"Hey, kid. I'm gonna go out, wanna come with me?" Yuki stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

"Sure!" I said enthusiastically. I had been living at the warehouse for a month by then. I knew just about everything, when Rat said he was cooking leftovers, I knew he meant he was cooking rat testicles. When Yuki said he was going out, I knew he was gonna get into a fight.

We began to walk out the door.

"Don't go out and get boozed with that kid, Yuki." Zuka didn't like it when I was alone with Yuki.

"Yeah, yeah." Zuka knew there was no point, Yuki couldn't leave the warehouse without getting some kind of alcoholic drink. He even had a still in the basement!

First we went to Mashibadu's, a pub that had few patrons. In fact I think The Gang were the only regular customers, coming back at least once a week. The pub was actually owned by a man named Suzuko, despite the name. He always gave Yuki or Zuka a drink on the house first.

"Thanks Suzo." Yuki was only person who called him that, Yuki was the only person he would let call him that.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you pay for the next one. And if you gonna fight, you gonna take it outside." Suzo's place was always under threat from the health inspector. Blood all over the floor wouldn't help him that much.

Yuki had a few more drinks, and I had Suzuko's Soup of the Day. It was really the same soup every day, but no one really cared. After Yuki began to hit on the girls sitting at the bar, I knew soon he'd be in a fight. After he won the fight, we'd go home, enjoyed dinner and go to sleep. That was the way it worked. The only exception was when I found even a small amount of money, hoping one day I could save enough to go to the ninja academy. I knew I'd never get enough that way, but I thought it was hope, and everyone liked hope. When I woke up the next morning I decided to go on a walk by myself. It was a cold winter day, and I didn't have a jacket.

I had walked half a mile, then I got in trouble. Across the street I saw the Brumely Boys, three kids who loved to get into unfair fights. One of them was my age, another was a year older than me, and the last was 12. Yuki and Zuka had always warned me to stay away from them, saying they'd start a fight for sure, and I was too young to fight. Even though my muscles were bulging compared to when I was at the orphanage, and my stomach was filled more often (yes, more often. Not less,), I still couldn't take them on. I had been in fair, fist fights before, with varying results. I had won one, and lost one, the other two we were separated before one of us fell down. But those were fist only fights, the Brumely Boys used beer bottles (yes, they drank), knifes, pipes, whatever they could grab.

"Hey, kid." The oldest one began to walk towards me, I could see the pipe in his hand.

I began to panic, I didn't know what to do. I probably could've gotten away, if I had ran, but I didn't. I just stood there, filled with fear. They got even closer to me, as they did I began to smell more and more of the beer on their breathes. The 9-year old one pulled out a 4-inch blade. This made me even more nervous. I wondered why no one was stopping them, it was because the only people around were the kind of people that enjoyed seeing little kids beat up. I reached down to the ground, trying to find something to fight with. Nothing, nothing but lotto tickets and dirt. Desperate, I raised my fists, and removed all expression from my face. There was still room for me to run, but I didn't, not then at least.

"Tough guy, huh?" The one my age pulled out a red stick with plastic at one end. I wondered what it was at first, but then realized.

"Hey, the short one pulled out a flare!" A drunk attracted attention to the fight. I knew Jinko and Noru would come when the fight became popular, they loved to watch fights. Despite these comforts, I knew the flare wasn't going to be used to beat me.

He grabbed the plastic, then pulled it off, creating a blast of red flame. He began to walk towards me. Then I was really scared, I ran. I didn't care about reputation, I didn't care about honor, I just wanted to live. So I ran. But, it was too late, he had thrown the flare at me, catching my shirt on fire, scorching my body. I knew I couldn't get on the ground and roll, the alcohol from poured out bottles would only help the fire. I took my shirt off, leaving my chest and back badly burnt, and the fire caught my hair. By now Noru was there, he helped beat out the fire. Most of my hair had been shortened from the flames singing it. The tips were blackened. My entire body was in pained, especially my back. Noru took me back home, and I had to spend the next two months lying in bed (a pile of dirty rags, remember) face down, with cold, wet rags on my back and head. Rat brought me my food some times, but most often Yuki did. He would sit down and talk to me.

"So, those kids whooped you good, huh?" Yuki began to eat. "You'll get them some day, when you become a shinobi." Yuki chuckled at the joke he just made. He knew I would never become a shinobi, we could never afford it. "You go when your nine right?" I nodded my head. "So, around nine months, right?" I nodded my head again, eating my rat soup. "We've been saving our money..." He was referring to The Gang. "...Because we know how much you want to go to train to be a shinobi, The Gang and I are going to spend the money on Ninja Academy for you."

"Why?"

"You deserve more than this Naruto. You deserve better than poverty. The life of a shinobi can give you that." A tear began to appear in Yuki's eye.

We were both finished with our dinner in a few minutes of silence.

Suddenly he spoke. "Can you walk now?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Get dressed, come on."

"Where are we going?"

"You're going to go work for Suzuko. Just serving drinks, maybe mixing them. He'll pay you an honest fare, and you'll get money to go to the academy."

We left, and after traveling on the dirty streets for half an hour, we arrived at Mashibadu's.

"Yeah, the kid can work here. Come 'ere kid, I hafta' show yous' how to mix drinks." Suzuko seemed happy to have my help.

Yuki sat down and waited for Yuriki, the hot waitress that worked Suzuko, to take his order. He sure liked her. I had heard him talk about proposing to her someday, but that was mainly dreaming. He had tried to impress her by fighting, which occasionally had, when the person he was fighting deserved it, but most of the time it turned her off. His muscles turned her on, though, it was just fighting that turned her off. She didn't like it.

"Alright, first I'll teach you to make a "'Puyo Sundy'". Now listen carefully." I had tasted a "Puyo Sundy" before. They were awful. I imagine that's what urine would taste like. They were only served on Sundays, and the only reason they were popular was because it was a cheap way to get drunk. "Now, first you take some..." He went on to tell every step to making it, I memorized it best I could but still it wasn't enough...

"Alright, now make one for Yuki." Suzuko smiled at me, showing his rotting, yellow teeth.

I began to mix the ingredients. I accidentally put too much sake in it though, but that turned out to be good.

"This is great, much better than normal! What did you do different?" Yuki smiled at Suzuko. In turned Suzuko just looked at me for messing up the recipe. "I'll pay you double if you put this on the menu permanently!" Suzuko's angry stare turned into joy.

"Okay. Tell you guys what, I'll give you each one free, uh, one free... Think of a name."

"Naruto Sundy'." Yuriki suggested.

"Yes, one free Naruto Sundy'"

Suddenly I was making drinks like crazy! People wanted more and more of my drink, Suzuko wasn't sure what I was doing, he just knew it was good. That was pretty much life for the next few weeks. My name known throughout all of Konoha's Slums as "The Boy Mixer" but it wouldn't last long.

"Kid." Yuki called me.

"Yes?"

"Get dressed and come with me."

I did as he said, not asking anything. He led me away from the slums, away from the drunks and whores, away from the violence and hate. Away, away to the edge of a forest, where there was a house.

"This is my uncle's house. He's a little old, but he's cool. I'm giving him all the money we've been saving. He'll keep saving it, and he'll put his own money in it. But you'll have to work for most of it. I'll come by and visit you some time okay. You'll have a better chance here, kid." He lied, he would never visit me.

"Okay, say hello to Yuriki for me." I had grown to like Suzuko's daughter, who turned out to be Yuriki.

"I will. One day, when me and her are married, I'll let you come live with us if you want to." Yuki laughed, trying to hold back the tears swelling in his eyes.

Then he left, never to return...

Thanks for reviewing. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Next one will be out soon. Will Naruto be happy living with Yuki's Uncle? Only time will tell...