Chapter 8

"When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it." -Unknown

Naruto slapped his hand down on his alarm clock as he blearily rubbed his eyes. He sighed and stretched before standing and heading towards his bathroom. He brushed his teeth and washed his face before yawning loudly and leaving the bathroom. He grabbed his new clothes from his nightstand, where he had put them when he dressed for bed, he had 4 more sets in his closet. He smiled as he pulled on his dark grey shirt and pants. He tied his orange sash on around his waist and grabbed the leaf from yesterday before heading to his kitchen.

He opened his cabinets and stared for a few moments before remembering that he had never picked up his allowance from the Hokage Tower yesterday in his team not picking up a mission and his excitement in meeting back up with Kurenai. He frowned as he realized he hadn't eaten yesterday and would have to go hungry for today too until he could pick his pay up for the D-rank mission plus his allowance. He closed his cabinet with a sigh and headed to his door as his stomach growled. It was a miracle it had never growled yesterday when he had been around others.

As Naruto pulled his shoes on, he thought about going hungry then realized that Kakashi was always late 3 hours. He would have plenty of time to pick his money up and grab some Ichiraku Ramen before his sensei would appear at the bridge! With this in mind, Naruto smiled before leaving his apartment and heading to the Hokage Tower.

(Scene Break)

Naruto walked through the red light district, smiling at the few women around who smiled coyly at him and waved happily. He didn't know the meaning behind those smiles but he smiled back and waved as well, just happy someone would acknowledge him. They had been doing this since he was ten and he doubted they would ever stop, for some reason he didn't want them to. It felt good for them to smile like that at him. It caused a feeling deep in his chest to move as they continued to show their affection by acknowledging him.

He didn't know what this feeling was, it seemed similar to what he felt when he thought of Sakura but, with Sakura, that was more of a... physical? feeling. Like his body wanted him to go after Sakura, but his mind and heart set him towards these women almost Kurenai's age. He blushed as he remembered what Takeshi had said yesterday about dating Kurenai. She was definitely beautiful and stirred feelings inside him that even Sakura didn't. These women who smiled coyly at him stirred it somewhat but he didn't know them too well and Kurenai had made an active point to get to know a little about him even over the course of only two days.

Even though he had no idea what these feelings were, he followed them and that was what had led to him pursuing Sakura. Of course, the fact he would be 'stealing' her away from Sasuke, who had everything he wanted but threw it away, would just make it all the better when he would have the lovely Sakura-chan all to himself. He smiled as he thought of beating Sasuke at his own game but then frowned as he thought of Sakura. He wondered why Kurenai would hold more... appeal? than Sakura. His body had reacted oddly to her body at the waterfall and he still didn't know why that was.

He couldn't like Kurenai more than Sakura could he? He stopped walking just before reaching the market district and shook his head. No Way! Kurenai was beautiful, smart and strong but she wasn't as cute as Sakura. Nodding his head in agreement, he continued walking again entering the market district and becoming the focus of glares as he left his homedistrict.

Naruto noticed that he was actually being glared at less. When he looked around, he noticed that most of the people did not recognize him without his trademark bright orange. He pouted in his head as he realized that his favorite color had drawn their stares. However, he was happy with his new clothes and the added bonus of less glares was definitely worth losing the majority of his favorite color. He did still have his sash to represent the awesomeness that is orange. He smiled brightly as he continued heading to the Hokage tower.

(Scene Break)

Naruto walked up to the Hokage Tower and smiled up at the huge symbol of the Land of Fire. His eyes twinkled as he looked at the Kanji for 'Fire' standing at the top of the tower where his Jiji worked. His smile diminished as he thought of the old man who had been a constant within his life and helped him on more than one occasion. He thought of all those times when he had woken in the Hospital after his yearly beating. No, it wasn't much in terms of physical beatings, but it was still depressing, emotionally, to be beaten on your birthday of all days of the year. He had taken the old man at his word and believed that he didn't know why they hurt him or why they glared at him.

He had believed the old man explicitly and trusted him just as much. Upon hearing of his burden, subsequently learning that his 'Jiji' had lied to him, he couldn't stop the thoughts that now whirled in his head about what else he might know about him that he was lying about. His parents? Did they leave him upon learning he had the demon sealed inside him? Did they die trying to kill him when he was younger? Despite the ANBU doing their job, he knew that people had tried to kill him before, the KI they exuded was more than enough for him to sense them when he got older. Or, Did they love him but die during the Kyuubi's attack? Did they die trying to protect him from the village when he was younger? So many questions that he feared to ask of the Old Man.

His normal personality was actually pretty close to his usual attitude, Naruto was a very hyperactive and exuberant child, however he also had a dark side that no one saw. It didn't manifest in brief spouts of insanity, it didn't try to control him or speak in his head like he had heard of for others. No, this dark side simply took revenge on the populous by pranking for him or thinking these dark thoughts and keeping it from his happy persona so that the Old man or the precious few people he had trusted wouldn't be worried about him. Now, he wasn't pranking anymore and his previous trusted people had not seen him in weeks so his other side stopped keeping the ideas to himself and shared them with the happy child. Naruto was slowly losing the innocence that his dark side had kept intact.

As a result of this, Naruto's eyes turned steely as he looked at the Hokage Tower, he wanted to get stronger to protect himself. Not the village, he just wanted to protect himself and anyone he liked, and he would become strong to do so. But he knew that he needed to study more and read more to learn because his teacher wouldn't help him, Kurenai and Takeshi couldn't, and he didn't want to trust the Old Man again just yet. His prankster side immediately began planning on how to gain the materials he would need to train.

As this happened, Naruto was standing in a single spot for more than five minutes, a bad thing for him, as it would allow others to notice him even without his orange jumpsuit. A single civilian sneered at him as he looked at Naruto. He walked straight up to him and scowled at the diminutive ninja in front of him. Naruto came back to his senses upon seeing the man standing in front of him. He took a step back and the man smiled eerily.

"Why are you standing around here you brat?" the man said growling out brat with unusual force. "hoping because you are a ninja you can gain your power back?" he said. "Well they will keep you weak, I am glad you are near Uchiha-sama, he will subjugate you." he said.

Naruto smiled at the man and said, "Sasuke-teme will bow before my awesomeness, you just watch old man!" he shouted. Naruto completely missed what the man had been saying.

The man looked at him like he was nuts before turning around and muttering under his breath, "Damn demon just ignoring me, I'll show him later." as he walked away.

Naruto cocked his head to the side as he couldn't understand why the man would just ignore him and leave. He shrugged his shoulders and headed inside the tower. He walked inside the lobby and headed to the receptionist, he completely missed the sneer the assistant gave him before walking up the stairs. He smiled brightly as he approached the receptionist and said, "I am here to pick up my allowance." he never knew the woman's name because she refused to give it to him, even with all the years he had been coming here.

The woman looked up at him and Naruto missed the flash of hatred from her eyes as he smiled brightly, closing his eyes in a squint as he did so. She did not even make any reference to his new clothes. She smiled down at him but it was a sad smile. "I'm Sorry, Uzumaki-san. Because you have not picked up your check on the day that is set, I can not give it to you." His eyes widened as he looked at her, he missed the spark of mischief sitting deep in her black eyes, "Just as I have told you the past 3 years, if you do not pick up your check on the appointed day then it is given to the civilians." she said sorrowfully.

Naruto's head hung as he looked at her, "What do you mean -ttebayo? you never told me that!" he shouted at her his normal dattebayo making a reappearance from his high strung tension of not having money to eat this week. He had missed his check before but he had never been denied it... he thinks.

The woman glared down at him, "Keep your voice down Uzumaki-san. I have indeed told you this before. I will not have you disturbing our work, please leave." she said.

Naruto's eyes squinted at her as he stared at her before he sighed dejectedly and hung his head, "Hai." he said before turning and leaving the tower as he knew that if he made too much noise the ANBU would remove him.

(Scene Break)

Naruto sighed as he exited the tower and looked up at the ledge that led to his Jiji's office. He could climb up there and ask for lunch from the Old Man but he didn't want to talk with him just yet, his fear of what might be said keeping him from doing as he wished. His parents had always been a sore subject with him and he didn't think he could take it if the Old Man lied again.

His stomach growled again and he looked down at his sunken stomach with a glare. "Be Quiet." he said before putting his hands into his pockets and heading off to his team's bridge, still two and a half hours before his sensei should get there.

(Scene Break)

As he approached the bridge, he saw his two teammates sitting in their usual positions. That is, Sakura was sitting next to Sasuke trying to talk him into a date as he ignored her with turning his head away from her and closing his eyes as he feigned sleeping to anyone who could see his face.

Naruto was about to announce his presence when he remembered his chakra control exercise. Again, he did not say anything as he sat on the opposite side of the bridge and began working on the same chakra control exercise as before. For close to an hour, he sat there trying to complete the same exercise. He saw a decent improvement the first few times he attempted to move the leaf as it would stick for half a second before the leaf burst from his head as he finished releasing it from its initial position. Again, he continued getting frustrated with the exercise until he felt his control start to slip. He sighed and put the leaf away, deciding to try it again later.

He looked up and noticed that his teammates still had not acknowledged him. He looked down, it hurt to know his teammates wouldn't even notice him sitting here for a whole hour. Granted he was usually louder, he shouldn't have to draw their attention for them to at least greet him should he? He scratched his head in confusion. The Old Man always talked about how teams would be like little families, that was why he was so happy about his team initially.

Sakura was his love and he would have been happy having her on any team with him so he could show her how awesome he was. Sasuke was a mixture of feelings. He enjoyed having someone who felt as alone as he did. However, Sasuke was such a stuck up prick that he ignored Naruto's attempts to have a rival within him. Even if he didn't realize he was ignoring him until they became teammates, it hurt to know Sasuke brushed him off so easily