Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to its original author and those who bought rights of it.
Ninja
Prologue:
"Naruto, why so quiet today— something wrong with the ramen?, Teuchi Ichiraku, the owner of a well established ramen stand asked with concern clearly laced in his tone of voice, the now named Naruto. Naruto, by first observation you can say that he's someone that likes to observe intensely. Question something that he has no prior knowledge of and rarely forgets what he learns. Clothe in a rather fancy cyan three quarter hooded cape with a swirl of sorts embroidered on both sleeves, forest green pants that just barely touch his ankles and a pair of fine crafted boots with the laces wired into intricated patterns that's rather intriguing.
Looking up from his untouched bowl of ramen, seeking the eyes that belonged to the voice of the man that it belongs to, "Old man Teuchi. There's nothing wrong with the ramen. I'm simply just dissecting the bowl with my eyes, that's all", he finished with a firm tone whilst stirring the contents of the bowl. Teuchi sniggering at the boy's antics. "Hmmm, still trying to figure out what's all in there? My, but you sure are persistent. Just enjoy it while its still hot, my boy.", he said while smiling down towards the boy.
"Ya'know, old man Teuchi. I know every last bit of detail of the contents of my bowl, but I'm trying to figure out what I can add to make it even more awesome, you see?", Naruto responded startling the owner a bit. "Besides that... I recently started at the academy, the ninja one and I think that the people there don't like me that much. That's okay and all, cause I'm not there to please any one at all.", he continued calmly. "That's the spirit, Naruto. Don't let anyone get you down. I know you'll be a splendid student. Remember that with hard work and steady determination you can achieve anything that you so desires. And whenever you do great I'll give ya an extra large bowl of your favourite ramen! What do you say, kid— we have a deal?", Teuchi asked whilst wiping his hands on his apron and stretching out an open hand towards the blonde.
Done eating, he stood up and took Teuchi's hand initiating the shake. Grinning at the old man he said, "You have yourself a deal, old man. See ya around!" Walking out of the ramen stand he noticed a girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes with an older looking man that shares a few striking resemblances with the younger female blonde.
"Ino and her dad", he thought. Capturing her gaze while she tried stealing a glance at him. Eyes locked in a brief second— river meets ocean. Ino's breath caught in her chest. She didn't know how long she'd been holding it until she stumbled slightly just to bring her back to reality. "Are you alright, Ino. You seemed a bit lost there for a moment?", she heard the older man next to her asked. Without replying she turned to where the blonde boy from her class were standing just to notice that he was already gone.
Looking up to the man and grabbing his hand, "Oh, it was nothing, Daddy." Her now identified dad just shrugged and continued their stroll. "What was that", Ino thought with a little frown on her forehead.
Ino were so startled by the moment that she didn't even noticed Naruto had just moved a couple of yards out of her field of vision to observe her better. "Ino Yamanaka, she's in my class. Likes to talk to her friend with the cherry blossom coloured hair, have a prestigious clan at her backing and heir of said clan. Curious girl, can be bossy at times. What a waste of time...", Naruto thought to himself, weaving through the crowd on his way to his own little apartment.
That night Ino found herself restless. She tried to process what happened earlier that day, but couldn't. It just kept on bugging her. On her bed she was laying in her sleep attire, rolling onto her side she looked at the empty glass that was filled earlier with distilled water. Deciding that she was thirsty after the whole tossing and turning she climbed out of bed. Picking up the glass with her one hand while scratching her hair out of frustration with the other, she opened her door and headed towards the kitchen.
She opened the fridge, reaching for the bottle— halting in her manoeuvre, she saw that same blue eyes in the reflection of the blue water bottle. Blue met blue, river met ocean. Her grasp on the glass lost its intensity, the glass falling to the ground and shattering into pieces of various shapes and sizes. "Ino, dear. Is everything alright in there?", she heard the voice of her father coming from his study room. "Everything's fine, daddy. Wet hands plus glass equals a slippery mess, that's all. Already cleaning up. No need to worry!", she called quickly to cover up her embarrassment.
Quickly cleaning up the broken glass from the kitchen floor, she emptied the dust pan into the dust bin. Deciding that a glass of milk will do her good, she grabbed another glass from the cupboard and poured her self a glass of fat free milk. Done with that she headed to her room, putting the glass on her nightstand and crashed down on her bed. "What the hell is wrong with me. Can't keep that darn image of his eyes out of my head! Argh, it's so freakin' frustrating!", She thought while covering her face with her hands.
Tired of her thoughts she sat up straight on the tip of her bed clutching the comforter with her hands and legs crossed while staring at the floor. Reflecting on the events that transpired at the academy earlier that day. "He entered the class like any other student, walking with such confidence that you can easily mistaken him for one of those kids which were sprouted from nobility. That was not the case cause I'm sure that Sakura and I heard some of the students in the back row said that they saw him at the orphanage some time ago. By judging from his taste in clothes it looked like he was well taken care of and didn't belong to an orphanage. Was he adopted or something. Could be, but I'm sure that no one was waiting for him at the end of school. Nobody in class seemed to be liking him, but that didn't bother him at all.", she thought to herself.
"He introduced himself as Naruto Uzumaki. So calm as if he was used to doing this all the time. After that I saw him at lunch break relaxing under a tree while eating a cup of instant ramen, followed by an apple and dranked something out of a bottle. Nothing out of the ordinary there I guess. And yet he caught me totally off guard by simply staring at me... Oh, man what's up with little old me. Guess, just have to wait until tomorrow.", she thought.
Picking up her glass of milk, drinking slowly whilst savouring the freshness of it and preparing her once more to go sleep. Emptying her glass, placing it back on the nightstand, letting out a huge yawn, she finally realised how tired she were. Little did she know that she will have to wait several years to ask him the questions that was plaguing her mind that evening.
Entering his apartment he went straight to his closet where he removed his sleeping attire. On his way to the shower he looked at his apartment. "Clean and organised just like I left you, hehehe.", he laughed at himself. "Time to hit the shower, oh yeah! Gotta see if I missed something important today.", he said turning the shower knobs, waiting for the water to reach perfect temperature for his skin. "Mmm, just need about five minutes to sort this out.", he thought stepping under the shower heads. Immediately after closing his eyes, he could envision everything he saw that day by simply recalling it in his mind.
While shifting through his collective memories of the day he noticed that the heirs of all the prominent clans were present in his class. "For a bunch of clan heirs they sure are ignorant and unmotivated, can you believe that!", he thought to himself."Maybe they'll grow into there roles as time progresses. After all, the welfare of their fellow clansmen will depend on them. And ya'know, time has the ability to instill a sense of maturity on your arse if nothing else will, hehehe.", he snickered. Feeling to water beginning to drop in temperature he let his thoughts fade to the here and now.
Turning the knobs of the shower the water slowly came to a halt in their downwards pour and etching closer to the wall the shower head is mounted to. Grabbing a towel from its rail, first rubbing his hair into a spiky mess and then folding it around his lower body, he then proceeded to dry himself. He got dressed and went to his kitchen slash living room area. Deciding that a cup of herbal tea with honey will do him good he started to make him some.
With a cup of hot tea in his hands, taking in the sweet aroma of the contents of his cup, he decides to go out on the veranda and watch the night sky. "To think I've read thousands of books with a variety of topics and I still can't seem to shake the feeling that my knowledge is still not enough. I have learned skills from many crafts, designed my entire wardrobe, study human behaviour— emotions and yet I can't get a grasp on my own feelings. I wonder what I was crafted from, the genetics from my parents, great grand parents or am I a being the transcendent from another universe? I wonder...", he thought with a sigh.
Finished with his tea he headed back into his apartment, placed the cup in the sink and look to his clock near the window in the kitchen. "Almost half past nine. Maybe a book will put my mind to ease. Need something about the clan that girl, Ino Yamanaka, originates from.", wondering to himself why he would think about something so trivial to him, but still kept searching for the book on history of every major clan in the elemental nations.
A vivid picture of her eyes sprang into his mind, "Those eyes, they were so full of different kind of emotion. Is that what life is— a spectrum of emotions..."
That night Naruto read all he could about the Yamanka and others too until sleep overtook him in his journey of seeking knowledge. Trying to satisfy his thirst of knowing more, but we all know that sometimes even that even a basic math calculation, like one plus one equals two, isn't always true in a world filled with ninja.
A/N: I know that this was very short, but this is just a prologue of sorts and this is my first story. Be sincere and keep in mind that English isn't may native language. Please tell me your thoughts on it, even if its to flame. I don't mind.
See you guys in Chapter 2!