I'm tired.
Nothing else to report.
Without further ado, blergh.
Chapter 70: Showing Concern
Sasuke was pretty sure; no, he was positive; that when he, Sakura, and Naruto had been kids taking this test, they'd not been nearly this bad.
If they had been… well…
He felt bad for Kakashi.
He easily parried Konohamaru's opening attack, sighing as the next few blows hit at a snail's pace. He had to remind himself, in that brief opening rush, that these were just children. They shouldn't be expected to know everything.
But… but shouldn't they be expected to know something!?
Moegi launched what could only be described as the weakest Water Jutsu of all time at him, which did little else other than dampen his hair (he'd allowed it to hit him out of pity), and Udon's shuriken he knocked out of the air with the back of his hand.
He felt a little bad when the boy whimpered.
"Oi!" Konohamaru snapped. "How the hell are you doing that!?"
How did he say "because the three of you suck" in a productive and encouraging way?
What would Kakashi d-
No, wait, He remembered. That's a terrible line of thought. He would've just told us we sucked.
"I'm a Jonin." He decided on instead. "You all may be strong," that was a lie, a complete and udder fib, but he figured they could probably use the encouragement. "But I'm stronger than all three of you put together and multiplied five… maybe six times."
They glared at him.
What? I thought I did a good job there.
"You're stupid, Sensei!" Konohamaru huffed. "You're a crappy teacher!"
The other two looked away, seemingly feeling a bit awkward about their friends outburst. In response, Konohamaru looked back at them, seemingly confused.
"Oi! You two, why don't you tell him he's stupid!"
They didn't quite flinch, but even with the Sharingan inactive, it wasn't that hard to read the body language of a child, and see that the two had taken a more defensive stance.
As if not quite fearing the boy in front of them… but certainly feeling nervous about what he might say.
"Uhm…" Udon began, sniffling. "I think Sasuke Sensei is doing a good job…"
He wasn't quite sure how he felt about being called 'Sasuke Sensei', but he couldn't quite hide his smile at that. Maybe if he did well enough at teaching them, he could get them all to Chuunin within a month or two and get the heck out of–
"No way!" Konohamaru snapped back, causing Udon to physically recoil this time. "He's… he's crappy! And terrible!"
"We just started, Konohamaru…" Moegi sounded more than a little down, her voice drooping at the end of her words as if doubting herself even then. "How do you know if you won't give him a chance?"
Konohamaru turned on his friends with a snarl, shocking them both backwards.
"Shut up!" He yelled. "Why are you guys against me!?"
Udon scratched his neck, while Moegi took a small step forward.
"Konohamaru, we're not-"
"No! I don't want to hear it!" He turned back around, drawing a kunai from out of his pouch. "I'll win this stupid test on my own, without your help!"
That was a red flag for Sasuke if ever he'd seen one.
Shunning your teammates, huh? Sasuke couldn't help thinking. That's about as bad as can be.
These three seemed to know each other as well, long before they'd even gone to the academy. He guessed that Iruka had been kind to them, grouping them up purposefully so as to both allow them to continue as a team, but also abuse their in-grown synergy to nurture their growth.
But clearly something had happened. This wasn't a unit filled with trust and friendship, but one that had once been that, fractured.
He had a guess.
When the Third Hokage had been killed… Konohamaru had had no one.
He'd had nothing but an aching desire for revenge, nothing but a feeling of anger and hate… one he desperately needed to release. Unfortunately, Orochimaru himself was dead, and even if he wasn't, the kid was far too weak to challenge him.
And so, he'd turned to the only people close to him, his friends, and abused that closeness. He'd taken his anger out on them; yelled at them, berated them, and blamed them for every little thing. His friends were, unfortunately, probably smart enough to realize why Konohamaru was acting like this, but also foolish enough to think they could handle things on their own. That they could somehow fix his anger.
Only time could heal such wounds. Well, time and therapy, but given that he didn't think the kid would sign up for that, he would rely on the former.
Even still, there was something Sasuke could do right now.
He clapped his hands, breaking Konohamaru out of his infantile rampage and causing all three to look at him.
"Right." He reached into his back pocket, finally pulling out the object of their little test. "See this?"
All three nodded glumly, though one glared at him.
No points awarded for guessing who.
"These two bells are the focus of our test today. Your goal will be to each take a single bell, which will result in you being promoted to Genin and me taking you on as my student."
Udon, predictably, raised his hand.
"Uhm… why are there only two bells then?
"Well, I only want to take two of you." Sasuke explained, watching as their faces drained of color. "So I've decided to cut one of you off here and now. The straggler will be sent back to the academy, where they will retake their final year."
Surprisingly enough, or, well, not all that surprising actually, it was Konohamaru who stepped forward with anger in his eyes.
"That's not fair!"
"What's not?" He asked, emulating Kakashi more than a little, playing off of the man's tales of his previous failed teams he'd heard during some of their trainings. "I've outlined my rules and my guidelines. If its your teammates you're worried about, then no worries, I'll fail you, and take them on as my students. Would you like that?"
Konohamaru gritted his teeth.
"No! but… but…"
He clapped once more, forcing them back into a ready state, even if Moegi looked downright horrified, and Udon like he might vomit at any moment.
Konohamaru wouldn't stop glaring at him.
"Well, you three better get to it." He taunted, trying to egg them into coming at him. "Come at me and take the bells."
Instead of moving, or really doing anything at all, Udon raised his hand.
"Uhm… sensei?"
"Yeah?" He asked, feeling a bit awkward. He hadn't been expecting this.
"I'll drop out." Udon spoke, looking down at the floor. "T-take on Moegi and Konohamaru. I'm the weakest anyways."
This was not how this was supposed to go.
He backpedaled almost instantly.
"Wai-"
"No!" Moegi grabbed him by the shoulders, tears in her eyes. "I'll go back to the academy! I'm… you shouldn't give up on your dreams, Udon!"
"But you're the one who said she wanted to be the strongest Kunoichi!" Udon fired back, and dammit if the kids words didn't make a sick amount of sense. "You and Konohamaru both have big dreams… I'm just the one who follows you around."
He felt like he'd messed up somewhere between 'see this?' and 'come at me and take the bells' but he really wasn't sure where. He also felt that that probably said something about his skill at teaching. That something was also likely less than flattering.
He'd meant to fire them up by challenging them, force them to rely on each other… and instead he'd taken the wind out of their sails, and flattened their already likely fragile self-esteems. The two who'd been dealing with the recent abuse were already vulnerable, how could he not see that?
"Hey, everyone, I-"
Before he could get another word out, a kunai was whizzing by his head.
He moved back to where he'd been standing, having instinctively dodged the blow, and saw that it was Konohamaru who'd fired it off.
There were tears at the edges of the boys eyes.
"I won't forgive you!" He shouted, dodging into Sasuke's guard far faster, though far clumsier than he had a few minutes prior. "I'll… I'll kill you!"
And he'd set Konohamaru off, causing him to blitz him on his own.
Was it too late to go back to Tsunade and tell her, in no uncertain terms, that he refused to ever even look at teaching again?
Before he could abandon his teaching career (a move he was fairly sure no one, including himself, would regret) two more kunai joined Konohamaru's own.
"I'm the weakest member, Moegi!"
"But you're smarter than me, and more important than me!"
Moegi and Udon argued back and forth, even as the three managed to push him back ever so slightly. It wasn't much, given that he hadn't activated his Sharingan, or half the muscles in his body if he was being honest, but it was something.
And he'd really only asked for something, now hadn't he.
"I'll drop out!" Udon assured Moegi.
"No, I will!" The girl fired back.
"I'll kill you, Sensei!" Konohamaru screamed.
Well… he'd gotten his wish of seeing the three of them work together. All he'd had to do was massacre the confidence of the groups two most emotionally vulnerable members and have the teams leader come after his head for doing it, whilst completely missing the mark on just why he was angry.
Good job, Sasuke. He berated himself as he lazily dodged another strike. Excellent work. Good form. 10/10.
He sighed as he settled into a rhythm.
It wasn't a very long fight, and he wasn't teaching them much of anything. Honestly, he was terrible at this. What was supposed to be an opportunity for learning was very quickly becoming the three students before him breaking down slowly, until nothing remained of them but sobbing wrecks.
How the hell do I remedy that!? He asked himself. I have no experience with teaching, no skill in mending relationships, and no ability with talking to people.
What he found as he wracked his brain was, perhaps obviously, his relationships with Naruto and Sakura, and funnily enough…
His talk with Inari all those years ago.
The boy before him was certainly older than Inari had been. He was over four years older if his math was correct, but even still, the same lessons held.
Now just what had he said back then to get the boy to change, even if only a little?
Ah… I remember…
He'd told Inari how he once was as well.
And he resolved to do so again.
He pushed the three back, taking them each out individually. Kakashi's method of forcing them to group up by giving them a challenge (at the very least, Kakashi had told him that was what he'd intended to do had they not shown teamwork) had failed. Now… now he'd just have to wing it.
He'd have to find his own way forward.
"Come here, you three."
"D-did we fail?" Udon muttered quietly, and he had to force the blank expression on his face to stay blank, instead of flashing to one of intense guilt.
Which he certainly felt.
"No. I just want to talk to you about something."
"Oh… okay…"
He bit down on the sigh that almost came out of him. He imagined the boy would've taken it as one of disappointment in him, when it was really one of disappointment in himself.
Konohamaru had his arms crossed over his chest, and Udon and Moegi were simply staring down at the grassy hill they were sat upon. He'd taken them to the same space he and Kakashi trained with Yugao and Hayate, and though the place didn't exactly conjure up great memories (more Yugao impaling him continuously as he desperately healed himself), he knew the area well.
"I have something to admit." He let out with a groan. "I'm taking all three of you under my wing."
They blanched at that, horrendously confused.
"What!?"
"How is that-"
"You liar!"
He let them get some of their feelings out, anxiety to anger.
"I never intended to fail a single one of you. I told you I would in an effort to inspire you to work as a team… but I'm afraid that merely cracked the three of you like eggshells." Sasuke looked up at them, making direct eye-contact with each for a few seconds. "And I have a feeling I know why… it's because you've not been getting along as well recently, have you?"
They averted their gazes, looking anywhere but at him. Konohamaru was the first to look up, pouting rather fiercely.
"What do you know?"
"I know fractures in a team, one as close-knit as yours, don't usually rear their heads. Unless, of course, if something major were to change. For you, I imagine, that was the death of your grandfather."
Konohamaru didn't argue, he merely glared harder, which Sasuke was rapidly realizing was probably his default expression.
"I'm going to be blunt with you." Sasuke decided. "Being rude to the people who love you and want the best for you? That's not going to make you any happier. In fact, if I had to guess, its only making you feel worse. Of course, that then leads to a rather vicious cycle, one you're too afraid to try and break, correct?"
"Afraid!?" Konohamaru tried to laugh but failed. Instead, he clenched his fists together. "What the heck do I have to be afraid of!?"
"You're afraid of apologizing."
The boy's eyes went wide.
"You're afraid of opening yourself back up to hurt, of your friends saying they don't forgive you. Despite the fact that them following you even now is a sign that they'll stick with you to the end. Do they deserve an apology, Konohamaru, or don't they?"
The boy ground his teeth, even as Udon and Moegi looked at Konohamaru's back.
Their gazes held longing within them.
"And what would you know!?" The Sarutobi asked him, seemingly fired up. "You're just like me, aren't you! Don't you dare come at me like you're somehow better than me!"
He hadn't meant to come off like that, but apparently that was the impression he'd given off.
Gods this is a mess…
"It's because I'm just like you that I'm saying this." He shook his head. "I'm not trying to say I'm better than you, but that I know how it feels to be you, I know what it's like to hate and hate and hate with no outlet. I know what it's like to get mad at people who don't deserve it, and to want to apologize, but be afraid to. I know because I was you."
Konohamaru's expression doesn't falter, if anything, he only grows angrier.
It wasn't working. Taking the 'I've been you' approach was only making Konohamaru more upset, and making the two others more depressed. He had to do something… anything…
He thought of an idea, and put it into practice immediately.
He would show the boy what he meant.
"I'm going to apologize to the three of you, now."
Konohamaru's mouth practically zipped shut, and the other two looked up at him, confusion written in their eyes.
"I'm not the teacher the three of you deserve." He admitted, owning up to his failure. "So far I've done nothing but splinter the three of you further, instead of bringing you together. I'd say that's probably due to the fact that I had no intention of being a teacher… but even still, if I was going to be stuck doing it, I shouldn't have tried to rile you up as much as I did. I should've simply supported you all, and slowly adapted to what I was doing, instead of trying to rush things. I'm sorry."
He stood in front of them and bowed his head rather deeply.
"I'll try to be a proper teacher as best I can from now on."
When he sat back down, he saw that all three of his students were staring rather contemplatively at him. That wasn't too shocking, and for once, it was what he'd intended to have happen.
"I…" Konohamaru spoke up, seeming unsure. "You… but…"
"It's best to just say it." Sasuke reassured him, trying his best for a smile past the pain of the day. "Trust me. You'll feel a lot better."
The boy gulped down on whatever insecurities had been haunting him, and turned around to look at Moegi and Udon.
"Guys, I… lately I… I didn't… I've been…"
He watched as Moegi and Udon moved to correct him, say he was fine, but Sasuke stopped them. Now wasn't the time for pretending.
"I was a jerk… and even if it was because of the old man dying… I want you guys to be my friends forever and… and I was acting like I wanted to push you guys away…"
Sasuke nodded, pushing him to make that final step.
"I'll… I'll improve!" Konohamaru bowed, likely copying the behavior he'd just seen from Sasuke, though that was fine. "I'll… I'll be the best friend I can possibly be! So… so…"
He smiled as he watched Udon and Moegi blush ever so slightly, seemingly unsure of what exactly to say to that. He could understand why; it'd been a bit of a major tone shift for their friendship, at least recently.
Udon reached out and took Konohamaru's hands, wrapping them in his own and smiling a bit dopily.
"We forgive you."
Moegi nodded along with him.
Konohamaru's mouth hung open for a moment before tears caught in the corners of his eyes.
Wait.
Then Udon had the same phenomena happen, and then Moegi. Soon, all three were tearing up, leaning on one another.
Don't cry. I have no idea how to deal with heavy emotions.
And they began to cry, hugging one another.
Well, He sighed as the children began to loudly sob. You win some you lose some.
Konohamaru's rage at his friends, at the very least, seemed to have been quelled. It was likely, however, that the effects of said rage persisted. Udon and Moegi's confidences were still shot, and it wasn't like the boy would give up on his revenge, as foolish and impossible as it was, after a quick five minute conversation. Honestly, he had to admit that he was feeling a bit terrible as well. His teaching ability had certainly been a failure, and he'd only gotten the three to resolve their differences by apologizing.
Not to mention they were still horribly weak, which was another thing he needed to learn how to deal with. He had no idea how to actually teach someone a technique, and a lot of the techniques he did know were a result of his heritage, the Sharingan being the most obvious example. What could he even give to them besides simple things like water walking and tree climbing?
He contemplated if he could maybe get Naruto or Sakura to help out there, perhaps bribe them with something to bring them in and-
Wait, He thought for a moment. Have I used my 'I got Jonin before all of you, suck it' prize yet…?
He didn't think he had.
Oh… That might work.
He could get these brats some free training, annoy the living hell out of his best friends, and learn how one was actually supposed to train someone else all at once, a three-for-one deal. So far his only actually good example of teaching was that of Hayate, and the man only really trained him on the absolute basics, letting Yugao, who he very clearly loved dearly if the way he vehemently claimed she was a good teacher to his face over and over again (which was so obviously false it often did physically hurt him), take over and teach him how to utilize those techniques.
He was beginning to scar… just about everywhere on his body.
He sighed as he realized the mountain of work ahead of him. This, getting the three to make up with one another, was only a start. He was only a shallow step into the problems of Team 9, and of learning how to fix them.
Even still… He'd be there to dive deeper, to become as good for these three as he could, he supposed.
He swore he saw Ebisu just around the corner, stifling a smile into his fist even as he gave him a curt nod.
/-/
Hinata yawned as she got out of her bed, doing her best to straighten her admittedly messy bedhead as she walked into the bathroom.
She did her best to salvage her dignity, which was a middling success as she finally got her hair to sit straight, and walked back out… not quite refreshed, but at the very least passable.
She turned to look at her back wall, and saw a beetle at least four or five inches long had perched itself on her window.
She was fairly sure a normal girl around her age would've screamed, and hell, she knew several shinobi who would've done the same, but instead, she felt an excitement grow inside her breast as she stepped around her bedding, unlatched the window, and allowed the creature inside.
It landed on her padded bed rather quickly, turning to her and offering the small piece of paper it had tied to its belly. She took it, making sure to give the beetle a quick few juniper leaves (which she'd been told by the sender of this memo they apparently loved) and made her way over to her desk.
She unfurled the tiny parchment and partook of its contents. It was a rather simple note, and she found herself smiling at the overall tone of the letter; a jumbled, overexcited mess of words and phrases that barely constituted sentences.
This would be the tenth or so note she'd received from Fu since the Sand-Leaf Joint Chuunin Exams.
The girl had, after the tests conclusion, sought to keep in contact with her. Whether or not Hinata had gone along with that because she'd felt guilty about stringing the girl along or not, she had agreed to it.
Fu had given her a rather large and intimidating beetle to keep. She'd provided at the time that it would be like a private messenger just for the two of them. She imagined if she hadn't had Shino as a teammate for three years, that would've been quite a horrible gift… but she did have Shino as a teammate, so things had just sort of worked out.
She'd found enough bugs in her clothes over the years to fill an entire hive, so letting one rest in her coat pocket had been a very minor deal.
The first note she'd received had been rife with crossed out words and whited-out sentences, as if Fu had thought and rethought her choice of wording about a thousand times. Honestly, it was adorable, and even if there was still a kernel of guilt in her stomach, she'd sent her own note back, thanking Fu for her time, and giving a fairly standard description of how her day had been.
As the two continued to exchange notes on a more regular basis, however, she noticed something rather surprising.
It felt nice to have a friend to talk with, even if she knew Fu wanted it to be more than that.
This time, she sought about composing a fairly simple note, one which gave her thanks for taking the time to talk with her and said that she hoped Fu was well in the coming days. Given the fact that she'd received ten notes in only a few weeks' time, she assumed the creature was rather fast on its deliveries, likely covering the distance between the Waterfall and the Leaf in one or two days, perhaps even less.
She tied her own note to the beetles underside, gave it a few more greens for the road, and watched as it lifted off and flew out of her window.
She stretched as she made her way out into the main hallway, saying hello to Hanabi and her father as she traveled towards the training grounds. Naruto, the rest of her team, and Team Guy would be arriving shortly, and she wanted to be there to greet them when they did.
Idly, as she stood and waited for her friends to show, she hoped everything was well with Fu.
/-/
Tenten let out a gasping breath as she landed hard on the training mat.
"Winner: Lee!" A Hyuga who'd arrived to monitor their matches called the ending of the fight, and her friend walked over to her and offered out a hand.
She took it with a forced smile, Lee giving her his own bright one in exchange. Upon seeing the easy expression, she felt guilt build in her chest, quietly hoping Lee hadn't noticed her own facade. It wouldn't do to be mad at her friends for her own problems.
She watched as Naruto and Neji stepped up to the arena, the last match of the day being between the two people who'd boasted the highest win percentage this session. Neji had won all of his matches, and Naruto had, coincidentally, only lost to Neji.
He'd barely, barely beaten Lee, and that was only because Lee generally agreed with everyone else that bringing out forbidden Jutsu's in a training environment was perhaps a bad idea.
As the two sparred, Neji gradually edging out Naruto, who had chosen to practice with his newly acquired Sage Mode (a technique that made him faster and stronger, but only for around 10 or so seconds), due to his prowess in the gentle fist, Tenten looked back on her own fights today with a put-upon sigh.
She'd lost eleven of her twelve matches today. Her only victory had come from managing to close the gap on Shino during her first match, destroying him with a risky charge in that'd let her claim victory.
A victory he'd immediately answered her back for in the second match of the day, covering her aggression with his beetles and outlasting her through their draining of her chakra.
Hinata had beaten her twice. Kiba had beaten her twice. Naruto, Lee, and Neji had beaten her twice. She found herself sighing once more as Naruto hit the mat, groaning and rubbing his ribs as the attendant called the match in the Hyuga's favor.
He reached down and helped Naruto up, and the two shared a quick laugh about something or another.
Hinata bid them all farewell as they exited, and she found herself taking a rather roundabout route back to the Leaf proper. It wasn't far, a few side streets to make her way out, and yet she ended up just… wandering. No real purpose, no real goal. Just…
It was late, and the sun was just beginning to set when she finally made her way back to the village, and towards her house. It was more of an apartment, really, her mom didn't have the money to be purchasing property, hell, they barely had the money to make rent every month. Things were getting better now that Tenten was a Chuunin, and thus could take on higher paying missions, but she didn't dare go too high leveled either.
If something were to happen to her on a mission… well, her mom would likely end up on the streets. She wasn't being pessimistic either, with her skills, she was suited for exactly the level of mission given to a Chuunin. The ability to take on C-ranked missions on her own, or B with a group of allies.
She wouldn't push past that. Not unless she suddenly got a whole lot stronger.
She pushed open the door and waved hello to her mother, who had to have just gotten back from work, and got herself something to eat. Honestly, it was a piece of bread with butter spread across it, but she was tired and starving, she wanted something fast.
She hadn't been expecting a knock at the door, and so assumed it must've been for her mother as she scarfed down the rest of her 'meal' and headed back to her room.
Before she could get very far, her mother called out to her from across the house.
"It's for you, Tenten!"
She could admit to that shocking her the slightest amount, and she quickly slipped back into the pants she'd taken off. pushing her door open, she made the quick trek back towards the kitchen and, subsequently, the door.
To her surprise, it wasn't even one of her teammates there. It was Naruto.
"Hey, Tenten." He waved casually.
Her mother stepped away, a look on her face that said she was reading entirely too far into the fact that Naruto had come to her house, and was now assuming that, by tomorrow, they'd likely be married with children.
She groaned as she followed Naruto out into the hallway, leaning against the back wall.
"Eh, sorry." He muttered. "Did I come at a bad time?"
"Nah, you're fine." She waved his concern off, yawning as she tried to quickly exit the mood of relaxing quietly in her room she'd been about to commit to. "Just wasn't expecting you to come by is all."
"Ah, yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry about that, I was uhm… ah…"
She snorted, inclining her head, and raising an eyebrow.
"Do tell."
She wondered why he'd be here. More training? Probably not, they'd just got done with over five hours of it, and it was important to rest ones body. Chatting? Unlikely, Naruto had both Sasuke and Sakura to talk to, though she supposed both seemed busy at the moment.
Perhaps her mom was right? Was he about to ask her out on a date?
Pfft. She smirked. Naruto asking someone out on a date? I'd pay to see that.
"Well… I guess I was worried about you."
Her humorous train of thought died a swift and ugly death.
"Oh?" She asked in a way she desperately hoped sounded casual. "Why's that?"
"You just… seemed a bit depressed after practice." Naruto explained, causing her to bite down on the inside of her cheek. "You weren't talking with anyone or laughing or joking around. You left almost immediately… but I saw that you weren't heading home, and so I uh… followed you."
Something stood out there, and it seemed as good a way as any to deflect the situation away from her troubles.
"You know where my house is?"
Naruto blanched.
"Well, I mean… it's eh…"
She pounced, determined to keep the conversation light.
"Little old Naruto, secretly a creepy stalker? Can't say I saw that one coming."
"Hey! I'm not a stalker!" Naruto pouted, his lips drawn down in a heavy frown, that caused the corners of her mouth to twitch ever so slightly. "Okay, I see what you're trying to do here, you're trying to prevent me from focusing on what's got you down, right?"
She flinched back, clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth. Now she understood the title that Sasuke had said he'd given to Naruto when they were children.
"Perceptive at the worst of times, huh?" She whispered under her breath.
"What was that?" Naruto asked, getting in her face without meaning to.
"Nothing." She pushed his dome away from hers with her right hand, propelling herself off of the wall with her left, buying herself some space. "Just like what's going on with me is nothing. You don't need to worry about it, honest. Focus on yourself, I mean, aren't you training to be a sage or something?"
Naruto crossed his arms, leaning against Tenten's door. "You're deflecting again."
She groaned.
"Could I give you something more direct, then?" She glared at the boy. "Perhaps 'I don't want to talk about this' or maybe even 'leave me alone'?"
"That's fine, that's fine." Naruto held his hands up in the air. "I'm not trying to force you to tell me or anything. If you don't want to then I guess that's fine."
"You guess?"
"Well I'd definitely still like you to tell me."
She snorted.
"But I can see you probably won't."
She nodded, prompting a sigh in response from Naruto.
"Listen, I just…" Naruto rubbed his chin, seemingly thinking hard. "I don't like seeing people all down and stuff, y'know?"
She did know, actually. She wasn't exactly a fan of it, either, but she had a feeling Naruto's feelings ran a bit deeper than that and had more to do with how he'd felt for most of his early life.
It was likely the reason he was so dead set on helping people was that he never wanted anyone to feel like he had.
"I'll go, but… Just know you've got people looking out for you, okay? None of us think you're a burden or anything, and we all definitely want you around more." Naruto gave her a calm, yet still sunny smile. "You're our friend. I know it can be hard to lose and feel like you're worth less than you are, hell, I've been struggling with that a bit recently myself, but… I don't know, just uhm… know that you're loved and stuff, alright?"
She opened her mouth to respond, but found it clicking shut a moment later, a long breath escaping her as well.
"Heh… thanks."
Naruto gave a nasally laugh as he smiled.
She pushed off of the wall entirely, and Naruto cleared the way to her door for her to step inside. Before she shut the door on him, however, she turned back around and held her fist out.
"Hey, I appreciate you taking the time to come over here." She smiled as his fist bumped hers. "You didn't have to do that."
"Eh, what are friends for if they let friends suffer quietly?" Naruto shrugged, seemingly thinking this whole thing was no big deal.
She rolled her eyes, but turned around, walking inside.
"Goodnight." She called.
"Night." He replied as the wooden frame clicked shut.
She let out an exhausted breath as she stepped back into her and her mom's apartment.
"Who was that?" Her mother asked as she worked on making actual food, which looked to be a rather simple soup.
"Just a friend." She replied quickly, picking up a spoon from the countertop and sampling the current progress. "Could use more salt." She added idly.
Her mother followed her advice with a roll of her eyes.
"Did you invite him over?"
"No, he followed me home."
Her mother eyed her warily.
"He didn't seem much like the dangerous stalker type. Should I be watching out for him, or…?"
"No, no!" She laughed a bit airily, grabbing a pinch of pepper and adding it to the brothy mix as well. "Too nice for his own good, got worried about me when he saw I was down earlier." At her mother's curious look, she filled her in. "I lost most of my matches today with the others, so I was feeling a bit crappy."
Whether or not that was entirely the truth of the matter… well, her mother had enough to worry about without adding her own problems into the mix.
"Ah, I see." Her mother's calm expression gradually morphed into one of amusement. "So… this friend of yours…"
"Naruto." She supplied.
"This 'Naruto'…" Her mom's smirk became devilish. "Do you happen to liiike him?"
She tried for a deadpan expression as she stared her mom in the eye.
"It's not like that, mom."
"Sure, it's not." Her mother booped her on the nose. "Alright, I'll handle dinner. Go relax."
She wanted to complain, but honestly that sounded pretty damn good, so she acquiesced, turning back towards her room.
"Oh, and Tenten?"
She turned around.
"Know that I'm here for you too, okay?"
She found a small, sad smile make its way across her face as she nodded and pushed her way into her room. As she laid down on her bed, having changed into something far more comfortable, she found her thoughts drifting back to her mother's final words. She refused to acknowledge that her problems were apparently so obvious that quite literally everyone in her life had picked up on them…
"This 'Naruto'… Do you happen to liiike him?"
And she refused to acknowledge the heat that'd flooded her cheeks at those words as well.
End Chapter 70
Eh... Naruto man.
This chapter was fun. I like writing more down to earth sections (eg. Tenten eating a piece of buttered bread and chatting with Naruto, Hinata fixing her hair, Sasuke sucking at teaching) a lot more than I like writing big battles or huge set pieces.
But, well, it can't all be down to earth. Sometimes you need big stuff to spice it up.
Anyways, time for your weekly alloted: 'I complain about League of Legends Worlds' segment.
Idk if I'm just cursed or not, but the moment I decided I'd cheer on Fnatic, they immediately got reverse swept, which is a shame. G2 look good, but I think they'd get rolled by the Chinese team (either TOP or SN) in the final if they made it, so I'll root for DWG.
It'd be cool to see Caps, easily the best mid in the world atm, finally win though, so if G2 did win, that wouldn't be terrible.
Alright, league content done.
Anyways, see you all next week!
