It was quiet in the Namikaze household, the house was a rather simple two story building that was found on the outskirts of the village. The early morning sun was shining through the windows, gently shining upon a young boy as he slept silently. However, the silence was suddenly broken by a loud shout that originated from the bathroom.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Minato Namikaze's voice could be heard throughout the entire house. To any that knew the man they would be able to instantly tell that he was angry. This stemmed from the fact that he would very rarely use his son's full name unless he was angry.

At the sound of his father's voice a five-year-old boy shot out of bed, it took him a moment to orientate himself wondering what had happened that had caused his father to shout his name. It took a moment for the memories of the previous night to play through his head before he quickly had to get dressed. Grabbing his clothes, which consisted of an orange t-shirt with an Uzumaki swirl on the back of it, a pair of sage green shorts, and a small backpack that held his camping gear, he ran towards the window.

Stopping for a moment he realised he had forgotten his most precious item, he could hear the footsteps of his father drawing closer turning he ran towards the desk, not wasting a second he grabbed a brown covered book before running back to the window. Opening the window, he threw the bag out before he climbed out clutching his book tight to his chest.

He was just in time to see his father slamming open the door, "Naruto!" he heard the man shout, he had only enough time to see the a tuft of bright neon pink before he slid down the slanted roof.

Minato had come barging into the room looking for his son. He could only watch as the boy left through the window with a large smile on his face.

Minato stood in the room, he was angry at his son, not furious but angry none the less, it was days like this where he regretted telling his son how much his mother use to like to prank people. His reflection showed that his once blonde hair had suddenly become a neon pink colour, courtesy of his son swapping his shampoo with a fast acting hair dye.

It would seem that his son was in one of his moods to cause mischief, he was not sure what brought it on, what actually worried him was how he always managed to get out the window. He had put a seal on it to stop it from being able to be opened ever since he climbed out to go to the veterinarians. That had worked for a few years, but now he was unsure of when he had managed to start opening the window again.

Sighing he decided to leave, he knew where the boy was going, he had grabbed his camping gear which meant that after he went to the academy he had no intentions of coming home.

It was something that had started after the first time he took him camping; he had taken Naruto camping so little Kichiro could run around the woods and try to hunt for some food. Naruto had taken a liking to it and being that Kichiro also enjoyed it meant that he would go camping often.

Sighing to himself he realised it was going to be a long day; he was not looking forward to his secretary's remarks about his hair. Out of the long list of people who had been affected by Naruto's tendencies to prank, she seemed to be missed a lot. Compared to other people in the administration building, he knew why or at least was able to make a solid guess as to why, she was one of the few who didn't look at him wearily due to the whisker marks on his face and the fact that he was always seen with a fox.

As he had believed three years ago, the village didn't take well to seeing his son running around with a small fox. The small whispers that he had heard about his son's appearance due to his whisker marks had only increased because of the fox that he now had with him. People would give him a wider berth then what they should have, as well as giving him guarded looks.

They knew he was his son, though the fact that he was, called Uzumaki seemed to have had another impact on it. It nearly seemed like some people believed that he had given his son his mother's last name not to honour the woman he loved. Instead, some believed that it was because the boy wasn't worthy enough to be his son. That had infuriated him tremendously.

Leaving those thoughts to the side he decided to leave the room to get some breakfast and go to his office.

-()-

Naruto was running through the streets of Konoha, his backpack was slung over his shoulder with Kichiro running alongside him. The little fox had grown over the last three years, it scampered along staying close to him.

Naruto may not have been the brightest boy in his class, but he knew that a lot of people in Konoha did not like the fact that he had a fox as a pet. It wasn't hard to see, they always gave him strange looks. At first he thought it had to do with the fact of who his dad was. But none of the other clan heirs received those looks.

But if the people would look at him funnily because of Kichiro then he didn't care about them. He made his way to the academy for another boring day.

Entering the building he went to his room and waited for the rest of the class to come. He couldn't contain his grin at the idea of all of the others coming in, he was looking forward to seeing his master piece unfold. He had been working on it for the last month.

In order to pass the time he decided to read from his book. It was a simple brown book, but to him it was the most important thing in the world. He had found it last year when he was thinking of a way to prank his dad for the first time. He was going through the closest when he came across a small brown book.

Curious about it he decided to see what was within it. He remembered the first paragraph like the back of his hand.

"I don't know why I am even writing in this already, but I'm just so happy. I found out today that I am pregnant. I can't wait to see you. I know it's strange, I feel like a wreck but I am just so happy. You know I haven't told your dad yet. I can't wait to tell him. But for the moment it's just me and you who know. I'm counting down the days I can't wait till I meet you. I feel like I am ranting but… but I'm so happy, I am just so happy."

He had cried when he had read it, his mother had kept a journal throughout her pregnancy. Reading it had been the greatest feeling he had ever had. His dad had told him about his mother, how much she was looking forward to meeting him. How happy of a woman she was, how skilled a kunochi she was and just how much she loved him.

But reading her journal had been an eye opener, his mother had loved him, he had been told she had, but reading her words seeing the day they had decided on his name, knowing that she had been counting down the days until they met. It was so much to take in, it had been filled with other things as well. Stuff she had wanted to teach him, how she would read to him every night hoping he could hear her voice, it was thanks to a little note that she had put in it about seals that he had managed to break the one on the window.

He had read the book cover to cover multiple times, he had never shown it to his father out of fear that he may take it and put it away somewhere. It was the only thing he had of his mothers and he wanted to keep it. Call him selfish but he would be selfish for this one time.

Naruto set at his desk with Kichiro curled up at his feet, some of the class didn't like the fact that he had a fox with him, apparently their parents they didn't want a fox in the class. But they weren't able to stop him. Especially after he had started to keep it in his jacket in the winter.

As the first members started to trickle in for the day he couldn't help but laugh slightly as he saw some of the clan members. It hadn't been easy but he had managed to dye a lot of their clothes. And when he said it wasn't easy it had been a month in the making.

Over the past month he had been sneaking into the different clan compounds and stealing clothing that had been in there washrooms. After about two weeks he deemed that he had enough, from there he spent nearly the next two weeks dying the clothes. And last night he had swapped all of the clothes that he had dyed with their normal clothes. It had taken most of the night and he was starting to feel his tiredness creep in, the only reason he had dyed his dad's hair was because he had dye left and was awake, but it was definitely worth it. Seeing members of his class show up in bright neon pinks and blues was funny but he was tired.

Laying his head down, he decided that he was due some rest for a job well done. It didn't take long for him to slip into blissful unconsciousness.

He was awoken by the sound of the bell ringing signalling that it was time for lunch. He wasn't sure what he had slept through or why no one had woke him up. He wasn't that worried, he didn't really like the academy but he had to go if he wanted to be a ninja.

Rubbing the sand from his eyes he drew himself up in order to go outside, walking through the building he made his way to the swing set. He always played on the swing set, very few of the children approached him. It was a normal occurrence really, some of the children liked him, but stayed away. He wasn't sure why. It may have been Kichiro that they didn't like, and if they didn't like Kichiro then he didn't care about them. He knew some didn't like his whisker marks, they thought they made him look strange. And some may have been intimidated by the fact that his father was the Hokage.

He was sitting alone with Kichiro resting underneath the swing, lazing in the shade. As he set on the swing he decided to read more of his mother's journal. Whenever he felt lonely he would read from the book, his mother's writings always made him feel better. Like he could face any problem because he knew that his mother had loved him. It was the most comforting feeling for him, not even his dad could make him feel as safe as that little book did.

Opening it up he decided to start reading, "Three more months Naruto, just three more months then mommy gets to meet you. I can't wait. I say that every day, but I'll say it again today as I did yesterday and I will do tomorrow. I felt you kicking earlier, are you as excited to meet me as I am to meet you. The things I'm going to have to teach and show you, how to wield a blade, how to seal and the Miracles of Ramen! You'll love it. Mommy is going to teach you everything you will ever need to know."

He wondered when he would be able to learn to wield a blade himself, he wanted to make his mother proud, and if she had wanted him to wield a sword then that was what he would do.

"Your fathers being annoying again, he won't accept that you are going to be Naruto Uzumaki, I would settle for Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki, but no he keeps saying that it should be Namikaze. What do you think, do you want to be Uzumaki or Namikaze?"

When he had been slightly younger he had asked his dad about his last name, he had told him that he was always going to call him Uzumaki, though he had wished he had told his mother that he was going to do it. He had wondered why he hadn't his dad's name. But the more he read in the journal the happier he was that he had been called Uzumaki, his mom would be so happy.

He was broken out of his thoughts when a few boys appeared in front of him, they were members of not only his class but he was certain that somewhere from the older classes as well.

"So you think this is funny" one of the boys had spoken using his hand to point at his clothes, Naruto looked at him and couldn't help but chuckle. They were members of, the Inuzuka, Uchiha and Yamanaka clans. The one talking had been a brown haired boy with the markings that would indicate Inuzaka, his jacket had been a bright pink. Naruto would admit that it was kind of sore on the eyes to look at.

He stifled a laugh at how they looked and was about to answer, before he could the one standing at the front had hit his hand knocking the book to the ground.

Naruto had immediately stopped paying attention to the group and quickly scrambled to the ground in order to get the book back, he could hear a low growl coming from Kichiro.

Before he could get to the book three of the boys had piled on him, he hadn't realised that someone had pounced and held Kichiro to the ground, his eyes were wide. His mother's journal was on the ground just out of reach.

The boy at the front noticed that he had seemed to be trying to get to the book, picking it up he looked it over, "Seems that this is important, it would be a shame if something happened to it?" he said simply.

Naruto didn't know what to do, they were holding him down he could feel tears build up in his eyes, they had taken his mother's journal and he didn't know what they would do with it. The sound of growling intensified before he suddenly heard the sound of a meaty thud and a low whimper come from behind him.

"Stupid fox, the mangy creature shouldn't even be allowed here." One of the boys said.

Naruto could feel anger build up they had just hurt his friend, Kichiro hadn't done anything, he had never hurt anyone and they had just hit him.

"This will teach you for dying all our clothes." The one holding the book said, he watched as his anger gave way to terror as the boy opened the book and tore out the first four pages before tearing them into pieces.

Naruto's fear began to subside and turn to sorrow at what they had done, not only had they hurt Kichiro but they had damaged his mother's journal. That sorrow quickly changed to anger, they had hurt his friend and damaged the only thing that he had of his mothers. For the first time in Naruto's five years of life an unadulterated and unbridled fury washed over him.

It felt like a tempest that had started in his stomach and slowly spread through his body, he was so angry, he wanted to make them pay. The anger became unimaginable and he could have sworn he had heard someone shout out in pain before his vision went red.

-()-

A.N

Short chapter I know but I had stopped writing for a little while and just getting back into the swing of it.

Hoped you enjoyed the chapter, and I think I should actually be updating this one again before I update The Shadow' Apprentice.