AN: This is my first fic so the writing might be shoddy. I will keep to canon at times but not all the time. However, I will try my best to make the story engaging. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I clearly do not own Naruto. It is all Kishimoto's. If I did own Naruto, I will be loaded with my money right now.

The date was the 10th of October, it will forever be etched in history books as Konoha's darkest day. On this day, the great Kyubi no Kitsune appeared suddenly at the edge of the village and started rampaging through it. Its dense chakra could be seen and felt miles away from the village. Its killer intent struck fear into the hearts of all the citizens, except for one man. That man was Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage, the Yellow Flash of the Leaf. He stood on a mountain witnessing the devastation that occurred in his village. He was not afraid of the Kyubi, the only thing he felt at that moment was sadness. In his arms was a bundle of cloth, in that bundle was a baby with yellow hair and striking blue eyes, it was his baby.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I wish that there's another way to defeat it but I'm out of options. You deserve better than this, you deserve to have a family. I wished your mother and I could've been there for you. I know that it will be hard to forgive me when you eventually learn of this but I know that you are the only one that can do this. You are my son after all…" Minato said, staring at the asleep baby in his arms. His heart ached and was filled with sadness knowing that both he and his wife will not be able to see their son grow up to be an amazing man. With that he teleported in a flash of yellow to the battlefield using the Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God Technique) that made him known as the Yellow Flash.

Moments later, at the battlefield, Naruto laid on a pedestal and both of his parents were close to death near him. The Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, saw that Minato had sealed the Kyubi into the child that was currently laid on the pedestal. He quickly rushed to his side as soon as the sealing process was complete.

"Hiruzen, Kushina and I are no longer going to be in this world soon. This is our son, Naruto, please take care of him. Please be there for him and help him in times of need. Tell Kakashi that I'm sorry that he has to lose another person precious to him. I've left a few letters in my desk drawer and I entrust them to you."

" I promise you that as the Sandaime Hokage I will honour your wishes, Minato" Said Hiruzen. A few seconds later, the Yondaime Hokage passed away.

It had been a few hours since the end of the Kyubi attack on the village. Kakashi Hatake, a young man with wild silver hair, a mask covering half his face and one eye covered, was sitting on a tree stump attending to his injuries from the battle. He was taking in the devastation around him. Trees uprooted, buildings destroyed and bodies of dead people scattered throughout the village streets. He had never seen his village impacted by battle this badly before. He stopped his observations when he saw an Anbu land next to him stating that the Hokage requested his presence.

At the Hokage tower, Kakashi entered the Hokage's office and was confused by what he saw. Behind the desk was the Sandaime Hokage and beside him was a crib with a baby in it.

"Sandaime-sama, where's Minato-sensei? I was called here by the Hokage," Kakashi asked.

"Kakashi, Minato has unfortunately died defeating the Kyubi… I'm sorry, Kakashi," stated Hiruzen.

Kakashi's single eye widened in shock. He couldn't believe that the man he saw as a father figure and his idol had died. He felt hollow inside his heart. He felt that yet again he was alone. All those that he cared for had died. His father, Obito, Rin and now, Minato had all left him in this world. Minato had been the only constant in his life. He had been there for Rin's funeral, for Obito's funeral, always there by his side. He never would've thought that he would be going to Minato's funeral next. He was practically unkillable and was the strongest man he knew. 'Maybe I am cursed to be alone in this world,' he thought.

He was pulled away from his thoughts when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up and saw that it was Hiruzen. " I know how you feel, Kakashi. Why am I alive when everyone around me is no longer here? Why am I alone yet again? I had those same thoughts too when I saw many of my comrades and close friends die in war. However, the ones who remained such as my wife had helped me through those times. They would want you to move on. You have your comrades such as Gai or Asuma that would be willing to be there for you. Don't push them away. Minato wouldn't want that for you," assured Hiruzen.

He then gave Kakashi a scroll that was left by Minato to give to him. Kakashi proceeded to read the letter.

"Kakashi, by the time you are reading this letter I will no longer be there for you. I am sorry that you have once again had someone precious to you pass away. I want you to know that as your sensei that I am proud of your achievements. I hope that you continue to do great things as a shinobi.

To defeat the Kyubi, I have no choice but to seal it away as it can't be killed. The baby that I sealed the Kyubi into is my son, Naruto. I hope that you protect him and that one day you train him to be a great shinobi. You are the one I know can make my son a great shinobi. He will not grow up with parents so he will struggle in life especially with the fox in him.

I'm sorry Kakashi. I will longer be there with you.

Minato Namikaze,

Yondaime Hokage."

Several droplets of water fell from his eye as he finished reading the letter. As shinobi they were taught to never show emotion yet he could no longer hold it in. For the first time in a long time, Kakashi Hatake cried.

He wiped his tears with the back of his hand and looked up at the Hokage holding a baby in his hands.

"Is that him? Is that Naruto?" He asked.

"Yes it is him. The foolish council already demands his death but I could not let that be done to Minato's son. They cannot see that the prisoner is not the same as its prison." He sighed as he put back down Naruto.

"News will spread that he contains the Kyubi and knowing people, they will be too blind with fear to see that he is not the Kyubi. Life will be hard for him, but I know that some people will grow to love and care for him. Kakashi, we cannot let the public know of his heritage. Minato had created many enemies and no doubt many of them will take the chance to kill his son. He will use his mother's clan name and will be Naruto Uzumaki. We will only reveal his true heritage when the time is right."

Kakashi can only nod in agreement with his statement. He was still quite shocked with the death of his sensei and his wife.

5 Years Later

Naruto Uzumaki was not your average orphan. Obviously like every orphan, he had no parents and he was very lonely. However, unlike other orphans who were looked at with sympathy and concern, he was looked at with hate, fear and anger. Walking along the streets, he could feel the glares of many on him. Sometimes he would get beaten up by random passersby. He had no clue what he did to ever earn this type of feeling from others. Even those at the orphanage do not like him. They made harsh and mean comments but Naruto did not know why he deserved it.

"That's him. Why would the Hokage ever let a demon like him free?"

"That's him, the demon brat."

However, not all of the population hated him, there were a few people that actually cared for him. One of them being the old man that visits him every fortnight. He found out that this old man was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage. He also had the father and daughter that run the ramen stall he loved to go to. They didn't see him with any negative feelings.

Furthermore, he also had Kakashi and Yugao, the two anbu who visit him regularly. It started with Kakashi chasing a bunch of villagers away as they were beating Naruto up. Ever since then, he had regularly visited and followed him when he went out. When asked why he cared so much, he responded with, "I cannot stand people who look at you with hatred and beat you up. I will never understand them" and then he took off his mask to reveal his face (well… with another mask covering the bottom half of his face). Yugao was there with Naruto whenever Kakashi couldn't. She too had no negative feelings towards Naruto.

Naruto was smarter than any child his age. He had to learn how to read and write on an advanced level by himself. He was only taught the basics such as the letters and their sounds but other than that he was not allowed to learn. He had to learn to read and write proper words and sentences by himself. Naruto loved to read books, especially those on the previous legendary shinobis. His idol, the Yondaime Hokage, was his favourite shinobi. He always dreamt of being a shinobi as strong as him. To be able to strike fear into his enemy hearts and to be able to defeat a thousand enemies alone. However, he did notice that the Yondaime looked suspiciously like him. His yellow hair and his blue eyes were very similar.

One day while eating at Ichiraku Ramen, he decided to ask the Hokage whether he could be a shinobi or not.

"Jiji, do you think I could be a shinobi like you?" Naruto asked while waiting for his ramen.

"Why do you ask that Naruto-kun?" Asked Hiruzen.

"Well, I read a book on the Yondaime Hokage and I want to be just like him. I want to be a strong shinobi and maybe who knows I will take your spot as Hokage," Naruto replied enthusiastically with his fingers pointed at the elderly man.

Hiruzen smiled at his enthusiasm. "Well first you have to know what it means to be a shinobi and what it means to be a Hokage. To be a shinobi means to endure. A shinobi is someone who walks towards danger while others are running away. A shinobi is someone who protects others who can't protect themselves and to be a Hokage is to protect everyone within the walls of this village. No matter if they are shinobi or not. The Hokage is the one who leads and the one who protects. They need to not only be strong through power but also have a strong will."

Naruto looked at the Hokage in awe. He did not know that he could be so wise. He did not know that being a shinobi would be so hard but he was still determined to be one. He wanted to be able to protect those few who cared for him, the Hokage, the Ichiraku Family, Kakashi and Yugao.

"I still want to be a shinobi, Jiji. I will protect those few who care and you included. I will be strong and if I become Hokage on the way to being strong, even better!" He announced to those at the stall. Everyone at the stall chuckled and smiled at his announcement. "Hey, what's so funny? I'm being serious here!"

"We believe in you Naruto-kun," said Ayame, the daughter of Teuchi who owns the stall with a smile.

It has been two weeks since that interaction and Naruto had been physically pushing himself by training. He ran a full lap around the village as a warm up. Then he will do 50 push ups and 100 sit ups and squats. In the afternoon, he will practise kunai and shuriken throwing by using used kunai and shuriken thrown away by shinobi. He learnt the kunai and shuriken throwing techniques by reading a book he found and when he did the throwing for the first time, it came to him naturally.

He also found out that he had a great amount of stamina and would heal very quickly from any injuries he had. 'Do I have a bloodline or something?' He thought when he first realised his healing abilities but put his thoughts aside for the future.

However, today he took an off day. He would need his energy for today. Today was his birthday and the day the village celebrated the defeat of the Kyubi. However, for Naruto, it was the worst day of the year. On this day, villagers will always try to beat him up. No matter how many Anbus were there to stop the villagers, some will definitely slip and try to attack him. So today he went to his favourite and safest spot he knew, the top of the Hokage mountain.

Naruto was sitting on the top of the Yondaime's head staring at the celebrations occurring in the village. From his spot he could see the entire village and would be able to see any villagers that may try to attack him. He saw balloons of the Kyubi and the Yondaime Hokage when a thought struck him.

'No… it couldn't be. The Yondaime…defeating the Kyubi…Demon boy…Whiskers…Today…'

He immediately sat in a meditative position on top of the head. 'Kyubi, if you are within me, then I wish to see you' Naruto immediately felt pulled into somewhere. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was in a sewer somewhere and in front of him laid a big red cage with a paper that said seal on it.

"So, this is who my jailor is…" said a voice from within the cage. A big red eye opened and stared at Naruto from inside the cage.

"So it is true. I have the Kyubi sealed in me," said Naruto as he stared into the red eye. "Thank you for letting me see you Kyubi-san."

"I am glad to see that at least my jinchuriki is brave enough to meet me face to face. I would despise it if I was sealed into someone weak. However, I am curious as to how you are not surprised to see me?" Asked the Kyubi.

"I merely thought that since from a book I read that the Bijuu are entirely made of chakra and chakra cannot be destroyed, you had to be sealed. My birthday is the same day as the attack and everyone calls me a demon so logically this is what one would expect." Replied Naruto.

Kyubi was impressed with the kid's thinking process. To be able to think clearly at such a young age is quite a feat although he didn't state it outright. "So what do you want with me kid?" He asked.

"Well I want to get to know you, maybe even be friends. We are gonna be together till death so might as well get to know each other. You are feared by everyone but I feel that there are always two sides to a coin." He said. It was utterly shocking to the Kyubi. Never once in his lifetime has he been asked such a thing. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you Kyubi-san."

"You are the first to actually try this, kit. Very well, I will be partners with you since if you die, I will die too. My name is Kurama but I do wish that you do not share my name with others."

"Very nice to meet you, Kurama," said Naruto, grinning from ear to ear.

"Kurama, you know that I have some questions for you. So can you answer them?" He asked.

"I will answer three questions before I ask you to leave me," he said. Naruto nodded.

"Firstly, why are we in a sewer with yellow water beneath my feet?" Asked Naruto.

"I should ask you, kit. This is your mindscape so it becomes what you want it to be and do you see a toilet around here?" He said.

Naruto gave him a deadpan stare when he heard him before he started jumping all around. "Ew ew ew ew ew. What the heck! You peed here!" He shouted.

"Hahaha!" For the first time in many years Kurama laughed after seeing Naruto jump around like that. "Kit, Bijuus don't have to pee or poo. I'm just messing with you."

Naruto paused his jumping and turned to the fox and he chuckled. He could not believe he just got pranked by what people call a demon. 'Wait, since this is my mind, then I could change it if I think hard enough.' Naruto sat down in a meditative position and clapped his hands together. He thought long and hard at what he wanted his mindscape to be and then he slammed both hands down on the ground. The mindscape started transforming into a clearing in the middle of the forest with him and Kurama in the middle of the clearing. Kurama was shocked to see that the mindscape had transformed and there was no longer a cage. The seal was now a chain wrapped around the fox's neck and tied to a tree; however, he had the freedom to move all around the nearby area before the seal tightened.

He looked at Naruto with gratitude. This is the most freedom he ever had in a seal. "Thanks kit. You have no idea how much it means to me to be able to move like this. Now what's your next question?' He said.

"What do you know about my parents?" He asked.