The World's Worst Place to Try and Be Normal

Chapter 1

"You think you got what it takes, Sasuke? Do you really think you can beat me? Well, let's just see! Take this, and that, and some of this…"

"No, Naruto, please…don't hurt me! My ninja skills pale in comparison to yours…" Sasuke winced from the pain.

"That's right, Naruto! Take him down! I can't believe I ever liked such a wimp!" Sakura yelled in glee as the love of her life destroyed Sasuke. "Show no mercy, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto…"

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

Naruto Uzamaki slowly opened his eyes. He hit the alarm clock and got out of bed to get dressed. When the alarm clock didn't turn off, he threw a shuriken at it. And, just for good measure, tossed it out the window. After all, had it not been the clock's fault he had awoken from the greatest dream ever?

He went over to the fridge. To-do list. 1) Meet Sakura and Kakashi for mission. 2) Eat ramen for lunch. 3)…Hold on, Naruto thought to himself. This…this is…yesterday's list…He ripped of the first page to see what his real list looked like.

"Ah! NOOOOO!" Naruto stared in horror. Nothing! He flipped to the next one. Nothing again! "But…but I always do the entire month's list…" He gasped. Maybe there really wasn't anything to do…Sometimes things like that would happen. They'd been happening more often, though, since that stupid Sasuke had left. Naruto sighed. How could there be a day with nothing to do?

"I know!" Naruto cried. "I'll go see Sakura! She'll know what to do!" So, as soon as he was done getting ready, Naruto set off to look for Sakura.

Later…

Sakura Haruno was standing outside a clothing store, window-shopping, when Naruto found her.

"Huh? Naruto, what are you doing here?"

Naruto shrugged, "I dunno. It's just…I don't really have anything to do today…"

"Well, go find someone else to bother. I'm already having a bad day. An alarm clock of all things fell on my head. As a matter of fact, it was near…"

"Ah, sorry Sakura gotta go!"

"Naruto!" But he was already gone.

Somewhere else…

Naruto looked around. Chouji and Kiba were messing with some female ninjas, Neji and Tenten were on a date, Shino was showing Hinata a cool trick with his bugs, and Ino was bothering Shikamaru who was writing a letter. Everyone was busy, and mostly with members of the opposite sex. Maybe that was what Naruto needed. But all the girls in Konoha were either taken or freaked out by him. He sighed. Then, Naruto looked up. There was the answer to his problems (not really). A hill. The perfect spot for nothing.

On the hill…

Naruto first sat down, then laid back. He stared at the perfect sky and watched as clouds in numerous shapes passed him by. He slowly closed his eyes. He had been asleep for nearly a minute when…

"Um, excuse me…" A small voice whispered in his ear. "Excuse me…" The voice got a little softer. It kind of soothed him. He tried to roll over, but opened his eyes to a girl lying next to him.

"GAH!" Naruto jumped up to get a good look at her. She was actually kinda pretty. Her short blond hair slightly covered her deep blue eyes. She sat there with her mouth open, staring at Naruto as if confused.

"Who…who are you?"

"Me?" The girl pointed towards herself.

"YES, YOU! You're the only one here!" Naruto was beginning to get annoyed.

"No…you're here, too. What's your name, stranger?"

"S-stranger? STRANGER! YOU'RE THE STRANGE ONE!"

"Ah," the girl said, "please don't get angry. I'm visiting here and…I'm kinda lost…"

"Really? Well, here…" Naruto extended his hand to pull the girl up. "My name is Naruto Uzamaki. I live here. I can show you around, if you'd like."

The girl smiled. "Of course! I'd love to! By the way, my name's Takara Kazuki. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that I don't have to go it alone again." By this time, they had started walking.

"Again?"

"Yeah, last time I came here, I was kinda alone," she answered. They continued walking until they got to the gate of Konoha.

"Well," Naruto said, "here we are! Now, where do you want to go first?"

"Um, let's see…" She looked around, then paused. Her eyes had fallen on a tree to the side of where they were standing.

Naruto looked around, then at the tree. "What?" he asked. "What are you looking at?"

Takara smiled. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Now, how about the Ninja Academy? I've never seen it. Last time I came here, the school year was almost over. According to someone I met, the students were in the middle of graduation exams."

"When was this?"

"Oh, only a couple of years ago…"

Naruto just stared at her. "So…you came here when…I was in the Academy…by yourself?"

"Yes…I suppose…"

"Why weren't you in school?"

Takara couldn't answer his question because immediately after he asked it, a girl with short, pink hair came up to them.

"Naruto? What are doing…who're…?"

"Ah, right! This is Takara Kazuki. Takara, this is Sakura Haruno."

Takara extended her hand. Sakura looked at it for a second. She really had been very withdrawn lately. Finally, she took the hand and shook it.

"So…" Sakura still seemed sort of reluctant, "you new here?"

"Visiting! Naruto was kind enough to show me around. I can't believe how nice people here can be!"

"Apparently, you haven't met anyone else…" Takara shook her head as Sakura laughed. At this, a girl with short blond hair and a guy with a ponytail and a bored look on his face came up to them.

"Hello, Sakura…" the girl with the blond hair gave Sakura a very nasty look. And the look was returned with an even nastier one.

"Ah…" Takara tried to intervene, but Naruto put a hand on her shoulder and said, "No, really…you don't want to do that…" The blonde turned and put a hand on her hip.

"Who's this?"

"Oh, right! Takara Kazuki, meet Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka! There ninja's, too! Shikamaru is actually a Chuunin, as a matter of fact!"

"That's really cool and all, but me and Sakura here are at the top of our class!"

"Really? And what about you, Naruto-sensei?"

"NARUTO-SENSEI!" everyone yelled, including Shikamaru.

"Well, yeah! I mean, he was kind enough to introduce me to all of you and show me around the village, so…"

"But really, Takara…Naruto-sensei?" Sakura asked. Takara laughed as she thought, I think I'm gonna like vacationing here!

Later…

"It was really nice of Naruto-sensei to offer to let me stay with him for awhile!" Takara said to herself as she walked around Konoha that night. Suddenly, she stopped. Something was amiss; she felt as if someone were watching her…She put her hands in the pocket at the front of the jacket Naruto had lent her. Unknown to her observer, she preformed hand signs as she walked away. A clone came up behind the figure watching her and grabbed him.

"Well, well…" Takara said, turning around. "You would think someone so devoted to watching me would have noticed someone coming up from behind him…"

"Don't start with me," barked the figure, "Just who do you think you are, anyway?"

"Oh, come now," Takara smiled, "you and I both know you know my name already…"

"Yeah, but…" Takara put a hand up to signal she wasn't finished.

"…The question is, Sasuke Uchiha, who do you think you are?"

End of Chapter 1!

A/N: Aha! Once again, a cliffhanger! How many of you were expecting that? That's right, so good…does a dance