Note: I do not own Naruto.
I said I'd update next week but you all got me so motivated that I managed to finish my chapter in one instead of two weeks. But don't think it'll be a habit, next chapter is planned in two weeks time (unless enough people motivate me again to work faster)
Chapter 2: The early years
It wasn't until a few weeks after the attack that it became apparent that things would never be the same again in the village of Konoha. At first everyone was still too shaken up and didn't quite realize how big the damage really was. But after the initial state of shock subsided they began to see that things they once took for granted were now changed forever.
This was especially true for the ANBU. Not only did their entire chain of command changed almost overnight, they also had to deal with a new neighbour in their headquarters. This neighbour was Naruto Uzumaki, the village's newest jinchuuriki. Since both his parents died in the attack, the orphaned boy was placed under the protection and care of the ANBU. However many ANBU soon found out that taking care of a baby was a whole lot different from their regular line of work. Especially since Naruto seemed to have a near infinite appetite and refused to sleep during the night-hours, opting instead to cry for more food. This drove many of the otherwise highly trained and skilled ninja up the wall and many swore to never have kids of their own after their first shift ended.
But eventually things settled down and soon the ANBU grew accustomed to Naruto's presence in The Iceberg. They even managed to work out a workable schedule where a few volunteers (mostly kunoichi though one silver-haired ANBU in a dog-mask volunteered as well) took after him most of the time. It was agreed that the ANBU who took care of Naruto were allowed to remove their masks during that time and be themselves when they were with the blond. There were three reasons for this: first of all Naruto was frightened by the masks and it was a lot easier to get him calm if they simply removed them, secondly an ANBU walking around town with a baby caught a lot of unwanted attention from potential enemy spies and finally the ANBU themselves liked being normal people for a few hours before going back to their alter ego as faceless soldiers.
The Third Hokage also dropped by for a few hours whenever he was there for "ANBU-business" which happened almost every day, even when most of the time he never even made it to Ryu's office to discuss the things he was supposed to be there for in the first place. Everyone knew better than to comment on this though.
The ANBU however had to stay sharp at all times since the rest of the village did not share their views on the boy. During the first six months alone there were 6 assassination attempts at young Naruto's life: they tried to poison his food on 5 separate occasions and one man was even foolish enough to try to sneak in at night and kill him in his sleep. Tried being the word here since he didn't get very far before the ANBU noticed a civilian sneaking in their own headquarters. These attempts at Naruto's life stopped rather abruptly once the ANBU executed the would-be assassins in public under charges of treason.
After this rough start the next few years went by rather smoothly and Naruto grew quite accustomed to the presence of the ANBU in his flat. His room also changed quite a lot since the first year and now housed a small bed with orange sheets (somehow he slept a lot easier with that colour than others), a desk with several storybooks about ninjas, a closet with his clothes and a small chest with his toys and birthday gifts from the Hokage and the ANBU, who long since stopped seeing Naruto as just a mission and more as part of their family. Especially Kakashi, the ANBU known as Dog, took a liking to the blonde and looked after him a lot more than the rest.
It was on one of these days that Kakashi took care of Naruto.
"How is he doing?" asked Kakashi to Badger once he entered flat 101 to begin his shift. "He's asleep now," grumbled Badger "but he was quite a handful to get into bed. Apparently you promised to take him to the park today. The kid couldn't stop talking about it."
"Heh, sorry about that," said Kakashi while rubbing the back of his head with his left hand "I hope he wasn't too difficult?"
"Nothing I can't handle." said Badger with a smirk, "You on the other hand are about to have quite an eventful day once he wakes up. I hope you aren't too tired from your last mission to the land of Tea, because you will need all the energy you can spare." Badger said while chuckling.
"You didn't?" asked Kakashi with fear in his tone.
"Didn't what?" asked Badger trying to sound innocent and suppressing the smirk that threatened to cover his entire face, "I just promised you'd play ninja with him, that's all." He quickly stood up and ran past Kakashi towards the door. "Have a nice day." he said on the way out while Kakashi cursed his bad karma.
Playing ninja was Naruto's favourite game and since a short while it was also the initiation ritual the ANBU gave to the new recruits. The basic idea of the game was to give young children some basic form of training disguised as a series of games and to keep it up as long as the child remained interested. It was designed in such a way that the older ninja playing with the child had quite a hard workout themselves, that way they could keep up with their own training as well.
It was very popular amongst the clans and many ninja, especially those who had younger brothers or nephews, first frowned at the seemingly easy task of entertaining a kid for an hour or two. The catch however was that unlike other children, who stopped playing after one or two hours, Naruto simply did not grow tired of the game and kept demanding more. And thanks to his unwanted tenant giving him extra stamina and energy, the game could easily last eight to nine hours before he wanted to stop for some ramen. Many rookies were left broken after the first day of playing ninja with the hyperactive blond, not even able to lift a finger, and a few even quit ANBU altogether saying they couldn't take it.
Kakashi sighted and silently cursed once again at Badger's idea of a joke. 'Oh well, better get started then' he thought to himself and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the two of them.
"Breakfast is ready!" he shouted towards Naruto's room and a few seconds later the blond boy came running towards the kitchen wearing black pyjamas with the leaf-symbol stitched in white on the back. "Good morning Kakashi." Naruto said to his favourite guardian. "Are we going to the park today and play ninja again?" he asked hopefully.
"Sure Naruto" Kakashi replied, "we'll go right after breakfast so eat up." Kakashi then followed his own advice and ate his breakfast because he had a feeling he'd be needing all the energy he could get.
After breakfast Naruto got dressed and he and Kakashi went to the park at the edge of the village to spent the day. Because it was a warm summer day the park was crowded with several families -mostly civilian though there were several of the smaller clans as well- who also gathered to enjoy the nice day. Naruto and Kakashi found a nice spot under a tree that wasn't yet taken and soon the little blond ran of to play with the other kids. Kakashi was secretly relieved by this since it meant that Naruto would at least give him some time to relax before he insisted they began the torture-session, as the game was sometimes called in ANBU circles. Smiling at his good fortune he started reading a book of a new series called "icha icha" that just came out and wondered if it would be any good. He only bought it because Jiraiya had written it after all.
Meanwhile Naruto reached the playground in the centre of the park and started playing with the other children. Several of the parents tensed a little at first and kept a close eye on him but the presence of the ANBU kept them at bay so nobody interfered or dared yell insults at Naruto. And after a few minutes of nothing happening even they started to relax a little and decided to let the kids play their games instead of worrying.
Meanwhile Naruto was playing a game of hide and seek and was frantically searching for a good hiding spot while one of the other kids, a boy his age with brown hair and a dog, was counting to one hundred.
'Maybe behind the vendors?' he taught to himself, 'no, that's too obvious.'. He looked around the park some more looking for a good spot until his eyes fell on some bushes and trees at the end of the park. 'Perfect!' he taught to himself and ran of to his new hiding spot.
Eventually Naruto found a decent spot in a tree and tried to stay hidden as good as he could. 'He'll never find me here' he taught to himself and tried to stay silent since he learnt from the ANBU that making sound is the easiest way to give away your location, no matter how good you are hidden. After a few minutes he suddenly heard some commotion behind him and he carefully looked down from his hiding spot. There he saw three young boys around his age surround a small girl with pupil-less lavender eyes and short indigo hair who was being pushed around by them. 'Bullies!' he taught, 'I better help that girl out'.
He carefully moved to the other side of the tree so he could surprise them from above, another trick he picked up from one of the ninja-games, and kept listening to the conversation below.
"Look at those freaky eyes!" the biggest of the boys said, "she must be a Hyuga."
"I bet she is just as arrogant as that Neji guy" his friend said, "All Hyugas are the same."
"Rich girl here probably thinks she is better than us huh?" said the biggest kid, "I bet she thinks we are beneath her." he pushed the girl on her knees and laughed when she started crying.
"No! I-I d-do not think th-that" the girl on the ground said quietly while sobbing, "please! Just l-leave me alone".
"What was that? Leave you alone?" the third guy said, "Are we not worthy enough to be around a mighty Hyuga?".
"I-it's not like that. Th-that's not wh-what I meant." tried the girl on the ground.
"Yeah right! I think the lying bitch needs a lesson." the big kid stepped forward and prepared to slap the defenceless girl on the ground. Suddenly he cried out as he felt a stab of pain coming from his nose and there was blood trickling down his face. "What was that!" he yelled. He noticed the pine cone at his feet and looked up. There he saw a blond kid with blue eyes looking straight at him from one of the trees with another pine cone in his hands.
"Who are you?" asked the biggest kid, while keeping one hand over his now bleeding nose.
"I am Naruto Uzumaki and I am here to kick some ass" yelled Naruto while dropping down from the tree and throwing the second pine cone at the bullies face. "Now let the girl go, you bastards!"
"Boss, are you ok?" asked one of the other kids.
"I'm fine, he just caught me by surprise, that's all. Now go teach that wannabe hero a lesson!"
The two kids seemed to regain their confidence and ran at Naruto ready to beat him up.
"Be careful!" yelled the girl on the ground, who managed to regain her footing now that the two bullies no longer had her pinned down.
Meanwhile the first of the two kids reached Naruto and was about to hit him with a wild punch. Naruto meanwhile remembered the taijutsu lessons Kakashi taught him the last few weeks.
'Always keep a cool head in battle and anticipate you opponents actions.' Naruto remembered Kakashi's words and side-stepped the wild attack so that he was now positioned behind the bully.
'Strike hard and decisive.' Naruto kicked at the bully's legs from behind and watched him crash to the ground.
'Always mind your surroundings.' He quickly spun around and just barely managed to block a punch from the second bully that was behind the first one.
'Use your opponents strength against themselves.' He quickly grabbed the fist that tried punching him and using the bully's momentum threw him around right into his friend knocking both of them out at once.
'Keep your eye on the mission at all times.' He turned around again to look at the girl and came face to face with the biggest bully who was glaring at him.
'If the opponent is on the defensive keep the pressure on and don't give them a chance to recover.' Naruto ran towards the biggest kid and tried to take him down with a combination of punches and kicks he practised earlier.
Unfortunately the third bully was stronger than his friends and, though he lacked style, managed to overpower Naruto with brute force alone and threw him on the ground with a nasty punch in the stomach. "Damn, I forgot the lesson about not being overconfident." Naruto muttered to himself.
He saw the bigger kid move towards him with an evil grin on his face, "You're going to get it now runt! It's payback time for breaking my nose!".
Naruto gulped and tried to find a way out of his predicament until he saw the girl stand up behind the bully with new confidence in her eyes. "Leave him alone." she said without stuttering like she did before.
"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it huh?" the bully asked mockingly without even looking at her, a mistake which would cost him dearly.
"I said: leave him alone!" Suddenly the veins around her pupil-less eyes became visible as she lowered her body in a taijutsu stance Naruto had never seen before.
"Eight Trigrams: Sixteen Palms!" the girl shouted while moving gracefully, almost like a dancer, towards the bully's exposed backside. She moved her hands in a blurry and struck his back repeatedly on various parts.
Naruto frowned at the attack. He could tell those hits weren't exactly strong, more like gentle tabs really, and he knew from first-hand experience that the bully could take much stronger punches and remain standing. Imagine his surprise when instead of shrugging the attack off like he expected, the bully's eyes became glassy and he fell forwards with a loud thud. He saw the bigger kid was unconscious. 'How the hell did she do that?' he taught.
"Thank you for helping me" he heard the girl say and turned his head towards her. Her veins had returned to normal though her eyes were still pupil-less.
Naruto gave her a wide grin. "I should be the one thanking you. How did you take out that bully? That was amazing! You must be really strong!" he said excitedly.
The girl blushed heavily at the words of praise but managed to let out a small "thank you".
"So what's your name anyway?" Naruto asked, "I am Naruto."
"Nice to meet you Naruto, I am Hinata Hyuga." the girl replied.
"Nice to meet you too Hinata" Naruto said with his trademark grin. "hey, me and the other kids are playing games in the park now. Would you like to join us?" he stretched his hand out towards her, awaiting her reply.
'He's asking me to play with him! Maybe he wants to be friends?' Hinata taught excitedly to herself. She didn't have many friends and smiled at the idea of playing with other kids so she took his hand, "yes I'd like that." she said. They both ran back to the other kids not realizing two figures were watching them.
"She is quite impressive for her age. Her father must be proud." Kakashi said to Ko Hyuga, Hinata's guardian.
"To be honest I am as surprised as you are" Ko replied. "She doesn't usually show this much confidence. In fact that was the first time she managed to pull of the 16 palms-attack."
"The first time in a combat situation and she already hit all targets? She must have trained that technique a lot then?" Kakashi said.
"No I mean literally the first time she ever did it. She has never been able to do it successfully before, not even in training." Ko confessed, "I wonder if it was that kid who somehow inspired her to do it."
"mmm, the first time she pulls it off and immediately in a combat scenario." Kakashi pondered, "that certainly is quite peculiar though not unheard of. Apparently Naruto must have left quite the impression on her to inspire such a change of personality."
"Talking about Naruto, he didn't do too bad himself." Ko complimented. "He took the first two down by himself and did quite a number on the third one as well. If the kid wasn't a head bigger than him he would have won. That's quite impressive for a kid his age, which clan does he belong to?"
"He doesn't belong to a clan" Kakashi answered, "he is being raised by the ANBU."
"Oh, I see." Ko replied with a visible shock on his face. "He is that Naruto huh?"
"Yes, he is 'that Naruto'" Kakashi said quite defensively, "is that a problem?"
"Not at all, I was just surprised to see him like this." Ko answered, "After all he has quite the reputation."
"Nothing but rumours and superstition" Kakashi firmly said, "I watched over Naruto his entire life and there is nothing at all wrong with him. He is just a normal kid."
"Well he did came to lady Hinata's help, even when he obviously didn't know who she was. Nor did he treated her differently when he did know." Ko pondered, "Most people wouldn't have jumped into a fight like that. Perhaps I can convince her father to let Hinata play with Naruto more often, after all she does seem to take a liking to the boy." he chuckled while pointing at the two kids who were still playing with each other. Kakashi couldn't help but smile underneath his mask at the sight. After all this was the first time Naruto had a friend his own age. Other kids played with him when they visited the park and some, like that Inuzuka-brat, seemed to genuinely like him. But in the end he never had someone he could truly call a friend. At least not within his own age-group. He really hoped Hinata and Naruto could become friends, at the very least it would hopefully calm him down a bit.
After watching them play for another few hours it was time to go back home. Ko and Kakashi picked them up and after saying goodbye to each other Naruto and Hinata quickly followed their respective guardian.
Later that night at the Hyuga mansion:
"Are you sure that's what happened?" Hiashi Hyuga, head of the Hyuga clan and father of Hinata asked.
"Yes sir," Ko replied, "Hinata managed to subdue her assailant with the 16-palms technique. I should also mention that he was 2 years older than her and at least a head bigger."
"And you say that Naruto Uzumaki was there as well? Was he one of her attackers?"
"No sir, Naruto did not harass lady Hinata. In fact he went to help her when he accidentally stumbled upon the scene. He took out two other kids that were there as well."
"He did, did he? Interesting... I wonder what the ANBU are doing to that kid, he'll definitely be someone to watch out for later" he chuckled. "But back to my daughter, yesterday you said Hinata couldn't do the technique and insisted she needed more time, yet now you say she successfully implemented it in a combat situation. How do you explain this sudden growth?"
"Permission to speak freely sir?" Ko hesitantly asked knowing he was about to touch a delicate topic.
"Permission granted." Hiashi said while raising his eyebrow.
"As her personal teacher I must say that Hinata definitely has all the talent and skill needed to become a great kunoichi. Her chakra control is excellent and thanks to her agility and flexibility she is perfect for the Gentle Fist – style" Ko started. "However certain aspects of her personality are holding her back."
"What do you mean?" Hashi asked.
"As you know she is quite gentle and rather shy," Ko carefully understated, "Therefore the traditional training-methods aren't really suited for her. She isn't the type that responds well to harsh criticism or direct competition. And some of the elders efforts to 'encourage her' have had the opposite effect I'm afraid."
"Well what do you suggest then?" Hiashi asked "If she doesn't master the training she will automatically be put in the Branch House, you know that."
"I think I have an idea that would greatly help lady Hinata, though it is rather unorthodox." Ko carefully picked his words.
"You can tell me." Hiashi simply stated, not showing anything in his facial expression.
"Today I observed that Naruto had a rather positive effect on her confidence, apparently his rather outgoing personality and his actions in trying to help her inspired lady Hinata to pull of the 16 palms technique when he needed help in turn. His guardian, the ANBU-captain Kakashi, said that Hinata had a similar effect on Naruto and proposed to let them meet more often." Ko stated, "Perhaps letting them train together would help lady Hinata overcome her shyness. If not, getting trained by the ANBU has never hurt anyone. This can only improve her technique."
'She also looks like she really could use a friend, it's not like she has any. Even within the branch house most won't approach her' Ko taught, though never stated out loud.
"You're right," Hiashi said, "it is rather unorthodox. The elders won't like it, that's for sure."
"I understand sir, please forgive me for bothering you." He nodded and turned to leave.
"Then again," Hiashi continued as if Ko never said anything, "they don't like her current progress either. There have been voices of dropping her from the training already. Truth be told I was about to ask the Jonin Kurenai Yuhi to take over her training, but maybe the ANBU are a better idea. Perhaps we should give your idea a fair chance, if you are correct then the end result will surely be worth a small breach of protocol. I'll convince the elders and talk to the Hokage, let's see if this Naruto can really help Hinata get over her shyness."
"Thank you sir" Ko bowed politely and left the room. Once on the hallway he allowed a small smile to appear on his face but quickly suppressed it, Hyuga's were trained to hide their emotions after all.
A few days later, ANBU headquarters training area 27:
Naruto and Kakashi were busy going over the basic taijutsu exercises again when the Hokage cleared his throat to make his presence known. "Hey old man, did you came to visit me?", Naruto yelled while hugging the Hokage.
"Hello Naruto-kun. How is your training going?" The Hokage asked while returning Naruto's hug.
"He is making steady progress lord Hokage," Kakashi answered in Naruto's place, "His taijutsu is pretty good and he is making great progress in throwing shurikens and kunai as well. He can hit stationary targets with 90% accuracy and moving targets with 40%. But I expect those numbers to go up quite a lot by the time he starts the academy."
"I'm glad to see you are taking your training seriously" the Hokage said.
"Of course, I'll be the next Hokage after all!" Naruto said confidently.
"Will you now? My my, you sure aim high. But let's not get ahead of ourselves shall we? Being Hokage is serious business after all." the Hokage chuckled at Naruto's enthusiasm.
"Anyway, I have an announcement to make." The Hokage said suddenly all serious. "I'm afraid Naruto that you will no longer be able to train one-on-one with Kakashi."
"What! Why?" Naruto shouted with a shock on his face.
"Sir?" Kakashi asked, "I don't mind training Naruto, there is no need to stop the sessions on my behalf."
"Now now, not so fast you two." The Hokage said with a small smile, "remember that a good Shinobi looks underneath the underneath. I never said you had to stop training now did I?"
"Huh?" Naruto said. Because it seemed to him that was exactly what he said.
"I see," Kakashi stated, "you said our one-on-one training-sessions would end, that would imply someone else will be joining us. Now since having two teachers at the same time makes no sense I would have to say you want me to train someone alongside Naruto?"
"Indeed" the Hokage confirmed, "in fact why don't you two meet her right now? She is waiting just outside with her father."
As if on cue Hiashi Hyuga entered the training area with Hinata in tow. The little girl was wondering what they were doing here and why she needed to bring her training outfit with her, 'if father wants to do a training session why can't we do it at home like usual?'
When Naruto spotted Hinata he immediately yelled out to her, "Hey Hinata, are you my new training partner? That's so cool!"
'Training partner?' Hinata taught, 'This can't be right, father would never let me train outside the clan. But why am I here then?'
"So Naruto, is it?" Hiashi said as if he didn't hear the loud shout, "I heard you helped my daughter out the other day? Why don't you tell me some more about that."
Kakashi frowned, he realized Hiashi technically never agreed to the training yet and that he was giving Naruto a character test first before making a decision. Because although he was a strict parent he did care for his daughter and he wanted to be sure she was in good hands. He expected that he would receive a similar test later, though his would be less secretive, it's a lot harder to fool a Jonin than it is a child after all.
Naruto on the other hand saw no harm in this and started talking about their day in the park. Kakashi noted with some amusement that his version of the facts was pretty different than how he remembered it. Naruto said that Hinata was "fighting three kids at once" rather than being bullied by them, and that he "helped her with the first two" instead of knocking them out single-handedly, then "the third guy cheated and knocked me down when I wasn't looking" instead of him being an idiot who ran head first in his fists, he finished with "Hinata defeated him by herself with some really cool attack that totally knocked him out!" well at least that part was sort of correct. Kakashi waited for Naruto to finish up and was surprised when he kept talking. He spent another 10 minutes describing all the games they played later that day in far more detail than the actual fight Hiashi wanted to know about.
In the end though Hiashi just smiled to himself, it was obvious that Naruto and his daughter got along great and if anyone would be able to get her out of her shell it would be him. His face however didn't betray his feelings and it kept its neutral look throughout the entire story.
"So Naruto," he suddenly said, "I take it you will be starting at the academy next year as well?"
"yes sir!" Naruto confirmed.
"Well then, I feel it would be in both your interests if you and Hinata could work together to practice and do your homework. Wouldn't you agree?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"You mean I can train with Hinata after school? That's so awesome." Naruto almost yelled.
'Awesome huh?' Hiashi taught, 'I better make sure he keeps focused on training only, don't want to give the kid ideas about my daughter.'
"That is of course if you can keep up," Hiashi said, "Only the best training-partner is good enough for Hinata."
'And now to really drive the point home' He almost smirked.
"Maybe I should ask that Uchiha-kid instead, he'll probably be rookie of the year" Hiashi pretended to ponder aloud.
"Hell no!" Naruto said, "I'm gonna be rookie of the year, you'll see!"
"Will you now? Well then you better focus on training a lot because if you turn out to be a failure I'll put a stop to these sessions at once, do you understand?" Hiashi said with a stern gaze, he loved to play with people's minds like that.
Naruto gulped and nodded. He was determined not to lose his new training-partner and he vowed to become rookie of the year.
And so Naruto and Hinata started training together. Hinata's insecurity and shyness that always kept her back quickly disappeared under Naruto's constant praise and Kakashi's rather lax training attitude; he allowed them to fail tasks and simply let them try again until they got it right. This was in dire contrast with the Hyuga's method of demanding absolute perfection and turning everything into a competition with winners and losers that never managed to appeal to Hinata's character.
Naruto started taking his training more seriously as well. Now that he had a partner who was used to discipline and harsh work he could no longer afford to goof around or pull pranks on his teachers. At least not as much as he used to; he did manage to get both himself and Hinata involved in several pranks that ran out of hand and ended in a stern talking to for both of them.
Eventually the months passed and it was time to enter the regular academy. Hiashi's warning was clearly on Naruto's mind, he had to be the very best or else Hinata and him could no longer train together. He took a deep breath and they both walked into their new classroom ready for the biggest adventure of their young life.
a/n: And that is chapter two.
The encounter with the three bullies actually happened in canon as well, but in my version Naruto is better trained and managed to win his fight instead of getting beat up and forcing Ko to step in.
And about Hinata's character: in this universe she wasn't/won't be subjected to years of being humiliated at home. Therefore she won't develop her typical lack of confidence and stutter. She also won't meet Kurenai early in life, instead she will hang out with Naruto and Kakashi for her training.
Next chapter will be part 1 of the academy where a certain Uchiha will battle Naruto for Rookie of the year.
please R&R
