Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, that right belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 2:

The Start of it All

In Konohagukure no Sato, a young orphan sat alone at the park. It was around time for dinner in most households, and a six-year old Naruto watched as all the kids slowly trickled out of the park, intent on heading home for food. They laughed happily as they retold the adventure they had at the park that day, and their parents would just smile and ruffle the hair on their heads. Naruto sniffled a little as he watched the affection each child was being given. As he sat on the swings, Naruto tried to remember the last time he had seen his pseudo-grandfather, but he couldn't quite recall. He knew it had been at least a year ago, and that he came around at least every year to give him a gift. Now that Naruto thought about it, it seemed like it had been almost exacltly a year since he had seen the old man.

"Ah, there you are Naruto." Startled by the sudden voice, Naruto stumbled off the swing he was on and promptly fell face first on the floor. Spluttering, he picked himself up and glared pointedly at his Grandfather.

"Hey gramps! Don't sneak up on me like that, I might hurt you on accident." The Hokage chuckled to himself as he looked down at the mop of blonde hair before him.

"Is that so? A young child like you, might hurt an old Hokage like me?" Hiruzen asked, eyebrow arched in a questionining gaze. Naruto clenched his small, soft hands and stared at the old man.

"You never know Grampa, you always say to expect the unexpected." This time Hiruzen began to laugh, and the young child fumed as the Old Kage laughed at him. "Hey! I'm only repeating what you said Gramps." Hiruzen's laughter died down, and when he looked at Naruto, couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for the child.

"Yes Naruto, and you'd do well to remember that, Shinobi who forget that in the field often end up paying the price for it."

"Shinobi? You mean the guys who walk around and spew fire and stuff?" Naruto asked curiously, he had only heard tidbits about them from the other children in the park.

"The very same Naruto, now come on, we don't want to be late for your birthday dinner. Afterall there's a festival going on tonight and if we wait too long, our seats may be taken." Hiruzen extended his hand towards the young boy, who hesitated before quickly grabbing the old man's hand and strolling out of the park with him, as he told him about his adventures he had that day, and allowed Hiruzen to reach down and ruffle his hair. Hiruzen could've sworn that he had never seen a smile so happy on a child's face in his life.

As Naruto and Hiruzen walked through the streets, many gazed questioningly at them. They would wonder why the Hokage would spend time with a small child, or who the child was. A young-raven haired boy and his older-brother seemed particularly interested in the duo; but only for a moment, before the older of the two ushered his young brother along back home.

Naruto's mouth was watering as he walked down the streets with his grandfather. The aroma of just about every kind of food Naruto could ever imagine was filling his nostrils, and he was practically bouncing in anticipation to try them all. Hiruzen looked down at the boy and smiled,

"Naruto, where would you like to go first? Would you like to eat, or would you like to pick up your present?" Naruto turned towards the Hokage, then towards a small ramen stand, and then towards the Hokage, then the ramen stand, and then towards the Hokage, and back to the ramen stand one last time before making up his mind.

The Hokage felt a sharp tug on his arm and followed obediently after the impatient boy, chuckling slightly as he did so; he should've known food would come first to the blonde.

As they entered the ramen stand Naruto cheered when he smelt the ramen being cooked. He could practically feel the soft, chewy noodles and his eyes glazed over slightly in anticipation. He looked behind the counter and saw the waitress he had been looking for.

"Sis, one bowl of Miso Ramen, with extra Naruto please!" Naruto called to her, and she turned to smile warmly at him. A few customers recognized the kid, and smiled at him as well, to them he was always a bright and cheery child, despite his lack of family. Several in the restraunt had even attempted to adopt him.

"One moment Naruto!" she called to him, and proceeded to run behind the counter to grab a pen before coming to the seats Naruto and Hiruzen had gotten themselves. "Oh, Lord Hokage, a pleasure to meet you again." She flashed him the best smile she had, and the Hokage returned it with one of his own.

"No need to be so formal Ayame, I've told you before, as a friend of Naruto, Hiruzen works just fine." The Hokage set his hat down on the counter and sighed; he hated wearing that hat, it was large and unnecessarily heavy.

"Ah of course Hokage- I mean Hiruzen, so what would you like today?" Ayame blushed as she messed up his title, after having being told how to address him, but hid it as best she could behind her order pad.

"I'll have whatever the troublemaker next to me is having." Ayame ignored Naruto's shotu of protest at being a troublemaker, and glanced back to the Hokage.

"And how many bowls is the Number One Troublemaker of Konoha allowed to have?" Hiruzen chuckled, the last few times they came here Hiruzen had had to limit Naruto's ramen amount, lest he empty even the Hokage's vast pockets.

"Well you see Ayame, today is a special day. Since it's Naruto's birthday he gets all the ramen he wants today." Suddenly Ayame's face paled, now that she thought about it, it was the brats birthday; and she had forgotten to get him a gift!

"A-Ah, I see Lord Hokage, very well then. I'll bring seven bowls for Naruto to start on and then server you yours." With that Ayame rushed to the back, and Naruto looked after her curiously.

"Hey Gramps, why did Ayame walk away so quickly?" Naruto had never seen her walk away so fast, and his young mind couldn't figure out why she would for the life of himself.

"Ah, I wouldn't worry too much on that Naruto, it just seems she forgot something important."

"Oh, okay then." They sat in silence until Teuchi came out with their ramen instead of Ayame, further cofunsing the young boy.

Ayame had rushed home as fast as she could and began to dig through everything they had in the house to find something Naruto might like. She had been so stupid! She should've remembered it was his birthday, and now she had forgotten a gift. Ayame hurried around the room, throwing everything around; trying to find a suitable gift for the young boy, hoping that just maybe she could find something.

Then Ayame saw it, it just called out to her. Sitting in the corner of the room, gathering dust was the perfect gift for her young blonde friend...

"Thanks Teuchi!" Naruto called out as they left Ichiraku's Ramen. After fourty-three bowls of ramen, a new plaque for most bowls eaten posted on the wall, Naruto's stomach was fully satisfied. However, his brain was most defininently not. He couldn't figure out where Ayame went, and it was bothering him to no end. He hoped he didn't cause her trouble that made her leave. But, Naruto tried to put it in the back of his mind, and grabbed his grandfathers hand. They had one more stop.

"Ready Naruto?" Hiruzen asked, holding the childs delicate hand and looking down into his crystal clear, blue eyes. A nod from Naruto and they began to head away from the Ramen stand only to be stopped right before turning a bend.

"Naruto!" The voice called, and when Naruto turned around, a smile stretched across his face. Ayame was running towards him, a package in hand that was wrapped up in ramen wrapping paper. As Ayame neared the duo, she began to slow down and dropped the package gently before taking very deep breathes. She had to run full speed to catch up to them. Slowly however, she caught her breathe and picked up the package, shoving it into Naruto's free hand.

"Take this Naruto." She said firmly, before turning around to head back and help her father run the ramen shop. "Oh, and happy birthday." And then she sprinted off, dust leaving a small trail behind her as the crowd of people in the streets parted to let her through.

"Uhhh, do you know what that was about Gramps?" Naruto looked up to the Hokage who simply shrugged.

"It appears she gave you a gift my boy, why don't you go ahead and open it now?" Hiruzen looked at Naruto who stared intently at the semi-circle shaped gift. And then as fast as he could, Naruto wriggled his hand free from Hiruzen's and began to tear into the wrapping paper, before coming face to face with an object he had never seen before. In his hands, Naruto held a decently large semi-cirular object. The front end of it was made of thin wood, painted jet black, with a small grip in the middle. And then, at the each end of the crescent shape, a string connected them.

"Hmm, that's interesting. I wonder where she got one of those..." Hiruzen looked at the object and smiled, he knew that once the boy knew how to use it he would treasure it forever. Naruto looked completely lost, he had no idea what the object in his hands was.

"Well Gramps, don't just 'hmm" me, tell me what it is!" Naruto looked at the Hokage impatiently, causing the older man to laugh before answering the boy.

"Well Naruto, that's a bow. To use it you put arrows on the string, pull back on it and fire." Naruto was still lost. What the heck are arrows , he wondered. Seeing that they boy still didn't understand him Hiruzen decided it would be best to demonstrate. "Come on Naruto, we'll pick up some arrows, and then we'll show you how to use that. Then you can come back later and impress Ayame."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, he would do anything to impress his sister figure. And he would be damned if he didn't learn how to use this properly.

"Not quite Naruto, that one was shy to the right of the bullseye." Hiruzen commented, dutifully watching as Naruto fumed over yet another missed. However, while Naruto thought he was doing bad, Hiruzen was quite impressed that a boy his age could hit so close to his target from nearly 20 yards away after having the bow for only half an hour. "Don't worry Naruto!" Hiruzen called out to him once again, "Remeber the key to archery is your form."

"Yes Gramps, I heard you the last seven-hundred times." Reaching into the quiver on his back, Naruto selected an arrow, notched it, took aim, and closed his eyes. He was sure that he could almost feel the wind around him, it's speed and direction, 'If only I could guide it...' Naruto thought. Suddenly, a strange power seemed to build within him, and Naruto no longer felt the wind around him, but in him. Naruto adjusted his aim, a little to the left, up a bit more... A leaf fell, Naruto let the arrow fly, and the Hokage watched, his eyes focused on Naruto, trying to decipher the power within the boy. However, the arrow flew straight past the target, and off into the woods, Hiruzen sighed, maybe he had been mistaken.

"A good try Naruto, but remember, it's all about for-" Hiruzen began to speak to his surrogate grandchild, before said child enteruptted with a loud yell, one that had the Sarutobi recoil in surprise; why was the child so excited?

"I did it Gramps!" Naruto yelled, running off into the forest, Hiruzen not far behind. As Hiruzen tailed Naruto he couldn't help but wonder what the child had been aiming at, it couldn't have been the target, but he had a feeling his question would soon be answered. How right he was.

Standing right infront of a tree was Naruto, grinning madly as he looked at the arrow stuck in it, pinning a leaf to its own trunk. Hiruzen could hardly believe what he was seeing, there was no way Naruto had intentionally made this shot...

"What do ya think Gramps? Pretty good shot huh?" Naruto turned, his grin widening even more, and the old Hokage couldn't help but smile.

"Quite a good shot indeed young one, however I think that is enough for the day, we still have many things to do." With that Sarutobi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder as they walked out of the forest, only one of them noticing the holes through the trunks of several trees as they walked by...

AN: Hey guys, Soluke here. I was going to make this chapter a bit longer, but I felt like this was a decent ending, the next one will be over 5k words and will hopefully come out much quicker.