Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Prince Naruto

Chapter 3: strange family

The queen hardly remembered the last time, she was here. When was it? Thirty years ago? Or forty? It didn't matter. The education of young elites was well taken care of by her ministers, so it wasn't like she let this place root or something. Still, as she went in front of the young and obviously nervous ninjas, she couldn't help but feel guilty for ignoring this place for so long. It couldn't be helped, she needed bodyguards for Naruto, before his existence and lineage became common knowledge.

When she had greeted Sayuri, the poor woman nearly had a heart-attack. But quickly recovered and presented happily and a touch proudly her charges. Sayuri was director of the Cristalls, the elites of Titan, similar to Anbu in Konoha. The Cristalls stood at attention and waited for her orders - or an explanation, why on earth the queen personally came to headquarters, instead of giving her missions to Sayuri like usual.

Queen Sari looked over the rows of ninja and spoke to Sayuri, but loud enough for all Cristalls to hear, "Something important came up. I need a few of your best - maybe 10 or so. High-profile bodyguard-mission for quite a few years. No ties to any faction, that could hope to take the thrown after my death. Preferable on the young side - maybe around 16 or younger."

Sayuri was speechless. Ten Cristalls? For years? Loyal to the royal family only? What on earth was going on? And since when, did anyone, much less the queen herself, talk about the disaster that was bound to happen, after her death?

Well, first things first. Sayuri made a mental list of Cristalls, that would meet the criteria and called out, "Step forward: Kazami Sona, Rika Kanaki, Miyuki Nanoka, Kaji Suzuki, Ayame Yashako, Kyoko Akame, Tariko Yamata, Mariko Yamata, Haruhi Makani and Maya Zuki!".

All Cristalls were confused about the mission parameters, but naturally didn't show it. The ten girls got in a row in front of Sayuri and the queen and bowed, still hiding their confusion. While the others all left, the queen looked them over.

Kazami was a bit on the small side and apparently 15 years old, Kaji was in contrast rather tall, maybe 17 and seemed a bit dark with her long black hair and dark brown eyes. Ayame had a softness about her, like a mother, that made one wonder, why she was a ninja in the first place. She was completely calm and relaxed, unnaturally so for a 16-year-old in front of a leader. Next to her Kyoko was a nervous wreck, and tried desperately to hide it - failing miserably. Not to surprising for someone barely 15. Rika was also 15 and absolutely focused and serious. On her other side, Miyuki beamed at the queen. She didn't care what the mission was, she would give her best anyway, after all not many 14-years-old can get a mission from the queen herself. Tariko and Mariko were twins, 15 and stared curious at the queen for instructions. Haruhi didn't look at anyone, to shy to even tear her eyes from the ground, the 16-year-old was busy calming herself down enough to actually pay attention. Maya was the only one, not even trying to hide her confusion and looked questioningly from Sayuri to the queen and back. Maya was the oldest with 17, two month older than Kaji.

Queen Sari was sure that these ten young ladies would do great as bodyguards for Naruto and would likely become his friends as well. The entire procession went to a small office for the briefing and the queen activated the privacy seals. By now, none of the girls - nor Sayuri - bothered to hide their curiosity, so the queen explained, "Alright, you are too young to remember my daughter Kari, so I will start over 40 years ago. My husband and I only had one child - Kari - and when she was 18, she wanted to see the world before settling down and take over the throne. She ran away and left a letter, that she wanted a few adventures, but would be back before she turned 30. We understood that she wanted to see the world in her young years, so we let her go and didn't try to bring her back. Instead we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. But at some point Kari's 30th birthday came and left and Kari still wasn't back. Naturally we were worried, even though we knew, she was more than strong enough to take care of herself. A lot of our best went to investigate, but lost her trail on the southern shore of Fire. We had no choice but believe, that Kari died on the ocean. The trail ended three years after her departure from Titan. By the time we found out, where she went missing, she was already gone for over 12 years and we had to assume, she was dead since that time. I don't know, what exactly happened or why she didn't come back, but it is for sure that Kari survived back then and somehow ended up with the daimyo of Whirlpool. They had at least one daughter - my granddaughter Kushina Uzumaki. Somehow this Kushina ended up in Konoha, the Ninja-Village of Fire and had a child with the fourth Hokage. A 12-year-old boy - Naruto Uzumaki- my great-grandson and heir. You are to guard and protect him at all times. Preferable become his friend as well."

Silence fell over the room, while everyone tried to come to terms with what was said. Sayuri especially was dizzy with the implications. She was part of the search party for Kari back then and still remembered, the grieve for her, that showed not only on the queen's face, as well as the worry over what would happen and who would lead Diamond after queen Sari's passing. That worry grew with each year and was always at the back of the mind of all, who realized, what the lack of an heir meant.

The girls may didn't understand the political significance of Naruto's existence, but they sure as hell recognized the honor they would get by guarding the heir of Diamond. Of course, they couldn't agree fast enough.

So all of them went to the palace without even packing. Sayuri tagged along just to see the young prince. After a little walk they were inside the palace and in front of a little boy of 12 years, who was fast asleep. The two guards of the queen, who had been watching over him, stood up for a silent greeting. Nobody wanted to wake Naruto up, so the queen just carried him to one of the guestrooms, his new guards following quietly. Sayuri, on the other hand, had seen enough. With a small smile and a heart lighter than a feather, she left the palace and went home.


The next morning Naruto woke up quite dizzy and took a look around. Nope, he didn't knew, where he was, but he was already used to it. Since running from Konoha, he hadn't spend the night in one place twice. So that neither worried Naruto, nor did it got the sleep out of his brain. But the girls apparently out cold on the floor, sure as hell did. Other girls weren't even sleeping but standing around and doing absolutely nothing. Who were they? What were they doing here? (- other than standing around or sleeping) And where exactly was here? (Somehow that question was rather familiar...) Suddenly Naruto remembered the previous day and a few things started to make sense: the big room and soft bed. He was still in the palace and his great-grandmother put him here, when he fell asleep. But that didn't explain, why his room was filled with girls or why some of them were sleeping - on the floor.

By now one of the girls noticed, that Naruto was awake and promptly chirped: "Good morning your majesty!". That caused all others to turn around and those, on the floor, to rise to greet him as well. After such a loud greeting, the following silence sounded deafening.

"...erm... good morning ... as well ... um ... whoever you are ...?", Naruto replied. "Oh! Of course! The introductions! I'm sorry, I forgot it! I'm Miyuki and these are Kazami, Rika, Kaji, Ayame, Kyoko, Tariko, Mariko, Haruhi and Maya.", the youngest girl beamed, pointing at each girl as she said the name. "Nice to meet you!", Naruto grinned, despite making sure his blanket would cover his privates. He took a peek to see how much clothes exactly he was wearing. And took another to make sure - yep, he didn't wear anything! Hopefully, the girls didn't see him, when he was undressed. After sending a quick prayer to kami, that whoever took his clothes, was - please, please, please - a guy (not very likely with the number of males around), Naruto looked around again in search of something - anything - to wear. On the chair, he saw a few clothes. Not his own jump suite, but apparently a kimono. It was blue, thank goodness for males, rather pretty and unfortunately to far away from the bed to reach without giving a show to those girls.

"... Do you mind waiting outside, so I can get dressed?", asked Naruto. "My apologies. We are to guard you, therefore we have to stay in the same room as you. But we could turn around if you like?", Rika answered. Guards? Why on earth would he need guards? Much less, while putting on his clothes? Well, at least it explained, why girls were sleeping in his room. Though not, why they did so on the floor. "... yeah, I would prefer some privacy...", Naruto told them. After the girls turn away from him - some towards the door, others towards the windows - he quickly went over to (his?) kimono and put it on, before one of the girls tried to peek. When he was done, he said, "Ok, you can look again. Now, do any of you know where we can get breakfast?" This time Ayame answered, "Actually, the queen wanted to see your highness, once woken up. I was under the impression, that she wanted to take her meal together with you and discuss something."

Naruto was happy to hear, that he would eat with his own family, something he always dreamed about, when he was still in the orphanage. So he just grinned and nodded to the girls, who took the hint and lead him through the castle to a large room. The room was almost empty, only a big desk, a number of chairs and his great-grandmother with two others were there.

Naruto subtly and tactfully asked for queen Sari's attention, "Mornin' gran-gran!". Well, at least it worked. The queen looked up and smiled to the newcomer, "Good morning Naruto, did you sleep well?". "Yeah, I slept great. Waking up was kind of weird though.", he answered "Say gran-gran, why did you put guards in my room? I traveled from Konoha to Titan on my own! I can look after myself!", Naruto sulked. "Well, obviously you can't defend yourself while sleeping. That aside, you're now the crown prince of Diamond and my only heir. A lot of people will want your head, once your status gets known. Even an accident would be a catastrophe, because if we lose our last heir, we may end up with a civil war. Before you came, we actually expected a war in two or three years and couldn't do anything to prevent it. Without an heir, different groups will try to size power and fight each other. Now, that we have a chance to avoid this, I will make sure to keep you safe. Therefore the bodyguards. Think of it as a family tradition; your grandmother Kari and I also had bodyguards, when we were your age.", the queen explained patiently. Naruto didn't buy it for a second. But before he could say anything on the matter, his stomach answered instead with a loud and angry growl. The queen just smiled and asked innocently, "Would you like to get breakfast?". With no other choice, Naruto laughed sheepishly and nodded.

While they all went to the dining room, the queen invited (= forced) Naruto to a shopping trip in the afternoon, because he still had only what he had carried, when he ran away. But before that, he would get a tour through the castle and had to decide what room he wanted. If he was lucky, his great-grandfather would be back by the end of the tour. Naruto sure hoped so. After the queen ordered four carriages and twenty servants to transport his "bare minimum of necessities", he feared what exactly that meant to her. For him it meant clothes to wear and a kunai. Maybe with her husband there, the queen would be calmer. Not to mention he could ask both for training or at least a training room, so he could finally train other jutsus of the forbidden scroll.


Breakfast was rather quiet - or as quiet as 14 people eating could get. Nobody talked. Not even Naruto. He was too surprised how good the food was, despite not being Ramen, to talk. When everyone was finished, queen Sari started Naruto's tour.

First Naruto got to take his own bedroom. So the queen showed him a few rooms to choose from. The first room had been from his grandmother Kari, when she lived in Titan, but Naruto refused to set his foot in there - the room was pink. There wasn't a big difference between the others, so Naruto just decided on the room with the best view. His choice had absolutely nothing to do with the seal, he knew would lead him to the basement, that he saw on one of the paintings. Not that he planned on leaving, but a secret passage could always be helpful. Beside it was large enough to even train in. Come to think of it, he could do a few laps around the room, when he came back from gran-gran's shopping spree. So with his choice set, the the group split up. A few of Naruto's guards would get their belongings to the room and the rest would stay with him. A Servant was called to put the forbidden scroll in this room and then wait in the entrance area for the results of their shopping trip and bring everything in there.

The other rooms were more interesting to Naruto. Not only the training hall, dining room, kitchen and bathrooms, but also a pretty big library with a large jutsu-part, a beautiful garden, a pool-area (even with slides) and a stable with horses. Last he saw the room, he was sure to hate before the end of the week. He would get taught there; about Diamond's history and traditions, general politics, manners, decorum, strategy, geography and any subjects, his teachers believed could use some work.

Given his bad marks in the Academy, Naruto was beyond sure, he would hate it. So he tried to explain his gran-gran, that there was really no need and he was done with education anyway. Though the queen just laughed and explained, that in Titan the students in the Academy learned not only three years, but if they wanted to continue, they could learn five more years and start in a higher position. As a member of Diamond's royal family, Naruto had to attend those five years. Not to mention, he would need to learn more about his country anyway, so he can become a good king.

Naruto wasn't entirely sure what to think of this. He wanted to become Hokage for such a long time, however that obviously wasn't an option anymore. But becoming king? If the people of Diamond were anything like those in Konoha, he wanted nothing to do with them. And he sure as hell wasn't going to tell anyone why exactly he left Konoha. Who knew what his family would think of him?

Before he could sink deeper in these dark thoughts, a deep voice interrupted, "Hello Sari-chan, why did you send Tari to me? It's not like I was gone for too long, it wasn't even a full day and you said before, it wouldn't be a problem! What's the matter?". Naruto blinked and looked up to see a large and old man with a similar kimono as the one, he was wearing. The man was probably as old as the Hokage, but showed still more hair and a lot of muscles. He ignored everyone but the queen and seemed to pout slightly. Was this man his great-grandfather?

The queen glowed with happiness, "Welcome back dear. I wanted to introduce someone to you: This is Naruto Uzumaki, son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki and grandson of our dear Kira. Naruto, this is Tsure, my husband and your great-grandfather.". Tsure froze up for an eternal moment, looking intently at his wife and wondered, if she was pulling his leg. She never wavered. And he realized, that she was beyond serious. Besides, she wouldn't joke about this anyway. So, very slowly and carefully and most likely looking like a drugged psychopath, he turned around to his newly discovered family. And found himself breathless in the face of Naruto's grin, so much like Kira's, so much like his own.

Tsure wanted to say a thousand things, like that he was happy to meet Naruto, that Naruto would like it here, that the whole country would celebrate his arrival and so much more. Wanted to ask him even more, like how he got here, how he liked it here, if the people were nice to him so far, where he came from, how old he was, what his favorites were and so on and so on.

With his brain so unsure, what to say, his mouth decided on it's own, "... ... um ... Hi ...?". Despite the rather short greeting, Naruto's grin became even wider. "Hi, jiji! Do you want to come shopping with us? Gran-gran said, you could help us.", he replied. Tsure laughed, loud and clear, and far more relaxed than he remembered ever being. Looks like Naruto inherited not only Kira's grin, but also her taste for nicknames. "Sure! I can't let my great-grandson get scared for life because of Sari's shopping habits. When are we going?", Tsure joked. The woman in question looked a bit miffed, but answered anyway, "We wanted to go after finishing Naruto's tour through the castle. But we got to the most important rooms already, so if you like, we can go now and let Naruto explore the rest later.".

After everyone agreed, they prepared to leave. And what for preparations they had to make! Naruto was beyond annoyed with all the trouble they had for a simple shopping stroll: first, they called for some bodyguards for gran-gran. Seven escorts - and that was only a small selection of her guards. Then a big carriage (with driver) had to get ready. In the meantime the queen send for a few (sixteen!) servants, to carry the stuff, they were about to buy. He realized his family would take quite some getting used to. If this was how gran-gran bought "bare minimum of necessities", he sure as hell would always be busy, whenever she went for bulk buying. Three hours later, Naruto finally sat down in the carriage and the whole precession set out towards the city.


The people were rather confused, the queen rarely left the palace and when she did it was about some political meeting. Her husband, the king, was more for a causal stroll through the city, but usually went alone or with close friends. Last time both of them went for a shopping spree was 20 years ago! Even then, there were far less bodyguards and servants.

As if that wasn't weird enough, quite a few bodyguards were rather young. Not that anyone doubted their abilities, but why the sudden change? Though the strangest of all was actually the young boy sitting between the royal pair. Who was he? And why was he with the royal family?

So everyone stared more or less openly at the procession and especially at Naruto. The prince himself didn't think much of the attention. Heck, if such a large group would go in front of him, he would stare too!

Half an hour and a lot of bows later, they arrived at the first shop - clothes. To be precise, it was a store for kimonos of a very high quality. The vendor personally came to the queen and after a bow, asked her how he could help. Sari had already made a list and simply stated: "We need a few things for this young man." and pointed at Naruto, "Well, first he needs some causal clothes. Thirty sets should do for the beginning, then ten sets for training and another ten for official business of varying decree of importance.". The vendor would have wondered about the odd situation, but right now, he was too happy to care. After all, it wasn't everyday, that he could sell fifty complete outfits. And the queen had an expensive taste!

So the vendor lead all of them to the male section. He would have to change every single kimono, because the only males that bought here, were foreigners - and those were usually already adults.

Naruto took a look around him, at all those expensive and pretty kimonos. A week ago, he wouldn't have believed to ever wear one - and now, his gran-gran was about to buy him more than some clans had! Jiji was already in a chair and halfway to dreamland, much to gran-gran's annoyance. Naruto for his part just smiled and looked for some clothes, he would like. Difficult decision; pretty much everything there was beautiful.

In the end Naruto decided on a selection of blue, orange and black kimonos for whatever gran-gran called "causal situations". Training clothes were easy - the vendor just brought a bunch of sets, he considered most comfy and tight enough to not get in the way. The prince tried on those, he liked the most and made a few stretches to see, if they would constrict his movements. After ten formfitting kimonos were chosen, the real trouble started.

Naruto became really scared, what sort of "official business" a prince would have to deal with. The clothes alone were getting on his nerves - he was a ninja and not a damn Christmas tree! For example one offered kimono had pink(!) diamonds sewed in everywhere - of course Naruto refused to even try it. Another one had so many layers, that he would take three hours to even get it on.

But some were actually great - like a kimono, that shimmered like a rainbow and one other with flames printed at the bottom. Thankfully the queen didn't butt into Naruto's choice of undergarments, so he just collected a bunch of boxers and socks and was finally done with clothes-shopping - after four hours.


Unfortunately, the fifty kimonos were still not enough for gran-gran's "bare minimum of necessities". So the next stop was a bookstore of all things. Before he could even set a foot in the place, Naruto was already beyond annoyed and sort of tired because off the dressing-marathon. On the other hand his jiji was wide awake - no wonder, after his four hour nap.

Luckily, Naruto didn't have to do much in the bookstore. So he took a page out of jiji's book and slept through the whole thing. Meanwhile, his great-grandparents just took the books, they though would be good for the prince. Gran-gran decided on books about politics, leadership, chakra, history and other things, he would have to learn. Jiji choose flat out the entire series of Icha-Icha and a few other more or less graphic adult books, but also some normal adventure novels.

When the queen noticed her husband's choices, she was less than pleased and their discussion woke Naruto up, "...only 12! That's hardly acceptable literature for Naruto! Not even on the off chance that's actually legal! What are you thinking?!". "Oh, come on! You know, I wouldn't do this without a reason. If he get's interested in girls early, it will make a lot of things far easier. Then we can discuss with him about his choices and give him some advice.", the king answered, effectively ending their argument. Naruto himself wondered what his jiji did, but quickly forgot it, when he heard the next stop was a toy store.

The vendor of this store really couldn't understand, why the royal family came or why they allowed this boy to get anything he liked. So he just stood there, staring dumbfounded while a very happy blond boy pointed to half his inventory and a dozen servants collected the items.

Of course Naruto just had a ball, he hardly ever had toys and now his family bought him everything, he wanted! Maybe this shopping spree wasn't so bad after all. Naruto even asked his bodyguards what their favorite games were, bought the required items and promised his girls to play with them.

But the best part was the last shop - a weapon store. A sword was a must have, because swords are just cool. Kunai and shurikken were natural and got bought in large numbers. Then came the training-equipment: 100 training dummies, two training swords, a few sports equipment like climbing ropes, trampoline and a punchbag, mats for 50 m², 20 automatic target, that moved in different patterns, all kinds of balls and some other things.

Like weights for basically every body part - no joke, Tsure even got a weight for the part, that defines a man, and told Naruto flat out, that he'll be thankful when he's older. Thought right now, the only thing, he was thankful for, was that gran-gran didn't notice. In the store Naruto finally remembered to ask gran-gran for training. She agreed with tears in her eyes and promised to have a teacher for him the very next day.


So after everything was done, they got back to the palace. Queen Sari went straight to her paperwork and asked Tsure to find teachers for the prince, not only for training, but for knowledge and other things as well. With his family busy, Naruto had the evening free to put away all the stuff and play with his new toys.

The bodyguards may never left him, but that was finally okay with him. He had felt enough loneliness for seven lives. So Naruto didn't even make much of a fuss, when some of them followed him into the bathroom or into his bed. Yeah, being a prince would take a lot of getting used to, but for his family it was worth it.


Naruto wasn't the only one who had to adjust to strange family-members. In Konoha, the whole Hyuuga-clan was currently in a tizzy. Hinata hadn't been the same since Naruto left. Sure, almost all of them wanted her to change - but not into a problem child!

Hinata didn't leave her room for a week, not even for food! She would have probably died of thirst, if she hadn't had an own private bathroom. No amount of yelling, consoling, threatening and help of Inoichi Yamanaka got any reaction. Hiashi had tried - in that order. One of the elders even tried to get her out with brute force. He ended in the hospital, after Hinata had shut down all his tenketsu and threw him out of her window. She almost missed team-assignments, despite it being delayed for a week.

What finally got her out, was a fight with Hanabi. Her little sister had overheard two villagers talk about Naruto and the true reason, why he left. Of course the little girl believed, the adults were right about him and the Kyuubi being the same. So she told Hinata that nobody should cry for a demon.

Hiashi just happed to be near them and heard Hanabi - and paled to an unhealthy green. Of course he was scared of losing his daughters to the third's law. But before he could even open his mouth, he saw something far scarier than the Kyuubi. Hinata banged her door open and glared at her little sister. In two seconds she beat her with brute strength, more accurateness than Hiashi himself could muster and without a single bit of chakra.

After Hanabi lost consciousness, Hinata marched out of the Hyuuga-compound, filling everyone with terror, and into the Hokagetower. She didn't ask for an appointment, heck, she didn't even acknowledge the secretary. Instead she just went straight into the Hokage's office, completely ignored the jonins and Anbus already there and yelled at the Hokage loud enough for the entire village to hear: About the injustice done to Naruto, about how he suffered the entire time, how she thought his dear jiji was supposed to protect him, ... The Hokage for his part would be furious, that a little child would yell at him, in front of his best ninjas no less, if he wasn't just glad, that someone cared for Naruto. (The fact, that she was totally right had nothing to do with it!)

Little did he know, that it would be the last time for a long while that anyone heard her voice. Because after this, Hinata refused to talk to anyone. Not a word at the introduction of the genin teams, not at training, not at mission, certainly not at her home and not anywhere else either. Some joked she was hoarse now, other tried to cheer her up, but most just let her be. If someone found Naruto, she would talk again and if not, well, she wasn't that important anyway. Right?