JAYSEN here with yet another fic. This was actually the first fic that I wrote down, but I had trouble with typing it out. Also, the OC in this one was my prototype for the other Ichigo incarnations.

**UPDATE**

I have been meaning to update and change a few things in this fic for some time now. I hope that this will add to your enjoyment.

KONOHA FOREST APRIL 12TH 2200 HRS

A young blond ran through the outer forests of Konoha with a large scroll across his back. The boy had very peculiar facial features to him : 3 whisker like markings on each cheek that made him look somewhat like a fox, spiky golden blond hair that defied gravity, and deep cerulean blue eyes. He stopped in a patch of forest that he deemed safe and started to read from the scroll, recalling the events with led up to this moment.

FLASHBACK : KONOHA ACADEMY 7 HOURS AGO

He had just failed the graduation exam for the 3rd time. Naruto just sat at the swing in the academy courtyard, watching the rest of his classmates who passed get congradulated by happy parents and families while he sat alone, dejected. Within the throng of people he could hear them whisper :

"Good thing he failed."

"Yeah. Can you imagine the havoc HE would cause if he became a ninja?"

"I don't really want to think about it."

"Why didn't Sandaime-sama just kill that THING when he had the chance?"

Naruto winced with every comment, until he had enough. He ran up to his classroom to gather his things and go home, but was stopped.

"Mizuki-sensei? What's up? You need something?" He asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes.." Mizuki said as he told Naruto of a secret way to become a Genin, Steal the Forbidden Scroll and bring it to him. Naruto was so excited and desperate that he completely missed the cruel, evil smirk on Mizuki's face as he left.

END FLASHBACK

Naruto shrugged off the thoughts as he focused on reading the scroll. A short distance away, Iruka had been tailing the blond ever since he entered the forest.

"Dammit, Naruto! Why did you feel you had to do this?" He silently cursed. Suddenly, he saw a familiar patch of orange.

"Naruto!"

"Oh hey, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said casually, as if nothing was wrong.

"Naruto, why did you do this?" Iruka asked.

"Mizuki-sensei said that if I could steal this scroll and bring it to him, he'd make me a Genin." Naruto said.

Just then, Mizuki showed up. an argument ensued over who Naruto should give the scroll to that erupted into a battle. Mizuki got fed up and tried to kill Naruto with one of his large shuriken, but Iruka intercepted it by blocking it with his body, taking it in his back. Mizuki then proceeded to rant on and on about the Kyuubi. He then broke one of the strictest laws in the village : He told Naruto that he was the Kyuubi's container and a demon himself. Naruto never knew that HE was the Fox's prison. He just knew that everybody hated him for some strange reason. All he knew in his 12 years of life was pain, hatred, loneliness, and suffering.

He snapped out of his daze just in time to see Mizuki close in on Iruka to finish him off. In a burst of speed, Naruto intercepted him with a surprizingly powerful roundhouse kick to his jaw, sending the traitor careening into a tree. Mizuki looked up, completely stunned at what just happened, to see Naruto giving him an almost demonic glare that made him cringe.

"If you touch Iruka-sensei, I'LL KILL YOU!"Naruto shouted at the traitor.

Mizuki laughed maniacally. "YOU kill me? You stupid little demon brat! I'll kill you in one shot!" Mizuki screamed, insanity gleaming in his murderous eyes.

Naruto wasn't fazed by this at all, as he brought his fingers up in a cross-shaped hand seal, "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" He bellowed, as at least 500 Shadow Clones filled the area.

Mizuki looked around as a small army of Naruto's all glared at him as they yelled in unison. "What's the matter? Weren't you going to kill me? If you won't fight, then I will!"

The Naruto stampede rushed in and unleashed 12+ years of pain, anger, and abuse on Mizuki, leaving him in a bloody, mangled mess. After the unholy beatdown Naruto dished out, ANBU teams dropped in and declared that they heard everything, telling them to report to the Hokage immediately for debriefing on the situation.

HOKAGE TOWER 2330 HRS

Upon arriving at the tower, Sarutobi was debriefed on the situation. Naruto was credited with a A-rank mission for his capture of the traitor and the rank of Genin. Everything was going well, but came to an abrupt end as a black vortex tore into existence, spitting out a young man, a massive pile of strange weapons plus green crates that looked heavy, and a few corpses.

Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the vortex vanished without a trace. Upon closer inspection, Sarutobi noticed shaggy golden blond hair similar to Naruto's, with similar facial features, tall, decently built, wearing strange clothes. He wore pants with a camouflage pattern with leg pockets and pouches, a brown t-shirt with an armor vest over the top which had 4 holes in it in the chest area with multiple dings, dents and scorch marks, black boots and plated knuckle fingerless gloves.

Near where he lay, there was a tan colored backpack laying next to him with piles strange weapons scattered next to it. The young man staggered to his feet unsteadily as the ANBU guards drew their ninjato on him. For a brief second, Sarutobi saw deep blue cerulean eyes that spoke of extreme pain, as he crumpled to the floor in a heap, blood pooling from underneath him.

This alarmed Sarutobi as he rolled him over and removed the armor vest to see 4 small circular wounds that were bleeding badly.

"This isn't good. He's lost a lot of blood already and his vital signs are weak."

"Kitsune!" Sarutobi shouted to the nearest ANBU guard.

"Take him to the hospital at once! He won't last much longer, so hurry!" He ordered.

"At once Hokage-sama!" He snapped as he picked up the stranger and Shunshin'd to the hospital.

"The rest of you...take all of these strange objects and seal them up in scrolls. Give the bodies to the coroner and clean up the blood. Leave no traces of what just happened here tonight." He commanded

Naruto was the first to recover from shock in his usual fashion. "What the hell was that? Who the hell was that? What the hell is going on, Hokage-jii?" He yelled.

Sarutobi got him to quiet down with a stern glare as he determined how he'd handle this situation.

"Naruto, Iruka. What just happened here is now classified as a S-ranked secret. If the other major shinobi nations get wind of this, spies for all corners of the world will begin to flock here, sniffing around. Now, I want your word that you will keep silent about this, am I clear?" He finished, his gaze on them intensifying.

"Of course, Hokage-sama. You have my word." Iruka stated in all seriousness.

"Got it...old man." Naruto replied in a dead voice.

After both nin and the ANBU left his office, he sank down into his chair and lit his pipe. It was at times like this he really felt his old age catch up to him. He looked at the wall on the left of his desk where the pictures of Hokage's come and gone were, especially the last one. The Yondaime was fairly young, in his late twenties. He had very familiar golden blond hair, and deep blue eyes. The old Hokage smiled at the picture on the wall.

"Minato, you would be proud of your son. Dispite the treatment he has received, he continues to flourish, while keeping his sunny attitude and unbreakable resolve. He truly deserves to be a Konoha shinobi and I will expect great things from him, maybe even to surpass you. I see so much of you and Kushina in him, as well as Jiraiya."

Meanwhile, a certain perverted Toad Sannin sneezed, causing his cover to be blown. Sarutobi turned his thoughts to his strange young visitor and left for the Hospital.

KONOHA HOSPITAL, EMERGENCY O.R, APRIL 13TH 0045 HRS

The Kitsune-masked ANBU had delivered the blonde-haired young man to the hospital as ordered. The staff saw the dire condition he was in and immediately set to work, putting him on a gurney and wheeling him into an O.R. There, the medics spotted his four chest wounds. Using a scanning jutsu, they discovered that whatever made the wounds was still lodged inside, so they decided to extract the objects.

They were baffled by the small metal slugs that were lodged inside of their patients wounds, but that was soon overshadowed by his amazingly fast healing rate. The wounds began to heal on their own as soon as the metal slugs were removed.

Rin was on duty that night and assisted in the operation to save his life. 'He heals just like Naruto-kun...and he looks just like him, only older. What's going on here?' She wondered. She saw the Hokage walk into the O.R and needed to ask him something.

"Hokage-sama...Do you know what these metal sugs are? They were lodged inside of his wounds tracts, but as soon as we removed them, some sort of Auto Healing kicked in and the wounds began to close up on their own. They seemed to inhibit his healing somehow." Rin inquired. He just showed up with the sealing scrolls that contained all of the items that his strange young guest appeared with.

'This is most peculiar...' He thought as he turned to Rin.

"If you could, please keep me informed of his condition and when he wakes up." He asked of the brown-haired medic. She nodded and went about her duties.

'His healing is truly remarkable...Only Naruto has ever healed like that, and even then, Naruto's is still somewhat slower. Just what in the world are you, my young friend?'

NARUTO'S APARTMENT, APRIL 13TH 0730 HRS.

Morning broke over Hokage Mountain as signs of life started to show down in the streets of the village. Naruto slowly awoke, groggily rising to his feet and went to his bathroom to wash up and get ready for his big day. Naruto paused as he remembered all that he learned the previous night. He hadn't gotten much sleep due to learning that HE is the container for the dreaded Kyuubi no Kitsune. That was the reason that everyone hated him. Just knowing that fact didn't really bring him any comfort.

He then remembered the odd man that suddenly appeared in the Hokage's office. 'He looked like me...How?' He wondered as he continued to prepare himself for his final day at the Academy.

'I'm finally outta that place. It's about time...Another year in that...hellhole...would had driven me insane. At this point, I don't care whose team I'm on...' He said inwardly as he walked out his apartment door, enroute to the Academy.

KONOHA ACADEMY 0800 HRS

Naruto got to his classroom in time for the team assignments, due to Iruka showing up a little late. He got his customary glares and jests, but today he was lost in thought about what happened last night.

He got snapped out of his thoughts by Kiba sneering at him. "Hey dobe, what the hell are you doing here? Only the ones who passed should even be here."

Naruto's face turned into a frown. "Shut up, Kiba. I've got a lot on my mind right now and I don't have the patience for your bullshit." He growled out, sub-consciously channelling the Kyuubi's chakra with his rising anger, changing his eyes from their crystal blue to a blood red and a slight visible red aura surrounded him.

This wasn't normal for Naruto, who would have just retorted right back. It stunned Kiba and everybody else so much that they left him alone. This was something they had never seen from the supposed class fool. This time, the 'happy idiot' was really angry, more along the lines of furious.

He took his seat next to Sasuke Uchiha, the Rookie of the Year for his class. He noticed the difference, but paid it no mind, still seeing him as a inferior being.

Meanwhile, a pair of pale eyes watched him with worry. 'Naruto-kun, what's wrong? What happened to you?' Hinata thought worriedly.

Sakura and Ino came rampaging into the room, arguing over who got to sit next to Sasuke. They noticed Naruto sitting in the seat next to him.

"Hey, Naruto! Move it!" Sakura yelled, but he ignored her, tuning her out. This only served to infuriate her even more.

"Dammit you dumb, stupid dobe! I said move!" She yelled, jerking Naruto from his seat down to the floor. Normally, he would have just been hurt, but not today.

For Naruto, enough was enough and he wasn't going to take it anymore. "What the hell was that for, dammit? What the hell did I ever do to you to deserve to be treated like I'm not even human? All you two EVER do is obsess over some emo asshole who doesn't even show a shred of interest in any of you! Don't you have any sense of pride? You're going to be ninja! At least act like it! This petty, one-sided obsession is only going to get someone else, or even worse, yourselves killed! I couldn't live with myself if that happened, especially I wind up stuck on a team with either of you!" He raged, causing the whole room to fall silent as a tomb.

"Hey, what the hell is your problem, dobe? Stop trying to act all cool like Sasuke-kun, you loser!" One of the fangirls yelled at him. He chuckled bitterly and tried to fight back his anger, but was fighting a losing battle on that front. His mask was perilously close to shattering.

"What, you think I like playing the fool? You think people can't change? If you think that, there's no hope for you, you blind fools. You all and that Uchiha-teme all deserve each other."

"Ha! You're just jealous of Sasuke-kun! A loser like you could never be as cool as him!"

Instead of a retort, Naruto started to laugh out loud, just as his 'mask' shattered.

"Me? Jealous of that emotionally retarded jackass? Hahahaha!" He laughed more, but it suddenly cut off, leaving him with a fierce scowl that looked out of place but that made it even more frightening, forcing more of his rage to the forefront. This made the room fall silent once took advantage of the stunned silence to calm down, then sighed.

"Forget it. You'll find out one day that the coolest person isn't always a GOOD person. But, hopefully you won't end up finding that out too late. If you still can't figure it out after that, then may God have mercy on you, because you won't get any from me." He said coldly while glaring right back at the crowd of fangirls who were out of his blood, moving to the back of the classroom.

The fangirls normally would have stomped a mudhole in his ass for that, but the way his eyes went red and slitted for a moment and a massive blast of killer intent that flooded the room told them that messing with him right now probably wouldn't be a smart idea.

However, Sakura and Ino stopped to ponder the blond's words. Normally, they would just pass it off as the rantings of the class idiot, but due to his disturbingly different attitude, it reminded them of something their mothers always told them. They simply took some other available seats and sat to think about it.

Sasuke fumed at the hidden meaning of the blond's cryptic warning. 'That stupid dobe! Who the hell does he think he is? Now two of my favorites are in doubt. I'll get you for this.' He thought as Iruka finally walked in. He annonuced the teams, but couldn't help but notice that Naruto was oddly quiet. Sakura and Ino were, too. Neither one protested the team make up.

' Where did that come from? I guess that even Naruto has a breaking point. But, his little speech...sounded more like a warning. I need to know...' "Hey, Ino..." Sakura called out, in a concerned voice.

Ino couldn't help but notice that in her friend-turned-rival's voice. "Y-yeah, Sakura?" She replied in a somewhat shakey voice.

"Y-you thinking about what Naruto said? You know about 'finding out too late'? Also, after so much time we've both spent in chasing after Sasuke, have either of us REALLY made any progress? I mean, it's like he doesn't even like girls or something. Look, all I'm saying is that something's just not right. Until I've figured this out, our rivalry is on hold, agreed?" Sakura said, with both worry and seriousness in her voice.

Ino looked for any signs of deception, but to her surprise and mounting worry, she found none. "Agreed. I just can't shake this nagging feeling I'm getting. When I looked at Naruto, his eyes showed more pain than I'd ever wish on anyone, but I also saw hope and warmth. When I look at Sasuke's eyes, all I see is a void, cold and dark. My clan specializes in this sort of thing, so hold up. I'm gonna poke around in their heads a bit. Watch my body for me."

"SHINTENSHIN NO JUTSU!"She called out silently, aiming at Sasuke.

SASUKE'S MINDSCAPE

Ino felt herself awaken inside of Sasuke's mind. She saw his eariler memories, mostly happy ones. His mother, father, and his older brother, they were all there. She also saw very little difference in Sasuke now as opposed to when he was younger. He mostly picked on Naruto, Chouji, and other kids he deemed losers. What had sickened her the most was when she saw a 7 year old Sasuke carve insulting words into a young Naruto's skin with a kunai. Naruto had done nothing wrong, but her 'crush' and some fellow clansmen had run him down, and beaten him.

However, what happened next would haunt her for the rest of her life. She saw an older Uchiha clansmen, in front of a smirking Sasuke and his father, RAPE a 8 year old Naruto. She nearly vomited as she felt Sasuke's disgusting glee from witnessing such an unspeakable act. Ino then stumbled across the memory of the Uchiha massacre and Itachi's last words to Sasuke.

'This clan had grown more arrogant and decadent than I could stomach. They hungered for power too much and it cost them dearly. I left you alive as a reminder to never fall down that path again. I know what father did to the Uzumaki boy and that you WATCHED while it happened. I know that you and some others carved him up and beat him. You believe that you are so superior because you are an Uchiha. That line of thinking is rubbish.'

Ino took what Itachi told him at face value. She knew he was trying to teach him something, but Sasuke got the wrong message, instead foucsing on revenge. He couldn't see that his clan was punished for all of the vile, cruel things they did to Naruto and others, apparently.

She also came across Sasuke's current thoughts, which were nearly as disturbing as what she saw before. That was kind of hard to match.

'Hn...That stupid dobe. We should have just killed him while we had the chance. Now, two of my prime choices for breeding and pleasure stock are in doubt. This was all his fault!'

Ino finally decided that she had seen and heard enough, and dispelled her jutsu before Sasuke noticed what was happening.

CLASSROOM : REAL WORLD

"So? What did you find?" Sakura asked.

"That... That bastard...He views us a 'breeding stock', and 'disposable' in his ambitions. He doesn't care about anybody but himself." Ino replied, barely containing her rage.

She told Sakura of the skin carving and all of the horrifying things that Sasuke and his clan had done to Naruto and that he wants Naruto dead, on top of the treatment he received from the majority of the village.

Sakura had run to the trashcan and proceeded to empty her stomach. She never imagined that ANYONE could be so cruel and take such perverse pleasure in it. The now ex-fangirl looked at Sasuke with an intense glare, her eyes filled with tears and rage.

Ino was now very scared of going into Naruto's mind, frightened of what kinds of horrors and nightmares lay in wait for her in there. She waited until he was distracted, steeled herself, and then fired off her mind switch. What she saw, she would never, ever forget.

A/N: First chapter down. I hope that I didn't move too fast with everything. With Sakura's change of heart, she's not completely stupid and knew something was wrong, same with Ino. She also would know that Ino wouldn't lie about something so horrible. Even the two most die-hard fangirls were disgusted with him and will not want anything to do with him after this. And with the evil Sasuke and Uchiha clan, this serves a purpose later on. The Uchiha were plotting treason and they got dealt with as traitors should, but the council took it too far. Now, with the Uchiha clan almost completely wiped out, the village spoils Sasuke beyond repair and redemption, casing his over-inflated ego to balloon out of control, causing the attitude seen here. Sorry about the rant, I felt that I should explain my reasonings.

JAYSEN, signing off.