a/n: eventual sasuke/naruto stuff. basically, they write (at least) the first part of Naruto as we know it, but now we'll get to know what's really behind the events and characters that take place/exist in the world of Naruto. It's meta.
Naruto had just walked his childhood friend Sakura to the train station and was on his way to his own one-bedroom apartment only a few blocks away. He was thinking about something she'd told him, so he wasn't paying attention when he accidentally kicked a solid object across the pavement. It appeared as though someone had dropped their wallet. He picked it up and glanced around to see if he could spot its owner. There were too many people around, and no one looked as though they were searching for it. Several shops and restaurants were in the area, too, so he didn't know where he could try to return it. He should find the closest police station and drop it off. But first, he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be accused of stealing anything. He opened it up to see if everything was intact. There were a couple of credit cards, 10,000 yen in cash, and a driver's license. He squinted at the ID, trying to read the name.
Uchiha...Sasuke?
He didn't recognize him by the photo or the name, but when he read the address, he noticed Uchiha-san's residence was only five blocks from where he was standing. Naruto knew how he would feel if he lost his wallet. The poor bastard was probably already in the midst of cancelling all of his credit cards. Shoving the distressed piece of brown leather into his pocket, he told himself this would be his good deed for the day and immediately began walking in the opposite direction of his own apartment. .
He'd already hit the buzzer five times without anyone answering. Naruto gazed up at all of the windows, wondering which belonged to Uchiha-san's apartment. It was a high-rise in a nicer part of the neighborhood. Not wanting to give up, he decided to punch in a random apartment number and hoped someone would answer. After the second try, he got a reply.
"Yeah?"
"Uh, hi. Um. I forgot my keys. I'm in apartment, uh," he opened the wallet again to read the number, "707. Do you think you could buzz me in?"
"Again? How many times is this going to happen?"
"Huh - "
The connection cut out, and the door buzzed open.
"Okay. That's probably not a good sign." He shook his head and headed inside.
The lobby area was bright and clean with lots of natural light coming in through all of the windows. It was too bad his brand new sneakers kept squeaking as he walked over the tiles. He found the elevator and waited patiently for it to arrive. Considering this person dropped their wallet and also apparently forgot his keys all of the time, Uchiha-san must be a disorganized person. Not that Naruto could talk since he was also the forgetful type.
On the ride to the seventh floor, there was a popular Japanese rock song playing through the speaker. He started humming and tapping his foot on the floor. When the elevator opened, he walked by each door, checking for the right number until he found 707. Although, now that he thought about it, if someone didn't answer the buzzer, maybe they weren't home? What should he do then? Leave it with a neighbor? Tape it to the door? He should've checked to see if there was a lost and found box in the lobby, or maybe a mail slot he could've slipped it into? But then someone might try to steal it.
Naruto knocked on the door. When there was no answer, he knocked louder. Still, no one came. Crap. Now all of his efforts were wasted. He rested his forehead against the door and continued knocking.
"Hey, is anyone home? I have your wallet. Uchiha Sasuke-san? Are you in there? Can you answer the door?"
Naruto thought he heard voices and something dropping on the floor. The voices began to get louder.
"I'm not a slave, you know," one voice (a male) was saying. "If I don't get some sleep, I'm going to pass out. The company doesn't pay me enough to put up with this no matter who you are!"
"If you have time to sleep, then you should have time to help me finish the story. Maybe the company will send me an assistant that's more adequate. I've been asking for a replacement for weeks now. Thankfully they won't have a choice after you're gone."
"Do you really think they're going to send you someone new each time? You already have a reputation for being difficult to work with, Sasuke-san."
"Who said you could address me so informally? You said you were leaving, so go. I can do this by myself. Right now, you're only a distraction."
"Tch. Suit yourself."
Naruto had been listening so intently that when the door opened suddenly, he nearly fell forward. The person standing in front of him was pale, thin in build, and had short, straight bangs that scattered across his forehead.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked.
"Uh - "
"Great. You're the new assistant? I don't recognize you." The other man glared at Naruto. "I can't believe they're still caving into this jerk's demands just because of who he is."
"What are - "
The man pushed past Naruto, knocking into his shoulder as he stormed down the hallway to the elevator.
"Hey, at least apologize when you run into a guy!" Naruto yelled after him.
"Well, are you just going to stand there?"
Naruto looked back into the apartment. There was a man - a model? an idol? an actor? - no older than him, staring with narrowed eyes that reflected his anger and irritation. He wasn't normally one to be intimidated, but he had to gulp down his nervousness.
"Um - "
The young man stepped forward and snatched him by his shirt sleeve.
"I don't have time for this," he said. "We can do introductions later. I have a deadline."
"A d-deadline?" Naruto stuttered as he was dragged into the stranger's apartment.
"You can address me as Uchiha-sensei, but don't talk to me unless - well, strike that. Don't talk to me unless it's to say you've finished with the beta. The pages that are done are on the desk. I'm going to start applying some of the screentones. Someone will be here later to help with the backgrounds."
"Beta?" He asked.
The man - Uchiha-sensei or whatever he was supposed to call him - shot him a scary look.
"B - e - t - a," Uchiha-sensei repeated as if he was a slow learner. "You color in the parts where I've indicated there needs to be black. Do you think you can handle that?"
"I mean... I did take some art classes and I used to help a friend in high school who did manga - "
"I don't need your life story. If the company is sending you, you must have some talent. Even a monkey could do beta, so don't screw it up."
"Er. I'm not - "
But Uchiha-sensei had stopped listening. He returned his own desk (the two desks were in the same room but they were on opposite sides, diagonal from each other), and then he put his earbuds in. Naruto didn't know what he should do. Should he drop the wallet somewhere and run away? Who was this crazy person? Well, he knew his name and that he wrote manga.
He glanced at the tall stack of pages on the previous assistant's desk. Naruto knew he could do that kind of work, but wait - why should he? He didn't know this guy. Although, he also knew that if he was in a bind and needed help... maybe this guy would have to return the favor? He could help him this one time and, after he finished, mention there'd been some kind of miscommunication and he was only here to drop off the wallet. Is this why Sakura always called him a pushover? Wasn't it good to do nice things and help people out? Naruto considered what his father would do in this situation. Yeah, dad would've definitely helped out anyone in need.
So, without further hesitation, he walked to the desk and scrutinized the various brushes, pens, and pencils he could use. There was plenty of ink to work with, too. He read the first page and was surprised to find that the art and story was really... good. Like, crazy good. Naruto gave a peek above the sheet at the stoic man sitting in the other desk. He was already hard at work.
All of a sudden, Uchiha-sensei looked up from what he was doing.
"Are you going to stare at me all night or are you going to work?"
"U-h." Naruto's cheeks flushed out of embarrassment, and he cast his eyes down on the top page. "Sure, yeah. Sorry."
Quickly, he grabbed for and uncapped the ink jar. Naruto looked through his tool options again, picking out one of the finer brushes. He dipped it into the ink and proceeded to fill out all of the marked areas in black. Honestly, what the hell had he gotten himself into?
Once Naruto got going, he became engrossed in the work. The story and characters were really interesting and realistic. It wasn't any kind of action or shonen manga. It was about two boys in high school who had conversations about life. There were funny moments, too, and some bits about relationships. It gave him a nostalgic feeling. The dialogue was very thoughtful, which surprised him given Uchiha-sensei's harsh manner of speaking.
Doing the beta work was relaxing in its own way. It was only a matter of filling in the marked areas with black. He'd been in a manga club when he was in high school, and he had this friend who was also really talented at drawing, so Naruto would help him out from time to time. He hadn't done it in a while, but it came back to him easily enough. Honestly, he wasn't sure how long he'd been working in utter silence when Uchiha-sensei suddenly appeared in front of his desk. He picked up one of the pages Naruto had already done.
"Not bad," he said. "And you've done a lot already."
Naruto looked up and found Uchiha-sensei's brows were drawn together in concentration while he surveyed his work. Now that they were this close, Naruto could say that the man's features were a lot more delicate and almost feminine compared to the average guy. He could tell that the mangaka would definitely be Sakura's type since she liked "pretty" boys. He'd already found that out the hard way. She must've rejected him at least three or four times since middle school.
"I guess you're not as incompetent as the other guy who left."
"Thanks?"
Uchiha-sensei gave him a blank stare that was nearly impossible for him to read.
"Are you hungry?" He asked Naruto.
"Hungry? What time is it? It's only - "
"It's after 8."
"Are you serious?" Naruto checked his watch. "I've been here almost three hours already?"
"Time flies when you're having fun," Uchiha-sensei sarcastically muttered. "Are you hungry or not?"
"I mean... I guess." He glanced at the remaining stack of pages. There were only 10 left.
"I thought Nara would've been here by now to do background, but that lazy bastard probably fell asleep." Uchiha-sensei sighed. "Well, what do you want? It's on me for coming at the last minute to replace that loser."
"You sure do have a funny way of talkin' about the people tryin' to help you," he replied.
The other man's eyebrows shot up. "Pardon?"
"I mean, he was only trying to do his job. There's no reason to talk bad about his character or call him names, right?"
"If he was doing his job, then he wouldn't have left."
"Maybe so. Still."
"Fine. If you don't want food, then you can - "
"Ramen?" Naruto suggested, never one to refuse free food. "There's a really good place a couple of blocks from here. It's run by this old man and his - "
"Ichiraku's," said Uchiha-sensei. "I know where it is. That's fine, but I don't think they deliver."
"No problem. I'll go and get it." He started to get up and, as he did, stretched out his arms. Staying in one position that long wasn't exactly comfortable.
"Let me go get my wallet, and I'll give you some money." Uchiha-sensei began to walk away, and Naruto was suddenly reminded of why he'd come here in the first place.
It only took a few minutes before he started hearing things flying around in another part of the apartment.
"Where the hell is it?" Uchiha-sensei cursed as he stomped down the hallway and into the kitchen, where he proceeded to open and then slam drawers and cabinets shut.
Naruto approached him cautiously. "Uh, hey. Um. Uchiha-sensei?"
"What is it - " He looked over his shoulder at him. "What was your name again?"
"Namikaze," he said. "Namikaze Naruto."
"Well, Namikaze-san, why don't you look around and help me find my wallet."
"Er, actually..."
The other man narrowed his eyes.
"The thing is, and you're gonna find this hilarious - " Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I'm not, you know, from whatever company that guy was from? I kind of came here because - "
Uchiha-sensei grabbed a knife from the drawer and pointed it at him. "Oh, great. One of those stalkers again? How the hell do you people get in here?"
"What? No!" Naruto stared at the knife. "The thing is - this is gonna sound crazy now, but... I found your wallet four blocks away, kind of close to that 100 yen store, and so I saw that you lived close to there - actually, I live not too far from here."
He noticed from the way the writer was looking at him that he was three seconds away from calling the police. Frantically, Naruto waved his hands.
"Seriously, I was bringing over your wallet. You wouldn't answer, so I had someone else buzz me in, and then when I knocked on your door, it was apparently a bad time, and then there was a miscommunication, and so instead of giving you your wallet back... I ended up helping you with your manga?"
"More like you probably picked it up after seeing it lying around my apartment."
"That doesn't make sense. Why would I have come here in the first place?"
"I told you," he said. "I have plenty of stalkers. You wouldn't be the first to try and get into my apartment. Although, I have to admit. Usually it's women who give me trouble, but given the content of the stories, this shouldn't be too surprising either."
"What? Okay, no. First of all, you should thank me for returning your wallet - "
"You haven't returned my wallet, idiot."
"Don't call me idiot!" Naruto took a step closer only to remember the knife. "Would you put that away already? I'm not a stalker. I'm just an - "
"Idiot."
"Yeah! Wait. No. Not an idiot. I was doing my good deed for the day, and then you were all 'sit down and do this' and it's not like I haven't done it before and you needed some help, so... "
"You thought it would be best not to tell me who or why you were here? Ah, yes. That makes sense because I so love having strangers in my home."
"Well, I'm certainly not a stalker because I didn't even know who you were. Anyway, here's this. You'll see it's all there." He plucked out the wallet and handed it over.
Uchiha-sensei took it cautiously and then opened it to check the contents himself.
"See," said Naruto. "It's all there. It was a miscommunication only, and you got your wallet back, and you got a poor sap like me to do the work. So, no harm, no foul."
The other man kept eyeing him warily.
"Fine, I can go. Sorry for the trouble."
Naruto decided to leave before he ended up getting the cops called on him. He made it three steps before he felt the pull at his arm and turned around.
"I believe you," said Uchiha-sensei. "Not to mention I'm in no position to let you go considering..."
Naruto raised a brow. "Considering...?"
"I have a deadline, and you don't do horrible work. You're fast. I suppose... this one time... I'd like to ask for you to continue working. I'll pay you, and I'll still buy you dinner so long as you finish the rest."
"Really?" Naruto smiled brightly at him. "Ha ha, that's great. Okay. Well, what kind of ramen do you want?"
"Just get me whatever you're having. Buy some drinks, too. There's a vending machine in the lobby."
"Alright."
Uchiha-sensei opened his wallet and handed Naruto a few bills.
"Don't take too long," he told Naruto. "We have a lot of work to do."
"Are you gonna call that Nara guy?"
"I don't have much of a choice, now do I? Unless you have any talent at drawing backgrounds."
"Er, maybe if I had some photos for reference... but nah, I'm not great at it."
"We'll just do what we can. Try not to pick up any more wallets on your way there. I wouldn't want you to lose track of time and end up in some other stranger's apartment."
"Heh." Naruto rubbed at his chin while grinning. "I've already learned my lesson. Alright, I'll be back in about 15 minutes."
"I'll be here." Uchiha-sensei gave a wave before disappearing into his office.
Naruto stuffed the cash into one of his jacket pockets and went to the door to put on his shoes before heading out to get them some ramen.
Even after scarfing down several bowls of his favorite pork miso ramen, Naruto, Uchiha-sensei - and now the mysterious Nara Shikamaru - were still hard at work when it was 2 a.m. He'd finished his beta work, and then he got stuck applying screentones, which wasn't something he'd done before. Uchiha-sensei was doing some of the background work while Nara-san was doing the rest, and even adding some of the other special effects. By then, he was beginning to nod off a little, but, luckily, he didn't have work tomorrow.
Nara seemed like an interesting enough guy. He was apparently an old acquaintance of Uchiha-sensei's. All he could gather was that they went to school with one another, but he didn't know if that was high school or college. Did mangakas go to college? He had no idea because he'd never met one who did it as a serious living. It seemed a very stressful and busy lifestyle.
"How many assistants are you going to go through on this project?" Nara suddenly asked.
They'd brought a table in from the other room for him to work on the pages.
"As many as I have to get this done and to my editor later this morning," Uchiha-sensei muttered.
"What makes you even think he'll come by on time? You're always so punctual with deadlines, but he rarely shows up when he says he's going to."
"I don't care. My goal is to have it done by the deadline."
"Fine, fine," mumbled Nara-san. "And what about you?"
"Me?" Naruto looked up briefly.
"Don't distract him with your questions. He's only here for tonight," said Uchiha-sensei.
Nara-san smirked. "I'm curious how you can get a guy to sign on to this project just for one evening. The company's pretty good at meeting your demands, isn't it? Lucky you."
"He's not from the company," Uchiha-sensei replied, clucking his tongue. "Now, do you mind?"
"By the way, Sasuke," said the other man. "I do think this is one of your best works. You might even win a Shogakukan or Kodansha award for this serial of yours It must be a relief to have finally finished it."
Naruto perked up at that. "Really? You really think he could win awards like that?"
Uchiha-sensei stopped what he was doing. "What? You don't think it's good?"
"No, I do. It's nice and simple. I like it. It's not as flashy as shonen manga, and there's not a lot of plot - "
The glare he received made him shut his mouth quickly.
"Er, maybe I'll get back to what I'm doing."
Nara-san gave a snort. "At least he's honest."
"Just do your work, alright," ordered the writer.
So, the three of them fell into silence, working into the early morning hours until the entire manuscript was completely ready. Apparently, Uchiha-sensei's editor would be dropping by to pick it up at around 7. When they finally wrapped everything up, they were all dead tired. Nara-san was going to crash on the couch. Naruto only lived four blocks away so there was no reason for him to stay. He'd stumbled his way home before at a late hour, so this wasn't a problem.
As Uchiha-sensei was starting toward his own bed. "Make sure to leave me your address and contact information. I still have to pay you for your services."
"Oh. Uh, alright." He'd forgotten about that part and kind of figured the ramen was sufficient enough payment. "I'll see you around then. Good luck with the manuscript."
The writer only offered a weak wave as he walked away, his back to Naruto.
Stifling a yawn, Naruto glanced at Nara-san and found him already asleep. He was a little curious how a guy as easygoing as that could be friends with someone like Uchiha-sensei.
Well, at least this would make for an interesting story to tell Sakura tomorrow.
So as to not bother the neighbors, he quietly opened the door and headed to the elevator. He nearly fell asleep standing while on the way down. By the time he made it back to his own apartment, he stumbled into his bed and fell asleep almost the instant his head hit the pillow.
When Naruto woke up in the morning it ended up not being the morning at all. It was close to 2 in the afternoon. The first thing he did was to check his phone, where he saw that he had several messages, most of which were from Sakura because he'd accidentally slept through their lunch date.
He called her immediately.
"I am so sorry, Sakura-chan," he said, reverting to his old name for her while they were growing up. "I totally overslept."
"Were you up late playing video games again? You're supposed to be looking for a job!"
"I have a job," he complained, sliding his feet into his house slippers.
"I mean a real one. Not one where you're delivering food. You have a degree, don't you? Why don't you use it?"
"I'm… working on it." He stood up, scratching his back as he headed into the kitchen. Naruto opened the refrigerator, stared inside for a while, and then closed the door. "Besides, I had a freelance thing come up yesterday, and I'm supposed to get paid for that, I guess."
"Oh. A freelance thing? Like, what?"
"It's a long story. Some guy forgot his wallet and when I went to return it to him, he mistook me for an assistant and put me to work?"
"What? Are you kidding me?" She screeched in his ear. "How do things like that always happen to you?"
"Mah, Sakura-chan. He was in need of help, and it wasn't that hard. He bought me ramen, too, and promised to pay me."
"And who was this person exactly? What if he'd been some crazy maniac?"
"Oh right, I meant to look him up on the Internet today. Uh, his name was Uchiha Sasuke? He's some mangaka - "
"What did you say?"
"Um… he's a mangaka?"
"You said his name was… U-Uchiha Sasuke?"
"Yeah, why? Do you know him?"
"HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK, NARUTO? He's the writer of Still Life, like, one of the most talked about manga series of the year. And you're saying you worked on it? I can't even - Right now. Oh my goodness. What… is he as handsome as in his pictures?"
"Really, that's what you care about?" He frowned as he smoothed out a crease of a photo he had stuck to the fridge door.
"I am coming over, and we are going to talk about this, and you aren't going to leave out any details!"
"Aren't you at work - "
She hung up.
"Okay." He stared at the phone, which then started to ring. "Oh, maybe we got disconnected. Yo, Sakura. Are you really comin' over right now?"
"Is this Namikaze-san?"
Crap. A bill collector. That's just what he needed.
"Listen," he said. "I'm not interested - "
"Moron. Who do you think you're talking to?"
"Hey, is this how you talk to customers? You know, I don't appreciate that - "
There was a loud sigh on the other end. "I'm going to offer you a proposition."
"Okay, now you're just being a pervert."
"I'll pretend I didn't just hear that. Tell me, Namikaze-san, are you in your own apartment now, or have you managed to sneak into someone else's apartment again like the stalker you are?"
"Oh… wait. Who is this again? Uchiha… sensei?"
"Bingo."
Oh crap, what an idiot he was! "Ah, shit. I'm sorry. I get a lot of solicitors calling me for some reason. Did your editor come by and pick up the manuscript?"
"He did. Finally. But he was three hours late."
"Heh. Well, at least it was done. Did he say anything about it?"
"Of course not. He picked up the envelope and left but not before asking me if I'd be interested in starting a new project. Since you're apparently a jobless loser and you do decent work, I was wondering if you'd be interested in assisting me with a draft?"
Naruto squinted at a nondescript spot on the wall. "Uh… wait. Did you just insult me?"
"I did, but I also offered you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on a new manga for JUMP."
"JUMP… like… Shonen Jump magazine?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, my editor thinks it would benefit my career to attempt a shonen manga. I never thought I'd go that route, but I'd consider it a challenge."
"For such a big deal… why are you asking me? We hardly know each other."
"Do you want the honest answer?"
"Yeah, of course."
"The company that usually assigns me assistants won't hire out anyone to me."
Naruto started laughing.
"Is that really so funny to you?"
"Sorry." He leaned against the counter. "I mean… I guess it means you only called me because you were desperate, huh?"
"I don't see why that should matter."
Naruto nodded. "What's the work schedule like?"
"It will be a full-time position. There may be nights and weekends, too, as you saw last night."
"Can I think on it?"
"I'll give you 10 seconds."
"Ten seconds - "
"Nine, eight…"
"Would you wait a second? Yeah, that's fine. I'll do it. When am I supposed to start? What's the concept anyway?"
"Why would I have a concept if I was just asked for a brief and character designs today?"
"Oh, good point. I mean… did your editor hint to you at all what he wanted?"
"No."
"Maybe you can do a sport anime!"
"No, thanks. I'm going to brainstorm this weekend. I'll contact you when I need you. I'll also send you a check for last night, too."
"What about samurai?" Naruto was starting to get excited. "Or, um. I really like the stuff with demons. What's your favorite manga, Uchiha-sensei?"
"Uzumaki by Itō Junji."
"Never heard of it."
"It's horror."
"I'm not sure that'd go over in JUMP, right?"
"I don't really care."
"You should care. I read shonen manga growing up, and it's very important to a lot of young boys, oh, well, and girls to read that stuff. It helps them develop their imaginations and teaches them about friendship and what's right or wrong - "
"Fine, what would you write about if you were me?"
"I don't know. Usually that stuff has some kind of hero, right? Like in Dragon Ball. And then they have to go through trials to become strong, and they have some kind of friend or rival to spur them on, and I dunno, there's lots of fighting and stuff and training. Maybe there are aliens!"
"No."
"Okay, what about… there's lots of samurai stuff, but what about… hm. Ninja? I saw the books you had in your bookshelf in the living room. You probably like all that boring historical crap so you could do all kinds of plot stuff based on Japanese mythology. Your name is Sasuke, right? Wasn't Sarutobi Sasuke a famous ninja? You could have a character named after yourself and call him Sasuke!"
"Oh? Why not call him Naruto," the other man replied sarcastically. "Usually ninja are smart and crafty, but maybe I can tailor him after you and have him be an idiot."
"I want to be upset with you 'cause you're bein' a jerk, but I also really like the idea of a shonen character bein' named after me. Namikaze Naruto, the ninja."
"I don't like the alliteration."
"What? Why? Fine, then, I dunno. What was the name of that manga you said you liked?"
"Uzumaki?"
"So, take my name and the name of your favorite manga and bam there's your character."
"Hm. Uzumaki Naruto, eh?"
Naruto nodded. "Doesn't sound bad, does it? Hey, do I get paid for helpin' you brainstorm? We should meet up one of these nights, and I can help you think it - "
"That won't be necessary. I'll call you when I need you. Have fun on your date with whoever this Sakura person is although I'm surprised someone like you can even get a date."
He hung up on Naruto.
"That… that bastard!" Naruto thought about calling him back, but then there was a knock on his door. He'd forgotten all about Sakura coming over. He wasn't even dressed.
Naruto ran into his room and pulled on an orange hoodie and a pair of black sweatpants. He slid across the floor as he made his way to the door and opened it.
"Sakura-chan," he said brightly. "You hung up on me!"
She waltzed in, her pretty dress fluttering about her long legs as she paced around excitedly.
"Tell me everything, Naruto! I want to hear all about Uchiha Sasuke. Tell me he's single because, I swear, I am going to marry that man some day!"
TBC... one day.