A/N: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't need to write fanfiction, I would just write new chapters for Naruto instead.

A/N Pt. 2: My apologies to anyone waiting for the updates on my Bleach story, The Guardian. I'm still working on it, I just can't seem to make the next chapter what I wanted to be. In the meantime, I've had an idea for Naruto for a while, so I decided to go ahead and write that, hoping that it might knock something loose for The Guardian.

Chapter 1: The Ronin and the Demon

The noonday sun was shining brightly in the village, showing streets bustling with even more activity than normal. It was the day of the biggest festival of the year, and there was much work still to be done. Vendors were setting up street side stands, the game masters doing the same, while others were making sure the fireworks were ready for the display, which was slated to truly be something worthy of remembrance. Meanwhile, children and parents were wandering the streets in eager anticipation of the party which this activity was preparing for, all under the watchful eyes of the various ninja jumping across the rooftops. This is not, after all, just any village. This is the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha, the strongest of the ninja villages in the land. And this is not just any festival. Today is October 10th, and the fourth anniversary of the day when the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, gave his very life to save the village from the most powerful force of nature the world had ever known, the Nine Tailed Fox Demon, Kyuubi. It only makes sense that everyone would go all out celebrating this heroic act. Of course, the day doesn't mean the same thing to everyone, and at least one person is not in a festive mood.

There is one small four year old boy, sitting in his apartment, looking out the window, his stunningly blue eyes welling up with tears, trying to prevent them from falling. As one breaks free from his constraints, it runs down his cheek, tracing over the whisker like birthmarks found there, he finally gives in, letting his face fall into his hands, obscuring everything but the golden blond hair atop his head and his heaving shoulders giving away the sobs which he is suppressing with every ounce of strength his little body possesses. Curious, isn't it? On a day like today, children should be struggling to contain their joy, not their sorrow. Especially on their birthday! It seems like an incredible swing of good fortune, having your birthday fall on the day of the biggest festival. The irony of the situation doesn't escape even him. "Why today? What did I ever do to them? Why should I have to spend my birthday locked up and alone while everyone else celebrates? It just isn't fair!"

Mind you, none of this hustle and bustle has any particular impact on the woods surrounding the village. No, the woods are just as peaceful and quiet today as any other day. The only sounds to be heard are the calls of the birds in the trees, the small animals scurrying on the ground, the light breeze blowing through the trees, and the soft padding of two feet walking down a path towards the village. Whoever this traveler is, he certainly seems to enjoy a sense of mystery. He wears a large straw hat, pulled down so that not only can you not see his hair, but the top half of his face is similarly shielded. In addition, he wears a heavily faded blue cloak with the image of waves along the bottom, and a lighter blue towards the top, complete with an image of a golden sun on the collar. While the cloak is mostly open, it is fastened together by three buttons at the top of the cloak, effectively covering any facial features which the hat failed to hide. That open front of the cloak reveals a simple blue kimono held together with a black obi. More than the obi itself, what would likely catch anyone's eye would be the hilt and sheath of the sword held to his hip by the obi. It was clearly a long blade, though just how long was once again hidden by the cloak. On his feet were standard wooden sandals. Other than his sword, there was nothing that would call attention to him, and even the sword was not exactly jumping out at you. So perhaps it should have been no surprise that he was already a few steps past the checkpoint at the gates of Konoha before the two guards realized that someone had walked right past them.

"Hey! Hold it!" yelled the first, a non-descript chunin, at the intruder.

"Yeah, you can't just waltz in here without checking in!" said his partner after jumping in front of the man.

Wordlessly, the man turned around and walked back to the gate, before bowing and apologizing in a flat, emotionless voice, "My sincerest apologies. I am simply attempting to pass through. I have been walking for some days now without having stayed in a village, and so it was my hope to find an inn where I could bathe and rest before continuing on my way."

Slightly unnerved by this strangers behavior and the tone in his voice, the first chunin, a man with short brown hair, answered with a clear edge in his voice, "Yeah, well, without a name and a face, you can't be allowed to just wander freely in the village." Giving the man another once over, he noticed the handle of his sword and added, "And besides, you'll have to drop your sword here. You can pick it up when you leave town."

The stranger visibly tensed at mention of the sword. "I was unaware that a village of shinobi would have an issue with my carrying a sword."
The second chunin decided to clarify. "Normally you'd be right. Today is a major festival, however, and as such, for the protection of the citizens and visitors, the Hokage is not allowing anyone other than Leaf shinobi to carry weapons."

The man seemed to relax a bit, before bowing once again and continuing in his emotionless monotone, "Very well then, I shall be on my way. If this is the day of a festival, it would seem it is not the best time to come here seeking to relax." And with that, he walked back out into the forest, leaving behind two severely confused guards.

A few hours later, the festival was in full swing. The streets were almost impassable, clogged with hundreds upon hundreds of people. A young blond and a mysterious stranger were both thinking the same thing: 'Man, that sounds like fun.' As it turns out, there response to that thought was essentially the same. Our young blond decided he would cover up a bit, tying an old bandanna over his head to cover his blond hair, and putting on a black jacket with a high collar to cover his whisker marks. Confident that nobody would be able to recognize him now, he left his apartment to go join the festivities. The wanderer, not having much left to cover up, simply moved his sword from his hip to his back, so as to have it completely covered by the cloak. Granted, if a chunin level ninja or higher gave him a close look, it would stand out plain as day, but so long as he gave no reason for suspicion, it should be just fine. With that thought, he walked up to the village walls, channeled some chakra into his feet, and with a speed that even a jonin would have a hard time keeping up with, scaled the wall and jumped to an alley bellow before making his way in to mix with the crowds.

After the sun had set, the wanderer began to think it was just about time to try and find an inn. 'Not that there are probably a lot of open rooms left at this point. Hmm, maybe I should just head for a bath instead and then leave again. A bed would have been incredible, but just relaxing in some hot water after all these days using freezing rivers will be heavenly.' While he was thinking this, something caught his eye. There was a large group gathered around the opening of a narrow alley. This didn't seem entirely out of place, after all, he'd been seeing groups this size and larger all over the place at the festival. But now he was blocks away from the festivities, and the shouts from the crowd didn't sound happy, but angry. 'Crap. The last thing I need to be doing is sticking my nose in other people's business. Then again, angry mobs rarely end well, and mom would never forgive me if I turned a blind eye to someone's suffering. I better at least go see what this is all about.' As he approached the crowd, he became more and more concerned about what was happening. He was catching bits and pieces of the angry cries of the mob. Things like, "Demon!" and, "Kill the demon brat!" The last one is what really concerned him. 'Brat? Ah crap. If there is a kid involved in this, then I'm probably gonna have a major headache before I'm through.' To confirm his fears, he scaled a building next to the alley and looked down on the scene without the mob noticing. Sure enough, what he saw confirmed his fears and made his blood boil. There in the alley was a small boy, blond hair matted to his head by a mix of sweat and blood, crying as he attempted to crawl away from the mob, all while dragging a leg behind him, clearly badly broken. The man at the front of the mob had a sick grin on his face as he very slowly stalked the child. Upon closer inspection, the wanderer recognized him as one of the chunin who had been guarding the gate earlier. 'Are you shitting me? A trained shinobi stalking a kid? Oh, that's it.' With that, he removed his hat, revealing his brown hair tied in a high pony tail and eyes the same blue-green color as the sea, and his cloak, revealing his mouth in a vicious sneer and a scar on his left cheek running from the corner of his mouth clear to his ear. His face was quite young, most likely in his late teens. Then he pulled his sword from his back, revealing a 48" blade, before jumping down into the alley between the kid and the chunin.

"Who the hell are you?" the shocked and intoxicated chunin managed to ask this stranger between him and the demon.

"That is twice you have asked me that question, and I shall not answer you this time either," he said back in his emotionless, professional voice. "You have two options. First, you and the mob behind you can apologize to this child and disperse, and I will be far too concerned with getting this boy medical treatment to pursue you or to find any authorities," now he paused, as a slight smirk began to appear at the corner of his mouth and a little bit of rage found its way into his voice as he continued. "Second, you can do me a huge favor and attack me to try and get to this child so that I can beat the shit out of every last one of you before I take this boy for treatment."

At this point, he was shocked to hear a small voice from behind him. "E-ex-excuse me, b-b-but are you really here to help me?"

At this, the stranger looked back over his shoulder, keeping one eye on the mob in front of him and a small, sad smile formed on his face. "You can bet on that, little man. I want you to do me a big favor and stay behind me. I promise you this, if there is still breath in my lungs and my heart continues to beat, then these people will not be getting past me." A look of relief and shock flashed across the boys face before he passed out. The stranger, now more pissed than ever, turned his attention back to the mob. "Screw it. Option one is gone. You bastards ARE gonna pay!"

With that, he charged at the lead chunin at a speed the drunk shinobi couldn't hope to keep up with, and brought his sword into his chest, launching his limp body into the crowd. The civilians in the crowd were terrified and took off running, but the remaining shinobi, six of them, moved in to attack. The stranger, knowing he was outnumbered, stayed in the narrow alley way to minimize their numbers advantage. For their part, the shinobi began throwing kunai and shuriken at him, to take advantage of his limited room to dodge and the fact that he was forced to stand in front of the boy to protect him from the projectiles. After seeing him effortlessly deflect every weapon thrown at him with his blade, they decided to try a different tact. Two of them charged him while three others peppered him with more kunai as the last attempted to sneak up the building to drop into the alley behind him. However, it was all for naught. The two who charged barely got into the alley before receiving similar treatment to the first chunin, as they both took the blade directly across their chests, launching them at the two throwing projectiles. When those two jumped up to dodge, they were shocked to see this swordsman appear in front them before planting his sandals in each of their faces, breaking their noses and launching them head first into the concrete below, while launching himself at the last ninja who was still in the process of scaling the building only to be sent flying to ground when the hilt of the sword was brought down on his forehead, launching him to the pavement in a similar fashion. The entire fight had take a little less than a minute. Just as the wanderer began to approach the boy again, he spun around, sword at the ready as four figures in white animal masks appeared. 'Shit. Anbu. This can't get much worse.' He then began to curse himself for jinxing it, as a fifth ninja appeared. This one an old man in a white robe and with a large white hat on. At seeing him, the stranger instantly dropped his sword and fell to one knee with his head bowed and a fist on the ground and resumed his monotone, emotionless voice, "Lord Hokage. My sincerest apologies for any trouble I have caused. My intent was simply to pass through, but I could not turn a blind eye to this child's situation."

If he'd been looking up, he'd have seen the Hokage flash a small smile, only for an instant, before becoming all business again. "While I appreciate you helping one of our young citizens, I cannot turn a blind eye to the seven dead chunin which surround us."

"With all due respect, Lord Hokage, there is no reason any of them should die if they receive medical attention soon. They are all battered and broken, but not dead." As if to confirm what the stranger had said, the first chunin began to cough blood and moan.

"Take these men to an Anbu hospital. Once they've recovered, send them to Ibiki."

"Yes, Lord Hokage!" With that, the four Anbu and seven chunin were gone, leaving only the Hokage, the boy, and the ronin.

With a whistle from the Hokage, the ronin's head came up and another Anbu, this one in a dog mask, appeared. "Inu, you will take Naruto to the hospital and guard him while he is there until I tell you otherwise."

"Of course, Lord Hokage." Once again, the Anbu and the child disappeared in an instant.

"And as for you, I have quite a bit to discuss with you, if you'd be so kind as to follow me to my office," the Hokage said to the ronin, with a look of interest on his face.

At this, the swordsman felt the headache he knew this incident would give him quickly mounting its way to migraine status. 'I don't see this going smoothly for me. Oh well, at least he didn't kill me on the spot.' "As you wish, Lord Hokage. Would it be possible to have someone get my hat and cloak from on that building there?"

The Hokage could barely suppress a chuckle at the question. "Certainly. They will be delivered to my office shortly. Now, if you would be so kind." With that, the Hokage extended his hand. When the confused ronin finally worked up the courage to take his hand, both were obscured by a swirl of leaves before appearing in a large office. "Now, if you'll take a seat, I have a few questions I'd like to ask. I'd appreciate it, obviously, if you would be honest with me. If I get the slightest indication you're not, then I will have no choice but to turn you over to our interrogation unit."

Thanks everyone for reading. The second chapter should be up soon. I can't make any promises about how regularly there will be updates, but I can say that reviews, especially ones that give me things to work on improving, are huge motivation.