Disclaimer: REDUX! For old times sake, something in this disclaimer is either spelled wrong or has a grammatical error. Try to find it.

What had started as a mild October night became one of the most tragic days in the history of Konohagakure. The Kyuubi no Kitsune, greatest of the nine bijuu, had destroyed a large section of the village. Many had died, civilian and shinobi alike, though the largest loss was Namikaze Minato. The Yondaime Hokage of Konoha had used a forbidden sealing jutsu to lock the Kyuubi inside of a newborn child, even though the cost was his own soul. Despite the importance of the Yondaime and his powers, the vessel of the sealing was the true hero of that night. October Tenth was henceforth a day of mourning, with the people refusing to see the truth of the child.

This child was Uzumaki Naruto, the biological son of the Yondaime. This fact was kept a secret, however, and those close to Minato were forbidden from taking Naruto in. It was believed that the other Hidden Villages would attempt to assassinate or kidnap the child if his family was known, or if his status as Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi was discovered. The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had allowed knowledge of what happened to the general public. It was to be what he considered his second biggest mistake. The old man had believed so strongly that the people would see Naruto as a hero, it nearly broke his heart to realize that wasn't the case.

In an attempt to rectify his naivety, he had proclaimed it high treason to speak of the Kyuubi locked inside Naruto. He hoped that the next generation would grow up unaware, thus seeing him as the same as everyone else. That too would not happen as he hoped, rather, parents would warn their children to stay away from the energetic blonde. His early years threatened to leave him ill-adjusted, his lack of caring interaction setting a course to make him hateful and unable to tell when someone did care. He was blind to subtle displays of affection, and his mind and body were both malnourished. The worst to happen was again on October Tenth, the Matron of the Orphanage he was in demanding he leave on his fifth birthday. As luck would have it, this was a blessing in disguise.

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Three days later, the young boy would find himself in the office of the Sandaime, one of the few people that was nice to him. "Jiji, I don't get it. She kicked me out, said it was dangerous for the rest of the kids for me to stay. I never hurt nobody, and, and ..." Naruto trailed off, tears forming in his bright blue eyes. Hiruzen sighed, doing his best to comfort the sobbing child in front of him. Only one mistake weighed heavier on his heart than exposing Naruto's status to the public, and that was only due to the betrayal he felt anytime he remembered it.

"Naruto, I'm sorry. I might be able to do something, but you won't be able to stay at the Orphanage again. Give me a minute to think, you can lie down on the couch by the door until I come up with something. Is that alright?" Naruto nodded, lying down while the legendary shinobi rubbed his eyes. Now, the tired old man could give Naruto an apartment to live in, but that would leave him alone for a majority of the time, the exact thing he wanted to avoid.

In one timeline, he would do so. There were none that knew Naruto or would take him in that he could allow. His weariness would cause that decision. In this continuity, however, there was another option. Moments after Naruto laid down, one of the other few people that had treated him well before arrived in the Hokage's office. Gai Maito, the 'Shining Green Beast of Konoha' dashed into the room, a shout of "Yosh!" catching the attention of the room's two other occupants.

Gai had once been given the mission to watch Naruto and make sure that no one told him about the Kyuubi. Unlike most shinobi, Gai was a supremely emotional man. When he had seen Naruto hide in the woods for a training ground and break down in tears from his treatment by the rest of the village, he had deviated from his mission parameters and spoken to the boy. He had even taken him to get some ramen when he asked the boy if he wanted anything to eat. Food was a great way to cheer people up, and the people at Ichiraku Ramen were some of the few that treated Naruto well.

Of course, Naruto had stared dumbly at Gai's eyebrows for nearly ten minutes before the garishly dressed man had snapped him back to attention by shouting how it was unyouthful to ignore him. The next minute had been Naruto trying to puzzle out what would possess a man to wear bright green spandex and orange leg warmers at the same time. In the end, he had decided that being a cool ninja meant you could wear whatever you wanted, and went to get ramen with the loud man. That had started a regular meeting to get ramen every week, which was as much as Gai was willing to eat ramen. It wasn't good for a regular diet.

"Hokage-sama, I have returned from my mission in Mizu no Kuni! It is as we feared, the Mizukage has become the epitome of unyouthfulness!" Hiruzen gained a glorious plan as he looked at Gai, the intellect that had made the man famous as the 'Professor' before his power had taken precedence and he had become the 'Shinobi no Kami" making itself known. He had suspected Kirigakure for some time already, but he could actually fix one of his many problems now.

Naruto took the time to greet the eccentric shinobi while the Hokage was lost in thought. "Hey Mega-Eyebrows! You missed ramen this week, I had to come here to find out you had a mission." Naruto tried to work his small child magic and puppy-eyes in attempt to guilt Gai into buying more ramen than usual next time, but the Hokage interrupted his efforts with a fully polished plan.

"Gai, I have something else that needs help, if you don't mind?" After a quick nod from Gai, Hiruzen continued. "Naruto here has been removed from the Orphanage, and I don't have anywhere to put him right now. At least, I can't let him be anywhere without adult supervision. Since you two know each other already, I want you to take him in and watch him until other arrangements can be made."

"Yosh! I would be beyond happy to help our Youthful Naruto for as long as you need, Hokage-sama! I might even teach him some of the secrets of Youth while I'm at it." Naruto's mouth dropped in surprise as Gai took his trademark Nice-Guy Pose and his teeth pinged with light reflected from the cosmos. Hiruzen had gotten used to it and managed to restrain his eyebrow-twitch at the physically impossible display.

"Very well, Naruto, I'll come visit you two when I have something permanent set up. Try to behave in the meantime, eh?" Naruto nodded frantically, amazed at his luck getting to live with one of the few people that liked him. Even if it was temporary, it was much better than he had expected. He wasn't exactly sure what the Hokage was talking about with behaving though; he'd never done anything worth worrying over.

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Gai brought Naruto to the apartment he lived in, after buying him some ramen. If Naruto was going to be living with him, the boy would be eating less ramen and more healthy foods, particularly meats and vegetables. Naruto already ate enough fruit when he could, but he had way too many starched in his diet for a prospective shinobi. Still, Gai had been gone for the regular ramen meeting the week before, and he would rather run five hundred laps around Konoha on his hands while reciting aloud the tenets of Youth than fail to keep his word.

"This is my home, Naruto. For as long as you stay here, I want you to consider it your's as well. I have a schedule for my training and meals, and after mid-morning post-breakfast training I go look for missions. I won't take any long term missions while you're here, but I will take a few short ones. If you wish, you can follow my schedule and observe my training and eat with me. If you are Youthful enough, you'll even be able to learn something from my training."

Naruto didn't really get what Gai meant when he said 'Youth', but he had a feeling it had nothing to do with his age. After all, if that was what he meant Naruto was much more Youthful than he was. He nodded anyway, he had wanted to be a shinobi ever since the Hokage had told him about them. He could be a hero and defend the village! Then everyone would have to like him!

"I'll do it, dattebayo! What's your schedule?" Fortunately for Naruto, neither he nor Gai even heard his verbal tic over their shared excitement. It wasn't like Gai hadn't heard it before, but Naruto hated letting it slip like he did. It didn't even really mean anything when he said it most of the time, it just flew from his mouth like projectile word vomit.

"I get up at 4:00 AM, start with early-early morning training, take a five minute break to stretch, do my early morning training, followed with a hearty breakfast. After that, is my mid-morning post-breakfast training. I take missions afterwards until lunch, then do my early afternoon, mid-afternoon, and late afternoon training. Dinner follows that, then early evening, mid-evening, and after dark training. I go to sleep at 10:00 PM, then the schedule restarts the next day."

Naruto could see not only Gai's teeth gleam, but he could see the odd eyebrows wiggle in excitement while the man spoke of training. He made a note to remember the slowly growing evidence that Gai's eyebrows were alien caterpillars, before moaning internally at having already agreed to follow this crazy schedule. On the bright-side, Gai was obviously a strong shinobi. The downside was the insane workload and low amount of sleep. He hoped it would be worth it.

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Hiruzen smiled as he watched the two of them through his crystal ball. He would show up in a month or so after Gai had gotten attached and say he had a place, then watch on in triumph as the eccentric Jonin asked to adopt Naruto. Naruto would get someone to care for him, Gai would get experience training before he picked a team, and he would get to know he made the poor boy's life a little easier. In the end, everyone would win. He would pat himself on the back if not for the ANBU watching. Actually, he might do so anyway, it's not like they would tell anyone.

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Three weeks later, and Naruto was not regretting being placed with Gai one bit. Just the other day, some bullies had been hitting a girl and he had stomped them into the ground while Gai was doing his mission. Sure, they were older and students at the Academy he wasn't able to go to yet, but he had sheer power and speed on his side. Plus, Gai had been giving pointers since Naruto was determined to try and copy the other man's movements. The girl had stuttered out a thank you before being dragged away from him by a guard.

Now, they had managed to hit him a few times, but the amount of work he had put into his attempts to follow Gai had left him hitting trees at top speed several times. That hurt much more than some seven year old's fist did. He was currently at home with the hand-seal guide he had been given, striving to gain the flexibility required to make seals quickly. Some of them, like the tatsu seal, were difficult to form quickly enough to be useful in a fight. He didn't know any ninjutsu or genjutsu, obviously, but that was no reason not to practice.

Gai was watching with an approving smile, though there was tension hidden under the surface. He had been spending a lot of time with Naruto, and he knew that when it came time, he wouldn't want to give that up. He felt that Naruto needed someone like him there, someone to care for him and teach him. He had a feeling that the Academy teachers wouldn't appreciate the Youthful blonde bundle of energy, and instead would try to subtly sabotage him. He sighed as he walked away, Kakashi had actually requested that they train together again.

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"My most hip and cool rival! You aren't late, does this mean you have come to believe in YOUTH?!" The silver-haired Jounin suppressed a cringe, knowing that he would have to put up with some ranting and a challenge to get what he really wanted. He had walked into the Hokage's office to ask why he hadn't been assigned to watch Naruto since leaving ANBU a week ago, when he had seen Naruto and Gai training in the Crystal Ball. His first instinct had been to attempt a genjutsu release, and his second had been to beg the Hokage for the right to take over his Sensei's son's care. Unfortunately, neither had worked.

"...Hm? You say something Gai?" He chuckled to himself as his self-proclaimed eternal rival cried to the heavens about cool, hip, lazy, mask-wearing prodigies. "I was just joking, but I did want to talk with you. I found out that you've been put in charge of Naruto for the time being, and I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to do me a favor when the Hokage comes to take him back." Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose when he saw Gai lose some of his spark at that comment, but he knew that he wouldn't stay down long.

"I will do my best to give you this favor my Eternal Rival, though I truly can't look forward to that day. Naruto shows so much potential, dedication, and YOUTH!" Kakashi shook his head in self-pity, for he had stopped pitying Gai for his insanity long ago. Nowadays, he just pitied himself for having a madman for a best friend. Hell, his village was filled with nutjobs, but he had to have been friends with the craziest one.

"Actually Gai, I think that you'll like this idea..."

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Hiruzen had requested Gai to bring Naruto to his office, looking forward to the surprise on Gai's face when he asked the Jounin to legally adopt Naruto as his own son. He had been planning for this since the day he watched the two in his office a month ago, and he just loved it when a plan comes together. "It's good to see the both of you, though I wish it was under better circumstances. An apartment has opened up that has just enough room for a single person to live in relative comfort. As su-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Hokage-sama! Once I say this piece, I will run one hundred laps of Konoha on my hands to make up for this disrespect!" Hiruzen was in relative shock, the only people that ever interrupted him were the worthless fossils that used to be his teammates. He nodded his permission for Gai to continue speaking. "Yosh! Thank you! After having spent so long with Naruto, I believe it would be good for both him and I for me to officially adopt him!"

Naruto's eyes shot wide open in shock, having thought that he couldn't be adopted after so long ignored in the orphanage. The Hokage was likewise rendered speechless, as he had believed he would have to tell Gai that it was allowed for him to adopt Naruto. He soon realized just who had tipped Gai off that only Kakashi and Jiraiya were forbidden from doing so, considering that only one of those two regularly spoke to Gai. 'Well played, Kakashi. I took away your chance to adopt Naruto, and you took away the moment of glee I would have for orchestrating this little performance. I'll make a Hokage out of you yet.'

"Considering that I was just about to tell you that you could do that, I suppose all that remains is asking Naruto if he agrees with your choice. How about it, would you like to live with Gai for the foreseeable future?" Overcome with gratitude, shock, and another feeling he couldn't even begin to describe, the resident blonde instead nodded furiously. This led to him being swept up in a hug by Gai, and what was to be the first of many Youthful Scene-changes. The Sandaime groaned internally, knowing that he would never be able to unsee the rose-colored world those two could create. He only hoped that this would be enough to make up for what Naruto's life had so far been.

Endnote: Sorry these have been taking so long, I'll get the rest of the redone chapters out as soon as possible. I thought that my original intro was kind of sudden, so it has now been expanded into a decent meeting between adoptive family. The other chapters won't change as much, but they will be touched up. Really, this one needed the most work. Minna, sayonara!