It was a dark and stormy October tenth, most of the population of Konohagakure, or the Village Hidden in the Leaves aka the Hidden Leaf Village, holed up dry and warm in their homes as the annual festival celebrating the defeat of the nine-tailed fox demon Kyuubi no Yoko five years prior had been called on account of the storm.

And what a storm it was, the likes of which had not been seen in decades. It was one of those storms that seemed to shake the very foundations of the earth and wake the very dead. While the dead stayed asleep in their eternal resting places, something else awoke in the forests, something as old as all the forests themselves. However, with everyone safe and sound in their homes, no one was there to witness this awakening, and so the ancients would soon return to their eon's long slumber.

Or, they would, had something unforeseen not occurred.

A flash of lightning lit up a dark, dirty alleyway, revealing a small blonde child, looking about four or five years of age, running in terror. A second flash of lightning revealed why the sunny-haired child was fleeing as a dirty man with a broken, jagged bottle followed him, the stench of cheep booze on his breath. It was fortunate that the man was only a civilian, and not one of the shinobi, the soldiers/mercenaries/assassins that kept the peace in Konoha. Had he been so, drink-impaired or not, the child would have been lying face-down in a ditch by now.

Soon, the child found himself chased into the long unused and forested training ground 43, right next door to training ground 44, which was colloquially known as Shi no Mori or the Forest of Death by the locals. The drunkard followed the boy in without a thought.

The boy, one Naruto Uzumaki, ran through the dark forest, fighting through a stitch in his side as he tried to catch his breath. He really had no idea why the man was chasing him. One moment, the matron of the orphanage had kicked him out, calling him a demon-child, leaving him on the streets. The next, as he was searching for shelter from the coming storm, or perhaps the nice old man who visited him from time to time, a drunken man had started shouting things at him, things that scared him. Naruto ran, the man giving chase just as the heavens opened up and the winds began to howl.

Eventually, Naruto came to a halt, back pressed against a large tree trunk as he tried to catch his ragged breath. Not seeing or hearing the man anymore, a sigh of relief puffed out of his mouth, stretching the three whisker-like birthmarks on either cheek. However, that was not the end of it, as a flash of lightning revealed the man less than an inch from Naruto's face.

Shrieking in shock and terror, Naruto stumbled backwards, tripping over a particularly gnarled root as he did so. He tried to scramble away only for his back to press up against a tree. The drunk staggered forward, broken bottle raised threateningly with a leering smile on his face.

"Y'think yer shooo clev'r, hidin' asj a chil', huh monst'r? Well, yew ain't foolin'…me. I'ma enjoy cuttin' yew up. Now, jes' hol' shtill…" The man stepped forward, broken bottle held at the ready.

Naruto clenched his eyes shut tightly as he curled up into a ball. As such he missed what came next.

The man was about to slash down with his improvised weapon when a loud creaking groan sounded out over the squall overhead. Looking around and then up, the drunk went wide-eyed as what appeared to be an uprooted tree came down on him, roots first. He didn't even have time to whimper or scream as the tree crushed him into the muddy dirt.

When nothing happened to him, Naruto slowly opened his eyes. When nothing presented itself to him, he sat up, only to find himself face to face with a giant, mossy beard as big as he was tall. Looking up, he saw the rest of the face, as if someone had carved the countenance of a wizened old man out of a tree. The twinkling black eyes regarded the petrified Naruto.

"Hmm. Now, what's a little fox such as yourself doing out, on a night like this even?" The tree-man spoke slowly and with great perspicacity, as if each word was carefully considered and weighed before being spoken. He gave a low, creaking chuckle, like two sticks rubbing together, as he saw the boy try to hide among the small roots he was in. "Come now, I mean you no harm."

Naruto looked up at the tree-man. "You-you're a-a talking tree."

The tree-man gave a slow smile. "Indeed I am. I am Treebeard, elder of the Entish council. Who might you be, hmm?"

Naruto uncurled slightly and replied shyly. "I'm Naruto."

Treebeard nodded sagely. "Maelstrom, a strong name, and fitting of tonight's beastly weather." The ent held a bark-skinned hand out by Naruto's feet. "Come little fox, let us find shelter from this storm."

Naruto pouted cutely as he crawled into the offered hand. "I'm not little, and I'm a boy, not a fox!"

Treebeard rumbled an oaken laugh as he cradled Naruto in his hand. "Hurr, when you get to be my size, little fox, everyone is little, and you look like a small fox to me. So tell me little fox, where do you live?"

"Well," Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I used to live in the Konoha Orphanage, but the matron just kicked me out, so nowhere I guess."

"Ah, so little Hashirama managed to finally create his little village, did he?" Treebeard mused, while internally frowning. He wasn't an expert on humans, far from it, but he was certain that Naruto was far too young to be on his own. He was far too skinny for his age as well. Didn't they feed him in the orphanage?

Naruto was wide-eyed. "You knew the first Hokage?"

Treebeard smiled. "Indeed I did, little fox. In fact, I was one of the ones to help him hone his gift. Teach him how to talk to the trees I did."

Naruto was starry-eyed by now. "Wow! You must be really old!"

"Indeed I am little fox, one of the oldest. Older than most human memory, I am."

"How old are you?"

Treebeard nodded as he plodded sedately along, bobbing from side to side with each ponderous step. "An excellent question, little fox. Allow me to tell you a story.

"Many years ago, so long in fact that not even I remember how long, there was a tree that had a magic fruit, Shinju, the god-tree. One day, a princess from a faraway land came and ate the fruit; gaining the power you humans call chakra. The princess brought about a time of peace, and had two sons, both with her power of chakra. The two sons traveled the world, spreading chakra and peace wherever they went. There was peace unlike any before.

"But it was not to last. The Shinju, angered at the theft of its power, warped and twisted into a nightmarish form with one eye and ten tails. This terrible form became known as the Juubi. The Juubi was a terrible force of nature, its wrath changing the very shape of the lands it trod on, reclaiming its chakra even as it sowed destruction. It was thought that all hope was lost.

"Then came the two sons to face it. For seven days and nights they fought the beast. Finally, the two brothers trapped the beast. Unable to severely wound it, much less kill it, the elder brother split the beast into many parts. The body was trapped in rock, and sent into the sky, becoming the moon. The mind became a psychic leech, drawn to feed on negative emotions. The beast's power was taken into the elder brother's own body.

"Soon, all that was left of the beast was the beast's blood. The brothers thought that was the end of it, until the trees soaked in its blood began to move and take on a life of their own. Imagine their surprise, when the trees began to talk. The look on the younger brother's face was particularly amusing."

Naruto gaped. "You were there?"

"Indeed I was. I was one of the first of the ents to awaken. The rest of the ents look up to me now, as sadly, I am the last of the first ents, the rest all passing on or setting down roots and returning to the trees from whence we came."

"Wow." They travelled in silence, listening to the storm rage above the trees until Naruto looked up at Treebeard. "What happened to the two brothers?"

Treebeard rubbed his beard of moss with his free hand. "I know not of the younger brother's fate, but before he died, the elder brother split the power into nine parts, creating the bijuu, the nine tailed beasts of power."

"What happened then?"

"I do not know, little fox. We tended to avoid each other, the bijuu and the ents, and after a few centuries, I went into a long slumber, and when I next awoke, they were nowhere to be found. Since then, I have slumbered on and off, more on in recent years. Why the last time I or any significant number of ents were awake was when I met little Hashirama. It was before you had your war. Always scurrying about and competing for things, you humans. Never stopping or slowing down to contemplate life."

Naruto gaped in awe before toppling over with a yelp as Treebeard suddenly came to a halt. Naruto could only sit and stare at the clearing they were in. The ground was covered in soft green grass and yellow and lilac flowers, with a large, weathered boulder jutting out of the clearing's center. Thick curtains of vines were draped on the trees around the clearing. Above, the canopy was a solid green of woven foliage, as if the trees on the outskirts of the clearing had grown branches over the entire clearing and had grown together to keep out the elements. Indeed, the clearing was dry and Naruto could barely hear the storm raging above anymore.

"Where are we?"

Treebeard chuckled warmly as he lumbered over to the central boulder. "This is an ent-home. Only those carried by an ent or ent-blessed can ever hope to find and enter one." He gently put Naruto down on the ground. "Now let us rest. In the morning, I shall take you home."

Naruto suddenly clutched at Treebeard's gnarled fingers. "No! I-I don't wanna go back!"

With a colossal sigh, Treebeard crouched down to Naruto's level, or as close as he could. "I know you do not wish to return to the village, little fox, but the forest is no place for a child."

Naruto clung even more tightly as he grasped at straws. "Then-then I'll just stay with you!"

Treebeard gently picked Naruto back up. "Alas, little fox, I am an ent. We are not qualified in any way to care for children. We are big, and have to step carefully when around humans. Time flows differently for us as well, little fox. A day for you, may as well be an hour for us. I would not be able to properly care for you, little fox."

Seeing Naruto was close to tears, Treebeard gave an affectionate smile. "I can however, give you an ent's blessing."

Naruto sniffled a bit and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "You talked about those earlier. What's an ent blessing?"

Treebeard chuckled good-naturedly. "An ent's blessing is when an ent willingly gives a part of themselves to a human, little fox. When an ent gives an ent blessing, the blessed gains certain aspects of the trees, including sturdiness and longevity. They also gain an affinity for nature itself. It was an ent blessing that allowed little Hashirama to go from making green things grow, to talking with the trees and nurturing life where no life should be possible. And should you ever be in need, little fox, an ent will be there to aid you."

Naruto snerked as he cleared his runny nose and wiped his teary eyes clear with the flat of his palms. "Okay. I-I'd like that."

Treebeard's face lit up. "Good, good. Let us get started then."

Hiruzen Sarutobi, aged leader of Konohagakure and third (and fifth-ish) holder of the Hokage title, his chosen successor having given his life to stop the Kyuubi five years ago, frowned as he went over several security reports concerning a certain bewhiskered blonde.

He had been apoplectic several weeks ago when he had learned that the orphanage had kicked a five-year old out onto the street, and had sent the employees to the sadistic Ibiki Moreno at the Torture and Interrogation Department. It was to his and every higher-ranking shinobi's relief when Naruto had popped up the next morning fit as a fiddle. After listening to his story (he internally chuckled at the thought of talking trees, most likely one had fallen on his assailant and his imagination had done the rest), Hiruzen had set the boy up in an apartment and assigned an elite agent from the special forces ANBU to keep a close eye on him.

Unfortunately, the ANBU had other duties as well, and so could not keep a constant watch on the boy, thus leading to the security reports when someone attacked the boy when his minders were absent. Strangely enough, all of the attacks had been thwarted by an unknown party, the assailants all vanishing without a trace or their broken and mangled bodies showing up later by the forests around Konoha. The only thing that marked the scenes (aside from the massive and copious amount of bloodstains) was the torn up ground at each one. It was as if something had been planted there and then uprooted.

A clattering from his office ceiling made Hiruzen look up with an upturned eyebrow. Shortly thereafter, a blonde figure fell out of the vent along with the vent cover in a cloud of dust. "Hello Naruto. You do know I have a door, yes? You don't have to sneak in to see me, I am always available to talk if you need it."

Naruto sat up, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry gramps, but the mean desk-lady outside wouldn't let me in."

"I see." Standing up and moving around his desk, Hiruzen went to the door and opened it. "Hiruka? You're fired."

Shutting the door on the former secretary's protests, Hiruzen went back to his seat. "I'm sorry Naruto, I'll make sure that doesn't happen again."

Naruto smiled brightly. "Thanks gramps."

Hiruzen smiled back as he settled into his comfortable chair. "Now, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

A serious expression crossed Naruto's face. "I wanna be a ninja, gramps."

Tapping his pipe against his desk, Hiruzen pulled out a form sheet. "Why do you want to be a ninja?" Honestly, he had a good idea about why he wanted to be shinobi, but protocol dictated that he ask anyways.

For a moment, Naruto looked far older than any five-year old had any business being. "What else is there for me?"

Hiruzen knew exactly what the blonde orphan meant. It was a rhetorical question, and a depressing one at that. Being a ninja was Naruto's only option, really. With the amount of hate the civilians had for Naruto, it was ludicrous to even begin to think that anyone would hire him for a civilian business. And even the shinobi- and ex-shinobi-run businesses wouldn't be enough, considering the ridiculous amount an ANBU watcher had reported Naruto was charged for utilities and food. The only civilians who even so much as gave Naruto the time of day were the Ichiraku family, and they almost didn't count, seeing as Teuchi was a retired Jounin who had opened a ramen stand. Leaving wasn't an option either, not only because of what the boy held, but because he didn't have the means to leave.

It was therefore with a saddened heart that Hiruzen showed Naruto the paperwork. "Alright Naruto. Just sign here on this line, and I'll take care of the rest."

Naruto smiled softly. "Thanks gramps." Jumping up from his seat, he zipped out the door, barely pausing to say goodbye.

Watching Naruto leave with a wan smile, Hiruzen swiveled his chair to look out the window at Konoha. His village certainly had fallen, morally anyways. He sighed. 'They'll come around. Eventually.' Leaving his thoughts, Hiruzen was about to go back to his mountainous paperwork when his eye caught the potted plants on the windowsill. They were all facing the door.

Hadn't they all been facing the window earlier?

AN: Hey folks! Sorry it's not an update, but the plot bunnies are multiplying! Help!=P

So many Plot Bunnies!