Long ago, in the Kingdom of Konoha, there was a cheerful and bustling village with a royal family ruling nearby.
King Fugaku was preparing a grand ball for all the noble and rich villagers. The villagers thought it was another party thrown by the lonely king, but little did they know that King Fugaku was searching for the perfect wife—the rightful queen. And, it was not known at all, that he planned to find the fairest princesses—who were attending the ball, too—to marry his sons off into their own kingdom to rule.
It was the night before the grand ball when the king brought up the event to his two sons, who were completely unaware. The royal family was seated in the dining room, at a long rectangular table that felt empty with two rows down of neatly tucked in seats. As their serving maid poured wine into their chalice, King Fugaku cleared his throat and ordered the maid to leave.
"It's an important matter. You may leave now."
"Yes, sire," the maid automatically replied, and quickly took her leave by a hasted curtsy.
Feeling a bit of pity, Itachi looked longingly at the kind maid who was scurrying towards the doors. He had noticed earlier that she had done something to her hair, since she was serving the king today; her normally straight hair was weaved into pretty black curls.
"Itachi," the king began.
"Yes, my lord?" Itachi calmly turned his head around to stare at his father, sitting at the head of the table.
"Tomorrow, both of you will be attending my grand ball, and I expect there to be some courting."
There was silence after that, and only the scrape of their forks against their plates could be heard. It took five seconds for Sasuke to get out of his brooding before he sprang out of his chair and yelled, "Father, I am not going!"
"Yes, you are going, Sasuke, for I command you to."
"But—!"
Itachi rested his hands on his brother's shoulders and gave him a comforting smile. "It's fine, little brother. You have nothing to fear." With that, he gave Sasuke an affectionate poke to the forehead, and they resumed their quiet dinner.
Right by the castle was a shady forest of meandering rows of maple trees. The villagers of Konoha took the common maple trees for granted, as it had a unique power. The founder of Konoha was the first one to figure out its use. Hashirama Senju was actually a monkey before he became the First Hokage. He wanted to start a kingdom under his rule, but couldn't do so for he was an animal. He decided to test his parents' tales of the magical powers of the maple tree, and bit his way into the very core. The monkey drank too much sap, that instead of morphing into a human, he also gained special abilities of creating fire. His fire, that blew off his fingertips into fine enchantments as he pleased, was as red as the leaves of the tree itself.
Among the maple trees stood a single lime tree. The lime tree grew the sourest and sweetest limes, and the green skin made a cool resting spot for the frogs and toads that roamed in Konoha's forest.
One morning, two toads, a young orange one and an old red one, were hopping through the forest and came upon the lime tree. Deciding to rest, they sat on the fallen limes and waited for a fly to whiz by.
"Hey brat, I think it's time for you to get some ladies," the older toad croaked.
"PERVY SAGE! No way am I 'getting' ladies'! I'm too young," the younger toad protested.
The younger toad had the brightest orange skin, purple lips, and eyes as yellow as the sun. That toad could have gotten any she-toad he wanted, but lately, all of them had already found their partner for mating season. However, the older toad, whose name was Jiraiya, would not settle for another year to wait. He also wanted to see humans for the first time, and he would finally get a chance to do so once he finds a mate for Naruto.
"You know Naruto, I hear the humans eat food dropped from the heavens," the older toad exclaimed.
"F-food dropped from the heavens?" the younger toad asked. He imagined the best food he could think of, but only came to images of flies, red mosquito larvae, earthworms, and crickets. Then he looked at the lime he was sitting on and glared at his grandfather. "Gramps, you mean limes, too? They dropped from the heavens, and they're impossible to eat."
For that, the toad smacked his grandchild with his tongue. "No, Naruto! It's the greatest food you can imagine outside of this forest. And I know the ancient secrets, passed down by my grandfather, on how to get to the other world."
And so, Jiraiya told him the tale of the First Hokage and the maple tree, and they went off to prove the story true themselves.
It was the day of the ball and the royal brothers were being dressed for the event to happen at evening.
In their chamber rooms, the same maid from last night who tended the dinner was sent to dress Itachi.
Itachi could catch a glimpse of her doll face for the first time, and saw the soft grey eyes that his mother who passed away at his birth also had.
When she was done buttoning up his black suit and adjusting his collar, Itachi asked, "May I get your name, kind lady?"
The maid blushed and said, "Oh, well, I'm just a maid. But if you'd like, you may call me Mikoto."
"Ah, Mikoto then." Itachi whirled around and gave her a gentle smile. "I trust that you would be attending the grand ball this evening?"
"I'm just a maid, sire." She lowered her head, and her thick curls spilled onto her shoulders. "I couldn't possibly afford to go."
"Nonsense, I want to introduce you to my father. Be there ere the sun sets," he said, and left the room.
Finally, as the doors to the grand ball were thrust open, the guests pooled down the stairs and the ladies' gowns brushed against the marble floors.
King Fugaku waited for the room to quiet as he placed his firm hands against the banister from the stairs leading to the other hall. Once he got all of the rich and the nobles' attention, he cleared his throat for a short speech.
"Gentlewomen and gentlemen, I hope you all have an exciting time at my latest party. However, this ball is dedicated to finding the right ladies for the young princes and I to court. Enjoy, my good friends."
There was a rush of gasps and squeals, but finally it died down to the romantic melody of violins and the slow lullaby of the piano.
Almost all the young daughters of the noblemen and a select few princesses who arrived from another country fawned over the two princes ever since they heard of the Uchiha royalty—which didn't take long. Therefore, it was perfectly logical for them to be clambering up the stairs where the two boys stood beside their father.
"SAS-U-KE!"
"I-TA-CHI!"
The noblemen's daughters cried until their chants of Sasuke and Itachi filled the echoing ballroom. The princesses however, turned up their snooty noses and decided to ascend the stairs as slow as slugs—naturally, they were rammed by the charging ox herd of impatient fan girls.
Sasuke, having fan girl-phobia, had been long gone before the fan girls took their first step upon the stairwell, and hurried to the secret path throughout the castle to escape.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya and Naruto were having a merry time in the village, after they stole some clothes from the local tailor and spent their time doing what they fancy.
Jiraiya, of course, was drowning himself in ale at the Konoha Pub, groping a few sleazy women's butts every now and then.
Naruto discovered what Jiraiya meant by food from the heavens when he found himself inhaling that godly smell wafting from the ramen stand. He ordered countless bowls of miso pork ramen and stuffed his face until the noodles were poking out of his nose.
When Naruto ordered his billionth bowl, the owner of the ramen stand, Teuchi, asked when he was going to pay up for all that food. Naruto fled after he came up with an excuse, all the while having spiral fishcakes thrown at his mop of spiky blonde hair.
"YOU COME BACK HERE, RASCAL!" Teuchi's daughter, Ayami, shouted. "I'M GONNA SERVE YOUR HEAD FOR MISO PORK!"
When Naruto heard that last statement, his eyes had widened and he ran as if the devil was on his heels.
The sun was just about to set when the maid scurried to the almost closing doors of the grand ball.
The guards at the entrance almost did not realize her in the velvet red gown and the flowing, cascading hair. However, they soon recognized her by her trademark grey eyes, and forbid her to step any further.
"I-I-I was told that I may go," the maid meekly protested. "May you please let me in? P-Prince Itachi said that I may."
That earned the guards a bowling fit of laughter, and Mikoto felt beads of tears slowly trail down her cheeks. Maybe she shouldn't have spent all her money on the clothes—all the money she could scrape up from working for years. Maybe she shouldn't have come at all. Maybe she would stay a poor maid for her whole life.
She left the castle entrance with no crown to her head.
Sasuke managed to narrowly escape the guards that were sent after him in a wild chase, for he knew how much this night meant to his father, but he never cared for Fugaku's opinions, anyway.
He found himself panting heavily, out of breath, as he leaned against a tree that smelled much like fresh lime. Right behind the tree, he could see a well by moonlight, and leaned over it to check if there was any water. He thought he saw water high enough in level to touch, but it turns out that it was the moon reflecting the black sky. Foolish for leaning over, his gold earring fell out of his ear hole and plunked deep into the well.
He cursed aloud and came down to his knees, letting his head rest between. That earring was one from the pair of his mother's. He had never seen her in real life, but only in old pictures taken in grayscale. She wore those earrings in almost every picture taken of her. The other single earring was given to Itachi, and they were supposed to cherish the last item of their mother, for it was the only thing that brought them closer.
"How could this day get any worse?" He groaned.
A voice from above asked, "Why the long face?"
"God?" Sasuke asked, still not looking up.
"Hmm. No. But I can be!"
Sasuke quickly looked up to flash the jester a glare, but recoiled when he saw how beautiful the man before him was. Blonde hair like golden silk, blue eyes that sunk in the depth of the well itself, and the most cocky and friendly grin he'd ever seen.
Although he still had his mask in place, and stood up, brushing the seat of his pants. "And you must be?" he rudely addressed.
"Naruto, and you must be Bastard," the blonde answered.
"No," the raven snorted, "I'm Pri—Sasuke." Bewildered at why he didn't introduce his title for the first time, he cleared his throat and tried to bring it up, but Naruto wouldn't let him as he interrupted.
"Oh, well hello there, Prissy Miss Sasuke. Why the long face?"
Sasuke leered him into the eye as their noses were less than a centimeter apart. "My earring dropped into the damn well, that's why, loser." Then he slapped his mouth with his palm and was angry at himself for not keeping things secrets like he would usually do. What is up with him today?
"Ah, no problem." Naruto shrugged. "It's no big deal for me to get it."
Sasuke lifted an eyebrow. "You, loser?"
"Believe it!" Naruto cried, and was about to hop down into the well when he realized he was no longer a toad. That problem was no longer, however, when the big grandfather clock in the ballroom chimed twelve, the courting in the castle began, and Naruto shrunk into a croaking amphibian.
"L-loser—how?"
Sasuke stooped down and poked the warty toad's back. That was followed by a threatening croak, but Naruto went down to business and hopped down the well to retrieve the gold earring. Resting the gold earring on his tongue, he clamped his mouth shut and jumped out of the well.
He started to climb Sasuke's pants in attempt to drop it onto his hands, but failed when the prince squirmed and flung the toad off of him.
"Just drop it!" he yelled, with disgust like venom poisoning his words. "Don't touch me!"
Hurt and ashamed with his pride deflated, the toad dropped the gold earring onto the grass and fled.
A/N: This two-shot will be continued! Thank you for reading and I hope you review/favorite. :)