In the Hidden Leaf Village, a lone, blond child laid on top of his bed. There was no one else living in his apartment, a place just fine for any family but far too big for a child to be living on their own. It was the top-most flat, and it gave him a view of the village he felt conflicted about: it was beautiful, but it hated him.

"I don't get it," Naruto said to himself. "Why won't the old man tell me who they were?" Tears sprang from his blue eyes. "I just… I just want to know!"

"Pathetic."

He sprang up. "What the!?" His eyes widened at his new claustrophobic, sewer-like surroundings. "How did I get here?" Turning his head, he found multiple tunnels, all flooded like the main route he was in.

"Come here."

"Who are you?" The voice rumbled from all directions, so he just walked down the nearest tunnel. It took about half a minute for him to reach a giant open section of the waterlogged dungeon. "Hello?" Several steps forward let him see a giant cage with a paper inscribed by 'Seal' covering where one would put a lock. "Woah!"

A slit red eye appeared in the darkness.

He froze in realization that it was looking at him.

"Finally, you've come." Gleaming white fangs lined up to make a grin. "My mewling little ball and chain."

"Who… What are you?" He shook and stepped forward to see red-orange fur comprising several tails. It didn't take any more steps for him to realize what the thing was. His mouth gaped in horror.

It laughed, shaking the strange cavern they were in. "I missed seeing the miserable faces of mortal gnats right before I killed them. Are you going to wet yourself? Feel free, I'm not the one who's going to have to clean it up!"

"You're the Nine-Tailed Fox!"

"Amazing that you figured that out all by yourself."

"Shut up!" He pointed a finger at him. "You killed my parents!"

"I kill lots of human parents."

His fingers balled into fists before he yelled. "I hate you!"

Its claws smashed against the cage to no avail. "That's just what I was thinking!" It snarled. "You pathetic, weak crying maggot! Weeping over dead weaklings you don't even know because they rutted against each other to produce you, a living weakling." The thing's voice became mocking. "'Why does everyone hate me. I only want to be accepted. Nobody loves me.'" It rolled its eyes as Naruto started crying. "Go ahead. Cry, like you always do. It's just the two of us, as always."

The boy sniffled. "What do you mean?" He looked around again. "Where are we!?"

"Haven't you figured it out, yet!?" It burst into laughter. "We're inside you."

"...No." He shook his head. "No, no, no, no, no!"

"Yes."

"No!" Naruto swiped away his tears. "Does this mean I'm you?"

It slammed against the invulnerable cage with its entire body. "Watch your mouth, you insignificant worm! As if I would ever be a mucus-eating, mortal runt! You should be grateful I am even speaking to you!" It settled back in its cage, growling. "And after all your crying over wanting someone other than the Third to talk to."

"Are you why they hate me?"

"Who could hate a sniveling brat who makes a nuisance of themselves for attention?"

Naruto grit his teeth. "Just answer me!"

"Human fools such as yourself are superstitious, irrational, and short-sighted. You fear and despise what you do not understand, and those who are not like you. In the pursuit of things, your kind will setback entire generations or waste them on nonsense. I've seen it happen for centuries." It scoffed. "Some of them could see you as me, despite being a container rather than my personality, the stupid vermin. Could be they find you as pathetic as I do. Or perhaps lacking parents is enough to make one of you a pariah." It gave a shrug. "Human ignorance is as senseless as it is amusing."

That was the last he could take. He sat down and hugged his legs. A great deal of him wanted it all to be a lie. He wanted to wake up in his bed without ever hearing it. This had to be a nightmare.

The Nine-Tails smiled, as mischievous and devious as it was sinister. "The Fourth Hokage, the one you look up to so much, is the one who sealed me inside you on the day you were born."

And he collapsed.

As annoying as it was for the tailed beast to converse with his jailer, it couldn't help but enjoy destroying his world. The closer he was to mental self-destruction, the closer the creature was to freedom. Just one firm tug of the seal, and it would come off. It'd enjoy tormenting the boy in the meantime. Not like there was anything else for it to do.

It'd been years since that day. He told absolutely no one about it, but that didn't stop anyone from noticing he was worse off than before. The attitude he had got him sent back a year, and his grades didn't help either. Iruka, the Hokage, and even old man Teuchi lectured him all the time about his behavior.

"Another year to be failed at the academy."

In the freezing cold of winter, Naruto's anger kept him warmer than his coat or scarf ever could.

Then he saw three guys around a girl calling her names.

"Freak!"

"Dolly!"

"What's wro—"

He rushed in and broke his nose with a lunging punch, sending him sprawling on the snow and blood out to dye some of the white red. "What's wrong with your face!" He glanced at his now-bruised knuckles. "It's bleeding like your mother's pussy!" There was no clue in his head what that actually meant: he just heard a man use that phrase one time and the other guy got so angry you could see the veins in his head.

The two standing bullies were surprised and confused while Hinata stayed crouched, her reddening face in her palms. "What's a 'pussy?'"

Naruto decked that one next and ducked under a punch from the other. He wasn't that good at taijutsu. It's just his one year of training gave him more experience than any newbie, much less what were obvious flunky material. "It's you three, dumbasses!" He raised his knee between the last one's legs too fast for him to deflect with his thigh. "And I guess you're two in one now."

They picked themselves up and ran away, making him smirk.

"Congratulations! You beat up three worthless, untrained maggots. Truly, you are on the path to becoming a powerful shinobi."

He stiffened before quivering in rage.

"Are… Are you okay?" A quiet voice asked, snapping him out of it. Hinata flinched as he turned to look at her. "Y-You punched one of them very hard."

"You look like Neji," Naruto said. She also really did look like a doll. He frowned. "That douchebag your brother or something?" He raised an eyebrow as she winced.

"C-Cousin." Her pure white pupils looked at his hand. "C-C-Can I?" She pointed at it.

He shook his head. "It'll heal." No matter how much he got hurt, he was always fine in either the next day or the day after. His face twisted as hers went red. "Are you sick or?"

"Please!?"

"...Okay." Naruto pulled back his sleeve a bit and tugged off his mitten, letting the purple-blackish fist breathe. "Just hurry up: I don't like frostbite."

Nodding, Hinata fished bandage wrapping from one of her trainee pouches. She held her fingers straight with her free hand and pointed at his bruised with the one of her wrap fingers. Naruto put them in position, and she began rolling him up by the fingers to the wrist. Her work was done within a minute.

He wiggled his fingers and nodded at the same flexibility yet lack of tightness. "You've been practicing your medical basics already." He slid the mitten over his now-wrapped hand. "Pro-active, like Neji."

"You-You're good too."

"Not really." If he didn't tell the truth, he'd have to hear the fox laugh at him. "I know Neji because I failed a year." He wanted to lie about the next part though. "I was at the bottom of my class."

"Oh...but you learned something."

"It wasn't enough." He shook his head. "We need to get going." Naruto began running off. "If you ever see Neji again, tell him Naruto Uzumaki said to get that stick out of his ass!"

Hinata blushed and waved goodbye.

He could feel the interest of the beast inside him "What is it?" He whispered to himself.

"Look at you, playing hero."

There were many times he wanted to slam his head against the nearest hard object and many times he did.

About a year passed. The start of his second academy year had the inclusion of someone that intrigued him. Of course, the feeling was not reciprocated, as if he cared. It was the beginning of taijutsu training.

"Fight me, you gloomy cocksucker!"

Iruka's forehead vein popped. "Naruto!"

"Why do you even bother, Iruka-sensei?" Shikamaru yawned from his place on the line-up. He never cared for the academy. In fact, he didn't care so much he was almost considered as bad as Naruto, almost. Where they were supposed to be standing, he was sitting.

The other students shared similar facial expressions. It wasn't as if they cared about swearing. He insulted everyone equally. And more than a few of them laughed at the insults, though it was rarely at the ones targeted at them.

He took a deep breath and sighed. There was no winning with his particular generation of students. Land of Fire as a whole hadn't seen much open conflict in years: the previous generation was giving the current one the easy lives they didn't have at their age.

"Me and the cocksucker doing this or what, you simping dumbass?"

"What's a si–" Iruka shook his head. The delinquent was aiding in everyone's vocabulary every other day. "You know you have detention, right?" His unfazed expression told him all he needed. "Begin."

Sasuke Uchiha began with a swerve and a hook, familiar with his opponent's preferences for taijutsu.

Naruto avoided the punch just barely, having it just graze his cheek, before lifting his elbow for the other boy's jaw. The way he fought was dangerous to himself as well as his opponent. As a rule, the academy didn't advocate for use of joints in attacks or grappling because of the damage they could do. Taijutsu specialists that worked with their knees and elbows more often than not retired before turning thirty due to arthritis. Grappling was best taught by professionals to full adults rather than children incapable of understanding that just because they do not feel pain in a lock doesn't mean it isn't working. The sheer damage throwing someone down on a hard surface caused as well was a blaring sign that it shouldn't be taught to inexperienced children.

Sasuke leaned back, careful to avoid any contact; shifted his balance on to one foot, and brought his other leg up to kick him in the side of his face or jaw, like he'd done several times before. Except his kick didn't make contact.

Grinning, Naruto grabbed the leg from opposite sides of the joint and kicked out the lone support. He felt happiness. And then he felt someone's hands on his shoulders and saw Iruka catch Sasuke.

"That is not academy-approved taijutsu," Mizuki, the man behind him said.

Sasuke shared the same dumbfounded and disappointed look as the rest of the academy students. It was the first time he was pressured by someone his own age, ever. The maneuver looked as slick as it was to pull off. A part of him was mad at Iruka when he set him down: he thought he could handle it.

Naruto's expression was blank. "I was winning," he said far more to himself than he did anyone else.

"Throws and ho–"

His fist drove into the chunin's stomach. "I was winning!" He blinked, set back into neutral position, and stood still at the realization of what he just did.

The entire training area fell silent as well.

Three kids were in the detention room. It was the usual suspects: Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji. Only Shikamaru and Choji were really friends. Naruto was an acquaintance, and they were acquaintances to him. Being around them only made him feel more alone. He was face-down on a desk, Choji was snacking in his seat, and Shikamaru was laying down on what they were supposed to use for putting notes.

They had been like that for nearly an hour at that point and made barely more than some munching noises.

"I can't believe you punched, Iruka-sensei," Choji finally said.

Naruto groaned. "I was winning."

"Where did you even learn that?" Shikamaru asked. "Did you pick up taijutsu in the red light district?" They had ended up there together once. Naruto mentioned it as a source of his ever-growing list of insults, and Choji wanted to go because he passively mentioned eating some fried dumplings that were delicious there. Shikamaru went along because he was worried about Choji and didn't trust Naruto at the time. It was pretty fun until Iruka showed up.

"Thought it up on the spot. Why get kicked in the face when I can catch and trip?" Naruto grumbled. "Pussy shit academy rules."

"People don't normally heal from broken bones and cuts in days: we can't afford to get hurt like you can." It was something they all figured out. Sasuke had to beat him bloody sometimes. Naruto once accidentally threw a kunai meant for group throwing straight through his foot, and it was healed the next two days.

Choji munched. "Seriously, do you have some sort of kekkei genkai?"

"I was going to beat him."

"You're the only one who's gotten that close, I guess." Shikamaru shrugged. "You've been thinking about doing that for a while, haven't you?"

"...Yeah and it was great before it was ruined."

"Naruto, there is something wro–" Choji didn't understand his mistake until the blond boy was frozen with his fist several inches away from his face. Shikamaru's shadow was connected to his, stopping the textbook case of problem child from knocking his teeth out. "Uh?"

"He didn't mean it."

"Then why did he say it!?"

The Akimichi swallowed his potato chips. "Why did you punch Iruka-sensei?"

Naruto stopped struggling against the Nara family's special jutsu. "I really really wanted to beat the shit out of Sasuke for once."

"You want to every day." Shikamaru released him.

He sat back down as Nara resumed lounging. "I was so fucking close this time!"

Shikamaru patted his shoulder with the heel of his shoe, legitimately trying to comfort rather than insult. "We know. All of us do." He laughed. "Even Sasuke looked like he missed out on something. They're not going to let you try something like that again."

"I knooow."

The classroom door opened, and Iruka walked in. "Naruto." He called out. "Come with me."

He rose. "See you guys next time." Giving a goodbye wave, he walked down to the chunin. "Gotta go get lectured by Old Man Hokage and Iruka."

They waved back as the student and teacher walked out.

"Barbecue?" Akimichi said.

"Eh, feeling down for some fried dumplings."

"Right on." Choji opened the window and fit himself through. Shikamaru followed him out, leaving the detention classroom barren as it usually was.

Naruto and Iruka were walking outside but not to the Hokage Residence, which was awfully close to the academy. It was a trail both of them knew by different ways. Only one of them was doubtful the other was leading them to the safe place.

"Guess I really pissed you off this time, simping dumbass."

The teacher didn't acknowledge the insult or his words.

"You know, you can just beat the shit out of me and get it over with." A concerned glance made him raise a confused eyebrow. "What? I punched you, didn't I?"

"I'm wearing chain mesh. Granted, it still hurt." He looked ahead at a sign. "We're almost there."

Naruto looked at it and widened his eyes. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"Uh?" He shook his head.

Iruka went in and sat down. "Hey, Teuchi, one bowl of miso, please." He glanced back to see why the seat next to him was empty. "Naruto come in."

"Naruto is with you, Iruka?" Ayame asked. She looked over his shoulder and saw the orange-blue outfit the child usually wore. "Come on in!"

"Can you just beat the shit out of me instead?"

"Naruto!" Teuchi scolded.

Doing his best not to make eye-contact, the boy walked in and sat two seats away from his academy teacher. He planted his elbow on the counter, rested his hand on his cheek, and looked straight at the wall to his left.

"What's the matter?" Iruka asked.

"This is so fucking awkward."

"That's enough out of you, young man!" Teuchi said again, filling two bowls with their appropriate ingredients.

Ayame gave a small whine. "You used to be so sweet and innocent."

"So were you." Naruto looked at her, held out his hands, and started squeezing the air.

The teenage girl blushed before returning to her work. Her father was too busy preparing their meals to see the gesture. Iruka, however, was witness to the entire thing.

He looked at his flabbergasted teacher. "What?"

"...You were sweet and innocent?"

"I was a worthless crybaby," Naruto answered, spite in every word.

Teuchi sighed as he set down their filled bowls. "You were a normal kid." He handed Iruka his chopsticks and then Naruto. "Your favorite."

He broke them apart as he glanced at Iruka. "You're lucky I don't waste ramen, or I'd throw this at you."

"Why?" He broke apart his own.

"This entire situation." Naruto scowled. He dug his sticks in and began slurping. "An you stawp my fit wit Saske."

Ayame frowned. "Don't talk while you're eating."

"Stawp me den, ms its."

Iruka frowned while she shook her head. "Winning against him meant a lot to you, didn't it?" A tad bit of annoyance was in his mind as the lad kept slurping. "If he'd broken a limb, he wouldn't be able to practice for weeks."

Naruto stopped and swallowed. "Sounds a lot like that's not my problem."

"I thought you liked him." He started rolling up his own noodles.

"I like punching his stupid face...when I can punch his stupid face."

Iruka held them up and slurped them down. "There was one specific time you actually managed that."

"Sh-Shut up!" He returned to consuming his ramen with advanced speed, determined to get this moment over with as fast possible.

Teuchi shook his head. "You're going to burn your tongue." His daughter joined him in the disappointed head gestures.

"Dun caw!" Sizzling oodles, pork, and egg all swamped into Naruto's mouth, still hot. Then he swallowed. And then he realized it was all too much.

Iruka slapped him on the back, helping his fast-eaten food to go down. "You need to take better care of yourself."

"I can heal." The blond held out his scalded tongue and grabbed his burned throat. "Ugh."

"Dad told you so," Ayame chanted.

Rolling his eyes, he turned to his teacher. "So why did you bring me here? Are you some kind of maso pedo?"

"Where do you keep learning those words?!" Iruka gaped.

"Red-light district," Ayame answered, her eyes staring in disappointment at Naruto.

"They have these girls with weird black strips over them." He put a hand to his chin. "They actually don't like the guys who like them, but it seems like they make a lot." Naruto closed his eyes and smirked. "Exact opposite of the type of girls you visit there."

Ayame's disappointed stare turned to Iruka and increased several magnitudes in disappointment. Her father joined in. Naruto was still a child who didn't know any better. Iruka was an adult who needed to set an example.

"H-He's lying!" Iruka flinched. If there was one positive to the boy's attitude, it was that people tended to believe him. A man who called another a cunt to his face was not hiding behind the curtain of civility. It was their honest opinion with no filter. And, at least in this case, Naruto wasn't lying: the three usual suspects once ran into Iruka there being strung along by some street-walker in a red dress.

The looks increased further in judgment.

Sighing, the chunin shook his head. "I brought you here to apologize for ruining your big moment and to make it up to you."

"...I punched you, maso pedo."

"You felt cheated." Iruka's vein popped, though he kept a civil tone. "And you were. If you were facing Sasuke in a battle to the death, that could've easily been a finishing move: he did not expect it, he has little experience with grappling, and he was underestimating you. Except, you were training to become shinobi under academy guidelines. I'm sorry."

Naruto lifted the bowl to his lips and slurped what was left of his ramen. He got out of his seat before walking out of the stand. "Thanks."

"Uh." He watched him walk out of sight. "That's not really what you're supposed to say." Turning back to the father-daughter duo, he pulled out his coin pouch. "I'll pay for him."

The moment Naruto was certain he was out of sight and hearing range of anyone, he let the tears fall from his eyes for the first time in a long time.

"Aww, look who didn't get what he wanted."

He shook his head and wiped his nose as the tears kept coming.

"Then what are you crying over?"

"I'm...happy."

The beast offered no response. Intricacies of the mortal minds did not interest it whatsoever. A crying child was a crying child. It'd rib the lad for this weakness later where it can be maximized for torment.

It was the final year and the final day for Naruto's gaggle of trainees. They were all undertaking the academy's graduation exam. And, for once in the entire time they've known him, Naruto didn't say a single word, much less insulted nor belittled anyone. That fact disturbed everyone rather than soothed them.

They were lined up outside of the classroom for their final clone test. He excelled in taijutsu yet scored abysmally on the written ones. No on needed to excel on them to pass at all, however. It just looked good on paper.

Naruto was shaking, visibly and audibly. No one looked at him. There was no telling what his reaction would be. His behavior was far too abnormal.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Mizuki called out.

He jumped and gasped at the same time before shambling to the class room entrance. Sasuke had his eyes closed, Shikamaru gave him a nod, Choji had a determined look on his face, Hinata looked far more concerned than usual, and everyone else was trying to avoid looking at him. None of them had an effect because he was too focused on what was coming next to even register their presence beyond physical obstacles to avoid bumping into.

Iruka nearly dropped his clipboard at the sight of his worst student looking like the lone survivor of a bandit attack. "Uh, stand before us, please." The child not saying anything still set him off. "Now perform the clone jutsu."

The fox began snickering.

Naruto's fingers slammed together so hard the impact could be heard in the hallway. He channeled his chakra to such a degree the wind swirled around him. A shaky breath left his lips before he did his best. The odd pop clones made when they formed told him it was done. He opened his eyes and inched them toward his left.

A faded, corpse-like version of himself laid on the floor.

The beast burst into thunderous, mocking laughter that filled the uneasy halls of his mind.

Mizuki and Iruka's discussion about the acceptability of the clone fell on deaf ears. He already knew the result. It was what he was dreading the entire time. Truly, it felt like the worst day in his entire life; he failed.

Glass shattering broke the two teacher's concentration.

They turned to see as their other students outside crowded the narrow entrance to peek for themselves. One of the windows was shattered in the shape of a person. Fragments of glass sat on the floor beneath it, coated red with blood. All the kids needed to see was the clone left behind to understand the why of it.

Mizuki turned to the nosy ones as Iruka stared at the shattered window. "Students, please wait for your name to be called."

"….Shouldn't someone get him?" Choji asked.

Shikamaru shook his head. "I've never seen Naruto do anything like this, but he'd probably mangle anyone who tried to stop him right now."

"S-Someone should check!" Hinata blinked and activated her byakugan. "He's…sitting on the swing outside the entrance, bleeding."

Kiba raised an eyebrow at that where everyone else understood.

"He'll be fine," Shino spoke, surprising much of them. "It's Naruto: he's survived worse."

Mizuki looked to a frozen Iruka. "I'll talk to him after, alright? You go log the records." He smiled as the man snapped out to nod.

The rest of the graduation testing continued without issue. Almost all of their class was left of and composed of clan kids, so they passed. Even the clanless Sakura came out with headband. Their parents had come to pick them up outside the front entrance, right in Naruto's line of sight.

Swinging slightly on the swing-set, there was glass shards in his whiskered face, two big shards in the sides of his chest, and one large lodged in the leg of the side of him that took the most impact. Not much shards were left on his jumpsuit itself, giving no other evidence of what happened. He received the usual looks of disdain, but he was too tired to rush over there and try to gouge them.

The ceaseless laughter of his tormentor did not pause once since his grand exit.

"Hey," Mizuki said, having been ignored in favor of what the lad could never have. "I know you failed the test but...what if I told you there was still a way you could pass?" He smiled as the kid's gaze focused on him. "Before your generation, there was this test only taken by the most daring or craziest of trainees. It was discontinued because people died failing it."

"Interesting."

"The test was to steal and learn something from the Scroll of Seals held in the Hokage library. Of course, you had to be the absolute pinnacle of what a shinobi could do to infiltrate the residence and take something as important as that from the strongest ninja in the village. Too many kids thought they measured up only to find out the hard way." Mizuki shook his head. "If you pull it off, I'll defend you and present you to the Hokage himself. If they don't accept it, I'll take the blame."

Naruto's face was stoic. "Sounds a lot like you're trying to get me killed, slimy fuck."

"Don't you want to pass?" Mizuki grinned. "Don't you want to be better than Sasuke?"

That was all he needed to say.

He took the shards out of his face, ripped out the ones in his chest, and pulled the one in his leg out. With one hand pressuring his biggest wound, he a bandage roll from his pouch. His body went taut as needed and relaxed when he was done wrapping his wounds.

"There's a cabin in the woods meant for scouts. If you've got what it takes, you'll find it. No one will look for you there."

"They would never kill you, but this one does mean you harm."

'I know.' He stood up from the swing-set and walked away from Mizuki without sparing him a glance. It didn't take a genius to tell the man was likely smiling maliciously behind him. Even if it was all nonsense, he wanted to prove he was better, and there was nothing wrong with him.

Naruto waited until the sun began to set, knowing orange blended best with the light then for him to make a getaway without notice. His plan was to transform into one of the guards or a rat. As far as he remembered, there was no vermin problem, so a rat was out of the question. He needed a face and a route to follow that wouldn't arouse suspicion.

A grin spread across his face when he remembered a jonin in glasses that had every reason to be in the residence. He put his fingers together and transformed into Ebisu, Konohamaru's equally annoying teacher. The brat and him had an odd relationship. Konohamaru tagged along with Old Sarutobi one day to his place, and he nearly brained the child when he called him an insane freak. He looked up to him after, having no one in his life that ever tried punishing him like that. Old Sarutobi was disappointed in them both and more annoyed when his grandson adopted Naruto's gadfly bluntness. Ebisu had given him an earful on several occasions because of it.

With his choice of disguise, he entered the Hokage residence. The man was respected enough not to be questioned, so he adopted a frustrated demeanor to dissuade anyone from approaching. He cut through the complex, following directional signs, until he reached the library, which had two men standing in front. "Out of my way! Lord Konohamaru requires more material to read!"

They made odd faces but opened the door for him.

He entered and dropped the attitude when he saw no one else inside. It was a pretty big room, even bigger than the Hokage's office. Shelves upon shelves of scroll were lined up in neat rows. If the Scroll of Seals wasn't on a giant display and giant itself, he'd have no idea where to look. "Old Man Hokage, you need to work on your security." He lifted the scroll into his arms and saw strange inscriptions on the stand itself begin to grow. "Ah, shit." With a spin on his heel, he ran towards the door, which was now glowing with the same inscriptions.

The two guards smashed it in with shuriken and kunai in hand. "Stop right there!"

He dispelled his transformation, letting a shuriken fly over his head while simultaneously blinding the two men. Naruto, knowing trying to get out the front door was suicide, did what came naturally: jumping out of the nearest window. He landed on the first tiled roof level and hopped over the fence with the scroll in his arms and a shit-eating grin on his face. Some citizens looked at his glassy, grinning self to make faces, but he couldn't care less on his path to the woods. Naruto Uzumaki wasn't some worthless forever trainee.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had his face in his hands. It wasn't every day someone infiltrated the heart of the Hidden Leaf Village and ran out with their scroll of invaluable, dangerous jutsu. Just so happened that certain someone was reported to be Naruto Uzumaki, an ever-growing pain in his ass.

Iruka stood before him with several other chunin and a few jonin. "I just can't believe Naruto would do something like this! I know he's had his issues, and he doesn't seem to respect anything, but he would never act against anyone unless provoked!"

"Citizens have reported him running around with a scroll that fits the description of the Scroll of Seals," one chunin said. "The guards outside the library reported someone transformed as Ebisu taking it. They didn't see him jump out the window, but the citizens below confirmed it was Naruto."

Choza Akimichi stepped towards Iruka. "I know he's you're student, but I heard what he did earlier today; that kind of outburst is done by someone at the end of their rope. When backed into a corner, no one is quite themselves."

"Just because you're close friends with a Yamanaka doesn't make you a certified psychologist," Iruka said. "Violence, anger, and destructive outbursts are how he handles things. This thievery is insane."

"My army of trained and experienced assassins, spies, and mercenaries were outplayed by a thirteen-year-old orphan who intentionally distinguishes himself with non-stop crude insults, foul language, the color orange, and violence wherever he may be," Sarutobi said. His eyes looked at the crowd of ninja with disappointment. "This entire scenario is insane, but I believe, under the machinations of a traitor, Naruto Uzumaki was instructed to steal the Scroll of Seals and told of its location." Folding his hands together, he took a deep breath. "You are to bring me Naruto Uzumaki for questioning, retrieve the scroll, and capture whomever is responsible for this incident."

They nodded and turned to move out but froze as Hiruzen's presence alone seemed to choke the life from them.

"If Naruto Uzumaki dies by one of your hands, so help me, I will kill you myself!" He relaxed. "Now you are dismissed."

The Hokage's office could not be vacated faster than it was that evening.

Sarutobi looked up at one of the hanging Hokage portraits. "I wonder… If we ever meet again, will you forgive me? Forgive them all?" He sighed. "You sacrificed everything you could, and they spat on what was left. How can I protect him when I have to protect them as well?" He nearly laughed. "That must have been how you felt before the end."

It offered no words. The image of the man was as stalwart as he was in life. When one could do nothing, all that is left is to endure.

Contrary to popular belief, Naruto was not an idiot. He simply voiced his first thoughts before properly vetting them. It was only when he doubled down was he acting stupid. Iruka noticed it. He was certain Shikamaru also knew it but never said it because it would only encourage that behavior, the reason why he didn't. Places he frequented were out of the question. The red-light district was a good candidate, but it was too populated. Naruto did not like being around other people, but he didn't like places that made him feel trapped. All that was left was the forests.

And that's exactly where he found him, laying on the grass while covered in dirt next to a rolled out scroll by a scout shack.

He lifted his upper body off the ground and smiled. "Oh, Iruka-sensei!"

"Naruto!" He hopped down from a tree branch and stomped forward. "What do you… Did you just call me Iruka-sensei?"

He grinned. "My bad, simping dumbass." He stood up. "In a really good mood right now, so it just slipped out." He flinched as Iruka smacked him over the head. "Ow!"

"You're the real Naruto." He blinked, looked to the Scroll of Seals, and focused back on the troublemaker. "What the hell were you thinking!"

"I was thinking of pissing everyone off, rubbing in everyone's faces that I'm the best shinobi ever, and learning a kickass forbidden jutsu!"

Iruka stared at the young man before him. It was the happiest he'd seen him, ever. While it wasn't as unnerving as his earlier self, it was still a lot to take in. "Who told you about the scroll?"

"Mizuki!" Naruto laughed. "He thought I'd buy this story about people stealing it, learning something, and graduating. Told you all he was a slimy fuck. I just went through with it to see if I could!" He blinked. "...Probably should've played stupid, but I am feeling way too good right now." His expression died as he saw a giant shuriken heading for Iruka. He dropped down and swept his anger-blinded teacher's feet.

"Fucking demon brat!"

Iruka rolled to the side and up on to his feet, hands reaching for a kunai in his pouch. "Watch your tongue, Mizuki!"

"Why hide it at this point?!" Mizuki scowled and dodged a kunai, taking cover behind the trunk of a tree. "Just look at him!" He scoffed. "Naruto! You were born thirteen years ago! The day of the Nine-Tails attack! The day Iruka's parents died!"

Frowning, Naruto dusted himself off. He already knew what the man was going to say. It was ancient history for him, but he didn't know about Iruka's parents.

"It was you! The Fourth Hokage trapped the Nine-Tails in a human body! You're the Nine-Tailed Fox!"

"Kill him!"

"No," he said to both.

Iruka moved to flank Mizuki. "Don't listen to him!"

"It's why everyone hates you!" He prepared a shuriken for his former co-teacher. "You're a freak!"

Naruto rushed to the other side, made a hand seal, and dog-piled the man with eight other duplicates of himself while he was focused on Iruka. "Shut up!" The eight Narutos took hold of Mizuki's limbs, each locked down by two. "Stupid!" He stomped on the man's crotch before straddling the man's unprotected chest. "Fucking idiot! Do I have fox ears and a tail!? Do I have fur!?"

Mizuki struggled against the clones but lacked the strength to break free. "You have whiskers!" His eyes glared at him like everyone else's.

And he took that personally.

Naruto jabbed his thumbs into Mizuki's eyes until blood sprang. "Oh just shut the fuck up! I'm sick of it!" He pulled himself out of the ruined eye-sockets and began wailing on the screaming Mizuki. "Every single time! Every single day! The same fucking look! The same fucking words!" He broke his nose, sending a gout of blood up that got on his whiskered cheek. "Do you maggots have anything better to do with your meaningless fucking lives!?"

"Naruto," Iruka called out.

"I did nothing to you! Nothing! And you look at me like I'm a piece of shit!" He knocked several of Mizuki's teeth out. "Oh, I insulted you!? How dare I when you spit in my fucking direction!" His hook unhinged his jaw. "You can say and think whatever you want, but I can't!? Are you fucking kidding me!?"

Iruka took a shaky breath as he stepped forward. "Naruto!"

"You lost someone!? So you can act in whatever shitty way you want!?" His knuckled fractured with his next two punches. "Fuck! Off! It wasn't me! Dammit! Is that so fucking hard to understand!?" He kept punching the growing purple-red that was Mizuki's face.

"Naruto, stop!" Iruka reached out to grab him from the back but an elbow in his gut sent him back.

"Is this what I have to do to all of you!?" Naruto laughed. "Are you so fucking stupid I have to beat you until you listen!?" He laughed again. "Just fine with me then! I can keep going!" His laugh turned into a whimper. "No matter how much I fail, I always get back up! Always try again, and again, and again, and again, and again!" Tears sprang from his cheeks. "Even though it's pointless! Even if it hurts! Even if I hate it!"

Iruka pulled him off and held him, even as he struggled against him. "I know!" The clones disappeared in clouds of smoke without Naruto in arm's distance, Mizuki well beyond neutralized. "I know you do!" He started crying as well.

"I just!" Naruto stopped struggling. "...I just hate this fucking place."

"I know, and I'm sorry." Iraku sat down with his student in his arms.

They could rest in that forest for a time, but the village was waiting. Both shared a responsibility. In time, it was certain one would tire of it though.

AN: I've seen this concept done before, but there was always something missing from its execution. Either far more events in canon were changed than just his childhood or Naruto went from being resentful of the Leaf to straight ninja Hitler with no real development. I love Part 1, so an outright turn is out of the question. Going to ease into it. When the Valley of the End happens, it's going to be an all too fitting tragic spectacle.