AN: hi all, Sorry for the wait, I'm afraid life had grabbed me by the throat over the last month, shook me and frightened my muse away. It took some time to first find her again and then to coax her back, but in the end, here I am.

Thank you all for your continuing support, I love you all and you're awesome!

Rest assured the dark days of Naruto's early childhood are almost over. I hoped to reflect and explain Kakashi's comments during the wave arc where he described Naruto's childhood and suggested that Naruto had gotten sick of crying one day as it didn't make anything better in the end and vowed to be stronger than that, thus his present attitude to never give up and to never give in.

For those of you wondering about Naruto's use or rather disuse of Jutsu, rest assured your questions will be answered in the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; I just think he's awesome.

Warning: May contain spoilers and/or clichés, if you are bothered or offended by either; why are you reading fanfiction?

'thinking'

"speaking"

jutsu

demon speak

Chapter 9.

The last few months had been especially good to Naruto. Due to a better diet he had not only bulked up, as much as a six year old could, but also had his first growth spurt since he journeyed back in time. As a result he no longer had to stand on a chair to reach the upper cabinets in his kitchen, but instead utilised the small step stool from under his sink that he had used to reach the bench tops.

Naruto had also begun experimenting with enhancing his muscles with chakra allowing him to jump greater distances when training in the forest behind the Hokage Mountain and to finally perform the tree climbing exercise properly instead of just crawling up the wall, though he was careful to practice this new skill only in the privacy of his own apartment as he did not want another uncomfortable conversation with his Jiji.

But the best thing to happen in the last few months, occurred only two days ago when Naruto celebrated his seventh birthday once again. The day had started well with breakfast at the Ichiraku stand and only gotten better from there.

After breakfast he had spent the morning helping Teuchi-san and Ayame prepare the noodles for the festival crowds. They had both been surprised at how much of a natural he was at preparing the noodles, almost as if he had done it before.

At lunch time he had made his way to the Library, being careful to avoid as many people as possible in the bustling streets, as Chishiki-san had invited him for lunch in her office. The Hokage, after hearing about the Head Librarian from his surrogate grandson, had suggested that she would like to do so as he would be busy at the time opening the Remembrance Festival an event to which Naruto would not be welcome.

Chishiki was more than happy to fulfil the Hokage's request and the pair spent a wonderful few hours eating Chishiki's prepared birthday lunch and talking about the books Naruto had read recently. Before he left to spend the rest of the afternoon at the Hokage Tower, she had also presented Naruto with his first gift of the day, a book on sleight of hand and a one yen piece with which to practice.

"I noticed you've been practicing your hand signs for the last few months whenever you are reading in the library. If you practice the tricks in this book it will help with your finger dexterity so it will be easier to form the signs faster and more accurately. There's also a section on lock picking and escaping from knots, which will also come in handy when you become a ninja." The woman had explained as he opened the gift.

Naruto was touched and thanked the Librarian with a hug and his cheesiest grin as he left to spend the rest of the day at the Hokage Tower. "Thanks Chishiki-chan!" he cried as he raced off down the road.

"Chan! What do you mean chan!" she called after him as she smilingly shook her fist after his retreating form, "That boy, I don't know." She mumbled to herself as she turned and re-entered the library, shaking her head in amusement.

When Naruto arrived at the Hokage Tower he was pleased to be told that the Hokage had cleared his afternoon schedule to spend with him, just the two of them. Due to the incident that occurred during Naruto's birthday last year, the old man had thought it best if Naruto spent the night at the Hokage Tower as it was the easiest location to secure and the boy's guards could be freed to patrol the festival as the Hokage's personal guards could see to his safety as they would be guarding the Sandaime at the same time.

Naruto had a wonderful time playing games with the old man and recreating his most treasured childhood memory, when the Hokage had allowed him to wear the hat and sit in the chair. Though this time he made sure to ask for a copy of the photograph that was taken to hang up in his room, as he had not thought to do so before and had regretted that fact after the Sandaime's passing.

The Hokage had then presented the young boy with a set of his very own training kunai and shuriken and spent the rest of the afternoon in the Hokage's own training room in the subbasement going over the basics. Hiruzen was very pleased with how quickly Naruto picked up the techniques and before long the aspiring shinobi was hitting the target, if not the bullseye, nine times out of ten.

After a wonderful dinner of all Naruto's favourites including barbeque, curry and of course an assortment of fancy Ramen, the old man and Naruto retired to the Hokage's lounge where he usually entertained visiting dignitaries. The rest of the evening was spent with the Hokage telling stories about famous Konoha ninja that he had personally known, Naruto's favourite stories were those that involved his parents, though he was careful not to appear overly interested whenever they were mentioned.

It was late into the night when the excitement of the day finally caught up with his young body and even though he mentally protested his weakness, he finally fell asleep to the gentle tones of his Jiji's voice. He awoke late the next morning, still in the Hokage's lounge, and after bidding his Jiji a good morning, set out to Ichiraku's for breakfast with the biggest smile on his face and a skip in his step.

The next day he had arrived home from school and instantly knew that someone had been in his personal space as a heavy scent of dog mixed with a hint of paper and steel permeated the room. He smiled brightly as he raced into his bedroom to find one more belated birthday gift on his bed. The first time he had received the gift, a funny animal themed sleeping cap several sizes too big for his small head, he had been beyond pleased and had wanted more than anything to thank the one person, other than his Jiji, to ever give him anything.

Naruto had never been sure how, attributing the ability to instincts if he had ever thought of it at all, but he had been able to follow the mystery person, by some mysterious means, through the bustling Konoha streets, without catching sight of him once, to an unassuming building half way across the village.

Naruto had known instantly, even before he had seen the gift, that someone had entered his apartment and somehow knew which way he had gone when they had left. With the reoccurrence of this childhood event Naruto now realised, with his more mature mindset, that he had been able to smell the intruder in his personal space with his advanced sense of smell and had subsequently followed the scent trail through the village. All a young Naruto had known was that someone had been in his room and they went that way, though he could not articulate how he knew this.

All of which explained his present position perched high above the street looking down at the very same unprepossessing building just across the road. The building being what he later learned to be the ANBU barracks where off duty ANBU went to rest up between missions and the site of his very first, though unintentional, prank.

It had taken a young Naruto quite a while to find an access point to the building the first time this had occurred. Serendipitously, a rookie ANBU had left a second floor bathroom window open and had forgotten to reset the security seals, allowing access through the help of a nearby dumpster to a young but determined Naruto. After gaining access Naruto had followed the scent to a small, utilitarian room containing only a bed, a small desk and a chair all in shades of grey.

The room was deserted and it was at this point that Naruto had lost his nerve of thanking the mystery gift giver in person and thought to leave a message of thanks instead. Not knowing how to write posed a problem, but looking around the room, Naruto thought that if he decorated the sad looking room maybe the mystery person would be pleased, as pleased as he was with his gift.

Wandering down the small corridor, Naruto had searched through the rooms for something to brighten the space, when he finally came across a small storage room at the end of the hall which contained amongst other things cans of florescent, pink paint that the ANBU used during training to simulate explosions. Taking a can and a sponge from a nearby shelf, Naruto had returned to his benefactor's room and proceeded to paint the wall above the bed, and the wall above the desk and on the space behind the door and on the floor beside the bed.

Just as he was finishing he had been surprised by the door swinging open behind him to reveal a man in a half mask, drying his white hair with a towel. Perhaps because of the sudden spike in adrenalin, perhaps because the ANBU was caught by surprise, but whatever the case, Naruto managed to evade immediate capture by the highly trained ninja by sliding through his widespread legs and racing from the building.

The resulting chase had only lasted for a couple of minutes, but the feeling of euphoria caused by the release of adrenalin and being the centre of concentrated attention from an adult, cemented pranking as a worthwhile endeavour in his young mind, after it had been explained to him that that is what he had done of course. Even after the inevitable punishment and lecture from his Jiji.

Naruto had laughed gently to himself when he once again received the small gift and recognised the scent, putting a face to his first, unintentional, pranking victim. Who would have thought that the very man who had continually ridiculed his sleeping hat on numerous missions had in fact been the one to give it to him in the first place?

Looking down at the building across the street, Naruto watched the various comings and goings and adjusted the straps of the bag on his back, preparing to recreate his very first prank, with some artistic changes. After all he needed a stress reliever after all his hard training and the ANBU needed this reminder about security, they were getting soft after all if an untrained six year old could infiltrate their home.

Naruto scaled down the side of the building and slipped through the shadows til he stood just beneath the open bathroom window. Climbing up onto the nearby dumpster, he looked around warily before hopping up and through the window. Crouching down beside the closed door he listened carefully, before easing it open and cautiously making his way down the corridor towards the stairs at the end of the hallway.

He cautiously made his way up, keeping all his senses alert for the presence of others, he did not want be caught before he managed to leave his 'gift' behind. Making his way to Kakashi's room Naruto slipped inside and looked around. It was just as depressing as he remembered, but he was here to change that.

Slipping the bag from his back, Naruto opened it and reached inside to take out the small dog carving he had made using the training kunai that his Jiji had given him a couple of days before. He placed the dog on the pillow and slipped a piece of paper with the kanji for thank-you written on it underneath. Returning to his bag, he took out a small potted flower and placed it on the desk, Naruto dusted off his hands as he stood back and admired his work.

'There. Now to get out of here without being noticed.' Listening once more at the door, he eased it open and made his way back down stairs, after first visiting the storage closet at the end of the hall. Bypassing the bathroom, through which he had entered the building, Naruto made his way to the first floor and cautiously entered the ANBU common room. Quickly grabbing one of the cans of paint which he had managed to snag, from his bag, Naruto proceeded to paint a message in large letters on the wall.

"Remember to check your windows!"

Snickering to himself, he climbed back up the stairs and out through the bathroom window. Climbing down the same way he got in, Naruto hurried through the back streets until he was a couple of blocks away before he allowed himself to collapse against a nearby wall and howl with laughter.

Naruto was aware that his ANBU guard had probably seen the whole thing, and he was bound to get into trouble over the incident. But in the meantime he was far too pleased with himself to care, the Prankster King was back.

Sitting high above Konoha, Naruto let the early morning sun warm his skin as he gazed out over the sleepy village. This was his safe spot, hidden amongst the spikes on his father's head, the spot he had always gravitated to when the world became too much. Even before he had found out his father's identity, the Fourth had been his idol and so it was to him that he had always gone to let out his pain, his complaints and to ponder why. Why he was treated as he was? Why he was hated? And what he could do to change it.

Though he had forgiven the villager's ignorant hatred many years ago, being faced with it once more after he had already overcome it and gained acceptance once, was quite difficult and somewhat demoralising. Over the last few months, whenever it all became too much to handle, Naruto had found himself coming more and more often to his safe place early in the morning, to gaze out over his beloved village and to remind himself of why he loved it so much.

After all this village was the place his parents had died to protect. It was the home of his friends both past and present and the birth place of the Will of Fire, a way of life which Naruto believed in with his whole heart.

But it was not for this reason that Naruto found himself perched once more on the Yondaime's head this particular morning. He was there not to recharge and let go of any built up negativity but rather to explore a newly awaken ability that he had been noticed emerging during his morning and night-time meditation over the last few weeks.

An ability that he had long associated with the use of his sage ability and biju mode that he was beginning to suspect was in fact an inherited ability from either his Uzumaki or Namikaze blood, the ability being the ability to sense not only chakra signatures but also a person's state of health and emotional state. This undeveloped ability may explain why he had always been so empathetic throughout his life as he may have unconsciously been responding to the emotions of those he interacted with, thus his ability to understand and make friends even with those who would be his enemy.

Naruto had previously attributed this ability as a by-product of the Sage and Biju modes, when in fact it was the high level of concentration and chakra control that such states afforded him that had cause a previously underdeveloped, pre-existing ability to become temporarily active. Due to his daily meditation and chakra exercises over the last two years, Naruto's mind was now clear enough that his natural sensing abilities were beginning to develop on their own and it was this that he wanted to test.

He reasoned that the emotional output of a just awakening village would not be as overwhelming to his senses as it would be fully awake, as he did not want to strain himself the first time he consciously tried to use this new sense. Naruto made himself as comfortable as possible and assumed his meditation position.

He first went through his internal exercises making sure his chakra was flowing as calmly as possible, before he began to open his awareness outwards as he had been taught to do when sensing chakra. Spreading his circle of awareness outwards from his position, he became aware of numerous chakra signatures, a couple behind him in the trees but the majority out in front and below him glowing gently denoting them to be civilian in origin.

Concentrating on the more fiercely glowing signatures behind him, he identified them as his ANBU guards, relaxing on tree branches as they watched him meditate. Naruto strained as he opened his senses further and felt an internal pop as suddenly feelings of contentment and boredom, separate from his own, became known to his consciousness. He'd done it!

Naruto quickly moved his awareness out and over the village excited to feel more. He was pleased to feel a blanket of sleepy satisfaction rising up from the village, concentrating hard he could feel brief flashes of intense happiness and some negative emotions from individuals but the overall feel of the village was that of contentment. Naruto smiled as he let the warm waves wash over him, this was a feeling that he could fight to protect, this made it all worth it.

This new found ability to actually feel what others felt, only increased Naruto's understanding of why the villager's behaved as they did as he could literally feel the underlying fear and sadness which fuelled their resentment. But though their feelings where understandable, their actions were unjustifiable to Naruto. He knew he had to do something if only to free them from the cycle of hate that they were allowing themselves to wallow in, but what could he do?

The more he contemplated on the problem the more he came to realise that perhaps his original idea of playing pranks was actually the correct response as it had helped to define him as a cheeky brat in the minds of the villagers and as such separate from the beast he contained. But this time he would be more mindful, not mean spirited and spiteful in his pranks but more thoughtful in his approach using his pranks as a means to teach a lesson on tolerance and to add some joy and excitement to the village.

The practice would also help in his future plans as he would be able to keep his shinobi skills sharp if he approached the pranks as he would missions. Planning ahead, gathering intelligence, using traps and avoiding detection as much as possible.

To this end Naruto used his winter break to begin Operation Prankster King by walking about the village, people watching and mapping out the village looking for potential targets and viable escape routes. Through the use of his new sensing ability Naruto was able to separate his tormentors into two categories, those who lashed out from deep seated pain and those who delighted in the torment of others and looked to him as an easy target.

Naruto deemed it wise to avoid the first group as much as possible and to give them more time to get over their pain, whenever it was unavoidable to interact with such people, Naruto would endeavour to respond to any of their actions in a gentle manner and to never respond with anger.

The former group, however, Naruto deemed worthy of his more playful attentions.

Such as the middle aged woman who sneered at him whenever he passed her in the street, spewing obscenities after him whilst he was just within earshot, her heart given over to anger and hate. After a few weeks of careful observation of her favourite haunts, this particular woman found herself the victim of a homemade Whoopi cushion only moments after once again verbally attacking a young Naruto, as she sat down in a crowded café.

Or the case of the father and son duo who found earth worms at the bottom of their cups of take-away soba which they had purchased at a roadside stand just down the road from where the boy had suddenly pushed Naruto down from behind only to be congratulated by his father for a job well done.

But Naruto's personal favourite, and the one that made him break out in giggle for weeks afterwards, was the case of the man who emptied a bucket of dirty, slimy water over Naruto as he had passed below on the street. This man found himself stalked for three whole days by Naruto. Whenever he looked out a window, opened a door outside or turned around in the street, Naruto was there, standing silently, smirking at him … only to disappear whenever the man had turned to call attention to the boy.

The pranks weren't much by his usual standards but they did manage to achieve one of his aims, they made people look at him rather than through him. Naruto knew this was the first step to changing the civilian's minds about him as he needed first to been seen as himself and no the beast, and was encouraged by this progress.

Not all of his pranks were so public however. His other goal in reviving his pranking career was to practice his ninja skills, such as stealth and advanced planning. To this end Naruto planned two major pranks over the remaining month of the winter break.

Two weeks before the start of the new school year, all the memorial stones in the village were visited in one night and the soil around the base of each was overturned, despite the presence of the ceremonial Chunin rank guards at each. On closer inspection it was found that spring bulbs had been planted at the base of each of the memorial stones, lying in wait to pay their floral tribute in the spring.

The second mysterious occurrence happened only two days before the new school term. That morning the Uchiha's awoke to find that the boundary fence enclosing their clan estate had been compromised as large fire and leaf symbols had been painted around the entire perimeter in bright, pink florescent paint.