Fugaku Uchiha had a sinking feeling in his stomach. In twelve days, he would be back in Konoha Village, yet he felt himself weary of the whole ordeal. He and a few members of the police force were on a mission gathering information about Sunagakure no Sato. There were rumours going around that a rogue Konoha nin was spotted in the hidden village with an odd companion. The hokage had appointed Fugaku and his top men in the police force to investigate and if possible, capture the ninja in question. The mission was supposed to last no longer than fourteen days, the amount of time in would take a ninja on foot to travel between the two villages.

It had only been two days but Fugaku knew that something was off. If a rogue nin was really spotted why would the hokage send him, the Head of Konoha Police Division, and his men on this mission and not the ANBU? He had no doubt in his skills, he was a clan head after all, but something wasn't adding up. The two days that was spent investigating he found and heard nothing from merchants and travellers passing through the forest between Konoha and Suna. One of his companions suggested that perhaps the hokage had simply given them a false mission to slow down their clan's plan.

He had a difficult time believing that as well. He may be against the hokage and the way Konoha was run but he knew that this mission was real, however he knew for sure that he was not told everything about this mission. Only two days past and that meant that in the next twelve days, he had better find any information about the apparent rogue nin or his reputation would be ruined. Damn that Hiruzen! I even named my son after his father and he treats me like a fool?!

Fugaku wanted nothing more than to go back to his family, but even there he would not feel at ease. He sighed and walked on further. He was leading his team through the dense forest but paid no attention to their talk and chose to tune them out. They were talking about the coup d'état and he had heard enough. He filled his thoughts with the good memories of when he was younger, before he became the head of his clan and his thoughts soon led to his wife, Mikoto.

She's probably having a tough time with Sasuke… and Itachi, he thought. With a slight frown, he turned around and signaled at his team to take a rest. They were deep in the forest and spent most of the morning walking; a break was needed. Few of them took out their water bottles and he remembered that his own was empty. A stream could be heard from a distance and an idea popped into his head.

"I'm going to fill my bottle at the stream, we'll continue when I come back." Someone probably replied to him or asked a question but he didn't bother to stay and listen. Fugaku wanted time alone.

The Uchiha elders were pressing for a revolt and the clan itself was divided. The only reason why he felt that the action was too extreme was because Itachi was in the middle of the situation. While his son was being used as a spy for his clan, Fugaku often questioned where his loyalties lie. Itachi would report back on a regular basis, his findings of the ANBU and what he managed to gather on the hokage but something, much like the mission he was on now, seemed off.

It was too simple; the reports were well detailed but Itachi's demeanour lacked any emotion. There was no guilt or shame when it came to Itachi. He accepted his fate and went along with it. That's what he wants us to think, Fugaku thought to himself as he reached the stream. He bent down, unhooking his water bottle from the side of pants and twisted to open it. He filled the bottel with water and took a large gulp.

He knew his son, better than Itachi thought, and he hated how cold and emotionless he would act but hide his fear and struggles. Fugaku knew that Itachi would seek counsel from that Hatake brat or Shisui and hated that he wouldn't consult him. He was a clan head and the head of the police but he was also a father.

Fugaku knew he made a mistake the very day he brought Itachi with him to the battlefield when the Third Shinobi War took place. Itachi had killed a man albeit out of self-defence but ever since then, the boy never had the same outlook on life. At the age of four, Itachi was robbed of childhood innocence and couldn't stop thinking about life and death. He had the thinking of a kage, a village leader at a tender age and nothing could stop Fugaku from worrying about his son.

He drank more water, pretending that it was something stronger, and got up from his crouching position. Reluctantly and with a heavy heart, he made his way back to the rest of team to continue his mission. Unbeknownst to him, the very two figures that his mission was centred around were watching him from behind the trees and deep in the shadows.

"Master! He's right there, why not attack him now?"

His master hit his head, "I thought I told you Tobi, our only purpose was to investigate if the copy ninja adopted the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki. We can't attack now, Boss would lose it."

"But Master the Uchiha's right there! You can take him out," the squeaky masculine voice whined.

The master snorted, "I'm powerful Tobi but not enough. That's the Uchiha's clan head, he'll copy my jutsu before I get a chance to activate them. We'll leave them to take themselves out, I heard there's a revolt in the making…"


"Kashi-nii, I wanna play with you tonight!" whined an annoyed Naruto. He was excited once he heard his favourite nii-san tell him that he was going out that night, but his excitement soon turned into dismay when he learnt that Kakashi was not going with him.

"I told you Naru-chan, I need to see Tenzou but Genma and Hayate will keep you company." Kakashi wasn't lying, he did need to see Tenzou but to finalise their plans for the counterattack against the Uchiha.

"Tenzou-nii's weird! He was in the house this morning too, why didn't you play with him then Kashi-nii?"

Kakashi felt like banging his head against the wall; Naruto was being especially difficult. After he went to check on Raidou that morning, who was on the verge of passing out from lack of sleep and spending most of the morning with Naruto, the child had insisted on playing with him instead. Kakashi had managed to convince Naruto to take a nap on the basis that he would be going out later that night and that his ninken would take a nap with him. While the method seemed to work at that moment, fast forward hours later when Hayate and Genma needed to report for guard duty, Naruto insisted that Kakashi must accompany him.

"Naru-chan, Tenzou's was sleeping earlier remember? And Genma and Hayate will be with you so nothing will go wrong."

Naruto pouted. He refused to give up. "Kashi-nii! I wanna play with you!"

"And I said NO!" Kakashi shouted in retaliation he couldn't deal with him right now, not when he needed to save Itachi and Shisui from a revolt and his own life from taken. He immediately regretted it when he saw the look on Naruto's face. His pout vanished and turned into a frown.

Here it comes, he braced himself for a wave of Naruto's theatrics. It never came. The child stood still and looked at him, no sound, no tears, just empty stares. The atmosphere in the room was hollow. Kakashi had come into Naruto's bedroom earlier to help him dress for the night, it was cheery then.

"Kashi-nii, I'll play with Genma and Raidou tonight," Naruto said monotonously. Before Kakashi could reply, he sensed that the two ninjas were in his home. Naruto left the room before he did.

When he got to the living room, Naruto was happily giggly in Genma's arms similar to how he was with Raidou earlier. When Naruto saw Kakashi his entire mood changed. He stopped giggling and hopped off Genma to stand next to Hayate. Both ninjas noticed this and turned to look at Kakashi.

Kakashi waved his hand. "We had a small fight, it'll be fine," came his simple reply.

Though they knew that something else was wrong they didn't question further.

"Hai Taicho. We'll be off then," Hayate said. He picked Naruto up and held him protectively by his side, an arm over Naruto's waist and the hand occupied itself holding his katana in place.

Kakashi nodded and gave look to Genma, if anything happens…

Genma let out a nervous laugh, Raidou wasn't wrong with his motherhood jokes. Kakashi sent a chill down his spine with just one look.

"Taicho we'll be back by midnight when our shift ends, no need to stress. Pup's safe with us. Right Pup?"

Naruto didn't reply. He buried his head into the crook Hayate's neck. Really Pup? You choose now to be quiet? Mother dearest is about to murder me with his glares!

Kakashi said nothing to Genma's surprise. He looked between Naruto and Hayate and he had to wonder just how Hayate could stand there with all the confidence in the world while their captain was scrutinising them.

"Well then, we'll be off. See you in six hours Taicho."

They shunshined with Naruto leaving Kakashi in the empty living room. Just what was with that look Naruto gave him?


Five hours had past since they came on duty and Hayate felt like banging his head against a wall. They were hidden behind the bushes in the part Konoha Forest that overlooked the Hyuuga estate. Naruto had climbed up one of the trees out of boredom and was now stuck and Genma, bloody Genma, thought the situation was funny.

Hayate was not one to get upset easily but after waking up late in the afternoon with a hangover and a body aching from the previous night's awkward sleeping position, to going to his apartment only to be met with an angry girlfriend, he was not in the mood for Naruto's antics and Genma's lack of assistance. There was only one hour left until they could knock off but of course Naruto chose that hour to get stuck in a tree. He was quiet for most of the night and even fell asleep when they first arrived, Genma supposed that it was because he usually went to bed at sundown.

Then Naruto had woken up, quite loudly, and it took both of them to quiet him down. Hayate knew that the purpose of taking Naruto with them was to teach him about espionage without him knowing it. The only problem was that Naruto was still sulking about whatever happened between him and Kakashi and any skills that three-year-old him could even learn went out by the window.

"Genma," Hayate hissed, "Stop laughing and help him out of that tree!"

"Kami Hayate, there's no need to be that concerned. The tree's not even that high and it's nearly knockoff time anyway. Let's wait till then to get him out, maybe Pup could learn about chakra control," Genma said and continued to laugh. Despite the darkness, Hayate could see him smirk and wanted to smack it off his face with the hilt of his katana.

"It won't be funny if something actually happens or worse… Pup falls down."

"Please. This is the Hyuuga side of the Village, it's practically suicide if anyone tries to do anything here. Pup's had worse injuries from playing, if he falls Taicho wouldn't really do anything."

Hayate scoffed. Just how many beatings will it take to get it into your head that Taicho loses sense when it comes to Pup.

Naruto was watching the scene below him with amusement. It was boring being outside with nothing to play so he climbed the tree. He never climbed a tree before, the trees in the manor were all too small or shrill to climb. He also wanted to see what Genma and Hayate would say to Kakashi. He was still angry that his nii-san had shouted at him. Naruto knew that he sometimes played too much but he didn't need to shout at him and be mean about it. He could just jump down, he wasn't that high up to be stuck but he wanted to play for a little longer. After all, this was his first time being outside so late.

While Genma and Hayate's argument got heated, Naruto was forgotten. The two ninjas instead focused on whether telling Naruto to jump or climbing up to fetch him was the better option. All was forgotten when Naruto started to thrash about in the tree to get their attention. He was told not to speak or to simply whisper if he saw anything but he too high up for them to hear. They looked up and saw that he was pointing towards the Hyuuga estate. Genma turned to look, his eyes widening.

Hayate noticing, turned around as well and couldn't believe what he saw. There were ninjas outside the estate but they weren't Hyuuga or even Konoha. It was a small group from Kumogakure nin, it was too dark too see their uniform but there was a slight glint of moonlight that shone on their hitae-ite. One of the ninjas was carrying an item big enough to be considered a body.

Genma looked at Hayate who nodded. He made a gesture to shunshin but before he could do it, Naruto jumped out of the tree and luckily landed safely on his feet. His guardians looked at him for a moment but their attention turned back to the Kumo ninjas. The ninjas noticed moment in the bushes and hurried to leave the estate. Genma smirked, finally some action.

Hayate did not have the same reaction. His hand moved to his katana and he gripped hard. Naruto was with them so a plan of action was needed.

"Genma, we have little time to plan. We need to get Pup-" before he could finish his sentence, Naruto sprinted past him and Genma into the open, alerting the Kumo ninjas. So much for espionage. Their cover was blown.

Genma let himself and Hayate be known without thinking first and shouted, "Damn it Pup! We told you not to do to anything loud. Good luck becoming a ninja like this!"

"You're one to talk, Genma. Because of you we've both been outed now!" Hayate shouted at him.

Genma looked at him and then at the sprinting Naruto who was running towards the Kumo ninjas. Their shouting attracted the attention of the Hyuuga ninjas that came out to chase the enemy as well.

"Shit."

Naruto didn't know why he was running or who he was running to. He saw a group of men come out of the big house carrying something his size. For some reason, he figured that it had to be a kid like him. Impulsively, he jumped out of tree and ran to save her. It must be a girl, he thought, boys are bigger but I'm just small. He could hear Genma shouting at him and there were even more men running after him, ones with long hair, but he couldn't stop now. That girl made a sound and it almost sounded like a cry but it was too soft for him to hear clearly.

The man that was carrying her was running even faster now and so were the men behind him. He briefly wondered what happened to Genma and Hayate, it was like they vanished in thin air then again, they did that sometimes and so did Kakashi when he does that disappearing trick.

"No! Kashi-nii's mean. Stop thinking about him!" Naruto shouted and surprised the men that were chasing him. One of them happened to be Hiashi Hyuuga, the head of the Hyuuga clan.

"You boy stop!" he shouted but Naruto increased his speed. Hiashi wanted to attack the man who had come into his home and stole something precious from him but there was another child involved. He couldn't attack without having to face the repercussions of his actions.

Naruto knew he if he didn't run faster the men would escape with the girl but they were slower than Raidou. He used to race with Naruto so this wasn't all that bad, Genma and Hayate would chase him with reed rods so the men behind him weren't much of an obstacle. Then he had a thought, he never climbed a tree before but he didn't struggle that much, all he did was jump and hold on to the trunk before he used his hands to climb. He could do the same now.

Naruto started taking bigger strides, just like Raidou told him to do when he couldn't catch up when they raced because of the height difference. He breathed in deep and let it out. Raidou told him that running sometimes became tiring so deeper breaths would help the air flow into his lungs. Naruto didn't understand what he meant or what lungs even were but he started to feel tired so trying it out seemed like the best idea. He locked his eyes on his target: the man carrying the girl.

When Tenzou would have treasure hunts with him, he always reminded Naruto to keep his eye on what he was looking for. He then jumped as far as his small body could and grabbed onto the man. They both fell down and the girl tumbled out of the man's grasp. The others, his friends, ran ahead and he was left stranded. He tried to shake Naruto off but he stuck firmly to him. The girl managed to stand up but her hands were tied behind her back and her eyes were blindfolded.

"Otou-sama!" She called out, "Otou-sama!"

One of the men with long hair, Hiashi, came rushing to her side. "I'm here Hinata. I'm here my daughter." He grabbed her and held her close to him, rubbing her back soothingly as she sobbed.

His eyes were a light violet, pupils distinct as the veins near his temple bulged. He looked at the young child, his daughter's saviour, and the man who he struggled against. The rest of his clan who joined his chase halted when they saw their leader holding his daughter. He lifted his hand, signalling that they were to stay in place. He wanted to interrogate and torture the man who dared try to steal his precious treasure and he wanted to question the boy, but he couldn't allow his body to let go.

Thankfully, two ninjas appeared from out of nowhere and lifted the assailant from the boy. One held the boy firmly in his arms and the other knocked the ninja out cold with the hilt of his katana. He coughed and then bowed.

"Hiashi-sama, I am Rabbit and this," he gestured to Genma, "is Frog. We're the ANBU appointed for guard duty tonight. Our apologies for not being able to intervene. My partner went ahead to gather the rest of this ninja's team and I followed behind to assess the situation. I've alerted the necessary authorities about this attack. They will be arriving at your clan's estate soon."

Naruto looked at Hayate and Genma. When did they put on those funny masks? They didn't have it on the whole time. I want one too!

Hiashi nodded and stood up. Quietly, he spoke to Hinata, "Hinata go to Hizashi, he will take you home. I'll be on my shortly."

She whimpered but let go of him. "H-hai Otou-sama."

Hizashi came over to collect her and gently removed the bands from her hands and the blindfold. He took her hand and left with the group of Hyuuga ninjas.

Hiashi eyes reverted back to their natural state and he looked at who stood in front of him. "Who is the child?"

Naruto, although flushed and breathing in shallow breaths tried to reply but Genma's hand clamped over his mouth.

"I'm sorry Hiashi-sama but that's classified information. Hokage-sama will arrive soon, he will fill you in on the all the details you wish to know."

"You are Frog? Tell me then, this child jumped on to the ninja that tried to take my daughter and his team abandoned him shortly after. Just how did you manage to catch the rest of them in such time and where are they now?"

"I simply shunshined myself to where I predicted they would be, there's not much place for them to go. It was either the forest that they won't know well or the Village where they would be caught easier, they chose the worse of the two. I passed them on to an Uchiha that happened to be in the area. They'll probably sitting in a police cell by now."

"I see. Very well, join me on my way back to my clan's estate. Bring the child as well, I suspect he would want to see your captain."

"How- how did you…"

Hiashi laughed slightly and turned around. "I am the leader of the greatest clan in Konoha of course I would have information I should not. You are part of the infamous Team Rou, the one with that wretched Uchiha brat and the Copy Ninja. The child also called out his name albeit with what I would assume is an affectionate term used between them. Now come, I wouldn't wish to have my daughter waiting any longer than what she has."

Hayate stared at the man's back as he began to walk. He definitely needed to find a wall to bang his head against. Yet another night he would spend with minimal sleep.


A/N: Ramadhan Mubarak to all my Muslim readers.

This chapter is relatively short and I apologise for only posting one chapter this week. School has been hectic especially since it's online because of Covid-19. Like I said in the previous chapter, this will be the last chapter for a while. I am not abandoning this fic but since it's an important month for me, Altered Reality will on hiatus. Please check my bio/profile to vote on the polls. I need to decide whether to continue this story as one big story (probably with 50+ chapters) or to split it into two different stories, one focusing on the first part of Naruto and the second focusing on the Shippuuden part.

Reviews:

Tigrezz Tail- it really is a lot to be honest but I didn't want to drag it out any further. The thing with Danzo definitely will turn out in a way that I hope people don't suspect, I've already got the Uchiha Massacre arc outlined and I'm looking forward to typing it out soon.

I'm hoping that there will be more reviews to reply to because I really to enjoy going through your opinions and thoughts about the story. Anyway, this will be the last authors note in while so everyone please read, review, favourite, follow if you like the story and stay safe.