Chapter 3 – A Fateful Night

o~0~o

It's been seven years since the funeral, seven years since the Kyūbi attacked. The village has recovered over the years, the destruction was quickly amended which isn't surprising when the village is equipped with a damage control team that deals with people able to breathe fire summon violent winds and waterfalls at a moment's notice so they have to be quick to deal with things.

It was the emotional scars that haven't fully healed yet. Everyone was affected by the attack in one way or another and not just any one single person, whole clans were affected. All taking different amounts of time to heal, if ever.

The village now looked like it once did, however taking a closer look there was something odd was happening. Jumping between the rooftops of the main street was a young seven-year-old boy with sun-kissed blond hair, crystal blue eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a red and black swirl in the centre of the chest, blue knee-length shorts and sandals.

He was laughing out loud with the biggest, smuggest grin imaginable signalling he was up to mischief. Of course, the splatters of pink paint covering him from head to toe and the paint can in his hand were also big and obvious indicators.

He was running at an incredible speed for a seven-year-old and avoiding all the obstacles in his way with the precision of a professional athlete. However, he didn't seem to be running from anyone but the way he kept looking back and speeding up when he did seem to make out that he was.

He continued the leaping and running not noticing Kushina, who didn't look a day older than she did at the funeral if anything she looked better and now wearing the Konoha Nin uniform, land on the rooftop he was about to run across. The look on her face could possibly even scare the Shinigami itself as her hair seemed to have a mind of its own, spreading out into nine tendrils, resembling the very thing she had sealed inside her up until seven years ago.

She stood with her arms crossed and didn't move an inch when the blond seven-year-old crashed into her whereas he bounced off her, crashing on his butt. The shock caused him to drop his paint can, splattering paint all over the roof.

"Hey! What's the big… deal?" He shouted until he saw who he had run into and his voice died down to a whimper, "Erm, hey Mom. What are you doing here?"

"Well, Naruto." She growled, "I got home from my mission early, so I could make it home for my son's birthday. I was just giving my report to Lord Third when an ANBU agent burst in covered in pink paint to say that my son had paint-bombed the ANBU HQ." Kushina said, before feigning heartbreak, "I, of course, said that my little boy would never do such a thing and to prove it I would capture the culprit. But now I catch up to them and see with my own two eyes that it's my son. How did it come to this?"

Naruto just looked at his Mom, she was always like this. To say Kushina Uzumaki was eccentric was an understatement, but she was his Mom.

Just then another two ANBU agents appeared on the rooftop, both sporting the pink paint look to them.

"Naruto Uzumaki, you are to come to the Hokage office immediately." The one with a wolf mask said with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Lady Kushina, your son has to come with us, he must answer for this prank." The other with a lizard mask said.

"Oh, I know. I will make sure he gets there you two can go and change." Kushina replied.

The two ANBU looked at each other before looking back at Kushina and nodding. In less than a second, they were both gone.

"It's crazy, they can do that, but they couldn't catch me." Naruto said before smiling, "I'm must be awesome."

"Naruto, get down to the street," Kushina said, pointing down to the busy street.

"But Mom…"

"No buts Naruto. Now." Kushina repeated in a sterner voice.

Naruto knew when his Mom had won so he just hung his head before jumping off the roof and scaled down the building by landing and jumping on various things on the wall before landing cleanly on the ground.

Standing up, he looked around and saw his Mom was already on the ground. He was about to say something but Kushina grabbed him by his ear and pulled him down the street, "Ow! Ow! Mom! You don't need to, ow, pull my ear." Naruto pleaded.

"You didn't need to paint-bomb the ANBU HQ, but you did," Kushina replied, looking back and sighing. She let go of his ear and just walked with Naruto following, "Naruto, I know doing a prank like that can help your stealth and infiltration training, but you can't pull pranks like that. And know I haven't been around as much as you or I have wanted during the last two years since I went back on to the active roster, but you are the heir to Uzumaki and the son of the Fourth Hokage you need to act like it and not prank." Kushina explained, "Or at least not get caught." She finished in a whisper that Naruto couldn't hear.

Kushina didn't see it but Naruto gritted his teeth as Kushina spoke.

"Where is Kakashi? He was supposed to be looking after and training you while I was gone." Kushina asked, confused.

Naruto quickly regained his smile as Kushina looked at him, "I, um, sort of, hid that weird orange book he always reads and, sort of, left him a load of clues that send him all over the village." He said, looking down.

Kushina couldn't help but smile. She knew exactly what those books were as they were written by the self-entitled Super Perv, Jiraiya and tried to get Kakashi to not read them, but he always seemed to have an extra one with him. She was also smiling as the prank was good and if it ended how she thought then it would be all the more better.

"And where is the book?" Kushina asked.

"In the ramen cupboard at home." Naruto laughed.

Kushina couldn't help but laugh along with him, it ended exactly how she thought.

"You know Kakashi is going to be mad when he finds out it was you," Kushina said.

"Oh, he won't." Naruto replied with a huge grin, "The way I wrote the clues I made it sound like they were written by the bushy brow guy in the green jumpsuit that's always challenging Big Bro to those weird contests."

"That's smart Naruto. I'll let you off this once." Kushina replied.

The two continued with just idle chatter as they made their way to the tower at the heart of the village. They mainly talked about what Naruto had been up to while Kushina had been on her mission, which she revealed to be an exploration mission to the Land of Mountains, but she couldn't say anything more.

They eventually arrived at the door to the Hokage's office, with a swift knock on the door they went in. The ANBU agent that informed Kushina of what Naruto had done was still here and Naruto swore that they were glaring at him through the sparrow shaped mask.

"Ah, that didn't take long Kushina." An older looking Hiruzen said from behind his desk.

His hair had lost all colour and was completely grey and more wrinkles had appeared on his face. Kushina continuously said to him that is was because of his job and she knew that because before he died, Minato was starting to get a couple of grey hairs and he was only in his mid-twenties.

"Yeah, well I know my son and how he thinks. He was heading to Ichiraku's." Kushina replied.

"Was not!" Naruto shouted, crossing his arms and pouted.

"Was too," Kushina replied.

"Was not"

"Was too."

"Was not."

"Was too, end of discussion," Kushina said, ending the small argument with it ending with the two ending up face to face with each other.

Naruto just huffed and turned around, "Was not." He whispered, making sure he had the last word.

Hiruzen chuckled at the two, they were so alike to each other that it's practically impossible for the two not to clash with each other. That being said, Hiruzen knew that Kushina would do anything for her son.

"Now, for the reason, you are here Naruto. I'll give you one chance to admit what you did." Hiruzen said, adding a little bit of his Hokage tone for authority.

Naruto opened one eye to the Hokage and the two had a staring match with each other. Naruto, being the rebellious person, he was, tried to match the old man in intimidation but being a seven-year-old boy kinda takes away from a person's intimidation factor. However, instead of backing down and spilling everything, Naruto closed his eyes and huffed.

Kushina growled and brought her fist down the top of Naruto's head, "Ow!" He shouted.

"Well stop trying to be a tough guy and tell Lord Third the truth!" Kushina shouted.

"No!"

"Do it!"

"Fine." Naruto said, finally giving in to his Mom raised his fist again, "I snuck onto the roof of the building while the guards were changing shifts. Before the replacements were able to take their positions, I was able to sneak into one of the vents. I crawled through the ducts of the building until I got to the locker room. I made sure there was no-one in the room before slipping in. I then planted paint bombs in all the lockers so when they were opened they would explode. Then I got back into the vents and waited. That's when a huge group of them came in and opened their lockers. Oh, wow it was so funny." Naruto said with a laugh before continuing, "It was going really well until they heard me laughing so I had to quickly get out the vents and run. That's when Mom caught me and now we're here."

Hiruzen had been listening intently to Naruto recount his exploits, "Um uh, so you snuck in through the vents?"

"Yeah."

Hiruzen then turned to the sparrow, "Sparrow, I'd like you to inform Commander Kōzō that he is to report to me immediately. If a seven-year-old boy can infiltrate our ANBU defences then I'd like to review the security of the building."

Sparrow bowed and disappeared in a wisp of dust.

Hiruzen turned back to the mother-son duo, "Now Naruto I would usually punish someone who infiltrated the ANBU HQ, it would be grounds to be sent to Hōzuki Castle." He said, stroking his goatee.

Naruto's face turned ghost white at hearing Hōzuki Castle, even a seven-year-old had heard of the placed nicknamed the Blood Prison. It was where the worst of the worst from all over the Elemental Nations were sent until their village requested their return or to live out the rest of their days.

Kushina, however, had a smirk on her face, seeing the look on her son's face and she knew that Hiruzen was just bluffing, he saw Naruto as a part of his own family and wouldn't send him there. Now she loved her son and would never wish in a million years that Naruto set even a single foot in Hōzuki Castle but this a much-needed reality check for her son that some of his actions have consequences.

While she loved pranks and did a few in her time, but infiltrating ANBU HQ is a serious offence and something she would never think to do because she knew the ramifications. The villages that have a vendetta against Konoha may have spies watching buildings like ANBU HQ and if they saw Naruto breaking in that easily then they could do the same thing and she had warned her son multiple times that certain places were off limits, including ANBU HQ.

"But, I'll let you off this once Naruto as you exposed a glaring floor in the ANBU's security. However, I don't want to hear that you did anything like this again, if the people saw that the son of the Fourth Hokage was pulling such pranks they may see you a nuisance. While some of them have been amusing this one crossed the line." Hiruzen said.

Naruto growled at the mention of being his father's son again.

"That's what I was telling you on the way here, Naruto." Kushina said, stepping away from him to turn around to face him, "The Uzumaki clan is only you and I, now but we have a rich heritage to live up to."

"That's correct, we have your family's crest on all Konoha Nin uniform to honour the relationship the village shared with them," Hiruzen added.

"And as an heir to that, you need to make sure you act accordingly." Kushina continued.

That was the last straw, "I don't care!" Naruto shouted at the two, "I don't care I'm the son of the Fourth Hokage or the heir to the Uzumaki clan! I am Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, I am my own person and I'll pull the pranks I want!"

Without saying another word Naruto ran out of the open window and jumped away from the tower. Kushina and Hiruzen were left speechless, Naruto had never shouted like that before.

"I never knew," Kushina whispered eventually.

"We pushed him too far," Hiruzen added.

"Yeah, I know," Kushina said, about to go after her son but was stopped.

"Leave him Kushina." Hiruzen said, moving his arm back, "The last thing he wants right now is to see you or me. He needs time to cool off."

Kushina sighed, "Fine."

The two were quiet for a second before Hiruzen talked, "I will go to him later and camp out for the night."

"Ok, just make sure to have him back in the morning. I want him to have a great birthday." Kushina replied, walking to the door.

"Of course. I also have a present for him. I shall see you then."

"Yeah, see you then," Kushina said without turning around and just waved as she left the room.

Once she was gone Hiruzen walked to the open window Naruto had jumped out of, he was nowhere in sight now but Hiruzen's crystal ball will make short work of finding him later, "Naruto." He said, scanning the village.

o~0~o

Naruto hadn't gone too far from the Hokage Tower and landed near the Academy. He swung on the swing in the Academy courtyard for a while. When he was upset he liked to come here and just think.

"It's always 'Son of the Fourth Hokage' this and 'heir of the Uzumaki clan' that." Naruto huffed, "Even the villagers are the same, they either shower me with praise for just being Dad's son or they treat me like glass. I'm sick of it."

He stood up with determination all over his face, "I'll show them. My name is Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki and I will never give up until people respect me for being me!" He shouted with his arms in the air.

After making his declaration he heard multiple people laughing. He looked around but there wasn't anyone around, so he listened. He noticed that the laughing was coming from the other side of the outer wall of the courtyard.

Curious, Naruto walked up to the wall and leapt to the top. He finally saw who was laughing as he looked down. There were three boys who were a year or two older than him surrounding a girl who was the same age as Naruto.

She was crouched in the fetal position and Naruto could hear she was crying but could only see her short midnight blue coloured hair.

He crouched on the wall for a bit to get a grasp on the situation.

"Show us your Byakugan! If not, don't show your face around here again!" One of them said, who seemed to be the leader.

"Your eyes are really creepy." Another commented.

"I bet you're actually a monster, right?" The final one mocked.

"You Byakugan Monster." The leader said again.

Now the girl was really crying, and Naruto had had enough, "Hey!" He shouted, "Get away from her!"

The boys looked up and the leader said, "Huh, who do you think you are, kid? Now leave if you know what's good for you."

Naruto just laughed as he jumped down from the wall and landed cleanly.

"Boss, that's Naruto. He's the son of Lord Fourth." One of the cronies whispered.

"We should go." The other said.

The leader just laughed, "There's nothing I hate more than people like you and that Monster. Thinking you own everything you see just because you're part of some big shot clan." He growled.

"Less talking," Naruto said, cracking his knuckles.

"Get him!" The leader shouted.

The two cronies looked nervously at each other before running at Naruto. They both went to punch the blond but Naruto is being trained to be Shinobi by his Mom and Kakashi who are a high ranking Jōnin and ANBU agent respectively, so he quickly saw where they were going to swing their fists and was easily able to dodge out of the way.

While they lost their balance when he did, they recovered quickly and tried again. So, Naruto decided to let out his frustration he had with his Mom and the Hokage. He grabbed the arm of the first kid before planting his fist directly in his gut causing him to hunch over on the floor.

He then swept the legs out from under the other one and straddled him to start punching. He was so focused on punching the kid that he didn't see the leader's leg until it was too late, and it connected with his face and he fell back on the floor.

The leader then began to stamp on Naruto, "How do you like that, you snobby rich kid! That'll teach you to mess around with other people's business!" The leader shouted with every stamp.

"I'm not a snobby rich kid!" Naruto shouted, bringing his foot up and kicking the leader in the crotch.

The kid quickly fell the ground crying as Naruto got up and wiped away the trickle of blood coming from his nostril. Looking at the three, he knew they had had enough, he grabbed the hair of the leader, so he was looking at Naruto, "Now leave. If you ever bother this girl or me again, I'll make sure you regret it." Naruto said.

The leader whimpered, "Ok."

Naruto threw him to the ground and the leader quickly got up. He grabbed his friends and they ran away. Once they were gone, Naruto turned to the girl and walked up to her.

"Hey, are you ok?" Naruto asked, tapping her on the shoulder.

She recoiled from the touch and whimpered, "I'm, I'm s-sorry." She stuttered, not looking up.

"Hey, it's ok." Naruto said nervously, crouching down to be the same level as her, "I'm Naruto, what's your name?"

The girl slowly looked up, still clearly scared and saw Naruto. She looked shocked as she sported a small blush, "Are-are you one of the bu-bullies?" She asked.

"No of course not." Naruto said, "I sent them packing, they won't be bothering you again." He finished with a smile and he flexed what little bicep he had.

The girl laughed softly at what Naruto was doing and it was the first time Naruto could see her eyes. They had large and featureless white irises that had a light shade of lavender with no sign of any pupils.

"Wow your eyes are cool," Naruto said, moving his head to get try and get a better view of her eyes.

The girl was shocked and backed away from Naruto's gaze, "No, no they aren't. My eyes are ugly, everyone says so."

"Then they are lying." Naruto stated bluntly, "Now what's your name? I'm Naruto." He asked extending his arm with the widest smile he had.

The girl was hesitant at first but slowly took his hand and shook it, "My name is Hinata, Hinata Hyūga."

"Nice to meet you Hinata." Naruto smiled before adopting a thinking expression, "Hyūga, Hyūga. Where have I heard that name?" Naruto asked himself, until it hit him, "Wait you're from the clan with the Byak, Byakutan. No. Byakuman. No."

"The Byakugan," Hinata answered with a small laugh.

Naruto smiled, "Yeah, that's it. The Byakugan. Is it true you can see all around yourself?" Naruto asked, enthusiastically.

Hinata nodded, "Yes, I can."

"Wow, that's sooooo cool. I wish my clan had something cool like that. All we have is these chains we can make out of our chakra, but I might not even be able to unlock it." Naruto grumbled.

"Chakra chains are cool," Hinata commented in a meek voice.

"Yeah I suppose but I might not be able to use them."

"I'm sure you will."

"Thanks, you wanna hang out?"

Hinata was about to answer but was interrupted, "Lady Hinata." A male voice called out.

The two seven-year-olds looked to see a man coming up to them and from his eyes, he was another Hyūga. Once he was upon them he said, "You know you can't just wander the village on your own. I must accompany you or your father will get mad."

Hinata's head dropped, "I'm sorry causing you an inconvenience, Kō."

"You mustn't apologize Lady Hinata. It's not right for a member of the main branch to apologize to a member of the side branch." Kō replied with a sigh.

"Sounds weird to me," Naruto commented, in confusion.

Kō had been so focused on Hinata, he didn't even notice Naruto until now. His eye went wide as he bowed, "Oh hello Lord Naruto. What are you doing here?"

"Just talking to Hinata," Naruto replied.

"Well thank you for keeping Lady Hinata company but we must be going." Kō said, standing straight and grabbing a hold of Hinata, "Come along Lady Hinata."

Hinata didn't have time to answer as Kō pulled her up and away but looked back as Naruto shouted.

"Hinata, you should come by my house tomorrow. It's my birthday, it'll be fun!" He yelled at her.

"Ok." She said in the loudest voice she could without shouting.

It wasn't long before Kō and Hinata were out of sight and Naruto stood up. He put his arms behind his head and kick aimlessly at the grass as he walked off into the woods, "Now what to do?" He asked himself.

o~0~o

After a few hours, Naruto had made his way to a lake and decided to do a little fishing. He didn't feel like going home as he was still angry with his mom. He remembered what Kakashi had taught him about surviving in the wilderness when they went camping, to build a fire.

He took the few fish he had caught and impaled them on sticks that he stuck in the ground around the fire. While he was waiting for them to cook he watched the Sunset over the mountains on the horizon and the sky fill with stars.

The smell of freshly cooked fish filled his nostrils causing his mouth to drool, "Time to eat." He said, grabbing one of the impaled fish by the stick.

He was just about to a bite when "Smells good." Hiruzen said over his shoulder, scaring the ever-loving daylights out of the young boy.

"Damn it, Old Man. What's the big idea!?" Naruto shouted, glaring at the Hokage.

"Nothing's the idea Naruto. I was just having a nice stroll in the woods on a peaceful night when I saw the fire and investigated. It was just a coincidence that it was yours." Hiruzen explained.

Naruto wasn't believing a word of it, "You used that weird crystal ball thingy that you use on the Hot Springs to find me, didn't you?" Naruto said, stone-faced.

"I-I don't k-know what you're talking about Na-Naruto. I don't spy on the Hot Springs."

"Yeah ok but you didn't deny using it to find me."

Hiruzen chuckled, "You have me there. May I?" He asked, pointing to one of the other fish.

"I guess so." Naruto said, indifferently, "But I'm still mad at you and Mom." Naruto quickly huffed.

The old man chuckled again, "I don't expect you to forgive me that quickly." He said, picking up the closest fish the same way Naruto did and took a bite, "Not bad Naruto."

Naruto couldn't help but smile at the praise and took a bite of his own.

The two sat in silence while they ate their fish. They were just watching the stars in the sky and even lucky enough to see a couple of shooting stars.

"The stars a beautiful tonight. I really don't take enough time to just admire the world as I used to." Hiruzen said, "Just looking at them reminds me that this world is so boundless and everything outside that is even greater. But Naruto, do you know what is even greater than the boundlessness of this world?"

"No, what is it?" Naruto asked, intrigued.

"Human potential. The potential we all have inside us can make humans go and do amazing things. My sensei, for example, he fought each of the Tailed Beasts and captured them. It was something no-one was ever even thought possible to do but he shattered that ceiling. He also was one of the two men that started Konohagakure which led to the other villages forming." Hiruzen reminisced.

"Why are you telling me about Lord First, Old Man?" Naruto asked, losing interest.

"Because, like him, I see so much potential in you Naruto," Hiruzen said.

"Let me guess, because I'm Dad's son and an Uzumaki." Naruto groaned.

Hiruzen sighed, "Yes Naruto, those things will help you but I'm talking about you, Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki. I can see in you a man who will grow up to be an important and powerful person made solely on their own merit. And I know you're Mother sees the exact same thing I do. You are all she has now Naruto and she will do anything to protect you, so she will make sure you grow up strong. Do you understand?"

Naruto felt a bit bad now. He should never have shouted at his mom and Hiruzen, "Yeah, I understand, Old Man. Sorry, I'll go and apologize to her." He said going to stand up.

"Wait Naruto." Hiruzen said, grabbing the top of the seven-year-old, "You're Mother needs her rest. The mission she just got back from was a tough one. Lets camp out here tonight and you can apologize to her in the morning. I'll tell you some stories of my missions when I was younger, how does that sound?"

Naruto nodded, excitedly. He always loved hearing the stories Hiruzen told, they were always so exciting and fun, "Yeah, sounds fun."

So, Naruto sat back down, and the night went on with Hiruzen regaling Naruto with stories from his youth and Naruto listening intently until he finally fell asleep.

o~0~o

The next morning Naruto and Hiruzen walked into the Uzumaki house and found a sight they weren't expecting. Kushina was sat on one of the couches in the living room but she wasn't alone. She was comforting a sobbing Mikoto Uchiha.

The redhead finally noticed the two and quickly said, "Naruto, go to your room. I need to talk to Lord Third."

"But mom I want to say…" Naruto started.

"Naruto, please. Just do what I said. I know you are sorry and I'm sorry as well, but this is important. So please go to your room and I'll come up as soon as I can." Kushina said, close to tears.

Not wanting to hurt his mom, Naruto quickly nodded and ran upstairs.

Kushina listened for the sound of Naruto's bedroom door closing before looking at Hiruzen, "What the hell happened last night? And don't lie to me."

"I have no idea what you are talking about Kushina?" Hiruzen said, honestly.

"Bullshit! The Uchiha clan is massacred except for Mikoto and her youngest son and you're telling me you, the Hokage, know nothing about it!" Kushina shouted.

"What!?" Was all Hiruzen could ask.

"It, It was Itachi." Mikoto cried between sobs.

o~0~o

End of Chapter Three

o~0~o

Author's Notes – Hey guys, back again with the third chapter. I hope you enjoyed.

So, the first chapter with Naruto as the lead is over. He's met Hinata and to two became friends. And the Uchiha Massacre has happened.

A few people have asked who is in the harem so here it is:

Hinata Hyuga

Tenten

Shion

Shizuka

Karin Uzumaki

Amaru

I don't want the harem to be too big like The Monarch, also I wanted to use characters that aren't usually seen in harems or are used a lot in the canon story but serious underused.

Also there will be not romance between them until Shippuden. I think 12 is too young for a proper relationship also I want to keep in fitting with the canon theme. The first part will be about building the friendships and cementing them while learning of the life of Ninja.

Now don't forget to Favourite and Follow if you haven't and leave a Review to tell me how I'm doing. And finally, if you like Highschool DxD and haven't already, go and read my other story; The Monarch.