ORPHANED CHAPTER ONE
"conversation b/w people"
thoughts of people
"PEOPLE SHOUTING/SPEAKING LOUDLY"
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. ALL RIGHTS TO OWNERSHIP BELONG TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO
Reo Kawaki was a seven-year-old orphan bookworm living in Konoha. He found joy and comfort in reading fantasy stories about ninjas rescuing helpless princesses from their tyrannical daimyos, ninjas fighting in a super awesome battle shooting fire and lightning jutsus upon one another as if they were in a snowball deathmatch. He also like any other four year old in Konoha wanted to become a ninja. He wanted to join the ANBU Black-ops and fight missing-nin. At least, he thought that's what the ANBU did.
Reo rarely ever mingled with other children in the orphanage. When he was three, Reiji and Jūbo, two older kids beat Reo up and made fun of his strange white hair and purple eyes. The two jerks gathered up all the other kids in their little group and refused to allow him in. Reo, as a result, became reclusive and rarely talked to anyone, staying in his room reading his books. There was the other Naruto kid they made fun of and bullied. Reo tried to talk with him and make friends with him, but the matron of the orphanage forbid him from doing so, saying that he is a very bad boy. When he asked why she hit him and order him to go to his room.
Today, Reo was reading a book about chakra. He wanted to attend the Academy which would start five months from now, after his birthday next month. He wanted to activate his chakra before attending the Academy. He held his hands together in a Ram seal and searched within himself for a warm feeling. It was written that he needed to keep calm and visualize a small fire burning within him. He kept searching until he eventually found a small warmth in his stomach region just above his abdomen. He imagined himself pulling the warmth outside. It felt strangely soothing as it went through the chakra pathways.
He pulled his chakra outside and felt his chakra flare around him. He held for about five seconds before letting go. He felt mildly tired. According to the book, he should have academy to low genin reserves. Reo sighed; he would have to work on increasing his reserves. To throw around cool fire jutsus, he would have to have large reserves. He closed the book and went to the Matron of the orphanage. He knocked on the door of her office and asked politely, "Oba-san, may I come in?"The matron replied, "Yes." Reo opened the door and walked in. He said with a proud smile, "Oba-san, I would like to apply for the Academy this year, five months from now. I have activated my chakra and have found that I have enough." The matron smiled and said, "Is that so? Very well, you can attend this year. I am very proud of you Reo-chan."
Reo hugged the matron and said, "Thank you Oba-san." The matron hugged him back and said, "Now that you are going to attend the academy, you can now live in your own apartment, getting a small stipend from Hokage-sama." Reo said with a reassuring look," It's alright. I can take care of myself. I'm going to be a ninja now. Thank you for taking care of me." The matron replied with a sad smile, "It's alright. Sorry for not stopping the bullying. I had a lot to focus on after the Kyūbi incident seven years ago." Reo said, "It's alright. I'm still angry a little bit at you not disciplining them, but as a shinobi, I can't whine about childish things like these."Matron sighed in relief and said," Thank you. You have a mature outlook." With that Reo turned and exited the room.
As soon as he walked out, he sighed in relief. Finally, he would be rid of those moronic jerks. I'll become a strong ninja and beat up anyone who bully's me. He vowed. He opened his room and continued his reading of the book. He learned that chakra was a mix of physical and spiritual energies. There were five elements of chakra and also known to a lesser extent, yin and yang chakra. Yin chakra deals with the mind and its imaginative capabilities, useful for genjutsu. While Yang is related to the body's vitality and life force. He was so immersed in his studies that he didn't feel the time pass and fell asleep on his desk.
An alarm rung aloud on a bedtable at 5:00 am, waking the boy who was sound asleep on the cot beside it. The boy lazily got up, before realizing, Today's the day. He got out of his room and walked over to the bathroom at the end of the corridor, and began his daily routine. As he was done, he looked at himself in the mirror. He had very unique white hair, which fell over his forehead, and gleaming purple eyes. He had healthy pale skin. (Basically, he looks like Ken Kaneki, but with purple eyes.) He was of an above average stature coming at 4 feet 4 inches. He wore a black shirt with a high collar and beige shorts.
He reassures himself, Alright Reo, you can do this. Just make a good impression on your teachers. He walks out and goes to his room, packing his notebooks and pens in his bag. He fits his ninja sandals on the front porch, gifted to him by the Matron, who had gifted him his clothes as well and walks out the front door.
As he walked to the gates, he sees the Matron. She gives him a smile and says, "Well, you are up early. Ready for the academy?" To this, Reo gives a quick nod. She chuckles at his eagerness," Well I won't keep you for long. Work hard, alright." Reo gets a determined look on his face. He would as hard as possible to fulfil his dream. "Hai." The matron gives an approving smile and bids him goodbye.
Reo walks out of the gates and reaches the Academy after taking a brief sprint to warm himself up in about ten minutes. While he didn't play with anyone to get the physical workout, he did read that physical conditioning is paramount to a ninja's success. So he started doing push-ups and sit-ups starting at age five. He also ran in laps around the playground in the orphanage.
He stopped himself to take in a look at the surroundings of the Academy. The Academy was a huge building surrounded by a bunch of buildings, one of which he could recognize was the Hokage building. It was located at the base of the Hokage Mountain. There was a gathering area in front of the Academy with a rather large tree with a swing.
There were also a few prospective students gathered already with their parents, one of whom was a Hyūga, characterized by their pale, pupilless eyes. He could also notice a young boy with dark onyx eyes and raven black hair, which strangely looked like a duck's behind. Strange..probably an Uchiha.
He walked in and sat on the swing. In the next two hours, many people filled up. Reo tried to recognize others. He could spot an Inuzuka and an Akamichi, both distinguished by their clan markings, he saw in the book Konoha's Clans. The Inuzuka kid was loud. He kept shouting about how he wanted to establish himself as an 'alpha'. Reo decided he felt annoyed by this kid's unruly behaviour. He wanting to make himself an 'alpha' reminded too much of two jerks, speaking of which he could see those two brats chatting in another corner.
This was in stark contrast to their earlier behaviour of being the centre of attention. Reo quickly deduced, probably intimidated by the clan kids...How pathetic. Suddenly, all the people stood at attention. Reo got up and looked around, trying to see why. He spotted an old man wearing white kage robes, and a pointed hat, with a kanji 'Hokage' walking up to the podium. Reo quickly walked to an assembly of people and stood next to a kid with hair in the shape of a pineapple.
The Hokage started his speech, "Good morning everyone, I believe everyone is anxious to begin their path to a shinobi. A shinobi is someone who loves the village and is willing to fight for it. A shinobi's path to success is very difficult and is ridden with obstacles. To reach the end, they must have great determination and willpower which burns like a fire. This willpower is what binds us all together and makes us strive for excellence. This is known as the will of fire."
He pauses and continues," Whenever I see the village, I see the will of fire burning within each one of you. That is what kept me going for over five decades. That is what allowed this village to brave through three shinobi wars. And that is what will fuel you to reach your potential."
Leave it to the Hokage to inspire the next generation. Reo thought as he felt even more inspired and determined. He turned to his left and to his sheer astonishment; the pineapple kid was soundly asleep with a bubble out of his nose, while he was standing. This day keeps getting stranger. Deciding to wake up the kid, Reo shook him. The kid woke with his bubble popping. "Wha-" he started. "Hey don't sleep through the Hokage's speech." Reo admonished. The kid just replied, grumpily, "Whatever...troublesome." And then promptly fell asleep again. Reo shook his head, feeling disgusted at the fact that someone was blatantly disrespectful to the strongest man in the elemental nations. By this time the Hokage had finished his speech,"...and to conclude, I wish you the best on this journey. Thank you." He left the podium to go resume his duties. As he did so, a man with a chūnin jacket walked up the podium and ordered," All of you follow me to your class." And then we followed him inside. The Academy had six floors to separate the kids from different classes. We followed the chūnin to a door and then we entered. Reo picked a seat near the back to the window facing the training ground.
The chūnin walked over to the front of the class, stopping behind a desk and began, "Hello class, My name is Iruka Umino. I am to be your sensei till you all graduate. Now, introduce yourselves and state your dreams" He beckoned a girl on the first row to left.
The girl stood up "My name is Aika Suriname. My drea-" She was interrupted by the loud of the door crashing.
"I MADE IT IN TIME-TTEBAYO" shouted a blonde boy in the most obnoxious orange jumpsuit. Reo winced at the loud voice. Iruka eye twitched "YOU'RE LATE." The blond scratched his head sheepishly "hehe…sorry". "now go pick your seat." He barked at the tardy boy.
The blond boy took his seat in the middle row "Now continue…" The girl stated her dreams. One by one, everyone stood up and introduced themselves
"I am Kiba Inuzuka. One day I'll become my clan's leader."
"I a-am Hi-Hinata H-Hyūga. I a-am th-the Hyū-Hyūga cla-clan hei-heiress." Hinata looked down embarrassed at the attention.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I'm gonna surpass my brother and become the greatest Uchiha ever."
Sasuke declared with a twinge of arrogance in his voice. Reo glanced at the girls and sweatdropped A-Are they blushing?!
Next, the blond kid stood and in a boisterous voice declared "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. You're all staring at the next Hokage-ttebayo." Everyone started laughing at that. "Hn, I'll be surprised if you can even graduate. I have more chances to become the Hokage than you" Sasuke arrogantly mocked the boy. "HEY?! I'LL SHOW YO-"." SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN, YOU BRAT AND SASUKE KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT." Iruka snapped at the boys angrily. Naruto sat down grumbling. Reo though had perked up at that name Hey! He's the same guy who left the orphanage two years ago. I'll talk with him later during lunch.
After that, others introduced themselves until it was Reo's turn. Reo broke away from his stupor and stood up and put on a confident pose "I'm Reo Kawaki and I'm joining the ANBU Black-ops." Reo then saw that some of the girls in the class were giving him weird looks. Shit…Did I say something wrong? Reo thought nervously as he sat.
"Good, I assume you all know what the curriculum consists of" At the collective nod of the class, he continued," I will be teaching you History of the Leaf village, Shinobi rules as well as Ninjutsu. So we will now begin with our lessons. You will be given your textbooks now" Iruka distributed books for all the subjects.
"Now turn to the first chapter 'Clan war era.'" Reo started taking notes diligently as Iruka started lecturing.
At the ring of the bell, the prospective ninjas of the academy took a sigh of relief. Reo set his pen down and closed his books. Iruka's lectures were just mind-numbing to some. Even Reo had to focus hard to catch all his words. Some even fell asleep in class. The pineapple kid-Shikamaru he said his name was- fell dosed the moment Iruka opened his mouth. Many civilian kids and Naruto also fell asleep. They would get a rude awakening by Iruka, who somehow managed to make his head humungous and started shouting at them.
"You are now free to have your break. You will have Taijutsu and Bukijutsu lessons afterwards." Iruka said and promptly walked out.
As the students emptied out of the class into the training ground and started reintroducing themselves to others in the hopes of making friends, Reo searched for a certain blond. He caught sight of him getting tormented by the two guys Reo hoped he would never see.
Reiji and Jūbo…Ugh, why am I not surprised he thought as he made his way towards them.
"Hey yellow haired pipsqueak, who do you think you are? Uh! I'll kick your ass and show your place, you dumbass!" Reiji cracked his knuckles menacingly. "Yeah! Show him Reiji!" cheered Jūbo from the sidelines. Reiji was a tall boy for his age, coming at 5 feet. Even though he was a little skinny, his height and delinquent persona was enough to intimidate people of weaker minds.
Jūbo, on the other hand, was short, plump and an insecure grunt. "Don't you guys have anything better to do?" Reo asked as he stood in between the bullies and Naruto.
"Reo, when did you come?" Reiji asked becoming confused, before turning angry. "Don't like you are any better, you white-haired freak." Reiji came in for a punch. Reo blocked it and then countered, as he planted his fist in Reiji's solar plexus. He went down with a cry of pain.
"REIJI!" Jūbo shouted as he hurried over to Reiji, picked him up and scurried off like a scared rat.
"Pathetic cowards" Reo sneered towards them with contempt before turning towards Naruto.
"Wow…" Naruto looked at Reo with a look of awe. "Hey, long time no see." Reo smiled at Naruto."I don't think we've met." Naruto broke away from his stare as he got a confused look."We were in the same orphanage." Reo extended his hand. "Well, thanks for helping me." Naruto's voice took a cheerful tone as he grinned."You're welcome." Reo smiled and sat patting the spot next to him. Naruto was surprised and looked hesitant for a moment. No one had tried talking to him. They either outright ignored him or glared and spat insults at him. He made a choice and took Reo's offer. Reo noticed his hesitation but didn't comment on it.
"Well I've got some questions for you, but before that let me reintroduce myself. I'm Reo Kawaki. My likes are learning, training and sweets. I dislike bullies, arrogant people, and lawbreakers. My hobbies are reading storybooks and I dunno… painting. My aim for the future is to join the ANBU Black-ops and probably even become ANBU commander. "
Reo's eye had gotten a fire in them as he pumped his fist. Naruto grinned "Now I'll go! I'll go!"
Naruto straightened his back to proper posture "My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, especially ramen from Ichiraku ramen, pranking people, Old man Hokage, and the Yondaime Hokage. But I dislike the three minutes it takes to prepare instant ramen and people who look down on me. My hobbies are to eat different kinds of ramen and comparing their tastes and also gardening. My dream is to become the greatest Hokage. Greater than all the previous Hokage, dattebayo!"
Reo sweatdropped So ramen, ramen and then Hokage, huh? He shook his head."Did you say pranking?" he asked, getting a morbid feeling. "Yeah!" Naruto being the cheerful ball of sunshine, nodded his head.
"Is that why people don't like you?" Reo felt a little bad at asking such a question, as the next moment Naruto's mood became sullen. "No…They used to hate me even before that. They just ignore me as if I didn't exist and glare at me. In fact, other than Hokage-Jiji, Ichiraku Teuchi Oji-san and Ayame nee-chan and a few other ANBUs, you are the only person who sees me without hating me at first glance." Naruto looked down, feeling depressed and embarrassed that he confessed so much. True to his words, Reo was a part of a small group of people who didn't seem to be prejudiced against him. Naruto starved for attention. No one who wasn't prejudiced against him had any time to talk with and make friends with him. Naruto felt lonely; therefore above everything in life, right now he needed a friend
"Why do they all hate you, then?" Now that he asked that, Reo remembered even the matron asking him and every other child in the orphanage to avoid him and ignore him. Reo felt very bad at asking questions about someone's private life like that, but he was very curious and Naruto didn't seem privy at sharing his secrets.
"I don't know. I asked Jiji the same question and he changed the subject. I asked Teuchi-Oji san and onee-chan and they also said they didn't know. But I know they did. After dealing with people with double faces, I could read people quite well." Naruto kicked a stone near his feet as he got frustrated.
Reo narrowed his eyes in suspicion, Why would not tell him? Something's fishy. This whole drama sounded like one of those big conspiracies, he read in those novels." I don't know why everybody is lying to me, trying to keep a big secret like they want to prank me."
Reo snapped his attention to Naruto. Sure he was a prankster and all but, this is no way to treat anybody for such a small thing. He seemed like a decent guy if you ignore his ramen fetish and loud voice. "Well, if it makes you feel better, I don't hate you. In fact, I'll even be your friend."
He had never had a friend. The person he was the closest to, was the matron and he didn't like her that much. Maybe it could be a good thing. It would improve his day for sure if Naruto's pranks were anything to go by. Maybe we could even prank those two retards, Reiji and Jūbo. A sinister voice whispered in his head. He laughed evilly in his head. Oh! He had such nice would love to payback those assholes.
Naruto looked up with a glimmer of hope on his face "Really? Why?". "Well, you seem like a decent fellow and maybe we could even partner in some of those pranks." Reo grinned at Naruto. Naruto grinned back at him "YATTA! I MADE A NEW FRIEND!" He shouted victorious at his achievement. At that, the two new friends sat and started talking about jutsus, ramen, Hokage, ramen, current events, ramen, the village, pranks and did I say ramen?
Reo was starting to regret his decision Wow, that much ramen doesn't sound healthy to me. I talk him out of that. After that, another chūnin showed "The breaks over! Gather up!"
In the Hokage's office
Hiruzen smiled at this display. He was happy for Naruto. Poor kid would have snapped if this Reo boy had not come in his life. He set aside his crystal ball as he smiled Minato and Kushina, I hope you both are happy wherever you are.
As that thought raced across his mind, his secretary opened the door to walk in with another truckload of paperwork "Hokage-sama I have brought you some more paperwork." Hiruzen glared at her and the paperwork. If looks could kill, both of them would be rotting away in the deepest circle of hell, if paperwork could to hell. The secretary excused herself and Hiruzen looked at the first set. Minato I know you had a workaround for this. Damn you for not telling!
He had a good feeling he was laughing at him from heaven.
I hope you guys liked it. I was dabbling with starting an OC fanfiction for months. Finally did it. I would appreciate it if you could suggest me any improvements or if you deliver constructive criticism to any element in my story. Anyways thanks for using your time to read the whole thing. I appreciate it.