Changes

Okay so none of you get confused, the timeline this is based on is that Sasuke was 7 when the clan was massacred and he's currently 6 in the fic so this takes place before Itachi killed the clan.

”Kyuubi speech”
'Kyuubi thought'
'thought'
emphasis

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Naruto fidgeted with the hem of his blue t-shirt as he sat at a desk. It was his first day at the academy and he was feeling rather nervous.

"Calm down kit. I'm sure you'll do fine."

'But Kaa-san, what if the other kids hate me cause their parents do?'

In the recesses of Naruto's mind Kyuubi felt her fur bristle at the thought of the humans passing their hatred onto their offspring but she purred soothingly to Naruto, "If such comes to pass then you will simply have to do your best in class and offer friendship whenever possible."

'M'kay.'

Kyuubi smiled gently at the uncertain tone in his voice and increased her purring as Iruka entered the classroom and smiled at Naruto before sitting to prepare his lesson plan. The two had become rather close during the past week as the chunin had come over every night to try and teach Kakashi how to cook something other than microwave meals, unfortunately failing but Naruto picked up the cooking process rather well. The brunette would take Naruto with him when he was running errands for himself and would often glare the hostile villagers into silence. Naruto felt protected when Iruka was by his side. In a way that was another reason he was nervous; he knew that Iruka couldn't show him any preferential treatment when class was in session so he was worried that the safety Iruka provided would disappear.

Naruto's head shot up as students filed into the classroom and took their seats. The bell rang and Iruka stood to speak to the class, "Good Morning everyone, I hope you had a good weekend. Today we'll be going over the basic principles of ninjutsu but before we start we have a new student in class. Naruto will you stand up and introduce yourself?"

Naruto stood and smiled nervously, "Hi, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm happy to meet you all."

The class said hello simultaneously and Naruto sat back down as Iruka began the lesson.

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It was lunch time and Naruto was at a picnic table unwrapping the bento he'd made himself this morning when he heard harsh taunting laughter and an upset voice demanding their chips back. Naruto looked towards the sounds and saw a chubby boy with swirl marks on his cheeks being picked on by a group of boys. Naruto frowned and set his bento down, going over to where the boys were.

The leader of the bullies laughed, "Aw is the little fatty baby gonna cry for his chips?"

The jerk threw the bag of chips to one of his cronies on the other side of the chubby boy, who jumped up in an attempt to get the bag, gaining another cruel laugh from the ringleader, "Hey it's almost like monkey in the middle except we're playing with a whale!"

The bully's minions laughed and the bag was thrown towards another one of the little jerks, only to have it intercepted by a tanned hand.

Naruto handed the bag of chips back to the chubby boy and glared at the leader of the bullies, "Don't you have anything better to do with your life than pick on someone?"

"Back off you little pipsqueak. I'll do what I wan- hey where do you think you're going?!"

Naruto had slung and arm around the chubby kid, turned his back on the bullies, and started walking away, leading the chubby boy over to where he'd been sitting before intervening. The blond looked over his shoulder at the bully, "You're not worth my time. Only someone truly weak picks on those who can't defend themselves."

The bully leader clenched his fists and would have attacked Naruto if one of his cronies hadn't reminded him that a fight would get the teacher's attention. Naruto just ignored the jerk and sat down at the picnic table again. He smiled at the chubby boy, "You wanna sit with me?"

The boy nodded and sat, opening his own lunch, "Thanks. It's Naruto right?"

"Yup!"

"I'm Choji. Akamichi Choji. Thanks for helping me."

Naruto waved his hand dismissively, "I can't stand jerks who like to pick on other people. Sides you look like a nice person Choji, it's nice to meetcha."

Choji smiled and shook Naruto's extended hand, "You too. I wish Shikamaru could have been here to see you ignore that jerk."

Naruto casually held out a riceball from his bento to Choji, "Want one? Who's Shikamaru?"

"Thanks," Choji took the riceball, "Shika's my best friend, he got sick and had to stay home today."

"That sucks."

Choji nodded and the two boys fell into conversation, occasionally sharing some of each others bentos, until lunch was over.

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School was over and Naruto was sitting with Choji, who was telling the blond about how he had met Shikamaru, when a large man came to pick up the chubby boy. Choji waved at his father and tugged Naruto over to introduce his new friend to his dad. Chouza listened to how Naruto had defended his son and smiled kindly at the blond boy, "Thank you for helping Choji Naruto-kun. It's nice to know that my son has a new friend."

Naruto blinked as Chouza ruffled his hair then beamed brightly, "It was my pleasure! Choji's a real nice guy."

Chouza chuckled and pat Naruto on the shoulder before he and Choji made their goodbyes. As Naruto watched Choji walk away with his father he felt a little sad until his new friend turned back with a smile and waved, "See you tomorrow Naruto! Let's sit together in class?!"

Naruto waved back with a grin, "Sure! See ya then!"

A hand was laid on Naruto's shoulder and he looked up at Iruka, who smiled, "Ready to go Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded happily and Iruka escorted the blond to Kakashi's apartment while Naruto chattered a mile a minute. A few blocks away from the academy, the glares and insults from the villager's were getting to the little blond and he grew quiet, ducking his head and scooting closer to Iruka. The chunin crouched down and told Naruto to get on his back. Once Naruto was clinging to him piggyback style, Iruka jumped to the rooftops and dashed to Kakashi's apartment. Naruto was laughing as he slid down from Iruka's back, having enjoyed the fast run. Iruka ruffled Naruto's hair, chuckling at the pout on the boy's face, “What should I try to teach Kakashi to cook today do you think?”

Naruto grinned as his fears over losing his Iruka-sensei's protection vanished, “How about okonomiyaki?”

“Sounds good. Let's get the ingredients together.”

As Naruto hopped to it, Benihime purred in the back of his mind, “I told you that you would do fine didn't I kit?”

'Hai Kaa-san but I couldn't help worrying.'

“I understand kit. Pay attention to your sensei now.”

Naruto nodded mentally to his 'mom' and listened closely as Iruka explained the ingredients in the okonomiyaki.

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The next day Naruto was still a little nervous. He wondered if Choji would really want to sit with him or if the boy would change his mind. The classroom door opened and in walked Choji with a boy with dark brown hair pulled up in a ponytail who looked half asleep. Choji grinned when he saw Naruto and pulled the other boy over to where the blond was sitting. Naruto smiled happily,

"Morning Choji!"

"Morning Naruto," Choji pointed at the brunette, "This is Shikamaru, Shika this is Naruto. I told you about him on the way to school today."

Shikamaru yawned, "Uh-huh," he looked at Naruto with sharp piercing eyes totally at odds with his sleepy attitude, "So you helped Choji out yesterday?"

Naruto blinked and nodded. Shikamaru tilted his head made a considering noise and his eyes mellowed and warmed, "Kay then. I guess you're alright."

"Uh thanks?"

Choji laughed, "Don't mind Shika. He just doesn't like to do too much 'cept watch clouds and play Shogi and Go."

Naruto tilted his head in question, "What's Shogi and Go?"

Shikamaru blinked and explained briefly about his favorite games. Naruto got a thoughtful look on his face, "They sound fun. Do...you think you could teach me to play?"

Shikamaru yawned again, "Whatever."

Naruto looked to Choji, who smiled, "That's Shika speak for 'yes'."

Naruto grinned and started talking with Choji, Shikamaru occasionally voicing his opinion, until class started.

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The week had passed mostly uneventfully and it was after school on Saturday. Naruto was dashing towards Rei's home for his first weapons lesson. Iruka had to grade papers and couldn't escort him so the blond was trying to get there as fast as possible so he wouldn't attract too much attention from the villagers. Just as he was running past a lake he heard a soft sniffle and stopped in his tracks. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a boy about his age with spikey jet black hair sitting on a dock hugging his knees. Naruto heard the boy give a soft sob and made his way down to the boy, "Ano? Are you okay?"

The boy whirled around and Naruto found himself caught by deep black eyes that shone with sadness, "W-what do you want?"

"I heard you crying. What's wrong?"

The raven haired boy's lip trembled, "My father doesn't love me, he only loves my nii-san."

Naruto sat beside the boy and gently put an arm around him, "Are you sure?"

The boy nodded and told Naruto about how his father never praised him or helped him train and spent all his time with his brother. Naruto hugged the boy, "But have you ever asked him? Maybe he doesn't know how much you want him to spend some time with you."

The boy looked up at Naruto with surprised, thoughtful eyes still shiny with tears, "Y-you think so?"

Naruto nodded and the raven rubbed at his eyes, "T-then I will. I'll ask him."

Naruto watched the boy stand and start to dash off only to pause and turn back towards him, "Hey what's your name?"

"Naruto."

"I'm Sasuke. Thanks Naruto."

Then the raven disappeared over the hill and Naruto remembered his appointment with Rei and surged to his feet running as fast as he could in order not to be late.

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He made it to the backyard dojo but only by the skin of his teeth. Rei watched with amusement as Naruto bent over panting from his mad dash, "What happened that you had to run all the way not to be late Naruto-kun?"

"Boy...crying...lake...had to...help."

Rei raised an eyebrow at the broken sentence but he caught the meaning well enough, "Alright then Naruto-kun. Catch your breath and I'll set things up."

Naruto nodded and watched Rei set up practice dummys until he could breathe normally again. Rei smiled as he saw Naruto straighten, "Okay let me call my daughter and we'll get started," he went to the house door and yelled, "TenTen! Naruto-kun is here!"

Naruto heard a grumble and soon a girl about a year older than him with short brown hair was stomping towards them. She stopped in front of her father and crossed her arms over her chest, "Why do I have to be here? I've already learned this."

Rei sighed in exasperation, "Because it never hurts to go back over what you've learned and you need to socialize with other children."

The girl snorted, "Why bother all the other girls are a bunch of silly Hyuga fans and the guys either have the brains of a jellyfish or are snotty little jerks."

Rei shook his head, his daughter did not have a very high opinion of her peers and that could be bad for her growth as a ninja. He put his hands on his hips and looked down at his little girl, "Believe what you like but if you make Naruto-kun upset you'll be doing laps with added weight until bedtime."

"What's so special about this kid that you're training him? You never do that."

Rei smiled, "You'll see my little one. Naruto-kun come here and meet my daughter."

Naruto approached with his head ducked shyly, making TenTen roll her eyes as Rei introduced them. The blond smiled and held out his hand, "Nice to meet you TenTen-san."

TenTen humphed and ignored his hand, "Whatever blondie."

Naruto lowered his hand with a slight crestfallen expression and looked up at Rei, who was frowning at his daughter.

"Rei-san?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry Naruto-kun I let my mind wander. Are you wearing your weights?"

Naruto nodded and pointed at each of the five weights, "Uh-huh. I've got ten pounds in each weight."

Both Rei and TenTen's eyebrows shot up in surprise and the girl eyed Naruto with a little more respect. Rei nodded, "Okay we'll start with stretches."

Rei showed Naruto the stretches and watched with a sharp eye as the boy and TenTen both began stretching. Every once in a while TenTen would rudely point out a flaw in Naruto's form but the boy just thanked the girl, corrected it, and continued while Rei frowned at his daughter in disapproval. 'She's acting just as snotty as she says the Hyuga boy does. I'm going to have to have a talk with her tonight.'

Once the round of stretches were completed, Rei retrieved some equipment and began to explain what the equipment was and how to train with it, "Alright these are-"

TenTen tuned her father out in favor of observing the blond boy who was paying rapt attention to Rei's explanation. 'Well he's not a too-good-for-you snot like Neji. He's probably dumber than a bag of rocks though.' TenTen noticed her father wind up his lecture and took a position to begin training as Rei showed Naruto the proper stance and grip on the equipment. The girl was certain that Naruto was going to be a big hindrance to her own training and was slightly jealous of the fact that he was getting attention from her father. This prompted her to mock Naruto when he made a mistake and she was too preoccupied by her pettiness to notice that her father was getting angry. But neither one of them noticed that Naruto himself was getting irritated.

Naruto made a mistake in footing that overbalanced him and he went crashing face first to the ground. TenTen started laughing at him, "You have no talent at all do you? You're so weak that you should just give up trying to be a ninja and be the village idiot."

Before Rei could reprimand his daughter, Naruto surged to his feet and faced TenTen furiously, "Shut up! I'm not going to give up just because you say so! I hope you're not always such a mean snotty little girl cause if you are you're gonna be alone all your life and, believe me, being alone sucks. Now if you can't say anything nice then just keep your mouth shut! That or go away."

TenTen stood gaping at Naruto in shock as he started training again. He'd just told her that she was acting like the thing she hated the most and she blushed in shame as she realized that he was right, she was being a snot. She shuffled over to him and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He turned slightly and tilted his head in question. She looked down at the ground, "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be such a jerk. I just...didn't want to share my dad."

Naruto blinked, then he grinned and scratched the back of his head, "Ah it's okay, I shouldn't have blown up at you. If I had a dad as cool as yours I wouldn't wanna share him either."

TenTen looked up at him and smiled a bit at how his grin made his whole face light up. She reached out a hand and ruffled his hair, turning the grin into a pout, "Aw man not you too!"

Rei laughed at TenTen's confused expression and Naruto running his fingers through his hair while grumbling about 'people's weird obsession with messing with my hair'.

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The next day found Naruto at the park watching a murder of crows pester a hawk. He smiled as they chased the hawk off and settled back down. A voice suddenly murmered, "Pathetic."

Naruto jumped and whirled to see an older boy looking in the direction that the hawk had flown. The boy had long black hair and pale skin and a disdainful look on his face that had Naruto asking, "How come it's pathetic?"

The older boy turned his head to look at Naruto with seemingly empty black eyes, "A mighty predator who is supposed to rule the skies was defeated by a common rabble."

Naruto tilted his head, "Huh that's not how I see it."

The older boy raised an eyebrow as Naruto looked up at the crows the sun lighting his face so that he seemed to glow from the inside, "The way I see it is that even though the hawk was stronger and bigger the crows banded together to protect each other, risking their own lives for everyone's safety. They beat the hawk cause they worked together, no one was more important than the other. I see that if the 'common rabble' work together they can become stronger than what they face. It's just like the village, what makes us strong is fighting for others."

The older boy stared at Naruto as if he'd just dropped from the sky, "And what happens when one puts themselves first?"

Naruto pointed at a clump of black feathers that was completely still, "He tried to abandon his friends and the hawk got him."

Naruto turned his face back to the older boy and saw a vulnerability in the dark eyes as he stared at the fallen crow. Naruto followed an impulse and hugged the older boy, making the black eyes widen in surprise. The older boy looked down at the blond, "Why are you hugging me?"

"Because you looked lonely and no one in Konoha should be lonely since we're all a part of each other."

The older boy relaxed, crouched down so he was face to face with Naruto, and smiled slightly, "Thank you."

"For the hug?"

"For that and so much more little one."

"Huh?"
"Perhaps I will tell you one day," the older boy stood and ruffled Naruto's hair and disappeared in a cloud of jutsu smoke as Naruto whined about another person messing with his hair.

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Naruto was walking home after school. Iruka had been called to a meeting and hadn't been able to walk with him. As the blond rounded a corner, he saw a little girl with pink hair hugging herself tightly. 'Hey that's Haruno Sakura. Why's she all alone? She and that Ino girl are always hanging out together.' He walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder, “Sakura-san?”

She jumped and faced him, “Naruto?”

“Whatcha doing here without Ino?”

She ducked her head, “I just told Ino that we couldn't be friends anymore.”

Naruto's jaw dropped, “What? Why?”

“We like the same boy so that means we can't be friends.”

“Why not?”

She looked at him as if his brain had leaked out of his ears, “Because we're rivals in love duh!”

“ So? That doesn't mean you can't be friends too. Is a boy really that important that you'd give up your best friend? What if he doesn't choose either one of you? Then you'd have lost a friend for nothing.”

Sakura blinked, paled, and whispered, “I didn't think of that,” she turned suddenly wet green eyes on Naruto, “What do I do Naruto?”

He grabbed her wrist gently, “Where's Ino at?”

“She was sitting on a bench at the park when I left her, the one near the playground.”

He began tugging her along, “Then let's hurry. She's probably still there. You can apologize and ask if she'll still be your friend.”

Sakura looked at him in surprise as they ran. She'd never have expected a boy to be so nice to her over this and even be willing to help her. She was absolutely certain that even her crush, who was the height of all things a prince charming should be, would have just told her to get over it and move on.

They arrived at the playground and saw Ino still sitting on the bench looking shellshocked. Sakura dashed over to her, “Ino-chan!”

The blond girl's head shot up and she stiffened as Sakura came closer, “What do you want now?”

Sakura threw herself at Ino catching her in a tight hug, “I'm so sorry! I never should have even thought that a boy was more important that our friendship. Can you ever forgive me Ino-chan?”

Ino trembled as she pulled back a bit to look at Sakura, “Why'd you do it in the first place?”
Sakura looked at the ground ashamedly, “Cause I thought we'd fight so much over Sasuke-kun that we'd end up hating each other and I didn't want to see you start hating me.”

Ino hugged Sakura fiercely, “You little idiot. I'd never hate you cause of a boy. I kept quiet about how I like Sasuke cause you like him too and I didn't want to hurt you.”

“I'm sorry Ino-chan. You must really hate me now.”

Ino shook her head, “Uh-uh no way. You messed up but even I do that. We're still friends Sakura-chan.”

Sakura laughed and hugged Ino tighter, “I'm so glad you still want to be my friend!”

Ino chuckled, “What made you change your mind anyway?”

Sakura pulled back from the hug, “Naruto-kun asked me if a boy was really more important than my best friend. And I realized that the answer was NO.”

“Naruto-kun?”

Sakura pointed to the blond boy who was bent over studying a rock, giving the girls their privacy. Ino blinked as she recognized him, “Hey that's the boy who hangs out with Shikamaru and Choji,” she dashed over to him and tapped him on the shoulder, “Oi blondie.”

He stood and faced her, “Yes?”

“You made Sakura think twice about not being friends with me anymore?”

He scratched the back of his head, “Well I don't know about that but I did ask her if a boy who might not choose either one of you was worth losing a best friend when I saw her looking kinda sad.”

Ino stared at him until he started feeling uncomfortable, then she glomped him, “Thank you! If you hadn't I could have lost my bestest friend in the world!”

Sakura smiled and hugged him from behind, her arms crossing over Ino's, “Yeah thank you Naruto-kun. You kept me from being really stupid.”

Naruto stood stock still in shock, “Uh you're welcome?”

The girls let him go and Ino eyed him again, “You're friends with Shika and Choji right?”

He nodded, “You know them Ino-san?”

She rolled her eyes, “Oh yeah do I ever. Their parents and ours are old friends so the three of us have grown up together.”

Sakura came around to exchange a look with Ino and she smiled at Naruto, “You and they eat together and spend recess together right?”

He eyed them warily, “Uh-huh.”

The girls smiled and Ino said, “Then Sakura-chan and I will be joining you guys from now on.”

Naruto knew better than to seem even slightly adverse to that pronouncement so he nodded, told them okay, walked them home, and went home himself, head spinning over the day's unexpected events.

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Naruto had just finished his Saturday training with Rei and TenTen and had decided to stop by another training ground to get another workout in before going home. He blinked as he saw a boy with black hair and eyebrows that looked like caterpillars kicking and punching one of the training logs with a fierce determination. Suddenly a piece of wood splintered off the log and embedded into the boy's leg. As the boy yelled in slight pain and his leg gave way, Naruto dashed forward in concern, “Are you okay?! Here let me see.”

He crouched down and inspected the small piece of wood in the boy's leg. He looked up at the boy with the bushy eyebrows, “I think that maybe we should get an adult to help with this. Are your parents home?”

The boy ducked his head, “I have no parents.”

Naruto nodded, “Okay then, my guardian should be home so we'll go there.”

The boy nodded and Naruto slung his arm around the boy's waist while looping the boy's arm around his neck, “Kay lean on me and we'll get there one step at a time.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. What's your name?”

“Rock Lee and you?”

“Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you Lee. Even if the way we met kinda sucks.”

Lee chuckled, “Yes.”

Limping step by limping step they made it to Kakashi's apartment where Iruka flung the door open and glared at Naruto, “Where have you been young ma- oh dear what happened?!”

The chunin dashed forward and picked Lee up, carrying him into the apartment while Naruto followed and Kakashi watched amusedly. The brunette tossed a look at Kakashi, “Go get a first aid kit. Naruto how'd Lee get hurt?”

Naruto explained what he'd seen and Iruka shook his head at Lee while he removed the sliver of wood and cleaned the wound, “Lee you should know better than to train by yourself this late .”

Lee waved his hands frantically, “But sensei, I must prove to others that I can be a ninja even though I can not use genjutsu or ninjutsu and to do that I must work hard!”

Iruka scowled, “You won't become a ninja if you bleed to death. This was a minor injury but the wood could have easily hit a major blood vessel.”

Lee hung his head, “But no one wishes to train with the class 'dobe' Iruka-sensei.”

Iruka's eyes softened but before he could say anything Naruto spoke up, “I'll train with you.”

Lee looked up at Naruto, “Really?”

“Yup! I've started training until sundown after school and I bet Rei-san and TenTen-chan would be happy to have you join us on Saturdays.”

Iruka smiled as he finished bandaging Lee's leg and the boy grabbed Naruto to give him a strong hug, “Thank you Naruto-san!”

Kakashi chuckled, “You know since I train Naruto on Sundays I think I have a...friend who would join us and who you would greatly benefit from training with. If you'd like to join us that is?”

The answer was of course a resounding yes that had Kakashi chuckling and Iruka smiled as Naruto asked if Lee could stay for dinner.

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Naruto eyed the man in front of him. He was like an adult version of Lee and wore a hideous green spandex outfit and called himself the 'Green Beast'. He was currently waxing poetic about the 'power of youth' or some such nonsense that went right over Naruto's head as the blond boy focused on the man's eyebrows. 'Sheesh talk about mega-brows. They're almost alive.'

“You're not kidding kit. It's almost like you expect them to leap off his face and smother an opponent.”

'Ew! Kaa-san why'd you put that in my head?!'

“Sorry kit but that's what it looks like.”

Naruto shook his head, knowing that the image would be stuck in his head for a while. He looked over at Lee and noticed the boy's rapt expression as the 'Green Beast' smiled and gave them a thumbs-up saying something about getting to work to let their youthful flames burn bright. Kakashi sighed, “Boys this is Maito Gai, a fellow jonin who is Konoha's taijutsu specialist. He knows over 98 different styles of taijutsu and has a hard work ethic that would kill most people. Don't say I didn't warn you.”

Gai gave the boys a happy look, “As my rival said I believe that with hard work you can accomplish anything no matter what the odds are.”

Naruto perked up at hearing one of his own beliefs echoed by a jonin, a weird jonin but a jonin nonetheless. Gai began explaining that he would be teaching Lee the Goken and Hsing taijutsu styles and Naruto the Shorin Ryu and Uechi Ryu styles of Karate and he would teach both of them Jeet Kune Do. As Gai gave demonstrations of each style, Naruto and Lee both got a gleam in their eyes that Gai would call 'the flame of youth' but Kakashi would label as pure eagerness and determination. The boys exchanged a mutually challenging look and threw themselves into training.

Kakashi looked down on the boys with sympathy, they were staggeringly tired and Gai was still pushing them. He was about to intervene when Naruto shot him a 'stay out of it until one of us pass out' look. The copy ninja held up his hands in resignation, inwardly impressed with the way the boys were pushing their limits. Finally, Lee passed out and after Naruto assured himself that his friend was okay, Gai carried Lee to the boy's abode. Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow, “Back or arms?”

Naruto smiled, “Back,” then passed out.

Kakashi settled the boy on his back and went home, futilely hoping that Iruka hadn't waited around to see if Naruto survived training with Gai. Poor naive jonin.

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Naruto stretched as he walked away from the training field. He and Lee had sparred and then proceeded to drive themselves into the ground until common sense reminded them that they didn't have a sensei to carry them home if they passed out this time. Naruto didn't feel like going home just yet so he wandered around the less populated areas of Konoha. As he passed a huge compound he saw a girl his age being yelled at by an older woman. The girl hung her head and flinched every once in a while as if the words were blows. Naruto crept closer to eavesdrop and his eyes widened at what he heard.

“You're pathetic! Why do we of the branch house have to bow down to such weak filth as you?! You should have been killed at birth to prevent such a stain on the name of the Hyuga! Why are you alive while my son is dead?!”

The girl didn't look up but she spoke quietly, “I-I am sorry for your loss Himiko-san b-but I had nothing to do with that.”

The woman's face clouded with rage and he drew back her hand and slapped the girl so hard she fell to the ground, “Don't give me that you little bitch! You are the heir of the clan, you and the rest of the main house are all responsible!”

The woman stood over the trembling girl and withdrew a kunai, “I have lost my son, my husband, and my daughter to the main house. It is time for the main house to lose something to me!”
The girl closed her eyes tightly as the woman brought the kunai down, expecting to feel the metal drive into her. She heard metal strike flesh and felt the warm wet spray of blood but no pain. She opened her eyes to see a blond boy standing between her and the murderous older woman. The kunai had been driven into the top of his shoulder and the woman who had been wielding it jumped back in shock at the sight of the boy.

“Get out of my way boy!”

Naruto shook his head, “No. I'm not going to let you kill her because you want to blame someone for your son's death.”

The woman grit her teeth and shoved him out of her way, reaching a hand towards the girl only for Naruto to leap back up and grab her arm in a death grip. She stretched her other arm out to strike the girl and Naruto sank his teeth into her wrist. She kicked at him, yelling and trying to throw him off her. She managed to free the arm he wasn't biting and lifted her hand to snap his neck only to find her own neck in the grip of the clan head.

She rolled her eyes to the furious features of the man, “L-lord Hiashi!”

He narrowed his eyes and hissed at her, “How dare you attack my daughter!”

Hiashi twisted and snapped the neck of the woman before turning to the boy he'd seen defending his baby girl so fiercely. Naruto had released the woman's wrist as soon as he'd realized that the man was there to help, taken the kunai out of his shoulder, and was now kneeling next to the girl asking if she was alright.

The girl fluttered then exclaimed, “I-I should be asking you that! Y-you're bleeding.”

He grinned, “Aw it's just a scratch.”

The girl looked up as he father crouched down to pick up her blond savior. The man grunted, “A bit more than a scratch young man.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“To my clan's personal medical clinic.”

“Oh, okay,” and he fainted from blood loss much to the distress of the girl.

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Naruto woke to see the worried face of the girl he'd helped. She fluttered about and settled on the edge of the bed he was in, “A-are you alright?”

He levered himself up, “Yeah I'm okay. Are you okay?”

“Y-yes. Thank you for saving me.”

“I didn't save you, I was just a distraction til the calvary got there. I'm Naruto by the way.”

She took his hand timidly, “M-my name is Hinata and y-you did save me.”

He chuckled sheepishly, “Well I'm glad I could help an angel out.”

She blushed a brilliant red and he heard a chuckle from the doorway.

He and Hinata looked to see Hiashi standing there. Hinata scrambled to her feet and looked at the floor, “Tou-san.”

Hiashi looked down at his daughter and sighed. He just didn't know what to do when she acted so timid with him. Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion, “How come you don't hug her?”

Hiashi blinked at the boy, “I beg your pardon?”

“Well if I was her I'd want my dad to give me a hug and tell me that everything'll be alright.”

Hiashi looked between the boy and his daughter and suddenly realized why his baby was always so unsure around him; he never showed her any affection beyond encouragement that could be taken as criticism. He bowed his head and picked up his daughter, “Hinata why are you ashamed?”

“B-because I c-couldn't protect myself a-and Naruto-kun got hurt because of me.”

Hiashi stroked her hair, “Hinata of course you couldn't protect yourself. Himiko was much older and more experienced than you. You are strong for your age but you are still a child. And though he was hurt I am very grateful that Naruto was there because if he hadn't been I would have lost my precious little girl.”

Hinata burrowed into her father's embrace and started crying. Hiashi just rocked her as he hadn't done since she was a baby and made a vow to make certain that she knew that no matter what she would always be loved.

As Hinata calmed down, a sudden commotion was heard from outside the door and Naruto murmured, “Uh-oh.”

Hiashi's brows knit, “What is it?”

“Iruka-sensei and Kaka-nii are here.”

Just then the door flew open with a Hyuga guard flying backward with it and a worried Iruka striding into the room. Hiashi raised an eyebrow as the chunin rushed to Naruto and began fussing over the boy. Kakashi entered the room with a look that had sent many enemy ninja running for their lives, located Naruto, saw that Iruka was already confirming the good health of the boy, and went over to Hiashi, nodding at the Hyuga guard, “Never get in the way of a mother-henning chunin.”

Hiashi chuckled, “Or an overprotective jonin guardian?”

Kakashi shrugged, “So what happened?”

Iruka listened with half an ear as he grilled Naruto and when Hiashi finished the explanation, he sighed and ruffled Naruto's hair, “Well I'm proud of you for helping Hinata out but next time you save someone endeavor to come out of it without injuries hmm?”

Naruto scrunched up his face, “What does endeavor mean Iruka-sensei?”

Iruka blinked, laughed, then caught Naruto in a hug as he let the relief of finding his little imp safe wash over him. Naruto squirmed a bit, “Iruka-sensei you're acting weird.”

Iruka released Naruto with another chuckle and the boy looked over at Hinata, who was smiling at him from her father's lap, “Ne Hinata-chan you're in my class at the academy right?”

She nodded and he grinned, “You wanna hang out with me and my friends?”

Hinata ducked her head, “Y-you'd want me to?”

“Of course we would! You're really nice so why wouldn't we?”

“I-I'm not very g-good with other p-people.”

“Because you're shy?”

She nodded and he hopped out of the bed despite Iruka's fluttering and went over to her poking her cheek lightly, “That's no big deal Hinata-chan. Sakura-chan and Choji are shy too and Shika's really quiet. Ino and I do more than enough talking for everyone so you can be as shy and quiet as you want. How about it? You wanna give us a shot?”

She smiled and nodded with a bright blush, making the adults in the room smile as Naruto cheered.

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Whew, that was a long one. This chapter was just introducing connections and setting up the changes I needed for the way I want this to go. I'm sure all of you know who the older boy who was watching the crows with Naruto was but just in case you don't I'll tell you that it was Itachi.

I refuse to countenance the revelations about Itachi in the manga (sticks fingers in ears and chants 'I can't hear you') He will have the Mangekyou but how he gets it will most certainly be different from canon. The sex ain't gonna come until Naruto is 15/16 because I don't think many 12 year old boys can actually...ejaculate. Being as I'm not a boy nor have I ever been that close to a 12 year old boy I have no personal knowledge of that nor do I ever want any personal knowledge of that, personally that thought is a big 'ewwwwww' for me.

So no shouta for you fans of it. But there may well be a few kisses and cuddles before he's 15. Remember reviews make the muse go round so please gimme some? Ja ne!