The wind swished through Naruto's hair blowing it in all directions; the blonde had to constantly fix it so it wouldn't blind his sight. The sight he didn't want to lose was the Old Man, he was leading Naruto through the village from the Orphanage. Naruto knew the old man, he always came down to the Orphanage weekly to visit the children. On his visits, he would read books to the children ranging from Shinobi books to books about the elemental nations.
Upon hearing the stories, he dreamed about being a Shinobi. Being able to spit fireballs and control water dragons looked so cool and Naruto wanted to be cool. Sometimes, doubt would creep in when he would lay awake at night. Something was missing that the Old Man or the stories were not telling him. The doubt would begin to fester when he would remember his first meeting with a shinobi.
Naruto could vividly remember that night. The rising warm temperature and the buds sprouting on the trees signal Spring. A full moon shone down onto the village casting shadows all across the village. The hooting of owls and the chirping of crickets were the only noises disturbing the peace of the night.
Naruto was laying in bed, earlier he offered to go to bed early which earned him confused looks from the caretakers. He wanted to save all his energy on the trip and didn't want to waste it on the other children. His legs were tingling and he wore a dopey grin, he couldn't wait to sneak out.
As the last footsteps receded and the Orphanage fell asleep. Naruto acted, tip-toeing out of bed he made his way to the window. He quietly opened it and jumped onto the tree branch extending towards the window. Naruto moved nimbly, hopping, ducking, and swinging through the tree branches. Until he finally made it onto the street, escaping from the arms of the Orphanage.
Naruto loved sneaking out at night in Konoha. He could escape the ratty children and their bullying. He could also escape from the caretakers; they never did anything bad but he couldn't stand their judgy looks. They didn't hover over him like they did with the other orphans. They did the bare minimum with him, he was a pariah.
The other Orphans only bullied him verbally the only time it got physical was when they tried to steal his food. Naruto left the fight with a broken nose and a black eye; the next morning they healed up with no sign of injury. The only boy who got hurt was the leader, he left the fight with a chunk of ear missing. He was confined in his room for two weeks, so they brought his food up to him. After the two weeks were up, everything returned to normal, the only difference was the more weary caretakers.
During the two weeks, he started to sneak out at night, he only lasted one week confined in that room. He couldn't take being locked up all day; so, he slept during the day and snuck out at night. That's where he found himself now, exploring the village. While most of the city was asleep, not everyone in the city was asleep. Every once in a while he would see shadows dance across the streets.
Graceful like cats, the shadows would move, jumping from building to building. The only telltale sign was the shadows on the ground and the slight whispers from the wind when they sliced through the air. To avoid the night prowlers, he stuck to the shadows and kept as quiet as possible. The only sound on the street was Naruto's soft footsteps and his slight intake of breath as he walked down the street. Naruto always took this path because it led to the biggest circular intersection in the village.
The circular intersection was the main hub of the village, connecting all the different roads in the village. During the day, the intersection would fill with hundreds of people. Naruto couldn't count them all from his window, he always lost the count at around fifty. At night, it was dead silent, no one was in the intersection except for Naruto. His goal was to explore each alley that was connected to this intersection. He had one alley left and it was the alley directly opposite of him. The one that required the most amount of distance to cover and the longest.
Naruto, deciding on the path chose to go left, had the most amount of shadows to hide in compared to the right side. He stepped, jumped, crawled, and did everything to stay in the safety of the shadows. He crawled under shopping vendor tents, hugged the wall when the shadows decreased, and scrambled to the next shadow when the one he was on ended. He did not dare leave the protection of the shadow. He was about to jump across a river of light when he heard two voices approaching. He quickly scrambled under a bench to hide himself.
Two pairs of feet landed, "you know tomorrow? Orochimaru is returning from that long mission." A voice cut into the silence of the night distinctly feminine.
"The one the Hokage gave him a few years ago? Where was he?" A male gruff voice responded, he sounded like he smoked…a lot.
"Yeah, he was over fighting with the princess in that Kiri Civil war." A shuffling of feet was heard as they started up their patrol again.
"Hmmm, how come the princess isn't returning-," The voices cut off as they ran out of earshot of Naruto.
Naruto never heard of a snake being a shinobi that was so cool. He wanted to meet the man, too bad he wouldn't be able to meet him. The best he could settle for would be to watch him from the window.
He began again to follow the route of shadow hopping. No more interruptions came as he successfully reached the new street. The unexplored street was the same as the others, all dark and closed down. Shops of all kinds littered both sides of the street, they were all little shops. Not like on the other streets where there were huge shops filled with food or clothes, these were much smaller. Curious, Naruto went to investigate the new shops.
Peering inside of the shops he could only make out a couple of things like kunai hanging on the walls that reflected the lamplight. Another shop held green vests where the zipper reflected the light, and the last shop he peered into he saw a beautiful sword that was illuminated by the pale moonlight. Designs like red swirls and lollipops decorated the swords. A weird design for a sword,weren't swords supposed to strike fear in an enemy? Menacing designs like snakes or spiders, not lollipops.
The street ended after this shop and it split into two directions one left and one right. Since he already chose left before he decided to go right. He couldn't choose to go left twice on the same night, that would make him boring. The street was different from the others because at the end of the street stood a lit building. If he squinted hard enough, he could spot people entering and leaving the lit store. Fascinated, Naruto made his way down the street toward the shop. He thought all shops closed at night, this shop must be special if it's still open. He went to investigate.
Halfway down the street, he stopped. Coming from inside the alley to his right was the sound of a man sobbing. Why would a man be crying in a random alley, in the middle of the night? He had to be pretty hurt if he was crying in there. Other than the kids at the Orphanage Naruto hated when people were hurt. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Naruto went to investigate the alley.
"Hello, are you hurt," Naruto softly called moving down the alley. A slight echo could be heard as it traveled down the alley. The sobbing ceased and muffled footsteps could be heard. When Naruto reached about halfway into the alley where the light ended and the shadow began, the footsteps could no longer be heard. As he was about to call out again, he was grabbed by this shirt and dragged into the darkened alley. Before a scream could escape a hand closed down around his mouth and muffled it. His heart was beating out of his chest and sweat began to form on his forehead.
When Naruto's eyes finally adjusted to the dark he could make out some details of the man. A slight beard was beginning to show, and crumbs of food were stuck in it. His eyes were bloodshot red and tears were running down both sides of his face. The worst part of the man was the smell leaking off of him. Naruto's nose scrunched up and tears threatened to form at the corners of his eyes. The smell was truly repulsive. The most defining feature that caught Naruto's attention was the silver forehead protector tied on his head.
The two locked eyes for a couple of seconds before the man broke down in front of him. His hand slipped from Naruto's mouth and he brought it around and pulled Naruto into a hug. The hug released all the air from his lungs and he was left wheezing until the man loosened his grip. Unsure of what to do, Naruto started to pat his back. The man was mumbling a mantra under his breath and Naruto could only pick up a few words. Wife, Dead, Misson. The two sat together in the darkened alley linked in an awkward embrace.
After a while, the man started to rise. With the help of Naruto the man shakily made it to his feet. Naruto watched the man stumble away, feeling a sense of pity. Is this what being a shinobi entails?
Quietly moving back out of the alley; Naruto noticed a picture of where the two stood before they departed. It must have fallen out when the man snagged him. It was a lovely picture of the man and a female. The female was striking with golden hair and blue eyes; she had on a pink kimono and the man had a blue Kimono. In the background there were lanterns and fireworks, they must have been at a festival. The man was kissing the woman on the cheek, while she smiled at the camera. It was a beautiful picture.
The encounter frightened Naruto, and he was scared to go further down the street. What if he met more shinobi like him. He didn't think he would be able to take it. Deciding that he had enough, Naruto decided to return to the Orphanage. Naruto made his way back to the orphanage the same way he came. Weaving in between the rivers of light and staying in the shadows. He quickly found himself back at the orphanage.
Naruto found himself back in his bed after climbing the fence and scaling the tree but sleep did not come easily. As he layed in bed he found himself thinking about that shinobi. How could someone want to become one if they turn out like that? Crying in the back alleyways, he knew that he didn't want to be like that. Before tonight Naruto was pretty set on being a shinobi because it seemed so cool. After that encounter it didn't seem so cool, it seemed miserable.
The thoughts did not leave, and it kept Naruto up till late morning before his eyes finally closed.
A boy's shout snapped him out of the memory and Naruto continued to follow the man. Naruto walked past many buildings he never saw, he never got around to exploring this far. After some time the Old Man stopped at a run-down building. Pipes stuck out everywhere from the aged roof panels looked like one wind gust would rip them from their spot. The old man advanced towards the building and climbed a flight of stairs until he reached the top. Naruto followed up the stairs and past many doors until the old man stopped at the last door. He reached inside his pocket, pulled out a key, inserted it into the keyhole, unlocked it, opened it, and stepped inside.
Gazing around the newly opened room, Naruto asked, "Hey, old man, what are we doing here." Turning his attention to the old man now standing beside him.
"This will be your new home, Naruto. Consider it an early birthday present." The old man replied back, giving Naruto a gentle smile while ruffling his hair.
His new house left him speechless. It had three rooms: a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. The kitchen greeted Naruto first, to Naruto's right was a hallway that led to a bedroom. In the middle of the hallway, there was a door that led to the bathroom. Naruto couldn't believe it, he didn't have to share with the other orphans. This was something he only had, no one else.
"Old Man, are you telling me that this place is all mine," Naruto exclaimed, glancing around the room looking at the table, the stove and the cabinets.
"Yes, it is all yours Naruto," the old man replied, chuckling at the blonde's excitement.
"Soooo… I could do anything I wanted at this place." The blonde nervously asked, looking up at the Hokage.
"Yes"
"Anything"
"Whatever you want to do, you can as long as you're not breaking any rules."
"Awesomeeee," the blonde replied, hurrying over to the Kitchen to inspect it further. The left side of the kitchen spaced the refrigerator, cabinets, and stove. While the middle housed the table and the right looked to space more cabinets. The refrigerator had a yellowish color to it and when opened the cabinets revealed spiderwebs. The table had mismatched legs and some thick dust covering the top. The orphanage had better things than this, Naruto observed again glancing over the kitchen.
Naruto didn't mind; the old man said that this place was all his. That's all that mattered, he had his own private space. A place that he didn't have to share, where he didn't have to worry about kids, a place he could live in peace. The orphanage was too close to the main road, and it often hurt Naruto's sensitive ears. Hopefully, this place would be more quiet.
Naruto explored the other rooms as the old man stayed back in the Kitchen. When Naruto glanced over his shoulder when he went into the hallway; he saw the old man walking around in the Kitchen inspecting it.
Naruto first checked out the bathroom, it was pretty boring. It had a sink, a mix of a shower and a bath, then some storage area above the sink. The walls consisted of yellowish-white tiles and black tiles that created a checkerboard pattern. Nothing special.
The bedroom on the other hand was a whole different story. To the left of the door was where the bed was located. Naruto couldn't believe how big it was, if he wanted to he could sprawl out on the bed and still have space left over! In the corner In front of him was the Television. They had one at the orphanage, but the boys never let him watch it. The oldest boys decided who could watch the T.V. They never let him. Now, he could watch as much T.V as he wanted too without having to worry. There was even a little deck in his room where he could go outside if he wanted to. He loved this new house.
To make the house perfect, all he would have to do is clean it. Get rid of the cobwebs hiding in the cabinets, get rid of the dust covering the table, sweep some corners to get rid of more cobwebs, clean the black spots in the bathroom, and sweep the floor of dust. Nothing he couldn't handle, he grinned looking across his room. He was gonna make this place awesome.
"Naruto, could you come over here?" the old man called from the kitchen his voice echoing down the hall and into the bedroom.
Naruto turned and made his way over to the old man, who he could spot at the door of the apartment. He had his hands behind his back and was giving Naruto a grandfatherly smile. Naruto smiled back.
Naruto stopped in front of the old man, "so, Whataya want."
"Now that you're out of the orphanage and in an apartment, the village will be giving you money. Spend it wisely because it comes monthly. Spend it only on food and if you want something extra then save the money you don't spend each month. The old man said, looking at Naruto, the grandfather's smile dropped and was replaced with a more serious look.
"Ok, so where is the money," Naruto asked giddily with excitement. Naruto was gonna be rich and he could bet those Orphans back at the orphanage weren't getting free money.
"Naruto, do you understand me? Spend this money wisely." The old man said, looking Naruto in the eyes.
"Yes I understand," Naruto replied, staring back at the old man.
"Good, I'm gonna leave the money on the counter, on my way out. Go explore your room more." The grandfatherly smile returned and pointed to the room with his eyes, while he turned around and placed the money onto the counter.
Naruto didn't need to be told twice, he went back into his room to explore more. After a bit, the door opened and closed signifying that the old man left. Naruto had the goofiest grin on his face as he continued to explore any nook and cranny. He had this whole place to himself and was finally free. He could do whatever he wanted to do at any time.
Later as Naruto tried to fall asleep, he was hit with a pang of sadness. He felt quite alone in this big apartment as the old man called it.
Naruto awoke when the sun filtered in through the window and hit his eyes. Groaning, he rolled over to avoid the sudden intrusion. The damage was already done and Naruto could not fall back to sleep. Rolling out of bed, he made his way to the Kitchen. His soft footsteps were the only sound in the apartment. Once he entered the kitchen, he made his way over to the refrigerator.
When opened the fridge was quite bare. The top shelf had a half-eaten block of cheese. The middle one had well… nothing. Then finally the bottom was a repeat of the shelf above.
Grumbling Naruto grabbed the stick of cheese and walked over to the table. He had cheese for the last three days, he didn't want cheese again. The cheese smelled, but other than that the cheese was quite good. This cheese tasted different from the other cheeses. It was a little salty, but that's what Naruto liked about it. Getting up from the chair, he walked to the sink and set down his plate. The plates were slowly stacking up and were waiting for a fresh wash. After dropping off his plate, he grabbed his money and exited his apartment.
Now that the food is all gone, I'll have to go buy more. Naruto thought walking down the steps and past other tenets. I'm not going over to that stupid market district again. That cheese seemed way too expensive. When he bought the cheese he had to give the man the envelope because he didn't know how to do math. The man took suspiciously more than he should have, he was not going down to that market again.
So, when the decision came to go right to that same market or go left to the new market. He chose to go left to the new market. Naruto immediately noticed that his new market was not the same as the other one. People lay propped against buildings with only blankets covering them. Stores had metal bars covering the windows, and during the night the doors were barred. The vendor tents' roofs often had holes in them. People crowded the street packed shoulder to shoulder. Naruto much preferred the other road to this one. The other market had none of this; it was so much nicer.
Walking down into the market he tried to find a place where he could buy food. Bumping into people constantly and having to weave in between the mob of people. Eventually, he stumbled upon what he was looking for. A huge building that seemed to hold all kinds of food, from the window he could spot racks of shelves that had food. In the back, he could see different types of meat. Walking in he swept down each aisle, picking only what caught his eye. He bought Rainbow cereal, snacks, milk, red meat, white meat, and mushy meat.
Why does this meat look different than what they used to serve at the Orphanage? Naruto thought while looking down at his basket while he waited in line. Curious, he started to look into other people's baskets, which earned him glares. The meat was all the same, Naruto concluded that the Orphanage was getting their food from a different place.
When it was his turn the cashier waved him up, "Next."
Naruto started to unload his food and give it to the cashier. The cashier was a woman and she seemed to be older than the old man. Why is she working here, aren't old people not supposed to work? On the other street, it was all young kids and adults.
"That'll be fifty Ryo for you young man," the old lady said after scanning his food.
Not knowing what to do Naruto handed her his wallet with a light blush, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know how much that is, can you just remove the money from the envelope."
"Tsk, what are they teaching the youth these days? Back in my day a little person like you would work the register, and have to do the math." The old lady said removing the correct amount and returning the envelope.
Once all the food was in the bags, Naruto picked them up and headed out, and made his way home. I take back everything I said about this place. This place is awesome. She took out less for all that food than the man did for that block of cheese. I'm never going back to that other market again.
Successfully arriving home Naruto walked over to the refrigerator and started to file the food away. He decided to put the cereal and milk on the top. The snacks would go in the middle and then the meat would be at the bottom. He left the red meat out because that was going to be his lunch.
Unpacking the meat from its container, he grabbed a plate from one of the cabinets. Dusting it off he set the plate onto the table and placed the meat down. It looked delicious.
The meat was blood red with whitish areas dotting the steak. A small trial of red liquid seeped out from under it and swirled around the plate. This piece of meat looked way better than the brown ones they served at the orphanage. The meat there must have been rotted. Grabbing his fork and knife, Naruto took a bite.
This is the best piece of meat I've ever tasted. Cutting another piece and shoving it in before he finished swallowing the first bite. The meat was quickly finished and Naruto went over to the sink to dump his plate. The stack was now filled up the sink, and now this plate raised the stack above the counter. After that he went outside his apartment and explored the village more.
The forests inside Konoha were lush and lively. Animals of all kinds lived in the woods from rabbits, deer, snakes, and many other animals. All kinds of trees too lived in there from small to medium then to big and even bigger than big. There were many small forests scattered around the village but the main forest was the one beyond the mountain. The main forest was by far the biggest and had the most diversity among the forests. Streams flowed through the Forests like veins. It was a closed off environment, the animals did not venture out and the villagers did not venture in.
Naruto loved the forests surrounding Konoha and whenever he wasn't in his apartment. He would be found in one of the many forests littering around Konoha. The quietness and peacefulness calmed Naruto, and he much preferred this environment. Then to the hustle and bustle of the village's environment. The apartment as he found out was not that much quieter than in the Orphanage. The hustle and bustle hurt his ears.
Two weeks out of the Orphanage and Naruto hated it. Anytime he ventured past that shabby market, he was judged. People moved out of his way, parents steered their kids to their other side, they told them not to look. He could hear it all and he hated it, he was a normal person just like them. He did nothing wrong. It made him angry. Why couldn't he just be treated normally?
The only peace Naruto could find was at night or when he was in the woods. He only ventured out of the shabby marketplace at night, because there were no villagers to judge him. The late night expeditions only increased, because ever since that night he had no trouble seeing in the dark. He couldn't fully see in the dark, but he had better vision than he had before. He noticed the change after that shinobi snuck up on him that night. So now he didn't have to use moonlight for light, he could see well enough at night that he didn't need light.
He stood up from his resting spot on a log and walked towards another spot around the pond. He was feeding the fish in the pond scraps of food that he found in the trash at night. The fish were used to feeding now and were always waiting for him before he arrived. He found it funny that the same fish waited for him in the exact spot he found them last . Everytime he would move spots the fish would follow. He saw the same pattern repeat again and started to hand out his remaining food.
After
finishing all the food he brought up, he got up and started to walk on a trail through the forest. The trial was hidden under leaves and sticks with only parts of the trial showing Naruto that he was still on the trail. The crunch of leaves mixed with the various songs of birds was the only sound throughout the forest. But Naruto could hear the squirrels climbing up the trees and sounds of acorns being broken. He much preferred these noises to the noises of the village.
Looking up at the sky Naruto noted that he should probably head back. It would probably be dark by the time Naruto returned to his home. He didn't want to be out late again, he was tired from the past night and he wanted to sleep. The toll of only sleeping for 5 hours each night was starting to take a toll as he let out a yawn.
The walk back out of the forest was surprisingly faster than the walk into the forest. Walking out of the forest he made his way over to the mountain monument to look over the village under the setting sun. The village was quite beautiful when looked upon from afar. The different colored buildings layered upon each other, while the roads ran through the village like veins. He could still spot people walking through the village, finishing up whatever they needed before retiring for the night.
The owl's call alerted him of the receding day and the upcoming night. He started to walk down the mountain with a slight spring, hoping to beat the night.
He didn't end up beating the night sky, he would have but he made a wrong turn. He had to improvise and now had to take a new route home. A route that took him into the market from the other entrance into the were two entrances. The one he currently entered and the other entrance was marked by his house. The entrances were located on opposite sides of the market. He didn't like this side of the market, it was the worst part of the market especially at night. Walking down, he could see various people sitting in the alley for people to walk by. Weak people. People like him.
One of the alleys spat out a group of kids a little older than him and they were slowly making their way over to him. Glancing back, Naruto noted that the kids were slowly gaining ground. If he didn't start running soon he would be fish food. Deciding that he didn't want to be caught he started running.
He didn't make it far before he ran into a man carrying boxes stacked taller than him. The resulting collision knocked the boxes all over the sidewalk and left both colliders on the ground. Glancing back over his shoulder he saw no sign of the boys following him anymore.
"Awwww, my back," The man complained, rising from the ground rubbing his back. He turned his attention to Naruto, "Brat, watch where you're going next. If I take another one of those falls again, I'm gonna land in the hospital."
Naruto rubbed the back of his blushing, "I'm sorry- I was just running away from some boys. I didn't see you." He extended his hand out for a truce.
His eyes flicked from the hand to his face, "well for your apology, why don't you help me clean up these boxes." The man said, waiting for Naruto's answer.
"Ok Ok, I'll help you clean up these boxes," Naruto's eyes stared into the man's. "How do I stack the boxes?"
Finally taking the extended hand and shaking it he replied, "stack them from biggest to smallest then give them to me." The man disconnected from the handshake and made his way over to the boxes to stack.
Naruto scrambled to the other boxes to help the man. After stacking the boxes in the order the man asked he gave them over to the man. "Here are the boxes. Just like you said from biggest to smallest. Sorry again for running into you."
The man looked Naruto in the eye and gave a gentle smile. "Stop apologizing so much, it was both our faults. I was just irritated. We're all good now." The man paused, placing his stack on the ground and putting Naruto's stack on top. Then he picked up the boxes and started to head over to the trash. He paused for a moment and turned back around. "Hmmm, for helping me, why don't you stop into the bar and I'll feed you some leftovers from earlier."
"No, no I don't want to bother you and I got to head back." The blonde's stomach rumbled shortly after making him blush.
The man let out a laugh," Nonsense come in and I'll feed you it won't be long. Then you can go back home." The man said walking over to the dumpster and dumping the boxes in. Turning around he walked over to Naruto, "Deal?"
"Deal."
"Alright then why don't you follow me," he replied walking into the store.
Naruto looked up, The Blue Lagoon, what a weird name. Naruto thought, following the man into the building.