Chapter 2: Where there is suffering there shall be tranquility
The sun shined through the holes in the curtains illuminating the old and dusty room. The floors were of a gray wood and the walls covered in chipped paint. A mop of Blonde hair lay on an old stained pillow, his body covered by a thin sheet as he slept on a stiff and ragged mattress.
As the sun slowly crept over the horizon the small child opened his eyes and scanned the room. No one else was here? Good.
He pulled the sheet off and stood on the cold floor, he changed out of his gray singlet and boxers revealing a scarred malnourished frame and put on faded orange shorts and a black top with small hoes doting the bottom near his waist. He proceeded out of the room into a small run down kitchen.
He opened an old dented fridge and took out a near empty bottle of juice, he then a bag and took the last two slices of bread. He sat down at at a beaten up wooden table covered in stains and splinters that was tapped at the legs to hold it up. He ate what breakfast he had and drank the rest of his juice. That was the last of his food.
He would have to get more today. Great.
He rarely ever left the apartment if he could help it. Only ever to collect his pension or to get food, otherwise he just stayed inside. He tried to go get food yesterday but then a group of teens saw him and began to follow and… well you know the rest.
He put on a pair of blue sandals that looked older than he was and grabbed a small bag, he then walked back into his bedroom and lifted a floorboard to reach underneath. In his hand he pulled a small wad of notes, trying his best to count enough to take with him to buy what he needed. Usually if he was harassed people would search him to take his money so he never kept any on his small person if he could help it.
He would need to get some clothes as well, the previous days events had wrecked his only other change of clothes.
The blonde walked to the front door and left without bothering to lock it. The lock had been broken long ago and he had learnt that if people wanted to get into his home they would find a way. Better to make it easier for them rather than they breaking the door down to get in.
The Marketplace was the beating heart of any community. It was where people came to spend their money on everything and anything you could imagine, here was where merchants and traders came to try and make their fortune while the locals came to make a bargain. There was never a quiet time in the market, there was always business to be done. Through the steets one could see travelling merchants displaying their exotic goods, the local farmers selling their harvested crops and hunters showing off their fine furs and meats.
To many the sight of thousands of people bustling about would be overwhelming. The many sounds and scents would blinding the senses, but to a certain blonde haired whiskered boy it meant relative safety. Here was one of the few places where he could blend into the crowd and remain unseen, here was where he could hide behind the market stalls and in the alleyways remaining out of sight of the cold accusing eyes of the villagers.
It was the only place where he could buy anything of worth for a reasonable price. For most of the local traders would either refuse to trade with him or up the price in hopes of driving him off, some had even decided to physically throw him out of their shops saying he was scaring away normal customers.
The Freak, the Orphan, the cursed Child, this was what they called him. That was why he had to to remain unseen. He had learnt that it was far better to be hidden then to be hated, better to remain transparent rather than be terrorized.
But he was not here for the local traders, no, he was here for the annual trading caravans that made their way to the village each spring. With them they brought fine foods and goods as well as a general ignorance of who he was. They were far more tolerant and courteous of him, even giving discounts to the orphaned child.
It was a shame they weren't here all year round.
As the Blonde weaved through the alleyways and behind the market stalls he did his best to listen out to the exchanges made between the traders; he could always tell if they were foreign by the way they talked.
He heard one farmer boast that his cabbages were the biggest in the land, he heard a salesmen try to persuade a women that his wine was the finest in the country. Another merchant was declaring he was the only person selling a rare and now exhausted gemstone that was as bright as the sun and clear and the morning sky, the boy giggle when he heard the man accidently dropped one his gems and see it shatter like glass. Not every merchant was honest about their wares.
The blonde soon came a part of the market where the smell of meats and herbs filled the air. He walked out onto the street and saw across from him what he was looking for. He stepped out of the shadows and approached the old lady at a counter ready to sell her goods.
"Um excuse me" the boys said rather quietly, careful that only the lady heard him talk.
"Why yes young man how can i help you?" the Lady said with a kind smile on her face.
Good. she didn't know who he was.
Taking a few notes out of his pocket, the boy held the money with one hand hand pointed at some fruits and vegetables.
"Oh umm… ok then" the lady was slightly taken aback by this and so began packing what the boy wanted in a bag and took the money. Quick easy and simple. That was how he liked it, if he stayed too long then one of the villagers would recognise home and berate the poor lady for doing business with the cursed child.
He proceeded again to behind the stalls and out of sight, making his way to another vendor he believed to be visiting the village.
"30..." a young woman said, pointing at a fine purple scarf hanging on a shelf
"50…" a middle aged man said back, his arms crossed and his eyes sternly looking down at the women.
"...35…" the women said back making her way to grab the scarf.
"...50…" The man said grabbing the scarf out of her reach.
"Hmph… 40 then" the women held out the said amount of money in her hand ready to make the exchange.
The man simply turned his back on the women and put the scarf back in its place. The women left the stall abruptly, offended by the man's behaviour. The boy took this chance to sneak into the stall through the back, quickly grabbing a black shirt and brown pants before placing them on the counter in front of the man.
The boy looked at the man who hadn't noticed him walk in, he noticed the clothes on the counter and raised his brow in confusion. The boy simply took some money out of his pocket and showed it to the man.
"Oh…" The man said understanding the awkward boys meaning. "Umm its 25 for both" the man said holding both articles of clothing up to check the price. The boy put the cash on the counter but the man shook his head "Its 25 kid, this ain't enough".
The blonde looked rather sad at this, he looked at the clothes on the counter before he put the money back in his pocket. "Sorry... I'll put them back" he said looking down.
The man looked at the child and raised his brow, the child looked so defeated because he didn't have enough, looking at the clothes again he called out the boy before he disappeared.
"Hey kid wait, how much have you got?" The blonde stopped and turned to look at the man, he was uncertain on whether to trust him but he eventually handed the money onto the table again. He was always unsure when he came to the marketplace, the numbers didn't make sense to him and he never really could add up how much he needed for what he wanted to buy. Its a shame he had now one to teach him to count.
The man looked at the money and back tho the boy, he took note of the clothes he was wearing, they were dirty and had small holes in them. The boy looked cold as well and his shoes looked like they were gonna fall apart. He paused for moment to contemplate before taking a few things out from under the counter.
The man took out two more shirts of the same colour with longer sleeves as well as another pair of blue pants, he then grabbed a pair of blue sandals and placed them all on the counter. The Boy looked confused at this, he couldn't pay for all this. What was the man doing?
"Here Boy" the man said putting all the clothes in a small plastic bag for the just stared cautiously and dumbfounded.
"Take it" the man said handing the bag to him with a small smile, the blonde took the bag awkwardly. He held out the money to the man who merely shook his head.
"No its ok just take it" the man said with a smile. The boys stood there looking at him, no one had given him anything like this before. He put his money back into his pocket and proceeded to walk back into the alleyway behind the stall.
"Thank you" he said before disappearing.
He made his way home with a smile on his his face, he hadn't smiled in a long time. The man had shown him a rare kindness that few people ever showed him. He had given him something without asking for anything, something that was foreign to the Blonde, for even the old man who would sometimes deliver his pension would always ask that he get out more and try to make friends.
He made his way home happier than when he had left, he was almost tempted to get himself a small gift but knew that would be pushing it. He was just lucky no one had taken notice of him running behind the shops yet.
A soft breeze made its way through the market, carrying a familiar foul smell to the blonde. At first he cringed at the scent, whatever it was it reeked of death and disease. His eyes widened in realisation, his young mind remembering that same smell and the beast that it came from. His eyes darted to his left between the stalls to catch sight of two lifeless eyes and rotted teeth, he could see the wound on the left side of its skull as the lifeless body hung on the back of a wagon that stood idle across the street.
"Get that thing out of here man it's rancid!" a man in shinobi uniform cried out, the boy recognised him to be one of the Shinobis Police officers.
"I'm telling you this is the third rabid wolf iv seen in two weeks, there a disease running through the wildlife something must be done about it!" another man exclaimed pointing towards the dead wolf.
The boy was taken aback by his appearance. He wore long brown pants that were taped around the ankles, his feet wore dark green sandals and his torso was covered by a long sleeve dark blue shirt with a long black overcoat. His brown hair was wild and unkept and on his back was a leather quiver stocked with arrows. What drew the boys attention though was the long curved weapon in his hands that was of a dark wood and was held bent by a brown piece of string.
The boy had never seen such an object before, he had seen swords and knife in the market that many of the villages shinobi would purchase yet never had he come across such a unique object in his short life.
"Just yesterday i nearly saw this thing devour a small boy in the woods just north of here, poor kid ran off before i could talk to him" the strange man said catching the attention of both the Blonde and the Officer.
"Really… well maybe i should refer this to Fugaku-Taicho, What happened to the boy?" the Shinobi said pulling out a pen and notepad scribbling something down.
"I don't know he just ran off, quickly too. Although i did manage to catch sight of him, he had blonde hair and he was in real bad shape, i thought this thing had scratched him when i saw a few lines on his face almost like whiskers but i wasn't sure…" the man carried on describing the event dramatically. The shinobi raised his brow looking up from his notes with a serious look on his face.
"... i called out to him but he-" "you said a blonde boy didn't you, with whisker marks on his face?" the shinobi cut him off.
"Yes thats what ive been telling you, someone needs to find him incase he is infected!"
"You should have let it kill him, then you would have gotten a reward" the shinobi said plainly, turning his back on the shocked man and walking away.
The blonde heard this and looked at his feet, everyone who lived in this village hated him and wanted him dead. This wasn't something a child should hear, but this was all he had ever heard.
The stranger stood shocked in the middle of the street, his mouth partly opened as he stood frozen at what the shinobi had said. A small boy had nearly died in the maw of a rabid wolf and shinobi only wished the boy dead.
He shook his head trying to forget what the shinobi had said, what was wrong him. He turned around, putting his weapon in the quiver on his back and covered the dead wolf with a blood soaked sheet. In the corner of his eye he caught sight of a blonde head. He turned his gaze to see a small child barely older then six, looking down at his feet in the middle of an alleyway across the street, out of sight of most people. The child had in his hands a couple bags hand the man could faintly see three whisker like marks adorning his cheeks.
"Hey kid" he called out making his way throw the flow of people to get across the street.
"Hey Kid!" the man called out again getting the boys attention, he made his way down the alleyway and stood in front of the boy.
The boy almost looked ready to jump he noticed, years of hunting wild beasts giving him the wisdom to notice the small child's eyes instinctively look around for a way to escape. His legs tensed and his fists clenched onto his bags. This kid looked like a deer caught in a trap.
"You were the boy yesterday? In the woods, you ran off when i shot it?" he asked calmly, kneeling down be at eye level with the Blonde.
"Did it bite you or scratch you at all?" The man questioned to which the boy shook his head no.
"Ok good" the man breathed a sigh of relief. "You know when i saw you yesterday you looked pretty beat up, especially your arm" the man said reaching to the boys shoulder. The blonde jumped back at this, cautious of the stranger touching him.
"Wow hey it's ok I'm not gonna hurt you..." the man said holding his hands out "...just making sure your alright"
The child looked at him and saw nothing but concern in his eyes, he had long ago learnt to tell whether people had meant him harm by the look in their eyes and he saw only worry in those hazel orbs.
"I heal fast… sometimes faster when i sleep" the boy said, relaxing his posture.
The man smiled at this, he then sat down and invited the boy to sit as well. The sounds of the bustling market fading away as the two sat in the dark alleyway.
"You know you're quite lucky kid, that wolf was rabid, one scratch and you'd be a gonner" the man said. The boy looked confused at this, not understanding what he meant. "It had been bitten by something that was also sick, the sickness drove it mad" the man explained.
"Is that why its eyes were so scary?" the boy asked
"Yes, that's why they were scary" the man said smiling at the childish question.
"How did you kill it?" the boy asked
The man took out his weapon holding it up for the boy to see. "With this" he answered. The boys eyes light up upon seeing the strange object "Never seen a bow before?" he asked t which the boy shook his head no.
Smiling the man ran his hand along the wood "It's a fine weapon to master, the tool of a true hunter…" he declared pulling the string back "... for a true hunter knows that to fight from a distance is to far better than fighting at arms length"
The child listened intently while gazing at the Bow, his eyes widening when the man pulled the string.
Seeing the blondes amazement brought another smile to the mans face, it brought him a sense of pride seeing the child fascinated with his weapon of choice. His eyes glances over the young boy's appearance as a thought crossed his mind.
"Hey kid… where's your parents, i bet they'd be worried about what happened to you?"
Immediately the curious joy faded from the blue eyes has his posture became that of a broken child. The man felt terrible, who was this kid?
"I'm an orphan…" the boy said as he rose to his feet "... i better get home now, goodbye"
"Hey wait a minute, sorry I…" the man paused seeing the look in his face, he seemed so happy a second ago, poor kid must be pretty lonely.
Another thought ran through his mind, he seemed so entranced when he showed him his Bow… hmmm maybe?
"... hang on just a second" the man said before running off back to his wagon. He climbed onto the back stepping over the wolf carcass and opened a large trunk. Rummaging through as quick as he could he pulled out something the boy could not see and proceeded to make his way back to the alleyway.
"Here kid have it…" the man said holding in his hand another bow made of the same look as his own. The child accepted it excitedly, his mood becoming that of a curious child once more. "... it's not as big as mine but it's around your size, it use to be mine when i was a boy, helped me learn to shoot"
The Blonde smiled a great smile as he held the wooden bow in his hands. His young mind trying to process another rare gift of charity. He put a hand in his pocket pulling out what money he could to give to the man.
"No No that's ok kid, it's yours, i have no use for it anyway" The man said denying the money
"Thank you" the child said, having no clue what else to do. His body was bouncing in joy and his heart racing in excitement.
"All good kiddo…" the man said "...say what's your name?" he asked
The child held the gift close to his chest, afraid to let it go. He looked the man in the eyes with a great smile.
"Naruto… Naruto Uzumaki"