Child of the Fire Country - 1

Chapter Soundtrack: "Imaginary Folklore" by Nujabes feat. Clammbon

A set of brilliant, blue eyes stared downcast at the ground.

It was a warm, sunny day, and a six-year-old with messy blonde hair sat quietly on a swing outside the Ninja Academy. The cool breeze swept a few stray leaves past the boy's lonely face.

If loneliness was an illness then Naruto would have been confined to a hospital for it.

His home was in Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, even if it was painful to admit. He had been shunned and ostracized for the length of his young life by his fellow Leaf villagers.

Unknown to Naruto, the reason for his unhealthy solitude was that he was the container of a monstrous demon that had attacked Konoha the night he had been born. As a result, contemptuous shinobi and mistrusting citizens kept their distance from the otherwise harmless child.

He had no concept of what he could have done to bring such cruelty unto himself.

'I've been so nice to everyone, but why do they always ignore me? What did I do?'

Naruto sat in silence, pondering the reason for his misery.

"Hey!"

The blue-eyed boy looked up, and noticed two girls his age looking at him strangely from a bench.

"Hey!" The girl with the light blonde hair called to him again, "What are you doing over here all by yourself?"

A girl with pink hair stood shyly next to her, trying to hide her head from view.

Naruto felt an enormous smile explode onto his face, 'Wow! They're actually talking to me!'

He hopped up from his spot on the swing and went over to them.

The blonde girl had her hands on her hips and appeared far more confident than her friend.

"Well?" She asked again, "Why are you all alone?"

"Because no one ever wants me around." Naruto answered honestly. It was awkward, he had never fully participated in a conversation before, and talking to the girls felt refreshing.

"Why is that?" The pink haired girl stepped out from behind her friend.

"I don't know. They always treat me that way, I guess."

The blonde girl shook her head in disapproval, "Well that's just silly. You can play with us if you like to...um, what's your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Okay, Naruto. I'm Ino; my dad owns the Yamanaka flower shop." Ino then turned to her friend, "And this is Sakura. Don't worry if she's acting funny, she's trying to hide her big forehead."

"Ino!" She squealed, "Don't talk about it!"

"What? It's not really such a big deal."

Naruto had a better look at the girl called Sakura. She had green eyes and pale pink hair; though he did not see much of a problem with her slightly spacious forehead.

"There's nothing wrong with your forehead Sakura. It's kinda nice."

Naruto's words seemed to shock the self-conscious girl.

"You...you really think so?"

Ino nodded, "Yeah he's right. When you don't hide it, it makes you look cute."

Sakura smiled, glad her forehead was being admired rather than spotlighted for its size.

"So you'll really let me play with you?" Naruto was elated at the nice girls' offer.

"Sure, come on," Ino answered, leading them along down the path, "We can go play on the slide, I'll race you there!"

Ino ran ahead, and Sakura and Naruto laughed as they followed her.

The next morning, Naruto was as happy as the proverbial clam. Never in his life had he ever played with other children, and it was something that he was looking forward to with his new friends Ino and Sakura.

He recapped in his mind how wonderful that day had been.

'We played and played until the sun started to go down, and they even invited me to come back and play today! This is great!'

In fact, Naruto was in such a pleasant mood, he had even brought along two extra cups of miso ramen for his new buddies.

He sat on the swing anxiously.

He had checked his clock before he had left home: it was nearly ten o' clock. A goofy, excited grin was plastered on his face when he saw two small figures approaching from the other side of the academy.

"Hey Ino! Hi Sakura!" He called out to them as they neared.

The two girls paused and looked at him for a moment. The hazy, morning light blurred the expressions on their faces. Still too excited to sit and wait for them to approach, Naruto sprang up and trotted over to them.

"Hi guys! I brought somethin' for ya'! It's my favorite–"

Naruto quieted his rambling when he noticed the odd looks on the girls' faces.

"Hey, um...are you okay?" He asked, not understanding their silence.

Ino gave him a fierce glare, her mouth pursed in a tough line.

"I went home yesterday and told my dad about you, Naruto," Ino snapped at him, "And do you know what happened?"

Naruto shook his head, worried over the answer.

"He yelled at me! It was horrible! He says that I'm never supposed to go near you again…so…so there!"

The boy winced. Why? Why was this happening?

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Sakura apologized, "But, my mommy and daddy don't want me talking to you either...I'm really sorry..."

Naruto's head was spinning from the magnitude of rejection.

Sakura and Ino...they had all had so much fun the day before. Why? Why were his new friends doing this to him?

He watched as the girls turn to leave and panic set in.

"Wait!" Naruto cried, "I don't understand! We're friends and... I promise I'll be nice! I won't do anything wrong! Don't go..."

Ino huffed and turned her back on him.

"Come on Sakura, let's go."

"Please don't leave me all alone again..." Naruto sniffled helplessly.

Sakura gave him a pained look.

"I...I'm sorry..." She whispered, before taking off after Ino, leaving Naruto behind.

'They...they left me...' Both cups of ramen slipped from his hands and fell to the ground, spilling their contents on the dusty path.

A single tear slid down his whiskered cheek, and he swiped it away with the back of his hand.

Naruto turned and ran in the opposite direction from where Sakura and Ino had come from.

He ran back into town alone as he had done many times before.