"Are you okay?" It came from a stranger. All Naruto could do was to nod before she realized that somebody actually talked to her.

She slowly looked up.

A boy with short, curly black hair was standing there in front of her. He was taller than her and was likely to be older than her too; around one to three years older. No one around her age ever willingly approached her. This was too new that she just sat there, not knowing how to react.

"Do I look okay?" she finally mumbled out. She stood up, brushing off the liquid near the corner of her mouth and wiped it off to the hem of her t-shirt.

"Ahahaha, right, right. You're obviously not okay." The boy's lips curled up, his eyes were kind when their eyes met. The only indication that he was nervous was his hands, they were raised behind his head.

Naruto furrowed her eyebrows in bewilderment. Who is this boy? Does he not know of her? She kept her mouth shut. It wasn't until her belly growling out rather loudly that she let out a small whimper. Not wanting to be here longer than necessary, she turned her back from the boy and was ready to leave when the boy stopped her.

The boy bending his knees to meet her face to face and smiled at her. "You're hungry?" She didn't respond, but the boy continued, "Let me treat you to my favorite oyakodon restaurant." The boy's smile went bigger as he said cheerfully, "I'm warning you though; it is so good, it's to die for."

The boy took her hand and gently pulled her with him. Naruto found that she didn't want to protest when she noticed the cheerful hum he produced when she didn't object.

"By the way, the name's Shisui. My family name is not that important," the boy introduced himself, his eyes flickered away briefly from hers and she knew instantly that he lied about his family name. Not that Naruto cared. It was a lie that the boy made to protect himself because she felt the hesitation when he uttered those lie. "What's yours?" he asked, eyes focused on her still.

Naruto felt her lips slightly tugged upward as they kept trudged forward.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Unlike this Shisui boy, Naruto had no problems with her surname.

Shisui put his index finger and thumbs on his chin. "Naruto... like narutomaki, the ramen topping with pale red swirls?"

Naruto looked away. "Uh-uh." If this boy even said anything bad about her name, she will run off right away, no matter how kind he seemed.

"It's certainly unique. Are you a boy?" Shisui tilted his head.

Naruto stopped on her track.

"Do I look like a boy?" she whispered, her eyes gave off a menacing aura. She gestured to her herself; long red hair tied into a high ponytail and pointedly looking at him.

Gulping hard, Shisui shook his head. "No, no. I was just asking."

Huffing, she let her eyes wander. Bewildered by the unfamiliar street she realized she had never seen before, Naruto kept her eyes on the Uchiwa paper fan symbols spread across the street.


Shisui chuckled nervously when he sensed her staring at the back of his head, but nonetheless, he continued to lead the girl he had just met to his favorite restaurant.

Finding a girl in front of his house that didn't Immediately recoil at the sight of his high-collared t-shirt, he saw the opportunity to approach her and a plan to befriend her. Glad he might be that she didn't look at him like he was the second coming Uchiha Madara, it was strange and unusual that he kept thinking that this girl might be new to this village or something.

It didn't escape him, though, that the girl had a weird hair color. Her hair was even more vivid red than his own Sharingan. Such is a rare hair color that he had only seen it twice; that lady who kept visiting Mikoto-oneesan's house and this girl. The red shade is even similar, yet he could say that this Naruto girl has the best shade.

Glancing back for a second to be sure of her hair color, he let himself basking at the thought of having a friend outside of the clan. Noticing that he had automatically walked to his favorite restaurant without thinking of it, he turned back and announced, "Yosh, we're here."


Naruto looked around her. She didn't know why, but her village felt and seemed different. She opted to observe what made it different to her, and she found her answer when she saw Teuchi-ojiisan; or his lookalike, making oyakodon, not ramen.

Mouth agape, she still walked along with Shisui and grabbed the seat next to him.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

At the sudden voice coming from her right, she gazed at Shisui and gave a small nod.

"What are you doing earlier; lying down in front of my house?"

Pausing, she glanced above the counter. "I don't know." Naruto's eyes were still on Teuchi-ojiisan's lookalike as she spoke.

"You have blood seeping out from your mouth earlier," Shisui frowned as he tapped her upper hand. "I thought you're being bullied."

"Bullied?" Naruto felt the world around her turn upside down when she finally remembered as to why she suddenly found herself in a different place. "No," she whispered, cold sweats appeared on her forehead.

"What's wrong?" Shisui tilted his head toward his company, who was staring down with fists clenched on top of her lap.

Naruto gulped down the cold water the Teuchi-ojiisan lookalike had served them earlier and gazed directly to the boy beside her.

Lips quiver, she braved herself and told, "I think I was kidnapped."


"What have you done."

Utter disbelief.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, along with his ANBU guards stood there facing the shinobi that they had thought would protect the Jinchūriki.

Orochimaru smiled amiably and drawled with disinterest, "Oh, dear old, Sensei. How kind of you to visit my humble abode at a time like this."

Hiruzen narrowed his wrinkled, tired eyes as his ANBU Guards raised their guard up behind him. His other student growled beside him.

"What have you done, Orochimaru?" Jiraiya glared hard at Orochimaru, shock written all over his face. "We trusted you to take care of her!" he bellowed, voice hoarse with anger. He was about to take a step forward, however, he soon closed his eyes in resignation the moment he saw his teammate's facial expression.

"Who knows," Orochimaru smirked, his eyes glinted with mischief. "The experiment might fail after all."

The answer had been given and with that, all hell broke loose.


Author's Note: I keep asking myself why when my hands keep writing this.

Oyakodon became my favorite rice-based food when I visit Japan last year. It's rice topped with eggs and chicken, basically. Though, I still like Udon more, especially Bukkake Udon.

Hope you like this.

-Tonegawa Rie