Introverted

Chapter Four.

The dog waggled its tail as it waited for him to throw the small bouncing ball. The ball was a bright red color, and squeaked with a small sharp whistle every time it was squeezed. He gripped it lightly, before delicately throwing it near the animal. The dog barked, before grabbing the ball with its mouth and biting it repeatedly. A few seconds later, it dropped the ball at his feet again and Naruto grabbed it again.

Dog-sitting: that was their first D-rank mission. D-ranks were the vast majority of missions a village publicized, going as far as having even announcement boards giving the civilians a chance to read of the current prices to hire the ninjas. You wanted a fence painted? You paid fifty ryos. You wanted the dogs brought out for an entire evening? That was seventy-five ryos. You wanted someone to buy the groceries for you, as fast as possible? That was the money for the expense and one hundred ryos.

Shinobi could cut the lines at the market and the stalls after all —being a member of the military had its boons and privileges— and they could take to the rooftops. Naruto's eyes went to his two other teammates. Sakura was somehow holding her ground against a giant husky who wanted to climb a tree, while Sai was instead calmly painting what looked like a half-dumb Corgi breed that lazily took the sun.

He had a basset-hound. The dog actually flopped on his side, waiting to be petted as it looked at him with its perpetually sad-looking face. It barked once, to attract his attention, and then went to peacefully lay there, its eyes fixed on the ball and his free hand.

Aoba-sensei was scribbling on a scroll, his sunglasses every now and then falling down to the tip of his nose, as the man was standing upside down on a branch in pure bat-like fashion. Naruto wondered why the Jounin had to be in that position, but he didn't dare ask. The day was sunny, bright and warm, and all in all it seemed like the perfect example of what a summer vacation looked like. Dog-sitting wasn't much of a chore: the dogs were usually just a bit mischievous, and the only yucky thing was the need to use a plastic bag to collect their excrements if they did any.

The rest of the job was pure and unaltered bliss. The dog didn't judge him, or bark at him angrily, or stare at him angrily. It didn't talk and it certainly didn't seem to be angry at him, differently from his owner of course. Maybe he could buy a dog…but the thought was soon squashed away. Who would sell him one? And even if he got a stray, he didn't count on the poor creature to last much before getting poisoned by casually forgotten rat traps.

Maybe he was just overthinking: it wasn't as if the villagers really wanted to make his life miserable, or went out of their way to do so, but could he risk it? The answer was simple: no.

He couldn't.

"Gather them! We're on schedule!" Their sensei suddenly said, dropping down from his branch and landing softly on his feet. Naruto merely grabbed the leash, before gently standing up and pulling the dog along. Sakura yanked hard, earning a loud yelp from her dog.

"Oh damn it!" she exclaimed, "Naruto, can you help me?"

He raised an eyebrow at that. The girl had chosen the husky because he looked like the least vivacious of the lot. He shrugged and offered his leash to her. The girl smiled as they exchanged them, and the next moment the husky simply fell in line next to him. The dog panted hard, his big tongue out as it breathed and wetted his nose.

"Woof!" it gutturally barked, before following him keenly on his side.

"How did you do that!?" Sakura exclaimed, just as the basset-hound suddenly found its energies and began to run and bark his way forward. "Ehi!" the pink-haired girl was pulled along, as they reconvened near their Jounin-sensei who was actually twitching his lips upwards at such a display.

"Let's bring them back to their owner," Aoba commented, "then we can head over to the training ground."

"Yes, sensei!" Sakura eagerly exclaimed. "Are we going to learn something cool?" the girl happily asked as they began to walk on the street. "Something that, you know, is powerful?"

"Well, you'll see." The Jounin retorted.

"Having a cool and powerful move means nothing, Ugly." Sai's reply was answered with a fist on the side of his face that sent the pale boy flying in the air, before he crashed against the wall of the nearby building. Picking himself up, thankfully with the animal still intact and in one piece, the raven haired boy returned to the group.

"Haruno-san," Aoba remarked curtly, once more chastising with a single word the pink haired girl. "Must I really keep on recalling you like this? You are a kunoichi of Konoha. It is unacceptable for you to manhandle in such a way a comrade." Sakura looked down on the ground, her right foot tracing a line as she looked abashed.

"And you Sai," their Jounin-sensei added then, "Must you really antagonize your teammates? If you have to nickname someone, you should use something positive, rather than something negative."

"I understand sensei," the boy replied. His eyes moved up and down Sakura, as if he was analyzing her. The girl looked disquieted, as her teammate seemed to search for a redeeming feature. She was actually looking nervous, as the boy finally spoke.

"Plank." A nervous tick mark appeared on Sakura's head at that word.

"What do you mean with that?" Sakura asked the question with a sweet tone, underlying a world of pain if the boy answered wrongly. Sai, unheeding the clear signs to shut up, answered promptly.

"You look sturdy with the thick legs and the flat ches—"

"SHANNARO!"

This time Sai was pummeled to the ground, leaving behind a small crater as Sakura calmed down only in the end. For once Aoba didn't say a word on that, but the man did cough to get back their attention. Sai remained a twitching heap of broken bones for a few more seconds, before wobbling back on his feet.

"Ma—"

"Don't say it," Naruto said, casting him a pleading look. "Just…call her Sakura."

Sai actually brought his head to the side casting him a questioning glance, before nodding to him.

"Sakura." Sai began, and showing a slight surprise when the girl turned around with a frown on her face.

"What?"

"Sakura." The pale skinned boy repeated the girl's name calmly. "I see…it is a redeeming quality." The boy nodded once more.

"Uh? Whatever." The kunoichi shrugged and moved next to their sensei, leaving behind the other two. Naruto raised a quizzical eyebrow, as he waited for Sai to explain his sentence. The other boy actually caught on and pointed out quickly.

"The Cherry plant: she does have pink hair."

Naruto blinked. "Oh, right."

Sai said nothing, and their arrival to the owner of the dogs passed by without incident. It was as they were delivering the dogs that the man, a gruff looking guy in his forties, gave a slight peek under the husky's collar and frowned.

"My poor Bernard has welts! Welts! Do you find it funny, boy, to tug on the leash hard huh?" the man snapped towards Naruto, as the boy widened his eyes in surprise.

Since he didn't answer, the man continued. "I'm not going to pay someone who badly handles my dogs! The Hokage will hear about this! My poor Bernard, look how much in pain he is!" the Husky was actually pretty much lazing around in the doorway now, not at all showing his pain.

"Sir, your dog seems—" Aoba tried, but was silenced by the angry words of the man.

"No! He's in pain, badly handled by that demon, that's what it is all about! Wait here!" he quickly entered his home, returning with the scroll that was meant to be compiled and then delivered once the mission was completed, to show the customer's satisfaction. "Here!" the man literally threw it at the Jounin-sensei. "I knew, I just knew I couldn't trust the foul creature."

Then the door slammed shut —hard— leaving the Jounin to blink with an unexpressive face. Sakura's mouth was slightly open in shock, while Sai seemed as emotionless as ever. Naruto on the other hand…

Really, what was he expecting?

His eyes looked down on the ground, as he quickly scrubbed his eyes because they itched. He took a small breath, before trying to interest himself on the nearby wall.

"Naruto," Sakura began hesitantly, but he shuddered, thinking at whatever next her words would be. He was saved from answering by their sensei, who quickly snapped.

"Well, let's get going then." Marching quickly, the Jounin began to head towards the tower, and Naruto grasped onto that like a drowning man grasps a floating barrel. He quickly began to follow the man, silently. Behind them, Sakura frowned hard, before looking perplexedly to where Sai had been, and then to where the door of their client was.

She had handled the husky. She knew she might have been hard in her tugging, but she was pretty sure there hadn't been any blood on the collar, or anything even remotely similar to welts on the neck of the big dog. Even if there were, it wouldn't have been Naruto's fault, but hers. She memorized the number of the house, planning to return there later and apologize, maybe offering a cream for welts?

Sakura quickly ran behind the rest of the group, her eyes now settled on Naruto's back. She was puzzled. The man had been outright furious, but to call Naruto those mean words was something that perplexed her. The boy was soft-spoken and mostly silent, and he didn't seem at all like a demon. Wearing his usual clothes, with his hair slowly growing out to the sides, he didn't even seem menacing.

She could make a scarier face than Naruto's, and the whisker marks? They made him look more like a kitten than some sort of dangerous beast. Sai, for all his emotionless face, was probably creepier and scarier than the blond boy. She shook her head: she would ask Naruto afterwards. Maybe proposing an Ichiraku's team lunch?

She could certainly do that, couldn't she? Sure, she was dieting and all for Sasuke's sake, but a bit of a splurge on something light wouldn't be bad. She had heard of a new type of diet soup, and she had been curious about trying it out. It seemed like the perfect solution.

Sai, meanwhile, was feeling something strange. Root taught that reports should always be written sincerely, giving an objective view of events and making sure all details were included. The civilian had delivered his scroll after a few seconds. Unless he had already prepared one, there just was no way he could have written an accurate reporting of how they had treated the man's dogs. To add to the general puzzlement was the fact that the man hadn't even listened to the end of their mission report.

Even on a failed mission, the operatives left time for the surviving shinobi to report, before drawing conclusions on new training schedules. He didn't know what to make of the situation, but he did memorize the name of the street and the number of the house.

Maybe he'd pay a visit later, just to check if perhaps the man was a shinobi who could write really fast, or had a sort of plot to hinder the Genin teams by delivering false status of satisfaction. He probably would have to cut the wires on the house lightning, break a few pipes to make sure there could be a distraction, and then probably smash a couple of windows to give the fault to vandals.

He, of course, would be doing this purely for testing purposes. The fact he felt that the way Naruto had been treated to be unjust was completely not something of concern for him.

Really, he was there only to observe. He wouldn't act on feelings.

As they reached the Hokage's tower, Naruto quietly kept to his silence, even after delivering the scroll to the mission office. The shinobi in charge opened the scroll and read it, before frowning slightly and displaying an awry face. He delivered the scroll to the shinobi next to him, who did the same thing before passing it to the Hokage, who brought up an eyebrow and looked towards the group. Naruto flinched, but said nothing as his gaze was kept down.

Sakura was puzzled, especially when the Hokage's gaze went to their teacher, who slightly shook his head. The Hokage made a small smile and imperceptibly nodded. The old shinobi then nodded a bit wider to the Jounin to his side, and the two acknowledged it with their respective nods.

"Very well. The mission was completed successfully; you will all receive the full pay that is due. The amount will be sent to your bank accounts." The Hokage puffed on his pipe, before adding. "Dismissed."

"Hokage-sama." Aoba answered back, before turning to leave. The rest of the group followed outside, and as they left the tower their sensei began to talk.

"Very well! This is our first successful mission, our first D-rank and of course the first earned money of you three: we should thus celebrate this! Where do you want to eat? I'm offering, of course." Their sensei added the last part quickly, looking at them with a small smile.

"We could go to Ichiraku's, sensei." Sakura remarked earnestly, looking towards Naruto's face who was now giving her a curious glance. She just smiled back at him: it wasn't as if this was a big sacrifice on her part. The fact that the blond boy only nodded meekly however made her even more curious on the enigma that was Naruto Uzumaki. Hadn't he insisted the day before on going there? Why was he now so reserved?

"It is fine with me, sensei." Sai answered last and with a nod. The Jounin-sensei shrugged, and began to walk towards the stall, with all the Genins in tow.

"Naruto," Sakura began, "I'm sorry."

"Uh?" he looked at her with perplexity. Surely he understood why she was saying she was sorry?

"I'm going to speak with our client this afternoon, after training. I'll tell him I was the one in charge of the husky for the entire afternoon, and—"

"Don't." Naruto blurted that out quickly. "There's no need." He added slowly. "He already yelled at me: there's no need to have him yell at you too, I'm fine."

"But it's not fair," she retorted.

"It doesn't matter: drop it." He answered curtly, before wincing slightly and turning his gaze sideways. Sakura frowned, but said nothing more. What did the boy have to hide? Maybe the welts had really been there…but she hadn't seen Naruto pull on the leash that hard, and certainly not as hard as her!

The moment they reached Ichiraku's, the silence that had fallen on the group was starting to suffocate her.

"I'm going to take the diet noodle soup, what about you other?" Sakura asked earnestly, trying to make conversation as they sat down at the end of the stall. Naruto stood in the corner, while their sensei stood on the other side with Sai to his right. The pink-haired girl was instead between Sai and Naruto, having already split her chopsticks and beginning to hum in wait.

"I will have Momen-tofu noodles," Sai commented.

"I'll take the miso ramen," their sensei remarked calmly. In the quiet silence that followed, Sakura sported a tick mark on her forehead as she slowly turned to Naruto. The boy was carefully looking through the menu, and with the look of concentration that he held the girl couldn't bring herself to snap at him. His gaze was soft as it scanned through the small one page slip of paper.

Finally he gave a small breath, before replying slowly.

"I'll have the pork ramen."

The way he said it was as if he was fighting a battle against himself. There really was something strange with the boy, but she knew better than to press him on it. She'd just wait: they knew each other only since a couple of days, there was no reason to be nosy about it.

She wondered how Ami and Ino were doing with their teammates. The Ami-stupid-bitch-whore-imbecile was probably fawning around Sasuke-kun with her uncouthness and her horrendous flirty manners. Maybe she was even hugging him, or —kami forbid— kissing him! That wouldn't stand: she'd show her who was meant to melt Sasuke's heart.

At the same time, Naruto was instead quietly waiting for his order. He grimaced slightly as he split his chopsticks. The pork ramen had always been his favorite. He used to take it with extra pork, but since Teuchi had died…he ordered it less and less. The flavor too was different now. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he suspected that Ayame was trying to experiment to get back the taste of the old ramen of her father. It probably involved lemons or almonds, sometimes even sweet.

He grimaced as his order arrived and he began to eat it quietly. This time it tasted like something spicy as it went down his throat, but he kept quiet and ate. This was just another part of his debt, another part of his punishment. Maybe Ayame was doing it on purpose: spicing his food, or giving it strange tastes. It didn't matter. He had a debt to repay and he would repay it…even if it meant eating badly.

"Can I taste it?" the voice startled him, and as he looked to the side he realized Sakura had been the one speaking. Her own soup was half eaten, and she was eying his ramen with a look more of curiosity than hunger.

"I…I'm—" his brain couldn't compute, so it came out with the reasonable answer he could give. "No." He then quickly scarfed it down as the girl berated him.

"Hey! It was an honest question! Sheesh!" Sakura harrumphed, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at him with distaste. He said nothing as he cleaned the plate.

"You ordered the diet soup," he pointed out. "Next time, don't."

Naruto merely sighed. He simply didn't want the girl to realize the taste was slightly off. It wouldn't do well for the business. He coughed slightly, as the spiciness soon passed through his throat and cleared out. He weakly smiled back to Ayame, who was looking at him with a slightly perplexed gaze.

Once lunch was done, the group left the stall and headed towards their training ground, Naruto staying quietly in the back, his gaze downwards.

"Really, how rude can you be?" Sakura muttered between herself, as she gave another eyeful to the blond boy. She hadn't expected him to be that rude on food: maybe he was just a glutton? He had eaten awfully fast after all. Still she couldn't compare that to the kindness of just a few moments earlier. It wasn't as if he had been the one to pay for the food, so stinginess wasn't the problem.

Training ground thirteen was quiet as always as they reached it. Aoba-sensei flexed his muscles and loosened his shoulders, before turning around to stare at his Genins.

"Now, there is an important lesson to learn before we can begin training. I want you all to listen to me carefully, understood?"

The three students nodded, their eyes staring straight ahead at the Jounin.

"A shinobi is a prepared force," the man spoke calmly. "Improvising on the battlefield is good and well, but it is the sign of a poor ninja. Shinobi, no matter their rank, must prepare carefully for their missions. We are a hidden force, who work for money and thus might be tasked one day with retrieval of hostages, and the next day with kidnappings. We might be asked to kill or to protect, to guard or to demolish. We might be asked to infiltrate or to counterspy. Shinobi must thus be prepared for any occasion and chance. If you are not prepared, then you fail as a ninja."

The wind gently picked up, a cool breeze passing through Sakura's long hair as she listened in attentively to the Jounin's words. Naruto remained quiet, his face grim but determined, while Sai kept his façade schooled into a perfect lack of emotions.

"A shinobi's work is done quickly and flawlessly," Aoba added. "If you are tasked with retrieving a hostage, then you must do so as fast as possible and without committing mistakes. This brings us to the shinobi rule that a mission must always be completed: if you have to blow up a heavily guarded bridge, suicide bombing is a solution you must envisage."

Sakura gulped anxiously.

"A shinobi is a member of the military. You may be called at all hours of the day and of the night to assist in missions, and should war begin you will be deployed. The corps cannot be left until life threatening injuries or old age. You are hereby a member of Konohagakure no Sato's Shinobi force, and from this moment onwards you will remain as such until death. You may not transfer into another country, you may not refuse the Hokage's orders, and you may not leave your assigned positions. You will obey your commander, always."

Three hesitant nods came from the Genins, and Aoba sighed.

"A Genin is the name to define lower Nins: those not tasked with important secrets or techniques. As Genins, you will be outfitted with the basic tools of the trade and unless you possess a clan, and a member of said clan who might impart onto you his or hers skills, you will not learn any more Jutsus until you make Chuunin."

Aoba took a small breath. "This isn't to say there is nothing I can teach you: the basics are an important part of the shinobi world, and those who master them will always have an easier time than the rest. The proper usage of tools is also something you will learn from me, as well as engagement tactics and the means to achieve your missions. The real training, both in elemental affinity and advanced techniques, starts once you reach the rank of Chuunin."

"Doesn't that mean clan children are advantaged?" Sakura asked with a slight frown.

"Yes, but also no," Aoba replied. "Clans tend to develop specific techniques, in which they certainly excel. Hyugas are an example of short range combat, while the Yamanaka's mind techniques are optimal for interrogation use. Yet outside of their area they are extremely limited in options. The Hyuga's eye can see everywhere around them, but if the opponent does not close in, it consumes chakra needlessly."

"But they have more options than we do! They can learn techniques and—"

"And they ignore others." Aoba shook his head slowly, before taking out from within his jacket a scroll. "You all will learn Kenjutsu. You all will learn Shurikenjutsu. You all will learn Taijutsu, Genjutsu-countering and Ninjutsu theory. You will learn how to control and refine your chakra, and how to use it in shinobi situations. You will learn how to properly care for your tools and how to properly treat wounds. Maybe you will not learn how to enter the mind of an opponent, but you will learn how to torture one." Aoba smiled slightly. "I do work for the Torture and Interrogation department, after all."

Aoba looked at his Genins then, evaluating their reactions to his words. Naruto winced slightly, probably understanding the seriousness of the situation, but remained quiet. Sakura seemed appeased, probably reiterating mentally her desire to grab 'Sasuke-kun', and sporting now a smile on her face. Sai…Sai was puzzling him. The Jounin knew something was wrong with the pale skinned boy. For one thing, he was too much composed and collected. His features were schooled as if he had received extensive training in controlling his emotions, and the lack of tone in his words was making him think he was actually ignorant, when saying 'ugly' as a nickname and considering it endearing.

The Third Hokage had told him the boy was a Root failure, but he wondered to himself what precisely that meant. He'd find out soon enough.

"First of all, a shinobi must possess equal parts of Earth and Heaven. Today I will spar with each of you and see where you stand with Earth, which means the body." The Jounin took then a loose stance, as if this was nothing but routine.

"Come at me without overly thinking. Sakura, you're first."

As the pink-haired girl nodded, taking on the stocky basic stance the academy taught, Naruto watched with a horrible grimace as the girl was unable to land even a single hit on the man. Not that her form was bad —it was actually perfect textbook form— or that she wasn't trying, but the difference in skill was something clear.

Sai went next, and the boy actually showed a sort of remarkable attitude in throwing punches, kicks and closing in as much as possible, as if nearly pressing oneself against the opponent was an agreeable tactic. Their sensei said nothing during the spar, albeit that with Sai lasted a bit more before the boy winded down.

Finally, it was his turn.

He settled into the stance, and began to fling his own punches and kicks. Aoba looked at him with a frown, and what seemed like the start of a distasteful look. His arms began to tremble, as he shuddered hoping there wouldn't be a glare soon enough. Thankfully, his own practice lasted far less than that of Sakura.

"All right." Aoba sighed, shaking his head slowly. "Sai: you're fine. Sakura, you should be less tense and more fluid in your movements." The Jounin's gaze then went to Naruto. "Naruto…yours is horrible. I think you should simply forget about entering a Taijutsu match for the moment. I'm sorry, but it's too time consuming to get you ingrained or back on par with the others. You just can't develop muscle memory overnight and unluckily there are three of you and one of me. I can't waste time on breaking your bad habits and not training your other two teammates."

Naruto opened his mouth, probably to say something back, to try and give an excuse for his pitiful stances, but then he just closed it and made a grim smile as he nodded.

"Very well: during the time I'll be training your teammates in Taijutsu, I'll have you started on Shurikenjutsu." Aoba remarked, "Fair's fair: I can't have you killed either once we start taking missions outside of the village, and as it is it's far better if we simply let your Taijutsu drop until you reach Chuunin, were the more advanced styles are available." The Jounin shrugged. "This isn't to say you can't try and learn by yourself, but your bad habits are probably ingrained since the time of the academy. Didn't anyone ever correct you on your mistakes?"

No, nobody had. The teachers had never taught wrongly, since after all the classes were holding far too many students for the sensei to wish them all misfortune, but that didn't mean they couldn't simply ignore his mistakes and let him go. That was probably the only reason there was he was incapable at Taijutsu. Not because he had been trained badly or wrongly, but because he hadn't been corrected at all.

He shrugged it off, averting his gaze as he felt the burns of embarrassment run through his body. What was he standing there taking the heat for? So he sucked at Taijutsu, all right! Did he have to say it in front of his teammates too?

"I'll take that silence as a no," Aoba said. "Let me guess: you're now thinking I'm humiliating you in front of your teammates for no reason, right?"

Naruto looked up, staring in surprise at Aoba who simply chuckled back, albeit the chuckle was dry, and not at all showing humor.

"It's wrong. I am not humiliating you for starters: just telling the truth. And there is a reason I'm telling your shortcomings to your teammates: because they too will have theirs. I already know Sakura's stamina is extremely pitiful, and Sai's lack of initiative might be a problem: there might be much more I have yet to see, but the point is that teammates should know one another's weaknesses and shortcomings to be able to cover for them. There always is someone lacking in Taijutsu, or with low chakra, or without stamina in a peer group. The important thing is not to hide it, so that the team might be able to help if the need arise. For example," Aoba coughed slightly, "if an enemy shinobi were to attack you in close quarters, both Sakura and Sai would know you'd go down fast unless one of them decided to come and help you. Out of the two, Sai would be the one who should come, but if Sai is in a pinch, then it's Sakura who has to enter the fray. This is a split second decision on the battlefield, something that however must be planned as a contingency months earlier."

Aoba nodded to himself as he spoke, smiling as he saw the looks of understanding coming from the Genins.

"This is what is important. Acknowledging one's own strengths and weaknesses. Having the correct Seishin, the correct heart, is the first rule of the Shinobi. Without it, you will not possess the maturity required for the work you will have to do. Remember this, and just as planned you will become Chuunins and Jounins…"

The Jounin took a deep breath then, closing his eyes as he smirked slightly. He had truly given a wonderful speech, the product of careful deliberation and planning. He knew he had conquered the hearts of his students now: there was simply no way they would remain unfazed by what he had told them. Now he would train them into the perfect students, hopefully keeping them alive until they reached Jounin rank.

There were no wars out in the open, thus he actually had the chance to get his entire team to survive, at least until the first Chuunin exams. Not that he'd let them participate in those in Konoha: it would be too soon, and he truly doubted they'd be able to get past the first test, whatever it was going to be.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked, as Aoba opened his eyes then keeping his smile on the face. "Can we go now?"

"Y-Yes, of course. Tomorrow morning, seven o'clock, in front of the Hokage tower." Aoba stammered, as he realized that while his Genins did look thoughtful, they weren't looking at him as a source of inspiration. He'd have more inspiring dialogues to plan and script then: how could he become one of the most recognized Jounin instructors if he didn't? Only because Ebisu had gotten his hands on training the nephew of the Hokage…the next issue of Shinobi monthly would have him as the perfect instructor!

Sakura waved goodbye to both Sai and Naruto, before heading off towards their client's house. She would clear the misunderstanding, whether Naruto wanted the apologies or not it didn't matter: what was right was right. She smiled to herself as she knocked on the door of the civilian in question, and patiently she began to wait. A few minutes later, the door creaked open to reveal the gruff man, who looked at her with a perplexed gaze.

"Well? What do you want?" the man asked curtly.

"I'm sorry sir: I just wanted to apologize for—"

"There's no need." The man quickly said, cutting her off, "It's not your fault you've been saddled with the demon as a teammate." The civilian sighed, before shaking his head. "I can't tell you anything about it, secret shinobi stuff and all, but you should watch out for him. He's bad, really bad. He's got evil inside you know? He might look human, but he isn't." The man shook his head. "He took my wife; that he did, twelve years ago."

Sakura's eyes bugged wide open. Naruto killed the man's wife? H-How!? No, that didn't make sense. The boy had to have been what, one year old? She didn't even know when he had been born to begin with.

"Can't tell you anything, girl. Law is the law." The civilian added, nodding to himself. "Ten of October, my wife's death that is. Wicked evil inside that boy: let me tell you."

Sakura's eyes widened as she realized just what the Tenth of October was about.

"But that's…that's the day of the Kyuubi's attack." Sakura's murmur was barely audible, but the wicked smile on the man's face told her she had hit the nail on the head. Something wicked was inside Naruto, something that had killed the man's wife, the same day of the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha.

"That's your opinion," the civilian nodded thoughtfully, "but the rest of the village knows and cannot tell. I didn't tell you anything after all. Careful now: wouldn't want to break an S-rank secret." And then the door closed, leaving a pale and still Sakura in the porch of the house.

The kunoichi wobbled back on the street, her eyes blinking. Naruto was the Kyuubi. No, Naruto had the Kyuubi within him. Naruto held the demon that had nearly destroyed Konoha within his stomach.

She clenched her hands. This was a secret she wasn't meant to know. An S-rank secret meant death on revelation. She had to keep quiet about it…but how was that possible? She had to hit the library: she had to find out if Naruto was dangerous or not. Still, it explained why the man had mistreated Naruto that badly. Had she lost her parents to the Kyuubi…maybe she would have hated Naruto too.

Not knowing what to think, she missed the narrow eyes of Sai, who was standing quietly on the second floor of the civilian's house. Having entered the home of the man earlier, he had proceeded to cast a mild Genjutsu on the man, making sure he would say precisely what he wanted him to. He couldn't risk Sakura breaking in the middle of a mission if Naruto decided to reveal that bit of information on him during the trip. If the girl, after saying she wanted to be his friend, renounced him just the following day…

It would be the perfect test on whether the Jinchuuriki was a failure as a shinobi or not.

He was a failure because he still felt some twinge of emotion, and for Danzo-sama that was a horrible trait for a shinobi. Naruto was a failure for different reasons, but one thing the boy had to possess: mental fortitude. Jinchuurikis had to be psychologically sane, or they were nothing more than dangers for their own villages. There just wasn't another choice. Still, Sai shrugged and then unsheathed his Tanto.

The civilian had just revealed enough for it to warrant the breaking of the S-rank secret.

And the punishment for that was death.

Author's notes

And another chapter goes by. Now, Naruto by canon is bad at Taijutsu. Rather than have him being taught badly by the teachers (Classes are in common with others 'individually' training him badly would be counterproductive and easily seeable) they simply let his mistakes go. Just like Mizuki did to 'pass' Naruto: he was subtler. He had him pass so that he could get killed on a mission, rather than just keep on failing him and so on.

One thing that always surprises me is the lack of SUBTLETY some fics have about the people who hate Naruto. Now, it is clearly shown how the most the 'civilians' do is just to glare and point. In a 'flashback' pic, Naruto flungs at a shinobi his cup of ramen since he's being talked badly about, and then runs away. The shinobi doesn't pursuit him or anything. He is mostly viewed as an annoyance. The rare circumstances of 'full-out' hatred are where? Nowhere. Naruto isn't manhandled. He isn't crucified or with broken bones, but he is talked badly about, even when he is in earshot.

Concerning Sai, he is what I'd like to consider a sort of blank slate made of post-break down in the military, which has to be rebuilt from scratch. He acknowledges the fact that he should do something against injustice not out of righteousness, but because mission reports should be objective. He still holds 'feelings' somewhere, which is why he is puzzled.

Sakura on the other hand is still a Sasuke-fan, but since she doesn't have a Sasuke nearby, and Naruto isn't yelling at her for a date or calling her 'Sakura-chan!' every two seconds, she is largely tolerable and far more like the Canon Naruto. (Which is true: they have a lot of similarities in the character concept, the both of them)

What Aoba says to Naruto is basic: muscle memory is something that grows with time, and the more time you do it wrong the longer it takes to remove it. That's why trainers prefer ignorant people than those who have already trained: they might have been doing something wrong, and habits are hard to break. Now it might seem bizarre for Aoba to 'postpone' Naruto's Taijutsu relearning, BUT:

D and C ranks are the missions for Genins. The most a C-rank shows is possible brigand presence. Meaning that: as a shinobi, brigands can be taken care of with anything short of a stick. (and if it's a pointy stick then it's open to debate) And while he could train Naruto in the basics once more, he doesn't see the point: once he becomes a Chuunin he would still have to relearn everything.

As I view it, 'Chuunin' is the highest percentage rank of shinobi present in Konoha. If there are, yearly, 20% of Genins, there is something like 70% Chuunins, 9% Jounins and 1% Anbu. That is because Chuunins are in the infrastructure of the city as office workers, information, patrols, police, bulk of the missions going from C rank to B rank and A rank. While Jounins are usually required for high profile missions like high-end A ranks and S ranks.

The words of Aoba on 'having the correct heart' come from the only book on shinobi arts I found online (May the Internet be praised)

Now for the Q&A

To pucflek: you aren't annoying me at all. The point is that we don't know how they 'fought'. Let's put it like this: child soldiers of these days have Aks and fight flinging grenades, or themselves, against the enemy checkpoints. In the Naruto world, we can have them camouflaged as civilian children, flung against the enemy checkpoint, and have them use the substitution jutsu to disappear and leave behind explosive tags. We can have them use tags (written by other shinobis) to create fires in the cities, or we can have them wreck the fields of enemy nations. There are a lot of way you can use children in warfare, and most of them with little risk since the enemy 'can't be everywhere'. However I think the principal way 'Kakashi' child killed was by surprise. If you're six years old, you have what, two-three years of experience? What about an eighteen year old shinobi? He has more than you certainly, but taking him by surprise works. That's the point in shinobi battles: it's the surprise element that decides the winner 'he who strikes first' and so on.

To vikraal: that's what I wanted to point out. If shinobi truly hate Naruto, or want him dead, they would use far more subtle means than the mere 'charge ahead and die in glory when the Anbus get at you'. Which is why this story will have smarter-than-canon shinobi and enemies…(Anyone realize that Mizuki is still around, right? Oh you will love to see what he is going to do!) Madara-Tobi-Obito is still there, albeit I hope that, by the point I reach that part of the story, Naruto (manga) will finish that particular arc of flashbacks.

Which, by the way as a little bit: I was right in portraying Tobirama as evil. He truly was. See? The Harsh Truth has a canon-compliant Tobirama! Take that! (Chuckles.)

Now, on the question of pairing. As always I am for the 'live and let live'. I write for plot, pairing adds sometimes and detracts others. I'd rather write plot than pairing fluff. (Even when Anko-Naruto was in Harsh Truth, it was mostly PLOT-related rather than 'fluff' stuff.) That's why usually pairings tend to happen towards the 1) age of majority of characters 2) towards the end of my stories. Earlier than that and everything and everyone is fair game to a horrible and horrendous death by terrible means of gore. Really.

Of course, if I make smarter-than-average shinobi, I'll have to make a smarter-than-average Kyuubi…which is really easy. No, seriously, I'm surprised at how much nobody realizes there is a drastic flaw in putting the Kyuubi into a living being…and letting them speak to one another. (And after watching the flashback of Kurama with both Kushina and Mito…really, those two were horrible people. The poor bloke of Kurama was possessed by the sharingan and yet you still keep him shackled and chained when he is as much of a victim as the village? Woe to you, woe to you!)

I think I answered the major points.

Oh, of course…

"What is he going to summon?" …certainly NOT dragons. Or phoenixes. Or mystical magical animals that seem to shine chakra-power out of their fairy wings. I have an idea on it already…let's see how well it plays out with what Naruto wants to do.

To the guys who realized that this chapter contains little Naruto talking or actions: Introverted. The title. You know…he'll talk. Eventually.