Words

1. White

The first memory the Naruto could still clearly recall was of a sea of white. Chrysanthemums and lotuses littered the streets and ribbons of silk drifting down the streets following the procession of weeping mourners. 'Yon-daime' [1] ; 'such a gruesome foretelling', the shadows whispered in his ears. 'Perhaps he was destined to die young?' White was the color of death, everyone knew that.

2. Fire

When Naruto was in the Academy, they were taught about the battle between the Yondaime and the Kyuubi no Yoko. And with a child's imagination, he couldn't help but wonder if the Yondaime had known what was going to happen. The cloak he was trademarked with was white with flames licking the bottom after all. And the Kyuubi was supposed to be the Tailed Beast of Fire, right? But he knew not to point that out to any of his teachers, not after all those glares that clearly told him that they would gladly set him ablaze with a well placed Katon if he so much as batted an eye in their direction.

3. Ramen

As he sat at Ichiruka's Ramen Store, Naruto could nearly imagine seeing a beautiful red haired woman from the corner of his eyes consuming ramen with just as much enthusiasm and gusto as him. But whenever he took a closer peek at her, all he saw was an empty wooden stool. He would then shake his head at his own imagination and go back to his food with those thoughts already out of mind. But when he left, he would always turn back around quickly with the tiniest bit of hope shining in his eyes and check that there really had been no one there.

4. Teacher

When Kakashi first saw Uzumaki Naruto, he had a subtle double take and discreetly tested out his eyesight because he had been sure he was seeing a ghost. And during that moment he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, a chalky blackboard duster fell onto his already silver hair. But he didn't pay any attention to that because Naruto was grinning with his eyes half squinted in a painfully familiar way. And for a second, another blonde's image overlapped the scene and Kakashi felt his chest clench. Sensei…In that second he wanted to scream and rave because this was sensei's son and those old council members had told him the child was dead. But he strengthened his resolve and straightened his back slightly from his normal lazy slouch. Those old bats would be getting a shouting match that they wouldn't forget in a while.

5. Smile

It had been a wonderful day and Jiraiya had gathered quite a bit of information from the local girls' gossiping. Well, it had been a wonderful day until he felt a tap on the shoulder. Ready to give his customary speech about how they were bothering him in his very important research, he turned around. But his words crashed into each other as they got jammed in his throat. There in front of him was a carbon copy of Minato and wearing the same disapproving frown on his face as his old student. And for some odd reason, he really wanted to see the boy smile so when he was asked for training, he nearly immediately agreed. Then, just like he had secretly hoped, the boy's face lit up in a smile and Jiraiya realized that he would never be able to refuse the kid anything.

He was just like his father in that way.

[1] In Japanese, Yon is considered ill fated because the number 4 can also be said as Shi which means death. So Yondaime could just as easily mean 4th Hokage as 'dying/ dead' Hokage.