Naruto: God of Shinobi [Rebellion Against Existence, Vol. 1] - Rishi_Roy8125 (2024)

Chapter 1: Start of The Facade

Chapter Text

Normal person: "Talking" /'Thinking'
Tailed beasts/Spirits:"Talking"/'Thinking'
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In the void of nothingness, where silence and darkness reigned supreme, a spark of light flickered into existence. This light, unlike any other, held within it the seeds of creation—an energy, so pure and vibrant, that it shattered the monotonous reign of the void. The energy, sentient yet unaware of its purpose, pulsed with the potential of infinite possibilities. It was alone, a singularity in the vast emptiness, yearning for understanding and expression. In its quest for identity, the energy's imagination unfurled, setting the stage for an unparalleled transformation. This is the tale of how everything came to be, from the perspective of those born from this primordial force.

As the energy contemplated its existence, an explosion of unmatched magnitude occurred, giving birth to time and space. The energy danced through the newly formed cosmos, morphing, dividing, and creating contrasts within itself. From its essence emerged the primordial energies: Creation, which held the power to bring forth life and matter; Destruction, which harboured the forces of end and renewal; and Chaos, the unpredictable energy that weaved the fabric of change.

These energies, in their infinite interactions, sculpted the world. Within the vast expanse, the primordial energy focused, giving birth to matter and its twin, anti-matter. Their volatile union sparked the creation of stars, planets, and galaxies, painting the canvas of the world with lights and shadows. The heavenly bodies combined to form a galaxy. The coalition of a multitude of galaxies was coined the universe. Similarly, an infinite no. of universes like bubbles in a sea was known by the term multiverse and above the multiverse in hierarchy was the hyperverse. The hyperverse was also just a tiny part of a much grander scale which was also the superverse or as we call this "The World".

The sentient energy was spread all across the world and thus gained the name of the world itself. Though it didn't yet quite know his purpose. So using the primordial energies it gave to a being similar to him yet in a way very different. An orb of unimaginary power pulsed concentrated and exploded through which came a sentient being as majestic as it was hideous. An infinite amount of tentacles and a lone single eye at the concentration of tentacles. When it opened its eyes it understood the world what it was. It defined itself as the first creation of the world, the first being to exist and the first to be borne of life. Its name was 'Zero', the first being, the one true primordial, the supreme one, the one without an end, the first God.

From the very moment Zero understood his purpose which was to create beings similar yet different from him. So he extended all his tentacles. All the hands travelled to every hyperverse and divided more, reached every multiverse and divided more and finally reaching every universe it released a special form of energy just like a clone of its' with lesser power. These beings then created life in every universe but they were individually sentient and their powers differed. Due to this life and laws of the world in every universe differ.

In the universe in which this story starts the clone of Zero after coming into existence gained a humanoid form. It was in a male form with glistening white skin, lean body structure, a chiselled face with white glowing hair and was completely naked. Zero then created life also in a similar form. The first to be born was Jinseigami, the god of Life; the second to be born was Shinigami, the god of Death; the third to be born was Kami, the god of before Life and the fourth to be born was Yami, the god of After Life.

The four beings were known as the Four forces of nature. They divided the world into three realms- the heavenly realm, the earthly realm and hell. They then started the process of creation of life and multiple planets all across different galaxies gained a sentience which later came to be known as nature. Nature created the first being or as we know it the first microscopic life. The process of evolution also started with life which gave birth to many different creatures and came on top as the alpha predators were the humans. The humans were not very powerful compared to many other creatures or had a physical edge against them. But the one true power of humans was their intelligence and due to this intelligence they conquered the racial hierarchy and gave birth to civilization.

Our story is of one such human, who was not bound by the fates of the world, the one who denied the laws of the world and rejected the rule of Zero. He leads the rebellion against existence itself. This is the story of Naruto N. Uzumaki, who conquered 'The World'.

[17 years after TheKyubbiattack]
We see Danzo has opened a seal on his chest very similar to Deidara and the seal was sucking on his internal energy which put Sasuke and Obito on guard. Obito immediately went towards Sasuke and teleported him on time when the impact happened and a large black sphere appeared on the bridge consuming every matter inside. Only the blast subsided not even blood drops were left. Both Obito and Sasuke were contempt that their part of revenge was complete but this was far from the truth as Danzo had previously set up a summoning array where he reverse summoned himself.

At another location,
Danzo appeared in a puff of smoke, his appearance was very grave since he lost Shishui's eye and his Artificially developed arm and was bleeding profusely from his shoulder but he was confident that he would live.

Danzo: "Damn brats, pushing me to the edge, first the cursed Uzumaki and now these Uchihas. They think I will die easily but they are far from reality. I will come back. And I will put them under my control once again."

Tap, clank, tap, clank.

Danzo: "Who is there?"

???: "Tsk.Danzo I told you once that you should always step on the stone that can take your weight otherwise you will slip from the surface"

A figure wearing black Shinobi pants, a completely black jacket with an anbu mask in his hand and a curved beautiful katana on the other hand was seen. His face's signature feature was his bright blonde hair, red-slitted pupils and deep whisker-like marks on each cheek. Naruto Uzumaki with a bloody Katana and a crazy smile on his face came in face to face with his victim.

Danzo: "You, why are you here and where are my Anbus."

Naruto: "Can't you guess from this."

Danzo focused on his blood-dripping Katana and connected the dots. His anbu has been killed by the most soft-hearted ninja from Konoha. He was one of the few who knew that it was not his true personality. In fact, in terms of cruelty, even Orochimaru was incomparable to him. His strength put even-tailed beasts to shame but Danzo never knew about his intellect and always thought that he was two steps ahead of the brat but even that belief came crumbling down.

Danzo: "How do you even find this place? Not even Hiruzen knew the location and you should be in the Land of Iron according to my plan."

Naruto: "Oh Danzo you were always the most cautious one and most obnoxious to deal with but there was one thing you underestimated about me. You were never two steps ahead of me, rather were dancing in my palm this whole time."

Danzo: "But you were not even in the village for the past three years and your spy could only observe, how could you even alter my plans."

Naruto: "I never told you I was alone in this, Did I?"

Danzo: "But as far as I am concerned you revealed your true nature to only a handful of people in which Hiruzen and Jiraya are dead, Tsunade and her apprentice never took the initiative, the Nara and Aburame brat are too cautious to do anything openly and the Uchiha was out of village. So how did it even affect."

Naruto: "Hmm. Try to remember about the one who always indirectly puts trouble on you."

Danzo: "That pink-haired teammate of yours."

Naruto looked at him like he made a joke for the first time in his life.

Danzo: "But she is not capable enough and Tsunade also didn't manipulate her, so how?"

Naruto: "Maybe Tsunade didn't but you don't know who else could."

This put a puzzle in Danzo's mind since as far as he knew the only people who were close to both Sakura and Naruto were her parents and Kakashi and neither of them knew about Naruto's mask and in her friend circle the Yamanaka girl was not trustworthy enough. He then suddenly got an idea who it could be and if his hypothesis was correct then it would mean the majority of clans of Konoha or probably the entirety of Konoha was just Naruto's puppet the entire time.

Danzo (shaking): "I..Is... Is it the Hyuga princess?"

Naruto grinned a very malicious smile and Danzo thought that a monster had come to devour him.

Naruto: "Ding. Ding. Ding.Very good Danzo. Now do you understand that this whole ploy was not for you to gain control of Konoha but to bring all five Nations under one flag of probably even deeper plans. Now your usefulness is over I will complete the promise I made to Jiji years ago that 'One day I will drown you in depths of despair till you are on the verge of insanity'. Goodbye my third greatest pawn, we will meet in hell soon enough."

Naruto lifts his sword to strike down when Danzo screams once again.

Danzo: "WAIT. Wait just a moment."

The sword stopped.

Danzo: "If you kill me right now there will be a huge political backlash and Tsunade is not woken up from her coma yet. The system will collapse and Konoha will fall. You don't want that to happen to the village you love so much. What Tsunade will say, what your girlfriend will say, what your dead parents will say and what Hiruzen and Jiraya will say."

Naruto: "It looks like some kind of confusion happened to you Danzo but I never loved Konoha ever since I was a kid."

Danzo: "Wh..What!"

Naruto: "Ever since on that fateful day of my birthday when I was four years old when that horde of mobs attacked me and tried to burn me alive. You were the one who organised that incident, so bear the consequences of your actions. You gave me a reason and motive to become stronger and right now I am at a place where your filthy hands could only pray."

Just then runes appeared all around them and a red-coloured barrier appeared. Naruto stood straight and Chakra waves started coming off him, it was so dense that he felt like he was standing in front of 100 nine-tail foxes but the chakra signature was all his own. Once again he was astonished when the Chakra became even heavier and breathing for Danzo became impossible but the density kept increasing and Danzo was in too much pain and just wanted to end his life then and there. He had put his hand in front of his face to protect himself but when he looked sideways something chilled him to his very being, due to the density of chakra the space itself was distorting and he finally looked front but the spiritual energy coming off Naruto made him look like a higher existence, a true God has come to judge him for his sins.

He also noticed that the red barrier was to keep Naruto's energy in check. If the barrier was not there Danzo was sure his Chakra would have been sensed by all over the planet. Danzo for the first time didn't fear for his life but for the human race as a whole since he was the one who created this beast and if Naruto wanted he could wipe the planet itself from existence. Truly now everything fell into place.

All these years, the attack on four-year-old Naruto began this never-ending chain of unfavourable situations. First the Uchiha massacre, Naruto's mask in the academy, his missions to save different nations during Genin days, meeting with Jiraya, Orochimaru's attack during Chunin exams, Tsunade's Retrieval, Sasuke's abandonment, his three-year training trip, Hinata Hyuga's secret training with Anko Mitarashi, Naruto's return and his secret relationship with Hinata, Akatsuki attacks, five-kage summit and finally Danzo's temporary coronation as Sixth Hokage. All major events played right into Naruto's hands, he either fully exploited these situations or constructed them. Now Danzo truly knew how beneath he was. Naruto Uzumaki was neither dead-last nor a genius, he was the one who was in control of everything, the mastermind, grand manipulator of all the events.

Danzo: "Since when did I fall into your trap?"

Naruto: "Hmm I would like to say nine years ago when we first met but you were not completely on leash so I would say five years ago since the Chunin exam attacks."

Danzo: "The Uchiha knew of your true power yet you still let him go to Orochimaru. I now understand why you let such results in the first place. You used the Uchiha to make me your puppet but when my use was over you sacrificed me to get the Uchiha at the spot you wanted. Haha, truly you are the greatest Naruto Uzumaki, using nations as your pawns in little games. There has been no one Konoha has ever produced like yourself and probably will never produce in future. I am not even sure of its survival because who wrote the fate of this world with your own hands, you truly have become a God."

Naruto: "God huh, never thought someone like you would say that to me. Now rest assured Danzo because I will not even let your soul escape."

With this, he decapitated Danzo with his sword and brought the end of one of the phases of his grand plan.

Naruto: 'God is the one word I now hate the most and now I am referred to as God, the saying holds true: To defeat a monster you have to become one. Sorry Hinata-chan but in this war, we are not only going to fight enemy ninjas but a whole clan of demi-gods and a supreme God. I will probably lose my life also. What a despicable man I am leaving my wife and unborn child to face this cruel reality of the world. I still have a clear memory of the day this all began.'

[ 17 years ago]

We can see the cruel scene of a burning village, fallen buildings, dying villagers and a monster fox at its epicentre.

The scene changed to another location where we see the same monster fox being pinned with chains while one of his claws pierced through two individuals, a man with yellow hair and a woman with red hair and in front of them the claws just stopped before a newborn baby resting on some kind of altar.

Man: "Kushina we do not have much time left to say what you can say. Our son deserves to hear his mother's final words."

Woman: "I am sorry Minato to eat up your time since a father's role is just as important in a child's life."

Minato: " Don't worry about me. A father doesn't need words to convey his message to his child."

Kushina: "Naruto don't be a picky eater, eat a lot to make sure you grow big and strong. Don't stay up too late, make sure you get plenty of sleep. Don't forget to make friends as well, you don't need many of them, just a few, okay. And make sure to study hard and when you are not good at something don't get depressed. When you are at the academy respect your teachers and seniors. Regarding the three prohibitions of Shinobi, first, be extra careful with money, don't be a spendthrift, second is alcohol, don't do alcohol till you are an adult, third is women, beware of the bad ones just find someone like me to love for life. Speaking of three prohibitions be wary of Jiraya sensei. Oh, Naruto there is so much...so much more... I want to say. I am sorry for leaving you alone in this cruel world with such a heavy burden."

Minato: "Shiki Fuin. Eight Tetragram Seal."

The nine-tail's body converted into energy form and merged with the child's body and a seal appeared on his stomach. Both the parents lay dead on the ground.

This was the birth of a legend.

[ 4 years later]

We see a child with blond hair and three whiskers marks wearing a rag for clothing running barefoot leaving bloodstains. Chasing him were monsters under human skins covering it up in the name of justice.

Life has not ever been easy for our blonde protagonist, ever since his birth he only knew pain, suffering and loneliness. Only one day after his birth his Jinchuriki status was leaked in the village due to the naivety of Third Hokage. Since then even getting food was a moment of joy for him. The orphanage also never treated him kindly throwing him away like a doll to play upon till he was two years of age. In between two sworn brothers named- Shin and Sai were secretly providing him with food but after a major incident, they disappeared without a trace leaving the young child at the mercy of his tormentors.

His caretakers not only starved him but also abused him on a regular basis and let any and all threats fall upon him and honestly he would have been long dead if not for his anbu guards. They also didn't give him proper clothes to wear and only cleaned him when it was time for Hokage's monthly visit so that they could hog all the allowances for themselves. Hiruzen was the only other person ever kind to him and only due to the books gifted to him Naruto was able to learn how to read and write.

October 10,The Day of Kyuubi Festival,

Naruto was standing in front of the matron shaking in fear meanwhile she was giving him a mean look as if telling him that I wouldn't give anything to you so just scram.

Matron: "What is it you need brat?"

Naruto: "Umm...M...mother can I go outside today to see the festival. All other kids go but you never let me, I swear I will not do anything to cause you trouble just let me go."

His tears were spilling out at the end.

Matron was in deep thought.

Matron:'If he goes out tonight then we can finally corner him and end his miserable life. Then we will be free from this cursed demon. I doubt anyone would be angry or mournful at his death.'

Matron: "Why not? Here take some money go out and play as much as you like. You don't need to return even after sunset."

Naruto (with hopeful eyes): "Really. Thank you very much. I promise I will be good."

She handed him some ryo and he took off for the festival.

Matron:'Now to contact some friends.'

At the festival,

Naruto saw that streets were lit with candles and lights people were in new dresses, many were lighting the fireworks and some were even burning the nine-tails posters. He was amazed by the joyful event.

Naruto went to one of the food stalls.

Naruto: "Mister how much does this cost?"

Shopkeeper: "Hello kid...Oh, it is you*scowling*scram away, we don't serve monsters like you."

Naruto: "I..I..I am sorry."

Just then a crowd formed around him berating him with words like "Isn't he the demon boy", "What is it doing here", "I bet he's here to cause trouble ", "Go away demon", "No one wants you here", "Demon", "Monster". Soon insults were hurled all around him. So he ran away trying to cover tears in his eyes. He ran past the festival and into the back alleyway. Someone who was watching this from the shadows had a grin on his face. That man also jumped on a rooftop and started searching for Naruto. He saw the kid crying behind a shop. He jumped down and went towards a mob hiding in trees. They all had forks, shovels, spears and torches.

Man: "I found the kid crying behind the grocery store. You all wait in the forest outside of the west gate. I will meet you all in half an hour.

The mob nodded and left and the man pulled his cover and disappeared again. He appeared on top of a tree nearby where Naruto was crying. He thoroughly checked the place for a trace of any anbu and when found none he jumped in front of Naruto.

Naruto:*sob, *sob*"W..Wha...Who are you mister?"

Naruto stopped sobbing and politely asked the man who suddenly appeared in front of him. The man looked sideways and then pointed Naruto towards something. When he turned his head to look he was knocked out by the stranger. The man then picked him up and covered him in a bundle.

The mob was waiting silently for the arrival of the ninja who promised them their revenge. They were the ones who lost all their family members in the Kyuubi attack and when they heard the beast was sealed in a newborn they demanded his execution. The Hokage refused them their justice but today a saviour contacted them stating that today was the day they would have their revenge. So they were ready to torture the demon who took everything from them.

Several minutes later the Shinobi appeared with a bundle behind his back. The mob hurriedly took the sack and gave the Shinobi his pay and he disappeared. One woman opened the sack and saw the boy sleeping peacefully. They all gained a gleeful smile on their face.

Kakashi pov,

Kakashi was having a sh*tty day. First, he failed to notice the trap of his client in his mission and it turned out that the client had betrayed the fire country and he wasn't able to capture him alive just kill him. Then his new team made a mess of their missions and as a result, he got a pay cut, later when he was hungry in the evening he ran out of stock. Now at night when his duty was to watch over Naruto, he found that he had been missing from the orphanage for the past four hours and no one had seen him in the entire village. Yugao also came back from her mission and was looking for Naruto when she noticed smoke coming out of the forest. Curiosity got the best of her and she started running towards the direction and encountered Inu his direct superior who said nothing and silently went along with him.

When they came upon a clearing they were horrified to see such a goric scene. Naruto was nailed to a wooden post with cuts and blood all over his body. His face was covered with sweat and there were many burn marks probably from a lightning Justus. A man was lighting up the post with a torch trying to burn him alive while others were laughing and enjoying his suffering.

Neko(Yugao): "Senpai you go and save Naruto. I will deal with these sc*ms."

Inu nodded and jumped he quickly put out the fire, freed Naruto from the post and ran towards the hospital. Others were stunned and were getting ready to leave when one man's head rolled down. They saw an anbu with a cat mask and anger oozing off of her eyes. They all tried to run in other directions but in mere ten seconds, all of them were cut down. Yugao was one of the few people who watched Naruto as a child and his regular duty anbu guard and when she saw the same child in such conditions her motherly instincts kicked in.

Kakashi ran through the hospital reception shouting "Someone help, this kid is in need of an emergency."

Hearing his shout a nurse came out worriedly but when she got a good look at the child she just scoffed in disgust.

Nurse: "We don't treat demons here. Why don't you just leave him to rot and die."

Kakashi glared at her with killing intent and shouted:"Prepare treatment for this child immediately, denying it will be treason against Hokage. Are you defying his orders?"

The woman became silent and shaking she led him to a room where he put the kid in a bed. A doctor immediately came running and told the nurse to prepare for the operation after looking at Naruto's condition. He told Kakashi to wait outside. The operation was four hours long, and Yugao had already reported to him in the middle. In the end, Naruto was able to pull through. When Hiruzen came he was also very worried but had relief when he heard Naruto was out of danger. But now they had to wait for him to wake up from his temporary coma.

In Naruto's mindscape,

Naruto was unaware of his surroundings just waking like a person who lost all reasoning in his life. He was in pain, so much pain that one couldn't comprehend. He was slowly falling into the darkness.

An image appears in which we can see Naruto falling from light and endless abyss down trying to reach out its tentacles towards him.

Naruto soon stood in front of a giant prison with a kanji for 'seal' on it.

An unknown voice deep and resounding came from behind the bars which would quake fear even the bravest among the bravest.

???: "Come closer boy. I will free you from your pain. I will end your suffering and give you freedom."

Naruto started walking closer towards the voice.

Now Naruto almost fell towards the darkness where the tentacles captured his limbs and were trying to cover him in the shadows.

A hand stopped Naruto from going any further. Suddenly all the reasoning returned to Naruto and he turned to see one man he never thought he would ever see in his entire life.

Naruto: "Fourth Hokage"

A bright light hand appeared and pulled Naruto and suddenly all the darkness receded back to its core. The light pulled him up.

Minato: "Hello Naruto how have you been? I didn't think I would meet you so soon?"

Just then an angry shout was heard from behind the bars. Naruto took a good look at the figure and was appalled at seeing the giant silhouette of the nine-tailed demon-fox from the stories.

Nine-tails: "Curse you Fourth Hokage. Only because of you, I am still locked here. If it weren't for you I would have had my freedom and not stuck in this brat's gut."

Minato: "He is so loud why don't we take this somewhere else Naruto."

Just then the scene changed and now they were in some kind of grassy plain with mountains on one side of the horizon and ocean on the other.

Minato: "Now we can talk here without any disturbance."

Naruto: "Wait a minute. Are you really the fourth Hokage? How are you alive or am I dead?"

Minato (chuckling): "Yes. Naruto I am the fourth Hokage and no you are not dead but sadly I am."

Naruto: "Then where are we?"

Minato: "We are in your mindscape or simply just in a physical representation of it."

Naruto: "Then why are the nine-tails here and how are you here and most importantly how do you know my name?"

Minato: "Nine-tails is here because it is sealed inside you Naruto and I am here because I sealed a part of my soul just for safekeeping and why can't I know the name of my own son."

Naruto was so stunned at hearing this piece of information that he even forgot about the nine-tails. He finally knew that he had someone to call family and who was none other than his idol.

He ran and hugged Minato and cried his eyes out.

Minato: 'I know I don't deserve this after what I put my child through. I failed as a father and I have no right to desire such affection from my child. But if any of the Gods above hear my prayer, just let me have this moment of pleasure comforting my child.'

But sadly the heavens above the kindness had dwindled for mortal greed and strict regulations from the hearts of these Gods. Minato soon realised that his chakra started fading so he called out to Naruto.

Minato: "Naruto listen I won't have much time left so I am sorry I can't stay any longer but always bear this in mind I put such a heavy burden on you because I believed in you."

Naruto gained a genuine smile upon hearing his father's words and for someone to show such selfless love to him. But he was also grieving for not having his father to remain with him. But he was mature and he understood his predicament.

Minato: "Naruto before I go I know what happened to you in your life and my fault. I won't blame you if you hate me for the rest of your life or the village but one thing you must always remember. Nothing is more important in this world than your own family. The only reason I ever sacrificed myself for this village was because it treated me most kindly and I considered the villagers my family. But now I know that all was nothing but an illusion. Before I go I must inform you about the truth of what happened that fateful night."

Minato then recounted all the events which transpired under the noses of the entire village. It was not just some natural disaster but a planned attack aimed at his family.

Minato: "Before I go, my son always remember that me and your mother will always love you no matter what decision you make."

With this, Minato started to fade away silently into the abyss of eternal slumber. Naruto was crying silently but it stopped yet his eyes didn't flicker, the eyes which held once kindness and joy now held emptiness and rage. His hatred towards the world burned so violently that now it intrigued even Kyuubi.

Naruto: 'Why me? Why did this world only reject me? The people of this village are not humans but scum. They called me a demon I will show them something far worse. This world will fall into my hands. I will conquer it.'

Again an image is shown where Naruto released himself from the light's hand and jumped towards the abyss where the darkness tried to swallow him whole but something strange happened. Naruto's will was so much stronger that it overpowered the shadows and soon stood over it as to say serve under the rightful king.

This is the beginning of 'The Great Rebel' and 'World's Strongest Mortal: Naruto Uzumaki' who even crushed Gods in his stomp. No life shall be spared.

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A/N:-

Guys, I am back with the rebooted story. I am sorry about the previous one. I deleted it because it was just practice and didn't hold much. Now I have tried to improvise.

The next chapter is coming soon.

Stay tuned.

Chapter 2: Training arc, Part 1

Chapter Text

Normal person: "Talking" /'Thinking'
Tailed beasts/Spirits:"Talking"/'Thinking'
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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 keep this in the back of 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 hid 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 yearslater,
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.

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Chapter 3: Training arc, Part 2

Chapter Text

Normal person: "Talking" / 'Thinking'
Tailed beasts/Spirits: "Talking"/'Thinking'
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Konoha is known for its dense forest and very unforgiving fauna, that's why Konoha shinobi learn from an early age to traverse these dangerous forests without anyone's help gaining an advantage over their home turf. But there are some places which are restricted even for general student's training and one of such turfs was training ground forty-four or as it was commonly known as "Forest of Death".

It was not dangerous mainly because of the huge trees or the fact that no sunlight penetrates the extremely dense canopy. It was mainly dangerous because of the mutated animals living in the forest. When Hashirama Senju laid the foundation of Konoha, he also destroyed a huge chunk of the existing forest. To compensate for this loss, he used his wood style in nearby open fields to create and expand the forests and in one such area he used an extremely high amount of Chakra mixed with Senjutsu, much more than required, which was absorbed by the animals who took shelter in that place and this extremely heavy dose of nature chakra mutated them. It also didn't add to the fact that the extremely dangerous conditions gave rise to the perfect environment for Chunin exams to take place and all the deaths every year accumulated even more chakra thus providing the forest with a never-ending supply of 'Nature Energy' to absorb.

I am explaining this to you because our blond protagonist is currently in the same forest, currently fighting a 15-foot-long crocodile. When Naruto found his parents' home four years ago, he also found a goldmine of different techniques and training programs as well as multiple scrolls on different branches of jutsu. But due to his body being relatively very young he could not even attempt to perform even one of the chakra-based techniques, the other reason he found out from his Father's notes, that the Hokage's Office has a crystal ball, an invention of Yamanaka clan, which is directly linked to village barrier and all the Kage's use to monitor the happenings in the village and nearby area. He was not so trusting that he would let even a small piece of information slip about him. By studying the Shinobi Code of Conduct he understood that in this shinobi world information is the most important asset. One must never let it be disclosed to another even if they're allies.

But now it led him to a dilemma in which place he should train, for physical training he had no qualms about since he created a persona of a very gullible, trusting and hard-working kid. So all the physical exercises could be passed with the excuse- "I am training hard to become Hokage." But when it came down to his Taijutsu training it was a different matter altogether, so he looked for a secluded place to train and found out that the forest of death was perfect for this little venture, since no jonin or chunin comes to this place after Chunin exams and it remains abandoned the rest of year.

In this place when Naruto first came he was jumped on by a pack of hounds which injured him very badly but he was somehow able to escape from them and moved a little further into the forest. As he travelled inside the forest more dangers started coming his way. The place which was supposed to be his secluded area for training became the place for his survival. In this place, he learnt from nature itself. Nature taught him how to escape his pursuers, nature taught him the ways to kill, the ways to survive, the way to gather resources and most importantly the ways to adapt to nature. Though he had no idea at that time, this very adaptive nature of Naruto will make him the most unpredictable ever.

Naruto through his rigorous training could say he laid a solid foundation for his ninja training. His body developed in a way such that it is not too heavy like taijutsu specialists nor too light like genjutsu specialists and medical ninjas. His body was in perfect condition to become a ninjutsu specialist. But he didn't have a single technique under his belt. He thought he could train in ninja techniques just through the scrolls but he still needed a more discrete hiding place and it didn't help the fact that a kunoichi was nowadays lurking around the same forest.

He first saw her a month ago when he was eating a cooked wild boar's meat he killed, he heard the howl of a wolf and heavy crashing sounds. He immediately became on guard and masked his presence as much as he was able to. He began approaching the place where he heard the sound coming from. But just from 100 meters away he could make out the scene where a pack of wolves had surrounded a young kunoichi, she was probably 18 years old as he guessed from her height, and she was wearing a mesh shirt with a mini-skirt and a white cargo colour trench coat.

She was fighting off the pack with a kunai in hand and from one of her areas in the trench coat a snake was coming out. Naruto decided to remain in the same place to not give away his position. He saw a wolf trying to jump on her when suddenly the snake out of her coat attacked the wolf and bonded its body around its neck. The woman then pulled the snake a little tighter and the snake snapped its neck effectively killing it. Seeing this the pack became wary and took a few steps back. But just as they were withdrawing, the kunoichi threw a kunai at the biggest wolf, and Naruto observed that on the kunai a paper bomb was attached. Just as the kunai reached its target it exploded with a big explosion and the biggest wolf and some of the surrounding pack members were caught in it. The wolves were terrified and they ran back into the forest. Naruto had concluded that the biggest wolf was the pack leader and seeing him taken down the rest of the pack lost their will to fight.

Just as the pack moved back the kunoichi started gasping on her knees and clutched her stomach. Naruto also thought of moving back to his original spot but just as he took a step back the kunoichi turned her head in his direction, but fortunately for Naruto, she couldn't spot him. She assumed it was just another one of the wild animals sneaking up on her, but she didn't have any energy left to give chase after just fending off the pack of wolves, so she just threw a kunai towards the animal who moved away and she made a run to escape from the forest. Naruto thought it was weird of the woman to run away just after defeating the pack but he didn't want to contemplate it much further since she left his field of training. But Naruto's relief was short-lived since the kunoichi came back the next day in search of more training and the day after that and from then onwards so forth every day. Thus, we come to the present of him trying to find a secluded place away from the prying eyes of his enemies to continue his training.

Naruto Pov:

Naruto was currently walking back towards his apartment after another day of useless classes. His teachers trying to purposely fail him, Kiba trying to pick a fight with him, Sakura and Ino insulting him, and he trying to rile up Sasuke, while returning Hinata trying to follow him. But today he used a different route and walked faster than usual and she couldn't keep up with him.

Naruto: 'I have to find a place for training as soon as possible. The training ground 44 has now become that Kunoichi's home. I think her name was Anko. That's what I could hear when Jiji was talking to her.'

The previous weekend when Naruto was with Hiruzen in his office slurping down a cup of ramen noodles sitting on the guest sofa, Hiruzen was on his chair doing paperwork, also occasionally taking glances at his surrogate grandson- keeping an eye on him. At that moment he heard a knock on the door and upon Hiruzen's approval a kunoichi entered and she was the same woman Naruto had previously seen in the forest of death. He was momentarily stunned but regained his composure quickly and due to having the cup noodles halfway in his mouth no one was able to notice his quick change in demeanor. She was there for the mission debriefing and introduced herself as 'Anko Mitarashi'. She also had a stone-cold mask on her face, likely due to a recent traumatic incident.

Naruto: 'Well, this sucks but I don't have a choice. I think she is going to hog up that place and other places don't have the requirements I need for training and I think Jiji has been suspicious of my activities lately. Also, what's with all this tension in the village. It's like the villagers nowadays are purposely trying to pick a fight with the Uchiha clan. Everywhere people are insulting the police force.'

Thinking about all this Naruto came across an alleyway where he saw many women were present who were wearing only yukatas or just sashes. There were also many men wandering around who were either shinobi or who were looking very roughed up. This was the red-light district area of Konoha and the alley he was in was known as 'Pleasure Alley' for this was one of the safe heavens for Naruto. The women living in this area were kind to Naruto, they sometimes gave him food or helped him hide from some drunkards when Naruto didn't have a choice to protect his cover.

Naruto's apartment was on the other side of the alleyway in a shabby-looking building. After Naruto was thrown out of the orphanage, he didn't have a place to return and he had enough self-respect to not beg in front of the caretaker, so he tried to live on the streets, taking shelter under some bridge, scrounging for food in the forest or through stealing. But one day Kakashi found him digging through trash and brought him to Hokage. After hearing Naruto's demand to not return to the orphanage and his recent exploit of being self-sufficient enough to live on the streets, Hiruzen decided to provide him with his apartment, but sadly due to the council's influence not any district was willing to take him in and he had to put him in the red-light area. His apartment was one bedroom, one kitchen without a good water supply and frequent issues with the power shortage. Though it was enough for Naruto, he didn't complain and was content with it.

Naruto: 'Can't I do anything about this. This is so frustrating. If only I had some other secret place. Wait Mom and Dad's home! How could I even forget about that. It's already night, I can sneak in there.'

Thus in the middle of a cold night, Naruto Uzumaki was moving towards the clan district near the outskirts of the village where his parent's abode is located. For the past four years, there are two aspects of Shinobi Life that Naruto has engraved in his heart, and those are: 'The Art of Stealth' and 'The Art of complete control over emotions'. He practised them on a daily basis in every passing moment of his life- when he was interacting with his friends, when the villagers would scorn him, when he would talk to The Hokage and his Anbu Guards, all those moments he would always put up a mask to control his true emotions. Later when he decided to prank the villagers- it only started as a small act of petty revenge but he later found the important aspects of this activity, like, increasing his stealth skills, infiltration of important buildings, vandalisation as a form of sudden attack. Thus what he learnt in those aspects he was now a master at, so much so he could now get past the anbu headquarters and nobody would even notice it.

Thus now Naruto after passing every single patrol guard including the anbu one, once again stood before the two-storeyed moderately-looking building. Naruto pricked his thumb and wiped the blood on the wooden doors pushing some chakra into them and a click was heard. He quickly opened the door, entered and locked the compound from inside. Once inside the main building, he went towards the main hall. Naruto had only returned to his parent's home twice and all those times it was beneficial to his training, he hoped his luck would not fail him.

Naruto: 'Now what should I look for? I have already searched Mom and Dad's bedroom and there is nothing that could be used to me now. The library has only books and scrolls about ninja techniques and history or other related topics. I think I haven't completely checked everything in Dad's office.'

Thus Naruto moved to his Dad's office which was beside the kitchen in the south-west direction. It was a small room comprising of a desk and chair, the desk had scrolls and books on which dust was settled and there also was a hanger on which his Father's Hokage Hayori was placed. Naruto roamed around the room in search of something useful as he was also tracing the walls to feel something unusual. But a nail sticking out slightly from the wall had a cutting edge and it pricked Naruto's hands and a few drops of blood fell on the ground. As Naruto turned around retracting his hands caught sight of a seal appearing on the floor where his blood fell and a hatchet revealed itself. With a mixture of surprise and curiosity, Naruto opened the hatchet to discover a winding staircase leading down into the basem*nt.

Naruto: "What's this? A secret chamber right beneath our house?" Naruto mumbled to himself in surprise and wonder.

As Naruto descended the stairs he found a magnificent dojo with a very spacious area. The dojo was covered with wooden floors and the walls were painted half orange and half red. There were many weapons like kunai, shurikens, swords and nodachi hanging on the walls. Though the entire area was enclosed and was possibly underground it was still very bright in there without any presence of a light source and it somehow felt like the roof of the dojo itself was illuminating the entire area. Naruto speculated it was somehow due to some seals his mother used.

Naruto: 'Dad, Mom, you guys are genius. Who could've thought to build a secret training area under a house.'

Naruto moved wall to wall inspecting all the weapons, he also noticed there were seals in every corner. He couldn't understand their purpose but assumed they were there for an important purpose. Naruto noticed there was a small resting area behind the wooden doors on the northern side. As he slid open the door his eyes laid their sight upon a katana which was placed on a stand. The katana was covered in a blood-red coloured sheath with gold carvings on the open edge, the handle was completely black with small red tints on it. There was a nameplate right next to it and it read in gold letters "Amaya".

As soon as Naruto read those words he recalled his mother's journal where she gave a thorough description of the sword 'Amaya', the Uzumaki Clan's prized legacy and the one through which mother inherited the name of 'Red Death'. Amaya was also known as 'The Sword of Annihilation' and 'The Sword of Damnation'. This sword was the heritage passed down to the head of Uzumaki Clan and has been present ever since the era of 'Sage of Six Paths', the father of all shinobi.

Naruto took a deep breath and touched the sword and suddenly a surge of energy erupted inside him. It was neither harming him nor providing any kind of boost, it was just flowing through his chakra pathways but soon it retracted and Naruto was able to trace it back into the sword suddenly its weight almost decreased and Naruto was able to lift the sword easily on one hand. It felt as if the sword had just judged him and approved him of being worthy enough to wield her.

Though Naruto didn't know at that time the sword had its own sentience and she just reviewed his memories and will. She saw the torture and pain the boy went through and she felt compelled towards his determination but when she tried to experience his soul she was frightened because his soul was completely covered with hatred and it made her submit to him. Due to his lack of training, she couldn't contact him just yet, it would take a few months or years till she could even talk to her master. Unknowingly, now Naruto became the 159th head of Uzumaki Clan and the 17th Uzukage. Thus, he also became the richest man currently in the world from all the wealth of Uzumaki Clan and his father's savings.

[One year later]

Naruto was on his way to the academy and was thinking about all that happened in the past year ever since he discovered the secret dojo. First and foremost he did not need to go again in the forest for training and no need to hide from the old man since he learnt one of the seals of the dojo completely cuts off any outside connection and isolates the space thus preventing anyone from being able to spy. So, Naruto kept most of his belongings in his parents' place. There were still some necessary items left in his apartment so the anbu that regularly checks up on him don't notice anything strange.

Naruto also spent a lot of his time training secretly in the dojo and since no one was able to spy on him, he didn't have to hold back anymore. With the help of all the scrolls with techniques present in the house's library, he was able to practice his taijutsu. He became very proficient in his father's 'Hummingbird Style' and equally if not more capable in his Clan's 'Whirlpool Style'. Though both of the styles were powerful he was not able to incorporate them into one style and it always felt like one of the pieces was still missing. So he didn't rush in that aspect. In the ninjutsu area, he flourished the most. Due to him having a large amount of chakra from his Uzumaki lineage and Kyuubi's chakra seeping into the seal, he was unable to perform lower-ranked techniques so he started with C-rank ones, and he took them like fish to the water. He breezed easily through most of those techniques like 'Air bullet', 'Water bullet', 'Rock boulder' and many more. He was still struggling with the B-rank ones though. He also started training with the sword but he only knew the basic katas since he didn't have anyone to train him in that regard.

This year, Naruto went from a beginner academy student level to a mid-genin level, though his stealth skill was already on par with infiltration anbu specialists. But he still thought it was far from being perfect.

Naruto: 'Well, I have seen recently the fights with the Uchiha Clan have turned more hostile and I think I have to get the information by sneaking into the old man's office. Well that is for another time, now it is time to focus on the current goal, I have to find out about Hinata's intentions of liking me. What is it that she really sees in me. I can't grasp her behaviour so I have to inspect her directly. But she will not answer me directly since every time I try to talk to her she always faints. I have to think of something peculiar.'

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A/N:-
Guys to clear some doubts here are the few details people are confused about.

1. Naruto is currently eight years old but after this chapter, he will be 9 to 10 years old and 2 or 3 chapters later we will start the genin arc so he will be 12 years old at that time.

2. Naruto is not completely mature, he still has some of his childish traits but all the hate from villagers has somewhat changed his view.

3. The story is completely on Naruhina ship and no harem will be there but there will be instances where other characters will have a crush on Naruto.

4. The story will not only take place in the Naruto world since there will be crossovers and various OCs and the complete 4th Great Ninja War arc will be modified.

I still don't think I will be able to update regularly but if you like my story then please follow and stay tuned with it.

Chapter 4: Falling in Love

Chapter Text

It was October 10th, 9 years since The Kyuubi incident and Naruto's ninth birthday, but Naruto never liked his birthday for it always brought bad memories. So on this day, to escape from all the celebrations and noise of villagers and the inevitable curses they throw at him this particular day, he stays at the top of his father's head on the top of the Hokage monument.

Naruto was lying on the stone face while gazing at the sky and a leaf in his mouth halfway just relaxing, when in a body flicker Hiruzen appeared in his Hokage's robe but without the hat and the pipe in his mouth. Naruto didn't even have to turn around to look who had arrived but he put up his mental defences for on this particular day he was supposed to be sad and depressed.

Hiruzen sighed and asked the boy, "Naruto what are you doing here shouldn't you be in the village celebrating like everybody else."

Naruto sat up and facing backwards replied, "I would if somebody allowed me to, but for some reason every year they seem to loathe my presence during this time of year."

Hiruzen once again sighed in regret and said, "I am sorry Naruto but give the villagers some time. They are angry now but once it fades away they will come around and accept you. You should forgive them."

"You always say that jiji but they never come around. But you said so I will still keep hope.", replied Naruto.

Hiruzen nodded in satisfaction. But he as well as Naruto both knew that it was almost impossible and it was not because of the reason that jinchuriki are treated harshly, but because it is just human nature to always be weary of something they can't comprehend and it was also an undenying fact that once people get habited to something it becomes an addiction, and treating Naruto harshly or rejecting him have become a habit and removing that habit is like trying to escape from addiction and it was in a society where every other person encouraged the said addiction. Truly a sad fact about human nature.

Hiruzen suggested, "Why don't you come with me. I will treat you to Ichiraku, that will surely cheer you up."

Naruto with a smile plastered on his face replied in his enthusiastic voice, "Let's go jiji."

After having a heart-filling meal at Ichirakus Naruto was returning to his apartment, reminiscing about the day he first got to eat at his favourite ramen restaurant.

[Flashback]

Naruto was 6 years old and was hunting in one of the forests on the outskirts of the village but was having difficulty finding anything due to a shortage of food in that particular season. It was also heavily clouded and he had an inkling a storm was coming. To prove his thoughts right suddenly strong gusts of wind started blowing and he had no choice but to turn back and return. Though he had now an apartment to live in but very little money to eat. The allowance for the orphan welfare which provided a minimum amount of money to all the orphans per month till they reached the age of fifteen or if they became genin was introduced in the time of the First Hokage to help those children who became orphans of war or if their parents died in an unfortunate mission.

But sadly for Naruto, the authority for the distribution of funds was handed to the civilian council during the reign of Second Hokage. The people in the civilian council were not very keen on providing any help to the demon brat so they tried to embezzle as much of his funds as possible but they still had to show a receipt of minimum allowance to the Hokage. This would not have been a problem for them just to provide false data but the obstacle was that Hiruzen Sarutobi was a surrogate grandfather to the jinchuriki and any corruption on their part would make its way to his ears especially regarding Naruto. It didn't add to the fact that in charge of the distribution of these funds was Mebuki Haruno, for the civilian council she was just the matriarch of the Haruno merchant clan but the shinobis who knew the truth about Naruto's parents knew she was the former teammate of Kushina and such whenever she gave the funds to Naruto she added a little amount of money from her own pocket.

But all that still didn't help because whenever Naruto tried to buy goods and supplies from the village the shopowners always charged triple the amount of a designated good and whenever Naruto brought up this fact with them they claimed it to be demon tax which only he was obliged to pay and though Naruto knew it was all bullsh*t he didn't bring up the fact to Hiruzen knowing they would still somehow try to sabotage him through some other ways and if the villagers were seen being imprisoned for mistreating the demon boy they would sure voice it against the Hokage and Hiruzen was not strong enough to fight back if they all ganged up on him. Naruto assumed this fact in mind with the assumption that the village's shinobi would also try to sabotage him due to not-so-friendly interactions with other shinobis. But he will learn in the future that Hiruzen was not backed into a corner by his enemies but due to his own fears.

Just then it started to rain and soon it poured down heavily. Naruto took shelter in one of the sheds of a small restaurant where only one old man was standing behind the counter and boiling some kind of noodles. Naruto first looked at him then looked back seeing all the people scrambling and running away to find shelter from the room. Then he looked back at the man and thought how good it would be to taste those noodles but he had no illusions about what type of villagers the people of this village were. He just hoped the man would continue his work and not notice him otherwise he will be forced out of the establishment.

But just like always his luck betrayed him and a growl came from his hungry stomach which caught the attention of the shopkeeper. He looked up to see a small scrawny-looking boy half wet from the downpour looking into his restaurant. But when he stared back the boy got frightened and backed away but still poked his head inside when the shopkeeper signaled him to come in.

Naruto was skeptical because this was the first time someone called him into an establishment. He was on edge thinking the man was plotting something.But contrary to what he assumed the man put up a bowl of noodles with some vegetables in it in front of him. First Naruto thought it was poisoned but he had been eating various unsavoury plants from the forests and thought he could handle some little poison some took a bite out of the bowl. Just as he started chewing his widened to comical proportions. He took another bite, then two, then three and soon he gobbled up the entire bowl. For Naruto who ate nothing but wild flora and animal meat he cooked on fire and other expired items he got from the market this food tasted heavenly and had a genuine smile finishing up the bowl.

[Flashback End]

Since then it has become Naruto's favourite eating place. He had been going to that place ever since nearly 4 times a week for it was the only restaurant that treated him unbiased. They did not overcharge him or sell him rotten food. Sometimes they provided him with food even if he had no money. Naruto came to know that the name of the restaurant owner was Teuchi, a retired Chunin from the Second Great Shinobi War and his only daughter Ayame, who treated him like a little brother. Naruto almost felt that they were family and they were a few of his precious people.

As Naruto neared his apartment he saw a few of the drunk villagers going to the red-light area. But they were coming from the direction of the building in which his apartment was located. He had no doubt that these people were trying to find him to relieve all the festival heat, but not finding him there they would have surely trashed his home. Since the year they tried to kill him, many who were involved were arrested due to Hokage's orders but were released again due to pressure from the council and this led to more anger towards Naruto. So they tried again the next year but Naruto wasn't so stupid and vowed to never be used again by the villagers. So he opted for different tactics. If a mob was formed to hunt him, he would either lead them to a Uchiha Police Patrol area or towards the Hokage Tower so he could have possible eyewitnesses and may help Hiruzen in punishing those fools. Or if it were a single person or two three drunks who tried their luck on him, he would lure them towards the training field or near the heavily forested area which was his turf since in those places he could simply kill them and escape. He also suspected that someone high on the order chain was helping him cover those cases because no one could get away from doing so many murders. But since no one had contacted him, he suspected they were waiting for him to make a move. Someone very manipulative might have been behind that. Since then people have been unable to take their anger out on him except the harsh glares, isolation and badmouthing. So they resorted to physically damaging his properties. This included trashing his apartment.

He quickly ran forward to escape from being noticed and reach his apartment quickly. When he reached to the top floor he noticed some wooden shards lying around and moving closer to the apartment noticed a broken door. He did not need to see inside to know the condition. Just like always the kitchen utensils and bathroom sinks have been destroyed, the mirrors have been shattered, his bed was torn apart, all the food would have been wasted and the walls and ceiling would have new graffiti and this time they used real blood as he could smell from the new demon kanji on his front wall.

He winced seeing all this destruction and knew he had his work cut out for him. Previously when these things happened, he would just replace them with some items from his parent's home, but he decided to not take any losses due to villagers. So recently he would tail one of the offenders and mark out his home and when the time is right, he would steal all the utensils or other useful items he is in need from the offender's home. He also didn't discriminate while stealing, anyone who was involved was fair game, whether they were rich, poor, coming from shinobi clans, or were businessman, either they were basking in wealth or they could not feed their kids two meals of a day, he didn't spare anyone. All the anger he had inside him would be directed towards that soul for if none of them could see the difference between a human and a demon, then they themselves were no longer human.

Just as Naruto was about to storm off to tail one of the assailants a pink plain box with furly packaging caught his eye. The package was perfectly tucked behind the pot with plants. It was just outside his apartment door where Naruto put a big plant for good looks as he was someone who loved plants.

'Why did this plant remain unharmed? Did they leave it because it looked like someone else's property? Are they really this stupid to forget that except me, no one lives in this building?', contemplated Naruto.

But he was even more puzzled with who would parcel anything to him. 'Is this the villagers' doing? Are they trying new ways to annoy me more."

But his curiosity overtook his caution and he went to pick up the parcel. But just as he bent down a distinct smell was captured by his nose. 'This smell, it's Hinata's.' For Naruto training in the wild gave him different perks and one of those was heightened sensory capabilities, it also didn't add to the fact that due to daily stalking of Hinata, he had memorised the girl's smell and could always differentiate that sweet lilac smell with other sweet scents.

'What is this? Why would she gift me anything? What's her objective with this?" More questions popped up in Naruto's mind than he had answers for. He knew Hinata had a crush on him and for the love of Kami, he couldn't understand why. He secretly gathered information on her through various means, by trying direct conversation with her as much as possible before she fainted, or through her friends who were only a handful, or stalking her in the Hyuga compound and was deeply disturbed by the no. of photos she had of him secretly in her closet. But in any of those situations, he could never spot a clue which would give away why she would fall in love with the academy's dead-last and village pariah.

Then Naruto once again looked at the box, he took it and went inside and laid on the table which was still somehow intact. Then opened the wrap and took the lid, he saw a cake in orange colour and cream on top with chocolate whips and a strawberry on top. On it was written, "Happy Birthday Naruto". He was stunned seeing this, for in his entire life, nobody had gifted him anything or even wished him Happy Birthday except The Hokage. This was the first time someone took the effort to gift him something and wished him a birthday. He was feeling a new sense of emotion by this act of kindness and he didn't know what. It made him feel warm inside and very relaxed also when her thought came into mind he experienced a sudden jolt. Though Naruto didn't what he was feeling at that time, unknowingly Hinata through her tenacity had melted his frozen heart. Somewhere in his darkness, a spark was observed.

'I can't wait anymore for the answers, I have to ask her myself. But she always faints when I'm near her. Why don't I use a genjutsu to seek answers. Yes, a simple B-ranked one would be enough.'

Though at the thought of using something harmful on Hinata caused a pang in his heart. He always thought villagers had killed the part of him that felt empathy. He had become such a cold person that if the village burned down today, he would not even feel some kind of sympathy for them. But just potentially using a minuscule amount of chakra for a girl he didn't even know about started causing him pain. Unknowingly, The cold-hearted personification of Hatred, Naruto Uzumaki was falling in love himself.

[ The Next Day]

Hinata was a very shy girl with a timid personality. Ever since she was a child she always wanted to see the good in people and kindness was nature she was just born with, even her mother for the first five years of her life always taught her good moral values such as honesty, integrity, kindness, mercy and others. So when her mother passed away while giving birth to her younger sister, she asked her to look after the family she left behind. Hinata always tried to play the peacemaker, she raised her younger sister with kindness and compassion her father was unable to provide, she treated her father with utmost respect and always tried to follow his orders, she also tried to build a bond with her direct cousin Neji. Hinata also respected the branch members of the Hyuga family the same as the main family.

But hailing from one of the major and most prominent clans of Fire country this compassionate personality from the clan heiress was seen as a form of weakness. The main branch detested her for she was unable to display talents comparable to the branch family's prodigy Neji and her sister who was five years younger than her displayed more proficiency in Hyuga Clan Taijutsu 'The Gentle Fist'. But the truth was she was stronger than her younger sister Hanabi, and since she promised her mother to take care of her in their mother's stead she always held back against her afraid of hurting her. This caused her to be even mocked by the branch members thinking the girl who was going to lead them into the future was so weak. Her father may not have shown her but he genuinely cared about his daughters and he pushed Hinata so hard because he wanted her to be strong enough to protect herself. For the ninja world was a place full of vultures who would dive in any smell of blood to cut open the flesh and her being weak was an open invite to them. He didn't like it one bit but he had to be especially hard on his elder daughter.

Even outside of her clan, she was not very welcome. Due to her being from one of the great clans of Konoha, civilians rarely approached her and they were also scared of the guards that were always present with her. In the academy hailing from a better background, blessed with good looks and intellect she became a source of jealousy for the fellow kunoichi-in-training, and having an overtly shy nature she became more reserved and due to this some of the civilian girls found it easy to bully her. Though her treatment didn't get worse from a few curse words and very rare physical treatment, it was still enough to break her spirit even more.

Due to a lack of familial love and compassion and experiencing the ugly truth of this cruel world a darkness brews in her heart. But just like in darkness light comes barrelling in its domain always in every unexpected way, in Hinata's life also hope came in a unique way in the form of Naruto Uzumaki. He gave her the courage to move forward where she faltered, he gave her the will to never give up where all her paths were blocked. It was just a small gesture of help from him, but it always came in when she needed it most and she was able to carry on due to this. This led to a spark of curiosity in her to know more about the blonde boy who for some reason was always hated by everyone but for some reason never gave up. So she followed him and tried to find where he found his hope, and the answer she came up with was himself. She saw that he didn't have anyone important in his life and was rejected by most of the villagers but just smiled through it all and moved forward never looking back. She always sensed the darkness in him but it never dettered her for she also had the same kind of darkness but never knew his depth.

As days passed by and she got to know him more and more through her little secret activities she began to see him in a very different light. She was not captivated by his smile but by his determination to always progress and the will to never give up. So much time spent upon him caused a change in her and this change was the admiration of the blond but as time passed by the admiration grew deeper until she started to love him with all her heart. She wanted to be like him- to give hope, she wanted to be with him and share all his joys and misfortunes, she wanted to be the light of his darkness as he became the light of her darkness.

Hinata Pov,

'I hope Naruto-kun got the cake I left for him. I wish I was there to congratulate him in person but I had no choice but to obey the curfew.', thought Hinata as she was on her way to the academy.

The previous day was Naruto's birthday and she wanted to surprise him since all his friends didn't know his birthday and he was not very keen on celebrating it. So for the previous 2 weeks, she spent most of her free time with the maids in the kitchen trying to learn to make a cake. This has been a hobby of Hinata to try and make new dishes to please her father and when she came with the request that she wanted to learn to make cake, it didn't strike them out of the ordinary.

Last evening she snuck into the building but since except for Naruto no one lived there she wouldn't call it sneaking but she didn't know that. First, she knocked on the door for a response but getting none she assumed he was not present at home so she decided to leave the gift at the door, but she didn't want anyone trying to steal her gift and with the kind of place he was situated in, she had no doubt someone would try it. So, she looked around for alternatives and noticed a gap behind the plant pot with a tall herb growing in it. If one would not try to notice they wouldn't see anything there. She left the gift behind the pot with a note on it reading 'Happy Birthday Naruto'.

Remembering last night's events she couldn't help but blush and many thoughts swirled in her head like 'Did Naruto-Kun like the cake?', 'Did he even notice it?', 'Would he know that I was the one that left it there?' Just thinking about these things she reached the academy. Her thoughts were disrupted when she saw her classmate Sasuke Uchiha complaining to another person who slightly looked like him arguing that he wanted to come to the academy alone. Just seeing that familial bond she hoped her family would be like this.

She entered her designated classroom and sat on the farthest seat in the last row. Some moments later Sasuke entered the classroom followed by Shino and the three of them sat in silence waiting for other classmates to arrive. None of them initiated a conversation since all of them were content with the silence. Soon other classmates began to fill in the room and half an hour later the class was filled with all the students. Hinata saw Naruto enter the classroom with friends Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Kiba Inazuka where he was animatedly chatting with Kiba, Choji was munching on a pack of chips and Shikamaru was yawning.

As soon as Naruto came into the classroom his eyes made contact with Hinata's and due to this, her breadth was caught in a hitch. Many thoughts rampaged in her mind. 'Did he find the cake? Does he know it was me who left it there? Did he see me before I left? Does he know that I secretly follow him around every day after classes end? Does he know that I took secret pictures of him? Does he know that I took one of his torn jackets he left one day at the training ground and use it as a night suit whenever I feel lonely?'

Before her mind delved into the bottom of the abyss she slapped her cheeks to come out of her stupor which brought some incredulous looks from her fellow seatmate and she flustered bright red in turn. She looked again in front to see that Naruto was again in an argument with a girl namely Ino of Yamanaka Clan. She was somewhat saddened to see that and thought she just jumped to conclusions. She went back to being somewhat stoic and like this class had started.

After half a day when the bell rang, Iruka took his register and went out for lunch, similarly many of the students also ran to get out of the classroom. Hinata looked around to see Naruto had disappeared. He always went away somewhere secret during lunch and she just thought he went away somewhere in the village to have lunch. She took out her bento and went outside in the training fields under the shade of a tree to eat her lunch alone in a relatively quiet place.

She was eating her lunch in peace when three girls approached her.

"Look at this friends the stuck-up has no friends to eat with. Don't you have anyone to keep you company?", said one of the girls to her friends.

Hinata looked up to see it was three of her classmates. They were not from some prominent clans but mere civilian students. Due to their lack of training, they were failing behind their rank which caused more distress to grow and they blamed the the students from shinobi clans. Nevertheless, all of the students from the clans were not so weak to be pushed around so easily except Hinata who due to her timid nature and kind heart was dubbed weak in front of the students. But recently she had been doing well in her taijutsu lessons due to which her rank was on the rise, other civilian girls didn't like the fact that she was gathering more attention from them so they started actively trying to sabotage the poor girl.

Hinata flinched at the mocking tone, her fingers tightening around her chopsticks as she fought to maintain her composure.

"Maybe she's just too good for the rest of us," chimed in another, her laughter sharp and cutting. "After all, she's supposed to be the pride of the mighty Hyuga clan. Though you wouldn't know it by looking at her."

The third girl stepped forward, her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Hinata's modest lunch. "Is that all you're eating? No wonder you're so scrawny. Doesn't your fancy clan feed you properly?"

High above, unnoticed, a figure perched among the branches with the ease of a leaf swaying in the breeze. Naruto, who had stealthily climbed the tree to enjoy his lunch away from the world's prying eyes, watched the scene unfold with growing dismay. His hand found a small pebble, and with a flick, it flew, striking one of the bullies squarely on the forehead.

"Hey, knucklehead!" the girl yelped, her hand flying to the spot where the pebble had hit. "Who did that?"

Naruto seized the opportunity, jumping down with the agility that belied his often clumsy demeanour. He landed beside Hinata, his presence suddenly shifting the balance. With a grin that held the promise of mischief and the assurance of unwavering support, Naruto faced the intruders.

"Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back?" he taunted, his voice ringing with a challenge. "Or are you too scared to take me on?"

This sudden save from her crush and Hinata to blush brightly. When other girls noticed who interrupted their fun gained a scowl on their faces. "What are you doing idiot? This is none of your business.", commented one of the girls.

"Oh, this became my business when you tried to bully her in front of my eyes even when she did nothing to you."

"So what you are trying to play hero. Don't forget if I complain to teachers you will get punished again and they will believe me over you anytime.", the girl replied with a smirk.

But Naruto was undeterred by this and let out an even bigger smirk as if taunting them. "You may get me in trouble with the teachers but would you three really like to be on my next prank's hit list? You wouldn't want your precious Sasuke-Kun to see you all bald."

All three girls paled hearing this and one let out a quiet whimper and the previous girl gained a scowl on her face. "Come on guys, this is just a waste of our time. Let's complain about him to Iruka sensei." They left the place albeit with a slight stomping on the ground. Naruto turned and looked at Hinata worryingly as she had her head down and tried to avoid eye contact with him.

"Hinata are you okay? Did the girls say anything weird to you? Don't mind their words they are stupid and are just jealous of your achievements."

Hinata looked up slightly and replied in a meek voice, "N..N..Naruto-kun, you didn't have to help me. I became a burden to you. I..I am sorry." And she bowed her head down, though she was very happy that Naruto came to her rescue.

"Nonsense Hinata, how could I even leave you alone and honestly those girls were really getting on my nerves.", he replied cheekily.

Though in his eyes a different calculating look was there. 'It is a great time to strike, I won't get another chance like this so easily and we are also completely isolated.'

Naruto enthusiastically took Hinata's hand saying, "Come on now no one is here and you can eat your lunch in peace and if anyone comes to disturb you again you can just rely on me." And again dragged her towards the tree.

But as he reached the tree he sent out a tiny pulse of chakra by his standards and a kind of pulse hit Hinata but she ignored it thinking it was just her imagination yet her consciousness entered a trance-like state. Unknown to Hinata she was caught in a genjutsu which was generally used by the Uchiha Police Force and the Yamanaka Clan interrogators to obtain information from the prisoners and captives. Naruto gained knowledge of this technique from the scrolls in his father's library. This was an easy technique since it just used chakra to be infused into someone else's brain to release specific hormones which put them in an extremely drunken and trance state, then if you ask them something they will babble everything out. But this was also very counterproductive since one who had knowledge about this justu could counter it by just rotating his chakra in his chakra pathways and forcing them through their brain.

Naruto didn't like the idea of using this on Hinata but his curiosity was eating him, so he resorted to extreme measures.

"Hinata who are you?", he started with basic questions to gauge if the jutsu worked as he expected or not.

"I am Hinata Hyuga, the heir of the Hyuga Clan from Konoha.", she replied in a monotonic voice and stuttering was also gone.

"Tell me Hinata Hyuga, do you have a crush on Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Yes, I have a crush on Naruto Uzumaki."

This much he expected from her, now the real questions will begin.

"Do you just have a crush or do you love Naruto Uzumaki?"

"I love Naruto Uzumaki with all my heart."

Naruto was somewhat surprised to hear this. He just thought she had a silly crush on him but didn't know her actions were the result of her genuine feelings. He had never expected such a precarious situation. So seeing no other choice he just continued with the questions.

"Why do you love Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Naruto is the source of my strength. It is Naruto who gives me the will to move forward even if I just want to give up on all the expectations, seeing him not giving up and just striding towards his goal motivates me to just keep on with all the hard work. It is his resilience against all rejection from the village that made me fall in love with him. There are also past instances where he unknowingly helped me multiple times and I can't help but be grateful to him for what he had done."

Naruto was stunned to hear those words. He never thought in this god-forsaken village there would be someone who would love him and see his inner qualities and not just the bigoted villagers' opinions. He didn't know what to make of this situation and after a very long time, his emotions were in turmoil trying to make sense of her words.

"Explain these past instances with Naruto.", he wanted to know when were those times that he had helped her.

"First was during my third birthday, I was returning from the celebration hall to the clan compound during a chilly winter but I was lost in the dark night when a boy of my age came to help me, he was wearing thin clothes and was himself shuddering but he still comforted me and helped me reach home. Later I learnt his name was Naruto. One other occasion was when I was five years old and a few boys from the academy were bullying me for being a Hyuga but he came to help me by trying to beat up those kids and himself got hit, I was taken away by my guard and was unable to thank him but he just smiled at me. Later I found out that he was in the same class as me so I tried to get close to him but due to my shyness I was unable to talk to him and I thought to leave him alone for his own good, but I still followed him wanting to know more about him, slowly but surely seeing him every day going through all that hate and carrying the darkness in him behind that jovial smile made me admire him and this admiration soon turned into love."

Naruto didn't remember those incidents very well but he had an inkling which incidents she was talking about. Now he had just one final question since he was very sure that she just fell in love with a mask, not the real him.

"What would you do if the Naruto you knew was just a fake, what if he was not so jovial and kind to other people, what if he had a much more sinister side, what if he was not what you thought?"

"I fell in love with Naruto due to his unyielding will of never giving up and always striving for better. I would still fall in love with him if he was not a good person because he has every right to do so. Every day carrying this much darkness in his heart and the village still pushes him more further. I would give everything just to be with him."

Naruto had never heard any more compassionate words towards him, he was truly moved in his heart. His control slipped and Hinata came back to her senses, she just blinked in surprise for one moment she was going to eat and the next she couldn't remember what happened to her.

"Um..Naruto-kun w..what were we doing?", and on cue bell rang signalling the resume of remaining classes.

"Naruto steeled his face and plastered a grin saying, "Let's go back Hinata, I wouldn't want Iruka sensei scolding you due to me." He grabbed her hands and dragged her back to the classroom meanwhile she was blushing like a tomato due to Naruto holding her hand.

For the next few days, Naruto was the one who trailed Hinata. He infiltrated the Hyuga compound which in itself was a huge headache but gave him more practice against more secured locations. In the Hyuga compound, he truly saw what Hyuga Hinata's real personality was like, he saw how kind and shy person she was, but he also saw how strong-willed and hard-working she was, how she loved every member of her family and didn't discriminate anyone, even though she was put down by everyone she stood back up again to try for more. He saw many qualities of her that he had never seen before and unknown to him she pierced his shell to enter his heart and unknowingly her wish came true as she became the light of his darkness.

"Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ....ha. I can't believe it but it is true. Monsters can fall in love and this monster fell in love with a God-sent angel", laughed Naruto.

He didn't know where this would lead him but there was one thing he definitely knew. Naruto Uzumaki had found his goal and he would obtain it no matter what.

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Sorry guys for the extremely long chapter, but I was very passionate about this one and I really wanted to finish this in one go.

Hope you have enjoyed it.

Future chapters may or may not be this long.

Stay tuned if you like my story to enjoy more.