Chapter Text
Chapter 3
Naruto was not having a good start to the day.
The lady at the orphanage had taken some of the other kids on a field trip but left him behind. Then the older kids threw mud at him, and because he was dirty the matron wouldn’t let him back inside. So here he was on the outskirts of the playground and he was miserable.
“Hi.” A voice called and Naruto looked up startled.
“What do you want?” he asked the dark haired boy.
“My names Sasuke do you want to play?”
“Really?”
“Yeah what’s your name?”
“I’m Naruto, believe it!”
*****
Sasuke came home for supper after playing with Naruto. It’d been pure chance to see the boy by the park near his clan grounds, but this tiny version of Naruto wasn’t quite what he expected.
For one the boy hadn’t said a thing about becoming Hokage and he was even kind of quiet which was startling. Naruto had been right behind him and he had trouble making out the kids steps.
Naruto was three for crying out loud, how did he learn to walk that quietly.
Another was that the blonde seemed to avoid people, especially adults, and with the glares Sasuke couldn’t blame him. He’d never really understood just what Naruto's childhood must have been like before. He always thought he had it worse because his family was taken away. But now he wondered if Naruto had it worse because he never knew what family was like to begin with.
An old memory resurfaced of the valley of the end.
Like old man Hokage being my grandpa or you being my brother. I always thought that was what family must be like.
Sasuke wondered just what there bond would be like this time around.