Ok, first of all, i am so fucking sorry. it took me well over a month to write chapter and i planned too much! The original ch 15 was 11k, so I'm splitting it up. idk when i'll be putting up the second part!
I am on twt at ammillefleur and i'm trying to post updates on the hashtag Oniyuri_amy_updates
you can use twt to yell at me if i haven't informed you of the lastest update
(If it's not obvious then I have no idea how to garden other than to weed. Im so sorry)
Oniyuri winced when the adult beside her abruptly bellowed, calling curious shoppers to inspect their fantastic antique stock. Oniyuri quickly scurried away when his voice did not lower in volume. It was a little hard to track where she was because every other pedestrian towered over her, packed so dense she could barely see the shops around her.
When she stuck to the sides, well, it usually ended up with someone yelling right above her.
She marched onwards nevertheless, head held high to observe all the shop names. She was in the right area – before she was trying to find a bookstore in the fresh seafood area. At least here, in the antique/furniture area, she might stumble across a bookstore.
It was when the crowd slightly thinned, a little space among the marching rows of stores for adults to mingle while enjoying beverages from the nearby stall, did she see another head only barely taller than herself. A rather familiar head too. She amped up her speed a touch and quickly found herself in sleeve-tugging distance.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be in school?" She asked Shikamaru, smiling over to Chouji.
"Yep," Chouji said in reply and failed to elaborate. Well, Shikamaru was smart enough to skip, in her opinion. Naruto and his friends originally skipped all the time, and that didn't seem to hinder them.
"Well, you should help me. I'm looking for the largest bookstore in Konoha." She huffed. "I've been looking."
"You mean this one?" Shikamaru gestured to the store she caught them outside of. Sure enough, the kanji for bookstore were engraved in a massive wooden plank hoisted above the front window and door. She'd passed this before, but the windows were small and the building didn't seem to be bigger than a small trinket and souvenir stores that clustered around her hotel.
Either it was bigger on the inside or… her standard for 'large bookstore' is extremely skewered. It was probably the latter. She withheld a sigh. The selection range for Himawari's present was looking to be extremely limited.
She strode through the door and paused when she didn't hear it close. When she spared a glance, Oniyuri was surprised to see Shikamaru and Chouji behind her. "Are bookstores that interesting?"
"Nah, but you are." Shikamaru shrugged and slipped between her and a stack of books to wander down the aisle. Oniyuri was slightly taken back by the comment. She hadn't really gotten close with Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru, despite talking with them every school day. On those days, she simply stayed close with Naruto and occasionally contributed to the conversation.
So, no, she didn't know how to react. Was it a compliment? Was she the most interesting thing at this moment? Was Shikamaru so bored currently he'd follow a quiet girl into a bookstore where she'd no doubt get caught up reading stories? His mind was hard to follow, and more so because Oniyuri knew of his genius intelligence.
She was so caught up in her own thoughts it took her a while to realise that yes, the library was large on the inside. Not only did it not restrict itself to single floor bookshelves, but as she realised when she walked past a fenced hole in the floor, it also extended down into the ground. Automatically, she could feel herself getting hyped up from the presence of so many books and epic architecture.
Passing books' titles caught her attention, pretty soon she broke away from the group to wander closer to a bookshelf. This area seemed to be all Western-style bound books. When she peeked over the fancy fence to peer into the lower areas, they all seemed to be scrolls.
"Welcome to Fire Tree store." Shikamaru said, not a note of interest or pride in his voice, "The upper floors are for civilians, the lower for specialised restrictions." So ninjas, basically. Maybe a few physics or construction subjects too. She reached out to touch the smooth planks of the furniture. While it was possible to see for ages upwards, the horizontal vector was limited to the many aisles. There was a little breathing room between the shelves and the open hole, and she could even spot a small reading corner built into the wall a few metres up. The design and embellishment seemed to be 'wooden and plants.' Not only were there several lively plants everywhere but where there wasn't a bookshelf was beautifully engraved pictures of plants and ninjas among forests. She wandered towards a spiral staircase and noticed that the rail finished in a stylised ball of flame.
Wait, a staircase? The bookshelves already dominated both the first and second floor. By craning her head back, she could see that it did rise to vanish into the ceiling.
"That goes to the third floor. It's pretty small, although we can't go up there." Shikamaru huffed.
"Something about adults only." Chouji tacked on.
She scoffed. "Are you training to become ninjas, or are you training to become ninjas?"
Chouji decided to keep a lookout at the reading cranny, a few children's books keeping him company. Oniyuri and Shikamaru ducked under the thin chain and raced up the stairs as quiet as they could. There was a door, and just as Oniyuri expected, a large sheet of paper declaring adults only in bright red. Shikamaru was tall enough to reach for the handle, but it caught. Locked.
She reached forward and brought forth her water without a word. Shikamaru made a small noise of shock when he saw the tendrils of water bridge between her and the handle, slipping through the cracks between the doorway and the door. It was hard trying to direct her water without seeing was she was supposed to do. Touch couldn't be transferred through the water, so all she could do was make the same motions over and over until the satisfying clunk of a door opening was heard.
Shikamaru stepped forward to open the door, but she quickly spread her water over the gap that had appeared. "No!' She pointed a finger at him. "Only those who earn the right to enter can! You shall not pass!" The reality was that even with his intelligence, she just didn't want to expose him to explicit stuff yet. Certainly not the garbage only available in this world. She stuck out her tongue and waved him off. She didn't have enough water to cover the gap needed to slip through.
Reluctantly, Shikamaru vanished down the stairs. It didn't look like he was returning, so she withdrew her water and snuck through. Really, what were they thinking with such a simple lock? Then again, this was only a civilian shop and all ninjas are considered adults anyway.
There wasn't a soul in sight in the explicit section, which wasn't surprising, as the rest of the bookstore seemingly only had the three of them and two other customers hovering over their own pile of books. It did mean she didn't have to be sneaky.
The third floor wasn't as large; the bookshelves were short and were more clustered than downstairs. Here everything was Western-style bound as well. There wasn't much to see, other than a few promotional posters, so she found the 'best-selling' section and picked out the top three recommended books.
Shoving them into her yukata, she observed the door handle once more, but it seemed to lock automatically, so she simply slipped through once more, her ransoms hidden under her shirt.
Shikamaru had joined Chouji in the reading cranny, collapsed over some incredibly fluffy pillows awkwardly. "Did you get anything interesting?"
Oniyuri shrugged. The covers were innocuous enough, so she flashed one before hiding it again in her clothes. "I need to get a few more books, and then I'm done."
"How ya gonna get them out the door?"
"Do you know henge?"
Shikamaru grumbled. She took that as a yes and slipped down the ladder to mingle with the rest of the normal books. She picked out a history book, a language book, a culture book, several fiction stories, some for herself and some for Himawari, and returned to the cranny.
"Alright, here's what we're going to do." She announced, planting her hands on her hips. "Someone needs to henge into an adult, carry the books to the counter. The second person and I will begin to exit the store. You'll need to spill the books if someone eyes you sus, and panic when I try to help you up. When you reach the counter, avoid eye contact with the assistant. While paying, make sure to have the exact amount ready. I'll help you."
Chouji cocked his head. "That's different from what we're taught in class."
"Hm?"
"We're supposed to make no scenes, always make eye contact, and generally not… that."
"No," Shikamaru interjected before she could reply. "She's changing her actions responding to the special books. There's something about them that requires us to act out if it makes us blend in."
"To put it simply, yes." She grinned at Shikamaru. "Who's gonna henge? I can't."
Shikamaru held his hands together and a few seconds later there was a nondescript civilian before them. He still had a pouch on his thigh, the rough size a resting ninja would have. "Let's go," he said, carefully walking over to the ladder. Oniyuri picked out the required money and handed over the books. The adult context was carefully sandwiched between the normal books, and when Shikamaru took them, he carried them so the spines were pressed into his body. Good.
And so the scene was set. Oniyuri began a conversation about food and Chouji took to the conversation about his clan's many restaurants like a duck to water. Shikamaru chose another aisle to get to the register, vanishing from sight. Oniyuri stepped out from the last bookshelf, hoping to see Shikamaru's disguise at the register, only to run into the man himself. She almost felt pride in his actions.
When she reached for the books – notably one of the adult books first – Shikamaru didn't react. It wasn't until she reached for another book did he 'panic' and snatch the books out of her hands. So no, his acting wasn't perfect, but neither was hers.
She didn't see the rest of his interaction as Chouji and her exited straight away, but he joined them in the alleyway beside the bookstore not four minutes later. The henge disappeared, revealing Shikamaru with a satisfied smirk.
"Easy," He declared. "They seemed to be calmed by my nervous behaviour." She smiled at him and reached for the brown paper bag. Shikamaru, the little shit, raised it until it was above her arms reach.
"Whoa hold on," he used his other hand to push on her chest. "You gotta repay me for that stunt."
"What do you want then?" she challenged. Hopefully, he wouldn't want the books himself.
"Find me a new cloud watching spot. It's gotta be quiet, comfy and most importantly, somewhere where nobody can find us."
She tilted her head slightly. Where could they go? It had to be somewhere Shikamaru hadn't been yet, so most likely she'd need to create a space to cloud watch… Where could they go?
An idea popped into her head. It would take a lot of mental strength on her behalf, buuuut it would also be really cool.
Oniyuri crossed her arms and gave Shikamaru a stubborn look. "Follow me then," Shikamaru's face momentarily lost its haughty smirk, but he defaulted to his vacant bored look and slouched posture, raising an expectant eyebrow.
They entered back into the throng of shoppers, Oniyuri leading them towards the giant tree of the Centre Square. When they popped out into the open space under its vast branches, she continued North to the training grounds. They only had access to the grounds for academy students, a small area situated in the corner between where the North and East roads met at the Square. There were plenty of trees and clearings, but not a lot of grass because of the heavy foot traffic.
It was currently unpopulated - because hey, the academy was currently in session – so discounting the lack of grass, it was almost a perfect place for Shikamaru to cloud watch.
"Alright," she said to herself, and mentally prepared herself for the daunting task. Before she can begin though, Shikamaru piped up.
"Hold on," he grumbled. "A good cloud watching spot needs comfy grass to lay on." He scuffed the bare earth. It was the dusty dirt too, dried from months of the hot sun. She didn't even look at him, just held up her pointer finger to the sky as a universal sign of 'shut up' and stalked over to where the trees' leaves were the thinnest.
There was a little area where the sunlight shone directly through to the tree's trunk. That was a little strange for a living thing that used its leaves to soak up food and nutrients from the sun and not bark, but she gladly took it without asking. The closer it was to the trunk, the less stress on her.
Trickling from her stomach, over her armpits, down her arm, over her wrist and palm, a stream of water hovered in the air. It was rather thin, but she could help 'stand' the slab of water with support from the tree. Thankfully strength was something she'd been working on for months, so when she stepped out on to the hovering platform it only wavered for a bit.
"Alright come up!" she called, and soon Shikamaru appeared among the branches. He regarded her hard work with a suspicious eye. He tested with one foot first, to which she rolled her eyes and laid back, tucking her palms under her head and closing her eyes. Despite her serene posture, it was taking considerable brainpower to enforce her mental energy to support their weight.
Shikamaru finally decided that it was safe and laid down beside Oniyuri, a small huff of breath leaving him as he found comfort. She slightly loosened the tension around the top now that he was settled, creating a little give to make it even comfier.
"I'm just gonna stay down here. That's too high for me." Chouji called, but she could barely spare the mental capabilities to do more than a wave in his general direction. She opened her eyes, enjoying the feel of the tree's shadow covering her body. Shikamaru was bathed entirely in the golden glow of sunlight, and although his body looked like he was asleep, his eyes were wide open, observing the sky above.
She raised her eyes too, and although the leaves crowded her vision, she could still see the white fluffy clouds smothering the sky. Her vision slowly lost focus, and her muscles began to relax.
Her focus snaps back again when she felt the water underneath her wobble. After stabilising the platform, she turned her attention to whatever her eyes had naturally fallen on: a twig, end snapped off. It took a few seconds to not only realise that the surrounding twigs were also snapped off, but nearly all the branches that reached forward to the open hole in the canopy were slightly burnt.
Oh! Somehow, someone accidentally either fell through this free or set it on fire. But that also raised the question of how an academy student could do that… there were too many unknown influences to even begin to discern what happened. She shook her head once and closed her eyes again.
"The breeze is nice, isn't it?" she commented, soul-warming at the sound of the leaves gently rustling. "Can I have my books now?"
Shikamaru huffed and slid over the paper bag. She peeked inside and the black plastic wrapped around the three adult books looked to be untouched. Good. Although she was skirting the realm of 'appropriate' with being mentally old but still definitely three-years-old, Shikamaru and Chouji were still certainly underage. She felt weary for doing this around them.
"Don't get into that room until you're a ninja, or I'll never make another cloud watching area." She nudged Shikamaru when he didn't respond. "And you've asked your parents about that room and why those books are hidden away."
He grunted and finally closed his eyes and threw his arm over his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. And there's barely a breeze."
There was definitely a breeze, she grumbled but didn't voice it. He probably wouldn't appreciate the calm tunes of leaves.
She settled down just to listen to the wind and Shikamaru's breaths. And also keeping the thing that was floating, ya know, afloat.
One of the days previous Oniyuri bypassed a florist and couldn't resist buying one of the potted plants. It was one of the cheapest products there, and probably wouldn't last long, but it wasn't for her.
She loved to give random gifts to her friends. For absolutely no reason at all, she could just give them something and alongside something to brighten their day with. Flowers are always a welcome present, so she gave the little potted plant to Naruto.
That turned into teaching him how to care for plants and even running out to get a book from Fire Tree bookstore about gardening. And that lead to the beginnings of a small garden, both floral and vegetable, appearing before his small apartment. Thank god she'd pushed for the first floor.
The little garden was set right against the wall of the block, and could only be accessible from inside by climbing out of the window in the kitchen. Not very practical, but they couldn't install a door without the landlord's permission.
Today was Sunday, which meant weeding. Given that Naruto was very serious about gardening, they'd started at seven o'clock in the morning and worked straight since. The ground had been slightly soft from the moisture left overnight – it was starting to get a little cold at night – which was perfect for weeding.
Weeding was done not long after, because Naruto did it every week, sometimes even without her. She could see him doing this for the rest of his life. There were other things to do – small things that to be honest, Oniyuri didn't really understand. Naruto had quickly become an expert in gardening, thanks to his long conversations with another gardening nut somewhere in the neighbourhood. Oniyuri never saw who this civilian was, but the result was her just following whatever orders Naruto had.
She was threading her hands through the ground one last time, enjoying the softness of the soil. When Naruto declared he wanted to start a garden, the ground was so solid they had a hard time digging up areas for plots. With the nutrient-rich soil now resting before Naruto's apartment, the little saplings and small growths were showing signs of flourishing.
"Oniyuri! Ramen is ready!" Naruto called. She turned to see him leaning out of the window, waving exorbitantly at her, even though she was only a few steps away from the window. She grinned in acknowledgement, lightly smacking her hands together to shake the dirt off as she approached. "I even did yours in that weird way."
"And I know how much it physically pains you." Naruto gave her a look, the one she was coming to recognise as 'you're speaking like an old person again and I'm too young to understand' or something along those lines. He had yet been exposed to lines like these, so she was no stranger to the awkward pauses in conversations because of the stuff she'd say.
She hoisted herself up the ledge, legs straining to push off the well-placed rocks. Oniyuri more or less fell into the apartment and grimaced at the sight of the dirt getting everywhere in the kitchen. She'd placed a little mat under the window but it was already quite dirty.
Her bowl sat opposite Naruto's. The hot steaming water in his was a hair's breadth away from the lip of the bowl, while hers didn't have a drop. The noodles were slightly soft, which is what mattered, so she poured the little flavour packets and a few slices of meat over the top and furiously mixed it in with a pair of plain red chopsticks.
When she finally tucked into the food, she gave the kitchen a glance around. Touches of both Naruto and herself were present around the room; stacks of bowls sat in the sink, left from Naruto's abundance of noodle-based dishes. She couldn't see the shiny glean of the fridge from the front because the door was covered in numerous sticky notes. There were so many colours, each from herself.
Was that English? She squinted, and sure enough, the letters jumped out at her. Damn, she still needed to translate it.
The half the cupboards above the sink were flung open; she could see the mismatched dishware and cooking utensils shoved into space, colourful patterns jumping from every angle. This was a joint effort between Naruto and herself – she'd tried to find complimenting items, but Naruto, being a child, just chose whatever he loved. It meant that at the end, she had her own cup – an old, second-hand, handle-missing, white-so-old-it-was-grey ceramic mug, but it also had a lovely garden painting sprouting from the bottom. Everything floral was Oniyuri's, in Naruto's eyes.
She'd also lovingly decorated the table; a sheet of fabric with basic stitch work and embroidery, gifted from Oniyuri, was currently scrunched up at one end, a cup full of red chopsticks holding it back so nothing could tarnish the fabric. She'll replace that when she'll come back.
It ached to be reminded that time was still ticking. There was so much for her to teach to Naruto, to ensure that he'd be alright by himself. He was only six, there's no way he'd be able to live by himself, right? Or maybe that was her old social standards influencing her thoughts.
She sighed and rested her chin on one palm, chopsticks pausing in the bowl. She refocused on Naruto, only to realise he was still staring out the window.
The garden couldn't be seen yet; the plants too young, and hadn't grown at all. So before them laid the river, and beyond that river, the slums. The river was alright, nothing too spectacular, but the slums, to anyone who thought poverty was the result of the individual, was horrendous.
The houses on the other riverside were at least a little bit presentable but were constantly crawling with homeless and druggos. Behind the tall buildings were shorter stacks, and some of them constantly smoked – at all times of the day, several spirals of smoke rose to join the clouds in the sky. She didn't have the faintest clue why.
It was why, even with the spare rooms and decent building, the apartment was so cheap. People didn't like being constantly reminded of their own mistakes.
"What's gonna happen with the extra rooms?" Naruto asked, scooping up a wad of noodles like a pro. Oniyuri still had problems with noodles and chopsticks.
Naruto didn't wait for Oniyuri to answer, or maybe, her thoughtful silence was taking too long. "Did you know I made friends over there?" he doesn't point to or name the slums. "Lotta them don't have the fund."
Oniyuri wondered why Naruto was beating around the bush. Maybe he was still scared that she'd dismiss his thoughts like every other adult? It was hard to tell. She didn't want him to be so hesitant around her.
"What do you have in mind?"
He doesn't answer. Oh ok, damn, he was really hesitant. She waited patiently for him. While she didn't have children in her previous life, she had plenty of practice with little cousins, nieces, nephews and lots and lots of other non-related children. Everyone had good ideas, even children. She just needed him to realise that Oniyuri wasn't one to dismiss him.
"…What if they live here? In the spare rooms?"
"It's not fair to give a single room to a single child. What about every other child?"
Naruto immediately wilted at her words. She smiled and leaned forward to touch his hand, only to come short because she was still only three fucking years old. "How about we give all of them access to facilities?"
"Fac-cil-ee-tees?"
"Like a communal bathroom, a laundromat, and a safe space to store items." She slipped out of her high chair – because it was that, no denying that. A normal chair with three cushions couldn't elevate her high enough – and brought of her newest set of sticky notes (pastel brown paw prints, hell yeah) and scribbles down the ideas as she thinks of them. "I'd also consider maybe a few beds for some people to crash, hmm. Maybe give them an education?"
Naruto grinned at her, slamming his open palm down on the table. "YEAH! And, and, they can learn all the important stuff, like veggies and food pi'ra'mid and-"
She looked down at her writing and calmly added 'small kitchen' under the previous items despite the worry bubbling up inside her.
She forgot. She forgot that Naruto would continue to exist and continue to act outside of her perception. The garden was one of many reminders of that. Despite her initial gift kick-starting it, she wasn't the unnamed civilian helping Naruto figure out which plants best suit him.
That was something she kind of struggled with her past life too. After leaving the acting industry, all those behind-the-scenes workers faded in her mind. Years later, when she walked into a cinema and saw a familiar face that – from her memories – absolutely loathed the public eye and thrived backstage was on the giant screen, she felt flipped upside down.
Naruto reminded her of that. Not only was she used to seeing his growth as 'character development,' she didn't expect to occur 'off-screen,' with no warning.
What would happen in the next three to four years she would be away? That was the gnawing question she dwelled on whenever they worked on the garden or sat at this table, observing the dirty map and her filthy nails.
Four years sounded so long and so short. So short, because that was just a bite of how long she's lived for, but short because Naruto only had six years under his belt. The basis of his personality for the rest of his life would be monumentally based on his childhood.
What if, inspired by Oniyuri, Naruto tries to train himself in something he doesn't understand and blow himself up? Loses limbs? Or he succeeds and attracts the attention of people like Danzo? Well, he already had it, but his actions could lead Danzo getting the power to enrol him into Root. No thanks.
Oniyuri was all for Naruto for fighting against poverty, but she might not be around to tell him to be at least wary of someone who's been kidnapping homeless kids for years.
Naruto needed… not a leash. But an adult eye that won't restrict him too much. And not an adult that saw the Kyuubi.
Oniyuri thought about it until several days later, when her answer walked under the window of the restaurant she was eating lunch at.
She scrambled out of her seat. "Brb!" she almost yelled at Rose and Ajisai. They'd gone out because they were sick of the hotel's food and Ajisai did enjoy talking to someone of the same era, even if the intellectual snob didn't know any pop culture. And the restaurant was more inclined to serve an adult with two kids than just two three-year-olds.
"What?" Ajisai demanded.
"Be right back," Rose translated, which was good because she was already out the door.
Thankfully Kakashi didn't vanish between her dash from the second floor to the neighbouring tea rooms, a common sight along this street of cuisine. "Kakashi-senpai!" she called, and curiously, he didn't vanish. In fact, he even regarded her with a wary stare. Maybe he was wary of her dumping another load of water on his silver hair.
"Whatever happened with the 'sensei?'" he mildly asked, barely moving from where he stood. Oniyuri didn't really understand, but she wasn't going to question his almost stiff posture.
"You stood us up! You deserve it!"
"Well, it suddenly seems like you don't need it," he replied lightly, and suddenly she got the sense that Kakashi wasn't joking around.
She ran through all their interactions and wondered what had changed now. But there hadn't been – or more rather, too many minute changes. Some of them probably could be discarded because she couldn't see him known about it. What had he discovered? He didn't seem wary of her until she introduced herself-
"I did get an older clan member to teach me in other areas if that's what you're talking about." She cautiously answered. Before, she was so used to separating her mental and physical energies she'd accidentally suppressed the habit of naturally forming chakra that every other human alive did.
And now, with Rose's help, she was not only producing chakra but was also slightly proficient in it. To a ninja like Kakashi, that might come across as a skilled ninja-in-training trying to bag a lesson from one of the most famous ninjas in Konoha. Well, this was a first. Actually paranoid ninjas.
"You can meet him if you want, he's right over there-"
"AY! KAKASHI! YO WHADDUP!"
They turned – it was Rose himself, leaning out of the restaurant's open window to wave wildly at them. She could see Ajisai's small fluff of hair peeking out next to Rose's wide hips.
"Oh, I forgot, he was a Konoha nin," she did actually forget, because she didn't know that Rose had unknowingly befriended a very major character. Or at least, knew of Kakashi.
Surprisingly, Kakashi seemed to be okay with meeting Rose, following Oniyuri up the stairs between the ground floor's shops and over to their table.
"Aye man, haven't seen you for years!" Rose's eyes sparkled and he even got up to welcome Kakashi. He didn't offer a hand or draw the other ninja into a hug, but Oniyuri didn't know if that was because of their emotional distance, or if Rose knew exactly how much skin-to-skin touch Kakashi liked.
"You know each other?" Oniyuri lightly pushed Ajisai over so they shared the couch. He seemed to be content with amusing himself by swirling the ice cubes around his cup. Oniyuri, however, was far more interested in the conversation with Rose and Kakashi.
"So, tell me, what's the goss?"
"The tea?" Kakashi dryly corrected. Rose let out a boom of laughter.
"My god! You remember!" Rose shook his head with glee. "But please, my original question. Did Crow and Sloth ever bone? Did Spider ever figure out how to do that mini-art? What new relationships have sprung up?"
Kakashi didn't seem to be a stranger to the terms Rose was throwing around. Understanding dawned on her – Rose taught Kakashi! And she was certain it wasn't just words.
"Crow turned into an absolute jerk." Kakashi answered as he gingerly sat next to Rose on the opposing couch. "Spider is still trying to figure out that miniature living room you gave him when you left and I guess the most surprising couple-to-be is Asuma and Kurenai."
"Oh worm? How have you been going?"
Oniyuri had known Rose for about one month or so and had come to realise that Rose loved to throw memes and jokes into a conversation as much as possible, as long as the other person understood them. She'd been the same in her past life too – she could tell how energetic Rose became when he realised he could absolutely say F and have the other person understand him because that's how she used to act.
Which begged the question how Kakashi knew of it? If he was just an acquaintance from Rose's time in Konoha, she couldn't see Rose teaching him. If they were friends, that made more sense. Best friends even more.
So, Rose and Kakashi were friends.
Rose turned to her, middle of a question to Kakashi. "My bad, Oniyuri! What did you need to say to Kakashi?"
"I, uh," she stumbled at the sudden switch to her. "I want to ask Kakashi if he could look after Naruto. He's – living on his own, and when I leave there's gonna be no one else to really keep an eye on him. The landlord thinks he's an adult and there doesn't seem to be anyone else in the village who gives a shit and had time to check-in." So far the only person who cared for Naruto was the Hokage. Other civilians and ninjas Naruto had tentative relationships with either knew him through a henge persona or, like the gardener giving Naruto tips, shouted them at Naruto as he chased him out of his garden. Oniyuri is confident that Naruto will win him over, but her friend needed to be alive for that to happen.
"Naruto? Oh, wow, Naruto!" Rose murmured with glee. How could Rose express previous knowledge of Naruto's existence, if removing their past life from the equation? Oniyuri wondered if Rose came to the conclusion of Naruto's heritage just by knowing Minato. Then she realised that Rose was probably present for Naruto's birth. Kakashi had used animal names and was apparently a full-time ANBU from sometime after the war and probably still going, so Rose had to have met Kakashi on the Black Ops.
Minato would love to have Kakashi on his personal ANBU guard, so if Rose met Kakashi there, it was probably guarding Kushina. Oniyuri didn't know how Kakashi would act after being reminded of his sensei. She just didn't know.
"How is Naruto? Aw man, talk about nostalgic! I missed being ditched to watch Naruto in the orphanage. Is he still there?"
"No, he got moved out. I don't know where he lives." Kakashi replied.
"And you got hit with a slug of missions," Rose sighed, annoyance evident through his voice.
Oniyuri didn't know where to go now. Should she tell them? Or skip over his period of homelessness all together?
"He didn't have a house until very recently," Ajisai butted in and calmly took a sip when the table looked at him. He shrugged carelessly. "Oniyuri found him on the streets."
"Yeah, I helped him find a house." She quickly picked up from his line. She didn't know whether to punch Ajisai in the arm or not. "It was a little hard, so I made him henge into Hanabi and have 'her' rent an apartment. I can write down the address?"
"Please," Rose said in lieu of Kakashi. The silver-haired ninja paused before giving one short nod. Pleased, but not certain that Kakashi was agreeing to everything, once she scribbled down the address, she clutched it close to her chest.
"You gonna look out for him? It's just for four years."
Kakashi cocked his head. "…I'll do my best. I still have missions to do."
She beamed and slid the piece of paper across the table. "Thanks! Your best is more than enough."
One of his gloved hands appeared from under the table and only paused once. The paper was then tucked neatly into his vest. His action of withdrawing his hand from his vest reminded Oniyuri of another present she'd tucked into her bag.
She made a large noise to ensure the conversation was paused and all attention was on her actions. Quickly, she produced a book from underneath the table.
"Here's a thank you present! And also a replacement for your book. Some lady threw it away before I could read it. I did get the author, but could only find this book by him? So, uh, thanks and sorry, Kakashi-senpai!" she slid that across the wood too, beaming at the silver-haired man as the title Tale of the Gusty Ninja stared up at Kakashi. The man let out a bone-weary sigh as he took the book too.
"Tell me more about Naruto – is he alright? His home good? How's his education? How is he, mentally?" Rose leaned across the table, hands clasped together. His eyebrows were knitted together with worry, intense concern practically beaming through his eyes to Oniyuri.
She happily complied, telling Rose and Kakashi about his garden, and the time she stumbled upon Naruto trying to get gardening tips by sneaking into a retirement home and annoying one of the residents. Maybe this started out with getting Naruto a little guidance, but she was more than happy to talk to Kakashi too.