-0-

"Happy birthday, our beautiful baby boy. We're so glad we got to meet you." The red-haired woman and the yellow-haired man heaved one last breath and died.

The tiny newborn lay in the middle of the field, crying. An old man, accompanied by several masked individuals made their way over to the infant.

"Lord Hokage, what are we going to do with it?" The one with the bird mask asked.

"He will go into foster care. Perhaps someone will adopt the boy." The old man picked up the child, cradling the infant close to transfer body heat to his freezing body. "We must think of a way to inform the village of what happened. One thing is for certain, the boy, Naruto… Naruto Uzumaki, he can never know the truth. He can never know what he truly is."

-5-

"What do you want?" The woman looked down, annoyed to see that it was him tugging at her apron.

"How old am I today?" The little blonde haired boy asked, his big blue eyes inquisitive.

"What does it matter?"

"I just wanna know!"

"You're five. Now shut up and get out of here. You know that you're not allowed in the kitchen." The woman turned back to her cooking.

"Wow! One two three four five…I'm this many fingers!" The little boy excitedly counted his age and held his hand up, bumping her arm and causing salt to spill everywhere.

"Naruto! You stupid little brat, look want you did!" She yelled, her face turning red. "Get out of the kitchen and stay out. You're not getting any dinner tonight!"

Naruto ran from the kitchen, embarrassed at what he'd done. He went to the bedroom he shared with five other boys and threw himself under the covers of his bed. He counted out his age on his fingers again and again. His stomach growled loudly. Naruto ignored the pain.

-8-

"Look, Lord Hokage, he needs to leave this house." The man sighed heavily. "My wife can't take his antics anymore and he scares the other children. That monster has no place here."

"I see. Well I will have you know that the purpose of my visit today was in fact to inform you that I have found a place for the boy to live. I feel that he is at an age that he could live on his own. I will go gather the boy and we will be on our way." The Third Hokage stood from his chair. "Come Naruto, I see you there. Pack your things and we'll go."

"I… I don't have anything." Naruto twisted the hem of his shirt. "Just some clothes but they're too small…"

With a sweeping motion, Naruto was tucked into the folds of the Hokage's cape. Without a second look back, Naruto left the foster home and walked towards his new life.

The apartment was on the other side of the village, tucked away in a shadowy alley. The neighborhood wasn't terrible, but it wasn't the most safe, certainly not ideal for an eight-year-old boy. Simply put, it was the only place that could be found willing to house the child, given what he was.

"Wooooow! It's huuuuuuge!" The blonde boy ran around the space, investigating every nook and cranny. "This is really mine?"

"Yes, Naruto." The old man sat the child down at the kitchen table. "This is your home now. Tachibana-san is the woman who lives below, she is your landlady and will help with any questions or problems you might have. Rent is being taken care of.

"Naruto, are you paying attention?" The little boy was bouncing in his seat, still looking around the place. When the Hokage had his attention again, he continued. "Inside this wallet is your monthly allowance. It is to be used primarily for necessities like clothing and groceries; if there is any left over at the end of the month you can treat yourself. When the next month begins you can come get your allowance from my office. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, um, a couple days ago at school Hibachi was talking about his birthday party, I wasn't invited; not that I wanted to go or anything, but uh… I was wondering, when is my birthday?" Naruto looked up.

"It's today." The Hokage pointed to the calendar hanging on the wall. He found a red marker sitting on the counter and circled the date, October 10th. "You're eight years old today."

"Oh. Thanks, old man!" Naruto watched the old man leave, continuing to sit at the table. He stared around the apartment his wide smile starting to fade. It was big. And it was empty. Naruto stood and walked to the bedroom. He curled up on the mattress, pulling the provided blanket over him.

"Happy birthday to me." Naruto whispered to the empty room.

-10-

Naruto hated October 10th.

This year, it was a Saturday.

He ate his usual breakfast of dry toast and funny tasting milk; he really wished that the grocer would give him a discount on butter, even just a little bit… and he should really talk to them about their milk… He shuffled around his tiny apartment, picking up dirty laundry, watering his small window garden, basic chores. It was the same as always, except that he was ten now.

Being Saturday, Naruto went to his swing. It wasn't really his swing but he seemed to be the only person to sit on it. He sat and rocked back and forth, watching kids play on the playground. He didn't bother going over to ask to join, they'd just tell him to get lost anyways.

While sitting, he thought through the rest of his day, glad that he'd run his errands last week. The villagers really seemed to hate him on this day. He still didn't know why, exactly.

Maybe I'll get some ramen… Or maybe… His thoughts were interrupted.

"You stuck up Hyūga, think you can do whatever you want." A boy, Naruto recognized his voice from school said. "Apologize"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that…" Naruto knew this voice too; it was that really quiet girl who sat in the back of his classroom….uh, Hime…Hima…Hina-something like that. "Please, leave me alone! I said I was sorry!"

"Hey!" Naruto turned around to see a group of boys surrounding the girl, ready to strike. He jumped up and ran over to them, pushing the tallest of the boys off the little girl. "She said she was sorry stupid, so leave her alone!"

"What did you call me, freak?" The big boy loomed over Naruto, as wide as he was tall.

"I called you stupid, stupid!" Naruto glared up at him, balling his fists, ready for a fight. The older boy drew back his fist and punched Naruto square in the face. He flew backwards a bit, landing on the ground.

"Daikichi!" His friends cheered him on. Daikichi sat on top of Naruto, driving his fists into his stomach. Naruto caught a glimpse of the girl being helped up by an adult. He opened his mouth to call out for help when Daikichi's fist connected with his cheek.

Naruto came to sometime later. It was beginning to get dark. He carefully picked his body up and trudged back to his apartment. When he opened the door, the sight greeting him made him sick.

Someone had broken into his apartment and destroyed everything. His groceries were all over the kitchen, ruined, the table was split in two… Some of his clothes were ripped to shreds, his mattress was torn open… they'd even unearthed the flowers in his window box, dirt scattered throughout the place.

Naruto ignored the pain in his body as he grabbed his blanket and curled up on the floor. He started to cry.

October 10th was the worst.

-14-

Naruto turned 14 and he hadn't even realized it.

"Yooo, pervy sage, what's today?" Naruto jumped out of the water and dried off after his quick swim. He slipped on his orange jacket… it was way too small…

"It's Saturday." Jiraiya didn't even look up from his notebook.

"No, I mean the date; the numbers, not the name, you know?" He scrunched his nose at his too short sleeves.

"It's the 13th today."

"Huh. I missed my birthday. Ah well."

"It was your birthday? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Oh… well, it's not that big a deal, I don't really care; we've been super super busy, so I guess I just forgot it."

"Nonsense, my boy! Come, I'll treat you to some clothes; you could really use them, yours are too small now!"

Naruto smoothed a hand down his new black and orange jacket. He didn't really think too much about Jiraiya buying him new clothes; they'd been necessary after all, and birthday gifts weren't so much things that you needed as they were things you wanted. Still, it was really nice, his first birthday present.

-17-

The sun was just peeking over the tops of the mountain, bright and hopeful on the first day marking peace. Naruto ran over to where his dad was standing, eager to talk with him.

"Dad!"

"Naruto." Minato looked at his son, so big, so strong. Despite being dead, his chest felt tight, he couldn't seem to speak. He'd missed so much, there was so much to tell him still… but there was no time. "There's something I need to tell you…" His voice caught.

Naruto stood, holding his breath. There was a burning in his eyes.

"Happy birthday." Minato gasped. He could feel his soul beginning to depart. The pain from seeing his boy, his baby boy who was now a man, eagerly clinging to his every word was worse than that. "You've grown so much. I'm so proud, so very proud of you. I… don't have much longer…"

"No…"

"Know that I loved you so much… I still love you! You're a fine young man. You're mother loves you too! And I'll tell her everything that happened, so she can know how great of a ninja, a man you are!"

"Tell her that I'm doing just fine! I eat a lot and not just ramen… well I'm working on that… and I shower almost every day and… and…" The words were just falling from Naruto's mouth, uncontrollable. But there was so much to tell his mom, his dad! "I've got lots of friends and they're all really good people! Uh, my studies, well, they didn't go that great but I worked hard! You can ask Kakashi-sensei and Lord Third, especially him, he'll be there too.

"I save a lot of my earnings, so don't worry there… And tell mom I'm sorry, I didn't avoid Jiraiya… But tell her that pervy sage helped me to learn a lot! And I just turned 17 so I don't know anything about alcohol yet… uh, girls… well… I've got some things to learn still but I know that I'll find one who's just as great and kind as she is, so um… You can tell her that not everything is going just like she said but I'm doing my best and I'll continue to do my best!" The pain in his chest was too much; Naruto couldn't breathe. Tears were beginning fall down his cheeks. His father's body was almost fully gone.

"Naruto…"

"I want to be hokage, dad, just like you… In fact, I hope to be an even better one than you! I will be hokage, you better believe that!" Naruto choked out. "Tell mom… tell her not to worry about me, and you don't need to worry either, I'm doing just fine!" He watched as Minato's body dissolved, in a bright yellow light. I got it all, Naruto, I'll tell her everything; goodbye, we love you. His dad's voice washed over him, calming. "Goodbye dad… I love you guys too…"

It was one of the happiest moments of his life, having family with him on his birthday. He sat and cried a little longer, tears of sadness and of happiness; October 10th was going to be an amazing day from now on.

A/N: I know this is super sad right now, but this will have a happy ending! I promise!