Chapter 15
Zunia makes her way down the street of the market place.
Naruto must really be nervous upon hearing this. She thought to herself. Wonder where he is.
Zunia then spots Naruto eating at the ramen shop. She walks over to him and sits right next to him. Naruto looks over in shock.
"Huh" said Naruto. "Zunia?"
"Seemed a bit lonely for you to be here by yourself" said Zunia.
Naruto opened his mouth to say something but stops himself and continues to eat.
"Tomorrow's a big day isn't it?"
"I'm not going to lose" said Naruto. "No matter what I will pass." Zunia chuckles.
"Nothing ever gets you down does it?"
"Of course not, with a dream like mine, I can't afford to give up. I'll never give up. That's my ninja way." Naruto smiles as he says this.
"How cute. You're the complete opposite of my brother. He's quite the serious one."
"Serious?"
Zunia shifts her gaze down. "He's been through a lot after our parents died. He's had to grow up real fast never really having time to just be…normal. I had to do the same thing. Probably why I kind of adopted that mindset hanging out with him for so long. If my sister was here, she would be surprised to see me like this."
Naruto stops eating looking at Zunia with intrigue. "You have a sister?"
Zunia twiddles her fingers. "Had…she's dead Naruto."
Naruto shifts his gaze down. "Oh…."
"Yeah, it was quite the traumatic experience. I was there when she died. It was the main reason I left the village. If I had stayed I…." Zunia pauses for a moment as a small tear rolls down her face. She takes a deep breath. "I could have ended up different." She wipes her face and looks at Naruto with a big smile. "I might have been one of those idiotic girls that praise Sasuke." She laughs. "I mean what do those girls even see in him anyway?"
Naruto looks at Zunia in shock and awe. "You really don't like Sasuke?"
"Well, as things are now…no." Zunia sees Naruto's expression. She leans in closer to him. "Does that make you happy to hear that?"
Naruto blushes a little and starts stuffing his face. "Um… a little."
Zunia smiles. "Personally, I'm not really into the whole romance thing. Seems more like a distraction to me, especially if you're a ninja."
Naruto stops. "Huh?"
"I mean think about it, you and the person you like are on a mission together and you find yourself constantly distracted by looking at the person you're in love with whether it's for concern or infatuation. This leads to you messing up the mission making it harder for everyone or worst case, causing the mission to fail. That's probably what will happen with Sakura."
"Sakura?"
"Yeah, I mean, just today, didn't she seem too focused on Sasuke? I mean you disguised yourself as Sasuke and all she did was talk badly about you and praise Sasuke. How is that kind of attitude going to help on missions?"
"Um…I…." Naruto clenches the bowl tightly.
Zunia sees Naruto's confused face and hand realizing what she said. "Sorry, I forgot, you like her."
Naruto looks down.
Suddenly a kunai comes rushing to Naruto from behind and Zunia catches it before it hits him. Zunia turns. Mariko is standing right behind them looking very pissed off.
"What do you think you're doing?" asked Zunia.
"Out of the way" yelled Mariko. Naruto turns around and sees her.
"What's going on?" said Naruto confused.
"You stupid brother crippled Ikki" said Mariko. "We were disqualified from being ninja because of that. We're being sent back to the academy."
"What?"
"Menma's always doing things like that" said Naruto. Zunia looks at Naruto for a second and turns to Mariko.
"Naruto has nothing to do with that" said Zunia. Mariko pulls out another kunai.
"If you stand in my way, I'll take you out too" said Mariko.
Zunia suddenly vanishes from sight. A large invisible slash hits Mariko as Zunia reappears behind her. Mariko's eyes roll back as she collapses on the ground. Naruto looks on in amazement. Zunia drops the kunai quietly making her way back and sits down next to Naruto.
"Wow" said Naruto. "You're amazing."
Zunia smiles. "I was holding back. If I used my full strength, I would have cut her clean in half."
Zunia chuckles as Naruto gulps nervously.
"Relax, Naruto, just know that you have someone else looking out for you."
Naruto laughs nervously as he finishes his food.
"Boy, I'm stuffed" said Naruto.
"You eat quite a lot" said Zunia.
"Hey, I can't help it. I'm just hungry."
"Yeah," Naruto gets up after paying and starts heading back to the apartment. Zunia walks up behind him.
"So, how are you going to deal with things tomorrow?"
"Huh?"
"Your game plan, what do you plan to do?"
"Um…I don't really…."
"You want to beat Sasuke right? You need to have a strategy to work with that will blow him away."
"Yeah, I guess but it's not like I…had much luck in that. Sasuke has beaten me countless times. "
"All the more reason to come up with a strategy now." Zunia starts pulling Naruto. "Come on, lets get back to your apartment. Zunia pulls Naruto with her as she gets to the apartment. They get to the apartment door.
"Um…" said Naruto.
"What?"
"It's not really clean right now."
"I don't mind."
Naruto reaches in his pocket grabbing his key. He opens the door and turns on the light. Zunia sees the large mess there.
"See" said Naruto.
Zunia smiles. "I've slept in worse places. This is nothing." Zunia rolls up her sleeves. "Let's clean this up." Zunia starts picking up the trash and cleaning the place. Naruto looks at her confused yet satisfied.
An hour goes by as the place looks practically spotless. Naruto sighs in relief.
"There, all done" said Zunia.
"Uh yeah" said Naruto. He goes into the fridge and takes out a cup of Ramen.
"Are you still hungry?"
"Yeah, kind of" said Naruto. Zunia sighs. "That nine tails really helps you out with metabolism.
"Huh?" said Naruto confused. Zunia darts her eyes around the room nervously.
"Oh…uh…nevermind" they both sit down at the table. Naruto pours the hot water in the cup and closes the lid back.
"I hate this part" said Naruto.
"What part?"
"Waiting for the noodles to cook"
Zunia chuckles slightly. "Your really are unique.
The door suddenly opens as Menma walks in. he's covered in dirt and sweat. He looks up and sees Naruto and Zunia sitting at the table.
"Naruto?" said Menma.
"Oh hi Menma" said Naruto. Menma looks over at Zunia and scans the apartment. The entire place was spotless.
"Naruto, you cleaned?"
"She cleaned."
"It was nothing" said Zunia. Menma says nothing and proceeds to his room closing the door behind him.
"What was that all about?" asked Zunia.
"Not sure" said Naruto. Naruto looks at the time. "Ah, it should be ready now. He takes off the lid and proceeds to eat. As Naruto eats, Zunia looks at him with concern.
"Say, Naruto" said Zunia.
Naruto looks at her while stuffing his face.
"Do people target you a lot? I mean that Mariko girl, she tried to kill you."
Naruto starts muttering with food in his mouth.
"What?"
Naruto then swallows the food. "I said kind of" said Naruto. "I've received death threats before all from what Menma does."
"So this wasn't the first."
"Well her attacking out of the blue like that is a first but usually, Menma's with me during most of these…encounters."
"And I take it it doesn't end well."
"Not for them." Naruto continues to eat.
"One more question. Has Menma ever killed anyone?"
Naruto suddenly stops. He places the cup down staring down at the table.
"Sorry, too personal, I get it."
"No" said Naruto in a somber tone. "He's never killed anyone."
"Oh,"
"But he…did get blamed for someone's death."
"…what? Who?"
Naruto turns away. "Sorry, can't talk about it." Naruto continues to eat. Zunia sees the depressed look he's giving.
"I see." Zunia looks over at the cracked door of Menma's room. She turns back to Naruto. "Let's forget about our plans for tonight. I'm going home."
"Huh?"
"Let's hope we both pass tomorrow." Zunia smiles brightly at Naruto. She walks over to the door putting her shoes on. She slowly opens the door looking back at Naruto for a brief moment before leaving. Naruto stares at the door in confusion while Menma's eyes glared intensely from the crack in the door.