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Good day and good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the next chapter of Miserly Old Man, Trickster Fox. A great many thanks to all of you that read and reviewed – you surely know how to motivate me! Thank you.
This is the end of the first arc of the story. With this chapter, many of the relevant characters, original and otherwise, have been introduced, and we can get to the meat of the story after this one. Tell me what you think of my characters! As many of them are not part of the Naruto canon, I would dearly like to know what you think of them, and if you think I manage to portray the Naruto universe well. All opinions welcome.
As I said in the previous chapter, I unfortunately have exams to prepare for – this means that I will have to suspend updates until they are all done and finished, which will take about a month. I am still writing this story and others, don't worry! This is not an indefinite hiatus or anything of the sort. I just need to concentrate on these exams. As soon as I am done with those, I'm going straight back to writing. I'm terribly sorry, but I really have no other choice in the matter. I recommend using the ever-useful 'story alert ' button or, if you don't have an account, a bookmark in your browser of choice to know when this story gets updated again.
Like I said, I will start updating – this story and my other one, On The Wings Of An Eagle – again in a month. I sincerely apologize, and I hope that you can understand my dilemma.
Please, enjoy yourself while reading this story, and if you liked or disliked it, be kind enough to leave a review. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.
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Miserly Old Man, Trickster Fox
Chapter VII - To Find A New Home
...
The traveller grumbled as he, Iruka, and Naruto (who was still jumping around and excitedly chatting with his "Iruka-ni") walked through the city. The old man grimaced – for Hiruzen to think up something as brutal as forbidding him to drink during the brat's training! The man knew exactly what buttons to push to test him... Again, he'd underestimated how clever the 'Professor' and the 'God of Shinobi' could be. A mistake he just paid dearly for.
Nevertheless, it was nice to see that the brat was so happy that he ignored all the glares and resentful looks sent his way. He was still grinning from ear to ear, blabbering about how "awesome" his training was going to be. Iruka smiled, but seemed worried for some reason.
Well, the traveller thought moodily as he realized that his hand had taken out a bottle of sake from his pouch out of pure habit, there are more than enough reasons to be worried right now. My withdrawal symptoms, for starters.
"Hey, youngster," he addressed Iruka wearily.
"Yes?"
"Is there a training ground in this village somewhere?"
Iruka looked at him, partly incredulous, partly with pity. "Sir, you do know this is a ninja village, right?"
"First thing," Tabibito said, rounding on him faster than the teenager could blink, fixing him with an icy stare, "I'm no one's 'sir', all right? When I was a shinobi, I worked for a bloody living. And second, if I ever was called 'sir', which I can't recall, then I have no right to be addressed as such anymore – I left my village a while ago. You may call me 'his awesomeness', 'the mighty traveller', or 'the Great Falcon'." He saw Iruka's eyebrow twitch. "Or, if all those grandiose titles annoy you, you can just call me 'Uncle', like the brat."
"Hey!" Naruto protested. "I'm not a brat!"
Tabibito tapped him lightly on the head. "You're a brat until I tell you otherwise, short stuff! I'm your teacher now, get it?"
Naruto pouted mutinously. "Yes, Uncle."
The traveller nodded seriously. "Good boy." He returned to adress Iruka with a frown. "Anyways, although I might be a great ninja and mighty traveller, I haven't been here for a while, and I don't know where the training grounds in this village are. Considering how huge this village is, would you please tell me where the nearest one of them is so we can get started without any further delay?"
Iruka sighed, defeated. "Nearest training ground it is, then, Uncle."
Tabibito grinned and patted him on the head as well, which only made the teenager scowl. "Atta boy."
...
The training area they arrived resembled a park: it was a large, wooded space with the occasional wide clearing, the trees offering shade in the hot weather. Tababito could definitely approve. In Sunagakure, most outdoor training areas were barren, swelteringly hot wastelands or stretches of desert with lots of differently shaped rocks. And then some more rocks.
Yeah... The dunes weren't exactly big on variety.
While it made for good survival and endurance training, it was extremely dull, and you couldn't practice combat in different environments. Konoha was far better off this way, another little advantage of many over its neighbours.
Tabibito took off his lute and travelling bag, setting them next to a tree before plopping himself in the cool shadows against the tree trunk with a sigh. He watched Naruto and Iruka looking at him funnily and raised an eyebrow. "Well, what? I'm an old man, I need my rest. Sit your asses down. Or are you gonna stand around all day in that heat?"
They sat opposite the traveller, Naruto grumbling. "Man, this isn't how I imagined we were going to train..." Iruka was just happy to sit in the shade. He could take relaxing, highly paid and completely harmless work any day of the week.
The traveller's raised eyebrow climbed even further. "We haven't even started and you're already complaining, brat? What kinda ninja do you want to be, one who complains or one who acts?"
"I'll be good!" Naruto said, rubbing his neck sheepishly and grinning. Iruka snorted, amused.
The traveller nodded. "Right, let's get started then." He looked up at the leafy canopy above, deep in thought. "Naruto, what exactly is a ninja?"
"Huh?" the whiskered boy said, frowning as he thought about the question. "A ninja is someone who protects his village!" he said finally, beaming.
"Not bad, but wrong," the traveller said, shaking his head with a grin. "A ninja can also be someone who has no village to protect, like a missing-nin, for example."
"But missing-nin aren't real ninja! They're traitors!" Naruto exclaimed, outraged.
"They're still ninja," Tabibito retorted. "Whether they're from a village or who they work for is completely irrelevant, Naruto. Think again."
The boy was rocking slightly, face scrunched up in concentration. Iruka and Tabibito had to restrain their chuckles at the comical sight.
"If a ninja has no village, then there's no point to him being a ninja..." Naruto muttered, sounding annoyed as he pondered the question.
"You're going about this the wrong way, brat," the old man interrupted. "Think about it this way: what is the difference between a normal person and a shinobi?"
"A ninja can do all kinds of cool stuff!" Naruto exclaimed happily, blue eyes shining.
"And why can they do all kinds of cool stuff?" Tabibito asked patiently.
"Errr..." Naruto said eloquently, face falling. "I don't know."
Iruka couldn't help but laugh out loud at the expression on Naruto's face, which resembled that of a wet poodle. Tabibito, grinning as well, chuckled as the boy looked outraged at the teenager he considered a big brother.
"You got it down on the second try, Naruto," the man said before the boy could launch himself at Iruka and pummel him in retribution. "A ninja is basically someone who has learned how to use his or her chakra."
"Chakra?" Naruto repeated, wide-eyed, his full attention on the old man as Iruka recovered from his little laughing fit.
"Yes, chakra." The man opened his hand, blue sparks flickering in his palm. Naruto watched the little flames jump up and down, fascinated. "Chakra is basically the expression of the spiritual and physical energy of the human body, released to create various effects." He glanced at Iruka, who was listening intently, despite having probably learnt all this before. The boy was interested. Good.
Closing his palm, the sparks winked out of existence. "Chakra is a combination of the spiritual energy of your mind," he poked Naruto's forehead with a finger, "and the physical energy of your body." He poked Naruto's chest where his heart was.
"Basically, chakra is the energy from your body, and it can be moulded to influence your surroundings in different ways. Ninja train themselves to increase their chakra reserves so that they can fight longer and stronger, while they try to get better at their chakra control to use their techniques more efficiently."
"So it's like ramen?" Naruto asked, utterly fascinated.
Interrupted mid-lecture, the traveller blinked and stared at the blonde. "What?"
"It's like when old man Teuchi makes his ramen," Naruto explained excitedly. "He puts the ingredients in his pot, and then he cooks them. But it wouldn't taste as good if it wasn't Teuchi-san making the ramen, so that means that Teuchi-san is the better cook!"
The traveller frowned, trying to understand the odd analogy the whiskered fox boy had presented him with. "So you're saying that the noodles are like the physical energy, Teuchi's cooking is the spiritual energy, and the result is a bowl of ramen, which is the chakra you use."
"Yep!" Naruto said happily. "You got it right in one, Uncle!"
Iruka and Tabibito exchanged looks with equally deadpan expressions.
"You know," the traveller started morosely, "a little kid explained the most basic principle of our secret art using an analogy involving noodles and cooking, and it fits perfectly for some reason. I don't know if that's depressingly simple or brilliant."
"Well," the teenager sighed, "at least Naruto understood it perfectly."
"Agreed," Tabibito nodded, returning to a confused-looking Naruto. "Don't worry about it. Now, your first job is to learn to focus your chakra. It's quite simple for a trained shinobi, but it'll be difficult 'cause you're new at this, so don't start whining if you can't get it right off the bat."
He moved his hands in a hand seal, showing how his fingers were aligned to Naruto. "This is the dragon seal. It's one of the twelve standard hand seals of the shinobi world."
"What does 'standard' mean?" Naruto asked as he tried to mimic the traveller's fingers.
"It means that all shinobi everywhere use these same hand seals, Naruto," Iruka explained, quickly helping to adjust the boy's fingers into the correct posture.
"What he said. Basically, you'll find that all shinobi use these hand seals to channel their chakra. They're the basic tools any ninja uses to mould their chakra into different forms, which depend on the way these seals are formed and the sequence they're formed in." He anticipated Naruto's question before the boy even opened his mouth. "'Sequence' means in which order the seals are performed, so which seal comes after the other."
"Okay," Naruto nodded, concentrating furiously.
"Now, listen carefully, brat," the traveller said, looking at the boy intently. "If you use too much of your chakra at once, there's a risk that you could exhaust yourself, damage your body, and, in the most extreme cases, kill yourself." The boy's blue eyes snapped open, looking at the old man in shock. "Ninja train so that this doesn't happen. If you're not careful during training, you can easily hurt yourself, or you can hurt the ones around you." He didn't miss Iruka's grimace at that statement. He heard that the kid's partner had an accident recently. "Which is why when I tell you to do something during training, you do it exactly as I say, and no other way. When I tell you to stop, you stop immediately without asking questions. When I explain something, I want your full attention. Otherwise, you will hurt yourself at some point. Am I making myself clear, brat?"
"Yes, Uncle," Naruto nodded, his expression as serious as that of his teacher. Iruka would have laughed at the unusual sight if it wasn't so important for Naruto to understand.
The old traveller grinned, grey eyes twinkling. "I see you get it. Now, this is how you focus your chakra..."
...
"Go on," the traveller sighed, as he plucked at the strings of his lute, leaning back against the tree trunk. He needed to practice a bit before he could find a place that would offer him a gig, and now was the perfect opportunity in the quiet forest. "I know you want to ask me something:"
Iruka frowned as he watched Naruto sitting next to a tree across the clearing. The traveller had told him to go over there so he wouldn't be distracted, but they could still watch him in case something happened. The little boy was seated in a meditation position the old man had showed him, occasionally shifting. If you weren't yet used to it, meditation could be pretty uncomfortable.
Iruka glanced at the old man who was playing a few bars on his instrument, humming a quiet tune. He really had no idea what to think of the old man. When he had first met him, he had thought him to be a friendly, if a bit grouchy senior citizen. The fact that he'd taken care of Naruto while he had run away from the orphanage was something he'd been grateful for.
But when he had returned to the orphanage, he'd met an excited Mizuki, who'd told him the latest rumour: apparently, an elderly traveller with a lute on his back had beaten the crap out of three chūnin with ease before getting hauled before the Hokage. What worried the villagers even more than the simple fact that three trained warriors and killers had been effortlessly pummelled was that it was apparently done to protect the demon brat.
While he kept quiet about having met the man to Mizuki, his worries about the "plan" the old man had mentioned involving Naruto increased even more now. He resolved to take Naruto to meet the old musician and the Hokage, despite his misgivings. He thanked the gods that he had managed to be chosen to help Naruto's training – that way, he could keep an eye on the child and make sure that the old man wouldn't hurt him, whatever it was he planned.
"Wondering what my nefarious plans are?" the traveller asked absent-mindedly.
Iruka's head snapped around instinctively, but his expression was schooled into one of polite confusion. "Excuse me?" he said cheerfully.
The traveller sighed, surprised that the youngster could hide his emotions so well already. But then again, body language and intuition of a lifetime made even shinobi-trained people easy to read. For him, at least. "You're wondering whether I'm going to try to harm Naruto. Don't even try to hide it, youngster."
At that, Iruka frowned, his previous disguise falling away. "You're definitely a shinobi, 'Uncle'," he said carefully, but the sarcasm in the familiar address was blatant. "Any half-decently trained ninja could see that."
The traveller shook his head, plucking a lute string thoughtfully. "I only show my training when I want to, boy."
"Well then, why does a foreign shinobi – because you obviously don't know your way around here – have such an interest in a small four-year old child of Konohagakure, even deciding to train him?"
"Maybe I like that kid and I want to help him become the Hokage, like he said he wanted to?" the traveller replied, smirking a bit.
"One possibility, although that doesn't explain why the Third allows you to train Naruto." Iruka paused, trying to think of a way to phrase his next statement. "Naruto is... special."
"You care about him, don't you?" the traveller suddenly asked, his grey eyes sharply locking with Iruka's brown ones. The old man snorted, amused and resigned at the same time. "You do care about that brat. Considering who he is, you just earned yourself major points in my book, boy."
"What do you mean by 'considering who he is'?" Iruka asked calmly, eyes narrowing dangerously.
"I refer to the fact that he has the Nine-Tailed Furry of Doom sealed in his stomach," the traveller said casually, returning to playing his song on his lute. He blinked as a kunai was pressed to his throat.
"Give me one good reason not to kill you right here and now, Uncle," Iruka growled dangerously, having moved faster than the traveller thought was possible for a genin.
"I might let you live," the old man said cheerfully, and only then did Iruka notice that a drawn tantō was lying lightly, edge-wise, against his stomach. He tried to move away, but the blade was pressed deeper, biting into the fabric of his shirt and making him stop.
The traveller looked at Iruka in a thoughtful way, ignoring the weapon threatening to pierce his throat. "You kill anyone yet, youngster?"
Iruka gritted his teeth angrily. "No."
"But you'd kill me to protect the demon brat?" the old man asked, sounding puzzled.
"He's an innocent child, not a demon," the teenager spat, "and I won't let anyone hurt him, least of all an old codger like you."
The traveller grinned lopsidedly, the movement of his muscles in his throat nearly drawing blood from the kunai. "Fair enough." He sheathed the knife with a small movement. "I'll tell you a bit about myself, if that reassures you." Iruka didn't move, and the old man frowned. "Oh, come off it, I swear that I don't want to hurt Naruto. The boss man himself entrusted the brat to me, for the gods' sake. What more do you want?"
Reluctantly, the teenager withdrew his kunai from the traveller's throat, but refused to put it away. Wise precaution.
They watched Naruto fall over at the opposite edge of the clearing, immediately sitting back up again while rubbing his head. Apparently, he'd been concentrating so hard that he fell over. How he managed to do that while sitting, they had no idea.
"Right, about me..." the traveller mused, returning Iruka's attention to him. "My name is Tabibito Ryokousha, and I'm originally from Sunagakure."
"The Hidden Sand village?" Iruka asked, slightly surprised.
"I said I was originally from there, boy. I became a ninja at the age of seven – those were the times when villages taught their children young; you can ask your Hokage about that, he grew up during that time – and for about five decades, I served my village like every other ninja would, travelling, stealing, spying, killing as I was ordered. You know the drill."
He frowned quietly as he tuned a string of the lute, twisting the knob at the end of the instrument minutely. "The travelling was the most fun though, and I had a bit of a reputation as being an annoying loose cannon, so in the end, I often worked and travelled alone, meeting a lot of people along the way. I met the Third during that time as well, sometimes trying to put one over him, sometimes working with him. Alliances changed quickly, you know? We became more or less pals during the last war when Suna and Konoha teamed up to kick Iwagakure's ass."
"And now?" Iruka asked carefully.
Tabibito snorted. "Well, now I'm nothing but an old drunk, seeing as I left Suna a while back. I recently came into the village to visit the Hokage, who I haven't seen in years, and met the brat by accident at a ramen bar. And from there it sorta kinda accidentally snowballed when I tried to help the kid by beating up those three punks."
"And you know about Naruto's... condition."
"The Hokage told me." The traveller frowned. "Why are you so careful about saying that the brat is a jinchūriki?"
Iruka sighed, looking away. "The Third put out a law on the day that no one was to tell anyone not from the village or the village children that Naruto is the host for the demon fox. I think the Hokage hoped that it would allow Naruto to have some friends his age, grow up normally."
Tabibito snorted. "Well, that didn't exactly work out as planned, did it?"
"No." Iruka looked at Naruto, still in his meditative pose. "Is that what people like him, hosts for demons, are called? Jinchūriki?"
"Yep," the traveller nodded. "Jinchūriki, the 'Power of Human Sacrifice'. There have been people like him in the centuries before – sealing a Tailed Beast is the only way of defeating it, seeing as they're impossible to destroy by mere humans." The traveller shifted uncomfortably. "They are usually ostracized by society, either imprisoned because the people fear the power they can unleash, or treated as human weapons by their village leaders, or both. In most cases, the hosts turn into antisocial, homicidal monsters not much better than the Tailed Beasts themselves."
Iruka shuddered in the cold shadow of the tree. "That's horrible."
"It is," the traveller agreed, sombre. He began smiling though as he watched Naruto, and for the first time it wasn't a sarcastic grim or mischievous smirk, but a genuine, grandfatherly smile. For some reason, it fit his wizened features far better. "But the jinchūriki have potential. You know about the Sage of the Six Paths?"
"The creator of all ninjutsu, a ninja unparalleled in strength and power, the first man to teach the skills of the shinobi, a god amongst men," Iruka recited from memory. Rote learning at the Academy had some benefits.
"He was also the first jinchūriki."
Iruka stared at him. "I didn't know that."
The traveller grinned, playing a few chords, perhaps an old melody from his childhood. "It's not a popularly known fact – but part of the reason the Sage was so powerful was because he was the host of a Tailed Beast." He gestured with his chin towards the blonde child. "That brat is the host for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, the most powerful of all demons left in existence. If he can learn to use that potential, he'll be damn unstoppable."
"Is that why you want to teach him?" Iruka asked carefully.
"To be honest? Yes," the old man said bluntly. "If I can teach him early, it'll be easier for him to control his power, and we'll all be safer for it."
"But if you start training him early," Iruka argued, straining to keep his voice even, "if you take away the normal life that he leads, isn't that going to turn him into a human weapon? He'll never be treated as the child he is."
The traveller's hands stopped moving on his instrument. He was suddenly very still, but his eyes were sad. "You need to understand something, youngster," he began slowly. "The man who sealed the demon into Naruto sacrificed him to protect this village when the bijuu attacked. Jinchūriki means 'power of human sacrifice'. There is no way that we can treat him like a normal kid. Did you know that to seal a Tailed Beast into a newborn child, a life needs to be given to the God of Death himself?"
The traveller looked up, looking at the blue sky, clouds streaking through it at a leisurely pace. "The Fourth Hokage gave up his own life to save his village," he said slowly, "and Naruto was sacrificed as well to save the people living and breathing in the village today. If I can honour that sacrifice by training the brat, I'll do it."
"So training Naruto is the noble thing to do," Iruka said, sounding sceptical.
"It's the only right thing to do, youngster." The traveller snickered quietly. "Perhaps I'm just a lazy old fool, but like I said: I've got nothing better to do anyway, and I'd prefer teaching a brat to travelling all day on dirty roads in bad weather, thank you very much."
Iruka looked at the traveller, his expression completely deadpan. "So basically, teaching Naruto is more comfortable than travelling."
"Of course," Tabibito said sagely. "I'm getting older, you know. Travelling isn't as easy as it used to be."
"Lazy old bastard," Iruka grumbled.
"If you ever get to my age, you'll see the value of hedonism," the traveller said, grinning widely now, eyes twinkling. Iruka snorted in amusement, and then the teenager doubled over, laughing.
"Uncle, Uncle!" Naruto yelled, running over from the other side of the clearing. "I think I can do it!"
Both heads snapped to face him, jaws agape in surprise. "What?" they asked in unison, convinced they had misheard.
"I think I managed to focus my chakra!" Naruto exclaimed happily, grinning like a loon.
Iruka sighed, palming his face. "Naruto, I told you that telling tall tales isn't nice..."
"I'm not telling stories!" the whiskered four-year old yelled indignantly. "I really did focus my chakra!"
"Hold on, brat; we can check this easily," the traveller interrupted before a full-blown argument could break out, putting his lute to the side while Iruka shook his head, amused. The old man picked up a fallen leaf, stepping towards Naruto. "Okay, brat," he addressed him. "Focus your chakra to your forehead, like I told you to."
The four-year old formed his hand into a seal, scrunching up his forehead as he concentrated. After a moment, the traveller put the loose leaf carefully against Naruto's forehead.
The leaf stuck as if glued there by an unseen force.
The traveller turned to see Iruka, whose jaw had all but hit the ground. The old man grinned as he ruffled the boy's hair. "Well, that clinches it, I think. The brat learned how to focus his chakra in less than four hours. I'll be damned."
"It took me about a week," the teenager said, sounding slightly envious, yet amazed as well.
"So I did well?" Naruto asked, opening his eyes and grinning.
"You did perfectly, brat," the traveller grinned. "But you have no idea how much trouble you're in..."
"What?" Iruka said, his jaw snapping shut as he looked confused. "Why? Learning how to focus your chakra for the first time in such a short period of time is a good thing!"
The old man grinned at the both of them, and this time, his grin had an evil tint to it. "Well, now that we know that Naruto is so good at focusing his chakra, we can speed up his training to a far greater extent than I thought was possible." He chuckled darkly. Naruto and Iruka didn't like this at all.
"I hope you don't regret becoming a ninja with me training you, brat," the traveller said, grinning evilly. "It's going to be a tough few next years."
Naruto and Iruka gulped – the boy because of a bad premonition of things to come, and Iruka out of pure heartfelt sympathy.
...
Danzō Shimura hadn't had a good day.
He was also completely aware of the fact that the reason why his day had gone so badly was entirely his own fault. Why, did he ask himself, hadn't he bothered to be more careful?
It was completely normal for the Hokage to always send one or two ANBU members to watch over the Kyuubi brat. It was also completely normal for Danzō to send one of his Root soldiers to watch over the watchers watching the brat and also to keep an eye on the brat himself. The bandaged man had long ago decided that his group would take care of the child in case it became dangerous to the village, even if they had to go against the Hokage's wishes to do so. Protecting the village had priority over everything else.
And so, Danzō, being the underhanded and completely guiltless bastard that he was, had ordered the death of an irritating elderly citizen (a foreigner, no less) who had seemed to take an interest in the young Uzumaki boy. His watcher had told him that the unassuming traveller had easily beaten three trained chūnin in a pure taijutsu confrontation, so he had sent four assassins of his Root group to kill him instead of the customary lone wolf.
He hadn't expected that the four shinobi, all members of ANBU loyal only to him, would all be dispatched that easily. It was an affront, really.
Which is why the retrieval team sent after the killing team interrogated the last two ninja alive using a particularly clever interrogation genjutsu, and then, to avoid leaving any traces that could possibly blab, executed them. A messy affair, but Danzō reasoned that if four corpses were found, and it was connected to the surprisingly combative visitor, then he would be imprisoned for murder, perhaps even executed by the Hokage.
Annoyingly enough, that strategy hadn't worked. In the afternoon village council session, Fugaku Uchiha had washed his hands of the affair, refusing to investigate the incident due to ANBU being, as he put it, "the Hokage's dogs and no one else's business." The Inuzuka clan head had bridled at the man's choice of words, but the Uchiha had shown no remorse at possibly insulting another member of the council – showing his disdain, in fact, for the entire ruling body of the village.
He would have to keep a few more eyes watching the Uchiha clan – their behaviour was worrying, as if they were planning something...
Danzō filed that thought away for later. Now, he was still concerned with the odd traveller that had defeated his men and had got away with it without repercussions. In fact, the day after the incident, the old drunk had gone straight to see the village leader, and then the brat had appeared with his (temporary) guardian an hour later – and after a few minutes, they had all walked out as a group.
And then, most worryingly of all his watcher's observations, they had gone to a training ground, and had begun giving the brat basic lessons in chakra control.
Danzō was disturbed. Sitting in his office in the underground Root base, he was pondering why this old drunk, who had suddenly come into the village without warning, would be entrusted with one of the most important possessions of Konoha. He had expected Hiruzen to allow the brat to enter the Academy at the standard age of eight years old, like all the other village children. He had lobbied his old rival and teammate to let him train the host of the fox from the day he could walk, but Hiruzen had refused, saying that it would have "unintended consequences".
Then why had he accepted the old drunk as a teacher, something that he had refused his oldest friend and teammate?
Danzō frowned and picked up a picture taken by his watcher, holding it up to his single eye. It showed the face of the old man playing a lute in the shade of a tree in the training grounds, talking quietly with a teenage genin whose name escaped the bandaged leader of Root. It wasn't really important.
Danzō picked up the next picture, which was that of the trio getting up to leave the grounds – and if he didn't know any better, he would swear that the old traveller was winking at the camera as he held the happy child's hand. Had he been aware of their hidden watcher the whole time?
Well, perhaps he could understand why this man had been chosen to be the child's teacher...
The leader of Root dropped the picture with a displeased grunt. He had several ways to approach this problem.
One, kill the old man. A deceptively simple solution. However, this was now impossible, thanks not only to the fact that he could presumably kill or capture any assassins sent after him (as he had already demonstrated with the four soldiers sent after him), but that he seemed to have enough experience to avoid any traps and ambushes set for him. And even if he died, his clear connections to the Hokage would result in questions being asked that could reveal that the ANBU Root unit was still active – a potential disaster to be avoided at all costs.
Two, challenge Hiruzen directly in front of the council.
Considering it involved the host of the Tailed Beast, an important asset of the village, it was entirely legitimate to do so. However, Hiruzen could easily counter this by stating that the old man was simply a teacher – the Hokage had enough authority over the whole matter to brush aside objections, and Danzō did not wish to lose face with the council members when he needed it to keep protecting Konoha, even if the civilians' pompous posturing irritated him.
Third, challenge Hiruzen in private.
That was bound to fail. He had a feeling that his old teammate had somehow gotten wind of something going on, and he was probably loath to share information concerning the Kyuubi host. They had already disagreed on how the child was to be used, so why would this argument be any different? Danzō shuffled his notes, his single eye scanning documents before adding them to the 'To be destroyed' pile. Hiruzen cared too much about the child because of his heritage. As if that made any difference as to what the child actually was. A weapon.
Four, leave things as they were.
Although he hated to do nothing, that was presumably the best option right now. Although Danzō himself didn't get to train the host, like he would have preferred, the child had still begun his tutelage under a presumably powerful shinobi. And if he avoided antagonizing the mysterious old drunk and the Hokage for a while, he would be able to resume his activities in his usual quiet fashion.
At least the child would be trained early in some way or another. That was something to look forward too, at least – a weapon would be created to be used for the benefit of Konoha.
Danzō stood up with a grunt, picking up the pile of papers, and walked over to the fireplace in his office. He placed the papers in the grate carefully with his one good arm. When he straightened up, he breathed out a gout of flame that consumed the specially treated paper instantly.
He stepped out, looking over his shoulder to check that everything had been devoured by the flames.
The seemingly idyllic picture of the traveller playing his lute hadn't burned yet, considering that celluloid burned slower than the special flammable paper used in Root's headquarters, that irritating wink mocking Danzō even as flames consumed it.
Danzō picked up his cane and walked out of his office to return to his frugal home.
He could bide his time. Age taught you patience.
...
"Uncle..." Naruto yawned sleepily as he clutched Tabibito's hand. "Where are we going? I'm tired..."
"Stay awake for a bit longer, will ya?" the old man grumbled. "I'm looking for a place to stay for the both of us."
"...We're not going back to the orphanage?"
The traveller barked out a laugh. "No, we're not. I don't think they'd let me stay there anyway, I'm a bit too old to play with wooden bricks." He looked at the small child that he was leading along by the hand. "Jeez, you're really out of it, aren't you?"
The little boy nodded, his eyes already drooping. He was barely awake as they walked through Konoha's streets, more hanging off the old man's arm than walking by his own strength.
He had a right to be tired, though, the traveller reflected. He had Naruto run through basic chakra control exercises for a whole day, trying to gauge the child's potential. Tabibito dimly remembered the first time he had moulded chakra – he had been exhausted that day and slept soundly and dreamlessly the night afterwards. That little favour hadn't been granted to him since.
In any case, he thought as he returned his attention to the streets around him, Naruto was completely exhausted. It would take weeks for him to get used to properly channel chakra, even if he had learned it unnaturally fast today. The first step was always the greatest. It would only get more difficult from now on.
Tabibito reasoned that the boy needed a home he could come back to after a long day of training, so that's what he was looking for. Someplace safe.
It was dark already. They had wandered through quite a large part of Konohagakure already and stopped at quite a few inns in the shinobi and civilian districts of the city, Tabibito looking to play music as the resident musician in exchange for room and board.
Quite a few innkeepers and restaurant owners had looked interested in the lute player right until they realized that Naruto was with him. Most had politely shown them the door. Others had been far less restrained in their refusals. Tabibito had been tempted to kick in their heads, but decided that Naruto didn't need the trouble.
So now they were walking around aimlessly, having somehow found their way into Konoha's red light district, the red paper lanterns hanging outside the entrance to the brothels lighting the way through the darkened streets, carousing civilians staggering drunkenly home or on their way to the next bar.
The akasen was an odd place in Konoha. Most cities that enjoyed large trade revenues had one, some larger and more famous than others (Tafuku Gai being an example), but they were all uniformly filled with gambling halls, brothels, bars and restaurants where shinobi, samurai, and soldiers, along with merchants and visiting journeymen, could spend their hard-earned money on food, drink and women (or a few pretty men, if you went to the places that catered to kunoichi). For enough cash, you could buy all the earthly pleasures a man could imagine and more. Quite a few retired ninja ran their own businesses here.
The Hokage tolerated it, if only because he knew that his ninja needed a place to relax. He still kept it under strict supervision – shinobi patrolled the rooftops while the civilian Home Guard went their rounds through the streets, watching out for thieves and cutthroats. Nevertheless, there were enough parts of the district that were overrun with pickpockets and muggers, many of them orphans or gang members. Not to mention that quite a few of the establishments paid their dues to the yakuza. It was a place where the outcasts of society gathered, rejected by the rest of the village.
Tabibito stopped in front of a large building built in the traditional style of Fire Country, the large wooden construction raised several stories above the other buildings until it ended in a gently curved roof. It was magnificently decorated from top to bottom, coloured lanterns hanging over the balconies. There was light inside, mutters and chatter audible through the solid walls and curtained entrance.
Tabibito squinted to read the kanji on the sign over the entrance, dimly lit as it was. Those are old symbols, he thought. Haven't seen those in a while...
...The Dancing Dragon. He snorted. Pompous name if there ever was one. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers.
He nudged Naruto gently. "Come along, brat."
The little boy mumbled something as they continued onwards. A barrel-chested bouncer eyeballed the two of them viciously until he spotted the lute on the traveller's back and grudgingly waving them through the main entrance. The wind chimes hanging in the door jingled merrily as the two entered. Some of the more attentive (and less drunk) shinobi in the room perked up warily. There had been no wind this night.
The inside of the Dancing Dragon was large and decorated in varying shades of red, giving the room a warm and comfortable feel. Shinobi and civilians alike sat around the assortment of tables, attended to by serving girls wearing beautifully woven kimonos. At one end of the large room, a small stage was raised where an unfortunate soul was trying his best to make music on an erhu, drawing the bow across the two strings. He wasn't very good at it.
Smoke hung in the air from the Suna waterpipes and cigarettes smoked by the guests, some of the girls keeping their customers far closer company than decency normally allowed. Tabibito reasoned that they were paid more for... extra work.
No need to expose Naruto to that part of life. Yet.
He approached the counter of the bar where a heavily scarred man was cleaning saké cups in a slow and methodical manner.
"Excuse me," the traveller said politely.
The man looked at him and grinned. Or at least that what it looked what he was trying to do, but his scars twisted the expression into an ogre's grimace that would give any child nightmares. It looked as if someone had burned his face off and then decided to chew on what was left, leaving the face mangled and hideous, an unrecognizable mess of puckered flesh and scar tissue. Mercifully enough, the man's scalp was hidden under a bandanna, hiding the rest of his injuries. His eyes were whole, though, and shone brightly as they settled on a potential customer.
"Hullo there," the man rasped, a deep scratching noise that was barely recognizable as speech. Naruto whimpered and hid behind Tabibito's legs. "What can I do for ye, old man? A drink? Got some fine Northern brandy here... Or are you looking for pleasurable company? Doesn't matter if you swing one way or the other. The Dancing Dragon has it all and more."
"Does it have a decent musician that doesn't sound like he just gutted a cat and tried to make it sing?" the traveller asked shrewdly, nodding towards the erhu player. "Sounds fucking agonizing. And that means something, 'cause I've heard a lot of shitty music in my time."
The man growled in something that could have been either anger or amusement; it was hard to tell. "Think you could do better?"
"Actually, I think I could," Tabibito said smugly, tapping the lute on his back.
"Any good with that thing?" the man's voice grated out.
"I've played my whole damn life, all sixty-seven years of it. I'd say I'm better than good."
The owner sounded interested, having abandoned his saké cups and thinking, considering the unequal pair before him with wary eyes. Tabibito realized that this man knew exactly who (and what) Naruto was, but was still unsure as to his decision.
"How about we make this a wager?" the traveller said quickly.
A blink of surprise. "Huh?"
"The crowd here tonight looks pretty bored to me," Tabibito said, gesturing at the attending guests, who all looked varying shades of tired, listless, or slovenly drunk. "If I lighten things up here, we win. If nothing changes, then we lose. Easy peasy."
"Stakes?" the man rumbled.
Tabibito grinned. No immediate refusal, then. Good. "If we win, I want room and board here at the Dancing Dragon in exchange for playing music in the evenings. If we lose, we'll just make ourselves scarce and won't bother you again."
The scarred man laughed, a menacing noise that sounded like boots scratching on gravel. "Wily old asshole, aren't you? You're on. Tell Masaru to get his skinny caterwauling ass off the stage. It's all yours, grandpa. Don't disappoint me."
"Call me grandpa one more time and I'll kick you in the balls so hard that your damn grandkids will sing two octaves higher," Tabibito muttered, irritated. He looked around. "Hold on, I need to put the kid somewhere safe..."
"Give him to the girls other there." The owner waved to two young girls sitting alone at a table, the two of them looking rather bored. "They're free right now. Tell them Hōshi asked their help."
"Thanks, gimme two seconds, okay? Be right back."
He walked over briskly to the lone table, dragging a scared Naruto behind him. The girls (both barely starting puberty, the youngest age children could be sold to brothels owners) looked up from their jug of sake as he approached.
"...Are you a customer?" one asked warily, her brown eyes darting between him and the owner back at the counter.
Tabibito looked at her, expression deadpan as he pointed out the little boy he led by the hand. "Does it look like I'm a damn customer when I'm here with a kid?"
"You'd be surprised," the other, a blond thing with startlingly grey eyes, muttered rebelliously. "Some of the old farts coming in here really have no decency at all. Disgusting."
"Mayumi!" the other said, suddenly sounding scared. She turned towards Tabibito and bowed hurriedly. "I'm terribly sorry, sir! She's always been mouthy like this! Please forgive her! Is there anything we can do to help you!"
"Calm down, girlie," the traveller said, bemused. "I was just wondering if you could take care of the brat while I can play my music." He nudged Naruto to step forward, which the child reluctantly did.
Mayumi narrowed her eyes at him. "Do we look like nannies to you? We're courtesans."
"Well, you're not a very polite one," the elder retorted. "Hōshi told me I should ask you for help keeping the brat. Am I gonna have to argue with you lot all night, or what?"
At the mention of the owner's name, the girls' expressions immediately changed from wariness to suspicious acceptance.
Huh. I'll have to investigate that.
"Well, okay..." the brown-haired girl muttered, eyeing Naruto with a bit of fear. The four-year old could barely stand on his feet, though, his head periodically nodding up and down as he tried to keep his eyes open. Not exactly the monstrously threatening behaviour of a demon bent on a rampage of revenge and destruction. In fact, it looked rather cute.
Tabibito grinned as he gave the sleepy child's hand to the girl. "Just keep watch over him for me, okay? He's knackered, so he won't try to run away, but be careful – he's a tricky one. Er... sorry, what's your name?"
"Shizuka," the girl said quietly as she set Naruto onto her lap, not really knowing what else to do. The boy snuggled into her kimono, making himself comfortable like a cat would.
"Shizuka, good name... Just watch over him for now, all right? Be right back."
...
Naruto was left with two strangers he didn't really know as Uncle Tabi walked off. Naruto felt uncomfortable. Strangers could be nice, but sometimes they weren't. Better be careful.
I don't think I like this place. He looked around at the semi-dark room, watching the sullen guests and hearing their quiet conversations over the pungent odour of alcohol and smoke. The people here are really weird, and it smells funny.
The little boy sat awkwardly in Shizuka's lap and suddenly yawned. "Sorry, nee-chan..." Naruto muttered. "I'm really, really tired..."
The girl ruffled his hair. It was what she used to do to her little brothers; it usually reassured them. "Hush, that's all right. What's your name?"
"Naruto," he said meekly, looking up at her with a shy smile.
"That's a strange name," the other girl commented drily. "Who named you after a ramen topping?"
The little boy glared at her. "My parents."
Mayumi snorted. "Where are they, then?"
Naruto looked away from both of them, stubbornly fixing his eyes on the traveller walking to the stage. "I don't know."
Shizuka glared at Mayumi. 'Orphan,' she mouthed, and her friend winced in sudden guilt. "Sorry," the girl muttered unwillingly.
"So..." Mayumi said after a moment, uncomfortable with the silent child. Children at his age shouldn't be that quiet. It was unnatural. "Who's the old man?"
"That's Uncle Tabi," Naruto said quietly, watching as Tabibito unceremoniously booted the erhu player off the stage to raucous laughter and cheers from the guests, making himself comfortable on the man's stool with a wide grin.
"Is he family?" Shizuka asked, smiling at the child. Naruto smiled back uncertainly.
"Don't think so... He's my teacher."
"What's he teach?"
This was one of the important lessons that Uncle Tabi had drilled into him today when they had gone looking for lodging. Naruto remembered. Be vague. Never tell anyone all that you know. "All kinds of stuff!" he chirped, hoping that a smile would distract them. It worked.
Suddenly, a few plucked notes sounded from the stage, piercing through the chatter. A pause, and then the same notes repeated themselves. And once more.
By the third repetition, the whole room was silent, staring at the stage. The traveller's aged hands plucked the strings slowly, a low, mournful melody echoing through the darkened room as his hands started to dance across the lute's neck.
Naruto had never heard music like that before – it sounded slow, deliberate, and sad. But it especially sounded... mystical. As if they were someplace else. Somewhere under stars and open sky, all alone in the cold night. Somewhere far away from the trees of Konohagakure. Yet, somehow, it didn't sound as if he was alone. Like a temple he'd once visited by himself (he'd snuck in, feeling adventurous), watching the monks chant and meditate as they prayed.
Naruto looked around him. All conversations had stopped, every single guest and courtesan watching towards the stage, some of their expressions revealing nothing, others not even bothering to hide the fact that they were watching the old travelling musician on the stage with rapt attention.
Uncle Tabi didn't even seem to notice. His eyes were closed as he sat in his stool, hugging his lute to himself as he played. He picked up rhythm and speed, and soon his fingers were dancing over the strings, becoming faster and faster until there was nothing but a stream of notes following each other, never slowing, only speeding up, forming a chain of sound that intertwined itself with the others he'd made just moments before and creating something entirely new.
Naruto shivered. It had nothing to do with the cold. The song went for a quite a while; Naruto couldn't tell how long, the melody growing more intricate and beautiful as time passed.
Suddenly, Uncle Tabi stopped playing, the last chord echoing sharply in the silent room. He opened his eyes, and they found Naruto's. For a moment, he held them and smiled.
And then he started playing those same four notes from the very beginning of the song – slow, deliberate, repetitive, getting more and quiet each time. Beautiful.
When he ended the song, the last notes disappearing like a whisper, the whole room just sat there and stared.
Before a man who was slightly more drunk than the rest of his friends stood up, swaying as he held his glass high in a toast towards the stage. "Hell yes! That's what I wanna hear!"
Laughter broke out, applause and cheers following soon after. Tabibito bowed as he stood up from his stool, smiling broadly as people called for another song, stamping their feet and whistling.
And it was right then and there that Naruto decided that he would learn to play that thing, come what may. Anything that could make people sad and happy and laugh instead of scowling and angry was worth learning.
Uncle Tabibito obliged the loud calls for an encore and started playing, but this time a fast, cheerful piece, breaking out in song a moment later. The guests seemed to recognize the tune and start clapping and stamping their feet in the rhythm, joining him in the chorus with smiles and laughter and drunken bellows.
Other pieces followed, slower ones, contemplative ones, some of them happy or sad or both at the same time, some that Naruto thought he had heard before, others that he knew he hadn't, some that the patrons sang along with cheerfully and others that they listened to without making a sound. Some told stories of distant lands, others were silly love songs, and others were stories that were told by the mere pluck of the strings, Naruto imagining the tales that accompanied the sounds of the lute.
The little boy never noticed his eyes fall shut. He felt warm, comfortable and safe. Something that he hadn't in a long time.
...
Quiet voices woke him up. He kept his eyes closed, still held in Shizuka's warm arms. The room was strangely quiet except for the girl's breathing in his ear as she held him close. Had all the guests left?
"So, did I win our little bet?"
Naruto pricked his ears. Uncle Tabi was whispering to someone at the counter, but he could still hear him. Strange. Uncle Tabi sounded happy. Why was he whispering, then? Whispers always hid something.
A raspy laugh, and Naruto recognized it as the deep growl of the scarred man he'd seen behind the counter. "Of course you did, ye smug bastard. I haven't had a full house like that for ages, and I sure as hell don't know the last time I sold so many drinks in one night. You're good, I'll admit it."
"So...?"
"I keep my wagers, old man. As long as you play to the evening crowd, you and the boy are welcome here at the Dancing Dragon. I think I have an empty room somewhere on the third floor... Here you go. It was Hina's room, but... well, she won't need it anymore."
"Who is Hina?"
"Who was she, rather." A pause followed. "One of my girls. A customer got a bit too frisky for her liking and she tried to fight him off. Bastard stabbed her with a kunai. Claimed it was an accident, said he was drunk."
"...That's no excuse, especially for a shinobi. Control is essential."
"Yeah, well, let's say that the MPs and the Home Guard didn't find his sorry carcass. Won't bring Hina back, though. She bled out on the floor before I could get her to a hospital. Cremated her just yesterday." The owner sighed, a rattling sound that seemed surprisingly tired. "No matter. You can have her room as long as you keep it clean and do your own laundry. Scullery's in the basement. Here's the key."
A rustle of cloth as something was slipped into a pocket. "Thank you. ...Any other rules I should be aware of?"
Naruto could just imagine the scarred owner's shrug. "As long as you bring no trouble to the Dragon, we have no trouble with you. It's quite a simple rule, really. Everybody here follows it. It makes life... easier for all of us, whether you're a whore, a thief, a shinobi, or if you just want to drown your sorrows. Spirits know that times are tough enough."
"Hōshi-san, do you really don't mind having the boy around?"
"It's him, isn't it? Haven't seen him in person before, but some regulars described him, whiskers and all... Fuck the bigoted bastards. As long as you keep to my little rule, I won't hassle you. Break my rule and I'll break you. Doesn't matter if you're a villager or the Lord of Demons himself." The owner laughed, a guttural growl that raised hairs on the back of Naruto's neck. "Anyone gives you trouble because of the brat, tell 'em to make a little visit to Ichirai Hōshi. I'll scare the little shits straight."
"You're not scared yourself? Because of his tenant?"
"Course I am. Who wouldn't be? But you're part of the Dancing Dragon now. For some of my girls, this place is the only home they've ever known. They don't have anywhere else to go. I'll protect whoever lives here, no matter the cost."
"...That's a rather enlightened attitude for the owner of a brothel."
"Heh, perhaps. I used to be a shinobi, you know, until the little incident that rearranged my face forced me to retire. Some of the girls working here were orphans that I raised myself. As long as the boy doesn't harm us, who cares if he's cursed or not?"
Naruto's stomach clenched in fear. He was cursed? Was this why everyone avoided him? Glared at him as if he was bad luck? Why the other children at the orphanage never played with him?
"He's not cursed." Uncle Tabi whispered harshly. Naruto waited silently, unsure, straining his ears to catch the old traveller's whispers. "He carries a burden far greater than any of us can imagine, has since birth. He will have to sacrifice many, many things to bear it, and many others will try to harm him because of it."
"So why are you helping him, old man?" the owner questioned archly. "Just being around him is bad luck, from what you tell me. Why stay?"
A thoughtful pause ensued before Uncle Tabi answered. "Good question... It's the only thing I can do to ease the pain he will feel in the future." A bitter chuckle. "Or perhaps that's my guilt speaking."
"Guilt for what, exactly?"
"You were a shinobi yourself," Uncle said vaguely. "There's always something to regret."
"Ain't that the truth," the owner grunted in assent. "There's always something we did."
"Or something we failed to do... He wants to be a shinobi, you know."
"He couldn't be anything else."
"With his tenant? He has no choice in the matter. It's either that or death, the only difference being the way he is trained."
"Train him well, then. The more he can control himself, the safer we will all be." There was a moment of silence, broken by the scarred owner bidding Uncle Tabi a quiet goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow evening then, old man. Remember my little rule, all right?"
"I will, Hōshi-san. I'll make sure that Naruto remembers it too."
"Naruto, eh? 'Maelstrom'. Good, strong name. Suits the kid."
As Hōshi moved away towards the stairs, Naruto heard him mutter under his breath. "Let's hope we're not boarding the ship that gets dragged to the bottom of the sea."
Naruto frowned, his eyes still closed. What did he mean by that?
He heard quiet footsteps approach and felt a light touch on his shoulder. "Wake up, brat. I got us a place to stay, like I promised."
Shizuka shifted, shushing the traveller. "Hey!" she chided with a whisper. "He's asleep!"
"Really, now? Well, I'll take him up to our rooms now, if you don't mind. Better to sleep in a real futon. A woman's lap may provide comfort, but it sure makes for a lumpy mattress."
Naruto felt himself reluctantly lifted up from Shizuka's lap, carried in Uncle's arms. The man was surprisingly strong for his age, though Naruto thought that he shouldn't be surprised. Uncle was a shinobi, after all. Or used to be, at least.
"You should get some sleep yourself, Shizu-chan," Uncle said quietly. Naruto cracked one eye open slightly to see the young courtesan smile fondly at him.
"I know," she said, yawning peevishly into her sleeve. "I didn't want to wake him up, though. He looked so cute."
Tabibito smiled gently at the girl. "Do you have any siblings? You seem to have a way with children."
"I had a few younger brothers," the girl said curtly, her voice suddenly sharp. "At least before I was sold by my parents to a travelling whoremonger because they couldn't feed another mouth."
Uncle Tabi inclined his head gravely in apology. "Forgive a meddling old man who has forgotten his manners."
Shizuka sighed, tired from more than simply staying awake for too long. "It's alright... My parents were farmers, you see, and I was their only daughter. When a flood destroyed the crops, they had no choice but to sell me. It was either that or let my brothers starve. I left." She chuckled bitterly. "At least I got a high price." She sighed. "Excuse my rudeness. Normally, I'm far more composed."
"You definitely need your sleep, Shizu-chan," Tabibito decided, bowing as deeply as he could with Naruto bundled in his arms. "I bid you good night. And thank for taking care of Naruto."
Shizuka smiled and bowed herself. "My pleasure, oyaji-san. Welcome to the Dancing Dragon."
And a moment later, they were both walking up the stairs of the teahouse, Shizuka bidding them goodnight on the first floor.
"You were listening, weren't you?" Uncle Tabi murmured quietly as they moved up the silent staircase. Naruto tensed in his arms. He'd been found out!
The expected scolding didn't come, however, and Naruto opened his blue eyes to look at Tabibito, confused. The old man looked sad.
"Shizu-chan's fate is far too common, unfortunately," he continued quietly, and Naruto listened intently. "There are far too many people like her in this world. Hunger, famine, war... All take their toll, leaving their victims weeping in despair and mourning." He looked Naruto directly in the eye, grey eyes piercing and insistent. "If you want to become a shinobi, then you will be in the midst of it all. Perhaps you will even cause that pain. Do you really want that?"
The little boy hesitated. "Will I be able to protect Shizu-chan?"
"Perhaps yes, perhaps no. A shinobi's life is always fraught with uncertainty. No one can tell the future."
Naruto thought long and hard, the only sound he heard being Uncle Tabi's slightly laboured breathing, his regular footsteps and the creaking wooden floorboards.
"I can try," he finally decided. "If I get strong, I can at least try to protect her. If I don't learn, then I'll be weak and won't be able to protect anyone. But if I learn, there's at least a chance that I can help someone, right?" The four-year-old child looked up at Tabibito, his eyes fierce. "Am I right, Uncle?"
Tabibito nodded, smiling proudly. "You're absolutely right."
They reached the third floor, and Tabibito quickly found the door to their rooms, a simply three-room affair. A few minutes later, he had laid out a futon in one of them, and Naruto was snuggled deeply in its warmth, already falling asleep as he was tucked in.
Tabibito patted his head gently, smiling. "Sleep tight, Naruto Uzumaki. Tomorrow, your training begins in earnest."
...
The original manga series of Naruto was written and drawn by Masashi Kishimoto, originally published by Shueisha in 1997, and is still ongoing at the time of writing (May 2012) after sixty published volumes and two different anime adaptations: one simply titled Naruto by Studio Perrot that premiered in October 2002 and ended in February 2007, and its sequel Naruto: Shipuuden (Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles) by the same studio that premiered in February 2008 and is still ongoing at the time of writing. Various tie-in works like novels, video games, and a series of theatrical movies have been published to date.
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