Okay guys, this is my first story so go easy on me ^_^

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters or aspects therein.

The alarm buzzed. He stirred. Again, it screeched. His dream was quickly fading away. By the third time he was now awake enough to slam his fist down and shatter the annoying thing. The clock had said 5:46AM.

Knowing, much to his displeasure, that it was morning, he sat up in his bed with his hair matted and sticking out in every direction. Still some-what groggy he slowly opened his eyes into the darkened room, all the while half-thinking how smart he was for shutting the blinds before he went to bed the night before. He really didn't want to get up for at least another four or five hours but since he didn't have any choice he reluctantly got out of bed and grabbed the clothes he had laid out and headed for the shower…

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Once he stepped out of the shower and thoroughly dried off he rapped the towel around his waist and walked over to the sink. Once there he turned on the faucet and slashed some cold water onto his face and rubbed it in. Thanks to that, and his shower, he was now fully awake as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were a very bright shade of blue while his still damp and wild hair was a golden shade of blonde and on his face he sported three unusual whisker-like markings on each of his cheeks.

After examining his face a little and seeing that it was clean he got dressed into the clothes that he had laid out for himself, a pair of toad boxers and orange pants with a mesh undershirt and an black-sleeved orange jacket on top of it. After straightening out his outfit a little he walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to find something for breakfast.

After looking through his kitchen he immediately decided to have Instant Miso Ramen in a cup, since he hardly had anything else to pick from. Although that didn't actually bother him at all since it was his favorite anyway. After waiting for an excruciating three minutes he grabbed a pair of chopsticks and quickly dug into his meal. He almost always ate ramen, both because it cost him practically nothing and also because since it tasted so good he really didn't have a tongue for much else. After finishing his cup he threw it away along with his chopsticks and headed back into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Once his teeth were brushed and rinsed off he walked back into his bedroom to check his alarm clock for the time, only it was then that he actually remembered what he had done to it when it had rudely pulled him out of his wonderful dream of swimming a pool completely filled with Miso Ramen as he looked to find it shattered into dozens of pieces on the floor. Well that's just great. That had was the fifth one this week alone. They really should design an indestructible one so that he wouldn't keep breaking them every morning. Since the one in his room was in pieces he was forced to go back into the kitchen to check the wall clock. He saw that it was 6:35 which meant that he had a little time before he had to leave to go meet with his team for their new mission at 7:00. Deciding to kill time in a productive way for once, he decided to train a little.

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Walking into his living room he sat down in a meditative position and closed his eyes. Holding up one hand he began to channel his concentration and energy into his palm. Within a few minutes a small spiraling ball of pure energy began to form in the center of his hand, slowly growing larger until it was roughly the size of a soft ball. Opening he eyes again, he grinned at his accomplishment. It was one of his signature techniques but, sadly, he had always had a handicap of needing two hands in order to perform it. While that itself had never been much of a set-back for him, he knew that being able to do it with only one hand would make it much stronger and faster than before. He had only recently learned to create it one-handed so his skill at it still wasn't very good. But he knew that with more practicing he would eventually get the hang of it and be able to make it within a second.

Standing back up he walked back into the kitchen to recheck the time. The clock said 6:55. Oh no, he was going to be late! If he was late again his teammates would kill him! Though, strangely, nobody seemed to do anything when their team captain was late. He would always show up hours late for their missions and nobody would do a thing to him! Sure, he would make up some lousy excuse that he must have already said at least a hundred times before as to what he was doing, and no one would believe him, and then call him a liar and yell at him to be on time more. But that was it! Why wasn't he driven into the ground when he was late too? He should get beaten up too right? …It just wasn't fair!

Hurrying to the door, he quickly put on his sandals and checked to make sure he had his key, along with his pack and all the tools and supplies he would need for the day. Seeing that he had everything with him he quickly left through the door, locking it behind him as he began to rush to his team's decided meeting place. Wait a minute; he almost forgot the most important thing.

He rushed back inside, searching frantically trying to find it. He had looked almost everywhere in his apartment for it with no luck. Where could it be? He had almost given up when he finally found it on his bedroom floor in front of his nightstand. It must have fallen over last night without him noticing.

Picking the object up in his hands, he unfolded the cloth fabric to the sides revealing a shiny metal plate with a leaf shaped symbol in the middle. It was his pride and joy. The most precious thing he owned.

It was his headband.

He glanced at it for a moment, suddenly caught up in the flood of memories it brought him. He had had a lot of good times with that thing.

Placing it on his forehead, he tied the two cloth ends around his head so that it fit snug. Keeping his hands on it he simply stopped for a moment, running his fingers over the cool metal and just feeling it. It felt good. That headband had been through a lot with him. It showed his courage and determination to never give up against any odds. It was proof of his skills and accomplishments. It was his whole identity. Without it he would be nothing.

Snapping out of his daze he realized once again that he was running late. He quickly rushed back out and off to go meet up with his team.

Only this time, he had his headband.