from the office.

She opened the door, and saw an old man, with a red and white hat on his head, and red and white robes. This man was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the 3rd Hokage of the Hidden Village in the leaves. He was smiling at who came in, but the second he noticed the limp body over her shoulder, he frowned.

He truly cared for the boy. But there wasn't much he could do, without revealing his heritage to the villagers, and by extension, the world, which would render them vulnerable to Iwagakure, and most likely Kumogakure as well. Currently, there were 6 people who knew Naruto's true heritage, those people were himself, Kakashi Hatake, Jiraiya of the Sannin, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Danzo Shimura. Although he wouldn't be surprised if Itachi Uchiha also knew.

Seriously, that boy's intellect sometimes frightened him. When conversing with Itachi, he sometimes had to remember he was chatting with a 9-year-old boy, not a fellow experienced politician. He rubbed his temples.

Why did his villagers have to be so ignorant? "Report, Neko" he sighed. "Hokage-sama, me, Inu-senpai, and Weasel were patrolling the streets when we heard noises coming from an alleyway. We decided to check it out, and saw a group of twelve civilians beating up Naruto-san. Weasel & Inu-senpai have transported those villagers to Ibiki-san, and reported to him, while I decided to bring Uzumaki-san to you.

His injuries seem to be healing quite quickly, nothing more severe than a couple of bruises here and there, the Kyuubi chakra will probably heal him, so I decided to take him here, instead of the hospital."

The Hokage sighed once again. 'Why have you left me with this, Minato?' "Thank you, Neko. You are dismissed." Neko just bowed and shunshinned away. Hiruzen looked at the unconscious Naruto with a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I wish I could do something for you.'

…

Naruto groggily opened a single eye and looked around, the light beaming through the window directly landing on his face. He slowly stirred up. "Ugh, where am I" he mumbled.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, my boy, your awake now. It's good to see you again." Hiruzen said with a grandfatherly smile. Naruto just dead-panned. Another thing he wondered; why did some of the villagers call him a demon? As far as he was concerned, he's never so much as hurt a butterfly. He wanted to research it a bit, but he couldn't.

The matrons at the orphanage would rarely ever let him read, and whenever he mentioned it to his "Jiji", all he would do was ask him to describe the people who would call him that. How was he supposed to remember who would beat him? All he remembered were those hateful glares, and vicious sneers, never the hair, or eye color. Such matters were insignificant. Sometimes he would spy on the other kids at the orphanage when the matrons would interact with them.

They were so gentle, and kind to the other kids, but treated him like a stain on the ground, so why? He remembered glaring at one of the matrons when she smiled at a boy who was reading to her, but if you looked close enough at him, underneath the anger, you could see a glint of longing in the boy's eyes. He yearned to be patted on the head, or complimented; He craved attention, due to his lack of it since an early age.

"Uto… Ruto..! Naruto!" The boy blinked. "Hehe, sorry about that Jiji, I kinda spaced out again" he smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. His surrogate grandfather just smiled at him. "Quite alright, my boy. I was wondering if you were hungry?"

At this the boy's stomach rumbled, speaking for him. They both chuckled at this, nervously in Naruto's case, and teasingly in the Hokage's. Well, my boy, I guess your stomach speaks for you, huh?" "Yeah, I guess so, hehe" He nervously rubbed his head again.

Well, let's go then, I have a feeling you'll like this place. Your mother did, after all." He replied, keeping that last part in his head. As they were walking to the ramen stand, Hiruzen tried to start a conversation. Well, Naruto, you start the academy next week, are you excited?" "Hell yeah, Jiji! I'm gonna be one step closer to taking the hat from you!" His grandfather just chuckled at this. "I'm sure you will, Naruto-Kun."

A few of the villagers glared at Naruto, but with the Hokage with him, they did nothing to him. What the villagers didn't see was the cold, icy, calculative stare in Naruto's eyes for a split second, before he went back to his cheery facade.

The God of Shinobi, however, being a 3-time war veteran, did not fail to pick up on this, and it troubled him greatly. He really hoped Naruto didn't seek revenge on the Village. He really couldn't blame Naruto, if he did, but it would break his already fragile heart, to have to label his grandson figure, and his successor's legacy a missing-nin, or have to sign his death warrant, but the village came first, anyways, they would cross that bridge when, or if it came. "Ah, here we are." Naruto was confused for a second before he smelled a godly aroma.

His mouth was watering, and he was put in a trance-like state, just from the smell alone. Before he quickly dashed off to the area the smell was coming. "Wait up, Naruto!" The Hokage chuckled at this. It turns out Hiruzen's theory was correct. Naruto inherited his mother's love for ramen. "Well hello there!" An old, burly voice called out to the boy.

He looked up, shocked because for once, someone other than the old man was actually speaking to him! Without glaring or sneering at the boy! "Um… hello…" he replied meekly, and a few seconds later, another man, with red and white robes, and a white hat with the kanji for "fire" walked into the stand. "Maa, Naruto, why did you run off like that?"

His grandfather lightly scolded him. "Hehe, sorry Jiji, It smelled really, really good and I kinda just followed the smell" he replied sheepishly. Hiruzen sighed. Sometimes Naruto could really be a handful.

"Naruto, what should I do with you?" Jiji shook his head while smiling slightly. "You should buy me ramen!" Naruto yelled out. "Of course, Naruto. We'll have two Miso ramens, Teuchi." Hiruzen told the man.

"Of course, Hokage-sama." The man bowed and scurried back to the kitchen. Naruto watched this with awe, he couldn't believe the respect people would give the old man.

He wanted that kind of respect as well, which was originally one of the reasons he aimed for the Hokage position, to be acknowledged the same way his Jiji was, but he knew that being Hokage was more than just that. Sometime in his musings, a 10-year old Ayame walked out of the kitchen and peeked her head out of the back. Her eyes widened as they landed on a tiny Naruto.

When he noticed this, tilted his head to the side "Can I help you miss?" He said in a timid voice. Of course, this was too much for Ayame, and she immediately screamed 'KAWAII!' and ran at him at speeds that would make the Yellow Flash jealous, and snagged him in her arms, between her developing bosoms, and squeezed him.

His face was slowly turning blue as she wouldn't let go of him, and Hiruzen watched this with an amused expression. "Ayame-chan, I believe young Naruto is having trouble breathing" he chuckled her eyes widened as she finally noticed the famous Hokage sitting on the stool next to Naruto.

She 'eeped' and hopped off Naruto as she fought off a mild blush. "Hehe, sorry about that, my name's Ayame, and I'm the daughter of the man who owns this place," She said as she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, in a fashion eerily similar to a certain blue-eyed blond.

"Hi! My name's Naruto Uzumaki!" the once-shy boasted. "Naruto? You were named after a ramen topping?" Naruto playfully glared at her for this. "Nah, I think my name means 'Maelstrom'. It's way cooler than a ramen topping!" Ayame giggled into her palm at this. "Two Miso Ramens!" the familiar burly voice called out, as the man now known as Teuchi placed two bowls of Ramen on the table.

The smell was crispy and savory, and the meal looked mouth-watering. After a call of 'Itadakimasu', the two dug into their meals, Hiruzen with elegance, and Naruto scarfing down the meal like someone who hasn't eaten a good meal before, which- he probably hasn't. "Wow, it's amazing!" Naruto called out. Teuchi beamed at the praise, and Ayame jabbed a finger at her chest.

"Well of course! We are the best ramen vendors in fire country after all!" "Hiruzen chuckled, as he still had half his ramen left in his bowl. "Well, Naruto, feel any be-" he paused as his eyes, along with Teuchi and Ayame's nearly bugged out their sockets, and their jaws unhinged. At the end of the seats, sat Naruto, rubbing his stomach, with a completely empty bowl, nothing inside, no soup, toppings, or even a remaining noodle.

He burped, and sheepishly rubbed his neck. "Whew, that was good!" he yelped. Everyone just deadpanned at this. Here, a 6-year-old boy finished a large bowl of Miso Ramen, filled to the brim, in 32 seconds, breaking Kushina Uzumaki's previous record of 37 seconds.

"Well, ahem, if that's all, I will see you next time, Naruto-Kun." "Yea, see you next time, old man, Ayame-chan, Teuchi-join!" he yelled as he ran back into his apartment.

What no one noticed, was as soon as Naruto's door closed, it dropped off all emotion, his face turned into a half-frown, and his eyes steely cold, as he remembered yesterday's events, especially since it was the Kyuubi festival, and his birthday, surprisingly the day he was glared at, and beaten the most. 'WAIT' he froze, mid-step, his eyes as wide as saucers, and his face completely shocked.

His heartbeat quickened, and he frantically started thinking. What people didn't realize was that Naruto was one of the most analytical people ever, with an IQ of over 140, at the age of 6, he calmed himself, and fell into a meditative state. And soon enough, he felt a tug in the back of his mind.

...

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Naruto's eyes snapped open as he looked around, and saw a gigantic sewer, that seemed to go on forever. He already theorized that this place was either his mind or gut. He kept walking forward until he saw a gigantic cage.

He looked up and saw nothing but darkness until one eye opened, and surely enough, he saw a slitted, bloodshot-red eye. "Hmm… It seems my Jailor decided to grace me with his presence…" A deep, booming voice mocked, as he opened his other eye, and walked forward, bearing his glinting sharp teeth.

"Hello, Kyuubi." "What do you want, Ningen? Is the chakra flowing through your puny veins not enough? Have you come to mock me? Or forcefully steal my chakra?" The voice mocked once again, Naruto, for his credit didn't even cower, nor flinch. He just chuckled, which angered the fox. "ANSWER ME, HUMAN!" The voice boomed, and the area was laced with killing intent, However, Naruto seemed immune to it.

"Well, in that case…" Naruto said as he sat down, in a meditative position, one that made the fox's eyes widen in complete, utter shock, as this position was one he hadn't seen in thousands of years. It was the exact same position the Sage of Six paths would sit in.

"... I don't want to steal your chakra, nor do I want to mock you, as I didn't choose to have you sealed inside me. I wish to understand you," Naruto replied, which had the Kyuubi raise an eyebrow. Whatever it was expecting, this wasn't it.

Without waiting for the fox to respond, he continued. "The stories I've heard, and the few books I've read have told me that you are a being made up of all the hatred in the world, but that is impractical and illogical. It's pretty obvious to me that the reason you hate humans is because we treat you like mindless beasts, and weapons, and our kind sealing you guys into us probably angered you as well." He replied.

"But, seeing as how if one of us dies, so does the other, we should probably become friends, or at the very least, comrades, so let's redo this. My name is Naruto Uzumaki."

He said with a serene smile. For a split second, the Kyuubi swore it saw a visage of the Sage of Six Paths behind Naruto, in the same position as him. "Could this boy be the one you talked about, tou-san? Hmm… Perhaps I'll put my trust in the Ningen race, one more time." The fox smirked, not a smug smirk, or an evil smirk, a friendly smirk.

"...Kurama. My name is Kurama, Naruto. I will put my faith in the human race one more time. Do not disappoint me, brat." The Fox said as he fist-bumped Naruto. "I promise, you won't regret this, Kurama!" Naruto said before he grinned, and phased out of his seal, smiling a real smile once, before falling into blissful sleep.