Chapter 10-Warm Cracks In My Cold Heart
"Alright drop," the real Naruto spoke, standing on the ground while he was currently gazing at his watch before lifting his head to make eye contact with the clone.
Having gotten the signal, the clone dropped the kunai. The moment it touched the ground, the real Naruto clicked a small button on the side of his wrist watch as he turned towards a wide eyed Kakashi with a smirk on his face.
"0.903 seconds to be exact sensei."
'What the...?' Sakura was left speechless as she sat there wide eyed, not believing her ears.
"0.903 seconds is the answer," Sasuke muttered, glancing at Naruto when Sakura snapped her head- now realizing the time was still ticking.
"Y-Yeah, 0.903 seconds sensei," she spoke while laughing nervously, blushing in embarrassment for she was expected to be the first one to answer the question, not the last.
Kakashi however sweatdropped at them, he hadn't expected the test to go like this at all.
"You two just copied his answers," the jounin accused making Sasuke look at him.
"I'm the rookie of the year and Sakura here has aced all the theoretical written exams, you think we would feel the need to cheat here? We were just about to answer when Naruto there spoke first. Like you, we were just momentarily surprised, that's all," he finished with a serious expression making Kakashi sigh, well he couldn't argue against that. Sakura was swooning over how Sasuke had also defended her.
Naruto however narrowed his eyes upon noticing the slight smirk on Sasuke's face, hidden by the hands interlocked in front of his mouth.
"Hmm...the uke boy seems to care about that pink girl," Ryuk commented thoughtfully while Naruto...
'No, he hadn't solved the question yet. Clever Sasuke...you used your reputation quite well here. And I know you were not defending Sakura because you 'care' about her, you were just dragging her reputation in too to make your excuse more believable. Cause if Kakashi would've gotten to know that Sakura, who's the top book worm of the class, was not yet able to solve the question, he also would've suspected Sasuke. And to think he was able to make up this excuse instantly,' the whiskered blonde as he dispelled his shadow clones, now walking towards his seat.
"So Naruto, I don't remember saying that you could use ninjutsu for this," Kakashi spoke with a bored expression on his face, now reading his book with Sakura glaring daggers at the offending piece of literature.
The blonde stopped walking as he shifted his cold eyes towards the jounin.
"And I don't remember you saying we couldn't," he replied making the Uchiha smirk at his answer while Sakura found herself staring at him.
'Wow...Naruto, can be cool too sometimes,' she mused before turning to Kakashi.
"Well he's right, you yourself said that you didn't care as to how we solved the question," the pink haired graduate uttered making the blonde glance at her in mild surprise.
"By the way Naruto, I'm curious as to how you solved this question by just making shadow clones stand on top of each other?," the jounin spoke making the blonde shrug.
"It was pretty easy. My height, from the scalp of my head to toe is 1.453 meters. Three shadow clones on top of each other with the top one holding the kunai at his lower chest level, this makes the distance of the tip of the kunai from the ground around four meters, as asked in the question. After that its obvious, activating the stop-watch here on my wrist watch, I ordered the clone to drop it. The wind flow is negligible today so the atmospheric conditions really pertained to your question. Meh, I was lucky actually," he finished with a bored expression while Sakura was gaping in shock. Even Sasuke couldn't help but glance at him in surprise.
"And I presume the reason as to why you removed your sandals was so you could remove the extra height gained by the thickness of your footwear resulting in somewhat accurate calculations?" Kakashi asked making the blonde nod lazily making jounin smile at him.
"Shinobi code rule number two- A ninja should always look underneath the underneath," he verbalized making Sakura's eyes widen while Naruto smirked to himself inwardly.
'Nice one nii-san.'
"I wonder if he's saying this in regards to that Icha-Icha book of his," Ryuk pondered making Naruto blush lightly upon the implications of 'underneath the underneath'...in a perverted way.
"Naruto here did that by completing the test in an unorthodox way while Sasuke, even though he hadn't solved the question, took advantage of the circumstances to his advantage," Kakashi finished while Sasuke's eyes widened at that.
"Hey! I did solve that question," he spoke with narrowed eyes as the jounin smiled at him, his eyes closed in a 'U'.
"Sasuke-kun, I'm an elite jounin of this village with tons of experience under my belt," he articulated making the Uchiha avert his eyes in nervousness.
"See? He really is a pervert. Even while talking casually, he says something like 'tons of experience under his belt'...now what's that supposed to mean? I tell you kid, he's corrupting the children of this village," Ryuk said with a sigh, shaking his head in exasperation making the blonde harden his jaw to prevent his lips from tugging upwards; their jounin sensei was giving a 'serious' lecture after all.
Stuffing his face back into the book, he turned a page before commenting casually.
"And the next time you lie Sasuke, try not to smirk so arrogantly...," he muttered making the Uchiha blush lightly in embarrassment as he interlocked his fingers in front of his mouth, trying to hide his blush.
"...even if your hands are hiding that smirk," the jounin finished making Naruto smirk while even Sasuke's ears were red now due to such embarrassment.
"Ooh, this was a humiliating blow to the uke boy's pride," the shinigami verbalized while Sakura was staring at Sasuke's face in awe, her own cheeks tinted a light shade of pink as flowers of moe fell behind her.
'When he's blushing, Sasuke-kun is so...cute,' she thought when the Uchiha glanced at her from the corner of his eyes.
"Something on my face?" he asked, still staring forward while Sakura snapped out of her thoughts.
"N-No...hehe, sorry," she spoke meekly before turning her head back towards their sensei who was giggling like a pervert.
Naruto however, coming out of his own thoughts sweatdropped when he saw Ryuk floating behind Kakashi, giggling eerily as he too read that book.
"Oh human girls are quite naughty...hehehe," he muttered as the whiskered blonde put a hand on his forehead.
''Out of all the scary and bloodthirsty shinigami, why did I have to get a damn pervert with his own set of sarcastic remarks?' he thought in exasperation when Kakashi suddenly closed his book upon feeling the murderous aura of a women charged up with righteous fury.
"I'M SO GOING TO REPORT YOUR BEHAVIOR TO HOKAGE-SAMA! YOU'RE NOT HORMONALLY FIT TO BE OUR SENSEI!"
Yep, righteous woman fury.
"Calm down Sakura, your yelling would achieve nothing," Sasuke mumbled with a somewhat irritated expression on his face, jeez this girl was loud.
"Alright, now its time for the second and the last question," the jounin said, closing the book while the expression on his face was serious, with Naruto obviously on his guard.
"Another question?" Sakura asked.
"This wouldn't be a theoretical one, more like me testing your...morals as a shinobi," he answered making her nod nervously.
"Okay, let's start- Suppose you're the captain of a squad sent on an A-rank mission during an ongoing war. Your squad has to steal an important scroll from the daimyo's castle of your enemy country. However, upon reaching there and a closer inspection regarding the scenario, you find that the security is tighter than your village's kage predicted, making the mission an S-rank one. You've got two options now, either you infiltrate on the expense of your comrade's lives and complete the mission or you abandon the mission, saving their lives. But, if you abandon the mission, due to the lack of information the scroll contains that the village needs, it could result in many lives of your village being lost. So, I want to hear each of your decision on this. You've got thirty seconds," Kakashi verbalized with a smile before opening his book as he began to read it, giggling perversely with Ryuk doing the same.
Sasuke and Sakura had serious expressions on their faces, quietly thinking about the 'hypothetical' scenario they were presented by their jounin sensei.
Naruto however, was inwardly shocked, deeply so.
'Hatake Sakumo...' he thought in realization, eventually coming over the surprise as he kept his cool.
'Now is this question just some moral test or another plan of KISSI?' the whiskered blonde as put two fingers of his right hand on his right cheek, his usual thinking pose.
'Hatake Sakumo chose to save his comrades but at the expense of the mission. The failure of this mission resulted in many lives being lost with nii-san's father here being blamed for it. Later Hatake Sakumo committed suicide, leaving a young nii-san alone in this village. If you ask this question to anybody, of course they would say that the mission is more necessary, sacrificing the lives of their comrades,' he thought, sighing to himself quietly as he continued to think on this answer.
'I have to answer this honestly. Can't lie in a question which is so personal to nii-san. I'm actually surprised that he chose this specific scenario to test us though, it must be for me and Sasuke in regards to Kira,' he mused, sitting there with a relaxed expression as soon thirty seconds had passed.
"Alright, time's up. Let's start with you Sasuke," Kakashi verbalized, closing his book in the process making Ryuk glare at the jounin's back in protest.
"The answer is pretty obvious sensei. The mission is more important than...actually, how many members does the squad contain anyway?" the Uchiha questioned making the jounin sigh, he already knew Sasuke's answer now.
"Three of course," he muttered.
"Then it's even more obvious. I would choose the mission. An S-rank mission, which has so many lives under its grasp, is much more important than the lives of just two people," he answered with a smirk making Kakashi nod as he turned to Sakura.
"I agree with Sasuke-kun sensei. We cannot just put so many lives at risk just in favor of two persons," she spoke as the jounin turned to Naruto, silently asking for his answer.
"Well, if I was the leader of that squad, I would've chosen both," he spoke with a dead serious expression on his face making Sasuke and Sakura look at him in surprise. Ryuk and Kakashi too seemed to be taken aback by the answer.
"Both?" Sakura asked in curiosity making him nod.
"I wouldn't let my comrades be killed, nor would I abandon the mission. My squad will continue the mission, but I will be the one who would act as a decoy, the one who sacrifices his life while they take the scroll and return to the village," the whiskered blonde uttered when Sasuke snorted.
"Be realistic dobe, we all know you don't have the guts to do that. So just be honest here with the answer and concentrate less on your noble talks," he spoke quietly.
"Yeah, you aren't being realistic in this Naruto. Nobody would do such kind of a thing," she verbalized as the blonde clenched his fists.
"I pity you two," he spoke, turning his head towards them as he stared at his teammates with cold eyes making Sasuke narrow his eyes.
"What?"
"If you think sacrificing yourself during a mission is unrealistic, then you two have chosen the wrong profession," Naruto stated taking Sakura by surprise while Sasuke growled in anger.
"What did you say loser? Like a deadlast like you knows what becoming a shinobi means huh?"
Kakashi meanwhile, was standing there quietly, watching the three graduates debate amongst themselves.
Naruto clenched his fists tightly as he breathed in deeply, closing his eyes in the process.
"A deadlast like me may not be strong enough to take an enemy down, but unlike you, a deadlast like me is strong-willed enough to sacrifice himself for his comrades!" he exclaimed with a fierce look in his eyes.
Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and Ryuk- everybody's eyes widened as they stayed in their positions, staring at Naruto in shock and amazement. Sasuke was left speechless as he kept gazing at the blonde wide eyed.
'Naruto...' Kakashi thought as he stared at blonde with wide eyes while Ryuk too, he had to say, this twelve year old kid was definitely different than others.
Naruto, leaning back a bit put both of his hands on the floor, supporting himself as he now gazed at the sky.
"People say that the yondaime was the greatest of all the hokage because of his skill and the sacrifice he made for the village twelve years ago," he started when Kakashi went stiff at the mention of 'yondaime'.
"For me however, the nidaime was the best of them all. Not because of his famed mastery over the water element, not because he drastically improved the infrastructure of the village, not because he found Konoha Police Department...," the blonde trailed when he noticed Sasuke visible react to that, the Uchiha were in-charge of that organization after all.
"Not because of his ability to manipulate space-time like the yondaime; but because of the way he died. He sacrificed himself even if he was the hokage, even if the others in his squad were willing to sacrifice themselves. Before going off to the battlefield, he appointed our current sandaime hokage, who was also willing to sacrifice his life at that time. Tobirama-sama sacrificed his life as the leader of Konohagakure no Sato, he died as a shinobi, a great and a legendary shinobi," there was a small smile on Naruto's face while Sasuke and Sakura were pulled into the story for they hadn't heard of this part in the academy. They were only told that the nidaime had died an honorable death.
Naruto then shifted his gaze towards Sasuke, his eyes narrowing at him.
"A shinobi's greatness is not measured by how he lived his life, how many jutsus he learned or how strong he was, but by how he died, the cause he died for; remember that Uchiha!"
Sasuke couldn't say anything as he sat there quietly, now turning his head to gaze at the floor while Sakura was staring at Naruto in disbelief.
What had happened to the loud, obnoxious and brash boy she was so used to in her academy?
Turning back to a frozen Kakashi, he spoke.
"You heard my answer sensei," this snapped the jounin out of his trance-like state as he sighed to himself.
"I see...well, it seems Naruto passed the today's tests with the highest grades," he uttered making Sakura and Sasuke lower their head.
They couldn't deny that now.
"Sasuke, Sakura...although your intentions were correct in your decision, however, concerning the outcomes of your decision, it's a wrong one," Kakashi continued making both the graduates lift their heads, surprise written over their faces.
"Why would our decisions be wrong? Aren't the lives of so many people important than just two people?" she asked making the jounin narrow his eyes.
"Those aren't just two people. They are your comrades, the ones who you studied with, shared your meals, trained and fought alongside. Their lives are just as important. Besides, abandoning the mission, you don't know for sure if other lives would really be lost. There is a possibility of that yes, but in the world of shinobi, there are many tactics and tricks, and it also depends on how clever the kage of your village is as to whether those lives can be saved or not. So you're not really sure if other lives would be lost or not, but you would at least be sure that you saved two lives. And Naruto's answer here is possibly the best option, but it does take a lot of guts and self-motivation to pull off such a thing. Such a shinobi's name though, is then included afterwards amongst the greatest shinobi of Konoha, the unsung heroes of war who sacrificed themselves for the sake of their village and their comrades," he finished as the three graduates listened to him intently, focusing on his every word as they received a motivational boost when it came to become a real shinobi.
Kakashi put the book in his back pouch as he pushed himself off the railing, standing straight now.
"And this is my personal favorite, shinobi code rule number three- Those who abandon the rules are trash...," he trailed as even Naruto listened to him in curiosity while Sakura and Sasuke were hanging on to every word of his, the latter of course acting as if he was bored.
"...but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash," the silver haired jounin finished making the trio's eyes widen.
"Wow...," Ryuk mumbled as he gazed at the jounin, floating beside Naruto now while Sasuke and Sakura stayed quiet, absorbing what they had just heard.
"Anyway, this ends the today's session here. However, there's an important event tomorrow which will decide your future. So meet me at training ground three at 7 AM sharp tomorrow morning," he verbalized, catching their attention before turning around, his back facing them now.
"What event?" Sakura asked in confusion making him smile in amusement as he turned his head slightly.
"You'll find out tomorrow. And oh, one thing, don't eat anything for breakfast, cause of you do...you'll puke," he muttered making her gulp while Naruto and Sasuke narrowed their eyes.
"See ya."
POOF!
The jounin vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the three graduates along with a shinigami.
"He sure is weird huh?" Sakura started as she kept staring at the spot where Kakashi was standing.
"Yeah, a perverted one-eye weirdo."
"I wonder if Hokage-sama chose the right teacher for us."
"Yep, he chose the right porn teacher for us."
"I hope he's competent enough though."
"I know he said he was a virgin, but from the dent in his pants, I can tell he's competent alright."
"But he did say he has a lot of experience below his...I mean under his belt."
"Yeah, that defines the dent."
"So you think we should skip tomorrow's breakfast guys," Sakura continued to speak, still staring at the spot deep in thought when she turned her head to find...no one.
"Oh...they already left," she realized, now sitting alone there with a certain shinigami floating there when he too turned his head.
"Huh? He's gone?" he exclaimed, turning his head right and left quickly for any trace of the blonde.
"Then I was talking with this pink girl, who can't even hear me? I was talking to myself?"
Both Sakura and Ryuk slowly realized that they were ignored, anger filling their systems as a vein popped on their foreheads.
"YOU BASTARDS!" both of them yelled loudly into the sky as a bird passed over them, producing sounds comically in contrast to their situations.
"Ahou~...Ahou~..." (Ahou-Baka-Idiot)
Konoha: Hokage's Monument: 10:57 AM
"So here you are!" Naruto, who currently was sitting on the nidaime's carved head lowered his head upon hearing a familiar voice. He sighed upon noticing Ryuk flying towards him, the blonde sitting on the edge as he gazed past his hanging feet.
"I was looking for you all around the village kid," the shinigami spoke with an annoyed expression on his face.
"Aren't you supposed to know where the current owner of Death Note is all the time?" he asked making the shinigami shake his head.
"No...my sensing powers increase with the Death Note. Since it is at its weakest, I have to stay with the owner all the times to keep track of him," he spoke making the blonde nod.
"Then how did you find me the first time?" he asked with a neutral expression on his face, gazing over the quiet village.
"Through my shinigami eyes, I can tell who the owner of Death Note is," he muttered, now sitting beside the whiskered blonde.
"So, why are you sitting here with that gloomy look on your face?" Ryuk asked, glancing at the jinchuriki.
"Do I have any reason to be happy Ryuk?" Naruto muttered quietly, shifting his pupils as he now stared at the full moon, a light breeze flowing across the village. This made the shinigami frown as he turned to the blonde graduate.
"Hey...I know you've had a tough life kid...a very tough life. But it wouldn't do good if you just keep being negative over all of this. Try to stay happy, there are lots of things in this world that makes humans happy," Ryuk uttered in an understanding tone, surprising Naruto somewhat as his lips curled down.
"I try Ryuk. It's not like I enjoy being all emo and sad like this. I keep smiling all the day, I keep grinning at the villagers, even if those expressions are fake...still I try. But the emptiness in my heart just wouldn't go away, it keeps sucking me in. What you're telling me now, I've been telling that to myself my whole life," he answered, his voice taking a melancholic edge making the shinigami lower his head.
"I come to this place because its quiet here, peaceful. This is where I open my heart, where I can just be myself," he murmured as the shinigami just stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. Silence ensued between the human and the shinigami as both of them kept gazing at the moon.
"You know, sometimes I wonder if I even know how to smile. I mean, I don't think I ever smiled with my heart. Maybe when Iruka-sensei cried for me...but I don't know," Naruto mumbled, leaning back to lay on the head while Ryuk kept sitting there.
"And you know, I've never noticed that the moon could look this beautiful...well, not that there are moons in our dimension anyway," the shinigami articulated making the blonde smirk as he closed his eyes.
"So, about what happened today with that perverted sensei of yours, you think KISSI had something to do with those questions?" Ryuk questioned making the blonde sigh as he nodded in response.
"Of course it was KISSI's plan, and they were hitting two birds with one stone there," he spoke making Ryuk look at him in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that they were fulfilling both of their goals, on the outside they made it look like some sort of an ordinary theoretical test while actually, they were testing me and Sasuke. They mainly did this to finalize the personalities of me, Kira and Sasuke," now this made the shinigami stare at him in even more confusion.
"Personality?"
"Yep. The first part of their test, was nii-san asking us a theoretical question regarding the academic syllabus. Now they mainly did that to first possibly check whether Kira was controlling me or Sasuke or not? No...it was mainly to test me here since I was the main target of Kira up until now. The theoretical question, even with the 'clever' me they just came to know about recently (during the Shogi game incident), they knew that I was not supposed to be able to answer that question considering it required the knowledge about basic shinobi physics which according to them, I skipped during the academy. SO, if I would've answered the question just like Sakura and Sasuke were trying to do, I would've come under immediate suspicion and they...even if it's a one percent chance, would've checked my memories. It was really a negligible possibility though considering jiji wouldn't have let them do it, I did act brilliantly before after all," the blonde finished with a smirk before continuing as he knew the shinigami wouldn't stop asking until he gave him the whole explanation.
"So to prevent them from suspecting that Kira was controlling me at that moment, I tried to think up of an unusual way to solve that question...something completely unorthodox," he spoke making Ryuk's eyes widen.
"And you were able to decipher all that, then think of this unorthodox way and THEN do it with your shadow clones in a matter of about eleven seconds?" the shinigami asked in amazement making the blonde shrug.
"Yeah I guess," he muttered with a sigh.
'Seriously...this kid never ceases to amaze me.'
"Okay then...so what about the next question?" Ryuk questioned in barely held curiosity.
"The next question, the scenario he gave us...was to confirm mine and Sasuke's real personality," Naruto murmured, an exasperated sigh escaping his lips when he noticed the shinigami giving him a deadpan look, clearly demanding an explanation.
'It's like a human like me teaching an 'almighty' death god,' the whiskered blonde mused as he started to speak.
"Sasuke's answer was that the mission was more important for a village than just those two lives, saying that the lives of so many people weighed over just two lives. This showed them that he is the one who strictly follows rules, who is ready to sacrifice the lives of his comrades if the situation demanded, is somewhat and understandably so, cold hearted due to the massacre of his clan. The fact that he said 'obviously I choose the mission' also indicates that forfeiting the lives of his comrades, be that they be of his own squad like us, or being included in another squad, is not a big thing for him. However, the fact that he seemed shaken up on his ideals when me and nii-san kinda lectured him leads to a strong possibility of a gradual change in him in that area."
"I see then...so what about you?" Ryuk asked in curiosity making Naruto smirk.
"What about me huh? I answered that question honestly, what I really believed I should have done," he murmured making the shinigami scrunch his eyebrows.
"Should have? But you said there 'you would have' with so much confidence," he spoke making the blonde push himself to sit, again staring at the moon.
"I really don't know Ryuk. I mean, would I really sacrifice myself for anyone belonging to this village possibly except Ayame-chan, Teuchi oji-san, jiji and nii-san? Will I really be able to sacrifice myself for this village, these pathetic villagers who ruined my life? I don't know, maybe if those comrades are very precious to me, then I definitely will, no doubt about it. And my sacrifice will be solely for those two comrades of mine, not for these villagers," Naruto said, pausing in between when he chuckled to himself.
"But that sacrifice will help the whole village too, so I guess that sacrifice will be for everyone then, ne Ryuk? I mean, Uzumaki Naruto, the saint who sacrificed his life even when all the stupid villagers treated him like trash, I don't know if the younger generation would laugh at me or admire me for that," his chuckle was hollow as the whiskered blonde continued to look at the moon, a bit of peace in his eyes.
"And what about your hero, this guy?" the shinigami said in amusement while tapping the head of the nidaime on which they were sitting making the whiskered blonde smirk.
"This guy loved the village and the villagers loved him in return. He sacrificed himself for his comrades when he could have done better for his village by letting someone else on his squad die and continue his reign as the hokage. He gave his life solely for the sake of his comrades, and before dying, made sure the village's strength didn't waver by appointing the next hokage- he was a true leader Ryuk. In my case though, the villagers hate me and it has caused me to hate them in return. Humans are just like that Ryuk. They play the blame game. They need someone to blame, to vent their frustrations and anger on. Outwardly, they preach about great philosophies, morals and principals of their lives. But you know what, all of us are fucking hypocrites. We say something else, we do something else. Take this for an example- if I tell about my life to someone who does not live in Konoha and wasn't aware of me being a jinchuriki, he will most probably say that how the villagers are idiots, living in ninja world and still not knowing about sealing, the difference between a scroll and a sealed kunai. However, if that same person would've been one of the villagers here, the one whose family suffered at the hands of kyuubi twelve years ago, he also would've hated me. So even though he knows that the sealing will keep the fox at bay, he still will hate me. Even if his heart knows that I'm innocent, he will still hate me, his negative emotions will take over him. Ultimately Ryuk, we humans are not hypocrites of our own will, rather we're hypocrites on accord of our own emotions. A shinobi however, keeps his emotions in check and does not let their emotions guide them. That's the main reason as to why most ninja of Konoha are neutral towards me. They're able to suppress their darkness and see the logic- a child who was blessed with a curse since he was born, his childhood destroyed by the villagers when he didn't even know why. Even I am sometimes guided by my emotions, and although it has landed me in trouble with KISSI once, I don't want to get rid of them. These are wha-...I'm boring you aren't I?" Naruto asked with an amused look on his face while Ryuk seemed to be listening with curiosity.
"Nah...but still, aren't you over thinking all of this?" the shinigami asked while the jinchuriki shrugged in response.
"I am just like that Ryuk. I tend to think over a lot of things, things which would be trivial for normal humans. That's a major reason as to why I'm able to evade the likes of KISSI so far," he articulated, now slowly standing up as he stretched his arms a bit, a yawn escaping his lips.
"You still haven't told me about KISSI's possible take on your personality regarding how you answered the question and what you wanted them to think. Your answer, it seems it was not completely honest," Ryuk verbalized as he too stood up.
"Meh, whatever. I've already given you big hints regarding the answer to your questions just now, rack that brain of yours and find the answer yourself," Naruto muttered, languidly waving his hand in mid air as he started walking down the nidaime's face, chakra beneath his face making the shinigami's eyes widen. Naruto however momentarily stopped as he turned his head a bit, glancing at the cracks on nidaime's left eye before he again started walking.
Konoha's Streets: 11:43 PM
"You know, most of the attacks on you by the villagers are late at night. And it confuses the hell out of me as to why you walk through these isolated streets frequently when you know they can attack you again," Ryuk muttered in irritation, currently floating behind Naruto who was walking casually.
"It's cause I want them to try and attack me. This way, I wouldn't have to find those bastards myself. I have the Death Note after all," he stated with a calm expression, enjoying the cool breeze.
"Kid, I think you've become some kind of a masochist, do you really enjoy getting yourself covered in blood?" the shinigami asked, rolling his eyes followed by a sigh. The whiskered blonde didn't respond as he continued to walk.
"And how would you kill them anyway? You don't have the shinigami eyes, so you won't know their names. And as I told you earlier, I can't tell you the names of other people or else the old man's gonna erase my existence. It's against the rules," he explained when Naruto suddenly stopped walking.
"What?" Ryuk asked in confusion when the blonde turned his head towards right.
"You heard that?" Naruto spoke.
"Huh? Hear what?" Ryuk questioned when the blonde lifted his hand to near his head, signaling the shinigami to keep quiet as he closed his eyes.
Ryuk stared at him in confusion, hearing nothing when the jinchuriki opened his eyes as they slowly narrowed.
Without uttering a word, Naruto dashed forwards, speeding towards a coming alley.
"Hey!" Ryuk exclaimed as he flapped his wings, following the blonde when he turned right into the dark alley.
Naruto sprinted towards the end of the alley sneakily, no sounds of foot steps being produced as he took a left turn before turning around a right corner.
"If you scream once more, I'm going to kill you, alright pretty little girl?" a middle aged man sneered, his right hand over a whimpering civilian girl's mouth while his right hand was holding a kunai against her neck.
She was currently pushed up against a wall, her whole body trembling while her clothes were torn in several places regarding her upper body.
"Why so scared sweetheart? I'll be gentle with you...I'll try at least," the male civilian whispered in her ear, a perverted grin on his face.
"Mhmmmm!" the girl, who looked to be a little older than Naruto exclaimed frantically, her eyes closed while tears were streaming down her sweaty cheeks.
Lowering the kunai, he brought it towards the already torn T shirt, her cleavage already revealed as he proceeded to tear it completely.
"Don't worry princess, you'll be enj-"
BHAM!
"Ngh!" the exclaimed when a blurred fist landed on his cheek, the force of the bone shattering attack lifting the the man off his feet as he was sent flying, skidding on the ground due to his momentum before his head hit the wall, making him groan in pain.
"And don't you worry asshole, you'll be enjoying the last few minutes of your life!" the girl opened her eyes, her vision hazy as she wiped her tears with quivering hands.
Due to the darkness, she couldn't see the person's face but could roughly notice that he was a bit shorter than her.
Naruto, who was barely controlling his anger, glanced at the girl beside him, his enhanced senses helping him to see much clearer than normal.
The man, who was still lying on the floor, was groaning in pain, blood dripping down his mouth and head.
"Whoa...you took him out in just one punch, impressive gaki," Ryuk commented, currently floating over the man.
Naruto however walked forward while the girl just stood there, seemingly in some sort of a trauma.
"Ryuk, can you please tell me his name?" Naruto muttered quietly, staring at the man with what looked to be predatory eyes.
"I already told you Na-"
"If you do that, I will return the Death Note and you can return to your realm," the blonde articulated while Ryuk's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the serious expression on the blonde's face.
"Yokochou Okasu...," Ryuk muttered making the blonde nod as he turned around to walk towards the distraught girl, greatly surprising the shinigami while the man laid there unconscious.
"Um...its alright now," Naruto spoke, not sure what to say, snapping the girl out of her trance-like state as she stared at the shadowed figure wide eyed.
"Y-You..." she stuttered, tears still leaking out of her terrified eyes making the blonde soften his eyes.
His eyes widened when she immediately latched onto him, hugging him with all her might. Naruto, alarmed cause he had never been hugged by any female, began to panic when she started to sob uncontrollably. He stood there, not knowing what to do while the girl clutched onto him for dear life.
"Comfort her you idiot, you're supposed to hug her back. Can't you see she's scared? I know you hate the villagers but why take it on the younger ones, they are only misguided by their parents," Ryuk spoke making Naruto sigh inwardly.
'Damn shinigami lecturing me...like I don't know that,' he thought, slowly wrapping his arms around her back.
'I can't believe scums like these live in this world,' the blonde thought, gritting his teeth as he clenched his fists in anger while involuntarily hugging the girl closer to him in comfort.
Konoha: Unknown Location: 11:59 PM
"Here, now please rest and take care of yourself. Try to forget what happened, you're safe now," Naruto spoke with a calm expression, setting the girl on her bed, whom he was carrying bridal style.
He was currently standing in the girl's house, her bedroom mainly. Apparently, it took her quite some time to stop crying while Naruto, having no experience in this couldn't say anything as he just hugged her back. Finally calming down enough, and still too scared to go anywhere alone, she had asked him to take her to her house which was just a few blocks away. Naruto however, suspecting she'll start screaming 'demon' the moment she saw his face, had covered her eyes with his hitai-ate stating that he needed to keep his identity as a secret. The girl, too traumatized to ask anything had just went along with his request.
"I...I understand. I w-would never ever leave the h-house to stroll late at night, especially when my p-parents are away. And I will always keep a kunai with m-me for protection," she spoke, her voice still trembling making Naruto's lips tug upwards into a small smile.
"Wow, gotta say she's cute," Ryuk spoke with a grin while the girl's eyes were still covered with his hitai-ate, Naruto's jacket wrapped around her to cover her exposed skin.
"And when your parents come back, don't tell them anything of what happened just now...you don't want to worry your parents after all," the blonde said, finding it strange that he was smiling, and it was because his heart was happy? Was it because he had saved this girl's life...and sanity?
"Y-Yes mister," she responded making Ryuk scratch the back of his head awkwardly.
'Even though she looks older than him, he's the one lecturing her as if he's her big brother. Humans sure are strange,' the shinigami thought with a sigh.
"C-Can you take your leaf b-band off?" she asked, snuggling into his jacket.
"Okay, I should be going now anyway," Naruto verbalized as bent towards her.
"C-Can I keep your j-jacket?" she asked suddenly making the jinchuriki stop as he stared at her awkwardly, the way she was biting her lower lip showed that she was already nervous, a slight blush on her face.
"Um...do you know Uzumaki Naruto?" the blonde asked with a neutral expression on his face as the girl tilted her head cutely, it seemed as if she had calmed down enough.
"Who's he? Y-Your father?"
...
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Ryuk began to laugh loudly making Naruto glare at him before he turned to the girl, sighing in relief.
"You can keep it. But don't show this jacket to anyone else okay? Not even to your parents," he spoke in a serious tone making her nod.
"What's your name?" she asked making the blonde stiffen at that a bit as he stared at her.
"Kira," he muttered making Ryuk's eyes widen while she gasped in shock.
"K-Kira?" she questioned when the blonde put a hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner.
"Don't be scared of me, I only hurt the thugs and such of this village. I wouldn't hurt a sweet girl like you," Naruto spoke gently making her smile, her cheeks a light shade of pink.
"I was never scared of you. In fact, you're my hero for erasing all the bad people from Konoha," she said, smiling gently as slowly Naruto's eyes widened.
"It's b-because of you that I'm even alive right now."
"Well look what we have here, your first fan girl," the shinigami commented with a chuckle while blonde's eyes slowly softened as he put a hand on his heart.
'This...feeling...' he thought, not being able to describe this positive feeling.
"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I wouldn't tell anyone that I ever met you," she muttered, shifting to her side as she nuzzled her cheek in her pillow, still waiting for the blonde to unwrap his hitai-ate.
"Thank you. You sleep now, its already 2 AM now and don't worry about anything. From now on, I will make sure that everyone can stroll safely through the village's streets whenever they want to," he declared with a serious expression, covering her with a blanket as she smiled lightly.
"Goodnight...Kira-kun," she muttered, slowly drifting off to sleep while Naruto gently unwrapped his hitai-ate. His eyes though softened at noticing the tear stains on her cheeks.
"I have to say this again, man she's cute. Hey, how about we go back and torture that fucking bastard?" Ryuk suggested, surprising the blonde with the anger in his voice.
"No...I have plans for him," he murmured in a low tone, making sure that he did not disturb the sleeping girl.
"Why did you tell her the wrong time. Its not 2 AM right now, I think about 12:15," Ryuk questioned making the jinchuriki sigh.
'Why does he have to be so curious about everything I do,' he thought before replying.
"Sometime in the future, KISSI may reach this girl in their investigation and most probably will read her mind. They will think that it was 2 AM when Kira was standing here. At 2 AM, I'll be in my apartment, sleeping. This gives me a solid back up if they get suspicious of me," he verbalized making Ryuk nod in realization, no longer surprised by whatever the blonde did.
'Someone's been following me since I left the Hokage monument. Pity I already know who it is. Though I think I can pull this one to my side here, two is better than one after all,' Naruto thought with a grim expression, already knowing that this person now probably knew about a 'thing' called Death Note and him talking to a shinigami named Ryuk.
"Let's go," the whiskered blonde spoke as he walked around the bed to climb the window, sitting there crouched. Just when he was about to jump, Ryuk asked giddily.
"Hey what about the Death Note? You said you will give it back to me."
Naruto however turned his head, gazing at the shinigami with a smirk.
"You know Ryuk, there's one thing about us that makes us humans very interesting...," he started making the shinigami look at him in confusion.
"We can be skilled enough to lie even to the death gods."
LOL! THE END! Poor Ryuk...
And this has officially become my most favorite quote in Naruto fandom- "A deadlast like me may not be strong enough to take an enemy down, but unlike you, a deadlast like me is strong-willed enough to sacrifice himself for the sake of his comrades!"
'sniff' SO cool! XD
Anyway, we'll be done with the 'Bell Test' in the next chapter, and I'm impressed with myself at how well I wrote that. Helps that it may fuck up your mind and that its pretty unique too! :D
After the next chapter, we enter the 'Wave Mission Arc', or in my terms- 'Penta-Layered Deception Arc'...just by the name, you should know it's gonna be something, so don't underestimate it! XD
Oh, a funny fact for you guys. The name- 'Yokochou Okasu' (the man who tried to rape the girl in this chapter)- it's a pun! His name literally means 'to venture in an alley', which I created in contrast to him being in an alley. However, 'Okasu' also means 'to rape', hence the whole meaning can also be interpreted as 'to rape in an alley'. Lol XD
I hope that you like the 'Naruto' in this fic. I think its pretty unique in the Naruto fandom with me somewhat fusing his personality with Light. :)
Also, please review. With your reviews, at least I get to know as to how many of you are eagerly waiting for the next chapter and it motivates me to update faster.
Well, see you guys in the next chapter (which has already been written mind you), which should be uploaded around this coming 10th.
See ya later fellas!
N6023