Hey guys!

This is my first ever story, so be nice.

Enjoy!

Just some information before we start:

The story begins in 1977, in Southmore, Australia. All cities are invented, because I have no clue about any Australian city's history or background. I have invented a few characters of my own, I believe only three characters in this story is actually original from the Naruto series.

This is a realistic story, which means there are no ninjas, magic or demon foxes and such, the only thing making wonders in this story,

is alcohol.

Mostly.


I: The Beginning

"Deal."

"Sold."

The elder shook hands with the tallest of them with a brief nod.

A second man, a blonde one, jumped in the car, and with a bit effort and a final yell of joy and excitement, the engine was running. The four young men positioned themselves in the well used and rusty Volkswagen Transporter and rolled out of the garage and on to the road.

"Great!" Keigo grinned from the passenger seat. "Just a couple of days at the workshop, and it'll be as good as new!"

Keigo Kutzusawa, the shortest of them all, was the bassist of their pretty unofficial band. He had short, brown hair and big, blue eyes, and a basically round appearance, highlighted by his twentyfour-seven-smile; possibly the most cheerful guy in the crew.

Chad Lee, the drummer, was the one you would refer to as the handsome, but slightly creepy one. He was the tallest, raging over them all with his 185.5 centimetres, and he had messy, black hair that reached down to his shoulders. He did not bother cutting it very often; neither did he bother shaving, so he constantly had black stubbles on his face. Though his dark brown eyes he used to gaze around with was enough for most girls to forget.

James Hamilton was their helpful, self-proclaimed manager. His tall figure, brown eyes, glasses and the long, brown hair tied in a small ponytail all screamed 'smart-ass', and for good reason; he was intelligent, laid-back and could do pretty much anything.

And then there was Minato Namikaze. The man you also could call the handsome, but in this case the one you will never get. Minato was possibly more laid-back than James, never made any plans unless necessary and pretty much did whatever he felt like. He had blonde, messy hair, azure eyes and a skinny physique, yet not too lanky; he still had muscles.

The four of them were taking advantage of James' winter vacation to go to The Core, a small city on the west coast. They had made a quite good deal with the old man who lived next to Minato, and by that getting their hands on a van they could drive to the west with. Only James went to school; Keigo was planning on it, but did not get in at the first attempt. Chad dropped out because he did not find the subject 'being a teacher' interesting enough, and Minato ... well, he did not feel like going to school just yet. So they all worked up some money, waited for James to finish his last exam, and now the time had come.

They all lived in the small town Southmore. It was pretty intimate there; people pretty much knew everyone, and as no one were particularly rich, they were a relaxed, genuinely happy and hardworking people. Minato, Chad and Keigo had since childhood played music, and during their teens they had decided to get together and make something out of their talent. They were pretty popular too, at least back home; their music could not have travelled too far out of Southmore, as not a lot of people came by. Now they were in their twenties (though Minato still looked like a teenager) and still played music; not for the sake of fame, but because they liked it.

The boys talked and laughed all the way to the workshop, and when they arrived after a three minutes drive, the van started to slow down by itself. Minato (who had not come all this way to be stuck outside the garage) shifted to second gear, punched the dashboard, and once the motor roared again, he hit the gass pedal and rushed in. He made a sudden stop to prevent any damage from happening and shouted: "Made it!"

"Fuck you, Minato," Chad mumbled and punched the blonde in the back of his head. "Stop making a big deal out of shit."

"I never make a big deal out of shit, I don't think I ever gave a damn," Minato stated as he got out of the van.

"That's about right," came a voice from inside the workshop. It was Keigo's father, with a screwdriver in his hand and a stated look on his face, which might had its origin from him almost being hit by the van had it not been for Minato making a sudden stop.

"Oh, hi, mr. Kutzusawa," Minato smiled and seemed to have just noticed the man.

Mr. Kutzusawa sighed, but decided to not care. "See you got your deal, alright?"

"Yep," Keigo said proudly. "It needs some fixing up, it's pretty ... rusty, but we'll get it going. How many days do you think? 2? 3?" Mr. Kutzusawa examined the van – the rust, the tired engine, the non-existing interior.

"It does need some fixing, alright ..." he said with his eyes on the engine. "I'll get the engine up, you do the rest. Should be done in a few days, yeah."

"Great," Minato said from the back door and pulled off the only curtain in the van with a rough move.

"Careful," James said warily.

Minato chuckled. "I think you could've said that when we got in and drove it here. This thing could fall apart just by poking it."

"Well, we've got all we need here," Keigo said slowly as he rummaged the lockers in the workshop. "We have enamel, paint, tools ..."

"I think we gotta wash this after we get all the rust off," Chad said as he followed a spider inside the van with his eyes.

"Alright, let's start, then!" Minato pronounced happily, grabbed a tool and started looking for the worst piece of rust on the old car. The others followed his move, and while Mr. Kutzusawa took a look at the engine, they removed the rust. It took a pretty long time to finish the work, but as the afternoon came, they could consider themselves done.

"My arms are aching," Keigo complained, but smiled as he sat down on the concrete floor. "Hey, Dad, do you have that sandblaster here? Forgot to check."

"Yeah, it's right there in the corner," his father said and pointed. He had taken a break and sat down to watch them work with a large, flower-patterned cup of herbal tea.

"Oh," Keigo mumbled and went to get it. Chad did the honor of blasting the powdered rust off the van so they could place the necessarily layers of red and white paint and enamel on it, and when the stars were shining, they were done for the night.

"Phew, I'm done for it," James yawned as they walked out of the workshop. "I'm going to bed."

"'Night," they said in unison. Keigo stayed with his father at the workshop, and Minato and Chad walked off in other directions to their own beds.

Minato walked up the path from the road to his house and was greeted by his five year old German shepherd dog. "Hey, Boss," he mumbled and was followed by the large dog as he entered the house.

"I'm home!" he shouted, and immediately cursed at himself for shouting; Matt would of course be asleep by now. But he had no reason to worry; Matt was still up.

"Hey, Minato!" the nine-year-old cheered and jumped at him as to put up a fight.

"Hey, champ," Minato grinned and lifted his kid brother at his shoulder to carry him to the bedroom. "What're you doing still up? I thought you were supposed to be asleep already."

"You're not in bed," Matt pouted. "I couldn't sleep, so Mum showed me how to make cookies!"

"Whoa, cookies?"

"Put me down, I'll show you!"

The kid ran off to the kitchen and came back with a bowl full of soft, warm chocolate chip cookies. They smelled delicious.

"You really made these by yourself? They're great!" Minato said through a mouthful of cookie. "Better than I ever made them."

Matt smiled widely of pride.

"Hey, there, Minato," their Mum said as she entered the living room they were in. "How did it go with the van?"

"Great," Minato said from the couch. "Mr. Kutzusawa is fixing up the engine, so all we gotta do is make it look good."

"I guess you'll be heading off in a few days, then. Don't do anything too rash."

"Don't do anything you wouldn't do?" Minato smiled innocently. He earned himself a pillow to the head.

"Just be careful and have fun," his mother said. "I think it's great that you're doing this." She smiled and ruffled the blonde hair of her oldest son. "Put Matt to bed for me, will you. I'm going to sleep."

"Alright, good night," Minato said.

"I can put myself to bed, thank you very much!" Matt said loudly.

"Of course you can," Minato chuckled. "But I can't have you running around by yourself at night. And when I'm going to bed, so are you." He picked the laughing boy up again and climbed the stairs to their bedroom. He went to brush his teeth, and when he returned, Matt was lying quite quietly in his bed. Minato walked silently over to his own bed, threw off his jeans, socks and singlet and was about to slide underneath the covers when his brother spoke.

"Minato, are you going away?"

Minato turned to look at his brother, who were still lying in bed with his back facing him. He walked over and sat down.

"Yeah, but not for long," he said and looked out of the window to see the clear sky.

"How long?" This time, his brother turned and sat up.

"Dunno," he admitted. "That's sort of part of the fun. You'll do it someday too when you're older, if you want to. But hey," he grinned at his brother, "I'll buy you a present, promise." And with that, the little boy could sleep sweetly.