This is going to be my first fanfic ever. I hope you like it. Since its going to be my first time, don't forget to leave a review. It would help me a lot in the next chapters that I am gonna publish. Feel free to criticize my work but NO SWEARING or CURSING allowed. I'll try my best to update at least once a week. Im just glad that my first work will be about the Minato and Kushina pairing, Some scenes here are based on the anime because I'd like it to stay the same. If ever you noticed a grammar or spelling error please tell me.

I do not own Naruto... It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter One

Getting to Know You

"Woke up too early again I guess" Minato said while yawning. He looked at his alarm clock and realized that it was just 5:30 am. He took a shower and went down for breakfast.

"Good morning Minato-kun!" His mom said.

He was surprised to see a lot of food prepared at the table. He stared at his mother and gave her a puzzled look. Out of curiosity, he asked his mother, " What's the celebration? Did I miss something?"

His mother let out a chuckle "Happy Birthday Minato! , I can't believe you forgot about it. You are already 9 years old, isn't that great?"

"Oh yeah, sorry I forgot! Thankyou mom for always supporting me." He approached his mother to give her a hug. She smiled as he told Minato "Aww... my son is big already. I can't believe it, It seems that it was just yesterday when you were still a baby."

Minato ate the food prepared on the table and leaved the house as soon as he was finished eating. His mother waved goodbye and wished him good luck in school.

On his way to school, he saw Fugaku Uchiha; his bestfriend. "Goodmorning Fugaku!" Minato shouted. Fugaku approached Minato and handed over a kunai to him "Gee, thanks for the gift. You knew that I really wanted a kunai as a birthday present, I told my mom to get me one but she told me that it's too dangerous for me."

Fugaku just smiled and kept walking with him. Fugaku is very calm and quiet. He does not speak that much. "Hehehe! You know well that the acadamy prohibits us to have these kind of things but you still bought one for me, thanks Fugaku" Fugaku stared at him and said "No problem, just dont get caught carrying that thing around or you'll get a very nice birthday surprise from our teacher." he said sarcastically. They both know that kunais are only allowed to be used during training sessions and if they are already genin.

As they entered the classroom, Minato sighed knowing that the girls will be bothering him again as always.

"Happy Birthday Minato! Please accept my gift!" One girl said.

"There's no way Minato would accept your gift! It's cheap and revolting! Minato-kun here is my gift for you. I baked this cake especially for you" Ai said.

After that, a swarm of girls approached him. He was trying to look for an escape route. Mikoto pulled his hand and helped him get out of the crowd.

"I nearly died of suffocation back there, thanks for the help Mikoto" Minato said. Mikoto is the only girl who treated him normally. All of the other girls just kept on fangirling over him every single day. He is popular at school because he is handsome and a genious, and very talented too. Despite being popular with the girls, he never really had liked or admired someone in particular, he just thinks of Mikoto as a friend. They sat down on their respective seats as the adviser entered the room to announce something. "We have a new classmate. She is a transfer student from Uzushiogakure. Please introduce yourself to your classmates."

"Im Kushina Uzumaki, dattebane!" she covered her mouth in embarrassment. She always tries to stop from using that catchphrase but it just slips out of her mouth whenever she is nervous or excited. The whole class is laughing at her (except Minato, Fugaku and Mikoto of course) They pointed at her hair and one boy said "Look at her hair! It's ugly!" She felt unwelcome. Kushina is a girl with red hair that is until her waist and blue-violet eyes. Minato thinks she's pretty and intriguing. The teacher told the class to keep quiet.

She wanted to give a good expression of herself so she shouted " I... I'm gonna be the first female Hokage!" Everyone was shocked. It was foolish to announce something like that. It would be more appropriate if she would just say that being Hokage is her dream rather than proclaiming that she would actually become one.

Minato stood up as he clenched his fist and placed it in his chest while saying. "I also dream of being Hokage, someone who will be admired and acknowledged by the whole village" he said it while smiling at her. Kushina didn't take him seriously or imagined that he will become Hokage because to her, he looked like a flake and a sissy.

While the teachers were not around, a group of boys approached her and started to make fun of her hair. "Tomato!"

"From now on we'll call you tomato!"

"I hate tomatoes, I never eat them in my salad. A tomato that everyone hates will never be Hokage!" They all laughed at her. She was starting to lose her temper. She accepted the nickname grudgingly, but it suited her because of her red hair and round face. Her pride cant accept it, back on her own village, she was highly respected because her father is the head of their village.

Her face is starting to get red. One boy started pulling her hair and said "Look she's getting riper and riper! Time to harvest!"

Kushina couldn't take the insults anymore and decided to teach these guys a lesson they'll never forget. She grabbed the boy's hand that was pulling her hair and used him as a pinweel to knock his other classmates. She punched them in their face, showing no mercy. The bullies were crying from the pain but she didn't stop "Keep on calling me that and you'll regret it!"

Minato and Fugaku was observing her from a bench, amused by the strength she was showing. They were laughing. Thinking that they were insulting her, she shot a glare at Minato and said "What are you laughing at?" Minato looked away but stared at her by the corner of his eye, not turning his head to her so that he wont be noticed.

At break time, all of the kids were outside playing, eating and chatting. Kushina sat on a swing while thinking about her homeland and wished that she never agreed to go to this stupid place. No one liked her anyway.

Minato was sitting on the tree branches with Fugaku. He noticed Kushina being lonely and felt sorry for her. Nobody even bothered talking to her and if anybody would, they just let her feel worse by insulting and mocking her. "she does not deserve to be treated this way, maybe I'll try talking to her and make her feel welcome" he said in his thoughts.

He got down from the tree and told Fugaku "I'll be gone for a while, I'll get back to you later" He was about to approach Kushina when he suddenly felt nervous and lost for words all of a sudden. "What the hell is wrong with me? This is gonna be harder than I thought." He was just standing there in front of her not knowing what to say. "oh man! I feel like an idiot."

Kushina stared at him and said "what do you want? are you going to tease me like the other boys did? If I were you, I wouldn't even try to do so because I'm not gonna hold back, I'll send you flying to the clinic."

"I have no intention of doing so, I just wanted to know if you are okay" Minato said.

"Sure im fine. Now if that's all you wanted to know then you can leave"

Minato was a bit hurt from her words but he didn't stop anyway.

"I umm... I was wondering if ... Can we be friends?" He offered a hand to her waiting for a response. He smiled at her reassuringly. Kushina stared at him and felt warm, he is different from the others. She knew from his smile that he was sincere, she knew that she could trust him. She smiled at him and accepted the handshake, "sure, I cant see why not"

Minato was happy to hear this, he was expecting Kushina to refuse the offer. "Now that we're friends, I want to know more about you. What is your old home like?" Minato asked.

"Well, it's the best place in the world. I would have never left that village if I had the choice, but my father decides to send me here, not telling me the reason until I finally got here. I decide not to tell you about what they needed from me because it might change the way you think about me"

"Anyway are you hungry?" Minato asked.

"Now that you mentioned it, I'm starving! Is there a ramen shop here? I love ramen." Kushina said

"Actually, there is. And it's not that far from here. Lets go to Ichiraku's, they serve the best ramen in the world."

"They do? If you say so then let's go." Kushina said

"Wait here for a while, I'll get back to invite Fugaku and Mikoto. They will be glad to join us."

"Okay. Dont let me wait for too long"

Minato went back to the tree and apologized to Fugaku "Sorry for the wait, let's invite Mikoto and go to Ichiraku's"

"Do you think she'll go, I mean she will only agree coming with us if she was not the only girl." Fugaku said.

"No problem, I already invited one." Minato said.

"Who?" Fugaku asked.

"Kushina"

"Say what? You were able to convince her? You have guts to actually ask her out of all the girls who would actually go with you without hesitation."

"It's not a date, I just wanted to make her feel welcome so I talked to her and we became friends" Minato said. Fugaku remained quiet. They were able to convince Mikoto and they met with Kushina.

"Kushina, I want you to meet my friends, Mikoto and Fugaku"

Kushina reached out a hand and said "Nice to meet you"

Fugaku and Mikoto returned the handshake and they were officially friends.

While they were at Ichiraku's, they were chatting and Fugaku cracked up at Kushina's joke. She was just cheerful and hilarious. They were having a good time and Minato felt happy being around her. She was such a carefree person. Little did he know that he was starting to like her.

That afternoon, Mikoto and Kushina became best friends, just like Minato and Fugaku used to be. They agreed to make it a daily routine to eat at Ichiraku's at their spare time. It was getting a little late and they said farewell to each other. Minato approached Kushina and told something to her. "It was nice getting to know you"

"Me too."

end of chapter...

So... what do you think? Was I able to pass your standards? If this turns out well then maybe I'll stretch this fanfic a little longer, that depends if you are willing to support my fanfic. I hope I am not getting a little persuasive, all I want is a little motivation from you guys. I'm already drafting the second chapter so it wont take long before it shows up.

To be continued...

Hugs and Kisses