Naruto stood in front of Hiruzen with his goofy mask on. "Why'd you call for me, Jiji?" Naruto asked, his voice high in a hyper manner. He knew it couldn't have been about the robbery since it'd been 2 days since it happened.
As a side thought, he remembered that he never used the chakra paper or come up with a plan for the other stuff. "I just want to take you to lunch like we used to." The old man said, grabbing his hat and walking up to the boy. As much as Naruto wanted to materialize a kunai and stab the geezer, he knew it wouldn't work.
"So where we going? Ramen? Or can we get something else? Sushi?" Naruto shot off questions at rapid speed, earning a smile from the old man. "I didn't know you'd ever want anything other than ramen." The old man chuckled.
The redhead pouted and crossed his arms. "I only eat ramen because the other stores don't let me in." Hiruzen ignored him and grabbed his shoulder for a shunshin. Whenever the smoke cleared on the other side, they were at a stall that Naruto had never been to.
"This is Akari's fish stall. This place has the best fish you'll ever have and Akari will never turn away a customer." When led inside, it seemed a lot like Ichiraku's with extra seats. At the seats to the far right was a family of three.
"Ah Shikaku-san, Yoshino-san, it is good to see you." The Hokage greeted the two who returned the greeting. Their little girl looked at the Hokage with awe in her brown eyes. While the girl was studying Hiruzen, Naruto was studying all three of them.
He also made sure to pay great attention to their reactions to his presence. "So what brings you here today, Hokage-sama?" Akari asked, leaning over the counter. Akari was a middle aged man with a full chef uniform on.
"I wanted to show Naruto-kun your great fish. It's a crime to not taste it after all." The Hokage joked. Whenever Naruto's name was brought up, the three looked at him. Both parents had a look of indifference with the women having a slight bit of pity.
The girl however, had curiosity sprinkle in her eyes. "I don't think we've been introduced before." Shikaku said, leaning down to shake the boy's hand. "I'm Nara Shikaku, that's my wife Yoshino, and our daughter Amaya. If you look your age then I'd say you two will attend the academy together."
After shaking his hand, Naruto hopped up onto a stool and looked at the man. "Well it's nice ta meetcha." The man nodded and returned to his meal. "So you like ramen Naruto-san?" Akari asked, earning a nod from the redhead.
"Then I know exactly what you'd like. Imagine Mackerel soaked in miso ramen and then pan fried to a crisp." Naruto was salivating from the description. "Yeah, that sounds good, Akari-san." Naruto said in a dreamy tone, giving the adults amusement.
After getting out of his salivating state, Naruto looked over at the Nara family. The two parents were eating their meals while Amaya, if he remembered correctly, was looking at him. Naruto stared at her as well and took the time to drink in her features.
She had a diamond shaped face, slim lips, a small nose, thin black eyebrows, oval brown eyes, and long black hair in a high ponytail with long bangs framing her face. Her clothing was pretty simple with a t-shirt, shorts, and a pair of sandals.
While also taking in her features, Naruto studied her chakra. Her chakra was much like her parents, as one would guess, but there was a slight difference in it. A mutation Naruto guessed. It was probably just a different affinity or possibly an altered Kekkei Genkai.
Akari put a plate down in front of him, interrupting the two's staring contest. When Naruto looked down, he saw two fish filets that held a deep orangish brown color with crispy crust. Under the two filets was a nice sauce that Naruto guessed was the Miso brine.
"I hope you enjoy it." Akari said, handing the young boy a pair of chopsticks. Once Naruto broke them apart and let out a quick "Itadakimasu" he dug in. After a few moments of savoring the first bite, Naruto went in for more.
It was good. So good in fact that he dared to say it was better than ramen. Shaking his head of the unholy thought, he continued eating. He finished eating and set down the chopsticks. "That was really good Akari-san. I think I might come here often now." The shop owner seemed delighted before heading to grab the Nara's clean plates.
While the Nara were about to leave, Naruto heard Shikaku's lazy voice. "It's rude to just stare Amaya-chan, just go talk to him." The redhead turned around to see the little pineapple haired girl behind him.
"Are your whiskers real?" She asked in a high, almost excited voice. The Uzumaki nodded and hopped down from the stool. "You can touch them if you'd like." The Nara heiress reached out and felt the hair on his face.
"It's like you're a cat or something." She said, prodding at his cheek with her fingers. "Do you have to cut them?" Naruto shook his head at her question. "Nah, they stay at the same length. Watch this!"
Naruto wiggled his face a little bit, making it look like his whiskers were moving. Amaya giggled at the action before her mother's voice prodded in. "Say goodbye to your friend Amaya-chan. We still have to attend to the deer today."
The fellow 5 year old waved at Naruto before running to grab her mom's hand and leaving. "I'm glad you've managed to get a friend, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said, going to the redhead's side. "Hey Jiji, do you mind if we go to the playground?" Naruto asked.
"Sorry Naruto-kun but I must complete my paperwork. Even I, the Hokage, don't get even an hour of freetime during lunch." The Uzumaki nodded at the old man. "I understand Jiji. I'll see you later then. Thanks for the food!" Naruto shouted, running out the stall and down the main road.
"Well, isn't he just a ball of energy." Akari chuckled while cleaning the dishes. "That he is Akari-san." The Kage said before using a shunshin to leave.
*With Naruto*
The boy ran down the street towards his apartment. Once entering, he flicked off his shoes and went to his desk. The redhead pulled out a coloring book and began working on it. Naruto felt out for his ANBU guards and was surprised to find them not present.
He didn't know if they were just suppressing their chakra or they were actually gone. "They're gone." A deep voice said inside Naruto's head. The voice made the boy groan. Kyuubi had been talking to him since he activated his Kekkei Genkai but only whenever he felt like it.
The lazy furball, as Naruto dubbed him, answered questions here and there that Naruto was asking himself or just snored loud enough for Naruto to hear. Ignoring that, Naruto pulled off his shirt and a smoke cloud emitted from his abdomen.
Whenever the cloud got over his desk, it materialized to the stolen backpack. Naruto had figured out that while in human form, the objects he turned to smoke had to go into a size appropriate place.
Like his katana had to be put in smoke form down his arm, the shuriken had to go in his palm, the kunai in his wrist, the books in his sides, and the backpack in his front abdomen. It was convenient in a way since he knew what he was pulling out from the place alone.
Unzipping the pack, he reached in and grabbed the weights, chakra paper, and the clothes. The backpack turned back to smoke and went into his chest before he put his shirt down again. The boy set the three things apart on his desk and looked at what he'd stolen.
There were 4 chakra regulated weight belt things, which he assumed went around the legs and arms. The clothes he grabbed were obviously too big for him. Hell, he guessed that he couldn't wear them until he was 12.
In the clothing set, there was a black tank top with a thin armor layer, a pair of black ANBU style pants with the same armor material, and some gray tape. Naruto sighed, he'd already been designing a shinobi outfit while taking in count his Kekkei Genkai.
He figured that he'd need to keep as much skin showing above the belt so he could pull his smoke tools out easily. Shaking his head, Naruto grabbed a piece of chakra paper. He grabbed his trash can and put it in his lap.
Once the paper was over the trash can, he put chakra into it. Within a second, the paper got really soggy before turning to ash. "Water and Fire. That's interesting." The redhead said before placing the trash can down.
He reached for the weights and began to see how to calibrate them. It seemed that the more chakra you put, the heavier they got so Naruto assumed less chakra was the same. As he began to wonder how to hide them and how much weight to put, Kyuubi spoke.
"As to not stunt your growth, I would suggest 10 pounds on each limb. You could easily hide them with arm warmers and or leg warmers. Don't argue with me that they'll block your kunai and shuriken because I do not care. Do not try to merge them with your skin while partly in a smoke state. They will become solid in your skin and tear it apart."
Naruto whistled at that painful thought before releasing the backpack from his abdomen and storing all the things. He'd have to go out and buy the arm/leg warmers so as to not raise suspicion.
Once all the things were hidden away, he put his sandals back on and left. Whenever he reached the street, he noticed the arrival of his normal two ANBU guards. "Slackers." The boy whispered under his breath as he made his way down the road.
A smirk came onto his face as he entered the store he robbed not even two days earlier. "What do you want?" The old man grit out. "I'd like some arm and leg warmers please." Naruto said with a fake plastered smile.
The man reached under the counter and pulled out some black baggy, and obviously low quality, arm/leg warmers. "3000 ryo for all four." Naruto let out a wince but produced the money and got the product.
"Don't come in here again and don't tell anyone where you got those from." The old man said as Naruto exited. 'I'm definitely gonna rob you a lot more in the future.' Naruto thought. Once returned to his apartment, the boy slid on his new accessories and made them the proper size.
'I shall work on my chakra control more tonight.' The redhead thought while laying down in his bed.
*One year later, the Nara compound*
Amaya sat in the grass beside her father. "So you say that you could control the shadows without hand seals?" Shikaku asked, earning a nod. "Could you show me?" The girl placed her palm on the shadow she made and lifted her hand up, bringing the shadow with it.
"It's like the shadows just answer my commands. Here, watch this." Amaya stared at the shadow and it jumped up while forming a kunai. The ravenette reached out and gripped the hilt. She handed the kunai to her father and he moved to cut the grass with it.
The blade cut through the blades of grass with ease. "This is amazing Amaya-chan. You'll become a great shinobi with this ability." The man said before seeing that his daughter had fallen asleep.
"I guess something like this would make her tired." The clan head said while taking off his jacket and placing it over her. "The elder's must hear about this." He started walking away.
*A few hours later*
Amaya woke up with the afternoon sun beaming in her face and her father's jacket on her. She got up and placed the jacket around her shoulders. Looking around, the Nara noticed that none of her clansmen were in the training field.
After looking around for a little longer, she saw one run towards the clan meeting's building. Amaya stood and followed him. Once reaching the building, she could hear the shouting from outside the window.
"It is the most logical thing to do." One of the elders said, earning approval and disapproval from the crowd. "I am not making my daughter a breeding stock no matter how logical it is." Shikaku said, his voice having a dangerous edge that Amaya never heard.
"Exactly, I'll kill the four of you before you can." Yoshino said, her shinobi and mother side merging. "Despite what you think, it is the best thing for the clan to make her a breeding stock so we will leave it up to a vote." The only female elder said.
Amaya stood on her tippy toes to look into the meeting room. "All those in favor of making her a breeding stock and making our clan stronger raise your hand." More than half the room raised their hands.
"Those opposed." There were many hands but not as much as those in favor. "It is now final, Amaya will become a breeding stock whenever she reaches 13 years old." There were MANY opposed to that part.
"That is pedophilia!" One man shouted, earning shouts of agreement. "As long as she is a registered shinobi, she is considered an adult so it will be perfectly legal." The elders said. Shikaku gave out a loud curse.
He really hated that there was no way for Amaya not to be a shinobi other than crippling her which would be cruel. There was no way as it was a rule in the Nara clan that any heir or heiress must become a shinobi to lead the clan when older. The rule didn't even change if the clan head had multiple children.
They all had to become shinobi. "This meeting has come to an end. This is our final ruling." The elders said before rising and leaving. As people began to leave, Amaya ran towards her house. When she reached it, she went into the kitchen and pulled out a pot before filling it with water.
After wiping her tears and making sure no one could tell she was crying, she began to boil the water. When the door opened and her parents walked in, they saw her washing rice while trying to boil some water.
"Oh you guys are back. I started dinner while you were gone." She said with a face splitting smile. Her mother walked ruffled her hair before going to help her. "Good job, Amaya-chan. How long have you been here for?" Shikaku asked, walking up behind his daughter.
"I woke up about half an hour ago. I laid there for a little while before deciding to come cook. What did you guys do?" Amaya asked, giving her mom the washed rice. "We had another boring clan meeting. Those old geezers just blabbered the whole time." Yoshino said, getting giggles from Amaya.
"Go get yourself cleaned up while we prepare dinner." Shikaku said, grabbing a kitchen knife and some carrots. The little Nara nodded and walked up the stairs. Once in her room, she broke into tears.
Whatever plans for her life were now gone, her fate was set in stone and there was nothing she could do. She couldn't stop her shinobi training because she'd be forced into becoming a shinobi.
There was only one way out of the situation and it was very drastic. Leaving the village and starting somewhere else away from her family. Just the thought of being away from her parents and clansmen hurt her more than anything but to actually do it would be an entirely different thing.
Amaya took a deep breath and began to rationalize. She would have to grow strong enough to live in the wilderness and escape the Hi no Kuni. Not only that but she'd have to do it all before her 13th birthday.
Her resolve was set by the time she came down for dinner. She would become strong enough to leave the village and nation by the time she was 13 or she'd become a breeding stock. While eating dinner, she spoke to her parents.
"I want to train again tomorrow. As troublesome as it is, becoming a good shinobi would mean that I could protect you two." Her smile alone crushed the souls of her parents. "That's a noble goal my dear." Yoshino said, holding back her tears.
*Naruto's apartment*
It was 11pm and Naruto had just finished getting ready for his next heist. With his all black pants and sandals on, he turned to smoke and moved out into the night. It only took him a few minutes to reach the shinobi shop he'd been scoping out.
He knew it was run by a retired shinobi but the guy was so arrogant that he forgot to lock his doors on most nights. It was understandable considering he lived in an apartment above it with his civilian girlfriend.
Naruto had sourced his profile and found out the dude was a Tokubetsu jounin in the field of taijutsu. The man had no sensing abilities and held an affinity to Doton. Naruto shook his smoky head as he positioned his body to move through the open back door.
Once inside the showroom of sorts, he materialized. The topless boy produced his empty backpack from his abdomen and started going around the store grabbing what he wanted. He grabbed some chakra conductive kunai and shuriken, a mask that would be useful in later robberies, and a nice flak jacket.
Once it was all stuffed into his backpack, it turned to smoke and went back into his stomach. When he was about to turn himself into smoke, he noticed the moonlight glint onto a blade on the wall.
He was immediately brought to the blue bladed Katana in the case and whistled quietly at the design of the tsuba. He brought his gloved hand into a fist and broke the glass above the weapon.
Once retrieving the blade and its scabbard, he put them together and turned them to smoke. The long smoke line went into his left arm while his right still held his old Katana. "Dual wielding Katana sounds fun." Naruto said to himself as he turned to smoke and drifted off.