Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I'm starting to think I wouldn't mind it, though... Hmmm XD

Summary: What if nine particular kids found each other when they were young and when they needed it most? Before Sakura met Ino. Before Naruto befriended Iruka. Before Gaara went crazy. After Sasuke's clan's massacre. After Gaara's dad tried to kill him. After Neji's dad was killed. During the story of their life.

Extras:

Notes: These nine nine-year-olds run off together. Naruto never needed the attention, so Hokage never became his dream. Sakura never met Ino, so she never gained her self confidence, and she and Hinata are a lot alike because of that.

Pairings: N/A for now... Fluff for sure! There will be fluff for NaruSaku, but there'll be more NaruHina once it has gotten going. Hints of SasuSaku, NejiTen, ShikaTema, and more! :D

Main character(s): Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata ... and more, but I can't tell you right now! XP

Chapter(s): Long-ish with medium prologue.

Inspiration: Yes, I got this idea while listening to the song 'Story of My Life' on youtube, and there was one particular video and one certain picture in there that showed young Naruto with his arms over Shikamaru's, Chouji's and Kiba's shoulders. The other kids I figured out from a couple other pictures on youtube by the same person who made the other video, so... -Shrugs with a grin-

AN: ... -Sweat drops- More Sakura, more song inspiration, and more stories... Sighhh. On with the story, ne? XP Plus, I loved this idea and summary! :D

Story of My Life

Prologue

Pant, pant.

Footsteps sounded loudly down the village's street.

More pants and a pause in their running.

"Phew." The person wheezed out.

A deep breath and the running continued again.

"HEY!! YOU LITTLE DEMON CHILD - GET BACK HERE!!" a voice rang out through the early morning's air.

A small flock of birds rise and take off, fluttering their wings quickly at the disturbance; causing morning dew to drip down off the tree tall branches that they were previously resting in - the tiny droplets splattering around the ground.

The boy just kept running, concentrating on the ground below his feet and ignoring the constant threats from behind him and in front of hi- Wait...? In front? The boy's frightened eyes lifted to see about five rather scary looking men standing with strong, wooden clubs in their tough hands. Their eyes held a menacing leer, and the tiny blond could tell that these men were not about to help him get away.

He gave out a sharp squeak and darted to the left; narrowly missing the closest man's snatching hands.

The poor, young boy ran for his life, absolutely terrified of what would happen if he was caught.

After about another ten minutes of persistent chasing and running, the threats died off, as the boy's steps also faded. Still wheezing, the blue eyed child dropped to the ground in a near by alley way.

"That was far too close." he muttered, rubbing his sore muscles.

Suddenly, the boy heard a whimpering not too far away. Being the sweet, curious boy that he was, he stood up immediately, ignoring the pains through out his exhausted body, and stepped carefully towards the saddening noises.

As he drew closer to the sniffles and whimpers, he heard some voices and other noises as well.

A slap followed by, "You're such a waste of life. What an ugly face, too. I don't know why your parents haven't abandoned you yet, but expect it soon, Forehead Girl." That nasty voice made the boy shudder. He had to stop this!

"S-stop," he whispered. Then more clearly, "Stop." He paused again and realized that they hadn't heard him. "STOP!" he yelled, just coming out of his spot in the bushes.

Immediately, four heads turned. That's when he got a good look at the scene, and was completely glad that he had stopped it.

A young girl, about his age, lay holding one side of her face - her clothes, hair and skin were all dirty, she was wearing wripped up garments that looked extremely cheap, and her sad, emerald eyes were covered lightly with her light salmon - almost pink - bangs.

Two girls stood above her and another was leaning over the petite girl on the ground. Anyone could easily tell that they were bullying her, that the girl on the ground was the one slapped, and that the one standing above was the one who had slapped her.

The one who had slapped her stood more straight and turned to face him completely. She was obviously the 'leader' of their little 'gang'. "Why do you care about her? She's just a... Forehead Girl."

The two girls beside her started laughing. "Good one, Ami-chan!" one called out, still giggling hysterically.

However, the girl behind whimpered which made the boy's cerulean eyes steel. "What are you doing picking on her? What did she ever do to you? You know what? Never mind. Just leave and take your petty 'friends' with you." he spat.

The three girls cried out a bit in shock, and turned around, rushing to, what he supposed, were their homes.

The boy smirked and almost laughed until he remembered the girl on the ground.

He bent down, outstretching a tanned arm. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours?"

The girl hesitated for a moment, but saw the sincerity behind Naruto's eyes and smiled lightly, placing her hand in his. "Sakura..." she whispered and paused. "Haruno Sakura."

Naruto grinned. "Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan! Do you want to be friends? I've never had a friend... Do you suppose friends get ramen together? Ooh! That would be so much fun, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura looked taken back. "F... Friend? I h-haven't h-had a friend, e-either." She paused. "Sure, I-I'd love to be your f-friend, N-Naruto-kun."

"Great!" he exclaimed then gave a sheepish grin a second later. "So... Do you want to go for ramen?"

Sakura smiled. "W-why not?"

With that, the two friends, still holding hands, skipped off to Icharaku Ramen. Well, one skipped, the other tried to keep her balance beside the hyper boy.

'A friend. My first friend.'

What a great feeling.

"So how old are you, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, half understandable with his beloved ramen noodles sticking out of his mouth.

Sakura giggled. "I-I'm six, Naruto-kun. W-what about y-you?"

"I just turned six!" he yelled, happily wolfing down some more noodles and almost choked.

She laughed quietly at that.

"Hey, Sakura-chan?" Naruto started, swallowing and pausing in his eating to face her.

"Y-yeah?"

"Well, I was just wondering, why are you so quiet? I mean, sure, I can understand before, but why now?" he asked.

"A-ano..." she mumbled. "I d-don't r-really know w-why..." She shrugged and continued eating her food.

Naruto scrunched up his brow. "Really?" Then he noticed that she was eating and was instantly reminded of his ramen. "Oh well. Suit your self." He smiled.

She smiled back and they quickly finished up their 'breakfast'.

"Now where to, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, once they had stepped outside.

A lot of the citizens were waking up now, and when they saw their local 'demon boy' conversing with a sweet, innocent, Haruno girl, they did a double take. 'What on earth-?' went through a lot of their minds, but decided that they couldn't chase after him while he was still with that young girl. However, many kept their eyes on them; afraid that he might do something to her.

Sakura might not have noticed this, but Naruto sure did. Still, he didn't say anything, simply because he had no idea what was wrong and because he was thankful to finally have a real friend. He didn't want her to run away, too.

Two Years later

"Come on, Sakura-chan." a boy's voice whispered through the night.

From behind the fence he was leaning on, you could hear some scuffling.

Suddenly, there was a rather loud 'thump'.

"Shhh." he hissed, quietly.

"S-sorry." she mumbled back rubbing her sore toe.

His eyes softened. "It's okay, Sakura-chan."

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning his face back to the fence.

"I-I don't th-think I can get o-over it..."

"Sure you can!" he grinned, even though she couldn't see it.

A sigh. "A-alright, I'll t-try again."

His grin widened. "Good, 'cause I'm telling you that you need to learn how to do this. You said you wanted to become a ninja, right?"

He received what he guessed to be a nod, but he wasn't sure, so she whispered a tiny "Yes."

"Then you have to be brave enough to climb over a five foot fence with a ladder right beside it."

She paused. "C... C-can you put a l-ladder on the other s-side, too?" she muttered.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Fine, but you know that ninjas can't just take five ladders everywhere they go, right?"

She sighed again. "O-of course, b-but I'm training r-right now."

He laughed. "Alright, it's up."

"Okay, th-thanks, Naruto-kun."

"No problem... Now hurry up, I think the neighbours will want their ladders back pretty soon." he said, eyeing the man a couple houses down on top of a roof who was trying to convince himself that he wasn't crazy and that he did, in fact, put a ladder there to get up.

"O-okay."

A step was heard as she placed her foot onto the first rung.

Another step. And another.

Pretty soon, she was standing on the seventh rung, about three feet above the fence ... and she was shaking.

"Th-this is t-t-t-terrifying!" she whimpered.

Naruto turned around and his eyes widened, before breaking down in hysteric laughter.

"Silly," he chuckled. "You're not supposed to go that high up on the rungs! Come down a few, then step onto the ladder on the other side."

Her face brightened. "Oh... Y-yeah."

She did as he said and quickly climbed off the 'Giant Rungs of Doom', as she called them.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" he asked, taking up one of the ladders and motioning for her to take the other.

Sakura shrugged as she picked up the ladder by the edges of it, keeping the rungs as far from herself as possible. "Say what y-you will. Th-those things are s-scary."

"Well, ninjas don't usually use ladders, so you're safe." he said, rolling his eyes.

She half glared at him through the shadows of his neighbour's house. "You're telling me that people-"

"Ninjas." he corrected.

Sakura sighed. "-Ninjas actually would jump down off of that height?!"

Naruto nodded, slowly. "Of course."

She placed the ladder in place and huffed, turning away with Naruto right beside her. "Then w-why am I d-doing this?"

"Doing what?" he asked, glancing every now and then at the guy jumping all around his house, now screaming something about 'hallucinations' and that he was sure that he was now officially crazy - the ladder 'never moved'. Naruto cracked up at that.

Sakura raised an eye brow at him then at the guy telling his wife to take him to the doctor immediately. "Becoming a n-ninja."

"You want to prove to Ami that she's weak and you're strong. Heck," Naruto smiled, comfortingly at his pink haired, eight year old friend. "Don't you want to prove to your parents that you're not weak?"

Well, he struck a chord, and he knew it.

"..." Sakura glared straight ahead of them, and Naruto took it as a 'Damn straight'!

He had gotten pretty good at reading her expressions, postures, and little squeaks. She could probably be a pretty self confident girl, if some one gave her that boost, but no one ever tried, so they stuck together. Sakura didn't even stutter that much anymore when they were together, but she still did.

"I-I met a-a girl t-today..." Sakura said, finally.

This time it was Naruto's turn to raise a brow at her. "A new friend?"

She shook her head sadly. "No." He threw her a questioning gaze for her to elaborate. "Sh-she p-probably doesn't e-even know I-I exist."

"Nani? What do you mean?" Naruto was completely puzzeled. Here, he thought they were about to get a new person to hang out with them.

"She's a-a lot like m-me, actually." she murmured. "Sh-she stutters, blushes a lot, and i-is a-all and all a p-pretty quiet girl."

His brow furrowed, thoughtfully. "Do you mean... Oh what's her name..." He paused. "I know! Hyuuga Hinata, right?"

Sakura nodded. "Uh-huh. I j-just thought... ano... I th-thought that she w-would b-be a really n-nice person." She shrugged. "I want t-to ask her, b-but I'm not all th-that g-good at talking t-to people..." Sakura trailed off.

"NANI?!" Naruto exclaimed, he knew where this was going. "Are you kidding? I can't just go up to her; she might faint or something."

Sakura laughed. "H-how about we go together, th-then, ne?"

Naruto thought for a moment then grinned and bobbed his head up and down, rapidly. "Sure, Sakura-chan."

"Great! S-see you tomorrow a-at the academy, N-Naruto-kun!" she said, waving at him, then turned and jogged off.

Naruto laughed. "Yep, see you!" She was almost out of sight when he added, "And don't get caught!"

"I won't!" she called back, but not nearly as loud.

He smiled, pityingly. 'Poor Sakura-chan. Her parents would probably flip if they found out that she was going to a ninja's academy. I'm so glad that me smuggled her in, though. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to hang out much!'

Naruto then turned around and silently made his way to the apartment he was reluctantly given when he was old enough to live on his own. As he went through his normal nightly task, he smiled happily to himself. 'Can't wait for tomorrow! We get another friend!'

With that thought in mind, the young boy went to bed and slept with no nightmares, just like he always has since he became friends with Sakura two years before.

AN: ... I know what you're thinking; 'ANOTHER STORY?! You just put one on hold!' And yes, I did just put one on hold, sure, but I have huge inspiration for this story and... I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN!! XD

JA!

- Cady :D