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When he turned nine, Naruto realized that as he grew older, so did the lady, but she still managed to look beautiful.

He had only seen her in town once every now and then in all the years that he's known him. That was when he she had crossed paths with a Hokage at a park. She bowed in respect and the hokage nodded.

Naruto had been hiding behind a tree at the time watching the small conversation. He thought that maybe, he should not be eavesdropping. They were talking about shougi, Naruto was not surprised in the least. The shougi lady, loved the game more than anything else.

"I hear you have a new shougi partner." Sarutobi said, Naruto had been hoping that he would say her name. He didn't know that Sarutobi does not know her name.

The lady nodded smiling. "How is your new partner doing?"

She stayed silent, considering answering that question. After a little while she said nothing but smiled even wider. She bowed once more and left the hokage as he was.

He was looking at her retrieving figure and smiled, chuckling. He had decided that today he would visit the school, to see how the students there were doing.

That was about the time Naruto had realized that he should be in school, he started running deciding to take a short-cut. Iruka-sensei would be mad if he was late, and he was getting treated to ramen today.

On his way home from the ramen place, he noticed the Hokage still walking through the streets, smiling. People had said to him that being a hokage is a tough job and that you're always busy. That's why he did not understand why the hokage had been walking around town all day, maybe it was his day off?

He noticed the shougi lady walking through town also, he hid behind a barrel at the side of the street and watched them cross paths again. This time neither of them had stopped.

The shougi lady spoke as she walked past him. "He learns quick, maybe even quicker than when you use to play, Sarutobi."

Naruto had never heard anyone call the old man by anything but 'hokage-sama', so he was surprised to hear the lady say that.

"Though sometimes eavesdrops on my conversations, reminds you of a little boy I once knew." She said chuckling, Naruto had figured that the little boy she once knew, was the Hokage. Sarutobi just chuckled continuing his way.

He also realized that she knew he had been eavesdropping. It was like she always knew what he was doing or what he was about to do, just like when they played shougi.

So by the time he turned ten, when he saw her having a form of conversation with someone, he went the opposite way, even if it meant Iruka would be mad at him for being late.

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