Konohagakure, the shinobi-run Village Hidden in the Leaves. A tranquil city, one that seemed to be in tune with the nature of the forests that surrounded it. Unfortunately, the tranquility was short-lived in some places.

"And until you decide to stop biting people, stay out!"

A small, seven year old blonde girl with three whisker-like birthmarks on each cheek and the brightest blue eyes you've ever seen stumbled as she was roughly shoved out of the main entrance to the Konoha Shinobi Academy. Dusting herself off as she stood up, the girl, one Naruko 'Naru' Uzumaki, glared at the locked double doors before making her way home, grumbling all the way.

"Damn bastard teacher. Of course I was going to bite the Uchiha bastard if he was putting me in a headlock."

Later that night, Naru sat on the roof of her apartment building, as she was wont to do most summer nights. Staring at the starry sky, Naru wished, as she often did, that she had a family and that she wasn't almost universally hated.

You see, on the night of October 10th, seven years ago when Naru was born, a terrible calamity befell Konoha. With no warning whatsoever, the Kyuubi no Yoko, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, a literal force of nature, appeared in Konoha and began to put the city to flame. If it wasn't for the sacrifice of the Fourth Hokage, strongest ninja of the Leaf and leader of the city and its military forces, Konoha wouldn't be standing. As it was, the Kyuubi had been sealed away into a newborn child. That child was Naruko Uzumaki.

Yes, Naru was the Jinchuriki, or 'power of human sacrifice,' for the Kyuubi no Yoko. Only thing was, she didn't know it. You see, shortly after the revelation that she held the Fox prisoner, people began to clamor for her execution. To protect her, the elderly Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi (recently brought out of retirement after the demise of his successor) enacted a law with severe penalties outlawing talk of the true fate of the Kyuubi, instead changing the history books to say that the Fourth Hokage, one Minato Namikaze, had killed the Kyuubi with a suicide technique.

The Hokage's law worked, to a point. No one physically attacked Naru. But the law couldn't force people to be nice to her. From the time she was born, Naru was insulted, belittled and sabotaged in everything she did. At age four, she was kicked out of the orphanage, forced to live on the streets for two months before the Hokage found her and gave her an apartment. Parents would remove their children from the area when she went to the playground. Storekeepers over charged her for food and other essentials. Hoping to improve her life and make friends, Naru joined the Ninja academy at age six, only to find that the teachers treated her the same as everyone else, and, following the adult's example, so did the students. The worst part of it all? She didn't even know why everyone seemed to hate her.

While there were a few people who treated Naru like a human being, her grandpa (The Hokage), the old man and his daughter who ran the ramen stand and gave her free ramen, and the crazy snake lady, Naru still wished that she had friends, someone she could talk to about things that people talked to their friends about. Tonight was no different.

Looking up at the night sky, Naru saw a streak of light blaze across the night sky towards that scary forest the crazy snake lady hung out around. Thinking it was a shooting star, Naru screwed her eyes shut and prayed. 'I wish…that I had a friend, one who won't hate me.'

Unbeknownst to Naru as she made her wish with her eyes closed, the streak of light curved down until it came to a stop in the expanse of forest known to the locals as 'The Forest of Death.'

Experiment 626 burst from the wreckage of the red police cruiser brandishing four blaster pistols wildly at every tree in the forest around him. When nothing came out at him, Experiment 626 put his blasters away and began to look around. Alerted by a sudden crack of breaking wood, 626 pointed his blasters into the underbrush. Barreling through the undergrowth with a battle cry, 626 froze at the sight of a white-furred paw the size of his wrecked cruiser. Looking up mechanically, 626 gulped as he saw the rest of the giant angry Land of Fire tiger attached to the paw. "Cruditay."

Several nights later, Naru was sitting on the roof, this time hiding from her bastard of a landlord. The jerk had been banging on her door, demanding the rent, even though she had paid for six months in advance.

A rattling sound from down below on the street caught Naru's attention. Curious, Naru peeked over the edge of the roof to see a blue furred creature on a signpost. Looking closely at it, Naru thought that it looked a bit like a blue mutant koala. Her curiosity peaked, Naru clambered down the side of the building utilizing the rudimentary free running skills she had acquired through running over the rooftops to avoid the glares, before walking carefully up to the signpost the creature was clinging to.

"Hi."

Freezing, the creature stopped what it was doing and looked at Naru. Blinking, it waved at Naru with one of its four arms. "H-hi."

Naru saw that the koala/dog was trying to switch around the signs. "Are you pulling a prank?"

The creature looked at her warily. "Can I help?"

A toothy smile was Naru's answer.

The next morning found Hiruzen Sarutobi, formerly retired Third Hokage of Konohagakure, listening to a report from the animal-masked ANBU unit dispatched to investigate an explosion in training ground 44 (AKA the Forest of Death) the night before.

"All we found sir, was a pile of twisted, burnt metal from some sort of wrecked machine, several scraps of orange cloth, and a corpse of a giant tiger that had its head melted off when whatever it was chewing on exploded. It was of the opinion of the investigative squad that…"

A chunin, or journeyman ninja, suddenly burst into the Hokage's office, wearing only one shoe. "Lord Hokage, Lord Hokage!"

Cocking an eyebrow at the ninja's partial footwear, Hiruzen acknowledged the chunin. "Yes, what's so important as to interrupt an ANBU debriefing?"

"Sir, it's chaos out there. Street signs across the city have been switched around, sewage is backing up into the streets, and nobody can find their left shoe!"

Blinking, Hiruzen and the ANBU looked down to discover that, they too, were missing their left shoes, even though they had just been on five minutes ago. There was only one person who could have pulled such a thing off…somehow.

Sighing, Hiruzen dismissed the ANBU and channeled some chakra into a seal on his paperwork covered desk. "Dog."

A sudden storm of leaves swirled into existence in front of the Hokage's desk, revealing a dog-masked ANBU agent once the leaves settled. "Yes, Lord Hokage?"

As Hiruzen studied the ANBU agent, he noticed that Dog was missing a shoe as well, however, he seemed a bit too frazzled over it. "Are you alright?"

Dog twitched. "Someone replaced all of my porn with yaoi."

Hiruzen winced. "My condolences. Now, where's Naru?"

Dog scuffed at the floor. "We, ah, we don't know, we sorta lost her."

"I see." Hiruzen picked a pipe up off the desk and took a long puff off it. "Please, do find her, I have a feeling this…erm…latest crisis is at least partially her doing."

Bowing, Dog vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving detritus all over the floor of the office.

Hiruzen sighed. "Why can't anyone use the door anymore?"

Naru sat on top of the Fourth Hokage's head on the Hokage Memorial overlooking the Village, enjoying the chaos with her new friend. She leaned back on her arms and sighed. "I'm gonna miss this when I become ninja."

The blue koala/dog tilted his head. "Neen-ja?"

"Yup." Looking at her friend, Naru saw his quizzical expression. "You don't know what a ninja is do you?"

He shook his head. "Eh."

"Well, then, I'll tell you." Naru sat cross-legged and twisted so she faced her friend. "Ninja are mercenaries who perform missions for money. We use chakra to fuel techniques to complete our missions. Our missions can range from escort, to assassination, to demolition. Cool huh?"

Her friend jumped up. "I be ninja?"

Naru shook her head. "I don't think you could. You have to join the academy to become a ninja, and I don't think they'll take a…whatever you are."

Her friend's ears drooped. "I know!" The ears perked up. "You could be my partner!"

"Partner?"

Naru nodded. "Yeah! The Inuzuka clan fights alongside dogs. You're way more cooler than any dog! So waddya say, be my partner?"

Her friend nodded. "Ih."

"Yay! Partners!" Naru picked up her, surprisingly heavy, friend and spun around with him. Holding him at arm's length, Naru smiled at him. "You know, I don't even know your name."

Her friend looked uncomfortable.

Naru frowned. "Do you even have a name?"

Her partner shook his head.

"Well then, I'll just have to give you one!" Sitting with her friend in her lap, Naru began to think. "Let's see, what about…no. Maybe…no. I know! Stitch! Your name is Stitch! Waddya think?"

Her friend thought about it. "Stitch like. My name Stitch!"

Naru smiled then looked at the newly named Stitch thoughtfully. "Ya know, without the antenna, spines, and extra arms, people might think you were a dog."

Tapping his chin thoughtfully, Stitch got up from Naru's lap. Standing in front of her, Stitch lifted up his arms. Naru watched with starry eyes as her partner retracted the antenna, spines, and extra arms with ease. "OH, MY, GOSH! That is so cool! You have a stealth mode!"

Overcome with Stitch's cuteness, Naru squeezed the koala/dog in her arms. Stitch squirmed for a bit, only to settle down as he decided that, yes, he did in fact enjoy the feeling of being cuddled.

Hiruzen was sitting down at his desk, having given up on finding his left shoe, when Dog appeared in a swirl of leaves. "Yes Dog? Have you found her?"

Dog nodded. "Yes sir. She's currently on top of the Hokage Memorial. And she found a friend."

"A friend you say?" Hiruzen was skeptical, but happy nonetheless for the blonde. "What kind of friend?"

"You should see for yourself sir."

Nodding, Hiruzen vanished in a storm of leaves, Dog following suite in his own whirlwind of greenery.

Reappearing on top of the Hokage Memorial, Hiruzen saw his favorite pseudo-granddaughter sitting on the Fourth Hokage's stone head, her own head resting on that of a blue creature sitting in her lap as they watched the chaos unfold below. At the rustle of swirling leaves, Naru turned to see her grandfather figure.

"Hi grandpa!" Naru waved before standing up, Stitch held in her arms facing the Hokage. "This is Stitch! He's going to be my ninja partner!" Stitch waved…and stuck his tongue up his nose.

Hiruzen whispered to Dog as he arrived. "Dog, what is that?"

Dog whispered back, "I think it's a dog, sir."

Hiruzen sighed then turned back to Naru. "I'm happy for you, Naru. Now, how about we take Stitch to see the vet? We need to get him his shots and a check-up before we can register him as your partner.

"Ok. C'mon Stitch!" Laughing happily, Naru ran down the path, Stitch bouncing after her.

GALACTIC FEDERATION MAXIMUM SECURITY PENITENTIARY

"So let me get straight. You want me to go to planet, and retrieve 626?" Jumba looked skeptically at the Grand Councilwoman and the one named Pleakley standing before him in his cell. "And if I do this, you give me pardon?"

The Grand Councilwoman nodded. "Of course."

Jumba thumped his chest. "This I shall do. But, I will need a few things first, yes?"

"I shall make the arrangements."

The Grand Councilwoman turned to leave, but was stopped when Pleakley tugged on her robes. "Wait, this is a very delicate situation. Who's going to control him?"

The Grand Councilwoman looked down at Pleakley. "You are."

"I am, of course—hey, wait!" Pleakley jolted as the Grand Councilwoman's words registered in his head. "You must be joking?"

Jumba leaned forward from his cot to address the alien left in his cell. "So, tell me yellow one, on what poor, defenseless planet has my monstrosity been unleashed?"

AN:

Ddragon21: Ask, and ye shall recieve.

LordGhostStriker: Two words: For Science!