Tada. Here it is. The second part of chapter two. I think this is really well written (since it's not by me by it's by BlackPANDA xD) and I'm pretty sure all of you guys will enjoy it a LOT. This is basically talking about Naruto's past (ish).

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto and this chapter belongs to BlackPANDA xD, not me. As much as I wish I can write like this, I can't so that's just too bad. I guess I'm going to have to deal with it.

-Kaerelie Cecilia, the keeper and guardian of B1aCk RoSE

Chapter 2: Naruto's Story

….Where.. Am I?

Naruto opened his eyes, and what he saw wasn't exactly what he expected. He was in a sewer-like hallway, with water sloshing around his knees. (A/N It is suppose to be at his ankles but he's only 6 and he's short)The creepiest thing about the place was the walls; the darkest black, cracked and peeling at many places like badly covered paint. A thick red substance, looking suspiciously like blood, oozed down from the walls, only to dry up before it reached the waters. The wall itself had many pipes, colored blue, red, and black, traveling above it, the dark colors rushing inside it in frenzied waves. The colors, it seemed, lit up the hall in a dim, light purple tint. Looking up, the wall went as high as he could see, as it seemed to go deep into the darkness.

All in all, the place had a dark and intimidating miasma around it. Naruto, with a jolt, realized that he was in his mind, and was shocked. This wasn't exactly what he thought his mind would look like. He wasn't even sure why he was in his mind or how he got here. All he knew was that he was here.

Nevertheless, Naruto was nervous, but bravely waded through the water, continuing down the hallway. As he walked, he kept silent, the only sound was the disturbed water echoing in the dark hall. It seemed like forever yet only seconds later when the hall split into different directions.

Now, Naruto had no idea what to do. The hall had split into 5 different ways, but it seemed like as if there were large chains on 3 of them, leaving him with 2 choices.

The right one positioned at three o'clock was, to say the least, intimidating. It was bathed in a reddish glow, which seemed to pulse exactly like a heartbeat. Naruto sweat dropped as he looked at it, and steadied himself before looking at the other open way, hoping it wasn't worse.

The other open path positioned at nine o'clock was long and straight, and looked completely ordinary. Well, other than the fact that it was calling to him, because when he took a step towards it, whispers filled his ears, and although he couldn't understand what the whispers they were seemingly trying to tell him, he felt a strange pull towards it.

Which to choose? Left or right? Good or evil? The choice of which path he would take would decide his destiny forever… Okay, that was a bit melodramatic, but seriously.The path with freaky whispering voices in his ears, or the one bathed in a blood red glow, pulsing like it was alive. Naruto sighed with frustration.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto turned left towards the hallway with the voices, hoping to whatever God there was in the shinobi world, that he made the right choice.

Trudging through the hallway was easier than expected. All he had to do was tune out the voices, and the path didn't seem half-bad. Whistling a tune to drown out the voices, he faltered slightly when he recognized the tune. It was a lullaby. Soft yet melancholic…

FLASHBACK

I was stupid at that age. Stupid enough to believe everything they said. Stupid enough to believe that it would get better, that my entire life was just a stupid, stupid nightmare.

At that time, I still had my innocence. My childish curiosity.

Waking up in the middle of the night was normal. I guess it became normal, since I was an insomniac. I never did tell oji-san about it, he never knew that my nightmares happened every night.

People always wanted to live their dreams. I got mine in a twisted way. If I always dreamt of blood, of pain, of ignorance, and the same thing happened when I was awake, then, of course, I'm living my dreams, aren't I?

Like I said, I was stupid. A stupid 4 year old. One who cried every night, wishing to every single star in the night sky for something, just for anything to happen that was completely different from my world. Now, I know better. I know that a God won't help me. I know that crying is just a waste of your tears. It doesn't help, just makes you more depressed than you were before.

I guess it was around that time that I bought a knife. It wasn't anything special, just a normal kunai from the second-hand store. I guess I was fascinated about it. How the blood dripping down my arms contrasted so smoothly against my skin. The pain just a small price to the beauty of the colors. Soon, it became normal; like my insomnia. Normal enough that I took it to the next level. Oji-san would've been proud, I spelled my first word that day:

D.

E.

M.

O.

N.

Words were harder to do then a single line, it's like trying to draw a perfect circle on the wall using a nail. You may be wondering, why, though? Why words? Wasn't it more painful? Didn't it leave scars? Scars that would probably stay there for the rest of your life, constantly reminding you of your stupidity? I did it for one reason and one reason only.

Childish curiosity, remember?

But then, the 'anything' I had wished for happened. It was the middle of the night, the moonlight peering onto the bed through the cracked window. At that moment, the most random thing happened. Someone was playing a guitar. Whoever it was, he or she was really good, the notes plucked expertly. The first song he/she played was always that same lullaby, so delicately beautiful and the most heartbreaking.

I never listened to the other songs that person played, if he or she even had any. I was fast asleep by that time.

If I was still awake at that time, I would've noticed that my kunai was missing. But strangely enough, I never noticed it was gone after I slept. For the first time in days, I might add.

That anonymous musician with a fetish for moonlight guitar playing was probably the key to my humanity at that age. Sometimes, I wondered why he would play on the roof of my apartment of all places. Maybe… I had thought. Maybe he was there because he knew what others didn't; he knew that I was sinking into a depression hidden from everybody else. Then, my curiosity would act up again, and there were many times during the night that I had argued whether or not to going up there to meet him.

But then the music would play, and I'd fall fast asleep before that thought even ended. And you know what? I think he did that on purpose.

FLASHBACK END

It was only after a few seconds that Naruto realized what he was looking at. Scrawled out over his left arm was the same scar he had engraved on himself, on his own skin. Demon.Long white bandages, the ones usually wrapped around his arm to hide the scar had fluttered lazily to the ground, floating on top of the murky water.

Naruto remembered when he had done it. It was the first time he had really noticed his healing factor, the way the cuts just seemed to close right in front of his eyes. He was obsessed with the pain, and kept digging into his skin, over and over and over again, until the scar had finally became permanent. The only testimony to his childhood, the only visible scar proof of his stupidity.

'…do you have what we seek?'

Just then, straight in front of him, Naruto saw something move, startling him out of his thoughts. He blinked furiously, trying to locate it again. Naruto made a choking sound of surprise as the deep dark space a few metres in front of him glowed suddenly with a dark yet warm light, somehow contrasting to the despairing blackness around him. It pulsated, like the slow heartbeat of a sleeping child, a steady glow that basked Naruto in a kind of warmth.

At that split second, the voices suddenly grew louder, echoing loudly in Naruto's ears, nearly making him buckle his knees.

'If I was only there faste-'

'-protect your precio-'

'-been nice, k-'

'Get the hell off he-'

'I can't te-'

'-mi-san will have a shit about thi-'

'-mile for yourself-'

"SHUT UP!" Naruto shouted, his hands over his ears. Miraculously, the whispers stopped, leaving a dead silence in the room. Naruto looked around with a dubious look, still disbelieved that that had actually worked.

The breath got caught in his throat as a blade found its way to his throat, appearing there fast as lightning. Or at least, he thinks it was a blade. The only thing he saw was the hilt out of the corner of his eye. Despite the urgency of the situation, he couldn't help but admire the work; the hilt was a silvery grey color, shimmering in the glow of the light. Thin but strong vine-like threads of silver wound its way up the invisible blade in an intricate pattern while two long ribbons of pure black silk fell down from the base of the hilt, completing the look.

Naruto was pulled out of his admiring by gentle voices, the words caressing into his ear, different from the loud echoes from before, as if it to compensate for his protest earlier. The blade dug deeper into his skin, drawing a bead of blood.

'…do you have what we seek?'

~xXx~

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Jiraiya's left eye twitched every second as he stared anxiously at the small figure in the hospital bed. It's been 2 days since that night, and he had practically never left his side, not even for peeking at the new hot springs that had just opened up.

….Okay, that was pushing it, but still, if Tsunade saw how the mighty Jiraiya has fallen to one of an anxious, fretful mother, she's be laughing her butt off and what a sexy butt that was too.

Naruto's breath hitched a bit, and his eyebrows furrowed in pain, catching Jiraiya's attention. He sighed, going deeper into a depressed slump, staring blankly at his godson's well-featured face, so much like his father's. Naruto's slightly tanned skin was ghoulishly white from all the blood loss and he looked ghastly.

Jiraiya got up slowly from the bedside. All of this pessimistic thinking was really going to get back at him one day, just as long as it wouldn't be wrinkles. Giving an involuntary yawn, Jiraiya staggered to the room door, intent on getting some coffee.

He was sauntering over to the cafeteria when he passed through the medication desks. His eyes raised up a notch as he recognized the person standing in front of it. Could it be..?

"Dammit, I just need some more painkillers! Lost the last bottle yesterday," called the exasperated voice of Taichi from the front desk. Oh yes, he was going to enjoy this.

Quick as a flash, Jiraiya appeared behind Taichi, who froze in fear, a kunai directed at his crotch.

"Hellooo, Taichi-san, remember me?" Jiraiya whispered in his ear, a crazy glint appearing in his eye. Taichi yelped in terror before fainting straight away, a distinct dark patch forming on his pants. Jiraiya ignored the shocked look of the hospital clerk, shaking his head in disappointment. This was a Konoha chunin? He was almost too disgusted to even use chakra to finish him off….

Almost.

'Kuchiyose no Jutsu!'Jiraiya said mentally as he bit his finger, and with practiced ease, quickly formed the hand seals before slamming it on to the ground, intricate seals forming from his hands.

Poof. A bright yellow frog roughly the size of Jiraiya appeared. He waved lazily at Jiraiya with a webbed hand, looked down at the sprawled unconscious form lying down beside him, and looked back up at him with amusement.

He gave Jiraiya one last one-armed salute before sticking out his tongue, wrapping it roughly around the unconscious body, exceedingly careful not to touch the pants. The hospital nurses looked at the scene with a stupefied expression as the toad slowly spun in full circles, gaining momentum with every spin. Suddenly, he let go of the body in midspin, and Taichi crashing through a wall with a loud crash, and sailed away into the horizon.

Jiraiya shielded his eyes from the sun with one hand, gazing at the quickly disappearing dot in the sky with a sigh of contentment before walking briskly to the front of the cafeteria line, dispatching the summon frog simultaneously. The people behind him were smart enough not to protest.

"One black coffee, please!" Jiraiya said cheerfully, slamming the coins onto the front counter.

The cashier took one look at the crumbling wall, and another at the grinning sannin, before dashing away to fill his order, forgetting the coins on the counter.

Later, rejuvenated by the caffeine, Jiraiya stretched and headed back to the cafeteria line, intent on getting some onigiri, the half finished coffee held loosely in one hand. Being wide awake was such a wonderful thing, for it gave him optimism. :D! The sun was shining, (through the hole in the wall) the birds were chirping, and who knows? Maybe Naruto would wake up tod-

CRASH!

A small red blur suddenly crashed into his backside, and with a silent cry of dismay, Jiraiya watched horrified as his coffee fell out of his grasp, falling down onto the ground with a dramatic thump.

Jiraiya turned around, anime tears in his eyes, and was about to give the stranger a piece of his mind when his eyes widened in recognition.

"YOU!"

"Oh! Jiraiya-sama!"

Sprawled on the ground, grinning ear to ear, was the same boy Jiraiya had bumped into 2 days ago on that night, still wearing that familiar blue cap over his spiky black hair. He bowed low, nearly touching the ground.

"Gomen! Gomen! You see, I wasn't watching where I was going, actually I do that a lot." he chatted animatedly, still facing the ground. "Why yesterday, I bumped into Kaa-san while doing the laundry, and- oh! Jiraiya-sama!"

Jiraiya turned away briskly, trying to escape the babbling boy. With a groan, he realized he was following him, the boy literally skipping to keep pace. Suddenly, the kid's legs got tangled together, and he let out a yelp as he crashed into the floor. Eyebrows raised, Jiraiya glanced at the laughing boy- laughing, he was actually laughing!- before continuing walking, trying to hide an amused smile in his hand.

Jiraiya had no idea why the kid made him worry. Other than Naruto, he had wondered if the kid had managed to get home safely. That night, he looked scared shitless, his red eyes wide with fear. It was probably his first time seeing so much blood… Now it seemed that he was back to his real self, though he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

They waited in the cafeteria line in a peaceful silence…. Just after that thought ended, the boy began shifting from right to left, humming a cheerful tune. Desperate to shut him up,- the boy was getting adoring looks from the nurses- Jiraiya asked him the first question that popped in his head.

"Oi, gaki. What exactly are you doing in a hospital?" Jiraiya asked.

The 'gaki' spun around energetically on his heels, before giving Jiraiya a thumbs-up. "I'm visiting Naruto-kun!"

Jiraiya looked at the kid in a new light, genuinely happy that Naruto had a good friend like him. Well, as long as his overloaded amount of hyperness didn't rub off of Naruto… A hyper Naruto, combined with his above average amount of endurance, would be a total nightmare… But still, the kid seemed like a good friend, Naruto hasn't had a single visitor apart from himself and Saruto-

"I mean I haven't met him before, but he seems like a nice guy!" Well, that thought just went down the drain.

Just then, the duo reached the counter, and as Jiraiya began to think of what kind of onigiri he would get, he asked the boy another question.

"If you're visiting Naruto… What are you doing in the cafeteria?"

The boy blushed sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, I rushed here this morning, and skipped breakfast." With that reply, he sauntered up beside Jiraiya, standing on his tips of his toes to peer over the counter. Suddenly, he gave an exclaim of surprise.

"Sugoi! They have 5 different flavors of ramen here!" The boy jumped up and down in joy, before turning to the cashier lady, who was looking at him with hearts in her eyes. "Ano… Two bowls of your finest chicken-no, pork-no, miso ramen please, Cashier Lady-san!"

He dug deep into his pockets, before opening his hands, revealing…. Lint. The boy stared blankly at his hand, before looking up at Jiraiya, his red eyes sparkling in a sudden light.

Jiraiya's eyes twitched, his eyes averted. But even man cannot withstand the puppy eye jutsu, and he half-heartedly gave him a few coins. The cashier lady happily accepted the coins, before handing over the 2 bowls of ramen.

Jiraiya stared in astonishment at the size of the bowls. One alone was equal to the size of the boy's head. How was he going to finish two?

"Do you really think you can finish two, gaki?" Jiraiya exclaimed, voicing his thoughts out loud.

"No way, Jiraiya-sama! One is for me, and one is for Naruto-kun, because, y'know, he just woke up," the boy cheerfully told him.

"WHAT?"

Jiraiya sped off in the direction of Naruto's room, leaving the boy with a sense of déjà vu at seeing the quickly retreating figure. The smell of the ramen soon distracted him, though, and he took a delicate sip at the broth.

"Nyaa, it's still hot,"

~xXx~

Jiraiya opened the door with an audible creak, and poked his head inside. His heart felt as though it was getting punctured by multiple kunais when he saw Naruto flinch at seeing him, but he masked it with a large smile.

"Ano…. I think I remember you, you saved me, ne?" Naruto pressed. "Arigatou, mister, umm…"

Jiraiya sat down heavily onto the chair beside the bed, running a hand through his shaggy white hair. Best get it over with now than later on. He stared nervously at the tiled floor.

"I'm… your godfather."

At seeing Naruto's blank look, Jiraiya mentally panicked, a chibi version inside his head screaming hysterically while running around in circles. What was he, stupid? He just had to be blunt, didn't he?

"I see, what's your name?" Naruto calmly asked, his expression still unreadable on his blank face.

Whatever Jiraiya expected, it wasn't that. He whipped his head around to meet Naruto's curious blue eyes, shocked that there wasn't a single bit of hatred, or resentment in them.

"Aren't you… mad?" Jiraiya gaped in shock. "I mean… You've had the shittiest childhood in your life, your supposed guardian came only after 7 years,and all you can say is what's your name?"he babbled. "I'm probably the worst fuckin' godfather in the world, I've ignored you, I've failed your father and-"

If Naruto was shocked at his swear words, he didn't show it. He just smiled genuinely, interrupting Jiraiya in mid-babble. "Uh, I can tell by your au- I mean, your speech thing, that you're feeling guilty about it. It's okay, really! It wasn't t-that bad. Ano, you must've had a reason for not being there." For me.

Jiraiya could hear the underlying words in that sentence, and the stutter at the end really didn't help the squirming in his stomach. Nevertheless, he gave a shaky grin at Naruto, which was returned.

"My name is Jiraiya," he grinned, deciding to leave out the 'other titles.' And with the way Naruto had just nodded in response, he most likely never heard of him anyway, Jiraiya added with a disappointed sigh.

"Soo…" Naruto began, looking at his newly proclaimed Godfather. "You said something about my father, right? What was he like?"

Although slightly panicked at the question, Jiraiya chuckled enthusiastically. "Your father… He was such a cool guy to hang out with. He had an air of respect around him, yet could put you at ease at the same time. He was cheerful nearly 24/7, and had this infectious grin so much like yours."

Naruto had a stunned look on his face, and smiled. "Really?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah, in fact you share a lot of his qualities," Jiraiya laughed. "You even have the same love of ramen that he does."

Naruto smiled briefly before looked at Jiraiya in confusion. "How did you know that?" he asked.

"I actually know a lot about you," Jiraiya confessed, looking up at the ceiling. "I asked Sarutobi to tell me all about you. He'd send me letters every week, so I'd know what's happening back here. I know your likes and dislikes, how tall you're getting, and that horrible orange suit you wear all the time."

"Hey! I happen to like orange!" Naruto playfully puckered his mouth in adorable pout as he protested.

Jiraiya laughed at the pout on his face, which Naruto soon joined into a few seconds later. After their laughter died out, there was a pause of silence, before Naruto asked another question, this one much quieter.

"How did… they die?"

Jiraiya looked back at his godson, wondering how to answer that. That question had probably haunted Naruto for years. He must've wondered at some time in his life why he was an orphan. Did they die in battle? Or did they leave him willingly, too cowardly to take care of a child? Jiraiya decided to tell him the truth, or at least, part of it.

"It was during the kyuubi invasion 7 years ago… Your mother…. She died during childbirth and your father managed to get to see you just before he joined the battle. His body was never found." Jiraiya smiled sadly, looking at Naruto. "They were really excited about you... When they found out that they were going to have a son, your mother was screaming so loudly, hugging your father and dancing with joy."

Naruto stared at Jiraiya in silence, before breaking out in a slowly forming smile, putting those words to memory. His parents hadn't abandoned him, they were happy to have a son, happy to have a family. For the first time, Naruto felt proud of his parents.

Naruto was about to ask another question when there was a knock at the door. Of all the people to come in, he really didn't expect a boy wearing a blue cap he had never met before to come in. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he gave a dramatic gasp of surprise at seeing what he was holding: ramen!

The boy waved energetically at Naruto, nearly dropping the ramen bowls in the process. He gestured frantically to the bowls, and an amused Jiraiya took them from him, and he collapsed onto the ground.

"Whew! Do you know how heavy those things are? And I still had to walk EXTRA carefully so that I wouldn't spill." he huffed in annoyance, before grinning at Naruto.

"Hi, Naruto-kun, how are you today?"

At seeing Naruto's confused expression, Jiraiya rolled his eyes before introducing them. "Naruto, this is the gaki that told me where to find you. Naruto, this is…" Jiraiya paused, before looking at the kid. "Wait… What's your name again, kid?"

The kid smiled slyly under the blue cap he wore. "Sorry, Kaa-san said not to talk to strangers!" he said, sticking his tongue out at Jiraiya.

"Hey, what happened to Jiraiya-sama!"

"Gomen, gomen. But Kaa-san said that all old people are strangers, even if they seem nice to you," The boy replied innocently. "She said, and I quote, old men are horny, drunk, and perverted bastards."

Jiraiya stared down at him. Well, he couldn't compete with that logic. Sighing, he checked the time, and with a jolt, he realized he was almost late for a meeting with Sarutobi. Jiraiya gave Naruto one last ruffle on his head, ignoring his protests.

"I gotta go for a bit, kid. But I'll come back, okay?"

Naruto nodded, and Jiraiya disappeared in a whirl of leaves, leaving the two together.

"How are you feeling, ne?" The kid said, bouncing towards the chair Jiraiya had previously occupied. Naruto blinked at his hyperness, but answered the question nonetheless.

"Actually," Naruto said, stretching his arms. "I hardly feel a thing." The kid, if it was possible, smiled wider, and Naruto was surprised at the genuine relief he felt from him.

"So anyway," Naruto began curiously. "Why are you here? I mean, thanks and all for helping me from before… but I really hardly know you."

The kid leaned back into his chair, dramatically stroking an imaginary beard on his chin. "Truthfully, all I could think about the entire day was about the blood, the sickening sounds of knives cutting through you, the smell of burnt flesh…." he answered quietly, his eyes in a faraway expression.

Naruto shivered, he could practically feel the despair pulsing out from him in waves. Not to mention that his fairly descriptive words brought back unpleasant memories. There appeared to be more to the bubbly boy than it seemed.

"I HAD to make sure you were okay, or else my mind would've gone crazy," he continued, spinning the chair to meet Naruto's eyes. Red met blue. For the first time, Naruto saw the deep seriousness in those eyes, and for just one moment, he felt something black, completely black, from him, but it was gone a split second later.

Suddenly, the kid smiled cheerfully, and the serious moment was gone. "Well, at first I just wanted to check in and say hi, but you seem like a cool guy." He paused, then widened his eyes. "Hey, that rhymed."

"Wait…" Naruto began slowly, in both awe and shock. "You want to be friends or something….?" The kid bobbed his head as an answer. Trying to hide the warm feeling in his chest, Naruto laughed sheepishly. "Truthfully… I've never exactly had a friend before…."

Instead of looking at him with a pitying look, as Naruto feared him to do, he just aaahed loudly before saying, "WEEELLLL, it starts like this." He jumped enthusiastically out of his chair in front of Naruto, surprising him.

"The name's Kano!" He said, reaching out a hand. Naruto hesitated for a split second, before grasping it firmly with a bandaged hand.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" replied Naruto with a mischievous grin. The two remained there, still shaking hands, until Kano glanced over at the two steaming bowls lying on the table beside him.

"Want a ramen eating contest?"

~xXx~

"Ah, Jiraiya, you're finally here."

Leaping out from the shadows, Jiraiya scowled, and said, "Hey, I'm only late because the gaki finally woke up." Ignoring the chair, he leaned against the wall, closely watching the Hokage.

Although Sarutobi smiled at the news, there was still an air of tiredness around him. The attack must've hit him really hard, to see the very people he was protecting attacking a little boy. Either that, or the paperwork has been stacking up again.

"So, Jiraiya, what would make you announce a meeting with me?" Sarutobi questioned lightly, lighting his pipe with a fire jutsu.

"It's about what happened 2 days ago."

Sarutobi leaned into his desk, staring at Jiraiya's posture; his hands folded over his chest, a frown on his face. He was serious. "Continue," he said slowly.

Jiraiya exhaled loudly, before closing his eyes, clearly reluctant about talking about that night. "It… happened after I found Naruto. After I drove away the attackers, I tried to approach him, but then his eyes opened."

Jiraiya opened his eyes, staring at Sarutobi. "They were black. Not entirely black, like a sort of dark, dark red. Truthfully, they scared the hell out of me, like looking into the darkness at the bottom of a well. At first, I thought that the Kyuubi had possessed him, because they had the demon's pupils in them."

Jiraiya rolled up a sleeve, revealing some bandages. "Did you wonder why I arrived at your office all cut up? When I approached Naruto, the kyuubi's voice warned me to stay away, and he forced me back. I didn't even sense the attack when cuts appeared all over me. The strangest thing was that I could feel them, the cold metal of the blade slicing my arms open, the knife pressed against my throat…. But I couldn't sense them.. Dammit, I couldn't see them at all."

Sarutobi's eyes were grave. "Was it the kyuubi's doing?" he asked in a whisper.

"I don't think so," Jiraiya answered slowly, and his eyes widened as he continued. "When Naruto was falling into unconsciousness, the slits disappeared before the dark red, meaning…."

"A doujutsu," Sarutobi breathed, his eyes wide with shock.

"That's what I thought too," Jiraiya said grimly. "This could cause a serious panic attack on the village, if this gets out. If the villagers find out that the jinchuuriki has a bloodline limit, they'll become fearful about his new power."

"I see what you mean," Sarutobi said, rubbing his temples. "The manipulation and creation of invisible blades? Not to mention that there might be more secrets to the bloodline. People will be lining up to adopt him into their clans, and enemy villages will surely want his bloodline too."

"A repeat of the Hyuuga kidnapping incident," Jiraiya added with a frustrated sigh. The two fell into silence, each in their own thoughts. Jiraiya stood up abruptly.

"I'll take care of Naruto," Jiraiya said suddenly.

"You know you can't do that, Jiraiya," Sarutobi reprieved. "A seven year old child cannot be taken care of by a sannin ninja traveling the lands for leads for Orochimaru. It's too dangerous."

"It's dangerous here too!" Jiraiya shot back, collapsing against the wall.

"Jiraiya…" Sarutobi said gently. "You know that you're the only reason why Orochimaru hasn't gained much power through these years. You've been stopping his every move for the past seven years. Seven years. What are we going to do if you just suddenly quit? You have a mission to do, you know that."

Jiraiya snarled, before banging his fist into the wall, making a dent in the wall. "I told him I was his godfather." Sarutobi's eyes widened. "How am I going to tell him that I have to leave, again?"

Sarutobi's eyes grew weary, his heart breaking over his student's misery. "Maybe, if we just told the village the truth about Naruto's past…"

Jiraiya's head shot up quickly. "No. Telling the village about Minato's secret will only make it worse. You and I know that…." Jiraiya sunk to his knees against the wall, and closed his eyes.

Naruto, you have no idea exactly how much you are like your father….

FLASHBACK

~xXx~

"This is all my fault…" Minato whispered mournfully, his voice muffled by the hands covering his face. "I'm the worst father in the world…."

Jiraiya settled down beside his student, his heart breaking at seeing him finally break down. It has been three days… Three dayssince the assassination. Since Minato's son, his pride and joy, was killed by rogue nins.

He could still remember it vividly. It was around 4:00 am when rogue nins had suddenly attacked the Namikaze residence. They were both just finishing dispatching the few outside the grounds, when a scream pierced the air. Minato had gone deathly pale, and literally disappeared, faster than a bolt of lightning, towards the house, with Jiraiya at his heels.

They arrived at his room just in time to see his face. That young, 5 year old face, an expression of sheer terror in his innocent blue eyes, before his head exploded in a burst of blood and gore, the small body collapsing like a broken doll.

Minato had frozen for a single second, just one singlesecond… before the world turned straight into hell. He screamed like a wounded animal, before throwing 5 shuriken at the attacker, viciously hitting him the arms, ribcage, and straight into his still laughing face, killing him instantly.

The rest of them had no chance. Minato was still screaming himself hoarse, slashing left and right, blood slicing out from their throats at a perfect 90 degree angle, some left twisted and barely alive, with only with the upper half of their bodies, left to die a slow and painful death. Screams were heard by the entire village.

It was only 4 minutes later, when the rain washed every trace of life left from the home, when Minato was left standing in the middle of the living room, caked in blood, and surrounded by mutilated carcasses… When only the silence of the rain was heard, the screams at last fading away….

It was only then, that he started to cry.

"Jiraiya-sensei…" Minato's dead voice whispered hoarsely, breaking Jiraiya out of his thoughts. "The ANBU…. They found this… lying with one of the bodies…" He held out a headband, and Jiraiya's breathe got caught in his throat. Chiselled into the metal plate on the front of the forehead protector was the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Rock.

"I know we're at war right now…." he stated numbly, staring at his hands. "I know I shouldn't be feeling this but…."

Minato looked up at Jiraiya, and he saw those brilliant cerulean eyes, once filled with laughter and a carefree air, now hardening. If Jiraiya didn't see the rest of Minato's face, he would've sworn that they were from a different person, for those eyes were cold and merciless, eyes that has finally tasted the bitterness of loss.

"I swear… I'm going to kill every last one of those bastards for what they did…" Minato said slowly, staring up at Jiraiya like as if he wasn't there. "Not even when they're begging for mercy… I'm going to kill every fucking one of them."

There was a reason why the Hidden Rock held a grudge against the Yellow Flash. Why every parent was told to kill their child if they had blonde hair and blue eyes. For who could not remember that last battle between the Hidden Rock and the Hidden Leaf, when the Yellow Flash had single-handedly defeated an entire army in the span of a second?

Few knew that Minato had insisted on going alone. And even fewer knew that he gave a heartbreaking ghost of a smile after the last of them died. But only one knew that each of those rock ninjas were decapitated, their heads rolling on the muddy grass, their expressions frozen in one of sheer terror. That person was Jiraiya himself, who had burnt the bodies, only seconds after the Hidden Rock had surrendered to the war.

It was only years later that Minato finally let go of the past, and had another son. But this time, he took no chances. The wedding was held in secret, and the boy… The boy was given the surname Uzumaki, to prevent the tragedy from ever happening again.

It was such a cruel twist of fate, that even with all his precautions, even with all the secrets, that his youngest son still managed to have a painful life, burdened by the hatred of the same villagers Minato had given his life for, believing that they would look to him as a hero.

Uzumaki Naruto, the most pure and innocent boy with a painful past, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the unknown son of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage.

~xXx~

FLASHBACK END

The description below is just to clear things out a little bit in case you got kind of confused in the story.

Kano:

Age:5

Eye Color:Red (similar to Kurenai's)

Hair: Black, slightly spiky, but not by much. It is short, but covers his ears, slightly like Sai's, but a little longer and spikier.

Height:let's just say he's little more than couple inches shorter than Naruto.

Appearance:

Because he is an orphan, he wears slightly worn clothes, mostly in the colors red, blue, white, and yellow. Right now, he is wearing a red and white striped t-shirt with baggy black shorts. He constantly wears a blue cap similar to the one Yuki from Fruits Basket wore as a child. It partially hides his red eyes.

He wears brown sandals.

In the part where Naruto is feeling Kano's despair, I'm pretty sure many of you are pretty confused about that. Well, that'll be explained fully in the next chapter (meaning chapter two, not chapter one part three.) More specifically, it'll be explained in chapter two, part two.

As BlackPANDA xD said, "Hope you liked the bit about Naruto's past. He wasn't all accepting about it at first, and I want to and will explore more on that."

Also the Minato thing, since the manga never told why the fact was kept a secret (you know, they could easily have had people know Naruto's is the Fourth Hokage's son and still keep the Kyubi thing a secret) and so BlackPANDA xD has created something that may have led to it. According to BlackPANDA xD, "Yeah, I added the 'older son who died after an assasination' part to make the reason more better, y'know? I also wanted to explore on Minato's dark side, which was pretty cool to type."

Thanks for reading and just to remind you again, THIS CHAPTER DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. IT BELONGS TO BLACKPANDA XD. I only edited some things and just changed some grammatical mistakes. But next chapter WILL belong to me and I hope you guys will all enjoy it despite my horrible writing. Review. Review. REVIEW!

-Kaerelie Cecilia, the keeper and guardian of B1aCk RoSE (maybe I'll change this to Queen of B1aCk RoSE. I like the way it sounds but I also like the way keeper of B1aCk RoSE sounds as well so I'm not quite sure.)