CHAPTER SEVEN:
Team Six!
TW: Trauma, abuse.
A shock rippled through his body, causing his entire body to tremble as an electrical burn began to form on his scarred skin.
"You will not show emotion. You are nothing but a tool, pretending otherwise will only destroy you. You exist to serve this village, to protect it's people. Including your past family, when you were Naruto."
He gasped for breath desperately, clawing at his neck as it finally stopped electrocuting him.
His past family, he lived to protect them, and his village. It was his only purpose, to protect, emotions would only serve to hurt him.
"Good, you seem to be realizing." Danzo Shimura damn near purred that,
"005, 024, take 010 back to the sensory deprivation tank, he won't resist any further."
010, no, Makito, sat up with a gasping breath. He was wide-eyed and trembling, despite being quite used to having nightmares. He hated them, they made him feel so vulnerable. It was a psychologically damaging thing, to be constantly in fear that you might say or do something incriminating in your sleep.
Back at the underground base, he'd hardly gotten any sleep most nights, unless he worked himself into the ground beforehand. The thought haunted him, what if he woke up screaming or mumbled his past name in his sleep? Danzo would surely have him shocked, starved, beaten.. Whichever the aging man saw fit, he would enact that punishment with zero remorse.
And despite that he was far from Danzo, he wasn't far from Danzo's other soldier. Sai was just in the other room… And for all his roommate's abnormalities, he didn't trust him yet.
If Sai told, it would be infinitely worse than if Danzo found out firsthand. 010- Makito- couldn't risk that.
Makito didn't go back to sleep, immediately getting out of bed to begin his morning stretches.
Despite that he was far from Danzo, he wasn't free of him yet.
He was still a tool, he wasn't allowed to have emotions, and he wasn't allowed to sleep past 6 AM on weekdays.
If you hadn't seen the way Makito's leg bounced beneath the table, you'd have had no idea he was nervous. The mask hid any expression that may be on his lips, which was the most obvious way to read someone.
Although Sai found his friend's outward display of anxiety rather odd, he didn't bother harassing him about it.
A young pinkette approached their table.
"Ah! Maki-chan, it seems our new teammate has arrived!" Sai said, throwing in the nickname he was using to tease his friend.
Makito promptly shoved an elbow into his side, shooting him a theatrical glare.
She glanced between the pair, giggling softly before taking a seat across from them. For some reason, she instantly felt comfortable with them, although they'd hardly said a word.
Sakura had been the one to arrange this meeting, suggesting it take place in her favorite coffee shop in all of Konoha.
Ever since she began training under Tsunade, she needed all the caffeine she could get. The mouth-wateringly delicious pastries were a bonus, as well.
"I'm Sakura Haruno, you two must Makito and Sai." She said, her emerald eyes continuing to travel between the pair. She quickly noted that both boys were fairly cute, 'Ino is gonna be so damn jealous! Cha!' Her inner personality cheered.
"I am Makito, pleasure to meet you." The boy in the black face mask signed.
Sakura was suddenly very grateful for her overly-studious ways back in the academy, otherwise she may have never taken the time to learn KSL. (Konoha Sign Language.)
She was certainly no master, but she could at least understand him.
Had she known her teammate was mute, she would've taken the time to brush up on her skills. She would definitely have to spend the night studying the language again, not like that bothered her, though.
"I think I will call you Pinky." Sai said, his eyes meeting hers.
She snorted, her green eyes glanced incredulously over at the ginger boy and he began signing another message. "Sai likes to give people weird nicknames. He thinks it's a symbol of friendship or something."
He shrugged near the end, and Sakura couldn't help but giggle again.
It was then that their jounin-sensei arrived, taking a seat next to Sakura. Makito's enhanced senses' immediately took notice of the distinct scent of wood emanating from the man, which stood out in a room that smelled like freshly roasted coffee beans and sweet vanilla.
"Hello, as I'm sure you know, my name is Yamato." He said, giving a polite, close-lipped smile. He received nods in reply, and he immediately felt a bit lost.
Yamato had never been that great with kids, or well, teenagers in this case. He probably should've spent more time socializing with people, then maybe he wouldn't feel so awkward right now...
"Why don't you three tell me about yourselves? Hobbies, An interesting fact, dreams, dislikes, likes.." The man's voice trailed off, gesturing for someone to go first.
The pinkette spoke up first. "I'm Sakura Haruno! My hobbies are studying, volunteering at the hospital, gardening, and.. Reading, I guess. An interesting fact would be that I am... considered dual natured by many. My dream is to become a strong kunoichi and maybe fall in love along the way! I like flowers, strawberry scones, books, and helping people. I dislike arrogance, snakes, and a lot of other stuff." She finished, twirling her pastel pink hair around her finger.
Sakura couldn't help but play with her hair after she got her new hairstyle. Once she'd gotten over that odd obsession with the Uchiha, she found herself in a hair salon to get a more practical cut.
Tsunade had encouraged the idea, saying a haircut symbolised starting new, and personal growth.
(It also helped that her newly acquired straight-across bangs hid her biggest insecurity.)
"That's nice, Sakura. Sai, would you like to go next?" Yamato asked, the kind smile still gracing his features.
Sakura rested her head on her hand, looking to Sai as he spoke.
"Well, as you said, I am Sai. My hobbies also include reading and drawing.. An interesting fact would be that my jutsu relies on my drawings. I dream to protect Konoha, as I have already dedicated my life to it. Much like Sakura, I suppose I would like to make friends along the way. I like books, training, and pestering Makito is a newfound joy of mine. I dislike.. Liars, I suppose." He finished, clasping his hands together.
"You're up, ginger." Said Yamato, pointing at the last member of his team.
The pinkette next to him looked a bit unsure, for what, Yamato wasn't sure. The boy Sai was ordering a coffee. As the waitress finished taking Sai and Sakura's order, Sakura ordered for the masked boy.
When the boy began to speak in sign language, the older jounin understood why she seemed uneasy.
"My name is Makito, I am soon-to-be 15 and I like training, food, plants, and enjoying the fresh air. An interesting fact is that.. I use an uncommon weapon, a kusarigama. Otherwise known as a chain-sickle." Mikato paused to think for a moment, he had plenty of facts more interesting than that. But most of them could not be shared, because it would be risking compromising his identity.
He knew that the interests he shared with his team were unconventional for a boy, but he didn't feel like admitting that he enjoyed committing acts of destruction and property damage to strangers. He didn't even like admitting that to himself. The only other thing he liked doing was pranking people, but he hadn't done that since he was a child..
"I also aspire to protect Konoha with my life. As for my dislikes, I hate lightning jutsus, talking, and.."
Sai made a nearly invisible wince at that comment, which both Sakura and Yamato somehow noticed, internally noting it for later.
"Cruel people." The orange-haired boy finished.
His onyx eyed friend kept stealing glances at him after that point, and their various coffees were served not long after.
Sakura had ordered her and Makito vanilla-ice coffee, promising that it would be good. As for Yamato, he ordered a black coffee, while Sai ordered a Nitro iced coffee.
When the waitress handed the masked boy his coffee in it's plastic cup, the boy simply stared at it for a second, before tucking the straw under his mask.
Sai simply stared at him, clearly disappointed, prompting Sakura to snort and try to cover her mouth to stifle giggles.
"What's so funny?" Sai asked, looking at his bubbly teammate. He just wanted to see under the mask… What if his teammate really was freakishly ugly?
"Sorry, it's just that- the whole mask thing reminded me of how a bunch of us genin used to constantly try to de-mask Kakashi Hatake." She said, calming herself as she spoke.
What followed was Makito prompting her to explain, which caused her to regale her stories of genin shenanigans to see under that mask.
But meanwhile, Yamato was mentally throwing himself a pity party.
He was given a pinkette with an admitted split-personality, (And if the rumours were true, a very extreme one.) a socially inept artist, and a masked, mute, mystery boy. He had no idea what he'd done to cause Minato to assign him to this clusterfuck of a team, but he was certainly regretting it.
'These kids.. Are going to be a handful.' Yamato thought, running his hand through his hair.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Weird, after saying I wouldn't do much work for this story, I edited and added to this chapter. It's ridiculously small by my standards, but I have done a LOT of writing. For AMS, Of Stygian Twins and Frightened Civilians, and I did nearly a whole chapter for another unpublished project. Woo.
Hugs and forehead kisses from this loser author, thank you for reading!