Yuki didn't gape at the sight of the Hokage monument. He did feel highly uncomfortable with the staring, even if most of it wasn't directed at him. If there was one thing he hated it was staring.

Hizashi was still shocked that Yuki had the Byakugan, and he intended to have a blood test done to find out why.

"So we have this young man to thank for your safe return?" asked Sarutobi.

Yuki was standing at perfect attention, having to give reports more than once.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," said Hizashi.

"What's your name kid?"

"Yuki sir. Yuki, formerly of Kiri."

"What caused you to leave?"

Yuki said nothing, but activated the eyes, causing Sarutobi to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"You have the Byakugan?"

"According to this guy, yes. I didn't know what it was called, just that having it while working in the middle of the Hunter Headquarters was tantamount to suicide."

Sarutobi agreed completely.

"How old are you?"

"Almost nine sir."

"What was your rank?"

"I'm a genin, but I was scheduled to join the chunin exams this year since it was being held in the village. My previous standing was one of the Hunter nin assigned to killing people with kekkei genkai. Needless to say I didn't want to be a hypocrite, which was why I left."

Sarutobi laughed at that. A kekkei genkai user killing others while trying to hide his own bloodline limit? It was indeed a fine example of hypocrisy.

"I'm afraid you'll have to visit the T and I department before I can allow you to live here."

"Fine by me..." an idea occurred to Yuki, one that would gain him some favor with the village leader.

"Is there any chance that the other clans would object to me joining their ranks?"

"Possibly, the Uchiha have been restless since the attempted kidnapping."

"Then would these help my chances of staying? I made double copies of all of them..." asked Yuki bringing out the copies he made of almost the entire Kiri jutsu library.

"What are these?"

"Almost all the genin, chunin and jounin elemental jutsu I swiped from the Kiri library. Since I was among the few genin who could handle jounin level jutsu, they allowed me to borrow the scrolls to practice. Kisame certainly didn't care."

"Kisame, as in Hoshigaki Kisame?!"

"The same. Why?"

"He's an A-rank missing nin! He was your instructor?" said Hizashi in shock.

"What the...since when did he become a missing nin?"

"Three months ago."

"Well I've been on the run for nearly an entire year. It's no wonder I never heard about that."

"In the mean time, why don't you two meet Ibiki in the Interrogation department?"


Ibiki was the first to admit he was impressed by Yuki. The kid had not only managed to single handedly destroy Kiri's Hunter headquarters and take out several of the very people who could have caught him, but he also managed to steal several village secrets.

Plus the kid had an impressive arsenal of useful jutsu, like the one he used to hide from the Hyuuga party sent to watch Hizashi. The kid was easily chunin level, and a prodigy to boot. His chakra control was second to none at his age. Plus the fact that he wasn't as insane as the other Kiri nin was only a bonus.

He could see no reason not to let the kid go.

Anko was just impressed that the kid for some reason could snake speak.

The only real issue was that none of the current jounin wanted to deal with him until the chunin exam. And being so new to the village they couldn't promote him.

So the Hokage came up with an interesting alternative. Since he couldn't go on to a genin teams, he could go into the Academy and bond with others his age.

Yuki didn't mind hiding his real power to blend in. At the very least he could join the other kids on a normal genin team, which he never had the chance to do before.

To the shock of Hiashi and the Hyuuga elders, Yuki actually was related to them by blood. He was Hiashi and Hizashi's second cousin.

Which meant he was an actual Hyuuga, not the by product of some experiment.

However, because Yuki wasn't considered part of the Hyuuga clan (despite the fact that he was related to them by blood) he couldn't legally call himself part of their clan.

After seeing the Caged Bird Seal on Hizashi, Yuki wasn't sure that was a bad thing. Chances were pretty good that if he had been accepted, they would have placed a similar seal on him.

Frankly he could live with being a semi-clanless orphan.

On the plus side, at least he got along great with his new neighbor, a fellow orphan named Naruto.


"GET BACK HERE YOU BRATS!"

"Catch us if you can old geezer!" grinned Haru.

It had been three years since he had legally changed his name so as to make a clean break from his former village. He had discovered with some shock the real reason his reserves were so bloody large for his age. It had happened completely by accident a few weeks after finally settling in the village.

Flashback

Haru had finally changed his name. Frankly he never thought Yuki was a good name for him, but it was the one Kisame had given him when he had taken him in.

Things had settled down since the Hokage had turned him into a regular Academy cadet. While most of his former collegues would have been insulted, Haru actually jumped at the chance. He had never felt at ease in Kiri, despite the fact it was where he grew up. And no one was willing to really befriend him there.

He sat on his bed, doing his daily meditation. He found it helped him to center himself, and in doing so made multitasking so much easier.

As he fell into his usual breathing exercises, he felt himself being pulled into his own mind. It was there that he came face to face with a massive shark like creature with the most terrifying eyes.

So, we finally meet face to face. Hello Haru.

Who are you?

My title is Sanbi, the three tailed bijuu.

Bijuu?! You mean you're one of the demons who control the forces of nature?!

The Sanbi chuckled. He knew he had chosen his newest host wisely. At least he hadn't ended up in an idiot like the Kyuubi. It was something that amused him to no end.

Indeed. You should feel honored, little human, that I chose to be sealed inside of you.

Wait, chose? I thought you were sealed by humans to keep your kind from destroying everything? And aren't you supposed to be a turtle thing?

What you humans don't know is that we can seal ourselves away...and we can change our form. Nearly eight years ago you appeared before me after I lost my previous host. I didn't want to be controlled like before, so I shed my previous form and sealed myself inside of you.

Why?

Because I didn't want a repeat of my previous host. A man came to him one day and used a doujutsu on him, causing him to hate those with Kekkei Genkai. Soon, that madness spread throughout Kiri, creating the village you knew. You have a power that hasn't been seen since the Sage's time, and I didn't want to you be tricked into using it against the shinobi forces.

Power?

Inside of you is the power of Magic. This power allows you to control ALL the elements, not just the ones your body produced naturally thanks to my influence. Magic has the power to change the world, if used properly.

Magic?

Magic. I cannot train you, but your meditation exercises will help guide you to use it on your own. Magic has few limitations.

So what do I do now?

Now? Now we do nothing. I don't want to reveal myself unless I absolutely have to. Since you don't need to draw upon my reserves just yet, you don't need to make any signs that I am even here. But I can hear your thoughts if you need someone to talk to. Do yourself a favor though...when you want to talk to me, don't speak aloud.

Good to know. I suppose I should get some sleep.

Sleep well, little Spring.

Flashback End

Ever since that day, Haru found the Sanbi to be an excellent conversationalist. And unlike Naruto (who Haru found out through the Sanbi had the fox demon inside of him) he could actually speak to the shark. Haru was the only person in the class who ever encouraged Naruto to do better, even sharing his books when he learned that the teachers gave him outdated ones.

The fact that he would willingly get close to the village pariah was one of the major reasons why the Hokage was glad to accept Haru into the village. Haru not only encouraged Naruto, he even helped him out. Whenever a store refused to sell him food at reasonable prices, or the weapons were inflated beyond reason, Haru would walk in an hour later and buy double.

It was a common misconception that Haru bullied Naruto. In truth Naruto willingly handed his allowance over to Haru so he could buy things for him. Haru was the whole reason why Naruto loved to read as much as he did.

Because of their friendship, Haru found his new favorite instructor in Iruka, who treated Naruto as a little brother.

Which was probably why Haru and Naruto were out pranking today. Today was right before the big genin exam, which Naruto had failed twice. The second time wasn't even his fault, but the instructors at the time wouldn't even listen to reason.

They were later fired for their bias.

(Further investigation revealed someone had slapped a chakra restriction on Naruto, which was the reason he failed at his best jutsu to date, the Henge.)

Haru had passed the test, but had told the Hokage that he would wait until Naruto passed before joining a team. Considering he used to be a Kiri genin and could easily pass the final genin test after dealing with bigots, the Hokage agreed to it. Naruto never had a clue that his best friends future as a ninja depended on him.

"Ready to take that test...again?" asked Haru, grinning.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. Haru was the only friend he had that knew what he went through and did something to improve his life. The fact that he was somewhat distantly related to Hinata of all people didn't bother him in the least. Haru made no bones of how he felt about the Hyuuga Elders and their repeated complaints about his friendship.

Haru smirked, and grabbed Naruto just as the chunin were about to catch up. With a loud crack, the two disappeared and reappeared on the Academy roof. Haru had found this ability quite by accident while pranking the Hokage and escaping the proceeding ANBU. Ever since then, Haru had practiced it until he could appear anywhere he had been at least once.

Something that annoyed Anko to no end, because he had a habit of swiping her dango and snacking on it on the other end of the village. The only reason she hadn't castrated him violently yet was because he always dropped three bags of fresh dango on her desk every time she was swamped with paperwork.

Besides, the resulting chase was great practice for that odd power he had.

Iruka returned to the class to find both missing students grinning like loons at him, and he scowled.

"Naruto, Haru? Where in Kami's name have you been?!"

Haru smirked, and pointed out to the Hokage monument. Iruka was angry enough to use what the students had dubbed the 'Big Head' jutsu.

Too bad Haru was particularly adept at escaping ropes, as he cut both his and Naruto's.

Angered at the blatant disrespect Naruto showed him, he had everyone review the Henge technique. Haru grinned, because he knew exactly what would happen if they reviewed the henge. He decided to one up Naruto, which was something of a game to the two.

Naruto did his Sexy jutsu, to the laughter of the boys, and Haru waited for his turn.

"Henge!"

Iruka gaped at Haru, because he had done as instructed...except for one important fact.

"Haru, the assignment was to henge into me..." said Iruka, eyebrows twitching.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei."

"SO WHY DID YOU HENGE INTO A FEMALE VERSION!" snapped Iruka.

"One-uppage and combination of the Sexy jutsu," Haru stated flatly.

"What do you mean, combination? The sexy jutsu is just a perverted henge trick!" screeched Sakura Haruno. Naruto had a huge crush on her, but Haru couldn't stand her voice.

"Actually, the sexy jutsu isn't a henge at all. The changes are solid enough to fool the chunin sentries at the gate," commented Haru.

"How do you know that?" asked Iruka, almost afraid to ask.

Haru and Naruto grinned evilly.

"On second thought...I really don't want to know."

"Are you sure Iruka-sensei? I'm sure Izumo and Kotetsu would be happy to tell you the story..." they said in unison.

Iruka could feel a headache coming on. He was going to get that story out of the permanent chunin duo later, but first he had to get the class under control.

(Funnily enough, Iruka sometimes got saddled with gate duty while one of the duo took over for him. He often bantered with Izumo and argued with Kotetsu over syrup flavors. They actually caught a few intruders with Iruka's Naruto/Haru-senses. He could tell when the two were planning to prank him minutes before they ever did.)

Once class let out, Iruka lead the troublesome duo straight to the monument to clean off the paint. It was something of an inside joke among the Academy teachers that while Haru was more talented that any student currently at the Academy, he had almost no luck with directions. He could followed them fairly well, but getting to his destination without getting lost was rare. Most times he just followed someone else.

It seemed that while he had the best sense of direction under the water, on land he kept getting his signals crossed and it just got him unimaginably lost.

In an odd twist of fate, since most people believed he was bullying Naruto, they were more than happy to point him in the right direction.

Iruka just made sure his hand was on Haru's shoulder the entire time there. Once they were on top of the monument, Iruka set the two to work cleaning it off.

Haru had recently taught Naruto how to climb trees using chakra, and this was excellent motivation not to fall off. Once Haru demonstrated and gave him the right advice, Naruto took to the exercise like Haru did to water.

It didn't take long for half the monument to be clean, since Haru knew quite a few water based jutsu, which Iruka forgot to tell him not to use.

"I don't see why we're hurrying. Not like we have anyone home waiting for us..." grumbled Naruto, who was stuck scrubbing the thing while Haru carefully blasted it with water.

"Correction, you don't have anyone aside from me, while I have a bunch of Uchiha-wannabes with kunai lodged up their ass for relatives," retorted Haru.

"Who has it worse again?" asked Naruto.

"What was the last count?" replied Haru.

"I forget..."

Iruka watched the two banter like brothers. Originally, when he encountered Haru's "Bullying" of Naruto he had taken it very badly. Fortunately for the scarred chunin, he had enough common sense to ask the boys what was really going on. After that he took to treating both of them like little brothers.

He honestly had no idea that Haru used the guise of bullying to help Naruto with his shopping issues or to keep the mobs at bay. Haru had diverted more than a few drunken mobs intent on pain to the Forest of Death. If a few idiots and hypocrites died in the process, well it was their fault for trying to hurt Naruto.

Though he still had no idea where Haru learned his skills and water jutsu from, since the Hyuuga had certainly never taught him. The only ones in that clan that would associate with him were the branch members and Hinata. Even then the most they did was nod towards him in the street.

Neji seemed to get along with Haru best, even showing him how to use the Jyuken properly without his father's prompting. Haru seemed to be having the same problems Hinata had with the style.

(He secretly handed Hinata a piece of chakra paper, and found she had the same element he did. Apparently the reason they were having so much trouble was because the Jyuken was earth and fire based, while Hinata had a water style body. Once Haru found a way to incorporate his style with the Jyuken, he was going to teach it to Hinata.)


First I have to clarify a few things. Haru is at least three to four years older than Naruto, and has so far not bothered to take the genin exams so he can be on a team with Naruto. Haru was completely unaware that he has the Sanbi while he lived in Kiri, since the demon didn't want to be used again. He has at least three elemental attributes, the main being water.

However, there is one final note I would like to make, for those of you who seem to be under the impression that the newer fics will be abandoned after a few chapters.

I am on VACATION. As such, the updates will be to a crawl since I haven't been on my laptop very often. I can assure you that I will be updating several of my fics by at least next month. The updated stories will be: Aburame Lightning, Seal Mishaps, Dear Kami There's Two of Them, A Thousand Saturn Blossoms, Dark Mage of the Zodiac and Loki Black, as well as this fic. So please be patient until I am able to return to my previous update schedule. Thank you.