A/N: Since the good administrators at are putting a tighter grip on what content is posted, I will take this as a challenge while protesting. Well, if the majority of my stories are going to be deleted, then go ahead—I've already backed up my smuttier and more violent stories. Mind you, this is only a preview of sorts until I get a respectable number of reviews, so do read and review would you kindly?


The night of his birthday had always been a painful experience, and his eighth birthday was no different. No wait, that wasn't true…they managed to chase him until he made into that big place with the trees that Crazy Snake Lady liked to go to a lot. And it gets even better—there were shinobi in the mob! Some of them were the ones wearing the white masks, but definitely a lot of them were wearing the green flak jackets. It was just as well that he hid in the woods inside Training Ground 44—the civilians were too scared to come on in…although the ninja were a bit braver. "You cowards!" he heard one of the ninja say to the mob, "You want to kill the demon-brat but you're not willing to go the full nine yards? What a waste! All of you stay here—we'll hunt him down ourselves!"

It didn't take long for the crowd the cheer the ninja on…shouts of 'Kill that demon!' and even 'Wipe our village clean of his filth and you'll be heroes!' were heard by Naruto—he was not that far into the forest, but he could still hear it well. He was only thankful that he learned at an early age how to be flexible and graceful…it's saved his neck and bought him time to escape more often on days like this. That and he learned at age five that the animals here were a bit friendlier to him than any of the villagers, and thus this was the first place he would run to if people broke into his apartment and if he is lucky, then he'll run into the Crazy Snake Lady tonight! But for now, he'll have to dodge those scary ninja—it'd do him no good if he was dead while looking for her.

With that thought in mind, he ran through the Forest of Death. He absolutely refused to die here, and he most definitely did not want any of the ninja to find him. As Naruto ran through the bushes, he found himself free-running very fluidly through the forest—this should put some distance between him and the ninja that wanted him dead; assuming of course there were none of the Dog -People among them. While their leader and a good majority of their number were nice to him, several of them were responsible for hunting him down during his birthday. He did not want to take that chance!

It wasn't long until he fell forward in pain when something jabbed itself in his calf…shit! They found him! "Did you think we forgot about you demon?" said a voice from behind him mocking him, "We knew you were there listening…we just let you go to make the hunt a little more interesting!"

Shortly after, sinister laughs started filling the air as all the ninja chasing him started moving in slowly for the kill. It was then that Naruto started moving his hand to pull the kunai embedded in his calf when a kunai pinned it to the ground by the palm—he then painfully struggled to pull it out of his hand when another kunai pinned the other hand down. With pain and fear coursing through his veins, he looked up to see that his attackers had surrounded him…all with sadistic grins painted on their faces, or bloodthirsty glints in their eyes. "Why?" he asked, fighting through the pain while trying to fight back tears, "Why are you hurting me?"

One of the white-masked ninja seemed to snarl behind his mask. "Why? WHY? It's because of you that many of the villagers are dead! It's because of you that the Fourth Hokage is dead! And most of all, it's because of you that MY GIRLFRIEND IS DEAD!"

"You killed my sister!"

"My father!"

Before anyone else could rant, a ninja with an axe walked forward. "All of you shut the fuck up! The demon-brat dies tonight! And I'll be damned if I have to listen to any of you crybabies all night! Let's just kill him, and be rewarded for our services…maybe even become the next Hokage!" It was then that the axeman turned to face Naruto with a mad grin and a red glint in his eyes as he hefted the axe above his head ready to decapitate the young boy. "DIE YOU FUCKING MONSTER!"

Just as he was about to swing his axe down, the tense silence was broken by laughter. This was a light kind of laughter that would perk woman up…but given the situation at hand, it was spooky as nobody was able to find the owner of the voice. "Monster? That boy? I'm afraid you're mistaken!" Losing their nerve, all the ninja in the area could only reach for their kunai in preparation for what would probably be a fight to remember. It was here that the voice continued, still amused at the situation. "And to think, he gave his life for you: the stupid and ignorant populace of Konohagakure no Sato."

The axeman could only ready his axe in preparation upon feeling a chakra spike in the air. "What the fuck would you know? Why don't you show yourself you fucking pussy?"

More laughs filled the air as the voice sounded even closer, while the sound of a sword being drawn mixed in. "How can I show myself…when I've been here the whole time?" Now the voice had made itself known! Due to the clarity, it owner was in the area! Before the axeman could make another move, he screamed in pain as he felt a blade impale him from behind and then emerge from his chest after penetrating his flak jacket, and then he felt a kick from behind his knees forcing him off the blade and into a kneeling position before feeling nothing—his last view was his own headless torso falling forward and a pink and purple blur vanishing quickly.

The other ninja however saw the back of the assailant that killed their comrade until he turned around—he looked young, with a manly frame and probably in his late twenties. He wore a pair of red lacquered tengu geta, a pink kimono, a pair of purple sashinuki hakama, and a helmet that had a sort of veil that split at two ends like wings and was in the form of a karasu tengu. In his right hand, he carried the sword that had killed his comrade while the other held the unconscious form of the demon brat and a flute. Before all of the ninja could yell their insults at the man, the really surprising thing about him was that he looked very familiar—in fact, he had short and spiky blond hair, cerulean-colored eyes, a carefree expression, and a tan complexion…maybe the Kyuubi had relatives! If so, then they needed to kill them all before they became a threat! "I don't know who the hell you are, but the way I see it anyone that helps the demon-brat will be lumped in the same…"

That ninja never finished his sentence; his would-be enemy had quickly closed the distance between them in a pink and purple blur, ending up crouched in front of him with his katana held in a reverse grip with the demon-brat still held in his other arm. The man then stood up and chuckled lightly. "Oh dear, it seems that he was wrong about this village when he made that request; I suppose he would be rolling in his grave now if he were to see this now—him and his wife."

Now the ninja lost his temper…as the mysterious swordsman started walking away. "Hey! Don't you dare ignore us! Now who the fuck are you talking about? And for that matter, who the hell are you?"

The swordsman stopped at the corpse of the axeman, and turned to face the ninja. That stupid-looking smile still plastered on his face. "Now, now, there's no need for such coarse language. In fact, I'm pretty sure my son is very famous around here even from beyond the grave; you should all know him, because he sealed the Kyuubi inside the stomach of this boy you're about to kill."

Upon hearing that last line, one of the ninja's eyes had widened in realization—oh now she knew who this man was! And she had a pretty good idea of who his son was! "By kami, how did I not recognize him? How stupid am I? No, how stupid are we?"

Upon realizing the identity of the man, the ANBU in the area started tensing up in fear, while the ninja that had been yelling at the swordsman then looked at his colleague with both fear and impatience on his face. "Yuriko, what the fuck is going on here?"

The ninja by the name of Yuriko turned to face her colleague, fear on her face as she started whispering at him. "Getsu, we need to get out of here…you need to apologize to him, we need to leave the kid, and just run the hell away!"

Getsu was far from pleased—the swordsman looked like the demon-brat, smiled like the demon-brat, and even sounded like the demon-brat (if he ever grew up that is), and thus he needed to die! And so with a fierce look on his face, he was about to bring another kunai out when an ANBU with a horse mask reached his hand out and immediately stopped him with a look in his eyes that literally said 'are you stupid?'. "I'd listen to her," he said very dangerously, "unless of course you'd like to be killed for being rude the father of the Yondaime Hokage!"

Upon hearing that, the ninja named Getsu had a skeptical look on his face, and a sneer crossing his mouth. "You're Ushiwaka? The Yondaime Hokage's father? The leader of that weakling Taoist sect and ultimate swordsman in the world? WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP! You're nothing but an imposter! A FAKE! I'll bet that those Taoist nutcases are probably raging at a reject from one of their fucking pathetic temples for impersonating their head priest! And I'll prove that you're nothing but bullshit, that I as a ninja of Konohagakure no Sato am superior to you as I KILL YOU AND THAT DEMON IN YOUR ARMS!" With a quick motion, Getsu managed to pull out a kunai only to watch as his arm flew off after getting it in a ready position—and then he started falling apart in pieces.

The man that was known as Ushiwaka still had a carefree grin on his face as he continued to look at the ninja that were trembling in fear before him. "Does anyone else want to see if I'm the real deal?" His response came in the form of ninja fleeing the scene. They most definitely did not want to die, and the image of what just happened would haunt them forever! As he performed chiburi and noto for his katana, he then turned his attention to the boy in his arms while using his other hand to hold his flute. Yes, this boy was like his son in so many ways—and he could also see elements of his daughter-in-law as well. Before he could study the child any further, he felt a shunshin from behind him. "After all these years, and you still haven't gotten the proper technique done right…although I suppose you're not at fault. Years in power tends to do that to people, especially when they spend as much time as you do on paperwork. It has been a while Hiruzen."

"Pardon my curiosity, but what are you doing here Ushiwaka-sama?"

Ushiwaka turned to face the old man before him…his expression didn't change, but as Hiruzen looked at the grin on his predecessor's father's face, he could not help but feel like shit. He also knew to be polite around this man—he was so strong, even Sanshouou no Hanzo was no match for him…as a matter of fact, he inspired Senju Tobirama to create his Raijin no Ken. Come to think of it, even with his most trusted ANBU surrounding him, he still didn't feel safe. "What else would I be here for? I've come to take my grandson away from this place."

Now this was new information: how did Head Priest Ushiwaka hear of something that he took steps to keep a secret? "Before you ask, a little white wolf that told me that my son was dead," said the head priest, interrupting the old hokage's train of thought, "mind you, she had to make a long trip and so word of his death took a while to reach me. Said wolf also told me that you let my grandson get abused by the village…has all that paperwork driven you so crazy that you would leave him to be torn apart by these morons? Seriously old man, this is most certainly not kosher."

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen could only hang his head in shame—he had failed not only Minato, but he also failed Ushiwaka; and by all rights, the head priest of the Taoists had every right to punish him. Not like he could do anything about it if he decided to punish him anyway. "If you're going to kill me for my failure Ushiwaka-sama, then I…"

"Who said anything about killing you? I'm just here to take my grandson away."

This was a surprise, and Hiruzen's look of shock made it clear when he looked at the Taoist priest. Granted, he was relieved that his luck held out considering the extent of his transgressions; however, that turned to outrage when he realized that he was going to take him away. "But what about…"

Again, he was interrupted—but this time, Ushiwaka raised his hand for silence. "It's already taken care of. I'll bring him back by the time the Ninja Academy starts. But you, Sarutobi Hiruzen, have to grow a spine. This is a shinobi village…meaning that you're the leader, and the Civilian Council is only supposed to advise you. I hope that by the time I bring my grandson back, you'll have grown enough of a spine to fight back."

Hiruzen had a stupefied look on his face, as he made an impression of a fish gasping for air. "And if I fail in that time?"

The grin on Ushiwaka's face, while warm, also seemed to have a shivering effect to it as it widened. "Then I think I'll take you up on your offer of taking your head."

The ANBU guarding Hiruzen tensed and moved closer to their hokage in a protective fashion. They may not be able to do much, but they could at least buy time for him to escape. "Don't bother," he said, causing all the bodyguards to look at him in surprise, "none of you are a match for Ushiwaka-sama. And besides, after failing the Yondaime Hokage and his father as badly as I have, he is well within his rights to demand my head in compensation." Once the ANBU relaxed, Hiruzen then turned his attention back to Ushiwaka. "As Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, I allow Uzumaki Naruto to leave with Head Priest Ushiwaka. He shall be returned to the village in the span of four years to attend the Ninja Academy."

With that said, Ushiwaka bowed respectfully to the old hokage, and the grin lost its cold edge. "In that case, I shall see you in four years—but remember what I said Hiruzen. Whether or not your head stays on your shoulders depends on it." After standing back up, the Head Priest of the Taoists jumped into the air, never to be seen in the premises of the village for another four years.


A/N: As you probably have figured out by now, I tend to favor the sword as a melee weapon—even in Halo, I try to pick up the Energy Sword as often as possible and combine it with stealth. But anyway, I will make the harem here a bit different (I'll minimize on the OC's for this). By the way, for those of you disputing accuracy to the game, Waka's proper name in Okami is Ushiwaka. Here's the harem list so far…if you have any suggestions, please put them up in the review would you kindly? Also, if anyone would volunteer to be a beta-reader, then that would be lovely.


Confirmed Harem Girls:

Hyuuga Hinata (along with Anko and Mei, I rather like her being in the harem)

Fem Kurama

Mitarashi Anko

Tenten (she has recently won my heart over in a Naru-harem choice…and for some reason, I always picture her dad as being a really big and husky guy at least as tall as Iron Tager)

Terumii Mei

Fu

Nii Yugito

Inuzuka Hana

Temari

Kazahana Koyuki

Shion

Fem Haku

Tayuya (Why not, I think a flute duet is proper for the purposes of this story)


Unconfirmed Harem Girls:

Fem Uchiha Sasuke (no twin this time, not even sure if I should do this though)

Fem Gaara

Haruno Sakura

Hyuuga Hanabi (along with Moegi, I'm not sure if she'll be in the harem, or she'll be paired with Konohamaru)

Moegi

Yamanaka Ino

Shizune

Ayame

Karin

Karui

Tsuchi Kin

Kurotsuchi

Inuzuka Tsume


Songs Used:

"The Emperor of Eternal Darkness" by Rei Kondoh from "Okami"—Naruto gets chased through Training Ground 44


Vocabulary

Tengu geta—geta are wooden thong sandals with teeth on the bottom…in the case of the tengu-type geta, they have one tooth in the middle of the sole

Tengu—winged wind spirits in Japanese mythology; they are known for pranks that usually involve carrying people off and for their powerful swordplay. You have two variants: the Karasu (crow) and Yamabushi (mountain aescetic), the former being a crow-headed spirit, the latter being a humanoid with a long nose, and their designs inspired the final form of all the Uchiha Susanoo.

Sashinuki Hakama—these are pants that are tied to give a bit of a ballooning effect.