A/N and Disclaimer: Wee, Naruto. Based on the second ending of Naruto Shippuuden, which depicts several scenes of a typical "high school manga" featuring Naruto and friends as the characters. This intrigued me, and inspired me to write a "Naruto if it didn't have the ninjas fic". Oh and the title is one of the lines from the aforementioned second ending; "Michi to you all" good song by the way. So yeah, enjoy. Also I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, that all belongs to Kishimoto Masashi-sensei.
Naruto: Just as Usual
Chapter 1: The way things are
A young man stood in front of a small house, barricaded off from the rest of the world by bright yellow tape, refusing access to anyone but the police. The man wore a blue police uniform, and had dark brown hair tied up in a spiky ponytail and an almost fin like scar across the bridge of his nose. He stood, surveying the scene for a short while, and eventually spoke to another police officer standing next to him. "What's the situation?"
The other officer was taken back by the man's question, and almost dropped his clipboard. Hurriedly, he composed himself and began reading from it. "Um… it seems that there was a murder, Umino-kyokuchou." (1)
The brown haired man smiled at his companion. "Call me Iruka." He said warmly, but his smile soon returned to a frown as he looked back at the murder scene. "So what exactly happened?"
The officer looked back down at his clipboard. "Well um Umi-, um Iruka- kyokuchou, it appears as if the murders were committed by the infamous 'Kyuubi Gang', as the victim was behind on a loan she owed them,"
"And who was the victim?" Iruka asked, still focused on the crime scene.
"One Uzumaki Kushina sir." The officer replied. "She has a fairly shady past, often changing both name and location. Her husband died approximately two years ago, and since then she has tried to survive as a single mother by loaning money and then leaving town before she could be tracked down. Evidently, her luck didn't last."
"She had a child?" Iruka asked, his gaze shifting to the officer, which rather unnerved him.
"Um, yes sir." The officer replied nervously. "A two year old boy by the name of Uzumaki Naruto. As a matter of fact he survived this attack; it looks as if his mother did everything she could to save him."
"I see..." Iruka's gaze wandered, until it fell on a middle aged man in a brown trenchcoat, nestling a small, blanketed boy with spiky blond hair and whisker like scars on his face. "Looks like he didn't come out completely unscathed…" Iruka said, looking at the boy's fresh scars. He touched the scar on his nose almost instinctively. "Did he have any other family?"
"No sir." The officer replied.
Iruka sighed deeply. "I know what it's like to grow up alone, scarred for life, with no-one to help you" He began to walk slowly towards young Uzumaki Naruto. "This time, I'll make sure there's someone there to help."
The sharp beeping of an alarm clock cut through the morning silence like a knife through butter. A delicate female hand slapped down violently on the device, returning the silence that was so tragically lost. But even with its return, Haruno Sakura was still wide awake. "Another day…" She yawned and rose from her bed, stretching out her tired muscles. After making her bed, Sakura ran a brush through her light pink hair, and tied it back with a bright red ribbon. She stared at herself in the mirror for a while. "I wonder if I should make lunch for Sasuke-kun as well today…" She pondered out loud. "He always says he doesn't want it, but I think he's just too shy and generous to accept something from someone else!" She giggled to herself. "I'll make him some too." Sakura quickly dressed herself in her sailor fuku (2), grabbed her bag and rushed downstairs, making toast on her way out. "I'm leaving!" She called out in a muffled voice, with toast still in her mouth. No reply. Figures, there never was. And with that, Sakura left her house and began her daily trek to school.
A teenage boy stood in front of a large gate. He had spiky blond hair, and wore a black headband and black gakuran jacket (3), both adorned with a spiral-like symbol. Underneath his jacket, the boy wore a white shirt, tucked into a pair of tightly fastened trousers (Or pants, whatever you like to call them) and a green crystal necklace hung loosely around his neck. The sleeves of both his gakuran and shirt where rolled up, and he had a white bag slung over his shoulder. The boy grinned and looked at the gate with his deep, blue eyes. "So, this is Konoha High huh?"
Sakura slid open the door to her classroom, revealing a great number of students inside. Sakura shuffled over to her desk, hanging her bag on it and falling to her seat. "Hey, Sakura!" Sakura turned to see a girl with blond hair in a long ponytail walking over to her.
"Morning, Ino" She greeted half-heartedly.
"What's with you?" Ino asked irritably. "You don't always have to be this grumpy you know; it's not like you're fulfilling a status quo or anything. Shikamaru does enough of that already,"
"I dunno" Sakura said. "I'm not exactly enthusiastic. Things are just a bit, well, boring lately. I get up in the morning, I get dressed, I make lunch that I know will get rejected which means I'll have to eat it and get even fatter, I make my toast, I say goodbye and get no reply, I walk to school, you say 'hey', we have another day of lessons and then I go home" Sakura sighed deeply. "Everything's the same, just as usual."
"You need to lighten up a little bit…" Ino huffed. "Honestly, most of the time I don't know why I hang around with you. All you ever do is complain!"
"What can I say? It's what I do best" Sakura joked.
"So, I assume you made Sasuke lunch again?" Ino said tauntingly.
Sakura blushed. "……Yes" Ino giggled slightly. "Hey, leave me alone!" Sakura pouted.
"I'm sorry!" Ino chuckled. "It's just a little sad that's all. You've been making him lunches since you first met him and he never accepts them, just give up on him like I did Sakura, you'll never make any progress. Sasuke just doesn't think about stuff like that y'know?"
"Yeah, maybe I am sad." Sakura admitted. "But at least I've stuck to it all these years. You just flirt with any random guy and give up on him the instant it doesn't look like things are going to be easy."
"Ouch! OK you got me." Ino faked an injury. "All I'm saying is if you don't want everything to seem like the same old routine try mixing things up a bit, starting with giving up on Sasuke."
Sakura looked down at her desk. "I know I should, but I just can't. I like him too much, even if he doesn't like me back. I- I just can't change that."
"Suit yourself." Ino shrugged. "Enjoy being lonely for the rest of your life!" She giggled again. "I'm kidding. If that's what you really want I'll support you, I just worry about you. You're my best friend after all. Anyway class is about to start, I'd better get back to my seat. See you!"
Sakura watched as Ino walked away from her. "I envy her." She muttered under her breath. "If only I could be as flexible, and interesting, and outgoing. Maybe then, Sasuke-kun would…" She stopped talking, and remained silent as her teacher entered the classroom.
"Yo!" The teacher raised a hand in greeting. He was a tall man with spiky grey hair, his fringe covering his left eye. He wore a white shirt with a black tie and smart black trousers held up using suspender braces. The bottom half of his face was covered by a surgical mask, but you could tell that behind it he was smiling. "Good morning, everyone!"
"Good morning Kakashi-sensei." The students greeted, before standing and bowing to their teacher.
"Oh and before anyone asks, I have a cold." Kakashi pointed to his surgical mask. "That's why I'm wearing this, just try to ignore it."
"I get the feeling he likes wearing those masks…" A boy with brown hair tied in a spiky ponytail said. "He's always wearing stuff like that, it's like he doesn't want his face to be seen,"
"What?" Ino turned to the boy. "That's just stupid Shikamaru. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one!"
"Whatever." He grunted. "Next time I'll keep my stupid ideas to myself…"
Soon everyone in the class was murmuring. "Alright, settle down." Kakashi said gently but confidently, and the students soon complied. "OK, I've got some exciting news today."
Sakura, who had previously been ignoring her teacher and staring out a nearby window gloomily, suddenly perked up at the idea of excitement. "Exciting news?" She said inquisitively.
"That's right." Kakashi nodded. "We have a new student joining us today."
The class began murmuring once again. Sakura was suddenly thrilled, and she couldn't understand why. "Is my life so boring that the idea of a new student excites me so much?" She whispered to herself. Sakura thought about this for a few minutes. "Yes" She hung her head. "What am I doing?" She asked herself. "I have no reason to be depressed now! Finally something exciting is happening! This new student could be a friend to help me break out of my boring routine, or a boy to help me move on from Sasuke-kun!" She imagined herself in the arms of her dream boy, with Ino looking on jealously. "This is it!" Sakura thought excitedly as a foot stepped into the classroom. "A new chapter of my life begins now!"
"Everyone welcome our newest student" Kakashi signalled to the person who had just entered, a fairly tall boy with spiky blond hair, deep blue eyes and whisker like scars on his face. He dropped the small bag he was carrying to the floor and picked up a piece of chalk from Kakashi's desk, then began scrawling hiragana (4) across the board, with students mumbling behind him. As he reached the edge of the board, the boy slammed down the chalk he was holding, spun around and looked out over his new classmates with his arms crossed confidently. The board read "UZUMAKI NARUTO". "Don't forget it." He grinned.
Everyone was in shock over Uzumaki Naruto's entrance, including Kakashi. "Quite a showy introduction." He thought to himself. "This could go down in one of two ways. One, he's instantly accepted as being cool. Or two…"
"Who the hell do you think you are!?" "Show-off!" "Poser!" "Sit down!" There was a sudden outburst from the students.
"…that happens…"
"Huh? N-no, hold on a second!" Naruto began waving his arms around, trying to control the mob that was once his classmates. "I was trying to make a good example this time!" Naruto desperately tried to explain himself whilst being booed by his fellow students.
"Alright, that's enough" Kakashi said sternly, the class instantly stopped. "I do hope you'll try and be a bit more modest in the future, Naruto-kun"
"Y-yes, sensei." Naruto said nervously.
"Good!" Kakashi smiled happily under his mask. "Now, take a seat."
Naruto lifted up his bag and dragged himself over to an empty seat by a window, trying to avoid the angry glares of his peers. He slumped down into his seat, and Sakura turned around to face him, staring at him with her emerald coloured eyes. "Sh-she's so pretty…" Naruto's heart began beating faster. "And she's looking at me. I should say something," But as Naruto opened his mouth to speak, the pink haired girl turned her nose up at him and spun around. Naruto found himself completely rejected, staring at the back of her bright pink head with his mouth agape in shock. He allowed himself to flop forwards, his head slamming onto his desk. "Every damn time" He whispered, barely letting his sadness escape. "I just wanted them to like me…"
A rather tubby boy sat on a bench, munching away at a bag of barbeque potato chips. He had spiky brown hair that hung backwards, away from his head, and a chubby face with two rosy red cheeks. He had light blue, hoop earrings and wore the same school uniform as most of his male classmates; a white shirt with black trousers. "So, what do you think of the new guy?" He asked between mouthfuls of food.
"He's a complete show-off." Ino answered almost instantly, as if she had been waiting for someone to ask her that question. "Just begging for attention; look at him, all on his own over there." She pointed to Naruto, who was leaning against a wall alone. "Serves him right for trying to act more important than everyone else!"
"Don't you think you're being a little hard on the guy?" Shikamaru questioned, lying somewhat comfortably on a bench. "Maybe he was trying to get people to like him and it backfired. Although I have to admit, I don't usually like the generic 'tough guy', a stereotype his attitude seems to suggest fits him quite well."
"Oh who asked you?" Ino snapped at Shikamaru. "You're probably just saying that for the sake of disagreeing with me. You agree with me right Choji?"
"I dunno." Choji crammed several more potato chips into his mouth. "I know how it feels to want others to like you. I think I'm with Shikamaru on this one."
"Ugh all you boys stick up for each other, even when you don't like each other!" Ino said angrily. "At least Sakura agrees with me. Right Sakura?" Sakura was staring intensely at Naruto. "Sakura? Hello?" Ino waved her hand in front of Sakura's face.
"Huh?" Sakura swivelled round. "Oh yeah, you're right. He's an insensitive attention hog." As Ino began to gloat to Shikamaru and Choji about how Sakura agreed with her, Sakura stared angrily at Naruto. "I thought someone was going to help turn my life around," She clenched her fists. "And I get stuck with you!" She broke off her stare to look directly at the ground, shaking with frustration. Then, Sakura said very quietly. "I hate you"
At that moment, Naruto stared up at the sky, he felt the cool wind on his face, and rubbed his left cheek, running his fingers along his whisker scars. "All alone." He said, letting the words loose into the wind. "I guess… some things just never change…"
A/N: And that be chapter 1. Hope you found it informative and fun. Please review as criticism is what makes me learn, and we all know learning is good. Farewell for now.
Notes:
(1) Kyokuchou is a suffix meaning "Police chief/inspector"
(2)-Sailor fuku is a common style of uniform worn by female middle school and high school students in Japan, the uniform generally consists of a blouse attached with a sailor-style collar and a pleated skirt. It is the female uniform at Konoha high.
(3)-The gakuran are the common uniforms for many male middle school and high school students in Japan, generally consisting of a black, buttoned up jacket and black trousers/pants. Naruto wears the jacket part of the general gakuran.
(4)-Hiragana is a number of characters that make up the Japanese writing system, alongside kanji and katakana. It is used for Japanese words that have no kanji, or where the kanji are difficult to read, or where you do not know the kanji, or where you know the kanji but you think your reader is unlikely to know them. Naruto writes in hiragana.
