A Shattered Demon Child

Part 1

When it originally started, nobody noticed anything at all. What was there to notice about a demon child like him? He was just a bratty, stupid demon child and everyone made sure to remind him. He didn't need to constant reminders of what he was and what they thought he was. Granted, the knew nothing good about him, that didn't stop him from becoming what was a nearly half-decent ninja in the making. Nobody gave him a chance and he didn't blame them for it. He felt the same way as Gaara did; he didn't have a real purpose. When he heard Gaara say it, it struck a nerve and reminded him of everything he was and everything he'd ever be; nothing.

While the boy didn't understand why everyone hated him so much, he gave up believing they were wrong and that he'd done nothing wrong. In fact, they made him feel as if he'd done everything in his life wrong and that everything he did hurt someone who didn't deserve to be hurt. Some days, he didn't want to get up and train with Team 7. There were even the days where he was late any either Sakura or Kakashi would ask if he were okay, but those days were rare. He never told them why he was late or anything, he just sighed a halfhearted apology and they overlooked it as anything but him being lazy or sleeping in. No more questions were asked.

As the annoyed Uchiha and his pink haired teammate waited for Naruto and Kakashi to show up, the sun started rising behind them. Sakura sighed and asked, "Why are those two always late?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Dunno."

Sakura sighed and kept looking towards the village for her sensei and her idiot teammate. As the two teammates waited, eventually, Kakashi appeared suddenly from a cloud of smoke. He said, "Yo. Good morning, students."

Sakura sighed. "Looks like Naruto is late again."

Kakashi sighed and said, "I guess we should wait on him then. We'll give him about ten minutes."

The other two nodded, but Sasuke broke the silence. The boy with empty black eyes asked, "Why do we have to wait on him? He's being lazy anyway."

Kakashi said, "We have to give him a chance, Sasuke."

The boy rolled his eyes as they waited. A minute later, they saw a ninja in orange run up. Naruto tried to catch his breathe, like he'd ran a marathon. He gasped, "Sorry. I'm. Late."

Kakashi sighed and asked, "Why were you late this time?"

Naruto tried to brush off the question and said, "I just lost track of time, I have no excuse, really."

Kakashi could sense the lie just from how he was acting. He averted eye contact with him, he kept looking at the ground, and he looked as if he were lost in some sort of space far away. Kakashi made note of his actions and had to remember that he need ed to mention it to the Hokage later. However, he knew that it would have to wait until later because if it were any sooner, Naruto might get suspicious of his actions.

Kakashi cleared his throat and said, "Anyway, today we have a D rank mission, so nothing too hard."

All of Team 7 groaned and complained internally. Naruto crossed his arms and said, "Alright, what are the details."

Kakashi said with a monotone voice, "You have to help Mrs. Karin catch her cat. It shouldn't be much of a problem, but remember, this cat does have very sharp claws. Report back here after you're done."

The three nodded and started walking to the woman's house, who always seemed to have a problem with her cat running away. Kakashi studied Naruto closely as he followed Sasuke and Sakura. He had his hands in his pockets and his head angled to the ground, like he was thinking about something. This was not the Naruto Kakashi understood. Normally, Naruto would complain about the "kiddie" mission and that he wanted a "real" mission. Plus, Naruto would be talking about something and looking up, not being quiet and looking at the ground.

Kakashi had noticed some slow changes in the boys behavior for the past few weeks, but now, it was like Naruto stopped trying to hide it as much as normal. Kakashi saw it was an opportune time to go to see the Hokage and talk about Naruto's behavior. As he made his way down the street, he watched the team turn left toward the old woman's house. Not noticing Kakashi behind them, he turned right towards the Hokage's office. As he walked along the path, Kakashi thought about what might be going on with the young blonde. As he walked to the entrance to the building, Kakashi saw Iruka standing outside.

Iruka looked up at him and said, "Hey, Kakashi."

Kakashi greeted with a hand gesture, "Hello, Iruka. Have you seen the Hokage?"

Iruka said, "I believe he's inside in a meeting. I just spoke with one of his assistance. Why?"

Kakashi had a quick thought. Maybe Iruka might be more of help. Kakashi walked towards the shinobi and said, "I'm here to talk to him about Naruto."

He got the sensei's full attention at that moment. "What? Why? Did Naruto do something?"

Kakashi said, "He's been acting different lately. This morning, he was late meeting the rest of Team 7 at the bridge. He said he lost track of time."

"Naruto has been known for being late sometimes."

Kakashi explained, "I'm aware of that, but he's not even trying to defend his tardiness. He's also been behaving strangely."

Iruka had a knowing look. "What kind of 'strange' are we talking about?"

Kakashi squinted at the shinobi. "He avoids looking at people and he's been very quiet lately."

Iruka said calmly, "Before you go to the Hokage, could you do me a favor."

Kakashi nodded. "Sure. Do you want to speak with him?"

He answered, "Yeah, I might be able to get some answers out of him. He'll talk to me."

"Very well. I'll be meeting them after they get done with Mrs. Karin's cat."

Iruka blinked. "Did Naruto even complain?"

Kakashi shook his head. The white-haired shinobi said, "No, he said nothing against it."

"There's something really wrong then. Naruto hates that cat."

"I'm very aware," Kakashi commented.

After they made small talk and made arrangements about what to do about Naruto, the decided the plan was to talk to him after the D rank mission that day in the afternoon when Kakashi was to meet them. He assumed it would take them all day to track down and capture the cat, not to mention the fact they had to listen to Mrs. Karin talk about her cat and offer them tea and cookies, which was never optional. They'd meet Kakashi right before sunset, and after Naruto walked off, Iruka would "randomly" see Naruto and offer him ramen.

Iruka walked away after they said their brief goodbyes, planning to meet later after dark when Iruka questioned Naruto about his strange behavior. Kakashi walked away towards the bridge where he planned to read his novel until the students returned. He read about fifty pages before sunset was coming soon. When Kakashi put his novel down, it wasn't long after then his students came back, looking exhausted from chasing the cat down. Team 7 stood before him, exhausted and covered in scratches, especially Naruto.

Kakashi asked, "So, how'd it go?"

Sakura huffed, "We got the cat back home."

Sasuke said, "Yeah, and dobe here got clawed pretty bad."

Naruto said tiredly, "We got the cat, didn't we? Who cares."

Kakashi noticed the bitterness in his tone and cleared his throat. He said, "Good work, guys. We have no mission tomorrow, so take it easy. 'Kay?"

They all nodded. Kakashi waved as he turned into smoke and disappeared. Sasuke walked away, waving and muttering goodbye. Sakura ran after him, like usual, leaving Naruto alone. The blonde boy let out a sigh of relief as he was finally tired of pretending to be somewhat lively. He walked forward and followed the two into the village. He made his way home and villagers stared and muttered to each other. Naruto just ignored it and kept walking, pretending not to hear a word they were saying. He kept his eyes on the grounds before.

As he walked forward, he wasn't paying attention to what or who was in front of him. He bumped into a tall body of a shinobi. Naruto was knocked backwards, but Iruka caught his wrist before the boy could fall. Naruto got to his feet and said with a sheepish smile, "Hey, Iruka-sensei. Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you."

Iruka smiled and said, "It's alright, Naruto. How've you been doing?"

Naruto gave him a big fake smile and said, "I've been doing great! How about you?"

Iruka noticed the hints that told him Naruto was lying to him. He ignored his instinct to ask the boy what was going on and stuck with the plan. Iruka said, "I'm alright, I was about to grab some ramen. Would you like to join me?"

Naruto shook his head and said, "Thanks Iruka-sensei, but I'm really tired and I just wanna go home and sleep."

That through up a red flag. Naruto would never tell Iruka no to ramen. Ever.

Iruka asked, "Are you sure?"

Naruto nodded with a fake smile on his face and said, "Yeah, thanks though. See ya later, sensei!"

Without another word, the boy ran off towards his apartment, clearly hiding something. Iruka stood in quiet shook. Something was wrong with Naruto. Before Iruka could think of his next move, a voice said, "I think you see my concern now."

Iruka turned to Kakashi and said, "Yes, I do. I myself am concerned now. That's not the Naruto I know. He'd never turn down ramen."

Kakashi and Iruka both then understood that something was going on with the young knucklehead-ninja. Iruka asked, "What should we do? We could follow him."

Kakashi nodded and said, "That might be what we have to do, and we need to inform the Hokage about this. He might want to know."

The two went above on the roofs of the buildings and headed for where Naruto lived. They spotted the young blonde as they followed on top of the buildings. While they watched, Naruto didn't notice them for a second. They heard people muttering from the streets about him and staring at him with hate in their eyes. Iruka felt sorry for the young boy as he walked down the street with those people staring at watching him. Kakashi felt a bit of pity for the boy too, but he pushed it aside and kept a close eye on the boy.

After a while, Naruto finally made it to his apartment and they watched him go inside. Kakashi said, "Nothing out of the ordinary as far as his walk home."

As Naruto shut the door to his apartment, he let out a sigh. He was finally home. He put his keys on the small kitchen table and looked at the cabinets. He didn't feel like eating at all, and he wondered if Iruka would say anything to Kakashi about his behavior. He shrugged the thought off and turned the light off as he turned the light in his room on. He found his special kunai on the floor, hoping that nobody broke into his apartment and found it. He wasn't sure who could be watching him or if anyone cared to watch him that closely. Before long after he found his weapon of choice, he sat on his bed and pulled up the sleeve of his jacket and started his night ritual on days like this.

Why am I such a screw up? Why do I even try anymore? I don't have a true purpose anyway, why do I keep living when I have nothing and no one to live for? I must be pretty fucked up in the head to do this to myself, Naruto thought bitterly to himself.

As he starred and the straight lines across his skin that now had blood slowly seeping through the small cuts on his skin, Naruto felt somewhat satisfied by his work. He didn't spend too long watching before he went to turn the lights off in his apartment, feeling as if he were going to wake up to another boring day the next day.

When Naruto woke up, he heard someone knocking on his apartment door, yelling his name. He groaned and put on his normal orange outfit quickly before he walked to the front door. He opened it and saw Iruka standing there with a smile on his face.

"Iruka-sensei? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked in a sleepy tone.

Iruka said, "Good morning, Naruto. I came to see how you were doing. You seemed a little off yesterday afternoon."

Naruto cursed himself mentally. He knew better than to refuse the ramen from Iruka, but he didn't care at the time; he just wanted to go home and let his habit consume his agony. The boy said, "Yeah, sorry about that. I had some studying I wanted to do before it got late. I have nothing to do today, thankfully."

Iruka nodded and walked inside as Naruto motioned for him to come inside. Surprisingly, the apartment was clean. Iruka sat at the small kitchen table as he watched Naruto lean against the counter behind the table. Naruto crossed his arms and asked, "So, what did you wanna talk about again?"

Iruka frowned and said, "Kakashi mentioned you were a little off the past few weeks. Anything on your mind?"

Naruto felt the panic instill inside of his chest. Kakashi noticed? He was sure he was careful enough to where he couldn't see anything wrong. How'd he screw up this time?

Iruka tilted his head and Naruto realized he'd been silent for too long. He said, "Yeah, well, I've just been up late studying, like last night."

Another lie, and Iruka clearly wasn't buying it. "Naruto, stop lying."

Naruto flinched. Iruka said, "I know you're lying, so tell me the truth."

Naruto tried to hide the fact he was now shaking. If he found out anything else, then Iruka would tell Lord Third and Kakashi and then everyone else would find out. There was no way he could let that happen, not then and not ever if Naruto could help it. He could try to lie his way out of this mess, but he saw there was no lie that could make Iruka see things the way Naruto wanted him to. He was trapped in a corner.

Naruto had been silent for moments, and now, Iruka's stare was starting to make him more anxious. Naruto insisted, "I'm fine, Iruka-sensei."

"Then why are you shaking?"

Naruto felt truly trapped at that moment. He tried, "It's just really cold is all."

Iruka sighed. "Naruto, please, talk to me."

Naruto's shaking got worse. Iruka wasn't sure what he was going to do to stop the boy, but he knew if he didn't do something soon, Naruto was going to bolt out the door or jump out the window. Naruto, as Iruka thought, was actually planning to jump out of the window of his apartment. The blonde was trying to remain calm, but the moment Iruka stood, calm was gone. Calm died the moment he saw Iruka's face turn from calm to concerned. Naruto, out of impulse, ran to his bedroom. Iruka rushed after him too late, however. Naruto locked the door behind himself and opened the window. He looked down at the street below and then looked at the nearby buildings. He jumped for the nearest one, but when he landed, he looked up to see his sensei standing right there.

Kakashi closed the book in his hand and said, "Ah, there you are."

Naruto felt cornered once again. He asked, "What are you doing?"

Kakashi stared at him calmly and said, "Naruto, you need to calm down. We're not going to hurt you."

Lies. All lies, Naruto thought to himself bitterly. He looked at him and tried to run, but a clone stood in his way. In fact, there were four other clones now surrounding him. Kakashi said, "Please come quietly, Naruto. I just wanna talk."

"What about?" Naruto asked nervously.

Kakashi saw the trembling and the panic that possessed his body. The boy was afraid, but Kakashi didn't understand why.

"Why are you shaking?" Kakashi questioned.

Naruto said quickly, "It's nothing."

The white-haired Shinobi didn't buy it one bit. He asked, "What are you hiding?"

Before he knew it, Naruto had already had clones ready to fight Kakashi and all his clones. Naruto was clearly trying to run away, and he was doing a terrible job of improvising on the spot. As his clones attacked, so did Kakashi's. Eventually, Kakashi noticed in the middle of the fighting of clones, that Naruto was gone. Two of Kakashi's clones remained, but vanished as soon as Kakashi heard Iruka drop onto the roof.

"Where'd he go?"

Kakashi sighed. "He ran off. I'll just send my hounds after him myself I guess."

Iruka said, "Before you do, I found something you'll wanna look at."

Kakashi watched curiously as Iruka pulled out a Kunai from his pocket. Normally, Kakashi would ignore the fact there was a bit of blood on it, but the problem was there was dried blood on the edge of the weapon. Iruka commented, "This looks almost fresh."

Kakashi then put everything together. It only took a few seconds for Kakashi to summon his hounds to find Naruto. He commanded, "Find Naruto Uzumaki and let me know when you find him."

The hounds ran off the building and into the alleyway beside the building. Iruka asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah, and if we're right, we need to find Naruto really soon. I don't want to know what'll happen if we don't. We've already upset him, I don't think he's going to calm down easily considering he jumped out a window and started a clone fight to get away from us."