Naruto : Struggle Of Childhood

Treasure Hunt

"Hey, Sasuke, pass it here!" Naruto yelled as the other boy threw a small air filled balloon that had been pilfered from one of the many booths in the area.

Water County's Spring Festival apparently was a major event. All the villages were holding one. With all the tourists and travelers from other counties and districts, it was no wonder that eight filthy children were able to blend into the crowd.

Naruto and his friends had gone from filthy to a new level of dirt. They were unrecognizable from the children who had escaped Konoha by night. Their hair had reached a uniform brownish gray color, and it had become impossible to tell whether one of them was male or female. With filthy faces, ragged, ripped, and torn clothes and long matted hair, they had become a standard example of the common street urchin.

Actually, Naruto had the feeling that it was the best thing in the world for them to be like this. This way no one even saw them. They had become a little bolder about the passing ninja. They didn't even seem to see the children that would watch them warily. If they were still being searched for, no one would look at a group of half-starved, half-naked children.

The Festival was a welcome change. The milling crowds dropped many things. Food, money, and even toys on occasion. The very balloon that they were playing with had been thrown away by a screaming child because he didn't wait it anymore. The second that it had hit the ground, Neji had come out of nowhere, grabbed it, and dashed into the crowd amid the wails of the child, who suddenly wanted the toy since someone else had it now.

Sasuke, Neji, and Naruto were using it at the moment, and were looking for the others. Sai had gone towards the game booths, probably to see if any overzealous person threw a disk to hard and ended up dropping their barbequed squid or their candy. Sakura and Hinata were hiding in amidst the vendors, looking for anything that had been dropped or a way to steal something.

It was amazing just how much they thought about food. Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji's little game was a rarity. Most of the time they thought of three things: food, shelter, and the fact that winter was coming.

After their little trip to the hospital, Naruto began to worry more and more about what would happen next winter. Maybe they wouldn't get so lucky, and with eight of them, it was completely impossible to hitch a ride to the next Country, and Security had become tight ever since Konoha had invaded Iwa a month ago.

Living the dream of being free from parents and authority was more like living a nightmare that was unending. Every day they woke up and wondered if they would eat, every night they huddled up together and wondered if they would be killed in their sleep. So many things that Naruto had taking for granted were now so important.

Like money.

People spent it so easily and on such stupid things. Like that woman was ever going to want that coffee mug with that stupid looking picture of a fat man dancing around with two fans. Naruto watched her give the money to a smirking man and thought of the bowl of ramen that would have bought. His stomach growled at the thought.

Sakura hid underneath the large wooden booth and hoped that the vendor hadn't seen her hide there. She had been sneaking from booth to booth for about two hours. This one, she had notice had a tendency to drop things. Her life had taking such a turn that she doubted that she would know herself from last fall. She had been such a crybaby. While she was still sensitive about her forehead, it was more of a violent sensitivity that resulted in the person who had hurt her being punched.