Normal person: "Talking" / 'Thinking'
Tailed beasts/Spirits: "Talking"/'Thinking'
_

A week later Naruto was released from the Hospital. During the entire week when he was in the coma, he had the chance to think and contemplate his situation, his current position, and the decisions Third Hokage took concerning him. Hiruzen came by every day to check up on him and was astonished to see the speed of Naruto's recovery. Even though seeing him in that condition unimaginably hurt his heart. on the other hand, Naruto understood that in this God-forsaken village, Hiruzen was the only one to actually care about him. Realising the fact that the place once called his home which was supposed to protect and love him unconditionally would rather love to hear him scream from suffering was a hard blow to the innocent little boy.

Once he woke up from his coma six days later Hiruzen was the first one and only one except the medical personnel to talk to him. This gave him a brief idea of how much his surrogate grandfather cherished him, though he was also aware that Hiruzen purposely never told him about his parents even after knowing about them. But he would think about this in his mind for now. For now, he was too angry to focus on anything.

Naruto: 'Is this really what the real world truly is? If so then I will never be put down again. Not again by this filth-filled place.'

There was a burning fire and hatred within his eyes but as soon as it came it vanished and was replaced by an apathetic cold look in his eyes which represents the abyss and would seem to swallow anyone who would dare gaze directly at it.

Just then the room opened and a nurse walked in to check the condition of the boy. She was not looking directly at him so he easily his that cold look and gained an apathetic face because even if he tried he was unable to conjure up a fake smile in his condition. When the nurse's gaze landed on him she saw the boy with a broken plain face which filled her with pity about what the little lad had to go through.

Nurse: "There are some visitors who want to see you. Would you like to meet them?"

She tried asking with a gentle smile to give reassurance to him.

Naruto just nodded guessing his jiji was there to check up on him.

The nurse nodded and went out of the room and a few moments later three people entered the room. First was the Hokage- Hiruzen Sarutobi and with him were his two anbu guards- one man and a woman. He had seen the female anbu many times with his grandfather but this was his first time seeing the male anbu with spiky silvery-white hair. But put it in the back of his mind for now.

Hiruzen looked at the boy with so much sadness that just the loss of smile on the boy's face was making his heart quench. But he steeled himself because even if he wanted to he could not show some obvious favoritism to the boy.

Hiruzen: "How are you feeling my boy?"

He asked with a smile on his face but Naruto could immediately tell that behind the smile Hiruzen was holding back his tears.

Naruto: "I am good Jiji. The doctors helped me heal and the people wearing animal masks also helped me."

Naruto answered enthusiastically to appease the worry of the old man temporarily. Hiruzen though smiling was skeptical about his behaviour, because there was no way a child going through such a traumatic experience wouldn't have any effect on his psyche.

Hiruzen: "Naruto if anything like this will never happen again, I promise you that. These good people wearing masks will protect you."

Naruto: "Is that really true jiji? Thank you very much. I will never forget this."

Naruto excitedly hugged his grandfather figure but there was a solemn look in his eyes away from the watchful gazes of Hokage and the anbus.

Naruto: 'I am really grateful to you jiji. Even if you are someone who lied to me, you did it to protect me. I will always remember this, but I will never trust someone ever again. If I want to protect myself, I will do it with my own strength, not anyone else's. I will become so strong that nobody will ever be able to trample me or my loved ones ever again.'

Three weeks passed after Hiruzen first came to visit and he was discharged from the hospital. Hiruzen came to visit him weekly bringing gifts over and the anbu with the dog mask was always guarding him for the rest of the days.

Inu: "Okay Naruto your test results have arrived, and it looks like you will be discharged after two days after a regular checkup."

Inu said softly, which lit up a smile on Naruto's face, but there was a frown behind that smile.

Naruto: 'The same thing as always but this time I will not let the villagers do as they please. I also can't let this mask slip because it will cause trouble for Jiji.'

Naruto: "Then Inu-san can I go and eat ramen again."

He asked enthusiastically. Inu just chuckled and replied with 'Sure'.

After two days Naruto's checkup was complete and as he was exiting the hospital without anyone noticing he stole a surgery knife from the equipment laying around. He did so because he was still very wary and knew he needed a weapon to protect himself.

In the village,
After the villagers attack on Naruto those who partook in it thought that they ended the demon brat this time for good. But their hopes were shattered when they heard the news of him getting treatment from medical staff was chosen by Hokage himself. Their weeks of planning went down the drain and they held resentment against the leader. Though the resentment against the Hokage has always been present ever since they had been denied their right to exact revenge from the one who was held responsible for the death of their loved ones. But since Sarutobi was a man who fought in two great ninja wars and came out victorious, became Hokage at the mere age of sixteen as a chunin and made Konoha into the strongest ninja village, they were always fearful of going against him and they redirected their anger at the poor defenceless kid without any form of knowledge or awareness.

Their hatred blinded them so much that they now couldn't distinguish right from wrong, so when two of those villagers saw the kid come out of the hospital in a perfectly healthy state they weren't able to contain it any longer.

Villager-1: "What, the demon brat got full recovery. We made sure to inflict lasting damage on him."

Villager-2: "Tone your voice down elder brother, didn't you hear the Hokage's decree that attacking the child will result in severe punishment."

He whispered to the other.

Villager-1: "Yeah, I understand. But I still can't believe that he made a full recovery while many of our comrades are still held up in prison. What is Hokage-sama thinking, maybe he is being manipulated by the demon."

Villager-2: "Maybe he is. Hey elder brother I have an idea why don't we try to take a shot at the brat and if we are lucky enough to end its miserable existence we could later get rewarded by Hokage-sama for freeing him from the demon's control." He suggested smirking.

Villager-2: "Maybe that is not such a bad idea. Here he comes, let's follow him "

With Naruto,
Naruto came out of the hospital without getting caught and was looking around the streets when he sensed negative emotions directed towards him, after the talk with his father some more of Kyuubi chakra seeped into him granting him the ability to sense emotions though it will work only on the case of extreme malice, meaning when someone projects their utmost hatred towards him.

So, due to this as soon as he left the hospital, the feeling of malice washed over him. He saw two of the villagers around middle age glaring at him hatefully.

Naruto: 'Great. I am not even out of here and they look like they are ready to kill me again. But this time I will not allow it. Let me show you today what will be the consequence of crossing me.' He also thought in his mind.

Naruto first acted clueless around the streets going in random direction when he started heading towards one direction.

Villager-2: "Elder brother looks like he is walking away, let's follow him."

Then they both started tailing him. First Naruto was going towards the red-light district so they thought he was returning home having known his home for they were few to vandalise his apartment. But on his way he took a detour and was walking towards the Hokage monument.

Villager-2: "Brother looks like he noticed us, he is going in the Hokage tower's direction. Let's stop before anyone catches us."

Villager-1: "No he is not going there. Look he is moving in the forest's direction, looks like this is our lucky day. We will end him today."

They moved discreetly behind him not to get caught by him or any ninja patrolling. But little did they know that Naruto was purposely leading them away from the village. Since, he was in and out of the village and forests surrounding it many times he knew ninja patrol duty like the back of his hand and he was not getting that strange feeling when Hiruzen used the crystal ball to spy on him. Unknown to both Naruto and Hiruzen, Naruto was a natural-born sensor with wide range sensory skills due to his Uzumaki blood.

As all three of them exited the village walls one of the two started feeling extremely worried and uncomfortable like something big is going to happen and he couldn't remember.

Villager-2: "Elder brother something is not right. I am getting the feeling that something bad is going to happen."

The younger one of the two whispered. The elder turned back to reply.

Villager-1: "That's just your hallucination look how close we are to our goal."

Villager-2: "No brother I don't think my intuitions are wrong in this matter. Maybe we should turn back."

Villager-1: "NO. We have come too far to turn back now. I will see this through."

As they turned again to only see that Naruto has vanished from their sight.

Villager-1: "Darn it. Where did that damn brat go. Brother you look right I will search in East."

But no reply came so he turned back to only see his brother lying on the ground with a incision on his neck.

Villager: "BROTHER!"

He fell on his back crawling away frantically looking everywhere with years on his eyes. But a hand grabbed his mouth and a knife on his throat. And as he tried to look behind fearfully he only saw icy-cold blue eyes and it looked like it was looking into his soul and he couldn't even register that even his throat was slitted. He fell down dead with a very fearful expression on his face.

Naruto looked both the bodies lying dead in pool of their own blood, he looked at the sky as it was about to rain.

Naruto: 'Hah. What the hell is this feeling. I feel empty, they said someone's first kill haunt them rest of their lives but I don't feel a single ounce of guilt.'

Naruto smiled, then he started chuckling and then a full-blown laughter but it was devoid of any emotion, no mirth, no Jay or no sadness.

Naruto: "Ha ha ha ha ha... Watch out world because I am going to strike back, whatever you throw at me I will return it a thousand fold."

Inside Naruto's seal, the Kyuubi was also smirking.

Nine-tails: 'My intuition was right. Your darkness will be your power. Let's see how you can handle my hatred, the upcoming GOD.'

Soon the rain started pouring down, Naruto dropped the knife and started running towards the village. Any investigating teams wouldn't be able to trace the murder back to him due to clues getting washed away by the rain.

4 years later,
Naruto was sitting in his classroom bored out of his mind looking out the window. The class teacher was a mid-height man wearing a standard chunin outfit, his hair tied in a ponytail and a scar on his nose, this was Iruka Umino, Naruto's class teacher for his ninja studies, who was currently teaching about basic shinobi tactics and many students were actually paying attention to it since it was one of important lessons many students were attentively listening but some were also not interested and one of them was Naruto and sitting beside him was a student of his own age who was sleeping with his head down.

He had spiky hair with pineapple-like ponytail cut wearing a cyan t-shirt and brown pants with a symbol of Nara clan on the back of the t-shirt. This was Shikamaru Nara, the heir of the Nara clan and one of Naruto's close friends. On the other side of him was a chubby boy having brown messy hair, wearing a brown t-shirt and yellow pants with the Akimichi symbol on his back and was happily munching on a packet of chips. This was Choji Akimichi, heir to the Akimichi clan and another one of Naruto's friends.

Over the academic year, Naruto had made friends and acquaintances but mostly made them from the children of prominent clans or figureheads of the village. Some of his acquaintances were, Ino Yamanaka, daughter of the Yamanaka Clan head; Kiba Inuzuka, second heir of the Inuzuka clan; Sakura Haruno, daughter of civilian council head, Kazashi Haruno; Hinata Hyuga, heir of the Hyuga clan, though her position was shaky and finally Uchiha Sasuke, second heir of Uchiha clan. His close friends were Shikamaru, Choji and Shino Aburame, the heir to the Aburame clan.

His friendships with Shikamaru, Choji and Shino were of a close one because he genuinely considers them friends. He was conflicted about Hinata Hyuga since he could not for better words understand her reasonings for liking him and he really didn't want to take advantage of her as his intuition was telling him not to.

Not long ago after the incident, Naruto took a look around the village to find his parents' home and any information he could get. There he found his mother's diary and some interesting information.

[Flashback]
In the middle of a festival night, Naruto was moving in the outer areas of Konoha over the walls to find the location of his parents' house. According to his father's memories, it was on the outskirts of the clan compounds district near the training grounds. As he went there he tried to remain as vigilant as possible. He had no prior training and even for such a festive night in a ninja village snooping around was very dangerous. He came to a halt when he spotted an average-looking two-storeyed building with a big clan-building-like structure and twelve-foot boundary walls on all sides.

He went towards the front door and looked around and tried to sense anyone. When he couldn't sense anything big he tried to push the door but it didn't budge and a sealing Matrix appeared. Naruto knew according to his father's instructions he would have to smudge some blood and channel some chakra to open the door. So he took out a knife from his pocket, made a small prick on his thumb and as blood started dropping he quickly pressed the thumb on the middle of the door and tried to channel as much chakra as possible. Since he recently unlocked his chakra due to the attack, his reserves weren't big but big enough to be registered as an academy student. The seal on the door glowed red for a second and it gave a clicking sound as it creaked open. Naruto immediately rushed in and pushed the door out locking it again.

He turned around to see a big ground by the side of the main entrance and a few trees and leaves scattered on the ground. However, it was relatively clean since there were maintenance seals present all over the compound. He entered through the main door as lights automatically turned on and saw a long hallway that was relatively clean. He entered the first door but the side of the hallway to see a big room with a sofa and sitting arrangements with a dining table on the corner.

Naruto: 'Hmm. Everything is relatively clean although it has been several years. Well, this is Uzumaki sealing for you. Now on the second floor, it should be dad's study room and mom's room should be by the side of the kitchen.'

Just as he was to move upstairs his vision caught sight of a photo frame decorated on the table. He picked it up to see a photo of his father holding his mother's hands with a big bulge on her stomach. Though he was stoically looking at it he was in inner turmoil but he promised to never show his tears again, so he held it in.

Naruto put the photo down and moved into his mother's room. It was a simple room with yellow-coloured walls full of decorations, a double bed with a clean bedsheet, a big closet and a study table. He opened the closet which was full of clothes, shinobi gears, weapon pouches and some notes. He saw a drawer slightly open so he drew it and found a plain book with the title written on it 'Kushina's Diary'.

Naruto took the diary and started surfing through it. In it Kushina wrote everything about her life, how she was a whirlpool princess and the eldest daughter of Kenshin Uzumaki, the 159th daimyo of the Land of Whirlpool and 5th head of Uzushiogakure. She wrote how before the second great ninja war she was called to Konoha by her grandaunt Uzumaki Mito to inherit Nine-tails and become its second jinchuriki, and when she was in Konoha Whirlpool was destroyed and she inherently became the 160th clan head, how in Konoha how she was looked down upon due to being foreigner, how academy students treated her, when she became genin she was paired up with Mikoto Uchiha, a prominent and talented genin from Uchiha clan, and Mebuki Haruno, the daughter of one of the elders of Haruno merchant clan.

After 2 years of being genin, she was kidnapped by Kumo for her special chakra to suppress tailed beasts and how Minato saved her, and she fell in love with him. Later she became a full-time jonin and secretly married Minato, Mikoto also after becoming jonin retired and married Fugaku Uchiha, the Uchiha Clan-head. And Mebuki Haruno continued her shinobi carrier only for 5 years and later retired after marrying a man named Kazashi Haruno. And thus, her team fell apart.

Later she mentioned how happy she was when Minato was chosen to become the Fourth Hokage and later when she became pregnant. Naruto closed the book and took time for all the information to sink in. He was not overwhelmed by all the enthusiastic comments by her mother when she talked about how she will raise her child but by the unconditional love shown by her mother even through texts.

Naruto put it back down and went to his father's study where he looked around to find many jutsu scrolls and sealing notes on his Flying Thunder God technique. Since he was not well versed enough he couldn't get anything useful, though he took some scrolls on Uzumaki style taijutsu and his father's Hummingbird style taijutsu.

Later Naruto investigated all the clan and clan heads of Konoha as well as the civilian council and found that the majority of clans are somewhat neutral towards him while others favour him and in the civilian council most outright despise him but Kazashi and Mebuki secretly tried to help him. Uchiha Mikoto was also the one who many times tried to adopt him or provide him with home but with council interfering was unable to. He was grateful to them and vowed to return this favor.

[Flashback End]

After that day, Naruto started his training away from prying eyes in a secluded area of forest. Since, he was still a growing child he couldn't practice in ninjutsu or genjutsu and there was no instructor to guide him. So he resorted to physical training and taijutsu practice. In four years of training he could proudly state that he came a long way in his training and was at least chunin-level in terms of taijutsu skill and he could go on the entire two days of continuous running. He was also a master of stealth and one of the few fields he has mastered over. He was also able to contain his real emotions so he could put up a mask in front of villagers. He knew he had to hide his strength for the time being so later he would have the element of surprise in his favor. The art of reading emotions is also one of his strong suits so he could not easily be fooled again.

Once again he looked towards his class and a grin stretched upon his face which sent a shiver down Shikamaru's spine.

Naruto: 'Let's see how far I can truly go.'

Though this was just a random thought by him he didn't understand his own potential to see that he was someone on whom fate has no control over and there was no limit to his future path.

A/N:-

So, guys after a very very long wait it is finally here and I am very sorry for this. But I promise that from now on the chapters will be regularly updated.

Stay tuned.