Chapter 1: prologue

Deep within the forests of the land of fire, at the base of a great mountain, lied the village of Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. The hidden leaf had a long and proud history, having produced many strong shinobi and boasting a reputation as the strongest hidden village in the world. Above the village carved into the mountainside was the Hokage monument, showing the faces of all the people whom had held title of Hokage.

The Hokage was the leader of the village and was seen as the protector of the hidden leaf and its people, being the strongest shinobi in the village. The title of Hokage was one that many shinobi strived for, whether to selflessly protect their loved ones, to attain glory or to gain the respect of the populace.

Stemming from the teachings of the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju, the shinobi of Konoha followed the Will of Fire, an ideology that states that the entire village is a family and every Konoha shinobi should love, believe, cherish, and fight to protect that family.

'The will of fire... look where it got me'

Despite such an ideal, that many of the village's shinobi seem so proud of, there will always be an exception. People will always have the capacity to hate that which they fear and do not understand.

'I risked my life for the village and look where it got me'

It is the duty of a shinobi to risk their life for the sake of their village, to put the mission before themselves and to forsake any emotion and instead rely on reason and logic. This was something that every child at the academy was taught.

'Then why do they hate me for no reason?'

Near the centre of the village of Konoha, in the hidden leaf's hospital, lied a young teen by the name of Naruto Uzumaki. He had sun kissed, blond, spiky hair and deep cerulean eyes. He was laying in a hospital bed, covered in bandages under a hospital gown and despite it being night time was wide awake staring out the window, gazing upon the quiet village that he had risked his life time and time again to serve and protect.

'Sasuke…'

The young blond had returned from a failed mission three days ago to return his former teammate, Sasuke Uchiha, whom had deserted the village. Despite finally catching up to the last Uchiha he was not able to fulfill the promise he made to his crush, Sakura Haruno, returning with only a broken body and a broken heart.

'I tried to bring him back but i failed' the boy thought to himself as he slowly sat up in his bed, turning to look out onto the village.

After being found by his sensei at the Valley of the End, Naruto had been brought back to the village. Yet as he was carried through the streets to the hospital he saw how the citizens of Konoha had glared at him with such distrust and animosity.

'It's still the same as it was since I could first remember…. it will never change… they'll never change' thought Naruto as he clenched his fists.

"I've tried to earn their respect... but i never will" he whispered to himself this time as a lone tear trailed down his face.

In the week since his return Naruto had been cooped up in his hospital bed with only his thoughts to keep him company. Some of his friends had come to visit but were more concerned about their own teammates who went on the mission. From what he heard Neji and Chōji both underwent intensive medical treatment but were both successfully healed and expected to make a full recovery. Kiba and Akamaru were moderately injured but were being taken care of and Shikamaru, the team's leader had just a broken finger. Naruto himself had suffered serious injuries including two chidori's to the chest, a few broken ribs and chakra burns to his skin, at least that was what he could remember from Tsunade's report. Most of it had healed already but he was still weak and he wasn't allowed out for another day at least.

Since his fight with Sasuke, Naruto had been thinking about what the Uchiha had said to him. He thought back to the way the villagers glared at him as he entered the village, how they glared at him when he would walk down the street. All his life they had done this, it was all he knew.

"Hmph… i brought them their new Hokage and yet they still hate me" he said with hatred clear in his voice as he stood in front of the windowsill.

Tsunade had only been able to visit long enough to tell him of his injuries as well as how long he had to stay in hospital for and to give a short "it'll be alright naruto". Kakashi had come to visit during the day looking a bit depressed himself.

The man had gave a long speech saying he was sorry for focusing on Sasuke so much and for passing Naruto off to Ebusi during the chunin exams, Naruto didn't really pay much attention and had simply told the man to fuck off.

He had been so angry lately, at everything. He snapped at the nurse the day before for for giving him a bad look and he punched a doctor for trying to sedate him so he would sleep. He had become so easy to anger since the mission and yet he just couldn't care anymore

'I'm tired of being the happy little genin everyone thinks I am'

Sakura hadn't come by yet and it really pissed him off. Before he left the girl had practically begged him to promise her to bring Sasuke back and now hadn't even come by to see if he was alright, despite being an orphan and somewhat lacking in social convention even Naruto knew that was just wrong.

'Oh well…' he thought as took a deep breath. "I don't need her… i don't need kakashi…. I don't need this village" he said to himself as he gazed into the sky and looked at the full moon. Ever since he was a child his emotions seemed to become more erratic and negative during the full moon, he had always tried to calm himself down ignoring all the negative thought that popped into his head but right now he just didn't care.

'I know what I need now' he thought as he looked at his bandaged hands.

'All my life the people here have given me nothing but their hate, they either ignored me or glared at me… i defended them from a raging Jinchūriki, i brought Tsunade to the village, i tried to bring a traitor back but no matter what i do they will still hate me'

He brought his hand to his stomach, to the seal that had cursed his life and closed his eyes. He fought back tears as he finally let go of his hopes of being accepted as a member of the village. If anything good had come from Sasuke's defection then it was the fact it had opened Naruto's eyes.

By the next day as the sun rose above the village, Naruto's room would lie empty. By the time the nurse would realise and Tsunade had managed to scramble what few shinobi she had to search for him, the boy was long gone.