I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters. Well, looks like I'm doing another long ass Naruto story again. Joy. Oh well. At least they're fun for me. Officially taking recommendations and requests for all pairings. Except Naruto. That one is set in stone already. The others are open to polling.

Second Chance

Naruto walked down the street, one hand on his stomach, the other swinging at his side. He was hungry. Very hungry. He walked into the grocery store near his apartment and then walked to the microwavable foods section, picking up a cup of instant ramen and walking to the counter. He set the cup on the counter and began to dig out money from his pockets.

"I don't want your money!" the store clerk snapped. "I'm not selling to a monster like you! Get out of here!"

"I'm not a monster!" Naruto snapped, slamming the money down on the counter. "I'm going to become Hokage! and money is money so just take it!"

"I'd rather starve to death than accept your money!" the clerk snapped. "Get out of here you monster! Your money is no good here!"

Just then, Naruto's stomach rumbled. He winced, holding a hand to it as his other hand slipped off the counter, leaving the money. Naruto's head fell, staring at his feet as he turned, walking out of the store. The clerk blinked in surprise then looked down at the money Naruto had left. More than double what the ramen cup cost. He shook his head then looked around before sweeping the money into his wallet.

Naruto stumbled down a back alley, deciding to take a shortcut home. As he did, he froze. The other end of the alley was blocked by a pair of men, one holding a two by four with several nails sticking out of the end, and the other a lead pipe. Naruto sighed. He didn't want to deal with this right now. He couldn't go to class at the academy if he got beat up again. he turned to leave but the closer end of the alley was also blocked. This end had one man with a large stone and one with a kunai.

"Please, I just want to go home," Naruto said, stomach rumbling again.

"Too bad monster," the man with the kunai snarled. "We're sick of you infecting our village. We're going to put a stop to it."

Naruto sighed and nodded.

"Alright," Naruto nodded. "But I'll warn you, I'm a ninja in the academy. I'll kick your asses."

"I don't care if you're a jonin captain," the man with the stone spat. "You'll never be welcome here, and no one will miss you."

Naruto took a step forward just as something solid and metal slammed into the back of his head, his goggles flying off. He hit the ground, vision blurry and his head numb yet screaming in pain at the same time. His vision returned and he looked up to see the man with the pipe, which now had blood on it. The others all walked over and the man with the knife knelt, grinning.

"I'll do the honors," the man smirked. "Goodbye demon."

Then, he drove the knife down into Naruto's back. Naruto couldn't even shout in pain. His vision flared white and he heard the men laughing before their voices grew faint. Naruto's vision returned, allowing him to see the puddle of blood that had formed under him, and the reflections of people passing the alleyway, paying him no mind. His heart fell. No one, not one, even cared enough to make sure he was dead. The pain in his back was unbearable, even blotting out his hunger. He looked to the side and saw his goggles, crushed and ruined.

Why do they hate me so much? Naruto thought as he saw his goggles.

He tried to move but his strength failed him instantly and his vision began to fade. He felt a tear sliding across his nose into the puddle of blood, but then his vision was gone.

Naruto groaned, eyes opening slowly. As they did, he saw that he was in a dimly lit room with only one candle for light. The walls were all made of wood and there was someone sitting beside Naruto. He looked over at them, first noticing the long purple hair, then the ANBU mask styled after a cat. He blinked in surprise before looking around again then down. His torso was wrapped in bandages, but, to his relief, he was wearing his pants still.

"How do you feel?" the ANBU asked.

"My back hurts a bit," Naruto said. "And my head."

"My medical skills are limited," she said. "I'll be able to heal you, but it will take a couple of days."

"But I'll miss class!" Naruto gasped. "I gotta go!"

"You're not going anywhere," the ANBU said, before taking her mask off and sighing, setting it aside. "Look, Naruto. You've already been asleep for two days. You lost a lot of blood when you were attacked. You've been declared dead."

"I what?" Naruto gaped. "But I'm alive!"

"That's true," she said. "Because my team and I found you before you could bleed out. But as far as the village knows, you died in that alleyway. Perhaps that's for the best. You can start a new life under a different name. No one would know who you are. And, if you want, my team and I can even train you."

"Really?" Naruto asked, eyes wide. "That'd be so cool!"

"Good," she nodded. "Then the first two things we need to do, are to create a new identity for you, and then to train you."

"But, how long will that take?"

"Once you've been healed, we'll spend a week training you and creating a new identity, then clear it with Lord Hokage. Then, we'll reenroll you in the Academy."

"Will I have to start over?" Naruto asked.

"No," she said.

Just then, a door in the corner opened and two more ANBU walked in. Both saw that the cat ANBU had taken her mask off so they followed suit. One had red eyes with black tomoe in them, tear troughs, and raven black hair like Sasuke's, who he looked a lot like. The other had a square face and messy brown hair.

"Are we not hiding our identities from him?" the Uchiha asked.

"No," the cat ANBU said. "We're going to be training him in addition to creating him a new identity. So I figured we might as well be honest with him."

"Are we now?" the Uchiha asked, smiling. "Very well then. My name is Itachi Uchiha. I am the son of the head of my clan and Sasuke Uchiha's older brother. I believe you know Sasuke."

Naruto nodded.

"I'm Yugao Uzuki," the cat ANBU said.

"My current name is Tenzo," the other said. "I actually don't have a real one so I just identify by whatever code name I have at the time."

Naruto nodded.

"So, who am I going to be?" Naruto asked.

"Menma Uzumaki," Itachi said. "You'll be a survivor from a small group of Uzumaki who was sent here to find Naruto Uzumaki, one of the very few surviving members of your village. However, you'll get a message after you arrive that the rest of your group was wiped out by bandits, leaving you as an orphan with no where else to go but to stay here. However, we'll need to work on your personality more than anything else. Discipline first, then turning you into something other than a prankster. Hopefully something quieter."

"You already considered all of this didn't you?" Yugao grinned.

"I may have," Itachi shrugged.

"Could you make me the strong silent type like Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Well, it's more about how you choose to act," Itachi said. "If you want to be the strong silent type, we can make you strong, but you have to work to be silent. Like I said, discipline will be first. I'll be drilling you for that."

"How come you three have so much time to work with me?" Naruto asked.

"We've been assigned as your bodyguards since your attack," Itachi said.

Naruto nodded.

"So, how are you going to make me not look like me?" Naruto asked.

"Simple," Itachi said. "A mask with a simple transformation jutsu placed on it."

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

Itachi held a mask out to him and Naruto took it, staring at it. It was a fox, he thought. It had a vertical solid oval on its forehead with an oval ring around it but with the higher end of the ring larger than the bottom. There was a second ring extending out of the first with the bottoms joined. A vertical line ran from the top of the mask to the top of the second ring, then continued down from the bottom of the rings a couple of inches, stopping just below the eyes. The eyes were identical to the rings and oval on the forehead, except with the ovals being the eye holes and with the markings rotated about forty five degrees outward from the line between them. There was also a marking on the chin that was the same but inverted from the one on the forehead and half the size. The mask's mouth was an obtuse triangle maybe an inch high and two wide with a line extending diagonally up and back from the bottom corners of the triangle to the edges of the mask. The mask also had a pair of pointed ears. One the ears were a pair of triangles the same shade of bloody red as the rest of the markings on the mask. To hold the mask on, there was a wide elastic strap to go around his head.

Naruto put the mask on and looked around. Despite being small, the eye holes actually didn't hamper his vision very much at all. Itachi held up a small mirror and Naruto looked at his reflection, eyes widening. His blonde hair was now a dark red, only a couple of shades brighter than the markings on his mask. he pulled the mask off and his hair turned blonde again. He grinned. He liked it.

"How come you guys don't need a strap like this to hold your masks on?" Naruto asked.

"Well, our masks are special," Tenzo said. "They have a jutsu on them to hold them on our faces."

"Really?" Naruto asked.

Itachi nodded.

"We'll teach that to you later," Yugao said. "Itachi's right. You'll have to get a new personality first."

Naruto nodded, pulling his mask back on.

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