The Village Hidden in the Leaves experiencing a gloriously peaceful day. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and the citizens were blissfully ignoring the fact that their home's economy was built around murder and sabotage. There was one citizen; however, that was having a wretchedly chaotic day.

Toryou Mizuki was having an absolutely hellish morning.

He had been poisoned at breakfast and on his way to a drop for his client had fallen into a clever, painful, and sadly nonlethal trap. It had been something so simple that he had been embarrassed to miss seeing it. Then, he realized that had been the genius of the trap. Mizuki hadn't been expecting something so simple and had let his guard down. The trap had simply been a flurry of senbon launched when Mizuki had hit a tripwire. The sheer number of projectiles had ensured that he'd been put into a near-death state due to the senbon hitting one of the specific nerves in his neck.

"Morning, Mizuki," a young voice said in greeting. Mizuki would have shouted a series of vicious insults at the mocking triumph in the bastard's voice if he hadn't been gagged and groggy from his forceful reawakening. Instead, he settled for a feral growl.

"Either you're not a morning person or you're still annoyed about the whole poison thing," the blond-headed owner of the voice said glibly as he emerged from a shadowed alcove in the warehouse.

If there was one person Toryou Mizuki hated above all others in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, it was Uzumaki Naruto. The boy was an annoying brat who caused no end of trouble for the village. He was a prankster and overall delinquent. Worse, Uzumaki Naruto was…

"Careful, Mizuki-sensei. You're coming awful close to some serious legal issues," Naruto said with mocking emphasis on Mizuki's 'honorific'. "You know what the penalty for breaking the Old Man's law is…can't go blabbing about what the seal on my stomach contains to just anyone now, can we?"

"What?" Mizuki weakly asked through his gag, surprise and the poison.

"The Kyūbi, the Fox, the October 10th Disaster…the Suck-up…" Naruto explained casually. "But that's not why we're having this chat."

Mizuki trembled with rage. "What do you want, demon?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the venom in Mizuki's voice. "As you are no doubt aware, I'm not very popular with the village. There are a few people who have accepted me…encouraged me…maybe even love me like family. You made a gigantic mistake. You messed with the person I care about above all others."

"Iruka knows and probably hates you," the stupidly cruel teacher attempted a psychological jab.

"That explains everything! What a diabolical plot! Iruka's trying to sabotage my life by paying my grocery bills! That sadistic bastard!"

"Fuck you!" Mizuki shouted in a seething and uncontrolled rage. "Is this all a game to you?"

"No, Mizuki. This isn't a game. Messing with Sakura's head in between classes is a game. This is simply a lesson of why you shouldn't have made your gigantic mistake. This could have all been avoided if you had just left Iruka-sensei alone on his date with Kaori-san."

"You poisoned me, kidnapped me, and tortured me because I messed with that goody-two-shoe's date?" Mizuki managed to express a surprising amount of shock and annoyance through his gag.

"Just the last two. I wanted to get your employer's opinion on my poisons. Give a bit of a show," Naruto explained. "The reason for the torture and kidnapping isn't because you messed with the date. You were trying to mess with Iruka-sensei's happiness. I won't allow anything to happen to Iruka-sensei's happiness."

"I've seen your face! There isn't any way you'll get away with this! Finally, the Hokage will finish what the Fourth should have done all those years ago!" Mizuki roared as best he could with a leather strap in his mouth.

"Actually, I'll get off scot free, if a bit 'traumatized'. It isn't every day I find one of my beloved teachers tortured and murdered by the vile, horrible, well-paid smuggler gang that double-crossed him…" Naruto gave his sob story. The Jinchūriki suddenly turned to the shadows to his left. "They are well paid, aren't they?"

The person who emerged from the shadows wasn't exactly who Naruto had been expecting. He had been expecting one of the shady civilians who populated the South End of the village. Instead of a burly heavily-tattooed man with connections to Gato the shipping magnate/underworld boss, the mousy and modest Hyūga Hinata emerged from the shadows. "Of course they are well paid. I am a Hyūga, after all."

Naruto knew the perfect phrase to accurately and articulately surmise his surprise at the reveal. "Dafuq?"

"I am not who you were expecting?" Hinata asked with a grin.

"No, I think it's safe to say that you've surprised me." Naruto shrugged. "Double 'cause you didn't stutter."

"You're wearing a shirt." Naruto blinked at Hinata's statement. The Hyūga girl continued her explanation. "You got me flustered that day."

"Flustered?" Naruto asked. His mind wasn't catching up to what Hinata was saying. "I thought girls on…ly…"

Hinata nodded with an amused gleam in her vaguely pupil-less light lavender eyes. The two Genin-in-training stood silently as Naruto processed the new information. The fact that Mizuki was still in the room howling in impotent rage less than three feet away was completely ignored.

"I thought the girls only liked Sasuke," Naruto added a bit lamely.

"Ew," Hinata whispered and shook her head. "He reminds me too much of the arrogant fools in my clan. If I wanted a dark-haired, brooding, pretty-boy loon, I could have my pick of any Hyūga in my clan. They couldn't say no, I do hold their lives in my hand."

Naruto hummed with a mix of surprise and approval. "Not what I expected. You always struck me as shy, dark, and a bit of a weirdo."

Hinata flushed with angry embarrassment. Naruto noticed the dangerous territory he had entered and decided to quickly attempt to fix the situation. "Nothing wrong with shy! It's just…all this seems a bit out of character."

"What do you really know about me?" Hinata countered. Naruto was relieved to hear what seemed to be a natural state of gentleness in the voice. 'Maybe she's as fucked up as I am,' Naruto thought.

"Not much. You keep to yourself, work hard, and don't chase after Sasuke. I've never noticed much about you because you just seem to disappear into the background."

Hinata nodded approvingly. "Good. I want to disappear a bit. We're shinobi not samurai or the 'knights' of the Southern Continent. If someone as observant as you can't notice me, then everything is going according to plan."

"I'm still here!" Mizuki unleashed a muffled scream through his leather gag.

"Shush," Naruto said dismissively without taking his attention off Hinata. "Important people are talking."

Hinata giggled at Naruto's antics. The sound brought a smile to Naruto's face.

"So, what is your plan?" Naruto asked. Hinata wagged a finger at Naruto. "Right, dumb question. I don't know or trust you enough to reveal my plans. Same goes for you."

The Hyūga heiress smiled and gripped the edges of her beige baggy jacket. "I do like you enough to tell you one of my goals."

"I'm all ears," Naruto responded as he decided that he had a new card to play in his 'mess with Sakura and Sasuke's fangirls heads' game.

"My goal is very similar to yours. The happiness and safety of the person I love more than anyone else. You are doing this for Iruka-sensei," Hinata motioned towards Mizuki as she explained. "I'm doing everything I can for my sister, Hanabi."

"Who threatened her?" Naruto asked.

"My clan. A few years ago, I discovered they were entertaining a request to marry Hanabi to the sons of one of the Kōshaku of the Land of Fire. Hanabi was only five at the time and the son was thirteen! I have been aware of the Clan's cruelty for years. They had threatened to seal me and banish me to the Cadet Branch several times. For a while, I had been willing to accept that fate if it meant protecting Hanabi. When I heard of their latest cruelty, I had enough. I realized that I couldn't protect my precious sister if I lost all power."

Naruto was wearing an ear-splitting grin that looked for all the world as if it was powered by the demonic-entity residing inside of him. "So, how did you get out of that situation?"

Naruto had been so enthralled by the conversation and mulling over Hinata's motivations and actions that he had failed to realize that she had crossed the distance and was now an arm's length away. She gently put a finger against Naruto's lips and 'shh'd' the young man. "Not with an audience."

'Does she have any idea that she just handed my hormones a dozen soldier pills? Naruto…that was the second dumb question you've asked about Hinata today. As smart as she is…of course she knows what she's doing. Brilliant, seductive, cheater,' Naruto grumbled in his head.

"Oh right, the bastard. Got a question…does the gang you employ set people on fire?" Naruto asked.

The girl nodded mirthfully. "They do." Mizuki's fear was radiating off him like heat off of a stovetop. Naruto's poison was still affecting him completely. There was no way he could use enough chakra to use even the Rope-Escape Jutsu. Worse, what little chakra he could feel was disrupted by his rather abrupt reawakening from the near-death state Naruto had put him in.

"Miss Hyūga," Naruto began grandly. "Would you like to go on an impromptu date?"

"You are the only boy who doesn't disgust or annoy me…" Hinata paused theatrically. "I accept."

Naruto whooped and leapt into the air. It was for show…mostly. There had been a few times he had legitimately asked Haruno Sakura on a date. She had violently rejected Naruto. Naruto had from then on been a bit wary of females. He thought they were all crazy in some way. Hinata had actually provided more evidence supporting Naruto's theory.

There was one key difference with Hinata. She was crazy in the same way he was.

"You just made my day." Naruto calmed down and called off his act. "I promise you, Miss Hyūga, that our date will be one of the hottest Konoha has seen in a long time."

"That was an awful pun," Hinata laughed. "So, how are we going to do this? We can't use Katon Jutsus, even if we knew any, because I know that none of the other smugglers are shinobi."

Naruto walked past Mizuki whistling a jaunty tune. He grabbed a small cask and returned to Hinata. "May I offer your ladyship this fine vintage?"

"An excellent choice," Hinata answered with every ounce of formality and grace that her years of training in etiquette had provided. She accepted the cask of oil and walked over to Mizuki. "Sensei, my agents warned you. The Hyūga gave you ever opportunity to avoid…complications. You have been skimming off the top. Do you really think Gato could protect you from the mightiest clan in Konoha?"

Mizuki knew in that moment he was dead. "H-How did you find out?"

Hinata didn't respond and simply dumped the cask of oil onto the bound and destroyed Mizuki. She turned to Naruto who was approaching with a box of matches. The quiet and enjoyable moment was suddenly shattered by a scream. Strangely, it was not from the doomed Chūnin.

"Burn 'um masta! Buuuuuurn!"

Hinata instinctively activated her Byakugan and Naruto whirled around to the source of the voice. Once again, he was encountered by something he hadn't been expecting. The voice was created by a small group of strange brown creatures. Each of the six creatures had a bat-like nose set above a large fanged mouth. There were several horns protruding from their leathery skin that was halfway between a lizard and a pig. The eyes glowed a malevolent yellow, but in a bout of contradiction had an air of naïve stupidity to them. Hinata and Naruto noticed that their bat-like ears were moving independently of each other. In a way, the wagging of the ears was similar to how a dog wagged its tail.

"Burn?" One of the little imps asked eagerly as he clambered over his fellow.

"Well, Hinata, should we give our new audience what they want?" Naruto asked as he reached for a kunai.

"If they promise to leave us alone on our date," Hinata huffed. "We're about to kill Mizuki for skimming off the top and interrupting a date. And he's more-or-less a person. Imagine what we'll do to you!"

"Oh! My withered, cruel, black heart is just quivering with anticipation at the horrible, completely-out-of-proportion, Evil retaliation you two will come up with!" An aged voice said excitedly.

Naruto gave Hinata a quick glance. The Hyūga girl nodded quickly and Naruto lit one of the matches. The Jinchūriki tossed the lit match over his shoulder. Mizuki screamed as he was consumed by the flames. The fire illuminated the warehouse and revealed the ancient source of the new voice. Superficially, the speaker resembled the other imp-like creatures. The speaker was clearly ancient and walked with a stoop. He was also the only one to be wearing any form of clothing. He, the old creature was clearly male, had a sackcloth and leather cloak over a blood-red habit. A stick was attached to his back and a glowing crystal hung from said stick.

"You have three seconds to start explaining who you are, because we have a lot of oil left," Naruto said darkly.

"What a magnificent growl! Oh, it is so wonderful to have such promising candidates! Truly, Evil runs in your veins! And allow me to introduce myself and this motley collection of idiots! I am Gnarl, Minion Master, Overlord Recruiter, seal-murder enthusiast, and Loyal Servant of All That is Dark and Evil. The vicious, but moronic, creatures here are the Minions."

"Seal-murder enthusiast?" Naruto balked.

"They may look cute," Hinata said in a disturbingly even voice. "But they can look into your souls. They also make nice coats, which is a bonus."

Gnarl nodded approvingly. "Such a promising pair of candidates! We must leave before all this delightful screaming attracts an annoying horde of do-gooders! I can explain everything back at the Tower!"

"We do need to get out of here," Hinata pointed out.

Naruto nodded and leveled a dark and vicious glare at the Minion Master. "If you attempt anything, I'll skin you alive and make you into a rug."

"Now, that is a quality threat! The quiver in my withered black heart has migrated to my bowels! I haven't been this excited since the Fourth Overlord sacked the capital city of the 'Glorious Empire'!" Gnarl exclaimed as he put air quotes around 'Glorious Empire'.

"What will you be explaining?" Hinata demanded an explanation in her most authoritative voice.

"About how you two are sufficiently Evil to be considered worthy of the title of Overlord!" Gnarl explained with a dark smile. He tapped on a strange rune-covered stone. "Giblet! Open a portal!"

The small stone began to warm up, independently of the Mizuki-fueled bonfire on the other side of the warehouse. A small pillar of light appeared and the Minions happily jumped into it.

"Do you really think we could be this 'Overlord'?" Naruto asked.

"Absolutely!" Gnarl answered eagerly. 'A shame that there can only be one Overlord…but who knows…Evil always finds a way…'

Author's Note: Yes, I'm aware this is exactly the same as what I posted in Solvdrage's 2014 Plot ADHD Asylum. I tried expanding this to the size of my usual chapters, but what I had was too good of an ending point. Chapter Two should be up already (or very shortly). I'll start showing off the development and the first phases of Naruto and Hinata's Evil Plans!

Please Review. Reviews are life!