Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any other ninjas for that matter.

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Outcasts Are Not Popular

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"That was more fun than I have had for years! If only I could take over more often! You should feel honored boy; I have seen fit to spare your pitiful life for some time, as I want to have some more fun with these fools before we die." Naruto was still unconscious from passing out in his cabin, but he was unable to escape the voice even when knocked out. He was very worried now. This was the first time the voice had not made immediate threats on his life, which meant that it had found another outlet for it murderous intentions. "Don't let them kill you boy, or I will do far worse to you. I am going to have more fun soon." The voice faded out of his mind as Naruto drifted back into his less disturbed sleep.

The ANBU that was watching over him noticed Naruto relax somewhat. Having been ANBU for many years he had seen and done many dangerous things, but this was by far the most dangerous thing he had ever been asked to do, watch Nine-tails as he slept in a bed in the middle of the hospital. After this it was time for a vacation, a very long vacation, far, far away from here.

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Staring up at the faces carved into the side of the mountain the Hokage was still trying to digest the news that Kakashi had given him. He was not mad at Kakashi as he knew that it was not his fault or his intention for this to happen. Something would have to be done and fast. A list of problems was forming in his mind. He had ordered that no one was to know that Naruto was back in the village. He had ordered several units of ANBU to not only guard Naruto, but to make sure that no one found out that he was in the hospital. If the villagers found out that he was there they would most likely try to strike at him, as this would be their best chance, when he was injured and vulnerable.

His next biggest problem was what to do with Naruto. Now that Naruto had seen people he was not likely to continue staying in the woods content to be by him self any more. This meant that he would be in the village one way or another. There was no way they could just send him away, as he would be a very dangerous enemy if someone turned him against the village, if he already didn't hate them. He would need a teacher, and that was another problem. While from what the Hokage understood he would need some time to learn some of the basic techniques and skills that he did not already have, he would quickly be more powerful than most of the ninjas that would be willing to teach him. Even among the Jonins he doubted that many would want Naruto as a student.

The Hokage made a mental note to send for Jiraiya. Even if he sent a message now, it would be a long time before anyone could track him down. In the mean time he had to find someone to not only train Naruto, but also to keep him out of trouble. In the past he would have asked the Uchiha clan to do something like this, but that was now impossible. The only family that still was powerful enough for this job was the Hyuga clan, but he would be hard pressed to get them to agree to something like this, as some of them were the main supporters behind having Naruto killed so many years ago.

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Naruto could sense that there was someone in the room with him. The person was very much on edge and seemed like he was ready to snap at any moment. He also could sense some kind of chakra over the room, like some kind of genjutsu. Lastly, Naruto knew without a doubt that he was somewhere he had never been and that it had many strong opponents all over it. Naruto knew that if he were going to try and make a break for it he would have to do it before any more people arrived.

Some noise in the hallway made the person in the room shift his attention for a split second and that was what Naruto was waiting for. He leapt up from the bed and dove for the window, but just before he hit it the world seem to spin and turn into nothing but a dark void. Naruto could feel that he was still inside of the genjutsu, but having no experience with dealing with jutsus like this he had no idea how to fight it. He felt like he was being watched, but for how long he couldn't tell. Time seemed to loose its meaning as Naruto sat in the dark trying to refine his senses to the point where he could sense something other than himself again.

Finally, he got something, or more likely someone let him sense him or her. He made his way through the darkness toward the person. He appeared to be an older man wearing robes and a large hat. Naruto could tell that the person was really not there, as he could not get any scent off of him. "Where am I?" Naruto asked, as it seemed the figure was content to just look at him. Naruto's voice dropped into a deep, threatening tone, "If you don't let me go, you'll be sorry when I break free." This was more Nine-tails than Naruto, but Naruto had never agreed with the voice more than he did now.

Laughing a bit at the threat the man didn't seem to be the least bit phased. "What are we going to do with you Naruto?" Naruto jumped back in surprise. Someone knew his name. He had never spoke with anyone, so there was no way that he had told it to him. Naruto didn't even know why he called himself that, but it seemed to work well enough.

"How do you know who I am?" Naruto was becoming more and more panicked. The part of him that was controlled by his instincts was starting to get more and more of a hold over him. Naruto had never been so scared in his whole life. Death seemed like a nice alternative to this place of darkness and solitude.

"Calm down Naruto and I will explain to you what I can," the Hokage knew that Naruto could not handle the whole truth, but he needed to at least know what was going on. He explained what had happened back at Naruto's cabin. This seemed to help calm Naruto down a bit, so he continued telling Naruto where he was and what was going on.

After the explanation Naruto asked in a quiet voice, "So I'm in a place full of other people?" Naruto was now becoming more excited than scared. People lived here, a lot of people from the sound of it. "Those people who were at my cabin were ninjas? How many other people are there here? Are they all ninjas?" Naruto had now switched over to curious mode, not even a hint of the darkness in his voice from a moment ago.

"If you want, you can stay here and I will find you a teacher," Naruto had never been so happy in his life, not even when he got a new batch of ramen, although that was arguable. He could stay with all the people; this meant that he would not have to be alone ever again. With so many people around maybe he wouldn't even hear the voice any more. "But," the Hokage continued, "Most of the people here will not want to have you around. Something happened long ago when you were just a baby, and many people in the village will blame you for it."

"What did I do to them?" Naruto spoke in a quiet vulnerable voice. Naruto had run over many different scenarios that had lead to his living in the woods alone, and some had included that he was a very bad person. Many nights he had lain awake in bed trying desperately to remember some far off event in his past. Some times, on nights when he was able to clear his mind he managed to catch snippets of some very negative emotions and memories.

"Nothing," the Hokage responded. "That wasn't a lie, but it wasn't really the truth," the Hokage thought to himself, "If only we could have been more prepared for this day to come."

"But then why will they hate me?" Naruto was getting confused. If he had not done anything then why didn't they want him around?

"Now is not the time to worry about that," the Hokage had wanted to tell Naruto why, but he just could not bring himself to do it for some reason. "Do you want to stay in the village? Either way I will make sure that you are taken care of." The Hokage wanted to do so much for Naruto, he owned Naruto's father more than his life, and this was the opportunity to give Naruto what he wanted, or at least try to.

"I want to stay with the people," it took Naruto a bit to answer the question. He had never had to make life-altering decisions before. "Was shrimp flavored ramen what he wanted for dinner?" Or, "Which stance would be best in this situation?" Now those are questions that he had experience with. Seeing the man smile at his answer Naruto grinned back. The man turned around and started fading away into the blackness. "Wait!" Naruto yelled after the figure.

"Don't worry I am going to be letting you out of here," the Hokage was a bit startled by the outburst, but not as much as the next one.

"Teach me to do this first, please," Naruto motioned to the darkness that was surrounding him. Even if he did not know who this man was, he could tell that he was a very powerful person.

The Hokage starred at Naruto for a moment before chuckling to himself, "he truly is your son isn't he." The Hokage smiled as he returned to the boy and sat down on the ground before him motioning for him to do the same.

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"It has been almost a week," one of the ANBU members spoke the thoughts of the group. "What if the demon is attacking him? I mean the Hokage is powerful, but not like the Fourth."

"He said not to worry and to leave them until he returned," Kakashi replied entering the room. He had noticed that the tension in the ANBU units was reaching its breaking point. Normally they were the most disciplined group you would ever find, but with just the mention of Nine-tails they were acting like scared children. If the Hokage did not return soon they would start acting on their own. He looked over at the sitting form of Naruto and the Hokage in the hospital room. He knew that most of them would really believe they were acting in the best interest of the village to simply strike the boy down now, before he could cause them any problems.

Just as the ANBU member was going to start arguing, the Hokage stood up and with his eyes still closed, "Any word yet from Jiraiya?" He looked very tired, but a small smile still played on the corner of his mouth. The Hokage knew he needed to go rest, or he would end up in one of these beds like Naruto. It had been a long time since he had used as much chakra as he had this week, not only maintaining the genjutsu, but also training Naruto how to do it. He had found Naruto a good student, but Naruto seemed to have a lot of trouble channeling his chakra. Normally this would not be much of a problem for Naruto, who seemed to have a huge amount of chakra, but with something like the Shadow-Cage jutsu it really limited how long Naruto could keep it going.

"Nothing yet, but he was never easy to find," Kakashi didn't voice it, but he doubted they would find Jiraiya unless he wanted to be found, whenever that was.

"Well then Kakashi, you better get ready for another student in a few weeks when Naruto graduates from the academy," during the week training Naruto he had been trying to think of anyone else that could and would teach Naruto and he came up with one name only, Kakashi. Iruka would gladly do it, but he was needed at the academy, and Naruto was already more powerful than Iruka from the looks of things.

"I'm going to go to school with the other kids!" several of the ANBU leapt back drawing weapons as the now very awake and very happy Naruto jumped off the bed, smiling.

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Team seven was waiting on the bridge for their teacher to arrive. They had been waiting there for the better part of three hours, not that that was unusual or anything. The overall mood of the group was very introverted, each busy with their own thoughts. Team seven was never a very cocky group, okay Sasuke was, but the other two were not; it had been quite the shock to be beaten into the ground by someone their age. They had really been put in their place by what had happened last week.

"How can someone be that strong if they have never even been taught how to be a ninja at all?" Sasuke growled out in frustration. He was the number one rookie in his class, but all he had managed to do was get shoved into a wall and pass out. Sasuke's hand subconsciously held his sore ribs.

"At least we got away with no permanent damage," the med-nins had been very worried about Hinata's inner coil system, but it looked like it was healing well and she would be able to channel chakra without pain in another week or so. "That boy fought like a caged animal, there was no way we could have taken him, even in a straight fight," Sakara was trying to cheer Sasuke up, but realized that was the wrong thing to say as Sasuke just scowled and turned to stare off into the distance.

Just then in his normal puff of smoke entrance Kakashi appeared. "Good morning everyone, sorry I'm late, but I had a meeting with the Hokage," Kakashi was still a bit worried about the decision on what to do with Naruto. The Hokage assured him this was the best thing they could do at this point, but it still seemed very dangerous to Kakashi. It had been a long time since the Hokage had to use some of his political power to pressure people, and he could tell that they would not like it one bit.

"Liar!" Kakashi was pulled out of these thoughts at the frustrated yell from Sakura. Team seven had gotten somewhat used to the constant stream of excuses from their teacher, but that didn't mean they liked standing on a bridge waiting for him for hours.

"Sakura what could I have done to lose your trust? I am so hurt," Team seven glared at Kakashi. "Anyway, something really important came up that I need to take care of, so we are going to have to cancel training today," both Sakura and Sasuke glared up at Kakashi with an expression of annoyance. "So you can have today off and do what ever you would like to," team seven started to move off in their own ways, as Kakashi called after Hinata, "Hinata, I need to go and speak with your father, so I'll walk home with you."

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Naruto was excited; today was going to be the first day he was going to be in the academy. The Hokage had explained everything to him. If he could pass the same test that the other kids his age had, he could skip the rest of the schooling, and get a teacher right away. The Hokage had wanted him to get settled before he started school, but he wanted to get started right away. Naruto even tried to tidy himself up the best he could, even though it really didn't help much.

Even before class had started Naruto could already hear the students gossiping about him. Most of it was just simple new kid gossip, but he swore he had her a few derogatory remarks sent his way. Things quieted down when the teacher walked in.

Iruka picked Naruto right out from the crowd, with his blonde hair and one sleeved orange jump suit he was easy to spot. The Hokage had told him what happened and Iruka had almost fainted, partially because he could hardly believe that Naruto was going to be living in the village, and partially from the fact that Naruto had single handily beaten all of Kakashi's team seven. Iruka could not wait to see what he was capable of.

Class started and Iruka could see that having Naruto in class was going to be a bit of a problem. First, the other kids spent a lot more time talking about him than listening to him lecture. Secondly, Naruto who was a very self motivated and self taught person did not have the attention span to sit idly in class and listen to a lecture on the theory of some jitsu, not that he didn't try. Naruto had long since fallen asleep on his desk.

Iruka called his class to attention and told them that they were going to go do some throwing practice. Naruto who had woken up shortly before listened with great attention and Iruka gave the class all sorts of tips on throwing various weapons. Taking the class out to the field where he had set up targets Iruka instructed them on some safety tips and told them to get started. As Iruka moved between students giving them some more tips he noticed that a good portion of the class was watching Naruto.

Walking over to where Naruto was practicing he could see why. Naruto stood in a slightly crouched position, one hand reaching into the weapon pouch on his hip, the other stretched out in front for balance, a look of extreme concentration on his face. With a sudden burst of speed he sent a handful of throwing stars whirling all over the place in a seemingly random pattern towards the target. All of which got really close to hitting the target, but none actually did, flying past in to stick in the trees or land in the grass beyond the target. The class which had been holding its breath during the throw took this time to let there stress over being outdone out by laughing at Naruto, some even making a few jokes about his aim.

From the vantage point of the school roof Sasuke also seemed pleased with the result, "Hmph, I knew it had to be some kind of fluke that he beat me. He can't even hit a target, there is no way he is better then me." Seeing enough he turned to leave, glancing at Sakura, who turned to quickly follow, him trying to make conversation. Hinata watched them leave then turned back to watch the happenings down on the field. It seemed odd to her, Naruto looked like he was not even trying to aim at the target.

Chuckling to himself at Naruto's attempt to show off Iruka walked over to Naruto, "Not bad Naruto, but I think you better practice hitting one target with one throwing star, before you try something fancy." Iruka said that as advice in his fatherly tone, not trying to put Naruto down.

"But I did hit the target," Naruto looked a bit confused. He looked over at the target again to make sure he was not mistaken. Counting to himself he was reassured that all twelve had hit the target.

One of the kids in the class, who happened to think of himself as the best in the class decided to explain things to this new kid, "You are supposed to hit the target not the trees, what do you think they are there for?"

Still not quite getting what they where all talking about Naruto grabbed another throwing star and threw it at the target. This time it slammed deep into the center of the target. The class all just starred at it, followed by slacked jaw confusion as the target fell apart into several pieces.

"Naruto, how did you do that?" Iruka had seen some good trick throwing before, but nothing like that. Iruka had always known that Naruto was meant to be a great ninja, if he got the chance, but he never even thought for a second that he would be this good. Naruto proceeded to explain that when he was about six years old simple throwing practice was too easy, as he would hit the bull's eye every time, so he had created a jutsu to make things harder. Right before throwing he would attached a second, invisible blade of chakra to the one he was throwing. At his current skill he estimated he could affix the blade any where within a foot of the real blade.

Iruka understood how Naruto had done it now. He had missed with the real blades on purpose, it was the invisible chakra blades the he was aiming at the target with. Not only was he creating the blades in the instant that he threw the real ones, he had to calculate where each ones was and how to make the path of each real blade so the invisible blades would hit the target, and not fly by when the real one hit the target. This was an advanced skill, even a much more experienced ninja would be fooled by it. The more experience ninja would see where each blade was going to fly, they would know that they were going to miss him, but because the chakra was invisible he would not see that he really needed to dodge much further than the real blades could reach.

Seeing the whole class was staring at him, as he was lost in thought, Iruka cleared his throat, "Very nice work Naruto, maybe you could help me give the other students some tips." Iruka patted Naruto on the head before turning and ushering the class back to work.

From up on the roof of the school building Hinata watched with a smile. She wished that she could be as good at things as she had seen Naruto be. She considered going to train, but decided that it was pointless as there was no way that she could become strong like that, instead she just stayed where she was and watched the rest of the class, well Naruto at least.

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Kakashi sat at the table where he had been directed to wait for Hiashi. The tea on the table had long since gone cold, not touched at all. Kakashi knew that he was going to have to wait to talk to someone like Hiashi Hyuga, but he had been there for hours. If it had not been on business for the Hokage he would have left long ago. "I hate it when people are late," he mused to himself. Catching what he just thought brought a chuckle to his lips as the door to the room finally opened.

"I'm glad you kept yourself entertained Kakashi," Hiashi knew that whatever brought Kakashi, the famous copy ninja, to his estate was not going to make him happy. "I am a busy man, so lets get straight to the point, I know that you are here on the behalf of the Hokage. What is it that the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village wants of the Hyuga?"

"Nine-tails has returned," Kakashi knew that the statement would get the response he needed. Hiashi's face stayed immobile.

"Bring more tea," Hiashi called to one of the servants that were awaiting orders. "We will be a while." For Kakashi to state that outright meant that there had to be more to it then met the eye. Hiashi idly wondered what the Hokage was thinking these days.

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Hinata had noticed, as the day went on, that the children of the academy found it extremely funny when Naruto had trouble doing something or got it wrong. On the other hand they seemed impassive or just plain ignored anything he was good at. The class had been instructed to take a pop quiz on Bushin no Jutsu, mostly out of Iruka's frustration with the classes lack of attention. Naruto had tried several times, but the closest he got was a midget version of the Hokage with a green nose. Hinata could tell that the laughter of the class was really starting to get to Naruto even if he tried to cover it up by being loud and trying to make jokes about it. Hinata knew how it felt when people put you down even when you were trying your best. That was how her whole family was. Nothing she did was good enough for them. Most of the time they had simply taken to ignoring her as a way of showing that they were disappointed, which Hinata found hurt just as much as when they had been vocal about how weak they thought she was. Perhaps it hurt more.

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Sasuke was still in a very bad mood, and the constant chatter of this unwanted companion was not helping much. Even though seeing the loser fail so bad had helped him feel a bit better, he still knew that he should be far stronger than someone who was not even a real ninja. He had been training hard with team seven and then continuing to train on his own when he could find the time, but that didn't seem to be enough. He would just have to work harder. Now if he could only get rid of the female bother that was following him he could get started right now, while he had a day off.

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Hinata was never what one would call a popular person; in fact most people wouldn't call her anything, because they forgot that she was there. Even without much social experience she did know when someone was being made fun of, and Naruto was being made fun of. A group of the students from his class were talking loudly with him outside the school building after school had been let out. She could tell that Naruto was not getting that they were being sarcastic when they were complementing him on his clothes. Hinata didn't think that the clothes he was wearing were in too good of shape either, with the wear and tear, not to mention a missing sleeve, but she thought the orange color looked good on him. Along with his clothes they also mentioned things like they way he spoke, he did have an odd, some what harsh accent, his long finger nails, the disarray of his hair, and his current state of homelessness. Throughout this Naruto made no sign that he thought anything they said was a bit rude.

Hinata knew from overhearing (okay spying on him) that he was supposed to wait at the school for someone to come and get him, and under no situation was he to leave until they got there. Naruto was telling this to his new "friends", but they seemed to want him to forget what he had been told and go with them into the village. It was going from asking him to the point of telling him to come with them. They seemed to want to get him in trouble. After some more arguing and some finally some name-calling they left him there, alone. Naruto watching the younger kids walk away laughing at him. Hinata watched Naruto let out a sigh as they left, he was probably a bit overwhelmed by all the attention he had gotten.

"So you went to school here too?" Naruto asked the question to the open air around him. He had long since felt the presence of Hinata, and not long after that caught her scent on the breeze that morning. He knew that she had been watching him almost all day. He had wanted to call out a greeting as soon as he had felt her nearby, but he remembered how he had met her and was not sure if he should talk to her on just leave her be.

After something to the effect of a small squeak, Hinata came out from behind the nearby tree she had been using to hide from Naruto, "S-sorry, I didn't mean to s-spy on you l-like that."

"I don't mind," Naruto had so many things he wanted to talk about, but was not sure how he should continue. "So did you ever find him?" Naruto asked, trying to break the ice.

"Uh, f-find w-who?" Hinata had no idea what Naruto was talking about. Her eyes roamed along his powerful arms up to his blast of yellow hair, causing her to blush even more.

"They told me you and your team were doing a training mission to find your teacher in the woods," Naruto was happy that he hadn't made a fool out of himself yet. At least she was not laughing in his face like the others.

"Oh, no w-we had to stop the m-mission to go to t-the h-hospital," Hinata saw that was not the thing to say, as he hung his head in shame as he bent down to sit on the steps. She could tell that he was worried about what had happened between him and team seven. "Don't w-worry about it, if an-anyone should apologies it is us. We b-barged into y-your house and then I-I," Hinata was staring to lose her little bit of confidence, but managed to choke out, "I-I almost k-killed you w-when we were fighting."

Naruto turned his head quickly to look at Hinata, a look of surprise on his face. Hinata took the expression as fear. Hinata was becoming depressed. Her thoughts quickly went to putting herself down, "Hinata, your so stupid. Now you made him think you are some kind of vicious murderer? Wait, didn't Kakashi say something about the boy killing many people?"

Hinata nearly jumped out of her skin as Naruto burst out laughing, "Don't worry about it, I always heal really fast. Nothing ever keeps me down!" Naruto flexed the muscles in his arm and flashed a reassuring grin. Hinata then noticed that he did not seem to look like he had been injured at all, even his badly glass cut hands looked as good as new.

"But you were in the hospital for over a week, because I-I hit your inner coil system when we were fighting," Hinata didn't even know why she was arguing the point, as she was very glad that he didn't hold his injuries against her.

"We fought?" Naruto had a look of genuine confusion of his face. Shaking it off he continued, "Actually, most of that time that old man, what's his name? Hokage-person, was teaching me a new jutsu. Hey! Do you want to see it? It's really cool!" Naruto was really excited to show off his new jutsu to someone.

Naruto had already preformed the hand seals when a loud voice stopped him, "A good ninja does not show off his skills unless absolutely necessary." Both Hinata and Naruto spun towards the speaker. Hiashi Hyuga stood several yards away glaring at the two youths.

"F-f-father," Hinata said in almost a whisper, bowing her head slightly. Hinata could tell from the look on his face that he was not very happy about something, and she hoped it was not something she had done or more likely had not done.

Naruto studied the man. He could tell that he had the same lavender eyes that Hinata had. From the stance he stood in and the feel of his chakra Naruto knew he was not a man to mess with. Instinctively Naruto had lowered himself slightly into his fighting stance as Hiashi walked towards them. Hiashi observed this and chuckling to himself slightly at the thought of fighting the boy, "You are going to be under the protection of the Hyuga clan while you remain in the village. As long as that is true we will make sure that no harm will come to you. The branch house has offered to house you, but for something this important it is the responsibility of the main house to make sure that we up hold the wishes of the Hokage." Hiashi turned and started to walk off, pausing to call back, "Come, we are going home now." Without looking back again Hiashi walked off down the street towards the Hyuga estate, Hinata, head still bowed, in close tow. Naruto watched as the two walked off down the now lit street. Never had he even dreamt that he would get a real home with other people in it, whether they really wanted him there or not. Naruto brushed a tear from his eye as he quickly follow the two Hyugas. Whispering so low he didn't think anyone could hear it, Naruto repeated to himself, "Going home now," with the second real smile he had used all day.

Unbeknownst to Naruto someone had heard it, and that small phrase chipped away at the icy cold hatred held in that person's heart.

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End chapter two.

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