Authorial notes – This was an unusual Naruto story in that I intended to be concentrating on the course his early life could have taken. I have read several stories along the lines of "Kami takes pity on Naruto and grants him supremely overpowered skills" and I thought Naruto holds the Kyuubi, wouldn't it be more likely that he'd get the attention of the fox-god Inari? And with Naruto's pranking nature... it seemed like a match made in... um... (dammit) heaven.

Also, before anyone tries to flame me for turning the Fox-god into a Fox-goddess and claiming that Kami is male… do you really thing that Deities are limited by human notions of gender?

Oh yeah. Almost forgot. I don't own Naruto or any of its derivatives. Before or after it jumped the shark. Seriously, Kishi, 100+ chapters for Naruto to answer Hinata? What the heck were you thinking?

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Prologue

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The two-year old boy walked tiredly along the lane, ignoring the gathering dark and the hate-filled glares as he moved like one in a dream. Once again he had been locked out of the orphanage and was now looking for a small corner or sheltered area to sleep in.

As he walked, he was unaware of the being watching him, a being whose golden eyes glowed with warmth, unseen by any of the civilians or shinobi in the area.

"Uzumaki Naruto..." mused the being, its voice filled with power, humour and emotions hidden too deep for any mortal to do more than guess at. "And the holder of Kurama... It'll be good to see him again, it has been too long."

"Something got your attention?" a more powerful voice asked and the first being glanced round.

"As a matter of fact, Kami-sempai, it has. The kit down there has caught my at him, alone, hungry, abandoned..."

"And you intend to do something." Kami stated. "You know my Law about not interfering. The age of miracles is past, Inari, it passed with the Sage of the Six Paths."

"I do not intend to perform any miracles." Inari said. "I will not take him away in a flash of light, I will not change the world around him. But remember the rest of your Law, Kami. We may intervene in dreams or in our shrines."

Kami froze and then turned his gaze towards Inari. After a few moments, he nodded with manifest unwillingness.

"Very well, Inari. Although I do not fully approve, I will not seek to halt your actions unless you draw too close to breaking my Law. But it may be a while before he sleeps, and you have no shrine in Konoha."

"You are mistaken, Kami-sempai." Inari smirked. "It has been hidden for over a century, but I have a shrine in Konoha. In fact, the Kit will soon reach it."

Kami frowned and glanced down the street. For a few moments, he seemed to stare blankly at a nondescript wall, then a grudging smile formed on his face.

"And how long has the shrine actually been there, I wonder? And such a complex fuuinjitsu/genjitsu to cover it. You win this one, Inari. Have you chosen how you will do this? And what about his destined mate?"

"Do not worry about that." Inari said, fading away. "As you planned, the fates of the kitsune kit and the usagi joey will be entwined, and it will be fun..."

Kami stood unnoticed on the roof, shaking his head in chagrined amusement.

"How do you do it, Inari? You do whatever you want while remaining within my Law... but the day you slip you will return to my Court, and I will have the last laugh..."

No-one noticed him vanish.

But then again, only a monk, and a high-ranked one at that, would have been able to have detected even the faintest hint of his presence in the first place.