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Mature Content / AU
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Connected

Chapter 1 - The Fox and the Orphanage

Six years later…

He tried to run, but his legs felt like they were made of lead. It was close now, so close he felt like he could feel the monster's breath on the back of his neck.

"No, get away from me!"

"I can smell your fear little one … I wonder what you'll taste like?"

There was nowhere to go and nowhere he could hide, every door he tried was locked and every street he ran down was a dead end. Facing the wall at last he knew that he could go no farther and watched in horror as the shadow of the beast grew larger and larger until it completely blotted out his own.

It was this way every night, the same dream over and over again. The doors were always locked, the streets were always alleys, and fox always caught him in front of this wall. The little boy's heart sank, this was the end of the sequence. He had to turn around now, that was his part. Then the monster fox would devour him whole and wait for the next time, which would of course be the very next time he slept.

"Turn around child …"

Tears started streaming down his face and he turned around slowly like he always did, and he asked his same question. "Why won't you leave me alone?" he sobbed.

The fox's face contorted in anger, "I'll never leave you alone, don't you understand!" it roared. The beast reared its fiery head back and opened an impossible maw …

No, he didn't understand. Why did the fox do this to him? Didn't he hurt enough already? Why was he alone? Why did everyone in the world look at him with those eyes? The unfairness of it all washed over the young boy and the fear in his heart stumbled, and he could feel something else taking its place. What was it?

His tears came faster now, but for some reason they felt hot against his skin. His body still trembled, but was he afraid? And then he knew, if not consciously at least on a baser, more instinctual level. The fear in his heart was dying, because it was being eaten away by anger.

For the first time since he could remember, the dream changed.

The young blond pulled his head up and stared into the fox's eyes with a burning defiance. "NO!" he screamed at the top of lungs. The monster was so surprised that it halted in its final descent, starting down at its prey as though for the first time.

"I don't understand! No one will tell me! They only stare at me with those eyes … with eyes like yours."

"You …"

The child looked on in growing disbelief as fox stood still, studying him for some unknowable purpose.

"Damn that man, it's already begun," it muttered quietly. The last thing Naruto saw were the beast's enormous jaws closing around him, just like they always did…

Naruto woke screaming from his nightmare, again. The other children trying their best to sleep in the oversized room moaned at the pain of their lost sleep.

"Shut up you idiot!"

"Somebody hit him!"

Somebody did. Still covered in sweat and shaking from his ordeal, he never saw the shoe flying through the dark before it hit him squarely in the eye. "Oww!"

A small cheer went up throughout the room before the lights suddenly flickered on and the orphanage's matron barged in, "What is all this racket?" Holding his rapidly forming shiner, Naruto looked around in panic and knew right away he was in big trouble.

She was a terrible woman, short, fat, and beady little eyes that made children with any sort of self preservation instincts cower in fear. Those that didn't soon learned their lesson, crossing the matron was a quick route to a beating and a night without dinner. None of the children even knew her name, simply Matron, or Ma'am. But she did have one redeeming quality that people seemed to like, and that was her hate for Naruto.

Peering around the room full of children she spotted what she was looking for, "Damn you, you little monster, you woke everyone up again didn't you?!" She stormed past the other bunks in the room, grabbed him roughly by his shirt and dragged him out of his bed onto the floor.

Naruto struggled against her hold but it was little use. "I'm sorry I didn't mean too!" he protested. "It's not my fault, I had a nightmare!"

She smacked him hard across the face and watched in satisfaction as his head hit the floor. "That's because you're a foul little boy, and you deserve those nightmares you little brat!"

Naruto held his hands over his face, trying to fight away the tears as much to fend off any follow up slaps. He didn't understand, he tried to behave, he tried to be good all the time. But no matter what he did it seemed like he screwed up, and everyone was always so angry with him. He was sorry, he just didn't know what he was sorry for. "I – I'm sorry." He choked out.

He felt a rough hand grab his collar again, "I don't care what you think you are! You're a monster and a nuisance. I've put up with your evil long enough, from now on you're sleeping in the streets!" she screamed.

Knowing what was coming next, the young blond lunged for his bed. Virtually all his worldly possessions were tucked into an old backpack he had shoved under the covers near the foot of his bed and he couldn't leave without them.

"No you don't you little freak!" the woman grunted, and pulled back hard on the collar of his shirt. The force of the movement brought Naruto's shirt up hard against his throat and choked him hard enough to end any thought of forward momentum. "You're not staying, you're going outside!"

The tips of his fingers grazed the sheets, but the angry woman had just managed to overpower him enough to stop him from reaching the bed. Before he even hit the floor she started dragging him away and towards the other side of the room and the door to the outside. "Please! I -ugh -just want my things, please let me get my things!" he choked, still trying to pull away from her iron clad grip. "I'll l-leave but please let me get my things!"

"If you want your trash you'll just have to go through the garbage," she sneered. "That's where you belong anyway."

She continued to drag the struggling child past the rows of other bunks, yelling all the while about his evil and for the other's to lay down and mind their business. But to his surprise the other children didn't listen to her at all, in fact most of them stood straight up in their beds and started cheering!

'Why are they? They never played with me but why would they … hate me like this?' Unable to understand any of what was happening, he ended his struggling and his mind just started to shut down. It didn't make any sense, he was being tossed out into the streets for having a bad dream! The adults all hated him, the other kids all hated him, everyone hated him. Even his dreams tortured him, what did he do?

Nearing the end of the room, he numbly noted that he was being dragged past the girls bunkroom. For some reason, he looked up at them. He didn't know why, he knew they'd be just like the boys … and they were. Two of the them were even singing some kind of chant but he couldn't hear it, everything was just a dull roar to his ears. He turned his eyes back down to regard the dirty, splintered floor he was being dragged across, it was the last time he was ever going to see it. He might have hated this place and the people too, but it was still his home for the last six years, at least it was …

Something caught his eye, an instinct urging him to respond to whatever it was beckoning his peripheral vision. Crystal blue eyes meet honey brown, and for just a moment time stood still.

Nearly every eye in the orphanage was on him right now, but those eyes stood out like a beacon because of what they held. There was no hate, no joy, not even apathy.

She was crying.

'Tears?' But why? Did they do something to her too?' Unfortunately he didn't have any more time to wonder because the matron had reached the front door. For a final moment they held each other's gaze, and then in a flash she took off running out of the girls room and down the hall. That was the last thing he saw before he was thrown out of the place that he had called home for his entire life, and out into the rain.

He hit the mud face first, and picked himself up slowly, looking back at the orphanage and the hateful woman who ran it.

"Don't you ever come back you monster!" she yelled, and with that slammed the door in his face.

It was still the very early in the morning, and when the door closed the last bit of light went with it. Sitting there in the dark covered in muck, Naruto started sobbing. He was only six and now he was alone, homeless, and he'd just lost everything he ever owned. Not knowing what else to do, the little boy cried his heart out. He called out for his mother though he'd never known her, then he cried for the old man. He didn't really know who the old man was, but he came around from time to time and was the only human being who nice to him. Finally, he begged Kami himself for help, sobbing a broken prayer that he be forgiven for what it was he'd done.

After he finished, he choked out his last sobs and looked around, his young mind gleaming with a spark of hope. Surely someone had heard him, if not someone who would help him then Kami at least. Someone would come. They had to, they couldn't leave him alone. He didn't have anywhere to go, he didn't even know what to do, he was only a child.

Someone would come.

The seconds passed and slowly stretched into minutes. The minutes passed and even more slowly stretched into hours. Soon the light of morning began peaking over the mountain tops, and Naruto still hadn't moved from his puddle of cold mud.

"Damn demon…" a voice behind him muttered.

Naruto twisted around to the source and saw a villager walking past, apparently going about his morning. That's when he noticed there were others, it was morning finally and the village was waking up. There weren't many people out but it wouldn't stay that way for long, and everyone that had seen him so far was giving him those same looks, those hateful looks. Understanding came crashing down on the child like a titalwave.

He hadn't been forgiven.

No one was coming.

He was alone.

He thought about crying again but found he couldn't work up the tears. It just wasn't any use. And he needed to hide, he needed to hide from them. Picking himself up from the freezing mud he noticed for the first time just how cold he was and found his scrawny legs didn't want to move properly.

Naruto limped around to the side of the orphanage, and into the shadowed alley where the trash was. He didn't particularly like the idea of hiding here but he knew it was better than being in the street by himself. Even he knew what would happen if the wrong people found him wandering around by himself. Most would only call him names or shoo him away, but some of them … well, it was best to avoid adults as much as possible.

He found some boxes next to the trash bins in the alley and hid inside those, hopefully the matron would just throw his things away like she promised and he could grab them before going. He had no idea what he would do after that, but it would just have to wait.

Hours later he was still wet, cold, and now very hungry, but finally he heard someone throwing out the trash. He waited until he was sure they were gone and then jumped into the large metal bin, digging through the bags and assorted garbage. As time went by he grew more and more frantic, he couldn't find his pack and he'd torn open nearly every bag in the dumpster. Realizing it wasn't there he slammed his fist into the side and squeezed his eyes shut in frustration, damn her! Of course she lied, they all -

"Hey…" a little voice whispered.

Naruto froze, he was still inside the trash bin and couldn't see out, but whoever was out there obviously already knew where he was so he decided to take a chance and slowly poked his head out. When he did, he was more than a little surprised to see the girl from the night before then one with the big brown eyes. "What do you want?" he asked suspiciously.

She looked him straight in the eyes without blinking, "I got your stuff."

Naruto lit up in surprise and jumped out of the bin with his hands out. "Give it here!"

She frowned at his rudeness but understood. The bag she held in her hands was all he had left in the whole world, she offered the pack up and he grabbed it from her quickly. A little too quickly from the way she jumped back he realized, but all he really cared about was that he had his things back. He opened the sack and rummaged through it, two changes of hand me down clothes, an old pair of sandals, a cup of instant ramen, a spoon, seven ryo, and the only thing he really cared about; his necklace.

Sighing in relief the young blond looked up at his savoir and grinned. She smiled back and for the first time he took a good look at her. Her straight brown hair was shoulder length, and she had matching brown eyes, a beautiful honey brown. Her clothes were much better than his though they were still the same old rags most orphans wore, but when he noticed her cheek he gave a start.

"What happened?" The little girls pretty face was marred by an angry black and blue bruise.

She put a self-conscious hand up to cover the black and blue flesh but simply shrugged. "Nothing."

Naruto frowned, he didn't remember her having that the night before. But then again he wasn't exactly in a position to be noticing details while being dragged out by the scruff of his neck either. They both just stood there in silence for a few moments before Naruto finally broke the stalemate, "Thanks for getting my stuff."

She shrugged again, it seemed to be her thing. "No problem."

Nodding, Naruto decided there was nothing else to say, and walked past her to exit the alley and find someplace he could try to eat his cup of ramen.

"Hey," she called out to him.

He turned around, "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for the way the old hag treated you, you seem nice to me," she shrugged.

He stared at her for a long time, his endless blue eyes piercing straight thru her, and again she never once looked away. "Why are you being nice to me?" he asked.

"I don't know. I guess … I just didn't like seeing you cry or something."

Naruto thought about that, and then he thought about his dream and what he learned. The girl couldn't help but notice something change in his eyes. "Well don't worry about it, cuz I'm never gonna to cry again," he stated flatly. He ran away so quickly that he missed the look of shock on her face.

She ran to the end of the alley and watched him dart away, she never even got his name.

"Good luck … blondie," She whispered.

Sarutobi gave another puff on his pipe and he finished the last of his paperwork. Standing up and stretching he found his old bones creaking in complaint. "Maybe I should create a new vice Hokage position and off load all of this damn paperwork to him," he announced to no one in particular.

He turned around and looked out the window over his beloved village, taking in the bustling activity below. But something seemed off to him, something was missing. He chewed on the pipe in concentration when it hit him, "Naruto! I haven't been by to see him in some time. I should probably take some time for a visit."

Tidying up a bit more he walked out of his office and told his secretary that he was taking the rest of the day off, she started to protest knowing his schedule but he silenced her with a raised hand. "The village will still be here tomorrow," he said sagely. One of the perks of age and rank he had learned, was the ability to say things he read on the back of fortune cookie wrappers and have people immediately accept as wisdom incarnate.

She smiled politely and nodded, there was no use once he started in with the old man proverbs. 'Wait, haven't I read that before somewhere?'

With that the 3rd Hokage set out to check up on his favorite orphan.

"You WHAT?!"

The woman immediately knew she was in trouble, she knew the Hokage seemed to show the demon child favor for some reason but she certainly didn't think he'd be this upset! "B - but Hokage-sama! That child is a menace, h-he was corrupting the other c-children!"

Faster than she could see a hand snaked out of nowhere and slapped her across the face hard enough to knock her down. "How dare you, he's only six years old!" he yelled.

"But he's a demon!" she screamed.

Instantly she felt his almost unbelievably strong hands around her neck, and she found that she could barely breath. It was easy for civilians to forget just how strong the shinobi of this village truly were, especially a smiling old man like the Hokage. He couldn't possibly be dangerous could he? He was more like everyone's favorite grandfather.

It was a mistake she prayed she might live to learn from. She tried to turn her head but couldn't, and had to settle for looking up at him out of the corner of her eyes.

"You have broken the law my lady," he growled. "Pray I find the child unharmed, or you will share his fate."

She didn't respond, she couldn't, but he grunted in satisfaction as he watched her face pale. He let go of her and stepped back. "Now where did the boy go?"

The frightened woman clutched her aching throat and stared up in horror, "I - I don't know, Hokage-sama. I haven't seen him since a few nights ago."

"How many?" he snarled.

"I don't know!" she blurted out.

"How could you not know?"

"I - I …" she choked out.

"You what?"

"I don't know …" she whispered, looking at the floor.

Sarutobi spun around in disgust and stormed out of the front door before making a quick hand signal. Four ANBU appeared in front of him instantly. "You four, you are to find an abandoned child immediately, he's six years old, he has blond hair, blue eyes, and his name is Naruto Uzumaki."

ANBU were highly trained ninja, and they were experts at hiding any and all emotions, but the 3rd picked up on the almost imperceptible movement when he spoke the boy's name. He knew in an instant he had yet another problem. "I understand that you may have certain … preconceptions about this child. But you will put those thoughts aside and follow my orders or you will answer to Ibiki, do you understand?"

He could see from the instant tension that they did, he hated to work this way, fear and respect were not the same thing. But it seemed that when it came to Naruto fear was the only thing that was going to work for now.

Of the four, the man to his left wore a mask painted to look like a dog. "Hokage-sama, who will act as your guard if we leave?" he asked.

"I'll be fine in my own village Cain, I am the Hokage after all. I can take care of myself. But this child cannot. I don't know where he is or how long he's been gone, but I expect you to find him and bring him to me in one piece. Do you have any questions?"

"Do you know of any locations where the boy might frequent?" Cain asked. Sarutobi regarded the man, the captain of his personal guard now for the past six months. He had high hopes for this one, and of course he would be the only one to show interest in finding the boy.

"The boy has the appetite of a small horse, keep your eyes on any eateries, especially smaller out of the way places he might be able get scraps from."

"Thank you Hokage-sama," the Cain replied. "And do you at least have an estimate as to how long he's been gone? It might help us estimate how far he's gotten."

"Unfortunately no, I -"

"Excuse me …"

Sarutobi felt a lite tug on his robe and looked down to find a little girl staring up at him with big honey brown eyes. "Little one I'm sorry, but I'm very busy right now and I -"

"You're looking for blondie, aren't you?" she asked. "I know when he left."

The 3rd's eyes opened wide and he knelt down immediately to get on her level. "Yes we are looking for him little one, it would help us greatly to know when he left, can you tell me?"

She nodded, "He left three weeks ago, when madam threw him out in the rain. I saw him the next morning, but that was the last time."

Sarutobi's face darken considerably, he stood up and turned back to his men, "You heard her, he could be anywhere by now, search the entire village if you have to. Find him!" In a flash, they were gone. 'Three weeks! He could be anywhere by now if he's alive at all. And that bitch! She's been accepting her weekly stipends for caring for Naruto since she threw him out, perhaps I will take her head …"

He was broken out of his thoughts by the sounds of taunting children, and was amazed to find three boys chanting something at the little girl standing right next to him. Didn't these kids have any respect or sense? Not many people in the village, even the children, were dumb enough to mess with the person standing next to the Hokage. But when one of the little cretins actually had the nerve to pick up a rock and hurl it at her he'd had enough.

Obviously this woman was totally incompetent to be raising the next generation of Konoha's citizenry. He was about to reach over the young girl and snatch the rock out of the air when he realized that her hand was already in position. Before he could think better of his actions, his ninja side took over and he pulled his hand back, he wanted to see what this little girl would do. Later he realized how reckless he was letting a little girl, probably no more than six years old with no training at all defend herself when the Hokage of people was standing right next to her. But many things in life were a gamble, and this was no different.

But sure enough she caught the rock and returned it in one fluid motion, and caught her assailant straight in between the eyes. The older boy howled and fell down.

Sarutobi couldn't believe it, gamble indeed! He couldn't ever remember seeing such grace in an untrained youth before. Certainly many children her age belonging to shinobi clans would have been able to replicate the feat, but just as many could not. And this little girl was an orphan!

Considering that she just helped Naruto he instantly felt a special connection to her, and this little girl was special in more than one way. He had to do something for her, and that little display gave him the perfect idea…

"Excuse me little one?" he asked.

She spun around with a guilty look on her face, "I'm sorry, I -"

"Bah!" he said, waving his hand. "I thought you did fine, a girl's got to protect herself now doesn't she?" he asked with a gentle smile.

Blushing slightly, she shrugged and looked down at the ground. He knelt down once more and put his hand on her shoulder, "So, what might your name be?"

Ayame finished preparing her order and delivered the steaming bowl to a waiting customer, the man gave a hearty thanks and dug into his meal. Nodding she walked back over to her station and looked down at the extra bowl her father had prepared beyond the order.

"Oh father? It seems you made too much for that last order." She called over her shoulder.

Her father Teuchi smiled, "Well than I guess you know what to do with it then," he responded cryptically.

She smiled and took the bowl into the back, then turned to her right and slowly opened up the back door into the alley. Peeking her head out she didn't see or hear anything. She walked over to some crates that were nice and high off of the ground and placed the steaming bowl there along with a clean pair of chopsticks. "Oh well," she said a little too loudly for normal conversation. "I hate to just throw away good ramen but it looks like we made too much and I'll just have to leave it here in the alley."

With that she walked back over to the door and closed it with a bit of a slam. Thirty seconds later a small, dirty hand reached up from behind the crate and snatched the bowl and the chopsticks. The sounds of slurping and an occasional smack filled the otherwise deserted alley.

Unbeknownst to the hidden diner, a pair of concerned eyes watched the entire thing. Ayame found that by slamming the door just right, it would pop back open just enough to leave a crack for her to peer through and observe the poor child she and her father discovered back there two weeks prior.

Teuchi nearly had a heart attack the first time, as he surprised the dirty little kid dumpster diving when he was putting out the trash. Once they realized he must be homeless her father had contacted the authorities about an abandoned child, but as soon as someone showed up and finally got a look, they'd claim they never saw a thing and never returned.

He knew why of course, the poor blond was the one, the hated container. And the rumors about the monster living among them is what nearly gave Tuechi the heart attack in the first place. Having a demon launch out of your trash at you is more than a little disconcerting. But he only had to take one look at the child's horrible condition, dirty, malnourished, and eyes so empty it broke his heart, that he knew this was no demon. This was a child, and a child to pitied at that.

He knew he couldn't tell Ayame about his status, and for that he was actually glad. Instead he told her that the child had come from a dishonored family, and hoped that would be enough to satisfy her natural curiosity. After all, even the unwanted and dishonored were given leniency as children.

So they decided to try and help him themselves, but even though he would take any food they would leave out, he'd never let them get anywhere near him. Ayame was only ten, and so she was always the one to walk out into the alley in the hopes he might trust someone closer to his own age, but so far they hadn't had any luck. Ayame and her father didn't know what must have happened to the child to make him so distrustful of others, but they knew it must have been terrible.

She blinked in surprise when she realized that the bowl, now empty, was placed back onto the crate. How did he do that? She opened the door and leaned out into the alley again, "Little boy?"

Sighing at the lack of response, she walked over and looked behind the crate to find nothing at all. Where the child learned to hide she had no idea, but he was good. "I won't hurt you, you know," she called out hoping he was still around to hear. "Maybe tomorrow then…"

She walked back into the shop and went back to her prep station, her father gave her a questioning look but she just shook her head. With a sigh and a frown he went back to his next batch.

Cain leapt from rooftop to rooftop heading towards one of the many ramen or dango shops he knew were littered around the village. He was alone of course, his teammates had said that they could cover more ground if they split up which made sense, but he knew that wasn't the situation.

They didn't have any desire whatsoever to find the child. He didn't have any doubt that they'd follow instructions, especially after that not too subtle threat the 3rd had given them. But the child would have to practically trip over one of them for them to notice.

They'd given some sideways looks after he'd shown interest in finding the boy as well, but they probably just thought he was being a kiss ass. They'd never know who the boy really was, or why Cain himself truly did want to help him, and that suited him just fine. The less others knew the better. The only question was whether the 3rd knew why, although knowing the old man he probably did.

When he arrived at the next stand, a ramen stand named Ichiraku's, he was surprised to find a young girl standing in the alley holding a bowl of ramen and talking to herself.

"… looks like we made too much and I'll just have to leave it here in the alley." He heard her say.

He wanted to jump down and investigate the stand and its surroundings so he could keep moving, but his instincts told him to hold up and observe this rather curious scene. The girl put the bowl down and returned to the restaurant, but oddly enough she slammed the door and then stayed right behind it, for what he had no idea.

But his question was soon answered as a tiny hand appeared out of nowhere and snatched the food from its perch. Behind his mask, Cain's one visible eye opened wide, he never sensed another presence in the alley at all, and he was searching! Civilians didn't have much of a chakra signature that was for sure, but like all living things they did have one, and what's more they didn't know how to conceal it. How the child hiding behind that crate was managing to stay concealed from him he didn't have a clue.

But if he had to bet, he'd bet that was the kid he was looking for. "Naruto …"

The little hand soon returned the empty bowl to the crate and the girl reentered the alley a moment later. It was a dead end type of alley and he didn't see anyone leave so he remained in his position to observe for a moment longer, once she'd gone he leapt down and walked into the alley. For a moment he wished he could remove his mask, it had to be incredibly intimidating to a young child but the ANBU code was strict.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" he asked the alley. "Please come out, I've been ordered to bring you before the Hokage." He didn't really expect an answer and wasn't surprised.

"Naruto, I promise I won't hurt you, I'll protect you with my life if need be, and the Hokage won't hurt you either, please come out." When silence answered him again he sighed, he didn't want to scare the little guy but it looked like he wouldn't have a choice.

"OK Naruto, I'm sorry you don't trust me, but I'm going to have to come and get you now. But I promise that I still won't hurt you." With that he formed a quick shadow clone to cover the exit, he was sure it wouldn't be necessary but it was almost a reflex. ANBU training did that to a person. Cain walked over to the crate and looked behind it but found only pavement.

"So inside the crate huh?" Crouching down, he pulled off one side of the pine box and was surprised to find it empty. Cain found himself giving an appreciative whistle. "Wow kid, you're good."

There were only two other crates in the alley and the trash dumpster, so he walked over to the other crates and checked them out as well only to come up empty handed again.

'The only place left is the dumpster. How the hell did he manage to make it across the empty space in between the crates and the dumpster without me noticing?' Kakashi flung open the lid and was shocked to find it nearly empty. "What the hell?" he said aloud. His clone stepped in his direction on hearing that and he shot the good looking fellow a questioning glance, not that he could see it behind the mask.

"Did he slip past you?" Cain asked hisclone.

"No, he's still in there," the clone insisted.

"Uh, I'm afraid not …" he admitted sheepishly.

"You're kidding me."

"Oh shut up and help me double check."

The 3rd Hokage paced nervously in his office, it was big village, but how could one child hide from four of his best ANBU? Well Ok, that was probably a load of crap. Cain was probably the only one who gave a damn and was following orders with any intention. So now the kid was hiding from say, one and a half ANBU if the other three were doing what he figured they were.

But at least he had already taken care of the orphanage problem, that disgusting excuse for a woman was officially removed thirty minutes after he left and the new temporary replacement was going to go through some serious vetting before becoming permanent.

And of course the highlight of his day thus far had been a little girl's smile.

But now he was waiting, waiting for the child he was most concerned about. He felt like such a failure, how on earth did he ever let it come to this? He'd started out threatening his own men's lives the day the child was born, and that didn't work. He'd tried speaking with groups of his most trusted shinobi and friends who should have known better, and that didn't work. Finally he'd just tried to keep the child out of the village's view and thus out of their minds. He had hoped that in time, they'd forget. And now that had obviously failed as well.

He couldn't even trust but a handful of his own ANBU to guard the child, and the village council had long ago managed to block his attempts to find a suitable adoptive family.

But at least one of his prayers were answered by a plume of smoke, followed by a ANBU in a dog mask, a small nin dog, and a struggling little boy.

"Naruto!" he gasped.

The child in question stopped struggling and looked at him with distrust, "Old man?"

He couldn't believe the boy's condition, he looked just pitiful. The poor child looked like he'd been rolling in garbage for the last three weeks, and he smelled like it too. He tried to ignore the stab in his heart when his conscious told him that the boy probably had been living in garbage for that time. "Naruto, I've been so worried about you, are you Ok?"

"He looks malnourished, and is in bad need of a bath Hokage-sama, but other than that he appears to be fine," Cain answered for the boy. He put the blonde down and stepped back, allowing the Hokage to approach.

When he got close, Naruto flinched. A look of great sadness passed over his face and Sarutobi stopped. "Naruto, it hasn't been that long, don't you remember me?"

"Yeah, I remember you. I just don't like to be touched." He responded flatly.

A little piece of Sarutobi died right there. 'What have I let them do to you Naruto?' He cleared his throat a little bit so he wouldn't get too choked up, "Naruto, I'm so sorry I didn't keep a better watch on you. This was all my fault, but I promise it will never happen again. I've already replaced the Matron of the orphanage, and I'll make sure you're checked up on every day if I have to -"

"I'm not going back there!" Naruto shouted. He backed up immediately until the wall stopped his progress. A look of fear and hate was evident in his wide blue eyes. "They hate me, they all hate me, even the other kids. I'm better off by myself…"

"Naruto …"

"No." the child stated flatly. "I'll run away, I'll run away so far no one will ever find me again. I just want to be by myself."

Cain nodded in agreement, "It's true sir, when this kid doesn't want to be found, he's like a ghost. I actually lost him in an alley with only one exit, I still don't know how he got by me. I had to use Pakkun here to track him down. When he gets a bit older, we might be looking at one heck of an infiltrator."

Sarutobi sighed, "I see." Actually he didn't, how the hell a five year old ditched Cain like a rookie gennin was something he would ask about later after the boy was gone. But for now he had other issues. "Well then, if you insist on being alone it appears I have no choice but to accommodate you. I'll find you an apartment, and setup a weekly allowance to allow you to take care of yourself."

He watched as Naruto lit up with glee for the first time since entering the room. "Really? I don't have to go back?"

"But know that I will be checking up on you from time to time. I'll also be sending over someone I trust to teach you the things you'll need to know to live alone. It's almost unprecedented for someone to live alone at the age of six, but your situation is just as, unprecedented. And I'll have an extra key so I can let myself in, those are the rules, got it?" he asked with an air of sternness that comes from years of being a father and a Hokage.

"I got it old man," Naruto replied grinning from ear to ear. He was finally going to have someplace to go where people wouldn't bother him! He could stay warm, dry, and there wouldn't be anyone to yell at him. It sounded like the greatest thing Naruto had ever heard.

"But wait, what's an infil .. uh .. trater?

The 3rd smirked, this day might end up better than he had hoped. Finally putting the child somewhere he wouldn't be harassed on a daily basis even if he would be lonely, and to plant a certain seed in his young mind. "Ah, that's a kind of specialized ninja you see, it seems you have quite the knack for hiding and moving without being seen eh?" he asked with a knowing glint in his eye.

Naruto's eyes got impossibly big, "A ninja? Me? Do you really think so dog man?" he asked Cain.

"Uh, yeah kid, sure." Kakashi replied. Fortunately for him, he had two masks on to hide his embarrassment. Not only were five year olds dodging him, but 'DogMan'?

Sarutobi chuckled, "Very well then, I'll make arrangements for an apartment for you right this very minute. You stay here and wait, it shouldn't take long. Oh, and by the way," he whispered, leaning in close, "There might be some snack food and chocolates in the lower left drawer of my desk, underneath the big red book."

Naruto nearly jumped straight over the older man and went straight for the promised food.

"Come with me Cain," Sarutobi said, motioning toward the door. They stepped outside the room and the older man immediately put a hand out to stop the younger one.

"Hokage-sama?" Cain asked.

"He lost you in a dead end alley?"

Cain chuckled nervously.

Authors Notes: I cannot begin to explain to you how long I've agonized over releasing this, I've got no less than 5 different versions lying around, some a little different, some almost completely. This thing is clocking in at 7,700 or so words, but I've probably written 20K, seriously, I think I'm insane. That said, contact me if you have an interest in BETA reading for me on any story, maybe I just need some help. I'm not looking for someone to proof my grammar or anything, just give me their impression of the story and what-not.

And no, I'm not telling you who the girl is yet, it's a surprise! Although the sneakiest of you have already guessed …