The sky was dark and vast as stars danced in the depths of the dark blue horizon. The moon was half lit, but it glowed in his light blue eyes. He didn't really see his face in the reflection of the window, but he didn't really want to either. All that could be seen was the pupil of his eye and a spark of hope in the reflection. He had been on planes before, even private ones like the one he was in now, but this flight was the most exciting one he had ever been on. He was going home to Konoha, home to do something he hadn't done in over ten years. The nervous tension and restless anticipation fermenting and souring in his chest made him tap his foot with an abnormal speed. To quiet his nerves, he closed his eyes with a light smile on his face. He remembered when he first rode a private jet. His friends and family were so excited. The noise and clatter and joy that transferred from one person to another was an immense feeling that may never be forgotten even if he grew demented or senile. Maybe he wouldn't be either of those things and just remember everything back in his day.

Music played softly in his head as he heard a string of piano chords echoing in the confines of his mind. He hadn't played the piano in almost ten years. He had only reacquainted himself with the instrument and keys last year. When he did sit in front of a Parisian piano, his heart opened up and music just flowed readily and willingly. At first, he was angry that he couldn't get rid of his knowledge of music, but he grew to accept it as time went on. As the sounds of the plane's turbines sounded, he created his own snippet of music. He began humming at first out of tune and then, after clearing his throat, it was more in tune than before. He hadn't done this in a while. He was happy to be able to feel the rhythm of a good song rehearse itself in his head. He could do it for hours until he grabbed the nearest instrument and sung his heart out. As he gazed into the passing stars and faint clouds, he grabbed his pencil from inside of his business shoe and opened his old journal. There were so many songs already in it from years ago, but he had new songs to write in it now. He tapped the pencil to make a metronome sound and then picked up the pace until it sounded right. When he finally did, he parted his lips to sing.

It's been so long

Since I've heard your voices

Do you even sound the same?

The memories of yesterday

Are so far away

Is it wrong to smile

After you're gone?

We've been in trouble

Times before

Held our heads up

When life became so torn

It's been years

Cried so many tears

I've lived without you

I've breathed without you

But

But

I miss you more

Every single day

I miss you more

Now that it's come to this day

Our voices have gotten older

For a minute

We were so much colder

But the better days

I joked with you

I miss

Oh, I miss

I miss you more

Hey, my name's Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki, I mean. I take it you want to know why I'm singing, right? Well, believe it or not, I'm on my way to a band reunion at one of the most famous stadiums in Konoha. That's where I had my first debut as a singer. I'm alone on this plane now, but, years ago, I was never alone. It's been fifteen years since I wrote a new song for the world to hear. See, you would think of a reunion for a musician to be kind of like "they started out in their twenties and are back in their (what like) forties" or "they were wonders in their thirties and are returning in their fifties from a hiatus." This isn't one of those reunions, unfortunately.

The night life was one of the most exciting times in Konoha. Tonight was one of the biggest nights for music legends to reunite and bring a spectacular performance to the audience of 90,000 members plus more. People were crowding around the box offices in front of Ao Stadium, screaming and taking pictures of each other. Everyone was hyped up and bouncing around. Some were singing their favorite songs by their favorite stars from fifteen years passed.

Fifteen years... Doesn't that sound like an incredible wait for a reunion to occur? It was an incredibly long wait for a night like this. Who would have thought Wild Beast's recording company, Rebound Records, could afford to hold such an event? They truly did pull through for this opening night.

The box office clerks were giving out tickets by the dozen outside of the stadium. There were six clerks in each of the three booths, and each one were working like madmen. Die-hard fans were banging on the windows, demanding for their tickets and screaming their excitement. News reporters were getting every bit of detail they could for TV viewers at home and/or at taverns. No one wanted to miss opening night for the biggest names in history. The atmosphere was so surreal, it felt like a person's wildest imagination. One of the male reporters managed to snag a group of young girls in the front of the congested lines at the box office to get an interview. Each one had a thick coat to protect them from the winter weather, and they each had posters rolled up and fitted snugly in their arms. The reporter tapped the girl with a dark orange coat and blonde highlights in her semi-spiked hair on the shoulder and was greeted with a friendly smile and widened eyes in response.

"Excuse me," the man called, gaining the young girls' attention. "Hello, are you-"

"Hey, Channel 25! What is up!?" the orange-coat-wearing girl shouts, letting out an excited yelp.

"Yeah!" the other three girls cheer.

"Hello, to you, too! I can see you four are really excited about opening night, aren't you?" he asked, holding his earpiece and microphone tightly.

"Are we ever! Whoo!" the girls yelled, earning more screams from other fans behind and in front them.

"Yeah!" the reporter shouts back. "So let me ask you," the reporter says, pointing at the four girls, "let me ask you, how much did you pay for your tickets? Are you willing to share with us - at Channel 25 - how much you sacrificed for your tickets?"

"Well, me and my friends got together and paid about 200 smackeroos for our tickets but you know what? It was so worth it!" the orange-coat-wearing girl answers.

"Why did you want to pay so much for this show?" the reporter asks, chuckling.

"Cuz we love Too Much Chakra! They are the best band in my world! I'm flauntin' the Kyuubi style so hard, I think I'm puttin' it on the map!" the orange-coat-wearing girl declares.

"Why do you love Too Much Chakra so much?" he asks.

"Cuz they're the fucking shit, dude!" a die-hard fan shouts, holding a beer in the air and glowsticks in another hand.

Some of the news crew laughs as well as others at the pudgy man with a cap and goatee. A girl in a gray coat and spiky hair, who is also a friend of the orage-coat-wearing girl, leans into the reporter's microphone to answer his question.

"We love TMC because they're beautiful, talented, complex - "

"And they're hot and sexy!" a die-hard fangirl shouts.

The gray-coat-wearing girl laughs then responds, "Yeah!"

"And - and - they're an inspiration to music-lovers everywhere. They're the genuine article, man!" the orange-coat-wearing girl shouts.

"I can see that from your - from your coats! Are your friends wearing a style from each of the band members?" he asks, close to shouting it out from the loudness of the fans.

"Actually, yeah. My friend," the girl says, pointing to her wig-wearing friend, "Kiyoko, is wearing the Tri-Yang style from Too Much Chakra's drummer. My friend," the girl points to another friend wearing a very high ponytail and gold earring in her right earlobe, "Marlene, is wearing Possession style from their vocalist. And my friend," the girl says, draping her arm around her other friend, "Aisha, is wearing Man-Beast style from the bass and secondary rhythm guitarist."

"That's impressive! So what's your expectations of this event?" he asks, holding the microphone to the orange-coat wearing girl.

"I hope I get to see Uzumaki's 8-pack!" the girls shouts, earning more shouts from other fangirls and a few guys.

"Well, there you have it, folks! Oh, and, uh, what's your name?" he asks.

"My name's Hitomi a.k.a. Mrs. Uzumaki! YEAH!" the girl exclaims, holding a fist in the air.

"Uh oh! Watch out, folks! We got ourselves a single woman looking to claim a legend! Well, Ms. Hitomi, thank you for this brief interview and I hope you enjoy the show. Back to you, Amy!" he shouts, looking out into the crowd.

The people celebrating the return of their rock icons have a lot to be happy about because a lot happened to them while they were doing it big in the industry...

Security guards posted inside of the Ao Stadium were calmly unlocking the front doors and more guards were standing in front of entrance booths to ensure safety of any concert attenders and staff members. About half-an-hour later, two Black Opts members opened each set of double doors and six were positioned at the entrance. Another officer came out and announced that the fans be let in. People were rushing through the doors to get their ticket stubs scanned and granted access to the largest house in Konoha. They were running to get to their respective seats, people helping each other out and not causing any riots. It was truly a rare case not to find any arguing over whose seat was where and which asshole bumped into the other.

I hadn't been this nervous to perform in front of anybody in years. This was scarier than when I started out!

Two hours later, the lights were cut off and all that was heard was the opening solo from a lead guitarist. An intrusion from the snare drums added itself to the solo then fog arose from the apron of the stage and into the audience. An eery blue light creeped its way onstage and illuminated the fog. The crowd was about to start screaming but remained calm for a few more moments to see who was opening the show. Bolts of light raced through the house then flashes of colorful shapes ran across the crowd. The excitement was starting to build. As a small reminder of the good, old days, the women started shouting a chant and the men began to follow.

"Uzu! Uzu! Uzu! Uzu!" the women shouted.

"Maki! Maki! Maki! Maki!" the men followed.

But you get to be the unlucky bastards who figure all that out. Let me explain with my story on how boys get the game fucked up...

"Too Much! Too Much! Too Much! Too Much!" the women shouted, stomping their feet.

"Chakra! Chakra! Chakra! Chakra!" the men shouted, clapping loudly to match the stomping of the women's feet.

"Hey, Ruto?" a man asked, walking out to the front of the stage.

"What's up, Shika?" Naruto replied, looking to his friend and strumming his guitar with a hard swipe.

"Play that fuckin' fiddle," Shika responded.

"With pleasure!" Naruto said, running up to the front and jumping over a speaker to play an opening riff. "Come on!"

My story'll start in late middle school to early high school. Me, Shikamaru the vocalist, Kiba the bassist, and Neji the drummer all met toward the end of middle school. It was our last year at Konoha Academy. It was one of the key moments in my life that started my career. Iruka Umino (or, if you want, my dad) had to convince my principal, Hiruzen Sarutobi, to let me graduate for the eighth grade, and believe me he wasn't too lenient on things...

Konoha Academy, a private school that specializes in giving students the skills needed to excel in high school studies. Sadly, a decent portion of students don't really care about surviving more school; however, they do care about getting out of it. Four boys in this school are a part of the portion who care about getting out. They are the ones accused of starting a riot with high school freshmen from another disrtict when the true story is otherwise. Naruto Uzumaki, the main one accused of starting the fight, happens to be the one who knows the full story and will gladly accept the punishment if it gets him out of school. Try telling that to his guardian. Iruka Umino was Principal Sarutobi's victim today. The Principal's Office is usually not the best of places to be if your child has done something he shouldn't have done from the very beginning. Sarutobi was finishing his last document as the "victim" parent sat in the chair across from the dark wood desk.

"Mr. Umino," Principal Sarutobi called.

Iruka hated going to parent conferences enough, but did Naruto really have to push him this far and screw up his records at the end of the year? Well, something must have gotten to his nerves because Naruto had more reserve than that. Whatever the reason, Iruka had to answer any question with utmost honesty and calm features.

"I'm not sure what has gone wrong with your boy, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to expel him."

"No, don't!" Iruka pleaded with an incredulous look in his eyes. "He's two weeks away from graduating. That's unreasonable!"

"Umino, you know by now that this isn't his first offense. In fact, this is his third big fight with older students because of that little girl he hangs around. What someone should have done was stop him from talking to that girl. He gets into trouble so over his head, he can't bring himself back to reality."

"Let me talk to him for a moment, Mr. Sarutobi. I know Naruto can be careless, but he's not doing this on purpose. Sakura is a sweet girl. She just gets mixed up in the wrong crowd, and Naruto is really the only one who cares enough to protect her. They're friends no matter how you look at it or how far apart you separate them. Friends always find a way back to each other. He had to have had some reason to cause another outbreak, I'm sure of it! Please, just give me a chance to figure out what's bothering him, sir! Please..."

Sarutobi sucked in the smoke from his pipe then blew out thick arms of clouds. He understood what his former student must be going through right now since he was a father once and is now a grandfather. Besides, the boy looked concerned for his son. Why not give him a chance to talk it over with Naruto?

"...If you believe - as a parent - that there was some means to his actions, then, by all means, help him to understand that some disputes are not worth solving on campus. I will give you until tonight to decide what you will do about him. Just know that if it were up to me, he would be expelled and taken off the list for performing on the graduation roster."

"Thank you, sir," Iruka sighed in relief.

"Your welcome, boy."

Sarutobi stood from his desk and walked to his window. Once he heard Iruka take his leave, he smirked at the thought of his younger days when his son got into trouble.

Un-friggin-believable! Iruka thought, rushing to the Nurse's Office. What on earth is going on with that boy? This is his third fight in this quarter alone!

The four - culprits of the fight - boys were sitting in the Nurse's Office, bruised and beaten down. None of them looked too happy or approachable as they sat down with their eyes closed, hoping to ease the pain on every limb and ligament. The smell of anitseptic and sounds of a crying child disturbed one of the boys from his attempted nap as he lay across the check-up table. This boy was Kiba Inuzuka. He had a cut brow and swollen jaw, but his nose was working just fine to smell someone's musty or sweaty armpits and the alcohol that was killing 99.9% of everyone's germs. Another one of the boys decides to open his eyes and look at the ceiling, knowing the pain wasn't going to go away any faster the longer he sat around doing nothing. He shifted some in the blue-cushioned seat before taking his eyes off the ceiling. He looked over to one of the captives in the office and felt a pang of guilt in his chest when he saw him. This guilt-ridden kid was Chouji Akimichi. Blonde bangs were blanketing the other kid's eyes, creating shadows over them, and his blue eyes were blank and dull like a motionless sea. The blonde's lips were parted, but there was no sign of him breathing. He almost looked like a corpse with bandages here and there.

"Hey, Naruto?" Chouji called.

"Yeah, Cho," Naruto answered, looking to Chouji's blood-stained face.

"Think the big man's gonna expel you?" Chouji said, adjusting his ice pack. "This is your fourth riot this year."

Another boy shifts on his back across the cushion table to speak. His movements are fairly slow, so consider him the laggard of this group.

"The last time you asked him that was in third quarter," the boy reminds, scratching his chest then squinching in pain. "Notice the pattern of his answer to that question?"

"And what is this pattern that you're talking about, Shikamaru?" Kiba asks, shifting in his seat to face Shikamaru.

"He wants to get out of this hellhole but never through a bad intention," Shikamaru answers, pulling his rubberband out of his hair.

Naruto heard a pop coming from Shikamaru and slowly lifted his head from the chair he was slumped in. He actually liked Shikamaru better when he let his hair loose. It made him look cooler, but he figured the band was making his head hurt from the sore he got. Getting kicked in the head is not something to be reckoning with, especially when the nurse has to put antisceptic on the sore. Chouji moved his chair closer to the circle. He was sitting in it backwards so the movements were close to walking.

"I don't blame him at all," he says, rubbing the side of his neck. "As a matter of fact, I support him all the way."

"Same here, but you know our parents are gonna flip when they hear this shit," Kiba remarks.

"Yeah, that is a problem," he said, resting his head on the back of the chair.

"Huh?" Shikamaru questioned, turning his head. "Oh, right, the folks. My head couldn't feel any better from the jump, now my mom's gonna throw a drill in the wound. Thanks a lot, Chouji!"

"Your very welcome," Chouji nodded, smirking.

"None of this is your fault, so don't trip..." Naruto said, slumping lower in the chair. "It's my fault it got blown out of proportion."

"Hey, don't say it like that!" Chouji argued. "That guy had it coming! What, with hitting on Sakura like that, he needed his ass kicked!"

"Not to mention, he's been hating on you since school started," Kiba said, moving his ice pack to cover his face.

"He's not the only one who hates me, you know that..." Naruto says, now tired and angry.

"Naruto! Boys!"

All four of the boys pop up then grunt in the quick reaction. Their bodies were pained all over, yet some asshole chose their vulnerability to shout.

"Yo, Iruka, can you keep it down some?" Shikamaru asked, nearly begging.

"Don't give me that shit! What the hell has gone wrong with you four? Why in the hell would you get into a fight two weeks before you graduate? You're in the process of getting expelled!"

Naruto had had enough of it. He was through with being minimized by others, through with getting into trouble for the real fucker who started it, through with getting his friends mixed up in all-out brawls, through with disappointing his father, through with regretting everything. He needed to be alone, he needed to do something for himself that wouldn't matter to anyone. He needed to escape and he was going to do it now!

"Naruto?" Iruka questioned as he watched Naruto run passed him.

"Naruto! Where you going?" Chouji called after him.

He made a complete break for the door and through the hallways. He saw Shikamaru run out of the door behind him, but he picked up his pace until he no longer saw anyone behind him. He ran down two hallways and down three stairwells until his fatigue caught up with him. He took a quick breath then walked to a broken door as he heard total silence. The label on the door is faded, but he can still read the words: Choir Room. It is an old, stuffy room with floors covered in wilting music sheets and broken instruments. Gently, he walks to a something cloaked beneath a brown leather cover. He yanks it off and gazes upon the Parisian piano. The smooth surface of it was cold to the touch under his fingertips. As he seats himself down, he presses on an ebony key then three other ivory keys follow and he creates a beautiful sound. This is a secret no one can know of, not yet.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Kiba calls, stopping to catch his breath from running.

"Any luck, Kiba?" Shikamaru asked, getting really worried.

"No," Kiba answered through heavy panting. He stood straight to respond further, "I couldn't find him out back. What about you? Was he in the teacher's lounge?"

"Nope," Shikamaru answered, "wasn't there either."

"Hey, guys!" Chouji called from behind them.

"You couldn't find him either?" Shikamaru asked.

Chouji shook his head before taking a deep breath.

"Guess we ought to call that Uchiha kid," Shikamaru responed, putting a finger under his chin to think. "He's the only one I can think of who'd be able to actually find just about anyone or anything."

"Oh god!" Chouji complains, slapping his forehead. "First we lose our best friend, now we need some maniac to find him."