Hi all. This fanfic is part of a collaboration with Zerojackson's Vipers Path. It has a similar plot, but with differences. As you may well have read the description, it has a storyline which has probably been done plenty of times, but we decided to have a shot at it to see how it went. Post your ideas about the pairings in this story, because I'm not yet entirely sure (Naruto will either be paired with Hinata or Kin, like in VP). Rate&Review and of course enjoy, but remember, this is my first fanfic, so please be nice!

Prologue –

The two ANBU men who stood outside the Hokage's office were not currently displaying the attitude typical of people with such professions. For a start, they were arguing.

"We can't tell him. It's far too big a loss."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?"

"C'mon, literally an hour ago he was re-elected as Hokage, and now we tell him that –"

The door opened and the two men fell silent as Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped out of his office.

"Well?" he said. After no reply was given, he continued. "Come inside you two. I have a feeling there is something you want to tell me."

He said it very heavily and sounded defeated. It was clear to the two shinobi that he already knew everything.

"Well," the first of the two men began. "The host for the Nine-Tailed Kyuubi…"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Yes, Lord Hokage. Well, he was…taken."

"By whom?"

"Orochimaru."

Hiruzen took his hat off and placed it on his desk next to him, and then looked hard at the two ANBU men.

"I already know that. What I want to know is why you let him get away, or even why you let him take Naruto in the first place."

"I can vouch for this Lord Hokage," the second ANBU member replied. "Twenty of us went out to seize back the h- Naruto. But only four of us came back. Orochimaru is a killer. We couldn't have stopped him."

"That's beside the point." To the surprise of the two shinobi, Hiruzen was livid. They had never seen him so angry.

"There should have been tighter security around the child. Were you avoiding him just because he had the Kyuubi inside him? He is a human being too, you know. He is the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. And you just left him there? No wonder he was captured."

He sat back down and breathed out heavily.

"And where was Itachi during all this?" he demanded of them.

The two men paused. The established leader of the ANBU hadn't been with them throughout the entire Kyuubi attack. Was there a reason for it?

"Sorry," one of them said eventually. "We don't know where Itachi is."

Hiruzen sat back in his chair.

"Alright," he said. "I suppose you've told me everything you can. Leave."

They left at once.

Hiruzen thought long and hard about the issues befalling him. Orochimaru, one of his own students, though a renegade, had taken the son of the Fourth Hokage who was also the host of the Kyuubi. It was not a good position to be in at all. However, Hiruzen was confident that the seal on Naruto was enough to stop Orochimaru getting at it for the time being. And he must have known this when he captured him, therefore, killing Naruto was not his plan, as he simply would've done it on the spot. Whatever Orochimaru wanted Naruto for, it couldn't be anything good, but Hiruzen was confident that Orochimaru would show up sooner or later, when Naruto was a lot older.

"That will be the time to take him back to civilized society," he decided.

But Hiruzen's night was far from over. He still had several more people he needed to see. Right on cue, there was a knock at the door.

Without waiting for admittance, the door opened and a tall man strode in, wearing a long robe and with long black hair and icy eyes. He was followed by a heavily pregnant woman, who had the same style hair, but slightly warmer looking pupil-less eyes and with a more humble demeanour.

"Hiashi," Hiruzen said. "At least you remembered to knock this time, this time you just need to wait."

Hiashi ignored the Hokage's rebuke and snapped,

"Konno! Get me a chair!"

The woman nodded and grabbed a nearby chair and placed it behind her husband to sit on. Hiruzen did not object. He was far too used to the misogyny and autocracy of the Hyūga clan for that.

"I have an issue, Lord Hokage," Hiashi said briskly. "Within a month or so, my wife will give birth to the heiress of the Hyūga clan. After that has occurred, we must continue with our own private ways of the Hyūga clan. Therefore, we will now break off the Hyūga Social Act.

The Hyūga Social Act was an act commissioned and passed by the Fourth Hokage. The Act was designed to try to improve the extremely bureaucratic Hyūga clan views, as with Hiashi as head, it had become worse than ever. Even though many main branch Hyūgas had protested against this act, Minato was insistent.

"The claim of being a noble clan of Konoha," he had said, "comes with responsibilities as well as privileges. The Uchihas and the Aburames are introverted, yes, but they are not anti-social. And you can't claim to be a leaf shinobi if you do not act within the village."

It was such an act that first allowed Hyūga children to attend the academy and the chuunin exams, as supposed to just being trained privately. It had also allowed branch members to have less birth control, which allowed Hiashi's brother Hizashi and his wife to have their son, Neji, about a year before.

"So, you're now going to extinguish the act completely?" Hiruzen asked. "After everything Minato did?"

"Not entirely," Hiashi corrected. "We will still allow our children to attend the academy and the chuunin exams. But whatever occurs within our clan and how we treat our inferior branches is our business."

"What if I do not agree to break off the act?" Hiruzen asked.

"I would have thought you would have more to deal with," Hiashi snapped.

Hiruzen took a brief puff on his pipe.

"My consent is given," he said. "But I warn you Hiashi, your doctrines will not go longer. Soon, there will be a new head of the Hyūga clan."

"And she will agree with me entirely!" Hiashi insisted, staring in a proud fury at the as yet unborn Hinata Hyūga.

"Personally," he continued. "I would have preferred a male heir, which is why I had to punish Konno after the scans were confirmed. Obviously it was mainly psychological, otherwise a miscarriage would have occurred…"

"That," Hiruzen cut in, stopping Hiashi's arrogant waffle. "Is the sort of barbarity he wanted to eradicate from the Hyūga clan. I will let you continue with your way in the Hyūga clan Hiashi, but if you go too far, I promise you, you will not get away with it."

Hiashi glared at Hiruzen, before turning on his heel and marching out of the office. Konno followed.

Just before she exited, Hiruzen said,

"I promise Konno, I will not let your daughter be demoralized."

Konno nodded, and departed.

Hiruzen then waited for another half an hour, just to make sure he was alone.

Then a figure dropped onto one knee before him. It was wearing an ANBU mask.

"Itachi," Hiruzen addressed him. "I hope you have commissioned a group of men to search for Naruto Uzumaki and Orochimaru?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then I have a task for you personally."

"What is it?" Itachi had always been chosen for tasks to be carried out on his own due to his unique ability. He found it highly unlikely that he would be surprised by the task he was given.

"You must keep a close watch on the Hyūga clan," Hiruzen explained, "and make sure that they do not go beyond the wishes of us all. If the worst comes to the worst, I need you to kill Hiashi."

"But my lord…"

"Yes?"

"If my clan do organise a coup de 'at…"

"We've spoken about this before. If your clan do organise a coup de 'at, then you must wipe them out, otherwise they will destroy the village."

"But then I will be forced to flee, leaving my work with the Hyūgas unfinished," Itachi countered.

"Yes," Hiruzen agreed. "But I have to work with priority. Now leave."

Itachi left.

Hiruzen leaned back and closed his eyes. He had been called out of retirement, and now there were three extreme, possibly dangerous issues on his hands.

"This won't be an easy run…" he muttered to himself.

Somewhere outside the Hidden Leaf Village, a tall white-robed figure stood, half submerged in shadow, a tiny bundle in his arms. For the time being however, he didn't seem interested in the bundle; he was gazing at the ground, were sixteen ANBU members were lying motionless.

"Such a shame," he said to himself. "They could have helped train him. Oh well. I guess I'll have to leave that task to my professionals." He then fixed his gaze back on the bundle in his arms.

In the bundle, Naruto Uzumaki gazed back, his ocean blue eyes fixed on Orochimaru's gold slit-pupil ones. He could hardly now what was in store for him for the next thirteen years.

"Your fellow villagers would have treated you poorly," Orochimaru informed Naruto, running his cold, pale fingers over the seal that held the Kyuubi inside his body. "They would have shunned you, excluded you and would have never have begun to explore this unique gift you've been given."

He smiled to himself, his fang-like teeth glinting in the moonlight.

"But I will," he declared. "You will useful to me, and in time you will become my personal lieutenant!"

Still smiling, Orochimaru made sure his grip on Naruto was secure, and, without glancing back once, he began to head north.

Well, that's the prologue done. Rate&Review, if you have criticisms, then by all means give them, but DO NOT flame. Thank you. Oh, and please excuse any continuity errors occurring within this story, as I'm a little rusty concerning Naruto canon.