"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Kyuubi talk"
'Kyuubi thought'
Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto.
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"Are you sure that he was Orochimaru to begin with?" Sandaime asked Hiashi, who was holding the bandages now on his shoulder.
"Yes, he even pulled the famous Kusanagi out of his body like Orochimaru-sama…I mean Orochimaru did." The Hyuuga replied. "But that's what doesn't make sense about it, he used the Jutsu that Orochimaru would use, he fought like him, spoke like him, and even felt like him. But he was far weaker than I had heard he was, almost like he was limited at a certain level of power." The more he talked about it the more it confused him. "His Chakra Network was identical to Orochimaru…but as soon as he died, it wasn't the same as it was! How is that possible?" Hiashi asked as he stood up in concern.
A hand then was felt on his other shoulder and pulled him back down to his seat. "Do you have any idea what could explain what happened with him?" Minato asked the former Hokage from the seat next to Hiashi.
"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but I've never heard of anything like this…" Sarutobi said, stroking his goatee.
Chuckling and rubbing his neck Minato waived his hand in front of his face. "Please, that sound so weird coming from you. If you must, Yondaime will be fine if you don't feel it's appropriate to call me by my name."
"It's something you'll get used to, believe me at first it was really odd for me as well…" Sandaime said with a small laugh of his own before his face shifted back into a serious one. "I'll try to find any information on something that could explain this…but as for now I believe it's safe. At least for a while…" Then looking down he scowled at the thought of things that were to come for the baby in Minato's arms. "Naruto will need early training before the Academy." Looking up into Minato's eyes he gave him a look of worry. "I hope that he got other things from his father other than just his looks."
Minato's eyes suddenly went wide and he gulped audibly. Hiashi on the other hand didn't exactly get it and had a confused look etched onto his face. "What do you mean Sandaime-sama?"
"He means that he hopes that some of Kushina-chan's more…prevalent traits don't come out in Naruto…" Still getting an odd look from his friend he sighed and began to explain. "She was a terrifying prankster, dense as granite, and she sucked with her jutsu well into being a Chunin."
"So basically a prankster dropout." Hiashi said under his breath, resulting in a punch in the arm from the Hokage. "Sorry, well I would be honoured to instruct the boy in chakra control and usage when he gets older." The Hyuuga said in an apologetic tone.
"No, I'll teach him." Sandaime said in a firm voice. "It's the least I could do to honour Jiraiya's sacrifice, he had intended to do the same once he became old enough." Getting a smile and thanks from Minato he stepped back and made a hand sign. "As much as I would love to stay her and chat about the future, we need to understand this issue with Orochimaru." He said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"My offer still stands Hokage-sama, if you feel he would benefit from the help I would gladly assist Sandaime."
"Not you too Hiashi! Please, it's just Minato to you. I appreciate the offer, but despite what he needs training wise, he'll still need to just be a kid. I don't want him to grow up as anything else. Only those who've been through becoming Shinobi can really value the importance of the innocence before hand." Hiashi understood exactly what he was talking about. "Besides, didn't I hear that you're going to be a daddy in not too long?"
With a smile and a small blush from the proud Hyuuga he stood up. "Yes, she's due in late December." Settling down he didn't exactly want to make this go on forever, it was the middle of the night after all. "But how do you plan on keeping Naruto safe from now on?"
"I have it covered…it's just ironic that he starts tomorrow!" Minato grumbled before heading back towards his home, patting Naruto's back as he slept in his father's arms. Hiashi couldn't help but snicker slightly at the irony.
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(Five Years later)
"Hokage-sama!! It happened again! You would think that someone would be able to figure out who has been committing these atrocities! They painted big spirals all over my fence!"
"Now calm down, it's probably just some kids. Please go down to the Mission Room, and we'll give you a Genin Team to re-pain your fence…on the house." Minato said to the enraged woman while tuning out the tiny snickering her was hearing coming from under his desk. After the woman had happily accepted the free service and left her sighed and dropped his head down on the desk in an echoing thunk. 'He's just like his mother!' Reaching under his desk he hoisted up a now hysterically laughing Naruto and put him down onto his desk facing him. "Naruto I told you, you can't just go around harassing people. At least don't do it to the same person twice in a row!"
"I know but that big lady is really funny when she saw what I did!" He laughed as he jumped down and off his father's desk and onto the ground. Running in front of the desk he stood up straight and a big smile broke across his face, he then raised his right hand up to a salute. "Hokage-sama! I'm off to start my training with Oji-chan!" Minato just rolled his eyes, how his son had figured out that he had a problem with the formal reference he would never know. The blond Hokage snapped his fingers and waived his son off. "Ja ne dattebayo!" Naruto yelled with a wave as he ran out of the office and off to find Sandaime.
Suddenly an ANBU member dropped down from the ceiling, he had spiky silver hair behind his dog mask. "Where did he pick up the dattebayo?" Minato said, not quite getting it.
"I have no idea Sensei, I mean I've never heard anyone else in the village talk like that…it's beyond me where he picked it up but it's apparently fully integrated in his speech. Is there ant reason you signalled for me to stay behind?" Kakashi asked as he leaned against the wall of the room after removing his mask and reaching into his pouch behind him.
"He's just going to start training with Sandaime, he'll be fine. I just wanted to tell you that the next time he pulls a prank like this, please come tell me immediately so I can get it covered up before the victim comes and complains again." Looking up his eyes went wide when he saw what Kakashi had grabbed from his pouch. "What on earth or you reading?"
"Oh this?" He asked as he closed the small orange book. "Just a brilliant book I picked up the other day. Its popularity is apparently sweeping the village, I got the last copy in the store and I can see why now!" Getting a horrified and shocked look from his Sensei his eyebrow went up and walked over to his desk to show him. "It's called Icha Icha Paradise, and it's written by some person going by Gamakage. Whoever it is, it's a masterpiece!" He proclaimed with a small giggle that took Minato back to his days of dealing with his Sensei.
Looking around frantically he began to shake his lag up and down in nervousness. "Well you're off for the rest of the day Kakashi, you won't be needed to escort Naruto home…I'll be getting him." With Kakashi's attention diverted Minato decided to explain more. "He's working on channelling chakra with Sandaime so it'll be fine."
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Naruto was simply laughing and having fun as he ran through the village to get over to Sandaime's home so he can get his lesson. He had been having a great day, after painting all over that lady's fence to basically getting permission from his Dad to prank people, just not back to back. Growing up under the playful and brilliant Hokage his mind had become quite sharp under his tutelage, plus he would always laugh and have a wonderful time once Minato got back from work and would play with him. He loved playing all sorts of games with his father, but the only one he hated was Hide and Seek, simply because his Dad always found him almost instantly yet was impossible to find. It had taken a while but Naruto eventually figured out that Minato was just using a Henge to deceive him. After the ensuing pouting and screams of cheating, his Dad tried to explain that he was testing him on being able to detect rouses like that.
Naruto's eyebrows knitted together in a scowl when he thought about that. 'He's always trying to test me and make sure I'm getting better…but it makes it no fun if it's only a test. I want to just play with Otou-chan!' His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he saw the form of his long time friend over in the middle of a small bridge and looking down at eh water beneath. "Oi! Hinata-chan!" He yelled to the small girl.
Snapping her head around Hinata quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and waved to Naruto. "Ohayo N-Naruto-kun…" She said with a small forced smile. She was wearing a simple white sleeveless dress and a pair of black sandals. She noticed that Naruto was wearing what seemed to be his favourite clothing, his usual tan shorts along with his black T-shirt with an orange spiral in the middle of it. "W-What are you doing out here?" She asked, her mind trying to cling to anything other than what she had been thinking of.
"I'm heading over to Oji-chan's for some training!" He beamed at her, seeing his smile she couldn't help but smile with him. She didn't understand it, but he could always make her smile and have fun despite whatever was going on. He had been that way as long as she had known him, which was as long as she could remember. "What are you doing out here Hinata-chan?" She heard, pulling her out of her thoughts.
Fidgeting under the aspect of why she was out there, she suddenly burst out in tears. "Kaa-san! Kaa-san died!" She wept, no on her knees and crying into her arm.
Naruto just stood there wide eyed; he had never known anyone who had died. His Dad hadn't told him much about it, but he had made it clear to him that it meant that they were gone and would never come back. Kneeing down Naruto had no clue at all what to do, but instead just did what first came to mind. Reaching out he put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her into a caring hug. "I'm sorry Hinata-chan…" She just cried into his shirt, grabbing onto him as she dealt with the fact that her mother was gone forever. "My Kaa-san is gone too…" He then said quietly to her, causing her to stop crying and sit back.
Whipping the tears off her face once more she felt a bit better. "Thanks N-Naruto-kun…sorry about your Kaa-san."
"Its okay, Otou-chan said she left us when I was born so I never knew her…" He said, a slightly saddened look taking over his face.
"That's the same with me, she…she died g-giving my Dad my new Nee-chan." Both of them then stood back up and looked over the railing at the water under them.
"I know! You can come with me to see Oji-chan! I bet he'd let you train with me!" He said excitedly. After only getting a slight smile and nod from her he grabbed her hand and ran off, pulling her along as they made their way to Sandaime's.
After hearing the quick and sporadic knocking at his door, Sarutobi knew exactly who it was. With a smile he made his way to the door. "Hello Naruto…" He started before he saw who was now partially hidden behind him. Crouching down to their level he smiled at the little girl. "Why hello there Hinata, it's nice to see you here again."
"H-Hello, Sandaime-sama." She said to the former Hokage.
Sarutobi could see the remnant signs of crying and figured it had to do with the passing of her mother. "Do you want to join us again?" Getting a shy nod from the girl he smiled and took both of their hands and led them around the house and into the small training field behind it. Now standing before the two of them he thought over what he would be showing the young kids that day. "Now the two of you know how to form chakra, but today we'll be learning how to channel it to different parts of our bodies. To do this you need to form a small bit of chakra in the middle of you. Then you think of the area you want the chakra diverted to and imagine the path from the middle of you to where you want it." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out two small metal looking rods. They were small enough to lie across they kid's palms evenly. "These rods reach with chakra, when they are touched with it, they spin…like this." Channelling some chakra to his hand the two rods began to rotate in his hand. He then handed both of them one of them and smiled. "Now you two try."
Furrowing his eyebrows, Naruto concentrated as he made a small orb of chakra concentrated within him. He had only gotten the hang of making chakra a month or so earlier so it was still not a simple task. Now that he had the orb, he made a sort of pathway in his mind going to his hand with the rod in it. Releasing the chakra and letting it go its path, he then opened his eyes to look at what he had done. But he was met with absolutely nothing, no movement, nothing. "Awww, I suck."
Sandaime let out a gentle laugh at the boy. "You're young; you're not supposed to get it right away." Looking over at Hinata, he raised an eyebrow when he saw the rod vibrating slightly, reacting minimally to her. 'She is a Hyuuga, they're naturally good at this stuff…plus if I know Hiashi then he's been teaching her a bit. Let's see how they continue…'
They worked on it for a couple hours, both of the kids slowly getting better before Sarutobi's eyes. Eventually Hinata accomplished the task with a satisfied giggle. But Naruto hadn't gotten to her point just yet. Looking down at the ground after seeing Hinata do it, Naruto started think he couldn't do it. "Why aren't I doin it yet Oji-chan?"
"Well where are you imagining your chakra going?" He asked, after hearing him say his hand he smiled. "Well can you draw the line you are imagining with your other hand?" Looking on he saw Naruto move his finger directly from his stomach to his right palm. Sandaime just raised an eyebrow to it. 'He's not even making the chakra move through his body but he's still moving the rod a bit…' "That's why; you're doing it all wrong. This is how you should do it." Pointing to his own stomach he traced a line up his chest and then across and down his arm. "Make a path inside your body Naruto."
His eyes lit up like a light bulb as if realizing a simple truth. Focusing his chakra into another orb within him her extended his hand and held the rod in his hand. Imagining the correct pathway this time he suddenly released the chakra and looked. When he did, he saw the rod suddenly wiz around extremely fast and then shoot upwards violently, embedding itself in a branch over them. "What the…" Sandaime said, looking at the rod in surprise. 'What as that? Can he already make that much chakra? Is this because of the Kyuubi?'
"I did it! I did it Hinata-chan!" Naruto shouted out as he grabbed her hands and began to jump about.
"Yes you did that, but now it's time for your test." Sandaime said after tearing his gaze away from the embedded rod. Getting an odd look from the boy, hey crouched down and pulled the pendant that hung around Naruto's neck out of his shirt. "Your test is to channel your chakra into this pendant so that your father can come get you."
Hinata didn't know exactly what was going on, but she watched on anyway, her heart still beating fast after dancing around with Naruto. She saw him concentrate, then open his eyes and look intently at the pendant that he was now holding in his hand. Then suddenly with a flash of yellow light and a gust of wind, Naruto's dad, the Yondaime Hokage was standing behind him with his arms crossed and a grin on his face. "Yo!"
"Otou-chan!" Naruto yelled as he jumped at his dad. "I did it! See!" He said as he pointed upwards at the rod still stuck in the tree branch.
Looking up he then looked questioning at Sandaime, getting only a shrug of his shoulders the Hokage figured he'd follow up on it sometime later. "Very good Naruto!" Then Hinata caught his attention, setting Naruto down he crouched to their level and smiled as he ruffled her dark hair. "I hope you had a good time today Hinata. But I think it's time I got you two home, it's getting late." He then grabbed both of their hands and grinned at Sandaime. "Ja ne…" Then is a flash of yellow he was gone.
Hinata had no clue what had happened, but after another flash of yellow she was now standing outside the gates of the Hyuuga compound. "Here you go Hinata, go on and say hi to your Dad for me, and say I'm sorry." He then said solemnly.
"Bye Hinata-chan! I'll see you soon and we can play again!" Naruto said as he jumped on his Dad's back with a smile. Hinata shyly waved to him as she opened the gates to head inside with the slightest hint of a blush. Then in a flash of light they were gone again.
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Sorry this took so long everyone but I've been busy with a lot of other things lately. It looks like Naruto has taken after his mother after all, but he's also picked up a few of Minato's qualities. Hinata is her normal adorable self, her family connection with Naruto's has led to them being friends for quite a long time. Well be seeing Naruto making some new friends next chapter as well as his first run in with rivalry.
Well, I feel sorry for Minato to cope with Naruto's prankster tricks…haha. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this great chapter coming from RasenganRendan and me, cloudfightback. The next chapter should be up in the next few weeks but you have to give us more review so we can get more ideas into our story. Adios!
Come on everyone lets hear your wonderful reviews! We love them and it gets us into writing more and thinking of new things to do!