Disclaimer: The characters and places in this story are not mine. Any similarities to other stories are completely coincidental. Naruto and Digimon belong to their respective creators.

I also want to thank everyone for their amazing reactions to my story.

Difficult Lives

The digidestined met at the school's digiport.

"Ready everyone?" Tai asked.

"Yes. Let's go." Davis said with nods all around. The digidestined headed through the port.

The digidestined exited the digiport into a barren land. The area was charged with a residual blue energy obscuring the landscape. It was due to this blur that the children missed seeing their enemy behind them. Their surroundings became even more obscure than before after they heard a voice call out an attack.

"Hurry, everyone. Digivolve," Tai shouted.

The digidestined started to but before they could finish, they heard the enemy shout, "Bring to Light." Davis couldn't move away fast enough and the attack hit him straight on.

"DAVIS!" Veemon shouted as his partner collapsed. Ken ran toward the fallen young child of courage and dragged him out of range of the fight.

As soon as the attack had hit Davis, the digidestined had attacked. The fight became more furious as the digidestined noticed their leader and friend fall. Ken waited patiently beside Davis as his digimon shielded them from any stray attacks.

Meanwhile, Davis remembered. He remembered memories that had long since been hidden. He remembered a different life.

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Davis ran through dark streets. He knew they were chasing him. Just as he knew he didn't want to be caught. The eight-year-old cried softly as he ran wondering why his pursuers hated him so much. He turned a corner and his heart filled with despair. He had reached a dead end. They would catch him for sure. He had no escape.

"The demon. Hurt the demon!" the crowd of adults shouted as they finally caught up with him. They wasted no time in kicking and punching the poor child.

"Why? Please, stop!" the boy cried, hoping it would work. It didn't. The crowd continued and their attacks became more furious at his plea.

Davis sobbed harder as the blows rained down with no better understanding of why he deserved it. After all, he wasn't a demon, right?

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Davis stood in the middle of a bare classroom. Two men stood at the table in front of him. They watched him, waiting. They were waiting for him to show them his cloning skills. He wasn't sure how he knew this but he did.

"Bunshin no Jutsu." He shouted as he formed hand seals that he subconsciously knew. Even as he felt the familiar warmth of his chakra flowing through his body, he knew the technique would fail. He couldn't stop himself from turning, even as he dreaded what he would find. A collapsed blond boy, a clone as his mind informed him, in bright orange pants and a shirt with an odd black swirl on it. Goggles held back his spiky blond locks and the bright blue eyes were drooped in exhaustion. Davis knew the word, even before he heard it.

"Fail!" the man on the left side of the table informed him.

"Iruka, we could let him pass. This is his third time and he did technically create a clone." The second man at the table defended him. Davis waited for Iruka's answer hopefully. He was disappointed.

"No way Mizuki. Everyone else divided into 3 but Naruto only created one and it was a useless one." Iruka answered firmly. "I can't let him pass." Davis heard as an anger he didn't realize he had flared up but he held it back.

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Davis watched all the ninja graduates and their families. He watched enviously, knowing that he had neither their success nor family that he knew of. He let his head droop as he heard a conversation about him between two of the adults.

"Hey, that kid . . . ."

"Yeah, that's 'the' kid and he's the only one who failed."

"Well, that's good."

"We can't have him becoming a ninja."

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Davis was surprised to hear a voice call him from behind as he walked back to his apartment from the academy.

"Mizuki-sensei!" he exclaimed in surprise as he turned around.

"I want to talk to you. Do you mind?" the grey haired teacher asked.

"No." Davis answered and they moved up to a balcony where the teacher sat on the edge of it and Davis followed suit.

"Iruka is a serious person, his parents were killed when he was young and he's had to do everything himself." Mizuki started the conversation.

"But why does he only pick on me?" Davis whined.

Mizuki looked over at him.

"He probably sees himself in you." Davis looked at him in surprise. "He's probably thinking he wants you to become strong in the real way. Try to understand Iruka's feeling since he also has no parents." Mizuki finished.

Davis paused. " . . . . But I wish I had graduated."

Mizuki looked over and smiled, "I'll tell you a special secret."

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Davis sat, battered and bruised in a clearing. He had a large scroll on his back. He was laughing softly.

"I've found you . . . . Hey!" Iruka exclaimed above him.

Davis didn't stand up as a mischievous thought grew inside him as he thought about his accomplishment. Finally, he jumped up, shouting, "Oh! I found the nose bleeder!"

"Idiot! I found you!" Iruka shouted back.

Davis didn't mind. He grinned and placed a hand behind his head.

"Hehehe, you found me. I've only learned one skill." Davis admitted.

"Hey. You're all beaten up, what were you doing?" Iruka asked.

"Never mind that, hey, hey?! I'm going to try an incredible skill. If I do it . . . . Let me graduate!" Davis shouted.

"Naruto," Iruka started as Davis got into position, "where did you get that scroll on your back?"

"Oh, this? Mizuki-sensei told me about it and about this place too." Davis answered, "He said if I showed you this skill, I'd definitely graduate!"

Davis was caught by surprise when he felt Iruka push him to the side without warning. He briefly saw the kunai flying past the place he had been and pinning Iruka to a wall of a shed in the clearing.

"Nice job in finding him." a voice said from high in the surrounding trees.

"I see, so that's what's going on." Iruka realized.

Davis just stood at the edge of the clearing, completely confused.

"Naruto, give me the scroll!" Mizuki shouted at him.

"Hey! Hey! What's going on here?!" Davis cried.

"Naruto! Don't give him the scroll even if you die!" Iruka shouted, having pulled himself from his pinned position. "That is a dangerous scroll that has forbidden ninjutsu sealed within it. Mizuki used you in order to get his hands on it!"

Davis glared at Mizuki who looked unconcerned.

"Naruto, there's no point in having it. I'll tell you the truth." Mizuki finally said with a grin.

"N-No! Don't!" Iruka shouted frantically.

"Twelve years ago, you know about the demon fox being sealed right?" Mizuki asked.

Sealed? Kakashi mentioned something about that, didn't he? A distant part of Davis's mind asked as the memory continued to play out.

"Since that incident, a new rule was created for this village." Mizuki continued.

"A rule?!" Davis asked.

"But, Naruto. This rule was never meant to be told to you."

"Not to me? What is this rule? Why?" Mizuki laughed. "What kind of rule is it?" Davis asked warily.

"The rule is that nobody is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the demon fox." Mizuki finished.

"What do you mean?" Davis demanded.

"Stop it!" Iruka shouted.

"It means that you are the nine-tailed demon that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village." Davis froze in shock as his emotions erupted into turmoil.

"I-I'm the demon fox? I can't be, can I?" Davis wondered in disbelief.

"You were sealed by the Hokage you admire and –" Mizuki started again.

"Stop it!" Iruka interrupted even though he knew it was too late.

"You have been lied to by everyone! Didn't you find it odd how everyone hated you? Iruka is the same! He actually hates you!" Mizuki shouted as he swirled a large kunai in his hand to throw.

Davis heard someone shout his name, breaking him from his shock. The ground erupted in a complete circle around his feet.

"Nobody will ever accept you!" Mizuki shouted gleefully. "That scroll was used to seal you up!"

Davis didn't even see the giant kunai flying at him but Iruka did. He jumped on top of Davis taking the kunai in his back. Davis's mind shut down again in shock and all he could do was ask Iruka, "Why . . . . ?"

"My parents, after they died, there was nobody to compliment me or acknowledge me. I was so sad. I would always act like an idiot to get people's attention. Since I was able to do well in things like school and get attention that way. It was better than doing nothing. So I kept acting like an idiot. It was so painful . . . . Yeah. Naruto, you must have been in a lot of pain too." Iruka gasped with blood and tears dripping down on the boy beneath him. "I'm so sorry, Naruto, if I had done a better job. You wouldn't have had to feel like this."

Davis's eyes widened. He turned away and ran out of the clearing. Iruka still hadn't risen from his crouched position.

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Davis stood behind a tree. He heard Iruka get knocked down by Mizuki. Both fell, Mizuki landed on the ground and Iruka landed against a tree trunk.

"How did you know I wasn't Iruka?" Mizuki asked as he dispelled his henge.

"I'm Iruka." Iruka responded, dispelling his own henge as well.

"I see . . . ." Mizuki responded with a disappointed smirk. "Hehehe . . . . You'd even transform into what killed your parents to protect him?"

"I won't hand the scroll over to an idiot like you!" Iruka retorted.

"You're the idiot. Naruto and I are the same." Mizuki said.

"The same?" Iruka questioned. Davis felt angry at the comparison but he held it back and listened to the two men.

"If you use skills in that scroll, you can do whatever you want. There's no way that demon fox wouldn't try to use the power. Unlike what you're assuming." Mizuki stated.

"Yeah-" Iruka responded.

Davis was stricken. Damn . . . . I knew it . . . . See . . . . doesn't acknowledge me.

"The demon fox would do that but Naruto is different. He is . . . . I've acknowledged him as one of my excellent students. He may not be the hardest worker and he's clumsy so nobody accepts him. He already knows what it is to feel pain in your heart. He isn't the demon fox anymore. He is a member of the Hidden Leaf Village, he's Naruto Uzumaki!" Davis heard Iruka declare to his utter surprise. His eyes filled with tears as the scene between Iruka and Mizuki continued on, both still seemingly unaware of his presence.

"Ok, whatever." Mizuki started, pausing as Iruka cringed in pain. "Iruka, I said I would take care of you later but I'm changing my mind. Hurry up and die!" Mizuki finished, rushing toward the defenseless teacher.

Davis jumped out, knocking into Mizuki and sending the new giant kunai he had pulled out flying away.

"You should not have done that." Mizuki stated, getting up from his face plant in the ground.

"Don't touch, Iruka-sensei. I'll kill you!" Davis said menacingly.

"Run away! You idiot! Why did you come out?!" Iruka shouted from behind him.

"Shut up! Punk like you, I'll kill you in one shot." Mizuki shouted back.

"Try it trash! I'll return the pain a thousand times over!" Davis shouted, moving his fingers into a cross position.

"Then do it, demon fox!" Mizuki challenged.

Naruto responded with a "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," forming around a thousand clones.

"Wha-?! What's going on?" Mizuki shouted as he stumbled. The clones surrounded him.

"What's wrong? Come at me! Weren't you going to kill me in one shot? Well then . . . . I'll start things off!"

A few moments later, Mizuki lay beaten on the ground and the clones dispersed.

"Hehe. . . . I went a little too far." Davis said sheepishly looking down at the beaten Mizuki.

Iruka grinned and said, "Naruto, come over here. There's something I want to give you."

A moment later, Davis felt a headband like the ones granted the academy graduates, a symbol of his success on his forehead. He couldn't hold himself back when Iruka suggested celebrating at his favorite restaurant. He jumped onto Iruka in a clingy hug.