Chapter 2 – 5 years old

2 months after

Naruto was feeling rather content, for the past year of his life he had battled constantly against hunger, which resulted in the degrading event of eating the spiders. Just remembering it made his skin crawl. Since then he had vowed to never do such a thing again and with a renewed motivation he had set to the streets to find new ways to fend for himself.

He had now memorised the plan of Konoha and also which alley ways were or were not used, decreasing his chances of coming across anyone who might seek to harm him, but of course there were always risks and every now again he would be hurt, but to add to this they did not know where he lived, so he was always able to escape to relative safety after such times.

In his earlier explorations of Konoha he had discovered a place called Ichiraku's. It was a ramen shop that was over generous with throwing away left overs. Every time he went there, there would always be something in the trash, and most of it was untouched by insects. But it was cold. Most of the flavour had been lost and the noodles were stodgy, however, he realised quickly that it was his free pass to food that hadn't been tampered with, and in Naruto's opinion this meant that his life had taken a turn for the better. He found that not starving to death restored his optimistic personality and gave him more energy than he had before. And to be honest he did actually quite like the taste.

However, Ichiraku's was on the other side of the village from Naruto's apartment which the little boy regarded as a very bad point in deed. He would constantly have to walk down roads he wanted to avoid, and even with the aid of alleys he never managed to make three journeys consecutively without something happening. But he knew that the food was worth it. He could easily recover from whatever was done to him, no matter the pain, but food was still a rare existence to him and Ichiraku's was his only source of nourishment at this time.

Naruto had not eaten for a day and half now and he had decided he should go to get some food, deep inside him he could feel something tingling, like something bad was going to happen, but he wanted ramen and now was the perfect opportunity to go, it only just beginning to get dark so he might make it there before it midnight, then he could spend the night foraging and come back home in the morning light. Naruto thought it was a good plan. He remembered one of his talks with the Hokage a year ago and how the man had told him never to travel at night. Naruto felt a minor stab of pain in his heart for the old man whom he missed dearly, but due to his young age he put it aside as hunger pain, much like the tingly feeling he was getting. He made his way out as the sun began to set.

He was lucky that night, there was no one on the streets and in the second half of the journey he had become over excited at the thought of ramen and had begun to skip happily towards his destination. He reached the bins where his meal was kept waiting for him and dug in; he had come to love ramen over the last few weeks, despite its faults. It had kept him going and sustained his life on more than one occasion.

By now it was almost pitch black and it was getting very cold out. The thin meagre clothing Naruto had did nothing to stop it and he was shivering as he finished the last of the noodles. I want to go home….I shouldn't have come here…I should have waited he began to cry softly at being on the other side of the village to where he wanted to be. His longing for his tiny room overcame him so he wiped his tears and ran down the numerous roads. The cold was misguiding him and all he could think about was the warmth and stability of his home. It was moments like this that truly revealed just how much of a child he really was.

Naruto took a more direct route home, down the main streets but in his bid to get home he bumped into something and was suddenly sent reeling backwards, his back thudding against the concrete ground and was splashed with a warm liquid. He winced and immediately stood up. In the darkness he could make out four figures, but more than seeing them he could smell them, they reeked of sake. Its ok, they know I didn't mean any harm, ill say sorry then ill run home…I'm sure they're nice people…

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you!" he bowed deeply and made to carry on running home, still wishing for his bed. But he was instantly pushed backwards, reclaiming his previous space on the floor.

"Oi, where do you think you're going?" the first man was drunk and slurred his words. "wha' 'bout my drink you spilt..? huh?" he made to swing at the boy, Naruto closed his eyes as if it would make it not happen, he waited for the punch to connect….but it didn't. He opened his eyes to see one of the men holding back the first.

A third man looked shocked at his friend's actions

"Oi, why'd you stop him, don't you think he deserves it?"

"He's just a boy, we should help him home, not hurt him like drunken thugs" the second replied. He teeters a bit on the spot, gripping firmly on the mans arm to steady himself

"Cant you see who it is?" the fourth asked the second.

"No, I lost my glasses and the alcohol has gone straight to my head" he laughed meagrely

"IT'S THE DEMON BRAT YOU IDIOT!" the third shouted. The second let his friend's arm go, and intently stared at Naruto.

"So it is, I can see the whiskers, I'm sorry friends I did not realise it was this piece of scum" he turned to the first man, "sorry, carry on" he smiled

Naruto had nothing to say, one minute he was being helped and the next he was their prey.

The man swung his fist again, faster than before and this time it connected with small blonde who had been frozen in something akin to shock. Naruto felt the pain bloom across his check and nose, he could taste metallic blood running down the back of his throat and felt it ooze softly over his lips. Before he could cough in response he was kicked in the ribs multiple times. Naruto's blue eyes widened in shock and his mouth parted to let out a high pitched whimper. His side felt as though someone had engraved an iron bar into him and the little boy's innocent eyes began to tear. This hurts…it really hurts….

The men who had been watching had sadistic twisted grins on their faces and were clearly trying to find an opportunity to join in. it was given.

All four men had no weapons, but to Naruto this was not a comfort, to him hands and feet were weapons in themselves, he knew this from experience. Naruto was in agony all over and yearned to be unconscious, but he was spared no small mercy and he remained conscious to suffer. Through the haze of pain he was vaguely aware of what the men were doing. One was forcefully kicking his back while another was holding him down by pushing his shoulder down, crushing it against the ground. Another man had clambered on top of the barely conscious boy, his back to the blondes face and was bending his leg towards him, Naruto could feel it pop out of its socket at the knee and he jerked. He could not even scream, all that escaped was a harsh breath and a strangled cry. The fourth man was laughing and glee was evident in his eyes, the opposite of Naruto's. Naruto wanted to truly die, to escape this torture, anything. His plea was granted when the fourth moved towards him and brought his heavy foot crashing towards Naruto's innocent face. Naruto embraced the cold blackness that welcomed him.