Chapter 1 New Beginnings

A young, blonde haired boy was running down the streets. Two men were chasing him.

"You're not going to get away from us!" one of the men shouted.

The young boy ran until he got to his apartment building. He quickly ran up the stairs, took out his keys, and unlocked the door to his apartment. He closed the door and locked it.

"Phew! That was a close call." said Naruto as he was walking away from the door.

He could hear the men cursing because they were too late to catch him. Naruto was used to being chased by people. When the older people caught him, they would scold him about not coming within a few yards of their houses. When he was confronted by young kids and teenagers, he would get beaten up.

"I am really tired of the same people chasing me every day. Those two are real jerks." said Naruto in a low and gruff voice.

Naruto laid down on his bed a quickly fell asleep. The next morning, Naruto made a bowl of ramen and left the apartment. He started walking towards the weapons shop. He needed new weapons because his old ones were all worn out. The owner of the weapons shop was named Izanagi. Izanagi was the only person in all of Konoha who was kind to Naruto.

"So, Naruto, what brings you here?" asked Izanagi.

"I need some new weapons. Mine are all worn out." said Naruto.

Naruto showed Izanagi the old weapons. Izanagi saw that the kunai were dull and the shurikens' sharp ends were broken.

"I'll get you some new shurikens and kunai. Just wait a sec. OK?" said Izanagi.

Naruto nodded. Izanagi moved towards the back room where he stored all the weapons. He brought out a huge box that had a variety of weapons in it. Izanagi told Naruto to pick out the weapons he wanted. Naruto took a 12 kunai, 30 shurikens, 15 paper bombs, 10 flash bombs, and 2 rolls of trap wire.



"How much will this all cost?" asked Naruto.

"Today's your birthday, right?" asked Izanagi.

Naruto nodded.

Izanagi said "You can have the stuff for free. I'll also throw in a katana. Consider it a birthday present."

Wow! Thank you very much!" Naruto said happily.

Naruto took all the stuff that Izanagi gave him and went home. On the way back to his apartment, the two men that were chasing him the day before had finally caught up to Naruto.

"There you are. We were looking for you yesterday. You got lucky, but now, you won't be able to get away from us." said the man in front of Naruto.

Naruto turned around to get away, but the other man was blocking his way. Both of the men started to beat up Naruto. They knocked the weapons Naruto was carrying out of his hands. Young kids saw what the two men were doing and more people started to hurt Naruto. Later, Naruto woke up and it was very late. He saw all the weapons were scattered on the floor. It was lucky for him that no one took his katana. He picked up the weapons and his katana. He started to limp to his apartment. When he got inside, he put the stuff down.

"I'm tired of all this! I hate Konoha!" Naruto exclaimed.

Naruto thought of leaving Konoha many times before, but this time he was really about to leave. That night, Naruto packed his weapons, a first aid kit, a tent wrapped in a small bag, a large package containing many food products, a water container, and his katana. Early in the morning, Naruto went by the weapon shop. Izanagi was there checking the inventory.

"Hey Izanagi!" called Naruto.

"Naruto! What are you doing here so early?" asked Izanagi.

Naruto explained to Izanagi how he was tired of the horrible way he was treated by the people in Konoha. He also told Izanagi that he was leaving Konoha.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Izanagi in a depressed tone.

"Yes. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I will never forget you. Goodbye." said Naruto.

"Goodbye and good luck." said Izanagi.

Both of them were blinded by tears as soon as they separated. Naruto started towards the village gate. When he got there he stopped to remember all the good times he had at Konoha no matter how few there were. He remembered the first time he met Izanagi. He also remembered when Izanagi bought 

Naruto his apartment. He also remembered when he received the katana from Izanagi a couple of days ago. Naruto was now ready to leave Konoha.

"It's time for a new beginning." said Naruto as he left the village to begin his new life.