Hey guys I'm back with the third chapter. I'm sorry it took so long. These past two weeks have been insane for me. I will finish this story though no matter how long it takes because I don't go back on my word cause that's my ninja way. lol Well a very special thank you to every single person who reviewed. I really appreciate it.I will take all of your comments to heart as I continue to write this story. Well on with chapter three.

Chapter 3: Thieves in the Night

The night sky though for many meant that the day was over for the west side of Konoha it meant something entirely different. The west side wasn't known as the rough side of Konoha for nothing. The setting sun and the darkening sky marked the beginning of the day for the gangs all over the west side.

Naruto walked down the darkening rundown street. After dropping Ino off at the meeting spot for the Kunoichi Clique he went his own way to his own meeting. Naruto was apart of a gang called the Shinobi Squad. The Shinobi Squad was filled with a band of misguided youths like Naruto. The gang caused a lot of mischief, fought with rival gangs and stole. Naruto joined the gang for many reasons. They provided him with acknowledgement which was a small substitute for the love he had been looking for his life and had yet to find, his pranks that he pulled with the squad helped him to burn of the frustration he often felt, it helped him improve his fighting skills, and the stealing they did together got him enough money to provide himself with the bare necessities such as water, and food. Many of the deeds that gang performed left Naruto feeling uneasy and ashamed. When the thought about the alternative it made those feelings vanish temporarily.

Naruto reached an old abandoned Raman restaurant which served as the meeting place for the Shinobi Squad. The place had been abandoned for years and because it was bypassed so much it served as the perfect meeting place. After pulling open the door Naruto was met with a bunch of youths sitting around the old dusty restaurant. He eventually approached the area where the four most important people of the gang were sitting.

The first was 17 year old named Kiba Inuzuka. At 5 foot 11 with long dark bangs that peered out of the grey hoodie he wore, and a sneer on his face he looked like a stray dog. Kiba actually loved dogs. He had a lot of fierce dogs that he used on his enemies. His favorite dog's name was Akamaru. Akamaru was a small puppy living, abandoned in an ally. When Kiba was running from a group of boys trying to jump him he stumbled into the ally where Akamaru was abandoned. Akamaru leapt out surprising the boy. The dog looking scruffy, underfed, and unloved reminded Kiba a lot of himself. In a way he was a stray. Living in foster care and moving from one house to another made him just like the puppy without a home to call his own. Kiba took the puppy and from then on they were inseparable. Of course his foster parents didn't take it well. They didn't really want a boy around much less a dog. A dog didn't come with a check. Kiba not wanting to be separated from Akamaru decided to make his own home. He slept on the streets for awhile and then joined the Shinobi Squad. With his fierce determination and fighter's spirit he quickly rose to the ranks of leader. Eventually he stole enough to get a decent place to live. The two strays finally had a place to call their own.

The second boy was called Shikamaru Nara. The word for Shikamaru was average. He had average brown hair in a pony tail. He was an average height of 5 foot "7". He had an average build. The only thing about his appearance that stuck out was the perpetual bored expression that he always wore. His average brown eyes always had an annoyed, sleepy, bored, look to them. With his average appearance most people tended to pass Shikamaru over. That was the mistake they made. Shikamaru was a 16 year old genius. Back when he used to go to school a teacher gave him an IQ test and it confirmed Shikamaru a genius. Unlike most geniuses who obsess with school and skip a bunch of grades, the lazy boy did just the opposite. He left school after 9th grade with a C - average and spent his time sleeping, watching clouds, hustling people in go games, and spending time with the gang. His brains made him a valuable member of the gang. Sure his fighting skills were good but his strategies were even better. Most people didn't realize his plan of attack in a fight until it was too late. He was the brains of the gang.

Choji Akamichi was an overweight 17 year old. At a height of 5"8" at 289 pounds, with brown hair and a potato chip bag practically glued to his hand he didn't look like much. In Choji's case looks were very deceiving. The boy was incredible strong and used his godlike strength to win his fights. He often paired up with Shikamaru who was his best friend, to take an opponent down. With Shikamaru's brains and Choji's brawn the two were practically unstoppable. Choji was pretty easy going despite his home situation. His father was big fat and unemployed. His mother a skinny irritable looking woman was often fighting with him. Ashamed of her overweight slob of a husband and a fat juvenile delinquent of a son she often pretended she didn't know them when in public. The fact that she ignored Choji hurt him a lot more then he would ever care to admit, but he just sucked it up like most of the kids from their neighborhood did whenever something was bothering them.

Last but certainly not least was the gang leader. The gang leader was a pale handsome 17 year old named Sasuke. The boy looked like a god. He was blessed with long lashes, pouty lips, thick dark hair, and a figure that managed to look graceful and strong at the same time. The one thing that intimidated people was his eyes. They were twin dark, icy cold eyes filled with anger and regret. After experiencing the life that he had it wasn't hard to see why. He was cold and distant to just about everybody. The only person who could actually get through to Sasuke was Naruto. Naruto and Sasuke were like brothers. As polar opposites on the surface it looked like their relationship was terrible because of all of the bickering that they did but if one looked deeper they would see the bond that the two shared. They were inseparable. Every time Sasuke had a problem he went to Naruto. That's why Naruto was pretty much second in command in the gang. A lot of people were resentful at first that Naruto was second in command because of his friendship with the leader. Eventually most of those people's minds were changed when Naruto showed them what he was capable of. Anytime Sasuke had a fight Naruto was always there to back him down. Both were unbeatable as a pair.

Naruto walked over to the spot where his four friends were and sat down. He found the usual scene of Sasuke quietly brooding, Shikamaru sleeping, Choji eating, and Kiba with Akamaru asleep on his head was telling a story which nobody was paying attention to. The only response to his arrival was Kiba who stopped telling the story, looked up and at Naruto.

" Yo fox boy your late today." He said with his famous sneer.

" Sorry dog boy I was walking with Ino and lost track of time" said Naruto with an apologetic grin.

" Ahhh Ino." Sighed Kiba with a reminiscent look in his eyes.

"Now there's a woman, pretty and feisty just the way I like em. You've seriously got to hook me up bro."

Naruto sighed. They had gone through this many times before. Kiba had made at least one hundred attempts to get together with Ino. Each one had failed. The problem was that Kiba went about it in the wrong way and ended up annoying Ino. There was always a fight every time they were in the same room. Kiba would provoke Ino and then they would get in a fight over things like card games, food, and Kiba's failed attempts to feel Ino up. The fights usually ended with her smacking him and cursing him out, while he stood there with a mischievous grin on his face which made her even angrier. Every time this happened it was up to Naruto to calm her down. Though they fought a lot there were times that they did get along. If Kiba could manage to keep his rude comments and hands to himself they could carry on a decent conversation. Sadly this didn't happen too often.

" Kiba how many times must I tell you she's not interested in you. " sighed Naruto in exasperation.

"Hmmm…. A good few hundred more times." said Kiba with a grin.

Naruto, Choji and it looked like even Akamaru rolled their eyes. Shikamaru just kept sleeping and Sasuke continued his brooding blocking out the conversation in front of him.

"Anyway, what are the plans for tonight?" Naruto said shaking his head at his friend's insanity.

"I don't know Sasuke didn't tell us yet he walked in only a few minutes before you did." " He said he wanted to wait for you to come so we just chilled out while waiting for you." Choji said in between bites of his chips.
" Well now I'm here so what's the game plan for tonight?" Said Naruto glaring at Sasuke. The stoic boy just turned to the blonde and responded with a famous "Hn"

Naruto was never one to tolerate the boy's silence and decided to try his usual tactic of annoying the boy until he talked. Needless to say after fifteen minutes of the blonde boy's incessant question , pokes, and rants the cold boy gave in.

" Listen Dobe, if you don't shut up I promise you will never speak again, now shut up so I can tell everybody the plan for tonight." The dark boy said in a deadly whisper that would make a July day seem cold.

" Sure thing Teme it's about time." said Naruto with his trademark grin. He stopped poking Sasuke and sat down. Most people would be afraid of Sasuke if he talked like that to them but, Naruto just shrugged him off. Then again if it had been anybody but Naruto harassing Sasuke they would be dead in an instant.

Sasuke glared at Naruto then began his task of telling the gang the game plan for tonight.

"Listen up you guys." " We're going to split up in different sections tonight." "It's by age." "17 and older you're going with Kiba and you're going to hunt down the people on our hit list to teach them a lesson." "Thirteen to sixteen year olds you're going with Shikamaru and Choji, to learn some new battle techniques."

" Twelve and under you're going with Naruto to steal us some supplies and set fires, smash windows, and any other mischief you can think of to teach people not to mess with us." To most people getting stuck with the little kids would seem like the worst assignment. To Naruto it was the best one. He had a way with little kids they seemed to understand him. Choji would be too busy eating to command the kids, Shikamaru would be too lazy, Kiba was just end up in an argument with them, and Sasuke pretty much hated everything and everyone and little kids were at the top of his list in things he hated.

Naruto was the only person left who could deal with them and that was mostly because he acted like on 75 of the time.

"All right guys move out." With those icy commanding words everybody moved to their groups.

A few minutes later after all the members of the youngest group gathered together Naruto led them into the dark dangerous streets. The tiny band of delinquents made their way through the streets of Konoha. They walked until the reached an area full of stores. This was the shopping district of Konoha. During the day it was crowded and busy but, at night there was not a soul to be seen. This made what they were about to do easier.

" Hey you guys." Blonde leader said calling his group to attention.

The group stopped and listened to the words of their leader. They respected what he had to say and didn't hesitate to listen to him. Whether it was because of the fact that he was a lot bigger than them or it was because they loved his strong yet playful personality it didn't' matter. Those kids considered Naruto their big brother.

"Let's split up and grab some things we will meet back here at this spot in front of the Kunai Kafe." "Remember don't take too much and don't get caught."" Okay you shrimps get to work." Naruto gave them a wink and his trademark grin and walked away from his group.

As the kids went off to do their thing Naruto decided to follow his own orders and grab some things. He hated stealing but it was necessary. Being a teenager on the streets you had to do what was necessary to survive. Taking his trusty hair pin out of his pocket he slipped it into the silver lock of the door and the door clicked open like magic. After doing this a few hundred times he was quite good at it. Since it was a connivance store Naruto decided to first grab the basics like water. While he grabbed things off of the shelf he started thinking about his life. It wasn't fair that he had to steal just to survive and that people looked down on him for that. One day he would become mayor and help children off of the streets so they would never have to steal just to eat. One day he would sit in a nice house and eat nice food like real Raman instead of the store bought packages that he lived on. One day he would be surrounded by friends and family and feel the love that he had been waiting for his whole life. That day was far off though and no matter how hard he wished for it there was a possibility that it would never come. The blonde boy sighed, picked up his loot and headed out of the dark store he had just robbed.

Whew and that's the end of chapter 3. I ended up introducing some more charecters. What did you think? I'm really looking for some reviews so PLEASE, PLEASE give me some. If you want me to respond to your reviews please say that at the end of your review. I'll be happy to respond. I also need some suggestions for pairings. So far Naruto/Hinata is set in stone and i refuse to change it. I was thinking about Shikamaru/Temari, Neji/ TenTen. Ino/Kankuro, Shizune/ Iruka, Anko/Kakashi. If you have a problem with these pairings or if you can think of some you want to see let me know. I might add them in the story. I'm not really into the whole making up new charectersthing. I prefer touse the charecters in theAnime/Manga to make pairings but if it's necessary I will. Sooooooo... Thanx again for reading my story.

- Peace