Thanks for the interest in my story. Glad to see so many people like it. There will be some more author notes at the bottom, but on with the story. Oh, and I don't own anything, just borrowing.

Naruto yawned and stretched as he woke up, blinking his eyes as he tried to clear the cobwebs from his mind. He looked around, not recognizing where he was at first before his eyes snapped open as he remembered that he was at his new home.

He smiled widely as he got out of bed, throwing the covers off as he rushed to the bathroom. He still couldn't believe that he had his own place to live. This was his room, his bathroom, and his apartment! He didn't have to share or be forced to listen to some mean old lady that hated him. He could stay up as late as he wanted, and he could eat whatever he wanted as well.

Naruto quickly went through his normal morning routine and dashed out his front door. However, he just as quickly ran back to lock up. It had been a month since he had been given his apartment by the Hokage and it had taken a solid week of stern reminders from several ANBU and the Hokage himself before he started to remember to lock his apartment when he left.

After locking up, Naruto dashed off again and ran towards the Hokage's Tower. The old man had told Naruto to meet him there first thing that day as he wanted Naruto to meet someone that could help him, or so Hiruzen had claimed.

Naruto couldn't keep the smile off his face as he ran through the village, though it certainly dimmed as he couldn't help picking up the emotions of the people he passed as he ran. The feelings of anger and hatred directed at him was something he was still getting used to. He didn't know why they hated him, but he could feel it clearly, especially as he saw the villagers glaring at him, some even spitting at him as he ran by.

As much as Naruto wanted to stop and yell at them or something, to give them an actual reason to curse him, the Hokage was waiting for him and he didn't want the old man to be disappointed in him so soon. As Naruto rushed around a corner near the tower, he nearly ran right into the Hokage, barely skidding to a stop in time.

"Sorry, Hokage-jiji, I didn't see you," Naruto said breathlessly, having sprinted all the way there.

"Perfectly alright, Naruto," Hiruzen said with a chuckle. "Though you might want to be more careful in the future."

Naruto laughed and grinned at the Hokage while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. Being next to the calming presence of the Hokage made it easier for Naruto to forget about all the earlier hatred that he had felt.

"So where are we going, Hokage-jiji?" Naruto asked excitedly. All that the wise old leader of the village had told him was that he had a surprise for him.

"Patience, Naruto. I know you're excited, but one thing you have to learn if you want to be a ninja is patience," Hiruzen told Naruto with a fond smile. When he saw Naruto pout and look away, Hiruzen ruffled his hair. "Come, there's someone I want to introduce you to."

With that, Sarutobi led Naruto towards a section of the village that Naruto had never been in before. It was very well maintained and had a lot of businesses, which he tended to avoid so that he wouldn't get hurt by the villagers. So, it was with a sense of wonder that Naruto followed Sarutobi around the village towards one of the areas set aside for certain Clans of the village.

As they stopped in front of a store, Naruto looked around eagerly, though he frowned when he saw they stopped at a flower shop.

"Why are we here? You didn't say nothing about no flowers," Naruto said with a frown.

'I'll need to spend some time helping him with speaking properly,' Hiruzen thought to himself with a slight frown. "No, Naruto, this is where we need to go. The man that owns this store is the one I wanted you to meet," he said as he opened the door.

"I thought I was gonna learn somethin' cool…not how to arrange flowers," Naruto grumbled as he entered the store. Hiruzen let out a small laugh at that as he followed Naruto in.

"Well, I could always teach you that instead of what Hokage-sama wanted me to help you with," said an amused voice from behind the counter. Naruto looked up and saw a middle-aged man with long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail while still having spiky hair on top as well. He also had a Konoha hitai-ate on his forehead.

"You're a ninja too?" Naruto asked in shock. The two grown men let out laughs at Naruto's expression of shock.

"Ninjas need hobbies too, you know. Plus, it's been a family tradition since the village was founded," Inoichi told the boy with another laugh. He then looked to the Hokage. "You sure about this, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen simply smiled and nodded. "Naruto here is full of surprises lately. Don't underestimate him, Inoichi-san."

Inoichi nodded respectfully, but when he looked back at Naruto, he couldn't help but feel some doubts. So, when Naruto turned to him as well with narrowed eyes.

"Hey, I can feel that! Stop doubting the old man!" Naruto nearly shouted as Inoichi was pretty much shouting to Naruto's senses about his doubts for the boy.

Inoichi's eyebrows about jumped off his face and he turned to the Hokage in shock. Hiruzen simply shrugged and smiled. "I told you he had gifts similar to yours," the Hokage told Inoichi smugly.

"So you did," Inoichi replied with a chastened look. He turned back to the glaring Naruto with a smile. "I guess I owe you an apology, Naruto. I think you and my daughter will get along just fine," he said with a grin.

As if summoned by him saying her name, Yamanaka Ino came skipping into the room from the back. "Daddy! I'm bored, can I go play outside?" When she saw Naruto, a smile that brightened the room came to her lips. "Hi! I'm Ino, wanna play?" Without waiting, Ino grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him outside with her to play.

The two grown men left in the room looked at each other in amused shock at the proverbial dust cloud left in the two children's wake. Inoichi turned to the Hokage. "Well…seems he's been taken out of my hands for now. I suppose if I can ever rescue him from her clutches, I'll see what I can do to help him," he told his leader. However, he noticed a sad look to the Hokage's face.

Seeing Inoichi's look from the corner of his eye, Hiruzen turned to the other man. "Inoichi, it's just such a shame that your daughter will be his first friend… ever," he told the other man sadly.

Inoichi frowned at that statement and had a hard time wrapping his head around that bit of information. He was a parent that loved and, admittedly, spoiled his daughter. He made sure she was happy and part of that was making sure she had friends and spent time with them. To think that Naruto had never had a friend before…it was mind boggling. But considering his burden… Inoichi couldn't say he was surprised as he thought about it.

"Perhaps…I won't be able to rescue him for a while…maybe he'll be kept here through dinner…that would be a right shame," Inoichi said thoughtfully, the vague idea of trying to help the boy entering his mind.

Hiruzen's smile widened at the resolve in the man's face. "Thank you, Inoichi. I'm sure Naruto will be well looked after with you," he said, a hidden meaning in his words. The Council may have blocked others from adopting the boy or looking after him officially, but they couldn't do anything about this situation. With a nod of respect, Hiruzen headed back outside and towards the Tower, stopping only briefly to watch Ino teach Naruto how to play some game.

XxXxXxX

Naruto quickly fell into a routine. Most days he would spend with the Yamanaka family, playing with Ino and learning from Inoichi. Inoichi was very careful in helping Naruto, but at the same time, their abilities weren't the same, so he was also guessing on how to help the boy. He decided to start by teaching the boy how to meditate…with predictable results.

"Naruto, in order to meditate properly, you need to learn to still your mind and body," Inoichi said with a tired sigh. They had been stuck on this for over a week at this point, with little success. Naruto wasn't stupid, far from it. However, he was also a young child with way too much energy, as well as an unlimited source of chakra stuck in his belly, which didn't help at all with this.

"I know! But it's so boring," Naruto said with a whine. "Can't we do something more fun?"

Inoichi sighed and rubbed his forehead tiredly. "Naruto, you have a rare gift," he told the boy, causing him to grin with pride. "However, that gift is useless if you don't learn to control it properly. You could become one of the best sensor ninjas in the whole Elemental Nations, but not without discipline and self-control. Meditation may be boring, and seem utterly useless, but I promise you that it will help make you a stronger ninja."

Naruto just sighed in boredom, barely listening to Inoichi, something that annoyed the older man. His attention started wavering quickly and he yelped in pain as Inoichi pinched his cheek when he caught him staring out the window. "Are you listening to me?" Inoichi said firmly. When Naruto gave him a hurt look as he rubbed his sore cheek, Inoichi sighed and tired a different tactic.

"Naruto, you promised the Hokage that you would become the best ninja ever, right?" Inoichi asked him seriously.

"You bet! I'm gonna be the bestest ever!" Naruto yelled out with a burst of energy.

"Well, how can you be the 'bestest' if you don't learn this simple technique? You aren't going back on your word so quickly… are you?" Inoichi asked him innocently, seeing the boy fall into his trap. He had to suppress the urge to cackle in glee. He'd do that later when Ino finally got bored and came in to steal Naruto away to play.

"Uh, well, that is…" Naruto stuttered as his nearly six-year-old mind tried to figure a way out of this. "Shit."

Inoichi paused in his mental celebrations when he heard Naruto swear. "Naruto! Where did you hear that word?"

Naruto looked up at Inoichi with a confused look. "Huh? Oh, my neighbor says it all the time. Wanna hear what else he says?" he asked excitedly.

Inoichi held out his hands to stop the boy from carrying on. "That's alright, Naruto. I think I'll go talk to him myself later. In the meantime, why don't you try this again?" the older blonde man said with a grimace.

With a pout and a loud sigh, Naruto sat back down and continued to try to meditate.

XxXxXxXx

Naruto held true to his word and started to make slow progress with his meditation, though Inoichi felt like tearing his hair out at times and eventually started looking forward to when Ino would come to get Naruto to play with her, just so that he could meditate to center himself from dealing with the stubborn and energetic boy.

He couldn't teach the boy every day, having Clan responsibilities as well as needing to run his shop, not to mention those rare missions that he still got sent on. On days that Inoichi couldn't watch over him, Naruto spent them around town. Unfortunately, that usually led to trouble in one form or another. So, the ANBU that were assigned to watch over him started to try and help him themselves, though indirectly. Inu, also known as Kakashi, left a scroll on famous Ninja for Naruto to find, while another ANBU, a young woman named Yugao, with a Neko mask, left some practice kunai and shuriken for him to find.

However, one of the biggest impacts in Naruto's young life, besides his discovery of the crystal cavern, was caused by someone completely outside his circle of protection. While Naruto was trying to avoid some angry villagers that he had bumped into on accident, he instead charged headfirst into another person, knocking both sides down. It didn't help the other person that Naruto had been in the middle of leaping through the air from a fence he had just climbed over.

"Owwie," Naruto muttered in pain as he rubbed his head.

"Holy hell, kid. That freaking hurt," said the other man as he sat up, also rubbing his head in pain. When he looked at Naruto, the other man's eyes widened in shock. "You!"

Naruto winced, this time from the sudden spike in emotion he felt from the man he ran into. He fully expected to get a wave of anger and loathing directed at him, but instead he was shocked when all he felt was… amusement?

"Uh… sorry 'bout that," Naruto said sheepishly, hoping that maybe he could get away without any serious injuries.

"Accidents happen, kid," the other man said with a slight grin, though that quickly faded. He knew who this boy was, and what he contained, but what really mattered at the moment was why the boy had been running so fast that he hadn't seen him coming, and also why the boy was scuffed up and bruised in some places around his face and arms. "You ok, kid?"

Naruto started to nod, but he felt an incoming wave of anger from the direction he had been running from, and he jumped to his feet and out of the way just as one of the villagers he had run into came around the corner and saw him.

"There's the brat! Come on," the man shouted, drawing the attention of two other men.

Naruto cringed and looked around for an escape, but the incoming men cut off his escape routes. He was starting to panic from the situation when suddenly a hand gripped his shoulder calmly, causing him to look up at the man he had run into.

"I take it they aren't friends of yours?" the man asked with a smile. Naruto took a moment to study the man as he gently pushed Naruto to stand behind him, shielding him with his body.

The man was of average height, with dark unkempt hair that was being held back by a Konoha forehead protector. He had some mild stress lines around his coal black eyes that sparkled with amusement. He wore a dark short sleeved shirt with an upturned collar, with the handle of a tanto being held in place behind his right shoulder by a leather harness that crossed his chest and went under his right arm. All in all, Naruto only knew that this man was a ninja, but not much else, though he could only hope he was on his side.

"Can I help you with something?" the man asked mildly as the three men stopped in front of him.

"Yeah, you can move so that we can teach that… beast a lesson," the obvious leader of the small group replied, pausing only long enough to change his wording so that he didn't break the secrecy law about Naruto's burden.

"And what has the child done to warrant such a lesson?" the man asked curiously, not moving away in the slightest.

"The brat ran into us. He needs to pay," one of the other men growled out.

"Hmm. And did he apologize?"

"Yes," Naruto almost shouted in response.

However, he was drowned out by the other men's responses of "No, he didn't."

"Hmm, well then, I see a simple solution," the man turned to Naruto with a serious expression, though for some reason Naruto could sense that he was laughing inside. "Naruto, say you're sorry to these men."

"What? I aint gonna apologize again!" Naruto shouted back at him. However, when the man frowned at him, with his emotions getting darker as well, Naruto winced and sighed. He looked at the other men. "I'm sorry that I ran into you." He gave them a slight bow, just as Inoichi had shown him during one of their many lessons on manners that had happened after his slip of the tongue before.

The mysterious ninja turned back to the men with a happy expression. "Well, there you go. Lesson learned, apologies given, we all go home happy," he told them all.

"That aint gonna cut it, pretty boy. Now hand over the brat so that we can teach him our own lesson on manners," the ringleader growled in anger.

The ninja stared at the man. "I suggest you take your friends and go," he advised him evenly. Naruto felt a sudden spike in annoyance from the man, along with a flare of power. The other men stiffened in shock and backed up slowly.

"Yeah, yeah… you got it," they all stuttered before turning and running away.

The ninja turned back to Naruto, just as his eyes faded from red to black. "Sorry about that, Naruto-chan, but some fights are best won without a single blow," he told the boy with a smile, his emotions back to normal.

"How did you do that?" Naruto asked him excitedly. He had never seen someone make the villagers run off so fast without a single threat or anything that even looked dangerous. The man in front of him hadn't even raised his voice and yet three grown men had run from him.

"My Clan has a certain reputation, Naruto-chan," the man told him evasively, causing the boy to grimace.

"Can you not call me that? I'm just Naruto, ok?" the young boy said with a pout. He got enough of Ino calling him that, despite him asking her not to repeatedly.

"My apologies, Naruto. My name is Uchiha Shisui," Shisui told him with a small bow. "Come on, I'll buy you some lunch as an apology for running into you."

With the prospect of free food, Naruto conveniently forgot that he had been the one that had run into Shisui, not the other way around. Shisui led the young boy through the village, his presence enough of a deterrent that they were left alone, as they headed to a small ramen stand that had opened only a few months earlier.

As they ate, Shisui watched the boy as he gently asked him questions about himself, Naruto answering around mouthfuls of noodles as he quickly devoured the food he had been given. That day, thanks to the kindness of Shisui, Naruto found his favorite food of all time.

Over the next few months, Shisui kept finding reasons to be around Naruto when he wasn't being taught by Inoichi. He wouldn't do anything unusual; he would simply spend time with the boy, talk to him, buy him lunch, and generally just be there for the boy. However, this behavior was enough of a reason for a certain ANBU to take notice.

One day, after leaving Naruto behind at the ramen stand that was becoming his favorite spot to have lunch, Shisui was pulled into a dark alley with a kunai held to his throat.

"Careful, Inu-san," Shisui said smoothly, motioning with his head for the other man to look down to where he held his own kunai against the inside of his leg, right where a major artery was located.

"Why you never tried to join ANBU, I'll never know," Kakashi said softly as he slowly removed his kunai, Shisui doing the same.

"It isn't my place," Shisui said simply as Kakashi moved back a step. "Now, why did you try to jump me like that, Kakashi?"

Kakashi looked around before pointing up at the roofs before vanishing in a swirl of leaves. However, when he reappeared on the roof, he found Shisui already there waiting for him. "Shunshin no Shisui, you certainly live up to the moniker."

"Cut the crap, Kakashi-san. What do you want?" Shisui said simply, ignoring the comment.

"What is your angle with the kid?" Kakashi asked after a few moments of thought.

"I don't know what you mean," Shisui said simply.

"Out of nowhere, you started spending a lot of time around Naruto, but I can't figure out why. What is your angle? You Uchiha usually have a reason," Kakashi told him bluntly.

Shisui sighed and leaned against a nearby railing. He had figured that one day someone would notice, but not quite so fast, though he should have known better. "I don't have an angle, not in the common sense, Kakashi-san. I literally ran into the kid and he impressed me, so I figured I'd look out for the boy when I could."

"I have a hard time believing that," Kakashi said with a scoff. "Come on, do you really expect me to believe that you are just trying to be nice to him? We all know what's inside of him, and I know your Clan has a special attachment to the beast."

Shisui glared at the masked man. "You don't know anything, Kakashi-san. Only one man has ever controlled the Kyuubi, and he's long dead."

Kakashi sighed at the predictable denial. "I can't stop you from being around the kid, to even try would tip Naruto off that there's something going on…"

"If you think you haven't been noticed by him, you are sorely mistaken," Shisui said with a chuckle, stopping Kakashi in his tracks.

"Huh?" Kakashi replied intelligently.

"You do know that the kid is a sensor, right? Or at least on his way to becoming one?" Shisui asked idly. "Come on, you must know at least that much right? Well, if he can sense hostile villagers coming from a good distance, then I'm sure he can sense you watching him as well."

Kakashi was surprised that he was surprised. He hadn't thought that Shisui would put things together so quickly, though he should have. Kakashi looked away in thought. "I know. I just didn't think he was that good yet."

"He doesn't know specifics, but he knows something's up. He's a smart kid," Shisui said with a shrug.

"So, now what?" Kakashi said after a few minutes of silence.

"Well, I for one am going to go home and get some sleep. I don't know about you, but this has been a long day," Shisui replied with a smirk. As he walked away though, he heard Kakashi's parting comment.

"If you decide that you want a place in ANBU, just know that there will always be a spot for you," Kakashi said before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Shisui looked back at where Kakashi had previously stood, a slightly sad look to his eyes. "Not sure what good that would be with how things are going," he said to himself softly.

XxXxXxX

Naruto looked over at his bedside table, where he had put the crystals he had found so long ago. He had noticed that over the last few months, they had gotten dimmer. He assumed that it was just a natural process of the light finally fading away, though he had no idea that every night when he slept at home, he was slowly absorbing the energy from within the crystals.

It had taken a long time for him to unconsciously drain the crystals of power, but now that they had fully faded, Naruto kind of missed the soft blue light that he had gotten used to. So, after finally ditching his minders, Naruto snuck outside the village and headed to the caves to get some more crystals.

Naruto made his way through the forest, his memories crystal clear as he thought back to his trip back from the caves. He moved through the trees a lot easier than before and he made good time. As he approached the caves, he laughed to himself softly when he saw the scratches he made on the wall before. He brushed them with his hand as he passed by.

A quick drop down the hole and Naruto was heading back through the tunnels. He smiled widely as he saw a familiar glow. He stopped in front of the giant crystal that he had slept under before and sat down. There was just something about this crystal in particular that drew his attention. He stared into its depths, entranced by wisps of blue energy that he saw inside it. He unconsciously slipped into a meditative trance as he stared at the crystal.

Eventually, Naruto came back to his senses and climbed to his feet, feeling oddly refreshed. He found a few more crystals and grabbed them before heading back. As he stepped out of the cave, he noticed, with a quick look at the sky, that it had gotten a lot later than he had planned to be out. So, with another look back at the cave, Naruto headed back to the village.

When Naruto got back, he slipped by the gate and made his way home. However, he wasn't expecting to see a very worried Shisui coming from the direction of his apartment.

"Shisui! What are you doing around here?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Naruto! Where have you been?" Shisui replied as he hurried over to Naruto, physically pulling him closer to him so that he could check him over with a concerned eye. "Do you know how worried we all were?"

"Huh? But I was…" Naruto started to say before getting cut off.

"You've been gone for three days! The Hokage was about to form a search party to find you," Shisui snapped at the young boy.

Naruto looked at Shisui in shock. It had only felt like a few hours to him, yet three days had gone by without him noticing. He shook himself mentally and gave Shisui a sheepish grin while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry, Shisui. I'll try not to worry you like that again," Naruto said, hoping to nip this event in the bud.

Shisui took a little longer to cool down, but in the end, he left Naruto alone to head home. Once there, Naruto pulled out his new crystals and placed them near his bed next to the older crystals that had no glow. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he looked at his collection in thought. Something unusual had happened to him, and the crystals seemed to be the only link he had. This would need more study and thought.

Naruto grinned in excitement.

XxXxXxX

All this helped keep Naruto safe, occupied, and watched over until he was eight years old and was finally allowed into the Academy. Shisui had become something of an older brother to Naruto, helping him deal with living alone, and generally just being there for the boy. He had also started helping Naruto with his taijutsu in preparation for entering the Academy. It was him that had noticed when Naruto's training and natural abilities paid off when his abilities evolved further.

Naruto and Shisui were at the park, celebrating Naruto's entrance into the Academy with ice cream, when Naruto turned to look up at Shisui.

"Shisui? What's a coup d'état?" he asked suddenly.

Shisui almost choked on his ice cream in surprise. He had just been thinking about the rising tension in the village, mainly between his Clan and the rest of the village and the fact that it was looking like his family was going to try to attempt a coup d'état to try and take control of the village. But he was 100% certain that he hadn't said anything about that to Naruto.

"Where did you hear that phrase?" he finally asked Naruto after clearing his throat.

"I don't know. I thought I heard you say something about it, but I was looking at you and you were busy with your ice cream, so maybe someone else said it. What is it?" Naruto asked curiously, taking a bite of ice cream as he waited.

Shisui looked around, but there was no one close enough for Naruto to have overheard anything from anyone like that. He took another bite of ice cream to buy time to think, however that didn't help him that much when Naruto suddenly adopted a put-out expression.

"Hey, I'm not too young to know…though I don't know what you think I'm too young to know about. Is it a type of alcohol? Like what Inu-san likes to drink?" Naruto guessed curiously.

Shisui was floored at this point. His eyes flared red as he activated his Sharingan. However, he didn't see any signs of chakra use from Naruto, which if he had been using one of the Yamanaka techniques to read his mind would have shown some traces. So, if it wasn't a jutsu, what was it?

"Naruto…I didn't say anything, yet you responded to my thoughts as if I did," Shisui told the boy slowly, his thoughts flying.

Naruto seemed to think about that before brightening up considerably. "You mean I can read minds? Awesome!"

Shisui nodded numbly, as Naruto was sufficiently distracted from his original question by his new ability. He listened absently as Naruto chatted about his new cool technique, using every trick he knew to keep his mind shielded so that Naruto didn't pick up his panic. He somehow made it through the rest of the afternoon before sending Naruto on to his lessons with Inoichi. However, his next stop was the Hokage Tower. He needed to report this development to the Hokage as soon as possible.

XxXxXxX

Naruto rushed into the Yamanaka Flowers shop, startling Inoichi as he was putting a pot of flowers up on the counter, causing him to nearly drop the pot. Naruto grinned at the older blonde.

"Hey, Inoichi-san! Guess what I can do now!"

As you can see, things are progressing. Next chapter will have Naruto entering the Academy and then there will probably be a time skip or two, with some highlights of his life.

In response to a couple reviews, just because I labeled this story as I did, doesn't mean that Naruto will end up with either Ino or Anko, as of now they will simply play big roles in his life. I haven't decided on a pairing for this story yet, so if you'd like to vote for your favorite, go for it.

Also, if you have any ideas or thoughts on how I could improve my story, feel free to share your ideas and votes. Not much is set in stone for this story, so I may or may not use any interesting ideas I hear.