Pilot
June was always hot in Konoha. Scorching hot rays blasted down on the village as if it were hell, and moist clung to every part of your skin as if it were going to disappear.
However, every winter Naruto seemed to forget the feeling of the sun rays on his back. Summer was a surprise for the little blonde boy every time it came around. Everything felt new again. The cicadas, the awfully itchy sunburns, the icecream food vendors parked down every street, but most importantly, the kids at the playground.
When winter came, the park was a hollow of itself. There wasn’t a single kid who spent their time clambering up the small rock climbing wall, or swinging their legs on the tire swings. It made making friends nearly impossible.
But this summer was going to be different; Naruto had decided so. He was going to be a kid at the playground, and he was going to make friends.
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Naruto stepped onto the lively playground scene just after noon had struck; when it was at its busiest. The prime time for making friends, Naruto figured.
He scrambled up the wooden plank separating the park gravel from the grassy path, entering the wonderland with determination. The blonde made his way to the sandbox, one of the less populated areas of the grounds. Only a few kids from the village littered the patchy rectangle. Nevertheless, once Naruto had efficiently located himself in the middle of the sandbox- the rest of the kids were nowhere to be found. He wondered why that was.
The little boy frowned, falling back on the soft sand landing square on his butt. He grabbed a shovel that was half buried in the sand by his head, and he began to dig.
Originally, he planned to approach one of the kids and offer to be friends. Though, he figured waiting for somebody to come up to him would work just fine.
Naruto had dug a cavern nearly three times his size by the time he was approached by somebody.
“Hey!” The voice was gruff and lacking anything that resembled compassion, “You can’t dig here.”
Naruto looked up, overjoyed. What a genius he was to wait, not only did somebody come up to him they brought their friends too! He gripped his plastic shovel tightly, using it like a stress ball.
“Hey, are you listening to me?” The boy at the front of the small triad asked. Naruto was wrung from his thoughts.
“Huh- Oh yeah, ‘course I am!” He exclaimed, looking up at the boy.
The speaker, supposedly the leader of the group, was a generously built eight year old. Naruto had seen him before, though he had never taken the time to introduce himself.
“He’s not listening to you, Tooru!” A girl on the side squeaked.
The boy huffed before reiterating his point, “I said, you can’t dig here.”
Naruto only tilted his head, the way any confused six year old would when addressed like such. “What? What not?” He demanded.
The larger boys' sidekicks exchanged glances before nodding to one another, and then their leader. The girl ran off towards the slides, where the large majority of kids had accumulated. “Because there's rules here.” He sneered, pointing a finger at the seated blonde boy..
“Whaddya’ mean? There aren’t rules. This is the playground, silly.” Naruto explained, waving around the toy shovel as he talked.
Soon, the three of them had been joined by an even larger audience of kids. The girl from before had called them to watch the spectacle.
“There are rules.” The big kid defended, “Do you want to know what they are? I bet you do, don’t you?” He teased, his large meaty figure hovered over Naruto like an overly invasive teacher. A few of the kids from the ever growing crowd Oohed and awed in support at the big kids statement.
“Ok- so what are these rules?” Naruto asked, finally planting his shovel in the dirt.
“Well, the rules are that… You can’t play in the sandbox.” He stated, before snickering to one of the other members of the crowd, who nodded encouragingly. “Or the slides. Or the rock climbing wall. Or the bridge. Not even the swings.” He said smugly.
“Don’t forget about the monkey bars!” A kid added from the audience.
Naruto’s jaw gaped. “That's stupid- why can’t I play there!” The blonde boy demanded, he stood up face to face to emphasize his point.
“Because, my daddy said that we can’t play with you. Because you're a parasite.” The fat boy sneered, they were close enough now that his spit landed on Naruto's T-shirt.
Naruto’s small fists balled up at the comment. His knuckles grew white as laughter and snickers rippled through the crowd. “I’m not a parasite!” He shouted, his voice trembling with anger and embarrassment. He looked the bigger boy in the face, making their size difference even more apparent. “You’re just making stuff up! I can play wherever I want!”
The big kid seemed to relish in Naruto’s defiance, he grinned an unfortunate wicked smile. “Really? Who’s gonna let you? You don’t belong here, loser!”
Naruto squared up to the other boy, planting his torn up sandals in the sand. “I’m not going anywhere! If you don’t like it then you leave!”
The crowd of kids erupted into murmurs. A few shouted out in support of the bigger kid, though it was silenced quickly. The boy's smug expression faltered for a quarter of a second, though he regained his composure quickly. “Oh, you're in for it now!” He planted his hands on Naruto’s chest and shoved him backwards into the sandbox.
Naruto sniffled, wiping sand grains from his eyes.
“Hey, leave him alone!”
The crowd parted to reveal a boy with dark hair and bright, determined eyes. Sasuke Uchiha. He was well known to anybody their age, he was the younger brother of the famous child prodigy who had graduated from the academy a few years back. His fists were clenched by his sides, and his brows were furrowed in clear unmistakable anger.
“Tooru, what’s your problem?” Sasuke demanded, stepping between Naruto and the larger boy. His arms spread in a protective manner. “Why are you picking on him? What did he even do to you?”
Tooru hesitated, clearly startled by Sasuke’s sudden appearance. He was rare and elusive, like the blue butterflies Naruto always tried so hard to catch. “He’s digging where he’s not supposed to!” he blurted, trying to sound confident. “There are rules—”
“There are no rules!” Sasuke shot back, his voice rising. “You just made that up because you think you can boss everyone around. Guess what? You can’t.”
The crowd buzzed with excitement, kids whispering to each other as they watched Sasuke stand his ground. Naruto blinked up at him, stunned.
“C’mon, let's go, Parasite boy.” Sasuke said, turning his back on the other boy. He heaved Naruto up with one arm, dragging the defiant blonde by the wrist until they reached a shady tire swing.
“I’m not a parasite!” Naruto yelled, wriggling to escape Sasuke’s grasp. Sasuke let go of him, and stood facing towards him.
“Then what are you?”
“I’m Naruto Uzumaki!” Naruto exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air.
“You're a real weirdo, Naruto.” Sasuke said, utterly unimpressed by the blonde's antics.
“Hey- I’m not a weirdo! I’m going to be the Hokage- so really you’re the weirdo!” Naruto said proudly, puffing his chest out.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, his smirk widening. "Hokage, huh? That’s a big dream. You don’t even have friends yet."
Naruto froze at the jab, his chest deflating. He scowled, looking away. "I don’t need friends," he muttered, kicking at the dirt. “Besides, you don’t have friends either. You always sit by yourself over here.”
Sasuke turned his head away from the blue eyed boy, scoffing at the statement. “That’s different. I choose to be alone, I could have friends if I wanted them. I just don’t. But everybody chooses to leave you alone.”
Naruto looked away, somewhat embarrassed at the statement. He wished he still had his shovel so he could hit Sasuke with it. Instead, he settled for pushing the tire swing in Sasuke's direction, forcing him to duck out of the way.
“Whatever.”
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