Five-year-old Naruto Uzumaki loved when once a week the caretakers at the orphanage would take them all to the large park. The playground was so much bigger than the one they had at the orphanage and it was not dominated by the older kids who kept all the fun stuff for themselves. Still, although the jungle gym and some of the swings were free they were not what held his attention right now.

Two days ago a masked man had run along the fence that bordered the orphanage and then had jumped to a buildings rooftop. It was the most exciting thing that had ever happened at the orphanage and everyone had been talking about it. He wanted to be able to do that. Unfortunately, he had not even been able to get to the top of the fence without being yelled at by one of the monitors.

So, he was practicing on the abandoned sandbox. The edge was about as wide as the fence. If he could run along it, he would just have to worry about climbing the fence and for that he could practice on the jungle gym. He took a deep breath before starting to run, jumping onto the piece of wood making one then two steps before loosing his balance and crashing onto the sand. Kicking the wall out of frustration he thought, why couldn't he do it? He had been at this for almost a half an hour and to him that was a real long time.

"Hey, Rat boy I mean Naruto. Do you want to play? We need one other to make the teams even."

Naruto rolled over to look up at the older boy. He didn't like the nickname but everyone had been calling him that lately," Play?"

"Yeah come on you want in or not?"

Rolling to his feet he forgot what he is trying to do. He didn't play much with others. When the teams were odd he was always the one kicked out of the game. That didn't mean he didn't want to play with them though. He jumped up and started to run where the other kids were before thinking he might need the older kid to get into the game. He waited for the other kid to catch up, hopping from foot to foot.

As they got closer to the group they were already dividing up into teams, somebody shouted toward them. "We don't need him anymore. Akihiko changed his mind."

"Okay," his companion shouted back. "Sorry, Naruto I guess you can go back to playing in the sand."

Naruto stared at the boys retreating back. "You said I could play," he was angry but his voice sounded brittle like he was going to start crying any second.

"You still want to play? Well, why don't you find somebody else and the two of you can join in." The boy ran toward the others leaving him alone.

His vision started to blur and he could feel tears rolling down his cheeks. It wasn't fair. He was always the last person anyone ever asked to play with them.

Turning he ran away, not knowing where he was going, but knowing he didn't want to be there anymore. Running out of the park he bumped into things some were hard some were soft and others shouted at him as he hit them. He tried to wipe away his tears but it didn't help the world was just a blur. His legs gave out in an alley and he curled into a ball still crying.


Ten-year-old Ayame casually walk down the street swinging the empty portable ramen container in her left hand. Delivering ramen was not one of her favorite things to do particularly on one of her days off from school, but it got her out from behind the ramen stand and it was particularly hot today.

Her father didn't seem to mind if she took the long way back particularly when he didn't know. Stopping at a few stands she slowly made her way back to the shop. Passing an alley she noticed something or to be more precise someone.

There was a small kid crying in the alley. She looked around half expecting to see a frantic woman shouting for her child. When that failed to appear she looked around for a military policeman, but as per their normal operating procedure they were never around when they were needed.

She sighed part of her wished she could just keep on walking by like the others were. The problem was her parents had raised her too well. She slowly walked over to the kid hoping he would recover before she got there but luck was not with her today.

"Hey, are you okay?" The kid didn't respond. "Are you lost? Looking for your mom? Are you hurt?" The kid didn't even bother to look up at her; she sat on the ramen container out of ideas. After a particularly loud snort from the kid she offered him one of the napkins from the container. He took it, used it and tried to hand it back all without looking up. "Keep it. Can you at least look up at me?"

The kid slowly peered up at her, vivid blue eyes surrounded by a sea of red. She smiled down at him and he seemed to perk up a little. He lifted his head a little higher and she could see strange marks on his face, they sort of made him look like a rabbit. It reminded her of those ninjas who always had their dogs with them. Her father had used to argue with them because they had insisted that their dogs eat at their shop. Eventually they had agreed that a few bowls would be set aside for the dogs, such were the compromises they had to make when living in a hidden village.

Shaking her head she remembered she still needed to help this kid. "Are you lost?"

"No," the monosyllabic word was the first thing he had said to her and after a minute of intense scrutiny he added, "no one wants to play with me."

Those words had been said quietly and she couldn't help but feel bad for him, even if she couldn't sympathize being popular herself. They stared at each other neither knowing what to do next. She took in his tears streaked face and his bloodshot eyes and did the only thing she could. "Are you hungry? My dad owns a ramen shop, I'm sure he will give you a bowl for free."

"Ramen?"

"Yeah, ramen it's like a soup, you'll like it." She offered him a hand up and he hesitated for a long time before taking the offered hand. At first he walked along at her side but towards the end she practically had to drag him along. If she had not held his hand she was sure he would've bolted.

Her father seemed surprised to see her coming back with a little kid but, once he got a look at his face he seemed to understand. They gave him a bowl of ramen he was hesitant at first. He sniffed at it his nose twitched reminding her of a bunny again. Once he finally did taste it, he devoured it. She slipped him another half of a bowl when her father was not looking.

He left with a muttered thank you. Later that day her father took her aside and said he was proud of her. She didn't understand why but didn't ask.

She didn't expect to see the kid again. After all, he probably got in trouble for running away but a week later he showed up. His pockets were full of change but it was not enough for even their cheapest bowl. Her father didn't even bother counting and just gave him a bowlful.

She grew to like his weekly visits and sometimes he even joined her on her delivery runs. Those were a bit odd some of the people seem to hate Naruto. Her imagination tried to spin stories for the reason behind it but, it failed her. Perhaps it had been something his parents had done. She asked him once and he disappeared for two weeks after that.

His visits were mostly uneventful sometimes he just sat there and ate leaving as soon as he was done. Once after such a brief visit a man sat down. He was in his mid-thirties. He was a ninja and he was a bit disheveled as if he had just come back from a mission.

"He is still around," he snorted. "You know I can't believe that..."

Her father interrupted him, "you're drunk, Shuichi and its still early."

The man blinked thrown off-track. After a moment's delay probably caused by the alcohol he smiled, "It's not too early if you haven't slept all night. My last mission went pretty badly." He shot a glare in the direction that Naruto had left in and muttered something she couldn't hear.

His attitude angered Ayame. She had grown used to the occasional glare she received when she walked with Naruto, but most people tried to hide it. Sake had made this guy too blunt. She was just about to say something when her father stopped her with a glance. They needed every customer they could get, but he only smiled when she brought out one of the bowls that they fed the dogs from.


Next chapter: A Prankster is Born