The Crimson Kingpin (Naruto Fanfic)

Blood Stains All

Run, Run, Run, that was all that was going through his head as Naruto sprinted through the alleyways, ducking and dodging any civilian that he got near, it was the 10th of October, his birthday, and although he should have been celebrating his birthday like other kids his age he had to escape the Fox Hunt as the villagers called it, three years he had endured this sport that the villagers did, he was seven as of today, a young child still, and he had been caught once before, he still had nightmares of the villagers stabbing him with anything they could get their hands on
Running as fast as he could he quickly darted around a corner and into an alley, only to get knocked over as he ran into a ninja, he could always count on weasel to protect him, and as such he thought that a different ninja might protect him, but instead he was met with two kunai pinning him to a wall and the horde of villagers he had so desperatley tried to escape beconed over, all his hard work for nothing, he looked up to his captor only to see a knife slashing at his face, blood flying as the knife cut cleanly through his cheek leaving a Glasgow smile on one side and blood pooling on the ground at his feet, knives were quickly inserted one after another, and he could barely breathe as his lungs had been punctured numerous times, this contined for hours with mixed experimentation as the villagers and ninja saw fit, it was only when the sun came up that the boy was found, clutching onto life with every fibre of his being, or at least what was left as he might as well have been a smear on the concrete by the time he was taken into the ER, the doctors had patched him up as well as they could but there was still a few marks left that they couldn't fix.

"How bad is it?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked, hoping too at least save his surrogate grandson from death as he couldn't handle it if the one charge he promised his successor he would protect had died before him. "Well..." the doctor started, before clearing his throat, well sir it appears that he had been stabbed in well over seventy-five percent of his body, his skin had been slowly, systematically peeled off by kunai, he had received third-degree burns to sixty-five percent of his body, his nerves had been shot using a high powered Raiton Jutsu, his lungs, were filled to the brim with water, only getting air through the small holes that were still pouring out water when we picked him up, and one of his eyes had been forcibly ripped out, most likely by someone's fingers from the looks of the scarring, in fact, im surprised the, uh, You know what was able to keep him alive even through that kind of torture, we won't be able to fix the whisker scars or the Glassgow Scars as they had already healed over by the creature by the time we had got to him and we can only do something about the eye if we had a replacement of sorts." the aged hokage nodded sadly, his charge should never have gone through that kind of torture at an age so young, he was just hoping he could make it up to the boy, "Is he...?" the doctor nodded and opened the door to Naruto's room.

"Naruto?" he asked quietly, almost sure the boy wouldn't hear him, however even worse was when the boy's blank eye stared at him, the aged shinobi broke down instantly crying, "I'm sorry I couldn't stop it Naruto, I was held up at a meeting, I was wondering why they were making it take longer than usual, I'm so sorry, I, I..." Naruto grinned a wide smile breaking open some of his stitches before he coughed something into his hand, it was spherical in shape, white, with a slightly blue hue to it, Naruto burst out laughing when the old man came to the realization of what it was.

"You know, the bastard that did this to my eye may have got the first few laughs, but I guarantee I got the last one." he barked out another laugh as he finished, the doctor came over and whispered something in the Hokages ear and the Hokage grinned, "Naruto, you know that eye you lost, we were looking for a transplant for you, but I think that the eye you just showed us is more than capable of working for you... You know, being a Byakugan and all." Naruto gained a devilish grin and nodded, the procedure took two hours but it was worth it as in the end the young boy had two eyes once again, albeit one was definitely pupilless and faded greatly in comparison, although it could be passed off as a blinded eye.

"Naruto how are you feeling?" Naruto stretched out his arms and blinked a few times with his good eye, "Well, better than I was a little while ago, how long till I can take these bandages off my new eye?" the doctor thought it over and whispered a conversation with the Hokage before coming to a conclusion, "you can take the bandages off in a few days, however, I wouldn't risk it until then as you might go truly blind in that eye if you expose it to light too early." Naruto nodded thoughtfully, "Imagine that, the grand Byakugan blind to the world, a sightless all-seeing eye. Don't worry, I won't risk it, it will be more of a slap in the face when they see I have one of their precious Dojutsu and it works." Sarutobi saw the logic in his statement and nodded, it may cause some trouble in the council for him but he would weather the storm, for Naruto's sake.

"So Naruto, when you get out of the hospital you're going to have to catch up to the rest of your classmates, or if you'd like I could bring you some of the work now?" Naruto glared at the ground, tears pooling in his eyes before he responded, "I'm not going back, not now, not ever, I refuse to be a ninja, I refuse to be like those that attacked me!" Sarutobi sadly nodded at the response.

"Naruto, if you aren't going to be a ninja then you will be a civilian the rest of your life, any ideas of what you want to be so I can help you get there?" Naruto thought it over, a pregnant pause before he responded, "I want to travel, if you could get me enough money for a month or so I will be on my way as soon as I can leave, if not i'll leave as soon as I'm healed." Sarutobi frowned at his answer, "I can't stay here, not anymore, not after that, it was the last straw old man, I'm sure you understand." Sarutobi nodded, years of harassment would do that to anyone, it was surprising he lasted this long if he was being honest with himself.
"I'll get you money Naruto, it's the least I can do for what you've endured. May I ask where you are going to go specifically? " Naruto thought about it for a moment, "I don't want to be a Shinobi, legally speaking at least, I don't want to be tied to a village, I want to be free to do my own thing but with ninja skills, like taijutsu, and Kenjutsu, enough that I can survive and fight off any bandits and low level ninja that may attack me for whatever reason without needing to show that I can use ninjutsu or genjutsu, if anything I'm going to try and master these aspects of the ninja arts, but nothing more as then I become a target."
"I'll have the money and a few scrolls to give to you when you leave, after that you will be on your own, I'd recommend going to wave or Suna as they are allied places that will take you In, if only for a little while."
Naruto nodded in understanding, "I'll be waiting at the gate in a week, please be ready for me, I wish to leave as soon as the healing is completely finished." Sarutobi nodded and left, if he couldn't keep him here he would make sure he not only survives but also thrives.