==============================
Chapter 03: Enter Konoha
==============================
Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke shot occasional glances at their recovered teammate as they walked down the stone road leading to the bridge.
The ¡§Number One Loudmouth Ninja¡¨ was looking at everything with wonder. The people, the shops, the restaurants, the road, and even the mid-morning sun in the sky seemed to be amazing and remarkable to him.
It was as if he had never seen anything like them in his life...
==============================
So many sights. . . so many sounds. . . so many people. . .
//What is this place// I thought, craning my neck to see the signs that adorned a grocery store. //Who are these people? Why where they with me in the hospital room? Why do they act like they know me? And why do they keep looking at me?//
In truth, I didn¡¦t actually SEE them looking at me. I just kind of ... I don¡¦t know. I FELT it. Somehow, I could feel their eyes burning a hole into me. Well, maybe not literaly, but their gazes are pretty intense. But I didn¡¦t look at them. I knew that if I showed even a slight sign of wanting to turn my head, they would look away.
But why? Why were they staring at me like that?
So, I continued to look everywhere, at every shop, at every stone of the ground, in every restaurant. Anywhere but them. Their steady gaze makes me uncomfortable.
We continued to walk down the road through this little. . . village? Settlement? Come to think about it, I have no idea where I am. Where in the world am I? What world am I in? What is normal around here? What---
Just when I was about to ask, the man with the silver hair said: ¡§We¡¦re here.¡¨
¡¥Here¡¦ was just an old red bridge. Nothing special about it, really.
¡§Hey kid.¡¨
I looked at him.
¡§What¡¦s your name?¡¨
Stupid question.
¡§My name is---¡¨ I stopped. And tried again. ¡§My name is...¡¨
I couldn¡¦t continue. This is ridiculous. I didn¡¦t even know my own name. Am I suppose to know my name? Do people go through life not knowing their names? Do they know my name? Does everyone in the world know my name, and I¡¦m the only one who doesn¡¦t?
He sensed my panic.
¡§I thought so.¡¨ He said, sighing. ¡§I¡¦m Kakashi. This is Haruno Sakura,¡¨ Girl-with-pink-hair waved, ¡§And this is Uchiha Sasuke. You are a ninja, I am your sensei, and these two are your teammates. We live in the Konoha Village of the Fire Region. Any questions?¡¨
I blinked. That had been laid on me pretty fast.
¡§I get all that. But...¡¨ I hesitated. Then I said slowly: ¡§What is my name?¡¨
Kakashi-sensei glanced at me. He seemed to be mentally debating whether or not he should tell me what I was called.
¡§Uzumaki Naruto.¡¨ He said finally. ¡§Your name is Uzumaki Naruto.¡¨
//Uzumaki... Naruto//
That name is nothing to me. It triggers no memories. Whoever this Uzumaki Naruto was, whoever I was... he is a mystery to me.
I think Kakashi-sensei could tell that I still knew nothing judging from the blank expression on my face.
¡§It¡¦s alright.¡¨ He stated matter-of-factly. ¡§Your memory will come back in time.¡¨
It will? He sounds so sure of himself. I just wish . . . I could be that sure.
¡§And Kakashi-sensei?¡¨
¡§Hnn?¡¨
¡§What¡¦s a ninja?¡¨
==============================
By late afternoon, the four of them had managed to establish that though his memory was gone, Naruto still retained the agility and physique of the ninja that he was. He had forgotten his hand seals, but he learned quickly under the tutelage of Sakura. In fact, his learning speed seemed to be twice the rate of the ¡¥normal¡¦ Naruto.
What was most uncomfortable about this ¡¥new¡¦ Naruto, was the fact that he was so polite. He referred to Sakura mildly as ¡§Haruno-san¡¨, as opposed to the ¡¥old¡¦ Naruto¡¦s energetic ¡§SAKURA-CHAN!¡¨ He called Sasuke respectfully, ¡§Uchiha-san¡¨. Not jerk, not bastard, not even plain old ¡§Sasuke.¡¨
The two mentioned would mentally cringe whenever Naruto called them that. It just wasn¡¦t HIM. 'HE' had the reputation of having absolutely no regard for the rules and here he was, saying everything in it's respectful "san" and "kun". When Sakura taught him hand seals, he listened closely, and said ¡§Hai, Haruno-san.¡¨
When Sasuke fought him, and got hit, Naruto would say ¡§Gomen nasai, Uchiha-san.¡¨
This sudden change in Naruto¡¦s demeanor was unexpected, and to tell the truth, very uneasy on the two Genins. They wanted desperately to discuss it with Kakashi, but Naruto was still with them, and they could not just dump him somewhere in the village.
Luckily, before they could explode, Lee ¡¥happened¡¦ to stroll by with a message from Sakura¡¦s mother, saying that she would need to come home by 8PM.
She pulled him aside quietly, and asked him to take Naruto to eat, or something that would keep him occupied for the next half-hour. He immediately agreed under the promise that he wouldn¡¦t tell Naruto anything that would be life altering.
He then offered to treat Naruto to a late lunch. It wasn¡¦t very hard, judging by the loud rumbling in his stomach, he was starved.
After he had left, on cue, Sakura and Sasuke looked at Kakashi meaningfully.
¡§You want to know why he¡¦s acting like this.¡¨
They nodded.
¡§Have a seat, and I¡¦ll explain.¡¨
========== END CHAPTER 03 ==========
Author¡¦s Note: WHOA. . . 37 more reviews. O.o . . . and while I was checking my email for reviews, TWO MORE popped up.
Normally, having so many reviews is a good thing. However, this poses a problem. I assure you all right now that I READ EVERY SINGLE review. And usually, I try to answer all of them. But now, there are so many people voting for one coupling, and so many people voting for another coupling, and I read all of the emails, as I said before, everyone has really good opinions that balance each other out. If I just blatantly make it one pairing, then someone else will be offended, or something like that.
So here¡¦s what I¡¦m going to do.
I will make what I call a ¡¥Compensation Story¡¦. It simply means that AFTER THE RELEASE OF CHAPTER 05, if you don¡¦t like the pairing, then you can email me directly, and request another story. It can be of any pairing (the pairing who most people email me for is going to be released first, but I¡¦ll get around to all of them) and can be long, short, whatever. You can even say what you want in the plot, and I¡¦ll give you credit. As I said before, I am very flexible, and do not openly mind any pairings. (Except for VERY WRONG pairings like HokageXKonohamaru .).
I will also NOT be reinforcing any of those ¡§I need so and so more reviews before I am willing to continue.¡¨ No, I LOVE reviews, but I will not use them to blackmail you. If you review, that simply means that you actually like my story enough to review at all. And those reviews, to me, count more.
Another thing I should mention about the ¡¥Poll¡¦ is that your vote can count twice. If you vote for the same pairing in both chapters 01 and 02, then your votes WILL count. I thought I¡¦d just mention that. :-D
Thank you for reading!!! I thank you.
Emails/Question/Comments: icy_cloud359@kuririnmail.com
-Yume
Chapter 03: Enter Konoha
==============================
Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke shot occasional glances at their recovered teammate as they walked down the stone road leading to the bridge.
The ¡§Number One Loudmouth Ninja¡¨ was looking at everything with wonder. The people, the shops, the restaurants, the road, and even the mid-morning sun in the sky seemed to be amazing and remarkable to him.
It was as if he had never seen anything like them in his life...
==============================
So many sights. . . so many sounds. . . so many people. . .
//What is this place// I thought, craning my neck to see the signs that adorned a grocery store. //Who are these people? Why where they with me in the hospital room? Why do they act like they know me? And why do they keep looking at me?//
In truth, I didn¡¦t actually SEE them looking at me. I just kind of ... I don¡¦t know. I FELT it. Somehow, I could feel their eyes burning a hole into me. Well, maybe not literaly, but their gazes are pretty intense. But I didn¡¦t look at them. I knew that if I showed even a slight sign of wanting to turn my head, they would look away.
But why? Why were they staring at me like that?
So, I continued to look everywhere, at every shop, at every stone of the ground, in every restaurant. Anywhere but them. Their steady gaze makes me uncomfortable.
We continued to walk down the road through this little. . . village? Settlement? Come to think about it, I have no idea where I am. Where in the world am I? What world am I in? What is normal around here? What---
Just when I was about to ask, the man with the silver hair said: ¡§We¡¦re here.¡¨
¡¥Here¡¦ was just an old red bridge. Nothing special about it, really.
¡§Hey kid.¡¨
I looked at him.
¡§What¡¦s your name?¡¨
Stupid question.
¡§My name is---¡¨ I stopped. And tried again. ¡§My name is...¡¨
I couldn¡¦t continue. This is ridiculous. I didn¡¦t even know my own name. Am I suppose to know my name? Do people go through life not knowing their names? Do they know my name? Does everyone in the world know my name, and I¡¦m the only one who doesn¡¦t?
He sensed my panic.
¡§I thought so.¡¨ He said, sighing. ¡§I¡¦m Kakashi. This is Haruno Sakura,¡¨ Girl-with-pink-hair waved, ¡§And this is Uchiha Sasuke. You are a ninja, I am your sensei, and these two are your teammates. We live in the Konoha Village of the Fire Region. Any questions?¡¨
I blinked. That had been laid on me pretty fast.
¡§I get all that. But...¡¨ I hesitated. Then I said slowly: ¡§What is my name?¡¨
Kakashi-sensei glanced at me. He seemed to be mentally debating whether or not he should tell me what I was called.
¡§Uzumaki Naruto.¡¨ He said finally. ¡§Your name is Uzumaki Naruto.¡¨
//Uzumaki... Naruto//
That name is nothing to me. It triggers no memories. Whoever this Uzumaki Naruto was, whoever I was... he is a mystery to me.
I think Kakashi-sensei could tell that I still knew nothing judging from the blank expression on my face.
¡§It¡¦s alright.¡¨ He stated matter-of-factly. ¡§Your memory will come back in time.¡¨
It will? He sounds so sure of himself. I just wish . . . I could be that sure.
¡§And Kakashi-sensei?¡¨
¡§Hnn?¡¨
¡§What¡¦s a ninja?¡¨
==============================
By late afternoon, the four of them had managed to establish that though his memory was gone, Naruto still retained the agility and physique of the ninja that he was. He had forgotten his hand seals, but he learned quickly under the tutelage of Sakura. In fact, his learning speed seemed to be twice the rate of the ¡¥normal¡¦ Naruto.
What was most uncomfortable about this ¡¥new¡¦ Naruto, was the fact that he was so polite. He referred to Sakura mildly as ¡§Haruno-san¡¨, as opposed to the ¡¥old¡¦ Naruto¡¦s energetic ¡§SAKURA-CHAN!¡¨ He called Sasuke respectfully, ¡§Uchiha-san¡¨. Not jerk, not bastard, not even plain old ¡§Sasuke.¡¨
The two mentioned would mentally cringe whenever Naruto called them that. It just wasn¡¦t HIM. 'HE' had the reputation of having absolutely no regard for the rules and here he was, saying everything in it's respectful "san" and "kun". When Sakura taught him hand seals, he listened closely, and said ¡§Hai, Haruno-san.¡¨
When Sasuke fought him, and got hit, Naruto would say ¡§Gomen nasai, Uchiha-san.¡¨
This sudden change in Naruto¡¦s demeanor was unexpected, and to tell the truth, very uneasy on the two Genins. They wanted desperately to discuss it with Kakashi, but Naruto was still with them, and they could not just dump him somewhere in the village.
Luckily, before they could explode, Lee ¡¥happened¡¦ to stroll by with a message from Sakura¡¦s mother, saying that she would need to come home by 8PM.
She pulled him aside quietly, and asked him to take Naruto to eat, or something that would keep him occupied for the next half-hour. He immediately agreed under the promise that he wouldn¡¦t tell Naruto anything that would be life altering.
He then offered to treat Naruto to a late lunch. It wasn¡¦t very hard, judging by the loud rumbling in his stomach, he was starved.
After he had left, on cue, Sakura and Sasuke looked at Kakashi meaningfully.
¡§You want to know why he¡¦s acting like this.¡¨
They nodded.
¡§Have a seat, and I¡¦ll explain.¡¨
========== END CHAPTER 03 ==========
Author¡¦s Note: WHOA. . . 37 more reviews. O.o . . . and while I was checking my email for reviews, TWO MORE popped up.
Normally, having so many reviews is a good thing. However, this poses a problem. I assure you all right now that I READ EVERY SINGLE review. And usually, I try to answer all of them. But now, there are so many people voting for one coupling, and so many people voting for another coupling, and I read all of the emails, as I said before, everyone has really good opinions that balance each other out. If I just blatantly make it one pairing, then someone else will be offended, or something like that.
So here¡¦s what I¡¦m going to do.
I will make what I call a ¡¥Compensation Story¡¦. It simply means that AFTER THE RELEASE OF CHAPTER 05, if you don¡¦t like the pairing, then you can email me directly, and request another story. It can be of any pairing (the pairing who most people email me for is going to be released first, but I¡¦ll get around to all of them) and can be long, short, whatever. You can even say what you want in the plot, and I¡¦ll give you credit. As I said before, I am very flexible, and do not openly mind any pairings. (Except for VERY WRONG pairings like HokageXKonohamaru .).
I will also NOT be reinforcing any of those ¡§I need so and so more reviews before I am willing to continue.¡¨ No, I LOVE reviews, but I will not use them to blackmail you. If you review, that simply means that you actually like my story enough to review at all. And those reviews, to me, count more.
Another thing I should mention about the ¡¥Poll¡¦ is that your vote can count twice. If you vote for the same pairing in both chapters 01 and 02, then your votes WILL count. I thought I¡¦d just mention that. :-D
Thank you for reading!!! I thank you.
Emails/Question/Comments: icy_cloud359@kuririnmail.com
-Yume