Disclaimer: I make no money off this, and own none of the involved works.

Authors Note: Read and review, if you would like. This is the first of the Naruto chapters. Enjoy.

Falling into the Force

Chapter 2

The sun was setting beneath the trees in Konoha. Light fell over the peaceful village, gilding the rooftops and painting the leaves with bright youthful green. Birds chirped gaily and flew in a gentle breeze that swirled up the cliff face and tossed about a head of golden-blonde hair. Squirrels chattered and jumped from branch to branch. Shopkeepers began to put away their signs, smiles on their faces.

This is my home. Naruto smiled. Konoha is a beautiful place. A sigh passed between his lips as he reclined against the rock-face, gazing upwards towards the blue sky. Clouds slowly churned up above. It was nice. Now I'm Shikamaru all of a sudden. The thought amused him.

Naruto liked to sit on the fourth hokage's head. That wasn't to say that he had anything against the third's head, which was to his right. The third was one of the only nice people that Naruto knew.

Naruto liked the old man. Sometimes he was called to the Hokage's office, and Ji-Ji would talk to him. He was so old. He always seemed pretty sad, too. The sandaime had been the one to make sure Naruto got his monthly stipend. I hardly ever see him, though. Everyone knows how strong the sandaime is. Everyone respects him. Old man is the protector of the village. It's hard to believe.

Long moments passed with only the sounds of the forest. He felt so at peace up here, perched atop the stone head of Konoha's greatest man. This must be what Ji-Ji feels when he thinks about the village. He wants to protect it.

Naruto's eyes widened— this must be what the fourth felt! Thats how he was able to give his — a loud and painful growl interrupted the train of thought. Naruto put his hands onto his belly and groaned. Forgot about food.

Naruto did not have any food in the apartment that was paid for out of his monthly orphan stipend. He had eaten the last of his reserves, a cup of instant ramen hidden in the floorboards, last night. Now there was nothing left. He had spent most of the day trying to buy food from various shops, but they all seemed to want nothing to do with him. Sometimes they would charge more than he had, other times they would threaten to hit him if he didn't leave. That left Naruto one option.

He quickly clambered down the path towards the village, sliding down the rocks before jumping onto the rooftops. Not again. Why do I have to do this? Why can't I be like everyone else?

Naruto stopped himself when a blob of pink caught his eye. Sakura, the prettiest girl from the academy, walked hand in hand with her mother on a street beneath him. Thats why. My stupid parents aren't here. I bet they didn't want me, either.

He exploded into a leap that carried him onto the next building.Naruto felt a ball forming in his throat as his journey soon came to an end. Tears welled up the corners of his eyes, before he quickly wiped them away. Naruto sniffed, and tried to make himself feel better.

He dropped down into an alley behind the popular Bar-B-Q restaurant and a few grocery stores. The smell offended his nose, but made his stomach growl. Here were the dumpsters. Naruto walked carefully over the loose gravel ground, trying to stifle the sounds from his feet. He had to be careful to live as he did, and he was.

He walked towards the large one with he chipping green paint. He knew from prior experience that this one was usually best. Naruto gently lifted open the hinged plastic top, wincing as it creaked. He stuck in an arm, and tried to grab one of the bags within. Smells so bad. His eyes widened in horror when his fingers made no contact. Growwwwl— this one was louder than before, and it hurt. It hurt.

Naruto jumped up and managed to look into the dumpster at the apex of his jump. There was a bag in there! But that also meant… Not again. Why why why?! He would never be able to get rid of the smell. Everyone would know. Sakura-chan won't like me for sure, now! The tears fell faster than he could wipe them as he began to climb into the dumpster. So unfair.

There is no fair.

Naruto paused- who had said that? The pain in his belly made him ignore it in favor of food. Now inside the dumpster, the smell was overpowering. Its so hot in here. And it stinks. The rotten chunks of meat and vegetables were slimy. They quickly disappeared into Naruto's eager stomach, only for some of it to come back up from the wretched taste.

Vomit covered part of the dumpster floor, and some of it had landed on his orange jacket. Luckily the colors were similar. The stink, now overwhelming, began to make the boy lightheaded. He stuffed as much as he could into his mouth before pulling himself out and into the fresh air.

A blob of yellow hair, stained with grease and littered with pieces of lettuce, poked its way up inside of the dumpster. Gravel crunched beneath a shoe. Naruto's head snapped down the alleyway towards the sound. It was a girl, pressing herself against the brick wall, trying not to be seen. "Who's there?"

"eep!" She tried to flatten herself out, praying desperately that he would think better of what he had seen.

"Whoever's there, I can see you!"

"Na-naruto-kun…" a small girl wearing an overcoat stepped out from the shadows. Her fingers were pressed nervously together and her eyes were glued to the ground.

"Hanaba?" Naruto screwed his eyes shut in confusion. He'd seen this girl around in the academy before. What's she doing here?

"I-Its Hinata— I th-thought you might like to pl-play…"

Play. Thats what kids do together. "You would play with me?" No one did that. No one ever. Who is this girl?

"eep!" Hinata quickly pressed herself back against the wall.

"Hey shit-stain! What did I tell you about coming back here?!"

Naruto's head whipped around towards the shout. The restaurant owner! Shit. The restaurant owner's voice rang loudly and clearly from the opposite end of the alleyway. Naruto had a scar on his side from his last encounter with the man. It was the only time he hadn't been able to heal fully. The owner hated Naruto. He also hated it when people messed with his trash.

Hinata. She's just a girl. I can't let this man find her. Never. That meant that he couldn't run out of the alley, as it would mean running past her and giving away her crappy hiding spot. He couldn't climb up the alley walls, either. They were too steep and he couldn't stick to walls like an adult. There was only one thing to do.

"Hey fatso!" Naruto jumped off of the dumpster and started to walk towards the large man. "Its me! Number one prankster in all of Konoha! I've been meaning to talk to you about getting some better garbage out—" The man, who had been approaching slowly, suddenly lunged forward, interrupting the blonde.

"I've got you now! You little shit!" The man grabbed up and lifted the non-resisting boy. Naruto had his eyes screwed shut. He was ready to take what he had coming. At least I'm not hungry anymore. A ruddy, greasy fist reared back and then slammed into Naruto's face, making his world explode into light and sound. His ears started to ring, and the pain!

A second blow landed a little lower, and Naruto felt his nose crunch and shatter. Blood spilled out from his mouth and stained his jacket red. A third blow, high on the forehead. The man must've been a little drunk, because he broke one his fingers. He threw Naruto to the side, and nursed his hand. "Fuck! I'll get you for this, demon!" His hard toe boot drove all the air from Naruto's chest, and he felt a rib break with a muted snap. The angry man kicked him again and again. Bastard.

Naruto began to feel each blow less and less. The world started to turn red and then black. His ears rang so loudly.

Hinata…

Naruto woke up in pain. Pain was everywhere, every nerve screamed out in protest against the slightest movement. His eyes flittered open. It was dark, so probably sometime after midnight. Fingers and toes were gently wriggled and checked. The boy felt his nose. Not broken. He always had healed so quickly. Naruto clenched his teeth and pushed himself to his feet. Just another day in Konoha.

"Don't think that! Konoha is good! just some people are bad, that's all…" He was surprised that he could be having such resentful thoughts. He tried to push them from his head. That's not how hokage think. He tried to remember the way he had felt up on top of the monument. Sunshine, birds, blue sky— pain from still partially broken ribs— I'm just upset right now. Thats all. Naruto realized that there was no dried flaky blood all over his face, this time, except a little bit inside his nose. He looked all over himself but couldn't see any.

"Where's my coat?" He asked, realizing that he could actually see his own body. He looked around for it, confused.

The garbage had been neatly cleared away from his resting place. His coat had been neatly folded and pressed against the brick wall. There was a small jar resting on top of it. He picked it up, opened it, and noticed that it had a pleasant minty smell. What is this? On the bottom of the jar were, he believed, the characters for "ointment".

"Hinata!" Naruto said aloud. What was she doing there? Had she made escaped the store-owner? Was she alright? Would she tell people what she had seen? He really hoped that she wouldn't. Then everyone would know what he had to do sometimes, and how different their lives really were from his. They'll call me dumpster boy. Sakura-chan would never like someone that eats from the stupid garbage.

Naruto clenched the jar in his fist and kicked the brick wall, which nearly made him fall over from a pain in his leg. Bastard store-owner. When he was hokage that guy would have to leave the village. And the clothes-store lady. And… a lot of people. He became sad.

Looking up, Naruto realized that it must be sometime in the middle of the night. This was a dangerous time to be about. His apartment, though, was on the opposite side of town in the red-light district. Currently he was in the nice food-shopping center. Behind the barbecue— wait a second, where was he? This wasn't the barbecue alley. His eyes had somewhat adapted to the reflected-sodium darkness of the alley, so he could see that what looked like a trail in the gravel leading from down the way. There were some small indentations on either side of the trail. Looked like footprints. Small footprints. Who…?

"Hinata?" he barely whispered. She dragged me here? He unclenched the ointment jar and looked at it with confusion. "She left this here?" Ointment. It said ointment. Naruto had a vague idea of what this was. Sometimes he had seen parents or instructors put it on hurt kids. Naruto had never had any experience with it, personally. No one cares when I get hurt. No one would ever give this to me. Hinata must have forgotten it.

But still, there were some unexplained things. Why would Hinata drag me to safety out of the alleyway? Why was the garbage all swept away? Maybe she left it there… so that I'd find it! That would mean that she had given it to him!

" She gave this to me?" Naruto could count the number of times that he'd been given something on one hand. That was in the span of his entire life. Parents give ointment to hurt kids because they want the kids to heal! Because they care about them! Maybe Hinata-chan cares that I got hurt!

An intense joy bubbled up in Naruto at the thought of it. Someone cares about me! Sure, there was always the old man, but Naruto practically never saw the guy. This was someone his age! In the same academy class!

"Hinata…chan!"He jumped into the air, crying out in happiness. Naruto quickly threw a hand over his own mouth, though, and bit his lip for extra measure. Can't make very much noise at this hour, anyone could be out there. Hinata cares about me… she thinks that I have value! He would prove it to her. I'll be the best ninja that the village has ever seen! I'll be as strong, no, stronger than the fourth! And then I'll become hokage! And then everyone will know how strong I am!

Naruto stowed away the precious gift and jumped up onto the rooftops. Home was too far away, and it wasn't a safe area of town to cross at night. He knew that. He'd have to sleep in one of his hide-outs till morning. It didn't bother him in the slightest. He had a goal! He had a person that cared about him!

With a light heart Naruto started to jump across the rooftops. He came to the roof of an old abandoned building and then dropped down into the alley behind it. This alley had no street access, so no one ever came back here. Most didn't even notice it; to them it was just a shadowy crack. Naruto had ducked in here once to hide from Iruka after a particularly nasty prank involving itching powder and underwear, and it had turned out to be a pretty cool little hide-out.

Naruto strained to carefully and noiselessly lift up the heavy storm drain grate. Beneath it were a few rungs from an old rusted-out ladder. He gave them a bit of his weight as he stepped into the hole, and then dropped down after replacing the grate in its place.

He stood in a moderately sized old brick maintenance dome for the sewer. There was a drainage little stream flowing through a channel in the ground that came out of a tunnel from the left, which continued out of the dome in a channel that led into a tunnel towards the right. On either side of the channel there was a bit of space for walking around. The moon was the only source of light, and it gave the place a pretty silverly-look, in Naruto's opinion.

The floor was grimy, and occasionally water leaked through the ceiling, but to Naruto it was home away from home. No one knew about this place. No one hit him here. No strange men would break down his door in the middle of the night here. Naruto could come down to this place and be all alone. It was nice.

There was an old smelly mattress with some tattered blankets on it, found in front of a house after spring cleaning, lying on the ground. Next to it lay a few scrolls that other students had thrown away in the academy—Naruto still struggled to read some of the words— and a few rusty shuriken that he'd found sticking out of the ground in the forest.

Naruto fell down onto the mattress, wincing a bit from his injuries. His hand went towards the spot where it hurt the most. Bastard…

The pain subsided a little bit, and the boys thoughts drifted to other things.

Tomorrow I'll see her! I can tell her how thankful I am for this stuff! Tomorrow…

He cradled the little jar to his little chest as he fell asleep in the sewer.

END CHAPTER