Chapter 23 Lonely
Very hungry...
Naruto Uzumaki lay on his small, worn-out bed.
It was already past two in the morning, and the pale moonlight filtered through the thin curtains, spilling across the floor of his cramped apartment. Naruto folded his hands behind his head, staring blankly at the ceiling.
He had eaten all the expired cup noodles and sour milk from the half-empty fridge, but now he didn't know what he would eat tomorrow. His stomach growled painfully.
"Better just sleep… you can't feel hungry when you're asleep," he whispered to himself. Forcing his eyes shut, Naruto suppressed the ache in his stomach until the hunger dulled into numbness, and at last he drifted into restless sleep.
Early the next morning, Naruto opened his door with a grin.
"Alright! Today I'll make the whole village acknowledge me!"
From nowhere, he produced a can of red paint. His plan was to cover Konoha's entire shopping district in graffiti. Since the streets were still empty, no one stopped him as he smeared paint across every storefront.
It took him nearly an hour before the entire row of shops was defaced. Next came the important part—finding a stage to stand on. If he appeared suddenly when everyone noticed the mess and boldly declared his dream of becoming Hokage, then surely, he thought, their opinion of him would change.
"Heh heh!" Naruto chuckled, his face and clothes stained with paint. He climbed up to a vantage point, waiting for the commotion to rise.
Soon the street grew noisy as merchants arrived.
"This is outrageous! Who would do such a thing?"
"What happened here?"
Men and women alike gaped at the vandalized walls in shock.
Just then Naruto leapt onto the signboard above them, paint bucket still in hand.
"It's me, Uzumaki Naruto! Remember this—I'm going to be Hokage one day!"
He shouted his manifesto with full confidence before darting across the rooftops, knowing they couldn't catch him.
"Get back here, you brat!"
"It's that troublemaker again—he ruins everything!"
A man muttered coldly, "That kid has no parents. Even if we complain, no one will listen."
"What a nuisance. Who's going to clean this up?"
Their disgusted voices echoed behind him as Naruto ran with the dripping bucket. But as always, no one bothered chasing him very far.
Naruto slowed down, panting. People on the streets eyed him as if he were not a child of five, but some kind of monster. He tightened his grip on the bucket and ran until fewer villagers were around.
"Figures… it's always like this," he muttered, lowering his head.
After stashing away the bucket, he splashed water on his face, wiping the paint away. Then he continued wandering aimlessly. It was nothing new—no one ever wanted to play with him. Passing through the streets now, the villagers ignored him completely, as if he were invisible.
A ball bounced twice and rolled to his feet. Naruto bent down to pick it up, looking around for the owner.
It was a small girl about his age. Smiling brightly, Naruto held the ball out to her.
But before she could take it, her mother rushed over, crouched beside her, and said softly, "Don't touch that. I'll buy you a new one, alright?" Then, shooting Naruto a sharp glare, she quickly led her daughter away.
The girl turned back curiously, but soon disappeared with her mother. Naruto's smile froze on his face, and loneliness clouded his eyes again. He placed the ball carefully back on the ground and continued walking, unseen and unwanted.
"Mom, we're going out!"
"Come back soon."
"Geez, all you do is play," came a father's scolding voice.
Naruto stopped and stared at the family nearby. A child was leaving home with friends, his mother gently seeing him off, his father nagging in the doorway. Naruto's eyes filled with envy.
"…Why don't I have parents?" he whispered.
He remembered the beginning of the month, when the Third Hokage had visited with his monthly stipend.
"This is your allowance for the month. Use it wisely," Hiruzen said, placing an envelope on the table before turning away.
"Didn't I ask you before?" Naruto blurted out. "A long time ago…"
But the old man had only sighed. "Naruto… the village was once attacked by the Nine-Tailed Fox. Many lives were lost in that tragedy, and your parents… they too…"
"That's not what I want to hear!" Naruto shouted, his voice cracking. "I don't care about the story—I want to know who they were! What kind of people were my parents?"
The Third fell silent, his hand brushing the brim of his Hokage hat. Finally, without answering, he turned and walked away.
"So what if you know? The dead cannot be brought back," was all he left behind.
Naruto had stood at his balcony that night, watching the old man's back disappear into the shadows. The same man who sometimes shared grilled fish with him seemed like a stranger now.
Yes, Naruto was utterly alone in the village.
Perched on the roof of a shabby house, he dug into his pocket and pulled out the last few coins rattling at the bottom.
"No money left… I really want to eat some ramen," he muttered, his eyes drifting toward the distant aroma wafting through the air. Not far away, the scent of tonkotsu broth from Ichiraku Ramen floated temptingly across the street.
But with no coins to spare, Naruto turned away and ran toward his usual training ground.
Even civilian children in Konoha could at least play ninja games, tossing pebbles at targets, pretending they were shuriken. Naruto joined in by himself, hurling stones at a battered tree trunk until his hand was empty. Just then his stomach rumbled loudly.
"So hungry…" he sighed.
Determined, he wandered into the forest to forage. "Maybe I can find some mushrooms like last time."
He crouched among the damp earth, eyes scanning the undergrowth. "These ones… when I ate them before, they made me dream. If I pick a few more, maybe tonight I'll dream about my parents again."
With dirt smudged across his face and hands, Naruto eventually ran out of patches to search. "No fish this time either… guess mushrooms will have to do."
Squatting near a clear stream, he muttered to himself as he stacked his finds. "Would be nice if they tasted as good as Ichiraku's ramen…" He struck flint to kindle a small fire, preparing to roast them.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps on water drew his gaze upward. A boy, taller than him, walked calmly across the river's surface—clearly using chakra control. He looked about the age of a Ninja Academy student.
Naruto's blue eyes widened with awe. "Walking on water… amazing. Is that what being a ninja is like?" A pang of envy struck him—could becoming a shinobi really change the life he hated now? He quickly turned away. Whoever it was, he thought, probably wouldn't care about him anyway.
"Ugh… I'm starving…"
"Hey, someone's here. Are you really eating mushrooms?" The boy stepped off the water and walked toward him casually.
Naruto blinked, looking around in confusion. "Huh? Me?" He pointed at himself, unsure.
The other boy raised an eyebrow, almost amused. "Of course. Who else is here besides you and me?"
Naruto nodded quickly. "Uh, yeah… I'm roasting mushrooms." He brightened suddenly, eager to explain. "These ones taste amazing—almost like Ichiraku's seafood ramen! And these here, too—super good!"
For the first time, someone was speaking to him without disdain. Aside from the Third Hokage, who dropped off his allowance each month, no villager had ever approached him willingly. Excitement surged through Naruto's chest. He wanted to share the mushrooms with this boy.
But the newcomer frowned. "Those? In the books, those are listed as poisonous. And that one—causes hallucinations if you eat it. Have you really been eating these?"
Naruto's jaw fell open. "What? No way…" His heart sank. He thought surely now this person would leave too, thinking he was just a weird kid.
But instead, the boy sighed, spreading his hands in mock exasperation. "Unbelievable. You really can't be left alone. Fine—then I'll treat you. Ichiraku just came out with a new flavor of ramen."
"C'mon, let's go."
Naruto froze in disbelief, not moving.
The boy turned, stepped back, and grabbed his hand firmly. "Why are you just standing there like an idiot? Come on."
Naruto let himself be pulled along, his small feet pounding against the ground as they ran. His eyes blurred with sudden warmth, and a few crystal tears spilled down his cheeks. He quickly wiped them away with his free hand, his voice cracking with excitement.
"M-my name is Uzumaki Naruto! What's yours?"
The boy glanced back, smiling calmly at him.
"Remember it well. My name is Uchiha Makoto."