Sorry about the delay, guys. I was really busy. If it hadn't been for yipster's review a few days ago, I would've totally forgotten about this story.

......

Fugaku turned to the Hokage. "We should tell Naruto about his inheritance now, shouldn't he?"

The Sandaime smiled. "I believe we should. After all, only those with his blood can enter. The Yondaime made that clear. Only those part of the Namikaze family can even see it, let alone enter it. Not only that, but the Namikaze family is an ancient house. Knowledge and power build up over the years and put into one place. Naruto should be able to use the place to his disposal."

Itachi walked up to them, having left his team to themselves. "What inheritance, Hokage-sama?"

"Sort of an estate in some ways. However, much larger. It will make the Uchiha compound look small in comparison. See, over the years, each Namikaze added a bit of themselves to the estate, so by logic and reasoning, we can deduce that some places are quite new while others are older than the village itself!"

"So Naruto will be inheriting it, won't he?"

"Of course, Itachi." The Hokage reached into his robes and gave Itachi a scroll. "Don't open this. It's for Naruto's eyes only. It will guide him to the estate, which I must inform you is very far from this village. Give it to him now."

"Yes, Sir." Itachi jumped up onto the railing where Naruto was sitting there talking to Haku. "Naruto..." He gave the scroll to him and smiled. "It seems as if you had a home all along."

Naruto blinked and opened the scroll. Suddenly, his eyes blurred and visions sprang up, burying themselves into his memory. When they ended, the scroll was gone. "'tachi, what was that?!"

"Your inheritance."

Naruto tried to sort the images out and found out that they led to an estate. "It leads to a house? I have a house????"

"Hai, you do. Your father's family is a very old and prestigious clan. Unfortunately they all died out except for you. Your father married your mother, who was another last of her clan. They added their share to the estate, so if they had left that scroll for you, they must've intended to give all that you as well."

Naruto's face split into a grin. "I have a house! A house!" Then he seemed to have remembered something and whispered it into Itachi's ear. "Go on, Itachi! Do it!"

Itachi sighed and sweatdropped. Naruto can be so childish. Itachi shushined away and appeared in Iruka's empty classroom. "Iruka-san."

"Good afternoon, Itachi." Iruka looked up from his work and smiled cheerfully at his friend. "How's the exam going?"

"Going great. But that's not why I'm paying you a visit. Contrary to popular belief, I am prone to gossip. Now I heard that Kakashi was together as a couple with Anko the other day. Then he broke up with her in the most cruelest way! He even called her 'useless' and 'insignificant' to his life!" Itachi watched Iruka bristled with anger. Well, what do you know...Naruto was right. But how was he so observant as to notice this? "Anko's still crying over her loss!" Itachi smirked and turned around. Iruka was gone. Itachi chuckled and shushined after Iruka. Despite what he labled Naruto as, he was definitely not going to miss this.

Iruka landed outside the book store.

Kakashi was humming a cheerful tune as he walked out reading the Icha Icha Paradise book. He saw Iruka out of the corner of his eye and turned to him, greeting cheerfully, "Yo, Iruka!"

"Yo, yourself!" Iruka growled. "How dare you..."

Itachi, meanwhile, put up the next part of his plan. He came up to Anko at the dango stand near the bookstore and said casually, "Have you heard? Orochimaru is buying an Icha Icha Paradise book at the nearest bookstore." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and sure enough, she was gone.

.......

Sasuke groaned. "Where's Itachi-niisan?"

Naruto chuckled and took out a novel to read. "Remember when I said that Iruka needed a girlfriend?"

Sasuke only stared at him blankly. "Itachi's playing matchmaker?"

"In short, yes. That's better than any romance novel."

.......

Anko sighed. Itachi must be playing around with her. She saw no Orochimaru! No doubt if he was here, he'd cause a great scene with that giant snake of his, Manda.

"...hurt my Anko, my true love!"

Anko stiffened. Was that Iruka? It couldn't be. No one ever called her 'my Anko' before, except Orochimaru, but he did it in a creepy way that makes her want to hurl. However, this voice sounded as if it's defending her. Anko ran towards the noise and found Iruka and Kakashi causing a scene with Iruka screaming his voice box off while Kakashi just stood there, looking dumb and confused.

"What are you talking about? I never went out with Anko let alone dump her!" Kakashi defended himself. "How can I dump someone whom I've never gone out with?"

"Liar!" Iruka jumped on top of Kakashi and began punching him. "You cruel man!"

Itachi, on top of the roof, fell over, clutching his sides. Years in the ANBU taught him how to control his emotions, but this was just too much!

"Iruka?" Anko asked, slightly timid. "What about me?"

Iruka looked up and gaped. Why wasn't Anko crying? Wasn't she supposed to at least looked as if she had cried? "Kakashi dumped you and had called you 'useless' and 'insignificant' to your face! That's what!" he explained, glaring at the whimpering Kakashi.

"He did?" Anko asked, confused.

"He didn't?" Iruka asked, his turn to be confused. "But Itachi-san..."

Itachi sighed. His fun was over, and he had better run before Anko kills him with her deadly snakes. They might be close friends (he and his close family were her only friends after that incident), but he knew quite well that she wasn't afraid to break one of his arms for the fun of it. Poof!

Anko raised an eyebrow. "Itachi? That's not like him to play this kind of game." She thought for a while before a conclusion was reached. "Must be Naruto's idea, and he must've set 'tachi up..." She turned to Iruka. "Did I hear right or did you call me your 'true love'?"

Iruka shuffled his feet shyly, trying to find a way around the question. "Um..."

Kakashi stared at the scene before sneaking away, muttering under his breathe, "Crazy chuunins."

Anko, meanwhile, approached Iruka and asked softly, which was so unlike her, "Do you really love me, Iruka-kun?" She leaned her face in closer to his, their noses almost touching. "Tell me the truth."

Iruka turned pink. Then he turned away. "You'll say 'no' to me anyways. What's the point?"

Anko grinned. "How would you know?"

Iruka shifted uncomfortably again. "Just because. You're not one for romance, and, well, you haven't really been trusting ever since that incident...except to Itachi and Naruto and Sasuke. So well, I guessed...uh...um...er. I guess you just wouldn't be interested in me."

"Now, now, Iruka, Naruto set us up, so he must've seen we were destined for each other." Anko smirked and tilted Iruka's face towards her. "Now, be a man, and ask me out." Unfortunately for Anko, Iruka, so ecstatic as he is, promptly fainted.

......

"Begin!"

Neji's eyes taunted Hinata as the veins in his eyes popped out, revealing his clan's bloodline, the legendary Byakugan. "Give up, Hinata-sama, you can't defeat me. Already it has been written in the pages of history and the future, you will lose to me, not only in this fight, but in every one to come."

Naruto narrowed his eyes but held his peace. He can sympathize with Neji. It's not easy being a branch member. But someone really has to knock some sense into that Hyuuga's brain.

Hinata audibly gulped. Her Byakugan was activated, but she had no determination to actually, truly use it.

Naruto decided to give her a confidence boost. "Hinata!" he called from the sidelines. After her attention was caught, he said, "Don't listen to whatever Neji tells you. You can defeat him. You just have to believe and trust in yourself!" Then he added. "No pages of the future are written until it becomes part of history."

Hinata stared at him before whispering, "But how can I possibly hope to defeat my cousin? He's older and stronger than me."

However, Naruto's enhanced hearing could hear it. "So? Kiba's supposedly stronger and more experienced than Haku, but who defeated who? No, it's not Neji, who's better than you. It's just you weakening yourself. Just try your best. So what if you lose? There will always be a winner and loser in a fight. So just because you lose doesn't mean you're a loser, it just means you have a goal to reach."

Hinata widened her eyes. Was Naruto actually supporting her? It can't be true. There was only one person in her memory that actually did such a thing and that person disappeared seven years ago...she remembered the villagers celebrating over it, presuming that he was dead.

Flashback...

Hinata struggled. The ninja holding her was no doubt the cloud-nin. What was going on? She thought they were supposed to be negotiating a treaty.

"Stop that, brat, unless you want to be beaten before we continue," the ninja snarled.

Hinata gulped and stopped struggling. Suddenly, they stopped moving, and Hinata looked up to see a kid about her age. He obviously came upon them by mistake, judging from the look on his face. Hinata looked at him with pleading eyes, trying to warn him to run.

However, he didn't get the message because he yelled out, "Hey, you're the ambassador from Cloud! I remember you! What are you doing with the Hyuuga?" He shifted the large scroll he was holding onto his back as if readying himself for a battle.

"Move, kid, or you'll be looking Death in the face!"

Naruto growled, "Just because I'm smaller doesn't mean I'll die, moron!"

"Fine, have this your way!" The cloud-nin sent a cloud of kunais at him, all tagged with explosive notes. When the explosion sounded, he was about to go on his way when suddenly Naruto appeared out of the smoky haze. "What...who...how...?"

Naruto smiled. Itachi had taught him shushin and replacement, so it was easy getting out of the way. "Not bad for a kid, eh?" Suddenly red chakra consumed him and his eyes turned red and the pupils slitted. He suddenly looked demonic. "My friend will love to make your acquaintance before your death, cloud-nin." The few minutes happened so fast that Hinata only grasped some of the events.

In the end, the cloud-nin lay dead on the forest floor. Hinata stared at the blond boy, whose demonic appearance had faded away. She was completely baffled and amazed. "Who are you?" she asked him.

He considered her for a second before saying, "Your kind calls me 'Demon'. But you can call me 'Fox'."

She knew it wasn't his true name, but she never questioned him about it again. They met each a few times afterwards, usually in training grounds, before he disappeared. During those few times, he had always encouraged her and helped her through bad times, and before she knew it, she was in love...

End flashback...

She shook her head. No, Naruto couldn't be that same person. Her childhood crush was dead. This Naruto was just someone with a similar personality. Still, she felt her courage flaring up. She could beat Neji (hopefully). That was what Fox had always told her. Believe and you could do wonders. The greatest people in the world are always those like you who have big dreams and have the confidence to believe they can achieve it.

She looked at Neji and gulped, her confidence wavering slightly. He was so calm with self-confidence (brimming to the point of arrogance). Then, he ran towards her, his hands pointed. Then he slammed his palm into her arm. Hinata winced in pain and instinctively grabbed his arm. She was about to strike him when he blocked her easily, shifting his weight to direct a kick into her chest. She coughed and she could taste the iron of blood in her mouth.

Suddenly, Neji appeared in front of her and grabbed her arm. He then proceeded to close off her tenketsus. "Admit it, Hinata-sama. You lose." He slammed his palm into her lungs and then let her drop to the floor. He smirked and turned away from her. Suddenly, there was a scraping noise, and Neji scoffed. "Don't hurt yourself now." He turned around.

Hinata was panting. "I won't give up."

Neji bristled. Normally, his Hyuuga upbringing taught him to act emotionless, but this was too much. Why couldn't that weakling stay down?

"I won't give up..." she panted. Then she looked up at Naruto as if he were her savior. "...because that's the way of the ninja."

Neji clenched his fists. Then he ran at her. "I don't want to kill you, Hinata-sama, but if this is how it is..." he slammed his palm into her heart. However, to his surprise and anger, she only stumbled backwards, not surrendering. He roared in anger and was about to deal a life-threatening shot when Itachi, Kakashi, and Gai stopped him, and Kurenai running towards Hinata, who finally fell.

Neji hissed, "Let me go! Why does the head family always receive special treatment?"

Itachi sighed. "The match is over, Hyuuga. You won. Take control of yourself."

Neji ripped himself away and, after snorting in derision at his cousin, walked away.

Naruto leapt down and ran over to Hinata. "You did great, Hinata! You didn't give up!"

Hinata closed her eyes. "Naruto, do you think that...I have changed? Even just a little?"

Naruto smiled. "Everybody changes, Hinata, as they grow older. The only difference is if they changed for the better or for the worse. In this case, I think you changed for the better."

Hinata, relieved, fell unconscious.

......

Haku was in bliss. Despite Naruto's protests, she had ran off to the nearest library and borrowed some books on medicine and anatomy and acupuncture. They were all so interesting! She hummed cheerfully to herself as she walked through the hallway towards the arena to watch the rest of the matches. Then she saw Neji walking towards her, looking troubled and very much angered. "Neji-san?"

Neji looked up, surprised to find someone else in the halls. He nodded curtly at her and continued on his way.

Haku hated to see anyone so upset, so she debated calling after Neji or to just let him go. In the end the latter lost. "Neji, what's wrong?"