Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or anything affiliated with it.

Naruto stared at the dark brown walls that towered above him. To both his right and left the massive structures stretched for a half-mile, and then merged into the mountain to seal the only hole in the valley's defenses. He took a step towards the corroded copper gate that split the wall in half, however he stopped five feet away from it. He looked down at the papers in his left hand, and then at the suitcase in his right.

"You can still go back, it's not too late, you know." Narutotold himself, even though he knew he couldn't leave now, "Maybe they won't want me here. Maybe I'll be able to go back home." These thoughts comforted Naruto for a while, but after a few moments he decided to face his fate head on. He walked up to the gates and banged his fist on their ancient green surface.

"What is ya'r business?" A man from behind the gate said as he slid open a slot in the gate. His voice was very deep and heavy, and sounded a little drunken.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, of Konoha. I am here as part of the cultural exchange from the treaty." Naruto waved his papers for the man to see.

"Hold on, ya' blitter." The man said after inspecting Naruto's papers. He shut the slide and walked over to the gatehouse. Then, the gates opened a crack, just big enough for Naruto to fit through. "I'll take those off ya'r hands for ya'." The man said as he snatched Naruto's papers from him. "The Tsuchikage will want to see these." The man took a break to let out several deep coughs, "Here's ya'r residence. It's a boarding house, so ye'll hafta share it with some other shinobi." The man handed Naruto a paper with an address on it, and then stumbled back into his chair in the gatehouse.

Naruto wandered through the city, trying desperately to find the street his new home was on. He wanted to ask one of the people, but all of them seemed too busy to be interested in him or his business. The women were walking to market, some carrying jugs on their heads, others with new-borns on their backs. The men were all too involved in talking to each other and eating their lunches, but that did not stop the smoke from their pipes wandering over and sending Naruto into a short coughing fit. He was used to tobacco smoke, as people smoked in Konoha all the time, but this smoke was new to him.

Before he could figure what the smoke smelled like, a young woman came up to him. She wore a Iwagakure headband, with a yellow strap. The symbol on her hitai-ite had an underscore. She appeared to be about Naruto's age, and was even about the same height. Her long, brown hair was pulled into a ponytail at the crown of her head, and reached to about her shoulders. Her eyes were a deep shade of jade, that seemed to pull Naruto in and distracted him from the more intricate detail of her face.

"Hello, I see that you are from Konohagakure. You are here for cultural exchange, no?" Her voice was mature and educated sounding, but retained the innocence of a child. Naruto nodded his head 'yes' in response. "Then you now live in the same building as me! You are to be my new mentor!" She jumped with excitement as she spoke, not realizing that the air was upsetting Naruto.

"Yeah, I'm here for that. What do you mean 'you're new mentor?' I just got here, I can't find anything." Naruto stood back straight and tried to keep from coughing.

"Come then, I show you now!" She said with excitement.

After a few minutes of weaving in and out of the crowds, they eventually arrived at a relatively nice looking, two story ornate building toward the edge of the great city. It's copper pagoda roof, like those of the surrounding architecture, was corroded to a dull green. The main of the building, however, looked brand new. They walked into the entrance and were immediately greeted by several individuals.

The first, who seemed to be the oldest, introduced himself as "the Proprietor" and explained that he owned the building. He had a very thick and muscular build, complimented by his square face that was hidden by his bushy brown beard. His small, green eyes seemed to pierce straight trough Naruto, examining every detail of his being in short intervals of glances.

The second man said he was "Takeo", a shinobi academy student set to graduate and the end of the semester. He was a lanky thin man, no older then Naruto and indeed much shorter. His hair was cut short in the front, but reached down to the base of his neck in the back. You could see stubble around his entire jaw, but his chin and upper lip were both covered with thick black hair.

The girl that had escorted Naruto was "Takeko", Takeo's sister. She also was set to graduate at the end of the semester. Now that Naruto was no longer distracted by the peculiar smoke he could see her face clearly. Unlike her brother, her face was smooth and curved down to her chin. Her cheekbones weren't very pronounced, but were barely visible.

The last person, who had stayed at the back of the crowd until everyone else was done, was a girl by the name of "Miko". She too was nearing her graduation, like the other two. She was small and short, with her jet black hair cut extremely short. Her eyes, green like everyone else's, seemed depressed. As she spoke to Naruto, she did so quietly and shyly.

"Wait, aren't you all a little old to still be in the shinobi academy?" Naruto asked as he sat down.

"Not here, only the most skilled make it to honored rank of shinobi. Students must first graduate standard school. After that, most skilled in athletics and academics are chosen to go to shinobi school. If they can withstand three-year curriculum, and pass final test, they become genin." The Proprietor spoke with the same deep voice as the gatekeeper, only his wasn't drunk. "It is late, you are weary. You're room is last on the right, sleep well."

Alright, tell me what you think. If you like it, I'll continue. If you don't, I probably will anyways. Please only give constructive criticism.