Originally, Naruto had no idea where he was going; he just felt the need to run. He pushed himself to the limit, trying to escape the past by exhausting his body. He ran for what felt like hours, the rain splattering on his face as he was assaulted by memories. He continued to run long into the night, and he collapsed under a tree just as dawn was breaking and immediately fell into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

Naruto woke groggily to the sound of birds chirping. He sat up against the tree and, shading his face with one hand, glanced at the sun. It seemed to be late afternoon, as the sun was high and the puddles of water from the previous nights rain were already starting to dry up.

He stood up and stretched, letting out a long yawn, and took note of his surroundings. All the peace his previous nights exertions had given him vanished as soon as he realized where he was. This was where he had had his first experience fighting enemy shinobi.

He and his team had fought the demon brothers here, and he had, under this very same tree, sworn an oath on pain as he jabbed a kunai into his hand to bleed out poison.

He couldn't help but laugh at the irony; he had run right into the hands of the same experiences he had been trying to escape. He wondered idly if anyone in Konoha was worried about him, but brushed it off immediately, no one in Konoha would notice even if he disappeared from right under they're noses.

He froze at this thought and glanced at the path that led to wave country. He turned around in a circle, looking at all the scenery around him, and for the first time in weeks, he had a true smile on his face.

"Why not", he called out to the empty forest; "I could use a vacation, and it's been far to long since I did anything for myself, and it will be nice to see how that brat Inari has grown."

Having thoroughly convinced himself, and with nothing but the cloths on his back and 13 shuriken, Naruto eagerly dashed down the long road to wave country.

Despite his initial enthusiasm, hours of walking had dampened Naruto's spirits. There are very few things, he decided, more boring than traveling long distances by yourself. He was soon playing games with himself, seeing how far he could jump from one tree to another or pretending to be stalking an imaginary enemy; but these were only temporary distractions, so pretty soon he decided to just run again.

It took only 4 days to reach the borders of wave country and it was with great relief that a chakra depleted Naruto flopped up against the side of the Bridge that had altered his life forever, and just watched the people go by, waiting to regain some of his stamina.

Naruto wandered around the relatively small city that was the capital of Wave Country in awe. It was completely different from how it had been but a short time ago. Shopkeepers called out into the packed markets, and fresh fruit and vegetables from all corners of the globe filled produce carts. The city appeared to now be a central hub of trade.

Naruto's explorations eventually led him to the center of town, where he was more than shocked to see a large stone monument in the middle of a small park. It had a simple pyramid shape and was about 6 feet high, and each side was inscribed with the symbol of the hidden leaf.

After a short prayer at the monument, Naruto realized he had to stop stalling. He was tired, had no food or clothing, and was broke. He knew logically there was no reason to be afraid of Tazuna and his family, they were his friends, but he hadn't exactly given them any warning so he was understandably nervous.

He eventually did manage to work up his nerve and make his way to Tazuna's house; only to find that it was no longer there. With a sigh, Naruto went to a neighbor and knocked on the door.

"Yeah, waddaya want?" came the rather annoyed sounding voice from inside the house.

"Um…I was wondering if you knew where Tazuna the bridge builder is living?"

"Tazuna!" The door opened slightly and a middle aged man peeked out "He moved out a month ago, got into the trade business and got himself and his daughter a better house near the market, who wants to know?"

Naruto improvised, using mostly the truth.

"I'm an old friend of Inari, the grandson, and figured I'd visit as I passed through the country"

The man shrugged his shoulders and gave Naruto the address. Naruto got somewhat upset when he arrived at said address to find he had passed the very house earlier that day, but he was sufficiently impressed; it looked as though the old man had done well for himself after the bridge was finished. The house was no mansion, but it was 3 stories and looked brand new.

Now very tired of traveling, he trudged up to the door and gave three sharp knocks. Not a moment later, a voice, which Naruto recognized as belonging to Tsunami, called out from inside the house.

"Be there in a minute…..INARI! STOP THROWING THOSE KNIVES!"

Naruto sweatdropped as the sounds of a struggle were heard from within the house, a moment later, a somewhat stressed looking Tsunami opened the door.

"I'm very sorry sir, my son likes to play ninja with kitchen knives and…..Naruto!"

Naruto sweatdropped again as Tsunami spun around and yelled back into the house.

"DAD! INARI! ITS NARUTO AT THE FRONT DOOR"

The sound of pounding feet could be heard and Tsunami stepped out of the way as Naruto found himself flying backwards, the victim of a tackle hug, and landed rather firmly on his behind only to see a somewhat larger than he remembered Inari grinning at him from his seat on Naruto's stomach.

20 Minutes and 2 "Tackling Houseguest" Lectures Later, they were all sitting down to a late night snack of instant Ramen in the dining room.

"So, Naruto, what brings you all the way out here?" Tazuna inquired "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I would expect that you'd be with your team."

Naruto didn't have the heart to tell them that Sasuke had betrayed the leaf, so he again used his improvisation skills.

"I just had some personal vacation time, and decided I'd come see how you were all doing" He accented this with his trademark fox grin. Inari grinned back, and Tsunami looked like she believed him but Tazuna raised his eyebrow slightly.

"Well," Tazuna said, "Your welcome to stay here as long as you like. As you can see," he gestured around, "my trade business is booming, so don't hesitate to ask if you need anything."

"Thanks for the offer, Tazuna-san," Naruto replied, "but right now, I want nothing more than a soft bed"

"Tsunami, if you would be so kind as to show our guest to his 'soft bed'," Tazuna laughed, "we'll let him get some sleep."

Tsunami led Naruto up to what appeared to be a guest room on the third floor, and he was more than happy to discover that the bed was much softer than the second hand junk he had at home. His last thought before he drifted off was: "Maybe I should consider staying here for a while"

Authors Note: Well, this is the first actual chapter, and the plot hasn't even gotten warmed up. I'll try to have another chapter up in the next couple days.