Sealed With New Life
Chapter 1: Ends and Beginnings
On a dark street in New York City, a man was walking home from a convenience store. In his hand was a plastic bag filled with some cans of beer and chips. He walked a slow pace with his head looking at the ground. Today he had just been fired from his job as a cook working in a restaurant due to the place going under. He had been given his two-week notice and because of this he was going to spend his night getting hammered at home.
If he could, he'd like to hang out with a friend at the moment, sadly New York City wasn't the best place to make friends. Even the people living in the apartment complex were unfriendly. Especially Mrs. Dobsin, an older woman who the man had managed to anger during his first week at the apartment because he managed to accidentally bump into her without apologizing.
She had held a grudge about it for a long time, and it didn't help that her husband was the owner of said apartment complex. So, in summary, the older woman made it her goal in life to give him hell about rent and many other things that she would nitpick him about. Dobsin might even get her wish of him getting kicked out of the apartment if he couldn't make enough money to pay rent in two weeks.
As the man made his way down the empty street, he sighed and reached into the plastic bag and felt around before pulling out a beer can. Frankly, the man was just tired of his day and didn't care about anyone calling him out on drinking in the middle of the street.
With a pull of the tab, a smack crack, and a fizz, the man began to drink deeply from the beer can. It tasted like cheap beer, and the man wished he could get something better than what he was drinking, but he wouldn't be able to afford it. He could barely afford to feed himself, much less pay for drinking good beer.
It only took a few more seconds before he finished the beer and crushed the can in his hand. It felt very cathartic to do so. He then let the can fall from his hand and make a metallic thud onto the ground. Sadly because the beer was so cheap, he barely felt any buzz from it, much to his annoyance.
To deal with this, the man pulled out another beer can and popped the tab before guzzling it down. Really, this was a low point in his life. A very low point, especially since now he had to find a job quickly within the week and get paid, or else find a new place to live, both of which were impossible.
Tomorrow might be a better day, the man thought to himself. It was the only reason that he could keep moving forward right now, instead of just curling up in an alley and drinking himself into unconsciousness.
The man scratched his brown hair and looked down the street to see the hanging lamp over his apartment's entrance flickering, meaning the bulb probably needed to be changed soon before it popped.
"Home sweet home…" The man said to himself as he got closer and finished the beer he was drinking and took out another beer can. He was just about to pop the tab on it when he heard the shuffling of feet behind him. He slowly turned around and found a man in a black hoodie holding a gun to his face.
His brown eyes widened in shock and fear as he raised his hands up. "Give me your wallet and the bag!" The man in the hoodie demanded.
"Hey, I'm gonna be honest with you right now, all I have in my wallet is five bucks and an ID. There is nothing in it that's worth anything. You can have the bag if you want, and the cash, just let me keep the rest of the wallet." The man stated quickly. Normally he wouldn't have cared about if the man took his money, but the wallet was his.
It was the only item he had that had belonged to his dad, and he did not wish to be separated from it. "I don't give a fuck, just hand it over now or I'm gonna shoot you." The man wearing the hoodie cocked the hammer of the revolver he was holding back.
The brown haired man slid the plastic bag over to the man in the hoodie and glared as he pulled out his wallet from his pocket. The wallet was made up of leather and was extremely faded, with some small tears in it. It didn't matter, the wallet had been the only item of his dad's that had survived the apartment fire which had made him an orphan. He wasn't going to hand it over.
"Here, see, empty!" The brown haired man showed the inside of the wallet to the thug as he pulled out a five dollar bill and tossed it at him. "That's all I have! Now leave me alo-" A gunshot went off and the brown haired man felt pain in his chest. He looked down and noticed a hole in his jacket, right over his heart. It then began pumping out a steady stream of blood.
The brown haired man touched the hole and felt the wet blood on his fingertips. He looked up at the thug with wide eyes. The gun in the thug's hand shook possibly from adrenaline as smoke came out of the barrel.
"You shot me." The brown haired man slowly stated in shock as he began walking towards the thug, each step was slower and slower. His legs gave up halfway to the thug and he fell to his knees. Was this really how he was going to die, on his knees looking up at his murderer?
Was he really going to just end up as a quick two minute report on the news as someone who was unfortunately mugged and killed, quickly to be forgotten about the next day? Surely there was something more to his life than this?
The brown haired man noticed the thug kneel down and pull the wallet from his hand before picking up the bag and cash. He then ran off leaving the man alone. Did no one actually care that he got shot in the street?
He didn't notice anyone coming out of their apartments to help. He noticed a few people looking out their windows though, doing nothing but staring at a man dying alone on the sidewalk. He wanted to scream out for help, but by now, he was just too tired of it all. Maybe this would be easier, just to close his eyes and sleep.
He wished that there was someone there to be with him in his last moments. Dying alone just felt painful, it was like being forgotten by the world.
A haze started to enter his eyes, this was followed by black dots entering his vision before his vision turned completely black and his eyelids closed.
It was how James Murwood died, alone and forgotten. There was a small burial for him, in some random cemetery. The only attendees were the gravediggers. His killer was never found, and it took only a month before his apartment was rented out to someone else, all the things inside were sold to a thrift store to be frittered away.
James died, and no one cared.
At least he died in one world. James quickly tried to open his eyes but all he found was darkness, and immense warmth. Wherever he was, James felt like it was a coffin. He could barely move around, and his limbs weren't responding easily.
It was like this, in the darkness, that James wondered if this was what hell was like, not a place of suffering, just a tight darkness that you couldn't escape. This would've been terrible if he was claustrophobic, thankfully he wasn't.
An unknown amount of time passed, and at times, James could swear that he heard noises from the darkness. After a while, these noises became normal to hear. It was like a person was talking, but they were extremely muffled.
More time passed, and James wondered if he would ever escape from this confining darkness. And finally, he felt something different. It was like he was being pulled out of this darkness, and finally after being squeezed out of his prison, James found himself in blinding light. After blinking his eyes, he could start making out shapes, and eventually these shapes cleared up and he saw himself staring at a man with crimson hair.
He had odd purple eyes that showed much warmth in them. The red-haired man pulled James up and brought a knife to James. This caused James to freak out but then he noticed that the man brought the knife to his stomach and James looked down to see an umbilical cord connecting him to a red-haired woman who was smiling. A quick slice from the knife and the umbilical cord was cut and James was swaddled in a blue blanket. James wondered what the hell was happening. Why was his body that of an infant's? Why did it seem like he had just been born? Where was he?
None of these questions were answered, and James watched as the red-haired man walked over to the woman and passed him to her.
"Look, Tsuki, it's our son." The red-haired man stated which made James' mind run laps. Did...did he just reincarnate? James thought to himself. The woman cradled James' infant body and smiled down at him.
"His name is Mugen. He is our dream come true." The woman answered with joy. James wondered why he was being called Mugen? His name was James Murwood. He should be dead, not in the arms of a woman who had apparently just given birth to him!
Was this what happened to everyone that died in the world? Was Hinduism the correct religion to worship? If so, then that would be really awkward since he was atheist. James wanted to ask some questions, but he couldn't find an ability to say any words. They just came out as garbled mush.
"Mugen, you're going to grow up to be really amazing, just like your father. I'm so happy that I've been allowed to be your mother." Tsuki stated. James felt like he was making this moment profane by being here, somehow alive and as an infant, with the mind of a twenty-two year old.
"Tsuki, you should be resting after this, the birth was very long, and you must be tired after all of that." Arashi stated. Tsuki giggled at this.
"Your father is so bossy, Mugen. Guess you'll have to deal with it as well when you get older." Tsuki joked. James wondered if this was all a dream, though, if it was, it wasn't a completely bad dream. One where he had parents that loved and cared about him. It felt nice.
James felt his eyelids growing heavy. He was torn, if this was a dream, then it was a nice one, if not, then it was certainly a change. Finally, James felt his eyes completely shut once more.
James woke up once again. He tried to look around the room, but his head felt so heavy, and his limbs were completely immobilized. James looked down as best as he could and noticed that his body was still that of an infant's, guess it wasn't a dream after all.
His eyes searched around the room and he noticed that he was next to Tsuki, the woman who had given birth to him was asleep. James wished that he could move, or do anything really, but he was stuck and his infantile body was too weak to do anything. It was then that Tsuki stirred and opened her violet eyes.
"Oh, hello, Mugen. You're awake already. I must've been pretty tired as well, I usually am never asleep for this long in the morning." Tsuki commented. James just opted to remain silent. Tsuki then wrapped her arms around James and lifted him up to her chest. "You must be pretty hungry, right?"
James' eyes widened as he figured where this was heading. He did not want to deal with all aspects of being a child, certainly not puberty again, and definitely not this! Let's just say that by the end of that, James felt both embarrassed and emasculated. With that he resigned himself to closing his eyes once again and going back to sleep.
James was woken up by a jerking sensation on his body. He blearily opened his eyes and noticed Tsuki taking him up in her arms. She wore a brown, fur-lined jacket that was zipped up and a backpack filled with what James assumed were supplies.
James looked around the room and found Arashi wearing a short black cloak that obscured his upper body from view. He also had a bag strapped to his back.
Arashi smiled when he noticed James looking at him. He quickly walked over to James and Tsuki and rubbed James on his head and kissed Tsuki. The two then separated and Arashi spoke, "Do we have everything packed that we need?" He asked.
"I made sure, Arashi. I'd think that you would have more of an issue packing, what with your storage sealing being more subpar than mine." Tsuki teased. James just wondered what the hell that they were talking about.
"Tsuki, that was a low blow." Arashi said, pride slightly deflated from the insult.
"It's still true. You may be good at other types of sealing, but your ability with storing items is quite bad." Tsuki quickly began walking out of the room that they were in, leaving Arashi looking downtrodden as he did a quick once over on the room and then left with them.
During that conversation, James was going over the words that his second parents had said. What did they mean by sealing? Why did all of this have to be so confusing?
His questions weren't answered, and instead, the group made their way down a hallway and out into a room where an older man sat at a lacquered desk with a bell, a notebook with multiple names written into it, and a pen next to that notebook. The family made their way to the man.
The older man didn't even look up from his notebook as he read names until Arashi tapped on the bell. With a slight jump, the older man looked up to the red-headed family.
"Oh, hello, didn't even notice you there." He then looked at James who was in Tsuki's arms and smiled. "Ahh, so you finally had your child. I thought that I would've heard some noise come from your room because of it."
"I'm pretty tough. And we also had silencing seals placed around the room as a precaution." Tsuki answered. The older man nodded in understanding. James still wondered what the hell this sealing that they were talking about was.
"Then I'm happy that you are doing well. What's his name?"
"It's Mugen Uzumaki." Arashi replied. Mugen's ears perked up at the last name that Arashi said. Uzumaki, that was the same last name as that anime character, Naruto.
"That sounds like a good name." The older man gave James a once over, and quickly noticed how James' eyes followed his movements. "The boy seems quite intelligent. Seems more focused than other kids that I know." The man noted.
"He isn't a crier, that's for sure. Didn't make a peep when he was born." Arashi said, then he leaned in closer to the older man, "I was told all these horror stories of how having a kid for the first few years would mean very little sleep for us. Thank whatever deity is out there that Mugen isn't like that." The older man chuckled at this before patting Arashi on the shoulder.
"Trust me, even if he doesn't cry, he'll still do all the things that a baby will naturally do. He'll eat, poop, and piss like any normal kid. Trust me, cleanup is a nightmare when you are first starting as a parent." The older man then started flipping through his notebook until he came upon some symbols. At least that was what they looked like to James.
Seemed like some writing in Chinese or Japanese to him. Either way, he couldn't read it at all. James thanked whatever was out there that he could somehow understand the language that his parents were speaking now.
"Here it is," The older man pointed his finger at a line of lettering, possibly the names of James' new parents, "just sign right here and then you can leave." The older man held a pen out to Arashi who took it and wrote his name in the ledger. Arashi passed the pen to Tsuki, and she did the same.
When all that was done, the ledger was shut closed, "Thank you for doing business with us. If you are ever in the town, then come by and stay here again."
"We will, thanks for being so accommodating to us." Tsuki said before the red-heads began walking away.
"You're welcome." Were the last words they heard from the man as they exited the inn and stepped onto the road. The town, James noticed, had an oriental aesthetic to it. Most buildings that were on the street had sloped tile roofs, and there were quite a few paper windows on some of the buildings.
People milled about through the town while wagons pulled by horses made their way down either side of the street. "This was a nice little town." Arashi remarked as they walked down the street.
"Yes, it was. I really hope that the Leaf turns out to be like this town." Tsuki said. This caused the mental gears in James' head to turn. That name was very coincidental. It seemed way too unreal to be true though. After all, that world was just made up in a story, it couldn't be real.
As James tried to handle the fact that he might know where he was, his new parents, unknown to the mental gymnastics that he was going through, kept at a leisurely pace as they made it outside the gates of the little town they were in.
The change from civilization to nature was quite quick, as the dirt road that they walked on was surrounded by large swaths of forest that went on for seemingly miles. The sun's rays that beamed down upon the family were partially obscured by the leaves of the trees.
The noises of animals could be heard echoing throughout the forest. James quickly noticed that his father, Arashi, was constantly twitching and looking around at the slightest sound in the forest. Almost like he was used to being attacked by ambush.
Tsuki on the other hand seemed perfectly at ease, though her grip grew slightly tighter on James the more they walked.
"You know, now that we are so close to our goal, I wonder what we are actually going to do when we get to the village?" Arashi pondered in an effort to break the silence among the family.
Tsuki put her finger under her chin in contemplation. "Owning a bookshop was always a little dream of mine. Who knows, maybe when we get there I could set something up." Tsuki replied.
"A bookshop? I would've thought that you'd join the military." Arashi replied, "It's what I plan to do when I get there."
"And I probably would've done so, if we never had Mugen. After all, someone has to stay home and watch him. Being in the military would cut that time short that I could spend with him, as well as increase the risk of dying in the field and leaving Mugen all on his own. I don't want him to grow up to be an orphan like so many others." Tsuki answered.
James wondered if this is what having parents felt like. People who actually cared about you, and wanted what was best in your life. At the age of three, James' parents both died in an apartment fire which had, from the reports, suffocated them due to the smoke in their sleep. He had only survived it due to being in a room with a window next to the fire escape where a firefighter had rescued him.
"You really like to think ahead, don't you?" Arashi said.
"That's why you married me." Tsuki replied in a sing-song voice.
"Oh, bite me." Arashi retorted with barely held laughter.
"That could be arranged." Tsuki said coyly. James just felt awkward. Did he really have to watch his new parents flirt in front of him? This just seemed wrong on too many levels. Ignorant of how embarrassed James felt, the couple laughed together and held each other's hand. Having parents was probably going to kill James from embarrassment.
The family traveled for a few more hours, every once in a while they would take a break and eat or rest their legs, and in James' case, they would change the diapers that he was wearing and to feed him. James mentally cursed how his body couldn't hold in its bowels during this occurrence.
After three hours of hard walking, James couldn't keep his eyes open, he mainly blamed it on his infant body making him tired. When James opened his eyes again, the family was camped by a fire with a tent nearby. Roasting on a spit were two rabbits which were slowly turning a delicious brown. Tending to this fire and food while also reading a book was Tsuki.
The sky was slowly turning dark as the sun was in the first phases of setting which made James realize that this was his first day as a newborn. He had years of growing before he could actually do things for himself, that would be absolute torture.
"Food's done, Arashi." Tsuki announced as she pulled the spit away from the fire and set it on a nearby rock. A few snaps of twigs could be heard from off to the side which announced Arashi's presence as he entered into the light of the campfire. He sat down next to James before lifting him up off the ground and setting him in his lap.
"Just finished setting all the perimeter seals around the camp down. And I added some traps as well." Arashi stated as he was handed a stick with a cooked rabbit on it by Tsuki. With great gusto, Arashi dug into the food.
"Let's hope that nothing triggers those traps." Tsuki said as she too quickly gobbled the rabbit down. James guessed that his family really liked food. Why else would they otherwise eat like starving animals. It had only been a few hours since they left that town.
"We'll probably be fine. I doubt that anyone would actually find us in these woods." Arashi said reassuringly.
"I'm too used to the worst things happening at the calmest moments to believe that." Tsuki stated with bits of meat flying out of her mouth.
"You should really swallow your food before you talk." Tsuki rolled her eyes at this, "And we'll be fine with the perimeter seals doing their job. Everything is taken care of. I've taken precautions on everything that I could think of."
"If it turns out that you're wrong, I will punch you in the arm. Really hard." Tsuki added that at the end with her fist meeting her open palm. Both James and Arashi slightly jumped at the threat. James came to the conclusion that all moms could be scary.
When the adults finished dinner, James was fed by Tsuki once more, and the family made their way into the tent and quickly went to sleep. James could at least like one aspect of his infant body, it made falling asleep extremely easy. This ability would've been great when he was having insomnia at the age of twenty.
When James woke up, he found that the camp had been completely packed up already with him and his parents already on the road once again. James wondered how the hell they did that so fast and without waking him up at all?
His question wasn't answered, and instead the family continued moving forward.
While his parents walked and sometimes traded off on who got to carry him, James was in a sullen mood. He should be able to do things for himself, walk for himself, talk for himself, even wipe his own ass. But now, he was stuck like this, completely helpless.
Was this what all babies felt like, or was it just him? Either way, relying on his two new parents had slightly warmed him up to the idea of really looking at the two red-heads as parents. They took care of him, fed him, and tried to entertain him, and James found the idea of Arashi, a grown man, playing peek-a-boo with him to be hilarious.
Their journey was making progress, and a few days of being on the road had been exciting for James. For years he had been stuck living off of a small paycheck. Because of this, he'd never been able to travel and have some fun every once in a while. Instead he'd been forced to perform a daily grind of waking up, heading to work, working, heading home, and then finally sleeping, all so he could do it again the next day.
This was a change of pace that allowed him to see something besides the dull concrete jungle that he'd been living in for years. The woods were nice, and they had been going on forever. It was like they were in an ocean made up of trees.
Even with all the headway that it seemed his parents were making, James felt like they hadn't traveled that far, then again, everything started to blur together when you were in a huge forest. James fell asleep as it was one way to alleviate the boredom that he felt.
Soon enough the days started blurring together as James started noticing how the forest started getting less dense the further they traveled. With that in mind, James hoped that he would start seeing something other than trees for once.
James would embarrassingly admit that he had lost count of the days that they had been traveling. It wasn't exactly bad, but in a way, it slightly disappointed him that he was losing track of how long he'd been in this world. Perhaps it was due to his infant mind speeding everything up, or it might be due to him sleeping all the time.
It wasn't all bad though, his opinion on his parents hadn't changed after spending so much time with them. They were nice people, very paranoid, but nice people. His mom was always there, she'd speak to him and talk about random things. James wondered how his mom would react if she knew that he could understand everything that she was saying.
For his dad, he seemed like a real joker. Ignoring his protective streak, he was funny at times. Sure, mom would rein him in at times when they needed to be serious, but he could get a laugh out of James easily by acting like an idiot.
"Arashi, when do you think we should start teaching Mugen? I would understand sending him to an academy when he's old enough, but I really want to get him started soon enough." Tsuki asked randomly.
Arashi put his arm across Tsuki's shoulders and then reached under his cloak before pulling out a necklace with a tiny metal red scroll that was attached to a black chain. "I have everything that I want to show him in this." Arashi said before pulling off the necklace and holding it in front of Tsuki and Mugen.
"What is that?" Tsuki asked skeptically.
Arashi grinned before replying, "Since we've had to move repeatedly, I decided that I wanted to copy all of our family's techniques onto this in case something happened to my bag." James looked at the little scroll necklace and mentally scoffed at this.
What kind of family techniques fit onto a tiny scroll like that? Either there were barely any techniques on that scroll, or Arashi had really tiny handwriting. James put it off as one of his dad's jokes.
"At least you were prepared. Do you have my family's techniques on that as well?" Tsuki wondered.
"Yep. Got everything, I didn't want him to miss out on half his education." Arashi answered.
"That's good, otherwise I would've had to hit you if you forgot about my side of the family." Tsuki warned with a soft smile. Arashi rolled his eyes at this before putting the necklace back on and under his cloak.
"I was thinking of teaching him at five. It'll give us more time to prepare for when we can teach him, and he'll be old enough to know what he's actually doing." Arashi said.
"Sounds like you've been thinking about this longer than I have."
"Of course, dear, I want our son to grow up into a badass!" Arashi replied excitedly. He received a quick smack to the back of the head which made James scrunch his face as he could easily understand the pain his dad received. "Ow! What was that for!?" Arashi quickly demanded as he rubbed his head.
"Don't use that kind of language in front of Mugen. I don't want him growing up with the mouth of a sailor, got it, you jackass?" Tsuki said with thinly contained anger. James and Arashi easily started to giggle together. "What?" Tsuki asked, quickly losing the anger she had earlier.
"You also swore in front of Mugen." Arashi quickly pointed out her hypocrisy. This caused Tsuki's eyes to widen and a blush to grace her face. She began muttering under her breath as she walked past Arashi in embarrassment. Arashi on the other hand looked triumphant in his victory.
"When you grow up, Mugen, we're totally going to gang up on your dad together." Tsuki promised. James giggled at the immaturity of his mom.
Eventually Arashi caught up to them with a large grin on his face. "So, what are you both planning?" He asked jokingly.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Tsuki replied. Arashi just leaned over and kissed her hair.
"Love you too..." He teased before changing the subject, "I'd reckon that we are almost there by now. I'd give it a few hours before we make it." Arashi stated. Tsuki seemed relieved at the news. James was also quite relieved, it would mean that they could finally rest since being carried all the time was getting uncomfortable, and he was starting to get sick of traveling.
"When we get there, the first thing that I'm going to do is take a nice long bath. Warm water, well prepared food, the works." Tsuki said in happiness.
"I could go for something other than rabbit, that's for sure." Arashi complained.
James hoped that all of this traveling was worth it when they finally made it to this place. He also wondered what the town they were heading to would look like. Maybe it was going to be big. It probably would be surrounded by trees, what with it being called the Leaf and all. If it wasn't, then that would be a total cop out.
And Arashi was correct in his assumption that it would take a few hours to get to their destination. The sun was going down and the sky was slowly going dark. That was when James noticed the front gate and his eyes widened.
He looked through the opening of the front gate, and internally he was shouting, 'No, no, no, not this!' He didn't want to be reincarnated into this world. He would take his old life any day compared to living in a hell hole like this!
Through the gate, on a mountainside that towered over the village were four large faces carved into the side of the mountain. Above the gate to this village was a very familiar swirling leaf symbol.
"That whatever deity out there that we made it." Tsuki prayed with a smile on her face.
"Years of travel brought us here. It truly is amazing. Just like our parents said it would be." Arashi muttered as they walked closer to the gate.
While the two adults were celebrating the end of their journey to the village, James was mentally screaming at how he ended up being reincarnated into the world of Naruto. This was a terrible place to live in, one filled with wars, people dying left and right, giant monsters destroying villages.
How did this even happen? This was just supposed to be a story written by some guy in Japan. It shouldn't be an actual place where a person would reincarnate into!
James tried to take in deep breaths as he calmed himself down. Freaking out over this would not help him. Freaking out got him killed once, it wouldn't help him now. James hoped his parents didn't notice his panic earlier.
What he needed now was to figure out every important thing that he could remember about the manga he read. The only thing that came to mind was that everything started with the giant fox, Kurama, attacking this village.
His parents made their way to the guard post where two men wearing a headband with a metal plate that had a leaf symbol on it, and green flak jackets.
"What are your names and reason for coming here?" One of the men asked in a bored tone.
"We wanted to move here. We've been traveling for a while and we wanted to settle down, especially now that we just had Mugen." Tsuki said while motioning to James. In an effort to appear non hostile, James just smiled and giggled. Good thing that everyone likes kids.
"Names?" Just as the guard said this, a massive cloud of smoke exploded past some buildings. The shockwave from the explosion pushed Tsuki and James back slightly until a blue glow appeared at their feet and they stopped.
"What the hell was that?" Arashi asked aloud. He was answered quickly as the smoke quickly dispersed as a loud growling could be heard from where the family was. Then, a massive red fox rose above the dispersing smoke and roared as nine tails whipped around it.
'Oh shit.' Were the only words that came to mind as he watched the fox quickly stopped roaring and began smashing buildings with it's massive arms and tails. James was now utterly convinced of where he was as Arashi pulled the scroll necklace off of his neck and put it around James'.
"Mugen, take care of this for a while." The man said with a smirk before kissing Tsuki, "I'm going to see if there's anything I can do to help. I'll be back soon." When he did this, Arashi quickly leapt into the air higher than any normal human could and made it over the building. Then he leapt towards the rubbled area that Kurama was rampaging through.
Tsuki seemed conflicted as she looked at her husband jumping away, and then back to James in her arms. With a grimace, Tsuki made up her mind and kissed James on the forehead. Then she walked over to the two guards who were frozen in shock at the massive fox that was destroying buildings. "You two," Tsuki commanded which drew the guards out of their frozen state.
"What?" The guards said as they began making their way out of the booth they were in.
"I need you to get Mugen to someplace safe. I don't know this village enough to do so myself. I'm going to go and help my husband!" Tsuki stated as she handed James to one of the guards.
"But, you don't even live here! Why are you even helping us when you could just run away?" One of the guards asked.
"Because, I want Mugen to grow up in this village. I'm not going to sit by and watch as that thing destroys this place like my previous home was! Mugen isn't going to grow up living without a home like I did. Now shut up and keep him safe!" Tsuki ordered before taking off after Arashi.
This left James in the arms of one of the guards. There was sweat running down his brow and his black hair seemed disheveled because of everything that was happening. "Honda, you go and help, I'll get the kid to a shelter." The man said.
"Alright, be careful, Han." The man called Honda said before jumping away. Han just looked down at James and tried to give him a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, Mugen, we'll get you someplace nice and safe. You'll see your parents soon." Han said in as calm a tone as he could as he took a leap and started hopping across the roofs of the village away from the giant fox.
James was extremely worried for his parents. He didn't know what might happen to them, and he didn't want them to end up like his first parents. He was just starting to get warmed up to them.
Over Han's shoulder, James could see that the fox launched a massive black ball of energy at the mountain with the faces on it. Before the ball could strike, however, a massive array of seals appeared around it and swallowed the ball.
Then James noticed two small figures standing in front of the fox on top of a still standing building. It looked like Arashi had a large scroll in his hands while Tsuki leapt at the fox and golden chains sprouted from her body before smacking the nine tails into some buildings behind it.
Arashi followed this by opening his large scroll and firing out a rain of weapons which impacted against the fox before quickly exploding in a large blaze. Both Uzumakis seemed to relax at seeing this until a massive tail whipped out from the blaze at the couple.
While Tsuki formed multiple chains which moved in front of her and acted like a shield, Arashi wasn't as fortunate as he got caught on the tail and was launched with Tsuki through the walls of another building.
James cried out as he saw this. He wanted to do something, anything to help them. It was so frustrating watching this occur. If he had a body of someone who was older, maybe he could actually help them. It wasn't the case, sadly, he was stuck being carried by another adult out of the war zone. James noticed how the path they were taking was moving the two of them as far around the fox as they could while still heading towards the giant mountain with faces.
Han didn't pay attention to the battle that was raging on, he continued to make his way towards the mountain while James watched the battle continue over his shoulder.
What James saw worried him. Tsuki jumped out of the building surrounded by golden chains and started whipping them at the fox. The chains did some work at hurting the fox, but after getting hit enough times, the fox predicted the next attack and grabbed the chains before they could hit him.
In a roar, the fox swung the chains with Tsuki attached to them at a building which she crashed through and came out at the other side. The fox let the chains go and caused Tsuki to sail past some buildings until gravity brought her crashing down into a street behind a building.
That was all James was able to see of his parents as Han finally made it to the mountain. At the side was a doorway that had panicking civilians being escorted inside. Han made his way to the doorway and towards one of the shinobi helping the civilians inside.
"Kazuma, I need your help!" Han said over the voices of the panicking civilians. A man in a matching uniform, yet with closely shaven black hair that was graying responded. His headband wasn't tied to his forehead like many other shinobi here, his was tied on his belt.
"Han, what are you doing here? I would've thought that you'd be off trying to fight off the Nine Tails!" Kazuma asked.
"Plans have changed for me. I need to get this kid somewhere safe, his parents are off fighting that thing." Han answered quickly.
Kazuma nodded at this, "Just hand the kid to me. I'll take care of him from here."
"Thanks, Kazuma. The kid's name is Mugen." Han said as he handed James to the older man before turning around and nearly hopping away until Kazuma called after him.
"What's his family name?" Kazuma asked.
"No idea, his parents didn't say." Han replied before jumping back towards the battle. This left Kazuma looking down at Mugen.
"Well, Mugen, everything is going to be fine." Kazuma said in a friendly tone, treating James like he was about to start crying at any moment. "Let's get you inside, you'll be much safer there." Kazuma then made his way into the doorway which led into a long hallway that had lamps hanging above.
It was a little difficult for Kazuma to walk down the hallway as civilians moved around him like a river. The hallway began going down at an angle and deeper into the mountain. The experience that Kazuma exuded was quite evident during this process, he seemed completely calm and collected while those around him showed signs of fear, worry, and even anger.
James wanted to be awake during the event, but he felt his eyelids start to close on him. Oh how he despised his infant body. He wished to be awake, to know when his parents would come back for him, but while James' will was strong, his body was stronger and James' eyes finally closed and his world went into darkness once more.
When James woke up, he immediately scanned where he was and found himself inside a crib. He relaxed slightly as it was obvious that there wasn't any danger right now. There was still tension in him as he now wanted to know where he was. The last place he had been was that mountain bunker's hallway.
What had happened?
James waited for someone to come and check his crib, hopefully his mom and dad, but no one came. Patiently he waited for someone to come by, but when no one did, James' patience began wearing thin.
Reluctantly, James realized that there was one possible way of attracting the attention of an adult. Tucking away his dignity, James started wailing as hard as he could.
Much to his happiness, it only took a minute before the sound of a door opening was heard in his room. Hopefully his mom would be there.
His hopes were dashed when instead of Tsuki standing next to his crib, it was an older looking woman with graying hair that was tied up into a bun. Over her eyes was a pair of thickly-lensed glasses that made her green eyes seem huge.
"Hello dear, you must be hungry after all of the excitement that occurred." The woman said with a kind smile as she reached into the crib and picked James up and carried him out of it. She then grabbed a bottle from the pocket of her skirt and began feeding James with it.
As she did so, another person entered the room. She was much younger, maybe in her twenties with long green hair...wait what? James' mind skipped a track when he saw that woman's hair color. Was that real, or was it dyed?
"Another one, Matron?" The woman asked.
"This little one was one of the first to arrive. Apparently his parents were fighting that monster fox and left him in the care of some shinobi." The Matron replied.
The green haired girl quickly walked over to the Matron and James and looked down at him. "His hair is so red." She commented, "What's his name?"
"Sadly we only know his first name. It's Mugen, we were unable to find out what his last name was." The Matron said in an unhappy tone. It seemed to James like she had dealt with things like this before.
"But there has to be something. Surely his parents are Leaf villagers. They must have a record of him somewhere." The Matron shook her head. James would agree with looking into that option, well he would if he didn't already know that his parents were never a part of this village in the first place.
"The village is in chaos right now. Even if they did have the records available, there are more things that the village will be caring about than the identity of a single child. If no one comes to claim him, then he'll end up becoming a ward of the state." After saying this, the Matron checked to see if James was still hungry. When he didn't display any signs of hunger, she pulled the bottle away and set him back into the crib.
The adults then began discussing some matters of the orphanage that they were in as they left the room. After closing the door behind them, James was left to his own thoughts. Were his parents dead? He didn't know. If he was here longer than a week, then it was probably certain that his parents had perished while fighting Kurama.
And if the timeline occurred in this world like it did in the manga then Naruto Uzumaki would be the new jinchuuriki of Kurama. James sighed to himself as the knowledge of how badly his new life looked started sinking into his mind.
With a start, James realized that Arashi had left him that necklace of his. With some difficulty, James began prying apart the blanket that he was in to try and feel if he still had that necklace. The task wasn't easy due to how his body's limbs were uncoordinated and didn't really have that much muscle to them.
But, with enough perseverance, James was able to maneuver one of his hands to his chest where he could feel the metallic scroll of the necklace. James sighed in relief at this. Even though his hands weren't able to easily grasp the scroll and open it up to reveal what was inside, James felt calmed in the knowledge that he still had that necklace.
The necklace issue solved, James resigned himself to planning what to do next with his life. His parents had wanted him to begin learning at five, most likely how to be a ninja. It was either that, or learning how to pack up a campsite quickly, and James doubted that it was the latter.
His worrying would probably be all for nothing, his parents would show up by the end of the week and he'd be raised by them, something that his first set of parents hadn't been able to do. It would all work out in the end, even with this setback.
It was interesting though, being in a world where everyone could use an energy source produced by their bodies in a myriad of fantastic ways. Since his parents seemed like they were shinobi, then it was a given that he too could also use chakra, especially with being an Uzumaki. If he remembered correctly, they had extremely long lives, were quick healers, were great at sealing, and had large amounts of chakra.
Though without any evidence right now of his heritage, people would assume that he was a normal red-haired kid. And on another thought, having red hair would certainly be different. It would take a while to get used to, what with him having lived with dark hair all his life. A small fear about his hair was that it would grow into some stupid style like most characters in anime.
He really hoped that it wouldn't come to that.
Trying to avoid the implications of that thought, James started to wonder how he could use chakra. It seemed so simple in that show, but they never really explained it all that well. Maybe it came from knowing about it?
James remembered how a bunch of characters meditated in order to grow stronger, he could try to do that as well. With his mind set, and no other task that was easily available, James set about doing just that. He meditated constantly for days on end. The Matron and the green-haired girl whose name was Rin, believed that he was sleeping all the time, he let them believe that.
As the days passed, much to his disappointment and sadness, his parents never came for him at the end of the week. In an effort to avoid thinking about the implications of what this meant, James dug back into his meditations. He had nothing else to do with his time except eat, sleep, and soil himself so he spent his time meditating.
Unfortunately, even with this new self-imposed training, it didn't stop the slowly growing insanity that came from this isolation. He couldn't talk to anyone, not because he didn't want to, but because he found it extremely difficult to articulate words with his new body and a lack of teeth. In addition, the caretakers that did come to feed and interact with James treated him like an infant his body portrayed, and not as the adult he was in mind.
It was only so much that James could take of hearing adults speaking to him in condescending babied voices.
As time passed, even his attempts at meditation became a great hardship because more orphaned children were brought into the orphanage. Some were infants like him, others were old enough to be around the ages of eight to ten. The noise that all these new additions to the orphanage made it hard to concentrate on meditating. After a while, James stopped meditating throughout the day like he once had and instead had to wait for the rest of the orphans to finally go to bed before he could meditate.
On the other hand, a silver lining from these new additions was that he could listen in on conversations that some of the older children had. While many of these conversations were about inane things, there'd be some pieces of information that would pop up from the piles of useless conversation.
Children that had been left without family during the Nine Tails attack were being sent to a few different buildings within the village that served as orphanages. That told James that there was more than one place where the Leaf placed their orphans. In addition to this, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had taken up a leadership role once again due to his successor's death.
Sometimes, surprisingly, conversations from the workers at the orphanage would come up about himself, namely that he was one of the quietest infants that had ever resided at the orphanage. In addition, some found it creepy that he seemed so aware of everything around him, almost like he could understand what they were saying. That managed to entertain the reincarnated infant. It's not like they could prove that a baby had the mind of a person in their twenties.
Yet, after a while, James grew bored of listening in on conversations that he couldn't participate in. In an effort to keep his mind occupied, James spent time recalling information that he knew about the world of Naruto, from the names of important characters, to important events that had taken place throughout the story.
James promised himself that as soon as his body got strong enough, he'd be spending all of that time learning how to walk...and climb out of this damned crib.
These mind-numbing days continued for James as he went through a routine of sleeping, listening in on conversations, getting fed and changed by either the matron or Rin, ritually recalling the information that he knew about the world of Naruto so as not to forget, and meditating throughout the night in the hopes of awakening his chakra.
A few months in and James something different in the night during his meditations. It felt like a small warmth that pulsed through his small body and the more that he focused on that warmth, the more he was able to draw on it until the realization finally struck him and caused a toothless grin to grow on his face.
There was finally a breakthrough after so much time. He had unlocked his chakra.
Despite this success, James knew that he had a long and painful road ahead of himself, both in trying to keep himself sane until he was finally self-sufficient to walk on his own and mastering this chakra.
Either way he thought about it, this was going to be a rough few years.
4 Years Later
"Red-haired freak!" The voice of a child shouted, followed by a punch from a small fist. This punch slammed into the stomach of the target of this attack, a boy with untameable blood-red hair that spiked up on the left side of his head, and purple eyes. The boy collapsed to the ground and cradled his stomach with his left arm while his right arm held himself up from the dirt. The clothing he wore, a blue shirt, gray shorts, and blue sandals, were covered in dirt and blood.
"You should try using a newer insult. That one is getting old." The red-haired boy coughed out to the older bully. "Maybe try using my name; Mugen. That's a name that none of the other tormentors have used yet, Kai."
That answer angered the older boy and in response, the boy pulled his leg back in preparation to kick Mugen. Unseen to the older boy, a smirk grew on Mugen's face as his fist clenched a fistful of dirt with his right hand. Just as the bully's leg reached the apex of its arc, Mugen lashed out with his left hand and grabbed the other boy's exposed ankle before roughly pulling him off-balance.
The older boy gave a shout of surprise as he landed on his back. At the same time, Mugen rolled onto his feet and pounced onto Kai, making sure to drive his knees into his stomach. Kai's eyes were wide and his mouth gasped open as the air was driven out of his body. Mugen took that moment to throw the fistful of dirt at the boy, aiming for both his eyes and mouth.
Kai's hands instinctively reached to rub the dirt from his eyes, but Mugen didn't give him a chance to reprieve and began punching the boy's face until it was bruised and bloody. Finally, Mugen gave one final punch and rolled off Kai's moaning form before shakily pushing himself to his feet.
"For someone that's in the academy, you really aren't so tough without your…" Mugen trailed off as a pair of older boys approached, "...lackeys." Wiping some blood trailing from his nose with a sleeve, Mugen sighed as he had exhausted himself while fighting Kai. He knew he couldn't run, and he was too tired to put up much of a decent fight, so he prepared himself for the coming beating with a pair of fists shakily raised.
A moment later, the two boys charged and tackled Mugen to the ground before roughly punching and kicking him until he could do nothing but curl up into a ball and wait for the beating to finish. After a final kick, the red-haired boy felt himself being roughly lifted up by his arms.
Blinking his eyes open, Mugen was met with the grinning face of Kai's bloody one. He took some solace at the fact that Kai's grin was missing a few teeth. Then, Kai punched him in the face a few times before finishing with one final haymaker to his stomach. This caused Mugen to dry heave while the pair of boys that were holding him up finally released their grips, causing Mugen to collapse to the ground in a heap.
A moment later Kai's foot was pressing Mugen's head into the ground. "That's what you get for attacking your betters, freak! Next time, we'll do even worse if we see you again, so crawl back and hide in the hole that you came from." Finally, the pressure lifted from Mugen's head and a trio of steps were heard walking away.
With some pained effort, Mugen rolled onto his back and stared at the blue sky through tired eyes. Days like these were pretty typical for the reincarnated boy. He found out the hard way that his hair and eye color made him the target of ridicule and bullying. This was only compounded by Mugen's unsociable nature, brought on by the fact that he rarely interacted with other kids his age.
At the age of three, a few things happened since James decided to just accept his new identity of Mugen, following this, he had also asked the matron of the orphanage to teach him how to read. After a few months, he could usually be found reading from the orphanage's small library instead of playing with toys or games like other children his age would. Truthfully, Mugen could only blame his own actions for making himself such a target.
Adults liked to call Mugen a prodigy as he had been the first of his age group to walk and talk. Compounding this was how much smarter he appeared to the other children his age. And yet, these compliments annoyed the reincarnated child to no ends. He wasn't a prodigy like all of the adults believed, he just had done all of this before. It'd likely become more noticeable when he got older and everyone realized that he wasn't the genius that they thought he was.
Regardless of his personal feelings about this, these praises created resentment in the older children who thought he was haughty while the younger children just couldn't relate to him. All of these reasons were just another part of why he was bullied.
Slowly reaching his hand up to his neck, Mugen felt for the necklace his parents had left him and noticed that the familiar weight was missing. "Shit." He said to himself, reasoning that it must've slipped from his neck during the fight. With a hiss of pain, Mugen pushed himself up into a sitting position. At least a perk that came with his biology was that he healed slightly faster than most. Unfortunately, that would do nothing to numb the pain he'd be feeling for the next week or two.
Quickly scanning the ground for the metallic glint of his necklace in the dirt, Mugen was unable to find the object and prepared himself to get up and start walking around the area in search of the keepsake. Yet, before he could begin his search, a voice spoke up from behind him, causing Mugen to slightly jump in surprise. Turning around, Mugen's locked onto the familiar necklace being held in front of him.
"Is this yours?" The voice of a young girl asked. A sense of relief filled the reincarnated boy at seeing the familiar object.
"Yeah, it's mine." The reincarnated boy reached out and grabbed hold of the necklace, "Thank you-" Mugen's voice trailed off as his purple eyes met a pair bright cerulean orbs. Slowly, after tearing his focus away from the girl's eyes, his eyes were attracted to the bright yellow hair that was tied into a pair of pigtails. Finally, looking at her face, Mugen spotted three whisker-like marks on both of the girl's cheeks.
Slowly, the realization dawned on Mugen that in this world, Naruto Uzumaki was actually a girl. He reasoned that this little factoid had managed to elude him due to his tendency of staying away from most adults and children near him. Yet, as he studied the girl in front of him, it didn't go unnoticed since the girl seemed to flinch at his gaze, as if expecting some sort of judgement to be made. Just as the girl seemed resigned to this imagined judgment, Mugen completely surprised her.
"I'm Mugen. What's your name?"
"It's Naruko Uzumaki, y'know." Naruko answered with a verbal tic which made Mugen smirk in amusement.
"Guess this means that we're friends now. Thanks for helping me, Naruko." The reincarnated boy said while holding out his hand to her. Like the flip of a switch, the depressed resignation that had radiated from the girl earlier had disappeared, and a massive smile grew across her face while her eyes filled with joy.
"You're welcome, Mugen." She replied while gripping her new friend's hand and helping to pull him onto his feet. Slowly, Mugen took a few moments to brush off some of the dirt clinging to his clothes before putting the necklace back around his neck and watching it fall into its familiar resting place.
Finally, Mugen tried to take a testing step forward but found himself only able to limp. Looking over to his new friend with a slightly guilty glance, the boy asked, "Would you be willing to help me walk back to my home? The place I live in is pretty far away to begin walking to at the moment." Naruko quickly nodded, causing her pigtails to bob behind her.
She then took Mugen's right arm and threw it over her shoulder before helping him limp away from the small park. "Sorry about not getting to you before those boys beat you up." She said as the young pair made it onto the street together.
"It's fine. They were older and stronger than both of us. Better that only one of us got hurt than both." Mugen replied with a reassuring grin which seemed to satisfy Naruko's worries.
"I saw you a few times running from or fighting bullies like them in the park. Why do they keep trying to beat you up?" Naruko inquisitively asked. Mugen tried to give her a shrug but the effort felt too painful.
"I'm a red-haired, orphaned, freak in their eyes. They see my differences as a reason to hurt me." Mugen answered which caused Naruko's eyes to widen in a sense of familiarity.
"You're like me. I don't have a family either, y'know. Maybe people like to hurt us because we're orphans?" Naruko sadly reasoned.
"Could be. But why would people want to hurt you? You're nice. Those whiskers you have just make you look friendlier." Mugen pointed out before fingering a lock of his red hair, "Other kids think that my hair is weird because it looks like blood."
"I don't think it looks weird. I like your hair color since it makes up one of my favorite colors. The best color is orange, y'know." Naruko complimented before pointing to the orange skirt that she was wearing. Even though these were the words from a young child, Mugen was actually thankful that there was someone who didn't hate his hair color.
For a long time, other children would constantly insult his hair color, and while he had learned to tune out the childish insults, they did wear on him as time went on.
"Thanks, Naruko. I also think that orange is a neat color." Mugen replied which seemed to make Naruko act victorious that someone finally agreed with her about the color orange. "You mentioned that you're an orphan as well? Which orphanage do you live at since I've never seen you at mine?"
Naruko seemed saddened at the topic but immediately covered it up with a grin, "I'm special because Old Geezer Saru gave me my own apartment to live in! I don't have to share my things with others like you'd do at the orphanage. No adults are there to tell me what to do, so I can eat what I want and stay up for a long as I want to, y'know." She explained with a great amount of bravado, yet Mugen could easily see that her eyes didn't match the excitement of her voice.
"Seems a bit lonely. Do you at least get to bring friends over to your apartment whenever you want to?" Naruko looked away from the reincarnated boy with shame in her eyes.
"I don't really have friends, y'know. You're the first one I've made since all the other kids avoid me. Sometimes Old Geezer Saru comes by, but it's like, once a month." While it was one thing to watch a fictional series about a person being ostracized, it was something else to actually meet that same ostracized individual and see the damage such actions could cause to them.
Mugen did well to hide it, but internally he was seething at the actions that the ignorant adults of this village were doing to this young girl. In an effort to cheer her up, Mugen chose his next words carefully.
"Well, later when I feel a bit better, why don't you take me to see your place? That way I can be the first friend that you bring to your home." Naruko's face filled with excitement upon hearing this.
"Really?"
"It's a promise." It warmed Mugen's heart to see how a few words could truly help someone during difficult times. Yet, even though this was a happy moment for the girl, the reincarnated boy couldn't help but notice the looks and whispering that came from the adults around the pair. Some held looks of fear, others of hatred, but all of them were directed at the sunny girl helping Mugen walk down the street.
This whispering grew louder as the pair continued their journey until it finally came to a head as a fruit vendor on the side of the street called out, "Boy, get away from that girl! She's dangerous!" Mugen felt Naruko flinch at these words. In turn Mugen turned his purple eyes to the vendor and glared with the kind of eyes that didn't belong to a four-year-old child.
"If she's so dangerous, then why is she the only one helping me?" Mugen shot back, "Keep your assumptions to yourself because they can end up making an ass out of yourself!" The man's jaw dropped at the words and tone uttered by this red-haired child. Much to Mugen's delight, no one else near them said anything else to the pair.
When Mugen glanced over to his companion, he noticed that all the tension that had bottled up inside her at the encounter had vanished to be replaced by relief. Then, she laughed, "Did you see that guy's face? He was all like," Naruko then made an exaggerated version of the vendor's expression, "And you called him ass and he didn't say anything back!"
"He was making up lies about my friend. Someone had to call him out since none of the other adults did."
"But that was so cool! I thought that I was the only one that talked to adults like that." Mugen chuckled at hearing Naruko's brag about disrespecting adults.
"How do you normally talk to adults like that guy?" Mugen asked with amusement. That question managed to open the floodgates of conversation as Naruko spent the next couple of minutes regaling the redhead about all the things she had called adults that insulted or upset her. In addition to that, she also mentioned a few of the small pranks that she pulled as revenge against certain adults that really upset her.
Mugen got so caught up in listening to the girl that the pair almost walked past the entrance of the orphanage. That was the moment that Mugen stopped Naruko and turned her to the entrance of the building.
"Home sweet home." Mugen muttered bleakly. "Wanna come inside?"
"Are you sure? Adults tend to not like it when I come into places." Naruko said nervously.
"Screw them. If anyone says anything, then they can take it up with me." With that reassurance, the pair walked into the building together and towards a set of stairs at the end of a corridor with multiple doors that led up to the second floor where his room was located. Unfortunately for Mugen, their progress was stopped when a female voice from a room that they passed called out.
"Mugen, did it happen again?" A worried but stern voice asked. This wasn't the first time that Mugen had come home covered in dirt and blood, and it was also the reason that Mugen had been hoping that the Matron named Chin wouldn't notice his arrival. With resignation, Mugen pulled back so that he could be seen in the doorway.
"Sorry, Matron Chin. Would've walked away with less bruises if I hadn't been outnumbered. I'm heading to my bed to rest for a bit." Mugen answered as he looked at the elder woman with a hint of guilt.
"Not like that you aren't. You need to get cleaned up or else you'll get your bedsheets covered in blood and dirt. Now, come over here." While Mugen wanted to argue against the command but felt too tired to put the energy into doing so. With that, Mugen pulled Naruko into view and they both entered the room.
"Who is your friend-" Matron Chin trailed off as she got a good look at the young blonde. Then, her eyes turned harsh, "Mugen, get away from that thing!" Mugen's eyes turned harsh while he stayed exactly in place.
"Boy, I told you to get away from that dangerous beast!" Then, she turned her attention to the frightened object of her hatred, "How dare you come to this place, you monster! Are you here to taunt us with the fruits of your labor?!" As Matron Chin stomped over to Naruko with her hand outstretched to slap the girl, Mugen moved into the way at the last second as a painful burning sensation filled his left cheek and the sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed throughout the hallway.
"We'll be going now. Don't do that again." Mugen growled out in the tone that should never belong to a child. His purple eyes seemed to bore into Matron Chin's soul which caused the older woman to unconsciously take a step back with a sense of primal fear.
Mugen felt satisfied with that reaction and he began leading Naruko away from the silent woman. In addition, he even walked away from the room without a limp, the pain of walking normally had been dulled by the adrenaline coursing through his vein and the hot throbbing that came from his cheek.
The trip up to Mugen's room was completely silent until he closed the door behind the two of them and walked over to a duffle bag by his bed. He hadn't planned on filling it until next week when he planned to go training his aim with kunai and shuriken away from prying eyes. He'd learned the hard way that Matron Chin had no tolerance for throwing weapons around or inside the orphanage.
"Are you okay?" Naruko quietly asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. The bat's slap has become pretty weak with age, and it doesn't change the pain I already feel from my beating." The redhead answered while unzipping the bag to reveal some shuriken, kunai, and camping supplies. Carefully, Mugen began to fill the bag with a few pairs of clothes, some blankets, a notebook, and a small amount of ryo that he'd been saving up for a while before zipping the bag up and slinging it over his shoulder.
"What's with the bag?" Naruko asked with confusion at the boy's actions.
"You alright with me staying the night at your place? I'd rather not stay here if Chin tries to treat you like that." Naruko quickly nodded before walking over to Mugen and taking the bag off his shoulder and slinging it over hers.
"You shouldn't carry heavy things after being hurt." Mugen nodded in acceptance before the two left the barren room and walked down the stairs. Standing at the doorway where they left her, Chin glared at Naruko as the pair walked past her and out the door.
After some time of walking, the pair arrived at a large apartment complex that looked like it had seen better days. There was paint that was flaking off the building in large swatches while a lot of the pipes were covered in rust.
Instead of heading inside the building to use the stairs, Naruko led Mugen to the side of the building that had a set of stairs that acted as a fire escape. The pair walked the fire escape, and Mugen noted that the stairs were covered in vines and trash. In addition, a door was positioned at each story of the build to open out to the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, the pair arrived at a faded green door with the words 'Demon Bitch' painted in red lettering across it. Mugen decided to remind himself to clean those words off the door at a later time. Naruko pushed the door open quickly after that and the pair entered a small hallway with a set of stairs to the left of them and a single door in front of them.
Naruko quickly pulled out a key from the pocket of her skirt and unlocked the faded brown door before pushing it open. Looking over her shoulder, Mugen saw a small kitchen with a window looking out to the street and a single table with four chairs that surrounded it. Naruko entered the room and took off her sandals before placing them off to the side, an action that Mugen mimicked as he followed her inside.
Closing the door behind him, Mugen saw an old-looking refrigerator and sink on the other side of the room. Aside from normal furniture, there was also a myriad of potted plants scattered throughout the room. Some were on the table while others rested on the windowsill.
To the immediate right was another small room, that had doorways to two more rooms, which contained a small couch and a worn-down television set. Naruko set Mugen's bag down on the couch and pointed to the doorway on the left, "If you wanna clean up, the bathroom is there."
"Thanks. I'll be out in a few minutes." Mugen said.
Upon entering the room, Naruko called after him, "Towels are under the sink." When the redhead looked under the sink, he spotted a small pile of orange towels.
'At least she's consistent.' Mugen thought as he pulled one of the towels off the pile and climbed up onto the stool in front of the sink to see himself in the mirror. Examining his nose, he was happy to note that it hadn't been broken during the fight. Still, his face was either bruised or covered in blood.
Turning on the sink, Mugen splashed his face a few times before wiping his face down with the towel. After a bit of wincing from his injuries being touched by the towel, Mugen washed his face once more before drying it once again with the towel. Finally, Mugen got a better look at the injuries to his face.
There were a few cuts on his lips, a scratch on his right cheek, and a lot of bruising covering the rest of his cheeks and forehead. Pulling his shirt off, Mugen saw his entire torso just consisted of one giant bruise. He left the shirt rolled up into a ball and continued wiping off any remaining dirt and blood that he could find.
From previous injuries that he'd gotten before, the bruising would disappear within the week, though some of the pain would still remain. The cuts would take a bit longer to heal, but he wasn't that worried about them.
Upon finishing this final inspection, Mugen wrapped up the shirt with the towel and stepped out of the bathroom feeling a bit better. Taking a few slow steps to the couch where Naruko was sitting, watching an old movie on the television, Mugen joined her on the couch and opened up the duffle bag to pull out a blanket before covering himself.
"I'm going to take a nap for a bit." Mugen stated to the blonde.
"Want me to turn off the movie?" Naruko asked.
"You can leave it on. The noise won't bother me." Mugen replied with confidence.
"Are you sure-" Naruko cut herself off mid sentence as she saw that her new friend had already fallen asleep. She smiled, as even when her friend was sleeping, she at least wasn't alone in her apartment for once. She slowly leaned back into her well-worn green couch happier than she had been in a long time.
Writer's block is a bitch along with life issues. Because of that, I was only able to slightly conquer it by doing a different story. What do you think?
Anyways, I'm going off to nurse a hangover.
Stay frosty my friends.