Obito didn’t know what state he’d find Minato-sensei’s son in. There was basic information he was familiar with when it came to the way most jinchuuriki were treated, of course, but most jinchuuriki were not the issue of the Yondaime Hokage.

He tilted his head upward to see if he could spy the stars through the great trees that gave Konohagakure no Sato its name, but the thick canopy only allowed slivers of moonlight through to the forest floor. His right sharingan was activated, so everything was rendered in so much more detail than otherwise possible. He seemed to be able to predict which way the wind would rustle the leaves and when a bird would take flight.

Itachi had left the clearing several minutes ago, and Obito would not assist him in his bloody endeavor. Whether or not the downfall of the Uchiha clan was successful would fall squarely on his shoulders. Obito had a much more pressing matter to attend to.

Using Kamui, he warped inside a dingy apartment he had scouted the village for several days prior. The objective of his mission lay fast asleep in a futon spread along the floor, soft snoring filling the air. He cast his eyes over Uzumaki Naruto. He had hair as blond as spun sunlight. And, although his eyes were closed now, when he had seen them in his search they were blue as a summer sky, and so, so lonely.

Obito tries not to let the sight fill him with regret or longing, but isn't able to stop himself. What would things be like had the events at Kannabi bridge not happened? Had Kakashi not killed Rin? Would this child like him? Would he still be the Kyuubi’s Jinchuuriki? Would he call him Obito-nii-san and ask for piggyback rides?

But no, now was not the time for such thoughts. Obito leaked a minute amount of killing intent. Not enough to send Naruto into a genuine panic, but enough to wake him up.

Naruto rumbled and turned as his eyes shot open, dimmer under the moonlight but still as breathtaking as those of his father’s. Spotting Obito, Naruto’s face immediately twisted with fear, and he stuttered out, “Who-who-who are you?”

Obito chuckled with Madara’s voice. “My name will not bring you closure, nor will it make you less afraid.”

“Are you-are you here to hurt me?” WIde eyes filled with fear but also something else. Resignation, he realized, like he expected this to happen at some point.

Under his mask, Obito grimaced. It made sense that the kid’s mind would jump to that conclusion, for several reasons, the least of them not being that Obito had broken into his apartment. “No,” he drawled. “I am here to tell you the truth and offer you… a gift.”

“The truth?” Some of the fear in Naruto’s eyes was replaced by curiosity.

Naruto’s eyes widened as Obito continued, “Yes, child, about why the villagers shun you and about your parents.”

The jinchuuriki gulped, eyes wide with shock, and there was a tense moment of silence. “You knew my parents?” Naruto whispered, as if speaking too loudly would cause Obito to leave.

“Yes, but I must warn you before I tell you, child…” he trailed off.

Naruto nodded for Obito to continue.

“I am responsible for their deaths.”

The child froze up, at a loss for words. Moments passed in absolute silence, “Are you… here to finish the job?”

Obito made his voice as gentle as possible, “What did I just say?” Naruto blushed sheepishly, “I am here, Naruto-kun, to exchange favors. I will tell you the truth about your life, the truth the Sandaime Hokage has hidden from you, and in exchange you will help me with my goal, to bring peace to the world.”

Naruto’s mouth fell open in shock, “Bring peace… to the world?” He mimicked, uncomprehending.

“Yes, Naruto-kun. Do you know what a shinobi is?”

Naruto, who seemed to overcome his initial apprehension, nodded emphatically, “Yeah! They’re so cool!”

“And why do you wish to become a shinobi?”

The blond hummed in consideration, “I want everyone to stop looking at me weird and accept me! And one day I wanna be Hokage!”

He’s blunt. Obito thought wryly, but it provided the perfect opportunity. “I’d doubt they’d let you become Hokage, child.”

Naruto sputtered, offended, “What, old man, think I can’t do it?”

Old man? Obito chuckled, “No, not that. In fact I think it would be otherwise very possible.”

The boy’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “You think I could do it?”

“If things were different, perhaps. As it is, there’s a very big obstacle in your way. It’s why the villagers ostracize you.”

Naruto peered at Obito, “What do you mean by that?”

“Are you sure you wish to know?”

Naruto hesitates, mouth open and ready to say something. But then his eyes narrow, “You said exchange favors, earlier. What do I get in exchange?”

“Power beyond your greatest imaginings.” Obito pauses, considering, then speaks again, “I’ll make you a deal, Naruto-kun. I’ll give you the first piece of information for free, and then, in three nights, I’ll return and you can tell me your answer then. How does that sound?”

The boy considers it, a flurry of emotion passing across his face, then nods.

“Have you heard of the Kyuubi no Youko?” When Naruto nodded, Obito continued “It is the ninth and most powerful of a group of beings known as the bijuu. These are massive beings made of pure chakra that roam the Earth.” Blue eyes widen, “And they cannot be killed.”

“But… I thought the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi?”

“That is what is taught, yes, but it’s wrong. You see, the bijuu can be sealed inside people. These people are known as jinchuuriki. The night of the Kyuubi’s attack, I had freed the Kyuubi from its host and set it upon the village so that I could bring it under my control without resistance.” Naruto’s mouth gapes open.

“The Yondaime fought against it, but was unable to kill it. You see, the jinchuuriki are weapons, with power given to them by the bijuu within them. But in exchange for this power, they are shunned by the rest of their village.” Naruto’s eyes widened as he started to put the pieces together. Tears welled up in the boy's eyes and he started shaking.

“You, Uzumaki Naruto, are the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.”

----

Naruto felt empty and hollowed out, like someone had taken a knife to his insides and scraped them clean.

The seven-year-old was going through a whirlwind of emotions, the littlest things seemed to make him cry. Like when he dropped a plate yesterday and made it shatter, or when he forgot to turn on the kettle to make hot water for his ramen. Not to mention the fact that he hadn’t gone to the academy for the last two days.

He just couldn’t bring himself to see their stares and hear their whispers. Not now, not when he knew. Knew that he was the demon fox--

No, he wasn’t the demon fox. The masked man had made that clear enough two nights ago. He was a jinchuuriki. The fox was inside him, but it wasn’t him. Just because you put a jewel in a box doesn’t turn the box into a jewel.

Naruto waited for the ramen to finish, staring unfocused at the white styrofoam of the cup. He really did hate the three minutes of waiting it took for the noodles to get ready.

He still doesn’t know what to think of the masked man. He had that weird red eye with black markings in it, and seemed immensely powerful. All the powerful people Naruto knew, like the old man or some of the people around him, all gave him weird looks. Some of distaste, but mostly of pity and guilt, and Naruto hated it. But the masked man, even though all he could see was his right eye, didn’t look at him with guilt or pity or distaste. He looked at him with kindness, even though he had killed his parents!

The masked man was obviously very powerful (Naruto could feel it, sense it in his bones in a way that made his hackles rise) and he said he could give him power, too. Naruto wanted to become more powerful, true, but the man had also said that if he accepted he might not become Hokage, and that was the whole reason Naruto wanted to become powerful in the first place!

Naruto looked out his window, at the civilians chatting happily below. If he was down there with them, walking through the streets, they would all be glowering at him and whispering harshly as he walked past. A bubble of resentment rose within him. He was protecting all these people! He was the reason the Kyuubi hadn’t decimated the village! And yet they still… they still treated him like dirt, like he was the monster?

And just like that, the resentment was gone, replaced by a hollow, empty feeling. It was familiar, of course. He felt it when the parents told their kids not to play with him, or when the shop owners gave him dirty looks when he was getting his groceries.

Naruto shook his head, forcing himself out of that train of thought. Thinking about the villagers and how they treated him only made him tired and unmotivated, and he needed a lot of motivation if he was gonna become Hok-

He grimaced, the masked man’s deal replaying again.

World peace…

Naruto turned to look out his window, he thought of the villagers and their staring and their whispers and their shunning. Thought about the retired shinobi with missing limbs and faraway, haunted looks in their eyes.

A knock sounded at his door, urgent. Naruto had an inkling who it was, or who had sent them.
He opens the door to reveal a chuunin, with plain brown hair and green eyes full of barely concealed disdain, “Uzumaki Naruto, the Hokage would like to see you.”

Of course, the Old Man only had time for Naruto when he was skipping classes.

Naruto nodded and trailed behind the chuunin as he made his way to the Hokage’s tower. Affirming Naruto’s earlier guess, the cheerful afternoon chatter dies down into hushed whispers and clumsily sneaked scowls. Naruto hangs his head down and doesn’t make eye contact, following the chuunin wordlessly and ignoring the rest of the world.

Then, Naruto’s in the office with the Hokage looking at him disapprovingly. He barely hears the lecture about taking his studies seriously, about how if he wants to be a ninja he has to put in effort into his academics and training. Like it’s that easy, like the teachers don’t make light of him for answering questions, like he doesn’t have trouble picking out the kanji because no one taught him how to read, like he doesn’t wake up some days and stare at the ceiling for hours and wonder to himself what the point of this all is.

Naruto doesn’t feel like Naruto. He feels like he’s watching life happen to someone else, a thin lens of unreality making the events seem distant and hazy. He feels like he’s floating, like this is all a bad dream.
When Naruto leaves the office, he makes his decision out of pure spite.
----
Naruto’s waiting for the masked man when he shows up again, listening to the cicadas and crickets sing outside his window. The man spirals into the room, a single red eye glowing through the hole in his orange mask.

“Naruto-kun, I hope you have come to a decision?”

Naruto doesn’t look at Obito as he nods in affirmation, “I want to know.”

“And as for the deal?”

Naruto looks up at the man, into the red, red eye, “I’ll help with whatever your plan is.” And, even though Naruto can’t see his face, he’s certain the man smiles.

“Good. What would you like to know first?”

“How do you plan to achieve peace?”

The man is obviously taken aback by that choice, “Oh? I thought you’d pick something more personal. Very well then.” He takes a deep breath, “When the nine bijuu are gathered into a specific statue, they become the Juubi. The Juubi can then be sealed into a jinchuuriki who possesses the Rinne-Sharingan, the most powerful doujutsu. When he who possesses the Rinne-Sharingan looks upon the moon, the world will be trapped in an eternal dream.”

Naruto gaped. “That’s your plan!? A dream!?”

“What other way could there be?”

The bloind sputtered, “Well, I--I…” he trailed off. There had to be some other way, right? Other than some illusion? But… Naruto didn’t really know much about politics and all that, maybe that really was the only way?

The man reaches a hand over, slowly enough for Naruto to know he doesn’t mean any harm, and gently ruffles his hair. Naruto does not blush, or lean into the touch, “There, there, child. Who would be upset in a perfect dream? Who wouldn’t get the world they desire?”

Naruto couldn’t deny that. He imagined, for a second, what it would be like to live in a dream. Naruto would get to eat ramen everyday, he’d finally beat that jerk Sasuke, and Sakura would finally see how much cooler he was?

His little fantasy is interrupted by chuckling, “Dreaming about a girl, I see?”

Naruto’s face turns as red as the man’s eye, “Am-am not!”

“Oh, I’m sure you aren’t.” And his tone is so fond, so empty of wariness or malice. Like Naruto’s a normal kid, like there isn’t a hideously powerful beast within him. Naruto starts crying without even realizing, “What’s wrong, Naruto-kun?” His visible eye creases in worry.

Naruto sniffles, “No-nothing, you’re just so-so nice. And you barely even know me...” He wipes frantically at his eyes.

The man huffs a sigh, “Call me… Tobi. And consider it me making up for the rest of the village’s rudeness.” And, even though Naruto can’t see it, he swears Tobi smiles.

Tobi pauses to let Naruto regain his bearings, “Um… can you tell me about my parents?”

Tobi pauses for a second. “I can, but it will be difficult for you to hear. Can you handle it?” Naruto nods, determined, and Tobi continues, “You get your surname from your mother, Uzumaki Kushina. She was the previous jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.”

Naruto takes a sharp breath. It’s so alien to hear his last name attached to someone, and so alien to have a name attached to his mother. A mother was always more of an idea, a fleeting fantasy of warmth and love and kisses pressed onto his cheek. Of bentos and greeting more than just his plants. Naruto feels tears rise all over again, but is able to successfully suppress them and march on.

“And… and my father?”

Tobi considers, and, for a fleeting moment, Naruto is terrified that Tobi won’t tell him, that he’ll realize that Naruto is just some dead-last demon brat and that he was wrong to entrust him with his plan. But, before he can start panicking, Tobi continues on, “Your father was the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato.”

And Naruto’s world is knocked off its axis.

Naruto's head is spinning, "The-the Yondaime? I'm my hero's son?"

Tobi nods, and Naruto thought he could see a little sadness in that screaming red eye.

"Why-why would he...his own son?" He stuttered out, mind too scrambled to form full sentences.

"It's because of your chakra."

"My-my chakra?"

"Your mother's clan"--and Naruto gapes at that, because there's a clan of him, a clan of Uzumakis!--"were known for their strong life force, big chakra reserves. Some of them had a special type of chakra that made them good jinchuurikis. Your mother possessed this chakra, and you did too. Only someone with an Uzumaki's endurance could hope to contain the most powerful of the bijuu, and you were the only one it who possessed that endurance and special chakra."

Naruto wants to respond, wants to ask Tobi about why he said "were" not "are" and prays his clan is still alive, still somewhere, even if there's just one of them because he wants a family so badly, wants it more than anything in this world and--and--

And Naruto's shaking, breaths coming out in pained gasps. He can't handle this, can't think clearly, can't breathe--

"Naruto-kun, breathe with me." Tobi's voice is soft but steady, grounding Naruto. He copies Tobi's deep breaths, in and out, in and out, in and out. Naruto finds himself calming down, but the deep breathing is replaced by shuddering sobs. Tobi's hand is on Naruto's back, rubbing small, comforting circles on it. Naruto thinks, numbly, that he should be wary that Tobi's touching him, that Tobi could still intend to harm him. But he doesn't care, not right now. He latches onto the man like a lifeline, enveloping him in a tight embrace and crying. 

"All this time, I was--I was their hero's son? And they still treat me like dirt? And why didn't anyone--anyone tell me?"

"The Sandaime made it illegal to tell you before you turned sixteen, and it was kept a secret from most of the village, so no one knows." Tobi's response is straightforward, but his tone is gentle and comforting.

"Why?"

"The Yondaime had many enemies, Naruto-kun. If it was found out that he had a son, those enemies would not be afraid to target you. The reason no one told you that you were the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki is so that the next generation wouldn't alienate you. Both were by the Sandaime's orders."

There's a harsh, bitter laugh, and Naruto realizes it's he who's laughing, "Look at how good that turned out."

"Naruto-kun," Tobi starts, interrupting his thoughts before they spiral down like they tend to, "All your life, people have controlled you. To the elders of this village, you're a mere weapon. You technically wouldn't even have a choice whether you wanted to be a ninja or not. Being a jinchuuriki, they would force you. But--"

Tobi's words are going in one ear and out the other as Naruto feels a hot flash of anger, and something old and terrifying roils in the pit of his stomach. Naruto's angry, angrier than he's ever been in his life, and rationality is quickly being overwhelmed by sheer fury. Tobi's eye widens momentarily, before narrowing and suddenly neither he or Naruto are in his apartment. Water laps around his legs, and the large chamber he's--they're in is cast in a yellowish light. Before Naruto can even ask where he is, he notices it. A large gate with a piece of paper that says "seal" on it is in front of him, and in the yawning void behind it stare two large, narrowed red eyes with slit pupils. The aura of pure hatred and malice is enough for Naruto to realize exactly what, or who, is looking at him.

"You..." the Kyuubi's voice is a bassy growl that makes Naruto's hackles rise. But the Kyuubi isn't looking at him, it's looking at Tobi. Naruto yelps as a pair of claws are suddenly pointing through between the bars, the Kyuubi attempting to reach for Tobi through the bars. The suddenness of the movement makes the gate rattle.

Tobi raises two fingers in a hand seal and the Kyuubi's eyes widen, Naruto swears he sees panic in them, and for a moment he feels guilty. Tobi's voice echoes in the yellow sewer, "Obey." His voice is deep and powerful.

And, just like that, they're gone. Back in Naruto's apartment, Naruto looks at Tobi with wide eyes, "The Kyuubi is docile now, my Sharingan has tamed it. It should give you power whenever you ask for it, just don't take too much, or else the Kyuubi will break the seal and escape, using your body as a vessel to regain its tangible form."

Naruto gulps nervously and nods.

"I've fulfilled my end of the deal, Naruto-kun," Tobi says, and Naruto's grateful for the change in subject. He doesn't think he can deal with more mind shattering revelations, "I'm sure you're curious as to how I shall give your power."

Naruto nods.

"You have the potential to awaken one of the most powerful doujutsu, Naruto-kun. It is called the Rinnegan."

Naruto's eyes widen, he didn't expect himself to get some weird eye technique, but they're kinda cool so he'll take what he can get, "Really? What does it do?"

"It's abilities are numerous and difficult to explain, so I'll explain the simplest one. It's first ability is that it makes it easier to control chakra and to master the five elements."

Naruto tilts his head and furrows his brow in confusion. Tobi huffs, but Naruto hears that it's more good natured than annoyed, "Do you know what chakra is?"

Naruto nods, "The energy created by the combination of physical and spiritual energy." He recites word for word, just like how Sakura answered when Iruka asked the class.

"Good, and do you know what a chakra nature is?" He continues when Naruto shakes his head, "There are five elements: water, earth, fire, air and lightning, and you can turn chakra into those elements. Certain elements are easier than others for certain people, because their chakra's nature is that element. My chakra nature is fire, so fire style jutsus are easier for me."

"So the Rinnegan basically makes it easy for me to learn jutsus?" Naruto grins when Tobi nods, "Cool! So how do I get it?"

Tobi takes out a scroll and rolls it open next to Naruto's futon, he places his palm onto black scrawling in the center and there's a poof of smoke that gives way to a sealed bag with something red in it. Naruto pales when he realizes that it's blood. "It will be slightly painful."

Naruto is sweating a little. He doesn't like pain, "How painful?"

"Have you ever had a blood transfusion?" Naruto shakes his head, "It'll be a pinching sensation in your arm. First I will drain you of a pint of blood, which will make you light-headed, then I will give you this pint of blood through a tube that inserts into the crook of your arm."

Naruto's still a little worried, but he's happy it won't hurt that bad. Naruto asks, "How'll that give me the Rinne-thingy?"

"In order to unlock the Rinnegan, you need to recreate the chakra of the Sage of Six Paths." Naruto wants to ask what the hell that means, but lets Tobi continue, "This can only be accomplished by combining the chakra of his two sons. Naruto-kun, you are the reincarnation of one of his sons, this blood is from the reincarnation of his other son. The chakra within the two will combine and mirror the chakra of the Sage, and you will awaken the Rinnegan. It will take time, maybe even years, but it will happen."

Naruto blinks, uncomprehending.

Tobi sighs, "Imagine the Rinnegan is a puzzle. You have one half of the puzzle, now you need to combine it with the other half in order to activate it. The puzzle pieces are the chakra of you and someone else, you have half of that chakra, this blood is from my mentor, and it contains the other half."

Naruto nods, "But...why do you want me to have this in the first place?" 

"The Rinnegan can summon the Gedou Statue, which can contain the power of the bijuu and become the Juubi. My master also has the Rinnegan, but he is old and ailing. He wants you to unlock your Rinnegan first, so they exist as a spare."

"A spare? Is he gonna steal my eyes or something?" Naruto jokes and hopes Tobi can't see through to his nervousness.

"No, Naruto-kun, quite the opposite, he's going to give you his."

Naruto sputters, unable to find his words, "What do you mean 'give me his?'"

"My master desires world peace just as you do, and in order to do that, he needs the most powerful people possible to work towards his goal. Since he is weaker now, he will give you his eyes when the time comes. He as both the Sharingan in its final state,"--Tobi points to the black and red pinwheel in his irises--"and the Rinnegan. You, Naruto-kun, with your great chakra reserves, will be able to wield his eyes as if they were your own."

Naruto contemplates, "Why would I want the Sharingan, too? What can it do?"

"My Sharingan, which is in its evolved Mangekyou state, allows me to teleport. Aside from that, the Sharingan allows the user to detect movements and copy the movements with ease, additionally, it can see through genjutsu and copy ninjutsu. In its evolved Mangekyou state, it gives the user unique abilities, such my ability, Kamui."

"So it would be a real game changer for me, huh?" Naruto mutters. But still... he'd have to get new eyes? He shudders.

His apprehension must have been clear on his face, because Tobi responds to his concern, "When the time comes for that, you will feel no pain, you'll be anesthetized." Tobi reassures him and gives him a pat on his head. Naruto absentmindedly realizes the sky is getting brighter, they must have talked all night.

Naruto looks at the clear bag of blood on top of the scroll, and at the cotton swabs, needle and tube next to it. 

"Do it." Naruto says, and he practically feel the smile Tobi is making under the mask. He wonders what it looks like. Maybe it's comforting, maybe its terrifying.

The little wound from the needle sticking into his arm had already disappeared by the time Tobi left, the Kyuubi apparently giving him his ability to heal injuries easily. Naruto  guesses the Kyuubi is the reason Naruto also doesn't need as much sleep as other people, because his body isn't tired at all when the sun is finally up and he has to get ready for the academy. 

Now his mind, on the other hand, is a different case. It's a wreck, a mass of swirling thoughts and emotions. But, for the most part, Naruto is angry. Angry that he's apparently such an important person to the village, but no one treats him like it. Angry that he's the Yondaime's son yet lives by himself and has to eat instant ramen so often because he can't cook. Angry that he's been alone all his life and no one even seemed to care, no one so much as bat an eyelash at the fact that he's just some kid who's been given the greatest burden in the village without his own consent.

He's angry people as well. Angry at the civilians who make dirty glances at him as he walks through the streets, equating him with the demon fox despite him being the only thing keeping it away from them. Angry at the Yondaime (because calling him 'dad' or 'father' feels wrong) for giving him this burden and then leaving him alone. Angry at the Sandaime for making mistake after mistake and angry at shinobi for viewing him as nothing but a weapon.

He wonders, too. About Tobi and his plan and an infinite dream. A world asleep is a world without war, and when there's no reason for war, there's no reason for Jinchuuriki. And maybe that's what pushes him, gives him certainty that he wants to help Tobi, because then no one will have to suffer like he does, no one has to go through all the ostracization and harsh whispers and dirty looks.  

There's some specifics he worries about, though. How will people stay alive if they're asleep and can't feed themselves? How are Tobi and his mentor sure no one will wake up? Are there others involved in Tobi's plans? He also wonders who the man is, because Tobi's certainly not his real name, and he probably knows that Naruto knows that. Tobi didn't even say it was his name, he simply said that Naruto could call him that, Naruto could also sense the feelings of grief and resignation within the man--

Naruto pauses before the door that opens to the street. It couldn't be true, Naruto couldn't have just sensed it. But then, why did it feel so correct? Is he going insane?

In fact, now that he thinks about, he can sense the people outside the door. He can sense their nihilism, their vacancy, anger, and sadness. He can feel how far certain people with certain feelings are. He knows there's someone in the dirty alley next to his apartment complex who is stressed and worried, and Naruto realizes with mild horror that they might be a hungry homeless person worrying about their next meal. Naruto dashes back up to his apartment, pulls out some ryu bills, stuffs them into his left pocket, and dashes back down the stairs, his frog themed backpack bouncing up and down as he scurries down the stairs. He shouldn't be doing this, he'll probably end up late, and being late on top of missing three days of class, especially with Iruka as his teacher? He might as well sign his death warrant. But he can't just let someone starve when he can help them!

But when he peeks into the alley, he doesn't find a homeless man, or at least they don't look like the image of a homeless man he has in his head. The person--boy, really--looks about twelve or thirteen. Naruto takes in the boy's chin length silver hair and round glasses, then the Konoha hitai-ate wrapped around his forehead. He's clean, except for where the grime of the street has stained his clothing. The boy appears to be having trouble breathing, taking in deep, painful sounding gasps.

Naruto's reaction is delayed, but he remembers that something similar happened to him with Tobi. Naruto's thoughts are racing, but then he remembers what Tobi had him do and calls out to the boy, "Hey! I'm gonna come closer," The boy's eyes are wide when he turns to look at Naruto, "I'm not gonna hurt you!" he sets a slow but not too slow pace as he nears the ninja.

"Can't-can't breathe," is all he manages to get out.

"I need you to breathe with me." Naruto takes a deep breath as an example and Kabuto mirrors it, "In and out, in and out." They continue like that for a solid few minutes that feel like an eternity.

The boy appears to be calming down, and Naruto sighs in relief, "You okay?" He asks.

The older boy studies him for a second and Naruto feels like he's being dissected, like someone is carving up his skull and looking at his thoughts. The boy's gaze is as piercing as a kunai and Naruto can feel his palms sweat. Suddenly, the boy's eyes widen in surprise, "You--you're..." he trails off.

Naruto bows, "Uzumaki Naruto, at your service, Ninja-san!" He pastes on his brightest grin and hopes the man doesn't see through his act, because the fact that this boy probably recognized him only because he was the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki, the Dead-Last Demon Brat of Konoha, stings.

"Thank you, Uzumaki-kun." The boy bows, and Naruto feels the panic and worry fade within the older boy, but it's replaced by a yawning emptiness, a bottomless grief. Naruto suppresses a wince. "How did you know what to do?"

Naruto pauses, trying to figure out how to phrase what he's going to say next. "I've been through... that"--Naruto gestures vaguely, not knowing the name of whatever episode had overcome him--"before, and someone helped me the same way."

The boy nods, "My name is Yakushi Kabuto, I'm sorry to trouble you like that, Uzumaki-kun, I can't thank you enough" he bows again, this time kowtowing so his hitai-ate is touching the floor.

"Oh, no! No need to do all that, I'm happy I could help!"

Kabuto nods,  rising back to his feet and smiling softly, and Naruto can sense that it's genuine from the lack of negative emotion. Kabuto notices Naruto's backpack, "Are you heading to the Academy?"

Naruto nods, "Yup! I'm gonna be the Hok-I'm gonna be the best ninja ever! Believe it, Kabu-I mean, Yakushi-san!"

The boy chuckles, and Naruto can feel some of the dark tar of negative emotions that's seated in Kabuto's head fade, "Can I walk you there or buy you something on the way? To make up for it? And you can call me Kabuto, I just like politeness so that's why I was so formal with you."

Naruto sputters, "Oh, you don't have to do anything like that!"

"I think the boy who got me through a panic attack deserves something, there has to be something I can do in return!" Kabuto hummed, considering, "Oh, I can tutor you! I know the whole curriculum and I can train you! Is that okay?"

Naruto wants to shake his head, because that's a lot of effort in return for a simple kindness, and really, Naruto doesn't need a reward, but he considers. He's dead-last, he can barely bring himself to attend classes, let alone pay attention in them. He seems to get distracted even when he's studying and training by the littlest things, all of these put him behind the rest of his classmates, maybe getting tutored by a graduate can help him catch up?

"Uzumaki-kun?" Kabuto's voice calls Naruto back to the real world. Naruto starts, which makes Kabuto chuckle again, "I can start after your school day ends today, since I'm free of missions for a while."

"I think I'll take your offer!" Naruto smiles brightly, and Kabuto smiles back, "Although I don't think I'll be going to the academy, I'm already late now." He scratches the back of his head and smiles sheepishly.

Kabuto gives him a curious look, his eyes asking why he'd skip a day of school just because he was late.

"I'm already late, and Iruka-sensei is gonna be mad at me anyway, but it would be better if I wasn't called out in front of the whole class, y'know? So I'll just be on time tomorrow."

Kabuto raises an eyebrow, "Tomorrow's the weekend, Uzumaki-kun."

:"Oh..." Naruto flushes with embarrassment again.

"Why don't we start today, then? If you're not going to the academy, then we can walk to the training grounds and start today." Kabuto says.

Naruto's eyes widen as Kabuto starts walking, "Follow me, Uzumaki-kun!"

Naruto scuttles after him, "You can call me Naruto, Kabuto!"

"Ah, but it feels weird without the honorifics. Is Naruto-kun okay?"

Naruto nods, a happy bounce in his step.

Kabuto did not expect the resident jinchuuriki to help him through a panic attack, but he's glad Naruto didn't ask what caused it, because Kabuto can't exactly say, "I saw a man bleed because he accidentally hit his finger with a hammer and it reminded me of how I killed my adopted mother a year ago."

Root files are brutally honest about Naruto: he seems to have a lot of bark, but little bite, his skills in all three ninja arts are severely lacking, he has a habit of skipping school, he's last in his class, the rest of the village shuns him.

Kabuto knows that he tends to be too detached, too emotionless, but that's what Root does to people. It crawls inside their heads and eats at their humanity. Maybe that's why Kabuto wants to be nice to him, because he wants to prove to himself he's still a person, still Kabuto after being orphaned and taken into Root and then by Orochimaru. He's gonna turn the jinchuuriki into a stellar ninja if he has anything to say about it, not because Naruto's a weapon, but because helping him makes Kabuto feel good, like he's helping his past self. If Danzou has anything to say about, Kabuto can just say he's sharping the villages best kunai, Danzou would probably eat that story up.

Still, Naruto doesn't seem subtle, so when Kabuto prods a little out of curiosity and asks if he knows why the villagers look at him funny he doesn't expect to get a yes.

Kabuto freezes and looks at Naruto, "You-you know?"

"About the Kyuubi thing?" Naruto whispers, so the villagers don't hear, "Yeah."

"How--"

Naruto's face turns into a scowl. There's a hesitation and Kabuto is certain that his response is a lie, "I overheard two villagers talk about it before someone could shut them up." His voice is bitter and expression cloudy, opposite of the bouncy, happy-go-lucky boy who was skipping down the street, and it makes Kabuto slightly apprehensive, but he reminds himself he has nothing to worry about; Naruto is still a kid, after all, with his upbringing, he probably has several mental health issues, so he probably has mood swings, too. He wouldn't be surprised if the 'Ninja-san' thing from earlier was an act to diffuse tension or make himself feel better. Kabuto imagines being recognized because of something the whole village hates you for must hurt.

"...I see," is all Kabuto can bring himself to say, "Well, don't worry about it, I'm not gonna let silly prejudices get in the way of training a perfectly capable future-best-ninja." He gives Naruto a smiles he hopes is snarky.

Naruto beams back, and it's almost blinding. Curiosity seeps into his features, "How do you know I'm... y'know?" he gestures to himself.

"That's actually a secret, Naruto-kun," Kabuto gives Naruto a playful wink and the boy returns it with a fond scowl. 

"Really?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun. You being...y'know" Kabuto gestures to Naruto, "is also a secret. It's an S-class one, to be exact, but you have the right to reveal it to anyone you choose."

Naruto sighs in relief, "Oh, that's good, I thought I might've gotten you in trouble! I tend to speak before I think..." He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. 

"That's okay for now, but not when you're a shinobi." Kabuto pauses, considering, when an idea comes to him, "Here, I'll give you your first training exercise: I want you to lie to me once and get away with it."

Naruto hums in consideration before speaking again, "I already did."

Kabuto chuckles, "You didn't, actually, I just respected your privacy enough to not ask you how you knew." Naruto gapes, "The hesitation and thoughtful look in your eye gave it away. I won't pry, don't worry."

"Damn it!" And, wow, curses sound funny when they come out of a kid's mouth, "You promise you won't snitch?"

"Snitches get stitches," he replies, and gives Naruto a playful smile. "We're gonna make some stops at the market district before we head to the training grounds, I need to pick up some supplies for our training, and maybe get you a gift or two."

Naruto's eyes widen and he hurries to try and dissuade the older boy, "Kabuto, you really don't have to do that!"

"Seriously, Naruto, don't worry about it! I'm just trying to help! I'm gonna get you stuff that'll make you a better ninja." 

Naruto accepts begrudgingly, and the two orphans ignore the glares as they walk down Konoha's streets.

Naruto is buzzing with excitement when they make it to the training ground, holding half the stuff Kabuto got him while Kabuto holds the other half. The training ground is small and flat, mostly grass surrounded by chain link fence, with a small copse of trees in the far end. "Oi, Kabuto, you still haven't told me what we're gonna do with stuff."

"You'll see," Kabuto says enigmatically.

Naruto groans. "It's gonna be super boring, isn't it?" Naruto says, more to himself than to Kabuto.

"Perhaps, but it's years ahead of what they teach you at the Academy."

Naruto definitely perks up at that. "So I'm learning things my classmates aren't?"

"Not necessarily. A lot of the clan kids are tutored outside classes, giving them the upper hand," Kabuto explains. "They probably do at least some of the stuff we're gonna be doing in these sessions. And, for the most part, the Academy isn't really useful for practical ninja arts. Really, it's more or less there to look pretty and give the impression of equality. You're not really gonna learn what it takes to be a good ninja if you don't have someone training you outside classes."

Naruto's eyes widen, "But then, how are, like, poor civilian kids and orphans like me supposed to be good shinobi?"

Kabuto grimaces, "They aren't. Shinobi, especially shinobi from the clans, in a ninja village like ours are like a social class, it's meant to be an exclusive role, because if it isn't than the status quo changes, and the clans risk losing their power." Kabuto makes a thoughtful pause, "Do you know the Nara clan?"

"Not really, but I have a classmate named Nara Shikamaru, is he from that clan?"

"Yes. The current head of the Nara clan, Nara Shikaku, is Hokage-sama's advisor. Nara Shikaku's father was also an advisor to the Hokage, and so was his grandfather. The heir of the Nara clan is basically assured the position since birth. That they all happen to be good advisors is only incidental, the real reason they were chosen is because of the Nara name. Your friend will probably become the Hokage's advisor too."

"So they basically inherit the position!?" Naruto exclaims, "That's so stupid! What if one day the head of the Nara clan is corrupt? Or if he just doesn't know what he's doing?"

"Any Hokage worth his title would probably say they can't risk alienating the Nara, because then it would give the Nara a reason to undermining the current order, since it isn't going in their favor. Imagine how much damage they could do if they decided to sell village secrets? Or outright betray it?"

Naruto is left speechless and a bit thankful he's not really shooting for Hokage anymore. He always knew it would be an upward battle, but for the struggle to somehow to worsen at the precipice? Naruto's not sure if he has the diplomatic gusto to navigate what seems to be a messy web of interpersonal relationships and nepotism. Kabuto continues, "That's probably why academy standard taijutsu is so...useless. What happens if a bitter civilian decides to sell secrets after not passing the graduation exam? It's whole point is to serve as misinformation, to be a diversion from the true arts of Konoha, which belong to a privileged elite of clan members and are jealously guarded."

Naruto scowls. "Great, so everything I learned is practically garbage. Not that I learned much anyway." Kabuto chuckles at that.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun, the taijutsu style I'll teach you will be much more helpful." He fetches a piece of off-white paper from his bag. Naruto's eyes widen in awe as the paper turns to dust, "Do you know the five elements, Naruto-kun?" Naruto nods. "Recite them to me."

"Fire, water, wind, earth and lightning."

"Good, and do you know what a nature affinity is?" Naruto nods again and Kabuto's smile widens. "Very good! Do you know what this paper does?" Naruto shakes his head and Kabuto continues, "When you channel your chakra in it, it will react based on your primary elemental affinity. My affinity is earth, so it turned to dust."

Kabuto hands a piece of paper to Naruto and Naruto studies it, "Um...how do I channel chakra?" His face flushes and he fidgets with his fingers.

"I should've expected that, you're, like, five years old." Kabuto says. Naruto was about to protest, but Kabuto keeps talking. "Chakra runs throughout your body in paths called coils that are tied to organs. Now, close your eyes," Naruto quirks an eyebrow but complies nonetheless, "Imagine that a river flows inside you, emanating from a central core in your abdomen. The river runs through paths in your body, but when they make it to the end, they hit a dam. Now, imagine that dam is in the fingers of your hand, imagine that dam lifting, letting the water flow out and--"

Naruto hears a cutting sound and opens his eyes. The paper split in half! He did it! He channeled chakra! Naruto beams at Kabuto, who smiles warmly in return, "That means your affinity is wind. Wind is good for slicing and cutting things. Unfortunately, I don't know any wind jutsus, but I'm certain you can find some beginner scrolls at stores!" Naruto grimaces at the thought of buying the scrolls himself, dirty looks following him around the store and curt, harsh responses from the shop owner when he asked for something. "I can get them for you, if you want? You can give me the money and I'll go in the shop and ask."

Naruto considers it for a second, then nods, "Sure, thank you offering." He doesn't want to agree, not really, but he just can't deal with the treatment anymore the way he used to, not now that he knows that he's a jinchuuriki.

"Good. Now," This time Kabuto pulls out a bigger, paler sheet of paper, "when you channel your chakra into this paper, it'll create a circular shape that represents how much chakra you." Naruto pays close attention as Kabuto's paper gains a circle four or five inches apart. He gets another paper for Naruto and Naruto  closes his eyes and imagines the dam, imagines opening the floodgates and letting the chakra flow out of himself. He hears Kabuto gasp and when Naruto looks at the paper, it's completely black.

Naruto's practically hits the floor as he takes in the amount of chakra he has. Guess Tobi was right about the Uzumaki having large chakra reserves.

"Holy shit," Kabuto says, and yeah, holy shit. "So, Naruto, it seems you have gigantic chakra reserves. The more chakra you have, the harder it is to usually control, because it all wants to leave and go where there's less of it, that principle is called the Law of Chakric Diffusion, so maybe I should start you on tree climbing rather than leaf burning exercise."

"Tree climbing? I'm pretty sure I know how to climb a tree."

"Oh yeah?" Kabuto smirks, "Can you climb a tree like this?" Naruto watches as Kabuto walks up to the copse, puts one foot on the trunk of a tree, then the other, and just... keeps walking. Up the tree. With just his legs.

"You have to teach me how to do that."

"I literally said that this was what I was gonna teach you," Kabuto sighs, now standing upside down on a branch. "You'll focus today on directing chakra into a certain direction or body part, then we'll focus on regulating the amount of chakra you use. Using ninjutsu and genjutsu requires a good amount of chakra control, so if you want to do those, you'll have to get this down first! Try it by yourself a few times and if it's too difficult, I'll give you a hint."

Naruto walks up to the copse, plants one foot onto the trunk of the tree next to Kabuto's, and channels chakra into it. Naruto yelps the bark cracks, revealing paler wood underneath. That must've been too much. Naruto tries again, but this time imagines he's controlling the floodgates, giving the water a path that's more controlled, but the same thing happens. Naruto puts more effort to close the imaginary floodgates the third time, but is unable to gain any purchase on the tree. It goes on that for several dozen more tries, ending in either broken bark or no traction. 

Naruto hums in consideration. He doesn't wanna ask Kabuto for a hint just yet, he wants to figure it out himself. He goes through the process in his head: he makes the chakra flow to his foot, and lets it flow out--

A lightbulb flicks on in Naruto's head. He's just letting the chakra dissipate once it rushes out of his system, how's that supposed to help him to stick to the tree? He needs to focus it into the soles on his sandals and imagine his chakra as something sticky, or maybe like a series of hooks that dig into the bark. And when he does think of it that way, he finally gets some traction. Not enough to climb the tree, but it's progress nonetheless.

Naruto smiles, filled with determination. He's going to get this down by the time the school day would be over or he's not gonna eat at Ichiraku's this weekend. 

Naruto can't help but feel elated when he finally manages to confidently get both feet on the trunk, though not without falling on his butt the last several times he tried. Kabuto doesn't say anything, just watching as Naruto tentatively lifts his foot, making sure he channels a bit more chakra into the other one to make it stickier, but Naruto puts too much chakra into it and ends up falling again. "Damn it!"

"You're getting better Naruto," Kabuto says, "In fact, your getting this quicker than I did."

Filled with resolve, Naruto tries again.

By the next hour, he's got it down, though it still requires an ungodly level of focus that Naruto is not used to giving. Kabuto tells him he's made really good progress today and he doesn't have to continue if he's tired. Lucky for Naruto, he's never tired, but he decides it's enough tree-walking for the day, after all, he has more things to learn than just climbing trees.

So they sit in the bower under the trees and Kabuto takes out a scroll and a book. Naruto suppresses his wince. Books don't really work for him.

"Naruto, do you know what type of ninja I am?"

Naruto just stares, "There are different types of ninja?"

Kabuto quirks an eyebrow, looking unimpressed, "Yeah, and I'm a medic-nin. I can heal wounds using chakra." Kabuto holds both his hands over a couple of scratches he got when he fell from the tree. Naruto brows shoot up as he watches the scratches disappear. "Being a medic-nin requires in-depth knowledge of the human body, as well as excellent chakra control. But knowledge of the human body is useful to any shinobi, not just medic-nin. This book is an introductory textbook on anatomy," Naruto groans, "Hey! This is useful stuff to learn! Do you even know what your vital organs are?"

Silence.

"Exactly. Then how can you defend them from attack?" Kabuto gives Naruto a light whack on

"Ow!" Naruto rubs the back of his head. "And what's the scroll for?"

"It contains various exercises for chakra control, things like being able to make a coin stand on your palm, or make a coil bounce by pulling it to your hand with chakra and then releasing it. If you master these, shaping chakra will be a piece of cake for you." Naruto watches as Kabuto takes a 1 ryu coin and lays it flat against his palm. He gasps when it starts to lift up one side and ends up standing on Kabuto's palm.

Kabuto smiles, his eyes are challenging Naruto, daring him to even try and chicken out of what he's going to say next. "Now, Naruto-kun, are you ready for your first taijutsu lesson?"

Naruto smiles back.

By the time his first training session with Kabuto is over, Naruto's splayed on the floor in exhaustion, but in a good way. He doesn't really get it either, all he knows is that he made more progress today than he has in a while and it feels nice. For once in his life he doesn't feel like a failure. 

Kabuto spent the last hour teaching him katas for his taijutsu style. It's a dirty way of fighting, with a lot of low aiming attacks meant to target the knees or high aiming attacks for the eyes, and even some nut shots, but Naruto loves it, because he's learning something real and helpful, not to mention that Kabuto's an attentive teacher who corrects even the smallest mistakes with graceful nonchalance, unlike the Academy teachers who seem to grumble every time he asks for help and rush him. Kabuto has Naruto take his time, making him repeat every stance and every movement until it's mastered, until he's performing with fluid, feline grace. Well, vulpine grace, really.

So yeah, it feels good to be this tired, it means Kabuto cares enough to correct him and work through his mistakes.

"I'm hungry," Kabuto says from his spot in the bower of a tree.

"Wanna go to Ichiraku's?" Naruto never passes up a chance to go to Ichiraku's.

"Never been."

Naruto gasps, playacting at being offended, "How have you never tried the gift from heaven that is Ichiraku's Ramen?" Kabuto sticks his tongue out at Naruto and makes a raspberry in reply and Naruto giggles, the weariness making him loosen up a little. "Wanna try it?"

Kabuto shrugs, "I don't see why not, let's see if it's actually as good as you say."

"You bet your ass it is!" Naruto pushes himself up, but his arms are weak from practicing katas for the last hour and he falls back. He grimaces at the smell of sweat coming off him and the feeling of his damp black shirt sticking to his chest and back.

"You're like, what, five? Where did you even learn to curse?" Kabuto says as he gets up.

"You've seen the side of my apartment building, you know what kinda people live there." Naruto replies, "Also I'm seven."

"You're a fetus."

"Kabuto, I will sic the Kyuubi on you. Don't test me."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get going." Kabuto extends and hand and Naruto uses it to lift himself up. The two start walking out of the training ground, bags and supplies in hand. "Let's go take showers first." Naruto nods.

As they walk past the opening between the chain link fences, Naruto sighs. "Honestly, I'd rather train with you instead of going to the Academy."

"Unfortunately, Naruto, I have a very inconsistent schedule, so I can't really train you daily like a jounin sensei can. You're going to have to go to the Academy to fill in the gaps."

Naruto sighs, "How are you sure they won't just...I don't know, widen the gaps?"

"The only gaps when it comes to you and the Academy are the ones in your brain."

"Wow, thanks for thinking so highly of me." Naruto deadpans.

Kabuto smirks, "Your welcome." And, even though Kabuto just insulted him, something warm blooms inside Naruto's chest, because he thinks he just made a friend! His first friend ever!

"Oh, Naruto, who's this? A friend?" Teuchi asks. The question brings that content warmth back.

"Hello, my name is Yakushi Kabuto." He bows. He didn't deny it! Naruto could actually cry, but he holds himself back.

"No need to be so stiff! I'm a cook, not the Hokage!" Teuchi responds with a very fatherly laugh. "My name is Teuchi, this is my daughter Ayame." Ayame smiles and bows her head as well. "The regular, Naruto?"

"You bet!"

"What about you, Kabuto-kun?"

"I'll have whatever he's having."

"All right, two bowls of miso pork ramen!" Teuchi announces, and gets to work while Ayame chats with Naruto on the counter.

"So, Naruto, how's the Academy going?" Naruto grimaces. "Not good, I see."

"You need to go there to be a shinobi, right?" Teuchi asks. Naruto hums. "Well, I have no doubt you'll get out of there with a hitai-ate, one way or another." Naruto beams.

"Damn right I am! I'm gonna be the best ninja I can!"

"Oh, I thought you wanted to be Hokage?"

There's a pause. "Well, I did, but I'm not so sure now," Naruto admits.

"Then why do you want to be the best?" Kabuto asks, peering at him through his round glasses. Naruto has the odd feeling that Kabuto is testing something.

"So I can help bring world peace, then no one has to go through what I do!"

Kabuto's eyes widen, and Naruto can sense something melancholy in his skull. "I hope you succeed." There's a gentle smile on his face, and it's happy, but sad too. Naruto can't tell if he's sad because he thinks Naruto can't do it, or something else. Naruto hopes it's something else.

Naruto shoots a warm smile right back, pointing at himself with his thumb. "I never go back on my word! That's my ninja way! So I'll definitely get it done!"

"Wouldn't world peace make shinobi unnecessary, though?" Ayame asks.

Naruto ponders, "I guess it would, but I think it'd be worth it."

Ayame smiles. "You're very sweet, Naruto." She sets the two bowls of ramen onto the counter.

"This smells amazing," Kabuto says.

"Damn right it does! Tastes just as good, too!"

Naruto grabs a pair of wooden chopsticks from the container and snaps them in half. The two eat in silence, Naruto finishing way before Kabuto. He wants to order seconds, but he's not sure he has the money for it. He doesn't want to dump the bill on Kabuto, either, because he's scared that'll make him think lowly of him and then he'll stop hanging out with Naruto and stop being his friend.

"You want seconds, Naruto-kun?" Kabuto asks. "It'll be on me." 

Naruto feels a little guilty at how quickly he agrees.

"Two more bowls of the miso pork ramen, please!"

"Comin' right up!"

There's a silence that's definitely a bit awkward. Naruto doesn't really know how to talk to people, most of them just scowl and turn the other way. He needs to find something to talk about fast, though, or else Kabuto might think Naruto's aloof or stuck up or something and ditch him for someone more sociable.

He settles on something related to their training. "Hey, Kabuto, why was that book you gave so hard to read? I tried to decipher it earlier but I just couldn't."

Kabuto's brows furrow. "I chose that book because what at a low reading level. It's literally called A Ninja's Guide to Anatomy, Simplified."

Naruto feels stupid, and his face heats up as he stares down at the empty bowl of ramen. Whenever this happens in the Academy the teachers usually think he's pretending that it's difficult to get out of class, and he has to apologize. "I'm sorry."

Kabuto's eyes widen, and Naruto can sense something inside Kabuto, radiating off of him in waves. He thinks it might be anger. Then Kabuto asks, "What do you have to apologize for?"

"I'm, uh, I'm not really good at reading. The instructors at the--at the Academy always think I'm pretending to be bad at it when they, uh, ask me to read out loud, so you probably think so too, right?" 

"Naruto, I don't think your faking." Kabuto says, and Naruto could cry. "I'm just worried."

Ayame interjects, then, a theory obviously forming in her head. "Naruto, what do the characters on our sign say?"

"Ichiraku's Ramen?" Everyone is silent for too long.

"Naruto, who taught you to read?"

Naruto pauses, no one seems upset with him, so he answers honestly. "No one." Kabuto sucks in a sharp breath and Ayame gasps. "So then, how do you know what the scrolls in your pouch say?"

"I, um, I taught myself how to read a little."

"That won't do." Ayame proclaims, and Kabuto hums in agreement next to Naruto. "I could teach you to read, if you'd like?"

"You'd do that?" His voice is a low, disbelieving.

"Of course! Anything for our best customer!" She says. 

"I'll even make you a bowl of ramen for free, if that incentivizes you." Teuchi interjects.

"Well, then he's definitely gonna do it." Kabuto says archly, and everyone laughs. Naruto feels the warmth from earlier settle in him, and he let's it. It feels like something he didn't even know was missing has been given back to him. 

Naruto laughs, too.

When Obito teleports into Naruto's room that night, he's dumbstruck by the sight of Naruto walking on the wall.

"Naruto-kun?"

The boy must have been focusing wholly on walking because he makes distressed sound and falls onto the wood floor.

"Shit," He rubs the back of his head. When he makes eye contact with Obito, the boy beams, mirth filling his eyes as he launches himself at Obito, yelling "Tobi-san!" Obito can't help but engage in a bit of harmless fun and lets Naruto phase through and crash into the wall behind him. "Ow, that hurt! How did you do that?

"Mangekyou Sharingan." As if that's a straightforward answer. "Now, when did you learn to walk on walls, little fox?"

"I met this really cool guy named Kabuto and he's an academy graduate! He taught me how to climb trees as a way to learn chakra control and bought some stuff for me. I think... I think he might be my first actual friend." his voice fades into a sheepish but delighted whisper.

Obito reaches out and ruffles Naruto's hair, "Well, I'm happy for you. Since you studied, are you tired now?"

"Physically? I recovered from being tired pretty quickly, so I'm still ready to go."

"How would you like to learn kenjutsu?"

Naruto's mouth falls open, "Like, swords and stuff? That'd be awesome!"

"Good, because I can teach you, if you'd like."

"If I'd like? I'd love to be your student!" Obito smiles under his mask.

Obito doesn't exactly understand what makes him so attached to Naruto. Maybe its the brightness, a counter to the dark he always sulks around in, maybe it's because they're so similar. All Obito really knows is that he doesn't see Naruto as just another pair of eyes, but someone he genuinely wants to help. Maybe he just wants save at least one soul on this damned Earth. "Good, then how about we start now?"

Naruto's no longer in his apartment, but rather, in a strange space full of pale blue rectangular blocks. In fact, he's on one of those blocks.

"This is a pocket dimension created by my Mangekyou Sharingan, here we can let loose without being seen or worrying about destroying things." Naruto nods, still a little bit shocked by the sudden change of scenery, but Obito continues talking, "I can teach you kenjutsu and ninjutsu, how is that?" Naruto nods emphatically, "Do you know your chakra nature?"

"Wind!"

"You're lucky, wind is my secondary affinity." Obito reaches into a pocket and pulls out...a leaf? "Use your chakra to cut this leaf in half."

Naruto doesn't even take a second to look at Obito apprehensively, he just nods with a determined look in his eye and holds the leaf in his palm. He closes his eyes and steadies his breathing, likely trying to focus on the leaf

Nothing happens.

Obito expected that, really, but he's gonna give Naruto a chance to realize what his mistake was. If Naruto's anything like him then he's a kinesthetic learner, doing is much better than hearing for him.

Naruto stays like that for a whole five minutes, but still nothing happens. 

"Ugh! What am I doing wrong?"

"Would you like me to tell you, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto gives in, nodding his head, "This has to be the same problem as tree-climbing, but the river comparison isn't working!"

"River comparison?"

"Yeah, Kabuto told me to think of my chakra as a river with dams in certain areas that keep the chakra inside my body, but I have to open the dams if I want to use it, but its not helping at all!"

"Naruto-kun, what do you imagine happens to the water after you open the floodgates?"

"I don't know, I guess just think that the chakra would do the rest of the work and cut it."

"Naruto-kun," Obito puts on his best Minato-sensei teacher voice, "When using chakra, there are two ways it's changed, depending on the jutsu. First is the shape transformation. Shape transformation is like molding clay, you pick what goes where. For example, in the Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu, chakra is gathered in the lungs and then exhaled into the shape of a ball. The second way chakra is changed is through nature transformation, that's what turns the ball of exhaled chakra into fire. First, you need to consider the shape of the chakra. What shape or form would enable your chakra to cut through something? Then you need to apply nature transformation, imagining the shape as made of air."

Naruto seems to consider before saying, "All right," and trying again.

The first time, nothing happens. Same with the second and third. Then on the fourth try there's a tearing sound. Naruto gapes at the leaf, which now contains a little cut. There could be a variety of reasons the cut is so small, but the most likely one is that Naruto ends up putting too much chakra into the blade of wind, causing it to start dulling as more wind is brought together and eventually stopping the cut entirely. Naruto would be naturally good at ranged jutsu that sweep whole areas. Obito considers starting with Wind Style: Great Breakthrough and eventually enter more refined jutsu into the mix. Orochimaru is wind natured as well, not to mention a good teacher if a little scary, maybe Obito could get him to train Naruto as well.

"It's amazing how well you're catching onto this, Naruto-kun," Obito says. The kid very clearly has a talent for this stuff, more so than history or the arts, Obito wonders how he's dead last in his class if he was able to perform a minor elemental transformation in only a day. "You're very talented at this."

Naruto looks up at Obito with wide, misting eyes, "You mean that?" his voice is a hopeful whisper. Obito nods and even though he's crying, Naruto gives Obito a big, ecstatic grin, and whispers a choked "Thank you, no one's ever said I was good at something." Obito feels his heart ache.

Obito thinks he understands now, on a factual level, why Naruto brings out emotions in him he thought were long buried, like empathy, worry and protectiveness. It's because Naruto is practically his mirror image, when he used to be young and utterly hopeless and hopelessly naïve, chasing after a girl who didn't like him the way he liked her and proclaiming he would be Hokage despite being an Uchiha. Obito wants to mentor Naruto, yes, but he also wants more. He wants to be what he could've been if everything worked out right, a doting uncle who was a child at heart. He might not be a child at heart anymore, he might not even have one, but he has that opportunity, now, to fill that role.

Obito will not be Madara. He will not be distant or cynical or manipulative. Obito will not just be Naruto's mentor. He will be family, because Minato, Kushina, and Rin are dead and Kakashi is probably ignoring the fact that his sensei had a son entirely. Obito was teammates with Naruto's father, and in the ninja world a genin team is supposed to be like a family. 

Yes, Obito will be Naruto's family, and he won't accept anything more or anything less.

Naruto makes sure to go to the Academy early so he can deal with Iruka's lecture by himself. If he went on time, the others would probably laugh at him, except for maybe Shikamaru and Hinata, and he doesn't want to deal with that. He's still not sure if it's settled in that he's both the jinchuuriki and the son of the Yondaime Hokage, and adding his regular ostracization to the mix, along with some public humiliation, is not something he wants to experience right now.

Still, he's expecting the school day to go regularly. He expects Iruka to avoid looking at him, Mizuki to give him weird glances, Hinata to keep looking at him when she thinks he isn't paying attention and Sasuke to ignore everything. He expects Sakura and Ino to have those weird, tense staring contests, for Shino to stay silent except when called on, for Chouji to snack surreptitiously, Kiba to yell and Shikamaru to nap. He also expects Sasuke's regular fangirls to, well, fangirl, and for the everyone to ignore him no matter how much space he takes up, no matter how loud he makes himself. 

(Naruto realizes, now, that it was just a foolish attempt to make someone, anyone, pay attention to him. He promises himself to never stoop to that level ever again. He's going to be the best ninja ever, after all!)

What he doesn't expect for Kabuto to be standing at the Academy entrance. Naruto senses him before he sees him, the familiar mass of grief and pain that screams loss. But in there is mixed something else. Anger.

When Naruto sees him, leaning back against the wall and holding what appears to be something wrapped in cloth, a scowl on his face, Naruto waves. He feels the bitter mess of emotions in Kabuto's head pause, lessen, and the scowl on his face is replaced by a friendly grin. Naruto wonders if he did that, if Kabuto was happy to see him.

"Hey, Kabuto!" He says, "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Naruto-kun. I'm waiting for you." Naruto feels that warmth again and smiles, "Did you bring lunch?"

Naruto grimaces. He didn't, not anything that could be considered a full meal, at least. Just some potato chips and a carton of strawberry milk. He nods, though, at which Kabuto raises an eyebrow, "You're hiding something."

"How do you do that?"

"Don't worry, I'll teach you how, one day," Kabuto promises. "Now, what did you bring, 'cause I'm certain it can't be anything of substance."

Naruto considers lying, just so Kabuto doesn't think less of Naruto for not taking nutrition seriously, but realizes he wouldn't get away with it, "A bag of potato chips and strawberry milk."

Kabuto grimaces, "Good thing I brought this." He hands the cloth wrapped box to Naruto.

Naruto's eyes widen, "Is this...?"

"A bento, yes. I made karaage, rice, octopus sausages, and sliced some cabbage for you." Kabuto's smile is warm and something in Naruto snaps, like floodgates are opening, and he's filled with emotion, emotion he doesn't really recognize, maybe he's grateful or happy or neither, but he feels it strongly nonetheless.

Naruto is desperately blinking back tears. All this, for him? Some dead last prankster who just happened to be at the right place at the right time? The training and the books and now a full bento? Something so insignificant, something everyone but him has? A sign, a physical signal that you have someone who cares about you enough to make you food? "You didn't have to--"

"I didn't, Naruto-kun, but I wanted to, trust me." He puts a hand on Naruto's shoulder and gives it a comforting squeeze.

"Thank you," his voice cracks. Kabuto smiles warmly. Naruto wonders if this is what having an older brother is like.

"I'll be in the village for at least the next two weeks, so I should be able to make you a bento every week day. When class isn't in session, I can visit your apartment and teach you to cook. This is not a request, by the way, I'm doing this whether you say yes or no." His smile is playful. 

And Naruto is actually crying now, sobbing interrupted by hiccups. He's glad "All I did was"--he hiccups--"help you once. Why all this, for someone like me?"

"I have my reasons, Naruto-kun. Some of them are selfless, some of them are selfish. One day, when you're older, I'll tell you everything about me, but for now, I just want you to have the childhood I never really got." And then Kabuto does something that Naruto has always wanted, has always dreamed about. 

Kabuto gives Naruto a hug. He envelops him in a strong and warm embrace.

Naruto bawls, sobs like he never has in his life. It's 6AM on a Monday, and Naruto is wailing like a baby, not caring if someone hears, not caring if someone watches as he clutches the back of Kabuto's shirt with desperation, like he's scared that Kabuto will disappear if Naruto lets him go. Kabuto shushes Naruto gently, rubbing soothing circles on Naruto's back. Naruto can't even get himself to say a thanks, to explain how much he appreciates this, so he just hugs Kabuto tight, hoping he can convey his gratefulness through the hug alone.

Numbly, Naruto hears the door of the Academy open. It's probably a teacher coming to investigate Naruto's very loud crying. Naruto senses them, they're full of grief, too, hidden beneath the surface but ever-present like a violent undercurrent. "Naruto?" Iruka asks.

Naruto doesn't look, doesn't turn, but he tenses and he feels Kabuto get angrier, but the anger disappears, and Kabuto is soothing Naruto again, ignoring the teacher. Slowly, achingly slowly, Naruto stops crying. He gives Kabuto a shaky smile, "Thank you, Kabuto."

"You don't have to thank me," Kabuto replies with a soft smile.

Naruto pulls back and immediately regrets the loss of someone else's warmth, of the feeling of comfort. He turns to look at Iruka, eyes wide with concern, and Naruto wants to laugh. Iruka usually ignores him as much as possible, in school and outside of school when the two happen to cross paths at Ichiraku's. What right does he have to be concerned over him now?

Naruto doesn't make eye contact with Iruka as he pushes past him and enters the school building, eerily empty of people. He goes straight to the bathroom and rinses his face with cold water. Naruto grimaces at his puffy eyes and reddened nose. There'll be no way to fix that, so he'll just have to pretend like it isn't there. 

Naruto slides the door of his classroom opens and takes his assigned seat. It's next to the window, which Naruto hates because something out there always manages to distract him. He puts the bento next to his backpack on the floor near his chair and waits for others to come in as he gazes out of the window. The first person to come in is Iruka, who Naruto recognizes through the same contained grief.

He decides to play a game as he waits for the classroom to fill up. When he senses someone walk towards the door, he'll try to guess who it is before they enter the classroom. The first time he senses someone, he's baffled by the lack of any strong negative emotions. All the people he's been able to sense have had them; Kabuto was clearly in a state of grief, Tobi seemed to oscillate between anger and nihilism, the people who lived around him were likely either impoverished or close to it, so they were full of stress and emptiness, and the villagers he passed by were always scowling and angry at him. So to feel someone who seems to be perfectly fine feels strange.

When the door opens to reveal Shino, Naruto's surprise only grows. Shino is so... quiet, so reserved that it's honestly kind of intimidating. He reminds Naruto of Sasuke, if Sasuke was less of a jerk. Shino seems to pause when he sees Naruto there before him, and Naruto can practically feel Shino's eyes widen, even though his view of them is obstructed by his sunglasses. Then Naruto feels a sudden spike of worry and alarm, probably at how Naruto's post-breakdown appearance. Much to Naruto's surprise, Shino walks up to him and talks to him, "Hello, Naruto. I know we aren't really friends, but I hope I'm not going out of bounds when I ask if you're okay?"

Naruto's mouth falls open, before he shakes his head to bring himself back to reality. Shino must think he's shaking his head in order to say no, because he asks, "Would you like to talk about it?"

"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine. Or, at least, I'm better than I was a couple of minutes ago. And don't worry, if I saw someone who looked like they had just finished sobbing their eyes out, I'd probably ask if their okay too!" Naruto gives Shino what he hopes is a confident smile. 

Shino nods and makes it to his seat, pulling out what seems to be a textbook and reading. Naruto would do the same, but he decides to wait until he's had enough lessons with Ayame before he starts trying to actually read.

He feels the next person come in. They seem annoyed and grumpy, probably about having to school in the first place, and boy does Naruto relate to that. Other than that, he senses a little fear, some anxiety, and low self-esteem, and Naruto wonders who it is, he a little feels bad that they think so low of themselves. Naruto has to stop himself from gasping when Chouji walks into the classroom. Chouji always seems so nice, and he never pushes Naruto away or ignore him like others. Naruto remembers yesterday, when some mean kid pulled his chair away from under him when Chouji was trying to sit down, how everyone in the class burst into laughter--including Naruto--and feels guilty. Now that he thinks about it, people are always targeting Chouji, calling him too nice, too soft, too big. 

It's a harsh wake up call, to know that others are suffering like him, that others' lives aren't the perfect world he would trade for in an instant. All people will suffer. Absentmindedly, Naruto wonders if trauma and mental problems follow people into the endless dream of Tobi's design. Chouji makes eye contact with Naruto and his brows furrow. He mouths 'Are you okay?' and Naruto nods with a confident smile that comes easier than last time. Chouji looks unsure, but accepts his answer and takes his seat, pulling out a bag of potato chips.

Naruto senses someone else with what he feels to be low self-esteem enter, and is surprised to see Hinata. The two make eye contact and, while Hinata's face turns red, her bashful expression is replaced by worry. Naruto looks away. He feels a little happy that the first three people in the class worry about him. But the feeling disappears when some girl he doesn't know the name of (Naruto is actually very bad with names and faces) enters and immediately becomes more annoyed when she sees him.

Naruto tries not to let it get to him. It would be arrogant, after all, to expect everyone in the class to care about how he's doing.

Some other kids enter, Naruto stops playing the game considering the fact that he literally has no idea how to tell what emotional state his classmates are in. At some point, Sakura enters and Naruto feels his heartbeat get faster. Sakura seems to take him in too and Naruto feels a spike of...distaste? Naruto's heart sinks.

Naruto plays with his hands as he tries to comprehend the fact that Sakura, the girl he likes, the girl he's always trying to help, even if it's in his weird, Naruto way, not only doesn't like him, but actively dislikes him. A brief flash of horror fills him as he wonders if he's been treating Sakura the same way Sasuke's fangirls treat him.

Naruto distracts himself by trying to pay attention to the next person, and senses nothing but a type of mild annoyance, almost like it's fake. The only person who acts like everything is difficult but does it in a typically average way is Shikamaru. Naruto's guess is proved correct when Naruto Shikamaru enters the classroom. Him and Chouji are the two people in class who are nice to him. Naruto wouldn't really call them friends, however. They don't really talk, more just sit around each other during recess. Still, Naruto feels good when there's worry in Shikamaru's head, it means that someone cares about him, even if it's just a little.

Shikamaru mutters what is almost certainly, "Troublesome," and Naruto feels his heart sink again. Does Shikamaru think Naruto's weird or something because he cried? Naruto hopes not, he hopes Shikamaru will let him hang out with them during lunch, even if he is weird because he cried.

Kiba is the second-to-last person to enter the classroom, on the verge of being late, and Naruto hides a laugh. Almost being late is such a Kiba thing to do. He seems like he ran in a state of panic, because he pauses at the door to catch his breath. "Woohoo!" He exclaims with a big smile. A few people in the class laugh, "I'm not late."

"But you almost were," Iruka's responds. "You're lucky you managed to run all the way here from your compound, Kiba, try to make it here earlier." Kiba nods sheepishly. Naruto realizes Kiba must also be part of a clan, if he lives in a compound. No wonder he's so good at taijutsu.

Naruto almost freezes as he senses the next presence. He knows who it is by virtue of him being the only person not in attendance, but he can't comprehend that this his mind. It's full of a hurricane of sadness, grief, pain, and unholy rage. There's also a deep, deep emptiness, a hollowness where there must have been something, once. Naruto has the sinking feeling that something bad happened while he was focusing on Kabuto and Tobi and shut himself up in his apartment. Something unspeakably horrible.

Sasuke opens the door, and his expression is blank in a way that gives Naruto chills. It's like Sasuke is broken. He makes a note to himself not bother him with the rivalry schtick for a while, because he looks like he needs time for himself.

Sasuke's fangirls, however, don't seem to agree. He hears Sakura squeal the black haired Uchiha's name. Sasuke gaze fills with something, an irritation that is far deeper than just annoyance. Sasuke looks like the noise is too much, like he's about to hurt something out of irritation and Naruto is about do something, just to distract the girls, just to give Sasuke some space when Iruka's voice rings through, silencing everyone, "Now that everyone is here, let's get our lesson started. Today we will be covering the three jutsus you must master before the age of twelve in order to graduate the Academy and become genin, the lowest rank of shinobi." He takes a piece of chalk and starts writing on the board. "The first is the Clone Jutsu, the second is the Transformation Jutsu, and the third is the Substitution Jutsu. One of these, a randomly selected one, will be the focus of your exam, so make sure you learn all three, okay?"

The class responds with a chorus of affirmations, "Good. These three jutsus are elementary in the shinobi world, they are basic but very versatile and useful in covert operations and battle." Naruto remembers what Kabuto said about the Academy being useless on purpose, about clans and civilians selling village secrets and the Hokage navigating village politics and wonders if these three jutsu really are that useful. Naruto doesn't know what they do yet, except for the transformation one because that's obvious, so he tries not to diminish their importance before he knows what they do.

The Clone Jutsu creates intangible clones, which are useful for distraction, and the Substitution Jutsu replaces causes the shinobi and something else to switch places, which seems useful in order to evade attacks, but the object has to be something within a certain distance, so it can't be used to escape a battle entirely.

Naruto could also get away with quite a few pranks with these jutsu, and that makes him smile, even if it isn't the responsible use of them.

He realizes he's stopped paying attention to the lecture and snaps back to pay attention to it but fails. When he isn't distracted by his thoughts, he gets distracted by the thoughts of his classmates. He sighs softly.

Today is gonna be a long day.

If someone were to ask Shikamaru if he ever worried about anything, he'd probably say no, because worrying was troublesome, and he preferred not to do something if it was troublesome. 

That would be a lie, of course, because he does worry. He worries about a lot, actually, from petty things like whether or not he forgot his pencil case at home, to big things like the state of diplomatic relations with Sunagakure and whether or not his father thinks a war is coming. But the thing he tends to worry about the most is his friend, Chouji.

Naruto isn't a friend, he's not even sure if he can call Naruto an acquaintance, so maybe he shouldn't worry, maybe he should ignore the fact that he was obviously crying about something and move on, but Shikamaru hasn't seen Naruto for the past couple of days. Naruto usually doesn't skip several days in a row.

It's their break now and the kids are outside the school eating lunch or playing. Naruto usually brings snacks instead of a proper meal, but today he has a bento (one that looks delicious) and he's chewing what must be some very good karaage as he thinks about something. Naruto doesn't usually think, not in the introspective, ruminating way he is now.

"Naruto, is everything good with you?" Shikamaru asks. Chouji stops eating next to him and listens.

"I'm all right."

"Are you sure? You weren't in class for three consecutive days last week. And you looked like you were crying this morning."

Naruto grimaces, "Yeah, I was crying, but they were happy tears so it's okay."

Shikamaru's eyes narrow, "Are you sure? I know we don't talk that often, but if something's bothering you, you can tell me, okay?"

Naruto gives him a bright smile, "Of course!..." He trails off, "Actually, I do have a question."

Shikamaru nods his head and Naruto continues, "Why was Sasuke in such a bad mood today?" He freezes.

"You haven't heard?"

Naruto shakes his head.

"I don't know all the details myself, but," he takes in a deep breath, "apparently his whole clan was massacred by his older brother. He's the only survivor."

Naruto's chopsticks clatter as they land in his lap, "What!?" He whispers harshly.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it myself when I heard, have you been living under a rock? How haven't you heard?"

"I don't know, man, I just kinda stayed in my apartment and didn't really talk to people. When did this happen?"

"Five days ago."

Naruto pales.

They have taijustsu practice later that day, and Naruto gulps as he watches Sasuke brutally beat down his opponent. The match lasted for six seconds. Naruto feels the anger radiating off him, the fury bright and burning. Even though it's worrying, it takes Naruto's mind off the fact that Tobi appeared the same night as the Uchiha Massacre. 

Naruto remembers what Tobi says about unleashing the Kyuubi on the village, his words playing in his head over and over again. Naruto wonders if Tobi knew, if Tobi is one of the reasons Sasuke's family is dead. Naruto realizes, and it's a startling realization, that even if he did, Naruto doesn't think of Tobi any differently. After all, Tobi's the reason his family is dead, too, and he got over that quickly (the Yondaime being the reason Naruto's stuck in his predicament certainly doesn't help Naruto care more.)

"Naruto and Kiba, come up."

Naruto meets Kiba's eyes and they both nod to each other. They get up to the little dirt clearing where their taijutsu practice takes place.

Kabuto told Naruto not to use Kabuto-style taijutsu (as Naruto likes to call it) while sparring because it was still to new to him, but how was he supposed to beat a clan kid with the useless Academy style taijutsu?

Naruto reminds himself that he's been dead last since he first started the Academy at age six, and that he can take one more loss. 

He makes the seal of confrontation with Kiba, and enters into a stance. Kiba enters into his own, and Naruto notices how animalistic it is, with his knees bent and his hands like claws.

Mizuki gives them the signal to go and Kiba rushes forward, arm projecting that he's gonna try to punch him. Usually, Naruto would try to meet Kiba's aggression with his own, but he's had two days' worth of training with Kabuto and Tobi and he knows that it would be a mistake here.

Naruto doesn't move, and when Kiba gets close enough, Naruto ducks under his fist. Kiba's legs are open for attack, and Naruto's right leg kicks out at the shin of his left leg. Kiba's faster, though, and he successfully moves back in time, evading Naruto's counterattack.

"Good job evading, Kiba." Of course Mizuki doesn't tell Naruto that he did a good job evading his earlier attack.

Naruto doesn't move forward, remaining in his battle stance and watching Kiba as he prepares for another attack. The two circle each other for a while, until Kiba charges forward again, faster than last time. Naruto barely dodges by moving to the side, and sees an opportunity that would be perfect for Kabuto-style. 

Naruto moves from his position at Kiba's side to behind Kiba's back, launching a low, sweeping kick that would knock his opponent's legs out from under them, but Naruto doesn't aim high enough for the knees and Kiba moves fast enough for him to miss entirely.

"What was that move?"

"Whatever it was clearly didn't work." A couple of his classmates giggle. Naruto clenches his teeth.

Kiba turns around quickly and his elbow connects with Naruto's solar plexus, knocking the air out of his lungs as falls to the ground.

"Kiba is the winner," Mizuki announces. "Naruto, next time, don't try a new move just because you saw it on a TV show or something, stick to what you were taught."

The class snickers, "Yes, Mizuki-sensei." Naruto's face flushes and he looks at the floor.

"Good." Naruto doesn't hear who's next as walks back to sit next to Shikamaru and Chouji, forgetting the seal of reconciliation entirely.

Kabuto smiles at Naruto when he sees him walk towards what has become their training ground, but the smile falls as Naruto comes closer. He looks upset, like the day hadn't particularly gone well, and when Naruto's close enough, Kabuto asks, "Is everything all right?"

Naruto shakes his head. At least he's not trying to hide it.

"Wanna talk about it?" Naruto considers, before shaking his head again, "That's okay, you can tell me if you feel like it." He hopes it wasn't the teachers. He had already tried to to explain to the brunette and the silver haired ones that Naruto was actually struggling to read and almost punched the silver haired one when he continued to deny it and claim Naruto was lying.

"Thank you." He says, barely audible. Kabuto probably wasn't meant to hear it, so he doesn't respond, but smiles nonetheless.

"Wanna get straight to it?" Kabuto asks. Naruto looks into his and nods as he puts his backpack down against the fence and does his warmups.

Kabuto has Naruto do the katas again, repeat them over and over until he nails them. Kabuto thinks Naruto is getting a little irritated when he corrects his movement, but Kabuto lets it happens. If Naruto gets irritated enough, he'll probably snap and tell him what the problem is.

The fourth time Kabuto corrects Naruto's movements, the seven year-old makes a noise of sheer frustration, crossing his arms and sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"What is it?" Kabuto asks as gently as he can, and Naruto's angry demeanor softens.

"Not much. I just got my ass handed to me during sparing practice."

"Were you fighting a member of a major clan?"

Naruto nods, "Yeah, the Inuzuka."

"Not the dog people." 

Naruto chuckles at that, but his face morphs back into a scowl, "He was just, so fast. I don't think he even used anything special on me, just some regular punches and kicks. In a real fight I'd be totally useless!"

"That's okay, Naruto-kun," Kabuto comforts. "You're still a baby, you have time to learn. That's what I'm here for. The thing about learning to fight is that it requires more than just knowing what stance to make or how to execute a fancy move. You have to be able to analyze your opponent, analyze your surroundings, spot openings, be aware of your own openings, react quickly, aim precisely, have the confidence to attack, the willingness to kill. These often take years to develop, and some of your classmates have been developing these skills far before you have, so don't beat yourself up about it if you're catching up."

Naruto nods solemnly, "I just... I don't know, I don't like waiting, I don't wanna wait for myself to get better, if that makes sense."

"I understand that, but everything takes time, Naruto-kun, and it's best if I have you master the basics before we move onto more complicated stuff like sparring. When you know the basics, you can build your way around the complicated stuff."

Naruto nods, "I guess I get what you mean." Getting up, Naruto enters a stance again, "Let's do this." 

Kabuto smiles as Naruto starts doing the katas. If Kabuto does a good job teaching Naruto, he has little doubt that Naruto will be at the level of at least a chuunin by the time he graduates the Academy.

Naruto stops doing the katas by the time the sun starts setting, having tired himself out. He's laying spread-eagle on the floor, covered in sweat and dirt. His muscles ache but he's satisfied. Kabuto said he's basically mastered the two katas he had Naruto do.

"Naruto-kun, what type of throwing weapon do you use?"

"Kunai."

"Why?"

Naruto ponders, "I guess 'cause I see a lot of ninjas use them. They're also less expensive."

Kabuto nods, "Kunai are good, they're versatile too, but they're not all that precise and easy to see and avoid." Kabuto motions for Naruto to come over to the bower under the trees. Naruto grunts as he gets on his hands and knees and crawls, "How would you feel if I taught you to use senbon?"

"Senbon? Those little needles? What can they do?"

Kabuto smiles, and Naruto recognizes that as the explanation smirk: Kabuto's about to explain something that changes Naruto's view on that thing entirely. "A master user of senbon, like Kirigakure's hunter-nin, can kill a man in an instant, without any blood, by hitting a specific spot on the back of the neck."

"Really?" Naruto asks, amazed.

Kabuto nods, "Yup! Not just that, but senbon are lighter, harder to see, and easier to hide. But..." Kabuto trails off, indicating that Naruto should try to complete Kabuto's thought. 

Naruto thinks, trying to find the weaknesses of senbon. He knows kunai are versatile because they can be used at both close range and far range, maybe... "Senbon can only be used at far range?"

Kabuto shakes his head, but his smile doesn't waver, encouraging Naruto to keep thinking, "Well made senbon can easily stand up to any kunai. Try again."

"Hm..." Naruto thinks, focuses as hard as he can but... he's got nothing.

"Senbon are far more difficult to master. Since they weigh less, they're trajectory is more easily changed by wind, not to mention wind jutsus, meaning you have to gauge your surroundings. Additionally, their preciseness means that they're effectively rendered useless by bad or underdeveloped aiming. However, that last point doesn't matter if..."

"If..." Naruto trails off and thinks, then realizes, "if they're poisoned!"

Kabuto nods and smiles. "Very good! So, Naruto-kun, if you're up for another challenge, how would you like to learn to use senbon?"

Naruto's eyes are alight with a determined flame, he's never been one to back down from challenge, especially when it comes to his ninja training!

"I must warn you, however, that it'll go side by side with anatomy lessons, so it's gonna be more than just throwing needles at targets. You'll have to study, to learn."

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Naruto asks incredulously.

Kabuto just shrugs, "Forgive me, but you just don't seem like the studying type."

Naruto laughs, "Why don't you just call me a dumbass straight to my face?"

"Okay, dumbass."

Naruto scoffs. It should hurt, but Naruto knows Kabuto doesn't mean anything by it, so he just pushes Kabuto playfully.

"Asshole!"

"That's not a vital point, Uzumaki Naruto-san."

Naruto just sticks his tongue.

"Leader-sama?"

"Yes?"

"I'm requesting permission to return to Konoha."

"Oh? After all this time?"

"Yes, Leader-sama."

"May I ask why?"

"To visit a...distant relation, I believe you know him. Oh, and Nagato wishes to come with me."

"Ah...Uzumaki Naruto. What are you going to do with him?"

"What do you think? Take him under my wing, obviously. Nagato and I, we are the ones most suited to training him. As for Nagato, the other clansman is a bonus, what he really wants to do is take care of certain...loose ends."

A pause. "Very well. But I will have to veto Nagato's decision, I have another use for Danzou. But tell him that when the time for his demise comes, I'll be sure to let Nagato join in."

"Yes, Leader-sama."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, Leader-sama."

"Then you are dismissed."

As he waits for Tobi, Naruto does the chakra control exercises that Kabuto gave him. He's able to use his chakra to push the coin up on one side, but is only able to make it switch sides. It's definitely better than it was at the beginning, though. When he first tried it all the coin did was fly off his palm. Improvement may be slow, but it's still improvement.

Naruto stops when Tobi swirls into the room, "Hello, Naruto-kun. Practicing Chakra control exercises?"

Naruto nods, "Yeah. Tobi-san, how long did it take you to learn your first jutsu?"

"Well, my first jutsu, like all Uchihas, was the Great Fireball Jutsu, but I hadn't unlocked my Sharingan yet, so it was more difficult. I thin it was half a year."

"Wait, you're an Uchiha?"

"You didn't know? I thought it was obvious based on my Sharingan."

"The Uchiha have the Sharingan?" Naruto exclaims.

Tobi simply chuckles, "Yes, it was their kekkei genkai, a genetic ability unique to our clan." 

"Oh...um, Tobi-san?"

"Yes?"

"I don't uh...I don't have a polite way to ask this, but...why did you visit me on the night of the Uchiha Massacre?"

Tobi's eye widens, "Do you think I had something to do with it?"

Naruto's face flushes and he looks at the floor, he must be really easy to see through, "I was just wondering." He says, quietly.

"I did."

Naruto heads snaps up to look at Tobi so fast that he gets whiplash. "What?"

"I did have something to do with the night of the massacre, though it was not my decision to massacre the Uchiha, nor did I do it for fun. There was a reason it happened, even if I did not kill anyone myself."

"Why? What could happen that could justify that?"

"Naruto-kun, the Uchiha were going to take over the Village, violently. Tell me, Naruto, do you think a clan could survive against the every other shinobi in the village?"

Naruto shakes his head.

"Tell me, Naruto, what weapon exists in Konoha that the Uchiha could use to help themselves take over the village?"

Naruto pauses and thinks, what weapon could trump most of the shinobi in the village? How could the Uchiha gain access to it?

Naruto starts shaking when he realizes, "The Kyuubi," he breathes. "They were going to-going to kill me?"

Naruto sees softness in Tobi's eyes, "Yes, Naruto-kun, and in order for my dream to become reality, you could not die."

Naruto gulps, "So... Sasuke's brother, and you...ended up saving my life?"

"Yes. The only member spared was Sasuke." 

Naruto takes deep breaths, calms himself down. Tobi let his whole clan die? To save him?

"I owe you my life." Naruto said.

"You don't need to die for me, Uzumaki Naruto, your help is all the thanks I need."

"But...how exactly am I gonna help?"

There's a pause, "I am part of an organization dedicated to collecting the bijuu. When we remove the Kyuubi from you and you get my master's eyes, you will help gather the other bijuu. Then, when you gain the power of all the tailed beasts, you will be the one with the Rinne-Sharingan, who will look at the moon and cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi."

"I'm...I'm the one? Who's gonna create the endless dream?" Naruto asks, disbelieving.

"Yes, Naruto-kun, you will help me usher in a new world, you will be the savior of humankind. You will be..."

Naruto gulps.

"...a god."

She did not expect seeing Konoha again would hurt this much. She should turn away, taken in anything else, like the forest her grandfather created or the sky that reminds of Uncle Tobirama brilliant blue water jutsus, not the village where Dan and Nawaki died. But she can't bring herself to look away, to stop taking in the place her lost clan called home. There's such life here, even if it feels like a village of ghosts, of blades for hire and political machinations that would make anyone sick.

Tsunade's not sure if she can do this, can come back, but she has to. Grandmother Mito's clansman, the inheritor of her burden, lives here. She regrets not coming back earlier, to see this Uzumaki Naruto, the child of a Hokage and scion of a lost clan, but she will be here now. She will train his body, make it as fortified as possible so that when the time comes to collect the Kyuubi, Naruto will survive and bring the world into a new age.

"Tsunade-hime?" Shizune's voice calls out from behind her.

"I'm okay," she assures, "it's just, been such a long time."

"It's fine, Tsunade-hime. If I were to return to Ame now I would probably react the same way." Nagato's polite, soft spoken voice assures.

"We've all lost people," Tsunade says as she watches a verdant leaf fall to the ground. "Let's make sure we don't lose this one, too. Remember, he's not just a tool or a means to an end, remember that." 

The two behind her hum in affirmation and they make their way towards the gate, where the two chuunin stop their conversation and simply stare, bewildered and unbelieving, at the return of Tsunade of the Legendary Sannin.

"Tell Sarutobi-senei," Tsunade tells them in way of a greeting, "that we would like to talk about Uzumaki Naruto."

The sunset is coloring the sky pink and Naruto's training with Kabuto. Well, if jamming out to the music coming out of Kabuto's radio counts as training. It was Kabuto's idea to make today a bit of a cheat day, but Naruto supposes it's earned after almost two straight weeks of taijutsu practice, senbon throwing practice, anatomy lessons, history lessons, lessons on Konoha and arithmetic lessons. Not to mention the chakra control exercises, reading lessons with Ayame and the kenjutsu and ninjutsu lessons with Tobi, on top of semiregularly attending the Academy? Naruto might take ages to get and stay tired but he wants a break! Not to mention an opportunity to just hang out with Kabuto before he leaves in a week on a mission that will take Sage knows how long.

The two are jumping around, dancing to the tune of a City Pop song as the cicadas sing and fireflies flicker when Naruto senses someone approaching at rapid speed. Naruto pause, walking over to pause the radio.

"Someone's coming." Kabuto says.

"Yeah, I sense it." 

"Huh? Sense it? You know what? I'll just ask about it later." Kabuto says with a sigh.

Naruto scratches the back of his head and smiles sheepishly. The chuunin that's approaching stops by the gate of their training ground and calls out, "Uzumaki Naruto, the Hokage requests your presence immediately."

Naruto groans, "Oh, great," he mutters so only Kabuto can here, "another lecture about taking my studies seriously."

Kabuto chuckles, "It's like they want you to suck as a ninja."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case." Naruto says as he walks over to the chuunin, "Can my friend come with me?"

"Hokage-sama said nothing about bringing a friend, so it should be fine." The chuunin says with a friendly smile. Naruto decides he likes this one compared to the stoic and distasteful ones that usually come.

"C'mon, Kabuto!"

"Coming, coming, just putting my radio away."

The two make their way through a twilit Konoha, both wrapped up in a debate about the merits of Naruto's favorite genre, rock, and Kabuto's, pop, and Naruto ignores the stares, doesn't even let them get to him because he has people now, has Tobi and Kabuto and maybe one day he'll have Shikamaru and Chouji but for now this is enough. 

As they walk through the Hokage's tower, Naruto hears muttering about someone coming back after a long time and hears the term "sannin" thrown around.

They make it to the waiting room of the Hokage's office, which is unusually empty. Naruto can sense four presences beyond the door. One is very, very tired and world weary. Another two possess that grief he feels come sometimes, the thick, heavy mist of grief that just...hangs there. The type of grief that swallows someone whole and spits them out scarred and broken. The fourth one is, to Naruto's surprise, much more well adjusted. If anything that presence seems to lack any negative emotions entirely.

"Hokage-sama, Uzumaki Naruto is here."

"Come in," The Old Man's gruff voice calls out.

"I'll wait for you, okay?" Kabuto says and Naruto nods as he opens the door.

As he enters the room, all eyes are on him. There's a beautiful blonde woman, arms crossed under her chest (which is very big, Naruto must imagine that crossing her arms over her chest is unreasonable), wearing a green haori and a sleeveless kimono that's been tailored to act as a shirt. She wears black capris pants that are made out of the same durable cloth as Kabuto's ninja gear. Her sandals are...heeled? Naruto wonders vaguely if that's a fashion faux pas. She takes Naruto in, gaze calculating and scanning, before she smiles. She's slouched in a chair.

Standing next to her is a pretty woman with not quite shoulder length black hair and bangs who's wearing a full kimono and smiling politely at Naruto. 

Then last one, a man with long red hair and silver eyes who wears a long, maroon tunic with a raised collar like the one Naruto sees Sasuke wear. There's a belt over his waist. He's looking at Naruto, too, a genuine, if reserved, smile on his face.

Naruto, not knowing what else to say or do, resorts to outrageousness, "What do ya want with me, Old Man?"

The brunette's jaw drops and the blonde snorts, while the redhead's eyes widen before he stifles a chuckles.

"Old Man?" The blonde asks, entertained smile dancing across her lips. "If all of the next generation is like this I wonder why I didn't come back here sooner."

"Everyone, this is Uzumaki Naruto." The Hokage says instead of replying to the blonde's comment, "Naruto, this woman here is..." He trails off, motioning to the woman.

"It's still just Tsunade, Sarutobi-sensei. I know they changed the law and that I can call myself Senju Tsunade now if I want but you'll have to let me think on that," The woman, Tsunade, turns to look at Naruto, warm smile playing on her face. "Nice to meet you, Naruto. The woman next to me is my apprentice, Katou Shizune, and the man next to me is--Well, I think he should tell you himself." She nods for the redhead to introduce himself.

"Hello, Uzumaki Naruto, my name is Uzumaki Nagato." He says with a smile.

Naruto's eyes widen and his mouth falls open, "Uzu-Uzumaki?"

The man nods, and Naruto mind is racing with questions, but the Hokage continues speaking, "Tsunade was my student when she was younger, and she has something she wants to talk to you about. I'll give you some privacy, if you would like, Tsunade."

Tsunade nods and the Hokage rises up to leave.

"So, Naruto-kun," Tsunade starts, and it hits Naruto that this woman said she could call herself Senju, the clan of the first two Hokage! "I'm sure you're probably wondering why you're here." Naruto nods, "You see, my grandmother was Uzumaki Mito"--Naruto gawks, this woman is also related to the Uzumaki!--"She was the wife of the Shodaime Hokage, Senju Hashirama"--Naruto gawks once again as he realizes he's talking to a granddaughter of a Hokage--"And she was a member of the Uzumaki clan. I happened, by pure chance, to hear someone, I think his name was Tobi?"--Naruto feels like he's being repeatedly punched in the face--"talk about some orphaned kid named Uzumaki Naruto. Now, I don't know if you know this, but the Uzumaki clan and my clan, the Senju, were close allies, but the Uzumaki were wiped out in their village, Uzushiogakure. I knew there was one other Uzumaki here, a woman who came here before Uzushio was destroyed, and assumed that there would be no more Uzumaki if she were to marry. But, as you can see, that's not the case. When I heard you were an orphan, I decided to return to the Village to meet you, and, if you would like, train you."

Naruto simply stares.

"I understand if this is a lot to handl--"

"What was she like?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Um...your grandmother, what was she like?"

"Well, she was practically Uzushio's princess, since she was the daughter of the Uzumaki clan leader. She proud and dignified and graceful, and kind, too. She once took on a great burden for the sake of the Village, and she never once complained about it. It's from her that I learned confidence." Tsunade smiled warmly.

"Was she also--like me? Did she--" Tsunade seems to understand what he's getting at because her expression turns serious.

"Yes, she was. You can consider it a sort of inheritance. The Uzumaki were brilliant in seals, for Grandmother it was no different. Although most people did not know of her burden."

Naruto nods. He wants to ask so much to her, but can't seem to find the words.

Nagato speaks up, and it startles Naruto because he's so quiet he seems to disappear, "I understand that you know little to nothing of our clan?" Naruto nods, abashed, but Nagato smiles gently, "It's very understandable. I knew very little as well until I left my home in search of the ruins of Uzushio and dug through the ruins to discover what I could. I would be happy to share my knowledge with you."

Naruto nods emphatically, he's buzzing with excitement, and Nagato's smile widens.

"Now, Naruto," Tsunade speaks again, "You have every right to say no to this, but I'm here because, as far as I'm concerned, you are family. I would have come sooner had I known that you were here, by yourself, but no one decided to tell me, so perhaps I am too late. But I would like to make you a ward of my clan. It means you will be under my guardianship, though without the full rights a parent would have, and I would be required to train you to become a good shinobi. Know this, Naruto, that I am one of the Shodaime's students and famed for my prowess across the world, so if you were to agree I would not be lacking in my teachings."

"You--you basically came here to adopt me?" 

"Yes, Naruto, with the added bonus of training on the side." She sounds like she's trying to sell something and Naruto giggles.

"I..." he trails off, "What would I learn?"

"They call me one of the Legendary Sannin, and you're genin team does not get called the Legendary Sannin. Although I specialize in medical jutsu, but I'm not a one trick pony. I am above a jounin in taijutsu, have mastered water style, earth style and wind style, am proficient in toxicology and can knock a tree down with a punch. Aside from that, I have average knowledge in sealing as well. Not to mention the training Nagato can give you." Nagato nods.

"I can teach you about our clan's specialty, seals, as well our special jutsu, the Adamantine Chains Technique."

Naruto is barely holding back the urge to just run up to these people and hug them. Naruto has always wanted a family, to be a part of something bigger, and he's getting the opportunity now in so many ways. 

"I agree."

Tsunade smiles. 

"Good."

Naruto learns, later, a lot of things about these people. When Tsunade had taken everyone to the Senju clan's compound, an old and beautiful estate with a walled garden and sliding doors with paper screens, they talk much more honestly. 

"I'm sure you've met Tobi?" Tsunade says after activating the privacy seals that mark around the compound.

Naruto nods. "How do you know him?" 

"Tobi is the leader of an organization me and Nagato are a part of. We call ourselves the Tsukinome, and our goal is--"

"World peace."

Tsunade smiles, "Yes. Now, me and Nagato have multiple reasons for coming here, and we didn't necessarily lie to you earlier. We truly did only learn about you recently, and I certainly would have come here earlier if I knew you existed. My desire to bring you in and take care of you is genuine, too. But we also have a goal."

Naruto nods, and Tsunade continues, "At some point, many years from now, the Kyuubi will be extracted from you. Normally, a the extraction of a bijuu would kill the jinchuuriki, but most jinchuuriki do not have the sturdiness of an Uzumaki. When the Kyuubi is extracted from you, you survive for a time in a weakened state and die later. Our goal is prevent that from happening, to make you strong enough to raise the chances of survival so that you can live and aid us in our mission."

Naruto nods, determined, if not a little put off by the knowledge that he could die.

"Now, I understand you are already being trained by Yakushi Kabuto?" Naruto nods again.

"He can join you in our training sessions and continue his lessons. Tobi will also be coming here to train you and Nagato will teach you the forgotten arts of the Uzumaki clan, which will help you in containing the Kyuubi."

Naruto nods in determination, "I'll do it."

"There's one price, though you might actually like this option. You will be removed from the Academy but still take the graduation exam by a law exclusive to the Senju clan known as the Right to Rear. Basically, in lieu of taking classes, Senju elders would teach the next generation. This will free up your time considerably."

Naruto sighs in relief, "That's not a price, that's a bonus!" Tsunade chuckles.

"Now, you can rest in a guestroom tonight, and tomorrow we can get your things and bring them here."

If Naruto isn't incredibly strong by the time he's a genin, he's gonna file a lawsuit.

Shikamaru is worried again. Naruto has been absent for a straight week and all anyone can talk about is the return of some woman named Tsunade. 

(Shikamaru knows, of course, that she's important, it's just that acknowledging that makes it much more troublesome.)

So when Iruka walks into the classroom, Shikamaru speaks up, "Where is Naruto?" The class falls silent.

"Probably skipping, again." Ino answers.

"Yeah, but he never skips consecutively. Or at least not usually."

"Naruto is no longer attending the Academy."

"I was waiting for that dumbass to drop out." He hears a kid say. Shikamaru shoves his anger down.

"Why?"

Iruka sighs, something like regret flashing in his eyes, "Essentially, he's been adopted by Tsunade-hime."

The class falls silent before a chorus of students call out in surprise and disbelief. Iruka's sharp look quiets everyone down, "Naruto is from the same clan as Tsunade-hime's grandmother, a clan that is now largely lost. Tsunade decided to return to Konoha and make him her ward. The Senju, Tsunade-hime's clan, have a law that gives them the right to educate their own clansmen while allowing them to eventually take the genin exam. Tsunade invoked this law, so Naruto will not be coming back to the Academy but will take the graduation exam with all of you."

Shikamaru is speechless. Naruto? Related to one of the Legendary Sannin? And now he's basically been adopted?

The class is full of kids murmuring about why it was Naruto of all people. Shikamaru hears the words dumbass and dead last thrown around and the word undeserving and doesn't understand it, not really. 

But he's also glad. He hopes Naruto is well taken care of, Sage knows the kid deserves it.

Naruto watches in awe as he channels his chakra into the circle on the scroll. The central circle has fine lines that connect to smaller circles, that have the characters for each of the elements within them. The one for wind glows green. It's the brightest, followed by the blue of water, the yellow of lightning, the red of fire, and the brown of earth.

Uncle Nagato tells him that it's called an affinity teller seal, and that it was how the shinobi of Uzushiogakure determined their elemental natures. 

"Now, usually only two or three light up. But since your Rinnegan is starting to develop, all of them are starting to become your affinities. Eventually, if you do this again with your Rinnegan complete, they will all glow equally strong." Naruto nods as Nagato continues, "Your secondary affinity is with water, though it's not as strong, and you have a rare, minor affinity with lightning. My affinities are primarily water and lightning, so I should be able to help you with those."

"I can cut a leaf halfway with wind, that's how Tobi-san had me learn nature transformation, what will I have to do for those two?"

"Well, water makes objects flexible, so you'll have to channel it into a piece of bark and make it bendable, whereas lightning makes it possible for objects to phase through others, so you will practice it by seeing if you make a chakra blade pass through a tree."

"Can I try it?" Kabuto asks.

"Of course."

He channels his chakra into the paper and only the signs water and earth glow, "You have a primary earth affinity with a secondary water affinity. Similar to some of the Senju, actually."

Kabuto's brow raise, "So what I'm hearing is that I can use wood style?"

Tsunade scoffs from where she's resting on a futon, cup of green tea in hand, "The fact that my grandfather had wood style is rare enough as it is, the fact that I got it is practically a miracle. If you happened to win the genetic lottery and get wood style, you'd probably be hailed as the second coming of the Sage of Six Paths. Orochimaru would also probably steal your body without second thought."

Naruto grimaces. Finding out Kabuto was working for someone who was also in the Tsukinome was very surprising and very welcome. Naruto didn't need to hide Tobi to him and Kabuto, in turn didn't need to worry about how being a double agent would affect Naruto. 

"Okay, Naruto, wanna know something about me?" Tsunade says as she gets up off her futon and stretches her back. 

"Sure," Naruto says.

"I, unlike many shinobi, have naturally large..." 

"Tsunade-hime! You shouldn't be talking to a child about such things!" Shizune exclaims from where she's sitting next to Tsunade, playing out a game of igo against herself.

"I was gonna say chakra reserves, but all right." Tsunade gives a long-suffering Shizune an arch smile, "Now, you know how difficult chakra control is for people with big reserves, and medical ninjutsu, as well as my, what was it called? Monstrous strength." Naruto shudders at the memory of Tsunade demonstrating her ability to punch through trees, "So, the question is, how did I learn the chakra control required for medical ninjutsu so I could perfect the art by the time I was a jounin? The answer is this." Tsunade makes a hand sign, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto gapes as three more Tsunades appear in the room. "These are not regular clones, Naruto, Shadow Clones are tangible, and when you dispel them you gain their memories. By using multiple shadow clones, you can get several times the work done in a fraction of the time. Now, the only reason I know this forbidden jutsu is because Grandfather Hashirama was horrifically reckless and indulged me too much, but it aided in developing the control of the reserves I inherited from Grandmother. We're gonna use the shadow clones to help you train."

"How am I supposed to learn a forbidden technique? I don't even know a wind jutsu yet!"

"Remember, these aren't regular clones, and instead of chakra control, all you have to do is funnel as much chakra as necessary into as many as you want and, bam! You have it down. Here, let me show you."

"By the time you're a genin, you're gonna be fucking terrifying." Kabuto says, earning a chuckle from Uncle Nagato. 

"In the shinobi world, being terrifying is a good thing." Nagato says sagely.

"Unless you're a woman, in which case, good luck finding someone who'll date you." Tsunade quips.

"Tsunade-hime, you don't even care about dating anymore." Shizune responds.

"Oh, sure, not anymore, but when I was a teenager? Gutsy shinobi from all over the Village would come and say sappy stuff like 'Don't worry, my princess, I'll protect you!'" She deepens her voice, imitating a man, "Then they find out your fists can send someone flying back thirty meters and suddenly it's 'Oh, I don't think this is working out for us!'" She turns to Naruto, "You want advice on how to earn the respect of any woman?" Shizune is protesting but Tsunade continues, "One, don't act like women are some secret that men will never understand. Two, don't make inappropriate comments on or stare at their bodies, especially if they haven't given you permission, though that also goes in the opposite direction. Three, don't ever make a woman feel embarrassed for being a woman. Bam! Instant respect."

Shizune's protests have died out, "That's...actually not bad advice. Although it's a shame you have to have to point some of those things out."

"I didn't understand any of that." Naruto says.

"One day, Naruto, you will." Tsunade says enigmatically, "Unless you're like Jiraiya, in which case a lot of women will be angry at you and the only women who talk to you will be prostitutes and hostesses."

"Don't be like Jiraiya, Naruto," Shizune warns, "She almost beat him to death because he tried peeping on the women's side of an onsen."

"Beat him to death!?" Kabuto exclaims.

"I might have high tolerance for sake but I have low tolerance for perverts. Don't be a pervert, Naruto. And don't read those perverted Icha Icha books Jiraiya publishes either."

"I've never heard of them."

"Good. Something like Late Spring Breeze is much better anyway."

Kabuto scoffs, "Late Spring Breeze? As in, the Late Spring Breeze in a Lonely World series? The one with like twenty books that's still going? Isn't that, like, a book series for bored housewives?"

Shizune scoffs, "If only. Tsunade-hime ended up popularizing the series twenty years ago and apparently it's still popular among the kunoichi here. I heard it's such a staple that when a woman gets promoted to jounin she gets a copy of the first book as a gag gift from her female friends with a note that says 'May Tsunade-hime bless your career!'"

Tsunade raises an eyebrow, "Really? Sometimes I forget how famous I am. If only I got, like, deals with brands, I'd be soaking in cash right now!"

"You're lucky you curbed that gambling addiction of yours when you left Konoha, or else who knows how much debt you'd be in."

Tsunade sniffs haughtily, "I could probably get some daimyo to pay it off anyway." 

Shizune just scoffs and goes back to her game of igo.

Naruto thinks this is a family, even if he couldn't say any of them were like having parents, even if they don't fret over his safety like regular families, even if they don't hide the harsh truths of the world until he's older, these people are still his family. Tsunade and her brazen attitude and refusal to censor herself, Shizune and her levelheadedness, Nagato and his quiet stability, Kabuto and his sarcasm and teasing, Tobi and his absolute faith that Naruto wouldn't betray him, that Naruto can be something.

Yeah, he thinks, this is a home.

In a universe of black and blue within a furiously red eye, Naruto finally gets it. There's a whistling sound, the feeling of biting wind and howling tempests pulse in his veins and when he opens his eyes...

There's a leaf. Cut into two halves. The cut is a straight bisection, there isn't a single jagged edge. Naruto practically screams in pure catharsis.

After six months, he's ready to move on.

"So, Naruto-kun," Tobi's says, voice deep and full of pride and promises, "are you ready for your first Wind jutsu?"

In lieu of speaking, because he's mentally exhausted after finally, finally getting the leaf to slice in half, Naruto nods excitedly.

Naruto's sure that isn't his real voice. It's deep and threatening, a voice that seems too heavy, to take up physical space. Naruto knows Tobi is still hiding things, still keeping secrets.

And that's okay, because Tobi's already given Naruto so much, he doesn't need to give Naruto anything he doesn't want to. Naruto will accept that, at least for now, Tobi is Tobi. 

"Oi, Naruto."

Naruto's sitting at the engawa in the Senju compound, his legs swinging off the edge as he soaks in the afternoon sun. Konoha is rarely cold and snow only comes every ten or so years, so it's warm and energizing. Naruto's favorite sounds, the cicadas and crickets call out to him in a chorus. 

He turns to look at Kabuto, who's just returned from his recent mission. Naruto knows Kabuto's missions aren't the daring acts of chivalry he thought ninjas did when he still wanted to be hokage. Naruto knows a lot of things, now, like the vital points of a human body and where to aim a senbon to kill a person and how to make a coin spin in the palm of his hand. 

Kabuto's recent mission was a hit on a missing-nin who had stolen some important artifacts from the abandoned manor of a clan that went extinct after the end of the Warring States period. 

"Kabuto!" Naruto gets up and tackles the older boy in a hug.

"Woah, easy there!" Kabuto exclaims. "Sometimes I forget how excitable you are. And how come I'm always just Kabuto? Tsunade-hime is Granny Tsunade, Nagato is Uncle Nagato, and Shizune is Nee-chan, but I'm just Kabuto."

Naruto simply nods, "Yup! Just Kabuto. What else do you need to be?"

Kabuto ponders, but shakes his head, "I brought a gift for you." His voice is singsong.

Naruto's eyes widen, "Really? What is it?"

"You know how Tsunade-hime can summon slugs because of her slug contract?" Kabuto continues when Naruto nods, "Well, what if I told you that I found a summoning contract during my latest mission, and convinced both Orochimaru-sama and Danzou-sama to let me give it to you instead of into Konoha's safekeeping?"

Naruto gapes, then starts crying.

"Oi, oi, Naruto, why are you crying?" Kabuto frets, "You know how we all hate it when you cry!"

"It's okay," Naruto sniffles and wipes his nose with his sleeve, "I'm fine." He takes a deep, grounding breath.

Kabuto sighs in relief, "Good, now let me show you how this works..."

"Naruto-kun, if you tried to fan yourself with your hand, would that be very effective?"

Naruto shakes his head.

"Now, what if you had a hand fan? That would be much more effective, wouldn't it?'

Naruto nods.

"So what do you think would happen to a wind jutsu if you had a great fan?"

Naruto's eyes widen, then he leaps to his feet in Tobi's dimension. "I need a big fan!"

Tobi nods, "You do."

"Crap, where am I gonna get a big fan? Do the equipment shops even sell those?--" Naruto starts rambling to himself, lost in a whirlwind of thought.

Tobi release a fond, if not long-suffering, sigh, "Naruto-kun," Naruto quiets almost immediately. Tobi takes a scroll out of a pack attached to his belt. He rolls it open on the floor. Naruto looks at the scrawling language that makes up seals. Nagato once asked if Naruto wanted to learn it and learn the Uzumaki art of fuuinjutsu, but Naruto already had so much on his plate. He had to say no, but assuaged Nagato with the comfort of a 'maybe sometime later.'

Tobi puts his palm on the sealing array and there's a puff of smoke. When it clears away, Naruto's not exactly sure what he sees.

A long rod as thick as a sword grip runs through the objects center, and there's a big, vaguely triangular shape that fans out from the center of the pole with rounded edges instead of sharp corners. There's a cord of red thread that hangs off the other end, finishing off in a tassel. The triangle has a red border, and in the center is the pattern of a red swirl.

Wait, a red swirl? That's the Uzumaki Mon...

Naruto's eyes widen, "Is this-is this for me?" 

Tobi nods, "It's a ceremonial war fan, a gunbai-uchiwa. Although you'll find this one far more than just pretty. Put enough strength and chakra into it and you can create typhoon-level winds. It's meant to be bigger than it should be, so you can grow into it. Now, Naruto, what I'm about to ask is very important..." Naruto listened with rapt attention, "What will you name it?"

Naruto huffed, "Really? Is it that important?"

Tobi chuckled, "Perhaps not, but the best weapons have names."

Naruto grabs the gunbai by it's hilt and picks it up. It's big and heavy, at least for a 9-year-old Naruto. If he puts one end on the floor and holds it up, it easily reaches up to his shoulders. 

Naruto thinks. He wants the name to mean something. He thinks of who he is, what he's been given. He thinks of the Yondaime and Uzumaki Kushina and the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Of Tobi and Kabuto and butterflies and metamorphosis. Two options stretch out in front of him. He choses.

"Chouchou." 

"Butterfly, huh?" Naruto can feel Tobi's smile.

Naruto nods, "Appropriate, don't you think?"

"I'm surprised you didn't pick something fox related."

Naruto scoffs, "Why would I name a gift after something that ruined my life?"

"Oh? Didn't it also save it?"

Naruto tilts his head to the side, confused.

"Aside from the fact that it gives you miraculous powers of regeneration and the ability to sense negative emotions, if you weren't a jinchuuriki, than we might have a very different relationship. We might even be enemies."

Naruto's horrified of the very thought. Even though he was ostracized and alone, even though his caretaker only did the bare minimum, even though he spent countless nights pricking his fingers as he taught himself how to sew, countless nights crying over dead plants he didn't know how to take care of, countless nights starving because he didn't know how to save his money, it ended up okay, because he met Tobi, met Kabuto and Tsunade and Nagato and Shizune and now he has people of his own. Maybe everyone would accept him if he wasn't a jinchuuriki.

But, Naruto decides, if they aren't gonna accept him as a jinchuuriki, they don't deserve him if he weren't one.

"But I am a jinchuuriki, and we aren't enemies." Naruto says confidently, "And even if having the damn fox presented me with this opportunity, it ended up taking away so much." Naruto feels regret spike within Tobi, probably still feeling guilty about the death of his parents, "Besides, the Kyuubi reminds me of the Yondaime." Naruto's voice is bitter.

Tobi nods, and they could continue this conversation, reopen old wounds and make new scars, but Tobi instead decides to lighten the mood, "You don't think Chouchou is girly?"

"Only if you're, what's it called...oh yeah! Only if you're a sexist pig!"

Tobi guffaws, "Who taught you that?"

"Granny Tsunade!" Naruto says cheerily, because he made Tobi laugh!

"First you can curse at the age of seven and now you can accuse people of sexism at age nine?" His tone is light.

"The truth is the truth, even if I weren't nine it'd still be sexist." 

"Wise words, Naruto. The truth will always be the truth, at least in this world it is." Naruto feels Tobi's bitterness.

Tobi doesn't need to continue for Naruto to understand. Naruto has experienced the cruelty of this world, the unchanging illogicality of mankind that makes this realm a home of suffering. Each day as he walks through the streets, as he hears of Root and Shimura Danzou from Kabuto and Nagato, as he senses Tsunade's and Nagato's loss, he understands.

Project Tsuki no Me must not fail.

Naruto's running from side to side as a small Lady Kutsuyu carries a target around. Naruto throws a senbon as he recognizes the right interval.

It hits the bulls eye. "Holy shit."

"Kabuto!" Shizune scolds, "Naruto is 10!"

"He's heard worse!" Kabuto counters. Shizune responds with an unimpressed look, but Kabuto pointedly ignores it and turns to Naruto, "Very good, Naruto-kun. Using the shadow clones must be a game changer, huh?"

Naruto chuckles and scratches the back of his head and Tsunade speaks up, "Of course they are, wouldn't you be doing much more if you could create several of you? How is the Mystical Palm Technique coming along?"

Naruto grins, "My chakra control is so much better now! I can heal cuts, bad bruises and second degree burns!"

Tsunade nods, "Good for a non-specialist. You're really becoming a jack of all trades, eh? Imagine if you could copy movements and jutsu with the Sharingan! You'd be terrifying!" Tsunade says the word terrifying but is grinning ear to ear. She's one of the Legendary Sannin, after all, Naruto guesses that if she were easily scared she probably wouldn't have made it this far.

Something alights in Naruto's eyes, "I'd be the strongest ninja ever."

"Oh, great, you're not gonna steal that Uchiha Sasuke's Sharingan are you?" Kabuto asks with an arched brow.

"So what if I am?" Naruto gests.

"Naruto-kun that is so morbid! Don't joke about that!" Shizune fakes a retching sound.

"Hey, you're the medic-nin! Don't tell me some little eye talk gets you squeamish."

"Everyone has their fears, Naruto-kun. Remember how I was scared of blood when I first got here, despite being the world's foremost medic-nin?"

"Still, we were just joking!"

Shizune just sticks her tongue out, "The eye talk didn't get me, the fact that you're 10 and talking about that sort of stuff does. Remember, Naruto-kun, get too strong and people will get suspicious."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be sure to look only be mildly talented."

"It's okay if it's a life or death scenario, though, so don't hide so much that, when you have to reveal your true potential, people get suspicious."

Naruto nods. Being a genin is probably gonna give him a headache, isn't it?

"Try these on for me, Naruto-kun," Nagato hands Naruto a pair of black fingerless gloves. Naruto puts them on, where they extend all the way to his elbows. "These were used by Uzushio shinobi so that they didn't have to lug around massive weapons. The palms have storage seals sewn on them, so if you shove a certain amount of chakra into it, the weapon will come out."

Naruto directs chakra into his palm, facing upwards towards the ceiling, and feels the tug of the seal. It's good that Naruto can choose to put chakra into the seal, or else every time he tried to use a jutsu with his hands, they'd probably fail. Directing the chakra into the seal, Naruto gapes when a  chokuto pops into the palm of his hand and then clatters on the floor.

Nagato smiles as he continues, "I brought the chokuto myself, so I hope you like it! Sewing seals is far more difficult than painting them and--oof!" Nagato's cut off when he gets an armful of Naruto, who's hugging him fiercely.

"Thank you, Uncle Nagato," Naruto mutters.

Nagato returns the hug from where he's kneeling on the floor, "You're welcome, Naruto-kun." They stay like that for a while, and when Naruto pulls away, Nagato speaks again, "But you can really thank us by kicking the genin exams ass." Nagato punches his fist and cracks his knuckles, grin wide and fierce in imitation of Tsunade.

Naruto giggles, "Believe it! I got the Substitution Jutsu, Clone Jutsu and Transformation Justu down!"

Nagato nods, giving Naruto a smile of confidence. Naruto gives it right back.

Shikamaru has been waiting for this moment for approximately five years. Not constantly, of course, but regularly enough that, now that it's finally happening, he's actually anxious. He can feel his heartbeat, his palms are sweating, and he keeps glancing towards the door the moment it opens.

"Dude, are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine, Chouji. It's just--it's been so long. What's he like? Did he change?"

"He probably didn't even pass." Someone scoffs.

"He was adopted by one of the Legendary Sannin, what makes you think he wouldn't pass?" Ino says.

"Dead last is still dead last. I mean, his grades were pretty terrible, nothing like Sasuke-kun's. I'm not sure even one of the Sannin could fix them." Sakura counters. Shikamaru cringes at her haughty tone, he hopes Ino fights her on this, at least, then their stupid rivalry might actually be good for something.

"What, Billboard Brow, you're doubting Konoha's best now?"

Shikamaru isn't looking, but he can practically feel the way Sakura gets ticked off. Ino might not have defended Naruto but it's a close thing.

The argument stops when the door slides open. 

He's there.

He's different.

"Huh, talk about a blast from past, Hinata." He says as he scans the room. Shikamaru didn't even notice she was there, that's how focused he is on Naruto.

Uzumaki Naruto is taller, his hair is longer, sweeping over his forehead and coming down at the sides in a way that frames his face. The hitai-ate signaling that he passed is tied around his neck. His black shirt and shorts are replaced by what appears a blood red haori, folded over on the front so it doesn't reveal his chest. It's tied with a white rope obi around his waist. He's wearing black pants that are tied into bandages on his shins, with calf high black sandals. One hand is on the door, the other hand is swallowed by the wide red sleeve of the haori. He's wearing fingerless black gloves.

"Well, it has been five years." Hinata says from behind him. She's not stuttering. 

Naruto's eyes sweep over the dead silent room, until someone calls out, "Naruto, you passed?" He thinks it's Kiba but he's not paying enough attention to care.

"No, actually, I failed. They gave me the hitai-ate as a participation trophy." Shikamaru actually laughs at that, and the tension in the room breaks. "C'mon, it's not that unbelievable that I passed, is it?"

Ino, much to his surprise, chimes up, "Billboard Brow here thought you didn't make it." Shikamaru should've known she'd just use it as an opportunity to get at Sakura.

"Really?" He raises an unimpressed eyebrow at Ino, and Sakura looks abashed, "It's one of the Legendary Sannin, the greatest medic in the Elemental Nations, her apprentice and one of my lost clansmen against one dumbass. Who'd anyone think was gonna win out?" 

Shikamaru sputters at lost clansmen, "Huh?" Is all he manages to get out.

Naruto looks to him in confusion, then to the other surprised faces, not aware at the bomb he basically dropped on the entire class. 

Kiba exclaims, "You have a clan!?"

"Had." Naruto corrects nonchalantly, "Uncle Nagato and I are basically the only two left."

Naruto settles into the seat next to Sakura, acting like the awkwardness isn't there, as the class scrambles to ask questions he doesn't answer. Hinata settles into a seat next to Shikamaru after he nods to tell her it's not taken. Shikamaru had no idea the two knew each other, but that might explain the gradual rise in her confidence over the years.

Since Naruto's in the row in front of him, Shikamaru calls him to attention, "Hey, Naruto!" The attempt at casualness in his tone fails when his voice cracks rather embarrassingly.

Naruto turns around and gives him a bright smile, like the two are old friends and not like Naruto basically disappeared off of the face of Konoha for five years, "Hey, Shikamaru! How've you been?"

"How've I been? Look at you!" He responds as an easy smile finds its way onto his face.

"Right back at you! Has anything gotten any less troublesome for you?"

Shikamaru scoffs, "Nope, everything is still as much of a drag as ever. Can you believe that we're actually ninja now?" Shikamaru puts his hands behind his head and leans back. 

Naruto chuckles, and were his irises always that purplish? "Well, actually there's a--"

"Settle down, everyone!" Iruka says as he enters the classroom. Shikamaru blocks out the speech about how they're genin now and there'll be responsibilities and challenges up ahead and how he'll have to have determination. He'd much rather pretend all of that didn't exist and deal with it when it he got there.

Finally, Iruka gets around to calling out the teams. "Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto, your jounin-sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

Shikamaru watches as Naruto's brows shoot up, then there's a flash of something else, something cynical and resigned and hurt, but it's gone just as quick. It's like Naruto didn't want his team to be those two, but expected that it would be anyway. He doesn't blame him, if the class's number 1 fangirl and least cooperative edgy bastard were in his team he'd hate it, too. But Shikamaru has the nagging feeling that there's more to it.

"Team 8: Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba, your jounin-sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai." 

Shikamaru is pretty sure he knows what's coming next, that doesn't mean he wants to hear it, "Team 9 is still in circulation from last year. Team 10: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji, your jounin-sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma."

"The Old Man's kid, huh?" Naruto gives an arch smile.

"This is gonna be so troublesome."

"Dude, you need a new catchphrase."

"It's not a catchphrase, Naruto. Everything is genuinely that troublesome."

"Well, can't argue with that," Naruto chuckles.

"You don't like your team?" Hinata asks Naruto, chiming in from beside Shikamaru. Her voice is still soft spoken, yet still sounds confident.

"Well, I was hoping I would be teamed up with the one person I knew, at least."

"Me too," Hinata nods, a little disappointed, "But hey, you have the best guy and girl in class!" She comforts.

"That won't matter if we're bad as a team." Naruto points out. 

"Please," Shikamaru scoffs, "My team'll probably work too well together. They're probably gonna end up giving us all these missions that require coordination and it'll be so tiresome."

"Look at that, he said tiresome instead of troublesome! Is this the start of a new Shikamaru?" Naruto teases.

"Don't get your hopes up." 

Naruto, Hinata, and Chouji chuckle at that.

Sakura doesn't know what to think of Naruto. Back then, when he went to the Academy, he was always nipping at her heels, annoying her to no end when all she was focused on was Sasuke. But now he's different. Naruto was always confident, but there seems to be an easiness to him now, an effortless grace. He's confident in a different way now, braggadocio replaced by assuredness. 

She's at a total loss for words, so instead of adapting, she resorts back to the way she approached him before, easily irritated and scolding. Or she would, if Naruto did anything worth provoking. Instead he just sat in his seat and waited patiently.

At least he was. "Who's this late!?"

Sakura gets mad, more because it's what she thinks seven-year-old her would do than because she's actually mad, "He's a jounin! He probably has a good reason."

Sasuke makes no comment. 

"But--What jounin is that irresponsible? To just leave his genin team!?"

Sakura's taken aback. Naruto's the last person she expects to talk about responsibility. She makes no reply. 

Then, Naruto's walking toward the board, smiling conspiratorially. He picks up and eraser and Sakura realizes what he's doing, "Oi, Naruto!"

"Relax, Sakura-chan. This is just karma!" He secures the eraser in the door's opening and steps back.

"There's no way a jounin would fall for that." Sasuke's tone is unimpressed.

"I've seen one of the Sannin stub her toe against a doorframe and punch the wall so hard it actually broke. A jounin's nothing against a classic prank!" He laughs mischievously.

Sakura's rolling up her sleeve, about to clobber the idiot when the door opens. She watches, almost in slow motion, as the eraser falls.

And hits Hatake Kakashi right on the head.

Naruto gapes, then starts cackling like a madman. Sakura gets actually angry and punches his head, she turns to their sensei and acts sweet, even if he really did deserve that for being so late, "I'm sorry, sensei, I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen!"

It's difficult to gauge what his reaction is, considering only his right eye is visible, but he seems to be taking the three of them in, "My first impression of all of you is...that you're all idiots."

Sakura is vaguely horrified, she imagines Sasuke's probably coolly unimpressed, but Naruto...Naruto just laughs even harder, wiping an actual tear from his eye.

"Meet me up on the roof in 5 minutes." He says, then disappears in a poof of smoke.

Naruto is still laughing, but manages to calm himself down, "Looks like I was right, Sakura-chan!" He gloats, but there's not any venom in his voice, like he's trying to be teasing in a friendly way.

Sakura's already tired of this.

Sasuke's not tired when he heads towards the training field at 5AM, since he's used to getting up this early to train, but Sakura is. Naruto seems to be chipper, even if he's quieter than he was yesterday.

"He's probably gonna be late again, isn't he?" Naruto says to no one in particular.

Sasuke doesn't respond, but Sakura's eyes seem resigned, "Honestly? Probably."

"Great," Naruto deadpans.

They wait.

And wait.

And Wait.

Sasuke's actually getting irritated now. This man is supposed to be a jounin! What kind of jounin is late? They're supposed to be ninja! Being late could be the difference between life and death! Sasuke doesn't let any of this show, of course, he stays as stoic as ever.

Finally, their sensei arrives and he tells them about the survival test. Steal one of two bells? Sounds easy enough. The three of them stand in the clearing in front of the stone monument, the opening flanked by rustling trees and falling leaves.

Kakashi gives them the signal and Sasuke immediately body flickers away, perched in the green leaves of a tree where only a few rays of sunlight peek through. Sakura seems to have done the smart thing and hidden, too, because Naruto, the idiot, and Kakashi are the only ones left in the clearing when he looks again. Sasuke notes that he hasn't appeared to get any more clever in the five years since he was taken out of the Academy.

"Wait--this is obviously a--guys!" Naruto exclaims to the empty spots beside him. Then, Naruto sighs, "Fine." He grumbles, reaching into the weapon pouch connected to his right leg and pulling out a purple sphere. Sasuke narrows his eyes, watching as Naruto throws the sphere at the ground, creating a a cloud of purple smoke.

"Using a smoke cloud to hide your escape, eh? Smart but not good enough to avoid me--" Kakashi's interrupted when Naruto comes running out of the smoke cloud, charging straight ahead with a sword in hand that seems to have come from nowhere.

You idiot! Charging straight ahead at a jounin!? 

Sasuke watches as Naruto's sword collides with Kakashi's kunai, prepared to see the blond get his ass handed to him when he notices it.

The sword seems to be cutting through the kunai. Sasuke gapes internally, "A chakra-channeling sword, huh? Channeling wind chakra through a sword is no easy feat, I'll give you that, but it's not gonna get you the bell." Kakashi pulls out another kunai, the sword doesn't cut through this one.

Sasuke sees Naruto smirk, "I know." Suddenly, senbon are flying through the purple cloud, which had yet to dissipate. Kakashi's visible eye widens and he moves to the left, the senbon flying past him, and the smirk still hasn't left Naruto's face. They're moving together, sparks dancing in the air as blade meets kunai. All Sasuke can do is numbly wonder about who threw the senbon.

But Naruto isn't fighting with just his choukuto. He kicks out, too, aiming low for Kakashi's shins or knees. Then Naruto spins, a roundhouse kick aimed for Kakashi's head. Kakashi ducks and Sasuke stares in shock as another Naruto emerges from the ground near the jounin, hand reaching out towards the bell which is hanging much closer to the ground. The jounin notices just in time, jumping out of the way as the second Naruto's hands just manage to flick the bell. Sasuke hears three Narutos groan and his eyes practically pop out of his head as the smoke disappears to reveal a third Naruto.

"Multiple shadow clones with the Hiding in Surface Jutsu, huh?" Kakashi seems genuinely surprised. "You're clever, I'll give you that. And where did you learn those jutsu, anyway? One's forbidden and the other's above what should be your skill level."

The three Naruto's shrug and speak in unison, playful smiles on their faces. Sasuke has to be going insane, "Beat our boss and find out." And, as if the previous display wasn't dizzying already, the three Naruto's all poof away.

Naruto sighs as he gets the memories of the three shadow clones. He probably shouldn't have expected that the plan to work. Waiting in the branches of a tree far enough, but not too far, from the fight, he tries to cheer himself up.

Well, there's always next time. 

He grimaces as he thinks of how quickly Sakura and Sasuke just fled. He would have, too, if there wasn't something fishy with the whole exercise. Two bells for three students? He couldn't just send a student or two back to the Academy, two or three man genin squads just didn't exist!

Unless, of course, getting the bells wasn't the point of the exercise at all! Naruto wants to smack his forehead, of course that's what's going on here! But if he isn't testing their combat ability, what was he testing? Whatever it was involved pitting them against each other, which probably...

Naruto almost jumps in joy as he realizes it. He wants us to work together in spite of the bells.

"Found you!" Naruto freezes up, almost screaming. He was too focused on the exercise to feel Kakashi approaching. Slowly and with wide eyes, he turns his head up, where the silver haired jounin is standing upside down on a higher tree branch, single eye peering down at him.

Naruto, fortunately, keeps some of  his wits about him and he manages to make the ram seal, sinking into the tree branch and moving to the forest floor. He needs to find Sasuke or Sakura, needs to get away. When he thinks he's lost Kakashi, he rises from the ground, running through a clearing to begin his search when a kunai zips right past his head and hits the trunk of a tree in front of him.

"Now, now, I'm not letting letting you get away that easy."

Naruto hisses and comes to a stop. He isn't gonna be able to get out of this, not without some planning. He activates the storage seal on his right palm, sword popping into his hand with a poof. Naruto doesn't want to show all the cards up his sleeve, at least not yet, so he keeps Chouchou stored away.

"Neat trick, but a glorified knife isn't gonna help you against a jounin," Kakashi taunts as he leaps into the clearing, brandishing another kunai.

"Why don't we test that theory out?" Naruto puts on a smirk and he feels Kakashi's intent to rush forward, but doesn't dodge. Kakashi is fast, much faster than Naruto, but that comes with many more years of training and experience. Naruto can tell Kakashi's still holding back, and he could easily dodge if he wanted to (he's dodged a monstrously powerful Sannin, after all), but instead he let's the kunai pierce into his side.

Naruto feels Kakashi's worry spike. He had probably intended for Naruto to dodge the hit. Next, Naruto feels the panic at the fact that he probably just killed a genin and Konoha's jinchuuriki. Naruto's still smirking.

He explodes into a cloud of butterflies.

Kakashi nearly pisses himself, that's how surprised he is when Naruto turns into a mass of butterflies. He really did worry he had killed the kid with the kunai (he tries not think about hurting another person he's failed, tries not think how Minato would react at how he hasn't been there for Naruto only to hurt him) They move around him in a circle, and coalesce together to reveal Naruto from torso up, with only a left hand that holds senbon, his waist a collection of butterflies. It's the unlikelihood of all this that makes Kakashi think this a genjutsu, and as he gathers his hand into a seal to release, he doesn't notice Naruto's disembodied right hand, also phasing into butterflies, reaching out and grabbing the bell.

The butterflies don't disappear, and Kakashi's knocked even more off balance as they come together again into Naruto, holding both bells with a pondering look. Kakashi numbly realizes he's the first kid to ever successfully take even one of the bells, let alone two.

"You said anyone who gets the bells passes, right?" Naruto asks, gaze calculating, and Kakashi's already knows what he's planning.

"Only if they get them from me."

Naruto sighs, and, much to Kakashi's surprise, and Kakashi can barely believe he has it in him to still be surprised, Naruto hands the bells back to him. Kakashi can only numbly spit out a "Huh?"

Naruto smiles, and Kakashi doesn't know to think of Kushina or Minato, "I have the Slug Princess of Konoha waiting for me at home, I can afford to be held back a year, give the other two another chance for me?"

Kakashi straightens up and collects himself. Naruto just passed the test, and he has two other almost-genin to terrify, "Wait at the training posts, don't eat the food and stay until I come back with Sasuke and Sakura at noon."

Naruto nods and disappears into the trees.

"Kakashi-sensei, did they make it?" Naruto asks as Kakashi sensei walks up to the training posts. The two bento are next to him, untouched.

Naruto cringes at the dark look on Sasuke's face and the disappointment on Sakura's.

"No, Naruto, they did not," Kakashi answers. "Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto is the only one who passed." The two stare in disbelief, eyes flickering between Kakashi and Naruto, "He managed to get both bells, actually, and he decided to give them back to me and persuaded me to let you two have a second go at them. Sasuke, Sakura, I want you two do discuss with each other why you failed, if you can't come up with the right answer, all three of you will fail. Naruto, you already figured it out so you can't help them." Kakashi leaves the training ground, promising to come back in fifteen minutes.

Naruto grimaces, hoping his possible teammates can figure out. After all, it isn't the most difficult puzzle in the world.

Naruto thinks of what Tobi told him, when talking about becoming a genin, how they'd probably put him on the same squad as Uchiha Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi since they both have, or will have, a Sharingan, and can therefore control the Kyuubi. He tries not to get angry at that, at the fact that the higher ups would assign other people to take care of a burden he's not even supposed to know of. He only marginally succeeds, the anger roiling underneath the surface of his skin, hot like fire.

He focuses onto Sasuke and Sakura to distract himself. Sasuke seems to be unwilling to interact with Sakura, who's trying desperately to get him talk. Naruto frowns, but then he realizes.

The whole point of the exercise is the ability to abandon mission guidelines for the sake of protecting a team, that's what Naruto did when he gave up the bells. Maybe Kakashi wants him to tell them the answer? 

But it's a gamble, because it only confirms Naruto's ability to act as a team, Sasuke and Sakura wouldn't be tested on anything. Naruto decides to wait for either Sasuke or Sakura to ask, because then they would be the ones to realize they need help. Naruto settles down, trying to ignore the pang in his heart as Sasuke broods by himself and Sakura desperately tries to get help from him. Eventually, though, Sakura gives up. She thinks by herself for a minute or two, before it kicks in what she has to do. She turns to Naruto, pink hair swooshing and eyes alight with determination.

"Naruto," she asks slowly, deliberately, to convey to Naruto that she gets it as she walks over to him, "Would you tell me what the answer is?" Naruto realizes that she must have noticed Kakashi was still watching them.

Naruto smiles and makes a motion for Sakura to give him her ear, where he whispers what he knows. Sakura smiles, stands up and bows in thanks, and shuffles over to Sasuke, who's looking at them with narrowed eyes, but still makes no move to do anything. Sakura simply sits, smiling to herself victoriously.

Finally, Kakashi gets out of his hiding spot and walks towards them, Naruto watches Sasuke tense up. Sakura, however, remains calm, with a head held high.

"So, Sasuke, Sakura, have you figured it out?" Kakashi asks. He definitely saw Sakura go up to Naruto and ask, so he motions for Sasuke to go first. Naruto thinks that's a little cruel, Sasuke should at least get the opportunity to change his answer, but Naruto thinks Kakashi is trying to make a point.

"I wasn't strong enough," Sasuke states simply. "I was able to think quickly enough, but wasn't able to work around your power. If I had more strength, I would have been able to get a bell."

"Hmm, interesting. Sakura?"

"I wasn't willing to reach out to both my teammates." Sakura responds with confidence.

"Oh? And why would that have lead you to fail?"

"Because the real goal wasn't the bells at all," She continues and Sasuke's eyes widen. "The bells were there to pit us against each other, to see if we could prioritize our team over the mission guidelines. Naruto demonstrated that when he gave the bells back to you so that me and Sasuke could get chances to get them."

"And why don't you think you'll get punished for asking Naruto for the answer?" Sasuke's mouth falls open but Sakura simply smirks.

"Because there are no three or two man genin squads! You wanted me to understand that if one of us fails, all of us fail, and that it's okay to rely on your teammates! I'm guessing Naruto wasn't supposed to get any of the bells himself, and that we were just supposed to try and work together against you!" Sakura's smile drops, "I guess we're all going back to the Academy, then, huh?"

Sasuke plasters on a stoic look, and Naruto can sense anger coming off of him, directed mostly at Sasuke's own self.

"Actually," Kakashi says, "You three show a lot of potential, so how about we compromise: I'll give the three of you a probationary period. I'll do missions with you and train all as if this is a regular genin team, then decide at the end of a month if you have grown enough to continue."

Naruto nods emphatically and Sakura's eyes are full of hope. Some of the tension in Sasuke dissipates at that, and he makes a single nod, as if he wasn't the reason the three of them almost had to repeat the year.

"Well then, Team 7, meet at the bridge tomorrow at 7AM for our first training session, until then, you are all dismissed!" Kakashi's eye crinkles and he disappears in a puff of smoke.

Naruto expects for all of them to disperse, but, much to his surprise, Sakura whips around to look at Naruto, guilt etched onto her face, "Naruto?"

"Yes, Sakura-chan?" Naruto says, curious but also gentle. He doesn't know what Sakura feels guilty about but he doesn't really like seeing anyone feel bad.

"I just want to apologize for my earlier behavior towards you, like when I punched you, and also to thank you for giving helping me with the final test. I didn't know how to treat you so I defaulted to an older and immature way of behavior." She bows, pink hair falling to the sides of her head as she does.

Naruto stutters, unused to dealing with apologies, "It's fine, it's fine! Don't worry about it! I was just happy I could end up helping," He scratches the back of his head and lets out an awkward laugh.

Sakura rises up from her bow and smiles amicably, "You've gotten crazy strong in five years, huh?" Naruto recognizes that for the olive branch it is: she's trying to be friendly now, so she's trying to be as conversable as she can.

"Oh, I don't think I got that strong, have I?"

Sakura's about to say something when Sasuke interrupts, "How did you get both of the bells?" Naruto would think Sasuke's being combative, but he can actually sense Sasuke's emotions, can feel that Sasuke isn't meaning to be rude or suspicious at all, that Sasuke's genuinely curious. Naruto wonders if all the times Sasuke was coming across as haughty in the Academy were just childishness combined with social awkwardness.

"Huh? Well, I have a lot of trick up my sleeve, I guess." It's an avoidant answer, but Naruto figures that if Sasuke wants to hear how exactly he did it he'll just follow up with a more specific question.

"But what specific tricks did you use?" Sakura's eyes are also filled with curiosity as she turns to Naruto, anticipating his answer.

"Well, it was what I call the Butterfly Evasion Jutsu."

"Huh? What about the shadow clones and Hiding in Surfaces Jutsu?"

"What!? You know those!?" Sakura exclaims.

Sasuke nods, "He distracted Kakashi-sensei with those two jutsu and almost got a bell in the first few minutes because of it." Sakura just stares at Naruto wide-eyed.

She flushes, "I just sort of ran off to look for Sasuke-kun, so I didn't notice."

Naruto chuckles awkwardly, "Yeah, Granny Tsunade taught me! She used to use the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu to study, and she said the Hiding in Surfaces Jutsu was a favorite technique of one of her old comrades and that it would come in handy during an ambush."

Sasuke nods, "So, what about the Butterfly Evasion Jutsu, then? What's that?"

"Oh, I have a contract with the Chou no Jotei. I'll demonstrate! Sasuke, punch me."

Sasuke's brow furrows, "What?"

"Just do it, dude." 

"Um...okay." Sasuke walks up to Naruto, face full of confusion, and throws his fist at Naruto. Not at full strength, obviously. Sasuke practically yelps as the fist goes right through Naruto, who's scattered into a swarm of butterflies.

"Woah!" Sakura exclaims as the butterflies flutter and coalesce behind a slack-jawed Sasuke, reconstituting into Naruto, who's smiling brightly, like he just showed off a new toy during show and tell. 

"Right!?" He exclaims, "It's practical and pretty!"

Sakura chuckles at that, "Practical and pretty? Sounds like my type of jutsu. But do you really have a contract with the Empress of Butterflies?"

"Yeah, it was a gift from a friend of mine!"

"I wish I could just get gifted valuable shinobi abilities." Sakura sighs, "The downsides of being a civilian's daughter, I guess."

Naruto's brows shoot up at that, "You're a civilian's daughter?"

Sakura nods, eyes narrowing a little, "You got a problem with that?"

"No! That's super cool that you managed to make genin, actually!"

"Huh, why do you say that?"

"Well, I talked to Hinata yesterday and her team and Shikamaru's team did their second tests that day. They were the only teams to pass theirs."

"And with us as the third...that really means only one third of the Academy graduating class become genin, huh?" Sakura says, more to herself than Naruto.

"Yeah, but, well...I'm not sure how to phrase this..." Naruto scratches his chin and purses his lips as he thinks how to convey what Kabuto told him all those years ago about the Academy. "You notice something similar between Team 8 and Team 10?"

Sakura tilts her head in confusion before furrowing her brow as she thinks for a moment, then, "I got nothing."

"They're all from Konoha's clans," Sasuke speaks up. He still looks confused, though.

"Yeah! And because of that they have special techniques and get extra training! So you managed to keep up with kids who got extra help! That's why you're super cool! Especially with how little the Academy actually teaches about being a good ninja."

Sasuke's still looking at Naruto like he doesn't get what he's trying to say, and voices as much, "What do you mean? We went for a good six years, what wouldn't we have learned?"

"Do you know any good information gathering techniques?" Naruto asks.

They both don't respond.

"And how would you detect if you're being followed?"

Again, no response.

"Now, who invaded Konoha when he failed to become Hokage?"

"Uchiha Madara," they both answer, and then they both seem to get it, anger filtering both of their expressions.

"Did we waist the last six years?" Sakura fumes, while Sasuke just gets a vaguely constipated look on his face that Naruto stifles a laugh at.

"Don't worry, our jounin-sensei is supposed to catch us up."

"Catch Sasuke and I up, you mean, Tsunade-hime probably had the foresight to train you in all of this stuff anyway."

Naruto just grins sheepishly, Sasuke simply levels at Sakura with a determined glare, "We have a lot of training to do, then." And Sakura gives it right back, but not without a little apprehension.

"Let's do our best!"

Kakashi enters the lounge where the two other jounin sensei for this year, as well as Might Guy, Umino Iruka, and Mitarashi Anko sit at a booth.

"Kakashi!" Guy exclaims, and everyone turns to look at him.

"You're late again," Asuma teases.

"That's, like, his gimmick. Let him be," Anko says.

"Hello to you all as well." Kakashi's tone is flat as he takes a seat next to Guy and gets ready for the annual genin gossip circle.

"So, how did everyone's personal tests go?" Guy asks.

"They were good individually, if uncoordinated. I hid and had them look for me in Training Ground 14. It took around two hours for them to get through the traps, red herrings and genjutsu." Kurenai says, "I'm very impressed, they'll be good at tracking."

"I just had my team spar," Asuma says with a chuckle, "My genin are very coordinated, although their combat abilities could use some polishing."

"Ah, yeah, I remember my test." Guy says with a nostalgic smile, as if the test wasn't one year ago.

"Guy, you had all your kids run laps around Konoha. That's not test, it's torture," Anko bites and Guy simply gives her one of his too-bright smiles.

"What about you, Kakashi? You had your test today, right?" Iruka asks.

Kakashi nods, but doesn't speak.

"Did they fail?"

Kakashi shakes his head, which earns a few raised eyebrows.

"They passed?" Kurenai asks.

"Sort of, they're on...probation. I'm giving them a month to see if they can work together and then deciding if I'll keep them or not."

"What test did you give them?"

"The bell test," that earns him a couple of groans.

"Not the bell test again!" Anko chides.

"Wait, so what happened that you decided to give them a probationary period?" Iruka asks.

"Uzumaki Naruto got the gist of the test pretty early, Haruno Sakura got the idea when I decided to give them a second chance. If Uchiha Sasuke understood, then I would have just accepted them, but he didn't get it."

"Oh? What's that Naruto like, anyway? He got taken out of the Academy, right? I imagine getting trained by one of the Sannin is probably a boon."

"Out of the three of them, he's definitely the strongest. Pretty clever, too. Not as smart as Sakura, but she was blinded by her trust in authority figures."

"Stronger than Sasuke?" Iruka asks.

"Sasuke can do the Fireball Jutsu and was pretty clever in that he managed to occupy my arms while leaving a hand free to reach for the bell, but Naruto not only knew the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Hiding in Surfaces Jutsu, but also has a summoning contract that gave him an evasive ability."

Silence filled the room, "A what!? He has Tsunade-hime's slug contract?" Kurenai exclaims.

"Nope, some type of butterfly contract, I don't even know how he got his hands on it. It's how he got the bells, he used a jutsu where he can evade attacks by turning into a swarm of butterflies."

"That's way above his skill leve--Wait he managed to get the bells!?" Asuma's eyes are wide.

"That's what you get when you get adopted by Tsunade-hime, I guess," Anko says.

"I don't even think he was using all his abilities, either, just the ones that were most convenient in that specific trial," Kakashi sighs, "I'm gonna be in for a handful, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but you'll also love it," Iruka smiles.

"Of course the only actual teacher would say that," Anko quips, "I for my part, could not imagine teaching three kids."

"Being a genin sucks!" Naruto exclaims to Hinata as the two enter The Cozy Kunai. Kabuto introduced this spot three years ago because of what he called a "low-key atmosphere" if Naruto ever wanted a calm place with good background noise to read. Hinata and Naruto have regularly been patronizing the place ever since they became friends that fateful day when Hinata stormed into Naruto and Kabuto's training ground, unaware that they were there, and screamed for a good five minutes as stress relief.

"Tell me about it," She says, expression sour, "Have you had to go cat hunting yet?"

Naruto nods, frowning, "I hope someone runs the thing over."

"That's harsh!" She exclaims. Then, "Is it bad if I agree?" Because Hinata is nothing if not angry under the anxiety. Though she's been getting better at dealing with the anxiety, which just leaves her angry more often than not. The two take a table near the window, where soft yellow light shines from the lamp.

"I'm the last person to act as a moral authority, Hinata." The waitress comes over, greeting both of them warmly (that's another reason Naruto likes this place, Naruto doesn't get glares here) and taking their orders for bubble tea and dango. "When are we gonna get to the exciting stuff?"

"Honestly, considering what the exciting stuff is, we should probably be thankful we get to enjoy this," Hinata says.

They both give each other a look that says 'yeah, right.'

"Oi, who's this?" Naruto turns around and spots Mitarashi Anko, smiling at both of them.

"Anko-san! Hi!" He smiles and waves as Anko walks over to their table.

"Didn't expect you two to be here at this hour, shouldn't you two be busy with D-ranks right now?"

"We have Saturdays off," Hinata explains.

Anko frowns, "Man, I miss having days off. Time never rests for a special jounin! I don't miss all the D-ranks, though. Annoying ass cat." She scratches the back of her head as she frowns.

"What, are D-ranks like hazing or something?" Naruto asks.

"Honestly? Yeah, they are. But they're a good way to get some quick cash. Sometimes i wonder if painting a fence beats coming up with an antidote in under 40 minutes for a poisoned noble. I have to do that shit way too often."

"That's probably just because poison specialization is so rare," Hinata says.

"Yeah, I should've just become an accountant or something, honestly," Anko sighs.

Naruto teases, "And let all those people die because they decided to eat the wrong wild mushroom?"

"You're joking about it, sure, but you have no idea how many people come into the hospital because of some stupid shit like that. At that point maybe you deserve to perish!"

"That's kinda harsh, isn't it?"

"I bet you two wanna kill Tora, don't you? Isn't that harsh?" 

Naruto opens his mouth to fire something back but can't come up with anything.

"Ah, there she is," Anko turns toward the door that Yuuhi Kurenai just walked through.

"Oh, it's Kurenai-sensei!" Hinata exclaims, "Have you been waiting for her?"

"Yup! We're having a girls' night out!"

"Anko-san, it's 1PM, what night are you talking about," Naruto deadpans. "Better not leave her waiting, though, or else Asuma-sensei and her will kick you out of the throuple." Hinata slaps a hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh.

"We are not a throuple!" Anko hisses and Naruto just sticks out his tongue. 

"Uh-huh, and I like Tora," Naruto says smugly.

Anko fumes quietly for a moment before shaking her head, sighing, and making her way toward the booth Kurenai's seated at.

"Naruto, that was very unnecessary," Hinata says, face red from having to hold back her laughter.

"I'm the definition of unnecessary!" He says haughtily, "Do you think if I prank the Old Man enough he'll give us a C-rank?"

"Isn't that just bullying?"

"Yeah! But it's for, like, a good cause!"

Hinata simply raises an eyebrow, unconvinced. The two thank the waitress when their order arrives, "How's the whole teamwork thing going?"

"It's going all right! We made it through the whole probationary period thing, so we're actually Kakashi-sensei's team. I thought Sasuke would be the worst of it but he's been taking this whole thing in stride."

"He probably feels guilty that you're in that mess because he didn't get the exercise."

"I don't think so, if I'm being honest. Actually, I don't really think he cares much about the teamwork part, he's just determined to get stronger." Naruto remembers the introductions, the way Sasuke suddenly filled up with hate and anger and loathing at the mention of That Man.

"He's just doing it because he has to?"

"I'm pretty sure that's why, yeah."

"Does he work well as a teammate?"

"Honestly? Not really. I just think he doesn't know how. He's always doing his own thing, like he's always  ignoring plans for no good reason, but he seems to get that he's not supposed to do that," Hinata nods, considering. "What about your team?" Naruto asks.

"We're working on coordination, and because of the whole tracking specialty thing she's teaching us about sensing chakra."

"Oh, that's cool! Kakashi-sensei's had his hands tied with correcting all the Academy nonsense and teaching Sasuke and Sakura actual useful things. Sakura has to do the most because she got absolutely zero outside training, she has to relearn the basics. Sasuke's also good, but he's mostly self-taught, so Kakashi-sensei's just been correcting bad habits that built up over time."

"What about you?"

"Apparently I'm already good enough at most things that he's me work on are my weaknesses," pride enters his voice, more so because Tobi and Tsunade and Kabuto turned him into such a good ninja than because he's actually proud of his strength.

"What weaknesses, golden boy?"

Naruto sticks his tongue out at her, "At a lot of the less brute force things like information gathering, hit and run tactics, ambushing, oh and especially genjutsu! Let me tell you that shit is terrifying."

"Kurenai-sensei doesn't really teach us stuff that has to do with genjutsu, at least not yet. What do you mean by terrifying?"

"I mean, you can really fuck someone's perception up with genjutsu. Kakashi-sensei used it on me while sparring as an example. He made seem himself farther than he really was, so that when he actually went for the attack it caught me totally off guard!"

"That does sound useful! I think Kurenai-sensei is a genjutsu specialist so maybe she'll teach us some one day?" 

Naruto shudders, "A genjutsu specialist? That sounds so scary, but also so cool!"

"Right? She can do some insane stuff!" Hinata exclaimed, "She once relayed messages to us through genjutsu, making us see words. Aside from that she's really good at taijutsu, too. She uses a kunai, though, so you'd probably roll your eyes."

"The inferior projectile weapon," Naruto sniffs, "You need to start using senbon."

"But they're so difficult!"

"I taught you how to do lightning style but senbon are too difficult?"

"Kunai are so much more useful, though!"

"If you don't understand the superiority of senbon you can just say it!"

Hinata raises an eyebrow and scoffs, "Will you ever get over this kunai vs senbon battle in your head?"

"Never! People need to accept senbon as the superior throwing instrument."

"Being around Kabuto has given you brain rot," Hinata says.

Naruto's jaw drops, "That was so mean!"

Hinata simply smiled, "Blame Kabuto, he's the one who throws around insults like that."

Naruto scoffs, "Then Kabuto gave you brain rot, too!"

"Did I ever deny that?"

Naruto grumbles, "I should never let you become such a smartass." 

"Train me."

"Huh?"

Sakura repeats, eyes burning with determination as Naruto stares, disbelieving, "Train me. You've been staying with the greatest medic-nin ever for five years, who's not only a medic-nin, but one of the Legendary Sannin and was trained by the Sandaime Hokage. Not only that, but I know you trained Hinata. She beat my ass at the Academy regularly. I don't have the benefit of having a shinobi in the family or being from a clan. Kakashi-sensei is always late and his time is limited. My family doesn't have the money to hire tutors. I get most of my expertise from studying so don't worry if you think you're a bad teacher because I can make up for it, but I need the benefit of a teacher--Are you crying? What's wrong?"

Naruto sniffles and wipes his eyes with the sleeve of his red haori, "I'm just quick to tears, don't worry." He gives her a watery smile, "I'd be honored to train you but...I'm not sure what type of ninja you want to be? What specializations do you think you're gonna be?"

Sakura thinks for a second, before responding, "Kakashi-sensei says I have good chakra control, like really good chakra control, so it'd be a good idea to do something with that..."

"What do you want to do?" Naruto asks.

Sakura is abashed, "Well, what do you think you can teach me? I can pick from that."

"I'm well versed in wind, water and fire styles, I know the Floating Willow style of taijutsu, which can be enhanced with chakra, but those are really the only specialties I have that I can teach you. My two main techniques are a bad idea. The Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu would kill you and the Butterfly Evasion Jutsu is unique to people with the contract...Wait, what am I saying? Sakura, do you know tree climbing?"

Sakura raises an eyebrow, confused, "Are you asking if I can climb trees?"

Naruot laughs, a bright and warm sound that is at such odds with a last name that means maelstrom, "I mean, walking on trees! With chakra! Do you know that?"

"You can do that?"

Naruto nods, "Here, let's go to my training ground!"

"You have your own training ground?"

"What? No! It's a regular training ground that no one uses," Naruto beckons Sakura to follow him.

Sakura looks it over, grassy with patches of dirt and a copse of trees at one end. There's another ninja there, with silver hair and round glasses.

"Oi, Kabuto! What are you doing here today?" Naruto asks.

"It's quiet here, or I guess it was. Why are you here, Naruto-kun?"

"You remember all those lessons about how the Academy doesn't actually teach a lot of useful things on purpose? This is Haruno Sakura," He motions beside him and Sakura bows, "she's basically only been Academy trained, so Kakashi-sensei has been reteaching her the basics! She asked me to help her so here we are."

Kabuto nods in consideration before realizing something, "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! I am Yakushi Kabuto! I helped train Naruto. I can help you, too, if you want? My schedule is very chaotic, however, so I can't with any consistency."

"Wait, but I wanna train her!" Naruto whines.

Kabuto huffs in a long-suffering sigh, "That's up to her."

"I would, um, rather train with Naruto."

"Well, that settles it!" Naruto says excitedly, like he won a prize.

"Okay, but I'm watching and correcting you," Kabuto says, "you're not gonna accidentally sabotage some poor girl under my watch!"

Naruto presses his lips together, "Ugh, fine." He whips over to Sakura so fast that it makes her dizzy, "Okay, Sakura, you know how to channel chakra, right?" Sakura nods "Well, if you channel chakra into your feet and shape it right, you can defy gravity and walk on vertical surfaces! Watch." Sakura's eyes widen as Naruto goes up to the copse and walks up a tree with just his legs.

"How did you do that?"

"The trick is retaining the chakra around your soles and visualizing that it creates a way to stick to the tree."

Sakura goes up to the tree and plants a foot on the mossy trunk, channeling chakra into it and imagining it glues her to the trees surfaces. She tests to see if she got any purchase, and smiles when the foot is firmly attached to the tree. In no time she's walking up the tree and sits next to Naruto on a branch. Naruto looks at her with wide eyes, smiling like she invented sliced bread, "Woah! Down first try? Kakashi-sensei was right! You have perfect chakra control!" He frowns as he considers something, "That probably means your chakra reserves are pretty small, though."

Sakura grimaces, "Is that bad?"

"Well, it's like a trade off. Smaller chakra reserves, precise control. I have big, big reserves, so my control was shit. Luckily, both control and reserves can be improved! We should probably see how big your reserves are. Luckily, I carry chakra litmus paper around with me!"

"You know I can't improve your teaching if I can't hear you, right?" Kabuto yells from the floor.

Naruto sticks his tongue out, "Then join us, dumbass!"

Kabuto sighs in a dramatic motion and crouches down. There's a blur and then, suddenly, Kabuto is right next to Naruto on the branch, which dips down a little under all their weight. It's sturdy, though, so they don't risk falling. "Testing her chakra reserves?" Naruto nods, "You should test her elemental affinity, too."

"We're gonna get to that, Kabuto-sensei," Naruto drawls. 

"Getting tree climbing down first try? Your reserves must be miniscule or else you won out in the genetic lottery."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asks.

"Chakra control and reserves don't have an exact correlation. There's leeway and outliers where some have more control than they should and some have less control and smaller reserves. Channel your chakra into the sheet Naruto-kun gave you."

Sakura nods and watches as a circle three inches in diameter appears, "Turns out you're one of those exceptions. Your level of chakra control should correlate with incredibly miniscule reserves, maybe enough to perform one C-rank jutsu, but they're bigger. Not that much, still below average, but maybe 1.5 times bigger than they should be. This is all a rough estimation, of course," Kabuto explains.

Sakura nods, and Kabuto continues, "Chakra reserves are plastic. Naruto-kun here thought that meant they had something to do with plastic. What it really means is that chakra reserves possess plasticity, the quality to adapt over the course over time. You can expand your chakra reserves by exhausting them regularly. This will cause your body to draw on extra spiritual and physical energy and combine them in an effort to refill your reserves. It'll make you physically and mentally exhausted, but only for a short while. Are you okay with that?" 

Sakura thinks about saying no, but then she keeps thinking. She thinks of the surprise on her parents' faces when she revealed she had passed the graduation exam, thinks of how easily she buckled under Kakashi's genjutsu during the survival exercise, thinks of Sasuke ignoring her when they were given a second chance, thinks of Naruto telling her the Academy was basically useless despite it being the one thing she was good at.

She thinks of schoolyard bullies, of a bright-eyed blonde girl who was always better than her, of pinky promises made in a flower field under the sun and using a raven haired boy as an excuse to end a friendship.

She thinks of being called Billboard Brow by her first friend, of quiet Hinata beating her at spars.

Then she thinks of being called cool by Naruto, and she feels the fierce promise of power tingle in her veins as she looks at Kabuto, determination filling her chest.

"I'll do it."

Kakashi's late again.

Naruto tries not to let it get to him, tries to tell himself that it's just a personal quirk of his as he ignores the hole of grief in his sensei's heart whenever he appears, tries to tell himself it's not his fault.

But still, the voice is there, in the back of his head, whispering poisonous words on bad days, on days when he lays on his futon and stares at the ceiling while thinking of dying. Not naturally, not the good death of shinobi for the sake of the Village. No, he imagines flinging himself off the cliffside with the hokages' faces, of taking a kunai to his forearms and bleeding, of drinking tar black poison and drifting off into the void of nihility. 

Today is a bad day. He just gets like this, sometimes, it has nothing to do with Kakashi. 

So then why does he feel so guilty? Why does it feel like their sensei is late because he's there and he'd rather not train the monster? Why does his chest sting like someone is stabbing him?

Why does he feel like crying? Why can't he just listen to himself for once? Why does it always feel like he's lying to himself? That people are lying to him when they say he's strong or smart or anything?

Why does it feel like he'll always be a monster?

Naruto shakes his head, forces himself out of his mind. He focuses on something, on anything. On how Sakura took his advice and ditched her red dress for a pastel green crop top and green sweatpants, on how her she braided her hair and tied it into a chignon with a hairpin. He thinks of how Sasuke isn't radiating the same ball of anger hatred self-loathing grief and seems to be something close to cheerful.

It doesn't work. Naruto stews in his own sour air and he thinks about dying, thinks about how Kakashi is late because he's avoiding Naruto and--

It's back, the panic, the sheer terror in his chest and the feeling that he can't breathe. He keels over, landing on his hands and knees and hyperventilates. He's vaguely aware of Sakura asking if he's okay, vaguely aware of how Sasuke and Sakura start radiating worry. Then Sasuke is in his line of sight, moving him, making him sit down and telling him to count backwards from twenty and breathe with him.

Naruto calms down, chest aching and nose running, and he feels rivulets of tears stream down his face. His brain numbly thinks of how overcast it is.

"What was that?" Sakura asks, fiddling with her fingers in anxiety.

"A panic attack." Sasuke says darkly. Naruto's tired, "Naruto, what happened?"

"I just--I don't...He's late."

"You panicked because...Kakashi's late?" Sasuke asks, slowly, incredulously.

Naruto nods, stifles the urge to wince, even though he knows it doesn't make any sense, but Sasuke's gaze is calculating, trying to figure this out, "How does Kakashi being late make you feel?" Sasuke asks. 

"I don't wanna talk about this."

"Naruto-" Sakura starts.

"Please, can we just pretend this never happened?" Naruto interrupts, his face is reddening as it settles in that he just had a panic attack in front of his teammates, shame coiling in stomach.

"We can't just ignore this, Naruto," Sasuke says, and Naruto wonders if he's imagining the concern in his voice. 

"Why not?" He chuckles darkly, "I can."

Sasuke's brow furrows in concern, "This has happened before?"

Naruto doesn't answer, just stares at Sasuke and hopes the look on his face tells him that he's not talking. Sasuke's jaw clenches and Naruto senses irritation well up as the silence drags on, then fades, replaced by concern, vulnerability, "You can tell us, okay? Even me. I know I don't come across as friendly but...but I'll listen. I'll listen to you, okay? So you can trust us."

Naruto turns his gaze back to the ground of the bridge, and stays silent. Sasuke seems to understand that Naruto isn't going to talk about what just happened. He gets up and looks off to the side, mind a dark storm cloud of emotions, with flashes worry and irritation peaking through. 

Kakashi doesn't arrive for another thirty minutes, and Naruto cringes at the grief that seems to be swallowing him even as he utters a cheerful, "Hello! Sorry I was late I ended up--"

Sasuke interrupts him and Naruto flinches at the anger in his voice, "Don't be late again."

Kakashi seems at a loss for words, taking in the streaks on Naruto's face and Sakura's worried glances at where Naruto is sitting on the floor, gazing forward vacantly, "Did something happen?"

"Don't ask," Sasuke says. Naruto wonders if he's protecting him, if he listened to him when he said he didn't want to talk about it.

He feels like he could shatter. Tsunade once told him that one of the first things medic-nin learn is that people break easily.

Naruto stares emptily and thinks of dying.

Kakashi is late. Again.

Sasuke is barely keeping himself together. He had told their jounin-sensei not to be late, even if he hadn't explained why. He thought his tone would be enough to make Kakashi understand that it was not okay for him to come to every training session at least two hours late, that their progress as genin would suffer for it, but apparently not.

And Naruto...he has that look on his face. Sasuke hadn't noticed it before, but the three days that had passed since Naruto's panic attack on the bridge gave Sasuke ample time to study the blond. Whenever Kakashi was late, Naruto would usually get more and more antsy the longer their sensei took. He'd look...guilty. The relief that passed onto his face whenever Kakashi arrived, silly excuse in tow like this was some joke, was palpable. Naruto wasn't prone to anger, not like Sasuke, but surely his patience had to run out somewhere, right? He had to get angry at Kakashi at some point!

But nope, whenever Kakashi arrived, Naruto would look like the Sage himself had blessed him, his purple-blue eyes crinkling as he sighed in relief. Sasuke hoped that Naruto wasn't blaming himself for Kakashi's lateness, he didn't even know how the blond would come to that conclusion.

Then, today, four days after his panic attack, Naruto huffs and beckons for Sakura to follow her. Sasuke thinks that thay've had enough and are leaving, is vaguely thankful for it because maybe it would get Kakashi to take things more seriously. But they aren't leaving. Instead they walk over to the stream that runs under the bridge and Naruto explains something to Sakura, though Sasuke can't hear what he's saying and then he...

Walks on the water. Sasuke gapes, he thought Naruto was out of surprises for them, but apparently not. 

"Oi, what are you doing?" He calls down to the two below, leaning slightly over the rail of the bridge.

"I'm teaching Sakura how to walk on water!" Naruto responds, classic big grin wide on his face.

Sasuke searches for words to put his confusion into, "Wh-why?"

"Uh, she asked me to?" Naruto scratches the back of his, standing on the water. Then, Naruto places a hand onto his chin, considering something before he calls out to Sasuke, "Would you like to join us?"

Sasuke is at a loss for words. He wants to scoff and say no, to insist to himself he's still top dog even out of the Academy. But then he remembers the bell test, how Naruto displayed quick thinking and used jutsu beyond his years in those first moments when he used the smoke bomb and shadow clones. Sasuke himself had come close to taking a bell, his fingers also grazing one, but later Naruto had somehow actually succeeded in getting both of them. Naruto was trained by the legendary Tsunade. 

(Sasuke tries not to think about when Naruto got adopted, a few weeks after the Massacre. Tries not to remember the bitterness at hearing that Naruto gained a family when Sasuke lost his own.)

Sasuke considers the offer as he walks over to where Sakura is standing along the river. He quirks a brow, "What could you teach me?" He hopes the question doesn't come across as haughty.

Naruto beams, "A lot! Depends on what you want to learn."

Sasuke wants to beat That Man. It's that simple, really. Itachi was a genius, gifted and good at everything. If Sasuke wants to kill him, he'll have to be good at everything too, he says as much, "Everything."

Naruto's grin doesn't falter, "I don't know everything, but I know a lot, at least for my age, will that work for you?" He asks as he walks back to the bank of the river.

"The most advanced things I know are some fire jutsu."

"Oh, I know some fire jutsu, too! I also know some wind jutsu and water jutsu." Sasuke stares, bewildered, "Is your nature affinity fire?"

"I'm an Uchiha, we are-we were all fire natured."

"But are you sure?" Naruto asks, a little bit childishly.

"What are you trying to get at?"

"There was no wood style among the Senju before Senju Hashirama was born with the kekkei genkai. The Senju before then had been either water or earth natured. Maybe you lucked out in genetics and have a different nature?"

Sasuke raises an eyebrow, still suspicious, as Naruto fetches something. It's a scroll. He crouches down to the ground and rolls it out, and Sasuke realizes it's a seal of some sort.

"You know chakra litmus paper, right? This is that, but much more advanced. Here, Sasuke, channel your chakra into the circle in the middle."

Sasuke nods, reading over the characters for the five elements around the central circle as he crouches down beside Naruto. He has a guess for what they do, and guesses the character for fire will react in some way when he channels his chakra into the circle. 

He's right, the character for fire glows a little, but not as much as the character for lightning does. Sasuke looks with wide eyes.

"Hah! Would you look at that?" Naruto says, playfully smug. It almost makes Sasuke forget that he had a panic attack. Almost.

"I would never have guessed." He mutters. He remembers how long it took him to get the Fireball Jutsu, hours spent breathing fire over the lake. But then he realizes, "Wait, so how..." Naruto looks into Sasuke's eyes, motioning for him to continue, "How did I get the Fireball Jutsu in one day?"

Naruto hums, considering, and then he answers, voice surprisingly teacher-like, "Usually it takes months of practice to manipulate an element that isn't your affinity, hell it takes months for an element that is, but it's different for you, you're an Uchiha." Sasuke narrows his eyes, questioning. Naruto sighs, and continues "Some Uchiha have the Sharingan, right? The Sharingan let's you copy any jutsu you see. Well, it's simplified to that, but that's basically how it's said to work. But the thing is, that should be impossible. How can the Uchiha copy, say, water jutsu with such ease? Well, the Senju had a theory. Basically, aside from the Sharingan, some Senju scholars proposed that the Uchiha's chakra is more...changeable, than the chakra of non-Uchiha, either that or they're minds and bodies are better at chakra nature transformation. This is why any Uchiha, even those without the Sharingan, which was most of them, were still dangerous during the Warring States Period, all of them basically had a built-in talent for ninjutsu."

Some of that definitely flew over Sasuke's head, but he got most of it, and Sakura seems to have gotten all of it, "That...makes sense," Sasuke says, "But...why haven't I heard of that? And how do you this much about my clan?"

"Sasuke, I was taken in as a ward by the granddaughter of the Shodai Hokage, who was a Senju. I've had access to the Senju archives for the past five years. Remember how your clan and the Senju used to be rivals before Konoha was founded? As for why you don't know...the Senju always relied more on technical expertise and knowledge, they had a long tradition of studying and analyzing chakra, and being a scholar-warrior was considered the height of achievement among them. They probably had spent years breaking down and theorizing over how they could defeat the Sharingan, considered things which the Uchiha probably didn't think about."

Sasuke nods, a little dizzy. Then, he realizes it. He has more resources! He can learn more about his Sharingan, can learn to get the upper hand on Itachi! "Can I read them?"

Naruto grimaces, "I don't think so. The Senju archives belong to Konoha since the Senju were disbanded, so you'd have to get clearance from someone who has one of the Village Seals, like the Hokage or his advisor. Since you're still a genin, and an Uchiha, I doubt they'd let you. However," Naruto's eyes twinkle with cunning, "I have free access to them, so I could find what you need, write it down on a separate scroll and give it you."

Sasuke only barely manages to get out a "Thank you." Sasuke isn't sure if Naruto realizes the weight of what he's just offered to give to Sasuke, that he might have given him the key to accomplishing his lifelong goal. Sasuke isn't sure if one "Thank you," is enough to express the gratitude Sasuke has for what Naruto is doing for him.

Sasuke hears a poof come from the bridge and realizes Kakashi has just arrived, "Hello? My little genin? Where are you?" He coos, like he isn't two and a half hours late.

Naruto sighs in relief, and Sasuke knows how he's gonna make this up to him. Sasuke might not be a therapist, or any type of counselor, but he knows how to deal with panic and trauma. He's gonna understand why Naruto feels the way he does, why Naruto had a panic attack, and he's gonna help Naruto get through it. And he's also gonna make Kakashi apologize, because all three of them deserve an apology.

But mostly, he'll be there for Naruto, because that's the least you can do for someone when they help you accomplish your dream.

Naruto is glad Sasuke and Sakura listened to him when he said he didn't want to talk about it. He's glad he can help Sasuke, too. He's still assembling the scroll of strategies the Senju used to counter the Uchihas' litany of abilities and talent. It's still a work in progress, but it's coming together nicely.

Unfortunately, Naruto can't say the same for his mental health. Things haven't been good since he panicked on the bridge. Instead of worrying that Kakashi was late because he's avoiding Naruto, now Naruto is full of the fear that Kakashi just...won't show up, that he'll abandon them entirety just because he hates Naruto. Naruto doesn't know what the Kyuubi did to Kakashi or Kakashi's family, but it must not be good if he comes to training sessions full of such deep grief that Naruto can practically taste it. 

The anxiety gets too out of hand, that's partly why he decided to show Sakura water-walking, he wanted to avoid spiraling. He's happy Sasuke joined, because now that gives him two distractions instead of one, but it doesn't help as much as he wishes it would. The anxiety is still there, chewing at the back of brain, distracting Naruto as he tells his teammates about the Law of Chakric Diffusion and teaches Sasuke chakra control exercises while Sakura practices earth nature transformations by petrifying a leaf. 

Sasuke doesn't ask anything, just gives Naruto a questioning look that Naruto gives a confident smile to and goes back to making the coin stand on his palm. But the worry still eats at Naruto, still consumes his thoughts.

It must have been bad, Naruto thinks. The fox must have killed Kakashi's parents or something, maybe a sibling. Maybe Kakashi doesn't wanna train Naruto because he reminds the man of ghosts, of people he'd rather forget.

Or worse, maybe he thinks Naruto is the fox. Maybe he thinks Naruto killed his family, that Naruto shouldn't be here, shouldn't be a shinobi because he's a monster.

He clenches his fist, lets his nails dig into his palm and lets the pain ground him. Sasuke is focused on the coin and Sakura is focused on the leaf, so it's good that they can't see him now, he probably looks like he's about to cry.

Naruto tries to tell himself it's fine. Naruto's always worrying about things he shouldn't, always working himself up into pointless fits. Naruto reminds himself of who he is, even as he feels sweat in his palms as his heart thumps in his chest.

Naruto is happy.

Naruto is confident.

Naruto is easygoing.

Kakashi's at the bridge, but Naruto isn't relieved like he usually is, "Hello, my little genin, I'm sorry I was late, I had to help an old lady carry her groceri-"

Naruto likes ramen.

Naruto doesn't work himself up into panic attacks.

"Liar!" Sakura exclaims, pointing accusatorily at Kakashi, who crinkles his eyes and raises his arms as if to show he's unarmed.

Naruto isn't delicate, isn't fragile.

"Now, now, Sakura, no need to get so mad, I was just acting out my obligation to help the people of Konoha!"

"Yeah, right, you were probably just reading that--"

Naruto breaks so easily.

"Is this some kind of joke!?" He yells, his voice cracking embarrassingly on the last word. Belatedly, he realizes he's crying.

All three sets of eyes, or two sets of eyes and a single eye, turn to him immediately, staring in bewilderment.

"Naruto?" Kakashi questions in worry, he takes a step forward. Naruto takes a step back, shaking his head.

"I get it, okay? I was the dead-last before one of the Sannin had to literally come and save me. I was a delinquent and I skipped classes. I know I'm a demon or monster or whatever, and I know you don't want to teach me, but Sasuke and Sakura shouldn't have to suffer because of it! If you don't want to teach me, you could've just told me! I would've stayed out of your hair!"

Naruto closes his eyes, let's his tears fall.

"Naruto, I don't--"

Naruto shakes his head, ignores the worry and guilt that emanate from Kakashi. He stops listening, he just runs, body flickers away, leaving the three of them on the bridge to train without him.

Kakashi looks numbly at the spot where Naruto was standing a moment ago. 

What has he done? What has he let this situation escalate into? He never intends to be late, just pays a visit to the Memorial Stone and talk to Obito and Rin and Minato. Time finds a way to get out of hand, to slip between his fingers, and before he knows it, he's late.

"Kakashi," Sasuke hisses from behind him, venom in his voice, "is what Naruto said true?"

Kakashi doesn't answer, he barely even registers the question.

Sasuke speaks again, practically yelling, "Kakashi, have you been avoiding Naruto!? Is that why you've been late!?"

"No," He croaks feebly. "No, that's not--"

"Then fix this!" Sasuke yells, Kakashi flinches. "This is your fault! I--I told you not to be late, I warned you! Why didn't you listen?" He hears Sakura sniffle.

It takes that to shake him from his daze, he turns to Sasuke, "What happened that day?"

Sasuke looks at him incredulously, "What happened? Naruto had a panic attack, that's what happened! He said it was because you were late!"

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks, eye wide.

Sasuke scoffs bitterly, "Oh no you don't. You don't get to play the worried sensei card now, not after you've been late to every practice session with some silly excuse like our ninja careers are some joke. I didn't tell you because Naruto said he didn't want to talk about it. You want him to talk about it? Talk to him yourself. C'mon Sakura, let's look for Naruto."

But Kakashi is already on it. Sasuke and Sakura watch as he makes a series of hand seals, bites his thumb and wipes the blood on the ground, "Summoning Jutsu." 

"Yo, boss!" Pakkun says. The two genin eye the dog in surprise and suspicion.

"I need you to find my student, he was standing over there, see if you can pick up his scent. Sasuke, Sakura, I've got this from here so you're free to leave."

Sasuke raises an eyebrow, "I'm either coming with you or staying here. You pick." Sakura, even though she seems to be buzzing with nervous energy, gives Kakashi a determined nod to signal that she's with Sasuke.

"Fine, stay here. I'll either bring Naruto back or come back to dismiss you, understood?"

The two nod, and Kakashi makes his way with Pakkun, leaping above the rooves of Konoha.

Naruto realizes, belatedly, that he's going in the direction of his old apartment rather than the Senju estate, but he doesn't turn back, because going to the Senju estate would require him to pass over the bridge again, and he'd rather not.

So instead, he leaps from the roof of the apartment complex into the dirty alley next to it, and let's himself cry. Well, he doesn't really let himself. He tries to suppress it, tries to muffle the sobs and sniffles. It doesn't work.

Naruto is irritated. Why did he have to snap like that? Why couldn't he have waited and resolved it in private, calmly and peacefully, like a normal person? Instead he snapped and yelled and now they all probably think he's some crazy idiot.

He sobs and gets even more irritated with himself. He hates the sound of his own crying, it makes him feel weak and vulnerable when he's supposed to be strong. He trained with one of the Sannin! He shouldn't be upset because of a little bad treatment from a higher up! 

Naruto flashes back to the grief in Kakashi's head whenever he arrived to training and feels guilty. When he gets like this, the line between himself and the fox blurs dangerously and he starts to equate himself with the Kyuubi. He feels guilty, he hadn't meant to hurt the people Kakashi loved! Couldn't he see that?

Naruto whimpers, and clamps his teeth on his right index finger in an attempt to muffle the sounds of him crying. It hurts, even if it doesn't draw blood, and Naruto tries to focus on that pain instead of the guilt and self-loathing pouring out of him.

He doesn't know how long he stays like that, whimpering and sniffling while biting onto the middle joint of curved index finger, but eventually he sees a set of ninja sandals and a set of standard issue pants in front of where he sits on the grimy floor, back against the wall of the apartment building.

"Naruto?" Kakashi's voice calls out, and Naruto doesn't flinch, no, he whimpers, like a dog. His face colors in shame. "Naruto..." Kakashi's voice is much gentler, almost kind. Naruto realizes he's shaking.

Naruto doesn't respond.

"Naruto, I need you to know that I wasn't avoiding you, that's not why I was late," Something is...off with the statement, Naruto can't exactly figure what he's sensing from Kakashi.

Yeah, right.

"Naruto, say something, please? Can you hear me? Give me any sort of sign."

Naruto nods. Kakashi crouches down so Naruto can see his face instead of staring unfocused at his shins. Kakashi's right eye looks into his own, conveying concern and guilt that Naruto can sense, and he slowly, tenderly, reaches out a hand and puts it on Naruto's shoulder, "Naruto, I'm not late because of you, understand? This is not your fault. I'm late because I visit the Memorial Stone and end up losing track of time."

Naruto winces at that, because that's basically confirmation that Kakashi's lost someone and Naruto probably took them away. Kakashi's eye narrows, "Naruto, it's not your fault okay? Repeat after me, it's not my fault."

Naruto stays silent, his teeth embedded in his finger, and looks away. He's too distracted to pay attention to the emotions coming from Kakashi. Kakashi sighs, and takes his hand off of Naruto's shoulder. He brings the hand to his mask and pulls it down. Kakashi is handsome, with a beauty mark under his lip and a scar emerging downward from under his hitai-ate. The concern is much easier to see, now, even if Naruto can sense it. "Naruto, can you take your finger out of your mouth? You're hurting yourself."

That's the point.

Naruto doesn't move, just shakes and whimpers. Kakashi brings a hand up, slowly, "I'm gonna touch you, is that okay?" Naruto nods. Kakashi moves to sit beside Naruto and slowly brings Naruto's head closer, bringing his head closer to the jounin's chest until Naruto is in Kakashi's embrace. Naruto starts crying all over again, but Kakashi simply shushes him and rubs Naruto's back softly as Naruto shudders and sobs and keens. Finally, Naruto starts to calm down, and Kakashi brings his hand to the wrist of Naruto's right hand, "Naruto, open your mouth." Naruto complies and loosens his jaw, removing his teeth from where they've made throbbing red marks on the skin of his finger. Kakashi removes Naruto's hand and grimaces at the red digit.

"Naruto, I think you're one of the best students I've had, ever," Naruto's eyes widen, disbelieving. "It's true, Naruto. Not only did you get both of the bells, but you dug under and divined the true meaning of the test, risking getting held back a year for your teammates. Not only that, but you've gotten them to care about you. Sasuke was worried about you, you know that? He was furious and was about to search for you, but I told him I'd find you," Kakashi's warm hand starts running through Naruto's hair. "Naruto, I do not thinking you're dead-last, or that you're a monster. I think you're a bright, kind kid who's full of so much potential. You remind me of someone who's gone, now, and sometimes that hurts, but that's my fault, okay? You had nothing to do with it. I've never been late because I was trying to avoid teaching you."

He actually believed him, for a second. He thought Kakashi was telling the truth. He was telling the truth, for most of his soothing.

But he lied. Naruto can sense it, the last sentence was a lie, that means Kakashi was avoiding him. 

A hole opens within Naruto's chest, big and yawning and black, and everything that Naruto is falls into it, all the light in his mind extinguished as he loses whatever hope was flickered to life by Kakashi's attempts to soothe. He lied. 

Naruto starts crying anew, anger mixing with sadness and hopelessness and self-loathing. He pushes Kakashi away, whose eye widens in shock. Naruto stands up and starts running again after using body flicker to get back up on the roof. Kakashi yells after him, but Naruto has already started running again, leaping from roof to roof as he attempts to outpace Kakashi. 

The air rushes past his face as he makes it to the trees around Konoha. He doesn't know where he's going, just that he's hurt and Kakashi really was avoiding him and that he's a monster, that he's the Kyuubi no Kitsune that attacked the village and hurt so many people. He knows that he needs to leave, to get out because he's so tired, so sick of the glares and malicious whispers and that everyone would be better off if he left.

Naruto tries to leave.

Kakashi hasn't lost the trail. Naruto is being clever, though, using smoke bombs and shadow clones to complicate the chase. There are occasional traps, too, and that worries him because if he's laying traps then Naruto is trying to leave, actually escape. Kakashi has Pakkun go warn the Hokage that Naruto is trying to flee, providing little more nuance to the situation in his rush to find Minato's son.

He can't fail someone else, he can't lose another person. He remembers the sadness, anger, and pain on Naruto's face when he pushed Kakashi away. He pushes away the confusion that rises. He can't get distracted, can't lose Naruto. He's lucky he's been following the correct trail so far, if he gets distracted he'll lose the kid entirely. 

He leaps through the trees, jumping from branch to branch as he rushes after Naruto's trail, until the trees give way to pale, barren earth and dead trees. He gazes up at the branches and finds Naruto, looking down at Kakashi from the top of a large stump with anger and hurt in his eyes, "Why are you following me?"

Kakashi ignores the question, "Naruto! Get down from there!"

"What do you care?"

"I care because you're my student!"

"Oh?" His face twists into a mirthless grin, "Then why have you been avoiding me?"

"I'm not--"

"Liar! I can sense it!"

"You can sense that I'm lying?"

"Don't change the subject, Kakashi-sensei. I can tell you're lying!"

Kakashi shakes his head, "Naruto, I'm not avoiding you! Not now! Please, come down and talk to me!"

Something crosses Naruto's face, an emotion Kakashi can't decipher from where he's standing, looking up at Naruto and the azure sky behind him. He yells again, "Maybe not now, but what about earlier? You lied earlier!"

"I'll explain, Naruto, why I lied, if you just come down!"

Naruto's face twists in anger, not answering replying. Naruto's hand swings in an arc, and three senbon fly towards Kakashi. Kakashi moves out of the way, and the senbon embed themselves into the ground.

"Naruto, you don't need to do this!"

"You're obviously not gonna stop following me, so I'm gonna have to make you!"

Kakashi dodges another three senbon that come at him, faster than the last three, "I can't--I can't let you do that, Naruto! If I have to fight you then so be it!" Kakashi reaches into his weapons' pouch and pulls out a kunai.

Naruto snarls, swinging his arm as he releases another three senbon. Kakashi dances around them and starts running towards the large stump, using his chakra to start running up the tree. Naruto backs away from where he's standing near the edge, but doesn't jump off. He's out of Kakashi's sight when he makes it to the flat surface, which is why he's surprised when he sees Naruto at the tail end of a series of hand seals.

"Wind Style: Air Bullet!" Naruto sucks in air, his stomach expanding. He then slams is his fist into his abdomen and a powerful ball of air shoots towards Kakashi. He rolls towards the left, the air bullet missing him and rushes towards Naruto, who summons his chokutou. Kakashi knows it's enhanced with wind chakra, so he funnels earth chakra into his kunai, making it tougher.

Sparks fly when his kunai meets Naruto's sword. Naruto jumps back when the attack doesn't land on Kakashi. 

The world melts away as the two focus on each other, Kakashi circling Naruto as Naruto sizes Kakashi up. Naruto makes as if he's about to attack, but stops short, his leading foot hitting the ground in a loud stomp that startles Kakashi. Then, Naruto makes his actual attack, lunging forward in an assault Kakashi barely parries. Naruto jumps back again.

Their weapons meet like that again several times, Naruto rushing forward and jumping back. He's being cautious, Kakashi realizes. If only Kakashi had his sword.

Naruto comes forward again, and his chokutou hits Kakashi's kunai again, but instead of jumping back when his sword meets Kakashi's kunai, he puts more pressure on the blade, creating sparks as Kakashi blocks Naruto's attack but doesn't move his kunai, "It's not gonna work, there's earth chakra in the kunai, you won't be able to cut through it."

Naruto smirks, "I know." Kakashi's eye widens as Naruto brings up a hand and starts making hand seals without the other hand. How can he--?  

Naruto breathes in without the exaggerated movement Sasuke made when he used the Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu, and exhales a stream of hot orange and yellow fire. Kakashi body flickers out of the way, leaving charred wood in his wake. 

Kakashi keeps his eyes on Naruto, who summons a single shadow clone with his left hand. The two both start making hand seals, and Kakashi's eye widens again. The real Naruto exhales another ball of fire, but the shadow clone releases a powerful gust of wind from its right hand. The wind strengthens the pyre and the fireball expands. Kakashi body flickers off the tree, leaping onto the grown just as a kunai flies out from the trees behind him.

"Here comes the cavalry," Naruto spits, peering down at Kakashi from the tree.

Kurenai leaps to Kakashi's side, taking in his relatively unharmed state, "Kakashi-san, I was sent by the Hokage. Asuma-san and our genin teams are following us and will join us momentarily. Any updates?"

"What were you told?"

"That Naruto-kun is trying to runaway."

Kakashi nods, "He thinks I was avoiding him, and that seems to have triggered something. He won't come without a fight, see if you can knock him out with minimal injuries. He's far more capable than your average genin, so watch out."

"He's leaving because he thinks you avoided him?" 

"He's been ostracized from the village since his youth due to his...tenant. He probably thinks no one in Konoha wants him and that it would be better if he were gone."

Kurenai does a good job of hiding any emotional response. Right now, she's entirely business. Her job is to retrieve Naruto, not to dwell on Naruto's past. Naruto's gone, running away from the two, but Kakashi and Kurenai give chase.

Kurenai makes a hand seal and Naruto stops, his feet trapped by something not there. He shifts his legs, attempts to lift them up but his phantom restraints don't budge.

"Genjutsu, huh? Guess I'll have to use this," The two jounin's eyes widen as a miasma suddenly expands outward from Naruto. Chakra gathers around the blond, foul and repulsive and red. It concentrates in a bubbly aura around him. When Naruto turns around, blue irises are replaced by red ones with black slits. His whisker marks are wider, more present.

"This--this is--!?" Kurenai exclaims, eyes wide as she stares at Naruto. The surprise is gone just as quick and she enters a stance, kunai in hand. Kakashi joins her. Neither move forward, appraising their opponent. 

Naruto, sword in his right hand, makes a one-handed series of seals. Another air bullet launches towards them, and they both have to jump away from each other to dodge. The destroyed earth it leaves behind it reveals that this bullet was far deadlier.

Kurenai gives Kakashi a bewildered look, before hardening her features and turning back towards Naruto. She body flickers, appearing suddenly behind him, hand held high, ready to knock him out. Naruto snarls as he turns around, and Kakashi watches with shock as neither of Naruto's hands move. Instead, a hand made of the foul red chakra emerges from the aura, and Kurenai brings her other arm in front of her chest in order to guard herself. She leaps backwards, "Naruto-kun? Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" He laughs, elongated canines exposing themselves, "Why not? Who in Konoha wants me to stay?"

"What about your teammates?" Kurenai counters.

"We've been teammates for under two months, what do they care about me?"

Kakashi takes the opportunity to charge, but another hand of red chakra meets his curled fist, a second hand shoots out and nails Kakashi in the stomach. He wretches, keeled over the floor. Naruto turns around and his foot arcs to kick Kakashi under the jaw, but the jounin moves back in time. How has Naruto hid this much strength all this time?

"Naruto, what about the Hokage?" Kakashi counters. They're gonna have to try and talk him down.

The laugh that follows surprises Kakashi with it's bitterness, "The Old Man? He visited me once every two months and only had time for me when I was failing classes! What do I care what he wants?"

Naruto's head snaps to the side, as if alerted by a sound, and Asuma appears with the telltale sound of a body flicker, leg arcing as he spins in a kick. It should, by all accounts, be happening too fast for Naruto to react, but react he does, blocking the kick aimed at his chest with crossed forearms. It's then that Kakashi realizes: Naruto's trying not kill them.

Asuma's jaw clenches as he leaps backward, ambush having failed.

"What about Tsunade-hime, Naruto?"

Naruto chuckles, "Granny Tsunade would be perfectly fine with me leaving! She'd probably come join me!"

"Asuma-sensei!" Kakashi whirls around to see Asuma's team gathered together with Kurenai's team in the distance. They're looking at Naruto with wide, worried eyes that flick between the three jounin and the rampaging genin. The voice was Shikamaru's.

"Stay out of this!" Asuma yells at them, "Go back and get backup!"

Naruto growls at Asuma, and his sword vanishes from his hand with a poof. He chains his hands together in a series of more seals. Kakashi doesn't recognize this one.

"Water Style: Exploding Water Shockwave!" 

"That's a B-rank jutsu!" Kurenai exclaims as Naruto inhales and crouches down, hands touching the ground as a high pressure stream of water exits his mouth and collides with the earth under him. It creates a series of waves radiating outward from Naruto as the sheer volume of water causes him to rise up.

Kakashi body flickers onto a tree, joined by Asuma and Kurenai. Thankfully, the genin are gone, having left to get reinforcements. The waves are gone, water seeping into the earth, turning dirt into mud.

"What are we gonna do?" Asuma asks the two of them, "He's far too strong for us to get away without using lethal force, but we can't risk killing him!"

Kurenai brings her hands together, attempting to cast another genjutsu. She grimaces, "The chakra of the Kyuubi is keeping my chakra from entering his system. My genjutsu is useless here."

Kakashi looks down at Naruto, who's gazing up at the three jounin, waiting for any movements.

"Luckily, none of us are one-trick ponies." Kakashi brings his hand to his heandband. He never thought he'd have to use it against a pupil, let alone a genin, but the circumstances warrant it.

"Kakashi, are you sure you want to use that?" Asuma asks, eyes wide.

Kakashi moves his headband up out of his eye, Sharingan whirling to life, "It's the only way for me to safely use lethal strength. If I read his movements, I can anticipate how much power I need to counter with."

Kurenai and Asuma trade glances, then nod at Kakashi, determined. Kakashi turns back to where Naruto is anticipating them on the ground, his left Sharingan giving the world more detail. He swears he sees Naruto smiling in anticipation. He doesn't hear what Naruto is saying, but he doesn't need to. He reads Naruto's lips and his hackles rise up.

"So it comes out, huh, Sharingan no Kakashi?"

This isn't what spars are like, and, for some reason, Naruto finds that thrilling.

He's fought Tsunade, Shizune, Nagato, Tobi and Kabuto multiple times. All of them are still stronger than him, they still beat him with relative ease, even if he is catching up with Kabuto. This fight isn't any less difficult than fighting them. In fact, the multiple attackers makes it even more disorienting. Yet Naruto feels alive, feels excitement and adrenaline pulse in his veins. He dodges wordlessly synchronized blows, counters with his own and with the hands created by the Kyuubi's chakra and several of their hits land even as his miss. There's a risk to every missed attack, a victory in every connecting blow. There are stakes. This isn't a life or death situation but there are still consequences and that makes Naruto feel like he's standing at the precipice of a mounting he could fall off of, like he could scream to the sky and run around Konoha five hundred times. He's practically buzzing with excitement, grinning ferally as he leaps over Kurenai's sweeping kick and ducks under Asuma's haymaker punch. The hands of chakra shoot out at both of them, but they body flicker away.

Kurenai makes a series of hand seals that Naruto recognizes as the Great Fireball Jutsu and makes several of his own in defense. Fire shoots out from Kurenai's lips and water out of Naruto's and they meet, creating steam that fills the air around him.

Belatedly, Naruto realizes that was probably Kurenai's plan, to obscure his vision so Kakashi could use his Sharingan to see through the mist and knock out Naruto. It works, too, the fog blocks out everything around him. He can't see the three jounin.

But he scan still sense them. 

Naruto whirls around and blocks a roundhouse kick from Kakashi, cackling like he's gone mad.

This is fun!

Naruto punches out into the shadow where Kakashi was once was, but misses as the shadow fades away, Kakashi retreating. Naruto lets out a scream, the sheer amount of pressure from the air exiting his lungs causing the steam to scatter, revealing Kakashi, bracing himself against the gale with a hand. 

Naruto knows this is a losing battle, that they'll successfully knock him out and bring him back to Konoha, but dammit if he's not gonna enjoy it. Naruto rushes for Kakashi, who blocks the coming punch and delivers one in return. It hits Naruto square in the face, but the quickened healing from the Kyuubi's chakra causes him to recover near instantly. He senses Kurenai come for him and blocks her kick with a kick of his own, and in that moment Asuma jumps out, fist aimed at Naruto's face. He can tell it's a feint, that he's gonna try to knee Naruto's stomach, so Naruto moves his other hand to protect his abdomen as a hand of chakra shoots out. Kurenai and Asuma both leap back. 

The three of them stand in a triangle and Kakashi gives signaling looks to his two allies. He brings his hands together, creates a series of hand seals, and Naruto's eyes widen a fraction as lightning gathers in around Kakashi's hand, the sound of a thousand chirping birds filling the air. With a yell, Kakashi charges forward.

The move is too big, too easily projected, and Naruto can tell that it's on purpose, that he's supposed to leap back from the clearly dangerous attack into a trap laid by Kurenai and Asuma behind him, but he decides to give the three jounin one more surprise before he gets captured. 

As the blade of lightning comes towards Naruto, Naruto comes towards it. 

Kakashi's eyes widen in horror as his hand pierces Naruto's left lung, burying itself in his chest. Naruto coughs up blood. He knows this wont kill him, that the Kyuubi will heal wounds short of limb regeneration, so he doesn't scream or yell or curse. Instead, he smiles as blood drips out from the corners of his mouth. It must look like a sad smile, the type of smile someone makes as they're dying, because the horror in Kakashi's eyes is replaced by visceral fear and grief.

"You--what--why didn't you dodge?" Kakashi looks like he's going to throw up, his body shaking and tears running down his cheek. He can sense the shock and horror coming off of Kurenai and Asuma. Naruto guesses, if Kakashi was thinking clearly, he would know that removing his arm would only make Naruto bleed more, but he rushes to get his hand out of Naruto's chest, rushes to get away from him, the fear replaced by great guilt.

"I'm sorry...Kakashi...sensei...I'll...come home," are the last words out of Naruto's mouth, the world fading as Kakashi's eyes fill with pain pain pain and his hands reach up to tug his own silver hair, a sob racking his sensei's body.

Naruto sinks into the void.

When Naruto wakes up, there's a weight creating a dip in the bed he's in, and a warm, callused hand running through his hair, a hand he instantly recognizes as Nagato's. The man's gentle voice speaks out, cutting through the haze as Naruto regains consciousness, "Naruto-kun?"

"Uncle...Uncle Nagato?" His vision clears enough for him to take in the grey eyed, red haired man.

"It seems you've woken up," The hand doesn't move from Naruto's head, Nagato simply continues combing through Naruto's hair.

"Of course he did, you can knock the kid down but you can't make him stay down," Tsunade's voice chimes in, standing between the door to his room and the bed.

"How are you?" Nagato asks.

Naruto pushes himself up, surprised by the fact that the action felt perfectly fine, "I'm...okay? Just tired."

"No doubt, did you have to take an A-rank jutsu to the lung?" Tsunade quips. "Those three jounin thought you died, how has your sensei not figured out your healing rate?"

"We haven't really done anything that would make me bleed."

"How times have changed! In my day--"

"Here she goes again," Shizune says with an roll of her eyes as she enters the hospital room with a tray of food, "Naruto-kun! You're awake!" Naruto smiles at her.

Tsunade scoffs, "I'm simply saying, they've really dumbed down how shinobi are trained. Did you know you had to be able to use at least one element in order to be a chuunin? Now you just have to pass some convoluted exam!"

"Tsunade-hime, aren't you in the committee for the chuunin exams this year?" Shizune asks as she lays the tray of rice porridge, a box of orange juice, and a glass of water.

"Yeah, but it's not like anyone in the committee listens to me. They think my methods are outdated. Well I think you should train your child soldiers properly if you're going to have them, goddammit! That Mitarashi Anko is fine, though, the rest of them can have their chakra coils overloaded."

"What's your progress on your last name?" Naruto asks, out of the blue. He wants to join the conversation, wants to act like he didn't just try to panic and leave. Thankfully, everyone avoids the subject.

"Well, I think I'm getting it. Apparently, not a lot of people here know that the rule used to exist in the first place, so they've been incorrectly referring to me as 'Senju Tsunade' this whole time, even in the textbooks! You will not believe how angry the lady in charge of shinobi registration was when I told her that women in the Senju clan don't get the clan name! She practically started fuming," Tsunade sighed fondly, "This generation of kunoichi will grow up to be spectacular."

Nagato chuckled, "Apparently, rage at social systems is all you need to be a good ninja."

"Hey, I'll have you know I became a medic-nin through sheer spite! My father told me I was too easy to anger to become a medic, ha!"

"Honestly, you should take the Senju name just because Ouyanagi-sama would have hated it," Shizune suggests.

"Oh, please, the old man was already angry enough that I refused to be called by his name. He would go on and on about how 'Women of our clan take their father's first name as a sign of respect!' Yeah well I am disrespecting you! That's why I'm not 'Ouyanagi no Tsunade!'"

"Okay, but Ouyanagi no Tsunade does sound kinda cool," Naruto says, "'Tsunade of the Great Willow?' I'd take a name like any day!"

"It sounds tacky, more like it. Every warrior worth their merit has a nickname, I wanted to be feared for just my name, not for being the daughter of the Shodai Hokage's son."

"Who names their son 'Ouyanagi,' anyway?" Shizune asks.

"My father was really proud of that damn wood style," Tsunade scratches the back of her head, "So what does he do? He names his children after trees."

"Better than a damn ramen topping," Naruto sighs, "I mean, seriously? Maybe I was fated to love ramen. Heh, I bet Neji would have a field day with that."

"Neji...he's the one always going on about fate, right?" Nagato asks.

"Yeah, he's Hinata's cousin. I think I accidentally gave him an existential crisis when we first met?"

"How so?" Nagato's brow furrows. He always makes an effort to remember the people Naruto blabbers on about.

"Well, when I met him he was talking big game about 'fate' and 'destiny,' so I ask him, 'How do you know fate exists? If fate was real, wouldn't we be unable to tell if it was real because everything we did had the illusion of choice?' and he sort of just...stood there in shock?"

Tsunade laughs, "That's it, kid! Break 'em by talking! A truly talented warrior doesn't need to fight to win."

"Well, he started acting nicer to Hinata after that, so I guess the existential crisis was worth it."

"Speaking of Hinata-san, I haven't seen her in a while, I hope her medic-nin training is going well," Shizune says.

"With the amount of convincing it took for Hyuuga Hiashi to agree to let her become a medic? If that girl isn't regenerating limbs by the time she's my age she'll have failed me personally," Tsunade sniffs.

"I think regenerating limbs is impossible, Tsunade-hime," A voice says as the door opens.

"Speak of the devil," Tsunade says as Hinata enters the room, smiling warmly as she takes in Naruto.

"Naruto! I'm glad you're okay."

Naruto grins, pointing a thumb to himself, "Takes more than getting impaled to kill me!"

"I swear I've heard my grandfather say the exact same thing," Tsunade reaches out and ruffles Naruto's hair.

"Not to, like, defame your ancestors or anything, but every time you mention the Shodai Hokage, he just sounds more and more stupid," Naruto states, bemused.

"Grandfather was stupid, and simultaneously a genius."

Hinata groans from where she's taken a seat at the foot of Naruto's bed, "Genius this, genius that! Every man with a modicum of critical thinking skills gets called a genius!"

Tsunade guffaws, "Tell me about it! Do you know how much I had to suffer through 'aren't you teammates with that genius orphan boy?' or 'isn't your teacher the genius Sarutobi Hiruzen?' while my medical talents got swept under the rug?"

"Granny Tsunade, we definitely know, you never shut up about it."

"I will be silent when the problem is fixed!" Tsunade says and Hinata nods in agreement.

"When the problem is fixed, you'll just find something new to complain about," Shizune counters.

Tsunade laughs, and turns to Naruto with a warm smile, "Remember, Naruto, it's the job of the next generation of shinobi like you to fix the world's problems, don't give me anything to complain about!"

"All of the world's problems!?" Hinata exclaims.

Tsunade gives her an arch smile, "All of them."

"Naruto!"

He turns toward the door, where Sakura holds a bouquet of flowers while crying. Sasuke is behind her, and Naruto can feel the relief, even if it expresses itself as a gentle upturning of his lips. 

"Sakura! Sasuke!"

Sakura rushes over and squeezes Naruto into a hug, placing the bouquet into a table next to his hospital bed, "You have no idea how worried we were about you! First you break down like that, then you run and Kakashi-sensei chases after you, leaving us on the bridge, only to hear that you're in the hospital? I almost fainted!"

"I'm sorry, Sakura, I'm doing much better now," He returns the hug gently, appreciating the warmth of someone else's arms.

"You better be! You still have a lot to teach me!" She wipes at her eyes as she pulls away, smiling with damp eyes.

"I hope both of you are all right?" He asks.

"We should be asking you that, genius," Sasuke raises an eyebrow.

"Me? I'm fine, I heal quick!" Naruto dismisses.

"Uh, you fought three jounin," Sakura says incredulously. "Did you really try to leave?"

Naruto nods, smile dropping. Surprisingly, it's Sasuke who speaks up, "Damn Kakashi! I told him not to be late and he still--"

"Don't blame Kakashi-sensei, he has his own problems," Naruto defends.

Sasuke stares at him, eyes wide, "You're defending him? He's the reason you ran away! We heard it all at the mission report!"

Naruto looks away, "Well, whatever you heard obviously wasn't the full story."

"Then tell us, Naruto," Sasuke demands.

"I can't just--"

"Naruto, how are we supposed to work well as a team if we don't know what's up with each other."

"Like you're one to talk, Mister Stoic!"

Sasuke's jaw clenches, "I know I'm not the most cooperative person, but I'm trying. You have to try too, Naruto."

Naruto looks into his determined eyes for several moments, before sighing, "Fine. Do you know why Kakashi-sensei is late?"

Sasuke scoffs, "Yeah, he visits the Memorial Stone. It's such...ugh! It makes me so upset! What could he possibly be doing at the Memorial Stone that causes him to run late every day!"

"I don't know, Sasuke, but whatever it is, he's not okay by the end of it."

Sasuke peers at Naruto, "What do you mean?"

"I just...I guess I should explain, first. I can sense negative emotions."

"You can what?" Sakura exclaims.

"Just roll with it, okay? I can sense people's negative emotions. Every time Kakashi-sensei was late, he would come back and I would just...he'd be so sad, so depressed. I could practically taste it. Whatever he's going through...he's not okay."

Something seems to soften in Sasuke's eyes, and he sits down on Naruto's hospital bed. After a pause, he speaks, "Once, when my mother was talking to a friend, I heard her say that shinobi either die early or go crazy. When she had said it she laughed like it was a joke, but now..." 

"Granny Tsunade would say the same thing, and then she'd always point at herself and say 'Guess I'm not a shinobi, huh?'"

Saskue smiles at that, and Naruto smiles back, but a thought crosses Sasuke's mind and his smile falters, "You can sense negative emotions? What the hell? I bet you're still hiding stuff from us, too."

"Not on purpose! I just really haven't had to pull out every trick I have, the situation hasn't ever really called for it."

"Huh? So you've been handicapping yourself?" Sasuke says incredulously.

"What? No! You wouldn't use the flat end of a hammer to pull out a nail, would you? My skill set is diverse, we haven't really come across a situation where I'd need to break out, say, my gunbai."

"You have a gunbai? Like the Uchiha no Bourei?"

"Uh, yeah! Not sure if I appreciate the comparison, though."

Sasuke's face flushes. Before he can stutter out an apology, Naruto speaks, "Relax, I'm pulling your tail. Or your duck-butt hair, in this case."

Sasuke gasps, offended, "I do not have duck-butt hair, take that back."

"Naruto's kinda right, I'm sorry Sasuke," Sakura giggles.

"Just 'Sasuke?' What happened to 'Sasuke-kun?' I thought you were a fangirl! Now you're agreeing with him?"

"Our sensei knows best, Sasuke! And besides, I thought the whole fangirl thing annoyed you."

Sasuke's mouth falls open as he searches for a counter, but just ends up huffing with a good-natured smile on his face, "Fine, I have duck-butt hair! But you have whiskers. What are you, a cat?"

Naruto's eyes widen and his mouth falls open, "A cat?"

Sasuke nods, playfully imperious, "Yes, Naruto, a cat. Like Tora!"

Naruto gasps, "You take that back! I am nothing like that demon!"

"Well...both of you have tried to escape," Sakura teases, but then freezes. Naruto senses guilt come off of her, and before she can apologize for referencing a possibly touchy subject, Naruto jokes.

"And we both failed, huh? Although being tracked down by three jounin definitely trumps having to get captured by three genin."

Naruto feels the guilt fade and the smile is back on Sakura's face. Sasuke speaks up, "Well, you are a pretty big cat."

"Sasuke, if I threatened to end every sentence with 'nya' would you stop calling me a cat?"

"Yes, but only if you agree to never say my hair looks like a duck's ass, or else I will quack at you at random points during the day."

"Wait, I kinda wanna see that..." Sakura trails off.

"Well I don't! You have a deal," Naruto reaches his hand out and Sasuke shakes it, warm smile never leaving his face.

Naruto isn't talking to Kakashi. It doesn't matter how much the man pleads or begs, he refuses to speak to him. Kakashi tries, oh how he tries, to get Naruto to say something, say anything to him, but the moment he enters the hospital room, the boy's mouth closes and he resolutely turns his gaze out of the window.

Kakashi doesn't know how to fix this, how to make this better. The fact that Naruto seems perfectly fine talking to Kurenai and Asuma, even apologizing for fighting them, doesn't make things any better. The two accepted the apology gracefully, noting how Naruto got much more beat up than them, to which Naruto simply scratched the back of his head sheepishly. 

Then, Kakashi comes to visit him one afternoon two days after the fight (he ignores the memory of the chidori piercing Naruto's chest, the sad smile, the way he thought he killed Naruto, thought he ended his sensei's legacy) and it's then that Naruto finally, finally speaks to him. It's not small talk, or Naruto inquiring after Kakashi's health.

"Why did you lie to me?" Naruto asks.

"Lie to you about what?" Kakashi asks softly.

Naruto snorts, "About avoiding me, duh. You told me you weren't avoiding me but..." Naruto's gaze fills with hurt, "but you lied," Naruto's voice breaks and he brings his knees to his chest on the hospital bed, "Do you hate me? Like everyone else?"

Kakashi flinches, "I don't, Naruto, I don't hate you. You can sense it, right? Sense that I'm telling the truth? Was I lying when I said you were one of my best students?"

Naruto nods, "Then why? Why would avoid me?"

"Naruto, remember when I said you reminded me of someone?" Naruto nods, "He...he's dead. His name was Uchiha Obito, and he was just as kind and cheerful as you. He was on my genin squad, and he died saving my life. Sometimes, when I look at you...it's like looking at him. And--and--" Kakashi searches for a way to phrase what he wants to say without hurting Naruto.

"And it hurts," Naruto finishes.

Kakashi nods solemnly, "Yes, Naruto, it hurts, but that's on me, not you, okay? I wasn't avoiding you because I think you're a demon or a monster, I don't think that about you at all. I was avoiding you because of old wounds."

Naruto doesn't make eye contact with Kakashi, just looks down at his feet as his chest rests against his knees, "Did he give you that Sharingan?"

Kakashi nods, "It was...his parting gift."

Naruto doesn't say anything, considering. Then he speaks, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I shouldn't have reacted like that, I should have just resolved this in private."

"Naruto, you were hurt and you lashed out, I can't fault you for that."

"You don't need to fault me for anything, the Hokage already has," Naruto's tone morphs into something resentful.

Kakashi's eye widens, "What? What do you mean?"

"Do you know what the punishment for attempted desertion is?"

"Imprisonment for fifteen years. Don't tell me he's going to--"

Naruto laughs harshly, "No, he's not going that far. But the village gets my share of mission rewards for the next three years."

Kakashi can only stare, open-mouthed, "Why would he do that? I gave him a mission report specifically asking that punishment be absolved given the circumstances!"

"The Old Man is always going on about the Will of Fire and how the village is family. I don't think he takes attempts to leave well. He probably thought I was abandoning my duties."

Kakashi scoffs, "So he's gonna punish you into believing him?"

"Apparently. Luckily, I have Granny Tsunade taking care of me, or else I wouldn't have any income for the next three years, I'd probably have gotten kicked out of that apartment."

Kakashi pauses at that, "Apartment? I thought you lived in the orphanage before becoming the Senju clan's ward?"

"Nope. The orphanage apparently didn't want me, so I was put in an apartment with a caretaker until I was six, then I had to pay rent with the stipend the village gave me."

Kakashi is filled with horror, "So you would've been alone after the age of six?"

Naruto nods, like he's confirming that it was going to rain tomorrow, "Well, I got taken in by Granny Tsunade, so it didn't last long. It was a lonely year and a half, I'll tell you that. And boring." 

"And the Hokage just...let this happen?"

Naruto nods, and Kakashi hears hurt in Naruto's voice, "He'd visit, although not that often. Usually he'd call me in when I wasn't doing to well in the Academy."

"You weren't...tutored or anything?"

"Well, I was when I got adopted, but not before, no. Besides, who was gonna tutor me? Everyone hated my guts."

Kakashi wants to respond that he would have, but he has stop himself. Would he? He's been absent from the kid's life until he was twelve, and even then, interaction wasn't his decision, it was simply thrust upon him. 

Bitterly, Kakashi realizes he wouldn't have, that he's been avoiding Naruto for far longer than the weeks that he's been a genin. Oh, what would Minato-sensei say? He'd probably be disap--

"Stop that."

Kakashi is broken out of his thoughts by Naruto's voice, "Huh?"

"What ever you were thinking of, it definitely wasn't healthy for you."

"You can...tell what I'm thinking? Is that how can tell I was lying?"

"Not exactly, no. I can sense negative emotions, I've had the ability since I was about seven. It's how I could tell you were lying to me, and..." Naruto trails off, considering what he's about to say. He takes a deep breath, "Kakashi-sensei, every time you'd come to train us, you were always so sad. I could feel it."

Kakashi doesn't know how to react, so he just tries to awkwardly laugh it off, "Naruto, it's okay--"

Naruto protests, "But it isn't! Kakashi-sensei, I can sense grief, I can sense guilt, I can tell that you aren't okay! How can you help us, me and Sakura and Sasuke, if you can't help yourself?"

Kakashi wants to protest, wants to say he's fine and he doesn't need help and that everything is okay, but Naruto would be able to tell that it's a lie. Instead, he just looks away, with a laugh, "I come here to apologize and end up getting mental health counseling from my genin."

Naruto doesn't laugh, "Kakashi-sensei, you need help. I don't know what you've been through, how bad it was for you and if you blame yourself for it, but I can tell that how ever you're reacting to it isn't healthy."

"Oh? And what about how you reacted?" Kakashi regrets the words the instant they come out of his mouth, wincing at their pettiness, "Wait, Naruto, I didn't mean that."

"It's fine, I've heard worse. I need you to make me a promise, okay? Promise me you'll get help."

Kakashi looks back to Naruto, who's gazing intensely into his eyes, "And if I don't?"

"I'll hand in my Identification Card and retire from being a shinobi."

Kakashi stares, "You wouldn't."

"I would. I have an inheritance now, remember? A whole clan's worth. I don't need to be a shinobi to survive."

Kakashi grimaces. He doesn't want help, he wants to insist he's fine, that nothing is wrong, but he just can't, not anymore, not after Naruto almost ran away because of him. 

"...Fine, I'll do it."

Naruto pumps his fist, "All right! And take this seriously, Kakashi-sensei. Remember, I have the world's best medic-nin with me, she can tell if you're not trying."

"And what if counseling doesn't work?"

Naruto scoffs, "There's more than one type of therapy, Kakashi-sensei, I'm sure you'll find a healthy coping mechanism eventually. Who knows? Maybe you'd like baking?"

Kakashi scoffs, "Yeah, right."

"C'mon! Imagine how jealous everyone would be if I told them my sensei makes my team brownies every Friday!"

"Counseling first, baking later, okay? And Naruto? I have a condition."

Naruto motions for him to continue.

"You should probably see someone, too."

Naruto flashes him a prize-winning smile, "Don't worry about me! I already have a pretty extensive support network."

Kakashi just huffs fondly and makes his exit, ignoring the gut feeling that Naruto said that to avoid seeing a professional.

"These missions are horrible," Naruto says as he swipes some dirt off of his pristine purple haori.

"Tell me about it. I thought being a genin would entail something more...enthralling than painting fences and collecting cats," Sakura complains.

Naruto can from the way Sasuke hums that he agrees as well. "Well, I think we should go on strike until Kakashi-sensei gives us a C-rank."

"He would probably be thankful and just read his little porno books at home rather than reading it while his genin get underpaid for menial labor." Sakura kicks a rock out of her way as the three genin make their way to Ichiraku's. When someone glares their way Sakura simply stares back.

"I almost forgot we were also getting cheated out of our money," Sasuke says.

Sakura sighs, "Half the people who hire us aren't even poor! They can pay full price for professionals to fix their fence! There is no excuse as to why Madam Shijimi is paying us breadcrumbs for catching her abused cat."

"She needs to be put in prison for mistreating that poor thing."

Naruto and Sakura turn towards and look at him like he'd grown a second head. 

"What?"

"That was...surprisingly passionate," Naruto says.

"Right? I thought you were, like, allergic to emotion or something," Sakura explains.

Sasuke's face heats up, "I am not allergic to emotions!" He protests.

Sakura nods dismissively. When did she get so sassy? "Whatever you say. You're definitely allergic to sunlight, though." Sakura runs an appraising eye over him and Sasuke sputters. Naruto chuckles.

"I train outside daily!" He protests.

"Oh, so it's the other way around. Sunlight is allergic to you."

"Did you know that this one Senju wrote down a whole essay about why the Uchiha were always pale?"

"I don't believe you," Sasuke replies. "That's ludicrous."

"Well, believe it! Although this was when there was a primitive understanding of ninjutsu as mystical and arcane, so they thought that the Uchiha had, like, the blessing of the sun or something. I could barely read at the, though, so I didn't really get most of it."

"What do you mean by-"

"Oi! Naruto-kun!" Ayame calls from Ichiraku's booth.

"Ayame-nee-chan!" Naruto waves back as he dashes forward and takes a seat.

"Hello, Ayame-san!" Sakura bows.

Sasuke just hums and dips his head slightly.

"The usual?" Ayame asks. The three nod in agreement. "Is your sensei not here yet?"

"He's never on time, Nee-chan." Naruto rolls his eyes. "He's getting more punctual lately, though."

"Isn't he an elite ninja?" Ayame questions as Teuchi gets their orders ready, leaning over the counter and bracing on her forearms. "How is an elite ninja always late everywhere?"

"Don't ask us," Sasuke scoffs. "We've asked the same question dozens of times."

"Backbiting? From my own genin? I'm hurt!" Kakashi's voice muses from behind them.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaims, toothy grin on his face. 

Sasuke and Sakura just stare, wide eyed.

"You're not wearing your mask!" Sakura exclaims.

"An exercise from my counselor," Kakashi flashes her a pleasant smile as he reaches over to ruffle Naruto's hair. 

Naruto grin only brightens when he hears that. "I'm glad you're taking it seriously! Do you feel better recently?"

"Well, not all that much, but I'm just starting," Kakashi says as he grabs the barstool next to Naruto. "Making sugar cookies is surprisingly relaxing though."

"You made sugar cookies? And didn't give us any?" Naruto pouts.

"You're all still growing, I don't want to give you all cavities."

"So did you just eat them all?" Sakura asks.

Kakashi chuckles. "I made them for a house party at Asuma's. So no, I did not eat all the sugar cookies. Kurenai, however, just might have binged half of them."

Sakura and Naruto laugh at that, and Sasuke finds himself smiling along. They stay like that, smiling and laughing until the sun sets and an twilit haze settles over Konoha.

Sasuke feels differently than he has in a long time, even if he didn't really contribute much to the conversations. He decides it's a good type of different.

"Can you believe that I actually annoyed Kakashi-sensei into getting us a C-rank?" Naruto says as the three make their way through Konoha's streets in the night.

"You literally just repeated 'C-rank' in his ear until he agreed," Sakura quips.

"Well...it worked, didn't it?" Naruto says with a teasing grin.

Sakura just scoffs and the three fall into a comfortable silence. Sasuke usually hates quiet, that's why he makes sure a fan is always on in his apartment, but with Sakura and Naruto? He might not like it, but he's definitely less uncomfortable. Sasuke almost finds it...pleasant.

"Well, I have to go now," Naruto flashes them a sad grin, "Bye, Sakura!" The two hug and Sasuke aches.

When they pull apart, Naruto turns to Sasuke and waves, "Bye, Sasuke!" He feels irritation and envy bubble up within him. Sakura gets a hug and he just gets a wave? The thought is preposterous, ludicrous. Sasuke shouldn't be envious that Sakura got an intimate farewell and he just got a hug.

And yet...

He yearns. Maybe not for Naruto, specifically, but for something, a sliver of anything that shows someone still cares about him.

"Sasuke?" Naruto breaks him out of his rumination. Sasuke realizes that he was just standing there, brooding and feels his neck flush. 

Sasuke decides to take a risk. He decides to move first. He walks up to Naruto, who still looks confused, and slightly concerned. He wraps his arms around Naruto.

Naruto goes rigid for a second, and Sasuke wonders if he just made a grave mistake, if Naruto's gonna push him away and distance himself. Sasuke shouldn't have done this, should have known that no one would want to hug him, no one in their right minds so much as smile in Sasuke's direction if they knew. Sasuke was weak and a coward who let his family get murdered and the murderer get away unavenged and that was just what had been on the news--

Naruto wraps his arms around Sasuke, and mutters a soft, gentle, "Bye, Sasuke." 

Sasuke nearly cries. He'd almost forgotten what a hug felt like. He didn't even know he wanted one so badly until now, 

The two stay like that for a while, and Sasuke feels cold when they pull away from each other, despite the warm breeze and singing cicadas and crickets.

Sasuke decides that it's okay to be alone every once in a while, as long as he gets this too. This affection, this care, this love.

Because, for the first time in five years, Sasuke feels loved.

Naruto practically tackles Sasuke when they meet at Konoha's gate. Sasuke grumbles, but Naruto can tell that he's really ecstatic.

Naruto pulls away, vibrating with excitement. "I can't believe it! We're going all the way to the Land of Waves!"

"Have you ever left the village?" Sasuke questions. How is someone this excited?

Naruto's face flushes as he scratches the back of his head, "I mean, not really? The first time I left was during that whole escape attempt fiasco."

Sasuke eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "Seriously? I used to the leave the village regularly with my parents. Vacations and that sort of thing."

"Ah, I'm jealous! I bet you've seen so many cool things." 

Sasuke doesn't answer, just hums. A silence falls after that. A decidedly awkward silence. Sasuke starts panicking internally, searching desperately for something, anything, to talk about. He settles on the Tomato Incident from when he was seven, but Kakashi body flickers next to Naruto. He's wearing his mask today, which causes Sasuke to narrow his eyes.

Sasuke hears Kakashi before he sees him, leading to goosebumps when Kakashi spouts a characteristically laid back, "Hey."

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei. You're not late!" Naruto says cheerily.

"I figured it would embarrass the village if I showed up late to a mission," Kakashi shrugs. "Is...Sakura late?"

Naruto looks around, "I guess."

Kakashi considers. "I didn't expect that of her. Well, let's wait for her to show up before you meet the client."

"Oh, there she is!" Naruto points to Sakura, dressed again in soft green sweatpants and sweatshirt. When Sakura finally makes it to them, she bumps fists with Naruto. Sasuke can see the bags under her eyes. She doesn't verbally greet anyone.

"You're late."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Mr. Punctual," Sasuke sees Naruto's jaw drop at Sakura's comment. He glances at Kakashi, whose face is so comically surprised that Sasuke stifles his own laughter. "I was banking on you being late today, so I woke up later than I usually do," she explains.

"Do you have that little faith in me?" Naruto is the only one responds with a negative.

"I knew there was a reason you're my favorite student," Kakashi says as he reaches over and ruffles Naruto's hair. Sasuke realizes that Kakashi only really ruffles Naruto's hair, and feels something dark coil in his stomach.

"Now, let me introduce you to Tazuna-san, our client."

Sakura decides she doesn't like this Tazunaman  rather quickly. First of all, he's unnecessarily condescending to Naruto, Sasuke, and her. Second of all, he reeks of sake. And third of all, Naruto's cautious around him. It's not obvious, and most people wouldn't notice it at all. But Sakura has been around Naruto to tell from the way his shoulders are slightly tensed and the quick glances he makes to Kakashi. Tazuna is almost certainly hiding certain.

Sakura exchanges looks with Naruto and Sasuke, who both nod. 

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asks.

"Yes, Naruto?" 

"Do you think we could catch a jackrabbit?"

Kakashi stops immediately and turns around to face Naruto, brows furrowed in concern and mild alarm. Sakura wants to ask what exactly is going on but stops herself when Naruto starts making hand signals.

Kakashi replies with some of his own. The two have a whole conversation that passes over Sakura's head. She turns to look at Sasuke who has the same confused gaze. The conversation seems to come to an end and Kakashi turns to face Tazuna. "Tazuna-san?" He says with characteristic cheer, but Sakura can see it's an act. "Is there a bounty on your head?"

Tazuna flinches. "What? No!" 

"Then why are you so stressed?" Kakashi asks. The light attitude is actually unnerving.

A forced laugh. "What do you mean? I'm not stressed!"

"My student here can sense negative emotions. He can tell you're very clearly worried about something. And, just so you know, he can also tell if you're lying."

Tazuna gulps.

"Fess up now, before my genin get hurt because of your deception." Kakashi's voice is deathly serious.

Tazuna talks. Sakura grows more and more horrified as he spins the tale of a land so poor that children are happy when they can eat bread mixed with sawdust, where mothers kill their infants so they don't suffer in the world. 

She comes to understand why he lied about the rank of the mission, even if it was rather foolish of him to go with the worst possible decision first. He could have asked for the fee to be paid in installments, or for it to be deferred to a later date, or for Konoha to get a percentage of the tolls gathered on the road, instead.

"We should return to Konoha--" Sakura stops speaking as Naruto whirls around and throws a senbon into the trees.

"Someone was there," Naruto hisses. "I felt their intent to harm. I think they substituted away."

"One person?" Kakashi says as he pulls a kunai out of his pouch. Naruto grunts in affirmation. "You three, Manji formation."

Naruto rushes in front of Tazuna, Sakura to his left and Sasuke to his right. Tense moments pass, until bone-white projectiles fly at them. Kakashi deflects all of them with his kunai and throws it into the bushes.

Naruto senses someone come up behind him, in between his teammates and Tazuna. Naruto turns around quick enough and aims his sword at the assailants head, but they successfully body flicker away.

Naruto can sense two people, but doesn't give himself time to detangle the negative emotions that come from them other than their intent to kill. The assailant Naruto had successfully pushed back had white hair and seemed one or two years older than him. The second person is just...standing among the trees. Naruto actually doesn't feel any killing intent from them, but is stopped from thinking too much about it when more strange white projectiles fly his way. He channels wind chakra into his sword and slices through them.

"Kakashi-sensei! There are actually two people here! But only one has intent to attack us!"

Kakashi grunts in affirmation. "Thank you, Naruto. Don't break formation."

"Yes, sir!" The three chorus.

"Kakashi-sensei! Seven o'clock!" Naruto warns.

The assailant comes in with a white sword and Naruto gets a better view, if partial. White hair past the chin, marks on the forehead and under the eyes. He's a gray robe left unbuttoned down the front, revealing a shirtless chest and torso. Black pants, likely made of enforced fabric of standard issue ninja wear, and sandals adorn his lower half.

The blades appear to come from his hands and Naruto realizes what clan he's from.

"Kakashi-sensei! He's a member of the Kaguya clan! His bloodline limit lets him manipulate his bones!" Naruto calls out as bone meets steel. Kakashi nods.

"So you're the Copy Ninja," the Kaguya says flatly as he leaps back.

"And you, the Bonemaker: Kaguya Kimimaro."

hello, everyone!

i know its been a long, long while since i updated this fic, and before the idea ferments, i am NOT abandoning this. yes, i put the hiatus tag on it, and yes, it's been months, but this fic is not dead, i promise.

a lot of things, especially related to my medication and college have been going on recently, and i kinda just put this fic down and never got back around to it. im super sorry T-T

as you might be able to tell by the title, im basically going to be rewriting this story, with a much more organized plot. i kinda sat there and would reread some parts of this fic and felt it was becoming too...sentimental, if that's the right word. a lot of the plot and writing and character development felt haphazard and, this is going to sound incredibly weird, but i felt like i was being TOO nice to a lot of the characters, but especially Obito and his relationship with Naruto. when i start rewriting this, expect basically everyone except for maybe naruto, sasuke, sakura, and kabuto to be much harsher then they were in this first version. hopefully, however, i dont turn the other direction and make it edgy.

that said, i'm sorry i haven't been back to this fic in a while. i did have a very, very vague outline of what i was going to do with this, and if you wanna hear that, i'll put in the notes if i get enough comments asking for it. beware, tho, that a lot of plot point WILL get recycled so you will get spoiled if you read it.

and, again, im super sorry that it took me so long to get back to this. this was my first fic and i refuse to let it die T-T but, as always, i hope you all enjoyed what you got so far!

with much love,

badshah

hello to all of you lovely people who have read this fic/still have a subscription to it despite the months and months/are waiting for more naruto content from me!

this was my first fanfic EVER, and you can tell it if you read it with an eye towards grammatical errors, especially relating to dialogue lmao. but, essentially, when i wrote this fic, and indeed, with all of my fics, i was going through a rough time. i dont need to bog you all down with the details but basically, getting into Naruto ended up being a really good thing for me, and, as much as reevalutate the series with an understanding of its flaws, i genuinely think that what it did well, it did WELL. it gave me a lot to consider about writing, but especially world and character building, and its given me a lot of inspiration. this fic was essentially born of my focalin prescription making me sit on my bed and think for hours about this idea, and you can specifically see the fact that i was medicated while writing this in the level of productivity i was reaching, a type of productivity (regularly putting out 3k word chapters everyday or every other day or so) that i will likely never reach again, but thats okay bc i was honestly probably focusing TOO much on my fanfiction lmao.

either way, this fanfic holds a very special place in my heart, and so do all of the people who had commented on, bookmarked, or kudoed it. writing this, receiving genuine support from people who didnt/dont know me and receiving interest in the work i produced, especially when this was the first piece of writing id ever posted on any social media for the viewing pleasure of strangers, was incredibly helpful and motivating, and id like to thank you all for giving kudos or commenting!

with that said, i have good news: this fic is officially in the process of being rewritten! it took me a while to get back to the stage where i wanted to write specifically naruto related fanfic? i do not know why i will assume it was a weird adhd thing but either way i felt the urge a couple of days ago to deliver on the promised rewrite! idk how many people remember or care about this specific fic at all, but to those of you who do, thank you from the bottom of my heart! i know i get bad at responding to comments but i genuinely love reading and receiving feedback, even when it might seem critical or negative. thank you so much for the love you have given this, and i hope you will enjoy the new version, "Other Gods: Cosmogony" and i hope to incorporate some of the stuff i learned while writing my other fics into this rewrite!

it does always feel cheap/manipulative of me to say this, but the comments are really helpful "motivators" for me: i see them and remember that there are others who have something interesting to say or who have gotten enjoyment from it. i would like anyone reading this to consider checking out and giving feedback on the rewrite, even if you do have criticisms. honestly, comment ESPECIALLY if you do have criticisms and can frame them constructively (i.e. "obito sucks here" is bad criticism vs "the way you've written obito makes his character inconsistent and here's why" is good criticism)

thank you so much,

badshah

Write a letter to a precious person in your life.

Naruto, seated crisscross at his low table, simply glowers at the paper that Iruka-sensei had Sakura pass out during class. He'll probably just write some kiss-ass and inoffensive piece about the Third Hokage, that should make everyone happy. Probably not Iruka-sensei, though. He'll probably just disinterestedly criticize Naruto's simple Lunar Tongue.

Naruto tries to run through people he could write and only comes up with two others, excluding the Third Hokage: Ayame and Teuchi. He can't really call them their precious people. Naruto's more like a regular customer that the owners could have a friendly chat with.

That left him with...no one.

A bitter laugh comes out of Naruto's mouth, one that sounds wholly too resigned for an 8-year-old. He blinks back tears as his laughter turns to sobs.

Naruto is 8 when he realizes that no one loves him as much he loves them.

Naruto opens his eyes to a sewer bathed in dull yellow light. He's lying on his back in water one or two inches deep. Despite its appearance, the sewer has no distinguishable scent.

It takes a second for Naruto to get his bearings straight but when he does he shoots up, frantically looking around because why is he in a sewer how did he get here what is going on--

His panicky train of thought is interrupted when he feels it: a miasma of anger and hate so potent that it almost weighs the air around him down. Naruto turns toward where it's coming from: an abyssal darkness behind what appears to be a gate, with the kanji for "seal" on it.

A pair of eyes, red with slit pupils, open up and Naruto feels the hairs on his neck rise. He shudders. Whatever is behind the gate is older and more powerful than Naruto could ever imagine.

"Do you know who I am, child?" A deep, gravelly voice speaks. Naruto barely comprehends that he's shaking in fear. 

Naruto frantically shakes his head.

The entity behind the gate chuckles in a way that makes Naruto want to vomit. "Oh, child, I think you do."

One moment Naruto is looking into red eyes and the next images are flashing through his mind: nine tails, the destruction of a mountain range with a flick of one, the death of so many people as the creature roams free upon the Earth.

Naruto feels, too. He feels the bottomless hatred and desire to destroy mankind, the glee in being an elephant that can crush ants.

The sensation passes but Naruto is still left with a dull ache inside his head and a churning stomach. He bends over and retches but nothing comes out of his mouth.

But the creature was right, Naruto does know who it is. 

The Kyuubi no Kitsune smiles.

After a moment of deafening silence, Naruto finally musters up the courage to ask the Kyuubi a question. "Where are we?"

"This is your mindscape, a visual representation of your conscious, subconscious and unconscious. We are inside your mind."

Naruto acts braver than he feels, and ignores his own confusion. He tries to show that he will not be some intimidated child, but his voice shakes when he asks, "Why are you here, then? If this is my mindscape?"

"I was sealed inside of you, by the Fourth Hokage." Naruto hears a mix of anger and cruelty in this fact. Naruto guesses that there's more to the story than the Kyuubi lets on.

For the first time a while, things fall into place, and Naruto understands what is going on. "So that's the reason they...they..."

"Why they loathe you and call you monster?" Naruto flinches, he's certain that the Kyuubi's bluntness comes from cruelty rather than principal. "Such is the fate of all Jinchuuriki, for humans are a treacherous race: the Jinchuuriki protect the entire village from not only my brethren, but also deter wars between other countries."

So much is packed into that sentence that Naruto can only numbly ask, "Jinchuuriki?" 

"Jinchuuriki are people that become the jailers of me and my brethren. They exist as weapons for mankind."

"Weapon?" Naruto asks, breathless. Though the thought doesn't quite fully sink in, he understands enough to be shocked.

"Why else would I have been sealed inside of you? Your Fourth Hokage could have gotten rid of me all together, but he preserved me inside of you for the sake of this village."

"The Fourth Hokage?" Naruto asks, breathless. His hero? His hero is the reason he's treated the way he is? Naruto feels tears run down his face.

"Why...why are you telling me this? Are you just trying to make feel terrible?" Naruto raises his tear streaked face to look the Kyuubi in his eyes.

The Kyuubi drums his fingers  against the flooded floor of the sewer, considering. "There are people who would make me their slave. I am safe from them when I'm in this prison, but if you die, then I am rereleased into the world to be controlled. I have called you here to make you an offer: I will reveal to you the secrets of your past, of the world's past. And I will teach you in the arts of shinobi. And, one day, I will need you to kill certain people."

Naruto's breath hitches. Kill two people? "I don't think...I don't think I can do that."

"Oh? And what is it you can't do?"

"K-kill."

Naruto practically whimpers when the Kyuubi responds with a derisive laugh. "What do you think regular shinobi do? Prance about in flower fields and throw shuriken at trees? Even as a regular shinobi, you'd have to kill others."

"Then I don't want to be a shinobi," Naruto says quietly, defeatedly.

The Kyuubi sneers. "An impossibility. You are this village's greatest asset, it's most powerful weapon, you'd become a shinobi whether you desired it or not."

Naruto stepped back like he had been struck. So he's just...some tool? He's not allowed any agency? Is that why the Third Hokage checks up on him? Is that why he isn't in the orphanage? "So, I don't have a choice?" Naruto asks.

The Kyuubi smiles again, vicious and unmerciful. "Who said you don't have a choice? There is always a choice, perhaps it is not right or illegal or complex, but the choice is still there, the world is simply trying to erase that choice from you. I shall let you consider the offer."

Then, suddenly, Naruto is back in his bedroom, laying down on the futon.

He doesn't sleep for the rest of the night.

The next night, Naruto finds himself back in the sewer.

The red eyes stare at him through the bars. "Did you come up with an answer?"

A pause, "You lied."

The Kyuubi snorts. "Oh? About what?"

"About me being a weapon. It doesn't make sense. If I'm a weapon, why am I alone? Shouldn't I have someone who trains me to be a good ninja?"

The fox chuckles, "So you can use that tiny brain. You haven't been trained simply because the leaders of this village are incompetent, not for any logical reason."

Naruto scoffs. "Like I'm going to believe that."

"Believe what you wish. Their own incompetence was simply the most logical answer. There are other possibilities, of course: No one wished to train you. Or, perhaps, they feared that you would be too strong and intelligent."

Naruto snorts without meaning to, ignoring the way the Kyuubi attempts to get under his skin. "Like I'm intelligent enough for someone to fear me."

"Oh no, child. Trust me when I say you have high potential. At least, compared to the rest of your loathsome species."

Naruto chuckles mirthlessly, but doesn't respond.

"Of course, at the rate that foolish Academy teaches you, you might as well be a civilian. I have been sealed in two kunoichi in possession of impressive prowess, I know more of the way of the Ninja than your senile Third Hokage could ever understand."

"You can use chakra?" Naruto asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Use chakra? I am chakra," he says with a bloodcurdling smile. "I am older than ninjustu itself."

Naruto feels a chill go down his back. To his own horror, he finds himself considering the Kyuubi's deal.

"Aside from training in the way of the Ninja, what else could I gain?" Naruto asks, attempting to keep his face neutral.

"You've forgotten what I told you already?" Naruto's face colors in embarrassment. "With how you're mind functions, I'm unsurprised."

A flash of irritation runs through Naruto. "Oh, I thought I had potential, but now my mind functions weirdly?"

"Who said it was an insult?" The Kyuubi states. "Your mother had similar problems as you, though they were expressed somewhat differently. She was forgetful, irritable, and easily distracted. She found routine tasks incredibly stressful and found it difficult to begin her daily duties."

"My...mother?" Naruto says. He's thought of those two words multiple times, to say it, however, feels alien.

"Before I was sealed inside of you, I was sealed inside of her."

"What was her name?" Naruto blurts the question out.

"Tut tut. You haven't agreed to my deal yet, child."

Naruto's eye twitches. He throws his hands up. "Fine! I don't need your stupid deal! I'll find out myself."

"And how will you do that?" 

Naruto looks down at the ground, feeling embarrassed. He doesn't know how he would, he doesn't even know how he would start.

"There is a memorial dedicated to those who fell in service of this village. She had your last name," The fox states.

Naruto is taken aback by the information. He almost forgets to thank the fox.

"Don't thank people who wish to use you, child. Consider that information--what do you humans have? ah yes, consider it a free sample. Now... go."

It's raining when he finds her name carved into black marble. He only recognizes the lunar characters of her last name.

The Kyuubi had told the truth. 

"My mother was an Uzumaki..." Naruto says to himself. He traces the name with his index finger. "Uzumaki...Mo-Mom." Naruto bites his lip, and blinks fiercely. He doesn't want to cry, not here, not now, but he ends up crying anyway. He holds himself as he falls to his knees, repeating "Mom" to himself, over and over through sobs, like saying it again will bring her back from the dead, like the word is sacred.

Naruto rises and brings blurred, puffy eyes back to her name. The Kyuubi was inside her before it had been sealed in him. Was she treated like him? Was she shunned? If she was, then who had loved her? Who had she met that would have looked over such a thing? The thought passes through Naruto's head that she might have been raped and Naruto laughs bitterly. He had her last name, after all, so maybe he never would had a father. It would make cruel sense for him, too, wouldn't it? To be a child that not even his mother had intended to keep around.

He supposes he should be feeling something, feeling sad that his mother had died instead. He doesn't feel anything at all. Naruto had assumed from the onset that his parents were dead, he never dared to hope otherwise; he had quit at the starting line.

As he walks back to his apartment, oilcloth robe draped around his body and hood pulled over his head, Naruto wonders about what kind of woman she was. Was she pretty? Was her hair color his shade of blond? Was she sweet tempered or viciously shrewish? What ninja art was she good at? If she had survived the night of the Kyuubi attack, and found out her newborn son was now the jailor of the being that almost destroyed the village, would she had loved him anyway? 

Would she love a monster?

Because that is what Naruto is, demon fox be damned. Naruto has taken the names people called him and took them as truth. He was a monster, in milder words: a hellion. Naruto is petty, a vindictive pranker, a vandal. He's a monster, a beast, a demon. He might smile or pout on the outside, but inside? Naruto is angry. Angry and miserable and bitter and empty and sometimes cruel. Only a monster would think like he does, wouldn't it? Only a monster would give itself a bruise just to be able to see the Hokage twice in a month. Only a monster would push a kid because the cashier who refused to give it candy gave the other kid a free one, right?

Naruto supposes that if both he and the Kyuubi are monsters, why shouldn't they help each other?

Naruto begins his day as he usually does: by staring at the ceiling for 30 minutes from his futon. It takes that long after waking up from the shrill ringing of his alarm clock--a used, scuffed up thing he got at a secondhand store--to convince himself to get ready for the day. He brushes his teeth, eats instant ramen for breakfast, changes into a t-shirt and shorts, checks his bag, and heads off. Showering is something he's too unmotivated to do in the mornings, so he usually takes them when he gets back from school and before he can go to sleep. Instead, he just sprays himself with deodorant and prays no one notices.

He makes it to the school, where the younger kids--the kids that are around Naruto's age--stand outside with their mothers who are dropping them off at school. The kids giggle at him as he walks straight through the crowd, their parents' easy chatter turns to disapproving murmurs.

There he goes, the monster.

Can you believe Lord Third allows him to attend this place?

Thank the stars and moon that he's last place in his class.

If he thinks of even getting near my child I'll--

Naruto hangs his head, he always does. He goes through this every morning, he should have gotten used to this by now. He supposes he has; he doesn't have to lock himself in a bathroom and cry like he had to. Still, he shrinks when confronted by looks and whispers, as if he could make himself invisible.

Sasuke is usually the only one in the room before him. He used to come the same time as roughly everyone else, guided by his kind-faced and elegant mother--the only one of the parents that would give Naruto a soft smile and gentle nod of the head whenever they made eye contact--who Naruto only remembers as Lady Uchiha. Not once had Naruto heard anyone say her first name. She stopped dropping Sasuke off last year.

Naruto takes his seat close to the center of the class, directly in Iruka's line of fire. Naruto was put there after his teacher caught him distracted by a little rabbit prancing around outside. Iruka seems to be under the impression that moving him closer would help him pay attention. His impression was, of course, wrong. Naruto can, and will, get distracted by anything, from a fly buzzing around the lights to the potato chip crumb Chouji has on his face.

He attends class at the Academy, in a stale smelling room with harsh fluorescent lights and kids who talk to everyone except him. The teachers don't pick him to answer questions unless he's obviously distracted and they want to make an example of him.

Naruto usually checks out of the lessons rather quickly, then remembers where he is and pushes himself back into paying attention. He goes through that cycle throughout the whole day: pay attention, get distracted, pay attention, get distracted, pay attention, get distracted. By the time the school day is over, he's usually mentally usually exhausted himself and only picked up on half the things anyone taught.

There's a lunch break and recess for his class halfway or so through the day. Naruto never brings lunch, he can never bring himself to prepare anything in the morning, and he's not allowed to use the electric kettle in the teacher's lounge, so he can't make instant ramen. No one wants to play with Naruto, so he usually hogs the lone swing under the tree. 

Naruto loves the sensations of the swing, the dragging of going up and down, the rush of wind past his face and hair. Sometimes, it's so close to flying that he can close his eyes and imagine himself as a hawk or pigeon or kingfisher or anything except Uzumaki Naruto and it makes him happy. It's freeing in a way that does nothing but make him miserable when the break is over.

The first thing that the Kyuubi has Naruto do, aside from listen to his lectures and answer questions, is write and read. Naruto's literacy is limited: he can barely read and barely write, the little he can having been painstakingly self-taught over the past years since he started the Academy.

Naruto gets some notebooks from the stationery store, ignoring the dirty looks, and a dictionary. The Kyuubi has him write down characters over and over and over. Then, the Kyuubi has him write sentences. Simple ones, of course, but Naruto can tell they'll slowly build in complexity until he's at least as proficient in the Lunar Tongue as his classmates.

His work is messy and big, so unlike the neat, pretty characters that adorn store signs and the name-plates in front of houses and next to apartment doors. It demotivates him so much he nearly quits. The fox has to persuade him by convincing him that he needs to be able to read scrolls in order to learn jutsu.

To improve his reading skills, Naruto has to start at the bottom: embarrassing little children's books. The Kyuubi thought it appropriate to get a book about why the Lunar Tongue was called the Lunar Tongue. Something about a goddess descending from the moon who gave the first man the ability to speak. Or at least, that's what the Kyuubi says it's about; Naruto couldn't really comprehend what was written, a fact that made him indescribably embarrassed.

The second thing the Kyuubi had Naruto do was learn to move chakra: the first step to casting any ninjutsu or genjutsu and even some taijutsu. Naruto was at a true loss for how to even start with that. The Kyuubi said that he should imagine his chakra as a network of energy flowing through channels called coils.

It took Naruto a good thirty minutes until he successfully got it. It felt like wind ran through him, like there were tempests in his arteries and tornadoes in his veins. It was something uncontrollable, at least for now, like pushing a ball down a hill: you might start the movement, but nature does the rest.

Much to Naruto's shock, the Kyuubi congratulates him. Naruto feels ashamed of his own elation.

"Why do you hate people?"

"Why shouldn't I hate your kind?"

"Okay, fair," Naruto admits. The Kyuubi snorts. "But like, is there a reason?"

The Kyuubi's eyes darken, and Naruto almost takes his question back. "Before Uchiha Madara, I was free. Overconfident humans bothered me only occasionally, but they were squashed like gnats and I could move on. Uchiha Madara enslaved me, and when he was defeated, I was not freed. Rather, I was imprisoned in Uzumaki Mito, then your mother Uzumaki Kushina, and then in you."

Naruto nods. The fox had revealed his mother's first name a while ago, the night he returned home from the memorial. Naruto had cried himself to sleep. He didn't know who his father was quite yet.

"To Uchiha Madara, I was a beast to be tamed. To Uzumaki Mito and Uzumaki Kushina, I was a burden. When I was let out of Kushina on the night of your birth, I was used by a fourth man and placed in a genjutsu that made me attack this village. I have only been a weapon to your kind, why should I like them? They fight amongst each other like dogs and I'm the one who suffers."

Naruto lets the words sink in, and asks a question that had been floating in his head for a while now, "Did you kill my parents?"

The Kyuubi's answer is blunt, "Yes."

Naruto, laying down in his mindscape, doesn't make eye contact with the Kyuubi. He simply stares up at the ceiling of the sewer. "Why?"

Naruto expects the Kyuubi to talk about how he was under a genjutsu, how he wasn't in control of himself and killed them that day because he had been ordered to. Instead, the Kyuubi says, "I was trying to kill you, they simply got in the way."

Naruto turns to look into the Kyuubi's red eyes. "Huh?"

"When I had killed your parents, I had been released from the genjutsu I was put in. Your Fourth Hokage was going to seal me again, imprison me again inside of you. I was going to free myself by killing you."

Naruto should be angry at that, should lash out at the Kyuubi for trying to kill him, for having killed his mother. He should probably go back on his word and break their agreement. 

"I wish you'd succeeded."

The Kyuubi is silent for a long while after that.

Naruto takes his fist and drives it into his bare stomach as tears run in little rivers down his face.

His father? His father was the Fourth Hokage? And he's the reason Naruto has the Kyuubi inside of him?

His fist connects with his stomach again, harder, harsher.

And the villagers...he's the son of the most mourned man in Konoha and not one of them....

He punches himself again, briefly recalling the first time he had injured himself. He was seven and wanted the Third Hokage's attention. He had accidentally fallen down a flight of stairs and the Hokage had come to visit him. Naruto realized the Hokage would probably come visit him if he was injured, so he made up some story about being punched in the stomach by a masked man and presented to the hospital and it felt so wonderful even as it tore him up inside to lie.

Naruto would hurt himself over and over again if it meant someone would show up and worry about him.

By the time Naruto puts himself to sleep that night, his torso is littered in  fast-healing bruises.

It takes Naruto ten months to cut the leaf in half, but when he does, he bursts into tears.

What Naruto really wants to learn is fuuinjutsu, but the Kyuubi told him that he should learn things he can properly use in a fight first. Most of the time, he won't be able to kneel down, unfurl a scroll, take out ink and a brush, and paint a seal array in the middle of battle. There was Water Style: Ink Maker Jutsu that allowed someone to create a seal on the ground or even in the middle of the air, but in order to learn that, he'd have to learn water style and that was a whole other sealed chakra demon in a person to deal with. Naruto would have to stick with learning wind style.

Naruto feels his pulse rise as he remembers what the Kyuubi said he'd tell him when he could properly split the leaf in half.

His clan. The Uzumaki. He had a clan! Even if the thought of them being gone makes him sad, it still gives him something he's always wanted: a legacy. So many of the kids in his class are the heirs of Konoha's clans, they have their own history, their own practices, and their own jutsus. They had something that made them special. Naruto didn't know he was the Fourth Hokage's son until last year, a fact more bitter than sweet, and, aside from that, only really had being the village's abused weapon as something to set him apart from others.

Until now, until he found out there was an Uzumaki clan. 

Naruto listens as Kurama tells Naruto of the things he learned while in the bodies of Mito and Kushina: of a red haired clan and huge chakra reserves and a rare art that they were most suited to doing. He learns of a village hidden in the eddies where they could be at peace. He learns of an alliance with the Senju, a clan of intellectuals and Konoha's founders. He continues to listen as he learns of war, the business of shinobi, and a surprise attack that destroyed a culture.

By the time Naruto finishes listening, sitting cross-legged within his mindscape, he's crying. He yearns to know these people, learn their histories. Naruto wants to remember them, because he feels that no one else will.

The Kyuubi lets Naruto mourn something he didn't know he had lost.

Wind Style: Breakthrough!

Naruto gathers chakra in his lungs and blows it out, turning it into a gale as he does. He watches as the gust of wind, not so strong as to attract attention to his training area, but strong enough to destroy the thorn bush within it.

Naruto almost screams as he watches the bush get blown away. His first successful elemental jutsu! 

Careful, child . The Kyuubi interrupts Naruto’s train of self-congratulatory thought. Execute the jutsu successfully two more times, then you can celebrate.

Naruto scowls petulantly but gets to it. Once more, he gathers the chakra in his lungs, feels the buzz as it concentrates within his chest. Naruto makes sure not to lean back: the power in a jutsu does not come from the power of the physical movements but rather the amount of chakra poured into it. Leaning back as he breathes in and pushing his head forward as he leans out will do nothing but advertise where the enemy should watch out for. Using his diaphragm, Naruto pushes the chakra out of his lungs and through his mouth, where he shapes it into a spout and turns it into a spinning gale.

The boy smiles, and fills his lungs with buzzing chakra once more.

Seals are networks.

That’s the first thing Naruto learns about seals. They have arrays that can be web-like in their interconnectedness and nuance. Messing one up can have any array of consequences from exploding in his face to glowing for three seconds before fizzing out. 

So the first thing Naruto does is practice improving his brushstrokes. He spends an inordinate amount of time in a day doing nothing but painting lines and zigzags and curves and circles. He’s okay with it, however; it improves his handwriting after all.

Seals are networks, so Naruto makes sure to look over every nook and cranny of his first genuine seal before he places an Initiator array at the beginning. He doesn't want to cause a chain reaction that ends up injuring him, after all.

The seal itself is pretty benign: it gently pushes air away from the paper. Naruto intends to use it to help cool him down during the hot and humid Konoha summers. The array itself is very simple: the Lunar Character for wind followed by the character for push, linked by a line. What activated it was the Initiator array: a straight, horizontal line at the top of the seal that chakra is pushed into. The Initiator is what activates the seal, causing the air to be pushed away in a dome from the seal.

Naruto lets himself bask in the cooling air of his first success.

He graduates. Naruto is dead last in his class, but he graduates. 

He sits on his swing as parents congratulate each other. The Ladies Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi talk amongst each other as Shikamaru and Ino bicker good-naturedly and Chouji laughs beside them. Shino's mother (Naruto's not sure if she's the wife of the clan head, in which case she'd be the Lady Aburame, or simply the wife of a cadet member of the family, in which case she'd be Mrs. Aburame Shibi), talks off to the side to the Lady Inuzuka. The Lady Hyuuga, Hinata's mother, talks to the Lady Dowager Hyuuga Hizashi, who Naruto assumes are in-laws. Hinata stands there rather awkwardly as a boy who can't more than two years older than her with the same milk-white eyes glares off at the distance. Sakura's mother, a civilian, so simply Mrs. Haruno, talks with a group of civilian parents.

Naruto had a taken a full week to memorize the system of address and courtesy titles belonging to Konoha's clans, using the Senju as an example. Senju Hashirama was the clan head, and therefore the Lord Senju. Uzumaki Mito was his wife, and therefore the Lady Senju. Senju Tobirama was a cadet of the main line, and therefore Lord Senju Tobirama. Had Senju Tobirama married, his wife would be Lady Senju Tobirama. Any cousin of the two would be entitled Mr., followed by his full name, and his wife would be Mrs., followed by her husband's full name.

Women in Konoha, apparently, weren't given the dignity to use their own names after marriage.

Of course, no one comes to congratulate him. He's fine with that, however. After all, he might have finished his education at the Academy, but his real education? The one with the Kyuubi? That was only getting started.

There is something I must tell you about your new sensei.

The cyclops? as Naruto has taken to calling Kakashi. Something the Kyuubi is especially fond of is how Naruto has grown into a derisive person. Naruto has little respect for anything or anyone anymore.

Yes, him. He was a student of your father's.

Naruto pauses. Really?

Really.

Then why haven't I ever seen him around before?

Don't ask me. Naruto can imagine the Kyuubi shrugging. He can tell from his tone of voice that the conversation is already over. The information leaves a curling irritation in Naruto's stomach, a coiling darkness.

Being a genin, it turns out, is the equivalent of being a traveler, but without the traveling. Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura meet by the bridge, wait for an inevitably late Kakashi-sensei, and perform odd jobs that they get underpaid for. Paint fences, herd livestock, weed a garden, collect crops, carry supplies, catch cats. The list goes on and on and doesn't end. 

Naruto is sick of it. He can tell Sakura and Sasuke are, too, even if they don't look his way most of the time. So Naruto does what he does best: he kicks up a fuss. He complains continuously about the boring missions and wasted time and when are we gonna get to the cool stuff like beating bandits?

Kakashi-sensei (Naruto tries not to think about how he was the Fourth Hokage's student, how he was someone who was once supposed to be in life and isn't.) eventually listens. He goes to the mission desk and gets them a C-rank: escorting a drunk bridge builder to his homeland and oversee the building of his bridge. The Kyuubi tells Naruto that something is up with the man and Naruto makes note just in case something happens during the mission.

Naruto looks at everything with wide, astonished eyes. The large trees that stretch on for miles, the beaten dirt path, the birds and bugs. 

"Oh, look, that's an oriole!" Naruto says with a genuine smile as he points. He feels a little like those children he'd see, tugging at their parents' sleeves to show them something cool. 

The bridge-builder, Tazuna, smiles, narrowing his eyes as he looks through the brush for the oriole. "This kid of yours has got an eye for nature, I'll tell you," he slurs.

"Yeah, Naruto, where did you get all this bird spotting knowledge anyway?"

"Guidebooks," Naruto says simply.

"Guidebooks?" Sakura scoffs.

Naruto nods but doesn't explain further.

See that puddle over there? The Kyuubi says.

Yeah, what about it?

That's two enemy shinobi in disguise.

Naruto nearly trips over his own two feet. 

"Eh? Kid, what's wrong?" Tazuna asks.

Naruto just points to the puddle, and before he can say anything, the two jump out and attack. Before Naruto can even get to protecting Tazuna, Sasuke has already taken care of the two, knocked them out and tied them together. Naruto sighs and lets his shoulders slump as the tension is released from his body. For all Naruto knows about fuuinjutsu and ninjutsu, his combat skills are still severely lacking; he would definitely have lost that fight.

"What's wrong, scaredy cat?" Sasuke says with a smirk as he turns around. Naruto's fist ache to make contact with his own stomach. 

He doesn't know why it upsets him as much as it does. Maybe it's because he expected having a team to be different. He expected a teacher who payed him attention and peers who didn't call him names. He expected growth, to get to know people, to show people he wasn't just some monster. 

He expected to have someone, anyone, he could call a person of his own.

Naruto should have known not to be so naïve. Who would love a monster?

It's with the Kyuubi's advanced warning that Naruto swirls around with a kunai and almost successfully kills their assailant right there. The enemy--a tall, broad-shouldered man--body flickers out of the way. Seconds later, Naruto successfully avoids a large blade that comes flying at him and lodges itself in a tree. Naruto throws a minor smoke bomb and makes a shadow clone that sinks into the earth.

A man--Momochi Zabuza, Naruto later finds out--reveals himself, standing (perhaps too) dramatically on his own sword. Naruto interrupts whatever dialogue the man is having with Kakashi-sensei by using Wind Style: Wind Blade, which cuts straight through the tree Zabuza's sword is stuck in. Sasuke, fortunately, continues the offensive Naruto started by launching a fireball at Zabuza as soon as he touches ground. Naruto offers support by sending a gust of wind to bloat Sasuke's fireball, but when the fireball hits Zabuza substitutes away. 

Naruto feels the rush of air as Zabuza body flickers behind him and substitutes himself with the charred log Zabuza used moments prior. He strings his hands together in a series of hand seals and exhales a gust of wind far more powerful than the last one.

Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!

Kakashi's eyes widen as a great whirlwind fills the air, but Zabuza moves right where Naruto needs him to. He leaps back in an attempt to avoid the gale, and Naruto's shadow clone jumps out of the earth, unfurled scroll in hand. The scroll makes contact with Zabuza's bare back and Naruto watches his eyes widen as the scroll starts draining him of his chakra. Kakashi takes the opportunity of the split second distraction and stabs his kunai into Zabuza's abdomen. It reveals itself to be a water clone, however, and melts into the ground in a splash.

The fox warns Naruto that Zabuza, the real one, has body flickered behind him. Naruto simply smiles as he substitutes with his clone, which poofs away as Naruto throws an kunai with a decoy explosive tag wrapped around the grip towards him. 

Zabuza body flickers onto the lake and raises two fingers to the sky as a thick mist starts filling the air.

"Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

Naruto thinks it's an incredibly foolish idea to announce what jutsu someone is performing as they perform it, but he supposes Zabuza is very confident in his own abilities.

Naruto, however, is also confident in his abilities.

He narrows his eyes and tries to peer through the dense fog to no avail. It's good that the Kyuubi can still warn him if Zabuza is near, but Naruto has another jutsu up his sleeve. He runs through the hand seals for the jutsu.

Wind Style: Echolocator Jutsu!

Naruto clicks his tongue, much like a bat or dolphin, and senses where everyone is. Sakura and Sasuke, guarding Tazuna, are frantically on guard, while Kakashi-sensei is attempting to use his Sharingan to spy through the mist. 

Naruto brings out his ace: a regular kunai with a Flying Raijin seal wrapped around the grip. He throws it behind Zabuza and boosts the speed with wind chakra. There's a boom as the kunai breaks the sound barrier and Naruto appears behind the swordsman, plunging a kunai into his back.

There's a yelp of pain, but before Zabuza can turn around and hit Naruto, he throws the Flying Raijin kunai back to where he was originally standing and disappears. The noise Zabuza made alerts Kakashi-sensei, who comes in with his own kunai. 

Zabuza breaks the jutsu and Naruto narrows eyes. He has an advantage with the mist, even if they have work arounds, why would he dispel it? 

One moment, Zabuza is fine. The next, a senbon is sticking out of the back of his neck and he's dead. Legally, at least. A Kirigakure Hunter-nin takes him with his sword and Naruto has a feeling in his gut that something is off with the situation. He should voice it, tell Kakashi-sensei about his suspicions, or at least his teammates.

Naruto remembers the way Sakura scoffed when she heard that he'd be on her team, the way Sasuke has practically ignored his presence entirely. Naruto remembers the way Kakashi-sensei is late to every training session, and the way he brushes it off with a flippant attitude.

Naruto remembers what the Kyuubi told him, that Kakashi-sensei was the Yondaime's student, and realizes that Kakashi-sensei hasn't visited him once, let alone acted like there was some connection between Naruto and him. In fact, Kakashi-sensei has done nothing but tease him for his absentmindedness and halfheartedly train him. Naruto feels something vicious snarl inside of him, something petty. Naruto is a spiteful person, so he keeps his mouth shut.

Naruto doesn't end up saying anything, neither does the Kyuubi.

Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, fusses over them the moment they make it to Tazuna's house and Naruto is ashamed by how good it feels to have someone care for him. It actually makes him feel guilty, so Naruto helps around the house when he can without Tsunami-san even asking. He tidies up clothes, sweeps corners, and washes dishes, even when Tsunami-san scolds him for it and makes him rest.

Tsunami's son, however, is a little shit.

Naruto, quick to irritation and even quicker to mockery, has to clench his hands and hold himself back whenever the brat attempts to get a rise out of him. Inari did, however, earn some points with Naruto when he called Sakura ugly, even if he did get a clobbering from her when he involuntarily snorted.

"Hey, Tsunami-san, where's the..." Naruto trails off when he sees Tsunami-san mending clothes.

"The bathroom?" Naruto's face flushes as he nods. It's the third time he's forgotten where the bathroom is that week. "Down the hall to the left."

"Thank you, can I help you with that?" Naruto asks.

Tsunami huffs, but she's smiling. "You are my honored guests, not boarders. You don't have to take care of things here in return for a roof and a meal."

"I know that! I actually like stitching and sewing!"

Tsunami-san narrows her eyes as she levels her gaze at him, discerning whether or not Naruto is telling the truth. He is, of course. Even if it was a rather painful process to teach himself how to sew, full of finger pricks and stepping on lost needles, Naruto genuinely likes putting clothes together and embroidering. Especially now, since the Kyuubi is helping him learn how to embroider seals. Tsunami-san decides that he's telling the truth and nods with a gentle smile.

Naruto returns and picks up a needle from the sewing kit that he threads with a black string. Naruto gets to work mending a small dark green shirt he assumes belongs to Inari.

"How did you pick up sewing?" Tsunami-san asks, attempting to fill the silence.

"Oh, I taught myself!" Naruto smiles proudly. 

"Really?" Tsunami-san's brows shoot up in surprise.

Naruto nods. "I've basically been on my own since I was born, so I've had to teach myself a lot of things. Sewing is one of the things I like to do, though, so I do it often. I made this shirt, y'know!" Naruto motions to the white tee with he's wearing with a red spiral in the middle.

"Wow! You can make your own clothes at your age?"

"Yup! Tell Inari-kun that next time he calls me a good-for-nothing!" Naruto snickers.

Tsunami-san scoffs. "Don't take my son's words to heart. He's been through a lot, you know."

"I can imagine," Naruto says as he sets aside the first shirt and picks up a stained wife beater that likely belongs to Tazuna. "It seems rough out here."

"You have no idea, Naruto-kun." And Naruto doesn't. He listens, horrified, as Tsunami explains the story of Inari's only father figure. A kind man named Kaiza, who sacrificed himself for the sake of his community.

Naruto thinks back to himself, to his miserable childhood. To the childhood that stretches onto now, because Naruto doesn't feel like he's grown, not really. When he reflects inward and thinks of himself, he feels the same emptiness he's felt for as long as he can remember. Naruto is a tall child. What would Naruto be like, if he had even one person by his side? What would Naruto be like if that person died?

Naruto expresses his sadness at the situation and the two move onto something lighter before a comfortable silence settles in the air between them, broken only by Naruto's occasional humming or the rustling of the pile of clothes as they set aside a garment for another. It's so...unlike the quiet of Naruto's apartment. The silence there is emptiness, an echo of Naruto's isolation. Here, it's familiar, occupied.

Naruto wonders if this is what having a mother is like.

Sasuke, on the ground, and Sakura, sitting on the branch of a tree, both look at Naruto, eyes wide in surprise. Naruto swings his legs back and forth from where he's perched on a tree branch, smirking.

"What's so surprising?" He asks, despite knowing full well why Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei are all staring. To see the dead-last of their class having already mastered tree-walking must be like a slap to the face, especially when the class prodigy hasn't even learned it yet.

Sasuke's face immediately shifts into a scowl and he attempts to walk up the side of the tree again, only to fall on his ass. Naruto stifles laughter.

Kakashi-sensei speaks, "Don't worry, Sasuke! I'll stay here and help you. Naruto, Sakura, since you already have it down, do whatever you want."

Naruto nods and jumps down to the ground. He considers his options before deciding to walk through the forest to go bird spotting. He's wanted to do it since he got here, but hasn't quite found the time. Fortunately, he stumbles on a dirt path and makes his way through the trees, eyes turned upward. The trees here are shorter than the big, thick ones that surround Konoha, and thinner too. Light shines through a much thinner canopy, so the ground his absent of the speckled light that hits the earth of Konoha. He sees an oriole, again. A Sunswallower Oriole, for the flash of yellowy orange on its throat. A Red-backed Robin, a Black-speckled Thrush, a White-striped Sparrow. Naruto pauses in fascination when his eyes land on a feeding shrike.

Shrikes always elicit a morbid curiosity within Naruto, their violent feeding habits always making him shudder when he reads about them. This is the first time he's seen one in person, however, and he can't tear his eyes away. It has a white belly and a soft brown back, with red spots around its eyes and a black beak.

Shrikes impale their prey on thorns, and this ones seems to have caught some type of small squirrel. Its partner, for most shrike species live in pairs, settles on the branch next to it and starts to feed.

"What are you looking at?" Naruto nearly jumps out of his skin as he turns to face the black-haired...girl? Naruto would assume femininity at the pink sleeveless kimono and choker, but he knows better than to assume. "Oh! I'm sorry if I scared you!" Naruto takes in the basket full of herbs and assumes their some sort of local healer.

He chuckles awkwardly and scratches the back of his head. "It's fine. I'm just looking at those birds over there." He points to the two shrikes.

"Oh my stars...are they eating that squirrel!?"

"Yup! Morbid, right?" They nod. "It's some species of shrike, they impale their prey on thorns or branches. This is my first time seeing them in person, though. Kinda makes my skin crawl." He finishes the statement with another awkward laugh.

"Do you know a lot about birds?" They ask. Naruto wants to ask them if they're a boy or a girl, or neither, actually, but decides it would be rude.

Naruto nods. "They've always interested me, since I was young, actually. I always wanted to fly like they can. Really, all nature interests me, since I don't usually get to see a lot of the world outside my village."

They smile pleasantly, and something about them feels...familiar. Naruto's probably just seen them around town. "You're a shinobi, aren't you?" They motion to the hitai-ate Naruto has wrapped around his upper left arm.

Naruto smiles. "You bet! What do you do?" 

"Ah, not much. I'm visiting the area, you see."

Naruto barely prevents his eyes from narrowing, and he realizes that this is the Kiri Hunter-nin who took Zabuza's corpse away. But why are they gathering herbs? Why are they still here? Unless...

Naruto's face turns into a smirk, and the Hunter-nin must realize that Naruto knows who they are. "I guess my disguise wasn't that good, huh?"

"Try shaving your hair or something, next time. I'm guessing you're not really with Kirigakure?"

"And what if I'm not?" They ask with a raised eyebrow. They're smiling, and so is Naruto. He finds this oddly...exciting?

Naruto shrugs. "I'm not here to rat your secret out."

They seem genuinely taken aback by that answer. "You do realize what my master's mission is, right?"

"If push comes to shove, we'll just stop you," Naruto says.

"Oddly confident, don't you think?" They start walking around Naruto, appraising. Naruto feels his heartbeat thrum excitedly in his chest. This dance of words, the way they avoid saying their names. It's like a game, almost.

"Excuse me? We almost beat your master on the way here!"

Naruto watches their smirk freeze as they become annoyed. "A fluke."

Naruto burst out into laughter, which startles the fake Hunter-nin. "I'm--I'm sorry. It's just...so funny...Neither of us...are taking this seriously...at all!" Naruto speaks between guffaws.

Their eyes widen, before they start laughing, too. When they both calm down, they stretch their hand out. "I'm Haku."

Naruto smiles and shakes their hand. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Oh, I'm a boy, by the way."

Naruto's mouth drops open, "No way, you're too pretty to be a--" Naruto slams his hand over his mouth before he can finish the thought. Haku's eyes widen before he chuckles.

"Thank you. You're not too shabby yourself," he says as Naruto's face reddens.

He mutters a sheepish "Thank you."

"Want to help me collect some herbs?"

Naruto's confidence returns to him. The lightness comes back into his tone. "As long as you let me run my mouth about bird."

Haku snorts. "Sure, why not?"

Naruto makes his way by his enemy's side.

"Why do you fight?" Haku asks as Naruto picks some purple berries Haku had identified as Nightstar berries. The breeze is cool, almost chilly, and Naruto basks in patches of sunlight flooding through the sparse canopy.

"What do you mean?"

"I guess I mean...why are you ninja?"

Naruto considers. "I had no other choice."

"Really? Why?"

Naruto debates whether or not he should tell Haku about himself. He doesn't know much about the other boy, but in these three days where he's come to meet him, Haku has been nothing but faultlessly polite. He takes a leap of faith. "Have you ever heard of jinchuuriki?"

Haku turns to Naruto, mouth agape and eyes wide. "You...you're--" Haku's eyes darken. "You must've been treated awfully."

Naruto simply nods.

"I, too, have been called a monster," Haku says. "But I know I'm not. Do you wish to know how I know?"

Naruto tilts his head, curious.

"I fight for someone else. I love them to the point where sacrificing myself is better than living without them. How can I love someone that much and be a monster? Naruto-kun, do you think you're a monster?"

Naruto stops. He does. There are days where he thinks he shouldn't be around, that he is just as evil as the villagers think he is. Naruto's face falls, and he nods, hands playing with the hem of his white shirt.

Haku puts a cold hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Find someone to treasure, Naruto-kun, and love them, fight for them. Then you'll know, then you'll understand that you aren't." He says the words with such sureness, such confidence. Naruto feels warmth in his chest.

Haku smiles and Naruto returns it.

There’s a little meadow full of purple and blue morning glories, where Naruto and Haku sit under a tree, Naruto’s “fan seal” in between them as they soak in the shade of the bower. Naruto has come here almost everyday and sat with Haku. Sometimes they talk, sometimes they say nothing, and Naruto finds himself embarrassed by how much he likes the silent moments Haku and he share. There are moments, when Naruto sighs and Haku chuckles, where their eyes meet as they study the meadow and they share gentle smiles. There are times where the two hum a song they heard on the town radio and dance, or close their eyes as they feel the warm wind slide past their faces and Naruto is so effervescent that he finds himself smiling for the rest of the day.

Haku will leave, though. He has to. Naruto will be left in the bower of the tree by himself, where the grass that Haku sat on will sway in the breeze. And Naruto will look and ache inside. They'll have to fight each other, too, one day. But for now, Haku is here, Haku is tangible and present and real . Naruto finds himself reaching out to the other, grasping the sleeve of Haku’s sky blue yukata. He turns to look Naruto in the eyes, gaze questioning. Naruto’s mouth opens, but nothing comes out. He can’t find words that seem suitable to justify himself. This feeling is so big, so overwhelming, Naruto is swept away by its winds. 

Before Naruto realizes it, his eyes mist up and a choked sob makes its way out of his throat. “Naruto!” Haku exclaims and scoots closer to him. A cold yet welcome hand finds its way on his back, and Naruto feels so much, the single touch breaks some sort of dam. Naruto starts bawling, truly crying.

Haku doesn’t ask any questions. He simply remains by Naruto’s side.

And Naruto weeps. He weeps for the vacant boy he is, the empty facsimile of a person he feels like, and mourns the person he could have been. He has been empty for as long as he can remember. For the first time, Naruto is full. 

Haku might not be his, might not be a person he can call his own, or a person he can fight for. But he is something close to that, and that is more than Naruto ever thought he would have. 

Naruto returns to a house empty of Tazuna and his teammates. Inari is in the dining area, however, and he seems like he’s about to grumble something about Naruto. Inari is still a little shit, of course, but Naruto seems to have grown on the kid like a fungus. Naruto's quickness to reply and engage with the kid has opened up something in Inari. Inari's petulance and insults are far more teasing to Naruto.

Naruto thinks that Inari is a little like him, actually. The kid must be isolated from the other children of their shantytown in order to enjoy the banter he has with Naruto, because Naruto isn't particularly nice to Inari. Naruto's wit, sharpened in the silence of his empty apartment and honed by himself in the shadow of the village's turned back, is something vicious. The barbs Naruto throws at Inari are aimed to kill. Naruto constantly alludes to Inari's painful past, to his loss of a father figure, and Inari still comes back time and time again to listen to what Naruto has to aim back at him.

But this time, when Naruto slides the door to the dining area closed, Inari simply stares, wide-eyed. "Naruto-nii-can, are you okay?"

"Oh, Naruto-kun is back?" Tsunami-san says as she walks into the room. She takes in Naruto's puffy eyes and tear-streaked face with a worried expression. Her face morphs into pity and Naruto is ashamed that even seeing someone pity him is enough to fill him with gratefulness. "Oh, child, come here." Her voice is familiar and gentle, like summer wind rustling the leaves.

Naruto walks up to her, knowing he must look like a vulnerable mess. He barely contains his surprise when Tsunami-san takes a handkerchief from an apron pocket and dabs gently at the corner of his eyes. Naruto starts crying again.

Tsunami-san wraps her arms around Naruto. Naruto grasps the back of Tsunami-san's shirt in a death grip and wails. Naruto doesn't know how long he stays like that, but he loses track of himself and finds himself staring dazedly at the wall as he sits at the low dining table, warm fish broth laid out in front of him. Tsunami-san gives Naruto a look and Naruto understands that he's not leaving unless he eats. Naruto inhales the broth: it's rare that he eats something other than ramen, after all. And it's even rarer that he gets to eat a home cooked meal.

When Naruto is finished, Tsunami-san asks, "How are you feeling?"

Naruto croaks out, "Thirsty."

Tsunami-san gives Naruto a gently amused smile. "Inari, could you get Naruto-kun some water?" Inari nods and goes to the kitchen. "Did something happen?"

"...I met someone."

Tsunami-san tilts her head. "Did they hurt you?"

Naruto looks at Tsunami-san and fervently shakes his head. "No! I think...they're the first person my age that I've ever become close to."

"Oh, sweetie...I'm really happy for you! And it's upsetting to hear that someone like you doesn't have any friends where you're from."

"I just...I don't know. I don't really know what I'm feeling, or what I'm doing. I'm just...feeling something. It's more than I've felt anything my whole life."

Tsunami-san nods. Inari comes back and hands Naruto a glass of water and sits beside Naruto, not making eye contact but trying to signal that he's there for him regardless. Naruto smiles and pats Inari's head gently. Naruto sees the sliver of a smile on Inari's face, even if he still doesn't make eye contact.

"How...how alone are you, in Konoha?" Inari asks shyly.

"I don't have anyone, not really. No family, no friends, no caretaker. I've been on my own since birth. I was in the orphanage until I was about six. I've lived alone since then."

"Truly? Do the villagers have some sort of vendetta against you?" The question is meant to be rhetorical, a joke.

Naruto's laugh is bitter. "You have no idea." Tsunami-san seems like she's about to say something, but the Kyuubi interrupts.

There's a group of men with evil intent coming towards this house, he warns. Abruptly, Naruto stands up.

"What's wrong?" Tsunami-san asks.

"Someone's coming. Take Inari-kun and stay in the house. Take this," he hands her a Flying Raijin kunai, "and don't come out until I appear in front of you and say it's okay." Tsunami-san is surprisingly collected. She nods, serious look in her eyes, and grabs Inari by his hand, dragging him to a room despite his protests.

Naruto slides open the door and takes out a kunai. He breathes in a deep, full breath, closing his eyes. When they open, his eyes are red and have split pupils. 

This is the first time Naruto has summoned the Kyuubi's chakra; using it in Konoha would have been a death sentence, and so he abstained from practicing with it. But here, where Kakashi-sensei and his team are miles away? Naruto has free reign to do whatever.

The men come through from the town and Naruto senses their bloodlust. These aren't simple thugs, in it for the money: these men, that Naruto can only assume Gato hired, genuinely enjoy shedding blood. Naruto supposes that makes it easier for him: he's hurting people who deserve it.

Naruto decides to start off strong, before one of the men can even get one of their taunts or questions in. Water Style: Water Bullet! The bullets are strengthened by the Kyuubi's chakra.

The men are shocked, none of them trained to deal with someone at his level. They were likely told the children were easy pickings, something that surprises Naruto considering how one of them took care of the Demon Brothers alone. It's to his advantage, however, and so he's thankful for it more than his pride is injured by it: Naruto doesn't really have pride anymore.

As the men scatter, Naruto throws his kunai, Flying Raijin tag wrapped around the guard, and boosts it with wind chakra. The kunai tears through the air and nails a man in the chest. Teleporting to his kunai, he throws it at another man, where it hits between the eyes. That's two out of fifteen.

One of the men has an oblong metal object strapped around his arm. He aims it at Naruto and presses some sort of trigger. The object fires a barrage of senbon in his direction, but Naruto simply smiles. He manifests one of the Kyuubi's tails, long and thin, covered in orange fur, and wraps it around himself in a protective shield. He lets the tail fade and throws the kunai again at a man carrying a large club. It hits him in the diaphragm before he even has time to react and Naruto teleports again. The man was in the middle of a group of five or so people, so Naruto flashes into the middle and strings his left hand together into a series of hand seals.

Wind Style: Sudden Combustion! Naruto collects chakra into his palm and slams the hand into the ground. There's a flash as the chakra in his hand explodes, killing the men around him. Naruto's hand burns, but heals quickly with the help of the Kyuubi's chakra.

Naruto is careful, here. He used the jutsu with severely reduced power that required precise control. If he's too reckless, he'll end up destroying Tazuna's house, with Tsunami-san and Inari-kun inside. That's the last thing he wants. So he fights at a lower level than he would otherwise: with weakened jutsu and only his Flying Raijin kunai. By the time he's done, Naruto is covered in browning blood and taking shaking breaths. He teleports to the Flying Raijin kunai he gave to Tsunami-san, who yelps in surprise and Inari-kun, who screams. When they realize it's Naruto, they visibly calm down.

"They're taken care of," Naruto says numbly. 

"They're...dead?" Tsunami-san asks hesitantly.

Naruto pauses. They're all dead, but what would she think if she knew, knew that Naruto had killed all of them? Would she think Naruto was evil? Cruel?

Would she call Naruto a monster?

"...Yes," Naruto rasps out, eyes on the floor.

A long pause stretches through the air. "Thank you." 

Naruto snaps up to look at Tsunami-san, whose face is shadowed by the darkness of the windowless room. Her face is fierce, intense, but Naruto can see some spark of light in her eyes. "It was necessary for your own survival, Naruto-kun, and ours. Truly, Naruto-kun, we thank you." Tsunami-san gets on her knees and puts her hands on the floor, forehead touching the ground. "We are sorry to have troubled you so. Our lives are indebted to you."

Naruto's brain blanks, all thoughts swept to the side. Is she...kowtowing to him!? Naruto rushes to kneel down. "You don't have to do anything like this, Tsunami-san! If anything, I'm sorry to have left a mess around your house!" Naruto helps Tsunami-san stand up, and her smile is kind as she looks at Naruto.

"If they're here, then they're also on the bridge. I should probably check..." Naruto trails off. He doesn't want to, not really. He wants to stay away from Kakashi-sensei and his team, even if it means letting them get hurt. It's petty, he knows. They haven't really done anything that would warrant such a reaction. 

And yet...Naruto just doesn't feel good around them. He avoids so much as looking at Kakashi-sensei, or else his mind spirals into dark places, the anger and hurt sitting uncomfortably in his stomach. And Sasuke and Sakura? They don't even talk to Naruto, even when Naruto tries to talk to them, all he gets is a pissed off Sakura, who's definitely trying to show off the fact that no man except Sasuke is in her line of sight, and glares from Sasuke. If Kakashi-sensei is trying to teach them teamwork, it isn't working.

But still, they could die. So Naruto gathers himself and looks Tsunami-san in the eyes. "I have to see how they're faring."

Tsunami-san nods. As Naruto turns to leave, she speaks, "I hope, one day, you can find people you wish to fight for, Naruto-kun." It must be a mother's insight, or else Naruto will seriously start considering that the woman can read minds.

Naruto pauses and utters a wet "Thank you."

When he makes it to the bridge, a kunai is sticking out of Haku's heart, a determined look on Sasuke's face as he pushes the blade in. Haku's mask has fallen off, and Sasuke's eyes are blood red. Naruto feels the Kyuubi react to the Sharingan. But Naruto is too focused on Haku, on the blood dripping from his chest as he pulls the kunai out. Sasuke seems to expect him to continue fighting, and enters back into a stance, but Haku simply turns to Naruto and smiles softly. He takes a stumbling step toward Naruto as he pales, blood pulsing out of the wound on his chest. Haku walks in staggered steps towards him, but stumbles and falls before he can make it to Naruto, hand reaching out, lips uttering a gentle "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun."

Naruto is frozen. He can't move, can't do anything except flinch at Momochi Zabuza's anguished scream. "Haku!" Naruto feels himself start to tremble, feels his eyes mist up as he gazes at Haku's limp body.

"Haku..." His voice breaks. Naruto feels the tears stream down his face. Haku's left temple is to the ground, and he would look like he was sleeping if he weren't so pale and lifeless. 

The Kyuubi's voice is almost gentle as he warns Naruto of the men behind him. Momochi Zabuza flickers behind next to Naruto, eyes turned wrathfully at his former employer.

There's wringing in Naruto's ears, so he doesn't hear whatever Gato's spiels out, something about how he was hoping one of them would eliminate the other.

Zabuza aims his gigantic sword at the crowd of men, and utters a quiet, "Die."

Naruto shoots past Zabuza, the Kyuubi's chakra bubbling around him, and stabs a man in the gut. He almost cackles at the fact that he's killed more men today than he has in his life, and nearly misses Zabuza joining him, sword tearing through mercenary after mercenary.

When Gato is the only left, cowering and shaking, piss staining his pants and snot running down his face, Zabuza motions for Naruto to deal the killing blow. Naruto imagines it must take a special type of restraint to let another man take your revenge for you.

Naruto ignores Gato's protests as he steps forward, ignores his pleas and promises of money and status. He pushes his kunai into his skull, and pulls it out. As Gato falls limp on the floor, Naruto gets on top of him and straddles the body. The image of Haku's soft smile flashes in his mind's eye. He stabs Gato's corpse. He stabs it again.

And again.

And again. 

Naruto hears his pulse and feels satisfaction run through him each time the kunai tears through the tycoon's flesh. He wonders if this is living.

The journey back to Konoha is hazy and silent. Naruto doesn't search the forests for birds, his eyes remain glued to the ground, hands on his backpack straps. Naruto's eyes drift to a loose black thread on his yellow shorts. He'll have to fix that later.

If Sakura and Sasuke didn't talk to him before, they practically avoid him now. Neither so much as look in Naruto's direction. Sakura seems scared of him, of the display at the bridge, named the Great Kakashi Bridge for the team's protection of the workers. Tazuna's family, as well all the bridgebuilders' families, get shares of the tolls made off the traffic, and it makes Naruto happy to know that Tsunami-san and Inari-kun will have a wealth of funds now.

Tsunami-san had hugged him, when they bid farewell. She had cried and said she'd miss him. Inari-kun had cried and said the same. Naruto, weak to displays of affection, cried too, wrapping his arms around both as he sobbed into Tsunami-san's faded sundress. 

The rest of the team could only stand awkwardly at the side. Naruto doesn't really care for what they think as it is, and he especially doesn't care for what they think of how close he is to Tsunami-san. Although he might not care about their opinions, Naruto isn't exactly apathetic to either of them. Just as Naruto maliciously refers to Kakashi-sensei as the Cyclops in his head, Sasuke and Sakura have earned their own nicknames: Pinkeye and the Mosquito. Sasuke is Pinkeye because of the way his eye gets bloodshot when he uses his Sharingan, and Sakura is the Mosquito because she's always buzzing around Sasuke, sucking the life out of him.

Naruto feels himself becoming a worse person. He feels the emptiness inside of him filling. But whereas it filled with warmth when he was with Haku, now it fills with something tar black and sticky, thick and suffocating. Naruto has been depressed before, he's been miserable. He wonders if this is rock bottom, if what separated this from the sadness he felt before is that, now, he knows what happiness feels like, and that makes the misery feel so much worse.

Naruto's return to Konoha is the opposite of triumphant. The village is disappointed in his return. If Naruto's being honest, he himself is disappointed in his return. He wishes he could've stayed in the Land of Waves, could've watched Tsunami-san get the financial security she deserves, could've watched Inari-kun grow up. But Naruto is stuck here, stuck in the village like some sort of thorn: everyone wants to get rid of him, but it'd hurt too much to pull him out.

Naruto would love to leave, but Konoha would certainly hunt him down and drag him back. They'd probably lock him in some sort of prison, or have him watched constantly, and that'd be worse than he's already being treated. Neglect is preferable to paternalism. 

Naruto is not strong enough to leave. Not yet, at least. Growing strong enough to defeat the village's strongest will take time, after all. Naruto doesn't even really think he'll live long enough to become that powerful. Naruto's plan has always been to kill the people the Kyuubi wants him to and then release it, killing him in the process. He's content with that sort of death: a death to spite the village, a death that kills the last person able to harbor it's greatest weapon. After Naruto, the Kyuubi will have no more jinchuuriki; no one will have the compatible chakra. Even in death, he supposes, he will be mean. 

His routine in Konoha sinks back into his bones. His struggle to bring himself out of bed, his struggle to clean himself up, his struggle to study fuuinjutsu, his struggle to read and write, his struggle to prepare himself food, his struggle to get himself out of his apartment to do D-ranks, his struggle to train, and his struggle to clean himself and sleep. For Naruto, life is nothing but a checklist of struggles.

Naruto was weightless in the Land of Waves. Weightless and free. Here, Naruto is weighed down by the dirty looks, by the vicious whispers. It's familiar, however, and in a sick way, it's comforting. Naruto has felt this for as long as he can remember. The glares, the whispers, the ostracization; it's known, it's explored. Happiness? Companionship? Acceptance? That's the unfamiliar, the unknown, the unstable.  As much as he wishes he could stay in the Land of Waves, he knows he wouldn't like it: everyday would carry the fear of shunning, the possibility that, one day, Tsunami-san will suddenly decide that she doesn't like Naruto anymore, that Naruto is not worth keeping around. It'd eat him up inside, gnaw at his brain until he goes insane. Better the misery you know than the contentment you don't.

Naruto laughs mirthlessly. The village really has ruined everything about him, hasn't it? He turns to look out the window and takes in the stars, the land of the gods, according to the Faith of the Moon. The gods that decide their fates, that they kowtow to at altars and beg for forgiveness from.

If gods are real, they should beg for his forgiveness. If gods are real, Naruto would give up fuuinjutsu and ninjutsu and his very being if it meant he'd get to see a god embarrass themselves just once. He'd consider it retribution for giving him a shitty hand in life.

One thing Naruto does, now that he's back in the village, is observe. Naruto's always been at the sidelines of society, marginalized and forced to look inwards at the hierarchal nature of Konoha. But, now, Naruto has a means of comparison.

The Land of Waves was impoverished, but not for everyone. Naruto could walk through the village Tazuna lived in and could see the local elite that lived in bigger houses. Their clothes were clean and new and unlike the civilians of Konoha's. Kimonos were replaced by knee length dresses and soft-looking sweaters, obis worn around the waists replaced by belts and ribbon sashes. Naruto remembers that, actually, most of the people of the Land of Waves, the poorer ones, dressed in kimonos. Not the elaborate red uchikake of brides or layered juunihitoe of the daimyo's court ladies, but simple, faded ones, with two layers and a simple obi tied around the waist.

Naruto realizes that the clans in Konoha dress like the local gentry of the Land of Waves, the ones that collaborated with Gato to ensure their own power. Except for the Hyuuga, anachronists that they are, Naruto cannot remember a single one of the clan mothers picking up or dropping off their kids at the Academy wearing a proper kimono ensemble befitting their rank. The fashions they wore, sleek and untraditional, were absent of the antediluvian implications of the kimono. Sakura is the only civilian-born girl that he can think of, and she's a bourgeoise. Her family are wealthy bankers. They occupy the lowest of the four castes. Merchants: on the lowest rung of society because they do not make goods of their own. Rather, they sell the wares of others. Naruto cannot remember Mrs. Haruno dressing in anything nearly as nice as the Lady Nara or the Lady Yamanaka.

Naruto asks the Kyuubi, because it can't read his thoughts unless Naruto sends messages to him, Are there are any sumptuary laws in Konoha?

Yes, many. Everything from what groceries you can buy to what size your house can be is decided by your status. Your father even passed some, restricting what the fourth caste was allowed to wear. They can't buy fabric dyed purple with natural dyes, for example, only artificial ones. 

Naruto thinks over the information. What caste am I in? Naruto has always assumed he was a commoner. But with the revelation that his father was Lord Fourth and his mother a clanswoman, Naruto realizes he's never considered his status.

The first caste were shinobi, subdivided into clansmen and non-clan shinobi. The second caste were landowners and farmers. The third caste were artisans and craftsmen, of which Teuchi, as someone who made ramen, was part of.  The fourth caste, surrounded by social stigma, were merchants and traders, of which the Haruno banking family was part of. One's caste, as Naruto had noticed, had no relation to the amount of money one owned, as the Haruno family was probably richer than the entirely of the Sarutobi clan combined.

What caste are you? Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina were married. However, as a clanswoman of the Uzumaki, Kushina was a member of the upper first caste, whereas Minato was a member of the lower first. And, as the only known Uzumaki, she was also its heiress. By the Law of Clan Adoption, if a woman is an heiress to the main branch of a clan and marries a man below her in rank, he adopts her last name, rather than vice-versa. The two obtained a letter patent from the Third Hokage, when they married, allowing Kushina and Minato to keep their surnames, under the caveat that their children be Uzumakis. Technically you should be of the upper first caste, but, in an attempt to hide your importance to the village, you were demoted to third caste.

Oh, great. Naruto rolls his eyes and lays down on his bed. Does the universe hate me?

Not the universe, child. Your species is a hateful race.

Shocker. Although sometimes I feel more hateful than the villagers

Perhaps you are more hateful, but your hatred, like mine, is simply the reflection of the rest of your kind's. You should've been pampered, as the child of a clan heiress and the Hokage, and also as the village's greatest weapon. Instead you have been cast aside, thrown down, left to gather dust like an unused sword. That you aren't outright murderous is something that still shocks me.

Well, human psychology works different from Bijuu psychology, I guess. My experiences made me resentful. I do nothing but glower as others laugh. You, however, are...proactive, I guess.

The Kyuubi laughs. Naruto laughs, too.

Kurama feels a familiar sensation from the Uchiha boy in Naruto's team. It could be the presence Sharingan, but Kurama can tell the familiarity lies in the boy's chakra signature, not the doujutsu. It's the same type of familiar that Naruto's chakra has, chakra that reveals that he's a reincarnation of the Sage's child. One of his many children, for the Sage had many concubines. But he cannot be sure until he can get his hands on some of the Uchiha's chakra.

Kurama has come up with a scheme, however. The best manipulation is under the guise of aid, and so Kurama has Naruto go up to the Uchiha and tell him that he can help him expand his chakra reserves. The Uchiha can perform a taxing fireball jutsu, and by draining his chakra reserves, he can expand them. Thus, Naruto has him do fireballs and collects the fire transformed chakra into a chakra storage seal. By the end of the training session, the Uchiha is exhausted, but Kurama can see the flicker of respect for Naruto in the boy's eye. Kurama sneers. Just like an Uchiha to respect someone only once they've helped them.

Chakra can be manipulated while in a storage seal, and so, in the safety of Naruto's apartment, Kurama has Naruto change the chakra from fire natured back to its neutral ground state. Naruto absorbs the chakra into his system, and yelps under the pain. Kurama's chakra acts a salve, however, and once the Uchiha's chakra makes its way into Naruto's chakra core, Kurama dissects it, and realizes something that nearly shakes him to his core.

Naruto and Sasuke's chakra signatures fit inside each other. The same way Indra and Asura's did. And if they fit like that, than Naruto has the potential to awaken the Rinnegan. Kurama is helping himself through helping Naruto, so he supposes he should help him gain the mauve rippled eyes out of self-interest.

But Kurama recalls the boy on the swing, the fascination with birds, the euphoria of flying. He recalls that the Sage's Rinnegan let him fly. Perhaps Kurama has grown soft, for he wants to give Naruto flight.

Naruto brings the needle back through the black fabric. It's soft and smooth: Naruto chose the fabric for that very reason. He doesn't want his new robe to scratch at his skin, even if the chakra of the Kyuubi keeps it smooth and soft. The robe itself isn't black: Naruto, a sharp-eyed if inexperienced seamster, isn't too keen on creating clothing made of shades instead of colors. The black fabric is simply the lining of the robe. Naruto intends for the coat itself to be made of an ocher cashmere. He had saved up on D-ranks to splurge on the fabric necessary for his passion project, even if he was rarely motivated enough to make it: the fabric had been sitting, gathering dust for weeks before Naruto had a sudden burst of motivation earlier today and worked on it since 9 A.M.

It is now 7 P.M.

Naruto is still not tired.

He's aware that the fabric choices aren't the most practical for shinobi. While cashmere can endure for a while, it's not the durable, tough fabric of Chuunin flak jackets and will cut easily under the pressure of kunai and senbon. That's where the embroidery comes in: the Uzumaki had diverse ways of creating seals. While the most common seals are ones drawn with the ink of the Bosatsu squid, which can act as a chakric conduit, the ink itself is prone to smudging and the way fabric curves or stretches can affect the way the seal array executes its intended role. The same does not apply to embroidering seals. It's an art that died with the fall of Uzushiogakure, where kunoichi were required to master the art to become Jounin. Mastery of seal embroidery was difficult, as well, but Lady Senju Hashirama, nee Uzumaki Mito, had mastered it thanks to childhood tutoring by masters in the art. 

The seals Naruto has chosen for his robe are manifold in purpose, but all exist to increase defensive capability. There's a seal that makes the fabric difficult, nigh-impossible, to tear; a seal that makes it waterproof; a seal that Naruto can activate which insulates him from cold and electricity; a seal which makes it difficult to burn.

And, because Naruto is frivolous, some seals serve no other purpose than to preserve the aesthetic quality. There's one that prevents scuffing, one that prevents staining that works hand in hand with the waterproofing seal, and one that prevents wrinkles. In fact, the very fact that Naruto is embroidering the black lining rather than the ocher cashmere is a rather superficial decision: Naruto doesn't want the effect of the yellow-orange to be ruined by the asymmetric and harsh stitching of the seals. It's a decision the Kyuubi has relentlessly berated him for, because now Naruto has to stitch extra arrays that make the seals work on the cashmere, despite them being separate fabrics.

The people of Uzushiogakure seemed to have been as frivolous as Naruto because they invented a technique to solve that very problem. By working the ink-dyed thread that acts as the chakric conduit into the stitching that connects the lining to the shell, Naruto can, in effect, transfer the seals on the black lining to the cashmere. 

By the time Naruto is done, it's 11 P.M. and he suddenly becomes aware of his own exhaustion. However, the effect of his accomplishment, the product of years of brainstorming and months of saving money, is enough to induce such a wave of euphoria in Naruto that it brings tears to his eyes and laughter to his lungs. 

Naruto spends so many of his days in an unaccomplished daze. He does nothing but get distracted and hurt himself. So it feels likes a grand triumph whenever he brings himself to do his laundry. For him to finish a task that he's wanted to do for years warrants some congratulations.

The thought immediately dampens his good mood. Who's here to congratulate him? The cobwebs in the corner of his room?

Naruto shakes his head to refocus himself. He needs to try the coat on, see if it fits as it should, and test its effectiveness. He only does the middle two buttons, leaving the bottom of the robe and top open. The robe has a standing collar--inspired by Sasuke's collar, though Naruto would never admit it--that looks cool, at least to him, and hides part of his facial expression. The sleeves extend past his hands, meaning Naruto will have to pull them up to perform certain tasks, but that too is a practical choice; Naruto can hide any single-handed seals he performs. 

He scowls as he takes in his reflection: the collar and the sleeves might be practical, but they make the robe consume him. He looks like a child wearing an adult's clothes! Some adjustments will definitely be necessary, even if they're impractical. All memorable shinobi take pains to be intimidating: Uchiha Madara wasn't invading Konoha in neon pink!

Naruto shares the image of Uchiha Madara, the Kyuubi's enslaver, in neon pink, and the fox laughs.

Naruto is riding on the high of the finished robe when he decides to take a walk after practice. Sasuke must've noticed Naruto was in a better mood since he gave Naruto weird looks throughout practice. The Mosquito, as always, simply buzzed around her prey.

He only does things like this when feels good about himself, he never has the motivation to do so otherwise. This is the first time he's done something like this in the past month. He realizes his mistake rather quickly, however. His mood falls as soon as he makes it to a more populated part of Konoha, the typical drop in bonheur hanging so thick in the air that Naruto wonders if it'll create a fog. He dips into an ally and transforms himself into a non-descript civilian girl, and continues his walk. He tries to lift his spirits as he takes in the sights of the sunlit village. It doesn't work. In fact, transforming himself only worsens his mood: Life would be so much easier if he weren't himself.

There's shouting in front of Naruto, and he takes in the sight of a tall man in a hideous black ensemble holding up a child. As Naruto makes his way closer, he realizes that it's not just any child, it's the Hokage's grandson.

The verbal berating is full of threats, so juvenile and contemptuous that Naruto can pretty much smell the man's overconfidence. Naruto is about to continue on and mind his own business when he notices Sasuke in the nearby tree, and then the red-haired boy hanging upside from it. Why is he hanging upside down? Naruto can only assume that Shinobi have a flair for the theatrical.

How curious, the Kyuubi muses, I haven't seen a heart as black as that boy's in ages.

The statement piques Naruto's curiosity enough for him to stay and watch from the sidelines. Sasuke throws a rock at the man, who Naruto realizes is a foreign Shinobi if his accent is anything to go by, and says something in a suitably cool voice. The man drops the boy, and it's then the red-haired boy speaks. He must have gone unnoticed by Sasuke because Sasuke is shocked when he speaks. Naruto suppresses a chuckle as he takes in Sasuke's face.

The man is obviously more intimidated by the red-haired boy than by Sasuke, which, when combined with what the Kyuubi had told Naruto earlier, paints an interesting picture of the red-haired boy. He's likely some kind of authority, or terrifying enough to be an authority, and must be some kind of fucked up if the Kyuubi's descriptor is accurate.

Naruto ultimately decides to mind his own business and walk away. 

Naruto slams his head into his low table after he looks over the forms for the Chuunin Exams. He's going to beat Kakashi-sensei's ass. Nominating them for the Chuunin exams? When they're still basically fresh out of the Academy? He knows Sasuke is a genius and Sakura was top Kunoichi and they technically took an A-rank mission, but Moon and Stars is Naruto still livid. The mission was more of a fluke than anything else: it gave little to no genuine learning experience to any of their team. All it did was act as a wake-up call for Sakura and an ego-booster for Sasuke. Naruto, who had been told many a horror story by the Kyuubi, was already well aware of the blight of living as a Shinobi. All he got out of the experience was a free sample of happiness, introduction to loss.

Of course, this is without considering Kakashi-sensei's sloppy and haphazard training of Team 7. It's almost as if he wants them to die on a mission. Naruto likes to think of it in terms of numbers: Kakashi-sensei is so late that his training sessions are one-fourth of the average genin team's training sessions. This means that Team 7 should have at least four times the number of training sessions before they are allowed to take the Chuunin Exams. In Naruto's opinion, they have only received half the number sufficient to make them chuunin level.

If Naruto didn't have the Kyuubi, he'd probably need pure luck to win. Thankfully, Naruto has enough tricks up his sleeve that the Chuunin Exams will be, at most, draining. He might not pass, given what the Kyuubi has told him about the Exams, but he'll probably make it to the finals or something before Sasuke either beats his ass or Naruto decides it's not worth it and quits. Honestly, Naruto is considering just not handing the form, but that'd mean the whole team is disqualified and that'd create so much tension in the team that Naruto is willing to risk death rather than deal with the fallout.

So, the Chuunin Exams. That explains those foreigners here earlier. 

Indeed, the Exams are a combination of diplomatic maneuvering, hypocrisy, and theater.

Hypocrisy?

You'll see. Your kind constantly searches for simple truths, glazing over nuance in the process. You will find many maxims among Shinobi passed as universal truths are far more conditional than they'd have you believe.

Okay, and what does that have to do with the Chuunin Exams?

In terms of the Exams, you'll likely be expected to act one way in one test, and be told afterward that acting that way is absolutely correct. Say, for example, a Shinobi should always prioritize the mission. Then, during another test, you will have to act in a way directly in contrast to the first test. Like, for example, that Shinobi who abandon their comrades are worse than scum.

Naruto sends the Kyuubi a wave of annoyance in response.

However, I won't help you, unless I deem it necessary to your survival.

What!? Why?

Consider it an exercise. The Chuunin Exams are more than tests of might, they are tests of indoctrination. Rather than asking "Who is the fittest to be a Shinobi?" The Exams ask "Who believes in the things they should?" I want you to see into Konoha's heart. What does it expect of its soldiers? What does it teach its children? And then I want you to lie: to understand an ideology is to be able to convince a believer that you are one of them. If you become a chuunin, it will either mean that you have gained the analytical skill necessary for survival in the world, or that Konoha is led by a senile patriarch and his decrepit cabal.

There's the Kyuubi's usual flowery language mixed in his harangue, but Naruto understands what the fox is trying to tell him. Why does the fox want him to do as such? Naruto doesn't ask. He doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds him. He simply tells himself that the fox has a plan and prays to the Moon and Stars that it doesn't involve Naruto living past the age of thirty.

The first test is multilayered, Naruto realizes. The questions are far from impossible, most of them are trick questions with deceptive answers, quite like riddles. Someone like Shikamaru or Sakura would be able to spot the red herrings pretty easily. Of course, that's simply the first layer. The layer under the first is one's ability to cheat. Naruto would stop trying to decipher the test there, except for one crucial fact: Ibiki is lying.

Naruto can't sense anyone's negative emotions as the Kyuubi can, so that's not how he knows. Rather, three are some students who are cheating that Ibiki should easily be able to call out and fail but isn't. The fact itself is incredibly worrying: these people might be young, but they will still be deployed in life-or-death situations one day. Why would Konoha, or at least, Konoha's representatives, be willing to look past underachievement in a test meant to measure its soldiers? Wouldn't allowing underperformers into the corps weaken the village as a whole?

Armed with that knowledge, Naruto decides that the cheating is a red herring in and of itself. They are definitely testing something else, here, but Naruto can't decipher what. There's nothing other than Ibiki's behavior to suggest that there's more to this first test, so Naruto decides that the true test hasn't started yet: it must be related to that tenth question, the one they'll reveal later.

Naruto hopes, however, that the first nine questions still factor into the score. Why? Because he doesn't know how the fuck to answer those. Nor does he have the attention span required to put in the effort. If he fails then hopefully they'll stop him there and he won't have to deal with the rest of the Exams. Quitting early and facing Sakura and Sasuke's combined wrath is one thing, but people expect him to fail, he was dead last, after all, so if he flunks this test then Sakura can only clobber him and Sasuke can only turn the other cheek.

In the meantime, Naruto decides to observe the way others are cheating. There's the horrifyingly obvious mirror used by Tenten, the strange sand eye used by the probably-psychotic red-haired boy from before named Gaara, the signature Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan being used by Hyuuga Neji and Hinata next to him. Sasuke is using the Sharingan to copy the movements of a planted exam taker. Sakura has probably divined the true nature of the test but is relying on her academic excellence to propel her forward. Inuzuka Kiba is talking to his dog, Aburame Shino is talking to his bugs, Nara Shikamaru is faking taking a nap, Yamanaka Ino is looking at Sakura with a waiting gaze, Akimichi Chouji is reaching for a potato chip bag that isn't there in a futile attempt to stress eat, and Naruto is finding himself genuinely fascinated by figuring the test out.

Hinata slides her test papers over and sneaks Naruto a signaling look. Naruto simply gives Hinata a confident smile and motions for her to move her papers back in front of her. Naruto isn't going to actively self-sabotage, but he will let himself fail purely to spite the Cyclops.

Then the rules of the tenth question are revealed, and Naruto wants to bash Ibiki's face in. He gets the true purpose immediately, of course: victory or death. All that's required is that they don't give up here, and given Sakura's confidence in her academic skills and Sasuke's determined attitude, Naruto has the inkling that no one is throwing in the towel quite yet. Oh, how he wants to, however. Naruto is so close to raising his hand that he has to exert physical effort to keep it down, telling himself that dealing with Sakura and Sasuke's actual anger instead of their usual anger is not worth it. He sees Sakura waver, however, and begin to raise her hand and Naruto prays to every deity of every faith in the Elemental Nations that Sakura pulls them out of the test but lets his forehead slam into the table when a determination settles into her body language and she puts her hand down.

They pass. Naruto considers letting the Kyuubi out right then and there.

Mitarashi Anko, who Naruto decides would be either incredibly fun or incredibly annoying to be around, bursts in through a window. Naruto would definitely be amused by this display of unhinged cheer if he weren't already in a bad mood. 

Naruto knows what Training Ground 44 is, too. His teacher was inside of the First Lady of Konoha after all. The Forest of Death, a name so dramatic that it could only have come from the mouth of a Shinobi, is the conception of the would-be Hokage Konoha no Orochimaru (like all war orphans of his day, Orochimaru's surname was erased upon his acceptance into the orphanage. It was replaced with "of Konoha," meant to be a tribute to the sacrifice his parents had made. The practice has since fallen out of use, likely because there were too many "Konoha no"s). The result of animal and plant experimentation, before the member of the Sannin moved onto humans in a vain search for his elixir of life, the forest also serves as an experiment in ecology. It is an attempt to create a contained ecosystem, and, given enough research and experimentation, it will serve to create summonable animals for all Konoha Shinobi. Nature, Naruto has learned, often supplies weapons far better than those found in forges.

Having worked tirelessly the past few days to make a substitute for his robe, Naruto has come up with a honey-yellow Shibori cloak. He hasn't given up faith in the sleeved robe entirely: he's been planning the thing for years, after all. But he needs something more protective than his standard outfit. A short-sleeved white tee and yellow or orange second-hand shorts can only do so much. The cloak lacks the standing collar of the robe, as well as the sleeves. It reaches mid-calf-length, like the robe, and contains thicker interlining, making the garment appear thicker than it would otherwise. It has a hood, as well, that Naruto tells himself is for protection against the elements and totally not because he thinks it looks cool.

Naruto has a small, narrow frame. His shoulders aren't broad, and he's shorter than average. Unfortunately, the cloak, much like the robe, has the effect of consuming him as well, making him look smaller than he is. It can be to his advantage: people will underestimate him. That does, however, have the added side-effect of making him more targetable.

The process of rushing to make the cloak was not particularly pleasant. Naruto doesn't need to sleep as much as most people, and so he stayed up two straight days cutting out fabric and sewing bastings and embroidering seals. By the time he was done, his vision was blurry and his hands were shaking. He's glad he finished it, though. The cloak covers him, hides him. Naruto has effectively put a wall up between him and the world, and it puts him at ease.

Naruto has named the cloak Yellow Peony. There are multiple reasons he settled on the name Yellow Peony: one of them being that the fabric was dyed using actual yellow peonies. The second reason is that peonies are symbols of good fortune, and Naruto hopes it will act as a charm. The third is that the peony is considering the "king of the flowers," and Naruto thinks that sounds cool.

Peonies are also symbols of a noble spirit. Naruto doesn't have that, and he thinks the irony is funny.

Sakura, hair long and dress clean, and Sasuke, arms crossed and face neutral, wait with the other contestants in the crisp morning air, in front of the training ground entrance. Some of the other contestants give Naruto raised eyebrows and others snicker. Naruto doesn't really get why: he's not dressed any less eccentrically than they are. 

"What are you wearing?" Sakura asks.

"Right back at you." Naruto is not in a good mood.

"Excuse me? I'll have you know this dress is from--"

"Woah, Naruto, where'd you get that!" Yamanaka Ino calls out as her team arrives.

"I made it!" Naruto says with a friendly smile. He'll take any opportunity to talk about his hobbies.

"Really?" Sakura and Ino say in unison. The question is immediately followed by an exchange of glares.

"The fabric is quality," Ino says as she takes some of the fabric in her hands. "This must have been expensive."

"Well," Naruto says with a triumphant air, "I got it during a sale. It's usually 80 Ryou per meter, but I got for 20 Ryou per meter!"

"No way!" Ino exclaims. "That's practically thievery! What vendor did you get it from?"

"You know Shounagon's?" Ino nods. "The one in Konoha is closing soon, so they're trying to get rid of as much stuff as they can. You should get some of their ready-to-wear stuff while the opportunity is still there."

Ino puts a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You are a god. No one on my team is anywhere near interested enough in this stuff to tell me what deals I need to take advantage of."

"That's because we have things of actual substance to care about," Shikamaru deadpans as he picks something out of his ear and flicks it off to the side.

"Style is actually pretty important!" Naruto protests. "Not only is it a signifier of personality, but the choices put into clothing can also reveal everything from political alliances to ideology! Shinobi who are confident in their ability might wear long hair, for example, which is often a liability in battle. It signals to the enemy: I am strong enough that this is not a problem for me."

Shikamaru just raises an unimpressed eyebrow as Ino nods in vehement agreement, looking as if she just found a kindred spirit. "Image crafting is important to us, Shikamaru! We're going to be clan heads one day, after all!"

"Chouji and I are going be clan heads, you mean. You're going to be the Lady Yamanaka."

Irritation flashes into Ino's expression, but Naruto doesn't miss the disillusionment in her eyes, and Naruto feels a pang of sympathy. Ino's parents must have been disappointed when she was revealed to be a girl. Her education was probably neglected in relation to Shikamaru's and Chouji's, her curriculum full of lessons in embroidery, deportment, and silk-making alongside condescending instructors who probably told her she was better suited to feminine ninja arts like genjutsu than ninjutsu or bukijutsu. Lessons on housekeeping were likely given by her mother and household servants. Motherhood in Konoha, Naruto has learned, is a duty, not a state of being. It is an expectation of even the highest wives of clan heads to play a part in menial tasks that the wives of daimyo give to chambermaids: cooking, cleaning, laundry, the rearing of infants and toddlers. In the eyes of Konoha's public, it shows a worldly dedication to the duties of femininity and awareness of the role of women in the machine of Konoha. Ino was likely taught how to hold a baby before she was taught how to hold a kunai. Clan heiresses, despite the misnomer, do not inherit clan leadership: their husbands do. It's part of the Law of Clan Adoption, whereby the husband of the heiress is adopted as the heir of the clan. Namikaze Minato would have been the Right Honorable Lord Uzumaki.

The reason Konoha allows women to be Shinobi at all is simply a hold-over from the Warring States Period, where alliances shifted wherever the winds of auspiciousness seemed to be blowing. Back then, women were properly trained warriors, even if they were forced into specializations that placed them in supporting or sabotaging roles. The latter was more justifiable than the first: clan daughters married off to the lords of other clans often acted as spies for their maiden clan. Some skill in the acts of information gathering, deception, and spying were necessary.

The Kyuubi had told him that the practice had not died out by the time Konoha was first founded. Uzumaki Mito--Naruto refuses to refer to her as the Lady Senju. There aren't enough Uzumaki's in history textbooks as it is, and he'd like to remember her as her own woman instead of as the first First Lady of Konoha--was still sending encrypted messages to Uzushio even after she was caught doing such by Senju Tobirama and was placed under house arrest. The seal she had used to do so was one that could teleport small objects over large distances, and served as the basis for Tobirama's own technique: the Flying Raijin seal.

Determination filters into Ino's expression. "Not if I have anything to say about it!"

Naruto smiles. "You tell 'em!"

Ino seems genuinely surprised by his support, another thing that only increases Naruto's disappointment in the Hidden Leaf. Ino's determination was likely the only thing propelling her forward for years, determined proclamations of agency likely met with dismissive smiles and apathetic Sure, honeys. Naruto hopes he isn't the first person to express genuine support for Ino. If Senju Tsunade could single-handedly cause so much chaos that the entirety of the Senju clan erased itself from existence, then Ino can become the true leader of the Yamanaka clan.

Part of it is not just sympathy: Naruto empathizes with Ino's plight. Although their struggles might not be the same, Naruto can understand the feeling of responsibilities thrust upon a person who never asked for them, baggage that came unrequested upon birth, a shoehorned role. Konoha might not be a home for him, but he hopes Ino's future victory can begin to make Konoha home for more women. 

Movements start with a symbol. Tsunade was the symbol of her generation, though there were many more barriers for women to cross back then, and the Princess of Konoha could only do so much. She might have been able to become an active, important Kunoichi, but had to use traditional means to do so: She couldn't have been anywhere near as successful as she was if she specialized in anything other than Iryou-ninjutsu. But still, she opened floodgates. the floodgates were expanded on by women such as Uzumaki Kushina and Uchiha Mikoto, who became active squadron leaders during wartime, even if they eventually retired into domesticity. Ino might become a symbol of her own.

Ino smiles and crosses her arms as her eyes fill with a newfound respect for Naruto. Naruto feels the familiar warmth, the warmth he felt with Haku and Tsunami-san, rebirth within him. Did Naruto just...change someone's opinion of him? For the better?

His happiness is only slightly dampened by the announcement of what the exercise is. Make it to the center with two scrolls, don't open the scrolls until you get to the center. The objective of this one is pretty clear: A Shinobi must be able to follow directions to an absolute degree. Naruto tries to ponder on what greater implications this might have. Blind loyalty? Absolute faith in authority figures?

Naruto suspects the possibility that Konoha actually wants students to question mission parameters, and considers opening the scrolls. Or at least, having water clones or shadow clones open the scrolls, but decides it's too risky. Would Konoha want their soldiers to call out superiors? It would certainly be in line with Kakashi-sensei's philosophy of team loyalty over success in the mission. Kakashi-sensei is the ideological heir to the Third Hokage, through a line of mentor-student relationships. Thus, it's possible that Sarutobi Hiruzen is actually seeking people who do are appropriately skeptical of tasks given to them.

Naruto remembers a story that was told by one of Senju Hashirama's concubines, a gift from the Lord of the Land of Fire, who had told the story to Uzumaki Mito. A consort of one of the Emperors of the Land of Ancestors needed a maidservant who would follow directions without question, or else she might betray her and join forces with her rival consort, who was pregnant at the time. To measure the loyalty of prospective maidservants, she came up with a test. The girls would be given a rolled-up secret message that was supposed to be delivered to the female harem guards near the gate of the inner palace. If a maid opened the message, she would read that it asked the female guards to kill the message-bearer. Thus, the loyalty of the girls was judged by who didn't open the message and thus delivered it to the guards, who were aware of the ploy. The consort had the newly recruited maidservants deliver poison to spies she had set up in a rival concubine's staff, causing the rival consort to miscarry her child.

Blind loyalty is only good for a servant whose master is benevolent. Naruto shakes his head, earning curious looks from Sakura and Shikamaru. That's an oversimplification, a maxim that attempts to create universal truth where there is none. The Kyuubi warned him about how such thinking could be self-sabotaging. He needs to consider every possibility, every angle of what Konoha is trying to examine him for.

A common maxim among the Shinobi world, although blatantly false in Naruto's opinion, is that Shinobi are tools. While it is true Shinobi are paid to accomplish tasks requested of private individuals, Naruto finds that the saying glosses over the multifaceted undertones of Nindou. Shinobi is a role, especially among the clans, whose members are expected to perform and present well, or the clan loses face. Shinobi were also, despite their long-forgotten origins purely in the realm of espionage and subterfuge, field warriors. Men like Uchiha Madara and Senju were in possession of wide, sweeping jutsu like Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame or Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence that could take out whole platoons or even armies. Shinobi have etiquette and rules and a code of honor inherited from the Sage of the Six Paths. The idea of loyalty to a community viewed as a family wasn't born when the first Hidden Village was created, it is the ideological child of the Warring States philosophy that the clan came before all else.

Is the Old Man asking Naruto to make himself a tool? Or is he asking Naruto to defy such a notion, to give himself a will?

Naruto sorts through as many historical incidents as he can. History is useful for times like these. Just like one can spot a pattern in the behavior of a person, one can spot a pattern in the behavior of institutions, and what is history but the record of the patterns of institutions?

His musing is cut short by the announcement that the test has started and the opening of the fence that surrounds the ominous forest. Naruto fetches a Flying Raijin kunai as his team makes it to a spot isolated from others where they can talk strategy. "Listen, guys, It's a good idea for me to go on ahead--"

"What!?" Sakura exclaims while Sasuke gives Naruto a curious glance.

"Using the seal on this kunai, I can teleport." Sakura and Sasuke both look bewildered at the revelation. "I can go on ahead and leave a kunai right by the building, then teleport back to you guys. When we get the other scroll, I can teleport all three of us to the building in the middle."

The two turn the idea over in their heads. Sasuke seems to agree with the idea, but Sakura asks, "What if we need your help while you're going on ahead?"

"If you put in chakra into the seal, I'll feel a weird tugging sensation, and I'll know to teleport back to you guys. I'll give one of these kunai to both of you."

"Why didn't you tell us you can do this?" Sakura asks as the same Sasuke asks, "Can you teach me this?"

"Well, Sakura, I'm not exactly supposed to know how to do this jutsu, so keep it a secret, okay? And no, Sasuke, I can't."

"Huh? Why not?" Sasuke acts and Naruto detects...petulance? Naruto supposes it makes sense: the Uchiha is socially constipated, but far more aloof about it than Naruto is. He's probably not used to asking anything of anyone, let alone being denied a request that he deigned to ask in person. Plus, with Sasuke's self-confidence, he likely thought he was lowering himself in asking Naruto to teach him anything.

Naruto suppresses his annoyance and tries to remind himself that they're all tweens, he's probably annoyed them on multiple occasions, they should be allowed to be graceless every once in a while. "I can't teach it to you because not only am I not supposed to know this technique at all, but teaching you would require in-depth lessons on sealing, an art that your Sharingan can only minimally help you in, and that you don't have the chakra reserves for. Besides, I don't have the time nor the patience to come up with a lesson plan for you." If Naruto sounds a little combative towards the end, it's definitely not because he's being petty over the fact that he has something over the Class Genius Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke simply grumbles and turns his cheek. "Hm. Fine. But what are Sakura and I supposed to do?"

"You two can't decide that for yourselves?" Naruto asks and Sasuke's eye twitches. Naruto isn't going to lie: pushing Sasuke's buttons is incredibly fun. "Let's talk it out then. Personally, I think you two should hide and camp out until I teleport back to you, that way we're at full manpower when we go searching for another team's scroll. Do you guys think you're able to secure another team's scroll by yourselves?"

Sakura's shoulders drop as she looks away and Naruto grimaces. He picks up on the way Sasuke passes his eyes condescendingly over Sakura. Sasuke has enough faith in himself, it's Sakura who he doubts. Sakura, a constant player in the female infighting common around Sasuke's fan club, is probably socially capable enough to pick up on Sasuke's opinion of her. That must sting.

Naruto doesn't much care for what Sakura is going through, but low self-confidence can be self-defeating, and with Sakura's tendency to deflect and project onto Naruto, she'll probably find a way to blame Naruto for their failure. It's a little manipulative, but Naruto needs Sakura to believe in herself. "Well, we have the top guy and girl together, so I'm certain you guys can fend for yourselves. Sakura, you can be the decision-maker, since you're smart and all that, and Sasuke, you can be the sword."

"Who put you in charge?" Sasuke asks standoffishly. Moon and Stars, their teamwork sucks.

"Myself," Naruto deadpans. "This isn't a dictatorship, Sasuke. If you disagree, just voice it." Naruto sees an opportunity and takes it. "I, for one, think Sakura is better suited to tactical thinking. You're way better at that heat-of-battle spontaneous stuff."

Naruto cheers internally as Sakura's eyebrows shoot up and confidence expresses itself in her straightened back and crossed arms. The little bit of flattery Naruto threw Sasuke's way also helped, because he seems to be mollified into accepting Naruto's advice. 

"I'm gonna go now while you two set up camp." Naruto looks at both for confirmation that he can start moving, and jumps for the trees.

Tree-jumping is even closer to flying, and Naruto basks in the way the wind, even if the air is odorous and heavy, whistles past his ears. But Naruto doesn't let himself become too distracted: he ruminates more on the possible hidden purpose of this test, asking himself that he might simply be overthinking it. It could simply be what it obviously is: a test meant to weed out the weak and overly curious. But Kakashi-sensei's whole Nindou seems to be implicitly set against such blind loyalty: there are times where comrades come before success seems to be an idea that encourages both individual decision making and active disobedience in certain situations. Would Kakashi-sensei teach them something directly in contrast to what Konoha expects of its chuunin?

Naruto decides to filter through as many individual cases that he remembers, momentarily forgetting to be aware of his surroundings. Kakashi-sensei brings to mind the tragic fate of his father, Hatake Sakumo. And Naruto's eyes widen as he stops on a tree branch. The entire case, known as the Hatake Scandal, runs through Naruto's head. A leader who prioritized his team, the loss of clan face, the virulent and public criticism and disgrace, and the implicit signal from the Third Hokage that honorable suicide was the only option left.

Naruto is mildly horrified that the Old Man would do such a thing, secretly send Hatake Sakumo a ceremonial knife as a message that he needed to commit seppuku in order to restore clan honor. It seems so at odds with the gentle, if neglectful, man who used to talk to Naruto every month or so. Then, Naruto reminds himself that Sarutobi Hiruzen is from a different generation. Part of the first generation to grow up in Konoha, Hiruzen was likely raised by parents who grew up during the perpetual struggle of the Warring States, where betrayal and sacrifice were as common as evening cicadas in summer, and honor was as vital as one's liver. It's entirely possible that the Third Hokage thought he was doing Sakumo a favor, giving the man a way out. It's also possible he was thinking of the young Kakashi, who would grow up ostracized and disgraced, perhaps even actively sabotaged and targeted, in the shadow of his father's sin. Naruto scoffs. If the Third Hokage could make a father kill himself to save the son, why couldn't he have helped Naruto more than an occasional visit and a stipend?

The story, however, does gives Naruto exactly the answer that he needs: the Third expects loyalty to authority, if only because the rest of the village expects it. He might not want to enforce such an ideology, but the opinion of a village must be pretty difficult for one man to change.

Very good critical thinking, child, but I have something I must warn you about. Do you know the Kusa ninjas? 

Yeah, with the creepy girl?

I could sense the girl's negative emotions, and her bloodlust and power-hunger were too strong for her to be a normal Shinobi. Something about her feels...familiar, but I'm not sure how, yet. I don't want you to die because I failed to warn you about a dangerous foe. I advise you to stay away from her or her team.

Yes, sir!

Naruto shakes his head and brings himself back into the moment: he decides that the test is what it implies itself to be, that his team is expected to follow directions, and keeps moving through the trees. It's then he feels the tug that the Kyuubi told him about, that his team is summoning him. He plants a Flying Raijin kunai into the tree, because he doesn't know how to place them on objects or people yet, and teleports back to his team.

Sasuke and Sakura stand in battle positions as they face the three Suna ninja. Temari looks confident if reluctant to fight, while Kankuro smirks with hauteur. But it's Gaara that gives him pause. His face is a studied neutral, vacant of emotion, but he can feel a hackle-raising bloodlust radiate off of him, an inhuman impulse so strong that Naruto makes a split-second decision and, instead of staying to help the team fight, puts his hand on both Sasuke and Sakura and summons enough chakra to teleport all three on them to the tree he had come from. 

The atmosphere, absent of Gaara's miasma, settles into the tense Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke deactivates his Sharingan and wipes his watery eyes--he's not accustomed enough to the doujutsu, so it still irritates his eyes--and Sakura exhales, dropping to her knees on the tree.

"What the fuck?" Naruto exclaims.

"Holy shit, I thought I was done for," Sakura says numbly. She turns to look at Naruto as she wipes sweat off her brow. "They were, like, searching for us, for Sasuke-kun. The redhead, Gaara, said that he needed to kill him to confirm his existence or something like that. You just fucking saved our lives."

Naruto grimaces. "It makes sense, Sasuke is the last non-criminal Uchiha, the heir to one of the most famed clans in Shinobi history. He's pretty famous, so it makes sense ambitious genin would seek him out as a challenge. But...confirm his existence?" Naruto mulls over the statement. Why would killing Sasuke confirm Gaara's existence? Unless...Gaara saw himself as a weapon? If he did, it would make sense: weapons exist to kill others. Killing would reassure Gaara of his own purpose. The thought passes through Naruto that Gaara might be like him, be a jinchuuriki if he views himself as a weapon. Naruto squashes the train of thought: sending a jinchuuriki into another Hidden Village, especially one with a delicate relationship, without a word of warning, basically gives Konoha a casus belli. Surely Suna, economically disadvantaged, wouldn't risk war, would they?

It is possible that this Gaara is like you, also a jinchuuriki. There is something familiar in that boy's madness. Suna's Bijuu is the demon tanuki, Shukaku. Shukaku is the Ichibi, likely the weakest of my brethren, as the number of tails correlates to strength. Shukaku is unpredictably wild and grating on the most patient souls. If a Bijuu is sealed properly, I'm unable to sense them. It's likely that something is wrong with Gaara's seal, causing the line between jailor and prisoner to blur. Shukaku has probably somehow eroded the boy's sanity, placing him in perpetual psychosis. I would be wary of him as well.

Naruto's jaw clenches at the Kyuubi's words. So he's found someone like him, another human weapon, and he's supposed to just stay away? To ignore him out of fear? To behave like Konoha?

No, Naruto decides, he can't do that. He needs to talk to this Gaara, his possible brother in life experiences, even if it means risking death. He needs to know, to see if it's possible for a monster to find another monster, for two monster to empathize with each other, even if it means risking death.

Despite the obvious risk to his own life, breaking the Kyuubi's promise, the fox does not protest Naruto's intent. All he gets is a short, gentle, I understand.

"So, how do you think we should proceed from here, Sakura?" Naruto, even if he doesn't really care for how Sakura or Sasuke are feeling, at least trusts Sakura's tactical thinking skills.

"I think we should camp out near the center," she says. "Then, when someone arrives at the center with two scrolls, we ambush them and enter the building."

Naruto nods, "I think it's pretty sound, but how can we be sure that no one will be waiting to ambush us?"

Sakura turns to Sasuke with a sharp smile. Sasuke, likely used to seeing Sakura's smile in an entirely obsessive context, nearly flinches. "That's where the Sharingan comes in. You can see chakra with it, right?" Sasuke's eyes sharpen and he nods. "You'll be our lookout and our sentry. Not only will you be able to spot when someone is coming or if they're hiding, but you're also skilled enough to preemptively attack anyone hiding among the leaves. We need signals, however. What should we go for?"

Naruto and Sasuke consider. "I think, rather than discussing code-words, we should ask a question only someone in our team would know the answer to. Like, for example, where do I always eat ramen from? You guys know that, right?"

Silence.

At least Sakura has the decency to look abashed, Sasuke just stares at Naruto blankly. Sometimes Naruto wonders if there's a brain in that pretty little skull of his. He knows there is, of course, you don't brainlessly make it to the top of the class, after all. But, Moon and Stars, sometimes the kid is more socially arrested than Naruto can imagine.

Naruto puts his head in his hands and groans. "Fine, how about this: What's Kakashi-sensei's verbal tick?" Naruto is referring to Kakashi's tendency to start off sentences with "Well, well."

Sakura and Sasuke both nod, knowing better than to answer, or else anyone eavesdropping will learn the answer. Sasuke scans the forest, but warns, "As a warning, I can see chakra, its color, and the chakra around people, but I can't see chakra behind objects."

"The enhanced eyesight will help with that," Sakura simply says. "Notice the way trees move, the way chakra might be funneled into an explosive tag, any tripwire. Other teams might have the same idea as us, so we might run into them on the way there. We need to prepare for a fight." Naruto almost tells them that he has a warning system inside him: the Kyuubi. He sighs internally when he remembers that the Kyuubi isn't really going to be helping him right now.

"You mean Sasuke and I need to prepare for a fight," Naruto grumbles.

"What was that?" Naruto feels her anger.

"Nothing," he coos as he gives her a saccharine smile.

"Damn right."

They make their way through the trees.

"How fucking big is this forest," Naruto complains.

"Too big," Sakura responds. "Ugh, it's so humid, my hair's getting all frizzy."

"Oh no! Won't someone think about Sakura's hair!" 

"Oh, I'm sorry, Naruto, I've been putting years of effort into this hair, excuse me if I don't exactly like being ugly."

"Yeah, years of effort for your Sasuke-kun." The words flow from Naruto's mouth before he has the chance to stop them, but he cringes as soon the sentence comes out of his mouth. The realization comes, horribly, that this all makes sense for Sakura to act like this. How else would a girl act when she was raised in a land that told her that being a wife and mother came before all else? That, when combined with the idolization of Shinobi and the way trading is frowned upon, what does that turn a girl into? What does she do? How does she act?

It makes sick sense that Sakura, or any of the girls in their class, would be obsessed with Uchiha Sasuke. He's the ideal man in the pyramid of Konoha: he's handsome, he's smart, he's skilled, he's a clan heir, he's a Shinobi, he has a common and powerful bloodline limit. He gets far more money from the village in a month than Naruto gets in three, he has a sense of style, an air of intrigue. 

There's a story that Uzumaki Mito told her daughter, from Uzushio: the Ballad of the Mountain Witch's Curse. The heir of a nobleman is the child of a great lord's concubine. The concubine made a pilgrimage to a shrine during her pregnancy for the benefit of her child, but, from her palanquin, she spotted a cat with beautiful silver fur. Liking its fur so much, she had her men kill and skin it, preserving it so that it might be used to trim a kimono when she returned to her estate. The cat, however, was the companion of a witch of the mountain--the mountain where the shrine was located--who, upon discovering what the concubine had done, cursed her child to be hideous and of bad temperament. The worst part of her curse was, however, that her son would have bad taste and lack erudition. Growing into a reserved, boorish young man, who would often beat servants and ruin his father's extensive collection of painted scrolls and calligraphy. He took the daughter of his father's servant as a concubine, and, through her love, patience, and submission, she earned the mercy of the Moon Goddess, and the curse was removed. He turned into a handsome, intelligent, and cultured dilettante, and they lived in happy matrimony for the rest of his days. When he died gloriously in battle, she killed herself out of grief. The Moon Goddess was so moved that she decided the two would always find each other in their future lives, be they lovers or friends.

Back when the fox told him the tale, he had been absorbed in the curiosity of Uzushiogakure, wanting to learn everything he could about it, thirsty for every detail. He thought the fairy tale girlish and a bit vapid, what did a boy like him care about marriage and handsome nobles? But now, in the light of Ino's upbringing and Sakura's behavior, its girlishness is exactly what makes it so nefarious. Every tale has a moral, and this one might has multiple: don't go about doing whatever you want, you might hurt others; artistic merit is something to be valued, those who don't have it are exiled by society; give those who act standoffish and rudely a chance, you might help them grow. But there's also the ideals of marriage, the ones that place all the fault of men's behavior on women. It's the heir's mother's fault that he became coarse and uncultured, he was ruined by the woman's excess in fashion. It's the girl who ultimately fixes him, bearing through his gauche behavior and disregard with unearned patience. It is, in far more nefarious way than anything Konoha could do, indoctrination. 

He wonders if Sakura ever heard the tale. Either way, its themes, its morals, seem to reflect the ones of Konoha just as much as it might reflect the ones of Uzushio: love a man enough, fit yourself to him, and he will turn from a coarse, uncaring thing, into a beautiful, caring husband. No wonder Sakura grew out her hair when she heard the rumor that Sasuke likes long hair. Naruto probably would have, too, if he was in her position.

"I'm sorry," he says softly, right before Sakura can yell at him. She stops her retort and remains quiet. Naruto doesn't turn to see her face, but it must be shocked. "That was uncalled for. I just...I'm frustrated, you know? You're gonna be in mortal danger, one day, fighting people who won't show you mercy. If you're gonna have long hair, you should put it in a bun or something so that an enemy won't grab it in a fight. But, more important than that, do you want long hair?" Naruto tries to sound as empathetic as possible. At this moment, Naruto regrets calling her the Mosquito.

"What are you talking about?" There's no bite to her voice, no venom. It's quiet, quiet in a way Sakura never is. "Of course I do."

"Don't change yourself for anyone, Sakura. Sometimes, I wonder if more people would like me if I was different, more sociable, more personable. I look back on the way our class ignored me and think: Maybe if I was smarter, nicer, well-behaved, maybe then they would have liked me. But, you know what, Sakura?"

Sakura doesn't respond, Naruto isn't sure if she's angry or ashamed or contemplative.

"If someone doesn't like you for the person you are, do they deserve you? If you change yourself for someone, do they love you? Or do they love the reflection of the ideals they see in you? You saw how I changed, how I became quiet, stopped pranking, tried to sit still and class, and didn't answer questions. Did anyone talk to me then?" The question is rhetorical. No one had come up to Naruto, both when he was loud and when he was silent.

Sakura is quiet for a while, but Naruto stops the moment he hears her sniffle. "Sakura?" He asks, voice gentle.

"I'm sorry." She stops on the branch next to him and wipes her eyes. She sniffles again. "I guess I've always just...thought what everyone else told me to do was what I should do, what everyone else did I had to do. I've thought about what you said so many times when I'd decide what to wear or when I'd washed my hair." Sakura pauses, eyes cast downward as she thinks. "I wondered if maybe I was insane to, to question it, to question how Ino and so many girls acted. I thought Hinata was weird for the way she acted, the way she didn't call attention to Sasuke-kun. Now I wonder if, in a way, she's smarter than me, if, at least, she was willing to be different."

Sasuke looks like he's seeing Sakura, truly seeing her, for the first time. There's something in his gaze, something pained and yet Naruto sees something else, too, he sees the spark of sympathy, the spark of pity. Naruto is a little offended on Sakura's behalf for that: Sakura is bearing her heart out and all he can muster up is pitty? He'd clobber Sasuke's ass if he was Sakura! 

Naruto realizes he's started thinking off-topic again and brings himself back into the current topic, but Sakura says something else again. "A couple of months ago, my mother wore a pink sweater. My father returned from the bank and saw her. He grimaced, and told her, 'Aren't you a little too old to be wearing pink? You should dress colors more suitable for your maturity.' I thought nothing of it, I thought that was just how it was. Naruto..." Naruto nods, and Sakura continues, "do you think I can teach myself individuality?"

Naruto nods vehemently. "It's never too late to discover yourself! Try whatever you want! Dress crazy! Fuck what everyone else thinks!" Naruto feels a little weird saying that last one. He cares about what other people think constantly, that's why he is what he is. Still, just because he isn't doing as he's saying doesn't mean what he's saying isn't good advice.

Sakura smiles, and Naruto returns her smile. This is the second person he's changed made a connection that day! Man, he always tried to make friends with guys in his class. He was already shunned, he thought if he was seen hanging out with girls, his reputation would take a social dip it would never return from. He should've tried talking with more girls, at least girls who didn't glare at him.

Child, the Kyuubi warns, I sense the Kusa ninja coming your way, from the southwest. I would advise running now. She seems to be seeking you, or at least your team, out.

"Crap!" Naruto says out loud. Sakura and Sasuke give him curious glares. "The team from Kusa is coming our way." 

"How do you know that?"

Naruto grimaces. "I'll tell you, one day, if you promise not to tell anyone else. It might ruin your perception of me, and I can't risk breaking our team before it was ever together, especially now. All I can say--all I know about her, really--is that their leader is fucking dangerous."

Sakura gulps, but Sasuke's eyes take on a determined sheen, "Are you sure we can't take them? We're pretty dangerous too--" Sasuke's eyes widen as Naruto feels it. Bloodlust, killing intent, so thick and vicious that it sweeps over Sasuke and Sakura, who fall to their knees as if someone drove a kunai into them and pulled it out. Naruto feels it, sure, but he's met a millennia-old chakra beast, a beast that loathes humanity to the extent where he would wipe it off the face of the Earth if he could. Human urges can't possibly compare to the hatefulness of a monster.

Naruto reaches towards Sasuke and Sakura, pushes a minute amount of his chakra into them, just enough that it feels like a static shock, to bring them out of their trance. He doesn't check to see their recovery, but whips around to see the Kusa Kunoichi grinning atop the head of a giant serpent. "Oh?" the androgynous voice muses, "You withstood my mental onslaught, did you? That takes good resistance."

Killing intent, bloodlust--whatever one wishes to call it--is a technique that externalizes the subconscious human desire for conflict. It isn't the simple projection of a desire for violence, it's the innate thrill of violence lying under the surface in all people. Killing intent is thus, as result, strongest not when someone strongly desires to end someone's life, but when that person views human life as something to disregard entirely. This person must entirely lack empathy to project bloodlust so strong. Naruto steels himself. 

"So you aren't even trying to hide, huh?" Naruto retorts as he spins a kunai by the ring. Naruto throws the kunai--Flying Raijin-sealed, of course--into the tree, playing it off as cool as possible. Naruto borrows some of the Kyuubi's wealth of bloodlust, enough to show he's not as weak as he might look, hoping to intimidate the Kusa ninja.

The ninja raises her eyebrow. "Oh, so you're not as weak as you seem, are you?"

"What are we going to do?" Sakura whispers, voice full of panic.

"You two run, I can distract her then teleport back to you," he whispers back.

"What makes you think you can taker her? Do you have a death wish? Didn't you feel that?" 

Naruto turns to Sakura and grins. "I've got a couple of tricks up my sleeve, you know! Now, go!" 

Sakura turns around and starts leaping through the branches. Sasuke's jaw clenches. Naruto never really knows what's going through the guy's head half the time. He could be frustrated because Naruto might die, or frustrated because he thinks he can take this person on and Naruto's getting in his way. "I'm staying. We'll be stronger together." Naruto sighs, not wanting to waste more time talking, and turns right as the Kunoichi's snake mount strikes the branch. Naruto and Sasuke leap away in the same direction, making sure not to separate, and crouch. Sasuke's Sharingan whirls to life. As the snake pulls itself from the branch, Naruto finds that the kunai he left is still in the branch. 

He summons a single shadow clone, making sure his cloak doesn't open and reveal his hand signs, and the two string their hands together. A high-pressure stream of water gushes from Naruto's mouth as a ray of lightning--however the hell that works--comes out of his clones. The mount might be big, but it's slow, too, and the electrified water hits it exactly as Naruto intended.

The Kunoichi jumps away as the mount goes limp, landing on a tree branch. "Oh, this is a surprise."

Great, she fucking runs her mouth. Naruto is going to have to deal with her little attempts at taunting and appearing collected this whole fight, isn't he? Naruto thinks that might kill him more than any tactic this Kunoichi can muster: she'll make a comment, he'll probably sigh, roll his eyes, fail to notice an attack, and perish right then and there. 

Sasuke throws three kunai at the woman, who dodges each with ease, and they lodge themselves in the tree. Naruto notices the sliver of a glimmer that signified ninja wire, and Sasuke moves his fingers, bringing the kunai back around the Kunoichi and wrapping the wires around her. He makes the signs for a jutsu and breaths fire onto the wire, which can conduit chakra. The flames race towards the woman and she's incinerated. Naruto doesn't even have the time to react as the Kyuubi warns, She's not finished yet.

Naruto groans as the fire and smoke clear away to reveal the woman, unharmed and unburnt, with her...face melted off? No, Naruto realizes, it's a sort of mask, a disguise more material than a simple transformation.

This is--the Kyuubi exclaims as Naruto takes in the serpentine face in front of him--Orochimaru!

"Orochimaru!?" Naruto yells out loud. The Orochimaru!? The member of the Sannin who fucking experimented on people? The S-rank missing-nin? That Orochimaru?

You're going to need far more firepower than you have now, child. Summon my strength.

Orochimaru cackles. "Ah, Uchiha Sasuke...I've come all this way for you, and you didn't disappoint."

Of course he--she? They?--is here for Sasuke. The boy has to be cursed. Naruto strings his hands together again. Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!

Sasuke coordinates himself to Naruto, breathing out a fireball that merges with his wind and swells into a great blaze. The S-rank missing-nin should have been incinerated, but Naruto knows better than to assume his enemy is dead: He'll believe it when he sees the lifeless corpse. The smoke clears away to reveal nothing but a charred log.

Naruto needs to signal the proctors, needs to attract someone's attention. The Kyuubi's chakra, the release of his hatred, will almost certainly alert the examiners. Naruto summons the chakra, dense and powerful, of the Nine-tailed Fox, and lets its miasma spread through the Forest of Death. Orochimaru seems genuinely surprised, but schools his expression back into one of superiority. The ninja speaks from atop a higher branch, "This is a surprise. Oh well, I'm not one to be discouraged by a little challenge." Naruto wants to stick a kunai into his skull if he's going to have to hear this shit for even one more minute. Legendary ninja or not, it's fucking annoying. 

Naruto jumps, speed boosted by the Kyuubi, and swipes his sharp fingernails at Orochimaru's face. Orochimaru, fittingly flexible as a snake, bends backward to avoid Naruto, who, airborne and leaping above Orochimaru, kicks out under him. The member of the Sannin gracefully moves away. Naruto manifests one of the Kyuubi's tails. A real one, covered in fur and corporeal. It flicks out full force in Orochimaru's direction. A Bijuu's tail can be devastating, and Naruto isn't exactly worried about collateral damage right now. Orochimaru is knocked back, and the shockwave of the tail devastates the forest before him. However, as the body collides into a tree bent by the wind, it reveals itself to be a splatter of clones.

"Naruto?" Sasuke, genuinely shaken, asks.

"Get out of here!" Naruto shouts. "He's targeting you!"

Orochimaru rises out from the branch Sasuke is standing on. Sasuke leaps back and breathes another ball of fire that Orochimaru dodges by jumping onto another branch.

The branch with Naruto's kunai.

"Not so fast, I've barely even got to have some fun--"

"Would you please just shut the fuck up?" Naruto yells as he manifests right next to Orochimaru, whose sadistic grin is wiped right off of his face. Hands of bubbling red chakra punch out, striking Orochimaru in the diaphragm and the neck. He makes a noise that's a combination of choking, wheezing, and wrenching, and Naruto smiles as he smiles with hauteur. "Your hissing is getting really annoying."

Orochimaru glares at Naruto through his black hair, yellow eyes practically glowing with rage. "Why, you brat." He makes some hand seals and brings his thumb up to his finger, bites, and smears the blood on the tree branch. "Summoning Jutsu."

Naruto leaps back as smoke rapidly fills the air. A serpent rushes out, mouth gaping, and Naruto yelps as its mouth closes around him and it swallows. Moon Goddess, this is disgusting. He shudders as the slimy saliva of the snake coats him. Well, I can't be a ninja if I can't handle some spit. Naruto tries to jump to the kunai he had lodged in the tree, knowing he hadn't anywhere reached his limit yet and could still buy Sakura more time, but finds himself in the snake's stomach anyway.

He's holding the kunai. He's holding the kunai he had left as a way of avoiding attacks and fucking forgot about it. He screams. Not for help, but out of sheer rage. The Kyuubi's chakra burns at the snake's innards, but the beast is far from normal, and it recovers at a miraculous rate. He tries to push the chakra hands out and grimaces as the pressure isn't enough to burst through the snake's digestive tract.

It's then Naruto honest to the Moon and Stars and starts panicking. Sweat starts running in beads down his face, both due to stress and heat, and he starts hyperventilating, the air coming out and in harshly. If Naruto's brain worked properly, he might remember the Flying Raijin kunai he gave to Sakura and Sasuke and would teleport to them. Unfortunately, not only is Naruto under incredibly duress, but his brain does not, in fact, work normally. Thus, the kunai stay forgotten.

But it's then that Naruto feels it, feels something...awaken. It's partial, incomplete. Deep within the recesses of his mind, Naruto understands what this power can do, the devastation it can cause. At first, Naruto thinks it might be the chains certain Uzumaki were able to produce on instinct, the chains that could pierce objects and bind chakra. But no, it's not that at all.

In the dark of the serpent's stomach, Naruto smiles.

Almighty Push.

The snake explodes. Naruto basks in the glory, but his mood is quickly soured by the gore. He's covered in blood! Thank the Moon Goddess that his cloak is stain-proof. Naruto falls onto a tree branch as the snake summon's destroyed corpse poofs away into smoke. He's far away from wherever Orochimaru is, the snake had slithered to some other part of the forest, but he remembers the kunai that he gave to Sasuke. He groans. The Kunai he gave to Sasuke! He could have just used that! Damn his stupid little pea brain!

But when he manifests next to Sasuke, Orochimaru's biting his neck, which has extended, flexible like a snake. Naruto hates the motif, he's not going to lie. Liking snakes and making them your symbol is one thing, but revolving your whole skillset around them? That's just tacky. At least he has both foxes and birds. 

Naruto summons the Kyuubi's chakra again and throws a kunai with increased speed. The kunai tears through the air and embeds itself into Orochimaru's neck, earning little more than a grunt in acknowledgment. Sasuke goes limp next to him and falls over, his body dropping from the tree branch. Naruto summons another kunai and embeds it into the tree. He teleports next to Sasuke, the kunai strung around his waist and grabs onto him, then teleports back to the branch, body slumped over his shoulder.

"I will admit, boy, seeing you use the Fourth Hokage's jutsu is rather shocking but that won't be enough to..." he trails off as he takes Naruto in. "How?" he asks, voice a low growl.

"How what, snakey?" Naruto asks.

"Those eyes...I've only seen them on--" 

"I should be asking about your eyes, Hebi-chan!" Naruto interrupts. "Are they real or contacts?" he mocks.

Hebi-chan, as Naruto has decided to call him, snarls, and charges for him. "I'll be taking your eyes, jinchuuriki."

"I don't think you will." Naruto puts a hand on his hip as Orochimaru's neck darts forward. Almighty Push! A shockwave, the force of which is relative to Naruto's chakra, ripples out in front of Naruto. Hebi-chan's neck and head are forced back first, and then the rest of his body is sent flying through the air. Naruto feels the power he summoned fade, decides that this is an ideal opportunity to haul ass to Sakura, and teleports by her side. 

She squeaks when she realizes Naruto's beside her. The emotions that proceed to flicker across her face almost make Naruto laugh: Fear, surprise, relief, confusion, worry. She asks, "What happened?"

"Orochimaru." Naruto's voice is flat.

"Orochimaru?" she hisses. "One of the Legendary Sannin, that Orochimaru? That was the Kusa Kunoichi?"

"Yup."

"And how is Sasuke-ku--How's Sasuke?" Sakura asks. Naruto pretends not to notice the correction.

"I don't know." Naruto gently places Sasuke's body on the ground and inspects him. There's a gash in his side, where the shirt is ripped open--Naruto cringes because it's a sturdy, quality shirt--and two puncture marks on his neck, where a black mark--shaped like three tomoe, a mitsudomoe--has appeared. Naruto reaches into the fanny pack he carries with him, where a series of organized storage scrolls await. Medical and hygiene supplies are in the second one from the left, and he pulls it out, unrolling it until he fetches a sewing needle and thread, surgical gloves, a water bottle, soap, and bandages. The first thing Naruto does is take the water bottle and soap and rinse the area around the wound. Sasuke groans, brows furrowing as some soap water makes it into the wound, likely causing a stinging sensation. Sakura grabs onto his hand and Sasuke unconsciously clenches it. Naruto tears off some of the gauze and applies pressure. He hopes he doesn't need to sew the wound closed, because he's inexperienced, though he'll do it if he has to. Naruto stays like that for a couple of minutes, changing bandages when they get too bloody. 

Slowly, the blood stops pulsing from the gash on his torso. "Can you help hold Sasuke's upper body up? We need to take off his shirt, then I need to wrap these bandages around his waist." Sakura nods, though her face flushes at the mention of taking off Sasuke's shirt. He had hope when Sakura referred to him as just Sasuke. Old habits must die hard.

When the wound is taken care of, Naruto moves onto the puncture marks on his neck, washing them and summoning smaller, adhesive bandages from his scroll, placing one for each one on his neck.

"Now...what the fuck is this?" Naruto looks over the black marks on Sasuke's body, ignoring the stench of sweat that must be coming from all three of them. "Wait it's not...a seal, is it?"

"A seal?" Sakura asks. "Whatever for?"

Naruto grimaces. "Some seals can affect your biology or psychology, this must be one of them. But...what does it do? Why? And why doesn't it look like a traditional seal array? Unless..."

There's a pause as Naruto thinks. Sakura clears her throat, calling Naruto's attention. "Unless what, Naruto?"

Naruto's face flushes. "Did I just trail off? Sorry. It's possible the seal array was somehow transcribed inside of his circulatory system, and this mark is just an outward signal. That would explain why Orochimaru was biting into Sasuke's neck. It was to pierce the arteries."

"I'm just going to move past the creepy neck biting part. How could Orochimaru transcribe a sealing array without ink?"

"You don't need ink to create a seal. The ink just acts as a tunnel for the chakra, telling it how to move so it can execute a specific function. It's like a jutsu: the chakra needs to move and be shaped a certain way for the jutsu to work properly. You can create a seal purely through chakra, by inscribing with it. A jutsu really is just a type of array: that's why they're called hand seals. You're essentially creating pathways and molding chakra via the human form. But in order for a seal made of pure chakra to work on something other than the human body, it requires inserting chakra into the object of choice. Orochimaru couldn't have inserted his chakra into Sasuke's body because that would have killed him instantly. Unless...unless the seal has a mechanism that either contains it within a certain part, like an organ or gland or has another mechanism that allows Orochimaru's chakra to adapt itself to Sasuke's chakra."

"If you were talking to literally anyone else they would not understand a single thing you were saying. You're lucky I was top Kunoichi." Sakura sighs. "Okay, so we have a theory as to how the seal works, now why? Why would someone like Orochimaru create a seal that probably affects Sasuke's biology or psychology?" Sakura's brow furrows in concentration as she thinks it over.

"Could it have something to do with his search for immortality?" Naruto asks.

"It could, but that brings up another bevy of questions."

Naruto considers, then it dawns on him. "What if it's like, for a type of organ transplanting?"

"What do you mean?"

"Okay, so organs need to be compatible with the host body, right? Or else the body sees the transplanted organ as an enemy and attacks it? What if Orochimaru's seal changes Sasuke's biology so that his organs are compatible with Orochimaru's? It would make sense, especially if he were after the Sharingan. Theoretically, he could create a whole new body with that sort of..." Naruto stops dead in his tracks.

Sakura gulps. "What--what is it, Naruto?"

"Sakura, I don't think he's planning to take Sasuke's eyes. I think he's planning to take Sasuke's body."

Sakura's eyes widen, and then she processes the words, horror sinking into her expression. "If he inserted his chakra into Sasuke's system, then that means it could be adapting Sasuke's body to his chakra, not adapting to Sasuke's. Like--like immunity to poison. Then, when he needs to take over Sasuke's body, however the hell he does that, it's already receptive to his chakra."

There's a pause. "Shit!" Naruto exclaims. Sakura just stares at the markings on his neck, eyes hollow. Naruto shakes his head. "We can't let this stop us. A lot of people probably think the Chuunin Exams are still going on as normal. We need to get to a safe place and wait this out. Survival is more important right now than failure." Naruto starts putting the supplies back in the storage seal. He puts the shirt back on Sasuke and puts his arms through the sleeves. The two pick Sasuke up, stringing an arm around their shoulders, and make their way through the forest. 

The two make it to a bush and hideaway when they hear a feminine voice shout "Gaara!" Naruto looks through the leaves to see the redhead, arms crossed, walk past. Temari follows behind him, protesting Gaara's behavior. "Gaara, why are we going towards that feeling? You felt it! None of us have a chance against that thing, whatever it was!"

"Don't presume to know my strength, Temari." She winces at the mention of her name. Gaara seems callous, neglectful. Yet, Naruto still yearns to interact with him, to talk.

Naruto turns to Sakura. He has to have gone insane to do what he's about to do. "I'm going to distract them, you go take Sasuke and run."

"Naruto!" Sakura hisses, "are you insane?"

"If things get dangerous, I'll just teleport to you, okay? Go!" Naruto turns and jumps out of the bushes. "Hey!"

Temari and Gaara whip around. Gaara's eyes narrow as Temari scoffs. "Great, another twerp to deal with."

"Are you a jinchuuriki?" Naruto asks. Gaara's eyes widen as Temari sucks in a breath.

"How do you--"

"I'm also a jinchuuriki," Naruto says.

Gaara casts his gaze over Naruto as Temari gulps. "You--you're..." She's scared of him, he realizes. Not the hidden, resentful fear of the villagers, but true, heart-pounding fear. Naruto almost finds it thrilling: people in the village have gotten used to him, their fear cooling into hatred and avoidance as time marched on and Naruto developed into a quiet, moody person. But this? Inspiring pure, unadulterated terror? It almost feels like acknowledgment. 

"Ichibi," Gaara states simply.

The Kyuubi scoffs inside of him. "Kyuubi." The two exchange tense stares, before Naruto speaks, "How do people treat you, in your village?"

Gaara's expression doesn't morph once, but Naruto feels him project his bloodlust. Naruto remains stoic. "They fear me. I'm a weapon."

"Do they call you a monster? A demon?" Gaara's stoicism breaks, his eyes widening just a fraction. Naruto realizes he's struck a truth and continues his interrogation. "Do they resent you, stay away from you? Did the children stay away from you when you were young?"

Gaara's eyes narrow again. "What is it to you?"

"They did the same to me. I want to know if it's like that for everyone who's like me."

"Like you?" Gaara repeats. "Does your village also see you as a weapon?" Temari looks at Naruto, then looks at Gaara with surprise. He must not usually engage in conversation like this.

"Yes."

"Then I'll fight you," Gaara states. Naruto doesn't even pretend to be shocked. "I'll fight you and kill you."

"Kill me? Why?" Naruto already knows the answer to that question, but he needs to take this conversation in a very specific direction. He's not going to get much out of Gaara by asking straightforward questions.

"To confirm my existence." Gaara's tone is flat.

"Why would that confirm your existence?"

"Because I am the weapon of my village, and you are the weapon of yours. What else confirms a weapon's existence than being pitted against another weapon?"

"If you're a weapon," Naruto taunts, "then you must be a badly made one."

Naruto can see the tension enter into Gaara's, his face is still neutral, but Naruto can see the effort to keep it such. "What?"

"You're seal's faulty, isn't it?"

"How do you know that?"

Time for the final blow: "What if I could fix it?"

Gaara's brow furrows. There's a pregnant silence. "How?" Temari looks at Gaara like he's grown a second head.

"Well, I'd have to inspect your seal to see what's wrong with it, but depending on how it's sealed, I could do anything from making minor adjustments to a slow--but complete--overhaul."

Thoughtfulness seems to pass through Gaara's mind. "My seal is what allows me to use my power, it is what my existence is based on."

"Who said I was going to take away your power? I would simply make the seal...stronger, keep you more separated from the Ichibi. You'd still be able to draw upon its power, it would simply stop affecting your psyche."

"Separate...me?" Gaara says. Then, he cries out in his pain, bending over as he closes his eyes and holds his skull. "Mother? Mother! Mother doesn't want me to separate from her..."

"Mother? Why would you..." Psychosis, Naruto recalls. That's the word the Kyuubi, a perpetual psychosis. The disconnection from reality. But Naruto said he would separate Gaara from the Ichibi, so why is he talking about his mother? Does he think the Ichibi's whisperings are those of his mother? 

"She says...she says I have to kill you...or else you'll ruin me..." Gaara forces out, sand starting to float from his gourd.

"Are you sure it's your mother?" Naruto asks. "Why would your mother want you to kill me? Why does she think I'd ruin you? Maybe your mother is simply scared, scared that I'd take you out of her clutches."

Gaara doesn't answer, he simply screams as the sand starts surging forward. Naruto throws a kunai to the side and teleports towards, evading the attack. The sand turns, darting to where Naruto went.  If the sand is imbued with chakra...

Naruto reaches into his fanny pack and pulls out a chakra-draining seal. Unraveling it, he deactivates the seal that keeps it small, multiplying its size until it's half as tall as Naruto. Seals might need to be inscribed into objects to affect the specific object, but affecting an area is a totally different thing entirely. As the sand comes near Naruto, the chakra is pulled out of it, causing it to fall lifeless to the ground. Gaara screams again, more sand aimed at Naruto rushing towards him. The seal takes care of it, though, and it falls harmlessly. Naruto continues his verbal assault. "Why should a mother who wants her son to kill be allowed to speak to him? Why should you listen to her? Does she own you?"

Gaara starts panting, mind struggling against the mental domination of the Ichibi, likely trying to free itself. "No...but..."

Naruto interrupts whatever Gaara was going to say, "If she doesn't own you, then I don't see why you have to kill whoever she tells you to. In fact, I don't see why you have to kill at all, really. Are you really a weapon?"

"Wh-what?" Naruto almost feels bad. He's trying to destabilize Gaara, the same way the Kyuubi did all those years ago. It's underhanded, yes, but it serves a greater end. If he can help someone like him, he will.

"Are you really a weapon? Or did someone tell you that?"

"My-my father..." Gaara groans under the pain of the Ichibi's mental assault.

"How do you know they didn't lie?" Naruto asks. "And even if they didn't, even if we were created to be weapons, who says we can't change that? Who says a decision forced upon us can't be rejected?"

"I...am a weapon...that's my purpose..." Gaara pants. He's repeating the words to himself, as if to convince himself. Naruto can tell he's succeeding in his attempt to reach the redhead.

"Gaara," Naruto says, making his voice gentle. Gaara looks up at Naruto, tears running down his face--likely out of mental pain--and Naruto sees a certain openness in them, a vulnerability to suggestion. All of Gaara's sand lies defeated on the floor. Naruto rolls the scroll back up and shrinks it, storing it back away in his fanny pack."Let me help you, let yourself choose. We are all weapons, that is the nature of being a Shinobi. Do all Shinobi kill to confirm their existence? Do all Shinobi follow the orders of their superiors? Or do some break away, forge their own path, live by their own ideals?"

Gaara's breathing slows. He seems to have held back the mental assault of the Ichibi, he straightens his back and returns his face to a neutral expression. "You...what is your name?"

Naruto smiles. "Uzumaki Naruto."

Gaara begins to turn away but keeps his eyes trained on Naruto. "Uzumaki Naruto...we will meet again." His sand returns to him, reimbued with chakra, and he walks away.

Naruto teleports to Sakura, who yelps in surprise. "You're alive?" she asks, flabbergasted. "You're alive!" She leaps and envelops Naruto into a hug. "I thought you were a goner!"

"Gee...have a little more faith in me, would you?"

Sakura pulls away. "You fought Orochimaru, and then you fought that scary Suna guy. Don't blame me for thinking you were in over your head!"

Naruto scoffs and takes in Sasuke, who's gone from unconscious to tossing in turning. Naruto hears little whimpers escape his lips and feels a pang of pity. "I think I have some painkillers." Naruto reaches for the medical supplies' scroll and looks for the "painkillers" label.

"How much stuff do you have in those?" Sakura asks.

"...A lot. Ah! Here they are." Naruto summons the bottle of white tablets. Then he reaches for the scroll containing food, mostly made up of Shinobi rations and cup ramen, and drinking water. Objects stored in storage scrolls remain in the state they were stored in, so the water is just as cool as it was when he put it however long ago. In fact, Naruto has a specific section of the scroll that contains finished cup ramen. "Sasuke?" Naruto says, wondering if he can wake the boy up. He'd rather Sasuke feed himself the medicine than force-feed it to him. "Sasuke?" Naruto says again, prodding Sasuke's cheek.

Sasuke groans and slowly stops moving, his breath evening as he mutters a quiet, groggy, "Naruto?"

"Hi," Naruto says cheekily. Sasuke's eyes blink open and glazed onyx take in Naruto.

"Naruto..." he says. "Sakura...what...where's..."

"Orochimaru? He's not a problem for now," Naruto dismisses. "Do you feel any pain right now?" Naruto asks. Sasuke nods groggily. "Can you tell me where?"

"Ev-Everywhere." Sasuke's neck...twitches? Naruto isn't really sure what just happened, but it worries him still.

"I have some painkillers, Sasuke. Do you think you can take them by yourself?"

Sasuke nods and his neck twitches again, forcing his head to tilt. Sasuke's eyes widen in alarm. "What--" his words are muffled as his jaw deviates to the side, and his neck spasms again. "What is--what is happening?"

Worry floods into Naruto. "This is involuntary, right? You aren't controlling these...spasms?"

Sasuke shakes his head as his jaw deviates again. "Ow, fuck!" 

Naruto unscrews the water bottle. He lifts Sasuke's head up, trying to keep it in place, despite the way his neck muscles seem to be throwing it to the side, and drops a white tablet into his mouth. He holds the water bottle up to Sasuke's lips and Sasuke drinks like he's dying of thirst. The good thing about drinking the water is that seems to force the deviations of his jaw to stop. It doesn't stop the neck muscle spasms, however, and forcible tilts again. Naruto moves the water bottle away, preventing him from getting soaked. "Thank--thank you," he gets out. 

"Don't speak," Naruto orders, but there's no force in his voice, no bite. Sasuke nods. 

"This is obviously a side effect of Orochimaru's chakra," Sakura says, stress evident in her voice. "It must be stimulating some nerves or something, forcing his muscles to spasm."

"Okay, I'm not out of my mind to say fuck the test, right? We have to get Sasuke to somewhere he can be treated. I say we rush to the building in the center if it's close enough. Or..."

"Or what, Naruto? Stop trailing off!"

"I can teleport the three of us into my apartment, that will get us out of danger fast. Does that sound good with you two?"

Sakura nods as Sasuke shakes his head. He speaks up, speech muddled by the way his jaw is forced to one side or the other, "I'm not...giving up..."

"Sasuke!" Naruto is surprised by the emotion in his own voice. Sasuke just looks at Naruto, eyes wide. "Are you listening to yourself? An S-rank missing-nin just inserted his chakra into your body! You could die if we don't get you medical treatment fast enough!"

Sasuke swallows, and nods. Naruto grabs Sasuke's arm and Sakura's and one moment they're in Training Ground 44 and the next they're in Naruto's small, dusty apartment. 

Sakura scans her premise once the surprise fades away. "This is...not what I expected." Sasuke hums beside her in agreement, awe-struck eyes scanning his floors and walls. Naruto's apartment would be pretty sparse, empty of most furniture except his bed, drawers, and tables. The thing is, however, Naruto has a hobby. A creative one.

His wooden floors are strewn about with fabrics of varying qualities and colors. Tulles and crepes, velours and felts: the results of years of saved stipends and unspent D-rank rewards. Naruto has been occasionally self-destroying in his attempt to collect textiles and books full of sewing patterns. He can remember days where his ribs poked out and hunger knawed, sharp and nauseating, in his stomach. He bore through it, though: The apricot jersey was worth all the skipped lunches. It filled up empty hours in dull, repetitive days. Food was momentary, lasted little more than a couple of minutes, but fabrics and threads and patterns? Those filled mental cravings for hours, days on end.

Then there are his walls: frames upon frames of embroidered grey muslin. Flowers, birds, butterflies. bees. Dragons, qilins, phoenixes, foxes. There are people, too: A mother holding the hand of her child, a young woman picking flowers. A dizzying array of tableaus so dense that some overlap with each other, the extra muslin that sticks out of the frames creating ruffles on Naruto's walls. Naruto thinks he's put more hours into embroidering than he has into training, something that reveals itself in the quality of his stitch. The one thing he will always, unequivocably pride himself on is his needlework, no matter what Konoha will claim of its muliebrity. Someone could spit on him and call him effete and Naruto would not care: he can out-stitch the gods themselves, after all.

"I had no idea you were this good. You might be better than our seamstress!" Sakura exclaims.

Sasuke, in lieu of talking, nods emphatically and hums. When his head is involuntarily thrown back, Naruto is reminded of the situation. "Sasuke, you can still jump around, right?" Sasuke grunts in affirmation and Naruto opens his window. "Follow me, then. It's quicker if we go atop the ceilings."

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura wait in the seats of the ER lobby. Sasuke, whose spasms have also moved to his back, grunts as he clenches his jaw.

"Does it still hurt?" Sakura asks. 

Sasuke nods, "I'm just super annoying," Sasuke says, but he's...lisping?

"Wait, why did you lisp just now?" Naruto asks.

"I've been biting...my tongue. It helps stop the jaw spasms."

"Don't do that, what if you bite it off or it bleeds?" Naruto gently chides. "Try biting something else, like your arm guards or your shirt." Sasuke, surprisingly uncombative, nods and brings his arm to his mouth.

"It's been an hour and a fucking half," Sakura hisses. "What in the Moon and Stars is taking the nurses so long?"

"I think they're understaffed," Naruto supplies. He hopes they're not avoiding getting to Sasuke because he's there. The possibility has turned over in Naruto's mind, causing guilt and rage to bubble up in his mind and settle in his stomach. "You know what? I'm just gonna go ahead with my idea." Naruto takes the scroll--this one containing Bosatsu squid ink, a brush, and empty scrolls--and summons the supplies needed to make a seal. "If this is caused by chakra being in you, we just gotta take the chakra out of you, right?" Naruto posits and he settles his supplies over the floor. Sasuke, despite the spasms throwing his head around like a hollow gourd in the wind, bends over in curiosity to watch the sealmaking process. It's an adjustment to the chakra-draining seal he used on Gaara's sand: it drains less chakra, for one. Naruto, eyelids heavy with exhaustion, doesn't have the mental faculties to figure out how to create a whole new array for the purpose of draining foreign chakra, so he settles on a lesser version of a chakra-draining seal. He turns to Sasuke. "Shirt. Off." 

Sasuke's face flushes and he looks to Sakura for help, whose own face reddens. Still, she nods and Naruto presses the seal to the mark on Sasuke's shoulder. "Do you feel the seal?" Naruto asks and Sasuke hums in affirmation. "Tell me when you feel it start to drain your chakra." 

They wait for ten more minutes until Sasuke speaks up, "It's hitting my chakra now." Naruto removes the seal from Sasuke's body and grimaces as the spasms haven't let down. 

"I'm gonna reapply the seal for five more minutes, okay?" Naruto keeps his voice as gentle as possible, trying to imitate what a nurse probably sounds like. A couple of minutes into the reapplication, the spasms start to slow. 

"The spasms or whatever they're called," Sasuke says, "they're less severe now." 

"Do you want me to take the seal off?" Sasuke nods. Naruto keeps the array nearby, though, just in case Sasuke needs it again.

At last, the spasms stop entirely, and Sasuke sighs, tears coming into his eyes. "Thank the gods," he mutters. Naruto takes in Sasuke. There's sweat running down chest and torso, and the bandages wrapped around his side are bloodied. Parts of him are marked with dirt and grime, and heavy bags bloom under his eyes. Sasuke leans back in the padded chair. Without looking at Naruto, he mutters a soft, "Thank you, Naruto."

"No need to thank me, Sasuke. It's the least I could do." Naruto gives Sasuke a warm smile. Sasuke reaches to pull up a standing collar that isn't there, and Naruto chuckles gently when Sasuke's face flushes in embarrassment. Naruto reaches for another scroll as he tidies up his supplies, this one containing spare clothes--basically his whole closet. He fetches a folded pile of t-shirts, hoping Sasuke's and his measurements are close. He fetches something black, knowing Sasuke would be the most okay with that, and hands it to him.

Sasuke's eyes just pass over the shirt, uncomprehending, and looks back at Naruto curiously. "I'm giving it to you, dumbass, you seem pretty chilly over there." 

Sasuke stammers out, "O-oh, thanks,  but I can just wear my shirt."

"No, I'm gonna fix that one up, you wear this." Sasuke awkwardly takes the shirt from Naruto's hand and puts it over his head. It's a little short, and will probably ride up if he bends over, but that's not a concern for a man waiting in the ER. Naruto grabs Sasuke's shirt and fetches a needle and black thread.

"When did you learn to sew, anyway?" Sakura asks, keeping her voice neutral as her foot taps furiously and impatiently on the tiled floor.

"It's a useful skill to have," Naruto says. "Especially because I live alone. I can make my own clothes for cheap! And they fit better too."

"Is it hard, making clothes?"

"I've had my fair share of breakdowns, I won't lie," Naruto answers truthfully as he brings the needle through the blue fabric. "I'm distractable and unfocused as it is, so sometimes it takes me even longer than usual, so I either make a garment all in one go, or take weeks, but it's super rewarding to wear a shirt you yourself made. If you enjoy it, the difficulty is worth it."

Sasuke's voice is soft when he speaks up, "My grandmother liked sewing." Naruto smiles at the awkwardness as Sasuke fiddles with his fingers. He seems almost childlike at the moment.

Naruto decides to play off of Sasuke's non-sequitur. "Did she make clothes, too?"

Sasuke nods, "She did, but only as a hobby. The clan...we had a seamstress and a tailor, they made my clothes when I was younger. That shirt is from an atelier in the Market District."

"A private atelier? This probably cost more than my whole closet, then." Naruto chuckles.

Sasuke flushes, "It was only thirty Ryo."

Naruto gapes, "Only thirty Ryo? How much money do you have? Thirty Ryo is three yards of good brocade!"

Sasuke's face reddens even more, "I didn't know it was a lot...Guess I should shop somewhere else, then."

"Nah," Naruto says, "for thirty Ryo? This is such good quality it puts my sewing to shame."

"Did you make this shirt?" Sasuke asks. Naruto hums in affirmation. "This is pretty well made, I should pay you to make my clothes instead." He chuckles at the end.

"No way," Sakura chimes in, "Naruto's future side-hustle as a seamster?"

"Yeah, like anyone would let me make clothes for them." It comes out without meaning to and instantly kills the mood. He almost slaps himself. They were talking! Conversing like actual teammates! Why did he have to go ruin it with the whole outcast act?

The gods have chosen that time, fortunately, to send a nurse over. Sasuke's spasms start over again, starting soft and increasing over time. Sasuke, groaning as his head gets thrown around and jaw moves from side to side, gets placed on one on a pale blue ER stretcher after some basic tests. They put some medicine into an IV and hook him up. They tell him that what he's going through is called dystonia, and that the medicine, diphenhydramine, should make it stop, at least temporarily.

Sasuke's eyes droop closed but he forces them to stay awake. Naruto, who's sitting on the stretcher aside Sasuke, asks, "How are you feeling?"

"...Tired," he mumbles, "and cold."

"Yeah, an IV will do that to you," the nurse comments. She unfolds a blanket and drapes it over Sasuke. "And the drowsiness is from the medicine we gave you. Try to go to sleep, okay, sweetie?" Sasuke nods.

A couple of minutes later, Sasuke, eyes closed, mumbles out a "Still...cold..." Naruto sighs as he unhooks his cloak, grimacing at the caked blood, and drapes it over Sasuke. As Naruto gets off, Sasuke grabs a hold of Naruto's hand. "Naruto...I'd let you...make my clothes...then everyone would see...how good you are..."

Naruto pauses, looking at Sasuke's exhausted eyes as his own prick with tears, "Thank you, Sasuke."

Naruto and Sakura fall asleep in Sasuke's hospital room, Naruto having given Sakura the futon he carries in a storage scroll. Naruto sleeps on the lone padded chair in the air-conditioned room, neck bent uncomfortably. He makes a note to pack a neck pillow with him. Naruto summons himself into his mindscape, because he has some questions for the Kyuubi.

"What the fuck was that?" Naruto exclaims as he paces.

"The Rinnegan," The Kyuubi answers.

"What the fuck is the Rinnegan!?" Naruto's voice cracks rather embarrassingly on the last word.

"A doujutsu," The Kyuubi answers.

"Since when did I have a doujutsu?"

"You didn't. I helped you awaken it." Naruto sputters, but the Kyuubi continues, "You had the potential to gain it, you simply needed...the other pieces."

"And why didn't you tell me that I had a secret doujutsu?"

"I've been busy aiding in the development of the Rinnegan. Keeping my chakra shaped in a difficult construct requires my entire focus. Therefore, you can say I was too occupied."

Naruto grumbles. "Okay, I'll accept that. What does this Rinnegan do?"

"Many things. You have, however, only a limited one as of now. All it can do is manipulate attractive and repulsive forces, but eventually, you'll be able to manipulate everything from your own body to life itself."

"...Shit." The Kyuubi snorts. "So you've been busy...is that why you haven't been on my ass about helping Sasuke?"

There's a pause, then, "Perhaps it was because I was busy. But it would be actively to your own detriment to let the Uchiha die now. It would cast too much suspicion on you. His death can wait."

Naruto doesn't protest. He might want Sasuke to live, to wear the clothes he makes, and make good on his promise. But he has his promise to the Kyuubi, too. And that promise supersedes all others.

It's the next morning when Sakura and Naruto, with Kakashi-sensei, stand in front of the Hokage to give a report on the incident. Apparently, it had taken every Shinobi in charge of the exams four hours to realize that Team 7 had truly and genuinely left the forest, and another two hours for them to think of searching the hospital. Naruto is thoroughly unimpressed.

He retells the events of the exams with clinical detachment, as he's been told a Shinobi should, casting his eyes down respectfully as he goes through the events of the first day of the Forest of Death. He leaves out his knowledge that Gaara is a jinchuuriki, but decides to reveal that he knows the Flying Raijin seal, mixing truth with a lie as he claims that the Fourth Hokage had left chakra implanted in his seal in such a way that it would give him information about fuuinjutsu over time. When asked just what he knew about the Fourth Hokage, Naruto shrugged and told the Old Man that all he knew was that there was a connection between Lord Fourth and him and that Lord Fourth was good at sealing.

The revelation that the Chuunin Exams will continue leaves Naruto unsurprised. It would be too complicated of an affair to cancel one of the most important diplomatic events in recent history. Still, Naruto's opinion in the village is once again validated by the knowledge that it's willing to risk the lives of important future ninja to avoid embarrassing itself.

The Hokage makes Naruto agree to a future appointment with Morino Ibiki, head of T&I, to expand upon the whole Dead-Hokage-feeding-him-information thing, and the three are let go.

Naruto should've known better than to hope. Where else has hope got him other than misery?

Whatever progress he thought he was making with Sasuke is basically flushed down the drain: Sasuke rarely deigns to look in Naruto's direction, let alone strike up a conversation. The words spoken in the ER are forgotten. Sakura fawns over Sasuke, flooding him with questions and pampering he clearly doesn't want. There's something different in them, however. Something in Sasuke has softened, and he takes Sakura's overbearingness with far more patience and kindness than Naruto would expect as he sits in his hospital bed. Sakura, for her part, has lost some of her obsequiousness. There's a certain...equality between them, now.

An equality Naruto isn't a part of. It leaves a grapefruit-bitter taste in his mouth.

Still, he's a dutiful teammate, so he visits Sasuke the next few days and pokes and prods at Sasuke's seal, examines what he can, and analyzes the chakra he drained from it in a search for a way to reverse whatever the seal does.

In the meanwhile, he hears of a preliminary tournament between the successful examinees of the second round, and that gets his gears turning. Being a ninja is rather...influential. It gets someone a level of privilege that cannot be bought within Konoha. If Konoha was genuinely dedicated to the production and maintenance of its own military, then there would be no such thing as "too many people passing the second test." There are two reasons that Konoha would have to limit the number of people passing the test. The first is that they are trying to limit the amount of Chuunin that the other villages acquire. The second is that they are trying to limit the amount of Chuunin their own village acquires. The first makes sense as it strategically weakens potential rivals. But why would Konoha weaken itself?

It makes sense if Naruto considers the weight being a Shinobi carries. The heights to which the title can carry someone is truly mindboggling. They're top of the hierarchy and are the only group allowed to work in administrative governmental positions. They act as representatives of the village wherever they go and are privy to violent and destructive art capable of destroying acres of land. Such a role has to be safeguarded, kept away from the grubby hands of the hoi polloi, or else too many people would become too powerful, and if they became too powerful then who's to say they wouldn't change what they don't like?

Or maybe not, he's too tired for this shit.

Naruto is rotting in his bed, as usual, when someone wraps at his door. He sits up, brows furrowing, and waits a couple of seconds for another round of knocks to make sure he isn't hearing things. When he hears them again he cautiously gets out of bed and sneaks his way over to his door. No one visits Naruto, so who the hell is knocking?

Naruto takes a peek through the peephole and visibly startles when he sees Gaara, arms crossed and face vacant, standing in front of his door. Then he almost laughs because the sight of a completely stoic Gaara fishbowled by the peephole lens is incredibly amusing. Naruto sucks in a breath, gathers himself, and opens the door.

"Hello," Naruto says.

Gaara nods, "Hello."

A pause. "Not to be rude, but, why are you here?"

Gaara's face does not shift. "I said we would meet again, did I not?"

"So you...sought out my address?" Naruto inches back a little. Gaara remains silent and stares at Naruto with teal eyes. "Um...would you like to come in?"

He nods and takes a step in, as he bends down to remove his sandals, Naruto says, "I'd keep them on, you might step on a sewing needle."

"The sand will protect my feet," Gaara says.

"Oh..." Naruto scratches the back of his head. "You can sit on the couch. I guess you're here about the seal?" Gaara nods. "Okay, so does that mean you've accepted my offer?" Gaara nods again. "So, just to be extra, extra sure: You want me to adjust your seal so that the Ichibi is quartered off from your brain?"

"Yes," Gaara says, and there's a seed of satisfaction in Naruto's chest when he thinks he hears annoyance in the redhead's voice.

"Okay, let me see your seal." 

Gaara nods and lifts up his shirt, and a layer of sand parts away (some sort of shell, Naruto realizes). A seal--far more complex than the one Naruto has on his stomach--slowly appears on his stomach. It's full of connective lines and symbolic lunar characters, all scrawled on so tinily that you'd almost have to use a magnifying glass to determine what does what. The chakric pathways and gates spiderwebbing in a blob on his stomach. Naruto whistles as he looks it over. "Okay...this is gonna end up taking a while."

"Why?" Gaara asks. Or at least, Naruto thinks he's asking: his tone is flat. 

"This seal is...complex, to say the least. It's so intricate that I'd need to study every part of it before I can theorize how to change it. I'm gonna need a magnifying glass, so come back around tomorrow."

Gaara seems...miffed at the suggestion of having to wait, but nods nonetheless and leaves. When the next day comes around, and Naruto has bought a magnifying glass, Gaara lays down on Naruto's floor, his shirt lifted up, and Naruto diligently copies the sealing array. In complete silence.

It is, to Naruto's surprise, Gaara who breaks the silence. "Will this new seal let me sleep?"

Naruto raises a brow. "What do you mean? Does the seal keep you from sleeping?"

Gaara hums. "If I go to sleep, Shukaku possess me."

"So you just...don't sleep?"

Gaara shakes his head. "No, I spend all my hours awake."

Naruto stares at Gaara, slackjawed. "How?"

"Medication."

"Shit! Are you ever tired?"

There's a pause, then Gaara nods. "I am."

"Well, I am able to sleep, so improving your seal should definitely help you with that whole issue," Naruto says with a smile.

Gaara hums.

"Does your seal give you any other issues?"

A considering look passes over Gaara's face as he debates telling Naruto what other side affects the Ichibi's presence within him gives him. "Pain."

"Pain? What sort of pain?" Naruto asks, lifting his face from his scroll to give Gaara an inquisitive look.

Gaara seems genuinely surprised that Naruto is asking such a question if the way his eyebrows--or area that his eyebrows would be if he had them--rise is any indication. He searches for the words. "Just...pain, strong aches, especially...in my joints."

Naruto's tone takes on a concerned edge. "Does it come in episodes?"

Gaara shakes his head. "It's constant. It doesn't stop, or relent."

That was...worrying, to say the least. Gaara is experiencing the mad whisperings of a chakra beast, chronic exhaustion, chronic pain, and social isolation, which paints the opposite of a pretty picture for his mental health. "What makes you think it's a result of the Ichibi?"

"What else could it be?" Gaara asks.

"Well, there are a whole host of reasons you might be experiencing chronic pain," Naruto says. "But, the more I think about it, the more likely it seems: the chakra of the Bijuu corrodes natural tissue, so if the seal is very weak in its separation of you and the Ichibi, then more of its chakra would cause pain. The problem is...it would also cause a host of other health issues by damaging literally everything in your body. But I'm not a medical expert, so you'd have to see a medic-nin about that. Do you get regularly examined?" Gaara shakes his head. "That's...highly irresponsible of the government of Suna. You could die if the complications get bad enough!"

"I could?" Gaara asks.

Naruto nods emphatically. "Yes! Having foreign chakra in your system is never good."

"So then...how do medic-nin heal people?"

"Medic-nin are trained for years in how specifically to mold their chakra so that it doesn't damage the human body, the Ichibi is not." Gaara snorts and Naruto nearly jumps for joy in finally getting a positive reaction out of the redhead.

The silence for the rest of the session as Naruto copies Gaara's seal is much more companionable, less hostile, and Naruto finds himself aching when his hand cramps and Gaara has to leave.

Gaara comes back multiple times that first week after the second phase of the Chuunin Exams, and slowly, but surely, Gaara starts opening up. It's funny, honestly, because Gaara has the social awareness of a bag of rocks (or sand, in this case).

"Why is your face...like that?" 

"Excuse me?" 

Gaara's face flushes from where he's laying across the floor. "Ah, I mean...why do you have those whiskers."

"Oh, these? They're imprints the Kyuubi left on me when I was gestating."

"The Kyuubi was sealed into you before you were born?" 

"No, he was sealed inside my mother when she was pregnant with me."

"Oh. Shukaku was sealed in a teapot before it was sealed inside of me."

Naruto bursts into laughter. "You're kidding!" Gaara shakes his head. "Well, at least the fox wasn't sealed in a teapot."

If I was I would've attempted to end your miserable race far earlier. Naruto chuckles.

Gaara looks at Naruto curiously. "Oh, that was the Kyuubi. He made a joke." Gaara looks at Naruto like he's grown a second head. "Yeah, I guess your partner doesn't do that...it's fine, though. Soon, you won't be hearing his voice at all!" Naruto smiles.

It's then that Naruto thinks he sees a spark of hope in Gaara's eyes, and Naruto realizes just how badly Gaara has grown to want this. Naruto would, too, if he had to listen to the mad ravings of a chakra demon all day and couldn't sleep. 

Naruto is a tad bit obsessed with fixing Gaara's seal. After copying it completely onto the scroll, Naruto spends hours pouring over how it works, mapping out how each channel connects to the Lunar Characters, and creates a network designed to keep the entire Ichibi in his stomach. 

Gaara keeps coming around, and Naruto starts offering him ramen. Gaara accepts, and eyes the steaming styrofoam cup suspiciously. "What is this?"

"Ramen," Naruto says matter-of-factly.

"Oh...I've never had ramen before."

Naruto's eyes widen. "You've never had ramen ever?"

Gaara shakes his head. "My father would have Shinobi drop food off at the doorstep of my apartment. It was all military rations. Does ramen taste good?"

"Well, it does to me. It's my favorite food. Sometimes I wish I could make more stuff, though."

"You can't cook?" Gaara asks.

Naruto shakes his head as he looks over the copied seal to see if he can make adjustments. "Nope. Cooking is expensive. I'd have to buy all the kitchen equipment and crockery and groceries. Then I'd have to keep track of expiration dates and spoiling food. I can't even bring myself to keep track of the date, let alone dates on which foodstuffs expire."

Gaara nods and slurps up some noodles with the wooden chopsticks. "It's very flavorful."

"Wait until you've had Ichiraku's stuff, that's where the real flavor is!"

"Ichiraku's?"

"Yeah, they make the best ramen! Not like this cheap stuff."

"Can you take me there?"

Naruto nods. "Of course! Now, back to the subject at hand: This seal is complex, Gaara. So complex that figuring out exactly how it works will take a while. Despite the complexity, however, I can already observe some mistakes from whoever created this seal. It's imprecise, loose, and chock full of logical holes and conflicting elements. I'm probably going to do a complete overhaul, which will also take a while. I can, for now, create a seal that entirely blocks off the presence of the Ichibi, but that'll also block out your ability to draw on its chakra."

Gaara, slurping up noodles, pauses to consider. He seems to debate it in his mind before settling on yes. Naruto takes out another scroll and a pencil and scribbles down notes and plans for the temporary seal. Gaara, seated at Naruto's couch, peers over Naruto's shoulder from where he sits on the floor. In half an hour, Naruto has finished. "Okay, Gaara, I'm gonna need you to lift up your shirt and show me the seal again." Gaara nods and lifts up his shirt as Naruto channels chakra into his fingertips. Naruto breathes in deeply and then touches his fingers to Gaara's stomach. Gaara hisses at the pain caused by foreign chakra in his system, but it's over in a few seconds and Naruto watches as new black marks encircle the asymmetrical seal on Gaara's abdomen.

When Naruto looks into Gaara's eyes, he looks at a loss for words.

"Okay, how are you feeling?" Naruto asks.

Gaara bursts into tears.

"G-Gaara? What's wrong? Did it not work?" Naruto asks worriedly.

Gaara shakes his head as he wipes his tears away with his arm. "It worked, it definitely worked, and...and I'm...I can't explain what I'm feeling. Everything is so quiet, so much more peaceful."

Naruto puts his hand on Gaara's shoulder. "And do you still want to kill?"

"I-I don't think I do." 

"Well, that's progress!" Naruto encourages. Gaara gives him a nod, and Naruto sees a spark of joy in Gaara's eyes.

In the quiet of his room, when it's dark outside and Naruto's room is bathed the orange-yellow light cast by the street lights outside, Naruto wonders when he stopped dreaming. Naruto's memories of things to be hazy and incomplete, and so he can't truly recall when his descent into pessimism started. Maybe it started when the Kyuubi revealed the secrets around his past. 

Did his optimism die all at once? Slaughtered like cattle? Or was it a slow, drawn-out death? A decay that Naruto fought against? Did Naruto fight it all?

Naruto can't imagine his current self fighting against anything, really. Naruto is like a dandelion seed floating in the air; at the mercy of whichever direction the wind of fate blows. He used to be a veritable hellion, fond of pranking and attracting attention to himself, not at all the morose and bitter person he is now. 

Becoming Hokage was Naruto's entire raison d'etre for so long, but now Naruto can see that what he really wanted was recognition, attention, acknowledgment. He still does, desperately so. He aches for the way Tsunami-san smiled and hugged him, the way Haku would sit in the fields with him and enjoy the quiet. It's quiet in Naruto's apartment, too. But it's a different quiet, lifeless and eerie, reminding him of how alone he is. 

He laughs bitterly at the idea of having companionship with anyone, let alone his team. Sakura and Sasuke have seemingly disregarded him, Sakura too focused on Sasuke, Sasuke too focused on ruminating. 

Naruto doesn't have any friends, not anymore. There's nothing that truly tethers him here, aside from law. There is no loyalty to the village in his heart, no duty he truly cares for. It would be nice, if Naruto could just leave, go to a place where no one knows who he is and settle down, perhaps work under a tailor or seamstress.

The fantasy of a life he could have, if he was brave enough, plays through his head.

"Can I...can I sleep here?" Gaara asks tentatively.

Naruto shrugs. "I don't see why not. Have you slept at all since I sealed the Ichibi entirely?"

Gaara shakes his head. "I don't want to reveal that there's a change in the seal. If I stop taking my medication it'll look suspicious. I can't sleep at the inn."

"That makes sense. I'll grab a futon."

Gaara is out like a light on the futon Naruto has laid out on the bed, face more peaceful than Naruto has ever seen it. And he stays asleep for hours. When the sun starts to set, he considers waking the redhead up but decides against it. Who's Naruto to interrupt the first rest this kid has gotten in years? 

Turns out Gaara sleeps like a rock. Naruto goes to bed at 12 AM, and when Naruto wakes up at 8 AM to the sound of his alarm, Gaara is still asleep, not even changing positions since he went to bed. Naruto lets the alarm continue ringing to see if Gaara will wake up.

He does not wake up.

"Gaara," Naruto calls out. "Gaara!" He prods Gaara's body with his foot.

The redhead's eyes shoot open, and he looks confusedly at his surroundings, before spotting Naruto, sitting at the bed. "What's happening?"

"It's 8 AM...you slept for 20 hours."

Gaara's eyes widen in surprise. "20 hours?"

Naruto nods. "Makes sense, though. If I hadn't slept for years I'd probably sleep for a whole month. How was your first night of rest?"

"I want to go back to sleep," Gaara says. 

Naruto chuckles. "That's fine. Sleeping for too long can be a bad thing, though, so watch out for that."

"So I can keep sleeping?" Gaara asks.

Naruto hums in affirmation and Gaara closes his eyes. Naruto watches as his breath evens, falling under the spell of rest, before he unravels the scroll containing his copy of Gaara's seal, and starts working through possible solutions. He brainstorms and plans out for twenty minutes before his attention span runs out and he makes his way into his living room-kitchen-dining room and decides to work on the ocher cloak like he's been meaning to. 

Since he lacks a sewing machine, every time he makes his clothes, he has to hand-stitch everything himself. It's a laborious, finger-aching process, and one that takes a large amount of time in his day. More often than not, his focus fizzles out after fifteen to twenty minutes, and his mind drifts off as he pushes the needle through the fabric and, in a moment of carelessness, he ends up pricking his own finger. Naruto sucks in a breath through his teeth and moves his finger so no blood drips onto the cashmere. The wound is already closed by the time Naruto makes it to the sink, and he washes the blood away.

Gaara walks out of the room an hour later, stretching his back and yawning. "What are you doing?" He asks, peering over Naruto's shoulder to look at his project. 

"Making myself a cloak," Naruto answers. "But not just any cloak! A super cool Shinobi cloak!"

"A Shinobi cloak? But this doesn't look like the fabric that makes up flak jackets."

"I use a bunch of seals to make it stronger than that flak jacket crap," Naruto says. "Plus, it's gonna look super intimidating! I hope it will, at least. I don't wanna look edgy or anything, that's Sasuke's brand."

"Uchiha Sasuke...he's your teammate?"

Naruto nods. "We're barely a team, if I'm being honest. But yeah, he was top in my class at the Academy."

"Oh. What position were you?"

Naruto's face flushes. He utters a quiet, "Last place."

Gaara pauses. "I've never been to a school before. What's it like?"

"Loud, distracting. For some people it's fun. I guess I would've enjoyed it more if I had any friends." He's thought about it many times, and everytime he thinks back to it, Naruto aches. It's a gut reaction, at this point, to blame himself for his own alienation. Maybe if he had been quieter, maybe if he had been nicer, had been less abrasive and combative, then people might've liked him. Naruto had curled up inside of himself upon learning everything the village hid from him. He avoided Shikamaru and Chouji, and dismissed Kiba's suggestion to skip classes with a polite smile and nod. Had he reached out more, would he be friends with them? "Kids usually hang out in groups. Sometimes they were really mean to each other. I was mostly ignored."

"Oh. I was tutored by my uncle, the brother of my mother. People stayed away from me, too."

Naruto shrugs. "I guess that's just the reality of being a Jinchuuriki."

"Did you embroider all these?" 

"The frames on the wall? Yup!" Naruto smiles proudly. "You can even see my progression on some of them."

"Who taught you?"

"The Kyuubi."

Gaara mutters, "I wish the Ichibi taught me useful things."

"Like what? How to make Bijuu tea?"

The redhead snorts, and takes a seat on Naruto's busted couch, which creaks as it takes on his weight. "What do you do all day?"

Naruto considers. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"I barely have the motivation to get out of bed and take a shower. Even if I want to do something, or know I should do something, there's, like, a mental wall that stops me from doing it. So I usually end up starting something and then getting interrupted by something else, and finishing neither of the tasks I start. Sometimes, though, I spend hours on something that keeps my attention. I made an earlier version of this cloak like three weeks ago in a day, but I hated how it looked so much that I scrapped it. I've been meaning to make it for a while now, but just...haven't."

Gaara hums, and they sit in quiet for a moment, until Gaara's stomach rumbles.

"Okay, so the only thing I stock up on when it comes to food is ramen. Are you okay with that?" Gaara nods and Naruto gets up, filling the electric kettle with water and setting it aside to boil. 

"You don't cook?" Gaara asks.

Naruto shakes his head. "It's not that I don't cook. I don't know how."

"The Kyuubi didn't teach you how?"

"Nope. Cooking supplies and groceries are super expensive. I've wanted to learn, though. I don't think I'd do a good job, in all honesty." Naruto chuckles as he scratches the back of his head. "I'd probably set the apartment on fire." He pours the hot water into the styrofoam cup and waits. "Can you cook?"

"No. I wasn't taught how, either."

"We should learn together, then!" Naruto smiles. Gaara doesn't respond, just looks at the floor. The reaction makes Naruto's smile falter. Did he say something wrong? Or does Gaara not want to cook with him? Does Gaara...dislike him? Naruto swallows and looks off to the side, voice quieter when he ask, "When do you have to go back to the inn?"

"I don't have to."

"What?"

"None of the Jounin sent here are strong enough to control me," Gaara explains, "so they let me go wherever I want. I mostly wander through the night." Gaara yawns, and Naruto hands him the finished ramen.

Naruto is at a loss for words. "So your village, or at least the Suna delegation, just lets you, the Jinchuuriki, do whatever the hell you want in a foreign Shinobi village?"

Gaara shrugs. "It's the reality of the situation. I'm stronger than them, and I've killed Suna Jounin before, so they fear me too much to tell me what to do."

"So you can just stay here?" Naruto asks.

Gaara nods. "If you don't mind, can I, uh, can I stay with you?" His face flushes as he asks the question.

Every thought of Gaara not liking Naruto is thrown out of the window. Gaara wants to stay here with him? The smile that makes its way onto Naruto's face is so big it hurts. "Of course!"

To absolutely no one's surprise, Gaara sleeps a lot. He drifts off early and wakes late, staying unconscious even when Naruto's alarm starts crying. Throughout the day, Gaara is somnolent, with bags under his half-lidded eyes. He's constantly yawning and rubbing at his eyes. Three days ago, he had gone and brought his luggage from Suna, including a toothbrush and changes of clothes. On day four, Gaara surprised Naruto by bringing back a bunch of books, including tankobon volumes of various manga.

"How much cash do you have?" Naruto asks as he lays the books out on the floor.

"A lot," Gaara responds. Naruto looks over the covers, and finds everything from anatomy textbooks for medic-nin to popular histories to Shoujo manga.

"Why did you get these?"

"You have sewing to occupy your waking hours, I need something to do as well."

"And what made you choose these specific books?"

Gaara just shrugs. "I picked whatever caught my eye."

"A Kunoichi in Love caught your eye?" Naruto asks incredulously.

Gaara nods, dead serious, and Naruto bites his lip to keep himself from laughing. "I also bought a beginner's cookbook." Gaara points to the big hardcover book with Home Cooking Made Easy in blocky blue letters and a picture of tamagoyaki on a plate with a white background.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Gaara, but we don't have anything to cook with."

Gaara's eyes widen. "Oh...we should get some."

Naruto nods, warmth building at Gaara saying we. "We should, but it'd probably go to waste. I don't have the motivation to cook everyday."

"Well, you don't have to cook everyday, just when you want to." Naruto has no counter to that. 

"Ah, but then I have to keep track of ingredients, when things expire or spoil. I can't do that."

I might have a way to help with that, the Kyuubi tells him.

Huh? How?

A burst of modified chakra sent to your brain that should stimulate it in such a way that allows you to sustain focus for hours.

You can do that!? Why didn't you tell me earlier?

I've been developing it for the last several months, and it all came together recently. And why is your first instinct to question me instead of thank me?

I'll thank you by killing every Sharingan user. Naruto rolls his eyes.

Good. This will, however, increase your heart rate and breathing rate, and reduce your appetite. When under the effects of the burst of chakra, you will be unable to sleep. There may be some other side effects as well that we will simply have to see.

"Are you conversing with the Kyuubi?" Gaara asks.

Naruto nods. "He says he has something that might help me focus enough to keep track of things."

"Really? Should we get cooking supplies, then?" Gaara asks.

"I'll have to check how much money I have in my wallet, but I will certainly consider it."

Gaara gives Naruto a soft smile, "Then we can learn to cook together."

Naruto freezes, but then returns Gaara's smile. His voice is soft and gentle when he says, "Yeah, we can."

Naruto, if he could focus properly, would be fucking unstoppable. He's accomplished more work in the past three hours then he has all of last week: he's making good progress on Gaara's seal, good progress on his robe, good progress on cooking, good progress on proper hygiene. He shudders to think of just how much he can improve as a Shinobi if he can apply this level of focus on his training. 

"Naruto?"

"Yes, Gaara?" 

"How long it will take for you to fix my seal?"

Naruto scratches his chin, considering. "Well it's such a mess that it might take weeks. But, with the Kyuubi's help, it might take me less time than I'm assuming."

"Do you think you'll be able to fix it before the final stage of the Chuunin Exams?"

"I can't promise that I can, but I can remove the temporary seal if you're that focused on winning."

Gaara nods, but it's an awkward, mechanical movement that is definitely hiding something. Naruto narrows his eyes at Gaara, who's looking away. He decides it's not his business and returns his focus back on the seal in question. If Gaara has something to tell him, Naruto will let him reveal it at his own pace.

Peace never lasts. Not for Naruto, at least. And this time? It's wholly his fault. 

Naruto hurts himself a lot and hurts himself often. He does it when he's feeling miserable, he does it when he's feeling happy, he does it when he's feeling bored. Sometimes he does it on impulse, and sometimes he spends days fantasizing about it, daydreaming about punching his stomach, scratching at his arms until they bleed, slamming a door on his fingers. Sometimes he fantasizes about the aftermath, about the near-euphoric sensation that he gets as his mind numbs over, anaesthetized by pain, about someone caring about him enough to stop him. 

Now that Gaara is staying with him, he has to sneak away into the bathroom or wait for Gaara to go to another room or take a shower, but not once does he try to stop, or put a pause on it. It's too vital, too necessary. Naruto has been doing this since he was seven, it keeps him functioning. Imagining a life without hurting himself is like imagining a life without air. The good thing is that the bruises and scratches and even broken bones heal quickly. If they left a permanent mark, Naruto doesn't think he'd be able to look at himself in a mirror. 

It's meant to be a secret, but if the Kyuubi has taught him anything, it's that secrets never stay secrets.

What makes it so much worse is that if Naruto had simply been a little more aware, paid a little more attention, it wouldn't have happened at all. It was simple and routine: he gets up in the morning, brushes his teeth, takes a shower, and--if he's feeling particularly miserable on that day--he might hurt himself in whichever way he chooses.

Naruto had forgotten to lock the bathroom door while he was taking a shower, Gaara had accidentally opened the door after Naruto had finished, towel wrapped around his waist, and spotted the rapidly healing bruises. 

"Naruto?" Gaara asks, concerned, glancing at his abdomen and looking back up at his eyes.

"Gaara, I-I..." Naruto trails off, unable to find any words.

"Is someone hurting you?" Gaara asks. "Who are they? I'll kill them," he snarls.

Naruto swallows, fists clenched, and looks to the side. "No one's hurting me, Gaara."

Gaara's eyes widen, vengeful expression, before his brow furrows. "Then where are these bruises from?" It's not accusatory, not a trap: Gaara is asking him out of genuine concern. The thought almost brings Naruto to tears.

"I don't want to talk about this," Naruto responds.

Gaara's eyes widen again, but this time it's...different. Gaara looks like someone just slapped him in the face, and when his expression morphs into something hurt, something rejected, Naruto feels his heart hurt. "Oh, okay, I'll-I'll leave you alone." Gaara's eyes get watery and he turns around, closing the door around him.

The rest of the day is spent in a thick, heavy silence. Naruto is used to silence, he's used to no sound echoing through his apartment, but this silence hurts, pains him in a way that he can't describe. Naruto feels like he's lost something, like he's dropped something fragile. 

Gaara doesn't make eye contact with Naruto, and it's made even worse by the fact that Gaara obviously isn't avoiding him out of spite. There's nothing angry or petty in the way his head bows whenever Naruto walks into the same room as him, or the way he swallows nervously whenever whenever they accidentally make eye contact. There's nothing angry in the way he apologizes for little, unimportant things. Gaara is acting like a dog who got beaten by his master, like a child who got scolded harshly by a parent.

And the cherry on top is that Naruto can perfectly understand why Gaara is acting like this, why something as simple as "I don't want to talk this," from someone he's grown to trust is enough to send him spiraling. Naruto can imagine the way it would make his chest hurt, his eyes water, his lip tremble. He can imagine the way he'd spend hours ruminating on why someone wouldn't want to talk to him about something. The way he'd think it was because the other person doesn't like him anymore, doesn't trust him. Or, simply, that he likes the other person far more than they like him. Naruto is Gaara's first friend, if the way Gaara behaves is anything to go by, so of course he's reacting that way to perceived rejection.

Naruto understands, and he wants so desperately to put his hand on Gaara's shoulder and apologize, to explain himself.

So why doesn't he? Why does Gaara's behavior make him feel rejected? Why does he want Gaara to make the first move? Why is he so desperate that he searches for validation even from the people he's hurt?

The breaking point comes when Naruto and Gaara are in the kitchen, the weighty silence following them even as they make the pork katsu they had decided on yesterday. When Gaara accidentally gets some panko crumbs on the counter, he utters a stream of apologizes. "I'm sorry, Naruto, I'll clean it immediately." As he pushes the breadcrumbs over the edge and into his cupped hands, some falls on the floor. "I'm really sorry, I'll--"

Naruto makes the worst decision he can in that moment, because he's an idiot, and yells at Gaara. "Moon Goddess! I get it, okay? You're sorry!"

Naruto regrets the words the moment he sees Gaara flinch. His voice softens as his fists clench. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just...I don't know, I'm an idiot. But I'm really sorry, Gaara." Gaara turns to look at Naruto from where he's crouched over the floor, eyes shiny with tears. "I didn't mean to be mean or dismissive of you earlier in the shower, it's just...I just panicked, okay? It's not that I dislike you or distrust you or anything." 

Gaara asks a meek, "Really?"

Naruto nods, eyes misty, "Yeah, really. Give me some time, okay? I'll explain the bruises later."

Gaara shakes his head. "You don't have to explain it to me if you don't want to. I suppose I was just injured by the way you said it." Naruto nods again as he starts well and truly crying. Gaara stands up again and slowly, gently winds his arms around Naruto and pulls him into a hug. "Is this okay? I've never...never really hugged anyone before."

"It's okay, Gaara. It's more than okay," Naruto says hoarsely.

"Wow, this is delicious," Naruto says after he takes a bite out of the crunchy pork cutlet. "Is it bad that I didn't expect it to be good."

Gaara shrugs from where he's seated on Naruto's couch, which faces the chair at his dining room table. "It's very good, we should make this again." Naruto hums in agreement. Pairing the cutlet with cup ramen might not be the best culinary combination but it's a good combination nonetheless. "Naruto?" Gaara asks, and he senses the shift in mood enough to look Gaara in the eyes, even though eye contact is usually something he avoids. "I have to tell you something."

"What is it? Is it serious?"

Gaara nods. "It might save your life." Naruto remains silent yet shocked as Gaara reveals an alliance with Orochimaru and a plan to invade Konoha and by the time he's done, Gaara is looking at the floor, ashamed. "I'm sorry, I just want you to be ready and keep yourself safe."

And all that Naruto can think is that he doesn't give a fuck about what happens to the village. Then it settles in that, Mood Goddess, Naruto is a horrible person. But as he thinks through it, silent the entire time, his opportunism kicks in.

It's perfect, really. It's a distraction that will keep the village occupied, even if it doesn't eradicate the village entirely, and if the village remains standing, it'll be missing a huge chunk of it's manpower. The village won't notice he's gone for hours to days, more than enough time for Naruto use chakra-strengthened Flying Raijin kunai to travel faster than jumping through the trees. All he has to do is shoot one as far as he can--and that's saying something, because he can shoot a kunai pretty far--teleport to it, dislodge it from where ever it's stuck, and throw it again.

But...what if he gets caught? The village would keep him under guard, even imprison him, if he tried to flee and failed. And what of his promise to the Kyuubi? 

"Naruto?" Gaara asks nervously, pulling him back to the moment.

Naruto nods, "Thank you for telling me. I'll stay safe, don't worry."

"You're not going to stop it, or tell anyone?" Gaara says, shocked.

Naruto shrugs. "I don't really care what happens to the village. If they wanted me to worry about them, then maybe they should have treated me better." It's petty, he knows, but when has Naruto ever been the better person?

Instead of seeing horror or repulsion in Gaara's eyes, he sees empathy.

The idea surfaces again and again in his mind, coming up like a bubble. Leaving, running away, escaping this village. It's all he's ever wanted, all he's ever been to scared to do.

But...but maybe Naruto isn't scared. Maybe the reason he's never left is because he suffers. Naruto is his suffering, that's all he's been shaped by. He's spent years filled with hatred and resentment and bitterness, telling himself that he'll get his revenge, that the village will mourn what they've lost when he frees the Kyuubi and dies. Naruto has made himself into a martyr, has incorporated it into his very being to the point where the idea of leaving, of healing, seems like cutting out an organ. For Naruto, there's a certain validation that comes with pain, a sureity borne of salty tears and loud sobs. When he comes home to an empty apartment, when he gets glares from shopkeepers, he can tell himself that, one day, the truth will come out, that, one day, they'll need a Jinchuuriki and won't have one. And the whole reason Naruto exists, has let himself live this long, is so that, when that day comes, he can look at their faces from the afterlife and laugh at their misfortune.

But...Naruto is sick of it. No matter how much he tells his suffering elavates him, justifies the terrible person he's become, he wants to heal, to be happy, to find companionship. 

Naruto is laying in his room in the dark of night, lights off and attempting to sleep. The moonlight, shining through the window, creates rectangles of pale light on his floor and walls. Naruto shifts in his bed to look at Gaara, alseep on the futon on his floor. He's grown irrationally attached to Gaara, or perhaps he's been irrationally attached to Gaara from the moment he was told he could be a Jinchuuriki.

There's a life to his home there wasn't before. Books lie stacked in haphazard piles all around the apartment, lying next to colorful fabric and half-completed embroidery frames, a pair of aprons hanging off a hook near the kitchen, two toothbrushes in the cup on his sink, and two pairs of sandals in his doorway. Shears tearing through fabric harmonize with the rustle of a turned page, footfalls on the wooden floor play a duet with the hissing of boiling water. A tired yawn in a sunlit room, a brush staining a page with black ink, the sussuration of misplaced fabrics, soft humming as a dish finishes cooking. There are so many things Naruto has gotten used to as Gaara stays with him, so many things that Naruto can't imagine being without. If Naruto stays in Konoha, if he chooses to hide away during the Chuunin Exams, then Gaara will eventually leave anyway. 

If Naruto leaves, he'll be without Gaara, too. But at least leaving will allow him to find new people, make new companions. There is nothing for Naruto in Konoha.

Naruto makes his decision.

The Land of Iron is where the Emperor and the Shogun reside. In law, the two are sovereigns of the Elemental Nations. In practice, the Land of Iron's hold on the Elemental Nations is so weak that the daimyo can essentially do whatever they want. Naruto choses the Land of Iron for a very specific reason.

Samurai stay out of the business of Shinobi. There is no policy of extradition in the Land of Iron, making a safehaven for Missing-nin. If he makes it across the border, there is nothing Konoha can do--legally--to bring him back. If Naruto decides to leverage his Jinchuuriki status, he might even be able to secure government protection and benefits for himself. 

He plans out a route for himself, and makes himself a fleshed out disguise. Ukifune, a travelling, orphaned seamstress and embroideress. Ukifune is a widow, displaced from her homeland in the Land of Waves due to poverty, and is making a living by selling her embroidery to bourgeois clients. The disguise will only be for villages and finding places to rest. Once he crosses the border of the Land of Fire, he'll be able to relax his disguise a little. He'll place Flying Raijin seals on various points in the journey, so that he can quickly escape if he gets caught or arrested, or to throw off a trail.

He tells all of this to Gaara, who nods understandingly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to see you off. Can I follow you for a while, out of the village?"

"Sure!" Naruto smiles, and he feels his heart fill with hope. "Keep this kunai, it'll let me teleport to you when I'm done with the plans to fix your seal."

Naruto has everything packed. Storage scrolls contain basically everything in his apartment: hygienic supplies, the ramen in his cabinates, pots and pans, kitchen utensils, his clothes, unused fabrics, sewing needles, thread, pincushions, his furniture, and--most importantly--his embroidery. He'll sell it as he travels to get more cash, along side odd jobs. 

It's as he's systemically clearing his apartment that he finds it. A blue, high-collared shirt, with a tear that's haphazardly been mended. On the back is the Uchiha mon. Something in Naruto aches as he looks it over. He's spent a lot of time in and out of Sasuke's hospital room, desperately searching for a solution to his dilemma, even when Sasuke could barely sustain eye-contact with him and responded in monosylables. He supposes he should return it.

When he walks into the hospital room on the morning of the Chuunin Exams, he finds a Medic-nin talking to a man with long, white hair, rather than Sasuke, sitting upright in his bed. He supposes he went with Sakura and Kakashi-sensei to the stadium for the final round of the Exams. When the man and the nurse turn to take Naruto in, he barely represses his scowl. The Kyuubi has shown him what Jiraiya looks like, and told Naruto of the part he should have played in his life.

"Are you Uchiha Sasuke?" The Toad Sage asks.

Naruto, keeping his face neutral, shakes his head. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, his teammate."

The only reaction that gets Naruto is a split second widening of the eyes before Jiraiya schools his features back into affability. "Well, Naruto, do you know who I am?"

Naruto wants to punch him in the face. Or throw up. Or both. Naruto shakes his head. He almost loses it and commits homicide as one of the Legendary Sannin performs a pseudo-Kabuki pose and announces himself as the Toad Sage Jiraiya and Naruto cannot hide his repulsion from that. "I'm here to check on your teammate, Uchiha Sasuke, but I seem to have arrived at a time where he's absent. Can you tell me about his affliction?"

Naruto tells him only the bare bones. Because he's petty, he doesn't tell him about the theory that Sakura and he came up with, that Orochimaru might be out to steal bodies or that the sealing array is likely imprinted onto Sasuke's blood vessels. All he tells him is that there was a scary ninja who bit Sasuke in the throat and made that mark appear, and then Sasuke started spasming, and that he grew more morose as the month progressed. Naruto's skin crawls, and something dark settles into the pit of his stomach. Jiraiya doesn't make any acknowledgement of Naruto, any indication that he's his godson, that he taught Naruto's fa-the Fourth Hokage. Naruto folds the shirt and places it onto Sasuke's hospital bed and excuses himself when he's given him all the information he has.

Jiraiya does not follow him. Instead of meeting up with Gaara in the lobby, Naruto asks a nurse where the bathroom is, locks himself in a stall, and scratches at his lower arms until they bleed.

Jumping over the wall is the easy part, the barrier around Konoha is also pretty easy to pass. All he has to do is throw a kunai into a tree on the other side and he can teleport across with Gaara, unnoticed. The two leap at breakneck speed through the trees, until the two make it to a grassy meadow. "I'll stop here," Gaara says with a sad smile.

Naruto turns to face him, face the boy who has lived with him for the past month, his brother in suffering. "I'm going to miss you," Naruto states softly. "You were the best part of my life for a whole month, you know that?"

Gaara nods, "Likewise, Naruto. I don't exactly know how I'll go on without you."

"Well, you have that kunai, don't you? If you ever get lonely, just funnel some chakra into it and I'll feel you calling."

Gaara chuckles. "Then I guess this isn't really goodbye, is it? It's more like a 'see you later.'"

Naruto nods, and he tries so hard to smile but all he can think of is how lonely it'll be without Gaara, how living by himself will be so much worse now that he knows what it's like to live with someone, and starts sobbing. Gaara pulls Naruto into a hug. "Don't cry, Naruto. This is a new chapter in your life. You're escaping all your past miseries." The words are encouraging, but Gaara's shaky voice, interrupted by sobs and hiccups, only make Naruto cry harder as he returns Gaara's hug with suffocating intesity.

Naruto pulls back a little, to see Gaara's face, and touches their foreheads together. "Even as we separate, you'll always be a part of me, all right? The days we shared, the happiness I felt, I'll always store it in my heart," Naruto says.

Gaara nods as tears run in little rivulets down his face. "And you will always be a part of me, as my first friend. Farewell, Naruto. I hope to see your smile again, someday." The two stay like that for a while, in the warm breeze, eyes closed as their foreheads are pressed together and their arms are wrapped around each other, until finally, they pull away.

Leaving Gaara's embrace feels like he's ripping out half of himself. "Goodbye, Gaara. See you soon."

Naruto begins to walk away, to make his way across the meadow, but he just...can't. He can't leave things like this. "Gaara!" Naruto yells as he turns around. Gaara, facing the direction they came, turns his head to look at Naruto. "Come with me."

Gaara's eyes widen and tears rush down his face anew. He shakes his head, and even though it's whispered, Naruto can still hear the soft, "I can't."

"Why?" Naruto demands, sorrow clear in his voice.

Gaara closes his eyes, a pained, miserable expression on his face as he swallows. "I can't. I have a duty. I'm a weapon, Naruto. That's all I've ever been, that's my fate--"

"Fuck fate!" Naruto yells. "If there really is a fate or destiny or whatever you want to call it, then I'll destroy it, okay? I'll destroy and we can go and do whatever we want, be whoever we want to be. Gaara, I left because I'm sick of everything they told me I was in Konoha. Aren't you sick of everything they tell you in Suna?" Gaara sobs, but resolutely turns his back to Naruto, a clear rejection. Naruto accepts defeat, then, accepts that he'll be leaving alone, even if it makes him feel so profoundly empty. But he understands Gaara's decision, and he's in no position to push Gaara to come with him if he truly doesn't want to. "Okay, Gaara. I understand. I love you, remember that, and-and take care of yourself, and be kind to yourself."

Naruto turns back around and makes his way across the meadow, unending stream of tears streaking down his face as he looks to the ground, when he hears footfalls coming in step with his own. Naruto turns to take in Gaara's face, who flashes Naruto a mock-innocent smile, as if to say Was there ever any question? Of course I was going to leave with you. Gaara turns to look at the azure sky as he breathes in the fresh air and Naruto brings his gaze straight ahead, smiling as the tears of sadness become tears of joy.

He understands, then, that he isn't a monster at all. He's found someone to care about, someone to get lost in. He hopes, wherever Haku is now, that he's looking down at Naruto and is proud of him.

For the first time in his life, Naruto feels human.

Naruto and Gaara's first stop is a town called the Village of Fawns. The name came from a popular--and likely apocryphal--tale where Senju Hashirama had spotted a group of Green-Furred deer, which were native to the area. Green-Furred deer are considered good omens, and the sighting boded well for the recently founded Konohagakure no Sato. Whatever its augural origins, Naruto doesn't think he's actually spotted a single fawn or stag or doe in the area at all.

Stopping here makes Naruto a little antsy. He planned to come to the village and pay the fare for a coach to the bigger Shukuba Town. The Village of Fawns is far too close to Konoha, but the stop was necessary. Gaara is not used to traveling the way Shinobi tend to--or exerting any great physical effort at all, really. Gaara's pace started slowing after the first ten hours of non-stop travel, and after another two hours, tears started pricking his eyes. The two had stopped, and Naruto asked what was wrong. The pain--which Naruto's inexpert opinion blames the Ichibi for--was only wearing Gaara down the more they traveled. Naruto successfully managed to push Gaara the final stretch of distance to the Village of Fawns, where they rented a room for the night. The Village of Fawns, known simply as Fawns, is plentiful in hotels. Fawns acts as a convenient rest stop for people coming in and out of Konoha. Hospitality is the most successful business in the village. Like most places that receive a lot of travelers, prostitution is the second-most successful business. 

Naruto is only aware of it because he can see the working girls from his hotel window. Glancing outside gives him a look into the Does' Quarter, as the red-light district here is called. Naruto is on the seventh floor of the hotel, and peering out and down gives him a view of what otherwise looks like a normal apartment building. What clues Naruto in, however, to the trade of the people living within, are the women, lounging on their balconies in garb that ranges from skimpy to elegant. The dim lights coming from their apartments or from lamps on their balconies cast a hazy, colorful glow. His assumption is supported by the men that walk through the streets underneath, jeering or calling out to the women above. The women wave back and blow kisses. Some of the better-dressed women don't deign the crude men with a response, taking their catcalls with elegant stoicism. It's probably the cheaper end of the district, too, if the presence of streetwalkers sitting on folded chairs on the sidewalks or leaning in alleyways is anything to go by.

Naruto, who is used to distantly observing the affairs of others, drinks the sight in with morbid fascination. In his depression and cynicism, Naruto is difficult to titillate, especially by a sight so desolate of sentimentality as the one before him. Rather, his eyes dart from one minute detail to the other. The escorts who smoke tobacco (which is most of them) use long, thin kiseru--smoking pipes--instead of cigarettes or cigars. Some women show off opium pipes, instead. Almost all of them wear makeup, even the ones attempting to create a classy air, despite the fact that looking obviously made-up was falling out of fashion. Some of the women look cheery and coquettish, bending over the railings and giving fluttery little waves. Others look sultry and seductive, moving with a syrupy languor designed to entice. Some simply look tired, slumped in chairs with loosely tied hair and cynicism twinkling in their eyes.

The lights coming from the Does' District filter into the dark hotel room, casting harsh pinks, blues, reds, and purples over Naruto's face where he stands and looks through the window. Gaara lies fast asleep on the lone hotel bed, a tacky comforter with a garish floral print pulled up to his chin. Naruto's eyes meet with those of a young woman wearing a short slip dress, no pants, and stilettos. As she exhales smoke, she quirks a curious brow up at Naruto. Naruto, equally curious, decides to wave warmly at the woman, whose gaze alights with amusement. She turns to the woman in the neighboring balcony, in a cocktail dress that reveals ample decolletage, exchanging a couple of words with her and motioning to him with her thumb. The other woman turns to look at Naruto and he waves to her too, much more playfully this time, and hopes he doesn't come off like a creep or a customer. The two women, who are obviously friends, exchange entertained glances at each other, giggling, before turning back to Naruto and giving amicable waves back. The woman in the cocktail dress blows Naruto a kiss and devolves into cackling. 

"How old are you, kid?" The slip dress woman yells the question across the wide street.

"Fourteen!" Naruto lies. He would be worried about waking Gaara up, but Gaara sleeps like a boulder.

"Holy shit, you're a baby!" the cocktail dress woman exclaims with a chuckle. "Where are your parents!"

"Six feet under!" Naruto says with a grim smile.

"Wow, mine too!" the slip dress woman shoots back with a smile of her own. 

"Can you guys shut up!? Some of us are trying to work here!" A woman yells from the floors beneath them. The two women Naruto was talking (yelling) to, cover their mouths as they exchange wide-eyed looks, hysterical laughter threatening to bubble over. Naruto snorts, and waves goodbye, receiving waves in return as he closes the window and pulls down the blinds. He stretches his back as he lays down in his futon and goes to sleep.

The next day, Naruto--in disguise as Ukifune, with Gaara in disguise as her son, Inari--cross into the side of the village not dedicated to the service industry. The buildings and hotels get sparser and sparser, giving way to farmhouses and fields, where farmhands in sedge hats till the land in patchwork clothes. There is a general air of poverty, here, but Naruto doesn't sense any unkindness from the farmers, some of whom give the two of them curious glances. The farming village is separated from the main road leading into the Village of Fawns, meaning travelers tend not to pass through that part of town. Naruto has come with a purpose, however: they're visiting a healer.

Healers were common in the time of Uzumaki Mito. It was a trade, passed from elder to youth, like any other. Healers were mostly women, who initiated daughters and nieces into the trade, passing down herbal remedies and spiritual practices that their ancestresses passed down to them like precious heirlooms. As time passed, however, healers gave way to doctors and, in the hidden villages, medic-nin. Healers, with their blend of spiritualism and herbalism, were now perceived as archaic and inferior to the new, mostly male doctors, and they slowly diminished in numbers. Now, most healers resided in rural villages, old matrons tending to the last embers of a dying flame. Doctors, who run their practices for-profit and charge exorbitant rates, are too expensive for Naruto and Gaara. Healers will exchange their services for less money, and even accept payment in goods or labor.

"Are you sure we need to come here?" Gaara asks.

"Yes. You need something for that pain of yours. And don't feel guilty about it, because I can see the look on your face."

Gaara simply nods and the two spot the building--hut, really--belonging to the local healer. There's a plank of wood planted in the ground in front of the building, the painted green swirl that signals the residence of a healer chipped by time. 

Naruto steps into the hut, Gaara behind him. A young woman, purple-haired and grey-eyed, tends to an older woman, milky white eyes signaling blindness, who lies seated in an alcove. The elder woman's hair is covered by the wimples donned by priestesses, made of an off-white fabric, and her robes are a somber, dark grey.

The younger woman, simple kimono colored a faded green, nods in greeting. "Who has come?" the older woman asks.

"My name is Ukifune and I am with my son, Inari, I was wondering if you could help us," Naruto says.

"Ah, you are outsiders?" the woman asks. "I know everyone in the village, and I haven't heard those two names before."

"Yes, we are traveling through the village."

"I am called Lark," the elder woman says. It is not her name, healers are never referred to by name, the same way the Moon Goddess isn't referred to by name: it's disrespectful, and summons misfortune.

"And I am called She-wolf," the younger woman says as she bows.

Madam Lark drops her formal tone rather quickly, however. "So, what's wrong?" she asks in a much more casual, tad impatient voice.

Gaara describes his condition to the women, the general pain, and the way it's much more prominent in his joints. In response, he gets asked a flurry of questions by both Lark and She-wolf, some practical and others strange. They ask Gaara if he ingested anything made with cricket-grass or the flesh of a yellow striped snake. They also ask him if he stepped on a cicada, spat in the direction of the sun in the past month, or forgot to burn fool's wheat in front of his house on Descention Day. When the interview is over, She-wolf says, "Lay on the floor, sir, I will examine you."

Gaara nods and takes off the basket his gourd is disguised as. Once he lays across the wooden floor, She-wolf sits down behind Gaara's head and places her fingers on his temples. Naruto, slow on the uptake, realizes that She-wolf must be capable of manipulating chakra and that she's using it to examine Gaara.

"Oh, so you are disguised," She-wolf says simply, and Naruto starts sweating nervously. "Your secrets are safe with us, healers accept all."

Naruto sighs, "Thank you."

"Your welcome, ma'am." Naruto drops his transformation with a poof and She-wolf gives Naruto an amused glance. "Ah, I'm sorry, sir."

Naruto shrugs. "It's no big deal."

"Ah, so they're both men?" Lark says. "Are they handsome?" she asks with a sharp smile.

"Not men, Grandmother. Boys."

"Ah, a shame. I would have liked to see a handsome face, or at least hear the voice of a man who has one."

"Grandmother!" She-wolf exclaims. "Such vulgar speech in front of our guests?"

"I am old, Granddaughter. I can get away with it."

She-wolf sighs in exasperation. She removes her hands off of Gaara's temples. "There has been foreign, unshaped chakra in your body. This chakra, though minimal, constantly circled within your body for a considerable period of time, injuring your body as it coursed through your system. Chakra coils, as they are called, meet within joints before separating again, like flower stems tied together. This caused the foreign chakra to concentrate at a higher level in, say, your knees or elbows and is likely why they hurt more. Since this foreign chakra seems to be dissipating, your pain will not increase with time, though you will have days with less pain and days with more pain. It is such a complex problem that it requires a level of delicacy that is simply not possible in order to cure. However, a painkilling remedy, to be taken every morning and before sleeping, can minimize your struggle. This is also not aided by the fact that you seem to be severely sleep-deprived, and resting at regular intervals for a consistent amount of time will be universally beneficial."

Gaara nods as he sits up, dropping his own transformation and yawning. "How much will it cost?"

She-wolf considers. "About 4 or so Ryo."

Naruto's eyes almost bulge out of his head. 4 Ryo? For medical services? They might as well be doing this for free! 

Still, Naruto isn't complaining. He hands them the coins. "Thank you, sir," She-wolf says with another bow, and enters a backroom from where Naruto can smell dried and powdered herbs. "This will likely take a couple of hours, so feel free to come back here later."

"Ah, it's okay. We'll stay if you'll let us."

"You're more than welcome to," Lark says with a polite smile.

The talk lulls and Naruto turns to look out of the window. The sun shines high in the sky, beating down harsh and hot rays on the Earth. "Who usually comes for your services?"

Lark considers. "Mostly, the villagers. I know them by voices alone, nowadays. When I was a girl, it was only the villagers, but that was before Senju Hashirama founded Konoha. Nowadays, the grisettes from downtown come here, as well."

"Really?" Naruto asks.

Lark nods. "They're the streetwalkers, often. The girls who cannot afford doctors, as well as the women who have aged and faded, and no longer bring in the money they used to. They come for many reasons. Some need cures for venereal disease, others need a midwife. Some need to get rid of the children they carry, and others need to prevent themselves from getting pregnant."

"Ah."

"My cousin, however, worked in Konoha after its founding. We called her Woodpecker, and she worked in the harem of Senju Hashirama."

"Really?" Naruto asks. His curiosity is piqued.

"Oh, yes. She would write letter after letter to me and my mother about the affairs of the Senju household. She wasn't supposed to, mind you, but she was always a crafty woman. I remember sitting with my mother and sister in this room and my mother reading the letters aloud to us." Lark's voice takes on a wistful tone towards the end. "Sometimes we couldn't believe the things we read! We always thought the women of the Shinobi clans were dignified warrioresses, but they were capable of as much ruthlessness and deception as any great general."

"Really? Sounds so different from nowadays," Naruto says.

"Well, it was a different era," Lark explains. "The wives, daughters, and sisters of minor clansmen were expected to fight on the battlefield, but the spouses of the clan leaders? They were kept away in the inner quarters, expected to do little else other than bear children and behave as good women. Of course, what ought to be and what is are often very different. Nowadays, I hear that Kunoichi are doing almost as much as their brethren. That would have made the late Lady Senju happy, for sure!"

"Would it have?" Naruto asks. He's testing the waters, here. The Kyuubi had lived in Uzumaki Mito for decades and had an intimate understanding of her psyche. Still, he's biased by his distaste for his jailor, Naruto is interested in hearing an outside opinion, as well as learning just how much Lark knows.

"Definitely. Woodpecker always said she was fiery and had an aristocratic hauteur to her. According to her, she was always itching to do something more."

Yup, that sounds like Mito. "Do you still have these letters?"

"Yes. I have kept them for memory's sake."

"You should keep them safe," Naruto says, "a historian would practically burst into tears upon finding them one day."

Lark laughs. "Perhaps. Although I wonder if some of those memories are better left forgotten."

When the two check into a hotel in Shukuba Town, it's the first true rest Naruto allows himself. Naruto flops on the bed with a groan and almost falls asleep right there. 

"How long will we be staying here?" Gaara asks.

"Two days," Naruto answers. "We're going to be traveling pretty quickly until we get into the Land of Floods." Gaara nods. Naruto continues, explaining his plan for the first time. "From there, we're going to go through the Land of Ruins into the Land of Iron."

"The Land of Ruins?" Gaara asks.

"It's the only way we can enter the Land of Iron without going through one of the major Elemental Nations, which I think is the safest route to take."

Gaara nods. "That makes sense."

"Okay, now, Gaara, I have to show you something," Naruto says. 

"Yes? Is it something important?" Gaara says as he moves to sit on the bed Naruto sits up on.

"It is, and I think it would be easier if I just showed you." Naruto puts his hands together in a seal and channels chakra into his eyes, and Gaara's eyes widen as he takes Naruto in. WIth the Rinnegan active, the world loses color, and takes on various glows as Naruto sees the world as chakra.

"A doujutsu?"

Naruto nods. "It's called the Rinnegan."

"What does it do?"

Naruto sighs. "It can do a lot, but right now, I can only do one thing with it, push and pull objects towards or away from me. Eventually, I'll gain more abilities over time, but right now, this is all I have to work with. I'm just giving you heads up because I'm going to practicing with it in private."

"I understand," Gaara says with a smile. Naruto sees something glimmer in his eyes and thinks he understands how nice it must feel to be let in on something when people have shut you out your entire life. 

Naruto doesn't know much about Gaara, although he thinks he knows enough to treasure Gaara for the person he is and the person he could be. Naruto doesn't really ask about Gaara's past, either, because Gaara is still so new to normalcy, so new to viewing himself as a person. Asking the redhead to relive his trauma is the last thing Naruto wants to do. But he hopes, someday, that Gaara will be willing to share that piece of himself, if Naruto asks. Naruto knows, already, that if Gaara asked him to steal the stars, he'd do it without hesitation.

The two are equally exhausted when they make it to Shukuba Town, but Gaara especially so. He supposes the years of waking nights have finally started catching up to him. 

Sleep is something he’s especially thankful for, and it’s something that gives him eternal gratitude toward Naruto. Before, when his seal was unstable and haphazard, he’d wander through the streets at night, alone. The desert of the Land of the Winds would get chilly after sunset, and he’d let the cold air graze past him, letting it startle him awake. That was before the doctors found ways to keep him up. 

As the two are let off the coach, Gaara takes in the sight of Shukuba Town, with its painted signs and wooden buildings. It’s daytime, and so it’s tamer than it would be at night, but there are still signs of the town’s purpose coloring every wall, from lewd graffiti to pin-ups of women to bathhouse signs where the steam curls into a picture of nubile women, signaling that the bath attendants perform more discreet services. 

Gaara turns to look at Naruto–Ukifune, in this case. His eyes, although disguised as those of an aging woman, still shine with that ravenous yet distant curiosity that they always have, like he’s watching two ant colonies battle with a magnifying glass. It makes Gaara shudder, slightly fearful of what the other’s apathy would look like. But whenever Naruto looks at Gaara, his eyes fill with such warmth and tenderness that all worry melts away like ice in the summer.

Naruto guides Gaara to a hotel and the two check-in. Gaara plops onto the bed, sitting, but eyeing the pillow with want. He’s been so tired, he’s tired of being tired! 

Naruto chuckles. “It’s okay, you can sleep,” he says, dropping his transformation.

Gaara feels his face flush. “I don’t want to.”

He watches Naruto’s brow rise, a cheeky smile on his face. “You don’t have to lie, you know. You’re making up for 12 years worth of sleeplessness!”

“I know!” he protests. “I just don’t want to be a burden…”

Naruto’s smile drops, and Gaara feel the stress build up within him. Did he say something wrong? Naruto walks over and plops down next to him, slinging an arm around his shoulder. Gaara, on instinct, leans into Naruto’s warmth, and Naruto leans into Gaara. Softly, Naruto says, “You could never be a burden, okay?”

Gaara shakes his head gently. “Just because you say that doesn’t make it true.”

“Why not?” Naruto asks.

Gaara pauses, at a loss for words. “That’s just–that’s not how it works.”

Naruto chuckles beside him, and Gaara can feel the vibration coming from his chest. “In this case, it is. You don’t want to be a burden to me, don’t you? So if I say you aren’t a burden to me, then you aren’t a burden to me.”

There’s another pause as Gaara drinks in Naruto’s words, before nodding gently.

Abruptly, Naruto slides out of Gaara’s grasp, causing the weight he’d put on him to suddenly go without support. Gaara whacks onto the bed with a light thump and grunts. “Hey, why’d you do that?”

Naruto smiles archly. “Why not?”

Gaara’s eyes widen, but a gentle smile worms its way onto his face. Gaara curls up into himself, missing Naruto’s warmth. He debates the merits of making his request out loud but asks anyway. “Naruto?”

“Yeah?”

Gaara’s face heats up as he tries to spit his request out. “Can we, uh, can we sleep on the–” He stops when he sees that Naruto understands. “Nevermind–”

“Sure,” Naruto says quietly.

Gaara forgets how to speak for a second. He thinks he might blow up. “What?”

“I mean…I guess if it makes you happy, we can sleep on the same bed…” Gaara can barely hear his voice.

An awkward silence fills the air of the room. “It would help me feel less alone.”

Naruto’s eyes are filled with empathy. Ah, perhaps that’s why he’s agreeing. Both of them have never had anyone, have they? Desperately isolated since they were brought into the world, how could they not yearn to sleep on the same bed as another? What other symbol of companionship is greater than that? 

Naruto’s face breaks out into a wide smile. “I can’t promise you’ll get a peaceful sleep, though. I might kick you on accident.”

Gaara chuckles. “It’s fine. You were the one who said I sleep like the dead, remember?”

He rolls his eyes. “If you say so. Just don’t complain to me when I latch onto you the whole night, all right?”

It’s actually Gaara who ends up latching onto Naruto the whole night: curled around his arm like Naruto’s a teddy bear. It was difficult to sleep that whole while, and Naruto was certain his face was so red that it practically glowed. 

It was… nice, though, to have someone beside him. Sure, he and Gaara have slept in the same room before, but to be able to feel someone else’s warmth, to have that confirmation in multiple senses; it made everything more… real.

Naruto turns his head and takes in the sight of Gaara, eyes closed and asleep, and feels fondness. Ah, he never thought he’d get so attached to someone in his life! This was so confusing: how was he supposed to act, what was he supposed to say? How do friendships even work! 

Still, he’s happy. He’s so happy he could burst, even if that happiness feels shallow in the way that all his happiness does. He needs to get up, and Gaara could sleep through a meteor collision, so he gently slides his arm out of Gaara’s grasp, only for Gaara to tighten his grip around his arm in return.

Naruto feels his resolve to get out of bed weaken. It’s fine to be like this for a while more, right?

Gaara wakes up to realize that he’s wrapped around Naruto’s arm. He nearly yelps and scuttles away, inadvertently falling off of the bed  and getting saved from an injury thanks to his sand, which cushions him.

Did he…did he cling to Naruto the entire night? His sand gently lets him onto the floor and he sits up to look over the bed. Naruto is fast asleep, but Gaara watches him turn over and mumble something, hands patting the empty side of the mattress next to him. His blue eyes slowly open. “Gaara?” 

“He–hello, Naruto.”

“What are you doing on the floor?”

“Oh, I just, uh, fell over.”

“You fell over?” Naruto sits up, alarmed. “Oh, wait, your sand probably protected you.” 

Gaara nods. “Um, I’m sorry for clinging to you all night.”

Blue eyes widen before Naruto’s face heats up. “Don’t worry about it. It was…nice.”

“Nice?” he asks softly.

“Yeah. I guess it’s because I’ve never slept on the same bed as anyone else before.” Naruto sheepishly scratches the back of his head. 

“Oh…”

There’s another awkward silence before Naruto speaks. “I’m gonna go check out the town. You wanna come along?”

Gaara nods. Honestly, he’ll take any opportunity to be around Naruto.

The two make their relatively short walk to the open-air market. Most of the vendors are selling fabrics and cosmetics. Of course, that doesn’t mean people aren’t selling food: fruits and vegetables and spices abound. But, compared to a place like Suna, this market, at least, caters far more to various women that sit behind the wooden bars of the yuukaku, making themselves available for the male travelers. Fragrances and silks and powders, all for the aesthetic perfection of the female form. 

As Gaara gazes around, he’s almost shocked by the lack of traditionally handsome men. He’d have thought that there was a market for male prostitutes, but apparently…

Actually, now that he looks closer, he can see quite a few men. Well, not men, but boys: boys that can’t be more than a couple of years older than him. With soft, delicate-looking features and big, clear eyes, and beautifying make-up. They’re followed around by much older men. Looking at them makes him a little queasy, so he turns away very quickly to look at Naruto, who sweeps his gaze over everything with that same distant curiosity as if he isn’t looking at people but a very interesting painting and picking out the details that fascinate him. 

“There’s no good place to set up a stall,” Naruto says with a sigh.

“You were going to sell some stuff here?” 

Naruto nods. “I was. It’s the ideal place, too: a prostitute can decorate her room with it.”

“Why a prostitute?” Gaara asks.

“Prostitutes like furniture and fixtures,” Naruto explains. “It’s basically a sort of…insurance, I guess? They can sell it later on as they get old and get fewer customers. Not to mention, a quality woman would require quality decorations, no? If my work is good enough, it’ll basically be a statement for them: they’re good enough to afford expensive things, so any client will have to pay them well.”

“Oh,” is all Gaara can say. 

“Anyways, help me look for a–wait a minute, is that…” Naruto looks at the shifting crowd and narrows his eyes.

Gaara turns his head to look into the throng of people. “Who do you see?”

“...Tsunade.”

This time, Shizune is pleasantly surprised. It’s a rare occurrence that Tsunade-sama wins at the various games she plays, and today’s succession of victories is something Shizune would never have dared to imagine. And yet, it did. So, yes, for once she will join her mistress in her celebratory binge-drinking.

“Shizune!” Tsunade-sama bellows out, alcohol shading her face pink. 

“Yes, Tsunade-sama?” Shizune responds, just as loud and with a cheerful tone.

There’s a pause that drags on for so long that Shizune wonders if Tsunade-sama forgot that was speaking at all. Finally, she speaks, voice much quieter. “Today is strange, don’t you think? I don’t usually win this much.”

You don’t usually win at all, Shizune thinks. Though with the quirked brow Tsunade-sama gives her, she must have accidentally said that out loud. “You’re right, however. It feels almost like something is wrong. And you’ve noticed them too, haven’t you?”

Shizune nods without looking at the two that have been tailing them and sneaking glances. The two are likely spies from Konoha sent to monitor them. Although, it’s strange: Konoha hasn’t sent anyone to monitor them in a while. 

“Let’s have some fun, shall we?” Tsunade-sama gets up and makes her way towards the booth where the two tailers sit. 

“Tsunade-sama!” Shizune protests. Back when they had just left the village, she was always confronting the spies sent to tail them, as if to mock their very presence, she would talk to them for long amounts of time while saying very little. It seemed almost like some sort of show of dominance or strength. 

Shizune sighs. There’s no point in arguing with her mistress when she see sets her sights on something, is there? Reluctantly, she gets up and follows her as she slides into the booth with a mockingly sweet smile. “Hello, there.”

The woman, of middle age with a weathered face and dark red hair, looks surprised. A boy who Shizune can only assume is her son sits next to her. The surprise quickly gives way to a polite, if very strained, smile. “Hello.”

“We couldn’t help but notice you from across the room, you see,” Tsunade-sama says. “You seemed so interesting, so I wanted to take the opportunity to get to know you better.”

The woman’s smile takes on a curling sneer and Tsunade-sama’s smile morphs into a similar one. Shizune shivers as she feels tension flood the air. The two are practically staring the other down, daring one of them to break eye contact. “You think a humble woman such as me is so interesting? I’m truly flattered, Tsunade-sama.”

“Oh, so you know who I am?” Tsunade-sama asks. “Well, I think you would only be fair if you introduced yourself to me and my student as well.”

The woman’s grin takes on a vicious quality. “My name is…Uzumaki Ukifune. And this is my son, Inari.”

Tsunade-sama’s smile drops and her eyes widen. Shizune takes a sharp breath. “Uzumaki?” Tsunade-sama asks. “Impossible.”

“Why ever not?” She asks coyly.

“Listen, lady, whatever village or rich lord commissioned you to tail me, do not deign to speak anything of the Uzumaki.” Tsunade-sama’s tone goes chilly. At this rate, she might get well and truly furious. Shizune braces herself.

“Whether or not you believe I’m an Uzumaki is of no concern to me,” Ukifune says snidely. “Unless, of course, I have to convince you in order to listen to me.”

“Listen to you?” Tsunade-sama says with a scoff. Shizune winces at the unhidden display of emotions. Can’t she already see that she’s lost control of the conversation?

“Yes, you see, my companion here needs your medical expertise.”

Tsunade-sama scoffs. “You steal the name of my grandmother’s clan and then ask me for a favor? Why would I help you? I don’t owe anything to a false Uzumaki heiress.” Tsunade-sama says stonily as she stands up and walks away from the booth.

“You’re right, I’m no Uzumaki heiress…” Ukifune trails off. “Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina had a son rather than a daughter, so how could there be an heiress?”

Tsunade-sama’s face whips around to stare at Ukifune, and Shizune can only stare, mouth agape. “I’ll drop this transformation if you’ll meet me somewhere private.”

Gaara is sweating nervously in the main area of Tsunade’s hotel room. Gaara sits cross-legged on the floor, much like Tsunade herself, while both Naruto and Shizune sit in seiza, resting on their folded legs. Every once in a while, Tsunade’s eyes will look at Gaara’s crossed legs and she’ll seemingly grow a little irritated. Gaara doesn’t understand at first, until he remembers that, in the Land of Fire, crossing one’s legs is a disrespectful posture. At first, he considers shifting his legs to sit the same way Naruto is, but decides not to. After all, if Tsunade can be respectful to him by sitting improperly, why can’t he be disrespectful to her?

“So, kid,”—Gaara watches Naruto suppress annoyance at Tsunade’s condescending tone and feels indignant on his behalf—“you still haven’t proven you are who you say you are.”

Naruto raises an eyebrow and pulls out one of his organizational scrolls, rolling it open on the low table they’re all seated at, and poofing out a variety of scrolls. 

Tsunade scoffs and Gaara suppresses the urge to glower at her. How dare she scoff at Naruto! “You expect me to believe you’re from an extinct clan just because you can pull a couple of average sealing parlor tricks? Jiraiya can do things far more than using his seals as a library.”

Gaara stiffens at the way Naruto’s expression darkens at mention of the Toad Sage. Naruto turns to look at Gaara. “Is it okay if I reveal your…circumstances to them?”

Gaara titls his head to the side. “You want to tell them about my tenant?” Gaara asks just as cryptically. “That’s okay.”

Naruto turns at Tsunade again. “My friend is a Jinchuuriki. His seal was faulty and fucked up. I fixed it. Is that good enough?”

Tsunade looks like she got punched in the face. “You’re the Kyuubi’s Jinchuuriki?” 

“Not the Kyuubi, the Ichibi,” Naruto corrects. “I’m the Kyuubi’s Jinchuuriki.” Naruto pulls up his shirt and Gaara watches the seal gradually appear on his stomach. 

It’s Shizune who breaks the stunned silence. “What the fuck?”

Naruto smiles, maliciously satisfied. “It’s a long story.”

Shizune looks like she’s about to faint. Tsunade considers the two children in front of her, before sighing. “All right, I believe you. What do you need my help with?”

Naruto turns to Gaara, motioning for him to speak. Gaara suddenly feels his mouth dry up. He’s not used to speaking to people. Normally, at least. He’s not used to speaking to people normally. He sends a pleading glance to Naruto, who raises one of his eyebrows, confused, before he gets what Gaara is trying to convey. Naruto chuckles and Gaara feels his face heat up as he looks abashedly at the table. 

“Okay, so he has chronic pain in his body, but especially in his joints. It’s because his seal didn’t properly separate the Ichibi, so the foreign chakra would leak into his coils and damage his body.”

Tsunade nods, already processing possible ways to alleviate Gaara’s pain. “I see. Gaara,”—Gaara goes stiff at the sudden acknowledgment—“will you let me examine you?”

Gaara nods awkwardly, face still hot. Tsunade jerks her head, signaling for him to come over to her side of the table. Gaara stands up and shuffles over mechanically, hearing Naruto snicker softly behind him, and kneel down in front of her. 

Tsunade reaches over and places the index and middle fingers of both hands on each of Gaara’s temples. He feels the buzz of foreign chakra, and it feels…strange. Like someone is poking around his internal organs. It buzzes, too, making it difficult for Gaara to sit still.

When Gaara feels the strange sensation fade, Tsunade removes her fingers and turns to Naruto. “How long are you here for?”

“Not more than three days.”

Tsunade shrugs. Gaara notices the smell of sake come off of her. “Good enough. Give me two days. As a warning, Gaara, this will hurt.” 

He feels a chill run down his spine. 

The first procedure had gone pretty well, in Tsunade’s opinion. Aside from Gaara stifled cries of pain, that is. Tsunade doesn’t know of what the history between Uzumaki Naruto and Gaara is, but judging from the way Naruto let Gaara squeeze his hand in order to relieve some of his agony, and from the way Naruto gently carted his hands through Gaara’s hair while muttering soft words of comfort, the two must be very close.

The first part of the procedure was mostly painless. It consisted purely of growing the damaged bone tissue at Gaara’s joints. It was the second part that hurt: a chakric ‘sanding’ of sorts of the bone there in.

As Tsunade walks back to the bedroom she had treated Gaara in, herbal pain-relievers and chakra coil-focused medicines in hand, she pauses as she hears the two talk.

“Thank you,” Gaara says softly.

“For what?” Naruto asks.

“I...don’t know. I just don’t know if I’ve thanked you for...everything you’ve done for me.”

“You don’t have to thank me for all of that, Gaara.” And, wow, Naruto’s voice is so gentle, so warm. From the combative, cautious, and occasionally outright shrewd tones his voice would take earlier, Tsunade would never have guessed he could sound so affectionate. “And think you have thanked me for that before, Gaara.”

“Well…” Gaara trails off. “I think you deserve to be thanked more than once.”

“I don’t need to be thanked at all, Gaara.”

There’s a pause. “I just…you’re the first person to care. To really care. I don’t think my siblings would ever hold my hand and comfort me through a procedure like you just did.”

“Well, that’s because they’re assholes”—Tsunade smiles at that, and she hears Gaara huff in amusement—“and because they don’t know the awesome Gaara that I know.”

Another pause. This one is considerably more…full of something, some kind of expansive, unnamable feeling. “You think I’m awesome?” Gaara asks softly.

“I think you’re the coolest person in the world.”

Tsunade's been itching to ask. "So, Naruto, what's your story?"

hello, everyone! 

im writing this notice on my most popular fic and because i dont have any social media connected to my ao3. but, basically, the run down is this.

im no longer writing fanfic. this might be a moments whim, this might be permanent. i might orphan every work on this series or delete this notice a week from now and publish chapter four. but i wouldnt count on that. for anyone reading this notice: assume every unfinished fic on my account will remain so. assume that i will never return to this account. i dont want you all to wait for an update that will probably never come.

i have very personal reasons for this. i can explain them if you want to hear them in the comments. if you want me to leave these fics up, i can. if you want me to delete, i can. i dont want to post the planned endings. if you want to continue this fic, you can. i dont have much else to say here, other than that seeing people's comments and support, hearing that people actually liked my writing was the actual highlight of MY LIFE. not of my day, not of my month, but of my genuine LIFE. i dont think ive gotten anywhere near as much support in my real life endeavors as i have here, and im sorry that im giving these fics up, and i am so, so thankful to have gotten such kind words from you all. i didn't think that id ever find anyone who would actually like the stuff i put out.

thank you and goodbye,

badshah

hello everyone! since people asked for my reasoning for foreseeably quitting fanfic, i decided to post in another update instead of having to repeat myself.

warning for discussions of suicide.

To make a very long and complicated history with adhd and depression short: a specific turn of events in my family and with my psychiatrist + college stress led to basically the worst suicidal ideation of my life, to the point where one of my friends felt obligated to call the police for my own safety. ive basically lost all foreseeable motivation to write fanfic. i was institutionalized for roughly a night and let go yesterday at roughly 6PM. its difficult to explain where exactly one thing led to the other: perhaps i lost faith in my ability to finish tasks ive started, perhaps i wanted to make a statement dramatic enough for my pain to be understood. perhaps it was just an elaborate form of self-denialism. im still not quite sure why i did it but something inside me burned to just...end it already. it was likely part of a nihilistic acceptance of where my life was headed: i felt that i was without a future, and decided there was no reason to engage in a hobby that would just be a burden as time went on.

part of it was also this: in the event that i did take my own life, i wanted everyone to understand that i there was not going to be any updates. part of me was loathe to leave the people who enjoyed my work without any form of closure.

im a better state of mind right now, that's for certain. and, if it helps to hear, i am now much more open to the possibility of returning, but the idea still makes me feel deeply bitter and resentful. despite this, i am glad to have received kind words in my own little corner of the internet, and im grateful for the support.