(a/n: Here's chapter two of the introduction bundle for my new fic. Enjoy!)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto is a copyright of Misashi Kishimoto and has been for quite a while now.)

The New Generation

"Oi! Ryu! Wake up!" yelled a familiar voice.

"Uuuuhhhh….." mumbled Ryu.

"Haha, if only you saw yourself right now!" Naruto laughed. He took another look around the room. It was sparkling with such intense lust that the rays that shined into the room from outside was nearly blinding. It was as if the apartment had just opened up for the first time.

"Wow, how long did you spend cleaning this room up?" Naruto asked. He was quite curious. He had never seen such a clean room in his life. Half of the reason was because his room was always a mess, with clothes sprawled all over the floor and cockroaches crawling in from every dusty corner imaginable.

"I dunno, longer than I thought it would take." Ryu wiped the drool off the side of his mouth and stood up. He yawned deeply. From the looks of it, it hadn't been too long since he dozed off.

"Well, anyways, you'd better get ready for your first day at the academy," Naruto said as he walked outside, "it'll start in about twenty minutes."

"Oh, that's nice…"

"CRAP! TWENTY MINUTES?!!!? I gotta get going, fast!" Ryu tossed his red backpack onto the bed and rushed into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

About five minutes later, Ryu was out the door. "That was fast," Naruto commented. He was standing outside with two steaming cups of ramen.

"I thought that you wouldn't have anything to eat, so I made you a cup."

"Oh, thanks! I'm starving!" Ryu haste fully took out a pair of shiny metal chopsticks. "Itadakimasu!"

"Huh, what are those?" Naruto looked at the chopsticks carefully.

"Oh, these? They're my chopsticks that I always use to eat," Ryu said with a mouthful of ramen. "My master gave them to me when I was little. He said that they brought luck to whoever ate with them." Ryu showed him the hilt of one of the chopsticks, showing the kanji for luck embedded deeply into the dense metal. Naruto closed his eyes in confusion.

"Er… nevermind."

About fifteen minutes later, they were at the academy. The voices of many children could be heard inside. It seems that they were late.

---

"Class, I would like to introduce you all to two new students that will be attending the academy." Iruka faced the two children to his right.

"Konichiwa!" most of the class said in unison.

"You may take your seats you two."

The small introduction was followed by a long lecture about how to throw a weapon. Most of the class was not paying any attention. One boy was dozing off. But his nap didn't last long, for in a split second, a piece of chalk was sent flying right at him, hitting square in the forward.

"Hey! Shikamaru! No sleeping in class!" said Iruka in a strict tone. The boy slowly lifted his head up.

"Sigh, how troublesome," he said sleepily. Iruka sighed in disappointment.

"Oh well, it looks like time's up anyways. No homework for today. You are all dismissed!" Iruka sat back down at his desk. Once he lifted his head up, the class was empty. Those guys… I guess you can't keep kids in their seats these days.

But there was actually still one girl left standing right in front of him.

"Huh? Why haven't gone with the others to the playground?" asked Iruka. She shyly looked down at the floor.

"I guess I need to get to know them a bit more," she replied. Iruka stood up and put a hand on her shoulder.

"That's ok, I understand," he reassured her. "Here, if you'd like, I'll walk you back to your house."

---

A few minutes later, Naruto and Ryu met up and walked to the playground together. In fact, most of the kids from their class were already there. But it seemed like the two were invisible, for none of the kids paid any attention to them.

"Hey, Shikamaru! Chouji! Kiba!" Naruto said as he ran over to them.

"Huh? Oh, Naruto, how troublesome," sighed Shikamaru, shifting his head towards Naruto. Judging from his facial expression, he seemed like a very lazy person. His eyes showed no interest in, whatsoever, anything. But as Ryu examined them closer, he could see that he was a lot smarter than he looked. His hair was black and was styled into a topknot, like Iruka. He wore a grey shirt and white shorts.

"Heya Naruto!" greeted Chouji. He was quite large for his age, partially because he was a bit plumper than the other kids in his age group. His face was round and had swirls on his cheeks. His hair was light brown and messily stuck up in one direction. He wore a green long-sleeved shirt and white shorts. His eyes looked gentle and friendly, which, from the looks of it, was never noticed by others. Perhaps just the thought of his chubbiness left others to think that he was less superior to them. But Ryu could tell that he had a hidden potential within him, just waiting to be released.

"Hmph." Kiba looked away, uninterested in Naruto's company. Though he seemed uncaring, Ryu sensed that he was much more than what his appearance showed. He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and grey shorts that reached just before his knees. His hair was brown and was styled just like Naruto's, except it was slightly shorter. His face had two red marks in the shape of fangs drawn on him. His eyes were keen and contained small pupils, giving him a look slightly representing a dog.

Once Naruto and Ryu had reached the three, they could hear a large number of footsteps heading their way. As all five of them turned to see what was going on, a large chorus of voices shouted, "SASUKE-KUN!!!!!!!!!!!!" It was now evident what was happening, a group of just about every girl from their grade had gathered around something probably going by the name of Sasuke.

As the girls shouted and talked, two more girls walked by. One of them wore a blue shirt and dark green shorts. Her large emerald eyes revealed an intelligent girl. She was wearing a red ribbon which held some of her long, silky pink hair back, showing her forehead. The other girl wore an orange shirt and blue pants. Her bold face revealed a very confident personality. Her eyes were sky blue, complimenting her short, light blonde hair which reached just above her neck.

A slight blush could be seen forming on Naruto's cheeks as he stared at the girl with pink hair. "Hello Sakura-chan!" he greeted, giving a friendly wave to her. She turned her head and looked at Naruto with disgust before continuing with the girl beside to join the others.

"Huh? Sakura? What's wrong?" the girl beside her said.

"Oh nothing, Ino-chan," she replied back. "Just that Naruto kid saying something about me…" Her voice trailed off as the two blended into the crowd of girls. Naruto closed his eyes in disappointment and lowered his hand slowly. Ryu raised an eyebrow.

As Ryu pondered, he sensed a presence behind the tree not too far away from him. Without moving his head, he moved backwards and slowly approached the tree. Once his back was pressed comfortably against the trunk of the tree, he quickly shifted his position to see who was there. It turned out to be a small girl that also looked like she was the same age as he was. Her hair was very dark blue and was in a round shape around her head, along with two bangs that dropped down from both sides of her cheeks. Some of the hair on the back of her left and right side of her head was sticking out. She was wearing a long white shirt and long blue pants which seemed to hide her feminine figure. Her face revealed a very shy girl, which was also evident due to the fact that she was holding her hands close to her chest, fiddling with her index fingers. Her eyes were… Ryu shook his head, he thought that he was imagining things. But once he took a harder look, it was now evident that his eyes didn't lie. Her eyes were a beautiful lavender color, but they didn't contain any pupils.

She seemed to be distracted and was hiding from something. It was quite awkward that she was doing so, because every other girl in the park was crowded around Sasuke. Once she noticed Ryu, she snapped back into reality and recoiled a bit away from him.

"Gomen," she apologized. Ryu gave her a confused look. He didn't think she did anything wrong. Naruto then walked up to the tree. The girl saw him start to approach her and she started to blush a deep shade of red.

"N-n-naruto-k-kun…" she muttered in a small, inaudible voice. She started to stare at her fingers.

"Huh? Did you say something, Hinata?" Naruto said casually. Instead of replying, she looked up at him, and then back down at her fingers. Naruto closed his eyes in confusion.

"Umm… gomen, N-n-naruto-k-kun… I-I have to go now." Hinata was now blushing a very furious shade red. She turned to leave the two boys, still fiddling with her fingers.

"Hinata-chan?"

D-did, did Naruto-kun just call me Hinata-chan? The shy girl turned around again, but found out that the other boy called her name.

Ryu looked at her for a few moments, and then said, "Well, I'll see you around Hinata-chan. Oh yeah, my name's Ryu." He smiled and waved at her.

"Yeah!" Naruto also said and waved at her. She smiled back and cheerfully ran off into the distance to meet her father.

---

The sun was starting to set into the horizon. The large group of girls had already dissolved and left the playground in a silent state. Not much longer, Shikamaru and Chouji's dads came to pick their sons up, as well as Kiba's mom. The three then walked home quietly, leaving Ryu and Naruto to be the last ones in the playground. Naruto stared at them leave the playground. His eyes were slightly closed and his mind was lost in anxious thoughts. Parents… I wonder what it's like to have them…

"Yo, Naruto, we should get going back to the apartment," Ryu said, breaking Naruto's thoughts.

"Heh, yeah, I guess so." They left the playground and started down the red shaded road. Right before the street leading to their apartment was a hill that slowly lead down to a small lake. The water gleamed with the colors of the horizon, sparkling and flashing here and there. A boy could also be seen down at the lake, looking staring down at the water, deep in thought. He was wearing a long, black shirt and white shorts. On the back of his shirt was a round, fan-shaped symbol, probably representing his clan. His hair was black and shaped like the back feathers of a chicken, pointing from the back of his head in a few spikes. His forehead was mostly covered by his hair and was followed by two large bangs falling along the outsides of his cheeks. His face was very finely molded and his eyes were pitch black. Besides his handsome features, his faced showed a very intelligent boy, yet his eyes were filled with sadness and void of happiness.

"Who's that?" asked Ryu, pointing at the boy below.

"His name's Sasuke," Naruto said in what seemed like a jealous tone.

So he's the guy who was surrounded by girls. It must be his looks, Ryu thought. Naruto looked back at him as they continued down the dirt road. Sasuke noticed them passing by and made eye contact with Naruto. Noticing that he looked back, Naruto turned his head away from Sasuke and pouted. Sasuke also looked away in annoyance. But they both formed a small smile once they both looked away. Ryu didn't seem to notice because he was now fiddling with his metal chopsticks, spinning them around smoothly in between his well-coordinated fingers.

---

The sun had finally set behind the Hokage mountains by the time the two reached the apartment. The stars started to flicker, lighting up the night sky. Before retreating to their rooms, Ryu walked over to the balcony and stared up at the stars. Naruto walked up to him and stood next to him, deciding to look up at the stars as well.

"Konoha has quite a beautiful night sky," commented Ryu as he rested his arms onto the rusted railings.

"Mm," Naruto nodded. He looked over at Ryu and scanned his eyes. They glistened with the shine of the stars, lighting up his bright face. Naruto expected his eyes to contain fear and hatred, just like many of the other people in Konoha.

"Ryu… I have a question that I'd like to ask."

"Hm?"

"How come you are just like Iruka-sensei? Most people in this village down upon like a monster. In fact, I sometimes think that I actually am a monster," Naruto lowered his head a stared at the floor, covering his face with the shadow of his blonde hair. "Yet, your eyes don't contain that hatred. In fact, your eyes show the kindness that Iruka-sensei looks upon me with."

"Why would you think that I'd hate you like the other people of Konoha?" Ryu smiled. "I don't see a monster in you. In fact, I, instead, see a determined boy whose dream is to become Hokage!" Naruto looked at him in surprise. No had ever spoken to him like that before.

"When I lived in the temple, my master told me that there were many types of people out there in this vast world. Some of them are good, and others are bad or selfish. He told me never to label someone just because of their looks, personalities, or reputation until you get to know the person better. You never know…" Ryu looked back up at the stars, which now illuminated the entire sky, "A person like you could hold many great qualities." Naruto now seemed reassured. He closed his eyes cheerfully and showed his classic smile, giggling slightly along with it.

"Thanks Ryu! You're right; many people in this village don't know who I really am." Naruto punched his fist up and held it out in front of the balcony, showing it to all of Konoha. "I will get the people of Konoha to recognize my existence! I am Uzumaki Naruto, don't forget that name, for I am the future Hokage!" Ryu grinned.

Though it is obvious that no one heard, he seems to be very determined with accomplishing his goal. Ryu looked back up at the night sky. Master, you were right, there are places in this world that share an everlasting peace, and I think that I have found one of them! It is Konoha.

(a/n: Well, there's chapter two. One more chapter to go, so R&R)