Chapter 1: The Mark of Friendship

Arata Daichi a brunette with green eyes was well known around Konoha as the world's number one Prankster. He's been nothing but a troublemaker for the village. No one was safe from his pranking ways.

Chuckling he was running from some very pissed off civilians; that he threw water balloons full of wet paint at and now they were a group of pink and blue civilians chasing after him.

"Can't catch me!" He boasted as he ran through the allies losing them.

He chuckled at the angry voices becoming fainter behind him before he stopped running. Panting he figured that he could have a victory lunch at 'Ichiraku Ramen' today.

Walking with a grin he heard voices coming his way and he saw three adults chasing a young blonde girl with blue eyes and she had three whisker marks on each side of her face.

"Kill her!" Shouted one of the adults and they had farming equipment and Arata knew that they were deadly.

This wasn't the first time he's seen this girl, it's just that every time someone was either glaring at her or she was by herself. This is the first time that he's seen someone trying to kill her.

"HEY!" Arata shouted gaining their attention, "Leave her alone!"

"Kid, keep out of stuff you don't understand!" One of the adults said, "We're dealing with this monster!"

Arata's glare darkened, "Oh really? Well from my point of view I see three adults gaining up on an innocent girl!" He snarled, "You three are the real monsters!"

They ignored him and went back to the girl so Arata looked around before picking up a stone and running over there smashing it against one of their kneecaps.

The adult cried out in pain as he bent over to grab his leg so Arata brought the stone to his jaw knocking him back before he looked at the girl, "Come on!" He took off and she followed after him.

The other two gave chase but lost the two children.

By now Arata and the girl were panting in exhaustion from running, "So what *pant* was that *pant* about?" Arata asked trying to catch his breath.

The girl looked down sadly, "I don't know." She said softly, "Everyone's been trying to kill me for as long as I remembered."

Now Arata was confused on why they would want to kill an innocent girl but he smiled, "Well I don't want to kill you." He pointed out.

Now the girl looked confused, "Why?"

Arata shrugged, "Why not?" He stuck his hand out, "The name's Arata Daichi King of Pranks!" He stated proudly.

She smiled and shook his hand, "Naruko Uzumaki."

"Nice to meet you Naruko!" Arata said happily.

They talked to each other as they walked towards Ichiraku's and people were giving Naruko the stink eye, but they were surprised to see Arata the village prankster with her.

From what Arata could tell, Naruko was shy probably from the whole everyone trying to kill her thing… He made a mental note to help her out with that so he cracked jokes and made a fool of himself to get her to smile instead of looking sad.

It worked to a certain degree but seeing everyone's glares made her look sad again.

This could take a while. Arata thought sheepishly as they made it to Ichiraku, "Hey old man, are there two seats open?" Naruko looked surprise at how Arata acted.

A man wearing a white chef outfit with a chef hat covering his black hair that was beginning to turn gray, "Ah Arata, welcome!" He said before looking at Naruko, "And who is this young lady?"

"This is Naruko!" Arata sat down and after a second hesitation Naruko followed suit, "So do you have any specials today?"

"Yes I have the Pork Ramen Special!" Ichiraku said proudly.

"Two bowls of that please!" As Ichiraku went to make them Naruko finally asked a question.

"Why are you being nice to me?" She asked nervously

Arata tipped his head in confusion, "Any reason I can't help a friend?"

"What's a friend?" Arata stared at her in shock for a few seconds, "What?"

"You don't know what friend means?" As Naruko shook her head Arata sighed, "Okay the best way I can explain this is… A person being with another, always helping them… I honestly don't know how to explain it." He admitted laughing.

Naruko still looked confused but she didn't ask anything else when Ichiraku brought out two bowls of Ramen and Arata started to dig in before he noticed that Naruko wasn't touching her bowl.

"Aren't you hungry?" He asked curiously.

Naruko looked apologetic, "Sorry."

"Don't be." Arata chuckled, "You don't have anything to be sorry for." He continued to dig in and in a little bit Naruko followed suit, her eyes widening as she tasted ramen for the first time and she began to dig in and in five minutes there were eight empty bowls and she was asking for a ninth as Arata finished his bowl staring wide eyed at her.

I think I got her addicted. He thought with his eye twitching.

Later Arata was crying anime tears as he held his wallet upside down with it empty but he wiped them away in a second and smiled, "You sure enjoyed that." He commented

Naruko looked embarrassed, "Sorry, it's just that I never tasted something so good."

She's actually opening up a bit. Realized Arata

"So… What now?"

Before she could reply they heard a voice behind them, "There you are Naruko!" They turned to see a teenager with a scar going across his face wearing a green Chunin vest.

"Iruka Sensei!" Naruko hugged him.

"Easy there." Iruka laughed before he looked at Arata, "And you are?" He asked

"This is Arata!" Naruko said, "He stopped some people from chasing me and introduced me to Ramen!"

Again Arata was holding his wallet upside down with anime tears at the mention of Ramen, which went unnoticed be Naruko.

Iruka held back a chuckle knowing about how Naruko was with her favorite food, "Thank you for looking out for her." He said

"It's no problem!" Arata said happily, "I'm happy that I made a friend!"

Sadly though Naruko had to go home and she looked sad about it.

"Hey Naruko!" She looked back at Arata, "I promise to hang out with you tomorrow!" He called out

She smiled, "It's a deal!"

Iruka smiled at how Naruko made a new friend… If he knew the mischief that they would cause in the village for the next few years he would've groaned in annoyance.

One thing that can be said about Arata is that he can be an influence all right.

To Be Continued…

So what do you think? And before you say anything I'm a straight male who was asked by a friend to write a story about a female Naruto. I just wanted to explain where she got her mannerisms, ramen addiction and taste for pranking from!