Hey guys. Umm I'm kind of new at this so bear with me a bit. And yes all your views are welcome.

I'm still trying to decide whether this will be a fixed pairing or whether this will be a harem story. Would like your views on this.

Sorry Sasuke Fans I have no plans on keeping him in Konoha or bringing him back.

This story begins at the point where Naruto enters the Hokage tower to steal the Forbidden Scroll

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Naruto: Taking Charge

Chapter 1: The Theft

In the normally peaceful village of Konoha, or as the ninjas called it, the Village Hidden in the Leaf, the Hokage sat in his office smoking a pipe. The Hokage, the Fire Shadow, was the leader of the village. One of the most wisest and strongest shinobi in the village if not probably the strongest. It was up to him to run the village and its ninja forces. Give them missions, make sure they are completed, collect the mission fees and decide how the money would be divided in the village and what it would be used for. These were jobs that needed to be done on a daily basis. And he had to do it almost all by himself

Sarutobi sighed audibly. He was getting too old for this job. He looked out the window to one of the faces on the Hokage Mountain. He should be retired now and spending the last of his days happily in isolation. But the village had needed a leader following the death of the 4th Hokage. And the Sandaime, the 3rd had been asked to come out of retirement till a replacement could be found.

Sarutobi lifted his wrinkled old hand to his forehead hoping to massage all his worries away. The day has started pretty well. As expected. With the missions coming in and teams coming in to look for them. He had no idea how many he had given. But he knew that most had been D rank missions.

The day had started to worsen as the Chuunin in charge of the academy came to report that the end of the year exams had been conducted. The Chuunin also gave him a list of Graduates who had been given the headband and a list of failed candidates. In this list, the chuunin had also written the reasons for their failure. The Hokage had been glad to see a long list of graduates, including members of the clans in the family. The council would be pleased. Then his gaze came to rest on the failed candidates. And notice one name on the top of the list. One Uzumaki Naruto.

The Hokage sighed. They had failed him again. All because of a simple bunshin. But then again it was always the bunshin exam that Naruto's class had been given. And he knew why. It was the only jutsu he was weak at and couldn't perform. What better to give if they did not want him to pass.

The day took a gloomy turn when the Hokage had decided to check on the boy through his crystal ball. Class had just ended and the Graduates were filing out happily with their new headbands. Each of them running towards their parent or sibling and showing that they had passed. Each of them getting a warm loving hug and a smile from whoever that had come to fetch them. All of them, except for the boy that had come out last. The Hokage watched him as he walked out of the academy, his head hung low. He glanced at the celebrations out in the courtyard with teary eyes before walking away. The Hokage had watched the boy go to his favorite spot on the top of Hokage Mountain and cry his heart out.

Moments later, a group of civilians had come in front of the tower demanding that the "Demon Boy" be killed. As they put it, he had tried to steal the headbands of several Genins by attacking them and trying to kill them. Soon a crowd had developed outside consisting of a few ninja as well. All demanding that Naruto be executed.

The Hokage sighed again and puffed long on his pipe. He looked out of his window at the 4th face carved into the mountain and whispered.

'I'm sorry Arashi. None of them understand. And you of all people know I cannot announce it. He is still too weak to be a target to your enemies.'

Little did the Hokage know that at the same instant, a small figure was bounding over the roof tops and heading straight for his office.

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With Naruto

The blonde boy jumped from roof to roof, stopping every once in a while to watch for the occasional Anbu patrol. He hung back, behind a chimney for a few minutes before bounding off again. He couldn't see them, but he felt them. He knew they were there. For they were the ones that almost always found him being beaten up by a mob. And he had almost memorized the pattern and the timings. How else did he manage to always end up in the path of a Jounin or an Anbu and end up being saved? He might act like it but Naruto knew that he was not stupid.

He held his breath as a team of Anbu stopped a few roofs behind him. Luckily for Naruto, he was hidden behind the chimney. And the black outfit Naruto had chosen for tonight rather than his favorite orange jumpsuit helped him remain hidden. Naruto eased the breath out as the Anbu team left. He realized that the stealth skills he had learnt playing pranks and running from the victims had actually come in handy for something.

"This is no time to be thinking to yourself" Naruto chided himself before picking himself up and continuing on his way towards the Hokage Tower and his objective. Mizuki's words echoed within his young mind as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop. "There is another way to graduate you know. It's a very risky way. You could even get killed for it. Do you still want to know?" he had asked. And Naruto had nodded. If he could pass and become a ninja, he would be one more step closer to his goal of recognition. And he would do almost anything to get that recognition. He listened intently as Mizuki had continued. "The Hokage has a scroll of forbidden techniques hidden somewhere in his office. If an academy student managed to learn one of those techniques, and perform it correctly. Then he would be passed as a kinjutsu is harder to learn than a normal one. But that is if you manage to get it from the Hokage" with those words Mizuki had walked away.

Naruto was no idiot. He knew much better. He had survived on his instincts and his brains. He had known that this would be a hard task the moment Mizuki had said it. There was no way that the Hokage would ever give the Forbidden Scroll to an unknown like him. Yes, the Hokage had saved him many a time when his life was in danger, but he had shown no outstanding displays of loyalty for the Hokage to trust him with the knowledge. There was only one other way to get that scroll and that was to steal it.

Naruto suddenly stopped, noticing that he was already at the tower. He lay down on the roof that he was standing on, took a pair of binoculars out and set about observing the Hokage. He watched patiently as the Hokage recollected himself and brought his gaze to rest on the mountain of paperwork on his table. He watched as the Hokage made a ram seal and formed a few clones. Then these very clones set about helping the Hokage do his paperwork. A few minutes later the Hokage had some trouble with a certain set of papers. Naruto raised a quizzical brow as one of the Hokage's clones dished through a folder and took out a file. The clone quickly read it and dispelled itself. Naruto's other brow rose in realization as the Hokage, who had not moved from his desk immediately started writing on the papers. Interesting, he thought, whatever the clone reads or experiences is immediately experienced by the actual person on the dispelling of the clone. Hmmm…hope this technique is in the Forbidden Scroll. With this, he put the binoculars inside his jacket and started to slowly climb the Hokage tower.

As soon as he reached the window, he dived into the office attracting the attention of the Hokage and his clones. With all eyes on him, Naruto crossed his fingers and whispered in a soft voice.

"Oiroke no Jutsu"

In a matter of seconds, the Hokages clones had been dispelled due to the sudden nosebleed. The Hokage himself managed to stand a little longer until the experiences of his clones came to him. Getting a good view of all 'Her' assets from different angles was too much for even the Professor to take and the great Sandaime Hokage was rocketed out of the tower by the force of the nosebleed.

Naruto chuckled to himself. That really proved what he had concluded. Now all he had to do was find the Forbidden Scroll and find a place to train. Now where exactly would I hide it if I were me? Looking around he saw a couple of bookshelves filled with scrolls, some folder cabinets and finally the Hokage's desk. Not wanting to waste time, he moved to the desk and started to go through the drawers. All he found were a couple of dirty hentai books and… He chuckled to himself again. Where else would he hide it? Who except the most perverted of enemies would ever try and take one of those books? Now to figure out which one. Another chuckle. Of course thought Naruto as he picked up the least read of the books and ran out of the tower. He headed for one of the most isolated areas in the whole of Konoha. He headed to the top of the Hokage Mountain.

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The Hokage awoke with a start. The last thing he remembered was a dark and mysterious figure entering his office and using the BEST genjutsu he had ever seen. He remembered everything in full detail. Whoever had done the henge had put an awful lot of work into it. Such detail. He would have to talk to Jiraiya when he came back. Maybe even get his former student to put that into his new installment of the Icha Icha series. Icha... Icha... OH NO!! He thought. The Forbidden Scroll!! The Hokage ran upstairs to find his desk turned sideways. His Icha Icha drawer totally empty and the Scroll gone.

The Hokage settled himself and called the chuunin standing outside the door and asked him to gather some jounin for him. Once they arrived, the Hokage addressed them and spoke.

"Something unexpected has happened tonight. Something that caught me off guard. I have no excuses for my lack of competence this night. However, what has happened has happened. A mysterious intruder has stolen our Forbidden scroll. I do not know who it is but I know that whoever he is, he has no intentions against the village. I want that scroll and the person found and brought to me in one piece. Now go!"

With that the Hokage waved his hand in dismissal and the assembled Jounins vanished in puffs of smoke. Naruto, wondered the Hokage, what have you done? Before going in to his office and taking out his crystal ball. He knew who had taken the scroll and it was one of his to be ninja. What Naruto had not known or could have taken into account was that if he was in this village and was one of the Hokage's ninjas, then the crystal ball could find him.

The Hokage watched as the blonde boy jumped from roof to roof, while reading the scroll. The Hokage was impressed that someone who had gotten such low grades in the academy managed to run on the roof tops towards the mountain without faltering or missing a step. But then again, the Hokage thought, Kakashi manages just fine as well. Maybe it has something to do with whose son he is. The Hokage returned his attention to the boy as he stopped near an abandoned cottage and start working on the jutsus.

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A few hours later, a panting young boy finally put the Forbidden Scroll down. He mentally cursed himself as he tried to catch his breath. 3 hours! Three freaking hours! And I only managed to learn one jutsu! God knows where my pursuers are. surely the old man must have woken and sent someone to find him. He had just finished the thought when a loud voice in front of him made him jump.

"Naruto! What do you think you are doing with the scroll?"

"Ah, Iruka-sensei. You found me."

"Ano, I'm training. I learnt a cool jutsu. Want to see?"

"Training?"

"Hai! Mizuki-sensei told me that if I could learn a jutsu from this scroll and show it to him then he would pass me! Want to see?"

Mizuki? Wondered the Chuunin sensei before.

"Naruto. When did Mizuki-sensei…"

Iruka was cut off by the familiar whistling sound of shuriken cutting through the air. Immediately Iruka pushed Naruto away before he himself was hit by the shuriken. He looked up into the trees looking for the attacker, while pulling out the shuriken from his body. He caught sight of a mop of white hair standing on a branch and his eyes widened. Mizuki!!

"Oh my. I was hoping I would be the first one to find the boy. You complicate things Iruka"

"Mizuki! You want the scroll?"

"Of course my fellow academy teacher. In it holds a power that only the Kage's have. Have you had no desire for such power? Do you not want to be able to face a Kage and beat him? With that scroll we can have it Iruka. And why not get rid of the demon brat while I'm at it eh?"

Seeing Naruto's confused look Mizuki continued.

"Hehehe. He doesn't know does he? What he is."

"Mizuki! Don't!"

"Hahaha. Listen to me boy. You are the Kyuubi. The 4th Hokage did not kill the Kyuubi. He couldn't. So he sealed the almighty Demon Fox in you. Now YOU are the Kyuubi. Have you wondered why you keep getting those cold stares when you walk on the road? Have you wondered why you have never passed an academy exam? It's because you are the Kyuubi. The one that killed a lot of Konoha nin. YOU deserve to die!!"

The words that Mizuki said stunned the young boy. He had just found out the truth

Me… I'm the Kyuubi…That's why… everyone…the parents…the children…the tests…that's why…. Lost in thought and shocked, the blonde hadn't seen Mizuki taking out a large Windmill Shuriken and hurling it in his direction. By the time he did see it, it had already been too late to dodge. Naruto closed his eyes and waited for death to take him.

1…2…3…4…5…6…seconds passed by and Naruto didn't feel a thing. Am I…Dead? Is this what it feels like? It was in the middle of this thought that he thought he felt water dripping on his body. He slowly opened his eyes to see a Chuunin vest over him. He lifted his gaze to meet the teary eyes of his academy teacher. Naruto could see the blood dripping from a corner of Iruka's mouth. Why? He thought. Why did you save me? It was then he heard the man whisper.

"I'm so sorry Naruto. I didn't mean for this to happen"

Iruka could clearly see the tears in his eyes. The heartbreak he felt when Mizuki had told him the truth was clear in those deep cerulean eyes. He saw the blond close his eyes and watched the tears fall. When they opened again he could see the disbelief and pain. He watched as the blond scrambled out from under him, fighting to keep his tears. He looked at Iruka once again and grabbed the scroll. He had run off before Iruka could say another word.

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Up in the Hokage tower, the Hokage was watching the scene unfold. He had been glad when Iruka had found the boy. But things again had started to take a turn for the worse once Mizuki had arrived. The Hokage could not help but watch helplessly as Mizuki told Naruto of his tenant. Mizuki had violated the law he had created to protect Naruto. As far as Sarutobi the Sandaime Hokage was concerned, he would die for breaking this rule.

The Hokage looked at the mountain again. He thought back to the happy days when the Yondaime was in charge of everything. The whole of Konoha had been happy then. He chuckled as he remembered the day that the Yondaime had used Hiraishin to come into his room with a very big grin on his face. He had come to announce that he was soon to be a father. The young Hokage had acted much like a kid that day. Running around the office and the estate yelling out loud in happiness.

All of that had been ruined 8 months later when the Kyuubi attacked. Then the strongest ninja force in the land, the leaf had committed all its ninjas into defeating the 9 tailed demon. A lot died that day trying to defeat it. All of them had died to give the Yondaime the time to create the seal that would end the reign of terror. A seal that would seal the demon into the navel of a newborn baby at the cost of his own life.

Sighing again, the Sandaime returned his attention to the crystal ball to see Naruto being chased by Iruka.

"Naruto!" yelled Iruka "Throw me the scroll. It will be much safer with me!"

"No!" Naruto yelled back "You are not Iruka!"

Within a split second of uttering these words, Naruto was sent flying by a shoulder charge from Iruka. Off balance, Naruto crashed through a few branches before hitting the ground. Grimacing in pain, Naruto crawled to a tree and propped himself up, his back resting against the trunk as Iruka landed infront of him.

"How did you know it wasn't Iruka eh gaki?" called Mizuki as he dispelled the henge he had created.

Naruto chuckled deeply. And replied "Because I am" before dispelling the henge he himself had made.

The Sandaime had known since the chase had started. He knew Naruto's chakra signature by heart after finding him in near death states dozens of time. And the one he had seen being chased didn't have Naruto's signature. He watched his crystal ball as Mizuki walked up to Iruka

"Why do you protect him Iruka? You know what he is. You know what he has sealed inside him. Think Iruka, of all the people the demon has killed. Whole families killed. Children, women and men slaughtered. I believe the demon is responsible for the death of even your parents. Wouldn't you like to take revenge Iruka? Wouldn't you like to rid this world of such an evil entity?"

Unbeknownst to all, Naruto was watching the scene from not too far away, behind a tree. He watched as Iruka looked down before replying.

"You're right Mizuki. The Kyuubi did kill my parents and I would love to avenge them."

Naruto choked. Why? Why then did you save me back at the cottage? Why then were you the only person apart from the old man that treated me well? Naruto was about to turn and jump away when he heard Iruka continue.

"I would really love to Mizuki, but that boy is not the Kyuubi. He is like you and me. Flesh and blood. Yet he is being blamed for crimes his tenant committed. Ones that he had no sway over. I don't think it's fair how the villagers treat him. They should know that he is the jailer. The only one preventing the Kyuubi from attacking the village is that very same boy. And that is why I fight to protect him."

Mizuki chuckled. And he unsheathed the second of the two windmill shurikens he had brought with him.

"Well I guess then I will have to kill you too. After all I can let nothing get in my way. Goodbye Iruka"

With that, Mizuki hurled the shuriken at Iruka as fast and as hard as he could. A hurt and bleeding Iruka just sat still watching the oncoming shuriken. He had given his all for that henge. And he was bleeding badly from the other shurikens. He had no strength left to try and dodge this one.

Suddenly an orange blur shot out of the trees deflecting the shuriken. The arrogant smirk Mizuki wore at the thought of being one step closer to his objective vanished as he found the demon that he sought to kill standing in front of the annoying chuunin. Mizuki felt his rage boil as he saw his plans being disrupted one by one. Trembling in anger, the Chuunin Mizuki pulled out a kunai and charged the blond head on. A few steps in he saw himself staring into deep blue orbs filled with hatred and anger. Mizuki faltered as he heard the boy growl out the words.

"You will not hurt my precious people"

By the time Mizuki had recovered, Naruto had already formed the seal required and with a sly grin said the words, "Kagebunshin no Jutsu" out loud. Mizuki and Iruka both looked around them in awe and shock. A boy who could not do a simple bunshin in class had just filled the entire area of the forest with Kagebunshin.

Mizuki gathered himself and yelled, "HAH! You think mere clones will stop me? You are mistaken. I WILL GET THAT SCROLL." The last thing he would remember before waking up in a prison cell would be a world of pain.

In a matter of minutes, an unconscious Mizuki was being dragged away by ANBU as the Hokage went to talk with Naruto and Iruka.

"Well Naruto, looks like you managed to learn something from the scroll after all. I guess you know what this means"

Well lets just say that somewhere in Konoha, a certain silver haired Jounin was wondering what the commotion was about.

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WOOHOO!! 1st Chapter done!! NOW!! ON TO THE 2nd!!