Summary –Hinata wasn't captured by Cloud ninja. A small, uneducated, and hated boy was taken instead. A power inside of him is released to protect those precious to him, but can he control it? NaruHina
A gentle fog rolled over the verdant green hills of Konoha. A group of children playing during their recess break were together in a group, pointing and laughing at something. The object of their laughter was a small boy crying on the ground. His small frame was almost bent double as he sniffled pitifully, his blond hair rustled slightly in the wind even as his tears were taken away by the cool breeze. The sun was just starting to burn off the fog to begin its daily warming of the earth below. The group of children suddenly broke apart amidst yells of slight fear; one of the Academy's instructors was coming out to check on what was keeping the children. As the children ran back to their classroom, the instructor tensed slightly. He caught sight of the blond child lying on the cold dirt, yet his heart was unmoved. He walked forward, frowning slightly as he looked with contempt at the seven year old boy. The child looked up, hoping to see some warmth in the man's demeanor, but when he found none, he could only whimper to himself.
"You're worthless. The only thing good about you is the fact that other ninja can use you to practice on during taijutsu practice. Maybe one of these days you'll get hit by a kunai and do us all a favor and die," at this point the instructor was standing above the boy, "And do you know what the best part is? No one will care."
He walked away, leaving the boy crying in the dirt. In the distant schoolhouse, another instructor looked impassively out the window at the small boy. As the bell rang for the dismissal of the students, the brown haired instructor walked onto the field, toward the young student who was still curled tightly in a ball.
"I'll take care of him Jilin," the brown haired instructor stated simply.
"Whatever Iruka, just come back soon, we have to grade papers tonight."
Jilin walked off, hoping that Iruka would give the small boy a good beating.
Iruka looked at the small boy with a sincere smile on his face.
"Hey, how are ya? I'm Iruka. I teach the eight year old students until they are ready to become genin."
The blond slowly uncurled himself from his uncomfortable position, and peered up at the seemingly nice man. He exercised some caution though; many people seemed to be nice to him until they heard his name or recognized him. Then they turned into… The boy shuddered at the thought. Fortunately, this man seemed like one of the good ones.
"I-I'm N-Naruto… Uzumaki." Naruto looked up, expecting to be hit or yelled at. He flinched when Iruka gave him a warm smile.
"That's great Naruto! That's really a cool name, you know that? How 'bout we go get some food and talk about some things?" The man rushed forward, not really giving the boy a chance to say no, and then they were off.
"What do you want to eat Naruto?"
"I-I'm really n-not sure…" Naruto trailed off, looking at the ground. He still wasn't totally sure if he could trust the older man in front of him. He also had never really eaten anywhere before. Most places would throw him out if he even walked by, the few mean ones would throw rocks or pieces of rotted food.
"Does ramen sound ok to you?" Iruka asked with a gentle smile.
"S-Sure, ramen sounds good." Naruto was beginning to relax in the instructor's presence, in spite of the scars that went down the man's face. The boy wondered if the forehead protector could stop a punch. If it could, then Naruto could maybe buy one to protect his head from the villagers that wanted to beat him so badly. They almost always went for his head.
Iruka grinned widely; maybe he could get the blue eyed boy to like ramen as much as he did.
The pair slowly walked toward the village in a comfortable silence.
After the two had been walking for a few minutes, Iruka pointed out a brightly colored place whose sign proudly proclaimed the stand's name as "Ichiraku's Ramen". A delicious smell wafted over the clean air, the seven year old's nose twitched and his stomach grumbled. Iruka laughed as he walked up to the serving bar.
"I'll take two miso please." Iruka spoke to a rather pretty brunette. She blushed pink, and then went to get their orders. Iruka sighed in contentment; he had always loved the ramen stand's atmosphere. He then looked at Naruto, noting the boy's electric blue eyes, strange facial markings, and downtrodden air. He could feel something stir in his heart as he gazed down. He suddenly felt that he had to protect this innocent boy no matter what! He would take this boy who no one else tolerated and make him into a ninja! Iruka glanced down for a final time, he would not let his new charge
Naruto was looking around the shop curiously, why was nobody yelling at him to leave? Why did he feel so comfortable in this place? As the waitress set down his ramen, he realized that he was feeling love. He was confused, who could love him? He glanced around, settling on the man next to him. His eyes widened in astonishment. This man had come into his life not three hours before this moment and already he caused him to feel more emotion than he usually felt in a week! Naruto stared at the protective man, just then realizing that the man had saved him from the other, more evil, instructor. He felt strange feelings in his chest, maybe someone could care for him after all? Maybe he wasn't a failure?
As Naruto and Iruka contemplated the future, a beam of sunlight found its way through the mist to strike the young blonde's head, making him shine in radiance. The seeds of hope were planted in two lives; some in the older man, who had been an orphan always trying to help the innocent, and some in the boy, whose innocence cried out to the world the suffering he was facing. Maybe hope does exist. After all, if two people could become a family over a bowl of ramen, maybe they could change other people as well.
A.N