Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything associated with Naruto. I got nothing.
Destiny's Path
Chapter One
The sun was setting over the Hokage monument and Sakura had just finished the longest day of her young life. She never thought being a ninja was easy, the teachers at the academy had often pointed out how an attitude like that would get you killed. No, she didn't think it would be easy but she didn't expect her first day to be spent chasing after her new sensei trying to get a bell off his waist. But in the end it had taught her a lot about teamwork and had, at the very least, restored her respect for her new sensei, in spite of the perverted book he read throughout the whole thing and his incredible lazy attitude.
Right now though she didn't have a care in the world. She was practically gliding home behind Sasuke. She was just watching him as he walked in front of her, silent and mysterious, and she let out a sigh without realizing it. Sasuke's shoulders tensed for a moment and Sakura also tensed thinking she had been caught admiring him. But instead without even turning around to look at her he just said, "This is my street."
Looking around Sakura realized that they were just outside the old Uchiha district where Sasuke's family used to live. The area itself was already dark to spite that the sun hadn't set yet and Sakura shivered; she couldn't imagine why anyone would live in that place. Only a few of the houses were occupied and only by people who had moved to Konoha after the massacre. She didn't know why Sasuke forced himself to live there but she found out quickly that her thoughts had taken too long and the boy of her dreams was already turning to walk away.
"You want to get something to eat?" Sakura asked quickly as she spotted a ramen restaurant that was still open a little ways up the street. She had already eaten earlier during the test but she hadn't had that much and was hoping the quiet boy would open up over a hot cup of ramen.
But he didn't even respond as he just disappeared into the darkness of the old barren street that he lived on. Sighing for a very different reason then before Sakura realized that she was still hungry, even if Sasuke had blew her off, and trudged over to the small restaurant.
Behind the counter was an older man with a rag in one hand that he was using to clean the table, a slight smile on his face that quickly widened into a large toothy grin upon seeing Sakura lift herself up onto a stole. "What would it be, young lady?" he asked in a manner which reminded Sakura of her grandfather.
"Um, you wouldn't happen to have some rice balls would you?" Sakura asked as politely as she could. She couldn't help but smile at the old man who gave off an aura of kindness.
"Now that we do have," He said as he held up a finger and turned to retrieve some of the sweet treat from the counter behind him. "I was afraid you would ask for ramen," he said, presenting the food to the starving girl, "We're just closing up so the ramen has already gone cold."
"Oh I don't want to be a bother," Sasuke said as she shifted in her seat to get some money to pay the man and just go home with her food.
"Nonsense!" he said in a hardy voice as his smile widened even more. "I wouldn't want to impose on one of our village's young kunoichi, now would I?" he said tapping her forehead protector with his finger and making her blush slightly as she felt more and more like a little girl.
"Thank you," she said as she gave a short bow and began to eat her rice balls.
Shortly after beginning her meal though a beautiful girl a few years older then herself came running up to the bar and moved behind the counter. "Father," she said as she huffed a little from her run, "The sink broke and Mother says she needs you to come home and fix it right now."
"Can't you see I have a customer?" the man said as his smile dropped a little but didn't fade.
"Sorry, but there's water everywhere and you're the only one who knows how to fix the pipes," the girl said in the most apologetic manner as she bowed slightly towards the older man.
Sighing to himself the old ramen cook looked around the empty street the ramen restaurant was on and sighed again, a little louder this time. "I hate to leave a customer all alone as she eats," he announced more then said. Thinking for a moment he looked like he got an idea and walked towards a door leading to the back of the restaurant. Opening it a little he stuck his head in and shouted, "Hey, Naruto! Could you come out here for a moment?"
The sound of dishes clattering from the back stopped and Sakura only realized there had been noise after it had actually stopped. Looking up from her meal she saw the man's daughter approach him and say, "Are you sure that-"
"Don't worry Ayame," He said, cutting her off with a wave of his hand. A few footsteps were heard and then a boy walked out from the back room, rubbing his hands dry with a dishcloth.
Sakura noticed that he was no older then herself but he seemed a bit nervous when he saw her sitting at the bar, almost like how some little kids get nervous around older kids. He wore a black turtleneck like shirt that had two large orange circles on the shoulders that stretched down the sleeves in two long orange strips. It was form fitting around the neck, wrists and waist but a little loose everywhere else. From what she could tell from behind the counter he had matching pants with similar orange strips going down the side but his most striking features were his wild strawberry blond hair and baby blue eyes. Features that were not often seen in the shinobi inhabited village.
"Yes, Teuchi-san?" he asked in a very nervous voice as he averted his eyes when Sakura made eye contact. She realized he had been looking at her since coming from the back.
"I was wondering if you could look after this costumer and close up once she's finished her meal?" the old man asked in his caring, smiling manner.
"Ah…sure," Naruto said as his nervousness seemed to increase.
"Good!" Teuchi said happily as he ruffled the boys hair and quickly lead his daughter out from behind the counter. "Please finish your meal. Naruto here will take care of you if you need anything else," he told Sakura who smiled widely and nodded at the friendly old man who returned the gesture and began to jog down the street towards his home, his daughter right behind him.
For a moment Sakura ate in silence as Naruto stood with his head down and his arms at his side, like he was in the military or something. The silence was bugging her so Sakura decided that she would talk to the blond haired boy. "So you work here?" she asked innocently as she took a small bite out of her second rice ball.
"I clean dishes in the back," Naruto said as he pulled on his sleeves, stretching the fabric more over his hands.
"Must be fun to work at a restaurant," Sakura said with a small smile as she remembered seeing how busy this ramen restaurant could get in the middle of the day, though she had never seen Naruto there. Then again this was her first time eating there so maybe he was just behind the crowd.
"I just clean dishes in the back," he said in a voice that sounded a bit depressed but that was becoming less nervous, "This is the first time I've been out here with a costumer."
"How long have you worked here?" Sakura asked as she took another bite of her rice ball and smiled slightly as Naruto shifted his gaze away from the floor but still didn't look at her.
"Since I was seven," he said with a shrug as his voice lost almost all of its awkwardness and almost sounded smooth. A bit high-pitched like a little kid's but somehow rowdier, like he was trying to sound tough.
"Wow, really?" Sakura asked when she stopped focusing on his voice and more on the words he said, seven was a young age to be working anywhere in the village. "So was that your dad and sister?" Sakura asked as she pointed her thumb in the direction the kind ramen chief and his daughter had run off in.
"You mean Teuchi-san and Ayame-chan?" Naruto said, his voice almost cracking as he raised an eyebrow. "No, they're just friends who let me work here," he said as he waved his hands in front of his face, adding with a bit of depression, "I never knew my parents."
"Oh," Sakura said as she realized she had said something that struck a nerve in the blond haired preteen. "Well my parents can be a pain sometimes," Sakura added in a carefree manner in an attempt to make light of the situation. Judging by the slightly hurt look the boy was trying to hide it wasn't working but his expression quickly changed as Sakura tipped her head slightly and showed him her forehead protector. Tapping it with her finger she said, "Maybe now that I'm a ninja of the leaf they'll show me a little respect."
Naruto's eyes widened as he leaned across the counter that divided the pair to get a closer look at a distance that made Sakura feel a bit uncomfortable. "You're a shinobi?" he asked in a voice barely over a whisper, his eyes never moving from the metal and fabric of the protector.
He may not have even been asking Sakura a question at all but that didn't stop her from answering anyway. "Yeah, I just became one yesterday," she said leaning away from him a little bit, "this morning I was assigned to a squad and everything."
"What did it feel like?" Naruto asked in the same whisper voice when his eyes locked with Sakura's as she smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "When you got the protector did it feel like a burst of happiness and joy? Like everything you had ever hoped for was all happening at once. Like you could do anything, accomplish anything. Like you were one step closer to your ultimate goal and nothing could stop you now." His voice was distant and overly excited, his eyes wide with amazement and it really didn't sound like he was talking to the person right in front of him at all.
"Kind of I guess," Sakura said as she laughed nervously a little and pulled a bit more away from the table. "I was more worried about whether or not I'd get on Sasuke's team," she said. Naruto's face fell instantly as he slowly lifted himself from the counter, "I did by the way. Get on his team I mean."
"Yeah…right," Naruto said in a low voice as he went right back into the quiet boy with his hands at his side that Sakura had just watched morph into a completely different person, "I don't know what I was thinking?"
He stood for a moment with his head down and Sakura bit her lip as she quickly realized that she had hit some kind of nerve in the boy that ran deep. Getting an idea she smiled slightly as she stuck her hand out across the counter. "My names Sakura, Sakura Haruno," She said with a smile as Naruto shifted his gaze upwards without lifting his head.
"Naruto," he said, his voice getting a little louder as he grabbed her hand and gave it a short shake which she returned full heartedly, "Naruto Uzumaki."
Sakura smiled up at the boy as she reached for another rice ball but found that there was none left. She must have eaten the three placed in front of her without knowing it while talking to Naruto and she had to admit that she wasn't hungry anymore. Without even asking Naruto took her plate and placed it on the counter behind him before spinning around and giving a slight bow.
"Thank you," Sakura said as she stood from her stool and fumbled with her purse to find some money to pay Naruto for her meal.
"Thank you for eating at Ichiraku's," Naruto said the line awkwardly, one he must of heard a thousand times but never actually gotten the chance to say.
Fumbling with the cash register as Sakura handed him her money he reached up to bring down the metal barrier used to lock up the open part of the store. "Thanks for keeping me company," Sakura said again as she walked a little ways down the street. "Talk to you later Naruto-kun," she said happily with a smile as she turned and waved at him.
He smiled nervously and gave a little wave as he closed the metal barrier that blocked her view of him. Smiling as she turned her smile grew twice as large when she heard from behind the metal barrier a quiet, "Bye Sakura."
The smile remained on her face for the rest of the night as she thought about the mysterious boy she had just met. In ways he was like Sasuke, she didn't know much about him but he gave off a good vibe. Maybe tomorrow she'd return to the ramen bar and try to find out more about the mysterious blond haired boy named Naruto Uzumaki.
A/N:
Well there you have, a little short but still the first chapter of my first story based on an anime. I know I probably missed a bunch of Japanese stuff and I didn't put the surnames first but I think their names look better that way and I'll rarely call them by their full names anyway.
So anyway as you've read in the story and the summary this story is about what would become of Naruto if he didn't become a ninja and what it would take for him to not be a ninja in the first place. So this story will be filled with a lot of emotion but hopefully won't become a total angst fest.
Also the story will be told mostly from the point of view of Sakura so please if you're going to flame me please don't do it just because of Sakura. I know that some people don't like her and we are dealing with early Sakura, the one that even the creator said was meant to make people angry, but she's a good point to launch the story from.
So, right, you've read this far so why not leave a review and tell me what you think. Thanks for reading; I hoped you enjoyed it.
