Chapter 1

It was another cold night. The darkness from the alleys couldn't stop me nor can the sounds of the moon. I was a shadow, evasive, I left everything behind me for this life. It was a life that promised riches beyond imagine and yet, I never got a single coin doing this. I would get coin, I would steal it from mansions, rich people who think walking down the street during noon is a good idea, but no matter what. The coin I steal feel worthless. I did this to help myself cope with the idea that she's gone. Her pink hair flowing in the win, the way she would shudder from my touch. It made my excited just thinking about it.

Her name was Sakura, I never did get her last name.

I was sitting on a railing of a bridge while dangling my feet near the water below. It was a small bridge, mainly built for carriages of important or fragile items. That's why I'm here, to steal it. But also to enjoy the moon. The moon felt so big, so bright that I could stay here and stare at it all day without a single thought in my mind. The moon was my savior and I fought for it. I did. Maybe not as hard as others, but why does the moon shine it's light on the wicked too? When I'm here trying so hard to win it's praise. Is it because I expect gifts in return? To be honest, I think that's what's really wrong with me. Should I be grateful with the minimal light that shines on my skin or should I go look for that light elsewhere.

The sound of a carriage slowly approaches, and I leaped over the bridge to hide underneath. I set up spikes on the road to stop the carriage and I'm in a position to deliver swift death. The carriage drove normally, the man steering had a sheepish look, sipping liquor from his canteen. The horses looked tired, worn from a long trip. The carriage crosses the bridge, and the wheels shred underneath the spikes causing the carriage to shake violently. It shook the old man awake as fear struck his eyes. I jumped as high as I can and threw a knife at his throat to stop any kind of screaming. When he drowned in his blood, I went to the back to check on the goods. There's only a window of time before patrol shows, so I must be quick.

When I flipped the curtains to the side, I was met with a demise that made me frown. Todays carriage isn't a cargo carriage, it's a transport carriage and hiding in the farthest corner was a small girl with frightened eyes. She tried to put her bravest face for me, but I brushed it to the side quickly, "Who are you?" I asked, showing my knife. The girl hesitated to respond so I threw my knife near her face, glazing the side of her cheek as a small line of blood drips to the wooden floor.

"Hyuuga Hanabi." She replied. My eyes widened.

Hyuuga, they're a royal family in Konoha, cousins of the Hokage. It is not normal to find one in a simple carriage, but it seems the whole idea was to shift attackers from attacking it. Which means there has to be a clone coming soon, holding the fake princess. I jumped in the back and grabbed her hand. It was soft, with a certain warmth about it. And with that. We took off.

I never told her where were going and I found a few cottons from the fields to stuff her mouth with. It was unpleasant, especially for a princess. The rules changed long ago, before, a Hokage was voted as the strongest ninja in the village but when westerners arrived, the whole system changed. The westerners had numbers, and surprisingly talented mages that possess magic rivaling anything a chakra user can conjure. It was a brutal war, and eventually, both sides decided on a truce. Konoha and many other villages were destined to fail, but the westerners didn't want to lose more soldiers then they had to.

The truce consisted with several laws and the introduction of democracy. While the idea of voting for your leader pleased the people, it didn't please the current leaders of the shinobi realm. They came to an agreement of monarchy, where the current leader will be king and it's offspring's will be future kings. It can only be denied when there's an unanimous vote to have that leader taken out. It was flawed, since kings can oppose with their power unto the people to have them forced to vote for him. But it was a first step and the westerners were fine with it.

To counter the strength of the king, westerners demanded that each village would hold several royal families, and if all royal families were to gain support and have the king thrown out from his throne. It is possible. However, it's never healthy to have internal problems and as of right now. The royal families allow the king to do whatever they please, but since the king was never a wicked man to begin with, it has been peaceful so far. It's a plan that is destined to ruin the future, and there's only enough time to stop it.

"Unhand me you mongrel." The princess hissed. Her eyes were tired, and her face had better days. It didn't help we were traveling in thick woods. I ignored her and brought her to my base. The truce was way before my time, so the system had matured in a way where princesses actually speak like this, contradicting from princess of the past who wished nothing more but to go back to their normal lives. My base wasn't entirely messy, I kept it clean for the most part but to the standards of royalty, it's appearance must be ghastly.

Her face guaranteed it.

"Sit down." I gestured to a seat, it was an old red, cushioned chair that had some spots ripped open and it's insides sputtering out. She hesitated, but her tired legs gave in and she followed my order. I smiled, "This would be a lot easier if you listen to me like that."

"Silence! Do you not know who I am?" she snapped.

The air slowly went into my lips, and exhaled the same way, "I know." I told her, "I know everything about you. You're a princess of the Hyuuga clan, sister to Hinata, the up and coming head. You're hair is black, clear eyes because of a skill only your family possessed. Your cousin Neji watches over you, was the reason why we left without saying hello."

Hanabi's face twists in disgust, "H-How do you know that much."

I took off my mask, it was charcoaled colored and it was from my late teacher, "Because it's me. Naruto."

Her eyes widened in fascination and confusion, "B-But, you were dead…" she stuttered, "You died with Kakashi. The whole kingdom knows that."

"Please, don't call Konoha a kingdom. It's a village."

"Who cares!" she looked a lot forgiving when she found it was me, but her eyes still held a certain feeling that made me uncomfortable, "Time change. We are not a village anymore, we've never been one. We're a kingdom. We have a king and we towns people. The people need their princess, Naruto, let me go."

I looked at her, bitterly smiling. Her eyes gazed at me, pleadingly, and I found out why it made me so uncomfortable.

"You're not letting me go, aren't you?" Hanabi sighed.

"Not in a long shot." I answered.

I knew the Hyuuga family personally because I was once part of it. It was a long time ago when my parents died and I was an orphan. Someone inside the family persuaded the head to adopt me, promising that I was filled with rich success, and would be one of the strongest shinobi's around. That is why I was the up and coming head for the Hyuuga, at first, it was a huge disgrace having an outsider inside the family. But doctors from the west promised that my child would bear the same resemblance as the main family. It was around this time Kakashi-sensei took my in as his student. He forbid having me learn the ways of the Hyuuga because I didn't possess the same techniques they did. I had no idea how to control my Chakra, but he taught me everything.

We traveled everywhere together. I barely mixed with the insiders of the house, but gradually, they accepted me and even gave me some respect when I tackled some task people thought were impossible. Of course, I had the aid of Kakashi and it was valuable, but to say I didn't play my part would be disastrously wrong. After a few years, I've learned everything I could learn and I learned it through the way of shinobi. The westerners introduced mecha, a new way of fighting. They used monstrous sized machines that people could climb into maximizing their fully combat abilities. And while it was hard fighting against multiple mecha's, I'm superior one on one.

I remember asking Kakashi why we loss the war and all he could say was their numbers and also because there wasn't a lot of strong shinobi's. For every strong shinobi's the westerners had ten mecha's. There was no way we were going to win. But he also told me that there's a way to reverse things, to travel into another time where the westerners never existed. He told me this with confidence, and whether it sounded crazy or not, I believed him.

We were sent to a mission to look for spare parts around a dangerous area. It was a mission far from home but the task itself isn't difficult. When we arrived, Kakashi told me that the mission giving to them is suicidal, he revealed the whole master plan the council had to kill us and at first I couldn't believe it. We did so much for them. I gave in when he showed me why. The area had drones from westerners who demanded we accepted their culture and government. This part of the shinobi world was covered by enemies, mecha's as far as the eye can see. And while we're supported by their enemies. Not even they could hold them off. There was a military base in the middle of it all and I knew why they send us here.

They wanted us to take it down. Or die trying.

That is when Kakashi asked me if I wanted to do it. It was a mad, crazy, not a single brave soul would step on that land if they had something to give up. At first, I told him no, but like always, he would convince. He told me to let the gods settle it. If we live and complete the mission then it's settled. We are meant to live and our fate here wasn't to die. I argued that him knowing what was happening was already fate explaining we weren't supposed to die and after consideration. He still went in. And of course. I followed.

It was a bloody match but luckily they had no clue we were going to attack. It's not everyday you see two people attack a whole military base. When they spotted us, they sent over a few mech's and one of their diplomats to check if we were wandering souls looking for an army to serve. They were met with our blades and the whole building went into lock down. Kakashi's lightning blade sliced the metal door in half, opening the front gate and he jumped in. I jumped in soon after and created several clones to look for weak sides.

We separated and I took the left side. There were citizens and we did our best to avoid them, however, a few unlucky royalist decided to take arms and they were swiftly cut down. I made sure to create a route and a clone to escort some citizen away. I'm not a murderer when I don't have to be. Some were glad, some sneered before they left but we were victorious.

The fight took days, and we met some unsuspecting mech's a whole lot of times. The base was known to be a safe house for normal soldiers, so some weren't even dressed in their mechanical armor. We managed to knock out a whole barrack without going through the trouble of fighting them at full force. In the end. We won, battle after battle, barely escaping with our lives. One wrong move and we were dead. But luck was on our side and we defeated them all. When all was said and done, battle worn with torn clothing. We stood back to back as our fallen foes perished. It was then when he told me.

"We weren't suppose to die."

And I remember laughing a whole lot after that. Afterward, we climbed the mountain to make our escape before more reinforcements came. The base was destroyed, only way to restore it was to build a brand new base. Our job here was done. But so was our tag team. Kakashi fell to floor and I found he suffered more wounds then he should have. It turned out he concealed it with bandages, but the wounds were fatal. I asked him why, but he would answer, "Find me Naruto, find me." He would repeat it over and over again until I had that damn look of his and his words engraved into my mind. I was left alone but at the very least. I was with him until his final breath. After giving him a proper burial I decided to leave Konoha to find him and some how some way I turned to thievery. And I used the mask Kakashi wore as mark that I was his student.

I still stuck to my old values, not killing citizens, helping the poor when I could because I only really stole from rich people who had too much money to begin with. Everything stayed like this, me searching for Kakashi even though I knew he was dead, stealing from rich nobles and the cycle kept going and going until…

"I'm not letting you go." I told the girl in front of me who was struggling. The girl tried to bite my finger but I merely stepped back and wagged it in front of her, "Don't even think about resisting."

"Or what!" she spat, she felt betrayed. I could tell. I lived with her long enough to know her ways.

"Because I am a young man, and you're a beautiful young girl."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"If you piss me off enough, I might give into my young lust and attack you. You don't want to be tarnished before finding a husband, do you?" I answered playfully.

"You wouldn't…" her eyes stared at me with curiosity, frightened.

"But I would." I lowered one of the straps of her dressed and caressed her shoulders, leading my hand a little lower than it ought to be, "Don't test me."

She didn't answer, but I presumed it meant she was willing to listen. I sat down in front of her, her eyes sharper then a hawk yet couldn't pierce my shining armor, "Your a lot different from now. You used to be a lot nicer, and kinder, you helped people. You helped me when I was being bullies, helped me when I was feeling down. What happened to you?"

"Nothing." I answered truthfully, "I'm exactly the same I was when I helped you. The only difference is I'm on another side."

"Which side…Russia? England?"

"My side…and my side needs money. Which means you're money. Do you understand?"

"I don't follow…" she played dumb.

I laughed in front of her face, displaying my power in this little struggle we had, "Then let me tell it to you how it is. You're family is going to give me money in exchange of you and since they have no clue it's me who has you, and I won't harm a single hair on your head, they'll give me the money gladly."

The girl growled, forgetting her place but I allowed it. I know how she is. She's stubborn, "My-OUR family will never give in to terrorist."

I placed my mask back on my face and stood up, facing away from her, "But you said it yourself…the people need their princess."

A/N: If you like it then review it or I won't continue it - :D