Konoha nights were frightfully cold, Naruto leaned against an alley wall shivering. He saw finally that no one else was walking the streets, even in the slums they got their rest. His teachers wondered why he did so poorly…he spent all the money he had on the kunai shuriken and other gear. The landlord didn't seem to care that he was becoming a shinobi, he didn't have money for rent and so he was evicted from his apartment. That was about a week ago. Now he sat here getting no sleep, already falling behind in the first week of his first year in the academy.

It isn't that Naruto did not want to review, but some third year students had destroyed his books. The courses themselves weren't that hard, Chakra Studies, Tactics and the Shinobi Code. He was excellent in tactics even though all his teachers went extremely hard on him his elusiveness at Go and Shogi made him a sure bet at a level 4 class, the only person who had managed a stale mate was Shikimaru Nara. Chakra studies bored him beyond death, by that class he was usually tired and fell asleep often. He woke up by the time they got to the shinobi code but the teachers glared at him and never called on him when he would ask questions.

Now that he had assured no one else would be coming through tonight, all the neon signs losing their light, he finally allowed himself to close his eyes; still weary. Just up to two days ago he had made the mistake of falling asleep to early. A couple of Shinobi with bad breath came by he woke and screamed, but they put a kunai to his throat and said…

"Shut up fox boy…it's the middle of the night no one will hear you scream. We won't kill you that'd be too easy." Came the voice of the biggest man. They lifted him up and walked him over to the dumpster throwing him in. They held the top of the dumpster closed while he screamed. His nose was bombarded by the smells of rotting food and other things. They finally left and he got out of the garbage can crying. He cried himself to sleep that night, he didn't have a shower so he went to school smelling that way. No one sat by him that day.

He pushed back the memory now, he knew it would make it so he couldn't fall asleep. He bathed in the river yesterday but some smell still lingered. It didn't matter though his eyes were too heavy, he drifted off, never expecting what would happen tonight.

Itachi was tired, he had been walking down the street for a while now, turning searching for every silent sound. This was his first true Anbu test, his captain had woken him up an hour into his sleep after a 24 hour guard mission and guided him to the torture and interrogation building. He was interrogated for a while, with the means an enemy village would have used. That was a nice way to say sadistic torture. After 10 hours of torture they released him, he had to patrol the worst sector of the village for the night. The fourth Hokage had developed this test in order to make sure an Anbu officer could be hypersensitive and alert even after no sleep and torture they could carry out a mission. They were people yes, but they were the heart of this village.

So now Itachi was like fan his head oscillating back and forth, turning for all the slightest sounds. That was until a loud sound broke the silence. His Sharingan came out immediately and the sound came out again, it was…snoring. He found the location that the noise emerged from and drew a Kunai approaching the source. He saw a boy. He was barely visible but between the Sharingan and the moon he saw a 7 year old boy, with lightning hair. That's when he remembered being 7, it was 6 years ago, a simpler time. His father had yet to become a power grabbing megalomaniac. He had told him something, the only thing he had ever said that seemed to show caring about someone outside of the clan. It was about this boy.

Itachi, you are a chunin now, and so I must tell you something. You cannot tell anyone though under penalty of death. The forth couldn't kill the Kyubi, no one could, he sealed it into a baby. That child is largely reviled, but he shouldn't be. That boy is a hero and so are his parents. If he is ever in trouble you help him. Be wary, don't trust anyone regarding him. We owe him, the clan owes him and the village owes him. Protect him.'

Itachi remembered feeling confused that day, his father seemed sincere and so he placed his Kunai away and approached the boy. He placed a genjutsu on him so he would remain sleeping. He lifted the boy up into his arms, a repugnant odor permeated the air around him…something more than just living on the street did. He then remembered his father's words, he couldn't trust even his captain. Strangely he felt as though he could not even trust his father now. So he would have to get Naruto to his apartment while he continued his patrol he had only two hours left. He summoned a large crow and had it fly Naruto to his apartment. He went back to the route, he felt like he might just have opened a can of worms.

Itachi walked through his door, only to collapse on the nearest piece of furniture, his couch. The last two hours had felt like years, but after his debriefing he was done. He got a week off before his actual Anbu duties would begin. He lied on the couch ready for sleep, but just before his eyes shut he remembered the boy in the other room. He had finally remembered his name Naruto Uzumaki. The time was something like 6 in the morning the academy, which he assumed the boy was enrolled in, started at 8. So he went to his bed room and found the boy still sleeping. He woke him.

Naruto's eyes bolted open upon the touch of skin to his. He saw the room he was in, this wasn't where he fell asleep. He guarded himself, then he saw a man staring at him with night-sky-eyes.

"Please don't hurt me, I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt anyone." It never really worked, the people still yelled at him and some even hit him, but he didn't know what else to say. He hoped this man didn't hurt him, but he didn't really have much hope anymore. Itachi for his part felt a deep pain, no one should live like this he thought.

"I'm never going to hurt you Naruto, I want to help you. We need to get you some new clothes and you need to take a shower before school. I want to help you, you are a hero. The people just don't know it." He said hoping the boy would listen, hoping he wasn't too damaged. Naruto simply nodded.

"Where is the bathroom?" he was still suspicious, but this boy reminded him of the girl from the Ramen stand, his voice was nice and honest. Itachi was terrified 'How can I take care of a child, I am 13'. Regardless he shook that off and imply pointed to answer Naruto's question. The boy took off his kunai and went to the bathroom and began making his way to the bathroom.

"I am going to send a crow to pick up some clothes what size are you?" asked Itachi.

"Medium." He said.

"Ok." Itachi responded and then sent out the crow. Naruto shut the door and the shower went on. Itachi looked at Naruto's kunai they look rusted and dull. He picked them up, these Kunai were not meant for throwing, these were for traps not throwing and even then they were dull. He replaced the set with his own spare and then the crow came back. He got what was basically a mini anbu outfit for Naruto. Itachi laid it on the bed with the new Kunai set that he had picked up from his closet.

Itachi went back to the kitchen and waited for Naruto to get dressed. Shortly Naruto emerged from the bed room in his new clothes and saw the breakfast. He was still pensive, but Itachi seemed genuine. He sat at the table and finished the food presented to him in no time at all. He had barely been eating. Itachi simply stared sadly, the boy had been starved basically.

"Naruto, I want you to live with me, it's safe and I can help train you and make sure you study. I can be like your big brother. I want to be your big brother." He didn't know when he had decided that and he would have much time but he had to do this. Naruto started crying loudly, Itachi knew they were happy tears. He told the gaurds that the boy would be staying with him. And walked Naruto to school that day. He saw his brother go inside and then told Naruto goodbye. His life just got a lot more difficult.

In just 9 weeks Naruto and Sasuke became best friends. They spent time together whenever Itachi would go on missions. Sasuke's father was oblivious as he was busy planning a coup. Then something happened that would change everything. Naruto and Sasuke were tied for first in their class. Naruto because of being an excellent tactician made up for his weak knowledge of chakra. As for the academy teachers they were much nicer, no one wanted to cross Konoha's prodigy.

Naruto and Sasuke reached the gate and there were no guards. They pushed open the gate and found Itachi covered in blood. They were simply in shock.

"Itachi what happened?" they both said Sasuke a little louder.

"I'm sorry." He said simply. He knocked the two out quickly and left. He was going to lie, but he couldn't lie to both of them.

So, yeah. I'm back with this new story, I know that I've been gone and I'm sad to say I've lost interest in those other three stories for the most part. I hope you guys liked this. In order to update expect the chapters to be 1000-2000 words and updated weekly. Again I'm sorry. If you want to adopt a story pm me. If you thought this was cool follow and review. I will try my best to make this story a lot better. This story should end up interesting.