Rated M for Depiction of violent scenes and suicidal tendencies.
"Words"- Quotes or speech.
'Words' - Thoughts.
Words- Kyuubi's voice.
Disclaimer- I Do Not own Naruto, because if I did I would be able to die in peace. Everything you read from now on may not be canon. Credit goes to Mashahi Kishimoto for his masterpiece.
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Hope you guys like the story!
Chapter 2: Will You Be My Friend?:
There were quite a few things in the world that Naruto hated with passion, waiting for the Ramen to boil in water, the villagers' constant glares, Hokage's lecture after he did a prank, and lastly his special resting period in the hospital bed. Hospital beds were comparatively softer than his broken wooden framed pile of trash. But in his bed he wasn't served poison such as the hospital food. Well, maybe a few times, when he thought the food presented to him was a gift instead of assassination medium. But that doesn't count for much. While he stayed in the hospital bed, he wasn't served the only thing that could fuel his flames of youth, the medicine that could heal his wounds, the potion that could replenish his exhausted mana. HE WASN'T SERVED RAMEN IN THE HOSPITAL. He hated it. He could waste his life in a prison if only he was promised his daily demanded intake of Ramen, which was usually around 15 bowls. Right now, Naruto was lying on that same bed, thinking of the Ramenless 3 days of tortured he suffered to keep the Hokage happy. Well not anymore, even the future Hokage has limits to how much he could sacrifice for the current Hokage. He tried to get up from his lying position, and felt the pain course through his body, but it was nothing compared to the separation he suffered from Ramen. He clenched his fist, " I will not die in this shithole before getting 15 bowls of Ramen in my stomach." The shining orbs of his blue eyes reflected his determination. A unwavering determination to survive, to fullfil his destiny, to eat his Ramen.
5 minutes later he was lying face first on the green patch of grass near the window of a 2 floored hospital. As soon as he had gotten up from his bed he jumped out of the window, before realization hit him and he went wide eyed, "Shit, this is the 2nd floor." The very next thing that hit him after realization was the ground, which was dried to crumbs from the lack of rain. His luck can sometimes rival even the Legendary Sucker Tsunade's luck. Well since he was used to having such great luck, he just dusted off his clothes, not even caring about his luck, because something bigger was on the line. Yes, his Ramen of course.
He ran in a straight line through the streets, ignoring the glares,whispers, and all the villagers along the way. He barged into the Ramen stall. The old man and Ayame were both relieved to see him alright.
"Hey old man! I am really really hungry. Could you get me 3 bowls of ramen to start with?"
"Of course, I was getting quite worried that our most favorite customer was absent for so long." The boy's cheerful mask was about to break as he remembered why he was absent from his nectar. He put on a grin to cover it up. Old man Teuchi however noticed the bandages on the boy wrapping most of his body, and knowing that 10th of October wasn't too long ago, he decided to do something to cheer him up. "You know what? Today's meal is on the house."
"Really? You mean it Old man? THANKS A BUNCH! You know what? When I become the Hokage, I will even assign you for making food for the Ninjas!" Naruto complimented himself, his mask was fixed back with super glue, and no one knew a trace of how he felt. He slurped down bowls after bowls of ramen.
"Whew, that was great. Tell Ayame-chan when she comes back that I said hi"
"Alright Naruto, take care, and come back again whenever you feel hungry." Naruto was really happy to have known such a man. Now that he thought about it he realized how sad Teuchi and Ayame would have been, if they found Naruto dead. He berated himself for ever even trying to commit suicide. But then again, today was the day where his mood demanded for his survival, a special contribution of Ramen in this mood was a factor. He got up, patted his stomach, and removed the curtains and stepped outside. Maybe his mood didn't demand for his survival that strongly, the glares and the whispers were back with full force. He just hung his head low and kept walking through the streets. He kept picking up his pace little by little, until he was running above the rooftops, landing on the Yondaime Hokage's monument. He felt at peace whenever he went to the top of the monument. The view of the village from that spot was amazing. But his visions were more amazing to him, since he visioned himself to be atop the strongest Shinobi to have lived in the village. But right now he didn't feel the amazement or peace at being on top of Yondaime. Rather he felt despair and sadness. Why did the 4th Hokage choose him? Why choose him to be the sacrifice? Why sacrifice his future? Did he hate him enough to put this burden on him? Did he not think what would happen to him after the sealing? Did he not plan how to help him deal with the villagers? So many questions, but he knew one thing, they were not going to be answered anytime soon.
Whenever he had pent up questions or thoughts in his mind that he needed to filter out, he used his trademark "Fall Asleep In A Second" jutsu. Well, most people wouldn't consider it a jutsu, but insomniac people would call this God's blessing. The strong gush of wind blew his spiky blond hair, but his nap was undisturbed. He was dreaming about something. Something he wanted with all his heart. He saw a large bowl of ramen. He was standing on the edge of the bowl. He jumped into the bowl, to dive into the broth of the Ramen. But instead of feeling the spicy mixture of nectar rush into his mouth, he felt his head hitting a strong concrete floor covered in a puddle of water. Getting up while scratching his head, he spotted the sewage dark room, where stood the massive cage. Gaining a bit more control over his senses, he heard the rumbling and howling noises coming from the cage. He focused a bit more to see the fox clutching his stomach with both of his arms as he as laughing and rolling on the floor. After few minutes of intense laughter, during which Naruto was clutching his fist and gaining tick marks on his forehead, the fox wiped off a few drops of fake tears from his laughter.
"Revenge is a dish best served cold. Isn't that what the ningens say? Well how did you like my cold Dish of Ramen?" The fox started rolling in another fit of laughter, thinking his pun about the 'Dish' was the most hilarious thing in existence, even more hilarious than Naruto and Sasuke accidentally Kissing in the academy. Oh wait, that probably might happen in another parallel world.
"Oi damn Fox, what was that all about?" The boy tried to keep his cool, even though he had steam rising from his head, because he knew from experience that the Fox might just kill him and eventually himself to get payback for disrespect.
"Oh, you mean that genjutsu about Ramen? That was for calling me Furball the last time we met. But on a more serious note, would you like to Dive into eating another dish of Ramen?" He couldn't contain his breath and laughter, as he emphasized DIVE, the word of his pun, to remind him of his glorious dive from the edge of the bowl to the ground. He went on his 3rd fit of laughter of the day, and Naruto was sure he would have finished what the Yondaime couldn't, by killing him. But deciding it was for his benefit, he let him survive. After waiting for minutes that seemed like ages, he spoke up, " Alright, you are really funny, and I am sorry for calling you furball. But how did you do the Genjutsu on me? I mean, aren't you caged in their?"
Now that the fox recovered enough to answer, he replied, "Well, you see I could pass a limited of chakra into your chakra networks all the time. So I just channeled a bit of chakra in your system when you slept, so you had the dream about the genjutsu. If you were trained enough, you could have easily detected and dispelled this jutsu."
"Really? I see, so you can ACTUALLY do something other than destroying stuff." The fox just grumbled in annoyance. " But you know I can't really learn that many things from this tai-jutsu books I took out from the trash. And I am quite sure they are just gonna kick me out of the library again if I try to get any books from them. The regular stores wouldn't sell anything either with which I could train."
"Well I hope you do remember someone of a high stature in this village who cried in front of you, and told you that he would help you whenever you want." Sarcasm was oozing out from every syllable of his sentence.
Naruto was confused for a second and then he nodded his head in understanding. Then a glint of evil spread through his eyes, before it was covered with innocence of a newborn. He slammed the bottom of his fist into the other hand's palm, as if he solved a great mystery. "Oh I get it, you want me to ask you for help, since you were crying infront of me the other day, and everyone knows about you in the village, right?" Naruto said with sense of accomplishment.
"Oi Brat, I cried that one time since I was really emotional. Don't try to bring it up again. Besides, I remember someone trying to say a pickup line Titanic movie to a rose flower." The fox was rubbing his chin with his paw, as if he was trying hard to remember who it was that said that winning the ticket was the best thing happened to him, since he got to meet Rose.
The blonde boy went wide eyed, as he realized that he should stop delivering pick up lines to flowers, since he had someone listening to him all the time. He decided to drop the topic for a while, since it was already embarrassing him too much to risk other information leaking out.
"Alright, you win. So I think I could ask the Hokage for some scrolls on Shinobi arts. Maybe then I could get stronger."
"Yeah you better get stronger, since you are holding the almighty Nine Tail's Pride in your belly."
Naruto just rolled his eyes. He realized, strength and large chakra reserves meant nothing when it came to delivering the Punch line instead of the Punch. "Alright, by the way is there any way I can talk to you whenever I want without having to get knocked out cold?"
"Well yes, you could just peel of the seal just a tiny bit, then you could command to control the opening of the seal with your mind. When you want to talk to me, just imagine removing the seal a tiny bit, and we will be able to talk."
He did as the fox told. He was pleased with the result, as he saw the little portion of the peeled of seal, open and close based on his imagination. "Well that takes care of that. So now I can talk to you anytime I want. I guess now I won't have to talk to my plants anymore. So thanks," the fox felt happy to have done something good to boy, before he regretted his decision hearing the last word, "Furball."
Naruto's lack shone through, as once again slipped while avoiding his claw, hitting his head on the ground, and returning back on top of the Hokage's monument.
He look around the village from the top, the bustling markets, the busy streets, students practicing art of ninjas in the academy and many more things. Wait, students were practicing ninjutsu and other shinobi stuff. That's where he needs to go to learn about those things too! He got it. He added another topic on his mental checklist, that he had to talk about when he faces the Hokage, as he started sprinting back towards the Hokage's office. The glares once again present, but Naruto's mask of cheerful little prankster shone through once again, as he barged into the Hokage tower without anyone believing that he changed even a bit.
He walked up to the counter and was told to wait a few minutes before he could enter. The lady on the counter wasn't one that tolerated him either, but being in the Hokage's close proximity, she didn't want to sign her death note by saying something that the Demon brat deserved.
A shout soon followed, and Naruto entered the room. He smelled the presence of few other people besides him in that room. He realized the Fox's chakra intertwining with his own had now allowed for better better detection through smell, vision and hearing. He was brought out of his thoughts, as the Hokage spoke up, " It's good to see you recovered so fast. I didn't quite expect your recommended resting period to be cut down by half by you." Naruto just laughed sheepishly, as he got caught again after skipping out on resting in hospital. "But then again, you never liked the Hospitals anyway, and I can't quite force them to only prepare Ramen. Also you seem to be in good health. So I guess I could let you pass." The Hokage saw Naruto sigh in relief. "So I assume you have something on your mind for me?"
Naruto stood in amazement at being read so easily. "Yes, I wanted to learn some ninja skills. I also want to join the ninja academy. It would help for self-defense and carve my path to the title of strongest HOKAGE!" The stars in his eyes this time were real. He didn't need to act to be happy in front of the Hokage that much, because he made him happy with his mere presence.
The Hokage smiled at his surrogate grandson's antiques. " Yes, of course, I was about to enroll you in the academy from January. And you would graduate in 4 years, if you don't skip out on classes."
"I see, but I really want to start my training now, so I do need some scrolls or books on ninjutsu, and taijutsu, and maybe even Genjutsu."
"Yeah, you could get them from any library you want to be honest. I could provide you with some scrolls on special taijutsu style to fit your extreme instincts. But I am afraid I can give you any more scrolls of importance since it will show favoritism towards you, which I don't mind, but some villagers might a lot."
Naruto started getting a bit nervous as he said, " Well there is the problem, the librarian wouldn't let me enter the library, neither would the bookstores sell me any books. So I can't buy them on my own."
Naruto saw as the Hokage's fist was shaking, and Naruto was feeling bad for the librarian. "I guess I will be having a long talk with the librarian, soon to be ex-librarian." Naruto knew exactly what he meant. "Well, then Naruto-kun, meet me the day after tomorrow at 8 in the morning, I will go with you to the library to help you choose some scrolls."
"Thanks a lot Hokage-jiji! Well I'll be leaving then."
"Well see you later Naruto-Kun."
Naruto began to walk out of the room, before he noticed something new. Something he had never experienced before in the Hokage's room. He turned back to face the Hokage, peaking the Hokage's curiosity. "You know Jiji, I think I like the 4 new anbu members you have here. Any of them are yet to emit any killing intent at me as of now."
The Hokage's eyed widened as he stared at the fading form of Naruto moving out of the door. The boy could detect the best of the hidden ninjas, and he could predict by the lack of killing intent of the Anbus, that they were newly appointed. He knew someone from his previous Anbu guards leaked the information of him leaving to Sand on October 10, which led to Naruto's extreme injuries eventually. All 4 of those ex-Anbus were now enjoying time under Ibiki's torture. The Anbus stayed with the Hokage for so long, and he couldn't detect any killing intent from them at Naruto, but Naruto easily detected that. He closed his eyes, with a wide grin, knowing that Naruto was going to be one of the best shinobis in the future considering how skilled his detection and perception already is at this age. He was proud of Naruto.
Naruto was sitting on a bench in the middle of the park, as the sun was about to dawn.
He was holding his legs close to his chest, as he was sitting down staring at other children of his age, playing with their friends. He was the only one sitting alone. He didn't want to come to the park, because every time he did, it would only remind him of his loneliness. How everyone including the children avoided playing with him. The children had no reason to hate him, but as the saying goes, "Like Father, Like Son". All the children followed their parents hatred towards the blonde boy without any reason. He watched as many of their parents picked them up while he was sitting by himself. He watched as a boy with a puppy in his jacket left with a grown women. A pink haired girl was picked up by her pink haired mother, who seemed familiar from the hospital. The pink haired girl talked to a girl before leaving. That girl caught his eyes for some reason. Maybe it was the blonde hair, that he imagined his mother or father to have. Maybe it was the green eyes that he thought was really uncommon. Maybe it was the cute face that could rival most of the child actresses he had seen. He was deep in his thoughts, while staring at her, that he didn't notice as she approached him. He thought he was maybe imagining or something, " Hey blondie, what are you doing here by yourself?"
Naruto thought she was another one that hated him, so replied quickly, "Oh I'm sorry, I will leave if I bothered you."
"Oi, I didn't say I was bothered by you. Where is your mind anyway? I asked what you were doing by yourself."
Naruto was stomped. Someone actually cared about what he was doing, and didn't immediately tell him to leave. "Well I was just passing time, since no one plays with me, and I don't think I have any friends."
The girl raised her eyebrows, "Wait, why don't you have any friends?"
Naruto was getting more and more deppressed, since of those questions made him realize how far his life was from normal. " Well I don't anyone likes me here," he said sadly.
"Well I like you." The child's innocence didn't mean to convey any underlying romantic feelings through the sentence. And Naruto didn't even care for the romantic feelings, as he felt tears brimming his eyes. Ino raised her eyebrows again.
"So you don't hate me?"
"Of course not, I just told you I like you" Ino grinned seeing the smile on his face. "By the way the name is Ino."
"My name's Naruto!"
"So do you wanna play with me tomorrow?"
"Of course, why not."
Then Naruto heard the thing that he waited forever to hear. He heard something that he would answer with a 'Yes' without a second's thought. He heard something that finally made him happy that he didn't die on his birthday. He heard Ino asking him the question that he always wanted to be asked, "Will You Be My Friend?"
