I don't own Naruto
Maybe in an earlier stage of Naruto's life, he would have reacted more accordingly to being seen naked by a man he didn't know when he was a she. And maybe he would have reacted more accordingly to the Anbu swarming into the hospital room after Sakumo flared his chakra to notify them that they were needed.
When Naruto had been seized, he'd still been in his woman form, quite nude, with the scraps of the child sized hospital scrubs she'd been wearing still laying pitifully at her feet. The Anbu "subdued" Naruto, though the blonde simply just put forth absolutely no effort to get free. He had resigned himself to whatever process he was going to face after being taken away, Sakumo's eyes watching the scene play out with an unreadable expression.
The blonde was by no means going to allow himself to be tortured, but if his situation proved to be too irritating, he'd free himself to find a place to lie down and sleep. He knew if he was patient enough though, that things would let up. And despite the old but common misconception, the blonde could be very patient.
Naruto, still in his male form, was sitting alone in a stone cell with a single steel bolted door and a small window large enough for someone to look into with just their eyes being visible.
The room was incredibly cold, and though Naruto was free of physical restraints, there were chakra suppressing seals inscribed into the surrounding box-like room. Of course the seals barely touched upon the abyss that held his power, but Naruto was old.
He would much rather civilly solve his problems at this point. The world no longer required a ruthless savior, so he was biding his time.
The blonde appeared to be a young man in his mid twenties, with his hair cropped short to his skull, and he had been given more scrubs to wear. They were a plain white, and his feet were bare.
Three different people had been in his cell so far, trying to crack him with mental games. None of their efforts were fruitful.
"Where are you from?" They wanted to know.
"A place long gone." He answered truthfully.
"What is your objective?" They demanded.
"To sleep." He deadpanned.
"Why are you in Konoha?" They tried again.
"Perhaps you should ask Sakumo-san?" He mused.
The blonde man had sent them all packing, quite annoyed by his passive responses. Of course no one could tell that Naruto was behaving differently from when he first arrived, but Sakumo would be able to, as he had interacted with Naruto more, and seen the other side to him.
Sometimes Naruto was more mentally "there" than he ever wanted to be. He hated those times, because it was those times when his own circumstances weighed more heavily on his irreversibly broken being. Those were the times when the ghosts didn't talk to him much, when he couldn't hide behind their fabricated protection, left quiet and darkly thoughtful.
He hated it when his brain forced him to be that way, when it brought on musings pertaining to who he was and what he'd become. If his shattered remains could even be considered a person and not just some wounded animal that was better off being put down.
But it was this miserable state of mind, that allowed Naruto to gather his thoughts a little better. This state of mind that concluded long ago that he had come to be made up of three modes.
His current one, quite lucid, dark, and tame. Another where he seemed to have a pleasant film over his brain. His ghosts talked to him more when he was like that, and he would admit to clinging to their company. But it was a state that could be lifted by the atmosphere he was in at any given moment.
Actually, they all were. Naruto had no true control over how he behaved, and he knew this. Hated it, but knew that it was how it was, and how it would be until he was no more.
But anyways, Naruto's last state was when he was drowning in his own memories and the despair they brought. When his thoughts jumbled together and bombarded him, somehow always leading to the ultimate conclusion that he wanted to die. When he was like that, all he wanted was nothingness, to sleep and be in peace. His ghosts tended to be more verbally ruthless in that state, and they were usually the ones to get him moving again if he was crippled by it and there was something to be done.
The last state was understandably Naruto's least favorite state of mind, and it was absolutely out of the blonde's control. Even more so than his other modes. Anything could set it off, be it a distant scent or the way silence sounded in a certain area.
Silence often triggered Naruto's states. When there was silence, it ate away at him. His ghosts helped to keep it at bay, from creeping into him and leaving an absent minded shell. But many times his own thoughts had been too loud for him to hear his ghosts, even if they were right beside him.
When his thoughts blared in his head all at once, that was when his madness was the most unbearable.
"But nothing is unbearable at this immediate moment." The "young" man murmured, staring at the far wall and the imposing door centered at it. "Except maybe the monotony."
No matter how old Naruto got, he couldn't stand boredom.
As if to save him from his lifelong nemesis, the door to his cell groaned as it was pushed open, previously kept closed by invisible seals. Leaning against the wall across from the door, the blonde man stared at the silver haired one studying him from the doorway.
Naruto had known he would come. It was why the blonde had changed into his male form, because he knew. He knew Sakumo would have been uncomfortable with talking to a young girl locked up in a cell. And Naruto didn't want to inconvenience Sakumo in any way.
He had saved him after all. And comforted him.
Naruto knew if he had just been patient enough, they, (the interrogators) would bring in Sakumo, the one that he had been the most open with in the first place, who had called for the Anbu after the blonde revealed that he was no mere child.
Naruto was a little surprised that they hadn't tried to physically torture him yet, but he was glad they had decided to bring Sakumo in first. Naruto was quite tired of hurting others.
"I knew you'd come." Naruto spoke up, studying the other man unblinkingly.
Sakumo's head tilted slightly, those keen dark eyes piercing the huddled form of the "younger" man.
"Your demeanor is quite different." The Hatake observed, stepping fully into the room, allowing the door to shut behind him.
"My mind is quite clear." Naruto admitted.
The Hatake paused, but not for long. His lips pursed and Naruto thought he should feel some type of way about the way he was being regarded.
"Who are you?" Sakumo flat out asked. "What are you?"
Naruto finally blinked.
"I am Naruto." The blonde returned honestly. "And I am a man."
"Not a child? Not a woman?" Sakumo accused, lips turning down, brows furrowing.
"Not at the moment." The blonde said.
Sakumo crossed his arms over his broad chest, and Naruto could see the tiredness that had settled itself in the dark smudges beneath his sharp eyes. The blonde absently wondered when his heart would no longer be pained by the sight of another's suffering.
'Probably when I'm dead.' He admitted to himself. But that was true for many things. It was just the way it was.
"What game are you playing at, 'Naruto'?" The Hatake asked, tone suggesting that 'Naruto' was not his name.
"No game." Naruto assured him softly. "I was waiting for you."
"For me?" Sakumo queried, brows furrowing even further. "Whatever for?"
"To clearly thank you. However long ago it was that we talked, I was in a strange mood." The blonde explained. "So I'm telling you clearly now, thank you for helping me."
'Thank you, but when I leave I will sleep.'
"What are you still doing here?" Sakumo murmured, gray orbs narrowing, sweeping over Naruto's sitting form. "No one has seemed to noticed, but you are quite capable of leaving, and their efforts to get information from you have frankly failed. So… I want to know why."
"I told you why." Naruto answered. "I was waiting for you. Now that I've seen you, I don't see any reason to stay. I wasn't sure if I could find you if I simply left."
Naruto hadn't wanted to deal with that. He knew if he waited that eventually Sakumo would come to him. Now that he didn't have to hunt people down, he wasn't going to.
"I see." Sakumo said. "And do you think I will just allow you to leave?"
"Do you think you could stop me if I really wanted to?" The blonde returned.
He was genuinely curious, but honestly Naruto wasn't looking for a fight. He'd already told himself that he was going to be passive so he could peacefully leave the village after all was said and done and pursue his much desired rest.
"If you have no hidden objective as you insinuate, then why would you react with violence if I tried to keep you here?" The Hatake asked.
"Wouldn't anyone react that way if they were being imprisoned for no good reason?"
"You are quite good at answering everything exactly the way that you want to." Sakumo said, uncrossing his arms and standing up a little straighter.
"I'm too old to play word games." Naruto informed him. "I'm too old to play any games. I simply wanted you to know that I'm grateful to you, but I won't stay here any longer than I have to. I have no ill intent towards anyone, so being kept here is unnecessary."
Silence swelled between the men again. And Sakumo looked at Naruto as if he wanted to believe his words, wanted believe he held no ill will and simply wanted to leave quietly.
Naruto had noticed that about the other man. He'd noticed even when he was distant with a fog of insanity over his brain. Sakumo looked at Naruto as if he wanted many things.
"They thought that I would be able to get you to talk. Since you made no move to hurt me in the short time that we interacted with one another." Sakumo finally said, seemingly glossing over Naruto's previous remarks. "But it appears that you will be no more forthcoming with me than you've been with them."
"Any knowledge that I have is useless to you." Naruto responded. "I just want to leave now. Honestly, I can leave because you've let me out, or I can leave in a less favorable way."
"I see." Sakumo said again. "I will get the Hokage then. Physical torture would be extreme, regardless of the times. You haven't been hostile, so I think the only one qualified to decide your fate, would be him."
Naruto didn't dignify that with a response. Regardless to what the Hokage had to say about anything, Naruto would be leaving soon. He could leave whenever he wanted, but again, he was just so tired. He wasn't going to do anything rash if he didn't have to.
Sakumo reached behind him, knocking twice quite loudly against the door that he stood before. He then stepped forward as it swung open, avoiding being struck by it.
"Can I ask you something else?" Sakumo inquired.
Naruto studied him expectantly. The silver haired man took that as confirmation.
"Why are you a man now?" Sakumo wondered.
Naruto's head tilted ever so slightly.
"Would you have been comfortable with seeing me as a woman or a child in here?"
For a split second the blonde saw absolute surprise flash in the Hatake's eyes. Naruto saw exactly when Sakumo understood his words. He knew what Naruto meant. He knew that Naruto had shifted for his peace of mind alone.
"You… you are quite strange, Naruto-san." Sakumo muttered.
It had been said before. Naruto was sure that there was quite a bit of truth in those words. After a long few moments, Sakumo stepped back a few times, backing out of the door and into the dark hallway beyond Naruto's cell.
"Will you still be here when I return?" The Hatake asked.
Naruto inclined his head.
"I'm in no rush." He told him.
And he wasn't, because how could he be with those dark eyes looking at him? Looking at him again as if there was something that their owner needed. But even still, Naruto would be leaving eventually. He would leave when that strange light in Sakumo's eyes disappeared. The blonde had seen it when he'd woken up in the hospital, after the man had calmed him in his child form from his panic attack.
Sakumo looked at Naruto in a searching way, because he needed something of him, had seen something in the blonde that he craved and was constantly looking for it to reassure himself. That was why Naruto had been so patient within his cell, not simply because he wanted to clearly thank the man again.
He'd needed to see Sakumo. He needed to soothe what that look in the man's eyes was. The look that had not disappeared even when the Anbu had seized Naruto to drag him away and put him in the cell that he was currently in. The look that he had been trying to hide as he questioned Naruto, and the look that he could see even as the door swung shut.
Naruto sat back against the wall, waiting once more for Sakumo to return, but this time, with the Hokage.
'I wonder what the Sandaime looks like?' Naruto mused. 'I've forgotten.'
Naruto wondered how his shattered remains would handle encountering someone beloved from his muddled past.
Well, he'd know soon.
Ah, this was very short, I'm sorry for that. Hopefully it wasn't boring.