Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Cartwheels and knives
Naruto happily walked along a road she had come across a few hours after she'd left the stupid river behind. She'd just eaten the last of her apples, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping and she had a road to follow which would lead her to a village which meant ramen. All in all, she was in a great mood.
Sure, she'd like some company, the silence was wearing on her, but whatever.
She stopped when her road split in two. Signs with arrows pointing in the respective directions would have told Naruto where they lead had she been able to read. There'd been lessons at the orphanage, but she rarely got to listen. Besides, she could hardly sit still even during interesting lessons, for the rest she often didn't even bother showing up. And learning to read was definitely not interesting.
As a result, she couldn't read beyond the simplest of sentences much less decipher the names of places she'd never heard of.
"Eh, who cares!" she grinned. She studied the roads and then took the one to her left – there were some noodle-shaped clouds in that direction which she took as a good omen. "Ramen, here I come, dattebayo!"
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In the afternoon, she eventually reached a small rural town whose name she once again couldn't decipher, but it didn't matter to her because it had houses and houses had people in them and she hadn't seen or talked people in forever.
Naturally, the first thing she did was look for a ramen stand. Unfortunately, it seemed there wasn't any ramen to have in the entire town. But that was impossible, how could all these people live without ramen? She just needed to look harder. Maybe ask someone. It would make sense for them to keep their ramen secret from outsiders. They must be really good ramen.
Frowning, she looked around for an old man to ask, because two of the three people that treated her nice had been old men, therefore old men had a lesser chance of glaring and yelling at her for approaching them. If it didn't work, she'd find an eleven year old girl like Ayame-neechan to ask.
She was contemplating this when she heard bells and jingles and a group of people came from a side street. Naruto stared. They didn't look like anyone she had ever seen before, and she grew up in a ninja village where there were plenty of weird people. There were women in flowing dresses, two identical girls in colourful skintight suits and bells attached to their wrists. A man walked on stilts, juggling a dozen balls at the same time. Another led a bear on a chain behind him.
Naruto's mouth dropped as the two girls ran forward to do a series of synchronised cartwheels and twirling jumps. The women danced around, balancing twirling plates on thin sticks. "Visit the Great Saburo Circus!" the man on stilts yelled. "The best circus in all of Fire Country!" He threw all the balls into the air. "Hair raising performances! Lions and tigers! Clowns and mimes! The best acrobats and the most daring artists!" The balls came down and he caught them all without missing a beat. In his hands, they became a whirl of color, forming wheels, fountains and spirals, never ending. "Tonight only!"
The group of performers continued down the street, never stopping their dancing, juggling and advertising.
And Naruto knew what she was going to do.
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It was early evening when Naruto reached the area the circus occupied. She'd cleaned herself up in a stream earlier and put on some fairly clean clothes. She wanted to make a good impression after all.
The area was fenced in and the gate closed. Frowning, Naruto stood before it, wondering where everyone was.
"You're too early. The performance won't start for another four hours," a voice said from behind her. Naruto yelped and whirled around.
The speaker had been a man with dark skin and shaggy white hair. He wore loose black pants and a black shirt. Strapped over his shoulders were two belts filled with knives.
Naruto pointed at him. "Don't sneak up on people!" she yelled indignantly. "And I wanna join the circus, dattebayo!"
The man blinked once, slowly. "This isn't the place for you," he said lazily. "Go home, kid."
"Don't have one. Who are you, anyways?" she demanded, glaring at the stranger suspiciously.
The man sighed deeply. "How dull. I'll take you to the director. He can deal with you."
He blinked once again as Naruto's entire demeanor changed to a bright, happy smile. "Really? Thank you! I'm Naruto! What's your name?"
"…Follow me," he muttered and turned away. They walked away from the front gate and around the fence. Her eyes widened. So everyone was behind the big circus tent! And there was so much to see! There were people walking on their hands. Cages with animals. Jugglers. Everyone was busy, shouting and running around with half-done make-up and funny hair-dos. No one paid them any attention.
"So what do you do? Something with knives? 'Cause you have lotsa knives!" Naruto grinned up at the man that was actually helping her.
"You talk a lot," the man said.
"Eheheheh." Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of her head. Then her head snapped up. "Ooh, is that a lion?" she darted forward to look into a cage, but her guide grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.
"Don't run off, kid," he said. "And it's a tiger."
"Ehehe." Naruto laughed again and beamed up at him again. "Sorry 'bout that."
"Don't do it again." He let her go, turned and started walking again. Naruto scrambled to follow him, smiling like a loon at the word 'again'.
"So what's your name?" she asked again.
"We're here," her new friend – and how awesome was that, she'd made a friend this soon! – walked up to a large wagon. It was red and there was something written on it in large script, but Naruto once again couldn't read it. Her companion knocked on the door.
"Come in!" a booming loud voice shouted and they entered.
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The man waiting for them in the wagon was large, larger than anyone Naruto had ever seen before, and he had lots of muscles. She figured he must be the Great Saburo. There was a woman there, too, with long black hair and white face-paint. Both looked at her friend, then their gazes turned to her. Naruto swallowed nervously and gave them a smile. The woman seemed to soften, but the man gave her a cold look that made her flinch inwardly.
She had never gotten used to being glared at.
"Tadao," he said with a loud, booming voice, turning away from her. "What's that?" he jerked his head at her and she bristled.
"I wanna join the circus!" she said loudly. The man turned his head and glared at her.
"You think I'm just gonna take in some boy? If I did that every time some kid wanted to join, I'd have a kindergarten! Go back to where you came from, runt!" the man boomed.
Naruto opened her mouth to yell at him because he was a big meanie just like everyone in Konoha and she was a girl, thank you very much, but her friend – Tadao – spoke up calmly. "His name is Haru. He doesn't have a home anymore. I thought he could help around here, Saburo-sama."
Huh, Haru? She'd told him her name was Naruto! And she was a girl, dammit!
The man bristled and looked ready to blow up, but the woman spoke up. "Oh, you poor thing!" she said. "Saburo-sama, we can always use a helping hand! He could help me with my costumes-"
"You want to join?" the man interrupted her, his eyes drilling into Naruto's, not even bothering to acknowledge the woman. A malicious smile graced his rough face. "I have a job for you. You can be Tadao's assistant."
"Really? Thanks!" Naruto smiled. Success! She got to join the circus and she got to help her friend! It was perfect! Maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all. "That's awesome, dattebayo!"
"Now, hold on-" Tadao spoke up.
"But!" Saburo interrupted. "You have to prove you can do it first, runt!"
"Yatta!" Naruto yelled and punched her fist in the air." Then she paused. "How do I do that?"
"Oh, it's easy." The man smirked, but his eyes stayed cold. "All you have to do is stand over there," he pointed at a wall. "And stand still while Tadao throws knives at you."
"Saburo-sama, that's-" the woman spoke up, looking angry.
"Silence!" Saburo shouted. The woman shut up. "I make the rules here! The runt wants to join, he'll do this! Of course…" he grinned triumphantly at Naruto. "You don't have to. You can always leave."
"I'm not scared!" Naruto yelled. "I'm gonna join, you just wait!"
"Well, then…" the man gestured to the wall. "Prove it!"
Naruto gulped. She looked up at Tadao who shook his head at her. "Go back to the city, kid."
She almost listened. Almost. But she was Uzumaki Naruto, and she had nothing to go back to and she wanted this, she wanted to stay with Tadao who was her friend.
"I won't go back on my word," she said and walked over to the wall. She gave Tadao a trembling smile. "All I have to do is stand here, right?"
"That's right!" Saburo crowed. "No moving, no flinching, keep smiling!"
She nodded and looked up at Tadao. Taking a deep breath, she focused on his face. The corners of her mouth lifted into a smile almost by themselves.
He was her friend and he wouldn't hurt her.
"Well, Tadao?" The circus director boomed. "You brought him here, you take care of this!"
The man sighed deeply and stepped in front of her. "I'm not going to hurt you, kid," he said. The woman wrung her hands behind him.
She smiled at him brightly which seemed to take him aback. "I know!"
Tadao sighed again. Then he pulled a knife out of his knife-belt. And too fast for Naruto to comprehend, there was a thunk and an impact next to her ear, and she felt cold metal touching her skin. Her eyes widened and she started to tremble, but another knife slammed into the wood on the other side of her head and she didn't dare move a muscle.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
In rapid succession, knifes slammed into the wood around her, near her neck, over her head, between her fingers, framing her body. All she could do was keep staring at Tadao's concentrated face as he pulled knife after knife and sent it at her.
Finally, he let his hands sink. "I believe Haru passes."
Saburo huffed. "Now, see here-!"
"Enough!" the woman yelled, cutting the circus director off. "You gave your word! The child stays!"
"Fine!" he hissed. He turned to Tadao. "You take care of him! He stays in your wagon, and he works for his stay! He causes trouble, it falls back on you, you got that?! And if he ruins tonight's performance…" he said threateningly.
"Understood," Tadao said stoically. He walked up to Naruto who hadn't moved an inch. "Breathe, kid," he murmured as he started pulling his knives out of the wood. Naruto gasped and drew air in hastily, trembling in belated shock.
"And now get out of my office!" Saburo yelled.
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Naruto was still trembling when she followed Tadao out of the wagon, the woman behind her.
"Haru-kun, are you alright?" she asked.
Naruto forced a grin. "Of course, Neechan!" she said with a thumbs-up.
The woman looked doubtful, but let it go. "Come with me, I'll get you some clothes." She looked at Tadao. "I'll bring him to you in an hour."
The man nodded and left them without another word.
"I'm Tomoe," the woman introduced herself as she lead Naruto to another wagon. "Contortionist and seamstress."
"Con- conto- what?" Naruto asked, scrunching up her face in confusion.
The woman laughed. "Contortionist. It means I'm extremely flexible. You'll see soon."
They entered the wagon. It was fairly big, but a third of the space of taken up by laid out costumes and fabrics. Other than that, there was a cupboard and a shelf, some pillows to sit on and an empty space. "Why's that empty?" Naruto asked curiously.
"For training. My two daughters and I train while we travel."
"Daughters?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Twins. Both of them are acrobats."
"That's so cool!" Naruto said, grinning. "D'you think I can learn, too?"
Tomoe smiled at her. "I can give you a few lessons. Now, are you going to tell me why you're pretending to be a boy?"
Naruto winced. "I'm not! I mean, I wanted to tell, honest, but-"
Tomoe laughed. "Relax. I get it. You should keep your gender to yourself, or you'll be kicked out."
"They'd do that?" Naruto asked wide-eyed.
"Saburo-sama doesn't like you. He doesn't like anyone. And he especially dislikes Tadao, since he only joined us a bit over a month ago and is one of our most popular acts." Tomoe sighed. "Now, we need to get you a costume." She gave Naruto a critical look. Naruto sat up straighter. "And some regular clothes, too, yours are a mess."
Naruto grinned at her. "Thanks, Tomoe-neechan!"
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An hour later, Naruto was decked out all in black. She'd hoped for orange, but Tomoe had been adamant that knife-thrower's assistants did not wear orange. They did not wear colours, period. Hence, black clothes. Depressing. Everyone else had colours on.
"Here we are." Tomoe said, stopping in front of a black wagon. "Tadao's wagon. You'll be staying here."
Naruto grinned. She had a place to sleep and new friends, Tomoe had even given her something to eat and she'd joined a circus. It was awesome.
Even if she had to pretend to be a boy and everyone thought she was named Haru. What was up with that, anyways?
Tomoe knocked on the door and Tadao opened. "Tomoe," he greeted.
"I brought Haru-kun!" Tomoe said cheerfully. "Doesn't he look great?"
Tadao looked at Naruto. "…Sure," he answered unenthusiastically.
"I told you orange would have been better," Naruto said to Tomoe.
"Black is fine," Tadao said hastily. "Come in, kid."
"See you later, Tomoe-neechan!" Naruto called out to Tomoe and skipped into the wagon.
"Later, Haru-kun," Tomoe answered and left.
The inside of the wagon was pretty much empty except for a table, two chairs and a futon. On the walls hung well-used targets.
On the table lay a multitude of knives of all sizes. "Come here," Tadao said and waved her over.
"Are those all yours?" Naruto asked. "Can you throw all of them? Are you going to teach me how? Since I'm your assistant, you know."
Tadao gave her an impassive look. "We'll see."
"Hey, why'd ya tell them my name was Haru? 'Cause I'm Naruto and not Haru, dattebayo," Naruto asked curiously. She wasn't actually mad about the whole thing, it was just weird.
"No one takes anyone with the name of Naruto seriously," Tadao said.
"Hey!" Naruto's temper flared. Her name had been the subject of many a joke, and she only tolerated those when it was Old Man Ichiraku or Ayame-neechan who made them. "It's not ramen-topping-Naruto, it's maelstrom-Naruto!"
"And now it's Haru," Tadao said. "Now come here, we need to talk about the performance."
Naruto's anger evaporated and she skipped forward, looking at the weapons with glowing eyes. They didn't look like the kunai the senseis had shown her class at the Academy, these knives were curved and elegant and they came in all sizes, from ones that were barely longer than her fingers to ones that were the length of her entire arm. She listened as Tadao explained to her what she'd be doing during the performances besides stand before a wooden wall and not move while knives were being thrown at her: she'd have to hand him his knives, set up and clear away targets, throw stuff in the air so he could hit it with his knives and for the grand finale she'd be having the knives thrown at her.
Outside of the performances, she'd be helping him maintain the weapons and help around the circus.
"Are you gonna teach me knife-throwing?" Naruto asked again. "'Cause that would be so cool, dattebayo!"
Tadao gave her a look. "We'll see."
Naruto grinned at him. Her first friend outside the village, and she had the coolest job ever in the best circus in Fire Country, even if the director was a mean bastard, and she got to learn to throw cool looking knives without ever having to go to the boring Academy. So awesome! It would be even more perfect if she could find some ramen, but you couldn't have everything. She figured she'd find some in the next city they stopped.
Circus life was going to rule!
Or so she thought.
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The performance was the best thing ever, Naruto decided. First she got to see people and animals do awesome things, and then she got to stand in the arena herself with her friend, and all those people watched her, gasping in delight and fear as Tadao nearly skewered her. They worried for her. Marveled over her fearlessness as she just stood there smiling while knifes whizzed past her so closely she could feel them.
But why should she be scared? Tadao hadn't hit her the first time, so why should he now?
Friends didn't hurt each other.
After the performance, she followed Tadao around while he helped with cleaning up. She wanted to help, but he'd ordered her to stay out of the way. He hadn't told her to be quiet though.
"And then those girls were like, whoosh, and zshooom, and did you see the tigers jump through the burning ring?"
"Lions," Tadao said.
"And that guy juggled like twenty balls! Do you think I can learn that? Oh wait, I'm gonna learn acrobatics from Tomoe-neechan first, and you're gonna teach me knife-throwing, so I'll probably be busy with that, but still, I wanna learn. Hey, do you think I'd make a good clown?"
"Undoubtedly."
"Cool! But I like being your assistant better. Hey, do you like ramen?" Naruto bounced up and down as she talked excitedly.
"…Sure."
"I like Miso Ramen best, but I like all kinds of ramen. We should totally eat some together, dattebayo! Hey, did you see Tomoe climb out of that suitcase?" Naruto grinned.
Tadao sighed.
It was much later that everything was cleaned up and they returned to their wagon. Naruto was a little tired now, so when Tadao gestured to the futon and told her to go to sleep, she didn't hesitate to put on her sleeping hat and get under the covers.
"G'night," she mumbled.
"Good night, kid," Tadao answered.
Naruto drifted off to sleep, but then she heard something. Opening her eyes a little, she squinted. Then she sat up, all tiredness gone.
"What're you doing?" she asked curiously.
Tadao was on the ground, doing one-armed push-ups faster than Naruto had ever been able to do normal ones.
He turned his head to her. "Sleep, kid," he said.
"Nu-uh." Naruto protested and crawled out of bed. "Are you training? Do you wanna to be a muscle-man like Saburo? Can I train with you?"
Tadao sighed. "If you want to, I'm not going to stop you."
"Awesome, dattebayo!"
It never occurred to Naruto that a normal civilian shouldn't have been able to do three-hundred one-armed push-ups in the short time Tadao did them.
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They had to get up at dawn the next morning – they'd be spending the day traveling. The circus was a hive of activity, horses and oxen were put to the wagons, people were shouting, animals growled and paced in their cages and Naruto felt a little lost as she followed Tadao to get breakfast and after that was left in front of Tomoe's wagon while Tadao 'took care of some things'.
"Haru-chan!" Tomoe said as she opened the wagon door. "Come in!"
"Hi, Tomoe-neechan!" Naruto greeted as she skipped in. There were two girls inside, about twelve years old and looking identical. Both had Tomoe's black hair and both were in the middle of the room doing impossible stretches. When they saw Naruto, they jumped up gracefully.
"Who's this?" the one on the right asked, her brown eyes gleaming.
"I'm Nar- Haru. My name's Haru, dattebayo," Naruto said.
"Oh, you're adorable!" the other one exclaimed, clapping her hands. Naruto inched a step back. "How old are you?"
"Six," Naruto answered.
"Aww. So small… " number one said.
"Are you new? What do you do?"
"Now, you two, where are your manners?" Tomoe scolded. "Haru-chan, these are my daughters, Miya and Maya. Dears, Haru-chan joined yesterday. He's Tadao-san's assistant."
"Oooh, Tadao is so dreamy…" one of the girls – Maya – sighed. Naruto was going to have so much trouble telling them apart. For now, she tried to remember that Miya smelled a little more flowery than Maya.
"You two, why don't you show Haru-chan how you train?" Tomoe asked hastily.
The girls' faces brightened. "Do you want to be an acrobat?" Miya asked.
Naruto grinned. "I think it would be really cool!"
"Okay, we'll start with stretching…"
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Naruto took to circus life with astounding ease. Over the course of a week, she made several more friends, like Rei the mime and Minoru the juggler whose friendship resulted in juggling lessons - by the end of the week, she was able to juggle four balls – Minoru had said she was a quick study with nimble hands.
No one had ever told her she was good at anything before.
She spent a lot of time training with Tomoe and her daughters. They taught her how to cartwheel and do a handstand, and Tomoe and the girls praised her for learning quickly, too. It felt amazing to get praised, even if Naruto knew that her success wasn't because of hard work, it was because she was weird. She could jump rooftops like she was flying, she'd seen some kids do it in Konoha and tried to copy them, and it had worked. But she had gotten scolded for it and soon after kicked out of the orphanage. In the Academy, some others in her class had been able to do it, like that bastard Sasuke who was so annoying and arrogant, and they had gotten praised, but she only got glares.
Here though, no one else could do it and she wouldn't show them because they wouldn't praise her anymore. They'd hate her, just like all the people in Konoha. And then she'd be kicked out because Saburo-teme was only looking for an excuse to get rid of her. And she wanted to stay, stay with Tadao who was her friend and awesome and really strong, she bet he was stronger than Saburo-teme who was a muscle-man and could lift really heavy stuff. Tadao did exercises with her and he was teaching her knife-throwing, though she was really bad at hitting the target. She practiced hard, though.
During the day, the circus traveled, but evenings, when they set up camp, there was always something to do. Animals had to be fed, they had to be walked and trained, the artists had to train, food had to be cooked, things to be carried. Living at the circus was hard work but Naruto loved it. Hardly anyone glared at her here, excluding Saburo-teme of course.
After a week, they arrived in the town of Ichiba Gai and Saburo decided they were staying there for a few days.
"Tadao, d'ya wanna get ramen with me later?" Naruto asked as she stormed into the wagon they shared. Then she blinked. It was empty. "Tadao?" she called.
She shrugged. He was probably just helping setting things up. If she went looking, she'd find him. The circus was big, but not that big.
But no matter where she looked, she couldn't find him anywhere. And Saburo-teme had said that they weren't allowed to go into the city until everything was set up.
Maybe she just hadn't looked right.
In the end, she went into the city with Minoru and the twins.
Tadao was back the next day, and Naruto was sure she was the only one who had noticed how long he'd been gone. When she asked, he gave her a blank look and told her he'd been helping around the big circus tent and they must have just missed each other.
It confused Naruto because she'd looked everywhere, but it wasn't like her friend would lie to her, so she shrugged and let it go.
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A harsh knock sounded on their wagon door two days into their stay at Ichiba Gai. Without waiting for an answer, the Great Saburo Bastard stormed in. "Where's the runt?" he demanded with his loud, booming voice.
"My name's Haru!" Naruto answered just as loudly, but less booming.
She'd gotten used to the name. And in the circus, it was almost like she was another person, anyways.
"What is it, Saburo-sama?" Tadao said calmly, stepping up and resting his hand on Naruto's head. She calmed herself a little.
"Taiki has run off," Saburo said curtly. His lips pulled themselves into a smarmy smile as his eyes rested on Naruto. "I need someone small as the new human cannonball."
"No," Tadao said, and Naruto felt his hand tightening on Naruto's head. "Absolutely not."
"Now, see here!" Saburo bellowed. "Everyone has to pull their weight, and I took the runt in out of the kindness of my heart-" Tadao snorted, but Saburo ranted on. "-and he hardly does anything! The least he could-"
"He's six!" Tadao thundered, and suddenly the director went pale, sweating and trembling while Tadao looked fearsome like a warrior god. "Find someone else!"
Naruto looked at him wide-eyed. Tadao was usually nice, even if he didn't say much. He was easygoing and helped people. He never got mad. But right now, he was looking really angry and scary.
Saburo straightened. He was still pale, but his fear seemed to be gone now. "I make the rules here!" he growled. "I give you work in my circus, and if you don't follow my rules, you can leave!"
"I'll do it!" Naruto yelled. No way was Tadao leaving because of her. "It's the thing where I climb in that thing and then I'm shot into a net, right?"
Saburo grinned. "Yes. It's not dangerous at all, boy."
"Bullshit," Tadao said. "Kid, don't do it." He looked down at Naruto.
"I said I'd do it, and I don't go back on my word, dattebayo!" Naruto stomped her foot.
"Well, now that that's settled… " Saburo strutted out of the wagon. "Don't forget to get a helmet and suit!"
Naruto didn't bother answering. She was trying to avoid Tadao's glare. Finally he sighed. "Kid, that wasn't necessary."
"Was, too!" Naruto returned. "He'd have kicked you out! And me too, dattebayo!"
Tadao sighed again, then he turned around and left the wagon with long strides. Naruto scrambled after him. "Are you mad at me?" she asked, suddenly scared that he'd hate her now.
Tadao stopped and looked at her. His glare softened. "Not at you, kid. Come on."
He turned and walked on, slower this time. Slightly reassured, Naruto followed him in silence.
They entered the large circus tent. Everywhere, people were setting up things. Tadao walked up to two men who were in a deep discussion, behind them the enormous cannon. Naruto gulped when she saw it.
This evening, she'd be climbing in there.
"I want to see the calculations," Tadao ordered the two men in a tone that made them scramble to obey instantly. Naruto stared at Tadao in surprise again.
Then she stared some more, because Tadao was discussing with the men about numbers and weight and distances with words that just made her head spin.
First he scared Saburo-teme, then he ordered people around like it was normal, and then he was suddenly all smart. It was like she'd never seen him before.
And he did it all for her.
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Tadao stood next to her near the cannon that evening as the next act was announced. There was supposed to be a practice run, but then there had been a problem with the lions and they didn't have time after dealing with that.
She was feeling cold and she was trembling. Tadao rested his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Naruto," he murmured, and at the mention of her real name her head snapped up. "I'll catch you if it goes wrong."
"How?" she whispered. "I'll be across the arena."
"Don't worry," he repeated.
She stared into his eyes. Slowly, she nodded. Then she jumped forward and wrapped her arms around Tadao. He stiffened in surprise. "Thanks!" she whispered.
"Haru, you need to get up there," someone said, and Tadao pushed her away, grabbed her and lifted her on the cannon.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen!" Saburo boomed. "Over the entire length of this arena, over this cage filled with bloodthirsty lions, a person will now fly! Behold! The fearless, the amazing… Human Cannonbaaaallll!"
A spotlight fell on Naruto as roaring applause surged. She'd wanted to smile and wave, but the light was blinding and she was scared to death. It was only because of Tadao's words that she wasn't frozen with fear.
There was the mechanic sound of cranks being turned and then the muzzle of the cannon was pulled upwards until it was at the proper height. Naruto gulped and started to climb up. At the tip, she heard Saburo say something but could barely hear anything over the rushing sound in her ears. In the distance – so, so far away – she saw the net she was going to land in.
Trembling, she crouched down and slid feet first into the muzzle.
It was too cramped inside. She couldn't have moved if she wanted to. And she was starting to panic, she hated being trapped and this was a trap and she was going to die…
"I'll catch you if something goes wrong," Tadao's words from before echoed in her head, and she clung to them like a lifeline.
"Flight preparations complete!" Saburo's dramatic voice sounded weird from inside the cannon. "And three! Two! One! Goooooo!"
"Aiiiiiiieeeehhhhhh!" Naruto screamed as she was shot into the air, and then she was flying, over Saburo-teme, over the lions, and it was wonderful. With a whooshing sound, she landed softly in the net, laughing.
Beneath her, next to one of the posts the net was fastened to, Tadao stood with a relieved expression on his face.
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They resumed travelling at the end of the week. Naruto was happy to be back on the road even if it meant she wouldn't get to fly again. She continued to train with Maya and Miya in acrobatics, she added two balls to her juggling, she managed to hit the bullseye with a knife, causing her to break into her happy dance. Of course, the next throw went completely wonky, but still, she'd done it. Tadao even smiled.
When she joined him for training late at night, he showed how to move in a fight, how and where to punch and kick. It wasn't like the endless katas in the Academy, it was more direct and harder. Sometimes she wondered if she'd still be the worst at sparring if she ever went back, not that she ever would.
Naruto was happy at the Great Saburo Circus. The name Haru had started to feel as familiar as her own name in the two months she'd been there. Hardly anyone glared at her; instead, they praised her. She had friends and the circus felt more like a home than Konoha ever had, with the exception of Ichiraku's and her space on the Yondaime Hokage's head.
The only thing that annoyed her was that whenever they reached a new town, Tadao would just vanish for hours on end, because she really wanted to go eat ramen with him. And whenever she asked where he'd been, he'd lie to her.
"But not today, dattebayo!" she growled to herself as she ran through the camp they were setting up just outside a city named Tanzaku Gai. She ran up to their wagon and threw open the door. Tadao turned around with a mildly surprised expression. "You!" she yelled angrily and pointed at him. "You are coming to eat ramen with me!"
"Sorry, can't," Tadao said lazily. "Have to help out setting up the tent. So dull…" he sighed.
"You're lying!" Naruto yelled. "Y'always do this when we get to a new place! Stop it!"
Tadao's expression hardened. "Naruto, stop."
Naruto glared at him. "No! You're my friend, and friends eat ramen together and they don't lie to each other, dattebayo!"
"It's none of your business!" he growled and glared at her. Naruto flinched back as a sudden wave of fear crashed over her. She gasped for breath as he walked past her and left the wagon.
"It's because you don't like me, isn't it?" she softly asked after him, her eyes burning with unshed tears that she wouldn't let fall. Tadao stopped and turned back around.
"Kid, don't-" he started, but stopped when he saw her face. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just today, okay?"
"Huh?" she asked.
"Ramen."
The smile Naruto gave him was so bright it rivalled the sun.
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Tanzaku Gai was a busy town. There were people everywhere, bustling about. On the streets, men tried to convince people to enter their shops. Others tried to sell their wares. It was noisy and Naruto didn't like it too much.
"Hey mister, how about coming in for a little game?" a weird smelling man with bad teeth stepped in their way.
"No thanks," Tadao said and pulled Naruto with him.
"What kind of game did he mean?" Naruto asked with a confused frown.
"Not the kind you should play. You can lose a lot of money doing that."
"Huh?" Naruto asked.
"Three things can be any man's downfall: Alcohol, women and money," Tadao said.
Naruto blinked. "I don't get it."
Her friend chuckled. "You're a little too young for that, anyways."
"I'm six!" Naruto yelled indignantly. "And- ramen!"
She took off towards the ramen stand she'd spotted. "Miso Ramen, please!" she ordered, bouncing happily. It had been so long.
"You really like ramen, huh?" Tadao mused as he entered after her.
"Ramen's the best, dattebayo!" Naruto grinned at him.
He chuckled and shook his head. "Never a dull moment with you, huh?"
"You say 'dull' a lot, dattebayo," Naruto commented.
"You say 'dattebayo' a lot," he returned.
Naruto started and then laughed. "That's true, dattebayo."
Tadao placed his order and they started eating.
"So what happened to your family?" Tadao asked finally.
Naruto looked down at her bowl. "I'm an orphan. I dunno who they were. The Old Man wouldn't tell me about them."
"Old Man?"
She shrugged. "He said they were his friends and he was going to watch out for me," she sighed.
"So why did you leave?" Tadao inquired.
Naruto smiled at him. "I didn't want to be lonely anymore, dattebayo. What about you? Why'd you become a knife-thrower?"
"A dull story for another day. Are you finished?"
"What? No! That was just the first bowl!"
Tadao sighed deeply.
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An hour later, Naruto stood outside the ramen stand while Tadao paid for their meal. Suddenly, she heard someone cry out in fear from an alley. Her head snapped into the direction and the rest of her body followed. She took off down the alley.
She stopped short when she saw the scene. A maybe five year-old boy was cowering away from a large dog.
She didn't even think about it as she picked up a stone and threw it at the dog. "Leave him alone!" she yelled loudly. The dog jumped around to growl at her. Naruto threw herself to the side just as the dog jumped forward, but then, out of nowhere, Tadao was there and the large dog went flying against a wall.
Slowly, Naruto got to her feet, shaking with adrenaline.
Tadao was frowning at her. "Are you alright? Why did you run off?"
"I heard someone scream…" she said. "Hey! Are you alright?" she asked the boy who was still cowering.
He stared at her with wide eyes and nodded. "T-thanks," he whispered with a lisp.
Naruto smiled at him. "What's your name? I'm Haru."
"Akira."
"It's getting late," Tadao said. "We need to get back. The show will be starting soon."
"Dammit!" Naruto answered. "See ya, Akira!"
A part of her was confused about how Tadao had shown up out of nowhere, but she probably just hadn't noticed him, what with being so focused on the dog.
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It had been five days since the circus had arrived in Tanzaku Gai. Naruto had spent them training and exploring the city with Minoru and the twins. They'd been advertising for the show, too, the twins walking on their hands or flipping and cartwheeling through the streets while Minoru and Naruto juggled. Today, though, she and Tomoe had visited the enormous castle that according to Tomoe was really famous.
It was on their way back that they were intercepted.
"Hey, you're, uhh... A- Ao- ?" Naruto recognised the boy from the alley.
He was fidgeting. "Akira. Uhm, I just saw you and I, uhh, t-thought I'd tell you…"
"What is it, dear?" Tomoe asked with her friendly, soothing voice. "Don't be nervous."
"Uhm, there were some weird people asking around today. Like, ninja. And they had a picture of your friend," Akira said nervously.
"Ninja?" Tomoe asked worriedly. "Haru-chan, what friend- Haru-chan?!"
But Naruto had already taken off.
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She ran through the camp, heart pounding hard. She didn't know exactly why Akira's warning had scared her so much, but she knew in her gut that she had to warn her friend. "Tadao!" she yelled as she burst into their wagon. "Tadao!"
He wasn't there. "Damn it!" she cursed, stomping her foot. She bent over, out of breath.
"Kid? What are you doing?" a faintly amused voice asked from behind her. Naruto whirled around, and whatever amusement had been on Tadao's face vanished when he saw her expression. "What happened?" he asked.
"Ninja in town. Asking 'bout you," Naruto gasped out. She looked up. His expression had become hard and scary. "Tadao? What's going on? What do they want?"
He shook his head sharply. Then he entered the wagon and grabbed her backpack.
"Hey!" Naruto protested. "That's mine!"
"Quiet!" he snapped at her.
She stared up at him in shock. "What's going on?" she whispered, backing away from him.
"No time to explain," he said tensely. He was suddenly in front of her. A moment later, he'd grabbed her and thrown her over his shoulders.
"Wha-" Naruto squeaked out, and then with a whoosh, the world spun around them. When it stopped, they weren't in the wagon anymore. "W-what?" Naruto asked, but then Tadao started to run, too fast, way too fast, much faster than she had ever been able to. "You're a shinobi!" she gasped out.
"Quiet," he ordered.
"No!" she yelled.
He stopped and set her down. She stared up at him with quivering lips. "You've been lying to me this whole time!" she shouted, feeling betrayed. "I thought we were friends."
He knelt down and placed his hands on her trembling shoulders. "Naruto," he said. "You need to be quiet. They're looking for me, and they'll interrogate the people at the circus and especially you. We need to leave."
She shook her head wildly. "Why?!"
"Look, now is not the time-"
"Yeah, it is!" she yelled back. "If you don't tell me, I'm gonna scream! And you lied to me the whole time! Were we even friends?"
"It's true that words can be used as tools, to lie and deceive. But when it really counts…" he pointed to his heart. "-they're also the only way to tell the truth about how you feel right here. We are friends, Naruto."
She stared at him, quivering. "Who're you really?"
"I'm a ninja from Kumogakure and my mission was to spy on Fire Country. I used the circus as a cover. Konoha must have figured it out."
Konoha. Naruto's eyes widened. Everyone back there knew her face. She'd be dragged back for sure.
"Are you going to be quiet now?"
She nodded. He grabbed her and put her on his back. "Hold on," he ordered. She did as ordered and then they were running.
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She startled awake when Tadao suddenly stopped. For the last few hours, she'd been drifting off in a sort of half-sleep. "Wha-" she started, but he quickly covered her mouth with his hand. "We're being pursued," he murmured. Her eyes widened.
He darted to the right and leapt up into the trees silently, flying from branch to branch with barely a sound. From time to time, he'd stop and tilt his head as if listening for something. Then he'd switch directions or backtrack for a little.
Finally he came to a stop on a branch over a fairly large creek. "I'm sorry, kid," he said. "I wanted to take you with me."
"W-what?" Naruto's eye widened. "What's that supposed to mean?"
He sighed. "You're slowing me down. They'll catch up soon."
She shook her head wildly, tears beginning to fill her eyes. "Don't leave me behind, please!"
"I'm sorry," he said. He knelt down and placed his hands on her shoulders. Naruto's eyes were swimming in tears as she looked up at him. "Walk in that creek. It'll lead you to a road that you can follow. You should use a different name, too, at least for a while. They'll follow me, so you should be safe."
"I wanna go with you!" she sobbed. "Please take me with you!"
"Here," he said and handed her her backpack. "I've put some food and money inside, and knives as well. Don't forget to train, kid."
She shook her head. The tears were now dripping down her face. "No!"
"Naruto."
She looked up at him helplessly. He stared at her intensely.
"If you ever come to Kumogakure, ask for Darui."
She stared up at him.
"Do you understand?" he shook her slightly. She nodded, dazed. "Who are you going to ask for?"
"Darui," she whispered.
He nodded. "Take care, kid."
"You too," she whispered.
Then he was gone. Naruto stood there for a moment, feeling completely helpless. She couldn't go back to the circus.
Alone again. She felt cold.
"No going back," she whispered, echoing her words from long ago. She looked down at the streaming water below her branch. She jumped down and landed with a splash.
Then she started walking.