Secrets, they can be frighteningly powerful at times, and entirely trivial at others. One thing about secrets that can always be assured is that they will always change things once they come out.
But it's not always the big secrets that hold the most power for change, no quite the opposite really. It is, inevitably, the secrets that sound the most trivial, when heard by an outsider, that can hold the most power in a close group. For they are the ones that can most change a persons views.
Don't get the wrong idea, big secrets will most certainly have their day, but among friends, the sort of secret that would seem big to an outsider, can become the easiest to just brush to the side.
So perhaps, this too can be assured of secrets; whether it is a big or a small secret, is not always clear, until it comes out.
This truth too though, is a secret; a secret that is about to be learned by two, very different, and yet very similar people.
Today was a day looked forward to by many in the village of Konoha, not because it was a holiday or the birthday of someone special. No, in fact, to any outside observer today would seem like any other day. But to many in the village it was quite the occasion, especially among the ranks of the shinobi, which made up the main industry of Konoha.
Today was the day that the new teams were formed; it was a day of growth for the shinobi of Konoha, a day in which new life entered their ranks, a day truly worth looking forward to for those who were all too often involved with death. But this day was more important still, to those, who had just the day before, become Genin.
The rank of Genin was the lowest rank for a shinobi, and yet for those who sat in the academy, waiting as patiently as they could manage, it was their first step toward greatness. It was a point from which they could move forward with any number of dreams or ambitions.
And for nine of those new Genin, though they do not yet know it, it was their first step on the road to becoming legends.
There was so much hanging in the classroom air, from excitement to anxiety to impatience, to name but a few. And as the classroom door slid open, and a brown haired man with a scar that ran across his nose stepped in, all of these feelings seemed to turn into a palpable tension. But, strong as it was, it all seemed to shatter and melt away with the first words the man spoke.
"Good morning class." The man said with a somewhat sad smile. "I'd just like to start, by saying just how proud I am of each and every one of you." He added as he looked over everyone in the classroom. "To say I will miss you would be an understatement of the greatest caliber, but I know that you are all off to bigger and better things, and so, I am also happy to see this day come."
As the man finished speaking, he turned, with that same sad smile, to a set of papers in his hands. "I will now be giving out your team assignments as well as..." The man started before the door slid open, and another man walked in.
"Umino Iruka?" The man asked, receiving only a nod in answer from the scarred man that stood in front of the class. "I was told by Hokage-sama to give you this." The man said, before handing a set of folded papers to Iruka.
"I see...thank you." Iruka said as he took the papers and the other man walked off. Unfolding the papers and reading through them, Iruka looked back up to his class with a slightly shocked expression. Clearing his throat, he readdressed those who sat before him.
"It would seem there have been some changes to the planned team assignments." Iruka spoke, earning murmurs and whispers from the class. "Now before any rumors get started, I will go ahead and explain why." As soon as those words had left his mouth, Iruka was surprised to find the room go completely silent. 'Well...that worked a bit too well...' He thought to himself before explaining. "Those who were chosen to act as Jounin Sensei this year have made requests for their teams, and though rare, it is neither unheard of nor disallowed for them to do so."
Hands went up almost instantly when the explanation had finished, and despite himself, Iruka nodded to one of the students. "So will we have oddly structured teams then?" A young pink haired girl asked curiously.
"Yes Sakura, a couple of the teams may be oddly structured." Iruka answered with a nod before turning to another student. "Ino?" The scarred man questioned calmly. He had a feeling he knew what was coming from this one, but he wouldn't assume it outright.
"Was it a fight over Sasuke-kun that caused this?" The young blonde girl asked with a smile. This of course brought whispers and murmurs from many others in the class about them wanting to ask the same thing, and from a few about having known she'd ask that.
Iruka himself sighed and shook his head, having predicted the question accurately. "No Ino, this does not have anything to do with Sasuke, and before anyone asks, it does, in fact, have something to do with Naruto...but only in part"
"Hah! I bet they were arguing over who'd get stuck with him!" Ino laughed out, joined quickly by most of the class.
Iruka looked over to Naruto; he could tell the boy was angry, extremely at that. He knew he'd need to defuse the situation, but there was only so much he could say. "Actually!" The man said, speaking louder than he would usually prefer, but only to get everyone's attention. It worked beautifully; as the entire room went quiet and even Naruto turned his full attention to Iruka. "There was a small argument over who would be allowed to have him."
The room was now silent enough to hear a senbon drop. Iruka had to admit he was pleased with the result and more than happy about the shocked looks he saw on everyone's faces. He really hadn't wanted to give Naruto's ego such a boost, but he couldn't very well leave it shrivel up in everyone's laughter either. Still, he'd avoided saying anything he shouldn't and still kept things, somewhat, calm.
"Now then, if that is all the questions...I would very much like to get this underway." Iruka said, quite obviously annoyed, and was pleased when no hands went up. "Good, now then, as usual teams will consist of three Genin lead by a Jounin Sensei." He explained rather quickly, before moving on. "Now, as the Jounin have chosen to pick their teams this year, the normal balancing that is done has been forgone."
That said, Iruka looked to the new set of paper in his hands. "This years teams will be team seven; Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke. Your Jounin Sensei will be Hatake Kakashi. Team eight; Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto. Your Jounin Sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai. And finally team ten; Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino. Your Jounin Sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma." As Iruka looked back up from his sheet, he was a little surprised to see a calm Naruto and an obviously frustrated Sasuke.
It was a funny role reversal to see honestly. The normally loud Naruto seemed perfectly stoic, most likely just happy to not be on Sasuke's team, while the normally stoic Sasuke looked like he was about ready to pop. His jaw was clinched, his right hand was held in a fist and finally his left eye seemed to be twitching up a storm. He looked almost ready to scream actually.
What was coming next would most likely make it all the worse too, but Iruka couldn't help thinking the Uchiha deserved it. "You are all now dismissed for lunch, be sure to eat with your team and get to know them, and be back in one hour, your sensei will be here to get you then." And true to his expectations, Iruka saw the Uchiha let his head fall forward to slam against his desk before standing and beginning to walk out of the room, along with everyone else.
Kiba sighed as Naruto again prodded for more information on the Inuzuka clan. Honestly how could the dead last, the worst student in their class, be so interested in this stuff? It was hardly interesting after all, at least in Kiba's opinion that was. They had gotten passed the interesting stuff when there was no more to say about the Inuzuka clan dogs and yet Naruto wanted to know even more.
And of course Shino wasn't being any help at all; the bug user seemed entirely content to just listen to the conversation, though one could hardly call it that. It was more or less Naruto saying 'What else?' each time Kiba tried to stop.
"I believe it is time we returned." Shino finally broke in, saving the Inuzuka from having to explain how clan politics worked. Shino himself was surprised by the blonde's curiosity and seeming thirst of answers. The level of it begged the question, at least to him, of how Naruto had been the dead last. It seemed impossible, logically speaking, that one with such a thirst for knowledge would score so low.
Sadly, the Aburame had hardly anytime to think on this, as they reached the classroom, and were almost immediately greeted by a red eyed woman walking in. "Team eight right?" She questioned as she looked at them. "I'm Kurenai, your Jounin Sensei." And with that, the woman turned and left the room, door still wide open as she began walking down the hall. Pausing a moment, she turned and looked back to the classroom. "Are you three coming?"
"Ok, this should be a good place." Kurenai said as she stopped in the middle of a training ground; something that made the Genin with her somewhat nervous. "I only brought you here because I find it peaceful." The red eyed woman said with a smile as she sat down on the grass. "Today is simply about getting to know one another, nothing more, nothing less." She said as she motioned to the grass near her. "Take a seat."
With a somewhat doubtful nod Naruto was the first to sit, joined quickly by Kiba and Shino there after. "So...today is just to get to know each other then?" The blonde asked and received a nod. "But...we already did that over lunch...uh well...sort of at least."
At that Kurenai gave a little laugh. "Yes, well maybe you did Naruto, but I wasn't there at that point." The Jounin answered sweetly. "As good as it is for you three to know each other; it would be useful if I knew you as well."
"Oh..." Was the only reply from the blonde at first, and he appeared to be thinking for a moment, before speaking again. "What...sort of things should we talk about?"
"Just the basics, you know, your name, your likes, dislikes, any dreams or ambitions you might have for the future." Kurenai explained kindly. She'd been told of Naruto's neglect at the academy, and how he had been more or less segregated from other children growing up. It was a wonder the boy had the social skills he did in all honesty. "Here, how about I go first, just to demonstrate." The red eyed woman went on as she saw the slight confusion on Naruto's face. "My name is Yuuhi Kurenai, I like working with Genjutsu and reading good books, I dislike prejudice people and those who believe their birth into a clan makes them better than others, and my dream for the future is to become the greatest Genjutsu user in Konoha."
As Kurenai finished, she could see Naruto turning things over in his head, processing it carefully before opening his mouth to speak. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like raman, training and practicing jutsu, I dislike people like Sasuke-teme and the three minutes it takes to cook cup raman and my dream for the future is to become the Hokage and to surpass everyone before me." The blonde explained very seriously.
That the blonde would proclaim he'd become the Hokage wasn't anything new, but to see just how serious he actually seemed to be about it was. If this truly was his goal, then he would have a very long road ahead of him, it could easily be called the hardest road in the shinobi world to walk. Kurenai would have to talk to him alone at some point and see just how serious he was.
The next to go was Kiba, not that it was a surprise, as the Inuzuka could be much louder than even the blonde at times. "My name is Inuzuka Kiba; I like Akamaru here, training, my family and of course all our other dogs." The dog user said, earning a happy yip from the puppy. "My dislikes are cats, mailmen and that damn bird that taps on my window every morning at five..." This statement was punctuated by Akamaru growling and barking three times before Kiba continued on. "And as to my dream for the future; I want create a bunch of new jutsu for my clan and prove that we can be more than just great trackers."
Kurenai nodded at that, it wasn't much of a surprise to her of course, the Inuzuka had some incredibly powerful attacks, but no one knew them for it. Every time you heard of an Inuzuka, it was because they had tracked someone down that was supposedly impossible to find or something equivalent to that.
Next up was Shino, that much was obvious, but it was somewhat surprising to the group when the bug user began speaking with out being asked or told to. "My name is Aburame Shino, my likes are my family and the collection and observation of insects and arachnids, my dislikes are people who judge others with out knowing them and those who hurt other living things with out cause and my dream for the future is to master my clan's jutsu and to be an adequate leader when the time comes."
Kurenai couldn't keep herself from blinking as she ran that back through her head. It would seem, of the three Genin, Shino was the least ambitious; and even his goals were somewhat lofty by comparison of most at their age. The Jounin couldn't help but smile at the three at this point. "Alright, well that seems like a good start to me." The red eyed woman said, once more with a kind smile on her face. "Tomorrow will be a day for assessment, I'll be testing all three of you in Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu, we start at nine tomorrow morning, so I want you all to go home and get a good night's rest. Dismissed!" With that last word she vanished before her Genins' eyes, seemingly fading away in a swirl of leaves.
All three Genin stood there, staring at the spot for a moment before finally standing and heading out of the training ground.
The three Genin continued to walk together as they headed for their respective homes. It was merely chance of course but none of them were arguing the company, two of them were even talking casually about different things, while the third stayed mostly quiet, adding to the conversation only when the other two more or less forced him.
They were halfway through the market district when the quieter of the three finally spoke with out provocation, though what he said would prove very important. "Smoke..." Shino observed quietly, though it was more than enough to get Naruto and Kiba's attention. At their questioning looks, the bug user pointed ahead of them.
As their eyes turned in the direction Shino had indicated, they saw a pillar of smoke rising into the air quite clearly. All three stood there quietly at first, and it wasn't until Naruto took off in a mad dash toward the smoke that the other two realized something was wrong.
With in seconds they followed, hot on Naruto's heels. They were a little surprised when they both realized they had to push themselves pretty hard to even come close to the blonde's pace. Even so, they still weren't matching it perfectly, and were actually losing ground to him as he seemed to go a little faster with each stride.
When they finally caught up to him, it was because he had stopped. They were standing in front of a small apartment complex in a slightly run down part of Konoha; it was the building from which the smoke was rising, and were either of them to guess, where Naruto lived.
Shino's hand twitched as he looked at the building. Something seemed wrong about the scene in front of them. Only one of the apartments seemed to have caught on fire and while the bug user knew it was possible the fire had just been put out that quickly, he had a feeling there was more to this than that.
"Naruto-san..." Shino began monotonously as he continued to stare at the smoking building. "Would I be right in assuming that to be your apartment?" He asked as he turned to look at the blonde. As Naruto nodded yes in answer, Shino seemed to sigh. "Would it also then, be safe to assume this has happened more than once in the past?"
To this too Naruto nodded sadly, before taking a slightly shaky breath and beginning to speak. "Yeah..." The blonde said as he looked to the apartment he'd once called home. "This sort of thing is why I started keeping my precious mementos somewhere else actually."
"How many times...?" Came a quiet question from Kiba, earning a look of surprise from Naruto, who remained quiet, only holding up his hand, all five fingers held up in answer. The dog user didn't try to suppress the growl that escaped before turning and beginning to walk off. "Come on Naruto, we're going to see the Hokage."
Naruto blinked and looked to Shino, who seemed to be distracted by something on his hand before turning to face the blonde himself. "I must agree with Kiba, we should go see Hokage-sama." The bug user said as he turned and began walking in the same direction as the dog user.
With a sigh, Naruto followed his teammates, though he knew the Hokage wouldn't be able to do much, he supposed he should at least go see him. He'd want to hear about this from Naruto, whether or not he'd already been told.
It had taking them about fifteen minutes the reach the Hokage's tower and then another twenty before the man had been able to see them, but at least they were here now, and things could be handled.
"So, what brings the three of you here today?" The Hokage questioned, though the look on the old man's face made it clear he knew very well what it was.
"It's happened again." Naruto answered before either Kiba or Shino could say anything. "Thankfully I didn't lose anything important this time though...just a few sets of clothes that were getting a bit small anyway." The blonde added almost in passing.
"Sadly I must admit to having already known..." The Hokage said with a small sigh. "But I'm glad you came here to tell me just the same Naruto." The old man added with small, sad smile. "I already have someone looking into this...but if it's the same as the last few times, things will not be too revealing..."
"Yeah..." Naruto said sadly before turning to look out the window behind the Hokage. "Ne...Oji-san, sorry for all the trouble I seem to cause you."
"Naruto..." The old man spoke softly and with a sigh. "How many times have I told you not to think like that?" He added as he stood and walked over to the boy, placing his hand on his shoulder. "These things are not your fault, and thus you should not blame yourself for them."
"Yeah, but still..." The blonde began again, only to be cut off by the Hokage.
"No buts Naruto, these things are not your fault." The old man said again, this time sternly. "Your pranks on the other hand..." At that both the blonde and old man began laughing, much to the surprise of the other two in the room.
It wasn't exactly something either had expected to see. That anyone outside of family could be so close to the Hokage was amazing, but for it to be Naruto, it was nearly incomprehensible.
After the two quieted, they turned their attention back to Shino and Kiba, having half forgotten about them. "I must thank the two of you as well." The Hokage said as he returned to his desk. "It is nice to see he has such loyal teammates as you two."
"Thank you Hokage-sama, but we only did what we felt was right." Shino said in answer to the slight praise while Kiba nodded in agreement. "I am sure that, were the situation reversed, and something happened with Kiba or myself, that Naruto-san would be there beside us as well."
"Still, thank you both." The old man said once more before setting on a new subject. "I have something I need to ask the two of you." The Hokage began seriously, pausing only long enough to be sure he had their attention before continuing. "As I am sure you have both figured out, Naruto is with out a place to stay for the moment; and sadly, it will be at least a weak before new quarters will become available..."
Shino and Kiba both got where this was going quickly, it wasn't too hard to figure out after all. It was Shino who answered first though. "As much as I would like to offer it, I am afraid I can not." The bug user explained with what the Hokage thought might be a frown hidden behind his coat collar. "A recent failed experiment concerning termites caused two of our buildings to collapse before the issue could be rectified."
The Hokage gave an understanding nod when he heard that. He'd seen a report on the incident a few days ago and if he remembered correctly, the experiment had been one the Aburame's clan council had strictly forbidden, and with the results he could certainly understand why.
"He can stay with my clan." Kiba said before anyone could ask the question again.
"Are you sure Kiba?" The Hokage asked, sounding a little unsure of the offer. Tsume, the Inuzuka's current clan head, wasn't exactly known for being hospitable to surprise visitors, and with it being Naruto...
"I'm sure." Kiba answered with a nod. "I know mom has a reputation when it comes to surprise visitors, but in this case, she'd be pissed worse if I didn't make the offer."
"I see..." Came the old man's reply, still sounding unsure. "Very well then, I suppose I will simply have to trust your judgment." The Hokage said with a nod. "I will be in touch as soon as I can find a new place for Naruto, or if something new comes to light, until then; dismissed." With that, the old man expected to see all three Genin leave, but as he looked up, he found Shino still sitting in his chair.
"Aren't you coming Shino?" Naruto asked, sounding a little bewildered. When the Hokage said dismissed, it meant you got up and left.
"Go on with out me." Shino answered as he looked back to his two teammates. "I have something I need to talk with Hokage-sama about in private." The boy said as he turned back to the old man.
"It's ok Naruto." The Hokage said with a nod. "Shino has been acting as a conveyer for messages and updates between his father and I these last few days." The old man explained. It was a lie, of course, but he already understood that Shino had something important to say, something best said in secret. "We will likely be a while, so you two should go ahead home."
"Oh." Was all Naruto said before nodding and heading out of the office with Kiba.
"Am I safe in assuming this is to do with what happened to Naruto's apartment?" The Hokage questioned seriously, and earned a nod from the bug user.
The walk to the Inuzuka estate was quite, despite the normally loud nature of the two, both seemed to have things on their minds as they walked the streets of Konoha. For Naruto it was mostly nervousness over the possible rejection when this was brought to Kiba's mom.
As for Kiba, it was simply beginning to sink in just how risky this might be. There was no doubt in the dog user's mind about Naruto being allowed to stay, that wasn't where the risk was. The risk was in the blonde finding out a secret Kiba had long been keeping; one Kiba simply wasn't ready to let out yet.
With both lost in their own thoughts and worries, the two Genin hardly realized it as they arrived at the estate. It was now, that one of them finally chose to speak. "Listen, Kiba...before we go in, I just wanted to say thanks for this, no matter if your mom says yes or no, just...thanks for even making the offer."
Kiba nodded in response to this before speaking as well. "You're welcome, and as to that last bit, don't worry about it." The dog user said with a smile. "It's like I said to the Hokage, mom would have been pissed at me if I hadn't made the offer."
Naruto still looked a little unsure, but nodded just the same. As Kiba opened the door and walked in, the blonde followed. Removing his sandals before stepping up onto the hardwood flooring of the house and following Kiba even further in.
Naruto looked around as they walked through the house, turning corners here and there as they headed for where the blonde could only assume Tsume would be found. He had to admit the place was cleaner than he'd expected, by a good margin no less. After a little bit, the blonde stopped looking around and simply looked ahead, making sure to follow Kiba precisely.
It was as they turned another corner that they finally ran into someone. Naruto was a little nervous, to say the least, he was expecting things to turn south now, especially since this guy looked old enough to know.
So distracted by his own thoughts and expectations of what was to happen next, Naruto hadn't heard Kiba asking the guy where everyone else was, or where they could find Tsume. In fact the blonde almost missed it when the guy had addressed him by name.
"Uzumaki Naruto, right?" The guy asked with a smile, and Naruto simply gave a stunned nod in reply. "Thought so, so your one of little Kiba's new teammates huh?" The guy posed another question, though it was obvious even to the blonde that this one was rhetorical. "Tsume is just going to love this; she's wanted to get her cl..." The man was cut off by Kiba's hand covering his mouth.
"This would be a good time for you to shut up Kyo." Kiba growled out before pulling the hand away from the guy's mouth and starting back down the hallway. Not even looking back to make sure Naruto was following.
Naruto wasted no time in following though, as he got the distinct feeling it'd be a bad idea to not. "...do I even want to know what that was about?" The blonde asked, obviously now a little worried.
"You'll find out sooner or later..." Kiba sighed in answer. "But for now, just know it's nothing to be worried about, ok?"
Naruto nodded, still a little unsure. He could already tell this was something not to ask too much about, he could tell that just by the way Kiba had acted with the other guy. After another minute or so of following the dog user quietly, Naruto saw a woman who looked a lot like Kiba walking toward them, a large black dog walking beside her. If he were to guess, that was Tsume, and the dog, well he had no idea but it was probably the same thing to her as Akamaru was to Kiba.
"Ah, Kiba, there you are." The woman said with a fanged smile. "I was just coming to see if you were home." She added before looking to Naruto. "Uzumaki...?" The woman questioned, sounding almost stunned. "Kiba...?"
"Uh...well you see..." The dog user began nervously. "Naruto is a member of my new Genin team, and well..."
"My apartment was burned earlier today..." The blonde took over the explanation. "It wasn't until after we met with our Jounin that we found out it had happened, and Kiba and Shino, our other teammate, were kind enough to go with me to the Hokage's office to report it."
"I see." Tsume said with a nod. "So then, you need a place to stay for a little bit, right?" She asked in a calm voice, earning a nod from the blonde. "Very well then, you're free to stay as long as needed, I'll see that there's a room prepared for you before dinner."
Naruto looked at the woman in front of him, more than a little stunned at the moment. "I...you...its uh...its ok with you?" The blonde asked a little dumbly, getting a nod from Tsume as his answer, which stunned him all the more.
The Inuzuka clan head gave the boy a minute to collect himself before she continued. "Tell me Uzumaki, is it safe to assume you lost most of you clothes in the fire?" The woman asked seriously, and got a nod back from the blonde. "Ah, you shouldn't take this the wrong way, but good." At this Naruto looked at the woman who was giving him a fanged smile and simply stared. Had she seriously just said that? "Kuro, take Uzumaki to the clan tailor and see that he is provided with a few sets clothing, befitting a shinobi...oh and make sure the tailor takes the clothes he's wearing now and burns them as soon as possible."
"I...um...huh?" Naruto questioned, as things began to sink in. "But...I like my clothes." The boy said as the black dog, apparently named Kuro, walked over to him and looked up at him in a way that simply said, 'Follow me or else.'.
"Consider it a price of staying here if you must Uzumaki." Tsume said passively, before adding in a voice that left no room for argument. "I will not allow any shinobi who sleeps under this roof, to dress as you do right now." She explained firmly as she waved the boy off. "Now I'd get a move on before Kuro decides to drag you, he's not exactly the most patient of dogs."
Naruto gulped at that and followed the black dog off, walking more than a little stiff as he did.
"Now then..." Tsume said once Naruto was out of sight. "I think you and I need to have a little talk Kiba." The woman added, and Kiba couldn't help the gulp that followed.
Kiba sighed and flopped right into bed, mentally and physically exhausted. That talk had actually been two, one about the secret, which Tsume had figured out Kiba was keeping in all of five seconds, and the other about Naruto. On the subject of the secret, the woman had merely said it wasn't safe to keep that sort of thing from your teammates and had suggested trying to tell Naruto first.
As to the talk of Naruto though, it had come as somewhat of a surprise. Tsume had actually told Kiba to find away to make to blonde want to stay. Something about not needing permission from the village council to let him move in or something like that.
The dog user was simply too tired right now to understand it all, hopefully a good night's rest would be all it took to make sense of things. With that thought, Kiba let sleep win out and fell into dream with a final exhausted sigh.
Kiba's eye twitched at the tapping sound that emanated somewhere to the left, no doubt from the window and no doubt made by a very small, very annoying bird. "I seriously hate you..." The dog user whispered hoarsely while getting out of bed.
Looking to the clock that sat no more than three feet away, it read just as expected. It was once again five in the morning, and once again there was no hope for further sleep. Kiba had tried a few times before, and the bird seemed insistent that the dog user wake.
With a sigh of resignation Kiba walked over to the closest and grabbed a fresh set of clothes before heading for the bathroom. 'Its times like this I'm glad the other room that shares this bathroom is empty.' Kiba thought tiredly and began to strip away yesterday's clothing, tossing it into the hamper to be washed later.
Naruto woke with a bit of a start, a knock at the door of the room he'd be given having brought the blonde out of a rather nice dream. Unable to fight a yawn as he rose, the blonde walked to the door and slid it open.
On the other side of the door stood a man Naruto recognized from yesterday. He was the Inuzuka tailor Kuro had taken him too. The elderly man hadn't exactly been what Naruto was expecting when he'd heard Tsume give the black dog his instructions. He'd expected to be lead to a tailor somewhere else in Konoha, but the man was, in fact, a part of the Inuzuka clan.
It was with a smile that the man handed a package to Naruto, who was obviously still half asleep. He had worked through the night on this one set, so the boy would be able to show up at breakfast in them. The old man knew this was what would please Tsume most. But he had other reasons for getting this first set finished quickly, among them, the desire to destroy that horrid outfit the blonde had first come to him in. "These should be to your liking Uzumaki." Old man assured as the boy took the package from him. "Now remember, you promised you would have your old...'clothes' to me before six."
Naruto nodded to the old man as he said that. "Yeah, yeah, I remember." Naruto said somewhat sourly. He still didn't understand what was so bad about his old clothes. "I'll be by to drop them off as soon as I clean up." The blonde said with a sigh and shut the door.
Looking to the clock that sat beside the bed, he gave yet another sigh. It was only five in the morning, and yet no matter how much he'd prefer it, he couldn't go back to bed. He'd never been what you'd call a morning person; it was only when training got involved that it seemed he could wake early.
Muttering some unintelligible phrase under his breath, the blonde moved over to the bed and opened the package. Pulling the new clothing out, he turned and headed for the bathroom, opening the door with out even thinking and took a step in, only to turn around and slam it back shut immediately. His face was red enough to make any rose turn green with envy.
"Would you please just say something!?" Kiba near yelled at Naruto as the two walked down the halls of the Inuzuka compound, heading toward the tailor's. The dog user had been trying to talk to the blonde for a while now, and couldn't get so much as a word out of him. "You can't just pretend it didn't happen!"
"I can sure as hell try!" Naruto finally said, sounding a little harsher than he'd meant to. They were now stopped just outside the tailor's room, Naruto still facing away from Kiba. There was a light blush on his cheeks even now, and he honestly hated himself for it.
"No, you can't!" Kiba said again, sounding rather pissed at this point. "What happened can't be undone, what you saw can't be unseen and what you learned can't be forgotten, either you deal with and talk to me or you let it cause problems."
"And how exactly am I supposed to deal with something like that?" Naruto asked back, this time all too quietly and it was obvious even to Kiba that he was shaking a little. Whether it be from anger or something else was unclear though.
"I know it probably doesn't make a difference now..." Kiba sighed. "But I had honestly planned on telling you before breakfast today."
At this, Naruto sighed as well, seeming to calm down a bit as he did. "I just don't understand why you hid it..." The blonde said as he finally turned to face the slightly depressed looking Kiba. "I mean, I get why you would when we were younger...but as we got older that sort of thing stopped mattering."
"I know, I know." Kiba said with a frustrated sigh. "I just...by that time, I had become worried about you and the others hating me for keeping it a secret in the first place...I just...I felt trapped."
"Oh..." Was all Naruto could bring himself to say to that. In the end it made sense, and were the situation reversed, he could very easily see himself doing the same thing. Even so, this was going to take some getting used to. After all, it drastically altered his views of Kiba, and some of the views it effected were a little...unsettling at first. "I can't promise to treat you the same as before..." The blonde began, speaking quietly. "But I'm not upset over it...just a little...freaked out...I guess..."
Kiba nodded in understanding, more than able to comprehend how that would be possible. "Yeah...I think I would be too...if the situation was reversed..." The dog user said with a small sad smile. "After all...it isn't everyday you find out someone you think is a guy is actually a girl..."
