Ch. 4: New Friends

It has been two years since Naruto has become the new Avatar and his meeting with Aang. The training to be an airbender was going as smooth as it could. And what did Naruto have to show for it?

"YYEEEEEAAAAAAAA!"

Yep. That sounds about right. Currently the now five-year-old blonde was using a technique of air bending that Aang had developed and taught his friends himself. The air scooter. So far, he had to say it was his favorite technique to use for airbending. He was riding the air ball through the forest he has done most of his training in. He was speeding through the trees with a large grin on his face. The wind was blowing through his hair as he zipped and zagged everywhere.

"This is AWESOOOOO-OOF!" Unfortunately, one thing he needed to work on when it came to using the air scooter was learning how to pay attention when he was on it and to make sharp turns. Going face first into a tree, several trees before, was never fun. He could count three or four other trees had the same indention of his face from the other times he tried getting the technique down. Didn't help that he could hear Kyuubi's voice laughing at him every time he did too. Even chuckles from Aang wasn't helping!

"Alright Naruto. Let's take a break and get you back to the village. Remember you still have those animal skins to sell." The voice of Aang spoke to him from his mind. For the two years that he's been with Naruto, Aang has been having the boy read up on the couple of books he's had down in his little base. One of them was surviving in the wild and how to track, hunt, and skin animals. While, yes, in his past life he was a vegetarian, Naruto needed to eat some healthy meals to fill out his body from its previous bony-like structure. So, he was okay with him going and eating animals while also finding what plants he could use that wouldn't be harmful if ate. He, surprisingly, was able to find a couple of berries that were edible within the forest of death. It was surprising since the area wasn't really a place for berries, at least not ones that weren't poisonous. As the time came by Naruto had began wondering if there was a way to put the animal skins to better use besides just tossing them. It was when Aang told him to try selling them did Naruto found a way to make some extra cash. Every so often traveling merchants came by to the village to do business. Since all them were not from the village he didn't get threaten or possibly tossed out of the store. So, with all that said he got up from his spot on the floor after falling down to the ground after the crash. Dusting himself off he headed back in the direction the base for him was so he could grab his bag. He didn't know how sealing worked yet so he couldn't use any sealing scrolls to carry his stuff.

After trekking through the forest, he opened the secret entrance to his new base of operations and went down the slide easily this time. Landing on the floor feet first he went to the living quarters and on the table in the middle of the room he grabbed his bag. Inside of it was several different hides of animals that he used some rope to wrap them up for safe transportation. After he gathered everything he needed he left through a secret exit/entrance. It was through a cave system that led out in front of a waterfall. Jumping through the water onto a boulder he shook his hair of the water before jumping towards land. This area he had found after traveling through the base to get a mental map of everything so he wouldn't get lost. The area was obviously a training ground with a few old training dummies out in the field ahead of the waterfall. It was known as the Nidame's waterfall, or training ground 35.

Jogging through the training ground he made his way back into the village before heading towards the market district. It was usually where the out of town salesmen set up for the day when they came in with goods from different parts of the world. Walking through the crowds of people, who, for once, were ignoring him to look through everything, he saw many different vendors. There was a woman who looked tough, he could tell she's seen or share fair of violence with her missing an eye and all, who had different weapons on her table and a few exotic looking pieces he didn't think were possible to make. He would have to come back to her later, right now though he needed to find someone he could sell these animal skins too. Coming to a stop Naruto looked to his left and saw a man who had different clothing hanging up. He also had some armor pieces, what look like a rug made of tiger skin, and some other material used to make said items.

This was definitely the person he was looking for. Walking up to the stand he stood up on his tippy toes to look over the stand table at the man. "Hey, excuse me sir." Getting the man's attention, the guy looked down to see a blonde-haired kid with a back. Raising an eyebrow at him he stood up straight to give him his attention. "I was wondering if you bought animal skins? I have a couple I would like to sell." He said to the man while the salesman scratched his head.

"Well, yeah. Didn't expect a kid like you to be coming to me to sale animal skins. You must be a young hunter in training." He chuckled with Naruto also chuckling with him. This was nice. Being able to talk to someone without unwanted hate or dislike of his very being. Being able to stand in front of the salesman and not get kicked out of the store or chased off. "Let me see what you got on you and I check its quality."

"Alright. I got a few rabbit skins, some deer, I accidently took out a hawk while hunting and gathered its feathers, a wolf pelt that I've been saving after running for my life and managed to trap the beast when it chased me." Naruto listed off while pulling out each item he said and placed it on the stand table. The man in front of him scratched his beard as he looked at each item with some surprise. Picking up one of the rabbit skins he took the rope off before inspecting it.

"Huh, not bad. Not the best but for an amateur these are in pretty good shape. You're in luck though kid. I was running low on a few items and I could use some of these items for crafting a few items I have commissioned." Hearing this Naruto gained a smile on his face and waited to hear what the man had to offer. "Let's see, for the rabbit skins I can give you…4,414.66 ryu ($39.75), the two deer skins I can give 11,605.07 ryu ($104.5), I don't really need the hawk feathers so you can keep them and try one of the weapon sales people, hmm. The wolf pelt you brought me is actually in better conditioned then most that I've seen before. I can give you say….34,756.69 ryu. So, in total that would be 50,776.42 ryu ($457). What do you say to that."

(these are just rough estimates after doing some researching and using a converter of Japanese yen and U.S. dollars)

Hearing the offer Naruto's eyes widen a bit before he nodded quickly. Chuckling the man got the ones he picked out before gathering the money and handed it to the kid. Naruto to the money gleefully and placed it away in a safe spot on his person within in his wallet. "Thank you for doing business with me sir."

"No, thank you kid. I can finally finish one of the orders I got a few weeks ago. If you ever have anymore skins come see me the next time I come to the village."

"Alright. Thanks again." Waving to the man as he waved back, Naruto moved to look around at the different stands. Now that he had a decent amount of money in his pockets he could do a little splurging for a few things he could use. Of course, before he did that he wanted to check out that stand with the lady with the eye patch again. Though this time when he walked over to it he noticed someone else. It was a girl, around the same age as him if not a year older, who had brown hair with most of it tied into two balls on top of her head like panda ears. She currently had on a pink to dark pink color Chinese dress shirt on while wearing brown shorts. On her feet were sandals that were black and a few bandages wrapped around her ankles. Currently the girl was starry eyed as she looked at the many different weapons on the table the woman had brought with her. Raising an eyebrow at this Naruto just shrugged while moving to a different section of the stand and looked through the items. The woman who ran the place turned her lone eye to him and smiled before leaving the panda haired girl to continue to star at the many weapons. She was obviously having a hard time in picking something so she would give the girl a few minutes in deciding.

"See anything you like to grab? Despite how old you look, you got the eyes of someone who can take care of themselves. So, don't be afraid to pick anything you find interesting." She said while Naruto looked up when she spoke to him before nodding his head. Browsing her wares, he hummed to himself trying to see what he could possibly grab and use for the future. He didn't want anything too big as it would slow him down, especially at his current size. Searching through he looked at the different weapons with a slight critical eye. While he wasn't an expert on weaponry he was observant and had an eye for detail.

"You have a lot of stuff that seems cool. I just don't know what would be right for me." Naruto said while sighing as the lady chuckled lightly before picking up a curved dagger. She spun it around and handed it to him. Picking it up he weighed it in his hand while giving a few test swings. "Hmm. It's light weight but with enough weight to be able to use in combat or to hunt. It seems like it's in good quality." Shrugging he placed it down on the table before looking around again. While he was doing this the girl from before was looking around and had picked up a scroll on the table. When she unrolled it, she noticed that it was a blueprint. She raised an eyebrow while looking at since it was sort of strange. From what she could tell it was a boa-staff type of weapon but it looked too thin in design to do damage. Then there was the other part of the design which showed that a part of it expanded outward into wings. Reading the bottom of the design she saw it said 'Glider'.

"Excuse me ma'am, but what is this supposed to be?" She asked while turning the scroll around and showing it to the woman. Naruto was curious in what it was that and turned around to see what the girl found. When he saw it, his own eyes widen slightly from what he saw and he heard a slight gasp from inside his head.

"I can't believe it! I didn't think any of those would still exist, especially after what happened during the war with my people, and yet here it is." Came the voice of Aang within his head as he could see through Naruto's eyes. To see something like the air nomad glider design to still be around and in good conditioned was a miracle. Naruto moved quickly next to the girl and took the scroll from her hand with her gasping in surprise from the quick take away by the boy she just notice was also here.

"Hey! You could of at least ask nicely to see it without snatching it." She said while crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at him. Naruto had the decency to blush and chuckled nervously.

"Sorry about that. I just…got really interested in it when you showed it."

"You kids have a good eye." The lady said catching both of their attentions. She smirked and leaned on the table to look at the scroll and them. "That scroll is special. From what I've gathered about it, the thing design is old. Dating back before even the ninja villages were established. The only problem with the thing is that because of it's double feature as not only a staff but as well as a glider there aren't many people that would or could use it effectively. Even people who have wind affinities have hade trouble in using one properly when there was one that existed." As she spoke both children when paying attention fully and looked back at the design of the scroll.

"How much do you want for it?" Naruto asked surprising the two and before the female merchant could give a response the young girl standing next to him snatched the scroll out of his hand and held it with a frown.

"Hold on a second, I found it first so I should get to buy it from her." At this logic Naruto could only frown and grab the other part and pull it to him with the girl holding onto it without letting it go.

"You didn't even know what it was or even looked interested in it. Do you even know how to use a staff?" he asked while she growled and glared at him and pulled it back with some force making Naruto's arm jerk forward with him almost tripping.

"I bet I know how to use one better than you! I bet you don't even know how to use a regular kunai yet!" She yelled back with Naruto growling at her and pulled at the scroll. There was a noticeable tear on the top and this made the lady worry.

"Of course, I do! Bet you can't even toss one correctly without it falling before even getting close to the target!" That seemed to get to the girl as she growled again and gritted her teeth. How dare he say that! She was training to be THE number one kunoichi when she got into the academy and he dare insult her accuracy? She pulled at the scroll again with him pulling back.

"I'm buying the scroll blondie, so just let go and get something else!"

"Over my dead body panda girl!

"What did you just call me!"

The two of them struggles to take the scroll from the other before there was a noticeable sound that rung in the air. It was a ripping sound and the two children flew back on there butts before looking up with wide eyes to see that the blueprint for the glider was torn in half from their pulling. Looking up at one another they glared before moving quickly and butting heads.

"Look what you did! Me? No, it was you! You're the one who wouldn't let go! Stop that!" They both yelled at the same time to each other while pushing against one another. The lady at the stand could only giggle and shake her head. She was lucky the damn thing wasn't really worth much to her. She still had plenty of other things that when sold would cover what she lost.

"Well, it seems the both of you will just have to pay for it." The lady said getting both of their attention. She smirked at them and crossed her arms over her bust before shaking her head. "As you are both responsible for the ripping of my product before you even paid for, you will both have to pay for it. Considering how rare it was and how that was most likely the only one of it's kind still around. The cost would be say…29499.01 ryu ($265) paid equally by both of you." Hearing the price, the two kids sighed before glaring at one another before pulling out their wallets. After paying the price 50-50 they browsed around her stall a bit before walking off. As they walked together Naruto and the girl tried to convince each other to give up the other half.

"Come on! I said I was sorry. Can I get the other half? I'll pay you for it." Naruto said to the girl while she just scoffed and turned her head from him while crossing her arms. Despite them both apologizing to one another about ripping the scroll she was still quite upset about him calling her panda girl. So, she chooses to wear her hair into two buns, that didn't make it right for people to call her a panda!

"What's your name by the way?" Naruto asked while looking at the half of the scroll he had and looked at her. "You told me to not call you panda and you haven't introduced yourself either before or after what happened."

"Well, you haven't exactly introduced yourself either blondie. That makes us even." She said with a smirk and making him groan before turning to her and sighed. "Fine, my name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki." He said while holding out his hand to shake hers. She looked at him and gave a small smile before holding her hand out towards him. She shook his hand and he shook back with his own smile coming to his face.

"I'm Tenten. Tenten Hirugashi." Tenten said back while they let go of each other's hand and looked down at the two halves of the scroll they had. "How about a deal." Tenten said getting his attention as she looked up to him. "We share the scroll blueprint. In return I'll get my dad to help us make the staff. He owns the Hirugashi Weapon store. If you help then you can get 20% off at our family shop." Hearing this Naruto's eyes widen before thinking about it. Wasn't a bad deal if he was honest. Would be good to save him some money when getting some new gear for when he started the academy in three years to come. Nodding his head, he looked back up to her with a grin and gave her a thumbs up.

"Alright Tenten, you got yourself a deal!" he said with enough enthusiasm to affect her causing her to grin as well and nod her head. "Great! Then follow me. I'll take you to where the shop is." Nodding again he fell into step beside her while pocketing his half of the scroll. As they walked he decided to get to know the girl a bit more since he would most likely see her a bit more in the future no doubt.

"So, Tenten," He began while getting her attention. She looked to him while they walked towards her father's shop. "What can you tell me about yourself?" That was a question she was surprised to hear. Though considering they both may end up in the academy together, it would be good to have someone as a friend going in with her. Shrugging she decided to tell him about herself and what she planned for the future.

"Well, there isn't much to tell about me. I use to live in the orphanage because my dad was a shinobi at the time and was out on a long-term mission. My mom had died from heart failure so I was forced to live there. It wasn't too bad, though I stayed to myself or with one of the good caretakers. When my dad came back he was injured heavily making him have to resign from active duty. He came and got me before heading home. He's been a weapons smith for a long time even before he resigned from being a shinobi. I help him out a few times as a way to learn how to keep my own weapons in good condition. I also work at the shop and handle any customers when he's busy with an order." She began telling him while Naruto made sure he paid attention. He was a little sad for her at hearing about her mother, considering how young she was she probably didn't remember much about her. She was at least lucky to have someone be there for a while. He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts and continued to listen to her talk.

"I've fascinated about becoming a kunoichi, which is why I choose to practice with kunai and shuriken instead of playing with dolls like most girls. I want to become a great kunoichi like my idol Lady Tsunade! She is known as the world's greatest medical ninja and the strongest woman around!" As she said this Naruto couldn't help the sweat drop coming to the back of his head while watching her go into a sort of fangirl mode. She had stars in her eyes that were twinkling as she thought about her idol. "That's the reason why when I get into the academy I plan on being THE kunoichi of the year. Number one and no less!" She said this all with conviction making Naruto smile. Her dream was admirable to follow. It reminded him of his own goals.

That got him thinking. What were his goals now? He still wanted to become the greatest hokage, but could he while being the avatar? From the stories Aang had told him and from the adventures he has read from the books, the avatar's duty was to the world. The technically couldn't stay for one place even though they could live in one place. It made him think, would he be able to stay in Konoha?

"What about you Naruto? What can you tell me about you?" Tenten's voice brought him out of his thoughts and inner conflict. Blinking he looked to her and hummed, thinking of what exactly he should and could tell her.

"Well, I've been an orphan since the beginning. I don't know who my parents are. There are only a few people who actually looked out for me when I was young. The hokage is like a grandfather to me and one of the Uchiha who is an ANBU member acts like an older brother to me. He brings me food to eat in this apartment that I have to myself. It isn't that big but it is enough for me." He began while Tenten was surprised at hearing this. He's been alone all his life, not even knowing who or what happened to his parents. She frowned and watched him. They were most likely at the orphanage at least around the same time, so she wondered why she didn't recognize him. At least the Hokage has someone to help take care of him.

As Naruto talked though he was debating on whether he should tell Tenten about his ability to bend the wind like one bended a piece of plastic.

"I would hold off on that Naruto." Came the voice of Aang. Naruto titled his head a little while listening to what the ancient man had to say. "While we all know you will, eventually, have to come clean about your abilities, you should try to keep them a secret as much as possible."

'You sure I can't tell her? I mean, she's like the first person my age that I can actually make as a first friend.'

'Just listen to the old man. When and if you can trust her, you can decide whether or not you tell her your secret. Until then keep the conversations to a minimum! Some of us are trying to sleep in here!'

Aang chuckled lightly while watching the giant fox move back into his cage and lay down. He heard Naruto mentally grumbling about lazy rude foxes and he laughed some more. "Despite his attitude, Kyuubi is right. I would only tell those you can trust about your secret. Don't even tell the Hokage or that Itachi fellow either. While you may trust them somewhat, there is no telling they may talk about this with someone.' Aang finished with Naruto nodding his head reluctantly.

"Hey, we're here." The voice of Tenten came to him, making him blink and look around before focusing on the building right in front of him. It was a medium to a small large size building with a hand holding a kunai in a reverse grip and another hand holding a shuriken ready to toss it. On the sign it read

"The Ironclad Shinobi." Naruto read out while looking over the place. He followed Tenten inside the shop and his eyes widened while looking at everything inside. This place had practically everything! He wondered why the girl was even out looking at weapons from a stall. Then again, the stand did have some weapons that probably weren't available within fire country. Moving around the store Naruto began looking at everything. From the clothing section to a few high-grade kunai. He even found a set made for hunting.

"Naruto! Come here!" Turning his attention away from the kunai he walked to where he heard the voice of Tenten and saw her standing next to a tall large man. He easily stood around six feet height. He had broad shoulders and large muscles, showing he did work extensively as a blacksmith. He was currently in a muscle shirt with a blacksmith apron on. His face was sharp and he had a scraggily beard on his chin.

"Naruto this is my dad and owner of the shop, Shimoda Hirugashi." Naruto looked at the giant of a man and shook his hand when offered. "Nice to meet you Hirugashi-san." The man chuckled and gave the boy a firm handshake before smiling down at him.

"Please, call me Shimoda. A friend of Tenten is a friend of mine. Just let me know when you wanna take her hand in marriage before proposing." He said making the two kids blush heavily.

"DAD!"

"I'm kidding." He chuckled while watching his daughter puff out her cheeks with her whole face red glaring at him. "So, what brings you two by? I thought you wanted to go out and look at the merchants Tenten." She nodded her head and cooled down a bit before pulling out half of her scroll. Naruto pulled his out as well and they explained to the man what happened at the weapon stand they were at. Hearing the two tell how they argued and tore an ancient scroll made him shake his head at their childish ways. Though he supposes it was still good. They were kids and it wouldn't be right for them to grow up to quickly even with the field they were going into. Once they set the scroll on the counter Shimoda lined up the two pieces so he could get a look at what the blueprint was about. Scratching at his chin he hummed at what he was looking at. It was an intricate staff he could say that. He wondered about the mechanism that allowed the glider part to be safe while it was staff. Could be built the same as the giant fans that those from Suna tend to use from time to time.

"My, this is definitely interesting. I wonder who was able to fully use this to its full capabilities. Using it as a regular staff for combat would be easy but using it to, well fly in this case, must have been tough. It would take a strong wind affinity to use it. And I mean strong like if you were a shinobi from Suna." He said while two looked to him and the blueprint with even more interest. They wondered if any Suna shinobi were had one of these. Of course, the lady did say this was the only blueprint design ever found so there couldn't be any of them around. Especially if they could use the fans they have. The fans would be better use for casting wind jutsu.

Shimoda told the two that he would be able to make it but considering the resources needed to make it, it would be a while before it would be completely ready. He gave them two months in time that it would take to make it. Naruto offered his help in anyway, not just for the discount Tenten promised, but to also get a hand in making it. Shimoda accepted his help and told him any time he had free time on his hand to come by and he would show him the ropes around the shop. Looking at the time Naruto realized he needed to be off. He had more training to do with his airbending and then he needed to get back to his apartment to eat something. He was sure Itachi would be bringing a basket of fresh fruits and vegetables for him today.

"I gotta go. It was nice meeting you Shimoda and you too Tenten. Hope we can hang out some more later maybe train together." Tenten smiled and nodded her head. "I would like that Naruto, but don't expect me to go easy on you if we end up sparing." She said this with a determined look in her eye that Naruto returned with his own. Waving to the two he exited the shop and began running back to his secret training ground.

"He's a nice boy Tenten. You should be his friend and stick around him more. Especially when you both end up in the academy. He'll need your help." He said while turning and grabbing both parts of the scroll. Naruto said he wouldn't mind leaving his half here since he would obviously need it to work on the staff. Tenten, catching what he said blinked before turning to look at her father's back.

"Wait, what do you mean?" She asked while he stopped and looked at her with a smile and chuckled lightly. "There are things about that boy you don't know. He is special yet a lot of people just don't see it." He said while sighing. This just made Tenten more confused. Looking at her face he turned back to her and crouched down to her height. "The boy has a lot of hate aimed towards him. Reason why he is alone and why you never saw him at the orphanage."

"Wait you knew he was at the orphanage? Why do people hate him?" She asked while he just shook his head and smiled at her.

"Tenten. As you grow older you will realize that a lot of people hate for reasons most of us will find to be silly or out right stupid. Naruto is someone who doesn't even know why he has such hate to him and people are forbidden to speak about it. It is as such so the boy could try to live a better life, but people are fools. Just do your best to be his friend and get to know him for who he is. Not what others may say to you about him. Okay?" At his explanation she contemplated his words before nodding her head making him smile.

"Good. Now, how about we get some dinner."

(Two hours later – Naruto's Apartment)

Naruto was currently snacking on an apple he had. He had finished his airbending training for the day and after getting home he began to relax. It was only a little while later that he heard knocking and opened the door up for Itachi to come in with enough food to last him for the month. They chatted while Itachi explained how he wanted to introduce Naruto to his little brother Sasuke and get them together for a little training session. Naruto agreed since he felt it would do good to get some extra help for when he entered the academy. The training would be tomorrow around noon and afterwards they would have lunch. Itachi soon had left since he was an ANBU so he had his duties to attend to before making his own way home.

For a while Naruto just relaxed and snacked on a few apples he had while watching one of the few interesting movies that came on TV. After awhile he got bored and decided to go up to the roof of his apartment and look out at the village and up at the sky as the stars were out. It was a beautiful night and the moon was amazing to look at. While he wouldn't normally do this, he decided to go on a stroll through the village. At this time of night no one was out so he could enjoy a walk without being disturbed by anyone.

As he was walking through the streets of the village he soon found himself near one of the clan compounds. Looking from the path in front of him he saw the clan symbol for the Hyuga clan. Strange, he didn't think he was this close to the compound. Must of took a few turns and ended up here on accident. He shrugged and was about to walk off, that was until he saw something most suspicious. There was figure moving out of the compound from the rooftops and landed not that far from him. Over his shoulder was a bag and the person began making his way down the street. What caught Naruto's attention the most was the bag was moving ever so slightly. Like…. there was a person inside.

'Oh crap. They're kidnapping someone!' Naruto thought while his eyes widen. He couldn't just sit here and let this person get away with this. There was also no time in trying to find help, by the time he did manage to find someone that could help the person could be at the gates and out the village. Without thinking any further Naruto made a mad dash towards the kidnapper and used airbending to surround himself in wind. It was a way to make him run faster with the wind making him light on his feet more than usual. When he was close enough leaped forward and aimed for the person's legs. He heard a surprised cry as he knocked the man over. Seeing the bag being dropped he moved quickly to figure out a way to keep the man down.

'Quick Naruto think! What's a weak spot that will keep a person down?' He thought before a memory flashed through his mind. He was walking around the village and was making his way towards a food market store. It was then that he heard some weird commotion and saw a young woman screaming at a man before her leg came up and kicked the poor idiot between his legs. The man crumpled down faster than a leaf falling from a tree as he held his junk. The woman then stomped her foot on him several times before walking off with a heated face in most likely feminine anger. Bringing his thoughts back to the present he saw the man slowly stand up before turning slightly towards him.

"Why, you little shit! I'll have your-" He didn't finish what he was going to say as Naruto's tiny fist found its way to the man's nuts. For a squirt he packed a punch as the guy lost all coloring from his face as he crumpled down to the ground. His hands held his balls and there were few tears falling from his eye. Not taking this for granted Naruto kicked the man in the face before moving towards the bag. Untying the rope around the opening he opened it up and saw a girl inside. The girl looked up frighten but noticed that the boy she saw was not the same man who had broke into her room that night.

"You okay?" Naruto asked her while the girl didn't say anything. She just nodded her head slightly before allowing the blonde to help her out of the bag. Naruto sat down beside her and she looked around to see where she was before looking back at him. She musters what courage she could to speak up as this event tonight somewhat traumatized her.

"T-thank you." She said quietly but Naruto was able to pick it up and smiled at her.

"No problem. What's your name?"

"Hinata."

"That's a nice name." He said making her blush a little since she hasn't had anyone compliment her besides family. "My name is Naruto. Do you know why this baka tried kidnapping you?" he asked while looking to the guy still on the ground. He didn't hit him that hard, did he? Either way, they probably shouldn't stick around long enough for him to recover. Hinata, at the question she was asked, shook her head no while her eyes wandered to the man and scooted away from his crumpled body.

"N-n-no. I was just in my room sleeping a-and all of a sudden I-I-I heard someone enter my room." She said while holding her arms around herself and teared up a little. "Then, there was something thrown over m-m-me before I was being lifted away." She said while her tears fell down her face. Naruto frowned and moved to give her a hug. No one deserved to be put through such a thing at a young age. Hinata moved in a little bit towards Naruto as she was shaking a little. That was when they both heard someone calling out, making them both turn their head towards the direction of the voice.

"Hinata! Hinata!" A clearly female voice yelled out while around the corner from near the compound came a beautiful woman as she spotted the two children and ran towards them with clear worry in her eyes. She possesses fair skin and long, dark-purple hair slightly past her waist and side bangs framing her face down to her shoulders. She was seen wearing a purple, long-sleeved kimono. Her eyes were a pale lavender color that matched her hair. As Naruto watched her he noticed Hinata get up with tears in her eyes and ran towards her obvious mother.

"Kaa-san!" She shouted while throwing herself into her mother's waiting arms. The woman hugged her to her chest and whispered into her ear that it was okay. The woman looked up to see Naruto and gave the boy a smile to him. Naruto was surprised and blushed lightly at the beautiful lady before standing up. He was about to leave before she called out to him.

"Wait! Can you come here and tell me your name?" She asked while Naruto was once again surprised. Moving slowly, he walked to the duo and saw the lady smile at him again. "I'm guessing you were the one who saved my precious Hinata." She said while he nodded his head to her.

"Y-yeah. My name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki." He said while the woman looked surprised for a second before surprising the boy for a third time tonight and hugged the boy. Naruto wasn't sure what to do in this instance and just allowed it to happen.

"Thank you for your bravery." She said while Naruto smiled and nodded his head. "It was no problem. I was just strolling by and saw the guy." He said while the woman smiled more before letting go of the boy. Hinata looked up when she heard another person screaming. This time though it sounded like a man who was both worried and angry.

"Hikari! Hinata!" A tall man screamed out as he ran around the same corner the now named Hikari came from before spotting them. "Hikari!" He yelled before he was next to the three in minutes. Looking at the situation he saw the blonde-haired boy, who he knew, and his wife plus daughter in her hands. He gave a sigh in relief before looking up to see the man on the ground that was most likely the one to have broken into their home. Glaring with his Byakugan on full blast at the downed man. He watched him slowly start to get up before turning to see the new people around. Cursing the kidnapper tried to get up but Hiashi, the man who is not only the clan head of the Hyuga clan but also loving father and husband of the two ladies Naruto helped, was faster and quickly disabled the man, but didn't kill him. While he wouldn't have mind ending his life right then, there were two children nearby and he wanted answers. Kicking the man to his back he heard him groan before Hisashi's eyes landed on his headband. A snarl escaped his lips at seeing where this pest was from.

"Kumo." He said with distain in his voice. Of course, it had to be one of theirs. That cursed village has been trying to capture his clan's eyes since the great wars. The Byakugan was a strong kekkai genkai and one he knew the Raikage of Kumo would love to get his hands on. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he kicked the man hard in the face to make sure he was out of it before turning to his family and the lone boy. Looking down at Naruto he walked up to him before kneeling down.

"Your name is Naruto, right?" He asked with the boy and Hinata being surprised that he knew his name. Nodding his head Naruto looked at the man and watched as he gave a soft smile and held his hand out to him. Naruto never felt as nervous as he was now but held his hand out to put it in the older man's hand. He shook it and the man held his head down in front of him.

"I am eternally grateful for what you have done tonight. I do not know what you did, but you saved my daughter from a life that would have been worst then death. For that you have my gratitude and the support of the Hyuga clan. If you ever need any help I will do what I can to aide you." He said making the five-year-old's eyes widen at such a thing. He wasn't even old enough to drink or know the meaning of sex and yet he just gained not only the respect from a clan head but also a favor for anything he may need in the future. Bowing his head lightly Naruto smiled back to the older male before chuckling.

"It was nothing. I'm glad I was able to help." He said while the man chuckled himself before standing up. That was when an ANBU member landed down near them all. Hiashi instantly became serious with his stoic face coming back to him. The ANBU member had an owl mask on and walked over to the clan head while seeing the man from Kumo on the ground knocked out.

"Well, seems you have everything under control here Hiashi-sama. Good thing he isn't dead too. This man was an acting ambassador for Kumogakure and was initially here to have a treaty signed between our villages." He said while cuffing the man in chakra suppressing cuffs. Lifting his body over his shoulder he looked to Hiashi. "You'll have to speak to Hokage-sama if you want to know more." Hiashi simply nodded his head while the ANBU member nodded back before using a shunshin to head to the T&I department to lock the man up for questioning in the morning.

Sighing to himself Hiashi turned to see Hikari stand up while holding Hinata in her arms. Walking to them he gave his wife a kiss on the cheek and checked up on Hinata. Naruto felt awkward at this family reunion of sorts and decided he has had enough excitement for the night. Turning around he began his trek home while not catching the eyes of Hinata on his back. That night Naruto may not know it, but he gained a new friend and admirer for the future.

'Crazy night. I hope something like this doesn't happen again.' He thought to himself while wrapping his hands behind his head. Though for some reason he couldn't help feel like he jinxed himself.

Only time will tell for the future ahead of him.

(AND SCENE! Woohoo! ~ I was on a roll when writing this. Got stuck around the beginning but then I just turned on my music and I was writing all the way up to 5k words. I was going to stop somewhere there but was like, FUCK IT! And kept going. Was thinking of going further, buuuuut wanted to leave something for you guys to wait and see for the next chapter. Speaking of which, the next chapter will be Naruto and Sasuke first time meeting/slash beginner shinobi training with Itachi and there will be some light shed on the whole Kumo ambassador thing. Also, Hinata and Hinabi's mother is ALIVE! For how long though? Just have to wait and see right? Hehehehehehehe

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Leave a review for me and check out my profile for a poll I have up. It is about the stories I wrote on my profile and which one you would want to see written out next. Next update will be to NFoD and then after that maybe chapter 5 of this or chapter 2 of Rise of the Inukitsune or RotI

Again, hope you like this chapter and are having a good day/night

Jangoman, signing out)