Sorry for the inconvenience. This fic is actually a new one. The original is …uh…deleted.

I'm very sorry to the first three reviewers for the effort you put in in reviewing. Plus I sorry I accidentally deleted your reviews. Well I'm not the one who deleted it but I am at faultsince I left the computer unattended and left it at the mercy of my niece.

Disclaimer: You know the drill…I don't own Naruto and so forth….and the story is actually an adaptation of a romance novel I once read when I was 11 years old.

Pirate Prince of Konoha

1

He should have known not to expect it to be a pleasant day: the day was to perfect to be true. But on that hot summer day, Uzumaki Naruto was too relaxed to be on guard.

"Are you going to save them?" his brother Kyu asked him when he spied the bobbing lifeboat a hundred metres away, his voice quivering with excitement: the day had past uneventfully for his taste. Naruto had felt nothing but mild surprise and concern for the unfortunate castaways.

Naruto peered again through his telescope and he didn't particularly like what he saw.

There were five of them. They were all big with wild hairs and shaggy appearance except for one. He was smaller in size compare to the others and probably only a few years older than Naruto himself. He was also well groomed save for the dirty rags saturated with dried blood wrapping his right hand. Of all the five, he radiates power even from afar.

"Yes," Naruto answered finally, if not reluctantly. Had he been like his peers he would have sailed on. But he couldn't, his conscience won't let him. "Go below and lock your door."

Kyu's face formed into a cute pout. "But Aniki…!"

"Now!"

"It's so unfair! I'm not a child anymore. I'm turning 18 this year," he complained but he obeyed all the same. Naruto was his brother and guardian after all. Kyu stalked off to the stairs followed by Haku, his companion.

(A/N: Since we know how Haku looks like: beautiful compared to the girls in Naruto so I won't waste my time in describing her…I mean him.)

Haku was a level-headed man, possessed of almost saint-like patience and common sense beyond his twenty three years. Both were qualities he required to deal with Naruto's energy-filled brother. Haku came from the 'Hide in the Mist' village, but that was all that he revealed about his background, though there was great sadness in his eyes that bespoke of a tragic past.

When they arrived in Kyu's room, Haku waited patiently for Kyu's forthcoming story.

"The only excitement of the entire voyage and Aniki sent straight to my room like a child!"

As he spoke, Kyu didn't notice Haku's faint smile. Closing the door, Haku sat down to listen to his charge's complaints.

Above, Naruto shouted orders that sent the Sakura hurling toward the lifeboat and its occupants. Thoughts of the five being smugglers never escaped Naruto, but he strongly suspected them to be more dangerous. Pirates: that's what his gut instinct told him. If that was the case, he would have little choice but to cage them with a seal for the safety of the Sakura and his little brother, Kyu. He would turn them in to the proper authorities upon their arrival at Konoha's port.

Kyu witnessed the men being hauled aboard from his cabin. All the men save the shortest were filthy from head to toe, their skins blistered from days beneath the boiling sun. The man Naruto had spied earlier was relatively clean. There were no signs of blisters, his skin unblemished. Unbelievably his skin was pale. How could that be possible? He should be roasted under the glare of the sun for God only knew how long. It wasn't only his complexions that were disturbing. His eyes were the deepest gulf of pure black. Anyone could stare into them and felt himself drowning in them. Can a man look that pretty?

Then Naruto remembered Haku. Yes!

The man was weak from blood loss but he carried himself with authority. His face was emotionless, betraying nothing of his agony. He was evidently the leader since the other four came to his sides like concerned watchdogs when he was pulled on board.

Naruto, accompanied by a couple of his men, went to his castaways as they lay in the shade of a hastily erected tarpaulin. Their blistered skin and cracked, swollen lips were tended with soaked clothes. The ship's doctor, Iruka-sensei, dampened the blood caked rags that bound the young man's arm.

Little by little, Iruka unbound the rags off the arm. More than one of Naruto's men turned away, stomachs roiling, at the sight of the torn, festering flesh and the acrid odor of decay that rose from them.

"Sweet Kami-sama," one of them muttered.

"My ship," Itachi said placidly with a calm voice. "was blown out from under me. These men" - he jerked his head to his comrades – "are all that remain of my crew. A hundred and fifty men! Blown to hell!"

"You were under attack?" Naruto asked skeptically.

"Yes. Blown out of the water. Curse those ANBU squadrons and their cannons!"

"Odd," Naruto murmured, "Generally the ANBU only prey on pirates."

The man finally smiled. Or rather his mouth is formed into a smirk. He chuckled at the knowing look in Naruto's azure eyes.

"You know, don't you, who I am?"

"I've my suspicion," Naruto admitted. "What captain sailing these waters hasn't heard of Sharingan-eyed pirate Fujiwara Itachi?"

Suddenly the dark abyss of his eyes burned crimson red with three tailed dots at the sides. Naruto had heard of the renowned Sharingan but had never seen it before. He never knew it was exotically hypnotic. But the flaming red eyes diminished back into the less intense but still entrancing colour of fathomless black.

"What are you going to do with us?" Itachi rasped in a ragged voice. Using the Sharingan had sapped energy from his already weak body.

"What should I do? What would you do in my place?"

"I would turn you in the first thing we docked on a port and collect the rewards." He replied as a-matter-of –factly. "Unless I'm a merciful person."

Naruto can't help but admire the men's nerve. How can he talk calmly when his life is in the hands of another? "And then?"

Itachi hissed as Iruka applied Sake (it was the only disinfectant available) on his wound. He wrenched the bottle away from the startled doctor's grasp and brought the liquor over his mouth.

"And then," he continued when the liquor drained down to wet his parched throat. "I'd bring the man to his home and die with his own kind."

"Merciful indeed," Naruto said dryly. "But wouldn't you sail away from an island full of pirates."

"Not if I was promised protection."

"A pirate's promise?" Naruto arched one of his brows.

If Itachi was insulted, he didn't show it. He was as distant as ever. He straightened up and looked down on Naruto.

"I may be a pirate, but my word is as good as any man's-better than some who call themselves 'gentlemen'.

Naruto can't argue over the point since he had dealt with more than one dishonorable 'gentleman'. Still, the man was notorious.

"And is it protection that you're promising?" he surprised himself by asking.

Itachi was careful to hide the glimmer of hope Naruto's question evoked inside him. From the moment his ship, Red Slayer, had slipped beneath the waters, he'd believed that his end was at hand. Even if he wasn't claim by the sea, the gallows would.

His only hope lay in convincing the golden-haired youth to take him home to die. He had no doubt that he won't live much longer. He had witnessed men dying due to wounds such as his.

"Yes," he answered. "Protection for you, your ship and your crew. Take us home and I'll see you get safety out of Hell's Peak harbor."

Naruto's eyes met Itachi's. Naruto did not question Itachi's words. He believed him. He prided himself in being a good judge of character and he knew that Itachi was honest, albeit an infamous pirate. But he could be wrong. It was not only his life that he was risking; it was also the lives of his crew and his young brother.

He drew the doctor away and spoke to him softly. "Ne, Iruka-sensei, will he survive?"

"It would take a miracle. Gangrene is setting in. The whole arm would have to come off. Even then…" He shook his head.

Naruto returned to the pirate's side. "If I were to take you back," he said, "your men would not be allowed to board my ship."

"Agree," Itachi answered quickly.

"Your second in command?

"Dead."

"We won't stay long on Hell's Peak," Naruto told him. "You will be put ashore and then we'll weigh anchor."

Itachi nodded his agreement, but Iruka-sensei spoke up.

"Is there a doctor on this island of yours, Itachi-san?"

"Not anymore. Kabuto went down with the Red Slayer."

"What happens to the men with wounds such as yours?"

Itachi's eyes glinted coldly. "They die, sensei, as we all must in time."

Iruka winced at the pirate's callous disregard to human life. "There is no one to tend to the sick?"

"Sasuki does what she can." He saw the questioning looks. "My sister. Seventeen, she is."

"Surely a seventeen-year-old girl…"

"We use to have another healer and she taught her what she can before she died."

Iruka drew Naruto aside. "Couldn't we remain long enough for me to tend to anyone requiring medical attention?" he asked. "There are likely women and children…"

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto cut him off before he could go on to persuade him. "It is enough I am considering to take him back to his home. To remain there any longer than necessary would spell disaster. I have to think about Kyu. His safety is my priority."

"I suppose you're right. Nevertheless, I would ask that I'd be allowed to see him settle and made as comfortable as possible before we set sail."

Naruto scowled but Iruka was determined.

"Fine!" Naruto grumbled before staring into the distant. He longed for his home. Without this incident they would have entered the port several days time. Now, their journey would lengthen.

Iruka rest his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I know. I miss Konoha too. I can't wait to go home."

"Why? Is it because of Ramen?"

Iruka laughed. "Iie. I couldn't wait to see the Naruto that acted like an overgrown child, not the calculative and hardened sea captain."

Naruto smiled before pouting. "Are you calling me childish?"

Itachi laughed, making the two men turn around to face him.

"What's so funny?" Naruto demanded.

"Nothing," he shook his head. "I was just thinking. You're a very interesting person, do you know that? Just like Sasuki but somehow different. I think she will find that you are interesting too."

"You were listening to our conversation?"

"I'm a shinobi. I have acute sense of hearing." Itachi shrugged.

Naruto was about to say something else but was cut off by Iruka. "So what do you say captain?"

Naruto was debating the matter inside his head but Iruka already knew the answer.

"Oh, hell," Naruto muttered. "We'll go," He looked back at Itachi and nodded, "Give the direction to my helmsman. We'll take you home."

Then something rare happened. Fujiwara Itachi's mouth curved into a smile. The men (including his men) around stared at him. If they thought he was pretty before, he looked beautiful now.

"You won't regret it. I swear you won't."

Naruto snapped out of his trance before storming off with a scowl. What was wrong with him?