One day a six year old Uzumaki Naruto got well and truly fed up with the villagers of Konoha. For some incomprehensible reason they all praised his sister for somehow assisting in the Yondaime's defeat of the Kyūbi on the day of their birth, but ostracised him for failing to do so. Naruto thought, 'How in the world could either of us have helped the Yondaime fight anyone, let alone a monster of the size that the Kyūbi is meant to have been? I mean really, we couldn't have been even one hour old at the time.' Then he was hit in the head by a tomato. 'Right! That's the last straw. I'm through with this blasted village!'

That night Naruto grabbed the backpack that he had packed that afternoon after resolving to leave the village. He silently slipped through the orphanage and stole off, into the night, mentally bidding his sister farewell, knowing that in all likelihood they would never see each other again. He avoided the main streets of the village, easily navigating his way through the backstreets through long hours of practice to avoid the villagers and their hate-filled glares. By sheer luck he had timed his escape perfectly as the on duty guards were sound asleep.

Naruto thought, 'Hah! Naruto 1, Konoha 0. Once I'm past these losers I'll be able to put at least 12 hours between me 'n' this hellhole, along with any pursuers that they send after me...if they send any at all that is.' Naruto then slunk under the bench that the 'guards' were using to rest their feet on. When he was outside of the gates, he said, "Oh gates, thou who hast governed over the safety of Konoha, protect your citizens." When he finished, all three gates of Konoha slid shut. 'It's a good thing that I followed the Sandaime that day.' Naruto thought as he turned and ran at a fairly quick rate, keeping in his mind that he would need to conserve his energy so that he could put as large a distance as possible between him and the village before he could collapse.

A week later, having avoided, and hid from, all of the shinobi that were sent after him, Naruto reached the border of the Land of Wind, having joined a group of sightseers when he reached the Land of Rivers. When he took his first step into the desert a female, , jumped down from a tree to land in front of him. She was wearing dark brown, tight, pants, a shirt that had one long and one short sleeve, knee-high brown shinobi sandals and brown, elbow-length, gloves; she also had a blue medical pouch wrapped around her waist, attached to her by two loose lengths of cloth. Naruto screamed, "AaaaahhhhH! No! No, I won't go back there!"

The female squatted down where she was and asked, "Go back where exactly?" and smiled, calming him down a little.

Naruto, calmer due to the woman's clear curiosity, replied, "Oh! You're not from Konoha, are you?" as he peered at the Hitai-ate that she was wearing.

"From Konoha? No, I hail from Sunagakure, though we don't usually get any hail there." Naruto laughed at the half-joke. "So, what are you doing here now?"

"Well, I was about to head out there," Naruto pointed towards the desert, "So that I could see what's on the other side."

"Without any water or food?" the Kunoichi asked as she gave Naruto a once-over looking for anything that would give him at least a chance of successfully making it across the desert. Not finding anything she stated, "You haven't really thought this through, have you kid?"

Naruto said, "Honestly?" the Kunoichi nodded, "I just headed straight after I left."

"Left where?"

"Konoha."

"So tell me, what could cause a cute kid like you to leave the warmth of not only your family, but your village as well?"

"Hmm...well, I might as well tell you nee-chan. You seem nice so..." the Kunoichi blushed, "...Well, you know how the Yondaime Hokage died defeating the Kyūbi?" the Kunoichi nodded, "Well, for some reason my twin sister, who's as old as me, gets praised for assisting in the defeat of the Kyūbi while I get blamed and cursed for not doing so!..."

The Kunoichi thought, 'So, Konoha got its hands on a Jinchūriki did they? And I come across its brother no less. What to do...what to do...'

"...and the villagers even go so far as to overcharge me at the same time as they give my sis' discounts...OH! You asked me about my parents too, didn't you...well, my sister and I live in an orphanage."

"An orphanage? I see...so that means that your sister isn't blood related then?"

"Oh no, we're blood siblings alright, even if we do have different coloured hair."

"Your hair?"

"Yeah, my sister has red hair."

The Kunoichi frowned in thought, 'Hmm...red hair huh? They must be descended from the Uzumaki Clan then.'

"Oh! Yeah, my name's Uzumaki Naruto by the way...what's yours?"

"Huh, what?"

"Your name?" Naruto supplied.

"Isn't it customary to give your own first?"

"Yeah, and I just did, it's U-zu-ma-ki Na-ru-to!"

"Oh, I see. Sorry, my thoughts wandered for a second there, tell you what...how would you like to come to Sunagakure with me?"

"Hmm...Name first."

"Huh?"

"You haven't told me your name yet nee-chan."

"Oh! Right! Of course, my name is Reiko, Mizota Reiko, but I don't really like it too much. I think that it sounds too pretentious. So I usually go by Rei."

"Alright then Rei-nee. Going to Sunagakure sounds like it would be fun, especially in lieu of the alternative."

"Alright then," Rei said, smiling as she stood up and started walking out across the desert with Naruto in tow, thinking on how she should swing the idea of Naruto becoming a citizen of Suna.