Wow, this story of mine has got to have recieved the quickest responses ever. Many of you are worried that this will be dropped soon, but I'm writing this fic as stress relief. And I get stressed a lot about the world we live in, and my own helplessness, so you don't need to cross your fingers. And if anyone is willing to beta i.e wants to read the chapters early in exchange for pointing out any unfinished fragments of sentences, lemme know.


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Chapter 2: In which it's not just the Shinigami who loves apples

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"How much fear does one feel in the incoming darkness of dusk? Go, ask the birds that have no home." ~Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib.


"Oi, bastard! You're late- are you... are you eating?!" Naruto was predictably outraged when I showed up near nine instead of seven. With an apple in my hand.

Hey, the fruit-seller let me pick them off a tree and they are so red and juicy! I wonder if I could sue those companies which guaranteed their apples were out of my previous world, because they tasted nothing like this fine specimen.

Taking out another from my pocket, where I had kept it wrapped in a black handkerchief, I held out with the left hand.

Surprise showed their faces at the gesture.

After a night of grief, I had decided that the more I tried to emulate Sasuke, the more depressed I would feel because his habits were self-destructive.

No hobbies or ways to relax?

Conversation with people kept to a bare minimum?

Nothing to indicate he visited any sort of health professional or a psychologist?

Left on his own without any change in routine so thoughts drifted towards limited topics?

Yeah...I respectfully decline. It's not as if I'm sinning, and if some day Sasuke does return, I've got it covered.

"Teme...what are you trying to pull?" Naruto squinted, as if he had never seen basic human decency before.

"Hn." I turned towards Sakura, who looked at me once, then received it with alacrity.

"Thanks, Sasuke-kun! But Kakashi-sensei said we-" I took a rather noisy bite, crunching the succulent flesh of this holy fruit and attained enlightenment once more as to how one could have gotten kicked out of heaven over it.

I love apples.

Sakura stared for a while, before taking an apprehensive nibble out of her own. Turning towards Naruto once more, I brought out my last fruit with more effort than I would ever admit.

"Hn."

"Fine! It's not like I'm hungry or anything, bastard."

He snatched it like the tsundere he was, but finished it at the same time as me. And I had a half-eaten apple to begin with, not to mention he even chewed and the core and spit out the seeds.

The blond seemed to notice my gaze and beamed. He knew that I knew.

"Hn." I let him know that I knew that that he knew I knew.

We were rivals.

Or maybe he just couldn't stay mad at someone once they were nice to him.

My musing was interrupted when there was a poof of smoke in our vicinity, and Kakashi appeared, catching the half eaten apple thrown by Sakura with ease as she proclaimed loud enough so perhaps the Hokage would hear, "YOU'RE LATE!"

"Huh, I thought I told you guys to not to eat any breakfast?"

"I didn't! But Sasuke brought apples and we were kinda hungry so- hey, you still didn't say why you were late! Why are you so late? You said seven!" Naruto flitted between sheepish and guilty at having disobeyed his teacher to suddenly angry.

"Sorry, there was a bird stuck in a tree and I had to go free it in a pond."

"You what?!" A spectre of disappointment glimmered in his wide, blue eyes but soon vanished.

"I helped a bird-"

"Screw this! We've lost enough time already, get on with it!" Naruto cut our teacher short and barely veiled amusement he explained the rules.

By the time he had said start, only Sakura had leapt away to hide, Kakashi standing aloof as always, Naruto with his arms hanging by his side, rearing to go until I raised a hand.

"I'm going home." Kakashi actually turned his head to look at me, rather than just moving his pupil as he was prone to do while Naruto spluttered incoherently.

"Don't you want to pass?" the jounin leaned forward slightly, chin in hand.

"Do I?" I shrugged, looking wistful as a breeze ruffled the bangs lining my jaw.

"Hey, hey, does this mean me and Sakura pass?" Naruto piped up. Kakashi ignored him, staring at me intently.

"I don't know Naruto, would you give up so Sasuke and Sakura can pass instead?"

"That's- Why would I- I mean fine! If you don't want me on your team just say so! I'll get the old man to get me a teacher who shows up on time-" I could tell by the stiffness of his posture that Kakashi was growing more alarmed by the second, before he gained his bearings and interjected.

"You don't seem to be want to on a team with Naruto, is that why you're giving up Sasuke?"

Naruto cut himself, diverted towards me by our jerk of a jounin sensei. Quickly, I responded, "I want us all to pass, but you left me with no choice."

"Hmm, my first impression was right. I don't like you." At this point Sakura had joined us, just in time to hear his remark.

"What's going on here?" She darted her eyes around us, flummoxed.

"This bastard said he's giving up, but that jerk wants me to give up instead," The blond pointed first at me and then at Kakashi. "And I refuse!"

"Wait, why does Sasuke-kun want to give up?"

"Ask him!"

"Do you want to give up Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn?"

"But isn't being a ninja your dream? Weren't you an avenger?"

"Hn."

"Sensei let me give up instead! At least Sasuke can advance, right?"

"Hey! What about me Sakura-chan?" Naruto butted in. "Fine then, I give up! You go be with the bastard."

Kakashi covered his face with his hand. "I can't tell whether you're just being annoying or..."

"I give up for Naruto, who gives up for Sakura, who gives up for me. Isn't that teamwork?"

"...or you've actually realized what this test about." Our future teacher lazily glanced at me.

"Wait, what?" Naruto blinked while Sakura came to the realization that normal teenagers would miss at first glance, after spending years at a school where the word of a teacher is law.

"You wanted us to fight amongst ourselves for the bells!" She exclaimed, followed by silence. I could imagine the gears spinning in Naruto's mind before it clicked, and he burst into a smile.

"So that's it? You don't want us to get the bells! You just want us you fight each other for them! Which is ruined if one of us does not...want to...?" He slowly turned to me, dawning on him what I was trying to do.

"Hn." I suppressed a smirk.

"Couldn't you just say so in the first place?"

"Enough," Kakashi cut in, sounding resigned. "Naruto, what was the purpose of this test?"

"Eh? Wasn't it for us to work together and take you down as a team? So, do we all pass?" The expression on his face clearly said he thought but I can kick your ass on my own.

Kakashi smiled. Suddenly the air around us felt heavy, an ominous feeling pressing down on me. It was like that, without a single weapon being withdrawn or a punch being thrown, but killing intent around us borne out of irritation that Team Seven was formed.

"Let's go get a mission right now."


"Whoops," Kakashi, faster than I could blink, removed his hands from beneath Tora the cat just as Naruto handed it over to him at three in the afternoon, for the second time. "Sorry."

Letting out a strangled cry Naruto charged after the animal, only to collide into a pole as the damn animal slunk around the structure, its backbone easily twisting around it. Naruto walked on two legs and had failed to mimic it.

"You did that on purpose!" Sakura fell to her knees, at her limit. We still hadn't had lunch, or a proper breakfast in her and Naruto's case.

"Why would I?" The elite ninja had the gall to fake offense, eyes still on his Icha Icha.

One day, I will burn that shit with Amaterasu.

Eye twitching, I took a look at Sakura, the poor girl already having taken several breaks due to dizziness and feeling light-headed.

"Naruto." I said as he walked up behind me, massaging his head. Kakashi was still reading, but I had no doubt he was listening. "We're making a temporary tactical retreat due to one of our member's poor and declining state of health, especially as it poses no danger to the mission."

"What? Speak plainly." Said Naruto, then paused. "I think that's the longest sentence you've ever spoken."

Because our idiot of a jounin-sensei ordered you to give the cat to him each time and I'm this close to spouting Obitio's famous quote if he does not let us take care of Sakura.

"Sakura needs food. We're taking a break."

"Hmm, did you superior officer say you could?" Kakashi drawled and two optimistic faces staring at him fell.

"You're just taking it out on us because we didn't fight each other for the bells like you wanted us to!" Naruto shook his fist at the masked man, about to pounce before I grabbed the scruff of his jacket. "Damn it, what kind of future Hokage let's his teammate suffer because of a stupid mission?"

"Orders are orders. Follow the rules, idiot." I let an indignant Naruto go and turned around, less to actually search for the damn cat again, and more to hide my smirk as Kakashi flipped a page.

"Maa, go ahead; I didn't say you could not take a break. You guys go ahead, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Sakura nearly collapsed out of relief, had Naruto not caught her.

"You heard me." He was gone in a swirl of leaves and I realized I had been holding my breath.

"Ne, ne, I know this really great Ramen restaurant we can go to together Sakura-chan! You can come too," Naruto added as we began to walk, although the look he shot me showed great reluctance, whether out of a refusal he was already expecting or the fact that he wanted to be with just Sakura.

"Fine." I spoke as if I was doing him a favour. It would have suspicious to high five him.

Instant food was my life-blood. Because I rarely could afford to cook anything delicious myself, and the person responsible for me felt a ruffian like me could survive anything like a street dog, I had strong bond with food was warm and easy to make, such as cup-ramen.

Adding in an egg and a slice of cheese into the plastic container as it cooked was my idea of a lavish meal.

Naruto and Sakura looked a bit stunned, and were quiet the rest of the way to Ichiraku Ramen.


"What would you like?" Ayame asked me, gesturing to the board on the wall behind her which listed the menu alongside the prices for each meal. Once glance told me that miso, along with being Naruto's favourite, was also the cheapest.

"Miso." I said to Ayame.

"Oh, that's Naruto's favourite!" Her words caught the attention of the blond sitting between me and Sakura.

"Eh? See, even an idiot can tell miso is the best!"

"I was aware of that when she said it was your favourite." I retorted dryly.

"You-"

"Naruto! No fighting at the table." Ayame spoke over the clatter of dishes as she began to set down our orders, all of them miso.

"Itadakimasu!" we prayed in various volumes before Naruto attacked his bowl like he was feasting on Tora's flesh. Sakura's pace was also hurried whilst I had to restrain myself.

Uchiha did not eat sloppily. I was trying to be without restraint, not manners.

"So, you guys are Naruto's new team eh?" Teuchi looked over the counter when he got a break from the other customers.

"Yeah! We're gonna be the best team Ojiisan!"

"I'm Haruno Sakura, Teuchi-san. The ramen is delicious."

"Uchiha Sasuke. Hn."

"Don't worry, he's always like that." Naruto clarified. "It's like he has his own language."

"Hn."

"See? Nothing to worry about!"

"Well then, congratulations on become Genin all of you! Here, another bowl for you on the house! It's tonkatsu this time."

Teuchi timed his present at the right time, when all of our bowls were empty and quickly replaced by another. Sakura looked a bit apprehensive and Naruto, who had probably heard about her diet in the morning caught on instantly.

"Sakura-chan, you should eat more! You look like a skeleton!"

"He's right," Ayame interjected. "You'll thank yourself later when you're training."

"Yeah, you looked like you were gonna die on the mission! And that was only chasing after a cat, you'll need strength for when we go one real missions, believe it!"

"Hn." I encouraged eloquently.

And Sakura, because she was smart had an exasperated look as if she already knew the folly of her own mistakes. If anything, she looked averse to satisfying her hunger with fast-food only, which was also of smart.

In the end we finished and parted amicably, after Teuchi-san refused to charge us for all the bowls we had eaten. Considering how much Naruto had gulped, I wondered if the man received funds from the Hokage to keep his restaurant from going into the red.

More than likely. I decided to myself as I walked steadily to my training location. Because I need more practice.

Once I had gone over Sasuke's knowledge, I had more to add from my own. It's not as if the world I had come from had no martial arts. Or that Naruto was the only anime I had watched.

But first, water walking. Although I can feel my own chakra, I feel it only faintly from others, if they make no effort to conceal it. I fancy I could refine it to a limited extent, but Sasuke himself was not a natural sensor Nin, relying more on Karin than his own ability.

But, there are no limits. If you know me, I'd probably jump off the Hokage Monument in an attempt to create a jutsu for flying...somehow, thinking of great heights causes me to shudder.


"Report, Kakashi." The Sandaime Hokage stood with his back to the masked jounin, gazing towards the village atop the red Hokage Tower. While he asked simply for the sake of formality, the old man was curious; in all his years, Team Seven under Kakashi received a mission first, and was finalized later.

"I was unable to determine their combat prowess, but they don't make shabby work of tracking, and their teamwork was more than acceptable."

Ah, yes. Hiruzen mused. Catching Tora three times in one day was an accomplishment in itself. The animal was a fast learner with a good memory, giving genin a challenge each time it escaped, or was purposely let go.

"Anything worrying, individually?"

"None, Hokage-sama. The most problematic would have been Sasuke, but contrary to his reports, he showed up nearly two hours late, understood the test in an instant sought a solution without combat. Not that it's wrong, just..."

"He was behaving like a Nara?" The Hokage turned to the jounin behind him.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I had expected he'd engage with me anyway to and make an effort to take the bells, but he chose to be unconventional."

"I see. Dismissed."


"Ha!" I exclaimed, standing with upside down beneath a branch, with the sun beginning to set and bathing the clearing in tones of orange and red. "Visualization did make control easier."

Although the end of the anime is filled with characters that are strong enough to belong in DBZ, the most proficient ninja like Kakashi and Itachi held their own through chakra control and intelligence, not simply the size of their techniques.

I won't deny the prospect of larger reserves, but the fact remains that the Copy Nin who collapses after each battle or the genius who ends up coughing blood had more to them than their Sharingan, having no such factors enhancing their stamina or health.

In other words, they were the closest ninjas to being human as I was before falling into this world, minus their chakra, the supply of which was ordinary compared to others.

Back to the topic of efficiency, my mono-tomoe Sharingan allowed me to see the chakra I exuded from the soles of my feet, much to my glee and allowed me to experiment.

Rather than using chakra as an adhesive, covering my entire foot and then sticking it to a surface, I tried to reduce the surface area from which chakra exited my body.

How? It involved running back to my apartment (without chakra, pure parkour for endurance) where Sasuke's memories told me was a complete anatomy scroll that listed all the tenketsu in the body.

Once I memorized those, I returned to back to practice, making a point to only release chakra from the area around my selected tenketsu. Anyone that has ever owned football shoes would realize the leap in efficiency when I had the method down to pat.

Not before I littered my back with bruises and my legs trembled with exhaustion. Due to lesser surface area, I had to readjust to the amount of extra chakra because the weight of my body against gravity was still the same, and more tenketsu points had to be used than originally designated because the bark would crack frequently.

Time required for this trial and error cut into other sections of my practice, but it worked since ninjutsu had to stop early due to how strained my chakra network was. With the night coming I realized my Sharingan did grant me ease in training without a source of light, even if it was eerie watching the glowing red irises reflect in the surface of the pond.

(Imagine being alone in the night with a pair of red eyes staring back at you).

I had to stop myself from skipping home on the way back because of how happy I was with my success. A warm bath helped relax my sore muscles before I headed out to buy food, and also visited a pharmacy to get some salve to help with the injuries I'd accumulated from falling too much.

After a meal of onigiri, a six-pack filled with various flavourings, I applied the salve and sat down shirtless for weapon maintenance, sharpening my kunai carefully wiping my arsenal with an oiled cloth to prevent rusting before arranging my holster and pouches. They went into the bottom drawer of the dresser from where I'd take them tomorrow.

Determined to wake up on time tomorrow, I turned the light off and went to bed.