This was an old story I wrote for fun one day that I decided deserves to be edited. At the time it was a piece used in a contest where the key word was "lemonade". For those who have read and liked it, I hope you will see these changes as improvements, and for those who have never had the chance to stumble upon this story, I hope you will enjoy it.
For many obvious reasons I do not own Naruto nor pretend to be its author.
Konoha was a busy place at this time of year. The young genin who had just graduated from the academy were preparing to meet their sensei's for the first time, and their older peers were diligently training in hopes of advancing soon to the next rank in the ninja world. Shopkeepers were yelling slogans, patrons were excited to eat, and a certain toad sage was finding lots of "inspiration" for his newest book. Yes, the village was full of energy today, yet … one little girl didn't seem to quite fit into that picture.
Sitting by the window at home all alone, bored as could be, Sakura tried to think of ways to entertain herself until her parents returned from their long delivery mission to rain country. She sighed as she watched the many people walk back and forth under the hot summer sun. Just seeing their sweaty faces made her feel tired, but somehow they didn't seem to mind, hurrying to here or there without a worry.
"Aren't they thirsty?" she wondered allowed, thinking of how she would feel being out there. She repeated those words a few more times to herself before they finally gave her little pink head an idea.
Once she had all the necessary ingredients needed to put her plan in motion, Sakura went outside and began hurriedly putting crates and wood together. Soon, her makeshift lemonade stand was open and ready for business. It was definitely simple, but still cute to see with its scroll banner hung across the top saying "LEMONADE" in bright red letters.
Sakura waited patiently for costumers, humming the mantra of "any minute now" in her mind over and over. The ice-cold pitcher of pink lemonade she had prepared looked absolutely refreshing and the stack of paper cups begged to be filled, but people wouldn't stop. The busy crowd constantly walking past her stand didn't seem to notice her eye-catching sign, making Sakura feel more and more upset as time crept by. No amount of smiling and patients was helping fill her slug-shaped bank next to the pitcher, and an empty slug was a sad slug.
Matters only got worse as several mean girls who loved to pick on Sakura came up and started to deplore her efforts at selling lemonade. They would laugh at her forehead and say it was scaring away people, making Sakura want to curl up in a ball right there. Eventually they got bored and moved on to other places, but the damage had been done. Poor Sakura had her head bowed down, trying hard not to cry.
Now Sakura wasn't aware of it, but a man dressed in white with a red hat, and a young boy with bright, golden hair were moving towards her. The boy was bored and could barely see through the dense crowd of people around him. Then, noticing for a brief second the color pink catch his blue eyes, he decided to dart off and go see what it could be. He soon found Sakura at her stand, head still bent down, and the ice in her pitcher almost completely gone.
"Lem-on-ade ..." he slowly read the sign.
Once Sakura heard him speak, she quickly looked up and saw someone had finally stopped at her stand, a boy for that matter. After getting her sniffling under control and rubbing her eyes dry, she put on the best smile she could in hopes of acquiring her first customer for the day.
"Hello, would you like to buy some pink lemonade?" Sakura said in the sweetest voice possible.
"Mmm, lem-on-ade ... never heard of it." the boy told her blankly.
Sakura was shocked to hear that. Wasn't lemonade a fairly common thing? Though, not wanting to ruin this chance encounter, she quickly replied, " Well, why don't you buy some and try?"
The boy nodded, but then turned around, telling her, "I'll be right back," before disappearing into the crowded street of people.
Sakura was worried now, fearing the boy lied and might have just decided to forget about the lemonade altogether. Those fears were short-lived though when two people suddenly landed right in front of her humble little stand. One was the same boy from earlier but the other figure shocked her. It was the most important man in the village, the Hokage, and he was gracing her pitiful stand with his presence. All she could do was stare at the blond boy and ask, "Who are you?"
The boy grinned and proclaimed to her, "Uzumaki Naruto, the next hokage."
The Hokage chucked and ruffled Naruto's head while Sakura sat there speechless. She was astonished by these two and the strong, positive presence they gave off. She nearly forgot why they were standing here until Naruto said, "Hey, old man, can we buy some lemonade?"
The Hokage smiled and nodded, causing Naruto to jump with joy. Sakura of course was elated to hear that. The Hokage pulled out some large gold coins from his sleeve and handed them to Sakura. It was quite a bit of money, forcing Sakura to sheepishly tell him, "I – I don't have enough change …"
The hokage shook his hand hearing that and told her nicely: "Don't worry. Your hard work today has earned it."
Such encouraging words made the smile on Sakura's face grow bigger than ever. She gladly poured them each a cup and watched excitedly as they drank the lemonade. Once Naruto finished his in one gulp, he put on a big grin and said, "I really like lemonade."
Sakura beamed with pride and even blushed a little hearing his words.
"We need to hurry, Naruto, if you still want to get ramen," the Hokage told the young boy.
Naruto panicked and got ready to dash away, but not before waving and saying, "goodbye."
With that said, the two were off. Sakura decided that today couldn't get any better, so she closed shop and went in with a filled slug-shaped bank.
As the crowded streets began to thin and the sun started to set, Sakura's heros hurried along to Ramen Ichiraku.
"Naruto, you did a real nice thing back there," the Hokage told him proudly as he waved at some of the villagers passing them by.
Naruto didn't quite understand what he meant, but grew a bright smile and said, "I really like pink lemonade."
The hokage stared at him before roaring with laughter from hearing such a reply. Naruto wanted to know what was so funny, but that only made the old Hokage laugh harder to himself as they continued down the road.