A Knight in shining armor

"Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave…" this is the story of the boy who was good, kind, brave as well as knows love better than anyone else

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Renji was spinning on playground swings watching a handful of orphaned redheads run around a merry-go-round and some fighting kids. But he lost quite a bit of his cool when he recognized one of the kids fighting as Uzumaki Kushina, he immediately beat other kids around and brought Kushina away; this was an amazing display of taijutsu but well they all are just 7-8 years old whereas he was 9 years entirely 1 year older

"Renji-nii those guys were bad mouthing you"....said Kushina looking down acting like a meek girl

"Lady Kushina how many times have I told you as an aspiring shinobi you mustn't lose your cool"...said Renji sighing

Kushina just looked sideways pouting which Renji thought was cute; as he brought her back to the empty mansion

Uzumaki Renji was an orphan he became the bodyguard of Kushina the royal princess since he was 2 years old; Kushina's father the second Uzukage passed away when she was 2 years old, her mother couldn't take on the news and fell to shock unable to take care of her child and of herself; Renji took care of Kushina and her mother, he fed Kushina, bought medicine for the lady of house, whenever Kushina cried at night he sang a lullaby he did everything a mother could do for their child or a son could do for their parent; At that time Renji was mere three.

Kushina mother although unable to take care of her child looked at Renji like her own, even though there was no blood relation between them but to both of the girls Renji was a family; a Few months later Kushina mother; the matriarch of the royal family passed away, at that time Renji was four and

Kushina three years old

Kushina mother transferred every right and property of the royal family of Uzushiogakure to Renji, Practically making him the new patriarch of the great royal family of Uzushiogakure, But he never took any of that money to himself he fed Kushina; took care of herself anyway he would like a mother and great brother.

Kushina called him Renji-nii and asked him to call her Kushina or by her nickname but he never did so; he always called her my-lady even when she introduced himself as her brother he always corrected saying he is her bodyguard which always earn him her pout; Though he never let anyone found about that, in reality, he is a bodyguard whose status is way higher; after all he is the sole patriarch of the royal blood, he also is the next stand in as the fourth Uzukage.

He was born with a superior Brain...Unlike anyone has ever seen, he is a god given gift to the village of Uzushiogakure

He was born Knowing every single seal out there; in a world where people use their lifetime in order to learn and master seals Renji was born knowing every single seal in the world, when Renji was 8 years old he started his academy he was a prodigy people at orphanage look at him like some kind of monster but to Renji this was nothing, everything comes very easily to him and with all the seal knowledge he was born with, his calligraphy was top notch as well

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(Present)

Kushina and Renji were making their way to their house, the empty royal family mansion which is protected by the third Uzukage personally; since this is not just the home of last of the blood-related royal family but this is also the home of the next stand in the fourth Uzukage

It was then an adult ran towards them, carrying a child and attempting to flee, but was cut down, along with the little boy.

what was 'right' and what was 'easy' fit together at that moment. This was not something Renji could fight and those damn kids didn't deserve to be cut down, nor did an attacking shinobi deserve to have the slaughter of orphans on their conscience. He spun and dashed towards the group of kids faster than he had ever run before, grabbed the first two arms he reached and yanked the terrified children towards the wild trees scarred and gnarled by seawater with Kushina and another boy each dragging another kid behind them. Two more kids caught on and raced after them while the others ran towards the village, calling for their family; Renji led the group through the woods and to the docks where someone left boats painted with seals.

He shoved two kids into the boat, followed by Kushina and the little girl she grabbed. The last four leaped in of their own accord while He yanked the ropes free from the dock, like any good little boy scout from a port city knew how, threw them into the boat, then shoved it away from the dock. When it was far enough away, He took a running leap off the dock, just as a Kiri shinobi appeared in the tree line. Kiri ninja ran forward and nearly caught Renji shoe, but Renji made it to the boat, if barely, with his knees cracking painfully against the side and sure he broke the wrist of the poor kid he landed on. The boat lurched about fifteen yards further into the strait, totaling twenty or so yards away from the deck.

The shinobi grinned and stepped out onto the water to follow, throwing a brace of kunai into the boat. Kushina scrambled up to shout, "I am Uzumaki Kushina and you will leave us alone!" after all what's there to fear when her Nii san is there with her

'Stupid girl'.....thought Renji before making the hand signs

Mist rose and the water swirled angrily around the boat, destroying the footing of the shinobi and dragging him beneath the water where he was dashed against the dock, his neck very obviously broken. Renji collapsed and Kushina barely managed to roll beneath him so he fell inside the boat instead of overboard. Everything went silent, even the poor girl whose arm was broken.

Renji, for once, was extremely proud of himself for saving eight kids, all under the age of ten, from the massacre of Uzushiogakure

What no one realized not even Renji, that the moment Third Uzukage died at the massacre Renji became the current and the fourth Uzukage of the village Uzushiogakure thus earning the right to enter the secret chamber of the village which contains the blue fire and strange techniques of shadows as well as the summon scroll of the legendary phoenix created by their ancestor the sage of six path himself; no one other than uzukage could enter the secret chamber even the bombardment of ninjutsu or taijutsu could not destroy that chamber of secrets (Is this harry potter)

At this very moment, there is only one person alive on this whole planet who has the right and the ability to enter that chamber and fight for all the treasures inside which defeated even the greatest Uzukages

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Now, since there wasn't any active threat, Renji could spend a minute or so bemoaning the fact he had enough attention of the other kids to care. Still, even though his first go-around of practically growing kushina hadn't been all that bad, He was not looking forward to another.

Even so, from the way six children barely old enough for school were looking at Renji (Kushina was out for the count and the girl with the broken arm was hunched over in pain and struggling not to make any noise), He had to take the lead. His Progidious thought process immediately broke down the situation into smaller, manageable tasks. The entire group was injured in some way, many of the injuries could become much more severe if left untreated for much longer, so he tackled that first, careful to keep his voice down.

"Everyone sits with your backs to the edge of the boat, but one at a time and go where I tell you."

The boat was about the size of a large canoe and Renji was extremely thankful that these kids were generally undersized as a rule so there was just barely enough room for them to move without capsizing the boat. He directed three kids to press their backs against each side of the boat and dragged the unconscious Kushina into one of the places while commissioning the strongest and oldest-looking boy to help him with the girl with the broken arm. The boy Renji chose was also the only older kid not injured by the kunai thrown. He felt a bit sick as the blood at the bottom of the canoe was a bit more than just smears. He didn't have a lot of time.

He grabbed one of the kunai embedded in the wood and pulled the ribbon out of a little girl's hair, cut it in half, and tied the kunai around the broken arm as a makeshift brace, then told the girl to hold her arm against her chest, quickly replacing her with another boy who had a kunai through his upper arm and lodged in his rib. The boy commissioned to help him and a second volunteer held the whimpering kid down while Renji yanked the blade out. They kept the pressure on the wounds while he stripped off his shirt and cut it into strips, swallowing down the bile at being forced to play ER doctor, He knew the basics of first aid; He did a brief stint as a Bodyguard of Royal Family, but those classes did absolutely nothing for preparing Renji for taking care of eight redheaded kids stranded on the water that he was certain contained deadly whirlpools that would shake them to death. It took two more volunteered shirts before the wounds were bandaged well enough to stop all of the kids from bleeding out. Renji then stood at the rudder, which he found quite odd for such a small boat, and kept them pointed in the direction towards the mainland, searching for the help of any kind, while the others huddled against the sided of the boat.

Somehow, He never needed to say much. It only took a few motions, maybe a word or two to direct the frightened kids around. The attack had started in the morning and by the time everything was sorted out, it was long past noon. Renji feared the cold that would accompany the night with the wind that could kill us without even a blanket to cover. It wasn't a particularly cold day, with the clear skies and sun, but the night could be dangerous. He prayed to whatever god in charge of this universe or any other universe that somehow someone would chance across us, or that the other side of the strait would appear in sight. Kushina still hadn't woken; he felt bad looking at her after all because of saving him from falling she yanked him back to boat at the cost of slamming her head on the rudder; but he didn't give much thought to it because he is the oldest here and the current uzukage; it's his job to protect his remaining village members, if he won't then who will.

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It was almost suppertime and Renji was starting to second-guess his choices there is practically no food.

DAMMIT.....What's the use of being born with knowing every single fuinjutsu when I can't even have my people fed....no i have to remain strong I am the forth Uzukage these kids are relying on me...thought Renji while taking out a headband from his back pocket it was the headband of the second uzukage; kushina father, his lord, and his father figure; even though Renji never called his lord and lady mother and father but they always look at him like their older son this headband was given to him by the second uzukage at the time of his death as the sole thing he could give Renji at that time, this headband was also the signal to his wife and the third uzukage that he chose Renji as his successor, choosing him as the forth uzukage; Renji was to wear the headband as per his lady and the third Uzukage wish at the time of his graduation

Renji closed his eyes before opening them again and wear the worn out and slightly tattered headband with the symbol of Uzumaki on it

"My lord, My lady; mother, father I will look out for my little sister; I will keep her fed and never ever let anyone hurt her even if it cost my very own life", muttered Renji before looking back to the kids

The shock was beginning to wear off and the younger kids had begun to whimper in pain, fear, and cold while the blood had long since soaked into the wood. They felt sick from exposure to the sun and all of the kids including Renji were dehydrated. The smallest of girls had fallen unconscious. Their short arms couldn't even reach the seawater to pull that in to drink. Thankfully, Kushina was showing signs of waking.

It was nighttime when she finally regained consciousness and the cold had begun to set in. Renji could feel the first tremors setting into his small, half-clothed body, which didn't have the immunity to the cold his adult body had built up.

Suddenly Renji saw the land with fire smoke coming out indicating there were definitely people; not caring if they were enemies, shinobis, friends or civilians; he quickly draws a distress signal seal on the paper; the speed that he drew the seal was astounding it was fast very very fast

The moon followed the same time pattern as the sun as they reached the docks around midnight. Unfortunately, Renji and Kushina were the only ones of the group brave enough to speak to non-Uzumaki shinobi, it was at that very exact moment that Konoha shinobi had the poor kids snatched out of the boat and dragged into an abandoned shack to be interrogated by the leader of the Konoha team sent to aid Uzushiogakure. One of the shinobi Renji recognized has the white hair with Konoha headband. (In case any of you do not get it; it's Hatake sakumo, the white fang of Konoha)

"Here's the deal, kids. I know you're from Uzu and my team and I are headed there now to help your families, but we need as much information as you can remember. Can you tell me anything?"

Everyone immediately looked to Renji and a few pointed as well.

"My brother Renji nii can tell you better than anyone what happened. He's really smart and strong! He saved us!" Kushina said and the other kids agreed.

Every single shinobi looked at Renji and his headband they thought he was the genin of uzu but sakumo didn't; he picked up what no one else did, the uneasiness of Renji as well as how old that tattered headband of uzu really is, it is practically older than his very own headband and he is already 28, while the boy does not look more than 10

Sakumo led Renji out of the sheltered shack, carefully wrapping a warm blanket around him so he didn't freeze in the night air. "Tell me everything, kid." He automatically felt Renji back straighten as they stopped behind a nearby house.

"Everyone is dead; everyone the entire population is dead," Renji stated out bluntly nearly choking

"they used a mist Jutsu to confuse everyone and obscure vision, simultaneously reducing the effectiveness of traps. We escaped because we were at a park near the strait. None of us have anything left to lose"

"Hey! Stay with me, Renji, I still need you to tell me how you got out."

Renji shamefully scrubbed his eyes. "We were on the playground when the mist appeared. I grabbed who I could and ran to the boats. We all jumped in but someone tried to chase us. I used the protective seal on the boat which activated the trap and killed the shinobi, The shinobi had a Kiri forehead protector."

"What did jutsu look like?" Sakumo asked, grabbing my arm to stop me from tipping over.

"I-it made a giant, um, whirlpool around us that dashed him against the dock."

"You've done well, Renji, don't let anything lead you to think any differently."

"Thank you!"

"You've done well, Renji, don't let anything lead you to think any differently."

"Thank you!" as he begins to choke in tears again

"Renji, listen to me," the Hatake ordered and put both hands on Renji's shoulders. "There were two ways you could have chosen; the easy path or the right path; you never wanted to take responsibility of anyone except your sister yet when the time came you saved them without a second thought you become the leader and kept those kids alive you took the responsibility that alone makes you a great leader, Just because you saved those kids' lives, you chose the right path. How old are you? Eight? Seven? You're not expected in any way to take care of yourself, much less anyone else, yet you did what anyone else at your age would never be able to do; so don't go doubting yourself"

Renji eyes become moist and said "You are right about everything but I am not a shinobi I can't just go and turn off my feelings like they are nothing; also there is one thing you should know kushina, she is not my sister, she is my-lady and I am her bodyguard"

Renji couldn't believe it. How the hell did this man thought he could turn off his feelings because the man just said so?

Hatake rubbed his jaw, studying Renji carefully. "You're right, kid. You're not a shinobi 'yet' so I can't ask you to turn off your thoughts and feelings at will. I'll tell you this, though. You will one day become a great leader who will lead your man to help revive the entire clan, years later at the day your clan revive to its former glory; these kids that you saved today will tell the story to their coming generations for years, of your heroic act today, how you saved them"

"You will be a great leader Renji; even if you can't see it I can and I can see it very clearly"

Renji smiled and gently touched his forehead protector "My lord my father figure said the exact same thing when he gave me this forehead protector"

"He must be a great shinobi"

"Yes he was; he was"

Is that why he made me fourth uzukage; because him, lord third and mother saw something in me; I never did?..... thought Renji

"Now, kid, you may still have all that adrenaline pumping through your body, but that gash on your head looks pretty nasty and I think our dear medic has finished up with your friends."

Renji nodded as Hatake took his hand to lead him back to the others. While they walked, Renji prodded at the gash in his right temple and noticed that the blood had coated the whole side of his head and down over his shoulder. He didn't even remember hitting his head, which was probably a bad thing considering all the action they went through. Walking into the little shack they had contained the kids was a second punch to the gut. Standing up from where she knelt beside the youngest kid to survive, who was nearly five, was Tsunade. No one probably shouldn't have been surprised. It was the village of her extended family that had been attacked and she had to have been a damn good medic for her age to be sent to help. Medicine, without a formal, standardized education program in place, had to be a lifelong profession.

Renji flinched away as she turned to him and pressed her palm against the gash on his head.

"Oh stop your flinching, kid, I know exactly what I'm doing and I promise not to hurt you." With quick, practiced movements, she ran her hands across the front of Renji chest and down his arms, stopping to heal the damage to his wrist where he had caught in the boat, shaking her head at something while she turned Renji around and ran a hand down his back then down the sides of both legs, healing the damage to his knees from jerking backward over the edge of the boat.

"Now, we're going to get all of you to Konoha and make sure you're safe".... said Tsunade as she looked at Hatake sakumo for confirmation

Kushina wrapped her arms around Renji, as Renji hugged her tighter

The adults left and the kids began to doze off while Kushina and Renji sat against the door, with Renji hugging her; no matter what, even if Renji was her bodyguard they are just kids; Renji didn't even finish his academy, even if he is the current uzukage he is so weak that he could be killed by anyone decent out there he has no leadership training heck he didn't even wish to be forth uzukage and take the responsibility of the entire village and his clan

"The boy confirmed that Kiri shinobi were attacking the village there might be other villages as well since Kiri alone is not good enough to destroy the entire hidden village made by great shinobis of Uzumaki, We can leave someone here to guard the kids and go on, or we can rush back to the village and get a larger force to back us up when searching for survivors." Sakumo laid out while Renji felt the wall shift slightly as someone leaned against it. Kushina clung to Renji

"That's right we should do it since they are attacking the hidden village of uzu then there must be a hell lot of number of them and not just Kiri as we have been informed"

"So we're just abandoning them?" Tsunade demanded.

"There are nine kids in there we're saving, Tsunade" A second stranger spoke up.

"He has a point" A third stranger cut in

"Both options have equal drawbacks and advantages," Sakumo answered. "You all need to vote, there's nine of you if I remain impartial. Who thinks we should head back with the kids and bring back a stronger force?" There was a long pause. "Five to four, sorry Tsunade, we're heading back. Set up a perimeter around the shack. Tsunade, if the kids need anything, it'll be up to you, the rest of us will take hour-long shifts in pairs, I'll take the two sunrise shifts. We leave as soon as the kids wake up and have eaten."

"No!" Tsunade protested. "We leave now and carry them"

"They only just got off that boat, are you sure?"

"They're just tired and hungry, we can stop to eat in the morning, but the sooner we get back to Konoha, the sooner we can get help to Uzu!"

"Can everyone handle that?"

A chorus of affirmation answered him.

"Right. Tsunade, they're most familiar with you, why don't you bring them out and we'll wrap them in our blankets to keep them from freezing in the wind."

While everyone was making preparation for leaving sakumo brought Tsunade to the side and whispered to her ears " Tsunade look at that boy Renji chakra level don't you think it's too much even for Uzumaki clan

Tsunade focused on Renji chakra only to have her eyes widened, "You are right his chakra it's simply off the chart it's comparable to the jinchiruki yet he is not one, I don't... what's going on?"

"That kid told me he is the bodyguard of that kid kushina I am pretty sure that kid kushina identity is something incredible and her parents made Renji as her bodyguard after seeing his chakra levels"

"what do you think we should do?"

"First keep quiet about it, I am pretty sure something is wrong with that child with the way he handled those kids at the boat and I am not fond of uncertainties I will decide whether to dispose him off or keep him alive for the village but the kid definitely cannot be left unattended" [ in case any of you don't get the meaning; either be used as a tool for the village or go and die]

In the future when young aspiring shinobis ask Renji about his success as a legendary ninja; He would always say he gives the entire credit to his teacher and the second father figure Hatake sakumo and this is the moment where both of them started their journeys

"Orochimaru, you're last," Sakumo said as Tsunade led Renji out with Kushina's face buried in the woman's neck.

"I'm not carrying some snot-nosed kid for hours. Carry him yourself, I'll run scout."

Sakumo rolled his eyes and crouched down. "Come on, kid, hop on my back," he told Renji.

Renji couldn't do it. He felt something weird around this white hair shinobi even when he was a kid he can see the intentions of the others around him and this man intentions were definitely harmful and full of killing intent perhaps this is another power he got, perhaps he is the natural born sensor, either way, he could sense it better than anyone else "I'll walk," Renji crossed his arms stubbornly.

Sakumo met his gaze for a moment before motioning for the others to move out without them. "We're not going to be walking kid—"

"Then I'll run—"

"If you were a Genin, I would consider it, but you won't be able to keep up with us. We don't have the time to teach you to tree hop, and you don't have the stamina to make it back to Konoha. You need to rest more than anything and I'm not above forcing you to sleep, got it? You can ride on my back and tolerate it, or you can wake up when we reach the village gates."

"Why can't I stay here?"

"You'll freeze kid, even with that blanket, or you'll be either captured or killed."

Renji growled and swallowed the bitter pill

"I think you've been working too hard kid, You need to rest."

Sakumo laid a hand on Renji head and the night's ambient light faded.