Alrighty, here we go again! :)

First and foremost, this is a reboot of a story I started a few years ago but sadly never got into properly because of my own poor planning. I went into the story with a solid plot but without the proper worldbuilding to pull it off and it bit me in the arse. Greatly.

So here I am, back again with an updated version of the prologue of Hidden Natures. With four chapters done and waiting to be released; one a week.

For those of you who are returning readers; Thank you! I am immensely humbled and grateful for your patience in me. I will attempt to reward that loyalty with Quality. As for the characters you submitted to me; I have kept them but will only use them if I hear back from their creators that I have their permission to continue to use them. It's out of respect for you. And as some of my previous readers might not be returning to read this Reboot, I feel better not using their characters without their permission.

Those of you who are new readers; Welcome! I hope you'll stick around for the long haul.

Secondly, if you are a young child or simply someone not prepared or interested in occasional gore and blood, or other adult themes, this is NOT the story for you.

Thirdly, if you expect a retelling of the adventures of Naruto with simply an added character or so, then you've come to the wrong place. This story will include plenty of OC's, both my own and others. This story will keep the most basic plot-points of Naruto, but will change everything else. With added characters and everything that comes with them, so comes all the changes they as individuals cause in the story, and as such much will not be the same. Canon characters that die, might survive, and vice versa. Some may die earlier or later than in the canon. Canon characters who fight each other in said Canon, might not do so here. Do not expect to know the outcome of a match-up. Neither should you expect the world of Naruto to be as it is in canon. Most of the elements of the world will stay the same. But I have done plenty of worldbuilding for this specific story and have come up with plenty of content that does not contradict canon, simply expands upon it or exists parallel to it. Be prepared.

This story will start properly when Naruto is 11 years old. It will be formatted in Episodes, Arcs and Seasons. It will follow a few Genin teams and their Sensei at a time as they grow to take on challenges.

My characterizations may not be something you like. Please don't bother telling me this in a review. People have all sorts of interpretations of these characters, and I feel that as long as I have a good ass explanation for why they're acting the way they do - and I do - there shouldn't be any issue. I should also warn you that things in this story are not always what they appear and characters who may give you a wrong impression at the beginning...well, let's just say your opinion of them might be different at the end. I want that to be clear that everyone in this story is flawed. That's good old human nature at it's finest.

I believe that when you change something, you alter the events that would have happened in the future...and the growth that they would've had doesn't happen. Or it happens in different ways. Itss like throwing a pebble into a lake...the ripples. They affect everything and everyone...and has the potential to alter behaviors. Make sense? Probably not now, but it should as you keep reading. :)

Fourthly, this is a SYOC; a Submit Your Own Character story. See the OC form on my profile, should you wish to send one in. I reserve the right to accept or deny a character, as well as ask for modifications, additions, deletions and/or clarifications to my hearts content. I expect detailed appearances, without references to characters or things from Naruto or other franchises. If you can not describe it, how will you expect me to do it? And once your character is submitted and subsequently accepted, their fate is in my hands, and my hands alone. I make no promises for ANYTHING. They are completely at my mercy. Whether they die or survive, lose a limb, or turn evil, etc. It is all up to me. So. Submit at your own risk! Muwhahahaha! PS! OC's are only accepted over PM!

You should also be very prepared!
Any ability, Hidden Technique or Bloodline you choose to give your character (and should I accept your character) will be limited to the bare minimum of its capacity unless I decide otherwise. Why? Because most characters that I will accept will be characters that have yet to pass their Genin exams. Hence they will know only the bare minimum of ninja skills.

OC forms and documents filled with facts can be found linked on my profile, peruse at will, but do not use without permission.

OCs that have previously been submitted to me come before any new submissions. This is because of my loyalty to my older readers. Please respect this.

And lastly, thanks to a very good friend of mine that has sent me a few characters previously and who has already given me their blessing to use their characters, I have already been able to write a few chapters. As such, I will be posting the second chapter next week already. That does not mean I am not still accepting Genin, I still am. I want characters to fill out several graduation terms (there will be a Genin exam every three months that characters might or might not pass), and since I want a large cast but want to introduce them semi-slowly, I will only graduate a few every exam. No, you do not get to choose which Canon character your OC ends up in the same team as. That will be something I will decide as I pair up the characters with the best potential for team work, in my eyes.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Prologue

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a tired man. Shouldering an entire village, for a second round in his life, was no easy feat. And it had made him tired. Each choice weighing down his mind, hanging like the proverbial brick on his shoulders. He shuffled his papers and stared, unseeingly, at the words written down upon them.

Today was the day they were scheduled to come back. After four years. Four long and tremulous years. Filled with complaints and arguments over why. Why did he send them away? Why did he let them go? Why them? Why trust them with the task? Why outsiders? Why? Why? Why?

He still remembered that late evening, four years ago. At the relatively young age of twenty, Midorikawa Aoi had stood in front of his desk and informed him she was leaving. She was a subject of the Liaison program organized by the Fire Country, sent to the Hidden Leaf Village from the Sacred Flower Village as an ambassador and Onmyoji on loan. The peace between the two Villages had always been solid. The reason behind that truth was different depending on who you asked.

She had been a liaison and ambassador in Konoha for ten long years at the time, already an A-Rank at the age of nine and had a reputation built that was impressive.

The following ten years had been an uphill battle for the young Onmyoji, as she fought to gain, while not necessarily trust, a modicum of respect from the village she was stationed in. Hiruzen had secretly had her watched, which he was sure she was well aware of and not insulted by, and had been equally secretly rooting for her. A force to be reckoned with and a very likable girl, Aoi had made acquaintances easy enough. Having come from a village on one side of a centuries long peace and stationed at the other had its advantages, of course, as there was no natural hostility towards her as an outsider. Only the habitual suspicion that came with the natives of Konoha and their participation in the shinobi craft.

She had gained the favour of both the third and, at the time, future fourth Hokage and had tentatively served as Namikaze Minato's fourth student. But what truly had cemented Sarutobi Hiruzens trust - yes, trust, there was no denying that - had been the event three years into her residency in Konoha; the Kyuubi attack. Her part in the incident had quickly been classified after the fact, and whispers had been going around ever since. But what Hiruzen knew, that not many did, was that without her things would have ended worse.

After losing both Rin and Obito, Minato's two remaining students had not taken the situation well. What had saved Aoi had been her newly born godson. She had come to him as soon as the day after had begun - Hiruzen was sure she hadn't slept a wink, who had, really? - and showed him the content of a scroll. The will of Minato and Kushina for their, at the time, unborn child. They had wanted their child, should anything happen to the both of them, in the hands of the liaison onmyoji. Hiruzen had locked eyes with the girl, only thirteen at the time, with so many responsibilities on her small frame, and seen only pain and determination in those lavender eyes. She wanted that boy. She had wanted him - to raise and to love - more than life itself. And, staring into those eyes belonging to the onmyoji he knew many believed he never should have trusted, he had agreed. It hadn't been as simple as that, of course; there had been papers to sign, seals to place and arrangements to be made. But holding that boy in her arms, knowing no one would take the babe away from her - Hiruzen knew he'd be ruthless should anyone try - had been a balm to her battered little soul.

The third Hokage shuffled his papers some more, before he set them to the side and proceeded to fold his hands across his hakama covered midriff.

Hiruzen had continued having her watched after the adoption had been finalized. Not because he didn't trust her - he couldn't fool himself into believing himself if he ever proclaimed he didn't - but because accountability had to be covered. If something should happen, he needed to be able to proclaim every measure taken in preparation for said incident. But mostly, personally, he'd had her watched as to him, she was a sign of hope. This young girl, an onmyoji of a generation long after his, held silent strength. He had no doubt in his mind that, should Aoi had held no friendships in Konoha and not had a godson relying on her, she would have been just as much of a broken shell as her Senseis other student. She'd pulled herself together and been the mother to that boy that only she would and could be.

Hiruzen chuckled softly in thought. Many Konoha citizens, civilians and shinobi alike, had questioned his sanity when he'd allowed the adoption. And at times, from an outside perspective, he understood why. There had been whispers among the citizens. Civilians who knew nothing of the true nature of the Kyuubi or what the consequences of the acts they so naively whispered about, had suggested abandoning the child of the fourth Hokage, had insinuated that the child was better off dead. Midorikawa Aoi had retaliated and been more ruthless than most ever thought the sweet young girl could be. She'd also been smarter and more cunning, and had used the system against the whole village. She had made it quite clear that, should anything happen to her son - as the adoption was done and no one could deny him the title - then Konoha would be facing a full war with not just her or her extended family, but the entire Sacred Flower Village. As the boy was now an adopted Midorikawa, the Midorikawa clan considered him family, and as such Flower Village as a whole considered him one of them. And the Sacred Flower Village protected their own. Against all odds. No matter what.

That had muted the whispers immediately, and while the citizens had not stopped completely, they had at least had enough self preservation in them to not speak the words in the young mothers company. This had somewhat soured her presence in Konoha. Yet she paid them no heed. Her son came first. And Sarutobi Hiruzen secretly - not so secretly, but the Hokage would like to think it went unnoticed - admired the young woman for it.

The Hokage still remembered when the relatively young Jounin commander had stood by with a handful of other high ranking individuals as Hiruzen read the contents of the recently received scroll. The Nara man had listened attentively with the others, his face increasingly paler as the words of the scroll left the Hokages lips. Midorikawa Aois threat about a war with the Sacred Flower Village over the little boy had not been idle. The scroll in Hiruzens hand at the time had contained the formal declaration of adoption and inclusion into the Midorikawa clan - as well as their protection - of the little babe.

Hiruzen could to this day still feel the corners of his lips quirk up in amusement at the expression on Nara Shikaku that day. One did not easily surprise a Nara. And secretly, Hiruzen had applauded Aoi for her political thinking.

Yet, the rumours and fear filled glances and abundance of prejudice hadn't gone away. And four years earlier it had finally come to a head. Hiruzen shouldn't have been surprised, really. She had proven time and time again through the years that the little boy was her son and to hell with anyone who would think to harm him. And so she had stood in front of him once more. In his office. And declared, not asked - Hiruzen really hadn't been surprised at that little detail - that she was taking her son with her to the Sacred Flower Village. To train and learn to be a shinobi/onmyoji hybrid, just like his adoptive mother had in reverse, without all the bias and ill treatment. To be a normal child with friends and a childhood. And she had gazed at him with those shimmering lavender eyes, filled with pain and love and worry. Filled with tears and hard with simmering fury. Someone had taken the torment of her baby boy too far, in a way that she simply hadn't been able to solve in a peaceful way or with the skills of a liaison or diplomat. So she went with another approach; remove her child from the harmful environment. She declared, not asked.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the second he accepted the title and power of the Hokage, also accepted the responsibility of each and every citizen in this village. That included that boy. That innocent boy who knew nothing of why no one wanted to be near him or touch him, who had not even the slightest idea why he was looked down upon as if he was the dirt under their shoes. Hiruzen had felt the crushing defeat, the unavoidable pain of not being enough. He had failed that boy. He had failed to protect him from his own neighbors. And that had hurt. And as he had met her eyes, soft lavender ones with a single tear that rolled down her right cheek, he had offered her a team of four shinobis as an escort to the borders of the Sacred Flower Village.

It was now the agreed date for their return, four years to the day.

And the slight breeze of wind just then had Hiruzen glance up from his desk. And there she was, there they were. Midorikawa Aoi and Uzumaki Naruto. Four years older. Lavender eyes, just as shimmery as four years ago, with curly mulberry purple hair thirty or so centimetres longer than he remembered. The scrawny little blonde boy he remembered used to clutch his mothers hand while walking down the streets, hiding behind her civilian skirts at times as glares were sent her way. He wasn't there anymore. In his place, not behind his mother, but standing with a straight back beside her was a young pre-teen. Wide and kind cerulean eyes, the telltale whiskers lay softly against his cheeks and blonde hair - like sunshine, Hiruzen absentmindedly observed - windblown and short. What had used to be skinny arms and legs were now toned and lithe limbs, paired with wide shoulders fit into black trousers, black shinobi sandals and an orange shirt.

They both bowed simultaneously, "Hokage-sama."

And all Hiruzen could do then is smile. The Sacred Flower Village had done them both good. Very good indeed.

"Welcome back to Konoha, Aoi-chan, Naruto-kun"

-x-x-x-x-x-

There you have it!

This is the revised version of the old Prologue. If you look closely very little has changed. The grammar is somewhat better and a few key words have been changed. That's about it.

OC and Bloodline Form can be found on my Profile. OC's are only accepted through PM. Anything you'd like to know in preparation for a character you'd like to send in, you can PM me. I might not answer depending on whether it's spoiler pertinent or not.

PS; I'm looking for a Beta Reader that has alot of time on their hands.