"Fuck, fuck, fuck."
Naruto paced around his room, muttering profanities. He had just gotten dropped off at his house by his guardian's boyfriend, and was currently dreading the impending arrival of said guardian.
Why, you ask?
Well, the blonde had made a promise to Iruka. That being that he would learn to control his anger and not get into any more fights with the jackasses at school. Regrettably, he failed to keep that promise as of two hours ago.
A male by the name of Kisame Hoshigaki, had been bothering his friend Hinata at school. And that hadn't been the first time. He always teased her about her stuttering and her soft-spoken voice all the time. Well, teasing didn't even cover it. In Naruto's eyes he began to become just a huge jackass about it. He and his goons Hidan and Kakuzu would taunt and pull at her hair and just do annoying little things to get to her. Hinata, being the nice kind-hearted person she was never said anything back or stood up for herself. Naruto had been itching to say something to them, but he knew how out of control his temper could get, so he refrained from confronting them. Instead he had tried to coax Hinata into standing up for herself, which she never did. So finally, Naruto got fed up with all the bullshit and blew up. And that blowing up consisted of his fist connecting with Kisame's creepy, fish-like face repeatedly until he became unconscious. He had intended to do the same to the other two, but unfortunately he had been yanked away by his teacher Asuma and was sent to the office.
Next thing he knew, he was suspended for two weeks. Since it hadn't been the first, or second time… or even the third… they had also said that the next time it happened, he would be expelled. He was fairly certain that it wouldn't come to that… well, he couldn't really hold himself to that considering he had thought the very same thing the last time when it had inevitably happened again.
Nonetheless, that was the least of his concerns because Iruka was going to arrive at the house any minute. Kakashi had originally picked him up from school due to the fact that Iruka was still at work. And despite Naruto's begging and pleading, Kakashi had phoned Iruka and informed him of the situation. It wasn't that Kakashi was particularly upset at Naruto or anything, he just knew that someone would have to inform him of the situation anyways, and it was actually safer for Kakashi to tell Iruka rather than Naruto having to face his guardian about it. Well, that was in theory, anyways.
Nonetheless, Kakashi was downstairs for his boyfriend's arrival while Naruto hid with his tail between his legs up in his room. Not that it would do any good, but a guy could try, right?
"Fuck, I have no idea how he's gonna react… well actually I do, I just don't know what's gonna happen to me," Naruto mumbled to himself. He began to visualize various ways in which Iruka would torture him. Perhaps hang him from the roof for a couple of weeks and toss white bread at him to feed him; Naruto only hoping he would catch it. No, he wouldn't get that lucky… it would probably be rye bread… and stale. He gagged inwardly at the thought.
"He wouldn't go as far as to send me to Juvey or anything. No, he's not that cruel. Though… he's probably considering it. And if I actually got expelled…" he trailed off.
Contemplating it, he shook his head furiously. "Ugh, no I don't even wanna think about that."
SLAM
Naruto's jumped and his eyes widened fractionally at the noise.
"NARUTO UZUMAKI, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"
'Fuck, fuck, fuck,' he chanted in his head like a mantra. He reluctantly turned to the door, opened it, and walked down the steps while nervously gliding his fingertips on the railing.
Iruka was in the kitchen, angrily shuffling through paperwork on the kitchen table. Kakashi was sitting in one of the chairs, hiding his face behind a newspaper, pretending to be invisible.
Naruto entered the kitchen, looking about ready to shit his pants.
Iruka had noticed the blonde's appearance, but didn't verbally acknowledge him. He continued to shuffle through the papers, evidentially searching for something.
Naruto swallowed nervously and opened his mouth, daring to speak.
"Naruto," Iruka said dangerously, cutting the blonde off.
Naruto hesitated before replying with a meek 'yes'.
"I told you not to get into a fight again. I told you to control your anger. But you went ahead and did exactly what I told you not to do."
"But Iruka I—"
"No buts. You do realize that this is not only to benefit you, right? Of course I want you to become the best you can be as your guardian and father figure, but you do realize that legally, I have to pay for your casualties? I mean you shattered the kid's cheekbone for god's sake! If the parents don't sue for more than what the hospital bill is worth, you're looking at over a thousand dollars! Naruto, we don't have that kind of money to just throw around!"
At this point, Kakashi had lowered the newspaper and was looking at Naruto apologetically.
"I… I understand…" Naruto stared at his feet remorsefully.
"I'm sorry, Iruka…" the blonde trailed off.
The room became silent for a moment.
Kakashi awkwardly cleared his throat. "In his defense… the little fucker had it coming. He was picking on that Hinata girl, you know, that one with the odd eye color that came over to work on a project with Naruto that one time."
Iruka hesitated before responding. He stopped shuffling through the papers, and held one in particular in his hand. He had seemingly found what he had been looking for.
"As much as I appreciate Naruto's willingness to help others, I can't condone his actions," he sighed and finally turned to face Naruto.
Naruto looked up and met his gaze. "I will take whatever punishment that you have in store for me. I need to learn my lesson, because I admit… I did take it too far this time. I… I just blew up. I don't know… I didn't feel I had any control over my actions or anything. I don't mean to use that as an excuse or anything, but it's true."
Iruka's nodded his head in understanding. "Here," he said, handing him the pink sheet in his hand.
Naruto eyed the paper curiously before taking it and examining it's content.
"I don't want to have to put you through something as drastic as anger management, or god forbid, Juvey, so this is what I came up with. I had looked it up a week or so ago and intended to bring it up just in case things got out of hand like they are now. It is in the area, and they are pretty flexible with school hours… not that it will matter for a couple of weeks, but you know." He bit out the last part in mild irritation.
"A Wushu training academy?" Naruto inquired, surprised by the suggestion.
Kakashi perked up at that.
Iruka nodded. "Yes, I felt it was a more conventional way to control your aggressive tendencies."
Naruto stared at the paper in awe. He actually felt excited. He had secretly thought about asking Iruka to attend something of the sort whether it be taekwondo or Judo, though he had never gone through with asking because he didn't want to bother Iruka with more things that required money. Although, now that Iruka was actually open to the idea, and now that Naruto really didn't have a choice in the matter… well, damn. The situation certainly could have turned out worse.
"Even though this is intended to be a form of punishment… you don't mind do you?" Iruka asked concern laced within his voice. He had taken note of Naruto's hesitance to respond.
Naruto glanced back up at the tan man. A grin formed on the blonde's face, and his azure-colored eyes danced with mirth. Without warning, he wrapped his arms tightly around Iruka's waist and hugged him.
Iruka's eyes widened with surprise. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around the blonde, returning the hug. It had been a while since the blonde had shown such affection, and it undoubtedly made Iruka happy. He chuckled and smiled warmly before speaking.
"I guess I have my answer."
~ [Timeskip] ~
Naruto was in his room at his desk, playing a popular MMORPG game by the name of "Archaic Age". He had wasted away years of his life on leveling his character to the highest rank possible. All that was left was to go on raids with large parties and kill shit until you got the special prize the GM had to offer that month. The catch was that the drop rate for that particular item was 0.01%. That meant that unless you were super fuckin' lucky, the chance of you obtaining that item was highly unlikely. You would have to play for weeks on end just to even boost your chances by a few percentages, and what loser would spend that much time on a video game just to get a virtual, non-existing item?
Oh wait…
"Naruto, get the hell over here and heal!" his best friend Kiba yelled frantically through his microphone.
Naruto jumped in surprise, causing him to hit his knee against his desk. He groaned in pain and rubbed his knee before turning down the volume on his headphone set, his ears now ringing. "Jesus Christ, did you have to bellow like that? I'm right fucking here ya know."
"If you're right there, then move your ass! If you keep stalling like that you're gonna get us killed and that douchebag, Sharingan, or whatever is gonna ditch and we need him!" Kiba bitched.
Naruto rolled his eyes in annoyance and put down the Wushu Academy sheet that had been the source of his distraction. He placed his hands back on the keyboard and mouse and moved his character towards the battle that was happening in game.
"NARUTO, THE BUZZER ON THE STOVE IS RINGING AND THE WATER IS BOILING OVER!" Iruka yelled up the staircase at Naruto.
"Oh shit!" Naruto sat up faster than he should have, causing him to hit his knee once again. He groaned in pain, not stopping to sooth the inevitable bruise that had formed this time. He scooted back in his seat and got to his feet hastily, running downstairs into the kitchen. He approached the stove and lifted the pan off the burner. He turned the heat down before grabbing paper towels and wiping up the puddle of water that had formed around the heated space. As he worked at cleaning up his mess, Iruka walked into the kitchen with his cell phone in his hand.
"I just called the academy, they said you can watch their practice tomorrow evening. I'll drop you off and speak in person with owner and pay for all the fees for the first few sessions before heading off to work. I have the night shift tomorrow, so I won't be home until early morning."
"Oh, great. But, the night shift? Jeez, they're really makin' you work a crazy schedule this week, huh?" Naruto placed the pan back onto the burner and opened the box of mac and cheese that he had set out earlier.
"Yeah, Sasori recently quit, so they've been making me make up for his absence I suppose. Thankfully they said they're hiring a new intern soon, though I'm not sure what the hold back is all about. You sure you'll be okay on your own?" He asked, concerned.
Naruto rolled his eyes as he stirred the Noodles he had dumped into the water. "I'm seventeen, Iruka, I'll be fine. I swear sometimes you're worse than mom was about that."
There was a pregnant pause.
Iruka stared at Naruto, his eyes a little wider than usual.
Naruto continued stirring. Noticing his guardian's silence, he turned to him with a quirked eyebrow. "What?"
Iruka swallowed dryly and shook his head. "N-nothing…"
He slid his cellphone in his front jean pocket. "Try not to set the house on fire. I'm going to go watch Grey's Anatomy."
"Gaaay," Naruto drawled teasingly.
Iruka blushed faintly. "Sh-shut up, it's a good show, you've watched it before."
Naruto set the timer for eight minutes to let the noodles soften, and then set the wooden spoon onto the counter next to the stovetop. "Correction, I had no choice in the matter considering the internet had been out for a while, and you were so set on watching the dumb show."
"You could have read a book or something," Iruka argued.
Naruto looked at Iruka blankly for a moment. Seconds later a hearty laugh erupted from the blonde. He walked up to Iruka, patting him on the shoulder and wiping a figurative tear from his eye. "I'm gonna get back to my game before Kiba castrates me the next time he sees me, see ya later."
With that, the blonde headed back up the steps.
Iruka chuckled and shook his head as he watched him go. "I swear that boy…"
Naruto entered his room and rushed back to his desk chair. He hurriedly put his headset back on. "Kiba?"
"YOU DUMBASS!" He screeched.
Naruto's eyes widened, he managed to suppress an involuntary jump. "Jeez! I told you to stop doin' that! What is it?" He asked, placing his hands back onto the keyboard and mouse.
"DID YOU HAVE YOUR THUMB IN YOUR ASS? WE JUST LOST A SHIT TON OF PARTY EXPERIENCE BECAUSE OF THAT. THAT'S THE SHIT WE NEED TO INCREASE THE DROP RATE."
"OH, FUCK."
"YOU THINK? YOU BETTER TALK TO THAT SHARINGAN GUY BECAUSE I'M PRETTY SURE YOU PISSED HIM O—"
A loud, muffled noise interrupted Kiba's ranting, and seconds later an unfamiliar voice came.
"OKAY, RAMEN BOY OR WHOEVER THE FUCK YOU ARE, YOU TOTALLY JUST FUCKED UP TWO DAYS WORTH OF PROGRESS. IF YOUR DUMBASS CAN'T KEEP UP DON'T JOIN THE FUCKIN' PARTY, THAT SIMPLE."
Naruto gritted his teeth. He felt a spark of anger evoke from the guy being an automatic douchebag before he could even open his mouth to speak. Plus, it was just a damn game! I mean sure, if he was in whatshisname's place, he may have gotten a little pissed himself… maybe broke a chair or two in the process… but still, the guy had no right to just be a jackass like that!
"YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK YOU. FIRST OF ALL IT'S RAMENEATINGSTUD, AND SECOND, I WAS TRYING TO PREVENT MY HOUSE FROM CATCHING ON FIRE FROM THE SHIT ON THE STOVE TOP!"
"WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD DROP A FEW SO YOU COULD HAVE MADE A FASTER TRIP. YOU EVER THINK ABOUT THAT?"
Naruto gasped incredulously. "ARE YOU CALLIN' ME FAT?"
"Oh, did I strike a nerve?" the male on the other end asked cockily.
The blonde could hear the smirk in the bastard's voice. "Y-YOU BASTARD!"
The blonde self-consciously glanced down at his body, despite the fact that the guy couldn't actually see him.
"Sharingan" scoffed. "Whatever, I'm out. You guys find yourselves another tank." The line cut off.
"DAMNIT!" Kiba yelled. Naruto could hear him slam his fists on the desk.
Naruto felt his annoyance towards the bastard begin to fade away as he began to worry at what Kiba might do.
"NARUTO, TALK TO HIM, I SWEAR TO GOD, YOU NEED TO CONVINCE HIM TO COME BACK OR SO HELP ME…"
Naruto's eyes widened and he licked his slightly chapped lips before responding. "Alright, alright…" he swallowed his pride and opened up his messenger window and sent a friend request to Sharingan so he could message him.
He was afraid that the bastard wouldn't accept his friend request out of spite, but was pleasantly surprised to see a notification pop up seconds later, informing him that he accepted.
'This is my chance…' he thought. He pulled up the bastard's profile and clicked the message button and began typing.
"Okay, look I know we got off to a bad start, but can you please stick with Kiba at least. If you really want to, I can just leave. Keeping my manhood is more important than getting the drop," Naruto typed.
"Keeping your manhood? Didn't know you had any," was the response that came seconds later.
Naruto's eye twitched and he gritted his teeth at the cocky response he received. 'Is this bastard trying to piss me off?'
"Look. As much as I want to find you stupid ass in person and beat the living shit out of you, I don't wanna piss off Kiba. Can you just cooperate with me for a second here?"
"As if you could, loser. And what's in it for me if I help you?"
Naruto decided to be the bigger person and ignore the first comment he made, "I don't know, what do you want?"
"Cough up a thousand gold and I'll do it."
Naruto gaped in disbelief.
'A thousand gold? Is this jackass serious?!'
After he regained his composure, he began typing at the keyboard again.
"A thousand gold? Are you off your fuckin' rocker?"
"Man, I really don't appreciate the sass, Ramen stud boy, wanna try that again?"
Naruto curled his fingers against the keyboard, causing the 'F' key to chip off. He inhaled deeply, keeping surprisingly calm despite the bastard's taunting.
"Fine, I'll give you a thousand gold."
"Good boy."
…
Naruto teleported to the nearest city and made his way to the city's mailbox. The window for sending mail opened up. He dragged his sack of gold into the window and set the amount to a thousand. He put the receiver as none other than "Sharingan" and couldn't help but putting the title of the message as "Fuck you, bastard". He clicked the send button.
Seconds later he received a message notification.
"Thanks, peach."
He let out a low growl.
"Who the fuck is this jackass anyways?" he said aloud, managing to keep his words at a controlled volume. He pulled up the game website on Google Chrome and typed "Sharingan" in the search engine. His profile popped up seconds later.
There was a picture of a pale man with long, silky, raven-colored hair. He had bangs hovering over his brow line and the back of his hair was spiked up. Beneath the bangs, perfectly groomed black eyebrows were visible with a set of piercing black orbs just below them. He had a perfect narrow nose and a set of pale, thin, lips. He wore a black, long-sleeved shirt and a classy black scarf was wrapped around his slim neck. He was sitting behind a fancy, marble, kitchen counter and he posed with his long, slender, fingers hovering over his perfect lips, which curved up into a cocky smirk.
Naruto gaped. He suddenly felt even more pissed now that he was seeing his picture. "NO. FUCKING. WAY. THERE'S NO WAY THAT ASSHOLE IS THAT GOOD LOOKING. I MEAN SHIT, NO GAMER IS THAT GOOD LOOKING ESPECIALLY ONE AS DOUCHEY AS HIM. Well… I mean I'm good looking, but I'm different, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Speaking of names…" he drawled, scrolling down more.
"AHA! Sasuke Uchiha…" He snorted. "That's a stupid name."
He scrolled more, shamelessly stalking Sasuke's information. "Let's see… he's twenty-one? Psh, what loser, twenty-one and still playing this shit…" he scoffed.
"You do realize I can hear you, you idiot. You never shut off your microphone."
Naruto felt his face heat up in embarrassment. "Sh-shut up, bastard!"
"And to be fair, you don't sound that much older yourself. In fact you sound like you're twelve."
"TWELVE?! You're just saying that!" Naruto suddenly felt self-conscious again.
"No, I'm just being honest," Sasuke said innocently. "And, what was that you said? Good-looking?"
If possible, Naruto felt himself become ever redder.
"N-no!" he retorted intelligently.
"Right," Sasuke drawled. "Nonetheless, as much as I enjoy hearing you sputter retarded nothings, unlike you, I have a life. I only assume that you don't because you just don't seem like the type, kid."
"I'M NOT A KID!" Naruto yelled back.
"Whatever you say. As I was saying, I gotta go sleep so I can wake up early for college. Toodles~"
Before Naruto could respond, the line cut off once again.
"THAT BASTARD!"
SOOO... what do you think is gonna happen next? Do you think Sasuke could possibly show up sometime in person? Do you think they are closer to each other than they know? What do you think that awkward pause was about when Naruto mentioned his mama? And what about the academy? Sooo curious, huh? Wanna review? Follow? Follows make me happy, reviews make me even happier. You review, I continue. Deal? Deal. Let's make love now.