The Song of Flute

Beginnings

Naruto was a quiet child at the young age of six. His violet eyes carried the innocence befitting of a child his age. For the first four years of his life, all he has seen was a laboratory and a small room. The pale-faced man with slitted eyes was the only adult he ever saw. He doesn't remember much of the man, considering all the contact he had with him was when the man injected him with painful injections. Those just made him feel weird. He didn't think his life was terrible, though. He was fed daily and had a roof on his head, so he never complained.

However, this changed when one day, an old man wearing a red hat and white robes came barging into the lab, followed by a dozen masked men. The pale-faced man was able to flee. However, only Naruto and one other child, who was slightly older than him, were all that were left alive after the man's sick experiments.

Naruto did not have his name when he was rescued, however. He was always called by the pale man by his tag number. It was two years ago when he found out that people actually had names instead of numbers. He still remembers...

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

He was taken to a room with white walls and no windows, along with the other child, who he distinctly remembered seeing in the lab once. A blond man with a ponytail, probably in his early 20s, stood in front of them. The man saw their nervousness and thought that maybe some good food would make the children open up slightly. He told them to wait and came back carrying two bowls of something.

"Eat up.." The man dawdled. Neither of the children moved.

"This is ramen... It won't do you any harm... of course, considering that you don't just eat ramen every day." The man attempted a joke, but no one laughed. Of course, they don't know how to use chopsticks. He palmed his forehead.

"Here, I'll help.." He offered and used the chopsticks to begin feeding them.

After eating the first bite, he admitted to himself, mentally, of course, that ramen was the most incredible thing he had ever had! It didn't matter that all he was used to eating was dry and packaged food. This was the first time he had eaten anything that had anything resembling flavor.

He stared at the man with wide eyes. The man chuckled. "It is good, hm..? It even has my favorite topping, Narutomaki!" The man laughed, seeing the child's astound expression.

He was still looking at the bowl. "..naruto..." He mumbled as he looked at the swirly patterned thing.

When both of them had finished eating, the man faced them again. "Let's see now...My name is Yamanaka Inoichi. What are your names? Do you remember anything before you were at that place?" His tone was gentle.

"He called me number seventeen..." The man arched an eyebrow at that. Numbers..?

"I was number four.." The older of the two said.

"Well, now.. that won't do at all. Say say... What is it that you like the most?" The man asked them childishly, grinning. He did not want to scare them at all now that they were finally talking.

The children were quiet for a while. Suddenly, the younger of the two, the blond-haired kid, replied in a meek voice "..ramen.."

Inoichi laughed loudly at the response.

"Ramen, hm..?.. Alright! How about... Naruto? Do you like the name Naruto?" The man ruffled his hair.

Naruto nodded a little. The other child, however, was silent. The man faced him and said, "What about you? Do you like anything?" He did not reply.