Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Naruto POV

It's Monday again, yet another boring day at the academy. I wonder why they scold me all the time for not doing well in class. I mean, the first good grade I got, I got in trouble for cheating, I mean, what's the incentive, get scolded on both sides of the spectrum?

Oh well, I guess that's what I'll have to live with. That as well as those spooky dreams with the gigantic zoo and the mean fox, always making jokes about me. It's not funny. Damn subconscious, everyone seems to poke fun at me, even my own self, if I interpreted that dream right.

Class is starting. Hey wait, where's the girl with those pretty white eyes? Where's Hinata?

Hinata POV

Oh no, I'm late. If tou-sama finds out about this, he's gonna kill me. Must not be late, must not be late!

CRASH DING

Yes! Barely made it. Oh geez, everyone's laughing at me. What the, whose hands are those?

AH! It's Naruto-Kun!!

"Are you okay?"

He asked me if I'm okay! What should I say? If I say yes, maybe he'll walk away. If I say no though, he might walk me to my sea-

"NARUTO! GET AWAY FROM HER!"

"YES, SENSEI!"

Damn sensei! Naruto-kun's gone now. Now he won't walk me to my seat.

"Hinata, are you okay?" sensei asked, while giving an occasional accusatory glance at Naruto, who was staring out the window now, head supported by his arm. He looks so cute that way.

"I'm fine," I said, walking to my seat next to Sakura. I was so jealous of her; she always had Naruto staring at her in class. If only he looked at me like that….

Naruto POV

Damn sensei, this stuff's pointless. I already know about the fucking Third Shinobi War. I looked down out the piece of paper I had torn from my notebook, which had written on it, Why do we need to learn this crap? I slid it over to Sasuke. I watched as my best friend read it over and flipped it over and scribbled on the back. He slid it back to me.

Just deal with it like the rest of us.

I wish I could. OW! Damn eraser.

"Naruto! Passing notes in class are we? See me after class!"

Of course I was the only one in trouble. Sasuke shot me an apologetic glance, I flicked my hand, indicating it was no problem. I resorted to staring at Hinata take down notes. Damn sensei, I was about to walk her to her seat. But to no avail. I always thought she was cute. All the adults seem so adverse to me even talking to her. She looked so pretty as she combed back her bangs behind her left ear. Oh crap! She saw me staring! Hide blush and look away, hide blush and look away.

Hinata POV

There he goes staring at Sakura again. Everyone knows she and half the class adore Sasuke, but he still goes after her. I wonder why everyone always messes with him? The kids always make fun of him and tease him when he's not hanging out with Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji, or Kiba. The girls always seem to tease him too, even though I don't know what about because they always shut up when they see me. Probably not to make offense to the Hyuuga Heiress. Sometimes I just wanna punch them all to make them stop.

Naruto POV

Later that day

"Haru, Haru Kataaaaanaaaaaa," I sang as I walked back home. I noticed that there was no one messing with me today, at least this balances out the rest of my crappy day. Hey, is that Hinata on that bench? It is! I began running torwards until I saw a black blur and was thrown back a couple of feet.

"You are to say Hinata-sama, demon brat,"said two cold, unforgiving white eyes. Probably a Hyuuga branch member. But he said demon-brat. Why does every adult outside of school say that.

"Why?" I asked, "I just want to talk to her."

"She'd never want to talk to the likes of you."

"But-"

"Go away, before I decide to kill you."

Those cold eyes I looked into ensured me it wasn't an empty threat. He really meant it. He would kill me.

I scrambled up and turned around, running as fast as I could from those scary eyes. My tears fell to the ground as I ran away for dear life.

The next week

I sat on the usual spot, waiting for the guys to show up. I looked up to see Sasuke, Kiba, and Choji walking towards me, depressed looks on their faces.

"Hey guys! Watcha wanna do today."

"Naruto," Kiba said, looking at me in the eyes, with a sad look upon his face. Akamaru even seemed to be pouting.

"Naruto, our parents told us we couldn't hang out with you anymore,"Choji said, holding his bag of potato chips to the side, unopened.

"You're kidding, right?" I begged, wishing that it wasn't true. What did everyone have against me? I haven't even met their parents before.

"We're sorry, Naruto, but we have to leave,"Sasuke said, withour looking up. The three of them turned and walked away. I sat there frozen, holding the tears back. They turned the corner and disappeared. I saw Shikamaru appear from the street on the right. I didn't even bother to look up at him.

"Did your parents say not to hang around me too?" I said, knowing the answer already.

"Yes," he said, causing me to lower my head.

"But," he continued, "I think it's be too troublesome to find a new place to sit. Besides, statistically speaking, my mother's right about 50% of the time. I'm taking this as a wrong."

I stood up and smiled.

"Thanks Shikamaru," I said, turning to walk away.

"Where are ya goin'?" he asked.

"I don't know, but thanks Shikamaru," I said as I walked away. I realized now there was no point in me staying. Most of my friends were ordered to stay away from. The girl I liked, I probably had no chance with, probably didn't even know I existed. And even if I did have a chance, her clan would make sure that I was killed before I even got to say hi. My grades in school meant nothing if I was reprimanded for succeeding. The only teacher that never tried stunting my growth was Iruka-sensei, but I wouldn't see him again until the last year in the Academy, which was to long away. I sighed. I had no more reason to really stay here. I circumnavigated the park today, making sure that I wouldn't at least inconvenience her by my presence. By the time I reached home, it was nightfall. I opened the door and looked inside.

Old ramen packages and cups, a barely functioning microwave, open scrolls, and a worn mattress adorned the ground. I sighed as I pulled up the mattress and pulled out the little money I had scrounged up and hadn't used on the bare necessities, aka: ramen, mattress, microwave, and school supplies. Barely one hundred dollars (I'll use dollar cuz I'm not sure if the Naruto universe uses yen, and I don't know the conversion if they do.) Guess I'll have to make due. I went to my closet and grabbed my other orange jumpsuit, identical to the one I was already wearing. I disliked it. I loved orange, but in such abundance, it grew distasteful. But it was the only thing that the bargain store had let me buy a year ago. Until of course someone from the village actually started working there. They both stunk, both having being washed only in the river, which only succeeded in making them wet and fade when I left them to dry in the sun. I grabbed and old bag from the closet and stuck the jumpsuit, as well as a blanket, some ramen, and the money, into the bag. I decided that it'd be easier to avoid people if I jumped along the rooftops. Besides, no ninja would try to stop ME from leaving, they'd probably point me to a faster route if anything.

Kakashi POV

I looked up from my novel as I noticed a strange orange blur pass by. I looked closer and noticed it was that Naruto kid that sensei sealed the Kyuubi in. He's pretty fast for an academy student, above average chuunin speed. I wonder why he has that bag. Hm, probably a camping trip. I shrugged it off as I continued to read and let the blush return to my face.

Liza, I can't let you go. I must……

Naruto POV

I reached the main gate. I noticed Chuunin guards were watching the gate. They probably wouldn't mind. I sped past them and leaped into the trees as I cleared the gate.

"Good riddance," I heard one mumble.

Iruka POV

"Anything happen?" I asked as I adjusted my pants, returning from a quick bathroom break.

"Just the demon brat leaving the village," said Mizuki.

Demon brat? I thought, then it dawned on me.

"Naruto?!?"

"Just when you left to take a shit. So 'bout ten-twelve minutes."

Naruto…..

Naruto POV

I ran as fast as I could. No one probably really cared though. Except maybe the old man and Iruka-sensei. Most likely, they wouldn't find out about it until a week later. I began to lose myself in my thoughts when I slipped and fell, right into the face of big fuzzy eyebrows. When I got up, I noticed right away that a mess of green spandex, furry caterpillars, which turned out to be eyebrows, and a black bowl haircut, was lying in front of me. The man looked up at me in a daze and I was about to apologize when I noticed he wore a jounin vest and a Konoha hitai-ate around his waist. I stumbled backwards, and then leaped into the trees, leaving the dazed man to reorient himself.

Gai POV

Who was that? Ow, my head hurts. Whisker marks, orange, blonde hair, orange, blue eyes, orange…

Haha! It must be the legendary orange yellow, blue-eyed fox! No wonder why it was so fast!

Naruto POV

I hope he doesn't chase after me. It's getting bright; maybe I should stop and rest for the rest of the night. I landed in a clearing and lied down next to the base of a tree. I took my blanket out and wrapped it around me, using my bag as a pillow. I drifted off to sleep under the moonlight and the rising sun.

Jiraiya POV

I wonder who's behind the attacks on the five-tails jinchuuriki. Could it be Orochimaru, he seems like someone who would do that. But why the five-tails? The Nine-tails jinchuuriki is in Konoha and is only, um, 12 or 13. It would be fairly easy to capture him. Wait a sec, is that a kid?

I jumped down from the tree I had stopped in and went to observe the kid.

Maybe he's homeless. But why would he be so far from any city. He must be from Konoha, seeing how it's the closest. The kid turned over, revealing his face to me. Blonde hair, whisker marks.

I was taken aback. I laughed to myself silently. He is the spitting image of his father. But what's he doing here? Was he kicked out? No, Sarutobi-sensei would never allow for that, even if the entire council said yes. He'd come up with something. Then he must've run away. Is it that terrible there?

I looked up at the sky and noticed it was almost morning. I guess I'll wait till he wakes up….

Hinata POV

Two Days Since Naruto Left

Where's Naruto? The is the second day he's been absent. I hope nothing happened to him. I looked at Sasuke and noticed that he seemed off, as if his mind was elsewhere. He looked ashamed of something. I wonder if had anything to do with Naruto. I resolved to ask him about it.

After class

"Um, Sasuke, do you know what happened t Naruto," I asked him as he was packing his stuff.

Sasuke froze when I asked him, and tightened his fist.

"I don't know," he said, shaking.

"But you're his best friend. Why don't you?" I retorted.

"I'm not worthy enough to be called that anymore," he said, walking away without giving me a second glance, "Not after what I did."

The way he said it, it made it seem as if he did something horrible. I was unable to retain my composure.

"What'd you do to him?!?" I demanded.

"You liked him, didn't you?" he asked, without turning to face me.

"That's beside the point!"

"My parents told me I shouldn't hang out with him anymore. Like an idiot, I listened. I only realized that when my brother told me, 'You should always keep your friends close. At times like these, you don't know what'll happen. Just because mom and dad said you should avoid him, doesn't mean you have to listen.' I was planning on apologizing to him yesterday, but he wasn't here. I asked Iruka-sensei if he knew anything."

"What'd he say?" I said, hoping it was good news. The way things were turning though, it didn't seem like it would.

"I'm sorry Hinata. Naruto left the village. No one knows where he went. All I know is he's gone, and he's probably not coming back."

I collapsed onto floor as tears clouded my vision. I watched as the blurred image of Sasuke walked out of the room. I sobbed to myself as I realized I might never see Naruto again.