Naruto awoke to the glaring light that streamed through his window. He winced as his eyes adjusted to the room. Today he planned to train. His dream was to one day become hokage, so the entire village could look in awe at his strength. Of course, he was just five , but he held a conviction in his heart to fulfill it. Because of his social short comings ( I.e people hating him ) if he stayed out of their way, they usually left him alone. Only once did he remember villagers chasing him with blood lust in their eyes. Strangely enough, it was on his birth-day. He shrugged. Changing into his only pair of decent clothes. A bright orange jumpsuit.

He didn't know why. He just loved the color. He promptly made breakfast, ( I.e more ramen ) his hands going though the motions as smoothly as could be. After eating, he flipped out of his window and stood on the roof. Taking a big swig of air, he shouted " WAAAHOOO!," and pumped his fist into the air before leaping off of his apartment, ready to take on the day. He landed in the street and was off, swiftly dodging civilians and occasionally sticking his tongue out at some. As he bent around a corner, he suddenly ran into someone and they both fell to the ground. He prepared himself for a beating... which never came.

He opened his eyes and was surprised to see the girl that had approached him the day before. She herself was recovering from the collision and was about to go ham on whoever had knocked her down when a hand reached to her face. She tentatively took the small hand. Ino suddenly smiled seeing the face of the crying boy she had approached yesterday. Delighted that she could ask all the questions she had wanted to. Before she could say anything though, he asked with a bit of caution " are you ok ?"

She nodded . " Sorry about that " he said. " I should be more careful turning corners." He rubbed the back of his head, as he did when he was embarrassed. Ino nodded , almost in a huff as she extended her hand like last yesterday. This time he was ready. He almost immediately took her hand a gave it a light shake. " I'm Ino Yamanaka." " Naruto Uzumaki." Ino looked down at her light purple dress and sighed. " Mommys gonna be mad at me for getting it dirty."

Naruto really was sorry. He just didn't know how to put it in words. Never having any friends in the first place. He was broken from his thoughts as Ino asked Naruto , " Why were you crying yesterday?"

He looked down on the ground, tears forming in his blue eyes. He managed to get out through sniffles ," Al - all the - v- vil - villagers - h - hate me." Even as he said this, people were giving him nasty looks as they walked by. Most of them hatred, some annoyance, and maybe even a few sympathetic tilts of the head.

At this Ino smiled and simply said ," I'll be your friend." Naruto looked at her, complete disbelief on his face. " What did you just say?" Ino huffed a little, staying patient with Naruto. " I said I'll be your friend " she said with a smile only a child could pull off. He wiped the tears from his face and gave Ino a massive Naruto esque grin. " Yay! I have a friend!" She was also excited. There was something about him... Engaging in conversation wasn't hard for them as they walked down the street, towards the training ground.

Ino had in her arms a bouquet of flowers, witch Naruto promptly asked about. " Oh these? I was delivering them to one of costumers. Pretty aren't they?" Naruto had to agree with his new found friend. The array of red roses, purple lilys, and yellow buttercups were beautifully arranged. She looked into the sky, a determined look in her eyes. " I want to be as good a flower arranger as my mommy someday !" Naruto glanced at her." Don't you want to be a ninja as well ?" she cocked her head to one side, a confused look on her face. " What's a ninja?"

Naruto excitedly explained what ninja were and what they did. Ino nodded at this, her little pony tail bobbing. She had seen people like that in the village, run across rooftops. He also shouted out with pride that he was going to be hokage some day. Ino quite knowing what he meant. They continued to talk until they reached one of the training grounds at the edge of the village. " What are we doing here?" Ino had never been to a training ground and the concept was very foreign to her. " This is where shinobi train to become stronger!" As he said this, he got down on the ground and started doing push ups. Ino sat down and watched in amazement as he got out about 50 before dropping to the ground. His usual regime was pushups , pull ups, crunches, and jogging around the inner edge of the village.

Because Naruto had no one to teach him, he couldn't work on what he really wanted to learn. Basic ninja techniques like chakra control, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. Genjutsu didn't really interest him to much at all. He learned all this from the few scrolls the hokage had given him last year for his birthday. He looked at Ino for a few seconds. " Why don't you train with me?" Although she did admit it looked fun, she couldn't the way she was dressed.

She promised Naruto to come and train with him next time. He couldn't wait to meet up with his new friend tomorrow. He watched her walk off as he jogged in the opposite direction

D.P

Ino's mother was at home, delicately preening and placing flowers in a vase for one of their costumers. She looked up from her work and glanced at the clock. Ino should have been back by now. Where was that troublemaker? Just as she thought about looking for her, Ino burst through the front door and walked straight up to her with a look of concentration as she picked her words." Mommy! I want to train to be a ninja." Ino's mother looked at her daughter in surprise.

She thought to herself. Ino wasn't supposed to start academy until next fall. But if she did start basic training now, she didn't she why not. Ino might have a lead on her class mates. She supposed it would be alright if Inoichi took the burden. She sighed warily and nodded her confirmation. Ino smiled and was about to start celebrating when her mother interjected.

" But on one condition. Your father is going to train you until I say otherwise, okay?" her daughter huffed before complained. She knew Inoichi wouldn't take it easy with her. "

The young Yamanaka then remembered she had forgotten something. Pulling on her mothers sleeve she hopefully asked, " Can Naruto train with me to?" Now this truly shocked Ino's mother. Everyone knew who Naruto was. He was the container for kyuubi. And everyone knew that he was cruelly mistreated. She personally didn't find him at fault. But if Ino started to socialize with this boy, it might have effects on the families social status.

" Your father and I will think about it." That was not the response Ino wanted. " Why mommy? Why is everyone mean to him?" Ino's mother gave her a stern look. " We'll tell you when your older, okay? Now is not the time to talk about something like that." In a huff, she ran up to her room and shut herself up. Ino is definetly more bull headed than I thought. She put her head in her hands.

- Few hours later -

Inoichi had returned from some duties only to find his wife nervously pacing the living room. " Is something the matter?" She looked at him. " Ino wants to start training." He raised his eyebrows as the next piece of information came. " Naruto wants to train with Ino as well. Under you." He processed this. While he was more than happy to start training Ino, he wasen't quite sure about Naruto. He thought back to what he had told himself yesterday " Screw the council."

He kissed her on the cheek and gave his answer. " Up until now Naruto has been all alone. He hasen't had anyone to look up to. I think its a good thing to do if I trained Naruto and Ino. He needs a friend more than anything. Don't you agree?" His wife gave a resounding sigh, " Yes your probably right. Just be careful." He smiled, glad his partner could understand.

Throughout this whole conversation, Ino had been siting on the steps. Listening to them talk. He doesn't have any friends? Well she was glad that she could be the first. There was something about that boy that seemed special. She couldent put her finger on it. Ino shrugged. She looked forward to start training tomorrow, although her father was unlikely to give her any sort of reprive.

D.P

Naruto thought as he jogged around the village. His breath sounding in his ears. Jogging for him was a relaxing and peaceful activity when he wanted to think. He thought about his first friend and how he looked forward to training with someone other than himself. Hopefully he could get some actually instruction from an adult. He wondered how the adult would treat stopped as he reached the top of the mountain with the monuments carved into them. He stood on the head of the fourth hokage, this for some reason being his favorite spot. The view was absolutely breathtaking. The whole village stretched out before him as if he was the leader. As if everyone respected him. He shook his head, returning to jogging around the town as the sun slowly set in the distance. Setting the sky on fire.

- Next Day -

Naruto woke up extra early. This in itself was odd. He never woke up before the sun. He always made sure not to stay up to late, its not like he had much to do anyway. He groggily got up from the warm comfort of his sheets before shuffling into the shower. The ice cold water woke him up very quickly. After his shower, he changed into his ever folded and ready orange jumpsuit. Jumping out of his window like usual, he watched the sun rise slowly.

As the sun touched the horizon, he jumped down and quickly made his way toward the same training ground he had gone to yesterday. He passed food venders selling wares, the amazing smell of various food items hit Narutos nose. He had an unusually strong nose which was almost always a good thing. Naruto sighed in relief as he spotted two sets of blonde pony tails standing next to each other in the grounds, one much higher than the other. Ino heard his approach and waved to him with a smile," Hi Naruto!" Naruto waved back as he walked up to the two. " Hi ino!" Ino was wearing a small purple t-shirt and purple shinobi shorts, perfect for training. Naruto was beginning to suspect she had a love for purple.

He turned to her father who was standing with a small smile on his face. Without thinking, Naruto stuck out his hand nervously. Inoichis smile grew a little as he realized his daughter was already teaching Naruto how to socialize. He grasped Narutos hand in a firm handshake. " Nice to meet you naruto."

Naruto was suprised at the smile on Inoichis face. The only adult expression he had ever known was hate. ( besides the hokage ) Naruto realized that he already liked the tall blonde jounin. Inoichi took a step back and layed down some ground rules. " Rule number one. You two will wake up every morning at 5 am and come down to the grounds to begin training. Even when I'm not here. Rule number two. You two will do exactly what I say when I say it. And rule number three. You two will call me sensei when we are on the grounds. Off you may call me what ever is appropriate. Okay?"

The small children nodded vigorously. The prospect of such an early morning made both of them grimace, but they understood. Inoichi clapped his hands together once. "Okay, lets get started!" Hmmmmm... where should I begin? " I suppose I could start with what chakra is and how it works." The children nodded eagerly. " Chakra is the moulding of the physical energy present in every cell of the body and the spiritual energy gained from exercise and experience. It is an essential to almost all of living life." The children looked at him blankly. *sigh* " Chakra is energy inside us that keeps us alive." Hearing this both of the children smiled, understanding the bare bones explanation. He continued. " Chakra is the energy that you use when you activate a justu of any kind. For this, you will need chakra control. Chakra control is as it sounds. The better you can control your chakra, the more effective your jutsus will be in every way. You two still following me?" They both nodded. " There are 5 elements of chakra. Fire, wind, lightning, water, and earth.

Most shinobi are born with just one element. In rare cases , there are shinobi that are born with two elements. This is possible with a kekkei genkai. In time, I will test you two to see what sort of element you have, and we'll go from there. Understand?" The two nodded once again to show that they had absorbed every single word of what he just said. "For the time being, we will work on taijutsu, chakra control, conditioning, and weapon technique." As Naruto heard the last category being said, his ears perked up. Inoichi noticed this. " Oh? Is there a certain weapon that you would be interested in Naruto?" He blushed slightly. He had always been fond of carrying long sticks around, swinging them wildly and hitting make believe enemies. He grinned his signature grin, " I love carrying around long sticks" was all the answer the young boy could give.

Their sensei mulled on this briefly. Someone interested in staff work? This would be interesting... " Ok kids. Time to get to work!" He said this with a slightly malicious look on his face, which for him meant they were in for it. They both groaned.

- 10 hours later -

He couldn't believe he had survived. He and Ino had spent the whole day, stopping only for lunch, working out a brutal but effect schedule. He smiled to himself, at this rate he'd be the hokage in no time. Ino broke his thoughts as she collapsed beside him, both of them just finishing a 5 mile run around the village. ( he was secretly used to this ) He looked back on his first day of real training. Inoichi had made sure to go over the basics of chakra control as they had tried to walk on water. Naruto shivered at the thought of the ice cold liquid. Taijutsu was almost completely foreign to him. ( natural as he is just a child ) They had spent a better half of the day working on basic taijutsu stances. A good chunk of the afternoon was taken up by conditioning. Push-ups, pull ups, crunches, sprints, and very light spars. The whole ordeal had left him completely exhausted. The same could be said about Ino as well. Her hair sticking out in weird places and the light sheen of sweat on her face.

Their sensei walked over and ruffled Ino's hair affectionately. She had done surprisingly well for her first time. Naruto however, was something else. He had found out only a few hours ago how unnaturally massive his chakra reserves were for a 5 year old. This granted him a stamina boost that was impressive to say the least. He suddenly thought it a good idea to let them celebrate their new found friendship. " Ok guys, well done. I think you two deserve a treat after all that hard work." Both of them beamed, Naruto having never been complimented before. The promise of a treat only made it sweeter. The two children followed Inoichi through the sof streets of Konoha, sometimes getting a mean look. At this point, Naruto didn't care. He had made his first real friend and found his first real sensei. This day was to good to be marked off by some passing looks. The young boy whooped in joy as their destination came within view. Ichiraku Ramen. Ino had never had ramen before so she just followed Narutos lead, running into the small restaurant with a happy smile. Inoichi came through the flaps only to see Naruto stuff down bowl after bowl of his favorite miso ramen. Ino just sat there, staring at the steaming bowl of noodles before taking a slurp. Her features lit up instantly, official declaring this the tastiest thing she had ever had. Inoichi winced, daring not think what his wife would say if she had heard that.

He walked over to Teuchi. The store owner smiled at the boy as he tried to nick some noodles from Inos bowl, only to be punched in the face as she fiercely defended her dinner. " I'm glad Naruto could make at least one friend. He deserves it." The Yamanaka nodded slightly. "They seem to get along together very well. I've never seen Ino so happy around someone her age. Maybe she just wanted to help him. I don't think she knows how much he needed her." Teuchi gave him a glance." You realize that the villagers are just going to try even harder to break his resolve." Inoichi smiled grimly. " That kid couldn't buckle if he wanted himself to. He has a personality that would not break under the the weight of the world." He sighed." I better get them out of here before they tear the place apart, whats the bill?" He jaw dropped to the floor, looking at the dozens of consumed bowls of ramen. The price reaching deep into his wallet. "NARUTOOOOOOO!"