Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Hunger Pains

He was hungry and it hurt. He didn't know why he had no family or why no one liked him. All his allowance had gone to his rent, and now he had nothing for food. He got meals at the academy, but that was about it. Normally he had money left over to buy ramen, but the rent had been raised again. It would be a month before he got his monthly allowance that the council paid him. He didn't want to go to the hokage again to ask for money. The hokage would gladly give it to him, but if the council found out they might cut his allowance all together. He'd get picked on even more if the villagers knew that he got money from the hogake. He would just have to survive the rest of the month on academy lunches.

When he entered the academy he was forced out of the orphanage. Nobody was going adopt him, and the caretakers of the orphanage figured that if he was old enough to learn how to be a ninja then he was old enough to take care of himself. That's when he started to get a monthly allowance from the council for his apartment, food, and other necessities. It probably would have been enough if the landlord hadn't keep raising the rent every month. The council wouldn't give him more money figuring he was just misusing it.

One day a man with the longest hair the boy had ever seen had stopped and fussed over him at how skinny and malnourished he looked. All the warning bells went off in his head to get away from this stranger. His mind told him that this stranger was just like the others that he wanted to hurt him. He stayed though because something was different about this man, something told him that this man actually cared for him.

"What's your name?" the man asked the child.

"Naruto," the child replied as he cautiously surveyed the man

"Where are your parents?"

"I don't have any."

At these statements the man, Jiraiya, knew the identity of the child for sure. He was his godson and it hurt him to see how the boy had been treated. He thought the child was in good hands, but now he knew that wasn't the case. If he had known sooner he would have some back sooner and never the left the boy.

He took the boy to his house and fed him and bathed him. He gave the child a nice soft bed and warm covers. The next day he bought the child clothes. He then tried to adopt the boy but the council wouldn't let him, instead they sent him out on a top secret mission. He left the child behind reluctantly, but this time the child would have enough money to buy food, other necessities, and anything else he pleased. He vowed that at the first chance he got he would change the boy's life for the better and then never leave him no matter what.