Chapter 2: The Meeting

Here we are a week later ! I'm so excited for you readers to discover chapter 2. I hope you like it, as it's a pretty important chapter for everything that will come afterwards. But first I want to thank everyone who took the time to read my story and the people who left a review, you guys are the best !

Without further ado, here's chapter 2 !

'speech': thoughts

"speech": spoken words

"speech": jutsus

'speech': ninja sign language

speech : Bijūs/Summons speaking or thinking

speech: flashback

Hiruzen used the time he had bought himself after finishing his paperwork to gaze over the village that he was once again leading. It had been four years since the Kyūbi attack an event that was now celebrated as the 'Kyūbi Festival', an excuse to get drunk and forget the losses from that night under the pretended happiness of having defeated the monster. The mourning had been long and tearful. Unlike the war, that event had been unexpected and had affected civilians and ninjas alike but also their village. They had once again recovered emotionally and financially but some painful scars remained and brought the villagers' animosity up front everytime.

One of those scars was Naruto Uzumaki. The villagers had reacted exactly how he had predicted and the new-born baby had been immediately target my mournful villagers and ninjas trying to express their grief in any way possible. It saddened the 'Professor' that they couldn't understand the difference between the Kyūbi and it's Jinchūriki. But other threats had made themselves known on the day of the attack and it had surprised the Hokage. The meeting following the attack had been rocky for sure.

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Hiruzen and the shinobis accompanying him to the morgue had just dropped off the body of Minato and Kushina at the morgue and Hiruzen was now cradling the little Naruto in a blanket.

"Could you warn the other members of the council that a full meeting will take place in half an hour ? We have a lot to discuss. I know it's not your job to do this usually but my ANBUs are being run ragged. Also be sure to warn any ninja you meet on your way, that the threat is gone and that they can unlock the shelters." said Hiruzen as he turned around to face the trio behind him.

They nodded their heads at him and were gone in a blur, leaving the aged Hokage to take care of Naruto and 'prepare' him for the upcoming meeting that would be crucial for his upbringing. He was also extremely for the well-being of his wife Biwako. Hiruzen knew that she was assisting Kushina deliver her baby, he was one of the few in the village, but hadn't heard anything from her, her assistant from the hospital nor the ANBUs, Viper, Pig and Sparrow, he had assigned to guard them just in case. He still held a sliver of hope but as time went on and on, so did his desire to stop everything he was doing and cry. He was too old to go through such events.

As he reached the tower, he stopped a Chūnin and asked him to find a baby crib for him. The Chūnin nodded and left on his errand after giving the bundle in his arms a glance. The ninja was back within ten minutes and the Sandaime let him continue his previous task after jotting down the name of the shop he had raided.

The Sandaime then moved into the council chamber and took his place with Naruto in the crib, thankfully still deep asleep ever since they had left the sealing grounds, next to him. As he kept an eye on Naruto he thought about everything he will have to go over and readied himself for the outburst.

Not even an hour later, the door opened and all the various members and their second filed in. A full meeting wasn't often declared, it was only in case of emergencies but when it was, clan heads usually came with their spouses as they were the ones sitting in for their husband in case he was unable to come.

He glanced at Hiashi and his wife Hitomi as they passed by him on their way to their seat and saw them nod his head at him. Hiruzen understood that Hiashi had explained everything that had transpired this night to his wife. He chuckled when he saw Hitomi stop by the crib and her expression softened while her hand simultaneously went to her belly, hidden beneath a large yukata, as she gazed at the little baby who's head already had a patch of golden blond hair surmounting it. She looked back up directly in his eyes and he nodded, confirming that this was indeed Naruto, the baby her husband had been talking about.

He also noticed the Ino-Shika-Chō trio and their wives glance at him to convey the fact that they were all up to date on tonight. Hiruzen wasn't surprised by this fact but instead was glad that they had done so, he needed as many rational people tonight to discuss the immediate future of the village.

He also noticed a tear-stricken Tsume Inuzuka take her place and his heart constricted at the sight. He had known her husband pretty well, as he was a top Jōnin of the village. Seeing her alone, it wasn't hard to guess that Tatsuki had been a casualty of the fighting.

The Aburame clan took their place on Tsume's left, as stoic as usual while the Kurama clan lead by Unkai and his son Gerō sat on her right. Fugaku and Mikoto were on the extreme right of the shinobi council.

Glancing around he saw his three advisors take their place. He knew even before seeing their expression, that they, along with the civilian council, would be the ones raising the biggest fuss and the hardest ones to calm down.

Once everyone stopped moving, the Sandaime steeled himself and sat up in his seat.

"Fellow Konoha citizens, I brought you all tonight to give you an update on the situation tonight now that the Kyūbi has been dealt with. It ha-"

"Excuse me Sandaime-sama but where is the Yondaime ?", interrupted a civilian. Hiruzen bridged his hands in front of his nose and took a deep breath.

"I will say this once, I won't tolerate any more interruptions. Listen until the end and you'll know everything about tonight and we'll be able to move onto finding solutions," the whole room fell silent. "I'm sad to say that the Yondaime perished during the attack," if the room was silent before that, now it seemed positively frozen in time, the different with various expressions of shock on their faces, "He died sealing the beast inside an orphan called Naruto Uzumaki."

After this declaration the room exploded in shouting and arguing. As expected a lot people called for the baby's death whether from fear or to fulfil a stupid sense of vengeance. It quieted down when Danzō stood to speak.

"Hiruzen, I believe it would be wise to leave the baby in my care in order for me to train this new weapon to the best of his abilities. Under my guidance, we could have a major advantage over the other villages. Maybe one day we'd be able to reign supreme if we're able to use the Kyūbi Jinchūriki trained from infancy to have complete control over the beast." This statement was met by an uproar from the shinobi side and some praises from the civilians. The ninjas instantly glared at the other side to shut them up, disgusted that they would even consider this option. Hiruzen felt fury swell inside of him towards his old comrade.

"First it's Hokage-sama to you and second Naruto is NOT a weapon! He's a citizen of Konoha like all of you and deserves to be treated as such. Minato's last wish was for Naruto to be seen as a hero for containing the Kyūbi. Anyway Danzō, I don't see how you could train Naruto as your ROOT operations are supposed to have been dismantled years ago. Anything you want to tell me ?" questioned Hiruzen. Danzō became stone-faced once more and sat down.

"Of course not Hokage-sama." replied the bandaged ninja.

"Any more questions before we move on ?" asked Hiruzen as he looked around the room. And hell broke loose again.

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In the end Sarutobi had decided to place Naruto in the orphanage. He had shot down a proposition from Fugaku to take the child in and raise him. Same thing for Hiashi. The old man wanted nothing more than to place Naruto in Hiashi and Hitomi's care as he knew, Naruto would possibly have the best childhood one could have. But the big dent in his plan was that a Jinchūriki part of one of the clan of Konoha would create too much of an imbalance with the others and could lead to bigger problems. And as he had told Hiashi afterwards, he was more than a little wary of the elders of his clan. Hiashi grudgingly agreed with him, the old bastards were already causing him enough troubles, he didn't even want to imagine what convoluted plans they'd hatch to increase the prestige of their clan in Konoha. They also wouldn't miss the opportunity to lord it over Fugaku and his clan, and that was the last thing he needed.

Since the attack, many accusations had been thrown around, a vast majority being nothing but wasted air while a few managed to stick around long enough for people to think twice about them. The result had been an increasing distrust in the Uchiha and their possible involvement in the attack. Hiruzen was baffled as to how such a rumour had begun in the first place and he despaired, wondering if Minato had had any info about the attack. The remains of Biwako, her assistant and his missing ANBUs had been found soon after the attack and Hiruzen knew Minato had clues about what had went wrong but he unfortunately hadn't shared it with him before he had died, leaving him with only vague suppositions to calm the population down.

Naruto had also been the target of the majority of the village's ire so much that Hiashi had pleaded him to assign someone to protect the baby. Hiruzen had accepted and dispatched Ent, Cat and Owl to periodically keep watch over the baby while he was at the orphanage.

Despite the Law he had passed concerning Naruto, his status and his welfare, it didn't stop people from treating as badly as they could while he grew up, all the while staying within the law. Naruto had recently been kicked out of the orphanage, Hiruzen knew that much thanks to Tenzō and he wondered how Naruto was doing at the moment.

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Unbeknownst to the Sandaime Naruto was feeling really good at the moment. He had been wandering around the forest that was within the boundary of Konoha and would probably stay there until the sun started to go down behind the Hokage monument. He really liked the forest. It never treated him badly, never glared at him and never stopped him from spending time in it. It was usually a calm place and Naruto felt at peace here, away from the mean people who seemed to hate him for some reason. He didn't understand their problem, he had never done anything that would justify such intense dislike from the adults and no one was ever willing to tell him what the problem was, they always skirted away from him or told him to 'die' or 'disappear'. It made him really sad, he just wanted to be like the other kids who had parents who hugged them when they were hurt, who brought them ice-cream at the end of the day, who were there when they went to bed to wish them a goodnight. Sometimes Naruto felt like he could die or disappear and no one would notice and in the event that someone did notice, they would probably not care if not outright celebrate. Those feelings had intensified ever since he had been kicked out of the orphanage two months ago.

He had lived at the orphanage ever since he could remember, the earliest memory he had of the place was the person taking care of him and he remembered she was a really nice lady unlike the rest of the staff, especially the big lady who was always shouting and ordering the people around. He remembered that one day she hadn't come and instead another woman had and she always did the bare minimum and then left him alone until the next time she had to come. That was how he had met his first two friends. He was wandering around when he had stumbled upon two other boys playing a game and after watching them for a little bit he had asked if he could join them. The one with black hair had looked at the other one with grey hair, which Naruto found really strange, who had nodded at him. Naruto had been overjoyed and had quickly learned that the grey haired one was called Utaru and the black haired one Kiseki. And ever since that day they had been best friends. So much that even the mean people at the orphanage had stopped trying to separate the three of them. They spent as much time as possible together and they even brought him stuff to eat when the people 'forgot' about him.

But all this had changed shortly after he had turned 4. In November, some weird people had come from the outside to talk with the head of the orphanage. They seemed to be made of clay as Naruto and his friends had been watching them and during the whole meeting with the fat lady, only their mouth moved but the rest of their face seemed frozen. After they had left, the trio had gone back to their activities which was often Kiseki, scribbling things, figures on some pieces of paper while Utaru played a string game with Naruto that Utaru had called 'Cat's Cradle'. The day had ended badly as Naruto had had an argument with his friends.

The next day when he went to apologise, they had disappeared. Naruto had cried a lot that day as he thought they had left because of him. He had realised a little later that they were not the only ones to have disappeared but he still he felt terrible because he wanted to apologise but he couldn't. Not even a month after Naruto had been kicked out of the orphanage with no explanations. He really thought he was gonna die in the streets, it was really cold and he just had a light t-shirt and some pants on before getting kicked out but a man had suddenly appeared and had taken him to the Hokage! That man was really nice but he had a mask on and said that his name was Ent which had made Naruto laugh a lot because he thought the man was being silly. But apparently he was really serious so Naruto had become suspicious. They had arrived at the Hokage's office and Naruto had been scared. Even if he didn't know a lot, he knew that the Hokage was really powerful so Naruto didn't want to make him angry. The old man had simply looked at them in surprise before asking:

"Ent what happened ? Why did you bring Naruto-kun with you ? Not that I'm unhappy but..." leaving the statement in mid air because of his surprise. The first part really surprised Naruto, so much that he couldn't stop himself.

"What ?! He's really called Ent ? Are you sure Jiji because I find this really weird!" blurted out Naruto, cutting off any reply the masked man was going to make. Both adults turned towards him before the Hokage exploded in laughter. The masked man then took off said mask and looked Naruto in the eye. The little boy was a little scared upon seeing the man's face because of his big round eyes that seemed life-less. But it became even worse when the man's face became shadowed, highlighting parts of it for a really creepy effect.

"My name is really Ent."drawled the man. It scared Naruto so much, he couldn't nod his head fast enough. This sent the old man, who had stopped laughing to watch the two interact, in another round of laughter. Naruto started backing away until Ent also started laughing. It relieved the blond boy to see that he could laugh.

"Naruto-kun come here, I want to talk with you," asked the Hokage. He motioned for the boy to come closer then picked him off the ground and sat him in his lap. "Now tell me how you are doing and why did they kick you out of the orphanage. Oh and you can call Ent, Yamato if it feels more natural to you but I'm sorry to say that his real name is a secret, it could put him in danger if I told you."

"Yay that's better Jiji, I certainly don't want to put him in danger, he's nice." exclaimed Naruto."Well the people at the orphanage aren't really nice but I had two friends and they were so cool but they disappeared recently and I can't say I'm sorry after what I said..." Naruto continued to explain his adventures with his friends, waving his arms wildly while doing so but at the mention of the disappearance, Hiruzen looked up to Tenzō and signed 'Danzō ?'. Tenzō simply shrugged in return.

Once Naruto was done with his tale, Hiruzen put him down, stood up and took his hand in his before speaking,

"Well Naruto-kun I don't see you going back to the orphanage in the future so I'm gonna show you the apartment I had set apart for you when you were a little older than that but I might as well give it to you now."

"Wow an apartment for me ?! Thank you Jiji!" shouted Naruto. He started bouncing on his feet at the idea until another thought came to his mind,

"But Jiji, how am I gonna eat and everything ? I'm only 4" worriedly asked Naruto.

"Don't worry, I have thought about that and I have someone who will live with you and she'll be there for such things." replied Hiruzen.

Just as the Hokage finished saying that, the door swung open and in came a woman with the most violet hair Naruto had ever seen! She wore the same outfit as the man he now knew as Yamato, tight black pants and sandals, a long sleeved black shirt and a grey flack vest. But her attitude seemed much warmer and open and when Naruto looked at her face, he saw a warm smile directed towards him. He knew that she was a really nice lady and that it will be really cool to live with her. Maybe he'd get a hug like the other kids.

"Naruto, that's Yūgao-chan, she'll be living with you for the foreseeable future. You behave and be nice with her, like I know you are and I'm sure you'll get along very well." the Sandaime's voice cut through Naruto's observation of Yūgao. He looked at the three adults and he couldn't help smiling at all those nice peoples.

And they indeed gotten along very well. While she was a ninja and sometimes had to leave to for her duties and was rarely here during the day, to Naruto it still felt like he had a family and she was his mum. She cooked for him (she was really good at cooking!), they often played games and she also taught him to read and write! She had been shopping with him when his clothes were too small or worn out and had even introduced him to ramen and ramen heaven: Ichiraku.

Naruto had instantly loved ramen and the owners of Ichiraku were always so nice to him, he had, for a while, constantly begged Yūgao to go eat ramen at Ichiraku for every meal. She had made him understand that he needed a balanced diet and after that Naruto realised that despite her cheerful and outgoing personality, she could also be very scary if she wanted. But even after two months of living in the apartment, Naruto cherished every moment with her. Sometimes Yamato would drop by and it made Naruto laugh a lot because it was clear that Yamato wasn't used to dealing with kids and he made a sharp contrast with Yūgao.

A sudden shiver cut Naruto from his trip through memories and he realised that the sun was nearly set and he was still in the forest. Yūgao had been very strict on how she felt about being late. When Naruto had asked why she felt so strongly about it, she had simply grumbled something about silver-haired annoyances. As Naruto ran back to their apartment, he couldn't help but feel like something really important was about to happen, he could feel it in the air and it made his hair rise.

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Naruto was dreaming, well he assumed he was dreaming as he knew he had gone to bed after the story Yūgao had read to him, but it was a weird dream. It had started out as teapots dancing around him all the while shooting steam in the air when suddenly it had all changed to a big cavern with water on the floor.

Naruto looked around around and noticed a man not far from him. He made his way towards him, still awed at the place he found himself in. When he realised that the man was floating, his jaw dropped and he couldn't wait to ask that mysterious man how he did that, amongst other things. When he was only a meter or two away from him, the man spoke, slowly opening his eyes to look at Naruto.

"Hello Naruto-kun, I've been waiting to meet you for quite some time now. My name is Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, but I'm sure you have many more questions". As Naruto was close to him now, he noticed his eyes, the staff he was holding, the designs on his cloak and the black balls that were also levitating under.

"Wow your staff is so cool! What's up with your eyes ? I've never seen some like that! Kaa-san doesn't have the lines yours have. Those balls, can I have some too, how do they float ? And how can you float ? Can you teach me ? What's this place were in ? Am I dreaming or did you kidnap me ? Are you a Kappa ? I hope you didn't kidnap me, because kaa-san will be very angry and you don't want her angry at you. She'll take her sword and chop you in little pieces." Hagoromo chuckled at the flow of words that were pouring out of Naruto's mouth. He raised a hand and Naruto stopped speaking immediately.

"Calm down child. To answer your questions, you aren't dreaming but this isn't your real body either so no, I didn't kidnap you and I'm no demon. I brought you to this plane to bestow a gift upon you. My eyes are what ninjas decided to call the Rinnegan. These are Truth-Seeking Balls and yes you'll have some one day if you can activate them after I give you the gift and yes you'll be able to float too. Now place the palm of your hand on mine" said Hagoromo as he extended his hand towards Naruto.

Naruto took a step forward and did as he was asked. The moment their hands touched, Naruto's body suddenly felt extremely warm and his vision became encompassed in a bright yellow light. When it stopped, Naruto started checking his body to see if anything had happened to it but saw nothing different. He looked down in the water and one more saw nothing different with his face. He was about to speak up when he saw a round mark in the palm of his hand.

"What did you do to me ?" asked Naruto, bewildered as to what exactly had just happened.

"What I did, is that I gave you my Yang Chakra," upon seeing Naruto's blank look, he elaborated, "I gave you my physical energy and everything that comes with it. You are my son's, Asura, reincarnation and would have received the gift I just gave you anyway but a decade later at least. Only I had a vision a few years that showed me it would be a better idea for you and the rest of the world to be given these powers before. With my Yang Chakra comes the Sun of the Six Paths that is represented by this mark you have in your hand. You'll have an innate grasp of the nature of chakra and the ability to use all five basic nature transformations, the ability to fly and to manifest the same black balls as me. And finally, you will have an innate ability to use Six Paths Senjutsu. Now I won't tell you what everything is and does as you wont remember our meeting when you wake up, you'll just have the sun mark, but mainly because it will be your task to unlock those powers and to understand what they can do."

After a pause, Naruto stared at his hands in awe. He hadn't understood half of what the very old man in front of him had said but he knew he was absolutely awesome now!

"So I will be able to be an awesome ninja like Yugao-kaa-san, Yamato-sensei and Jiji ?!" asked Naruto as he looked back up to Hagoromo.

"Naruto-kun, I know you will become a great ninja, I have seen it." said the sage. "But the road will not be easy and you will have to work hard to achieve your goals. Always protect your precious people, without them you are nothing and in return they will protect you and make sure you don't lose yourself on your way."

"You can count on it Super Jiji! I'll be an awesome ninja who will be able to protect all his precious people, that's my nindo, -ttebayo!" shouted Naruto. The sage smiled, knowing his time with the blond hyperactive boy was practically over but happy with what he had achieved.

"Well, I'm happy to hear that Naruto-kun. I'm sorry to say that I must go, our time together was short but I'm glad I met you. Now it's time for you to rejoin your body and move on with your life." declared Hagoromo.

"Already ?! But we just started talking! I hope I can see you again some day." pouted Naruto.

"Who knows young one, who knows..." joked Hagoromo as Naruto disappeared from their meeting place.

Hagoromo sighed, happy with the task he had just performed and reassured about the future. But he wasn't done for tonight. He too disappeared from this place, as he headed towards his next destination.

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Kurama was laying down in his cage, having lost count of how many times he had ranted against that Uchiha prick named Madara, that tree-loving Hashirama and the yellow bastard Namikaze, his only pleasure at this point in his life.

He only wanted to be left alone and live the life his father had intended for him. But those dreadful humans simply couldn't understand that and they only saw him as a thing to use as they willed. But while Kurama wasn't subdued that easily, it still was a pain in his arse to have to regularly move around and fight off waves of screaming little flesh-bags. He simply wanted to eradicate a clan or two once in a while, maybe a whole city if the corruption had spread too far. Someone had to do the job at some point! It wasn't his fault if humans were greedy little punks who were so easily ready to back stab each other in their mad quest for power!

But the end of his 'liberty' had come with the worst of all the flesh-bags that roamed these lands, Uchiha Madara. Madara was indeed a very powerful ninja, Kurama couldn't deny. But his arrogance was through the roof and with the help of that blasted Sharingan, he had used him as a cushion to take the damage dealt by the wood-wielding Hokage. When Kurama had finally stopped being a spectator within his own 'body', he had quickly been sealed away inside some red-haired lady. He hadn't seen the light of day for years, until he was one again sealed inside another red-haired girl, who once again didn't even bother to come and visit. He was a being with feelings after all, he would've loved to have some to discuss with on occasion. Kurama chuckled at that thought.

'Well I would've loved to have someone to verbally abuse and maybe tear to shreds, if I'm honest. Those humans need to learn that you can't keep me behind a cage for decades like some little puppy and expect nothing in return.'

A few years ago he thought his salvation had finally come when he felt that his current host, who had been pregnant for nearly a year, had started to give birth. At some point the seal had broken and he felt himself slip out of his tenant only to come snout to face with another blasted Sharingan! Once the Sharingan user's hold on him had slipped he only wanted find that last prick and turn him to ashes for daring to use that red-eye he despised. He knew that man wasn't Madara but he was an Uchiha and that would be good enough for him.

Fate however wasn't on his side and he had only finished sealed in another disgusting flesh-bag. To had insult to the injury, that one was a little baby and Namikaze had taken half of his being! Kurama's only joy had been to push his claw through the blond man and his old tenant.

Finally done with his rant and happy to have expressed for maybe the thousand time, his feelings on his situation, he was about to go back to his sleep when a presence he hadn't felt in thousands of years appeared in the darkness just beyond his cage. The feeling it brought made the mighty Bijū jump up and yelp in surprise. As the figure came into view, Kurama was openly gaping.

"Tou-san ?! What are you doing here ? Are you here for me ?" asked a bewildered Kurama. The Sage looked at the place he was in before laying his gaze on the mighty fox. He looked visibly saddened.

"Sorry Kurama-kun but there's nothing I can physically do about your situation," sighed Hagoromo, which brought only more questions to Kurama's mind, "but I brought good news with me that you need to hear. You know that I never intended for my children to live lives just as what you must've been through, to end up in such a place."

"You have no idea tou-san, these humans are disgusting selfish cockroaches that would deserve to be exterminated till the last one. They think that I'm the incarnation of hate and anger, *pff* they haven't seen themselves! There's nothing more spiteful than shinobis." spat out Kurama.

"My son, I ask you to put your trust in humans once more, the human you are currently sealed in. He's the reincarnation of Asura. He's meant to do great things." stated Hagoromo.

"THE REINCARNATION OF ASURA ?! No way!" spluttered out the fox

"Yes, he is I assure you," laughed Hagoromo, "I have had a vision and I know that he will be special. You'll probably realise that by yourself at some point or another but I ask you to take a leap of faith like I have done and trust him in full whenever you first meet him. It will only prove beneficial for the world as whole in the long run."

"Wait tou-san, you said you took a leap of faith, what did you do ? Was it your doing that warm rush earlier ?" asked the Kyūbi.

"Indeed," responded Hagoromo, "I gave him my Yang chakra and everything that comes with it, exactly what Asura-kun had. He would gotten them in the end but it will greatly help him if he grows into them with time. Anyway, I must leave my son. Take good care of yourself and your host."

"Farewell tou-san," was Kurama's reply as the Sage's form faded from view, "well now we wait until we finally meet dear host. I sincerely hope father is right about you, if you are even an inkling like Asura it could be worth being sealed into you."

And with that, the fox laid back down already placing bets as to how long he'd have to wait to meet his tenant.

When Naruto woke up that morning, he instinctively looked down at his hand and saw a dark brown sun-shaped mark in the palm of his hand. For some reason he couldn't remember, he wasn't surprised. Instead he smiled but decided to keep it hidden as long as possible from kaa-san and Yamato. They were the closest persons he had in his life along with Teuchi and Ayame but he knew that it would be really complicated to explain.

And with that last thought, he went on as usual with his day.

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A week later, Naruto was sitting on a swing, in the forest where he always went. He was very happy that Yamato-sensei had such cool ninja powers, as he had been the one to reshape the tree he was sitting under before setting up a swing for Naruto. He had said that it was a little gift for Naruto, as he always spent so much time in this forest and he had wanted to add something else for Naruto to do.

The truth was that even if there had been no swings, ever since the day he had woken up to find the mark in his hand, he loved the nature, the forest, its inhabitants and the calm feeling it all brought even more than before. He sometimes felt like the nature was about to speak to him. It always made him chuckle, he wondered if he wasn't going crazy. But whether it was sunny, raining or snowing, it never bothered him. The sun wasn't burning his skin, he didn't feel the coldness of the rain and even appreciated feeling his soaked clothes stick to his skin, as drops of rain raced down his face (that had earned him a few earfuls from Yūgao, scared that he'd get really sick) and since a couple of days, didn't feel the searing bite of the snow either. He still wore the appropriate clothes, Yūgao wouldn't let him leave otherwise, as today he had a jacket to keep him warm but knee-long shorts. He also wore a beautiful red scarf and some goggles, that he wore proudly on his forehead, his surrogate mother had found for him.

But his peace was disturbed when he heard shouting coming from behind his place. He turned around to witness three boys, at least a head taller than him, standing around a little girl who seemed around his age, saying mean things to her.

"What are you doing here you white-eyed freak ?" shouted one of the boys.

"Yeah, we don't want you monsters around here, go back to your compound full of prissy assholes!" added the second one.

"But before you leave, you're gonna have to apologise for annoying us, you Byakugan monster!" viciously added the third one, all the while hitting his palm with his fist.

When the girl fell to her knees crying, Naruto couldn't take it anymore. His anger at seeing this girl bullied by THREE older boys, triggered something inside him. As if a switch had been flicked, his vision suddenly felt brighter and clearer, he felt warmer as if he was wrapped inside his blanket. He could feel some new energy pumping into him and it seemed like nature was singing all around him. He had this strange sensation where he could feel and see some bright blue flames exactly where the bullies and the girl were and he knew that it was them. The girl's flame felt so bright, as if calling to him. Briefly awed at whatever was happening, he looked down to see the sun mark glow brightly in his palm. But his attention was quickly drawn back up upon hearing the girl's cries. His face twisted in a scowl and he bent his knees, ready to charge at the three bullies, his scarf, unknowingly stuck in the strings of his swing.

"Hey what do you three think you're doing calling this girl a monster! You're just big bullies, why not fight someone your size ?" yelled Naruto.

This effectively stopped what was happening as all four people turned to look at the source of the shouts. When they caught sight of the blond-haired boy, the three kids started laughing while Hinata activated her Byakugan and gasped in wonder at what she saw.

"Hahahaha, you're supposed to be the one who stops us ?! Haha you are even more pathetic than that girl!" laughed the biggest of the bullies.

Naruto suddenly charged with all of his new-found energy, ripping his trapped scarf in the process. To an untrained eye, it seemed as if Naruto had simply disappeared and reappeared in front of the first boy. Unfortunately for his victim, Naruto couldn't stop in time and barrelled into the boy, sending him flying into the one behind him, effectively knocking them both out cold. Naruto stared, awed at his awesomeness. Only a fist to the face, brought him back to the current moment. But to his surprise, once more, he felt nothing from the hit. The third boy stood slack-jaw while holding his aching first, staring at Naruto.

"What are you ?!" suddenly shouted the bully. Naruto only looked at him before closing the gap and punching square in the face, knocking the leader of the trio out cold into the snow. Naruto couldn't help but pump his arm in the air, shouting "That was awesome! It'll teach you not to bully girls!"

Hinata had been staring at the blond boy ever since he had first shouted and she couldn't stop. He had the warmest chakra she had ever seen and at the moment, it had a warm golden colour that seemed to draw her in. He had charged so fast at the boys attacking her, knocking two out by simply running into them. And he didn't even have a scratch! She had been startledwhen the last one had punched him in the face while he was distracted, fearing he would be hurt and defenceless but the blond boy had surprised her once more and hadn't even flinched when hit. She was relieved and smiled when he had cheered into the air before turning to her.

Naruto quickly stopped celebrating when he remembered the girl he was defending from the three ex-bullies was right behind him. He turned around and when they locked eyes, the world around them seemed to stop. His gaze was locked with hers, looking straight into eyes that he thought resembled the moon but with a faint lavender sheen to them. He loved her eyes instantly and couldn't stop the heavy blush that crept all over his face. He didn't know why he was feeling so hot and as the energy that had been flowing in him left, he heard himself say,

"Hey I'm Uzumaki Naruto, what's your name ?"

Hinata was also in a daze ever since she had locked eyes with him. His golden eyes had a cross-shaped pupil and they seemed to pierce right through her but she had never felt safer, especially since the death of her mum. Her Byakugan receded at the same time as whatever dōjutsu he had went away, only for her to get lost in now-ocean blue eyes. As she transformed into a tomato, she heard herself reply to him,

"I'm Hyūga Hinata, thank you for helping me."

Their little moment came to an end when she saw his torn scarf and the rest of it hanging limply from the swing that stood a few meters away from their place.

"Oh no you've ruined your scarf because of me! I'm sorry, I'll do anything to help you get a new one! I'm so sorry!" said Hinata, embarrassed that his clothing had been damaged because she couldn't defend herself against the boys.

"Hey don't worry, kaa-san will probably be a little angry but if it happened because I was defending you, I'm sure it will be okay! I couldn't let those mean guys treat you like that and make you cry, I'm sure you're not a monster or a freak!" half-shouted Naruto, who had his arms behind his head.

Hinata blushed bright red once more and started moving towards the swing to gather the rest of the scarf because she had an idea regarding what to do with it, Naruto following her.

"No matter what I'll fix it or make you a new one to replace it" she declared.

Right as she had finished gathering the last strands, Kō landed a few feet away from them.

"Hinata-sama I finally found you! You can't suddenly disappear like that, your father will have a fit thinking something bad happened to you!" exclaimed the breathless ninja. Kō took a moment to look around and saw Hinata and Naruto and three apparently knocked out older boys not far from them.

"What happened Hinata-sama ? Who are these boys and the one standing next to you ?" he added.

"Don't worry Kō-san, that's my friend Naruto and he defended me against those boys that were being mean with me" she hastily said, not wanting Kō to get the wrong impression of Naruto. Said boy briefly looked at her, smiling.

"Yeah I'm Uzumaki Naruto and those bullies were making Hinata cry so I stopped them!" he enthusiastically declared.

Of course Kō knew who was Naruto, he had watched over him from time to time as an assignment from the Sandaime Hokage. Kō didn't have any ill-feelings towards the boy, Hiashi-sama had told him everything about him and if Hiashi-sama had no problems with the boy and believed in his ex-teammate's capacities so did he. He had also seen him grow up at the orphanage and was secretly quite fond of the boy. Knowing he had just met and saved Hinata from the older boys made him very happy as he knew that Hiashi-sama would be thrilled that her daughter had finally met Minato's son. And seeing how she was blushing when he arrived, would make Hiashi-sama even happier. Kō briefly wondered how Naruto had defeated the three, obviously taller and bigger, boys but dismissed the thought, as it wasn't the time to think about that.

"Well Naruto-san, I'm grateful you were able to help Hinata-sama but we must now go back to our compound. We wish you a good day." said the ninja.

"Sure no problem K-" started Naruto when his eyes suddenly rolled in the back of his head and he fell limp to the ground.

"Naruto!" screamed Hinata as she dropped to her knees next to him, "Naruto wake up! What's wrong ?" Kō was beside her immediately and put his hand on his forehead, his Byakugan blazing into life.

"Calm down Hinata-sama, he's simply passed out and it seems like he has chakra exhaustion" said Kō in his business voice, "we'll take him and the other kids to the hospital."

Hinata sighed in relief, scared that something bad had happened to her first real friend. Together they set off, Kō having made two clones who carried the three other boys, with Hinata constantly hovering around him as he was carrying Naruto.

NHxNHxNHxNHxNH

The young Hyūga heiress was sitting next to Naruto's hospital bed. She had remained behind when Kō had left all the boys in the doctors' care, hoping that he would awaken soon despite what the doctor who had treated Naruto had told her about chakra exhaustion.

So she just sat there, staring at him and thinking about their meeting in the woods and what the elders would probably say about what had transpired. She was grateful she had met Naruto, he seemed so lively and full of life, it was an incredible change from her clan, the ever-stoic Hyūgas and their sacrosanct superiority. While at her compound she always had to 'behave properly' and show no emotions. She hated that. She had a baby sister and she couldn't behave naturally with the cute little baby. But Naruto seemed like the exact opposite and she wanted to know more about him.

After some time she felt the envy to be bold so she looked around, making sure no one, before she leaned in and traced her fingers along one of his cheek. She wanted to know if his whiskers-like mark were real or not. She was quite surprised to feel that there was some thin ridges she could feel all along his whiskers. Suddenly Naruto moved in his sleep and Hinata jumped back in her seat with an 'eep', redder than a tomato. The blond boy soon stopped moving but Hinata stayed still, embarrassed at what she had dared do and afraid Naruto would wake up and make fun of her.

A pretty long chapter as I simply couldn't cut it in half at any point. It may seem obvious but I still want to point it out, I took some liberties with canon, especially regarding their age. I've also dropped some little hints, let's see who finds them.