Chapter 2-

So when Naruto smiled at her, the feeling of warmth she felt from him already deeply affected her. The innocence in his expression made her heart throb madly. And his answer to her desperate question would leave her changed forever:

"Do I need a reason to help someone?"

The girl felt a fresh wave of tears escape from her eyes, and she quickly turned away to wipe them off so he wouldn't see her crying. But in those few seconds it took her to recompose herself, Naruto was already running off. She couldn't let him leave, not without telling him just how much his kindness towards her today meant to her.

"W-Wait!" the girl said quietly, reaching out and grabbing one of Naruto's hands before he could leave.

"Huh? What's the matter?"

The girl let go of his hand and blushed slightly as she forced herself to speak up.

"Hinata…my name is Hyūga Hinata, and I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am for what you did for me. Thank you very much,"

she said, bowing deeply as a further gesture of her gratitude.

Naruto was frozen in place for a few seconds, and it had nothing to do with the weather. His mind was in a frenzy as he tried to process her words. Again: with the exception of the Third Hokage and the two people who ran the Ichiraku ramen bar, no one had ever shown him any true kindness.

yet this girl had just thanked him, even though he hadn't done anything that was worth thanking him for. He didn't understand it…and yet he couldn't help the happiness that was about to burst out from his heart.

"Hinata…" Naruto whispered in awe.

"That's a pretty name, you know."

And then he grinned madly, expressing his happiness in the only way he knew how.

"I'll see ya around, Hinata!"

he shouted, a final conveyance of the happiness her words to him gave him before he turned back around and made his exit, wanting to let the other three important people in his life share in that happiness.

The girl whose name was Hinata held the torn scarf close to her chest and smiled softly as she watched her blond savior run into the distance

...

|Timeskip. 3 month later.|

...

Naruto went to his apartment. He cooked a bowl of ramen. Deciding he better get a shower to get the dirt and sweat off before he climbed into bed he started the water and let it heat up. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

he thought about shinobi's for a few minutes

He knew that they wore masks, they wore them even more than regular people. shinobi were to keep their emotions and feelings in check at all times and never let the enemy know their feelings or weaknesses.

Too often, he thought, that this behaviour spilled into their normal lives and they hid their true selves from their friends, some even lie to them self, But then again,

He is doing the same thing. he is excellent at it too. He was really a lonely sad boy that dealt with the hatred of the villagers and how he is forced to grow by not showing his sadness.

Naruto took his shower, changed and slowly moved to bed. He fell asleep after a long time of being awake thinking about what tomorrow meant. What tomorrow would bring, what he would do.

.

Naruto awoke early the next morning, He quickly got dressed and made some ramen for breakfast. It only took about 5 minutes for him to heat and eat his ramen. As he finished the sky was starting to light up. He jumped onto his roof from the window and decided to watch the sunrise over the village.

The sunrise proved to be a beautiful one. The sun rose slowly over the horizon while it spread its hot pink, bright orange, brilliant yellows, pastel greens, and finally its bright covering blue across the sky.

Today was Naruto's first day of the academy.

After about ten minutes later, naruto entered his apartment trough the window.

he then ran for the front door, only stopping to pick a consent form to attend the Academy—signed by the Hokage himself—from the round table in the middle of the apartment.

Naruto slammed the door behind him. He had to make a fifteen-minute walk in less than twelve minutes; and he wouldn't be late on the first day of Ninja Academy

Naruto reached the end of the pathway, turning around to run down the stairs. He had lived on the third floor of the village's apartment for as long as he could remember, so Naruto was more than used to sprinting down, or even occasionally sliding down, the stairs.

which he wasn't used to, however, the was a foot sneaking itself in between his legs at the last second, causing him to fall face-first down the first couple of stairs, landing bottoms-up.

Naruto's mind barely registered the harsh laughing ringing from above him while his body remained frozen, stomach-down on the steps.

somewhere at the back of his subconscious, Naruto recognized the loudest laughter out of the chorus. Flinching at the aches in his body that would soon be a new set of bruises, Naruto picked himself up to turn around and squinted at the three older boys at the top of the stairs.

"What you lookin' at, baka? I thought the ground would interest ya, seein' as you're scum."

The snotty voice rang out from the tallest of the three boys, above the continued laughter of the other two. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he realized exactly who had spoken, and apparently tripped, him.

"Makoto," Naruto spat, heaving himself up from the floor. The older boy sneered.

"That's Makoto-sama to you, freak.