Gosh, I dunno why you guys put up with me! SURPRISE anyway…
LiK – Chapter 7
Naruto wasn't quite sure what to expect when he followed his lookalike into the mission report office, but was completely disappointed when it turned out to be basically an empty room with a few tables and chairs.
To think that reporting on missions had sounded so cool, he thought as they made their way across the hall, but it was just paperwork.
There were a few ninja in uniform obviously filling out reports, chatting or looking over noticeboards that screamed 'Jobs No One Wants' but all in all, it was a surprising let down given what Naruto had come to expect from this world.
"Wait here a second," Uzumaki paused by a job board, and darted a quick glance to the desks. "I don't think Granny Tsunade's explained the, uh, situation to Iruka-sensei, so I'll just…"
He trailed off helplessly with a vague gesture but Naruto understood well enough. "Yeah sure. It's cool, man."
He watched the other Naruto approach a uniformed man behind a desk but turned away before he was mentioned in the conversation. He didn't envy having to explain The Situation. Hell, he had trouble believing it still.
Instead he leaned forward to examine fliers on the noticeboard, cocking a brow with a short chuckle at the variety of jobs posted. Someone wanted their missing cat returned, an engagement ring found, an escort to the next country, their lawn trimmed – Naruto paused at that.
How did ninja mow lawns? It almost sounded like the start of a joke. Not to mention his brief stint in Konoha so far had indicated that the people had amazing abilities but their technology wasn't quite up to what he was used to. Did they even have lawn mowers?
Naruto shook his head. Out of all the cool stuff that was here, he was wondering about fucking lawn mowers. Jeezuz.
He straightened and glanced over to see how the explaining of The Situation was going. About as well as could be expected judging by the other Naruto's animated hand gestures and Iruka-sensei's rather flummoxed expression. But then his lookalike looked his way and waved him over.
"It sounds crazy, I know," Naruto said immediately, but Iruka shook his head with a small smile.
"Not as crazy as you might expect," his welcoming smile faded slightly. "Naruto mentioned you're staying with Sasuke? Is that going…well?"
The question was completely loaded but Uzumaki could hardly blame him.
He nodded with a grin. "Don't worry…I'm as surprised as you."
Iruka watched him shrewdly for a long moment. "Alright then. So you are looking for some work?"
"Yeah," he screwed up his face unhappily. "I've already been told I can't do cool ninja stuff so whatever else you got, I guess."
Iruka laughed as he sifted through a few documents on his desk, selecting a small scroll and scanning it quickly before handing it to Naruto.
"It's probably a bit boring," he offered apologetically, "but the town library's looking for reliable casuals. I'll need to talk to Hokage-sama about it as it won't suit your custodial conditions so don't get your hopes up just yet."
Naruto nodded, glancing over the information scroll. "Sure thing. Thanks."
"I need to get back to work," Iruka smiled warmly at the other Naruto and clapped him on the shoulder. "Still up for Ichiraku tonight?"
"Of course! See you later!"
They left Iruka to the small queue that had formed at his desk and made their way back outside.
"Working at the library wouldn't be so bad," Naruto's lookalike glanced sideways at him. "It'd be fine money and Granny Tsunade should be okay with it if one of us dropped in on you throughout the day."
Naruto tucked the scroll in to his pocket. "Here's hoping. I need something to do. And I'll be able to send a bit of money Sasuke's way for putting up with me."
His lookalike stared at him for a long moment. "So…are you sure staying with Sasuke is going…fine..?"
Naruto felt a spike of irritation. Was everyone going to ask that? He supposed he could understand but really, it was starting to get kind of fucking annoying.
He stamped down his annoyance and shot the other teen half a grin. "Still have all my limbs and haven't been murdered in my sleep. It's fine, man. Seriously. Cut the dude some slack hey?"
Uzumaki smiled apologetically. "Yeah, I know. It's just…" He trailed off and didn't quite meet Naruto's gaze. "…you seem to be getting along with him pretty well."
Naruto shrugged. "It's not that hard."
"It is."
They stared at each other for a long moment, uncomfortable, before Naruto's lookalike glanced away with a sigh.
"I think I'm a bit…jealous, you know?" he admitted quietly. "Me and Sakura tried for years and then…then you're here for all of a few days…"
"You two have a fucked up history with that crazy guy," Naruto jerked his shoulders, feeling way out of his depth. "His emotional baggage must weigh a ton and have Keep the Fuck Out stickers slapped all over it. Who the hell could blame you for moving on from someone that's done the shit he has to you?"
"But what about you?" Uzumaki asked, voice low.
"Me?" Naruto locked his fingers behind his head, thinking how to explain something he hadn't thought about until now. "Yeah, he threw a knife at me. But he thought I was you and that it wouldn't be even remotely an issue, so I'm not gonna hold that against him. I think he's crazy. Fucked up. A bit of a dick. But he's done a lot for me since I've been here."
"Do you think…" Naruto's lookalike hesitated. "Do you think he's expecting you to be…me?"
Naruto dropped his hands and shrugged, disliking how much the question bothered him considering the instant ramen issue the other day.
"You know something Naruto?" he finally called the other by name, and it felt and sounded as bizarre as he expected. "We look pretty much the same and we're both kind of cool, but that's about all we've got in common."
"Bit of a relief isn't it?" Uzumaki grinned, and they both laughed. "Come on, I want to show you the Hokage monument up close. It's pretty impressive."
Naruto fell in to step with the other teen. "Is that that ginormous Mount Rushmore thing with the carved faces? Can't really miss it looming over your village like that."
Before his lookalike could ask he explained. "Back where I'm from another country had a similar thing. Kinda not as impressive as Konoha's since they ran out of money part way through."
"Granny Tsunade and my dad's faces are up there. Let's go up top, the view's incredible."
Naruto understood it was special to this world's Naruto and silently followed his lookalike along the winding path that circled behind the Hokage Tower and up the mountainside. It was a relatively long walk and Uzumaki figured the other teen would normally use his ninja abilities to take a shortcut. But when they reached the summit he could easily admit the view was rather spectacular.
"Whoa."
Uzumaki shot him a pleased grin. "Amazing, isn't it?"
He could see the village borders and even the moving specks that were likely patrolling shinobi along the high walls. Shading his eyes against the slowly setting sun, Naruto couldn't see much more than trees beyond Konoha in any direction.
"Looks more isolated than I expected," he turned to Uzumaki. "How near's the next town?"
"Not that far," Naruto pointed to the trees in the distance. "The forest is pretty dense and blocks a lot from view, but there's another town a half day's travel to the south-west. Konoha is powerful and self-sufficient so we don't need to leave often for anything more than missions."
Naruto nodded at that, before remembering something about his jarring entry to Konoha. "Where's the spot where I, uh, arrived? I remember being in the forest."
His lookalike glanced at him knowingly. "Just outside the gates, a few minutes' walk. Trap specialists have examined the area and there's nothing there. Hokage-sama handed the research over to Shikamaru."
"What for?"
Uzumaki shrugged. "He experienced the…phenomenon firsthand and is brilliant. If anything can be discovered, it'll be by him."
Naruto nodded, easily agreeing, but hesitated. "Can we…I mean, I wanna see the area where I rocked up. Ya know?"
His lookalike flicked a thumb at the lowering sun. "I thought you'd eventually ask but it's not going to be today. It's getting late and Granny Tsunade would want to know about it. We'll need to run it by Shikamaru as well."
"Sure."
Naruto was looking forward to that, honestly. He hadn't really caught up with his friend since he'd been dragged in to this place, and having a chat with Nara would be normalising.
They made their way back down the winding path and by the time they reached the Uchiha Compound, the sun had well and truly set. Uzumaki didn't seem crazy enough to trek through the dark and abandoned compound so Naruto waved him off, grinning at his lookalike's relieved and hurried goodbye.
Turning to face the short walk to Sasuke's by himself, his grin slipped. Fucking creepy place.
He took a deep breath and then pelted along the path, not stopping until he slammed Sasuke's door open and closed, leaning against it and breathing hard.
"What the fuck?" Sasuke appeared from the kitchen, frowning. "Something wrong?"
Naruto shook his head, his heart settling slowly, almost laughing hysterically. "Nah man, but you live in the creepiest place ever. Moving is an option, ya know."
Sasuke cocked a brow, flopping down on the lounge futon. "The atmosphere keeps people out. It's very effective."
Naruto laughed, pushing himself away from the door. "You got that right."
Scary Dark Uchiha Compound Walk out of the way and back in Sasuke's frankly easy company, Naruto relaxed quickly. He pulled out the scroll Iruka gave him and waved it at Sasuke.
"Might have some work so I'm not spongin' off you 24/7. Whatcha think?"
Sasuke scanned through the scroll quickly before handing it back. "What about your custodial conditions?"
Naruto shrugged, dropping to sit beside Sasuke. "Iruka said he'd talk to the Hokage lady, but that'd be cool right?"
The other teen half turned to look at him, his expression unreadable. "It's not to make your life inconvenient."
"Wha?"
Naruto leaned back a little when the kooky bastard leaned forward, eyes dark and serious. "It's to keep you safe, idiot."
"I-" he felt the beginning of the blooming warmth in his chest that he'd been kind of afraid he'd feel since he met Sasuke, and shook his head. "I realise that, but I feel kinda bad not being able to pay you-"
"Do you realise how easily you could die here?"
Naruto did and it scared the absolute shit out of him, and was pretty much the sole reason why he wouldn't mind getting the fuck out of Konoha.
Sasuke kept staring at him, eyes cutting through his bangs. "Most people like Naruto but there's still a few that…don't. And some of our actions can be deadly to civilians."
Naruto knew that well enough. He suspected that when the crazy Uchiha threw kunai at him, Sasuke expected him to dodge them with ease or pluck them out of the air or something equally super human. Only he didn't and can't.
"If you're trying to scare the absolute fuck outta me," Naruto finally managed, his voice steady enough, "then you're doing a bang up job of it. But it's nothing I hadn't already worked out for myself."
Sasuke sighed and his gaze slid to the side. "So we've established you're not a complete idiot and therefore won't take the job?"
Naruto frowned. "What? I never said-"
"It's not safe, Naruto!" Sasuke exploded suddenly in to a flurry of movement and Naruto could only stare wide-eyed as the kooky bastard paced in front of him, clearly agitated. "It'd be fine if one of us was always there but that's not possible so it's not safe! I don't need your money anyway. I'm not some charity case."
"Yeah, well, me neither," Naruto sighed and leaned back, watching closely as Sasuke stopped dead after his outburst.
He wasn't expecting him to react like this when Iruka-sensei and the other Naruto hadn't been bothered at all. But he had an inkling that the kooky Uchiha cared a little more about his person than he was willing to admit directly. And that trickling warmth in his chest was a dead giveaway that he sorta didn't mind that at all.
"I didn't realise you cared so much about my idiotic ass," he stood and crossed his arms, grinning while he waited for the words to filter through.
"Fine, fine," Naruto added when he spotted that hint of colour in the crazy bastard's face. "Lemme help out around the place then, and cook sometimes so I don't feel like such a fucking freeloader."
Sasuke eyed him suspiciously after a long moment. "I'm not entirely sure how I won that."
Naruto laughed, patting him cheekily on the shoulder as he headed to the kitchen to see what there was. "Then fucked if I give you the advantage by telling you. My turn to cook man."
He could hear Sasuke right behind him. "Hmn, I think I'll supervise you in my kitchen."
And jeezuz, Naruto couldn't decide if the bastard's emerging, for lack of a better label, care was insanely sweet or just insane.
