"Hey!Hey,you guys!"
A raspy voiced five-year old Naruto shouted at his classmates, who were all currently in the Konoha Ninja Academy School yard.
"Look at me! Look at me! I can finally do the Kawa-kawa-"
"Kawarimi no jutsu,you idiot."
A white-eyed long-haired boy sneered at Naruto.
"Why don't you calm down,Neji?",demanded a thin boy with his black-hair bound up in a ponytail.Then,abruptly,he began to snore. His head fell forward and hit his chest with a loud thump. He was still upright and standing.Obviously,Shikamaru had invented a way to fall asleep standing up.Naruto stared at him. There was a long silence.
Then, the peaceful silence was broken by Naruto rolling on the floor and thumping it hard, screaming with laughter with tears pouring down his face.
"HAHAHAHAHAH!Would you look at Shikamaru?"
Neji stared at him, his icy white eyes filled with a mocking disgust.
"I'm off to train. I don't want to hang around with idiots. I'll get infected with their idiotism, and I sure wouldn't want that." With that, the child prodigy of the Hyugga clan stalked off, head held high.
This brought Naruto abruptly back to normal.Well.Neji said that again.It was almost the hundredth time he said that. He stared off after him.Idiot,fool,were one of the many things used to describe him. He had already grown used to it. But it still hurts. It still hurts so very, very badly. A man he never met in his short life had once thrown him out of his shop. He only wanted to buy sweets! The man had yelled that he was a "cursed brat of an orphan". Nobody helped him. He heard laughter and snickers as he ran way, rubbing the bruise on his cheek and trying his hardest not to cry. He felt weird as he thought about that incident. It made him think about something that he had trained himself to bury in his consciousness.
His parents. Who were his parents?
He had asked countless time, and every time he had received glares and dark looks. He even asked Iruka-sensei once.Iruka-sensei had patted him on the head. He didn't glare or give him a dark look. But he didn't answer that burning question.
He knew one thing though, imprinted in his childish eyes.Everyday,come and go, come and go. Parents will take their children to school. But not him. When the night comes, they will take their children home. But not him.Everybody,except him. He rose slowly and made his way out of the schoolyard.Shikamaru's parents will be here soon. But not his.
To ease his gnawing pain,Naruto made up wonderful stories about his parents and told them to the rest. His parents were wonderful ninjas, the elite of the elite. They were in the ANBU,and were currently on a long, long mission. He had yelled it out to the class so many times, until one day, a boy shouted at him.
"Mission! A mission for five years! I've never heard of a mission that long!"
He had broken the boy's nose.
The boy's parents had slapped him so heart a tooth cracked.
But he knew what the boy said was true. That was what he hated most. He didn't want to face up to the terrible reality that his parents would never come back. He didn't want to face up to that terrible reality that he was alone in this world.
Where were his parents? Why didn't they come home?
Tears rolled off his face. He wiped them roughly from his face.
He glanced at the yard.Shikamaru's father was piggy-backing his sleeping son. He felt hot tears prickling at his eyes again. Did his father do that to him? Did his mother sing to him once, just once? He didn't know.
He walked slowly up the long path. The yard was so very quiet. Everybody had gone home.Wait,Not everybody.
He stared at the raven-haired boy. Who was he? The boy stared at him. Stare for stare.Finally,Naruto made a face at Him and looked away. The boy looked away too. But Naruto was smiling. He looked back. The boy was also smiling.
A friend. He thought. My friend.