Awakened Eyes

Konohagakure no Sato is considered as one of the strongest villages in the Elemental Nations. The village known for its extraordinary strength in the shinobi arts easily rose from the devastation caused by the Kyuubi attack 8 years ago. Peace has reigned in the village after a few years of the destruction but was relatively broken by the sound of a mob chasing an 8 year old boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, and 3 whisker marks on both his cheeks. The boy's name is Uzumaki Naruto.

The boy, Uzumaki Naruto, was used to this kind of treatment from the villagers. He didn't know the reason why he is being hated and that he deserved this kind of animosity from everyone, but his 8-year old mind was busy trying to find ways to survive from his current ordeal than to ponder the mysteries that seemed to pronounce this fate.

Despite his malnourished state, Naruto used his small body to outrun the mob. His stamina was considered the best in the village, able to outrun the ANBU or Chunnins chasing him to catch him in one of his pranks; but it seems like today is not one of his lucky days. He found himself in one of the dead-end alleys that blocked his escape. He tried to find a way out of this predicament but, alas, he resigned himself to his fate for another round of beatings.

"Finally we caught you demon brat." A villager shouted after cornering the cowering blond holding a pitchfork in front of him, ready to impale the boy.

"Today we are going to finish what the Yondaime started. We are going to kill you demon." Another villager ranted, brandishing a cleaver. Shouts of "kill the demon", "destroy the brat" and other expletives were coming out of the crowd. For Naruto, all of this means nothing but a load of pain and suffering if he ever gets out of this alive.

The first attack came in the form of kunais which he barely avoided except for a couple impaling him on the legs and shoulders. It seems that there were also ninjas in the group but the lack of the usual shinobi garb hid their presence well. The rest of the villagers took this as a signal to start their vengeance and fell on the boy with their chosen weapons.

He was stabbed in the stomach with a kunai, his arms were sliced by a cleaver, his right shoulder was stabbed by a pitchfork. He was beaten to every inch of his life which left him with bruises and more bleeding. He was in unbearable pain; his entire body ached from the various stab wounds and cuts. He was curled on the alley floor and tried to stand but a sudden pain made him fall back on the ground gasping for breath, it seems that his legs were broken, as well as his left arm. Despite the torture that he went through, he was still conscious.

"Why? What…did…I do… to you people?" he gasped out, tears leaking out from his face.

One of the villagers looked at him, sneering. "Why you ask? Because you are a demon! We are just exercising our civic duty to finish what the Fourth started… TO KILL YOU AND END YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCE DEMON." With that, he swung down his katana, aiming to decapitate the boy.

Naruto saw the sword and time seemed to slow down. His pitiful existence flashed before his very eyes. He recalled all the beatings, the ridicule, and the insult. He was wondering why he was clinging to life so hard and it would be a blessing for him to just die and meet his parents in the afterlife. But before he was about to give up, he recalled one conversation he had with his surrogate grandfather, the Hokage, during one of their ramen trips.

(FLASHBACK)

Naruto was enjoying his fifth bowl of ramen with his Hokage-jiji. He enjoyed hanging out with the old man that he treated as a grandfather, along with the Ichiraku Ramen family that fed him when he was out of food.

In fact, there were only a few people in Konoha that treated Naruto like one of them. One of them being the Hokage, the Ichiraku family consisting of old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, and of course the two ANBU guards that he considered as older brothers, Weasel and Dog.

The Hokage was astounded with Naruto's spirit. Despite being subjected to the villager's stupidity and constant beatings, he was still that little ball of energy with a smile on his face that he loved – someone that he considered to be his grandson.

"So Naruto, what are your plans in the future?" the Hokage asked while the boy was about to start on his sixth bowl.

Naruto paused his attack on the poor ramen bowl and thought for a bit. "Well, I want to gain the villager's respect. I'll do anything to make them love me." He declared with a fierce determination that reminded the Hokage of the 'Will of Fire' that the Shodaime and Nidaime preached during his apprenticeship.

"Well, my boy, how are you planning to do that?" The Hokage asked, amused over the boy's declaration.

"I'M GOING TO BECOME THE STRONGEST NINJA IN THE WORLD!" shouted Naruto which made the old man laugh in amusement.

"Ohhhhhh that is quite a claim my boy."

"I WILL BECOME THE BEST JIJI AND I'M GOING TO TAKE THAT HAT AWAY FROM YOU WHEN I DO!" The boy declared, his eyes burning with determination. The Hokage didn't doubt that the boy would deliver his promise in the future and he would be more than happy to give it to him when the time is right.

"Well, if you want to become a ninja then you need to be attend the Academy soon." He mused.

"Really? Great! I'm going to be a ninja!" the boy bounced on his seat, excited over the prospect of getting started on his dream.

"Relax Naruto. You're still too young to join the Academy, but you will soon. I promise you that." said the Hokage.

"Sure jiji." The boy quipped then suddenly gave him a foxy grin. "Hey jiji, can I try your hat on." giving him the puppy look. He really hated Naruto when he resorted to this deadly weapon of mass destruction. He coughed and looked away to avoid the temptation in giving into his demands.

"Oh no you don't Naruto. Finish your bowl of ramen so I can get you home for the night." Said the Hokage, laughing at Naruto's defeated face. This has been one of their favorite game, Naruto trying to coax the Kage hat away from him. They've been at this since Naruto was 3 years old.

Naruto just shrugged and backed down for now and attacked the innocent ramen bowl in front of him. He will get the hat soon enough and achieve his dream.

(END OF FLASHBACK)

When he recalled the memory, determination gripped his entire being. He will NOT give up now. He will continue to live until he achieved his goal to become the strongest ninja in the world and take the hat away from the old man.

A sudden warmth seemed to flow from his stomach and seems to flow to every part of his body, washing away the aches and pains. He didn't notice that the various cuts and bruises healed, his entire body covered by a mysterious light. He felt the warmth spread over his body and onto his eyes then the world exploded in a world of colors, red, blue, green, brown, and white.

The villagers were scared; one moment they were beating the crap out of the demon brat and was about to shout for joy as one of their number deliver a decapitating swing to end the demon's life when something happened that shook them to the very core of their being.

The boy's body was suddenly covered by a multi-colored aura. The sword swing was stopped in its track by a sudden wall of wind that blew the items in the alley floor all over the place. The boy threw his right arm out, palm forward and a sudden wall of water appeared that pushed everyone back, including the one that was about to end his life.

They mob was sputtering and started to pull themselves back on their feet when they noticed the boy at the end of the alley. The shock that hit them was nothing compared to the emotions that they felt when they saw the boy, standing, all of his wounds started healing in front of their eyes. But that is not what caused them to almost wet themselves.

The aura surrounded the boy separated into five, one for each color, and formed a ball.

The red aura formed into a sphere of fire and placed itself beside the boy a few inches beside his right thigh, releasing wisps of smoke as if it burned the very air around it.

The blue aura formed into water that appeared out of thin air; and settled beside the left thigh, releasing small drop of water that fell on the alley floor.

The green seemed to be a ball of wind, spinning like a small tornado on the boy's right arm.

The brown aura absorbed the loose earth at the boy's feet forming a spinning ball of rocks and dirt on the boy's left.

The white ball seemed to cackle with electricity and situated itself on top of the boy's head.

However, what they saw that almost shit themselves was the boy's eyes. The iris was now a solid gold and the pupil was replaced by a five-pointed inverted star and glowing an eerie white.

Dog, one of the Hokage's personal ANBU, was speeding to the location where he felt a huge spike of chakra on the west side of the village. It was supposed to be his turn to watch Naruto but the latest release of his Icha Icha series was none to be ignored. The chakra spike was Naruto and that only spelled trouble.

He arrived at a scene that made his blood run cold and his rage almost overwhelming him. The mob cornered Naruto in one of the deserted alleys in the commercial district and one of them was about to swing his sword to behead his charge.

He was about to interfere when something happened that almost made him shit in his pants. What he saw made him curse. "Oh shit."

Naruto was standing. The energy that he felt disappeared but it left him refreshed and the lingering warmth made him feel powerful, invincible even. He saw that the mob was a few feet away from him, staring at him with awe and fear that almost made him laugh. He checked himself to see why he wasn't hurting anymore but what he saw shocked him to the very core.

There, surrounding him were 5 balls of something - two beside his thighs, 2 on his arms, and one just a bit above his head in front of him.

"What...what is happening? What are these things?"Naruto asked himself. He was brought out from his thoughts when one of the villagers shouted.

"The demon is doing something." A large villager shouted. "The demon is escaping." Another ranted. "Let's get him."

Two of the villagers charged forward, one carrying a cleaver and the other carrying the katana that almost chopped his head off. He crossed his arms to shield himself from their attacks when something happened that scared him.

The red ball flared and emitted a stream of red-hot fire that surrounded him, effectively cutting off the attack with a wall of flame. The charging villagers stopped their attacks and were starting at the wall of flame with fear in the eyes.

"What just happened?" thought Naruto, not believing what just happened. The red ball that looked like fire just protected him with a wall of flame. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a voice in the back of his head.

"Snap out of it kit. This is no time to solve the mysteries of the universe." the voice said sarcastically.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto, now freaking out because of what happened. The appearance of the wall of flame scared him but the voice in his head definitely freaked him out.

"Who I am will be answered later. You need to defend yourself against them." the voice commanded with urgency.

"How am I supposed to do that? There are a lot of them and I can't run since I'm stuck." demanded Naruto.

Naruto was pulled out from his rant when some of the villagers started throwing knives at him. Not knowing what to do, he instinctively threw his arms out, hoping to stop what was about to happen. This time, the ball of spiraling wind on his right seemed to sense his thoughts and release a strong gust of wind that blew the projectiles away from him.

"Now what happened?" Not believing his eyes when the wind suddenly appeared and blew the flying kunais away from him.

"Man, you're practically an idiot." The voice growled in amusement.

"Hey! I'm not an idiot! Get out of my head, whoever you are." ranted Naruto.

"Ok kid, listen up. I'm not going to explain this again and we are in a hurry if we want to get out of this alive. Those 'things' floating around you will protect you. All you need to do is to will them to do so."

"What?"

"Now is not the time to give you an explanation. We can do that later when we are out of this mess. Just think of what you want them to do and they will do it. NOW ATTACK!"

Not wanting to get shouted at by the mysterious voice in his head he followed the advice. He commanded the wind to throw the villagers away…and it did. The ball of wind suddenly expanded and released a small tornado that tore threw the mob like a charging bull.

Pressing his advantage, he swung his left hand and pointed a finger at the group, willing the fire to scare them away. The wall of flames that surrounded him flared to life taking the form of a dragon and flew to the shivering mob, burning about half of them in the process. The screams they released made Naruto lose his concentration so both the flames and the wind died down.

One of the ninjas in the crowd saw this and threw another barrage of kunais, hoping to get a clean hit to end the demon's life. Naruto saw this and acted on instinct again, a wall of water appeared in front of him apparently fed by the blue orb on his side that protected him from the barrage.

Wanting to get out of this predicament as soon as possible, Naruto threw his arms forward, praying to get rid of the mob so he can go see the old man to explain what's happening. What happened was both amazing and scary at the same time.

The orb of light on top of his head released a relentless assault of pure lightning that practically tore through the mob, killing some of them while making the rest run like cowards. After a few minutes, the alley looked like it came out of a war zone. The mobs who were electrocuted were groaning in pain, while the rest were passed out from getting the worst shock of their life. Various scorches littered the walls and the alley floor was pockmarked with holes when hit by his attacks.

Naruto was on his knees, panting in exhaustion, but noticed that the five spheres where encircling him in a protective fashion. Seeing that there were no more threats around, he allowed himself to relax and to regain his lost breath.

"Nice work there kit. The last attack was a bit excessive but for your first time, it wasn't so bad." complimented the voice. He was about to retort but the exhaustion was too much for him to handle so he blacked out into unconsciousness.

The Dog-masked ANBU was shocked to say the least. What he saw almost made him crap his pants. The kid, who was just 8 years old, released powerful elemental attacks and defense that made most Jounins look like toddlers. He was knocked out of his shock when he saw the boy fall into unconsciousness. He disappeared from his perch on the roof and appeared next to the boy and was surprised that the elemental spheres didn't attack him.

He made his way slowly to the unconscious boy, hoping that his approach won't trigger the boy's defense and was surprised that it didn't. He picked up the boy and ran to the hospital to have him checked and to report to the Hokage about what happened.