CHAPTER 2

They hid in the shadows adjacent from the main entrance of the compound, watching for any sign of movement. Wrapped in swaths of dark rags, they moved forward and leapt over the gate, landing in the empty courtyard. Their leader gestured with a single hand and they surrounded the large double doors ahead. Two men grabbed the handles and with a nod to the others, slid the doors open quickly and quietly. The seven shadows disappeared into the darkness of the household, intent on finding their target.

It was only by pure chance that they found out about this place. After the attack, the boy seemingly vanished into thin air. It was obvious to everyone that the Hokage knew where he was, but would not tell the council, no matter how much they wanted to make sure that the boy was 'properly taken care of'. Unfortunately they couldn't force the Hokage to reveal the child's location because of lack of support among the council. Many of those fools felt either sympathy for the creature or chose to take the wait-and-see approach.

Finally one of the councillors that saw the danger that the child overheard the Hokage speaking to his daughter, talking about a compound on the edge of the city, and about a child that was kept there. The councillor told a ninja companion of his and requested that he scout this mystery compound.

They couldn't believe it. It was him.

At first glance he appeared no different from any other human child, but such was the way of a kitsune; they were tricksters by nature, and could assume the most disarming of forms. The only way they were able to see it for what it was, was thanks to it's markings. Upon each cheek were three whisker-like scars. Couple this with the boy's angular facial features and his slightly slanted eyes, and the boy had the unmistakable appearance of a fox. They would go in that night.

The group stopped at a juncture in the corridors of the compound. The leader glanced around the halls and sighed. This place was massive, and their target was small. The fact that they had no intelligence on the layout didn't help. With a few whispered instructions, he sent two of his men down one corridor, the other two down the second, and took the remaining two with him down the last corridor.

As they progressed, they slid open each door, hoping to catch a glance of their target. Keeping out of the moon's light, they came to a large courtyard, with large slabs paving the ground.

Sudden movement caught his eye, and he crouched even lower, almost going prone. He narrowed his eyes, trying unsuccessfully to pierce the gloom ahead. From his belt, he pulled his trusty mace, twirling it in his hand comfortably as he stepped forward, out of the shadows, his two men following. He stood proud in the centre of the courtyard, his weapon clutched firmly in his hands. His blood sang with the promise of battle, and the knowledge that his loved ones would be avenged soon.

"Up there!" His head snapped upwards at his companion's harsh whisper, and his heart beat even quicker.

A shadowed figure was perched like a cat on top of the tiled roof, the moon at it's back, casting it entirely in darkness. Two long tails billowed around it in the night wind as it appeared to regard them.

The leader swallowed past the lump in his throat. It was time. "You there!" He called, his voice echoing in the night. "Identify yourself!"

The shadow launched itself of the roof, flipping gracefully before landing silently in front of them, it's head snapping up to peer at the three men in front of it. Sliding to it's feet, it began towards the intruders, causing them to take a nervous half-step back before the moonlight cast light on the figure. The leader let out a shaky sigh of relief.

"Kinome-sama." He bowed slightly to the Hokage's daughter, who stood before them stoically, her eyes glittering in the moonlight.

"Nasura-san." She nodded back politely, recognising the young Jounin. "May I ask what brings you here tonight?"

The man, Nasura, licked his lips nervously, and reaffirmed his grip on his trusty mace. "We have come here to eliminate a threat to Konoha." He said, throwing his chest out proudly.

Kinome raised one elegant eyebrow, he face remaining devoid of expression. "Really?" She asked. "And what threat would that be exactly?"

"We have come to eliminate the demon that almost destroyed the village four years ago." He gestured towards the surrounding buildings. "We have heard from our supporters on the council that the creature has taken up residence in this abandoned compound."

Kinome's eyes narrowed slightly. "I see." She let her eyes close, and drew in a deep, calming breath of night air. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

Nasura's jaw fell, but he quickly recovered. "Why? That demon is a threat to our home. Every second that it is allowed to live is more time for it to gather it's strength for another, even greater attack! Why are you defending it!?"

Kinome opened her eyes and gazed up at the twinkling stars above as she answered, "Three reasons. Reason number one is: because my father, the Hokage, has ordered that the child not be harmed. Reason number two is: the boy is not the demon that attacked our home, he is the beast's prison, and therefore he is an innocent child."

"And reason number three?" Nasura sneered, only to balk as Kinome dropped her eyes to bore into his, her usually warm brown orbs burning with white hot fury.

"Reason number three," She hissed, her voice shaking the men to the core with it's intensity. "Is because I will never allow anyone to harm my son!" In one fluid motion, she pulled her blood red bo-staff from behind her, and launched herself at the intruders.

Nasura threw himself backwards as Kinome brought her staff crashing into the side of one man's neck, shattering his spinal cord, before spinning low, and sweeping the other man off his feet. In one graceful arc, Kinome stood, and brought her staff sweeping down onto the man's skull, crushing it, and splattering blood, bone, and brains across the cold stone floor of the courtyard as Nasura landed a few feet away.

Nasura almost wet himself when he saw both his men killed so easily, and ruthlessly in less than three seconds. He hardly saw her move, and it was only luck that he managed to dodge. Kinome's eyes focused on him, and he brought up his mace to block when he felt a sharp pain at the base of his skull, then nothing. His world spun violently before he hit the base of the stairs at the end of the courtyard. The last thing Nasura saw was the shadowed outline of Kinome, standing easily with her staff over his headless corpse, then everything went black.

Kinome let out a long breath, and folded her staff once more, hooking it across her back. Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out a black scroll, and opened it. This particular scroll was what was commonly referred to as an 'Undertaker's scroll', because of it's use of transporting corpses. Four of the ten seals were filled, containing the bodies of the other intruders that sought to harm her child. She felt no remorse for her actions. People like that didn't deserve such things.

She sealed the bodies into the scroll, with Nasura's head getting it's own seal, and cleaned the gore from the ground with a low level Suiton jutsu. She flipped the scroll into the air, where it spun for a moment before it was incinerated by one of her Katon jutsu.

She walked through the house until she came to the same room that her opponents had been seeking, and slid the door open. She smiled as she gazed upon her son, wrapped in his blankets, and hugging his favourite stuffed monkey. She looked lovingly at his sleeping form for a few more moments before turning and disappearing into her own room, directly across from him. After changing out of her clothes, she slipped under her own blankets, keeping her staff within reach.

She would allow no one to harm her baby.

"Mom!"

The shout rang throughout the room, and Kinome woke with a smile, a second before a little blonde missile launched itself at her. She wrapped her arms around her son and hugged him tight before holding him at arms length. The little ball of joy grinned at his mother, his slightly longer than normal canines showing.

"Good morning, Naru-chan!" She smiled at her son.

"Jiji is coming today isn't he?" He asked excitedly. He hadn't seen his grandfather in a while, and he was really looking forward to this visit.

Kinome nodded. "Yep, he sure is." She smiled as her son's grin grew even larger, if possible. She noticed that he was already dressed for the day. "You ready for breakfast?"

He nodded, and bounced off the bed, allowing Kinome to get up. "Why don't you go wait for me in the kitchen, Naru-chan, I'll be along in a second."

Naruto nodded, and took off, leaving her to get dressed. She wasn't worried about him. Those idiots weren't foolish enough to attack during the day. They seemed to think they were safer in sneaking around in the dark. She shook her head at their logic. If anything, she was even more attentive at night.

After a quick shower, she slipped into her regular clothes, and made her way into the kitchen, Naruto already perched in his chair, waiting.

She smiled at him, and opened the refrigerator, bending over to inspect it's contents. "Okay, Kiddo, what do you want for eating?"

Naruto scrunched his face in thought before he called out, "Eggs, toast, and bacon!"

Kinome peered around the refrigerator door, an eyebrow slightly raised. Naruto chuckled, and scratch the back of his head at his mistake. "Eggs, toast, and bacon please."

Kinome smiled, and nodded at her son. "Coming right up."

After breakfast, Sarutobi arrived, only to be immediately tackled by Naruto. Kinome detached her son from her father, and led the two into the sitting room, where Naruto immediately perched himself in Sarutobi's lap, the Hokage hat tilted at an angle on his blonde head. After talking for awhile, Sarutobi brought up one particular topic that he and Kinome had been discussing previously.

"Naruto, what do you want to do with your life?" He asked the child.

Naruto looked up from his toys. "What do you mean?"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Umm…" Naruto looked lost for a moment before he turned to Kinome. "What do you do, mom?"

Kinome smiled at him. "I'm a ninja, Naru-chan. I fight to protect the village, and everyone in it."

Naruto nodded, and turned to his grandfather. "I wanna be a ninja!" He declared, one fist raised in the air.

Sarutobi chuckled, and Kinome looked on fondly. "Are you sure?" Sarutobi asked. Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Well, do you know how you become a ninja?"

"Umm…read?" Naruto ventured.

Sarutobi nodded. "Reading is a big part of it, but that's not all you need to do. You would need to train hard to learn how to fight, and throw shuriken. You would also need to learn to mould chakra, and perform jutsu."

Sarutobi saw that Naruto was lost as to what 'chakra', and 'jutsu' meant, so he held out his hand, and clicked his fingers. Immediately a small flame leapt up from his palm. It gave off heat, but didn't burn Sarutobi.

"Whoa!" Naruto's eyes nearly left their sockets when he saw his grandfather conjured fire. "How did you do that?"

Sarutobi showed Naruto the fire. "This is a jutsu, if a rather small one. I just use it to light my pipe, but it's a good example of what jutsu do. All ninja use chakra, a type of energy produce by the body, to create jutsu. Using chakra, a ninja could summon a large wall of water, or create a dragon of fire, and more besides."

Naruto was practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of learning how to do that. "What do I need to do?"

Sarutobi sat back on the couch. "Well, you need to be taught how to channel chakra, how to throw kunai, and shuriken, and learn since you don't start the ninja academy until age eight, you would need to be home schooled in the basics, like reading, writing, and math."

"When can we start?"

Sarutobi glanced at Kinome who looked at her son seriously. "Naruto? Are you sure that this is what you want? Being a ninja isn't easy. It's a hard, painful, and sometimes short life. The second you become a ninja, you are bound to protect the village with your life, and it's a commitment that is almost impossible to back out of. Are you absolutely certain that you want to be a ninja?"

Naruto looked back at his mother, realising how serious she was. He thought about it. If he could learn how to do that then he could help protect his family. Also he would be doing what his mom did, which was cool. Add to that that everyone in his family was a ninja besides him, even though there were only two others in the family (unless you count his mom's brother Asuma, but he had never met him.). If there was one thing that Naruto cherished above all else, it was his family. He looked his mother in the eye, determination shinning in his cerulean orbs. "I'm sure mom. If I'm a ninja then I could look after you, and Jiji, and everyone else."

Kinome searched her child's eyes for a moment longer before her face broke into a smile. "Then we'd better get you training then."

Naruto stood in the centre of the main courtyard of the compound as he waited for his mother. He pulled at the black, sleeveless shirt that was tucked into a pair of black sweet pants. He really liked his new training clothes. Plus he was wearing his first pair of ninja sandals; a black pair to match his training clothes.

Hearing one of the doors sliding open, he looked up to see his mom walk into the courtyard.

"Are you ready to start, Naruto?" She asked.

He nodded. "You bet!"

She smiled at him. "Okay, well as I promised, I'm going to teach you how to unlock your chakra. The first thing you need to do is form your first seal." She held up her joined hands. "This seal is called the Ram seal. It's the most basic seal there is, and it's used in nearly every jutsu there is. There are many seals other than this one, but we'll focus on this one for the moment. As you focus your chakra, you can actually feel it moving through your body. Right now I want you to mould some chakra and try to push it out of your body. Doing this will unlock your chakra points. After the first time, we'll do it a few more times to make sure you unlock all your chakra points. Give it a try."

Naruto nodded and brought his hands up into the Ram seal, and focused. When he was starting to think that maybe he was doing something wrong, he felt something. It was like a warmth spreading through his body.

Kinome nodded to herself. "That's good work Naruto. You've managed to circulate your chakra, now try to push it out through your chakra points. To make it easier you should focus on one body part at a time."

Naruto nodded, but didn't open his eyes. He began to push his chakra down, pooling it into his legs, and feet. Perspiration broke out across his brow, but he grinned as he felt the blockage start to give way, so he pushed even more chakra into it.

He shouted in triumph as he felt the blockage give way, and his chakra come flooding out. Now, this resulted in three things. Number one was that he had amassed a lot more chakra than he thought. Number two was that the sudden flood of chakra caused a massive crater to form in the ground. And number three was that all of this had a rocket effect on poor Naruto, and before he knew what was happening, he was launched into the air.

He shouted in glee as he flew higher and higher. His triumphant grin slowly slid off his face as gravity reasserted itself, and he began falling back to the stone floor below. He clenched his eyes shut in preparation for the pain when he felt a thin, but strong, pair of arms catch him. He opened his eyes to see his mother looking down at him, a bemused smirk on her face.

"Well it's a start." She chuckled as she set him on the ground.

Naruto was still a little stunned at his impersonation of a missile. "Was that normal?"

Kinome shrugged. "No…but you're my son, your genetically programmed to be awesome."

Naruto grinned as he made the Ram seal again. By the end of their session, Naruto had been launched into the air five more times, and was sent crashing into the wall twelve times.

"Are you sure? I could just cancel, it wouldn't be a problem."

"I'm sure." Sarutobi insisted. "Kinome-chan, you've hardly had a night to yourself the last few years. Just go out, and have fun. I'll look after Naruto."

Kinome bit her lip, unsure. She was dressed in her favourite black dress, and heels, with bangles and hoop earrings completing the ensemble. She was being dragged out for a night on the town with her friends, the first in a long while. It wasn't that she missed them, she would gladly spend all her time with Naruto, but her friends had been most insistent, and apparently had her father on their side.

Another thing that made her want to ditch her friends for the night was Naruto's safety. She knew he would be alright with her father, but she would feel a whole lot better is she was the one looking after her son.

She sighed as she realised that she wasn't going to get out of this one. "Fine, but you call me at the first sign of trouble. Are we clear, old man?" She asked, her brow raised in warning.

Sarutobi chuckled. "Fine. Go and have fun."

She turned and walked to the door. With her hand on the handle, she turned back to her father. "Remember; watch out at night."

Sarutobi's smile was that of a predator. "Don't worry. I didn't earn the title of Hokage by chance. I may be old, but I still have quite a few tricks up my sleeves."

Kinome nodded, and turned, closing the door behind her. Sarutobi brought his hand to his mouth, and bit his thumb before slapping his hand to the ground. A seal formula spread out from under his fingers, and from a cloud of smoke, emerged ten small monkeys.

"Hey, Sarutobi-sama." One of the monkeys, a small red one, waved.

Sarutobi crouched down to better look them in the eye. "Hello my friends. I need you to perform a small task tonight. I need you to patrol this compound, and keep an eye out for anyone who tries to sneak in. If you see anyone, you tell me immediately, no matter who they are."

The little monkeys nodded in confirmation, and took off to perform their duty. Sarutobi walked back into the main sitting room, where Naruto was sat, reading up on the famous ninja that Konoha had produced. The young boy looked up as his grandfather walked into the room, and passed him the book he was reading. "Hey, Jiji, who are they?"

Sarutobi took the book in his hands, and smiled down at the picture. It was his Genin team picture. He was stood behind Jiraiya who was grinning, and giving the camera the victory sign. To their left was Tsunade, who was leaning against a training post with her arms crossed, a small smirk on her face, and directly opposite her was Orochimaru. The pale boy stood calmly, a small smile on his face. 'Those were better times.' Sarutobi mused.

He sat on the couch, making room for Naruto who bounced up beside him. He wrapped an arm around the boy as they looked at the old picture. "That, Naruto, is a picture of me with my old students, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru."

Naruto peered down at the picture. "I think I've heard of them."

Sarutobi nodded. "It's likely you have, they were very powerful, and very famous."

"Wow. What were they like?"

Sarutobi smiled nostalgically. "Well let me tell you a story about them. This was during one of our very first missions as a team. We had to track down a certain cat, when Jiraiya…"

The sharp clunks of wood smacking against wood echoed around the dojo. They two combatants weaved around each other, their attacks lightning fast.

Naruto ducked under the strike aimed at his head, and swept low, trying to take the legs out from under Kinome, who merely skipped over his attempt. She kicked him backwards, but he maintained his balance, and reaffirmed his grip on his bo-staff.

They watched each other for a moment before Naruto launched himself forward, his staff descending towards her side. She easily blocked the strike, and spun, brining her staff around to catch the back of his knees, sending him to the ground. Not wasting a moment, he kicked back up to his feet, and twirled his staff around his body, driving Kinome back, and giving him some space to breath. Sweat was dripping down his face, making his hair stick to his forehead. They had been at this for two hours, and his mom hadn't even broken a sweat yet. He was covered in bruises, and his body protested every movement. He had yet to land a single hit on his mother, which was the target of this session. He wouldn't last much longer, he knew it. It was time for an all or nothing attack.

Calling up the last reserves of his strength, he rushed forward, and launched himself into the air, swinging his staff in a downwards stroke. Kinome quickly brought her staff up to lock him, only for her eyes to widen when his staff smashed hers in two, never breaking from it's path. Naruto felt a surge of triumph as his staff neared her shoulder, only for his jaw to drop when she stopped it mere millimetres from her skin with one of the broken halves of her staff. She sharply rapped the other half across the back of his wrist, causing him to wince, and drop his staff. She jerked him quickly forward by his numb hand, and he blinked when he found the splintered end of one of her broken staff halves inches from his eye.

He let out a sigh of tired frustration. She won again. She let him go, and he fell to his butt, panting for breath.

Kinome grinned down at him. "Tired?" She asked, only for her grin to widen when he glared weakly up at her.

"No fair." He grumbled. "I broke your staff. I should have won."

Kinome wiggled a patronising finger at him. "Now, now, none of that. In the proper hands, anything could be used to defeat your enemy, even if it's a pebble or even a piece of paper."

Naruto muttered under his breath as she helped him to his feet, and together they walked into the kitchen to get some water from the fridge. He plopped down on a chair, draining his bottle halfway, and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"So is there anything you'd like for your birthday, Naru-chan?" Kinome asked as she sat down. Naruto swirled his water in his bottle as he thought about it.

"Can I go outside?"

Kinome paused with her bottle a few inched from her lips, and sighed. "Naruto, you know you're not allowed to go outside."

Naruto pouted. "Why? I've never been outside the compound since I came here. Can't we just go to the festival this once. I mean, the fireworks are great, but I've never seen the rest of the festival."

Kinome shook her head. She hardly ever needed to be strict with Naruto outside of training, but one rule she always stood by was that he was never allowed to go to the festival. If they tried to attack him in his own home, who knew what they would try during the Remembrance Festival; a massive party celebrating the defeat of the Kyuubi, and remembering those that died during it's attack.

"You know you're not allowed to go to the festival, Naruto."

Naruto crossed his arms, and pouted. "How come? You always say I can't go, but you never say why."

Kinome closed her eyes. She couldn't tell him. Not yet. She knew that when he finally found out about his burden, everything would change. She couldn't bare the thought of it. She wanted a few more years. Just a few more years of happiness with her child before he found out about the secret, and how some of the village viewed him. She often wondered how much of his son's innocence would survive the cruel world beyond the compound walls. She truly dreaded finding out the answer to that question.

"Naruto." She said. "There is a very good reason why I don't want you going outside. I can't tell you it yet, but I promise I'll tell you one day. Okay?"

Naruto nodded glumly.

"Besides, you're four right now. Only another four years until you start the academy."

That got a small grin from Naruto. "That's true."

Kinome smiled, and leaned back in her chair. "So, is there anything else you want?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before his face broke into an excited grin. "Can I get my own bo-staff?"

"Maybe, if you can complete the first part of your training before your birthday. If not, then we'll see what we can do."

"Yes!"

"Now, go and get cleaned up. You still have history studies in an hour."

Naruto's fifth birthday went off without a hitch. Sadly Naruto didn't manage to complete the training he needed to get his own bo-staff, but Kinome more than made it up to him with her gift.

"Cool!" Naruto shouted in glee as he pulled the fabric from the box. It was a black scarf, identical to his mother's, except for the colour, and lack of hitai-ate on the front. Curving, orange flames were sewn onto the ends of the tails, which would drag along the ground if he wore it now, because of his height. When it was wrapped around his neck, the collar would cover the entire upper part of his chest, the tops of his shoulders, and be high enough to block the view of everything on his face below the eyes.

"Thanks, mom!" He exclaimed as he wrapped Kinome in a tight hug, which was easily reciprocated.

"You're welcome, sweetie." She said, kissing the top of his head.

Sarutobi's gift was an even greater surprise.

"What's this?" Naruto asked, as the old man opened a very large scroll on the floor. Looking closely, Naruto saw the manes 'Sarutobi Hiruzen', 'Sarutobi Asuma', and 'Sarutobi Kinome' written in what appeared to be blood.

Sarutobi beckoned Naruto to come sit by him. Naruto flopped down beside his grandfather, leaning into his mother, who sat behind him, watching the proceedings with great interest.

Sarutobi patted the scroll reverently. "This, Naruto, is the summoning contract of the Sarutobi clan. By signing this, you will be able to summon our family's allies, the monkeys."

Naruto blinked in confusion. "What do you mean, 'summon monkeys'?"

Sarutobi merely smiled, and bit his thumb, bloodying it, before slamming in to the floor as the seal formula rushed from under his palm. A cloud of smoke cleared, and Naruto's eyes widened in amazement when he saw the small, brown chimp, wearing a red vest sitting in front of him. A faint memory briefly resurfaced, and Naruto turned quickly to his mother. "I remember you used to do that when I was little!"

Kinome smiled. "That's true. I used to summon them for you to play with. I remember you used to enjoy it."

The small chimp looked around for a moment before looking up at Sarutobi. "Hey, Sarutobi-sama, what do you need?"

Sarutobi smiled down at the monkey. "Sorry for disturbing you, Taka. I just summoned you as a demonstration for my grandson Naruto, as he is about to become your latest summoner."

Taka turned to look at the small blonde. "Naruto? I think I heard some of the other guys talking about you."

Naruto bent forward to look better get a look at the monkey's face. "Probably, I used to play with some of you when I was little."

The small animal snickered. "You're still small, kid."

Naruto's face immediately became a mask of anger. "Hey, I'm a lot bigger than you, you little fuzz ball!"

"Who you callin' a fuzz ball, shrimp!?"

Sarutobi leaned past the argument, to whisper to a giggling Kinome, "Doesn't that remind you of when you signed the contract?"

Kinome laughed. "Yes, but I seem to remember that the monkey I argued with was a lot bigger. I wonder how old Barigoo is doing, I haven't summoned him in a while."

Sarutobi smirked, and broke up the argument before it came to blows. "Okay, Taka, you can go home now. Thank you for your time."

Taka nodded and left, but not before pulling down his eyelid and sticking out his tongue at Naruto.

"Stupid little plush toy!"

"Now, Naruto, all you need to do is write your name in blood in one of the empty spaces."

"Why?" Naruto grumbled, still glaring at the spot where Taka disappeared. "They sound like little rude balls of hair. What good would they be in a fight?"

Sarutobi chuckled. "Well, the smaller ones could be used as scouts, thieves, or distractions. As they get older, they learn taijutsu, kenjutsu, and even some ninjutsu. The Monkey King, Enma, is my partner in battle, because not only is he the leader of the monkeys, and the most powerful, but he can also turn into a diamond hard staff that I can use in battle."

Naruto's eyes were wide. "Wow, really!?" He asked excitedly.

Sarutobi nodded. "Yes. So, do you want to sign?"

Naruto nodded, and scooted over to the scroll, beside his grandfather. He bit his thumb, and carefully wrote his name, just below his mother's, in his best writing.

"Na…ruto…Uzu…maki. Done!"

"Good. Now, all you need to do is perform these hand seals." He showed him them slowly. "When you gain the monkey's trust, you can ask them to give you a summoning tattoo, which will allow you to summon without seals. This will save you precious time when in a fight."

Kinome nodded. "Yes, it does." She looked at Naruto sternly. "But you come see me before you even think about getting any tattoos, do you understand, mister?"

Naruto hastily nodded as Sarutobi laughed. Reining in his amusement, he nudged Naruto's shoulder. "Go ahead. Just form the seals, push as much chakra into it as you can, slap your hand to the ground, and say Kuchiyose no jutsu."

Naruto nodded, and began to form the seals. When he finished the last one, he took a deep breath before slapping his hand to the ground. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Naruto couched as the resultant smoke got in his face, and frantically waved his hand to fan it away. When it finally cleared, Naruto looked up in awe.

Standing in front of him was a large, black furred monkey, which was taller than even Kinome or Sarutobi. It's arms, legs, and chest bulged with muscles, and Naruto saw that it wore a pair of baggy, ninja-style pants, with a hole cut out of the back for it's tail. It's forearms were clad in a pair of vambraces that looked like they were made of rough stone, and it carried in it's hands a thick club which was as long the monkey who held it was tall. It looked around for a moment before noticing the three humans sitting at it's feet.

"Sarutobi-samas, you summoned me?" He asked in a gravely voice, looking between Kinome, and Sarutobi.

Kinome shook her head, smiling proudly. "Nope! That was my son." She said, gesturing to the small boy in her lap.

"Indeed?" The monkey quirked an eyebrow as he kneeled down to Naruto's level. "And what name does our newest summoner go buy?"

"I'm Naruto!" He proudly declared, jabbing a thumb to his chest.

"Greetings. I am Farsu. I look forward to fighting alongside you in battle."

Naruto chuckled nervously as the summon's beetle black eyes stared at him. "Likewise."

Farsu nodded, and turned to the elder family members. "If that is all, then I shall inform the king of our newest summoner."

"Yes, that is all, Farsu. Please give Enma my regards."

The monkey nodded back, and dispelled itself. As soon as it was gone, Kinome laughed in delight, and hugged Naruto tightly. "That was great, honey! A summon that size, at your age! It was incredible!"

Naruto blushed at the praise. "Thanks, but Farsu kind of freaked me out."

Kinome, and Sarutobi chuckled. "Farsu's a born warrior. He believes that you should show respect to those you fight beside, and it will be returned. It's a shame that not many people believe as he does nowadays."

"Yeah, but luckily some of them are a little less formal." Kinome agreed. Then she looked down at Naruto. "What's say we have some cake before we call it a night?"

After gorging himself something rotten, and bidding goodnight to his grandfather, and mother, Naruto sighed contently, snuggled up in his bed. He'd had a great day, got some awesome gifts, ate good food, and even made some new friends in the monkeys. Life was good.

Unfortunately for him though, the good times were quickly coming to an end.

A/N: This was just a filler chapter. The next chapter is where it all kicks off. As you have probably already guessed, there will be two major points ofAU-ness in this story.

The first is that Konohamaru will be born later than he is in cannon. Moegi, and Udon will also be younger because of this.

The Uchiha Massacre may also take place earlier than cannon, forcing Sasuke to enter the academy as an asshole, instead of growing into it.

A small notice on character art: I am in the process of drawing Naruto as he will appear in this story, and I have just completed my drawing of Kinome. I will post them when I can.

Please review, and give your opinion.

Ja ne!