Greetings, I had forgotten that I haven't introduced myself, I am DarkerDeepDown, or DDD for short. I am a new writer and I wish very much to make an even better author sometime in the future, and I will need your help. So R&R.

I'm so sorry my very few fans, I have just started college and I kinda screwed up my first semester.

You see, the reason for the delay is that my classes make me write a paper daily and it just ruins my writing mood. But I had written this chapter and I had downloaded it onto my flash drive. And it went a little something like this…

"Where's my flash drive? OH FLASHIE!"

*Bark* "Lassie! What was that girl? She's been abducted by the Goblin Queen! *whistle* Dashie, come!"

"How many times have I told you? I'm Rainbow Dash, Not Dashie!"

"Whatever, *mounts* Onwards to victory!"

… And I reclaimed Excalibur and saved Narnia. True story. Oh and ignore any news castings of a dashing your man flying on a rainbow, the camera added ten pounds on Dashie and she isn't happy.

Welp on with the Show!

XXX

Sarutobi was in his office, reading another civil dispute and gauging the best course of action.

'Sakuya is a prominent rice farmer and provides a significant portion to Konoha's economy and general food rations, at the cost of his profit. He is given sway in the general affairs of how he runs his plantation, maybe even given too much considering this formal complaint from one of his workers of given less shares of his labor as of late. His general treatment even has diminished as of late. I have seen the man grow into who he is today and this is highly irregular, and considering he has been contributing less and less resources in recent days is really worrying me.'

Sarutobi turned in his chair and looked upon his village in contemplation. Many of his home's assets are slowly pulling back in their contributions and he had an idea as to who was behind it.

'The Uchiha have been doubling their patrols, reporting to me that it's because of an increase in crime around certain districts. If they think I don't notice that those districts are in the vicinity of our clan homes then I truly have been lax in leading. I am glad that my advisors are currently under house arrest otherwise I shudder to what they would resort to as a first response.'

Sarutobi tapped a concealed button on his desk, before an Anbu wearing a weasel mask materialized before him, bowing to his commander.

"Weasel, you and your team have been infiltrating the growing problem with your clan. Report your conclusions."

"Hokage-sama, along with their mobilizing and training of certain strike teams, they are drawing in sympathizers among many of Konoha's foundational supports. Sometimes through coercion, and if that doesn't work, force if not outright usurpation of identities. Many Uchiha are aware of the impending uprising and choose inaction and to side with the victors. My team is still uncompromised, following the plan to keep me in the spotlight while the work from the shadows. I know not if I can maintain my intentions ambiguous any longer and would like to move our plan of action into a more active role sir."

Sarutobi, to his credit, honestly contemplated this course of action. Life would be so much easier and it was a tactic that had been used many a time, and highly effective. Sadly, open warfare would be too disastrous, more than likely ending up like Kiri. "Does your father suspect of my awareness of his coup?"

"Yes and no. He knows that I am with you and that you have suddenly stepped out of complacency into action, but he is not aware of the degree of infiltration you have milord."

Sarutobi ran scenarios in his head. The spearhead of this rebellion is obviously trying to take control, while the masses, and love them though he does, will comply if enough of an example is to be made from the current regime. Jiraiya is still looking for Tsunade and some of his ninja are on missions. His forces are not capable of full on battle with the clan of copy-cats.

Weasel made a sort of strangled attempt to speak, but grew silent once more.

"Something to say, weasel?"

Sarutobi turned the chair around and looked upon his trusted soldier and saw something he had never seen from the poor boy.

Nervousness bordering upon… anticipation?

"There was… a man, who visited me in my dreams. I did not wish to speak of this because he had said that if I was to meet him somewhere alone, he would grant me power. He bore a grudge against the Uchiha for some reason and as such he would tell me a secret of the Sharingan that I had not been made aware of. I was going to visit the place to see if my dream was true or if I was imagining things, but I was afraid to ask for your permission on the grounds that it was a dream and nothing substantial."

"Mangenkyo."

Weasel looked up at his leader, his blank mask hiding his confusion.

"The term is called the Mangenkyo Sharingan. It was wielded by your ancestor, Madara Uchiha, the organizer and founder to your clan. I don't know very much about this ability other than it's a great power, given at a great cost. Although I would say no to this off the bat, we just don't have the luxury for you to ignore it. Go, but know that I will have someone watching, someone no one could ever, and will ever detect. Don't give me details, for if he knows about that ability, then we must assume the walls are our enemy and I choose to speak no evil in this sense. Go, and do what you must."

Weasel fired off a salute and disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

Sarutobi turned back around, many questions plaguing his thoughts. The most irrelevant however went along the lines of, 'I have still yet to find out where those leaves come from.'

XXX

Naruto was in a field, in the middle of his training regimen.

He had begun as usual, his father telling him what he was doing today. After his warm-up of alternating between ten sets of two minute round-offs of running, pull-up, stretches, and core exercises that lasted about an hour, he was onto his fighting training.

He used to not even get passed warm-up, but he was beginning to feel stronger and better after all his work. His father was a task-master, and if you weren't in perfect form every time, you were to do them again and again till you did it right. Although it hurt so much more doing it this way, he really was feeling the difference in a lot of ways. His posture was straighter, and he was actually getting taller. His mom, through some convoluted and overly complicated plan that made his brain ache, had been getting the supplies she had been wanting, somehow still having receipts, and been nourishing his tiny frame until he was vibrant and healthy.

He was working on his coordination by balancing on his hands when his father called out to him.

"Naruto, you might wanna stop, we have a visitor." 'Technically two, but we will cross that bridge later.'

Naruto pounced off his hands and attempted to land on his feet. Sadly, he over shot his mark and landed on his face. Rubbing his nose, Naruto spied his Jiji coming into the clearing with a grim face.

Sarutobi smiled a little when he saw Naruto, but exhaustion was written all over his face and countenance. Naruto, being the polite soul he was, asked if he would sit for some lunch that had made for him.

"That would be nice, my boy, but I have business with our friend," He fished a few ryo out and handed them to Naruto, "Why don't you and your secret admirer go and get some sweets?" Sarutobi turned toward some bushes to his right, "Doesn't that sound good Hyuuga-san?"

A muted shrill of surprise rang from said bushes before a small frame crawled out and shyly made it over to the Hokage. Naruto was confused as to why this random girl was in those bushes. They couldn't be comfortable right?

"Now run along children," The old man made a shooing motion, prompting the children even further.

Naruto grinned widely before grabbing the poor girl's hand and bolted off in the other direction, practically dragging her and bombarding her with questions like 'were you looking for bugs' or ' if she had ever had ramen.' The last they heard was of him asking her name, before the finally got out of earshot.

Sarutobi turned to his altered predecessor and barked, "Report."

Minato, to his credit, had been getting better at his calligraphy, and Sarutobi had brought his glasses to read the tiny print being scribbled on the ground.

"The populace of the Uchiha district is still widely in the gray over which side to choose. Fugaku is still trying to get unanimous support for his campaign, and is gaining followers every day. His pitch is that they feel under-represented with their power and prestige, considering they are a founding clan. Your plants are still uncompromised and are ready to strike at your command. I would advise pre-emptive strike or delegation and negotiations but neither will be prudent however; one being a massacre and the other playing your hand too early. Another course of action would to tempt them into starting early, then compromising their operation right off the bat. You would be justified, and there is no unnecessary bloodshed."

Sarutobi brushed dirt over the message, erasing it from existence before someone could read it. He liked the idea, but still wasn't sure how to apply it just yet.

"Well done. I have a new mission for you. Weasel is going to visit a questionable source, with my permission, and I would like you to observe and report back to me the exact details. Understood?"

A check-mark was drawn before it too was erased.

XXX

"-which just goes to show that Ramen is greater than all things!"

Hinata giggled at his bravado, envying his ability to speak his mind so boldly. She licked her fingers, savoring the leftover icing from her cinnamon bun she just ate. They moved towards a clearing in the park and sat beneath a tree.

"Hey, I just remembered that I don't know your name!" Naruto proudly thrust forth his hand, beaming like the sun on a clear day. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, what's your name?"

Hinata stared at the hand, nervous at trying to set a good first impression.

While she wanted to say, 'Hello, my name is Hinata Hyuuga,' what came out were a stuttering mess and a jumble of words that didn't quite make sense.

Naruto perked his head to the side, "What?"

"M-am-s-hi-ta-Hy" was all the poor boy could make out when she tried again.

"Hmmmm… AHA!"

Naruto got into his pack and pulled out a notepad and a pencil and handed it to her. "Since you are so quite I can't hear you, why don't you just write what you want to say?"

Hinata stared at the gift and took it graciously, before writing down her name.

Naruto stared at the name, which was written in kanji, and groaned. He still didn't quite have a good grasp of the more complex characters of his native language, and Hinata seeing the confusion on his face, took the pad back before writing it in hiragana.

And so their day passed as such, with Naruto speaking out loud and Hinata writing her notes. For once in her life, she could fully express her thoughts with someone who wasn't from her clan, and not being stopped from her shy stuttering. They shared nearly everything that day: secrets, fears, dreams, even their lives. The sun had painted the sky red before they even felt the passing of time. They were finally interrupted when a man walked into the clearing.

"Hinata."

Hinata froze up, her next sentence unfinished, and looked up at the intruder.

"Tou-san."

She immediately stood up and brushed off any dirt she had on her from her stay with her new friend. She calmly and gracefully made her way over to him and stood behind and to the side of him.

Naruto stared at the man, trying to see any resemblance between the two. He was tall, and most of his physique was obscured by a long white robe that was nigh of immaculately clean. His long dark brown hair was straight and clean, framing a stern and rigid face. His eyes were nearly all white, drastically different from the lavender eyes of his daughter. His frown was almost unnoticeable but his eyes were telling his current judgment of the situation.

As Naruto was about to speak, he was interrupted from the Hokage entering the clearing.

"Greetings, Hyuuga-san. I see you have come to bring your daughter home."

"Konichiwa, Hokage-sama. Yes, I did come to take my daughter back home, but I am curious as to why she was interacting with this boy, when she had said she was going to her retainer's home for lessons. It was to my surprise that she was neither there nor at home and I began to worry. I don't suppose the boy had anything to do with this, now would you boy?"

Sarutobi answered for Naruto, knowing that the boy could have said something regrettable if he had spoken, "Naruto was out training when I noticed that Hinata-chan had been wandering the streets, obviously lost. This is her first time without Ko-san, correct? So I thought that Naruto might want to show Hinata around and maybe spend the day together. I'm sorry to find that I made her miss an appointment and I will try to be less of an old busy-body next time." He finished his lie with a grandfatherly smile as he could make and turned to Naruto, "Now why don't you say good bye to Hinata-chan and we will be off, neh"

"Bye, Hinata-chan! I'll see you later!"

She shyly waved back before following her father out of the park. She looked at her father as he marched forth, his fists swaying in a military fashion. She entertained the fantasy of holding her father's hand as they walked home, but new that that would never fly out in public. Image and all that fun jazz. She nearly jumped when she heard her name called.

"Yes, Otou-san?"

"I would warn you in interacting with that boy. His reputation may not be wholly deserved, but you are a scion of the great Hyuuga clan."

She slumped, her poor child heart nearly broken at not being able to play with her new, and only, friend.

"But that is what I should say as a clan head."

She looked up at the back of his head in bewilderment.

"As a father, I would say that I had been watching you for a while with that boy and I must say that I haven't seen you that happy since your mother died. Know that though may not be the best father, but I still wish your happiness." He stopped and turned kneeling to her, a small smile on his lips and warmth she had never seen in his eyes. "Just tell me next time, okay?"

She leapt onto his face and hugged it while a tear slipped through her eye. He returned the hug and kissed the top of her head, before standing upright. She latched onto his hand and they stayed like that all the way to the compound.

XXX

Welp, hope it was good, I kinda felt iffy but I tried to end strong or end up rambling. Time skip next chapter and the Academy days begin, along with the Uchiha Uprising.

Thank you Cleveland and good night.