Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor am I making money from this. You know the normal stuff.

The Wild Child of Konohagakure

An old man stood by an open window at the top of the Hokage Tower in the village of Konohagakure no Sato. He loaded his pipe as he seemed to stare contemplatively over the village. He lit the pipe, and took a small series of puffs off of it, as the early morning sun slowly rose on the crisp autumn day. His contemplation was interrupted by a slight scuffling sound outside the entrance to his office. As he turned towards the noise the doors were thrown open by a small blond whirlwind.

An excited five year old boy tore into the office as if the hounds of hell were hot on his heels. The Sandaime Hokage waved off the ANBU who were about to follow him into the room. His guards, two animal-masked robed figures, saluted him, then silently closed the heavy oak double doors. The young urchin watched the two ANBU in barely concealed excitement. After the doors closed, the Hokage looked down at the whiskered youth. He noticed that the boy had a couple small scrapes on his knees and elbows. He wondered what kind of trouble the child had got into this time.

"Gramps?" The excited five year old blond said as he bounced and looked around the office. Sarutobi couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm shown by the hyper-active boy.

"Yes, Naruto?" The Hokage asked with a bit of amusement at the small whirling dervish. The blond turned to look at the Hokage with a fox grin on his face. The elderly Hokage knew the next couple of words out of Naruto's mouth would either be good for a laugh, or for a saucer,or three, of the aged sake he kept hidden in his desk.

"I'm going to be Hokage!" With that statement Sarutobi felt his pipe nearly fall out of his mouth. He grabbed it, and set it down before it could fall. His eyes narrowed, as he looked closely at Naruto.

"Why the sudden interest in being Hokage?" The blond, still wearing his fox grin, laughed with a slight nervous edge, at the close scrutiny. In an attempt to appear unaffected, he put his hands behind his head. He seemed to think for a minute before replying.

"I heard that the Hokage was the strongest ninja in the village. If I become Hokage, then everyone will respect me." Sighing in regret, about what he had to do, he walked over to the boy, and knelt down to look him in the eyes; the boys grin started to fade a little.

"You know, Naruto," even though he didn't like what he had to do, he couldn't allow him to not know what he was getting into, "being Hokage is a lot of hard work." With that he gestured towards the large pile of paperwork, then continued, "Regardless of how the people of the village treat you, you have to put their safety and well-being above your own." With this revelation, Naruto frowned and gained a contemplative look. After about a minute his fox grin returned. His serious air evaporated as quickly as a small puddle in the deep deserts surrounding Suna.

"Don't worry, Gramps. I promise, I'll protect the village and become the greatest Hokage, ever." The Sandaime Hokage could only smile at the youth's enthusiasm. Even though he is again bouncing off the wall, Sarutobi could tell the child is dead serious about this vow.

"I'm sure you will, Naruto. You'll be a great Hokage, someday."

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Shortly after he left the Hokage's tower, Naruto decided he was going to take a stroll and enjoy the nice early autumn day they were having. In other words, he was running around Konoha contemplating what kind of prank he could pull. He had passed through the market district without any ideas, and was in the middle of the residential district near the Hyuuga sector, when he ran across something completely unexpected.

As he neared the gates to the Hyuuga main compound, he saw a young girl about his age bolt through the gates and run down the street in tears. After seeing the girl, curiosity overwhelmed the youth. Without much thought Naruto followed, the escaping form of the female, making sure not to lose sight of her. After a few minutes of running, nearing the outskirts of the village, he caught up to her, in a wooded patch of an unused training ground. He entered the copse of trees where he found the girl, with her legs pulled to her chest, sobbing into her knees. After deciding he had to do something, he walked up in front of her, put on his best fox like grin and said, "Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. What's your name?" The girl, lifting her head to the spirited youth, revealed that her pale lavender eyes were red and puffy as well as her tear streaked cheeks.

"Um. I-I'm Hinata Hyuuga." Naruto nearly gasped as he just noticed that even though her eyes were red tinged; they had no pupils. For a few seconds Naruto's mind ground to a halt, while he tried to process such an exotic sight. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to cheer her up if he just stood there like a statue. He uttered the first thing that came to his mind.

"Well, Hinata-chan, you're too pretty to be cry, and I doubt the trees need to be watered. You need to cheer up." As Naruto was saying this he offered her his hand to help her stand up. With a blush, Hinata reached out and took hold of it. After standing up and wiping the remaining tears from her eyes it finally sunk in that Naruto had called her Hinata-chan. Her blush deepened as she looked down at her hands and she began rubbing her index fingers together.

"Um, Naruto-kun?" She asked barely above a whisper. However, Naruto seemed to have failed to hear her as he went on, with his chest stuck out proudly.

"You know, Hinata-chan, as future Hokage it's my job to protect everyone," lowering his head to look directly at her, his grin was replaced with a genuine smile. "and I promise, I'll protect you, too." With that last statement, wide eyed, she looked up directly at the smiling boys face.

"Um..." He just promised he'd protect me? Why would he do that? I'm worthless. Her face dropped again as she sat down and pulled her legs back to her chest. He seems like he means it, but why would anyone want to protect me?

"Hinata-chan?" The voice broke her out of her thoughts, as she looked up to see a worried expression on the boys face. "Hinata-chan, what's wrong?" Lowering her head again, Naruto could barely make out as she denied anything being wrong. Refusing to accept that as an answer, he sat down in front of her and faced directly towards her with a look of determination. "It's not, nothing. If it was, you wouldn't be so sad. You can tell me. I'll do anything I can to help. That's what friends do." With the last sentence, Hinata's head shot up again wide eyed. Only this time a light blush was on her face. Friends? He considers me his friend? Hinata's eyes lost their shocked expression, though her cheeks retained their red tinge, and began to relate her story to the concerned boy sitting across from her.

"Um it happened two years ago. A Kumo-nin came to sign a treaty. That night, he broke into our compound and tried to kidnap me. Father found him and chased him through the village. When he caught him he killed the man. The Kumo got angry, and because of that we had to kill my uncle. Father has hated me ever since then. Today was the anniversary of my uncles death. Father got drunk and..." Hinata's eyes glazed a bit as she thought back to earlier that day.

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Hinata watched as her father downed another saucer of sake. He had just left a meeting with the Hyuuga Council of Elders. Leaving the Council, Hiashi wore a serious look of rage which made it obvious that things had went very badly for him. He was on his second bottle, mumbling incoherently, when his face suddenly shot up. His glazed eyes locked onto his daughter. Throwing his now empty saucer towards the side, shattering it on the floor, he stood up and stormed over to her.

"It's your fault, you stupid bitch! It's your fault he's dead." The man yelled at the frightened girl, in a slurred voice, causing her to shrink back. "If it wasn't for you, my brother would still be alive!"

"U-um.." was all Hinata could choke out in a feeble attempt at a defense.

"I should have let those Kumo-nin have you. Get out of my sight!" With that he slapped the girl with enough force to knock her off of her feet. He then turned and stormed off leaving the little girl who promptly stood up, turned, and fled the compound in tears.

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"It's all my fault." By the end of her story, fresh tears began poring down her cheeks. Upon closer examination of her cheek, Naruto saw the signs of a forming bruise. With an angry look on his face Naruto jumped to his feet.

"It's not your fault, it's their's!" This outburst snapped Hinata out of her dazed state, as she looked up at the boy before her. "He shouldn't blame you. When I become Hokage, I'll make sure nothing like this happens again."

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After conversing about various things for hours, dusk had taken a firm hold. Though the dark crimson sky was barely visible through the tree cover, Hinata realized she would have to return soon.

"There's the demon brat. I knew I heard him." Both children, shocked by the unexpected voice, looked in the direction of it's origin with an expression of a deer in headlights . Entering the woods they saw a small mob of villagers, accompanied by a few chunin and genin being led by a jounin.

"He has the Hyuuga heiress. We have to kill him, before he gets the chance to do anything to her," another voice stated from the crowd. The rest of the mob made their agreement known, and they all started advancing. At which point Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand, and took off running pulling her behind him. As he ran, he could hear the tell tale signs of the mob following them. Twigs snapped, leaves rustled, and voices promising pain followed them in quick pursuit. His fear only multiplied when a few kunai and shuriken embedded themselves in the tree next to him just as he had stepped to the side to go around it.

After a couple of minutes of running, the children emerged from the woods, which was, ultimately, a bad idea not that they really had the presence of mind to realize it at the time. "Naruto-kun! Your arm is bleeding!" Looking over he noticed the sleeve on his left arm was cut, and the orange was slowly turning vermilion.

Looking forward again he shouted back to Hinata, "Don't worry. I'm okay. It doesn't hurt." Taking random streets in attempt to lose the pursuing hoard, Naruto would occasionally glance back only to see that not only were they not losing any of their followers, but they were, despairingly, growing in number. Hinata's heavy breathing reaching his ears made him realize that they had to stop soon.

After a few more turns, their luck changed as they ducked into an alley which contained some crates that they could hide behind. Stopping, Hinata collapsed against the wall into a sitting position and began to catch her breath. Naruto sat next to her though he wasn't even slightly winded. After a few minutes of rest, with no sign of their pursuers, Hinata was able to catch her breath. Looking off the direction they came from, Naruto heard the sound of ripping cloth. When he felt a sudden touch on his left arm, he jumped and turned towards what touched his arm with a look of fright until he realized that it was Hinata.

"Um, Naruto-kun? We need to take care of your arm." Looking over at the blushing girl he noticed the white cloth in her hands as well as the frayed ends of her now torn kimono. Relaxing and settling back down, Naruto lifted his sleeve, to allow her to wrap the silk around the cut, as he resumed his vigil of the street.

No sooner than she had finished dressing his wound, a voice came from the street just beyond the alley's entrance.

"I know I saw them come this way." The two children tensed, and held their breaths, while fervently hoping the voice would go away. Sadly this was not to be, because it was followed by a second voice. "Okay. Everyone start searching. If that brat did anything to the Hyuuga, he won't survive to see the next sunrise." Looking over at his friend, he saw the look of terror on her face.

Crap, I can't let them get Hinata. Coming to a quick decision he removed his goggles and offered them to her. "Here take these." Hinata glanced down at the goggles, then looked up at him.

"N-Naruto-kun, these are your..."

"Take them! As long as you have them, I'll be with you to protect you." He continued, "Now, I'll distract them. After the coast is clear, you run for your home. Don't stop, or look back. No matter what." Not even giving her the chance to reply, he took off out of the alley.

Almost as soon as he stepped around out of the alley. "Doton: Dodan." Naruto felt a sharp pain in his stomach, as a jagged stone spike slammed into and through him. Hinata could only look on in horror, as her first and only friend was ran through by a jutsu. I can't give up. I have to keep running. I can't let them find Hinata. He clutched his stomach, unconsciously channeling a little chakra through his hand, into his stomach. As his chakra enveloped the wound, Naruto's blue eyes started to bleed into red. His pupils slit vertically to the top and bottom of his iris'. The world seemed to slow down and come more into focus. Naruto was able to see details of the jounin that he previously missed. From the jagged scar running across his left cheek, to his missing ring finger on his left hand. As he took in these details he felt the pain in his stomach abate some, he turned away from the Ninja, and fled.

"He doesn't have the Hyuuga heiress with him. He must have done something to her! We can't let him get away!" Hearing the hoard behind him, he kept running while taking random turns, that will lead him towards the edge of the village. At least Hinata will have gotten away safely. After a few more minutes of running, he could feel his strength waning. Hearing the mob fast approaching and realizing he couldn't keep going much longer, he looked up to notice he was at the gate to the village. Knowing that he didn't have a choice, he took off through the gate and into the night.

A/N:

This is my first fic so let me know what you think. I'd like to thank Endymionrose for his help prereading this story.

Legend:

Doton: Dodan - Earth Release: Earth Bullet - Class A - A jagged, spiked rock shoots from the earth in front of the user of this jutsu. Due to the angle of the shot this jutsu is only viable from short to medium range. To make up for the range the shape of this projectile makes it possible to pierce multiple targets in a row. Range and the ammount of chakra used in the creation of this jutsu determine how much damage it can cause.