Hey guys, It's me again. This is just a combination of both a spark of inspiration and getting rid of some boredom that I wrote up during the past two days. I can't guarantee anything, because as I have said before I'm a very busy guy. I'm thinking my post time is going to vary greatly so don't count on anything. I don't own Naruto and have a good read. (:

Naruto grumbled unhappily, as he trudged through the forests outside of Konoha. He was finally fed up with the villagers hate for him, and he had fled his apartment to go live on his own. Naruto planned to find himself a home that was isolated from the city and live on his own until he could learn to defend himself and at an age of five that was difficult to accomplish.

There had been more than one occasion where a drunk had wrongfully beaten him up or thrown out of a store. He would definitely go back to Konoha when the time was right but the stress and anxiety of living in Konoha had built up to be unbearable.

Of course he had informed the Old Man Hokage about where he was going and he had agreed, but that was the only other person who knew. The Old Man was kind enough to offer to help him out with anything he needed, if asked. He also told Naruto that he would provide food for as long as he needed to. How he was going to do that, Naruto did not know, but he also did not really care as long as he was given food.

Sometimes Naruto thought the Old Man was the only person in Konoha with good intentions directed towards him, which was kind of sad in a village with a population over ten thousand. Although he didn't dwell on depressing thoughts such as that, preferring to stick to an optimistic point of view. Naruto was sure that he had barely even met a one hundredth of the population in Konoha and there had to be a bunch of nice people out there.

So he was out on his journey to find a new home and hopefully everyone would forget the "blond haired demon child" in time. That was pretty unlikely but everyone had dreams didn't they?

As Naruto kept on walking he started to feel like he was traveling in circles, especially since he had passed the same deformed rock that he had relieved himself on earlier. He stopped to look at the peculiar looking rock and spoke his suspicions out loud. He normally would not have noticed it, but Uzumaki Naruto never forgets where he takes a whizz.

Kurenai cursed as she realized her mistake was bad enough, that even an untrained little boy noticed. Luckily since the boy had no shinobi experience, no suspicion of a genjutsu was present. Quickly Kurenai changed the landscape in the illusion that she had cast on Naruto's mind and then concentrated a bit more to allow the forest to vary in form as Naruto continued to "walk". Occasionally she would create the image of a deer or squirrel to give the genjutsu a more realistic feel to it. It was a C-rank illusion that while simple enough to be a D-rank, it used up enough chakra to make the climb up to a C.

Currently she was on a top secret B-rank mission assigned to her specifically by the Sandaime Hokage because of her abilities with genjutsu and her indifference to the Kyuubi vessel. The mission was broken down into two parts. One of which was short term and the other long term.

The first part of the mission was to locate a spot inside the forest just outside of Konoha that would not be located easily by human civilization, ninja nor civilian, and then build Naruto a decent hut or shack of some sort, since he had decided to "leave" Konoha for the time being.

After that part was complete she was to place a long lasting genjutsu around the perimeter, with the help of seals supplied by the Sandaime, that could identify and allow only the Hokage, Kurenai, and Naruto with the ability to see or go near the home. The seals would also conceal the presence of any person inside the area of seals. Kurenai would then check up on Naruto every two days to see how he was doing and resupply food and water if it was needed. Of course when Kurenai had another mission, the Hokage would just send a clone in her stead.

It took both the Sandaime and Kurenai to work out the plans for such a complex genjutsu and the Sandaime had to convince Naruto to delay his departure for two days to create enough time for the plans to be made. Most importantly though was that all of this was to be done in secret without letting anyone know, not even Naruto. Even though Naruto thought that he was going off to live on his own, the Hokage would never actually let that happen.

At first she had protested about the mission, calling it a waste of her time and skills, but soon changed her mind from the Sandaime's reasoning. The Hokage had almost sounded desperate when he had told her that Naruto needed to be freed from the cruelty and uncaring villagers. Of course either way she would have taken the mission, knowing that it was her duty to accept and execute all missions, within reason, to the best of her ability, but that didn't mean she couldn't complain about it. While it would be time consuming it helped a great deal that the mission had an A-rank pay.

She had already placed the seals on the perimeter of a large square and was a third of the way finished on the hut, using the mud bunshin technique that the Hokage had taught her specifically for this situation. It was around one in the afternoon and Kurenai predicted that she would be finished with the house and the genjutsu would be cast by six P.M. at the latest. She would then break the genjutsu on Naruto and let him come across the house by himself. All simple and straight to the point.

Remembering that the day was Friday, Kurenai quickly redoubled her efforts, hoping that she could catch a bite to eat with Anko before the day was over.

After hours of walking to find the perfect place to build his home, Naruto stumbled upon a clearing with a nice looking hut in it. Curious as to whose home it was Naruto walked up to the front door to knock, but stopped short with his hand halfway to the doorknocker. There was a short letter taped to the door stating, "Naruto, this home has been built just for you and you will use it during your time in these woods. Always remember that I will be looking after you. From 'the Old Man'"

Taking the note in his hand, Naruto opened the door to his new home and threw the few items he had brought onto the floor, as he absorbed the sight infront of him. Although he had wanted to have done everything himself this was a way better option.

The small hut had a cot in the corner to the right of the door, a large dresser on the right wall next to the hammock, a fireplace with instructions for use on the wall opposite the door, and finally a kitchen area on the left wall. When he checked the cabinets in the kitchen, it was fully equipped with eating utensils, dishes, and food. Naruto even found a stash of really warm clothes and blankets for the winter in the dresser.

As Naruto locked the door to his hut, to keep the cold out, he settled in on his cot and silently thanked the Old Man for his kindness.

Six Months Later

Naruto was now an exceptional outdoors man, able to hunt, trap, and navigate remarkably throughout the woods. He knew the rules of the wild and he was at the top of the food chain. Although there were times that he encountered other animals at the top too, such as bears. Thankfully those encounters were few and far between, usually caused by the smell of food. Fortunately neither bears nor any other predatory animal could roam near his home.

Naruto had even ditched his old orange jumpsuit for clothing better suited for hunting, found in his dresser. For his pants he had dirt colored cargo shorts and for his upper body he had a dark green undershirt and a green and brown camouflaged coat. Naruto was unhappy to depart from his orange but the bright colors scared his food away. And since the Old Man had stopped giving him food and water, he had to find the necessities himself. And unknown to Naruto, Kurenai's mission had been deemed complete once Naruto had proven that he could survive on his own.

One of the only problems in his situation was the loneliness that came along with it. Naruto had made a few trips to Konoha for visits to the Old Man or some camping gear, but other than the occasional ninja training, Naruto was completely cut off from civilization.

While his time was largely consumed by learning to live in the wild, Naruto knew that he would eventually run out of things to do, resulting in an extremely bored boy.

Standing up from his cot, Naruto walked outside to retrieve some more wood for his fire, but ground to a halt at the sight of a hunched over man covered in a pure black cloak, showing only the man's eyes and up, standing in the way. Naruto looked at the man in surprise and awe.

Huh? He wasn't there a second ago. Naruto piped up, "Hey who are you? And how did ya find me all the way out here?"

The odd man did not seem to hear the question and continued to stare intently at Naruto, deep in thought. Both the silence and the man's stare scared the crap out of Naruto, making him feel extremely awkward and tense. Whoever this man was, he definitely was not normal in the head.

Finally the man spoke after a few minutes, only answering one of the questions Naruto had asked. "I am Sasori of the Red Sands and you?"

Naruto grinned at the question. It wasn't often that he met someone that was this polite to him, no matter how weird they were. "Uzumaki Naruto! The best hunter in all of Konoha and beyond! Although I don't live in Konoha anymore, I plan to move back when I'm ready. And then I'm gonna be one of those cool ninja people. And then..."

Naruto continued on but Sasori stopped paying attention to the pointless rambling and focused on what the boy had said at the beginning of his introduction. If the boy wasn't living in Konoha but was planning to move back someday, then this would be a good opportunity to place a spy inside of Konoha, something that he was lacking lately. As long as he was loyal and proved to not be a total incompetent fool there was hope for the boy. He would start by training the boy in the ninja arts and later on if the boy proved loyal and competent enough, puppetry.

"Boy did you mention the desire to become a ninja? I can help you achieve this on one condition... Pledge your loyalty to me."

Naruto looked at the strange man in delight and wonder. Here this man was offering to make him a ninja and all he needed to give him was something called loyalty. He did not know what it was, but it probably wasn't too much to give.

He nodded and eagerly spoke, "Sure thing mister, I'll give you my... um, loyalty." Naruto gave his biggest and brightest smile to Sasori, hoping that it would convince him further.

Sasori chuckled at the boy's stupidity. He obviously did not know the meaning of loyalty, but if he could forge Naruto into his own personal soldier it would not matter.

Hmmmm what do you think? This is going to be a puppet Naruto fic as you can tell and I hope it does well. I don't know but it seems that all my stories revolve around Akatsuki members. Happy New Year!