A/N: As promised to BlazingDervish, I have made an experimental first chapter to gauge your response. In this story, this is to explore how it would've been like if all the Slayers had gone extinct, and so no GSD. The basic premise of this story will still be the same though. Your reviews will determine if it is worth continuing at any point, so do read and review would you kindly?

Key:

Thoughts

[Time and Location]

(Different Point of View)

{Play this song now}

…

{Play: "Jumper" by Waterflame}

[Somewhere in Konoha, during the Kyūbi Festival…]

Despite the falling of raindrops, the festivities raged on. Parents were having a good time with their children and games were being played. All this celebration was to commemorate this very special day to the people of Konohagakure no Sato. It was on this very day that the dreaded Kyūbi no Yoko had suddenly rampaged through the village. The damage had been gruesome—not even the women and children were spared, and many shinobi died valiantly trying to fend off the monster. It wasn't until the Yondaime Hokage showed up that the evil being had been killed, at the cost of his own life. From that day on, on this night, a festival was held to commemorate the Yondaime Hokage's sacrifice for his village.

Ignoring the hustle and bustle of the crowd, two female figures of unimaginable beauty appeared. They both had dark brown hair, creamy skin, and coffee-colored eyes with slender frames—their appearances were so similar that there was no way that they were not related. The only major differences between the two of them were their height and apparent age. The taller one was an adult in her late twenties/early thirties, dressed in fine silk robes and possessing a regal air. The smaller one was a child, about seven, with softer, slightly more masculine features than her mother.

"Okaa-san, why are we here?" she asked, looking up at the woman.

The older one smiled slightly down at her daughter and squeezed her hand. "Just paying respects for some friends of mine, Meilan." She carried a bamboo bucket, containing items for maintaining a gravesite. "They died a long time ago, so once a year I come here to see their graves. They were-" However, a small object suddenly rammed into her, cutting her off. Startled, she looked down and saw a small boy with short, spiky blond hair and three whisker-marks on each cheek. She registered, with horror, how disturbingly thin he was (like he frequently starved), the scars that covered his body and the look of heart-breaking fear in his dazzlingly blue eyes. For a moment, she thought that she recognized him…

{Play: "Bad Situation" by Toshiro Masuda}

"THERE HE IS!" called out a voice from down a street, "THE DEMON BRAT JUST ATTACKED A RANDOM BYSTANDER! KILL HIM BEFORE HE FINISHES THE JOB!"

Alarmed, they looked over and saw an angry mob just down the street, complete with pitchforks and torches. The boy scrambled to his feet and took off before the woman could stop him. However, the mob just ignored her and chased after the boy. Absently, she checked Meilan for injuries. "O-Okaa-san, what's going on? Why're they chasing him?"

"I don't know, but no one should have to go through that," the older woman answered. Looking up, she saw a couple of shadows streak by on the rooftops, chasing the mob. Then she looked at the trail left by the mob and noticed a few kunai and shuriken. Shinobi? Suddenly, things began to make a horrible sense to her. "Meilan," she said lowly, dangerously, "Go and find Baihu and Qinlong, tell them to get Zhuque and Xuanwu and follow after me. Something tells me that boy needs help badly.

Meilan nodded uncertainly and asked, "What will you do?"

"Follow them."

…

[Elsewhere in Konoha]

He just kept running. Naruto had been about to apologize to the pretty lady, but the mob had caught up with him. Kami must really hate him right now, because there were also Shinobi in the crowd, judging by the kunai and shuriken he'd had to dodge. Why does this have to happen to me every year? And on my birthday, too! All he'd wanted was to eat at Ichiraku's, have something good for once. Teuchi-jīsan always gave him a head start against the mob by telling him to finish up quickly, and he was one of the good people. Naruto could only hope his night didn't get any worse before he made it to his apartment.

However, running down a corridor that ended in a T-junction, his luck finally ran out. Another mob advanced from one corner, forcing Naruto to run right. Unfortunately, it was a dead end, with a wall much too high for him to climb. He turned to face the mob, creeping backwards as they advanced.

"Nowhere to run, demon-brat!" Sneered a man. Naruto knew he was trapped, but would not give up so easily. There had to be a way out…he looked up and saw a fire escape. He ran for it and leaped, stretching out a hand. However, a multitude of weapons pierced his legs and made his jump fall just short of the fire escape. The ninja dragged him out and into the mob.

"W-why?" he asked tearfully, "What did I do to deserve this?"

As if that were the final straw, the mob started to beat him. Even through the punching and stomping of the civilians, and the stabbing of the shinobi, he heard every word being shouted at him.

"WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU WERE BORN, YOU MONSTER!"

"YOU KILLED MY FAMILY!"

"BASTARD!"

"KILLER!"

"THIS IS FOR MY WIFE, YOU MURDERING PIECE OF SHIT!"

"YOU KILLED MY GIRLFRIEND, AND NOW I'M KILLING YOU!"

"KILL THE DEMON-BRAT!"

"FINISH WHAT THE YONDAIME STARTED!"

Eventually the people of the mob got tired of stomping and punching. A shinobi walked out through the crowd, the people parting to make way for him, as he was an Uchiha. "I don't give a fuck what these people say," he sneered, drawing a ninjato, "Trash like you should never be born. Consider it an honor, trash, to be killed by an Uchiha!"

Naruto was roughly grabbed and placed in a kneeling position, where he would be decapitated. Bruised and bleeding, he could do nothing but close his eyes.

"Who are you all, to say he shouldn't have been born," challenged a voice from the back of the crowd, making even Naruto pause and look over, "And who are you, to say he should be honored you're killing him?"

Said Uchiha turned, surprised, and saw a woman in fine silk robes and long brown hair sweeping through the confused mob. Her hair was tied in a bun, held up by tortoiseshell chopsticks. The way she carried herself practically screamed regality, emphasized by the quality of her robes. He could tell that she was powerful, or at least believed herself to be such. Still, no one could stand against an Uchiha. "None of your damn business, bitch!" he snapped, "This brat dies tonight! Maybe after I'm done with him, I'll show you just how much more powerful the Uchiha clan is too!"

{Play: "Power To Strive" by Shiro Sagisu from "Bleach"}

Snorting, he turned back to Naruto, only to see the woman land behind the Shinobi holding down Naruto. Effortlessly she put her hands on his head and twisted it a full 180 degrees, instantly killing him. For the man pinning the boy's left knee, she sent him flying into the wall with a straight kick to the chest. The final victim managed to get his wits together and tried to stab her with a knife. She only blocked the stab, the punched him in the throat, crushing his windpipe and letting him crumple to the ground, dying of asphyxiation. Now, if those three had been normal Shinobi, then the Uchiha couldn't have cared less, but they were in fact other Uchiha themselves. "I'm sorry, what was that about the power of the Uchiha clan?" the woman asked mockingly, "I couldn't hear you from being too busy killing your comrades, you see."

"AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, BITCH?!" shouted the Uchiha, enraged.

"I'm Baihe Huayin," said the woman, her tone no longer mocking, "And don't be fooled. I'm very angry right now."

The man's eyes widened. He knew of the Baihe family. They were reputed to be the mightiest, most dangerous Taijutsu users around, each member possessing the strength to level a city. Baihe Huayin, in fact, was the clan head. He quickly regained his nerve, however. "Who cares if you're from the Baihe? You're still nothing compared to the Uchiha!" Her eye twitched. "In fact, once you're broken and beaten I'll cut off your limbs and rape you until you wish for death!"

He charged, activating his Sharingan. With this there was no way he could-

"Enough out of you."

Even with his Sharingan, the hapless bastard could only watch the punch coming before it hit him. His head exploded into bloody chunks of bone as her fist passed straight through it. The mob began backing away, then backed up further as two more people appeared while Huayin took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood off her hand with disgust on her face. Both wore hooded cloaks, one in green with the Kanji 'Azuma' on the hood, and the other wearing white with the Kanji 'Nishi.'

Gently, Huayin lifted Naruto into her arms; he had already fallen unconscious. Now that she could study him more carefully, she understood why he'd looked familiar. With that understanding came great anger. "Qinglong," she said flatly. The green-cloaked one bowed his head in acknowledgement. "Take this boy to the Hospital and ask for Hazama-sensei. If they refuse to get him, do what you have to until they do, including killing. Then, take Meilan back to the carriage." The man took Naruto and left immediately. Addressing the person in white, Huayin said, "Baihu, you, Zhuque and Xuanwu will show these people," the amount of scorn in the word made it sound like a curse, "Exactly what I think of them. I'm going to have a 'talk' with Sarutobi."

"What if other Shinobi try to stop us?" Baihu asked, revealing herself to be a woman.

"Knock them out if you must," she answered calmly, but with cold fury burning in her eyes, "I only wish for this village to understand my message." She glanced towards the rooftops. "And Eavesdropper-san…go tell your Hokage that by the time I get to his office, he'd better have a damn good explanation for this."

Instantly the Shinobi took off. That woman definitely freaked her out; the Hokage might just have his hands full with her foul temper. She shuddered as screams of terror and death erupted behind her and sped up.

…

{Play: "Evil" by Toshiro Masuda from "Naruto"}

[Hokage's Office, moments later…]

For Sarutobi Hiruzen, this night was not one to celebrate in the least. Struggling to light his pipe, he fervently wished that paperwork was the only thing he had to worry about. A first for him. Hebi had just returned from shadowing Naruto with a grim report. Fortunately, he had waited until she'd left to start shitting bricks. It was bad enough that Naruto had finally been caught by the mob this year. Then said mob had been slaughtered, along with several Uchiha. The worst bit, however, was that Baihe Huayin had shown up in the first place.

He knew, of course, that she always came once a year, but he hadn't expected her to be this late! Of course, he wasn't too surprised that she'd put two and two together so quickly. However, the mob had run Naruto straight into her, sealing both their fates. That is to say, the mob's and his own. He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face exhaustedly. The Baihe were known for possessing a Raiton affinity and for superhuman strength, both of which would make the Raikage A green with envy.

In fact, he probably was. Hiruzen remembered hearing about an incident between the Baihe and Kumogakure, nearly identical to Konoha's own incident with the Hyūga. The Sandaime Raikage, desperately wanting more Kekkei Genkai for his village, had attempted to have a then-five-year-old Baihe Huayin kidnapped by an ambassador. As with the Hyūga, the ambassador died. The Raikage then had the balls to demand that the Matriarch at the time give up her head in compensation. Unlike with the Hyūga, however, she told him to fuck off. For some reason, he took exception to that and deployed a whole battalion to kill or capture any Baihe they could lay their hands on. Nine days later, one of them came back, sans an arm and a leg, carrying a scroll. Said scroll contained the rest of the battalion (plus whatever summons had been used), their bodies pulverized into jelly. There was also a polite note with the spread (pun intended) that basically said, "Consider us even. Try a stunt like this again and Kumo will cease to have a population, either human or animal." Needless to say, Kumo had learned their lesson and always made sure to never do anything untoward around the Baihe, for fear of them carrying out their threat. On an unrelated note, the council members swore off toast after the incident.

A shame we couldn't do the same… Hiruzen thought glumly. He prayed that Huayin's Buddhist upbringing would win out over her anger. Or at least make her not hit as hard, because Tsunade had nothing on Huayin… Suddenly he heard his receptionist ask, "How may I help you, madam?"

Oh shit. She was here.

"I'm here to see the Hokage," said the clear voice of Huayin, with an undercurrent of anger, "Preferably immediately."

"My apologies, miss," said the receptionist with a hint of spite, "But I'm afraid Hokage-sama is much too-"

*whump*

Sarutobi gulped at the sound of the woman hitting the wall and sliding down. The door slammed open, revealing Baihe Huayin, with a golden aura surrounding her. A tiny, non-terrified part of his brain wondered what her body looked like under her robes, but her cold glaring made that part shut the fuck up.

"We need to talk," she said, closing the door behind her as the aura dissipated, "Now."

She was talking first. Good. "Very well, have a seat."

"I don't need it; this won't take long. I'd seal this room for privacy, though."

Nodding wearily, he got up and walked to the door to set up the seal. He tried not to show his fear, even as he felt Huayin's cold glare boring into his back. Having put it up, he walked back and sat behind his desk. "Well?" he prompted.

"You lied to me." Those four words were calm and melodic, and would have made Hiruzen want to listen to her all day… Except they carried a painful truth. "You told me he died with Minato-nii and Kushina-nee."

"I did," Sarutobi said quietly, "Minato wanted him to become a Shinobi for the village and to be safe."

"Then why didn't you protect him better?!" barked Huayin, "I know as well as you that Minato had enemies, both in and outside the village. If you wanted him to be safe, why didn't you let him be adopted? Why did you go and tell the stupid people that the Kyūbi was even sealed away?!"

That hurt. It hurt a lot. He knew that he should have done all those things, but for one reason or another he hadn't. No matter how good her points were. Yes, he'd screwed up with Naruto, and he would pay with his soul to fix it, but… "There is a reason I retired and gave the hat to Minato," he reminded her, "I'm getting too old to keep making decisions like this. You said it yourself, Minato had enemies in this village. What family would adopt him, knowing that? Knowing that they might be killed because of this boy's father? Besides that, his Godfather is too busy with his spy network to take care of him. As for the Kyūbi…" his face darkened, "I assure you I am not the one who broke the news to them. Someone else- and I think I know who –must have told them that Naruto is a Jinchūriki. And despite all that, I cannot let him out of this village! Who knows what could happen to him?"

"Give him to me," said Huayin, though Sarutobi wondered bitterly if it were a suggestion or a demand, "I'll take him under my wing, keep him safe, train him, and allow him to return in five years."

He had to admit, that sounded like a nice idea. However, he remembered something else. "Need I remind you that the Tsuchikage, one of Konoha's biggest opponents, is a major patient of yours? You don't seriously think he won't make a connection if he sees Naruto, do you?"

The beautiful woman laughed, which made him sag slightly in relief. Anything was better than her getting angrier. "Don't worry, Hiruzen," she said, "Onoki knows I'm the only one who can treat him properly, what with his back problems and all. He wouldn't dare piss off his doctor."

"You underestimate Onoki, madam," sighed Sarutobi, "Few men in the world are as stubborn as him. But on your head be it." He pulled out a blank piece of paper and wrote, 'I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, grant Baihe Huayin five years of custody over Uzumaki Naruto. By the end of the aforementioned five years, he must be returned to Konohagakure no Sato to enroll in the Ninja Academy.' He signed the bottom.

Huayin took the paper and read it over. She did a double-take at the third name. Naruto? What on earth were Minato and Kushina thinking? Don't they know what it means…? Finally, she nodded, folded it up and bowed. "Everything looks to be in order. I'll see myself out; I need to see Naruto and tell him the good news."

"You…do that," mumbled Hiruzen, watching her swaying ass as she left. As soon as she rounded the corner, he slapped himself and went back to the paperwork.

…

{Play: "Sakura's Theme" by Toshiro Masuda from "Naruto"}

[Konoha General Hospital, the next morning…]

With a pitiful groan, he managed to open his eyes only to immediately close them again as he was assaulted by the horrifically blinding lights in the room he found himself in. He tried again, more slowly this time, and tried to sit up agains the protetsts of his sore and tired body. The aches intensified as he struggled, but eventually managed to gather himself enough to prop himself up to a sitting position. Naruto felt a small jolt of fear as he felt a slight shuffling at his side, only to relax as he recognized the purple tuft of hair styled into a spiky ponytail.

"Hebi-nee-chan..." he sighed softly, allowing a small smile to grace his whiskered visage as he watched his ANBU guardian sleep at his side, light snores escaping her masked face as she did so. Although he found it odd for her to be out in the open like this, he was glad for the company nonetheless. Then he jumped as a female voice said, "They were there when I arrived. It looks like they really care about you."

His head whipped around, dizzying himself, as he saw the woman he'd bumped into earlier. He fidgeted. "Ah…sorry for running into you like that…"

"Oh, no need to apologize," she said serenely, "I'm not bothered by it. In fact, I was just with Hokage-sama, and he's given me custody of you."

"Custody- what?" asked Naruto confusedly.

She laughed and ruffled his spiky hair. "Oh, aren't you cute! But anyway, custody means that I'm adopting you, basically."

Naruto's eyes widened. "W-what?" No one had ever wanted to adopt him before (actually, the Ichiraku family had, but they didn't have enough money to support having a second child), but this pretty lady was going to do it for him? "You…you mean that?" he asked, afraid that he might be dreaming.

"Yes," she said, smiling gently, "I do. I'll take care of you, for a while at least. But it won't be here. Not in the village."

Naruto looked at the three females on his other side, his face falling. It was true that he'd always wanted to leave the village, but did he want to leave the people who did care about him? "You won't be gone forever. I'm just going to take you away for a little while, so I can teach you how to defend yourself."

Naruto's eyes widened excitedly. "Ah! You're a Shinobi, miss?"

Huayin laughed. "Oh, no. I'm a doctor, but I can still fight. Anyway, I promised the Hokage that in five years, when you come back, you'll be able go to the Academy and defend yourself, along with the ones you care about."

He looked at the sleeping woman again. He thought about the good times he'd had with her (though not about how those times had been cut short); he remembered the Ichiraku family and their kindness, all the other people who had been nice to him, though there were few. There was Hinata-chan who was shy, but nice to him, as well as his fellow orphan Tenten who managed to find him once in a while when she was not training. As he thought about it, he realized, If they have to keep helping me, I'll just become a burden…I'll become stronger and pay them back! He looked up at the lady. "When do we leave?" he asked simply.

"Tomorrow," she said, smiling, "Though you should travel light. Bring only what you really don't want to leave here."

…

{Play: "Her Most Beautiful Smile" by Noriyuki Asakura from "Rurouni Kenshin"}

[Konoha Gates, the next day…]

Naruto stood, his back to the gate and looking up and over the village and committing the image to memory. He thanked Huayin-san for allowing him to have one last bowl at Ichiraku's and take one last look at his (former?) home. As he stood there, pack on his back, he made an oath to himself; when he returned, he would become the Hokage and earn the villagers' respect and protect everyone dear to him, even if it killed him.

"Naruto-kun, are you ready to go?" called Huayin from the carriage, her daughter sitting next to her.

"Yeah!" he shouted back, running to the carriage. He paused for a second, then waved at the village. "Ja, mata!"

A pair of pale lavender eyes watched him from behind a nearby tree. She saw him wave and say good bye. Even as he turned and ran to the carriage, Hinata waved sadly back at him. "Ja mata, Naruto-kun…"

A/N: Done, and done. Please note, I will still make this story a Naru-harem, and as with "Naruto the Dark Knight", Hinata, Meilan, Anko, and Tenten, (Kurama is a bit iffy here) will be at the core, as well as Fem-Sasuke (no twin this time). Also, if this story does in fact have a good enough number of reviews, consider this my request for beta-readers.

…

Vocabulary:

Baihu—this is Mandarin for 'white tiger', in Japanese she would be known as 'Byakko'.

Qinglong—this is Mandarin for 'blue/green dragon', in Japanese, he would be known as 'Seiryu'.

Zhuque—this is Mandarn for 'red bird', in Japanese, she would be known as 'Suzaku'

Xuanwu—this is Mandarin for 'mysterious warrior', in Japanese, he would be known as 'Genbu'

Huayin—this is Meilan's mother; her name literally means 'flower sound' in Mandarin.