Vagabond

By: Onbny

Disclaimer: Naruto, any other thing I add on belong to their respective creators.

Note from author: I was inspired to write this after reading bundles of depressing, but actually pretty good fics, where Naruto is usually left barely living on the streets. Now usually this ends with someone powerful taking him in. I wanted to take a twist of this.

Secondly I was influenced by the homeless Vietnam Veterans, and other poor souls forced to survive by any means necessary that my country abandoned; they deserve respect as well.

*NOTE NOTE- This is before the Uchiha massacre, nor are these the correct ages…I think. I'm not as much a fan that I know every little detail, so just roll with it. Also this is very much so AU.

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It was cold. It was always so damn cold. Naruto shivered but kept glaring defiantly out at the crowded streets. His growling stomach tempted him to go out and try and find food, but he decided against it.

Last time he tried to buy something, just a blanket, it was insanely priced. Empty became his poor Gama-chan. Worst of the all, the blanket...well it sucked. It was thin, scratchy and barely held together. Bastard looked so smug when he walked out too, that's never a good sign. When someone looks happy around him, he learned rather quickly; get while the getting's good or your gonna get got.

He shivered again and sneezed, then drew the sucky blanket closer around him. Then again, beggars can't be choosers, but when it's your only option something isn't right in the world.

He looked at the dark alley that he had been hiding out in. He'd been on the streets for two months after his birthday. After the fire that completely destroyed his apartment, then naturally he got blamed for it. After there being no other place that would accept him and let him live in moderate peace.

'Don't worry about me Jiji! I can handle it!' He scowled at what he had said to the Hokage. He learned pretty fast, that if you didn't handle it, you died out here especially during winter. He had seen what it did to the street-ladies and shifty dealers, some of them looked like that they would die standing, only to return to their slums with this bleak, worn-out look on their faces. He briefly wondered if he was beginning to look like them. Too bad he didn't have a slum to go back too. 'It wasn't fair.'

It would scare most how quickly a nine year old learns about the world when they live on the streets.

He took one last seething glance at crowd then shuffled back into the alley, blanket dragging behind him. He wasn't stupid, he knew that pretty much 90% of that crowd would have gladly burned his blanket in front of him, then held him back so that he couldn't at least warm up by it. And when he pulled pranks on the deserving populace, he got the hell scolded out of him. 'It wasn't fair damn it. I lose my home, yet their biggest worry is where the next bargain is.' He thought angrily. He had heard of this so called 'equal treatment' but that seemed to be in short supply. For him anyway. 'It wasn't fair.'

Sitting down he blinked at the green leaf that fell into the snow. He remembered hearing that most trees turned colors then lost all their leaves when the seasons changed. But never in fire country. Trees that shouldn't be ever-green flourished year round.

Ironically, he seemed to flourish year round too. No matter how little he ate, he never seemed to grow weary. Tired and starved yes, but always with enough energy to live. Despite his meager clothing and possessions, he never got sick, or looked like he would keel over. It was like something kept him alive, just to let him suffer for the next day. 'It wasn't fair.'

Sighing slightly he moved to lay on his side then let his hunger, cold, and exhaustion lure him into a fitful sleep.

Later that night…

Naruto awoke with a start. Years of being chased had given him a good sense of when things were about to turn bad. Real bad.

He looked around and saw a stumbling figure approach him. Bottle in hand and reeking of cheep alcohol, Naruto could tell that it was NOW time to get while the getting's good, and began sliding back. Into the wall at the back of the alley. Looks like he was going to get got… Again just like all the other times. At least it wasn't a crowd or a bunch of people looking on, with satisfied looks on their faces.

"Looks what I got here. A little De-doamn who lost hids home, Hic, yeah too bad they didn't get ya too, then everyone would be happy." The drunken man slurred out grinning happily as he broke the bottle and swung. Into thin air as Naruto scrambled down the alley in the dark, stumbling over the debris and trash, finding a nice hiding spot in a dumpster around the corner. "YOU CAN RUN LIITLLE DEMON BUT I"LL GET YA! MONSTERS LIKE YOU ALWAYS ARE KILLED!" The man called out again before puking his stomach contents out. All over Naruto's blanket. Only when the drunk began an off key song and swaggered off did Naruto crawl out, reeking of filth. His black shirt and orange shorts were now stained and greasy, and the less said about how his sandals felt the better. Yet strangely none of it mattered. Only thing he could think was the bastard HAD to puke over his blanket. 'WHY IS IT NEVER FAIR!?'

Then it all went red.

He screamed out in frustration, punching the wall in front of him with the fury only a child could muster. Usually this was to be soothed by a mother's love or a father's sternness, sadly Naruto had neither. He could only see them all laughing at him. Someday he'd show them, the pampered civilians, the elitist Nin who looked at him like he was even lower than trash, like he didn't even exist. Hell at least the civilians looked at him like he was some monster.

After 10 minutes of rage fueled punches, he stopped when he felt the haze lift. His hands were bloody, but as he wiped them off on his shirt, there wasn't even a mark, nothing to show there was any harm. Just like all the other times when he confessed someone hurt him, they would be set free because he always looked like he never had a single damn scratch*. 'It will never be fair.'

Scowling at his blanket he walked away blindly, wiping his eyes from the tears that began to fall, putting holes in the snow beneath his feet. He stopped as he came across a path he had seen only once, but had scared him away when he was younger. Briefly reading the sign in front of it, that poorly written, broken sign that said: BEWARE, FOR HERE THERE BE MONSTERS.

On that night, the thought of meeting a fellow monster sounded better than sleeping under a vomit covered blanket.

On that night, as he trudged down the path of shadows and snow, he no longer cared.

Maybe, just maybe he could find someplace to stay here.

If he could overcome this places vibe of over-all wrongness.

The alleyway opened up into a version of post doomsday.

This was a section of Konoha he had never been to. It screamed the emotion of struggle, hell even the plants looked sick, barely clinging to life. It was like all the pestilence, poverty, and desperation of Konoha had been bottled up here. His last apartment looked better than this. The entire area was surrounded by a wall, and know that he had the chance, he thought back to when he saw the other side of it with Jiji. He had always told him it was a big construction project. Seeing it now, he doubted that any work had ever been done here before.

Most of the buildings were small, and looked to be made shoddily, made of poor quality material, and looked like they would collapse at any moment. The whole place was slummy; it even had a shower in the middle of the toad hooked up to a pipe with a flimsy cover for the barest of modesty. And from the suds leaking into a drain, it was obviously used.

Looking around he noticed there was no way out unless he went back the way he came. Walking through the decrepit streets he felt his nerves go on edge as another drunk stumbled out from a building in which cheering could be heard. The drunk looked at him once before stumbling towards him. Preparing him-self to run Naruto felt all his muscles tense up. The Drunk looked at him for a minute then handed him a bottle that he had in his hands. "Drink up kid, tomorrows gonna be another glorious day of hell!" The man said airily before tripping over his own foot and crashing in front of Naruto. A few seconds later snoring was heard. Naruto looked at the battle, and then at the large (in comparison to the others,) building the man had stumbled out. Perhaps he could barter the bottle of cheap booze for a blanket, maybe a room if he was incredibly lucky.

Hey, a kid could dream right?

Walking into the building, he was blasted with warm air, the smell of alcohol, and this feeling of….relaxation?

The building was HUGE on the inside, it looked to be at least twice the size of what he thought it was on the outside. Despite its size, it had this cobbled together look, Patches of metal and wood dotted the entire area every couple of inches, light bulbs hung from the ceiling by the wire, and some of the floor, was just plain old dirt ground. Even the furniture looked like it was pieced together with scrap metal and cheap ply wood. But from the looks of the people inside it, no-one cared.

Metioning the people, it was like an assortment of every parent's worst nightmare. Drugged out frantic seemed to be injecting something into them at various tables, with dealers looking on boredly.

Groups of people, old and young settled in the corners, smoke rising from them, giggling at nothing. Street-ladies, whores, (male and female to his confusion) leading various thuggish and ganggish looking people up stairs. And to his shock, a section of the area in the back had a walkway with a pole connecting it to the ceiling.

The whole place screamed debauchery, yet, there was no explosion of lust and vile like he had always heard such places had, just this feeling of rejuvenation, like an oasis.

Walking up to what appeared to be a bar he climbed up on one of the stools. For once in his life, Naruto felt like he was blending in, his grimy appearance no worse off than many of the groups looked. The sounds of guitar filled the air as a group of men appeared on the walkway. As the playing picked up he could hear the lyrics as many of the groups began dancing in some strange sync with the slow, yet steady beat of the music. Feeling the pull of the music, he could felt his fingers tapping in sync as well.

(If you're interested this is: Ain't no rest for the wicked)

I was walking down the street
When out the corner of my eye,
I saw a pretty little thing approaching me.
She said I never seen a man,
Who looks so all alone,
Could you use a little company?
If you could pay the right price,
Your evening will be nice,
Or you can go and send me on my way,
I said you're such a sweet young thing,
Why'd you do this to yourself?
She looked at me and this is what she said.

Naruto felt his interest grow as the song continued. Was there a meaning behind this song, or was it just that damn catchy?

Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked,
Money don't grow on trees,
I got bills to pay,
I got mouths to feed,
There ain't nothing in this world for free.
I know I can't slow down,
I can't hold back
Though you know I wish I could,
Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked,
Until we close our eyes for good.

Naurto found himself sympathizing with the chorus, which the whole crowd seemed to know by heart as they sang along.

"Good ain't they?" said a voice behind him. Turning around Naruto's first thought was: 'Big!' The man was huge, bald and muscular. He gulped, he had never been in a place like this, what if they kicked him out or threatened him like everyone else?

Not even 15 minutes later,
I'm still walking down the street,
When I saw the shadow of a man creep out of sight,
And then he swept up from behind,
Put a gun up to my head,
He made it clear he wasn't looking for a fight,
He said give me all you've got,
I want your money not your life,
If you try to make a move I won't think twice,
I told him you can have my cash,
But first you know I've got to ask,
What made you want to live this kind of life?

"Don't panic, I can tell by the look in your eyes you'd fit in here quickly, and I'm not reckless enough to give a minor anything 'illegal' what can I get you?" The man said with a grin, that was missing two front teeth. Naruto nodded dumbly muttering "Anything", not used to such hospitality.

He said there ain't no rest for the wicked,
Money don't grow on trees,I got bills to pay
I got mouths to feed
Ain't nothing in this world for free.
I know I can't slow down,
I can't hold back
Though you know I wish I could
Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked,
Until we close our eyes for good.

The crowd repeated with them, and Naruto found himself repeating as well. "What's your name kid?" The bald man asked pulling out something frothy and warm. 'Oh hell, he just had to ask that. Oh well it was nice while it lasted.' "Naruto Uzumaki." The man looked at him strangely then laughed. "I always knew the outside village was insane, this is the infamous Demon Brat?" He guffawed, but it was drowned out by the music. "For all the trouble you've given them, you can be sure you'll fit in here." 'Fit in…'

Now a couple hours past,
And I was sitting in my house,
The day was winding down and coming to an end,
So I turned on the TV,
And flipped it over to the news,
And what I saw I almost couldn't comprehend,
I saw a preacher man in cuffs
Taking money from the church,
He stuffed his bank account with righteous dollar bills
But even still I can't say much
Because I know were all the same,
Oh yes we all seek out to satisfy those thrills.

Drinking the strange beverage, he felt an inner fire light up in him. "What is this place?" Naruto asked feeling deliciously numb as he drained the large glass. "The End of the World kid, the End of the World." The bald man chuckled to himself.

You know there ain't no rest for the wicked,
Money don't grow on trees,
We got bills to pay
We got mouths to feed
Ain't nothing in this world for free.
Oh no
We can't slow down,
We can't hold back
Though you know we wish we could.
You know there ain't no rest for the wicked,
Until we close our eyes for good.

As the song ended and the band going backstage Naruto felt his eyelids dripping closed. "One question baldy, any room here?" 'Baldy' grinned at the name. "Nah, you need to see our Hokage for that, and the names not Baldy, it's Haru." Naruto looked up at him strangely, and Haru apparently knew the look. "Not that old fool, I mean OUR Hokage, he who runs the inner city..."

Naruto nodded sleepily before slouching over passed out. Haru sighed contently before sniffing Naruto's drink. 'Opps, that wasn't cider, oh well, puts some hair on his chest at least.'

He looked over and saw a green haired buxom barmaid cleaning up as the crowd left, leaving the large bar empty, save for them and a few extra workers. "Hey Fuyo, I think I accidentally gave a kid something waaay past his limit…again, but hey at least he ain't running around naked right? Anyway can you put him in an empty room upstairs for the night?" Fuyo, (the barmaid) gave him a cross look that mad e him flinch, then sighed and picked up Naruto and hoisted him upstairs. "And be careful with him, he's a celebrity, the 'Demon Brat'." She looked at the unconscious boy and grinned, moving quickly upstairs yet with a calm demeanor.

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And that's the end for this chapter. I have plans for this. Oh yes indeed. Wow, I started out darkish, and already I've got it turned on a brighter side. I will explain more about this new inner city that Naruto has discovered in the next chap. Bah.

*Note in most stories I've read, it's always obvious that he looks malnourished, broken and half-dead. Now this confused me because I always imagined kyuubi doing whatever to avoid even the chance at death. And if you have advanced healing power that heals you insanely fast, there's got to be a nuisance somewhere.