Dance Of The Leaves

I hereby declare that I claim no rights to NARUTO © 1999 by Kishimoto Masashi/SHUEISHA Inc. and recieve no monetary benefit for any narrative I publish hereafter based on this manga or any of its other media adaptations. Warnings are in place for slash (male on male coupling), graphic sexual content, manga spoilers, discrimination and violence. -Xtase Hello all. In this chapter of Dance of The Leaves, our favourite blond bombshell finally makes his début! This chapter is meant to be more pungent than the last, and I sincerely hope I've managed to pull it off. For the sake of the plot, I have tweaked the timeline a little bit to include the Konoha Orphanage in this fic. I've always wondered who had taken care of Naruto in those early years when he was too young to be self sufficient. So I created this scenario. Now let the show go on! Lost All Uzumaki Naruto could do was keep going. He was hopelessly lost and knew it, but he kept going. Trying to find his way out of another mess he had gotten himself into. But he hadn't been a bad boy on purpose. He hadn't meant to run away. It had just... happened. He was in one of the densest sections of forest in the village. It was so wild and untamed that the undergrowth enveloped his legs up to the knees. The boy was in constant fear of encountering snakes and spiders and any of a variety of potentially poisonous creatures lurking hidden below. Naruto did not even have any shoes on his feet. Their soft soles were riddled with gashes and cuts caked over with dried blood. Infection was almost certain. His ankles hurt him and his eyes burned and he was light-headed with hunger. Naruto had not left this forest for nearly two days now. And he had been walking for nearly all that time, only stopping when night fell. On his first evening, he had kept moving long after it had been too dark to see ahead of him. "I'm not scared of this dumb forest" he had said out loud "It's nothing but a bunch of trees!" his determined little voice affirmed. He didn't know much, but he knew that trees didn't suddenly get up and attack you. They couldn't even move. He wasn't even completely convinced that they were alive. But Mother Nonou had told him so, and she was really clever, so he was unsure about that. But one thing he was sure of was that trees didn't hurt little boys. The thought had not even finished forming in his mind before he tripped over some thick, twisty, hard thing at his feet. His arms reflexively came out in front of him to cushion his fall, and he waited for the impact. And he waited. And for some strange reason he found himself falling through air. Naruto had just tumbled over an escarpment. He had been wrong; trees could hurt little boys. The fall had been a short one, and his landing had been cushioned by a thick low-lying bush. Thinking he had gotten a lucky break, Naruto began to thrash about amongst the hairy leaves. Imagine the unfortunate boy's surprise when he had suddenly felt a wierd prickling sensation erupt across his skin. Confused, he struggled to get out of the bush even more. The prickling had swiftly developed into an awful stinging. It was everywhere. On his arms, his legs, his face, all over. It had taken him nearly five minutes to fully extricate himself from that dreadful bush. He had been out of breath and itchy and all turned around. But still he had decided to trudge on. He had been really sleepy and wanted to lay down, but he hadn't wanted to be anywhere near that bush. Half an hour later he had hunched down at the base of a smooth-barked tree to rest for the night. At least it had been a warm, clear night with no rain. The next day had been spent foraging for food. That had been easy. There were plenty of nuts and berries growing in the forest, and Mother Nonou had told him which ones were safe to eat. He hadn't completely been paying attention though, and couldn't recall everything she had said, but he was pretty sure he had remembered enough. The fruit he had picked hadn't made him sick at least. He had munched his pickings distractedly, bright blue eyes glowing eerily in the now dense foliage of the forest. Here the sun had completely been blotted out by the colossal trees, with only pin-prick rays penetrating the lush green canopy. Suddenly the peacuful quiet was shattered by the loud beating of hooves. Poor Naruto had almost gotten trampled as a trio of heavily-antlered deer vaulted out of the greenery across his path. That occurance had repeated itself throughout the day, so that Naruto had to slow his pace considerably to avoid any more surprises. This stretch of land had been crawling with the beasts. But even that hadn't been so bad compared to the itchiness. The blond had awoken in the bright cold dawn to find a rather unappealing rash of blisters and bumps all over his exposed skin. All day he had been scratching himself, until his fingernails had left long red weals on his arms and legs. He had even broken the skin in some places. His feet were already raw from the numerous pointy stones and bony twigs that lay hidden by the brush the forest floor. But that had not deterred him from pressing forward in the slightest, he wanted to escape this forest as soon as possible. But the undergrowth had grown thicker and higher, and Naruto had diffculties moving due to his small stature. He was further delayed when twilight came. He had learned his lesson from the night before, blindly blundering about in a forest at night was bad for your health. He had the blisters and scratches to prove it. So he had used the waning light to search for a place to sleep. Amongst one of the thinner clumps of growth he had found a patch of soft dry moss. And that is where he had spent his second night. And now it was just past midday. Almost forty eight hours since he had first bolted into this forest and lost his way. Naruto was beginning to lose hope. He was sore, he was lonely. His throat was parched and thirsty and his belly was distended from all the fruit he had eaten. He missed his little bed, the other children, and most of all, he missed Mother Nonou. Fat tears began to drip from the little boy's big blue eyes as he thought of her. If he didn't get out of here, he would never ever see her again... He was so preoccupied with his sad thoughts that he did not notice the foliage was gradually thinning. Not until he felt a smooth cool surface at his feet instead of the rough stones and dry twigs and leafy vegetation. He paused his sniffling sobs and took a look around. He was standing on a stretch of cool compacted soil that looked suspiciously like a path. There was more sunlight here as well, and the trees were much shorter and neater looking. The blond's heart began to pound as he was filled with hope. Maybe this would lead him back to the village. With a newfound burst of energy, he bounded his way ahead. And not fifteen minutes later, he saw a bright spot of light ahead. If he could get to it, he would be out of this green-lighted tunnel. The blond charged forward, and steadily the speck of light grew bigger and bigger. Until at last he emerged from the green fortress into the open. The yellow rays of sunlight made his eyes smart in their sockets; he had grown used to the green gloom of the forest. He seemed to have come upon a rather large meadow. It sloped gently upward ahead of him and was full of flowers. At the top of the incline grew a large solitary pine. Naruto sighed in relief as the sun bathed him warmly; and the soft soft grass cushioned his feet. But he was not one to stay put for long, he had to find the village! And so the blond began to scramble up the slope to get a better idea of where exactly he was. When he reached the top he was surprised to see a relatively flat expanse spread out ahead of him. Not too far away grew a small patch of giant sunflowers. And beyond was a clump of trees. Naruto slowly swept his eyes in a circle. There were trees all around, he unhappily registered. But the path had led him here, and where there were paths there were also people...right? The boy seemed to visibly deflate. He didn't want to go into the trees again. What now? Then his eyes caught a movement in the sunflower patch. Naruto locked his keen blue gaze on the still flowers for a long moment. Had he been mistaken... no, there it was again. Something was definitely moving in there. Naruto warily kept his distance. What if it's a wild animal or something?, he said to himself. But what came out of the patch wasn't an animal, it was a boy. He looked to be quite a bit older than the blond, and much taller. He wore a sleeveless black shirt with a high collar and simple grey trousers. He didn't look lost at all, Naruto could tell; he was here because he wanted to be. He knew the way back. Naruto sprang up and began to run towards him, a happy shout rising to his lips. But that cry did not make it past his lips, because Naruto had caught a glimpse of the boy's face. The boy's face stopped him dead in his tracks. The blond's jaw grew slack and a strangled noise faintly whistled out of his throat. For a moment he ceased to think, he ceased to breathe. He could only open and shut his mouth repeatedly, like a fish out of water. He felt like someone had turned him inside out and hung him out to dry. That boy... Was turning around. And Naruto began to panic; he must not be spotted! Catching sight of the conveniently located kuromatsu, he quickly took cover behind its thick trunk. The blond pressed his back against the tree and fanned his arms out to embrace it in a type of reverse hug. His heart seemed to be thwacking painfully against his ribcage. His face and ears and even his neck had turned a spectacular shade of puce. That boy... that boy... "That boy's a girl!" he whispered harshly to himeself. And that girl was the most beautiful person he had ever seen! Naruto took a wheezing breath and shut his eyes tight. Had he just glimpsed sort of heavenly fairy? Was this really happening? No real person could be that pretty; maybe he had just imagined it. Carefully he peeped around the trunk. She was still there, facing away from him. The blond stared in fascination. He was certain he wasn't hallucinating now, she seemed real enough. And he spent a brief, endless stretch of time taking in the soft features of her profile. She wore her black hair in a silky bob, with whispy bangs falling in her eyes. And those eyes were pitch black, with long fluttery eyelashes. She had a pretty little rosebud mouth, which she had pursed in a fetching pout: She appeared to be scrutinizing the sunflower she had picked. Naruto noticed all of this, his gaze unabashedly fixed on her form. And even though he never particularly took notice of girls, he found himself thinking she was perfect. However there was one thing about her that puzzled him. She sure didn't dress like most girls. Her clothes were practical and rather plain, not bright and pretty like the garbs mothers like to dress their daughters in. In fact, if he ignored her face, she looked just like a boy. Naruto's blue eyes registered the shin wrappings and black sandals. The only girls he had ever seen dress like that went to the Academy. That's it! She must be a kunoichi. But he was snapped out of his reverie when the beautiful girl turned to leave. The blond caught sight of a large red and white symbol printed on the back of her shirt. He could faintly recall seeing that odd symbol somewhere, it had reminded him of the paper fans he had seen people use to cool themselves in warm weather. He could not exactly remember where he had seen it though; he didn't often visit town. The girl seemed to take no notice of him as she began to scamper toward the treeline ahead. For a moment the little boy hesitated before sprinting after her. This girl was a really fast runner; it took all of Naruto's effort to keep her in sight. Before long his legs were burning, he felt his chest was about to explode, and he could hear nothing the thudding of his own heart and the rush of his blood. He couldn't even spare a breath to call out; couldn't stop to recover it either. Naruto knew by the time he could manage any sound above a gasp the girl would be out of earshot. And the effects of his sojourn in the forest was catching up with a vengeance. He was lagging behind further and further, and could only look on in dismay as he watched the little form penetrate the trees ahead. And that's when Naruto had had enough. He was tired of being alone and cold and scared. He wanted to go back home, with the other kids, with Mother. And he was going to get back home, even if it took forever! With this in mind, Naruto resolutely kept his eyes trained on the spot the girl had disappeared into. His legs pumped faster as he reached the grove of trees. Once again he was enveloped by the quiet green forest. There were no footpaths or signs that anyone had ever been here. Had the girl really entered the forest here? There was no trace of any disturbance anywhere. Desperately he searched for a broken twig, a flattened plant, anything. After a few more agonizing moments he saw it; a small depression in the mulchy soil. Naruto went for a closer look... yes, it was a clearly a freshly made footprint. The size looked about right. The blond scanned the area and spotted a couple more prints half a meter to his right. And when he got to those prints he found a short trail further on. Happily the little boy followed the tracks that would inevitably lead him home again. Ah, this did not go the way I had planned. I had wanted to include the orphanage in this chapter but it was becoming too long. I'll mention how Naruto's forest adventure ended next time. Please review with your criticisms; I need feedbackfrom readers to see if I am going wrong somewhere, and I'm open to any suggestions you might have for this fic.- Peace