The trip back to Konoha was pretty uneventful. Team Seven had dragged their heels on their return, making use of the isolation to try and deal with Naru's problem without having to deal with the village as well. Sakura had successfully made a stew that she blended so finely Naru was able to drink it despite having no feeling in her mouth. She informed them all that once the were back in the village they would need to come up with a more long-term solution.
When they did finally return Tsunade looked ready to ream them for being so late, but after one look at the clear agitation and tension in the team, said nothing when Kakashi told her in no uncertain terms that they were on leave for the next few weeks.
They all retreated to the Uchiha compound and were now sitting in the living room, all feeling awkward and unsure where to even start. Finally, Sakura spoke up, "I'm sorry Naru, but we are going to need to talk about this." She turned to face her, taking care to speak gently, but firmly. "We've never talked about any of the things you chosen to share with us because you made it clear you weren't ready or even able to talk about it. And we've tried to respect that even though we want to help you. But this is different. Not being able to eat can kill you, we can't just leave this alone until you're ready to talk about it."
Naru flinched a little but nodded. She'd never really opened up about her life to anyone. She'd never gone into detail before, never really had to for people to understand how terrible it had been, but she simply couldn't handle this on her own.
"I lived in the orphanage for a while but when I was 'old enough' they kicked me out. It wasn't too bad at first. I was used to not having fresh or hot food, I usually only had leftover scraps from the orphanage, so it wasn't a big deal for me to eat out of the trash outside restaurants. But the owners noticed what I was doing, and they started putting stuff in the trash. At first it was just so much spice it felt like my tongue was going to melt or soap or something, but when that didn't stop me, they started putting stuff like rat poison on it."
Kakashi had to look at the wall. He physically could not bring himself to look at Naru when she talked about her childhood. He would be tracking Gai down later for a spar. The man would understand and not hold a grudge about any injuries.
Sasuke felt sick. Even after his entire family died, he'd never gone hungry, not for a single day. He had the entire village falling all over themselves to try and take care of him. He couldn't even imagine being in the situation Naru described.
Sakura forced herself to keep a blank face when all she wanted to do was cry. Well, that or destroy the village. She was ashamed to know that her parents had been some of Naru's tormenters, though she'd never had the courage to ask exactly what they had done to the girl.
Naru looked away, continuing her story. "When I realized that the dumpsters weren't safe anymore, I tried stealing, but I wasn't fast or sneaky enough to get away and the beatings just weren't worth it. So, for a while I was just starving, not knowing what to do next. Then a "nice" man," Naru spat the word nice like the most vile of swears, "offered me some food. I was so happy that someone was being so nice to me and just so grateful to have food. I didn't even notice that I was falling asleep." Naru scrubbed her face with her forearm, staving off the tears that were threatening to make a reappearance. "There's no reason you'd have known this, it's never come up or anything, but poisons don't really work on me very well. I metabolize them quickly thanks to Kurama. So, I woke up much sooner than the guy was expecting. He was still on top of me, only barely started. I told you before about how I hid under the dumpster the first time. That's also when my food problems started. I was so scared the next time I ate something that I would fall asleep and wake up and find someone on top of me."
Kakashi wanted so badly to tear someone's throat out but he didn't dare make a move or sound now that Naru was finally opening up to them. She desperately needed the chance to finally lance the wound that was her childhood and he would not be the reason she stopped.
"I started stealing from different dumpsters, always moving so that things were less likely to be poisoned and, in the Academy, we started covering edible plants and things so I started foraging for myself in the woods. There were times where I was desperate enough that I took the food from people even though I knew what would happen because I just needed to eat so badly."
Sasuke felt the angry tears welling up. No one should ever be made to choose between starving to death and being raped. The knowledge that Naru let herself be raped, knowing how it had affected her, just for the food that he'd always taken for granted was just so unfair. He hated the childish thought, it wasn't nearly enough to express the outrage and the hatred and the overwhelming horror, but it was. It was so unfair that Naru was put through so much never-ending pain and torment for something that was not her fault in any way.
"When the Hokage set me up in an apartment I started having consistent access to food and once Iruka-sensei became a teacher and had a more stable income he helped me out with buying food. But the people at the grocery stores would charge me three times as much for things and they'd always swap things out. Instead of fresh fruit I had stuff that was bruised and half-rotten. Instead of fresh meat I had stuff that was going sour and not safe to eat. And it would get too hard to eat, it wasn't worth the panic and the anxiety and worrying about if someone had done something to it. Even if poison won't kill me it still isn't fun. My stomach cramps and I get so nauseous and hot and it feeling like ants crawling through my body."
Naru wrapped her arms around herself, disturbed at just the memory of the horrid sensations. "I could usually handle whenever my eating thing acted up. I could just make plain white rice, bland, easy and convenient. Or I could go into the woods and pick some berries or nuts and I could get through it until I could go back to eating regularly. But this time it isn't working. I don't know what to do," she whispered, miserable and so, so tired.
Sakura reached forward and pulled Naru into a hug. She had long since given in to the urge to cry and was so relieved to finally have the chance to comfort her sister. Sasuke wasted no time in wrapping himself around the both of them, protecting them for the world for the time being.
Kakashi looked on as his team embraced and while a part of him was fiercely proud of them for coming together like this, he was mostly just sad. Sad and angry. But he could focus on that later. For now, he needed to come up with a plan.
"Naru," he asked, drawing the attention of his entire team. "Do you trust me?"
Naru just looked at him, confused. "Of course."
Kakashi smiled, though his heart still ached. "Good. I think I have a possible solution for this."
His entire team perked up a little and despite himself he was amused. He resisted the urge to pat them on the heads like he would his pack, they likely wouldn't appreciate the comparison.
"The Hatake family owns a small compound and piece of land. I haven't lived there since my father died, but I still own it. As with all Clan Compounds it is expressly forbidden for non-clan members to enter without permission. That means you can be absolutely sure that nothing in there has been poisoned or tainted in any way. There was a small river if I remember right and there was some local wildlife. We can hunt there so you know everything is safe to eat and fresh. I will show all of you some advance techniques to ensure food quality and we will all taste test the food for you."
He held up his hand to stop the protests he could already see forming. "No," he said firmly. "We absolutely will not sit back while you are suffering. We are too late to do anything to stop these issues from forming, but you can be damn sure we will be here to help you overcome them. Going hunting and being a little extra careful about food is the least we can do to support a team member in need. And if it helps you to eat, getting an early preview of the meal to come is hardly an imposition, is it?" He finished with a little eye smile.
Naru gave Kakashi a shaky smile. She'd spent so long trying to deal with all of her problems by herself, it was such a strange and novel thing to have people offering her their support and help. She felt a warmth in her chest as she sat back and let her family plan how best to help her.