Naruto waited anxiously in the lounge of Konoha's biggest and most famous hospital, Konoha Central Hospital. It was located next to the largest and most important building of the village, the Hokage tower, and it was rumoured to have been established by the legendary medic and one of the three Sannin, Senju Tsunade. The hospital had been founded some twenty years prior, which was fairly new in the village, as most of the buildings were the original ones built when Konoha was founded; especially this close to the village centre. War and Kyuubi had never reached this far in and so much of the infrastructure was the same as it had been since Konoha's inception.
Naruto peered forlornly out of the window. He wondered absently how it would have been if he had been born when the Village was first built. He wondered what the first and second Hokage's were really like. All he had to go on were the 2 faces carved into the stone of Hokage mountain, and that in his 6 and a half year old opinion, meant they looked like bloated frogs.
'I wonder what the Nidaime would look like with Akimichi swirls on his cheeks?' Grinning internally, he decided to save that thought for later. He may be able to cook up a plan or two that would let him know just what it would look like.
Kicking his legs under the plastic seat he was currently situated on, he turned to stare at the door to the examination room that the Uchiha he had knocked out had been taken to. Naruto dearly hoped that nothing serious had happened to him. It was bad enough that he was hated by almost everyone in the village without them resorting to physical violence, and this could be dire if news were to get out that he had hurt an actual Shinobi.
As he continued to stress over the current issue, the ANBU codenamed 'Inu' opened the door and stepped out. The stoic mask was turned in the blond's direction, but he didn't know if the elite ninja was actually looking at him or not. It was always kind of creepy for Naruto, seeing all these animal faced masks directed at him, yet not knowing to what exactly the sight of the person underneath was really directed.
Shaking himself from his rapidly derailing thoughts, he cleared his throat.
"ANBU-san, is that Uchiha OK?" Naruto waited for the response with wide, anxious eyes. The mask remained silent for a few seconds, which did nothing to reassure the blond-headed prankster.
"Uzumaki Naruto. Was it truly you who knocked Uchiha Shisui, a Shinobi of Jounin rank, unconscious?" The voice was almost as bad as the mask, Naruto thought unconsciously. He was in deep trouble now! The guy had been a freakin' Jounin! There was absolutely no point in trying to lie his way out, he was sure the ANBU had some technique that allowed him to detect lies.
"Err...Yeah. But it ain't what you're thinkin' ANBU-san! See, I was water-skiin' with my Chakra and I needed something to balance myself like the villagers do with their ropes. So I tied a rock to my waist, see, and it worked. Just I went too fast and when I stopped the rock went flying...and that guy just happened to be there...and it weren't my fault I SWEAR!" Naruto panted after speaking so fast for so long with hardly a pause.
The ANBU seemed to scrutinise him even more minutely after his ill-gotten explanation, and that made Naruto's nerves even more brital.
"Water-skiing." It was more a question than a statement and Naruto responded quickly.
"Yeah! See, Jiji gave me this scroll for water-walking and I decided to ski using it! I really didn't mean to hit that guy, honest! And please don't tell the Uchiha anything about this; I'll be dead by evening!" Naruto was about ready to run as far as he can without stopping, to be away from anything remotely close to the Uchiha, unless the ANBU put him at ease. At least on this occasion, the elite ninja was nice enough to oblige, although Naruto had a strange sense of awareness at that point that the Shinobi didn't want to turn him in anyway. He wondered at the reason for that.
"Uchiha Shisui is not dead, neither is he grievously injured. He has already recovered from this ordeal and seems to find much hilarity in the fact that he was bested by a flying stone. I will not be reporting you to the Uchiha, but I must report this to the Hokage. I will be going now." Pausing to regard the blond for a second, 'Inu' disappeared in a burst of falling leaves. In Naruto's relief-clouded mind, one thought stood out most.
'I have GOT to learn that technique!' Feeling much safer now that he had gotten out of harm's way, Naruto decided to offer his sincerest apologies to his unwilling victim. Pushing open the door to room 182, he sidled as quietly as he could into said Uchiha's current residence. As he walked in, he spied the Uchiha sitting up in the overly white Hospital bed with a slight grin on his face. Naruto thought that that was as good a sign as any, and decided to announce his presence.
"Hey Uchiha-san! I'm really REALLY sorry about what happened! You're alright right?" The teenager turned his head to regard the entree, and upon seeing the worried face of his aggressor, burst into laughter.
"AHAHAHAHA!" He then proceeded to gulp in air for his fit of hysteria and croak out, "done in by a stone! And by Uzumaki no less! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" To Naruto, the last of his inhibitions fell away. Anyone who laughed like that was a nice guy in his book.
"Well you see Uchiha-san, I was usin' that rock for my Water-skiin' and I kinda lost control of it. Goin' too fast I think..." Said Uchiha wiped his eyes from the tears of laughter that had been running down his porcelain skin. He seemed much calmer now that he had laughed so much.
"Ahh, no worries kid! I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I paid the price for it! These things happen. I just can't believe that the first time I get unintentionally knocked out was by a kid with a stone. That's just too much!" Naruto smiled at the boisterous reply.
"I was just scared that your family would come get me if you were hurt."
At that quiet admission, the Uchiha's mood turned sombre.
"No-one's going to hurt you kid. I'm not going to tell my family how I got knocked out. Frankly, it was worth it for the laugh!" But Naruto knew there was more to his explanation than that. Maybe he had more allies than he thought.
"Well, I'm glad you're OK. But I gotta go now Uchiha-san. Again I'm really sorry for what happened!" With a small wave of his hand, the Jounin dismissed the apology and smiled as the blond Uzumaki escaped his room. His expression turned melancholy as he contemplated his untimely injury.
That stone had been flying fast. Too fast to have been thrown, that was for sure. There was no way that he could have predicted such a situation and even he, the famed 'Shinkirou no Shisui', could not dodge such a fast moving and unpredictable projectile.
Just how had the kid managed it?
There was more to the blond Jinchuuriki than was common knowledge, and Shisui wanted to know more. Maybe Itachi would know, he had been assigned to watching the kid this week. With a start, Shisui remembered why he had been in that location. He needed to move immediately. There was absolutely no telling what was going on within the Uchiha at the moment, and he didn't know if he really wanted to know. He attended the meetings, yes, but many thought him untrustworthy due to his close friendship with the chronically absent Itachi, hence his mission to spy on his friend. The Uchiha wanted assurances of his loyalty.
But who would he choose? His Clan? or his brother in all but blood?
XXXXXX
Naruto literally skipped down the streets of Konoha as he made his way towards his apartment. He had been extraordinarily lucky today, and he didn't want to ruin the day by doing something stupid. He had gotten off scot-free and he was very happy at this moment.
So happy was he, that he didn't notice a slightly taller female figure approaching him as he mindlessly skipped down the cobblestone street in front of the hospital, so it was a shock when he smacked into something and fell backwards onto his behind with stars swimming over his eyes.
"OW! HEY what was that for..." Upon raising his head, he recognised his 'assailant' at the same time she recognised him.
"HEY You're..." They said at the same time with fingers pointed at the other. Noticing the absurdity of the situation, both burst out laughing as they regarded one another.
The girl was wearing black jogging bottoms, with a white T-Shirt. Her hair was done up in twin buns which reminded Naruto of the pandas he used to look at in his story books when he was younger. Her skin was very pale, almost as if she hadn't been out of a building in quite a while.
"Aren't you..." Again they both started simultaneously. With a grin, Naruto waved his hand at her to go first.
"You're that guy that used to get chucked out of the orphanage for coming home late all the time, Naruto right?" Naruto grimaced. That was not a nice memory, although thankfully, he never had to go back there again.
"Yeah, that's me! Ain't you that girl who volunteered to cook every night?" Naruto scratched the back of his neck. That wasn't a particularly distinct personality trait, but at their age he thought it was something weird. Why cook when there were adults there to do it for you? He hardly ever cooked and he was living by himself!
"What can I say, there were knives in the kitchen!" Naruto shivered as a memory hit him. Once he had been hungry and decided to check the orphanage kitchen for some food, he might be able to sneak something out when no-one was looking. As he entered the kitchen, something sharp and shiny flew by his head, burying itself into the wall right next to his ear. He remembered the manic smile of the girl in question and as he stared back at the present incarnation, the image of the past and present overlay each other. Naruto shivered again. This girl was SCARY!
"Right, well I'm s-sorry for b-bumpin' inta you, but I really gotta be gettin' home now, s-so I'll be goin' now.." And with that, he turned and began to jog in the opposite direction.
"Hey wait!" Naruto paused.
"Where did you go? I mean, it's been almost 2 years since anyone saw you! How come your not at the orphanage anymore?"
Naruto turned slightly to see the older girl on her feet with her hand outstretched. Honestly he didn't think any of the kids from the orphanage cared where he was. Once he had come home late at night and they had all stayed up to watch him get in trouble with the patrons. He had never had any friends there, and so he didn't know why this girl was asking him where he went.
"Why do you care?" He knew that came out snider than he meant it, but he couldn't take it back.
The girl visibly recoiled as if she was slapped. She remained quiet for a moment, almost as if she were considering the question.
"I didn't like what they used to do to you, if that's what you mean. I thought it was stupid that they would kick you out after you got in trouble for being out in the first place. I was always dragged along with the others, but I always thought that you should be able to do everything like everyone else."
It was his turn to look shocked. So someone did care about the treatment he had been getting. Well at least she wasn't one of the bullies then.
"Hokage-Jiji gave me an apartment for myself. I've been livin' there ever since."
The girl's eyes widened in shock at the familiarity with which the blond spoke of the Hokage, the strongest and wisest Shinobi in the village. She had been attending the ninja academy for as long as the disappearance of the blond and so had learned that the currect Hokage, the Sandaime, was known throughout the world as 'The Professor' for his knowledge and use of Ninjutsu. Distantly, she wondered why she hadn't seen the blond at the academy, surely he was attending?
"How come I haven't seen you at the academy then?"
Naruto shrugged. "Don't wanna be a ninja, so I didn't bother to sign up."
The girl looked visibly startled. He didn't want to be a ninja? Practically everyone wanted to be a Shinobi after hearing about them all their short lives. TenTen was an orphan like Naruto, and so didn't have parents to tell her what being a Shinobi was like. Instead, all she had to go on were the legendary battles that all the kids knew that were told to them as bedtime stories. She really couldn't comprehend anyone not wanting to be a ninja.
"Look, it's gettin' cold and dark out here. You wanna come back to my house and we can talk about whatever you want there?" Naruto was getting tired of the conversation, and people were starting to stare at the odd pair. He was beginning to see the scowls of anger on some of the villagers' faces as they noticed just who the boy was.
"Umm, are you sure, I mean I don't want to cause trouble or anything!" The girl was looking more startled from before. Perhaps his offer had been rash, he hoped it wouldn't turn into an interrogation session.
Waving his hand, he replied "it's ok, don't worry. It's cold out here, and Jiji will get mad at me if I get sick...unless you need to get back to the orphanage?"
The girl blanched at that. She was in the academy! She was no longer that restricted anymore. "Alright, I'll come." And with that she jogged up to Naruto's side and they began the trek to Naruto's home.
"By the way I'm TenTen."
Naruto grinned. "Oh, right! I thought it was TonTon!"
XXXXXXX
In a dimly lit room, at the back of a gambling parlour of a distant town, a pink pig farted.
"WHAT THE HELL? THAT STINKS! GET OUTTA HERE WOMAN. AND TAKE YOUR STINKIN' PIG WITH YA!"
Tsunade of the Sannin grumbled as she was forced to vacate another gambling game, this time due to her shameful pet pig.
"TonTon, why the hell did you have to fart? And what have you been eating? That really stinks!"
A dark haired woman next to the famous Shinobi snickered.
It was never dull with her Sensei around.
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