"Naruto"- Person Talking

'Naruto' - Person thinking

"Naruto"- Demon/Summon Talking

'Naruto' - Demon/Summon thinking

Italic - Letter/ Journal

(A/N: Author's Note)

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.

Summary: Namikaze's are the cousin's of Uchiha similar to how Uzumaki's are the cousin's of Senju. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, Only child of the Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki among the triplets who is unable to use chakra. Only to be used as a scapegoat to the Kyuubi's attack then married to Fourth Raikage in a political marriage to prevent war from breaking out. Will she be able to unlock her chakra, will she find the love and acceptance that she always wanted...? Sharingan/Wood Style/Rinnegan Naruto. God like Naruto. Alive Minato & Kushina. Neglect Naruto. Fem NarutoXA

A/N: Hi Guys, Thanks for your reviews. I'm still waiting for more reviews to finally decide that whether I should remove Naruto or Naruko from the pairing list. So keep posting...

As for the character development as said, I won't lie to you. I never planned for it. I actually planned for the main content of the second and third chapter into one. But more and more things started to come into my mind which I kept writing it and it was important also for the later part of the story and Naruto's character. As for the Minato and Kushina neglecting Naruto from the start without any good reason... come on any parent in the right state of their mind will never hate their children. They can prefer one over the other but will never hate any of their children. In this chapter I've explained why Minato and Kushina has started neglecting Naruto. As for this story's start to be not like the other Naruto's neglect stories as Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night has said I'LL TAKE THAT AS A COMPLIMENT.

HE HE HE HE sorry if I've offended you Kunoichi...

Chapter 3 - Childhood or Nightmare

Few months later

It's been few months since Jiraiya left and since then things aren't looking good for our young blond jinchuuriki. Somehow the words got out that Naruto was unable to use chakra and from there the things went downhill for her. Because for the villagers, it confirmed their beliefs that Naruto was indeed the Kyuubi in human form.

One day when Namikaze family was coming back from their regular visits from Ichiraku ramen, one drunk villager has thrown a bottle towards Naruto while shouting "Die you demon bitch!". It collided with her head and she fell to the ground.

Naruto was hurt and bleeding profusely from the wound inflicted upon her because of the bottle that collided with her head. She was clutching her head because of the pain.

Minato and Kushina came by her side instantly with Mito and Menma in tow. After seeing the state of her daughter, Kushina turns towards the villager who has thrown the bottle, while releasing the killing intent that froze the villager in his spot. She was about to dash towards the villager to kill him but Minato stopped her while saying "Kushina! This is not the right time for any of this. You take Mito and Menma back to the compound while I will take Naruto to the hospital." Minato finished after picking Naruto in bridal carry. Kushina was about to retort but after receiving a firm look Minato, she nodded reluctantly. What he didn't know was that the leaving the villager unpunished will be the one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

Since that incident villagers got bold and started the assault on the blond jinchuuriki openly. Earlier they used to be subtle because of the fear of their Hokage and his wife. But after that incident they knew that their beloved Hokage wouldn't hurt them no matter what. The assault started with visual glares then it became verbal and soon it became physical.

They started with pushing her around, then started bullying her, which soon turned into the regular beatings. It continued to the point where Naruto has to run for her life while being chased by the mob of villagers.

They used to beat the every inch out of her until a team of ANBU came for her rescue, which will result in villagers getting arrested before escorting the battered and bruised Naruto to her home or hospital, depending upon her condition. But there was something that confused Naruto. After being escorted to the hospital, her parents used to visit her but the visits were becoming less and less frequent. It came to the point, where they have stopped visiting her altogether. Even after arriving back home after being released from the hospital, instead of getting the usual warm welcome or concerned filled faces, all she got was guilt filled eyes of her parents.

As for the villagers, the civilian council has started throwing tantrum about the villagers getting arrested during the council session, which will result in the villagers getting released from the prison. While some might be scared about getting arrested and thrown into prison for a while, but for the villagers it was a small price to pay for getting back at the 'Demon'.

Eventually even Naruto noticed the familiar faces in the mob from her previous beat downs. She might be young but she was no fool. She knew only the Hokage has the authority to release the prisoners. So she decided to ask her parents about that. That's where we find our favorite blond walking towards her father's study but she suddenly stopped in her tracks after hearing the voice of her parents.

"Minato-kun! I can't take it anymore. The villagers are getting bolder and bolder. They are even started forming the mobs to hurt our Naruto-chan. You told me that they will be seen as a hero for containing the Kyuubi, but look how are they treating Naruto-chan," Kushina said.

"I know Kushina-chan. But I don't know what to do to change the villagers point of view," said Minato.

"But you can at least order the ANBU's to stop them before they hurt her. I don't see the point in letting the villagers hurt her," said Kushina. After hearing this a shocked and wide eyed Naruto thought 'They are letting the villagers hurt me! But why?'

"You are not seeing the whole picture Kushian-chan. The Kyuubi killed a lot of people on that day. The villagers need an anger outlet. All I can do right now is to order the ANBU's to rescue her before they inflict any deadly blow or any permanent damage to her," said Minato sadly.

"But why Naruto-chan of all the people? Isn't she already suffered enough? I mean look at her. She's smiling less and less every day and most of the time she is looking sad. On top of that she isn't able to unlock her chakra, which is shattering her confidence and she is falling into depression," said a tear eyed Kushina.

Minato rose up from his seat and hugged Kushina.

"I understand Kushina-chan. But if I stop them from hurting Naruto-chan then they might target Mito-chan or Menma-kun and that is something which we can't let it happen because of the prophecy. You saw yourself; some of the villagers were also glaring towards Mito and Menma before Naruto's condition has been leaked into the public somehow. They are holding the Kyuubi's chakra Kushina-chan and if the villagers start targeting them then they might start hating them back. Kyuubi's chakra is filled with nothing but malice and hatred and their hatred will only fuel it. We have sealed the Kyuubi's chakra into them in hope that they will be able to control it in near future. If they fall into their hatred then instead of controlling the Kyuubi's chakra; the chakra will control them and they will fulfill the dark part of the prophecy which will result in the world's destruction and I can't let that happen," said Minato.

"But what about Naruto -chan?" asked Kushina.

"She will pull through. I have faith in her. Right now, I may not be able to look at her without guilt but I can't tell you how proud I am on her for taking all the crap from the villagers and still able to bounce back every time," said Minato.

Kushina openly sobbed while they hugged each other. They both failed to notice Naruto, who was looking at them from the small gap between the doors with a sad and determined look on her face with only one thought running inside her mind 'Don't worry Tou-san, Kaa-chan. I will not fall into the darkness. I won't let the villagers harm my brother and sister. I will take on all the hate of the villagers myself to protect my siblings. I won't let the despair catch me because I will rise above the darkness and one day you will be able to see me with pride in your eyes instead of guilt. I, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze promise you that and I won't go back on my words because my nindo, my ninja way,' with that she went back to her room.

Few months later

It was easier said than done. Because the villages was getting more violent by every passing day. It came to the point where they started using weapons but like always ANBU stopped them from doing any permanent damage. The villagers quickly deduced that the ANBU won't allow them to kill the demon or inflicting any permanent damage on her. So they started to beat her more badly than usual. Like pulling out her nails, hanging her with thumb, breaking bones etc.

After a usual beating, When a boar masked ANBU picked her up she said something which shook him to his core.

"C-can y-y-ou p-pl-please s-stop t-them f-fr-from br-breaking a-any bo-bones... I-it t-takes t-too mu-much ti-time to he-heal," said Naruto clearly from too much pain if her shuttering is anything to go by. After saying her last words of the day, she passed out; unable to bear the pain any longer.

The ANBU stood there, unable to process the situation. 'Did she knew that we were here from the beginning?' He thought but decided that first he will ask her everything before reporting back to Hokage. He took her to the hospital to get her healed.

The answer he received has blown the mind out of him. She knew everything. She knew about the Kyuubi, about Hokage-sama allowing the attacks and releasing the arrested villagers; every single damn thing. She also asked him to not to tell Minato anything about her knowledge. When he asked her "Why?" she simple told him that she didn't was to see the guilt filled eyes of her parents. That's why she also asked him to stop the villagers before they broke any bones because that will be noticeable for many days because of the plaster.

She then asked him to take her to Tsunade inside the Senju compound, instead of Namikaze. Tsunade knew about the attacks and she was the one who usually heal her. Tsunade tried to talk to Minato and Kushina about the beatings but before she could, she was always stopped by Naruto, who later took promise from her that she(Tsunade) will not tell them anything. After some arguing Tsunade reluctantly agreed.

2 years later

Her Suffering continued as usual. But the result of those beating were quite severe for Naruto overall. Mito and Menma didn't knew anything about the attacks. Whenever they asked Naruto about her injuries, she will tell them a lame excuse, which somehow convinced them every time. Minato and Kushina was drowning in their guilt and it came to a point that they couldn't even look at her without flinching and as a result they starting ignoring Naruto more and more, which resulted in Naruto getting distant from her family. It also didn't help after Minto and Kushina took over their training. Because of the Kyuubi's chakra, they have to start training Mito and Menma in the chakra techniques in which Naruto couldn't participate because of her condition.

Naruto, who was unable to unlock her chakra, took Jiraiya's parting words to her heart and trained herself to the ground in taijutsu. On the road, she also picked up the kenjutsu and trained herself to the point where she can use a blade quite well. Even after all that, she still didn't lost her hope to unlock her chakra some day. She has started to read everything about ninjutsu, genjutsu and fuinjutsu from Senju library, where she was spending more and more time than Namikaze compound anyway.

When Tsunade asked her why she was reading all that since she still has to unlock her chakra. Her answer has surprised the hell out of her.

"I don't know when I will be able to unlock my chakra. But when I do unlock it; I don't want to waste my time about reading all this since I will have to make up to my lost time. So when I unlock my chakra, I only need to implement everything that I learned over the years."

On the other hand Mito and Menma were also getting influenced by the villagers. They have also started bullying her because of her inability to use chakra. She was taking all the crap from the villagers mainly because of them and they of all the people started bullying her; It saddened her but she took all of that and stood firm. Many time she reached the breaking point but after remembering her promise to herself, she bounced back every single time.

Right now 7 years old Naruto was walking with Tsunade and her apprentice Shizune on the streets of Tanzaku Gai. A town located inside the land of fire, a tourist place as well as a gambling den. She was wearing an orange jumpsuit (A/N: Same as cannon). Over the years she has adopted a masked persona of an idiot and clown. Why you ask, that's simple because villagers will prefer an idiot demon over a smart demon any day. The only time she lets the mask slip was when she is with Tsunade but even then it was a small slip. Nobody knew who she really is, except herself. It all started around a year and half ago when Tsunade stated that she was maturing way too fast and asked her to preserve her childhood and innocence as much as she can. Of course being a good god daughter that she is, she agreed and masked personality came into the picture. It at least helped her to hide her pain from everyone she cares about and the villagers won't get the satisfaction of seeing that their treatment is getting to her.

"I still don't know why we are stopping here. The place we were suppose to visit for your medical herbs is still some hours travel from here and its only afternoon right now. If we leave right now then we will be able to reach that place by evening," said Naruto.

"Oh shut it gaki! You should learn to enjoy every once in a while. Besides I heard that there is a poker tournament is being held in one of the casinos and I want to participate in that. It's been a while since I went to any casino," Tsunade said with a glee.

"You really are the world's greatest sucker baa-chan," said Naruto with deadpan. Shizune started to giggle at their antics.

"Shut up brat. I still don't know how you were able to convince me to ask Minato to let you come along with us. Why you are even here in the first place? You don't even know anything about the herbs," asked Tsunade.

"Well seeing new sights is always good and getting away from the hate filled glares and beating is always a plus," said Naruto with a straight face without showing any kind of emotion. Tsunade and Shizune gave Naruto a sad look. They both knew what Naruto has to go through every day inside her own village. Perhaps this was the reason why Minato allowed Naruto to go outside of the village with Tsunade.

"Naruto-chan, Tell me why you are not allowing me to talk to Minato and Kushina about this. You know tha...," Tsunade was cut off by Naruto.

"We have already talked about that baa-chan. Besides don't forget that you promised me to not to tell anyone about that," said Naruto.

Tsunade signed but nodded.

"Fine but remember all the bets are coming off if they did something extreme. Got it?" said Tsunade and Naruto nodded.

"Ok then let's go! First let's get something to eat then we are going to hit casino!" exclaimed Tsunade.

After the lunch they went inside a casino. There was still couple of hours left for the poker tournament to start so Tsunade decided to hit the slot machine and as usual she was losing badly. While Shizune was standing behind Tsunade, a bored Naruto was leaning against the slot machine next to the one Tsunade was using.

Then she noticed one coin on the floor. She shrugged her shoulders and picked up the coin. She looked at the coin with interest then decided to try her luck by playing. She inserted the coin inside the machine and pullet the lever.

Tsunade was cursing her luck. She was losing badly...again. They she heard a sound. she looked towards her right where a wide eye Naruto have just won the jackpot.

"N-Naruto-chan what did you do?" asked a shocked Tsunade.

"I found one coin on the floor and decided to try my luck," replied Naruto.

After that Tsunade decided to test Naruto's luck and asked her to play on her machine. Obviously she won again. Then Tsunade decided to test Naruto's luck on different games and Naruto won every single game. Usually Shizune would have opposed to such kind of idea but right now even she want to know how lucky Naruto really is?

'Damm! she got the devil's luck,' Tsunade thought then an idea came to her mind.

"Hey Naruto-chan! I have a deal for you," said Tsunade in glee.

"What kind of deal?" replied a nervous Naruto.

"You can keep all the money won up to this point. Then you will enter in poker tournament in my place. You can even use the money that I brought for the tournament. But we will split the money in half if you manage to win the tournament," said Tsunade.

"But baa-chan. I don't know how to play the poker," said Naruto.

"Don't worry we still have some time left. I'll teach you how to play. So do we have a deal?" said Tsunade while extending her hand.

"You're on," said Naruto and shook Tsunade's hand.

After the tournament a very excited Tsunade, happy Naruto and shocked Shizune left the casino. Apparently Naruto's devil luck continued to show in the poker tournament also and she won 20 million from it not counting the additional 8 million that she won from the different games and as promised, she gave half of the prize money which was 10 million to Tsunade.

Next day they continued towards their destination which was Benisu Island. They reached there around mid afternoon.

"Ok Naruto-chan you can go and look around for a bit but don't go too far," said Tsunade.

Naruto nodded and left. After walking around a while she heard a scream. She turned towards the source and a woman came out of the bush and started running towards Naruto, while shouting for the help. Then two man who were carrying the swords came out of the same bush and went after the woman. They soon caught up to her just a few feet away from Naruto and tackled her to the ground and started ripping her cloths apart. Naruto after seeing this shouted "Hey you two! Leave that woman alone."

Both of them stopped and looked towards Naruto.

"Hey Renji. Look a unripe fruit," said the first thug.

"Ku ku ku ku. I'll love to squash this fruit. Go capture her and then we can start our fun," said now identified thug Renji with a glee.

"Gladly," said the first thug and started walking towards Naruto.

Naruto stood there with look of concentration on her face. She has faced the mobs out for her blood. These thugs were nothing in compare to them.

As soon has the thug reached her she broke into the action. She punched him in the gut. The thus was too slow to react to her speed. The thug bent forward because of the power behind the blow. Then Naruto kneeled him on the face which broke his nose. The thug clutched his face and dropped the sword in the process. Naruto picked up the sword and stabbed it through the thugs heart, killing him instantly.

After seeing his companion got killed by a seven year old child none the less, Renji left the woman and ran towards Naruto with his sword in hand and intended to kill Naruto. But Naruto was fast enough to react, she pulled the sword out of the first thug and ducked from the horizontal slash from the Renji and stabbed the sword inside the Renji's stomach. Renji clutched his stomach while coughing up the blood before hitting the ground.

After the adrenaline left her she looked at her hands which were drenched in blood. She started hyperventilating and was about to hit the ground but Tsunade caught her in time.

Tsunade and Sizune were picking up the herbs when they heard a scream from the direction Naruto went and left immediately to check on her. They arrived just in time to see Naruto stabbing the sword inside the Renji's stomach. They have seen that Naruto have started to hyperventilating and about to hit the ground. So they dashed towards her and Tsunade caught her just in time.

After seeing Tsunade and Shizune, Naruto calmed down a bit and said "Baa-chan. I really am a monster like everybody said." then she started sobbing.

Tsunade hugged her and said "You are not a monster Naruto-chan."

"But I killed them," said Naruto.

"You kill them in self defense as well as to save that woman's modesty. No monster would have done that. And the remorse you are feeling is clearly indication that you are not a monster." replied Tsunade. Tsunade understood the situation completely after observing the scene, after all she has seen almost all the horrors of the elemental nation and woman's condition was clear indication about what was going to happen to her had Naruto didn't intervened.

That woman came towards Naruto and bowed to her while saying "Thank you for saving my modesty young one. I can't tell you how grateful I am to you but I am also sorry that you have to kill someone at such a tender age because of me."

"It's no problem," replied Naruto in a soft voice.

She looked towards Tsunade and Shizune. They both were giving her a small smile. She nodded towards them like saying that she is fine now.

Tsunade and Shizune took her with them, not wanting to leave her alone after the whole incident.

Naruto set under a tree, nearby to place where Tsunade and Shizune are picking up the herbs. She understood what she did and why she did and came to terms about it. But her mind was still in turmoil. She couldn't help but look towards her hands every once in a while. She wants to understand why there is so much bloodshed. She read about the past wars and knew that what she did just few minutes ago was nothing compared to what others have done during past wars. She just caught the glimpse of the real world and now she wanted to understand the ninja world and ninja system. She knew that she has to wait for sometime because the answers she were looking for, can only be found inside the village.

After coming back to village, she went to the Senju compound to read the journals of Hashirama and Tobirama Senju the First and Second Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. She knew that that questions she was looking for will be answered after she read their journal. After all who is the better than the person who founded the said system.

She read their journals day and night. After few days she found her answers and it changed her outlook towards the world somewhat. The ninja world is cruel where stronger always ruled over the weak.

Hashirama, Tobirama and Madara founded this village in hope that the wars will end with this system. A system where a child won't be forced to participate in a war, a system where every child will have a chance to enjoy his or her childhood. If that was so than why her childhood was filled with nothing but nightmares. She understood that there will be always some exception and it seems that she is one of those exception. It filled her heart with sadness but she still retained her kind and caring personality.

The journey that Hashirama and Tobirama went through is quite exciting and insightful. She was greatly inspired by Hashirama and his ideals but also respected Tobirama's beliefs and determined herself to follow the same path which both of them walked on.

Few Months Later

Naruto continued to train herself in the art of taijutsu and kenjutsu. The villagers were getting less and less harsh on her because of her masked personality. In front of everyone, she was loud, brash, trouble maker and too the horror for all 'The Prankster Queen from Hell'. Adapting to her masked persona, she continued to prank the living shit out of the villagers. It was also a way to let out her anger and frustration and getting back at the villagers for all the beat down is always a plus.

However, her relationship with her family was quite bad now. She started showing up less and less and started to spend most of her time inside the Senju compound. Minato and Kushina were spending quite some time to train Mito and Menma, completely disregarding Naruto. Unaware to Naruto's masked personality, they started to scold her because of her pranks, which was only increasing the paperwork on Minato's desk and forced him to stay inside his office for longer duration.

The villagers have became less harsh on Naruto but that doesn't mean that they have stopped forming mob every once in a while to hunt down the 'Demon'. During the said event she also gained her first and only friend.

She was getting chased by the villagers. She ducked, slid, jumped and did many acrobatics while running away from the villagers. Sure she can out run some civilians because of the harsh training she put herself through but decided not to. Since this way her siblings will be more safe from the villagers hatred. Though she let them beat her but that doesn't mean she can't run them around the village for a while. This way, they will be more tired and that means less harm for her. Finally she decided to end the chase and turned towards a alley, she knew was blocked. She stopped and waited for the beat down.

"Finally! you have nowhere to run now demon," said a random villager while taking deep breaths.

'Idiots!' thought Naruto with closed eyes and waited for the pain but it never came. She opened her eyes in confusion only to see that a lone ANBU was standing between the mob and her.

"Leave now or else...," trailed off ANBU while leaking some killing intent.

The villagers left after seeing the ANBU.

Said ANBU then turned around to face Naruto. Naruto looked towards him. He was wearing a crow mask and a pair of Sharingan eyes were clearly visible from the eye holes.

"Are you alright?" crow asked.

"Are you new?" asked Naruto in return.

Now this confused the said ANBU but he obliged none the less.

"Ahh No. I've been in ANBU for over a year now and I am actually an ANBU captain." replied the confused crow masked ANBU.

"Then why did you saved me?" asked Naruto.

This only confused crow even more 'Didn't she wanted to be saved?'

"I was actually passing by. I have just finished my mission and I was going to report back before I heard the commotion and decided to check it out," replied crow.

"Whatever! Just don't stop them next time before they even began but remember to intervene if they decided to do any permanent damage or any kind of damage that will take too long to heal otherwise you might get into trouble." said Naruto as she started walking towards the exit.

"Wait!" said crow clearly intrigued by her response.

"What?" asked a annoyed Naruto.

"Can you answer some of the questions of mine?" asked crow.

"I don't trust you enough to answer your questions," said Naruto.

"Fair enough. Then how about I tell you my identity and then you answer some of my questions." said crow.

Naruto new that an ANBU identity is one of the closely guarded secret in a ninja village. So if this ANBU is putting so much trust in her then she can at least humor him.

"Fine but don't expect me to answer all of your questions," said Naruto.

Crow nodded but asked her to come to a secluded place. They agreed to meet on top of the Hokage Monument after half an hour.

2 hours later

After some time, trust grew between them and they ended up telling each other many things. Right now they were sitting on top of the First Hokage's head while munching a pokey each.

"That's quite a tale you got there Naruto-san. I can't help but respect you for all of your pain and sacrifices. You als...," said Itachi Uchiha only to cut off by Naruto.

"Yeah yeah! Big deal. You are big fan of me now. What else do you want an autograph...? Huh pokey boy?" asked Naruto in amusement while munching a pokey which Itachi has given her.

Itachi's eyebrows were twitching at her comment. "You are the one to talk. Who are you to call me pokey boy when you are also eating it right now. Huh shorty?" replied back Itachi.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SHORTY YOU FREAK OF THE NATURE!" shouted back Naruto.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FREAK YOU PIG TAILS!" shouted back a normally stoic Itachi Uchiha.

"DON'T CALL ME PIG TAILS YOU RED EYED ROBOT!" shouted back Naruto.

"THATS MY BLOODLINE YOU ILLITERATE IDIOT!" replied back Itachi. They continued to throw insults at each other for another few minutes before calming down.

"I had lot of fun today Itachi-san. See you later," said Naruto as they both went to their separate ways.

This marked the start of a friendship between the one Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and Itachi Uchiha.

Few months later

It's been few months since Naruto has befriended Itachi. They used to meet in secret and told no one about their friendship. Soon their friendship developed to the point where they started to refer each other as siblings.

Naruto has also joined the academy shortly after her 8th birthday along with her siblings. But even in academy everyone has started to bully her. Even her own siblings were among the bullies. Now that hurt her a lot but she did what she usually do 'Ignore your problems, be satisfied with whatever you have and stop complaining'.

She did remarkable in taijutsu and endurance but because of her disability, she was always marked as a dead last.

On the other hand, the tension between village and Uchiha clan grew and after all the negotiations failed, the elders decide to take the drastic measures.

"Hey Itachi-nii. Are you alright? You looks little sad today," asked Naruto during one of their regular meet.

"Naruto-chan. I am undertaking a mission and I won't be able to meet you for quite some time," 'if ever' Itachi said.

Naruto looked little down after hearing the news but nodded.

"I have to go now Naruto-chan but promise me that you will remember me as how I am right now. Not as the villagers will refer me from now on," said Itachi.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"You will understand soon enough. But do me a favor. Don't hold all of your emotions inside. You need to let it out otherwise they will consume you. You were telling me everything till now but since I won't be there for you from now on, you will need an another outlet." Itachi said.

Naruto was about to retort but Itachi cut her off "I know that you can't tell anyone about how you truly feel but who said that you have to tell anyone anything." Itachi said and after seeing the confused look on Naruto's face he continued.

"There are many ways to express the emotions. You just have to look for it. Do it for me ok?" Itachi said.

Naruto nodded and they hugged each other then Itachi went his way back towards the village as Naruto stood there watching the back of the retreating Itachi Uchiha. A lone tear slipped from her eyes and she thought 'Goodbye nii-san and please take care of yourself.'

Next day morning the whole village woke up by the news that the Uchiha prodigy, Itachi Uchiha has massacred his whole clan except his brother. When Naruto heard this news, She couldn't believe her ears. 'Is this is what you were talking about nii-san? Don't worry I'll remember you as you were...' thought Naruto sadly.

Few months later

Kakashi was walking on the streets of the leaf village. He has just retired from ANBU. Now he was going to take mission as an elite jounin of the leaf village. He stopped in his tracks when somebody called him.

"Kakashi-nii-san! Wait up," Said Naruto.

"What is it Naruto-chan?" asked Kakashi

"Ah Kakashi-nii-san. Can you teach me something?" said Naruto.

"I can't Naruto-chan. I was actually going to leave the village for a mission. Why don't you ask your parents?" Kakashi said.

"They are busy training Mito-chan and Menma-kun in a chakra control exercise," replied a dejected Naruto while looking towards the ground.

Kakashi looked at her with pity. Being close to hokage's family, he knew that they are not on the best terms. "Sorry Naruto-chan but..." Kakashi was interrupted by a sudden shout.

"MY YOUTHFUL RIVAL! I CHALLENGE TO FOR AN ARM DUAL," said a loud voice of Might Gai.

"...Huh did you said something Gai?" said Kakashi.

"CURSE YOUR COOL AND HIP ATTITUDE MY YOUTHFUL RIVAL," said Gai.

"Sorry Gai but I was just about to leave for a mission. Perhaps some other time," said Kakashi.

"OK MY YOUTHFUL RIVAL. I'LL WAIT FOR YOU TO COME BACK FROM YOUR MISSION," said Gai as he walked away.

"Who was that?" asked a wide eyed Naruto.

"That would be Might Gai. The greatest taijutsu master of the leaf village. Humm! Hey Naruto-chan, I think he will be the perfect teacher for you. Like you even he can't use his chakra but don't let his appearance fool you. He can even give sensei a run for his money if he goes all out." said Naruto.

"Really? He is as strong as tou-san?" asked Naruto in awe.

"Well not strong as him since very few can even hope to match him but you got the point right?" said Kakashi. After seeing the Naruto's node he continued "Well I have to go now. But please don't copy his speech pattern or his fashion sense, I don't think I'll be able to take another Gai. Ja Ne" said Kakshi as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. What he didn't knew was that he will be seeing a mini Gai in near future.

Naruto tracked down Gai and requested him to train her. After hearing her plight he said "Well! I can't teach you right now since you are still an academy student. Hmmm how about if you are still unable to use chakra by the time you graduate from the academy, then I will take you as my apprentice." said Gai.

Nauto nodded disappointedly but she was also happy that someone was willing to train her.

"Ok Gai-sensei. But Kakashi-nii said that if you go all out you can even take on tou-san. How is that possible. I mean you are also unable to use chakra like me?" asked Naruto.

Gai laughed while replying "That is because of a technique. Eight inner gates." said Gai.

"Eight inner gates?" said a confused Naruto.

"The Eight Gates are eight specific chakra points on a person's Chakra Pathway System. They limit the overall flow of chakra within a person's body. By undergoing intense training, one can learn how to open these gates allowing the user to surpass their own physical limits at the cost of extreme damage to their own body. The more gates you open, the more powerful you will become but you will also inflict more damage to your body. It's also true that if you open them all you temporarily gain a boost of strength that can surpass a Kage but then you will die," Gai explained.

Naruto stood there wide eyes then after regaining her composer, she said "Ok can you at least give me some pointers right now?"

Gai did gave her some pointers like wearing weights, extreme workout, etc. But Naruto didn't stop there and researched more about the inner gates in the hope of gaining respect from her parents.

Few months later (12th anniversary of the Kyuubi's attack)

Today was the triplets twelfth birthday. As usual Mito and Menma received lot of gifts and Naruto received very few. But what saddened her the most was that even her parents forgot to buy her the birthday gifts. Sure she was in the hospital on her last birthday because of the beating she got but at least they could have remembered that it was her birthday also.

After the party, they were clearing the house and Minato said "Ok children pick up your gifts and go to bed. I have to leave early tomorrow."

"Why tou-san?" asked Mito

"I am going to the Land of Iron tomorrow. I am meeting with the Raikage and leader of the samurais," replied Minato.

"Why you have to go there to meet them?" asked Menma.

"Well because it's a natural country," said Minato

"But why this meeting is so important?" asked Mito.

Minato signed and said "You know that we were having a few skirmishes with Kumo. right?" Minato continued after seeing their nodes "Well I am trying to peace talk with raikage and its important because if the talk failed then the war between Leaf and cloud village will be unavoidable."

After seeing their nodes he said "Ok then go to your rooms."

Naruto walked towards her gifts from the corner of the room where she was standing the whole time without saying a word.

The children obeyed. They picked up their gifts and went to their respective rooms. Then Minato and Kushina took notice that Naruto wasn't carrying that many gifts she only have the three to four gifts in her hand. Mito and Menma on the other hand asked for their help to pick up the gifts because of their numbers. Then it hit them. Not many people liked Naruto but what hurt them the most was that even they forgot to buy gifts for Naruto on her birthday.

The realization hit them really hard and they thought 'We are sorry Naruto. How could we forgot to buy gifts for our own daughter. we have neglected you long enough. We will make up to you as soon as I/Minato returns back from the land of iron.'

What they didn't know was that they will never be able to make up to her. Not after the meeting at least. Because after that Naruto was going to be more distant from her family then they are right now.

A/N : Man I'm beat. Hope you have enjoyed the chapter and please review...