It was raining outside. A teenage girl was outside, just standing there in a black t-shirt and some tight black shorts. She had long blonde hair with a few red streaks hanging loose around her, pasted to her body by the rain. And what a body it was, with long, toned, pale legs, a large bust, a pretty oval face, and large, vibrant, blue eyes she was a beauty.
Not that she noticed. She was alone there, and no one was bothering her, trying to stay out of the rain. It made her feel calm out there. She let her tears stream down her face, as she cried for her unjust treatment, from her father no less! Not that he knew she was a girl. Nobody really looked enough to tell that she was a girl, bar a select few.
She was Uzumaki-Namikaze Naru, daughter of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, though no one knew, and the Red Hot Habanero, Kushina Uzumaki.
She was also blamed for the death of her mother, and the death of hundreds of shinobi that died during the attack of the Kyuubi no Yoko as she was the sacrifice to jail her. Yes, she was female. Many thought her male because she is so powerful, but that was not so. Kurama, or Kura-chan as Naru liked to call her, had been training her since she was five, as she had had a bad attack that left her in a coma for a week, where she had met the great being of chakra.
Her father, Namikaze Minato would just look on, watching as she was beaten within an inch of her life with indifference, and he made it no misconception that he blamed her for the death of her mother. Not that he knew she was a girl. He had always assumed, as she was surrounded by boys and typically didn't do feminine things (that he saw) that she was a boy.
She unofficially lived in a shack on top of an apartment complex in the Red Lights District, though no one but the lowlifes and the prostitutes of the Red Lights District had known. They had all understood that it wasn't her fault that the demon had fucked Konoha up, and knew what it was like, being cast away for nothing more than a part of themselves that people typically don't like. They, unlike the rest of the people of Konoha, understood the difference between the kunai and the sealing scroll, only they called them the baby daddy and the brat. Even if she had lived there, she didn't really understand what they meant when they said that. They had told her to 'remain innocent.' Through those friends, a whole lot of the street gangs and people had truly grown fond of her, teaching her how to defend herself out on the street. She'd learned about how to deal with people like them, speak like them, even sometimes working with them to a common goal. She was someone who had the backing of quite a few of the darker shadows of the villages. After all, the Underworld of the countries were active everywhere, the right people could give you information on everything you'd ever need to know.
She had a female friend whose family didn't mind her... Anymore. Her name was Hyuuga Hinata. She was a really shy girl due to the rough training that her father gave her, though after one… Pleasant… Meeting with Naru, Hiashi had been kinder and far more understanding during the lessons. When they had sparred the first time, the kind Hyuuga had found out about Naru's gender, though she hadn't hidden it. It just wasn't obvious, she was a tough girl wearing baggy, masculine clothes. The whole Hyuuga clan had sworn on their honour (which they held in the greatest esteem) that they would not tell anyone, and allow the rest of the village to figure it out themselves.
Neji had been (for lack of a better word) an ass about it at first saying how 'it was fate that Hinata was weak,' and how 'You are stupid for believing you can overcome fate.' Which, Naru disproved by saying, "But you are born weak, with a tiny body and tiny hands and a tiny head," She said making gestures with her hands to show how small a baby was, in case he didn't already know. Then her voice took a sadistic tone as she finished her sentence. "That I can crush." With a huge (and creepy) smile on her face, seeming to crush the pretend baby that she had been pretending to hold.
Also, the Ichiraku father daughter duo were really nice to her. She had been suspicious at first, when they had given her food for a cheap (it was compared to how much it cost to get food anywhere else) price. As time passed, and they didn't poison her food, she started smiling more around them, and they became a part of the family that she dearly wanted to hold on to.
Later, another joined the mismatching family. He had fluffy white hair that naturally stood up, kept most of his face, about three quarters, covered, and was really tall. He usually could be found reading a little orange book giggling like a little girl, though he wouldn't tell Naru why he was giggling. If you haven't guessed it, his name is Hatake Kakashi, a jounin of Konoha and student of the fourth Hokage. He would teach Naru all he had to do and all the things she would need to do in the future, and she would cook for him in turn. He would always compliment her on her cooking and how it was so great, though she denied it every time, saying that she was just an average cook.
Also, there was a lady who would send her presents on her birthday, sending them via cat summons, the notes she sent said it was another of Hokage-sama's team, a healer named Nohara Rin. She'd send useful things, such as a book on what was happening to her when she started to feel things for guys, a pretty silver comb that had flower designs, a book on different plants, their uses and meanings to name a few.
Then there were the guys at the academy that she'd hang out with. The first was Nara Shikamaru, the laziest genius you'd ever meet. He had figured it out after years of constant observation of her, with her feminine habits, to her soft voice, to the simple way she giggled at things. He had promised not to tell, saying that 'it would be too troublesome,' and that it wasn't his secret to tell.
Next came Chouji, with his beautifully big heart, and hearty appetite, that she would call friend. He enjoyed eating with the girl, even if he thought that she was a he. They would often eat together and compare recipes and talk about ways to make things taste even better. Sure he hadn't figured it out, but he was still one of her greatest friends.
After that came Shino. His bugs interested her, which surprised him. When they had first met, he had expected her to run off and get away from them, seeing as his bugs could tell that she was a female. But instead of running and screaming, she simply started asking question, asking about how he takes care of them and if they would like to see her garden. He regularly came to her apartment to visit, as her garden was one of the healthiest places for his insects to grow seeing as she unconsciously saturated her plants with the chakra that she emitted. He'd found that she was a great gardener and ally, and dare he say it; friend.
Next came Kiba. He was a headstrong jerk who would do anything to impress any female. Luckily, he hadn't figured out that Naru was a girl, as she put on a deodorant salve that completely changed her scent to one of a male that she had met from Mizugakure, which Shino had helped her create. Kiba was fun to mess around and prank people with, but was horrible at keeping secrets, as was tested when she had 'accidentally' let it slip that she 'had a crush' on the most annoying fan girl of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura.
Next was the emo brooder himself, Uchiha Sasuke. He was a good friend until the massacre. He'd been her best friend, that was, until he had getting obsessed with power. He now just sat down and brooded whenever given the chance, his fan girls squealing and screeching at how 'cool,' he was. They used to share everything, though he never had noticed that 'he' was a 'she', it was probably for the best. Naru had no doubt that he would have tried to force her into being one of his future brides had he known.
Naru started heading back to Iruka's house, where she was now living. She thought about her mother. Because of Kura-chan, she had a photographic memory and remembered that night clearly.
Flashback- Almost 16 years ago.
It was October 10th, and it was a point of great sorrow for the people of the Village Hidden in the Leaf. The Kyuubi no Yoko, most powerful of the nine Bijuu, was attacking them. A single baby was born that night, though it caused pain for the mother of the child.
"Just remember that I love you, baby. No matter what happens, Mama loves you." A beautiful, red headed woman said quietly as she sealed a large portion of her remaining chakra in the baby.
Suddenly, the father of the child was there. Not even asking the gender, not looking at his wife, he silently took the baby and teleported to the front lines, on the head of the Great Toad Boss. "Hello, Gamabunta." The man said. This was Namikaze Minato, Fourth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the Yellow Flash.
"Hey, gaki. You sure you wanna go through with this? This is your own kid." Gamabunta said.
"How can I ask anyone else to do it if I can't myself?" He answered. "I can only hope that my son and my wife survive." He said. Quickly, he and the giant toad started their attack against the large, rampaging kitsune. Just as Minato was about to seal the Kyuubi, another chained it down with some dim, golden chakra chains. "KUSHINA!" The Fourth yelled. His wife was terribly weak from childbirth! She should still be safe in the hospital! She didn't listen. Deciding to botch the idea of using the Shinigami and sealing half the chakra into Naruto and half in himself to bring to the Underworld, he instead sealed the entire Kyuubi into his child, surviving through the use of the Uzumaki Demon Suppressing Seal he distantly remembered being used on Kushina when she had had the Kyuubi sealed in her. He now had unfinished business, he would have to yell at Kushina for being so stupid, trying to help in the sealing of the rampaging demon.
Fate did not like him at the moment, since as soon as he finished, Kushina fell. He rushed over to her and looked for any signs of life. He found none. Grief stricken, he looked at the baby still in his arms. The baby looked at him with her eyes, Kushina's eyes. He couldn't look at her. He backhanded the baby when it reached for him. "You did this." The Yondaime exclaimed. "It's all your fault that my wife is dead! How could you?!" He shouted at the baby, needing someone to blame for this mess. No one was there to see Minato as he yelled at the newborn. "If only we hadn't conceived you this wouldn't have happened!"
The baby started to cry. Hatake Kakashi and Nohara Rin arrived just as Minato looked like he was going to drop the crying baby. Quickly, Rin took the baby from him and started to rock it, stopping the baby's pained crying. She spotted the faint imprint of a large hand on baby Naru's face. "What is going on sensei? Who is this baby?" Kakashi asked Minato.
"Just an orphan that was found on the battlefield, probably born today. Put it in the orphanage." Minato answered him coldly, hating the fact that the baby was still in his presence.
"Why is it here?" Rin asked. She was slightly worried. She saw Kushina's body nearby and she was scared of how cold her sensei was acting right now. She'd known that her sensei and Kushina had been expecting, also knowing that from how flat Kushina's stomach was at the moment, she had given birth already, meaning that his child was already born. She had already concluded that this was his child, just the eyes and the coloring already pointed to him as the father, since he was the only one with that shade of blonde hair. But why was he acting like this? This new behavior was completely unlike her sensei...
Minato looked at them with cold eyes. "I sealed the Kyuubi into that little monster." He said completely seriously, staring at her with cold, hateful eyes.
Flashback End.
Quickly, changing into a large white t-shirt and a different pair of short black shorts, Naru prepared to go to bed. She walked up the side of the building and entered her shack, saying goodnight to her usual guest, a cat with bell on her right ear named Tora, who seemed to like her. She went through her regular routine as she brushed her teeth, combed her long, straight, silky, golden hair, and changed into a clean set of sleeping clothes. She sat by the sill of her window and looked at the stars. 'If there really are any Kami out there,' she thought, 'please my let my father acknowledge me.' She begged the stars as she cried herself to sleep.
It just so happened, Minato Namikaze was looking at the sky as well, thinking about that night. 'Oh Kushina-chan.' He thought. 'If only you were still here with me.' He thought about that child. Rin hasn't spoken to him since he had tried to order she and Kakashi to kill it.
Now that he thought about it though, he (A/N: remember, he still thinks Naru is a boy.) was still his and Kushina's child, and he did have the same seal that Kushina did… 'What am I thinking?! That THING killed my wife!' He told himself, trying not to feel the guilt, using the child as an outlet. However, he still had to think. What would Kushina say about him letting all those civilians who had apparently been caught beating the boy out of prison? What would she say about him abandoning their son to the harsh cruelties of the villagers?
Oh, what was he thinking? The boy was safe in the orphanage and was about to pass his genin exam, he should've regretted this sooner if he was going to at all. Anyway, it was time for him to hit the sack and return to the Namikaze-Uzumaki Estate. He still wasn't willing to rename it, or come up with another heir to the grounds and name either. He couldn't even take the right away from Naruto either, seeing as only Kushina's blood could have changed the seals needed for it and he refused to desecrate his dead wife's body.
A few months later
It was time for the genin exams. It was quite simple, pretty much designed so that any civilian that could properly mold chakra wanted to, they could very well become the best in the class, even if they were completely crazy and stalking a certain boy in their class (*cough cough Sakura *cough cough).
Naru went through the test and just barely passed, though that was on purpose, seeing as she still had to keep up the facade of an idiot who couldn't save his own life.
After class, Mizuki approached her and told her a way to 'improve her rating in class' as 'extra credit.' Naru stared at him, with an expression he took as wonder. However, what she was thinking went against that. 'He must be retarded, thinking I'm that stupid.' Of course she already knew what scroll he was talking about, the Sandaime had taught her some of the jutsu out of it after finding out that she had Wood Release. Apparently, before he'd left, Orochimaru had gotten his hands on her and did some experiments with the Kekkei Genkais he had at his disposal, trusting the Kyuubi to make it either merge with her or, had they failed to merge, that the Kyuubi would make sure the 'brat' survived. So far, she had discovered a few of them, Hyouton, Shoton and Shikotsumyaku at this point.
But getting back to the point, Sarutobi-jiji had taught her the basic three, making sure that she understood how they worked and made sure to have the best control over all her mass reserves of chakra. Once she had started fuinjutsu, she created seals to suppress certain amounts of chakra at a time, slowly gaining more control of more chakra at a faster rate and growing her already large chakra reserves even more. Sarutobi-jiji had also given her scrolls on Wood Release that his sensei had left, should any of his descendants ever receive it. All in all, she was an impressive kunoichi with all the makings of a legend.
After Mizuki finished telling her all the details, she sped off to the Sarutobi Estate and explained what was going on. "I'm coming with you." Asuma had stated as soon as he heard her story. "I can explain to all the guards what is happening and watch your back." He said. Naru nodded, silently agreeing with the plan before she took off towards the Hokage Tower.
They had efficiently gotten the scroll and brought it to the drop off point that Mizuki had mentioned when he was explaining what the 'test' was.
Iruka was there a an hour or two later, while Naru was reading over the scroll again and editing some of the grammar mistakes (A/N: Shut up, I decided to make her a grammar Nazi). He started lecturing her on how it was wrong to steal, how much trouble she was in, but stopped when she notified him that Mizuki was the one that had put her up to it and how he told her everything she needed to know. Also, in code she told him she notified the Sarutobi clan of what had happened earlier.
Mizuki made his appearance and struck Iruka in the back with a Demon Windmill shuriken. Asuma saw and jumped in to capture Mizuki as Naru started performing first aid and some of the healing jutsu she knew. When Iruka was all patched up, Naru jumped into the fray, Asuma leaving as soon as she jumped in. She continuously punched Mizuki in the head with chakra-reinforced strength until he had a concussion before knocking him out with a swift and strong kick to the privates.
Asuma filed a report on the event and sent in the report to the Yondaime explaining all that had occurred, explaining to the fullest extent as to what had truly happened before they called it a day.
It was two days later and all the class had passed and were being set up for teams. When Iruka came back from receiving the papers for the teams, he was grinning like a fool. "I have the lists for all of the teams." He said. Everyone cheered except for a certain three people. One being too lazy, the second not seeing why she had to cheer as they knew that they would be placed on teams, the third believing that it was un-Uchiha-like for him to cheer like the rest of the class. "Team One will be Moomoo Potato, Jojo Johnson, and Bobobo Bobobobo, Team Two will be... (I'm just going to skip to Team 7) "Team 7 will be made up of Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke," there was a loud thump which, when it was found, turned out to be Naru's face impacting her desk. After a sweat drop from the ever lovable Iruka, he continued. "And Haruno Sakura." Said girl started cheering and yelling something about how 'love trumps all' and telling someone to eat it. Naru started banging her head against her desk muttering about 'stupid temes,' and 'screeching banshees.'
She pulled out a book about 10 minutes of head banging later and she started reading. It was a book about advanced sealing, henged to look like a book on chakra control. Naru had decided that she would stop looking so stupid and start showing some of her true strength. She wasn't going to blatantly tell people that she was female, but she wasn't going to act like she wasn't a girl. So she just kept reading for the two hours it took for Kakashi to arrive. When he did arrive, he picked up Naru and sat her on his shoulder. Then he said, "My first impression of you two," he gestured to Sakura and Sasuke, "is I hate you. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." He quickly poofed away, Naru still sitting on his shoulder.
"Hello, Nii-san!" Naru said when they appeared on the roof. "How are you?" She said excitedly. She did have really long blonde hair, but the shorter pieces spiked up and the rest was held together at the base of her neck in a fairly large bun, making people think that she had short hair.
"I've been well, now what book are you reading? It can't really be 'Chakra Control for Idiots,' you you've got great control." Kakashi said.
"Yeah, but those chuckleheads would start talking shit about me if I showed them that I was reading a book on advanced Fuinjutsu." Naru said as she continued reading as she waited for the two 'chuckleheads.'
Speak of the devil and he shall arrive, the two burst through the door panting, though Sasuke recovered quickly, righted himself, then sat beside where Naru was. The pink banshee soon followed her 'beloved Sasuke-kun!' And sat on his other side.
"So, today we are going to introduce ourselves to each other, starting with your name, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future." Kakashi looked at Sakura, who was raising her hand. "Yes, Banshee-chan?" He asked her with an eye smile.
Ignoring his name for her, she asked, "Why don't you go first, sensei?" Trying to look cute and innocent for Sasuke. She flipped her long pink hair over her shoulder as she stared longingly (read; desperately. XP) at Sasuke, trying to convince herself that he felt something, anything for her.
"Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes are none of your concern, neither are my dislikes or hobbies, and my dream for the future is none of your business." Kakashi finished with an eye smile that creeped out two of the three genin, one of them already used to it. Then the two sweat dropped, noticing that the only thing that they learned about their sensei was his name. "Okay, your turn Banshee-chan!" Kakashi yelled.
"My name is Haruno Sakura, I like… I mean who I like is..." She trailed off and looked at Sasuke with a hungry look in her eyes that creeped him out. "My hobbies are…" She looked at Sasuke again, making Sasuke move closer to Naru. "My dream is…" She again looked at Sasuke, blushed, giggled, and stared at him with an even hungrier look in her eyes. This had Naru now between the two as Sasuke moved to sit on the other side of Naru. "And I hate Ino-buta and that stupid idiot!" She screeched pointing at Naru. "He's just a useless deadlast that will hold my Sasuke-kun and I back! I demand that he be kicked off my team!"
"A) This is not your team, Haruno-san." Kakashi said calmly. "It's mine. B) Naru here beat a chunin into a concussion the day after the genin exam without using chakra (much)." Kakashi said in a cold and calculating tone. "And C) I enjoy Naru-chan being on my team."
"W-well duh, that has to be one of his lies! It's impossible for him to be able to beat a chuunin, he's an idiot." Sakura stuttered. She sincerely thought that Naruto was an idiot that would never be able to amount to anything.
Ignoring her, he moved on. "Emo-Ass-kun, you're turn." He announced happily, as if Sakura and he had not just argued about Naru, even though his clenched fists gave away his annoyance at the pinkette.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and ignored the blatant show of disrespect. "Hmph. That isn't my name. My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I am the last of the Uchiha clan of Konoha. I dislike many things and hate even more. My likes and hobbies are none of your business. My dream, isn't a dream because I will make it happen. I will kill a certain someone and I will revive my clan." Sasuke finished, Sakura gushing about how cool he was in the background.
"And finally, my cute little Naru!" Kakashi said happily after sweat dropping at the Uchiha's obvious distaste of everything. Sasuke and Sakura watched, waiting for Naruto to explode for being called 'cute', 'little' and 'Naru'. Surprising them however, Naruto just smiled warmly and nodded.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I like to train, eat ramen, hang out with my family, gardening and cooking. I dislike Orochimaru, though I have my suspicions on why he is the way he is, rapists, a whole bunch of civilians, remember this is dislike not hate." Naru stopped Sakura before she even spoke, speaking sternly. "Oh, Obito and Madara Uchiha too. Obito seriously needs to get his brain checked, I may have to find a certain Sannin to help him and Madara should really get over his little feud with the Senju, I mean honestly he's a grown man. He should have left his little squabble with Hashirama-sama in the past." She shook her head thinking about the ancient Uchiha. "My dream for the future is for a certain someone to accept me for who I am, and recognise me." Naru finished serenely.
"What is this about Obito and Madara Uchiha?" Sasuke asked, he'd thought that he and Itachi were the only Uchihas left. This started a whole speech that Kakashi took distinct interest in. Sakura wasn't listening in the least, believing that Naruto had nothing of interest to speak about. Her Sasuke-kun should be listening to her, not that idiot!
"Just some crackpots with a little too much time on their hands. I heard that they're going after these nine greatest forces of nature, and apparently they led the Kyuubi to Konoha almost sixteen years ago." Naru shrugged, trying her best not to give away too many details about her spy networks. Yes, networks, she has had to separate them so that they didn't get too suspicious of who she was, after all, who would trust one group for all their information? Too much chance of them leaking that you are gathering info, that's what she said.
"Anyway," Kakashi said ignoring Sakura's obvious distaste about her crush paying any attention to anyone other than her. "You aren't genin yet." Kakashi stated bluntly, then discreetly put his super ear plugs in his ears, the ones he usually saved just for Gai.
And it was good he did, as soon as they were firmly in place, Sakura screeched a very high pitched 'WHAT?!'
"We will be having a survival test tomorrow." Kakashi said with an eye smile. "Be at training ground seven at 0600 sharp tomorrow. Oh yeah, and unless you want to throw up, I suggest you don't eat anything." Kakashi poofed away once he finished telling them this.
"Well, I'm going home." Naru said as she got up. "See you guys tomorrow, I guess." She turned her back to the edge of the roof and fell over the edge, closing her eyes. This immediately got a reaction from her team, as Sakura started smiling (wow, she's really morbid… :P) and Sasuke rushed to the edge to see if she was alright (Awww, he does care!). What he saw surprised them, she was standing just below the wall, as though she hadn't fallen off the roof, just walked down the stairs. Sasuke sighed in relief slightly, though Sakura didn't notice, she just glared at Naruto.
The next day, it was early in the morning and you could three teenagers at training ground 7, two of them exhausted and the last was sleeping in a sleeping in a sleeping bag with a tent around her. Sasuke had stayed up preparing for the test last night, training in the private Uchiha training ground, Sakura had stayed up preparing to see Sasuke early in the morning the night before, and Naru… Naru had just set up a tent with a temporary kitchen at the training ground and stayed the night there, scoping out the grounds and placing a seal on the ground that would tell her when Kakashi-niisan-sensei was near. She had made it herself, it would lock onto the chakra signature of whoever they had keyed it to. In this case, Kashi-nii.
It was like this until 8:00 a.m. in which Naru woke up and began preparing a bunch of food then sealing a lot of it into some scrolls with freshness seals on them as well. Once that was finished, she got dressed, sealed away her tent and extras that she had brought, and ate some onigiri that she'd made. She had decided that she was going to dress up a bit today, seeing as she was a finally officially a kunoichi, so she thought that she'd better dress appropriately. She wore a loose long sleeved shirt with a black vest that had many pockets for a whole bunch of things, tied her hair in her usual bun, though it was a little more visible, she bound her chest, even though the vest hid her- ahem… assets. She wore loose dark green cargo pants that had many pockets with black combat boots to finish off the ensemble. (I'm sorry if this isn't descriptive enough, I just made this up)
She offered some of the onigiri she made to her teammates silently, holding them out to the exhausted teenagers. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but took it, but Sakura just glared at the food and huffed before turning away. Naru sat on the other side of Sasuke, munching on her onigiri. Sasuke was surprised that there were some salted tomatoes inside his onigiri. 'How did she know I liked it this way?' He thought to himself before mentally shrugging and continuing eating. Once they finished the rest of the onigiri that she left out, Naru and Sasuke started just leaning against each other back to back, Naru's head leaning on Sasuke's shoulder, Sasuke leaning back slightly.
It was a few hours later when Kakashi walked into this scene, Sakura glaring at the prone forms of Naruto and Sasuke leaning on each other. He sighed a bit before announcing his presence, but just as he was about to, he heard Naru start to speak. "Are you going to come out now? Kakashi-sensei." She dragged out his name as the other two started looking around to see who she was talking to.
"Aw, Naru-chan, couldn't you've let me scare them at least a little bit?" Kakashi whined as he poofed behind Naru and hugged her from behind. He would never admit it, but Sasuke felt a twinge of jealousy as he looked at the two, which showed in his eyes for only a second. A certain single-eyed jounin saw that flash though and mentally narrowed his eyes at the boy.
"Today, we will be doing a survival exercise." Kakashi started. "You will be trying to get these bells from me." He held up a pair of silver bells tied to red strings. "Come at me with the intent to kill-"
He was interrupted by a pink screaming banshee, "But we might hurt you!" She yelled, looking at Sasuke, meaning she thought that Sasuke was the one who might hurt him. She was still trying to look like a concerned student, even though the twitch at the corner of her mouth signified that she was secretly sorta happy at the thought of Sasuke beating Kakashi.
"Pfft, like that could happen," Naru laughed. "Kakashi-sensei is a jounin, and an elite prodigy at that. He was a part of the team that the Yondaime himself taught, along with Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin. He currently holds the title of youngest ninja to make gennin." Naru listed off, explaining things slowly to Sakura. "If we could actually hurt him, I would have to request that he be retired effective immediately for possibly being a liability, to both himself and his comrades. He would never be able to stand if he even thought that it was his fault that one of his comrades died." 'And he has to live to see me succeed in the future.' Naru thought.