Ch 1
The light of the sun peeked through the crack in the window shades, softly illuminating the room. Central in the room was an occupied child's bed, under who's covers quietly slept a blond four year old. He slowly shifted back and forth as the newly lit room slowly roused him from slumber.
Two bright blue eyes opened. The child appeared almost confused at first, but focused in on the world around him. With recognition dawning on his face he rose from his bed and gave off an exaggerated yawn. It was by far the slowest action of his that was too come that morning, for as soon as his mind was full awake, he was out of his bed, rushing around the room as he hurried to get dressed. His cute orange pajamas found there way onto the floor, forgotten along with a great number of other clothes and toys. On went attire much more suited for the active day that lay ahead of him.
Shooting out the door, the boy went straight to the table in the center of the main room of the apartment that he shared with his mother. Taking his seat, he began to wait. This boy, Naruto, was by no means a patient person. He had a short attention span and was always in the mood to be doing and moving. So when his expectations for a normal morning weren't immediate met was back up and looking around.
Normally his morning consisted of himself waking up, getting dressed, then going out to the table, where his mother would have breakfast waiting for his arrival. But now, she was no where to be found. While it wasn't common for her to not be awake yet, it had happened in the past. The blond quickly shuffled to his mothers room, and opened the door with no regard for stealth. He prepared to shout his arrival to awaken his slumbering mother, but was startled when he found this room was also empty. A quick examination found a bed that was still made from the day before and a laundry basket that didn't contain the clothes she had been wearing yesterday.
Puzzled by the lack of evidence to his mother location, he left her room and moved to the last place in their small apartment that could possibly contain his missing mother, the bathroom. For the boy it felt almost like a game, and when his hand grasped the handle to the bathroom, he fully expected his mother to pop out, and from there his day would go on like normal with this incident forgotten, but that isn't how it played out. Instead when he opened the door to the bathroom, he was rewarded with the same sight that had presented itself twice before, nothing.
Thoroughly confused by this point, the blond slumped down at the table once again. Elbows pinned on the table and chin in his palms, Naruto's young mind was thinking through his new situation. It was foreign for him. A new experience to be pondered. But like mentioned earlier, he was a boy of action not thought and so he began to think with arguably the most important part of his body, his stomach. Which after not receiving its usual sustenance readily, was demanding immediate compensation.
So the first order of business that occurred to Naruto was food. Pushing a chair up to the kitchen counter, he began construction of a breakfast for champions. Five minutes later he was back at the table. Arranged before him was his masterpiece of culinary talent. A bowl of sugary cereal, that he was only supposed to have on special occasions, a piece of bread crudely covered in butter, he didn't know how to work the toaster or a knife, and finally a glass of chocolate milk, again something that he was only supposed to have on special occasions.
Hastily, he consumed his first self made meal with gusto. His favorite part being the buttery bread. But with the completion of his meal, he was again left without any clear direction to take. On a normal day he would now have to brush his teeth, but without his mother there to force him to, Naruto favored skipping that step. Instead he decided to get his shoes on and make for the park for a day of play.
For him the disappearance of his mother seemed rather unimportant. His day ended up playing out like any other. And after a full day of playing at the park an exhausted Naruto had returned home where he found his mother asleep in her room. This unusual day was washed away from his memory as insignificant.
XXXXX
"MOM, you're going soooooo slow!" Exclaimed a five year old Naruto as he bounced around energetically.
Calmly holding her son's hand as he attempted to drag her along, Kushina smile warmly. She always enjoyed seeing him so happy. Giving into his tugging, she increased her own pace to match that which he was setting. Through the streets they went in the early morning sun. A few minutes later they arrived at the front on the academy. Children and parents were all milling about in the courtyard waiting for the first day of the academy to officially begin for yet another generation of future shinobi.
Naruto wasted no time in releasing his mother hand and rushing to join the other children. His mother followed at a much more sedated pace. She admired how brave her son was. He never seemed to second guess himself and was always so open with other people.
"Kushina! What took you so long to get here?" came a shout from nearby. The red head in question turned to the voice to be confronted by Uchiha Mikoto, an old friend of hers.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, if anything I should ask why you are so early." Kushina replied with a laugh. "Where's Fugaku?"
Waving her hand over to a group of men, Kushina spotted her friends husband chatting. "They are over there talking about the most boring of thing, I can't believe you took so long to come and save me from it all. Really, what did take you so long?" The other mother questioned.
Kushina rolled her eyes as Mikoto didn't let her evade, "Naruto was just dead set on wearing this ridicules outfit and then he wouldn't just eat his breakfast or brush his teeth, he was to excited talking about the academy. How is Sasuke handling it?"
"Oh he is very excited, but is trying to not show it and act 'cool' like Itachi and impress Fugaku. I'm sure that will wear off though. Sasuke has never been good at being quiet and calm, especially when Naruto is around." The Uchiha responded as they both observed the children. Naruto had promptly jumped into a game of tag while Sasuke was standing off to the side trying his best to maintain his composure, but to both adults it was obvious that he wanted to join the excitement.
It ended up not mattering as a chunin exited the Academy and began shout to acquire the attention of all those gathered in the courtyard. And so begun Naruto's first day at the academy.
It was a amazing day for the young boy. He had fun and met a lot of new people. For him it felt like it went by to fast. When it was over in the afternoon, he was released along with all the other children to their awaiting parents.
Scouring through the crowd, Naruto did his best to find his mother. Unfortunately everywhere he looked he came up empty. He was soon distracted by an invite to join some kids going to the park. Now normally Naruto would have jumped at the chance to go to the park and play more, but he had really been looking forward to telling his mom, all about his first day of class, so in a rather unusual move he declined.
Over the course of twenty minutes the courtyard slowly cleared out leaving Naruto and a handful of others its sole occupants. The blond sat alone on a swing, steadily rocking back and forth. Inwardly feelings of confusion swirled around with a little sadness mixed in. Having finally had enough of waiting, he stood from the swing and began trudging home at a sluggish pace. The world seemed a little less exciting as it had that morning, yet everything looked the same to the small boy.
Arriving at his family's apartment, Naruto casually opened the door and announced himself. He was received by a thunderous crash. Drawing his attention, he spotted his mother standing by the table. Cover the ground before her was a field of glass and dark liquid.
"Naruto… you're home." She called out awkwardly. "Ahhh, wait over there while I cl-clean this."
Naruto was struck my the odd situation. His mother wasn't a clumsy person. He watched at she slowly began picking up the pieces of glass from the floor. But the pace of her cleaning upset Naruto. To him she seemed to be moving deliberately slow and he began pacing back and forth impatiently. His attention was again drawn to his mother when she gave a sudden yelp.
Turning to her he gazed upon her as she held her left hand to her chest. A cool stream of blood slipped from between her grasping fingers. Gliding down her arm it dripped off her elbow and pooled amongst the glass.
Naruto's frustration was momentarily replaced with worry for his injured mother. Began moving to her, but she held up her hand to stop him. "M-mom, are you ok?" he asked.
"Yes dear." Her voice was shaky and cheerfulish, though to her son it sounded fake. "Why don' you go to the park." It wasn't a question, she wasn't asking. The blond slowly nodded his head and backed out of the apartment.
"But-" Naruto started, but she cut him off.
"Now!" She shouted after him. Slightly frightened, he slammed the door and took off towards the park. Had he been playing more attention he would have noticed tears joining the blood and glass on the floor.
When he finally came home around dinner time, the floor had been cleaned and his mother was asleep in her room. For now the incident was to be forgotten with no similar acts to replay for some time.