AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, readers! Sorry about re-uploading the story! I only did it because I couldn't seem to upload new chapters; I would be taken directly to an error page every time I tried. Please, forgive me. Also, I'm almost sure none of you know my grandmother (I suppose you would at least know that she had cancer if you previously followed this story.), but I regret to say that she passed away two days ago. I like to think she's in a better place now, but I'm all haywire when it comes to religion, so I don't know what to think. Anyway, please read and review, just so I can get better at writing. Enjoy, and have a great Monday :P
Looking off into the baby blue sky, Naruto admired the faint scent of cinnamon that wafted through the streets of Konoha on the energetic Saturday morning. Some of Naruto's classmates, such as Sakura and Ino, were eager to train, cramming for the Genin exam that would be occurring at noon the next day (Despite being told by all proctors that they were bound to fail on their first year) Others, such as Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji, were lying down on a terrace on the Hokage monument overlooking the Leaf Village skyline, lazily tossing potato chips into each other's mouths. Just able to make out the image of Kiba tap-dancing for the rest of the chips, Naruto immediately set course for the other "dead lasts," weaving through the masses of pedestrians with relative ease. Building a small amount of Chakra in his feet, Naruto kicked off his right foot and launched into the air, feeling the harsh wind rip through his hair. The blonde then did the same with his left foot, only to achieve a less than desirable effect. As Naruto jumped at the edge of the Konoha Hospital's roof, expecting to fly through the air and land on a small gift shop some ninety feet away, his feet carried him just off the edge of the building. Naruto screamed like a baby as he fell, watching in fear as the wind burned his eyes and the ground came closer every second.
"I lived a good life," Naruto thought, closing his eyes as he slammed into the ground.
Was it the ground? Surprisingly able to stand up, Naruto rose to his feet and looked at the exact spot on which he'd landed, expecting a pile of trash or some other conveniently placed object. However, where a pile of trash should have been was a young boy about Naruto's age with blood red hair that covered his eyes and a pale, ghostly white complexion, groaning in pain. Helping him to his feet, Naruto laughed and placed his hands behind his head, letting out,
"Hey! Thanks for being my cushion! Haha!" The red-haired boy's bottom lip trembled as the duo stood in the alley next to the hospital. Come to think of it, Naruto wondered why the boy had been there in the first place. His thoughts rolled out of his mouth as he asked, "Say, what're ya doin' here, anyway?" The boy then collapsed to his knees and grabbed Naruto's jacket, begging at his feet in a raspy, weak voice,
"Could you please spare some food?" Feeling his wallet in his pocket, Naruto guessed that he had just enough ryo for two regular bowls of miso ramen, or one Deluxe Supreme Special (or as Teuchi called it, the Naruto)
Again pulling the boy to his feet and slinging one of his arms over his shoulder, Naruto half-walked, half-dragged him to Ichiraku, which took the duo about an hour, considering the amount of times the boy faceplanted from weakness. At the ramen shop, Naruto ordered the boy one Deluxe Supreme Special and sat him on one of the stools, apologizing for making him wait. When Ayame noticed his bone-skinny and sickly form, she snapped her fingers violently, telling Teuchi to work faster.
"The boy's on the brink of death!" she called out, throwing her order pad at her father as he said he could not cook with any more speed. She leaned over the counter and pushed the boy's bangs aside with her thumb, revealing closed eyes that leaked tears onto his worn brown clothing. Pulling a napkin out from her side of the counter, she wiped his tears away with a smile and whispered, "There, there, it's okay. Nothing to worry about. We've got your food coming right up! Do you have a home to go back to?" When the boy shook his head, Naruto shook his head and sighed. His reaction to the news quickly changed when Ayame glared at him with murderous intent. Careful to not get killed by his favorite ramen hostess, Naruto clapped the redhead on the back and proclaimed,
"That's okay! You can stay with me! Just warning ya, stay away from my ice cream!"
"Okay," he replied, the ends of his thin lips faintly curling upward. Just then, Teuchi slammed a massive bowl of ramen, consisting of two regular bowls' worth of noodles, what looked like sixteen pork slices, and six deviled eggs, directly in front of the boy, whose mouth instantly began to water. Grabbing a pair of chopsticks and tossing them in front of him, Naruto asked,
"Well? Aren't ya gonna eat it?"
"Don't I have to pay for this?"
"Don't you worry, sweety," Ayame suddenly piped up, planting a small kiss on the boy's forehead, "it's on the house." Confused, he responded,
"Isn't it on the counter?" Ruffling his hair and forcing the chopsticks into the red-haired damsel's hand, Naruto whispered,
"That means it's free." With that, and a beaming smile, the boy dug in to the meal, groaning as the delicious, piping-hot broth and soft noodles hit his tastebuds. Meanwhile, Naruto practiced his hand seals, preparing for the upcoming exam. "Horse, Dog, Ram, Serpent, Dragon, Ox, Rabbit, Monkey," he thought to himself, not wanting to disturb the other people. Besides, he didn't want to accidentally shout the name of a technique and scare someone half to death.
Once the boy was finished with his food, Naruto waved goodbye to Teuchi and Ayame, thanking them for their hospitality, and led the redhead to his apartment, where Naruto jumped onto the couch and asked the boy his name.
"N...Nagato."
"Ah, that sounds really close to my name! Mine's Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage!" Nagato grew wide-eyed as Naruto announced his name.
"D-Did you say Uzumaki?" Naruto responded in a confused tone,
"Did I stutter? Of course I said Uzumaki!" At the statement, Nagato jumped up and down and then onto the couch, embracing Naruto tightly. "Woah, what's up?"
"I am an Uzumaki, also!" Hesitantly returning the hug, Naruto nervously chuckled as he politely agreed, though he didn't know how the boy was of his family. He didn't even have blonde hair! Then again, maybe he himself was the only one with blonde hair in the Uzumaki lineage. If he'd had parents, the whole situation would've been much easier. "It's been so long since I've seen the face of family!" Of course, Naruto didn't want to dash Nagato's hopes, so he simply went along with the charade, patting Nagato on the back and throwing on a beaming smile.
"Alright, bro, well, I've gotta go train for the Genin exam tomorrow. I'll see ya later!" he suddenly added, prying Nagato's death-gripped fingers from his shoulder blades and taking his leave, leaping out of the open window.
Naruto sighed heavily with a small frown as he walked around Konoha, unsure of what he was going to practice.
"Ninjutsu? Nah. My Taijutsu's pretty good. I don't know any genjutsu. Chakra training it is," Naruto thought silently, his mouth hanging slightly open as he strolled on over to the training space behind the Academy building, which was thoroughly occupied by students hopeful to pass the exam on their first year. From what Naruto had heard, the last person to graduate in one year was some boy named Minato, according to Iruka. The blonde was just about to practice molding Chakra in his palms when a high-pitched whine met his ears, like someone was crying. Looking all around the congested courtyard, Naruto appeared to be the only person who was able to hear the distressing noise above the uproar of shouting, metals clashing, and grunts of pain. Despite having no idea where the sound's source was located, Naruto's feet seemed to carry him past a few groups of students who scolded his presence and into a small, cut-off section of forest, thick with shrubbery and whaling. "What the hell is that?" he screamed in his head as he followed the sound until he stood fifteen feet away from a group of young boys, cloaked by darkness, a bit older-looking than Naruto huddled around a small girl with navy-blue, shoulder-length hair and light lavender eyes devoid of pupils, which were flooding with tears as one of the three held a kunai against her throat, telling her to apologize for something.
"I'm...sorry!" the girl choked in a weak voice, struggling for her life as she looked fleetingly at Naruto, who came back to his senses as he picked up a particularly large rock from a small pile at his feet and threw it at the boy with the kunai. Naruto laughed as he scored a direct bullseye, hitting the boy with the fist-sized rock square on his cranium. The young bully collapsed and continuously grunted in pain, his eyes watering as the other two turned and found Naruto, instantly rushing to tackle him. Unfortunately, Naruto couldn't run in time and was captured by the duo, who trapped his arms under their knees and continuously struck him in the face, sending shockwaves of incredible pain rippling throughout his body. A minute or two later, when they'd surely broken his cheekbones, the boy Naruto had hit with the rock came running to Naruto's beaten form, pushed the other two off of him, and began to kick him in the torso, cracking a rib or two almost instantaneously. The intense pain made Naruto shout and scream, though he doubted anyone could hear him. Anger brewed inside him like a hurricane on the ocean as the boys mercilessly beat him, all for trying to make them back off.
Just when all seemed lost, and Naruto felt like he was about to go Super Saiyan (Dragon Ball Z was his favorite show) he gathered every ounce of strength he had left in his arms and lurched forward, grabbing the first boy's right leg and sinking his teeth into his thin calf, instantly drawing blood and a high-pitched scream from his target. Kicking him off, the boy then sprinted away from the gruesome scene, clutching his leg and yelling for the other two to follow him.
Meanwhile, Naruto wiped away the blood on his chin and stood up hesitantly, walking over to the young girl (who now appeared to be about his age) with a large smile and helping her to her feet, saying,
"So, you okay?" However, his question fell on deaf ears as the girl stared in shock at Naruto's hand, which gently clasped her own. Her face grew as red as a cherry as she yanked her hand back and began to touch the tips of her index fingers together, gulping before replying,
"Etto...yes. Thank you...Naruto-kun." Somewhat creeped out, Naruto asked,
"Hey, how d'ya know my name?" The girl squealed in fright before fainting right then and there, collapsing against a thick tree and letting her eyes close.
"Alrighty then," Naruto thought with a laugh, leaving the girl's unconscious form lying against the tough hickory bark, returning to the training area only to find it deserted. "Damn it!" he exclaimed as he threw a forgotten kunai into a bush and stalked away quietly, scoffing in disdain to his absent classmates. Looking off into the distance, Naruto wondered how time had passed so quickly as the sun set ever so slowly in the West, painting a rose red mural on Konoha whilst merchants rang for last call. The blonde set course for his apartment and sighed disappointedly, closing his eyes and daydreaming about his Sexy no Jutsu.
"Nagato-kun, I've been gone ninety minutes. Is this all you've done in that time?" Naruto asked with a bewildered countenance, gazing at the heap of books on his dinner table. Manga, Academy textbooks, newspapers. Nagato had pretty much read his entire library in an hour and a half. Nagato scratched his head confusedly as he responded,
"My kaa-san always told me to read. Oh, and I have a question about this Yamcha character in-"
"Can it wait? I'm famished!" The young Uzumaki proceeded to open his refrigerator and laugh at its contents: ramen, ramen, ramen, a bit of ramen, ramen, ramen, and a half gallon of cookie dough ice cream. Grabbing two clean spoons from his kitchen sink, Naruto grabbed the sweet dairy goodness and tossed it on the table, startling the redhead. He quickly took a seat and dug in, taking what looked like the entire thing (at least to Nagato) and shoving it into his mouth, savoring the sweet, chocolatey dough. However, Nagato hesitantly, almost fearfully, placed his spoon into the tub and slipped a shaving of the contents onto it. He then violently jerked his hand backward, spearing his spoon into his mouth before running to the kitchen sink and voiding his stomach. Rushing over to him, Naruto put a hand around his shoulder before noting,
"Ah. You must be lactose and tolerant." Nagato responded with a weak voice,
"Don't you mean lactose intolerant?" Not wanting to stand corrected, Naruto forced the other young Uzumaki into his room and bed, tossing the covers over him before walking away. Unfortunately, his walk was interrupted when Nagato asked,
"Did you just tuck me into bed? At six o'clock?" Despite the resistance, by the time Naruto had turned around Nagato was already fast asleep, snoring quietly.
To round out the day, Naruto snatched a few of the Academy textbooks from the kitchen table and stood in the exact middle of the apartment, studying all areas of ninja expertise. At around midnight, Naruto sighed heavily as he again attempted to perform a rear-naked choke on his couch pillow, tired beyond belief. Tossing his pillow back in its spot and jumping on himself, Naruto passed out right then and there, content with his effort in training.