AN: Okay, so this is a collaboration with KageJames (my twin) and myself. We've been working on this for awhile and hope you like it. That said, this is one of two collaborations, the second of which to be posted in the fall on KJ's account. This will be a trilogy, however, the first book is about half way written so expect regular updates (every Monday because we need a reason to look forward to Monday). That said, I am still working on my other multi-chapter story, I just needed to take another break because it wasn't going where I thought it should go. On that note, I expect it to be finished by the end of the summer (but I've made a lot of promises so take that with a grain of salt). Anyway, if you like what you read, feel free to read my other work (DBZ fic) or KJ's work (HP fic).

PS - We don't own Naruto or anything related to it. If we did it would still be an anime called Naruto instead of this thing that they're calling Sasuke.

PPS - There's going to be a lot of Japanese in this fic so here's a list of words you should know (and remember) before you get right in:

Matsuri – festival

Kimono – Japanese formal robes (see extended culture corner for more)

Yakitori, Onigiri and Dango – all Japanese foods, fried chicken (not country fried people…), rice balls, and popular dessert

Temee/temeera – 'you' (jerk) / plural form of temee (people typically write it teme)

Yotsugi and Reishi – both ways to say heir (Reishi means 'my heir' and makes sense when you're reading it)

Jiji – slang for grandfather

Otou-sama – formal way of saying father (extended culture corner)

Kaa-san – mother

Ji-san – uncle

She was the most striking beauty he'd ever seen. Strong, cold, and standoffish. But she'd acknowledged his existence. And he wanted her to do it again…

Princess of Konoha

Prologue: Matsuri 「祭り」

Laughter bubbled in the air along with the short sharp crackle of handheld firecrackers mixing with the variety of colored lights all around Naruto. It would look even better at night, he was sure of it. Children younger and older than him ran all along the crowded streets of Konoha. Their laughter and joy mixing with the rest. Naruto was momentarily distracted by the decorative pinwheels several of the passing children had spinning in their hands. Its colorful ribbons an enchanting sight for the young boy. Another group of children passed by moving from street vender to street vender or stopping for a little while at a puppet theater.

Naruto hadn't gotten around to visiting any of the puppet shows just yet. Nor had he spent the time to figure out which of the street venders was giving away toys. But he had time. From what Naruto had heard of the festival, this was just the prelude to all of the real excitement. The festivities would get bigger and louder to the point that all of Konoha would be involved. He knew the last to be a fact as he'd been able to enjoy some of the festivities at its height while he was still stuck at the orphanage.

Two young girls that Naruto had seen in the park before passed him. They were holding pretty fans and new toys, wearing nice looking kimonos. In fact, everyone seemed to be in their kimonos today. Naruto looked down at his plain white t-shirt and worn blue pants he'd had to cut to fit him, maybe he should have tried to find one as well.

The sound of the pinked haired girl, cherry blossoms running the length of her pink kimono, brought Naruto back to focus.

"Come on Ino-chan…" she whined as she grabbed a hold of her blonde haired friend. "We have to get good seats for the fireworks."

"Alright Sakura-chan," the blonde, Ino apparently, conceded as she allowed her pink haired friend to pull her along. Her blue flower petal print kimono was just as pretty as her friend's pink one. For a moment Naruto felt envious of their colorful garb.

"My, my, don't you girls look lovely?" A nearby vendor stopped the two girls as they passed.

"Thank you Ji-san my mother bought it just for today," Sakura replied as she twirled around in her kimono, short pink hair flowing freely in the wind.

"So did mine," Ino replied, not to be out done she twirled around just a touch faster than her pink haired companion and nearly stumbled into the old street vendor from the dizzy spell it caused.

"Then before you go, why not have a snack too," the old man replied as he bent over to give the young girls each a yakitori nearly as big as their heads.

"Thanks Ji-san!" the girls replied together before wandering off in a fit of giggles.

"You two have fun!" the old man yelled out to their retreating forms, a small smile on his face.

Naruto's own stomach growled loudly and his mouth began to water at the smell of the yummy food. He'd been watching this particular vendor long enough to know he'd been handing out food to other children running around as well. Naruto had already passed up several other vendors who only gave extras to paying customers. He'd been just about to give up on finding a vendor actually giving away some of his food figuring it has been something the other orphans had made up as they'd been known to do. But Naruto was glad he'd kept looking because he'd finally found one. This was his best chance.

Naruto slipped from out of the shadows as the two girls disappeared in the crowd. "Hey Ji-san!" Naruto called out to the vendor.

"What do you want?" the old man spat, venom lacing his words.

"Ah… I saw you giving away yakitori. Can I have some too?" Naruto asked only mildly hesitant at the less than warm reception he'd received.

"I'm not giving away my goods to something like you. Get out of here before I call the police," the old man threatened, his left hand coming up to form a fist as if he might use it to further ward off Naruto.

"But it's my birthday…" Naruto trailed off in disappointment.

The vendor turned his back on Naruto and moved his cart down the street.

"Temee…" Naruto whispered to himself. Still, he knew how to handle temeera like him. At least he'd asked first. Jiji couldn't get mad at that…

Naruto's laughter could be heard echoing off the alley walls. His voice coming from every direction and no direction all at once.

He sunk into the shadows as two shinobi ran passed him. They would be following echoes for a while, certainly long enough for Naruto to disappear. Once they had gone far enough away for Naruto to leave his hiding place, he moved on in the opposite direction. His stomach growling as he walked. At least he'd found a solution for his growling stomach.

The golden rays of the fading sun shone brightly through her open window. The orange and red tints painting her pale surroundings a multitude of hues. If she took a moment to focus she could just barely make out the faint buzz of the festivals activities happening in the distance. Hinata stood absolutely still as Mizumi-san finished tying the pale lavender obi of her dress kimono. While she was released early from her modified lessons to prepare for the yearly festival roaring just in the distance, she did not expect to attend any of the events. Well, that is expect for one, the most important event. The Hyuuga parade and the fireworks that followed it.

Despite the fact that she would most definitely be missing out on the largest, most important festival of the year, she was not sad or disappointed. No Hyuuga, let alone the Yotsugi, ever felt sadness or disappointment. At least if they did, they never let it show. Those were simply emotions better left expressed by the common members of their great village. Definitely unfit for any Hyuuga to express, a fact that was doubly so for her, the Yotsugi.

This was just the way things were. Since her earliest memory, her life had always been this way, spent not so much in seclusion, but surrounded by family, the clan. They were the Hyuuga, proud, strong and the single most important family in the village. So no, she wasn't sad that she'd never once participated in the festivities that she could hear softly in the distance. How could she wish for something that she'd never once experience?

Lost in her own thoughts Hinata almost missed the soft cadence of one of her newest retainers. "Yotsugi-dono, I have finished preparing you for the festival," Mizumi-san announced, head bowed in deference as she spoke.

"Thank you Mizumi-san. You are dismissed," Hinata spoke gently yet firmly, just as Otou-sama had taught her. The Yotsugi should never sound meek or submissive after all. Generally speaking, there wasn't a lot of room for that type of behavior within the clan itself.

Mizumi-san bowed again as she slowly backed out of the room never once turning her back to Hinata. She was nice enough, but she was no Tatsuki-san. As she was quickly finding out, there were few people like Tatsuki-san.

Turning to face her one window, Hinata fought the urge to sigh. Despite the fact that no one was currently with her, she refrained from losing control of her emotions. She may not be able to see anyone watching, but that didn't mean she was truly alone. She'd made that mistake only once. She didn't plan on making it again. As Otou-sama always said, behave as if someone is watching because someone always is.

Hinata stared out her window as she waited. She wasn't entirely sure how long she'd have to wait this time, but that didn't faze her. Despite her young age, she had already learned to be patient. That had been the first important lesson her Otou-sama had taught her. While he often made her wait to test that lesson in patience, he wasn't above making her wait as a punishment, a factor that was heavily depended on his mood.

However, given the fact that she'd finally seen past the five hundred meter mark today with her Byakugan, he was probably in a pretty good mood. Of course they'd skipped the majority of her regular lessons to focus on her Byakugan training, so maybe he hadn't been all that impressed with something she was bound to get right today anyway.

Either way, she didn't bother herself by worrying over the wait. Her Otou-sama would come get her eventually. It wasn't like she could miss the festival completely. She had a fairly important part to play today.

"Reishi, it is time for us to depart," Otou-sama said immediately, not wasting any time after opening the door to her room. Pleasantries were reserved for civilian diplomats only.

Hinata turned without speaking, as a response to his simple statement would have been seen as extraneous, useless chatter, and followed in the shadow of her Otou-sama as he headed down the corridor. Slightly behind and to the right of the man, she held her head high. She was more than ready to take her place beside Otou-sama on the main platform.

"Remember what I have taught you," he began without so much as a glance her way as they approached the raised platform together. "Use your chakra to stay standing. You are Reishi. You will stand tall beside me," he continued as they stepped onto the dais.

Determined, she took her place in front of him. Today was her day. She was the one on display. 'I will not disappoint you Otou-sama,' she thought as several branch members began to raise the platform. She stood tall and unmoving, head held high because she was smart enough to read between the lines. Should she fail in this simple task, then tomorrow would be another long day. And she really did want a chance to play in the gardens with Kaa-san tomorrow.

Naruto settled down as he walked to the quieter districts. He was glad the Hyuuga-san hadn't been after him today. While he had quickly perfected how to escape regular ninja, he'd yet to figure out how to fool them. For whatever reason, they always seemed to catch him. Still, Naruto was optimistic. There had been a moment the last time he'd been running from the Hyuuga-san that he could have sworn they'd not seen him. He had no doubt he'd get it eventually. He was definitely on to something.

Naruto shook his head for that was for a later time. For now, he was simply glad they were too busy with the big parade preparations. At least he thought they were. Naruto couldn't be sure, but the other orphans had said they were the biggest part of the parade. So, he supposed that meant they would be in it.

The Hyuuga were the biggest clan in the village, so that kind of meant they had to be, right? Today was, after all, the celebration of all celebration. The defeat of the nine-tail beast, the Kyuubi, by the Yondaime. He knew the story well. What kid didn't? The Yondaime sacrificing his life to defeat that vile beast, it was just too amazing and heroic to forget. So, today Konoha celebrated, both the life of the Yondaime and the defeat of the tailed beast.

This would be the sixth annual celebration, and strangely enough, it was also Naruto's sixth birthday. Despite the fact that this celebration had been happening for six straight years, the duration of his entire life, Naruto had never before been allowed to participate. His handlers at the orphanage had never allowed it. But now, he was on his way to becoming a Konoha ninja. He was far too old and responsible to be living in an orphanage.

So he was excited, more than excited. Naruto might have to miss the majority of the festival because of his earlier food misunderstanding, but he'd at least get to see the parade and the fireworks. Even if that was the only event he'd be able to see, he was more than glad to be seeing it.

Naruto's stomach growled again reminding him of how hungry he was. Plopping down under a nearby tree he unwrapped his score. Four yakitori that the old man had just been giving away, along with several onigiri and sticky dango on sticks, it was a feast like none he'd ever seen.

Despite being glad to be out of the orphanage, Naruto hadn't realized how hard it would be for the future greatest shinobi of Konoha to find food. He didn't like stealing, but this wasn't really stealing. The man was giving most of it away, anyway. So, Naruto was just taking his share along with the additional price for being a jerk. It wasn't like he was going to do this again or anything like that.

Naruto nodded his head at his own pep talk as he took a large bite of one of his sticky dango sticks. Normally he'd have gone to the back of a restaurant. They always throw away perfectly good food. Still, today was different. He was six, and today would be the first time he'd get to see the fireworks out in the open. It was a special day, and special days required something as equally special to go along with it.

Besides, the village was celebrating. While the celebration around him wasn't really his, he couldn't help but feel that the fireworks, the puppet shows, the paper dragon kites, and the food venders were all for him. The whole village was celebrating the birth of the greatest shinobi. They were even throwing him a parade!

However, this wasn't just any parade! Naruto had heard stories from the other children in the orphanage how amazing this parade was. This parade was to be like no other. The strongest clan of Konoha would march throughout the city in a special re-enactment of the defeat of the Kyuubi. One of the older kids had even said there was a princess involved. But Naruto didn't believe it. Everyone knew Konoha didn't have kings, so there couldn't be any princesses either.

Whatever the truth Naruto couldn't wait to find out for himself. With that thought, he quickly finished the last of his food. Jiji was always going on about not littering, so Naruto gathered his wrappers and stuffed them in his pockets. Hopefully, this time he'd remember to throw them away.

Naruto looked around at the quiet district. He wasn't sure where he was in the village. While he had made sure to not go in the direction of the Uchiha compound, those guys were really mean, he wasn't entirely sure he was safe and out of hot water, whatever that meant anyway. Looking around again he could only hope that while he wasn't quite sure where he was, he would at least be able to see the parade in relative peace from here…

Finally, Naruto spotted a pretty tall tree and walked towards it. While it wasn't his first choice for parade watching spots, it would have to work. He'd really wanted to watch from the Hokage Mountain, but the Anbu guarding the entrance wouldn't let him up. Something about no one allowed because Jiji was giving his big boring speech there. Okay, so Inu-san hadn't said boring, but he'd said speech, and all speeches were boring, everyone knew that. He felt pretty certain about that given the fact that he'd fallen asleep to enough of them, especially Jiji's speeches.

All of that together meant this fine tree was going to have to be the best spot now. It was pretty nice. Naruto didn't have to worry about the villagers getting too drunk out here. Besides, the quieter districts were always safest during festivals. Well, they were in other festivals, and as long as he wasn't near the Uchiha district, he'd be fine. Naruto still thought they were overly sensitive about their underwear…

Anyway, this could be his spot. He could see the fireworks from here, and surely the parade would come around here. Those were the best parts of this festival. Not the cool games, and free toys. Or the shadow puppets among the many street theaters. All of those were for babies, and Naruto was not a baby. Besides, he was too cool for all of those things anyway. Yeah, the greatest shinobi of Konoha only liked the fireworks!

So, that way even if the parade didn't come this way, Naruto wouldn't be disappointed because great future shinobis like himself only really cared about the fireworks! Next year he could figure out the parade path, so they could have the pleasure of the greatest shinobi to ever be born. For the parade, of course.

As Naruto settled down into the tall tree, he was startled when the large wooden doors to the gate across from him open up. Curiously, Naruto hopped down to get a better look. Had a whole clan forgotten to go to the festival? He'd figure all the people would be down in the village waiting for the parade.

Naruto looked to the right and left. He wasn't even sure how far the walls went. "Wow!" Naruto could see through the doors to a large compound beyond. It looked like a mini-village within the village. But it wasn't the mini-village that stole his attention. "The parade!" Naruto jumped up and down happily as he watched the parade form right before his eyes. He bet no one got to see this!

This large group of people, no Hyuuga, began marching straight at him. They could be nothing other than the parade! And at the head of the parade was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Standing taller than the trees, she was like the moonlight alone in her glory with her long hair flowing in the wind. For a moment, Naruto thought she saw him, but then he was pulled back and out of the way of the incoming parade.

"Kid shouldn't you be down in the village square?"

Naruto looked up at the Hyuuga policeman as he set him back down by Naruto's big tree. "Hyuuga-san… who's that?" he asked not caring about anything else.

"The first one out of the compound and the last one to the village square. Yotsugi-dono is our future."

Naruto didn't know what 'Yotsugi' meant, but he did know that 'dono' was for Lords and Ladies. He couldn't believe it. Daiji was right! There was a Princess in the parade, and she was Konoha's Princess. "She's the Princess of Konoha…" Naruto replied in awe. It was official. This was the best birthday ever!

KJ's Japanese Corner, the super awesome cultural additions to indoc… enlighten you about the Japanese culture.

(1) Ji-san or Jii-san? You've probably seen these two a lot in reading anime fanfiction (these and baa versus ba). Unless you've taken Japanese or bothered to look them up, the two very similar words could look like a mistake (damn you English!). However, there is a difference. Ji-san means uncle, while Jii-san means grandpa. The same is true for Ba-san (aunt) versus Baa-san (grandma), which is why Tsunade was unset with Naruto (in manga and anime) for calling her Baa-san.

(2) Temee and temeera. Temee is just a coarse way of saying 'you'. Fanfictions uses teme(e) (never really seen it with the proper spelling) a little too lightly (to the point to where it doesn't really make sense). Because of my love of Japanese, I refused to use this word inappropriately. Therefore, there will be no Sasuke-teme. Instead, will be using –me, which is a proper honorific that kinda has the same meaning as fanfiction what's it to have (some liberties applied…). Temeera is just the plural form of temee.

(3) Yotsugi, Koushi (not mentioned yet), or Reishi? Why the hell did we chose three different words that all kind of mean the same? Yotsugi and Koushi both mean heir or successor, while Reishi means my (technically your/his) heir. So, only Hiashi calls Hinata Reishi. Now what the hell is different about Yotsugi and Koushi? The kanji (Chinese characters). Yotsugi literally means world's heir (by the kanji), while Koushi means next heir (loose interpretation of kanji so it makes sense to us Americans). The two words are used by different groups to mean different things. The Hyuuga hold their heir as everything and thus use Yotsugi, while everyone else will use Koushi. You can read into it as much as you like, because we sure took the time to make it have extra meaning.

….

Extended culture corner (because there's never enough learning going on)

1.2) Otou-sama versus Otou-san versus Tou-san (etc). Out of the three of these (yes there are more ways to say the same thing), Tou-san is the less formal. You add an 'o' to it and it becomes formal. No one really says Otou-sama anymore though (expect for one of my buddies, but that's a whole other story). Given the time period we're going for in this story, however, it is very likely that Hinata would address her father as 'Otou-sama'. The extra formality seems appropriate. (Note all this can apply to mother as well.)

4) The matsuri (festival) and kimono. Kimonos are really only worn during festivals these days, but not everyone wears them (as in women/girls are more likely to wear kimonos to festivals than guys, not really sure why).