A/N: hey guys. Finished up the chapter that I should've had last month. Tell me what you think. The conversations I had a little trouble making because I find it hard to write them well while staying grammatically correct (personally).

Age List:

Naruto/Itachi/Akira: 10

Inari: 7

Konoha 11/ the twins: 6 or 7 depending on birthdate

Anyways, on with the story.

Silence.

Absolute silence permeated the area.

And concentration. Can't forget the concentration.

Naruto huffed in frustration. This is what he signed up for when he talked to Kaiza about fishing? God, why did he ever think this was a good idea? The waiting was almost unbearable to him. Sure, he wasn't exactly the most talkative of people, but he liked listening to people talk and interjecting when he felt like it.

"How's it going Naruto?" Kaiza asked jovially, interrupting Naruto's lamenting from across the small boat.

Naruto turned toward Kaiza, gave him a strained smile, not that he could tell, and responded, "It's going great. But I'm afraid this might not be my kind of job."

"Oh," Kaiza responded a little downtrodden before his mood picked up again, "well, at least it's an enjoyable expierence."

Naruto gave a light chuckle and agreed. Even though he didn't particularly like it, he couldn't really argue that it did help him to relax. Hell, he didn't even realize that he was still tense from his decision to leave Konoha until today.

Naruto sighed and started playing with the line on his fishing rod as he rethought his position in life. 'Being a fisherman was definitely not my best idea. But there isn't really much else to do in wave except open up a shop. And I'm not really a people person, so that's out of the question.'

Naruto yelled out in frustration at this point. Kaiza looked over in concern before Naruto explained.

"Sorry, it's just that I realized my best bet on making a living here is through being a fisherman."

Kaiza gave a light chuckle."Yeah, but it isn't so bad honestly. Besides, you're doing an okay job yourself. You even have a bite on your line."

Naruto looked confused for a minute before he looked at his line and saw it being pulled into the ocean.

At this point he freaked out. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. Kaiza had only explained the beginnings of fishing, like the sitting still and waiting. He didn't mention what to do if he actually caught one.

Kaiza laughed at his student's freak out before he decided to help him out.

'You are one interesting kid Naruto.' He thought to himself.

Later in the day

Naruto was walking back to Kaiza's place with a big smile on his face. Why was this normally stoicish boy smiling? Well, it was probably because of a number of things. But it was also probably because of the huge fish he was carrying that they caught, Or, more specifically, that he caught. The fish was truly huge too, being big enough that it was about Naruto's height and almost as heavy.

Kaiza gave a lighthearted laugh at how cheerful Naruto was. He had been like that since he caught the fish. It was such a surreal experience to see just how much energy the child actually had. Especially since for the whole 24 or so hours he had known him Naruto had only ever held a mostly stoic expression.

"Well Naruto," Kaiza interrupted Naruto's mirth, "If you have this much luck as to catch that on your first ever fishing trip, I doubt I can teach you much more."

Naruto just gave a giant smile. "So the day has finally come when the student has surpassed the master. I see how it is."

Kaiza gave a wicked smile back and shook his head. "Far from it. I just figure with your luck and the most basic of knowledge that I shouldn't teach you all my secret fishing spots and tricks. Especially if you're going to be competing against me in the tournament."

Naruto's smile slowly faded after that as the two proceeded in comfortable silence. After they walked into town and they sold the fish however, Kaiza was a little confused. Why where they still walking together?

"Um Naruto," the man said, breaking the silence and catching the boy's attention, "as much as I enjoy walking with you, don't you have anywhere else you could be or something else you could be doing?"

Naruto rocked his head side to side as he thought. He did still have to get his haircut...

Naruto turned to Kaiza and smiled. "Actually, I do have something to do. I need to get my haircut. Do you know any barbers or anything around here?"

The fisherman shook his head. "There are none around here. Everyone just has their family cut their hair for them. Why don't you just have yours?"

Kaiza immediately felt like hitting himself for saying that when he saw the luster in Naruto's eyes vanish. 'Fuck.' Was his only thought. He didn't even think about Naruto's situation in life. He didn't think about the obvious things like 'where are his parents?' Or 'why does he want my help instead of his family's?'

"I'm sorry. Naruto, I-" He tried to fix his mistake with an apology but was cut off by his apprentice.

"It's fine Kaiza-sensei. I haven't exactly told you about them so you couldn't be expected to know."

Kaiza nodded slowly while he looked at Naruto incredulously. Normal 9/10 (going by appearance) year old boys didn't think like that. No, they were quick with their emotions and didn't put as much forethought into their actions as they should. There was definitely something up with the boy. 'Maybe he hadn't been in an orphanage and had to learn to grow up fast?' Kaiza thought but quickly dismissed. That kinda stuff only happened in fiction. Right?

Before he could continue his thoughts on Naruto's past he suddenly had another thought. "Where are you living then if you don't have a family?"

Naruto looked up in surprise. He didn't expect the cheerful man to ask that. He had expected something that pried into his past, and while he wouldn't have lied if asked he definitely would not have been comfortable talking about it.

Naruto was so shocked he almost ran into one of the wagon stalls on the side of the road they were on. He was, luckily, pulled out of the way by an observant Kaiza.

"Hello? Earth to Naruto?" Kaiza asked while he tried to get Naruto out of his trance. He didn't understand this boy at all he decided. All he did was ask a simple question. Maybe the boy got shocked very easily?

Naruto shook his head to clear his head before he chuckled a little nervously. "Oh you know. I live...around."

The older man quirked an eyebrow and made a "go on" motion with his hand. Naruto chuckled even more nervously as he tried to disappear into his clothes.

"Around the forest." Naruto admitted quietly after a minute of Kaiza staring at him. God damn that was unnerving.

Kaiza just barely caught the end of the sentence and was immediately concerned for his little apprentice.

(A/n: Yay for bad transition) Naruto just watched as he sensei just kinda shut down before he was getting pulled through the crowd by Kaiza.

"Hey!" Feeling a little panicky, he shouted above the dull roar of the market. "Where are you taking me?!"

Kaiza didn't even turn around to look at Naruto. "To your new home." He turned and looked Naruto in the eyes. "A.K.A: my home."