A Fox's Love

Chapter 4: Choices

"Demon Speaking"

"Normal speech"

"Thoughts and emphasized words"

Special thanks to Dark Angle of the Underworld for being my beta. Check her profile out. Anyhow here's the story.

…. … . …..

"You need money in order to get a bowl, although I think I can make an exception… for you."

-Ayame

Naruto

Crazy Ling spread his index finger and pinky fingers far apart. His middle finger and ring finger were crossed as his other fingers were spread out. His hand looked almost like a W, as he showcased the West side gang sign with glee, while I passed by him on the way home from school. Crazy Ling was a man who worked along Fayette Street. Fayette Street was said to be the West side's first road. The road itself was narrow and the stone along the road was older than Konoha itself it seemed. The houses along it were either boarded up or had distinctive white smoke flowing from the windows.

I arrived home with the senseless thought in mind to mimic Crazy Ling's gang sign. It didn't turn out to be that hard to replicate. At the dinner table I was somewhat worried over an absence at the table. The great big hulking giant known formerly as Arti Yildirim was absent. His seat was neglected and was slowly collecting dust.

Ida was busy placing food on my plate and Amasa was preoccupied with a silver pocket watch he pulled out from his coat. Ida gave me a confused look when she saw me making Crazy Ling's gang sign. Still keeping his eyes on the watch Amasa said aloud "Naruto what are you doing?"

"I saw Crazy Ling and his workers making this when I passed by them earlier today."

Ida shook her head."Do you even know what guys like Crazy Ling do for a living?"

She brought out a great question. What they actually did for a living, I figured, was on par with the many street fights at the flats. Still though most people in this part of the village treated me with a little bit more respect, than say people around the academy, and I usually over looked those scary things.

"Not really."

A small huh was Ida's reply before she said "Guy's like Crazy Ling are the reason why this part of the village is ending up full of crime, death, poverty, and so on."

"So what does he do for a living?"

Amasa smiled at me before saying, "Naruto, have you ever seen people go to the doctor because they're in a lot of pain?" a small nod made him go on, "Opium is like the same thing. People need it to ease their pain only its different. Look Naruto, finish your dinner its getting cold."

Mazashi Apartment 456

Amasa closed his silver pocket watch and gazed into Ida's doe eyes. She reminded him of his wife before she passed away. Her black hair was shiny and her tanned skin glowed against the dark orange flames illuminating from the candles, within the room. When Amasa first met her she was a beautiful young girl.

"Mallorie, you had a hard day too huh? Come sit down by me."

She sat down bedside Amasa. The scent of lavender brought back even more memories.

"You know I don't like that name."

Amasa sighed as he smiled towards Ida.

"Sorry about that. I guess men like me forget things as we get older. I'm nearing forty and life has changed so much here over the last ten years that… I feel almost dizzy thinking about it. How have things been faring for you over the years?"

Ida seemed to smile for a moment but it turned into a slight frown. A loud whistle that came from the oven, stopped her from whatever she was going to say. After pouring a cup of tea for Amasa she voiced her opinion loud and clear "Can't say things have been good. But I can't say things have been awfully bad either. Perrin has been an ass to take care of. He's not like he was when he was younger."

"Perrin? Like the Perrin Urbain?"

"Yes, that's the one. He always wants two guys dead every week. Danzo pisses himself just having to deal with Perrin's old ass. Now working for him isn't so bad… Beats having to watch over a seven year old demon."

"Ida, you need to stop beating yourself up over his death. I've been feeling guilty even since I heard about his it"

Ida sipped her tea, her body stiff. "You know Marcus wasn't the only one to die. I was there at the time when it came from the East. Horns and horse riding boys warned people about it as it broke through the walls. Noboru however he-he dealt with those monsters that were plaguing the village. Flying lizards and rotting dogs chased people who were running for their lives. You weren't there to see the ice cold prowess of the demon. Hell, Marcus, at least was killed quickly. But-but… those things that appeared were just…"

"Inhuman. Noboru was a good man. He was maybe the noblest Senju in his whole clan. Naruto isn't like the Kyuubi in any way. You know perfectly well he's the-"

"Warden? Please, give me a break about that. I didn't want to take this job in the first place, but Perrin wanted me to be close. Just like how Danzo wants you to be close to him."

Amasa stared at his cup of tea, somewhat sad over what was going to happen. "I feel bad that we will be leaving him."

Ida had a fake smile dancing on her lips. Despite that, Amasa knew she was trying to comfort him for his sake, at least.

"There hasn't been a final decision yet." Ida said with a smirk.

Hokage Towers

"Danzo, I'm shutting down your project with Naruto. Hell, I'm half inclined to shut down Root but you know what? If you can explain yourself, and admit to the conspiracy of the murders of Clement Sasaki and Arti Yildirim, I might allow you to walk out of this office alive. But… if you feed me a lie, then I expect you to fall on the sword. Do I make myself clear?"

Danzo looked at his friend, while sweating a little.

"I-I… I admit that I'm the evil mastermind behind the death of Clement Sasaki. I've always wanted the damned man dead. I feel almost ashamed at not being able to kill him myself." Danzo straightened his hand around his cane. "We have killed men within this country just as foul as him. And what does it matter? The world will still shine now that he's gone."

Hiruzen didn't seem fazed by Danzo's response.

"Well, can you at least tell me why you had to kill Clement and Arti? And just so you know… if you want to miss that sword admit to everything. Trust is as strong as the men who create it. Can I trust you to be honest?"

"You can trust me with anything. Clement had to go. He placed bounties on numerous people's heads, including a young seven year old jinchuriki in this village. Those bounties on us won't be going away anytime soon; the money is already out there in some faraway place. Clement was planning on leaving the country on a steamboat to some rich islands off the coast of the Temujin continent. Arti on the other hand is another man's dirty work. I had nothing to do with him. I knew he was giving you information… but even I'm not stupid enough to kill an informant who's protected by the Hokage."

Hiruzen smiled at Danzo he narrowed his eye at that. Smiles were never his cup of tea and Sarutobi knew that. Something bad was going to happen.

"Danzo… I can't trust you anymore," Hiruzen said, his hands clasped on top of his desk. "You placed people around Naruto that have heavy ties to Root. Because of that the caretaker project is gone. I know you. Despite how loyal you have been over the years, you'll never stop thinking of yourself. Although I don't trust you, I can't let you fall on the sword. I need you as much as you need me. In order to make this work again, like it did before the fourth, we will need to focus on strengthening Konoha again. As to our agreement of Naruto being taken care of for six months, it still applies, and in two months, he will be sent back to the orphanage. He will be there until he graduates from the academy."

"Can I leave?"

Hiruzen brought out his trusty pipe and started smoking tobacco. A slight nod signified Danzo's freedom.

Two months later

Naruto

I stared at the doorknob of my room knowing that whatever was going to happen wasn't going to be good. For the past month Ida and Amasa both acted queerly. Amasa had a strange look on his face… as if he was… sad? Seeing the look of sadness on a face that wasn't mine was just… odd. Ida was different… She wasn't sad, happy, or angry. She ignored my questions over school work and further neglected my curiosity over Arti. I was curious at first as to why Arti disappeared but the voice quickly deduced he met his demise.

I truthfully didn't believe the voice at first. But as time passed his absence was less and less noticed on all our parts. Maybe the voice was right? If it was, wouldn't Amasa take me to his funeral? Then again I barely knew Arti, and when he actually did show up it was usually at times when everyone was asleep.

"Who cares what happened to him anyways? He was useless to begin with just like rest of the people in this village."

I looked around my room smiling as I remembered all the good memories and times spent in here. The small wooden desk in the corner of my room brought out the times Amasa tutored me on speaking Dravot. His deep voice was still ringing in my ears from the countless times he read me books by my bed. I thought the Holidays were a time of joy. A time meant for peace because the divine Ulthar blessed the Earth.

Ulthar was the god of the vigil, a divine that brought the others together. From Emerald Bay to the Salmaro Plato people spent time from December twenty first to New Year's celebrating the Holidays. Other religions like the Gates of Stability, the Fallen Star of Vivec, and Mithras spent time celebrating the winter months too. But I didn't feel like celebrating at the moment.

My stomach started to ache from fear. When I received news from Ida last night about packing everything I could carry. I thought at first we might be traveling somewhere outside of Konoha. School was over for the rest of the month and the rest of January. It wasn't too uncommon for people to travel this time of year. My stomach began to twist and churn into terrible knots by the second. What was going to happen?

Ida entered my room wearing winter clothes. She stood there looking down at me without even showing a single emotion on her face. Her lips showed not a frown or smile. Her cheeks were lightly florid due to the cold. I was sitting on my bed with a look of confusion.

"Naruto go outside and wait with Amasa. People are coming to take you away to a safe place. We won't… accompany you to that place," she paused for a second and walked over to my side, "You are a good person. I want you to become a well-mannered young man one day. Promise me this Naruto?"

Her words were almost comforting but I knew that her nice side was a little malicious. Ida removed her gloves from her hands and sat down beside me. Her cream colored right hand came to my whiskered face almost immediately. It was ice cold but became progressively warmer. She turned her head towards me giving me a view of her beautiful brown doe eyes.

"What?"

"Become strong. Prove to the people in this village that you're not what they think. Become Hokage or even something greater when you grow up. I… just want to say… I'm… I'm sorry."

"For what? You were one of the few people who treated me like a normal person. You've been mean before but… you… treated me at least decently recently the last couple of months. If my mom was still alive… I wished she could have been like you."

Her cheeks turned a darker shade of red. Sorrow became apparent on her face and for the first time in my life. I felt almost sympathetic for someone. She was like a mother to me; she healed my bruises from a beating; she told me to be respectful at the dinner table no matter how much I resented it. She wasn't a good person but she wasn't a bad one either.

I narrowed my eyes as she placed a sheathed knife in my palms. It was a long curved blade that was so unlike a regular kunai. The sheath was silver plated with wolves and dragons melded together, as if they were in a fighting with one another. I unsheathed the blade (with some strain) and was surprised by the thin razor sharp bottom. The metal itself was forged from silver and I expected the blade to be worth a fortune. I quickly sheathed it and looked at Ida. Without saying a word of thanks she brought me up and said, "Take it. You should get going."

….. ….. . . . ..

The grey clouds in the sky were giving in and I couldn't help but cry. I had in my possession a knapsack on my back full of supplies and what food the apartment had in the pantry. The cheap factory made duffle bag by my feet was filled to the brim with clothes that dad - I mean Amasa bought me. A cold wicked breeze penetrated through my red-hooded vest.

The hood wasn't up and I truly didn't care about the cold snapping my ears off. I was wearing a light blue long sleeved shirt under my red vest, a pair of green industry- made cargo pants, several pairs of black socks, and a pair of wellington boots.

"Where am I going to-to go?"

Amasa's glasses were fogging up but he didn't cry. The sky finally gave in causing white flakes of ice to fall to the earth. The Hokage monument in the distance was overtaken by flurries of snow.

"I don't know… But I can't take care of you any longer."

"Wh-wh-why? No one else will take care of me!"

Amasa was about to say something but a horse drawn coach that was being pulled by two black stallions stopped in front of us. Several men from the backseat of the coach jumped off. They were wearing thick clothes and the headbands on their heads signified their positions as shinobi.

"We're here to take young Naruto to the Phoenix Orphanage."

I nearly fell to my knees as soon as I heard the word orphanage. A battle raged in my mind against going or staying. I knew first off that if I went men like Sturgeon and Goro, they'd be gleeful about sending me back to the work station. If I stayed or put up a fight would it accomplish anything?

My legs did the thinking instead. I ran faster than ever before. I was halfway down Rue Grety before making a right turn onto Rue de la Coupe, a narrow street that led straight to Koontz Street. The shinobi from the coach were chakra thrusting from rooftop to rooftop following me through the flurries of snow.

Most of the carriages I passed by were either stopping or rolling faster than ever through the cold storm. The few people out and about scurried away as soon as they saw the tailing figures behind me. I started to thrust my arms back and forth in earnest trying my best to pull as much energy into outrunning the bastards. My chase continued on for minutes. The sky turned darker by the second as the snow started to fall harder.

My houghts whirled in fury as I ran along Koontz Street. If I could get onto Fayette I could easily lose the shinobi in one of the abandoned homes along the long street. If I went for Dansaert Avenue I might as well head for the Flats or the North Side where all the rich snobs live. Then again this is an issue best saved for later.

I kept pooling energy into my legs and arms. The cold wind started to bite my ears off in snippets. I could hear the shinobi above yelling out curses and things like "Damn he could make a bullet jealous!"

The few peasants and immigrants I passed by in the West Side either looked queerly at me or ignored my presence. My luck turned for the worst as I spotted several squads of genin and chunin down the stony road. Officers on horseback were blowing whistles that carried far into the area. I was gasping for air as I continued to run faster. The chunin that started this chase were far behind.

"Up ahead is an alley way that can lead you to Leopold Boulevard. You'll have to make a sharp left turn or else you will be surrounded by the incoming shinobi up ahead. Once you're out of the alleyway, go straight ahead across the street. And if I remember correctly, if you turn right, you can get onto Rue Neuve which can bring you to safety."

Of all times… the voice has to talk.

"If I'm going to get caught I might as well go down in a blaze of glory."

I kept running as my enemies surrounded me. I spotted an extremely narrow alleyway along the left side of the street. By the second, I was closing in on it. I was by the end of Koontz Street and the squads of shinobi and officers were all circling me. I saw a small opening between two young genin who both looked awfully too green to. This was my chance to get onto Fayette Street. My chance to lose them all for good in the numerous webs of abandoned buildings and opium homes.

Several chunin flew through numerous hand signs until they all chanted "Kekkai: Genki Fabaku!"

A blue transparent barrier appeared around me. I looked around trying to figure out a way out of this damned cage but it was futile. The walls of the chakra cage looked almost dangerous to the touch.

It was over. The only jutsu I could pull off at the moment was the regular tiger seal for releasing chakra. Even if I knew something like a fire jutsu I doubted it could actually take down the barrier. The blue walls kept humming every second in intervals and it looked ridiculously sturdy.

Several officers appeared from all corners and the shinobi from the apartments also caught up. One of the many shinobi at the scene walked in front of me on the other side of the barrier.

I stared at him as he said with glee "You're not going anywhere." He flew through hand sign to hand sign before finishing at the rabbit seal "Genjutsu: Kuroyume!"

I closed my eyes in fear. The coming attack was going to run through me soon.

The wind still nipped my ears and lips. The white crystals of ice on my head began to melt in steady beads of cold water. The humming of the barrier was still continuing. Maybe the attack was still being prepared?

I opened my eyes and saw the white landscape of the village I called home. The snow flurry continued on, layering the earth in clumps of crunching ice. The officers' faces were priceless. They all watched in awe fascination as if they expected me to fall into the abyss of the jutsu at any moment. The shinobi on the other hand had distinctive expressions on their faces in a whole other league. But the borderline expression everyone outside of the barrier shared was shock.

"Come on!" I said "I thought that was going to blow my mind!"

The shinobi in front of was livid and his face burned in humility.

"Shut up you damned idiot!" the man said with a fierce glare. "You're captured and that's all there is too it!"

I was quite but one of the shinobi couldn't help himself "Yeah but… I mean a seven year old boy broke your genjutsu that just says something about your abilities Katashi."

Everyone outside the barrier shared a laugh further infuriating the man in front of me. A few curses and a losers speech that went along the lines of "He must be cursed or something! The damn genjustu worked… he just tampered with it somehow!"

One of the officers blew from his spine tingling whistle. The commotion quickly stopped.

"Were here to book the boy. Aren't we?"

"Yes, but it'll take a couple more minutes till we the barrier falls."

"Naruto this is your only opportunity to escape."

"What about it? What do you want me to do jump into the walls?"

"Release your chakra. The barrier will get weaker as you do this. Don't release a little bit of chakra, release all of it. If you do this right you might be able to walk free."

I thought long and hard. The cold was turning my lips slightly purple and my ears were already scarlet red. The orphanage was starting to sound not that bad. At least they fed everyone. A bowl of porridge a day was better than nothing. The beds were flea ridden but I could eventually get used to it again. All I had at the moment was a knapsack full of books and whatnot and the clothes on my back.

My hands unwittingly formed the normal tiger seal. I focused my body on releasing the light kinetic energy known as chakra. My tiresome limbs started to feel warmer, my heavy panting turned to light gasps for air, and my vision turned slightly sharper as a blue veil of warm energy surrounded my being.

The officers outside the barrier blew their whistles and screamed for me to stop. The horses along Koontz Street whinnied and clambered for the air while on their hind legs. The shinobi on the other hand were too shocked or too bewildered over the fact that the veil around me kept growing bigger.

The barrier felt smaller around me as the veil turned into a blob of heavy-layered dark blue chakra. My chakra started to glow bright blue as it started to pour in large waves out of me. Before I knew it the whole inside of the barrier was completely covered in chakra. The plan was working out well until the barrier started to hum faster and grow smaller. I was surprised by this.

The voice said that the barrier was going to get weaker not stronger. The chakra leaking from my body was like a broken faucet. I separated my hands from one another breaking the hand tiger seal. But it was too late. The air in the barrier was getting thicker by the second. Time slowed down as my chakra condensed even more. I held my palms together trying to figure a way out of the waves of chakra. It was only a simple gesture but it quickly resulted in the barrier overloading. I pushed my palms on either side of me. The condensed chakra had no place to go but to the chakra resistant walls.

The shinobi outside of the barrier started arguing and the only words that I could remotely hear was "Run!"

An explosion popped the barrier as if it was a balloon. A blinding white light flashed in my eyes as everything around me became slow. The white light faded away from my eyes and I felt drained. Smoke covered the area around me and north and south both seemed displaced. Soot and dirt stained my body from head to toe. I was pretty sure that the shinobi around the area were going to come to their senses quickly.

I stood up on shaky legs and made my way down the alley way. I left the area and never noticed the burning buildings along Koontz Street.

Later that day

"Let me get this straight. Three squads of genin and five chunin were all bested by a boy who only joined the academy half a year ago. Not only did you all fail at apprehending Naruto, you have also cost this city fifty gold florin over the damages to the street and the houses along it!"

Hiruzen stared fiercely at the current generation of shinobi. The thing that upset him the most was the fact that the two chunin that were sent to escort him to the orphanage couldn't even keep up with a seven year old.

Something was going on. When Hiruzen first heard the news about Naruto's disappearance the first thing that popped into his head was Danzo. The man was a snake on the council but even Hiruzen knew he was a small threat compared to most.

"Isamu what was your squad's plan from the get go? Why did those idiots use a barrier to apprehend Naruto instead of chains?"

Isamu was a young genin who happened to pass just over a year ago. He was well-built and quite tall for his age, and was an intelligent boy, both in and out of the field; he was on Team 15, which was currently being led by Hisao Inuzuka. Unlike the other genin to pass this year, he was the only one to come from the prestigious Levi Clan. (Lately the clan was pushing the old Hokage to give them the rights of a shinobi clan but Hiruzen was cautious about it. The Levi Clan had to be the strongest of the civilian clans; they owned numerous factories and formed the largest law practice in the village.)

Isamu grinned maliciously at several chunin in the room. "Well, Hokage-sama, Team fifteen was out on patrol because the country's going to war soon. So, Mitsa sees some commotion all the way out in the west side. The West Side is of course where the scum of the village sleeps so I expected us to go into some sort of uproar. That wasn't the case here though. We happened to find several other genin teams along with three other chunin. We had no plan from the get go but to wait until he came running to us. Yes, we should've pounced him when he was running down Koontz Street but the chunin had the stripes. This Naruto then stopped and contemplated on turning down an alleyway we should of blocked or running ahead of us like an idiot. During that time, those two idiots made a barrier instead of slapping manacles on him and pistol whipping his ass."

The other eight genin had trouble killing their laughs when he finished. Hiruzen wasn't in the mood though. A small burst of killing intent instantly silenced them and Hiruzen then nodded towards one of the chunin to continue.

"I'd like to say that I apologize for my... incompetence, Hokage-sama," the chunin said, spitting out the last word with a bitter look. "It is true that I used the Genki Fabaku to trap him. The jutsu is known for keeping people inside it for long periods of time and I thought that it was best to be used for the situation. Norio, our genjutsu expert, thought it would be btter to put the boy to sleep so he wouldn't cause a further scene. Norio then… He then... performed a B-ranked genjutsu on him. I was there right next to him and for some reason, out of the blue, it didn't affect the boy. Naruto then flooded the whole barrier with his chakra. At first it did nothing but after awhile the barrier just started getting stronger until the whole barrier incased him whole. A second later, it blew up! The barrier must have gone into overdrive. I've never seen anyone pull something like that off before."

Hiruzen stared at the people in the room in shock. The chunin responsible for this had to be suspended or even shipped out in the coming month with the rest of the army. He, instead told them to leave his office before he sent them to the Hulks.

….. ….. …. ….. …

"What am I going to do?" Hiruzen said with a tinge of desperateness advisor Shikaku Nara.

Shikaku was dressed in a thick furred jacket that was still a little covered in snow. His usual pontail was almost unnoticeable under his troublesome hat. Homura Mitokado on the other hand stared at Hiruzen with a bit of envy. Homura looked almost fat with all the thick layers of thick clothes he wore.

"You should call off this damned search for Naruto," Shikaku said dismissively.

Homura's eyes widened in shock; it was around the witching hour and Hiruzen had almost four dozen teams searching for him at the moment. He felt guilty for trying to send him to the orphanage, which was why he needed to find Naruto ASAP.

"Are you insane, Shikaku!? The boy's freezing his balls off out there! What do you expect him to do for warmth, huh?" Homura's question went unanswered for a minute.

"I don't know? He can sleep with the wolves for all I care or even whore his seven year old ass around! If we continue this search and if we actually apprehend him, Naruto's going to look into why we want him so much. He's most likely already is wondering why he's being given the deluxe treatment with caretakers… while the other orphans cry themselves to sleep! We have almost one hundred and fifty shinobi working overtime on finding him, while another three hundred shinobi who have guard duty at this moment have the memo to keep their eyes open for him at all times. The Uchiha's are mad that they have to send out five hundred officers to look for a seven year old while keeping the village safe during a snow storm! If this goes on any longer… believe me Naruto will quickly figure out he's a jinchuriki."

Homura narrowed his eyes. "Do you have any manners? The boy isn't some weapon he is a human being!"

"I at least call him by his actually name," Shikaku said firmly. "I'm thinking about the numerous people who have to work out in the cold. Look… Naruto has made his bet he will sleep on it. The search teams have been out all over the village for the past few hours. And they haven't even picked up any clues or scents on his where about. If we go on searches every time some kid decides to not go to the orphanage we might as well sell waffles and build schools while we're at it."

"Fine call off the search," Hiruzen said, rubbing his eyes. "But remind the guards at the gates to be on the lookout for him. It would be for the best if he doesn't leave the village."

Naruto

The world around me swirled into a hazy mess. The oil lampposts' orange light flickered against the prevailing cold darkness. I traveled north, or what I thought was north. White flakes of snow entered my vision as I continued on. Officers serving the law or who knows what passed by my shadows, too busy to see or hear my presence. I invested my remaining motor skills to not get caught.

Streets paved with stone turned to neglected dirt roads. Tall buildings and factories spewing black fumes became a rare sight. My limbs felt like melting wax. My arms were so numb they felt like heavy glass. A single movement might as well shatter them. My legs had almost no feeling but for some reason I continued to walk.

Was I still in Konoha? I looked up in the hopes of finding a stone-faced mountain. But it was a futile effort for the only things out and about were the dancing shadows of trees and warm homes.

I held my arms together and tried my best to keep warm. Each step was another loud crunch and I couldn't help but wonder why I wasn't already caught. Trees covered in soft white ice flanked the wild forest around me. There were no song birds or any sort of woodland critters about.

The only living thing out and about in the forest was me. The darkness was profound and horrible. When did I arrive in a forest? Why do I have to be the one to die, all alone? These questions plagued my mind along with the fact that I was hungry, cold, and worst of all dying.

I tried to remember the good times in life, pranking Mr. McGrath with Kiba, smoking some tobacco, making Rufio step in crap, burning up Lucia's doll in the orphanage, tripping Surgeon, lying to Ryoko. Maybe I had that all wrong? None of that sounded good but it brought me pleasure. What was the point in being a good service day going boy?

"Keep going. You're just shy of a mile from a roof."

I almost laughed hysterically with tears coming down my cheeks. I was going to die all alone in the forest and I bet not a single soul would remember my name. Everyone I could remember hated my guts! The looks, the curses, the hate, the beatings, the closet, the work station, the academy, it all added up in one huge FUCK you at Naruto Brutus Uzamaki.

"I don't hate you."

Screw you! You're the worst of the all! You're a lying plague! Since the day you happened to talk to me you've lied to me! From promising me things to being plain out being mean… That's reason enough for why I hate you! I must really be the dumbest peasant of the year for believing you wanted to get me away from the orphanage. The countless times you have taunted me have been...!

My tears brought a trail of stinging pain as it traveled down. What was the point in attacking the voice anyway?

I guess I truly am going crazy after all.

"I guess you have the right to hate me. You are right after all. I have lied and berated you. But I have never truly hated you. Please listen, it's hard to say this without you believing me but…"

I'll listen. I'm going to die so I might as well listen to you.

"I feed off your hate and your pain. That's how I have lived for thousands of years. You just happen to have more of it than anyone I have encountered. But you don't believe me don't you? It doesn't matter…"

I must have traveled ten or twenty miles since Koontz Street. Cold snot started to burn my nostrils. My lips felt as if they were going to fall off. I smiled while tears met my chin and sang.

"O, sweet is the vale where the hawk gently glides,

On its clear winding way to the sea,

And dearer than all storied streams on earth beside,

Is this bright rolling river to me;

O, sweet are the moments when dreaming I roam,

Thro' my loved haunts now mossy and grey,

And dearer than all is my childhood's hallow'd home

That is crumb'lling now slowly away."

I continued moving my legs against the blurry world, but that world quickly turned dark.

.. … ….. … ..

Beads of sweat trickled down my forehead. A layer of comforting warmth covered my aching body as I laid on the hard flat ground in the fetal position. Death must have consumed my soul? Was I dead? Maybe not, but the warmth of the room was just… unnatural.

My eyes blinked several times trying to adjust to the foggy light of a dark sanctuary. I got up on the intent of finding out who saved me.

My bones ached; I possessed a sweaty, pungent smell; my flesh felt almost as if it wasn't a part of me. Staying still was almost like an exercise. I was at the very end of a corner in the sanctuary with a beige wooden door to my back. I looked around the dark room spotting old rotting aisles, with trash and dirt covering all of the areas. A burnt black podium barely stood up to my right.

This must be a monastery or some sort of temple? I half-asked myself.

Strange bloody kanji riddled the floor in indecipherable text. The only word I could translate was heat. My stomach rumbled as if it had a mouth of its own.

"Is anyone here?"

"Yeah… what do you want?"

Did someone save me?

"Yes… I saved you. You should be thanking me! If not for me your balls would have frozen off, just like everything else on this body of yours. But it doesn't matter you need to eat. Yet I doubt you'll be begging the sir for more."

I was slightly relieved. I was slowly digging my way into a nice grave yesterday. But in the end the voice somehow… saved me?

"Prove it! How did you save me? I bet this is another one of your lies isn't it? You're just another part of my mind! I'm going crazy… I'm…"

"You're not going crazy… you are crazy. The singing and the maddening laughter are pieces of the puzzle. Don't feel bad… we're all crazy. You don't have to believe me. But do know… I was the one who saved your ass last June. I have been the one keeping you alive over the years. What? When you get a bruise, don't you ever wonder why it disappears before your eyes within an hour? Last night you were a casket away from dying from hypothermia but I took over your mortal body. You were only two hundred feet away from shelter. I then performed a complicated seal around you so that you could stay warm. Believe it or not. All you have left is me, and that's the way things are going to go from here on out."

I took a seat on one of the wooden benches. There wasn't any point in fighting with the voice. For some unexplained reason I felt useless. So much had passed since that fateful night in June. Embarrassment was one word that entered my mind whenever I thought back to that beating. Few people brought it up but most citizens of Konoha had that look on their faces as if they felt sorry for me. Sorry wasn't the right word for it. It was more like a mix between pity and fear.

People looked at me as if I was a monster in human form. I committed sins alright but I doubted that I was a monster. Monsters were things like the Kyuubi blood thirsty creatures with cravings of evil. Flashes of crimson blood and sharp hands scraping my thighs all but left me a hollow shell. The memory was so horrifying that I must have subconsciously blocked it off from my mind.

But was something like that even possible? All I could usually remembered were flickers of hands and rocks. At times I would wake up from nightmares thrashing around as pain overtook me. But those nightmares were rare. So rare in fact that I could only think of two nights in the past year in which I was relieving that whole experience.

A loud stomach grinding gargle echoed against the walls of the temple or monastery. I placed my hands against my slightly muscular chest trying my best to somehow ease the increasing pain in my organs. I was starving. That much was obvious. A day had passed since I last had a meal and every second was torture. My esophagus was used up from panting and thirst. My body was in as bad as the state of the rumbled and wet clothes on my back.

I needed food desperately but for some reason I realized. That wasn't going to be particularly easy on my part. Yes I was homeless before the caretakers but even then I knew the right places to steal bread and milk from shop owners; the right dumpsters and trash piles to salvage whatever I could get my hands on. Most days when I was too hurt from whatever happened, I was busy pulling brown colored water from over used wells by the factories.

But this was a different season. I wasn't in any condition to travel down to the West Side or to Central to find food; to beg on my knees to non-caring businessmen from high twenty story buildings.

I had to go back to school soon though. Becoming a shinobi wasn't just a dream anymore. It felt almost real now that I was at the level of destroying a whole street with just my chakra alone.

….. ….. . .. …. …

A month had passed by since I ran away. Konoha was still a snow covered land of white crystals and ice. Snow storms wrecked carriages and newly constructed railroads two times a week; and the last place I wanted to be was school. Days without food slowly ate away my body. My usual tanned skin looked slightly paler than it should, making me look as if I was an immigrant from Iwa. Kids and villagers looked at me with pity and amusement.

I wasn't the kid that most parents praised. I was in most adults eyes a bad influence. The type child most adults said was going to lead you down a dangerous path one day. May it be debt, opium, or crime my name usually would end up in a sentence like. Look blank if you don't straighten out and behave like someone your age you're going to end up digging fens with Naruto Uzamaki. You keep getting in trouble like Naruto Uzamaki. Don't hang out along Fayette street or any down town place with any bad people because Naruto is a prime example of a bad outcome. The one phrase that made me cry was this one. Homeless bastards shouldn't be in this school with you. They're going to end up accomplishing nothing more than trouble.

When I walked through the red wooden doors of the academy, a silent, nerve-racking atmosphere instantaneously grew among the occupants of the country's most praised military school. Respected teachers known for their classes of algebra and history stared at me as if I was lost. My usually styled wavy golden blond hair was wild and untamed. My clothes were a mess. It wasn't like I had many ways in getting them clean.

The voice was planning on teaching me how to wash them along the creeks but that turned out to be a bad venture. The creeks were frigid, snow covered the ground, and since I had no other pair of clothes I was surely going to freeze me to death. Food wasn't easy to find. Searching the snowy forests for snared animals wasn't easy. The number of animals (animals being thin furred squirrels) I caught was less than the number of fingers I had on one hand.

I wasn't surprised to end up turning out to be a horrible cook. My greatest mistake when I caught my first squirrel wasn't skinning the damned thin animal. It was mainly starting the fire. I think I spent more time trying to start a fire than I spent trying to catch the squirrel. In the end I had no choice but to eat the beast raw. Meat was a dish I was beginning to appreciate. Whenever a hunt would fail (which during this time of year was all the time) I would be left with nothing else to eat but snow and trash.

Peers and older kids looked at me as if I was a foreigner. Their eyes traveled from my head to my toes. Quizzical looks and whispers traveled across the military campus as I made my way to Daikoku's classroom.

Questions plagued my mind like why wasn't I stopped by shinobi upon entering the building? Why did no one arrest me? I was, after all, the terror that destroyed Koontz Street. But then again I must have been given a free pass. How was that possible? It was simply beyond my reasoning. At least, I now have the chance of going to school for the next five years to one day become a shinobi. All I needed to do now was wait.

The rest of the day was plain out hell. My companions whom I was once friends with looked down at me as if I was an adder in the grass. Teachers upon seeing my face gave me looks of concern and fear. At recess everyone from my year ignored me. For what reason, how was I supposed to know? But for some reason I suspected it had to do with the Koontz Street incident.

I was still a slow reader and for the past few weeks improving my intelligence was the least important thing in the back of my mind. But the title on the front page of the Konoha Tribune shocked me.

Explosion wrecks Koontz Street

Just remembering the damned headline was enough to jolt me awake. I looked around the icy campus only to spot a tuft of brown hair and red painted fangs.

Kiba!

"He's trouble. Remember the flats."

I don't care he's my friend!

"Fine, but since I care about your well-being and the fact that I've been the reason you're still alive. Just… forget about it!"

Not knowing what the voice was talking about I made my way from the cold oak tree which I usually sat at during recess to a small tool shack in which several people would hang out at. Kiba looked surprisingly taller since the last time I saw him. A gray furred jacket with the Inuzuka crest brought me awe at his fine wealth. Despite being rich he was maybe my only friend at the academy.

A month had passed since my first day at school and Kiba's visits by the Mazashi flats were seldom. His face at the academy had yet to be revealed. During that time I assumed he was in another classroom or even at the Fenland Academy because the Inuzuka's lived in the West Side. I grew bored by the day at not seeing his caring face and reassuring outlook on life. I figured he was my friend ever since he saved me from a beating early October. I could remember it perfectly now, it was the same day Ida acted all nice then all mean.

But how it all happened was clearer than the beating in late June. School was out and I had received light Detention from an ass fuck chunin named Iruka, after I was caught drinking beer on school property. An older kid offered me a sip and I was unlucky enough to be the one caught. When I walked out from detention in a gloomy mood, I was pushed over by a gang of older kids. I quickly ignored the provocative offense with the intention of going home.

"Hey West trash!"

I turned my head in their direction falling into their trap.

"What now!" I said.

"So was your mother the whore that was fucked by those tar skinned immigrants? Or was she the one that offered herself to the legion of Iwagakure soldiers?"

With a sudden rush of fury, I had lunged at them, with the intent of hopefully beating them to death.

The fight had quickly escalated into a full out brawl between me and five older guys much taller and bigger than me. Before I knew it, I was a bloody mess but I still fought on terribly. Each of my punches barely slowed them down. It only encouraged them to slam me against the concrete sidewalk of the academy harder. Kiba had come to my aid accompanied by a tall, brown-haired girl with a fair body.

The gang of bullies had fled as quickly I was defeated. I thanked the both of them for saving my life. And, strangely, the girl had looked at me and Kiba as if we both did something we weren't supposed to do. From then on, we hanged out more frequently, causing trouble, talking stick ball; we were inseparable from then on.

But what truly set us apart was that he was like me. Even at his young age he was used to death. He knew what it was like see someone killed before his eyes. I'm not talking about that incident at the flats last summer. He was no older than three when he witnessed his dad's death. He was maybe the only guy at the Konoha Academy that I could relate to when it came to having an absent parent or parents in my case.

Kiba was busy talking with four other guys to notice my presence. He was sitting down with his feet dangling atop a short concrete wall that traveled around one of the back entrances. His friends were in front of him mouthing off gibberish.

I arrived in front of Kiba as silent as a mouse as he said, "Look my Uncle Teru says that once the war's over and explorer Morton gets us allies. We're going to have ivory, copper, and rubber all the way up the queen's ass."

His buddies laughed in unison. The blue sky above us seemed almost too unnatural compared to the cold white ground. Kids my own age were talking and hanging out in cluster groups rather than playing around in the snow.

A couple of feet away from Kiba, one of his companions turned to me; his skin was the usual Hi no Kuni yellow, and the "above you" grin he was giving me made me feel slightly ashamed.

"Are those rags?"

I gave Kiba a hopeful look, trying my best to get him to notice me. Being ignored was almost on par with the abuse kids and grownups gave me. Kiba possessed an odd sort of glad expression on his face. The sort one would find on a person who was happy to see you but didn't to say it out loud.

"What do you want, Naruto?"

His reply brought a commotion of questions from Kiba's friends each of them saying things like.

"You know him?"

"Kiba you heard what he did right?"

"They say he's some sort of killer, like, how are you alive?"

"Be careful what you say to him! He might blow up the whole playground if you piss him off!"

I felt like a train just rammed me to the ground when I heard his friends say things like killer and blow up. Did they know I was the one who caused the damage along Koontz Street? I took the way they were talking to me as a positive yes. I was, after all, no killer.

I read the newspaper and it said no one was killed in the explosion along Koontz Street. Some people were unluckily injured but it wasn't like I truly meant to hurt them. How I was still allowed to roam the streets and go to school was still beyond my reasoning.

"I-I…"

Kiba rolled his eyes as if he couldn't take this at the moment along with everything else in his life. His friends gazed at me coldly like most East Side kids. Instead of saying anything I walked away, knowing that Kiba and the rest of them wanted me as far away from their tribe as possible. Why? Because I wasn't meant to be here and that was reason enough for most people in this part of town to hate me.

Truthfully, most West Side kids resented every time I showed my face on Fayette Street. It had to do with a rivalry between the Fenland Academy and the Konoha Academy. The Fenland Academy was the village's second largest shinobi school and, unlike the Konoha Academy, it was where all the poor kids went to school to one day serve the military.

The rich clans from the North Side to the East Side fueled the rivalry between the schools because several years ago the Fourth Hokage passed a law giving immigrants the right to send their children to the Fenland Academy.

The other background stories were unknown to me but the true reason of this tale was simple. I was at the wrong school. People here hated me because I wasn't supposed to be here. But what I was to do? This Danzo fellow screwed my life over by paying for my whole tuition.

School ended with an exited cheer of screaming and laughter. I left the academy, not wanting to go back to my temple.

Hungry and with no place I needed to go to, I wandered around down town. Tall, twenty to forty floor buildings came into view. Some taller than the Belmont Monastery in the North Side, others brought more awe, a deep feeling to one day look out from the top floor of an executive building made my stomach light. The streets were paved with hard concrete. Unlit lamp posts ready to be lit in a moment's notice flanked the streets in an equally distanced from one another. Herds of people walked around the sidewalks letting busy two to four way lanes of carriages pass by. Stone bridges went from one end of the blackening rivers of Konoha to the other. Then all of a sudden my stomach began to growl like an unfed caged lion.

Wandering from street to street while villagers glared and stared at me in fear brought on some odd emotions. My rumbling stomach wasn't helping out in the slightest as a feeling of superiority emerged. I always felt like I was at the bottom of the pyramid. The trampled stone meant to carry the load off of everyone's angry shoulders. Still seeing mothers guiding their children away from me and men looking at me as if I was an exploding keg was much better than being hated.

A sizzling smell of spices and cooked food entered my nostrils. Following my stomach's guidance down a slightly less extravagant street, it was my total lack of surprise that led me to the curious small restaurant stand called Ichiraku's Ramen written in plain romaji alongside traditional kanji. I made my way inside the restaurant barely caring about an absence of florins or IOU's.

"Hey there!" The voice quite simply came from a pretty teenaged girl. "Welcome to Ichiraku's Ramen my names Ayame are you waiting for someone?"

She had light brown hair tied back into a pony tail and fair skin that went hand in hand with her brown eyes. A bright white bandana was tied around her pony tail and a working dress white working dress hugged her body, while a wide blue apron defined her wide hips. She was all in all a stunning girl.

Ten tall, round bar stools were lined up against a long table. I was too hungry to respond for the last meal I had, was over a day ago and let's make this clear; never attempt to eat smelly green cheese. The rotten and bitter taste still lingered in my throat. Bile and brown snow washed out the horrible dairy crap the best it could, but, the experience was haunting enough for me to deny anything else I find in the trash.

The salty cooked meat accompanied by saffron and peppers made drool drip from my gaping mouth. The angelic waitress (I assumed she was one) gave me a questioning look as I automatically sat down on one of the smaller stools in the far right corner of the stand. The menu was written down in Kanji against a wooden board hanging from the ceiling of the stand.

I cursed myself for not knowing what any of the characters meant. I spent the last seven months learning how to read romaji, which was a Dravot-orientated alphabet, so that Hi no Kuni could trade with the far West scum better.

"Little boy, where are your parents?"

The question made me frown. I had no parents. That was why I spent my early years in the work station making shoes. It was a question few adults asked because my face was so infamous among villagers. When I was kicked out of the orphanage people often called me names like thief and bastard. I was certainly the best thief in the village and before I met Amasa I took great pride in that fact.

I was also a bastard. No one knew who my parents were and most assumed by my tanned skin that one of them was an islander. My blond hair and blue eyes were a normal gene that immigrants from Iwa had or anyone from Mercia, so people assumed my dad was trader that ended up with a harlot in Emerald Bay. That was the main theory Surgeon would joke about in the orphanage.

"They're dead." I don't quite know that but I assume they both are.

"Do you have any money?"

I shook my head.

"My dad's not here right now and he makes it clear that I'm not supposed to serve homeless people. I'm sorry."

Tears fell from my eyes as those words sunk in my head. Why was I crying? Crying was a sign of weakness. A small murky glass mirror was nailed against the wall of the stand. My face was covered with bits of black soot. I looked almost as dirty as one of those child workers in the factories. Her eyes were sympathetic and warm.

"Look what's your name?"

"My…na-name's Nar-uto. Naruto Uzamaki." Sniffles and tears made my speech slightly less comprehensible.

"That's a cute name," Ayame said with a gentle smile. "Maelstrom. Naruto's also a fishcake people put in ramen you know. You're a cute boy do you have a girl friend?" She laughed at Naruto's expression. "I'm kidding. You need money in order to get a bowl, although I think I can make an exception… for you. If that's alright."

She quickly went inside a backroom and five minutes later she appeared with a large bowl filled to the brim with noodles and brown colored water. An aroma of salt, lemon juice, cooked onions, fish, rosemary, and other things hit me quickly with a great sensation. Thin noodles filled the bowl unlike anything I've seen before.

A light array of disgust flickered in her eyes as she witnessed me devouring the ramen with my own two hands. I was just so hungry I couldn't help myself. I thanked her and left the stand with no thought in mind of where I was going to go next.

A year later

A layer of ice covered the usual green land of Konoha. Black plumes of smoke continued to go into the gray sky all the way from the far West Side. People walked around me trying their best to ignore the homeless rat that plagues the streets day and night. My clothes were horrendously stained and were held together from my newly acquired skill at sewing. I had grown over two inches this year and because of that the clothes that I had in my possession when I ran away took strain and sweat to put on.

I crossed a familiar street down by the West Side. Wooden boards over windows flanked each flat and home as if a disaster struck the street. Small craters and iron red stained stones were all scattered along the bumpy road making it look like an ancient battle ground. The few stores and shops against each building had a vibe of danger and an eerie air.

Dealers selling opium and white powder from the new world flanked each corner. Yellow skin mixed against pale skinned foreigners from Iwa. Immigrants and villagers who were busy coming and going from the flats, the coal mines, the textile plants, the iron works, the brass mills, the steel furnaces, the warehouses, the newly built train station up by the North Side, were coming and going across Fayette street in a hurry.

Coppers and shinobi tried their best to patrol the streets in the violent and overly crowded blocks in the West Side. There were always problems that resulted in their patrols. There weren't many laws against gambling but the Hokage urged law enforcers to keep the streets clean. Gamblers wanted to gamble just as much as the cops and even some of the shinobi. So street fighters and dice rollers were given the blind eye because what harm comes from gambling, right?

There were no laws when it came to harlots and brothels. Priests devoted to the ten divines laid out their reasons for coming up with such a law as to ban sex for money. But just like gambling it too, was a force that was unstoppable.

Drugs, on the other hand, were a coming of age thing in the elemental nations. The problem officers had with enforcing these laws were that gangs and criminal organizations had this game figured out. The second the law arrived at the scene criminals had their ways of shutting everything down without getting caught. This wasn't always the case but because there were so few officers compared to the rising population of the village, keeping up with criminals who now were starting to possess firearms was a security concern.

I continued walking along the street with the thought of my temple in mind. Since I ran away life seemed more loose and horrible. Fights and beatings were more frequent. Most of the time bullies weren't involved. The only people I felt at home with were the poor degenerate populace of the West Side.

Shop owners here would at times offer me loaves of bread. My temple was quite simply the one place in which I truly felt safe. It's located in the Quinn Forest, exactly fifteen miles away from where I'm at along Fayette Street.

Rooms filled with molding furniture and broken glass intrigued my imagination. How the temple came to being and then one day falling into oblivion was a tale I would play in my mind day and night. I made my mark in the place by stalking up on recently invented things called matches. Each box was worth a bronze coin but one day I found a stall left unattended with over a hundred boxes filled with these matches. Unlucky for him I now had two dozen cases stacked high against the walls. I discovered a large rusty old cot with a mattress still on it in a separate room. That room turned into a sort of bedroom where I would keep books and any spare clothes and usable crap I could find.

The temple was strange. Its location was four miles north of old grumpy Naoki, an angry farmer who owns twenty acres of land inside of Konoha! The sight of a farmer was unsettling. I grew up with factories bustling with noise, with tall flats peering into the sky, with space being so precious I had to live in a room with over hundred kids in it for five years. Naoki would throw fits whenever he saw my wavy golden hair. At times an ancient arquebus would blast with pungent ignited gun powder into the sky, and sometimes even at me!

Besides him I couldn't think of anyone else living around the temple. I was on my way to visit Ayame and her nice father Teuchi only to-

"Look an ounce of powdered ops is worth three coppers. The guy asks for a pound of ops. Thirty coppers are worth a single gold coin and he gives you one and what do you do? You give him the full pound, Tsuneo, you dumb piece of shit!"

A tall man dressed in an expensive black leather jacket kept on yelling at his young dealer who was just a year older than me. The man had black hair that was combed in a straight style; he had tanned skin almost as tanned as mine, black eyes, and a well-muscled body.

Tsuneo was dressed up in a recently bought red hooded cotton jacket with thick denim pants and loafer shoes around his feet. He had brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin, and a wicked frown that had the look of I don't give a shit.

"So what! It was a gold coin."

"So what? You forget that he owes you more than just a gold coin."

"He needed to give you eighteen more coppers." I was surprised by how abruptly I said that.

The tall man's face turned towards me along with his very young dealer. Eyes filled with curiosity and anger stabbed right through me. The tall man's face lit up with a bit of kindness before he said with a roughness "Where'd you learn to count so well? This idiot can't even count past ten without looking down at his toes!"

His young worker stared daggers at me as I said "From school."

"Which one? The one's kids get sent off too to become high end workers or the one in which kids get sent off too to become killers."

"The one in which kid's become killers sir."

"Sir? My you're a well-mannered boy. So is it Fenland?"

"No… it's the Konoha Academy."

The man grew silent with a blank stare for awhile. "How'd you like to work here along this street with Tsuneo and Vadim. You can buy yourself some new clothes and food. Those rags can't even be called clothes, there held together by horribly stitched string. Most kids your age start out as look outs, but if you accept this deal you can do a great job selling op."

"You need money and clothes. But I don't want to see you dead on the street."

"I can't survive the rest of my life by pickpocketing people for their food and loose coins."

"You've gotten this far?"

"Look. I'll just do this until I have enough money to get back on my feet."

After a long pause I said with uncertainty "When should I start?"

"What's your name, boy?"

"It's Naruto Uzumaki, sir."

"The name's Quintus. If you have any problems just talk to me."

"Oh you'll get yourself into many problems with these rats. Just you wait."

Finally chapter four is complete. I just want to say that the next chapter will be just as long as this one. I'm not sure when I'm going to post it but it might be early September or late August. I'd like to thank my loyal readers and my loyal followers.

Kekkai: Genki Fabaku (Barrier Release: Good Capture) – A, C-ranked barrier jutsu that's capable of trapping enemies real easily. The jutsu is capable of withstanding powerful offensive jutsus but only to an extent. The walls of the barrier are capable of burning the target slightly but can't cause any serious harm.

Genjutsu: Kuroyume (Illusion: black dream) – A, B-ranked genjutsu capable of torturing the opponent. The jutsu is capable of reaching more than one target and is well known for it's mysticism.

Guest-a fox's love looks really good and I feel this, as well as you, has a lot of potential. cant wait to see next chapter.

Response- I hope it looks good and I notice you were the person who wrote those other past reviews too. Thanks for your support.

Culaio-Very interesting story I really enjoy reading it :), but I must say that I am frequently confused why characters do what they do, like for example: Ida in this chapter at first nice to naruto then soon after says something really cruel to him, because of that I am frequently confused about characters and its hard for me to review.

Keep up the great work :D

Response- All the characters in this story do what they do because I felt making them complicated was better than making their personalities as deep as the surface. Ida has had a very rough life. Her son died and she's now stuck with someone she would rather not watch over. That scene was written as a warm and loving moment but I couldn't help but write her nasty comment as a bit of shock to whoevers reading it and a simple wish on her part to come true.

Anyways thanks for reading my loyal fans.