If you notice something that has been changed from the canon, such as ages, please read the author's note from the bottom to see if I mention it there. If not, and you truly think it is a mistake, I would greatly appreciate if you left a review notifying me.

Sinister Chakra

Book 1: The Beginning

Chapter 3: Guardian Demon


One Month Later

Naruto peeked out of an alleyway and looked left and right before he stepped out of it, preparing to cross the street quietly. It was early in the morning and all of the shops of Konoha were opening up, which meant that the food would be fresh in the bakeries, and breakfast would be delicious.

That is, if he was able to get away with stealing it.

With no money, no house to live in, no one to guide him, and no food, Naruto had taken to the path of stealing to live, as it was his only option. After all, eating out of the trash cans and dumpsters outside of restaurants was only so good until he either became sick or got caught, both which happened to him far too many times for him to make that same mistake again. It seemed that the owners of the restaurants thought that even their trash outside was too good for him, the Demon Thief, as they had begun to call him.

Stealing fresh food had been his only option. However, with that came fame, though it was a type that he didn't want. People began to recognize him on the spot and know that he was a demon thief, and he was occasionally beat up on the spot until he was bloodied up or sometimes unconscious. At times he wondered why they never followed through with their beatings and killed him…perhaps they didn't want to get in trouble. So if his death caused them to get in trouble, then that meant that he had to have some value, right? It meant that at least someone out there cared about his wellbeing! Or…that murder was illegal.

With poverty and the cruelness of life came intelligence for Naruto. Though he was young, he learnt many things the hard way; lessons that kids his age wouldn't learn for years to come. At four-years-old, he knew how to make a fire, as sometimes he would have to hunt down animals such as rabbits and roast them over the flame. He knew how to steal, where to steal from, and what time to steal it at. He knew how to make his way around Konoha and spot out important key points so that he would never be lost. Reading all those books in the Orphanage had really paid off, and he had no doubt that he would've died without the extra knowledge.

Naruto sighed deeply as the memory of the Orphanage came to his mind. While he hated the actual place, he loved it at the same time, because that was where he met…her, Hinata Senju, his one precious person who he had befriended in the past. He had no idea where she was…but one day he would find her, and he would grow strong, and he would rescue her, and then they would run away together…

Only if she still wanted to. The only thing that kept Naruto from jumping off the tops of buildings and ending it all was the precious thought that there was one precious person out there who likes him…Hinata.

He always thought about her, and wondered how she was doing. He also wondered if she did the same. He knew that she didn't know where he lived; though he wasn't sure he wanted her to know. After all, nobody knew where he lived, which was quite important. He had to make sure that he had a place to hide after he stole his food, and he needed a place to shelter him from the harsh weather or Konoha at night while he slept.

Several times he had successfully stolen food, only for him to sit down and eat it somewhere and be discovered shortly after. He understood, only after one month of being out here in this wonderful village they call Konoha, that he needed a place to himself that he could hide and shelter himself in.

That's where he was currently staying at. Inside an alleyway, hidden from the world. This, his new home, was his perfect home place. It wasn't just an alley; it led far back along the side of an abandoned building. At the end of this alley, however, there was a large hole, Naruto had no idea how it came to be, but it was large enough for him to easily walk into by ducking, and it led into a secret space that Naruto had discovered one day.

Upon walking into that hole, he had found that most of the large five-story building was caved in and destroyed, so he didn't have a whole lot of space in the actual building. But it was more than enough for him, and it was like his own personal cavern or cave. And because it was caved in from every other side but his alley hole, no one could enter there, even if they went through the main building entrance. It was incredible! He was protected from the rain and even the cold when he built a fire inside it with collected wood. He had his pillow in there, a stolen blanket, as well as several stolen books and other random objects aside the caved in blocks and fallen rubble.

Naruto was smart. He understood that should anyone follow him into the alleyway that this hole would be seen. So, thinking ahead, he stole a blanket off an outdoor hanger and draped it over the hole so that it didn't stick out as muck. He knew that he would have to do more to hide it, but until then, it would have to do.

Naruto had currently exited his hideout and walked to the end of his alleyway, making sure that no one knew that he was coming out of it. Nodding to himself, he dashed across and down the street, heading over to the bakery to steal some of the morning bread that was made.

"It's him! It's the Demon Thief! He stole my bread!"

Naruto had just made it out of the store by the time the owner called him out, shouting his alias as he dashed out of the door. He silently cursed to himself as he fully sprinted down the sidewalk, his sole purpose to make it to his hideout before anyone caught him. Swiftly evading people, Naruto weaved through the morning crowds of people, turning the corner to the next street successfully.

He could hear the shouts of 'which way did he go?' behind him, which only spurred him to run even faster. Luckily, his alleyway was nearby, and before anyone caught up to him or spotted him, he turned into the alley, running down it in a full sprint.

He reached his blanket on the wall, and checking to make sure no one was looking, he looked back down the alley. Nodding to himself, he ran through the blanket, going through the hidden hole in the wall to his secret hideout.

Breathing heavily, he sighed as he made sure the blanket stayed still. He could hear footsteps coming from outside in the alleyway, causing him to hold his breath, but they passed by without any problem, making him sigh again.

Turning around, he walked across the space of his dimly lit hideout, placing the bread down in front of the fireplace. He walked around, lighting several candles with a box a matches he had. Matches were a quite important item to him, as they helped him tremendously, letting him start fires the easy way. He made sure to steal dozens of boxes, as they were one of his most valuable items.

Noticing the smoke rise up to the air, he frowned, knowing that he needed to air out the place more, so that it wouldn't fill up with smoke. But, that was a job for another day. He went over to where he had placed the bread, and sat down, picking up the modest food of his. Taking a bite out of it, he smiled to himself, satisfied that he had found breakfast.


Ame

Fifteen-year-old Konan walked into the cave of their secret hideout, pleased that she was able to step out of the continuous rain that poured heavily outside. She dispersed her paper-made umbrella, and walked farther into the cave, looking for her only good friend, Yahiko.

It only took her a minute before she ran into her orange-headed friend, sitting on the ground with his legs crossed and his back to the entrance.

"Report."

Konan sighed, putting her hands behind her back and looking aside nervously, even though Yahiko wasn't even facing her. "They…died, all of them. H-Hanzo must have known that they were coming, b-because…"

She stopped speaking, as she suddenly felt the room begin o shake, as if there were an earthquake. However, she knew better, as she could sense the powerful flow of chakra that was radiating from her seated friend.

Yahiko took a deep breath, and the shaking stopped. He stood up slowly, turning around to show Konan his tear-filled orange tinted Rinnegan eyes.

"Then…that's it," he said dryly, walking over to her. "First our families, then our followers, then Nagato, and now everyone who stood with us is dead! Even…even Jiraiya-sensei has abandoned us."

Konan shook her head shakily, hating the look of hopelessness that she was seeing in his pain-filled eyes.

"No!" she shouted at him, grabbing onto his shirt with her hands. "Don't you give up hope on me! You're all I have left now; all we have is each other! We can still…we can still change the world, together, you and I!"

Yahiko couldn't help but smile as he looked down into the deep dark blue eyes of his best friend.

"I…I haven't given up hope. I made a promise to Nagato…that we would change the world, and if that means that I have to become a god, then so be it. Someday…someday, we'll break this curse of war that covers the land! If there's such a thing as peace, then I'll find it!"

Konan smiled as well, wiping her tears away on Yahiko as she looked up to him.

"It starts with Hanzo. I'll become stronger…strong enough to kill him! And then I will become the Leader of Rain! And from there, I'll have the village under my hand, and I'll go beyond that! In order to stop wars, I'll create another gang…a smaller one, with stronger and more reliable members. I'll search the nations for them, picking out the strongest people from each village!"

The two teenagers, who had faced such hardships that no one their age should've had to face, sat down and held each other for warmth as they silently stared out the cave together, watching the everlasting heavy rain pour down, setting an eerie mood to the scene.

"I will become God," Yahiko stated in a happier tone, placing his arm around Konan and holding her close. "I'll use my…my gift, and I'll be able to do whatever my mind can think of. I'll be able to protect you at all times, see everything at once, I'll be able to be anywhere in the blink of an eye…"

Konan giggled, snuggling into him further.

"Maybe you can do all of that, but will you be able to stop all this rain from falling, if you're God?" she playfully asked, looking up to him with her glowing orbs.

Yahiko smiled as well, looking up into the dark skies as lightning flashed across the horizon.

"Yes…I'll even be able to stop this cursed rain. And when that happens, we'll finally be able to see the glorious red dawn that has forever eluded us…yes, the daybreak…I like the sound of that."


Konoha – Half a Year Later, Evening

Hinata sighed quietly to herself as she sat in her room, dusting off her expensive dress as she sat on her bed, staring out the window. Kitsune, her favorite plushy fox doll, sat on the bed next to her, her only companion. Today was the celebration of her 5th birthday; she was now five years old. And, as part of the celebration, the Hyuga Clan was throwing her a fancy dinner part with the entire Clan invited.

Well, not really the entire Clan.

You see, Hinata had learned over the months that the Hyuga was actually divided into two parts, the Main Family, and the Branch Family. It was almost like the Hyuga was actually two different Clans in one!

Upon hearing of this 'division' among the Clan, Hinata immediately decided that she didn't like it. And, when she learned more about the division, she learned that she actually hated it! The Main Branch, which she had been adopted into, was the Head of the Hyuga Clan. They were like the royalty within the Clan; they were given the best of everything. They ate better food, slept in better places, learned better jutsu…

The Branch Family, on the other hand, weren't even middle class. No, they were like the servants to the Main Family, which sickened Hinata to her core. They had to cook for their own food, whereas they cooked for the Main Family. They had to sleep in tighter and worse spaces. They cleaned the compound, and they had to do all the dirty work. They weren't even allowed to learn the sacred Hyuga techniques!

But what Hinata hated the most was what was known as the Hyuga Family's Juinjutsu, or the Cursed Mark for short. This curse was placed on all of the Branch member's foreheads, and it supposedly sealed away their Byakugan, the Hyuga kekkei genkai, when they died. But Hinata understood that its main and real purpose was to keep the Branch members slaves to the Main members. These marks could be activated, and when they were…Hinata didn't even want to remember what happened.

Her first encounter of this mark was when she was with Neji Hyuga, a boy a year older than her who had been assigned her 'servant'. While she was originally hesitant with this idea, Neji assured her that it was an honor to be a servant to her, and that he was happy to be assigned to such an important person.

The two of them had become something just short of friends, actually, and Neji was the only person who she would really have fun with within the Clan. He was a generally happy boy, and he would always be nice to her and treat her with respect. He was like her bodyguard as well!

Hinata was in a dojo one day, training in the art of the Hyuga taijutsu, Jyuuken. Because she didn't have the Byakugan, it was very difficult for her to learn their style of fighting, but she wasn't necessarily slowed down yet, because Hyuga children her age usually couldn't use their Byakugan until they were at least six-years-old. But she didn't need the Hyuga's all-seeing eyes to see the cruelty of the Curse Mark.


Flashback-Half a Year Ago

Young Hinata Senju walked into the training dojo alongside Neji Hyuga, who had accompanied her for the walk. Ever since she had been adopted to this Clan, she had been given a personal protector, Neji. He was a year older than her, and while she didn't understand why someone so young would have to protect her, she was forced to go along with it. Hiashi-sama had said it was Hyuga Clan tradition, after all.

"Ah, you have finally arrived," Hiashi noted as he saw the young duo walk into his dojo. Hizashi, Neji's father and Hiashi's twin, was sitting on the side of the room, peacefully smiling at the two. This wasn't the first time that Hinata had wished that Hizashi was the head of the Clan…he was so nice to her, and everyone else. In so many ways, she pictured him as the father that she never had…

When she talked about Hizashi to Neji, he would always smile and be proud that he had such a father, even though he was in the Branch family. The two really bonded together, especially because Neji didn't have a mother anymore.

Hinata walked to the center of the dojo, standing in front of Hiashi, looking up to him, trying not to show any fear. She had learned day one that showing fear in front of Hiashi was a big mistake; Hiashi hated hesitation in all forms. He even taught his daughter, Hanabi, to be fierce and strong, and she was only two years old, barely learning how to walk yet!

"You," Hiashi stated, bringing her attention forward again. "You look just like a Hyuga…if I didn't know you were a Senju, I would assume you were already from my Clan. Your face…your hair is the same, though it is a different color, and your eyes…they share a resemblance with our Clan, except for that they don't have the pale look that adorn all of us."

Hinata nodded, not knowing what else to do. Was it somehow ironic that she looked like the Hyuga and was adopted by them? She had no idea…she wondered what Naruto would say…

"Very well. I taught you the simple Jyuuken defense and offense forms for the past month, and as I assumed, you were able to learn them well, due to your blood. But now I want to see what you can do in a real fight! Come at me with everything you've learned! Treat this as a real battle!"

Hinata nodded, and formed her recently taught stance for a second before she charged at Hiashi, bringing her palm back to her hips. When she neared him, she was surprised that he stood in the same position and didn't move to block anything, so she pulled back her punch a little bit. Thrusting her palm forward, she hit in his stomach, with perfect form in her opinion.

After several seconds, Hinata looked up to see what Hiashi was doing, and to her surprise, he was looking down at her with anger in his eyes. Had she hit him too hard? Moments later, before she could even move her hand back from her stomach…

SMACK!

Hiashi's backhand sent Hinata flying across the room, landing painfully on the outer edge of the dojo. Neji had stood up immediately and he was being held firmly by a stern faced Hizashi who was frowning deeply.

As she coughed and held her hand to her red and tear-stained face, Hiashi turned with a cold face to Neji, who was trying to go and help Hinata.

"Restrain him, brother," he cruelly spoke, his voice low and dangerous, "Or I will restrain him for you."

Hizashi nodded slowly, forcing an angry Neji to sit down. Moments later, Hinata shakily stood to her feet, looking shocked at Hiashi, openly crying.

"I instructed you to come at me as if this were a real battle," Hiashi spoke out to her. "What you did was pathetic. Now I will ask you once more; come at me with all you have! And wipe those tears away; Hyuga's don't cry!"

Hinata nodded hesitantly and wiped her tears away with the sleeves of her training clothes, returning to fighting stance. Once more, she charged at Hiashi, this time making sure to give it her all. When she reached him, she pulled her hand back again, and unleashed a palm strike to his stomach with as much force as she could.

However, instead of merely taking the hit again, Hiashi smacked her wrist away and pushed her back.

"Your attacks should be swift and quick!" he instructed, now walking towards her. "Now, show me what you have learned from a defensive stance!"

Hinata nodded and swallowed hard, forming a defensive stance as Hiashi walked toward her. When he reached her range, he spun around and sent his foot as her face, which she avoided by rolling to the side. This earned her a fierce glare in return.

"Do not dodge; parry. Block my attacks with Jyuuken form!"

He came at her again, and this time, he threw a simple punch forward, though she was surprisingly able to block it by throwing her hands up at his wrist at the right time. Hiashi threw another strike and Hinata painfully managed to push the attack away.

Hiashi continued, throwing pulled-back but painful strikes at Hinata, who barely managed to block them. After a minute of this, she was unable to bring her arms up in time and she was thrown forcefully back, landing on the ground once more.

"Endure!" he shouted at her. "Stand up and take your stance again!"

Hinata slowly stood, her knees buckling from her own wait. Her eyes had trouble staying open, and she wasn't even able to hold her arms up as Hiashi walked over to her. He pulled his hand back, and she closed her eyes and finally threw her arms to protect her face when a loud smacking sound erupted through the room.

Hinata's eyes widened in shock when she opened them again, only to find Neji standing in front of her, blocking Hiashi's attack in a perfect Jyuuken form which was shocking for her young age, especially because he was in the Branch family. She gasped in horror when Hiashi picked up the boy with one arm and held him in the air, glaring him down with his Byakugan activated.

"I told you not to interfere," he said in his cold voice, ignoring the struggled attempts Neji was making. "Very well. I see that you have grown rebellious. It is time I introduce you to the Cursed Seal!"

"Hiashi, don't!"Hizashi shouted, standing up and running over to them.

Hiashi shook his head, still looking at Neji. "This is a tradition that must be held! Hinata, pay close attention as I show you what really separates the Branch Family from the Main Family. You will listen to my orders, either in respect or in fear! Activate!"

Hinata's horror filled eyes widened as Neji let out an ear piercing scream, shouting as loud as he could as he held his head in pain, his legs flying around as Hiashi continued to hold him up in the air. Hinata felt tears fall down her face as she watched hopelessly as Neji continued to scream.

Suddenly, in the flash of an eye, Hizashi appeared in front of her and he grabbed Neji out of Hiashi's hands, pushing the Headmaster backwards. He fell to the ground as he comforted his screaming son, who was still shouting out as loud as he could, holding his forehead.

"Why…you!" Hiashi shouted as he glared at his own brother with power in his eyes.

"Activate!"


End of Flashback

Hinata shuttered as she relived the memory in her head, holding her own arms. The Curse Mark was probably the cruelest thing she had ever seen in her life! The Branch members were just slaves to the Main house because of the mark on their foreheads! Naruto…Naruto would hate it just like she did, she knew it! She wondered what he friend would do in her case…he would probably-

"Hinata-sama!"

Hinata's head shot up as she heard Neji's voice from outside the door.

"Are you ready? You have to go now!"

Hinata jumped off her bed, brushing the sheets to make it look nice again. "H-Hai! I'm coming!"

She quickly ran to her bathroom to make sure her hair looked nice, and that nothing was wrong with her appearance, and then she ran out of her room to greet Neji and go to her fancy dinner party, not before saying goodbye to Kitsune. Hiashi-sama…didn't approve of her bringing him to any important meetings, even if it was her birthday. For a moment, she wondered how Naruto had celebrated his birthday; after all, he was a little older than her. She wondered where he was…how he was doing…she missed him, and she waited for the day when they would meet again.


Naruto's Domain

"Dinnertime!"

Five-year-old Naruto called out this seemingly happy phrase to no one in particular, dressed in a black t-shirt with an orange spiral in it and tan shorts. Standing up from his mattress, he sighed appreciatively as he looked around his room, inhaling the wonderful aroma of cooking deer on the fireplace.

It had been over half a year since he had been kicked out of the orphanage. He truly had changed, both physically and mentally. Physically, he had longer blonde hair than before, and he had grown a little taller. He had also grown some muscle tone, though it wasn't anything impressive. Believe or not, his food intake was probably better than what he got from the Orphanage. He had to hunt down animals, which was a good intake of protein for muscle, and he stole nutritious foods that he had studied and knew would make him stronger and taller.

Mentally, he had become sharper than the stolen kunai which he had used to skin the deer he killed. In just half a year, he had nearly memorized every route in Konoha; he knew the village like the back of his hand. He knew what foods to steal, and when and where to steal them. He knew how to evade even Chunin ranked ninja when he did steal them. And for that matter, he had studied up on the ninja system. He knew that ranks of ninja, and what there general jobs were and their power levels. The Chunin where the middle-aged and young adults who weren't really that talented, and he was usually able to outrun them, regardless that he was only five. Next up was Jonin, who were the talented ones, and who he wasn't able to outrun. In order to escape them, which he did on several occasions, he would have to trick them with something extremely sneaky, or dash around alleyway places that only he could squeeze through.

Anbu, or in some cases the Uchiha Police Force, were the highest up on the ninja list, aside from the leader of the village. When he did something really bad, or stole something really important, those guys would come after him. They had only chased him down three times, and out of those three, he had actually managed to elude them one time, which for him was incredible. The most recent time they had come after him, which was when he had stolen a large (very large) box of explosive tags and in order to escape the Jonin, he had rigged an alley way with them, detonating all of them and injuring a Jonin as well as several Chunin. By hurting one of the Chunin, they had called for several Anbu backup who were patrolling nearby and the chase had begun again. Naruto had literally gone through the sewers, several buildings, and ended up hiding in some sort of secret room he found in the Hokage monument.

That's where he currently was. His previous hideout was abandoned, merely used as an escape route if he ever needed one. On top of the monument, hidden from view, Naruto had found a trap door in a large rock behind a tree which led down secret tunnel, which led Naruto to right behind the Hokage's monument. This place was incredible!

The actual room behind the monument was gigantic! It was a large space, big enough to cover the space of the four faces, which was basically was big as the top of the mountain. Naruto had nearly fallen over in shock when he discovered it. He had an idea that there was some sort of room back here, but he had no idea that it would be so big.

The first time he had been caught by the Chunin, he had been taken to some man titled the Hokage, who lectured Naruto and made him to community service, (which is what he had to do every time he got caught, until he became a Genin, which was the lowest form a ninja, and then he would be sent to prison if he stole a lot again). Naruto was curious as to who the man was, so he snuck into the library and looked up several scrolls of the Hokage, which he found out were the men with the faces carved into the large mountain. From there he studied the history of the monument, and he found out it was carved by a team of earth style masters from Konoha. However, the part that interested was that there was one small line that said that they carved behind the mountain as well so that it would be easier to be detailed.

Naruto walked up to the monument, using the stairs that Hinata and he had used so long ago. There he found another more hidden set of stars which led to the side of the mountain, right next to the First Hokage's face. There was a door there, hidden from view of anyone because it was almost behind the Hokage's head, and Naruto attempted to open it, excited. To his disappointment however, it was locked. It wasn't until Naruto was chased by Anbu that he discovered a secret back entrance that led down into the mountain.

Anyways, this was the best place which Naruto could imagine living in outside of an actual house. He had stuffed the place with everything he had stolen and more, and because it was so big it could fit all of his stuff with so much more space to spare. He even had a specific area where he could practice 'taijutsu' from a stolen scroll. Yes, this place even had ventilation so that he could light fires in it and the smoke would funnel out from holes, which even allowed light to fill up the place.

Naruto sighed again, thankful that he had found this hidden place. Another interesting quirk about it was that there were multiple exits from inside the cave that Naruto would have never expected. There were tunnels that led underground and into the sewers, and others that led to the bottom of the mountain, and still others that led outside of Konoha in the woods! He walked over to the deer, as it was finally ready, and he began to prepare to eat it.

Naruto sat on top of the Hokage monument, looking below at the entire village below him. He noticed the children that were being led home by their parents, and the late evening restraints flowing with people…every person was under his watchful eye. Every person possibly, with the exception of Hinata.

No matter how many times he scanned the people below with his sharp eyes, he would never find the one person who he was looking for. Each night he wondered what happened to her; where she had gone, what she was doing, if she even remembered him. Realistically, and he was sharp enough to know this, she had forgotten about in him in the luxurious life of whatever rich Clan had adopted her.

Thinking of that made him angry. He hated the world as it was; full of irrational judgment and hatred and killing. He had little reason to have a smile on his face anymore, and the only times he ever did was when he had done something miraculous, or when he thought of Hinata. She was the only thing; he only precious person which anchored him down to sanity. Deep inside…under his skin, in his heart, he could feel an evil, flourishing from within, pushing him to enact justice. He could swear that on several occasions he heard a voice inside his mind whisper to him…telling him to turn right when running away, or check this rock (where he found the monument entrance), and sometimes the voice, not even a voice, but a strong thought that he knew wasn't his, would push him to do the unthinkable and…kill.

But he would never kill…he hoped, unless it was to protect his life…or Hinata's. He was sure that he would kill to protect anyone would was precious to him. He just hoped that one day, he would meet her. He knew that he most likely wouldn't see her again, unless he became a ninja. He and Hinata shared the same dream when they were young; to become a ninja to escape the Orphanage. He was sure that she still wanted to be one, and that would mean that she had to join the Academy, the central training facility for young ninja. And if he joined as well, then he would meet her!

But in order for him to join, he had to become strong. Would they even let him in if he wasn't strong? He wasn't sure, which was why he had been spending all of his extra time to train from whatever scroll he could get his hands on. He would become powerful, whatever it took so that he could become a ninja with his friend.

Chakra was the main element for being a ninja. The stronger the chakra, the stronger the ninja. The general idea of chakra sounded confusing to Naruto, and when he read about it in scrolls, it became even more confusing. Apparently, chakra was energy inside the body that was divided into two parts; spiritual energy and physical energy. He had no idea what that really meant, or what kekkei genkai, a bloodline limit was. Chakra was a source of power, and some people were born with special chakra. And because chakra was divided into two, they either had a special 'boost' in spiritual chakra, which would form a 'doujutsu', an eye technique or something, or they would have a boost in physical chakra, which would give them cool different jutsu and stuff.

Naruto had wondered if he had anything like that, ever since he began to think deeply about himself. He healed faster than most other people for one. When Hinata fell long ago and scraped her knee, it took her days for it to heal, while it took him minutes. When kids in the playground fell the same thing happened and they wouldn't be able to heal for days. Also, he could swear that his eyes were different…special, in a way. He would always catch things that no one else would catch, and see things better than others. He had no idea if this was even a kekkei genkai, and when he researched, the scroll said that it was dependent upon the person's last name. Naruto had looked up Uzumaki, but there were no kekkei genkai listed under that surname.

However, Naruto did remember Hinata's last name; Senju. He was greatly surprised when he looked up that name; it was said to be one of the greatest and most powerful Clans ever! They even founded Konoha, with another Clan! They were said to have the ultimate kekkei genkai in physical chakra, which meant that they had the most powerful chakra of every clan in regards to physical charka. Naruto wondered why Hinata would ever be in an orphanage if they were such a great clan, but he had found out that they were scattered off or killed somehow and left Konoha. No wonder why Hinata was so important!

The Uchiha, however, which was the other clan which founded Konoha, had the greatest spiritual chakra possible, which gave them a doujutsu that was the strongest. The Sharingan was what it was called…it gave them the best vision, and it allowed them to see chakra and track movements of others and copy jutsu in an instant…it was incredible! He wondered how much better his vision would be if he had eyes like that instead.

But for now…he needed to make sure that he had food for breakfast tomorrow. He decided that he would rather steal the food now than in the morning, so he began walking down the mountain stairs, pondering on what shop he would steal from.


Hyuga Mansion

Hinata sat on top of her manor's roof with Kitsune as she watched the sun go down and the moon rise above her. Her birthday had been what she had expected for the most part, which was boring. The food was nice at the dinner, but the Main members preferred to talk about her future and politics more than anything else, and she found the experience much less than fun.

After the 'party', which didn't even have presents, Neji had escorted her to her room for the night, after bidding her goodnight. As soon as she thought that no one was around her, she bravely crawled out her window and climbed up to the roof, something she was sure Naruto would enjoy. She had always been a sucker for beautiful sights, just like he had…

She sighed in a bored manner as she stared at moon above her, the stars now twinkling in the sky. She longed for the adventure that Naruto had provided for her, and the companionship of being with her best friend. She just hoped that they would be able to meet each other again soon, and that he would be able to join the Academy so that they could become ninja together. Only time would tell.


The Next Morning, Naruto's Domain

Naruto woke up with the sun and had his already prepared early breakfast in a fast pace, exited for the day. Each morning for him was like an adventure where he would explore Konoha and find something new, or he would steal something interesting and have a fun chase and then learn something cool. Chakra was always his favorite subject to study as it defined how powerful a ninja could be. With chakra, he didn't have to be physically stronger than his opponent, which made fighting wonderful if he was facing older opponents. He didn't really know any jutsu as of now, because he hadn't perfected any sort of flow of chakra to hand-seals, but he knew enough to activate explosive tags and rig other various traps with chakra.

At times he wondered if he would rather be in Hinata's place and be adopted into a big and fancy Clan, or have adventures of his own every day. In his opinion, he preferred the action.

Inside the monument, he walked to one of the tunnel entrances and entered it, walking along the narrow circular path, not before taking several kunai and shuriken with him in a pouch of course, as well as several exploding tags and ninja wires, along with multiple other weapons. He weekly visited the weapons shop to resupply his ammunition for his various needs. His hideout had many hidden tunnels leading to it that showed up in random spots in Konoha, and he had taken to it to see where each of them would lead. He had marked down above each tunnel where it led so that he would be confused by carving it into the wall with a kunai. The tunnel he had walked into had the kanji underground above it, because it led to the underground water pipes of Konoha.

After walking down the tunnel for several minutes, Naruto reached a circular hole at the end with a ladder leading down to the large sewer like underground water system of Konoha. Regular water was flowing across a large path, and if would split into so many other different directions that went to all the houses and buildings in Konoha. Because Konoha was built on a flat surface, there was a large water system below the ground that could have different pipes and such go up to the buildings which each had water purifying systems. On a different level, farther below the water sewers where Naruto was now, were the actual sewers, which Naruto preferred not to travel through unless he had to because of the strong smell.

Walking along the underground sidewalk Naruto whistled happily until he reached a ladder, thinking back to make sure this was the right one. Down here in the water caverns Naruto would take his baths to clean himself every other day, which made him chuckle. He wondered what the villagers would think if they knew they were bathing in water that he bathed in first, or that they drank that same water.

Eh, it's not like they would know. The water went through different cleansing and purifying systems afterwards anyways, because there were also storm drains that flooded into here.

Climbing up the ladder took Naruto about twenty seconds, and when he reached the top, he slowly pushed the sewer lid up just enough to see if the alleyway was empty, and it was. Nodding to himself, he pushed it all the way to the side and climbed up out of the hole. He dusted himself off and pushed the lid back in place.

He had arrived in the same alleyway where he had originally had his first hideout. This was extremely convenient as his old hideout was still intact, and if he ever needed to elude someone, he could run past the blanket and into the hidden building.

He walked down the alleyway and out into the street, not worried about being seen. After all, the Chunin and store owners weren't allowed to punish him unless they caught him doing something bad, and even if the citizens did beat him up, he could now fight back confidently with his self taught skills. He brushed his hands together as he walked down to a different alleyway, weaving through the crowd to get there.

Konoha was like his own personal playground. Over the year, he had rigged the entire place with traps and various hideouts, supplying weapons to each hideout. When he said that he knew the place like the back of his hand, he wasn't joking. He didn't know why he could remember every place so well or think of cool ideas, but he could. Maybe it had something to do with his self-claimed good eyesight.

He pulled out his ninja wire, explosive tags, kunai and all his other tools as he prepared to rig this specific alley. One day, he would have every part of Konoha as a trap, so that he could escape anywhere. It also took time to re-rig alleys that he had used to recently evade ninja with. He planned to steal from the library again today, as well as a weapons shop, which the Chunin hated, and he needed to have a perfect escape as he knew that it was a large possibility that Jonin would go on the chase as well.


Elsewhere, Later

Shisui Uchiha was talented; one of the most talented Uchiha in the Clan, even at the young age of twelve. He had graduated the Academy at the age of six years old, and he had become a Chunin at the age of ten, two years ago. And now, he had recently become a member of the Konoha Black Ops as well as the Uchiha Military Police. All of this, at the young age of twelve. He would be classified as the top genius of the entire Clan, if there was not one other boy who was just as good as him.

Itachi Uchiha, ironically his best friend, was just as talented as him and they had accomplished the same things together. Itachi, for his general brilliance and skills in genjutsu, and him for his general brilliance and skills in speed and taijutsu. They graduated the Academy at the same age, and they became Chunin at the same age and same Exam. Hell, they had even tied their final battle at Chunin Finals, facing each other. The Clan had high hopes for them, and it was possible that together they would strengthen the bond between Konoha and the Uchiha even further.

They had been admitted into the Anbu just weeks ago, and Shisui had been assigned to his first real mission, so to say, which would specialize in his speed and stealth. Well, he had thought it was a real mission, but it turns out the person he was spying on…was just a kid.

Naruto Uzumaki, the Jinchuuriki of Konoha. Why would he need to be spied on?

Shisui had a pretty good idea why, and he didn't have to be told. Everyone old enough in the village knew that Naruto had the Kyuubi sealed inside of him, ever since the fateful night that the Yondaime had sacrificed himself. However, the Uchiha Clan, with the sharpest of eyes, knew something more than everyone else.

The night of the attack, people recognized that there was a man standing on top of the Kyuubi while he attacked, and then man had even faced the Yondaime equally in battle for a short period of time. Who could possibly tame the Nine-Tailed beast and fight on an equal level with the Yondaime, hailed to be the strongest in the world?

The Uchiha Clan had a strong guess. The only people to ever be known to control the Kyuubi were on a very small list, including the First Hokage, as well as Madara Uchiha, who up to this point was assumed dead. Hashirama controlled the Bijuu with his Senju kekkei genkai, the strongest form of physical chakra, combining chakras together to create advanced elements, such as wood. Madara, on the other hand, used the Uchiha kekkei genkai, the strongest form of spiritual chakra, using his doujutsu to control the beast.

This still didn't explain who was controlling the Kyuubi that night; no one could recognize the man from afar…unless you take into account the black flames which began to spread to Konoha and didn't extinguish until the man and the Kyuubi vanished. To any other ninja, that could have been any special jutsu, but to the Uchiha, it was much, much more.

It was Amaterasu, one of the abilities of a Mangekyou Sharingan.

Only an Uchiha could use this power, and adding their thoughts together, Fugaku, the Head of the Clan, concluded that it was Madara who led the attack against Konoha once more.

That was the end of the mystery…or was it? Fugaku, after revealing this to the Clan, went over how the Kyuubi had died…it was sealed into Naruto. So then what had happened to Madara?

The only possibly outcome was that Madara was sealed into Naruto as well.

This was a gigantic revelation for the Clan, kept an S-Class secret. There was a ninja in the village that contained both the strongest Bijuu in the world as well as Madara Uchiha inside of him, and that ninja was still young enough to be molded into whatever any Clan wanted from him. The Uchiha had to have him!

Still, Fugaku was cautious, and he wanted to make sure that what he thought was true. That's why he gave Shisui the mission to spy on Naruto for the week and see if his noticed anything…out of the ordinary, even for a Jinchuuriki. Now that he thought about it, Shisui guessed that this was a very important mission after all, as it would determine the future of the Uchiha Clan. Perhaps this child would grow to be as strong as Madara and lead the Uchiha further once more…wow!

That was the reason why Fugaku had originally allowed the Hyuga to take control over Hinata. The Hyuga Clan was the only other prestigious Clan influential enough to equally debate over who gets to adopt an important child. So, should Fugaku's beliefs stand true and Naruto really did hold Madara, the Uchiha would be able to adopt him without question.

Each time a child is adopted into a major Clan, there is a meeting about it with the council who must agree. Had the Hyuga found out about the truth during that meeting and decided they wanted Naruto as well, and the Uchiha had been given possession over Hinata, then they would be given Naruto. Sure, a Senju was important to the Village, and the Uchiha would love to have one, but a child with the Kyuubi and Madara was much, much more important. Now that the Hyuga had possession over Hinata, the Uchiha would be given possession over Naruto; it was unfair that one Clan could adopt two powerful children in a row. And, there was no other Clan influential enough to convince the council to give them Naruto. Checkmate.

But that wasn't to say that spying on this 'kid' was going to be an easy job, even for Shisui the Teleporter. It had taken him quite some time to actually find the boy, but eventually he did, though it was only because someone had shouted out:

"Demon thief!"

Shisui had immediately arrived at the scene to find his blonde target running out of Konoha's library stuffing several scrolls in his side ninja pouch. Directly behind him, three Chunin level ninja came running out of the library as well, cursing and threatening Naruto. He smiled to himself; he had finally found the kid! Not only that, but apparently he actually did steal and cause as much trouble as rumors told of him! That would make his job so much more fun! After all, Shisui was not exactly considered a 'black sheep' to the Clan, like his friend Obito had been, but he had a nearly identical sense of humor, much unlike his best friend Itachi who was exactly the opposite. People did wonder how the two could ever be friends, let alone best friends.

Still smiling, he jumped from roof to roof as he watched Naruto, with his Sharingan catching his every move, weave through the crowd with the Chunin falling shortly behind. Man, this kid was fast! Especially since he wasn't using chakra to run faster! Not only that, but he had the advantage that he couldn't be seen in a crowd and he could run through them faster.

Eventually, Naruto ran down an alley, and the Chunin came shortly after.

Poof!

Suddenly, the entire alleyway erupted in a massive cloud of smoke from multiple smoke bombs, enough to cause the entire nearby street of people to look in wonder and for Shisui to momentarily lose vision of Naruto.

Not waiting for the smoke to clear, Shisui shunshined (teleported/high speed movement) to the building, just in time to see Naruto climb on top of the roof with a ladder. Surprisingly, the blonde boy jumped across several rooftops with just enough space for him to make it without using chakra, which impressed Shisui. He could easily assume that the boy had practiced going along this route before.

"Ninja Art: Camouflage Technique!" he thought to himself, disappearing from sight so that Naruto wouldn't see him or the other Chunin guards.

Eventually, the Chunin ran up the side of the buildings to get to Naruto but by then it was too late; Naruto had dropped down into another alleyway and disappeared from sight to everyone but Shisui, who saw that he had immersed himself in the crowd once more.

Shisui had to restrain himself from laughing out loud as he dropped his technique and continued to silently follow Naruto, clearly amused with what he saw. This boy was talented! And he was only five! He had no doubt that if he was raised in a major Clan like the Uchiha he would've graduated the Academy by now, a year ahead of him and Itachi! He had even dropped his stolen goods off in some sort of abandoned building in the mix, which made Shisui respect him even more. This was really fun!

After several minutes of his legendary eyes tracking Naruto through the crowd, he noticed that Naruto had walked into a clothing shop. Grinning madly, he waited on the opposite rooftop to see what was going to happen.

Naruto swiftly entered the clothes shop, heading over to the children's section which would have clothes his size. He had two pairs of each required clothing already, but he wanted more. He needed them because if he changed clothing more often, it would be harder for store owners to spot him out so quickly. He had originally been wearing a bright orange shirt, but while he really liked the color, it made him stick out like a demon in a crowd…eh, that was a bad analogy for him. Anyways, he needed a different shirt, a larger ninja pouch, and it probably wouldn't hurt for him to by a beanie hat to cover his identity. Now, if he could only get away with stealing all of this and not getting caught…

Discreetly, he picked up a beanie hat and threw it over his head to cover his revealing blonde hair. Just as he did that, an assistant worker of the store walked by him, saying nothing.

Perfect.

He quickly headed over to the shirt section; picking up a large ninja pouch as he went by…He immediately froze as he stared up into the face of a Jonin ninja with a long toothpick sticking out of his mouth. For a moment, they stared at each other, until Naruto dived under and through his legs, pulling a shirt of the shelf and running as hard as he could out the store.

"Hey, it's you again!" Genma shouted at Naruto, running after him. This wasn't the first time he had met Naruto, and the two weren't on kind terms with each other.

"Get him!"

Shisui's head snapped up as Naruto ran out the side entrance of the shop, closely followed by…was that Genma? Hm…as well as several other Chunin. Boy, this kid sure knew how to pull off some moves! Naruto ran fast and weaved through the crowd, but Genma was able to keep up with him, as well as Shisui from the tops of the roofs, who was chuckling constantly.

"Oh boy, don't go into the alley," he commented happily to himself, watching as the scene played out. "You know what happens when you follow him into an alley!"

Swish!

Shisui laughed out loud as there were multiple sounds of kunai and shuriken flying around, some even coming out into the street. Looking in the alley, he was surprised to find one Chunin ninja surprisingly tied up in ninja wire, which caused him to laugh again.

Following Naruto, who now was wearing his new gear in order to run faster, he watched gleefully as Naruto ran into the side of another abandoned building, which was about five stories tall. He waited patiently for about three minutes, and finally he saw Naruto come out the top of the building, running to the edge. Moments later, only Genma came out the top, and he dashed over to grab Naruto, but it was too late; using a zip line that had been previously set up, Naruto zipped down it and onto the street ground, running through the crowd. Genma was able to jump down, using chakra, and he chased after Naruto again, falling behind rapidly.

Naruto, to Shisui's astonishment, ran into a dead-end alley and instead of going through various traps, he dived in a dumpster, closing the lid just in time so that Genma didn't see him do it.

"Oh, don't check the dumpster!" Shisui commented again as he saw Genma walk into the alleyways, looking up and down the walls to see where Naruto could've gone in this dead end. This was just like watching a movie, and for some reason, Shisui wanted to watch Naruto escape and trick the more experienced ninja.

To his disappointment, Genma eventually walked up to the dumpster and threw it open, looking around to see if anyone was in there. Shisui sighed; at least it was fun watching Naruto up to this point.

However, to his great surprise, Genma threw the dumpster shut after looking through it for thirty seconds, shaking his head in disappointment and mouthing out several curse words Shisui could read with his Sharingan.

The little guy had escaped! But how?

From an aerial view, Shisui watched in wonder as he saw movement from the other side of the building, on the parallel alley, and he saw Naruto get out of another dumpster, which was on the OTHER side of the building! He had made a hole in the first dumpster and crawled through the abandoned building and got out through a previously made hole in another dumpster, on the other side of the large building. This kid was genius!

He continued to laugh as he watched Naruto immerse himself in the crowd again, walking across the street and entering the nearby weapons shop…so this kid had planned that all out all along? He knew that he wouldn't lose Genma until the dumpster which was right by the weapons shop?

He would have to get Itachi to watch Naruto with him when he had the time. This was just too good.

Naruto entered the weapons shop, feeling relieved that his plan had worked and he had escaped Genma in time. If not, he would've had to go into the giant underground water pipe system and have to elude him there, but that would take him farther away from the weapons shop.

Anyways, because he had his hat on as well as new clothes, he was able to walk around the shop without anyone noticing who he was. Looking around, he grabbed a large empty box and began filling it with a lot of extra tools, such as kunai, shuriken, smoke bombs, exploding tags, ninja wire and more. By the time he filled it up to the top, one of the workers behind him, standing behind him, causing him to turn around in surprise.

"Hiya!" she greeted, looking at all the stuff in the box with surprise. "That's a lot of stuff you got there! You must have a lot of money! Are you ready to buy? I can ring up everything for you! My daddy owns this shop and he's teaching me how to run the place!"

Naruto looked at the girl up and down like she was stupid. She looked like she was his age, and she had her hair put into two buns on the top of her head. He had thought he was a goner, but luckily this inexperienced girl had found him!

"Um, my mom's outside with the money," Naruto lied, pretending act like the kid he was supposed to be for his age. "I'll go run there and tell her it's time to come in and pay! Be right back!"

The girl nodded, smiling happily at him. "Great! I'll be waiting at the cash register when you come back!"

Naruto nodded slowly, surprised that his quick plan had worked. Hey, it wasn't his problem this girl was gullible! With that, he turned and walked out the door, leaving the waiting girl behind him. Of course, he wouldn't come back anytime soon, so she would have to wait for a long time.

Shisui shook his head in wonder as he saw Naruto walk out of the store after tricking that one girl he was talking to. He had just escaped with a large box of stolen items…this kid was golden. This was going to be one hell of a week watching Naruto. Itachi would definitely have to come and spy with him.

Suddenly, to his surprise, Naruto ran into someone on the street, dropping his box and causing several items to fall out on the ground. Hastily, Naruto scooped up everything and put it back in as quickly as he could. Shisui's eyes widened as he saw who exactly Naruto had run into.

Nineteen-year-old Kakashi Hatake frowned under his mask as he looked down from his book to see the small child in front of him picking up a lot of items that had just fallen from the ground. His one eye widened for a split second before returning to its normal lazy glaze when he realized who it was. Funny running into him here…

"That's a lot of stuff you have there," he commented as Naruto stuffed it back into the box. Naruto gave a quick fake average kid smile up for a moment while he continued to pack the box.

"Yeah, there was a sale today and my mommy bought all of this for me so I can grow up to be a big strong ninja like daddy someday," he lied, playing his part perfectly. Man, adults always underestimated him.

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully as he looked back at his book. He wasn't going to let Naruto's innocent act get to him; when he was five-years-old he had graduated the Academy and become a Chunin at six. There was no way that he would underestimate a kid.

"Yes, that would make sense, if the store actually did have a sale today and you actually did have parents," he eye-smiled back at the wide-eyed Naruto, who had just finished packing everything.

Unfortunately for the one-eyed Kakashi, eye-smiling wasn't as easy as it looked; when he closed his one eye, he was temporarily blind. So when Naruto ran up to him and cocked back his foot and nailed him in his 'private' area, he had no idea it was coming.

Shisui toppled over laughing as the renowned Copy-Ninja of Konoha dropped to the ground in shock and blinding pain as Naruto quickly ran by him, carrying his box of stolen goods. Shisui was barely able to catch that Naruto had jumped into one of the alley water sewer systems, disappearing from sight because he was laughing so hard.

Oh boy, did he have a story to tell Itachi when he got back! He was going to have a fun time spying on Naruto for the rest of the week!


Several Days Later, Hyuga Manor, Morning

Hinata sighed as she got out of bed, walking over to her window and staring out of it. It was Saturday, and Hiashi-sama had decided to give her the day off. Ever since she had turned five, he had been training her much, much harder. The fact that she woke up a little sore backed up her idea a lot. Still, she would do her best to enjoy what he had graciously given her.

But she had no idea what she was supposed to do! Hiashi-sama had strictly instructed her not to leave the Hyuga compounds…just like last weekend, and the one before that. And all she did then was either sit around in her room or spend some time in the Hyuga library reading scrolls. There was nothing fun to do in this place…even Neji dedicated his extra time to train! And the only other person close to her age was Hanabi, Hiashi's first-born daughter, and she was only two years old! She followed her father around, now walking, and while Hinata found her cute and spent time with her, it was only so much fun…

She might as well head up to the roof; that was probably the most fun thing she could do in this compound anyway. She left Kitsune behind on the bed, not wanting to drop him or anything outside.

Once she had managed to climb out her window and go on her manor's roof, she found a good spot and sat down, looking at the morning view of Konoha before her, hugging her knees to her chest as she stared at the many people she saw throughout the village. Luckily, her manor was at the edge of the compound so no Hyuga would be able to see her (without the Byakugan at least) and she could see the village.

She couldn't help but instantly wonder what Naruto was doing at the Orphanage. She hoped that he was alright…but by the way the adults had treated him before…and now that he didn't have her to make sure they didn't hurt him…

His life was probably hell! They probably hurt him all the time and gave him crappy food, and the kids probably laughed at him…

If only she could somehow help him, or at least make sure he was alright…

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she stood up straight. There was a way…she could help him! If she could somehow escape the compound, and sneak over to the orphanage, she could climb up the dumpster like before and then on the house, and then climb across the tree branch over the wall…and meet Naruto there on the roof! That was perfect!

She paced around on the roof, pushing her fingers together in excitement. She would be able to see Naruto again! Oh, but how would she get out of the compound? Hm…what would Naruto do?

He eyes wandered to the edge of the roof where she saw that another tree grew next to it, and over the compound wall, just like in the orphanage. She smiled, but took a deep breath as she tried to calm her excitement. This was going to work!

She walked over to the tree which was directly next to the manor, and not thinking twice, she jumped up to it, barely reaching the branch. From there, she pulled herself up and crawled forward on it, until she was actually over the compound wall.

However, when she looked before her, she noticed that there was a pretty long drop to the ground, and there was nothing to cushion her fall! What was she going to do? She started breathing heavily as fear took over her and she clutched tightly to the tree branch, hoping that she wouldn't fall.

Her eyes widened when she suddenly heard cracking, and she turned around to see that the branch she was clinging on to began cracking and buckling under her weight…oh no!

Crack!

Before she could move, the branch snapped and she plummeted to the ground, squealing in surprise. Using her trained reflexes, she tried to land on her feet, but she hit the ground hard, rolling around in the dirt painfully.

"Uhhh," she moaned, trying not to be loud and notify anybody. After a minute of waiting for the pain to go away, she got up and brushed herself off. When it finally hit her that she had made it out of the compound successfully, she giggled and pushed her fingers together in a nervous habit. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, and when she did, she jogged down the street, trying to get away from the compound before anybody realized she had escaped.


Elsewhere

Naruto yawned as he popped out of a sewer in an alley way, stepping out into the sunshine, pulling along with him his large box of supplies. Man, they needed to add lights down there; the only source of light that kept it bright was several lanterns and the natural sunlight that seeped through several holes on top. Shaking himself to wake up further, he climbed up a ladder (with difficulty) on the side of the alley until he reached the top. He needed to go through his escape routes again, and fix all of his errors and make sure his traps were alight. After all, one mistake of his could end up to him getting the snot beaten out of him by several angry ninja.

Sighing, he inspected the current roof, and took several smoke bombs and a ninja wire, creating a trip wire that would activate the smoke bombs if others ran by.

After several minutes, he jumped across to the next nearby roof, and continued the process, going from roof to roof and making sure all of the routes were intact.


Orphanage, Hour Later

Hinata finally walked down the correct alley that led to the orphanage walls, the very same one that she and Naruto had climbed down from all those months ago. It seemed like ages since she had last seen the place, and she shivered as a wave of nostalgia passed over her.

However, unlike last time, she noticed that the dumpster that they had used to climb up the side of the house was no longer there! Where was it? How else would she get up on the roof?

She walked around the building, and she knew that there was no other way to get up onto the roof without the dumpster. She huffed angrily, crossing her arms in frustration. All of her plans had been ruined! How else could she-

She stopped as her eyes fell on the dumpster that she needed. Instead of it being in the same alley place, it was on the other side of the neighboring house…it had been moved! She wouldn't be able to get on the same house as before, but she could get on the one next to it!

Running over to the dumpster, she didn't waste time and she jumped up to the top of it, pulling herself over it. From there, she looked up, frowning. This house was taller than the last one…so she would have to climb up a little by herself. Determined, she jumped as high as she could, and ended up grabbing onto a window ledge, below the roof. From there she pulled herself higher, and then higher, until she finally was able to jump up and grab hold of the roof edge. With one last effort, she swung her legs up and pulled herself over and onto the roof, breathing heavily.

Standing up, she walked over to the edge of the roof. Because this house was taller than the other, she was on level with the wall of the Orphanage, so she wouldn't need to use the tree to climb all the way over. Still…this was going to be tricky. She needed to jump from the roof and onto the wall, and from there jump to the roof of the Orphanage. Could she even do it?

For Naruto, yes she would. The wall wasn't that far away, but she still needed to have balance. Focusing and taking a deep breath, she dashed to the edge of the roof, using all of her focus to jump across the gap and onto the orphanage wall…

However, instead of getting a clean land, her jump was a little short, making her land on the edge of the wall. Not able to pull herself forward, she swung her arms, falling backwards. For that split second, she closed her eyes and wondered if this was it for her, and if she would really die…

Clap!

Moments after she fell off the wall, she felt herself remain in the air. Opening her eyes, she looked up to see a hand holding on to her arm, keeping her in the air. But looking up the arm, her brown eyes came into contact with the bluest pair of eyes she had ever seen, and the widest smile as well.

"N-Naruto!"

When Naruto was jumping from roof to roof, there were many things he was keeping his eyes out for, such as ninja who might try to follow him or sneak up on him to attack, or other things out of place. He was surprised when he landed in front of a building to inspect it, and a store owner had run out, catching him by surprise and kicking him straight in the face. It had hurt, and it bled a little, but he healed pretty fast.

But, when he noticed someone small on the roofs far away later, it was natural instinct for him to inspect. However, when he squinted his eyes and got closer to the person, jumping roof to roof, his eyes widened in shock when he finally recognized who it was.

Hinata!

For some reason his best friend was on the roof of a house in front of the old Orphanage! Excited and astounded, he sprinted on the rooftops over to her, waiting to shout her name out…but right when he had jumped across to her roof, she sprinted off the ledge and jumped over to the wall of the Orphanage! What was she thinking? Somehow, and for some reason, Naruto's eyes were immediately able to recognize that she wouldn't be able to make the jump. Perhaps after having months of experience of jumping from heights, he was able to recognize jumping capacity, and from the way she jumped, he knew that she was done for.

Thinking quickly, he had sprinted over to the edge of the roof, just in time to see her wavering on the wall's edge, about to fall off. So, when she did fall backwards, he was able to dive down and grab her hand, falling off the ledge himself, but hanging on to it with his free hand.

After pulling Hinata up to the roof, along with himself, he dusted himself off, sighing in relief that she was okay. He looked up to her, with concern written on his face.

"Hinata-hime, what-"

He was unable to finish his sentence when she dashed over to him, embracing him in a bone-cracking hug, laughing into his clothes with extreme excitement. He couldn't stop smiling either as he finally was able to see his best friend again, so he hugged her back, now laughing as well.

"What are you doing up here?" Naruto finished his question from before after they separated, still smiling at her. Hinata smiled back, and began pushing her fingers together, hopping up and down in excitement.

"I escaped from my Clan for the day!" she explained, keeping her voice low as if someone would hear her. "I came over here to see you!"

Naruto was slightly taken aback at this, and it took him a second to snap out of his trance. She had really ran out of her Clan to come and see him?

"We…we should probably go somewhere else," he said, looking left and right. If anyone saw him on the roof with her, they would probably send squads of Anbu after him within the minute. "We can talk somewhere else where it's safe. Here, follow me!" he finished, pulling her over to the edge of the house.


Hokage Monument

Naruto had taken Hinata up to the top of the Hokage monument, where they now sat, staring at the grand village before them. There was so much they wanted to tell each other…they just didn't know where to start! For a while they had just stared at each other, taking in the other person, almost drinking the image in to fill their memories up. After only seeing each other in memory, actually seeing each other was delightful. Hinata noticed how Naruto's hair had gotten slightly longer and a little messy, and it covered his forehead and bangs fell down the side of his head. Naruto noticed that Hinata's hair had also grown longer, and it fell perfectly straight down to her back.

"How…how is the Orphanage?" Hinata finally asked him, turning to look at him with concern.

For some reason, this caused Naruto to snort and laugh, making Hinata worried. Had she asked something wrong?

"Ha!" he laughed, looking up into the sky. "I don't know…I haven't been there in like 6 months!"

At this, Hinata's eyes widened, and she gasped. "What? H-How? Did you run away?"

Naruto shook his head, and he thought back into his memories, reliving the scene.

"No…they kicked me out. The day you left, and I tried to talk with you, I think I bit the leader of the Orphanage, and after you left, he threw me into my room, told me to pack everything up…and then, well…he sorta kicked me out of the place and onto the streets…" he finished, slowing down near the end as Hinata's facial expression darkened dramatically.

"What?" she screamed at him, jumping up to her feet and causing him flinch in shock. "How could they do that? That's…that's…that's terrible!"

Naruto's eyes widened as he watched Hinata scream in front of him, shocked that she would be so upset.

"No, no, it's alright, really!" he tried to convince her to calm down. The fact that she cared about him so much made him feel…warm, inside. "I found my own place to live! I-"

"How did you eat!" she screamed again at him, almost like an angry mother. Naruto scratched the back of his head, trying to find a way to tell her in the best way.

"Well…um, for a while, I just ate out of the dumpsters…it wasn't too bad," he shrugged nonchalantly, trying to make it sound better than it did.

Strange, Hinata's silence was somehow much louder than her shouting. He cringed as she stood still, except for clenching her fist and shaking like a volcano about to erupt.

"But, um," he continued, trying to say something better before she did explode. "I stopped after a couple weeks! I learned how to hunt out in the woods and training grounds, and I started stealing good and healthy food!"

Hinata took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. It was almost midday, and she didn't want to ruin her reunion with Naruto by screaming at him. She was about to ask him more about his life when she noticed something on his face.

"What's this?" she asked, placing a hand on his cheek, brushing the hair that was blocking it from view. When she pushed his wild blonde bangs away, she gasped, noticing a fairly large bruise on his cheek. "W-Where did you get this?" she quietly asked. Did…did the villagers or ninja beat him up? If they did…there's no way that she would allow something like that to happen. She would run away from the Hyuga permanently just to make sure that no one would ever do that to him, her best friend!

Naruto cursed silently that she found his bruise. He wanted to enjoy his time with her! He didn't want her to just worry about the things he had to go through!

"Hm…" he thought back. Should he lie to her and say he tripped? No, lying would never do anything good to his best friend…would it? Maybe just one little lie so that she wouldn't get upset…

"I tripped over myself when I…when I was walking up some stairs, and then I hit my face…"

He watched her carefully, hoping that she believed him. He didn't want her to do anything drastic, and he guessed that she might for him. After all, she ran away from the Hyuga for a day to see him!

She sighed, feeling her eyes tear up and she leaned against him. "Be…be careful, silly!" she said, trying to giggle into his shirt and wipe away her tears at the same time. She hated having to cry in front of him! "I…I just don't want you to get hurt, okay?" she said, looking up to his eyes.

Naruto smiled at her confidently. "You don't have to worry about me…I've gotten stronger! I've trained myself, and I work hard every day!"

She nodded into him, sniffing and then sitting up straight again. "Me too," she commented, wanting to seem strong in front of him. "I've been training with my new family everyday!"

At this, it was Naruto's turn to be somewhat worried. "They aren't training you too hard are they…hey, wait a second, what's this?" he asked, holding up her arm to look at it. Upon close inspection, he was easily able to see a faint bruise mark on her arm.

Hinata began to worry as well. She didn't want Naruto to have to worry about her either. If he thought that she was being treated badly…

"Oh this? It's nothing!" she claimed, pulling her arm back. "And no, my training is going just fine…" she fibbed a little. It was going fine by the basis that she was learning a lot, but still, Hiashi's strikes could be a little…harsh.

Naruto sighed and shrugged it off. He didn't want to spend their time together talking about their misfortunes. They had to have all the fun they could have while they had the time!

"Here, let me show you something," Naruto said standing up and helping Hinata up as well. Curious, she followed him back away from the edge and the village until they walked into some of the woods nearby. She was confused, especially when he walked up to a large rock which was surrounded by bushes. However, when they walked through the bushes, and he pulled some covering over the rock, she gasped when she saw an opening leading down a candle tunnel.

"Let me show you where I live," he said, turning back to smile at her before walking down the tunnel.

Hinata had originally been worried about Naruto, and don't get her wrong she still was, but now she couldn't help but feel…jealous. Very much so. While she was staying in a boring compound training every day, Naruto had his own gigantic cavern to live in, which was inside the monument! He got to have adventures every day traveling through Konoha, hidden in underground tunnels, stealing from shops and running away.

She was astounded by the giant cave behind the monument. It was huge, lit by the occasional streams of light which leaked in through holes in the wall and numerous candles on the wall. He had his own mattress thrown in the corner of the room, surrounded by small mountains and hills of scrolls, scattered throughout the entire cave. In the center of everything was some sort of training area if she were to guess, as there were several dummies and logs with kunai embedded in them. There were various shuriken targets held up on the high ceiling and walls, a comfy looking reading chair, a fire pit off to the side, and what seemed like a giant authentic map of Konoha held up on one of the walls, light and legible by candles surrounding it.

It was more like a domain than a home…Naruto's Domain.

Then, he had led her by hand through another dimly lit tunnel that which led farther down into the mountain. When they reached the end of the tunnel, there was a ladder that climbed down into another gigantic area; Konoha's water system. There were long tunnels of water flowing around with sidewalks on the side for traveling. There were also ladders leading up at every water intersection. Naruto could travel throughout Konoha underneath it! It was huge! It was almost like a small underground city full of streets.

"How do remember where each waterway leads to, and where the ladders head up to?" she asked, fixing her hat. Naruto had given her one of his beanie hats which covered up the top of her head in hopes to help disguise her to a certain extent. While her hair still flow down her back, it made her look…rougher in a way, and no one would immediately see her as Hinata Senju.

"I used to have a map," Naruto said, beginning to climb up a ladder with her following close behind. "But after you go through these a couple of dozen times, you memorize it, ya know? I go through every day after all! It also helps if you visualize what's in Konoha above you. And because I know most of Konoha like the back of my hand, it's easy to keep track. Right now we're going to head up into an alley way right across from a dango restaurant."

Hinata nodded, amazed as she climbed up the ladder behind him. Her nice looking clothes were getting somewhat dirty, but she honestly couldn't care less. She was having so much fun!

Naruto pushed the sewer head at the top of the ladder aside, and together, he and Hinata climbed up into the alley, into Konoha.


Elsewhere

"Ah, there he is!"

Shisui jumped across several buildings in seconds until he landed on one, standing on the edge. "He's right down there, coming out of the sewer!"

"Is this really going to be worth my break?" twelve-years-old Itachi asked, landing next to his best friend, also looking down. He focused his sharp eyes to see a young boy with a black shirt on and tan shorts climb out of the sewer, but his eyes widened for a split second when another person, a young girl, climbed out behind him.

"Didn't you say that he traveled alone?" he asked to Shisui, who seemed shocked as well.

Shisui shrugged, looking down with curiosity. "Yeah! As far as I know, he's never partnered up with anybody! He's always been alone!"

It took a few moments, but when the young girl lifted her head to look around in wonder, they both instantly recognized who it was.

Hinata Senju! What in the world was she doing with Naruto?

"That's…interesting," Itachi noted to Shisui, whose mouth had dropped open.

After having lunch together at a crowded fast-food place (they both had covered up their faces for the most part), the dynamic duo had traveled throughout Konoha, with Naruto her all of the things which he would do in a day. He showed her cool rooftops, abandoned buildings, rivers and bridges, Naruto's other hideouts, and much more. He had even stolen a candy bar out of the store and run away from the store owner with her, laughing all the way together. However, was getting late in the evening, as the two had spent all of the day together.

Hinata sighed as she continued to hold on to Naruto's hand, as he led her through the city streets. He was taking her to see a cool training ground with a waterfall, and it was going to be their last stop of the day.

"I have to be home by 7:00 for dinner," she had told him after they had finished their last quest. Today had probably been the best day of her entire life so far, and she had spent it all with him.

He understood the time deadline, and he told her that there was one more thing that he wanted to show her; the waterfall at a training ground.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, they finally made it out of the main city area, and into an open field.

"We're almost there," Naruto said, pulling her along with him a quick pace. She nodded, almost not wanting it to be true. She wanted to spend all of her time with him, forever. She didn't want it to end!

"Do you think," she asked, tugging on his hand as they ran through the fields together. "That we'll be able to do this next week?"

Naruto turned and smiled at her, flashing his foxy grin which caused her to fill up with warmth. "Of course! We can meet on the Hokage's Monument every Saturday in the morning!"

She smiled; glad that they would be able to do this each week. If she could, without getting caught, then her time at the Hyuga Compound would be so much better!

Suddenly, Naruto stopped, after they had just reached over the top of the hill. "There it is!" he said, pointing forward to the side of a mountain where a beautiful waterfall was pouring water over it, sparkling in the evening twilight.

"It's…beautiful…"

"So this is all you wanted to show me?" Itachi asked Shisui in a bored manner, hidden from a distance. Shisui sighed, shrugging his shoulders in defeat.

"I'm telling you, you just came on a bad day! Usually he does all these super-funny things and tricks all these ninja…I think this has something to do with that girl that came with him, the Senju. I've never seen her before…do you think they were friends before?"

Itachi shrugged, standing up and about to leave. "Not sure. Maybe they…"

Shisui turned up to Itachi after he had suddenly stopped talking the middle of the sentence, and he was surprised to see that Itachi had his Sharingan activated and he was staring off into the distance with a serious look on his face.

"What is it?" Shisui asked quietly, greatly concerned with the look on Itachi's face.

After a moment of silence, Itachi responded in a whisper,

"I can see someone…no, several ninja, hiding in the trees over there," he said, pointing to where he was looking.

Shisui nodded, and in a second he activated his own Sharingan, now looking where Itachi had pointed. True to his friend's words, he could see the powerful chakra signatures of several ninja, hiding in the trees. With chakra as powerful as them, they had to be at least Jonin level ninja!

"There not from around here," Shisui commented, getting worried. "I've never seen them before!"

Itachi nodded as well, though in a much calmer matter. "They must be here to capture Hinata…or Naruto."

Shisui stood up, pulling out a kunai of his. "Then let's go over there and get them before they can-"

Shisui stopped, surprised when Itachi forcefully pulled him back down to the ground, motioning for him to be quiet.

"What are you doing?" Shisui whispered to him, clearly frustrated. "We have to save them!"

Itachi shook his head, his eyes never leaving the hidden ninja. "No. We need to know why they are here. Foolish villains tend to reveal their plans in monologue before they attack, and these might do the same. We need to know if they are after either Naruto or Hinata…and more importantly…

"We need to know what Naruto will do in defense."

Shisui looked at Itachi like his was crazy, not following his plan. "What do you mean, what Naruto will do in defense?"

Itachi sighed, still not taking his eyes off the ninja. "If I'm not incorrect, I believe that you were on a mission to spy on Naruto not for the fun of it, but to see whether or not Madara lives inside of him. This…this is our chance!"

Shisui's eyes widened as the idea came to him. If the situation called of it, Naruto might draw on Madara's power, and then they would be able to see into Naruto's chakra system and see if Madara's presence was there at all!

"Just wait for now."

Naruto and Hinata sat together in front of the waterfall, spend the last few minutes they had together enjoying the view and ambience of the waterfall. Today probably had been the best day either of them ever had…everything had gone perfectly for them!

Eventually, Naruto stood up, with Hinata after him. "It's probably time for you to go home now," Naruto regretfully said. Hinata sighed, understanding that he was probably right.

"Alright…thank you," she said, looking up to him, causing him to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"For what?" he asked, not catching on.

"Today was amazing…with you," she said, pushing her fingers together in nervous habit. "Thanks for showing me everywhere, it was really wonderful! I can't wait to meet up with you next week!"

Naruto was about to tell her that it was his pleasure, when something caught his attention behind her. A quick motion, but it was enough for his eyes to catch on.

"Ah, how very touching," a voice sounded out from nowhere, causing Hinata to snap around. Suddenly, three ninja jumped into the clearing, staring at them. Naruto understood immediately that they weren't from Konoha, as he was able to catch the strange symbol that they wore on their forehead protectors that he had never seen before.

"Who are you?" Naruto shouted out to them, standing protectively in front of Hinata, pushing her behind him. He didn't even notice that she had fearfully clutched onto his clothing from behind, trying to hide herself.

The main ninja who was standing in front walked further forward, smirking confidently.

"I would have assumed that someone as important as a Senju would be guarded all the time, especially after the destruction of the entire clan…the Raikage sent three of us in order to fight off anyone guarding you, but I see you only have one guardian…and he's a child! Not even old enough to be an Academy student!"

Naruto grinded his together, pulling out a kunai slowly. This was not good. They had just said that they had been sent by the Raikage, the leader of Cloud, to fight off anyone guarding Hinata…that meant that they either wanted her dead, or they wanted to capture her!

"What do you want Hinata for?" he shouted back again, his mind spinning at what he could do. These guys were sent on an important mission, and they would be strong enough to fight off anyone guarding Hinata, so he knew that they had to either be Jonin or Anbu. He thought of telling to run off while he held them off, but he guessed that he wouldn't stand a chance and she wouldn't make it past five steps.

The main ninja chuckled, amused for some reason. "That's an obvious one; she's a Senju! With her blood integrated in our Clans, then we would be so much stronger! We could have our own Senju Clan as well, controlled by Cloud!"

Naruto cursed, not knowing what to do. If he waited for them to attack, Hinata was screwed…if he ran away, Hinata wouldn't be able to make it…his only option was to catch one of them off guard! If only he had set traps out here!

Not wasting a second, he pulled out several more kunai in a flash, hurling them at the group as hard as he could.

Unfortunately, they were able to bat them away without even blinking an eye.

"Ah, a feisty one you are!" the ninja commented, happily. Suddenly, his face dropped to a completely serious one, his eyes narrowing. "Don't kid yourself. Take them out!" he shouted, throwing his hand forward.

In a second, the two standing beside him dashed towards Naruto, who was sweating in fear. His sight was restricted to mere tunnel vision as they neared him. This was it; the life or death of him and Hinata was in his hands. He needed…he needed to be strong!

Thinking quickly, he threw several smoke bombs out in front of where they were running. He would have to use what he had correctly!

As soon as the cloud of smoke erupted, Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and dashed off to the side, sprinting as fast as their legs would carry them. But, just like he expected, the ninja had jumped up out of the smoke and given chase to them. Having thought ahead, Naruto took out several kunai with explosive tags wrapped around them, and threw them at the attackers. Just like before, a large explosion filled the air, though this one was much more violent.

As they continued to run, Naruto's eyes fell on the image of the village which was off in the distance. There was no way that they would be able to make it back to the village safely…

Suddenly, the main ninja appeared in front of him in a flash and punted Naruto back with a strong kick to the chest, consequently sending Hinata with him due to them holding on to each other.

Naruto gasped for breath as he got up from off the ground. Looking around, he saw that the three ninja had now surrounded them, and were closing in slowly, confident of their success. Quickly, Naruto dug his hand into his ninja pouch, looking for what he had left…

Several shuriken and one more exploding tag. Damn! He had used up all of his weapons setting up traps around the village…well what good would they be if he wasn't alive to use them?

Slowly, breathing heavily, he pulled out a kunai and an exploding tag, wrapping the tag around the holder of the short blade. The three oncoming ninja stopped as they saw him pull out the weapon, being cautious just in case.

"Oh, you think that using the same attack will get us this time?" the head ninja mocked, clearly amused at his tactics. "That's the difference between a ninja…and a little brat like yourself; you don't use your brain! Do your worse and hurry up with it so that we can kidnap little Miss Senju, or I'll kill you before you can waste any more of my time!"

Naruto felt his insides turn at the sick look of confidence he saw written on the man's face. Looking back and forth between the man, Hinata, and his exploding tag, he reached his decision. He may not live, but whatever it took to ensure Hinata's survival…

Before any of them could react, he took his explosive kunai and hurled it as high into the air as he possibly could, throwing as hard as his arm would allow. The three attackers looked on in confusion as the kunai soared upwards, harmlessly away from anyone. When the kunai reached the peak of its throw, it exploded, creating a large and visible blast and flare, filling the air with sound.

While the other ninja laughed at Naruto, the main one's eyes hardened as he looked at the smirking Naruto with annoyance.

"We may not be able to defeat you three," Naruto commented with a smirk over the laughter of the other ninja, "but the Anbu who are heading over now to investigate the explosion will!"

The laughter immediately stopped when everyone understood what Naruto had done. It hadn't been an attack; it was a message to village for help!

"Why, you little brat!" the ninja hissed out, his eyes narrowing. "I don't like killing children, but I'll make an exception just for you!" With that, he disappeared from sight, only to reappear in front of Naruto, once more kicking him in the chest, sending him flying back.

However, unlike before, the ninja followed the attack and right when Naruto got up he grabbed him by the neck, lifting him into the air with one powerful hand movement. With his other free hand, he pulled out a kunai, smiling menacingly.

"This is it for you kid," he said, smiling evilly, watching Naruto struggle for breath. "You're going to die for causing us problems!"

Naruto wasn't even paying attention to what the man was saying as his eyes traveled beyond him to and where Hinata was. The two other ninja had advanced on her, and she fought them off for several seconds with strange palm strikes before they forcefully grabbed her, restraining her. She screamed and she tried to bite the hand of one of her captors, gaining her freedom for a split second.

"Naruto! Help-"

Hinata stopped shouting out when one of the ninja chopped her in the back of the neck, causing her to fall limp to the ground, unconscious.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he watch the unconscious Hinata be hauled over the shoulder of the enemy ninja. How could they…what was he going to do…?

Naruto's attention was brought to the man who was choking him, about to strike him dead. He felt a deep and burning…anger come from inside him when he focused on the man's eyes. He had been having a perfect day with Hinata until he threatened it! Now, Hinata was going to be captured, and he…and he…

Suddenly, Naruto's world began to fade from the lack of oxygen. The last thing he saw was the man laughing at him from the outside before his faded to black and he fell unconscious.


Naruto's Subconscious

"Are you going to let him die, just like that?"

A tall man with long, spiky black hair stood in front of a giant cage, speaking powerfully into the dark depths. The man wore red armor over a dark blue outfit, and he carried a large kusarigama on his back.

After a small moment of silence, two giant orbs opened and two crimson fox eyes glared down angrily at the man. An even larger set of fangs revealed themselves as the Kyuubi, the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox, growled out at him.

"You think I care about the human?" he snarled down, the mere bass of his voice loud and powerful enough to send ripples throughout the shallow waters on the floor.

Uchiha Madara, the man who fearlessly addressed the Kyuubi, scoffed in front of the massive demon, crossing his arms in impatience.

"You and I both know that if he dies, we die as well. Don't feign ignorance of the matter, oh mighty Lord of the Foxes," he spoke out in annoyance.

The way he said the last part apparently ticked off the Bijuu as it seemingly stood up in its cage, growling dangerously, his aura sending stronger ripples out in the water.

"Be careful with the way you address me!" the Kyuubi spat out, his giant fangs moving up and down as he talked. "You forget the power that I have, the power of the Kyuubi! I am not human like you! I do not bleed like you! My chakra is strong enough to heal wounds other Bijuu have attacked me with...this small wound in his head is nothing to me!"

Madara sighed, annoyed with the pride of the demon fox. "And you, fox, forget who is behind bars, kept within a cage like a misbehaved animal."

BOOM!

The Kyuubi roared, sending tidal waves of water out of the cage as well as dangerous crimson chakra, pouring out and soaring past Madara. However, even through the blast of wind, Madara remained completely still, with the exception of his hair, which flew backwards.

Scarlet chakra began to leak out of the cage, circling around Madara, bubbling dangerously like lava.

"Don't assume that these bars won't stop me from killing you, Uchiha!" he roared back at Madara, the chakra building up around Madara.

Uchiha Madara closed his eyes, ignoring the bubbling death around him which caused the infinite water on the ground to sizzle and evaporate into steam.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes sharply, and his iris turned into a darker crimson, with a black circular ring with three holes in it, and three black bars stretching out from the circle. The Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.

"You couldn't kill me out in the real world," he said, his voice booming loud with chakra, "and you won't be able to kill me in here either!"

With that, the red chakra bubbling around him burst into black flames, roaring as they burned, causing even the Kyuubi to take a step back in caution. Eventually, the flames died down to a small ring of black fire, and Madara turned around, walking away.

"I see you don't want to cooperate with me. Very well; I will tell you what your job is. This vessel of ours, Namikaze Naruto, is not strong enough to support both of our massive chakras. So we will divide our powers among him; I will take control of his conscious, his body, and his eyes, and you protect his body with your chakra from the inside; heal him when he is wounded and protect him from attack. Together, he will become invincible…and so will we."

The Kyuubi snarled, but nonetheless didn't argue with Madara. As much as the beast hated the ninja, he understood that what he had said was logical; trying to flood Naruto with both of their chakras would kill them all. So instead, Madara would take control of Naruto's body and the Kyuubi would use his powers to heal him when needed.

"Bring…bring me a snack."

Madara chuckled evilly, and when reached the end of the walkway, he shimmered out of sight, disappearing from the realm of Naruto's subconscious.


Outside

The head ninja pulled his hand back, preparing to finish off the unconscious boy in his hand when suddenly the boy's eyes shot open. But instead of the sharp blue ones which had been there seconds ago, he stared in surprise into crimson eyes with a strange black pattern in them. Was this…the Sharingan? Was that even possible? He had never seen a Sharingan that looked like this one before him!

Unexpectedly, before he could even bring his hand forward, he felt the eyes in front of him pulse with chakra, and his own world began to fade into red.

He instantly dropped the boy from his grip and he fell to the ground, clutching his head, screaming as loud as he could. The pain…the most pain he had ever imagined before was pulsing through his body and his mind, not ceasing in the least. His mind was blanking out with the incredible pain, but it wouldn't allow him to pass out from the pain. The image of the evil eyes he had seen before burned into his mind, and it glared down at him even when he shut his eyes tight. His hand reached out to the kunai he had dropped as well, and he tried to grab it and end his incredible suffering…

When child's sandal stepped on his forearm, and with incredible force, it completely crushed it, his sandal pushing through the arm and cracking the bones and destroying all of the tissue and muscle. The head ninja continued to scream as even more pain flooded into his body. Why…why wouldn't he die?

Now, it was Naruto's turn to pick up the man with his hand and hold him as high as his small arms would allow, glaring at him with his Mangekyou.

"You won't die…not just yet. I almost pity you for what you are about to go through," Naruto commented in a low, powerful and chakra laced voice that certainly didn't belong to him.

Just then, the man's screaming stopped and his eyes rolled back into his head as he fell over, completely still. The two ninja from behind dropped Hinata as they looked in horror and confusion at what was going on in front of them.

The Kyuubi chuckled happily as a man appeared before him inside of the cage, looking around in confusion.

"Where am I? What's going on?" The Kyuubi leaned forward, opening up his mouth as he prepared to strip the human of his flesh, and savor each and every drop of blood that he had been deprived of for many years.

"What did you do to him, you brat?" one of them shouted out, shocked as to why their leader had just started screaming and then fell over silent and dead.

Naruto's crimson eyes shot up to the one who spoke out, causing him to freeze in place from the massive killer intent that the ninja had never before even imagined was possible.

"W-W-What a-are you-d-doing t-to-"

The ninja's stuttering stopped when Naruto's eyes suddenly pulsed with chakra, and a barely visible shimmer flew through the air, before the ninja's head was sliced cleanly off, flying far into air behind him, the body falling limp down seconds after.

The last ninja looked on in absolute horror as his companion had just been beheaded by the kid merely looking at him, just after their leader had fallen over dead after looking into the boy's eyes.

He fell onto his knees, dropping the kunai out of his hands as he pleaded to the boy for his dear life.

"Please, spare me!" he shouted, instantly recognizing that he was outmatched. If he looked closely, he could swear he could see a faint glow of red covering the boy's body.

Naruto looked at the man curious for a moment, almost as if he was considering the option.

"Hm…no."

A second later, the man suddenly burst into black flames, screaming as he fell over, rolling on the ground, trying to do anything to put out the flames. However, after several moments of his screams, he fell deathly silent, lying still in the grass as the flames continued to burn on him.

Naruto walked up to the scene, watching amusedly as the man continued to burn. He clicked his fingers, and just as quickly, the famed 'inextinguishable' flames of Amaterasu disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. He needed to make sure that the Anbu and Police Force were able to identify all of the bodies, after all.

He sighed as he could sense multiple ninja approaching him from far away, as well as two young ninja who were hiding in the bushes far away. He turned his head to look at the bushes where the two were hiding, and they instantly jumped out into the clearing, holding kunai in their hands.

Upon seeing them, Naruto chuckled, amused. They were Uchiha!

He thought about saying something to them, but he decided against it. He had done enough already. Letting go of control of Naruto's body, he receded back into the boy's subconscious, causing the boys eyes to return to a normal blue. However, just before Naruto fell unconscious, his blue eyes paled out until they were dull, before they rolled to the back of his head when he fell down to the ground.


End

A/N: Sorry to leave the story off on a non-happy note. Anyways, done with Naruto's first awakening of the Sharingan. Please read all of this author's note up until the review responses, though I would recommend skimming through those as well. Treat those like a FAQ, in a way. Out of thousands who might read the chapters, only a small handful will review, so each review asking a question probably represents the questions of hundreds more who don't want to review.

Plot hasn't got that far yet, but it will, very soon, and the tempo will go way up. And I will add more of Madara and Kyuubi next chapter to show what they're really doing inside of Naruto.

Thanks a ton for the support and reviews of the last chapter! That last chapter was my most reviewed chapter ever, though that's unimpressive as I haven't been on this sight too long. Still, I was planning to update my other story's next chapter, but when I received all of the wonderful reviews, I just had to write one more chapter really quickly.

This is one of the real first steps of divergence from the canon, as before Hizashi had been the one to kill Hinata's captor. However, in my world, I thought that the Raikage would be smarter and send three ninja to capture the Senju, as she is more important than in canon. Still, here are some other important notes of the story:

-Ages were changed. Kakashi's age was the same, I believed, but Itachi and Shisui were made older to the age of twelve

-Madara was not in a cage inside the Kyuubi, though this will be explained later when I go into that part more

-Hinata looks just like a Hyuga, though with brown hair and brown eyes

-Survival has made Naruto smarter, along with his eyes

-Madara was able to use all of his powers through Naruto. What are the consequences of that?

-Naruto can travel through the village secretly through the large underwater system

-The Uchiha Clan understood the significance of the black flames the night of the Kyuubi's attack, and they sent Shisui to spy on Naruto

If I forget, (which I know I did cause I just skimmed through this), any other notable changes or something that doesn't make sense, please leave a review! Once again, a special thanks to those who review, or favorite this story or put it in your alert/community list. The support really helps, and it is reviewers who can help steer the story away from crashing and burning. If you have any emotions or thoughts while reading this, a simple review to tell me is greatly appreciated. Critiques are accepted and encouraged, and they do change the story, if they make sense. Here are the responses to last chapter's reviews:

YOU! You who noticed this was bolded and in caps! Leave a review if you finished the chapter to tell me how it went!

You! The person who ignored the last comment and is about to do something else! Leave a review or so help I will find you and…never mind, just leave a review. Pretty please?

Kyuubi123: Thanks for another review! You were correct when you caught on that the Uchiha Clan had some extra info. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well, and I would love to hear what you had to say about it. (I'm still psyched that you even read my story)

animefanbren: Thanks! It made sense that Hinata would be more courageous and able to take openly to Naruto. Unfortunately, I had to leave this chapter on another sad like note, because I didn't want to extend it for too long. I hope you liked the chapter and review again!

Leaf Ranger: I glad you reviewed again! The Hyuga will naturally attempt to brainwash Hinata, but it will take more than that for her to forget about Naruto. However, as we will see next chapter, she will subconsciously be taught to hate not him, but the Uchiha. Anyways, thanks a ton for the review and the compliment! I'm pretty sure I ran around the room like an idiot when I read your review. You're like…me trying to make a video game and the guy who made Zelda tells me that I have a lot of talent, and that my style is better. It's huge! I hope you liked the chapter and review again!

raw666: Great question: How is Sarutobi going to explain in keeping Naruto's family a secret since Hinata family is of just as high risk? Well, Hinata's family was never a true secret, for the most part. Her mother was a Senju, and she was pregnant and the father was unknown, but I'll discuss her heritage later in depth. Anyways, people knew that she was a Senju, as the village loved that Clan, and the realized that she and her mother were the last ones since Tsunade left. However, her mother died, she was put into the orphanage. Once again, the village knew her mother was a Senju, where as nobody knew that the Yondaime's wife was the one who gave birth to Naruto. That was hidden, because the Yondaime didn't want people to know that he had a child (this will also be explained in depth later) Great question, and I hope you ask more if anything else comes up.

Anonymous Reviewer: I understand that you didn't like how I started the story off with Naruto's suffering. Well, that's what they did in canon, and that would be realistic here. You ask why would Naruto want to protect the village? I didn't mention that last chapter, and I haven't here. He hasn't come to his dream yet of wanting to protect the village at all, because he hasn't joined the ninja world. While he would like respect, he is more about survival at this young age than wanting to protect the village. He hasn't really met the Hokage yet, so that's not his dream right now. Will it be his dream? I'm not sure, after all the evil which has been done to him. Yes, this chapter was about him on the streets, but why would he want to protect the village that hurt him? Interesting review, but please read the chapter next time so that you know what's going on. This Naruto isn't as happy and go lucky as before, with the exception of when he is around his friend.

VLS: I don't know if I've ever told you this but I love how you review and send me messages when you think of another question you have. It's nice to have an active reader like you. I'm glad you appreciate that I went into detail about Naruto's life and the change in Hinata's character. About the Kyuubi affecting Naruto's future Sharingan, that's a good question and it will be explained in the next few chapters, so you'll find out pretty quickly! Thanks for reviewing and I hope you review again!

El Poeta: Thanks for the review! About Nagato having the Rinnegan…I changed that on purpose, and I mentioned it in the A/N at the end of last chapter. Just make sure you read through the note so you know that it wasn't a mistake for the future! Anyway, thanks for reviewing! What did you think about this chapter?

Third Fang: Thanks! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well and leave what you thought about it!

Tarik: Well…hopefully this chapter isn't as depressing, but I hope you liked it regardless. Thanks for reviewing!

shinonigga: Thanks for leaving a review! About Hiashi, yeah he's a prick, but only because that's canon and nothing about my plot changes that. I mean he told Kurenai in the canon that he didn't care what happened to his daughter during missions! Bastard! Well, I don't think you have no life for reading the review responses, and I really encourage all readers to skim through them, because they are quite helpful. But, this will not be a harem, and those do ruin good love stories. Then, it's not love, but attraction. The Harem bombshell as you put it, which made me laugh btw, does ruin Naruto's love life. I hope you like this chapter and tell me what you think about it!

beast keeper 9: Thanks for complimenting the story! I'm really glad you like it! I'm glad you're thinking ahead about the Uchiha and what they are going to do about Naruto! I hope you enjoyed reading through this update and that you review again!

dbtiger63: I agree that too much angst makes a story hard to read, which is why I made Naruto's life adventurous while he was out. It is easier to write about things going good, but its also necessary to write about his hardships. Yes, Madara and the Kyuubi will be a HUGE factor, especially when Naruto learns to communicate with them! I know the interaction between Madara and the Kyuubi was short this chapter, but it will get better as the story goes on. Thanks for leaving a good review and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

OverLordRevan: Thanks for the review! Naruto will get his Sharingan ealier than Sasuke did in the canon, and we'll find out in the next couple of chapters how! I hope you tell me what you think about this update!

macabre-wolf: Gracias. Muy buena crítica. Espero que revisar de nuevo! (I'm not too good at Spanish but I do take a class in school)

ArashiKage Naruto: Thanks for the review! The idea of a Sharingan Naruto isn't original, but where I plan to take that will be! What'd you think about this update?

schnookums: Thanks! And about Hinata's heritage, I won't go over it just yet, but she's not Tsunade's daughter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and review again!

Subzero-Wolf: Thanks for reviewing! Yes, Hinata did have a shift in character, but only because it's logical. She's still shy at heart, and now she's going to be but through the hardships of Hiashi and the Hyuga Clan. How much will that change her? We'll find out soon, I guess. She still looks like Hinata though, only with different hair and eye color. Her loving, caring and polite attitude will still remain in the future as well. For Hanabi, I haven't gone over her character yet, but we'll see how it changes as well. I'll have to think about what would make sense for her character for later in the story. So yes, some of the shyness will remain, so you don't have to worry about a total revolution in her personality. I'm glad you reviewed, and you put a lot of thought into the story which is great! I hope you liked this chapter and I hope for you to review it as well!

GaruAlpha: Haha thanks for the funny review. I hope you like this one and review again!

Nailuj: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it and I hope you like this one!

Chewie Cookies: Thank you for reviewing! You have a funny pen name by the way; I have to laugh a little when I read it. I hope you review again and you liked this update!

Fluid Desert: Here's the update! I hope you enjoyed it and review on what you thought about it!

SageKyuubi: I'm impressed that you did catch that little part about Naruto's reading. It was just a little adjustment to how Madara is affecting Naruto. We haven't learned much about Hinata and the Hyuga right now, but I hope you liked the chapter and continue to help me out!

Rythimic Hallucination: Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you caught the part about her befriending a future Uchiha, as that will come into play big time later on. I hope you right another review on what you think!

lord Martiya: Yes, Sasuke won't be as high and might with Naruto to compete with now. And I wonder what I'm going to do with Mizuki…how can I kill him off…hm…Eh, I guess we'll have to wait until the end of the Academy to see that! If you do suggest a way to kill him and I like it, I might add it in for then or later! Thanks for the review!

Crypton89: Thanks for reviewing! Not much did happen a lot, and unfortunately Naruto hasn't developed too much yet right now either, but don't worry, that's coming up. Also, I didn't go too much with Madara and the Kyuubi but I will starting next chapter! I hope you liked it and review again!

Boby09: Thanks for reviewing! I hope you liked this chapter as well and review again!

Uzumaki Crossover: I hope you liked the chapter and tell me what you think about it! Thanks for taking the time to review! What did you think about how I portrayed Naruto living on his own?

Zamrok: Thanks for reviewing! And I will explain Hinata's looks in later chapters. Hopefully you liked this one and you'll review again!

fanficreader71: I hope you enjoyed this one as well! Thanks for reviewing and I want to hear what you thought about this chapter!

Dragon Man 180: Haha thanks for the review! I'm glad you're exciting to see how Hinata is a Senju, and that you're thinking of ideas for future Hinata! I hope you liked this update and review again!

SilentSinger948: Thanks for liking that one! I hope you liked this one too, especially when Naruto met Hinata, though it was only for a day! Tell me what you think about this one too!

kinky-kitsune: Thanks a ton! How'd you like this chapter?

Tobi274: Wow, I'm glad you liked the last chapter and I hope you liked this one too! Hinata's heritage will be revealed later, and for Naruto's…I'll have to wait to reveal his heritage for the best and most dramatic time…I wonder when that will be?

deadw8 : Great idea: Would Tsunade have taken Hinata with her because they are both Senju? Unfortunately, Tsunade left Konoha before Hinata was born, and when Hinata's mother was still alive. She had no idea that Hinata's mother would die and she doesn't even know of Hinata's existence. And, because she disassociated herself from Konoha completely, she doesn't know what's going on there. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you do it again!

Firelover92: thanks for the review! Now you understand why Fugaku allowed Hinata to go to the Hyuga! Itachi will have a big role in the story early on, and we'll see about that next chapter. I won't follow the canon too closely and I hope to see you review again!

Lady-Silvanas: Thanks for reviewing! Hope you liked the update!

Wow that took a long time to respond to all the reviews! But, I enjoyed it! Keep up the good work, reviewers!

-williams5505