"Please! Please!" He begged

The people just laughed at him, laughed at his pain, at his pleas, at his fear. Large rough hands wrapped around each of his small wrists and each ankle. His shirt and shorts, long since torn up and bloody, chaffed his skin. Blood still ran down his pale skin and over patches of already dried blood. He sobbed pitifully and struggled against the hold. More laughter as something hit his stomach hard. He screamed out his air, falling back to the hard stone breathless. One of the people above him gave a cruel laugh at his pain.

"Why Me?!" He screamed. "Why Me?!"

"You know why Demon!" One of them yelled.

He sobbed and they just laughed. At that moment he saw human cruelty. He smiled for them, laughed for them, loved them, but they hated him, tortured him, broke him. Something in his started to crack. Suddenly he saw the glint of metal in the small amount of light from the moon that leaked into the dark alley. His eyes grew wide at the sight of the raised kunai. The very weapon he was being trained to use. As it descended he saw the path and screamed. The last thing he saw was the cruel smirk of a villager, the moon shining just past them, and the starry sky. Then it was red.

.--.

Naruto stared at the mirror in a dead way. His hair hung around his face, flattened from the spikes, now limp and dull. His skin was tones paler then his usual tan completion. His one lone, blue eye looked flat, dead, empty. There was no spark or happiness or joy, just an empty abyss. The second eye, the left one, was hidden under clean white bandages. His shaky fingers rose to brush the bandages, for the hundredth time that morning.

The door opened silently, though Naruto noticed, and the Sandaime Hokage stepped into the room, a small bundle in his arms. He set the bundle on Naruto's bed and sat down looking down in guilt. Naruto grabbed the bundle and pulled the hospital gown off. He pulled on a clean black shirt and orange pants. He left the orange jacket on the bed. Then he picked up the final item. He ran his fingers over the black cloth shaped like a wide eye-patch.

Slowly he raised his shaky fingers and unwound the bandages. He couldn't resist looking in the mirror. An empty socket stared back. The medics had sealed it at least, but the eyes had been completely cut out. Not carefully either. All the muscles and tissue that usually would have filled the area where his eye had been were all scarred so it wasn't the nicest thing to look at. His eye lids had also been scarred and now were always half open. The medics had said sometimes the scars would open and bleed, but only rarely.

Naruto quickly pulled the eye-patch on, his hair hanging over most of it. He swallowed the lump in his throat and glared at his reflection. Never again would he cry for the villagers. Never would he beg them for anything. Never would he show them his fear. Never would he smile for them. Never would he love them. Never would he laugh for them. Never would he be happy for them. Never for them. He clenched his hands till the knuckles were white. A hand gently grasped his shoulder and he looked up into the face of the Hokage. The one who had saved him before the villagers could do the same to his second eye.

"Come on Naruto. Let's go get you some lunch. IV for more then a week can't feel good."

Naruto gave the kind man a nod and softened his expression, but did not smile. He wasn't ready to. He stood and followed the man from the hospital ignoring any looks he received. As they stepped into the streets of Konoha he looked up at the Sandaime.

"What happened to the people who… carved out my eye?"

The Sandaime's face hardened.

"They were taken to Ibiki. They will be questioned."

"Tortured."

"…yes. We treated the attack on you as we would, had it happened to anyone else. They will be punished."

"I want to see."

"Naruto-"

"I need to see."

Sarutobi gave him a look then sighed.

"First we get food."

"Fine."

Sarutobi looked sadly at the eight year old child.

.--.

Naruto stared through the one-way glass blankly. Below in the circular room Ibiki was torturing the five people. Two women, three men. Their punishment was they would receive what ever they had done to their victim. Broken arm, various fractures, cuts, bruises, whip marks, cheeks sliced with whisker like cuts, and finally an eye carved out. He listened to the screams and gave an angry smirk. They screamed more then him. Seems he, at eight, had more pain tolerance then them. His face hardened as he heard them pleading. He had pleaded and they hadn't listened to him! He felt fury in his veins. He clenched his fists again and watched with bitter satisfaction as Ibiki moved onto their eyes. The one who had actually carved his eye out was last. So he could watch the others first. The screams started again and Naruto smirked.

.--.

Naruto stepped into the class room and made sure his covered eye wasn't facing the students. Most quieted as they saw him walk in. He had been away for over a week. Iruka stood from his desk and Naruto saw regret in his eye. He was close to the man and could clearly see Iruka wished he had done something.

"Where were you Dobe?" Kiba barked at him, a cocky grin on his face.

"There…" Iruka started before pausing.

He swallowed and seemed at a loss of words.

"It is Naruto's business." He finally answered. "Please take a seat Naruto."

Naruto turned to face the class and looked for a seat. He spotted Shikamaru even wake to see him. Everyone paused at his eye-patch. Sarutobi had given him a new one; black, with a thick strap and a part to cover his eye which was thicker then the strap. It was all outlined with orange trim to make it look a bit nicer.

"What's with the patch Dobe? Think it makes you look cooler? You'll never look cool." Sasuke taunted.

"Yeah! You'll never look as cool as Sasuke!" Sakura yelled beside the boy.

Naruto didn't respond. He could see some of the smarter kids watching him warily. Usually he would have yelled something now. He just gave everyone a blank, empty look as he slouched slightly. Shikamaru was sitting straighter analyzing him. Shino was doing the same. Naruto gently pushed the eye patch up to show the half open eye lids, showing heavily scarred tissue. A few people gave shrieks of surprise and most cringed back. Naruto pushed the patch down and gave grim smile. Then he moved to the back of the room to an empty seat away from most kids and sat down.

.--.

Hope you enjoyed. End of Chapter 1.