The Hokage smiled fondly as he settled Little Naruto on his lap as he sat down to watch the Third Phase of the Chunin Exams. Since Iruka was teaching at the Academy today, he had offered to bring Naruto to watch his former classmates compete from the best seat in the house. The rather reluctant manner in which the young Umino had handed the boy over before he went to tend to his responsibilities at the Academy had almost been endearing. It had only been the fact that the Kage seats were the best and the safest in the Arena that had finally sold Iruka on parting with Minato's son for the day. In addition to his guard Raido, there was another ninja there to provide snacks, entertainment, and a diaper change should Naruto need it.

Fortunately for Naruto's safety, most of the village who previously not thought about it before now assumed that the reason he was so fond of the boy was because his alleged great-grandfather had been his sensei. He had done nothing to dispel those rumors, because they were what was keeping most people, and most importantly Minato's enemies, from taking a closer look at Naruto's mother's background in order to find another possible reason.

It had been pure sentimentality on his part that had caused him to bring Naruto along today. Thanks to his little mishap, Naruto was now too young to understand the concept of classmates, and therefore wouldn't know that a number of the people competing today had been such. He had almost forgotten how sweet and well behaved Naruto had been when he had been this small before, having gotten used to the rambunctious boy who had nearly destroyed his office on several occasions, and having him in his company was most enjoyable.

As the candidates lined up in the arena, Naruto squirmed off his lap and walked over to the Kazekage whose lap he promptly tried to crawl into. The Kazekage stiffened and pushed the child away when he did so. Funny, you'd think a father of three would be more tolerant of a small child's antics. Considering what he did to his wife and youngest son however, it was more than likely that the man's children had been raised by servants and rarely if ever saw him. Naruto however would not be deterred, and had made a couple more attempts at crawling into the man's lap before he and the Kazekage rose to officially open the Third phase of the Chunin Exams.

"The First match, Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha vs. Gaara of Suna has been cancelled because Naruto's guardian has withdrawn him from the competition. Gaara wins by forfeit." Proctor Shiranui Genma announced.

The crowd booed at this.

"Anyone who has any problems with this can take them up with Umino Iruka." Genma said.

The crowd who had all apparently heard the story of what the man had done to the Exam proctors abruptly silenced.

"Next up is Uchiha Sasuke vs. Hyuuga Neji." Genma announced. "Fortunately, Sasuke's guardian has allowed him to compete."


In the dignitary seating several nobles were studying the match program which included updated information on Uchiha Sasuke as well as Uzumaki Naruto, complete with photographs taken less than a month earlier. Where the hell Iruka had managed to procure a small orange sailor suit complete with cap, nobody knew.

"That pipsqueak better win, I've got alot of money riding on this." one of the nobles said as he studied the entry for Uchiha Sasuke in which a picture of a scowling toddler dressed in traditional attire was prominent.

"You bet on the Uchiha?" the other noble said in surprise.

"Unlike some people, I didn't receive notice of the Uchiha boy's mishap until it was far too late." the first noble said snippily.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, it pays to have Ninja connections." the second noble replied. "The Hyuuga boy is a certain win, and I'm gonna make a killing."


Genma sighed as he called for the fight to begin. The Uchiha boy had eagerly run into the arena with the laughter of the audience following him. In contrast to the Uchiha boy's entrance, the Hyuuga boy had oh so slowly plodded over, making it obvious that he was participating in this fight under protest. After what seemed like forever, when he was preparing to declare the Uchiha the winner out of sheer annoyance, the Hyuuga finally arrived, and he was just about ready to strangle the boy when he did.

After announcing the start of the fight, he got out of the way and made his way to a spot that had a perfect view of the entire arena floor and was close enough to intervene when necessary. Therefore, because he was much closer than the audience, he'd been the first one besides the Hyuuga boy to notice that little Sasuke's eyes had turned red with two black tomoe in each eye. It would appear that this match was going to be far more interesting than he had thought it would be.

When the toddler made a bunch of hand seals before blowing out a fireball that was rather massive considering who had just created it, all he could think was "Holy Shit!". Uchiha Itachi had nothing on his little brother. Apparently, Sasuke had activated his Sharingan at a very, very early age, considering the technique he'd just used, a technique that had been a signature move of the Uchiha clan and wasn't anywhere near as common amongst the Hyuuga.

The Hyuuga boy, having stood there like a total fucking moron since he seemed to be completely unable to believe that the fireball had existed until it had hit him, dropped to the ground and rolled to smother the flames. The Uchiha boy, who was barely standing and undoubtedly suffering from a mild case of Chakra Exhaustion, took this opportunity to run up to the older boy and kick him in the privates.

"That's for Hinata." The Uchiha boy said as he kicked the boy again before the still smouldering Hyuuga could bring his hands around to protect the rather vulnerable area.

While the Hyuuga boy clutched his privates in agony, the Uchiha boy made a very familiar set of handseals, and within seconds, the Hyuuga boy was on fire again thanks to a much weaker fireball that had knocked the Uchiha boy on his ass. Instead of falling unconscious like he expected him to, the Uchiha boy managed to crawl all the way over to the Hyuuga boy, stand up, and kick him in the balls again.

This was getting humiliating. He was going to be putting a stop to it before the Hyuuga clan's reputation was completely ruined if it wasn't already. People were undoubtedly wondering about Konoha's abilities already. With the downfall of the Uchiha, the Hyuuga clan had become Konoha's most powerful clan, and if people thought that they could be beaten by toddlers...

He hopped into the arena and grabbed the Uchiha boy who was going in for another kick, causing the child to kick the air above the Hyuuga boy.

"That's it. This fight is over. Winner, Uchiha Sasuke." he said as he gestured for the medics to take the Hyuuga boy away.

"Yeah," he said quickly, hoping to salvage the situation. "The Uchiha were that awesome, that's why it took one of their own to get rid of them."


"Naruto, be a good boy and give the Kazekage a hug." Sarutobi said smiling evilly from his place in the Kage box.

Orochimaru stiffened as the small child wrapped his tiny arms around his neck and did his best not to shudder as memories of Uzumaki Kushina that he'd thought he'd repressed resurfaced. His former sensei had to know it was him, and was just messing with him. That could be the only explanation for why the man was so intent on encouraging Naruto's behavior. As soon as he and his former sensei had sat down after the third phase of the Chunin Exams had been officially opened, that damnable Sarutobi had ordered the guard with the diaper bag to set Naruto in his lap.

When the toddler had tried to kiss him on the cheek, leaving crumbs from the snack he'd devoured earlier on his mask, he found himself flashing back to the time he'd made the mistake of complimenting Kushina's hairstyle and she'd dragged him into the bushes and...Why anyone could make the mistake of thinking that he had been taking advantage of her, he didn't know.

The original cue for the signal for the start of the invasion had been Sasuke's fight with Gaara. That particular bout which would be nowhere near as impressive as it should have been would be in the quarter-finals however, and he didn't think he could wait that long, especially considering how long this slow ass fight between the Suna girl and that Nara who seemed as lazy as his entire clan combined was taking.

That's it, screw the plan, he was giving the signal now!

Tossing the toddler who looked exactly like his mother despite the fact that he had his father's coloring on the ground, he chucked the smoke bomb, grabbed his former sensei, and made his way to the roof.

As he held his kunai to his former sensei's throat, he felt a tug on his robes. He looked down and found himself looking down into a pair of wide blue eyes.

"Hafta potty." the toddler who had apparently hitched a ride on his leg said.

Oh shit.

Edited 8-31-12