Chapter 1

Chi-Hime

Excerpt from the Konoha Shinobi Archives

Recorded by Fire Country court historians on the 30th year of the Sandaime’s reign

The war with Hidden Cloud lasted 13 years.

By all accounts this was the longest conflict since Iwa’s failed attempt to annex Konoha into its borders. The Sannin had all but disbanded. There was no more Yellow Flash, the former God of Shinobi himself nothing more than a decrepit old man long past his prime. Konoha forces were forced to replenish themselves with children, often youngsters no older than twelve had to take to the front lines to replace the fallen.

The Leaves were forced back too many times, suffered too many defeats for them to remain an economically viable military force. Kumo had a secret weapon, a kunoichi named Nii Yugito who was later revealed in the latter part of the war to be a jinchuuriki housing the two-tailed nekomata. With this “Living Ghost” on the battlefield leading most of Cloud’s main vanguard, the village had taken territory to match what the Rock had lost during its failed siege with the Fire Country village. But Hidden Leaf bid its time.

This was the era where its patience would be rewarded.

The Leaf’s secret weapon was finally deployed, after a long six year wait. Fifteen year old Uzumaki Naruto, legacy of the Yondaime Hokage and bearer of the Kyuubi no Kitsune took his place among the ranks of the immortal with his historic victory at the Battle of Wave Border, slaughtering an initially estimated two hundred Kumo shinobi with only a force of fifteen men and women. The people had someone to look up to, a hero, a symbol that would sustain them these next few years.

And the Yellow Flash was reborn.

Two names resounded at all times in both sides of the war. Konoha’s Kiroii Senko and Kumo’s Ikiryou. There was none who didn’t speak their names with at least some fear, or at least the reflex to offer a prayer to ward off evil. Demons of battle, ultimate weapons like no other.

Human killing machines.

They fought and fought at every major encounter, not once willing to give an inch despite their obvious equal capacity to destroy. Soon it became clear that despite Yugito’s massive battle experience, her Nibi no Nekomata still came short of the sheer power that was the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The tide of war was departing from Kumo.

Slowly but surely the Konoha Nin began to use this to swing the momentum of the conflict in their favor, finally forcing a stalemate among the two nations. No peace treaty has been signed as yet, and the atmosphere sizzles with the expectation of when the war would erupt again.

xxxxx

“Freak!”

“This is all your family’s fault!”

“Why don’t you just leave the village and take this war with you!”

The insults grew louder and the beatings more painful. The crowd took pleasure in causing her pain, it seems. The girl took it all in silence, never crying out and never once thinking ill of her tormentors. It was all her fault anyway, right? Twelve years the village had to suffer because of something she did. Twelve long, nightmarish years.

She had to ask herself why she had to be born in such a time. Why did the people hate her so? Surely what she did was not so awful as to merit this treatment. The girl grimaced as a kick to her stomach caused severe internal injury, causing her to cough up blood. No. this can’t be her fault. None of this should have been her fault.

Why?

Why me?

Her tormentors paused, poised like a deer about to bolt. “It’s the demon,” one of them whispered. The girl saw their fear through her nearly closed eyes as they all scrambled to get away. The next thing she remembered was a flash of blonde and perfectly, perfectly blue eyes.

Blonde hair and blue eyes? Was that what a demon was supposed to look like? She asked herself. The stranger had the kindest smile. An angel’s smile. She couldn’t help but be swayed by it, as the grin was infectious in ways she can’t explain. The last thing Hyuuga Hanabi remembered was the stranger saying “Easy does it, chi-hime,” before the darkness claimed her consciousness.

xxxxxx

Uzumaki Naruto, sixteen year old tokubetsu jounin, commander of Konoha Forces main vanguard, frowned at the battered little girl he held in his arms. A Hyuuga, he surmised, recognizing the blank white eyes she briefly showed him as a manifestation of their bloodline limit. What in the nine hells was a Hyuuga doing here?

“Uhm, Naruto-sama?”

The blonde turned and took in the sight of one of his three tutors. Ebisu was adjusting the almost opaque shades he was wearing; an expression of utmost concern was on his face.

“What is it now, Ebisu?”

“I don’t think it would be wise to have the villagers see you helping one of her kind, Naruto-sama.”

The blond glared. Not this shit again, he said to himself. Ignoring the expression of utmost surprise on the older jounin’s face, Naruto proceeded to carry the unconscious girl and walk with her in his arms across the street. “Not even going to listen to what you’re going to say so I’d advise you to shut your pie hole, closet-pervert,” the blond fumed.

“But Naruto-sama--”

The blond turned and tapped slightly into the chakra of the demon fox, turning his eyes blood red. “Not ten years ago I was on the receiving end of the beatings, Ebisu-sensei” Naruto said, the inflection on the suffix dripping with sarcasm. “I’m not going to let a kid suffer the same crap I had to put up with. You got that?”

Ebisu kept his face impassive. The elite Hyuuga clan. Once admired for their legendary bloodline, though now they were seen by the village as the cause of this pointless war. Uzumaki Naruto, once seen as nothing more than the demon fox he housed before the village saw him as a formidable that reigned on the field of battle.

Amazing how things change in a decade.

Though the boy had a valid point, there was one other reason why the older man decided it would be pointless to argue. One thing he and the rest of Naruto’s tutors learned, it was that when he decided to do something nothing on earth changed his mind about it except when he did himself. Almost always, it was when he made one of those ridiculous promises of a lifetime he always managed to push himself into keeping.

Kami-sama, I’m beginning to hate this brat’s sanctimonious Way of the Ninja.

The older man kept his mouth shut. It wouldn’t do to talk back to the hero of the village. No matter how pigheaded the aforementioned blonde is. Ebisu wondered how in the Yondaime’s name the boy managed to hold on to his humanity, let alone his ideals, even after all those years on the front lines. He faced the direction of Hokage mountain, letting the face of the Yondaime fill his vision.

“Ebisu, what the hell are you doing? We have to get her back to the compound before it gets too dark.”

His ward’s voice snapped him out of his reverie. “Coming, Naruto-sama!” he called, sprinting after the retreating blond’s form. No hospital would take the girl in, and Naruto probably knew that since she didn’t have his increased healing, she’ll probably not survive when the medics start putting laxatives in her meds.

Let’s hope something good comes out of this, Ebisu thought to himself, as the pair walked the thirty minutes it took to the Hyuuga compound.

Though I doubt it with my luck.

xxxxx

“Hinata-sama, I’ve brought you your tea.”

The purple-haired heiress blinked at the sound of her cousin’s voice. Sure enough a complete tea set was right in front of her, placed there in front of her spot by the older Hyuuga Neji. She nodded her thanks and proceeded to absently watch the tea leaves swirl in the steaming liquid, lost in another one of her reveries.

“Hinata-sama?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I lost myself in thought again.”

Neji put the tray aside and positioned himself in front of Hinata. “You shouldn’t think on something this much, Hinata-sama,” he berated. “It’s beginning to wear down on your attention span.” Hinata apologized again before the older boy’s face melted into a façade of concern. “Is there anything you wish to tell me?”

“I’m afraid not, Neji-nii. Thank you for your concern.”

The jounin sighed. “Hinata-sama, I promised my father that I would protect you with my life,” Neji said. “Believe me when I say that I WILL own up to that promise. But before everything else I am still your family. Families are supposed to take care of each other, you know that. How can I take care of you if I don’t even know what’s bothering you?”

Hinata looked even more troubled, even as Neji took her hand for reassurance. “I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered, in the way she did when she didn’t want to be the cause of much trouble. “I feel like I’m just getting in the way of you all…”

“Don’t think that, Hinata-sama.”

The girl smiled. “I’m just worried about Hanabi-chan, that’s all,” the heiress admitted. “Today’s her first mission as a ninja of the Leaf, and I just want her to get back okay.”

Neji laughed despite himself, causing his younger cousin to give him a sheepish grin. “D-rank missions are nothing to worry about Hinata-sama,” he said confidently. “Besides, the worst that could happen is that her team gets assigned a rather distasteful task babysitting a bunch of kids or chasing down that blasted cat that belonged to the feudal lord’s wife.”

“I guess I was worried for nothing…”

“Don’t feel bad about it Hinata-sama,” Neji said, taking the tray. “You just need to come to terms with the fact that Hanabi-sama is growing up and won’t need your attention for very much longer. She’s far stronger than the both of us give her credit for.”

Hinata gave her cousin a solid hug. “Thanks Neji-nii,” she said, burying her face in the folds of his robe. “You always seem to say the right things to make me feel better.” Neji pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

“That’s what family does, Hinata-sama.”

Their tender moment was shattered when a Branch House servant barged into Hinata’s private quarters. Neji turned to give the woman a glare when he caught her rather disheveled state. The maid was breathing heavily and her face was shiny with sweat, several strands of hair were covering her forehead wrapping. The heir to the Branch House nodded, motioning for her to say her piece.

“Neji-sama, Hinata-sama,” the servant gasped. “Guards have spotted Hanabi-sama being carried here by one Uzumaki Naruto and an unnamed jounin. She seems badly injured!”

Hinata was bolt upright. All of her previous fears had come to life, and she’d be damned if she wasn’t there to help her sister. Before she ran outside, Neji caught her arm. Be calm, he mouthed. She nodded dumbly before she accepted his proffered arm and the two of them left Hinata’s private chambers to meet their unexpected guests.

xxxxx

Very few things in the world ranked in what Uzumaki Naruto called his “List of Awkward Situations He’d Rather Not Be Part of.” Among the items in that list would be walking in on his second tutor, Mitarashi Anko, in the shower, having his third tutor Morino Ibiki give him The Talk, and catching Hatake Kakashi and Umino Iruka making out in the trees by the camp.

(Naruto decided that to their credit, the two men did spend two years in the front lines far away from the kunoichi squads. He forgave them for that little incident but the blond still had trouble looking at ninja wire the same way again.)

But being surrounded by a couple of dozen Hyuuga guard, all armed to the teeth, glaring menacingly and shouting “What have you done to Hanabi-sama!” every couple of seconds did sort of top the list. The blond shifted his hold on the girl in his arms and the guards grew more agitated. Naruto decided that until he got to explain his side, he’d probably not move too much. And he’d have to avoid blinking as well.

“Well I hate to say I told you so, but…”

“Shut it, Ebisu.”

Ebisu was about to reach discreetly for a kunai he hid in his sleeve when Naruto stopped him. “Don’t even bother,” the blond said. “These guys probably know to the last kunai just how many weapons you carry on you. Don’t piss them off.”

“H-hai, Naruto-sama.”

Now, you have to understand. Uzumaki Naruto is a decorated war hero. He’s faced battles no person his age should have had to and lived to tell the tale. But in the face of the rather intimidating glare of a fully-activated Byakugan (forty-eight sets of them), even he tends to hesitate. Fortunately for him, a certain heiress and a taller and older jounin managed to make her entrance right on cue.

“Stop this right now!”

The older boy commanded the guard to lower their weapons, and the Hyuuga reluctantly complied. The girl ran right to Naruto and laid her hand on the unconscious girl’s forehead. “W-w-who would do this?” she stuttered. The blond’s eyes grew vacant. Ebisu spoke up first.

“The villagers...”

Those two words sparked a look of horror on the girl’s face. Her milky white eyes widened and she had to support herself on the boy to keep herself from falling. The boy turned from her to Naruto, his face stern and commanding. “Then you have saved Hanabi-sama and brought her back to us,” he said. “We are in your debt.”

Naruto absently scratched the back of his head as the girl was taken from him. “Nah,” he said, grinning like an idiot. “I wouldn’t have done anything anybody else wouldn’t have.” The girl bowed anyway, making all the other Hyuuga bow even lower. “Still, you have returned my sister to us,” she said. “It would be impolite if we could not even offer you some tea.”

And so Ebisu and Naruto found themselves escorted straight to the Hyuuga mansion, a large four storey building built right in the middle of the clan compound. The girl introduced herself as Hyuuga Hinata, and as soon as Hanabi was taken care of, she herself served the visitors tea under the watchful eyes of the older boy, her cousin Neji.

Ebisu took a sip and immediately found his taste buds singing their praises. “My, my. Hyuuga-sama,” he said “this tea is excellent.” Grinning, Naruto slapped his tutor in the back, forcing tea into his lungs. “Usually it’d be all bull when he says that,” the blond quipped “but this time, I’ll have to agree with him. Great tea, Hyuuga-san.”

Neji didn’t even crack a smile. “You are a very interesting person, Uzumaki Naruto,” he said. “It interests me why you’d help someone of our clan knowing how the village sees us.” Naruto neatly sidestepped that trap. “Eh, I don’t know much about that crap,” came the reply. “Why, how do the villagers see you guys anyway?”

“Don’t play with me, Uzumaki Naruto--”

“Neji! Control yourself!”

Grumbling, the boy took his place to Hinata’s left, making sure he would be within striking distance should the need arose. Reflexively, Ebisu started to do the same, before he was stopped by the blond. “Neji huh,” Naruto quipped. “I don’t think I like you very much.”

“I apologize if my cousin had been rude to you, Naruto-san.”

“No worries,” Naruto said as he glared at the pompous shinobi when he thought Hinata wasn’t looking. “Just so long as he stays where I can see him.” And where I can fire a Senei’Jashu (Hidden Snake Hands) right in his pretty face, he added silently. He had to fight the urge to complete the one handed seals right then and there, but the blond figured that it’d probably be rude to fire off a jutsu right in the face of his host’s bodyguard.

Even if he is a pompous ass and probably deserved it.

The tension was so thick you could cut it with a kunai and serve it on a plate. Fortunately nothing else untoward happened with the four of them, even if Ebisu and Neji did tend to glare at each other when either thought nobody was looking. Naruto on the other hand, had the time of his life. He started chattering excitedly, making exaggerated motions with his arms and Hinata was rapt with attention. How could one not immediately warm up to this blond bundle of energy?

Three hours passed and it was nightfall. Declining an invitation to dinner, Naruto said his goodbyes and left, promising to visit Hanabi later on when she’s better. “Make sure you take good care of chi-hime,” he said, that devil-may-care grin adorning his face. “Sayonara, Hinata-san, Neji-teme…I mean, Neji-san.”

Hinata waved goodbye at the two retreating figures and when she turned around minutes later, found her uncle Hizashi in the room. Neji was busying himself with taking away the tea implements, and his father didn’t even bother to address him at this time.

“Was that Uzumaki Naruto I just saw leaving?” he asked. Hinata nodded and her uncle had a thoughtful look on his face. “He’s special, that boy,” Hizashi said. “If anyone in the village understood what being in our clan feels like, it’s young Uzumaki.”

“What do you mean, Uncle?”

Hizashi didn’t say anything. Which to Hinata, and to Neji as well, something to be remembered. Uzumaki Naruto, Neji’s father said to himself. What an interesting turn of events. Perhaps it was fate that decided on your presence in Hanabi-sama’s time of need.

“Musuko.”

“Hai, Otou-sama.”

“You would do well to treat that boy with more respect next time,” Hizashi said. “He has gone through far more than even we could ever imagine.” Neji kept his face shadowed, hiding the expression on his aristocratic features.

“I still don’t trust him otou-sama,” the boy consented. “But I will do as you ask.”

Hinata watched the exchange silently. “Uncle,” she began. “Why do you show such concern for a person we barely know? What makes Uzumaki Naruto different that you would choose to trust him so easily?”

“It’s complicated, Hinata-sama,” Hizashi admitted. “Uzumaki Naruto’s story is about as complex as anyone could ever ask for. Suffice to say that, at one point in his life, he did share in the same suffering and hatred that now beset our clan. Of all people it would be wise not to spurn the friendship of one such individual.”

“I see…”

Hizashi laid a hand on his niece’s shoulder, easing most of her troubled thoughts. “It’s not my story to tell,” the man said “and even then I would rather have him tell you himself. Perhaps when the both of you learn to see him as I do you would understand. Until then, it would be wise to wait for him on his next visit.”

“What makes you so sure he’ll even come back?” Neji inquired. “He’ll have nothing more to do to us after what’s happened today.”

“Which was primarily your fault, musuko.”

Neji reddened at the open-faced rebuke. “Uzumaki Naruto will return for a visit,” Hizashi said again. “He’ll be wanting sure little chi-hime is all right, will he not?” Hinata smiled, remembering how the blond used the nickname to address her little sister.

Perhaps this will work out for the best after all, Hinata mused.

xxxxx

“You don’t really intend to visit this Hanabi again do you?”

Naruto was whistling as he walked. “Sure,” he replied, cutting himself off mid tune. “Why the hell wouldn’t I be?” Ebisu’s jaw dropped open. “W-well, that is…I mean…well…”

“If you’re going to say what I think you’re going to say, you’re going to force me to pull a Sennen Goroshi on you,” Naruto warned, shaking his index finger threateningly at the tokubetsu jounin. Ebisu snorted. “Like you’ll be pulling off such a juvenile move like that.”

That stopped Ebisu cold. Naruto could and would be capable of pulling something as juvenile as the dreaded Thousand Years of Pain. Glancing sideways at the idiotic grin the blond wore on his face, Ebisu decided not to take that chance.

“As you wish, Naruto-sama.”

“Knew you’d cave that easily. Anyway, we better go visit old man Yamanaka for some flowers to bring for tomorrow.”

“Wait, tomorrow?” Ebisu sputtered. “You’ve just spent most of the afternoon there! How can we be going back tomorrow!”

Naruto shrugged. “Since I’ll be going back to the front lines at the end of two weeks, that’s why. Plus why the hell not? It’s not like I’m doing anything important anyway. Besides, I made a promise to visit as soon as I can, didn’t I? And you know how I hate breaking one of my promises.”

Ebisu threw his hands in the air as a sign of resignation. “Fine,” the tokubetsu jounin said. “But don’t expect Ibiki or Anko to be this easy to convince.”

“I’ll worry about dango-bitch and Captain S-and-M, you worry about the flowers,” Naruto said, waving a dismissive hand.

“Fine. Just don’t go blaming me when things go wrong, okay?”

“Have I ever done that before?”

“Yes, actually.”

“Damn it Ebisu, I can’t be expected to remember all that.”

The pair argued all the way to the barracks, the setting sun shining on their slowly growing shadows.

xxxxx

A/N: Okay, first things first. This is not going to be a NaruHana pairing. I’m going to go out on a limb here and create something I’m going to call a mentor fic. That means there’s probably not going to be a primary love story, and most of the interactions between Naruto and Hanabi are going to be apprentice/sensei types.

On another note, Naruto has three tutors here. Morino Ibiki, Mitarashi Anko and Ebisu (if anyone can tell me his last name I will dedicate a chapter to him or her). The reason being there’s all these fics where he’s taught by a Sannin (any of the three), Itachi or any other Akatsuki member, and none that explores the possibility of him having multiple tutors at the same time. Expect some hilarity in the interactions here.

Anyway, hope you like how the story goes so far. Keep reading and you’ll see just how much this world is different from the canon. I’m playing this by ear and I don’t know how everybody else is going to respond to the changes I’ve made, but I have high hopes that I’ll be doing fine.

Oh and one more thing. The list of people I WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT pair Naruto with include the following: Uchiha Itachi (too broody), Uchiha Sasuke (too emo), Yuuhi Kurenai (Asuma would kill Naruto if he found out), Mitarashi Anko (too crazy), Hyuuga Hinata (nothing against the girl, but well…), Hyuuga Neji (too pretty) Tsunade (very old), Orochimaru (too pale and lanky), Jiraiya (too homophobic), Yakushi Kabuto (too geeky), Gaara (ah, no), and DEFINITELY not Hoshigaki Kisame (do I even need to say how wrong this is?). List may change over time, and by that I’ll be adding to it.

As for a NaruYugi pairing? Ah, well…I’ll think about it.

-- l33t writer zero0000