A/N: I keep having a lot of new ideas storming in my head…this one, I don't know where to take it. But for now, consider it a pilot episode. The harem here will be large, but reasonable, with a lot of one-sided romances. Remember, as with any pilot episode, the reviews are the ratings for this TV show, so do read and review would you kindly?

…

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

[Hi no Kuni wilderness...]

A light breeze blew through the trees of Hi no Kuni, letting out a resounding rustle that soothed the soul. The birds chirping only served to make the day even more pleasant as Sarutobi Hiromi took a long stroll through the wilderness with her ANBU guard not too far behind, taking in all the sights. Her destination just so happened to be Hi no Tera, where she would be visiting a particular child that the nuns had agreed to take in.

The reason that Hiromi had decided to take this child to the temple was because the orphanage matron Hanigan was found guilty of drug-running, child abuse, and child slavery. The woman was put in jail by the Uchiha police, and locked up without parole, and it was a good thing too. It was disturbing when she'd heard a lot of the orphans saying "We love you Hanigan-san" in dead voices. Even worse, said orphans were dead-eyed throughout the whole ordeal.

Shivering at the unpleasant memories, Hiromi was also glad she found Hanigan to have had many more charges than the three she'd been thrown in jail for. Because of this, she'd put the woman to death for all her crimes, and moved all the orphans that remained to the Hi no Tera to salvage what was left of their innocent minds. It was not a good idea to have future kunoichi walking around with such horrible childhoods damaging their psyche at a young age. However, she'd heard that most of the orphans were adopted from the temple, but only one child was left behind, even though he technically couldn't become a nun.

As she understood it, housing a young boy was not a problem at all with the nuns. Granted, it was more common that they found lovechild girls, they also sometimes picked up orphan boys that were abandoned or disowned by kunoichi couples that wanted girls. Unfortunately, there was a reason there were a lot of orphans running around (outside of their parents being killed); since time immemorial, women have been the premier fighting force in the Elemental Nations. This was because only women could take full advantage of the chakra coils they were born with, while all men and civilian women were born with chakra coils that were useless for fighting.

However, the biggest problem with the way things were in the world was keeping the supply of fresh kunoichi steady in one's village. At one point, men were a necessity to every kunoichi village; to the point that they would be married out from clans for diplomatic purposes, and steps were taken to increase the chances of a girl being born to increase the size of a village's army. Eventually, a special seal was developed that allowed kunoichi to have male genitalia, complete with testicles. This enabled kunoichi to impregnate other women, significantly increasing the odds of having a girl; that seal soon became obsolete when hermaphroditic girls with fully-functional genitalia started being more commonplace, and was now a very hot black market item for civilian women. Due to the arms race of quantity marrying in with quality in the Elemental Nations, many kunoichi clans encouraged shemale/female marriages.

This was not to say that there were no oddities with non-male couples involving kunoichi; this was because there was still a chance that a boy would be born from a union involving a kunoichi (one would say that there's roughly a 1:10 chance of a boy being born to a kunoichi couple without a man). Because of this, some kunoichi disowned and abandoned their boys; on the other hand, even though boys couldn't use chakra, they could still carry the clan's kekkei genkai in their genes (dormant, but still there and inheritable), making them valuable political bargaining chips. Hiromi was glad that this was not the case with this boy, knowing his parents were very loving people; they wanted him, no matter what gender he was. As she stopped, she noted that they had just arrived at her destination. She stood in front of a large doorway, flanked on both sides by a yamabushi tengu and a karasu tengu. The calligraphy on the rooftop stated that this is the Hi no Tera, meaning she'd come to the right place.

A few knocks on the door and a bald kunoichi nun had walked on out. "Ah! Hiromi-dono! Welcome!"

"A pleasure, I'm sure," said the aging Hokage, "is Chiriku around?"

"Yes, in fact she's still training the hopefuls," said the nun, before turning her head back into the temple grounds, "Chiriku! The Hokage's here to see you!"

"I'll be out momentarily."

Seeing that her sister superior was still busy with something, the nun allowed Hiromi and her guards to enter the premises. It wasn't long until a nun walked in with an air of experience about her. Not such a surprise, given that Chiriku was among the Daimyo's 12 Kunoichi Guardians. "Hiromi-dono, a pleasure to see you. How is Asami by the way?"

"Still working," chuckled Hiromi, "I trust you know why I'm here?"

"Yes, in fact, Naruto-kun is almost done packing," said Chiriku, beckoning for everyone to follow her, "it's a shame that he has to go. A lot of my fellow nuns have taken a liking to him, especially the younger generation…but unfortunately, it's for his own good that he has to leave. I know he's a good boy, and I will honestly say that he was like a son to me, but I'm afraid that he might unintentionally tempt the younger nuns to violate their chastity vows."

Hiromi could only nod at that understandingly; not that she would make chastity vows anytime soon. She loved her vices, especially that hoard of erotica she liked to enjoy when nobody was around (hardcore, shotacon slash novels being among her favorites).

However, going back to the reason she was here, Hiromi had decided that it was time that Naruto got his own place to stay. The nuns had already agreed to take care of him until he was old enough to live on his own…which was a hard enough thing to do, considering how much he'd bonded with the other nuns over the years. Although she supposed she could count her blessings: Naruto's time with the nuns had already guaranteed that he would be pretty well-educated (even reluctantly); he'd formed bonds, and found spirituality; and he was raised well, growing to be a lot happier and healthier than when he was living under Hanigan's reign of terror at the orphanage (which understandably made it even harder for him to leave).

Overall, Hiromi was glad that she'd moved all the orphans to the Hi no Tera. Although she was sad that he was not adopted by any civilians. The reason she didn't want any of the clans to take him in was to avoid Naruto being used as a political bargaining chip. Plus, allowing even one of the clan heads to adopt him would've brought everyone's attention to Naruto, thus bringing his parents' enemies to Konoha.

The group had stopped in front of a certain room. Three taps on the shoji door had told the inhabitants that someone was waiting. "I'll be out." came a depressed voice. The door slid open, revealing the whiskered face of Naruto looking up at all the adults in the area with a messenger bag slung over his side. Normally, the blond boy was very jovial and energetic; but it really did break Hiromi's heart to see him like this. Still, it had to be done.

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

"Are you ready to go, Naruto-kun?" asked Chiriku.

"I've got all my stuff sealed into scrolls."

"I'll meet you outside the temple soon, Naruto-kun," said Hiromi, a comforting smile on her face.

"Do be good, Naruto-kun," said Chiriku, looking at Naruto sympathetically, "and remember, you're always welcome here in the temple."

Naruto said nothing; he simply hugged Chiriku with subtle sobbing. "I'm going to miss you."

Not knowing what else to do, Chiriku simply placed a hand on his head, and began to run her fingers through his hair. "Me too, Naruto-kun. Me too."

…

[The apartment, Konohagakure no Sato─hours later…]

The day was starting to come to an end as the empty apartment remained silent. Orange light from the setting sun cut through the windows as the door had opened. In walked the Hokage, and her young charge. As he paused to take in the sights, Naruto dropped his bag to the floor. He was not so well-educated as to know much about apartments, but even the dead could see that he was not the first person to live here.

There was nothing immediately wrong about it, just that it looked pretty old: the wallpaper looked like it needed to be replaced; the furniture was old, but still very sturdy; the lights were still incandescent instead of LED's; even the cooktop used a gas flame. The only things new about the area would be the flat-screen TV and the microwave, obviously left behind by the last people to live here. Overall, it was old, but was built to last. "Am I living here?"

"Yes," she answered, "This apartment will be your home."

"But who else will be living here?"

"There will not be anyone else living here, Naruto-kun," answered Hiromi, "I've signed it to be in your name entirely."

Naruto lowered his head in sadness upon hearing that. "I'm wishing I stayed at the temple now. baa-chan."

"And I can see why, but you can't stay there; no matter how disciplined the nuns are, they're still human; and the younger nuns may not have as much restraint as Chiriku yet," said Hiromi, sympathy in her voice, "you being there would've been like dangling a very juicy steak in front of a really hungry dog that's been told not to eat it."

There was a shrug. Even though he was not officially part of the temple, Naruto did, in fact, hear about the chastity vows that the nuns were supposed to make. In his monastic education, he understood that nuns were not supposed to go out dating and the like, the way normal people would. They weren't even allowed to kiss him at all, even though that didn't stop them from hugging him; this was especially the case with the younger nuns like Sora, while the older nuns just treated him nicely without much physical contact. "Don't worry, even though you're not living in the temple anymore, there are still people that care for you. Myself included. Besides, like Chiriku said, you can always come and visit the temple."

"What about school?"

"You're going to be attending the Kunoichi Academy in a week," at this point, Naruto was about to say something until Hiromi cut him off, "contrary to the name, the Kunoichi Academy does in fact allow boys and non-kunoichi girls to study. It's not as intimate as studying with the nuns, but it is just as extensive. Hopefully, you'll make new friends there during your stay; maybe even get yourself a civilian girlfriend somewhere down the road."

The playful wink that Hiromi gave out only seemed to make Naruto blush just a bit. "Baa-chan, are you sure you're not getting ahead of yourself?"

Hiromi could only chuckle in an odd way that Naruto could not identify. "Oh, okay then…maybe I'm wrong; you'll get yourself a boyfriend!"

"Baa-chan!"

"Relax, I'm just kidding! But still, keep in mind that I want you to form bonds in the village like you did in the temple. At the very least, I want you to get that out of going to school there." It was at this point that she pulled out a large wad of rolled-up bills from a pocket in her white robes. Just as he was about to reach for the roll, Hiromi pulled it out of his reach. "This is for the first time; you'll get a regular allowance every month until you're old enough to start working. I'll only let you have it if you promise me that you'll spend it wisely."

There was no room for argument in Hiromi's eyes as she looked at Naruto. It was then that he knew that she meant it; this money was for important things like food, water, even paying the bills. "I promise."

With a warm smile, she handed Naruto the wad. He graciously took the wad in his hands only for Hiromi to pull him into a hug. "Use this week to get yourself settled in."

She soon turned and left the apartment with a smile. It was clear to Naruto that the old woman had never never really done this in a long time; not with her own children. As the door closed behind Hiromi, Naruto began to unseal the scrolls like he was shown by the nuns. With him, he'd brought all his stuff with him from the temple, which wasn't much. Still, a good number of them had memories attached to them; like the calligraphy set he'd been given a few years ago as a gift to practice the art.

However, one item stood out among the others. It was long, and looked like an elongated vajra, but it was clear from its thickness in between the two points that this was a scroll. It was an item he'd found when he was exploring the wilderness. He'd come across an old temple, with the giant doors having rotted away by time. The courtyard was open, and had two statues of men spaced apart so as to make it seem that the two of them were locked in deadly combat. Each man was a mass of muscle, but appearance-wise, they were different: one was bald, but had a long, flowing beard, standing in a relatively low stance; the other had spiky hair done up in a top knot so as to make it look like he had fire for hair. However, for all their differences, Naruto could see subtle similarities between the two men that indicated that they were related.

He'd walked around the statues, afraid they would come to life and start fighting, so that he could continue to explore the dilapidated temple. Eventually, he came to the main complex, and found a large altar like they had in the Hi no Tera, flanked on both sides by Kongorikishi. However, Naruto's eyes were drawn to a box on the altar that practically begged him to open it. In that box, he'd found this scroll.

After taking the scroll, Naruto heard the sound of creaking; followed by the appearance of splinters falling from the roof. He immediately left the main complex, and managed to make it to the courtyard, knowing that the temple was going to go down after years of standing. It was there that Naruto realized that in his panic, that he was standing in between the statues of the two fighters. As he looked to the left, he saw the bearded man looking ready to charge. He looked to his right, and saw the devil preparing to do the same. Seeing this, Naruto looked down at the scroll, and asked himself: was I meant to find this?

He soon went back to the Hi no Tera, and started reading the scroll; he found that there were a lot of taijutsu skills, as well as words written in it that seemed to make him understand what he was reading. Seeing as the scroll was meant for him, and that he was meant to read what was within, Naruto started training even harder than the other nuns until he was just as capable as a regular kunoichi in the art of combat, causing them to wonder exactly what got him so interested in exercise.

Smiling at the amount of room he now had in this apartment, Naruto figured that this area would be where he would condition himself every day. Anything harder, he could always leave the apartment to do. After all, he had a long way to the top if he wanted to become a martial arts master!

…

A/N: I wonder which path Naruto will take?

…

Vocabulary

vajra─a small item in Hinduism and Buddhism that represents a thunderbolt. A good idea of what it looks like would be the Nidaime Hokage's Raijin no Ken.

Kongorikishi─a Buddhist guardian that looks like a mass of muscle. They are made to flank a Buddha statue, often to serve as the Buddha's bodyguards.

…

Cameos/References

Hanigan─Based on Hannigan from "Annie", who in turn inspired Grelod the Kind from "Skyrim".