Welcome one and all! This started out as a plot bunny in my head and I couldn't get it out.

This is in fact my version of a Dexter (TV series) cross-over with Naruto - with several major modifications. The original setup for Dexter really fascinated me, so I adopted this for Naruto. Pairings are undecided - I've currently written about 8 chapters in, though, and I know Anko will play a major portion in this story (not in a romantic way), so I've marked it as Naruto & Anko for the sake of categorization. I am open to reader input on pairings if it is a coherent review/suggestion and not just 'NARU-X NARU-Y NARU-Z' banter that I usually see. :)

Normally I would direct all disclaimers to my profile where I have posted this at length, but given that this is a cross-over, here is my disclaimer for the story (they will not be repeated on each and every chapter):

The idea for Naruto's catastrophe during early childhood is adopted from Dexter. Naruto's secret mentor will establish guidelines and tips for him, akin to 'The Code' in Dexter. The characters in Naruto are Kishimoto's, as is the Naruto universe. The aforementioned are not my creations. Any unique plot lines along with this particular telling of the story, however, are mine.

This has been peeving me lately, so I'll say it here: I write for myself. It makes me feel good, and I enjoy the process. Don't get me wrong - I really do hope you enjoy the story! But if not, this isn't the first story I've written that has absolutely tanked, and it won't be the last. I write for myself, and any enjoyment people derive is purely incidental. I won't be one of those authors that pressure you to review, follow, etc. If you feel I've done a good job, then leave a review. If you hated it, feel free to return to the compendium of other fanfiction stories found on this website.

Best,

Haitorei ~

Prologue

The crate opened with an enormous effort from Shikaku. "Kami…" The Nara felt short of breath, and judging from the vomiting that surrounded him, he wasn't the only one. "Come on," he directed the fresh ANBU recruits. "We need to examine the crate more thoroughly." Based on the pungent smell, he'd estimate six or seven bodies, recently dead. Swatting through the flies, he stepped in, immediately wishing he hadn't.

The splashing noise wasn't water. He sighed. The crate was four meters long, probably two meters wide. Blood two centimeters deep. Six liters of blood per body, meaning… "Kami…" Twenty-five people. This was a fucking massacre.

A single hiccup came from the crate. A small wind jutsu blew away the flies. Entering deeper, Shikaku spotted a small body – too small for an adult. A child! "Are you alright?" No response. Upon approaching closer, he made out the figure more clearly. A boy, sleeping. Fuck you, Danzou. You were always sick, but I never thought you'd go this far.

"Clear!" Shikaku announced to his team. "We have a child in here!" The boy couldn't be more than four years old. Gently lifting the blood-coated toddler, he carried him out of the cart. He was about to turn around when the boy vomited. Red.

He's been drinking the blood to survive… There were no bodies, just stench and flies. They'd been searching for that container for a week, which meant that boy could have been there for almost that long, drinking that excrement-infused blood. Passing the boy to the medic nin, Shikaku stumbled to the bush before vomiting himself.

…

This was not a good week for Konoha. The Uchiha massacre left the ANBU, who traditionally took care of external threats to the village, vastly overburdened. Most criminals embraced the opportunity to go on as many killing sprees as possible in the surrounding reaches of Fire Country, while many shinobi left the village to become nuniken.

Then there was the matter of the cargo container – a container that was filled with Uchiha blood. Which meant their leads were all wrong, and as much as Shikaku would personally desire it to be otherwise, it wasn't Danzou. And even worse, it wasn't just any kid. He shuddered. It was the Jinchuuriki.

The poor boy would have an incredibly difficult time as it is without the psychological repercussions of this incident. Itachi certainly was one sick fuck.

"Are you the ANBU who found him?" The doctor finally emerged from the stabilization room. The process had been going on for almost ten straight hours now. "Well, are you?"

"Y-Yes, sorry. My mind has been… elsewhere." Shikaku quickly apologized and stood up."

"Hokage-sama has instructed me to inform you that you are released. Return to your home."

Bowing, he quickly left. Unsurprising, really. Anything having to do with Naruto was quickly commandeered by the Hokage himself. Chances are he'd never really find out what happened that day, and that suited him just fine.

…

"There is far too much Uchiha blood in him for this to be the first time. We're hypothesizing that Uchiha Itachi has been doing this for months, perhaps even since Naruto was born. We know that the body of a baby Jinchuuriki is constantly growing and expanding to accommodate the demon, and we believe Itachi knew to take advantage of this. This experiment has… Orochimaru's feel. That's probably where he took his inspiration from. Look at this bloodwork, Hokage-sama."

"Naruto's blood…"

"It's almost all Uchiha. He's been drinking blood for months now. We're weaning him off slowly, but a sudden disruption would be catastrophic for the boy. We've purified the rest of what's in that container, and over the next several weeks we'll wean him off, but we're going to have to feed him the rest of what's there."

"That's most likely what Itachi had intended, knowing his process would have to go on uninterrupted. What are the long-term consequences?"

"His blood type has changed, completely. And most interesting, the process is now self-sustaining. His body has become accustomed to the blood and won't stop producing it. It's too late for phenotypic changes, but the internal bloodwork will be entirely Uchiha, I'm afraid."

The Hokage sighed. Just a fancy way of saying he'll look the same, but he's royally fucked. Itachi had the perfect means to do so; as ANBU captain, part of his primary responsibility was ensuring the safety of Naruto. But Itachi had to have his reasons. Why would a man who sacrificed his entire clan for the sake of the village suddenly doom a child to a life of hell? As revenge against you… a quiet voice in Sarutobi's head whispered. He shook his head. This was the only way. He had made sure of that.

Shikaku reported that there were roughly twenty five people's blood there, perhaps more since the boy had been drinking in that container for some time. It was time they found out precisely whose blood it was. "Can we find out whose blood it is?"

"I was going to check the shinobi registry against all possible samples, but it's now entirely corrupted. Mixtures of blood blend together too well, and even worse, it's been running through our purification systems to get rid of the fecal matter. That, and our blood tests rely on chakra detection, but it appears there are too many foreign chakras causing interference."

"So there's no way of telling." The Sandaime took out his pipe. This was going to be a long night.

…

Weeks had gone by, and the treatment was complete, but the boy still hadn't woken up. All was not lost, however; they had been making good headway on exactly how Itachi had pulled this off. Siphoning off blood vials from the hospital, even grave robbing. "Naruto," as they knew, was nothing but Itachi's shadow clone. The real Naruto was tucked away underground in the Uchiha bunker with a bucket of blood.

When the ANBU finally cleared out the bunker, there was a message, written in Itachi's unmistakable handwriting, for the Sandaime. 'Give this to Naruto once he's finished the blood treatment. I trust you will not contaminate it.'

A single, black vial. Itachi was a man who chose his words wisely, and Sarutobi knew what few did – Itachi was no traitor. "Give me the vial; I will study it personally."

That night, Sarutobi approached the unconscious Naruto. "You've suffered far too much… Your father would be most upset with me, that much is certain." He'd been lying here, not moving, not talking… This wasn't even living. A nurse would change his urine bag once a day, and his head doctor would observe his condition thrice a day. But besides these formal visits, the boy had absolutely no human contact. He felt guilty for partly wishing that the black liquid was poison, just so the pain would all end.

But he knew Itachi too well for that. The man had his reasons, that much was certain. Now if he could just understand what those reasons were… Taking a deep breath, and praying to every spirit he knew, the Third prayed that his trust was not misplaced and fed Naruto every small drop of the vial.

Naruto coughed himself awake.

And for the first time since this whole ordeal began, the Sandaime smiled. Naruto was looking at him with puzzlement. No, not looking at him… Looking past him. And that's when the hokage realized it. The haze in Naruto's eyes. His large, open eyes, even when looking directly into the light. Naruto was blind. And who knew how long he'd been that way.

"Naruto? Do you recognize me?"

The child wordlessly got up and began walking towards the window. He was on his fourth step before he passed out.

…

"I have good news and better news."

Those were rare words. His head doctor had a reputation for trying to be a jokester, and delivering bad news disguised as good news… well, he wouldn't be surprised if anything happened. "Go on," the Hokage ushered cautiously preparing for the worst.

"The good news is that everything else is perfectly fine. He seems to be doing just fine. Of course, there is the issue of the blood, but in time that'll simply be a new normality."

So far so good.

"The better news is that his eye sight will most likely return." This drew a wide smile from the village head. "He's now stable enough that the chakra mapping won't disrupt his body, so we've been examining him further. It seems that the chakra coil system is rapidly adjusting to the new blood type, and in the interim it's causing sensory deprivation. Certainly temporary, but I can't say how long it could go on. Perhaps a couple days, perhaps a couple months. Certainly not longer than half a year."

No jokes, no attempts to heighten the tension. Just the results, plain and simple. This was new for Sugimura, but the Sandaime was certainly liking it. It certainly helped that the news was all good. "I'm assuming that's why the boy fainted, then?"

The doctor nodded. "Indeed. He needs to relax in bed for a couple more weeks while his body becomes accustomed to the changes, but he should be perfectly fine. Quite miraculous that the notorious killer did no lasting damage, really. Naruto should consider himself quite lucky."

Quite… miraculous indeed. Did Itachi plan this whole ordeal? The man was nothing if not meticulous. Given the crate the ANBU found Naruto in, he wouldn't go so far as to say the boy was lucky.

"And for the worst news."

"Damn it, Sugimura." The Hokage should have known better than to expect nothing but sunshine from the doctor by now. "What now."

"Oh, did I forget to tell you? Yes, the worst news. Here is a brain scan of that missing nin you had me examine – remember? That one who killed those civilians."

The Hokage nodded. The man was a psychopath, although given his past no one could blame him. He saw his parents die in front of him, butchered like pigs. Since then, he went on doing the same to anyone whom resembled their killer. But the tragic story didn't mean he didn't have to be responsible for his actions.

"Here is Naruto's brain scan." The doctor overlaid one on top of the other.

"They're identical," he breathed.

"Exactly. The right hemisphere, responsible for processing emotional information, has shrunk and molded itself in the typical pattern we see for cases like 'the butcher.' Chances are he'll suffer the same fate. Emotional processing will be difficult. Conscience will be negligible, if existent at all."

"Who did the scan?"

"I did."

"These are the only copies?"

The doctor nodded.

"Burn them. Discard everything in the file and leave no trace. No one at the hospital can know. Everything must go."

The man bowed and left the room.

Sugimura was more correct than he knew. This truly was the worst news of all.

…

"Naruto-kun," a gray-haired doctor with glasses entered the door smiling. "How are you feeling?"

Naruto sat up. "Fine."

"Hmm, well I suppose it never hurt to check." The doctor perused over his charts for several moments.

Naruto didn't like this man from the start. He smiled too much. And there was some creepy air surrounding him. He wasn't… trusthworthy. He decided on a whim that should the doctor give him any medicine, he wasn't taking it.

"Well, everything seems to be fine here. I'll send the nurse over to give you your belongings." And with that, he left as soon as he came. Five minutes later, true to the doctor's word, the nurse entered.

"Hello, dear. You must be Naruto. Oh, before I forget, you have a letter from your uncle – he's very concerned. Here are your clothes, freshly washed and cleaned. Do you need anything else from me?"

Naruto blinked. He didn't have an uncle. What was going on? "Where do I go now?"

"Ah, that would be up to Hokage-sama. He'll come to get you tomorrow morning, is that okay?"

Naruto nodded. Once the woman left, he quickly opened the letter, skeptical of the possibilities within it.

'Naruto, Of course you have no Uncle. You may call me The Snake. I am a concerned guardian who takes interest in children of promise, and you my boy have special promise. Have you ever wondered why it is the villagers don't let you play with their children? Why do the parents look at you in such a harsh way? Why you were made to drink blood for months on end?' He did. He wondered that every day. Whoever this snake was, it was certainly knowledgeable.

The letter continued. 'It's because you have the Kyuubi sealed within you…' Naruto must have stayed up all night reading the illuminating letter. It vividly explained the details of how the nine tailed fox, a demon made purely of chakra, could never be killed. Rather, it could only be sealed, and it was currently sealed within him. That the blood he drank was in fact the blood of a clan called the Uchihas, all of whom were dead but two. Apparently a boy named Sasuke was the only Uchiha in Konoha, and the one who killed the entire clan was his elder brother, Itachi.

Naruto couldn't explain the feeling he was having towards Itachi. Was this… awe? Yes, it was admiration. The sheer prowess Itachi possessed must have been incredible. What allowed him to do these incredible feats was a dojutsu called the sharingan, apparently. He stayed up, intently reading until the late hours of the morning. The letter was detailed and explanatory, but not in the condescending ways others seemed to explain things to him. It was written in a simple, but illuminating style that helped him understand.

And the very end of it caught his eye. 'I've done a great deal to help you understand where you come from; I hope you can trust me. If you do, you won't regret it. Prick your finger and slide it across the paper. I will contact if should you choose to believe in me.

Yours truly,

The Snake.'

Remarkable. There was simply no other word for it. To think that the Hokage, whom he had trusted for years now, had been lying all this time. It made him acutely aware of exactly how alone he truly was. Pricking his thumb, he slapped his blood onto the parchment, and he was suddenly transported into a different room.

A dark shadow stood in the background. Naruto was in what seemed like an underground cavern.

"This is my lab. Welcome to your new home, Naruto-kun."

Who is The Snake? What's going on with Naruto's blood? Will Sugimura ever give a straight answer? Who am I asking these questions to? Find out all this and more next time on Dexter - I mean Broken. :)