Chapter 2:
Friend
"Unnn…nnn…" a blond-haired boy started mubling as he rolled around the floor, clutching his stomach. "I'm so hungry… Where is that no good old man? He promised to bring me some food… It's already afternoon and he still hasn't come! Unnnn… I'm so hungry!"
The Third Hokage had promised a nine-year-old Naruto the day before that someone would come by the next day to restock his room with some food. And so when the next morning came, Naruto sat and waited for someone to show up with some food. A couple of hours passed by and Naruto had begun to complain about the long wait.
After rolling around the floor, complaining, for a couple more hours, Naruto finally gave up.
"That guy's not gonna show up is he?" Naruto asked himself. "Ugh… I give up!" He exclaimed to the room.
Impatient and very hungry, Naruto got up from the floor and walked towards a shelf. He reached for a small bag at the top of the shelf and examined it. The bag had a slight bulge, and when he shook it, the clanging sounds of metal could be heard.
"This should be enough to buy me something to eat for today. Good thing I've been saving up some money this year," Naruto told himself.
As Naruto got himself changed, he could not help but growl at the situation he was in right now. "Damn that old man. When I see him again, I'm gonna take that hat of his and shove it up his a—Oh can't forget about my goggles!"
After he was finished getting ready, he left the house in search of some food. He found out, however, that it was not as easy as he thought that it would be. The first shop that he went to started off fine, but when the old lady noticed who she was talking to; she immediately screamed at him and forced him out.
"I will not serve anything to the likes of you! Get out! Out, I say!" the shopkeeper screamed at Naruto as he was pushed out the door.
To the small blond, it seemed that there was some sort of trend. Everywhere he went, he would either be yelled at or forced to leave the premises. He had experienced similar treatment before, so it wasn't new to him, but to be kicked out at every shop and then yelled at for something he did not understand was something completely new to him. He never really understood why some of the villagers didn't like him, but he accepted it anyways. That did not mean, however, that he had to like the treatment; far from it. It hurt him…a lot. He remembered the countless nights he spent crying himself to sleep. It hurt knowing that people hated you, but didn't know why they did. Just thinking about it made his head hurt.
Something wet trailed down his cheek. Reaching up to wipe it off, he noticed that it was a tear.
"Damnit! I promised myself that I wouldn't cry anymore!" Naruto whispered vehemently. "Argh! I hate this! All I want is some food, damnit!" His stomach gave a growl as if agreeing with his statement.
Walking around the road dejected and hungry, Naruto did not notice a couple of kids walking his way. By the time he saw them, it was too late. He had already bumped into a large kid and fell to the ground.
"Ouch! Hey kid, you hit me!" the pudgy kid exclaimed, glaring at Naruto. The kid was about a year older than him and seemed to be the leader of the group, Naruto noticed.
"I did not! 'Sides you were in the way, what with that big body of yours!" Naruto retorted back as he got up off the floor.
The group of kids seemed to respond to his statement as they got ready to pounce on him, but the large ten-year-old stopped them.
"Wait!" the group's leader exclaimed. "You've got guts, you know that kid? Insulting me like that," the pudgy boy told Naruto.
Walking around Naruto as if to examine him, the boy noticed the bag Naruto had been carrying around with him. Curious as to what was inside, the black-haired boy asked what the bag contained.
"What's this? A bag? Hey, hey… what's in this thing?" the boy asked Naruto.
"It's nothing!" Naruto replied as he tried to hide the small bag behind his back.
"Doesn't look like nothing to me."
"It's just something that I carry around with me."
The pudgy boy grinned. "Must be something pretty important then. Tell ya what? How 'bout giving me that bag as payment for hitting me?" he asked.
"To someone as fat as you? I don't think so. 'Sides I didn't hit you. You bumped into me," Naruto replied.
"You're getting on my nerves kid."
"Kid? And what does that make you? You can't even reach the damn table with you're height yo—"
Naruto was interrupted when one of the kids from the group caught him by surprise and tackled him to the ground. The next thing he knew, the large, black-haired kid had punched him in the stomach while another kid from the group grabbed his bag of coins.
"Let's get out of here, before any of the adults see us!" one of the kids shouted.
Naruto felt the large kid get off of him as well as the other one who had tackled him to the ground.
"Psh. You're not worth it," the kids' leader told Naruto as he ran away with his group.
Naruto stayed sprawled on the ground as he watched the kids disappear down the road, too tired to get up and go after them. Time passed by, but Naruto didn't know how long he had been lying down on the ground just staring up at the sky, nor did he care. He had no more money to buy any food and he felt too tired to go back home. So he stayed there on the ground, watching the clouds pass by, until something round blocked his view. Squinting his eyes, Naruto was surprised to find himself looking at a face of an adult.
"What are ya doing down there kid? You wanna get trampled over by a food cart?" the man asked. The burly man didn't look very old, probably around his late thirties to early fourties, and looked to be in shape.
"I don't care. Leave me alone, old man. I'm too tired to get up," Naruto replied. His stomach gave a growl.
The man laughed. "And hungry, too, it seems."
"Y-yeah," Naruto replied, embarrassed by the loud noise his stomach had made.
"Tell ya what, kid? I just finished buying some ingredients for my stand and I'm heading over there right now, so why don't you get on the cart and come with me. You can eat there. I'll cook something up for you." The man said with a smile.
"R-really? You'd do that?" Naruto asked, surprise evident in his voice.
"Yep, sure will," the man replied.
With renewed energy, Naruto immediately got off of the ground and jumped on the cart filled with various types of food.
"What are we waiting for then? Let's go, old man!" the blond-haired boy exclaimed vigorously.
The old man gave a light chuckle. "You're an energetic little fella aren't ya?"
And with that, the two of them set off towards the old man's food stand.
When they finally reached their destination, the old man had asked for help in carrying all the food from the cart to the kitchen. Naruto complied with his request and helped him carry the ones that were not too heavy. After they were finished, the owner of the stand had asked Naruto to wait at the counter as he went to the kitchen to fix up some food. It was only a few minutes later when the old man finally returned with a bowl of what looked to be like ramen.
"Here you go! Fresh off the stove! Special miso ramen!" the burly man said with a smile.
Naruto drooled as he stared at the bowl of ramen coming his way. When it was finally put down on the table, he wasted no time in digging in, hunger winning over manners.
"What…is… this… place…?" Naruto asked in between gulps.
"Glad you asked! This place here is my special ramen stand! I call it the Ichiraku Ramen Stand!" the man exclaimed with much pride in his voice.
"This is good! More please!" Naruto said, excited to finally have food in his stomach.
The old man gave a light chuckle. "No problem, but you better slow down or you might choke on your food."
"Sorry, it's just that I haven't eaten anything since yesterday," Naruto said apologetically.
"Yesterday?" the man asked, surprised.
"Yeah, old man promised me that he'd get me some food today, but nobody showed up, so I went out to go get some food."
"Is that right?" the man whispered, more to himself than Naruto. He felt bad for the kid.
Three more bowls later, Naruto was rubbing his stomach, clearly pleased with what he had eaten. His face had a foxy smile as he let out a little burp.
"Whew. That hit the spot! That was some good food, old man! Thanks!" Naruto grinned.
His grin immediately disappeared, however, when Naruto remembered that he did not have any money with him since it was stolen from that group of kids earlier. He jumped off the stool with a panicked expression on his face. He did not want the old man to find out.
"What am I gonna do? He's going to kill me if he finds out I don't have any money to pay for the food," He whispered to himself.
When the owner of the stand came back from the kitchen, he noticed the expression on Naruto's face.
"Hey, kid! What's wrong?" the old man asked.
"A-ah…nothing…"
"From the look on your face, it doesn't seem to be 'nothing.'"
"I-it's just…It's just that…I kinda…got my money stolen," Naruto said in a hushed whisper.
"Eh? Stolen?"
"Yeah…earlier… That's why you found me laying on the ground. A couple of kids wanted to start a fight and took my money."
"I see…"
The owner looked at the blond closely. He didn't seem to be lying. He really did feel bad for the kid.
"It's on me…" The old man finally said.
"W-what?" Naruto asked surprised.
"I said, 'It's on me.'"
"Really? You mean it?"
"Yeah… I mean it, kid. Just pay me back next time."
Moved by the owner's response, Naruto exclaimed suddenly, "Mr. Ichiraku owner, old man, sir! You're awesome! From this day forward, I promise to pay you back a hundred fold when I become Hokage!" Naruto shouted vigorously.
The old man couldn't help but laugh at Naruto's promise. It was certainly amusing to hear him say those words. The kid had a big dream.
Their chit-chat stopped immediately, however, when they heard the sounds of footsteps and voices approaching the ramen stand.
"…yeah, their food's great here. Their spicy shrimp ramen is just awesome!"
"Really? That's great! I want to try it out then!"
It sounded like a couple, a man and a woman, Naruto thought. The voices were getting closer, until finally the curtain of the ramen stand was lifted and the two people entered.
"Then I'll be sure to buy you a bow—" the young man abruptly stopped.
"What? What is it?" the young woman at the man's side asked.
The dark-haired young man merely pointed at Naruto with disgust on his face. The young woman gave a slight gasp and whispered something to her partner.
"Let's get out of here… that demon-child's in here," the brunette told the young man.
"Y-yeah…" he replied.
And with that, the couple left the ramen stand in a hurry, quickly walking away as if they were being chased by an attacker.
Unfortunately, the blond-haired boy heard what the woman had said.
"Hmm…well they seemed to be in a hurry; didn't even bother buying a bowl from here. Kids these days have no manners I tell ya." the owner complained to no one in particular.
"It's because of me…" Naruto suddenly answered quietly, head bowed down.
"What?"
"Ever since I could remember, people always treated me differently. They never liked me. And whenever I asked them why, their answer would always be the same, 'Because you're a demon.' I hated it! I hated not knowing why they called me demon! I hated not being able to have any friends because their parents wouldn't let them get close to me! I hated always being the outcast… I hated it…" Naruto finished softly.
The old man was beginning to understand the situation, but he wanted to be sure first.
"Oi, kid! What's you're name anyway?" the ramen shop owner asked.
"N-Naruto… Naruto Uzumaki," was the young boy's meek reply.
The old man's eyes widened when he heard the name. It made a lot of sense, the owner thought. He knew, now, why that couple left in such a hurry; and why no one had come to give him his food. It was because Naruto was none other than the nine-tailed fox demon, Kyuubi!
The old man was about to say something, when Naruto said something that surprised him.
"Thanks, old man…" Naruto said quietly. "…Usually, people would've already shouted at me and then kicked me out… But, you haven't done that yet… Instead, you're one of the only people to have treated me nicely besides the Third."
The owner could only listen as Naruto continued.
"Hey, old man?"
"Yeah?"
"That promise I made to you…I'll definitely keep it… I'll pay you back. I won't go back on my word."
"When you become Hokage right? You'll pay me a hundred fold?" the old man asked, a grin starting to form on his face.
"Yeah… I'll become Hokage and then people won't have to look at me like they do now. They won't have to look down on me. Instead, they'll finally acknowledge me! Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage!" Naruto finished off with a foxy grin on his face.
The old man was speechless. He could only smile at the kid's determination. Naruto's little speech actually made him want to cheer for him.
"Well, anyway, I've already caused you enough trouble, old man. I already drove off your customers," Naruto began. "Bye, old man! Thanks for the food!"
As Naruto was heading out of the ramen stand, he stopped when he heard the owner call out his name.
"Oi, Naruto! Just so you know, you're welcome here anytime you want!" the old man exclaimed.
Naruto, once again moved by this old man's statement, could only smile at him. "Thanks, old man. You really are awesome…"
"And kid… the name's Teuchi…" the old man called out.
Naruto turned around once again, ready to leave.
He turned his head towards the owner and said, "Thanks…Teuchi-san…" before finally lifting up the curtain and setting off towards home.
Teuchi could only watch as the curtain fell back into place and listen as the ramen stand became silent. He could only think of one thing to say at this point.
"I'll be rooting for ya, Naruto… I'm sure you'll become a great Hokage some day."
When Naruto finally made it home, he was surprised to find that the place was filled with food that would be able to last him for a couple of weeks.
"Tsch… that old man… he didn't forget after all…" Naruto said with a smile.
It was an interesting day, no a great day, Naruto thought as he lay down on his futon. For the first time in a very long time, he may have made another friend; a friend named Teuchi, owner of the Ichiraku Ramen Stand.
And with that last thought, Naruto closed his eyes and fell asleep with a smile on his face, dreaming of nothing but ramen.
A/N: Well, that's the end of the second chapter and the flashback scene. The next chapter will be back to the present where more things will happen and more stories will be told. I told you it would be much longer than the first chapter.
And for those of you who are wondering, "Where the hell's the romance?" All I have to say to you is, "Please be patient." It's coming, but I need to build up some events first and have people come in to tell their stories. So until then, please be patient.
Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the second chapter. 'Till next time!
Oh, and I'll be re-editing the first chapter. It looks like there's some mistakes I want to fix up; nothing major that will change the story line, though.
This chapter has not been beta-read.