You Before Me

Unoticed

It was a beautiful day in  the Konoha village, mothers were out shopping and gossiping away with the neighbors about who has done what and who had done where. Men were busy chatting away about long forgotten times and childeren were at school; except for one. Naruto was rushing down the busy streets dodging people as he ran by, sparing a glimpse behind him every couple of seconds to see if anyone was following him. To his dissapointment, no one was behind him, no one was even sparing him a glance as he ran down the street towards the Hokage's monument plastered on the mountain behind the Hokage's office. Naruto had a wicked plan that would definately get him some attenttion. He runs by carrying a couple of paint cans and a brush, making sure not to tip or bump the can. When he arrived he glanced around before he began working on the tireing climb up the hill.

"I wonder if Iruka-sensei has noticed that I'm not there" he ponders to himself as he ascends the mountain.

Once he has climbed to the top, he ties his rope to a nearby rock and repels down to the Kage's faces. Starting with the first Hokage, Naruto gets out his paints and begins to ruin the Hokage's images one by one. By the time he has finsihed his masterpiece it was noon and he stomach was complaining about the lack of food in him. Naruto ignore's his complaing stomach and climbs onto the fourth hokage's head, looking at the village and its bustling life.

"This will deffinately get me noticed" Naruto thought encouragingly.

Time passed by and soon one o'clock rolled around anoucing lunch time to be over and for everyone to get back to work. Naruto sighed sadly, an hour and no one has come out to yell at him or to tell him to get down and pa respect to the previous Hokage. Naruto hugs his knees tightly and rests his head in the niche it made.

"Why won't anyone notice me?"

Defeatedly, he sighed and stood up, climbing back up the mountain. He unhooked his rope and decided to skip school that day and head to the library instead to relax and feel better. Unlike the popular belief, Naruto was acutally smarter than others assumed he was. He only acted stupid to gain attention, though that gig seemed to get boring rather quickly. Naruto still hid his cleverness though, thinking it would be a good asset to surprise someone with. 

Naruto attened school often, although sometime he would skip it to go to the library or practice on his own sometimes when he thought it was pointless being at school. He didn't have any friends or acquaintances at school or in the village, as well as any relitves or clansmins. He dreaded going back to an empty house so he stayed out late often walking around the village under the street lights. Since he was still in school and had yet to aquire a team to go on missions, some of the village's money goes to his living and eating expenses. Though it is few, Naruto finds a way to steal some grub every now and then, hoping for the attention as well as the constant grumbling of his stomach to stop. Naruto walks down the street to the library imagining what his next meal will be when all of the sudden he was shoved down by some kids running by. He falls forward cathcing him self on his knees and hands, sucking his teeth at the slight pain from scratching them against the ground. The kids just run on by as if they didn't hit anything at all. Naruto picks himself up and wipes off the dirt, sighing at the slightly oozing scarcthes and bruises. More to his collection. He wipes his hands on his pants and continuse walking to the library.

When he arrives the place is almost empty except for a couple of stragglers. Naruto heads to the sections ninjas use to study about their chakra and some moves he could possibly learn. Recently he has been stumped on the bushin no jutsu which he need to learn in order to graduate. He goes through many scroll, learning about many things except how to properly do the jutsu; however none of the scrolls help him understand the genjutsu. Naruto sighs angrily and returns the mountain of text back to their rightful place. There is only one place left he can think of to lool for help by himself. He gets up and heads out the library.