Konoha. The home of many legendary shinobi that have appeared through history. These legends range from the infamy of Madara Uchiha to the fame of the god of shinobi, Hiruzen Sarutobi and more recently, the yellow flash, Minato Namikaze.

The fourth and current hokage, Minato Namikaze, is a leader that is more beloved then any leader before him and his tale is constantly recited to both the younger and older generation. He was a clanless orphan who dreamt of becoming the Hokage and he possessed the drive to make it a reality. Through his determination and his never say quit attitude, he piqued the interest of one of the legendary sannin and eventually he became the disciple of the toad sage, Jiraiya. He went on to master the most complex of the shinobi arts, fuinjutsu. This art was something that only the Uzumaki clan truly understood and mastered but once again, Minato defied all expectations, surpassing his teacher, to reach a level of understanding that only the Uzumaki have done. He wasn't done there though, he went on to complete and improve upon a technique created by the second hokage, the flying thunder god. This went on to become one of his two signature techniques and with them went on to become the hero of the third shinobi world war as the feared yellow flash. The reason why his tale is so loved is because of the message within; a hero can come from anywhere. However, his legend is still being written and the most recent addition occurred five years ago.

What was meant to be one of the greatest days in Minato's life quickly became one of the worst. Shortly after his wife, Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze, gave birth to triplets they were ambushed by a masked man claiming to be Madara Uchiha. The masked man planned to take the three babies hostage but he underestimated them. The doctor that presided over the birth was none other than the slug princess, Tsunade Senju.

You see, a few weeks before Kushina was due Jiraiya received a message from his summons. They believed that there was a strong possibility that one of three would possess the mystic wood release. As soon as he received the news, he tracked down the last living Senju. He believed that if anyone could tell if one of the children possessed her grandfather's bloodline, it would be her. It was difficult to convince her to come back with him to the village, but she eventually agreed to it, but it wasn't for the reason he believed.

Tsunade didn't care or believe that one of the children would be born with the bloodline. To her it was possible but unlikely. The Uzumaki clan and Senju clan have a common ancestor and with Minato being an orphan, it is possible that he may have some Senju in him but in the recorded history of her clan, the only one to ever develop the wood release was her grandfather. So, she didn't really believe the toads message. The thing that made her agree to return to Konoha was Kushina. They grew up together and became sisters in all but blood. Kushina still didn't forgive her for missing the birth of her first child. Hopefully, Kushina would forgive her if she was there and helping with the birth of her other children.

The worlds strongest woman being at the birthing site provided a level of defence that the masked man was unprepared for. The toad sage being in the next room over was also something he didn't calculate for. The masked Uchiha had to improvise. He was only able to get the youngest of the triplets but it was enough to temporarily separate Minato from the group, and while the two sannin protected the other children, he was able to teleport away with the weakened Kushina. He was able to unseal the kyuubi and put it under his control but before he could do anything else Minato, the two sannin and Hiruzen teleported to Kushina's location.

Biwako sarutobi had agreed to look after the Namikaze Uzumaki heir while his siblings were being born. So, Minato teleported to the marker he placed on his eldest. Once he arrived at the Sarutobi compound, he explained the situation to Hiruzen and his wife, left his youngest with her and flashed away with her husband back to the birthing site. Seeing that Kushina was gone, Minato flashed to her bringing the group of Konoha legends with him. However, in their haste, they accidentally brought the other two children with them.

The men and their summons went on to battle the masked man and the Kyuubi while the greatest medic did everything, she could to keep Kushina alive. After a long battle, they were able to free the Kyuubi from the Uchiha's control as well as drive him off, but it wasn't over yet. They acted quickly while the Kyuubi was still dazed, they had to seal it away once again. Luckily, Minato had been preparing for this in secret over the last few months. He knew that the seal of a female jinchuriki is weakened during pregnancy and knowing that his wife was giving birth to triplets meant that there was a possibility that the seal would be deprived of chakra to the point that he had to reseal the beast into a new host. Kushina would never had agreed to this. She knew how lonely the life of a jinchuriki could be and did not want that for any of her children.

The three fuinjutsu experts sealed the dazed beast within the eldest of the two children, as he had the greatest chakra capacity. Once that was done, using the Shodaime necklace to keep the beast calm and Tsunade's perfect chakra control to guide the tailed beast chakra, they transferred half of the Kyuubi's chakra back into Kushina's seal in order to save her life. Since the beast is a being of pure chakra, this process ended up creating two kyuubis.

The beast never made it into the walls of the village but the battle was still seen and heard, so Minato had to explain that the tailed beast was now sealed within his son and he should be seen as a hero and a good omen as him being born that day saved the village form the wrath of the tailed beast.

Once the commotion was over, Tsunade fully examined Kushina and the triplets. She was happy to report that Kushina would recover with no problems and that none of the children possessed the wood release. You see it was recorded that her grandfather had a unique chakra from birth. Since none of the children possessed it, they wouldn't develop the bloodline ability later on in life. With her job done Tsunade originally planned to leave the village once again but seeing her little sister in such a state made her stay. So, she moved back to the village with her surrogate daughter and apprentice, Shizune.

Five years have passed since that day and we currently find the youngest of the UzuNami children strolling down the street in the middle of the night. His name is Naruto.

Naruto occasionally did these moonlit strolls whenever he needed to think about something. The topic of todays stroll was his life and future. Earlier on that day he was at the Sarutobi compound, looking after the young Konohamaru while the older Sarutobi members were enjoying a family reunion as Biwako and Hiruzen's youngest son Asuma had returned from the capital, having completed his time as one of the twelve guardian ninjas. Naruto had just put the toddler to sleep when the arguing started in the other room. He learnt that Asuma wasn't happy how Hiruzen put the village before his family when he was hokage and that he hated living under his shadow. The pressure with too much and it was making him miserable, so he left and joined the guardians. Hearing this made Naruto think about himself.

As he continues to walk down the silent street, he asked himself; can he be happy in Konoha? Just look at his family. His godparents are two of the sannin, his father is the famed yellow flash and his mother is a rival for Tsunade for the title of strongest kunoichi. Then there are his siblings. His oldest brother, Kouga, is the clan heir and a prodigy at the same level as his father. Another thing he shared with his father was his intelligence that rivalled a Nara. Together with his best friend and teammate Isane Uchiha, they are rapidly climbing up in the shinobi world. Appearance wise, he was the opposite of Naruto. While Naruto inherited Minato's features and Kushina's facial structure, Kouga inherited Kushina's features and Minato's facial structure. This included the Uzumaki straight red hair, something Naruto was a bit jealous of.

His other brother, Menma, is the Jinchuriki to the kyuubi and his sister, Mito, inherited their mother's special chakra. This is something they learnt a year ago. Menma and Naruto look identical. The only thing that is different between them is there eye colour. Naruto has blue eyes while Menma has purple. Mito is a clone of Kushina.

Then there is Naruto who is perfectly average. The amount of chakra he possessed is larger than those in his age group, but it was average for an Uzumaki his age and was a bit smaller than his sister's. He may be smarter and more mature then Menma and Mito, but it was nothing to brag about. Compared to his family, there was nothing special or distinguishing about Naruto.

He stopped outside a shop he visited a few days earlier. Kushina was going shopping with the triplets and after they left, she realised that she forgot something that she needed for that night's dinner. Naruto, being the most responsible of the three children, volunteered to go back to buy the item that was forgotten. When he arrived at the counter to pay, the cashier took longer then he should have to recognise him since he was in the store less than five minutes ago. The cashier finally recognised him but not as Naruto. He simply called him the hokage's son.

Naruto would like to say that this was an isolated incident, but it was common in his life. The villagers simply know him as his parent's child or his siblings' brother and what frustrated him was that the rest of his siblings don't have this problem. When they are out, no one has trouble remembering them. However, Naruto could understand this for he is average, and his siblings have so much more potential than him. So, the villagers have much greater expectations for them. He could live with that, but it wasn't just the villagers.

There have been many times when he is with his family and they act surprised that he is there. They act like he just materialised out of thin air when, in fact, he had been there since the beginning. It's not like they forget to feed him or forget him at home when they go on vacation and things like that, but it feels like his existence is an afterthought in their minds. For example, the triplet's birthday, Menma and Mito will get these well thought out gifts that they would love and want while Naruto's gift would be something that someone his age should like. Another example is his night-time strolls. He is five, there is no way he could sneak out of his house without his older brother or parents knowing but here he is. With the other two, Kushina and Minato would check on them 2-3 times throughout the night but with Naruto they just assume he is in bed without checking.

He knows that they love him, but they focus more on his other siblings. His godparents and surrogate big brother, Kakashi, are the same. To be honest, the only people in the entire village that truly see him are Hiruzen and his wife. That was the reason he spent so much time at the Sarutobi clan compound.

Naruto looked up towards the moon. He sighed. In conclusion he can have an easy life in Konoha, but it might not be a happy one.

With his thinking done for the day, Naruto began to slowly make his way back to his home. His fingers interlocked behind his head and, as he had traversed this route so many times, his eyes were closed. He is just enjoying the breeze. Unknown to him, however, he was being followed.

A cloaked man has been stalking the youngest Namikaze ever since he began his walk, using the shadows to conceal himself. The figure raised his arm and vines began to move towards the boy discreetly. They slowly slithered across the ground, creeping towards the unsuspecting child. On the man's command, the vines bound the boy's legs, tripping him over.

Naruto rolled onto his back and looked at his feet. He couldn't help but wonder where the vine came from. He reached down and began to untangle himself with difficulty. After some time, he was finally free. He sat back and took a deep breath in triumph. As he relaxed, he heard some unusual rustling. Well, more unusual. This is the village hidden in the leaves so the swishing of trees isn't strange but considering where he currently was in the village the amount was odd. It sounded like he was in the middle of a forest. He turned his head and saw an oval shaped hole in the wooden fence that led into a woodland area. He didn't know that this was being built but there was no way someone didn't purposely create it. The circular hole was too perfect to not be intentional and it looked like it was being contoured by… a zipper?

Any sane person wouldn't walk into a completely unknown, possibly dangerous forested area in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't have a choice in the matter. A sweet scent filled his nostrils, dulling his mind and enticing him into the forest.

Naruto began making his way through the foliage and unknown to him the forest was coming alive behind him. The vines were making their way through the undergrowth or crawling down the trees, but they were all moving towards the boy. Something about the boy was calling out to the forest. The flora felt joy in his presence, this is something that has never happened before.

Naruto stopped in front of a fruit bearing tree. Hanging from the branches are strange reddish-purple fruits. He reached up and grabbed the fruits and opened it up, revealing the pale pink flesh. He slowly brought it up to his mouth but just before he ate the fruit, he felt something brush against his shoulder. This, momentarily, brought him out of his trance but when he turned around, he returned to his trance like state.

A lone vine was before him and hanging from it was a different fruit. Appearance wise the new fruit was the same as the others, but it was white in colour. The desire he had for the fruit was greater than the others. Without hesitation, he snatched the white fruit from the vine and tore open the husk revealing rainbow coloured flesh instead of the pale pink. He tore into the flesh, devouring it like it was his first meal in days then he froze. The empty husk fell from his hands.

Naruto dropped to his knees and clutched his head. He felt intense pain as memories that weren't his entered his mind. His eyes were flashing red. He raised his head to the sky and released a soundless scream. He didn't notice the forest around him. It was reacting to his pain and began lashing out at anything around the child. The pain became too much, and he passed out. His last thoughts were of four names: Zangetsu, Ryugen, Baron and Gaim.

Creatures that were alerted to Naruto's presence by all the commotion cautiously approached the boy. These creatures are known as Inves and they were looking forward to their new meal. When the Inves were a few metres from the child, the cloaked man appeared between them and their target. The Inves stopped and all was quiet. Eventually they decided to leave.

The mystery man looked down at the passed-out child. Naruto's eyes were wide open but completely white and the only real signs of life was the occasional twitch. The man hoped that he was doing the right thing. New champions were needed, and he believed that Naruto had the potential to become one of the greatest. He prayed that he was right, and the child could survive the coming threat.

A few hours later, Naruto woke up on the forest floor. He sat up and rubbed his head. It was killing him. He had the weirdest dream about these colourful, fruit themed warriors called armoured riders. Seriously, fruit? What a laugh.

He stood up and stretched his body. He looked up at the night sky, he was relaxed and felt, strangely, good. That is until he began to panic. He has been asleep for an unknown amount of time and if his mother found out she would kill him. No joke. Her temper is legendary.

Naruto began to frantically search for an exit. He vaguely remembered entering the forest and he was pretty certain he took several twists and turns to reach where he was currently. In his panicked search he failed to notice a zipper gate open 30 meters away. He only noticed it once it was fully open.

Naruto saw the forest exit and felt like an idiot. He believed that he barely entered the forest and he still got lost. He ran out of the forest and back on to the street. He turned around and gave the forest one last look before he ran home. Once he left the portal zipped itself back up and vanished as if it were never there to begin with.

After some time, Naruto arrived at the Namikaze-Uzumaki clan compound. Well, it was more of a house then a compound. Minato never cared for a larger place to live, He was happy just to be with his family and have enough room for his sensei and a few others to also live with them if they wanted. Kushina grew up in the Senju clan compound which was incredibly lonely for her. The Senju Clan grounds are the largest in Konoha, but the clan was nearly extinct. It was too much space so she decided that if she had a family, they would have a nice, small, cosy place to live.

As soon as Naruto's hand contacted the door handle, the sealing matrix came to life. It recognised his chakra and the door unlocked. He gently opened the door and quickly checked if anyone was up. He noticed that the light was on in the kitchen. He had to be quiet. He silently closed the door and tiptoed towards the stairs. So far so good, looks like he would make it. Unfortunately, lady luck wasn't on his side today.

Just as he was about to ascend the first step, Naruto found himself pinned to the wall by several kunai.

"Naruto? What are you doing out of bed?"

Naruto turned his head and saw his older brother Kouga. Just before he could answer, he was cut off by another voice.

"Isn't there something you are forgetting?"

Minato was watching his sons interact with an amused look on his face. His smile grew wider when he saw his eldest realise that he had pinned the youngest Namikaze to the wall and he scrambled to get his brother down from the wall. Once Naruto was back on the ground, Minato placed his hands on his hips and looked down at Naruto but still with a smile on his face.

"Do you want to explain why you were outside at this time of night?" he said.

Naruto bashfully rubbed the back of his head and with an awkward smile he replied.

"I was… umm, exploring?"

Minato sighed and began to rub his temple. Surprisingly Kouga was the next to speak.

Kouga walked up to his brother and ruffled his hair. This annoyed Naruto so he tried to brush off his older brother's hand, but he failed.

"I get it." Said Kouga. "You are excited about starting training and think you are grown up enough to do anything. But don't forget that you are just starting out. You should be careful."

"Kouga's right." Minato continued. "Even here, in the village, it is dangerous for anyone to wonder around at night and it is especially dangerous for someone your age. *sigh* That reckless, leap before you look nature is something you inherited from your mother. We'll talk about this tomorrow, so head up t-."

An oppressive aura washed over the Namikaze males causing them to harden in place. They turned their heads and saw the terrifying form of the Uzu-Kaze matriarch, Kushina. Her eyes are completely white, and her hair split into nine strands that were swishing angrily. She stomped over to her youngest, fist raised.

Kushina bonked Naruto on the top of his head. He crouched down and cradled his aching head. Kushina reached down and grabbed him by the ear.

"Do you know what time it is!" Kushina was careful not to raise her voice, she needed to keep her voice low so that she didn't wake up the other children.

"You are going straight to bed young man and you better be prepared for the punishment I'm going to give you tomorrow!"

She dragged Naruto up the stairs, ignoring the occasional 'ow' that escaped from his mouth.

Naruto looked to his father and brother for help, but they refused to make eye contact. Traitors, he thought. Next time they are in trouble he won't help them. In fact, he will laugh at their misery.

Kushina stopped halfway up the stairs. This alerted Kouga and Minato. They looked up and found Kushina's frightening gaze locked on them. They snapped to attention.

"Minato… we are going to have a… talk when I get back."

She continued up the stairs with Naruto behind her, leaving a profusely sweating Minato. She heard what he said.

Once the two vanished down the corridor, Kouga turned to his father and saw him leaning against the wall with a defeated look.

"Hehe… I'm going to die." He croaked out.

Kouga sighed, glad that his mother's rage was not aimed at him. All he could do was pray that his father and brother survived the night.

Back upstairs, Naruto was pushed roughly into his room by Kushina before she closed the door behind her. He was not looking forward to tomorrow. He began to take his clothes off. He took off his trousers and when he dropped them, he heard a peculiar thud. He picked them up and searched his pockets and what he found surprised him.

In his pocket was one of the fruits from the forest. He must have pocketed it without realising. He brought his free hand up to scratch his naked belly, but he found his hand blocked. He looked down and found a belt attached to his waist and the weird thing was he couldn't feel it.

The belt had a yellow belt with a large black buckle with a yellow knife-like mechanism on it. Naruto began to fiddle with it until he felt something happening in his hand, the fruit transformed into a padlock with an orange on it. the name lockseed popped into his mind. As he was examining the device, he accidently pressed a button, opening the lockseed.

"Orange!" reverberated through the room.

Naruto noticed a slot in the belt that looked like the lockseed would fit in. He slowly brought the seed towards the belt but just before they made contact, he heard a voice from the other side of his door.

"NARUTO!"

Kushina was already angry at him and he did not want to make it worse. So, he turned off the lights and dived into bed. He placed the lockseed on his bedside table and went to remove the belt, but it had already vanished. He thought to himself that this must have something to do with the forest he was in earlier. Tomorrow he would investigate… as long as he survived his mother's punishment.

So first chapter is done. Like I said before, feel free to suggest harem members