Pairing: SasuNaruSasu (As of now I'm not sure if there will be any others, this is my first story and I'm kind of winging it! If there are any you'd like to see just let me know and I'll see if I can fit it in!)

Rating: Mature, probably. NC-17 most likely.

Warnings: There is going to be a yaoi pairing in this story, beautiful man on man love, so if that's not your thing then please leave now so you won't get offended. There will probably be angst as well.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (*my creys*) or any of its characters (*more creys*). Nope, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto (that lucky, genius bastard). I only like to imagine that I own them.

A/N: This is my first story and my first fanfiction. I have really no experience in this area, haha. But I really love a lot of authors on this site and I tend to have a lot of ideas but I never try to write them down. This first chapter is short, just an introduction to the story really. I hope that this turns out well and that you enjoy it. Please do review, I'd love feedback. I'm super nice and don't bite at all.

Summary: He knew the world hadn't always been like this. He knew that once upon a time, things were different. He remembered his grandfather telling him stories of a time before, when cities were lively and filled with culture, of a time when most of the population wasn't dead, or dying, or wanting to die.

Unbeta'd: I'm very detail oriented and I'm pretty sure that there aren't any mistakes, but if there are please feel free to let me know & I will try to fix them. However, please be aware (and I'm sure you'll notice) that I have my own kind of weird writing style. I feel that it works well with the plot of this story, so I hope you enjoy it.

Lavender

He made his way through the city; what was once a bustling metropolis was now a barren wasteland. The buildings were run down - dirty and slowly crumbling into pieces, their inhabitants long gone – and the streets were lifeless, completely empty except for a few pieces of debri that would flutter in the wind from time to time.

Naruto wasn't surprised when he saw the city's desolate state. In fact, the only thing that would have surprised him is if he were surprised. He'd seen many a city like this before, and he was pretty sure that he'd see many more. That's just how things were, how things had always been, at least since he could remember.

He knew the world hadn't always been like this. He knew that once upon a time, things were different. He remembered his grandfather telling him stories of a time before, when cities were lively and filled with culture, of a time when most of the population wasn't dead, or dying, or wanting to die.

'People actually had homes then, nice homes that is, of their own, and they were free, you know? Free to do what they want, free to make something out of themselves, as long as they didn't hurt anybody and abided by the laws, and the laws were reasonable,' his grandfather had told him. 'They were comfortable. Happy. They worked and came home, they spent time with their families, had fun with their friends. They followed their dreams, and they didn't have to worry too much about anything really. People, for the most part, were kinder to each other back then, and the world was full of opportunity and beauty.

…But then everything changed,' his grandfatherhad continued, 'Natural disasters struck. They destroyed crops, they destroyed lives. Then the wars came. Resources were so scarce, you know, due to the destruction, that governments panicked, individuals panicked. People began to lie, cheat, and steal, even kill, for anything they deemed valuable enough to want.

The world became so lawless and civilization became so disorganized that eventually all forms of the past government disintegrated. They just couldn't hold up against the chaos, they couldn't control the people. Corrupt officials backed by crime organizations rose up and took a hold of the reigns. They manipulated and controlled what was left of the population through fear and the human need for some sort of balance, for some sort of security.

They preyed on the weak to make themselves strong.

And it worked.'

The world now, as Naruto knew it, was a very different place than the world that his grandfather had remembered, but this world was all Naruto knew. And for this reason, he was not surprised to see that yet another city that he had come upon was vacant. It took time to get to cities that were actually inhabited by a community of people, he knew this, and he didn't mind.

After his grandfather died, he left the city that he was raised in and began travelling for the sake of travelling, with no particular destination in mind. He needed to do something with his life. He needed a purpose in a world that seemed purposeless. He did not want to end up like so many others. He did not want to be a criminal and he did not want to be controlled by criminals.

So he travelled. He was looking for something, but he didn't know what. All he knew was that he was determined to find it.