DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own. I would love to hear your thoughts on how the story's progressing so far.

Thinking (etc.)

Emphasis

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

Kakashi signed the papers and nodded at the Sandaime as he grinned under his mask. He was patted, or rather hit, on the back harshly by the Toad Sage who had shown up for the ceremony. (It was really just finally signing Naru's adoption certificate after waiting for a certain amount of time following the application being received.) A suitable home and references had to be provided, and Kakashi was extremely grateful that Shizune-san had taken care of all of this shortly after Naruto was found.

The Sandaime had also fudged the dates on the forms so that no one who might have intelligence regarding when Uzumaki or Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto was found would be the wiser if looking deeper into the records of "Naru Hatake."

Kakashi still didn't feel right about changing Naruto's first AND last names, but he was advised this would keep her safer. After all, today was the day that she was to be received at the Academy, and he was worried.

"Well brat, it's done," Tsunade smirked as she ruffled Naru's head, careful not to mess up her careful placement of an orange bow that brought some of the girl's thick wavy hair up and away from her face.

"So you're my real daddy now?" Naruto asked shyly as she crawled into Kakashi's lap.

Jiraiya knocked Kakashi in the head when he didn't immediately answer. "Hai," Kakashi turned around and glared at the taller man while rubbing his sore head. "Maa, you're Hatake Naru, now, chibi-chan."

Naruto hugged Kakashi gently. She whispered a "thank you" into his ear and put her chin on his shoulder. "I don't have to call you that if you don't want me to, ya know."

Kakashi was once again moved by the girl and pulled her away from him so he could look her in the eye. "Maa, look at you using your vocabulary and speaking in complete sentences. And with no cursing?! I might have to take you for ramen today if you keep this up!"

"Really! Can Hashi-kun and my sorta friends come?"

"As long as Jiraiya-sama's paying, sure. Why not?" He ignored said man's sputtering and whining about Naru cleaning out his bank account in one go behind him. "And they ARE your friends and will be your comrades, Naruto. I'm sure you'll be making more friends today, too." He cleared his throat, concerned about his little mistake. "And remember, hime, you're the Hatake princess or 'heiress,' and we only call you Naruto at home for now."

"Okay!"

"Well it's time to get on with it then," Hiruzen said, pushing himself up from his desk after he sealed up the adoption paperwork. "I'm spicing up my speech this year: wait 'til you hear it!" Kakashi picked up Naruto and stopped her from pulling up the mask that was down around her neck and then sunshinned them to the Academy. Tsunade had just arrived there with Hashi-kun, who was a nervous wreck. They, along with all the other parents and newly-enrolled children, waited for the Sandaime to appear at the dais.

Hiruzen flashily appeared in a wind jutsu shortly afterward, his robes billowing behind him as he held onto his hat. The effect was ruined a bit as Jiraiya appeared atop a large toad at the same time. Naturally, the Toad Sage did a little dance to show off for the children who all stared at him with either disgustedly surprised or blank looks on their little faces.

Naruto was holding her new for-sure father's hand and standing next to Ino-chan and her daddy. "Sorry about Grandpa Pervert: he's a bit of an idiot, ya know." Inoichi tried to stifle his laughter.

The pervert in question glared at her words, which were heard by nearly everyone, and mouthed the word, "brat!"

Hiruzen began speaking, and after five minutes or so, most of the shinobi parents nearly groaned. It was the same Will of Fire stuff the Sandaime had probably been using for three or four decades. Every shinobi present believed deeply in the Will of Fire, but this speech? Not so much. Shikaku felt his son going to sleep while standing next to him and didn't even bother waking him up. He remembered a different, more optimistic time when his friend had nearly made a fool out of himself as the new Hokage…

A yellow flash appeared in front of eager students and their parents. Two porcelain-skinned kunoichis with swords stood guard and glared at those hooting and hollering from their places, especially the redhead as she fiercely glared down at each and every woman in the crowd in front of her. The Third Shinobi War had ended, and both civilians and shinobi alike attributed the final surprising end of the dreadful war to the man now in front of them. Shikaku had hidden in a tree in the rear of the audience, and his sunshin appeared after Minato-kun's flashy appearance, as usual. Standing to the right of his Hokage, he yawned widely, partly to annoy the man - but hopefully not the man's fiance or teammate who were standing on either side of the stage…

Gods help him if he did that!

"I am so excited to see the new generations' Will of Fire burning so brightly in the Leaf Village! Yosh!" Minato pushed his fist into his other hand which caused his audience to near roar in approval again. Shikaku gave him a dirty look, making Minato clear his throat. "Yes, yes! With this incoming class of future shinobi and kunoichi, I sincerely believe that the security of the Leaf and Hi No Kuni is not only finally at hand, but true peace is within our grasp between all shinobi villages! I am so, so proud of all of you: students here to follow your dreams, parents, and family supporting you, faculty…"

It was less than a year and a half later that Shikaku wished that he had paid more attention to his Hokage's and friend's wise and inspiring words from his two incredibly long, sometimes absurd speeches at the Academy.

He looked over at his friend's legacy as she looked back at him, smiling happily.

Hmm, it seems Shikamaru has woken up. His son was staring at the little blonde girl with the big azure eyes - so much like her father aside from her stature - and Shikaku wondered if little Naruto had inherited her father's charisma and seemingly innate ability to draw in others. He watched as the little girl's brows furrowed before she let go of Kakashi-kun's hand when Maito Gai suddenly appeared beside him in a cloud of dust. She quickly wandered his way but passed his family, a small grin on her face the whole time.

"Hi," she whispered. "Sorry JiJi's so boring, 'ttebayo."

Itachi's eyes widened at her nickname for the Hokage as his mother suddenly nearly squeezed the life out of his hand. "Oww!" Sasuke exclaimed. His little brother had obviously received the same pressured squeeze that he had. Sasuke was on the other side of his mother.

"Sasuke-chan: I'm so sorry," Mikoto yelped. "I was just… surprised!"

Sasuke waved off the pain in his hand, trying to be brave and not cry. "Hn. Who's the stupid girl?" Sasuke would've found himself smack dab in front of the Hokage if only he had been conscious following Naru's vicious punch.

"What did you call me, 'ttebayo?" were the last words he'd heard.

Despite her younger child's unconscious "duress," Mikoto couldn't help but smile at the girl, tears in her eyes.

Her husband, riled with resentment, looked on while his wife and heir attended to their youngest.

"I can't believe you did that, Naru-chan! Sasuke-kun's gonna hate you! And if he hates you and sees me around you, he'll hate me!" Ino scolded as they gathered wildflowers.

Naruto sighed, having grown really tired of this unending argument. I give up. "I'm really sorry, Ino-chan. Well, I'm sorry I made everyone mad at me, but that boy was super rude and had it coming. That boy... makes me feel weird."

"So you love Sasuke-kun now too?" Ino pouted at Naru before seeing the smaller girl shaking her head vigorously. "You're so weird, Naru-chan. How am I supposed to hang out with you if none of the girls like you?! "

Naruto bit her lips as she tried to think of an answer for that. "You could just do it? I mean, fuck 'em right?"

"Hatake Naru! Proper girls and kunoichi don't use such vulgar language," Uchiha-sensei barked. Naruto and Ino moved away from the old woman then started quietly snickering.

"Yes we do," Ino said in just over a whisper, making Naruto cover her mouth so she wouldn't get in trouble - again. They got far enough away from their sensei to discuss interesting slang that they'd overheard, along with ways to spice it up with curse words before Ino grabbed Naru's smaller hand, knocking away the flowers she'd picked to make flower crowns out of. "What in the name of the Shodai's smelly balls is going on over there?!"

"Those girls are mean. I can sense it, Ino-chan. All except that one girl, well maybe the other one with the fang marks isn't so bad." Ino dragged Naruto over to what the Yamanaka would later call "the initial scene of the crime."

"Oi! Stop picking on her! What's your problem?!" Ino yelled. A girl with pretty pink hair was crying.

"Huh?" an older girl with fangs on her cheeks looked up and got flustered at being caught near her sometimes cruel friends. The two girls with her didn't seem to care, though.

"Shut up! Stupid here's got a giant forehead! And she doesn't know what's what!"

"Leave her alone!" Ino dragged Naru along with her to stand in front of the girl being bullied.

"What are you gonna do about it? And Tiny here's even worse than Forehead-girl," one said pointing at Naru who only grumbled about being called out on the thing that drove her crazy. She also whispered to Ino that she didn't think the other girl had a very big forehead as she ignored the two big girls that seemed like idiots. "Hey," Idiot 2 said louder, "How did you get whiskers? Let me guess, your mom screwed a dog and…"

Naruto felt her vision go red until she realized her hand was in a fist and had collided with a girl's puffy cheek. "Don't ever talk about my parents, 'ttebayo." Uchiha-sensei pulled her off the girl and started scolding the life out of her. Naru saw the woman's eye disease activate and called her on it. She got sent to the principal.

"That fox girl's crazy!" the girl cried. Ino wondered why the teacher's posture went rigid as she dragged the rest of the group to the principal after getting another sensei to handle the rest of her class.

As she ate the cookie the principal had handed her, Naruto watched out the window as a bunch of boys were learning how to spar. Their senseis were being so kind and gentle with them - and weren't even hitting them! "How are they going to learn if they don't hit them?"

Kurama yawned from inside his cage. "It's my experience that kits improve more in a nurturing environment."

"What's a 'nurturing environment?'"

"How the hell would I know?!" Kurama replied. He knew what it was of course: his father had been very nurturing. He was just too lazy to bother with the kit. One question would lead to another, then he'd wish to eat her, then feel guilty about yelling at her and the cycle would continue.

Uchiha-sensei threw the principal's door open and escorted all the girls that were around the pink-haired girl inside the man's office. She looked pale and panicked as she pulled the kind man into the hallway and shut the girls inside.

"You totally got us in trouble, Whiskers!" Idiot 2 said with a nasty tone.

"Ask her if you should pound some sense into her again."

"No. I'm not doing that," Naruto sighed out loud. "That wouldn't be right and you know it. You're just gonna get me in trouble and then I can't have ramen."

"You are your fucking ramen..."

"Are you even listening to us, stupid?" Idiot 1 asked.

"Who's stupid here? Your girl here just got her ass kicked by someone younger than you two for making fun of me and Pinky-chan here," Naru said, gesturing to the first girl bullied.

"It's Sakura, actually," the girl nearly whispered.

"Oh! Sorry, Sakura-chan! I was just talkin' about your hair because it's really pretty. Right Ino-chan?"

"Right!" She had pulled out a ribbon and was now tying the new girl's hair back a little so she could make it more like her and Naruto's hairstyles. Naruto's hair is so crazy. At least Sakura's is nice and soft like mine. "You really need to use a conditioner, Naruto-hime."

"Right. Oh. Don't call me that; it's not my name anymore: it's Naru now," she remarked, ignoring the dumb girls who were getting angrier and angrier as they were ignored.

"Why?" Ino asked as she secured Sakura's hair like it was back in a headband.

"Maa, I think umm," Naruto began before trying to decide if she should lie or not. Her super new daddy made it seem like this was a big deal. "...it's always been my name?"

"Kami, how stupid are you?!" Idiot 1 and 2 began laughing at her. Naruto was trying so hard not to think about what they were saying and how mean they were that she accidentally put her fingertips through the principal's desktop that she was holding onto. She pulled her hands away quickly and began humming and trying to cover up what she'd done.

"Everyone out except you, Naru Hatake" the principal sneered as he entered the room.

Ino was alarmed by the man's tone and tried to grab Naru's hand, but the other blonde was shoved out of her reach. Seeing her little friend being pushed down by an adult caused Ino to become both furious and afraid. She ran away from Uchiha-sensei and the Academy to find help.

"You killed my sister, demon," the principal muttered once everyone else was out of the room.

"What?" Naruto asked in a whisper.

"I said you killed my sister! You can't fool me by using the Hatake kid's name anymore, you filthy abomination. I'm gonna take you somewhere we'll all have a chance to make you pay." The principal grabbed her shoulder and sunshinned them away.

"Daddy! Hatake-sama! Uncle Shika, Uncle Cho!" Ino panted as she ran into the bar she knew her mom hated.

"Ino-chan what are you doing out of class?" Inoichi slurred just a bit. He and most of the parents who had kids starting the Academy today were both celebrating and mourning the beginning of their little ones' shinobi careers. They wouldn't admit it to the children, but the celebrating part was mostly due to the fact that the kids would now be out of their houses part of the day.

"Naruto - I mean, Naru-hime got in trouble and the principal pushed her down!"

"What?!"

Kakashi immediately sunshinned to the Academy and hated what he saw. There was an Uchiha woman looking at him even more hatefully than most of the Uchiha had ever since Obito gave him his eye. No, even before that; when father was scorned. He pushed his way into the principal's office and found the window opened. He summoned his pack.

"Naru-chan's missing. We - uh... we need to find her," he said, swallowing the bile from the panic that felt as if it was eating him alive. "Spread out!" Kakashi took off running beside Pakkun and Bull. That's when they felt it: the overwhelming pressure of the Kyuubi. No! The seal...

The four shinobi stood, shell shocked.

They'd just started playing with the little demon who was back and calling herself "Hatake" of all things when everything went wrong. Watching as his kunai was pushed straight out of the little demon's shoulder as the girl's eyes bled red and her whisker marks darkened, one knew he'd made a mistake.

"Filthy humans. To harm a kit is a sin that I can no longer sit idly by for. Nor do I need to! Do not pray to your gods; pray to me!"

The demon girl hit the Academy principal with a demonic-laced chakra-enhanced punch. He'd never have children or probably be able to urinate normally again. The remaining men crawled into the corner and watched as the girl turned her slitted red eyes to them, a vicious red cloak building as she began moving toward them. Finally, she reached out for them, but a savior came forward.

Jiraiya slapped a seal on his goddaughter's forehead and felt his blood boil upon seeing the holes in her new little orange dress. She laid limp in his arms. Moving her over his shoulder, he grabbed the still-shrieking Academy principal and slammed him into the nearby wall.

Kakashi walked up to the remaining men and coolly asked them who their leader was. All of them pointed to the principal who'd been nearly pushed through a stone wall.

"She - she was pretending to be a Hatake!" one lackey yelled. "Sh- she! She's the reason your beloved sensei is dead! Kill her! You've seen what she can do!" The way Kakashi calmly stood and stared at the three made them feel like this "girl's" life, this travesty, would all be over momentarily. Surely Cold-Kill Kakashi Hatake will finally slay the beast now that she's weak! When he pulled his headband up and stared at them with those cold mismatched eyes, however, each one of them trembled.

"No one fucks with my pack," Kakashi growled. "I'm sure you've heard of my jutsu? Chidori!"