From the author's brainmeats: Well, here's my first serious attempt at fanfiction. Um, yay? I plan on updating once a week. Anywho, it's a Naruto and Hinata story where they meet and become friends before they even reach the academy. They end up on Team 7 with Sasuke, and have to deal with freakish strength, dangerous monsters, comic book geeks, and western nations. Romance isn't the problem. Surviving is. Honorifics will be kept, but only as a nod to the fact that they are speaking an eastern language. Once westerners enter the fic, don't expect them to use it. Also, please please please let me know of any spelling or grammar errors. The last thing I need is for my fic to be unreadable. So review, too, dood!(What? I like Prinnies.)

"Insert words here": Characters speaking

Insert thoughts here: Characters thinking

Disclaimer: I don't own anything important or worth money, especially Naruto. That would imply that I make an effort.

To Hold the Sun

Chapter 1: Crash Into Hello

Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Located in the Land of Fire, one of the many nations in the area of the world known as Naito. Konoha, considered the largest and most powerful of the 5 main Hidden Villages, with its mighty collection of talented ninja, is considered one of the safest places in Naito, possibly even the entire world.

Especially for children.

Especially for 5-year-olds.

Not so much for a 5-year-old who had a 9-tailed beast sealed in their body, who had the brilliant idea of sneaking out of the orphanage at night to play.

Naruto Uzumaki was really starting to regret his latest plan. You would too, if you had a bunch of angry villagers chasing you for reasons you don't know.

The small blond knew he had to evade his pursuers, so he did what he had done for the past few months when people ran at him with the threat of beatings and sharp, pointy objects on his person: run from the streets and into the small forests that make up part of the village. Somehow, when fleeing for his life, every time he went into the woods, he would manage to come out unharmed, his pursuers mysteriously gone.

Heading out into the streets again, Naruto turned his head and tried to see if he lost the small mob that was behind him. Not a single person was following him anymore.

He was safe.

Or he might be, if he remembered to turn his head back around. But he didn't, so, as luck would have it, he ran into an little obstacle.

"Ow!"

"Aah!"

Naruto was already berating himself. "Jeez, I didn't think I'd run into a wall..."

A small groan made him jump to the usual conclusion. Wait, since when do walls have a voice?

Usual for Naruto, mind you.

Another voice, rather concerned, made its presence known to him. "Oh, dear. Are you two all right?"

Naruto stopped rubbing his head and looked up at the speaker. The voice belonged to a woman in her twenties, having a slender face and blue, near purple hair neatly going down her head to just slightly past her waist. She was wearing a simple purple kimono that showed her modest figure, as well as wearing a simple pair of slippers to protect her feet. What got Naruto's attention, however, was her eyes. No noticeable pupils, just round irises the color of lavender. He'd never seen eyes like that before, he was sure of it.

The woman, Akemi Hyuuga, looked at the blue eyed, blond boy, wearing nothing but a white shirt with the familiar Leaf symbol on it, and orange shorts. He was barefoot, and looked rather dirty. Then she noticed the six whisker-like marks on his face, and recognition set in. Poor boy, he's the one that the Yondaime had to...

"Little boy, are you alright? You seem to have upset my daughter." Akemi had hoped the child was aware of her girl, as she was rather upset, and knelt down to console her.

Naruto stood, and looked at the "wall" he ran into. Before him was a small girl, most likely his age, who looked like a near carbon copy of the mother she was next to, down to the small slippers. The only difference was that instead of the hair going down the back to her waist, was that it was trimmed to be level with her ears, and the girl also had two locks of hair to frame her face. Again, however, Naruto was drawn to those pale eyes, like her mothers... but full of tears.

Naruto wasn't the best at dealing with people, but something told him that he didn't like it when she cried. I made it happen too, huh? That's not good!

He decided to go over and address the girl. "Oh, uh, hey. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to run into you and knock you down. Don't cry." With that, he pasted on the biggest, toothy smile he had.

The girl looked up at the boy, wondering why he wasn't actually trying to be mean. The boys at the Hyuuga manor always said she was icky and weak. It wasn't her fault, she just started training! This boy, though, didn't seem to have any problems at all with her. And that goofy smile...

She couldn't help it. She laughed.

Akemi had to smile as her daughter wiped the tears from her eyes. Rising with her daughter, she said, "Now there, you see, Hinata-chan? It was just an accident. Nothing to worry about."

Hinata, however, was still staring at the boy, noting how he looked. His eyes, that hair, and... whiskers? He kinda looks like a kitty! Hinata liked kitties.

At that moment, two things made it to Hinata's mind: She liked this boy, and she nearly forgot her shyness. Cue her natural habit of blushing in embarrassment, general mumbling of discomfort, and the nervous touching together of her index fingers.

To Akemi, she saw her daughter have a genuine interest in the boy.

To Naruto, he just thought she was acting funny. "So, your name's Hinata? Mine's Naruto."

Hinata tried to keep herself from messing up her first meeting with the only boy who was trying to be nice to her. "H-hello, Naruto..."

This was a surprise to him. Naruto never had any kid be nice to him, and not have a parent drag the kid away while giving him an ugly look. He saw a chance; he might actually make a friend.

He had to ask. "Hey, Hinata? Would you like to be my friend?"

Both mother and daughter were shocked. Hinata never actually had a friend before. The divide between the main and branch families saw to that. This was also the first time Hinata ever left the manor. Akemi had a suspicion that Naruto didn't have friends either. Hinata looked to her mother for guidance. Seeing Naruto's fearful eyes at this moment, Akemi simply nodded to Hinata.

Gathering as much courage as she could, Hinata replied, "Y-yes, I would l-like that." Hinata suddenly wondered if she did something wrong.

Naruto was crying. She said yes. Her mother didn't take her away and scowl at him. Angry people weren't coming out of nowhere while a red-faced man with googly eyes said, "It's a trap!"

Grabbing Hinata in a hug, he sobbed out, "T-thank you, thank you!"

She would've passed out in embarrassment if it weren't for Akemi. "Well now, while I would have loved to see you two play today, it's rather late. How about we take you to your home, Naruto, and we'll visit you tomorrow?"

Letting Hinata out of the hug, wiping his tears off, and grabbing her hand, Naruto led the way. "Ok, follow me!"

Seeing Naruto tug Hinata along brought a few tears to Akemi's own face. She knew where he was taking them. Now, like 5 years ago, she wanted to adopt the little ball of energy and call him her own. The elders, however, would probably do something horrible to the child as soon as he set foot in the manor. Minato, Kushina, he'd make you so proud. Perhaps I should remind Hiashi about a certain deal Minato wanted set up. Nothing to make a cute couple better than a little insurance...

Meanwhile, a few moments after Naruto ran into the forest...

Some days, Kakashi Hatake really hated his job. It was bad enough to capture, knock out, and sometimes kill the villagers hell-bent on harming Naruto. But at least he was doing the right thing. He was honoring his sensei's sacrifice by keeping Minato's only son, burdened with carrying the very demon Minato lost his life stopping, safe.

But if he knew who he was working with, you couldn't have paid him enough to actually take the job.

"Look, I'm just saying Duke Vader has the advantage here."

"Are you kidding? No Sire Wars character can match up to the Sandaime. He completely outclasses them."

"Oh, come on. The Faith totally blows any ninjutsu and genjutsu out of the water! Besides, this is Duke Vader, the guy has the Dark Side advantage. He Faith Choked a dragon to death! The Sandaime wouldn't even get close enough to pull off a proper attack, he wouldn't even be able to use a jutsu! You can't use a jutsu to win if you can't talk."

"What? Dude, there are jutsus that can be done without saying anything! And what about a sneak attack?"

"He couldn't possibly get close enough to land a hit on Duke Vader without him sensing him. The Faith is that good. And have you ever actually heard of the Sandaime use a jutsu without speaking? I think not. And I haven't even gotten started on how the Knightsabre adds to the equation."

"Yeah, well-"

That's it. He could only take so much. "21, 24, shut the hell up, or I will make you shut up!" He glared at the stout, short man with brown hair and the tall, skinny man with black hair, both standing near the unconscious villagers that were tied up, both wearing the standard-issue ANBU armor and masks, as Kakashi himself was wearing.

The shorter one replied, "Ooh, uh... sorry about that, Captain. Didn't mean to set you off there."

Kakashi sighed, tired already from the day. "Forget it. I just want this job over with. It's been a long day."

Tall man took his turn in the discussion. "Yeah, man, you and me both. 21, what do you think?"

"Reading my mind, man. You'd think after 5 years of seeing other people getting their heads cut off and sent to Ibiki, that that would stop them from going after the kid. Right, 24?"

"Yup. Man, I feel sorry for that kid."

At this time, one of the villagers had the need to wake up. And stare right at the ANBU in front of him. And scream his head off. One slice later...

"Ah, shit! Reflex! So sorry!"

"Dude, not cool, I got freaking dead guy blood in my eye! Thanks a lot, 21!"

"Don't panic, 24! Blink it out! Blink it out!"

Kakashi had to sigh again. How did I get stuck with these guys?

Next chapter: 3 years pass by. While Naruto and Hinata head off to the academy, Hiashi and Sarutobi reflect on the kid's development, and Kakashi prays to the Kamis to get him off the same team as 21 and 24!

Stuff you should know:

Naito: What I'm calling the area that's the territory of the 5 big Shinobi Nations, and the surrounding smaller nations. Translated to English, it means "night"(Oh, gee, that was hard to guess!).

Kimono: Traditional Japanese robe worn by both men and women.

Akemi: Name I decided on for Hinata's mom. Means "bright and beautiful".

Yondaime: Title referring to the 4th Kage of a Hidden Village.

-chan: Honorific, normally used to address little girls. Sometimes used relating to affections towards a girl, regardless of age.

Sire Wars: Star Wars rip... I mean, uh, counterpart for this story. Simply replace space with medieval Europe.

Sandaime: Title referring to the 3rd Kage of a Hidden Village.