Old Friends

A/N: Most of the middle of this chap is a synopsis from canon. Feel free to skip. I've marked it.

~~~~~~~~~~

It seemed as if his life had always been this way. No one acknowledged him. The
only time he wasn't ignored was when he was being beaten to a pulp, or being yelled
at and chased for pulling a prank. He had no friends; he must have dreamed up
Itachi. The Uchiha in his class was said to have no family, therefore, he didn't
have a brother. At least, that was how Naruto interpreted things. Still, he
missed his make-believe friend. Now he had no one to talk to, no one to comfort
him when the beatings hurt so much he wanted to curl up and die.


He wished for death now. He had managed to get away from the angry crowd, and was
now barricaded in his dingy apartment. It was his tenth birthday and a festival
was taking place in the village. The old man had always told him to stay inside
during the festival, but he had wanted to see what it was like for once. Now, he
wished he hadn't. The villagers seemed to be filled with more hate for him than
usual. As soon as they noticed him, they began to throw rocks and rotten food at
him, calling him demon and monster. They said he had killed their loved ones. He
didn't understand; Naruto had never killed anyone. He had tried his idiot smile,
but this had only seemed to enrage them more. He ran when they started to close in
around him, knowing this time they may just kill him. Now, he was curled up in the
corner of his bathroom, shivering, tears raining down his face. For once, just
once, he'd wanted to enjoy his birthday, be around other people. But the villagers
wouldn't let that happen. As fireworks exploded in the sky, the little blond cried
himself to sleep.


It was graduation day, and for the second year in a row, Naruto had failed. He
didn't know why he couldn't do the jutsus properly. None of the senseis would tell
him what he was doing wrong. If the final had been on hitting a target with a
weapon, he would have passed. He was good at that; that seemed to be the only
thing he was good at. Without proper instruction, even his taijutsu skills had
diminished. Naruto heaved a sigh and dragged his feet as he left the crowd of
happy graduates behind and went back to his lonely apartment.


***{canon synopsis begins}***

This was the greatest prank yet! The Hokage's faces on the mountain had never
looked so funny. Naruto was having a blast! He had the attention of half the
shinobi in the village now. And half of them were chasing him! Haha! They
couldn't catch him! Suddenly, Iruka-sensei was there, and he didn't look happy!
The blond had cut class to pull this latest prank. Now, Iruka-sensei was dragging
him back, tied up. Naruto pouted as he was unceremoniously dumped on the classroom
floor and lectured. He had skipped because it was the day before the final exam,
and he knew he would fail. Again. What was the point of coming to class? Still,
he had one more trick up his sleeve. When it was his turn to perform a henge, he
henged using his new jutsu; Iruka-sensei's face was hilarious!

Like he knew he would, Naruto had failed. Mizuki-sensei came over to where he was
sitting on the swing. Hope flared in the young boy's heart at what he was told.
He would do it!

Mizuki-sensei had lied to him! He had tricked him into stealing the scroll and
then tried to kill him, but Iruka-sensei saved him. Saved the demon. Naruto now
knew what he was and why all the villagers hated him. Confused, he ran away. Out
of breath, he leaned back against a tree. That was when Iruka-sensei and
Mizuki-sensei caught up, but they didn't see him. He overheard every word they
said. When Mizuki went to attack Iruka, Naruto jumped between them, and using the
jutsu he learned from the scroll, beat Mizuki to a pulp. Iruka-sensei rewarded the
boy by gifting the blond with Iruka's own hitai-ate, graduating him from the
academy.

Now that the mission was over and Team 7 was on their way home, Naruto took the
time to think about all that had happened. Naruto was happy; Sasuke-teme had saved
his life. He didn't have to, but he did it anyway. The question was: why? The
two boys weren't friends, had never been close. Why had the bastard risked his
life for Naruto? They were teammates and rivals; maybe the teme just wanted
something to hold over the blond's head. Naaaw! Sasuke might be a bastard, but he
wouldn't do something like that. The blond decided to let go his confusing
thoughts and concentrated on the countryside around him.

Yatta! Kakashi-sensei had nominated Team 7 for the chuunin exams! Naruto was in
heaven. If he passed, he'd be one step closer to his goal of becoming Hokage. He
quickly signed the form.

Something was wrong with his teme. Sakura was worried about the raven for some
reason, but neither one would tell him why. Now Sasuke was fighting and it looked
as if he was in pain. Finally, the match ended and Sasuke was declared the winner;
Kakashi-sensei led the Uchiha away for treatment.

The month he spent with the old pervert had been worth it. The Hyuuga had blocked
all his normal chakra channels, but he couldn't block the Kyuubi's. Heheh. He was
going to defeat this bastard because he never went back on his word. The match
ended with a tired Naruto being named the winner. On realizing this, the blond
suddenly burned with excess energy and ran around the arena, smiling and waving to
the crowd.

Sasuke was fighting that demon, Gaara. That guy was scary; he had killed two men
in front of Naruto and Shikamaru just before this match. Now, he had a ball of
sand around him. How was the teme supposed to defeat that?! Wow! The teme did it!
The ball of sand was gone.

The next thing Naruto knew, Sakura was waking Shika and him up, and Kakashi-sensei
was sending them on a mission to retrieve Sasuke.

Battered and bruised, Naruto was just happy they were all still alive. Fighting
the demon in Gaara had been tough! Good thing Gamabunta helped or they would have
been soooo dead!

Naruto felt a deep loss. The Old Man Hokage was dead. The funeral the day before
had been marred by rain as if the heavens themselved cried for Konoha's loss.
Naruto didn't let that get him down, however. He woke early and went to train,
then went to Ichiraku's for lunch. As he was finishing, the white-haired
ero-sennin came to take him from the village; he was going to train Naruto some
more! Yatta!

They had trudged to this town and then the old pervert dumped Naruto at a hotel to
go flirt with some woman. Ewww! Naruto made some clones and they sat around
meditating. After a while, there was a knock at the door. Thinking that Jiraiya
was back early, the blond went to answer the door.

A tall man with red eyes in a black cloak stood there. 'Sasuke?' Naruto thought.
'No...Who is he?'

"To think that this little boy has the Nine-Tails within him..." A very tall, ugly
guy stepped into view

Stunned, Naruto thought, 'How does he know about the Nine-Tails?'

The red-eyed man spoke. "Naruto-kun, you're coming with us. Let's go outside."

***{departure from canon}***

Staring intently at the man, Naruto's expression changed from suspicious to elated
as he threw himself into the other's arms. Tears streaming down his face, he
sobbed, "You're real. You came back for me like you said. I've missed you so
much, Itachi." He buried his face in the black cloak and clung for dear life.

Nodding to his partner, the three departed.

~~~~~


Sasuke arrived at the room occupied by Naruto and Jiraiya. He pounded on the door
but got no response.

"Uchiha? What are you doing here?" a deep voice spoke behind the raven.

"Where's Naruto?"

"Why, he's inside." The white-haired sannin unlocked the door and pushed it open.
Both stared at the empty room.

"Where did you go, Dobe?" Sasuke muttered. "Where are you?"