Naruto: Cautious Ninja

A couple years later…

"Quit it!"

"Huh? Who the hell are you?" a young boy wearing a blue jumper and a cap asked as he looked over his shoulder at the short, blonde haired boy in a white T-shirt standing behind him. The delinquent's two companions, a chubby boy wearing a bandana and a slender one with dark hair and wearing an orange-brown top were also glaring menacingly at the newcomer. Their scowls intensified when they saw exactly who it was. "I don't like that face of yours."

"Hey… isn't he that?" the chubby kid asked.

"Yeah… the punk that keeps painting on walls and causing trouble for everybody else," the boy in orange stated, the three of them all turning at once to confront the interloper. "What're you doing here, that?"

The blonde haired boy glared back at each of them, moments before his eyes came around to rest on the kid kneeling at their feet. The girl lying on the ground appeared to be both bruised and harassed.

It was apparent what had been going on here.

These three upstarts had been picking on someone that had probably upset them in some way, and judging by the tears on the victim's face the attacks they had been dealing the person had been quite severe. The fact that they had dragged the person all the way out here to the back of the academy near the tire swing where it was completely isolated meant that they could do whatever they wished here without consequence. It was sick.

What's more Naruto recognized the victim as someone from his class. It was the shy, quiet girl with short blue hair that always sat somewhere behind him in the back rows.

Her name was Hinata if he remembered correctly.

The girl was looking up at him in surprise, an expression he was able to catch before he clenched his fists angrily and glared back at her attackers.

"Hmph… I don't know who this 'that' person you're talking about is," the young Naruto said before smirking proudly. "Speak clearly, dumbasses."

"What?" one of the side-kicks shouted, stepping towards him and shaking his fist, "What was that?"

"You heard me," Naruto grinned, testing the waters a little more. "Who are you talking about? I don't know who you're talking about, so everything you're probably going to say about that person is going to go right over my head."

"You!" the other chubby delinquent shouted, pushing his friend back and stepping into the insolent kid's face. "Aren't you the good-for-nothing runt making lives difficult for everybody else?"

"It's true isn't it?" the leader asked, pulling his friend back to tower over the shorter kid. "You're the one?"

"I have a name, you know!" Naruto suddenly cut in, his voice climbing in volume over theirs and getting them to blink in surprise. Pulling his right up from his side, the blonde jerked his thumb across his chest before wiping it under his nose arrogantly. "It's Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf!"

"You?"

"Hokage?"

The three kids suddenly burst out laughing, holding their sides and pointing at the blonde as if he were crazy. The girl behind them, still looking ruffled with tear stains smeared across her cheeks, gazed admirably up at the stranger standing valiantly against her attackers. Even though he was smaller than them, younger than them and out-numbered three to one, he was standing up to these brutes and drawing their attention away from her. He wasn't scared of them at all.

Sure, she remembered this particular boy. She remembered him from class, from training, and from passing him on the streets with one of her caretakers. She'd heard of his exploits, causing havoc and ruin wherever he went, and making lives incredibly stressful for all of the villagers. Heck, she had even questioned about him and his nature many times with her guardians in the past, but they had always either held their tongues or gave her explicit instruction not to associate with him because he was 'dangerous', 'foul' and 'mischievous.' It was a different reason every day.

For so long she had wondered what kind of person he really was and why everybody said to stay away from him. But as she knelt on the grass, looking up at him and seeing him stand up to the three boys that had been picking on her minutes before, she could only wonder why a person said to be so untrustworthy, was rescuing her.

It made her eyes shimmer with awe and curiosity.

'He's so brave,' she thought.

"A brat like you can't become one," the leader of the trio with the cap exclaimed, cocking a fist back with a malicious grin. "Just shut up and buzz off!" He threw a punch.

Unexpectedly though, the blonde haired boy standing directly in front of the attacker suddenly swayed back, bending to an almost impossible angle so that his antagonist's wild swing sent him stumbling forward with a yelp. The second his footing went, Naruto threw a right up at him in a hooking motion. Whether it was a hook or an uppercut no one knew, but the result was the same as any punch carrying any weight. Naruto hit his target right underneath the boy's chin and lifted him a foot off the ground before he dropped like a dead weight. The jinchuriki then snapped back into a standing position like a pop-up in a book the moment his foe's body hit the floor.

The blonde cracked his knuckles while facing the two remaining bullies down, who were now looking at him in shock. "You guys are older than me right? Do you like picking on kids smaller than you? Kids who are weaker than you?" He saw them grit their teeth and raise their fists in preparation for an attack. "That is so not cool. So in return I'll give you a little present! Say hi to my demon right hand!"

The chubby boy went for him first, but Naruto dashed right at him in response and sent a killer right cross across his jaw. The blow sent spit flying and his opponent crashing to the grassy floor, seconds before his other companion rushed at the blonde with a wild swing. Just like with his other opponent, Naruto swayed under it and stepped around, waiting for the kid to spin back and chase him with a series of untamed punches. The blonde backed away from them with a playful grin on his face, ducking and weaving around knock-out blows before his back suddenly smacked into a tree trunk.

He looked behind him momentarily, a split second before seeing the boy in the orange jacket rush at him with a roar. Smirking, Naruto jumped into the air and placed both feet against the tree behind him. Hands in his pockets, he then kicked off and spun around his swinging opponent, who unintentionally punched the tree with a painful crack.

"OW-OW-OW!" the boy cried out, clenching his bark-covered fist while turning around. He saw Naruto standing directly behind him with that ever-present grin still stretched across his lips, a split second before his entire world blacked out.

The reason for this was the blonde haired boy's foot shooting straight off the ground in a perfect, vertically drawn, skyward kick, slamming him in the jaw and lifting him into the air. A second later, the last bully dropped to his knees and face planted the ground.

Naruto smirked at his fallen opponent and stepped away coolly. "And let that be a lesson to yah." Scraping his sandals on the grass, he then turned his attention towards the girl to see her gazing across at him in sheer astonishment. "Yo! Are you okay?"

Before Hinata could say anything out of gratitude for his actions, a rustling of bushes behind her caught her attention and the Hyuuga looked around to see a guardian from her clan come running up to her. "Hinata-sama!" He skidded to a stop in front of the surprised child. "Are you okay?" He then took note of the carnage around him. The beaten or unconscious boys lying across the ground were the first to come to his attention, before his eyes looked up and landed on the blonde haired boy standing by the last one lying at his feet. The Hyuuga blinked, "He's…"

Frowning, the man took Hinata by the hand and gently, yet hurriedly, pulled her to her feet. "Come, Hinata-sama. This is no place for you."

"B-But wait!" the girl exclaimed, looking desperately towards the spiky-haired youngster, "H-He came to my rescue!"

"He is none of our concern. Do not associate yourself with him," the Chunin stated firmly, earning a surprised glance from the young heiress. He then began dragging her along, wanting to vacate the premises and get as far away from the jinchuriki as possible. "Now come."