Chapter 4
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"Let me introduce you. This is your healer, Houraisan Saesa-sama." Sarutobi said.
"Hi, Naruto," She responded in her girly voice.
"Good to meet you, ma'am," Naruto said, turning his face to her.
"This is Houraisan Shiki-sama, her husband."
Naruto turned his head to the man, before he spoke, surprising him.
"Hello chibi," He said. "How did you do that?"
"Hmm?"
"Face me before my voice showed where I was."
"Well, the Uchiha is at the door and your not very quiet..."
"Ah, right."
Sarutobi continued, "And I guess you and Itachi spoke."
"Yeah, he seems pretty cool."
"I'm pretty cool," Itachi echoed distantly.
"Yeah... and so was that guy who helped me. Who was that?"
"That was Hyuuga Hiashi-san," Sarutobi answered. This made Naruto raise is brow. It was easy for him to know the status of the Hyuuga clan in the time he lived.
"I guess I owe him one," Naruto mumbled. "Who was the girl?"
The lot of them seemed confused... except Itachi, who still seemed to be pondering his "coolness".
"Naruto, Hiashi didn't mention any female when he found you, was she there before?"
"No, I'm pretty sure they came together," He replied. They mused for a time before Naruto continued, "So what do you have in- Wait, did you say husband? Isn't she, you know, a little young? Both of you?"
The Ever-Young chuckled together.
"They sound it," Sarutobi had considered saying "look it", but he did not want to remind Naruto of what he was missing; those two were something worth seeing. "But, they are far older than myself."
This ended up being a concept that Naruto had much difficulty understanding. After some attempted explaining Naruto gave up and returned to his original question.
"So what do you have in mind old man?"
Sarutobi nodded to Shiki.
"We want to offer our hand in you rehabilitation."
Naruto's smile split his face clean in half, squishing his eyelids shut in the familiar jesture. Somebody wanted him? In any way? At all?
He scratched the back of his head, saying, "he he, sure!"
"You may want to give it a chance to hear the rest. But first, tell us what you want do," Sarutobi said with amusement.
"I wanna be a ninja!" Naruto shouted, then his face fell, "But I guess that can't happen now."
"Why do you want to be a ninja?" Shiki asked with the air of professional curiosity.
"Well, everybody avoid me, or hates me. But if I was a ninja, maybe they wouldn't. And if I was a really awesome ninja, and protected them from things like that Kyuubi the Fourth did, then maybe they would even like me!" They thought of nothing but the bitter irony. "Except, with out dieing, you know..." More irony. "I guess, maybe there would still be people who would still hate me, but are those people worth trying to be friends with?"
Good logic and the purist intentions unknowingly declaring most of Konoha unworthy. Sarutobi wondered how far the declaration was from true.
"You know that you would be protecting those that are cruel to you now, you know that right?" He asked.
"Yeah..." Naruto seamed to consider. "But, if your walking along and your starving, and you come across an apple tree to find almost all the fruit is rotten, you don't leave it to the birds. You eat what you can. Beside, I have you, and Ichiraku, and maybe Shiki and Saesa – and maybe Itachi! I could have found three friends tonight, maybe I will have some more by the time I'm an awesome ninja!" And then he remembered and his enthusiasm left again.
"Have you thought about a civilian job," Sarutobi probed.
"What's a civi- civililan?" Naruto asked, the air still heavy.
"It's someone who is not a ninja," Shiki answered.
"Oh..." Naruto again took time to think. "I don't think I could get a job, and if I opened my own shop only you guys and Teuchi and Ayame would come. And if Itachi was really cool." This set Itachi back to his musings. "But even then I don't think I could sell enough of whatever I had. Unless it was ramen!" He seemed to consider this for a bit longer. "Naw, Teuchi does ramen and I can only cook the cup ramen. I don't want to make him mad, and then I would see him less." His mind drifted for a bit before he remembered the original question. "No, I don't think I would get very far."
That seemed well thought out. Mostly. So he has considered it before, Sarutobi thought.
"Do you still want to be a ninja," Shiki asked, still holding his air of professional curiosity,
"What else could I want, to be a beggar? But maybe thats all thats left for me because I blind," Naruto both spit the last word out and bit it off. It seemed very un-Naruto, and made Sarutobi feel like he was now actually seeing what was going on inside the boy.
"That is not enough to live for, is it," Shiki answered on the Hokage's encouragement.
"Doesn't seem like it..." He replied, sound as though he might still try to find good in his new life.
"It may not have to be your future." Naruto looked up confused. Sarutobi continues, "As you already know, Shiki and Saesa have both offered a hand, and I can think of no one better to help compensate for your blindness with, how would you put it, awesome jutsus."
For Naruto, it was almost like the ramen gods poured their finest for his bath. Thats to say, he was very excited for the idea, at that level only Naruto could achieve.
"Yeah! That would be awesome!" He was bursting.
"It would take a lot of hard work, and I would push even harder. It would be the hardest thing you have ever tried," Shiki made his warning clear.
"Yeah but then I wouldn't die from being bored or falling in a spiked pit or something."
To that, Sarutobi became very concerned. Gravely he asked, "Has that happened before?"
Naruto looked at him with utter confusion. "No, I just was saying, if your blind you might fall into a spiked pit or something. Or die of boredom. Jeez, you need to lighten up old man."
Sarutobi gave a great sigh of relief internally.
"So what kind of awesome jutsus? Will I know where people are by setting them on fire? Can I get new eyes... that see fear? Because if a ninja is badass, then a blind ninja must be super badass, and that means people would fear me, so If I could see fear, I would have no problem!" His enthusiasm slowed none as the ideas stumbled to come out over each other.
Shiki placed his hand out, then dropped it down feeling a bit foolish, and then qualified the promises, "We don't know if we can, or how much we can make up for your sight. Saesa and I are pouring though ideas, and we have a lot, but we don't know how many are actually possible. And, we don't know if you have what it takes." The last part was mostly bait, but still a worthy concern. It would be a massive undertaking.
"I have what it take, you just see. I will be a ninja! I will be the best ninja in Fire Country! I'll make those people see me as more than a bad person, you just see mister, I'm gunna be a ninja!" Naruto declared it with absolute certainty and absolute defiance.
The three broke into a grins... and Itachi mumbles something like, "Itachi is cool. I'm cool. Hmm... Badass jutsus, hmm..." and withdrew another pocky stick.
"That's good to hear Naruto," Sarutobi answered with the blond's spreading enthusiasm. "We think it would be best if you stayed here with the Houraisans for a while, at least getting yourself adjusted and getting your training daily."
At "training daily" Naruto's enthusiasm only grew.
"The goal is to get you functioning well enough to join the academy, maybe even with students your age. But lets start with a smaller sub goal. First is teaching you how to be a blind person. That comes tomarrow," Saesa joined the conversation. "I will be the one who does that. But, to make up for your lack of sight, Shiki will get you into learning your chakra control, and then hopefully we will find out your element. Thats when the real progress will begin, so lets speed through these things as soon as your well enough, okay?"
Naruto nodded his head so hard that, had he still had them, Saesa was afraid his eyes might pop out and splat on the floor.
"I will have to join you soon, Naruto. But for now, this 'old man' needs his rest."
Shiki nodded, and Sarutobi turned to leave.
"Itachi," the Third said as he left, "You and your men are to keep Naruto's location and assault classified. Understood?" The Hokage was intense.
Itachi nodded and both men left the house.
Sarutobi encourage the Hyuuga chuunin to return to the clan compound, but refused, saying he needed more details before he reported, and was to only report back in the morning.
Sarutobi let it rest, thinking there wasn't too much harm in letting the boys savior know some of what was going on. Then he gave the man the same warning as Itachi, excluding Hiashi from the people restricted from the knowledge.
"Understood," He said stiffly, trying to fight the sagging eyes.
With that, the Hokage left "training area 69".
Naruto layed back against his pillow and turned to Saesa. "Uh, ma'am, I'm really thirsty."
"I bet you are. Don't call me ma'am, just Saesa, k?"
"Okay Saesa, can you get me some water..." The boy sounded awkward asking. "I would get it myself, but, uh, I'm blind." Then his hand flew up, "Unless you can just show me were the water is, or point... I mean say."
"No, I can get you water and then you need to lay back down, hopefully sleep."
Naruto's young head bobbed, grinning his thankfulness to a painful point.
"I may see you tomorrow Naruto. I hope I do, but I also might be gone for a few days. Good night."
He grinned even bigger. "Good night." He had someone to say that to. It was a real moment for the boy.
Saesa returned with the water.
"Tomorrow we begin."
"Tomorrow," Naruto agreed, finished with the water. He tried to figure out where to set it down, then offered it back with a shrug. Grinning, he flopped back down on the bed.
Tomorrow.
o o o o o
Tomorrow the sunshine came, sending its rays to scattered through the soaked world, almost making Konoha look like a new born puppy, almost like it was innocent of its crimes and cruelty. But it was one soul more innocent.
When the Hokage had reached his spare bed in the Hokage tower, he was met merely minutes later by ANBU. They had a full report.
It went like this: "The assailant was stabbed to death and abandoned in an ally sixty yards North East from Naruto's location."
This brought up more questions than answer, and the scrambled mess it was making of the Sandaime's brain served only to further convince Sarutobi's need for sleep. He lay in the room, filling the elaborate protection seals with his chakra, adding two of his own, and drifted to sleep with merciful speed.
He would not lay awake this anniversary of the Kyuubi attack. He would not be flooded in the doubts and regret that had plagued him since. Maybe it had something to do with his new resolve, the resolve to change what was in the here and now. Maybe thats what gave him the peace.
And then he awoke to his alarm. Stepped out of his room, brushed off the cloths he had never changed out of, and thanked the gods that he had chosen to avoid the hangover.
And then he climbed to the roof of the Hokage tower, loosening his joints on the unforgiving stairs, and seeking a place where he could set his mind in order.
The breeze swished at the pieces hanging from the traditional hat. The had risen behind him, revealing his long sleep. He looked out over Konoha, suddenly wishing the rain had cleared their hearts.
So what would he do? How would he save Konoha from their own crimes, from their own hearts? He rubbed a temple with his left hand as his right lay on the railing he stood by. There he stood, for quite some time, considering the ways to change a man, and how to use those to change a village.
He was only so young, and his conclusion was that he would not be the one to do it. People get so suborn, finding peace in their old habits even if it destroys another.
So he would change the children, or at least stamp his heart on them enough, that maybe with a little luck or divine will, it would ripple through the generations and make Konoha, maybe even the Fire Country, a different place.
So start with the small goals, thats what they teach you. Is a goal labeled "Naruto" small enough. The old man laughed, projecting it beyond the building and into the streets. No, Naruto never made anything small.
So what would be his first miniature goal...
Brushing his teeth. That was a good place to start.
o o o o o
Sunlight streamed in through the window, warming Naruto's arm. Halfway through consciousness he considered opening hid eyes. Better not, not quite ready to wake.
As he drifted closer to the real world, he realized what an erroneous thought that was. Opening his eyes would not make a difference. Funny how he didn't greet the morning staring at the battered wood ceiling of the apartment that he had just become used to.
He didn't want to think about it, so he tried to force it out of his head with thoughts on training. It worked.
He jumped out of bed and put his hands out in front of waving them around in a ridiculous fashion. He searched the walls a bit, trying to familiarize himself with the room. Once he had made his way to the corner of the room opposite the door (having discovered a positively huge closet, it was twice as big as the one he had at his apartment!) he turned around. No need to be swinging wildly, he knew where the door was. A badass ninja would never be truly badass while swinging around like that at nothing.
And that was the logic that worked until he reached the door, smashed is nose into it, fell back on his butt, and realized that doors can be closed as well – though, that never happened while he was living on his own.
The thumping certainly caught the Houraisan's attention. Saesa didn't jump up, but slowly placed her morning tea down, set her hair in a mid-level ponytail, and then crawled out of the over stuffed couch. She walked into the hallway leading to the boy's room. She opened the door gently and peeked in.
Naruto was still seated, rubbing his nose and scowling fiercely.
"Good... morning... Saesa... -sama," Naruto said between ebbs of pain.
She smiled, it showed in her voice as she spoke, "How did you know that it was me and not my husband? Oh, and don't use the honorific, I'm just Saesa to you."
"Oh, okay," He took his time still rubbing his nose. Man, he had hit that door hard!
"So how did you know it was me?"
"Girls' breathing sounds a lot different than a guy's... why do you breathe so loud anyway?"
This question struck some surprise into Saesa.
"Ano... I don't think that I breathe any louder than any other person," Saesa said while musing.
"Yeah, well you sure sound like it!" Naruto, got up slowly, the hit still disorienting him.
"You must be adjusting to the lack of sight. Did you ever notice that when you used to close your eyes to go to sleep it's like you hearing gets better?"
"Yeah! That must be it. A super badass blind ninja has got to have badass hearing! Still, you breathe louder than anyone I've heard before."
"That's probably because your mind has already started adapting to only having four senses. They will continue to get better, so you know."
"Well it sounded like that since last night. Everyone sounded loud, especially the old man. ...but Itachi didn't, I could barely hear him.
"Now that's interesting. Here," She offered him a hand by toughing her to the inside of his wrist. He took it and blinked under his bandage. "Let me lead you. But your right hand along the wall and tell me when you feel something."
They started walking at a very slow pace. Naruto fought the urge to put a protective hand in front of him, but he was going to trust her and so left his hand along the wall, mostly.
His fingers first brushed the side of something running vertical. IT had all these corners and curves on it that ran up and down. He moved his hands forward more, feeling canvas. He moved his hand back to the vertical part and traced it down. It turned at a ninety degree angle, and then he realized what it was: an ornate frame!
"Is this a picture, like, a painting?"
"Sure is, what do you think of it?" Saesa asked brightly.
Naruto stuck his lip out in a pout and mumble, "I can't see it..."
"I didn't ask if you thought it looked good. You have to take me at my word, Naruto, I am not trying to torment you... though I might considered it," She said a bit maniacally.
Naruto didn't know how to respond. He was used to people being meen to him, not nice, but she didn't seem mean. And, he had had people be nice to him, namely the old man and the ramen stand, but they were just nice. She was being both, so he said the best he could come up with.
"...okay."
She snorted and giggled a bit, sound very much the age she looked.
"But not yet this morning, so you're safe until lunch at the minimum."
This made Naruto's eyes go big. Not easy to see under the bandages, but Saesa caught the expression at the edges.
"Please don't put anything in my food! Last time that happened I had to go to the bathroom twenty two times that day!"
"I just might..." She taunted.
"You can't! At least not until I can go eat at Ichiraku, or something..." The idea of being separated from the ramen stand for any extended length almost set the boy into full panic mode.
She hurried to placate the boy. "I won't put anything in your food for a whole week, I promise," she said with the upmost sincerity.
It didn't seem to help. She looked at him, trying to ascertain the situation. He legs look weak and she saw his mouth moving. She had to put her ears close to hear him muttering "no ramen, no ramen, no ramen...". So that was it?
"Hey, we can get you some ramen. Maybe even today if you and I get a lot accomplished. I hope to go it to town today anyway, we need to get you some new cloths and what-not."
A smile spread as the panic was chased away in Naruto. He spoke as though it were his salvation, "Ichi... raku... ramen?"
"Yes, later. And, only if we get a lot accomplished. Now. Put your hand back on the wall."
"All right Saesa-chan!"
The started taking steps forward, Naruto leaving her behind as he literally shook with excitement.
Next, came door.
"Oh-is-this-the-bathroom-I-really-need-one-is-it?" The words piled out of his mouth.
"No, that would be Shiki's study. Don't go in there without Shiki himself bringing you in. He has a lot of things "organized" on the floor. Can't be messing them up, now." She spoke, looking down at him, realizing that at this point he had lost all caring for what she was saying.
She chirped out the next sentence, "It's the next door on this same wall, don't hurt yourself!"
Naruto dashed off at the fastest walk he dared. He felt the door, opened, and then began groping around. He found the toilet by its water. He shook his hand frantically, spraying drops all around the bathroom, and then opted for the "sit down" mode of relieving himself.
He had all the time it took to relieve his bladder to think about how gross it was that he had put his hand in toilet water.
"How do you flush this thing?"
Saesa heard the voice from beyond the door.
"You pull the chain above you!" She shouted back. She didn't need to shout, but it was fun.
"A chain? Above me? You're weird!"
A moment later she hear the swish of the flush, some fumbling, and then the sink turn on. She waited a minute. And then another. And then another. Was he still washing?
Inside Naruto tried to squirt soap into his hand, but only succeeded in knock it over. He bent down to try and quickly recover it, slamming his head against the counter. He then promptly fell on his butt. Twice in one day? Awe man, this is not badass!
Saesa hear the smack and cringed for his sake. If he didn't have the Kyuubi I would almost worry about brain damage on that one. No way it could be anything but his head, limbs don't thud like that. She sighed and walked past the door into the kitchen. He can manage.
Naruto spent a good amount of time chasing the cowardly container. He would get close, bump it with his longest finger, and then it would be lost again. After chasing it past the shower he decided to change his search technique to holding his hand flat, above the where the soap could be, and pat down.
He almost had success his next encounter with the elusive container – except he had his hand to rigid and so it pushed the circular thing away.
One thing to say, he now had a pretty good layout of the bathroom when he was done.
He opened the bathroom door and listened. He caught the unfamiliar sound of vegetable being cut, but just barely.
"Oi! Saesa-chan! Are there any doors on the other side of the hallway?"
"No," She shouted back. This time it would be necessary if Naruto had possessed normal hearing. "I'm in the kitchen. The hallway opens up to the living room, and is separated from the kitchen by a half wall. Be careful in the living room, but come here, I almost have breakfast ready."
"Mmpff," Naruto responded.
He worked his way out, and fortunately the first thing he tripped over was a couch. It caught him and ate him the way over stuffed furniture does. He pulled him self free and stood back up.
So just using you arms to search doesn't work, hmm? Narutos solution: Walk around swinging both your arms and swing a foot back and forth with each step.
This is so not badass, He pouted.
Saesa circled around the half-wall and grabbed the boys hand.
"Let me take you to your seat." He trailed hand in hand behind her and then was brought to a table, circular, comfortable for at least four. "Stick out your tongue."
"Wha?"
"Stick it out."
"You don't have one of those battery things do you?"
"What?" It was her turn to enquire.
"The only time anyone has asked me to stick out my tongue and close my eyes the stuck a battery on it. It shocked, and wasn't too bad... But I'm not going to get pranked just because I can take it!" He shouted the last part.
She laughed close-mouthed. "Fair enough, but I didn't ask you to close your eyes," she said as if that explained it all.
He looked at her incredulously.
"I didn't did I?" And then her tone grew dark,"Stick it out."
"Eh heh heh, okay..."
She reached out and tapped the tip with her finger, smiled and said "thank you!"
Naruto tried to think through what just happened. It kept him quite for two complete minutes. He finally wrote if off as "strange things females do".
With that, breakfast was served, and it smelled amazing.
"Oh yeah! If this stuff tastes like it smells, it's gunna' rock!" Naruto reached around for his spoon, found it, and put it in the soup like concoction.
Normally people would think soup for breakfast would be strange, but Naruto ate ramen for breakfast often anyways, so he didn't ask.
But he did ask, "Where is Shiki?"
"He had to leave before you woke up, but he won't be gone as long as we thought. He should be home in the afternoon tomorrow."
"Ah, alright..." And then he dipped into his soup, making a bit of a mess, but getting to his mouth with most of the concoction onboard.
Seasa physically strained.
"Hmm, this stuff is pretty good. It's no ramen, thats sure."
As he ate Saesa could hardly enjoy hers. Every spoonful mean effort on her part.
Ah! maintaining a genjutsu on him is hard. It's a lot easier to control the flow of a sleep creek than a raging stream... I never like genjutsu, and now I am supposed to control two of these rivers?
"You know, this stuff has a funny after taste. You must have put a bad spice in it or something, because it taste really strange every few spoonfuls."
Saesa let her spoon drop and redoubled her efforts. Fortunately for her, Naruto was not a slow eater. Unfortunately, he raised the bowl for seconds.
Well, at least I'm doing a good enough job that he's still willing to eat it.
Four bowls and one mentally exhausted Saesa later and they were done.
"I'll finish mine, and then we will go out side for your introduction on how to be a blind person."
"Alright..." Naruto's voice was less than enthusiastic.
"I mean training," Saesa faux'ed a correction.
"Alright!"
She guided him to the door and then returned to her seat and flopped on the table.
Using the genjutsu on myself is going to be a stroll compared to that, She said, thinking on her use of it on the boy. Ten minutes later she took the effort and raised her spoon.
Naruto stepped out and stood still. Even the little whiff he just had promised him an amazing experience for his next breath. Bracing himself, he sniffed in the field of flowers for all its glory.
o o o o o
"Okay Naruto, tell me the five senses."
Naruto ponder this, before answering. "Well, there is common sense, street sense... I think I heard some one mention bed sense... fashion sense and non-sense!" He declared with pride.
Saesa tried not to choke up laughing.
"Very good Naruto, now tell me the five physical senses."
He mused some more. "I only heard a little of what that lady was saying, but it sounded like 'bed sense' could fit into-mffph" Saesa placed a hand over his mouth while laughing herself to death. After she had recovered and whipped a tear from her eye she aided him.
"I was thinking more along the lines of the group of senses your eyes belonged to."
"Ohh," Naruto explained with dawning recognition. "Seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing..." He remained lost for a long time.
Waiting for him Saesa walked over to stand beside him. After listening to another corus of "hmm"s she bumped her hip into his shoulder. He stumbled over and demanded to know why.
"What did I just do?"
"You hit me!"
"How do you know I did?"
Naruto looked at her like she was stupid. "Because I fell over, duh!"
That is true. He's not wrong, so I can't tell him otherwise. ...He seems to just have trouble taking a hint...
"But before you fell, you knew I hit you, right?"
"Well yeah."
"How?" Her voice was perfectly patient.
"I felt it."
"Name the senses."
Naruto felt the switch back to be a little strange. "Feeling, smelling, hearing, seeing... you said there were five right?"
"Yes, you named the last one earlier."
"Really?"
"Really. This time you missed taste." She enjoy the expression of realization dawning on him. She pitied herself that she would never get to see his eyes do that, it must be something to see – if a bit over-the-top.
"However, I am going to take a detour. We-"
"Whats a 'detour'?"
"It's when you take a different path to get to the same place. Sometimes it's because you can't use the first path you wanted to take, but this time it's because I like the new path better."
He was absorbing it all, almost looking like a puppy discovering the world outside a house for the first time.
"You really are nice," He said simply.
"Thank you, your nice too."
"Eh? But I'm asking a bunch of questions and you're saying stuff I don't get. Questions make people mad, so why do you think I'm nice?" His voice was full of innocence and curiosity.
Saesa thought this through. Always being told not to ask questions might mean she would have a lot of ground to cover.
"There are two kinds of people who don't like questions. The first group is the stupid people. They don't like questions because they don't have the answers. Now, the fact that they don't have the answers is not what makes them stupid. They think so much of themselves that not having the answer makes them think they look bad. That is what makes them stupid, because then they go through life too afraid of looking bad to learn why things are the way they are, and then they end up understanding nothing, and then the choices they make are like choosing between to plates of food before they know what food is on them.
"Now not everybody like ramen," she said in a consoling manner," but what if one of those plates would have ramen on them and the other have eggs? Which would you want?"
"The ramen!"
"But what if you didn't know which plate had ramen?"
"That would be dumb. Who would want just eggs, unless you put them on the ramen!"
She had to bring the conversation back before he derailed it.
"Right, so you don't know which one is ramen. For these people, they could ask the person serving them, but they don't because that would make them look stupid."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Yeah, so they just choose. See why they're stupid?"
"Yeah, because the too afraid of looking stupid that they make themselves stupid. That's stupid!" Naruto said while shaking his head.
"Life is full of choices, right?"
"Uh, yeah I guess."
"So these people do it over and over and over again, and thats how they live there life."
Naruto just kept shaking his head, trying to imagine anyone so stupid.
"Okay, so you like to ask question, right?"
"Yeah... but I don't want to make people mad..."
"So if you ask questions, then you are not stupid, right?"
Naruto didn't understand.
"But don't stupid people only asked question?"
Saesa just gave him a flat stare.
After a time he figured it out.
"Okay, so I'm not stupid like them. But stupid people still have to ask questions."
She gave him a warming smile.
"So would you say that there is more than one kind of stupid?
"Maybe," Naruto said, sitting cross-legged and scratching the back of his head. She sat down facing him.
"What kinds of stupid do you think there might be?"
"Well... the 'not asking questions' stupid you said, the 'not knowing answers' stupid I said... and 'silly' stupid... and maybe 'knowing what to do and doing something else' stupid."
She smiled again. He kept up, looking expectantly for her reaction.
I need to express in my voice more.
"Very good job Naruto," Her tone held conviction.
He blushed red, squirmed, and scratched the back of his head all at once. It was enough to make Saesa think he had never heard those words before.
"The last one is called 'illogical'. Logic is what makes sense. So... illogical, it's kind of like saying you logic is sick." She laughed at her explanation. It would work, wouldn't it? "So they have 'ill', 'logic'."
"I get it!"
"The second one is called ignorance."
"Ig... nor... ance... Ignore... ance..." Naruto considered deeply. "Does that mean that your ignoring something?"
"It should, shouldn't it." He used the technique I had to explain the last one just a moment ago. I like... "But it doesn't. It simply means that you don't know a piece of information."
"Thats stupid."
Saesa chuckled.
"What kind of stupid?"
This was ending up being a lot of mental gymnastics for the Naruto. Strange though, his brain fel so warm. That didn't happen normally when he thought...
"Kind of like, the sick-sense one. Yeah, whoever thought up that word was sick-sense stupid then."
She laughed even more. He looked a little embarrassed, so she reassure him he was right.
"So why do you laugh?"
"I like the way you think, it's surprising. That's a little hard to do to me, so a really enjoy it."
"Oh."
"So, back to ignorance. What does it mean?"
There it was again, his head felt warm on the inside.
"'It simply means that you don't know a piece of information.' I think I get it."
The quote was accurate, even to the tone.
"But I don't like its name. Let's change it!"
"Ha ha ha, okay, what do you want to name it?"
"'Don't-know' stupid, I like that."
"That could be just as confusing."
Naruto had to say it out loud to get what she meant.
"But at least its not sick-sense. If people get confused, it's just because they are 'don't-know' stupid."
"Good point, mostly. Okay, between you an I, we can use those. On to the last one! The first One! Uh, the one we haven't done!" Saesa declared. He almost made it like a game.
"This is the stupid where people don't ask. It's a part of pride which-"
"What's pride?"
"Okay, that is a huge trail we could follow. We need to finish this one first, so I will use a different way to say it."
"A detour?"
"Yep. Since we are not going to use 'pride', what do you want to name this one?"
Naruto's face settled into a tight one full of thought. He mumbled things along the line of "ignore stupid" and "rich-guy stupid" before settling on "questions stupid".
"That's because they don't ask questions," He explained. "It's like they are 'don't-know' stupid on how good questions are, especially if it help you get ramen."
"Okay then. Three kinds of stupid. Give them back to me."
"You want stupid back? What?"
"Uh, no, I meant say them back to me, so I know you learned. Fancy names first, though."
"Yeah. There is that 'pride' which questions stupid is a part of. Then the 'ignorance' one that is really don't-know stupid. And then... 'illigical'?"
"'Illogical'. Logic is sense, remember?"
"Yeah, so 'illogical' is the sick-sense stupid."
"Good. So if you had one, what would it be."
"Oh that's easy, I'm don't-know stupid. It's kind of hard to fix when no one will answer your questions," Naruto answered troubled.
"True, but I am, so maybe we can help that, huh?"
"Cool! Badass ninjas can't be don't-know stupid!"
"Now where were we?"
"You had said 'name the senses' and I had said 'feeling, smelling, hearing, seeing... you said there were five, right?' and then you said 'yes you named the last one earlier' and then I said 'really?' and you said 'really. This time you missed taste. However, I am going to take a detour' and then I asked what that meant and we talked about it."
There is was, he matched word, tone, everything for each quote. Why hasn't anyone seen this earlier?
"My head hurts."
"Sometimes that comes with thinking a lot," Saesa's amusement pulled her out of her muse.
"Really? I don't remember it before. Or at least, there was less burning and stuff..."
Saesa froze. Burning?
"Where is it burning." her tone was insistent.
"Inside my head."
"Where?" her intensity grew.
"Some in the front" he indicated by gabbing the whole front half of where his brain was, "But there are two places that just feel like they are burning. If went into my head right here," He placed his fingers at the highest point the ears connected, "inside there is really starting to hurt."
"Frontal lobe... hippocampus..." She considered. Frontal lobe, that was for decision making and the higher functions, but he said it didn't hurt as bad. Hippocampus, that did few things: aiding dreaming and turning short term memory into long term. That was it!
"Naruto, be as clear as you can. Are you usually good at remembering details?"
"No, not at all. But your really interesting!"
"Come with me," She said, jumping up and dragging him along with her.
Down the stairs, through the chakra illuminated hallways, past the waiting room and into the operation room they flew.
"Lay down here," she put him down on her best diagnostic seal section.
Eight seals later and she saw what was going on, a super concentration of the Kyuubi's chakra was swarming the hippocampus, and to a lesser degree the frontal lobes.
.
.
.
Author's Notes:
Here it is, for your reading pleasure, a very massive chapter, and a somewhat cruel ending. Feel free to review... please please please puppy eyes.
You can thank my little brother that this one got here so fast. He did some work around the house that I was going to have to do and kept encouraging me with his thurough enjoyment of it in progress.
Total: 6664 words. Hu'ah!
Psalm Of Fire