A.N: This is my first FanFic, ever. It'll basically be the Naruto Arcs but with my own twists – and OC's – in them, of course, my OC will be the Main Character and I will add some more in as well so it won't be so dull. This first chapter will be pretty long so… Have fun and enjoy! \(=^3^=)/
"Word" = Talking
Word = Narration
"Word" = Thought & Reading
-o-
Toy Kunai's
The rays of sun filtered through a red curtain, disturbing the sleep of a young boy. Opening his eyes, annoyed by the existence of the sun, he sat up in his bed and turned towards the curtains, throwing them open.
His eyes widened as he realized the position of the sun in the sky.
"I'm late!" Jumping off the bed, he scouted the room for his glasses and found them lying on the floor.
Quickly, he grabbed them and put on the first clothes he found -which were a red t-shirt and some black pants- and ran out of his room.
He walked down the stairs and jumped over the last five steps, almost falling down.
Running into the kitchen, he expected to meet his Mother and Father sitting on the table, but was met by silence "Oh right... They had a mission today".
On the table there was a small note that read: 'Josuke, sorry we couldn't make it to your first day at the academy, since this mission is too important and can't be canceled, but don't worry; when we come back, we can go out to celebrate! – Mom'
Already feeling a bit sad - at the fact that today was his first day at the academy and that his parents weren't there - he forgot that he was late and walked to make some toast; it wasn't until he finished making the toast that he remembered.
"Damn it! Why do I have to forget everything?" Eating his toast quickly, and almost -almost- choking on it, he grabbed his bag which had a small notebook and a pencil and sprinted out the door.
X-X-X-X-X
At the academy gates, three of the new students were standing, waiting for their friend. "Where is that idiot? He promised he wouldn't be late"
Another one yawned and answered with a bored expression "Don't worry about it, has he ever been on time for anything? Besides, waiting outside is too much of a drag. Let's go inside; Come on, Kiba"
The last of the three was finishing a bag of chips "He probably had something important to do, don't worry". And with that, two of them walked in, leaving the first one standing outside a bit longer.
"What do you think, Akamaru?" He asked the white dog on his head and was answered immediately with a small bark from it, nodding while he did so.
He looked around a bit more and then walked in to catch the other two.
X-X-X-X-X
Josuke was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, trying to make it to the Academy quickly; his thoughts were racing through his mind.
"I can't be late on the first day, Kiba's gonna kill me!" The thought of his best friend beating the crap out of him on Day 1 was enough to make him motivation to hurry up.
He jumped over some dogs that started barking as a thought came through his head, "If I'm late, my new Sensei will nag me for sure".
Distracted by his thoughts, Josuke didn't notice the oncoming wall, crashing straight into it.
A bit dazed, but luckily, he was resistant and shrugged it off as a new thought came into his head "And how will everyone else react? They'll probably laugh…"
You see, a few years back, when Josuke was about 5, his mother had brought him to a nearby park to make some friends even though Josuke was a bit… against the idea.
"NOO! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO THE PARK!" A five year old Josuke was being dragged by his mother towards said park.
She giggled a bit at her son's reaction but kept firm on the idea "You're gonna enter the Ninja Academy in a couple of years and you don't want to end up alone now, do you?"
This statement made Josuke a little less resistant, but still stubborn "But what if… What if bad guys come and invade the park and kill me? The blame would go on you for making me go!" He was certainly trying his best to not go.
Although, what he said had no effect whatsoever, as she just ignored his protests and replied sweetly "Look, there are some kids in the park already, have fun!" And with that, she picked him up and threw him towards the grass at the entrance, barricading the exit with her body.
Seeing no way out of this, Josuke decided to make the best of this and -unwillingly- tried to make some friends.
He scanned the park, searching for any worthy candidates until he heard a soft bark at his feet, he turned his head down and saw a small, white dog.
"Hey there, little buddy. You lost?" He asked the dog as he picked him up.
Another soft bark answered him as he held the dog level to his face until he heard some footsteps approaching him.
The person approaching him was a boy that looked to be about his age, with small fangs poking out of his closed mouth. "Akamaru! Stop running away like that!"
Josuke connected the dots immediately and asked "So, this is your dog?"
The newly-approached nodded and replied "Yeah, this is Akamaru; he likes to run off sometimes. I'm Kiba"
Handing over the dog, Josuke saw this as a good start to make a friend, "Hi Kiba, I'm Josuke Kazuko, nice to meet you". In his mind, he was mentally congratulating himself for learning all those good manners from his father.
"You wanna play something?" Was Josuke's next question which was answered straight away with a bark and a 'Yes'
They decided on something simple: Tag. (A.N: Which is apparently much more complex than it leads to believe, look it up on Wikipedia)
After a while, some other kids joined in and eventually, all the kids in the park were playing the 'simplest' game. (A.N: No, seriously, look it up)
When they got tired, the sun was still up and some had to leave, but the ones who stayed would later become Josuke's best friends: Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino
However, Josuke made friends with most of the kids that day, there was one that his mother had warned him to stay away from, a spiky-haired blonde kid with an orange jacket. He didn't think much of it and ignored him like the rest.
All that memory crossed his head in a second as he continued to jump towards the Academy with a newly formed smile
Despite his efforts, he didn't make it in time as he saw the Academy in a short distance.
As he landed on the ground near the lonely swing, he realized there was no one to be seen. "I'm really late!" He made a mad dash towards the door and quickly searched up his name and class before bursting open the doors and running in.
He arrived at the door of his new classroom and gently slid it open; trying to come in quietly and unnoticed… to then immediately fail.
As soon as he opened the door and took a step in, he tripped over an imperfection on the doorframe and fell flat on his face, getting the attention of most of the class.
He lay on the ground behind a bench, hoping his Sensei wouldn't notice. Josuke lifted his head and saw the feet of his Sensei, then lifted his head higher and saw the angry face glaring down at him.
"I'm guessing you're Josuke Kazuko?" His Sensei asked while checking a sheet of paper. Josuke immediately stood up and bowed, mainly to avoid his classmates stare.
"Forgive me for arriving late, Sensei!" Since he didn't know the name yet, he couldn't properly apologize.
Caught a bit off guard from the bow, he answered "My name is Iruka"
Josuke stood back up straight and nodded, "Forgive me for arriving late, Iruka" He then sat down on one of the back left benches of the class, his head down to avoid Kiba's 'You-promised-you-wouldn't-be-late' glare.
Iruka cleared his throat and walked back to the blackboard, explaining on the way "Don't worry, we just finished roll-call, no one was late by the way… except you"
He rubbed the back of his neck and gave a small, nervous laugh, letting Iruka return to what he was explaining.
Until that point, he didn't realize that he was not sitting alone in the back, turning his head; he was utterly surprised to see a girl who he had never seen before. He was surprised because of the fact that he thought that he had already met all the kids that would've been in the Academy this year.
Fascinated by this new person, he studied her carefully: A cream-colored hooded jacket and navy-blue pants with a short, leveled princess hair cut just above her forehead with chin-length strands framing her face.
But her eyes; her eyes were like two white pearls, which Josuke could not stop staring at, until he realized he was staring and that the new girl had noticed.
"Uh… Are you okay?" The girl asked him, snapping Josuke out of his daze; he tried covering the growing blush that had appeared on his face by pulling his shirt over his head, while laughing nervously. "O-Of course! Wh-why wouldn't I be?"
He was already mentally hitting himself "Why am I stuttering? I haven't done that since I was 4! I thought I had it under control"
However, if he did have control over his stutter, he didn't have it anymore as he tried to answer her next question. "Then why did you pull your shirt over your head…?"
Josuke couldn't bring himself to tell the truth so he lied, again: "I-I don't like the… the… The sun! Y-Yeah, it's uh… It was burning my retina…" He hoped with all his might that she wouldn't catch on.
And 'luckily', he didn't have to hope anymore as Iruka's voice brought him back to class.
"Josuke! Just because you're late doesn't mean that you shouldn't pay attention to what I'm saying… And get that shirt off your head!"
"R-Right away, Iruka!" He quickly pulled his shirt back down and covered his face with a book so no one could see he was still blushing.
Poor little Josuke had no idea that he was blushing over the cute girl, since he had never felt like that for anyone before, all the girls he had met were only friends for him but this, this girl was different, he didn't know why, he just felt that way.
"Don't call me Iruka! For you, it's 'Iruka-sensei'!"
"Sure thing, Iruka!"
The Sensei sighed and turned back to the board, knowing that that would end in a never-ending loop.
Josuke lowered the book and took out a piece of paper, writing down a message for his only female friend, Ino: "Ino, do you know who the girl next to me is? - Josuke"
He squished it to a ball and threw it towards his target, hitting it square on the head, falling and rolling away.
Josuke started panicking, if someone else picked up that paper, they would misinterpret the message. Ino wouldn't, she knows about this stuff.
Luckily, Ino felt the paper ball and looked back to see who threw it, seeing Josuke frantically pointing the ground behind her; she got the message and found the ball.
Quickly opening it and reading it, a smirk grew on her face; she turned towards Josuke and saw that he was blushing.
As she wrote down her answer, her smirk never faltered and neither did Josuke's blush.
While waiting for the answer, Josuke decided to pay attention to what Iruka was saying: "The graduation for Genin will be held at the end of this semester and for those who pass; the teams will be picked at the start of next semester (A.N: Since I have no idea when those things happened and I'm too lazy to look it up, I'll just roll with it.)
"I wonder who my team will be. I don't think it matters that much, I know most of the class already… except tha-". His thoughts were cut off, however, as the small paper ball impacted his forehead.
Glaring down at Ino – who was trying not to laugh – he spread open the paper and read it silently: "Her name is Hinata. Why did you want to know? Do you like her?"
He cursed himself for asking Ino. Why did he think she wouldn't misinterpret it? She's those types of girls who want to know all the gossip, but Josuke did not like this 'Hinata', no. He merely wanted to know who she was… This was what Josuke kept repeating to himself.
He took out his pencil and wrote down in response: "No, I do not like her. I just wanted to know who she was, is all. Why do you even care?!" He didn't know this, but the blush had never left its place on his face and Ino was still smirking at him mischievously.
As he was about to throw it back to her, he noticed that the paper was no longer in his hands, but in Iruka's hands, high above his head.
Iruka had an angry look on his face since his class was being interrupted but after reading the note and its contents, his angry frown turned to an understanding smirk.
"Josuke, did you send this?"
Josuke refused to look at his Sensei in the eye, out of embarrassment or out of the anger of being discovered, he did not know but answered anyway
"I… I might've…"
Iruka opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a loud voice
"What does it say, Iruka-sensei?" The loud voice came from the front of the room, out of a spiky-haired blonde with an orange jacket.
The Sensei was about to say something again as another loud voice interrupted him, again "That's none of your business, you baka!" Josuke turned to see a pink-haired girl connect her fist with the blonde's head.
Josuke had met the pink-haired before, a long time ago with the rest of his classmates, her name was Sakura Haruno. As for the blonde, even though he had never met him before, he had heard his name was Naruto Uzumaki and that he should stay away from him at all costs.
No one ever told him why though, so he was interested as to why everyone told him to stay away from him.
Iruka turned to Sakura "That's enough, Sakura! No violence in my classroom" he then turned to Naruto "And what is written in here does not concern you!"
Naruto sat down holding his head while murmuring something along the lines of "That really hurt, y'know?" While Sakura ignored what he said and sat down next to him again.
After that scene, Iruka knelt down towards Josuke and whispered near his ear "If you want to know more about Hinata, I can show you her file after class… Pretty sure that's against the rules though". The blush on Josuke's face had started to fade away as he nodded and took a quick glance towards Hinata.
Iruka returned to the front of the class and explained something quickly "Kids, tomorrow we will have our first lesson and for it, we will need each of you to bring a toy kunai, toy! We don't want an accident like last year…"
X-X-X-X-X
It is after class and the sun is still up.
Josuke is standing in front of Iruka's desk waiting for said Sensei to take out a file.
"Alright! Here it is: Hinata's file, remember: Don't you dare use this for personal gain or you will be immediately kicked out of the Academy. Give it back in ten minutes, max"
He gave a giddy smile and grabbed the file off the desk, opening it immediately.
His eyes skimmed over the pages quickly until he stopped at one word: Hyūga. He stopped reading and the smile got replaced by a frown.
She was a Hyūga, which meant that she was out-of-bounds, so she couldn't be friends with someone normal like Josuke.
That one word got Josuke sad since he was really interested in her… Not interested like Ino would think, interested in the fact that he wanted to know more about her. Sure he had her file in his hands but it wasn't the same as knowing it in person.
He set the file back on the desk and thanked the Sensei.
"Leaving so soon? You barely read anything". Josuke nodded and made his way towards the door.
Iruka put the file back in the cabinet and called out to him one last time "Alright then. Josuke, remember that you have to bring the toy kunai tomorrow"
Once again, Josuke nodded and left silently.
He didn't feel like jumping home like he always did, so he ended up walking.
Halfway home, he remembered that he had to get the kunai, his house only had real kunais and Iruka was specific on that it had to be a toy.
Before making it to his house –were his parents were waiting- he turned left and entered the market street.
"Amazing how close everything is to everything in this village…"
He walked through the streets, browsing the shops in search of the searched object until he heard a loud –and familiar- voice.
"But I have enough money to pay for it!" (A.N: I wasn't sure as to add the –dattebayo in this Fic so I didn't, just in case, here's how it sounds with it: "But I have enough money to pay for it-dattebayo!" Yeah… didn't like it)
Was that voice… Naruto's?
Josuke ran towards the source of the voice and saw his blonde classmate get -literally- kicked out of a store.
"Go on, scram! I don't sell to monsters like you!" The angry shop-keeper was standing in the doorframe of his store shouting at him.
A small-medium crowd was surrounding Naruto and the shopkeeper.
"Get away from my store! You're bringing me bad publicity!" The shopkeeper looked furious. Josuke wondered why…
The crowd had begun to whisper and point at the kicked boy, some were even laughing.
Naruto -on the other hand- looked destroyed and tears were starting to form in the corners of his eyes. The shopkeeper wasn't making it any easier.
"What are you waiting for? An invitation? Get out!"
Josuke couldn't stand it anymore; if there was anything he hated more than over-priced Ramen Cups, it was people bullying someone defenseless for no reason.
Josuke gathered some courage and shouted as much as dared to. "Stop annoying him, you monster!"
He immediately shut his mouth; regretting causing the unwanted attention, but it was too late to back out now. He had to go through 'till the end.
The shopkeeper, Naruto and the crowd, turned towards Josuke and on the Shopkeeper's face, there was an evil smile.
"Ya see? Even that little kid thinks you're a monster" A few members of the crowd were laughing as Mr. Nameless Shopkeeper walked back towards his store with a triumphant grin on his face
Naruto was staring at Josuke with hatred; he thought that the shout was meant towards him!
Mustering up some more courage, he shouted again, but not as loudly "I was talking to you, you old man!"
Stopping in his tracks, the shopkeeper turned towards Josuke and took a threatening step towards him "What was that, you stupid brat?"
The thing that Josuke hated more than anything was being called 'brat'. He found it very condescending. Although very scared, Josuke stood firm and chose his next words 'carefully'
"Why do you treat him like a monster? He's just a kid! Like me!"
Nameless shopkeeper laughed along with most of the crowd, "Because that's what he is, a monster!"
Taking a wary step forward, Josuke looked at Naruto, then back at the shopkeeper "So what if he pulls pranks from time to time… and is very annoying… and loud… and obn- Not the point! The point is that what he does doesn't make him a monster!"
The shopkeeper had had enough; he didn't feel like fighting with some kids, it would bring bad publicity. So he turned away "I wouldn't expect a brat like you to understand"
As Josuke glared at the Shopkeeper's leaving silhouette, the shopkeeper turned back to Naruto and barked out "And you, out of my sight!" This made the spiky-haired blonde wipe off a tear that had fallen and walk away, frowning.
But before entering the shop, he addressed Josuke one last time "Now, if there's anything you would like to buy; please feel free to ask" There was a very large hint of sarcasm in his voice that Josuke couldn't catch.
Josuke followed him into the store and cleared his throat as to get his attention.
"Hn? Why are you here, you stupid brat?" Josuke tried his best to keep his anger towards the man under control as he pointed towards the toy kunais on the shelf.
Silence
Josuke let out a barely audible "Two please…"
The man looked at the pointed finger, then at the object and made the connection.
"Two toy kunais? … Ya know, when I said 'Feel free to ask', I was being sarcastic…"
However, Josuke kept pointing "I have more than enough for the two" He was sure that the shopkeeper would try to make him pay more.
The man was not stupid, he knew that after the scene outside; the second one was likely for the spiky blonde.
"And uh… Who's the second one for?" He asked casually, trying to catch Josuke.
Quickly, Josuke made up a lie
"My sister… she loves to play Ninja with me"
The man didn't believe him entirely so instead of asking for what two kunais would normally cost ( 250 Yen ) ( A.N: I have no idea how money works in other countries and less in a fictional world, just gonna make up the amounts xD ) He asked for 500 Yen.
Josuke knew that two toy kunais didn't cost that much but accepted, paying the money.
The Shopkeeper handed him a bag with the objects in them and Josuke nodded and walked towards the door.
He opened the door but before leaving, he looked back and said happily "I don't have a sister", and with that, he ran off in search of Naruto.
Mr. Shopkeeper stood behind the counter for a few seconds until he figured it out: The second one was for the monster. He ran out to catch the boy but didn't make it in time as he Josuke's silhouette jumping away.
X-X-X-X-X
Naruto was sitting alone on the swing, swaying back and forward slowly.
He heard a noise from a nearby bush and jumped off the swing, taking a fighting stance before asking "Who's there?"
The sound turned out to be Josuke emerging from the bushes, "Don't worry, it's just me: Josuke. Geez, you took a long time to find. I looked everywhere" He brushed off some leaves that had gotten stuck on his hair and rearranged his glasses.
He gave a friendly smile but Naruto seemed skeptical.
"Why are you here?" Sitting back down on the swing, Naruto glared at his classmate, obviously still ticked off about before.
"I, uh… I brought you this!" Josuke shoved forward the bag that was in his hands and in it were the two toy kunais that he bought from the store.
Naruto's eyes lit up for a second before turning off again, he didn't trust his classmate and now, he was suspicious "Hmph… I don't want it"
The smile on Josuke's face faltered "But I bought you one too, even though I'm pretty sure that that guy at the store hates me now"
Naruto stood up aggressively and glared at Josuke "I bet that that shopkeeper guy sent you! It's probably an explosive kunai. But I won't fall for it! No way!"
Josuke took a step back but held the bag at the same distance while Naruto yelled at him "You're no different! You're worse! Pretending to stand up for me back then just to confuse me later!"
Even though he tried his best to stay calm, Josuke's eyes widened. Was this really how Naruto thought about everyone?
Taking a step back, Josuke regained control "No… I really did stand up for you before; I couldn't stand people mistreating one of my classmates for no reason. I don't know about everyone else. But I actually want to help you. I know everyone else thinks and treats you like a monster but… I don't think you're one"
Silence
Naruto still seemed skeptical, but he loosened up a bit "You really got one for me?"
He gave a small nod and pushed the bag out further.
Finally loosening up, Naruto reached a careful hand into the bag and took out a kunai.
Since no one had ever done anything nice for him, he had no idea how to respond, so instead "Why did you get me one?"
Josuke shrugged "Isn't it obvious?" Naruto still looked confused. Josuke sighed happily "It's because you're gonna be a Konoha Ninja soon, just like me!"
He gave a slight nod and replied "Thanks… Josuke"
Giving a big grin, Josuke turned around "Okay then. See ya tomorrow!" And with that, Josuke jumped back home, forgetting about the troubles from today.
-o-
Well that was the first Chapter of my first Fic, to whoever stumbled upon this, I hope you enjoyed it. I will try to write the entire Naruto series ( No Filler unless I feel it necessary ) and if you did happen to like it, send a review so I know on what to improve or not.
I accept constructive criticism but without insults please.
In case you didn't understand some Japanese words, here are le translations:
Baka = Idiot/Stupid
Sensei = Teacher
With that, I say Goodbye c:
