Alright guys and gals, this is my first story I've started on fanfiction (or anywhere for that matter), so I hope you enjoy it. Be forewarned, some characters will be OOC, but they will have valid reasons for such. Also, I will try to get my facts as straight as I can get them, but with this being a fanfiction story, at lease a moderate amount will be made up by yours truly. Constructive criticism greatly appreciated, and to all would be flamers out there: if you want to, feel free, it just amps up my review count and gets a good chuckle out of me :P. ~Aarik076

"You want me to talk into what?" – Kyuubi speaking, jutsus/digimon attacks

"Get that thing out of my face!" – Normal speaking

'What the hell was that thing?' – Thoughts/thinking

Disclaimer : I do not own anything associated or belonging to Naruto or Digimon.

-And thus it begins-

In the elemental countries there lie five great shinobi nations, each with its own unique geography which aids each nation's given specialty. Sunagakure no Sato(Village Hidden Among Sand) is situated in the middle of a desert, buffeted by high winds which in turn aid their wind-based attacks. Kirigakure no Sato(Village Hidden in Mist) is surrounded by the ocean and many small islands, giving their water-based attacks a clear advantage. Kumogakure no sato(Village Hidden in the Clouds) is situated on a high mountain, literally being hidden in clouds, and thus acting as a massive lightning rod for their lightning-based attacks. Iwagakure no Sato(Village Hidden Among the Rocks) finds itself surrounded by, but not on top of the mountains, thus giving their earth-based attacks superiority. And lastly there is Konohagakure no Sato(Village Hidden in the Leaves), and supposedly the most powerful of the five.

The reasons for this are many but for those whom reside in Konoha, they claim (with a good amount of pride) that the source behind their power is their camaraderie, for they claim that although the mission is of great importance, the first priority goes towards protecting their comrades. With this said, one would think that a place in which people are priority before all else would be an ideal place to live. Whilst this is true for the majority of the populous, not all are comfortable or safe within its walls.

For you see, like the motto of shinobi "look underneath the underneath", things are not as kind as the people within Konoha's walls claim to be. In fact, in a moment an act will occur which will render their claims useless and show the true views of the majority within Konoha, and unfortunately such an act will be wrought unto a boy no older than the tender age of five. But enough of this blathering, the story is his to tell, and I've bored you long enough.

His legs muscles burned as he weaved throughout the streets and back alleys of the village but he knew he could not stop, for if he did he would be condemning himself. The reason? Once again, he somehow managed to draw the ire of the villagers, and as per the norm, where one gave chase the others soon followed like a mob of lemmings, but these lemmings were armed with anything they could grab, be it boards, broken bottles, or in the case of the ninja in the crowd, kunai and shuriken.

'Shit shit shit! Why in the world did I think it was a good idea to come out on my birthday? Forget the fact I'm hungry, they've always been extra furious with me on my birthday!' These were the primary thoughts running through young Uzumaki Naruto's head as he desperately tried to evade the mob, not keen on having the privilege of becoming the village's scapegoat yet again, the pariah was good enough for him, thank you very much! As he rounded yet another corner taking more obscure alleyways, the enraged voices grew further and further away as his hope grew in proportion to the fading voices, and for one fleeting moment he allowed himself the thought that he might just have made it this time. Yet it was not to be, for as he turned the next corner he found himself hurled back via gale force winds into the alley by which he came, and he felt his face pale as he saw what had happened, for before him stood a shinobi, chuunin if the jacket was to go by, with his hands still on the last handsign for a simple wind jutsu. At this point Naruto wondered why exactly the old man assigned guards to him if they didn't even seem to guard him!

"Thought you managed to lose us, didn't you little monster!" The chuunin sneered as he said this, his eyes glinting maliciously with cruel intentions as he stood between the young boy and his salvation.

Naruto quickly sprang up, ignoring his protesting body as he attempted to escape the way he came, only to draw up short when he saw the approaching mob. 'Why me? What is it that I've done to them to deserve such hatred? There must be a reason, but no matter how hard I look or how many people I ask, I keep ending up with a dead end if I'm lucky, or another mob if my luck is acting like it usually does. Damn it all! Why won't they just tell me? At least then I would know the reason behind this!'

As he thought this, he remembered how every time, no matter how much he smiled or how hard he strove to earn even just a small uplift of the lips, the only reaction he would get was neutrality, or in the majority of cases, outright hostility. Of course there were a few exceptions, those being the ramen shop owner and his daughter, and lastly the Old Man himself, the Sandaime Hokage. But three people amongst an ocean of hatred was not enough to buoy him, and slowly but surely his mask of happy ignorance cracked and gave way as he himself slowly sank into the depths of frustration, sadness, and most importantly, anger. Little did he know that tonight, his worst beating yet was to come, and yet from this horrific experience would he find himself on his first steps towards his true destiny. He was quickly snapped out of his thoughts as a cry was issued forth from amongst the mob.

"There it is! Mizuki's managed to box it in, now you have nowhere to run, demon!" The supposed leader cried as the crowd advanced towards him, screaming all manners of damnation upon his being whilst preparing their weapons.

"This is for my friends! You think you can hide in the disguise of a human, you can't fool us fox!" Screamed yet another as she initiated the attack, chucking her pitchfork like a javelin which quickly found purchase in Naruto's left thigh, eliciting a scream of agony from the child.

As if the pitchfork was the pin for a grenade, the others soon descended upon his form, stabbing, slashing, twisting and bashing everything exposed, while Naruto curled up into a tight ball to protect his vitals. While they rained down punishment upon him, Naruto tried to block out the pain, giving into the pain occasionally with a gasping sob as tears streamed down his face. With each blow, his mask cracked more and more, and just as he was beginning to think the beatings would never end, the blows lessened and then abated altogether. Not wanting to press his luck, he stayed in his ball, attempting to regain some stamina for when they resumes, yet he was caught off guard when he was suddenly soaked with a strong smelling liquid that caused his open wounds to scream in agony. Opening his eyes in shock as he finally registered the smell as gasoline, he was just in time to see the sadistic face of Mizuki as he formed the last of his handsigns in a tiger, crying out triumphantly "Fire Style: Grand Fireball!".

When the fire hit the gasoline, Naruto's life went from cruel to hellish as the blaze quickly engulfed him, earning a bestial scream which echoed throughout the village, making all who heard the cry of utter anguish shudder, and in the case of one Sandaime Hokage, quickly rouse him from his impromptu nap in his comfy chair. As the bleary-eyed man finally recognized the scream, he paled as he made the connections, October 10th, child's scream of pain, near ending of Kyuubi festival...'Naruto! Shit! Where the hell are his ANBU guards? I knew I should have switched his guards after the last incident! I just hope I'm not too late, forgive me Naruto, you shouldn't have to go through this...' Belying his old age, Sarutobi shot up from his chair, bellowing "ANBU! With me!" opened his window and shot out like a bat out of hell, his ANBU guards right on his tail as he made his way towards where he could hear the screaming.

Meanwhile with Naruto, he truly believed he would prefer death over this, and while the flames certainly tried to grant his wish, they only prolonged his suffering. The cruel irony was not lost on Naruto as he writhed, his unnatural healing ability, which had aided him in surviving in the past, was healing his body just as the flames cause his skin to blister and blacken, his blood to boil and his nerves to die in a climax of pain just to be healed all over again so the process could be repeated. This was by far the worst they've ever exposed him to, and with this his mind made a life-changing conclusion: they truly did not, and would not ever care for him, just hate him for something they refused to say, as he spotted through the flames some amongst the crowd whom he thought didn't mind him, laughing just as maniacally as the rest. It was at this point his mask not only broke, but completely shattered as his eyes took on a cold, unforgiving and clinical look to them even through the pain.

As this continued, his screams of pure agony not only echoed throughout the real world, but that of his mind as well, reaching deep into the furthest depths of his mind where in a massive room with a giant golden gate, one blood red eye the size of a fully grown man opened, quickly followed by its companion. As they took in their surroundings, the being they belonged to took notice of the screams, and its eyes narrowed in contemplation before a wave of red energy shot out from where the creature resided, heading towards where Naruto's consciousness was held. Their job done, the eyes closed once more, resigning themselves to a (hopefully) short wait.

Naruto tried his best to ignore the pain, but with his nerve endings dying, just to regrow and die again everywhere on his body simultaneously was too much for him, and as he let out yet another bellowing scream, a wave of...something seemed to overcome him, and his vision quickly faded to black. Before he could comprehend what exactly happened, he found himself plunging into water, which even though it was lukewarm in reality, one must consider that he was burning alive only a few moments ago, so the water felt like falling into liquid ice to him, causing him to shout out in surprise and rocket onto his feet, finding that the water came up to his knees.

"Where the hell am I? Last I remember I was burning alive for the amusement of those bastards, and now I'm in...a sewer? Right...so either they dumped me in a sewer after they figured I cooked enough...which I doubt, they've never stopped before, only when the old man or the guards finally showed up, or I've died. Hmmm...meaning either this is Heaven, in which case I appreciate the water, but a sewer? Really? Or the second option, which knowing my luck is most likely, and I'm in Hell...and if this is the best Hell can come up with I think I'll like it here more than the village."

Just as he finished pondering his whereabouts, he felt what could only be described as a pull leading in the direction of the largest passageway in here, so figuring why the hell not, Naruto decided to humor the feeling and started walking that direction. As he walked, Naruto noticed that the feeling he felt just before he passed out was getting more prominent as he headed in the direction of the pull. Nearly half an hour later and countless turns, he finally came upon what he could only describe as an endless room, the walls to the side extending hundreds of yards out each way, the ceiling wasn't even visible, and as he walked forwards, he caught sight of the looming gates that came into view before him extending up into the darkness, and ironically seemingly held shut only by a small tag on the bars which had the kanji for "seal" on it.

It was upon reaching 10 yards away from the bars that he stopped, feeling nervous as he felt not only the darkness within the giant cage, but an ancient malice which seemed to suddenly permeate throughout the cavernous room and his being, freezing him on the spot as he finally realized with a sudden clarity that he was not alone in this room. As if sensing his awareness, the being on the other side opened its eyes, and Naruto found himself looking into twin portals of fire and blood which shown as if lit by neon, with the exception being the pitch black slit going through the middle of each. As he stared, Naruto finally took notice of the low volume, but rapidly increasing demonic chuckle coming from behind the bars, and made a quick note in his mind to possibly amend his earlier conclusion that this place was better then hell. Finally the being started walking forward, and Naruto realized with awed clarity that it was further back in the darkness than he thought, as the eyes got bigger and the floor reverberated with the footfalls of the creature.

Finally, when the eyes were larger than himself and a good 100 meters above his head, they came down to his level and moved forward, and the being's face was finally brought into the light. First, came a massive crimson snout lined with fangs the size of a grown man, which was currently drawn into either a snarl or amused smile, Naruto would prefer it was the latter. Then the rest if its head, its face covered in blood red fur, with the exception of around its eyes and up its abnormally long ears, in which black was the presiding color. After a few minutes in which the creature observed the being in front of it, the being decided to speak up, and the walls nearly shook with the power behind it.

"Greetings child, I think its time we had a talk."

Ending Note: Well that's it for chapter 1, really a prologue if anything, the main purpose of this chapter was to lay the reasons behind Naruto's personality that he will primarily have in this story, as well as a small introduction into the Elemental Nations at the beginning. Do not worry, this is indeed a crossover with Digimon, right now I'm just laying down Naruto's character before the true story gets going, it may be a few chapters yet before we get into Digimon. As for those whom are dreading a "training arc"...don't. I plan on doing a considerable time skip and briefly going over what he learned during it, and any considerable technique or event that occurred will most likely be covered in a flashback; I don't want to torture you guys with page upon page of mind-numbing training jargon. Anyways, feedback always welcome, not sure when I'll submit next chapter, hopefully before weekend is over, then its back to full time summer job, not too much time to write during the week, but I'll try my best. ~Aarik076