Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Rating T (I guess)
Summary: Adventure/romance/friendship. NO YAOI (That stuff grosses me out). NOT A CRACK FIC (because I don't see a point in writing them). The 12 year old Minato and Noriaki were sitting in side of the academy classroom, bored to death. It was going to be just another day in class. Or so they thought. That is until an unknown young redhead entered through the classroom door and changed their lives forever.
The story depicts the friendship between Minato and Noriaki (OC) and their strives to claim the title Yondaime and become the next Hokage. Also shows Kushina's introduction, the later development of love rivalry between the two best friends, and the trio's growing up to become legends of the leaf.
Note, spoilers - I will use all the available Naruto data to make this work. Although I won't make the story follow the canon version I will use all the stuff shown/explained all the way up to the latest chapters (I'll also use the upcoming ones as well, to the best of my abilities).
Couples: None at the beginning they're only 12 years old.
Mini author note:
"Konoha" –talking
'Konoha' –thinking
(Hope this explains it, now let the story begin)
-All wars are created equal-
Chapter one: The ninja academy
It was a bright and sunny day in Konoha and the skies barely had any clouds, as the villagers moved about their business, one black-haired boy pushed his way through the crowd.
"Excuse me! Out of the way! Please move aside sir!" his apologetic cries echoed throughout the village streets. In a moment he dodged a woman stepping outside the store "Sorry ma'am!", he shouted at her.
Running through the crowded streets at full speed wasn't an easy task, but the boy didn't have that much of a choice. It was the day when their sensei would announce the requirements for the upcoming genin exams – and he was late! And why was he late? What could possibly make him late for something that important?
'Minato! I'm going to strangle you!'
Well that about sums it up. The boy's best friend the blond genius, as some people called him (or blonde idiot, as he called him) was nowhere to be found.
'Where the hell did that idiot go to now?', the boy asked himself. They only had ten more minutes to get to class. 'Maybe he went on without me?' he wondered. 'Yea, right! When pigs fly!' That lazy bum probably didn't even know that there was supposed to be a class today!
As he reached the bottom of the legendary Hokage monument, he began to consider his options. He could continue to look for the idiot and end up late… On the other hand, he could abandon Minato and go to the class alone. Well, in that case there was only one thing left for him to do then… Inhaling sharply, he shouted at the top of his voice:
"OI! MINATO YA BLOND IMBECILE! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, MORON!"
"NO NEED TO SHOUT! I CAN HEAR YOU!", a voice shouted back at him. The boy looked around himself, trying to pinpoint the location of the now very dead blond idiot, only to figure out that it came from above him. Lifting his gaze up he saw the blue-wearing spiky-haired blond standing on top of the Sandaime's face, and sight in relief.
"OI, GET DOWN FROM THERE! WE NEED TO-… HEY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!", he yelled at the blond when the crazy kid started running down the cliff face of the monument.
"Show-of.", he mumbled as the Minato landed next to him.
"Jealous, Yondaime~sama?" the blonde teased.
"Hey don't you be making fun of me! I will be the Yondaime Hokage! Just wait an see!" , the black-haired boy furiously replied.
"Oh yea? And since when were you the kind of material Konoha requires for the Hokage?"
"Like, always", the black-haired boy replied, confidently.
"More like, in your dreams, Noriaki!"
Upon hearing this, the boy Noriaki faked a pout, while looking at a chuckling blonde with a deadly glare. They did this sort of arguing all the time, with the in your dreams phrase as the finishing line. The question of which boy gets to use it was answered simply – the one who started to tease. It was this constant arguing that turned them into rivals.
'And after all it was because we are rivals that we managed to… do… so…much… in … class?' Noriaki felt a light bulb turning on inside his head.
"THE CLASS!", both boys shouted. Clearly they where telepathic. Right?
As they darted of towards the academy, which was convinienly out of reach in under five minutes, the two boys decided to make it a race. Why? Well to see which one was faster, of course! The fact that they were running at near breakneck speeds didn't seem to stop them from arguing along the way.
"This is all your fault, idiot!"
"What, MY fault!"
"YES YOUR FAULT! If you haven't gotten yourself so conveniently lost…" Noriaki yelled, "we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!"
"Well if YOU hadn't taken your sweat time in stating how much of a great Hokage you would be", Minato shouted back at the boy, "we would have had minutes to spare in stead of running like crazy!"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, IDIOT!"
"YOU HEAR ME, FUTURE HOKAGE-HIME-SAMA!"
Now if anybody else had done what Minato just did, Noriaki would have probably punched them in the face and left them lying in the dust, but since Minato wasn't serious about his insult (or at least Noriaki hoped he wasn't) he could let it slip by.
'And besides, I can use it against him when he starts talking about being Hokage next time.' Despite his best attempts, he failed to suppress a mischievous smile on his face.
Running right next to him, a certain blonde felt a chill running down his spine. 'Oh, boy… What is he up to now?' The blonde wondered.
As they kept running they came to a corner and making a sharp turn left they considered slowing down, after all the academy was just a few meters away… Only, they didn't expect to slow down so… how to put it… suddenly.
As they made their turn they ran directly in to the people you don't run in to at that speed. Ever. Looking up, the two boys saw the Sandaime Hokage himself plus his advisors Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.
"What is the meaning of this? Explain yourselves, NOW!" The glasses-wearing advisor demanded, trying to get up of the ground and dust himself off, as Hokage himself was helping the elderly woman to stand up. Minato was the first to recover.
"Ah, eh, hmmm, our deepest apologies, Mitokado-sama, Utatane-sama, Hokage-sama! We were late for class and, hmmm, sorry!" And with that he nudged Noriaki, who conveniently landed head first, falling somewhat sideways and bashing his own head. Still somewhat dazed he tried his best to sound apologetic as his companion… And failed miserably.
"Yes, we're, um, very sorry", said the black-haired boy, eyes set looking ninety degrees of target, "It won't happen again, Mitoku-, Mitoka-, Mitoko-, err, eh, err… Sir!" the boy nearly shouted, causing a burst of laughter coming from the so-called god-of-shinobi, the Sandaime Hokage, Hizuren Sarutobi.
Taking matters in to his own hands, the Hokage and his advisors stood before the two boys.
"Well, what are your names then?" Kohatu Utatana asked.
"Minato Namikaze / Noriaki, the future Yondaime Hokage of Konoha!" the two boys shouted in unison.
"Well, aren't you a determined bunch of children. Looks like I might have to steep down in a few years, don't you think?" The Hokage laughed. It was obvious to the duo that the Hokage was enjoying the joke he made. What they didn't know, however, was that inwardly he was hoping that such a thing would come true. To the Hokage at least, it felt as if the temperature suddenly dropped by a few degrees as he remembered the ominous towers of paperwork that awaited him in the office. For the millionth time since he became the Hokage, the Sandaime considered that seppuku wasn't that painful.
"Tell me Noriaki, was it? What is your last name?" the elderly advisor Utatane asked.
"Er, see… I don't know, Utatane-sama", Noriaki replied, happy that the ringing noise in his head had finally stopped.
"How do you mean that?"
"Well, back in the orphanage they gave me the name Noriaki, or maybe I came to the orphanage with that name… Nobody I asked knew for certain, so since they didn't have a last name to pin to me I'm just Noriaki." Hearing this, the look on Minato's face grew serious. He knew the story of course, Noriaki was his best friend after all. However, it always made him mad to think that somebody would abandon their own child – no matter the excuse.
"Well okay then that would be all. Off you go kids. Hurry to class!" The Hokage said cheerfully.
"Hai!", the boys answered in unison. As they began to run again, Noriaki caught a glimpse of a long read hair, and girl that the hair belonged to standing behind the Hokage. As he looked at her, he noticed that she acted relatively shy and timid, but considering the situation, he could understand it. But why was she escorted by the three most important people in Konoha?
'No time now for that. Got to get to class!'
In class, approximately five minutes later, fifteen minutes since the class started…
The boy's were sitting at their desks, still breathing hard from exhaustion. Looking towards their sensei, Noriaki saw that the man was already finished explaining the exams and was now focusing on another boring lesson of history of the Land of Fire. Leaning over towards the short black-haired girl, noticing her Uchiha crest, he addressed her with a whisper.
"Oi, Mikoto-chan, did we miss anything?"
The girl leaned towards him and whispered back, slightly giggling. "Oh just everything… Like usual, Nori-chan. Don't worry, I took notes.", she said, while handing him the notes. "Here you can copy them."
Smiling gratefully, he took them from her. "Thanks, Mikoto-chan…"
"You're welcome… Nori-chan." That's why he liked the girl. 'Not like like!' He immediately corrected himself! 'Just like, like her – as a friend, maybe even like a sister.' Unlike most of the snobbish Uchiha, Mikoto was kind and caring, someone who you could count on no matter what. She was also the only one who could get away with calling him Nori-chan, as the Hokage himself learnt – the hard way. Looking back at her, his smile grew larger. That is until he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head.
"Ouch! Why did you hit me for, Yoshino-san!" The boy asked the girl behind him.
"What do you mean, why? I'm trying to listen the sensei! And you are too loud!" The brown-haired girl answered.
'I think you're louder than me, Yoshino-teme… Not that I would ever say stuff like that to her face though, or Minato would have to look for a new rival…'
At the same time, the blond genius, otherwise known as Minato Namikaze was sitting in the front row, trying to look at least a bit interested in today's class of history. 'Indeed a task worthy of a hero – since nobody else would be stupid enough to endure such a torture.' And to ignore it was made even more difficult by the numerous fan girls surrounding him. Normally he would greet any distraction, but these girls were… Minato felt a chill going down his spine just for thinking about it. Just a few moments ago, he overheard one of them whispering I hope he marries me! He felt his eye twitch.
'Come on damn it! I'm only twelve for crying out loud! Not like I'm going to marry anyone for at least another ten years! And maybe I won't get married at all!' Considering how the girls of his age acted the second option was probably for the best. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Noriaki whispering with Mikoto and Inoichi, and occasionally look over his shoulder to say something to the monster, or Youshino Nara of the Nara branch family, as she was otherwise known. On several occasions, she actually hit him on the back of the head, telling, more like shouting, at Noriaki to be quiet. 'Why's that idiot still talking is beyond me, and why is sensei ignoring- ah yea of course, he doesn't want to mess with the monster either - coward ', Minato sighed, only to realize his mistake – now the fan girls were looking at him even more! 'Oh, no… When will this day end?' the blond mused.
And then the noticed something. It sounded like voices on the other side of the classroom door. Immediately, Minato stared at the door, hopeful that what lay behind it would be his salvation.
Their sensei turned around. "Well, that's it for the history today. I want you to study about the relationship between the Shodai Hokage and the Daimyo for your homework.", and then he smirked. "We also seem to have a new student here so I would like us to give her our welcome. Come on in.", he said looking towards the door and in an instant crushed all hopes of salvation for Minato.
'Not another girl, please not another annoying girl! Haven't I suffered enough?'
And then she came in. In an instant all eyes were on her, examining her every move, assessing whether this new girl was a threat (for the girls after Minato) or a good looking girl (for the boys). She walked up to the sensei's desk and gave a nervous look to everyone present. Everyone felt the eerie atmosphere forming inside the classroom. And then…
"TOMATO GIRL!" Someone shouted in the back rows, only to scream in pain as a heavy book slammed in to his face, courtesy of one very impatient black-haired boy, a.k.a. Noriaki.
"Just shout up Fugaku, and let's get this over with!", the boy yelled.
"For once we agree Noriaki, indeed let us continue. Now how about you introduce yourself to the class?" Said the teacher.
The girl seemed even more nervous than before; obviously, her new nickname wasn't helping her. "Um, what should I say…? I…"
"Well, why don't we show you how it's done then… Any volunteers?"
Several hands were in the air.
"Excellent! Why don't we start with Nara-san?"
"But…! But…! I didn't raise my hand and-" Shikaku begun, only to stop as he received a deadly glare from another Nara, and this other one was wary angry. Deciding it was better not to get on the monster's bad side ('does she even have a good side?' Shikaku wondered) he stood up.
"How troublesome… My name is Shikaku Nara. What I like…", he paused to yawn, "… never mind. My dreams for the future…" he shrugged, "I'll inform you when I find out…", he paused to yawn for the second time, secretly enjoying the fact that he was annoying everyone around with his antics, "That's all I can think of."
Their sensei took a step forward, calling out a second name. "Minato Namikaze!"
'He's doing this on purpose isn't he?' Of course Minato didn't raise his had. He wanted to avoid the possibility of getting another fan girl at all costs. 'Why me, damn it?' But none the less he stood up.
"Well, um… My name is M-…"
"MY NAME IS KUSHINA UZUMAKI, AND I WILL BE THE FIRST FEMALE HOKAGE!", the girl yelled out, catching everyone off guard.
Minato blinked once, twice, then again… Did he just get another rival for the position of Hokage? 'Well that's just great! Wait, did she say that… So she's not just another mindless cone girl!' He looked at the girl again. Kushina, eh? Something told him he should remember it.
"Oi, what are you looking at, flaky?"
"F-F-Fla-Flaky?" Flaky! Of all the things she could have said! Of all the things she could have called him… Flaky was NOT one of them!
"Come on, I'm still waiting for your introduction, flaky!"
Everybody in the classroom was quiet. They all knew that Minato is one of the two who would probably be declared as the rookies of the year.
"My name is Minato Namikaze, and I want to be a great Hokage, that everyone in the village will respect!"
"Yea, when pigs fly – flaky!"
Now, to say that Minato was pissed off would be an understatement of the century – he was down right furious! Yes, he was mad for her mocking his dream, but that nickname! He just knew he wouldn't be allowed to live it down. The fact that his so-called best friend was laughing his ass off seemed to confirm it. 'Why me, god? Why me?'
He decided to not look in Kushina's direction for the remainder of the class.
Out side the academy, an hour after Kushina's introduction…
The two boys stood outside with their friends, Mikoto Uchiha of the Uciha branch family, and Inoichi Yamanaka, the future head of the Yamanaka clan.
"Oi, come on Minato, let's go get some ramen at Ichiraku's. I hear that old man Shuhei makes the best ramen in Konoha.", Inoichi asked. This immediately got the blondes attention. It was a public secret that Minato was a ramen fanatic. Every one in the two-mile radius heard his reply.
"Eh, what are we waiting here for? Let's go!" Mikoto could only laugh as the so-called genius begun to act like a complete idiot. And over food no less. 'He really is an idiot, isn't he?' That reminds me, speaking of an idiot…
"Hey, Nori-chan?" The boy turned towards her.
"Yea, Mikoto-chan?"
She tried to warn him. "That wasn't very smart, embarrassing Fugaku like that. Now he and his friends might try to get their revenge if you're not careful."
"Fugaku and his little gang of Uchiha losers? No need to worry, Mikoto-chan! I can take them all on, heck I'll kick their asses all the way across Konoha if they try something like that!", the boy clamed boldly. In a second, they froze as they heard a sound that could be described only as a lion's roar.
"What was that!" They turned around, only to se a blushing Minato standing there smiling with his sheepish grin.
"Sorry guys, but I'm hungry! And our ramen is getting cold! You can't blame my stomach for complaining can you?"
"As I was saying…" Mikoto stated, "You're not taking it seriously enough, Nori-chan! I heard them main branch people bragging how the future head of the Uchiha clan has developed the Sharingan! With the Sharingan he can-…" but Noriaki cut her off.
"I know what he can do with the Sharingan. He can copy all my techniques, and can have an easier time reading through my moves. But that's it. That's all. When a Sharingan is developed, it has only two tomoe, some times only one. He still needs the third tomoe to use Sharingan-type genjutsu and he still needs me to know some techniques he doesn't in order to copy them. Plus he needs the body speed to catch up with my taijutsu. He doesn't have any of it. All he has now are some pretty but useless red eyes. So like I said before no need to worry, Mikoto-chan."
Mikoto could only roll her eyes.
"Only you of all people would call the Sharingan useless, Nori-chan! Just don't say I didn't warn you later, ok?"
They were now some half way to the Ichiraku's when Inoichi aked them.
"Hey what do you think about the newest addition to the class?"
"She seems okay, I guess. What do you think Nori-chan?"
"She's not okay… She is much, much better then okay!" Noriaki yelled, ad then poked Minato in the shoulder. "Isn't that right, eh flaky?" The next moment Noriaki was standing with his hands holding his face after a collision with the blond's fist. "I'll take that as a maybe, then…"
"I think we should be a bit nicer to her. After all, she's all alone in this village. Maybe we should invite her to have lunch with us?" Inoichi said, causing Minato to trip.
"What!"
"Oh, come on Minato, she doesn't even know you.' Mikoto said. "Just try and give her another chance okay?" After hearing a mumbled answer she interpreted as a yes, she turned to her three friends. "Well! Which one of us is going back for her?"
"Don't look at me," Inoichi immediately answered, "I have to go find Choza and Shikaku… You know what they're like if we leave them out."
"Hey, I'm paying for this… Ah never mind, go find them.", Minato said. "But I'm not going back to get the new girl, she'd most likely laugh at me again."
"Alright but, as loud as she is, I have to get Tsume Inuzuka too." Mikoto added.
"Okay, okay… I get it, I'll go, alright!"
"Then you better hurry Nori-chan, you have the longest way to go!" And with that the group scattered with each member going the other direction.
Back at the academy, at the exact moment when Noriaki returned to ask Kuahina to join them…
The five boys were standing in a circle, with two kids in the center. One of the two was a girl with long red hair. Everyone else there bore the Uchiha crest. "Well aren't you a loudmouthed little girl, eh? What are you going to do now that there is no one to save you brat? Are you going to cry… Tomato girl?"
"Don't call me that!" The Uchiha boys just laughed at her.
"I'll call you what ever I want you trash!"
"Don't-"
"Or what? You will go cry to your mommy? Oh, but what's this I hear? YOU don't have a mommy. You don't even have a daddy. You don't even have a home – trash." Fugaku was just standing there, insulting her. And Noriaki certainly had had enough. Sharingan or no Sharingan, one Uchiha or half the damn clan, it did not matter. Hearing all that made him remember the orphanage, remember the consequences of the shinobi wars. He was going to teach that arrogant bastard some serious manners… Only… if… 'Oh, boy.'
In only a few seconds he heard scream coming from the center of the circle.
"Yoff broke my nose, yoff bitch! Get her!" the voice although somewhat different definitely belonged to none other that the future head of Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha, who was now holding his face with his hands. His nose was broken and bleeding.
Noriaki took one more step towards the crowd when he stopped, frozen with fear over what he saw next. With her long red hair fluttering wildly in the wind, she continued to pummel the Uchiha boys into the ground. Soon their screams filled the air.
Less then five minutes later (the time Kushina needed to beat up the Uchiha plus the time she needed to clean herself up) twenty meters from the academy schoolyard…
"Um, Kushina Uzumaki, right?" The red-haired girl turned around, only to se the black-hared boy who tossed his book at that Uchiha wimp.
"Yap, that's me, and you are?"
"Noriaki"
"And your last name?"
"Sorry, don't have one.", the boy gave a dry response.
She instantly knew she hit forbidden ground, and changing subject she asked.
"Why were you looking for me?"
"Well, my friends and I thought that we should give you a better welcome to our village, so we thought we should invite you to lunch at Ichiraku's.", Noriaki said. "Besides you should know that old man Shuhei Ichiraku makes the best ramen in the whole of Konoha, maybe even in the whole of Land of Fire!"
"If that's so… then where are all of your friends? Hmmm…" She looked at him suspiciously. "You're not trying to trick me to go to a date with you are you?"
Noriaki just face-palmed. Of all the…
"No I'm not trying to trick you. But we need to hurry." The girl seemed a bit curious, so he asked her.
"What?"
"Why do we need to hurry?" Upon hearing this, the boy grinded.
"Isn't it obvious! Minato is paying for everyone!"
"What's so important about that!"
The boy lowered his voice down to a whisper. "He called Choza."
"So? Who's that?"
The boy smiled mischievously. "Take my advice, Kushina. Do. Not. Call. Choza. Fat… Ever."
"Um, okay, I'll remember that… I guess, but why?" But the boy just turned around and started running down the street.
"You'll see! Now come on, everyone is waiting for us!"
"Okay!" That was the only word she could think of at the moment. People wanted her around? The whole shock left the usually loud redhead baffled. But hey! Someone wanted to meet her! She wouldn't pass up such an opportunity.
"HEY SLOW DOWN TTEBANE!"
Omake – The hard lesson (Two years before this fanfic)
It was already late in the afternoon as the Sandaime Hokake completed his most hated task of all – paperwork. As he walked down the streets of Konoha, the smile on his face broadened. The village was thriving, and the villagers happy. He watched as three young children played in the nearby courtyard. Deciding to step closer he saw the nine-year-old Minato playing with another boy and girl.
"Well hello there Minato, care to introduce this old man to your friends?" By their whispering voices, he knew no introduction was needed.
"Well what is your name little girl?" the Hokage asked.
"Mikoto Uchiha, Sandaime-sama."
"And who is your friend over there?", said the Sandaime looking towards the little black-haired boy standing next to her.
"This is Nori-chan, Hokage sama. His real name is Noriaki."
"Really, well nice to meet you Nori-ch-" He was immediately cut of as he felt a blinding pain in the region no man ever wants to feel. "…!", was the only thing the god-of-shinobi could say at the moment, as he watched the kids run off, chasing the little bast-… "…!" Still no words would come out.
'My poor ANBU, what ever would you think of me now!' thought the so-called god-of-shinobi, painfully aware they were watching. 'If I catch any of them snickering behind their masks I'll show them why I'm called the god-of-shinobi!'
"…!"
Author notes: And that is it for chapter one of my first Naruto fanfic "All wars are created equal." Hope you like it (Plus the omakeXD). Next chapter will be coming out soon, along with the second chapter of my Bleach fabfic "Book one- Choose your fate"
Oh yea, I almost forgot. I pretty much used all the Konoha 12 parents to make this work. There will be some OC but other than Noriaki they will be minor characters. There was a little bit of a problem with the individual age of their parents so I decided to simply put them all in the same group. On the side note, Sasuke's dad Fugaku is now pretty much an ass. It might change in the future.
PS: Your reviews are very important. And the button is conveniently right below. Click it. Click it. Click it.
Well then…
See ya next time!