1 Hope

Hope.

The word rings throughout the echoes of human time. Belief that as long as you hold on your expectations and desires will happen eventually. Yes, despite how bad things get, as long as there is hope...then anything is possible.

How many humans relied upon this concept to get them through a day of work, a troubling marriage, a mission gone wrong, a war upon the horizon? How many humans relied upon hope to keep them going?

Yes, Humans needed hope. Heh, how hilarious. Human beings always so mighty and cocky when the world offered what they desired.

Yet,once the world said no, once the world reject their little attitudes they reduced themselves to crying out to their makeshift idol gods, and praying those false gods of wood, bronze, iron, fire, water, and any other element that they could set their sights upon, hoping for an answer to why the world would not recognize them.

Yes, Humans needed hope...because humans were nothing but sniveling, groveling, miserable weaklings. Same to their makeshift gods and idols. Cowards. Weaklings. Pathetic bags of blood and flesh. The lot of them.

Their hope was their own ridiculous powerlessness to change the circumstances which warped around them on their own. When that hope faded, it became...despair.

Despair. It has many names. Fear, Hopelessness, Loss, Defeatism, Misery, Depression, and Desperation to cut the list of many.

The belief that there is no hope, no way to live, no answer to the situation. Yes, despair was the dark side of hope. Human live in despair as much as they live in hope.

'It will not get better. I have nothing to live for. We're finished. We're doomed. Only death awaits us. Am I...going to die?'

Such statements have resounded since time immemorial. From the first creature which plucked itself from Earth's body, the faint smell of despair was upon it. That creeping feeling of death and decay, that darkness where the light of Hope could not reach.

Many had visited both side of this coin. Many would continue to visit both sides of this coin. For in Hope, there is despair. For in despair, there is hope.

One person learned this very well. His screams were heard as a whip clashed with his young skin. One person learned of the power of hope. The security it brings to all beneath its embrace.

Even as he was called unholy titles by those of his home, he had held onto the hope that one day...someday...any day, they might let him become one of them. He would have the hope of friends. He would have the hope of family in this place.

Even as a spiked collar was place on his neck, and iron chains were clasped on his hands, he had tried to hold onto the hope of...The Will of Fire. He tried hard. He tried so very hard. Please believe him, he tried.He really did try.

He tried to hold into the hope that they would stop. He tried to hold onto the hope that they...would place value in him. He tried to hold onto the hope that they...would trust him. He tried to hold onto the hope that they...would love him.

As he was hung from a meat hook, stripped bare by those around him, he coughed when he was released. His body splashed in a barrel of salt water.

The salt burned at the open wounds upon his skin. Yes, he tried to be like the Hokage. He tried to be hopeful, he tried to be understanding. He tried...to be forgiving. He tried...to love them.

"Forgive them, Naruto. They don't know what they're doing. They are only afraid."

What about him? He was afraid too! Didn't he get to earn the right to be afraid? They seemed perfectly aware of what they were doing.

Whether from the water, from the pain, or from the need to escape, he could feel himself passing out. He could feel it coming again. He could feel the light leaving. He could feel the weight of darkness upon him.

"They will never accept me. This...will never stop. I...can't get away." Despair. He flipped the coin which laid at his feet. He screamed as he felt a strike of the whip against his wet skin. Each strike came after another drop into salted water.

Each strike, he walked further and further into the darkness. Each drop into cold, freezing or boiling, hot water led him away from the warm glow of light he had tried so hard to stay in. Was he...going to die? He certainly felt like it when he felt the sting of hot iron on his body.

Minutes must have passed like seconds. Everything seemed like a warped sense of bright colors, pain, and mumbled words. He couldn't even remember if he kept screaming.

All he remembered was that...his vision was getting darker. His body couldn't move and he was sure that he smelled something bad. Everything was going dark.

"Why don't I have a Mom and Dad? I know what you've told me before. About how the Kyuubi ran amok. But, I want to know about my parents. Who were my parents? What kind of people were they?"

"There is no use asking about that. It won't bring the dead back,"

It won't bring the dead back. It won't bring the dead back. It WoN't BrInG ThE DeAd BaCk! He remembered those words that the Sandaime spoke to him. His body grew colder and colder, he could see a pool of blood...his blood running across the ground next to the trash cans in the alleyways.

"It was him, that boy's name who's taboo! He has no parents we can complain to!"

Alone. Forgotten. Worthless. Sinner. Wretch. Vile. Repulsive. Monster. Demon. He remembered these names. He had been forced to wear them for up to now. He had been forced to endure their weight. He had been forced to endure their burden.

Upon the ground of the village he had been forced to tread upon, he could feel the small beats of his heart. Each beat slower than the last one. He, Uzumaki Naruto, container of the Kyuubi No Yoko, was dying.

Naruto wheezed, but movement he could not produce. His body had stopped responding. Along with his body, all hope of salvation was gone. He was going to die in an alleyway among the garbage just like those of the village wanted him to.

He would die a nobody...just like the those of the village wanted him to. "Hap...py birthday...me, I'm n….ow….ten." Naruto thought.

Though his body could not move, he could feel the wet tears stain his face and then the ground. Why was he here? Why did he have to continue walking this ground only to be trampled at each and every turn?

Why did Kami no answer his prayers? Was he not good enough? Was he not a good child? Had all of humanity and heaven forsaken him?

"They are only grieving, my boy. They have lost important people to them. Please just give them time and they will come around. Just have hope!"

Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. Hope. HOPE! HOPE! HOPE! HOPE! HOPE! HOPE! HOPE! HOPE! HOPE?! HOPE?! HOPE?! HOPE?! hOpE! hOpE! hOpE! hOpE! hOpE! hOpE! hOpE! hOpE! hOpE! hOpE! hOpE!

Naruto hated that word. Have hope! HAVE HOPE?! He laid on the ground surrounded by garbage because of hope. He believed in the Will of Fire BECAUSE OF HOPE! He saw his blood watering the ground BECAUSE OF HOPE! What good was hope...when he was about to die getting it?!

"Give them time! They will come around!"

No, if he survived, they had run out of time! If he survived, he didn't care if they EVER came around. If he survived, HE WOULD GIVE THEM MORE TO GRIEVE OVER! He would make them watch as their children laid upon the garbage just like he had!

They had lost important people?! Well, there would be no point asking about that! IT WOULDN'T BRING THE DEAD BACK! Their so called Will of Fire? He would snuff it out! They wanted a monster? Then he would give them the best damn monster they would ever get!

If he survived, he would make damn sure that they. Would. NOT! Even if he had drag them to the underworld along with him!

Naruto heard something sniff his body. He could not move, but he saw a lone, tiny dog sniffing his slowly dying corpse. Perhaps it was wondering if it could eat him or not.

He didn't know, it did what it had to do to survive. Just. Like. Him! With what little energy Naruto had left, he waited until the dog was within the inner corners of his body.