Sorry about the long wait, but I did most of the chapter and then realised that I had lost my notes of the jutsu that me and Kha-chan (XKhaalidaX) came up with! So…yeah, that's why I didn't update. Sorry! I hope this chapter makes up for it!

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Okay, thank you for all the lovely reviews, your votes have been counted and are as follows:

Itanaru- 38

Sasunaru- 8

Gaanaru- 9

Nejinaru- 2

I really don't need to tell you the winner of Naru-chan's heart now do I?

Disclaimer: Do you see Yaoi scenes all the time? No? Well then, I can't own Naruto, can I? (But Itachi does XP)

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Outaishi- chapter two;

"This is your room. It isn't much, but I'm sure you'll cope with it." Takashi said to the young blonde as he slid open the door. Naruto hesitantly entered the room assigned to him. He really expected a small room with a bed and maybe somewhere to place his clothes. But the room he entered had, in the centre, a low styled table with cushions at which to kneel on. On either wall, there were bookcases with various books and scrolls. There were some paintings on landscapes, not that they were needed as the large window gave a perfect view of the mountains.

"W-where do I sleep?" He asked as he looked about the room, his mouth wide open. Takashi pointed to a sliding door next to one of the book cases.

"In there. I take it that you never had much back at home."

"I lived alone…"

Takashi frowned, looking at him closely.

"Alone? Aren't you a little too young to be living alone? What about your parents?"

Naruto shrugged and moved towards the door, opening it up to see what was inside. There was a large bed against the wall in the middle and on either side where small bedside tables. There was a chest of drawers as well as a wardrobe. Naruto spotted another door and opened it up, looking into the bathroom. It wasn't anything fancy, but Naruto was betting that there was a bathhouse somewhere in the palace. He shut the door on the basic essentials and turned to look at Takashi's light blue eyes.

"You like?" He asked, looking down at the blonde.

'Damn he's tall…' Naruto thought, straining his neck just to look up at the guy.

"Um, thanks… it's nice. Better then anything I've ever had at Konoha." Naruto said, thinking about his tiny apartment and the run down orphanage he had to stay in.

Takashi regarded him through narrowed eyes, making the blonde squirm under the unwavering gaze. Suddenly, Takashi grinned and ruffled his soft blonde locks.

"Get some sleep, Naruto-kun. Your lessons start tomorrow."

Naruto watched as the dark haired male walked out of his room, leaving him alone. Not that it mattered; Naruto had been alone his entire life, so it made no difference.

He made his way into the room that had his bed and stared at it for a while.

'At least it's new…' He thought as he sat on it, grinning at the fact that it didn't seem like as if it was going to collapse at any given moment like his old bed back in Konoha. He fell backwards and closed his eyes. He curled up in a tight ball, felling exhaustion spreading through his small body. He hugged his knees close to his chest as he closed his eyes, unable to fight the tiredness any longer.

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"Well?" Tsunade asked, glaring at her old team-mate in front of her, angry that he had appeared empty handed. He spread his hands and said in an resigned voice,

"Sorry. The man refused to let Naruto go. He's made up his mind about it and he's not going to change it any time soon."

"So what are we going to do now?" She asked, a scowl marring her features.

"Well, Mamoru has agreed to send Naruto here for training when he turns sixteen, but until then, he stays there."

"You mean we can't see him?" Kakashi asked from where he stood next to Sakura and Sasuke against the wall.

"Nope. But I managed to get him to agree to let you visit him for his fifteenth birthday."

"Hn." Sasuke said, turning his emotionless eyes to looking out of the window as if finding this conversation of no interest to him. Tsunade frowned at him, but he ignored her.

"So… will you?"

"If we must." Sakura said, looking at her nails, causing Tsunade to raise an eyebrow at the pathetic female. Really, didn't they care for their blonde team-mate? Obviously not. Tsunade felt furious at that, having half a mind to ban them from even going to see Naruto, but then, the blonde might want to see them. He didn't really seem aware of their dislike for him.

Jiraiya shook his head and then asked,

"Are you going to tell the others of this?"

"Others? You mean the head council? No. They'll object to this idea, and don't tell any of Naruto's rookie friends. They shouldn't know, just yet. Wait a bit before telling them."

The two genin looked confused by this, but accepted it. Not that they cared anyway. Tsunade sighed, rubbing her temples,

"I just hope that he'll be happy. He hasn't the temperament for the royal court…he's too wild."

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"Naruto-kun, pay attention!" Takashi said sharply, tabbing Naruto on the forehead to gain the young male's attention. The blonde blinked and cocked his head, staring at his guardian.

"Naruto-kun, you have to pay attention. Your young mind wonders too much."

"Sorry." Naruto said meekly, lowering his head. He and the dark haired man were sitting in the royal gardens under one of the many Sakura trees. Takashi was attempting to teach Naruto how he should behave in the royal house, but the young prince seemed a little preoccupied.

"What's the matter Naruto-kun?" Takashi asked gently, trying to get the blonde to open up to him. The young boy had been here for a month and didn't seem to want to talk about his past or anything relating to his former home. Apart from talking about his team and the Hokage, and a group known as Konoha 12. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and replied,

"It's strange…"

"What's strange?"

"Everything. I'm not going to get used to people bowing to me. At home I never had any kind of special treatment and it's all strange to me…"

Takashi gave a small chuckle.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine young one."

"Yeah…"

"Shall we get on with the lesson?"

Naruto nodded and placed his chin in his hand, watching the older male,

"At your age, when the court is meeting, you are expected to be present, but you cannot say anything. I'm only 17, so it will be a year before I am allowed to say anything in court. If I have a suggestion, I have to go through my father, General Gousuke. If you have something to say, you have to go through the King, since he is your father. Understand?"

Naruto nodded, absently flicking a cherry blossom that had dropped onto his blue Kimono.

"Good. You must always be polite to visitors so that you set a good example. You represent the royal house of the Bear Country, so you are most likely to meet other important people, so you need to set a good image. Okay?"

Another nod.

"And you shouldn't give any of the officials any nicknames as you did with your Hokage and the toad sannin. I know that you are an orphan and never had any kind of proper discipline. So you must try and remember that. Mamoru-sama will not be pleased if you disappoint him."

"What would he do if I were to disappoint him?" Naruto asked, curious.

"I don't know. No-one ever has. And I don't want to find out either as the King can be quite nasty when he wants to be."

Naruto blinked and nodded, hoping that he wouldn't find out either.

"Also, when you are giving orders, you must never show any hesitation, or they will always be unsure as to your intentions and may come to distrust you, so the loyalty will waver towards you. You don't want that, do you?"

Naruto shook his head, making mental notes. Suddenly, Takashi asked,

"Would you like something to eat Naruto-kun? You look hungry."

Just then, Naruto's stomach gave an embarrassing growl, causing the owner to blush as the teen in front of him laughed.

"Yes, I think you need something to eat. It's almost time for you to meet with Mamoru-sama and I don't want you to faint from hunger."

Naruto nodded and stood up, watching as Takashi did as well.

He followed his guardian to a section of the building that he had yet to see. Takashi had taken him on a tour of most of the extensive building, but had yet to show Naruto where the servants resided. He led the small blonde through several long corridors that were not as grand as what he had already seen, but that was to be expected in the servant parts of the building.

They arrived at a set of double doors, which the general's son opened and entered, followed closely by Naruto.

The scene that met their eyes was a room full of people rushing about doing various tasks from preparing vegetables to stirring one of the many pots. Naruto blinked at the busyness of the scene, never seeing that many people in one place.

One man, a rather large one with a red face and wearing a stained apron came over to the pair in the doorway.

"Takashi! What may I do for you?"

"The Prince here is hungry; may you get something for him to eat? We'll be in his quarters."

The man then noticed Naruto, who was hiding slightly behind the lean frame of the dark haired man. He smiled kindly at the blonde and asked,

"And what would you like, your highness?"

Naruto thought for a second and replied firmly,

"Miso ramen please."

The cook chuckled and said,

"The boy knows what he wants." He then bowed to them and walked off, shouting orders. Takashi sighed and shook his head.

"He's so rude, but I like him. So much more refreshing then some of these other servants who always seem to want to look at the floor as soon as you open your mouth. Come on; let's go back to your room."

Naruto silently followed the older through the empty halls of the palace. They arrived back at his rooms and sat at the table. Takashi looked closely at the blonde, who seemed to be studying the table.

"What was it like?" Takashi asked, seeing if he could get the boy to open up more then he had a little bit earlier.

Naruto looked at him blankly,

"What was what like?"

"Your life before you became prince here."

Naruto blinked and asked suspiciously,

"Why do you want to know?"

Takashi gave a sigh, flicking a strand of hair away from his face. He looked at Naruto with his light blue eyes and said,

"I have a suspicion that your life was not easy. You are very shy around other people and you seem confused. I won't judge you. You can trust me."

Naruto blinked, lowering his eyes. There was a silence between them before the blonde said quietly,

"I was always alone. No-one wanted me. They hated me… they would even beat me up sometimes. I wasn't allowed to play with the other kids, so they ended up turning against me…"

As the blonde trailed off, there came a knock on the door, signalling that the food had arrived.

"Come in." Takashi ordered. Naruto looked up, his expression masked to hid his emotions. The door opened and a pretty maid entered, carrying a bowl of ramen. She set in front of Naruto and gave him a deep bow. The blonde nodded at her and she exited, closing the door behind her firmly.

Naruto looked at the food in front of him before picking up the chopsticks and diving into the food.

"Not to fast! Eat more slowly and with dignity." Takashi said, slightly startled at how the small blonde seemed to swallow the food whole. Naruto blinked at him, but he slowed down his eating anyway.

When Naruto was finished, he pushed the bowl away with a contented sigh. There was a silence in the room as both males were not sure of what to say. Then Takashi said quietly,

"Did they not see you as a hero… for saving them from the Kyuubi?"

Naruto looked up, startled, and he looked a little afraid,

"H-how do you know about that?"

"Jiraiya-sama told us."

"Oh…"

"Don't worry. You have no tail, nor horn or any other kind of demonic traits. We do not see you as the demon. You two are completely separate from each other. Even the council know… all they see is Naruto the Prince, whom is preventing them at their chance of becoming King. They care not for the demon within you. You'll be treated as a person here, so don't worry."

Naruto bit his lip and asked,

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm quite sure Naruto-kun. Now. Go to the King's library. He wants to talk to you."

The blonde nodded and stood up, walking out of his room, aware of Takashi's eyes on him. It felt strange being here. Everyone was so nice… he wasn't used to that. He doubted that he would, but Takashi said that he would… Naruto didn't believe him. Naruto didn't know how to react when people were kind to him. He had grown up learning how to hide himself from people who wished him harm… which included the villagers. There was nowhere to hide here. They would always find him. He had tried once or twice to be on his own, but they needed him for lessons. In the month that he had been here, all he seemed to be doing is learning the ways of the court and being taught the family history. There had been other cases in the past where children had been adopted into the main royal family, so Naruto wasn't the first one.

When he reached the King's library, he knocked, receiving the order to enter immediately. He took a deep breath and opened the door, spotting the Mamoru sitting at his desk reading a scroll.

He looked up at Naruto with a smile and said,

"Sit down, my son."

Naruto obeyed and sat in front him, wishing that today's lesson would be over soon. He was starting to get bored with learning about politics.

"Okay, Naruto-kun. We've finished those lessons we have been studying on politics. Today we will start on your fighting skills."

That caught Naruto's attention. He looked up at the King, who laughed at his eager expression.

"You are eager, aren't you?"

Naruto grinned at the king and said,

"Yeah! What stuff are you going to be teaching me? Tell me tell me!"

Mamoru chuckled at the blonde's enthusiasm and said,

"We won't be doing any real training today. I'll just be telling you the kinds of things like the swords we have and any jutsus. We also have our own kind of Taijutsu stance."

The blonde nodded, leaning his elbows on the table in a signal that he was ready to listen to the man. Mamoru reached behind him and picked up his sword, which was sheathed.

"This is my sword, 'Shi-ha' (1). It is a sword that unique to me, only allowing me to handle this sword. You will get one of your own. This Emerald on the hilt here can be used to store chakra which you can draw on in times of need."

He then drew the blade, placing it on the table, causing Naruto's eyes to widen. Unlike normal swords, this sword had a gold handle with a silver hilt that held the large emerald gem. The blade was not metallic in colour, but it was a deep green colour, glinting in the light.

"Wow, this is amazing! How did the blade get its colour?"

"The colour of the blade depends on the personality of the master of that blade. I am a very calm person, little prone to violence so my blade is a green colour .The reason why it is such a deep colour is because I am a philosopher, which means that I am a deep thinker."

"Ahh! What colour would mine be?"

Mamoru looked at him closely and then shrugged,

"I am not really certain. You'll find out when the blade is made for you."

"Ah, okay…"

"I will be teaching you basic swordsmanship for now, and then you'll have to develop your own style. Understand?"

The blonde nodded, glancing at the beautiful sword in front of him. He couldn't wait to get his own sword. The King put his sword away before turning his attention to the blonde once again.

"Okay, the Taijutsu style I am going to teach you is 'Torf-onkei' (2). It is a very fast and fluid style that targets the vitals such as the heart and lungs. If used correctly, you can beat an opponent in minutes since they wouldn't be able to follow your moves."

Naruto nodded, listening intently to the man's every word.

"Okay, there are three Ninjutsu that are unique within the royal family. One you will need to use regularly. That one is 'Doku hakken no jutsu' (3). The generals may wish to get rid of you so that they could have a chance at the throne themselves. They will do such things as put poison in your food, so I need to teach you this one first of all. Until then, I will be checking your food, okay?"

Naruto blinked and then frowned. If the man didn't want to expose him to such danger, then why adopt him in the first place? This man was strange indeed.

"Okay, the next one is called 'Kuma tsume no jutsu' (4). This jutsu forms a glove of chakra around your hand and has the offensive abilities of piercing and slashing."

"Cool!" Okay, maybe being the Prince wasn't so bad…

"The third is called 'Yaju henka no jutsu' (5). I doubt you would use this one much since it was actually developed by pure accident by one of the previous Kings. He was a little bit unstable, which is why we think he came up with this. He was playing about with the Henge and managed to discover a way to prevent your cover from being blown. The only problem is that you can only do this with animal form and not human form. If you have some in contact with the DNA of an animal, then you are able to transform parts of your body into animal parts. Like a bear claw or something like that. You can also turn into that animal fully. Strange jutsu, but then, so was the guy who invented it."

"I think it's cool! Imagine the amount of fun you could have with that jutsu!"

Mamoru gave a sigh,

"It's not for playing around with! It could get you into deep trouble."

Naruto pouted, crossing his arms.

"You just like to take the fun out of things!"

"Hardly. It's just something that could get you killed since there are a large amount of hunters around here. So please don't mess about with it!"

"Okay, I promise."

Mamoru gave a sigh of relief,

"Good. I just don't want you hurt."

"Is there anything else?"

"No there isn't. Would you like some tea?"

"Erm, yes please."

The King got up and went over to the other side of the room where the items were set up. As the man did this, Naruto lost himself in his thoughts. Back when he was 'adopted', couldn't the King have easily taken Sasuke instead? He seemed strong enough to. The Uchiha was far stronger then him and smarter as well. He was a prodigy, a genius. Naruto was neither of those.

He blinked when a steaming cup of herbal tea was set in front of him. He smiled and mumbled,

"Thanks."

They were silent for a while and then Mamoru asked,

"What's on you mind son?"

"You know when you 'adopted' me?"

"Yes, go on."

"There was another boy there. Couldn't you have easily taken him instead of me?"

"Yes I could of, but to be honest, I didn't want an arrogant Uchiha for my son. I hate the Uchiha's anyway; I've never come across one that didn't have something stuck up their ass. And that pink haired female, God she was ugly. And she seemed to like that Uchiha as well."

"Yeah, she does. In fact, she always puts him above me and that's almost killed me a couple of times on missions."

Mamoru frowned.

"She won't get far in life then."

"I doubt it…so, when can we start my training?" Naruto asked in a hopeful voice. Mamoru laughed, ruffling the blonde's hair.

"You're such an eager kid, aren't you?"

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Sasuke frowned as he walked along the street, hands in his pocket and ignoring the chatting Sakura next to him. He was jealous. Naruto had become a Prince. And a prince of an extremely powerful clan as well. He clenched his fists, feeling his anger rise.

Why did Naruto get chosen instead of him? Sasuke was much better then Naruto and would have made a better King then that dobe. He wouldn't even know how to run a country! And the idiot certainly wouldn't be able to learn all the jutsus of the clan.

Sasuke growled low in his throat. He needed power damn it! How could he when he's stuck here…with Sakura. It was tempting to go to Orochimaru for the power, but… wouldn't the dobe think him weak going to the snake for power? He couldn't allow for that. He will not be considered weak, especially not by the likes of Naruto!

'I think…I'll get Kakashi to train to train me and when we go and see him on his fifteenth birthday, I'll challenge him to a fight and beat him! Ha! That'll show the King for choosing the weakest! Wait…when is Naruto's birthday? He's never mentioned it before…'

"Sakura."

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?" the pink haired girl asked immediately as if hoping for a date. No chance in hell.

"When's Naruto's birthday?"

"Why do you want to know?" She asked, evidently confused.

"I don't know when it is and we'll have to go to his fifteenth so I wanted to know when it was. I want to train and beat him."

"Oh, really! I think he told me once…I think he said about the 10th October. Somewhere around then, I wasn't listening properly…"

Sasuke nodded and then walked off, disappearing from the Pink haired girls view, leaving her along in the busy street.

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(1)- Death blade- I know, kinda simple, but this sword kills its enemy easily, so yeah, suitable name.

(2)- Bird grace- Kinda sucks, but I was out of ideas -.-; it's based on the grace at which a bird in flight shows.

(3)- Poison detection.

(4)- Bear Claw

(5)- Beast transformation.

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So, yeah. A chapter for you. Hoped you liked! Ja!

Oh, and even though the main pairing is Itanaru, I'm going to have Sasuke, Gaara and Neji trying to get Naru-chan XP You know, it's strange that he seems to fit with just about any character… yeah… (anyone thinking man whore?)