Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and all material in this story is owned by it's respective owners.

Chapter 1 – One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

"That's it! Enough! No more! I can't do this any longer!" Misaki had had enough. Truthfully, she had probably had enough three weeks ago when Naruto had put that bucket of frogs in her dresser, but the look on her face told him that she was really serious this time.

"I'm sorry! I didn't do it this time! I swear! I wouldn't do something like that! I promise! I didn't do it!" Naruto sobbed at the young lady. For once in his eight years of life, he hadn't been responsible, but it didn't matter, it never mattered. Naruto had quickly figured out that everything that went wrong at the orphanage was always his fault, whether he was involved or not.

"Oh?! And I suppose all of my underwear just decided to up and vanish of its own accord?! No, I don't think so! The Hokage is going to hear about this right now!" Naruto watched as the person who had raised him for as long as he could remember stormed across the room.

"Now sit there and stay put, you little demon!" She shouted back over her shoulder as she threw open the door, stormed through, and slammed it behind her.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to reconsider?" Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed into his hands as he stared at the young, and obviously fuming, woman in front of him. In all his years as Hokage, that boy was hands down the greatest challenge of his career.

"Absolutely not! Either he goes, or I do!" Hiruzen's eyes flicked over her face, analyzing every last detail, from the slight blush that was just barely visible on her cheeks, to the look of violation and sheer rage in her eyes. The better part of five decades of ninja training told him that the boy had seriously over-stepped the line this time.

"What, exactly, has he done wrong this time?"

"What did he do?! That little demon hid all of my underwear!" The woman screamed back at him before her hands clamped swiftly over her mouth in realization of what she had just yelled out loud.

"Misaki, I've told you before not to call Naruto-chan a demon in my presence."

"Forgive me Hokage-sama, but if you will not do something about this, then I have to resign."

"I don't think we need to be that hasty. I'll deal with the situation first thing in the morning. Now for the time being, please return to the orphanage. It's not safe to leave the children unsupervised like this after all."

"Of course, Hokage-sama." Misaki bowed low and hurried out of his office.

"Hmm... That didn't sound like one of Naruto-chan's usual pranks. It didn't have any frogs in it." Sarutobi chuckled to himself as he lit his pipe. "Regardless, this puts me in a tough spot... I'm going to have to speed up my plans for the boy considerably."

As promised, Hiruzen was at the orphanage bright and early that morning, but what he had found there had him worried. Naruto was sitting in the corner of the room, between his bed and the wall, his head resting on his knees, and his arms wrapped protectively around his legs. Hiruzen immediately noticed that the sheets on Naruto's bed had obviously not been slept in the night before.

"Misaki, what happened to him?" He kept his voice low as he leveled his eyes on the young woman. As much as he wanted to take the girl and throttle her to figure out what she had done to Naruto, he didn't want to upset the boy any further, and besides, he didn't have any proof.

"What? I didn't do anything to the brat. He was like that when I got back here." Hiruzen nodded at her answer, although he noted that it appeared that the woman had somehow managed to find her wayward undergarments since they had last spoken.

Hiruzen took a few cautious steps towards the blond, his eyes never leaving the spiky haired boy. By the time he had reached the foot of his bed, Naruto had obviously realized that someone was walking towards him and was flinching every time he took another step.

"Naruto-chan?" Sarutobi winced slightly as Naruto's head snapped up and his dull blue eyes locked onto the Hokage. Those eyes of his were what worried him the most. They were like smoldering sapphires, a deep cobalt blue streaked with a stormy gray. Every time he saw them, he was reminded of a cloudy sky just on the verge of rain. When Naruto realized who had called his name, however, the change in his eyes was amazing, where once they were dull and lifeless, now they were bright and full of hope. It was like the sun had suddenly cut through the clouds, streaking his eyes with a vibrant gold.

"Jiji!" Naruto literally flung himself out of the corner he was huddled in and wrapped his arms around Hiruzen with an almost frightening speed. The boy had amazing talent, if only he could learn to control it...

"Hello, Naruto-chan." He wrapped one hand around the boy and ruffled his unruly hair with the other. He really did look exactly like his father... It was such a shame that he couldn't put everyone in their place by revealing his heritage.

"Naruto, how would you like to leave here and live on your own?" He had to repress a grimace when he watched Naruto's eyes brighten at the prospect of getting out of the orphanage. No eight year old boy should feel that living on his own is an improvement.

"Really?! That would be AWESOME!" Naruto shouted and jumped into the air, much to Hiruzen's delight at seeing the boy bounce back from whatever had happened the night before.

"Alright then let's go get you an apartment." He smiled down at the boy as he led him to the door, stopping briefly in front of Misaki.

"Good-bye, Misaki-san." The words were short and cold and the Hokage's gaze pressed down on her as his eyes narrowed.

"Good-bye, Hokage-sama, Naruto-kun." Misaki gulped as the pair left and the door slammed closed behind them.

"This is amazing! You mean I really get to stay here? I don't have to ever go back to the orphanage?" Naruto shouted excitedly as he bounced around the modest apartment. It wasn't much, it certainly wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a roof over his head and everything inside at least functioned.

"That's right, Naruto-chan. This can be your apartment if you want, but you'll need to take care of it, alright?" He gave the boy a small smile as he watched his head bob up and down.

"Good. Now before we go and sign the papers, you need to understand that you'll have to pay for this apartment, utilities, and food. I'll be able to help you for the first few years, but after that you'll have to pay for everything on your own. That means you'll need to get a job." He couldn't help but shake the feeling that this was a bad move. He should not have to be having this conversation with an eight year old child, but what choice did he have? It was either this, or leave the boy to Danzo and his ilk, and that was a far worse fate.

"I want to be a ninja just like you, Jiji!" Naruto smiled as he ran around his new apartment. He still couldn't believe he didn't have to spend any more time in that filthy orphanage where everyone hated him. Things were finally looking up.

"Of course, Naruto-chan. I'll see to it that you're on the roaster for the next class at the academy."

"Hey Jiji? Does this mean I can do what I want now?"

"To a degree Naruto-chan, but I'll have people checking in on you from time to time. You won't see them, but we'll be watching you, so try not to get into trouble, okay?" He gave the boy a small smile before returning to the landlord to work out all of the paper work. The amount the man was charging for the apartment was outrageous, but he was one of the few people even willing to offer the boy a place at all, and he was the only one who had one where everything worked. There was no way that he'd be able to get the village to fund everything the boy needed. Thankfully, he had a fair sum of personal money saved that should last long enough for Naruto to begin paying for it himself.

Naruto was hungry. It had been a week since he got his apartment, and the food that the Hokage and he had gotten was gone, and the old man wasn't supposed to visit again for another three days. Left with no other option, Naruto had to venture out and go shopping on his own. Thankfully, the Hokage had thought to leave him his allowance for the month, so he at least had a little bit of money he could use to buy groceries with.

After making sure the door to his apartment was securely closed and locked, Naruto began making his way toward the market district. He smiled at everyone he met; sometimes he even waved at them as he passed. To him life could not get any better, but he completely failed to notice all of the glares he was getting in return.

The first stall Naruto decided to stop at was a small fruit stand. He always did love apples; at least he loved the few he had managed to get from the other kid's lunches when they weren't looking. Naruto spotted a bright red juicy looking one and picked it up.

"Excuse me miss, how much does this apple cost?" Naruto had to repeat himself a few times before the elderly woman running the stall heard him and turned around.

"They're not for sale!" The women gave him a cold stare and snatched the apple out of his hands.

"What? But you just sold one a few minutes ago!" His confusion was written across his face as he tried to figure out what was wrong with this crazy old lady.

"They're not for sale, to you." The woman repeated herself, putting extra emphasis on the last couple words.

"Why? I just wanted to buy an apple..." Naruto couldn't figure out why she just wouldn't sell him an apple.

"Get lost!" In the time that he had spent thinking, the woman had come around her stall and was brandishing a broom. Naruto had to duck a few times to avoid it as he made a hasty exit, the yells of the crazy lady following him the entire way.

"Jeez... I just wanted an apple. Maybe the other stores will be better." At least he hoped they would be.

Sadly, luck was not on Naruto's side, and every place he went, he received similar treatment. One person even threw rotten vegetables at him! He was starting to think that everyone just hated him, but he had finally found a stand that was willing to sell him some food. It cost him his entire month's worth of allowance, but he was now happily strolling back to his new apartment with a large bag under each arm. Naruto was so happy to have some real food that he wasn't paying attention at all to where he was going, and walked right into someone's leg, dropping his bags in the process.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"I'm sorry... I wasn't looking in front of me. I didn't mean to bump into you mister." The man stared down at the boy who had just knocked into him. He knew the boy looked familiar, but he wasn't able to place him until he noticed the whisker shaped scars on his cheeks.

"Sorry? I don't think you're sorry enough, Demon!" The man shouted as he walked over to Naruto's groceries and stomped on them.

"My food! Now what am I supposed to eat?!" Naruto watched with tears in his eyes as the man ground his entire month's worth of money and food into the dusty street.

"You should have thought about that before you slammed into me. Maybe this will teach you some damn manners!" The man laughed and gave the bags one last kick for good measure before strolling down the street as if nothing had happened, leaving Naruto to salvage whatever was left.

All of his food in the bags was ruined, and the few things that had rolled out of the way were muddy and getting kicked around by the heavy foot traffic. In the end, he wasn't even able to salvage a single item that he had bought. Hungry and broke, Naruto ran towards his apartment complex, tears streaming down his face as he tried to put as much distance between him and the street his food was now laying in. He was so upset that he completely missed the intersection his street was on, and kept on running. Now hopelessly lost, he finally collapsed in the alley next to some sort of food stand.

"Ayame-chan? Could you go take out the garbage for me please?"

"Sure thing Dad!"

Naruto had heard the voices, but they didn't really register with him. The only word he had really heard was 'dad' and that had just sent him into another fit of crying. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even see the teenage girl throw a bag of garbage over his head and into the barrel next to him.

"Oh my! Daddy, there's a boy back here, and he's crying!"

"What?! Better bring him inside dear, no sense in him crying out in some dirty old alley when he can do it in here and at least be up off of the ground!" The older voice from before called back out to his daughter.

"Alright!" The girl yelled back in response before turning back to the sobbing mass of blond hair in front of her. "Hey, you alright?" She gently nudged the boy, who seemed to not even notice she was there.

"I'm talking to you, ya know! The least you could do is respond!" Ayame shook the boy's shoulder a little harder to try and get a response from him. She was hoping to get him to look up at her, but instead he just flinched away from her hand and curled up even tighter.

"Fine! Be that way, but I'm not just going to let you sit out here in the dirt. You're coming inside whether you like it or not!" She reached out and gently tried to pick the boy up. He resisted at first, but when he realized he had nowhere to go he gave up and let the girl carry him inside.

"Here he is dad... I don't know what's wrong with him though. He wouldn't even look at me when I talked to him. He didn't even respond. I had to pick him up just to get him to move at all." She gently placed the curled up boy onto the stool in the corner and sat down next to him, amazed at how he managed to balance on the stool yet stay curled up at the same time.

"Come on now, can you tell us what's wrong?" The older man asked from across the counter as he looked down at the obviously upset child.

"I like your shirt. Is that a frog?" Ayame rubbed his back gently in an attempt to cheer him up. She was absolutely delighted to see his head nod slightly in response to her question.

"My name's Ayame. What's yours?"

"Na...Naruto" Naruto sniffled, his head still buried in his arms.

"That's such a pretty name. Can you tell us why you're so upset, Naruto-chan?"

Naruto shook his head violently, almost slipping off of the stool in the process.

"Naruto, no one here is going to be mad at you. I promise." Naruto immediately looked up into the eyes of the older man.

"You... You promise?"

"I do. My name is Teuchi." The man nodded. He looked nice enough. His short brown hair was just starting to streak with gray, and his eyes were warm and welcoming, unlike the usual cold stares that he normally got.

"Some... Some guy... ruined all of my food... and now... now I don't have anything to eat." The boy managed to choke out between sobs.

"That's horrible!" Ayame commented as she tried to comfort the blond.

"No one should treat a child like that..." Teuchi knew the reason of course, but that wasn't an excuse to heap abuse onto an innocent child. "Tell you what... How about I cook you up my super-special ramen?"

"I... I don't have any money... I spent... spent it all on that food..."

"Don't worry about it, Naruto-chan. This one is on the house." Teuchi's heart almost broke at the look of sheer relief that spread over the boy's face.

"Thank you, Teuchi-sama." Naruto bowed low in his seat, his forehead almost touching the counter. He usually hated having to 'be polite', but Teuchi was the first person to show him any kindness at all outside of the old man, so he felt that he deserved it.

"Now now, enough of that. Teuchi-san is just fine." The man laughed. "Just give me a few minutes and I'll have your ramen ready." The man added as he turned around to begin work.

"Are you feeling better now, Naruto-chan?" Ayame asked as she got her first good look at the boy. He would have been extremely cute if it weren't for the weird whisker shaped scars on his face and the fact that his clothes were way too large for his malnourished frame.

"A little..." Naruto nodded.

"That's good. Why don't you come in back with me, and we'll get you cleaned up while Dad works on your lunch, okay?" Ayame quickly glanced at her father to make sure it was alright before grabbing Naruto's hand and dragging him back into the small house that was attached to the back of the stand.

"Here we go. Why don't you go wash up while I clean these for you?" Ayame asked as she opened the door to their bathroom. Naruto nodded, and handed her his torn shirt and his muddy pants before closing the door.

"Dad... His clothes are all torn up and ripped... like more than a little street fight would get them."

"I think we still have some of your little cousin's clothes in those boxes in the closet. Why don't you see if you can find something that will fit him? No one should have to walk around in ripped clothing."

"Sure thing, Dad." Ayame nodded and ran off in search of a decent set of clothes for the boy.

Naruto was in heaven. He never got to have a hot bath. The orphanage always made him rinse off outside, and the water in his apartment was always ice cold. He considered staying in there longer than was necessary, but he didn't want to overstep the hospitality of the first people that didn't seem to hate him, so he decided to hurry and clean up as fast as possible.

After he finished drying off, he found two piles of clothes sitting just outside of the bathtub.

"Are you done already, Naruto-chan?" Ayame's voice called from behind the door.

"Uh-huh."

"I washed your clothes for you, but you should put on the other set in there. They're some of my cousin's extra clothes, and they'll probably fit you better than what you were wearing." Naruto looked down at the second set of clothes next to his before putting them on and walking back out to the front of the stand.

"You look so much better now, Naruto-chan!" Ayame smiled as she looked the boy over. He was wearing a plain navy blue t-shirt, and a pair of tan shorts. They weren't much, but they were clean and free of holes.

"Your hair is sticking up though..." Ayame commented as she tried to flatten his unusually spiky hair, only to have it stick right back up again. "It just doesn't stay flat does it?" Naruto shook his head as Teuchi set a large steaming bowl of ramen down in front of him.

Naruto stared down at the bowl in front of him; the smell alone was driving his senses wild. It was like something out of one of his dreams, the way the meat and vegetables floated lazily in the rich broth and the noodles glistened in the early afternoon sun, it was absolutely perfect.

"Thank you so much." The ramen looked so appetizing he had almost forgotten to thank the man for the meal.

Formalities out of the way, Naruto looked around in search of something to eat it with. They certainly wouldn't appreciate him inhaling it like some sort of wild animal. To his dismay, he could only find chopsticks, something he had precious little practice in using as the orphanage had always made him use his hands instead.

Shakily, Naruto lifted a pile of noodles to his mouth, only to have them slip out of his chopsticks at the last second. His second try was only marginally better than his first, but this time he at least managed to get a bite of some of it.

"Naruto-chan... Do you want some help?" Ayame had noticed the awkward way he was holding his chopsticks and the look of frustration on his face as yet another mouthful of noodles slipped back into the bowl. Naruto, however, just shook his head as he tried once again to eat his meal.

"Dad... do we have a fork, or something? Maybe that would be easier for him..." Ayame asked her father as she watched the boy try again.

"No! I'm going to do this!" Naruto shouted as he speared a piece of meat with one of his chopsticks.

"Here, at least let me show you how to hold them properly." Ayame slipped behind the young blond and adjusted the thin pieces of wood in his hand, showing him how to move them so he wouldn't drop everything.

"See? Isn't that better?" Naruto nodded enthusiastically, having finally gotten the hang of it, and dug into the remainder of his meal with gusto.

"That was the best food I've ever tasted!" Naruto exclaimed as he set the, now empty, bowl back onto the counter.

"Well I'm glad you liked it." Teuchi smiled at him.

"I sure did! Hey... Umm... Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure thing, Naruto-chan. What can I help you with?"

"Umm... Well... I'm kind of lost. I don't know how to get back to my apartment from here."

"Of course! Ayame-chan, why don't you show him how to get back home?" Teuchi waited for his daughter to nod in agreement.

"There! That's settled then. Oh, I almost forgot, you said you were out of food right?" Naruto nodded.

"Then take this. I can't let my newest customer walk out of my stand knowing that he's walking home to an empty fridge!" Teuchi smiled as he put a pair of plastic bags full of food on the counter.

"I... Thank you." Naruto nodded as he left with Ayame to find his apartment.

A/N:

Yes, I know, Naruto comes off really pathetic in this chapter. I'm sorry, but it's a necessary evil in order to make the rest of the story work, so please bear with it for another chapter or two. And to answer your question: No, Naruto is not going to go emo on you, so if you were planning on not reading the story because of that, you needn't worry.

Sorry to disappoint you folks, but this isn't going to be a NaruAya fic. I know Hinata hasn't shown up yet, but she will :P

I'm also going to apologize up front for the long delays between chapters of this story. I'm writing this in between WoF chapters as a sort of side project, so don't expect frequent updates. In fact, this chapter alone took almost three months to write.

Finally, this chapter is a little shorter than what I usually write, but there's a time-skip between the end of the last scene in this chapter and the start of the next one, so it was either stop here, or time-skip mid chapter :P

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Also look for chapter 6 of WoF to be up sometime soon. It's mostly written, it just hasn't reached the polish that I want yet.

Translations:
Jiji – Grandfather. This is Naruto's nickname for the Third Hokage.