warning: I do not own Naruto. If I did I would kick Sakura into gear, and tell Hinata to go after Naruto in a less crazy way than stalking.


Pain, that's all the boy could feel as yet another assailants fist hit his ribs. He stayed quiet because he knew if he gave them any reason they'd hurt him more. It only happened every couple months, and normally the Anbu arrested anyone who attacked him within minutes. Besides it wasn't like he didn't heal extremely fast.

"Stay down Demon Brat" A man's voice said as a foot hit his chin. He had cuddled up into a ball to protect his face, but the foot had gotten past his defenses.

"I've got a dog at home who would love to go on a fox hunt" another man said. The boy thought it was odd that he was talking about hunting foxes while they were beating him up, but maybe he was getting bored. Though they always did talk about foxes around him for some reason.

"We don't want to leave any marks, and chunks of flesh are definitely marks" This time it was a woman. He heard a few other people mumble, as they continued to beat the young boy.

"Let's go. We've already been at this for half an hour. Who knows when the Anbu assigned to him will get here." another woman said. A few mumbled agreements, and the boy was left alone in the alley he'd been thrown down. He could hear a few steps on the roofs above as he assumed Anbu were now chasing down the group.

"One day they will stop. One day people like them will be stopped." The boy said standing up after he was certain his attackers were gone. Although he didn't feel it, his eyes glowed red for split second. "I will be Hokage one day." With that Naruto seemed to disappear into the shadows of the alley.

Anyone who saw it would say the fox was acting up inside him if they were biased like that, but they would never think that the boy actually knew how to do anything to do with jutsu past the three required ones since he was just an academy student. So he never used them in front of others.

-0-

At the building where he lived Naruto found the door broken down. "Shoot, they must have had a second group here while the others kept me away."

Carefully he entered the building and disabled what traps he could find in the entry. Luckily it was nothing more than a simple tripwire trap. After that he checked his bedroom. He found some daggers attached to a trap meant to pierce through his bed, and whatever was in it when pressure was applied. Although they weren't kunai, they would work well enough for now. He continued looking, and found a couple more traps that were both harder to find, and easier to dismantle. From those he knew he'd get some money from the scrap metal he found, and the junkyard loved his business unlike most in the village.

Thinking he'd found them all, and going over the house once more to make sure, he sighed in relief. After making sure the door was back in place, and nobody was watching he removed a board in his bedroom. Luckily for him it seemed to be overlooked whenever the apartment was raided, which made it the perfect spot for him to hide things he didn't want to lose. Luckily the raids normally only happened once or twice a year. He removed a chest from the cavity, and opened it. Inside sat a picture of the Fourth hokage, and items he'd gathered over the years from traps, or from stores that actually took his business. He tossed the daggers, and tripwire he'd salvaged from traps he'd just dismantled into the box alongside the other things.

The picture of the fourth was his hope, the fourth was his idol and there was a resemblance between the man and himself so he imagined the fourth being his father. No matter how silly it seemed to him. He resigned himself to reality and began removing an outfit he'd been gathering since he joined the academy.
He'd wear it for real the day after tomorrow if he finally passed the test, but for now he just wanted to make sure he'd still have the right sized items. He stripped out of his obnoxious orange clothing, replacing them with what he considered true shinobi clothing. A pair of black ninja pants with multiple pockets, a long-sleeved mesh shirt, and an orange short sleeved shirt. He loved the color, he just thought an entire orange outfit was obnoxious like others did.

They fit well enough so he removed them, and placed them back in the chest.
Carefully putting it back he changed into a pair of orange shorts, and a white shirt to sleep in and quickly fell asleep unaware that a dog-masked man was watching outside the building. Once sure that the boy would be safe while he slept he left his watch.

-0-

"Lord Hokage. I wish to speak to you about the boy" the masked man said dropping into the rounded office. Sarutobi knew who it was so he ignored the rudeness in the man's tone. He looked over the man in his Anbu attire. The man in front of him was one of only a few who got the Inu mask, and one of the fewer who were allowed to use their real names while on missions because of the stories going on about them.

"Yes Kakashi?" The old man said. Anything to do with Naruto was bound to be important. Although few knew it Kakashi was the boys protector when he wasn't away on missions, which both the hokage and Kakashi agreed was too often.

"I just witnessed the boy remove several traps from his house, without activating them. He also revealed the outfit again." Kakashi said knowing the old man knew what he meant. He'd told the old man about the outfit before, and how he believed the orange clothing was a way to stand out while staying hidden. By this he meant that by being a huge target, most people ignored him which Kakashi believed the boy knew, and used to his own gain. He often saw the boy read old scrolls he'd gathered from the trash of the clan compounds. He hadn't seen the boy practice jutsu, but he was often gone days on missions so it was possible the boy knew some.

"You mean that a twelve year old, who has failed the early graduation test twice before has single handedly dismantled the traps you believe that trained ninja, who haven't forgiven the fox, leave to possibly maim him." Sarutobi stated. Kakashi knew it wasn't a question, so he only nodded. "The same boy who can't produce one decent clone, and who I regrettably feel will not graduate tomorrow."

"Yes sir. I would like to request I be assigned to his team should he pass. I would not want sensei's sacrifice to be in vain, and he seems to be much more ambitious than a normal academy student." Kakashi said. Sarutobi thought about it. Yes, the boy would be guarded by his protector and the man who should have been like an older brother while at the same time being trained by the best the village had to offer.

"I'll agree. Should he graduate one way or another I'll have him assigned to you. of course you know the civilians will want you training the Uchiha instead." Sarutobi said. Kakashi merely nodded. He knew the Hokage would do what was needed to appease the council. The two old crones who were his advisors openly valued the Uchiha above others.

"Heres to a new beginning for Naruto. I hope him the best" Kakashi said before shunshining out of the building.