Author's note: Happy Birthday, Naruto!

In honor of Naruto's birthday here are a few scenes from his perspective. There are no spoilers, foreshadowing, or anythng except what you see at face value: it's just Kichiro and Naruto interacting. This takes place shortly after Naruto's fifth birthday. Kichiro is 30 years old.


"Ji-chan!" I bellowed as I burst out of the school doors. He glanced over his shoulder at me and waved before turning back to his conversation with one of the villagers. I pelted towards him from behind, determined to catch him off-guard at least once. When I was two steps away, he turned with impossible fluidity, picked me up, swung me in a circled and settled me on his hip. I pouted about not surprising him while he said goodbye to the old lady he was talking to.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" He asked, tickling my belly.

I couldn't help but giggle.

"That's better. I have a surprise for you!"

"Really? What is it? What is it?" I bounced on his hip. "Is it ramen? Ramen! Ramen!"

"No, it's not ramen, silly. I have an extra day off, so we can stay out camping for an extra day!"

I started to cheer, but Ji-chan clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Not so loud, little hero. You're hurting my ears."

I fell silent immediately. "I'm sorry, Ji-chan."

"It's okay, let's go drop your schoolbag off at home then we'll head out."

"Can we run, Ji-chan?"

He chuckled and set me down, catching my schoolbag as I flung it at him. I bolted away, determined to beat him home. He jogged after me, keeping up without a problem. I was just passing the neighbor's koi pond when something tugged on my bracelet. I howled in fury as it twisted me off-balance and I fell headlong into the water.

As the water closed over my head, I heard Ji-chan's laughter as he stopped on the edge. "Are you alright, little hero? That was one hell of a tumble!" My back hit the rocky bottom of the pond. I kicked off the bottom and leapt out of the water at Ji-chan, knocking him back. It couldn't have turned out better if I had planned it. Ji-chan jerked backwards and when he steadied himself on the ground, his hand sunk into some animal's pile of warm, wet poop. Ji-chan cursed and yanked his hand away at the same time I barreled into him, knocking him backwards into a puddle of mud.

"Naruto!" He screeched as mud covered his hair and the back of his shirt. The next thing I knew, a blob of warm, wet poop hit my chest. The road was muddier than I remembered it before I fell into the water, but I didn't stop to think as I flung a handful of mud back at Ji-chan, laughing loudly. He dodged it and tackled me. We both went rolling.

"Boys!" The old neighbor next door scolded before either of us managed to get the upper hand.

Ji-chan was on his feet in an instant and apologizing for disturbing her.

"Were the two of you raised by dogs?" She demanded.

"Technically, I sorta was," Ji-chan snickered. I blinked and the old woman was in front of him, whapping him over the head with a shoe.

"You ought to be the example, incorrigible brat!"

"I'm a very good example! The kid's still alive, isn't he? Ow!"

She smacked him twice more before marching back into the house. I snickered as he rubbed his head. "You started it!" I told him.

He picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder, snatched up my schoolbag from where it had escaped the mess, and marched into the house. Without dripping or leaving mud anywhere, Ji-chan deposited me in the bathtub. "Clean up while I pack, okay?"

In no time at all, I had pulled off my clothes and rinsed all the mud down the drain. I ran to my room to get clean clothes, only to find Ji-chan, completely clean and dry, already packing my clothes for the weekend. He helped me dress in my favorite shorts and left me to struggle into my shirt.

The best part of camping with Ji-chan was everything. Except for clothes, a few blankets, and a knife, we didn't bring anything. We didn't bring food or dishes or mats or matches or anything. Ji-chan showed me how to forage, catch, and cook food. He showed me how to build shelters, make dishes, and fashion all sorts of useful things.

"I wanna catch the food this time, Ji-chan!" I declared as we started walking out the door a few minutes later.

"It's up to you, little hero, I guess when we get to the campsite, I'll make the fire then, right?"

"Can we camp beside that big lake and eat fish all weekend?"

"Lead the way!"

(o_o)

When Ji-chan started to lay out the blankets for us to sleep on, I decided to ask a question that had been niggling at the back of my head for a while.

"Ji-chan? Where did you learn all this stuff?"

For a moment, I thought he hadn't heard me, then he stood up and came to sit down next to me.

"Your ka-chan and I didn't live in the Land of Fire when we were little."

"Where did you live?"

"Patience, Naruto, I'll tell you."

I scampered into his lap, ready for his story.

"When we were little, we were about your age actually—"

"Were you the same age as Ka-chan?"

"No, a year older. When we were little like you are now, we used to live on an island, do you know what an island is?"

I nodded.

"It was a really big island with lots and lots of people. The best part was that they were all family. We had a very, very big family. I didn't even know everyone's names."

"Why don't we have a big, big family now?"

"That's a story for another time, let me answer your first question. Where was I? Okay, when we lived on that island, your ka-chan who's also my sister, used to play every single day by the ocean. Do you know what the ocean is?"

I shook my head.

"Imagine this lake right here." He pointed to the lake in front of us. "Imagine the sun shining really, really bright so you think you can see forever, okay?"

I smiled and nodded.

"You know how you can see really far when you're up in a tree, right?" I nodded again. "Imagine you're up in a really, really tall tree and looking at the lake, can you picture that?"

I nodded again.

"Good. Now imagine if our little lake right here went on as far as you could see on your right, on your left, and in front of you, from the very tippy-top of the tree."

"Woah! That's a really big lake!"

"That's what the ocean is like. It's really big, but you can't drink the water because it's really, really salty, like when you put way too much salt in your rice."

"Ewww!"

"When your ka-chan and I were growing up, we lived on an island and the ocean went on really far in every direction."

I gazed up at him in awe. "How did you leave the island?"

He ignored my question. "Every day, your ka-chan and I would play in the ocean and make things. We figured out how to do most of this ourselves. That's how I know all these cool things."

"There's more to the story," I said seriously.

"I know. I'll tell you the rest when you're older."

"I am older! I turned five years old yesterday!"

"It's time for bed, little hero. No more stories tonight."

I curled deeper into his lap and pulled the blanket around myself.

"You're just like your mother," Ji-chan sighed.