BS #1: Haruto of Red Dawn 02

1 year after the Kyuubi attack…

Haruto was neglected, it had stung at first, but then he got used to it by shutting himself off from the world. He had chosen to improve his education tenfold by reading every single book in the library of his home and learning as much as he could. A baby Naruko watched him through the crack of his door, only to find herself whisked away when mommy came by, telling her 'don't disturb your Onii-chan, he's tired.'

If only she had decided to peek inside, she would've noticed that Haruto was busy reading, burning his way through a mountain of books that had been stacked neatly at his desk.

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2 years after the Kyuubi attack…

Haruto was abruptly torn from his dreams and awakened when he felt small hands pressing on his chest. Opening his eyes, he found a young Naruko drooling with a happy look on her face, the same that she made when he first saw him.

"Haru!" Naruko cried when seeing her older brother awake and fell back to sit onto his chest. Using her tiny fingers, she playfully pinched his cheeks lightly, stretching his own whisker marks out as if he were a docile cat, or in their case, fox.

"Hello there, Naru-chan." Haruto tried his best, yet he couldn't help but give a (small) smile at the sight of the child grinning widely when she heard him say her name.

"Naru, sleepy." The girl mumbled as she rubbed her purple eyes with her tiny knuckles, yawning heavily before she slid to his left side on the bed and began leaning into her brother's side, absorbing his body heat. She gave him a small kiss on the nose before drifting off into her little dream where she and 'Naru' were picking flowers and, very uncharacteristically in his case, dancing to a happy song.

Haruto smirked at the sight of his baby sister snoring, returning a larger kiss to her forehead and hugging her tightly before he himself fell asleep with her in his arms.

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3 years after the Kyuubi attack…

"Haru!" Naruko ran up to Haruto as fast as her stubby legs could, and caught up to her big brother and hugging his leg to prevent him from walking.

"Good morning Naruko, how are you?" Haruto leaned down, placing a hand on her head. Naruko grinned, showing off her tiny teeth that enjoyed nipping Haruto's fingers for whatever reason. She looked up into his azure orbs, the same that her young mind had unknowingly fallen in love with.

Her father's eyes, despite being the same shade, were different, they always showed that he would be willing to help with anything that she needed help with, always full of pride and joy whenever he helped her accomplish something, thinking it was a big deal when the Hokage of all people helped a little girl do something that she couldn't do.

Haruto's was different as identical as they looked. His eyes said that he would help her only when she needed it, that he wouldn't be there to mentally hold her hand through everything. His eyes would show a hidden pride at her for doing it herself if she never needed his help or were filled with understanding when she did require his help. And even then, he would only help her once and allow her to do it again herself afterwards, like the time he helped her ride her bike with just one try after she had fallen down countless times.

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4 years after the Kyuubi attack…

(Haruto: 8) (Naruko: 4)

Haruto did not mind being neglected in order for his little sister to grow. He loved the little girl and she loved him back equally, if not more. His parent never had any time for him, choosing to spend it all with Naruko or work, and he was fine with that.

He didn't have to like being ignored, but he accepted it.

Lavender eyes that shimmered with awe whenever she was in his presence, learned something new or when she ate ramen. Even as a little girl, he found her to be brash, loud and talkative, but all were good aspects since she didn't step into the territory of being arrogant. While she was brash, Haruto felt as if it were just a phase seeing as how she was used to spending time with the strongest of Konoha's forces. Being able to somehow brighten up a room whenever she entered it, making those who heard her constantly chirping-voice feel happier.

Her hair had grown to her shoulders. Straight, red and very lovely. Only with the addition of whiskers and the mischievous twinkle in her eyes did she stray from an identical appearance to her mother.

She looked absolutely adorable to him.

She looks a lot like mother nowadays. Haruto mused offhandedly as he watched his little sister throw a kunai, missing the bulls-eye by a mile. He gave a small smile to his sister as she pouted and folded her arms, directing an upset and sad look mixed together to form a heart-sundering look that brought adults of all kinds to their knees. He walked up to the pouting girl and kneeled down on one foot, his smile growing a little more when he rubbed her scalp that was covered by her crimson tresses.

Naruko grinned inwardly when she saw her brother's smile increase in length. He always seemed to smile more around her, it seemed to the young kunoichi in training that he only enjoyed himself in her presence, something not even daddy or mommy could do.

As Haruto made his way over to her to teach her how to properly throw a kunai, he absently recounted the years and how far his training had progressed to as Naruko grew older.

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Misunderstand loved his mother and father, to the point where he would die to protect them but he honestly wished they could separate the time they spent on work and Naruko to at least include him into it. He was bored to death despite not showing it on the outside, having read the entire book collection in the Namikaze library and sneaking around at night to read the scrolls that his father thought he locked up well could only get so interesting after the first time.

Regarding that last point, his mother and father were not the only seal masters in the house like they thought they were. He secretly mastered the Rasengan his father was so fond of, even going as far as to manipulate his main elemental affinity, wind, which was something his parents did not know of either, into it thus creating the 'Fuuton: Rasengan'. The feat was something not even his father never had the time to do ever since taking up the mantle of Hokage, juggling the rest of his time between his wife and daughter and occasionally to Haruto himself.

Too bad he never understood how the Hirashin worked, or else he would have been a really, really annoying opponent to deal with.

Still though, it didn't mean that he couldn't figure it out in the future. All he needed was an inhuman reaction time and the secret behind the seal to access the power. The idea of zipping and flashing about a battlefield in the blink of an eye, repeatedly, already gave him a headache, but he supposed that his father must have gotten used to it after years in development.

His Taijutsu was on par with that of a high Chunin, not that he knew, considering that he kept the fact to himself and that no one had seen him practise it. He improved by reading up on the different Taijutsu styles that he had seen in the scrolls from the massive library and by watching a man with a strange attire who spewed the phrase 'the flames of youth burned brightly in you, Haruto-kun!' multiple times as he watched him training against his surrogate uncle, Kakashi.

The boy was confused, but was undoubtedly impressed by the way Might Guy fought. Appearing to have a lack in either passion or ability to use Ninjutsu, he focused more on Taijutsu and honed his skill to the sharpest point in memory of his late father, Might Duy, who was a Genin for most of his life, sacrificing himself to stall the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Haruto was very impressed with the man and mentally vowed to visit Might Duy's grave to silently appreciate his sacrifice for his family. Haruto was slightly sceptical when he heard the man claim that he was going to 'climb the Hokage Mountain 200 times with my teeth and then if I do not make it up in an hour, I will run 200 laps around Konoha's border' and then a little scared when he actually saw the man climb to the top of the Hokage Mountain 195 times, crying to the heavens that he had failed his challenge and that he lacked the flames of youth before dashing away in the glorious afternoon sunset, not returning until the sun had revolved around the world twice.

From that point forward, Haruto made sure he stayed away from the man to ensure that he was not dragged into the green wearing fit-freak's 'exercises'.

Haruto's Genjutsu was not as well as he had hoped it would be. He had enough control to break out of illusions, but not enough to place them under very powerful ones. He would have to ask the 'Queen of Smoke and Mirrors' Yuuhi Kurenai for advice and lessons regarding Genjutsu.

Kenjutsu was not something Haruto was quite interested in, however, understood the need for. Haruto was never close to the man, but perhaps Sarutobi Asuma would teach him how to use his trench knives the bearded smoker was so fond of.

However, something Haruto was very interested in was the two very dangerous and powerful scrolls that he had found in the Fuin no Sho, or the Scroll of Sealing, when he had been stricken by a sudden wave of ennui. He had entered the room while his father and personal guards left for a council meeting. He browsed through the scroll, looking at the list of all the Kinjutsu it held and found the ones he was most interested in.

One was called 'Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear)' and the other was Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone). Both scroll contained the respective information of their Kinjutsu and was slightly appalled by how Jiongu worked. He had read the hand written story from the Shodaime himself about how Takigakure had sent an assassin to kill him, the assassin failed and was instead destroyed by the Shodaime who demanded the Kinjutsu was a form of repayment for the assassination attempt. Afraid of the man who was known as the God of Shinobi, they immediately handed it over and the Hokage kept it in the scroll from ever being used again.

The Jiongu has to be strong if Takigakure was confident enough to send the assassin with it to kill the Shodaime of all people, the same man who had defeated and killed Uchiha Madara. The Jiongu involved black threads painfully replacing your blood vessels and essentially being able to live forever by stealing the hearts of your enemies and allowing using their elemental affinities for your own. It also allowed the user to reattach limbs and send out the same threads that inhabited the body, making them into whips and spears that could easily rip through limbs. Or so it was said. It was merely what the Shodaime had observed from the battle with the assassin. The first part wasn't something Hashirama could confirm, but from the way his assassin's body was inhabited by those wires, it must have been the case.

The Kage Bunshin seemed useful, but he doubted that he had enough chakra to use it that many times in battle. Maybe it could be useful for his sister he thought, seeing as how she had a creature made entirely out of chakra in her. He wasn't sure, he'd have to make sure first, the last thing he wanted to see was his sister dying while she attempted it. And with that, Haruto memorised the Kage Bunshin, quickly replacing the scroll while ensuring nothing was out of place before fleeing for home.

He never used them, instead, stored them in his room, underneath the floorboard where he had placed a storage seal to keep useful materials. After all, who was going to notice that two Kinjutsu's were missing when the scroll itself held at least a hundred more?

Silent son of the Yondaime by day, A child prodigy of the ninja arts by night, far surpassing his senior by one year, Itachi, tremendously. But he had learnt that deception would be the most important tool in his life, pretending only to be one of the better students at the academy and nothing more.

The mask fooled everyone. And Haruto preferred to keep it that way. He saw no need to boast about his abilities, nor his strength like most other shinobi did. Just like a true ninja, he hid most of himself in the shadows, away from prying eyes. Were Konoha to be attacked, then he could use his apparent lack of skills to take down foes that saw fit to underestimate him. All that mattered to him was that Konoha and his family were fine and safe from harm.