This story is a rewrite/alternate version/better variant of When Life Gives You Lemons. It takes the same basic idea, but twists is insanely and also makes it MUCH more rational and overall it will make more logical sense than the other one.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy! (if anything, at least follow the story and read the second chapter when it comes out, because this is just a prologue.)

Hn.

TtTtTtT

"Fast!" a young boy thought as the masked man closed in on him. Even in the dark, it was easy to make out the white mask that the attacker wore, designed to look like a Red Panda(because they're so fuckin cute), as it came closer and closer to the twelve year old boy.

He contemplated calling for help as he rolled out of the way, before scrapping that idea. No one wanted to help the gloomy orphan with the piercing blue eyes.

He never really did anything wrong, at least he never used to, but people still avoided him like the plague.

But no, no one seemed to care about the orphan with the piercing blue eyes.

It's funny really, how everyone in the village seems to be obsessed with fancy eyes. Byakugan, Sharingan, the village treats those things like treasure. But blue eyes that glow in the dark? Too creepy; too weird.

The boy didn't dwell on that as he dodged the Anbu's next assault. He needed to find a way to get away from the man before his punches finally began to land. Thinking fast, he dove to the side and took off down an alleyway. The masked man was quick to follow, but his size meant that he couldn't maneuver as well as the boy. Halfway down the alleyway, he dove behind a dumpster.

"You think hiding behind a dumpster will save you? And here I thought you were smart. Come out from there now and maybe I'll let you off lightly."

No response came from the boy with the piercing blue eyes.

"Little freak. I gave you a chance!" the Anbu said as he jumped around the edge of the dumpster to see… nothing?

There was an open window at floor level that led into the basement of the building. It was too small for the adult to fit into, and the building had no less than 5 exits that he knew about.

"Damn kid snaked me! I'll get you!"

He formed a few handseals and, ending on the Ram seal, and yelled "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Four copies of the man poofed into existence and immediately blurred out of sight.

The original took one last look at the window before he too disappeared.

The piercing blue eyes peered out from the window a few moments later. This was one of his favorite hiding spots to go to when he was caught stealing from the local shop owners. The window was almost impossible for an adult to fit in, and the building had so many exits and windows that it was easy to escape undetected. The best part of it though was that no one ever thought to watch the window of which he entered.

He climbed out the window and moved swiftly but silently to the end of the alleyway. He sat and waited for a few moments to make sure the ninja hadn't seen him escape, before peering around the corner. The streets were quiet, but not completely empty as a wagon was coming down the road in the direction of the Hokage's tower. Running from his cover, he jumped into the back of the wagon and hid behind the whatever-the-hell-item boxes.

It was the first moment he got to sit back and take a breath. "What the hell did I do to get Anbu after me?"

He had stolen some bread from the baker earlier, but it was only the cheap half-loaves that no one ever bought anyway, and he had the sneaking suspicion that the baker didn't care all that much. That baker was always kinder to him than most.

"I've never seen someone as young as you avoid an Anbu that well, not counting Uzumaki that is. I'm impressed…" a voice said from next to him.

The boy shot to his feet, scared as all hell, and moved to jump out the back of the wagon.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. Nor is that Anbu. We were simply testing you," the dog-masked Anbu told the boy. Where he had been hiding the boy wasn't sure, until he noticed that one of the storage boxes was missing.

"Transformation?"

"And to know a ninja technique, albeit a simple one, without ever attending the academy? Very impressive."

"What the hell do you and that other prick want with me?"

"So hostile, like I said we were just testing you. Word on the street was that you had been avoiding capture of the Police Force for some time now, and so we decided to test you. If you failed, we would have turned you in. But… you passed."

"So? What happens now?"

"Initially, we were going to enter you into the academy, but after that display I'm thinking of dropping you right into Anbu."

"Nao. Namikaze Nao. No relation to the damned fourth, unless you count my parents getting killed by the Kyuubi being a relationship."

"Funny that I'm the one tasked with evaluating you then, isn't it?"

"Alright Nao, let's make a deal. You agree to come with me tomorrow to the Anbu headquarters, and I'll agree to pay for lunch AND dinner. Deal?"

The boy stared with his piercing blue eyes before nodding his head.

"Deal."

NnNnNnNnN

If you're wondering something along the lines of "Why the fuck does he have another story?!" don't worry. This is a rewrite of "When Life Gives You Lemons…" because I didn't like the way I introduced the main character and his backstory, nor do I like the way I worked the bad guys and tried rationalizing it. None of that worked, so I made it like this instead! For those of you that came over from lemons, you'll find out next chapter how I managed to rationalize any of this. For the new readers, welcome! Hit that follow for more!

Hn.