Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. The only thing I own is a bag of ideas and a bit of inspiration.

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"And this is your key." said a chunin as he handed Ren his new room's key."Thank you." Ren thanked the chunin in gratitude as the chunin started to walk back after finishing his task.

Ren took the key and opened the door in front of him. 'My new home.' thought Ren as he looked at the plain room in his sight. He entered the room and the first thing he noticed was a layer of dust covering the entire room.

'It does look like it needs a bit of cleaning.' He then started to walk around his apartment which was on the second floor of the building 'It has a hall, a kitchen, one separate room, and a washroom with shower. I need to start cleaning up this place as I need to start studying for the first semester, I only have 4 months for the test after all.' Thought Ren as he took out an old used broom which was left in the apartment.

'Um, what do I call you again, uh...'

[Yes, Host. What Do you require?]

This startled Ren as he looked at the screen.'Were you reading my thoughts?'

[Yes.]

'Ah cool then.' Ren didn't know what to say so he went ahead with the awkward response. 'I finally thought up a name for you. How about eris?'

[I am fine with whatever you wish to call me. Host]

'Eris it is then.'

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"Ha..." Ren sighed in exhaustion as he finally finished cleaning the whole apartment. 'Just cleaning my Room took a lot of effort' thought Ren as he noticed the state of his body which still hadn't fully recovered from the trauma it had suffered.

He looked around the room and finally laid his head down on the floor. ' The cleaning is done but it looks like I need to buy furniture as this room has nothing except a Wooden table. Forget a fridge, I thought that there would at least be an old futon.' thought Ren as he looked at the ceiling of the room.

'I need to buy at least kitchen appliances even though I don't know how to cook as I think eating food outside would be either expensive Or unhealthy if continued for a long period.' Ren's brain thought of thousands of things unsure of what to act on first.

*Grrr*

Ultimately his stomach pitched in its own opinion. 'Yeah, I will go and have food outside for today. ' Having made up his mind Ren went out of his room making sure to lock it as he went out.

Not that locking meant much anyway as Ren knew there was nothing in the room of much value and he was quite sure that if someone wanted to come in they would do so, a lock wouldn't be much of a problem to a person who was capable of stealing in Ninja village.

As he moved about the street he noticed, how people were casually enjoying their time without much tension, the atmosphere seemed peaceful, and then remembered the scene of his village burning Ren shook his head. 'Peace huh, Peace is the commodity for those who are either ignorant or strong. '

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

This made Ren question himself on his strength. ' I wonder if one day I too could afford it' thought Ren a bit cynically as he was still feeling pain and soreness all over his body as he remembered the the day he got caught by the doctor.

**********Two days ago**********

Ren was walking around the hospital room slowly making sure to properly position his foot after each step.

*click*

Ren's eyes widened as he tried to run back to his bed but wasn't fast enough as his legs flinched in pain making Ren lose his balance. Luckily his momentum made him fall onto the bed.

The doctor came in with his characteristic notepad and started asking the regular questions. Within a minute the doctor wrote everything and almost seemed to complete the report.

Ren wondered if the doctor had not seen him walking around. " Kiyoshi-kun, haven't I told you not to walk around and to rest." said the doctor as he gave Ren the stare.

Ren just gave an embarrassed smile which made the doctor sigh. "Seeing that you are not going to lie in bed and rest. You will be discharged in two days as your internals have healed enough, There is nothing more we can do, only time and rest will complete your recovery." The doctor said as he glanced at Ren.

"The Hokage has already taken care of your hospital bills and arranged for all your necessities. Please make sure to rest properly," said the doctor as he left the room, knowing that Ren would likely not rest and would exercise again.

'Still, it is pretty amazing he can even move around, I have expected him to be in paralysis for at least a year.' thought the doctor knowing the full extent of Ren's injuries.

'One thing I did not say to him was, that he is most probably not going to be a chunin if, in the impossible chance, he did become a genin. After all his nervous system is too damaged, some of his nerves have burst open and his internal poisoning certainly did not help. Small bits of wood are still in his body due to some kind of explosion he had suffered. His chakra network is abnormally weak, with his chakra reserves being even smaller than most civilian kids his age.'

' I am sure even taking a step is painful as his nerve endings are still healing and we cannot heal him with chakra as his chakra system will be destroyed due to overload, only Tsunade-sama has the immense chakra control necessary for it.'

The doctor shook his head as he thought of the challenge The fourth Hokage had given Ren. 'It is better if he realizes the truth earlier.' thought the doctor feeling a bit sorry for Ren, but he too had seen many genin lose their lives trying for something they didn't have the potential for.

********Return to present*********

*bump*

"ah, sorry" Ren muttered an apology as he bumped into a person without paying much attention.

"It's fine." said the person who he had just bumped into. She was the same height as him, 'though a redhead' thought Ren as he glanced at the bright red coloured hair before moving forward and entering a food stall just a few footsteps ahead, the aroma of the food drawing him in.

Ren lifted the cloth that was on the front of the stall and sat on an empty seat near the end. He looked around and saw a menu posted on the wall.

"One miso Ramen please," said Ren to an uncle whose eyes looked almost closed. The Uncle nodded and started to cook the food. Ren looked around the stall to see another person sitting a few seats next to him.

'how many days did he starve?' questioned Ren to himself as he looked at the blonde kid Slurpping down his second bowl of ramen, ravenously devouring the content within a minute.

"Another bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen please, Ichiraku-oojisan." called out the blonde to the uncle.

"Hai, naruto another one coming up," said Ichiraku as he was done with Ren's Ramen and gave it to Ren. Ren looked at the food placed in front of him and nearly salivated at its aroma. Without any further waiting Ren started to slowly eat the ramen. 'Quite, good.' thought Ren to himself as he enjoyed the flavour of it.

Just then Ichiraku Teuchi placed another bowl of Ramen in front of the blonde. Just as the blonde was about to eat the Ramen a person grabbed his shoulders.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself, aren't you onii-chan?" Called out in a sweet voice, The blonde slowly looked back with fear evident in his eyes and gulped as he looked back to see a Redhead a bit younger than him smiling sweetly at him which made chills run down the blonde.

"..Akane, I .."

Akane interrupted him and continued " Mom told me to come find you, She wants to talk about the broken cup". These words made the blonde turn pale as he hesitantly got up from the seat and started to walk away. "Did you pay for the food?" this question from Akane made the blonde quickly take out his frog purse and put some cash on the counter.

"Bye, Oji-san." said the blonde as he walked away slowly as if heading to his death. "Bye ...Wait Naruto you still haven't eaten the other bowl" called out Ichiraku as he noticed the still untouched bowl of ramen which Naruto had already paid for.

"Ah, don't worry Teuchi-san. I will finish the Ramen, I am sure onii-chan must have had his appetite full." Said Akane say she gave a glance toward the the two empty bowls of ramen he had eaten.

"HAHA, Sure. Akane-chan" said Ichiraku as he took orders from another customer.

Ren felt his jaw drop as he watched another person finish the whole bowl of Ramen within a minute, Akane got up from the seat and went out.

Ren felt a bit unnerved as he thought of something. 'She was the same girl I bumped into outside this stall and the timing she entered was perfect, she must have been waiting outside the whole time'

Ren gulped as he looked at the bowl of ramen she had eaten 'All that for a single bowl of ramen'. Ren hoped he never got on her bad side.

'What is the chance? It's not like I am going to meet her again or something.'

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