Chapter 1: obliged
Summary:
tsunade receives a letter.
Chapter Text
...Sincerely,
Sandaime Hokage
Sarutobi Hiruzen
The letter crumbles under Tsunade's fingers as she growls, the elaborate fabric tearing under her ruby red nails.
"Fucking..."
Shizune must not have registered the KI flowing fiercely out of her Shishou's figure as she pipes up, "What does it say, Tsunade-sama?"
"What does it say?" The woman barks, viciously scrunching the scroll into a makeshift ball before hurling it with all her strength. "What does it say?!"
The scroll promptly catches on fire- the dry fabric not bearing the sudden pressure and friction.
Tsunade grinds her molars as Shizune jumps back in shock.
"Fuck! We're going back to Konoha." She bites out with so much vitriol that Shizune daren't ask for the reason. Recalling the contents of the letter, Tsunade aggressively makes her way back to their temporary lodging, the ground fissuring under the raw power of her aggravation.
'You are a vital part of our forces.' Fuck that.
'It would be extremely beneficial to Konoha if you returned.' Fuck that. 'It is a shame that our Iryo Ninjutsu has deteriorated as so.' That can also be fucked.
'It would be horrible if one would die because of your lack of action.' Fuck that also. 'I don't take you as one to turn the other cheek to people's sufferings.' Fuck that too.
As she exits the building of her recent stay, she slammed the door so violently that her surroundings shook, dust clouding off the walls. 'As the granddaughter of the Shodaime, lover of a renowned Jonin and brother of a loyal shinobi, I'd expect to see you soon.'
'It burdens me greatly to have to go to this length, but unfortunately, Tsunade, I will proclaim you Nuke-Nin if you do not return immediately.'
Fuck. That.
-A week later-
"Disappointing."
Tsunade slams the papers down onto Sarutobi's desk. "I literally didn't even need to start picking them out. They're all completely hopeless. You call these potential candidates? You think I would stoop. To. That. Level. Of. Inanity? You think I, a Sannin that had survived generations of warfare, would deign to take on any of those idiots as an apprentice?"
"Now, now Tsunade," The Hokage rubs his temple as if she was the one being irrational. Well, good, she guesses. He deserved that headache. "They're only children. Talk to them directly in class, it will serve both as an inspiration and a drive. Perhaps you will see their potential then."
There was a moment of bewildered silence.
"...Children?" She spits, not caring for etiquette. Sarutobi had dared to use Dan and Nawaki to bait her back- dared to guilt trip her into coming back to this blasted place and now they're forcing her to take on a student- forcing her to mentor one of those... who was it? The civilian fangirl... the shy Hyuuga heiress... or the Yamanaka heiress fangirl? She could very much see herself accidentally crippling one of them out of irritation.
"Children... You say." Tsunade laughs derisively. "If they're old enough to be responsible for people's lives then I'm pretty sure they're old enough to stop acting like brainless brats and nauseatingly stalkerish fangirls."
The harshness of the Academy had lowered to discouraging levels, simple skills like tree walking techniques weren't even taught. That school might as well be a civilian one- or worse in how it feeds their ego. Then on the flip side, child soldiers were a thing and still are a thing. Danzo runs amok with ROOT, using methods that she very much does not want to know about to torture children. To desensitise them. To dehumanise them.
And what? Does the 'Hokage' give a shit?
Sarutobi could try and deny Danzo's many nefarious deeds but in the end he was selling himself out as either a fool or a mealy-mouth. And neither were traits that any leader worth respect should have.
Tsunade had been here for a mere week and she could see the dark edge to this Village. She wonders whether or not Danzo would still be alive if he hadn't been Sarutobi's childhood friend. Favouritism. It was a stain on the robes of the Hokage.
Danzo might as well have instigated the Uchiha Massacre from behind the scenes, leaving with no more than a slap on the wrist... on that note, she could actually imagine that happening.
"Tsunade..." Sarutobi sighs, sounding old and tired. Well, if he was too old and tired to act like an actually shinobi, let alone a Hokage, then he should resign. "Just do as you're told."
She scoffs.
"Disappointing." She snarls once again, storming out of the office and paying no heed to how the door shattered into pieces on impact when she slammed it behind her.
Chapter 2: meeting them
Summary:
this is not a summary: im just warning u of minor character bashing.
('minor' cuz tsunade WAS brash when naruto first met her. i dont think im exaggerating their personalities THAAAAAAAAAAt much either... so it's just facts i guess. they need a wake up call)
Notes:
ignore this if u dont read my other fanfic: (if u dont go check it out :D)
i might be updating blood red less frequently cuz i needa juggle a lotta stuff after the holidays ended. (lowkey wanna change the name)
i wont stop it tho. u can take my word for it.its easier to write tiny chapters (for this fic)- for that timetravel fanfic im legit creating a novel for frickin sake
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Tsunade..." Sarutobi sighs, sounding old and tired. Well, if he was too old and tired to act like an actually shinobi, let alone a Hokage, then he should resign. "Just do as you're told."
She scoffs.
"Disappointing." She snarls once again, storming out of the office and paying no heed to how the door shattered into pieces on impact when she slammed it behind her.
-The next day-
Tsunade cloaks her presence surreptitiously as she walks through the Academy halls. She casually sends a whisper of chakra to her ears, honing her senses until she could hear...
"-suke-kun is mine!"
"You won't be able to heal his heart like I do-"
"Get away from him!"
"Sasuke-kun is mine!"
Annddd, she already hated that class. The noise gets progressively louder as she nears the door.
"Sasuke-kun will be my husband one day-"
"Like Sasuke-kun would want to have babies with you!"
"What are you talking about? We would have beautiful Sharingan babies!"
Tsunade opens the sliding door, presence still cloaked but if someone pays attention, they would notice. She stands by the lectern, eyeing and picking at the atrociously light-beige-green painted wood. Tsunade tries to zone out on the fangirls' screeching but she felt her control nearly waver in anger with every passing sentence. She waits and waits and waits.
Of course, no one notices.
"Disappointing." She says again, uncloaking her chakra and she can feel every student freeze at the sudden presence. Tsunade holds back a groan of despair because- even though the extent she had hidden her presence was very advanced, as long as if someone actually used their eyes, they would notice. Some were even facing her, though staring off into space.
A platinum blonde haired girl opens her mouth in indignation.
"Who do you think you are?" The Yamanaka- though she hates using the term with such an undistinguished brat- continues false saccharinely. "If you're lost, I'll tell you where you are. This is the Academy for shinobi. You know who they are right?"
Tsunade finally relents to sighing, and if she did it extra loudly, then she wouldn't deny to it.
"Excuse me?" The girl yells, flinging her blonde fringe away from her face. The blonde let out a little smirk at the shouts of agreements. "Did you just sigh at me? Do you know who I am? I am-"
"The heiress of the Yamanaka clan." Tsunade looks up from where she was commiserating with the lectern and she doesn't even relish in the stunned silence at the familiar appearance of her face. The famed Sannin's profiles were probably handed out like candies in Academy. It was ludicrous how they could aspire to be like her while... screaming over a traumatised boy.
"I say again." She bites out harshly. "Disappointing."
The girl flinches and this time, no one shouts in defence of her. It might seem mean of Tsunade but she was just dishing out the facts. If they couldn't take the truth, how could they be reliable shinobi?
"When are you graduating?"
There are half-hearted murmurs of 'next week', 'next year' and 'this week' and she felt her patience drawing a thin line. She exhales loudly and for some reason, it came out like a growl.
"Do you know why I'm here." It wasn't a question. Certain that they couldn't answer that, Tsunade forged on. "Can anyone guess why I'm here?"
"U-um, to talk to us about the life of shinobi?" The pink haired one raises an arm hesitantly before clasping her hands in front of her chest, tilting her head in a purposeful way that was probably a pathetic attempt to look cute.
"Clasping your hands is the act of a suicidal idiot. Exposure to the carotid artery and the jugular vein, one kunai for others, one finger for me- easy kill." She intones in a dull voice, not even blinking as she jolts out of her posture.
"Wha- what?"
"Don't tell me you didn't learn that the neck was vulnerable to fatal attacks in Academy? You know, to become a shinobi, you first need to learn what could kill you. And I can name more than dozen things in the classroom that can." Tsunade hushes slowly in a superficially sweet tone before her voice lowered again, a strict meanness dosing her words like poison. "Myself being the first on the list. You're off to get killed, honey."
"W- well, if you aren't here to teach us about shinobi-"
"Do you think I would come here to give you a lesson on shinobi?" Tsunade felt offended. "I would think the top 'kunoichi' of the class would know better than that. You really think any shinobi above the calibre of a B-Rank would give kids a lecture?"
At the tense silence, Tsunade stared at each student, eyeing them like one would weigh a bag of flour- testing their strength, their potential, their guts.
The only redeeming fact about the decision to meet the students in person was the notion that they'd probably be too scared or annoyed to want to be her student.
"...You were observing us. Talking to the Senseis." The Uchiha boy suggested quietly. "Sannin would have no reason to do anything under an A or S-Rank mission and visiting the Academy would mean that you were... looking for people with potential to take on as a student?"
By the shocked stares of some boys, he was no doubt acting out of character, perhaps he was less haughty than usual. No one would dare to be self-confident in front of a Legend after all.
"Correct," She gifts him a small tilt of a lip. Not a smile- but for the first time, not a look of disdain. "I'm glad that someone actually uses their brain here."
"I will not!" Tsunade had slammed her hand onto the table.
"Preposterous." Homura had snapped. "Who do you think you are?"
"A Legendary Sannin." She had countered just as meanly. "You should be glad that I hadn't turned Nuke. You couldn't handle Orochimaru, who do you think you are?" Tsunade had thrown back.
"Handling you would be easy," Homura had growled. "As long as you have the Kato by your sid-"
"Homura!" Sarutobi had cut in as killing intent flooded room, radiating with pure bloodthirst as Tsunade had glared at the man. "You will not threaten Tsunade or Shizune. The audacity to speak as so to my student!"
"Tsunade," Koharu had cautiously approached. "We will provide you with triple the income for each of you, your ward and your disciple. You will have enough ryo to live luxuriously on the account that you do not gamble. Take on an apprentice, pass down the Slug contract-"
"Then I want no hand in helping the hospital. Apprenticeship in lieu of running a building."
"...Fine. Don't make this more difficult for the both of us."
"I was recommended to take on one of three students in this class, though right now, I'm greatly regretting my decision." Tsunade's eyes dart from person to person- the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, the Inuzuka, Aburame, Hyuuga, Uchiha... so many clan heirs and all of them- Utterly. Useless.
Zero guts. Zero passion. There was no way for her to evaluate their true potential if they didn't have the determination, the battle or the Will of Fire.
After the Uchiha Massacre, she didn't doubt that countless civilian parents withdrew their children- finally understanding what the life of a soldier was like. She had expected mature clan heirs and persevering shinobi-to-be civilians with bright goals... but instead she got...
She had thought that at least the Haruno girl was promising- zero capacity yet a hundred control, disadvantageous circumstances yet the knowledge that placed her high, civil born yet named top kunoichi- but it took a single glance at her and the class to dismiss that thought. Clearly the standards had gone down.
"Sarutobi-" A few heads jerked at the informal title. She normally called him 'Sensei' but as soon as she read the letter, that moniker had long since been trampled on, "-told me that you had potential."
She sees the self-absorbed arrogance well up in quite a few people. "He had probably said that to convince me to take on an apprentice. I can now see that it was a lie."
The ballooned egos popped in their faces.
"Yamanaka-" The blonde snaps to attention, "Haruno," the pinkette tilts her head again and blinks prettily, "And Hyuuga." The heiress yelps quietly before turning a bright shade of red. "You three were supposedly good at chakra control. Promising candidates for apprenticeship."
The three had different expressions on their faces: the Yamanka- poorly hidden pride, the Haruno- disgustingly fake bashfulness and the Hyuuga- who was shaking her head aggressively and hunching her shoulders.
"Obviously, I am not taking any of you three as apprentices." She presses her lips together in a fake grim smile. "The Yamanka heiress? Fawning over an Uchiha? Talking about how 'mysterious and cool' he is because of his circumstances? Pray tell, are you even considering your own name?"
Tsunade leans in with a facsimile expression of curiosity before she swings to look at the pink haired girl. "And you, Haruno. Highest grading kunoichi? How did you manage to do that? With that repulsive farce of a sweet girl you are trying to pull?"
"I- I'm n-"
"I could bet my wallet that you wanted to become 'best' solely so that you could have the Uchiha's attention."
At the sudden violent flush on her face and the not-at-all subtle glances to the Uchiha, Tsunade sneers.
Taking one look at the Hyuuga girl who looked like she was about to curl into her intestines, she relented at giving her a jab. The heiress clearly had her psychological issues to deal with- as unfitting of a heir as it would be.
Taking another sweep of the room, Shikaku's mini-me looking disturbingly attentive, Chouza's son- eating chips (she gave a mirthful, good-natured scoff at that, gaining many surprised looks), the Aburame looked unreadable as usual and the Inuzuka was scarily contemplative. The Uchiha looked somewhat approving, vindicated and satisfied- the reprimands of their current Academy Sensei had probably never driven home in the fangirls' minds. Poor boy, having to deal with half a class of squealing girls.
Seeing the deer in the headlights look from the Hyuuga, the mortified and ashamed look from the Yamanaka and the confused and frustrated look from the Haruno, Tsunade gave a sigh. She might've been too hard- after all, she had to take an apprentice in the end. If the next class was just as bad...
Tsunade opens her mouth to start talking again when the window slammed open and a bright orange blur darted behind Tsunade. Feeling no malicious intent, she let him, feeling slightly curious.
"Naruto! Where are you hidin-" A brunette Chunin started angrily, ripping open the door before noticing Tsunade's presence and the boy behind her. "Ah, forgive me Tsunade-hime. My student is a little bit of a menace, please don't mind him and continue the lesson." He then stalks forward and angrily grabs the boy by his collar.
"You just don't appreciate my art-ttebayo!" 'Naruto' screeches and-
Uzumaki.
Tsunade knows that chakra, knows that verbal tic. "If you're so amazing, how come you or those tree ninjas never catch me, huh, huh?"
Uzumaki Naruto- Kushina and Minato's son- screams with the loudness and loneliness of a neglected child.
"If you want me to stop pranking, then ya hafta chase me better. Believe it, dattebayo!"
Notes:
hope it was a good read :D
Chapter 3: she sees him (them)
Notes:
if u hadnt noticed, im making the chapter super short cuz im also writing my other fic which has wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy longer chapters (this chapter is longer than usual tho, so apPrEciAtE mEEE)
edit: ok from here on it might get confusing cuz im using different povs. so if it switches subjects rly quickly, dont mind me
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Naruto! Where are you hidin-" A brunette Chunin started angrily, ripping open the door before noticing Tsunade's presence and the boy behind her. "Ah, forgive me Tsunade-hime. My student is a little bit of a menace, please don't mind him and continue the lesson." He then stalks forward and angrily grabs the boy by his collar.
"You just don't appreciate my art-ttebayo!" 'Naruto' screeches and- Uzumaki. Tsunade knows that chakra, knows that verbal tic. "If you're so amazing, how come you or those tree ninjas never catch me, huh, huh?"
Uzumaki Naruto- Kushina and Minato's son- screams with the loudness and loneliness of a neglected child.
"If you want me to stop pranking, then ya hafta chase me better. Believe it, dattebayo!"
"Tree ninjas?" Tsunade says curiously because he can't possibly...
"Yeah, they're kinda weird, dattebayo." He scrunches up his nose, words tumbling out quickly. "They have white animal masks on their faces alllll the time, they've been watching me since I was a baby, you know that, dattebayo? It's like they have nothing better to do with their lives, ya kno-"
"Naruto!" The Chunin yells again, this time, with a darker edge than what Tsunade thinks is necessary for Academy teachers.
-Iruka-
He's mad though and Tsunade-hime couldn't blame him for it. Many citizens had escaped, albeit wounded and traumatised, from the Kyuubi demon because of the ANBU yet this child dares to disparage their courage.
When the child minutely flinches, a split second of fear and pain flashing across his eyes, Iruka feels a sliver of guilt in him. Iruka knows that the child isn't the Kyuubi and definitely wasn't responsible for any of the casualties but amongst the whispers of the crowd and the mass isolating the boy, he couldn't help but watch and stand by, hoping that some part of the Kyuubi no Kitsune was suffering.
(Who was he joking? Hokage-sama had told you, Iruka. He's a Jinchuuriki. The jailor of the monster. Not the monster itself. You know that.)
But that arose the question: how did the civilians even hear about Naruto's circumstance?
They shouldn't have been privy to that information; it was an S-Rank secret and anyone below high level Chuunin status weren't meant to know.
And even then, the information hadn't been properly absorbed. The process of Fuuinjutsu doesn't connect with the villagers and as soon as they heard 'Kyuubi' in the same connotation as 'Naruto', they had ignored everything else.
(Such as the important part about how Naruto was not the Kyuubi.)
Kyuubi child this. Kyuubi child that.
Parts of Iruka judges the civilians for being so shallow minded but when he thinks of his parents' backs- because shinobi couldn't lose sight of their target- he could only see their deaths and the fox that caused it.
When he sees the boy, he could only see the three whisker marks on the boy's face (and not how the boy looks exactly like Minato-sama and Kushina-san).
He could only see how this boy was related to the Kyuubi, connected to the Kyuubi. You mean, he was burdened with the Kyuubi and all the hatred that came with it.
Iruka knew his hypocrisy, he knew it deep down in him but it was so much easier blaming the boy that everyone else was blaming.
He watches the glimmer of panic wash away as the boy dumped a (obviously fake) sulking look over his features. The ability to wipe away and seal off emotions was something that even most Chuunin couldn't do but the conditions the boy had been through made the action easy as breathing to him.
Iruka remembers how every single morning there'd be a-
"It's the Ky-"
(That dejected, saddened look on the boy's face.)
"Shh, can't talk about tha-"
(The movement as the child had hunched in over himself.)
"Kaa-san, why is he all alone?"
"Hush sweetie. Remember what I told you? That boy is what I was talking about."
("My name is Uzumaki Naruto, dattebyo!" Iruka had flinched at his loudness like he didn't know it was a desperate action into getting attention. "You better remember it!")
"Remember son, it's not a normal boy. In fact-"
Iruka remembers standing there, pretending to check the roll that he had marked long ago on his clipboard. Iruka remembers ignoring the boy that had sat on the old swing under the shade of the tree.
"-most say that it's not really a 'boy' at all."
Iruka remembers walking past the sobbing child.
How old had he been then? Five or six? Hokage-sama had enrolled the boy into Academy really early after all. Iruka remembers thinking- 'even the Hokage had wanted to wash his hands of that boy.'
Iruka now thought: 'A child shouldn't have to have that ability to store away emotions.' The boy grumbled slightly and Iruka was dismayed as he realised that he could only see a mischievous class clown.
Naruto had built up a wall that children should never have to build and he couldn't even read past it.
(Iruka knew that the blonde boy in front of him used to shake in fear and anger- no one would be able to tell from his frivolous gestures.)
-Tsunade-
Those were signs of past verbal abuse, why would an Academy teacher-
And that was when the dots connected. Uzumaki. Kushina. Minato. This was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Did the alcohol eat away at her brain? No wonder. No wonder.
"That's a bit of a mean tone for a teacher, don't you think?" Tsunade murmurs and the Chuunin snaps his gaze to hers before his eyes dart about shamefully- looking for an excuse probably.
These 'shinobi' were so bad at hiding physical indications of their mental process- did Ibiki die? Did Inoichi go lax? Actually that would explain the Yamanaka heiress's frivolousness. What had Sarutobi been doing?
"But that's... impressive." She turns to Naruto. Tsunade inwardly starts grinning.
Not only was she incredibly intrigued with this boy, it would also piss off the council a lot if she were to take him as an apprentice. Jinchuuriki were human weapons of war and to make him a Med Nin was to pull him out of the battlefield. It was an unspoken rule that she couldn't take the last Uchiha as an apprentice because, well, he was the last Uchiha. The Sharingan Dojutsu being awakened and utilised for the benefit of the Village was first priority.
It was the same for Naruto... but that information was confidential. Officially, Tsunade 'didn't know' who and what Naruto is. If the Elders protest against it, using an excuse like: 'You must have known.' 'It's obvious.' Or, 'everyone knows.' Then they'd just have to admit of their incompetence at keeping an S-Rank secret... well, a secret. And they were so desperate, they wouldn't dare to force her to change apprentices.
With Naruto's hereditary large reserves, his natural potential and his enthusiasm, Iryo Ninjutsu- well, once Tsunade tackles it into him, would be extremely beneficial for everyone. Being the potential son of Kushina and Minato, their chakra natures would undoubtedly be somewhat passed down- managing to trick, sneak past and evade ANBU... it took serious trickery and skill.
Untapped skill that was.
Her mind races through the few things she had learnt so far- countless pranks? Avoiding ANBU and legitimate shinobi? That already ticked off: trapping skills, potential Fuuinjutsu capability, stealth, basic creativity, smarts and instincts... courage, definitely guts, perseverance and...
Her mental grin widens.
Tsunade had never felt such an urge to learn about someone before.
(How could someone so bright and hated be so happy yet lonely at once?)
(How could the Yondaime's child be treated as everything he wasn't?)
"Yeah, yeah? I told you Iruka-sensei." Naruto yells... and Tsunade would need to work on that volume. "I'm super amazing- I'll become the best Hokage one day, just you believe it, dattebayo!"
-Tsunade has to mechanically inhale to stop the memories from overcoming her.
"Hoh? Why Hokage?" Tsunade pretends that his bright, awe-filled smile didn't shatter her heart. Dan, Nawaki-
"Because- because! I will get stronger and stronger until everyone will have to acknowledge and respect me! Believe it, dattebayo!"
She represses the urge to back up from the in-your-face enthusiasm. There must be a reason to his loud repetitiveness after all.
(It's something else to think about as well.)
"Please, Tsunade-sama, do not mind what the boy says. He is but a-"
"Did I ask for your opinion, Chuunin?" Tsunade turns a cold, assessing eye over the teacher. Here they were having a nice, casual conversation (you mean: emotional and traumatic conversation- you're fooling yourself, Tsunade) and this- this little brat decided he had the audacity-
She makes a show of judgementally scanning him up and down.
He had a well-kept attire and lead smudges all over his right hand. His overall stance screamed of a well-behaving, respectful and dedicated teacher.
"I want to listen to what Naruto says." Tsunade pointedly pronounces. Not 'the boy' but 'Naruto'. "You may not- nay the entire Village may not, but I care for his opinion."
The man looked kind, honest and sweet yet the majority of the Village was kind, honest and sweet- what of the treatment of Naruto? The citizens were all respectful and generous yet as soon as one in power whispers a nasty word, they turn their backs- cast their minds. She remembers when Orochimaru was the one being glared at- avoided and ignored.
"I'm gonna- hnrghh, I'm gonna punch their lights out-"
"Stop it, Tsunade," Jiraiya had hissed, hand over her mouth. It was probably the only time where he had manhandled her without a perverse intent. "You're causing a ruckus."
"How could you, Raiya?" She had looked at him with an aghast expression. "I thought you were better than that!"
"Take a look around you." Jiraiya's eyes had flicked around and she reluctantly turned to glance around at the civilians inching away from the trio with an expression of disapproval.
"Look at your friend," She had hissed back, completely undeterred. Jiraiya was so fiercely protective of his precious ones yet for some reason, the only time his common sense came into play, it was in this kind of scenario.
"It's ok, Tsunade." Orochimaru had smiled slightly before Jiraiya got the chance to assess the other boy's facial emotions. "It's always been like this."
"It's not meant to be like fucking 'that'!"
"There's nothing you can do about it anyway." Orochimaru had smiled again, albeit more sadly and gently, folding his arms into his kimono sleeves. "I'm happy enough with the two of you caring for me."
The pendant that laid upon her breast bone had never felt so present before. Her hatred for Hokage was ever growing and she felt so cynical in the face of Naruto's persevering smile. Here she was as a Sannin with two of her most beloved dead, and there he was as a shunned orphan with no one to fall back upon.
She had lost a lot yet he had nothing at all. Comparing circumstances didn't matter in this case because ultimately, he was the one with a smile- he was the one that hadn't given up.
(If she had stayed with that little, sad, stupidly curious and annoyingly smartarse boy- he was younger than Tsunade by a year, did you know?- Would Orochimaru have still joined ANBU? Still joined ROOT? Still left the Village?)
"-been so badly mutilated that she wouldn't have been able to recognise him anyway-" Those words had haunted her like Nawaki and Dan's deaths had. (Like how Orochimaru's carefully blank- but she could always read past his façade- but inwardly shell-shocked and sorrowful expression had haunted her.)
'He will die young.' A menacing voice hissed. 'Uzumaki Naruto will die young like your Dan and your Nawaki. Hokage is a fool's title. A title bleeding with suicidal motives.'
'He won't die young.' She replied to that voice for the first time since Dan's death. 'As long as I'm here- as long as I welcome him, he will not.'
Tsunade doesn't know why she was acting so out of character- at any sign of Nawaki or Dan, she would've fled. At the thought of Hokage, she would've sneered. That optimism usually pissed her off but... it didn't. Yet it wasn't the Elders' threats that held her ground, it was something of Naruto that made her stay and fight against her own miserable self.
Maybe she was just tired of feeling old and drunk or maybe she just felt like kicking her sadness in the arse. Maybe...
"There's nothing you can do about it anyway."
Maybe Tsunade just wanted to relish in the fact that now, she could do a fucking thing about it.
The classroom stared with agape mouths as a Legend defended the boy- and not just any boy, it was-
That boy.
They felt a bubbling indignation at that boy- their parents were right! Over the years, they had slowly started to ignore their parents' whispers- after all, that boy was just a stupid, pranking idiot. He was a clown that couldn't do anything.
But now they understood. That boy was manipulative and tricky 'like a fox'- they had snarled with a hatred they had not understood. It happened every time their parents got into a heated discussion, slightly drunken slurs- 'A ghastly, demon fox!'
Tsunade-sama was so mean to Ino-chan and Sakura-chan- the two most popular girls and yet she was so nice with that boy. What trick did he use? How did he fool Tsunade-sama?
No wonder their parents had told them to stay away from that boy. That boy that everyone hated, ostracised and avoided.
Some students opened their mouths to recite the words of their elder generation- 'Tsunade-sama, you do not know! You must stay away from that boy- he is a demon- a dangerous vermin!'
But a single Look from their Sensei silenced them. That was strange because Sensei usually didn't care much for it. (They all knew that the Senseis all hated that boy- they weren't stupid.)
"I've decided." Tsunade-sama raised an arm to point at that boy. "Once you become Genin, I'll be taking you as my disciple."
The classroom tasted her words in their mouths, silently repeating it to themselves, 'Once he became Genin...'
At that reminder-
(Oh right, they had almost forgot. That boy was all bark no bite- just a hateful rat with no skills to back up upon. Tsunade-sama would get rid of him sooner or later anyway.)
('Once he became Genin...' -Yeah, righhht. Like that was going to happen any time soon. Or ever.)
-They burst into derisive laughter.
Notes:
well that was abrupt.
ok i didnt intend for the chapter to go that far but there were many childhood things in naruto's, well, childhood that needed to be addressed and- why not now???
DAMN IT HOW COME I ALWAYS GET OFF TOPIC IN MY FICS???? THIS WAS MEANT TO BE NICE AND HAPPY AND TSUNADE-GETS-NARUTO-OP BUT NOW LOOK AT ME!!it was the same with my time travel fic OH MY GOD
and also, yes yes ik i made iruka a half-bitch here but rn, mitsuki hasnt happened and blah blah. iruka is still decent cuz he hadnt sabotaged naruto like other teachers had (in my fic). and in this fic, TSUNADE is going to be naruto's first proper 'precious person'. iruka will need to step up his game :D
***ALSO I DONT THINK IM OVERDOING NARUTOS ABUSE. SOME FICS ARE OVER THE TOP AND CANNON DOESNT EXACTLY EXPLAIN WHY HIS ABUSE WAS PORTRAYED LIKE THAT. if u think its over the top tho, comment lol and ill adjust
also if u couldnt tell, im changing orochimaru a bit, dont mind me :)
hope it was a good read <33
(next and upcoming: academy classmates' pov (like shikamaru, sasuke pov etc :D)
Chapter 4: clearing the vision
Summary:
watch me redeem everyone
watch me.
the konoha rookies' pov PART ONE (i wanna rewrite it)
*****all italics = flashbacks or things that were said/taken place in the past******
i feel like i should mention that
SET AT AROUND SEPTEMBER 14th (ino & shika are turning 12 in a week, naruto and hinata are 11, everyone else is 12)
genin exams will be at around november (if theres an official date for the exam, please tell me lmao)
Notes:
i was gonna tell everyone that this will b less confusing but... IDK BRO THIS IS IN LIKE FIVE HUNDRED DIFFERENT POVS SO OFC IT GON BE EVEN MORE CONFUSING OMG WHATS W MY LIFE
ok just to make things a bit easier: ****everything is kinda in frozen time. it's essentially all the characters' inner thoughts during the exact moment everyone started laughing.****
yee? or is it still confusing?
omg i suck.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"I've decided." Tsunade-sama raised an arm to point at that boy. "Once you become Genin, I'll be taking you as my disciple."
The classroom tasted her words in their mouths, silently repeating it to themselves, 'Once he became Genin...'
At that reminder, they burst into derisive laughter.
-Ino-Shika-Cho-
Yamanaka Ino was ashamed, ok?
Tsunade-hime was completely correct and she knew it.
She had initially clutched onto the idea that Sasuke was an Uchiha- the last Uchiha, which meant that he held lots of power as the lone survivor. If Ino could win his favour, when he would be inevitably raised to spawn off more Dojutsu babies, via Yamanaka and Uchiha clan blood, Ino could come in close and snatch the political power. Even if she didn't get into a marital contract, being in the favour of someone who would become a large figure in society was always a bonus... or so she had first thought.
Ino was the heiress, the pride of Yamanaka-
("Pray tell, are you even considering your own name?")
-And she had forgotten all the psychological lessons her Dad had drilled into her. Her Dad had always lectured that- "The problem with being prodigiously intelligent, Ino, is that your greatest setback is your own mind."
She had been easily drawn into the rhythm of "Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun". Sure he was a pretty boy with a perfect face and even more perfect talents, but he was twelve and had symptoms of many mental illnesses- the two facts were only scraping the tip of the iceberg of 'everything Yamanaka Ino did wrong'.
She had threw herself at the Uchiha, twisted a sweet friendship into a rivalry for him, screeched at him, cheered at him when he clearly hated it.
"Ino, honey." Her Dad's eyes hadn't been patronising yet she had felt insulted by his expression anyway. "You're young and that translates to immature."
She stopped preventing the attempts of other girls trying to stalk Sasuke a few months back and had felt absolutely no remorse.
"You've changed. Look at yourself." Her Dad's eyes had been taken aback. "Ino-"
"You don't understand anything Dad!" She had yelled back, stomping to her room and slamming the door shut. "I don't want to talk to you!"
How horrible. How unbecoming.
She jolted out of her thoughts at the sudden cacophony of laughter.
Yamanakas were shinobi of the mind. As soon as Tsunade-hime had cleared the cloud in her head, she could see everything clearly all of a sudden.
The blinded hatred in her classmates' eyes, Hinata's idolisation, Kiba's anger and Shino's too- though well hidden. Shikamaru had a deeply attentive and intense look on his face, laziness slapped clear out of his face while Choji had crunched a single chip, the smiling softness and kindness disappearing as he furrowed his brow worryingly.
Sasuke's hands were still clasped in front of his face but Ino could see the whites of his knuckles as he narrowed his eyes- she gave an airy laugh as she realised that Naruto had probably been the closest to Sasuke rather than her or Sakura.
And Sakura- Ino daren't look at that girl. That was a problem for another day.
'Naruto himself,' Ino realised as she filed through her recent memories with clear eyes, 'was amazing at hiding emotions.'
Tell tale signs of abuse and trauma were so deeply hidden that many could brush it off as the child being overreactive or hyper enthusiastic. Ino grimaced when she recalled all the careless insults she had thrown at the boy- she would definitely fix it.
She would definitely fix everything she had screwed up over her years in the Academy.
It was a long list of things to mend but- damnit-
-Ino was the Yamanaka heiress and she will not let her name down ever again.
Akimichi Choji liked the new flavour of chips he had been recommended but it tasted bland as he watched his friend Naruto getting laughed at again. Wait- it wasn't again because this kind of laughter was different.
It was a nasty sound and it was even worse than when-
"Fatty, fatty~"
"Why are you eating so much anyway-"
"You'd make a shitty ninja."
"You're the clan heir, you know that, don't you?"
He shook the memories out of his head. He sneaked a glance at his classmates and almost flinched at the hateful looks on their faces. His gaze turned back to Tsunade-hime. He had first felt a little uncomfortable as Ino- the loud, confident girl he had always seen when their Dads met up- was getting told off. Even though she yelled at Choji a lot, she was still going to become his teammate so he didn't want the Sannin to be so mean.
But now he knows that Tsunade-hime had said the right thing when Ino hadn't gotten sad or hurt- instead, contemplative. Every time Inoichi-ojisan had that look on his face, he was always going to do something super smart or super awesome, so Choji was sure that after Tsunade-hime's words, Ino would finally stop being that air-headed fangirl that Choji and Shika always knew she was pretending to be. Ino had been cool to hang out with before the Sasuke fangirling came in after all.
His respect for the Sannin grew. Especially after she had just given a little humorous huff when he had shoved in another handful of chips. Tsunade-hime was a cultured person- BBQ chips rocked.
It made him feel worse for Naruto who was in the dead centre of the classroom's negative attention. It wasn't like Choji had the guts to actually defend him either... He crunched more ferociously on his snacks and decided that he'd make sure to bring Naruto an extra packet of chips the next day.
Because that's what friends did for each other, right?
Nara Shikamaru was thinking.
And for once, it wasn't because he was trying to figure out what that pear-crocodile shaped cloud looked like. No, it was about the enigma of Uzumaki Naruto. Now, none of those idiots who were laughing would ever think like this but-
Naruto, who was loud and screamed everything, was more mysterious and elusive than Sasuke. He had always known something was off about the blonde but it wasn't until Tsunade-hime's appearance that it finally clicked in his mind.
He had felt surprised at the fact that someone was talking to Naruto normally- he was so used to watching everyone sneer at the boy after all. It disgusted him when Shikamaru realised that he had let himself be manipulated into seeing Naruto as a lesser person- accepting how Naruto would always be "that boy".
He delved into everything Naruto had screeched and came up with almost no information of his actual being.
"I'm going to be Hokage, dattebayo!"
"I'll beatchya all-ttebayo!"
"Just watch me, I'll definitely ace this-ttebayo!"
Everyone knew he would say that because he did almost every single day and they would all claim that he talked too much yet all of Naruto's hollers had been meaningless. Just plain calls for attention. And even then, they were all in vain.
What did Shikamaru know about Naruto anyway?
He was an eleven year old orphan with blonde hair, blue eyes and whisker marks. He wanted to be Hokage. He was hated. He was about the loneliest kid Shikamaru had ever met.
And Shikamaru didn't even figure that out from Naruto himself telling him. It was all the information provided through pure observation. The only information the boy had given himself?
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto-"
"It's Uzumaki Naruto and you better remember it!"
"Believe it! I'm Uzumak-"
...That was it then. Why did he holler his name out all the time anyway?
At that point, why did all the adults call him 'that' or 'boy' or 'brat' all the time anyway?
When the questions starting rolling, it just kept building and building with more unanswered queries.
Why was he hated? Why did no one approach him? Why did the Senseis ignore him? Why did his old man ask him about Naruto with that scarily serious expression?
Shikamaru was amazingly smart yet his laziness had caused all these things to slip past his fingers. He closed his eyes and his old man's grave face flashed behind his lids:
"It's one thing to use laziness for efficiency, son. It's another thing if it pulls the wool over your eyes."
His eyes narrowed and a sliver of uncommon resolve shot down his spine.
He recalled the harsh (but true) words of Tsunade-hime and recalled how he had uncharacteristically latched onto her every word. A bounty of information, truthfully tumbling out of her powerful figure, was just standing there- patching up the sobbingly disgraceful mess of a classroom in a matter of minutes.
'...Maybe not patched up,' Shikamaru winced as a neighbouring seat mate heaved mirthfully, 'but it knocked sense back into our heads.'
Some heads were already empty (those stupid laughing simpletons) but some heads were just clouded (Ino and Sakura- they had changed so much).
He saw Ino, saw Choji, saw Hinata, saw Kiba and Shino, even Sakura's saccharine smile was absent. And- and most of all Sasuke. Nine of them all were changing, evolving, reaching the potential they had kicked aside. Damnit, a class full of clan heirs- the next generation of practical geniuses yet they had all gotten caught up in their own heads.
To Tsunade-hime, it might've just been some measly brats getting what they deserved but Shikamaru was certain that it would greatly affect the nine of them. (Naruto included. Himself included.) It was just the first step. (The first step means the world.)
The snickers and hollers of hateful humour just stirred him more, unfamiliar waves of anger wrapping around his stomach. He sat up straighter from where he had hunched his back and his fingers tapped each other as he focused and absorbed.
The students, the reactions, emotional setting, Tsunade-hime, his future teammates... and most importantly: the why's and the how's and the what if's of...
His eyes centred onto the blonde boy.
...Of Uzumaki Naruto.
('Never again, old man.' Shikamaru internally seethed. 'I will never let something slip through my grasp again.')
-Future Team 8-
If Hyuuga Hinata was a brave, strong and courageous girl, she would've slammed her palms onto the table and flared her Byakugan in anger. Those people didn't know Naruto-kun like she did! How dare they-
But if she was brave, strong or courageous, she would've been a good heiress- her Father wouldn't have been so disappointed in her in the first place. At that thought, she just hunched over herself more and tried to convey her support for Naruto-kun through split second glances.
'Don't listen to them, Naruto-kun!' She wanted to say. 'Don't let them dishearten you!'
Well obviously, because she wasn't that popular, courageous, perfect heiress, Hinata doesn't do anything. She clenched her fist and looked down. What could she do to help Naruto-kun anyway? She had so many other problems of her own to fix.
She then remembered Tsunade-hime's second of pause as her heavy brown eyes had assessed her- dismissing her instantly. Tsunade-hime hadn't even deemed her strong enough to take criticism.
She wanted to help Naruto-kun but at this rate, she could only stand by from afar. She really should start working on her own issues... and her strengths.
"You three," Tsunade-hime's voice rang in her head, "were supposedly good at chakra control. Promising candidates for apprenticeship."
To the others, it might've been brushed off but to Hinata, who has never heard a compliment in all eleven years of her life, it was a beacon of light.
Hinata wasn't usel- no. Hinata was promising. She could start with that.
(But now, she had no bravery to stand up against the class. Even if they were a class of ignorant fools.)
Inuzuka Kiba's eyes flicked away from the Hyuuga girl and back to Naruto. It was pretty darned obvious that she admired him but Kiba didn't understand why she would. Naruto was shi- crap at everything. That's why Kiba would usually laugh at that statement as well but something about those peals of giggles just sent warning bells ringing in his head.
His mom had told him not to play with that boy and when he had asked why, she had snarled a surprisingly hostile: "Hell as I know why! Hokage-sama told us that, so do what I tell you. God, kids these days, no respec-"
Of course Kiba hadn't listened to his mom, approaching Naruto the very next day.
"I played with Naruto today!" He had declared really loudly the next week, hoping to urge on an aggravated reaction from his mom. But contrarily, she had just given a serious- serious sigh and said-
"Thank god you did that predictable and annoying brat thing where you disobey me." His mom had muttered under her breath. "Heavens, that poor kid had no one to go to."
Kiba had displayed a shocked expression and when he had guiltily admitted that he had only hung out with Naruto to spite her, she hadn't yelled at him- only giving a short blank look before turning back to her groceries. That reaction had scared Kiba even more.
"I know that." She had replied after the guilty silence. "But you know better now, don't you? Of course you would; you're my son after all." A sharp but fond grin had faced him. "And I always like to adopt little lonely pups into our pack."
Kiba thought Naruto was annoying, loud and hopeless but that didn't mean that he didn't care just a tinyyyy bit for him. At first, hanging out with Naruto was for his own childish benefits but he thinks that it might've changed throughout their years of Academy because he feels a flare of protective anger within him at the cackles of ear grating laughter.
Aburame Shino adjusted his position so that he could peer at Naruto over the haze of his glasses. Kiba was angry. Why? That's because even though his brain was full of dog fur, Kiba knew that this kind of laughter wasn't the usual bantering kind.
Kiba had laughed with Naruto and at Naruto a lot of times. But while Kiba had spouted biting taunts and mocks, he had still cared for the blonde boy.
Shino could tell. Why? That's because his Kikaichu told him so.
His Kikaichu also told him that Naruto was always, always lonely and sad. They told him that his chakra was boundless and open like the sea and how it would tumble and crash every time a hateful glance was shot his way. For him to be able to slap on a smile everyday... Shino's respect for him had unknowingly grown leaps and bounds. He hadn't realised that until now.
Why?
That's because, for once, his unruffled expression was forced- he was also angry on behalf of Naruto.
-Tsunade-
She certainly didn't expect the sudden apprehension, fear and confusion flit across the boy's face and when the Chuunin hurriedly hissed out a sentence under the laughter of the class, she frowned.
"Naruto here had failed the graduation exam twice now."
She stared at the boy in front of her, knowing that her gaze was both an encouragement, a challenge and a taunt.
The two stood there, facing each other and Tsunade broke the stare off when raw determination shone in Naruto's eyes with a grin. "I'll definitely pass the exam this time, just you wait, Iruka-sensei! ...And uh, random lady."
"Naruto!" An angry Haruno appeared suddenly and raised a fist, "Don't talk to the Legendary Tsunade-sama like that!" Naruto recoiled, bracing himself from impact while Tsunade furrowed her brows in thought.
The sudden personality change wasn't unheard of in shinobi but they weren't common among civilians. If Haruno hadn't been so squealy and brainlessly violent, Tsunade would've chosen her as an apprentice- she showed lots of wasted potential.
"Sorry about that Tsunade-sama," Haruno flicked a pink lock over her shoulder in a way that reminded her of the Yamanaka. "You shouldn't pay attention to that idiot. He's always like that-" Her voice darkened, "Rude and stupid."
Tsunade caught a slip of annoyed irritation in Naruto's face before a kicked puppy expression slid over like a familiar mask. "Sakura-chaaan, so meann..."
And just like that, the class burst into rowdiness. Students turning to each other to whisper conversations, the fangirls squealing and the boys grumbling and chatting, some even dropped asleep. The Chuunin muttered: "I'm so done with this."
The classroom atmosphere returned with its usual frivolousness (but Tsunade recognises the dark undertones to their conversations and gossiping).
Naruto turned to scan the class for a seat but then hesitated and turned back to Tsunade. "What's so legendary about you?"
Somehow, Sakura had also managed to hear Naruto's lower than usual voice over the cacophony of boisterous students. "Naruto-baka, didn't you listen to anything Sensei had been talking about during class? So stupid! Tsunade-sama is one of the Legendary Sannin- the war heroes that got their name during the Second Shinobi War against Hanzo of the Salamander, don't you know?"
Tsunade nearly raised her brow at the quickly summarised and accurate information before she saw how the girl glanced at the Uchiha from the corner of her eye.
"But, but Sakura-chan, this lady looks so young-ttebayo!" Naruto gasped before saying slowly, "...Are you secretly a..." The boy eyed Tsunade up and down. "...Baabaa?"
"Naruto..." Sakura growled before she raised her fist again. This time, Tsunade intercepted the punch with ease, batting away her stick limb.
"I don't need you to defend me." Tsunade scoffed before pushing back the aggressive urge to punch the boy herself. "I'll give you a warning, boy-" She caught yet another flash of dejection, "-Naruto." She corrected herself. "If you call me one more time, I'll punch you myself, and that would hurt a thousand times worse than anything this pink brat could do, capiche?"
"Sí, como desees, hermosa jovencita." He muttered back reflexively with a sarcastic tone before Tsunade, with the rest of the class falling silent, raised both brows. That was a popular South-Western Iwagakure language...
"Chotto, Naruto." Fangirl #3 demanded. "Where did you learn how to say that? Papa's a merchant and he says that only foreigners from Tsuchi know how to say that kind of language and Iwa is an enemy Village."
Tsunade gave a glance at the boy who looked surprised at his own words before his face tilted on the verge of panicking. Where had he learned of those words anyway? As incompetent as Sarutobi was, there'd be no way he'd let Naruto go near foreigners.
The tone of his voice and the accent that rolled naturally off the boy's tongue were things that couldn't be faked.
She was already suspicious after knowing Naruto's familiarity with the ANBU- there could be a possibility that Sarutobi let him meddle with the yakuza or yujo- there lay a possibility that a few of them were originally nomadic.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Akako." The Chuunin said, looking a tad uncomfortable. "There's no need to jump to conclusions."
"But Iruka-sensei," Fangirl #8 announced over loudly. "Our parents all tell us that he's a horrible child and that he doesn't even have Mummys or Daddys! Anyone would be able to tell that that was shady!"
The Chuunin raised his voice a little over the growing murmurs, "There are many orphans and that isn't something you may discuss in the classroom. Many merchants and travellers pick up simple phrases like that, it's nothing to get heated over." His tone pushed for an end but Tsunade knew that it wouldn't work.
She resisted the urge to bite her lip- she hadn't come to orchestrate a soap opera. There was no way she would have known that the doubt was planted so deeply- what triggered it anyway? Something she said? Her kinder attitude? Was it jealousy?
The animosity of the room was growing- slowly but surely.
"Yeah, Sensei." Another piped in, "You already know, don't you? That's why you all hate him so much! You must think so as well!"
"Sensei doesn't agree with us?"
Tsunade thinks that their shouts were starting to barrage over 'disrespectful'.
"Of course Sensei would know, don't you Iruka-sensei? You know that he's a... that, don't you?"
Hushed whispers of "my parents told me he was a monster-"
"-attacked our Village-"
"-killed Granny y'know-"
"-doesn't belong here-"
"Ch-chotto-" Haruno started hesitantly, glancing slightly at the blank expression of Naruto before back at her classmate. "Naruto is annoying, but you can't speak so hatefully towards him. He hadn't done that much to deserve it..." Her expression turned even more hesitant, "Has he?"
It was like a cue for an explosion of shouts-
"Sakura-chan, your parents are too nice so they didn't tell you how there was such a monster inside of our classroom."
"And that just confirmed it!" A boy triumphed, "Sakura-chan, did you hear him say that Iwa word? He's definitely not Konohan! No wonder our parents had wanted him to get kicked out."
"That's right, that's right!" A chorus of agreements rang out yet again and amongst the shouts-
"His parents are probably traitors from an enemy Village!"
The room goes silent.
Tsunade resisted the urge to place her forehead into her palm. The escalation of events was ridiculous. She had come here to complain and she ended up ripping apart the lalaland of immature brats.
She wasn't prepared for this.
Naruto, for the first time since he had donned his happy mask and screamingly orange clothes, fled.
There were some things he couldn't face. And "traitor" was one of them.
No matter who his parents were, he would never betray Konoha. He loved Konoha... he...
Notes:
that was even more abrupt.
ok ok ok. even i thought it was confusing. im honestly trying to stop rambling but its HARD YKNOW?
rippp i hope u enjoyed it either way. :D
(everything regarding the naruto world and the world irl is made up.) and yes, i used google translate, don't slap me. i needed a reason for naruto to "leave" the class so...i was going to write this for a second:
"And- and most of all Sasuke. He was going through a legitimate gay awakening."
leave a kudo or a comment ples ehe
Chapter 5: sakura has to squint
Summary:
sakura.
sakura does not HATE naruto, she was simply annoyed. but if she squinted extra hard, maybe she would figure out why everything about him was wrong. she could figure it out (eventually), she was the top kunoichi of the class after all.
Notes:
in this (super short) chapter, there will be NO dialogue. sakura is so deep in her thoughts and confusion that she doesn't recognise majority of the whispers/speech
she DOES refer to them tho, only processing the words LATER in the story
(give her a break yall, tbh kishi did team 7 bad. didnt expand on sakura, didnt thoroughly explain how sasuke ended up being like, shitting on naruto's everything. like, there's a difference between character development and powerups.)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Sakura-
Tsunade-hime's words had sent a shockwave through her, blasting her head from where it had been lolly gagging around in her fantasies. It shook her to the core, the expression on her face wasn't even hateful, it was just patronising, disappointed and a tad sad. Sakura almost wanted her to spit out insults but no- everything the Sannin had said was true.
"I would think the top 'kunoichi' of the class would know better than that."
'Love clouds the mind- it perseveres through all!' ...Is what she might've said if she would've continued to be stubborn and stupid.
"Obviously, I am not taking any of you three as apprentices."
After all her mistakes had been thrown into her face, Sakura herself didn't feel ready to leave the Academy, much less becoming an apprentice.
"And you, Haruno. Highest grading kunoichi? How did you manage to do that? With that repulsive farce of a sweet girl you are trying to pull?"
That statement had spoken for itself.
Sakura's prodigious control over chakra was what first triggered the idea of 'shinobi'. Her parents had jumped in glee, speaking about the heroic acts of beautiful kunoichi.
"Femme fatale." Her Mum had gushed to her daughter.
"Bring honour to our Haruno name." Her Dad had smiled widely.
Then after two or so years in the Academy, she had been slapped awake- shinobi were shinobi. Some days, she had stared at the long list of KIA shinobi on the stone and wondered whether or not they regretted becoming a shinobi.
"You've become less ladylike." Her Dad had frowned.
"Why are you so serious now?" Her Mum's brows had been downturned. "Studying all day on ways to kill people-"
From that day on, Sakura had sat with her legs together, walked stiffly so that her dress wouldn't stretch, grew her hair into a beautiful waist-length, clasped her hands together and raised her brows slightly so that her eyes would be bigger and cuter. Sasuke-kun had no longer been a subject of interest, it had become a crush verging on obsession- scratch that, it was obsession.
Inner had appeared that same day.
Then after another few years, those nihilistic thoughts on shinobi had left. (Inner grew louder.)
Academy was for ninja and the Academy wasn't scary at all. (Inner grew scarier.)
Sasuke-kun was hot and Ino-pig was her rival. Naruto-baka was stupid and- and-
And she forgot everything about the life of a shinobi. Those deaths had never sunk in. The risk had never fully processed in her mind. She couldn't imagine seeing blood outside of a blood nose or a scraped knee. She couldn't imagine seeing fights outside of Naruto-baka wrestling with Sasuke-kun- and losing as always.
Tsunade-hime's eyes burnt into her yet all it took was the clueless expression on Naruto's face.
It was like a trigger for everything to happen like it usually did- his ignorant face slapping the play button on where the classroom had halted. It was like instinct because of how many times she had done it-
(How easy it was to respond to that tugging of Inner, an aggressive movement flying out of her thin limb like second nature.
How easy it was to prattle off information, peeking to see if Sasuke-kun had witnessed her intelligence.
How easy it was to sneer at Naruto's ever present stupidity...)
He deserved a punch, a reprimand and then he would give a despondent apology.
That didn't happen. Well it did, but if she squinted, she could tell that everything had gone wrong somewhere.
The laughter- it sent shivers up and down her spine. It made her feel like a hypocrite because she was just as prepared to laugh at Tsunade-hime's statement as the rest of the class was. As if Naruto could pass the Genin exam. He slept during class, skipped out on lectures, caused constant trouble and didn't even take notes!
Sakura was always annoyed at Naruto for declaring to become Hokage then falling asleep during an important lecture. There were a wealth of information that he lost purely because of his laziness- then he gets sad about failing a test as if it wouldn't have obviously happened.
Sakura was prepared to list every reason why he wouldn't pass when Naruto uttered a foreigner's phrase. At that moment, she had halted.
She hadn't thought "traitor" or "foreigner", she had thought "I didn't know that Naruto knew that" with a sort of strange curiosity.
How did he learn it? Was it simply overheard? If so, then did Naruto have more talents? More hands on then actually taking notes? Would Naruto actually be successful if someone privately tutored him? Was there a reason why he couldn't focus during class?
There were many psychological factors Sakura could list that could hinder his growth...
But obviously her classmates hadn't shared the same sentiment, whispering and murmuring with so much hidden acidity that she felt like ice had frozen across the room. A snicker was filled with derision, a giggle was menacing, those chortles were full of brimming hatred.
It was so unlike them. Hanako-kun was always so cheerful and playful, Aina-chan was helpful and caring, Hima was soft and sweet and... and...
Why?
She was on the verge of crying in fear and weakness just from being near the target of those disgusted, scornful stares. But the actual target was...
When she shot a glance at that annoying, rude, dumb, lazy and lame blond boy, she was tearful and slightly bewildered to see that Naruto just looked accepting.
Accepting.
Motionless.
Unfeeling.
Tired.
Blank.
('Smile please.' Sakura internally cried. 'Smile that stupid, ugly grin that makes me squint at how bright it is.')
Naruto did not smile.
He disappeared. Shooting out the window with the speed Sakura had never seen from the practice spars or the Taijutsu assessments before.
The window clicked shut with a dull thud and she felt shocked.
Naruto had left before Sakura had a chance to sort out her emotions. ('Why would he wait for you?')
Before Sakura had a chance to defend Naruto against her (ex) friends. ('Hoh, are you attached now?')
Before Sakura had a chance to apologise. ('What would you apologise for?')
Before Sakura had a chance to tell Naruto that she didn't mean all the insults and punches and mocks and taunts and dismissals and- god there was so much things she had spat at the boy and it was only now when she felt remorseful.
Maybe if Sakura hadn't been blinded by her obsession with Sasuke, she would've been nicer to Naruto. If she had helped him, would he have stopped with his exaggerated pining and scrambles for attention? Would she have supported his dream? Would he have been a good friend to Sakura?
Sakura wouldn't lie to herself and say that his foolery was the only reason why she had disliked him. No, she had also disliked him because Naruto was the only person who could get a reaction out of Sasuke. Sakura had disliked someone because of a stupid crush. And now look, she only felt guilty after it was too late.
She thought she had dislike Naruto, but in the face of those eyes, she'd rather ditch all her fake, two-faced friendships with Hanako, Aina and Hima and stand with Naruto.
('You realised just now? You mean you just realised-')
Inner's voice whispered, '-how horribly wrong you have been?'
('Inner,' Sakura breathed in reply. 'Who's side are you on?'
'Yours.' Inner gushed back. 'I'm always on your side.')
Notes:
this is so off topic, i swear, this is only for konoha 11 to grow up while naruto is going on his overpowered journey.
only two more chapters before it'll move on :D
leave kudo ples and comment ples :3
Chapter 6: sasuke hates cloudy days
Summary:
naruto runs, sasuke chases
because he doesn't like the shadow that was cast from the clouds which hovered over the bright bright sun.
Notes:
and yes, it might be ooc but its for the sasunaru, do not deny the sasunaru. obviously, it will be like suppppppppper slow burn cuz they're underage but what can i say? im a sucker for the ship.
(on writer's block for blood red s&s and i am currently contemplating on abandoning my other work and rewriting it... if you have no idea what im talking abt, move along :D)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Naruto-
He hated running. Hated crying.
Naruto didn't think it would happen again. The stares, the glares, the spit as they cursed at him, "that boy" "monster" and worst of all... "traitor".
There were many nights where he had just sat, staring at his bare, crumbling, dirty wall and thinking about his parents. Because as much as "monster" is whispered from where they thought he couldn't hear, Naruto knew that he had parents.
(He was human. He really was.)
But there's a strange look in the Hokage-jiji's eyes that he couldn't decipher. Sometimes it was pity, sometimes it was burden. Either way, Naruto didn't like it but because he was selfish, he just let himself absorb the old man's warmth and love (that may not be real).
The one time he had asked about his parents- there was instant rejection.
"They're dead." and, "they won't be coming back." were the only pieces of information he got from the old man's suddenly abrupt speech. The Hokage had left soon after.
That night, he stumbled onto the possibility that his parents might've been traitors.
And today, majority of the class dug deep within his carefully held together façade and ripped out his worst fears, screaming them and howling them as if Naruto's own mind hadn't done so already.
He wasn't a traitor. He really, really wasn't a traitor. It wasn't his fault or her fault that the Neechan from the strange building a few streets down was nice. It wasn't her fault that she came from a different place and had no where else to go.
"We aren't considered all that 'human' either, honey." The Neechan had smiled at him the one time he had dared trek into the dark grounds of those streets. He hadn't understood what she had meant that time. "Everyone down here, you see, are not really counted as 'normal' but we're fine with it, it's better than anything else we could ask for."
Naruto wasn't like that. He wanted to become Hokage, he wanted to be acknowledged. Those people were nice, but they were distant. They were from a world that Naruto felt like he didn't belong in. But when the pretty side of Konoha kicked him away, what else did they expect him to do?
He loved the gruff geezers who looked scarier than they actually were and he loved all the people who were clearly different in the Village. He loved every time a Neechan would sit down with him and babble about her hometown, he loved it even more when they'd hum and sing foreign lullabies.
"I wanna learn too-ttebayo!"
"Hahaha, you're adorable. I'm a foreigner, sweetie. You will never be able to use my mother tongue here in Konoha anyway."
"I don't care, dattebayo! It's pretty, so I will learn your mummy mouth, believe it!"
"Hahaha, it's mother tongue, darlin'."
But they weren't scorned at. Even though they claimed to be less than human (like he), some villagers still gave sympathetic smiles and extra change sometimes and- Naruto wanted that kindness too!
No, he wasn't a traitor. The person who taught him the phrase wasn't a traitor, so why...
Why was it just him?
Why has it always been him?
They laid bare- the side of him that was everything but the funny, stupid clown act he had spent years to maintain.
They laid exposed- his ugliest, rawest parts of his heart and mind.
They laid true- the real face of himself that everyone hated more (including himself).
Naruto hates running. Hates crying.
But he couldn't think of anything else to do. Not when the eyes were staring at him like that.
-Class-
There's a deafening silence.
When the sound of the window clicking shut behind Naruto rang across the room, Sasuke snapped out of his trance. Scrambling up to his feet for a reason he didn't know, he hurried after the retreating blonde.
It was wrong. This- this entire thing felt wrong.
Naruto- that stupid idiot- was meant to stay like an idiot that could keep on his happy, bright, stupid face while Sasuke would just watch his back, squinting like one would at the sun. Sasuke would remain in the dark, dwelling in his vengeance while Naruto would be that aspiring Hokage that rose from his burdened childhood without an inkling of hatred or resentment.
Sure Sasuke had said that Naruto was weak and never acknowledged his presence outright but- but there was a radiance about him that Sasuke wanted to selfishly keep. There was a strength that the dead-last holds and it was something that Sasuke knew he would never be able to grasp for himself.
That's why Sasuke would just be in the shadows, jealously snatching all the warmth of the sun. He was to remain in the cold and in the cold he will always remain. (Because it was for a revenge that he did not want but had to achieve.)
It wasn't meant to be this way.
Naruto was meant to argue back with that dumb, indignant face of his- yelling back with that obnoxious, ear-splitting voice that grated on his ears. Sasuke was meant to watch that loser defend himself with that baseless pride of his yet-
He hadn't.
Uzumaki Naruto was unbearable and demanding and loud and annoying and stubborn and- He wasn't meant to... to run.
Sasuke's body moves on his own as he places a hand on the window, taking a cursory glance behind him to glare at his classmates before he swiftly slid outside, slamming the panel shut behind him and sprinting after Naruto.
-Naruto-
His body leads him to the depths of the Hashirama forest. The tall, craning trees were intimidating but not like Naruto had ever gotten scared of their overbearing presences. He'd much rather get lost in the forest than lost in the stares.
He had thought that he was finally fitting in but looking back... he was still the same, wasn't he?
Most of the class had instantly distanced themselves from him and the ones who hadn't weren't much better.
Shino ignored him, Hinata always looked away from him with a weird expression on her face, Kiba mocked him... Shikamaru and Choji were better though- they actually treated him like human. It meant nothing when they didn't understand the hurt he felt from the rest. It meant nothing when they didn't care.
(And they didn't. They always looked away, Choji looking down onto his snacks and Shikamaru rolling his eyes with a mutter of "troublesome". But it was fine. They didn't need to. Even though Naruto thought Shikamaru and Choji were his friends, doesn't mean they thought the same. He was probably still the annoying, dumb kid that was a stain on their prestigious clans.)
Naruto had thought Ino was better than the rest of the screaming girls (she was family friends with Shikamaru and Choji) but he was wrong. He had thought Sakura was better because she was nice when she was younger. He was wrong.
They were all the same.
It was like a wake up call.
They were all. The. Same.
He would always be trapped between the eyes and eyes and eyes, insults upon insults upon insults.
-Backs turned- brows raised- sneers facing him every. Single. Second-
-Meanwhile: Class-
Soon after the window clicked for the second time, Tsunade exhaled loudly with an aborted, sardonic laugh. She then left with a mutter of "reporting to Sarutobi, I guess."
Iruka-sensei looked taken aback, stuttering slightly before he made out an, "Ok settle down now, this commences our lesson today..." Iruka-sensei had never looked so reluctant before. "Class dismissed." He started walking away so quickly they all thought he was running.
With sniggers and giggles, the classroom slowly rose to stand up.
None of the remaining of the Rookie 9 did however: Hinata was staring at her empty desk, Kiba was still lazily leaning back with Akamaru by his side, Shino stayed stoic, making no move to pack his belongings. Ino was huffing slightly, sitting straight and glaring at the whiteboard, Shikamaru was leaning on his left palm as he spun a pencil and Choji made no move to stop eating his endless supply of chips. Sakura still stood in the middle of the classroom, unmoving.
"Hey Ino-chan, are you ok?" A random girl leaned down to glance at the Yamanaka. "Iruka-sensei let us leave early for once, do you want to go shopping?"
"Hey, Mari-chan," Ino spoke with a deceptively nonchalant tone. "What do you think of Naruto?"
The seven in the empty room stilled as they waited for Mari to reply.
"...Hah? Ino-chan, why are you asking? Didn't you hear what everyone said?"
"Of course I heard, do you agree with them?" Ino let a thread of warning go into her tone but Mari didn't notice the change of her tone.
"Hm?" Mari's eyes grew wider as if she was curious and Shikamaru sighed, Kiba gave a tsk as Mari predictably said:
"Everyone knows that he doesn't belong in Konoha."
It was like something snapped.
Two hands slammed upon a desk, chair screeching as the Yamanaka stood up aggressively. She turned to Mari who looked shocked-
Ino slapped her.
Brows downturned angrily, eyes brimming with unknown tears and face contorted into an ugly rage, Ino had never looked so terrifying to Mari before. The girl stumbled backwards before she registered the remaining occupants of the classroom all glaring just as viciously at her.
Hinata's Byakugan, Kiba's feral glare, Shino's creepy stare boring into the girl, Shikamaru's narrowed eyes, Choji's silent frown, Sakura's suddenly ferocious expression and Ino's glowing blue orbs.
Mari staggered backwards for a moment before she fled from the classroom.
Ino's hand burned with the amount of power she reinforced behind it but right now, that sting was nothing compared to the feeling that was bubbling in her gut.
"What the fuck." Her voice is watery and wobbly and weak (she will definitely change that soon).
Shikamaru gave a bitter scoff, "Right... I hate this."
The children who would be renowned as the Konoha 11 in the future all agreed, though they didn't know what it was that they hated. The class, the unreasonable inequality... or maybe it was just this shinobi world all together.
In that moment, all those who hadn't laughed or jeered made an unspoken pact- they would change it. Whatever it was that they hated.
"Tomorrow..." Sakura said hesitantly before steel entered her tone. "Tomorrow let's all change, yeah?"
-Naruto-
'Never...' He realised as he coldly sorted through his memories.
They had never once cared for him. No one had ever asked him if he was ok. No one had ever asked why he was late.
It didn't matter if that day was near his birthday and villagers' eyes were extra hostile for no reason.
It didn't matter if that day there was a drunk villager who started screaming incoherently at him.
It didn't matter if that particular night, he had had a horrible nightmare and an equally horrible sleep.
It didn't matter if he couldn't wash himself properly because his landlord had forgotten to fix the broken, leaking water pipes. Again. (At this point, Naruto already figured out that delaying the plumber was just his landlord's way of getting petty revenge. For what though? What had Naruto done?)
Nothing ever mattered to any of them, because Naruto would only ever be 'that boy'.
-Sasuke-
"That dobe." Sasuke hissed into the wind. He watched as the brightly dressed figure disappeared between the buildings. Sasuke would never be able to figure out why he could run so fast. He bit his lip as he slowed his initial sprint into a hesitant jog.
He had treated Naruto like trash the entire time, who was he to care for the boy?
Wait that wasn't right- Sasuke didn't care for the boy.
He recalled back to his earlier days and how he had stared into his reflection of the river while Naruto would trudge along the hill above. He remembered contemplating on calling out to that blonde boy when their eyes had made contact.
Instantly, they had both looked away.
They never ended up talking.
When they faced each other in class, they had bickered, argued and choked each other by the necks but they had never actually talked. Sasuke didn't care for the boy.
No, he- he... he really didn't. Sasuke didn't care for the boy. He only cared for one thing and that was-
Revenge.
What was he doing? Chasing after the sun when his goals would only remain in the darkness?
(Naruto could deal with it anyway, he'll be fine tomorrow... like always...)
(But Sasuke always hated cloudy days- it meant the rain and the cold; like the terrorising nights he spent alone.)
-Naruto-
...But maybe Sasuke was... Naruto forcibly shook his head. The boy that he had first hated and the boy he had then related to... Naruto had liked him.
The eyes were both following them and they both hated it. Naruto selfishly liked Sasuke because only he knew what it was like to be alone. Naruto selfishly liked Sasuke because he was the only one who didn't have parents who would warn him to stay away from Naruto.
(No, it wasn't just that. Not like he'd ever admit aloud that he felt comradery to that lone boy.)
But even then, it was probably still one-sided. Getting a rise out of him in every possible moment, Naruto knew that Sasuke thought he was a nuisance. There was no way that genius would 'lower' himself to speak to Naruto.
'Last Uchiha' followed him like 'monster' followed him.
Sasuke was better than Naruto at everything so why would he care for some orphan like he?
-Sasuke-
Sasuke had regretted not talking to Naruto when he was younger. Sasuke didn't do things like regretting.
So here he was, feeling utterly humiliated- panting with exhaustion after dozens of long minutes of searching, sweat on his brows, hair ruffled from wind and face flushed from exertion, standing in front of-
"Dobe."
...Was the only thing Sasuke managed to say after cornering Naruto's shivering figure.
Lodged deeply into the concave of a tree trunk, the boy Sasuke had been searching for was hidden expertly in the deep wilderness of the quiet forest.
Sasuke reprimanded himself before gritting out a "...Sorry."
There's a low chuckle and it sounds like Naruto had grated his vocal chords against sand paper. "Never think I'd see the day where you'd apologise. All it takes is me acting like a loser to get you to pity me, huh?"
"Usuratonkachi." Sasuke growled this time. "Who said I pitied you? You're always a loser anyway."
He then caught onto his words and winced at his tactlessness. There was a hesitation within him for talking to Naruto though. His voice was too low and too quiet, there was a glaring lack of his stupid verbal tick.
Sasuke didn't know how to talk to Naruto. He didn't know whether or not it was meant to be harder talking to a Naruto who was serious and sad.
"Ya know, Teme? I think your insults are the only ones I like."
"Dobe," Sasuke hissed again, taken aback by the sudden, blatant comment. "Don't say that, you're so embarrassing."
"Bastard."
Sasuke didn't rise to the bait.
"What's wrong with you?" He remembered what he came here for and crouched down, fruitlessly trying to pry the arms away from where Naruto had curled into a ball. Sasuke felt a hot, bubbling emotion simmering just under his skin.
"Get up. What the hell are you doing?" He gritted his teeth with an anger he didn't understand.
"Why did you just let them say that?" Sasuke started pulling at Naruto's hands instead when his eye-searing jacket started to creek, the seams groaning. "Why didn't you argue back? Why didn't you say something? What the fuck, you idiot."
Naruto didn't reply and it just made Sasuke more mad.
"Reply! Say something!" His aggravation made his throat thick and his voice sharp.
He didn't like this Naruto.
No, that wasn't right. He didn't like whatever was making Naruto like this.
"I didn't think you were so weak to run away from that. What are you doing? Stand up, dead-last," Sasuke started to violently yank on both of Naruto's wrists, "What the fuck are you doing? Get. UP. You absolute loser."
And with a short yelp from the blonde, Sasuke finally managed to dislodge Naruto from where he had stubbornly attached himself to the tree. Naruto stumbled forward before collecting himself, knees hitting the ground in a W child's sitting pose.
Sasuke let himself pant for a second as he victoriously held Naruto's two arms away from his face. Now all he needed to do was- was...
After two seconds of stillness, Naruto tilted his face up to glare half-heartedly at Sasuke. It had no heat in them; it wasn't the usual flaming and irritated blue orbs, instead, there was just an iciness to them. A dispassionate cold stare.
Not only that but...
The faint feeling of triumph very quickly died in him as the Uchiha boy dropped his hands, still clasping on Naruto's wrists with a grip that was definitely too tight to be gentle.
"Why are you..."
His voice was shaking but he didn't know whether or not it was from anger anymore.
Sasuke slowly knelt down in a seiza to mirror Naruto, bobbing his head slightly lower and to the side so that they were at eye level with each other. Sasuke realised that his hand was quaking as it released one wrist, slowly moving it to Naruto's whiskered cheeks.
He recoiled when the boy in front of him suddenly flinched right before his fingers made contact.
Something deep within his chest softened and ached, leaving him feeling unfamiliarly vulnerable even though it wasn't him who was-
"Why are you crying?"
Notes:
OMG ITS TOO OOC IM SORRY IM SORRY OK
(if yall want, lol, i can delete this chapter and rewrite the other scenario i was thinking of in which tsunade found naruto first and sasuke ended up turning away from naruto. it wasnt as well written, tho, thats why i posted this one)
so i feel like at this point, ppl will drop out cuz of the ship.
idk, i just have a feeling.
i dont think it's toooooooooo bad cuz its a SHIP yk and in my fic, it'll be a NON TOXIC SHIP- so yee, sasuke will still be an arse but not that much. if u don't like nicesometimes!sasuke, then dw, most of the chapters SHOULD be abt tsunade. if not, the exit button is righhhht there *points to nowhere*.
if u do like it, ples kudo and comment and make my day <33 :'D
Chapter 7: night falls after sunset
Summary:
ah yes, no one will ever know what happened between naruto and sasuke. maybe ill do a flashback later, maybe ill give A LOTTTT of hints, but eh. rn, i just wanna turn everything into a shitfest.
Notes:
also i dumbed down sarutobi for a reason (end notes for more info)
edit: this chapter was short and pretty shit. bad week, i guess :0 but i cant b bothered rereading it again so if there are fifty thousand grammar mistakes... comment i guess. help yo girl :p
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Hokage's office: Tsunade-
"Ok, Sarutobi." She declared curtly. "I hate that Academy class."
"Tsunade?"
"I hate it so much." She slumped down on a chair before running a hand through her hair. Tsunade could feel disapproving eyes of onlookers boring into her skull. So what if she was so informal it was bordering on insubordination?
She wanted to ask Sarutobi about how Naruto knew foreign phrases but she had a feeling that he didn't know.
Instead, a plan slowly started to form in her mind. "But I've picked a few girls that I might take."
Key word was 'might'.
"Oh, so you've finally came to your senses." Sarutobi gave a small smile and Tsunade didn't even feel a smidge of guilt at giving a white lie.
"I haven't figured out who yet- they're all horrible." Tsunade sighed. "Especially this one little blonde rascal who went rampant with pranks." She side eyed Sarutobi and watched as his expression turned slightly annoyed and exasperate.
"That's just Naruto. A fine work, isn't he? I thought that he would start acting a bit more mature after some years in the Academy but..."
"Oh-hoh? You know the name of some random kid?"
Sarutobi hummed in agreement. "Naruto is a very lively boy, I've talked to him a few times."
So Tsunade was not supposed to be privy to his Jinchuuriki status.
Perfect.
"Oh well, he disrupted the class and is clearly not suitable for the shinobi lifestyle, are you really going to promote him in the next exams?" The words burnt at her tongue but she just cast a bored look at Sarutobi. Talking ill of Naruto's skill would make his apprenticeship be most unexpected. "They should all quit, to be honest, but he's just the worst."
"Now, Tsunade, that boy may be young and immature, but there's a Jonin Sensei for a reason. I believe Naruto will grow up sooner or later and become an excellent shinobi." The old man puffed out smoke. "Is that all?"
Tsunade pretended to give a long suffering sigh, "Once I have chosen my disciple and get them to sign a permission slip, may I leave on a training trip?"
"So soon?"
"I'm planning on leaving as soon as they're filled in on the terms and ready."
"It's very hasty..."
"The Council didn't say I needed to run the hospital so I'm dedicating myself to creating another competent Med-Nin like Shizune."
"Hmm," Sarutobi stroked his chin. "And for how long will this be?"
"I want at least three years." Well, she was sure that Naruto didn't want to be back any time soon.
"Three years?" He repeated with a narrowing of his eyes. "That's an awfully long time-"
"Academy student rank, remember?" Tsunade rolled her eyes. "I can't be bothered waiting around for whenever the Genin exams will be. Three years is the bare minimum if I'm going to make them a decent shinobi. If there's an emergency blah blah I'll be back to act as your meat shield, ok?"
"Now, look here Tsunade-"
"Sarutobi." She pressed her lips together. "This is my Slug Contract and my legacy here. Give me at least that many years."
With a sigh, Sarutobi waved his hand. "Fine. I'll see to your disciple becoming an upstanding shinobi. Rank at low-level Chuunin. At least."
Tsunade gave a smile before she turned to leave.
Once she was out of the building, her polite smile stretched into a satisfied smirk. Tsunade couldn't believe Sarutobi was that desperate to have not asked for her potential apprentices' identity. Maybe he would in the near future, but Tsunade was planning on hightailing out of Konoha with Shizune and Naruto ASAP.
The next time Naruto will meet with that stinking class and these stinking shinobi, he'll be strong. Stronger than ever.
(Tsunade'll show them- Naruto'll show them all. What it means to be Senju Tsunade's disciple.
As long as she was around, Naruto will never be mocked by his ex-classmates, ex-peers ever again.)
-Meanwhile: Mizuki-
He dropped down to crouch beside the boy.
"Oh, hey Naruto-kun." He said with a small smile. His face switched to a sad expression as he took in the boy's expression. "Are you alright?"
The Kyuubi boy looked at him with distrust and wariness, "Mizuki-sensei? ...Yeah, I'm good."
"I was just taking a jog around the Hashirama forest, Iruka-san doesn't usually end early, does he?" Mizuki gave the boy an encouraging smile. "I heard once you become Genin, you can leave with Tsunade-hime, that's amazing!"
A small grin danced across the boy's face and Mizuki inwardly smirked.
"Yeah, I know right! I'll beat the Genin exam and become stronger and stronger, just you belie-"
"But how are you going to pass?" Mizuki tried to make the sentence less harsh by widening his eyes and raising his brows a bit, mouth turning into an 'o' shape. "I can tell you, Naruto-kun, that you fully deserve the Genin rank but your Bunshins won't be able to pass. I'm so sorry."
He watched as the emotions slowly started to war in the boy's eyes, watching as the light completely crumbled before-
"And there's another reason too." Mizuki lowered his face with a mock expression of despondence. "You know that everyone hates you, right? No one's listening to me when I tell the other Senseis that you're strong enough to graduate. I had heard of the incident in class, I'm sure you must want to graduate as soon as possible, don't you?"
"No- well, I mean..."
"Don't worry, Naruto-kun. I have a solution. I will let you become Genin." He dangled hope over the fox's stupid face. Mizuki was going to make Naruto beg for it.
"W- What? Really?"
"Yes, it's a separate test and you could do it individually, so like, right now. You'll get an instant promotion to Genin." Mizuki pasted on a cheeky smile, "It's a secret one for real shinobi. It'll be more challenging but it'll guarantee you your apprenticeship with Tsunade-hime"
Mizuki figured that Naruto would be desperate to never see his class again, it was just a perfect chance for him to obtain the scroll. Orochimaru-sama will definitely remember him for this!
"What is it? What is it?"
Mizuki pretended to give him a hesitant look. "Are you sure you're up to it, Naruto-kun? It might be too hard for you..."
There was a flicker of suspicion before it was visibly pushed aside by desperation and stubbornness.
Hah! What a predictable brat.
"Yes, yes I am-ttebayo, tell me, tell me! Please, please, please!"
When he placed a finger on his chin, a pondering look on his face, he felt a vicious rip of satisfaction.
Checkmate.
"Fine then. So here's the plan, Naruto-kun..."
-Half an hour later: Tsunade-
The next thing she remembered after talking to Sarutobi was the hustle of ANBU and shinobi.
And now she was wandering in the shadows of the Hashirama forest. Why would Naruto...?
As she made a hand seal, chakra poking around, Tsunade slowly located the boy who was-
Practicing Kage Bunshin? Her eyes widened minutely. Naruto actually stole the forbidden scroll!
She cloaked her presence, hiding into the shadows as she noticed the incoming presence.
A small rat Chuunin scurried into the clearing, a smug look on his face. "Well, well, Naruto-kun, you're amazing! You actually managed to do it! What a..." A sleazy grin stretched across his face, his demeanour changing like a flip had been switched, "...Useful little freak."
What?
"Pass it here, Naruto... kun." The rat Chuunin's lips curled as he jutted a hand against one hip, the other beckoning the blonde boy closer. "Now be a good little mongrel and give it here."
Oh no way. Oh no no no fucking way.
"Mizuki... sensei?" Naruto paused at the hostile tone, his character quieting down as his mind slowly sorted through the chaotic scene. "What are you... talking about?"
A traitor. Why was such a shitty shinobi able to infiltrate Konoha? How much were the shinobi here slacking off?
"I'm saying..." Eyebrows raised in a mocking way, Mizuki smiled arrogantly down at the boy, "I lied to you-"
Shit. Tsunade hesitated, should she intercept? Maybe she should first repor-
"-Kyuubi boy." Mizuki gave a victorious smile as the boy froze, completely motionless.
That son of a bitch.
"...Wha- what?" Naruto blanched, a few beats of silence passing before he whispered, "Kyuu... bi?"
Notes:
i purposefully made it so that sarutobi is on a 'lower' level than tsunade. obviously im not saying he's 'weaker' or 'more stupid' but it's like... idk how to describe it. im making him inferior (he's featured less, won't get badass moments, always asking the questions, is shown to be tired/annoyed/lenient w danzo etc.) and it's for future references.
i might dethrone sarutobi and there will DEFINITELY be an event occurring BECAUSE sarutobi failed to question tsunade's disciple's identity --> they currently dont know that it's naruto and because of that, they'll get a freak attack and summon her back (just in time for, wink wink, chuunin exams ;D)
leave kudo or comment ples
luv yu <3
Chapter 8: it's like a strike to the face
Notes:
(naruto's pov is basically all frozen in time at first. so most of it happens in like a split second.)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Naruto-
If the classroom incident was like dropping off a cliff, Mizuki-sensei's words were like being suffocated in boiling hot water. Those words rolled over him as ferociously as he imagined an ocean would've, making him feel violently dizzy and nauseous- he feels scared and so terribly uncomfortable- cold yet hot at the same time.
Who knew about it? Who doesn't?
"You see, the Yondaime Hokage hadn't actually killed the Kyuubi per se-"
Would people care? Stupid question. Of course they would.
Would Tsunade-baachan still accept him? She was already one of the first people to treat him like human.
What about Iruka-sensei? How did Mizuki-sensei know anyway? Why did no one tell him if the Senseis all knew?
What about his classmates? Did they know? Probably not. His peers were already all horrible and they didn't even know about this.
Gosh, is this why all the Villagers hated him? How did they know anyway? Or maybe they don't and this would just be another reason for them to kick him out of Konoha.
He doesn't even want to begin thinking about his strange relationship with Sasuke. But it was finally heading in a direction he wanted, yet this secret-
"-That 'hero' sealed it into you." Mizuki-sensei had given a nonchalant shrug as if that man hadn't been Naruto's idol, "The Village over the life of an unwanted, abandoned brat, right? I totally get why he had done what he did."
Why did Hokage-jiji keep him alive?
So his suspicions were confirmed. All of the kindness from the old man was fabricated. How the highest authority would visit him- a hated, ignored orphan- was always beyond him. Now Naruto knows that it was probably to keep an eye on the Kyuubi-
"A Hokage wouldn't want a demon running rampant across his Village now would he?"
It wasn't fair.
Why would the Yondaime curse him with this hatred?
"That's the job of a leader, right?" Mizuki-sensei had turned a blank eye onto Naruto. But as if Mizuki-sensei could compare to the Yondaime, who was he to talk about leadership? "You want to be Hokage, am I correct, Naruto-kun? So surely, you must know that it was the best decision."
It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair.
Why was it NARUTO? Why him? Couldn't it be anyone else?
Maybe his classmates were right. (Maybe the bitter voice in his head was right.)
"Traitor."
Maybe his parents were horrible traitors and that's why he had to deal with this. But then that wasn't fair! He didn't even know who his parents were because that stupid Hokage old geezer wouldn't tell him anything!
It wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair.
This is why he was hated? Because of the Yondaime's stupid decision?
Because of the Yondaime's decision he had to wrestle off a drunk middle aged man who was screaming- "Give me back my daughter!"
Because of the Yondaime's decision he had to map out the areas with less people or else he'd have to suffer through so many people 'accidentally' shoving or tripping him.
Because of the Yondaime's decision he had to deal with all. That. Stupid. Hate.
Itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair itwasn'tfair
All the burden, all the hatred... ALL OF IT. The stares, the whispers, the murmurs, the side glances, the clattering of the mask as the shopkeeper glared down at him.
('That mask was a fox mask.' There was that voice again.)
"Sorry, we're sold out. Go somewhere else."
"Again-ttebayo?"
"This restaurant is full. Too bad for you."
"This place is half empty-"
"Who told you you were allowed to come here?"
"Why aren't I allowed here?"
"Get out."
"Why?"
"You aren't welcome here."
"Why?"
"You aren't welcome in this Village-"
"WHY?"
"Shh, you're drunk, Mai. Don't talk to it."
"Who let you out of your cage?" Their eyes bored down onto him, "Little demon?"
('You know-' The twisted voice had a curl of permanent distaste. '-Those Villagers should just fucking die.')
If it was only someone else- If only Naruto was born earlier or later or away from Konoha.
('Konoha doesn't want us. Why should we want Konoha either?')
ITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIRITWASN'TFAIR-
'Since when has things gone your way, Naruto?' A dark, hateful voice rang right beside his ear and he stiffened. Why did that voice sound just like his?
"It's ok though, Naruto-kun," Mizuki-sensei's face instantly switched to a soft and amiable one. "Even if everyone hates you, I accept you."
Naruto hates how he automatically chases after those words because surely, if everyone knew about...that, then they'd hate him, ignore him, talk about him. Just like the adults had and still are.
"I know hearing the truth is painful, but always know that I accept you and your circumstance. I know it's not your fault," Mizuki-sensei's voice was smooth and calming- and so unlike those resentful words he had spat at Naruto just moments before.
"It's really tough having to go through this, right?" Mizuki-sensei casually leaned against a tree trunk. "Come here now Naruto-kun." He beckoned over to him. "Even if no one is by your side, I will always welcome you."
Don't listen to him! He lied! He's lyinglyinglyinglying. He's a liarliarliar.
His face was hospitable and kind. "I understand that you're a normal, kind child. To have to deal with what you've been through, it's not fair, is it?"
"It's not!" Naruto burst out, an emotion more wrathful than mere indignation exploded within him. "Why me?"
(It was more sorrowful than the tears he had shed when the Hokage had first closed the apartment door in his face.)
"I didn't want this!" His mind didn't register the step he took towards Mizuki-sensei. "I didn't kill anyone!"
Step. "I'm not a monster!"
Step. "Why do they think I'm that?"
Step. "Why do they just- Can't they tell that I'm normal? Would-" Naruto's voice suddenly twisted in a malicious way, scaring himself even more. "-Would they hate their own child if the Yondaime had to do that to their kid?"
The noise cut off as Naruto felt his face pale from his own cold, harsh words.
('We're just being honest.' That same voice whispered and Naruto felt his heart drop. 'I'm the real you, Naruto. The only person you can rely on.')
(There was a bubbling of something in his stomach and if Naruto had been level-headed, he would've realised that it was more than just anger simmering in the pits of his stomach...
"Snake." A gravelly voice snarled before the echoes of the growl glitched and cut off.)
"I'm not a- I'm just-" Naruto fisted two hands into his hair, tugging panickingly, "I'm just-"
"-An annoying brat, right?" A figure appeared into the clearing and Naruto stumbled backward again, away from Mizuki-sensei. Her heels clicked dully against the hard dirt, green haori billowing as she swept an arm in front of Naruto protectively. "Jeez, I leave you alone for a little bit and you stir up all this mess."
"T-Tsunade-hime?" Mizuki-sensei started before there was a blur of action.
Naruto didn't even have time to register her words before the Sannin shot forward like a missile.
crrrghh- BANG
Two trees beside Mizuki-sensei exploded in a shower of splintered bark.
The one the Chuunin had been leaning against suddenly gave way under a smooth skinned fist.
There's a delayed gush of wind as the trunk rocketed backwards, knocking away the Chuunin and levelled the tree behind it... and another... and another... and another...
It brought upon a haze of dirt and soil in the air, rough breezes brushing at Naruto's hair.
There's a halted gathering of leaves that swayed hesitantly in the air above them. The air stopped, the sounds absent sans for the thudding and cluttering of broken branches. It was almost like the atmosphere itself was marvelling the superhuman strength.
The cloud of dust was forcibly swept aside as the assailant flicked her wrist.
Naruto blinked.
There was dust gathering on his eyelashes and he could feel a thin layer of dust particles resting on his clothes and face.
A split second.
It was only then when Mizuki registered the attack, giving a strangled yelp as he scrambled to his feet from where he had been knocked onto the floor.
Naruto blinked.
The heels clicked yet again as the Sannin landed elegantly, looking too dignified for the dirtied grounds. She crossed her arms against her chest and looked down at the Chuunin, not appearing the slightest bit ruffled.
Powerful energy was released in waves off of the figure. The overbearing presence sent whatever wildlife left running and birds screeching. Mizuki staggered for purchase, doubling over as he grasped his head.
Another second.
Naruto watched as Mizuki swayed to and fro like a drunkard, his figure appearing as a cornered rat. Weak and pitiful.
And another.
The Chuunin then dropped to his hands and knees, retching violently, one hand bracing himself, one hand clutching onto his dirtied hair. A small pool of bile, the grotesque shade of yellowish-brown, spilt down his mouth and across his front. Mizuki's face was pallid and a tinge of unnatural green.
"Wh- wha- w-was that...?" The man gasped, fingers scraping on the floor and gathering soil under his nails.
The Sannin looked utterly remorseless as a heeled foot slammed onto the back of Mizuki's skull, shoving his face into his own small puddle of vomit. The kunoichi's face was cold and ruthless, disgust and disdain radiated unrepentantly from her frame.
"THAT!"
She put more pressure onto her foot as the man scrambled blindly, sickening sploshes and gurgles echoing in the silent afternoon.
"That-" She repeated through gritted teeth.
Naruto dropped to his knees, clutching onto the stolen scroll like a lifeline as he leant against the trunk of a tree. He watched Tsunade-baachan snarl with the ferocity of a protective mother...
"-is what happens when you mess with my student."
Notes:
first of all, yep. mizuki changed. he's still a fuckin asshole but his emotional manipulation is different :D (at least i think it is, i totally forgot :0)
eh who cares, he's gone anyway.also, if yall gonna mention how tsunade kinda 'waited' for her entrance, 0-0 shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
i need the first villain to speak his lines, ok bruh?
second of all, i kinda cut short on the 'tsunade-being-totally-badass' cuz i am stuck on naruto in canon to naruto here. its super short, hope its good enough doe
i had a 'third of all' but that scene is moved to the next chapter. hehe
leave a kudo or a comment <33 :p
Chapter 9: unimpressive
Notes:
sighs. the chapter title describes this chapter.
edit: imma use english for anbu names. if i get inconsistent, sorry not sorry i cant think of names that sound 'anbu-like' when its translated into japanese and i dont wanna accidentally say smt that was translated wrong or whatever.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Hashirama forest: Tsunade-
With an unconscious Mizuki on the floor, Tsunade double-checked that he was out cold before swinging to the startled Uzumaki, coddling him in a bone crushing way.
"Oh my gosh, brat!" She almost whisper-screamed, eyes alight with cheeky glee, "I saw those Kage Bunshin you were practising and I must tell you- the raw talent! Fuck it all, I'm stealing you and that baby scroll now!"
"Wh- wha-..."
"What do you say, Naruto? We high-tail it out of here now or no?"
"Uh. What? Scroll? Trouble? Mi-Mizuki?"
"Rat- passed out. Trouble- incoming but eh, we'll be fine. And scroll- hmmm... aha! Come on, come on," Tsunade pried the scroll out of Naruto's arms and ushered him closer, "I've always wanted to see what Jii-sama and Tobi-oji were hiding."
She stroked the fabric of the seal with exaggerated happiness. "Their constant whining of 'ahh! Tsuna-chan, it's too dangerous' and 'ahh! Tsuna-chan, you're too young' always pissed me off so much- argh!"
She rolled her eyes, greedily rolling open the scroll with her tongue pocking out.
Her eyes flicked to the boy's when he gave a little snort and Tsunade inwardly gave a soft smile when something finally sparked back into Naruto's frenzied, clouded eyes. (It wasn't much, but it was better than that horrified, shattered look that looked so out of place in his young, round and almost familiar face.)
Being a Med Nin didn't only mean patching up bodies, it also meant patching up spirits and his 'status' reveal would undoubtedly shadow him for quite a while.
And some things like this would take a long time to fully resolve.
With a traitor a few meters beside them and ANBU nearing every second, the only comfort Tsunade could currently provide him was helping Naruto find ground again.
The Uzumaki boy was strong enough to hold himself up until Tsunade would be able to wholeheartedly help him through it.
"It took me to long to read it-ttebayo." The blonde made a face as he peeked over her arm, "Wish we could just make a Bunshin of it, dattebayo. I don't think that even works though."
All her thoughts paused as Tsunade fell silent.
"Impossible..."
"Huh?"
"Uzumaki Naruto you are IMPOSSIBLE! I tell you!"
She fully extended the scroll with a wave of her arm.
The object was large and heavy but the contents weren't as much as one would expect at such an enormous scroll. The fabric was extremely thick- it had to be so that it could withstand the poignant, cloying chakra. Brown eyes flicked across the scroll which had now extended across the entire clearing, stretching over a dozen metres in length.
The Kage Bunshin was the first shown Jutsu but it took up the least amount of space- the instructions and analysis took up half a metre while numerous complex Ninjutsus and chakra enhancing techniques took up more than double the amount of space. Figured. While there were hundreds of Jutsus known in Konoha, the most dangerous ones were locked into the scroll (...well, it was really badly 'locked') so there'd only be a few.
Tsunade glanced up at Naruto when the boy let out a slight "woah" down at a certain Fuuinjutsu design which stretched an entire two metres in length.
The Hakke no Fuuin Shiki.
What irony.
Tsunade just gave the boy a slightly grim smile, "You wanna learn that? You die when you use it though." She tapped a red coated nail onto the provided diagram.
"I had thought about that before... dying while using an awesome Jutsu-ttebayo." Naruto scratched the back of his head (reminds her of Minato) like he was making an embarrassing confession. "Sacrificing my life to be a 'hero'..." A bitter thing tugged down the corner of his lips and Tsunade had to hold herself back from doing the same.
Sacrifice. Hah. What bullshit.
She clenched her jaw shut so that she wouldn't voice her opinion. Naruto beat her to it anyway.
"Sacrifice." He scoffed, "That's stupid now that I think about it. It's not like..."
When Naruto had decided to not finish his sentence, Tsunade finished it for him, "...Like the dead can do anything, right?"
"But I'm stupid too." The boy muttered quietly, voice growing softer and softer until Tsunade couldn't catch the rest of it- "...'cuz I have a feeling I'll...-..."
To distract both of them from the sombre atmosphere, she drew their attention back to Naruto's previous statement, pulling a spare empty scroll- which she always carried with her for emergencies- out from her haori.
"A Bunshin of this scroll, you say?"
Naruto squinted up at her, brows raised questioningly.
Checking her surroundings for company, she threaded her chakra over each perfectly written kanji- copying and analysing the contents of the Scroll of Seals in a single minute due to her impeccable control- then pasting, chakra-embedded ink slowly slinking into existence onto her own blank scroll. There was less chakra, and it was more faint, but those dozen Kinjutsus were copied nonetheless.
Wait a second...
...Sure, Tsunade was a Legendary Sannin who could do miraculous things but she still felt an enormous sweatdrop lingering about her head because it was-
-That. Easy. That easy?
She glanced around suspiciously. Surely it wasn't that simple...
Konoha's most dangerous scroll- stolen by an Academy student then duplicated in a mere minute. Just like that.
Were they fucking serious?
Sarutobi was a fool for not enhancing it with more seals. She swore that all these higher ups had their brain muddled- that was if they even had any.
Weak ass barriers, weak ass 'privacy seals'- her Baa-sama had taught her only the bare scrapes of Uzumaki's in depth Fuuinjutsu and even she knew that their explosive tags were drawn not as efficiently as possible.
When Tsunade looked down at the Scroll of Seals 2.0, she faced a befuddled Naruto with a beam. She tucked it into her haori.
"That... that was so cool dattebayo! What the hell, Baa-chan?"
"I know right- I'm amazing. We are so going to piss off everyone," Tsunade gave a scarily happy grin, "I can't wait to see the look on Sarutobi's face once I get you to learn all of thi-"
Oh yeah. That's right.
Tsunade recalled her previous preparations with Sarutobi and then looked down at Naruto who was squinting back up at her. She had made up her mind-
"Hey, listen here." Tsunade straightened her spine, complete seriousness in her eyes as she peered down at the twin blue eyes. Naruto instantly straightened in reply, suddenly looking nervous.
"I am not joking, I am not lying-"
Her gaze seared into the other's.
"-Uzumaki Naruto, I want you to become my disciple and inherit my Summoning Contract. One word of consent is all you need to say for you to be rid of this place for the next three years. For this time I'll allow you to request: anytime you wish and anywhere you want- we'll go. We'll leave."
Naruto's mouth was slightly agape, pure shock in his eyes.
Her decision was rushed and messy and will totally screw everyone- including herself- up.
Tsunade has no ounce of regret.
A slanted smirk spread across the Senju's face and the solemn atmosphere was broken when she tossed a mischievous wink at him, "Whaddya say? Senju Tsunade is hereby offering a once in a millennium chance."
"Y- you mean you weren't kidding? Really? You really mean it?" Weary suspicion lingered in his eyes and Tsunade inwardly cursed the rat again.
"The first thing you'll need to learn, Naruto," The Sannin crossed her arms, "Is that I don't repeat myself unnecessarily. If Senju Tsunade, the Legendary Sannin, did not mean it, she would not say it." She paused, waiting for his sole attention.
"I swear, Naruto," Her brown eyes suddenly sharpened like a hawk's, "I swear on my honour, my blood and my Summoning Contract that I am not lying."
A new emotion was introduced into the turbulent blue eyes. It was a softer, sadder, a more desperate kind of emotion. The want for 'love'.
"T- then..." Determined hardened with a fiery glint and the grin was reciprocated brilliantly, "Hell yeah, Tsunade-baachan! Let's leave on an adventure to explore the world! Let's leave-"
A flurry of thoughts visibly raced through Naruto's eyes before they turned resolved,
"-before the sun sets, dattebayo!"
-ANBU-
A scroll was thrown towards him before he could register the scenery.
"Tsk, you ANBU are crappy, no offense!" The renowned Sannin waved a dismissive hand and Boar remained emotionless as he verified the scroll. "You took so long to find an Academy student. Tsk."
"Tsunade-hime." He then bowed alongside a dozen other ANBU. "Could y-"
"This rat here," The Sannin gestured to the Chuunin who still laid unconscious. "Manipulated the Uzumaki brat into stealing the Scroll of Seals. Yes, yes," Tsunade-hime interrupted him before he even opened his mouth, "I confirmed that he's a traitor. Go report to Sarutobi and scurry along now, tree ninjas."
"Uh-" Owl hesitated, and Boar would usually be shocked at the fact that Owl hesitated but he was also a little taken aback by the sudden information. It didn't help how casual the Sannin was acting. "We request that you-"
"Report to Sarutobi about the events, yeah, yeah. I've been around for longer than you ANBU-chibis, don't needa boss me around."
Boar felt slightly embarrassed as he gingerly picked up the bile-sodden man, giving another curt nod to the Hime before Shunshin-ing to the entrance of the T&I with a few others accompanying him.
Even though he had done everything like any other ANBU would, he couldn't help but feel like a clumsy child in front of the Legend.
(It completely slipped Boar's mind that the Uzumaki child also should've been present for report. Why wasn't the vessel at the scene? What had the vessel done at the time?
It completely slipped Boar's mind.
How very un-ANBU like.
Unimpressed.)
-Ibiki-
Unimpressed.
The man had literally touched Mizuki's nails before confessions spilt out like a water spout. Tsunade-hime had strolled in fifteen minutes after submitting a paper report, looking boredly at the ex-Chuunin who was foaming from the mouth.
"Wow," She drawled. "How many nails was it, Ibiki? One?"
He rolled his eyes before scoffing, "You overestimate him; I merely touched his hand, Tsunade-hime."
"Damn." She replied back, voice still dull and sarcastic. "You gonna kill him now?"
"D- d- don't kill me!" Mizuki returned to life, "I- i- i- it's not my f-"
Ibiki knocked the man unconscious.
"That was a lot of 'i's." Tsunade-hime commented. "I'm unimpressed."
"Touché."
"Well," The Sannin dusted her knees, "I'm going to take a last stroll around, glad to see you still alive Ibiki!" She waved a hand as she flickered out of the building.
"Have a good evening, Tsunade-hime." Ibiki, distracted by her statement of his 'alive' condition, nearly missed the first part of her sentence.
He narrowed his eyes at where she used to be. What did she mean by taking 'a last stroll'?
Something was up.
Or rather, something was happening.
-Hiruzen-
He had not asked for a fricking paper report, god damn it. The information was scrawled in a careless way-
"-by the way, I think he's Orochimaru's spy. Might wanna toughen up your defences there."
"Also, he's weak as fuck. Your standards for Chuunin has plummeted."
"I think I've already complained, but all your ANBU are pretty awkward."
Then a sentence, predicting Hiruzen's dissatisfaction, wrote: "I know this report was basically useless and probably only served to irritate you, but as I said, I arrived just in time to beat the rat up. That took a total of three seconds and 2.5 of those seconds were spent on looking cool and intimidating. So no, I don't know shit. The end."
Hell. Why did he accept the hat again?
Well, when he'll need to visit Naruto sooner or later to double confirm things. But Hiruzen will wait until Naruto has calmed down from the incident- he'd no doubt be in shock at the betrayal.
Hiruzen could not deal with that boy right now. There would inevitably be questions- so many questions- about the Kyuubi. Hiruzen didn't feel up to receiving a reminder of his past failures again.
He would though, he would visit the boy tomorrow, or perhaps the day after.
Resolving the conflict of a traitor or spy was more important than that boy after all. Nevertheless, Naruto was important to Hiruzen, so he will visit the boy.
The Hokage felt slightly bad for the child, especially after such a brutal unveiling of his circumstance. Tsunade had assured him that it had been handled but Hiruzen had a duty as a grandf the Hokage Minato's predecessor Naruto's guardian.
...Naruto'll be fine. For now.
Naruto was a... strong boy. He could always deal with these kinds of things with a happy smile on his face-
That's right: Hiruzen didn't need to be concerned; Naruto was Minato's son after all.
He'll just visit him...
Eventually.
That's right, Hiruzen will visit him sometime later.
-Naruto-
He sat outside the Academy, clasping his hands onto the rope string. There was a spot were it had been worn down from when Naruto had repeatedly clutched onto it- the sole thing that had kept him sane when the Villagers had been staring at him- some were trying to hide it, but some were unrepentant.
He sat on the swing, a dull creak ringing in his ear drums. The night was so quiet that he felt like his existence was disturbing the wild life. He leaned his head forward to press it against the string, feeling the rough braided cord dig onto his bare forehead.
No hitai-ate.
Failure.
Dead last.
Failure.
Dead last.
Tsunade's apprentice.
But-
A shadow had approached the boy and Naruto had not looked up. He knew who it was because no one else would want to approach him.
But-
"Why me?"
His voice was quiet and honestly confused.
"Don't question me, brat." The strange, kind and really aggressive but really honest woman (who Naruto still couldn't figure out) squinted down at him. "There are many reasons why I decided to take you under my wing."
He opened his mouth, a million emotions racing through his face before his jaw clicked shut, replying back with a simple nod.
Their two sentence conversation had not been brought up from then on. Not for a long while at least.
-Izumo-
"I'm here!" A high pitched giggle erupted by the front gate.
Izumo squinted, nudging Kotetsu in the ribs and watching with no small amount of humour as the lazing Chuunin gave a screech, stumbling onto the floor. He gestured surreptitiously to the source of the voice and Kotetsu gave a questioning look. Izumo replied with a shrug.
"Mou, my adorable student was almost late!" Tsunade-hime jutted a hand against her hip, standing right next to the pair of Chuunin. Izumo was not ashamed to say he screamed.
"My apologies," An ordinary looking girl skipped towards the Sannin. Her mousy brown hair was in two braids and she wore a simple shirt with a mid-thigh skirt, mesh tights going down to her knee length shinobi sandals. A simple weapons pouch was strapped to her left leg- a left-handed shinobi then? Upon closer look, the girl also had eyes a startling similar shade to the Yondaime's. Blue and clear. He must not have gotten enough sleep.
She had the air of a well-kept, obedient daughter- that was until she opened her mouth again.
"Baa-chan-sama, when are we going?"
Izumo felt his heart jump to his throat in panic, Kotetsu shared a look with him as he violently beckoned for the girl to shut up. Calling a Sannin 'old' was suicide! He drew a line over his throat with a finger.
The girl gave the two a curious look and Izumo shook his head viciously again, repeating the action but with more dramatic acting. He lolled his head to the side, sticking out his tongue for emphasis-
The girl giggled.
Kotetsu slapped his forehead.
And oh, look at that. All of a sudden, Tsunade-hime's finger flicked to his forehead, and he fell into a fairly comfortable nap.
And this is what ends up making the two to forget all about reporting to the Hokage.
He'll be unimpressed.
Very much so.
Naruto wasn't present the day after the incident. Not in pranks, not in screams, not in anything.
Usually when he got hit, Naruto would retaliate harder.
(Some mocked, some worried, some didn't care. Either way, no one came to check up on that boy.)
-Nara-
"Old man." Shikamaru dumped his small bag full of empty books onto the chair, ignoring his mother as she reprimanded him for not hanging it up properly.
"What?" His father grumbled back, head in papers. "I mean, 'hey! How dare you speak to your father like that!' ...Yoshino, did I do it right?"
"Old man." Shikamaru repeated impatiently.
"What?"
When his son didn't reply, Shikaku worriedly looked up from his paperwork. He traded a concerned look with Yoshino when the boy simply gave him a hard stare before turning around, and walking towards his room.
"H-hey, Shikamaru! Drink the cup of water I poured you first!" Yoshino hollered and the boy surprisingly did so without complaining.
It was a tense atmosphere as Shikamaru 'casually' drank his cup of water, placing down the cup a tad harder than usual and strolled towards his room again.
The Nara couple was quiet when the boy's bedroom door clicked shut.
Shikaku gave a groan while Yoshino brushed a piece of hair out of her face, brows furrowed.
Eventually, a day turned to three, and three turned to a...
-Yamanaka-
Ino was in a bad mood again.
Inoichi frowned, her rebellious stage had gone on for so long. He turned to leave before whatever rejection the Last Uchiha had dished Ino would cause her to let it out on him. There was an awful lot of trouble after Mizuki was found out to be Orochimaru's spy- he really could not deal with a moody teen.
"Dad?" A small head pocked into his study and Inoichi stiffened in surprise.
"Ah, Ino. Look, now's really not the time but-"
"I made you pancakes."
Inoichi paused. Indeed, he did smell pancakes.
"Look, Dad." Ino had slid next to him, eyes darting to his work for a second before returning. "I'm sorry. I'm gonna be different now, you know?"
By the time Inoichi registered what his daughter had said, all that was remaining of her presence was a plate of Japanese fluffy pancakes, drizzled with too much syrup for his own good. (Just how he liked it.)
When midnight struck, he finally found the time to leave his stifling room.
Scrolls. Littering the area. In clusters though, as if they had tried to be neat.
There were charred ingredients in the trash and Inoichi groaned at how much food had been wasted-
"Look, Dad. I'm sorry."
-He really needed to buy a cook book to show his daughter how to be more efficient next time.
A fortnight had passed and some grew concerned at the boy's absence. (Less than a dozen but more people than Naruto thought liked him anyway.)
Many were insulting Naruto, calling him pathetic for hiding after being 'confronted about his treason'.
Others decided to 'respect' his decision and give him time to 'cope'.
-Iruka-
This was absurd. He had no idea why Hokage was just letting it rest.
He had stopped by Naruto's apartment three times. And every time, he couldn't muster up the motivation to approach the door.
Umino Iruka is going to be honest: he was a shitty teacher. And yes, yes, saying a curse word was just to highlight the significance of his grave error.
A. Teacher. Must. Not. Be. Bias.
There was a purpose for the Academy and there was a purpose for Senseis. And that purpose was not to take advantage of student's vulnerabilities, regardless of their personal prejudice towards them.
He was at Naruto's apartment door for the fourth time and he was determined to knock on the door. (Not only to check if he was ok, but also to apologise- for everything- and make amends.)
An inhale, an exhale and- knock, knock-
"Naruto, are you in there?"
No reply.
Iruka frowned, hesitantly touching the door knob.
Did he have the right? Of course he did, Iruka was Naruto's teacher. (Was that justified?)
Iruka's hand retreated from the door knob.
"Naruto?" He called again louder. Iruka pressed a ear against the door, focusing deeply on his senses. There was the ticking of the clock and the tell tale dripping of broken pipes- did that boy not pay his rent or something?- there was a faint scuffle between the walls and Iruka grimaced- probably a rat.
He shut off those noises and stretched his senses further- for a breath or a shuffle or any movement...
Nothing. Silence.
Feeling extremely unnerved, Iruka twisted the handle, "Naruto, I'm coming in now!"
Oh.
Iruka thought with a little dread.
Oh.
Iruka thought again as he scrambled towards the Hokage tower.
Naruto was gone.
Notes:
sighs.
tried to surprise yall w a different approach? believe me when i say this week, i wrote over DOZENSSSS of scenarios and was like eh
and also: ignore canon's portrayal of the scroll. please. i searched it up and the scroll legit looks like a flimsy piece of paper- are u kidding me? how long is it then? kishi is legit saying that there are 10000000000000000 op asf jutsus in that shit.
edit: nvm ignore my portrayal as well cuz i think my extremely vague estimation of 'over a dozen metres' is utter crap.btw:
tsunade's report claimed that she 'wasn't around to hear mizuki expose naruto's jinchuuriki status' therefore she still 'doesnt know' that naruto has kurama. she omitted a ton of shit, such as naruto learning kage bunshin blah blah this is all to make the two of them super -blingbling- when the time comes
also before yall attack me abt how naruto had changed too suddenly: wait. ye thats all imma say
thanks for reading <33
Chapter 10: sarutobi-sensei
Notes:
credits: JFC
for that line : ** twas fantastique **
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Half an hour later-
"You say he's gone?" Hokage-sama was eerily still.
"Yes, he hadn't appeared for so long, he would need access to food and water to be able to survive, however the shopkeepers had not reported any signs of the boy approaching the market. I assumed he'd be in his apartment but it was empty, his clothes, his weapons, his..." Iruka trailed off as he realised that the boy owned basically nothing else.
Figured.
Senseis were usually in charge of distributing things anyway.
Hokage-sama pinched the bridge of his nose, "Did you check around the-" The Kage sighed tiredly, "-the Akasen?"
Iruka balked, "T- the Akasen, sir?" What was a child doing in a place like there? Suddenly, he recalled the foreign phrase Naruto had spoken and those outer Nations looking people and oh. Ohhh- everything made sense. Where else would Naruto go anyway if not there?
"I told him not to go there anymore but I'm sure he still does. Naruto doesn't know that I can watch him from afar." He pointedly looked at the crystal ball. "He goes around to the back and sometimes the workers feed him the leftovers. I don't really blame him if he did go there though, they're the only ones who'd accept him. And I hadn't wanted to restrict his only source of genuine kindness either."
The Hokage looked worn down and absolutely done. His sentences weren't uttered with the same wise elegance, instead, they were verging on annoyed and fatigued.
Iruka felt- not a smidge- but a river full of guilt- not only for further burdening the Hokage, but also for never taking note of Naruto's... well, Naruto's existence.
There was a gentle knock on the Hokage's office door but the chakra signature behind it was all but bleeding with impatience.
"Come in, Kakashi." The Hokage sighed again.
"Hokage-sama." The Hatake instantly slid into a one kneed position, head bowed- an instinctive move for ANBU- before the Hokage wrinkled his brows. That's when Iruka remembered that Kakashi was supposedly forcefully dismissed from ANBU.
"After-" The ANB- Jonin's voice suddenly turned strained, "After I had returned from my mission, I had found out about Naruto's disappearance and found his last presence in the outskirts of the Akasen. He is not there anymore. However, I have retrieved a note from a prostitute."
"Give it to me." The Hokage breathed in deeply, eyes clenched shut in barely concealed irritation. "Give the darned letter to me."
A wad of folded paper appeared in Kakashi's hand, raising forwards to the Kage like an offering.
-Hiruzen-
Sarutobi-sensei, it started. 'It was written by Tsunade,' he realised with mild surprise. Hiruzen could already feel the word 'Sensei' glaring up at him in a mocking, derisive way. He knows Tsunade hadn't called him that this entire time.
Sarutobi-sensei, always making a fool out of me with your wise words. Telling me to give that orphan a chance, and not even a few hours later the boy shows off how right your words were.
I'm ashamed in the way I'm leaving with him, but I'm more ashamed in the way Konoha had cast aside such a hidden gem.
How much time has passed since I caught the traitor? And by that, I mean, how much time has passed since I had left with Naruto? How long did it take for you to notice his absence? How long did it take for you- or anyone- to go check up on him?
I want to know just how badly Konoha had screwed up so I gave myself an alibi here in Konoha for the next month or so. You received reports that I was working and studying but if you had checked up on me, you would've noticed it was merely a clone. If you had just approached me without shame, you would have noticed.
I'm writing this now with my freshly sanitised hands, the stench of rat had never befitted the Slug after all. It has been a mere quarter hour since I dumped the trash into Ibiki's place - glad to know the decent shinobi was still alive- so I'd expect it'd been a minimum of half a week since we had left. One day to check up on Naruto and another to find it in this area. I would go on about the absurdities of why Naruto, an eleven year old kid, was friends with half the prostitutes and underground yakuza but for your sake, I won't.
If you find this letter and more than a fortnight has passed don't wh how will you how can you bot don't you dare both come after chase a- I'll say one thing and one thing only. It's something that I realised I've been repeating a lot since the first letter you sent me.
Disappointing .
You care for the boy, don't you, Sarutobi-sensei?
Either sides of your answer to that question would lead to just one thing: leave us alone.
If you care for him, let him go where he wants for once. He won't be in danger if he's with Shizune and I. If you don't care for him, then why even bother reading this far? From what I could deduce, you were one of the few who showed Naruto care; if even that was fake, let him be.
There were things you have taught me and now, I will apply your wise teachings.
The Council had requested and I had agreed. Then, just moments ago, I had requested and you had agreed.
Don't- The letter hissed up at Sarutobi, -be a hypocrite.
Sincerely,
The letter ended the same way Sarutobi's had.
Legendary Sannin
Senju Tsunade
-Iruka-
The Hatake Jonin then promptly gave a stiff bow, flickering out of the area.
The Kage threw the letter onto his table, and Iruka's eyes latched onto the scrawl, immediately jumping to-
If you find this letter and more than a fortnight has passed-
They both cast a glance at the calendar.
Iruka's heart dropped (in guilt).
It had been exactly thirty one days since Mizuki had been imprisoned.
It had been exactly thirty one days since Naruto had left.
Disappointing.
They could both hear Senju Tsunade's voice ring.
Notes:
yeet. i've already written out what happened after chapter 6 (sasunaru af) jsdnfjksn hope it will redeem the last two chapters which seemed not good enough imo jkdsbfkahdsbhkab
thanks for reading <33
Chapter 11: (longing for summer)
Summary:
Sunflowers were yellow.
Summer skies were blue.
Sasuke has an obsession,
and it ain't with you <33
omg such an informal summary, sorry if u read my shit. you'll realise my summaries are hardly ever 'summaries'
NOTE: THIS IS SET BEFORE NARUTO LEFT. THIS IS SET AFTER CHAPTER 6
Notes:
here's the flashback :D
finally got a scenario. totally ooc. dont mind me :D
there's brackets around the title cuz it's an interlude kinda. it still contributes to the plot but it lowkey feels outta place so...
also you'll notice i make sasuke's 'ambition' appear to be more like an obligation rather than his 'passion' ... if that makes sense. i'll refer to him killing Itachi as being a burden to him.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-After the Chapter 6 Incident: Sasuke-
He rolled his shoulders as he faced the demolished training ground.
He had surrendered to the burning urge to work off some steam. Training never really did the trick anyway (it always made him feel inferior- the fire wasn't as hot as His flame, wasn't as large as His fireball...) but he would always exhaust himself, chakra drained every single time, muscles on the verge of tearing and he would collapse unconscious.
On bad days, he would do this and relish at how his reserves widened slightly.
"Why are you crying?"
Today though, he trained so harshly- his knuckles scraped raw, a layer of shimmering red on his skin and his lungs were scorched, burns littering across his body- yet he still felt an emotion that he couldn't fight away.
"Tch. You bastard." Naruto scoffed (it sounded like a sob) after a long and tense silence. The icy blues of his eyes were hardened into an iron wall.
The tears hadn't stopped though. They fell with every blink of his lashes. There was a warm droplet on the back of his hand.
Naruto was crying. But his face was motionless.
(It feels like something sharp had been driven into his chest. Like a kunai. Twisting and wrenching. He had to resist the urge to rub the feeling away.)
"Don't say that like you didn't know it was always like this."
Sasuke couldn't really respond to that.
(Those iron walls had broken as soon as he had absentmindedly squeezed his hand.)
He laid on his back, staring up at the slowly darkening sky. He would usually feel alarmed by the alerted movements of the shinobi but at the moment, he couldn't really bring himself to care.
His heartbeat was thunderous and he started to feel lightheaded as his adrenaline slowly leaked away.
No matter how he looked at it, things just weren't right.
Sunflower petals were yellow. Naruto was ignored. Summer skies were blue. Naruto was 'that boy'. Orange was an obnoxious colour. Naruto was avoided.
It was a fact.
Naruto was hated.
There was a hoarse laugh as all the walls Naruto had built visibly broke down.
All from a single caring touch.
"What are you-"
What had he done?
Uchiha Sasuke only had one ambition and everything else would get in his way.
Avenge. Kill. Restore the Uchiha clan.
He had built five years of his life to avoid sentiment and weak emotions. He had built five years of his life to dedicate himself to hatred.
Why would he bother to comfort? Why does he bother to care? Why did he just let himself destroy those five years worth of effort?
(But Sasuke couldn't ignore this. How could he?)
Naruto was like a furnace in how he radiated with warmth.
Sasuke had noticed long ago though, when they had shoved their faces against each other in stubborn arguments, when he had pushed and grappled and wrestled the bull-headed idiot of a boy.
To an onlooker, it must've painted a strange scene. Two young boys glaring at each other in the middle of the forest, knees dirtied on the ground. Neither of them touching each other at all bar the white-knuckled grasp of their interlinked hands.
Naruto was stiff, his body expression incredibly scared for a boy who acted so touchy-feely.
That's the thing: 'acted'. Naruto was always acting.
The anger returned in a bitter tone. (Sentiment is weak.)
"You wanted them to acknowledge you, right? You're a real idiot." Sasuke decided to go with brutal honesty. Fuck it all. "The others are even bigger idiots."
He heaved an exhale.
"You aren't a traitor. You aren't a monster. You are Naruto- a complete Dobe- and not 'that boy' or 'that brat'- they're clearly just pea-brained civilians who are uncreative in insults. Don't get lost up in those stupid stares and whispers, ok? Tsunade-hime sees you." He didn't waver. "I see you. They don't know you and they don't matter compared to Tsunade-hime, ok? They don't matter compared to people who care. They don't know anything- anything."
(That sounded personal, Sasuke. Just who are you trying to comfort?)
He swallowed, the action slightly painful with the lump in his throat. (Sentiment is weak.)
"You heard the Sannin- she's going to take you as a student and you'll get stronger and then more people will 'acknowledge' you so don't... hide from it. Don't hide from them."
Naruto hunched in more tightly. The protective anger rose. (Weak. How will you kill Him like this?)
"Don't-" Sasuke released Naruto's hand, in lieu, he grabbed his shoulders.
"Don't do that." He snapped, desperation tinging his voice. "It makes you look like a coward."
No matter how tight he squeezed his shoulders, Naruto did not look up. Where was the stupid, prideful, all bark no bite (courageous, grinning, warm) Naruto?
Sasuke released an aggravated exhale and cupped Naruto's face with both hands, pulling him towards his own. Naruto's hands instinctively dropped to the ground to brace himself from the unbalance of the sudden tug. A harsh noise tore out of Sasuke's throat-
"Look at me!"
Naruto's eyes were blown wide in shock, flinching at his cold, pale fingers.
Sasuke felt himself flushing in embarrassment; he hadn't registered the close proximity of their faces at that time.
Naruto's skin was warm, really warm under his hands.
His cheeks had a round and squishiness to them from baby fat. (Which was ridiculous because he was eleven he should've outgrown his chubbiness from infancy.)
And those whisker marks upon closer look, appeared to be like scars. Three thin lines, a dark colour, tracing down on each side of his face. But they looked too straight to be scars from fights.
And his...
His eyelashes were blonde.
His eyes were a blue like the summer sky, clear like the Naka river, shimmering with the tears that Sasuke had never expected to see.
He was like a sunflower that had wilted.
(Sasuke didn't like that.)
"Look. At. Me."
Sasuke growled again, low and commanding.
He willed the idiot to understand, willed that something in his eyes would comfort reassure remind him that Sasuke had always been with him.
"Do you understand? Next time, don't hide. Never hide, Naruto." His lips twisted wryly, his voice was forceful. "Stand up and scream back in their faces." His mouth turned dry as he uttered the honest words he never thought he'd ever say.
"You're strong, Naruto. Because my rival could be no less."
(Sentiment is weak.)
Naruto made a strangled sound. And when the pale, light lashes blink for the second time, droplets of scalding hot tears touch his hand.
Sasuke felt as though he was meant to lower his hands. He felt as though he had done enough.
(He wanted to chase after Naruto's light and Naruto's radiance, so he did not leave. Not yet.)
"Naruto." Sasuke gritted out, the harsh sound betrayed by the wavering of his voice.
'Look at me. Listen to me. Talk to me.'
The warmth of his tan skin was welcoming and he wanted to lean forward like how he had once burrowed into His arms when he was but a cherub trying to comfort his crying older brother and Sasuke ignored it. He narrowed his eyes at the boy in front of him. Sasuke didn't need Naruto's light or warmth though, he just wanted it and Sasuke never got what he wanted.
"Tell me you understand."
Sasuke just wanted to be assured that once he was on his own path, Naruto would never stumble from something as insignificant as a civilian remark.
(Sentiment is weak.)
Sometime then, thinking of all his past regrets and failures, Sasuke passes out, falling into a quiet deep sleep.
"Ok," The voice was shaky but it wasn't like the dark, monotonous and cold scoff he had first heard. And to Sasuke, that was good enough. "Ok, I... I understand."
Sasuke's hands drop slowly, twitching slightly at the sudden emptiness in his hands. (Pathetic.)
He rose smoothly to his feet and smoothed out his features. Sasuke's lips tilted the slightest bit up as he casted a small, grim smile down at the boy. "Then that's good enough for me." No, it wasn't.
He had then left the area.
But he stopped only a few seconds later, leaning against a high branch just a couple trees away from Naruto. A hand bracing himself, Sasuke had to hold himself back from running back. (Pathetic. So, so pathetic.)
Five years of his life dedicated to remaining in emotionless, cold hatred. A single tear of the sunshine boy had him stopping and chasing.
"Foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me, then hate me, detest me, curse me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run... run and cling to your pitiful life."
What was Sasuke doing? With comforting and caring?
There's a sting in his eyes and he once again cursed his own weakness. How vulnerable. (How utterly, utterly pathetic.)
His eyes track the movement of a hand that quaked as it carded through Naruto's already mussed up blonde hair- 'Stop looking!' He reprimanded himself. Sasuke swivelled back around as he caught himself staring from afar, yet again, at his sole weakness. His sole obstacle in his path along hatred.
He heard Naruto's cries beginning, soft but raw and childlike. It only showed how long it had been suppressed. Sasuke just inhaled deeply, biting his lip in equal parts of anger and sadness. The very idea that the boy was an obstacle hurtled itself out of a metaphorical window.
(Weak. Sasuke is weak.)
The blonde's shoulders raised and shuddered, his fingers curled into fists as sobs stumbled out messily.
It was disgusting and unbecoming and gross. (Sasuke's heart mourned within him. He yearned to be unburdened from his own identity.) Disgraceful. Humiliating. Bothersome.
(Sasuke was talking about himself by then.)
There was a hitch in his cries and Sasuke wrinkles his nose in disgust. "Weak." He muttered aloud, the lie didn't do anything to ground him.
Weak. He tried to convince himself. Weak.
Naruto hiccupped again and Sasuke thudded his head backwards onto the tree trunk.
Disgusting. He chanted to himself. Unbecoming and gross. Disgraceful, humiliating and bothersome. Pathetic, ridiculous, weak...
(It made the feeling in his chest ten times more painful. It made the desire to hold onto the boy ten times stronger.)
Sasuke hadn't left the area until Naruto had stopped crying.
"Weak..." Sasuke muttered as he furrowed his brows in his sleep. "Uh'm too... w-"
It was horrible because Sasuke wanted to be comforted as well. (Sasuke never got what he wanted.)
The dull click of heels entered the clearing as the Uchiha became dead to the world.
A red-eyed sleek crow silently takes off to the air.
-Tsunade-
Giving a soft sigh, she rearranged the passed out form of Uchiha Sasuke.
"You'll get joint pain if you sleep like this." She grumbled to herself, fingers pausing to heal up the bruises and burns. "Stupid brats are all the same."
The wind whistled in reply.
"I'm getting too nice for my own good." She muttered as she watched the last of the boy's injuries melt away.
"It'll be a while since you'll see Naruto 'n I again." Tsunade brushed the dark fringe out of the boy's face.
She smiled cynically, "Funny how the two kids I wanna take with me are the only two I'm not allowed to."
-Sasuke-
His consciousness stirred and judging from the amount of light filtering through his eyelids, it must've only been an hour or so. Sasuke could feel a presence approaching him. Usually, he'd jump to attention to confront whoever it was but with this nice tingly feeling in his strangely unharmed limbs, he couldn't muster the strength or the drive to do so.
"Hey Teme." Naruto's voice came out and- Ok. It was Naruto. He immediately tried to force himself back into deep slumber.
Sasuke sensed the boy plopping down on the scorched grass just a bit from his head. Sasuke still stayed motionless, his previous unconsciousness making his head heavy and groggy.
"I know your pathetic butt is probably exhausted from training even though it's only, like, 4pm and you're a weakling who can't do nothing... but imma just tellin' you that I'm leaving-"
What? Good... good riddance?
"-with that Tsunade-baachan lady. Like, right now. I have my bag and every thing. It's kinda funny how you were right- she really wasn't joking-ttebayo. But now-... I don't know. You know, Mizuki-sensei was a traitor?"
Excuse me? No, Sasuke very vehemently did not know.
"And he told me a bunch of shit about why I was hated 'n everything." A pause. "I think you'd prolly hate me if ya found out about it so I'll just say this before I leave and hope no one ever tells you."
Another pause. "It wasn't like I wanted to come see your annoying pretty face before I left but my body just did it, dattebayo. Don't blame me." Naruto amended hastily as if it was humiliating to say.
"...Thank you."
Sasuke laid motionless as he listened to the voice washing over him.
"I have a feeling that you're awake-"
The only reason why he didn't stiffen was because of the fatigue in his limbs.
"-but you wouldn't ever feel comfortable pretending to be asleep while I'm talking my head off, right-ttebayo?" Naruto's voice halted as he considered his sentence, "If you are awake and actin' like a creep by listening to me, then ya better appreciate what I'm bouta say, dattebayo."
Sasuke had to hold back his lips from curling into a smile when the boy started to ramble.
"Before I regret sounding like a stupid fangirl, I'm just saying thanks for... for being... uhhh... Thanks for being you, I guess? It don't really make sense cuz you're an absolute asshole, ya know? I'm crap at this cuz I've never really had to say 'thank you' to anyone 'cept Teuchi-jii and Hokage-jiji and those Nee-chans and I didn't think it'd be you who I'd say it to so it's kinda awkward haha... So yeah, you're kinda a bastard so I don't think I'm meant to say thank you for being nice, I mean, you were kindaaaa nice even though you kept insulting me like the asshole you are and this is totally not going anywhere but-"
A sigh.
"But yeah, believe it. Uzumaki Naruto officially gives his thanks to the Teme for... being a nice Teme. That doesn't make any sense, dattebayo but your sleeping weak-ass will just have to take it."
A pause.
"I know ya said you don't know about me but you said an awful lot, ya know that-ttebayo? I'm not a traitor, I'm not a monster, I'm Naruto. I think that's quite a lot, dattebayo. It's more than anyone else has told me."
A hand brushed his bangs and Sasuke was really surprised when he didn't get his knee-jerk reaction of flipping the assailant over himself. He then tried not to twitch as he physically felt eyes searing into his face.
"I hope I don't get the fangirl cooties but I hafta admit that they're a tinyyyy bit right coz you do look a tinyyyy bit not-very-very-veryyyyy-ugly when you're not frowning like a bastard-ttebayo. And you're always a bastard, dattebayo. Which means you totally aren't not-ugly-ttebayo. Cuz you're always a bastard...dattebayo."
So many 'dattebayo's. So many grammar errors. That didn't even make sense.
Dobe. Sasuke reflexively thought. An idiot like always.
"And that's what you are, believe it! Even if you were being nice for a tiny second, I still think that you're a nasty, smug, totally-not-cool bastard whose... whose definitely- definitely a bastard!"
So bad at insulting people. Sasuke inwardly smirked.
"But... I'll maybe-just-a-tiny-bit miss you."
Sasuke had to hold himself back from chasing after the warmth of his hand as he reeled in shock. Naruto stood up and brushed his clothes.
"...Ew that sounded so nice."
He just had to get the last jab in.
Sasuke blearily cracked an eye open, cracking his head just enough to see Naruto leap away into the trees, a holler echoing throughout the charred training ground.
"You're still a big, stinkin' Teme! I toooootally won't miss you-ttebayo!"
"Dobe." Sasuke scoffed, a hand raising to shield his eyes as the sun beamed through the thick clouds. Why was it so bright if it was already late afternoon? "Dobe." He repeated with a smile.
Not that Naruto could hear him.
Notes:
btw sasuke's pov is kinda all over the place in timeline. in the start-ish it's mentioned how there's 'alerted movements from the shinobi' or smt = tsunade's 'fighting' against mizuki rn
at the end obviously the conflict is resolved and for some reason she's wandering all over the place.
(everyone gon ignore how sasuke legit stated that orange being an obnoxious colour is a fact?)
edit: im rereading it and im sorry (totally not sorry) for making them ooc. YES IM SAYING IT AGAIN. it's also ooc so that their romance doesnt ensue from the two of them beating each other up... (wait a second...)
thanks for reading (feel like the interlude was more interesting than the actual story) <33
Chapter 12: I. a hundred steps behind 'step one'
Summary:
"Let me be honest with you, Naruto." Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "You're a hundred steps behind step one."
"Lemme tell you something then, Baa-chan." Naruto grinned back challengingly, "I'll work hard enough for a thousand people."
*set after Naruto leaves Konoha* This time line is fucked up. I'm sorry.
Notes:
sorry for the late chapter :D
*don't need to read this*
(this is more for myself but here's a vague timeline)
THAW (to heal a wound) started around one months after naruto's 12th bday. (nov)
genin exams a month later (lets pretend that tsunade's appearance made mizuki move his plans forward) (dec)
chuunin exams (june)
"" The Chunin Exams are conducted bi-annually. ... It comes to Konoha once every three years, but its conducted once every six months in the other villages. "" -some Quora person.
-
they're planning on returning to konoha exactly three years later (dec/jan) unless they visit it before that. naruto will be 15 at this time.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"I don't care about where we are going, Tsunade-baachan." Naruto had beamed up at the woman. "I'll follow you wherever I go-ttebayo!"
Day 1:
-South West Kumo: Naruto-
It was official: he hated mountains.
He gave a wheezed victory cry as they finally reached a stay, the innkeeper giving him a strange look. But for once, that look wasn't a hateful one and the realisation that he wasn't in Konoha was refreshing enough to allow him to almost forget his screaming muscles.
Almost.
Tsunade grabbed him by the scruff of the neck as he attempted to leap onto the warm fluffiness of the bed covers.
"You're going to make it dirty." She said with a tut. Shizune, who- god damn it- didn't even look the slightest bit tired, gave him an exasperate chuckle.
"Mou, Tsunade-sama, for a student, I'd say that was plenty impressive." The Jonin crouched down to let Tonton crawl out of her arms. "Allow him a little rest, yeah?"
In lieu of a reply, the Sannin dropped him.
Onto the floor.
Leaping up in indignation, he waved an angry fist at the woman but before he could get a word out, Tsunade thrust an unrolled scroll towards him. A smile- which looked a tad evil and a tad determined- rose onto her face.
"Oh hoh hoh, go get your rest then, brat, because we're starting right tomorrow! Get ready to die!"
Minimum Expectations (3 year)
Essentials:
Literacy: Proficient
General knowledge: Proficient
--> Nation-wide, internal/external conflict, history, famous figures, shinobi system, sexual education/history and consent, physical and spiritual anatomy, legends and beliefs, Clans and politics etc.
Stance and positioning: 1 standard form for each (long, medium and short distance)
--> Weapon handling, escape prioritised, coordination, close combat etc.
Physiological and physical manoeuvrability: Advanced
--> Motor/hand-eye coordination, flexibility etc.
Further:
Language and culture: Proficient (Nation-wide) (foreign tongue fluency to be further confirmed)
Coding and signals: Proficient
Psychology and tactics (uncertain in expectation of proficiency):
Strategy and tactic/Leadership
Interrogation/Identification
Information gathering/Infiltration
Lying/Manipulation/Seduction*/Baiting or tempting
Chakra, Jutsu and Techniques:
Chakra control: Proficient
--> Chakra meditation, Chakra Gate manipulation etc.
Chakra capacity: Advanced*
Chakra Shape Transformation: Proficient
Chakra Elemental Natures: Advanced (in 2, acceptable in all)
--> Suiton, Fuuton (Uzumaki heritage, Namikaze's ancestor's speciality)
Kekkei Genkai: (to be confirmed)
Hiden (secret techniques): (heritage needs to be discussed- Space-Time Ninjutsu etc.)
Bijuu chakra: (to be seen)
Genjutsu: Novice (recognition and cancelation) (potential in Genjutsu to be confirmed)
Taijutsu: Proficient
Nintaijutsu (chakra enhanced Taijutsu): Proficient
Ninjutsu: Advanced (A-Rank working downwards - for chakra capacity and control purposes)
Fuuinjutsu: Acceptable (based on Uzumaki standards --> depends on interest level)
Kenjutsu/Bukijutsu: Acceptable (depends on interest level) (senbon/needles + trapping --> Fuuin?)
Iryo Ninjutsu: Proficient (to be seen)
Kuchiyose: Acceptable (do not prioritise)
Sensing: Acceptable (to be seen)
Poison/Antidote/Medicine etc: Acceptable (to be seen)
Chakra scalpel, chakra blades/extensions and similar techniques: Acceptable (to be seen)
Note: These expectations are the basic foundations. Area of expertise/specialisation needs to be considered.
"I- I can't... read that..." Naruto squinted harder until he felt his head starting to throb and heat up. "Oh, seduction? I can do that!"
Shizune face palmed.
Tsunade had a different reaction. "Listen. I know I can fool around a lot but you saw what happened back then. This is serious training and we aren't going to fool around like some porn-writing, sleazy pervert would."
("What?"
"Don't ask." Shizune patted Naruto's arm.)
"Let me be honest with you, Naruto." Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "You're a hundred steps behind step one."
The solemness of her voice froze their surroundings.
"Lemme tell you something then, Baa-chan." Naruto grinned back challengingly and the heat of it thawed the atmosphere. "I'll work hard enough for a thousand people."
The instinctive reply made Tsunade chuckle.
"Ok brat. I believe in you but you must also believe in me. To even reach the beginning of the path I walk on, you'll have to go through hell and back. I'll make it fun and interesting but that doesn't mean it'll be any less painful. If you can get through it though, you'll understand 'power' like never before."
"That's-" His grin widened, "-exactly what I'm looking forward to, dattebayo!"
Day 2
"You should realise by now how impossible the goals I set for you are." Tsunade tapped a finger on the boy's forehead. "And no, that wasn't insulting you. The first lesson I'm going to teach you is this: your pride means nothing until you can back it up with your strength. And I'm talking Hokage level strength. Like me."
For once, Naruto didn't talk back, clamping his mouth shut when he saw the commanding fire in her eyes. Tsunade just had a presence that made Naruto stop acting like he usually did.
"I don't know what fairy tales feed you but pride. Does. Not. Matter." She bit out. "I cannot stress this too much. As soon as you're out of a league- whether psychologically, physically or spiritually- drop out. Even Elite shinobi don't fight for their pride- ignore whatever you've heard from Sarutobi. Pride can lead to impulsiveness which can lead to other people- not just shinobi- to their deaths. Or worse, to their captures."
"And captures," Shizune inputs, "means being used as a hostage or a source of information. Enemies would use any means possible to get the most use out of a captive- and I mean, any means possible. Shinobi are supposedly emotionless tools and many are taught how to suppress their morals in order to get to their goal."
"That's why if your enemy is stronger than you, they won't care if you have a tragic past or a crippling disability. They won't care if you've worked your arse off for this single moment or fight. They won't care about any of that. On the off chance that they do, it's probably because they aren't either a) a real enemy, or b) a strong enemy. But then there's a possibility that the enemy is an-" Tsunade's eyes turned dark as she remembered the three Ame orphans- what were they doing now? Didn't one die or something? "-unprofessional shinobi who acts upon emotion. Examples would be outcasts, orphans- particularly war orphans, or avengers etc. Survivors- you could name them- are the strongest kind of fighters."
"Survivors." Naruto echoed with brows furrowed in deep thought. There were many things he wanted to protest against but this woman was strong and experienced like Hokage-jiji. She was more honest than Hokage-jiji as well so Naruto didn't want to push his luck by defying her words. "Why survivors though? It can't be because they're... full of anger or hate." 'Like I am.' was a phrase left unsaid.
"Yes, you're actually right as sad as it is. They don't even have to be shinobi or anything. Survivors either from conflict and battle or from situations like..." Tsunade gave him a pointed look, "like yours. They're all strong in different sorts of ways, whether in the head-"
She tapped a finger on Naruto's chest, "-in the heart, or in the body. Some survivors grow up with a lot of malicious energy and it eventually forms into a wrong kind of strength but they become powerful no less. They are unprofessional because their skills would be rooted off emotion and as soon as someone hits a sore point, they'll blow up or snap. To many people, 'survivors' are the strongest, most unpredictable foes and lots of people hate fighting against them but you..."
She gave him an unexplainable grin, "...I'm not too sure about you. That's why I picked you, ya know?"
The Sannin gave a helpless sort of smile, "I'm not glorifying what you had been going through but survivors just have a different potential, path and journey. They have a different look in their eyes to mere outsiders. Survivors who grow under professional tutelage are perhaps one of the strongest kinds. All those instincts they honed through experience could be filtered through to what many consider 'overpowered'."
"Are you a survivor too then?" Naruto glanced up at them with wide eyes. "Cuz you're so strong-ttebayo."
She stopped herself. "Well, yeah. I guess. Any shinobi you see that look around the age of 30 or older have probably been through shitty things-" "-Please do not swear, Tsunade-sama-" "-I'm getting off topic. I'll make time to explain exactly what I feel about all that and I'll also rant about Konoha and your ex-class but for now, we're talking about your pride and why you should keep it stored away- not thrown out, but stored away from when the time calls."
"Naruto," Shizune piped in again when she saw the confused and conflicted expression on his face. "Many people are put into a situation where they'd have to suffer horrible humiliation and dishonour to get to their goal. The only exception is Clan and Village affairs but that's getting into politics and we'll discuss that later. This is why Tsunade-sama left the entire 'psychology' section blank for proficiency levels- like how good you are at something."
She pointed at a small section of neat cursive and waited for him to nod. "She did that because these kind of things aren't usually understood by the younger generations. Being a shinobi rarely means coolly defeating the guards and sneaking into a bedroom. It's usually much dirtier and grittier. The few times that 'cool' method succeeds, it's used as a propaganda story."
"Propoganga? Like... 'Oh look here, us shinobi are so honourable and cool!'... right?" Naruto furrowed his brows, he thinks he'd heard of something like that before... somewhere.
Oh right. Teuchi had once told him about it but Naruto hadn't listened. It wasn't his fault though; the pork broth ramen was just that heavenly.
"Right. And it's propaganda- when people give wrong information to make one opinion look good or bad... kinda." Tsunade's eyes then widened in shock. "I'm glad you aren't being difficult about this."
"Hey!"
"It was a compliment, Naruto." Shizune laughed. "Many students at this point would say something about being a 'handsome hero' or a 'sexy kunoichi'."
"Oops," He admitted because maybe if he was feeling a little less muted, he'd yell about the same thing.
"Haha, it's like that with many things, Naruto. You should understand that the role of Hokage isn't just to be an intimidating looking figure head. The Hokage is meant to be the 'shadow' of the Fire Daimyo but many Villagers forget that. They think that Kages are like superheroes who managed to blitz their way up to success. Many Villagers forget that each of those leaders had to scrape their way up in disgraceful ways. It is simply the truth that we won't hide from you. This is something you must understand before you begin to train."
"I understand," He frowned, "As much as I... want to-" He cringed, "-deny it."
Naruto had been on both sides of Konoha. He knows that under the masks of the 'tree ninja' were blank, desensitised faces- they never covered their hair so sometimes he'd recognise a few of them when they were off 'duty'. They all had a look to them that screamed 'I've been through blood and death and more than any of you would'.
He understands this because of the scar on Iruka-sensei's face and the many orphaned children who seemed to glare at him harder than the rest. It was only now that he knew that they were probably orphans because of him.
('What do you mean? It's not our fault.')
"But while many need to completely cast away their pride and mental blah blah to quickly achieve their goals, you can skip right past that because of your cheat code..." Tsunade gave a mock drum roll, "You have Kage Bunshin and shits amount of chakra! And using THAT, you actually have the chance to get to those 'impossible goals'."
Naruto's mouth was slightly agape as he processed all the information given, his other thoughts quickly shoved aside for later sorting. "How's my Bunshin a cheat code?"
"How many Kage Bunshin can you make?" Tsunade asked in lieu of replying.
"I haven't tried how many but I know they're definitely more-er and better than the Academy normal Bunshin-ttebayo." Naruto stood up, eyeing the grass clearing before he brought his hands up in a seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Suddenly, all they could see was orange.
"Ah! My eyes!" Shizune screeched while Tsunade was stroking her chin, fascinated. She walked a few paces away until she was out of sight from the original. She then turned to one of the Bunshin and flicked his nose hard enough to make him pop out of existence.
"Ow!" The original yelped before Naruto took his hand away from where it had rubbed his nose. "Huh?"
"How did I just dispel your Kage Bunshin, Naruto?"
"You flicked my nose! Again-ttebayo!"
A smirk stretched across Tsunade's face as a realisation dawned upon her. "I knew it."
"Huh, you know what-ttebayo?"
"By the end of the day, you're gonna be able to walk on water." Tsunade dramatically pointed to the boy.
"Walk on- on water? That's impossible-ttebayo!"
"Right now there's about hmm..." Tsunade gave a cursory glance around the area before the Sannin let out a sharp heave, twisting her body with an arm swinging into the air. A blast of wind cracked forward from her limb and the Bunshin all dispelled from the shockwave. "...Two hundred plus?" She whistled. "How much chakra left?"
"Uh, a lot?" Naruto scratched his cheek. "That was like, a third-maybe-fourth-ish out of all my catra-ish? Datteba-ish?"
"Chakra, you mean. Anyway, I'll explain why your Kage Bunshin is a cheat code soon. Hmm, ok." Tsunade beckoned to Shizune who brought out a clip board, scribbling down her words. "I'll get you to summon one to work advanced chakra control with me, one with Shizune to start on all the essentials- sorry, Shizune, you're playing nanny- and the original with me for evaluation. After the explanations, I'll get your Bunshin to summon more. We'll see how the technique affects you and then we'll tweak the schedule around a bit."
"Uhh, ok, I got it dattebayo. Wait... there was two you's in that though."
Tsunade wordlessly brought her hand up in a seal and another one of her poof-ed into existence. "I copied it." She spelled out for him. "The forbidden scroll had, basically, the easy, 'shortcut' way of doing the Kage Bunshin. And I copied it."
"Wow." Naruto nodded. "Baa-chan is impressive."
"Yeah," She nodded back. "I know right; I'm amazing. But you are correct: not many people can use the Kage Bunshin- mostly only Jonin or above. Shizune would be able to do it easy but there'd be no point because not everyone has as much chakra as you do. I have a lot of chakra compared to ordinary people- even when half of it powers my appearance and my Byakugo- but not much compared to how much you'll have when you're older or Jii-sama."
"Woah-ttebayo... I'll have more catr- cha-kurah than YOU?"
"Brat," Tsunade huffed. "Right now you have, what, double- triple times the amount of chakra a Jonin would have. I could argue it's probably more."
"...Wow, so I'm like super amazing then?"
"Only if you can control it properly."
"Uh- ahem. Yeah. Yeah. Control, mhm. ...And who's your 'Jii-sama'?"
"Maa," Shizune waved a hand. "That's my job. I'll be giving you the answers to all those little questions. And it's chakra. Cha-kra."
"Shizune, life saver as always." Tsunade gave her a thumbs up. "I'll also have you to work on advancing the Kage Bunshin after we finish the evaluation. I want you to eventually get it down to no hand seals, no noise, no visual indication- like the poof of cloud, and basically- I want you to be able to summon a Kage Bunshin as easily as you can blink."
"No way... That's fucking insane-ttebayo."
"-Don't swear, Naruto-" Shizune hissed.
"It's just day one and it's gonna get harder from here onwards." The Sannin smiled like a predator with her glistening teeth and sharp eyes. "You complaining?"
"Hell no!"
"And one more thing, Naruto."
"Huh?"
"Unless you have my say so, don't summon over two hundred Kage Bunshin in a single sitting. If you ever get a headache or feel tired, tell me immediately. I still don't fully understand the effects of the Jutsu but it was forbidden for a reason more than simply chakra drainage so be careful. I-" She sighed.
"I feel like I'm asking for so much but I'll just summarise it into these three promises: Don't lie to me. Trust in me to listen to you. And listen to me when I'm being serious."
"Hm?" Naruto gave her a strange look, more than hundreds of thoughts flying through his mind. "Yeah yeah, of course."
"Not that. I need your word."
...Naruto felt like the last dredges of his trust was being held up by a single thread.
Lying. Trusting. Listening. The three things Naruto seemed to be the best and worst at.
Naruto feels like he's handing out his trust way too easily; if Tsunade cuts that single thread, he wouldn't be able to-
But what did he have to lose?
Tsunade is a woman that Naruto can't- for his life- comprehend.
Why is she so honest? Why doesn't she hate him? Why is she so- Well, Naruto wouldn't say that she's nice because Tsunade could be a nagging, pushing grouch but he would take any number of her ear-grating, irritated screeches over a Villager's single, inaudible whisper.
('You're still a fool.')
Naruto was already grateful with someone to talk to him- actually talk to him. Naruto was already so grateful that she first looked at him in the eyes like a stranger would at another stranger. A tad of curiosity, a bit of wariness and absolutely no prejudice. Naruto was grateful that they first met each other 'stranger to stranger', instead of 'person to orphan' or 'person to monster' or 'person to trash'.
('How low are your standards? How easy are you to please?')
And because Naruto is grateful, he thinks he'll be able to go on without regrets if this mean, annoying, loud and rude woman ever decides to cut that thin thread of his trust.
Because surely someone as kind, honest, brave and estimable as her wouldn't betray someone without a reason.
('Headstrong, positive, persistent... I hate that about you.')
Tsunade hadn't let him down so far- in fact, she's surpassed anything Naruto would've ever expected.
('Do you ever learn your lesson?')
Naruto didn't know why he felt vulnerable (but in a nice sort of way) when he said: "...You have my word." He beamed, "And I never go back on my word, Baa-chan!"
('Why are you trusting her? Do you want to get hurt again?' The voice was furious and for once Naruto didn't feel scared of it. Naruto felt scared for it.)
"Good." The kunoichi reciprocated the gesture, eyes crinkling. "Because I would feel like crap if my precious student got hurt because of my incompetence. I do that kinda stuff to make sure you're in the best environment possible."
-Because clearly that voice inside his head didn't have someone like Tsunade.
"Now," The Sannin clapped her hands, "Let's get started!"
Notes:
# grammar went out of the window.
psychology and tactics (if u read the list, that is -u didnt have to, its super long and boring-) is 'uncertain' cuz naruto is unpredictable as fuck and has unholy shits of luck on his side sooo
also, the reason why naruto was so quiet is cuz tsunade has his 'respect' and since she's good at (assumed) commanding shit and ordering around blah blah, she could probably put naruto under control in a non-repressive way.
in canon (i assume), naruto was only so rude cuz tsunade was drinking and insulting left and right with no real motive. by the time she 'redeemed' herself, they had already gotten close.
naruto (in my fic) currently holds tsunade on a pedestal cuz he thinks she's invincible. (he doesn't know she's afraid of blood.) so her word is basically unmoveable (to him.)i mean, in my fic, i legit dumped her in the academy to acknowledge him, save him, reassure him, befriend him, train him and understand him all at once. tsunade's strong, looks badass, acts badass and IS badass.
ofc naruto aint gonna bullshit what she says.
"" -full of anger or hate." 'Like I am.' was a phrase left unsaid. "" also, this quote means that in the PRESENT, naruto is 'full of hate'. this doesn't necessarily mean in the future, he'll become a dark, wrathful anbu or whatever. everyone really gon think his hatred went bye bye in a single second? that resulted into it being pent up into yami naruto (who is featured in this story a lot btw). so yeah, it'll be explained.
also, when tsunade's talking about 'casting away pride' i mean to say shit like sasuke WILLING to give up his body as long as itachi is killed. im talking abt shit like danzo wanting to ASSASSINATE sarutobi to get his hokage spot. and shit like (going to another anime) zoro going on his hands and knees to get mihawk to train him. that sort of 'pride' shit.
*why naruto's gonna be op will be explained next chapter notes* if u dont care, uh, ignore this?
**Namikaze = wavewind** literally. after further investigation and some hardcore detective work, i determined that minato might have suiton as main and fuuton as secondary. he can probably use all the elements tho.
in my fic, namikaze is a civilian branch of some other main clan.
*argh i forgot how much chakra kid naruto had but im just winging it now. shippuden said naruto had 4 times if not for the kyuubi. but kakashi should have more chakra than most jonin... so went with three times the amount of a normal jonin???*
last edit: sighs. why do i get annoying amounts of nervousness right before i post? sighs again. ITS BEEN HAPPENING SO MUCH LATELY GOSH WHY CANT I POST IN PEACE??? I NEVER POST ON TIME ANYMORE CUZ OF THIS. sighs again.
ignore the author and thanks for reading <33
Chapter 13: II. a hundred steps behind 'step one'
Notes:
just saying, povs don't exist in this chapter omg. there's legit five hundred pov changes in each section..
edit: ive just gotten holy informal with how i'm starting to write.
Chapter Text
"This-" Tsunade beckoned around them, "This is our 'safe zone'. When us three are together like this- all alone- we're safe. That means no need for yelling or faking emotions- I'd be able to figure out when you're lying anyway."
"Safe zone?" Naruto repeated.
"Safe zone." Shizune confirmed. "In other words, when we're in the safe zone, you act, speak, and live like how you want to."
Day 2
-Essentials-
"Now then, can you read?" Shizune pointed at a child's picture novel. Naruto instantly bristled before remembering Tsunade's three promises. With a sigh, he concentrated on the text in front of him with an open-mouthed: "Uhhhh."
"The duck." He paused, "Swam." He paused again, searching the page for more words when none came up. "What the hell, Shizune-san? I'm not stupid-ttebayo!"
"Illiteracy doesn't mean stupidity." She said with a pressing tone. "Sight, brain activity, visual reaction etc. There's lots of factors in literacy. The big one being... whether or not someone took the time to teach you." Shizune stared at him hard before she sighed. "You can call me Shizune-nanny cuz I'm literally going to teach you everything from infant to Chuunin."
"...Everything?"
"Everything."
A sheet of paper was placed in front of him with barely noticeable outlines for the hiragana and katakana characters.
"Now, remember what Tsunade-sama-" She made an angry noise, "-illegally did with the Scroll of Seals? After Tsunade-sama finishes helping your basic chakra controls skills, I'll get you to do it with this sheet of paper."
"Ok-ttebayo. Wait... hold on a second, how many pieces of paper will I need to write out?" He gaped at her.
"You make it sound so bad; once I get you into the right 'mode' it won't be as boring as the Academy probably made it seem. First watch this; it's one of the most basic but most important Bunshin technique to use. It's not as hard as it looks."
"I don't know, Shizune-san." He squinted down at the paper before glancing back up at her. "I suck at the normal kinda Bunshin-ttebayo."
"This is different so don't worry. And you know the 'normal' Bunshin technique used to create illusions are practically useless, right?" She reassured him with a laugh. "I'm sure you've seen people do this with other objects like shuriken or whatever but you could say they're 'Kage Bunshins' of an object."
"Which means-" Naruto slammed a fist onto his open palm, "-I should be able to do it dattebayo!"
"You'll definitely be able to do it. I'll teach you the proper method to do the steps. How you do it is actually very easy." Shizune placed a finger onto the sheet, "You need to touch what you want to 'analyse'. And then you gather a bit of chakra in your hands and then push it into the paper."
The sheet stiffened minutely, a slight ripple within it.
"Usually, people don't do this step and just copy based on what they see." Shizune lectured, unoccupied hand on her hip. "But what's bad about that?"
"Um. Uh- What?"
"Ok ok," Shizune repeated after a slight pause. "You have a box and inside that box, there are many different kinds of chocolates. You want to make an exact copy of that box. Based on what you can see, would you be able to copy it properly?"
"No." Naruto stroked his chin as he declared with a victorious voice. "Because you don't know what flavours the chocolates are!"
"Right." The Jonin beamed. "That's why you get your chakra and use a mini 'sensing' technique. ...Can you use Kawarimi no Jutsu?"
"Of course I can." He rolled his eyes. "The Academy 3 are easy peasy except for the Bunshin one."
Shizune chuckled, "Tsunade-sama snagged up a talented one then! Well, when you Kawarimi with something, how do you 'find' what to swap with?"
She waited patiently as the boy fumbled with his words, "Uhhhhh, I just know?" He grimaced. "...That was a bad answer, wasn't it?"
"No no, you're actually spot on!" Shizune gave a thumbs up. "It's the same with this. Your chakra tells you everything you need to know. You 'analyse' the object by running your chakra through it and then-" She lifted up her hand and placed it to the table. "And then you let your chakra do its thing and create-" A small poof of smoke. "-a Bunshin out of it." An exact copy of the paper appeared under her palm.
"Woww, and you can do this with anything? Even ramen coupons-ttebayo?"
Shizune opened her mouth then clicked it shut, "Um- well, yes, I guess? Tsunade-sama sometimes cheats by making Bunshin out of money but that's actually against the law so..."
She placed her hand back down and an entire pile of papers materialised under her hand. "Anyway, summon a Bunshin for each of these papers to copy out the words. It has to be neat by the way, otherwise we'll never get to the next step."
He stifled a groan of annoyance; this was his worst ever!
"What's the next step?" Naruto asked instead of complaining.
"Advanced art and Fuuinjutsu." Shizune gave him a wink. "Just remember not to rush and try to think of it as relaxing drawings or something."
"Easier said than done, Shizune-san." He groaned, already bored. "Just staring at the paper gives me a headache dattebayo." Nevertheless, he brought his hands up in a seal and a line of reluctant Naruto's each grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil.
"I'll tell you a story while you write. That'll make it a bit less monotonous... I think. Remember what I said about chakra telling you everything you need to know? Well, there's this technique called the 'Kagura Shingan'. Only some people within a certain Clan can do this technique because you need a lot of chakra for it. And I mean as much chakra as you do. You also need enough control to throw out that chakra. Your chakra then tells you everything about what's there and that's why it's named the most absolute technique for sensing."
"Would I be able to do it-ttebayo?" Naruto absentmindedly said as he stared at the end of the pencil handed to him. The other Naruto's were listening, stretching, getting dizzy from the paper and- was one of them sleeping? Already? "But what is that Clan anyway-ttebayo? I thought Clan stuff was all about fancy pants eyes and stuff."
Shizune gave a small, mirthful smile. "You aren't wrong about that. Many Clans have Kekkei Genkai powers and in Konoha, most of the time, it's a Dojutsu. And you would certainly be able to do this technique because this Clan is..."
She hesitated, wondering whether or not she would reveal such a thing already. "Well, I'm here for all the essentials so I guess you'll get an entire session on who that Clan is exactly and I can assure you you will be interested-"
'Bah! Who cares anymore!' Shizune inwardly groaned. 'Tsunade-sama already screwed up so much so why do I need to stay nice and obedient?'
"...I will give you the answers you want so don't panic when I say: today, I will be telling you about the heritage of the Uzumaki Clan."
Tsunade/Shizune private notes:
- Constant reassurance is needed
- Novice in nearly all academic subjects
-Meanwhile: Chakra control-
"I'm not going to run you through the normal routine for chakra control." Tsunade warned. "But I'll give you a feeling of what it's meant to be like." With ease, she strolled up a nearby tree, chakra planting her feet to the bark while Naruto- head tilted sideways in bafflement- gaped up at her. She jumped down, "Now you try."
She leaned back slightly, crossing her arms as she watched the boy back up and sprint towards the trunk. Tsunade tsked. A strategy to use momentum never worked with control.
Naruto dropped on the second and a half step.
"Ok ok ok," She pulled him away from the tree when he went to start again. Tsunade beckoned for Naruto to sit down cross legged. "I told you I wasn't going to do it that way, right?"
She prodded at his position before she nodded in confirmation. "There's no point in doing that exercise; it gives you a process that's too goal-orientated and you can't even apply the control technique to other Jutsus. The practice actually cuts so many corners and it isn't even the best way to harness chakra! All the Senseis need to do is stand around and wait for their students to figure it out and most of the time, that technique is bullshi-..." She stopped her rant with a clearing of her throat.
Naruto thinks she definitely has a personal grudge against the tree walking thing.
"And... actually, yeah. Just don't do it. You can try it again next week or something to see your progress but otherwise there's no point. I'll give you a better routine that makes you truly understand chakra."
Naruto bit his tongue when he felt his brain automatically order himself to spit out a: "Of course, that'll be easy peasy!"
"Close your eyes and concentrate in your lower abdomen." Her voice was different- mechanical but almost soothing. "Relax and try and catch some energy moving in your system."
He scrunched up his eyes as he tried to feel...
Nah, he's pretty sure that was just yesterday's dinner. It was a healthy one with vegetables but for some reason, it actually didn't taste that bad!
"Focus." Tsunade said.
Oops.
He focused. Trying to feel whatever was definitely not there because there was nothing there, what the heck.
A warm hand touched his own, a foreign, tingly energy threading through his hands. Naruto resisted to jump up in shock because he could feel that energy filtering through his veins-
"That's your chakra network."
Oh oops. Meh, network, veins, same thing.
"Focus." She repeated. "Relax."
When Naruto forced himself not to tense, he felt a ripple of... something- in his stomach. It felt unexpected- like the feeling of sudden rainfall on sunny days. A tad too warm for the usual rain and a bit too forceful for simply drizzle. His eyes blew open at the sort-of-familiar feeling, "Oh hey! I think I found my thingymabobbo. What the heck was that-ttebayo? Catka- I mean, chaka?"
"That was your chakra." Tsunade's voice sounded mirthful. "Focus again and try to draw a little bit out into your hands."
Latching onto the energy- it was easier than before- he gave it a little nudge. Frowning when nothing happened, he pulled on it a little more. ...Then a little harder...
Nothing.
It was like trying to pull an egg out from the neck of a deflated balloon.
Feeling increasingly irritated, he gave it a vicious yank and almost got a heart attack as an explosion of energy ripped from his upturned palms, projecting him into the air as he winced, skin peeling and burning slightly from the harsh energy. He reflexively twisted himself mid-air to land on all fours.
Then he groaned, a hand slapping his skull. Tsunade released a tiny snort.
The ground beneath him had cracked haphazardly and when he gave a yelp of pain at his stinging hands, the Sannin's eyes snapped to them. Naruto glanced down at the bright red skin.
It was like the egg exploded onto his face.
"Yeah, it seems impossible, doesn't it? And that wasn't even 'step one' to the exercise I'll have you doing." She gestured to him, "Kage Bunshin is also your impossible cheat code so you'll manage. Come here for a sec, I'll take a look at your hands."
Wordlessly following her gestures, he let her prod at his hands, feeling slightly confused and flustered as to why someone was paying so close attention to his injuries. It would heal in a minute anyway. It wasn't that big of a deal!
But he couldn't deny that he liked the feeling of tingly chatka fixing up his hands. It was like cool river water except it wasn't, well, water. It made his skin do a wearing thing where it twisted and attached itself back together like watching a rewound video clip.
"Hm." She put his hand down. "Interesting. I'll need to take note on your healing rate as well."
The woman then brought out another scroll, unrolling it and slamming a palm onto it.
An empty tub was placed in front of him. Then another tub beside it.
Tsunade flicked through quick hand seals and then one tub was sloshing with water filled to half way. Naruto rubbed at his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
Naruto stared dumbly as she made another few hands seals- another dozen copies of the set up was shown across the area. He had never felt so un-shinobi like in his life before. Was that even possible? How much ramen could he eat if he learnt that technique?
"Summon fifty Bunshin to do what I told you to do. Try and concentrate on your chakra, manoeuvre it into the water, use your chakra in the water to lift it up then dump it into the other tub without it spilling. I'm 90% sure Suiton is actually your second Nature element but it's better for Iryo Ninjutsu and it'll enhance your overall skills anyway. Chop chop. I made it a bit easier because that water is made from chakra. After you master this, you'll move onto real water."
"Huh." I'll ace this in one go-ttebayo! "Baa-chan I totally didn't get that."
"Hmmm, I'll give a demonstration then while you're suffering, I'll explain it again." She pulled him to sit down again. Tsunade flicked two fingers and a string of water was raised, twisting and turning like a live snake.
"What the fu- heck?" Naruto gaped, feeling even less like a shinobi. "Are you a magician, dattebayo? That's impossible!"
"Kage Bunshin is also your impossible cheat code."
"You said that before already."
"I know I did."
By the end of the first hour, Naruto managed to meditate and channel chakra in the most effective way possible. Even though Tsunade had praised him, saying that this technique was the most time costing and would usually take ages, he still felt exhausted and frustrated. One entire friggin' hour of sitting! His butt hurt!
By the end of the next hour, he could shift the water.
Naruto looked heavenward when he finally managed to lift up the contents of the tub-... Before his control slipped and the water crashed back down, splashing up into his face.
"Damn it all-ttebayo!"
"Giving up?"
"Never!"
Tsunade/Shizune private notes:
- Surprisingly, Naruto has the patience of a saint given proper motivation
- Prodigious amounts of progress (in chakra control) when taking in consideration the amount of chakra he has
- The more Kage Bunshins he creates, the easier it is for him to control chakra. Consider: chakra limiters/suppressant/seals etc.
-Evaluation-
"Come at me."
Naruto had the gut feeling that he'd been doing a lot of dumb staring lately as he looked at the woman who was boredly standing with arms crossed.
"Come at me with the intent to- well, come at me with any intent. Try to befriend me, interrogate me, intimidate me, seduce me-" "-ewwww, but I'm a pro so 'm not complaining-" "kill me, defeat me, steal from me, capture me... blah blah blah. Just try everything and anything. Don't limit yourself to just Bunshin, you can use time to set up any traps, which are pranks by the way, or whatever blah blah. I'll attack you after two hours. You have the entirety of today to try anything you want."
Naruto gulped, suddenly feeling way more nervous than he ought to be.
"Ready... timer starts... NOW!"
Tsunade/Shizune private notes:
- Ridiculous levels +: Stamina (if used efficiently), recovery rate, chakra capacity
- Chuunin level +: Reflexes/instincts and sensing, strategy (unpredictability), manipulation*, resistance
- Genin: Taijutsu, Bukijutsu
- Below novice level: Stances (all of them), agility (surprisingly) (failure in applying his natural agility into fighting), chakra control (wasteful), all Elemental Ninjutsu and Shape Transformation, Genjutsu, emotional manipulation resistance (too gullible with Tsunade; may be different with real enemies)
- No signs of special techniques
-
*'Oiroke no Jutsu' is an original Jutsu and is actually transformed purely from chakra not unlike Kage Bunshin. Naruto needs to be educated about using the female body for distraction purposes. Is he too young for that? In wartimes, even seven year olds went on honeypot missions. May want to research about the standards nowadays. The technique has been reported to have been extremely effective.
Lying/acting skills are amazing. (Managed to fool me into thinking he was exhausted/finished = takes advantage of his own weaknesses)
-
Kage Bunshin: Naruto claims that he's 'not used' to the backlashes of Kage Bunshin but would 'be fine'. Be aware of potential psychological backlashes (his maturity may grow too quickly).
Naruto still has chakra left after all that. Ridiculous. Both recovery rate and capacity are off the scales.
Work on: basic/proper foundations, improve flexibility/agility. Brute/raw strength is decent (consider introducing Nintaijutsu). Overextends too much. Work from there.
*Three years is a short time. Don't expect too much. Don't push too much. Be aware of psychological influencers.*
Note: I've had enough orange for my entire life. Please consider a shopping trip - Shizune
Chapter 14: III. a hundred steps behind 'step one'
Summary:
notes:
- Day 3
- Day 20
- Day 32 (Konoha)
Notes:
*obviously, this is in SOME sort of timeline (as fucked up as it is) so every time i go to konoha, it's BEFORE iruka and sarutobi find out that tsunade left with naruto.
they found out that naruto left on DAY 31*
edit: you might've noticed that i've taken out the 'names' of characters in every pov.
for example: in naruto's pov he doesn't call tsunade 'tsunade-baachan' or iruka 'iruka-sensei' even tho he would if he was actively talking.
this is cuz i ...cant be bothered changing my writing style again. it's lowkey a pain to right -san, -sama, -baachan, -sensei to everything; if i want to change something or someone who's talking, i'd needa change that as well. it's SMALL AND PETTY but ...i'd have to go back and rewrite all the characters urghh. # lazy author
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Day 3
-Essentials-
"I'm sorry-ttebayo?" He crossed his arms and raised a brow. "Did you just tell me Tsunade-baachan told you to give me ballet lessons?"
"Of course that's how you interpreted it." Shizune shook her head. "Your balance, flexibility and agility. I'll be touching up all those little things that will help your foundation... unless you want more writing lessons?"
Even though she said that, Shizune had gotten all the other Naruto Kage Bunshins to study with a barely powered Shizune-Bunshin supervising them anyway.
Naruto gave an instinctive shiver before he paused- "It actually wasn't that bad-ttebayo. It was like drawing... ish. And what you said about my... Clan was um... interesting, I guess..."
Shizune paused, bracing herself for the question about his parents. Although his features didn't outwardly change, she could sense the barely suppressed curiosity radiating from the boy. ...But the question never came.
"So anyway, didntcha say that we're doing um whatsitmacallit? Chogegrophacy?"
"Choreography." Shizune corrected with a smile. "And Tsunade-sama meant that as in planning out your katas and moving around everything so that it suits you. Not really dancing. But you'll actually be doing similar training to those who practise ballet."
Naruto sputtered.
"In shinobi terms." Shizune deadpanned. "Flexibility speaks for itself. Leaping translates to jumping and landing. Spinning and other similar movements are testing your vertigo and spatial awareness. Dancers need to be beautiful and light. Similarly, shinobi need to be elegant, graceful and stealthy. Quick feet, precise bodily control blah blah. Do you want me to go on?"
"So we aren't actually dancing." He confirmed with a suspicious tone.
Shizune pressed her lips together. "No, but you ask again and I'll get Tsunade-sama to enter you in a dance lesson."
"Shizune-san, you wouldn't dattebayo." Naruto blinked up and her with a smile. "I'm your favourite."
For the dozenth time, Shizune spun the boy around like a spinning top before halting him with a hand on top of his head, calling out: "What direction is the sun?"
"South!" Naruto woozily screamed, pointing at the ground as he toppled over, rolling to his feet just in time to avoid Shizune's foot aiming for his gut. He tripped over his knee and somehow got his head lodged in the crook of his elbow as he stumbled away from the hail of blunted kunai and shuriken aimed his way. Naruto gave a sigh of relief as he managed to evade the attack. Scrambling to his feet, he bumped into Shizune who was standing in front of him.
She was holding his wrist with a smile on his face.
"Oh no..." He breathed before the grip on his wrist tightened.
"Safe landing!" She hollered as she lobbed him over her head.
"Nrggh-aHHH-" Naruto screeched as Shizune shoved his back down a little more. He was in a seated straddle stretch and it was five minutes into the last part of the lesson- the first parts had been bearable in comparison to this. Balancing and dodging stuff, weird stretches and repeated movements... But this. Oh no. Oh god. Oh not this.
He decided that he'd much rather write the hiragana chart a thousand times over.
"I-thought-I-was-your-favourite-why-are-you-killing-me-Shizune-sa-AHHHH-"
"Naw, don't be a baby." Shizune released the hand pressing him down and took a few steps away, shaking her head when Naruto immediately curled into a foetal position. He clasped his hands together with a breath of- 'I thought I was going to lose my legs-ttebayo'.
She waved a bit to catch his attention before she put her leg onto a rock, sliding into an oversplit until Naruto winced and slapped his hands over his eyes. "Yooowch. Shizune-san, what."
Shizune rolled her eyes as she pulled herself up. "Tsunade-sama used to gag me and force my legs into a split. I think I had almost tore a muscle or two." She laughed when Naruto gave a shiver and clamped his mouth shut. "Obviously, overplits are extra and I won't make you do them. You just need to have strong enough hips and be flexible enough so that you don't strain something when you deliver attacks."
She then picked up the fairly heavy and large looking rock and threw it into the air, almost vertically above herself. Centring herself, the Jonin's leg shot upward into a side split kick and the rock all but disintegrated into little pieces. Shizune batted away the remaining shards as they fell back down towards her.
"Attacks like that." She nodded at the openly gaping boy. "You should appreciate how much more lenient I am compared to Tsunade-sama in these areas."
Naruto violently flinched, shuddering as he remembered Shizune's legs stretching so far. It just couldn't be humanly possible!
"You are my favourite, Naruto. That's why I'm going to do it the nicest way-"
Then that smile. Naruto will soon come to learn to hate that sweet, angelic smile on Shizune's face.
"-The easiest way." Shizune winked at him. "Believe it."
T/S priv notes:
- Symptoms of ADHD or other detected (in both the main body and the Bunshin). Hyperactivity, urges to interrupt or hurry along things, restlessness, impulsiveness, attention difficulty.
Naruto is forcibly trying to quell them. However, it limits his potential in studying as most of his energy is wasted on trying to focus. Probably a kinaesthetic learner. Adjust lesson plans.
- Naruto is young and therefore has a rather malleable physique. Flexibility is going along fine.
His balance is atrocious and he is fairly awkward and sometimes clumsy (there are hints of wrong techniques and bad habits in his movements).
But on the other hand, on reflex, his balance and agility are heightened subconsciously. His spatial awareness is above average for a student (a skill probably honed from running from shinobi).
-Chakra control-
"What did Shizune do to you?" Tsunade shook with mirth as the two Kage Bunshin dumped Naruto onto the grass in front of him.
"Sh- She-devil..." He gurgled.
"I'm so glad that I don't get the physical ouchness of that dattebayo. Haha." The first Bunshin gave a curt laugh.
"You still get the trauma." The second Bunshin pointed out, jabbing the first in the ribs. "Don't be mean to Boss." He glanced backwards from where he came from before violently shivering. "I can still feel the phantom pain-ttebayo."
"We're made of chakra." The first Bunshin mentioned, informing all of them with a technicality they never knew existed. "We don't actually feel pain because our bodies are just chakra- there aren't pain retr- recke- recept- reket-... pain-ding-a-ling-alarms unless Boss actually tries to focus and make a real person-ttebayo. We just run out of chakra when we get damaged and our minds make us think we're hurt. Boss wasn't really focusing just then when we were created and made the Bunshin he usually creates. If he was to focus now and make a Bunshin, that Bunshin would also have all the physical ouchness that Boss has because he'd think his clones are also hurt. Or something dattebayo, I don't know."
"I-" Tsunade stared hard at the two Bunshin, thousands of new ideas blooming into her mind. "Ok then why do you understand that?"
The first Bunshin shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "I dunno, Baa-chan, I just do?"
"We're dismissed. I think." The second Bunshin snapped a salute. "Have fun with Boss dattebayo! I'm going back to draw words. Bunshin point one, come and draw words with me."
"What is this-ttebayo?" Naruto looked dully at the water which hung in the air after his first attempt. "Why is this so easy, Baa-chan? And I had to struggle so much yesterday as well dattebayo!"
He was still half-lying, half-sitting on the floor and his entire body was slowly becoming more sore as they caught up with Shizune's strange exercises of doing a handstand (and crashing onto his head) and dodging random senbon being hurtled at him (and having to trip over his feet several times).
But despite all his mess, the chakra control came easier to him.
Tsunade gave a low whistle, dragging him up by his shoulders and thus making him drop the water. "I can't believe you, Naruto. Your chakra actually got stimulated after Shizune's session because it tried to help you complete the activities."
"Then why did I suck at those activities-ttebayo?" Naruto droned, remembering back to his stumbling.
"Because chakra can't really help you in that sense. Chakra can't really help you get more flexible or agile." Tsunade easily answered. "And now, it's still hovering all over the place, trying to heal your body when your body technically doesn't need much healing. Nothing's broken and nothing's bleeding but all your bones and muscles have been stretched rather harshly. And because your chakra is all over the place, it's saturating everything that's around it."
"Which means?"
"Which means I just realised you can technically master any element you want granted you have enough chakra." Tsunade leaned back, linking her fingers together behind her head. "It's completely insane. It's so obvious yet I hadn't even thought about it because it was so insane."
"So what, Baa-chan?"
"You know how I said that I would get you to 'use' your chakra to move the water?" Tsunade waited for Naruto to nod. "But because you have so much chakra, you can shove it all into the water until your chakra takes over the water and then it's easy peasy to control. You don't use chakra to get the water, for example, you control the chakra that's been saturating the water. It's just like Kiri's famous Kirigakure no Jutsu. The mist one."
"But-" He noticed with a sharp look in his eyes. "But that means that I won't be controlling my chakra-ttebayo. If I shove it all into the water, isn't that wasteful? Isn't that unefficient?"
"Inefficient." Tsunade reflexively corrected before she patted his head with a large smile. "Perfect. You caught that exactly. I will get you to do what I just described in case of near-future fights but for the long term, I won't get you to waste all that chakra- I'll get you to savour and be stingy with every last drop."
- Naruto's Bunshin's personalities can differ depending on Naruto's current mood. Surprisingly, intellect focus levels change in some. Use to advantage.
- Naruto turns out to be very good at wasting chakra to perform miraculous Elemental Jutsu. Shape Transformation needs to be started on. Naruto's chakra is very loyal and stubborn to manipulate through a second/third party- I can feel that his main element would be wind.
- Turns out that in worse conditions (less chakra etc.), Naruto's control gets more refined. This is surprising because usually it's the opposite. The idea of splitting/sealing Naruto's chakra is reinforced. Research possibilities. Byakugo no In can only be conducted with fine control; there may be alternate options.
Day 20
-Essentials-
"Ok." Shizune made a gesture to sit down and Naruto, who wasn't even out of breath, complied. "That's all the Konoha Genin stances and katas. We'll move onto Chuunin level ones now but they're technically the same thing- just with extensions. Many Jonin Senseis don't teach this because shinobi have their own inherited Clan techniques to adjust to like the Nara- who need to keep a mid to long distance for fighting- or the Akimichi- who have to get in close but still have enough space to extend their limbs and not catch others in crossfire."
"But there isn't an Uzumaki stance, is there?" Naruto scratched his head.
"Actually," Shizune tilted her head. "There is. It's almost identical to the standard Konoha Chuunin ones because the Uzumaki Clan were the most flexible. They had long distance for the Adamantine Chains, middle range for Fuuinjutsu masters and of course the short range who are generally the ones who tank and lead a battle. The best shinobi from the Clan could adapt to all ranges as they all have monstrous chakra levels, Fuuinjutsu as a tradition and Adamantine Chains as a Kekkei Genkai."
"For full-blooded people," Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm definitely not full-blooded."
"No, Naruto, you are half blooded but the Uzumaki genes are generally pretty strong and you've inherited their chakra capacity as well as their Kekkei Genkai."
"Wait-" Naruto startled, "Wait, how do you know that I inherited the Chains?"
Because Kushina was an absolute master at them. Shizune smiled slightly, she didn't have much to say about Kushina as she hadn't really seen her that much, but she had at least known her proficiency in using them. Tsunade had told Shizune about the certain 'aura' that Naruto had that some half-blooded Uzumakis didn't have.
"I'm confident Naruto has the full capabilities of a full-blooded Uzumaki. The Uzumaki Jinchuuriki are always chosen and even though it was under dire circumstances, the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki could seal the Kyuubi into an infant without it getting rejected which is generally a hard thing to do with it being the strongest Bijuu. They'd need to have a compatibility which is rare even amongst the Uzumaki Clan."
"The Uzumaki Clan is the Royal Clan of The Land of Whirlpools- one of the most prestigious Clans. Kushina, being as part of the Main Line, was chosen to inherit the Kyuubi because of her intense manifestation of the Clan's chakra."
"I was considered a candidate to inherit the Kyuubi for a while but I wasn't 'Uzumaki' enough. Mito-baasama had told me that some Uzumaki-blooded people were just 'different from others'."
There was an unspoken agreement between the two that Shizune'd talk about the Uzumaki Clan every now and then. She was just waiting with bated breath for Naruto to confront them about the topic of his parents. It had been more than a fortnight yet he still hadn't made a move to breach the topic.
"Give him time." Tsunade had said with a frown. "He needs to understand that he needs to come to us for information as well. He needs to understand that this relationship isn't one sided. We aren't his bosses. He's my- and also your- student."
They hadn't even been present on the Kyuubi night; it was a topic that Tsunade and her had secretly exchanged with regretful tones when Naruto was unconscious. (Jiraiya was brought up multiple times in quietly hissed rants.)
But though they hadn't been there at the vital time, they were here now. They had answers (even if it was only their names and a scrap bit of information) and they were waiting for Naruto to approach them.
"With your brand of chakra and how you inherited their physique, I'm fairly certain you have it in you as well. It'd just be astronomically hard to activate them. Tsunade-sama and I both don't know how they work either."
Naruto bit at his nail. On one hand, having an extra weapon was always helpful; not to mention, he wanted to learn his family's techniques. On the other, it would be time consuming and there still lay a chance that it wouldn't happen; then not only he, but also Tsunade and Shizune would be frustrated and burnt out.
"Well, Shizune-san, are you going to teach me them now? The Chuunin blah blah stances-ttebayo?" Naruto grinned and Shizune looked a tad relieved, shooing him up to stand again.
-Chakra-
"Now, I know you've been waiting for 'cool' Jutsus, but let me just give you a heads-up." Tsunade placed her two hands onto her hips. "I don't know much Ninjutsu."
"...What." Naruto pressed his lips together. "I thought the Legendary Sannin could do that sort of stuff though! Like, knowing all Jutsus and being able to do ground-breaking BOOM's and BANG's... dattebayo..."
"That's Orochimaru." Tsunade deadpanned, laughing when Naruto's expression clamped down in an 'oh'. "And I didn't say I didn't know any Jutsus. Like 'Raiya, I still have secret techniques that are specialised for me. It's not like I can do all the Jutsus under the sun like Sarutobi or Orochimaru but I could get to their level of Ninjutsu if I tried."
"But Baa-chan, you said you were as strong as them though!"
"What did I say about that?" She raised a brow. Naruto sighed, "Yeah, yeah, coolness doesn't translate to strongness-ttebayo."
"Strength." She corrected.
"Strength-ttebayo." Naruto repeated, waving a lackadaisical hand around. "And so? Are you gonna teach me your specialised stuff? Or- or-" Sparkles, well, sparkled in his eyes. "Or are you gonna let me make my own-ttebayo?"
"I-... Yes." She slapped her forehead. "Eventually. I'm going to get you to learn a few of mine- because I'm going to have to teach you Iryo Ninjutsu sooner or later- and then I'll get you to do a few normal, handy Ninjutsu techniques of all Natures. Only after I declare you proficient enough will you be able to make your own ones."
"But I've already made my own ones-ttebayo!" Naruto waved a fist before solemnly announcing: "Oiroke no Jutsu. Harem no Jutsu."
Tsunade flicked a finger against his forehead with another fonder sigh. "You're a ridiculous kid but yes, that does count. Just remember everything I said about that, ok?"
"Mhm." He chirruped. "So, Baa-chan, teach me your shtick! Whadda we doing?"
She dragged him over to a large rock. "Nintai."
"Nin... tai...? Wh- EEK!"
Tsunade raised a smooth skinned fist and gave it a half-hearted knock. The rock caved under an invisible force, cracking outwards and away in a strange popping noise followed by a loud crash and crunches of the stone disintegrating.
"C- cool... ttebayo..." He eyed her fist then looked up at her bemused face. "That's what you did a few weeks ago. Can I really learn that? It looks pretty um hard, y'know?"
"Don't tell me... are you still doubting my capability as your Shishou?"
"No way dattebayo. I never did."
Day 32
-Konoha-
Sarutobi looked down at the letter and sighed for what felt like the thousandth time. He always knew he should've continued to put Naruto under ANBU watch. The Elders were correct in what he had said about the Kyuubi; Tsunade shouldn't be trusted with the child.
But... then there was the agreement. The request. The compromise.
He couldn't exactly take his word back. But he didn't expect Tsunade to make such a sneaky move: not giving him all the information necessary- (what disrespect, what insubordination.)
Naruto being taken under Tsunade's wing was just ludicrous. That boy was hardly...
Besides, Tsunade was afraid of blood and was absolutely not suited for protecting a ward as politically significant as Uzumaki Naruto. Not to mention, with her type of personality, she might forgo with her filter and speak of his parents. Perhaps, she'd even talk down the role of a Hokage.
Minato's offspring could not become someone like Tsunade.
No, Naruto must inherit Minato's ideals and goals.
If Naruto was just going to dawdle around somewhere like Tsunade did, then what was the point of him coaxing the Will of Fire out of Naruto? What was the point of him earning the role of Naruto's 'grandpa'? The Jinchuuriki, as much as Sarutobi hated how it was phrased, at the end is just a human weapon made for the battlefield.
Sarutobi looked down the letter and realised that he needed to be a stricter Hokage; Danzo was correct: he was too lenient on Tsunade.
It was time to do his job correctly and it started with bringing the Sannin, Tsunade; Shizune; and the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, Naruto, back to where it belonged.
-Classroom-
Iruka clapped his hands together to gather the students' attention. It worked and all of the children fell silent.
(It usually wouldn't because Naruto would still talk and grumble about Sasuke while the girls would aggressively defend him. Kiba would snort loudly about Naruto being an idiot and it'd somehow end up in another big, annoying mess.
Iruka missed that annoying mess.)
This was a good class, Iruka convinced himself as he eyed each of the students.
(The desks were full with three students on each of them. All of them were full apart from the desk of Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. He looked down his list of students and tried not to pause at the handwritten cross on the name 'Uzumaki Naruto'.)
"As I mentioned a while ago, multiple times, we will now be commencing the Genin Exams. Please wait here until directed in. When I call your name, follow me into the other room. First up: Hima Abiko."
"Hai, Iruka-sensei!"
Notes:
i'll prolly expand on what happened on day 32 next chapter. (sarutobi, genin exams happen etc). after that, i'll prolly do a massive time skip to a certain event and then backtrack using flashbacks.
you probably wont get what i meant but you will eventually.
also:
- i highkey forgot the first parts of naruto so if i get stuff a little wrong (like dialogue, or the genin exam process etc.) please dont mind me.
- uzumaki stuff is basically all made up. but cmon, it's *called* the land of whirlpools and we dont know any clans that also used to inhabit that uzushiogakure.
- naruto's pov (like, a *proper* one) will be coming soooon.
- i made sarutobi crude but naruto being minato/kushina's son and the kyuubi jinchuuriki makes him get on the edge for both personal and political reasons. danzo is a manipulative shit who would play on sarutobi's concern.edit: i hope u get as mad at sarutobi as i did when i wrote that second last part.
edit: sorry for super late update, beware of editing errors and finally, thanks for reading :D
Chapter 15: IV. a hundred steps behind 'step one'
Summary:
notes:
- Day 32 (+ Konoha interlude)
- Day 37
Notes:
skimming.. im skimming...
also, if you ever see a big chunk of writing abt chakra theory and made-up sldhgjsbk abt kage bunshins and chakra capacity etc, you can always skim through it cuz it's not *important*, you don't need to try and comprehend it.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Day 32
-Tsunade-
A month had passed since Naruto started and Tsunade was baffled with the speed of the progress. In the morning, she'd give him a run down on their development and then he'd summon a bunch of Bunshin to do everything and then at a certain point of time, he'd release them and the summon more in their stead.
Although Tsunade had been closely monitoring his condition and the usage, there were suspiciously almost no backlashes from their intense regimen. Any sore muscles, headaches or strains were instantly healed and if not, Shizune or Tsunade would heal them. Naruto himself had not received any mental exhaustions or anything... Not only that but his tolerance for Bunshin became larger and they could all last for longer. Shizune found out that if a few of them slept, it actually replenished the spiritual chakra within Naruto's real self and thus lessening the strain on his mind.
It was utterly ridiculous. Impossible. Such a- a technique shouldn't just exist like that.
"Naruto?" Tsunade called to the boy as she tossed a chip packet at him. Without even looking up, he reached a hand out to catch it.
"Vegetable oil ones again, Baa-chan?" Naruto sighed. "How healthy are you for a gambling drunk-ttebayo? I swear, next time you'll get Shizune-san to slice raw capsicum for snacks."
"Hmm, maybe the red ones. They actually taste decent." Tsunade took a swig of her alcohol before snapping- "And who told you that I gambled and drank, brat? ...Oh oops."
"Yeah. Shizune-san told me it erodes the brain- that must be why you're like this-ttebayo." Naruto laughed before popping open the bag. "Anyway, Baa-chan, did you have something you needed?"
"Hm, oh yeah. Naruto, do you know why I'm letting you chill today while your Bunshin does everything?" The Sannin chuckled when a stray Kage Bunshin turned to them with a pout.
"Uh no?" He wrinkled his nose. "It's a lot more fun because I don't needa do anything though. And even when I get my memories back, it's not as bad."
"And why is that?" Tsunade brought out a whiteboard and Naruto, upon seeing it, instantly perked up.
"Another lecture dattebayo?" He had never imagined saying that with so much enthusiasm just a month prior. But after consecutive days of learning the pros and cons of contributing to a discussion, he found it... enjoyable?
Every word Tsunade said always helps in real life. Even when learning history and past stuff, she told him why it'd matter if he went there- and she said that they would travel there eventually. It was much unlike Iruka's lectures where he'd just recite off a prepared script. If Naruto thought really hard back to Iruka, he remembers that he was a good teacher though.
Iruka never actively sabotaged Naruto, always giving him at least the bare minimum whereas others would take every opportunity to cause an 'innocent' accident. Bad pens, ripped papers... some Senseis would give him papers with smudged texts and he wouldn't be able to read it properly. It never really mattered to him though, because either way, he wouldn't've been able to pass whatever assignment or test it'd been.
Tsunade didn't do any of that though. He actually thinks that she far surpassed the benchmark for 'good' Senseis. Even the Senseis wouldn't teach Sasuke this efficiently and he was the last Uchiha.
Tsunade would also draw stick figures and simple diagrams and Naruto always loved laughing at how bad her drawings were.
"Yes- kinda. I'm going to get you to do all the problem solving. So what do you think?"
Naruto let himself crunch on a few more chips before he began thinking. "Well, it's because... well, it's obvious, isn't it? It's not as bad because I'm the original so if I'm doing something, it tires me more because when I do Kage Bunshin, they will be tired as well. So if it's the other way around, I collect all that hard work when they dispel. So uhhh..."
"Yes," Tsunade tapped a finger on his forehead, making him go cross eyed for a second before his eyes focused back on her. "Dispelling a Kage Bunshin lets you regain each of their knowledge and with it, the process of gaining that knowledge. In the meantime, it also means you receive their mental processing and muscle memory. This makes you live 'more than one life' at a time."
"I know this." Naruto nodded. "Shizune-san told me about it. She told me that in reality, since I've spammed hundreds of Bunshin and left them to be for hours, I've already 'lived' for nearly a year while you guys have 'lived' for fourteen days. It's pretty weird if I actually say it-ttebayo. Does it mean eventually I'll be older than the rest of my class?"
"Kinda. And not really." Tsunade furrowed her brow as she thought about it. "But I actually wasn't going to talk about that. I was going to say, if one Kage Bunshin thinks for an entire day and you summon another Kage Bunshin to be a dumbass for one day, wouldn't the two counter each other?"
"What... does that mean-ttebayo?" Naruto copied her expression, drawing his eyebrows down as if it'd help his thought process. "But I thought acting like a dumbass still took up brain energy dattebayo? Or is it only me?"
"I-... Ahem, when you summon a Kage Bunshin, that Kage Bunshin can make more, right?"
"Right." He said confusedly.
"And if-" Tsunade paused, deciding to use her whiteboard in case of his brain frying again. She drew two stick figures, one in black to signal the 'original' Naruto and the other in dark blue to represent a 'main' Bunshin. "If you summon a 'main' Bunshin to be the boss of the other Bunshin, wouldn't it help you evenly divide the mental strain?"
Naruto eyed her hand as she continued to draw other dark blue 'main' Bunshins. She then drew lines extending and branching from each of them and at the end of each branch, there was a smaller stick figure in a pale blue.
"It's like being the CEO of a company." Tsunade said before jutting the butt of her marker at a dark blue stick figure. "You have the 'managers' with more chakra and can hold on for longer, and then you have the 'workers' who simply gather the information. At the end of a certain time, the 'manager' can dispel the Bunshin and then evenly sort out the information. And eventually, you could dispel a 'manager' and slowly receive way more information then you would if you dispelled all your Bunshin at once. Like a business. Shizune's told you a bit about that, right?"
She tapped the marker on the board as she slowly crossed out each figure.
"Yeah... I get what you mean... ish... But wouldn't my head still hurt dattebayo? It'll be for a longer time and..." Naruto gasped. "Even if my 'main' Bunshin tidies the information, it'll still hurt like heck!"
"The reason why your head hurts from the information is because your spiritual chakra can't keep up. The information in your brain overrides the 'balance' and 'peace' of your mind. If you have more spiritual chakra, you can hold more information."
"Whiteboard?" Naruto jerked his chin towards her marker and she obliged with a roll of her eye.
"Ok ok." She drew two gingerbread man shaped outlines- one in black and one in dark blue. "Like usual, the black marker is original, blue is the Bunshin."
She drew a squiggle-clump inside each of them. "That's your spiritual energy- your Bunshin also has one. As time goes on and you do stuff like walk or train or talk, your spiritual chakra takes in the information then processes it, converts it or stores it. Either as part of muscle memory, your short term or your long term memory." Tsunade drew arrows going into each of the squiggly things. "Your Bunshin and your original both get information."
"And when I dispel my Bunshin..." Naruto squinted at the board. "I don't get my chakra back. I know that-ttebayo. Which means I don't get my spiritual energy back either."
"Correcto." Tsunade said with a mini applause. "This process of taking in and filing information is doubled if your Bunshin doesn't get the chance to collect itself." She connected the arrows which had originally pointed at the dark blue stick figure and turned it around so that all the arrows were pointing at the original. "You get double the input your spiritual energy can handle and then- because of the Yin and Yang theory- it ends up affecting your actual physical self."
"My headaches and stuff." He confirmed.
"Yes. For example, if I punched your Bunshin and it dispelled, would you feel pain?"
"No- but yes?" Naruto frowned. "Phantom pain... I think. For only a little second."
"Mhm, but what if I punched your Bunshin and it didn't dispel until an hour later, would you feel pain?"
"No." He frowned even deeper. "Cuz it's already healed by- ohhhh."
"Yeahhh," Tsunade nodded. "Same process-ish."
"Which means..." Naruto prompted.
"Which means if your 'manager' does nothing but daydream, meditate or sleep all day, their spiritual chakra will be at its peak. That goes the same with you. If you do nothing all day but train like a blockhead- because the 'CEO' can't afford to lose muscle mass- your spiritual energy will also be at peak."
"Which means I could totally jailbreak my Kage Bunshin technique..." Naruto whispered in awe. "That's... that's so stupid and awesome-ttebayo. My technique-"
"Tobi-ojisama's technique." She interrupted, more of a reflex now than an actual correction.
"-is so cool-ttebayo."
"Yep. But that also means your physical training will be brutal. I'll have to stop you from using chakra to supplement your body and you'll get tired much quicker."
Naruto recoiled because until the last fortnight, he'd never really gotten tired quickly.
Tsunade grinned at his expression, "You'll be as weak as a civilian."
"I- erk, what? What the heck-ttebayo?" He cringed in disgust, remembering back to when one of the children who went to the civilian nursery tried to chase him for whatever reason. Naruto had run, obviously, thinking they were playing tag or something when the boy had collapsed in exhaustion after a mere 300- no, 200 metre sprint.
Even their civilian classmates could last until 400- they were twelve, for ramen's sake! Not a disabled five year old! And even that one shinobi who always had crutches could run on rooftops. Naruto himself could dead sprint for over five minutes! As a toddler!
Tsunade snorted a laugh at the look on his face, "Yeah, exactly. The reason why your physical skills are so high is because-" She glanced at him for a moment, "-is because of the Kyuubi's chakra. The Yondaime's Fuuinjutsu is prodigious in that way. He managed to allow you to access the 'physical' part of the chakra but not the 'spiritual' part. That means that the Kyuubi can't invade your mind. Like, talk to you or try to drive you insane etc."
"But chakra is made out of both spiritual and physical parts." Naruto argued, not reacting to the Kyuubi statement. Shizune had talked about it with such professional formality that he had all but numbed himself to the topic. "I wouldn't have access to the chakra at all if the spiritual chakra was sealed."
"You don't have access to the chakra." Tsunade pointed out. "Just the side effects of healing and stamina."
"Oh yeah?" He droned hollowly, "And how does that work-ttebayo?"
"I don't know." She unashamedly shrugged her shoulders. "I may be better than others at Fuuinjutsu but the Yondaime is just on another level. That's just his genius, Naruto. He managed to get his way around everything." Even though the answer was far from sufficient, he just accepted it with a nod.
"And so, do you think it's safe that I try your strategy-ttebayo?" Naruto asked with a look that said he'd do it instantly with her permission.
It was in small moments like this when Tsunade would feel immeasurable fondness for Naruto. This small, unknowing boy used to be so reckless and desperate for any grasps of power but now he actually wanted to know what was safe and what was right.
"Yes, if you trust me to continue monitoring your condition it'll be fine. You'll just have to answer to a lot more reports and work extra hard with your physical strength. It'll be bad if my theory is debunked and you end up in a coma."
"Jeez, Baa-chan, stop saying all about if I trust you or not. It's-" Naruto scratched the back of his head in a sheepish way. "It's pretty obvious that I trust you and Shizune-san more than anyone else in this world, right-ttebayo?"
Dang, and her heart just-
"Why're you smiling like that, Baa-chan?" Naruto deadpanned with a teasing tone. "Didn't you say it'd give you more wrinkles-ttebayo?"
"'M- more'? Naruto, you disrespectful little brat!"
-Meanwhile: Konoha-
It was ridiculous how quickly everyone forgot about Naruto.
Shikamaru cast a long look at the empty seat next to Sakura.
It'd always been like that from left to right: Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke.
(He always found it baffling as to why Naruto would claim to hate Sasuke so much when he would sit on the same desk as him every lesson he wouldn't skip out on.)
Sasuke was always there early, staring at the chalkboard in what those fangirls claimed to be 'cool'. Naruto'd be there next, screeching to a halt before boldly shouting that he was 'on time'. Then Sakura, the 'star pupil', was somehow always a little bit late after getting caught on a rivalry with Ino on the way to school.
When they'd arrive, Sakura would scream and bonk Naruto on the head, telling him to move over so she could sit next to 'Sasuke-kun' and Naruto'd relent with watering eyes and a red bump on his head that always disappeared the next instant. Sasuke would not move during the exchange save for wincing at the loud squeals coming from a blushing Sakura. Naruto would get defensive and rant about how everyone was all 'talking about Sasuke-Sasuke and more Sasuke' when it seemed like he was one of the ones most caught up with him. Sasuke would react and move from his emo statue pose, for once, and glare back at Naruto.
Iruka called out another name and Shikamaru jolted out of his memories.
But now it wasn't even like that. It wasn't anything like that.
Sasuke would still be there, early and unmoving. But he wouldn't be staring at the board, he'd be shifting his gaze over and over towards the window. It was like he never even noticed how he kept on staring at it, glowering at it.
Accusingly, almost.
Shikamaru never thought the Uchiha would be jittery but he was. Sasuke had to clench his hands many times to stop himself from tapping his finger or shifting his seating position. Figured. A kid as young as this class would need some energy output every now and then- well, Shikamaru was an exception.
And then that just reminded him of Sakura, who had approached him after some time with a tilt of her head- for once not in a fake way. "Shikamaru, do you perhaps have... ADHD-PI?"
"What's this about, Sakura?" He'd drawled back.
"Well, you see, I'd stumbled across something called ADHD and it just really reminded me of someone-" 'Naruto', he had instantly supplied in his head. "-So I researched a little about it and found that and I just thought that... you were kinda um..."
Sakura was surprisingly meek and shy when she didn't have an Uchiha Sasuke to fight for.
"I don't know, Sakura. If I do have any illnesses or disorders then I'm pretty sure the entire Nara Clan has one as well. Inoichi-oji would probably haul all of us over to the Yamanaka Compound for treatment."
Sakura had given a laugh but it wasn't the high pitched giggle that gave him shivers, it was a... normal laugh.
"That's right, I never really made the connection that the Nara and Yamanaka Clans were close even though I've researched about the Ino-Shika-Cho combos..." Sakura had laughed again in a more bitter tone. "There was a lot I'd missed, hadn't I? I don't think I know... anything about Ino."
"The conversations of geniuses." Ino had deadpanned later that day. "I swear if you become Sakura's new best friend, I'll-"
Sakura and Ino were earlier to class after somewhat making up. They were still competitive- tsking and tutting when the other got a higher score- but their rivalry didn't dictate their lives anymore. It was hard to explain how their rivalry got deeper yet they treated each other more amiably.
Ino would wordlessly slide into the spot next to Shikamaru and Shikamaru would let her. Very occasional times, she'd even steal a chip from Choji who sat on the other side of him. She claimed that 'teenager girls have cravings' when he raised a brow about her 'diet'. It looked more to him as if she'd given up on something. (Something like an unhealthy diet.)
And Sakura would still sit beside Sasuke. She sat sort of in the middle of her and Naruto's old spot (old spot) to ensure no other girls could snatch it up. Shikamaru still saw her glance at Sasuke every now and then, but she would catch herself with a jolt before her expression would turn questioning, quiet and contemplative.
The rate at how quickly their crushes dropped (about half a week and the blushes stopped) made Shikamaru question how strong their 'unbreakable oath for life' was.
It seemed like their creepy smiles and whole body flushes were just another part of the act.
Everything else was sort of the same. But 'sort of' meant... kinda a lot. Especially to him now that he cares.
When Shikamaru would ditched class with Choji, he'd always tap his foot and wait for Naruto before realising that the boy he'd been waiting for was gone. Kiba would randomly turn around with a 'hey, Naruto' or a 'didja hear that, idiot?' before halting with his mouth still agape, looking more like a dumbass than he ever claimed Naruto to be.
But no one else cared or really remembered the Uzumaki boy. It was like they treated him like that plastic wrapper that no one could be bothered to throw out. One day, someone had put it in the bin and everyone was happy. Of course no one'd remember an annoying piece of trash who caused nothing but nuisance in their surroundings.
Needless to say, eight people thought otherwise. Nine if you include the Sensei.
The class was normal. Too normal to be... normal. It was confusing and conflicting and sometimes, it felt like only Shikamaru felt that way.
Little things like that always set him off. Like when shogi pieces were arranged so they weren't perfectly in their uniform, even boxes. It had always been a drag to care about perfection but shogi had been an exception. And now this class was too.
"You there," He'd remembered a teacher pointing to Naruto, an angry look on his face. "If you just weren't in this class, it'd be perfect."
A prankster, a clown, a dead last who dragged their class average down.
Without him, this class wasn't the 'perfect' Shikamaru wanted.
"-Nara Shikamaru."
Well, he was up next.
Day 37
-Back to them: Nintai/Physical-
"Woohoo!" Tsunade cheered as Naruto half hearted raised his arms in victory. Those arms flopped down the next instant. His body then followed suit.
"M- my body..." He croaked. Tsunade threw a drink bottle at him and instead of catching it, Naruto let it hit his head. "...ow..."
"Don't be such a pussy." Tsunade cackled. "This is the body that civilians deal with every day! Not only that, but if you've realised by now, with your chakra mostly sealed, you can't process as much information as you usually would."
To the Sannin's utmost surprise, Naruto slowly sat up with a wince, unscrewing the drink bottle with shaky hands.
"Oh. You must naturally be a stamina freak." Tsunade paused when Naruto flinched at the word 'freak'. "'S a compliment." She reassured, patting his head.
She ran her chakra down his system, looking for any muscle tears or... hm. Nothing. Maybe it was because the Kyuubi had been with Naruto since birth and their interlaced chakra made his physical base body supernaturally durable?
"Anyway, Baa-chan, whaddya say about the um information thing-ttebayo?" He made a face when half the water he drank spilt down his front.
"I'll talk to your Bunshin." Tsunade grinned. "If you have the energy to talk, you have the energy to do another set!"
"It don't work like that, Baa-chan." He slapped his forehead.
"'It doesn't work like that.'" She corrected with a larger grin. "Off you go."
As she watched him slowly stumble away, she grabbed a random Bunshin who was drawing circles. They were starting to get less potato shaped so she thinks that Fuuinjutsu could be introduced in a few fortnights or so. After all, being able to draw perfectly neat symbols is just step zero.
"Baa-chan?" The Bunshin cocked his head to the side. "Weren't you busy..." He sniggered, "...torturing Boss?"
"Wow," She drawled, feeling bemused. "So ruthless to yourself." He shrugged with a grin.
"Anyway, I'm going to talk to you about civilians."
The Bunshin made a face and she barked a laugh.
"I know right!" Tsunade smirked. "Anyway, civilians mostly have idle chakra."
"Idle means lazy, right?"
"Kinda. They have chakra that they don't use... so yeah, sorta like lazy." Tsunade stopped, thinking about how Shizune would tell her off for such a lacking answer. "You know what I said about spiritual chakra sorting information?"
"A few days ago?" He scrunched up his nose in thought. "Yeah?"
"Well, civilians have practically non-existent chakra and they process less information than us and even that is at a slower rate." Tsunade waited for him to follow along.
"But... me too-ttebayo? Iruka-sensei told me that I process things slow as well though." The Bunshin frowned.
"No, information means a lot more than what you think." Tsunade put two hands on either shoulder and swivelled him to face the clearing for two seconds before she turned him back around. "How many trees were there? And how were they arranged?" She shoved a whiteboard into his hands.
"Did you create a storage seal just for the whiteboard?" He raised both brows before he squinted in concentration, uncapping the green marker. He drew shrub-ish blobs in two rows. There was seven in the first row and nine in the second. After a moment of thought, he made grabby hands at Tsunade who, bemused, handed him an orange marker. He then drew a simple stick figure on the second tree row, third from the right.
"That's perfecto." She clapped her hands.
"Well, that's sorta obvious dattebayo." The Bunshin still smiled at the praise. "I mean, can't everyone do that?"
"Yes. In fact, some Elites from either the Hyuuga or the Uchiha Clan- using either one of the two of the Three Great Dojutsu- can memorise everything there down to which strands of grass were browning to which tree had the most peeling bark. Elites that don't have impossible vision can still memorise a lot more."
The Bunshin crossed his arms with a 'duh' look on his face.
She laughed, "Would you believe me if I said that civilians wouldn't even be able to remember how many trees there were in a few seconds? They'd have to count first and sort out the information in bit by bit. An exception to this would be people with eidetic memory. Shinobi just take a glance at everything and spiritual energy just... does everything. People who use chakra, even if it's just a little bit, would automatically do what you did."
"So you're saying Boss is... like that now because you sealed off a bunch of his chakra?" He asked. "He's super civilian-dumb?"
"Yeah. ...Also, I noticed that you didn't mention the possibility of already counting the trees..." Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "I mean, all the Bunshin are super busy but remember that it's important to always take note of your surroundings. Make a habit of finding exit routes and potential hiding places etc."
"Only if it's not in the Safe Zone." The Bunshin smiled.
"Yeah." Tsunade gave an approving nod. "Only if it's out of the Safe Zone. Now dispel and get your 'Little Boss' to create another Bunshin to draw circles."
"Aye." The Bunshin gave a final salute before it disappeared with almost no noise or smoke. Improvement.
Just a while later though, Naruto returned, looking less tired than she expected.
"Huh. You've already finished?" Tsunade squinted at him. "You aren't a Bunshin, right?"
"Nup! I'm just that super-ttebayo." He beamed and Tsunade felt her jaw unhinge in surprise. She'd gotten him to climb trees, run laps, move boulders, do intensive strength exercises and yet- He looked less tired than he was in the last hour!
"Do you feel like you're on the verge of dying?" Tsunade slapped her forehead when he nodded. "Ok, I'll need to figure out what other physical phenomenon you've managed to hack. I swear to god, if you managed to 'accidentally' break my seals and open a Gate, I-"
If Tsunade had thought progress was fast before, then it was nothing compared to now. She had been waiting with bating breath for something to happen. But nothing really did and no ominous thought ever crossed her mind. She reread- triple read the Scroll of Seals. She researched everything about the Kage Bunshin use.
There were many possibilities of chakra illnesses, chakra exhaustion, overload, Gate strain etc. but those were all easy fixes for Tsunade and Shizune. The only problem with the usual researches was that Naruto's Uzumaki capacity wasn't taken in count of.
Then that only meant one thing: they had to plan a trip to Uzushio soon. And then sooner or later, there were things needed to be discussed. ...And a shopping trip needed to happen.
But Tsunade had planned for those things to happen in a few fortnights or so. Those plans were rearranged because that night, Shizune handed her a scroll with a blank, dark look on her face.
The strip of red around the scroll announced the Hokage's status. As she unfurled the scroll with no little anxiety, Tsunade shot a single glance at Naruto.
"Change of plans." Tsunade said after skimming down the letter. "Everything I said that we were doing 'soon'? We're doing them now."
Notes:
also yk the stuff with spiritual part of chakra etc? yeah. u can, like, ignore-ish that cuz its partly an excuse to jailbreak his powers. honestly, im so fricking confused w the actual explanation and i dont have the motivation to rifle through hundreds of chapters again for evidence teehee.
Yin and Yang theory (lmao this is made up but i think it's kindaaa like the 'real' version): there is a little bit of Yin in every expanse of Yang and vice versa. eg. if there is a bunch of Yin, there will always be a smidge of Yang within it.
also: what tsunade said abt doing 'now' was going on that shopping trip and leaving south kumo (where they've been inhabiting for the past month). contents of the letter will be later explained. naruto's parentage will come. so will tsunade's pent up stress that she's shoved down to properly tutor naruto.
thanks for reading <33
edit: POINT THAT I THINK I'VE MENTIONED BEFORE: mizuki's incident was moved up because of the butterfly effects.
Chapter 16: I. our 'step one' is watching the sun rise
Summary:
a sunrise is orange.
step -100 --> step 1
day 1 --> day 38
notes:
- the letter and response
- shopping
- Konoha Genin Team (Kakashi!)
- Sunagakure
Notes:
NOTICE: i hurt my hand and updates on all fics (obviously) will pause. any chapters i update will probably be because i wrote it beforehand.
blood red (seals and scars) readers IM SORRY I LITERALLY HAVENT UPDATED FOR NEARLY A MONTH AND NOW IM INJURED MOTHER OF FUCK-
also: because i hurt my hand, i didnt edit this as much so if a typo happens... it happens.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Tsunade,
I am very disappointed in your actions and must ask you to return to Konoha.
Now, I know that you'll bring up excuses to evade this command and I admit my incompetence as a Hokage in seeing through your tricks. Because of the request you had suggested to me, I had agreed to allow you and your student to have a training trip for three years. The Council and myself have agreed that the request will be treated as null.
The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is too big of an asset to Konoha and you simply aren't stable enough to care for him. If it were Jiraiya, it would be another case as he'd be more suited for this task. Your past grievances had brought this upon you and I don't blame you for your phobias. However, if your fears were to destabilise the power of Konohagakure, it is my role as Hokage to prevent that.
I can predict you, Tsunade, to become enraged at the contents of this letter. I can predict that you'll find a way to evade this; and so, I put forth a compromise.
Return to Konoha before the Chuunin Exams commence. Uzumaki Naruto must participate in the Exam for evaluation. After the final stage of the Exam concludes, Uzumaki Naruto is to be released from your custody and put into a squad depending on his abilities. You will be handled personally by the Council from then forth. The Chuunin Exams will commence in mid-June.
Sincerely,
Sandaime Hokage
Sarutobi Hiruzen
Sarutobi knew nothing. Tsunade felt neither anger nor indignance at this letter.
She felt like Sarutobi was pathetic.
'Bring up excuses'? 'Admit my incompetence'? 'Tricks'?
Tsunade had almost expected that this would happen. She had been waiting for this letter but she didn't think that after a month it'd arrive. Seems like Sarutobi didn't care for Naruto as much as she liked to have thought.
One thing that did annoy her was Jiraiya's name being brought up. What did he have to do with this? What was that lecherous man up to right now? Naruto's Godfather had nothing to do with this.
Sure Tsunade had never actively sought for Naruto, but she had no purpose to. There were no benefits. Not to mention, she was told that Jiraiya held guardianship over Naruto.
Would anyone expect her to go pick out orphans or stray kids? If she was that kind of person, she wouldn't be alive right now. There had been one reason why Tsunade had initially taken Naruto under her wing and that lone reason was steadily growing.
At first it was: 'Naruto is intriguing.'
And then it was in spite: 'The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki being taken away from Konoha would irritate the Council.'
And eventually it became: 'Naruto has no one (and I could be there for him).'
Right now, Tsunade... 'wants to see Naruto's real smile'.
But Jiraiya was just another case. He had a bound responsibility- and even if he didn't, he was close to Minato and Kushina; did he not feel like he was betraying them by not caring for Naruto?
In the end, the letter was practically ramble. Naruto needed to enter the Chuunin Exams and apparently Tsunade couldn't teach and protect Naruto because she was afraid of blood.
Well, if Naruto absolutely smashed the Exam and Tsunade somehow (impossible.) overcomes her fear of blood, if Tsunade put her foot down and demanded to have Naruto... what other excuses would they have?
Day 38
-Town square-
"Aaaaaand," Tsunade pulled a string and confetti popped out and showered over the three, "Shopping day!"
Naruto whooped and Shizune cheered.
He then sobered up, staring at the floor, "You're gonna tell me to pick up all those pieces, right?"
"You got it, kid." Tsunade nodded. "After all, I am paying today."
-A moment later-
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"
The scream echoed so loudly that Tsunade decided that maybe she should utilise it as another attack option. Maybe chakra enhanced vocal chords...?
"What do you mean I have to ch- change my clothes-ttebayo?" Naruto sniffled, clasping onto himself.
Or... herself?
Naruto was sharp enough to remember that Henge was important in outings- especially since it's an unfamiliar place. The idea of changing genders for a Henge was also ingenious because people never realise.
Naruto was currently in his 'don't look at me twice' Henge with mousy brown pigtails, an average face and body for females in their mid-teens- slightly older than Naruto's real self. His skin was toned a little paler than his usual tan and his only noticeable feature was his eyes which remained the same cerulean blue. He had been persuaded to Henge his tracksuit as well into normal Kumo civilian clothes and the only orange on him were two scrunchies holding up his hair.
Tsunade had also switched her hair colour and outfit while Shizune remained the same with the deadpan of: "I look pretty ordinary anyway."
"There's no point in me changing my clothes. Aren't we only training dattebayo? It's not like I'm actually going on missions... wait a second..." He glanced up with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.
"No, you aren't, Naruto." Shizune giggled. "Not yet, at least."
"You obviously understand why you need other clothes." Tsunade figured out. She then dragged them to a store and turned back to prod at some armour piece on display. The storeowners would be very bold to leave shinobi material out in the owner; they were either incredibly influential and thus had confidence that they wouldn't be stolen from... or they were incredibly stupid.
After glancing at the internal setup and the quality of the armour, she decided it was the former.
"Yeah. Well, duh. But the thing is, Baa-chan, that my stealth is still super even though I'm wearing orange-ttebayo." Naruto announced as he thought back to the many shinobi chasing him- and failing.
"Then how good would your stealth be if you were wearing more black?"
Naruto pulled a face, imagining himself covered in plain black. ...It'd be like he was attending a funeral. Tsunade rolled her eyes: "You can get them mostly black with... orange detailing."
"Tsunade-baachan, you aren't wearing any black though!" He declared, eyeing her clothing.
"I'm strong." She promptly replied. "When I was younger and weaker, I had to wear black. Especially because everywhere was a battlefield." Tsunade countered neutrally. "It'd be your best option to pick something more... subtle, I guess. Of course, I'm not asking you to set your clothes on fire-"
"-Oh, how I want to-" Shizune murmured.
"-And you can still wear it. But- oh hey, let's make a deal." The Sannin turned away from the mock ANBU set she'd been examining. "Depending on how the situation fits, you- but only your main self- can wear whatever you want while all your Kage Bunshin have to wear something less noticeable. This can also let your enemies let their guard down around your main self cuz you look like a doo-doo head. Yeah?"
After processing her words, Naruto slowly nodded. It wasn't like he was being forced into wearing an all black spandex. And- 'doo-doo'? "What do you mean 'situation'?"
"You'll have to decide that for yourself. Whether stealth is the best option or whether infiltrating and lowering the target's guard is more important etc."
"Ok-ttebayo, you've got a deal, Baa-chan."
The shopkeeper watched them shake hands and hesitated, "Um, would you like some... uh, help?" Shizune gave a half-hearted and exasperate wave; they had been inside for quite a while now.
"Oh yeah," Tsunade jutted her chin in the vague direction of the clothes sections. "What are the price ranges for those?"
The amount that left the shopkeeper's mouth made Naruto's jaw drop rather inelegantly. Shizune hummed. "Figured..."
"You..." Naruto started hesitantly. "You don't have to buy something that expensive..."
"Hmph." Tsunade placed a hand on his shoulder. "You think I can't afford a little something for my student? I'd win that money back in no time."
"Besides," Shizune placed her hand on Naruto's other shoulder. "There's no need for you to wear such loud clothing anymore."
"Yeah, whatever colour you'd wear, I'd still be able to see you." Tsunade stated offhandedly. "Now it just depends on whether or not you're aesthetically appealing."
"...Baa-chan, I thought you just said it was for stealth and not for-"
"A shinobi like Tsunade-sama is complicated." Shizune sighed. "Most Elites are found to be eccentric one way or another. Because only different people can 'survive' in this world."
As if on cue, Tsunade hummed in thought before turning to Shizune, "Do you think-"
"No." Shizune instantly deadpanned.
"Hey! You didn't even hear me out!"
"You wanted to use your reputation to get a discount, right?"
"Nooo... kinda-maybe-"
"Baa-chan, you cheapskate."
"Aw thanks, brat, you wanna pay?"
"Actually," Shizune cut over the Sannin, "Naruto, another reason as to why we're going on a shopping spree today is because Tsunade-sama and I were going to teach you about bargaining."
"Bargaining?" Naruto blinked confusedly.
"That's right." Tsunade poked his nose, chuckling when he went cross eyed again. "We were going to teach you later but you're progressing so quickly so we thought, why not? I needa get a scope on how compatible you are with the topic of psychological manipulation."
She elaborated when she saw the 'oh-no-it's-a-big-word' look of blank confusion on Naruto's face. "Like gambling, dealing, scamming, cheating, guilt tripping, bargaining... all that fun stuff-"
"Tsunade-sama sucks at it." Shizune provided with a wink, dodging around Tsunade's half-hearted slap. "Nah, I'm joking. Tsunade-sama just has horrible luck in gambling- she's the best at everything else."
"Shizune-san, you always tell me about Tsunade-baachan gambling but... so far she hasn't gambled at all-ttebayo."
"That's because Tsunade-sama's been a brilliant Shishou so far." Shizune laughed.
"Tsk, oh stop it, Shizune! I know I'm amazing." Tsunade flicked a loose pigtail over her shoulder, a smug grin on her face. "Anyway, obviously, we aren't going into the deep end of deception like false bribery, threatening using KI and blackmailing etc. cuz we don't teach that to noobies."
"Hey!" Was the immediate cry of protest.
"It's not bad being a 'noobie', Naruto." Shizune reassured for what she thinks had been for the fiftieth time. "It's better than being a... 'civilian slime' by Tsunade-sama's words."
"Yeah yeah, I know dattebayo." He sighed, pursing his lips in an exhale. "Besides, those things all sound pretty horrible and..." He scrunched up his nose, "...dishonourable?"
"Are you asking me that?" Tsunade raised a single brow. "But honour really means shit-" "Tsunade-sama!" "-I said 'crap', ok? Honour means crap just like pride. They can both dictate the outcome of a match."
"But nowadays..." Shizune furrowed her forehead. "Nowadays, it's different because we were both witnesses to at least some kind of war whereas your generation haven't seen one. For example, lots of people now think that the Torture and Interrogation Team isn't 'noble' because of the dirty, gritty things they have to do."
"Like what-ttebayo?" He craned his neck up at Shizune as he trotted alongside her.
"Like," She supplied dryly, "torturing."
"Oh. I feel... stupid-ttebayo."
"Well, you would because it's in the name. But like I said, Naruto, it isn't your fault." Tsunade patted his head.
For some reason, she realised that the younger boy relished in any sort of contact whether it was holding hands, trimming nails or cutting hair. She had first patted his head like an owner would at their puppy- a half-hearted attempt at taunting him. Yet Naruto... did not care. It then became a habit to comfort him.
"There practically isn't any purpose in getting information now as Konoha is at ease with all the other Great Nations." The Sannin elaborated. "The T&I are only there as the 'dark' side of shinobi."
"But on the other hand, during war times- you could ask any shinobi old enough about this- the T&I Team were one of the most superior officers- the most honourable ones because they dirtied their hands for the sake of the greater good of their Village and Nation." Shizune pointed out, flipping the entire conversation over onto its head. "The job is difficult and the burden is large- an entire war can change tides based on information alone."
"They were admired because of their strength in the mind, the body and the spirit." Tsunade mused. "Nowadays, children are just being taught shit-" "Tsunade-sama!" "-crap, I mean... They get told that the T&I Team's jobs are to beat up people to get info... and that... is completely unhelpful. They might as well be describing a drug dealing gang or something."
Usually Shizune would stop Tsunade before she started ranting about how 'shitty' Konoha's system had gotten but she couldn't help but agree. "The topic of ANBU is also hardly acknowledged. They just tell students that they're super strong assassins and that's- that explanation is just wrong in so many different ways."
While the two traded quiet rants (with the shopkeepers somehow not hearing), Naruto nodded along, occasionally patting them on the arm with a 'don't get too angry, Baa-chan, Shizune-san, you'll get a haemorrhage' before laughing when they asked how he managed to correctly pronounce that word without getting a constipated look on his face.
-Later (again)-
"You want armour?"
"I'll be like a samurai-ttebayo!"
"This store's armour is too heavy for you. Inconvenient."
It had been like that for a while. Shizune suggesting an option and Naruto enthusiastically reciprocating while Tsunade shot down the suggestion.
"Come on, Baa-chan, you just think metal is too expensive dattebayo."
"You aren't... incorrect."
"...Well, that feathered boa wasn't expensi-"
"Urgh."
Shizune had been vehemently against that as well though: "It was as pink as your orange." She said with a wrinkled nose.
"As pink as what?"
"I mean-"
"Ohh! Can I have that scythe? I'd look super badass-ttebayo!"
"...Naruto-"
-Later that night-
"Wait-" Naruto inhaled deeply and Shizune subconsciously leant back, Tsunade watched on with a bemused look on her face as another scream rang in their ears. "-WHAAAAAAAAAT?"
"Yep, you heard right. We're going to Uzushio now. Pack your new stuff and we're leaving."
"It's... night though... dattebayo." Naruto gestured to the window.
"No shi-" "Tsunade-sama..." "-t... but travelling in the dark is good practice."
"Yeah," Shizune added with a little mirth. "Besides, your new clothes will help you blend right in."
"...I look like a spy-ttebayo."
Naruto was fitted into a generally 'muter' outfit with black shinobi sandals. A darker grey shirt, fitting snugly over reinforced shinobi mesh, was tucked into unsaturated navy blue slacks.
Tsunade shrugged with a smirk on her face. "Well, I'm teaching stealth along the way anyway."
"And-" Shizune held out the last few pieces of the outfit toward him. "You aren't all dark colours."
Naruto shouldered on the dull burnt orange haori with the visual of billowing grey clouds over a sunrise. On the front were two small swirls of the Uzumaki mon on both sides.
The sleeves were wide and the haori was a little big on him, resting at his mid-thigh rather than just under his hips, but no one doubted that he'd grow into it; over the month of healthy eating and rigorous stretching, Naruto had gotten all the growth spurts that had been previously restricted by his ramen-three-meals-everyday plan. Even his previous, baggy orange tracksuit had gotten a little tighter.
He then made grabby hands at Shizune and she laughed as she gave him the last accessory. It was an unnoticeable black belt that held a few differently shaped weapon pouches. It was 'more suited' for Naruto according to Tsunade but he had yet to find out what weapons exactly he'd fill it up with.
As Tsunade straightened his haori by the front, she noticed how the bigger haori hid anything that looked even vaguely threatening on Naruto. Naruto could pass as a civilian to normal eyes.
"Yosh!" She gave a large grin. "You look brilliant!"
Shizune nodded with a smile, "You fit right in with us."
As he was shuffled to the bathroom mirror, he made circular motions with his arms.
"I like it-ttebayo. It's very comfortable." He beamed to the mirror. "Especially the h- har-... Harori."
Naruto automatically turned to Shizune and waited until she corrected him with a sigh: "Haori."
"You better like it." Tsunade said jokingly. "The quality is all top notch so I'll make you wear that forever."
"We're forgetting that earlier deal?" Naruto raised a brow dryly.
"Nah, but don't you like this better?"
"...Yeah." Naruto smiled as he remembered that old tracksuit- the only one they'd sell to him at the shinobi store.
"Don't you want to be a good ninja?" A fake smile. "Orange would look good on you. Orange would suit you."
"Why are you even wearing orange, Naruto-baka?" An upturned nose. "It's the worst colour a shinobi can wear! And it's ugly too! Just like you!"
"Just your outfit alone tells me about what kind of..." A sneer. "...'shinobi' you'd be."
He still loved it though. The first piece of clothing that wasn't supplied by the Hokage.
('Overpriced, hideous, blaring.' That voice sounded angry upset. 'Orange is the colour that prisoners wear. Orange is the colour of the Kyuubi demon.')
"Naruto, do you really love orange that much?" Shizune furrowed her brows. "I realise that you generally lean towards other colours as well..."
"I... Not- Kind of? I know Shizune doesn't like orange but-"
"Oh no, that wasn't what I meant. I don't really dislike your clothes but it's... obviously not of the best quality. I've been informed of their treatment towards you and I can imagine that they'd..."
She then paused.
"I don't dislike orange as a colour. I'm actually starting to like it a lot, especially since you're associated with the colour." Those words were the same words yet they came out so differently: "Orange suits you."
"What... do you mean?"
"Well, orange represents joy, warmth, enthusiasm, creativity and change. It's like fire. It's like the sun." Shizune poked his nose. "But I know what you'll say: 'the sun is yellow, isn't it-ttebayo?' and you're correct but what is the colour of the sky during sunrise?"
Naruto's mouth was open in a little 'o'.
"Orange is the colour of a new beginning- of dawn. That's why I think it suits you."
"Yeah, I like this a lot more."
And Naruto didn't just mean his new clothes.
-Meanwhile at Konoha: Kakashi-
He stared at the door as his mind decided to wander again.
"What do you mean he's not here?" His voice was low and demanding, verging on panic. The poor woman in front of him was subtly quaking at the show of the killer intent he was trying to hold back.
"It's as I say, shinobi-san." Her voice had a rather thick Kumo accent and her slowly pronounced words only served to greater irritate him. "They all came here a month ago. The yellow boy and two women. Not here anymore."
"Two women?" He repeated, mind racing. He had received three consecutive missions previously as his last run as ANBU and it had lasted over weeks. He didn't have any clue as to why 'two women' would...
"Sannin." She mouthed. "The princess Tsunade and black hair woman. See Madame for letter."
-
"31 days has passed." Madame intoned with a smooth, cold voice that would've made him feel clumsy if it wasn't for his impatience. "I see you are the first."
"Could I see the letter please?" He tried to reign in his tumbling emotions. Didn't the Hokage send someone to investigate? He knows that ANBU watch had been cancelled since last year but surely someone still watched out for him... surely someone had...
"The Kage-sama must understand: Tsunade-hime has the cure." She gauged him with cryptic words as she pulled out a folded paper from her robes. He caught on the innuendo immediately.
"Naruto cannot be cured by anyone." He easily replied with a tone of bitterness, accepting the paper with a small, grateful nod. "Tsunade-hime can show him the way and Naruto can pick up his own cracked pieces by himself."
He thinks he'd do anything so that he'd see Naruto on the other side of door.
Instead, he's getting this scrappy replacement that 'decided to continue being a ninja because the eyesore filth wasn't in Konoha anymore'.
Yamashiro Hanako, a boy in a minor Clan who irritatingly had the same pranking, mischievous edge to him as Naruto had. Was Iruka, or the Hokage, trying to mock him?
He slid the door open and instinctively evaded the blackboard duster. Pathetic. He gave it an unimpressed cursory glance as it thumped onto the floor in a poof of white dust.
The Haruno girl is sitting half a metre away from the Uchiha boy, both of whom are silent but the tense line of their shoulders betray their underlining irritation.
There's the other boy with a loud grin and a louder voice that declares his lateness. "Hey you, Jonin-sensei-san!"
This boy, Yamashiro Hanako, was exactly like how Naruto used to act.
Kakashi instantly hated him.
He repressed the urges because even though he didn't want it, this Team would be under his care and personal feelings didn't come into play when they were both Konoha shinobi.
"Why're you so late, huh? You made Sakura-chan and I wait for so long! Isn't that right, Sakura-chan?"
"Show our Jonin Sensei some respect, Yamashiro." Sakura replied with a smooth tone that held an undercurrent of anger that Kakashi almost startled at.
The reports had written that she was a fangirl, an incompetent one who was friends with a list of people and he was pretty sure Hanako was in that list. Hanako didn't look that surprised at the harsh treatment but he still winced with a pout.
There was a thin veil of aggravation that was directed at Kakashi but she was probably more upset with Hanako than she was at him because she greeted him politely.
"Sorry about my teammate, Sensei, it's nice to meet you."
The Uchiha gave a 'hn' of acknowledgement.
"Hm, my first impression of you guys..." He scanned a judgemental gaze over the three in the room. "You're different."
-Meanwhile: Sunagakure-
"That was... unexpected." He intoned, smoothly crossing a leg over the other. "To think that he'd force Tsunade to return..." A scoff rang in the dark office. "Sarutobi, that fool. He really thinks he's all that."
"By the reports, Tsunade-hime seems to have left the Land of Fire with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki... quite a while ago now. What is the plan of attack-" The shinobi glanced up for a single moment before freezing at the sight of those powerful, domineering golden eyes.
The shinobi swallowed thickly as a greedy smirk elegantly worked its way across his serpentine face.
"-Orochimaru-sama?"
Notes:
by the way, if you couldn't tell, the timeline in konoha is moving really slow. tbh i find it more realistic because in canon everything (genin exams, mizuki incident, team assignments, meeting the team, genin exams.2) happened WAYYYY too quickly.
i dont needa explain why, do i? mizuki is a spy that managed to infiltrate konoha. that should've created some serious shitty problems. team assignments: they'd needa rearrange everyone who passed into suitable teams and if someone decided to drop out or failed the test, then they'd needa change everything again.
also: my fashion sense is currently SUCKING and as i've mentioned in my other naruto fic like FIVE HUNDRED TIMES, i've underestimated kishi's ability to 'make things work'. just... dont visualise the outfits :D
also: naruto's goggles were removed and sealed into a storage seal with his orange outfit.
thanks for reading <33
btw: my other naruto fic hasn't updated in a fortnight and i APOLOGISE, i AM NOT stopping it. rather, i am currently in a mental blank as team 7 meeting arashi is just so- yeah.
edit: omg i am SO overusing flashbacks..
edit: ok, i might not be posting for a while as i hurt my left hand in sports :'(
i may post the next chapter as well cuz i prewrote it and it just needs editing but after that... nup. unfortunately.
Chapter 17: II. our 'step one' is watching the sun rise
Summary:
notes:
- team 7
- this talk needs to fucking happen before hardcore training shit goes down (pt 1.)
Notes:
im learning to type quickly w one and a half hands!! :D
edit: ok ive been struggling on naruto's reaction for weeks and all of a sudden, i realised that i could've just cut it out! so um. sorry in advance.
edit: btw, naruto's grammar gets shitty when he's upset. 'dattebayos' are also practically inexistent when he's sad.
edit: in the future i might do fortnightly updates cuz as yall prolly know, im currently writing two fics and im starting to lose momentum from when i started the ideas :'0 i wont stop (for a long period of time) until the fics are finished, obviously.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Kakashi-
"Introduce yourself." Kakashi said as they finally sat down onto the stone steps. "One at a time."
"What are we supposed to say?" Hanako tilted his head.
"Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the futures, hobbies..."
"Why don't you go first, so we know how it works?"
He levelled the boy a disinterested look.
"I'm... Hatake Kakashi- as you should've been told already. Things I like and things I hate... hmm, I don't feel like telling you that." Kakashi usually loved this part when the Genin'd get red in the face in irritation but it was bland when the people sitting in front of him were the Last Uchiha who was scarily like his past self, a civilian girl who was nothing like the reports had said and the stand-in for Minato and Kushina's son.
"My dreams for the future... never really thought about it. As for my hobbies... I have lots of hobbies."
Sakura twitched a little as if wanting to complain but then Hanako beat her to it. "You literally said nothing about yourself!"
"You pinkie, you go next."
Sakura twitched again, more violently.
"My name is Ha-ru-no Sa-ku-ra and not 'pinkie'- as you should've been told already."
Kakashi had to repress a smirk under his mask- a sassy one. He was starting to like her.
"I like-"
She instantly turned to Sasuke before she caught herself with a wide-eyed, self-disappointed way. Interesting...
"-learning about psychology and medicine." She quickly filled in the split second of tense silence. "I also like Ino's pancakes but mine are totally better; Ino herself and the gossip she can always stick her head into; Inoichi-ojisama's kitchen flowers (although his flower arranging skills are nigh atrocious: I only just found out that his flower shop was mainly run by Ino, what the heck?); Choji's chips; and I suppose Shikamaru is bearable although he's such a troublesome smartarse sometimes; and-"
Her nervous expression instantly turned dark, looking so strange on a young, round face. "-Honesty. I like honest people."
Then her face smoothed out into a sweet smile. "I dislike fake people, helplessness, my tendency to ramble when I'm nervous, my previous self and my parents' expectations."
Kakashi tried not to clear his own throat; this got deep for a simple introduction. The Yamanaka heiress was also featured an awful lot- the reports had mentioned that they were bitter fangirl rivals though...?
Then her lips quirked up in a repressed smirk that seemed a tad too malicious for a supposedly adorable and sweet Genin-hopeful. "I also dislike people who call me 'pinkie'. My eyes are clearly my defining feature- Ino agrees as well."
Kakashi had to hold back another smirk. He had a feeling that he'd lean more towards the Uchiha's side because of both his past experiences and the Council's insistence but...
"My dream for the future... I..." Sakura's face dropped. "I don't know. And for my hobbies, I like to... study... and yell at Ino for burning down her kitchen. Or for using a metal spoon on a non-stick fry pan- gosh, she always sucked at cooking; I had to teach her everything and I don't even cook as a hobby, cha! I feel so bad for Inoichi-ojisama."
Kakashi eye-smiled but it was somewhat genuine compared to his other ones. He certainly hadn't expected such a rant from his 'fangirl' student. "Maa, what a chaotic little chibi. You next." He jerked his chin towards the Uchiha boy. Kakashi hoped that the Uchiha would surprise him as well.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." His voice was low and spiteful. Whatever little hopes Kakashi had had in that short frame of time disappeared- "I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like-"
-Well, just now, Kakashi's hopes shot right back up because of that peculiar pause right there.
It was barely even half a second- not even a quarter of a second- long but to an Elite like Kakashi, he could hear the rhythmic changes and hitches in a person's behaviour.
He tried not to look too scrutinising as he examined the look on the boy's face from behind his clasped hands: he wanted to know the cause behind that 'pause'.
"-anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality:"
Those curiosities halted abruptly as the boy's voice darkened into a malice that Kakashi absolutely despised. But that twisting feeling of anger and disgust wasn't directed at Sasuke or anyone at the moment; the fact that such a tone was used by a boy his age was enough to piss him off. They weren't even in war anymore yet that tone still exists in a child.
The world is truly cruel.
(Isn't that just an excuse though? Superiors hold a responsibility to prevent more tragedies from happening and yet-)
"-I'm going to restore my clan and kill a certain Man."
(-And yet the title of the 'Last Uchiha' existed.)
The vengeance driven boy with little consciousness and more hate. Uchiha Sasuke. This one was... expected. (To some extent.) Kakashi mildly debated himself on whether or not he should point out that Sasuke forgot 'hobbies' but decided against it.
"And last one." Kakashi gestured at the last boy.
"My name is Yamashiro Hanako." The boy smiled and it was no where as bright as Naruto's (Minato's) smile. "I like Sakura-chan even though she's been playing hard to get recently." The second part was loudly whispered and followed up with a bashful smile sent the Haruno's way. "I also like soba and cacti."
Kakashi thought someone was really mocking him because it was a known fact that Naruto (Kushina) loved ramen and collected little pot plants for a living.
"I dislike..." Hanako's face scrunched up, his lip curling in distaste, "-demons, nuisances, failures and losers-"
Each word was accented in a purposeful way that made Kakashi grit his teeth in anger.
That little hypocrite.
Team 7 always consisted of two 'genius' students and one 'dead last' student. He'd been handed a report prior- one for each student: top kunoichi, top male shinobi and the lowest scoring student. Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and-
And then the last was replaced by another 'loser'.
Sakura shifted uncomfortably and Sasuke's interlinked hands clenched in front of him.
Surprisingly, the Uchiha actually spoke up. "You know, it's not advocated for shinobi to show dislike for themselves so openly." His voice was haughty and mocking. Kakashi certainly wasn't surprised to hear that tone but in this case, it seemed to be a little faked and exaggerated... for a purpose.
Sasuke ran a disdainful look up and down Hanako. "Not that I blame you. I certainly dislike you as well."
It took a moment for the penny to drop but when it did, Kakashi had to cough to cover his amused snort.
Nevermind! Nevermind... Maybe he could deal with these brats this time round.
Hanako had turned a bright shade of red as he sputtered. "I wasn't talking about myself, I was obviously talking abou-"
"Aaaand dreams for the future?" Kakashi cut over.
"...Hmph. I want to become a front-line Jonin like Aoba-niisan when I grow older and bring honour to my Clan that the fox destroyed-"
Kakashi instantly sobered up.
'Ah,' He reprimanded himself for forgetting because: 'This is Aoba's little cousin.'
The Yamashiro Clan was a rather small one even before the Kyuubi attack but the shinobi that had survived that night ended up being even more fiercely loyal and fiercely powerful; Aoba was a prime example. While Aoba had understood Naruto's job as Jinchuuriki, he was sworn to confidentiality as all others had been. The younger Yamashiro remnants were only told that their family had majorly died because of the Kyuubi-
...And that Naruto was somehow related to that demon.
This led to an unspoken joint hatred against Naruto. Even those who knew Minato and Kushina beforehand could not help but feel prejudice against Naruto- even if it was just a little bit. That resulted in the rumours being neither stopped nor corrected. Most adults simply ignored or distantly glared at Naruto but children like Hanako, who sees no reason to restrain himself, flaunts his dislike of Naruto openly.
If Kakashi had not been a soldier who had survived through war and blood (and so, so much more), then his hate dislike of Hanako may have eased a little. He knew a good man wouldn't hold it against a child for being ignorant and unknowing. Hanako was young and stupid but he didn't deserve the hate dislike that Kakashi feels towards him.
But Kakashi had enough dirt and blood on his hands that he didn't care so much about being 'good'.
"For my hobbies," Hanako's voice snapped him from his thoughts. "I like to-"
"And for what I like to do..." Kakashi could imagine Naruto sitting there, fiddling with his Konoha headband (because how could he not have passed?) like he was checking it was still there. "Pranking..." He would shrug. "I guess." (Because what else would he have to do?)
"-train and... read about medicine." The boy finished with a coy smile.
"Oh really." Sakura raised a brow. Kakashi sent her a bemused look- clearly she realised that Hanako'd said that just to catch her attention.
"That's right, Sakura-chan, I actually find it very interesting. Did you know that my Kaa-chan actually knows her way around herbs? You should come over and I'll get her to teach you sometime. We can both learn healing stuff together!"
'Naruto would never be that sneaky.' Kakashi thought before he tutted himself for turning back to think about the Uzumaki boy. 'He'd probably just yell something about Sakura being pretty and then boldly inviting her to a date at Ichiraku ramen.'
Obviously, this was from distanced observations; not like Naruto even knew Kakashi existed.
"Did you know that doing 'healing stuff' actually places you off battle?" Sakura gave a little, helpless smile.
"Did you know that Aoba isn't actually a front-line fighter?" Kakashi deadpanned as well. Sasuke gave a committed 'hn'.
When Hanako paused, a finger in the air, Sakura and Kakashi shared a commiserating look. He was surprised to find some semblance of comradery between himself and Haruno of all people already. And they'd only just met.
He clapped his hands together. "Anyhow, let’s move on. You guys are not official Genin yet." He watched with mirth as Hanako and Sakura did a whole body spasm.
Ignoring their cries of surprised outrage, he continued, "Of the 27 graduates, only 9 will be chosen to become a Genin. The rest will be sent to the Academy. Each Jonin Sensei gives a difficult test with a failure rate of over 66%."
"Wh- what? Wait, no way!" Hanako cried. "Then what was the point of the Genin Exam if it... wasn't the Genin Exam?"
"Well, it was to see who had the chance to become a real Genin." Kakashi boosted himself so that he was crouching on the bar of the railing. "Anyway, tomorrow you'll have to show your real skills on the training ground. Meet me at six o'clock by Training Ground Seven."
He turned to leave when he decided to throw in a last taunt: "Oh, and skip breakfast."
He gave an eye-smile and hoped that some miracle would allow him to not take on this Genin team.
"You'll throw up."
Day 40
-Meanwhile: Nearby towns in the Land of Whirlpools-
The inn was larger and of a higher quality than before- "We'll be staying here for a while. It's much better than that shitty place we stayed in before-"
The air was fresher: a touch of saltiness, a colder breeze and a clearer space.
He felt at rest... Only... he didn't really?
The Land of Whirlpools. Uzushiogakure. Uzumaki.
Naruto didn't know what to feel.
'Safe Zone', 'trust', 'the Kyuubi', 'the Uzumaki Clan'- the Uzumaki Clan.
He hadn't even thought he'd have a real family, let alone a clan before Shizune had dropped the bomb on him on the very first few days. He asked and she answered- no hesitance, no indifferent masks or implied warnings that he'd had to face when Hokage-jiji Hokage? Sarutobi? the Sandaime turned away from him.
He still didn't know what to feel of their kindness even though it's been more than a month and he was definitely burdening them, or irritating them or- or-
"Trust me." Mizuki said.
"Trust me." Tsunade said.
He trusted Tsunade and Shizune more than anyone else in the world because- who else was there for him to trust? If even their trust was shallow like Mizuki's, what else did Naruto have to live for? What else could Naruto possibly trust in after that?
"Are you alright?" Mizuki asked.
"Are you alright?" Shizune asked.
She had genuinely concerned eyes though. A sincerely worried emotion that made him feel like crying but crying meant sadness and he wasn't exactly sad.
They were just a few dozen kilometres away from Uzushio (home? Would've been- should've been his home but then- what? He ended up in Konoha with a Bijuu stuck in his stomach and everyone hated him and he didn't know his parents and-) and Naruto didn't know what to feel.
He makes up his mind and decides to pull down that last, flimsy wall that still rested between the two women and himself.
He decides to ask who his parents were.
(The question had kept on building since the 'Uzumaki Clan' had been revealed to him but he'd never dared to bring it up lest it reminded them of something bad because his parents must've done something bad and that means they'd remember that Naruto was bad even though he wasn't and they'd ditch him somewhere again and it'd be terrible, very very terrible and-)
-Shizune-
She instantly knew something was wrong as soon as Naruto put down the Uzushio-Kiri history tome; usually he would be so immersed in the subject of his own Clan.
"Is something wrong, Naruto?" Shizune asked worriedly.
"Hey, Shizune-san..." He looked so hesitant that Shizune had a burning urge to call Tsunade in. Nevertheless, she waited for him to speak.
"Do you happen to know... anyone who's..." Instantly looking ashamed, Naruto shook his head and looked back down into the book.
Feeling even more alarmed, she fumbled with her own pen, a tight, wound up feeling of panic stirring in her chest. "Naruto, if there's something bothering you, you can tell me or Tsunade-sama. You know that, right? You can tell us anything."
Shizune always felt sad that every time she uttered such an innocent, sincere phrase, Naruto would jolt like he had been slapped in the face. Every time she showed even an ounce of care towards him, he'd stare at her like she was someone beyond this world.
Every little gift she decided to chuck towards him was treated as something worthy of a Daimyo. A bookmark she'd made. A pencil she'd carved. A Fuuinjutsu dissection of the basic explosion tag. They didn't cost much of her money or time or effort. They weren't really even 'gifts' because if Shizune was to gift something to Naruto, she'd give him something worth hundreds of times more than those little trinkets.
And this simple phrase of: 'You can tell us anything.' Was truthful- was pleading because this poor boy who had so little and expects so little still does not trust them completely.
'I'm a burden' was written across his face. 'I'm weak' was written across his stance. 'I'm not good enough' just radiated from his soul.
Why did Naruto still look like he was going to cry from a phrase that he should've known before?
"Sorry, Shizune-san, I just- I just-..." He appeared so lost and hesitant that Shizune dumped whatever insignificant things in her hands onto the table and rushed to sit beside him. "You were talking so much 'bout the Uzumaki 'n I know you said they were all gone and all that but then- but then, if I'm an Uzumaki- a real Uzumaki person, y'know- then who're my..."
Wide, startling blue eyes stared at her, challenging, untrusting, scared and almost accusing.
'Will you tell me?' Those eyes seemed to cry, angry and terrified. 'Will you tell me or will you ignore me like everyone else did?'
"Who're my parents?"
Oh.
Oh.
Shizune slumped back from where she'd been sitting ramrod straight, panic fading and adrenaline washing out of her body, leaving her with a dizzying sense of relief because-
Finally.
Finally.
"Let me get Tsunade-sama, Naruto." She smiled, feeling more watery than she should be. "Don't look so pained- didn't I say already?- of course we will tell you."
-Naruto-
"Of course we will tell you." Was a phrase Naruto'd yearned for so many times.
Yet given to him so easily...
It seemed surreal. The identity of his parents had been evaded so many times. He'd been lied to so many times so he'd been scared that the trust he laid down in Tsunade and Shizune would've been ill founded.
It seemed like not a second had passed when two people entered the room again.
Tsunade didn't sit across him, and rather, beside him.
It eased him. It wasn't anything out of ordinary in how they sat.
It wasn't like an interrogation. It wasn't like an interview. It wasn't like how the Hokage had stood in front of him before walking out the door- "It won't bring the dead back-"
"Naruto," Tsunade said seriously. "Same as usual."
"Don't lie." He recited in a detached way. His parents though- his parents. They exist? Yes, they did. And Tsunade was going to tell him about them. She will, won't she? She has to. "Trust. Listen."
"Naruto."
Why were they saying his name so much?
"Naruto." Tsunade shifted her arms, placing them palms facing towards him before the hands moved to his shoulders. Her voice was commanding and firm but held a soft edge that made him feel a little pathetic. Naruto looked up into her brown eyes.
They were the same as always: level, collected and loving.
It grounded him.
"I want you to look at me when I talk to you." Tsunade gripped his shoulders. "Do you understand?"
"Don't do that." Gritted teeth, irritation radiating off his frame. "It makes you look like a coward." The voice was low and demanding and scared- but scared for who?.
He sat a little straighter, nodding. "Sorry."
"No, don't be sorry. There's nothing to be sorry for." Tsunade said yet again.
Naruto was just waiting for her patience to snap. Why was she so nice to him? Ever since she'd taken him away from Konoha, he'd made sure to be on best behaviour and never do anything to upset her that much but surely with how much he'd screwed up already, she would've gotten mad-
"I am going to tell you about who your parents are and why what happened... happened."
"This is safe." Shizune repeated, her forehead creased in a way Naruto recognised when she wanted to frown but was trying not to. "A Safe Zone."
Naruto knew all of this yet the words helped him breath better all the same.
(But he's sitting wrong, looking wrong, acting wrong, talking wrong and he isn't good enough for a Sannin and a Jonin so how could they just tell them that it was 'safe' when he knew that everything he'd been doing so far was wrongwrongwrong- they aren't going to tell him about his parents if he doesn't do better-)
"Your mother's name is Uzumaki Kushina." Tsunade articulated before her eyes narrowed, gauging his reaction.
Uzumaki Kushina.
Tsunade's voice bounced around his suddenly emptied mind.
Uzumaki... Kushina.
He mouthed the words, feeling the strange syllables roll over his tongue. He'd never heard that name before.
Uzumaki Kushina.
It was such a beautiful name. It sounded unfamiliar, foreign (although it shouldn't be, because, really, the Hokage should have told him). It made him feel empty and seething because did anyone in the Village even know his mother? Did they erase her existence purely to hide it from him? Why didn't people hear his surname and instantly recognise it to be his mother's?
Wait.
So he didn't get his surname from his father?
Wait, why didn't she tell him his father? Was she going to evade it yet again? Like everyone else- like the Senseis- like the Hokage- like- like all those people that Naruto vehemently didn't want Tsunade to be like-
"And my Tou-san?" He demanded, hands clenched into fists.
('Uzumaki Kushina' though. He has a mother. A mother. Who's probably dead. No, she was dead because remember the Hokage saying-) Naruto yanked himself away from his thoughts.
"Who's my father?"
Shizune shifted but neither of them turned away. Tsunade levelled his desperate stare with a serene one of her own.
"And your father." She slowly articulated, agitating his growing impatience. "Your father's name is Namikaze-"
Namikaze.
He had heard of that before. Somewhere.
In the split second of pause before Tsunade voiced his father's- father's?- first name, Naruto's mind raced (because that surname was darn familiar), searching and filing through each and every one of his memories until it reached one of the snippets from his early childhood.
"Naruto."
The Hokage had seemed so nice and strong to him back in those days. Invincible and impossibly kind. There was no one better than the Hokage in his toddler eyes.
"Hokage-jiji!" His childish voice had giggled back, replying with the brightest exuberance at the littlest display of positive attention. "Tell me 'bout tha Yondaime again dattebayo!"
"Again?" He had laughed back with the gentlest tone. "You don't even remember his name, do you? 'The Yellow Flash' is so much easier to say too."
"Hmph! Thas coz Yellow Flash sounds so much cooler-ttebayo! And- and... O' course, I rem'mba his name." He remembered clumsily justifying himself.
"He's my hero afta' all dattebayo: it's Namikaka... Minata!" He had declared so victoriously that he would've fallen off his stool if it wasn't for the Hokage grabbing him quickly by the scruff of his neck.
The old man had given a hearty chuckle. "Very close, but it's actually Namikaze-"
"-Minato." Naruto breathed in the stead of Tsunade. His heartbeat was loud in his head. "Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash. The Yondaime Hokage."
Notes:
notes:
- sakura is different because 1, inner plays a bigger role in this fic. 2, ino and sakura grew close (hence why she calls Inoichi 'ojisama' = uncle (but more formal cuz 'sama', yk). (don't get this confused with 'ouji-sama' which is 'prince' lol) and cuz they get close, they're starting to fix each other's mistakes.
- take in mind that sakura's parents will be portrayed differently from canon (who were actually chuunin), they'll be clueless civilians who were rather neutral in their dislike of naruto (no close ppl to them died by the kyuubi etc.) so sakura would probably enjoy the yamanaka household more because it's more 'shinobi friendly'.
- ok, even in *my* opinion, i think i made hanako too shallow but he's gonna... have some development... maybe...
edit: ok i just cut out naruto's reaction and i realised how much i had still written :0anyway, feel free to comment what you think naruto's reaction would be like because i've been stuck writing what i think. (i mean, i've written it, but i feel like it might be overdramatic/not dramatic enough etc.)
thanks for reading <33
Chapter 18: III. our 'step one' is watching the sun rise
Summary:
' Words and rants and screams were at the tip of his tongue yet he didn't even know what was fair and what was not. What was right and what was wrong. '
To finally get what you've been chasing your entire life for...
is it worth it?
Notes:
EDIT BEFORE POSTING: hey friends, this is an ugly chapter and be light on yall's comments?
ok friends, im rereading this and sorry to yall grammar polices out there cuz um... (idk dude... there's just a lot of dashes and commas... um yeah. a LOT. cuz. FLASHBACKS, ya know? and when naruto gets nervous or smt, his grammar goes all over the place.)
also, fuck. this entire chapter is just internal monologues and flashbacks. before yall comment abt it being wayyyyy too over the top, read the (very long) end notes so i can try and justify myself. (spoiler alert: i did not justify myself.)
also, this is what i had planned on posting two weeks ago. it has not changed so sorry yall if the expected reaction wasn't included. in the first place, i kinda had everything dumped in... i suck.
*for future references, imma be putting translations (if i use a bit of non-english words) at the end notes. :D*
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Naruto pressed his lips together in frustration, jutting both hands on his hips. He swivelled to meet Tsunade's bemused stare and scowled at her visibly suppressed mirth.
"Help me, Baa-chan." He demanded brutely before beaming at the annoyed twitch of her brow.
(But he was never gonna stop calling her that- never!)
"...Please?"
Tsunade then smiled, her answer coming too confidently, too easily and too casually. She didn't hesitate at all:
"Always."
(Who was he meant to love?)
"I won't let you feel like that about yourself anymore, Naruto." Shizune's voice had been so fragile and shaky out of the blue. He hadn't done anything wrong at that time so Naruto had been terribly confused as to why she was upset. "I swear, Naruto, I swear we'll help you."
"...There's- there's nothing wrong with me!"
(Who was he meant to hate? )
-Naruto-
He'd expected a lot from this.
Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato.
His heartbeat was loud but confusingly steady, even as he felt like swaying on the spot from light-headedness.
Distantly, he thought that maybe he should feel... something.
Maybe happy-
Finding out that he wasn't abandoned-
-wasn't unwanted.
-wasn't a filthy traitor.
("You don't belong here, didn't someone tell you already?" "Kaa-san tells me that you're the enemy of Konoha, so I shouldn't go near y-" "-Father tells me I shouldn't talk about that... Or talk to you at all.")
-wasn't a gutter rat born from a prostitute with too little luck because as much as he treasures the words 'mein kleiner Bruder' from Sofia ("-deine große Schwester-" He'd remembered her saying quietly after she'd talked about her lost childhood, platinum blonde hair tickling the top of his head-), he doesn't actually want to be some tossed out brat borne from the actions of some drunkard, delirious man.
-wasn't a monster or an offspring of a devil.
(But in the first place being a 'demon' or a 'devil's brat' wasn't even possible- And surely the Sandaime wouldn't let a demon live- It's not like he could've just ignored what the Villagers had said. It's not like he could've just ignored what had been drilled into his brain. He had just wished for someone- anyone- to sit down with him and to tell him that he 'was human'.)
Maybe sad?
-because his parents were actually dead because the Yondaime was dead and 'Uzumaki Kushina' sounds like a really kind and nice woman and surely (surely) she wouldn't abandon her child so long as she was alive.
("I thought the Matron had already told you. You're an orphan, Naruto. Do you understand what it means?")
He thought he'd feel sad because his parents were actually dead.
He thought he'd feel sad because he would never be able to meet or talk to or hug his two parents. The mild thoughts of his loving parents somehow being inevitably separated from him were utterly crushed and- sure, this wasn't the worst that could've happened but-
He couldn't hold their hands. He couldn't eat their cooked food. He couldn't be reprimanded about cleaning his room. He couldn't be yelled at for playing pranks.
"You should be so happy that you don't have any parents!" Sakura had buried her face into her hands. "My parents took my nail polish away! Even though they're always telling me to be prettier! I really hate my parents, you know?-"
"-They're so annoying and bossy-"
"-You have such a privilege-"
"-Isn't it fun having no parents? You get to do anything you want."
But only Sasuke no one understood, viscerally, how much he wanted to be smacked over the head when he would eat ramen for the fifth time in a day. He wanted to be pulled by the ear when he ditched class. He wanted some sort of- any sort of interaction with his parents.
But he couldn't have that.
And that might've been why he'd acted so rash? He'd hoped that maybe his parents would've swooped in one day to tell him that he should take care of himself and eat good food and take a shower every now and then and-...
"Who even raised you? You have manners like a pig!"
Even if they were to disappear the next second, knowing that they were alive and cared would've been enough but they were dead-
Or perhaps he felt... mad, even.
"You see, the Yondaime Hokage hadn't actually killed the Kyuubi per se-"
Angry. So angry.
"-That 'hero' sealed it into you. The Village over the life of an unwanted, abandoned brat, right? I totally get why he had done what he did."
The Yondaime had been his hero.
His hero.
And yet this hate- this pain. Before he even found out that the Yondaime was his father, he'd loved him and he'd hated him. He'd idolised him for saving the Village yet cursed him for burdening a child.
But- his son? The Yondaime was his father?
Was the Yondaime a man who could look at his newborn babe and decide to curse him with this horrendous life?
Was the Yondaime a man who could look at a life just entering the world and decide that it would have to just live with all those fearful, hateful eyes?
And the Sandaime.
All those years. All those fucking years. Did that old man ever see him as him?
"You were born on October the 10th, the day the Kyuubi was sealed."
Or was Naruto nothing but living ghosts in his eyes? "You're an orphan, Naruto. Do you know what that-" He- "Hokage-jiji!" He thought he'd be boiling with vicious emotions that would demand the many questions behind and around 'How could he keep this from me?' 'How could the Yondaime do this to his child?'
'How could you do this to me?'-
He thought his fist would shake with how tightly he'd need to clench it-
He thought he would've been so full of rage because why-
Just- why?!
But no.
It was... nothing.
All those fleeting thoughts passed through his mind and stayed there, quiet and dormant. The overlapping tones and voices and words rang constantly, humming from the smallest corner of his mind.
Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato.
An expanse of blank emptiness. A void. He didn't really feel anything around his chest or... anywhere at all. His heartbeat was loud and slow, the rhythm slightly distorted in his head as he counted each of his breaths.
Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato.
'Ok.' He thought he could've said. 'Ok then.' But he didn't. Because there were things- small things, but they're small things to keep him sane- that he needed to find out.
Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato.
"Why did..."
Why did no one tell me?
"Why did I get my... Kaa-san-"
His voice hitched because he's never really said that before and meant it as a person rather than a dream or an ideal in his life.
"-Kaa-san's name?"
"There's two reasons." Tsunade replied, voice hard and practical, just loud enough to ground him and just soft enough to not make him flinch.
"In order of importance, I believe it goes like this: the first reason is because the Uzumakis were- are a distinguished Clan. One of the greatest. The Namikaze Clan, on the other hand, was simply a Branch Line. The ancestors traced back to Kiri and in my beliefs, Minato was an orphan whose family had gotten caught up in the wars. Uzumaki held more importance and if it wasn't for Minato's title as Yondaime, then he would've taken upon that Clan name."
"The second being, of course, the Council trying to 'hide' you from Minato's enemies. If it became known that you were Minato's son, Iwa and many others would send assassins to kill you or kidnap you. Even as an infant. Especially because of your status as Jinchuuriki, that was not to be allowed."
His throat was dry, his head was dizzy. The questions... didn't come but he asked the most obvious ones anyway.
(If only just to keep himself here. He felt like if he didn't keep talking and asking and hearing something other than the buzzing and beating somewhere about his head, he'd float away somewhere, his soul and consciousness being carried off by the slight breeze coming from the open window.)
"Why was I chosen?"
"Because you were the only infant available at that time. I don't know much of the details so we'd need to find out ourselves but I know that the Kyuubi attack was sudden. I know that giving birth weakens the seal- that's why female Jinchuuriki aren't usually allowed to have partners, but Minato was Kage and therefore most superior- so it must've been on the night you were born."
Flashing lights and festivals.
"-Don't come here-"
Fox shaped dart boards and mock three pronged kunai.
"-No remorse!"
Hissed words just loud enough so that he could overhear.
"-should repent-"
"-How dare he-"
Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato.
"I know it was on the night I was born." Naruto laughed bitterly. His lips downturned into a sneer. "Because I got treated worst on my birthday. The day of the Kyuubi festival. You haven't asked when my birthday was yet, right?"
"Naruto..."
"Your birthday?" Hiruzen looked taken aback. "I- It's the Kyuubi festival day."
"What?" His younger self had not comprehended why the old man would refer his birthday not to a date, rather to an anniversary.
"You were born on October the 10th, the day the Kyuubi was sealed."
"10th of October. The night the Kyuubi attacked."
"And the night you were born." Tsunade countered.
"-What 'celebration' is this?-"
"-How dare you show your face here!-"
He had been confused.
"-Do you know how many deaths we are mourning today? Do you know many you've kil-"
Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato.
He wondered whether or not he had deserved that.
"Aren't they both bad things?" He shot back coldly.
"No- Naruto, oh god, no." Shizune whispered, eyes wide. "I don't- Why would you think that-"
"Naruto, do you want to know why you were chosen to be Jinchuuriki?" Tsunade started, her quiet voice resonating clearly in the silent room. "I know Kushina and Minato. Not as well as I wish I did but I've met them and I've talked to them. They chose you because they believed in you as their son."
"Who knows why Hokage-sama still keeps it around."
"Because who else could have dealt with that burden?" Shizune continued, slowly gaining momentum and conviction. "Who else could have carried such a responsibility as an infant and toddler all the way up until now? I'm certain that your parents trusted you with this task. I'm sure it's because they knew you were stronger than others. They knew you of all people would definitely persevere. They trusted you the most, Naruto. Because you were their son."
"Konoha is one big family so from today onwards, you can call me 'Mother'." A kind tone that seemed to be directed to everyone but him-
"Don't call me that." That woman in the orphanage recoiled in disgust and shock. "Who would want to be your mother?"
Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato.
The tree ninjas' eyes were on him, their bodies eerily still as they watched through the window. Scared orphans edged away from him. A daring child challenges him, repeating the words his 'Mother' had said, "Who would want to play with you?"
"I'm... not saying that their option was correct but I'm one hundred percent confident that they'd never want you to suffer. Even before they met you, even before you entered this world, I'm sure that they've always wished the absolute best for you."
"It's that boy I talked to you about before." "I told you not to talk to hi-" "-A little dangerous so don't-" "-Why doesn't he have parents?-"
Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato.
"I'm saying I lied to you, Kyuubi boy." "His parents are probably traitors from an enemy Village!"
Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato. A faceless woman. The one who cursed him. Uzumaki Kushina? Namikaze Minato?
"A Hokage wouldn't want a demon running rampant across his Village now would he?"
"The best?" Papers spilt and stationery clattered as Naruto stood up abruptly, turning to leave.
"You know he's a... that, don't you? That's why you all hate him so much!"
('What bullshit.')
The voice triggered a spark.
"What bullshit." That same voice hissed aloud. "-attacked our Village-"
He was half a pace away from the door, swinging to meet Tsunade and Shizune's eyes. "-killed Granny y'know-" "-doesn't belong here-"
"What do you know about me? What do you know about my 'suffering' and my 'perseverance'? Huh? You think you can talk about that? You."
That voice spat. The other two reeled from the amount of vitriol in his voice.
But he's scared because Naruto wasn't strong and he didn't deserve Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato's 'trust.' They don't know. They don't know what he had thought. They don't know how horrible and pathetic Naruto had been.
"You two who hadn't been there for more than a decade of my life! What do you know about me? How- how dare you-"
"You're not..." Tsunade didn't look bothered or angry. A dull expression of shock hit before it gave way under a look of grim realisation. She bit off her words, looking tired and pained. She corrected herself with a tentative and slightly confused: "You're different..."
She immediately caught her own words, a look of blank horror spreading across her face as she realised that it was probably the wrong thing to say.
"Naruto," The old man gave his empty kitchen a cursory glance, sliding the pocket of not-enough-money onto the counter. "You have to understand and accept that you're... different from other people. And that's not... bad."
But Naruto learnt that his 'difference' was actually very 'bad'.
"He's different from others so you mustn't approach him-"
"You're... you're just a different case."
"I don't understand-ttebayo! Why don't you treat me the same? I just want to be norma-"
Rage twisted darkly across his face before-
"I'm not glorifying what you had been going through but survivors just have a different potential, path and journey. They have a different look in their eyes to mere outsiders."
"Don't question me, brat. There are many reasons why I decided to take you under my wing."
-He paused, face dropping blank for a second. "Do you still care? " Truly care?
Shizune gathered herself from whatever stupor she'd been shocked into. "Yes, of course-"
"-Write one person you care about-"
"-Naruto, stop making paper planes with your work! And why is your sheet blank?"
"Oh hey, Naruto-kun." Mizuki crouched beside him. "Are you alright?"
Shizune's words passed straight through him.
"Go to hell." He bit out in a harsh laugh, lips curling backwards into a snarl. "You think I'm 'different'?"
They really didn't know. They didn't know. He was different. Naruto cried a lot and hated a lot and had to hold himself back from attacking before. He was different. But they didn't know and that meant Naruto was lying to the only people who truly cared for him.
He smiles. The strain in his cheeks familiar, eyes welling up with tears of- of happiness- of laughter. He laughs at himself along with the rest of the class. He smiles. He must.
"Why haven't you thought that this might've been how I really wanted to act?" They don't know. They won't like him anymore.
Those fucking eyes- he wants to claw them out- 'What the fuck did you just say?'- they think they're being quiet- can't even whisper properly- 'I can hear everything you're saying, fucking bastard-'
"Who do you think 'Naruto' is exactly? Some happy-go-lucky dumbass who can just- just let you pretend to understand my twelve years of- of-"
"This is just your life." Nothing that old man had said had ever helped him. "Some things will be hard, but I'm sure you'll cope. Naruto, you're a strong boy, after all."
The old man didn't even know that he was treated like that yet he still dared to say such things-
"I know. I'm sorry for messing up." Tsunade's voice was raw and sincere, thick with a burdened guilt that Naruto nauseatingly thought shouldn't belong there.
It made him pause, taken aback.
"I'm sorry for not coming earlier. We both care about you, Naruto, even if we haven't been together for long. If this is how you feel-"
-Then leave.
His breath froze in his chest. (Fear of abandonment- 'this is what would have happened eventually and he really shouldn't be feeling-' )
"You don't belong here, didn't someone tell you already?"
Uzumaki Kushina. Namikaze Minato.
It's fine. It's fine. He should've known from the start and it wasn't like he hadn't seen this comin-
"-then I want you to understand that it's alright."
His breath left his throat in a ragged gasp.
What?
Why?
Shizune's voice was smaller but still defiant. "This is a Safe Zone. You can always trust us and we will always help you. We've told you that before and we have not and will not lie to you about that."
It came out of nowhere. Surprise hitting him in the face. That was impossible. He'd screwed up. They know now. And that meant- And that was-
"Don't lie. Trust. Listen." His voice echoed back at him.
"This is safe. We're safe here."
"Baa-chan."
"What, brat?"
"Shizune-san."
"Is something wrong, Naruto?"
"Do you need help?"
He stuck his tongue out. "Kinda."
And had they ever turned away?
No, they hadn't.
Naruto turned back around, facing the exit, but he stopped before he could leave the room, hand lowering from the door knob. His hand was quivering, he noticed, as it lingered over the cool metal.
The wooden frame of the door was chipped from the time Tsunade accidentally ripped off the hinges.
It was actually just yesterday when she realised that Tonton had accidentally spilt over her box of stored sake. It was kind of stupid because when Tsunade was introducing basic seals to him, she'd actually proudly shown him the storage seal she kept just for storing sake. But the thing was: she always forgot to use them. And then poor Tonton had to deal with the wrath of Tsunade and the broken door.
Despite himself, his lips curled upward a little in mirth.
Shizune had been so pissed afterwards.
"Tsunade-baachan, Shizune-san." Naruto muttered, voice low and murky. It was only because Tsunade and Shizune knew him better than anyone else that they recognised the glint of hope and edge of desperation in his voice-
One thing. Just one thing.
"Did my... parents- Did they..."
"Who would want to be your mother?"
The burning sensation reached his throat, reached his neck and reached the back of his eyes. He felt his throat closing up and he never thought his eyes could burn so harshly.
"I can assure you, Naruto-" Tsunade gave a pained smile towards his back.
"-That they both loved you more than anything else in this world."
The nothingness in his chest had suddenly become so overwhelming that he couldn't breathe, couldn't talk, couldn't move.
The voice triggered a spark and he suddenly felt inflamed.
Why?
But it wasn't a 'why' towards his parents; it was a 'why' towards himself.
Naruto felt only boundless need for the two people who he only just found out to be his parents. He should be angry- he should feel vengeful and full of tearful sorrow but yet he wasn't.
He should've felt- It's logical to feel- It's only right for him to feel disconnected and betrayed by his parents' actions.
He was a child and he was alone.
He should've felt many things but there was only one thing he found within him and it was just a throbbing ache- a raw, burning ache. It felt like something hot seared a hole right through the middle of his chest.
This terrible emotion was full of something that tore at his throat and scraped at his heart. It was some emotion that seemed to dig deep within his chest and twist brutally and mercilessly.
Yet this strange emotion made him feel fuller (but he feels like his lung had been scooped out of his chest) and warmer (but he's freezing and wracking with shivers) than ever before.
It felt somehow familiar- painfully and sweetly familiar- like when Shizune would crouch down to help him up every time he fell instead of sneering down at him.
It felt like when Tsunade would snatch at his limbs, prodding at each of his injuries with a barely disguised concern.
It felt like when Shizune would tell him it was 'safe' for him to do what he felt like.
It felt like when Tsunade would tell him she'd listen to anything he wished to say.
It felt like when they'd tell him and answer to him and give him so many things that Naruto didn't deserve- but even then- even then, they'd see right through him with a soft smile and an unexplained sadness in their eyes.
"It's ok, Naruto."
It was trust. No, it was more than just trust because somehow to Naruto, it always came with pain.
'Oh,' He realised with little shock.
That maybe- just maybe- this emotion he was feeling towards Tsunade, Shizune and those two faceless 'parents' was... 'love'.
(And a child always wants to feel love and to be loved.)
At that simple suggestion- at that simple possibility, agony flooded through him, harsher than any physical wound could give him. A noise tore out into the brutal silence, so stark and raw with aching longing. It was only when his throat started stinging and after sob after sob wracked throughout him that it finally dawned on him that it was him who had made that wounded, pitiful noise all along.
He's still just a crybaby.
His throat scraped, a tear feeling too hot as it tracked down his cheeks, too quickly to be simply brushed away. He was scorching hot- unbearably hot- and his head and chest and stomach and heart hurt like never before.
He had had nothing. And all of a sudden, he had everything.
Who was he to feel so wounded?
(There's a box deep within him, huddled with that nasty, dark voice inside of his head. It's stuffed full of emotions he'd tried to quash ever since he was five and determined to not breakdown again.
But how could he not cry if two unbearably kind people just told him that he was loved by the parents he thought had never existed? How could he not cry when he finally knew that he was actually, actually 'safe'?)
He didn't know what he was meant to feel. Everything he had wanted had been simply given to him. Yet 'everything he wanted' amounted to nothing but... this.
This- this concept of 'love' that he had always chased equated to simply...
Pain? Anger? Betrayal? Regret? Sorrow? Perhaps, even relief?
How could he love? these parents? Yet how could he not?
Was this even about his parents? Or was this about Tsunade and Shizune?
He doesn't know. He's still the same stupid, pathetic, weak, useless sobbing child-
"It's not fair!" He exhaled harshly, hands gripping the arms that had suddenly appeared around him. "It's not fair-" He cried into Tsunade's shoulder. There was a cool hand on his back and it was stable against his shuddering frame.
("And so?" The first Sensei he'd had- strong jaw, hooked nose, naturally down turned lips with two silver piercings on the left side, navy blue hair styled in a side part lob, four silver ear piercings on the left, two on the right, a hitai-ate with grey fabric hanging around her neck- had raised a brow. "Do you think that's a good enough excuse?"
"'Ts-not fair!" He'd repeated, bursting out with tears streaming down his face. "You t-told us that the first day would be g-good fun!"
"That didn't apply to you." She curled her lip, paired with a grimace.
'The silver ring digging into her mouth would've hurt,' He had thought, observing the red, angry mark around her lower lip.
" I apologise; I really should've rephrased it: 'do you think that's a good enough excuse for you?' You understand, right? It isn't 'not fair'; you're... you're just a different case."
The Sensei had sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Look, the sooner you realise it, the less of a hard time you'll have. It's just your life." )
"I know... I know..." Tsunade hushed. "It isn't."
"We'll fix it." Shizune murmured with the softest of tones, "We will."
"The world isn't fair." The Hokage The old man replied dully, eyes pitying (but he didn't want that pathetic, useless 'pity'- maybe he used to crave anything other than hatred or fear but no- not anymore). "But you're a big boy now, an aspiring shinobi, so just... deal with it. You want to be Hokage, don't you?"
What the fuck?
But he had learnt to deal with it, taking his precious role model's words into account, the phrase 'it's not fair' never leaving his mouth again.
Then-
Mizuki peered down, a concerned face hovering over him-"Are you alright-"-"useful little freak"-"Kyuubi?"-the Yondaime wouldn't-
Just deal with it?!
Exhausted indignance wells up in him when he remembered all that fear and hatred and disgust but the anger never rises completely; he just feels a little tired and maybe all that energy he used to try and catch someone's attention just... left and dried out.
"It's not fair... I just wanted..." Naruto whispered softly, the fragile voice splitting and cracking. "I just wanted a family."
Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato's son. He would've been called 'Honourable Son' if his father was alive. His surname would've been more than what he thought had been a random surname given to orphans if his mother was alive. He would've felt happy if they were alive.
Why did he have to deal with this? Why did she tell him that they loved him?
Maybe if Tsunade had told him that his parents were random people who gave no care for him, he'd be able to openly despise his parents. Maybe if he hadn't known that his parents were kind and strong heroes, he'd be able to convince himself that they didn't matter.
Did he love his parents?
He didn't really know. He didn't want to know.
If he didn't even know what 'love' was, how could he just label this- this horrible feeling as such? Love was portrayed as beautiful and fulfilling but Naruto only feels more aware of the ugly, gaping wound in his chest.
"I swear, Naruto, I swear we'll help you."
"...There's- there's nothing wrong with me!"
He heard a hum, a hush and it wasn't words and that was fine because Naruto didn't want to hear words. He just wanted a reminder that this room wasn't silently indifferent to his inner storm.
He senses inaudible inhales and exhales and matches his breathing with them. He didn't know how long it'd been but it might've been pretty long because his eyelids were drooping and his arms felt heavy.
"...Was Kaa-san... pretty?"
Tsunade shared a heart breaking smile with Shizune over the top of Naruto's blonde head.
"Yes, she had fiery red hair and an equally fiery temper to match."
Naruto closes his eyes... and no images come to mind. (It hurts more than he thinks it should.)
"...Will you help me?"
"Of course-"
Naruto digs the flesh of his palms into his eyes and staunches the waterworks that are starting to come yet again.
"-We will always help you."
He's still the same stupid, pathetic, weak, useless sobbing child but now, he has a 'home' and he has a 'family'.
And he can... change.
Notes:
notes:
- take in mind the order of emotions he feels (he's happy before angry which means naruto, in a way, is still too positive and has too low expectations like in canon)
- mein kleiner Bruder = my little brother
- deine große Schwester = your older sister. (it was in the context of 'i can be your older sister'... or smt. i don't know german but i tried to make it make sense. correct me if im wrong lmao but they're just small phrases so i doubt there's much to correct? also, ik it says 'born' so it should've been 'son' instead of 'siblings' but cmon. relatives. same thing. ish. to naruto at least (he doesn't have either)
- the 'cool hand' on naruto's back was shizune so yall have to just ignore how awkward shizune would be like in that situation.
- im going between thinking 'i DEFINITELY ran out of ways to write angst' to thinking 'that was WAYYY too dramatic.'its night time and im feeling super dramatic and moody. imma reread this later to see if it's too melodramatic cuz there were an awful a lot of monologuing thoughts in there. but i think shippuden definitely downplayed naruto's feelings towards his parents. i think as an orphan who is *hated* yet *still alive* would have MULTIPLE existential crises. and after that classroom incident, im pretty confident in saying that naruto had this coming.
- im sorry i made hiruzen a bitch but he probably thought that it would be good advice to 'toughen him up'
- hiruzen says naruto's bday is on the kyuubi festival because he still thinks of naruto as in 'minato and kushina's son that has the kyuubi' rather than 'naruto' as his own self. (if that makes sense.)(im also super confused abt how in shippuden, naruto legit doesn't even blink when he notices kakashi's 'death' by pain. was he just super good at controlling his emotions then???)
edit: ok friends, if that was confusing, it's ok man. me too. at that time when naruto goes dark mode, he's kinda... 'switching to Yami!Naruto' for a bit...? i mean, if a kid like him was treated like *that* for his entire childhood, i wouldn't be surprised if he had a super duper suppressed mechanism of lashing out like that.edit: also, u may argue that naruto had been constantly reassured and shown to have trusted tsunade and shizune a lot BUTTT obviously, minds don't always work that way and when we get into a stressful condition, we... well, stress. and worry. a lot. during that panik mode, naruto wouldn't realllyy think about how absolutely amazing those two were. irrational fear?
-i just wanna point out that tsunade's also gonna have a buncha guilty stuff abt 'not coming earlier' even tho she realistically knew it wouldn't have been possible.
- also her 'you're different' screw up is kinda an author mistake. i was trying to use someone to sign post 'naruto has something wrong'. and i could try to justify why she could've said it, but in the end it was just my bad.
- the anger going towards sarutobi will probably happen when he meets him again.
- the reason why he was angry at shizune and tsunade was obviously cuz the people who deserve his anger (his parents, sarutobi etc.) weren't there so it just goes to the nearest people?in the end, naruto is a hard psychological character and im a noob with basically zero knowledge in the psych so i dont wanna push too many lines.
if you read that chunk of info, congrats lmaothanks for reading and dont squint too hard at this or you'll see fifty hundred errors <33
Chapter 19: (this isn't unwarranted guilt)
Summary:
Sometimes people forget that Tsunade isn't a Legend.
(filler with way too much packed content)
Notes:
ik, i skipped a lot and there's only snippets of reactions but i think rn there's no need for more emotional sdklnsjkdb. sighs. anyway, next chapter will time skip like fuckign crazy.
it should also be fairly easy to write so i'll prolly get it posted in < seven days.
ok edit: ik i skipped out on A LOT. like you'd find that naruto would be furious if he found out all that shit i mentioned but it's not even put into dialogue.
(that's cuz it's reserved for hardcore flash-backing in future chapters lmao or in naruto's pov)
also, edit: i just reread it and the tenses are fairly shit. lol. oops.
also, edit: btw i borrowed some lines from my other naruto fic cuz i uh couldnt be bothered writing abt another anti-legend complex lmao, if you recognise it then *applauds* otherwise, shoo, go kudo my other fic :p (jk)ultra mega short chapter. this is technically not even a chapter, it's just what happens after the last chapter, a continuation, kinda.
lmaooo im so sorryyyy im legit posting every fortnight now and i give you this shittily written thing ahhaha :'0
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Naruto, no matter how observant or mature, still is a child.
And children simply want to be loved.
-Tsunade-
She feels scared and it's a selfish kind of scared.
It's been less than two months and she already felt her heart ripping when Naruto cried.
She got attached too quickly.
In many ways, Tsunade regrets.
She regrets that Naruto had to grow up so quickly, had to learn to survive so quickly and she regrets that she had to make him mature so quickly. And she regrets that things had to be this way because it will only get tougher from here on out.
The deadline is in June.
Naruto’s mind was already very observant but the training Tsunade had put him through the past weeks had just heightened his cognitive skills. The amount of thoughts and memories and subtle insinuations of the Villager’s worlds were sharpened to a frightening degree.
They would be engraved into his mind.
If Tsunade had not come, Naruto may have been able to hold off his thoughts of ill. He may have been able to hold back his dark undertone that had developed through the childhood years of abuse. But Tsunade didn’t regret coming to Konoha; she regretted not coming sooner. She regretted not being able to prevent those ill thoughts and his raging mind.
"You two who hadn't been there for more than a decade of my life! What do you know about me? How- how dare you-"
Tsunade was part Uzumaki and in various tangled family trees, Naruto's relative. (Would her anger towards Jiraiya be considered ignorant?)
This thought sticks to her mind for far longer than what is psychologically considered as 'healthy'.
Tsunade is made of human flesh and human bones. From her easily snap-able hair down to her painted toenails, she's human.
Why doesn't anyone get that?
She feels adamant and annoyed, frustrated and angry that they dared to do such a thing-
They treated her as if she was a Legend but then mocked her for being afraid.
'-you simply aren't stable enough to care for him.'
Yet apparently she was stable enough to be thrown into warfare if it was threatened. She was stable enough to run the entire medical facility, to teach and to interact with multiple aspiring Med-Nin who just didn't understand that she was human.
No one understood- tried to understand- why she was such a 'failure'.
'She was a Legend so she should've been able to tough it through.'
'I'm not that Legend!' She wanted to scream it, carve it in the darned ground with the 'monstrous strength' that people didn't understand was worked for not granted.
'So this is the Legendary Sannin, how disappointing-'
'Kaa-san, I thought Tsunade-hime was the greatest kunoichi-'
'What's so legendary about her, she's just a-'
'How could a Med-Nin be so pathetic-'
'And Konohagakure put hopes on the likes of her-'
'That drunkard? The one with the enormous-'
'Sitting Duck Tsunade-'
'A legend, yeah. A Legendary Sucker.'
Was she not allowed to grieve? Was she not allowed to drown in her sorrows? Was having an impenetrable, iron mindset supposed to be worshipped?
It was ironic how she seemed so impenetrable to Naruto yet was truly this pathetic. Naruto didn't really know what being a 'Legendary Sannin' meant. He just knew that she worked hard and now she was strong so he could be the same.
In ways, he was hopeful like that. But that meant Tsunade was lying to him. He didn't know how many malicious intentions had been crossing her mind- spiting the Council; ha, I'm taking the Jinchuuriki; Jiraiya, this is what you get- at the time. He didn't know how many weaknesses Tsunade had held and still holds.
How does she approach this? As a guardian? As a mentor? As a close acquaintance? As family?
'Sarutobi. Jiraiya. Minato and Kushina. Ojisama, Obaasama. What exactly do you want me to do?'
The pendant of her necklace laid heavy and cold against her sternum.
A bodiless voice replied to her: 'Just be honest. This is, after all, your 'Safe Zone' as well.'
Naruto always had a hand on her wrist or her haori, clenching with a fist every time she slipped too far away. She never strayed away from him after that realisation.
After hours of talking and squeezing every drop of knowledge out of her hazed memories, she starts talking about everything else. Kushina and Minato were merely slips of smiling figures in her bleary mind and neither Shizune nor her got the chance to... get to know them?
But why would they? After all, Jiraiya should be unpacking this mess in the first place but he's neither suitable nor does Tsunade want that foul man near Naruto.
And when the pent up words start, they don't seem to want to stop. She talked about everything weighing on her mind. She talked about everything she hated and loved and-
About Sarutobi. About Danzo and the Council. About the letter and the agreement. About her guilt and how she failed him. About why she left and the crimson she's now helplessly afraid of.
('Konoha will not manipulate Naruto. We won't let them.')
Perhaps a better, a kinder woman would understand that this information was too sensitive and burdensome on a twelve year old but Tsunade knew better. She could blink and visualise the thousands of different ways this information could be used to pry the boy away from them.
(Or perhaps Tsunade is just selfish. She doesn't want to imagine Jiraiya waltzing in and instantly garnering Naruto's attention. He doesn't deserve that.)
So she talks and he listens, angrily- tiredly, about his Godfather and his supposed 'Grandfather', about Kakashi and about the dozens of other people who had done him wrong.
She forces herself to not look away because the pain of staring into his wide blue eyes was nothing compared to the anguish he must've been feeling this entire time.
Naruto is quick to jump in defence of people he'd never known. 'They must've been burdened.' 'Torn between their loyalties.' 'They must've not known.' 'It must be guilt or duty.'
'I'm sure it's not their fault.'
But Naruto looks hurt and betrayed and Naruto is a child but Tsunade tells him that these are the things he must know to move forward.
If Naruto was to survive, he must not be treated as a mere 'twelve year old orphan'.
She proposes her theories, her suspicions and he gives his own input- underground information, gossip amongst the Akasen. They delve deep into Konoha and wonder: who else has been cheated in Konoha?
Tsunade still has to ask: "Do you hate them?" She asked with a little bit of (horrible) nervousness because Tsunade is selfish and she doesn't want her innocent child to have that twisted, pained and bordering loathsome expression on his face.
Naruto grimaces and turns away. "I don't know. I'm angry though- I- I'm sick of it all. I'm- I don't know. Am I allowed to hate them?"
"You feel what you think is right, Naruto." Tsunade pressed his lips together and all that nervousness is bundled up and set on fire because- what the fuck. Tsunade will be hateful alongside with Naruto if that's what he wants. "But remember who you are. Don't ever let them hinder you."
"Don't get caught up in the past that you never knew, Naruto." Is what she meant to say. "You cannot fall behind."
As if to (spite her) prove her point, his eyes soon harden into a fairly settled and blank look of acceptance.
(Tsunade grows to absolutely despise that expression.)
"Do you still want to become Hokage?" Tsunade is selfishstillsososelfish and she still wants to remember Naruto as a next generation Nawaki or Dan. She doesn't want her words to completely destroy Naruto's goals and dreams.
"...Yes, I think... Yes." Naruto rubs his eyes, the childish action not hiding the resolve in his eyes. And, again and again, those selfish emotions disappear but by now she knows that it's only temporary.
"But that'll take a long, long time. I hate it because I still belong to Konoha no matter what. I'm just missing the hitai-ate as a branding mark."
Those 'wants' she'd had were forcefully quashed.
"Konoha isn't good for you." She tells him, eyes harsh and true. "Konoha isn't good enough for you. You won't become a Hokage without their acknowledgement but I won't let you run over your own life just for their nod of consent."
"Konoha isn't good." Naruto agreed with a maturity that she regrets that he has. "But that's why I'll become a Hokage better than any of the last ones."
"I've told you: none of the Hokages were without flaws. The ideal of being Hokage, Naruto... you need to fully understand it- what it means, how it could change you."
"I know." He said softly, "That's why Konoha became the way it is. But I... No matter what, Tsunade-baachan, I will reach for that title because even if they abandon me and spit on me, I-..."
The silence is telling, but the uncomfortable shift in Naruto's eyes isn't guilt.
-It's helpless love, helpless hate. Can he recognise the difference between 'belonging to Konoha' and 'belonging in Konoha'?
Naruto himself probably can't even identify and pick through the conflicting emotions so Tsunade couldn't ask him to stick to one thought.
She thinks back to the forbidden scroll and their abrupted talk about the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki and she wonders whether Naruto could ever be fully overcame by hatred- whether Naruto's love, no matter how poisonous or one-sided, could ever be extinguished.
'Ah,' Tsunade realises for what must be the hundredth time. 'Naruto is far, far too kind.'
How will she do this?
There's a cycle of unhealthy emotions. One where Tsunade is caught up with her past, then dragged back to the present, then hit in the face with the toxic emotions of overprotectiveness and possessive hatred.
Then Naruto smiles; softly or daringly, gently or brilliantly; and those emotions clear like sun breaking through clouds but then-
The cycle starts all over again.
How will she do this?
Tsunade reaches for her stash of snacks and bonks Naruto over the head with a chip packet. He startles and looks up at her, blinking confusedly.
"What do you think about taking the next day off and then the rest of the time we have left to train like fucking idiots?"
Deadline. June.
"Tsunade-sama!" Comes Shizune's half-hearted response.
"Yeah!" Naruto beamed, "What do you think about smashing the fuck out of the Exams and throwing arms with the old bastards 'n crones?"
"Not you too, Naruto..."
"I taught you well, brat." Tsunade sniffs.
When Naruto sleeps, she locks her self in the bathroom with a small, sharp knife and an antiseptic.
Shizune is on the other side of the door, a tone of desperate worry coats her hiss- "You can do it in other ways though..." The words are reluctant because she's seen Tsunade's determination.
She brings the gleaming edge to her finger and watches a single drop of blood bead from her skin. "I'm fine, Shizune. This is my road to healing."
It's tossing the words back into her face because Shizune's told Tsunade countless times to change and get on her 'road to healing'. It's harsh but it's true. It can only be like this because Tsunade is a Sannin and she can't afford to trust many with this fear. She can't afford long talk sessions on therapy- and they wouldn't work.
'It starts today.' She thinks to herself through her hammering heartbeat and growing unease. 'I have six months to get rid of this.'
The blood beads from her skin and melts along the fine lines of her finger print. Her heartbeat rockets and she tries to make her gasp a little less audible.
This is just one drop. It was nowhere near enough blood as Dan. Coated in dark red. The rain washes and dilutes the colour but it's still vivid and sticky on her palms- "I don't want to die... I still have things I need to do-"
Weak.
The next time the blade meets her skin, there's a lot more blood than a drop and there's a lot more fear than simple unease.
(The deadline is in June.)
"Baa-chan, doesn't need to feel bad though." Naruto smiles (like Kushina) and looks sheepish (like Minato) when he rubs the back of his head. "I know I said some harsh things but... you don't know- I really, really, super duper appreciate you and Shizu-nee! Really- like, a lot-ttebayo!"
Notes:
this is um messy hehe... ik bruv. i admit that this is a horrible lazy author way of just dumping in content without background but cmonnnnnn, imagine writing the reactions to all that shit?
i also couldnt dump in psychological things like 'oh, tsunade was hiding her fear cuz she didnt want naruto to feel burdened-' fuck that lol. imagine if the council just told naruto that 'tsunade was only using naruto to satiate her own past tragedies where blah blah blah' urhg. nah. tsunade's a smort gurl. she aint gonna play their game of manipulation lmao
also i can already see the comments so here are some things:
- naruto can be kind and still kick ass. remember dat lol.
- naruto cant completely switch personas. he can 'act' that way but with how hardcore his 'nice-ness' was in canon, i doubt i could make him malicious at all.
- WHEN THE CHUUNIN EXAMS COME AROUND, YOU'LL UNDERSTAND WHY I KEEP ON MAKING NARUTO CUT OFF HIS OPINIONS OF KONOHA AND WHY HE ''''likes/loves/feels an attachment to''''' KONOHA, OK??? that sounded so aggressive :0also because there's a lot of slkdhs around what tsunade said here's a list to confirm shit:
- yes, naruto saw and read the letter
- yes, naruto knows abt how much of a fucktard jiraiya and sarutobi are
- yes, naruto now knows that tsunade is afraid of blood and why she liked him at first (dan/nawaki flashbacc)
- yes, naruto knows why tsunade told him that and how danzo might try to pull a sneaky on him
- yes, this 'talk' spanned a pretty damn long time so no, they aren't dehydrated or starving or sleep deprivedi think i missed a ton of shit but comment down below for any confusions :D (most of this content will be unpacked in flashbacks- if i rmb to include them :p)
i feel like im losing momentum for this fic nuuuuuu-
dw i wont drop it tho
thanks for reading this half-chapter :'D <3
Chapter 20: IV. our 'step one' is watching the sun rise
Summary:
notes:
--BELL TEST--
- sakura and kakashi talk
- hanako
- bell test talk
- pass or fail?--UZUSHIO--
- hiruzen done fucked up again
Notes:
sighs. i cant tell whether i like this chapter or hate it. depending on how u see it, incoming ooc-ness.
edit: OH MY GOD GUYS I JUST REALISED I DIDNT WRITE THE INTRODUCTION TO THE BELL TEST CUZ I THOUGHT I ALREADY WROTE IT BUT IM JUMPING STRAIGHT INTO IT :'D
edit: ok, im changing this entire chapter to bell test and uzushio. read end notes if you care abt the tiniiiiest details/opinions
edit: why tf do i have so much repetition oml
fuck it, no editing, posting. dont kill me :')
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Team 7-
"You figured it out." Kakashi accused.
One Genin hopeful faced one annoyed Jonin.
"Yes," Sakura's grin turned cheeky, "I did."
"But what are you going to do?" Kakashi waved casually, the pages of his Icha Icha flapping with his movement, "Whether you know the objective or not-"
"'-We wouldn't want to work with this team anyway so it wouldn't be possible for us to pass'... is what you're thinking, right?"
He cocked a brow. "Am I wrong?"
Sakura chuckled nervously, "No, you're definitely right. But I'm passing this time 'round and I'm willing to commit."
"Are you?" Kakashi mused, disinterest coating his voice. "Even though you clearly dislike the other?"
"I... used to be friends with Yamashiro." Sakura grimaced. "And broken relationships make it worse. There's no way for us to become friends again if he's like that."
"And so...?" He prompted, curious, almost.
"And so we'll change him." Sakura determined but that naïve glint in her eyes somehow... annoyed him... Kakashi realistically should've been... enthused by that reaction but...
"Us three- us two if Sasuke-kun is unwilling. I'll... I'll even do it by m-myself if I have to..."
Sakura's eyes were no longer fiery at those words; they turned hesitant, scanning his reaction warily before her gaze flickered, scared and alone, helpless and afraid. Well, where did all her bravado go? Did they disappear as soon as she realised the possibility on having to act alone?
Those eyes were watching him in expectation. Will he hear her out or will he walk away? Does he even have a choice?
'Oh right. The Council.' The reminder of those Elders just flipped his mindset: so what if the fangirl stopped squealing and so what if the Last Uchiha has changed the barest bit? It didn't change anything- if anything, the fact that his Sensei's son wasn't in the team anymore just further soured the deal. He had an emo kid who he's obligated to teach Sharingan stuff to, a sissy wimp and an annoyance.
'Oh right.' He remembered. 'This is an order and not my choice.'
The intrigue of the ex-fangirl was simply passing- he didn't want to get attached. He didn't want them to die.
(But they always will because Kakashi was the cold-blooded shinobi who always came back with the blood of his comrades on him.
'Friend-Killer Kakashi,' A voice whispered beside him. 'Don't get too close.')
But he had to take them on. He had to pass these arrogant, ignorant, deluded, weak children.
What was this stupid girl even suggesting?
'We'll change him'? That was ridiculous- simply absurd. Who did she think she was? Just because she stopped screaming every few seconds didn't make her all the hot stuff. It didn't make her strong, nor influential. It just means that other people stopped getting ringing in their ears.
"I'll- I'll drag you into this, Kakashi-sensei."
That baseless resolve.
"I'll drag Sasuke-kun into this."
Was he meant to feel something?
"Then I'll drag H... Hanako-kun into this as well. We have to make this Team 7," Sakura's eyes didn't seem intriguing to him anymore; they seemed childish- naïve and idealistic.
(She should stay away from Kakashi if she's looking for a 'dream team'.)
"I won't let it not." She declared as if she had any power to do so.
"I could fail you." The Hatake drawled, almost sneering at how obviously the hope crumbled in her eyes. "See that? How quickly you just gave up. You're still pathetic."
How had he even cared about these Genin? "I won't leave you alone, Kakashi-kun. We're in this together."
"You're no where near as strong as you like to deceive yourself into being. I could commend your intelligence and determination, but if you don't use them to survive and if you don't have anything to back it up with, they could get you killed."
"Aren't..." A tone that Kakashi despises rose again to scrape against his ears. "Aren't you being too cruel to a fresh Genin?"
"Kakashi-kun, don't be like that."
It was- Reprimanding. A reprimanding tone and only Rin and her fussy Med Nin personality had spoken to him like that- Kushina-san was scarier so he'd never have less motivation to listen and Minato-sensei was always too soft to- and maybe evenObito'swhiningvoicewasbetter than-
"So you acknowledge that you're a fresh Genin." Kakashi snapped the novel shut in a dull 'thwup' and applauded, slow and mocking. "Did you know that fresh Genin are always the first to fuck up during a time of importance?"
"...B-... But I..."
Sakura could claim that he was exaggerating- and he was- but there were still many elements of truth in what he suggested and to brush them aside would only make herself look even more ignorant.
"And don't even try to argue that you won't be exposed to important things as a rookie because the role of a Jonin Sensei is to see whether or not you'll succeed or fail, whether it's for more important things or less important things. It starts from here. Not from your promotion."
"...'It'?"
"Your potential." He told her, "Your will. Your instincts. Many say that you develop these through your time as a shinobi. That is incorrect."
Sakura flinched at his bland tone.
"You're either fit, or unfit. Spurring on this signature 'Will of Fire' is more... superficial than people portray it; no one 'fears' death until they're on the verge of. From Genin, I need to make sure you're prepared because you may be able to hone them and you may be able to increase them through your life, but..."
Kakashi closed his eye and remembered the trembling Genin he had sneered at as a Chuunin. Those Jonin Senseis had measured their physical strength and agility, but they hadn't measured their guts to fight and survive.
"But if you become a Genin and you lack these assets, you will die very, very early and very, very painfully. Unless, of course, you have ungodly amounts of luck. If so, you'll have a shit ton of trauma on your plate and-" He let out a cold chuckle. "Nobody likes that. Feel free to say hello to near death experiences."
Kakashi knew he was pushing it. The standards he was putting forth were similar to the ones during times of war. Nowadays, to pass the Genin Exams, one doesn't even need that much skill. These three children could pass the standard for Genin easily.
But rank doesn't equate to how they'll cope.
With a mindset like hers? Insecure, frail and dependent? Sakura wouldn't survive. That façade of hers was primarily influenced by the Yamanaka heiress, from what it seems, and he figured that Sakura, at least, had just been acting.
"...I'm trying-"
This idiot.
"No one 'tries' to get killed." Kakashi retorted coldly, "Just because you're acting a little different from before, it doesn't change all those years you've wasted."
"I can be different from now on!" She burst out, still trembling like a child and on the verge of tears.
Kakashi's heart did not soften. 'Quit it.'
"You just proved my point." He deadpanned. "How could I send someone like you onto missions? None of us are reliable."
"But you're the-"
"But I am the Jonin Sensei, right?" Kakashi pressed his lips together in irritation, a flicker of guilt causing words to involuntarily tumble out.
"Well bummer for you, but not only am I a shit teacher, you three children are also way too stubborn. Be honest and tell me if you can imagine Sasuke whole-heartedly relying on this team and myself. Be honest and tell me if you can imagine Hanako participating in a battle alongside with Naruto."
It's oh so easy to see their corpses. He could blink and imagine the fresh carvings on the Memorial Stone.
"That's..."
"Sasuke has not called me 'Sensei' once. You think I want to help you guys into becoming disciplined shinobi? You think I want to help kids who can't accept, or 'don't need' help?"
"But- But Kakashi-sensei, what about me? I don't have anything else- Ino has her own team and my parents are civilians, Iruka-sensei has his own students and Sasuke-kun only just stopped despising me! I wanted- I want a Team, a Sensei! You can't leave me alone- you can't make me do this by myself because you're my- my... Sensei, why are you like this? You were- you seem so-"
She struggles for words and two sides of his mind rise to snap one thing:
Stop.
She's pitiful (wanting all of this after she treated Naruto like so.) But where had he been? Why had he just watched? She's so desperate that it's pathetic- unwilling to change by herself and be independent, she's still looking for the easy way out. (She can't survive with that fragile behaviour.) It's ignorant and immature in a way that Kakashi loathes, but-
Stop.
Because Kakashi knows she's innocent and she's trying and she's just a kid that wants someone beside her. She's a lonely child as in scars don't litter her frame and nightmares don't create dark bags, crimson doesn't stain her nails and screams don't stain her mind.
They aren't in war so Kakashi...
He really wants to go on ANBU missions again (where feelings and stress didn't really matter; where he could slide on a mask and turn off all the humanity that is, by now, in shambles; where Rin's face couldn't manifest before his enemies because they'd be dead before he even sees their face.)
He should stop 'going down that route' and start teaching the new generation. He should be there for children especially how (even when) no one had been there for him.
He should've been a better man- he could be a better man but- Oh, how the world has betrayed him.
He didn't have the strength to climb the morally high ground again.
This scared girl who knows nothing, can do nothing-
"...Sensei, who hurt you?"
She dares?
He wants her to stay innocent, even if she means absolutely nothing to him. Her stance is wide open and it would be terribly easy to kill her with a Chidori. This girl shouldn't remind him of Ri-
"No one." He put lightly. "Absolutely no one. In this life- if you survive for long enough to tell- you'll learn that the act of putting blame on other things and other people is frivolous and useless."
"What... do you mean?" Sakura shrank away, not noticing the seals Kakashi had created.
"I mean, Pinkie," He twisted his chakra, "You're still not enough for this shinobi world."
"I- No, that's-"
"Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique."
Sakura whipped her head up at the whisper, trying to decipher what exactly her Sensei had just said when clouds darkened over them, shadows overtaking the pools of bright sunlight. She shivered, warily looking around; she hated the cold.
There was a dull thud behind her and she snapped herself around, hand trembling towards her weapons pouch.
Kakashi didn't even feel surprised when she screamed, face paling as she fell onto the floor, hard and... unconscious.
Sakura awoke to Hanako pocking at her.
"-ura-chan." Poke. "Sakura-chan." Poke. "Sakur-"
"Wha- what?" She sat up, head ringing. "H-Hana... ko-kun...?"
"Oh yay!" Hanako beamed, throwing the stick behind him. "You've been calling me 'Yamashiro' for so long and even though I love my Clan, it feels weird to be called that by you, hehe..."
"What- Why am I-..." She laid her head back down onto the soil, groaning. "Kakashi-sensei, how dare."
"What happened, Sakura-chan?" Hanako tilted his head to the side. "Are you alright?"
"Kakashi-sensei, that rude jerk, put me under a Genjutsu." Sakura then recounted her shaken experiences and realised... "It was just a D-Rank Genjutsu- And by the looks of it, he released it as soon as I fell unconscious... Heck, I feel pathetic..."
"Sakura-chan, you aren't pathetic! You're really strong and smart and pretty!" Hanako was quick to jump in. "Kakashi-sensei is just super strong, you know?"
"Well, where is he now?" Sakura frowned, slowly moving to peak around the area. "With Sasuke-kun...?"
"I... don't know." Hanako's brows creased in worry and for a reason Sakura couldn't pin point, it felt weird...
"Oh right, Hanako-kun, what are you doing helping me?" Sakura hurriedly shook her head. Even though she figured out the objective, it didn't mean others had. "Remember what Sensei said? It would have been a much better option to..."
Hanako's eyes were calm and cheerful. Maybe he had figured it out after all...?
"Mou, Sakura-chan, there's no need to say all that." He turned to fully face her with a grin (but it was a little less confident than his usual ones), "A simple 'thank you' would be good enough for me!"
There were things Sakura realised as she followed behind Hanako's much more enthusiastic lead. The talk between her Sensei and herself had taken a route she hadn't expected.
"Sensei, who hurt you?"
The query hadn't been thrown with intent to hurt but it seemed to snap that string she had been unknowingly pulling on this entire time. Of course she had studied about the infamous Hatake Kakashi; only the most ignorant fools wouldn't have heard of him.
Just yesterday, after she found out that he was her teacher, she had dived back into the library, talked to Inoichi-ojisama about him, searched for rumours alongside Ino...
'Friend-Killer Kakashi': his former epithet sent chills down her spine. The blurred image profile on the Bingo Book looked much more cold and dead than the perverted, foolish Sensei she had met that day.
She should've noticed that something was wrong.
It was the reason why she lost steam so quickly.
He had unknowingly presented a challenge; she'd failed.
Kakashi had many malicious rumours around him; every word of his was ominous, almost foreshadowing- promising- and Sakura couldn't help but just fear a little.
But as he kept talking- more than she expected, more than what Kakashi himself probably expected- she came to remember one thing, a tiny but important thing: Kakashi had never passed a Genin team before.
And it might be because Kakashi was... tired, or perhaps even scared.
It was presumptuous and audacious. An S-Rank, arguably Kage level shinobi? Scared?
But Sakura could see it: Sasuke recklessly charging out for that 'certain man' he wanted to kill, Hanako not obeying properly because of his burning distaste for Naruto. Sasuke had... as much as she hated to say, shown not much loyalty to Konoha. His ambitions and his life seemed to revolve around that 'man' whereas Hanako has equal parts of loyalty to his Clan and to his Village.
And Sakura? She could see herself dying because she was too scared to move. She ducked her head and wondered, again and again, whether or not she should become a shinobi.
She closed her eyes and tried to imagine just how cruel of a human you needed to be to wear a familiar Sharingan and live with your Team's blood on your hands.
(Trace the rumours- there are more open secrets than one thinks.)
His Sensei was dead. His Team was dead. More than a decade long history in ANBU. Inoichi looked at her with narrowed eyes: "I'm trusting you have a reason to ask this of me. Kakashi never ran 'healthy' missions after the Kyuubi night."
She opened her eyes and realised: you couldn't be a human at all.
"What do you think you're doing?" Sasuke hissed as Hanako and Sakura dragged him out from the dirt hole.
Correction: tried to drag him out.
Currently, he managed to force one hand out of the hole simply to bat them away.
"Saving you," Hanako snarked. "Arse."
"I don't need your help-"
"Yeah? Try getting out of a Doton Jutsu by yourself then." His forehead creased, sweat dripping down his brow with the amount of force he was exerting.
"You're going to break my hands, you goddamned imbecile!" Sasuke tsked, slapping them away.
"Sasuke-kun," Sakura groaned. "Please stop being a nuisance."
"Do you remember what Kakashi-sensei said?" Sakura raised one finger in a quiet lecture. "There’s 27 graduates and only 9 pass. That’s a 66% failure rate like what he said. But! Why did he say that only one person would fail in our test? There’s also something obviously wrong with the test rules."
Sasuke mulled over her words before slowly realising, "...If you think about it calmly, you'll realise that teams are so carefully put together. They wouldn't make only one person pull out. It wouldn't make sense."
Hanako nodded along when realisation dawned on him, relieving the tension Sakura hadn't realised had creased his forehead, "Yeah, especially how hard core they are about teamwork."
"Mhm, like with the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho trio. They wouldn't pull anyone out because they'd ruin the teamwork."
"And," Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Jonin are suck ups to Clan Heirs."
Hanako snorted and Sakura muffled her snicker of agreement. "And that brings me to my final conclusion: this scenario is merely a test to pit us against each other."
"But how will we pass?" Hanako's eyes weren't bright as usual. They were sharp, questioning, hurt as they looked at Sakura.
For the first time in a long while, she felt guilt stab at her. As much as he had mistreated Naruto, Sakura had instantly broke off their friendship as well but he... had always held on and Sakura didn't know what to think of it. Naruto didn't deserve any of them but did Hanako deserve Sakura? Did Sakura deserve Hanako?
She didn't have the right to act all high and mighty because Sakura and Hanako were one the same in Naruto's eyes. She was acting cruel to Hanako as he was acting cruel towards Naruto.
"We will pass." Sakura repeated. "We will."
'I'm willing to commit.'
Not to 'tolerate' or to 'deal with' but to make amends. How much has she broken? How much is she still breaking? Continuously? Will it ever stop?
Because... the frosty disapproval, dismissal, disappointment in his lone eye.
"I'm... sorry, Hanako-kun." Sakura faced Hanako, eyes sincere. "I didn't tell you before, but thank you."
She realised that Hanako had saved her, regardless of whatever consequences he may have faced.
'Thank you for waking me up. Thank you for comforting me. Thank you for helping me even though it would be at the cost of potential failure.
Thank you for never giving up on me even as I treated you like so. Thank you for being my friend when I wasn't myself.
Thank you for still being my friend even though I didn't acknowledge you.
Thank you for being by my side, whether I hated you or liked you.
That 'hate' I'd held just... Are none of my emotions sincere? Why do small acts like this always make me...'
"That's because Sakura," Ino sighed, jutting both hands on her hips again. "You have absolutely no ground in yourself."
"Ground?"
"Like- like rock, ya know? Steel." The Yamanaka slammed a fist into her palm. "You gotta know what you are and whether stuff other people do to you are worthy of your hate or your love or your whatever the fuck-"
"Language." Inoichi called from outside.
"Like you know with those dumb girls?" Ino recalled, "That teased you for your forehead?"
Sakura flinched, ducking her head automatically.
"That's a bitch move, girl friend," She continued, gesturing aggressively. "You don't shrink back and deal with it. If you have ground or rock in you, you'll know that they're just like little slugs trying to crawl up. You don't let them crawl up; you kick their bitchy butts back down into the ditch cuz that's where they belong."
"Ino dear," Inoichi sighed, pushing open the door and leaning on the frame. "You should never become a mental doctor."
"But they get paid a lo-" She protested.
"Anyway, Sakura, you listen hear, ok?" Inoichi faced Sakura. "I think what Ino's trying to tell you is that your self worth needs to be at 'ground level'. You can't be full of yourself but you can't have no self esteem."
"Like rock." Ino justified with a haughty sniff.
"Kind of." He relented with a sigh. "If little decent human acts make you happy, you need to raise your standard. Being bullied shouldn't be your 'norm'. That's what she's trying to say."
"But don't worry, Sakura, no one can change quickly. It's a slow process and as long as if you try, you'll get better."
"No problem, Sakura-chan." Hanako grinned, "You can repay by getting soba with me-"
"Team 7?" The Sandaime quirked a brow at Kakashi.
"Pass." Kakashi didn't look up from his book. The entire room gasped in unison and the old man feigned shock.
"Really? How?"
"They found out the objective." He simply stated, no sarcastic remark. It was... blander than expected.
"Huh." Kurenai nodded lightly. "Well... congrats?"
(Gai, despite the fact that he didn't need to be there, had been present. He placed a hand on his chin: something about Kakashi's attitude didn't feel Hip or Cool as usual. Hmmm, maybe he was lacking a bit of Youth... Maybe he'll ask for a Team collaboration training?)
-Uzu-
"Are you sure you want to see your home?"
"What was meant to be my home." Naruto corrected with a frown; no matter how he phrased it, it sounded weird and foreign: 'home'.
Uzushio was a wreck; buildings that once stood tall were crumbling, overgrown vines and weeds littering the cracks, the scuttling of bugs and small critters were detected by his heightened senses.
Despite all this, the seals remained. Detecting his Uzumaki blood and chakra, they responded, glowing and shimmering in a dull way.
Underneath the layers of dirt and blood, he could make out the brilliant yellow and orange tiled walkways. And beneath the rubble of the fallen Village, he could make out what was once an awe-inducing, picturesque establishment.
He stood there, for... how long? Just staring. Staring at the Village that had been cheated by Konoha. He took in the wreckage and thought: 'Konoha, did you really consider us a Sister Village?'
'The Uzushio annihilation occurred 23 years ago.' He's memorised many sections of that textbook. 'Eleven years before my birth. My parents were 13 at the time... and so it was the Sandaime who... Of course it's the Sandaime.'
Amongst his pondering, he started wandering, feeling the stone under his fingers, breathing in the strong salt of wind-
He froze, swinging around and ducking under a low hanging piece of wood-
"Naruto?"
He swung his head to and fro, wondering where had that disgusting smell come from?
He realised, abruptly then, that he did not see a single cemetery. Only a few odd tombstones, a few hand-made graves and small memorials.
He now knew why because that smell had been the smell of a dead body.
Fury licked at his stomach because-
The sight of a dead body.
He stared at the shrivelled form of what looks like an arm, the size of a toddler's, pocking out underneath a large slab of fallen stone.
He could hear as their silent footsteps halted: Shizune's sharp inhale of shock and Tsunade's hiss of rage.
Naruto swallowed dryly. He's never seen a dead body before and the first one he sees? It's of his Clan.
Tsunade, sensing his panic, placed a steady hand on his shoulder before she moved to flip the stone. It brought out a huge plume of dust and Shizune swatted blindly, coughing slightly while Tsunade waved her hand in a Fuuton.
Naruto's breath caught in his throat, barely registering Tsunade's snap of 'shit' and Shizune gagging on her own words.
He flinched, violently so.
Three bodies. A child. And two adults.
Everything screeches to a halt.
His mind broke off- one side categorising the stages of decomposition and how they died-
The other side, pained and shaky- 'They're dead. They're past dead. Truly dead and their child looks so young- looked so young-' He wouldn't- he couldn't even-
He couldn't mourn for this small, hopeful family. Because he never knew them.
He just stared- kept staring- at the three liquified bodies, not knowing what shade their hair colour was, not knowing whether they were the standard Uzumaki red or a different colour, perhaps from foreign Villages like he was, half-blooded like he was. But either way, Uzumaki like he was.
He hated how he didn't know whether or not they had known his Kaa-san- it still sounded weird in his mind: Kaa-san. Whether or not they had been a young couple or a middle-aged one that had just decided to have a baby. They might have even been strangers- mere acquaintances in the market who decided to sacrifice their safety to protect others.
He hated not knowing if that toddler would've grown up bright and cheerful or maybe, mature and responsible. What if he or she would've grown up to be mischievous and always causing trouble that would make the adults "What a nuisance-" "Hokage-sama ought to-" chuckle at his or her antics-
(He doesn't know why he feels guilty for their deaths even though Uzushiogakure was already decimated when his mother was just a fresh Genin.)
It feels like he's betraying them by staring- just staring- at their bodies, being an Uzumaki yet not being with them to die. How dare he live? Carelessly, ignorantly?
Twelve years of his life, unknowing of his family who laid here without peace, without having been sent off.
'Have you been avenged? ...Will vengeance give you peace?'
He stares at the people that he might've known (and befriended and laughed with and celebrated with and-) if Uzushio had never fell and tries to picture what they might've looked like.
He tries to imagine- Fair skin? Round eyes? Chubbier?
But just like with his mother, he comes up with nothing.
But no doubt the two adults had done all they could to shield the toddler's small frame whose face was unquestionably in a rictus expression of stark terror.
The cold side of his brain informs him that they had probably died before the stone fell on them.
He blinks and the next thing he sees is Shizune's kimono, Tsunade curses and-
Time starts moving again.
He buckles over against Shizune's shoulder, nausea swimming in his stomach. The putrid scent suddenly increases and he presses his eyes together, trying to force away the mangled corpse- corpse of-
Heat builds up behind his eyes and he gathers just enough strength to shove Shizune away before he retches, the foul taste bringing more tears to his eyes-
The body- dead body- and one was a child- a toddler- and people. They were people- and they were dead. And they were his Clan. And they were dead. Dead.
Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead-
"Naruto. Breathe."
Two adults and one toddler. Three humans just like him. But they weren't breathing with him-
"Sometime, I would've needed you to do an autopsy of some sort." Tsunade said dully. "I didn't expect that it would..."
"Second one."
"What?" Shizune repeated.
He bared his teeth but it's nothing friendly: sure he's tired and hurt and betrayed but he's also furious.
"Sandaime... Strike Two." Naruto can still taste the bitter disappointment on the back of his throat (alongside the clinging repulsion of a rotting corpse).
His voice is flat and dead. Neither Shizune nor Tsunade winced.
"That's Strike Two."
He spent the rest of his day burying the dead and pushing back his nausea. The smell is so thick, the blood is so sticky- his hands... won't stop shaking.
Naruto bites his thumb, watching the red bleed from the cut before he let it drip into the seal.
Runes. Twisting and tangling in a dance that his eyes can't follow. It hurts that this art was his family's work and it hurts that he may have never gotten the chance to see them let alone learn them.
Tsunade stands behind him, Shizune beside her and, like always, their presence doesn't cause the prickling on the back of his neck; he knows that their stare isn't hateful and, like always, it gives him strength.
He makes a series of hand seals, ignoring the fluttering in his stomach and the loud beating of his heart. The words leave his tongue like a second unfamiliar nature:
"Uzumaki Fuuin: Binding Blood Arts."
The Uzumaki race was gifted. Abundant chakra and life force meant multiple Kekkei Genkais and techniques.
Yet despite their boundless oceans of pure power, they decided to specialise upon the most difficult and the most intricate art of them all: Fuuinjutsu.
Notes:
notes (ramble):
- honestly, wtf is this formatting? i have zero consistency. i should never become an author author.--KAKASHI AND SAKURA INTERACTION--
- ok i feel like first part was just bullshit. but here: kakashi approached sakura, she wanted to talk, it backfired cuz kakashi does not want a team
- kakashi says these things because he's subconsciously warning her off and 'preparing her'. think abt erwin's speech abt how everyone dies in the survey corps.
- nvm i dont think i can justify kakashi's switch of attitude but in this fic, he's been on anbu the entire time apart from when he's 'bell test-ing'.
- also idk abt yall but 'who hurt you?' was a meme amongst my community so i kinda joked it into there. it means 'who hurt you' as in 'who pissed in your cereal/who put salt in your coffee' or smt.
- also i was gonna write this but it gave off a different vibe so i'll put it here:
"" "I mean, Pinkie," He twisted his chakra, "That until you've truly understood what you asked of me and yourself, you won't be ready for the world out there." "" it's kinda the same but eh idk i thought it sounded diff.
- btw kakashi aint necessarily *right* in the stuff he said; it's just what he believes so dont attack author for it :))
- sakura figures it out because she wasn’t immersed with sasuke during kakashi’s explanation and she didn’t immediately think it was a ‘test of love’. sakura is a damn genius and that’s really not spoken about.
--HANAKO'S A BETCH BUT ALL OF A SUDDEN HE'S NICE, I BETCHYALL R CONFUSED--
- he's an open debate so queries --> c o m m e n t
originally i wrote a chunk here but eh cant be bothered
- rmb sakura also has shit self esteem so she's quick into falling into her habits of feeling like she aint enough for anything. hence why she quickly loses hope and quickly thanks (and 'forgives') hanako- also i just realised that kakashi had been ditched during the timeskip, did he go back to anbu? maybe there was a filler abt that but DAMN i kinda feel bad cuz all his students legit got stolen away and GRANTED he was a shit teacher but cmon, they bonded.. kinda. and then they all waltzed off and kishi made it so light hearted w their reunion but bro... idk...
uzushio: civilians werent buried, shinobi (high ranking) were
long ass note but: sorry yall cuz i bullshitted the bell test lol i cant write fight scenes for shit so uh brace urself for chuunin exams
Chapter 21: (mother of chakra)
Summary:
notes:
- wtf i keep on stalling for the actual thing, urgh, at least i'll post the next chapter earlier cuz it's already written
- let's talk abt how tsunade should've been way more important then she was shown in canon
- talk no jutsu against naruto (more like pep talk part. 3784t64)
- yall underestimate naruto's problems so if imma write a compliment-naruto-rant every chapter, yall will hvae to deal w it <33
Notes:
future chapters:
I. naruto
II. wave
III. naruto again
IV. konohaunless i write too much and it doesn't fit
remember, much will be filled in flashbacks and stuff
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Fuuinjutsu from the textbook requires a studious mind, a steady hand, and impeccable chakra control.
The runes from his Clan tell him otherwise. They brim with power, charged with ancient energy that had yet to be dispelled.
"Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu is a league of its own." Shizune whispered, as if speaking too loudly would be a disturbance to the passed Uzushio. They walked through the underground hallways full of dusty shelves. "Simple things like studying and reading, while would get you started, would ultimately have nothing on natural talent."
"The thought process, every flare of your chakra, the feel of the brush." Tsunade expanded, looking upon each passing shelf with a personal love, a personal grief.
"A professional Fuuinjutsu master could copy each stroke with pin-point precision. But an Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu master could create a more advanced and specified seal with their eyes closed and nothing more than their chakra and their blood."
There are rows and rows of cremation urns, engraved seals dancing along the metallic shell. 'Uzumaki Kiyomi', one reads beside a date, smaller engravings of 'Jonin, mother, wife, cousin' underneath it. 'Uzumaki Fugito', is another ('Chuunin, nephew, godson, lover').
There is a deliberately careful sense in how they were arranged, so neatly aligned that it made him ponder how long one had to spend in front of these people (ghosts) to be so pedantic as to have them all perfectly straight.
"This is an intent-seal." Tsunade paused before another door with a circular design carved upon it. "It scans chakra for malicious intent. The Uzumaki had these planted all over the place and if you look carefully enough, those urns each have a small one carved into the centre. Furthermore, some urns are sealed so only those with certain blood and a certain chakra signature can bypass it."
"That's... overpowered..." Naruto squinted at the door and the meticulously placed seal. "Can't someone just destroy the door?"
She simply returned a bemused look.
With a quick flick of her chakra, blood bloomed from her thumb and the seal whirled to life, a holographic shimmer of designs glitching, a dull humming ringing in his ears, before it dropped, the door swinging open.
"That's some... crazy tech shit." He whispered, instinctively dodging Shizune's dope slap. "What makes our blood so special though? Tsunade-baachan is... is only part Uzumaki and I'm a- a half-blood but it still..."
"It's because the Uzumaki Clan was royalty. One of the closest to what people considered 'god'. The blood can't be so easily diluted. The-" Tsunade bit her lip a flicker of pain passing through her eyes as she stepped into the next area.
"The Uzumaki Clan was a home." She began again. "A sanctuary. While the Senju and Uchiha Clan were fighting- Warring States Period- the Uzumaki Clan remained passive, choosing not to slaughter the Uchiha despite there being 'ancestral hatred' between the two."
Naruto felt... small as he stepped in with her. Rows and rows of bookshelves spanned about a dozen metres to his right and left. The ceiling had risen, about three metres tall from the floor. Even with his (not that extensive) prior knowledge, he still couldn't make out much of the runes above him.
'How did someone even draw it up there?'
He slowly lowered his gaze from the intricate designs, choosing instead to observe the shelves. While still dusty, there was a thick presence of chakra lingering. Tsunade was correct, there were multiple seals layered all over the place like decorations. He warily glanced at each one he could find, wondering if stepping on it would cause an explosion or not.
"It came back to the time of the Gods." Tsunade spoke quietly, her heels not making a single noise on the stone floor. "Otsutsuki Kaguya, the Mother of Chakra, and her son, Otsutsuki Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths. They're myths- fables, but the Uzumaki and Uchiha Clan know otherwise."
Naruto was robotic in movements as he followed after her, feeling as though this information was something... special.
"I'm sure that the Uchiha Clan had the same story passed down but with the recent Massacre and the Senju and the Uzumaki Clan... gone... that story had all but stopped with me." She closed her eyes, "I am named 'Princess' because I am the direct descendant of the Uzumaki and Senju Main Branch. Uzumaki Kushina, chosen heir by Uzumaki Mito-hime, gave birth to you: Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. You are royalty in this ghost Village; a noble, if you wished, a prince by now, if not worthy of Uzukage. So now I'm passing it on to you, and from there, I expect you to live long enough to pass it on to others."
Naruto wondered if Tsunade understood the impact her words had on him. Condemnations were wordlessly spoken each time Naruto had gazed into a villager's eyes. He cut off the words 'why?' and 'thank you' before they could form on his tongue; this is what he had deserved- this is what should be expected.
(It didn't make him any less appreciative than before.)
"The sons of the Sage of Six Paths, Otsutsuki Asura and Otsutsuki Indra, were the ancestors of the Uzumaki and Uchiha Clan respectively. Asura held strong vitality, and long lifespan." She explained as if reciting. "And thus the Uzumaki Clan was borne with an abundance of chakra, of life force, as well as natural healing rates, impossible vitality as well as core strength like none other. And our blood..."
Her voice turned hushed as she healed her wound on her thumb, a green light emitting before the small cut disappeared.
"Represents that. Uzumaki red, Uzumaki blood. It's what keeps the Clan alive and strong." She then turned grim. "It had been what had kept us strong."
"Binding Blood Arts," Shizune continued, giving Tsunade a quick, assessing look. "Is the proof of that. It's a contract with life and death itself. It recognises your heritage and you use it to draw upon Life Energy."
"Life Energy?" He frowned. "I thought there were only three types of energies: Nature, Physical and Spiritual."
"Life Energy is something that only Main Clans possess." Shizune hesitated. "You've heard of Main Branches but some Clans were developed from civilian Geneses- people who develop Kekkei Genkai or a certain style of fighting etc. for the first time- and they're not labelled it, but they're technically considered 'side Clans'. Clans with Yoton or Hyoton etc., mixed Elemental Natured chakras, are all side Clans. Clans with 'Hiden' or secret Clan Jutsu and Clans that have a signature familiar or summoning animal are side Clans as well."
"That's... that's basically everyone!"
"Not necessarily," Tsunade answered, "Dojutsu Clans all originated from either the Uchiha or the Hyuuga Clan who are direct descendants of some branch of the Otsutsuki Clan. The Kaguya Clan are descendants of Otsutsuki Kaguya and gained some mutation of some bone technique that I don't remember. The Senju Clan, while formidable, are also just a branch off the Uzumaki Clan. This separates Clans into two categories: civilians and Otsutsuki. Only the Otsutsuki have Life Energy and Shizune only knows about it cuz I told her and I only know about it cuz I'm Senju-Uzumaki."
"So I'm... part Sage of Six Paths?" Naruto awed.
"...Technically? It'd be too diluted that it wouldn't matter. Ahem, back on topic the Uchiha Clan unknowingly uses Life Energy for their eyes." Tsunade reached the end of the twisting and turning maze. "I've heard tales of god-like powers from the Sharingan but apparently it only awakens under duress- under intense emotions- under contact with love and death. While it is fairly unknown, Uzumakis are also like that- just less straightforward."
It was like a temple now, dusty and dark, a spot of chakra lighting up the room. Naruto squinted, managing to make out the barest squiggles, rows of information, packed in a language he couldn't wait to dissect.
"The unbearable desire to heal a loved one mixed with the rumours that eating a human would fix another's wounds. The fabled 'Cannibalism Treatment' where people would eat a specific organ to heal that specific organ in their own body. The eaten one would then live in the soul of the other. Stupid-" She scoffed, but a with a smile on her lips, "I know. But it developed into a Kekkei Genkai, where biting an Uzumaki could cause the one to heal and regenerate quickly through transferring Life Energy chakra."
'Biting?' Naruto thought with a mix of morbid curiosity, burning distaste, as well as some misplaced fondness for their beliefs.
"And then the urge to find a loved one, the chakra would disperse and sense others without much action on the user's part. This developed into yet another Kekkei Genkai, Kagura Shingan."
"That's an awful lot of Kekkei Genkais." Naruto murmured.
Tsunade's lips quirked into a grin, "Then there's the famous one yet: Adamantine Sealing Chains. Raw chakra conjured chains that can seal and hold back practically anything. It's known for being one of the few techniques that can hold back a Bijuu."
"Was that awakened from the urge to protect a loved one against an enemy?" Naruto raised a brow. "Or maybe, awakened from the urge to seal fangirls away from their boyfriends?"
Tsunade laughed, "Well, I don't know. I'm a quarter-ish Uzumaki, so other than the reserves and vitality, I don't get any of the Kekkei Genkais. I've been under enough... 'duress' that I would've awakened them if I could've. I don't know about you though, but I feel like you should know as a half-blood."
"And the Uchiha magic eyeba- uh, I mean, Sharingan thingys?"
Shizune and Tsunade snorted, "The Sharingan was known to be the 'devil's eyes' because they were awakened when an Uchiha was on the verge of death. Ojii-sama told me about the ultimate form of it develops through after killing one's most loved one. The guilt and the determination that comes with it- something that haunts you for the rest of your life; it grants them power."
Naruto made a choked noise, "B-But why would someone do that? "
"For greater ambitions." Shizune instantly replied, tone brittle. "They are passionate on the next level. You may hear that it's because the Uchiha were supposedly born with the 'Curse of Hatred' but Tsunade-sama and I both believe it as bullshit."
He blinked at the profanity.
"Uchiha and Uzumaki are parallels." Tsunade glanced at him with an unreadable expression in her eyes.
"They both love so deeply in different ways. For our Clan, it blossoms into further power, further motivation, and stronger mental fortitude. For the Uchiha, it twists into possessive rage and the desire for vengeance. It turns their chakra and life into a fire that will burn and burn all the enemies until it burns themselves. The Uchiha go blind with insanity and their revered eyes will fade of light."
Fire is beautiful though. It dances and flutters, and it stands out brighter against smothering darkness. It provides warmth even in the coldest of weathers and provides light even in the most loneliest of nights. But it's only noticeable- it's only powerful- in the dark.
For a moment he remembers his fingers curling into dirt, back slammed onto the ground. He remembers the breath knocked out of his chest and the dark seething expression in those dark abyss eyes.
Naruto had feared, in that moment, not for himself, or for the thing or person on the other side of that cold glare, but for Sasuke, who had lost that flicker of life in his eyes.
(Who had lost his family to the one he loved most that previous week's night.)
He'd been killed that same night; it was only vengeance holding him up. It was only the urge to kill that was overtaking the need to die.
Uchiha Sasuke had died that same night but the candle light inside of him had grown into an inferno, keeping him horribly, horribly alive.
(That's just so... painful.)
"What 'light' is there after losing loved ones anyway?" He asked bitterly.
"...The Sharingan, Tobi-ojisama, believed it to be a symbol of their hatred." Tsunade answered instead. "Uchihas knew hatred was spawned from love but he didn't believe in that. He didn't understand how they could act so... intensely. But it was that very irony that made him a fool. He was prejudiced against the Uchiha Clan because of their past actions- because they'd killed many Senju. His love for fallen family had caused such deep hatred towards them. Many could argue that he, perhaps, was closer to his proclaimed archenemy than he himself intended to be."
"And in the end, the greatest motivation is always the same old 'hatred'." Shizune concluded with a grimace.
"So the more hurt you feel, the stronger you become?" Naruto demanded, something painful twisting in his chest. "That's stupid!"
"It is, it is." She consoled. "But it is the nature of human beings. You don't realise how much you care until they're gone. And only after they're gone do you act- in rage, in hatred, in vengeance. The Uchiha Clan... is the most... honest example of that. That's why after staying away from Konoha for so long, Tsunade-sama had pondered so much about the Massacre and why it happened."
"You should... You should only become stronger to protect, not to attack!"
He didn't understand.
"You become stronger to defend and to prevent more hurt rather than- rather than continuing on the cycle of hatred!"
He cut himself off, hands curling into his fist. He just couldn't imagine it. Sure, he had initially trained so that he could get people to 'acknowledge him' but he now realised that it would have been a futile effort. Growing stronger would amplify their hatred and fear; standing above them won't do anything.
They may fear and avoid him, but he would never attack them- it'd only prove them right. (And it'd only cause more pain.)
The rip in his chest that he now notices aches every time he tries to think of his parents. He would never cause another child to become an orphan. He would never bestow this sort of suffering on anyone else if he could help it.
That was his new reason: to protect and to prevent. To stand beside and to stand in front of the very ones who cast him aside... He'd do it for their future, not for their acknowledgment. He had to protect to become Kage, not become Kage to protect.
Because someone has to tell all these big figures that they're stupid and a horrible leader for continuing on in wars. Vengeance was not heroic, death was not heroic, war was not heroic.
Orphans don't find pride in how they're orphans. It was an endless cycle. Orphans then grew up to serve in more wars thus causing more people to lose their loved ones.
How are they even Kage if they don't become the bigger person to protect each and every one of their people? How could they 'honour' their dead shinobi from the previous wars if it caused even more dead shinobi? Would that 'lay them to rest' or would that multiply the number of people needed to be 'avenged'?
"An eye for an eye..." Tsunade prompted slowly, eyeing him strangely.
"...Makes the whole world blind." Naruto ended, feeling frustrated.
When he faced two elaborately designed urns on a pedestal-
Senju Hashirama
Uzumaki Mito
-he immediately sucked in a breath, instantly recognising the names.
Tsunade lowered herself into a seiza and he quickly followed suit after watching Shizune mimicking her.
Tsunade turned her full attention onto the two urns; she stared at it like they were people- and perhaps to her, they were.
"Ojii-sama, Obaa-sama..." She breathed in deeply, her turbulent chakra speaking more than her words did. "I'm back. "
She then lowered herself further until her forehead was mere centimetres from the floor, chest tucked towards her lap.
Naruto's eyes widened at the... what was it? Regret? Apology? Grief?
Shizune was in a similar position though her head was not bowed in the conflicting emotions that Tsunade was in; rather, it was bowed in show of respect- of awe.
Senju Hashirama, the Shodaime, and Uzumaki Mito, the first Jinchuuriki. It was strange that Naruto didn't feel any... urge that told him to cower or pray or- or do anything one would in front of respected legacies. Inspirational strength radiated even from the dead- he could feel the tension- the chakra weighing down around him.
He dipped his head, but his thoughts echoed back to him, less arrogant, less foolish, but just as- or perhaps, even more- determined: 'I will surpass both of you.'
'And the peace that you wished for, Shodaime Hokage-sama, Senju Hashirama, Baa-chan's Jii-chan, I will find it.'
-Tsunade-
She's torn between slapping Naruto silly and wrapping him up in a warm blanket when he states that he's 'always been that loser'.
Shortly following his peace rant, she'd walked him through everything in the temple and the underground that Mito had always taken her through. She remembers the firm grip of her grandmother and the gentle grip of her grandfather's hand like she'd walked with them yesterday.
She'd gathered copies of as many scrolls as she could (using the ultimate hax of Kage Bunshin, of course) and told him to start studying. Then he brought up Shizune's phrase of 'natural talent' and how he 'didn't have any'. Not only was that bullshit (because he was gifted in ways he didn't know), it was also a stupidly pessimistic mindset to have especially after his peace rant. She hopes it was just a mood swing from all the previous revelations.
She ended up doing both, (slap then wrap) and now she's uncomfortably brewing tea (that he won't even drink) while trying not to stare too hard at the red hand print on his face. He's curled up in a blanket, sniffling as he blinked at the mountain of scrolls and books. Shizune was giving him a pitying look as she began to sort the mountain into 'Tier' piles. '1' being the easiest and '7' being the most complicated.
She clears her throat. "Look. You know your Academy ex-classmates?"
"...Mm?"
"Did I ever tell you what I thought of them?"
"No?"
"Well, tell me about them. What do you think of them? What do you think of yourself?"
Naruto donned a suspicious look on his face then begins: "Well, I don't really... pay attention to most of the kids that are the worst but uh..." It takes a moment for Naruto to rid the automatic grinning mask off his face.
"...Sakura..." He said carefully, "...cha-... Haruno." His face eased a little, distancing himself from his 'fake life', as he liked to dub. "It wasn't considered a 'life' if I didn't 'live' it properly."
"Haruno is..." Pretty. Cute. Smart. Tsunade watched as the words flickered onto his face before he frowned and quashed them.
"Is she nice?" Shizune prompted.
"Ye-..." Naruto pressed his lips together in irritation as he squinted in thought. "What's nice?"
"Like us." She replied easily. "Like Tsunade-sama and I. Doesn't hurt you. Smiles at you for real. Cares about you if you're close enough. Respectful, polite, friendly."
"No one's nice then." He automatically said before he winced. "Haruno is a not nice civilian girl. She has pink hair that makes her stand out. Her chakra control and academic marks are the highest. I know that because I used to like her."
"Why did you like her?"
"Because pink hair, popular, smart, everyone else did. Apart from Bastard."
"Bastard?"
Naruto made a weird face, "I liked Haruno because her... eyes... weren't as bad as the other girls. She was still aggressive though. She punched me a lot but I hadn't cared because at least she shows her angriness and doesn't hide it like the other villagers. I thought her punches were a way of being nice and honest."
CRACK-
"Shit." Tsunade said dully, "Shizune, I broke the counter."
Naruto raised his brows. "Haruno didn't repress her anger at me, so she wasn't afraid of me. She didn't super hate me because other kids did sneaky things to make me do bad in class while Haruno did it... in a straight forward way."
He shrugged. "It's- it's hard to explain, I guess. She's loud, she's annoying, she's temperamental and reckless and has no brains when it comes to Bastard but she's honest. And- and that's why I liked her."
The look in Tsunade's eyes softened and she sighed. "Past tense, aye? Naruto, I'm expecting higher standards than just 'honest' so step up your game if you haven't already, brat."
He sniffed dramatically, "My standards are now ramen-high, Baa-chan. Don't worry."
"And the others?"
"Shikamaru is... logical." Naruto bit his lip. "He reacted to my- uh, my, um, my target of hate? He reacted to how others reacted to me like how a normal person would. He's like... He didn't see reason to help me but he always looked at people who talked bad about me like they were mentally wrong. He's lazy but he's a genius, you can tell from his eyes. He's nice to his friends but he doesn't have a sense of- of helping others. That's Choji. Choji is super nice but not motivated either. He's too shy to step out though."
"And the last three of the Ino-Shika-Cho... the Yamanaka?"
"The Yamanaka." Naruto repeated, unused to the formal address. "She's... like Haruno. And now I don't know why. The old man at the flower shop she returns to has nice vibes but he has a strong feeling about him. I avoided him because he, like, looks into my soul or something. It's kinda creepy cuz they don't have pupils or nothing-ttebayo."
He stuck his tongue out. "Yamanaka is disappointing-" He winced at the insults, "For someone who has all the advantages."
That's what it looked like to him, at least.
"She's rude to that old man- her dad, and she fights with Haruno over Teme." He furrowed his brow, now confused. "I don't know why though. She's talented, she can manipulate and she hates bullies. She's a cool person but then she gets aggressive and mean and unconsiderate and a fangirl."
"Inconsiderate." Shizune corrected.
"Then Kiba's annoying and loud and reckless- sorta like me, I guess. But he cares a lot about Akamaru and his- he told me his Clan is all one big family and even though he's an idiot, he's very... I don't know, he loves his loved ones a LOT and it isn't 'toxic' or whatever. And then, um. Hinata. The purple eyeballs clan- Hyuuga. She's nice, I guess, but super weird."
"Weird?"
"She keeps staring at me and when I look at her, she turns red then looks away." He jutted two fingers towards each other, mimicking Hinata's nervous tic. "And she always does this."
A strange smile curled on Shizune and Tsunade's lips and they shared a knowing look.
He scowled, "What?"
"She's just super shy." Shizune laughed.
"Yeah, she is." Naruto agreed. "And then uhh... That glasses dude? The bzzz one."
"Aburame?"
"Ah! Yeah, Shimu- Shino hehe... He's quiet but he never acknowledged me because he thought I was dumb. I don't... blame him though. He once told me that his kikaka- kikaika- kikaichu told him that I had tons of chakra and also a second nasty chakra- which is the Kyuubi, now I realise."
He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I told him that of course I had a lot of chakra if I was gonna beat all the Hokages or something and I took offense to his nasty chakra statement and called him a creepy bug boy who won't prank girls with them cuz he was a nerd."
Shizune giggled and Tsunade face palmed.
"Shino's kinda like Shikamaru but quiet and unnoticeable. He'd make a-" He paused, wondering why he wanted to compliment the one person that he'd ignored and practically forgotten. "He'd make a good shinobi."
"And that's it?" Tsunade looked at him and he snorted.
"And then... Teme."
"Why bastard?"
"He's a bastard." He scowled, "A stupid, weak bastard who don't know nothing 'bout anything-ttebayo. He thinks he's so awesome when he's actually not. He gets all the attention and he hates it like an ungrateful brat. He's weird and angry and- and- bastard-y. Dattebayo."
"Tsundere." Shizune whispered to Tsunade, watching as Naruto strained his ears to try and hear.
"Honest opinion?" Tsunade repeated, scepticism clear on her face. "You need to be honest, brat."
Naruto scowled harder, "He is a bastard. He-"
Reluctance soured his face and he stiffly said, "He's strong. The strongest and smartest in our class, Haruno is first in the kunoichi's results only. All the Sens- all the... Chuunin call him a 'prodigy' but I-"
Frustration overtook his stiffness.
"-I know it ain't like that cuz he's got lots of eye bags that he hides behind his emo pose and I bet he never sleeps properly. His fingers are always bruised and when we were- when we were younger, he used to always take off bandages before he came to class. When it was break time, he always rushed off to do something like train and came back smelling like shit."
"Workaholic." Tsunade sighed, recounting her last encounter with the boy.
"Yeah, he acts like he's everything but I know that he doesn't think he's good." Naruto fisted the blankets, wishing that he never realised all these things about the Uchiha boy (yet regretting that he didn't notice these things earlier).
"I can tell cuz I can see it in his eyes. His face never changes and those dumb fangirls call him 'mysterious' and 'unreadable' or something but his eyes say everything."
Loathing, pain; an anguished, silent suffering that no seven year old should ever feel. The glimmer of self-hatred when he reflexively pulls his punches in fights, the punishment he dishes to himself when he misses a mark. 'This isn't good enough'- he sees and watches- a reflection of himself- 'I'm not good enough.'
"He always gets mad when his shuriken doesn't hit 'dead centre' and every time Haruno beats him in his test, he comes back with worse eye bags." He lists, now ranting more than describing. "I don't know how no one else can tell. He pretends to be this training machine and he never cries or complains or anything- even when Sensei- the Chuunin told us that we had to kill a rabbit for desensitisation, he did it and then mutilated the dead bunny. He told the Se- the Chuunin- no, he told himself that this 'little activity' was far too 'pathetic' for his goals. The girls all thought he was so... cool. I thought he was dumb- I thought there'd been something wrong with him. And he-"
He bit his lip, quietly saying, "And his hands had been shaking."
"You were correct. That's-" Tsunade sighed again. "That's so unhealthy."
"Repression, it sounds to me." Shizune nodded. "After the Massacre, wasn't he attending therapy or anything?"
"Sen- The Chuunin always treated him nicely but that bastard always got angry and said 'he didn't need help' so I doubt it." Naruto then continued to admit. "I used to be so jealous of him but we both felt pathetic. I've met him before and after that Massacre day, and both versions of him weren't good. We were both always alone and while everyone called him 'Last Uchiha' or 'prodigy', I was called 'monster' or 'demon brat'. Glares followed me, awe and respect and pity followed him."
"Pity..." Shizune shook her head. "The last thing he needed from villagers would be pity. That would have only fuelled his anger. He's a survivor, after all. He's tougher than those villagers."
"Yeah, but I didn't know that. I just thought he was-..." Naruto faltered. "I liked acting dumb and crazy and just wanting to beat him up. He's a bastard- he is. But I've always... now I want to..." 'help him.'
Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ok, so the point of this was not to find out that you had-" 'a crush on the Uchiha boy-' "-an enemies-to-lov- friends, ahem, enemies-to-friends relationship with your rival, it was to show you that you remember your 'fake life' through a rose tinted memory."
She gave a massive inhale-
"That pink-headed banshee is the most disgusting creature I've seen in a long while. She's not ignorant, stupid, nor carefree but she suppresses all her knowledge in lieu, acted like an idiot fangirl. She needs help but she's making it goddamned awfully hard for me to want to help her. Going on her and the Yamanaka's list of problems will take forever because of their inconsiderate fangirling tendencies. Nara and Akimichi are true disappointments. I've heard they were amazing and didn't lack potential but they did nothing to improve themselves. That lack of motivation will get people killed. They'll learn their lessons a horrible way if the teachers don't step up their game. Inuzuka is all your flaws with hardly any redeeming qualities. Aburame is tolerable. Hyuuga is tolerable though I want to have a talk with Hiashi- she's like a little snail. Uchiha... has more problems than all of them combined but he's a boy that I hope won't go down the wrong road. Konoha has certainly shown to not be competent so I fear for how they'll turn out..."
"Wow." Naruto almost applauded at the blatant remarks.
"And yourself?" Tsunade then continued, pouring the tea. "What do you think of yourself? Honest opinion- some things won't change so quickly, even if I contradict you."
"I'm..." He wavered. "I'm kinda really bad cuz my parents were so good. I can't concentrate. I can't be patient. My mind works so quickly I can't even follow it. I have tons of chakra that only stopped exploding in my face after you trained me. I'm reckless. I'm stupid. I don't think, only act."
The words shot out one after another, his brain supplying a fault and he voiced them.
"Stubborn, prideful, arrogant. I cause others to hate me. I spout empty words. I back up my promises with nothing but hot air and my willpower. I skipped classes despite wanting to succeed. I was quick to give up on others who hated me. I didn't consider others when I started to judge them. I'd put others in danger if I'd keep growing like how I used to. I was never honest. I felt no remorse, but satisfaction when you beat up Mizuki. There's a nasty me inside my head and he loves it when I'm feeling down and don't care about blood or kills. I'm different. I've always been different- that's why I am hated. That's why I'm a demon- that's why people see me as the K-"
"You're reckless." Tsunade agreed. "You're mind works quickly. You have god awful amounts of willpower. You're too quick to give up on yourself." She waved her hand. "Everything else is bull. If I hadn't drilled this into you already, you will know this by the time I'm done with you."
She took a breath.
"You were failed. You are a prodigy in your own right. Not only do you have natural talent that's been dismissed, you also have the talent of a hard worker, you're a genius on hands on work, you're adaptive and intuitive. That's natural talent."
"That's why I picked you, ya know?"
"You're willpower fuels your efforts. Your mind is so fast-paced that simple textbooks won't keep up with you. You can make plans and analyse things on the fly and you have astronomical amounts of chakra and I am beyond impressed with the speed you are progressing. You're so passionate and you care so much that your body moves before you do."
She looked him in the eyes when she repeated: "You're stubborn, prideful, arrogant. But you're inspirational, charismatic and loveable. We've been out of the Village for not long yet you've made countless friends. You're willing and open to change and admit your faults. You stick with your words even though most people would waver. You've been trapped and ostracized yet you still didn't succumb to your hatred- you're still open-minded about this. The fact that you show regret and sympathise with your abusers is something I admire and despise as someone who loves you. You're awfully mature for trying to put yourself in their shoes but you need to know your worth. You've been through so much shit that you don't bat a lash at the cruelty of shinobi and that's something that I need to worry about and not you."
She inhaled again.
"You are a human, Naruto." She concluded. "Just like them, just like Shizune, just like me. You were guided wrong and hardly anyone can keep up with you. That's why I'm here. I will give you that talk over and over until you believe it as much as we do. I've told you and I will continue to tell you again: this is safe."
Naruto released a shuddering breath, "I know."
Notes:
notes:
- say what you will abt my civilian/otsutsuki theory but i simply don't rmb that bullshit tale of ninshu and some wacky stuff and i cannot be bothered to rewatch naruto
- "So I'm... part Sage of Six Paths?" Naruto awed. = asura reincarnation asf guys it's an allusion sorta
- reason why naruto isn't as surprised as he should be is cuz he's already realised the sheer absurdity of his own life. also cuz he's been tutored by shizune so uh
- the more i talk about the uzumaki and uchiha clan, the more im wondering whether or not im right or if im delusional (theres sm plot holes istg kishi's world building is both amazing and not done good enough)
- naruto not bowing in front of hashirama and mito is his own way of 'painting the hokage's faces' as a way of saying 'im gonna be better than them'
- naruto sorta got to the same conclusion as nagato and you MAY argue that he's being awfully deep for a kid who hasn't even seen much yet- just remember how overly sympathetic he is and EVEN from textbooks, he'd probably visualise the life of a kid from teh second shinobi war and start crying
- talk no jutsu is born (iruka taught naruto talk no jutsu first- fight me- and now it's slowly being established in naruto's arsenal)- ramble about sakura was actually on the spot but it made me realise that that might have been true? i mean, the villagers never hurt naruto if they were in the right mind because they'd get in trouble/fear the kyuubi etc.
- naruto gets shit grammar when he's agitated
- everything in his pov is in his pov
- if naruto ever calls the hyuuga 'purple eyeballs clan' or the sharingan 'magic eyeballs', it's him trolling others (cuz hell to the no am i getting rid of his pranking-ness), not that he's uneducated
- tsunade inwardly saying 'enemies to lovers' aint for real- it's more like making dumb jokes to centre herself (12 yo kiddos don't need no romance, they need therapy)
- also naruto IS a genius and u can't deny it. i feel like it was super duper surreptitious in how kishi implemented it tho- naruto finished tree walking at around the same time as sasuke and mastered water walking super quickly. he's on par with sasuke despite his educational disadvantages and calls him rival despite being dead last. he's shown to hardly have chakra exhaustion despite spamming jutsu 24/7 and learnt rasengan super duper quickly. i'd more say SASUKE is less of a genius than naruto- i talk so much in a/n anyway im not editing cuz ive edited sm before so if there's typos or fuckups, fuck me.
thanks for reading and i <3 yall :p
Chapter 22: I. the journey
Summary:
notes:
- naruto getting tortured (anything to become stronger, right?)- im jk
Notes:
notes:
- mei is mizukage shortly before the chuunin exams so it's still bloody mist village
- keep in mind that tsunade and shizune KNOW know naruto so taunting and stuff won't have bad effects (talk no jutsu effectiveness 100)edit: wait a moment, i just realised that a part of this chapter might be a little dark even tho i thought it was technically feasible. there IS a reason why this wasn't rated and it was cuz i didn't know how 'dark' it would get in terms of war. i suppose i'll put an M rating now tho even tho the rest is kinda friendly?
it's in all italics and mentions cannibalism, human trafficking, human experimenting and other stuff. i mean, i don't THINK it's unrealistic cuz in ww2, things got ...shitty as well. i figured in a crueller world like the shinobi world, it would be worse/more common. (it's in a flashback- so NO, naruto doesn't see THOSE horrendous things.) but idk, tbh naruto didn't seem too grossed out or pure in canon (unless i missed something) cuz he literally beat mizuki to half death so uh, ig he's conditioned to understand that shitty things happen in his world and morals are askew??
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Everything we've done?" Tsunade shrugged. "We're multiplying that by four."
"Excuse me, hag? By what?!"
-Physical: Boss-
"-And while you're doing this-" Tsunade brought out another storage seal. "You are going to be wearing weights. On all limbs."
"Baa-chan." Naruto whispered, face pale. "Baa-chan, you are joking me. The day starts off with Shizu-nee torturing me-" He shuddered, recalling her legs sliding into an oversplit, "-and midday- now- is more torture. Please don't tell me that-"
"Nah, night time is lighter stretches and meditation to increase your reserves and prepare for Gate releases. You'll love it."
"Oh ok." He put a hand on his chest as if reassured. He wasn't sure whether or not he'll actually 'love' something as boring sounding as meditation though. (His mind forcefully erased the second half of the sentence as 'Gate releasing' sounds horrible. Not to mention, controlling chakra was already horrendous, why does he need more?)
"For this, I'll only be putting one block in for each. There are seven blocks in total for each of them." Tsunade held up four beige coloured clothes with pockets in one hand and then four rectangular shaped weights with the kanji for 'guts' on them. "If our budget allows it, maybe we'll buy training resistant seals but right now, we're going old school. I snagged these off Maito Gai some time in the past and they're finally being put to use!"
"Don't kid me, Baa-chan." Naruto cocked a brow. "One only for each? I'm not that weak-ttebayo!"
"Insolent child." Tsunade chided before she tossed a single block at him. Instinctively, he raised his hand and caught it.
His hand was on the floor.
Naruto's body then followed as he stumbled under the weight; he had yet to remove his chakra limiting seals and even with the intense training regime, his natural pre-teen muscles weren't enough. "What the- what the fuc- heck is this?"
"This is only a hundred kilos, hello?" Tsunade dangled the weights in front of him. "From memory, when Gai was around his late teens, he wore the heavier versions of these. My dumbass Teammate actually asked about them and Gai repeated about something about 'Raiya being 'Youthful' or something. Each one of them were 700. That's seven times heavier than the one you're holding right now. And he had all seven blocks in, making a total of around 5000 kilos per foot."
"...I'm sorry, what?" Naruto breathed quietly.
"Baa-chan... WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY? AIN'T THAT THE WEIGHT OF LIKE, TWO HUNDRED ME'S? AROUND HIS FOOT? EACH FOOT? AND THAT MAKES FOUR HUNDRED ME'S AROUND HIM? THAT ISN'T POSSIBLE, TSUNADE-BAACHAN-"
Tsunade bobbed her head slightly as she listened to Naruto continue to rant.
"...And Baa-chan, you're definitely going to make me do that, right?" He heaved with a sigh.
"Yes. Doubled. Because you'll also have them on your arms." Tsunade chuckled. "But since our three years have been cut off, we only have 6 months to get as many blocks as we can. Obviously, I'll get you to wear them for years to come anyway. Don't worry, you can supplement your muscles with chakra-"
"-Yesss..."
"And it'll grow both your muscles and your reserves. Did you know that if you use supplemented muscles for a long time, the physical energy transfers until without chakra, you're just as strong?"
"What the fuck."
"Mhm. Realise the possibilities." She deadpanned. "Supplementing your muscles 24/7- your body will adapt to the strength you're capable of. But it's really hard to deal with the process." Tsunade tapped her bicep. "Some people think I have no raw strength and I use only chakra but that theoretically doesn't work. If your muscles aren't adjusted and conditioned to handling the power, they'll deteriorate."
"You're abusing my regenerative powers, right?" Naruto caught on. "Even if I tear my muscles, the chakra will cause it to grow back stronger. My vitality and potent chakra causes any negative effects to nullify. It's just a test of mental strength and will. ...And my pain tolerance."
"You're learning." Tsunade blinked ferociously, wiping at some imaginary tears. "You're... learning."
Naruto shot her a smug grin. "I'm... smart-ttebayo. Should I get glasses so I can push them up while explaining stuff?"
"Did Shizune give you cartoons to watch?" She asked before she chuckled darkly. "And I just can't wait until I'm getting you to open your Gates. We have a lot to condense in just six months."
She hummed, making a show of leaning back and squinting up at the sky. "There's a long list but the ones I can think of... Controlling tenketsu, perfecting Kage Bunshin, fine tuning your chakra control, getting you to learn tact-" She shivered dramatically. "-and attending the occasional therapy, summoning Katsuyu- maybe you'll pick up on Sage, and right: can't forget about the entire Iryo Ninjutsu program which will assuredly be a hundred times harder than this."
Naruto closed his eyes, memories of Shizune's devil grin as she stomped on his pack and the pain as his muscles were stretched- "They're gonna rip, they're gonna rip-" "Good thing I'm a Med-Nin, yeah, Naruto? Don't worry; Tsunade-sama's taught me a lot on how to heal snapped hamstrings!" "S-Snapped- Don't you mean strained? ...D-Don't you mean..."
"If you have the energy to talk, you have the energy to do another set!" "Do you feel like you're on the verge of dying?"
"'A hundred times harder'." Naruto breathes out and opens his eyes. Tsunade never lies. "...I'm gonna die."
"...Can't you handle it?" Tsunade baited with a sly grin. "I wonder if you could surpass a Jonin, or even me in raw strength in so little time."
He scowled, knowing he's taking the bait. "Of course I c-"
"Merely an Academy student before and- what? Generally people take two decades worth of training to reach that level- some people simply stop at Chuunin. For you to try... it's just an impossible task, y'know?"
And damn it, in the end, Naruto just doesn't know how to back up from the 'impossible' challenge. It was such an open taunt that Naruto knows he falls for.
"I'm going to do it." His resolve was already there, stronger than an iron wall. Tsunade would've sighed exasperatedly if it weren't for Dan and Nawaki's eyes staring back at her through cerulean orbs. No matter how quiet he acts, how close he gets to brooding, there's always that fire in his eyes that never dims.
"During this trip, I'll become stronger and stronger and stronger until I surpass you-" Naruto pointed at Tsunade with a foxy grin, "-Tsunade-baachan, then I'll become strong enough to protect all my precious people."
Tsunade scoffed, swatting away his hand before she moved to ruffle his head. "You, brat, protecting me? What a darn dream you have there. You really think you have what it takes to surpass me? A Legend? A Sannin? A shinobi that's arguably stronger than Kage?"
"Damn straight."
"Ok then," The weights were slotted in and tied securely around his limbs. She deactivated the chakra limiters in a flare of chakra. "Get moving then, Uzumaki Naruto."
It took every bit of his willpower and strength to not collapse under the weight. His arm raised in a shaky thumbs up, "Believe it, dattebayo!"
-Fuuinjutsu: Clone-
"So you've got all the primary seals down. That's around Chuunin level. Now we're going to get into the tough stuff."
"Like what?"
"Drawing... more circles."
-
"Steady." Shizune said for the fiftieth time. "I want you to be steady. Think flowy and calm. Like water- No, I didn't mean make the damned paper wet! And I thought you were a wind boy; who taught you Suito- ...Tsunade-sama..."
-Chakra-
An empty, opened sake bottle was sitting in front of Naruto. With one hand, chakra was twisted into water and the other hand flicked its fingers, Fuuton melting around it and guiding the Suiton into a thin needle prick. With barely any effort, the water slithered down the neck of the bottle, not a single drop outside. He still remembered the times where he'd cheer in success after managing to shift the water a smidge.
The first day of chakra control training had been draining; he only managed to complete the simple task after hundreds of popped Bunshin and many long hours. When he triumphantly displayed his progress, Tsunade had simply given him an applause.
"Look at who you used to be." Tsunade rubbed at her eye, sniffing dramatically as she held up a photo. It was of himself flying through the air after making the water spurt out onto himself.
"Wow... when did you take that photo anyway?" He gaped, "I can't imagine doing something like that again."
"Shizu-nanny and I are proud- Proud!"
"So can I do another element?" Naruto clasped his hands together. "Please, please, please?"
"Come on," Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You've already gotten three-"
"But Fuuton's my primary, Suiton's my secondary-"
"And Doton's boring and too easy." Tsunade finished, rolling her eyes again. "Which is false, by the way. I just taught you the easiest Jutsus that go hand-in-hand with punching the ground and being awesome and badass. Didn't you know that most people your age can't even mould two chakra natures? I think there's something wrong with you."
Unlike how he would've reacted months ago, he simply preened and dramatically fanned himself, "Oh, stop it, I know I'm a freak of nature, dattebayo."
"But even freaks have limitations."
"Yeah, but my limit ain't here, Baa-chan," Naruto added, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, "I'm pretty sure Katon is my third-iary. It'll be even easier than Doton."
"Tertiary." Shizune popped out of the door to correct, a couple of Bunshin still flocking around her. "Mou, how many times have you read the dictionary by now? You should know this!"
"And I'm pretty sure Katon is my tertitary." Naruto corrected incorrectly, as if just to spite her.
"You... what?" Tsunade took a long look at Naruto. "You read the what now?"
Shizune gave a snicker and he shot her a dark look. "Shizu-nee told me that having someone read to me while I suffer my torture could distract me. My Bunshin decided it was a good idea to torture me even more by reading the dictionary aloud."
"Your Bunshin is you." Tsunade pointed out.
"Eh." He shrugged, "Depends. I think I was feeling petty and annoyed then so I created an evil Bunshin."
"Hm. Well, back on topic: you know, the reason why I taught you different elements was to make your control even better than it was before, right?"
"Mhm."
"You do realise I should be teaching you harder chakra control exercises now, right...?"
"But K- Katon and Raiton..." Naruto bemoaned, "They're so cool though... I know flashy is shinobi-code bad but flashy is... flashy..."
"If we have time." Tsunade agreed amiably. "And if you still have the energy to. Besides, those two are my weaker elements because Orochimaru usually takes Raiton and Katon. Jiraiya took all the wacky oil and hair Jutsu while I was just... punch... and heal. My superb control allowed me to be able to use all five elements."
"That's amazing, Baa-chan."
"Flatter." Tsunade bonked his head before tugging off some bits of grass. "Let's get a lil test, shall we? When I throw these blades of grass at you, I want you to stick them onto your body with chakra."
She drew back her hand, "Ready... se-" She threw them, hurtling them with enough power that they wouldn't flop midair.
Naruto barely flailed at her underhanded trick, concentrating and drawing little bits of chakra to where the grasses landed.
A quarter of them fell. He pouted but Tsunade beamed. "That was the leaf exercise but a hundred times harder."
Now Naruto reciprocated the beam, realising just how hard it had been. "I did amazing then!"
"That's correct, brat! But it's not perfect yet!" Her grin turned sly. "And did I tell you that I actually went backwards with your control training?"
"I kinda figured-ttebayo." Naruto admitted.
"Right- the standard chakra control exercises go in this order: leaf sticking, tree climbing, water walking, fire shielding, nature melding, and chakra-energy empathy."
"I- ...I what now?" He blinked, mind racing to the chakra exercises the Chuunin in the Academy had droned about. "The Academy only taught the leaf stuff!"
At Tsunade's expectant look, he snapped his mouth shut and asked, "Please explain?"
"Chakra-energy empathy is sensory to a next level." She started. "This includes the Sage arts and the Kagura Shingan I mentioned. Dojutsu can be closely replicated if you master this art of empathy. It's becoming in tune with the energy around you- so much so that you become a part of it and there isn't much need to go through hand seals to 'summon' or 'conjure' it. It's just there and it's your friend- not your bitch."
"Uh." Naruto cleared his throat. "I didn't do that?"
"No," She nodded, "Not even high level Jonin can do that. Even Jiraiya hadn't perfected Sage and Orochimaru could scrape the surface of it." Without mentioning herself, she continued, "Nature melding is what I got you to do. You first saturated the water with your chakra then controlled it. It's a loophole in the actual exercise."
"But chakra's meanta be my friend, right?" Naruto noticed, "Not my bitch."
Tsunade sniggered a bit, "Yeah. You were meant to feel the natural chakra and move it- not dictate it around."
"And fire shielding?" He piped up, "It sounds cool. ...And dangerous without supervision." He allowed grumpily at Tsunade's warning glance.
"Yeah, fire shielding is basically an exercise used so that shinobi become in tune and familiar with their own chakra. Instead of it being a weapon, it needs to be a part of you. No one does this step because getting your chakra to automatically protect you is 'impossible'."
Naruto scowled. "But I do that!"
"Yeah, you do." She nodded. Naruto's chakra was more present when he was hurt and always went to his damaged areas to try and heal it; he'd never even realised when each thing happened because of how horrible his self-awareness was. In contrast to what some lesser shinobi may think, it wasn't because of the Kyuubi; it was because of his Uzumaki type chakra.
"Water walking is practising the flexibility of your chakra. Tree walking is to get chakra to be able to move to places that are harder to control. Leaf sticking is to be able to move your chakra."
"That..." Naruto deadpanned, "Sounds like 'baby steps' to the next level, dattebayo."
She snorted, "You're not wrong! But it is time to go and perfect each and every one of those exercises. Well, I think you did want to try out this at the start so..."
She then jerked her fingers in a Konoha signal- Doton-Five-Metres-Square. One-Metres-Deep.
Naruto spend significantly less time to gape (as when he first started Konoha sign) and reflexively stomped on the ground; a patch of damp earth sunk down slightly. Then he paused, head tilted to the side in confusion. Tsunade walked away from it and beckoned for him to come towards her and he did, brows creased in question.
"Conjure Suiton and fill it so it doesn't spill."
He furrowed his brow and made a one handed seal, switching his affinity and chakra gathering before it filled up the small area into a muddy pool. She jutted a hand towards him, palm facing upwards and Naruto, still confused, placed his own on top of hers.
Tsuande then proceeded to lift the boy up, and chuck him towards the water.
"Stand on the water." She gave a cheery thumbs up as he scrambled mid-air. "Chakra is our friend, not our bitch, remember?"
Instantly on guard, he centred himself while airborne, Fuuton channelled around him in a protective orb in case of surrounding attacks and he landed on the water, chakra steadying him so he didn't get dirty.
Wait.
And then- he... landed on the...
"What the fuck? I'm... walking on water?" He hooted, waving his arms in victory. "Jesus who, dattebayo?"
"Language, brat!"
"Says you, hag!"
-Conspiring-
"-Yeah, so that's what I thought about them." She finished recounting (ranting) for the billionth time. "Really hated those louder fangirls. My ears. They should make a... Scream-no-Jutsu or something."
They had shoved aside a short time frame a day just to talk, rant, or plan for the future. Originally, they had spent most of their time talking about training or discussing history- as impossible as it seemed to Naruto- and now they were talking about their own lives.
Most of the time, Shizune would join with Tonton. Apparently there was also a thing called 'animal therapy' as well- that's why there's apparently a good connection between the Inuzuka and Yamanaka Clan which Naruto could never imagine. (Kiba and Ino talking? Passively?)
"Uh-huh, I know." Naruto ran through the information. He was getting quicker at processing the words now, especially since they both spoke with such energetic vigour.
"Yeah 'uh-huh'. What will you do when you meet your classmates again?" There was a careful eye studying the side of his face.
"I don't know." He plainly admitted. "You said around you and Shizu-nee is the 'Safe Zone', right? Well, if I'm out of the Safe Zone then I'd act like I usually do? Dumb and clueless?" He made a face. "I could act without my façade and shock everyone by being a badass. ...But that'd be un-shinobi-like."
He pouted then began to waver. "Actually, maybe... I think after more than half a year of being out of Konoha, I would have some personality development. It'd be weird if I didn't-ttebayo. Besides, I'm sure if I acted like a clown, it'd be bad on your reputation. Also- Also, our plan is to get us to stick together for longer and those Council hag-bags can't get a reason to let me stay in Konoha because of my 'impulsiveness' or something-ttebayo."
"Hol' up, hol' up, first of all, where did you learn all that stuff? That kinda subtle thing was what I was meant to teach later!"
"It's..." Naruto raised a brow, "...Obvious? And I know most about how things can affect reputation."
"True." Tsunade shrugged, "Most people don't apply that though. To be honest, even I was pretty dense when I was your age; I was a Senju-Uzumaki Princess, so I wasn't 'allowed' to go on honeypot missions and the such. Ojii-sama was overprotective and Obaa-sama insisted it wasn't necessary. I was enlightened about the psychological mind-fuck-trickery when I had to learn about politics. Jiraiya's the best at all these stuff, surprisingly, and Orochimaru was just good at everything. He loved threatening his opponents so he's good at mental torture. ...And physical torture- that creep."
That was when the scenario quizzes started to happen.
That was also when Tsunade decided that Naruto was open to learn the entire Psych unit.
That was also when Tsunade realised that Naruto was amazing in that department.
The strain on his mind was less severe with each passing day.
While his real body was getting endless exercise- apparently Tsunade really did want to abuse his crazy regenerative rate and draw out his inner Uzumaki insane strength- only stopping once a week for the mind to recover, all his other clones were either meditating, chakra controlling, or studying in some way, shape or form. Weapons, Tsunade had told him, could also be done because muscle memory was transferred along with Bunshin as well.
So an army of uncoordinated orange boys doing three different types of katas for incapacitation, evasion and weaponry? It was just another day.
While Tsunade was a Sannin, she was still strongest with her Teammates and therefore did not have much talent in their specialities. Not like Naruto cared for the chokuto or tanto or 'oil-hair-Jutsus' or anything anyway.
He liked punching and helping people; ergo, Iryo Ninjutsu and badass Nintai was just his thing.
He, the Bunshin Manager no. 1, furrowed his brow as more memories assaulted his mind.
He grabbed the nearest pack of chips- argh, vegetable ones again!- and lounged in a migraine, watching Boss outside stumble up to Tsunade before she slid another block into his weights, making him slap his skull and groan.
"Help me, Ramen God." He sighed aloud, the twinge in his temple dying down as he sorted 'failed seal death that created an explosion large enough to take out two dozen Bunshin' into yet another box of Uzumaki Naruto's mental library. He summoned a Bunshin who gave him a clumsy mock salute before he summoned another two dozen.
"Bunshin Manager no. 26." Bunshin Manager no. 1 nodded to him. "Wanna some chips?"
Bunshin Manager no. 26 grinned at him, "You know me so well!"
They both laughed in synch as Boss collapsed onto the floor, Tsunade cheering and holding up a sign reading: 'ONLY 500 M LEFT FOR ROUND 3!', uncaring that Boss was actually himself.
What a splendid day.
-Travelling-
Travelling was something that she'd reserve for the later years but as she had told Naruto, they were jampacking everything into six months- even if it means producing thousands of clones every day (thank you, Kage Bunshin Manager System).
While hundreds of clones and at least a dozen Manager Bunshin remained at Uzu to train and study, Naruto, Tsunade and Shizune started to travel to Wave. Shizune'd planned a journey schedule where they'd start at Uzushio and go in a clockwise direction around Konoha and visiting all the other Villages and Countries.
They'd increase speed, stamina and chakra control by travelling via running across the water. It'd also teach him what to pack on long journeys etc. After reaching Wave, they'd teach him politics, history, customer service and civilian trading life.
Then continuing to the West, they'd teach him about poverty, caution and survival. In between the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth laid multiple countries caught in the crossfire of wars. Needless to say, those areas weren't very pretty.
Based on how he coped, they'd also breach the topic of prostitution and drug and human trafficking. People could go to extreme measures for respite in those poor places. Tsunade hopes that what she mentioned to him were the worst things there.
Because things can be worse than that.
(Humans like feral creatures scrambled over each other. Ragged screams too high pitched to be from one older than the age of ten. Half eaten corpses. Bite marks looking eerily like human ones. The red coating faces. Crimson stained teeth. Deranged people lunged towards her, mouth wide open.
Cannibalism .
Storehouses half filled with rotting corpses still chained to putrid smelling walls. The other half laid starved bodies attached to lowered heads with blank eyes, the spark of sanity absent. Needle marks litter their inner arms and more than urine was stained on the rag that covered their crotch.
Human experimenting. Rape. Human trafficking. Slavery.
And perhaps their jailer died for the door handle had been dusty and the victims had been picked off, one after another by starvation, infection-
"Ah. Are you Mister's new playthings?" The foul smell, crumbling discoloured skin- Their eyes saw nothing. The voice was an airy drone.
"Gangrene." Jiraiya breathed, face pale. "Oh- You poor-..."
Orochimaru was similarly irked, face blank but throat bobbing as his nose wrinkled. "It'd be better to put these children out of their misery." He murmured quietly, reaching for his blade. "They'll be dead sooner or later either way."
'Children,' She'd thought with nausea, scanning over them and instinctively categorising each and every injury and disease these... children had.
"Don't be a jerk now!" Jiraiya hissed angrily, face turning a peculiar colour with the red of anger, green of disgust, and blue of fear. "Tsunade can heal them- She's- She's surpassed Hashirama-sama as well, ya know? She can fix them. I won't give up on them. They're alive and- and-"
"She won't." Orochimaru whispered for her. His intelligent eyes, afraid and angry because she could always tell, glanced to meet her own. Orochimaru wasn't 'weird' or 'nasty' or 'wrong in the head' like Jiraiya thought. He was just sincerer- braver- than Tsunade.
She felt their injury like her own, knew those diseases like the back of her hand. She hoped that they died without their sanity. She hoped that their memories had merely been a blur. She hoped that they wouldn't live past this day-
"We have a mission." Orochimaru continued with a steely voice, trembling fingers tightening around the handle. It was just a cover. He was playing the villain, preserving the wide eyed innocence and pure nature of the young man who'd just entered his twenties.
Hell, they'd all just entered their twenties but a Princess can't fall back on age and Orochimaru was too sharp. Jiraiya was a dead-last, the fool that'd gotten tied to a tree stump. He falls into animal traps and throws shuriken as confetti. He trips over his feet and walks into walls.
Tsunade knew and he knew: Jiraiya was an idiot and thus, he was pure.
"We're already wasting time by not ignoring them like we ought to." Orochimaru flicked his golden eyes onto Jiraiya and they both flinch, the latter just not noticing so. "It won't take long. It'll be their mercy, and it'll be our kindness."
Jiraiya was smarter than he let on but even then, his fierce compassion and determination overrode any observant nature he'd developed, especially since it was never turned against his comrades.
Because that day when those children's corpses hit the floor and Orochimaru cleaned the blood on his blade, ignoring the outraged rants that Jiraiya was spewing, Tsunade hadn't lifted a finger, hadn't spoken a word. She'd given a grateful smile and gripped his shoulder in thanks and sorry.
Orochimaru knew and she knew: this world was an ugly, ugly place and it would only get worse as the war fought on.)
The wars she's trudged through have proved how despicable mankind can fall in times of need.
But the most ugliest of those were tucked away and cleanly removed by unflinching ANBU.
Med-Nin see the worst of conflicts whether there is war or not. Desensitisation is a horrible but essential thing.
Disabilities, marks of disease, scars, disfigurations, mutations... Naruto never looked at the diagrams in the textbooks with disgust or apprehension. Tsunade doesn't doubt that the horrors that he'll have to see as a medic will only strengthen his determination, not cause it to waver.
Iwa was to be avoided... was what she'd planned especially with their visceral hatred of Minato. But this might also be a testament to his disguising, infiltrating and acting skills.
She was throwing him into the woods but if he survived (and he definitely will) then he'd come out stronger.
Tsunade wasn't like before; she was a Sannin, not to mention, they didn't even have Konoha insignias or hitai-ates. She was confident in her strength to protect Naruto if anything happened.
(She was confident that her slow but building tolerance to blood was worth the sleepless nights filled with a metallic smell and thundering rain. No land was more terrifying than the land she visits in her sleep.)
But Kiri was just another story. They were not going into that place. It was thick with chakra and there were hardly any civilians. The shinobi there were all bloodthirsty not to mention the Mizukage...
They'd already visited the borders of Kumo but if they had time, maybe they'd go back. Naruto really enjoyed the mountainous areas (if they weren't hiking) because of the air and height. Perhaps it gave him a sense of liberation that he didn't have in the walls of Konoha.
So now they were currently running on water at a surprisingly fast pace. Naruto still had his weights on and it had been a few hours of running- he wasn't tired at all. Well that was the minimum; Shizune, who wasn't specialised in strength, could deal with at least triple this much exercise. Granted she wasn't wearing hundreds of kilos worth of weight but...
"We're just ten minutes from the border of the Land of Fire so we're running til you're half-dying, brat!"
"What?" He cried. "I thought we were stopping for food!"
"We are." Tsunade nodded. "But only once we reach land."
"Nooo-"
"Oh shut up," Tsunade rolled her eyes. "At this pace, we'll reach land before three hours is up."
He perked up, "What, really?"
"Mhm. That's why you're getting two extra blocks, my dear brat." She summoned two blocks of a hundred kilos and tossed it to him, watching in amusement as he scrambled to make sure he wouldn't sink into the water.
"Kill me now..." He moaned.
True to her word, Tsunade had stopped for dinner but a few hours afterwards (lecturing about the importance of proper digestion), they'd set off again. This time in the dark because it was 'good training'. Shizune simply gave him a pitying 'get used to it' expression.
(There was reason why she could fight at an above Jonin level even though she had minimal chakra capacity and a civilian background. Dan was the uncle she'd never known but she knew that he had been a prodigy for a civilian- the only in their small family to rise the ranks. Tsunade's harsh training and high expectations was what made Shizune into the woman she was today. There was struggle and frustration behind her strength and Naruto was only seeing the surface of it.)
By the time he reached Wave, he was dead on his feet and dawn still hadn't broke.
Tsunade double checked the intent seal that Shizune'd stitched on the back of his orange haori before she slapped his back. "Well in the future, you'll have to have the strength to run for days nonstop. Go find a place to chill and cool down. I'll go talk to the boss of this place to find a place... if anyone is even awake at four am... Wave doesn't have shinobi but keep your eyes open just in case. We'll pick you up if you don't find us before dawn breaks."
Naruto gave a wave before he wandered to a remote looking area and starting to stretch out his wobbly muscles.
His jaw cracked open in a yawn and Naruto vaguely remembered Tsunade saying to keep his eyes open before he decided he wouldn't get killed or kidnapped if he took a two hour nap.
He passed out in a bed of medicinal herbs that he told himself he should pick when he woke up.
An hour later, the haze of the morning sun casted light shadows over a slim figure.
As he peered down at the silent sleeping child next to a bed of herbs, Haku shifted the basket so it rested snugly in the crook of his elbow and pondered on what to do.
Notes:
notes:
- i feel like i've missed smt w tsunade's plan to abuse his regeneration. i mean, naruto's stamina is batshit insane. he literally spawned clones 24/7 in the war and hardly rested before fighting in crazy wack universes and fighting a goddess before fighting his best friend wtf so i figured i was just going to make him op asf (jk, how far can u get in six months anyway? ...kage bunshin no justu-)
- the byakugo and uzumaki fuuinjutsu will be skipped in this mini series thingo. either way, naruto isn't advanced enough to do fuuinjutsu master bullshit yet. it'll be in a flashback when he activates an uzumaki seal/byakugo. then again, yall won't know what i have planned for it
- naruto mastered water walking on the first try. he has shit tons of chakra and mastered tree walking at the same time as sasuke. secretly smart naruto asf. come and fight me. i dare you.
- i'm using the map i pasted above
Village distances:
https://aminoapps.com/c/naruto/page/blog/how-far-apart-are-the-villages/64j3_6MTzuKxw2a6klNV0aaQV05P8oQzRK- another thing i wanted to discuss was wtf the teachers were teaching. naruto literally didn't know how to dispel a genjutsu until after a three years worth of training. he literally pulled chakra control and the rasengan out of his arse. wtf. perfected SAGE IN A WEEK? was dead last at 12 and god at 16???? at this rate, naruto'll be god at 14!
- naruto and tsunade are SO compatible for a mentor-student relationship. tsunade works smart- SUPER SMART and idk, their personalities and strengths super duper CLICK
- I USE THE OFFICIAL CHARACTER STATS FOR POWER SCALING BUT SOMETIMES I SLIP SO IF I FORGET SHIT IN THE FUTURE, COMMENT PLEASE OR JUST IGNORE IT AND PRETEND IM AN AMAZING AUTHOR
Lee's weights: https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/21yt9u/request_can_we_find_the_weight_of_one_of_rock/
I KNOW that it was exaggerated but naruto's verse is wack and people can apparently cause craters with a pointer finger. shut up.
(also mwahhaha i AM MAKING THE OG TEAM 7 CLASHHHH)
Chapter 23: II. the journey
Summary:
notes:
- wave is here, my babes
- (next chapter will be the popcorn-worthy one. this one is kinda just like the prologue. whatever. perhaps, it will be boring, who knows?)****
!READ!
I am changing my username in less than two weeks' time to: 'cloudyyun' (don't even question where the fuck I pull these rando names out of) and yes, I am saying this two weeks beforehand cuz I'm going to say that with every fic I am actively updating.)
So, remember the title, or my new username, or just bookmark this (on that note, kudos asf guys, I love kudos)
Thanks <3
****
Notes:
- OMFG GUYS NOOO I JUST REALISED I'D ACCIDENTALLY LEFT THE 'tenketsu and gates' section of the last chapter BLANK CUZ IT GOT DELETED SOMEHOW. sighs.
- wave will be in THREE PARTS IF SHIT GOES ACCORDING TO PLAN BUT AS YOU KNOW, IT NEVER FUKEN DOES.
- editing left the chat
- *frick* me, tenses can die. i. can die- jk.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Wave mission: Sakura-
The customer was rude, sure, but she just hated how he described her as a 'girl'. As if being a 'girl' was a good enough excuse. Hanako was short, so he was useless. Sasuke was a brat, so he was useless. But Sakura? She was useless because she was a girl. (She ignored how she used that exact fact to get things going her way in the past.)
She huffed, resisting the urge to run up and stomp in the puddle in front of them out of anger. She's studied her arse off harder than any other boy. Then she froze, forcing herself to relax as she eyed the water, then at her surroundings.
'A puddle?' She thought warily. 'What's it doing there?'
Inner didn't reply. She didn't when the answer was obvious: enemy ninja.
It was strange though, because C-Ranks weren't meant to- Tazuna had sweated nervously, eyes darting about, and he'd been dramatically upset over getting Genin.
'He's obviously hiding something.' Ino's voice provided. 'Look how suspicious he had been acting, Sakura. You should've paid more attention.'
She skipped up to Kakashi, trying not to falter with her shaking legs. She gripped onto his arm, harder than usual, and smiled up at him. "It's really a nice weather, isn't it, Kakashi-sensei?"
He turned to eye-smile down at her, "Yeah. No rain so we don't have to take shelter, ne?"
'He knew.' She released a breath.
'Of course he did,' Inner scoffed, 'He's a Jonin, arrogant girl.'
'...Yeah.'
Either way, she'd been useless in the following fight.
And the next.
Two Chuunin level Kiri-Nin emerged from a puddle, binding Kakashi with shuriken-laced chains before pulling and ripping him apart. The Genin, shocked, were unable to see through the Kawarimi technique and with Kakashi 'defeated', the two Kiri shinobi turned their attention to Tazuna.
Before they could land an attack, Sasuke and Hanako both intervened but their attacks were not synchronised. Although Tazuna was protected, the two Genin did not work well together. The Chuunin duo then split up, leaving one behind to attack the Genin as the other charged at Tazuna. Sakura, frustrated that she could not fight, had remembered the mission and stepped in front of Tazuna to defend him.
Before anything further could happen, Kakashi appeared and effortlessly defeated the duo, though both Hanako and Sasuke managed to attain small scratches from one of their poisoned weapons.
Kakashi expressed disappointment in the three of them for how poorly they showed teamwork. He mentioned how Sasuke and Hanako were not communicating and never had which caused their attempts to clash and told Sakura that while she did not make matters worse, she did not make them better either. Ultimately though, he gave them an offhanded acknowledgement on how calmly they handled the situation.
Tazuna questioned why Kakashi took so long to help, with the latter explaining that he could have defeated them quickly but needed to know who their target was. Kakashi pointed out that their target was Tazuna and that he had been hunted by ninja; the mission would be a B-Rank or higher, and a different team would have been assigned.
Sakura, overly ambitious, wanted to go on immediately. With a warning glance, Kakashi reminded Sakura that being eager to fight did not equate to becoming a better kunoichi. He then suggested they quit the mission, not only due to the higher difficulty but because of the two Genins' wounds. They are both unwilling to jeopardise the mission, and both unflinchingly removed the poison by using a kunai. Kakashi, seeing how one Genin was eager to an almost bloodthirsty level and the other two Genin weakened but still determined, he decided to continue with the mission.
Elsewhere, Gato, the man who hired the Demon Brothers to eliminate Tazuna, complained about their defeat to Zabuza, the duo's apparent boss. Zabuza raised his Kubikiribocho at Gatō to shut him up, and stated that he will handle it himself. Gatō informed him that they will be expecting another assault and that a high-level ninja was accompanying Tazuna. This doesn't faze Zabuza, who just replied that he was the "Demon of the Hidden Mist".
-Water prison: Kakashi-
Dread pooled in his stomach as he probed at the chakra trapping him. The kids weren't going to leave.
His Genin weren't going to leave.
Sasuke'd shot him an incredulous scoff, Hanako'd loudly declared him a hypocrite and Sakura'd wordlessly stared at him. No matter how bratty and emo the Uchiha boy was and how frustratingly the girl struggled, no matter how much he wanted to sneer at Hanako for replicating Minato's son's each and every move and how boisterous and friendly and hypocritical and foolish and selfish and arrogant and familiar he was...
He'd watched them do D-Ranks.
He'd watched Hanako trip and accidentally dump paint all over Sasuke. He'd watched the Uchiha boy freeze and hiss at his colourful clothes. He'd watched Sakura rub at her temples and holler commands. The roll of Sasuke's black eyes, the crinkle of Hanako's eyes, the small smile that Sakura tried to hide.
"Leave. Please." He whispered, so low that even Zabuza hadn't sneered at his soft-hearted words. 'Don't die.'
"Sanzengarasu no Jutsu! " Hanako's face was screwed up, red in concentration.
'Scattering Thousand Crows Technique?' Kakashi's eyes widened in realisation- Aoba's Jutsu. That took up too much chakra!
"Heh." A water clone melded off to stalk towards them, batting away the birds into plumes of smoke. "What are these pests? You Konoha brats can only do so much, eh?"
In the remnants of the smoke, Kakashi closed his Sharingan eye, realising that the area was so saturated with chakra that it was impossible to see what was happening anyway.
He stiffened as he felt a clang of metal- "What? Another one?" The rogue nin exclaimed in surprise.
A fuma shuriken burst out of the smoke, headed straight for Zabuza.
'It's not enough.' The Hatake thought grimly, gritting his teeth when he simply jumped over it. Then Kakashi felt the twang of chakra and-
"No, Sakura!" He yelled, hand scraping against the water prison. That idiot, idiot girl! "That's dangerous!"
Sakura was the top kunoichi. Even though her physical evaluations proved her to be weak and hesitant to hurt, her forms were perfect, her aim was beautiful, her Academy Three...
Nigh better than Genin.
"...And you, Sakura, you flee too much." Kakashi frowned, watching the three children in front of him. "I know you're more intellectual than physically strong, but fleeing doesn't help if you can't create plans while doing so. Stalling time doesn't help if there isn't an intention. I daresay Kawarimi is now your specialty."
And her Kawarimi? Impeccable.
She always awed at how simple but powerful that Academy level Jutsu could be. Stretching out a tendril of chakra, latching on, pulling, before... letting go. Like yanking on a rubber band before letting it snap. It took a toll on her body, sure, but she could feel, for a single moment, the snapping of the wind and the whistle as the air tore apart around her.
She loved Kawarimi and knew all about it.
That's why no one questioned her quick and messily explained plan. It seemed simple: a distraction, two red herrings, and an attack.
The Yamashiro crow technique to distract and give a smoke screen, Sasuke's precision in throwing not one, but two fuma shuriken, and then Sakura, being the smallest and the lightest, latching onto that fuma shuriken and switching with it before throwing a kunai at Zabuza to free their Sensei.
They didn't know each principle behind that Jutsu, so only she, and Kakashi, knew that it was a stupid, reckless move.
'I'm not fleeing anymore.' Sakura whispered to herself.
The muddled and panicked minds of the other two Genin failed to remember that Kawarimi didn't mean teleportation- it meant high speed travel; so it was theoretically impossible to switch with an object if there was something...
Gripping her kunai handle tighter, she almost heard the snap of her chakra as her surroundings blurred. Her eyes were squeezed shut, muscles locked. It came to an abrupt halt as she was stopped by a solid wall of muscle and flesh. Her joints ached as she slammed right into him, her kunai's sharp edge digging into his abdomen.
...If there was something blocking her.
She barrelled straight into Momochi Zabuza.
Her knuckles were white around her weapon and she didn't see, but felt the Nuke-Nin's skin splitting under her blade, a burst of warm liquid under her hands. Terror ran like ice in her veins and a splash sounded distantly in her head-
She was yanked up violently by her hair and she felt the crick in her neck crack. She peered through blurry vision up at cold, cold, cold monster, demon, murderer eyes before-
Pain erupted in her stomach and she flew again, staring, almost in slow motion, as Zabuza lowered his leg down. Her eyes widened as something awfully dark and red burst from her mouth.
'Internal bleeding.' Inner said blandly, her energy dimming to a simmer in her mind. 'Ah. We're screwed.'
A cacophony of screams, the whistle of the wind and the sound of her heartbeat roaring in her ears-
Then... darkness.
-Sasuke-
Below the stifling (smothering, strangling ) sense of numbness, he could recognise... terror, helplessness, fury, hatred...
He wouldn't say he necessarily liked his Team- actually, it'd be more accurate to say that he despised them.
Kakashi, who didn't teach them anything and instead decided that they'd train by pulling weeds and walking dogs. Sakura, who acted so depressed, mighty and all-knowing after simply getting out of her fangirl phase. Hanako, who was the despicable replica of Naruto except the disdain towards the loud boy was more... genuine, more visceral.
They annoyed him, each and every action of theirs.
Yet they dropped (like the flies they were) in front of him. Hanaka from mild chakra exhaustion. Sakura from a wound. Kakashi from a mixture of both.
(Terror, helplessness, as the gaps in Sakura's plan were exposed, the red- dark, dark, ugly red pools beneath the two, faces the shade of death, whirling Sharingan that's a familiar, horrible, a hatehatehate type of red and the Sharingan speaks: foolish little brothe- bursts from her mouth and Sasuke realises how utterly stick thin she was. How easily her spine could've snapped as she slid down, unconscious, onto the ground.
The battle of Ninjutsu remains grey in his eyes. The Hunter-Nin his age flicked his wrist and killed then vanished. Just like that.
And so: fury and hatred, indescribable hatred towards his Team, towards the Nuke-Nin, towards the Hunter-Nin, and mostly, to himself for being weak like Itachi called him. For being pathetic, helpless, shameful, unsightly, pitiful. Like what Itachi saw as he stared down at him. 'Foolish little brother', he hears and it echoes during each and every second of those tedious weeks of D-Ranks and those wasted hours-days-weeks build up and rise like a tsunami and he just doesn't know when it'd all... crash-)
"Erm, kid-" The bridge builder started and there's hate-
A pale hand is shaking as he fisted it into the man's collar, yanking him down so that he could glare into the man's terrified eyes.
"Your bridge better be worth it." He hissed with an acidic tone, the only words he'd said in the entire trip. He released his hand and gave himself a moment to grimace before he looked at the three unconscious bodies.
The bridge builder shifted his pack to try and manoeuvre Kakashi onto his back and Sasuke moved to wake Hanako up, forcing the boy to choke down a chakra pill.
Kakashi is brought to Tazuna's house to recover from overuse of his Sharingan. Sakura's condition is steadily worsening due to the walk back and Hanako's exertion had caused his injuries to start bleeding again. Sasuke is injured and exhausted both mentally and physically. This is the setting Kakashi awakes to a day later and his news on Zabuza's potential survival further sours the mood.
Elsewhere, Haku revives Zabuza who promises to crush Kakashi when they meet again. After giving first aid treatment to Sakura and stabilising her condition using the basics of Iryo Ninjutsu he knows, Kakashi debated on whether or not to summon his Ninken to get backup but ultimately decides that it would not work as he had little to no chakra to spare and the backup would be unlikely to arrive on time.
Both Kakashi and Zabuza need to rest for at least a week to recover from their battle.
To prepare for Zabuza's likely return, Kakashi takes Team 7 to the nearby woods for training, where they learn the tree climbing chakra control exercise. Sakura, who'd heatedly insisted that a 'little chakra control exercise won't make her worse', performs perfectly the first time and Hanako already received tuition from his Clan. Sasuke requires extra training and it intensifies his negative feelings.
Kakashi recognises Sasuke's worsening mindset but decides it was not the time to confront it.
A worker of Tazuna named Giichi quits, and tries to convince Tazuna to give up building the bridge.
Later, Hanako asks why Inari often stares at the family photo on the wall, which is torn so that a person's face and upper body are gone. Angered suddenly, the boy leaves the table, making his mother, Tsunami, chase after him. Tazuna then explains that the man torn from the picture, named Kaiza, was once a hero in the Land of Waves and Inari's stepfather.
It is the fourth night and Sasuke spends the night training as he is restless about his own weakness. Haku stumbles upon him lying on the floor and staring up at the sky. He initiates an innocent conversation before the topic of 'precious people' is brought up.
After moments of hesitation, Sasuke, for a reason he doesn't understand, is willing to confide in the kind stranger. He talks about the Uchiha Massacre as he understands it was well-known anyway. Haku realises that Sasuke needed a prompt and so, he provides his own story, describing himself as a refugee from Kiri. He talks about how his father killed his mother and how he was chased out.
Astonished by the sorrow and similarity between them two, Sasuke chooses not to pry and tells Haku how the person he held most precious killed all his kin and wanted him to kill him. By speaking of it aloud, Sasuke comes to realise that there was more depth to his feelings of hatred towards Itachi than he initially thought. Haku cannot but help get attached to Sasuke, and to both their surprises, tears up on behalf of him.
After Haku's departure, Sasuke succeeded in the chakra control exercise. Haku needs to come back for the herbs for a daily dose of medicine but after the meeting, he decides to hide his presence and go earlier in the morning next time so that he wouldn't meet another shinobi by accident.
Upon returning to Tazuna's home, Inari shows his disturbance and expresses his thoughts on how it is a futile struggle against Gato, bringing up Sakura's injured state. He thinks of Kaiza and tearfully tells them that they only think they can win because they have not suffered as Inari has. Still vulnerable from his talk with Haku, Sasuke glares and shows a deep loathing towards Inari's cowardice. Hanako similarly lashes out at his words upon remembering his Clan's sacrifices.
Later that night, Kakashi tells a despondent Inari that no one had meant to hurt him. He continues to explain how the life of a ninja meant constant death and those two boys both had to endure many deaths of who they had considered heroic as well. He concludes by impassively saying that many have suffered more than Inari assumes and that lots of people understood Inari's pain.
-The next day: Haku-
A blonde boy.
The burnt orange haori was large on him, especially with how he curled into a foetal position, but Haku spied on the minute details his body provided. His skin appeared to be unscarred and soft, there was a distinct lack of starvation and scars on him and he appeared to be fully healthy. A civilian then? But what sort of civilian here looked to be in such a great condition? There hadn't been any travellers recently, sans the Konoha Genin team, so did he walk here?
'He was suspicious,' Haku determined as he let chakra seep through his limbs. 'Was he a part of Gato's company?'
He reached out his hand... and shook the boy awake.
"You'll catch a cold if you sleep here." Haku said softly, watching as the boy jolted awake, sitting up with his eyes still barely open. His jaw cracked open in a yawn and in two swift hip twisting movements, his back gave an audible 'click'.
Rubbing at an eye, dark purple eyes stared back at him. His hair was... a duller shade of yellow than Haku'd originally seen. Maybe it'd been a trick of light.
"Wh-Who're you?" The boy asked, drawing the haori tighter around himself.
-Naruto-
He was freaking out. He hadn't noticed that he'd been approached until that shift of chakra. If it wasn't for Tsunade's tireless training, he wouldn't have been able to feign his sleep or draw upon a Henge so well.
The girl- boy (anatomy books and analysing his Oiroke no Jutsu had given him a... vast understanding of the differences in sex), or girl if he- she- they- they intended to be, smiled at him.
"My name is Haku, and you?"
"U-Uh..." He stammered, flustered and panicked. This bo- gir- (damnit, their name didn't reveal much either) person was a shinobi. And one most likely better than him. He could sense it in the flowing movements, flickering eyes, wiry limbs and the silent footsteps.
But at that, he relaxed (inwardly, of course). If this person was a shinobi, but still forgot to purposefully make his footsteps loud to avoid suspicion, then he obviously wasn't well-versed in manipulation tactics.
Naruto'd already hesitated for too long and bringing up a name now would be suspicious, so he decided to pull out the distrust and nervousness from within him- an easy task- and feign caution.
"I don't, um, I don't think I should tell you, Nee-chan..." He murmured quietly, tacking on the 'Nee-chan' because any civilian would assume so with the pink clothing, femininely styled features and long hair. Hell, Naruto would have thought they were a girl if it wasn't for his sudden boom of knowledge- they were prettier than Sak-
"And why is that?" Haku replied without missing a beat.
"Uh..." He paused, "Because, um, Baachan told me that- that um. Stranger danger!" He yelped, remembering the rhymes those dumb civilian kids chanted. "Right. Because Neechan is a stranger, so... Uh, but Baachan's super protective, so I guess I'm allowed to say, datteba-"
He internally smacked himself at his tic. It just... slipped out when he was agitated.
"I mean, I can tell you-tteb- ttebane!" He decided not to question whatever the heck just came out and rolled with it; it sounded familiar to him anyway. "Because Neechan seems nice, so uh, so- so uh... not stranger danger." He nodded, clearing his throat and feeling his face burn from embarrassment. "I'm Namito and uh, nice to meet you-tteba-ne."
'Wave plus Naruto-' He inwardly patted himself on the back. '-Equals Namito.'
They gave a light chuckle, an aborted, unfamiliar sound that sounded neither natural nor insincere. "What are you doing here, may I ask?"
"Oh," He scratched the back of his head, crinkling his eyes into a smile. "I was just stretching cuz we walked a long time to get here." He laughed sheepishly, "But then I fell asleep- Baachan and Shizu-nee will have my head!"
"You look quite..." Haku's eyes flicked up and down once, an action disguised as interest yet held a suspicious gleam. "...fit for your age."
He outwardly gave a beam, pushing up his chest in childish pride but inwardly panicked- he'd huddled in his slightly oversized haori for a reason! How did Haku tell? He'd usually be somewhat flattered, especially since he'd been a stick skinny kid who'd scraped it by in BMI because of his Uzumaki vitality, but now he was just plain freaked. Was it his chakra? His face? His- His what?
"Hehe, yeah! Shizu-nee taught me some cool moves, so I'm super strong, ya know! She told me that this world was uh- dangerous... and that I should protect myself." He felt a warmth of gratitude and plain adoration flood through him again. But hey, at least he could hold back the happy tears this time.
"Is she... Your 'Baachan' and your 'Shizu-nee'... Are they precious to you?"
He tilted his head to the side in confusion though the answer was obvious: "Of course."
They gave him a subtly appraising look, weighing him on a scale of some spectrum he didn't know.
Looking into those speculative eyes, Naruto added lowly- "I would die to protect them."
Haku's face was arranged perfectly blank, a myriad of emotions- or memories?- flashing through their eyes.
What did it matter to this shinobi that Naruto cared for others? Were they looking for people to potentially capture? No, Naruto wasn't a registered shinobi and even if this person managed to find out he was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, they wouldn't recognise him.
Not that he necessarily wholly trusted his Henge skills- Naruto remembered being kept away from the larger populations when he was younger and he'd never gone out of the Village before he met Tsunade. He'd been steered away from certain areas and he'd hardly ever seen travellers- even the occasional merchants.
Apart from the civilians who simply recognise his whiskered cheeks, hardly anyone knew what the 'Kyuubi brat' looked like.
If not after his Bijuu, then Haku was a mercenary or something.
This person was young- a bit older than him, perhaps?- and had signs of malnourishment. Their skin was pale- a mixture of malnutrition and low melanin. So they weren't from Konoha, Suna, or Kumo. Smaller countries hardly had motive or power to go against Konoha, Iwa was too far away and Wave was too close to Konoha, so that left Kiri.
And Kiri? Danger.
The only things that left that 'hellhole', as dubbed by Tsunade, were corpses and Nuke-Nin.
A brilliant smile spread over Haku's face and he thought: 'Surely anyone who smiled like that wouldn't be...'
"The Mizukage is heartless and cruel." Shizune shuddered, eyes flicking once from the Kiri history book title and then to him. "Any poor soul there is either equally malicious, an emotionless puppet, or a dead body. No one's born evil- but in Kiri, they're made evil."
"They must be very precious to you then." Haku looked down and to the side- towards the medicinal herbs, before they stared back into his eyes. There was an insistency in his tone- the need for acknowledgement and understanding. ("And when I become Hokage, everyone will-" But no one had listened back then.)
This was... something important to Haku then.
Naruto didn't think he was the right person to have a heart to heart with a potential Kiri Nuke-Nin and he could already hear the words taking shape in the back of his mind- 'Don't trust. Don't trust. Don't trust.'- but he matched Haku's eyes with his own level ones.
"When a person has something... important to protect," Haku said, mouthing the words like he'd whispered them over and over but had never actually voiced aloud. "-that is when they can truly become strong."
Naruto doesn't avert his gaze but lets his mind wander to think just when he'd realised he'd follow Tsunade.
"But that's... impressive." "You may not- nay the entire Village may not, but I care for his opinion."
Was it her first words? The only person who looked at him without a forcefully neutral expression or an ugly mix between a sneer and a grimace? Was it when she accepted him, acknowledged his skill, and took him as her disciple? Was it when she'd eyed him challengingly even after the Chuunin'd revealed that he'd failed his exam twice before? When she batted away Haruno's arm? When she switched from 'boy' to 'Naruto' or even a fond scoff of 'brat'?
"Jeez, I leave you alone for a little bit and you stir up all this mess."
Tsunade'd told him he'd fall in love with everyone if his standards were that low. She'd told him- drilled into him, over and over- "You need to readjust who and what you consider your 'norm'."
But Tsunade couldn't be his new 'norm' because he couldn't possibly find-know-befriend someone he'd respect more than her.
"That is what happens when you mess with my student."
Naruto had probably decided that he'd die to protect them since the first day. And everyday after that just strengthened that bond.
"Yeah." He offered a smaller, but no less sincere, smile, "I get what you mean."
"Also, I'm a boy."
Ok, so that answered his question.
"E-Eh?" He gasped aloud, blinking rapidly and bringing two hands to slap against his cheeks.
-Shizune-
Jogging lightly past a young woman, surreptitiously scanning her for malicious intent, Shizune caught sight of Naruto... in a Henge, picking at the medicinal herbs.
"Mou!" She jutted both hands against her hips. "It's been a while now- did you fall asleep here?"
"Hehe..." He chuckled, hurriedly giving her a bouquet of herbs.
"Don't think this will make me forgive you!" She warned, "What if you caught a cold?"
After two minutes more of idle chat and civilian paced walking to their new temporary inn, she stretched her senses and let her posture relax. "She's gone."
"He." Naruto corrected reflexively.
"Who was he?" She narrowed her eyes, "Ninja?"
"I think so..." He scratched his cheek, "Pretty skilled as well but a little... I dunno... inexperienced? He looked pretty young... might be a survivor of the bloodline purge..."
Tsunade opened the door before they knocked, promptly dragging them in and pulling up a privacy seal. "I've got bad news."
"Me too." Naruto piped in, "I think."
"Oh great." She pinched her nose. "I'll go first: the bridge builder is targeted by Gato, a rich bastard, who hired Kiri Nuke-Nin to kill him. Konoha sent a team of Genin to protect him and by my senses, that's Hatake Kakashi a few ways down this street, recovering from chakra exhaustion."
"A team of what? " Shizune hissed. "Who fucked up, Hokage-sama or the bridge builder?"
Naruto winced at her profanity, "U-Uh... Baachan said that he was injured, so maybe he didn't have a choice? I don't think that Jonin dude would willingly continue with a dangerous mission-"
"-Unless the consequences of turning back outweigh the dangers..." Tsunade hummed.
"Yeah." He nodded. "In the first place, isn't that fraud? Genin wouldn't get a B-Rank plus mission, so the bridge builder lied. That's fraud."
"You're right. The textbook answer is to detain the bridge builder before returning to Konoha." Shizune gave him an approving nod. "Politics don't really matter when there are rookies on the field."
"Also," Tsunade pointed out. "Shinobi strong enough to injure Kakashi or pose as a threat would cause him to back off to protect his Genin."
"So either the Nuke-Nin is extremely powerful and potentially poses as a threat to Konoha or this bridge is extremely important." Naruto concluded.
"Or," The Sannin added grimly, "Kakashi got an inflated head and thought it would go smoothly with an 'Elite' like him. ...And it backfired. I can't really tell who the Genin are because I've only really bothered to memorise the heirs' presences in case of political issues down the line, but one of them is the Uchiha boy. He isn't hurt though. What about you?"
"Met a super pretty boy a little older than me-" At Tsunade's interested look, Naruto snapped, flushed- "Not that! He looks incredibly feminine, so you might get confused if you don't look carefully. I think he's one of the Kiri Nuke-Nin. He's definitely a shinobi, and it lines up with your story. The only thing is... he didn't look like someone bad..."
Tsunade pressed her lips together.
"No, like, for real." Naruto insisted. "Haku literally asked if there was someone precious to me and told me that people were the strongest when they had someone to protect or something."
"Awfully deep for a kid." The Sannin mused. "Maybe he's an apprentice of the Nuke-Nin that attacked Kakashi."
"Probably." Shizune added, "He had a basket full of medicinal herbs. Naruto suggested that he might also be a survivor of the bloodline massacre when considering his age and what you confirmed."
"Ah, right. So Konoha." Tsunade nodded then directed a pointed stare towards him: 'Help or not?'
"We help them." Naruto immediately said. Resolve hardened on his face. "That's obvious."
They both nodded, unsurprised before pausing and turning to face him in synch. "Why do you still have a Henge on?"
"Oh. Oops." Naruto grinned, "I've got an idea! I told Haku that this is Namito and-" With an almost silent poof of smoke, a female counterpart with a lack of whiskers, lighter ash blonde hair and dark violet-blue eyes appeared. "This can be Namiko. Boom. Secret identity!"
Shizune absolutely did not miss how the hair colour was shades away from Tsunade's and judging by the fond shake of her head, nor did she.
"I've told you about Kushina but you've never seen a photo before." Tsunade placed a hand on his- or her, she supposes- head. "But you've got the eye colour right on the head. If I accidentally call you by the wrong name," She laughed haltingly. "Then you'll know." Naruto's face went blank as his lips curled into an absentminded smile.
"Also," Shizune interrupted with an exasperate tone. "Wave-boy and wave-child? Could you not come up with better names?"
-A literal minute later-
"What are you doing here?" A harrowed looking Kakashi asked as he ushered Shizune in. "And where is Tsunade-sama and-"
"That's what I should be asking you." She shot back, ignoring the second question. She slipped into the room Sakura was resting in, Kakashi on her heels. "I won't pry about your reasons now, but the blunt trauma Haruno has experienced will take a few minutes to fix. You'll need to provide an excuse for the other boys. By the way, even though I'm not in disguise- too plain for that- call me Shizuka just in case."
"That's easy enough." He agreed before complying to her assessing look. "My exhaustion is almost fully fixed, and Hanako and Sasuke may have traces of poison in them." At that, he was given a sharp glance. "Also our opponents consist of a teen with the skill set of a Kiri Hunter-Nin and Momochi Zabuza-"
"What the fuck." She groaned.
"-Also I didn't exactly kill the Demon Brothers so possibl-"
"J-Just shut up. Shut up."
"...Ok."
With the entire Team fully healed by Kakashi's mysterious acquaintance, Sakura and Sasuke were chosen to guard Tazuna along with Kakashi. Sakura, because she was itching to get out of the house, and Sasuke, because he was more affected by Inari's words than Hanako was.
Zabuza and Kakashi both assumed that they healed earlier than the other and so the battle on the bridge was unexpected. Sakura was tasked to guard Tazuna, much to her annoyance, and Sasuke went up against Haku, not knowing his true identity. Hanako remained bored at Tazuna's house, unsuspecting of the following ambush.
Naruto, Tsunade, and Shizune are in their inn, unknowing that the fated battle was happening at present.
Notes:
notes:
- italics part is kinda based off the official synopsis, so you can compare the two if you want. i totally did not copy and past it...
- tempted to kill off sakura to throw things off
- i dont think this needs to be explained but sakura succeeded to wound zabuza because 1. unexpected/a suicidal move 2. zabuza was handicapped 3. he was underestimating them 4. kawarimi is underrated asf. btw i had planned to make sakura a genjutsu mistress in response to how part 1 had expected her to turn out. and genjutsu ppl r meant to be able to escape and hide
- in CANON, sasuke cares more about his team and the d-ranks actually help him get mentally better but in this fic, it just riles him up and he always compared himself to itachi (when itachi was his age, he didn't do yada yada-) and so he NEVER GETS BETTER OR GETS ATTACHED TO HIS TEAM
- abt how he talks abt stuff to haku, rmb in this fic he's slightly ooc so... imma just blame it on that then- IF I DIDN'T MENTION THIS BEFORE, NARUTO ARRIVED AROUND HALF A DAY BEFORE THE BRIDGE FIGHT
- naruto analysing haku isn't anything overly 'genius'. anyone would be suspicious if someone approached u and u didn't sense them
- about 'sex' and 'gender', i think that --> 'sex' means what physical things there are and 'gender' means identity
- so there u have it, naruto is NOT as strong (in terms of physically etc.; it's been mentioned that naruto was trained on the belief that 'strength covers many areas') as haku if they were fighting a fair battle and GOING BY THE POWER SCALING STATS THAT IS BS, that means naruto isn't as strong as neji DON'T EVEN FIGHT ME ON THIS RN, OK?- shizune didn't really stop to think abt haku's gender so she didn't figure it out
- dattebane = ya know? / dattebayo = believe it!
- this is also w my own experience: how i speak and the catchphrases i use change drastically depending on what mood i'm in. i think everyone has like... 'separate personalities' (non medical) depending on the environment. i feel like henge would be that... idk 'indicator' that naruto wasn't (fully) naruto (he literally went 'dattebanyan' when he wore cat ears, shut up.) but this won't be brought up again (i think)god i am the EMBODIMENT of 'unreliable'
TO REITERATE, IM CHANGING MY USERNAME SOON AND THE POPCORN SHOULD BE BROUGHT OUT NEXT FORTNIGHT.
thanks for reading <33
Chapter 24: III. the journey
Summary:
notes:
- i hope this is popcorn worthy but tbh, the part that i was hyping up will come in the next chapter cuz i ran outta room lmao
- heads up, i'll have a shit ton of notes
- well shit, i don't have enough space so i'll have to split this into two more chapters. sighs sorry yall.
- actions scenes are annoying to write <3
Notes:
ahem. WHORLING IS A WORD.
btw im also skipping out on a lot of monologues and the events changed quite a bit, obviously, but not that much
ok lol i just contradicted myself.
JUST SAYING THIS AGAIN: THERE WILL BE ONE MORE CHAPTER CUZ I DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH SPACE UNLESS YALL WANTED TO READ AN ENTIRE MF BOOK IN ONE CHAPTER LOL
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Did you hear that?" Naruto looked up suddenly as he picked up on the sound of a crash, channelling his chakra to try and sense- "I think they're mercenaries!"
"And the Demon Brothers actually fucking came!" Tsunade burst as she recognised the two chakra signatures that were larger than an average mercenary's. "They're in the forest... One Genin is nearby, most likely unaware."
"Shit, what about the Genin team and the Nuke-Nin?"
"Ok," The Sannin furrowed her brow. "Naruto, Shizune, deal with them. I'll go catch up with Kakashi. Turn around and come after us when you're done."
Shizune gave her an assessing look, one which Tsunade returned with a hard stare.
"...Let's go." She nodded.
-Hanako-
He shot up upon hearing a loud noise, silently making his way towards the commotion until he heard the loud peal of Tsunami's scream, quickening his pace.
"Inari?" He hissed under his breath, watching as the sobbing child tried to run past him. "What's going on?"
"N-Ninja." The boy sneered before shaking his head violently. "Th-There are two men t-taking mum away. You have to go save her-"
"I'm already going." He said, speeding out of the wreckage, and slowing to a stop behind them and shouting at the two men-
"Get away from Tsunami-san, you jerks!" He quickly surveyed the area- they were surrounded by water and standing on top of what looked like a jetty.
"Well, well, if it isn't one of the loser ninja Tazuna hired." One of them drawled.
"Inari!" Tsunami screamed, eyes widening with horror as she struggled in her ropes. "Inari, what are you doing? Run away!"
"AHH!" Hanako screeched when he noticed the boy panting as he stood beside him. "You damn brat! You'll only be a liability if you charge into fights you can't handle!"
"I've decided." Inari declared at what was decidedly the worst possible time. "I want to be as strong as my dad! Let go of my mum!"
"Geez, stupid kid." The man to the right of Tsunami said.
"Cut him." His lips stretched into a grin as they both palmed their katanas.
"Sure."
Hanako twitched his fingers, waiting until they left Tsunami before he activated his chakra, tugging Inari harshly against his chest before he switched places with one of the wooden floorboards next to the woman.
"Untie your mum and get out of here." Hanako said quietly before he moved to stand in between the thugs and Inari and his mother. He was handicapped: not only did he have two civilians to protect, he also had two enemies to attack. Their iai showed that their speed was about the same as an average Genin's. He forgot to take his pack where there were more weapons, so he only had a handful of kunai at his disposal.
As Tsunami quickly ushered Inari away, he flung shuriken towards them, watching as they easily deflected the attack. They both had swords and he was shorter and smaller than them.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled out a kunai and deflected the first thug's swipe before using his bare hand to catch the second blade. He snarled at the sting of pain, gasping when the thug tried to yank it out of his grip.
Hanako turned his entire body to roundhouse kick the first man into the face, channelling chakra into his leg and instantly knocking him out before he threw his kunai at the second man's eye, locking his now free hand onto the blade as well.
Hanako watched as it sunk through his socket, the man screaming and clawing at his face.
"K-Kill." Hanako quietly told- ordered himself, drawing out the kunai from the writhing man's head and clutching it in his bloodied, shaking hands.
His head was light and pounding. Adrenaline made his limbs twitch erratically. He couldn't hear anything besides the thudding of his heartbeat, his mechanical breathing, and the pained screams echoing inside his head.
Knocking them unconscious wouldn't be good enough. They'd just get up again and get someone else in danger. As long as they were alive, they could hurt. And if they were dead, they wouldn't cause any more problems.
Besides, shinobi had to kill eventually. It was what they had to do in order to stay alive. Kill, or be killed.
And with that thought in mind, he sliced straight through the man's throat, stilling for a single shocked second before he turned to the other unconscious thug and... doing the same.
It was so easy- the kunai was far from blunt and the skin on the throat was just so delicate. These two men were both little, tiny ants in the population of the world. Yet they died so simply. Like how half his Clan had died so simply.
He refused to acknowledge the bubble of guilt in his gut that told him that they might have had families or lovers or friends or-
But so many people died. He thought to the times he'd stare and stare at the Memorial Stone, tracing the names of his relatives over and over again. So many people died and so what if he just caused two more to do so?
This was just how the world was: cruel.
As he stared at the two corpses, he didn't notice the two forms slowly rising from the water around him.
"Behind you!" "Watch out!"
Two voices cried out at once, cutting through the soundless haze of his mind, and Hanako snapped to look at the speakers, feeling as though one of the voices were familiar-
"Uzumaki. " Hanako spat, anger curling in his stomach (because any emotion apart from shock or guilt would be better.)
He shifted to fully face the boy when the metallic sounds of chains alarmed him. Hanako snapped his head towards the source of the noise, eyes widening as he saw two shuriken chains shooting straight for him and he froze in horror when he realised that it was too late to dodge-
He couldn't dodge. It was too late. He was going to- like those men- he was going to-
(Warm, thick blood coated his hand- the red was an embodiment of the sin he couldn't erase from himself. From this day- from that very second- he'd become a killer. A murderer. And that was something that could never be revoked because those men were truly, truly dead.
They were just ants in this large world- But they were dead. Small, insignificant- Dead. He was a shinobi and he'd be bound to kill eventually- Dead. Dead. Dead-)
'Dead. And this,' Hanako thought, feeling a certain kind of terror that the man he killed must've been feeling, 'Must be my punishment.'
Kill, or be killed. Once he started to go by that code, he had to accept the possibility of him dying but- he didn't want to die.
An orange blur appeared right beside him in a gust of wind and the boy tugged at his arm, causing him to stumble a bit-
The first chain struck the wooden wall and it shook Hanako out of his stunned daze. With an angry yell, Hanako tugged his arm right back, stumbling from the force of the pull.
The fingers burnt against his arm, worse than the time he'd been scorched by a Katon Jutsu. It was the hand of a monster, a demon- someone worse than him- on Hanako. This- This wretched boy touched him.
(Killing two thugs had been so stressful; how could this child-looking thing possibly kill so many and still touch him without feeling remorse or guilt?)
What was it trying to do? Hold him still so that he'd get hit? Kill him like it had killed his aunt, his brother, his family?
Hanako glared at that thing, ignoring the flash of hurt in those wide, blue eyes- like as if it thought it was innocent. The very thought filled him with a blistering heat of rage before a chill went up his spine, time seeming to stop for a second-
The second chain wrapped around his right knee and he daren't look down, throat thick, chest heavy, heart stopping, as he felt his skin split, a heavy pressure and an explosion of pain.
-Shizune-
She cursed, throwing a senbon at the thrashing and screaming boy, forcing him into unconsciousness.
Naruto was stressed- she could feel the guilt, panic, and fear well up in his chakra but his moves were efficient as he carefully removed the senbon in his neck, shrugging off his haori and folding it into a makeshift pillow before elevating the severed leg onto one of the supporting logs of the jetty in a single moment.
If it wasn't for the dire circumstances, she would've shown her immense pride in his development. She leapt onto the water, kunai spinning on her finger. She ducked under their predictable gauntlet strikes before, with pinpoint accuracy, nicked Meizu on his unguarded wrist and Gozu on the face.
They'd be dead in a minute.
She created a Kage Bunshin to watch and finish them off before she headed towards Naruto and the other Genin.
His face was ashen as he nodded to Shizune. "I-I'll go get water, antiseptic and some bandages." He murmured, eyes flickering onto the messily torn stump, still spurting blood before turning away and tripping over the lower half of the Genin's leg. If it was possible, his face lost even more colour. His hand flew to block his nose and mouth before he audibly gagged, accidentally smearing blood over his face. Shizune watched, worried, as he stumbled towards the wreckage of Tazuna's house.
Brows furrowed, she wiped her mind clean of unnecessary emotions (what a stupid brat, he did this to himself- naïve children with that level of ignorance always gets killed earlier on in the game-) and called upon her Iryo Ninjutsu, green chakra spreading across her palms and over the wound.
This boy would have to quit being a front-line ninja; it would be stupid to continue fighting with that kind of injury. (She'd say it would be 'impossible' but Naruto's defied that enough that she daren't call anything 'impossible' by now).
Naruto returned silently, setting down a drink bottle and a roll of bandages. He gently raised Hanako's head and replaced his haori with a little pillow tucked under his arm. He then began to wipe at the blood stains with a grim set to his mouth, ignoring how the severed lower leg was leaking more and more pools of red.
It almost made Shizune laugh humourlessly. This little Genin had done something that even full-fledged adult shinobi would've gotten angry about. Naruto'd saved the boy from being cleaved into two and suffering a very, very painful death.
And the leg lost? His actions were his responsibility. He was a Genin, and that meant 'shinobi' no matter what Academy teachers would try and say. To spit into the face of your saviour...
And Naruto- he hadn't gotten angry at all. For a single moment, it made Shizune wonder whether or not any of the talks they've had had gone through his head. He'd gotten frustrated, guilty- guilty?!- and... pitying.
"He..." Naruto started, watching Hanako's scrunched up face with something like sadness before he shook his head, biting at his lip. "Shizu-nee, I'm going to catch up with Tsunade-baachan. I can't do anything useful here. Take-" He sighed, "Take care of Hanako."
Shizune searched his face for a moment before nodding, "I will. Stay safe."
Without further ado, he vanished in a Shunshin.
She sighed wearily, "If you look at Naruto with anything but prejudice, you'll realise just how much he cares for you, even if you've done nothing to deserve it, Hanako. ...I wonder if you'd even called him by his name once."
-Naruto-
Letting chakra leak through his body, he transformed into his 'Namito' again, the orange of his haori bleeding into a plum-ish shade, unwilling for the same thing to occur at the bridge. If only he'd transformed before he reached Hanako, then maybe he wouldn't have gotten maimed.
He knew it wasn't his fault- he wasn't so young and malleable to think that every little error was entirely his fault (anymore). But the fact that he could've done something differently irked him. He still felt guilty; knowing and feeling were completely different things.
It was undeniable that Hanako wouldn't have refused his help if he hadn't been 'Naruto'. That, no matter who he could blame, was not something that could have changed. But there were so many gaps of information, so many things that 'shouldn't' have happened in the first place that pointing fingers and sorting out 'who's right and who's wrong' would have absolutely no meaning.
Within the Village, he had no room for error; if he held even a tiny bit of responsibility, everything would be pushed onto him. It was why he thought with that mindset in the first place: 'if the demon child had been involved, then the outcome would be the demon child's fault'.
The Matron could twist and manipulate words, pushing what had felt like the entire world's evil onto his shoulders. And that was how he grew up. Hurt, then angry, then doubtful (of himself).
Even with a cleared head and Tsunade's words reminding him, he still can't help but feel the urge to take responsibility. To shoulder the burden. 'Hanako can hate me if it'd help him cope'... is what he'd thought. But that wasn't right, was it? For both of them.
Within the Village, he had no room for error, but Tsunade always pointed out- "What is the point of a 'Village' if no one helps you and instead turns on you?"
With a near silent sigh, he stopped at the edge of the woods, pulling chakra to his eyes to try and clearly see what was going on on the bridge-
His eyes widened.
Two bloodied Jonin, a cage of ice, a progressively injured Sasuke, and no Tsunade.
-A few moments before: Sakura-
She felt a bubble of frustrating in her stomach, hands twitching every time a weapon glinted in the light. But she wasn't frustrated because 'she couldn't fight', she was frustrated because she couldn't help Sasuke.
She'd seen the mirrors of ice form, and she'd heard Sasuke's cries of pain. With a curt apology to Tazuna, Sakura sprinted towards Sasuke, whipping out a kunai and hurling it with pinpoint accuracy at one of the mirrors. She realistically knew it wouldn't do much, but she'd hope that it'd at least distract the shinobi.
How easily the fake Hunter-Nin had caught her attack... It stung at her pride more than she'd admit.
And with a warning look from Kakashi, she returned to the bridge builder's side and was to stay put next to Tazuna and do absolutely nothing. Like some glorified guard dog.
What was the point of missions if she couldn't get experience anyway?
"You are under the assumption that anticipating a good fight equates to becoming a better kunoichi."
Kakashi's disappointed look from after the Demon Brothers' attack, so blatant despite his entire face being technically covered up, was seared into her mind.
"You are under the assumption that anticipating a good fight equates to becoming a better kunoichi." Kakashi offhandedly said, not looking up from his novel. "'Elite' shinobi never want to fight because they know just how horrible being an 'Elite' is. It means that they've gone far past the childish phase of wanting battles, where they've seen much death and blood and only indulge in the impossible dreams of 'complete peace'."
Green eyes widened in disbelief at the indirect accusation. "Do you think I enjoy this?!"
"Why-" A single eye flicked to look at hers, still half-lidded but intimidating all the same. "-Were you smiling?"
"...Wh-What?" Sakura demanded after a small shocked moment, "Why would I smile?"
"At first you were shaken, but despite your obvious anxieties, you were far from petrified like usual Genin would be. After a few seconds, you got frustrated because you couldn't fight even though you wanted to prove that you'd changed from your old self." The Jonin commented, like reporting the weather.
"Then one of those brothers charged towards Tazuna and you got this big, ugly smile on your face."
Kakashi was a cruel teacher.
He was riddled with issues, and never even taught them anything. Team 7 only did D-Rank missions and he never participated anyway. If only she'd gotten Ino's Sensei, this Sarutobi man, who was trying to convince them to train.
Although... she was confused as to why Sasuke or Hanako never asked for training. Hanako was overly ambitious and Sasuke craved power like nobody's business, yet neither of them ever asked.
'And neither did you.' Inner giggled. 'What a hypocrite you are. Listen to yourself. Just listen to yourself.'
And so with Inner's commentary, she watched helplessly as Sasuke continued to dodge the senbon attacks. Kakashi began to explain the Kekkei Genkai- a superior genealogy that's passed down by one's ancestors.
It turns out that the ice was a 'Clan thing '- as the civilians in the Academy would call it. No one ever questioned how Clan children managed to get so high up in the rankings: it was just their lineage. But even after becoming a Genin, to find out that it was merely blood that could explain the wide gap between her and her opponents...
"You're either fit, or unfit."
Was she just destined to remain inferior? Weak? Wasn't that just too unfair? She'd worked so hard too... She'd become top kunoichi...
"No one 'tries' to get killed. Just because you're acting a little different from before, it doesn't change all those years you've wasted."
Does anyone even believe in her? Did they all expect her to fail?
Isn't that just too cruel?
...Should she just...
(Sakura couldn't even track Kakashi and Zabuza's movements. Sasuke moved faster than she could react. That fake Hunter-Nin had accuracy far more superior than what she could ever dream to achieve. Kakashi's voice was cold. Sasuke didn't even view her as a peer. Hanako still thought she was an airhead. Her family... were dismayed when she tore off her fake nails.)
...Quit being a shinobi?
-Naruto-
His head pounded as he thought of many different things all at once- how and why Tsunade was gone (and he knows that Tsunade is strong, but Tsunade is scared of blood ); and he was correct that Haku had a Kekkei Genkai- ice affinity? His eyes zeroed onto Sasuke who was easily overpowered by Haku despite his obvious lack of killing intent.
All in that single moment he felt worry, curiosity, panic, and anger and he barely remembered not to charge straight into the battlefield to somehow protect whatever and fight against whoever the enemy seemed to be.
(Because surely the kind boy in the forest wouldn't be his enemy. Surely not.
A little voice in his mind asked him- 'You aren't still that naïve anymore, are you? From the very first breath you took in this world, we were allies with Konoha and enemies with Konoha's enemies.' )
Naruto hesitated as he thought of joining them. He felt uncertain... Hanako was meant to be there but because of hi- because of the complications, Naruto ended up here instead of the original Team 7 Genin. Hell, he wasn't even a Genin.
Naruto shook his head, brushing away those useless thoughts. They were all shinobi of Konoha, so of course he could... fight alongside them. Remembering his weights, he quickly tugged them off from where they were tucked under his clothing, sealing them into a storage seal stitched into the inner fabric of his haori and immediately feeling the difference.
With a resolute nod, he moved to Shunshin when Haku began to talk.
"For me, becoming a shinobi completely is difficult." Haku's smooth voice echoed inside of his ice mirror dome. "If I can, I don't want to kill you and I don't want to get killed by you."
Naruto paused, hand braced on the tree trunk.
"That's why if your enemy is stronger than you, they won't care if you have a tragic past or a crippling disability-"
"They must be very precious to you then." Haku was sincerely kind. Could he really fight against him?
"-They won't care if you've worked your arse off for this single moment or fight. They won't care about any of that. On the off chance that they do, it's probably because they aren't either a) a real enemy, or b) a strong enemy. But then there's a possibility that the enemy is an unprofessional shinobi who acts upon emotion."
"But if you are going to come at me," Haku continued, voice steely. "I'll kill my feelings with a sword and completely become a shinobi. This bridge is the battleground that connects each of us to our dreams. I, for the sake of my dream, and you, for the sake of your dream... Please don't hold it against me."
Naruto clenched his eyes shut at the words; Tsunade was right- it was harder to defeat the 'enemy' the more he sympathised with them.
She'd told him that usually, it was easy for shinobi to wilfully ignore the fact that their enemies were humans and had families when they were simply trading kunai, but when they start talking... She'd told him that during the wars, shinobi generally tried to kill quickly and didn't usually loot the bodies in case they found things like pictures or charms.
"I want to protect the person dear to me... I work for the sake of that person, I fight for that person, and I want to make that person's dream a reality. That's my dream. For the sake of this dream, I can completely become a 'shinobi'-" The gentle voice increased into a determined snarl, "-And I can kill you!"
That resolve... Naruto felt his respect for Haku rise with every word.
(And why did Zabuza and Kakashi lower their guards just to listen? Naruto could feel his inner-Shizune slapping her forehead. Why in the ever loving Ramen Gods was Sasuke smiling- oh, and Sakura too? They were all in pretty deep shit! ...But he couldn't help but feel a thrill as well because for all the hard work he'd put in... it was today when he would finally get a taste of the real world.)
"Sasuke-kun! Don't lose to that guy!" Sakura screamed, tone reminiscent to a cheerleader.
"No, Sakura." Kakashi interjected. "Don't egg him on."
"Huh?"
"Even if Sasuke could somehow defeat that technique, he cannot beat that boy."
"What do you mean?" The girl wondered, brows furrowed, a trace of indignant hurt in her tone.
"He doesn't yet have the strength to destroy his heart... and kill another person."
Naruto had to actively stop himself from screaming: 'Beating someone does not equate to killing, dattebayo!'
"Intention can change how someone fights in spades." His inner-Tsunade interrupted with a lecturing tone.
As if on cue, there was a sudden burst of energy and without further ado, Naruto flickered to just outside the dome of mirrors, shivering at the sudden drop in temperature. He'd moved so that Sakura and the civilian client couldn't see him but he was pretty sure both Jonin had seen something move. Interestingly enough, Zabuza didn't warn his accomplice.
Naruto quietly summoned a Kage Bunshin to poke at it, running chakra through the mirror and realising with a gasp that it was indeed a Kekkei Genkai and not some super believable illusion or something.
What could he do then?
He'd already started to think about it upon seeing it. Thrown weapons? Haku was too fast for it to be anything but a distraction. Outside attack? He didn't know offensive Ninjutsu against ice and he'd had enough experience with breaking his fist over something that was harder than he thought that he didn't want to try it against a potentially super, duper strong bloodline technique.
His priority would be to get Sasuke out, but how? Naruto flinched violently every time he heard a grunt of pain or the whistle of a needle thrown, and whatever thoughts or plans he half-heartedly thought of disappeared at the gnawing thought that- 'I'm just standing here while my comrades are fighting.'
There was a sudden burst of malicious intent and Naruto snapped his head up just in time to see Sasuke standing still and simply watching the barrage of senbon flying towards him.
Without even thinking, he shoved chakra to his feet, tackling the Uchiha by the waist, and turning them so that the worst of the attack hit his left arm. They were suspended in air for a single moment and in that moment, the reality of Naruto's decision hit him like a wrecking ball. They both thudded onto the concrete, skidding to a slump.
After one stunned second, Naruto gave a low, 'this-is-so-troublesome' groan worthy of the Nara deer gods.
The noise started Sasuke out of his dazed stare-
"You total moron! Airhead! Usuratonkachi."
-He snapped in a quick exhale, methodically separating the two, totally uncaring of Naruto's injuries and thus jarring his arm and causing him to release a whimper.
Haku must have a talent for managing to hit at least half his pressure points when he hadn't even aimed at them. What ungodly luck. Maybe he'd already sensed Naruto outside and purposely released all that scary aura to bait him in? Then was this just all according to his plan?
What a drag.
He was starting to feel more and more like a useless slug. (Pun not entirely intended.)
"Use your head, Dobe." Sasuke hissed, still on some sort of high, lightly shaking him by the shoulders. "Why did you come inside the mirrors-"
Meanwhile, Naruto just inwardly sighed at his own rashness, slumped over like a stringless puppet in a heightened sense of exaggerated depression.
The inner-Shizune and inner-Tsunade voices were moaning about how the nerve clusters had been hit and his Tenketsu had been screwed up and now it'd hurt every time he tried to move or channel chakra there and no, don't even think about taking them out because it'll hurt even more-
"-Argh, damn it. I don't care anymore! What an idiot!"
At the insult, Naruto perked up in a scowl- "Whaaat did you say? I just saved you from becoming a pin cushion, you lil bastard!"
The Uchiha sputtered, "'Little '-"
"-Whatchya doing standing there like an idiot anyway? What, you wanna become a hedgehog, dumb jerk-" Naruto belatedly realised that Sasuke's eyes were red.
As in... Dojutsu red. Kekkei Genkai red. Uchiha red.
"...Oh... magic ey-uhh-I- I mean, Sh-Sharingan..."
It truly held a mesmerising appearance- one tomoe in the left eye, two tomoe on the right. The impossibly black colour of each tomoe was crisp against the almost glowing red of the iris. Like fire, dancing red fire, that radiated power. They spun just the slightest bit, whorling as the crimson hues intensified, the remaining shades of his usual dark eyes disappearing.
Sasuke slowly blinked, trailing his eyes down to Naruto's hedgehog-ed left arm then back to Naruto's face, scrutinising it with an awful lot of curious suspicion.
"Wait... who even..."
Naruto jerked out of the Sharingan-trance he was in and felt a niggling sense of caution.
He didn't know much about the Sharingan- only really read about it because he saw 'Uchiha' there, but apparently it was super strong and could copy stuff and something about chakra... so... what if he could see through his Henge?
That would be so embarrassing! No! No way!
Sasuke already acted like an ungrateful bastard, so no way was Naruto ever going to let him know that it was Naruto who did something stupid like that for the sake of the dumb-dumb, hedgehog-wannabe bastard.
"...Who ar-"
"Wh-What are you looking at, ya perv?" Naruto squawked, harrumphing loudly.
Haku, Kakashi, Tazuna, and Sakura made choking noises (in synch) so loud that they echoed down the bridge. (Damnit, he didn't get Zabuza as well.) At that, Naruto felt a little sliver of cheekiness rising within him despite the circumstance they were in. (Smiling away his problems always worked though, didn't it?)
Exactly as expected, Sasuke gave a growl of irritation. "What did you just-"
Scrap that. Not a sliver. An entire monsoon of cheekiness.
(Inner-Tsunade commented in a deadpan manner that he had always been creative with describing things while inner-Shizune told him that this was so not the time.)
He could (metaphorically) sniff out so many pranking opportunities...
"Kyaaa-" Naruto continued simperingly, donning an over-the-top, high pitched Kumo accent paired with the tone and vocabulary of a toddler merged with the attitude of an early-teen hormonal fangirl, all too much enjoying the act and the response.
He crossed his arms across his chest, dramatically wiggling away from him. "Your scary scary, glowy bling bling, ruby rose red eyes are tuh-rwuly hippo-nitising!"
The look of annoyance slowly transitioned into confusion- "Do you mean 'truly hypnotis-'" That confusion then formed into a look of mild and baffled disgust.
Naruto's mouth twitched as he remembered the positively disgruntled, angry, wet cat look he got when fangirls... did their thing. He daren't swoon, but he did something grossly close.
This wasn't even humiliating because the expressions he made- Naruto restrained a snigger- were so worth it. He was the King of Pranksters (a self-appointed title, but honestly, no one would dare challenge him for the position) and he will never hold back on trolling people when he wants to.
"Stare into my eyes any longer," He gushed breathily, the back of his right hand meeting his forehead. "And I'll be swept further into the hurricane of true lo-"
It was the last nail in the coffin.
"You- You're shameless." Sasuke accused, a mixture of uncomfortable surprise, begrudging amusement, and brow-twitching crankiness on his face. He resolutely turned away, missing how Naruto had to muffle his mouth with his (clean, because he'd scrubbed and used soap many, many times) hands to hide his laughter.
He hadn't successfully managed to troll someone for so long. By now, Tsunade and Shizune knew all his little pranks and tricks like the Sannin's sake stash, so it never worked on them anymore.
Naruto smirked victoriously. This, on the other hand... That was too easy.
If he knew that Sasuke would be so easily flustered, he so would have gone through with the plan of dying his hair orange when he was nine. Or the plan of replacing the tomatoes in his bento with crickets. Or the plan of buying wigs and styling them all into a duck-butt fashion and setting them on every desk. Or- He shook his head, snickering.
"Well then, young Uchiha, though now clearly isn't the time for pleasantries-" Naruto was split between grimacing at the formal speech and laughing his arse off at Sasuke's rictus expression of conflicted confusion. "-You may call me Namito, and beg you not call me by an endearment, as flattered as I am..."
Naruto would swear to his death that he managed to get a snort of laughter from Zabuza at that.
"I..." Naruto pointed dramatically ('and rudely'- his inner-Shizune may add) towards the nearest Haku from them. "I am here to aid you against your enemies."
Haku had paused during the entire exchange, every single illusion-clone of his radiating pure, innocent confusion.
Sasuke, being the totally ungrateful bastard he was, simply levelled a flat look onto him. "What, by coming into here? Wow, how useful."
Naruto sputtered at the sarcasm. "Hey! I didn't know you'd awaken your totally overpowered bum-bum Sharingan. At least say thanks! Hmph."
"E... Enough." Haku intoned, his severe demeanour betrayed by the barest hint of bemusement in his tone. "I will end this in the next move."
"No," Naruto gave a sharp grin, "I will."
He snapped his fingers and the mirrors exploded.
"Ask yourself, Naruto, what are you best at?"
Playing a fool. Trickery. Smiling. Trapping. Stealth. (Causing destruction.)
"That won't work." Sasuke said, eyes narrowed as he swiped away the smoke.
"I know." Naruto murmured back before loudly gasping- "It won't?!"
A low chuckle reverberated inside the mirrors, "Unfortunately for you, that level of firepower won't do much."
"Do your signature Uchiha fireball thing." Naruto elbowed the other, keeping his voice low. "And pump it with as much chakra as you can spare."
"What?" Sasuke hissed under his breath. "Even if... It won't work."
With a one-handed ram seal, Naruto began to channel chakra, slowly drawing his gaze towards the Uchiha, he gave a small smile-
"Trust me."
Sasuke furrowed his brow, looking away and started to wordlessly cast the hand seals. Two Kage Bunshin appeared in a small whirl of wind, each closing their eyes as they drew upon their elemental chakra.
Just as Sasuke brought up his curved index to his mouth, Naruto built up the wind chakra in his lungs, feeling the familiar rush of energy pouring out of his throat-
Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu
A split moment after the fire left his lips, three gusts of wind merged into one, colliding into the fireball. The flames flickered for a moment before it swelled into a massive, shapeless torrent of crackling demolition.
In response, Haku's chakra rose like a tsunami rearing its head, frosting the very air they breathed.
"And that-" Naruto exclaimed near hysterically over the raging inferno. "Isn't even the finale-"
Because the smoke from the explosion before? It was highly flammable.
He shoved his only usable hand into the pouch by his right hip, bringing out the most durable barrier tag he had on him and biting clean through his lip with his canine, spitting droplets of blood onto it. He slammed the tag onto the floor and the barrier activated in a grey shimmer right before-
The flames exploded, sending a wave of heat over the bridge. The air was suddenly strangled from his throat, temperature rocketing.
He could distantly hear Tazuna's surprised shout, Sakura's scream of horror, and Kakashi's worried yell.
Naruto felt something cold (fear) run in his veins not a moment later, a stark contrast to the heat in the air. He knew the exact moment when the barrier broke, a little string of chakra within him snapping and in that split second, he made a decision.
He tackled Sasuke to the ground again, hissing when his left arm protested in pain. The Uchiha frowned in confusion, trying to sit up against the iron tight hold.
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and pushed both of them further into the floor, in that single moment, wishing that he knew Doton Jutsu more proficiently enough so that he could sink them both into the floor and avoid the worst of the burns but right now, he could only act as a human shield.
As soon as Naruto'd tackled Sasuke, his Kage Bunshin- still outside the mirrors- had created more clones before transforming into small critters the colour of the concrete they were standing on. He put explosion tags underneath them as well- the ones with fainter ink so that Haku wouldn't notice.
On top of this, those clones were bombs.
Finding out how to make a clone explode had initially been an accident, but after sorting through hundreds of 'failed seal deaths that created an explosion large enough to take out two dozen Bunshin', he'd realised that dying loudly could be a weapon. Obviously that hadn't been the initial intention- the Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu Arts relied heavily on their own blood and Life Energy which meant that learning it quickly would usually be impossible because of the potential risk of killing yourself.
So Tsunade pulled out the handy copy of the Scroll of Seals and found a perfect Jutsu for detonating: Bunshin Daibakuha.
Naruto also knew that clones, when transformed into objects or creatures with low intelligence, could rarely follow precise orders. They could only react to a certain command and in this case, it was the sound of him snapping his fingers.
The clones detonated and that triggered the explosion tag to go off as well, erupting both smoke and chakra into the air.
Naruto may not have listened to the lectures about bomb reactions and cat-bone mono-di-whatever-oxy, but he knew that the smoke that that particular tag produced had highly flammable gas.
So Sasuke and his joint technique was more than enough of an activation for the second hidden bomb to go off.
-Sasuke-
Searing fire, wild and untamed, poured over the two of them, roaring and consuming. He couldn't even try to inhale as the heat scraped down his throat, burning him inside. He released a strangled choke, unable to-
A hand is slammed over his mouth, blocking his nose, and black spots littered his vision as his heartbeat thumped in his head.
The blistering heat hissed by his skin and he could only imagine what unbearable suffocation 'Namito' was suffering when he was taking the worst of it.
He could only squint, eyes watering, and he wanted to see and know what was happening now. A pressure, like before, built up behind his eyes and he directed chakra towards his eyes, feeling his vision in the left eye sharpening to match his right. A second awakening, he realised dully. And he couldn't even feel celebratory at this because if someone dies-
It all happened in a few seconds; it would've happened too quickly for his brain to process if it wasn't for the Sharingan he now had.
And because of his Dojutsu, Sasuke saw each and every muscle twitch and shift in chakra.
From the very first sight he had with the Sharingan- when 'Namito' first tackled him, a noticeable tinge of chakra to his skin, eyes, hair and clothes- to this very moment where deep purple, dazed and cloudy, glitched for a split second to reveal clear sky blue eyes- it was recorded into his memories, etched, because the Sharingan never forgets.
The childlike awe. The twitch of his lips. The narrowing of his eyes. The grin he wore.
If it wasn't for his Dojutsu, he wouldn't have known that 'Namito' was actually Naruto.
There wasn't that much evidence save their very first exchange where 'Namito' acted more 'Naruto' than 'Namito'. No one reacted the same way to insults- that was one thing Sasuke knew after insulting Naruto and Hanako for so long. The continuous use of 'bastard', the horrible insults he uses when he's triggered, and the 'magic eyes' he was about to say... They were all purely the Dobe.
The angles of his face, the slope of his nose, the shape of his eyes, the lopsided lips, the blue eyes that he recognised with certainty, the victorious smile he donned (exactly like when he succeeded in a prank), and the glint of recognition he had. ...But were those truly enough to judge who 'Namito' was?
Even the minute mannerisms had gradually changed, every small reaction carefully put together as the time passed on.
But he was utterly convinced, because of those impossibly blue eyes, that this was Naruto.
(The confidence he now had, the tone that was less desperate and more assured... If this 'Namito' was more than just a façade, then that meant that Naruto truly became...)
He glanced down at the burning barrier seal. He may not be a Fuuinjutsu master, but that was clearly the 'wind' kanji on there. For all the plan was spectacular, of course he managed to screw up what was arguably the easiest thing. Then he made up for it by...
"Usuratonkachi." Sasuke muffled in a shallow exhale, slowly prying the boy off of him, carefully watching his face for any signs of distress. Even in this state, his Henge was still active which was ridiculous. "You idiot. What... What were you thinking?"
For all the anger (worry) and shock and confusion he was feeling, he could only breathe the words, too shaken to care about more than just the blood (whose blood?), slick on his hands.
"N-Not ya circus..." Naruto slurred, stopping to cough raggedly, a hint of red by the corner of his mouth. "Not... yo monkeyz... Damn me and Wamen, vis hurtz mo' den I fought..."
Stunned by the nonchalance Naruto's half-dead self was projecting, Sasuke could only stare in horror and irritation.
Naruto snickered before visibly holding back a cough. "Yow- Your face... Nghehe- grnk-"
"Enough." He snapped. "Don't talk anymore. I don't even know how you managed to burn your throat when- Oi moron, sit your dumbass back down."
"Dun' wowwy." Naruto's lips curled upwards the barest bit as he struggled to a stand. "Uh have a- um, heawling factor. Pweh." He then proceeded to spit the blood out of his mouth like how one would after brushing their teeth.
"You're insane." Sasuke breathed, not even bothering to mention how he didn't worry about Naruto's annoyingly resilient self, eyeing the blistered red skin that- indeed- started to fade to a pink.
Naruto flexed his hands, bones popping in the motion. The rivulets of blood had halted and the dense chakra around his core was circulating throughout his body.
In some ways, Naruto was already in better condition than Sasuke was. He'd never heard of this 'healing factor' before.
Then Naruto started to mumble, barely a whisper, but the Sharingan could read lips- "I hope Haku's okay, I mean, I did warn him beforehand, so maybe he wasn't too badly hurt- what if he's dead? No, Haku's strong. Right? Right. Even though I created an explosion that usually wiped out an entire army full of Bunshin. Oh Ramen Gods, this burn is gone already- Is the seal weakening? Shi-it. I'll have to get Baachan to look at it even though she doesn't specialise in these things. Now what do I do? But Sasuke awakened two comma thingos in both magic eyes, so he could just fight Haku by himself now. Should I leave or something? Should I- Oh and Hanako, where's Shizu-nee? What about Tsunade-baachan? What do I do now? What if Haku's dead? Wait, is that Jonin dude done? He was all fixed up, so he should've had a big advantage, so what's the hold up? Should I leave now? What do I do, what do I do, whatdoIdowhatdoIdowh-"
Sasuke blinked as it became an incoherent stream of panicked babbling.
"Oi idiot-"
"Can't you call me by my name, shitty bastard?" Naruto crowed, spinning around to face him completely, about half as loud as before, looking about as ferocious as a drowning chicken. He wasn't going to call Naruto by the fake name- it'll imply that Sasuke'd fallen for his disguise and he hadn't.
He opened his mouth to retort when a shift of chakra caught his eyes. Blinking away his weariness, he pumped chakra through his body, slinging an arm around Naruto and pushed chakra off the soles of his feet, shooting upwards and avoiding the shards of ice needles that would have speared them not a moment later.
"Ow." Naruto whined beside him, stumbling slightly when they landed.
Then he sobered, gently shoving himself away from Sasuke and staggering towards the Hunter-Nin who was facing the opposite direction to where they were. "...Haku. Sorry."
They knew each other?
"Namito-kun." Haku chuckled lightly, voice less distorted now that his mask was broken. He slowly pulled himself up into a stand, still facing the other way. "I didn't think you were a ninja."
"I- uh, I'm not." Naruto replied, shifting nervously. "Technically I'm not."
"You don't need to feel bad. I was lying as well. Such is the way of a shinobi, I suppose." Sasuke could hear the grim smile in Haku's voice before it cracked. "But... you've stolen my reason to live. You're horrible."
"Your... reason to live?" Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion as he began to walk around to face Haku.
"Do you know the pain of living without a dream? Knowing you're not needed by anyone?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"Zabuza-san does not need a weak tool." Haku said quietly. "You stole my reason to exist. You know, before Zabuza-san, I had lived what I now know was the most painful part of life."
"The most painful?" Naruto echoed hollowly.
"The feeling and understanding that you are not needed nor wanted by anyone in this world."
Words, though hushed and murmured, struck him hard. Naruto's eyes widened, a fleeting look of understanding and sympathy crossing his face before it was carefully neutralised.
Sasuke... He still remembered the times where he still had a family.
He had been the second son which meant he wasn't heir. He had always drowned in the shadows of his perfect older brother.
Even when his mother and father was alive, 'Uchiha Sasuke' had been useless to them. He couldn't make them proud, he didn't reach their expectations, he fell short of their unbearably high standards.
And then on that night, when he was seven years old, Itachi, the only person who'd ever smiled at him like he needed him murdered. Slaughtered. Stared at him with cold, cold, red eyes, so different from the loving ones just a few days prior. He barely struck him and simply stared, judgemental, assessing, before Itachi dismissed him.
And even on that night, where Itachi killed left and right, blood dripping from his blade, he simply told Sasuke that he wasn't enough. Wasn't good enough.
Uchiha Sasuke failed at everything- even at dying.
He had nothing. And no one needed him. Before everyone died, he'd been a failure. After everyone died, there were no geniuses for him to be compared to. He had no way to prove that he had a worth- that he was strong- that he was more than just Itachi's little brother, the one that wasn't a genius, and the one informally dubbed the 'second, forgettable son'.
'Uchiha Sasuke' was not needed in this world. What was needed was his pair of Sharingan eyes and the title of 'Last Uchiha'. 'Uchiha Sasuke' was nothing more than that.
"When someone who accepts you from the bottom of their heart appears, they become your most precious person."
Not even the murderer of a brother that had been still is everything to him wanted him.
"In this world where some hated me and no one wanted me- needed me, Zabuza-san chose to raise me while knowing that." Haku brought a hand to his chest, head bowing slightly. "...I was so happy."
They stood in silence as Haku's presence radiated a profound grief, like he was already mourning over his own death.
"I'm sorry, Zabuza-san, I couldn't be the tool that you wished for me to be." He whispered. After a moment's pause, he took a step closer to Naruto, who in turn took one back, wide-eyed and scared- but scared of what? Of who?
"Namito-kun. Please..."
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"Kill me."
-Naruto-
"No!" He yelled, never being so confident in his reply before. "What you just said was ridiculous. Being a weapon... a tool for him? Ar-"
He cut himself off, wondering just what would be the right question to ask.
"You see, Naruto, there's this thing that some people have too much of, and some people have not enough of. These days... I think they call it 'self-love'."
Naruto was scared of Haku. How confident he was in the fact that he was a tool- someone who existed purely to be a weapon for another.
That could have been him.
What if Konoha had raised him differently? Drilled the idea that he was a weapon for the Village's sake since birth? Jinchuuriki are human weapons. The title literally means 'the power of human sacrifice'.
He always thought lowly of himself, but Haku knew- wholeheartedly believed that he was merely a tool. While Naruto had no 'self-love', Haku didn't even ponder the existence of it.
So was neglect really the worst thing that could've happened? Could Naruto have gotten it so much worse than he did? Tsunade taught him how to live- for himself above all.
And Haku stands there, so kind and gentle, with the light snuffed from his eyes, emotions cleared from his face. There's a mild impatience, but who- what kind of human- would be impatient for their death? A tool. Haku had stated. A weapon.
But Naruto, someone who knew nothing, couldn't tell him what was right and wrong. His own thoughts and morals were skewed already. He may be terrified of the idea of being a mere tool for someone, but Haku...
"Are you really okay with that?" Naruto asked quietly.
"Is that wrong?" Haku replied calmly. "Zabuza-san counts on me, even though I'm worthless. He made me feel needed. ...But now I've lost the usefulness that affirmed my existence."
Naruto gnawed on his lip when tears began to drip down Haku's blank face.
"Zabuza-san no longer needs me. That's why I'm now appealing to you." He was completely serious, Naruto realised. "Please, make it quick."
Naruto slowly shook his head, casting a glance over Haku's shoulder to Sasuke, who had been observing quietly and solemnly.
Haku took another step forward. He took two back.
"I apologise for dirtying your hands with my blood." His voice was steely. "But you, who stole my reason to exist, must rid this world of my existence. This is your responsibility."
"I..." Naruto's eyes flicked down to the bridge.
He felt frustrated and desperate, like he was clawing onto the walls of a dark pit.
"Why... Why is it always about power and strength?" It was stupid. This belief- this system- this shinobi world.
Naruto could see Sasuke's eyes widening.
"What- Who decided that power is what defines someone? People are worth more than how many they can defeat." It has to be true.
But... he was on a training mission now, wasn't he? To get stronger. Is that all he's worth? When he was younger, he'd thought that being the strongest would mean that he would be the most respected. But Tsunade and Shizune taught him that that was wrong!
And they never lied...
"This world... There must be more to it then just battle and death." Naruto gritted his teeth. "What's the point of living if the only thing that validates it is how many other lives you destroy? You don't like it, I know you don't. Then why? You just failed at this one thing you didn't want to do and you.. you believe..."
"...Perhaps you are correct." Haku sighed. "But for Zabuza-san and I... It's different. I've outlived my worth. If I return to Zabuza-san now, I'd be handing him filth. Trash. Morality doesn't matter to Zabuza-san, and therefore, it contributes nothing to my worth because my entire existence belongs to him. What Zabuza-san needs is a strong weapon, and I failed at that. There is nothing more to it."
"You aren't a mistake, Haku."
His lips quirked upwards. "A mistake is a fault or an inaccuracy. I was meant to be a strong tool, and I both failed to become cold-hearted and got defeated. You may not think of me as a mistake, Namito-kun, which I thank you for, but Zabuza-san does. Listen, there is no 'mercy' in letting me live, Namito-kun. Do you understand?"
In reply, he pulled out a dagger, stepping one pace closer and slowly raising his arm until the blade touched his neck.
Haku was smiling.
He wanted to cry.
Sasuke was stiff, face conflicted, but before Naruto could think about why he looked so pained, Haku snatched at his wrist, gripping it tightly.
"Haku?"
"Forgive me, Namito-kun." He blurred through one-handed seals. "I cannot die yet!"
There was a burst of cool wind as Haku disappeared in a Shunshin. Naruto's jaw unhinged in surprise when Sasuke chased right after him. But he had little time to react as he felt a familiar chakra signature brush at the edges of his senses.
"Baachan." He snapped his head around just as Tsunade; she had the same hair, but more modern clothing and eyes the same colour as Namito's. Her Byakugo was absent and she was a few centimetres taller than before.
"Wh-"
There was a loud sizzling noise, electricity hissing in the air. A loud shockwave blew his hair, whipping the remains of his burnt clothing. His eyes flicked to the source of the energy outburst before they widened.
The scent of copper saturated the air, thick and pungent in contrast to the light ocean breeze. The red was stark against the grey stone bridge. Haku and Sasuke skidded across the stone, leaving a long messy trail of bright red.
Naruto could only stare in complete surprise as, mere moments later, Sasuke began to laugh hysterically- deliriously, in the seiza position he was in, head bowed over Haku's body.
There was blood everywhere.
Naruto immediately gripped Tsunade's hand, not for his sake, but for hers because he was a fool if he believed the reassuring smile she produced after talking of Dan and Nawaki's deaths. He was a fool if he didn't notice the little flakes of dried blood in the corners of the bathroom. He was a fool if he didn't notice the fluctuating chakra of hers in the dead of the night.
Tsunade's hand squeezed his back.
No matter how long it would take, how many restless nights he had to endure, hearing Tsunade's panicked breathing as she faced her own fears, alone in the dark, he would wait. And while he waited, he would protect her (like how she protected him).
"Sorry." Tsunade sighed, closing her eyes for a second before opening them again, looking anywhere but the bloodied scene. She looked... rattled. And it was from more than the blood in front of her.
"Don't worry bout it." He slowly began to walk a wide berth around Zabuza, not pausing as he walked past Sasuke, until he reached Sakura and Tazuna. He offered a small smile, easing the stiff expression of terror on Sakura's face.
"Let's see how things are going..."
Naruto frowned, turning to squint into the clearing fog.
"Ooh, you really got it this time." A short, ugly looking man with a cast on his left arm appeared, tapping his cane. "You disappoint me, Zabuza."
Notes:
notes:
- also i feel like after hanako's part, it's fairly obvious how different he and canon naruto are (he's quick to give up, more realistic, and has not much ambition to make an influence or whatever)
- remember that hanako is an ACTUAL dead last so he has no kage bunshin, no ingenious on the spot plans, and only his clan technique and common sense (if there's even that) to fall back on. since he's the only clan kid (sasuke doesn't count), he HAS been taught about konoha's strengths in team- that's why he wasn't afraid when the brothers attacked but was then (and also how he panicked and only thought about killing instead of tying them up)
- i also want to point out that hanako's hatred is worse than the norm. he's probably the prime example of someone who'd been placed in the worst situation to confront naruto- he's lost bits of his family, he knows naruto is related to the kyuubi, DOESN'T know about what a 'jinchuuriki' is, and gets most influenced by the older generation's hatred and fear of naruto. not to mention he's portrayed as rather shallow and fickle, not too unlike naruto's PERSONA that he put up. also, during that moment, he's kinda in a mentally warped place so he's just latching on the anger cuz it's familiar at least- kakashi's words comes from kakashi's pov (also he had always been somewhat of a cruel bitch)
- sakura is being a hypocrite and she wilfully ignores it
- inner sakura is described as being a 'manifestation of sakura's true opinions on things'. whereas in canon, it meant that inner was 'less ladylike' than sakura, (now) sakura outwardly doesn't act ladylike, but instead becomes another 'fake person'. 'inner' then becomes someone more nasty because she continuously fools herself and a bunch of her fake personas end up clashing and she's just a big mess
- sakura's situation is sort of a dead lock; she'd just gotten ambitious and had all these big expectations then she'd been dealt with shittyteacher!kakashi, d-rank mission galore, a completely non-serious hanako, and absolutely zero support from her family when she tried to act less 'ladylike'. she doesn't want to revert to being a fangirl but she has no true support. seeing all these big figures kinda squashed her confidence.
- also naruto doesn't actually have 'inner' personalities- it's just when he'd been around them for so long that he could imagine them there
- just cuz i kinda bashed talking during fighting, don't mean i won't do it in this fic hehe. i mean when talking in a fight, u should do it while planning smt or to stall or to draw out an emotion or to, idk, motivate someone, set a trap, argue ideology to get ur enemy to stop attacking? yk in the canon wave arc, kakashi used a water clone to say 'I won't let my comrades die' and it effectively distracts zabuza but if he was saying that just for the sake of saying that, he woulda been in pretty deep shit w kubikiribocho downing on his head- i didn't name naruto's fuuton jutsu on purpose. it was how he was taught ninjutsu which will probably be shown in the future somewhere
- btw naruto means 'combustion reactions' and 'carbon monoxide'. im no chemistry person so idek what smoke is made of but this is the naruto world and clearly asuma's burning ash technique works so...
- sighs. look. im going by the provided stats but honestly power scaling is so bullshit. naruto manages to beat haku, OK? haku's specialities are his ninjutsu (kekkei genkai), speed (somehow countered by sasuke who is FAR SLOWER THAN LEE) and intelligence (human anatomy) but let's face it. he ain't as strong as he was hyped up to be. taijutsu, genjutsu, stamina, and strength are all low so... ???
- ps. even tho i shaped naruto to be a semi-prodigy, it's undeniable that he wouldn't be able to do medical ninjutsu as quickly as sakura, though kage bunshin makes it debatable (i AM NOT going to say that sakura has 'better control' tho because she has less chakra, and therefore, it wouldn't be correct to compare the two)
sorry for long ass note, hope it was not too long oop :D
Chapter 25: IV. the journey
Summary:
notes:
- nAWT popcorn worthy DX DX
- where tf tsunade'd been
- lmao how long can u talk before u die?
- if u get a chunk of your lung torn out, how much do you bleed despite cauterisation?
- there's going to be one more chapter lmao die.
- death scenes = dialogue compressed into a second- i hope i didn't miss out on something...
in terms of mental health, this is how things are portrayed: sasuke < haku < naruto (you'll get what i mean by the end, and if you don't, i probably screwed up as an authoress)
Notes:
sorry for late asf chapter
im surprised how there weren't that many questions on tsunade lol or even hanako's future.
also yall know how in the last chapter, naruto had to block sasuke's mouth to prevent him from inhaling smoke and shit? i was so tempted to get them to kiss then cuz it would make sense if naruto had no available hands and sasuke was having a minor panic attack and couldnt not breath but im kinda thinking sasunaru won't be a big thing here; it'll be more platonic than romantic
also i was tempted to do a role reversal where naruto jumps in front of sasuke and 'dies' and then sasuke awakens the MS and defeats haku before realising that he was the dude he befriended in the forest then haku dies and then sasuke rants abt his inner feelings cuz he can connect to haku in how the 'most precious' person to them betrays them (haku's dad murder spree) and sees them as nothing more than a tool (or in sasuke's case, a pair of sharingan eyes that 'have potential').
buuuut i feel like the MS bullshit was always dumb bullshit. does that mean that if a non-sharingan uchiha killed his bestfriend, he'd INSTANTLY get the MS??? (obito and kakashi got MS at two tomoe.) its like how sasuke literally got tortured and saw his parents' death fifty gazillion times but only managed to awaken one tomoe (in manga)??? that's dumb! itachi awakened it by seeing his genin friend die but SASUKE LITERALLY HAD TWO FKN PARENTS GETTING KILLED BY HIS OLDER BROTHER FOR A SOLID THREE DAYS OR SMT. WHY TF DOES HE HAVE A BABY ASS SHARINGAN??
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Before: Tsunade-
She had been just a few metres away from the edge of the forest when she'd felt an influx of memories pour into her mind-
After a split second decision, she switched trajectories and-
She stopped on a branch.
"What are you doing here, Orochimaru?"
The rogue Sannin was alone, leaning against the trunk of a tree.
"To purposefully warn my Bunshin as well... What are you up to?"
"Mou, how rude. Not even a greeting, Tsunade?" He narrowed his eyes sharply. "Have you truly become a mere dog to Sarutobi-sensei?"
She gave an expression not unlike a sneer, "He wishes. Well 'hello', I suppose, may I ask the esteemed Orochimaru-sama what the fuck he is doing here?"
A grin cracked over his face, "You haven't changed at all, have you, Tsunade-hime? I was merely curious. The Senju Princess had a pretty sturdy motive to not go anywhere near Konoha. Then I hear that you've not only returned peacefully, but also became a mentor."
"Heh, I'm not surprised you only came because you were surprised. Immature as always." Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You want information then?"
"You know me so well, Hime." Orochimaru smirked. "I even bought sake. Shizune isn't here to boss you around, is she?"
"Nope," Tsunade grinned, not questioning how the man knew about Shizune. She caught the bottle smoothly, running diagnostic chakra through it even though she was near certain Orochimaru didn't poison it. She took a long swig after sitting down onto the branch. "Ah... I haven't had a single undisturbed bottle for ages."
"Parenting sure is hard, isn't it?" Orochimaru mocked with a teasing tone. He sat down as well, left hand leaning on the tree trunk as he crossed his legs, flinging hair over his shoulder.
He always sat with that haughty, majestic air, making the branch seeming more like a throne rather than an uneven stick of wood.
"Oh shut it." She made a face. "So you already knew I took on a student. Well, Sarutobi sent me a letter."
"A threat? Let me guess: 'return to Konoha, or I'll name you Nuke-Nin'? How predictable."
She nodded annoyedly. "He also pulled in the topic of Nawaki and Dan and guilt-tripped me down three generations. Blah blah about Hokage, Will of Fire, people dying and all that crap. If I had been just a little more drunk, I woulda taken that threat and gone back to the Village just to shove the letter up his arse and tell him that I was going to become a rogue. At least then I could escape my overflowing debt."
"It doesn't work that way, Tsunade, but I won't argue." The snake Sannin snickered, "I thought he was foolish; Sensei couldn't even deal with me; how could he deal with two Nuke-Nin Sannin?"
"He was arrogant." Tsunade cackled right back. "All those Council members had the audacity to treat me like their subordinate."
"You technically are, Hime." He deadpanned. "That's why being in the Village is horrible. It's limiting and suffocating. You even have to bow between monkeys like them. ...Obviously, that was not an offensive reference to Sarutobi-sensei's summons."
"Trying to bring me to the dark side, little snake?" She snarked, baring her teeth. "I hope you have sake and casinos."
Orochimaru wrinkled his nose, "Crude as always. Old age hadn't mellowed you at all, I see."
"I'm just a year older than you, slimy." She harrumphed, gulping down a quarter of the bottle in one go. "And so? What else do you want to know?"
"How you've been." He made a show of inspecting his nails. "Your little student."
"Ah," She eyed him carefully. "I've been better; getting less drunk and less gamble-y and all that. You probably already know who my student is, don't you?"
"Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki." He mused. "How did you manage it? Sensei would've gotten an aneurysm, so I don't think it was..." Orochimaru arched a brow, prompting her to reply.
"Naruto, that amazing brat, turned Konoha upside down with a stunt. I managed to swipe him away right under their noses through a loophole." She gestured towards him. "You would know-"
"-Right. Mizuki-"
"-Fucked up." She ended with a laugh. "You were always so thorough. I don't even know how many spies you've planted."
He sniffed, "Better not go ruining my plans now."
She dipped her head, snapping her eyes up sharply. "At the end of the day, my loyalty is with Konoha, Orochimaru. Don't test me."
"Pity." He shrugged, not seeming surprised. "You might want to train up Naruto-kun well... You won't know what will happen."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him over the rim of the sake bottle. "Hoh? Was that a threat?"
"Not to you, Hime." Orochimaru purred.
She frowned, wondering what exactly he was insinuating. Train Naruto well? Was he going to attack Naruto- or Konoha? For what? The Kyuubi? But why would he warn her? 'What will happen'... What did that mean? Was it just another one of his cryptic sayings for the future? Something morbid like 'everyone experiences death sooner or later'?
Was it a warning about an external power targeting them? Who? The most recent mysterious organisation collecting S-Ranks? He wouldn't warn her if it was he who was attacking... would he?
Orochimaru smiled amiably at her inner turmoil.
"You're positively disgusting when you talk like that." She drawled, cutting the tension like it was nothing. "I don't need two perverts on Team 7-"
The cordial mask he put up instantly shattered as he bristled. "Don't compare me to Jiraiya."
"-And don't call Naruto 'kun'; it puts me off." Tsunade continued carelessly.
Orochimaru rolled his eyes, standing up and turning around. "Ridiculous. I shouldn't've given you sake. I'm leaving."
"Hmph, what a brat." She tsked, mirroring his action.
The stood, back facing each other, for a solid, tense minute, both trying to read each other's moves. Tsunade knows that she had changed drastically- something that probably surprised her more than Orochimaru. He was probably assessing her- loyalties, behaviour, capabilities...
They'd never really been true 'enemies'. They held mutual respect for each other, regardless of moral ambiguities. She hadn't breached the line of 'human experimentation' and she 'never would'... but of course she'd done something 'similar' under the less ugly title of 'downing enemies'.
It had been more than once where she'd taken notes on an enemies' reaction to poison on behalf of Orochimaru and vice versa. They had an unspoken acknowledgement of each other as scientists.
It was a regret of hers- to not truly understand just how Orochimaru turned that twisted: to experiment on children and innocent people. But Tsunade had been, and still was, rather selfish; she wasn't even personally disgusted by those actions because they didn't hurt anyone close to her. Jiraiya, on the other hand, a foolish man who wore his heart on his sleeve, had thrown a fit.
Orochimaru hadn't changed to her, but Tsunade had changed from the nihilistic, harsh and drunk gambling addict that she had been before.
And now he was wary.
Rightfully so.
"Hey Orochimaru," Tsunade said into the silence. "You touch Naruto, and I'll kill you."
There was an audible smirk in his reply: "...Given him the cursed necklace yet?"
Tsunade didn't turn around.
Orochimaru silently disappeared.
-Bridge battle: Sasuke-
It should have been obvious. No, perhaps he already knew.
Sasuke barely saw a quarter of Haku's face before he'd disappeared in a Shunshin, faster than his injuries allowed.
"No..." He whispered, as he sensed where the chakra went. "No, no-"
Dragging up energy, he felt chakra warm his legs as he sprinted right after him, Sharingan activating at his heightened stress. One moment he was metres away and the next- the chirping of Kakashi's Raiton attack was by his ear and Sasuke's eyes flicked up for a moment to meet the Jonin's panicked ones.
His arms were coming around Haku's waist, tackling him away as the lightning strike downed on them- no, on him.
Haku twisted them so that his back was facing the attack, a smile- gentle, surprised, thankful, affectionate- brightened his face, even as blood tumbled down his mouth, splattering across his clothes that were singed, a hole- a hole- ripping straight across his back, piercing straight through his right lung.
He felt warm liquid, thick and coppery splatter over his face, dripping down the collar of his shirt and staining his clothes.
Time shifted minutely, fastened then slowed, twisted around his mind's manipulation.
The colour of Haku's blood was engraved into his mind. The burst, the rivulets, the growing red in his clothing.
The Sharingan never forgets.
How it dripped from his lips, how it splattered and smeared, how the colour stained and bled through the tiny stitches in his clothes.
The burnt skin, shredded cloth, the kind kind smile that he wore.
They fell harshly, Haku onto his back and Sasuke on his side. He slowly sat up in a seiza beside the dying boy. Sasuke-... He didn't care in that moment.
How Kakashi yanked away his arm, lightning no long crackling in the air. Zabuza's laughter, Kakashi's strained voice, Sakura's scream- they were muffled and muted like static.
"...I'm sorry," Haku made out after rattling breaths. And those barely audible words were amplified in his mind. (His Adam's apple shifting, the throat moving, his mouth speaking.)
"Why is it always like this?" He muttered, upset to a confusing level. "Why is it like this? You- you absolute liar. After I said all that about... and- I... I-"
He couldn't make anything out. He didn't understand this feeling within him. It reminded him of That Night. And that night was full of...
"I hate you."
"...Do you?"
No, he didn't.
Since the Massacre, there'd been an excruciatingly short list of things and people that Sasuke 'liked'. This boy had, in the small moment they'd interacted, landed at the bottom of it.
It had been so long since he'd conversed sincerely, freely and by his own will. This boy had never given him the worshipping or pitying looks the Villagers had given him. He'd responded with genuine kindness, something he hadn't seen in a long while.
Perhaps it was the fact that he was a stranger, someone who hadn't seen the Clan mon (his brand, his cage, his chain- but his glory and pride, the legacy he loves and hates ) on his shirt.
Haku had no prejudices and even after hearing his story, he still held none.
Sasuke was hurt (from what though?), but he knew this wasn't betrayal. (Not like the nauseating devastation that he felt when Itachi flicked his blade, silver glinting in the moonlight-) If anything, he would've felt betrayed if Haku hadn't defended Zabuza. It would've meant that he lied- that his ideals were shallow and false.
Haku smiled, but there was red coating his teeth (a red he won't ever forget). "...This- It's... strange for- for me..."
"Me too." Sasuke admitted, "I don't... care for people. We're both emotionally stunted orphans, the last of our Clans. Maybe it's something like that?"
The cough sprayed blood all over the both of them. "'Ts a touching connection, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke chuckled quietly and it came out twisted. "I told you not to call me that. It's weird. They just call me Sasuke-" The words died on his lips and so did the half-hearted excuse of a smile. Haku's gentle expression prompted him to continue.
"I think that's why I feel so upset. You remind me so much of my b... brother and mother, Haku. It's eerie."
"Have you not experienced kindness before? I simply did what any person would've done..." He trailed off. "I'm honoured."
His lips quirked up humourlessly. "If you were- If you'd been in Konoha, I probably would've wanted you as an older brother."
"O-Or perhaps a sister." Haku chuckled indulgingly. "'Niisan' would give you quite a bit of trauma, wou-wouldn't it?"
"I guess so." He replied, returning a bitter smirk. "And you're attractive enough to match it. K-Kaa-san would've loved you."
"Th-That's nice..."
"...I've never seen someone die in front of me- at least in real time." Sasuke continued faintly. "This is probably the first time."
"We both know that I don't have much time left." Haku's eyelids lowered. "What to do in these last times... heh, I don't really know. I feel like sleeping, I suppose, but battling that unconsciousness is hard. I don't... care much for last words... and all that. But Zabuza-san... I just..."
"In this world where some hated me and no one wanted me- needed me, Zabuza-san chose to raise me while knowing that. ...I was so happy."
"I'll tell Zabuza." Sasuke promised, feeling lost on what to do, what to say. "But I think Zabuza already knows."
He didn't feel the urge to save Haku, but it didn't feel like Haku would die.
"Y- You don't need to tell Z-Zabuza-san anything." His eyes sparkled, but the words were now barely whispers and he read his lips more than he heard his voice, "But thank you, Sasuke-kun, you're a very kind child."
"I don't know..." His hand grabbed for Haku's cold, calloused ones. "Am I?"
Was he a bad person, a good person? Back then, on That Night, it felt like his life was paved out for him already. A path of hatred, anger, revenge, and blood. He thought the only companions he'd need were the ghosts of his Clan, weighing down on him.
But Haku had looked at him with those eyes. Too wise, scarily caring. And for some reason, his opinion mattered.
"Am I a bad person- a bad person to you?" Because 'good' and 'bad' couldn't really be used in this bloodied world.
Haku smiled again, smaller, softer.
"Don't..." The exhale is shallow and he noticed how much blood had pooled around his body. It dyed his pants a deep red. "...Cry."
Sasuke's other hand reached up to swipe at his cheek and it comes away bloody. "...I've got blood on my hands and now on my cheek, so I don't think I can tell, but I'm pretty sure I'm not crying." A chuckle erupted past the thick lump in his throat.
Haku's following exhale was heavier than the previous ones, so he'd like to think that Haku was laughing with him.
"I haven't cried since I was seven- actually, I don't think I've laughed since then either, but I suppose I tr-... trust you, so I'll..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "So I'll believe you, Haku-nee."
"Your heart... It's crying."
There was a void in his chest- painful, tight, hot, but cold and numb as well. Like as if his Sharingan had replicated Haku's state of death.
The snuffed out flame of chakra, the distinct lack of pulse by his neck, the clouded gaze of his sightless eyes.
There isn't even a heat behind his eyes, and of course he still couldn't mourn properly, even as someone he began to care about just... passed, like that.
(He was long used to seeing dead bodies. Those three days where his parents died over and over again. The relentless nightmares that never stopped, even til this day. Even during consciousness, he'd blink and see drying blood between the floorboards.)
He could see his relatives in Haku, cold and pale with death.
He could see his parents, his friends, himself lying there although that'd be an unfair comparison because in contrast to Haku, Sasuke was a complete failure, someone weak, despicable and ugly. Someone who couldn't love, only hate but even that emotion was something he latched onto to prevent that blade from digging into his own neck.
Hate, after all, was the most ugly, but most powerful motivator. (Hate was the only thing he could grasp when he'd felt so dead. )
"You believe that you are full of hatred, Sasuke-kun, yet to have that much hatred means that you had an equally large amount of love."
"...Hey..." Sasuke said to the corpse.
(Corpse because Haku was dead. Gone forever. Not alive anymore. Not breathing, not talking, not smiling, not being that one person that Sasuke had understood to a visceral level because dead meant dead. Dead meant his mother, his father, the gentle older brother- where did they go? )
"Did you say those words to spite me? Why are you haunting me even after d- you've gone? Pushing all your ideals, morals, thoughts, inspiration... all that- that kindness onto me... You aren't even here with your 'precious person'- you aren't even here with me."
They just kept leaving, and leaving. One after the other. (Leaving him behind.)
"Don't be so opinionated." He spat. "Lecturing me even after you're d-..."
Sasuke let out a quiet laugh, soft volume contrasting the sharp edge to his voice.
"Aren't you cruel, Haku? You didn't even tell me that name. You told me so much more and I-"
"I'm so sorry, Sasuke-kun, that you were alone, since the start until now."
He laughed, louder and louder, to drown out the painfully realistic voice his mind conjured, the memories that he just wanted to forget, and the unbearable emptiness in his chest that seemed to consume every little feeling he had left within him-
"You're dead for this precious person of yours," His voice dropped as he murmured, not acknowledging his flinch at the word. "Aren't you a hypocrite? Hey, Haku, answer me, won't you? I'm speaking to you- "
"You never had the chance to do anything- to prove your worth, to reach out, to truly feel 'love'. You've never known it, and that's just so unfair, isn't it?"
He laughed at the voice that responded him. It was another ghost in his head. He laughed at the stupidity of this- of life- of this world. What was with him? What was with this disgusting world?
This- This isn't fair. He thought, like a broken radio, laughing until his chest hurt and-
"It's unfair how you... how you're scared of the prospect of holding someone close, how you've been dealt this horrible hand. To not understand the overwhelming emotions of treasuring someone from the bottom of your heart."
-His head rang and-
"I'm so sorry, Sasuke-kun, that you were alone, since the start until now." Tears- tears- had been in his eyes. "I'm sorry that your brother left you. I'm sorry that you've never, ever had that feeling of holding someone close to you."
-His voice came out more like silent, choked noises.
"I'm sure there'll be a time in the future, Sasuke-kun, where you'll have that. I'm sure you'll be happy some time in the future."
He stared into Haku's lightless eyes, blinking when a hand reached over to close them. Sasuke slowly raised his head to peer at Naruto.
"So please, until you are able to smile and laughter sincerely, you'll live. Properly. Live for that moment and if it never happens, die, and I will smile with you in the afterlife."
Naruto sat on the other side of Haku's body, silently mourning with him.
"It's a promise."
'Mourning' because Haku was gone. Just like that.
"Let's see how things are going... Ooh, you really got it this time." A short, ugly looking man with a cast on his left arm appeared, tapping his cane. "You disappoint me, Zabuza."
"Baa-chan." Naruto murmured under his breath. "Just stay here. The rest will be handled." Naruto eyed the mist, bringing up a hand to form a hand seal- he sensed many civilians- probably mercenaries... but no threats.
"Yeah..." Tsunade nodded lightly. "Handled by Kakashi, Zabuza, that Uchiha boy, or you, I wonder? That Haku boy seems to be very important to many people. Zabuza's heavily affected as well despite his protests."
"I hope that's true... If only Haku knew it earlier." Naruto replied softly before he approaching Sasuke who'd stilled by now, staring at Haku's sightless eyes with accusation, and jealousy. Yet for how malicious those emotions sounded, it seemed to Naruto that Sasuke had cared for Haku a lot.
He didn't know what to think of the expression on Sasuke's face, but it- it hurt him so much just looking at it. A mixture between disbelief and anger, and grief- one that weighed too sorrowful for Haku to have been anyone less than family.
Naruto didn't move even as the group of civilians confronted Zabuza and Kakashi.
"-Oh yeah... I owe this one. He squeezed my arm until it broke." Gato took arrogant steps towards them, uncaring of the two boys sitting beside Haku. "Heh! He's dead now-" The man drew back a leg to kick him-
Naruto didn't bother moving as Sasuke'd caught the leg without even looking.
Chakra rose, killing intent spiking. Two crimson eyes, each with three whirling tomoe, stared up at Gato. (Yet 'up' did not make the Uchiha seem any lower than the other man for even an instance.)
Sasuke didn't glare, didn't sneer, didn't spit. He stared at Gato with an icy detachment, a lack of motivation, yet the readiness to murder as he dared the man to move once more.
And foolish as he was, Gato tried.
"Get your hands off of me! Who do you think you are? What a retarded excuse of a shinobi-" The man's enraged words cut off into a scream as Sasuke snapped his fibula and tibia in one go, face still blank and impassive.
"Get lost." He intoned, voice flat. "We're busy."
With that, Sasuke released his hand, and ignored the writhing man and the mercenaries who helped him up. When another thug drew out his weapon, metal gleaming, Naruto rose in one smooth motion, chakra coating his right hand as he struck the nearest three mercenaries on the back of their neck, instantly knocking them out.
With ease and fluidity, he continued to knock out the stupider men who charged at him. He didn't care for them; no, he was looking at-
"Oi, oi, Zabuza..." Naruto gritted out, anger rising at Zabuza's mildly annoyed expression. 'Heavily affected'? Him? Naruto didn't care for whatever repressed emotions he was feeling because that man wasn't even aware that he'd loved Haku. Still loves Haku. "Care a little, won't you, huh?"
"'Care'?" Zabuza repeated flatly, head turned away. "Why should I care for a corpse?"
His fists shook, nails carving crescent moons in his palms. If he were to draw the parallels between Haku and himself, Zabuza would be sort of like Tsunade. Someone who gave purpose, someone who offered an identity, someone who they... loved with everything they had within them.
When he'd told Haku that he'd die to protect Shizune and Tsunade, he hadn't been lying. Naruto would have committed the same act that Haku had moments prior if it meant their survival.
And he cared for Tsunade and Shizune so much that it hurt- Haku had felt that as well, hadn't he?
And this man... This Zabuza had been Haku's most important person.
It made Naruto feel so indescribably angry. That this man would show so little care, so little love.
"As I was used by Gato, I used Haku. That's all it was. I've said it already... in the shinobi world, there are only those who use, and those who are used."
Why was it always that mentality? Why was it always one or the other? Was this entire 'shinobi world' blind, or was there something big Naruto was missing?
"We shinobi are simply tools... What I wanted was his blood, not him." Zabuza continued.
"His blood..." Sasuke echoed, rocking to his feet, stumbling back a few steps as he narrowed his eyes at Zabuza, Sharingan still activated. "It's always Kekkei Genkai."
"You would understand." The man commented loftily. "Sharingan, and all. People will only ever want you for your eyes and the only way to escape that fate of being used, you must become stronger than everyone else. This is reality."
Naruto bristled- damned 'strength', damned 'fate'.
"-I'm done with it all." Sasuke muttered quietly.
"Hm?"
"This cycle, this contemptible relationship, this never-ending tug of war..." The Uchiha raised a bloodied hand towards his face. "'Use, or be used'. The act of weighing one's worth on how powerful they are- on how useful they are... What does it matter?! Haku... His entire existence was shaped around you. 'Precious people' this, 'precious people' that. He was ridiculous." He hissed before his voice fell flat.
"He died for you. He loved you."
Sasuke scoffed as a kunai spun around his index finger. "And so long as you can look at his corpse without a shred of emotion-"
He lowered himself into a fighting stance, Sharingan pinned on the Kiri Nin.
"-I will never ally myself with someone like you."
"Sasuke," Kakashi stared at the boy with a worried crease in his brow, voice firm, but softer than he'd ever heard it before. "We aren't fighting Zabuza anymore. Not to mention-"
"Don't try to reason, Kakashi." Sasuke growled. "I told myself that I wouldn't kill a single person before Itachi, but Haku was... Haku's beliefs are..."
"Haku's beliefs don't matter." Zabuza exhaled hollowly.
"When a person has something... important to protect, that is when they can truly become strong."
"-Like tools, our lives just eventually run out as our use runs out. This is just how-"
"Shut the fuck up!" Naruto snapped. "Does everyone strong become like you? To become powerful... is that what you have to sacrifice?" He could barely restrain a shout, a yell, an ocean of confused screams that want to flood out. "Do you feel nothing at all? "
"For me, becoming a shinobi completely is difficult. If I can, I don't want to kill you and I don't want to get killed by you."
"You raised him, taught him, gave him meaning and belonging- For how much Haku loved you- Do you really feel nothing at all? " Naruto shook his head furiously. "I don't want to believe it. I don't believe it. I... don't trust that you believe in your own words. Repeating the same words over and over again... Who are you trying to convince? "
Zabuza stayed silent, head bowed. Naruto liked to think that he was mourning.
"Haku cried for you, he fought for you, he killed for you even though he didn't want to-" He shook with anger, hurt, fear because he never wants anyone to have the same painful ending that Haku did. He tries to imagine what it would have felt like to die to protect Tsunade, and for her to wave off his death like it was nothing.
And for Haku to be happy with just that...
It physically hurt him.
"Haku threw away his life for you! He never had a dream outside of being with you. He believed that he died as a tool... He died believing that you, who he adored with everything he had, didn't care even a tiny bit for him back. That's... That's just too sad."
"That's enough..." Zabuza whispered, barely audible as he raised his head, turning to face them. "You both... don't need to say anymore."
The tears on the demon's face ripped down the walls he'd built over how many years of suffering. "It pained him to have to fight you. Haku fought for you guys as much as he fought for me. He was too kind in the end... The both of you... you're right."
Zabuza bit off the bandages on his face. "In the end, every shinobi... is a human."
Sasuke stared at the man before his lips lifted the slightest bit up in a smirk, tossing the kunai towards Zabuza who caught it between his teeth. "Thanks, kid."
"Haku got his arm. I got his leg." Sasuke huffed in reply. "You can have his head."
"I'd like to see you try!" Gato screamed. "Kill them! Hurry up and kill them!"
Naruto stared, eyes widening as the half-dead man mowed down one mercenary after the other, spears and blades piercing through his back as he gradually reached Gato, who'd retreated to the far edge of the bridge.
"Die!" Gato screamed as more and more swords were thrust through the Kiri Nin. "Why won't you die already?! If... If you want to go to the same place as your little friend, then go!"
"Unfortunately... I don't plan on going to the same place as Haku."
"Y-You won't survive this..." Gato warbled, fruitlessly trying to scramble away. Naruto forced himself to watch as Zabuza pressed the kunai against Gato's throat.
"You and I..." With a surge of energy, blood arched in the air, Gato's decapitated head travelling through the air and landing with a dull thud onto the bridge floor. "-Are both going to hell!"
Naruto watched in slight shock at the sudden quiet of the bridge. Gato, one of the most influential men out there... killed. Erased. So simply. Death had never seemed so fleeting to Naruto; he'd yet to even fully process Haku's.
How could he ever become an Iryo Nin? To pull the most wounded shinobi back into the world of living... that seemed unreachable. He remembers Tsunade's words reminding him just how hard it would be- just how far behind he was... And that seemed like a challenge.
"Hey! You guys are too at ease!" The mercenaries crowed. "Damn shinobi, you killed our meal ticket!" "You guys are dead!" "Now we're gonna pillage this trashy city-" "-And take anything of value!" "Let's go!"
"Damn idiots." Kakashi drawled, pulling down his hitai-ate to cover his Sharingan. "We're all at practically top condition."
"Don't just go on a killing spree yet, you dumbass Jonin." Naruto hissed out before he hurriedly ran towards Sakura, remembering that her Genjutsu had been one of the best in the Academy.
"Psst, kunoichi-san." He beckoned.
"E-Eh?" Sakura pointed to herself, looking flustered and surprised. "Me?"
"No, the old man behind you." Naruto snarked before shaking his head. "You still have full reserves right? Can you cast a Genjutsu to make it look like there's tons of our Bunshin?"
Sakura blinked for a moment before a smile split across her face, so unlike the prim and proper one that he'd seen before that Naruto almost forgot to reciprocate it.
"It might drain my reserves quite a bit, but for these civilian thugs... Easy peasy." She made a few careful hand seals and more than hundreds of shinobi appeared, most of them being Kakashi, some of them Sasuke, and a handful of the rest.
To his credit, Kakashi didn't even show a hint of surprise as his chakra lashed out in a spike of concentrated killing intent. "So... you want some of this?"
Naruto chuckled as the crowd promptly fled. "Goodbye candy-asses!"
"Tails tucked, little puppies." Tsunade snickered.
Tazuna shot us both a weird look and Sakura hid a smile.
"You shouldn't lay here so early in the morning." Haku said with a small smile. "You might catch a cold."
"...Whether I catch a cold or not," He muttered after a few moments of silence, "What does it matter?"
"Your friends would be worried, wouldn't they?" He crouched down beside the boy. "If you get sick, that is."
"I don't have friends." Sasuke sat up, hand hovering near his weapons pouch before he exhaled heavily and sat cross-legged.
"Oh? But aren't you..." Haku tilted his head to indicate his forehead. "A Konoha ninja?"
"Hn." Sasuke scoffed. "Don't call me that- I'm... I'm not 'Konoha'."
"Ninja, though." The other agreed easily enough. "And even ninja have friends, don't they?" Haku began to pick at the herbs around them. "Or someone precious to them?"
"...What are you trying to say?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Don't make such a scary face." Haku gave a light chuckle. "I just thought... Shinobi are really strong, and I believe that... people become truly strong when they protect the ones precious to them. To survive in this cruel society of ours, everyone should have someone they wish to protect."
"I... don't have any 'precious' people you speak about." Sasuke replied impassively, "So I wouldn't know about that."
Haku's face shifted to sadness but there was none of the pity he'd expected. "Then I'm sure there'll be a time in the future where you'll have some. Even if it's just one. Because even if you hold only one person close to your heart, you'll grow stronger than ever."
It completely contrasted his beliefs. "You must... sever ties and bonds to become stronger because bonds will only drag you down. Hold you back. Loved ones will only burden you- whether alive or... dead. Their ghosts will still cling onto you like a heavy, invisible baggage."
"And you'll feel guilt." The darkness in Haku's eyes told him that he understood. "Guilt like never before. They seemed so powerful, so present. It would never occur to you that they'd be gone, and they never are gone because they cling so harshly onto your feet, it feels like you're walking through mud."
Sasuke paused, visibly turning over his words before he asked- "...Do you... know about U-... Uchiha Itachi?"
"Who hasn't?" Haku scanned his face with an unreadable look. "Konoha boasts of being a beautiful Village, when it ended up holding the same tragedy that happened to Kiri."
"...The same?"
"My entire Clan was massacred as well. By the Mizukage."
The Uchiha felt suspicion creeping up within him, but he banished it in lieu of listening to the rather personal story the other was telling.
"I was just an unknowing child. I didn't care for whatever type of blood I had within me. My mother was a survivor from the bloodline purge, and a few years after having me, my father found out and killed my mother, and tried to kill me." Haku watched as the child's eyes widened minutely before his gaze flickered away.
"Obviously, I'm still alive." He breathed softly. "I ended up losing consciousness, and the very power within my blood had ended up killing my father. When I woke up, I'd... lost my meaning. I'd become truly pathetic. That's when someone took me in and accepted me- gave me a reason to live."
"Is that your 'precious' person?" Sasuke asked quietly.
"Yes."
"Your... your father..." He looked up with conflict in his eyes. "Do you hate him?"
"...No." Haku began to pick at the medicinal herbs again. "During the time, I'd only felt fear, and hurt. Afterwards, I'd felt such unbearable emptiness within me. I'd never felt hatred towards my father though, because his reason hadn't been a despicable one. My parents' death... They came from years of terror and ostracization. I know my father loved me. I remember those fleeting years when we were both unknowing."
"Don't you think that love was fake?" Sasuke pressed with urgency. "To realise that your father would never have accepted your mother or you if he'd known of your bloodline?"
Haku smiled gently, "What a horrible question... The thing is: it doesn't work like that. During those moments, ignorant or no, my father had treated me with love, and thus, I loved him. I've come to accept what had happened, as much as it pains me, because it led me to where I am now."
"I..." Sasuke slowly drew out a shuriken-shaped pin that the Military Police used to have. Four blue points with an uchiwa fan, white and red, in the centre. "Do you... recognise this mon?"
Haku peered cautiously at the handle, eyes widening at the engraving. "You're... You're the survivor of the Uchiha Massacre." He whispered.
"Uchiha Sasuke, or perhaps the better known name- 'The Last Uchiha'. I-Itachi... Itachi is- was... is my older brother." Sasuke said hollowly, turning away from Haku who'd stilled in surprise.
"And... he murdered everyone I considered precious. And my parents- he- The Uchiha have the famous Dojutsu, and he used that Dojutsu to cast me under an illusion of three days compressed into a single second."
"What a terrifying power..." He murmured.
"And that illusion consisted of blood. Every second, I watched yet another of my Clan die." He'd never said it aloud. This was something that only he knew. Not even the Hokage knew of the Genjutsu. "My mother, my father- I'd seen them die by his hands dozens of times- or hundreds even- thousands?- I don't even remember. And despite all this... I..."
Sasuke's eyes turned downcast and his shoulders slumped even more than they already had.
"You still love him." Haku offered a soft smile, one so tender that Sasuke couldn't snap back, or glare, or reply with any (false, deluded, distorted) denial. Not when the sheer compassion in his eyes made his vision blur from his mother to his brothe-
"You believe that you are full of hatred, Sasuke-kun," Haku could see it in his eyes. "-Yet to have that much hatred means that you had an equally large amount of love."
Sasuke wanted to deny it. He hated because Itachi was- He'd killed everyone. Itachi was...
But Sasuke was just exhausted from the entire journey. The emotional agitation from being outside of Konoha, his Team dynamic never stabilising, and the urgency to get stronger because chasing a cat wouldn't help him kill Itachi. But everything just linked back to Itachi and the hate was getting old. He just wanted any relief from it- even just a little.
It was like half his mind was urging to alight the flames of his ambition again and the other was telling him that he should relax for once before he drowns in this only goal he had.
He wished he could stay ignorant- he wished his mind would stop asking if the tears in Itachi's eyes that night had been true or not. He wished his mind would stop offering reasons why there must be something wrong, because Itachi had always been so careful when he held Sasuke's hand, so warmth when he'd embraced him. He'd smiled at him so warmly, and Sasuke just wanted that back.
Where had his brother gone? Was Itachi of that night the true face of him; was that gentle older brother act simply just an 'act'? Some part of him was still twisting around the blatant evidence and thinking that maybe that Itachi hadn't been his brother. Maybe that older brother that Sasuke adored was still there somewhere... just awfully out of reach.
Which one was fake? Did it even matter? Illusion or not, act or not, the small, suppressed child inside of him simply wanted another piggy back, another story about the founding of the Uchiha Clan, another smile, even.
(Sentiment is weak.)
"I suppose so."
And so Sasuke agreed reluctantly.
"He'd been the only one I truly cared for. He was a prodigy who'd surpassed Jonin by my age, yet I'd never reached my parents' expectations. He had been the one everyone loved, not me. Never 'Sasuke'. No one but he had... looked at me with such... unconditional love. He was a step above everyone else I'd consider 'precious'. He was- He was just... irreplaceable. Even after all this time. Even... Even after all this time, the only words I ever followed..."
"Foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me, then hate me, detest me, curse me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run... run and cling to your pitiful life."
"...Were his..." Sasuke realised, more surprised than he ought to be.
"'Foolish little brother,'" He echoed in a detached tone. He knew those words better than he knew his own hands. "'If you wish to kill me, then hate me, detest me, curse me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run... run and cling to your pitiful life.'"
Some time, his vision had unfocused as he numbly ran over those words. He'd never really thought about them actually, but saying it aloud just confused him. Why Sasuke? Why did Sasuke hold that 'potential' Itachi'd talked about? Why did Itachi think that taunting Sasuke would've gotten him stronger? Why couldn't Itachi just kill him as well?
Sasuke had been unwanted all his life, and then the one time he wanted to simply be drawn away with the crowd (murdered with the rest), he wasn't. Why?
"I hated him, detested him, cursed him, and survived in this disgusting way of mine." Sasuke murmured, still feeling so far from his own body. "Aren't I still weak though? Perhaps you are correct, but what would I know? What could I do? It's been this long... Hating is all I know. Hating is the only thing that I can rely on."
He drew in a breath, feeling it rattle through his chest, before he exhaled mechanically. What was meant to be an automatic function felt like dragging nails across a chalkboard. Slowly turning to face the other, Sasuke... froze.
"I'm sorry-" Haku choked out, hand over mouth, and that apology- it was nothing he'd heard before. It wasn't the stiff condolence of the Hokage, it wasn't the pitying, naïve apology that random shopkeeper gave him, it wasn't any of those unknowing words.
"To never have the chance to do anything- to prove your worth, to reach out, to truly feel 'love'. You've never known it, and that's just so unfair, isn't it? It's unfair how you... how you're scared of the prospect of holding someone close, how you've been dealt this horrible hand. To not understand the overwhelming emotions of treasuring someone from the bottom of your heart."
'Scared,' Sasuke echoed to himself. Was he scared?
"I couldn't even begin to imagine it: to not have a true purpose or dream ever since birth... to be a cast away, forever sitting on the sidelines... to have the one person who showed you what 'love' could truly become to do such a thing... And it was til their deaths! You never got the closure that you deserved and you never got the chance to move on- to find another meaning."
("I offer my sincerest condolences for your loss, Sasuke-kun. It was an err on my part as your Hokage to fail to protect your Clan."
"I feel so bad for you, Sasuke-kun. Mikoto-san was such a lovely woman."
"Who knew Itachi could be so despicable?"
"Kin murdering scum, he is. I'm sorry for you, Sasuke-kun. The loss must be terrible."
"A glorious Clan gone. Just like that."
"'The Last Uchiha'... What a depressing name.")
"I'm so sorry, Sasuke-kun, that you were alone, since the start until now."
He'd frozen because there were tears- tears- in those warm eyes. It made him feel vulnerable despite the fact that it was not him who was crying. Crying. For Sasuke. Had anyone ever done that before? Felt his pain so deeply that they'd shed tears?
"I'm sorry that your brother left you. I'm sorry that you've never, ever had that feeling of holding someone close to you. It's a fragile feeling, I know, but it's a so-called 'weakness' that can overcome anything. And I- ... I'm sure there'll be a time in the future, Sasuke-kun, where you'll have that. I'm sure you'll be happy some time in the future."
"...I wouldn't know." Sasuke repeated in a tone that felt too small. "Perhaps I am scared. Perhaps I can't bother with that. You can't change twelve years so quickly."
"But you can change from now." Haku swiped at his eyes. "You have so much more to live for. What's twelve years when you live sixty? What's the lonely nights from before if you have someone with you in the future? So please, until you are able to smile and laughter sincerely, you'll live. Properly. Live for that moment and if it never happens-"
It felt like someone was squeezing his lungs.
"-Die, and I will smile with you in the afterlife."
"Is that..."
"You promised though! Nii-san, you always do this. You always say this, you liar! You complete liar! I hate you- I hate you!"
"Forgive me, Sasuke."
"Don't do it again and I'll forgive you."
"Sorry Sasuke-"
"It's a promise." Haku finished with a laugh.
"A stranger giving a promise?" He cocked a brow, feeling weary yet light-hearted for once despite himself.
"Friends?" A strange look flittered over Haku's face at that suggestion. "Though I've never really had any." He continued sheepishly.
"Me neither." Sasuke admitted. "Just call me Sasuke, it puts me off."
"Then we can be friends?"
He shrugged, "Maybe."
("What are you picking?"
"Oh, just some herbs-")
Notes:
notes:
- guys, ik this lowkey sucked but im doing what im doing #no inspo #go check out my naruto si/oc cuz im getting inspo there
- spoiler alert: orochimaru here is more than just a generic villain in this fic.
- tsunade and orochimaru were generally pretty flippant w each other, and arguably friendly as well. idk, i just thought that science buddies would stick w each other. they must've been pretty close as well, w how oro taught nawaki. orochimaru's being written as someone w a complex background/personality in this fic, so they're currently buddy-buddy (only a bit tho, cuz human experimenting is kinda bad)- OMGOMG SHUSH SHUT- SHUT SHUTSHUT LITERALLY DONT EVEN BASH ME FOR WRITING ABT HOW SASUKE CALLED HAKU 'NEE' LIKE COME ON, IT JUST CAME OUT AND I WANTED TO KEEP IT. IK SASUKE IS OOC, I TOLD YALL ALREADY, FIGHT ME, SOFT AND SLIGHTLY CRAZY SASUKE, LETS GO
- im RUNNING OUTTA WAYS TO WRITE ANGST HELP ME- ALSO WTF WAS THE DEATH SCENE NOOOO I CANT WRITE ANYMOOOOO
- '' Don't be so opinionated. '' i'd heard this as 'era-souni' with the vibe of: how could you, how dare you, don't be so arrogant? so i'm kinda confused what i should've put there. 'how dare you be so -' is also too... WEIRD.
- sasuke and his magic eyeballs will be elaborated on NEXT CHAPTER
also yes, there'll be one more chapter (god, authoress sucks) cuz consequences. thanks for reading this lmaoo D'X
Chapter 26: V. the journey
Summary:
notes:
- not edited. kill me.
- wave arc over :p
Notes:
sorry for teh late chapter; i have not been on a role lately. recently, i've been getting an awful lot of daydreams that i can't get out of, causing me to not fall asleep until 4am and not getting out of bed until like 11am at the earliest, much to my parents' chagrin :)
worst of all, those daydreams don't even CONTRIBUTE TO THIS STORY OR ANY STORY. NO. IT'S ABOUT 'oH, if i sPawNed mYseLf iN hxh, hOw woULd i BuLlsHit tHe NeN sYsteM ?' or it's about 'iF soMeoNe hAd BeEn gUtSy eNoUgh, maYbe tHey CoULd'Ve cArVed tHoMas oUtTa thE tiTaNs sTomaCh. hM. wHaT iF tHe goVerNmEnt cReaTeD tiTaNs LiKe hOw iN OnE piEcE-'
ok that took far too long to type. ignore above. ANYWAY im tryna say that writing this is like drinking orange juice after surviving on milk. i really should PLAN my chapters...
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Shizune-
Genin weren't meant to face trauma this early on.
Shizune thought back to Hanako's mix between a smile and a grimace as he stood and stared at the two men he killed. The look of fury- of hatred- on his face as he ripped his arm from Naruto's hold like he was a hot stove. The scream of anguish- of helpless suffering- as he thrashed in maniac pain.
Sasuke'd also somehow managed to evolve his eyes into a full three tomoe Sharingan in a single day. Naruto's clothes were practically in pieces from the stupid explosion he pulled off which Shizune will forever chew him off for.
And Sakura as well. Civilian as she is, she technically should be the least adjusted to gruesome missions as what'd reportedly happened, yet she didn't seem that badly affected. And if she was affected, how good at repressing must she be?
Tsunade had commented plenty on this particular civilian girl; she claimed that she had piqued her interest for a while with her interesting state of mind- something that could be honed into something dangerous, yet the fangirl tendencies she fell prey to had killed off the Sannin's intrigue.
Sakura had certainly changed.
Her limbs were still noodles, and her pasty complexion pointed to her restricted diet, but Sakura didn't have the air of a fangirl anymore, which meant that she was probably left to deal with the load of issues she'd created on that persona: couldn't eat, couldn't exercise, couldn't train, felt uncomfortable with her drastic change.
While Naruto's quick change pointed to a lot of things, including his natural ability to adapt, Sakura had none of that and she'd treated her body so badly beforehand that now it would take a long while to get back to 'healthy'.
'You don't feed a starving man a banquet.' Shizune thought, flicking her gaze away. Waving idly, she called out, "Kakashi-san, any injuries?"
"Nope." Kakashi scanned his eye over his two students and a transformed Naruto. "Sasuke's gotten a bit of an impromptu acupuncture, but nothing serious. We'll rest for a day before leaving. After burying their bodies." He added on, gaze lingering on his Uchiha student.
"Well... I've got a bit of a problem here as well." Shizune started slowly, catching Naruto's eye until he understood what she meant. Steadily paling, he gave an aborted nod, walking forward to wrap his arms around her before he jogged towards Tsunade's presence.
"Okay, the Demon Brothers had came back." She continued bluntly, observing Sakura and Sasuke's confused expressions and Kakashi's blanching one. "Hanako-kun's alive." She quickly added. "But I've placed him in a short medically induced coma. He won't be able to continue being a shinobi."
Sakura's eyes blew wide as she gaped in surprise. Sasuke's own expression tightened in suspicion and shock.
"...What happened?" Kakashi said lowly.
"He was in a state of shock after he killed some thugs trying to kidnap the bridge builder's daughter." Shizune inclined her head to the left where Tsunami was. "The two Demon Brothers took him by surprise and ripped his leg straight off. Namito and I arrived at the scene soon after and stabilised his injury."
"Oh." Kakashi replied faintly. "Well then. Sasuke, Sakura, go back to the provided rooms."
"What?" Sakura demanded. "B-But-"
"Now." He stressed.
Watching them leave reluctantly, Kakashi raised a brow. "Shizune-san, there's more to the story than just that, isn't it?"
"Of course there is." She scoffed derisively, leading him towards the room where Hanako laid. "He... Just how bad is he in terms of Naruto?"
"Very bad." Kakashi sighed softly. "I knew it. You didn't arrive late, did you?"
"No, in all honesty, if I'd acted," Shizune stared into his lone eye blankly. "Yamashiro would not have gotten injured at all."
"But you didn't. Naruto did." He guessed. "And Hanako..."
"-Would have had his spine ripped into chunks if not for him." Shizune finished in a bitter tone. "Naruto managed to pull him away, but Yamashiro's refusal for help, or whatever deluded beliefs he held, caused that leg to be torn off. He did this to himself."
"I ought to have taught him better..." Kakashi looked down at the unconscious boy.
"You should've." Shizune agreed coolly. "That is, if you'd taught these Genin at all. Let me be frank: don't even think about approaching Naruto. I'm pretty sure everyone here apart from Haruno knows who 'Namito' is, and Naruto's probably aware of that. Just continue playing the act, Kakashi-san, until Yamashiro wakes up in Konoha. There's no reason to keep him in a coma other than to protect Naruto after all."
"I... I know. ...Why are you telling me this?" He asked tiredly.
"In case you haven't learnt your lesson, Kakashi-san." She articulated pointedly. "You better start acting like a proper goddamned teacher. I swear to god if Naruto ends up under your care for the Chuunin exams and you're still this lax, I will break the bones in your legs ten times over until you can't shit yourself without aid. Bring Haruno or Uchiha into the exams untrained as well, I fucking dare you."
Kakashi blinked in surprise, taken aback by the casual vehemence of her words. "...No need to be so scary, Shizune-san." He replied airily. "I've learnt my lesson."
"Well for the sake of us both," She offered a disarmingly friendly smile as she returned to the door, peering over her shoulder one last time to stare at Kakashi. "I sure hope that's the truth."
The door shut with an inappropriately soft... click.
Kakashi gave a low groan, a hand moving to brace his head as he stared down at Hanako, apologising a thousand times over.
-Naruto-
"Wow Baachan." He deadpanned. "You look like Namito's mom. Obasan now?"
"Pfft, whatever." Tsunade waved off, activating the privacy seal she'd prepared. "Anyway, sorry for not being at the bridge. I'd seen... Orochimaru."
"Your teammate? Orochimaru?" Naruto repeated, straightening. "Wh... Why?! Isn't he some big time bad guy?"
"Please." She rolled her eyes. "He only came because he was curious. Also..." Tsunade trailed off as if debating something. "Also, he gave me a warning, telling me to train you better."
Naruto raised his eyebrows.
"Don't get cocky because you defeated that ice user, brat." Tsunade flicked his nose. "You still have a long way to go although you technically should be competent enough to ease through the exams..."
"Baachan, I don't think you could do worse training than-" He shuddered, remembering the continuous stream of chakra output and intense workouts. "-That."
"Hehe, was that a challenge?" Tsunade narrowed her eyes with a sharp grin.
"N-No..."
She waved off the threatening expression with an amused smile. "Well, I do need to start teaching you Iryo. The Kage Bunshin that we both spawned out are slowly running out of chakra- they'll naturally dispel in a few days. Also, when you learn Iryo, you can't use clones."
"Huh." He nodded. "...Wait what? Why not?"
"You already know." She rolled her eyes. "Iryo already includes completely filtering out the Kyuubi's chakra from your own- that's all extremely delicate work and the slightest imbalance in your concentration or chakra could cause an explosion- in which I mean a death."
Naruto pursed his lips annoyedly. "What about Katsuyu-san?"
"We'll be going into Shikkotsu Forest for the Iryo program because usually you need quite a lot of set up. You'll sign the contract then, I suppose. Then there's the issue of the Byakugo... heavens, we have so much to cover. We'll skim over all of them, but what do you want to prioritise?"
He blinked, pointing to himself. "Me? I dunno..."
Naruto squinted in thought. It's been so long since he'd been with Tsunade and Shizune, but he was still maladjusted to their nonchalance with him being able to decide things.
Iryo Ninjutsu didn't suit his fighting style at all; while he liked the idea of healing someone, his mindset had always been: beat the enemy up before they beat him or his people up. Not to mention, Shizune had told him that he loses his cool when this are at stake and his impulsivity had only been lessened, not completely removed.
If he was on a three man cell and one person was injured, he wasn't very suited for healing while trusting the other person to defend.
'Your trust issues pop up at the strangest times.' His inner-Shizune mused.
It wasn't not trusting the person... maybe. Naruto had learnt from experience to keep full awareness after all- it was essential for a prankster and hardly anyone could sneak up to him.
Katsuyu was also not primarily offense although he did like the idea of having a little communication slug. Also, Tsunade had told him that in the future when he perhaps uses the Kyuubi's chakra, the acidity of Katsuyu's offensive chakra and the Kyuubi's corrosive chakra would be good partners. But that would have to be in the future as he had yet to meet the Kyuubi.
(Of course, there were several times where he could have. Entering a meditative trance was second nature by now, and there'd always been a little opening in his spaceless cloud of mindfulness. It felt like a black void, something he felt pulled towards yet terrified of at the same time.)
The Byakugo sounded the best: Tsunade told him that while he'd hardly have use for the Mitotic Regeneration, it was still a Yin seal that could exponentially boost his techniques- defensive, offensive, and the ones with medical properties.
The Byakugo also had a link to Katsuyu and the processing results in the slug being able to heal others using Naruto's chakra without him actively using a medical technique. It had sounded so complicated at first, but Tsunade just drew up a diagram and told him that the link between the Byakugo and Katsuyu was 'irrelevant blah'.
"Erm... Byakugo first priority." Naruto confirmed. It was Uzumaki as well, so win-win. His Fuuinjutsu right now was still mediocre at best in terms of his Clan, so his main offense was Taijutsu and Ninjutsu- both which would be boosted by that seal. "Iryo Ninjutsu second priority and Katsuyu-san last because I don't think it's that hard to work with her at the moment."
"Okay." She agreed easily before she hesitantly asked: "What about Sage Mode?"
Naruto stilled, never having considered it- at least not now. "...Isn't it time-consuming?"
Tsunade offered a tight-lipped smile, "At first that's what I thought as well, but we'd have lots of advantages. First, Katsuyu is the most passive out of the three Sannin summons and will be willing to help. Second, we both large pools of chakra, so it's harder for us to screw up. Third, Kage Bunshin. Fourth, I've got the best chakra control in the Five Nations regardless of chakra capacity, hands down."
"That's not gotta do with me though?"
She smiled, all teeth. "You're my protégé."
Tsunade began to seriously contemplate the decision as she frowned lightly. "And everything I taught you so far was what I'd planned on doing over the course of one entire year, Naruto. It took Jiraiya years and he still hadn't mastered it, but you and I-" She smirked. "-We're different. We could do it in a month. It's just the gamble."
"Baachan, you suck at gambles." He deadpanned. "But I'm ridiculously lucky, so maybe it'll cancel out."
"Seriously though," Tsunade continued after a snicker. "You could learn so much in a month and if you sacrifice it for an incomplete Sage Mode..."
"Tsunade-baachan," Naruto asked slowly. "You kept saying 'we'; are you going to do it as well? Haven't you tried before?"
"I've never tried, but I'd asked Katsuyu about the buffs." The Sannin hummed in thought. "They were all things I had already: enhanced speed, agility, and strength, and faster regeneration. I was... a shipwreck back then. You know. I just waved off the other advantages it'd give me. When you sign the contract, Katsuyu can tell you more. ...And my reason for bringing this up is because now that I contemplated it..."
Her brown eyes sharpened: "Sage Mode might give me alone access to Mokuton."
"We're doing it." Naruto instantly said. Tsunade had always had a complicated relationship towards the Shodaime, but this was... this was a step forward that Naruto could actually help with.
"Skipping all those steps again, Naruto?" She snarked. "Straight from Chuunin-level to god?"
"Not god..." He dragged out. "But maybe a semi-god."
"It's 'demigod'." She corrected with a small smile. "Well then. We're going all out?"
"You bet it." Naruto grinned.
("...Or actually don't bet, because then you'd lose.")
-Next dawn-
His eyes cracked open as he naturally woke up before the sun rose. After half a minute of lazing, he noticed that Sasuke was absent. Throwing off his covers, he cracked his jaw open in a yawn before he quickly got ready, heading towards the bridge with a lack of things to do and a restlessness from yesterday's fight.
As Naruto greeted another bridge builder- they got up so early!- he caught sight of Sasuke, changed out of his bloodied clothes, sitting on the railing of the bridge, staring into the expanse of the sea. Ah, there he was.
Naruto hesitated before he moved to greet him; he had no idea how to treat Sasuke now.
The parallel childhoods and the pride that held him back from befriending him. The hot-headed rivalry. Then that unexpected care, the "Why are you crying?" that he sometimes thinks about on nights he couldn't sleep.
Naruto had forgone deeper thoughts and had dived headfirst into relentless training, but sometimes at night, his twisted relationship with Konoha never escaped him. The mish-mash of conflicting emotions surrounding Sasuke never escaped him.
He'd felt that they could no longer be rivals after that, yet he'd felt closer to Sasuke than before. Naruto felt like he was cheating- being in Namito's face as he grieved Haku's loss, sat by Sasuke who looked so bitter, so cynical.
Naruto stood in the centre of the stone bridge, ignoring the other men who gave him strange looks. It felt like he was betraying someone (himself?) if he took a step back, yet something (fear or pride?) kept him from taking a step forward.
Then he remembered the deep eyebags and the raw hatred in those black eyes as Sasuke's spars had gotten increasingly aggressive, feral, almost. He remembered the unhinged laughter, like Sasuke's sanity had been pulled to a thread. It was surprising how taken aback he'd been at the notion that Sasuke could feel. Had a heart. Could mourn.
(Because Naruto had watched, and after that night seven years ago, he'd never cried.)
But the air around Sasuke's hunched shoulders as he stared out at the water was undoubtedly sorrowful.
Naruto took a step forward.
-Sasuke-
He would never admit to being caught off guard. He would say that it was because he couldn't sleep through the night, or that he was injured from the fight.
When Sasuke suddenly sensed a presence behind him, he jumped to his feet, but the railing bar was slippery and his bracing hand missed the bar. He nearly toppled straight off the bridge if it weren't for Naruto- still transformed- hurriedly grabbing at his shirt.
He almost scoffed in disbelief; their roles of 'clumsy and composed' had completely swapped.
Or perhaps not as Naruto did not pull Sasuke forward and onto the bridge, but rather- "GERONIMOOO-" -pushed the both of them over the edge.
What.
There was a single, stifling moment as his heart skipped a beat before they began to plummet down onto the water. Sasuke scrambled, but in the strange tackle position they were in, he couldn't reach for his wire or anything helpful. Not to mention, he was still shocked from what the hell Naruto was pulling.
"What the fuck? " He shouted, involuntarily clinging onto Naruto to avoid the worst of the impact.
Was he a disguised enemy trying to drag him into the water like Zabuza? He then shook that thought away; Zabuza hadn't been an enemy and Naruto could have stabbed him already-
Then he registered Naruto laughing and he felt so many layers of exasperated annoyance that he completely resigned to his fate of having to swim back to Wave.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes to avoid the spray as they collided with the water surface with a BANG.
After half a second, he realised that, no, he was not drenched- only half-drenched. This was Zabuza's trick-
"Jeez, that Jonin dude didn't teach you water walking?" Naruto huffed loudly. "He totally sucks!"
"...I know." Sasuke drawled dryly. He would say 'put me down' because Naruto was still half-carrying him, but he also didn't want to get drenched. "This is... awkward." He said instead, beginning to channel chakra to the soles of his feet.
"It's the same thing as tree walking, but not." Naruto grinned before letting him go. At the sudden release, he flailed a bit (though he'd never admit to it because Uchiha didn't flail ) and instinctively gripped his shoulder for balance as he slowly got adjusted to the water-
"Oop-" Naruto hauled him up before he fell. On the second try, he managed it easily enough; it wasn't that different from tree walking.
"Yay! You did it so quickly." He cheered. "Now let's water walk and feel like gods."
"I'm sure gods can do more than walk on water." He replied flatly as he let himself get dragged around by Naruto.
"Hey, hey." Naruto peered back at him. "Why didn't you stab me on the way down? I coulda been an enemy for all you know."
"Since when did you start asking intelligent questions?" He shot back, inwardly slightly giddy at the prospect of being able to do it so quickly.
"Oh shut up." He snapped before he perked up. "Well now that you can water walk, ya wanna play a game that Ba- ah, Obasan always played to improve my control?"
"That grin looks evil." Sasuke observed with a smirk. "Bring it on."
Naruto near cackled as he broke away from him, running a few paces before he made a pushing motion with his hand. For a few milliseconds, Sasuke thought he was going insane before the water followed the motion, rolling slowly towards him. He knew Suiton?
Because of how nonthreatening the mini-wave was, he let it roll under his feet, raising an unimpressed brow at Naruto even as he had to actively make sure he was still channelling chakra.
"Just getting started, Duck Ass!" Naruto harrumphed as he swiped up aggressively, causing large droplets to rise with it. He snapped his arm downwards and they shot towards his vague direction. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, noticing how much easier chakra control was after that and neatly manoeuvring around the projectiles.
"What did you just call me?" He asked. He noticed the large build up of chakra Naruto had spread throughout the water he was standing on; it was probably how he was controlling the water- that was an unnecessarily large output of chakra. ...Then again, Naruto was probably just playing around.
"Duck Ass." Naruto repeated in an articulate tone. Sasuke sighed.
"What's your affinity anyway?" Naruto asked, doing an absentminded cartwheel on the water. The sight confused Sasuke more than it ought to. "It ain't fire which is pretty rare in the Uchiha Clan. They're written down in history books as fire-spitting demon warriors."
Sasuke stilled, not knowing what to think of the casual address towards his Clan. And at the fact that Naruto read history books.
"I... have fire affinity." He said, sounding more like a question than statement.
Naruto frowned. "No you don't. You have big chakra for a Genin, so you probably haven't done the chakra paper test. You took unreasonably long to create a fireball and you're talented, so I don't think it's a rookie mistake."
Sasuke clamped down his reflexive knee-jerk reaction, realising that his father and his br- Itachi could do it in an instant. "So you're saying fire isn't my affinity?"
Fire was part of the Uchiha tradition, and to not specialise in it... It was both... refreshing, somehow, and draining at the same time. It was like he wasn't a 'true' Uchiha and he had many mixed feelings about that.
"Neh," He shrugged, "I dunno. When I meant unreasonably long, I meant like half a second too long. That half a second is usually when you switch gears or sumthin'. Try water. B- Obasan taught me a basic one that everyone knows. Even without the Sharingan, you could do it."
Naruto proceeded to make four simple hand seals, causing a blob of water to rise. Deciding to indulge, Sasuke obligingly did the same hand seals, feeling his chakra twist strangely before a blob of water rose in front of him. That was... simpler than he expected.
"It wasn't water." Sasuke raised a brow.
"Try wind." Naruto made another five hand seals before he clapped and raised his palm. A small gust of wind blew out and the blonde turned to him expectantly.
With a light exhale, Sasuke did the same, feeling a surprisingly small amount of chakra drainage. Were these, like, E-Rank Jutsu? "Not that either."
"Urgh..." He pouted, "There isn't dirt here, but come on, Doton is so boring; a cool bastard like you wouldn't have Doton- no offense to Iwa friends. I can't do Raiton anything either."
"You know four elements?" Sasuke looked at him disbelievingly.
"Three." Naruto corrected as if it were anything less impressive. "I can't do Katon, and I'm only decent at Fuuton. The others are generally too energy-costing." Since when did he care for energy-costing? This was the boy who went out of his way to write the most deprecating insults on the Hokage's faces.
"Well." Sasuke hesitated. "I'd seen Kakashi's Raiton Jutsu for a split moment, but I remembered how the chakra flowed..."
"Whaaa?" Naruto scurried up to him with an excited bounce, eyes sparkling as he stared expectantly at Sasuke. "Try it, try it!"
"It was a high level one." He pushed Naruto back with a minimal fingertip to his forehead, leaning away. "Not to mention it might be dangerous."
The boy pursed his lips, ducking his head and looking disappointed. Rolling his eyes exasperatedly, Sasuke tried for it, bringing the pads of his two index fingers a few centimetres apart and channelling chakra towards them.
Naruto curiously looked down at his hands.
Sasuke slowly began to drag his chakra to form a link between the two fingers, furrowing his brow as he tried to mimic the density and output that Kakashi's technique had-
Bzzt.
A crackle of electricity zapped in between his fingers, causing him to lose his footing on the water from shock (pun not intended). Naruto grabbed at his arm before he yelped when a light buzz sounded at the contact.
"Oh." Sasuke stared at his hands, feeling tingly but not harmed. "Raiton then."
"You get a cool one..." Naruto bemoaned, "No fair... how did you do it so easily? I had to meditate so much to make the air not explode around me."
He felt a smirk splitting over his face as he reached for the sensation again, this time deactivating his Sharingan as he felt a drop in his reserves. It crackled over his palm, barely visible unlike Kakashi's full out lighting. It felt... far easier than Katon.
"You've got to be some real hard worker to be able to spit out fireballs." Naruto grunted, voicing Sasuke's thought, lips still pursed in exaggerated annoyance. "The fireball seems so chakra taxing as well and it wasn't even your main affinity! Anyway, your Jonin dude obviously has a Raiton affinity so go badger him for Jutsu. Obasan told me she would only ever teach me one for electric signals or whatever, so I won't get to learn the super cool lighting bolts-tteb-ahh-ne."
Sasuke turned his head a bit to stifle a snicker; Naruto slipped up again.
Clearing his throat, the blonde continued. "Don't think you're cool for having a cool affinity though." He harrumphed. "Fuuton is actually strong against Raiton!"
"Weak against Katon." Sasuke countered smoothly.
"Which is weak against water." He finished with a triumphant grin. Sasuke rolled his eyes and swept a leg under Naruto. With a startled yelp, he twisted into a backwards handspring with surprising flexibility.
"What a bastard!" Naruto cried.
-Meanwhile: Kakashi-
"What?" Kakashi despaired. He'd known that Sasuke and Naruto both went to the bridge, but... "What do you mean you saw a blonde child tackle a black haired child off the bridge?"
The man shrugged. "Just thought I'd let ya know. Hope they aren't dead, heh."
"'Heh' ?" The Hatake groaned.
"Sounds like he's having fun." Tsunade commented languidly.
"It'll be fine." Shizune told him. "I've packed lots of clothes."
"What?" Kakashi sputtered. "They- Sasuke can't water walk!"
"Water walk?" Sakura frowned. "Is that what Zabuza had done?"
"You haven't taught them how to water walk? " The Sannin shot an accusatory look towards him and Kakashi blanched.
Turning back to Sakura, Tsunade told her: "Go jump off the bridge."
"Um. That sounded bad." Shizune grimaced.
"Like a test of courage!" The Sannin defended herself. "Namito and your teammate should be able to sense you. They'll teach you how to do it."
"Really?" Sakura perked up with a beam. "Thank you thank you! I'll be back before lunch!"
Kakashi watched her sprint out the door with a blank face. "Lunch is more than five hours away."
-Shizune-
If Kakashi thought that those three gremlins would actually be back by lunch, he was deluding himself. Nodding approvingly down at the three bentos she prepared, she quickly headed to the bridge.
Upon locating the trio- not too hard considering how Sasuke blew out a fireball in that moment- she looked down at them, meeting Naruto's eye. The blonde cocked his head to the side in confusion before he made an 'o' of realisation, reaching his arms out.
She dropped the three packed bentos down, releasing a breath of relief when they were all caught.
"Thanks Shizu-nee!" He hollered, passing two to the others. Shizune tossed him a thumbs up.
Later that afternoon, three soaking wet children barged into their stay with blinding beams on their faces (or a slightly larger smirk on Sasuke's face). Naruto had his hands threaded through both Sakura and Sasuke's and they'd never looked more happy in their life before.
Kakashi felt his heart get torn into shreds from both guilt and nostalgia and- this could have been-
"Oi Jonin dude!" Naruto stormed right to him, dragging the other two bemused children with him. He raised and pointed at Kakashi with his (and Sasuke's) hand. "Duck Ass has Raiton affinity. You should totally teach him kick ass techniques, datteba-ne!"
He felt himself get a heart attack at that verbal tic, no matter how it broke half way when he said it.
"Sakura has water affinity but it's not as strong and she has pretty crappy chakra reserves, but you should tots teach her something too!"
Kakashi slowly looked away only to be faced with Tsunade and Shizune's expectant looks.
"Ah..." He turned back to the trio. "Haha... Yeah..."
-A few hours later-
"Don't tell me you're seriously leaving one of the Seven Swordsmen's famous blade unprotected in this place?" Shizune hissed at Kakashi.
He frowned. "We can't take it back, or go to Kiri."
"Uh." Naruto cleared his throat. "You totally could. Just seal it and keep it under the Hokage's watch. Kiri's info system is kinda wack with whatever's going on there, ya know?"
"Namito-kun's right, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura frowned. "Anyone could just grab it and wreck havoc with it."
"You take it then." Kakashi looked at Tsunade.
Sasuke shot him a disgusted expression.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Kakashi-sensei... you kinda... sound like a child." Sakura raised a brow.
"It's fine." Tsunade waved off. "I have contacts that can bring it to Kiri safely." Namely, Shizune, because she wouldn't have anything to do while the two of them trained in Slug Sage Mode.
"Okay..." The girl nodded hesitantly. "But, Kakashi-sensei, what do you think about what they said? Haku and Zabuza, I mean."
"A shinobi is not meant to pursue their own goals, or hold their individual dreams." Kakashi replied, like reading off a manual. "It is most important to become the most useful tool for the Village. Konoha is no exception."
"Eck." Naruto frowned. "I don't like that.
Sasuke cast the man a sideways glance. "You believe that as well?"
"Well, every ninja has to live while dealing with that issue. ...Just like Zabuza and Haku."
"What..." Naruto looked- really looked- at Kakashi. "What do you fight for?"
The Jonin gave him a smile, eye crinkling upwards, "Maa, I'd imagine it's the same as yours now."
"You knew Haku as well, didn't you?" Sasuke faced Naruto. "Did he talk of... precious people?"
The blonde's eyes widened a margin. "Yeah." He confirmed in a soft tone. "We share beliefs, somewhat. I fight to protect my precious people, but right now, I just want to figure out who my 'precious people' are. In the end, I would never agree to the belief of being a tool. I'm going to be a ninja in my own way."
Kakashi inwardly sighed; Naruto slipped up again. They weren't meant to know that he was a ninja and he technically wasn't... Sakura hadn't caught on that though.
Moments later, with Hanako adjusted on his back, they parted ways; Team 7 back to Konoha, Tsunade and Naruto to the North-West, and Shizune to Kiri.
-Three weeks later-
"Tazuna, what do you think to call it?"
"Hmm..." Tazuna thought back to the Konoha team who decided to help him despite his deception.
Sasuke who, for all he seemed emotionless, carried a strong, compassionate heart- like light breaking through his shadows. Sakura who threw herself into a dangerous ninja to protect her Team, to protect him- courageous as she stands proud.
And then the blonde haired boy who appeared with the grin of a jester, and brought smiles to what seemed like hell, and snapped his fingers to create an explosion, and turned the tides with a few words.
The blonde boy who landed before them with a brightness that illuminated the murky bridge.
Brilliant, kind, courageous, proud, and shining- all of them- like the sun.
"This bridge will lead us to success, but more importantly, to warmth, to fuller stomachs, to happiness. How about..." Tazuna peered up, a hand reached out to the sun blazing down on them.
"...The Bridge to the Sun?"
Notes:
tf idek what to call the bridge.
notes:
- originally, team 7 stayed for two weeks (i think) to probably help finish building the bridge. this time they didn't.
- look, idk abt induced comas, but just- yk, CHAKRA STUFF. IDFK. i just don't want to have the mess of naruto confrontations just yet.
- yes, clones canonically are said to dispel when the original person is unconscious and, no, i will not address that other than *blingbling* fuuinjutsu *blingbling*
- shizune is totally excluded :\ rip shizune's screen time
- 'shipwreck' because trains don't exist- naruto isn't a ninjutsu expert who can do shit without no hand seals at all- he's doing the way that's cheating slightly with no proper technique and chakra draining (for normal ppl at least)
- also every ninja can do the most basic of elemental ninjutsu (as shown in the 4th war)- if naruto's a control genius, sasuke's a raiton one- just look at how many raiton jutsu he threw around after the timeskip
- sakura didn't recognise naruto's more familiar verbal tic because she wouldn't have before the graduation.
anyone up for a powerful asf SM!Byakugo!UzumakiKkG!naruto?
Chapter 27: VI. the journey
Notes:
yall rmb when i rly thought i could condense this series into four/five chapters? pfft.
also since i'm starting to spam chapters like a madwoman, my writing mighttt go down in quality a bit, but tbh, ive always had a warped vision of my own works, so idek. the only thing i can really affirm is the chapter length and that might change as well if there's nothing i can word vomit abt lols
also suggest whatever u think of in the comments cuz i feel like my dumbass might forget the shit i planned in the past chapters *lookit whos da clown*
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Land of Rivers: Slug Sage-
"Okay." Tsunade clapped her hands. "So here's what we're gonna do. First, you'll sign the contract. Second, we go to Shikkotsu Forest. Third, we learn Sage. Fourth, I'll help you draw out the Byakugo- I'll set aside a non-activated copy for you to study later. Fifth, Iryo Ninjutsu basics. Sixth, Sage again, this time to try and balance your chakra after pumping chakra into the Byakugo. Seventh, or eighth, or whatever, continue the Iryo Ninjutsu program."
"Might as well write a list-ttebayo." Naruto nodded. "Aw shucks, this is kinda annoying; because of the Byakugo thingy, my chakra reserves will keep on going wonky, so it'll be hard to do everything."
"That's exactly right. Now without further ado-" With a few quick hand seals, a large scroll appeared in a plume of smoke. Naruto blinked at it, tracing the intricate patterns with wide eyes.
"Sign it with your blood." She gestured to an empty space once she unfurled the scroll.
"Senju... Ha-shi-ra- Shodaime? " He exclaimed.
"Mm, he'd signed it as well although he never really used Katsuyu." Tsunade waved off. "Hurry along now- and make it neat."
"Yes yes," He flicked a chakra coated finger over the palm of his left hand, using his index to dab into the pool of... blood paint. "U-zu-ma-ki... Shit, fox, stop healing me so fast... Na...ruto, done!"
"Cool, now look at my hands. Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey. Ram. Go."
With a resolute nod, he copied the seals, feeling the movements begin to twist his chakra- "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." He slammed a hand against the ground and a little pop sounded in the area. "Eh?"
"Oh." Katsuyu- mini Katsuyu- glanced around. "Greetings, Tsunade-sama, Naruto-kun."
"Wha- WHAT? Why are you so small?" Naruto scratched at his head. "Hi Katsuyu-san."
"Just Katsuyu now." She inclined her head- or... where Naruto thinks her head is. "I felt the contract binding. I suppose I should call you 'Naruto-sama' now-" He made a face. "-But I suppose not, judging by your aversion towards honorifics like that."
"Thank god, Katsuyu." Naruto dramatically clutched at his chest. "You know me so well. Anyway, why are you so small? I channelled enough chakra to summon a way bigger you!"
"It's the same thing as always." Katsuyu beckoned for Tsunade to continue.
"Right. The reason why I've taught you Ninjutsu with limited hand seals is because they aren't suited for enormous reserves like yours. Who created them?"
"Your great-uncle." He chorused. "For peasant ninjas with meagre chakra rese- Ouch! I'm just telling the truth!"
Well so what if Naruto was a little salty over the fact that he was failed continuously because he couldn't do Jutsu with the hand seals that his distant relative created for people with smaller reserves?
"Right. Chakra at its purest form is Yin-Yang Release, but no one short of a god could use that. That's why my great-uncle created the hand seals so that we could channel chakra without it all spilling all over the place. But with you, you automatically shove in too much chakra into a hand seal until the hand seal because null and it's just a little sliver of your energy going in."
"Bah, same annoying thing as always then." He grumbled. "I either needa dump in more chakra, or hold it back. Okay, okay. I got this. Kuchiyose no Jutsu! GAH! No! Kuchiyose no Jutsu. Kuchiyose. Kuchiyose. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. NO-"
An array of tiny Katsuyus stared at the irate Naruto and amused looking Tsunade.
"Okay, okay. I got it this time." Naruto shaved it down to just the last three hand seals. "Kuchiyose!" A Katsuyu, two times as large as the previous, appeared. "Damn. Kuchiyose." A little bigger. "Hah! I got this, dattebayo." He relentlessly went through the hand seals over and over.
"Ay ay- stop- stop it, Naruto. You dumb brat. Katsuyu has a limit, you know?" She rolled her eyes with a laugh. Katsuyu chuckled along with her as she began to melt together.
"Besides, I can just attach myself together anyway."
"Oh true." Naruto scratched his cheek. "I was... planning that all along."
"Sure you were." She laughed. "Anyway, Katsuyu, I'm pretty sure you know the plan, so reverse summon us."
Naruto found out that reverse summoning meant being absorbed into Katsuyu before she reverse summoned herself. Ack.
-Shikkotsu Forest-
Trees. He immediately noticed. All around him.
"How astute of an observation." A tiny Katsuyu perched on his shoulder chuckled and Naruto flailed a bit- 'She could read his thoughts?'
"No, Naruto." She chuckled again, completely contradicting his beliefs. The slug then quickly explained. "The Shikkotsu Forest is very thick in Nature Energy. It's brimming with life, so it's easy to get lost and confused around here."
Katsuyu was right, Naruto realised as he peered around. The trees seemed to warp around his vision and he felt too lightheaded for it to be normal. Chakra- no, energy was all over the place and he drowned in it.
"Tsunade-baachan?" He called out, squeaking when he realised that a certain tree was actually made of a white thing that looked like bone.
"I'm here, brat." She snarked back as she walked slowly towards him, appearing through the foliage. "It's hard to sense you with all this Nature Energy smothering us."
"Now that Tsunade-sama is here as well, let's head towards my main domain." Her antennas gestured to his right.
"Trees." He couldn't help but describe aloud as he had to physically twist around to get by. There was no path, nor were the trees spread apart. Tsunade behind him had to yank herself through sometimes because she couldn't punch them down.
"Trees, and more trees- Oh look, there's another tree! Bone tree! Tree tree! Bone tree point two. Tree tree point two. Tree tree point three! Point tree!"
"Oh shut up!" Tsunade waved a fist irritably as she got caught again.
"Baachan just tree jump. Go to the canopy." Naruto deadpanned.
"Oh shit, you're right." She mused. "Katsuyu, what does your place look like?"
"It's fairly obvious a place and I'm all over the place, so you can ask another me for guidance." The slug replied. "An enormous pit, almost, although it's more like a hollow bone. The drop is far."
"Okay thanks. Race ya there, brat!"
"What? Hey, wait- OWCH, bone tree point tree!"
"That was a flexibility test on its own." He panted as he stumbled down into the place, bruised and bleeding. ...Or... not so more as they promptly closed and healed.
Naruto then belatedly realised that there was an enormous Katsuyu there and his jaw unhinged.
"Good job." Tsunade shot him a thumbs up and he hissed back in an exaggerated manner.
"Katsuyu's so big!" He exclaimed, "That's, like, taller than the Konoha walls!"
"Uh, this is actually only a portion of my true size." Katsuyu laughed. "I am about twenty-thirty times larger than this."
"No... way..."
"Yes way." Tsunade nodded. "With my Byakugo, I could at most summon about one twentieth of Katsuyu. ...Anyhow, down to business. Katsuyu, does time pass differently here?"
"Ah, yes, slightly slower-"
"Fuck damnit, we should've come here earlier then! "
"-Although it's mainly just the mind tricking yourself, not the actual time slowing down."
"Oh."
"Right," Katsuyu chuckled lightly. "When you start to meditate, because this is almost like a spirit realm, time will seem to bend around your consciousness. Anyway, Slug Sage Mode. It is not that hard at all to do, in my opinion, but I hear the toads have many summoners who ended up dying because of it."
"D-Dying?" Naruto squeaked.
"Mm." She nodded. "Turning into stone toads and whatnot. Only Hashi-sama had tried my Sage Mode, and he'd succeeded very quickly with little obstacles. After he, I hadn't had summoners apart from the two of you. This realm and my existence is far different from the toad and snake after all. I hadn't told you this, Tsunade-sama, but I was not entirely sentient before I met Hashi-sama and Mito-sama."
"My grandparents?" She exclaimed.
"Right. I was also alive during the time of the Sage of Six Paths, but my memories from it are bleary at best. This place was originally a piece of the lands blessed by the Sage. It was a forest of bones filled with what was rumoured to hold immortality."
"Immortality..." Tsunade echoed with a frown.
"Right. The Sage's mother- the Rabbit Goddess, Kaguya's powers, I believe, were centred around bones as well, so it might have been a homage to her."
"That she'd live on forever." Naruto thought aloud, absentminded.
"...After the Sage's passing, it had been ravaged by greedy men of your kind and torn to waste. The Sage's blessing can't be removed, but with enough malevolence around it, it can be quelled."
The slug paused for a moment as if turning over her words.
"Mito-sama sensed the blessing, and Hashi-sama drove out the corrupt and regrew this forest with his Mokuton. After it was given chakra again, the life energy returned and it was filled with an abundance of Nature Energy. I, who had been here in its growth and demise, became a partial spirit with powers beyond the average slug. I was purified a white, and given the blue of chakra."
Tsunade had never heard the quiet slug talk so much in little time before, and she didn't know whether to be more surprised about that or her era long history.
"I gained a clear mind then, and Hashi-sama had been shocked out of his wits when I started multiplying and talking. I told him that the energy from the Sages was an energy he could master. I told him it was thanks, and he'd accepted."
"And since Ojii-sama, no one else?"
"No one else." Katsuyu confirmed.
They were both stunned into silence. Tsunade, with the implications of what the slug had told her, and Naruto, with the weight of this contract starting to press on him.
It was one thing to be the official student to sign the contract of a Sannin, but it was another thing entirely to learn the Sage Mode that only the Shodaime had learnt as a gift.
It was almost like... a hereditary contract. Suddenly the 'Baachan' title he'd slapped onto the end of Tsunade's name seemed a lot more serious than he intended it to be.
To think that out of the thousands of shinobi, it was he who was standing there with Senju Tsunade and a being that traced back to a myth's time.
Naruto didn't like to ponder semantics and titles, but he couldn't not when it only greatened the significance of his scenario.
"Anyway," Katsuyu cleared her throat- or made the sound of doing so. (Did slugs have throats?) "This Sage Mode is arguably more powerful than the other legendary two because of how unique it is. You have a total control of your own body and chakra, and the chakra of all other living beings."
Naruto took a moment to digest and figure it out while Tsunade immediately stepped forward with a loud- "What? This isn't what you said last time! That isn't possible..."
"Many things are seemingly impossible when they actually are." Katsuyu countered smoothly with a gentle tone. "When I say total control of your own, I mean it like biofeedback, but greatened, without backlashes, and far easily accomplished. When you're in Sage Mode, it's like your Hundred Healings, but without any repercussions."
"But... how?" Tsunade furrowed her brow.
"Yours work as a fast regeneration. This, however, is like a 'statis'. Your body temporarily mimics mine, sort of. You can manipulate everything within yourself to a certain degree. Your damaged cells don't need to divide, they multiply. Usually it means the same, but it means as it is said in this case."
"Like bacteria?" Naruto wrinkled his nose, trying to figure it out.
"...Let's just leave it at that." Tsunade nodded. "So what if I pile Byakugo on top of Sage Mode?"
"Adding it on top of what you've got already... you'll be near invincible." Katsuyu stated firmly. "You'll be as strong as Hashi-sama."
"...Strong as... Ojii-sama..." The Sannin breathed in awe, in complete bafflement because that man was a god. He was... unreachable. "...Sorry, I'll... take a moment to register that... What else then?"
"Well it would be useless to you two, but you can suck chakra out of people as well. Like Hashi-sama." She seemed to pointedly mention. "He did it out of his Mokuton. It is possible as long as your chakra is somehow touching theirs."
"Shizune's teaching you chakra strings." Tsunade immediately told Naruto. "It's a good back up plan."
"And you can turn your chakra to whatever property you wish- corrosive, sleeping gas, medicinal- like how I have my acid." Katsuyu turned to Naruto. "That's why it meshes perfectly with your Kyuubi."
"Not my Kyuubi. Kyuubi is itself. Will the fox even like you?" Naruto frowned. "Cuz... I can sorta feel his chakra- funny thing, if I concentrate, it feels exactly like the chakra in the forest. ...Anyway, what I mean is: I have my chakra, the fox's chakra, and if I get your chakra as well... Isn't that too many chakras? Won't it be incompatible-ttebayo?"
Because- "But chakra's meanta be my friend, right? Not my bitch."
"Perhaps." She replied. "You could still use Sage Mode; it would be multiplied with power if combined with the Kyuubi, but you could still use it by itself. And the reason why you feel its chakra the same may be because it's an entity like me. ...No, even more powerful than I. Undoubtedly from the Sage's era, and made of raw Nature Energy. Tsunade-sama has told me that you regenerate quickly because of it; that might mean that its chakra would have both physical and spiritual chakra properties as well."
"Woah. ...Just woah." Naruto stared dumbly at his hands. "There are so many 'woah's lately."
"Haha, perhaps. But apart from this, all the other benefits are similar to the other Sage Modes. There's nothing fancy like the snakes' abilities to breathe life into inanimate objects and control them."
"There's plenty of benefits already without the specialisation: enhanced all stats." Tsunade listed. "Enormous ass fucking sensory range. And within that enormous ass range, complete sensory awareness over the chakra within it, making you able to sense all attacks and people and just everything including seals. All Jutsu, Nin, Gen, Tai included, are boosted. Nature Energy can become an extension of your body and that opens a ton of options as well..."
"Holy shit, Baachan, why didn't you do this before?" He gawked.
"I didn't tell her the trickier stuff." Katsuyu offered. "And I doubt she would have been tempted. There was no time during the war for this-"
"Although apparently Jiraiya had the time to ditch the war to raise orphans, but Sarutobi always favoured him."
"-And after the war ended, Tsunade-sama had..."
The three of them turned silent as they all mutually agreed to not breach that topic again.
"Yeah, so anyways..." Naruto cleared his throat. "There's gotta be downsides."
"...Uh..."
"...Right?"
"...I suppose... so..." Katsuyu's antennas swivelled away. "There is one where you have to stay completely still in order to gather Nature Energy, but really, I can attach myself to you and channel energy into you anyway. Staying still is really only the down side."
"Huh." Naruto smacked his head. "I can also counter that easy peasy with Kage Bunshin."
Naruto, when facing any trouble, had always turned to Kage Bunshin because it proved to be useful in basically any situation. Couldn't remember something? Kage Bunshin makes it twice as fast. Couldn't reach something? Kage Bunshin. Cleaning up a mess? Kage Bunshin. Ninjutsu that required two people? Kage Bunshin. Wanted to do two things at once? Kage Bunshin.
Forgot the toilet paper roll when he was on the toilet? Kage Bunshin.
And so once he applied 'Kage Bunshin' to every issue he had... Well, needless to say, there weren't any 'issues' after that.
"Oh right, there's another potential downside, although it really isn't." Katsuyu added. "Nature Energy doesn't give you infinite chakra. Your physical and spiritual energy are at a 1:1 ratio, correct? Nature Energy is just added alongside with it so it becomes 1:1:1. If you run out of physical and spiritual energy, you cannot use Nature Energy."
"That... is not a downside." Naruto agreed flatly, slowly pointing to himself. "Spawn of an Uzumaki pureblood, and a genius shinobi, who has about three-four times the amount of chakra a Kage has, and would have exponentially more if it weren't for the seal, and would have more more if the fox would be a kind friend willing to hold hands and throw daisies."
He then pointed to Tsunade.
"The first Hokage and first Jinchuuriki who was also a royal, pureblood Uzumaki's granddaughter with at least double the amount of chakra a Kage has, and more in her Byakugo and a quarter of it dumped into making her look pretty."
"...That's exactly what I meant." Katsuyu nodded.
"That's insane. That's just-"
"The process can go two ways." Katsuyu explained. "The easy and quick way, or the-"
"The easy and quick way." Tsunade immediately said. "Why is there even a second way if the first is easy and quick?"
"...You're right." The slug agreed. "Anyway, it is to be completely absorbed by me and to meditate that way. This means that I can forcibly dispel Nature Energy from your bodies if it overcomes you. I'm pretty sure you'll turn into a stone statue of a slug if that happens, but I'm not too sure. This also means that you'll be completely still and covered in my..."
"Helpful slime." Naruto offered.
"...Helpful slime, therefore making it easier."
"Huh." He nodded, wincing when two large Katsuyu's splatted onto the stone next to them. "So... like a bed, right?"
"Yep. Don't worry, you'll be able to breathe normally and everything."
Folding his haori and removing his pouches, he climbed onto the... sticky... squishy... slug, immediately feeling himself sinking in. Resisting the knee-jerk reaction of disgust or panic, he let himself be encased by the warm... sticky...
Casting the thoughts out of his mind, he stilled when he appeared to be fully sunken in. Using the Kyuubi's chakra as reference, he reached for the Nature Energy- an extremely simple thing.
It was far easier than the water moulding exercises from ages ago. (How long ago, actually?)
Balancing it though...
It had to be even.
-Well, 'odd', actually, because there were three parts and 'three' was an odd number, but- Shut- off topic, Naruto! So, balanced, yes, 'balanced' wasn't a number-word.
Balance...
Starting off slowly, he began to draw in the Nature Energy, feeling his chakra twist strangely at the intrusion. It made him feel a little unsettled and... itchy, almost, so he quickly took in more. It was still unbalanced.
He drew in more, and more, and more... Still unbalanced. He stopped himself when he felt the urge to just dump in all the energy. Slow and steady.
Soon, he felt the three energies clashing with each other, tipping like scales. It soon became something akin to a tug of war, where Nature Energy spilled in before Naruto yanked it out, then he needed a little more- Then yanked it out.
For what felt like hours, it happened. In and out, and in and out- like a swing that never stopped swinging. Right! Visualisation. Tsunade always told him he worked best when visualising something.
So what had a 1:1:1 ratio?
...Nothing he could think of.
Switching directions, he imagined a weight scale with... three... arms. Physical chakra on one, spiritual on the other, and nature on the last.
After a few attempts, it... balanced, and the world felt perfect, like everything was aligned and the universe was happy.
Then Nature Energy tipped the scales and Naruto yanked it out instinctively and ugh, all over again-
-Konoha-
"What?" Genma exclaimed, brows furrowed. "That's it? You just- just left?"
"That was not very Youthful of you, Kakashi." Gai frowned.
"What was I meant to do?" Kakashi replied exasperatedly, maybe-maybe-not sulking because he was getting reprimanded by Gai of all people.
The man sputtered, senbon almost poking into the Hatake. "Anything but just leave. You should've asked Tsunade-sama about what they were teaching him, or- I don't know, their plans-"
"How brightly Naruto-kun's Youth was burni-"
"We had to leave soon because of Hanako." Kakashi defended himself, cutting off Gai, before he grimaced at the mention of the boy.
"Oh... Aoba's brat." Genma winced. "What's he like now?"
"Threw a tantrum when he woke up." He hunched his shoulders a little. "Aoba was there and he wasn't very impressed. His parents are screaming for Naruto's head, but then for some reason, Hanako seemed extremely opposed to it. Right now, he's incredibly quiet and sullen. I'm not surprised."
"He would be." Genma inclined his head. "I bet he feels humiliated. What about you? Weren't you, like, disgraced in Hokage-sama's office?"
"Oh please," He groaned. "Don't even remind me. I felt like chopping off my leg and offering it up right then and there."
"Right, Kakashi was not... blooming in that moment." Gai cleared his throat.
Genma snickered humourlessly, "When is Kakashi ever blooming? Another topic then: what about your other two brats?"
"Sasuke found out when he awakened his-" Kakashi half-heartedly gestured to his face. "Sakura found out after she visited Hanako while he was in the middle of his temper tantrum. I think Sakura's still in a state of shock."
"Anger?"
"No, guilt."
"Guilt?" Gai boomed. "What does the flower have to be guilty for? I've seen Sakura-chan once or twice, and she seems incredibly Youthful!"
Then came an awkward silence and Gai cleared his throat again. "Well, what now then, my Eternal Rival?"
"Well, once they get over their shock, they'll be demanding Jutsus 24/7." The Jonin slapped his forehead. "I dunno how you do it, Gai. Don't you have this Hyuuga prodigy and your little two point oh? How does that work? Genma, take over my job."
"There there." He patted his shoulder.
"I'll probably throw Sakura at Kurenai, and just beat Sasuke to the ground. That way there's no talking or teaching needed." Kakashi let out a- to Gai and Genma's horror- sincere breath of relief. "Maybe I can do this."
"No-" Genma made an aborted move to shake his head. "No, Kakashi."
"Joint training sessions work just as well." Gai offered far quieter than normal.
"No way, I can't deal with Gai and mini-Gai." Kakashi shook his head. "The first option will have to do-"
"My Rival..." "Kakashi..."
-Shikkotsu-
What felt like a year later, he was pushed out of the warm, sticky, squishy bed of slime and he rolled to a crouch. "Katsuyu?"
"Ah, I've decided you should take a rest as Tsunade-sama has-"
"I fucking did it!" Tsunade crowed, whooping with glee as she all but levitated out of the slug. "I did it! I did it! I fucking did it! Oh my fucking god! Naruto, I did it!"
It placed a beam on Naruto's face and he whooped with her. "Go Baachan! That's so fast! That's awesome! And, um, what did it feel like? Did you feel powerful? Ooh, what about your Mokuton? Did you feel woody?"
"I know. Like I was a badass! Yes! Not yet! But yes, woody indeed!"
Naruto cackled in glee and tackled Tsunade. She was all but vibrating with contagious excitement and Naruto felt as though he wouldn't be able to focus for the next hour from the sheer giddiness he felt on behalf of her.
"Congratulations, Tsunade-sama! You should move onto the next stage shortly after- Or, whenever you please. Just head towards one of the tallest bones and stand at the very top. It is harder than this, but I believe you will master it quickly.
Tsunade nodded aggressively, squeezed Naruto once before she sped out the door with a cheer.
Naruto smacked his cheeks, "Wow, I've still got a long way to go before I catch up to Baachan!"
"Tsunade-sama and you are both impossible." Katsuyu chuckled. "How much time do you believe had passed, Naruto?"
"..Erm," Naruto squinted. It had felt like weeks had passed, but he knew it was his impatience speaking. "Realistically, probably about sixteen-twenty hours?"
"No." Katsuyu sounded like she was smirking. "One."
"...A day?" His voice wavered.
"An hour." Katsuyu replied in a hushed tone. "One hour."
-Konoha-
Sakura decided that she sort of liked Team 8.
Kurenai didn't have to accept her in the odd training sessions, but she was extremely kind about it. Shino was a guy she used to avoid because he was creepy- and that sentiment hadn't exactly changed, but she could appreciate his calm intelligence.
She'd also never gotten along with Kiba because he was always... filthy. Akamaru was cute though.
Hinata was an invisible girl. She'd never been in the 'fangirl wars' and she hardly speak out during class. She seemed... to have an extremely low self-esteem; worse than when Sakura had been bullied because of her forehead. It made Sakura feel a little closer to the shy girl upon that realisation.
Hinata could only stutter responses and couldn't keep the boys in line. Sakura could become the girl's 'Ino', pulling her out of her shell. She feels like she'd done nothing so far, and this was hopefully something she could change.
(She couldn't help but compare her progress to Naruto's. A boy who'd pinned down elemental chakra, water walking, and so many other accomplishments that Sakura didn't know existed. Now that she knew how many leaps he'd taken, it felt like all everyone had done so far was miniscule in comparison.)
-Shikkotsu-
The jutsu Tsunade cast on herself to make her look younger took quite a lot of chakra. She realised that yet again as she released it.
If what Katsuyu said was true, then Sage chakra could potentially reverse the aging effects of the Byakugo.
"Permanent anti-aging is impossible," She said to a small Katsuyu besides her. "But I'm gonna try anyway."
"It isn't impossible." The slug contradicted. "Humans are bound to a set of biological laws, true, but once you learn Sage Mode, you aren't a hundred percent 'human' anymore."
"Just like how Orochimaru isn't really 'human' anymore." Tsunade mused. That snake appeared to not have aged a day. She stared down at her hand. It was thin and the skin was slightly grey. Her bones stood out and her skin was sagging. "Can I do this, Katsuyu?"
"Whatever you wish for, Tsunade-sama, I'm sure you will be able to accomplish."
The tip of the bones in Shikkotsu Forest held just enough room for two adult feet. The height caused his vision to tunnel whenever he lost his concentration, but months of going in and out of a meditative trance had made this far simpler than what the Naruto of the past would have perceived it.
Five seconds after standing still, he felt his chakra grow- Sage Mode. Not fast enough. Tsunade had proven that one could enter the stage in a second. It was risky as he could overshoot and die, but four seconds made all the difference. Battle calm was another thing Naruto had yet to achieve, so that further put a damper on things.
He slowly pushed the Nature Energy out of his body before he tried again, drawing in a select amount of energy before regulating it.
Four and a half seconds.
Expel. Exhale. Inhale.
Four and a half seconds.
Again.
-Konoha-
"You're insane." Sasuke deadpanned instantly.
"H-Huh?" Kakashi stuttered, not understanding how the avenge-obsessed emo brat would turn down the opportunity to learn an A-Rank, potentially S-Rank, Jutsu.
"Let me get this straight," The Uchiha narrowed his eyes and Kakashi distantly thought that he was meant to be a teacher, not the brat. "I just learnt what my affinity was, and you're gonna jump straight from 'being able to summon a little zap' to an assassination technique that takes years of refining and training? Naruto sai-"
He stopped himself, irritation flickering over his features. "Look, there's going to be backlashes to this, won't there?"
"Yes..." Kakashi replied carefully. "With your chakra reserves, you could only use it once or twice a day." Then he realised where he'd gone wrong.
"Ah. Right. That's kind of a bother. You might also fry your nerves because you're conjuring actual lightning. Let's start with a D-Rank instead, hehe."
-Shikkotsu-
Naruto scrunched up his face as he peered into the mirror Tsunade'd stored inside of a storage scroll. His face was... weird.
He had a kinda big outline of a diamond on his forehead which was weird.
He also had this same purple-but-more-bluish-maybe-green-is-that-green? markings around his eyes which looked like how Shizune put on eyeshadows sometimes and that was super weird. Is this Sage Mode or drag queen mode?
...But this was better than when he'd felt his eyes slowly elongate to become an antenna- Naruto shuddered and banished the thought. That was far scarier than when he started to drip slime.
He also had the same weird coloured stripes running down his outer arms, from his nape down to his tail bone (a Kage Bunshin checked), and on his outer thighs from his hip bone down to his ankles. It was really weird because it felt like his actual skin had turned that colour.
He'd seen Tsunade's, and hers was... sorta similar, but also not. She also had the eyeshadow thing around her eyes, but it was the colour of Katsuyu's blue markings. She had two thick stripes going up and down from the corners of her eyes and also- from what she said- had the same body stripes as he did.
But her marks hadn't changed colours like his.
"Hey Katsuyu," He turned to a stray Katsuyu that was just... there. He had quickly learnt that Katsuyu was practically everywhere here. "Why do these stripes keep changing colour?"
"Ah, that's because it's the colour of your chakra." Katsuyu explained. "My natural chakra contains healing properties, so that's when it turns green. Your normal chakra is blue, and the purple is the little leak of the Kyuubi's chakra."
"The fox's chakra is red? " He asked. "That's kinda cool, to be honest. So it's a visual thing as well, huh. That's cool."
"Glad you think so."
Tsunade sat by one of the trees, only now recognising her grandfather's chakra within it. It was at the very roots of it, buried so deep down that she hadn't noticed it at first.
She sat cross-legged, staring at her palm and wondering what she must do to potentially gain access to her grandfather's Mokuton. He hadn't gotten it as a result from Sage Mode, but the theory she made up didn't cancel itself out because when she gained the Sage chakra, she felt something... click.
It was like Tsunade had been missing a piece of herself the entire time.
With a light exhale, she closed her eyes and opened them a moment later when Sage chakra bloomed within her.
What was Mokuton conjured from? Earth and water, at it's base. But Kekkei Genkai were more than those silly basic explanations. It held the sturdiness of Doton, but the fluidity of water.
But her grandfather could conjure so much more than wood. Flowers, poison, ointment, leaves, thorns, vines...
Tsunade stared at her palm and remembered back when she was just a young child, and the Senju and Uzumaki Clans were actually Clans. She used to love growing plants- it seemed to be some genetic trait all Uzumakis shared regardless of purity.
Tsunade had been impatient many times and would constantly pick through the dirt to see if the seeds had grown their little tails. Her grandmother would have scolded her, but her grandfather would just boom in laughter and put his hand over it, saying some dumb 'magic' word before it'd bloom.
"A little seed for me to sow, a little earth for you to grow." The words felt heavy, stupid, on her tongue. "A little hole, a little pat. A little wish-"
"I'll grant any wish you have, Tsuna-chan!" "You spoil her too much-"
"-And that is that. A little sun, a little shower." She pressed her lips together. "A little time... and then..."
Miraculously, her hand began to stiffen, turning fibrous and textured. From the middle of her palm, a small bud began to wiggle upwards, blooming sunnily into a deep blue felicia.
"...A flower." She breathed.
Seventy hours has passed since they first entered Shikkotsu Forest.
Notes:
notes:
- i really should be saying 'In'yoton' to stay consistent, but...
- katsuyu is big asf. if you don't believe me, read the official narutopedia thing
- katsuyu identifies as female to prevent annoying pronouns like 'it'- which is what narutopedia uses. i would probably say katsuyu is she/they, but idk who cares?- naruto was able to lift up a stone frog statue in canon after, like, an hour. which means he had semi-balanced it after an hour. this is genius naruto with no thoughts about 'defeating pain' or becoming strong enough to take sasuke home... granted it was w the oil, but rn it's w katsuyu's nature energy slime all over him
tsunade acing sage mode that quickly shouldn't be too surprising. that woman does iryo ninjutsu with senju/uzumaki chakra. enough said.super duper short asf chapter. ik. :') i could've added more but i feel like this chapter was... idk, enough? (edit: i added more, so it's only 'super short' instead of 'super duper')
last note: my exams have been moved about 1-2 weeks, so next update might come late, so until then, have a good day/night/week/month whatever <3
Chapter 28: to heal a wound
Notes:
edit: i changed the summary cuz I SHOULD'VE UPDATED THAT SHIT AGES AGO. URGH.
if it wasn't obvious already, there are time skips that i purposefully do not label (because i don't want to do the mental maths). i feel like the timeline is incredibly skewered but hey, at least it matches kishimoto :)
this chapter is short, sorry. that was a horrible comeback from my mini-break (if i can call that high-stress-week a break lol)
edit: i just reread this shit, and i was like :) wtf. i don't even know what to think of where i went w this *face palms*
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Land of Water-
Kirigakure was far by the most difficult place Shizune ever had to infiltrate. There were practically no civilians, and the shinobi were difficult to sense. After lingering around the border for about a fortnight, she'd gathered enough information to determine that yes, the Mizukage has been removed from power.
Tsunade did not have a spy network like Jiraiya, and so they had only gone off presumptions.
After making a split second decision, she undid her Henge and walked slowly towards the Mizukage's establishment, making sure to keep her hands in sight. She was extremely conscious of the scroll in her satchel as she eventually walked up to the Jonin stationed at the base of the building.
They eyed her suspiciously as she began to talk.
Naruto's recklessness was rubbing off of her.
'But,' She thought as she was standing in front of a weary looking redheaded woman. 'Maybe his luck was as well.'
"Godaime Mizukage-sama," She dipped her head. "I am not here with hostile intentions." Mei's lips quirked up and Shizune was shocked for a moment at the youth of the woman; she must be around the same age as Shizune.
"I can see that. What business do you have with Kirigakure, student of Tsunade-hime?"
"It's, ah, Shizune. Kato Shizune." She told her sheepishly, fumbling when Mei then pointedly turned her glance down at the pig in her arms. "That's Tonton. A... pig. And, uh, we may have stumbled upon... Kubikiribocho?"
The office was still for a moment before a Jonin made a hand seal and a little teen readied his blades. Mei raised a hand and they glanced at her, eye lingering on Shizune.
"So... Zabuza-kun kicked the bucket, huh." She hummed before her eyes narrowed. "Never liked his ugly mug, but his personality was somewhat redeeming. I can't really afford to waste time chatting over tea, but I do admit I'm very curious; our swordsmen would never go down without drama..."
"There was indeed quite a bit of, uh, philosophy involved." Shizune cleared her throat.
"Ooh, colour me interested." Mei crooned. "Can you talk quick?"
"With a gambling drunk as my master, of course." Shizune breezily reassured. "I have time as well; there is no need for Mizukage-sama to hold concern over this..." She gestured to herself then to the scroll in her hands. "...Mess until she feels it fit."
-Meanwhile-
"Sooo," Tsunade pursed her lips. "Everything went a thousand times quicker than I expected. That definitely helps. You can learn more kickass techniques-"
"Yesss-"
"And I get extra time to beat you up."
"What?"
"Sparring." Tsunade bared her teeth in a smile. "I've decided that you don't have enough experience actually fighting, so sparring."
"I-"
"And it also means that we can actually have a vacation in Iwa rather than just loitering around for a few days before going to the next place."
"Iwa?" Naruto balked. "Didn't my dad... massacre their army-ttebayo?"
"Yep."
"Shouldn't I... avoid that place?"
"Yep."
"Vacation?"
"...Yep."
"Shizu-nee will get a stroke."
"W-Well, I'm a medic!"
(Somewhere in Kirigakure, Shizune sneezed and looked around suspiciously.)
-Some unnamed amounts of time later-
"Huh..." Mei hummed. "It's cute how Zabuza-kun picked up a little puppy. Too bad he died. I'm sure Haku-chan was a cutie. You know... it's a rule in Kiri that if you defeat a swordsman of Kiri, you get to keep their blade..."
Ao glanced sharply at the woman and Chojuro let out a small pained whimper of 'Mei-sama'.
"What?" Shizune flushed, waving frantically, "I w-wouldn't dare to!"
"Fufu, don't panic so, Shizune-san." Mei rested her chin on her hand, visible eye narrowing in speculation. "I've decided that I like you and Tsunade-hime, and your little Naruto-kun. Our budding swordsmen have this abominable pride of theirs, you see, and they may even see it an insult to hand back the blade like this. The only problem would be that under the... past Mizukage's reign, the terms between our Kiri and foreign countries have not been... great. It wouldn't be good if Kubikiribocho was turned against us, or if our men sought for your heads to gain it back." Not to mention how there might be further internal conflict over the wielder of the blade.
Shizune felt cold sweat bead on the back of her neck before Mei's serious expression turned light-hearted again.
"So until further negotiations, why don't I propose this as an... olive branch to Konoha?"
After a stunned silence, she elaborated. "You know, like how Shodaime Hokage-sama had handed Bijuu around like candies. Maybe Kiri can start a new tradition as well, fufu."
Shizune let out a nervous exhale, smiling slightly. "I'm sure Mizukage-sama understands that Tsunade-sama... doesn't exactly represent Konoha..."
Also, Kiri should be scrambling to get their blades back; how could she easily hand one out? Granted, Konoha's alliance was very important, but further treaties would still be tipped heavily in Konoha's favour, especially if the Mizukage was shown to be so lenient as to give one of Kiri's blades away.
"I know." Mei returned a close-eyed grin. "An affiliation with a Sannin is no less desirable. Politics aside, of course."
"Perhaps not." She murmured absently before she repeated louder: "Perhaps not 'politics aside'. Naruto is looking to become Hokage, and I say he has a fair shot."
The Mizukage gave a careful expression of surprise. "Hoh? I could agree; he must be quite the child if he's a student of Tsunade-hime that managed to... talk down Zabuza-kun. ...Well, you didn't deny it, so do you accept?"
"Don't push me, Mizukage-sama." Shizune laughed nervously. "Surely there's a catch."
"Ah yes, there is." Mei's eyes turned cold even as her smile was still fixed in place. "You see, even Konoha has their tricky liars. There would be just two things of request: one, confirmation of your sincerity through a Jutsu, and two..." Then she turned uncertain before she pressed her lips together. "There's someone I want you to heal successfully- to the point that they're as good as in their prime."
"Mizukage-sama!" Ao hissed.
"Who might it be?" Shizune asked tensely.
Time seemed to still as Mei slid a hand over the side of her face, brushing her hair out of her face. "The Yondaime Mizukage."
Out of respect for the woman Shizune had judged to be good-natured, she did not arm herself, but it was a close thing.
Shizune knew with certainty that Mei was intoxicated or anything, but Naruto's lack of filter also seemed to rub off on her. "...Are you, perhaps, high, Mizukage-sama?"
After a few stifling pauses, Mei threw her head back and laughed.
"Oh I do like you, Shizune-san. Perhaps Konoha really does birth naturally soft-hearted people, or perhaps you have balls of steel for reacting so. Chojuro-kun, don't faint on me now."
"M-M-M-M-"
"I'll... escort him out." Ao said jerkily as he shot Mei a look that clearly said 'I hope you know what you're doing'. Mei winked back and he blanched.
"Well," She swept her hands over her desk. "I suppose you are owed an explanation if you are to heal him. It all began when-"
The two of them both knew how big of a secret Mei was sharing. It was that very fact, paired with Mei's overwhelming exhaustion, that led to this secret being shared.
"A Genjutsu." Shizune awed in horror. Now it made more sense: a blade is nothing in terms of military importance as compared to Yagura. "On a Kage-level Jinchuuriki. Who?!"
"Later." She dismissed. "Will you?" Mei pressed. "He hasn't woken since it had been released, and I'm afraid he'll die. There are hardly any medical ninja, or even doctors who could or would attempt to treat him. I'm not gonna mince my words; I'm frightened what would happen if I told anyone about Yagura's condition. Even right now, I feel like I'm wagering something that's far worse than life or death."
"...This is personal." She pondered aloud. Mei was a woman with heavy burdens, and she was far too cautious to trust Shizune just because of her story and demeanour. Mei also didn't have the reassurance to be able to kill her outright because Shizune was affiliated with Tsunade, a Legendary Sannin.
That could only be the reason for her irrationality.
"You call him just 'Yagura' when you address nearly everyone else with honorifics. You could always kill me through miscellaneous plots if I disagree, but there's no saying whether or not I'd spread this over to allying nations to turn against you after I agree. This is your personal request more than a favour from the Mizukage, correct?"
"This is personal." The woman confirmed. "I'd known him personally and that was the sole reason why I hadn't joined the revolutionaries with Zabuza-kun. I wanted to get close enough to talk face-to-face with Yagura."
"The Yondaime ruled over Kiri with an iron fist, yet hardly ever appeared in front of his subjects." Shizune quoted. "I heard lots of that in the past."
"Hm. I haven't had any chances at all to go 'fuck the title of Mizukage' because of how horrible Kiri had become. Awakening Yagura both helps in terms of military power, political power, and my mental state."
"I agree then." Shizune shrugged. "There isn't a reason why I shouldn't."
Mei raised a brow slowly, a smile stretching over her lips. "Other than how he's a hostile Village's previous Kage?"
"Not hostile anymore."
"You don't have assurance that I won't kill you after." Mei narrowed her eyes challengingly.
"Proper rehabilitation takes time." Shizune gave a close-lipped smile. "Also, I'll be writing a letter to Tsunade-sama, if you don't mind."
"...Sure. Let me read over it though."
She inclined her head in reply before she flicked her eyes to the scroll that held the blade. "The olive branch is accepted."
"Fufu, that's nice to hear."
Shizune hummed. "But who would wield it? This olive branch? Tsunade-sama has an established style that she sticks to, and Naruto, although loved the samurai outfits, doesn't actually seek to formally use a blade."
"Oh," Mei blinked in genuine surprise. "I wasn't talking about them. I was talking about you."
"Eh?"
From outside, they could both hear Ao loudly slapping his forehead. Shizune inhaled, exhaled... inhaled, exhaled... inhaled-
"EHH?! "
"Fuuinjutsu seems to have no beginning nor end." Shizune lectured. "That belief is incorrect, yet correct at the same time."
"What." Naruto blinked widely. "Shizu-nee, you can't go from teaching me circles to preaching this- this, uh..."
"I can." Shizune nodded. "And I will." Then she proceeded to ignore Naruto's deadpan expression. "Fuuinjutsu is an art. It must be balanced and layered, every stroke given with an intention."
-Byakugo-
Naruto distantly thought back to the very first introduction Shizune had given him to Fuuinjutsu as he stared at this monster of a seal. And they'd decided for him to have three of them... just for fun, and for chakra control practice. Because apparently that was possible.
Tsunade told him that she never bothered to control and refine her chakra to create more, and her insane control and technique meant that there was no need for more than one anyway.
One on his forehead because it was a sort-of Tsunade symbolism, and two others on the back of each hand so that once he wrestles over Iryo Ninjutsu, he could just dump chakra out of his hands and it'd be an insta-heal technique... sort of.
Semantics were bothersome for Naruto to think over, so he decided that whenever he needed to explain something, he could just slap on a 'sort of' then a 'dattebayo' for false bravado.
Back on topic, the Byakugo seal was... enormous, for one. Originally, Naruto had presumed that it wouldn't be that complex considering it was kind of like a huge chakra storage scroll, but oh boy was he wrong.
The Byakugo seal was connected to certain chakra Tenketsu, particularly around some glands and his vital organs. And a thousand bajillion 'connective' seals meant a maze of runes that had to be drawn out. One screw up and an organ might get torn to shreds from a chakra explosion.
Shizune couldn't have a Byakugo because her control 'wasn't good enough' even though she could create flesh from chakra. Tsunade had told him that Naruto and her situation was better since they had extra chakra to spare, while Shizune might run out of it, but still. It seems impossibly hard.
At the slack-jawed look of awe on his face, Tsunade crowed in haughty laughter. "Jiraiya may be hailed as a Fuuinjutsu master, but I am the granddaughter of Uzumaki Mito."
"Dear Tsunade-sama, Naruto," He read aloud, "Things have changed and I'll try to keep it short. First of all, the Mizukage has indeed been replaced, and I am aiding her throughout the process for reasons I can only discuss through person. What?" Naruto glanced up at Tsunade.
"That means she's either dealing with some deep-rooted secrets relating to the Bloody Mist reign, or that she's lovestruck with the new Mizukage. Give it here," She snatched the scroll from his hands. "Second of all, I was informed that Kubikiribocho was actually ours to keep. WHAT?"
"What?!"
"Hold on, hold on- After discussions, it has been offered to us as a quasi-olive branch to maintain amiable relations between Konoha and Kiri- God damn it, Shizune, you were meant to be the sane one of this group!"
Naruto snatched the paper back, "She's gonna wield Kubikiribocho? Oh my god, that's so cool! That's so cool." He repeated because there was no other way he could describe this... badassery. "...But she's staying there."
"Oh." Tsunade pursed her lips. "Oh."
"Huh." Naruto thinned his lips.
Tsunade had not been without Shizune for a very long time. In fact, since Tsunade had picked her up, she had been by her side. To both Naruto and Tsunade, the notion of Shizune being away at first was kind of exciting; like when a mother was gone for a few days. They could fool around a little more, but were expecting her to pop out from nowhere to nag at them.
But Shizune being away for more than a few days was... less exciting. Like when someone finds out that their mother was not going to return for a while and instead, there's apprehension, a feeling of being lost. Even though it was irrational, they both felt as though something very, very bad would happen as soon as she isn't around.
And it's no fun being foolish if there's no one to snap at you for it. (Although they both usually act foolish without meaning to.)
Dear Tsunade-sama, Naruto,
Things have changed and I'll try to keep it short.
First of all, the Mizukage has indeed been replaced, and I am aiding her throughout the process for reasons I can only discuss through person. Second of all, I was informed that Kubikiribocho was actually ours to keep. After discussions, it has been offered to us as a quasi-olive branch to maintain amiable relations between Konoha and Kiri. It's to my understanding that neither of you will be that eager to professionally wield the blade, so I've been convinced to take on the role myself.
I have no clue where this is going to go, and the prospect of wielding a sword most men could hardly lift is frightening, but perhaps Naruto's adrenaline junky nature has affected me, and I almost look forward to whatever brutal regime and stress I will be put through.
The Mizukage also was terribly offended over my attire of red mesh under a black and cream kimono tied by a lilac sash which was 'the epitome of bad colour combinations' as well as my haircut which made me look like a 'Q-tip'. For all she's busy with wrestling Kiri under control, she uses whatever spare time she has to pamper herself, and she'd been mentioning a 'miracle shampoo' that has me wary, so if I come back looking like a model, don't be surprised.
Let us meet to the East of Konoha a day before the start of June.
I will miss you, but we must both focus on the task on hand. Naruto, please make sure to steer Tsunade-sama far from gambling houses. Tsunade-sama, please adopt some semblance of responsibility.
Love,
Shizune
-Iryo Ninjutsu-
"That pain in your chest that you've felt since I'd spoken to you about them..." Tsunade tapped an outstretched fist onto his heart. "You know, when you begin to notice a wound, that's when it begins to heal. Injuries can be fatal if they're so damaging that they destroy the nerves."
She dropped her arm and raised it to pat his head. "If a patient can feel pain, you'll understand that it means they're on the path to recovery."
"So this pain... will go?"
"Maybe." Tsunade shrugged. "Maybe it'll leave an aching scar. But it'll get better. Also, that's just me being cheesy, but eh; mind, body, basically same thing, right?"
Although she wasn't here, they could both practically hear Shizune's deadpan of 'no, Tsunade-sama'.
"Can you-" Naruto frowned, a hand curling into his chest. "Can you heal this?"
"Maybe." Tsunade repeated; she had never felt so helpless before, but she offered another confident smile. "I may not be able to heal those kind of wounds, but I have a feeling you might be able to. Although, just like me, you have to know that you won't be able to save everyone."
"What?" Naruto snapped his head to look up at her. "I wanna be able to do that! That's the whole point of this, isn't it?"
"You can never save everyone, brat," Her eyes lowered. "But I can teach you how to try."
Naruto will not always succeed. He will not always smile.
But if Tsunade had learnt anything while being with him, it was that trying was better than doing nothing.
A fraction of a percentage was better than zero percent.
"Today," She declared with dramatics, "After all our months- more like years- of interacting and nonstop training and studying, we will finally begin the main purpose of this trip. I deem your chakra 'doubled and how did that even happen?', your Taijutsu 'pretty damn good', your Ninjutsu 'decent', your Fuuinjutsu 'atrocious for Uzumakis, but at least you're on an Uzumaki level', your charisma 'impossible'- still, how do you even befriend people by just smiling, you goddamned impossible brat- your Sage 'absolutely mind-boggling', and your everything 'eh, acceptable'."
Naruto sweatdropped.
"Today, I'm going to teach you Iryo Ninjutsu. I'm going to teach you how-"
Her mock-grandiose demeanour dropped and the quirk of her lips looked more grim than anything else.
"-To heal a wound."
-Early June-
"Yo!" Naruto whispered into Kotetsu's ear, causing the dozing man to jolt awake, Izumo jerking to attention a few metres away as well; he hadn't sensed the boy at all!
"Burgh?" He asked intelligently.
"Yooo," He snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Hagane Kotetsu-san, is it? Wakey wakey, your shift ends in ten minutes, so it wouldn't be a good look if you were caught sleeping on the job."
"W-What?" Kotetsu blinked awake as Izumo began to scan the people there. "How did you-" He fumbled over his pockets, then grabbed at his flack jacket as Naruto gave a foxy grin, flipping his hands-
"Ta-da! " With an elegance he picked up from a dealer at one of Tsunade's (few) gambling stops, he revealed a folded sheet of paper between his index and middle fingers. "Hurry up and let us in, Hagane Kotetsu-saaan."
"U-Uh... I-Izumo?"
"Bloody idiot." Izumo huffed, "That's Tsunade-hime and her students; sign them in."
Kotetsu startled, snatching the paper from the grinning blonde and shoving it into his jacket.
This was the Uzumaki? He looked... different.
As the unspoken Village pariah, not many people knew what he actually looked like, but Kotetsu and Izumo were the 'generic Chuunin' who were tasked to do about every possible odd job one could think of, and many of them included chasing down the Uzumaki after he paint bombs or vandalises something. That meant that they were familiar, if only vaguely, with his appearance.
None of the eye-searing jacket for one, but instead an aesthetically pleasing haori with a burnt orange gradient background, and the depiction of a sunset and clouds. The rest of his outfit was in dark tones and when the boy shifted, he could catch sight of ominous looking pouches. The Chuunin had been painfully present during the worst of his pranks, and it seemed he'd only gotten more devious since he left.
His hair was still as bright as always, but without any headband or the goggles he used to wear, there's a side parting on the right- not very obvious considering how spiky his hair was- and it was longer, Kotetsu belatedly realised. It was messily tied into a low ponytail- or was that a bun?- that looked more like a spiky pompom than anything else.
His eyes were still just as blue-blue as before, and a lot sharper with an edge of something that made him... wary. The whisker-like marks on his cheeks were still prominent, and he'd gained a bluish- almost indigo diamond on his forehead that replicated Tsunade's.
...And he'd gotten even better at hiding his presence. Kotetsu had to admit: the Uzumaki had always held an admirable amount of talent for hiding his enormous reserves, but now? Now Kotetsu can say without shame that he could fear the boy.
Then he moved onto the Sannin who didn't look that much different. ...Other than how she seemed to be glowing, of course. The sheer power she exuded made both the Chuunin feel like taking a step back. And she was buffing her nails in boredom. Kotetsu couldn't meet her eye, and it felt like fighting a hurricane would be easier than taking a step towards her. Even the Hokage hadn't held this sort of casually domineering presence.
Kotetsu had to near squint to try and scan for some differences. A more elaborate hoari, but that was about it. ...Apart from how he could barely stand straight from blatant awe of course.
Kotetsu then trailed his gaze over to the inconspicuous woman who all but hid in plain sight, but once he caught her attention, she turned to smile gently at him, and he felt goosebumps raise all over him.
He had no idea how this woman had escaped his notice because she had everything going for her.
Going from least attention-screaming to most attention-screaming, she had a very generic natural look with piercing, black eyes that held enough information to probably dissect Kotetsu, and black hair tied up in a high ponytail that fell to the small of her back.
An abundance of black mesh that rivalled Anko on sun-deficient white skin. (And how? Because nothing short of going hermit or to Kiri could get someone that level of paleness- unless she was an Uchiha, but she obviously wasn't, seeing as how all of them were- Well. Yeah.) She had a turtleneck tank top of black mesh, as well as what appears to be... mesh tights. ...That's either extremely uncomfortable, or extremely expensive and NO ONE is going to ask how Kotetsu knows that.
An eye-catching black and lilac kimono that veered off traditional: off the shoulder, decently long but was styled in a way that had two slits running up her outer legs. She also had black knee-high heeled shinobi sandals and bandages wrapped around her right thigh. There were no weapons pouches, but ah, right. How could Kotetsu forget the one thing that stood out most about her?
The large broadsword that looks very close to Kubikiribocho- Scrap that, that right there was Kubikiribocho, standing as tall as the woman herself and she'd slung it over one shoulder as if it didn't weigh nearly a hundred pounds.
Then she smiled and it was less gentle and more promising death as she cleared her throat. "Sign us in please?"
"Y-Y-Y-" Kotestu was more inclined to say 'please don't kill me'.
"O-Of course." Izumo stepped in, dope-slapping his partner over the head as he walked past.
Notes:
*god, i'd forgotten about tonton*
i feel so bad for shizune but hopefully her drastic twist of kubikiribocho + mei + yagura will change things more interestingly.
edit: i just realised that there was no possible way shizune's atrocious attire- it only worked because kishi made it work- would go unnoticed by mei who was the epitome of sexiness. i am sorry if u liked shizune's old design, but im always inclined to make characters look extra spicy.
on that note, i was scrolling thru stuff when i saw another adult naruto hair complaint, and then i stumbled across this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Boruto/comments/brn80m/if_naruto_had_different_hairstyle_1_or_2/
and i went back to kishi's first design of naruto, and i realised... he kinda looks sick, so i gave him that side part cuz it's half-canon. also, minato's hair... how did kishi make it work?! ...at first i was gonna have naruto get a sort-of-menma-hair, but ew. sorry. essentially, he grew it so it was abt genma-length but if he kept it down, he would have a shaggy mess (minato DX) so he threw it into a 'spiky pompom'.(did that make grammatical sense? ...does ANYTHING I WRITE make grammatical sense???)
also, i feel like i planned this story out REALLY badly. this chapter was meant to come AGES ago. and i'd COMPLETELY gone off tracks, but... look. that's me. : ) u don't read one of my fanfics and see that they stay on a linear, COMPREHENSIBLE plot line.
*cries*
anyway, i time skipped straight to the chuunin exams arc instead of crawling thru the program and i feel like this will get lots of mixed reactions.
speaking of mixed reactions: shizune (again). she legit went from nanny to this... kubikiribocho swordsman.
*her strength was 2.5 in the stats, making it one of her lowest stats. now she's arguably stronger than post time skip kakashi*please don't throw tomatoes at me. i had contemplated on running the mini-series until ten chapters, but nah. im just gonna flashback everything.
*how naruto charged his byakugo is different from how sakura did- also, he only has one, the other two are still loading
*no, tsunade has not given the shodaime's necklace to him
Chapter 29: they had expected (they were wrong)
Notes:
look guys, u thought it would be smooth sailing; it aint fricking smooth sailing w me here. misunderstandings? FUCK YES. disturbances? FUCK YES. overanalysing until it does more harm than good? FUCK YES.
hAH. im on NARUTO'S side onLY. other characters can go suck on a lemon.
i have a feeling that the comments section will either be incredibly quiet, or incredibly wild.
if u thought this was unnecessary and caused- well, unnecessary pain, i think ur right and i dont think i have smt to defend myself w. um oops. im stressed and i like making my characters be stressed w me??
also again: @ BLOOD RED HURRICANE READERS: the fic is not discontinued or abandoned. its just a combination of spamming new mind junk (eg new fics), stress and packed schedules, and also a lack of inspiration to write good chapters.
i will not post a shitty chapter even if it means waiting til christmas (tho i hope it wont go for thaaaat long...)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Naruto-
He was still reeling from... everything.
As fast-paced as his previous training had been, Tsunade was right in how the Iryo Ninjutsu program was several times harder. The worst thing was that he had to learn how to revive a fish with varying amounts of chakra in his reserves.
He got antsy so many times and he was either too restless or too exhausted because Iryo Ninjutsu was boring and Naruto sucked at boring things.
But besides all of that, he was travelling at the same time- watching how Tsunade interacted with people she healed. Even though Naruto had his fair share of experience with poverty and the like, travelling through smaller nations was still a rude awakening.
He learnt that he couldn't cure starvation, or bring back limbs, or a missing lung, or change a miscarriage. He learnt how babies looked premature, how skin looked when exposed to harsh temperatures.
He'd trekked through bloody deserts, and grasslands that held who-knew-what, and endured acting carefree in Iwa where his father's face was literally used as a dart board in bars.
He'd picked up on similar dialects, he'd befriended monks, learnt how a suicide ritual worked, found out the hard way which hand signs were offensive in which country, prayed at a cult, and infiltrated casinos.
He'd even met Sofia's siblings in Kumo when his dumbass accidentally called out to her long lost older sister in the wrong language.
Naruto still cringed in second-hand pain when he thought of that. Although that was a stroke of luck. Samui and Atsui seemed pretty high up in the hierarchy, so this might even strengthen ties... Or if Sofia was even that politically significant as a foreign prostitute.
All at once: circling the Nations, healing people, watching Tsunade, sparring (getting beaten up)... and by the time he'd met Shizune, his mental faculties had begun to... die.
So when Shizune appeared with lean muscles that allowed her to swing Kubikiribocho like it weighed a senbon, not her usual conservative clothing, and information about the Yondaime Mizukage, Naruto's brain had fried.
Now, a few days later, he was still reeling. It felt like Naruto's life had been moving at a times hundred speed and Konoha's... to be frank, pansy atmosphere felt like a really boring stop button.
As he walked down the road, he could spy on shinobi lazing on the job, children throwing fits over their parents not giving them sweets, and he felt... like it was extremely shallow?
Perhaps it was the extreme change, or perhaps Naruto still had that deep-rooted bias from his bitterness, but he felt as though most parts of Konoha were... sheltered and irritating.
He brushed his thoughts aside as he saw the Hokage building nearing them. What impression was he meant to give to the old man? Was Naruto meant to call him 'Hokage-sama'? The thought of it left a sour taste in his mouth.
-Hokage's office-
"Yo." Tsunade flipped a hand up in greeting as she opened the door. Naruto and Shizune stuck their head through the crack. "We're back. Goodbye."
She shut the door and the three of them flickered away.
It wasn't like the letter had ever mentioned that they had to report back.
"Ah man, this is so fucken' boring..." Naruto linked his hands behind his head. "Tsunade-baachan, you should probably try a bit harder to hide your presence-ttebayo."
"But we can tell who's spying on us then. Only people trying to sense or gauge us can really tell how powerful I am." She cackled. "And it's fun watching people cower in fear."
"I really should reprimand you, Tsunade-sama, but I can't really judge." Shizune chuckled nervously as she sealed her blade into a specialised storage seal tattooed on her right shoulder.
Naruto sighed dramatically, "I'm dreading reactions for once." He'd lived so many memories and walking through this place made him think all the way back to the last time he was in Konoha... his parents being called traitors, the classroom hollering, the news of the Kyuubi, Mizuki, Sasuke-
Last time he'd fled from Konoha; this time he was just wishing that no trouble would be caused. (He used to crave attention, but this time he just wants to avoid it.)
His Konoha ex-classmates didn't seem so miniscule compared to the entire Five Great Nations and everything in between.
"Don't put on a Henge." Tsunade said quietly, looking serious.
"What?" He pointedly flicked his gaze over to the civilians who were casting him disdainful looks.
"Don't." She repeated. "You'll get stuck again."
"Ah." Naruto nodded. He could bear with this. (Although it feels like those glares hurt a lot more when he knew about the Kyuubi, of his parents, and when he knew just how kind people could be.) "Anyway, I still haven't decided whether to keep my clown act or not!"
"With Kakashi's brats, are you going to acknowledge that Wave happened?"
"Apart from Yamashiro who I should probably visit..." He made a cross with his fingers. "Boo. No way, no way. Wilful ignorance."
"You were buddy-buddy with Haruno and the Uchiha, weren't you?"
"That's under Namito's name." Naruto frowned. "She was always nicer to people who weren't me. Sure she wasn't obsessing over Sasuke, but I dunno; that shouldn't be something all that impressive. I guess I should think: 'what's not to like about her', but right now I'm just- 'what is there to like about her?'"
Something so flatly dismissive was something Naruto of the past never would have said, and it distantly surprised him how easily that sentence came out of his mouth.
Perspective, he supposed. Comparing the Villager's 'subtle' dislike and fear of him and Haruno's aggressive, but honest nature, he'd picked Haruno. But now? He'd met 'gratitude', 'maternal love', 'devotion', 'faith', such deeply passionate emotions that made Haruno's fits seem like... temper tantrums. Immature. Pointless. Childish. Annoying.
He doesn't mind hanging out with her, but as Naruto- at least- it just seemed too... troublesome, to borrow a word.
"I feel a little cruel for agreeing with you because ouch- you're generally super receptive." Tsunade replied blandly. "But I one hundred percent agree with you."
"And Sasuke's... just a headache on his own." Naruto made a face. "He definitely knew Namito was Naruto. How the hell am I meant to face him- WHAT." He yelled, swinging to jab a finger at this pesky ANBU that kept following them. It was the Jonin Sensei dude. Urgh. Even more annoying. He was their Sensei! "Fuck off, we're talking!"
"Naw, you really are unsettled by Konoha." Shizune patted his head. "There, there. Don't take your anger out on the poor ANBU."
"Bloody annoying." He tsked, voice akin to a whine. "That ANBU is fine to yell at. What do you want? Stop ignoring me; I can literally see your foot."
After a beat, the ANBU agent dropped to the floor, "Hokage-sama requests your presence, Tsunade-hime."
"Sarutobi? " Tsunade gave a near snarl, eyeing Naruto at the same time- How come he didn't ask for Naruto? "Why the f-"
"Oh boy..." Shizune eyed the ANBU, then Tsunade, then Naruto. "Sorry- I've decided that accompanying Tsunade-sama would be more reasonable. Have fun alone, Naruto."
"-Fine! You better ready yourselves in case a few buildings drop." Tsunade stomped one more time, causing a crater to form within the craters that had formed. "Hmph! Naruto, I'll catch you later."
"You don't want me to come?" He murmured without moving his mouth, darting a suspicious glance at the ANBU.
"It's a good idea to keep your changes in the dark." She muttered back. "You're sitting a pseudo-eval within the Chuunin exams; hide as much as possible."
He then slid his gaze to Shizune and without prompting, she told him, "He isn't gonna know about-" Shizune made a small swinging motion with her index, flicking it across the vague area of her neck. Kubikiribocho. "-Until Mei comes. He'll have to assume that Tsunade-sama had influenced my change."
"Ah." He gave a look of understanding before he stepped back, saying louder- "Well, have fun."
"Brat."
Naruto shot her a mock-hurt look as they all promptly left. After a pause, the ANBU left as well.
He huffed. Whatever. Might as well take a stroll. Desensitise himself again from these stares.
Naruto soon learnt to regret not putting up a Henge as-
"N-Naruto!" The warble was trembling, loud as it was. Haruno's voice. And it was strained.
He instantly drew the connection that no, Haruno still doesn't like Naruto. It was clear from her fake voice, her fake demeanour, and her chakra presence which was dripping in reluctance. God damn it, he shouldn't've expected anything in the first place.
(And there was the pressing thought that everyone in Konoha hated him- Just look at them all. Each and every one of them were glaring at him. Nothing good was in Konoha after all. He really wants to leave again. When will Shizu-nee and Baachan come back-)
Naruto slowed down his steps, wondering if she was faking the politeness for any reason in particular. Maybe she wanted to learn off Tsunade now? Lots of people would kill to be tutored by a Sannin. Naruto wouldn't let anyone snatch his mentor (family) off of him- Naruto cut his thoughts off; he was being irrational.
But was he? Just like how Haruno used to shoot Sasuke star-struck looks, he could easily imagine her latching onto another someone she wanted to have all to herself to satisfy her new obsession of becoming 'stronger' rather than 'prettier'. Besides, Tsunade had told him that Haruno had been one of her suggested students...
He slowed to a halt, turning slowly and masking his wariness with something he hopes comes off as respectful. Haruno had been less aggressive when he was Namito, so maybe she wouldn't hit him that much if he didn't act 'obnoxious'.
"What is it?" He asked quietly, hoping that she wouldn't take offense from it. She always did say his voice was annoying and would punch him whenever he opened his mouth. But then again, she said everything he did was annoying.
He assessed her reaction from habit, and with that, he tried to figure out just how he had had such a big crush on her. Well, she was what most adolescents would consider 'pretty': unique, silky, long hair; clear, pale, and smooth skin; delicate features and limbs...
But Naruto could name a dozen more women or even men, regardless of chapped lips or hollowed cheeks, who looked more beautiful. Because Haruno, no matter how expensive the conditioner, did not have that glow of love and gratitude and appreciation in her eyes that those people had.
And now her milky skin and noodle arms seemed ridiculous and made him hiss his breath in second-hand frustration. How easy her skin must break. How much her muscles would ache.
When Naruto had seen her in Wave, she had looked sickly. Now it looked like she was back on her skin care routine, and it wasn't like he was saying self-care wasn't good; just that asides from that improvement, there wasn't much else- unlike Tsunade who could punch craters with freshly coated nails. Shizune had ranted about Mei long enough to know that nail polish and lipstick didn't equal weakness.
He knew that Haruno, even after her strange change, had been disinclined to physical training. Now, her reserves were a little larger, and her control seemed to be far better, but was her version of a 'strength glow up' the same as the gruelsome, eat-dirt sort of training Naruto had endured?
Maybe Naruto couldn't tell because the training he'd gone through was so much harsher, but Naruto (overcome with negativity and a bubbling restlessness from being in Konoha) couldn't help but undermine whatever improvements she'd gotten, inwardly sneering and assuming that her 'training' was probably throwing a few kunai before she got tired, or learning how to weave Genjutsu around her manicures and thinking that was enough.
He couldn't help but (childishly) compare the two of them (look down on her) because Haruno was someone who boasts of 'top kunoichi' and had sneered at Naruto so many times for being stupid and lazy and weak and ill-mannered and-
Under 'Namito' he could ignore that past of his, but as Naruto, he could not.
Namito could ignore how she'd looked at him with such disgust, such irritation- like how someone would look at a piece of trash stuck to their shoe. Namito could ignore the multiple hits he took, the undeserved bashing and reprimands. Under a physical change, a layer of chakra distancing himself from the scene, he could say 'Sakura-san' without feeling like he wanted to punch himself in the throat.
As Naruto, he could only think of the last time he'd seen her. He felt embarrassed and angry on behalf of his old self and he couldn't help but translate that emotion into his view on her now.
Like how she used to pick on him for being an orphan and he had felt so humiliated and upset, but now he was just infuriated-
Her face twitched and Naruto watched as a range of emotions flicked through her eyes- hesitation, confusion, doubt- before it settled on anger. Damn, in this way, she hadn't changed at all. She'd gotten more confident, but was that to her benefit? She'd gained some spine, but did this make her overly ambitious? She'd gotten independent, but should someone like Haruno be independent?
Her presence felt betrayed as if it weren't Haruno who had acted like such a bitch to him. Her polite façade broke down to a vulnerable self-doubt before false bravado covered it up.
"Hey! Watch your attitude! How could you speak to a lady-" She then promptly stopped and Naruto took the opportunity to speedily walk away before his aggravation made him do irrational things. Haruno was a future comrade after all; it wouldn't do for him to immediately pick a fight as soon as he returned.
More importantly, he didn't want to be on any standing with Haruno. Not rivalry, not really comradery, not even hostility. Just indifference- Please?
Jesus Christ, he really should have taken the time to actually study her character in Wave instead of just chittering about how to get them stronger. But then again, it would feel like deceiving if he conducted a personality analysis under his disguise; unless it was for pranking, something like that shouldn't be conducted on allies. Also, their Jonin Sensei's lack of Sensei-ing was a sin and someone ought to fix it a bit.
"O-Oi, where do you think you're going?"
Argh, he couldn't be bothered to turn back around and so he continued to stroll down the road.
There.
That was a clear dismissal. Now she could just huff and turn away. Easy peasy. No need to-
Oh right, but Haruno had a big ego to cover up her insecurities and god if Naruto didn't hate that ego; the one that made her blindly lash out without seeing reason. What a child.
"Look." He said irritably when she walked towards him, continuing to spout some 'manners' and 'be nicer to girls, you inconsiderate buffoon' bullshit. "Let's not waste our time and be real for one little moment. I annoy you, and-" It changed now. "-You annoy me. So leave me alone and-"
"So you aren't going to ask me out on dates anymore?" And the voice was snide, and spoken through a sneer, so unlike the girl 'Namito' had talked to. Naruto felt his mild, exasperated annoyance flare into something colder and darker.
He'd been trying so hard not to completely scream at her from sheer anger and now she-
Don't bring up the damn past. Especially not something like- embarrassment, self-loathing, disgust, howcouldhehaveactedlikethat- his 'infatuation'. It was immature and foolish, but even now he felt unreasonably upset over that aspect of his life. It had mostly been a farce anyway, created only because she liked Sasuke.
(He hadn't known any love back then, yet he used to say 'I love you' to Haruno all the damned time.)
The increasing disdain, the mild dislike- It clashed horribly with what had occurred half a year ago.
"Urgh, you're such a bloody annoyance, Haruno." Naruto snapped before tugging on his chakra and flickering away.
He was not off to a good start.
-While Sakura...-
Naruto looked really different. He looked... almost cool. He didn't have his big, obnoxious grin anymore and his hair was styled differently from before as if he was pretending to be older than he actually was. His ugly jumpsuit-thing was also gone. He was dragging his feet the barest bit, glancing around with something akin to dislike.
Sakura gulped- She was going to do this; she was definitely going to fix this. Slapping on her smile and bringing up her plastic confidence, she let her voice cut through the air and she winced as it came out sounding so horribly fake.
"N-Naruto!" With nerves highly strung, she felt irked as he slowed down, pausing for a bit before taking his sweet time turning around to face her. It made her feel a little humiliated and... defensive.
"What is it?" He said neutrally. His face was carefully respectful, but it felt like he was... mocking her from the overly polite tone. He was being totally fake! Naruto was never like that! He was always loud and brash and too frank for his own good.
The old Naruto would have chirped up with an overly loud 'Sakura-chan, were you calling for me?' but she knew he had changed though she thought he would have been nicer.
Namito had been charismatic and friendly, so why is Naruto looking at her like she's a stranger- Was he impatient? With Sakura?
She felt her temper flare; how could- how dare he act so distant? After all Sakura had done to better herself, he was still disrespectful of her! He knew that Sakura had changed and was he looking down on that? Namito hadn't, so why was he?
Besides, who was he even to look down on her? He was always the one who'd ditched classes and Sakura was top kunoichi. Naruto used to always clamber for her attention; he would rejoice when she faced him even though it was because Sasuke was behind him. And now-
Sakura had changed so much and he was so dismissive of her.
Sakura was the one getting up early to take a walk. Sakura was the one who began studying Genjutsu like nobody's business. Sakura was the one who managed to amend her friendship with Ino and help Hinata. Now she was trying to make up to Naruto but here he was, acting like a- like a brat! And the Sannin really picked him over her?
Confidence is key. Ino had said that she should always stand up for herself, and she would not take this-
"Hey! Watch your attitude!" She snapped, drawing back her shoulders and watching for a flicker of surprise because Sakura had changed. She was stronger, and he should know it.
But Naruto's expression didn’t budge- if anything, it soured even more. This was meant to be the moment where everything worked out.
Everything was going amazing. She was on equal terms with Ino, who had seemed so far ahead of her. She stopped dieting even though it would make her sick a lot. Inner had gotten quiet and stopped bothering her. She stopped spending her time thinking about Sasuke. She even bought a ton of new shinobi clothes even though most of them looked incredibly unflattering on her figure. She'd wrestled against her instincts to go back to her old self every damned day for months and it had been so tiring. Sakura- She would never say it aloud, but-
Sakura was perfect.
It was obvious from how many boys had asked her out. Hanako compliments her all the time, and she could now take them without feeling the creeping discomfort of imposter syndrome.
She had friends, resolve, confidence, intelligence, strength- so why isn't Naruto... clicking into place?
It was meant to go easily: Naruto becomes even more impressed with her, and he would bashfully ask her out on a date, and then she'd kindly decline him despite his persistence and ask to be friends and Naruto would be more than happy with that.
After that, Tsunade would look at her and feel impressed by her change and improvement, and would ask to tutor her upon seeing how talented she was. The Sakura before wasn't good enough, but now she was.
Naruto wasn't suited for Iryo Ninjutsu anyway; he was much too brash and irresponsible, and surely it would be a hard time for both of them- especially considering how he had a bunch of attention problems that Sakura didn't have.
He was really nice and gentle as Namito, but Sakura knew what he was actually like: it was just his nature.
Sakura had studied Naruto's personality because she had been worried about the weird event in the classroom, and now she knew him like nobody else did. That was the pay off for her study, so Naruto's foolery didn't deceive her.
He was much better suited for combat because he wasn't delicate like Sakura. Even after her fitness level got up, she still couldn't keep up with Team 8; she obviously worked with smarts instead of muscles, so Iryo Ninjutsu was perfect for her. Sakura could study and read, and dress wounds, and her handwriting was really neat. Besides, most medics were female as well and surely Naruto didn't want girly things.
But Naruto hadn't gone by what he should've... Why? Naruto didn't have to act like he wasn't in love with her because he wasn't Namito! So... was he... playing hard to get? Because he thought he was better?!
"How could you speak to a lady-" Sakura cut off her sentence, grimacing at how she always snapped to that default when she felt attacked. Naruto was still meant to know that a girl's feelings are delicate! She hurried to rephrase her reprimand when she realised that he'd already turned around and started walking away from her.
Something hot and bitter flooded through her and she jogged to catch up to him while hastily trying to repeat what she was trying to say- How was he walking so fast?
"Look." He cut her sentence off and levelled a flat expression onto her, irritation coating his words. "Let's not waste our time and be real for one little moment. I annoy you, and you annoy me."
Sakura's mouth dropped into a little 'o', feeling a sting of hurt. That was going too far! Didn't he even think about what he was saying? He would never have a chance with Sakura if he said something like that.
"So leave me alone and-"
Leave HIM alone? That's what Sakura used to say to him, and-
...Naruto... didn't like Sakura anymore? Is that what he was implying? How was that possible? Naruto? Naruto? Not liking her?
It coloured her emotions in an ugly colour- a feeling she hadn't felt for a long time and to think that it was Naruto who caused it...
"So you aren't going to ask me out on dates anymore?" She felt her face twist into something mean- an expression she used to make all the time when mocking Naruto and his lack of parents and manners and 'anything good'.
She could have started like that- He should have appreciated how nice she was being before. By now Naruto was just asking for Sakura to speak to him horribly. Naruto and Sakura hadn't even been friends before- She was just trying. See how he felt when Sakura stopped.
Sakura had meant this to work- not for him to come up and... act like that. Why had he acted so nice and cool when he was Namito then? Which one was real? How come Naruto could even 'act'?
Sakura was confused, incredulous, indignant because Naruto used to worship her!
He used to always smile and beam at her even if she'd smack him around a bit. Naruto loved her so much and he couldn’t just- how could he just- It wasn’t fair! Sakura was doing all this to try and become better- She'd done it for him- No, she'd... Sakura had... Sakura- She shoved her confusion aside. And now-
Was he trying to get her to beg or something? For forgiveness? What did he want her to do? What- Now that he’d got to train with a Sannin, he thought he was so much better? That Sakura was beneath him? He thought that because Tsunade had picked him, he could stomp all over Sakura?
Naruto used to slave himself for her attention!
Sakura used to be leagues better than him!
His eyes- colder, more distant, smarter, different- narrowed as he peered at her face, none of the admiration or puppy love that used to be there. There was none of his obnoxious smiles that scrunched up his face, nor the constant cheer- He was-
'Cooler.'
And the thought made Sakura want to slap herself in the face. How messed up was she to think that the colder a person was to her, the cooler they were?
The comparison between the 'stupid' Naruto, the Namito she realised that she had begun to idolise, and this Naruto she did not know was too jarring. Sakura heard Inner whisper something about her defence mechanism, and she replayed the words over her head.
They had barely traded any sentences, and it was she herself who had quickly drawn to ugly conclusions- But it wasn't all her fault! Naruto shouldn't be so disrespectful! Naruto couldn't just fall out of love like that. Especially not when this version of Sakura was so much better.
Then another voice appeared in her mind- from a conversation that occurred after the classroom incident, a few days after Ino and Sakura had rekindled their friendship.
"Do you think when you speak, Sakura?" Ino had said randomly, with a conflicted look on her face. "Like that day... You never spoke, or tried to discuss with me- ... -But I was your best friend, and..."
Ino had given a smile- a painful looking thing- during that conversation and Sakura hadn't understood what that smile meant.
"...Now I think back to it... Sakura, what were you even thinking? Were you thinking at all? Have you-"
"Urgh," Naruto mouth curled upwards into an expression like he was trying to hold back disgust. "You're such a bloody annoyance, Haruno." He snapped before, without a single seal or anything, disappeared in a swirl of wind and leaves.
"-Even apologised to me?"
Sakura thinned her lips, and under her indignation, hurt, and anger, she couldn't help but think that she was always missing something.
"Do you think when you speak, Sakura?"
"Huh? What are you talking about, Ino?"
Ino set down the watering can. "Like that day... You never spoke, or tried to discuss with me about whether or not I actually liked Sasuke."
'Sasuke'? Hadn't it always been 'Sasuke-kun'? Did Ino copy Sakura and stopped liking him?
"Just two days before that day, I'd openly claimed that he 'strut around thinking he was all that'." She continued with a tone that Sakura couldn't pick apart. Ino's voice progressively grew louder before- "I never ogled him, I never did anything that showed I liked him; you were the one staring at him, you had your eyes on him, but I was your best friend, and-"
-Before she cut herself short and let out a scoff that made Sakura flinch.
"-And based off some rumours, you threw our friendship in the bin, and handed back that ribbon I gave you."
"Ino..." Sakura said warily. Why was she bringing something like that back up now? They were past that. "We were just some kids, and besides, you gave him that flower-"
"That flower symbolised friendship and happiness!" She yelled and Sakura's eyes blew wide open as she took a subconscious step back. Why was she making it such a big deal? Was she on her period or something?
"It was a sunflower! Not a goddamned red rose!" Ino gritted her teeth, looking away sharply. "Then it spread around and apparently I was deeply in love with him. I had just wanted to befriend him! Instead I lost a friend! I lost you! You thought Sasuke was the link between the two of us, and not only was that completely wrong, but it also caught Sasuke in the middle! I keep trying to tell you things you do wrong, how to improve, and letting you off the hook because I know you'd been a victim to your own mind."
Ino gestured to her, "You've got your own 'Inner Sakura' and you're a psychological mess, but I'm just a kid as well! I can't act for that long without being affected as well! All this mess, all this drama that somehow seems to be my fault..." Her knuckles were white and the counter creaked under her grip.
"...On what basis..." She whispered, voice thick. "Did I deserve that?"
"Ino, what are you talking about-" Sakura pressed her lips together. "Aren't we friends now?"
"Should I have accepted you back?" Ino shot out, tone so much more tired than Sakura had ever heard it before.
"I've been thinking about it for so long. It had been simple at first: I hated bullies, and I saw you as someone who could become beautiful. What had happened? I got thrown into the dirt. I moulded my personality for you. My life thereafter was dictated by you and the unwanted rivalry you declared, whether you intended to or not. You believed that the world revolved around you because I saved you like how main heroines get saved. As soon as you change your mind, I automatically welcomed you warmly, scrambling myself to meet to your standards. Should I have? You broke it off, not me. Why were neither of us surprised when I accepted you back like this?"
Sakura had heard Ino speak many long speeches before, whether praise or complaint, and she could never match Ino's ability to rant passionately and convincingly and Sakura didn't know how to feel when that rant was about her.
What sort of nonsense was she speaking? The world revolved around Sakura? Sakura never thought that! She had always been bullied, so was Ino trying to do the same? Because Sakura was changing and Ino was... jealous? Sakura must really be amazing if someone like Ino was jealous of her.
"...Now I think back to it... Sakura, what were you even thinking? Were you thinking at all?"
"Ino," Sakura tried to placate. "Of course I was. I just wanted to match up to you-" Ino had been her goal; Sakura had wanted to be her rival. She didn't understand what the fuss was about.
"Were you thinking about me? My feelings? My perspective? What I wanted? Sakura..." Ino shook her head lightly, brows lifting as she gave a humourless smile.
"Have you even apologised to me?"
Sakura had not given an answer to that question.
Sakura was motionless in astonishment. "What- You're saying it's my fault? You're blaming me?"
Fear had flitted over Ino's face in that moment, but Sakura had been convinced that she had imagined it.
After a few beats of silence had passed, Ino had then laughed and played it off and Sakura had accepted it. Their interactions had been completely normal afterwards. Ino had not changed thereon. Sakura had then brushed off the incident without giving it even a second thought.
Sakura had not even considered the possibility that Ino would 'act'- could 'act'. Sakura had not considered the possibility that Ino would have cared.
Because Ino was so powerful and strong; Sakura had never seen her cry or falter. How could Sakura have hurt her?
Sakura had not given an answer because she didn't think she had done anything wrong.
But if she were to reply, the answer would have been 'no'.
Sakura had not apologised.
And she kept repeating the same mistakes she didn't even know she made.
-Naruto-
He was seething with frustration and of all people to have found him next, it was the second girl who Naruto slapped on the list of people he 'would very much like to not see for a certain long period of time'.
Naruto had landed outside of Yakiniku Q, so when he felt someone tap his shoulder, he really should have expected one of the three- Akimichi, Nara, Yamanaka- and bad was his luck because it was Ino. Yamanaka.
He inwardly winced. Arguably, Naruto disliked her even more than Haruno. It stemmed from jealousy, and an incredulity that someone as privileged as she would match with Haruno.
But unlike Haruno, she did not speak. She looked at him without any sort of expression, and waited for him to react first.
Oh who was Naruto trying to play mind games with? If she also lost her 'fangirl-ness', the Yamanaka would be one of the trickiest people to converse with. Naruto had a trick up his sleeve though: sensing. Because of how the Kyuubi's seal had loosened a bit after getting beaten up so much, he could link its animosity to a spectrum of emotions that he could link to other people's presences.
"Hello. What's your problem?" He asked neutrally, internally grimacing as nothing that came out of his mouth seemed as naturally amiable as it had been when he was in foreign Nations.
There wasn't any fake persona she put on. Her presence didn't show much either though; a little bit of wariness, but more curiosity, and a heavy determination that linked with pride. Pride? Of what?
Yamanaka's eyes flicked to meet his eyes and he didn't know what she saw there as a satisfied smile spread across her face.
"If I have one, it isn't in talking with you." She replied smoothly, making him do a double-take at the weird response.
"Th-That's good to hear?" He scratched his cheek.
"I like your haori." She randomly commented as she subtly scanned his frame, narrowing her eyes in contemplation. "Are you busy?" Then her eyes darted around, chakra flaring in a manner she didn't bother to hide. "You aren't busy. Let's have a chat."
"Um." Naruto really should escape, but so far she didn't seem to want to hit him. "Sure. I don't have money on me."
"No problemo." She waved off as she waved him over to an empty table. "You see, being a heiress, I found, has a lot of perks. One of which being the ability to send my bill to Dad! Ha-hah!"
That was... very different. Naruto narrowed his eyes in speculation. Yamanaka hadn't changed much, which seemed to contradict his very own thoughts, but it seemed like... she just removed a mask.
'Like me.' He internally 'oh-ed' in understanding. Just like how his prankster personality had been partially exaggerated, Yamanaka's personality also had been like that. She was still confident- he could see it in how she walked- and cared for her looks, but it was less excessive and dramatic.
Unlike with Haruno, Yamanaka's default wasn't someone Naruto disliked. It was the persona she formed afterwards that he loathed.
She was similarly unfit like Haruno with pathetic limbs and invisible muscles. If anything, she'd gotten even more stereotypically 'beautiful' over the time, or maybe it just looked so when the nasty expression was gone.
Her chakra, on the other hand... had tripled. It wasn't much compared to Naruto, and she was probably just catching up, but he could sense the skyrocket of spiritual energy within her. Additionally she had control as fine as his. Even chakra capacity aside, that was pretty impressive. Haruno's had fallen a bit short because Genjutsu don't require that much control.
The perks of Clan children?
It made him think how much better Yamanaka could've been if she hadn't acted so stupid in Academy. It wasn't like she had no one like Naruto.
He was still turning over his thoughts as he took a seat, facing her.
"Oh, so silent?" Yamanaka mused. "Is this your first time on a date?" Her tone implied that it was a joke, but still, he felt the need to counter it.
"Feels like an interrogation." He muttered nervously, wringing his hands under the table. Naruto was starting to feel a little impatient, and already within half a minute of sitting down, he felt like bolting.
"Well I'm not doing a very good job at coming off friendly then," She murmured. "Okay." Yamanaka narrowed her eyes as she seemed to come to a conclusion. "Let's make this place an 'Honest Place'. I'm not gonna bother pulling out some tactics to make you comfortable; you aren't going to try and hide your emotions; I'm going to say what I want to say outright."
Naruto blinked in shock.
"This is our 'safe zone'. When us three are together like this- all alone- we're safe. That means no need for yelling or faking emotions- I'd be able to figure out when you're lying anyway."
"I believe you deserve some things from others and I, and I have things I wish to say, and I'm going to impose on you." Her lips quirked up in a smile. "Do be patient."
There was a sense of distance coming from... the lack of addressing, he realised. She hadn't called him 'Naruto' or anything, and she was mirroring his demeanour.
"Ok, uh sure. I'm fine with that." It felt like she was taking mental notes on him!
"First of all, welcome back." She listed. "Second of all, I want us to start over again. Third of all, I want to apologise for how I've treated you in the past."
Naruto opened his mouth in surprise. What. What the hell? That was so forward! "Uh, there isn't much, um. Need. For all, er, that."
This was too formal! No! Naruto did not like!
"Why not?" Yamanaka's brows then slammed down and Naruto jerked. "Don't tell me you expect to continue dealing with people like past me, or past Sakura?"
"No," Naruto wrinkled his nose. "I just... don't care."
"Oof, that stung." She hissed, rubbing at her hand as if she'd been hit. "Well indulge in me because don't I know how much I have to apologise for. The insulting, the hitting, the ignoring... I'll save you the long-winded speech; your eyes are nearly as sharp as Dad's, so I don't think elaborate apologies would even work. Hah, I hate admitting that I'm wrong, but..."
Yamanaka put both hands on the table and leant forward, eyes meeting his: "I'm so sorry. I've worked to do better, and I'm still working to do better. You don't have to forgive what I've done in the past, but I really don't want to have my past stupidity prevent us from working together in the future."
Oh. Sincerity. Okay. Naruto could sense sincerity in her voice and presence. There wasn't really much to say then. "I forgive you. No harm don-" Inner-Tsunade shot him a glare and he rewound. "Wait. Yes harm done, but I'm being real: don't worry about it. You only hit me cuz Haruno hit me, and you could've done way worse with the insults."
Being a pro-manipulator and all, he'd only seen her do it for good. Her insults had mainly stuck within the 'airheaded, defensive fangirl' zone with 'idiot' or 'moron' or 'ugly'.
"You're an anti-bully, your flowers are pretty, your Clan seems awesome, so why the hell not?"
Having someone as his ally was good- especially if that someone would grow up influencing information flow. He was more like getting lucky here. (Not to mention the pranks he could pull with someone like her on his side-) His inner-Shizune told him it was not the time.
...But then again Shizune had changed into a sword wielding scarier woman, so he wasn't really sure anymore.
Yamanaka paused for a moment, seeming surprised before she grinned, a real thing. "Brilliant. Now that that's aside, I'm sure you know how nosy I am. I'm damned curious about what happened, so why don't we do an info swap? I'll tell you everything juicy going around here, and you give me a run down on your journey."
"No." He made a petulant expression. "I've done enough bartering to know that that is an unfair trade. Have you heard of Kage Bunshin?"
"The Jonin-level technique?" Yamanaka raised her brow. "I knew it. Shika and I tag-teamed that and we both gathered enough evidence to determine what had happened the day you left. You can do Kage Bunshin, huh."
"Mm. It means that there's about a million experiences I'd gone through, and about a million times the amount of information you have." Then he prompted, "'Shika'?" Last time he knew, they hadn't been on that friendly of terms.
"How about one question each. Deal?"
After a beat- "Fine."
"Tsunade-hime's words drove home. Sakura was more obsessed over proving herself than over Sasuke, and I had never really liked him. It turns out that this rivalry and obsession had influenced my life quite a bit, so after fixing that, I fixed relationships with Shika, Chouji, and my Dad."
"Huh. Good for you."
"Circle of close acquaintances? Names only are fine."
"Senju Tsunade, Kato Shizune." She had said 'close'.
"Who gradu- No. ...What are the Genin teams?"
"Team 7: Yamashiro Hanako- now removed, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura under Hatake Kakashi. Team 8: Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino under Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 10: Ino-Shika-Cho under Sarutobi Asuma. A year above us is under Maito Gai: Hyuuga Neji- Hina's older cousin, Rock Lee, Tenten."
Naruto... could not memorise that, but he recognised most of the names, so he should be fine.
"Do you not like it in Konoha?"
"Of course I-er..." Naruto had a weak spot for 'specialised places', he quickly learnt, as lying felt bad. "Of course I don't like it here. It's boring and the people suck. Hokage-jiji called away Baachan, and Shizu-nee followed her there and now I'm alone in this boring place and Haruno talked to me when she obviously did not want to and she turned my bad mood into a worse mood and for god's sake, if you're here to plan to make it a 'worst' mood, please get the hell out."
"...I've done it wrong." Yamanaka immediately stood up, making him go wary. "Let's relocate. Catch some ramen with me, Uzumaki."
"...You're scheming something." He squinted at her. Yamanaka was bribing him and she wasn't bothering to hide it. Naruto... was also falling for it. "Ichiraku."
"My treat."
Naruto felt a smile creep over his face and he slapped at it- Betrayal!
-Ino-
There were two reasons why she had approached Naruto: one, it was an investment, and two, she had made a promise to herself to be a Yamanaka heiress-worthy young woman. But upon scrapping herself of the fantasies, Ino was faced with more and more problems that surrounded herself.
It was hard to skirt around her not so good coping mechanisms, and face all her issues with humiliated determination, but it was working, and so she wasn't going to stop. The only two main issues that she could not entirely solve were Sakura and Naruto.
Ino recognised Sakura's superiority and inferiority complexes and had tried to deal with them. By fixing the latter, the former should resolve by itself. But Sakura turned out to be more reliant on them than Ino had expected and so by constantly boosting up Sakura... she had slowly gained a really touchy system where she was sweet and pretty quiet until something tapped on her past insecurities and her wounded pride would lash out to defend herself.
She gained a... heroine complex, almost. Sakura went out of her way to prove to everyone and herself that she was strong and independent. After the Genin exams, Sakura had kept trying to reach out to her team only to be shot down and avoided. This made her conclude that she had to do everything herself, but by doing everything herself, she was narrowing her own mindset and developing problems that Ino couldn't handle if she wanted to fix herself.
Being around Sakura was mentally draining, yet mentally relieving because she was caring and nice to be around most times; her cooking was also superb. Ino wanted to help Sakura, but she didn't want to risk their friendship or cause both of them to destruct, so she left that ticking bomb... to continue ticking.
Naruto was similarly like a bomb; an unknown one.
Ino could map ahead his changes, but the problem was: most of his developments had been stunted in one way or another, so it really depended on Tsunade's influence to see how he'd become. Ino had prepared for an introverted Naruto, a hateful one, a devious one-
The thing with being a Sannin's student was that it meant drastic changes.
It meant some dirt-poor orphan Namikaze becoming the Yondaime, and another dirt-poor orphan Anko becoming the Anko who constantly took her for impromptu lessons that were more pain, sadomasochism and sex ed than learning.
Naruto had the entire spectrum as a similarly dirt-poor, cognitively inept, mule-headed orphan.
...Speaking of Namikaze-
"Do ya remember me, Teuchi-jii, Ayame-neechan?" Naruto cried dramatically as he struck a pose.
As soon as Naruto'd turned into the Ichiraku stand, his demeanour changed from 'extremely suspicious and on the edge' to 'adorkable and soppy'.
She knew it. Ino could easily slide into her father's study and pick apart little bits of private information. Naruto's repeated requests to eat ramen with Sakura... his apartment... the decently popular ramen store near his place... Ino was shamelessly invading private information and bribing him, and she did not care at all.
The Yamanaka and Nara Clans were intelligence focused which meant bribing, blackmailing, extortion, infiltrating, and seducing with indifference to the individual's self. Unlike with most Clans, these two also commonly turn their tactics onto their allies which brings in therapy, conditioning, and interrogating.
"Oh, Naruto?" The man grinned. "You're back."
"Eh? Naruto?" The other young woman perked up. "Oh look at you- You'd gotten so cool!"
"Of course I did. I knew you two would remember!" He sniffed. "Two deities of Konoha-ttebayo! Just the usual and give me an extra sprinkling of Naruto, will you?"
"Of course! This one's on the house." Teuchi gave him a thumbs up. It was so... warm... compared to how everyone else treated Naruto. Who were these people?
"Lucky for you, Yamanaka-" The address felt like a slap in the face, but she had seen it coming when Naruto addressed Sakura as 'Haruno'; that was why she called him 'Uzumaki' anyway. "You don't have to pay anything then."
"Lucky me." She nodded. "Any recommendations?"
"You aren't on a diet?" Naruto hesitated- a thing he'd been doing many times in their interactions. Naruto practising caution was something Ino was still surprised to see despite her expectations of it.
She offered a small smile. "Is that your question?"
After a pause, he shrugged, "Yeah."
"Same answer as before. It was only my rivalry with Sakura that made me indulge in dieting. Dad was more than relieved when I stopped. So, any recommendations?"
"For you... chicken."
"You heard the kid." Ino inclined her head towards Teuchi. "Why is your hair in a bun?"
Naruto didn't seem to expect that question even though it was one of the obvious changes he had. "I hadn't cut my hair throughout the time and Baachan had pointed out that I looked like a hobo since it's so spiky. I had to tie it up somehow and- well, Tsunade-baachan has two pigtails... Shizu-nee has one ponytail..."
"Mhm." She prompted him to continue.
"So I have a half-ponytail!" He declared as if it made sense.
"That's it?"
"Mm!"
Ino opened her mouth, "Ah... I don't understand. Your turn."
"I don't know what to ask." Naruto shifted uncomfortably. "Name the rumours surrounding me."
"For every one, I ask a question." Ino told him warningly before she hummed in thought. "They aren't very pretty, so brace yourself: you tricked Tsunade-hime into training you, you were trying to escape the Village to run from your crimes, and... everything else was kinda a mish-mash of those two. There was also older ones-"
Kyuubi brat. Demon fox. Devil's spawn. Turns out the Nara's genius son and the sly daughter of the Yamanaka Head could find out a lot when they work together... Too much...
"-Regarding your... birth. They also aren't very pretty."
Shikamaru threw a report that he obviously stole from his dad onto their shared workspace.
"Sakura's already started to study her ass off in psych to figure him out as well." She said without looking up.
"I frankly don't care about dissecting his personality." Shikamaru shrugged. "I'm talking law and politics here; you're the better one out of us for that."
Ino lifted her head up from her book, eyes darting across the pages. "His parents are an S-Ranked secret." She narrowed her eyes.
"It's a bloody stupid move; if his parents were people that had to be hidden, they should've put in fake ones." Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Made me curious. How troublesome. Now I won't be able to sleep right til I work it out. Let's tag-team this, Ino."
Shikamaru returned to the door again, sliding it open before he turned to face her with an assessing stare. "You know, just like how we used to."
"...Sure." She returned a sharp, analytical grin. "Oh I can admit I missed this."
"Ack, that's enough." Naruto winced, looking like he ate something sour. Then he shot her another suspicious look, as if trying to pinpoint when she'd stand up and leave. "You have three."
"Are you stronger than Chuunin?"
Ino's Clan had jumped on her willingness to learn and it turns out, with a passionate father and a manipulative Clan, she and what Chinami had called 'her natural talent' could get very far in terms of progress.
In other words, Ino could sense that he was more dangerous than even some Jonin.
Then he smiled and it was a sharp, dangerous thing. "Definitely." Then he moved back to his ramen and it was like he had turned from a tiger to a kitten.
"Your clothing. It's expensive and different." Two implied questions. Clothing generally sets the first impression of people, and he'd swapped out an ear searing neon orange for this warm, muted, almost gentle colour. It completely flipped his image and Ino wanted to work out what the fuck had changed.
"It's a group theme. Take it or leave it. As for the cost... turns out I have the greatest luck when it comes to gambling. We just swapped out for prettier clothing."
He gambles. Ino inwardly frowned. How? What? Why? Tsunade-hime was known to be the Legendary Sitting Duck, so they might've gone there for her. What questions to ask...
"Feel free to ask for another question, but... what's the relationship between Sasuke and you?"
The speed at which Naruto's expression turned from curious to awkward was near comical. "We don't have a relationship. Urgh. We both had a... connection... I guess it was cuz we're both loners." He then made a sour expression. "But... because of... pride, or something, we didn't become friends. We became rivals. ...One-sided though."
Ino quirked a brow and he looked away.
"Jeez, I don't even know why that bastard..." Naruto paused, most likely trying to find a phrase synonymous to 'chased after me'. "...Yeah." How awkward. "I'm dreading meeting him again." He shivered.
"Oh," She had to fight the shit-eating grin off her face. "Why?"
"We said some cringe-worthy stuff." He muttered, shrinking a bit as he picked on his ramen. "And then I met him again in Wave under an alias."
"What alias?" Ino continued, inwardly 'oh-ho-ho-ing' and how she managed to find something he was willing to speak about.
"Namito." He waved his left hand and Ino was then facing a similar looking boy with different colouring. Side-by-side, Ino could tell the similarities, but it was off-set by the colour theme change with plum-ish purples and ashy blonde hair. "But I'm about 90% sure he knew I was Naruto. Awakened his Sharingan and acted super bastard-y and all that."
"Huh. That sounds like drama on its own."
"Puh-lease." He scoffed. "The entire Wave battle was drama. Didn't Haruno tell you?"
"Most of it, yeah. She also knew you were Namito. She figured it out after overhearing a screaming Hanako."
"...Ahhh snap. What. She knew?" He demanded, bouncing his leg in nervousness. "Then why was she such a bitch when we met again? Who else? What do the other Genin think of me anyway? Have they all changed?"
"That's a big ask." She said idly.
"I'll tell you about the time Baa-chan and I got arrested." He bargained.
"This is juicy." Ino commented before she smiled slyly, twisting up her spiritual chakra-
''Shikamaru. Chouji. Get your arses to Ichiraku.''
''What the hell? Why should I? You don't even like ramen.'' Shikamaru replied without missing a beat, voice taking on a whining edge.
''Don't be a baby! I'm a tough woman- I can take a few sacrifices for the right gossip! ''
''Troublesome. Fine. Naruto's there, right? ''
''Duh. Chouji, what about you? I'm treating.''
''Done.''
Naruto shot her a mildly scared look. "What did you just do?"
She gave a lipped smile, "Spill the tea."
"-And then-"
Shikamaru carefully walked into a half-empty stall with a tower of bowls next to a drastically different looking Naruto and Ino who was still on her first bowl. Chouji trailed behind, more occupied with his chips.
"-She slammed me into the wall and Baachan accidentally uprooted the building and then her brother cut the building in half for some dumb reason. Dumb because the building ended up falling on us if I hadn't blown it into pieces of debris that may or may not have left us with demolished buildings. I felt half my soul leave my body and I swear I thought my head would have flown off right then and there-ttebayo."
What.
"Long story short, after trying to kill each other, we decided: 'hey, why not be friends?' So we're friends."
Excuse him?
"I paid off the damage by miraculously bankrupting a few of the shadier casinos in Lightning's border that the Raikage couldn't be stuffed to handle, Tsunade-baachan has some friendly beef with A-occhan, and Samui-neechan was super chill, so we were let off the hook. It was a win-win."
"What?" Chouji asked.
"What." Shikamaru deadpanned dryly. "Troublesome."
"Another pseudo-sister... How large is your pseudo-family?" Ino asked, a tad exasperatedly.
"Um." Naruto cleared his throat. "Um."
"Ah." She nodded.
"Mhm."
-Naruto-
"N-Naruto-kun." Hinata... Was that Hinata? Her hair was shoulder-length, and since most Hyuugas looked the same, it was only really her demeanour that gave her away. There was only one stutter as well! Improvement! He never got how she kept 'N-N-N-Naruto-kun-ing'; it seemed so annoying to stutter so much.
According to the twin brainiacs, the Hyuuga Clan generally grew their hair according to their strength- some sort of tradition. So Hinata growing out her hair... More improvement!
"Hinata and Sakura started to get along after Wave. Obviously, I stuck my hand in it and helped her fix her depressing self-deprecation. It wasn't all us though; she had improved herself also- probably influenced by Tsunade-hime's presence as well."
"Because she trains even more than she usually did- which was quite a dang lot, FYI- and gained some guts, she's been on a roll with half the Main line, but the Branch line are looking at her warily. Hyuuga Neji, our upperclassman, is getting hissy, so I'm kinda scared for the Exams." Shikamaru added.
"Sakura tried to 'keep Hinata to herself' though." Chouji- surprisingly- continued. "She'd gotten super defensive after she got over Sasuke."
"She probably thought I was meddling." Ino sighed. "That I was stepping in the way of her becoming a 'big girl' and was going to puppet Hina or something. No way I'd do that to such a cute girl."
"So Naruto, you'll have to tread carefully with this year's rookie kunoichis." Chouji shovelled ramen into his mouth.
"Ino wants to drift- for good reasons." Shikamaru darted a look at Naruto that was blatantly warning him not to argue. "Sakura is too oblivious. Hinata is her own person, and apparently no one can see it." He continued flatly. "She's Hyuuga's good little heiress, but also the despicable failure that 'just got it lucky'. She's also Sakura's new project that she wants to complete to feed her own ego. Ino just loves making 'beautiful flowers bloom'. Troublesome females."
"Shut up, Shika."
Naruto hissed through his teeth, speaking up, "You should probably go honest with your friendship with Haruno. She seems a little... disillusioned."
Shikamaru snorted, voice the usual 'casually acidic'. "More like deluded. Stupid and dense."
"Sakura thinks we're still on good terms." Ino frowned disapprovingly. "Might as well keep it that way. She's had a lot on her plate-"
"Very small plate." The Nara coughed.
"-With Hanako and his leg-"
"Lack thereof." Chouji interrupted.
"Christ, Chouji, Shikamaru! Let me speak-"
There was a lot two geniuses under genius Clan Heads could do, he had found.
They had also informed him that Kiba and Shino had more or less remained the same- changing as per expectations. Stronger, more controlled, more confident... They were under Yuuhi Kurenai which Naruto thought was a bad idea for a teacher in terms of specialisation. She was famous for Genjutsus; the hell is she doing on a tracking team?
Naruto had also found out that Haruno was a mess. Not only did this mean that their Jonin Sensei a worse Jonin Sensei, but it also would make Haruno and his future interactions even more awkward. Now that he was leaning towards Team 10, he was slowly putting himself on the other side of Haruno.
Ramen Gods.
He used to think the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were one of the most annoying people, but now it was the opposite.
"Hyuuga." He greeted before adding a belated- "Hinata."- when her face crumbled. Ah, Naruto didn't really know these people, but he would feel bad calling them by their surname. "Shino."
"I am surprised. Why? Because you remembered my name, and because your appearance changed, and because I'm trying to hold back my kikaichu from draining your chakra."
Wow... Had Shino ever spoken so much in such a short amount of time? And regarding his kikaichu... it was most likely because he learnt Sage.
"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Kiba jabbed a thumb at himself.
"Oh, sorry." Naruto turned to the puppy. "Akamaru."
The Inuzuka bristled, and Naruto held back a snicker. No way would he not pick on Kiba even if it broke his 'try and be formal' take on his ex-classmates.
"Hi dog breath. You exist as well. A bad day for your teammates." It would be so fun to to drone out a: 'greetings, Inuzuka', but Naruto had missed the opportunity- maybe later.
"Shut your trap!" Kiba huffed. "And so? What's your deal with the, uh-" He scanned him up and down. "New get up?"
"I've turned 'debt times one hundred' to 'stinking, filthy rich'." He smirked victoriously. "You're lookin' at high quality grade stuff, my man."
"Bleh. One piss from Akamaru, and that goes into the trash." He smirked back, flashing his longer canines. ...Thank god for medical text books because he had been in shock the first time he'd seen them on people (and in Kiri where basically everyone had shark teeth!)
"Well." Naruto inclined his head. "Good to see you. Meetcha at the exams."
"What exams?"
"Kiba." Shino said haltingly. "You're an idiot."
"Hah?!"
"N-Now, let's not get argumentative, Kiba-kun, Shino-kun-"
Naruto continued about his way. Tsunade was taking her sweet time because it had been hours since she left. ...Naruto had no idea that gossiping could be so entertaining though.
Then he saw a kid getting bullied and he was not a man who would stand by and let that happen!...
"...Ahem. Aah... Punching kids is never interesting. Try bigger and stronger." Naruto shrugged half-heartedly as he fought a yawn. "Ramen Gods, do you have a dick so small that you have to punch brats that don't even reach your hip to satisfy your own ego?"
He dropped that kid real quick. Naruto chucked a string of chakra at the child and dragged him to his side before he could hit the ground. "Are you okay?"
"A-Ah! Niichan, you're super cool!"
He acted abashed, "Oh? I am, aren't I? Anyway, scram." Naruto made a shooing motion. "If you antagonised these people, learn to not antagonise people... that you can't beat or escape from." This was the King of Pranksters speaking; who was he to lecture that?
"O-Okay. Thank you! I'll make sure to tell my old man!"
Why should Naruto give a fuck about this brat's old man?
"Chakra strings." The weird puppeteer gasped. "You- How can you do them?"
Naruto stared at him like he was an idiot. "Magic." He replied in a breathy tone.
"Pfft-" The girl besides them snorted. "Kankuro, don't be an idiot. Puppetry may be Suna's speciality, but anyone can learn chakra strings." She then pointed at a rock and drew it to her hand. "See?"
"Super handy." He nodded in agreement. "You're cool. Can I see your fan?"
"Ooh, are you Fuuton natured as well?" She walked towards him, swinging off her fan. "These are super handy. You can bludgeon people with it as well."
"Oof." Naruto winced. "Don't use it against me?"
"Who knows, little boy." She bared her teeth with an exaggerated croon. "I do love the sounds of spines snapping."
"Wah..." He fanned himself, keeping his tone flat and indifferent. "Say too much and I might start fanboying over you. ...Or pissing my pants in fear." She was kinda scary though. She reminded him a bit of Tsunade. "I like befriending people who scare me! Let's be friends and try to kill each other with Fuuton Jutsus!"
"...You're weird." She narrowed her eyes. "...Why not?"
"What." Kankuro said flatly. "Temari-" He sputtered. "He called my dick small!"
"Oh shut up, Kankuro, is he wrong?"
"Excuse me?!"
"Temari. Kankuro." A quiet voice interrupted. "Don't cause trouble."
How dramatically they startled was almost funny. This boy was pretty good at hiding his presence- better than Chuunin even- but Naruto had been hiding from ANBU since he was a brat. Bet.
He slowly turned to face the oh-so-terrifying boy and saw-
"Gasp! It's a redhead. We're brothers now!"
He'd seen a few Suna people, and a few of them had red hair, but that vibrancy was half-Uzumaki-ish!
But he felt a little coil of fear at the lack of anything in his eyes. A blank, dead gaze. He'd never seen that before. Not to mention that chakra was-
"Damned tanuki."
What. Did the fox just speak? Oh no, oh no no- the seal was definitely weakening.
"Gaara..." Temari said nervously. "Of course. Come on. Let's go."
"Are you a Jinchuuriki?" He asked, making Temari shoot him a 'do you want to die?' look.
Kankuro outright hissed- "Are you fucking suicidal? "
With a sand Shunshin that looked ultra badass, Gaara stepped so that they were facing. "...I am."
"Oh that's cool." Naruto offered him a grin and the three of them did a double-take. His seal was fucked up...
"Tanuki's throwing a temper tantrum. What a brat."
What the hell, why is the Kyuubi speaking? Help!
"Are you..." Gaara blinked slowly. "Are you asking me to kill you?"
"No." Naruto explained slowly. Ramen Gods, Gaara was like a kid! Inner-Shizune was demanding the name of the person who raised this kid. "I'm... befriending you..."
"Are you..." He blinked again. "Are you asking me to kill you?"
"Gaara, not here." Temari said pleadingly.
"What? Why not?" Naruto demanded. "He can kill me whenever and wherever- Ack. Shut up, Naruto. I mean, why would he kill me at all?"
Kankuro sent him an incredulous look. "He's oozing bloodlust!"
"What? That lil itch?" Naruto frowned. That was nothing compared to the Kyuubi's natural energy, or even the killing intent Tsunade accidentally lets out when she's annoyed. "Oh right you're Genin. Figures. Anyway, don't bully kids please. Be on your way. Gaara, you better watch out. I'm definitely going to become your first friend."
Gaara blinked again before he winced in what seemed like pain, clutching his love tattoo.
"Migraines hurt." Naruto nodded solemnly as Gaara made low pained noises. "I know, buddy."
"Die!" He snarled in a way that almost made Naruto giggle. It was kinda funny. Then the blonde disappeared just before sand snapped at his heels.
Something was very wrong there, and the Naruto of the past would never stick his hand into that let alone find it fun.
But Naruto was quickly finding out as he met more and more people that he was not anywhere near the 'Naruto of the past'.
"Baachan you took ages." He hissed a second before she flickered beside him. "Where's Shizu-nee?"
"Finding out where to live and all that mess." She waved aside. "I took ages because I thought you might have wanted to catch up with your old fr- classmates." She gave a lipped smile. "So?"
"Team 8- the dog one, Hyuuga one, bug one- are cool. Team 10- the three musketeers- are cool-er. I haven't seen Yamashiro yet because I thought you would come back. I haven't seen Sasuke- thank Ramen Gods- but I saw Haruno and things are going down-down hill with her. I almost feel bad for her."
"Ouch." She hissed. "She could've become great if we took her along."
At that, Naruto gave her a sharp look because as much as he wants to get everyone happy and strong, he does not want someone like Haruno of all people to take Tsunade and Shizune away.
"Well, I've got horrible news for you." Tsunade cleared her throat. "You'll be participating in the Chuunin exams with Uchiha and Haruno under Kakashi."
He took two seconds of silence to comprehend that and the implications of that before he groaned. "Ramen Gods, no."
Notes:
notes:
- The Confrontation between konoha's top and tsunade/shizu/naru will happen laterr.. because back in the letter (chapter 16), naruto is only released from tsunade's custody AFTER the exams.
- kakashi, without a functioning team, would undoubtedly go back and sulk in anbu.
- shikamaru had been cruel and u rnt going to argue w me on that. filler is fuck all and created just to make shikamaru and chouji seem more likeable. in canon, they were both introduced in a negative light. 'shikamaru complains all the time. chouji only knows how to eat.' or smt. i just think that if he doesn't care for someone, he won't bother to mince his words or act polite.-NARUTO INTERACTIONS (sakura)-
- rmb that one time w the spoilt milk incident at the very start of part 1? this is like a mimicry of that.
- sakura and naruto's interaction isn't wholly true. i mean, their beliefs are THEIR BELIEFS. it doesn't mean that they're right, or that they didn't contradict themselves- naruto would definitely not acclimate in a positive way in KONOHA and sakura came in (again) with high expectations and when they fell short (again), she lashed out and relied on guilt tripping (sort of) and poked at sore points to try and justify herself
*if it helps, go back to, like, the very first few chapters and see how sakura treated naruto. there IS namito there, but she couldn't really 'comprehend' how namito existing meant that naruto got better*
- also rmb when inner was introduced: she said she was 'always on [Sakura's] side'. so her silence either means that sakura's fooling herself to the point where she suppresses inner as well, or that she now thought how she truly thinks and her 'true thoughts' are just as dumb as in shippuden where she thought confessing = naruto giving up on sasuke.
- also im digging DEEP in sakura's thoughts- im kinda smearing all her deep inner thoughts out in the open; that's why it sounds so ugly and mean and painfully insecure.
- i'm sorry if you liked sakura's development, but this isn't necessarily unrealistic: naruto and tsunade themselves had mentioned what sakura had said- naruto was suited for combat, was very jittery and couldn't naturally become a medic- sakura's thoughts on becoming a med-nin was just like she had a fever dream of her canon self.
and remember: she has all the IQ, but as shown in canon, basically no EQ. i can't help but think about how DENSE she can be sometimes. she isn't considerate at all throughout the entire series.
"" but Sakura knew what he was actually like: it was just his nature. "" --> rmb, sakura STUDIED naruto's psyche to try and figure out 'what was wrong w him'. she HAD NOT studied namito, so her assumptions are fool-proof in HER pov, but are actually causing her attempts on getting to know him to backfire
"" But Naruto hadn't gone by what he should've [; 'something was wrong' with HIM] "" --> eg, someone NOT sakura would have thought it like: 'But Naruto hadn't gone by what they expected [; he was different/had changed/they were wrong to have thought xyz...].'
her mindset is different, and i've so far shown her positive, or more pathetic aspects of her changed mindset. this is just accentuating the downfalls of it.
(ino's part might have been inconsistent, but i've scrolled back to reread her pov, and i don't think it clashes)
sorry for the long note- it was for just in case.
thanks for reading... idk what comments to expect but fuck me and my nervousness, imma post it and find out tmr DX <33
Chapter 30: the first test
Summary:
notes:
- kakashi pov
- the chuunin exams start
Notes:
notes:
- sorry if this seems repetitive cuz i'd basically commented this when discussing shit in the comments in the last chapter... did that make grammatical sense?also yk what i was stressing abt for... what. the past gazillion chapters? yeah. that hasn't been solved, so uh, fuck this updating schedule ig. im not gonna force out chapters otherwise they might come out not as juicy as the last one or as... idk well planned as the other ones (if there were any chapters well planned :0)
omgAWD GUYS IVE BEEN WRITING DRAFTS FOR THE EPIC SHOUT-DOWNS WHEN THE TENSION BETWEEN TEAM 7 CRACKS AND EXPLODES. im not too sure where to put it tho... i generally wanted it post-chuunin exams, like that hospital fight place, but maybe that's too far down teh line?
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
-Kakashi-
He stared down at the two Genin and one... well, Naruto.
The tension between all three of them were concerning. Naruto was ignoring their entire beings and seemed to barely spare any attention to him. Sakura had brows furrowed as she continuously glanced at Naruto, him, and Sasuke as if she wanted to dissect them.
Sasuke himself seemed the most 'human' out of the three, pressing his forehead against his linked hands and pretending that the stifling silence did not exist.
Kakashi didn't know how to react to seeing Naruto. His appearance had changed, he looked more like Minato, he had a Byakugo which- from memory- was an... S-Ranked seal... Based off what he could tell, Naruto could pass the Chuunin exams with flying colours. Sasuke also could. So could Sakura.
His 'team' was more than well-prepared for the Chuunin exams, so he technically didn't even need to hold this 'meeting' to 'get to know each other'. It was really just Obito's spirit haunting him that prompted this.
It was just a big drama now; Sakura and Naruto had some little spat, Naruto and Sasuke are refusing to acknowledge that their entire everything even happened, Sakura was adamant on remaining completely un-fangirl-like towards Sasuke to defy her past self and now it was Sasuke left being as normal as this team could get.
It had all been fine in Wave... or so Kakashi had believed. He knew that investing in optimism was stupid, yet he'd done it anyway. He couldn't possibly imagine it coming to something like this, and now he could only think: 'why him?'
No one but the Sandaime wanted him to tutor these brats; he was a horrible Sensei and they definitely deserve better. Wave was like a wake up call- Shizune had been correct; he had slacked.
He had not taught any of his Genin.
Kakashi had always directed them towards D-Ranks to hopefully improve their relationships and their general knowledge and skills, but that meant that they didn't get any training in.
When Wave rolled in, he'd failed to acknowledge how much his strength had declined from day-to-day lack of self-care, ignoring his basic human needs and moping, and pushed onwards because he thought 'what was the worst that could happen?' He knew that his Genin were somewhat competent anyway.
But in the Wave mission, he learnt that something was wrong with Sakura's newfound mentality that Kakashi had previously ignored out of spite, Sasuke was more bothered by his ghosts than he expected, and Hanako was deluded.
Hanako should not have gotten his leg cut off.
Hanako was twelve. He was a Genin. He was under Kakashi's care. Kakashi was an S-Rank ninja and his team was the furthest thing from mentally capable and loyal as they could get.
Sans his give-and-take relationship with Ino (a thing Kakashi still has yet to learn about), Sasuke was more distant from Konoha than ever, and he only really cared about Team 7 when it involved him getting stronger. Somehow that interaction with the Hyoton boy was more influential on his mentality than half a decade of Konoha's half-hearted attempt to help.
Sakura was a civilian kunoichi who Kakashi had genuinely expected would quit. Then he had watched with a sense of numb disbelief as she became bloodthirsty- no, that wasn't really right- She became emptier than she already had, hollowing herself out further, and using whatever opportunities she had around her to convince herself she wasn't.
Her desperation.
Her desperation threw a wrench in her everything. Her morals are as skewered as any traumatised shinobi, and her blatant lack of care towards gore and bloodshed made Kakashi think.
Kakashi knew there were too many problems to fix and he was incapable of fixing any of them when he was scarce to cope with his own. The only thing he could do was prepare for next time, and that meant getting them stronger because that was equally as important as the 'teamwork' that Obito's death had him focusing on.
If Hanako was stronger, he wouldn't've gotten maimed.
If Sasuke was stronger, he would've been less distant.
If Sakura was stronger, she wouldn't've lacked the support network she had needed.
And Kakashi knew that he needed to get himself stronger as well. The quickest place for that was ANBU. The Sandaime had looked at him funny for a full minute when he compared it to a 'part-time' until the Chuunin exams, but had ultimately accepted his request.
Because Hanako was bedridden, D-Ranks didn't happen and the pair were obviously happy about it.
Sasuke had awakened his Sharingan and Kakashi could overload him with various Jutsus and greaten his combat speed. Kakashi began to drill ANBU routines into the boy, and he found that his old status as the 'ungifted second Uchiha' was very incorrect as he quickly adapted to Raiton and the harsh training. Comparing him to Itachi was inevitable, and although he was still leagues out of his brother, Sasuke was improving as fast as Itachi had from Kakashi's assumptions.
Sakura had fine control and a brutal disposition that could conjure up the cruellest, most heartlessly efficient scenarios or illusions when given a prompt- even creating new Genjutsus for the Hell Viewing Jutsu was too 'simple' for her; Kakashi didn't know if it was to cope with her own mess, or if she was inherently cruel, but it was a fit for Genjutsu. She blossomed under Kurenai's tutoring, even though it meant that he owed that woman some.
Kiba dealt well under Sakura's steel, and Sakura acknowledged and half-heartedly befriended Shino though he was pretty sure the attempt was superficial given Shino's lack of genuine reception and her quite obvious distaste towards his Aburame condition. Ino had told him that Sakura had admitted that she was curious, but it creeped her out more. The Hyuuga girl though... Kakashi didn't know whether to pity her or not.
What was with these bloody rookie kunoichis?
Ino not being a predictable-fangirl was one thing, Sakura was another, and then Hinata suddenly has this terrifying trait of 'being able to slowly kill you while stammering and blushing'. More importantly, the relations between the three were...
Kakashi could recognise a copied personality when he saw one- hell, he moulded his empty personality after Obito and Rin to patch up the holes they left behind.
When Obito and Rin died, he found his old self to be more faulty and even as he discarded that strict mentality, he found himself to completely lack an individual self. He could only bluff by adopting Obito's habits, and faking Rin's kindness.
If not, he'd be a shell of a man with nothing but bloodthirst running through his mind.
Sakura was relatable like that, though it didn't prevent Kakashi's mild wariness of her.
Swapping out the 'rules and regulations' to 'Sasuke's hot and I want his babies', Sakura similarly lacked an initial individual self. She had been withdrawn and shy before she became a fangirl. After getting rid of that, she had nothing. She tried to be independent and Kakashi hadn't seen it then. He had thought her as annoying and pathetic.
Why did she change? It would be so much easier to dislike her like that.
She moulded herself after her peers, took on Hinata like how Ino had taken on her. Sakura helped out everyone and became a 'perfect child', conforming to both her parents' expectations, as well as the textbook kunoichi. She should've broken from that sky-high standard, but she didn't.
For that, Kakashi could respect her. But would 'breaking' be better? She had seemed to fallen into a pit after Wave, but then she met 'Namito' and found her resolve again. What if she hadn't? Would it have saved her from this cycle of irony that ran in her head?
Sakura coped from her stress and warded off burn outs by sculpting herself as the 'heroine', the 'protagonist'. It was expected of her to be perfect, and 'she was perfect'. She 'had all the good traits' and had just the 'right, likeable flaws' so she wasn't too perfect. She was 'perfectly perfect' because 'if she wasn't perfect, then how did she survive?'
...Obviously these inner musings were all stolen off the Yamanaka. Kakashi had found Ino- despite being a tricky Yamanaka who tried to bait him into therapy- very handy because she would bluntly put complicated things straight.
...Like a reverse Yamanaka because usually they made straight facts complicated. For example, one therapist had told Kakashi that his depression was actually not depression a string of other mental disorders that dragged him into the mud of depression.
Like god, it's easier to say 'Kakashi, you've got depression' rather than 'based off your experiences on the battleground and your history of frontline fighting as a child, you have blah blah and blah-'
Ino seemed to want everything straightforward so that she could 'fix' it. Ino just seemed done with the world's bullshit, and for that, Kakashi could relate. Very handy girl indeed. ...Kakashi didn't know why she wasn't setting Sakura's complicated mess 'straight' though...
Sakura cleared her throat and Kakashi left his ruminating and blinked.
"Uhh... I've, um, called you here today to... gauge each others' strengths. This is important for the Chuunin exams so you know what to expect from each other."
Naruto arched a brow at him as if he couldn't believe he was doing some actual Sensei-ing, but honestly, Kakashi had stolen that off Gai- of all people.
"Okay, fine, but what about Yamashiro?" Naruto cut in.
"...What?" Kakashi blinked. Why would Naruto want to see Hanako?
"Yamashiro Hanako." He repeated impatiently. "Don't tell me you've forgotten him."
"I haven't." He denied a little irritably. Of course he wouldn't! "You know of his condition; that's why you're replacing him. He can't come to a team spar."
"I should meet him... maybe in a few weeks..." Naruto wrinkled his nose, obviously not looking forward to that idea. "You can't just detach him from it like this. Have you even talked to him?"
Not really considering how Hanako seemed to hate his guts with passion.
"...Yeah." Naruto pressed his lips together in a flat voice. Kakashi hadn't even twitched! "I thought so. ...Well frick you, I'm going to be uncooperative and not spar or whatever." Then he narrowed his eyes for a split second, looking like he was trying to prevent his brain from frying. "I've already got a grasp on what Haruno and S- Uchiha are like, fighting style wise, so I'm fine. Yeet, guys."
"...We." Sasuke started abruptly as Naruto made a move to stand.
"Hm?" Naruto raised a brow, making the Uchiha's brow tick as well.
"We." He repeated. "Need to know about your capabilities as well, N-"
-Sasuke-
An accurate word to describe his current predicament would be: fuck.
'Uchiha'? Uchiha? Since when did Naruto speak so... formally? Now what? Sasuke needs to call him 'Uzumaki'?
"Because," He elaborated, "The Chuunin exams may rely on teamwork." Konoha was so gung-ho on that anyway.
"Sasuke-k-" Sakura choked on the honorific. "Sasuke is right, N-" Ah. Same problem. "Sasuke is right. Even if we aren't a proper team-" Kakashi winced slightly. "-It's still preferable that we know the fighting style of each other."
Sasuke would say that he knew how Naruto fought, but times have changed. Naruto was strong. Stronger than him, but Sasuke will not acknowledge that.
Not to mention his presence was manipulated in a way to seem like he'd improved only a little bit- Sasuke was not sold on that; he knew by now that relying on his senses wasn't a good idea.
Naruto was casting him a blatant stare that felt so serious compared to his usual childish glares or petulant pouts that Sasuke felt the need to turn away in discomfort. Sasuke didn't know this Naruto.
More than the jarring gap in strength between the two, Sasuke was more concerned about his new... demeanour.
This Naruto had a sense of distance, of impassiveness, that the Naruto he knew didn't have.
It set him off. It irked him. It was annoying in a way he knew he couldn't fix now.
He now sort of understood Sakura's hesitance and bafflement. Usually Sasuke would discard her opinion just as he would any other fangirl or weak person, but either that girl had caught up to him, or Sasuke was drastically falling behind, because he could... relate to her feelings.
There was a need to shake Naruto's shoulders and ask him to... be like that overly enthusiastic, naïve-but-not, smiling goon. It didn't feel right.
Sasuke could figure out why: Naruto seemed enlightened, somehow- like he knew more about the world, perhaps about himself, and was not lost like Sasuke still was.
Naruto was no longer alone, or excluded, or lacking in a place to call 'home'.
It had always been a thing of Sasuke's to be able to glance at Naruto when he felt distant from the world, and instantly know and relate and calm down because there was someone with him. (Sentiment is weak.)
Like this string that always connected the two of them.
He blinked and the line was now severed.
In a world where society and people were painted in greys and blacks, Naruto was the sun. Had been his sun.
The yellow of sunflowers, the blue of the sky, even that orange that made Sasuke squint when it reflected blaringly in the summer sunlight.
But now, Naruto was just another shade of grey, blue eyes not filled with such light when he looked at Sasuke anymore.
Cold, cold walls.
Just like when Itachi started staring at him like they weren't brothers anymore.
He... felt angry, almost. There was a sense of relief and good for him buried under layers of other thoughts, but he could only focus on this overwhelming sense of panic. Jealousy. Confusion. Unfairness. Anger.
But it...
It... scared him more than that.
The one lifeline of his. The one constant that Sasuke could rely on to remain the same no matter how much he would or could change...
Gone.
Sasuke stared into Naruto's eyes, and Naruto stared right back.
Those eyes were grey.
He broke the contact first, and his nails scraped against his palms.
(Sasuke was falling behind, and once again, he felt himself slowly start to fall into the pit of bleak loneliness.)
-Naruto-
An accurate word to describe his current predicament would be: fuck.
Sasuke might overtake Haruno's status as 'first place on the list of people he does not want to see'.
When he'd arrived at the training field, late with Kakashi, Sasuke had stared at him for a full five seconds before he pressed his face into his clasped hands. Haruno had studiously avoided his gaze before staring at him in this sort of astonished confusion every time she thought he wasn't looking. She was surprisingly quiet, contemplative, and shy... Though his- now favourite- trio had warned him.
Sasuke was similarly quiet, gentle- almost, and compliant. Meek. A meek Sasuke.
A meek Sasuke.
A Sasuke that didn't snap at Naruto, didn't insult or quip, or do anything.
He simply stared, as if looking for something, and Naruto had instinctively clamped down every single thought process and emotion from his face. Naruto would never think to do such a thing in front of Sasuke of all people because Sasuke was never the kind to think other people out.
They always looked when the other wasn't, always glanced before looking away. They would just silently and mutually ignore their private connection and butt heads when they... butted heads.
They never... Not this.
He felt an instinctive urge to step back, literally and metaphorically, when Sasuke stared- glared?- at him, eyes as piercing as his Sharingan. Naruto couldn't even sense his presence because of how well it was controlled, hidden and tucked away from his prying chakra.
"Well fine." Naruto shifted his gaze to Haruno's when Sasuke broke the eye contact. "I believe that Haruno's not a close range fighter- better for support, right?"
"Genjutsu and evasion." She told him, voice strictly professional.
"Thought so. Could you solo a Genin team?" Naruto asked, not letting the doubt slip into his voice.
"Oh." Kakashi let out something like a snort. "Definitely."
Well. What. Okay then.
Naruto mentally filed that away, "Uchiha's most likely Raiton-specialised considering those chakra reserves. I theorise close combat. Most likely assassination-type techniques."
"Hn." Sasuke confirmed. He then gave an exhale that was heavier than usual. "I trained as per ANBU standards and fighting style."
"ANBU?!" Haruno startled, an accusing look shifting towards her Jonin Sensei. "Sasuke is a Genin, Kakashi-sensei!"
Naruto could feel a fight brewing... "Well," He said over Kakashi's mumble reply. "I'm all ranges, so you don't need to worry about my fighting style. I can just slot in wherever. My main go-to's are punching and Kage Bunshin. My Iryo Ninjutsu is reliable, and not as catastrophic as you probably expect. That's all I'm saying."
Haruno paused before she pursed her lips. "Fine then. Be that way."
"We're also all about Chuunin level, so this should be a breeze." Naruto continued with a shrug. "I don't think we need to say much else."
-Chuunin exams-
Naruto made a surveying gesture once they reached the second floor. "Not you guys bullying my friends!"
"Your friends? " A disguised Kotetsu, starting to nervously sweat at the sight of Naruto, taunted. "Friends won't help you in the Chuunin exams, s-stupid rookie."
"Come on," Naruto walked right through the crowd and pulled up the girl with two buns. "Let's go to the bathroom to fix you up. Oi Bushy Brows, and erm, Hyuuga dude, come accompany us."
Sakura traded a 'what the heck' look with Tenten as they were all shuffled towards the next staircase.
Sasuke side-eyed the two 'Genin', noticing how this was also another test. He bit down his old urge to expose them- the stupidity of those other Genin were really grating on his nerves, but at least they were eliminated early on.
"Thanks for the help, guys." Tenten rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as sharp brown eyes observed the hallway.
"It's all good." Sakura smiled amiably. "Konoha ladies stick together, yeah?."
"Oh-" A Genin clad in a green jumpsuit approached her, "Hi. My name is Rock Lee."
"Okay... Mine is Haruno Sakura." She gave a smile that looked like a grimace. "Nice to meet you-"
"The pleasure is all mine!" He gave a thumbs up and his teeth gleamed. "Let's go out together! I'll protect you until you die!"
"...How about frien- No, how about acquaintances?" Sakura suggested with a sweatdrop. She'd rather date Naruto.
"I want to test my skill against the offspring of a genius ninja Clan."
Sakura glanced at the clock, "Don't be ridiculous, Lee-san. There's less than half an hour before the meeting starts."
""This will be over in five minutes."" They both replied.
"Ramen Gods." Naruto rubbed at his head. "Howsabout we do that in the tournament phase?"
They both paused mid-start. "Tournament phase?"
"Yeah. In the tournament phase. Now's not the good time to flash off our tricks."
"The boy is right, Lee!"
"A tortoise spoke?" Sakura raised her brows.
"Geez, you guys are the epitome of adolescence!" An adult version Rock Lee appeared in a... pose. Butt pushed out, arm outstretched, an ok hand sign held in front of an eye.
"I am... lost for words." Sakura whispered. "Th-Thick brows... Thicker brows..."
"Gasp! You must be Hatake Kakashi's rival, Konoha's Blue Beast of Prey, Maito Gai!" Naruto bowed solemnly. "It is my greatest pleasure to meet you, sir!"
"Immune." Tenten whispered, peeking over the balcony railing.
"Not another one." Neji sighed.
"Gasp back with a Springtime full of blazing Youth! " Gai replied in a flicker of movement that Naruto and Sasuke could barely catch. "You must be the Youthful Uzumaki Naruto! The greatest pleasure is mine! How's Kakashi doing?"
"You know Kakashi?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes. His speed was on par with Kakashi's- or perhaps even faster. Naruto called him Kakashi's rival, but Kakashi had never mentioned a 'Gai' before...
"Hehe... As Naruto-kun said, people refer to us as 'Eternal Rivals'. Fifty wins, forty-nine losses..." He smiled and it sparkled even more than Lee's. "I'm stronger than Kakashi."
"Tch, you were hasty, Lee." Neji glanced at him coolly as they entered the exam room. "All about this testing hard work against natural geniuses..."
Lee frowned. "What do you mean?"
"His hands, Lee." Tenten gave a small, nervous smirk. "You two morons have been at it for more than a year, but have you ever thought of a natural genius that works just as hard as 'geniuses of hard work'?"
"Sasuke-kun's hands were as battered as yours." Gai narrowed his eyes even as his smile widened. "Truly a Youthful student."
"Yah~" Ino slid a hand over Naruto's shoulder. "Hello there Sasuke-kyun, Sakura-chan. Naruto-baka's here as well."
Sasuke rolled his eyes exasperatedly while Naruto promptly threw her over his shoulder. Ino landed with a dainty tap, not the slightest bit ruffled.
"Ino," Sakura grinned. "I'm totally gonna smash you out of the water."
"Could say the same, girlie."
"Ah. You guys are taking this stupid test as well?" Shikamaru sighed lazily. "Don't die, I guess..."
"Mm." Chouji half-heartedly agreed.
"Yoo-hoo!" Kiba stalked over, Akamaru perched on his head. "Found you."
"H-Hello, Ino-chan, Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san, Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun." Hinata mumbled out in one go.
"Well well, so everyone's assembled. Seems like all nine of us rookies are taking the test." Kiba turned to Naruto, baring his teeth. "Let's see how far we all get."
"Go eat some dog food." Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Too soon, Kiba."
"Hey, you guys should be more quiet." A grey-haired young man walked over to them, hand on hip. "You're fresh out of the Academy, right? Screaming like school girls... Jeez, this isn't a picnic."
Ino arched a brow, "Damn. Kiba, did you shit in his breakfast?" "-Don't be a bitch, Ino-" He howled back. "-Well yeah? Who do you think you are?"
"Kabuto." He promptly replied. "Instead of that, why don't you look behind you?" No one did. "...Those guys glaring at you are from Ame. They have short tempers, so I recommend you be more-"
"Wow, I'm wheezing." Naruto slapped Ino's shoulder with a cackle. "Can you imagine a ninja with a short temper?"
"They'll tots die early." Ino chuckled maliciously.
"Oh no, don't be mean, Ino." Naruto continued his high-pitched laughter. "They might throw a little fit, and then no one would be happy."
"Of course- we wouldn't like it if they soiled their nappies."
Shikamaru groaned as the two blondes continued to 'oh-hoh-hoh' their way through it. He turned to Sasuke, "First time?"
The Uchiha nodded his head and after some hesitation, he offered a hand on his shoulder as support.
"Kabuto-san, right?" Sakura asked. "Is this your second time?"
"Nope... My seventh." Kabuto explained. "The exam's held twice a year so this is my fourth year."
"You know a lot about the exams then."
"Seventh..." Naruto pretended to muse. "Wow. Impressive-"
Ino's careful expression didn't crack. "-How pathetic someone could be."
"Yeah, man, that's sorta humiliating." Kiba clapped Kabuto on the arm. "I... admire how you can tough through it."
"It's not like you to be sympathetic." Shino deadpanned. "But I understand why you said that. Why? Because you must be relating to his pitiful mockeries of an achievement."
Then he pulled out those cards and Kabuto became less of a joke and more- the nine rookies glanced at each other- a suspicious threat.
"A paper test." Naruto cleared his throat. "Well... I'm screwed."
"Naruto-kun..." Hinata gave a small smile. "Let's do our best."
"Yeah!" He smiled. Even if the questions were too hard for him, he could always cheat.
Yep, Naruto definitely could not bother working these questions out. With a careful sideways glance, he realised that Hinata was meticulously working out every individual question. She must have realised that it was a test to see how people could gather information...
Then on her paper wrote- 'homework practice'- and Naruto had to try and not laugh. Then Hinata- with them balls- switched their papers in the blink of an eye and copied down the answers on his sheet before Naruto took the opportunity to write his name in the empty box that Hinata hadn't filled in. He erased the 'homework practice' part and drew a thumbs up next to it.
That would be two points deducted for her, but that wasn't much. The thing about competing was really just a bluff in the first place: the true deal would lie in the final, hidden question.
''So?'' Ino sat cross-legged in their mindscape.
''Troublesome.'' Shikamaru sighed. ''The last question will mostly likely be a do or die question. I guess just stay seated and let them do their thing.''
''Argh, I should've expected it from Ibiki-san.'' Ino groaned. ''Who do you think I should warn?''
''None of them.'' Chouji cracked open a yawn. ''They'll all be fine.''
"To the sixty who remain, I congratulate you on passing the first test!"
Notes:
notes:
- for the purpose of being consistent (in my opinion), sasuke's speed will be somewhat on par with naruto's IF naruto doesn't use more chakra than usual/uses sage mode etc. also, sasuke knows more jutsu than naruto, but naruto is more flexible with the few (per element) that he mastered
- 'ungifted second Uchiha' --> sasuke's best known as the 'last Uchiha' but before that, he would've been the 'naive' baby bro of itachi, the gOd prodigy.
- you may ask... HOW THE FUCK KAKASHI KNOW ALL THAT PERSONAL SHIT?! well, anbu. professional stalker. understand?
fun fact: hinata calls sasuke 'sasuke-san' because she's lowkey scared of him.this chapter was short, but rip im busy asf.
Chapter 31: forest of death
Notes:
sorry for the late late chapter :0 i sorta fell flat with all my... yk. motivation. i wont say im back now, because i've learnt that promising that doesnt exactly help. lols. i'll write when i want; it was for that reason why i started writing in the first place and i think i've lost sight of that haha
hope tis a good read XD <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Practically speaking, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were a really good team.
Of Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, all three were covered. Dynamic wise, Sasuke would be the one-strike 'assassin', Naruto would be the tank, and Sakura would provide the middle ground for covering and filling in the gaps, refining the movements of the other two if needed. Their skills blended into each other easily, but not so much so that they would be weaker when missing one.
But emotionally speaking, it was different.
Sasuke was nervous and uncertain- an emotion that set alarms in his head, and made his mind restless and irritated. Sakura's mind was in turmoil, clashing against her usual indifferent yet efficient processes. Naruto was in some 'uncharacteristic' phase of spite and frigidness where, in the stark contrast between his 'Safe Zone' and this Village, the ugliest parts of his mind reared like a threatened snake, a bristling animal.
They try though?
Although it was a stifling silence that not one of them enjoyed, Naruto often broke it by offering a suggestion, and they'd comply, if only to keep their matters tentatively passive. Eventually, the other two gave their own input. A question about Naruto's Bunshin whereabouts, a statement about which teams to target...
"You've been anxious." Sakura blurted out after Naruto abruptly stopped them and handed them prepared seals with various uses. "Ever since that woman appeared."
Naruto resisted to snark about how there were many women there as he knew which one she was talking about. "Are you not? She literally picked up the kunai using her tongue. Her tongue. That is the grossest of gross-ttebayo."
Sasuke glanced at the boy doubtfully, knowing that that by itself, at least, wouldn't cause such a prolonged reaction of discomfort. "The proctor was startled by a Genin."
"Oh," Sakura wondered in surprise. "No wonder that set me off; Anko-san is a Tokubetsu Jonin, so how on earth did she get snuck up on by a Genin?"
Naruto nodded in agreement before he chose his next words carefully- "It's understandable that it slipped your mind; the death contract and bloodlust thrown around was pretty distracting."
"You mean to say that you're surprised I'm not pissing my pants." Sakura frowned, quietly muttering- "I'm- You don't- You don't know me. And I don't... know you."
"...Yeah." Naruto then paused, glancing around and latching onto an escape to this conversation that was veering on too 'not-professional'. "Be right back."
As soon as he flickered out of the clearing, two foreign Genin leapt towards the remaining two, looking like they instantly regretted the decision when they heard their teammate's cut off scream and a dull thwack. Before they could even land besides Sasuke and Sakura, a flurry of shuriken pinned them onto the tree, and their eyes glazed over a second later as a Genjutsu was cast.
Naruto flickered besides them with an unconscious form dragged behind him. "...Soooo," He stared down at the enemy team, then at the scrolls they had- Luck was on their side because it was the one they needed. "Um. We're basically done?"
"Hn." Sasuke agreed.
"Sweet, let's sprint back to the tower, and get it over with." Naruto had indeed felt anxious ever since he sensed that malicious chakra of that Kusagakure woman. If she even was that. He hardly wanted to stick around. He sealed both of the scrolls, and leapt into the trees without further ado. He quickly realised that while Sasuke could keep up with him in terms of speed, Sakura could not.
"I'm slowing us down." Sakura pointed out with a wince. "You two go ahead."
"That's a stupid idea." Naruto instantly refuted.
She scowled. "You think I can't handle myself?!" They all paused before Sakura returned to the unspoken rule of speaking neutrally. "It would be a waste of time. I can't Shunshin either."
"Could you Henge into an object?" Naruto asked, glancing back before nearly hitting into a tree.
"As in the physical transformation..." Sakura furrowed her brows. "I suppose... yes... I... could. It would just take a lot of my chakra; I don't have much of physical energy."
"If we get to the tower, you'll have more time to recover. Just do it." Never mind that Naruto's clones could actually just carry her. He felt mildly guilty for letting his personal thoughts get in his way, but it would make everything even more awkward.
Two facts abated those thoughts: one was that, using Sage Mode, he could give her chakra anyway, and the second one was that he knew they were being chased, and by someone powerful. Speed was priority.
Naruto thinned his lips nervously; the clones he'd sent out had dispelled in an instant just moments ago- barely able to engage, or even gather information before they 'died'. He felt a gnawing discomfort at withholding the information, but not only did he not know whether their enemy could overhear, he also didn't know, and couldn't predict what to expect from them.
Could Naruto still 'trust'?
As much as he'd changed, Naruto logically knew that everyone else had as well. It was... weird to think that Sasuke also had; he had always been... just there. The same. He fluctuated in emotions, some days with a darker edge to his demeanour than usual, but now he was cooler, calmer. He was something that Naruto had to face to understand again, and did he have the guts to do that? Naruto had never really worked alongside with Sasuke like this, and he would usually jump at this chance without care for possible backlashes because he'd have an 'innate' trust for him, but he wasn't sure now; he didn't think betting on it was the best idea.
(Not to mention the urge to jump in front of them overrode many of his other instincts.)
He could've expected to rely on Sakura's level-headedness, but she was at odds with him as well, and might go out of her way to ignore his warning. She might think of it as a taunt. (Everything Naruto said was a taunt to her, an insult, something that pushes against her, so it's only given that she would retaliate no matter how stupid and immature and-) Naruto didn't get what Sakura wanted, and if he couldn't understand someone, he couldn't work with them.
("Don't ever try to forget that rat's name, Naruto. Never forget those who wronged you." "I could never forget anyway." ) Mizuki's appeared before him, cruel smirk flashing in his vision as he closed his eyes for a moment too long. He still remembers those words- "I'm saying I lied to you, Kyuubi boy-"
He shuts his mouth, and belatedly realised that of all his travels, he hadn't really once trusted someone. Not the way he used to.
Not anymore.
He knows he should be glad for the revelation- now he was a 'true shinobi'... or whatever his younger self would've awed with a comically serious tone- but he could only feel melancholy. He didn't feel right anymore, having these doubts. Of all his life was unstable, his blatant stubbornness had been one of the things that stayed the same, kept him sane.
He still had it though- his stubbornness- but only once he was willing to commit to something.
(He could hold his grip like a vice, but now he was less eager to even reach to grab on.)
Naruto stilled on a branch and Sasuke stumbled on the next step, glancing back with a furrowed brow. "Sasuke," He said, voice precariously tight.
The Uchiha swallowed and frowned, "What?"
"Can you keep up?"
"Nintai," He hears in his mind. Chakra flashed throughout his entire body, focusing on his legs. "Is tree walking, but put into use. You focus too much chakra in a place on your body- What does it do?"
"Explode outwards."
"No, it just explodes. Internally and externally. With Nintai, you only need the external force. This means you need to direct the flow of it automatically. On top of that, you'll need to layer your chakra over your muscles and skin and bones and whatnot to act as a deflection. Instead of half the power going internally and half externally, apart from the chakra for protection, everything is going BOOM outside."
"That... sounds hard."
"That," She mimicked his tone. "Is just the basics of it. You're going to learn how to maintain it. Keep that 'explosion' trapped within your body until you want it to burst."
Sasuke smirked and Naruto knew he had his answer.
In a loud CRACK the branch he'd paused on exploded into bits of splintered woods, and he adjusted to the sudden air pressure, deftly avoiding the trees. His presence was now like a beacon in the dark, but then again, he was the least vulnerable when people were targeting him.
He passed Sasuke in a matter of milliseconds, barely catching his wide-eyed surprise before he had to dodge another trunk.
Then, to Naruto's mild surprise (not much, though, because he always knew, had that expectation because Sasuke was his rival ), Sasuke's presence crackled like lightning and he flickered to his side not moments later.
He felt an excited grin stretch over his face. Tsunade had told him that his regular speed was that of a seasoned Chuunin. His speed with chakra techniques were on par with some Jonin. His speed with Sage could contend against Elite Jonin.
And Sasuke was keeping up.
Between himself and Sasuke, they were both desirable people in terms of power. Him being an Uzumaki Jinchuuriki, and Sasuke being of the Uchiha Clan with his Dojutsu.
However, his mother was apparently a 'well-guarded' secret, and stealing a Jinchuuriki meant war. Not to mention... "What did he even want? Your teammate, I mean."
They managed a few kilometres before Naruto felt a shift in the atmosphere and he instantly leapt to Sasuke, moulding his chakra into a wider and less offensive form before he pushed the boy away, sending him flying from the gentle blow.
Chakra barrelled towards him, carving trunks and tearing branches, and Naruto lifted both arms towards it as if attempting to block the invisible force. Fuuton met with his calls and he threw the wind right back, pushing with all his might, causing a little resistance, before it all dissipated.
Naruto stumbled forward from the sudden collapse of pressure. That attack... It could have blown an entire five hundred metres of trees away.
There were two types of shinobi who would dare such flamboyance on an entering move: idiots, or extremely strong enemies who could afford it.
It had taken far too much of Naruto's chakra for that to be cancelled out, and that wind had most likely been an off-hand move. He gnawed on the corner of his lip, feeling nervous sweat bead on his nape.
He should run, but...
"Oh, Orochimaru? Well, he wanted to learn aaall the Jutsu in the world. I remember Fugaku was always wary around him because Orochimaru had shown a creepy amount of interest in his son, Itachi. The Sharingan, you know, was what Orochimaru always envied."
But what if he was targeting Sasuke?
Meanwhile, Sasuke could only react to dodge the branches in his path. ...The path that he was thrown towards. After a second of shock, he quickly used ninja wire to slow down and halt himself. He'd been tossed pretty far away...
That being said, how did Naruto even become so strong? With his Sharingan activated, he could sense the strange chakra flow within Naruto's body. What he did reminded Sasuke of his failed attempts at tree walking. That, but refined.
Even without elemental manipulation, it challenged his own Jutsu, Lightning Step, which was a chakra-taxing, energy-draining and complex technique that he spend a full week pouring over to make work.
Lightning Step was a glorified version of Shunshin. All his on-hand, or 'active' chakra would be converted to lightning- but 'passive' or 'dormant' lightning if that even made sense- and with every 'flash' he wanted to make, like a lightning bolt, it would crack and his speed and reflexes would bring out the most his body could offer.
'It was good,' He'd always think with a hint of self-pride, 'Because this was a type of technique that couldn't really be 'stolen'.'
It was just a basic Jutsu, and the effectiveness depended on the user's chakra reserves, control, and physical condition. Sasuke could use it because he could control his lightning easily, and his eyesight would never be dampened because he had the Sharingan. It was chakra-costing, but he had large reserves as a pureblood Uchiha, and even while chakra-costing, it wasn't as bad as Chidori as it wasn't so offensive.
Unlike that gust of wind... It was the combination of control, speed, and power. It looked chaotic, but there'd been hundreds of miniature wind scythes within it.
He headed back without a second thought.
That wasn't a Genin level attack; it wasn't even Chuunin! Sasuke honestly doubted whether or not Kakashi could pull that move. To use such a bold yet intricate move first thing, their opponent was someone they shouldn't face. And Naruto was still there.
More importantly... this presence.
He neared the two in less than a few seconds, and it didn't look like he'd missed anything. There was a woman leaning casually against the tree, as if waiting for him to catch up. Naruto's hands were hovering over his pouches like he didn't know whether to attack or retreat.
This presence.
It flared, like in greeting, as Sasuke appeared, and it felt like a tangible hand around his throat.
Promising death- not only that, but torture and suffering and agony. Killing intent, dripping with malice and an unhinged curiosity tinged with sadism, like a cat staring down at mice.
Neither of them even had to say anything as they bolted.
"One thing you have to take in count of, Sasuke," Kakashi stared down at him. "Is that the Chuunin exam is... an exam."
He scoffed.
"Now don't scoff at your poor teacher!" He tutted, waggling his finger. "I know- cuz I'd never been able to beat- er, train it out of you- that you're a fight-happy kid that's always raring to go at everyone 'worth the fight'. You can't do that in the exam. You can't do that when you're on a mission. In some ways, kid, you really are just a child."
Sasuke stared at him in undisguised disdain. "What." He did acknowledge those words underneath his face of pure disgust though; Kakashi garnered enough respect for that.
"If something's off, you don't fight. You run. If someone taunts you, don't give in. If someone pries for information, don't flaunt."
"I don't-"
"Yes, you do." The Jonin deadpanned. "...And most importantly..." His voice turned hard and serious-
"You never ever show your Dojutsu."
"What?!" Sasuke hissed. "That's-"
"'Insane'." Kakashi mimicked. "'Absurd. Ridiculous! It's offensive to your very prestigious Clan and you would betray your family honour by hiding the pride of...' blah blah. Am I right?"
Sasuke didn't manage to summon a reply.
"Well let me ask you, Sasuke," Kakashi continued in a cruel, but not uncaring way. " What Clan?"
He gritted his teeth, fingers fisting in his lap. It was always this same truth that haunted him: the Clan existed within him, but only within him.
"The Hyuuga can do as Hyuuga like- Clans can do as Clans like, but you-"
In this real, disgusting world, the Uchiha Clan were nothing but rows of gravestones.
"You're alone in this, Sasuke."
The Jonin had the decency to soften his voice, but it somehow made the Uchiha boy feel worse.
"You've seen my eye- Do you know how many people want that? Covet the Three Great Dojutsu? You're young and vulnerable- You're strong, but not at all."
"I'm strong for a Genin." He said tentatively, not afraid, but afraid to say anything more lest Kakashi take it as another opportunity to humble him.
"You're strong for a Chuunin." Kakashi added, making Sasuke fall silent again. "But so what? You've got to be doubly safe. You have to admit, Sasuke, that that mon on your shirt is doing no one any good. It makes you a target, it's your burden, it's your cage."
He wondered when Kakashi had become another person- the second, the third considering Haku (yet another invisible wound, throbbing in his chest)- that understood him. Even if it was somewhat.
(But he's seen Kakashi- Kakashi had let him watch him- standing in front of the memorial stone for longer than Sasuke's patience could bear.)
"...I know." And the admission hurts worse than a twisted knife in his stomach.
"So trust me on this." Kakashi reached into his flak jacket and pulled out two mirroring seals.
"...This is for you!" Then his serious expression turned into his casual and pretentious one. The cringeworthy one. Sasuke's swirling ruminations abated slightly at that as the urge to punch his face dulled his other emotions.
"And it's a very important present, seeing as how I had to weasel it out of Konoha's only Fuuinjutsu master."
"How quick in fleeing..." The woman called as she followed them at a seemingly leisurely pace. "This will be more fun than I expected."
And then she appeared right in front of them, both arms outstretched. Naruto dodged in time with a well-placed jab to her joint, but Sasuke was within her grasp, fingers wrapped around his throat.
"S-So fast." He stammered without thinking. The only person who rivalled that speed was... Tsunade?! This person was-
"Snake."
"Ooh, quick one, are we?" The woman crooned before she obligingly dropped Sasuke when he broke her elbow in a snap.
"Quick and vicious." She smirked before with another crack, she righted her arm. "I'll have to retaliate now... Let's fight-"
Her finger dug into her face, one of them pulling downwards from her eyelid.
"With our lives on the line."
Killing intent crashed over the two of them, making Naruto shudder, limbs turning numb, mouth drying, vision tunnelling- He glanced to his side and saw Sasuke in a similar predicament, frozen in horror-
As their eyes met, Naruto snapped out of his trance and released a wave of raw chakra in defence, noticing how the Uchiha beside him untensed slightly at the barrier. He reached over, arm shaking, and gripped onto his forearm.
'Focus.'
Naruto knew he could withstand this: he had the embodiment of hatred and malice in his stomach, and Tsunade casually released killing intent on a day-to-day basis. He had resistance. He could move.
But Sasuke looked haunted. His eyes were distant and murky like he wasn't there, and Naruto didn't want to know whether or not he was visiting his past.
Chakra flashed on his hand, and he knew- somewhere in the back of his mind that he shouldn't- but a deep, blue enveloped his palm, seeping into Sasuke's. It was like twisting his chakra, the physical-spiritual energy ratio, the moulding of a shape, like fitting a jigsaw puzzle-
And their chakras touch.
"Foolish little brother-" Naruto hears an unfamiliar voice, thundering loud despite how it was a hushed whisper, intimate in a frigid way.
Intent, malicious intent, raised goosebumps over his limbs but he didn't know whether it was from the night's harsh cold or from that voice, that wrong demeanour, the man who was not his brother-
He smells iron and tastes bile in his mouth. And those eyes, cold and narrowed, glowing with the Sharingan's piercing red. There was a lift to his voice, the rasp that sounded familiar-
'Uchiha Itachi,' Naruto thinks in shame and horror and guilt.
Because he could feel this agonising emotion, even if it was for a drawn out millisecond-
-The jolt of chakra was enough to jerk Sasuke back into action. They moved quickly across the branches, both of them calculating how far the tower was even with shaky limbs, and burning remorse.
Naruto double-checked that Sakura- as a pink rock- was still in his pouch before he raised one hand for the Kage Bunshin seal. In this panic, he could scarcely trust no-hand seals, and he was surprised that he could even transfer his pure chakra in this state in the first place.
A dozen of his clones appeared in a plume of smoke, and in greater panic, he latched onto Sasuke's anything to make sure neither of them disappeared within it. Six were instantly killed and Naruto shuddered in horror- He didn't even know how they died.
The clones created more and Naruto drew up his chakra to create a hundred, shooting loud and messy Ninjutsu, one after the other. Wind whipped at their hair, invisible blades carving up their surroundings. The woman continued, and his breath halted in his throat.
Distance. That one word ran in his mind. Create distance. Distance. Distance.
Otherwise he'll be murdered, beaten easily. He could never stand a chance against Tsunade anyway. Punches were one thing, but stab wounds would take too long to heal.
"Hm? I thought I'd told you already: Orochimaru's the one that can use swords. Not me. I mean, I'm good at everything, but-"
He missed his step, and Sasuke grabbed onto his shoulder.
His chakra levels were not as high as he'd liked. They weren't nearly as high enough to fight off this-
"Naruto, you-" Sasuke swore and glanced at him anxiously. Then his other hand reached over and... slapped him over his head. "Focus, unless you want to die."
It made Naruto chuckle a strained and strangled chuckle. He felt pathetic for being so nervous as to hinder them both. Another hundred Bunshin burst towards the enemy, even as they all individually felt the same hesitance and fear as Naruto himself did. He made a snapping motion at Sasuke and he instantly understood, ducking his head as he braced for the huge explosion.
Bunshin Daibakuha.
He sensed Sasuke let out a longer exhale than usual and he tossed him a look- "Don't let your guard down," Naruto smiled. "Unless you want to die."
It felt like that damned woman was on his heels, and though Naruto had a pretty good suspicion, he didn't know what exactly she wanted. Once he ensured that Sasuke was close, Naruto fumbled for a flare, latching onto the first red one and letting it shoot up into the air.
He heard a scoff of annoyance before pain erupted into his abdomen, and he hissed in pain, the shout of "Naruto!" muffled for a moment.
He sent a damned flare. Now, he could only hope that ninjas knew how to do their job.
Sword still in his gut, he summoned chakra in his hand, building as much as he could- until his fist sparked blue. "But be careful when using Nintai, Naruto, because if your control slips, and your body isn't defended..."
Then many things happened at once. He slammed it forward in a prediction of where the woman's head was. Halfway through the motion, she twisted the blade inside of him, causing his chakra to yank back into the area to try and defend it. Air snapped at the sudden movement, rustling leaves. And then his arm exploded in pain-
"Half the gathered chakra will destroy your own body."
-Blood erupted from his capillaries, turning it an ugly shade of reds and purples. He grunted out in pain, wincing.
Naruto blinked away the bleariness in his eyes, taking a sharp inhale when he saw that the woman had just stretched her neck out of the way. Gross gross gross- Even so, there was a scrape down the side of her head, hair sliced from the shockwave of his attack.
He felt his mind race after that: dominant hand was gone unless he'd be willing to risk severe damage, he couldn't move much from the stab wound, Nintai was limited because his chakra was clustered around his injuries, he couldn't heal because the woman could kill him before he even started, opening Gates or Tenketsu wouldn't work with his damaged body, Sage M-
"Naruto," Sasuke said sharply before he, gaze not leaving the woman, gestured to the sky. Then Naruto realised that the flare was... not there.
Genjutsu. Area of effect Genjutsu. He pulsed their chakra at once, but it didn't even budge. Alarmed, Naruto stared at Sasuke, knowing that he had the Sharingan. Even so, he shook his head once, eyes wide. Naruto's lips pressed into a thin line; luckily, that explosion was too big to not catch suspicion. It should be a good enough 'flare'.
The blade was removed abruptly, causing him to flinch at the wet slick of his blood. "Don't even bother trying." The woman said with a bemused curl to her lips before she caught Sasuke's hurled weapons between her fingers.
He snarled, chakra fluctuating before the weapons exploded.
"Where?" Sasuke demanded, spinning to face him.
"Liwer." Naruto croaked in response to his narrow-eyed assessment. "Tha'-asshole found de best place ta stab me. God dan' g-it."
"You have a healing factor." He said, almost accusingly because that wound did not appear to be healing, before adding- "The brain or the heart would be better though. Instant kill. I thought you were the one who trained with a medical ninja, not me."
"Her goal was ta inflig pain. Suh' o' a bitch." He pursed his lips angrily. "That felt like a stab in ma heart." Before Sasuke could reply again, Naruto coughed, spitting a glob of blood in the vague direction of the woman's burnt corpse. "Er... Twas a clone."
Never mind. Not a corpse then.
He activated his Sharingan. Naruto was right.
Shit.
He jumped away just in time to see the woman swipe at him. Sasuke dodged, and the bark behind him splintered from the brush. Sasuke let his instincts take over as the woman engaged him in a Taijutsu bout, arms shooting as fast as Kakashi's, blows stronger than Kakashi's. Yet, strong as she was, he still knew that it wasn't her best.
Her face was still blankly amused, too carefree. It irked him.
He knew now that her target was him then, or his eyes. She didn't seem to care about Naruto anymore since he couldn't move optimally enough to pose a threat.
Well, the woman was wrong.
Naruto appeared in a flurry of wind, fighting stance flipped as he hooked his left, sending her body crashing into the tree bark, neck twisting abnormally. A clean kill.
"Not dead." Naruto told him, blood dribbling down his chin, even as the woman's head flopped over, about three-quarters way beheaded.
"What do you mean 'not'-" Sasuke let out a yell as a snake suddenly slithered towards him at an impossibly fast speed. He spat out a fireball like it was his knee-jerk reaction and watched with vindictive glee as it burnt alive. He frowned when it disappeared in a plume of smoke.
For Naruto, this was case closed.
This woman was Orochimaru.
Now all Naruto could feel was 'oh my fucking no'. He knew just how large the gap was between Sannin and Genin- Well, Sannin and anyone else, really.
"Shit." Naruto's mind began to race again, but this time, it wasn't for productive reasons...
'Gah! I'm so confused! What do I call her-he now? He? She? Why did he-she disguise as a girl, I mean, sure it's effective and I do it sometimes, but is he-she like, wanting to be female or something- who knows, I mean people can express their suppressed thoughts in a variety of ways. Everything's a mess, and I don't even know how to mentally call him-her, especially since 'Orochimaru' is such a mouthful, I mean I can't call Orochimaru 'Orochimaru' every single time I refer to Orochimaru, but do I call Orochimaru a 'he' or a 'her' or a 'they' would be better, but that would imply there's plural and plural Orochimaru's would make me freak out even MORE-"
"Naruto." Sasuke hissed. "Shut. Up."
He wasn't talking though?!
"Okay!" He yelped as he then realised that Sasuke was setting up an elaborate wire trap while Orochimaru crawled slowly out of another snake mouth. Sasuke moved forward to throw a variety of weapons with attached wire towards the man.
'Has he no fear?!' Naruto thought with wild excitement and awe, even as he then breathed out, letting Nature Energy creep into his body. With Sage Mode, he had a chance.
(But Nature Energy kept slipping from his grasp. To have Sage Mode meant to be at perfect balance.)
Panic seized his throat, and he could only see Tsunade's equal in front of him.
Tsunade's teammate.
Sasuke was all sorts of glad that Kakashi was his teacher.
(He used to take walks or train after nightmares. One night, Kakashi intercepted him.)
The woman's- Well, Orochimaru's killing intent had been cruel, targeting a specific memory- "Foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me-"
It had cut off near instantly as chakra, like fire that didn't hurt, spread around him, casting off the chill of That Night. Naruto's palm, clammy and gross but warm, had radiated a strange energy that made him feel alive again.
He felt emotions, heard thoughts, and sensed the 'I'm sorry' echoing within his presence. Confusion, anger, fear. Hesitance, caution, exhaustion. Not-Naruto-like, his mind would determine. But as Sakura had said- This Naruto was different.
But he felt Naruto's chakra- burning and blinding and he then realised that Naruto hadn't become cold and grey. His chakra was like a bonfire, like a torch in the dark- It filled his reserves, and healed his small bruises.
Sasuke could move.
And then-
"I get it." Kakashi stood across from him, eyeing his bloodied knuckles. "You feel restless and jittery. Like you're useless and too weak. Don't look at me accusingly- You really think I'm here to stop you? You really think, after all this time, I would suddenly preach good mental practices? I can teach you how to turn that into productivity."
Sasuke could fight.
"You've ever heard of battle calm?" He asked. "Someone brings up your Clan, or your brother, or makes you think of the Massacre, and you snap like a rubber band and start spitting fireballs like a Fury."
He bared his teeth in a graceless snarl. "He's not my brother-"
He could think with clarity, move with fluidity, and think without emotions. He triggered the seal behind both his ears that cast a high-level Genjutsu over his eyes as his Sharingan activated.
"Whenever something or someone makes you think of Uchiha Itachi, don't erupt, don't explode, don't rage." Kakashi's hand crackled with electricity. "Be cold, and strike like lightning."
(He'd had a hard time adjusting to the feeling of a seal for his- his- eyes, but Kakashi had asked- near pleaded, judging by his usual 'requesting' tone, and Sasuke had complied.)
"You know, Kakashi." Sasuke had once said, sometimes after the vague story of 'Uchiha Obito', many chunks missing as he struggled to maintain his façade. "You're a damn hypocrite."
Kakashi's eyes had crinkled in a smile as he replied- "At least you know."
Because everything of Kakashi's reputation was putting a target on his back. 'Friend-killer', 'Kakashi of the Sharingan'. It was like he wanted the distaste cast his way. (Sasuke had felt indignant.)
(...On his behalf.)
He didn't understand why Naruto was freaking out, but perhaps it was due to his complete idolisation of Tsunade. Orochimaru was similarly a Sannin, and in some ways, Sasuke got how one's mentors could feel like gods.
He always faced Kakashi with the mindset of 'I'll try, but I'll lose', and no matter how many traps he set, or how many attacks he fired that- in his mind- could beat anyone, he'd never had the genuine thought of beating Kakashi.
He was wondering why Naruto hadn't snarked about the 'useless, wasteful opening attack that did nothing but waste their chakra' or how 'inefficient toying with their opponent was after firing a flare'.
(Sasuke wondered how he was able to predict this new version of Naruto already.)
It was because Naruto had a suspicion, and that had dulled his fighting abilities. He watched as Orochimaru raised an impressed brow, unfazed as Sasuke sent Raiton down the ninja wire, shocking him enough so that a burnt flesh smell started to waft around him. He quickly glanced at Naruto who was still in his position.
Four... five... How much longer did he need?
"Naruto!" He called out and the blonde's eyes snapped open, a frustrated look coming over his face. "Do you trust me?"
"...What?" Naruto squinted at him for what felt like ages before he quietly replied, "I- I guess. Yeah."
"Trust me." Naruto had said in the Land of Waves, and Sasuke hadn't even realised he'd followed it- taken it as comfort until he asked that then.
"Then do your thing and don't worry about this freak. I could handle him by myself at this point." He smirked, but he knew, and Naruto knew, that Sasuke was bluffing.
"What, are you scared, Usuratonkachi?"
Orochimaru was still suffering the effects of the attack, and Sasuke knew that he should capitalise it, but somehow... it felt like getting Naruto off his arse was better time spent.
Naruto grinned shakily. "Not on your life, bastard."
All lies, this conversation. Lies and bluffs and blowing hot air.
Yet his words had never felt more right, more true.
And with that, Sasuke turned back to the Sannin, not letting any discomfort show as his skin began to peel, head twitching with a buzz every few moments. "It's honestly disappointing that you hadn't awakened your Dojutsu..."
Sasuke felt a flash of defensive anger, but he quelled it, focusing on the grim satisfaction as he realised- 'So the Genjutsu works even on Sannin.'
"But to be able to fight so efficiently even without the Sharingan... It must be something of your Clan that puts you on another level. Although you have not your Sharingan, just as I thought..."
A golden eye met his and Sasuke felt a chill run down his spine.
"I want you..."
"You would understand. Sharingan, and all. People will only ever want you for your eyes-"
"Fucking-" Naruto appeared next to Orochimaru, leg blurring in a kick. "Creep! "
There was a loud crack as Orochimaru's head snapped... off. Sasuke felt himself still; he could only catch Naruto's movements because of his advanced Sharingan. The colour of his chakra was different- It was something else- added?
Sasuke's instincts blared red as he dove to the side, avoiding another snake leaping towards him. To his utter disgust, Orochimaru appeared inside of the snake's mouth, covered in its saliva... again. He had an off-putting smile on his face, and a gleam in his eye that made Sasuke wary.
"Tsunade's brawn had certainly passed on." He chuckled, flickering towards Naruto and driving his fist into his abdomen, visible chakra flaring over it. Sasuke could only watch, unable to react in time. That speed... Orochimaru took a casual step away from him as the boy then collapsed onto his hands and knees, swaying from that single strike.
"Hmmm... Tenketsu manipulation, I bet for the Gates too, Nintai isn't too shabby... Sage Mode as well." Orochimaru crouched down. "Naruto, you have all these techniques, and even Iryo Ninjutsu to battle the backlashes."
The Sannin stared, bemused, down at Naruto. Sasuke still could not move, all too aware of how easy it was for Orochimaru to kill Naruto.
"But you have something that could combat that easily as well as strengthen you even further. You've been ignoring your finest card..." He hummed. "And I so despise people who don't delve into these matters. What are you avoiding it for? Come on, use its chakra."
Naruto let out a weak wheeze, voice strained. "I won't ever use that power."
"Hoh?" Orochimaru's face twisted into a sneer. "You're another one of those? Ignoring power because it touches your soul- 'It hurt the Village, so I won't use it'?"
Sasuke's eyes darted between the two, not knowing what to say. Naruto's chakra was slowly slipping away, like it was... being drained? But it didn't appear to go to Orochimaru, so-
"No, you're wrong." Naruto lifted his head and grinned with bloodied teeth. "That's actually the least of my problems. If it's a weapon I can use, I'll use it."
Then the grin transitioned into a baring of teeth. "Thing is: that isn't a weapon. I will not use that power because it does not belong to me. It does not belong to anyone but themselves."
After a few beats of silence, Orochimaru laughed, the sound curdling Sasuke's blood. The genuine amusement, the hint of satisfaction, but that edge of dark glee-
"What if... you don't have a choice, Naruto?" He said, voice mild before silver flashed and a kunai was driven hilt deep into his chest.
Sasuke's throat seized, eyes wide as he watched the boy slowly sink back into the ground, eyes glazing over. All because he was just standing there- All because Sasuke hadn't moved to help- All because Sasuke was- Sasuke was still too weak and powerless.
What was... that? What just happened? Naruto was... still alive... right?
He didn't want another precious one die before his eyes.
His eyes throbbed in tandem with his heart.
"Oh, what a pity." The man tilted his head to the side, the motion smooth and filled with a grace that he felt as though he could never achieve in a thousand years.
And Sasuke told himself, hollowly, passionately, that he was definitely going to murder the man one day.
"How I do want to play around some more, but I have to leave now. Let me leave you a little going away present-" His neck then elongated and shot towards him at a blinding speed.
Sasuke could move then, but it was still too late.
Sakura hoped, wished so intensely, that that terrifying woman- man- Orochimaru- the Sannin wouldn't notice her, but he paused before leaving, and she swore she could feel his eyes on her.
"I suppose it's up to you now, little girl."
She almost blacked out from terror.
A long minute after the Sannin disappeared, Sakura flickered out to land on a branch, Henge dispelling. Even within the muted, distant haze of being an inanimate object, she had still sensed fear like she never had.
Sakura didn't remember to hold her hair back as she retched onto the tree bark, the sound of her vomit hitting the forest ground muffled behind the ringing of her ears.
She could really only hear one thing: 'I'm sorry I left you two out of this, but I guess... it's up to you now-'
That sudden rush of chakra, radiant, brilliant in the ways Sakura's wasn't, and would never be.
'I'm counting on you, Sakura.'
And Sakura swore, with such intensity that tears burned at her eyes, that she would not let Naruto down.
She would not let either of her teammates down.
''That jerk...'' He muttered, ''He pierced a major artery. Near my heart! Now what am I going to do...''
Naruto's feet sloshed in the dirty water. This was the 'black void' he'd skirted around every time he meditated. He walked slowly, letting his feet drag as he followed the tunnels. Eerie. Dark. Lonely. Caged.
''Hi... Kyuubi.''
Notes:
notes:
- *naruto reg speed = chuunin ...i honestly dont get power scaling, but im gonna go w what should be realistic. his regular speed could match part 1 lee's fifth gate, but i think i'd be selling the jonin out short if i said he was jonin at base. i'd place neji at low chuunin, lee at top genin (not including gates), and naruto would be high level chuunin in terms of base speed.
rmb that im not making him too op or too underrated because speed doesnt equal stamina and every other quality. also, naruto still has the body of a prepubescent boy so im not gonna say he's elite jonin already. maybe in terms of speed because sage mode is op.
also naruto isn't at the peak of his abilities- eg, his nintai exploded on himself - in the future, maybe he could learn better control and so he could pump more power into his attacks... etc.- sasuke said he spent a week creating a jutsu. lmaooooooo, that's super short, but he thinks it's long.
- jiraiya is probably in the outskirts of konoha, but not within it yet. in canon, i think he was called in because of orochimaru's appearance, but in this fic, he'd been called back by hiruzen because jiraiya had planned on taking naruto as an apprentice when he was 13, but he doesn't know that tsunade already had, and hiruzen plans on telling him after the exams.
- i didn't detail sasuke's wire trap because i didn't even get what he was doing in canon, but it's basically the same thing, but instead of doing fire, he's doing lightning.
- orochimaru doesn't call naruto 'naruto-kun' in this because of the butterfly effects, but im not gonna expand since it's mostly irrelevant
sakura.
naruto MADE sakura stay out of the match simply because he didnt believe that the three of them could defeat orochimaru. she was, basically, his back up. ik this decision might make them all ooc or smt, but if i'd gotten sakura involved, i would've severely maimed her or most likely killed her.
she knew why naruto made her stay out of the match and so she gritted her teeth and bore it.
im not sure whether or not i'd written this chapter well but... hope it was a good read?
*i am very intensely praying that there weren't many errors in this fic. i'm so sleepy rn even tho it's like... six pm... i can't even reread this bullshit*
Chapter 32: please and thank you
Notes:
note:
- the kyuubi's seal actsa bit differently here. im going to say that it's because of the tweaking tsunade/naruto did to strengthen it or whatever. now, two requirements must be fulfilled for naruto to use the kyuubi's chakra: the kyuubi's willingness, and naruto's willingness.his normal chakra system is already mingled a bit with the kyuubi's so otherwise naruto's general healing will just be boosted. for his current injury, mild body enhancements/healing wont put a dent in that damage lmao
edit: hmmmmmmmMMMM hey guys, what i wrote in this chapter might be repetitive but its cuz i dont... update that frequently so i forgot whether or not i covered their character study bits... hehe...
edit: HOLY SHIT GUYS, MY BAD FOR UPDATING LATE AND I ALR KNOW ALL YOU SWEETHEARTS WILL BE NICE IN THE COMMENTS, BUT IM APOLOGISING FOR MY OWN SAKE.
anyway, i got covid and that made my life screech to a halt and yeah, it took a while to build it back into my schedule, so im yeah. glad to be back, honestly, with 99% of my readers giving me more serotonin than good chocolate. <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Sakura's skin felt raw.
She'd honed her chakra control finely, so she was awfully conscious of the foreign chakra within her system. As well as that... peculiar energy that didn't belong within the physical or spiritual categories. Nature Energy.
It made her feel powerful, but it also made her scared. Like a farmer hiding stashes of gold, she knew not when to use it, or when to save it. In the end, she went chakra-less to move both boys into wherever had the semblance of safety.
She knew better than to assume anywhere in this dastardly forest was safe.
Now she loathed herself for never plunging headfast into survival. She knew first aid. She knew the theory, the version on paper- but this?! With two unconscious and injured boys- one with a strange marking, and the other that should be dead, Sakura was lost. She thudded her head back against the hollow tree trunk.
She felt tendrils of her old anxiety- thought lost, but never truly- return again, seizing her heart, and with it- her will.
It goes without saying, though, that Sakura wouldn't give up.
'Will' was a very strange term to her, and she usually considered it as an umbrella over various factors that motivate her. But here she realised that, for her at least- that was incorrect.
She felt no personal motive. The only things she felt were physical- pain, adrenaline, the chemical hormones that screamed at this mess in her stead- and mental- obligation, responsibility...
'I'm counting on you, Sakura.'
...Guilt.
Her worries, and feelings of not enough had always been enough to drive her, so it would drive her now. The very fact that Naruto said her given name was enough to hammer home just how serious this was.
Kakashi was correct: Sakura was pathetic. (And perhaps it was fear- No, it definitely was fear- that scrubbed down all the dirty layers of deceit she slathered herself in.)
She lacked the energy to fool herself let alone anyone else- not that there was anyone conscious to be fooled. She could only tremble, and think all the things she ignored. It had taken such willpower to do so- she now realised- because the very thought of putting up an 'independent, strong heroine' front felt exhausting to her.
Kakashi... was correct. That thought resonated within her. It wasn't like she thought they lied, but- But it was easy to twist around their words. To acknowledge, but not understand. To nod in agreement, but not ponder about it later.
"You're either fit, or unfit. Spurring on this signature 'Will of Fire' is more... superficial than people portray it; no one 'fears' death until they're on the verge of."
The words sounded so right at the moment. The Will of Fire didn't change a damned thing. It was just survival- selfish survival. She hid to survive- not even thinking about wanting to fight, or save anyone, or even make an opening. It was all against the textbook descriptions of what shinobi were like!
She was unfit in the way that- as much power or bloated pride she could muster- she would always fall flat when the stakes where truly raised. When she actually met death, her confidence that held felt so true just suddenly disappeared like air in her grasp. In times of emergency, she could only be the support- the voice that cries, the hands that push, the one who sits on the sidelines and pretends that she was just as involved...
Unfit.
She was too scared to be alone against a monster.
Unfit.
Her will was flimsy. Her personal motivation was all but inexistent. She was always like this- reliant on others. ...But it worked, didn't it? And her feelings, her ego, her everything didn't matter as long as she does what other people want. What they need. She did it for others and said it was for herself. She did things for herself and said it was for others. Dishonesty, and delusion.
But what did that matter? And what did Haruno Sakura matter? So long as she completed her duty, everything else could be ignored.
Duty came first. Everything else must come second.
(Pathetic. Unfit. Delusional.)
That was what it meant to be a shinobi.
(She gritted her teeth. Now she remembered why she wanted to quit being a fucking shinobi.)
It took her fifteen minutes to sort, organise, and prepare everything needed. Surprisingly enough to her, Sasuke's condition was more worrisome than Naruto's.
He had a bad fever, and seemed to be in a very unstable condition whilst Naruto seemed... static. He didn't appear asleep, or dead- almost like... in deep meditation. His wounds weren't bleeding, but weren't healing either, and he barely twitched. Maybe he was already dying?
Sakura sat herself down into a seiza besides the two, head bowed as she pushed her mind to think back to the fight. It was all muddied and clouded within her haze of fear, but information was top priority. There was something- Right! Naruto had a healing factor, according to Sasuke (and she was going to ignore how he knew and she didn't-) so that meant that Naruto wasn't dead. Maybe.
And Orochimaru had mentioned 'its chakra'. Naruto's 'finest card'. What did that mean? Naruto had plentiful chakra as he did already- he had... He had more?! But he doesn't use it because... its... a person? 'Anyone but themselves'... Some sort of entity? Orochimaru had said the chakra hurt the Village, so what-
She shook her head, cutting off her next thought. She should think about Orochimaru. She had to gather her thoughts so that presenting a report would be easier (but she'd have to stay alive to do that, and Sakura wasn't very confident that she wou-). Sannin. The obvious. Snake summons. More obvious. Could not be killed?! Or was it- They'd said it was a clone?
Would he come back?
No. She could sense the amount of chakra he'd emanated, and any decent sensor would be able to even outside of the forest. By now, they surely would've caught up to him.
The Sharingan. He wanted Sasuke's eyes, but he didn't know they were awakened already. But Orochimaru still wanted Sasuke. Well, he was the Last Uchiha, so he was the reason they were targeted.
He had said he was going to give Sasuke a 'present', but she hadn't been able to pinpoint what it was- what happened. She could only hear Sasuke crying out.
Sakura shivered, beginning to feel drowsy as her adrenaline dwindled down.
Then... a squirrel.
She frowned as it neared. Why would it just run into the clearing like that? It wasn't like there were any nuts around her. It was all hard dirt and a hollow tree trunk. Whatever. It worked for her.
She cast it under a Genjutsu, drawing it towards her. Sakura grabbed at a kunai before she threw it down, pinning the squirrel's back to the ground. Head shots would've been ideal, but her hands were still shaking.
As she began to reach for it, she noticed a tag on it- An explosion tag! Sakura slammed her fist onto the ground, creating a hasty, messy dirt dome that smothered the squirrel. After the dull boom erupted, she let it topple, revealing mangled, burnt bits of it. She winced, wrinkling her nose and dusting her hands.
"Wow," A snide voice sounded as three Genin walked out from within the shadows. Sakura's eyes widened; she hadn't sensed them! She cursed at herself- she shouldn't have let her guard down. "So even a spoilt ninja-wannabe like you can detect these traps."
The one who spoke was the girl, the one with the bandaged face appeared to be the leader... It was fine. Even in this state, Sakura was stronger than average Genin; she could take them.
"Wake up Uchiha Sasuke." The bandaged one said. "We want to fight him."
Sasuke? And so soon after Orochimaru had... Might as well gamble-
"I... I know that Orochimaru is behind this." They instantly froze, eyes sharpening onto her. Bingo. "Tell me, and I'll let you fight him: what does he want? What's the weird mark on Sasuke?"
"...The mark..." One murmured.
"Well, who knows what he is thinking."
'Yeah, keep talking.' She thought, more than a little worried now. If they were Orochimaru's minions, then it was a high chance that they were stronger than their rank described. Sakura twitched her fingers minutely, preparing a layered Genjutsu over them. She had all this chakra- Nature Energy even, so she was just going to out and do it.
"Well, after hearing that, we can't let her go." The third member smirked. Snake... Rat... Nearly done- "I'll kill this girl, and then I'll kill that Sasuke guy."
She took inspiration to the Hyuuga Clan's brutality, borrowed Ino's mind piercing accuracy, and honed it under Kurenai's tutoring. -Tiger.
Demonic Immersion: Domain
Chakra spread over her surroundings like a fine sheet. Layers upon layers, targeting individual senses- sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, balance, pain- Sakura resisted the urge to click her tongue; she couldn't go so far as to warp their perception of time yet.
Well. This should be more than enough.
Demonic Immersion: Domain is a chakra-taxing Jutsu she created so her mind could manage all the Demonic Illusion techniques she'd learnt all under one category. It's a layered Genjutsu, with each layer targeting a specific sense which creates a morbidly accurate depiction of reality.
Sakura felt it bind, and not a single one of them noticed. She fought a patronising grin off her face, fingers splayed over her face to cover her expression. She let out a sigh, "You know... protein is good for building lean muscles."
"This girl's a joke-" The kunoichi scoffed, "I really h-"
"And it looked pretty plump as well..." Sakura continued.
"...Pfft, huh?! What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Shut up for a change, Kin. Stop wasting our time and kil-"
"Listen to me!" Sakura snapped. "I wanted to eat that fucking squirrel! "
They stilled then snorted, "What the fuck?"
'Hm,' Sakura then thought with a calming inhale. What sort of nightmare should she create? Oh right: what was the result of the poll she'd conducted? The one about whether one'd rather die by flames or by hypothermia?
"Burn," She bared her teeth and almost cackled at the expressions on their faces. "I want to eat some good lean meats."
The sun descended onto them, bathing them in flames, and- then, she thought, the fight was already over.
''...I've been watching you. You and that Uchiha fighting against the snake.''
Naruto squinted at the silhouette, thinking- 'Man, the Kyuubi better not be a racist or something. That tone of his when he said 'Uchiha' really put me off for a se-'
''Racist?'' The Kyuubi scoffed mockingly. ''Don't worry; I hate all you meatbags in a similar way. The Uchiha and the Uzumaki are just Clans I personally... have history with.''
''...Is that not racism- Ahem. I mean, like- shit! This is a pseudo-mindscape as well. You can hear my thoughts?''
''I can read your memories, brat.''
''Well... Well shit.'' Naruto then fell silent, feeling slightly awkward. He didn't know what to feel about the Kyuubi; his parents and half the Village died because of him, but that's already passed, and the Kyuubi is now unable to hurt anyone. He just wanted... to live his life separate of the Kyuubi, and he didn't wish to use its power, but-
But Sasuke.
He'd used the last of his Sage Mode powers to transfer chakra to Haruno, but Sasuke was still there, fighting alone against Orochimaru. His panic went up a notch and he began to fumble nervously, closing his eyes to return-
''Don't be a moron.'' The Kyuubi's voice interrupted him. ''You think returning would help? You've been unconscious for longer than you think.''
Naruto frowned, rubbing at his forehead, upset. ''So it's too late? Well, better late than never.'' He then huffed defiantly. ''Haruno would keep Sasuke alive. I believe it.''
''...You really are stupid.'' The fox sighed, the exhale sending a large gust of air clouding around him. Naruto wrinkled his nose at both that and the Kyuubi's words.
''Excuse you?''
''Stupid, I said. Damaged arm, pierced liver, severed artery... You'll pass out very quickly if you leave- possibly fall into a coma.''
''Oh. Why... Why isn't your power healing me as fast anymore?''
As if contemplating whether or not to reply, the Kyuubi paused. ''Most of my powers are bound by seals that are influenced by your emotions.''
And Naruto did not want to use the Kyuubi's chakra like this.
''C-Can you...'' Naruto's hands fisted besides him as his eyes lowered. ''Can you help me?''
The Kyuubi's expression turned mocking and sharp, ''Why should I?''
''Because you'll die if I die.'' He returned bluntly. His body sealed the Kyuubi. His body was the seal. With it broken, Naruto would die, but conversely, if he died, whatever was sealed within him would also perish.
''But that's... That's why you will. Why you have to.''
Naruto was well aware that the Kyuubi could choose to wait until the very last second to heal his body if he wanted. The Kyuubi could choose to wait until it was too late.
''I... dislike that.'' He said quietly. ''That you and I both can dictate each others lives.''
''Then rip off that seal.'' He snarled. ''Release me.''
Naruto inhaled softly, then scoff-laughed loudly, taking on a bratty tone-
''Come on, I've lived my entire life hated and feared by what was meant to be my family for the purpose of keeping you here. I've lived my entire life carrying that burden, and I'm not about to just let you go like this. That's right! This is spite, ya know?! I'm being stubborn!''
It would justify the Village's fear, for one, and it would make all of Naruto's- past and present- struggles be in vain. Naruto wasn't the type to just give up like that.
''Then there's the thing where you'll attack, and you'll be attacked back. Or vice versa.''
The Kyuubi would most likely be caught again because of its importance in politics, and Naruto would never entrust the pain from his life onto another person. It might even be doubled- He was hated for his association with the Kyuubi, but he was feared because his mother, the previous Jinchuuriki, had shown that even the greatest seals could be broken. If he let the Kyuubi go, his father and the next Jinchuuriki would have to take all the following suffering.
''But most importantly, I have things to do... people to live for. Tsunade-baachan would go all emo and depressed again... She can't even use the necklace as an excuse this time, and would- I don't know, think the 'curse' is herself. Shizu-nee would be sad and will have to deal with that...''
Naruto gave a pained grin, ''And dying anyway... I- I don't want to die. I want to live.''
Those words tasted strange on his tongue.
'I want' as if he could ever dare to voice his opinions. And 'to live' was a privilege that he apparently didn't have. He could only exist. He could only survive, day after day, grey and lifeless.
''So...''
He'd realised something: Naruto didn't know when exactly, but the Kyuubi and him... There wasn't one that had less rights than the other. Not in this situation. Both of them caged up, both of them hated-
The difference was that the Kyuubi had a history, and Naruto did not, but there was no point to indulge in 'what-if's or the past because who was Naruto to care for history right now? He had to look forwards, always look forwards. He had stumbled once, glanced back with fearful eyes, and it had taken three pairs of arms to haul him back.
Right now, they were both at each other's mercy.
After meeting and talking with Katsuyu, he wondered. He watched animals kill each other, and wondered what would happen if he stopped them. He wondered what humans thought of the Bijuu, and what the Bijuu thought of humans.
What was redemption? What needed to be redeemed? Who had the right to dictate something like that?
And what did it mean to kill exactly? What did it mean to hate? Did killing for vengeance mean a progression in human lives and their emotions? Was it like a food chain where by stopping one, everything else would collapse on each other? Was this survival or was this blind hate? Was the cycle bad? Was the cycle unnecessary?
He didn't know. He couldn't for sure.
But something that he found a definite answer to was- Should it be stopped?
And he'd found, over and over, that yes.
Of course the cycle of hatred should be stopped. Even if it would fall and crash onto him if he tried, he'd bloody try all the same! Even if stopping it meant having to rebuild everything from bottom up, he'd still do it!
And it wasn't for this 'Village' or for anyone else, really. It was for himself because he couldn't just do nothing, and being selfish just made him feel like shit. It was for himself because-
Because he hated that!
It took a long time to pinpoint what about his- his entire life he felt uneasy about, but it was simple!
The hate that someone pushed onto him, and the hate he felt that wanted to lash out. He didn't want to be hurt, and he didn't want to hurt. So he'll just stand still and stop it to help himself if no one else was going to.
And it started with this. This Bijuu... and how the Kyuubi took a role in his life just as much as his birth parents did. A beginning of sorts. So if... If Naruto and the Kyuubi, right now, were on equal terms, and Naruto wanted the Kyuubi to help him-
He let his knees collapse underneath him as he sunk into a seiza. Two hands pressed against the floor in front of him.
''Help me.'' His forehead met the cool surface of the water.
''Please.''
Isn't this how it should go?
(Burning red chakra rushed out of the bars in reply.)
He reached out through the bars, lowering his claws over the boy's body, wondering if he'd even twitch.
The boy did not.
Chakra rushed through the bars, flooding the dim yellow lights with dark red, like oozing blood. He watched, and sensed, as the boy's consciousness wavered yet again. His chakra was not always malicious, but it did always have an 'effect'; such was the way with primordial beings and ancient chakra.
At the base, it had simply been 'energy', able to become anything- do anything. Only through the corruption of humanity did he- and all Bijuu- become characterised by emotions or affinities- trivial things that named him as a mindless embodiment of hatred.
So yes, the Kyuubi's chakra could anger, terrify, could make one rage.
But through his chakra, the Bijuu told the boy to sleep instead of anything else, clouding his mind, driving his body into fully focusing on recovery. Being the first Jinchuuriki to be sealed upon birth, their presences were more or less intertwined: manipulating his vessel's body wasn't too hard granted his current mindset.
Rest. He pushed out as much chakra as he could, pressuring the boy so much that it must've been suffocating. He didn't move from his position. Recover.
The boy listened, and-
And Kurama... smiled.
''Rest assured, Uzumaki Naruto.'' He spoke into the quiet. ''I will wake you when the time is right.''
And the fox could've sworn- even though Naruto wasn't meant to have heard him, even though he hadn't meant for Naruto to hear him- that the boy replied-
Thank you.
"Oh, I see." The kunoichi hummed as she poked at her charred stump of an arm. "This is a Genjutsu. Looks like you have something inside of that pretty skull."
"This is nothing." Her teammate scoffed. "Orochimaru-sama put us through stuff way harder than this-"
"Zaku," The bandaged one snapped. "Shut up. And Kin, you should really know better being the Genjutsu specialist out of us three: this is bad. Don't you recognise the complexity of this Genjutsu? It cannot be broken at your level. Pathetic, really."
"You overestimate this chick, Dosu." 'Kin' snickered, quickly covering up her look of humiliation and shock. "Look at that squeaky clean face; boy-chasers like her only last so long in endurance; I bet this is pressing on her chakra reserves. And besides, complex Genjutsu have a toll on the caster's psyche as well."
Sakura scoffed derisively, hiding her surprise at how unfazed they were. "Maybe you two should grow a pair of ears; this 'Dosu' is the only one out of you three that isn't trembling. Your resistance doesn't mean immunity."
"Was that a challenge?" Kin narrowed her eyes. "I'll play your game, sweetie."
"You aren't doing any playing." Sakura shot back. "This master of yours will."
"...Orochimaru-sama?" Zaku snorted loudly, "She's so stupid. I bet we could beat her up in her own Genjutsu." He raised his arms and let out a violent gust of wind that... pushed right through her. "...Oh."
"Idiot!" Kin whispered sharply.
"Let's see... Orochimaru, the snake Sannin, known for his scientific and medical achievements and ambition in obtaining greater knowledge... charged with crime of desertion due to the discovery of his human experimentation projects on Konoha, non-hostile, passive civilians..." Sakura smiled amusedly, pretending to consider.
"They call it the greatest sin, and Orochimaru had done it to Konoha civilians. So I wonder what he'd done-"
The scenery melted, and a lab rose from the ashes. Snakes hissed within the shadows casted by the dim, flickering lights. They were stripped bare, hung from rusting chains with the brown crust of long dried blood. The temperature plummeted as breath became a fog in the air.
"To insignificant gutter rats like you?"
A knife gleamed before it split skin.
Now, all three of them were shaking.
As soon as Naruto processed consciousness, he bolted to sit up straight, chakra erupting wildly as he swung his head side to side.
Never had he ever felt so undefended.
Sasuke was besides him, unconscious, and with an alarmingly weird chakra presence within him, but he was alive. Now for the other-
"Hey, Harun-" Then his eyes widened as he was met with the gory scene of two messily killed Genin and one, badly mutilated, writhing under Sakura, crying and gasping. His lips parted and his inhale didn't seem to gather enough air.
Then the stench of fresh blood hit his nose and Naruto let out a choking sound as he scrambled to stand up, disoriented, stumbling towards the two. Tendons, nerves, arteries-
She knew what she was cutting.
"Oi, Haruno." Naruto stood behind her, staring into their opponent- or rather, her victim's?- terrified eyes over Sakura's head. "What are you-..."
"Oh, Naruto!" Sakura twisted her neck around to stare at him, and the blood clashed against her skin and hair, eyes alight and face flushed. "You're awake!"
The unrecognisable Genin underneath her gurgled, and more blood spurted from where a kunai had dug into their trachea.
"Let me just-" She twisted out her kunai, eliciting a painful, croaked sound from the Genin and stabbed back down through their eye socket, killing them. "Alright. You have perfect timing. Now we can all head towards the tower, and we'll be finished-"
"What about Sasuke?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "He's fine."
"Haruno," Naruto gritted out. "There is something in his chakra system, and his body looks like it's about to crumble into pieces. There is no time to discuss your complex, or your... ineffectual eliminations. Just give me the answer straight."
"I didn't say I wanted to discuss those things." She rolled her eyes again. "Sasuke is fine. He had woken up a bit before you- just after I finished my main attack. The less than good state of these henchmen was reassurance enough to Sasuke that he fell right back asleep."
"Oh," Naruto's eyes slid over the three corpses, then lowered his gaze. He still felt remorse- What sort of individual needed to be killed like that? Was it torture for information? He averted his gaze- Even though it was wrong, it was within the boundaries of the Forest of Death contract; he wasn't about to complain.
"Okay. I'll carry Sasuke- I'm not going to rely too much on chakra, and you carry everything else. How much chakra do you have left?"
"Not much, but it's plenty enough."
Of the second phase, Team 7... passed.
Notes:
notes:
short chap hehe
- yeah. sasuke doesn't exist in this chapter lol
- u might thing sakura's making a comeback... hint: look at everything that happened so far. i also try to restrict her thought process, so you have NO idea what she's thinking WHILE being 'badass'- naruto's beliefs are hard to write down for me, but i hope u get the vibe. he's like selfless in a selfish way. w this mindset, he still would forgive who he forgave in canon because he sorta thinks 'it is what it is' and as long as things are made up for/fixed as best as possible and people change, the past doesn't rly matter.
...and yeah. that's kinda a bad mindset. but i ain't gonna change that abt him :0
Chapter 33: introducing uzumaki naruto
Notes:
okay i've updated because i haven't updated in ages but i was planning on rereading this before continuing to update
PLEASE READ, YALL:
i changed my mind.
i'm thinking about rewriting this.
...well, that was my plan originally. now it's either rewriting it or making it go under heavy editing. (tbh it's nearly the same thing... rewriting is easier and i'd prefer it but i'm not sure readers will like it) and i want to hear yall's opinion.
i need to fix mostly grammar and formatting (chapter length is really inconsistent), japanese vs english etc... ppl might say it don't rly matter but hey, i've always been following my whims around here, so. yeah. i wanna try doing this. :D
BRH was my first big fic that's why i want to finish it but leave it untouched to show progress- in a way. but THAW definitely tackles an uncommon premise, so i want to polish it a little more. i've also exited my hardcore SNS phase and am now finding it hard to slide it in...
i want to take pairings out in a rewrite (or edit) because i feel like those additions aren't necessary, ESPECIALLY considering they're all minors (in this fic, it wasn't even going to happen until later so it's just useless)...
and while the SNS community is pretty big, i'm guessing that it's predominantly female and i want a (larger) male audience as well. obviously i don't want to say the stereotypes or my assumptions r strictly true but it's a fact that some people click away from 'yaoi'.
i'm influenced pretty easily by commenters or whatever- boredom etc. so please do give ur opinion as nicely as possible *cries*
the thing is- i'm planning on finishing BRH first and i'm actively updating other fics as well, so getting actual new chapters out (not editing etc.) will take a long time.
either way, i'll change the title (add: 'under editing' or 'rewritten') and put it in the summary.
(if it's being rewritten, i'll immediately create a new work with the same title.)
(if it's being edited and you want to reread it, it'll be in the a/n's of each chapter.)
without further talk, i give u a chapter, low quality and potentially clunky and inaccurate (since it's been a long while), but a chapter nonetheless. (either way, this will be soon edited/rewritten in the future anyway.)
(if imma be honest, this update was mostly just to give this a/n. rebirth-ing/rereading this fic will probably give me the better motivation.)
i'm terribly sorry for this T^T and i hope yall understand. i would never want to half-ass an update, so it was damned if i do and damned if i don't.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Mother and Father... They didn't have to die.
In the end, if you don't have strength, you can't do anything. Because you didn't have strength... the Clan was wiped out, everyone was killed- No.
No, it was you.
You let them die.
All you did was watch. Helplessly, powerlessly... Weak. You're too weak.
If only-
("What the actual fuck is that rando-ass seal?")
You had the strengt-
("Hmm, we have time now. Can you wake him up now, Naruto?")
Sasuke woke up in an unfamiliar room. He last remembered a warm, but mostly unhinged smile on a bloodied face and the tortured screams of some foreign shinobi. He startled violently and reached for his weapons-
"We've finished it." Naruto interrupted his train of thought, hands hovering defensively in front of himself, but still at ease. His eyes warily tracked his shoulder-neck area. "This phase, I mean. The last one should be a tournament phase."
"You..." They completed it without him. Sasuke was practically useless. He scowled before the movement twinged his neck. Sasuke slapped a hand over it- That burning sensation on his skin. It felt like a parasite. But it felt... addictive. There was a trembling power that coursed through him, unnatural but not... entirely unwanted.
He instantly stomped on that thought though; chasing after power from an unpredictable source was bound to get him into danger.
"FYI, Iruka-sensei came out of those scrolls." Sakura informed him with a steady tone. She looked... calmer than before. He warily scanned her figure for any remnants of blood or gut. She wrinkled her nose. "The main moral of the story was... get smarter if you're lacking in spiritual energy, get stronger if you're lacking in physical. Common sense, honestly. That's how chakra works after all."
"More importantly, I think it's best we rest up and tidy ourselves up." Naruto cut in, voice also bordering professionality. Now that Sasuke was fully lucid he could easily sense the mutually acknowledged tension between his two teammates. "Chuunin exams aren't entirely for promotions; half of its existence is just because of politics."
"Our encounter with Orochimaru would be confidential." Sakura added. "So it's no good if we look all beaten up when we were presumably fighting against Genin. That's just humiliating, cha!"
Sasuke nodded slowly, flexing his fingers. "Hn. How much time are we given?"
"We have time." Naruto answered, eyes sharp as they honed into the mark on his neck. "That seal-"
"It's fine." He cut off. "It's not that bad. I can still continue."
"Okaaay," He said without bothering to hide his doubt. "Well, I've healed all our wounds in the time you were unconscious."
"Even your own?" He asked abruptly, clearly remembering that fatal stab-
Naruto turned away and those oddly confronting blue eyes left him as well. "Yeah. I'm pretty good at what I do."
Sasuke arched a brow, but Naruto ignored his suspicious expression as he went back to wrestling his spiky hair into a hair tie.
"This exam is... a replacement for war among the allied countries."
Naruto caught a surprised glance from both of his teammates and felt a strange feeling of accomplishment along with the annoyance despite himself. There was always something satisfying about being right.
But the Chuunin exams really shouldn't serve that purpose: it could add to tensions if some precious heir had been killed off. The contract was there, of course, but they're flimsier than peace treaties. More importantly- if a country wanted to break the treaty and start a war, the Chuunin exams were a gaping hole in their defences, waiting to be taken advantage of.
He zoned out for the rest of the old man's speech, but pretended to be concentrating. He could sense the Hokage's eyes observing him after all. What was he even doing here? Maybe he was just a clone... but then again he would always wander about the city. It made Naruto wonder whether or not the Hokage actually had lots of paperwork like Tsunade had warned.
...He wondered what Tsunade was doing at this time... Was she going to be permitted to watch his final round?
"Preliminary?" Sakura echoed confusedly next to him. Naruto blinked and noticed the sick looking guy in front of them. He was quite strong despite his appearance.
"Preliminary?" Shikamaru repeated behind him. "Seriously? What's that meant to mean?"
"Yeah, why aren't all the people here allowed to participate in the next phase?"
"Because the first and second test may've been too easy this year. We have a bit too many people remaining."
More like the Genin this year were above average. All the rookies were heirs or someone of importance. Sakura... Well, she proved herself to be just as exceptional, Naruto supposed... Those Sand siblings were definitely above Chuunin level, and Kabuto... he was plain suspicious.
"Um... I'm gonna quit." Kabuto raised his hand with a meek smile.
Naruto wrinkled his nose at the man. Plain suspicious.
Whatever. Naruto could probably beat all of these 'Genin' anyway. He was Tsunade's student. She raised a victor.
"The two participants in the first fight are Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto. Are you ready?"
First up, huh?
Naruto glanced at Kiba. He looked pretty puffed- probably didn't get that much rest. Naruto tipped his head up and grinned. Kiba lowered his head and smirked.
""Yeah.""
Kiba leapt backwards as soon as the sickly looking dude jumped away. The Inuzuka eyed him suspiciously, clearly knowing that he was stronger than he was in the Academy, but left in the dark as to how much he'd improved.
Naruto glanced at the Hokage, then the rest of the Genin and their Jonin Senseis. He needed to display himself nicely- in a way that exceeded expectations, yet prompted intrigue to the true extent of his abilities. He had to show a difference in nature, yet still be charismatic enough to not cause more disgust or annoyance.
The Chuunin exams, after all, were more than just an exam for him. It dictated whether or not he could stay with Tsunade.
Naruto cracked his neck and flushed chakra through his body. A quick take down was best for now. Using basic Taijutsu would give away nothing. The main show had to start in the final phase after all.
As the proctor counted down, he pressed back onto his back leg and let chakra collect there.
"-Begin!"
The word was cut off by a loud, resonant BOOM as Naruto shot forward, tiles caving underfoot. But Kiba- he realised, had been doing the very same, except to retreat backwards. Still too slow. The Inuzuka was moving backwards with Akamaru and he'd crouched down to... assumedly place a tag on the floor.
Too bad Naruto could disable anything a Genin could get their hands on.
In that moment, he caught up to Kiba, spying on the tag- explosive. He knew it.
A normal Genin wouldn't put themselves in such a danger: that was akin to a suicidal move, but Naruto and Kiba used to have the same level of obnoxious recklessness, and that moron would definitely not play safe when the two both knew what a question mark Naruto's strength currently was.
Too bad, too bad. He almost cackled.
Naruto could easily bulldoze through that lousy seal- walk right into it, let it blow up in his face, and simply dust his shoulders, completely uninjured. If he was lucky, maybe Kiba'd knock himself out.
But unfortunately for Naruto, that was too Naruto. 'The old Naruto', at least. His eyes tracked back to where the Hokage was sitting and he pursed his lips. It would sure make him look raggedy and unskilful. But he also didn't want to reveal the level of control he actually had and use chakra strings to disable them so quickly.
At this point in time, despite Naruto's complete distaste for making his brain heat up, only a fraction of a second had passed as he instinctively realised all these things.
He summoned a stronger Kage Bunshin, letting it materialise near the ceiling and switched with it, using chakra to stick to the roof. While the clone smashed into the seal, subtly avoiding the brunt of the damage with its chakra, Kiba- credits to him- didn't even wait before retreating again, taking out something that looked like a Soldier Pill.
Then that was when the credits ended; Kiba spoke, smirking in triumph, "It looks like some things never change, huh, Naruto?" He tossed the pill in his hand, letting it fly high in an arc before catching it.
Naruto, crouching on the roof, felt his face scrunching up in annoyance. His clone was 'struggling' to his feet with a frustrated expression on his face. 100 points for acting, he must say.
He didn't know Genjutsu to mask his scent, but the smoke from the explosion did it well enough; Kiba sure didn't think this through. Even though every human had a distinct scent, the previous phase's environment led everyone to smell nearly the same- if they smelt at all- scentless soap and all that shinobi stuff... The smoke on top of that...
Then again, the single moment of confusion was fine enough; Naruto didn't need any tactics to defeat this Genin. Perhaps Kiba was just unlucky to have him.
He still felt Shikamaru and Ino's eyes on him instantly, along with Sakura's and Sasuke's. Naruto sweatdropped: his teammates got to know him well enough, but two-thirds of Team 10? Really? Geniuses, he silently huffed.
He couldn't tell what Shino was looking at... Chouji was busy eating. Naruto could guess that a large portion of the Genin (who actually cared about the match) gradually figured it out; they were certainly already above the average Genin- this generation.
"-You still wanna become Hokage? Well, if you do, then you've got no chance. You're too reckless." He tutted in a mock-patronising way. Then his smirk sharpened as he tossed the pill one more time, tilting his head up so his mouth could catch it. "And I'm gonna become Hokage."
Then Kiba waited... and waited... for the pill to drop into his mouth. Akamaru finally stopped sniffing aggressively and barked loudly, once. Kiba opened his eyes and glanced around.
The 'struggling' Kage Bunshin had doubled, then quadrupled, then had surrounded him.
"Never mind..." Kiba sighed as he finally noticed the real Naruto standing right behind him. "That's kinda embarrassing..."
"Yeah, not gonna lie." Naruto glanced at the pill, pinched between his index and thumb as he held it up to the light. "These things expensive? Cuz I dunno whether I should taste-test it, destroy it, or keep it so you can have it back afterwards."
"Uh."
Then he and his clones collectively made a fist. "How many me's do you want to fight?" Naruto asked blandly. "Five-on-two is a little unfair. Karma, I guess. Having a Nin-Dog should be illegal in tournaments."
Kiba looked left, right, up, then down for an escape route. The Naruto's began to tap their feet irritably. "So?"
The Inuzuka squinted and glanced down at a whining Akamaru. "Fuck me. What are the chances that you've gone easy?"
Kiba blinked and the clones were all gone. 'Oh sweet mercy,' Passed unbidden through the boy's mind as he blinked again in surprise, snapping around when he felt a finger tap his shoulder.
His face met a fist.
"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"
-A day later-
"Too fucking late with this talk." Tsunade hissed through a humourless grin. They really made her sit and wait while her kid was doing the phases and the stupid prelims. Then again, it was a matter of 'late' or 'more late'.
"I'm willing to become Nuke-Nin if you won't give me Naruto." It sickened her, to talk about Naruto as if he was a thing to be passed around and negotiated over. But these old bags probably would think her too soft and emotional if she brought it up.
"This isn't up for debate, Tsunade." Homura snapped. "I see you don't understand the circumstance you'r-"
"Blah blah blah, do you ever shut up with these empty threats, you senile thing?" Tsunade's eyebrows slammed down in anger. "You've dragged me into this shithole, so at least let me do what I want-"
"Tsunade," Sarutobi sighed. "It's more than just what you want. Stop being a child-"
Tsunade wanted to laugh in his face. All their faces. They patronise her and threaten her and belittle her as if she wasn't strong enough to take all of them on at once and win.
"Three years." Tsunade cut in, raising three fingers. They could squabble and argue, but this was the final deal she was proposing. "Once Naruto hits fifteen, I will bring him back as a full-fledged frontline Med-Nin." That meant completing the Byakugo and high level Iryo Ninjutsu. Three years was plenty of time for Naruto to become stronger than her- than the Hokage.
But they didn't know that.
"Ridiculous." Koharu instantly scoffed. "A Jinchuuriki? And an Uzumaki at that? Unbelievable."
Tsunade stayed silent, brewing with aggravation.
"Koharu is right, Tsunade." Sarutobi added, only furthering her anger. "You haven't gotten to know Naruto yet- he is immature and he can't focus. His control is abysmal and he lacks discipline. Not only is he unsuitable for apprenticeship, he is also completely unable to become a Med Nin."
As if Sarutobi knew Naruto himself.
At those last words, she felt her simmering rage ease at once. An overwhelming sense of condescension- filthy superiority- washed over her. 'Ah right,' She thought with a sneer that was perhaps immature or overly mean of her. 'These fools know nothing about us.'
She only really felt that visceral anger if she truly cared about their opinions after all. But she didn't. They didn't have any right to be talking the way they do.
Tsunade didn't bother to argue, "Fine then."
Sarutobi untensed and started to smile- "That's right, Tsu-"
"But I won't give up. Put in a wager." At the derisive silence, she scoffed, "Humour me."
Sitting Duck. Legendary Sucker.
Naruto had turned all the tables for her. And this time was no exception.
"I'll say you have that training trip to turn him into a Jonin level Med Nin." Homura almost laughed. Koharu smirked- she would say it was harsh but she honestly didn't care (that boy was barely even Genin level).
Tsunade stamped down on her flare of satisfaction and triumph. She'd won already. He was arguably at that level already. Those three years would just be touching up on his experience and maturity, and smoothing out all the corners that they cut in haste.
"Ok," Tsunade agreed amiably, "If he doesn't reach at least that level, I'll devote and surrender my entire life to Konoha's services. What do you say?"
They all halted in stunned silence. The Sannin could read the thought that crossed their minds- 'She was willing to go that far for a mere child?' That's right, she was.
Homura chuckled and the sound made her lip curl in disgust, "Fine then- swear it on your blood."
Sarutobi cast him a small, disappointed look before glancing at Tsunade then startling as he saw the expression on her face.
She snarled a nasty grin. "Easy."
Tsunade held up a fist, tightening it until her chakra enhanced nails drew blood- droplets that turned to rivulets, blood that spilled over her hand and dripped onto the floor. Her eyes were instantly drawn to the crimson.
"I'm fine, Shizune. This is my road to healing."
She hears Dan's ghostly voice- his last words, and the pitter of rain. Tsunade was long used to it though and she was quick to pull herself out of the memory.
"I swear on my blood as a Senju and as an Uzumaki that I will not break my vow." Her voice did not shake, nor waver. Tsunade's chakra, brilliant and powerful, shone around her, shifting the papers and blowing at her hair. "Bind my soul and bind my Will: if Uzumaki Naruto fails to reach the mentioned criteria, my life and my chakra will serve Konohagakure to my dying breath."
Sarutobi, then the other two, quickly recognised the oath: it was a forbidden art. Nowadays, it was chanted as a promise, but not actively used like how it was in the times of early wars. The two advisors looked a lot more serious and their expressions hardened into grim satisfaction. Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, complexion paling the slightest bit.
"This is my oath and this is my blood." Her fist extended forward before it opened to reveal a bloodied palm. "Join hands for this contract, and threat of deceit or betrayal will be none."
"You're... You're serious, Tsunade." Sarutobi stuttered, eyes drawn to the dripping red as Homura sliced open his palm with a chakra enhanced finger, chakra flaring as well.
It looks like that old geezer hadn't forgotten the practice. Even though it died with the Uzumaki Clan, she would've been disappointed if he did forget. There was something memorable and terrifying about this Jutsu after all.
"Uzumaki Forbidden Sealing: Blood Oath Contract." Tsunade smirked as she gripped Homura's hand tightly, his bones creaking under the pressure. Dark red runes crawled over both hands, forming a barbed-wire appearing pattern around each wrist. He was the first to wince and draw away.
"That's all, correct?"
"H-ha-hah..." He laughed shortly, flexing his hand and shooting her a nasty look. "As you wish, Tsunade-hime."
"Exactly," She bared her teeth like the unruly, savage child they saw her as. "Just as I wish."
As soon as she was far enough, a wave of light-headedness and nausea overwhelmed her. She wearily sat down at a random food stall place and sighed. It was harder without Shizune's frantic yet encouraging presence nearby.
(But at this, she decided it was her win.)
-JIraiya-
He was here... for research.
Secretly, he was here for Orochimaru.
But personally? He was here to get give Tsunade a piece of his mind.
"Fuck no." Naruto wrinkled his nose and gave him an up-down that was distinctly Tsunade.
And to see this disrespectful twerp.
"What's with all those conditions and whatnot? You make it sound like I'm meant to be desperate to be with you- that I'm begging for your amazing tutelage." He looked dispassionately down at Jiraiya. (Well, 'up', but boy, did Jiraiya feel small under his judgemental stare.)
"I'll say it for the last time, Jiraiya of the Sannin. Get out of my face. Please." He added, but looking anything but polite.
"Oi! What's with that response?!" He summoned some false bravado, hoping that his superficial flare of annoyance would cover the cold edges of fear inside of him. "You know who I- the esteemed Jiraiya- am, yet dare to speak so disrespectfully?! Are you sure you know who, exactly, you're speaking to?!"
Perhaps, those were the wrong words to say. Perhaps, he'd been giving the boy the perfect chance to respond this way.
Nah, before those words... Long before those words, Jiraiya had probably screwed up.
"Oh." Naruto smiled but it looked far from friendly. "Don't worry. I know exactly who you are."
"You told him?" Jiraiya seethed, grabbing Tsunade roughly by the collar. "You told him?! "
For once, Tsunade didn't react heatedly, violently. Her eyes were half-lidded, bored and collected. "Jiraiya, get your hands off of me." Voice- cold and calm.
From shock, he obeyed, letting go with a numb shake of his head.
Tsunade's lip curled. "You're still such a touchy touchy guy. And I don't just mean physically."
"Shut your mouth, Tsunade. Don't talk to me like we're so friendly." Jiraiya hissed, anger boiling under his skin, meaning for those words to cut, and cut deep.
But Tsunade's rage- oh, her rage- was far more intense, far more personal.
She had been with Naruto for a year and during that time, she had learnt so much about him. So much about how lonely he'd been. And she'd mended that- or tried to, slowly helped him piece himself back together. And this cowardly man that could've prevented all that pain... wanted to talk like this?!
Naruto was precious, soft, meek, quiet and unbearably fragile. Naruto was daring, bold, brave, persistent and unbearably strong.
Naruto was not hers. But Naruto would always find home in Tsunade, so in the face of these so-called 'guardians' whether it be the Hokage or her previous teammate, she would always, always defend him and call him one of her people just as how Naruto would do the same for her.
Who was Jiraiya to butt in? How dare he? And to think he was mad because she told Naruto what he deserved to know?!
Tsunade's rage wasn't like Jiraiya's. It was visceral. It was maternal. It was fiercely protective. It was dark and icy cold.
"Why did you tell Naruto-"
"Don't call him 'Naruto' like you two are so friendly." Tsunade bit back, eyes unwavering- eyes hostile.
It snapped something within the man-
"I NAMED HIM!" Jiraiya all but screamed, voice splitting down the middle in pent up frustration. "I'm his Godfather and-" His voice faltered.
Tsunade didn't even blink. "And you didn't even pay him a visit." She finished.
Her tone wasn't acidic or loud- not spitting like how she used to argue with Jiraiya. It was a monotonous drone. It was a stated fact. This unfamiliar exchange felt like a bucket of ice water over his head.
"Have you spoken to him before today? Do you know his pet peeves? Favourite colour? Deepest fears? Any of his fears? Do you know what he likes and dislikes? Do you know the why's behind each and every part of his being? Do you know how he had become the person he is today?"
At the onslaught of questions, Jiraiya blinked and frowned, trying to keep up. Tsunade didn't stop. There was so much, after all: so much that Tsunade knew that Jiraiya should've known; so much that set the two Sannin apart when it came down to this boy. Naruto.
"Do you know when he found out about his Jinchuuriki status? When he decided to stop crying? How he feels about this Village? Or better yet, which stall accepts him without discrimination?" Tsunade's eyes were still on his and Jiraiya had never felt more uncomfortable. "Because if you were there, you would've known that none of the shopkeepers gave him good food. None of them wanted to."
She exhaled slowly.
"What, or who, would he hold dearest? And what or who would he hate?" Tsunade's eyes lowered. "...As his godfather, do you think you're closer to the former or the latter?"
"Tsunade..."
"Jiraiya," She shook her head with a bitter chuckle. "Do you know who 'Naruto' is?"
Tsunade waited for a second because a part of her hopes that Jiraiya had visited, even if it was from afar. She hoped that her foolish, loveable childhood Teammate had silently given Naruto some supplies. Perhaps some vegetables, some stationary, a soft toy...
She hoped to still hold affection for him.
But asides from that gleaming hope, the rest of her was heavy and bitter. She would not forgive Jiraiya. Not until Naruto does, and perhaps, not even then.
Tsunade waited for a second and saw nothing but dull regret in Jiraiya's eyes. The slivers of indignation are gone. And then she realised that if he started all over again, Jiraiya would do the same thing.
She scoffed. Louder this time, shoving away the dazed man. She didn't feel pity. Perhaps that was mean, or perhaps it just meant that she loved Naruto more than she cared for her childhood friend's feelings.
If Tsunade had a chance to start over again, she'd barge into Konoha, heedless of the stench of blood, on the Kyuubi night and fight. Fight until Minato and Kushina would live. She'd fight until her long life finally ends because above anything else, she just wished for Naruto to have a family that loved him.
She felt like an ill replacement. Faulty. She was guilt-ridden despite many reassurances. It was something that would never go away. Did Jiraiya feel the same? But did Tsunade give an inch for his perspective?
But because she didn't fight for Minato and Kushina, she became the family for them. She loved Naruto for them.
She was also angry at Jiraiya for them.
"Watch." She simply said in lieu of all the curses and insults she wanted to hurl: he didn't even deserve that yet- didn't deserve a yelling match where he could let out his feelings and regrets.
"Watch and see who he is. Not for Minato and Kushina's son. Not for whatever bullshit prophecy you care about. Watch along with the rest of the Village because you don't have any special privilege."
Tsunade stepped away and her lips curled into a smile, halfway between fake and genuine. Lukewarm.
"Watch, as we introduce Uzumaki Naruto to the world."
Notes:
(FIRST DRAFT MOMENT-) hope it was a good read despite that DX it felt a little lame and half-hearted but that might just be me lmao... (not that much detail tbh and i skipped half the fights as well as sasuke's angst moments but... look, chonky drama >>) when i get back to this chapter, i'll add in the other fights (what pairs would yall wanna see? for future reference?)
(also tsunade vs sarutobi + shitheads confrontation will change- i had a better plan but that wouldn't work in this chapter and i was too brainded to think of writing anything else. my bad lol)anyway... i won't be new-chapter-ing very soon, but... would u guys wait for me?
i mean, i completely understand if this is where u depart. i'm starting from square 1 again after all. it'll take forever before i haul out a chapter 34. just say goodbye in the comments so i can send u off w a smiley face. you'd be surprised how many ppl i recognise.
(but yeah, please comment what you would prefer/what you think most ppl would prefer etc.)
anyways, thanks for reading <33 :'))
Chapter 34: AUTHOR NOTE
Chapter Text
-A week's musing later-
I'll try to keep this as short as possible because everyone here knows how long my a/n's can get.
Plan proceeds to a rewrite, but unlike what I previously planned, I won't immediately upload a new work because I don't know whether or not I want to add some sort of prologue or different beginning.
As I am right now, chances are high that I'll just be rewriting the exact same shit just shuffled around which would kinda be useless. If you have idle thoughts, please comment what you'd want in a rewrite cuz I'm all for new ideas other than attempting to fix the pacing issues etc.
Best would be that I finish writing/heavily planning out EVERYTHING before uploading the first chapter (because I get side-tracked so much that one would have to question the amount of rewrites I'd need to reach what I want), but that would take ages.
I have to wrack my brains over shit like word count, chapter quantity and length which I generally don't give two shits about unless it seems unsatisfactorily short.
Anyway, so yeah. No link to a new fic just yet: I have to at least get an outline out. I'm not that free, so even that would take a solid few months- even more, maybe.
That seemed like a load of useless information. I don't even know what I should talk about.
Thank you so much for the support- I read all the comments with indescribable amounts of gratitude to you guys. I honestly didn't expect the amount of devotion, I guess I could call it, from y'all.
To sum it up:
1, Yes, I am rewriting.
2, It will come out later though.
3, Comment whatever suggestions you have, but no pressure lmao. I get the vibe that some commenters think I'll be offended or something if they offer their suggestions, but that's hardly the case.
4, Subscribe to my profile...
5, ...Or don't cuz you'll get updates about my other fics... Subscribe to this fic because I'll upload another new chapter when I upload the rewritten version.
6, My discord is einna yun#7467 if you guys wanna chat or ask for progress. (Mainly cuz I just like making friends, but it's a bribe, I guess.)
7, (cuz it's my fav number), When I don't cry from being punched in the face, I cry from you guys' support. Please stay brilliant. See y'all later.
<3
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Threefates654 on Chapter 1 Mon 02 May 2022 04:39AM UTC
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cloudyyun on Chapter 1 Mon 02 May 2022 08:50AM UTC
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Threefates654 on Chapter 1 Mon 02 May 2022 08:57AM UTC
Last Edited Mon 02 May 2022 08:58AM UTC
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Dragonking20221 on Chapter 1 Sat 18 Jun 2022 06:08AM UTC
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Giadinski on Chapter 1 Sun 07 Aug 2022 01:01AM UTC
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GammilyIsMe on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Aug 2022 03:08PM UTC
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WiseOwlReader2018 on Chapter 1 Wed 17 Aug 2022 09:22PM UTC
Last Edited Wed 17 Aug 2022 09:26PM UTC
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cloudyyun on Chapter 1 Thu 18 Aug 2022 12:37PM UTC
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WiseOwlReader2018 on Chapter 1 Thu 18 Aug 2022 02:53PM UTC
Last Edited Thu 18 Aug 2022 02:53PM UTC
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Zevrel (Guest) on Chapter 1 Tue 25 Oct 2022 09:47PM UTC
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jaron5 on Chapter 1 Tue 21 Mar 2023 05:55PM UTC
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Iphroditas_Son on Chapter 1 Tue 18 Apr 2023 01:57AM UTC
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Kurosaki Shiro (Ichi_Is_Love_But_Hichi_Is_Life) on Chapter 1 Sat 09 Sep 2023 05:55PM UTC
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Yuzuki476 on Chapter 1 Tue 11 Jun 2024 12:58AM UTC
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