I do not own the anime/manga Naruto and it's characters, and I would like to give credit to ys: Ark of Napishtim for Naruto's swords, and Tenjo Tenge manga for the Ryugan. I would also like to thank and give credit to my coauthor Killjoy3000 for advising me, and helping me with new ideas for this fic. So Killjoy3000, thank you for all your help, on all these chapters, and future chapters to come.

Silver Fox

A three-year-old boy with bright blonde hair that looked smudged with dirt, bright blue eyes, three whisker marks on each cheek, a ragged white shirt and black shorts that looked tight on him was running away from an angry mob of villagers. The boy was Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf Village, the strongest village of the Shinobi Hidden Villages, and Elemental Nations. Naruto ran from the villagers desperately trying to get away from them as they shouted their insults, "Demon Brat!"

"Get back here Demon!"

"We'll finish what the Fourth started!"

Naruto ran into an alley as a desperate attempt only to come face to face with a brick wall. Naruto turned around pressing himself against the wall sliding into a corner in a fetal position. "Please don't hurt me!" cried Naruto with tears falling down his face. The villagers surrounded him when a ANBU appeared. He had spiky hair, a dark blue mask covering his face, black pants, ANBU tattoo on his right arm, ANBU armor, with a tiger mask.

Naruto looked up and felt relieved. The ANBU looked at Naruto, and then looked at the mob, "What do you think you're doing?"

The mob looked at the ANBU with fear in their eyes, thinking he was going to kill them. The ANBU turned around grabbing Naruto by the throat choking the poor boy.

"The boy can easily tell the Hokage on all of you. So it's best to cut those vocal cords of his", said the ANBU in a dangerous tone. Naruto looked at the ANBU in horror as he took out a kunai and slashed him across his throat. Naruto tried to scream, but nothing came out except for his own blood trickling down from his wound. The villagers cheered as some threw sharp rocks and glass shards on the floor cutting his skin. Some surrounded him with the ANBU still holding him and pierced him with kunai knives, pitchforks, and anything that was sharp. Some even brought torches putting out the flame and burned his skin with the embers.

Naruto was their crying, praying that someone could save him, 'Help me! Someone, anyone! Please don't let them kill me! What have I done wrong? My chest hurts, I feel like me heart is going to explode', thought Naruto. Four villagers grabbed some rope and tied them to Naruto's arms and legs as each pulled hard on the rope dislodging his limbs from their sockets. Naruto tried to scream but no voice can be heard since his vocal cords were cut with him just staring into the night sky with his mouth opened.

'My heart…my heart…it hurts', thought Naruto as more tears escaped his eyes. 'No one loves me…no one likes me…no friends, no family, no hope, no dream, no…life', were the last thoughts of Naruto as the ANBU raised his sword for the final blow when three blurs appeared knocking the ANBU back.

"Tiger! What do you think you're doing?" demanded a young man about 13 years old wearing the same attire as the ANBU except he was wearing a weasel mask while holding a katana in a defensive stance. The young man was Itachi Uchiha, the young Uchiha prodigy that obtained rank of an ANBU captain recently.

The other blur was a beautiful girl about fifteen years old with long black hair wearing what resembled a kimono without a right sleeve, a fishnet shirt underneath her kimono, and large white bandages wrapped around her. Her memorizing crimson red eyes looking at the poor disfigured boy crying his eyes out, the woman was known as the 'Genjutsu Mistress' and 'Ice Queen of the Leaf Village', Kurenai Yuuhi.

The other blur was a purple haired woman about the same age as Kurenai tied in a pineapple-shaped knot and was wearing a full body fishnet suit, a short orange skirt, and a tan colored trench coat and went by the name of Anko Mitarashi.

"Is the boy okay?" asked Itachi.

Naruto just looked up at the two women with fear in his eyes just as his world turned black. The two women looked at him as he lost conscious and both started performing medical Jutsu best to their knowledge. The women healed some minor bruises, but couldn't stop the bleeding, "Itachi, we need to get him to the hospital and fast! We can't stop the bleeding from his throat!" said Anko in a worried tone.

Itachi performed four Shadow Clones each grabbing a limb and quickly put them back in their sockets waking the boy once again trying to scream, but no sound would come out and quickly lost conscious due to the pain, 'Forgive me Naruto, but I had to place back your limbs.'

"You're lucky I won't tell the Hokage about this. As for you Tiger you are hereby relieved of your ninja duties and rank. You are to turn in you mask on my desk by morning or die", said Itachi in a dangerous tone releasing a large amount of killing intent. The villagers were at least glad that he wouldn't tell the Hokage about the incident.

"However, I never did say that Kurenai-san and Anko-san could tell", said Itachi springing his trap making the villagers worried as the three of them disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The Next Day

Naruto awoke staring at a white ceiling realizing he was in the hospital and it was late in the afternoon. Just then an upside down face appeared with a young teen with long black hair in a ponytail smiling ear to ear with his eyes close similar to Naruto's own foxy grin.

"Well it looks like sleepy head woke up", said the teen cheerfully. Naruto just starred at him with a curious expression. Naruto's nose twitched a little as the young blonde cutely sneezed dropping his Genjutsu revealing his two little blonde, fox ears, and a large, silver, fluffy ball that was his tail.

"Well that's interesting", said the teen amused showing his onyx colored eyes while Naruto was looking at him with fear in his eyes, "I'd say it makes you look more adorable."

Naruto relaxed a little and was about to ask a question only to find out that his mouth was moving but no sound came out.

"The Doctor said that your vocal cords are severely damaged. It would take years for you to regain your voice even with your amazing healing ability since it restoring the proper nerve and muscle tissue back into place is very delicate", said the teen. "By the way, my name is Itachi Uchiha", identified the teen.

Naruto just smiled revealing two small canines in his mouth, but were still a little larger than his regular teeth. Naruto's stomach gave a loud growl at the moment causing the small blond to blush.

"Hungry eh? How about some of that Ichiraku Ramen I hear you love so much?" asked Itachi.

Naruto squealed with delight as his giant fur ball of a tail was wagging. Once outside the boy went into a dark alley and came back with a ragged kaki sheet wrapped around his entire body and covering his head looking like a wonderer's cloak. Itachi wondered about the boy's action, but shrugged it off when he heard his own stomach growling for food. Itachi and Naruto headed towards Ichiraku Ramen when Itachi notice the cold stares and activated his Sharingan to ward off anyone who had the idea of attacking the child.

Naruto was trying to hide behind his cloak when he noticed Itachi's eyes. Itachi noticed the Naruto's curious look, "This is my families' bloodline called the Sharingan allowing me to copy any Jutsu I see, except for other bloodline and summons. The strength of the Sharingan is determined by the Tomoe in the eye, or the little coma marks. One means beginner, two means experienced, and three means master. There's also a fourth called Mangekyou Sharingan when the three little Tomoe fuse together allowing me to do two powerful Jutsus: Tsukuyomi, a powerful Genjutsu that can mentally damage an opponent, and produce a black flame called Amaterasu. However, I don't want to activate the fourth level because then I would have to kill a love one, and I hate killing no matter how good or bad a person is." Itachi noticed the boy's sad and scared face and quickly decided to change the topic.

"The only thing that rivals the Sharingan is the Byakugan, or the people with white eyes. The Byakugan can magnify a person's vision, see through solid object and everything around them in a near 360 degree radius, and can see through a person's inner chakra coils", explained Itachi as Naruto was hanging on to every word looking at him glossy-eyed. Itachi chuckled at how the boy was easily amused. Once they entered the stand the duo were greeted by Teuchi Ichiraku and his twelve-year-old daughter Ayame.

"Well, well, if it isn't my number one customer and Itachi. What can I get you?" greeted Teuchi.

"Hello Teuchi-san I would like a pork ramen", said Itachi. "What about you Naruto-kun?" asked Ayame. Naruto just stared at her looking depressed making Ayame curious wondering if she said something.

"There was an attack on him last night when an ANBU appeared slitting his throat and severely damaged his vocal cords", explained Itachi. Teuchi was fuming every time there was an attack on Naruto, "What is it with these idiots, he's just a kid for God's sake! I swear if I had more money I would adopt him on the spot."

"So why don't you?" asked Itachi.

Sigh "I would if I could, but every time I go to the orphanage they nearly triple or quadruple the price for adoption papers. Plus when I went to the Hokage, every time I ask for adoption papers, a council member barges in babbling some nonsense about a paper mistake and need to retype the entire thing, grabs all the paper including my adoption paper and shred them, or his secretary would tell me he's busy and need an appointment and threatens me to call ANBU if I don't leave", explained Teuchi.

Ayame was just cradling Naruto who seems to like the touch since his ears were down and his eyes close trying to soak up her warmth listening quietly to her heartbeat.

"Plus since people know he likes to eat here. They either check to see if he's here or not, and if he is they leave, or avoid the stand completely. I even lowered my prices just so he can eat. So the only thing I can do is help hide him if he's near with a mob behind him, and provide him a place to sleep if they ambush him in his apartment."

Itachi looked at the small boy who had apparently fallen asleep in Ayame's arms with tears in his eyes. "Teuchi-san, you might not be able to adopt him, buy maybe I can", said Itachi.

"What do you mean?" asked Ayame.

"I'm going to talk to my parents to see if I can adopt him. Besides I'm pretty sure my little brother Sasuke and Naruto would be the best of friends. But right now I think the little one could use some food in his stomach", said Itachi. Ayame gently woke up Naruto and Teuchi placed Itachi's pork ramen and ten different varieties of ramen for Naruto.

By the time Itachi was done he looked at Naruto with his eyes nearly popping out considering that Naruto was done with his tenth bowl. Naruto rubbed his eyes yawning as Itachi picked him up when Kurenai and Anko walked in.

"Hmm? Kurenai-san, Anko-san what are you doing here? I thought you would be in the dango stand right now", said Itachi placing Naruto's hood above his head to cover his ears.

"The owner was sick and decided to temporarily close the stand so we decided to come here. Besides, we hear that the owner is like a father figure to Naruto and wanted to thank him", explained Anko.

"Well I'm honored ladies", said Teuchi.

"Itachi who is that you're carrying, and why are you placing a hood", asked Kurenai. Itachi started panicking as Naruto moved his head rubbing his eyes again knocking down the hood revealing his ears.

Kurenai and Anko just stared at him; "HE'S SO CUTE!" yelled the two girls gently touching Naruto's ears making him giggle.

Sigh "I thought you were going to attack or something", said Itachi relieved.

"Why? He's just a little boy even if he does have cute little ears", said Anko, "Besides it's not his fault for having the fox sealed inside him. The ears must be a side-effect like his whisker marks."

'I wonder if I should tell them about his tail', thought Itachi thinking it was a bad idea.

"Well come on Naruto, it's late and you should get some rest", said Itachi placing the hood over Naruto's head again.

"Hey old man, give me a shrimp ramen", said Anko.

"I would like a chicken ramen. We're going to follow Itachi really quick and then come back", said Kurenai.

The trio left towards Naruto's apartment only to be greeted by the sight of a rundown building. Inside was worse since the place was mostly clean, but had torn wallpapers, holes signifying kunai marks on the opposite wall of the front window, the kitchen sink was full of instant ramen, but the bedroom was at least decent for him to sleep. Itachi placed Naruto gently on his bed pulling the cover over him, "Good night Naruto", said Itachi in a fatherly tone. Anko and Kurenai gently kissed him on his forehead and left the little boy to sleep.

Naruto woke up checking his surroundings realizing he was in his apartment. When he looked at the floor there was a little stuffed red fox with a tag that said:

To: Naruto

From: A friend

Naruto cautiously went up to the stuff fox on all fours with his fluffy tail sticking out. He poked it gently and quickly ran under his bed waiting for it to explode or something. He poked his head out cautiously approaching it again and nudged it again quickly stepping back sitting with his legs folded. Naruto smiled happily and crouched down wagging his fluffy tail and pounced on the little stuff fox hearing a girl giggle coming from his room. He stopped for a minute, but decided to shrug it off and resumed his playing with his first and favorite toy.

Up in a tree Kurenai and Anko were watching Naruto with binoculars keeping an eye on Naruto making sure he was safe, "Aw, he has a cute fluffy fur ball of a tail. Itachi is so dead for not telling us", said Anko.

Random Street

Itachi was walking along only to sense a cold, dark, feeling directed at him, "Burr, I sense murder, but from who? Anko? No she's actually pretty nice once you get to know her, creepy, but nice. I get the feeling she found out something I was hiding from her, but what?"

Back in the tree

The girls continued to watch him until Kurenai heard a girly squeal.

Squeal "I just want to go down there and pet his little tail", squealed Anko.

"Wow, Anko-chan. I don't think I ever saw you this girly before", said Kurenai amazed.

"What? I have my moments. I am a girl after all. I wonder who gave him that stuff fox though?" said Anko. "Probably someone who cares for him like us", said Kurenai. The girls continue to watch Naruto continue playing with his toy.

Naruto's Apartment

Naruto toss the fox with his legs and arms only to catch it while rubbing his ears against the toy's soft fur. Naruto then jumped back and pounced on his toy again giggling and wagging his tail.

Up in the Tree

"Just one touch! Just one touch! Come on Kurenai-chan it's not fair!" screamed Anko now chained to the tree trunk thrashing. "Sorry Anko-chan, but I had to hold you back no matter how much we want to touch it."

"Then how come you're not tied up? You just want to touch that cute fluffy tail by yourself."

"On the contrary", said Kurenai showing a leg braced attached to the tree trunk with a chain as well, "I tied myself up when I tied you up."

"You're no fun", said Anko crying waterfall tears.

Five Years Later

An eight-year-old Naruto was walking down with a ragged looking cloak and a dark blue facemask covering his face. People today seem to be whispering amongst themselves, but they weren't about him, "Did you hear? Itachi Uchiha killed his entire clan last night."

"Yeah, plus I hear the only survivor was his little brother Sasuke."

"After the massacre he just left the village."

Naruto's eyes widen at what he had heard with his heighten hearing. Itachi had failed to adopt Naruto since his father hated him for being a 'demon'. Itachi had tried and tried again, but to no effort even with his mother's plea to her husband that he was only a child. Itachi just gave up and decided to support Naruto by giving him half of his payment for every mission he went to help him buy anything he needed. Naruto raced towards the Hokage Tower racing past the secretary and ninja following him. Naruto slammed open the doors turning around and quickly closing them barricading the doors with his body.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" asked the Hokage. Inside his office was another boy about his age that looked like a miniature Itachi but with shorter hair, and a few inches taller than him. Naruto smiled widely only to be thrown to the floor with four Jonin came in holding Naruto down.

"That's quite enough! Release him!" ordered the Hokage.

"But Hokage-sama-"

"I will not repeat myself so do as I say or face Ibiki and Anko! Just so you know, Anko and Ibiki have taken quite a shine to the boy, and if they find out one of you harmed as much as a hair on him, their 'sessions' would be ten folds than what they normally do", said the Hokage in a dangerous tone. The Jonin were sweating bullets thinking about Ibiki and Anko, and left quietly.

"Now then Naruto I'll be with you in a second, I just need to talk to this boy", said the Hokage as his hand gestured towards the boy.

Naruto pulled out a photograph from underneath his cloak showing he was wearing a white shirt with black baggie pants, and gave the photo to the Hokage. The Hokage took the picture puzzled at Naruto's actions. When the Hokage took the picture his eyes widen at what he saw and looked at the miniature Itachi, "Sasuke, are you sure you saw Itachi killing your family?" asked the Hokage. "Yes sir. I saw it with a Genjutsu he called Tsukuyomi", said the boy known as Sasuke.

"Well, don't believe it. Your brother was framed for murder. Thank you Naruto, you just saved an innocent man from a horrible fate", said the Hokage. "What do you mean Hokage-sama?" asked Sasuke.

"Look at this photo", said the Hokage handing Sasuke the photo. Sasuke looked at the photo only to see Teuchi Ichiraku smiling ear-to-ear hugging his daughter with one arm and hugging a smiling Itachi Uchiha that could rival Teuchi's smile with a peace sign on his right hand and carrying an eight-year-old Naruto with a peace sign on his left hand inside the ramen stand.

Sasuke was confused until he looked at the date and time on the bottom left hand corner of the photo. Sasuke eyes widen realizing that the date and time was during the massacre had started realizing that the ramen stand and the Uchiha complex were too far away even if Itachi did perform a Shadow Clone Jutsu, it was still too far even for him.

"But how?" asked a shock Sasuke.

"Well it could be that someone was spying on your brother for some time learning his movement, combat strategies, and use any conflict that he had to turn it against him so he could get the blame. Whoever did it was probably just bidding his time to strike. As for the Tsukuyomi, it is believed that there is a similar technique when a person just focus a large amount of Killing Intent into their eyes and mix it with a high level Genjutsu making it seem that the target just saw his, or her own death, death of others, or both. It could be that this person used that on you making it seem like the technique. For the eyes it could be that he developed a contact lens that resembles the Sharingan since Transformation Jutsu doesn't copy bloodlines", explained the Hokage. Sasuke was shock at what he heard considering whoever killed his clan took every consideration and detail down to the last second to frame his brother.

"Sasuke…" said the Hokage pulling Sasuke out of his thoughts, "…your brother was a good man and saved Naruto here countless of times. He even considered adopting him, but alas, your father had such a stubborn pride always lusting for more power never accepting him. Sasuke, your brother never did want power, and was always pushed by your father and the Uchiha elders."

"That's why I always hear him arguing with father and the others", said Sasuke.

"I'm guessing your brother was with Naruto the whole time", said the Hokage looking at Naruto who just nodded his head signifying he was right in his assumption.

"Thank you Naruto-san for clearing my brother's name. I would have probably been driven mad and would stop at nothing to seek power to kill him", said Sasuke bowing at Naruto. Naruto tugged at the Hokage's robes gaining his attention and pointed at his stomach tracing the seal.

"Are you sure Naruto?" asked the Hokage as Naruto nodded yes with determination in his eyes.

"Very well then", said the Hokage looking at Sasuke who was confused.

"Sasuke what do you know of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Nine Tail Fox?" asked the Hokage.

"Well the Fourth Hokage was the one who killed it", said Sasuke.

"Well that's not entirely true. The Fourth Hokage couldn't kill the demon so instead he decided to seal it. However he had to seal it inside someone whose chakra coils hadn't been developed. That someone was a baby, and that baby is here standing next to you, Naruto Uzumaki", said the Hokage. Sasuke's eyes widen and looked at Naruto giving his foxy smile after pulling down his mask, "But he's just a normal kid."

"Yes he is. However, the villagers don't see that and think he's the demon himself. Naruto has survived countless assassination attempts during which one had damaged his vocal cords when he was three. Luckily over the years he's manage to make some noise and is now able to whisper some words, and has found acceptance in several people, one of which was your brother. Itachi came here one day asking me to be Naruto's personal bodyguard with the exception that he would only do short S-class and A-class missions to give half the profit to Naruto. Chuckle Your brother came here last night saying he wanted to introduce the two of you to see if he could give Naruto a playmate", said the Hokage smiling recalling the event.

Naruto removed his hood revealing his fox ears and a long silver fox tail sticking out of his cloak. "Well it would seem that the seal gave him more than one side effect. I'm guessing that Itachi knew?" Naruto just nodded wagging his tail. The Hokage just laughed at Naruto's gesture when Sasuke interrupted, "Naruto-san thank you for everything."

Naruto just smiled and took out his hand gesturing a handshake that Sasuke gladly took.

"Naruto there's something I want to discuss with you. Sasuke is more than welcome to stay as well", said the Hokage going to the picture of the Fourth Hokage on the wall behind his desk revealing a safe behind the picture. The Hokage took out four scrolls, three of which were blue, yellow, red, and the fourth was just a regular green scroll, and placed them on the table.

"Now Naruto I want to tell you about your parents who eventually left me a scroll instructing me to give these to you on your eighth birthday for some reason instead of sixteen. Your father was Minato Namikaze, the Leaf's own Yellow Flash, the Fourth Hokage himself. As for your mother, she was Kushina Uzumaki, one of the Leaf's best medical specialists who trained under one of my student, Tsunade Senju. She was known as the Leaf's Angel for always treating everyone: enemy, ally, or indifferent with kindness and was the gentlest lady anyone has ever met making her look like an angel. Sadly your mother died after you were born, but lived long enough to give you your name. Your father died after sealing the Kyuubi inside you ", said the Hokage.

Naruto was shock hearing that his hero, the Fourth Hokage, was actually his father and had a kind and gentle mother. Naruto took in the information falling to his knees as he started crying tears of joy and sorrow.

"The green one explains your father's bloodline limit, the Ryugan, or Dragon's Eye, with some photos of your parents and their last words to you. These three were your father's swords though he instructed me not to assign anyone to teach you how to use them, but who am I to argue with Minato's logic", the Hokage gave Naruto the scroll who was crying once again bowing to the Hokage showing he was grateful.

"Naruto, Sasuke, I suggest you run along now, you don't want to be late on your first day of the Ninja Academy", said the Hokage. Both boys bowed in respect and left the Hokage Tower heading towards the Academy.

"Itachi, if only you can see this you would realize that your wish for you brother and Naruto to be friends has come true", thought the Hokage out loud looking out the window at the two boys.

Later that night

Naruto went to bed only to dream that he was in a sewer. He heard someone crying a decided to follow the voice. When heard the voice becoming louder, he found himself in front of giant gates that was being held by a small piece of paper with the kanji for 'Seal'. He looked through the bar and saw a girl crying, "Excuse me are you alright", asked Naruto surprise that he had his voice. The girl turned around flinching at the sound of his voice only to cry harder whimpering, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault."

"What's your fault?"

The girl came closer to the bar only to reveal a beautiful woman in her early twenties with pale skin, long red silk hair that reached her mid-back tied in a ponytail, crimson red eyes that rivaled Kurenai's eyes, and was wearing a white kimono that showed off her curves yet still look decent. Naruto then realized that she had two red fox ears above her head like his, and had nine blood red foxtails with white tips. Naruto stared at the woman with wide eyes as only one word that escaped his mouth, "Beautiful."

The woman blushed at his statement, "T-Thank you", stuttered the beauty.

"Are you an angel?" asked Naruto.

"No, I'm a demon, the Kyuubi no Kitsune to be exact."

"That's impossible you're too beautiful to be Kyuubi."

"I'm not lying I really am the Kyuubi", said the woman looking down as more tears escaped her eyes.

"So why did you attack the village?" asked Naruto.

"I didn't mean to. You see there was this man with yellow snake eyes by the name of Orochimaru who woke me up and wanted to steal my powers. He put a Genjutsu on me, but it backfired causing me to go into my primal state thinking I was defending myself against the villagers", said the Kyuubi in a depressed voice.

Naruto slipped between the bars and hugged the Kyuubi. Kyuubi flinched as he hugged her only to hug him back, 'He's not afraid of me. Does he trust me?' thought the Kyuubi.

"I don't care what you call yourself, but to me you're one of my first friends and my angel who saved me from my pain", said Naruto remembering all those time that his wounds healed with a red chakra that emitted from his body.

The Kyuubi was looking at him glossy eyed. Cerulean blue eyes met with crimson red eyes as if each stared into each other's soul as the gap between them closed when their lips met. The kiss lasted for several seconds until both broke their kiss as the Kyuubi snuggled into Naruto's chest. "Naruto-kun, do you remember your first toy?"

"Yes"

"Well, it was I who created the toy with my chakra as a way to try to brighten your day and make the burden easier. You look so cute the way you pounced it. It reminded me of a little kit playing with a little toy", said the Kyuubi smiling making Naruto blush. "I still have it. Sometimes I still play with it, it was my first and favorite toy", said Naruto hugging Kyuubi tighter.

"Kyuubi-chan is there any way to release you, even if it's for a little while?" asked Naruto stroking her hair with his claw-like hands making the Kyuubi purring enjoying the feeling. "There is a way to release me into a physical body, but still keep most of my powers still within you", explained the Kyuubi nuzzling Naruto's neck. "What is it?"

"You have to rip the seal outside the gate in half. That should give me a physical body on the outside allowing me to share your bloodline, and share the same amount of chakra you release."

"Kyuubi-chan once outside, can you train me how to do some Kitsune attacks?"

"Sure thing Naruto-kun, and by the way my name is Kira…Kira Yoko", said Kyuubi with happiness in her voice as their tails intertwined around each other with both falling asleep inside Kyuubi's cage.