Aloha! What goes on, people? I adopted this from my buddy DarkElite24 at his request! [Bows] I hope I can do the original justice and live up to your expectations, especially with brown phantom beta-reading it! A few minor changes have been made, but the storyline will stay pretty much the same up until we reach the Third Exam of the Chūnin Exams. And this will also be one of the six fics I will be focusing on. I hope you enjoy it!

Our Eyes Are the Same

Chapter 1: Not Worth Seeing

The sun was rising over the village of Konoha, just as it did every morning. People began to wake up to start their days. Merchants set up shop while the local children ran towards the ninja academy. Uzumaki Naruto, a six year old with sun-kissed blond hair, sat up in his bed and thought about his first day at the academy.

His eyes were a dull blue, as though you were staring into the vacant yet realistic eyes of a doll. Those dreaded eyes that should show childish innocence and wonder, but instead showed the pain that he lives with every moment of his life. Eyes that could only be described as lifeless. Not best described, only described.

In his six years of life, Naruto had suffered more than most jōnin, even some Anbu. He endured countless beatings and abuse, to the point where a normal person would have gone insane. There was only one reason Naruto hadn't lost his sanity, and that was because this life was all he knew. His sanity, his perception, his entire paradigm was based on being a victim.

He looked around his apartment and took in the sights. It had one bedroom that connected to a living room and kitchen area. His bathroom connected to his bedroom. His room only contained a bed and closet, while his living room had a sofa and table. He looked upon the bare walls to read the words that he had heard all his life.

Words like "demon", "monster", "abomination", "devil", and more that were painted on his walls that summed up the villager's opinion about him. Words he never bothered to cover up for the same reason rundown regions stop bothering to clean up graffiti. He sat up and quickly got dressed. Naruto heated up ramen for breakfast because it was all anyone would sell him. He left his apartment without locking his door since people would just break the door down if it was locked. When people wanted him to suffer, things like a locked down didn't even slow them down.

He still got the glares and name calling on his way to the academy. To cope, he put on his fake smile. He called it fake because he never truly was happy, not where he can remember being happy. His face showed that of a carefree boy, but inside he was dead. He truly hoped that he could make a friend at the academy, at least he would have someone to live for.

Scene change – With Hinata

The sun's light illuminated the room of six year old Hyūga Hinata, her room was bare and empty except the mat that held the Hyūga heiress.

Hinata raised her head and looked around her room to see if the elders were there. She had raven black hair with a bluish tint and the Hyūga's trademark eyes, but her eyes had a dull hue that showed her crushed soul. Her eyes were duller than those of the branch family.

She looked at her bare wall and gazed upon three words carved into the wall. "Failure deserves nothing", the words that the elders and her father live by. Though apparently to them 'nothing' did not mean nothing, it meant 'agony'. Treated as if you were nothing.

Every day the elders put her in a sparring match with her cousin, Neji, a boy who hated the main branch with a passion for the death of his father, Hizashi, and is one of the most powerful up and coming Hyūga. The elders knew he'd show her no mercy, as Neji was rather sadistic in his fights against Hinata. As if he was taking out all his rage at the Main House on her, because she was the one person he was allowed to take it out on. Neji would never dare raise a hand to Hiashi or the elders, people he'd have just as much reason to hate if he hated Hinata, because they'd kill him for it. But Hinata wouldn't, and they all knew it, and took advantage of it.

Neji was effectively bullying Hinata, hurting her because she was an easy target, nothing more, and the elders enjoyed it because they believed children should be judged as if they were adults. Due to this incredibly one-sided arrangement, Hinata loses to Neji every time and, for every loss, Hinata loses something she values, hence the bare room. She began to lose so much that her father completely ignored her, not that he ever really noticed her to begin with. The elders decided to give her a little 'incentive for winning' by whipping her with a leather strap until she learned to be strong. The strap became a whip and every time she screamed five more lashes were added on to her original twenty.

Considering she was a child, it was downright inhumane to begin with. Then when her back was full of scars the head elder, Hyūga Hozin, decided to give her something called "private punishment", but what it really was two hours of free time with Hinata which usually involved her being naked and raped repeatedly. These punishments took a toll on her mind and she began to hate herself.

The pain was so great that she would slice open her arm repeatedly just to bleed away the pain, but the pain never ended and now her arms were covered with scars. She never could bring herself to take her own life because she knew that when she died, her sister would suffer the same fate in her place and she knew that her mother would never forgive her for abandoning her sister.

She got dressed and didn't even bother to go to breakfast because the elders didn't feed her until nighttime and she had to eat it out of a doggy bowl like a damn animal. Today was the first day of the academy and she wanted a friend to make her feel worth something, but when thinking about that only one thing popped into her mind.

"Why would anyone want to be friends with a failure like me?"

Scene change – With Naruto

Naruto was one of the first people there, so with time to spare and nothing to do he sat on a lone swing that hung from the tree and watched the children show up. The children were hugged by their parents and sent on their way.

Naruto envied those children and wished that someone would hug him or at least love him, but love was meaningless to a demon. Naruto truly believed that he was a monster and that he didn't deserve love. After all, it was the only thing he was ever called anymore, or ever, what reason did he have to doubt it? Even if it was true, that still didn't stop his yearning for it.

He thought that someone actually loved him when he was four and lived on the street. He ate garbage and slept anywhere that was warm and dry. One day, a woman took him in and fed him, even tucked him in, and read him a story. He woke up in less than an hour and found himself tied up to a post, with the women that he thought would be his mother stabbing him with a dull rusty knife and laughed like something that should have stayed in Hell. He suffered for twenty hours as the women slowly tortured him until his screams finally caught the attention of someone who cared enough to help. The woman escaped and the Anbu 'somehow' lost all the evidence, and no doctor was willing to examine him to prove his wounds were inflicted, so the case was dropped and forgotten by everyone except the victim.

He continued to watch the children play and hoped someone would be his friend. He remembered back when he met his first and only friend.

Flashback

Four year old Naruto wandered the streets of Konoha looking for food. He tried begging for food, but that usually ended with a beating. He searched the trash cans for a scrap of food, but instead found the thing that best kept him from going insane for so long. He found a stuffed fox with red fur and a cute tail.

The fox was unharmed with just a little bit of dirt on his fur. Naruto picked up the stuffed animal and looked at it with dead eyes. He saw it had a string, so he pulled it. The stuffed fox said the words that Naruto always wanted to hear; "I love you". Naruto spoke to the stuffed animal.

"No one wants you either, huh? I'll take care of you so now we don't have to be alone. I think I'll call you Mr. Kitsy".

Naruto took Mr. Kitsy and returned to his box behind the whore house where the smells of sex drift through the air. He pulled the string one more time to hear those healing words then fell into a deep nightmare-filled sleep still clutching the little stuffed animal.

End Flashback

Naruto continued to stare at the children and their parents as he slowly swung back and forth. He could see that most of the parents glared at him with unashamed hatred. He could even hear them tell their children to stay away from him because he was a monster. Naruto just blocked out the words as best he could, but he knew now that no one would be his friend. Beside, who would be friends with a monster?

The children ignored or glared at Naruto. They were still young enough that they never challenged their parents' wisdom. To them, parents were omnipotent figures who knew everything, could fix anything, and were never wrong, ever. Their parents could tell them that babies came from assembly kits in hardware stores and they'd believe it. So when they were told that the blond boy over there was practically the devil himself, they had no thought to challenge it at all.

Naruto looked right at the children and put on his fake smile, but underneath the mask he felt like crying. He learned earlier not to cry in front of the villagers because they would only get mad and hurt him. Like somehow he wasn't allowed to cry. Or laugh. Or frown. Or downright be seen or thought of. There was virtually nothing Naruto was allowed to do except be a stationary target.

Naruto turned and saw a girl walk through the front gates. She wore a tan coat with black pants and ninja sandals. Her black hair had this shine and her pale skin looked smooth and perfect. What really caught Naruto's attention was her eyes. Her eyes weren't the same color as his, but they had the same dullness and emptiness to them. Naruto never saw anyone so pretty or cute in all his life. A thought went through Naruto's mind.

"Our eyes are the same."

Scene change – With Hinata

Her walk to school was normal. People just ignored her as she walked by. It was a feeling she welcomed, for there was no such thing as positive attention when she got any. She thought about how her mother would take her around Konoha and spend time with her. She always complimented Hinata on how pretty she looked and how proud she was to have a daughter like her. Hinata knew that her mother would have been the one to walk with her on the first day of the academy, but she died giving birth to Hanabi two years ago. After her mother's death, her father began to ignore her and the Hyūga elders took charge.

Which didn't make sense to her. If her father was upset about her mother's death, then why did he punish her? Did he blame her? If he did, then why didn't he blame Hanabi too? Right now, no one in the clan, with the possible exception of Neji, even hinted at harming Hanabi. Hinata suspected that was because they focused so much of their hatred onto her that there was none left to give to Hanabi. But Neji, Hinata had no doubt in her mind that if he had the chance he'd kill Hanabi just as much as he tried to kill her.

She walked slowly because with every step there was a sharp pain coming from the lower area of her body. The elder's "private punishment" always hurt her both emotionally and physically. They usually beat her before or in some cases during the rape. They brutally smash her head into the floor or a wall like they want her to die. They still bring out the strap or whip to further Hinata's pain. Hinata always leaves the punishment feeling useless or dead inside. The elders even told her that she was completely useless and that she even failed at being a whore because she was too ugly. She hated the feel of their fluids dripping out of her holes and the smell of sex that covered her bare room. After each "punishment" she either passed out or stayed awake to write in her diary.

Her mother's flower pressing book, her dairy, and her lucky charm were the only thing she could keep from the elders. She hid them under the floor boards of her room. She didn't have to worry about them finding them because of the seals on each room that prevents the Byakugan from looking in other rooms to prevent peeping.

Hinata walked through the front gate of the academy. She looked around the courtyard and at all the children that continued to play until she heard a gasp. She turned her head to a boy that sat on a swing. Hinata gasped and she could feel her heart beat faster.

The boy had blond hair and whisker marks on his cheeks which Hinata found very cute. His eyes were a sky blue, but what really caught her attention was the dull hue of his eyes. She knew that she was looking at someone that experienced the suffering and pain that she had also felt. Looking into those deep pools of blue only one thought entered her mind.

"Our eyes are the same."

Scene change – With Naruto

Naruto was stunned by the girl's beauty. He began to get up to talk to the girl, but just as he began to walk over the bell sounded and she was lost in the sea of children. Naruto felt depressed that he may not see the girl again and that he just lost his only chance to make a true friend. If there was anyone at this school he at least had a chance with, it was someone who could sympathize with him.

He whispered to himself. "Why does Kami-sama hate me so much?"

He walked inside the academy and found his assigned classroom. He walked in to find a tall man with a scar over his left temple. He was big and wore a Leaf headband around his arm. His assistant was an equally tall man with brown skin and a scar across his nose. He had spiky dark hair and wore his Leaf headband on his forehead. Naruto looked around the classroom to find that the girl from earlier was in his class. That alone was a good sign.

The teacher yelled at the class. "All right, listen up! My name is Mishori Ryū, but you maggots will call me Ryū-sensei. For the next few years I will train you to be a shinobi of Konoha. I won't lie to you. The road will be tough, but if you don't act stupid then everything will be perfect! This toothpick here is Umino Iruka and he's my assistant."

Naruto wasn't paying too much attention because he was too focused on the pale-eyed girl. He then felt as if it was hard to breath and he only got that way when the villagers were going to attack him.

Ryū yelled loudly. "You! I saw you make that face! How dare you turn your nose up to me?"

Ryū hated Naruto because the fox killed his whole family and he was happy that the demon was in his class, so he can make its life a living hell. Whether or not the boy was already in a living hell meant nothing to the chūnin, when it came to making Naruto suffer to him there was no such thing as going too far.

Naruto was shocked that teacher called him down even when he didn't do anything. "What! I didn't do anything."

"Oh! A wise guy?! Students, here is your first lesson!" Ryū replied smugly. "Boy, get down here now!"

Naruto didn't want to make his sensei even madder, so he walked down next to him. Ryū continued his demands.

"Hold your hands out stretched. Now I will put these text books on your head and arms. You will not drop these books or you will be forced to sit in the hall while real talented students learn!"

Ryū turned toward the other students and spoke. "Students let's start out the year with a test! I want you to throw anything you have and try to knock off Uzumaki's text books. Making him fall down is acceptable too. If you succeed you pass, that simple! Ready, start!"

Naruto was already struggling to hold up the books, but then he was pelted with random items. Books, pencils, pens, even practice kunai hit his body. He still kept the books up even through the pain. The students quickly got into the teacher's game of torment and laughed at him as he bled and cried out in pain. The words hurt worse than the pain. Loser, jerk, weirdo, some even called him a demon. Why? Because they were allowed to, and like all children everywhere if they were allowed to misbehave nothing would make them behave instead. After ten minutes of constant pelting, he dropped the books and was kicked out of the classroom by a teacher who had no intention of ending the game until Naruto caved. Had Naruto actually lasted Ryū would have seriously hit Naruto himself just to get it over with, and he would have made it really hurt. Naruto sat in the hallway and thought about all the students' harsh words, but one pale-eyed girl was mostly on his mind.

The girl didn't throw anything, laugh, or call him names. She kept her eyes down, but Naruto thought that he saw a tear slide down her cheek. Maybe there is a beacon of light in the darkness he calls life.

To Be Continued...

And there it is! Hope you guys liked it! Peace and shaka from Oahu!