I was awaken by a rough voice intruding my dream, "Hey kid, are you alright?".

I moved my head to look up at the man, when a bottle shard pierced into my back. With a yelp and string of curses I was up and looked up to the stranger. Luckily the shard was small and already fell out.

"That's the result of sleeping on a mountain of trash." said the stranger, before my eyes adjusted to the light of the sun.

When they fully adjusted I saw. Nothing. Had the man disappeared? Or perhaps I was imagining th-

"Yo, down here."

I rested on my eyes on what looked like a dwarf. He had a bald head, a long white beard and a short cane. But strangest of all was he was probably shorter than 3 feet.

"Wha-I. Ummm, thank you Mr. ?" I managed to stammer out.

"Yeah, alright I'm short, your not that tall yourself, so shut it pipsqueak." said the stranger.

"What! Who you calling pipsqueak?Huh? ?" I exclaimed.

"YODA? Okay, BRAT I'll have you know that Yoda is 2 feet 2 inches and I am 2 feet 8 inches! And the name is Curt Mcdonell."

"Curt? What kind of name is that? That's a KIDS name!"

"It means short or little." said the mid-Curt.

"That's HILARIOUS!"

"Ohh shut it! What's your name then, pipsqueak?"

"It's Naruto Uzumaki. Number one prankster and Future Hokage!"

"You name means fishcakes! HAHAHA!"

My name meant Maelstrom, but in the right context it meant… fishcakes.

"It means Malestrom!"

"Sureeeeeee."

"Anyway Fishcake you should get cleaned up."

He was right. I was an absolute mess, covered in dirt, grime, blood and what appears to be a diaper.

C'mon! You stink!"

We walked told nearby stream and he told me about himself. Curt is a travelling merchant and he is trying to sell some authentic gold jewelry and artifacts. He claimed he got it or helping a princess by punching a thief in the face. Only he's short so he hit his "jewels". The Kind thanked him with a chest full of gold and jewels. I suspected he embellished the story, but I said nothing.

-0-

3 weeks later

The day had come it was Curt's last day in Konoha. I spent the last weeks listening to his stories. Even skipping school occasionally. But today he would leave to go back to his hometown. Over the weeks he became my friend. Not the one you play games with, the kind that makes you happy to be around. Curt was my first friend. As I walked to his caravan for one last goodbye. I saw smoke rising to the air. I started running. Then a heard the screams of a someone. As I rounded the corner I saw Curt's face. With blood dripping down his face and a group of 3 men surrounding him. I ran to him, breaking through the men and kicking their balls. Just as Curt taught me. They were on the floor groaning in pain, but I didn't care. Holding his head up I hugged him.

"Nar- Naruto ge-get my chest, open it and take the golden lamp. When you get lonely rub it's sides. This is my gif-gift to you. My parting gift."

"Don't say that, I'm gonna keep you alive." Tears were streaming down my face, glistening drops of water that threatened to fall down my cheek.

" Naruto, listen to me. Follow your dreams. Make more friends and remember that I will be beside you. Take the lamp and-"

I couldn't hear the rest, because a strong arm ripped me from him and into the air. Scrambling up I saw just in time as they stabbed him. Then I felt a weight on my shoulders. My vision blurred, I wanted to run away and never go back. But then I felt anger. Bubbling to the surface like a pot of boiling water. It exploded. Running forward I saw red. Everything was red. In a blink and then everything was coated in red. From the ground to my body to the caravan. Everything red. Then darkness.