The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 2: Making a Friend

Sometimes I may forget that Japanese names are supposed to start with their last name as their first and first name as last. So forgive me if I forget. Anyway, on with the story!

"Where am I?" asked a rather confused Naruto. All around him was a barren wasteland; but if he looked far enough, he saw two people fighting. With nothing better to do, the twelve year old boy ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the battle scene.

Eventually when he arrived at the scene his mouth dropped open in shock and his eyes widened comically. There were nine large meteor like objects floating in midair and in the background were large statues of two men. The statues, however, looked as if explosions had destroyed them. Another creepy thing was the two people fighting. One of the people looked exactly like him, with the same blue eyes and blonde hair. The other looked just like the teme, Sasuke. Same duckbutt hairdo but this Sasuke had one weird red eye and a creepy purple eye. Naruto wanted to speak out but found that he couldn't make any attempt at speech. Giving up on trying to speak, he saw both his lookalike and Sasuke's lookalike charge at each other with some justu that they both held. Right before they made contact, Naruto felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, as if warning him of what was about to come, just as the two lookalikes collided with their techniques. Seeing a large dome of pure energy expand from the collision, Naruto panicked and started to back away when he saw that the energy dome was eating away at the surroundings. Heck, even the statues were getting destroyed! Stumbling and falling on his rear, Naruto watched in horror as the dome made its war towards him. Just as it was about to reach him, he closed his eyes and prayed it was all a dream.

"Ahhhh!" Naruto woke up and fell out of his bed managing to tangle himself in the mess of his sheets and blanket. After a few minutes of attempting to get out of the death trap he got himself into, he tried to remember what made him fall out of bed like that. It was a nightmare, that much was obvious, but he couldn't remember a thing. He looked towards his clock. 8:30 a.m.

Naruto got up and stretched, yawning as he did so. He had roughly an hour and a half until he was supposed to be at the Academy. He even had enough time to go and meet Choji and Shikamaru for breakfast. With that thought in mind, he rushed to change out of his nightclothes and into his usual orange jumpsuit. The jumpsuit was mostly a dull orange while sleeves of the jacket were black. Looking back at the mirror on his wall, he nodded his head as he ran out the door and locked it behind him.

Climbing down the stairs a flash of red caught his eye but at the same time, made him trip. "Ah!" Naruto yelled as he fell down a flight of stairs. Naruto, trying to regain control of the situation, use the Kawarimi no Justu (Replacement Jutsu) and replaced himself with the red ball he saw earlier. Glaring at the stupid ball that made him trip, he kicked it over the fence and heard a man yell indignantly. Jumping in surprise, he tried walking away casually before sprinting off, forgetting about the man he hit, knowing that Choji wouldn't leave him any food if he was late.

Iruka Umino stood up from his chair stretching his legs while waiting for the rest of his students to arrive so he could start his daily lesson. Iruka is a man of average height and has brown hair that is kept in a ponytail. The most noticeable feature was a scar that runs across the bridge of his nose. He wears the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals, and flak jacket.

He sighed and looked at the clock. 'Five minutes until class starts.' He thought to himself.

Right as he finished is train of thought, he could hear what could be described as a stampede going on outside. He realized that he was right next to the door and rather skillfully, in his opinion, avoided the imminent danger that was approaching. Right as he left the path of the doorway; two of his other students, Sakura and Ino, entered the room at nearly the same time.

"FIRST!" they both shouted. They then rounded on each other, "NO, I WAS FIRST! NO YOU WEREN'T, I WAS!"

Iruka did the only thing he could do, put on a pair of earplugs, and wait the situation out. He also noticed that right when the bell rang, Naruto entered the classroom and took a seat next to Sasuke Uchiha. Iruka winced at the bad choice. Once Naruto sat down, the two bickering girls turned their attention to him and marched on to engage him in 'friendly' conversation. Iruka couldn't hear what was going on, but from what he saw, he figured that the two girls 'convinced' Naruto to move. Naturally, Naruto moved. Smart choice.

Naruto swore silently as he sat down in a different seat. Every day, those two girls would fight over who could sit next to their "precious" Sasuke-kun. It annoyed him at how some people could not take a hint. Sasuke clearly showed with his body posture that he didn't want any of the two banshee shinobi wannabe to sit next to him. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he saw Iruka-sensei remove his earplugs, and start to call for attendance.

First he called out Aburame Shino. Shino was tall, much taller than the rest of his fellow students and wore a sea green jacket with a high upturned collar. He had bushy, brown hair and glasses which covered his eyes. Shino was a calm and collected sort of guy and he had bugs on him the entire time which lead to him being rather unsocial due to others being afraid of a 'creepy bug man.'

Next, he called out Akimichi Chouji. Chouji has spiky, brown hair, swirl marks on his cheeks, and like other members of the Akimichi clan; a more big-boned physique. He wore black shorts, a long white scarf, a short sleeved, green haori, over a white shirt with the kanji for food on it. He also wore bandages on his arms and legs. The Akimichi was Naruto's friend ever since the first day of the Academy. Naruto found a couple of other students call Chouji fat and stood up for the guy and next thing he knew, he found a friend in the big-boned boy.

After calling some other names that Naruto couldn't really bring himself to care about, his attention was brought to Inuzuka Kiba. Kiba had a feral appearance, like most other Inuzuka members, and had messy brown hair, sharp black eyes and vertical slit like pupils along with pronounced canine teeth and nails. Kiba's most noticeable feature was his distinctive red fang markings that were found on his cheeks. He wore dark grayish pants reaching his calves and a gray, hooded fur lined coat, with the hood on. Kiba was loud, annoying, a braggart, and his dog was no better… except when it came to smell. Kiba was good at Taijutsu and his sense of smell was good, but he was too overconfident and cocky.

After Kiba, the next worthwhile name was another good friend of his, Nara Shikamaru. The Nara heir had shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail which looked similar to a pineapple when compared and narrow brown eyes. He wore rather plain clothes consisting of a green lined mesh T-shirt under a short sleeve grey jacket and brown pants with blue sandals. Other than being one of the laziest people in the world, he was pretty smart. He and Shikamaru were playing shogi once, and when Naruto put him in a corner, Shikamaru miraculously turned the situation around, unintentionally revealing his intelligence.

Next, was one of the two remaining Uchiha left in Konoha. The first was Uchiha Satsumi. She had onyx eyes and black waist length hair that was tied in a ponytail. She wore a navy blue, short sleeved shirt with a slightly high collar with the Uchiha crest on her back and short gray shorts. Compaired her brother, she was rather cheerful and didn't shun everyone and brood all day. Sasuke, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of his sister... well, socially. He also wore the traditional Uchiha clothing with his collar being slightly higher and shorts longer. Sasuke always acts so 'cool', as the fangirls say, but is a really talented shinobi. Not that Naruto would ever say that out loud. The one major flaw that Naruto finds about Sasuke is that he looks down on everyone except his sister and this one certain girl.

"Uzumaki Natsuki." Iruka called.

"Here." Natsuki replied.

Natsuki Uzumaki. Other than sharing a last name, which he could probably accredit to the once feared Uzumaki clan before they were destroyed, they had nothing in common. While Naruto was decent in the shinobi arts, she was as good as Sasuke.

"NARUTO!"

Naruto shot out of his seat and fell onto the floor, his legs comically sticking up into the air. Everyone laughed at his misfortune while he grumbled a "Here" while he got back in his seat. Iruka smirked and called out the last person, Yamanaka Ino. She was just like Kiba: loud, annoying, and obnoxious. She was also very bossy. He didn't like her very much. Iruka, after calling roll, started their lesson, which was about Genjutsu.

Naruto couldn't really care about Genjutsu because he sucked at it. He found Ninjutsu much more favorable with Taijutsu coming to a close second. After all, who doesn't like burning someone to a crisp after kicking them into oblivion? Someone weird that's who! Somewhere on a mission, Kurenai Yuuhi sneezed and felt irritated for some reason. Eventually getting bored at reviewing how to escape from Genjutsu, Naruto put his head on his desk and fell asleep.

Naruto woke up in Konoha. He guessed it was the leaf village because he saw the Hokage Monument, but this one had five faces on it. But for some reason, dust was blocking his view of everything else so he had to wait for the dust to clear. All of a sudden, he felt a rather large earthquake, or what seemed like one. When he turned his head, he saw three large toads and a smaller toad sitting on the middle toads head. And on top of the smaller toads head was… Him?

Naruto woke up from his dream when a hand belonging to Natsuki Uzumaki smacked his head. Crying out in pain, Naruto held his head while glaring at the perpetrator.

She looked at him with an impassive stare. "Wake up, it's time to go outside."

Naruto rubbed his side, muttering on how Shikamaru was right when he said women were troublesome. "Yeah, yeah. I'm sure that your hit wont sabotage me in any way."

She snorted and left.

After totally kicking some person's ass in a taijutsu fight, and actually hitting the appropriate spot on the target seven out of ten times, another day at the Academy was gone. Naruto, quite hungry after doing surprisingly well, considered going to get some ramen. He usually went to eat with Choji and Shikamaru at a barbeque place, but was feeling in the mood for some ramen.

As he was walking, he noticed some of the villagers giving him quizzical looks, and some others smiling at him. Weird. He walked by a window clean enough to give off a good reflection, and examined himself. He had spiky blonde hair, a lighter and more vibrant color than a Yamanaka's. He also had violet-blue eyes, which looked more like a light shade of purple than anything. His face, while a bit round, was clear of any blemishes or scars and he was at a fairly good height of five foot for a twelve year old. When he saw nothing new with his appearance Naruto decided that the villagers were weird. 'Maybe they think the jumpsuit is cool and want one of their own.' Naruto thought as he moved to the side, evading a young boy playing tag with his friends. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and continued walking until he reached the ramen stand.

When he entered the stand, he immediately went for the stool closest to the entrance. He almost didn't see the person sitting on the stool and almost crashed into her. When he regained his bearings, he noticed that the girl didn't even notice his blunder, and was eating her ramen without a care in the world. When she finished, Naruto immediately recognized her as Natsuki. He decided not to make a big deal about her taking his seat and took a seat two to the right from her. She seemed to finally notice him, but didn't attempt to make any sort of conversation. After ordering miso with pork, he sat and observed his classmate.

Her hair was a light red color, which she wore in a ponytail that comes down to the small of her back. She wore a beige battle kimono that went to her thighs. She also wore bicycle shorts and black shorts on top. For footwear, Natsuki wore black boot-like sandals that went to her calves as well as black thigh high socks. He continued to stare even after he received his ramen. Apparently, she noticed him staring at her and she called him out for it.

"Any reason why you're staring at me, Naruto?" She asked as small smirk appeared on her face.

Naruto snaps into attention and blushes. He figured telling the truth would help him better than lying and after scratching the back of his head, replies, "I, uh, like the color of your hair."

Her eyes widened before she blushed but turned her head back to her new bowl. She began eating at a faster pace than before. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and began to eat his ramen. What he didn't notice was the smirk the ramen waitress was giving him, or the amused look the cook had as he unintentionally heard the conversation.

After eating five more bowls, he decided not to waste the rest of his rent money and left the stand. He was so content with his meal that he almost missed someone calling his name. He turned around and saw Natsuki catching up to him, so he slowed down in his walking speed.

"Man, you really walk fast." She said catching her breath.

Naruto shrugged. "Really? Maybe that's why Shikamaru hates walking with me. Anyways, what's up?"

She shrugged. "Nothing much." She pointed towards the Hokage Monument with her thumb. "Wanna go to the top of the monument?"

After a moment of thought, he replied, "Why not."

What not either of them noticed was the glare being sent at Naruto by a pale eyed girl hiding behind a tall post.

When they reached the Hokage Monument, the time of day was an hour to sunset. Naruto motioned towards the head of the Fourth Hokage, which Natsuki agreed to, saying that was her original idea. When they sat on the Fourth's head, they had a comfortable silence where they both enjoyed the gentle wind that passed by. Soon Naruto got restless and asked, "So why did you bring me here?"

Natsuki looked at him for a moment before looking back over the village. "I wanted to thank you for complimenting my hair. No one has done that before. People always compliment other features. It's the first time someone actually complimented me on my hair." She said. "Sometimes people talk about it behind my back thinking I can't here them."

Naruto looked at her hair, which in the colors of the sunset looked even better than before. "Why would they make fun of the color, it's a pretty color."

Natsuki snorted. "I never thought I'd hear the day where a boy would say 'pretty' in a sentence." She said smirking at him.

Naruto blushed and crossed his arms with a huff, getting her to give out a small laugh. They watched the rest of the sunset without any interruptions, only not seeing the even more powerful glare Naruto was receiving from the same pale-eyed girl, who decided that her time stalk- I mean observing the duo had to come to an end.

When the sun finally set, Naruto said, "The sunset from this spot is always the best." To which Natsuki agreed to. Suddenly, a thought hit Naruto.

"Hey Natsuki," he asked. She looked over her shoulder as if telling him to continue.

"Do you think we can do this tomorrow?" Naruto tried not getting his hopes up, but today was actually enjoyable. Natsuki gave this some thought before smiling. "Sure, why not." With that, she jumped off the head and onto the stairwell. She turned back, "See you tomorrow."

Naruto only grinned.