lord 7th: Thanks man! To know that Naruto is the Rookie of the year or not, just read the chapter and for pairing…I don't know ;) Hope you enjoy it.
Ezeakel: Thanks man! And yeah I will keep those facts in my mind. Hope you enjoy:)
WindyCitySlayer1: Here it is, I present you…-
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War and Peace
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Chapter: 02: Natsumi
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Konohagakure no Sato
A Year Later
Birds were chirping, people were opening their shops for the day, shinobis were running on the streets and rooftops to get new missions, children were playing peacefully with each other, all and all it was a regular Sunday morning in the Village Hidden in Leaves…or was it?
"Ha ha ha ha ha! You all are never gonna catch me, dattebayo!" yelled a small girl with mischievous blue eyes, blonde hairs which sparkled brighter than the sun, fair skin and three whisker marks on each of the cheeks.
She was none other than the resident 'Prank Queen' of Konoha, Uzumaki Natsumi.
"You will pay for it, BRAT!" yelled a shopkeeper at her while chasing her with other people.
Why were they chasing the girl, you ask? Well, she painted all their shops in the broad daylight, so they had a solid reason for doing it. Right?
"He he he he he, you all are so slow! You will never catch me, the future Hokage of Konoha, dattebayo!" She yelled once again.
Oomph…
She collided with something, or someone in particular. She looked up to see who it was just to freeze in fear.
"A-a-ah I-iruka-s-sensei-" she squeaked out.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING NATSUMI?! HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE TOLD YOU TO NOT PLAY ANY PRANKS ON PEOPLE LIKE THIS, HUH?! AND YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING FOR TOMMORROW'S TEST!" shouted Iruka at her.
She flinched at the loudness but recovered soon and muttered a 'Hai.' With a huff.
Iruka sighed at her, she was just too hyperactive and he really didn't like to shout at her but sometimes she gave him no other choice. He will become old very soon if this continued, heck he even found some white hairs last week and he was just twenty for god's sake!
He took her to Ichiraku Ramen Stand or else she would have found a way to escape him and he will have to find her again.
"Good morning Natsumi-chan!" greeted Ayame.
"Good morning Ayame-nee-chan!" shouted Natsumi with full enthusiasm.
"The regular please!" said Iruka to Teuchi.
They both ate their share peacefully, well, as peacefully as Natsumi can. While Iruka ate only one bowl, Natsumi ate five bowls.
'Where does all this food go?' thought Iruka while shaking his head at his student and a sweatdrop forming on his head.
"Are you eating your vegetables, Natsumi?" asked Iruka.
Natsumi swallowed the last of her ramen and frowned, "Yeah, but they are soooo yucky!"
"You have to eat vegetable daily or you are gonna remain a shrimp." Said Iruka.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it Iruka-sensei." Said Natsumi annoyed by the talk of vegetables. She hated them, how can something taste so bad? It wasn't her fault she didn't like it, it was the vegetables' fault they were so yucky!
Iruka took her to her apartment, the Sandaime had given her an apartment in the Shinobi District, after she was kicked out of the orphanage and it was just two blocks away from his own. Her apartment was perfect for anyone living on his own and location was good too. Most shinobi didn't hate her so she was safe in the district and well, he could always sense an ANBU tailing her. Yeah, Iruka was a damn good sensor if nothing else.
He said his goodbye to her which was mostly threatening her to not prank anyone else today.
Now, Natsumi was alone at her house. She didn't know what to do. At such times she hated her being orphan even more. She sometimes thought, if she had a mother who would care for her, sing her lullabies at night, play with her and tell her stories… If she had a father who would train her, tell her about his adventures, smile at her, scold her then hug her, it always pained her in the chest when she thought such things because she knew it was never gonna happen. Her parents probably abandoned her and hated her like the rest of the village.
'No, don't think about it!' she yelled in her mind and composed herself again just to feel wetness on her cheek. She cursed, she had promised she will never cry for that! Maybe it was just too much for a child as small as her. She was frustrated. She ran from her apartment towards the Hokage Monument and settled on the face of the Yondaime Hokage, watching the village from here always soothed her, it was just peaceful to watch over it, after all it was her home…
Next day
Natsumi was running from her apartment to the academy. Why? She was late, of course.
She reached the academy as fast as her tiny legs could take her, which was scarily fast! She slammed the door open and yelled, "I'M PRESENT, IRUBAKA-SENSEI!" and grinned.
A tick mark appeared on Iruka's forehead and yelled at her, "YOU"RE LATE! AND DON'T YELL! JUST TAKE YOUR SEAT! AND DON'T CALL ME THAT!" fumed Iruka.
She grinned and started looking for seats, Ino had taken her usual seat with Shikamaru and Chouji, a seat was vacant besides Kiba, she wasn't going to sit with the dog-breath, he always smelled like a dog and bothered her, another seat or particularly two seats were empty at the last bench besides the windows. Only one person was sitting there, what was his name? Ah, yes, Naruto.
She started walking towards the last bench, Kiba was trying to get her to sit with him but she ignored him, and reached the last bench. She looked at what Naruto was doing. He was writing something with a brush. She looked at what he was writing. What she saw almost made her go out of balance. How can somebody write so smoothly and with such perfection, she did not understand some symbols but she could read some and they were all perfect not even Iruka-sensei could write this perfectly.
Naruto was practicing his calligraphy skills, because fuinjutsu was a dangerous art and one mistake, the next thing you see is Shinigami. He felt somebody standing by his desk, he stopped his writing, with brush and his hand hovering just above the scroll and looked who was standing beside his desk. To his surprise, it was the class Knucklehead, he raised a delicate eyebrow at that. What was she doing here?
Natsumi regained her composure and asked him with a grin, "Can I sit here, Horny Boy?!"
Naruto choked on his own spit, his brush fell down on his scroll messing everything. He tried to recompose himself, he knew she didn't mean what he thought, but seriously, Horny Boy!
It didn't take him more than 1 second to recompose himself. He smiled at her a charming smile and said in his usual melodic voice, "Yeah, you can sit here, nobody sits here either way."
"Thanks, Horny Boy!" she replied but she was surprised he smiled at her, smiled, which was something nobody did, except for Jiji and Iruka-sensei and the smile was not fake, she could tell, after all she herself was a master in faking smiles.
Naruto sighed, he needed to tell her to not call him that. His reputation will go down the drain. And he can't have that, he was a prideful person!
"Please don't call me that." Said Naruto.
Natsumi looked at him, mischievousness entering her eyes, "Why? It's a nice name isn't it?"
Naruto sighed again, he had to tell her the reason now, why can't be his life simple! He didn't want to discuss such things with her, it was…embarrassing!
Natsumi blushed when Naruto invaded her private space and reached for her ears. But she didn't get the time to respond because he started to give the explanation.
When Naruto finished, Natsumi was blushing madly, her lips quivering slightly and those ocean blue orbs seemed distracted. Hmm, so the knucklehead did pay attention to the Sex Ed. class. It was good for him, he wouldn't have to teach her about reproduction and how humans had sex, it would just be too awkward.
At least nobody heard her calling him that, or his career would have been over without even starting!
"Did you all prepare for today's test?" asked Iruka to the class.
"Hai sensei!" came a loud chorus.
"Oh shit! I forgot that today was a test! Even when Iruka-sensei reminded me! Ugh, I will fail again!" murmured Natsumi.
Iruka distributed the papers and started observing the children.
Natsumi was panicking, she didn't know even a single question. How was she going to become the Hokage if she could not pass this test?!
She felt a finger poke her thighs, she looked at the person sitting beside her. Why was he poking her in the thighs? She saw him motioning his paper towards her to a distance from which she could copy all the answers, she looked in his eyes and there was only warmth in them and no deceit. She muttered a 'Thank You', and started copying the answers.
After 90 minutes, Iruka collected the papers and took them to the staff room.
"Thank you very much, Naruto!" Natsumi thanked Naruto with a true sweet smile and electrifying blue eyes.
Naruto blushed, she just looked too…cute! How can anybody resist it?! It wasn't his fault that he was blushing!
"Y-you're welcome, Natsumi-chan." Said Naruto while cursing inwardly for stuttering.
"By the way, I only copied 15 of the 20 questions." She whispered in his ear.
Phew, it's good she didn't copy all or Iruka would have figured she had copied his answers.
"Hmm, you will pass and nobody will figure that you copied from me. Good!" said Naruto with a smile and she grinned in return.
Iruka returned and took them for practical classes.
The day went by. Students were now going home with their parents, brothers or sisters. Teachers went back to the staff room to complete their work for the day.
"Won't ya go back home?" asked Natsumi.
"Nope! I will be going to the library." Replied Naruto.
"Huh?! Who goes to the library, its soooo boring!" said Natsumi.
"But I like to read books. They have so much of knowledge. You get to learn different things with every page." Said Naruto trying to prove his point.
"Yeah, yeah, Iruka-sensei says the same thing. By the way how long do you spend there?" asked Natsumi.
"I usually stay there until it's closed, till around 11 in the night." Said Naruto, she didn't need to know that he spent all his night reading. She will probably think that he is psycho or something. And he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of her.
"Don't your parents say something about it?" asked Natsumi.
"Well, I don't have parents." Said Naruto.
Natsumi's eyes widened a bit, she looked at him and muttered a 'Sorry'.
"Meh, you don't need to apologize." Naruto said trying not to worry her. She must have thought that she was being insensitive since she herself knew how it felt when someone else pointed out that you are an orphan. He didn't want her to be upset for him.
"Well, I will see you tomorrow then, Natsumi-chan." Said Naruto with a smile.
Natsumi's expression suddenly changed after seeing his smile, she grinned at him and gave a 'Bye Bye' as response.
Naruto went towards the library not knowing the seed he has sown will bloom into a beautiful flower one day.
The day went by and night followed the suit…
Natsumi plopped on her bed and a small smile crept across her face while thinking about the day's events.
Today she had made a new friend, it truly made her feel happy. He even helped her when she didn't even ask, it filled her heart with warmth.
Today, she slept with a smile on her face for the first time in her life.
With Naruto
Naruto was looking out of the window, at the moon. It came to him as a surprise when today he didn't want to read a book. So, he was looking at the moon and remembering…
Flashback
Same day
Ringggggg…..
The bell rang signalling the last period of the academy for today has started.
The sensei exited the class to go to his next class.
"U-u-u-um, N-naruto," stuttered Natsumi.
Naruto was giving her full attention now, she rarely ever stuttered. Either it was too embarrassing for her to ask what she wanted to ask or she was afraid, "Hmm?"
"I-I w-wanted to a-ask…. W-will y-you…u-um…become m…" she stuttered out, her voice going from low to inaudible.
"Huh?" asked Naruto confused.
"W-will, you...um, b-become m-my friend!" she said and turned her head to the opposite side not wanting to face him. She didn't want to show him her face if he rejected her.
She felt a hand on her shoulders and looked back towards Naruto. She was surprised to see a smile on his face.
"I would love to be your friend, Natsumi-chan."
Flashback End
Friend…
It felt good to have a friend. He never had a friend before, so it was a new sensation but a welcomed one. It made him feel warm inside.
She had hugged him, which gained her the unintentional ire of the female population, but it felt nice to be hugged.
He blushed at remembering what happened next. Well, he had felt her budding (cough)(cough) assets. Hey! It wasn't his fault that she was hugging him too tight! They were just so soft and she was only wearing a t-shirt, so he could feel the softn-'NO! Stop! Stop! Stop! Don't think about it, Bad Naruto, stop thinking about it.' He breathed in and out to calm himself down.
'Maybe I should just read the course book for today.' After he had to maintain his position as the no.1 in the class.
Ah yes, it was just too tiring to be the no.1 in the class, he never thought that he would have a horde of fan girls looking at him with hearts in their eyes. They would all just swoon over him all day, they probably would decorate his shit in their bedroom (A/N: Yeah he does shit. All the ramen he eats has to go somewhere, doesn't it.).
Boys were a different story, they tried to belittle him, prank him, trip him, try to make a fool of him in front of girls but what they didn't know was that they would never succeed in a thousand years. He was far superior to all the other boys in his class, he may sound arrogant but all the facts stated that he was superior! They never fazed him but it didn't solve the problems with girls, they would just swoon over more.
Ah… life was hard.
He read the course book of history for half an hour, he already knew most of the things in the chapter which was about the era of clan wars. He had read Tobirama Senju's 'The Warring States'. Compared to Nidaime's book, the academy course book didn't even have a page worth of information.
The Nidaime has portrayed the period in such a way you could feel the elements of the book. It was really a masterpiece in literature. One could feel the agony people were facing in those periods. Meaningless wars were waged by the Daimyos to conquer land, to show their superiority, to show their strength.
'When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die.' were the wise words of the Nidaime Hokage which he remembered.
One could also sense a sort of animosity from the Nidaime towards the Uchiha clan but also a bit of thankfulness towards them for agreeing with his brother to stop these meaningless wars. He may have not liked the Uchihas but he was the only Hokage who worked for their upliftment. He did create the Uchiha Police Force for them after all.
He stood up and looked for a fuinjutsu book. His eyes caught a glimpse of a book whose title intrigued him.
He took the book and opened it, what he read made his eyes wide. He had to tell Natsumi about this, she certainly didn't know about it. She would be overjoyed by the news.
After all, the book he picked was none other than
'Uzumaki: The Clan of Maelstrom'
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A/N: Thanks for reading the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review guys, whenever I get a review it makes me work more enthusiastically. Even if it is negative and presents a valid point, I will try to improve it. So, please review. Structured criticism is appreciated. Please tell me if I can improve my writing style, I would love some suggestions. If there are inconsistencies in the fic please review, I would try to solve them.
Next chapter will be from the perspective of Satsuki and then the graduation.
I hope you like how I portrayed Natsumi. I tried to make her personality similar to canon Naruto but she will be a little bit smarter than him.
Thanks again and Bye bye.
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