I own Naruto! WORSHIP ME!

Hehe, just kidding. I write these chapters when I should be paying attention in class so they're a bit short. Anyways, this will be an eight chapter story and I wouldn't say no to a beta if someone is interested.

Summary: One change leads to another. The Naruto-Haku-Gaara formation.

Domino Effect – Festival of the Fourth

Another bottle came flying through the air and would have hit him in the head had Naruto not ducked in time. It was his fifth birthday, which fell on the anniversary of the fourth Hokage's triumph over the dreaded Kyuubi no Kitsune, and the village was holding its' annual festival in honor of the Fourth. Naruto hated this day because however much the villagers hated him they always became more violent on this day. Naruto had tried to hide in one of the back alleys, since he wasn't safe at his apartment, but he had still been discovered by a group of drunks who were now cutting off his escape routes and hurling insults and dangerous objects at him.

Naruto gasped as one of the villagers pulled out a dagger and ran at him with it. Without a doubt, he though to himself, he was going to die here. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable, his short life flashing through his mind. "If I do die," thought Naruto, "no one will miss me. What do I have to live for anyway?" Naruto waited for the blow to come but realized that none had come. Carefully, he opened his eyes and watched as the villager wobbled and fell unconscious to reveal a man standing behind him. Naruto gazed at the man, who he recognized as the only man to allow him to eat at his ramen stand and who never looked at him with the same hatred as the other villagers.

"What are you helping that demon for?" called out one irate drunk. "Don't you know what he is?"

"I don't care what you think he is," answered Ichiraku. "He's a child and I will not allow you to harm him." The drunkard took a menacing step forward and Ichiraku leaned down to Naruto. "Listen kid," he said quietly. "I'm going to make an opening and when I do, you run. Got that kid?" Naruto nodded, silent in his shock, and the man turned back to the mob.

The drunk who had spoken before growled and ran at the man with his fist raised. Moments later he found himself flying through the air and landing on three of his drinking buddies. Naruto gaped but a single nudge from the old man had him jumping over the human pile up and running through the streets of Konoha. Sounds of violence echoed behind him as the man fought to give him time to escape.

Naruto ran until he found himself on a deserted side road. He could hear the sounds of the festival coming from nearby but here it was calm. Naruto looked around for a place to hide from anyone who could have followed him. Spying a covered truck, full of cloths, parked next to a shop he quickly made his way over and hid himself in the folds of a bundle of cotton sheets.

"If I hide here for an hour the festival will have finished by then and I can go home." He settled in to wait out the hour. He forgot, however, the concussion that he had received during the attack and didn't even notice when he fell asleep.

There is the first chapter. Please tell me what you think. Another chapter should be coming on Sunday so look forward to it. 

Review no Jutsu!