It was late afternoon in the halls of the ninja academy as students finished class and left to train or study. In a classroom, a 12 year old Yasahashi Koizuma crossed her arms and looked down at the floor in defiance as her teacher told her what she didn't want to hear.

"It's best that you quit pursuing the path of the ninja, Koizuma."

"I swear, I can do it! Let me finish the year. I'll graduate this time, I swear!"

"Yasahashi, if you can't mold chakra, you'd die instantly on the battlefield. That's a guarantee."

She lingered in the halls after the meeting with her teacher, and stomped agrilly back and forth. A small, brunette girl with a twisted up face called out to her:

"Why you mad? Huh? Teacher didn't like your baka-no-jutsu?"

"What did you say?!" Yasahashi lunged at the girl with speed, breaking past her defense and pushing her against the wall.

The girl trembled, "h-hey I was only kidding!"

Yasa stared her in the eye, testingly.

"Halt," came another girl's voice from behind the both of them. They looked to see an older girl with fair skin and dark hair. "No fights in the halls. Take it to the sparring field," she said.

"Don't tell me what to do," Yasa stuck her tongue out at the older girl, "just cuz you're an Uchiha doesn't mean you can tell me stuff."

The girl gestured to a badge on her chest, "As you can see, I am the hall monitor. Please abide by school rules or I'll report it to the administration."

Yasa glowered at the Uchiha's big words and authoritative voice. But, she let the other girl down from the wall and crossed her arms in defiance. Seeing that the fight was diffused, the hall monitor bowed and stepped outside to leave for the day.

"What a goody two shoes," the brunette said. "But, that hurt, Yasa."

"Kaeda, why'd you say that?" She looked at her friend with pain in her eyes.

"Ah… I'm sorry, Yasa."

"Me too."

The two girls walked home in silence through the crowded streets. Soldiers passed by them constantly, driving carts of supplies, some in fresh ninja uniforms, others stained with blood and dirt. Most shocking was watching stretchers with bodies being carried past them; casualties of the war which was currently being waged outside their borders.

"Do you think the war will still be happening when we graduate?" Kaeda asked, her brow creased.

"When you graduate," Yasa corrected her.

Kaeda frowned, "You're not giving up that easily, are you, Yasahashi?"

She shrugged, "I don't wanna…"

Kaeda punched her arm, "Don't give up! You have to graduate too so you and I can be on the same ninja squad, okay? I don't want to graduate without you!"

Yasa nodded in realization, her friend's words knocking the depression out of her, "Right! I don't know what came over me, I'll keep trying!"

The two friends grinned and bumped fists in the war-haunted street.


Naruto was having a tantrum in the hallway when Yasahashi came home that night. He was complaining that he lost his keys and was locked out, and claimed that someone had stolen his back up from under the welcome mat. She heard him stomping around up there, and even though she didn't need to go to his floor to enter her apartment, she and everyone else in the building was made part of the interaction by just living there.

The tantrum went on for a good long while as Yasahashi was cooking dinner. Neighbors threw things out their doors, shouted between the floors. Old man Izukai tried hitting the boy, but someone had thought it was a good idea to let him go to ninja school, so it was dodged easily.

Finally, Yasahashi slammed the lid on the pot she was cooking and stomped out her door. Neighbors here and there, having heard her emerge, popped their heads out and egged her on, told her to take care of that boy, Yasa!

"I'm not even the landlord," she muttered unenthusiastically, but everyone was too overdone to notice where her annoyance was directed. She stomped up the stairs and turned the hall to see the young fox brat kneeling on the ground outside his door banging on the wall.

"Which one of you took it!? Come on, come out and show your faces, cowards!"

She grabbed his arm, ceasing his wall-banging. "Listen kid, just climb in through the window like you do every night. You're just making a big fuss to get attention, like a little baby."

He argued with her and tried to fight, but she easily blocked his punches and kicks. Finally, after having enough of his squirrel-iness, she flipped him upside down and the keys to his apartment came jangling out of his pockets onto the floor.

"Hey what's that?" Yasa asked, "forget to check your pockets? C'mon kid. Stop being a nuisance."

The other neighbors poked their heads out at this, their faces red and boiling. Old man Izukai laughed meanly and pointed his finger at Naruto. "What a childish brat! Causing a tantrum just for attention. Ought to put him in the daycare with all the toddlers!"

Humiliated and upset, Naruto grabbed his keys, unlocked the door and went into his unit. He slammed it and everyone immediately heard the boy bawling melodramatically.

"Thank you so much, Koizuma-san," said Naruto's leftmost neighbor.

"You're a lifesaver."

"Finally, I can paint in peace!"

"That kid…" another shook his head with exasperated eyes then laughed, "Now just listen to him. What's the hokage thinking? Should be sent away…"

Yasahashi didn't linger as the neighbors continued to banter about the ordeal. "Should have gone to Hanabi's tonight…" she mumbled as she made her way down the stairwell. While she was distracted simmering in her own melodramatic mood, she nearly collided with none other than the third Hokage.

"Ah, better watch where you're going, Yasahashi-kun," the hokage chuckled. She bowed lowly.

"My apologies, my lord." she said.

"And how is Konoha's most valuable urban planner doing?" he asked.

"F-fine sir," she blushed. "And, thank you." She knew that the Hokage often made house calls to visit Naruto, but she rarely met the powerful leader of her village face to face like this.

"Have you chosen to return to work with the civil engineering department yet?"

"I have not."

The hokage studied her face for a moment, "I see. Well, there's no use rushing the mending of the heart. But, perhaps you would benefit from returning to a routine."

"Perhaps," she blushed again, her eyes staring at the gaudy wallpaper in the stairwell. Her mind got distracted looking at a huge crack in the siding and she started to think of how she would fix it.

"Oh, that is an ugly pattern, isn't it?" The hokage noticed her looking, "Do you envision changing it? I've heard through the grapevine that you've been doing a lot of work on this building" the hokage smiled at her.

"I have…" she nodded. Talking to the village leader, she suddenly became very self conscious of how useless her efforts had been in helping the village during these last 6 months. Her face fell slightly. And yet, she knew that she couldn't have been of more help during that time if she tried.

"Perhaps, instead of returning to old routine, you would like to try drafting a new path for yourself." the Hokage mused.

Their conversation was cut off, as Naruto's sobbing was suddenly extremely audible from the stairway.

"Oh dear." The hokage said with an embarrassed smile.

Yasahashi also felt embarrassed, knowing her part in the boy's tears. "I left my stove on, sorry," she bowed.

The Hokage nodded at her and they parted ways.

In her apartment, she could hear Naruto being calmed by the powerful leader of their village. No one in the complex understood why the hokage felt such a strong duty to the boy. Though, no one seemed to realize just how sick it was that such a terrifying beast, one which had killed the boy's own parents, would be sealed inside of him. Perhaps that's why the hokage was here: the boy had no one else.

Yasahashi had finished cooking dinner, and by that time, the Hokage had gone. She spilled sauce all over her shirt and went to change in her bedroom.

She became distracted by the portrait by her bedside. It was of her and another woman, one with skin as fair as the moon, and hair as black as the night sky. Words and feelings surfaced in Yasahashi's heart. She returned to the kitchen to pack up a portion of her dinner and bring it upstairs.

All was finally quiet in the third story hallway. She crept along the creaking floorboards to Naruto's door and knocked. After a moment, a small puffy-eyed boy opened the door. His eyes grew angry when he saw her.

"What do you want?" he growled. He noticed the food in her hands.

"Here," she said, handing it to him.

"I don't want any." Naruto pouted.

"You don't-" she blinked. She wasn't expecting that. "You ungrateful brat. You should accept a home cooked meal from someone. What do you normally eat?"

"Ramen noodles. And, I just made some, so I don't want it to go to waste."

"Really? You're seriously going to eat ramen noodles."

He nodded insistently, "Mhm! Old man hokage brought me some vegetables to eat too, but I'm not gonna waste my time on that either!"

How Yasahashi ended up in Naruto's apartment listening to him prattle on about all the different types of cup ramen he eats in a week was beyond her comprehension. She managed to bribe him to eat at least some of the food she brought him, and he agreed that it was delicious. He asked if he could save it for lunch the next day, and then he started rambling on about how he was learning chakra signs in school, pulling out a scroll and showing off the diagrams he was supposed to memorize for class. Yasahashi didn't know why, but she started helping him with his homework, correcting him when he did the wrong hand sign and helping him practice replicating the diagram.

She did the wrong hand sign once and he crossed his arms, "No! I'm right. It's like this, see?" He did the right signage, and then he shoved the scroll in Yasahashi's face, showing off the part which had the matching illustration. Yasahashi smiled guiltily.

"Sorry kid, I'm out of practice. It's been a while since I've done any hand signs."

"Really? But aren't you a ninja, Yasahashi-sensei?"

"S-sensei?" she laughed, "since when am I a sensei? I'm no ninja either, kid."

Naruto squinted his eyes in the peculiar way he did when he was doubtful of what someone said, "Are you sure? You sure act like a sensei. And, you know how to do cool ninja moves, like-like-like earlier, you know?"

"Oh, I guess that's true."

"You're not like a secret ninja spy, are you? I learned that sometimes enemy countries send spies to live as normal civilians and then strike when they get the order!"

"Is that what you think, kid?" she smiled suspiciously, "Careful what you say around me."

Naruto burst out laughing, "I'm just kidding! I think I would know if you were a spy, sensei!"

"Stop calling me that, brat."


Beep beep. It's Kakashi's Prius. Get in, we got cup ramen in here, we got naruto, we got buildings, we got hokages, we got moves, we got nosy neighbors, we got