The Innocent Ones (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 3.5

He had left three weeks ago.

After 10 minutes of heartwarming goodbyes, he'd finally managed to squirm out the group hug and force his legs to move down the pathway, away from the house he'd called home for a year. It seemed only with the promise of him returning every once and awhile, that the just turned Eight year old managed to convince his new .... well family, to let him go.

Ruto smiled a little to himself as he hopped from tree to tree, evenly distributing chakra to his legs to keep him upright, he'd never get tired of saying that. Family.

His three weeks had been rather uneventful, just touring around a few of the smaller villages and doing odd jobs in a Henge of an older person, until three days ago. There he had been, minding his own business when he'd unceremoniously tripped face first onto the ground; of course this wouldn't have been nearly as alarming or embarrassing if he hadn't tripped on the lying form of a person. Oh and her Pig as well. It had been disconcerting the young boy that the figure hadn't stirred in the slightest despite his foot making contact with it's stomach.

Of course, Ruto had done what anyone would do in that situation.

He grabbed the Pig and ran. He definitely wasn't sticking around to be blamed for any of that; he liked to think of himself as a good-ish person so he'd decided that he'd look after the Pig since he'd had to abandon the person. The newly dubbed Sir Oink had at first been rather distant and tried to run away but Ruto was nothing if not charming and by the third day had managed to earn it's love from consistent treats and cuddles.

However, disaster struck the happy duo at the end of that very same day. This disaster was in the form of a woman, the very same woman who'd been chasing him now for 6 hours and didn't seem to be tiring at all.

Ruto sweat dropped a little bit as he heard yet another tree fall behind him, a poor victim to that Woman's abnormal strength in her fist. Dear Kami, if that thing hit him it'd be a one way trip to his parents. He could have sworn that Sir Oink almost looked amused.

"Leave me alone you crazy Woman!" he screamed back at her after dodging her terrifying hands, after slowing down slightly due to fatigue.

"GIVE ME THE PIG YOU BRAT"

"NO!"

It was only an hour later Ruto found himself tied up and hanging upside down from a tree branch - as fast as he was he was still only Eight and had finally slowed enough to be grabbed.

"I'm pretty sure this is child abuse" he stated, blood rushing his head.

"Be happy I didn't cut off a hand, that's what some villages do to a thief." she retorted, holding Sir Oink in her arms.

"Hey! I take offense to that, i'm no thief" Ruto said, squirming wildly in his ropes.

"Really?" the lady said, eyebrow raised. "The fact that you have my Pig says otherwise". Ruto stared for a second before realization kicked in.

"You're that dead body. Look Ghost, i'm sorry for just leaving your corpse there, but I made sure to take care of  Sir Oink in your place. Please stop haunting me!"

The Ghost Lady looked confused for a second. "Ghost? Sir Oink?". She paused for a second before looking back down at the boy " Listen Kid, my name is Tsunade and this is my Pig Tonton; you better start explaining."

Even though he seems smarter - the Lovable obtuse Naruto still come out once in a while  :)) I was debating whether to make it Jiraiya that he met, but unlike him Tsunade seemed far less likely to send Ruto back to Konoha.