Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; if I did, the SandSibs would be in everything! Believe it!
Chapter 1 – I KNOW, BUT WHY?
"Naruto?"
The young boy smiled up at the 3rd Hokage and pointed importantly outside of the window of the Hokages' office building to the ninja academy.
"You, you want to go there?" the Hokage asked, scratching his chin. The young blonde nodded. "But for what reason? There are several other career choices for a citizen of Konoha."
Naruto looked back to the academy with eyes full of longing. "But I want to go." He whispered, placing his hand on the glass.
"How about this; if you can come up with a goal in which you must pass through the ninja academy gates to reach, you can go."
Naruto turned to the old man and grinned a cattish grin.
"Really? You really, really, really mean it?" the young blonde asked, his bright blue eyes full of hope.
"Yes," the Hokage answered simply. "You have until tomorrow to come up with a reason. Now get going. Think of your goal carefully, and if it is worthy of a shinobi of the leaf, you shall be granted access to the ninja academy."
Naruto walked down the streets of Konoha and tried not to be too flattened by the request of the 3rd. The fact of the matter was that Naruto hadn't even thought of the reason to become a ninja. His only reason was that he wanted to be a ninja. But that wouldn't cut it.
The little boy wasn't going to give up though, he was going to figure out a goal to strive forward to, and accomplish it. He would be a ninja, even if he had to-
Not looking where he was going, the young blonde ran into a pair of especially hard legs, and fell backwards. Looking up, Naruto saw that he'd ran into a guy, about 18 or older, with dark hair and eyes colored shades of teal. Close beside the male was a girl who looked a little younger with light brown hair and eyes.
"Are you okay, kid?" the girl asked, looking slightly worried.
Naruto blinked in surprise. Most of the village hated him, why was this girl different?
"Uh… I'm okay." He mumbled, sniffing.
The girl smiled before turning to her friend. "You go on ahead, 'kay?" he looked about to say something, but shrugged and walked away. Turning back to Naruto she smiled. "It was our fault, really, that we ran into each other. I should make it up for you."
Naruto shrugged. He'd never spent a lot of time with anyone, certainly not a stranger… but perhaps a quick bowl of ramen would be okay.
Naruto smiled as he slurped up his second bowl of ramen. The girl, mostly out of respect, had ordered a bowl with culinary guidance from Naruto, and ate while thinking.
"I was wondering why you're out so late… just sayin'…." The girl said, adding 'just sayin'' making her appear almost as if she didn't want an answer.
"Oh, well, I was talking to the old man about letting me go to the Ninja Academy –ya' know, so I can become a ninja. He told me I have to come up with some important, big goal, or I can't go."
The girl, who's name was Keomi( ), thought about that for a moment. "Back in my village I was asked that same question by my friend. I told him that I aspired to be a top ninja, what our leader is to your 'kage. He said he'd support me all the way with my goal." Keomi smiled.
Naruto beamed, slurping up the rest of his soup and stacking it up to his previous one. "That's it!" he said rather loudly, a huge grin spreading cross his round face.
"Huh, what is?" Keomi asked, paying for both her meal and the boys'.
"My goal. I know it now. I am gonna be a top ninja, the 5th Hokage!" Naruto said, and when Keomi chuckled, he spun around and jabbed a thumbs up in her face. "Believe it!"
Keomi chuckled. "Believe it, huh? I believe it, little 'Kage, don't worry. I'll be supporting you on your goal from my village, so if I don't see your name written on a scroll saying 5th Hokage, I might have to come down here again and talk some sense into you… just sayin'." Keomi smiled, though she really had no intention of coming back to the Leaf on another 3-week journey. Though she would be routing for the little 'kage.
Saratobi looked up to see Naruto standing tall and proud in the doorway to his office. His answer is bound to be interesting, the Hokage thought. "So, Naruto. What is your goal? What is the reason you wish to become a ninja and train? What do you aspire for?"
Naruto smiled wide, a thumbs up shot out and his blue eyes bright. "My goal is to be the next Hokage. Beeeeeeeelieve it!"
And so Naruto went to the ninja academy.
If you didn't go to my profile page, a couple of things might have been a bit confusing, or you might have missed out on a couple of things (Keomi and the teal haired guy represent me, even though I'm not a ninja (I just wish I were), and the reason why Keomi(my)'s village is so far away, when Suna's supposed to be the most out of the way village, is because my imaginary village is on a different continent – so sorry for the truth slanting bit. I really don't know how Naruto decided to be a ninja, or how he got accepted into the academy. Anyway, I hoped you liked my 1st ever fanfic, which was a cheap intro to future writings!