Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto, nor do I own any of its characters. However, I do own the character Tiyoko Chiree, who was made specifically for my Naruto fan fictions. I do not claim Naruto as my own and simply wish to promote it with my fan fictions, not to make fun of it or claim that I own the characters. This occurs in an alternate timeline, starting from the very beginning of the actual anime show.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Bah, 'nother chapter. X3 I'm gonna KILL myself writing all these near the same day as each other. Ah wellz... enjoy anyway peoplez! shot

"Bah, Kiba, I wasn't insulting Akamaru," came the apology of a young girl, perhaps preteen age. This girl was no taller than Kiba, and yet was much taller than some other people of the Konoha. Even though she was training to be a ninja along with some others, she certainly wasn't dressed for it; she wore a purple shirt with a big white daisy on it, with navy blue jeans. Her long black hair just barely skid over her shoulders, coming near to her elbows, which she held in the air. Her eyes a bright lilac, her skin tannish. This girl was known commonly as the orphan, the orphan called Tiyoko Chiree. "Why don't you understand that? I love dogs!"

"Well, you sorta sounded like it to me," Kiba mumbled, and Akamaru hopped to Kiba's shoulder. Tiyoko marveled at the little dog; he was so small in comparison to Kiba, and yet he was able to reach his shoulder in a single bound. Little did Tiyoko know that such feats of jumping more than twice own body size would be what she would be performing. The sound of Kiba's voice snapped Tiyoko back into focus. "I mean, saying that I may need to train him a little more?!"

"Oi." Tiyoko was tired of arguing with Kiba. She wanted to train for being a ninja, for crimany's sake! "You're not a ninja yet. I wouldn't expect you to be good at training a nindog. I think you should practice now while you're new."

"Nonsense!" Kiba objected. "Absurd. Absolutely not. I don't need practice. Akamaru is loyal to me and that is final." Kiba stomped his foot on the ground. "I'm going to train now. And I don't need your tips." Kiba then walked off in a huff.

Tiyoko rolled her eyes. Kiba was being such a drama queen. A lot of the new shinobi were. It was probably because they were all so excited. The Genin exams weren't so far away. Tiyoko herself was excited, too. She wanted to see all the people training to become shinobi there, and then wanted to show off her shinobi skills. She had been training a lot, getting all the jutsus: Bunshin no Jutsu and the transformation jutsu, as well as some hand-to-hand combat. Tiyoko thought she was quite ready for the Genin exams, and nothing would change that.

The thumping of sandals on the ground interrupted Tiyoko's thoughts, and she turned to see a young boy running as fast as he possibly could. The great Hokage stones had graffiti all over them, and the boy seemed like a flash as he ran away from Iruka-sensei and some others. Tiyoko stared at the boy. He was such an oddity. First, he had spikey blond – scratch that, yellow hair, and bright blue eyes. He was also wearing an orange jumpsuit. What a fashion sense, Tiyoko thought ironically. Another thing that was odd about him is the whiskers on the side of his face... I mean, you don't just see boys suddenly sprout fox whiskers on their cheeks and claim it as a birth mark, do you?

"NARUUUUUUUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Iruka cried, chasing after the mischievous little boy. "For crying out loud! Why do you do that!? Get back here!"

"HAHA!" the crazy boy laughed, throwing his head back, letting his spikey locks flow in the wind. Tiyoko watched him. She had never seen anyone act quite like he was right at the moment. "You can't catch me! Nyah, nyah, nyah nyaaaaaah, nyah!" He sped as fast as he possibly could, getting as far away from Iruka as he possibly could.

"This kid is more trouble than he's worth!" Iruka shouted, annoyance evident in his voice. He passed right by Tiyoko without knowing the pre-Genin was even watching; he seemed more focused in the boy than in her. "I swear it. Why the hell do we have students like this, anyway?" He seemed to have a lot of trouble keeping up with the fast child, and the kid quickly leaped onto a few ceilings, doing his best to avoid Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei," Tiyoko said, but Iruka was completely ignoring her, so before she even finished asking, she shut her mouth back up immediately. I should just wait until things calm down a bit before I ask, Tiyoko thought, thinking wisely. She didn't want to interfere in something that was especially none of her business, especially with a kid such as that Naruto guy. She had no idea who he was, and she didn't really recognize him; but what was strange about this was that, he seemed all too familiar. And that was most of the basis of her question. Who is Naruto?

But as soon as Naruto was able to boast, he was caught. An intervention of one of the staff administration of the shinobi caused Naruto to get captured, because the shinobi intercepted him right as he was running in that general direction. Naruto squirmed in the shinobi's grasp, growling at the shinobi like a wild animal. "Damn it! That's not fair!" Naruto squealed. "Let go of meeeee! Oh, you guys aren't fun at all!"

"Well, you did just disrespect the Hokage," Tiyoko said pointedly, walking over to the Jounin and the pre-Genin. "And you disrespected the Jounin and Iruka-sensei. At least, assuming you were the one who put graffiti all over the Hokage Mountain." Tiyoko was one to tell the facts; it was just how she was. But she couldn't help but admire Naruto's sense of fun. He was stupid on first appearance, she had to admit, but it was obvious that he had a craving for adventure and mischief.

"Who're you?" Naruto asked, peering at Tiyoko curiously, no longer squirming in the Jounin's grasp. He closed his eyes, then opened them again to peer at her again. But then he suddenly got angry again, curiosity gone. "You shouldn't tell me what to do! You're hardly older than me!"

"I never was," Tiyoko said, grinning. "That was cool, what you did there. Even if it was disrespectful." She did think it was a bit cool, after all. Plus, she wasn't one to give out respect on a platter. She did have respect to the Hokage, but she was fine with disrespecting him if it meant having some fun, or it meant saving someone from harm. At this, Naruto blinked in confusion.

Iruka walked up to them, careful not to knead the sidewalk that he was walking to. He stood nearby the Jounin, Naruto, and Tiyoko, taking a look at what was going on here. He seemed out of breath, and when he came close to them, he put his hands on his knees, bending his knees, and he panted. The pre-Genin Tiyoko could clearly see the scar that was on the bridge of his nose. She had always wondered where that had come from. "Tiyoko-chan, what are you doing here?" Iruka asked, looking down at Tiyoko in a sort of scolding manner. "Shouldn't you be training for the Genin exams instead of staying here with us?"

"Hai, I was just about to do that, but I thought this scene was a bit interesting, Iruka-sensei," Tiyoko said, nodding respectfully at Iruka. "Iruka-sensei, mind introducing me to shi?" The girl nodded to Naruto. It was true to the honorific; she was not familiar with Naruto. And yet, strangely... she felt as if she knew him. Tiyoko shivered. Hopefully this was just part of her imagination.

"Ah, that's Naruto," Iruka said. He seemed to have calmed down, especially since Tiyoko was being so polite. Naruto looked at Tiyoko suspiciously. It was apparent he wasn't used to being polite, nor was he used to people being polite to him. Tiyoko wondered why. And Tiyoko wondered, where were his parents? And his friends? Surely someone like him had lots of friends? Iruka's voice again came to a surprise, and her attention focused back at Iruka. "He's a foolish troublemaker who needs to clean the Hokage Mountains. He is only trouble. I suggest not talking to him or anything. He'll only turn you to this irrational mischief, too." Iruka shivered at the thought. It was bad enough with one. Plus, he liked Tiyoko being a well-mannered child. "Anyway, the Genin exams are tomorrow, so you might just want to prepare. Not spend time here."

"Hai," Tiyoko agreed. "I'll see you later, Iruka-sensei, Naruto-san." And with that, she left behind the mischievous boy, as well as the sensei. But it certainly wouldn't be the last time she would see them. Because, you know – a story isn't a story without good characters.

Sunset was nearing, as the day was drawing to a close. Tiyoko was a bit tired. She had been training all day, but she couldn't take her mind off of the boy. It wasn't as if she liked him or something, but she was interested. There was something about him that she couldn't take her mind off of. What was it now? Oh yes. The fox whiskers. Why did he have those? And why was he so mischievous? The people of Konoha were typically dreary and weren't filled with that kind of energy, and thusly it was kind of strange to see it.

Tiyoko was about to head home, walking along the brick-like path that she followed every day to go home, bubbling with excitement over the Genin exams the next day, when she saw a figure near the Hokage Mountains. She stopped, and turned her head, looking. It was near the nose, and it seemed to be swiping something over the nose. She strained her eyes so she could see the figure more, but to her dismay it was hard to make out the figure in the distance. Ugh, curiosity killed the cat, and yet I don't care, the pre-Genin thought, and soon, she found herself going to the Hokage Mountains. Once at the root of the giant rocks, she found something to climb. A ladder. She gently put her hands upon it, and then mimicked the motion with her legs, climbing it swiftly, but carefully so as not to give herself a reason to scream out loud. She climbed and climbed, until finally her arms weren't clutching ladder bars, but were holding some sort of wooden platform. Heaving herself up, she found herself up to dizzying heights.

And there he was, yet again! Naruto!

He was scrubbing the Hokage Mountains, grumbling under his breath. He had a sponge in one hand, and to his side was a bucket of warm water, perfect for rubbing the graffiti off. Trouble for Naruto, however, was the fact that there were huge marks. Perhaps he regretted putting graffiti all over the Hokage's faces. Perhaps not.

"Naruto-san!" Tiyoko said in surprise. She wasn't expecting to see him here. And apparently, neither was Naruto, because as soon as he heard Tiyoko's voice, he yelped and then fell to a side of the wooden platform. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Agh! Stupid!" Naruto hissed, lifting up to his feet. "What was that for!? I'm having enough difficulty trying to clean these stupid mountains and then I have you startle me like that!" In his fright, Naruto almost dropped the sponge, however, he swiftly caught it as it rebounded. After a moment of silence, which Tiyoko politely gave him to recover, Naruto relaxed again. "Ugh... what do you want now? Do you want to bug me like everyone else does?" Naruto asked, but in a gentler tone now.

The girl was surprised by this. He was bugged by people? Must've been because of the spikey hair. Or maybe... "Haha, no, no," Tiyoko said gently. "I'm here because I was curious."

"Nani?" Naruto asked, blinking in confusion. And it was now obvious to Tiyoko that this was probably the first person that had ever been friendly to him. What was it with him? "What are you so curious about? Am I that strange? Ugh... I knew it..."

Even though Naruto hit it right in the pin, Tiyoko didn't mean to be so rude about it. "Not a bad strange," Tiyoko said quickly, apologizing under her breath. "And, that wasn't exactly what I meant." That was a bit of a lie, but Tiyoko knew it would probably hurt him if she said otherwise. "It's just that, it's rare to see people cleaning the Hokage Mountains this late. Shouldn't you be home with your parents or family?"

As soon as she said that, Tiyoko could've sworn she saw loneliness flicker in the boy's eyes. At that, Naruto looked away. Tiyoko could pick up the hint of sadness in his voice, and could hear it slightly waver. It was at times like this she regretted ever speaking. "I have no family," he said quietly, his eyes darting to the platform... looking anywhere but at Tiyoko. "And before you ask, I haven't any friends to hang out with, either."

"Well that's silly," Tiyoko said. Naruto looked surprised that she seemed so lighthearted. He had never seen anyone that even thought of being cheerful toward him, or treating him as an equal. He was usually rejected, and he knew not why. But Tiyoko did nothing to him... "You seem like someone who would make tons of friends." But then, speaking of friends... A thought suddenly popped into Tiyoko's head, and it made her feel a bit embarrassed. "And aren't I silly, too! I never introduced myself! I am Chiree Tiyoko, and ya know, I'm an orphan, too."

"Really?" Naruto asked, awed. He thought he was the only one in the whole of Konoha! But then, Naruto suddenly realized what he had been doing. "Aww man, I gotta get back to cleaning these things, or else I'll never go to bed. The Genin exams are tomorrow..." Naruto faltered. He had always failed the Genin exams. And worst of all, Tiyoko might learn that tomorrow.

"Well, I don't want you to be late then," Tiyoko said. She looked at the graffiti. Then she looked back at Naruto. And maybe you could call it generosity, but I would think Tiyoko's next move was more like a friendly gesture. "I'll help you, if you want."

"Really!?"

"Hai."

Naruto thought for a moment. He wasn't one to easily accept help, especially from a girl. But then again, it was hard for him to do all this by himself. "Okay. Thanks!" he said, and then he went right on scrubbing. Tiyoko pulled an extra sponge from the bucket that happened to be there in case Naruto lost one of the sponges, and she scrubbed alongside him.

Was it the start of a friendship? I think so.

Legends for Japanese sayings in this chapter:

Shinobi Ninja

Pre-Genin Academy Student (training to be a ninja)

Jounin Very high rank ninja, before sannin and Hokage

Jutsu Technique

Bunshin no Jutsu Clone Technique

Sensei Teacher

Hai Yes

Shi honorific used in addressing someone you don't know formal

Chan in this case, the honorific is used to address a female student, but there are other uses

San just a common honorific used respectfully to both females and males of all ages

Dattebayo aka, -ttebayo, equivalent to English Naruto's "Believe it!" (to emphasize the previous word/phrase)

Nani? What? or Huh?

New characters of this chapter:

Uzumaki Naruto

Umino Iruka

Chiree Tiyoko (MINE DON'T STEAL x3)

Some random Jounin

Inuzuka Kiba