Joy...

(A/n: yo, im new to writing, any errors you see can be acredited to my dumbassery. If you see one, tell me.)

--

It was the day after Hell. The Leaf was almost completely reduced to fine powder due to the living Natural Disaster. There were temporary medic camps set up to help the wounded, yet most died during that fateful night. Despite all of this despair, they had time to praise the Fourth's sacrifice, and treat him like a living legend.

Abel found himself lying on the floor, with only a thin, white blanket separating himself from the rocky texture of the ground. He held his head in pain as he sat up slowly, his eyes getting used to the bright sun shining down. 'I would kill for some sunblock right now...' was his first, coherent thought.

"Who placed a living person in the defunct area?!" A man wearing a flak-jacket, cargo pants and some weird headband Abel couldn't make out approached him. They pulled out a flashlight and flashed it onto Abel's eyes, making him wince in return.

"B-but sir-" "No buts! You placed a clearly living person here! You know what, maybe this station isn't for you, go to the Field Healing department! Now!" The man in the flak jacket screamed to another person wearing white clothing. Abel was still disoriented as he tugged the the man's sleeve.

"Oh, sorry. So far you seem relatively fine...need to send you to HQ for some in-depth analytics. But for now you can stay with us and rest...can you speak?" Abel nodded, his neck being so stiff some cracks were heard during the action.

"Yes..." A raspy voice escaped Abel's lips.

"Okay, we'll get you some water later. Can you stand?"

Abel took a moment to think, then nodded. The man offered him a hand, and he took it. He stood up with his help, although his legs being wobbly. The man flung Abel's arm over his shoulder as support, Abel only being able to release a small "Thank you..." in return.

Walking towards...wherever, Abel took a moment to inspect the man further. That headband...wait, no this can't be...Abel's legs gave up, causing the man to enforce extra strength to keep both of them standing.

He was in Naruto, Abel couldn't possibly believe, yet all of the signs were there. The flak jacket, the headband with the little engraving on it...Abel wanted to think this was a dream, an illusion, some sort of trick his brain was playing on him. He did not want to believe.

"Come on man...help me out here..." The voice of the man snapped him out of his stupor as he regained his balance, the Shinobi having to exert less force. "Sorry..." Abel croaked.

They eventually got to a temporary tent where the Shinobi sat Abel down on a stool, taking a radio and speaking into its microphone. "This is branch 05, we got a live one. Unsure if unharmed, requesting authorization to send to HQ." The radio buzzed back. "This is HQ, send 'em over."

"Well kid, you're going to the HQ to see if anything is wrong. After that, you can stay in the refugee camp. You're our first live one since yesterday..." The Shinobi, presumably Chunin, left the tent, his last words being: "There's a mirror in that drawer, go check to see if anything's wrong."

Now that the literal ninja mentioned it, Abel did feel different somehow. He lost all familiarity with his own body. He was six foot previously, now he's a lot shorter. He grabbed the mirror and checked himself out.

A small figure with light-brown skin, black eyes and some black hair barely reaching through his eyes. He had bangs now, apparently. He also remembered being really pale in his previous life...Abel adjusted his hair a tiny bit, some strands were covering his eyes.

He had nothing to do now, so he just sat in the same stool and just thinked for a while. He was in Naruto, presumably after the Pain or Kyuubi attack. If he had a coin, he would flip to decide which one it probably was. He was leaning towards Kyuubi however, as he saw and heard no-one celebrating the defeat of Pain and praising Naruto. Of course, there's always the off-chance that he was wrong and a total dumbass.

Other than that, well, there's always the birth of Naruto. Maybe he should befriend him, some of that residual plot-armor could help him live. Not that it was a guarantee, look at Neji for example.

The planning could be saved for later, right now he just had the masculine urge to count every individual stone and namd them. It could quell his boredom plenty...

--

He walked out of the examination room feeling just as dreadful as he did before. He eventually got transfered by a different Shinobi who preferred not to speak at all, getting to HQ. After all was set and done, he got examined. Nothing was actually wrong with him, so they let him go.

Now he had to consider shelter for tonight. The Refugee Camp is a huge no-no, because it was full, both in population and disease. Can't exactly have the luxury of bring sanitary when more than half of the fucking Village is destroyed.

The streets were an option, but that was as bad - if not worse - than the Refugee Camp. Rats, bugs, dirt, sharp rocks, so many things wrong with this.

Then, there was the option of looking for work in exchange for shelter. It was a hard but reasonable option, hard due to the fact that most of the businesses got ANNIHILATED during the attack. Reasonable in the fact that he could be sanitary and sleep in - at the very least - a wooden floor in some attic. Abel wasn't lazy, he knew how to clean up for his own good.

Leaving the HQ, his head pondered, and he just kept walking and walking...he found himself in the outskirts -- the barriers and walls not being present due to...obvious reasons. This presented another option, but unfortunately, he wasn't a boyscout. He had no idea how to survive in the wild.

Going back to the village proper, he considered more alternative options. He could move to one of the adjecent lands, like the land of grass, rice or waves. Problem was, bandits, travel time, sustenance and clean water. He crossed that option out quick...

Then, he eventually found himself in a certain ramen stand, the person manning it cooking up several dishes of ramen. Curiously enough, the price of the ramen wasn't even adjusted, despite the costs for ingredients shooting up drastically. Abel had a ton of respect for the Ichiraku Ramen guy, since he treated Naruto like any other kid, but this act might have shot up his respect by several-fold.

Curiously, only a pair of Shinobi were there, and one of them was balling his eyes out. "She's gone...*sniff* why...why?!" He slammed the table as his tone raised. The one next to him just continued to pat his back, not knowing what to say. Abel ignored them for the time being, as he sat on the stool furthest from them.

--

Teuchi. He was known as the Ramen Guy. He ran a little stand with his daughter Ayame, Ichiraku Ramen. Recently, the Nine Tails layed a devastating attack to Konohagakure, destroying and killing several buildings and families. He, in an act of good faith, kept his prices the way they were, much to his daughter's chagrin. Today, he served two Shinobi, one crying his eyes out and the other awkwardly trying to comfort him. A sad, yet common sight for him.

He served their ramen and went back into his kitchen, where a framed picture of several Hokage hung. There was himself with Tobirama, Hiruzen and Minato, who recently passed away, saving the village from the evil fox.

He grabbed the picture frame and stared at it for some time. Placing it back, he sighed and went back to the front, wearing a smile on his face. One smile can make anybody's day, was his philosophy, along with a good bowl of Ramen.

He saw a child seated at the far left, one could mistake him as a Kumo-born citizen, but Teuchi knew better. He had this weird sixth sense, and could sense a foreigner no matter the amount or rank of disguise-type Ninjutsu. "Can I have a glass of water?" The child said in a raspy voice. Teuchi obliged.

The child practically chugged the water, releasing a satisfyed 'ahhh' once he slammed the glass down. "One more thing...mister ramen guy. Could I...could I work here for a place to stay?" Teuchi raised an eyebrow. Not many children would ask for work under these peculiar circumstances. Hell, most civilians wouldn't do so.

Teuchi considered it. He expected to have a huge amount of customers in the following days as people recover from their injuries, and the extra hand wouldn't be so bad. "Well..." Teuchi started, "You would need to prove that you can work well under pressure and work in a hurry...many customers will come in the next few days. You'll have to work not only fast, but correctly. Still want to work?"

The child nodded as fast as the Fourth Hokage, which meant a resounding yes. Teuchi smiled, this was his second act of good faith.

--

(A/n: So, here's the first chappy, please tell if I started it off well, and if there were any grammatical errors. Cheers!)