"Your first order of business will be training," Captain Nara said as he turned towards the young boy. "You see on this ship, everyone holds their own. And with that we can count on each other when the time comes. So you will begin training every morning with Gibbs. He will teach you the fundamentals of swordsmanship and get you accustomed to work on the ship. You're still young so you will be swabbing the deck."

"Who's Gibbs Captain?" Naruto asked as he followed in the wake of his red coat. Captain Nara turned and whistled up towards the crows nest. A figure looked over and nodded. He jumped from the crows nest and grasped a rope that was dangling a bit in the wind and swung around the ship, skimming the water at the side before he flung himself onto the deck. He landed with a huff next to the captain and Naruto stood back in freight. Gibbs was a giant amongst men, standing almost two heads over the Captain. His head was bald and he looked down at Naruto with one eye. His other was covered with an eyepatch that was white in color. His broad chest was exposed under his simple leather vest and littered with scars and burns on his dark ebony skin. Wrapped around his white leggings was a red sash that was tied off to the side. Tucked inside of the stash were two pistols and one large sword.

"This my first mate," the Captain said with a smile as he turned towards Naruto. "Master Gibbs, meet Naruto, your new squire."

"You've got to be kidding me Cap," Gibbs said with a deep rough voice. "I've got knives bigger than this boy!"

"Give him a shot," The Captain said as he eyed Gibbs. "He comes from a good stock, I should know."

"Aye sir," Gibbs said getting the message. Gibbs turned towards the boy and crossed his arms over his giant chest. "Fine boy, you have yourself a trainer. First things first, let's get you a mop!"

Hinata stood before her father and the rest of the clan with a small smile on her face, she just sent to branch members to the floor after executing a flawless combo on them. She turned towards the remaining branch member, Neji. He assumed a defensive stance as Hinata turned and gave him a cold look. Her bloodline flared and she charged forward. The two moved around each other in a beautiful dance when Neji struck home and connected with Hinata's shoulder. Neji's moment of victory was short lived as he looked down to see Hinata's face was smirking and he felt pain erupt from his stomach. He was blown back by Hinata's other arm that struck home. Hinata stood up and deactivated her blood line and walked proudly out of the room.

'Still too slow,' she thought to herself as she looked down at her stunned arm. 'How can I stand beside you if I can't even beat a branch member without receiving injury? Damnit!"

"Hinata-san," A voice said from behind her. She turned and shot a cold glare at the poor Branch member. "Your father wishes to speak with you."

"Tell him I will be there soon," Hinata said void of emotion as she turned and made her way to her room. Hinata made it to her room and rubbed her forehead and sighed to herself. She looked out the window towards the east, the one name bouncing around in her head. "I have to get stronger. For you, Naruto-kun."

"Scrub faster little one!" Yelled Gibbs as they worked the deck. It was late at night and the moon shined down at the two of them. They were the only ones on the deck and Naruto was almost finished as he dunked the mop head back into the bucket.

"Why are we cleaning if it looks clean already?" Naruto asked over his shoulder, getting a little impatient. "I mean it looks fine!"

"That's because we clean it every day," Gibbs said as he used a knife to slice into an apple. He popped the piece into his mouth and walked towards Naruto, who's stomach growled in hunger. "You have to learn that for something to work properly you need to take care of it every day. Even down to the mundane task, they all are important in the big picture. Take that manner of thinking into your training and you will go far."

"So what does cleaning have to do with being a pirate?" Naruto asked as he continued to scrub the deck. "I mean you guys even make the crew take daily baths. Is the Captain a clean freak or something?"

"The Captain is a smart man," Gibbs said with a laugh. "And the baths are to keep disease from spreading. I mean you try fighting when you've got sore spots or infections running ramped over your body. Can be irritating."

"Is that why we always stop in port to get supplies," Naruto asked as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Gibbs gave a nod and turned towards the stars that shined down clearly over them.

Naruto had changed over the last month with the crew. He was sporting similar dress code as Gibbs, with a dark leather vest over his exposed chest and a blue sash that held up his white leggings. Naruto had daily sword training with Gibbs, and was slowly become adapt with it. Naruto had daily teachings with the Captain who was in the process of teaching him how to read and write. Naruto was becoming fast friends with the crew as his endless energy and wanting to help was a breath of fresh air to the mundane. Gibbs had taken to the little one, teaching him most of the small jobs on the ship, and even letting him help with the sails every now and then.

"Hurry up," Gibbs said. "We have to finish tonight with a test."

"What test?" Naruto asked as he walked over to Gibbs who was pointing towards the sky.

"What direction are we traveling?" Gibbs asked with a smile as he picked up Naruto and put him on his shoulders. Naruto smiled as he stared at the sky.

"How am I supposed to know that?" Naruto asked as the stars filled his eyes. It was beyond beautiful. It looked like the ship was amongst the stars as they reflected off the water and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The crescent moon gave off just enough light to cast a shadow and the water was as smooth as glass.

"Well see that star," Gibbs said as he pointed to the brightest star in the sky. "That's Polaris, or the north star. So if that is North, where are we heading?"

"Northeast!" Naruto shouted as he stared at the star. Gibbs gave a hearty laugh and they stared up at the stars. "Do you know all the stars?"

"Of course not," Gibbs gave a smile as the kids smile fell a little. "But I can tell you of some of the constellations."

Hinata walked the road back from school alone. She sighed to herself as she thought of how useless the school was. She could've been training, getting stronger, but this pathetic excuse of a school was needed so she could become a ninja of the village. Once she could become a ninja then she can travel out of the village without the need of an escort. She sighed as she looked back to see the branch member follow at a slower pace. She turned when she heard the sound of fighting and activated her blood line. She saw two figures training close by. She took off without a word as her escort yelled in protest.

"Not bad Kurenai-chan," Said a women with purple hair. "You'll be a jonin in no time!"

"Thanks Anko-chan," Kurenai huffed as she put away her kunai. She felt a disturbance and turned towards the tree line when she saw a young girl with purple hair. "You shouldn't sneak up on ninja."

"I wish to train with you," Hinata said ignoring the woman's words. Kurenai raised an eyebrow. Anko just laughed it off and turned to walk away. "Both of you. I need to get stronger."

"Why?" Anko asked as she turned towards the girl. The girl looked away as her eyes softened. "I have lots to do and don't have time to waste."

"You don't understand," Hinata said as she turned towards them. "I need to get stronger. I need to find him. I know he's alive…"

"You're Hyuga Hinata," Kurenai said as she studied the girl. "You're the girl that was taken by the Kumo nin three months ago."

"I am the reason that Naruto-kun isn't here anymore," Hinata said coldly. Her eyes snapped towards them as a small tear fell. "I only have his name and a memory of him, but I know he's alive. When I find him I will be strong enough to stand at his side, and that is why I need your help."

"The demon kid?" Anko whispered to Kurenai. Anko was always partial to the young boy and was part of the volunteer search team that went after him. She stilled looked for him when ever she took a mission outside of the village. A small bit of her still never lost hope and seeing the young girl so determined to find him sparked a bit of a fire.

"Fine," Kurenai said. "We can help."

"Thank you," Hinata said as she gave them a bow.

Naruto walked the Intrepid Storm's deck with a since of accomplishment. After months of trying he was finally able to channel chakra. Captain Nara noticed that he was able to use accidental Chakra when he was sparing with Gibbs and gave him more training. Naruto was now walking with three pieces of paper stuck proudly to his head. He smirked as he remember how the Captain explained the new training.

Flashback:

"Chakra is a life force," Captain Nara said as he channeled chakra creating a shadow spike that stabbed the wall behind Naruto. "That ninja's use to create Jutsu's. The reason I'm telling you this is because believe you can access this."

"WOW!" Naruto yelled as the spike disappeared. "I can do that?"

"No I'm from a family that can manipulate the shadows," Captain Nara said curtly. "But you may be able to do other things. But first we must learn to channel you're chakra. Now I know may seem troublesome, but I want you to take these papers and keep them stuck your body."

"How?" Naruto asked as he picked up the small square pieces of paper. He licked one and stuck it to his head and smirked. "Done!"

"Dope," Captain Nara said with a smirk. "You will have to use you're chakra."

"Fine fine," Naruto said as he walked out of the Captain's quarters.

Flashback end:

"Very good Naruto!" Gibbs said as he slapped a hand on his shoulder. Naruto fumbled forward but smirked none the less.

"Yeah and today I will get to learn how to use it for a Jutsu!" Naruto yelled happily as he channeled more chakra to the papers. Gibbs watched as a strange seal became apparent on his stomach. Gibbs's eyes narrowed as he studied the seal. He then locked eyes with Naruto.

"Well that means that we will need to up our training as well," Gibbs said as he pulled out a bundle from behind his back. "I got this when we landed in Sanctuary last week. I believe now is a good time for me to give it to you. Get ready, because training begins for real now."

"What?" Naruto asked as he dropped his concentration and glanced at the blue bundle. He grasped it and slowly opened it. Inside was a cutlass with a blue silk wrapped handle. The cutlass was sheathed in a blue and black sheath with silver linings. "It's beautiful!"

"And she's yours," Gibbs said. "Remember, take care of her and she will take care of you!"

"Aye Sir!" Naruto shouted as he slid the sword to his side.

"Now that we got that out of the way let's get to training," Gibbs said with a smile as he unsheathed his sword. Naruto smirked as he did the same. The crew surrounded the two as they circled each other. Bets flew around the boat. Gibbs stared down at the young blond with sun kissed skin. "First rule is?"

"No rules," Naruto answered with a foxy grin. "We're Pirates!"

Hello all,

Well i guess this isn't catching on as quickly well as i hoped. So i have to say i might not be continuing this story as i hoped i would. I'm sorry to the few who enjoyed it. I will continue if i get some feed back, but it's not looking too well. I will like to thank the three that did review, you guys were great! I had this chapter pretty much finished so i decided to throw it out there and hopefully i can get some great feed back so i feel like i can continue this story.

Thanks again,

Take-It-Easy