Uzumaki Naruto was often alone and always unsure as to the reason why. The village of Konohagakure had reached the collective decision to make the young child a social pariah. The burden Naruto unknowingly bore made the majority of the village uncomfortable in his presence. A small portion of the village failed to separate Uzumaki Naruto, the human from the Nine Tailed Fox, the demon he contained. These individuals viewed Naruto as the Fox Reborn, but could not act on their beliefs because Naruto was favored by the Hokage whose word was absolute law. Thus, Naruto was safe from angry mobs, physical violence and other abuses.

The Hokage's will could not force the citizens to accept Naruto, however. Unable to forget the terrible wrath of the Kyūbi or ignore a profound sense of terrible destiny surrounding the child, the citizens of Konoha pushed Naruto away. He was shunned. In shops, he was not overcharged but was instead simply ignored. Society's indifference taught Naruto to buy only the absolute essentials or whatever he could easily choose for himself.

Naruto's social isolation gave birth to a deeply seated need for acknowledgement. This led Naruto to perform elaborate and disruptive pranks. While the pranks granted Naruto the acknowledgement he desperately craved, they also ironically served to further isolate him. The hyperactive child was often discouraged from using the popular public training grounds. Jonin were concerned that Naruto would interfere with the training of Konoha's Genin teams. Once again, Naruto learned quickly and discovered several rarely used outlying, training grounds.

Thus, he thought he was alone when his life changed. Naruto's life-altering moment started innocently enough. He had a headache and occasionally he would shiver as if cold.

"Stupid cold." Naruto grumbled to himself after trying to copy Sasuke's trick with shuriken. "I can do better than this!"

Naruto pouted as he walked over to the training posts to collect his shuriken. This dumb cold is making my vision all blurry! A fresh shiver made its way up Naruto's spine. Suddenly, the shiver reached his head and Naruto burned. The boy cried out in pain as the fire behind his eyes intensified. Naruto knew that no one would hear him and his cries would go unanswered, but he still desperately wished that someone would help him. All he wanted was for someone to care.

Hyūga Hinata had finally tracked down Naruto. She wanted to give Naruto the textbook he had forgotten in class today. More than that, Hinata wanted to thank Naruto for trying to protect her from the three older academy students who had bullied her before the start of the term. Naruto had actually been hurt by the older boys. Hinata felt horrible that Kō had dragged her away before she had the chance to help Naruto.

Today, Hinata would make amends. Today, she would become Naruto's friend.

Naruto's scream of pain shattered Hinata's plans. She threw caution to the wind and ran to where her Byakugan had seen Naruto. Hinata shot from the bushes and saw her hero laying on the ground clutching his head.

"Naruto-kun!" She cried out in alarm. "What's wrong?"

"I feel like I'm on fire!" Naruto wailed and finally opened his eyes. Hinata's breathing quickened and she was nearly having a panic attack, but she moved forward. She owed Naruto too much to fail him now.

"G…give me your hand! I…I'll get you some help!" Hinata offered and Naruto accepted. The Hyūga heiress half carried Naruto the more commonly-traveled paths. She was searching desperately for anyone that could help. Finally, she saw a heavyset Jonin with an unzipped flak jacket. "Help! He needs help!"

The Jonin heard Hinata's yell and rushed over. He noticed she was carrying Naruto and gasped. If something is wrong with the seal… "My name is Kanden Tekuno. I'm going to take you two to the hospital."

Several hours later, Naruto was resting peacefully in a hospital bed. Outside of his room, the Hokage waited for Kanden and Naruto's doctor to give a report.

"Hokage-sama, I found Hyūga Hinata carrying Uzumaki Naruto out of Training Ground Seventeen around four pm. Uzumaki Naruto appeared feverish and was barely conscious. There was no evidence of a struggle, ninjutsu or genjutsu. Young Lady Hinata obviously was concerned for her friend." Kaden Tekuno reported.

The Hokage turned to Naruto's doctor. "Can you confirm Jonin Kaden's report?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama. Uzumaki Naruto was not attacked in any form or fashion. There was no evidence of chakra exhaustion. However…" The doctor trailed off.

"Doctor, I do not like the sound of 'however'." Sarutobi Hiruzen said firmly.

"However, given Hinata-sama's description of Naruto's symptoms and my own observations, I have a theory." The Doctor paused for a moment. "Uzumaki Naruto may have activated a Dōjutsu."

The Hokage narrowed his eyes. "I knew both of Naruto's parents. Neither of their families possessed any form of Bloodline limit, much less a Dōjutsu."

"Without… without access to Naruto's genealogical information I can neither confirm nor discredit this hypothesis, Hokage-sama. My own diagnosis and Hinata-sama's testimony strongly implies that Naruto did in fact activate some kind of Bloodline limit. Most likely, this Bloodline Limit would be a Dōjutsu."

Hiruzen considered the doctor's words. "We do not have enough evidence to proceed with this theory. Naruto must be observed closely. A new, or rarely seen, Dōjutsu would be a powerful benefit to Konoha." And it would go a long way to making Konoha realize Naruto's worth as a human being.

The years passed and Naruto quickly forgot his collapse. The profound significance of the event did not register. Naruto continued to live his life. Naruto adopted the owner of the Ichiraku Ramen Stand and his daughter into his unofficial family. Teuchi and Ayame treated him kindly, helped him with his homework and fed him the greatest food in the world at a discount. Naruto won over Iruka-sensei and dreamed that the relationship he shared with the teacher was what having a big brother or even a father was like. The boy with dreams of becoming Hokage continued his rivalry with Uchiha Sasuke. The rivalry was just another manifestation of Naruto's desperate need for acknowledgement. This need drove him to pursue Haruno Sakura. A part of Naruto's mind knew Sakura would never give him the acknowledgement he truly desired.

But she confirmed his existence. She made the world realize Uzumaki Naruto existed even as she belittled him.

Naruto had numerous other acquaintances and friends. Tragically, he was unaware that one of his classmates, Hyūga Hinata, not only acknowledged his existence, but valued it.

"G…good luck, N..Naruto-kun." Hinata spoke softly after Mizuki called Naruto for his third Genin exam.

"Huh? Oh… Thanks Hinata." Naruto smiled at the shy girl. Hinata was the last person Naruto had expected to wish him luck. She was so quiet and would often go all red and look away whenever Naruto tried to talk to her. He shrugged off the puzzle of Hinata and entered the exam room.

Iruka-sensei looked up from behind his desk. Naruto returned the smile, but the boy's attention was focused solely on the rows of hitai-ate on the desk. "Naruto, are you ready?"

Naruto smiled triumphantly and began. His transformation technique created a flawless copy of Mizuki-sensei. Naruto performed the Body Replacement without a hitch. However, Naruto was still not proficient enough with the Clone technique.

"Iruka, maybe we should pass him. Naruto managed to make a perfect clone for a few seconds at least." Mizuki negotiated with his old friend.

"I would love to… but I can't. Every other student made at least three perfect clones that lasted for a minute at least. I'm sorry Naruto, we can't pass you." Iruka apologized. Naruto simply nodded and left through the back door. Naruto was so devastated; he didn't even retreat to his usual spot on the swing. Instead, he found an isolated balcony and just stared at the Hokage Mountain.

"He really wanted to pass you." Naruto jumped a bit at Mizuki's sudden appearance.

"Then why didn't he?" Naruto wasn't sure what he felt at that moment. It wasn't betrayal. He knew that no matter what, Iruka-sensei wanted the best for Naruto.

Mizuki sat down next to his student and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Iruka wants to make sure you are ready. That's why we're going to let you take a special exam. Naruto, your scores were good enough in everything but the Clone technique to pass. So, when you pass this special test, you'll be allowed to graduate."

"What do I have to do?" Naruto's eyes held so much hope. For a moment, Mizuki thought he saw something else in Naruto's eyes. It wasn't the Fox. It was something… else. The teacher pushed those thoughts aside. After tonight, Mizuki would never have to worry about Naruto's damn eyes ever again.

"It is good to see that you are awake, Naruto." The Hokage's voice froze Naruto in place. He had been attempting to leave his room to find a mirror. Naruto wanted more than anything to see himself proudly wearing his hitai-ate. He also needed proof he was still Uzumaki Naruto. There was no reason to doubt Iruka-sensei, but Naruto needed to view the new world with his own eyes.

"Yeah…" Naruto looked away. "Is it true?"

The Hokage sat down on a bench and motioned for Naruto to do the same. "Mizuki was wrong. You are not the Demon Fox. You are Uzumaki Naruto and you have protected Konoha from the moment of your birth. The Fourth Hokage had faith in you and in your goodness. He knew that you would be able to keep the Kyūbi at bay."

"The Fourth really believed that?" Naruto asked.

Hiruzen smiled. "Not only did the Fourth believe in you… I believe in you and Iruka believes in you."

"Thanks Old Man." Naruto smiled softly and Sarutobi couldn't miss the delicate light in Naruto's eyes. Suddenly, the light flared with excitement and Naruto leapt off the bench. "Watch this! You won't believe how awesome the jutsu I learned from the scroll is!"

Naruto quickly flashed the hand seal and shouted "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Six Narutos puffed into existence. The Third leaned forward and whispered something to one of the Clones.

"Dispel them, please." Hiruzen said to the original. Naruto nodded and the Clones disappeared. A heartbeat later, Naruto's face lit up.

"Really? You'll really take me for Ramen later? Wait… how did I know that?" Naruto slipped from excitement to confusion as he spoke.

"It's an ability of the Shadow Clones. The clones will transfer the memories of anything they learn or experience back to their creator." The Hokage explained.

"That is so cool!" The newly promoted Genin jumped around. "But you're still going to take me for ramen later?"

The old Kage grinned and laughed. "I promise, Naruto. I'll take you for ramen."

Naruto was strolling through the streets of Konoha in one of the best moods of his life. He was a ninja! After two failures, he truly appreciated what he had accomplished. Naruto raised his hand to his hitai-ate, but decided against taking it off to stare at it. The momentary distraction caused Naruto to plow into someone.

"I… I'm sorry!" Naruto heard a girl squeak out. The second Naruto's wits returned, he realized he had run into Hinata.

"No need to say sorry. I ran into you. I'm the one who needs to say sorry. So, uh, sorry?" Naruto apologized while helping Hinata to her feet. Much to Naruto's confusion, Hinata blushed furiously and held the hand Naruto had touched to her chest.

"A…apology accepted Naruto-kun." Hinata smiled warmly. Naruto immediately felt himself pick up. It was a nice change of pace to have a girl smile at him for something other than being satisfied at the beating she just handed out. "You passed!"

Naruto looked up with an amused grin. "Yep! I passed after taking an extra credit exam."

"I… I'm glad you passed." Hinata whispered.

That threw Naruto for a loop. Hinata was a mystery to Naruto. He wasn't sure what to make of her other than she was very shy and nice. "Thanks…"

Silenced reigned, but it was a comfortable silence. "What do you think our teams will be like?"

"I'm not sure, but… I… I h…hope… that I… I am on… your team." Hinata quickly forced out the last bit of her statement as the pair arrived at the Academy. Naruto stopped in the doorway.

"Really?" He couldn't think of much more to say after Hinata's quiet and fast-paced declaration. Hinata did not trust her voice or her ability to remain standing and nodded before heading to her seat. Naruto was mulling over the 'puzzle' of Hinata when he entered the classroom. He started to head over to where Sasuke was sitting. Naruto wanted to show the world that he was the Uchiha's equal. He made it six steps before a pressure built behind Naruto's eyes.

I should sit down. Naruto flopped into the nearest empty chair. It was next to a girl named Ami. Naruto had never spoken to her and she ignored him completely. Why is this pressure so familiar?

The pressure was so annoying that Naruto put more pressure on his temples and willed the pressure to disappear. Naruto suddenly felt his eyes shift. The only way Naruto could describe the feeling was by comparing it to stirring ramen. Something had just changed. The familiarity of the change was a bit unnerving to Naruto.

I'll have to ask the Old Man when he takes me out for Ramen. As soon as Naruto thought about the feeling, it vanished. The thought was pushed even further from his focus when Iruka-sensei entered the room.

"You okay, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto called out over Sakura and Ino arguing over who would sit next to Sasuke.

"I'm fine Naruto. We'll talk later." Iruka assured his favorite student. The teacher took a deep breath. "PAY ATTENTION!"

The class fell silent. Iruka chuckled and launched into his prepared speech about how proud he was of his students. He reached the end of his speech and was pleased to see that only Nara Shikamaru had fallen asleep.

"Now for the team assignments…" Iruka flipped a sheet on his clipboard. "Team One will consist of Kinjo Ami…"

Naruto was on the edge of his seat, but after three teams were announced he started to zone out.

"Team Seven will include Uzumaki Naruto…" Iruka announced and Naruto immediately sat straighter. If there was any justice in the world, Naruto was hoping to have Sakura and Hinata on his team. That would be perfect. "Haruno Sakura."

Naruto clenched his fists, at first in hope, but something else wormed its way in when he heard Sakura's lament about being 'stuck' with Naruto. "And Uchiha Sasuke."

"Crap." Naruto grumbled. Sakura's excited blabbering about how 'love conquered all' and Hinata's visible disappointment twisted Naruto's gut. Iruka finished off the last few teams and Naruto sat and reflected on his situation. The disappointment built and slowly intermingled with annoyance as more and more Jonin instructors came and picked up their teams.

"Good luck Hinata!" Naruto called out when Team Eight left. Kurenai, the instructor for Hinata's team, shook her head and smiled at Hinata's reaction. Why Kurenai did that completely went over Naruto's head. Naruto expected not to have long to think about the strange action. Instead he had nearly twenty minutes. It was confusing. Naruto could think of a couple of reasons for Hinata's nervous blushing. One, he didn't want to be true and the other couldn't possibly be true. Naruto desperately hoped Hinata wasn't aware of the Fox. The other thought, that Hinata could be interested in Naruto, was almost too outlandish to even consider. The more he thought, the more the pressure in his eyes built up. Naruto groaned at the pain and rubbed his temples.

"God damn it." Naruto hissed.

"Stop that, Naruto! You're disturbing Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted from across the room.

Naruto put his head on the desk. "I'd love to have my head stop feeling like it was about to explode."

Sakura was about to say something else when the door slid open. A masked Jonin stood in the doorway and seemingly smiled with his one visible eye. "My first impression is… you all need to lighten up. Meet me on the roof."

Kakashi was waiting for Team Seven on the rooftop park. The Jonin carefully observed each of his potential subordinates. He had read their files, but had already known Naruto and Sasuke for years. The son of the White Fang watched as they took their seats. Naruto sat down first. He simply sat, but something was off. Kakashi had always known Naruto to be boisterous and active. Like his mother. Today, he looked like he was out of it. Haruno Sakura sat next and placed herself nearly three feet away from Naruto. Finally, Uchiha Sasuke chose his place. Sasuke did not blatantly separate himself from his team as Sakura had, but he clearly kept his distance. Kakashi thought where Sasuke sat was very telling. The last Uchiha chose to sit higher than Sakura or Naruto. He was consciously or subconsciously placing himself above the others.

The Hokage was right. I am going to need some luck on this one.

"Well, now that we are all here; we'll introduce ourselves. Let everyone know who you are, what you like and don't like. Oh, hobbies and dreams for the future, too." Kakashi greeted.

"Uh, why don't you start sensei?" Sakura offered. "That way we'll have an idea of what we're supposed to do."

Kakashi just stared at Sakura before nodded. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. I like things and I dislike things. I enjoy my hobbies. My dreams for the future? Huh, haven't really thought about those."

All we got was his name. The three prospective members of Team Seven thought.

Kakashi grinned behind his mask. "Alright, you on the right."

Naruto was rubbing his temples again. "Huh, me?" Kakashi appeared to smile with his visible eye and nodded. "Well then, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, especially the ramen from the Ichiraku Noodle Shop! I don't like how my eyes feel like they have been dipped in hot ramen broth right now. My hobbies are collecting cup ramen brands and training. My dream for the future is to become the greatest Hokage!"

His eyes? That almost sounds like the symptoms the Hyūga have before their Byakugan activates… But that can't be possible, neither Minato-sensei nor Kushina had a Dōjutsu.

"Might want to have a medic-nin check your eyes, Naruto." Kakashi spoke with true concern. "You're up next, missy."

"Ok… My name is Haruno Sakura. I like…" Sakura cast an excited glance to Sasuke and squealed. "My hobbies…" Once again, Sakura glanced over to Sasuke and Kakashi noticed her trace her finger along a notebook. "My dream…" Kakashi fought the urge to groan as Sakura giggled furiously at Sasuke.

And I thought Rin started off a bit fangirly. "Is there anything you don't like?"

"Naruto!" Sakura said with conviction.

Naruto groaned. "So, if I want you to like me I should stop being nice and get a stick up my ass like Sasuke?" Normally, Naruto would never snap off at Sakura like that. However, Naruto was very irritable because of the pain behind his eyes. This is feeling more and more like that fever I had when I was little.

Before Sakura could go off on Naruto, Kakashi pointed at Sasuke. "And finally, you Uchiha."

Sasuke had not altered his pose since he sat down. His face remained impassive and he hid his mouth behind interlocked hands. "I am Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like much and I hate a great deal. Hobbies are a frivolity that I cannot afford. My dream, no, my ambition is to revive my clan and kill a certain man."

The reactions of Team Seven were very different. Naruto hoped Sasuke wasn't talking about him. Sakura was gushing over how cool, serious and mysterious Sasuke was. Kakashi, for his part, was concerned that Sasuke was still fixated on killing Itachi.

"Well! That was fun! I have good news! Tomorrow, at 5:00am, we'll meet at Training Ground Three for our first mission!" Kakashi clasped his hands together and spoke excitedly.

Naruto, momentarily forgetting about his raging headache, looked up excitedly. "Heck yeah! What kind of mission?"

"Survival training!" Kakashi was clearly amused with himself.

"Ano, Kakashi-sensei, we did survival training in the Academy. Why do we have to go through that again?" The pinkette was suddenly very nervous

"Well… I could tell you, but you wouldn't like the reason." Kakashi waved off Sakura's concerns glibly.

"I believe we deserve to know." Sasuke said crisply.

"Okay, fine. Naruto, please remind Sasuke and Sakura that I did in fact warn them." Naruto nodded at Kakashi's words. The masked Jonin 'eye-smiled'. "The tests you took at the Academy, even the final exam, were just tests to see if you had the potential to be Genin. My survival training will decide whether or not you become Genin. Oh! It gets even better!"

"Better?" Sakura laughed nervously at Kakashi's sudden enthusiasm.

"Yep, better! There's a sixty-six percent washout rate! So, out of everyone who graduated today, only three teams will be promoted to full Genin! Wonderful right?"

"I can't believe that is true!" Sakura panicked.

"Kakashi-sensei did warn you." Naruto's voice was a bit hollow from his headache.

"I guess we're done for the day!" Kakashi pushed himself away from the railing. "I'll see you all bright and early tomorrow! Before I forget, don't eat breakfast! You'll only end up puking! Bye!"

Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves. His students were all troubled by his news, but only Sakura showed any outward emotion. Sasuke was always calm and collected. Naruto would normally be running around in panicked bravado, but his headache was too much to bear. He was definitely going to take Kakashi-sensei's advice and go to the doctor.

Kakashi appeared several buildings away from the Genin-prospects he was assigned. He sighed at the challenge facing him. The elite Jonin was worried that he was going to be forced to fail another team. Naruto had the potential to learn the lesson Kakashi desperately tried to teach, but with the condition on Kakashi's mind the Jinchūriki might not be capable of passing. The condition wasn't his 'tenant' but Naruto's headache which wasn't simply a headache.

I will have to inform Hokage-sama. The odds are very low, but any possible new Bloodline Limit has to be investigated.

Author's Notes: First off, I'd like to thank hinatasgreatestfan for both creating the Chigan challenge and for beta'ing this chapter. I hope you enjoy the story. Don't worry, my other stories are being worked on. The Hyuga's Hound is currently with my beta for that story. Twelve Shattered Mirrors is about 1/4 done as of this story being published. I'll probably start the next chapter of Prince Naruto tonight or tomorrow.

This story will likely develop slowly. Also, the main pairing shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's read anything hinatasgreatestfan or I have written.