Heyo!
I've already made you wait two weeks, so I won't hold you any longer! Without further ado, progression!
Chapter 77: A Message for a Friend
Naruto laid awake on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, not really sure what he was supposed to be doing with himself.
It had been a day since they arrived back in the Leaf Village, and though things normally would have begun to settle back into a routine by now, he felt he wasn't the only one looking for something to be doing with himself.
He felt useless sitting around his apartment, knowing that somewhere, Sakura was trapped in the hands of the Akatsuki. He didn't know what they were doing to her, but luckily, or perhaps unluckily, given the situation, his brain had a rather healthy imagination. Thoughts of them torturing Sakura, hurting her in ways he couldn't even imagine, rampaged across his mind, and though he and Sasuke had agreed that they would try not to worry about her as much as they could…
Well, that hadn't worked out that well for either of them.
He found himself stuck in the past once more, thinking back to his time in the Waterfall, when, after a day of waiting, their reinforcements from the Sand finally shown up.
The leader of the contingent had been Temari herself. They had all been rather surprised to see the Kazekage accompany the rest of their AAF, but she had quickly explained herself.
According to her, she'd received a notice from Tsunade detailing the purported capturing of several Jinchuuriki, along with a warning to protect Gaara even more closely than she may have planned, as it was highly probable that an attack on their Jinchuuriki would've been imminent.
And so, it hadn't just been the Kazekage in the retinue of reinforcements, but also the one-tailed Jinchuuriki himself. Naruto had been glad to see him okay, especially given Fu's kidnapping the prior day.
The Sand contingent had expressed their remorse that they had not arrived sooner, but Kakashi had been the first to shoot down their apologies, citing that even with more Manpower, it was likely they still would have been outgunned. After all, the masked man Tobi had been able to break through the trees entire defensive setup, and the Akatsuki themselves had dealt with the majority of the Waterfall's elite ninja. A few extra here and there wouldn't have made a difference.
And so, after doing as much as they felt they could for the people of the Waterfall, the Sand half of the AAF returned to their village. They had done the same two days later, sans Kakashi, Tenzo, Anko, and Guy, who'd gone after the Akatsuki themselves, after helping as many Waterfall citizens get things such as food and shelter as they could. They'd also helped to set up a rudimentary defense system, to hopefully at least prevent the village from being attacked by bandits during its rebuilding processes. Even so, even knowing that he had done all he could, having been thanked personally by the leader of the Waterfall, Shibuki, for their efforts in defending their village, it'd still left a bad taste in Naruto's mouth to turn his back on people who needed him.
He let out a titanic sigh, and, lost in thoughts as he was, he nearly managed to miss the knock on his door that echoed out from his living room. He groaned as he pushed himself out of bed and stepped in a flatfooted manner through the halls of his tiny living space. He hadn't really been expecting anyone, and so without any real fanfare he unlatched the lock and pulled open the door.
He had to admit that he was a little surprised to see Jiraiya at the door, though he wasn't exactly shocked, either.
"Yo, Naruto." His master said sedately, as if considering his words carefully. "Sorry for dropping in on you like this… just felt like there was something we should talk about."
If Naruto was being honest, he didn't much feel like talking with anyone right now, but at the same time, the look on Jiraiya's face was one of utter seriousness. The man had something to say to him that he believed was important, which meant he should probably hear him out.
Plus, well… if he were being honest, despite not wanting it, he needed a break.
"Alright, alright," Naruto rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, sighing all the while. "I'm taking it this is important?"
Jiraiya had an almost guilty look on his face as he gestured for Naruto to come outside with him.
The Leaf Village wasn't exactly packed yet at roughly ten in the morning, but that didn't mean that there was no one on the streets this time of day. Vendors lined the edges of the road as they made their way from Naruto's apartment to wherever it was they were going. Judging by the general direction they were taking, though, he had pretty good idea of their destination.
He was proven correct as they rounded the corner to the Hokage's building and settled in for what he assumed would be a fairly long day.
By the time they made it to the Hokage's office, Naruto could admit that his curiosity had been piqued. Both Tsunade and Shizune looked at him almost nervously, as if dreading what they all had to say to him.
"Hey, granny." Naruto gave a lazy wave, which was returned by Shizune with an equal amount of energy, though pointedly not by the Hokage herself. "So… You guys have something to say to me too?"
Tsunade gave a minute nod, as if only half listening to him, and Jiraiya gestured for him to take a seat in one of the two chairs in front of Tsunade's desk. He sat down, still wondering just what it is he was here for.
"So…" Tsunade muttered under her breath. "You're probably wondering why you're here."
Yeah, actually, Naruto felt some small amusement at the woman's words. I had been wondering that.
He nodded to show he was following along, without interrupting what he presumed would be the beginning of Tsunade's little speech.
The woman sighed, rubbing her temples as Shizune began to knead shoulders, trying to take some of the stress out of the woman's expression.
"Sorry, Naruto," Tsunade's looked up at him with an almost guilty look on her face. "It's just… This isn't the easiest thing to talk about."
He wondered what it was that could be causing all of them to hesitate this much, but before he could ask, Jiraiya had cleared his throat, and sat down beside him in the second chair, looking to Tsunade.
"You want me to start?" He asked cautiously, as if wanting to gauge the woman's response. "This is more my responsibility than yours, after all."
Tsunade's guilt only seemed to grow.
"If… If you wouldn't mind."
Jiraiya nodded sagely, which felt appropriate given his whole 'being a sage' thing.
"So, Naruto…" His master looked to him, snapping him out of his asinine thoughts. "You remember about… three years ago, back at Hyuga estate, when Hiashi and I were talking, and he let slip that I may or may not have known something about your past…?"
Naruto nodded, the conversation having never truthfully left his thoughts since that day.
"Well… I think it's about time I come clean regarding that…" the main gave an almost Herculean sigh. "Regarding just who I am, how I'm connected to you, how all of this fits together…"
The man seemed to want to hesitate further, but as if forcing himself, he reached into his coat, and pulled out a small rectangular object. He set it on the table just in front of him, and Naruto and just about everyone else in the room looked down at the small photograph.
It was a picture of a young couple, probably in their twenties. The woman looked to be the younger of the two, her hair a violent crimson that seemed to contrast against that of her partners. The young man, on the other hand, had hair that reminded Naruto of…
He breathed in quite sharply.
…Of his own.
His eyes widened as he continued to make connections to the man's appearance and his own mug. The ocean blue eyes they shared, the shapes of their faces, their noses, hell, he couldn't find a single thing about the man's appearance that didn't seem to match up to his own when he looked himself in the mirror.
Perhaps it was the similarities between the two of them, but he now found himself studying the redheads appearance even more closely. Her wide smile, the way her cheeks had dimples in the same spots his own did, how her ears were curved outwards, and even the general expression on her face seemed to match his own exuberance.
He looked up silently at the rest of the people in the room. They appeared to be studying him, and they wore their nerves clearly on their faces, seemingly unable to hide the fact that they expected a reaction from him.
"Who… Who are these two?" He asked, despite the feeling in his stomach, radiating from his seal, that seemed to tell him he already knew.
Jiraiya gave a small pitiful laugh, one that was barely audible, despite the otherwise silent room.
"That… Would be Minato… and Kushina." Jiraiya's voice was filled with bitter reminiscence. "The man was a student of mine. One of my best, actually, though, rather than as a pupil of the least famous Sannin, you might know him better…" Jiraiya's smile appeared almost nostalgic. "As the fourth Hokage."
Naruto's eyes bugged out as he turned on a dime to look at his master's face. He gave a subtle nod, as if in response to Naruto's silent question.
"He was also Kakashi's teacher." Jiraiya sighed out, looking down at the table below her. "The man taught Kakashi Hatake, a girl named Rin Nohara, and another guy named Obito Uchiha. You've… probably heard of that last one, yes?"
Naruto had, Sasuke had brought up the name several times as the probable identity of Tobi, the phantom member of the Akatsuki.
"There'll be a better time to talk about that, though." Tsunade spoke up, unfurling her hands as she motioned for Shizune to stop rubbing her shoulders. "Getting back to the topic at hand…"
Jiraiya cleared his throat, as if wanting to buy as much time as he could before he had to admit the truth.
Even if Naruto was pretty sure he already knew what the truth was.
"More importantly than all of those things, Naruto…" The Toad Sage's voice sounded terribly frail compared to his normal boisterousness. "Those two…"
Naruto found himself swallowing on nothing.
"They were also your parents."
His heart skipped a beat.
/-/
It was midday by the time Sasuke found the strength in his body to be up and moving.
He had initially planned to go and visit Naruto, but upon dropping by the boys apartment, he'd found nobody home. And so, with nothing else to do, he'd found himself in a training ground just outside the village.
He was surprised to find that he wasn't alone.
"Haku?" He said to the icy boy, whose back was turned to him. "What are you doing here?"
If Haku had heard him say a thing, then he hid it well. He focused intensely, and Sasuke watched in real time as ice gathered on the tips of both his fingers and the blade in his hands. It radiated out from him in a pattern that was reminiscent of a snowflake itself.
He took a step back, feeling the smallest amount of frost begin to creep up some pieces of his gear. He wasn't exactly… scared of the oncoming ice, but he couldn't deny some small kernel of hesitancy as he watched a tree next to Haku freeze over entirely.
Haku seemed to focus even more vigorously, causing the tree to buckle and snap, entirely frozen from its trunk to its branches, and it was in that moment that Sasuke realized he should probably put a stop to what was happening before him.
"Oi, Haku," He exclaimed a little bit louder than before. "Would you mind quitting that!?"
The older boy broke out of whenever trance had a hold over him and turned to look at him.
"Sasuke?" The older teen slung his sword across his back as the frost on the ground began to recede, melting into the earth below. "Sorry I… didn't see you."
"Yeah, you seemed… awfully lost in thought there."
Haku looked away from him, seemingly embarrassed about something.
"I… My apologies."
"No worries." Sasuke reassured him. "I think we're all a little on edge at the moment. I know I'm not exactly thinking straight."
Haku nodded, but it was clear his thoughts were elsewhere. Sasuke had a guess.
"You're thinking about what happened with that Pain guy, right?"
Haku didn't immediately answer, but the way he flinched slightly told Sasuke that his guess was on the nose.
"Not… Just him." Haku admitted. "They're on him, sure, obviously, but… I keep going back to Kisame as well… I keep seeing him holding Zabuza's sword… Taunting me with it… And every time I do, somehow the anger still burns fresh."
Sasuke understood that feeling. He understood that feeling quite well.
"And if I had to guess…" Haku took a shot at his earlier guessing game. "You're thinking about your brother, right?"
Sasuke didn't even try to hide it.
"Yeah." He spoke quietly, eager to accept the excuse, rather than be stuck focusing on the other problem. "I am."
"From what I've heard, Naruto told you something regarding him, right?"
He looked a bit skeptically at Haku.
"Who did you get that from?"
Haku gives a small smile.
"I heard it from Suigetsu." He admitted without much fight. "He saw the two of you conversing after the whole fight at the Waterfall."
That made sense, he's seen the boy talking to a shellshocked Tenten at nearly the same time he'd spoken to Naruto. Still, he had to wonder what that particular man was up to. The entire unit that'd been with his best friend seemed to have become fast friends with the experiment.
"So… Anything you want to talk about?"
He looked at Haku a bit oddly.
"You didn't strike me as someone trying for a job in Psychology."
Haku smiled almost nostalgically.
"I'm not. Just a habit I picked up from Ino." He gave Sasuke an almost apologetic expression. "When you're around someone that long, you start to appropriate some of their behaviors into your own everyday life."
Sasuke smirked.
"Yeah, I…" He thought of a certain knuckleheaded ninja. "I think I get what you mean."
A moment later, his thoughts were drawn to the other friend that he had known his entire life, and his mood took a nosedive.
"And then there's… Sakura."
Haku nodded.
"I imagine you're rather worried?"
"What gave you the impression?" He deadpanned.
Haku raised his hands in mock surrender. "My apologies, that was the wrong thing to say."
Sasuke ran a hand down his face as he sighed.
"No, I… Sorry." He let out a horrid groan. "I've been trying to keep my mind off what's going on with her, but, well… It hasn't been working all that well."
Haku gave a sympathetic nod.
"I mean, I already spent all of yesterday thinking about her, so I thought I would try and do something productive with my day at least…" Sasuke looked down at the ground. "But when I went to visit him this morning, Naruto wasn't there… So… I guess I just ended up here on instinct."
"Well, training is productive."
"Not if it's wearing down one's body." He sighed as he sat down on the ground, resolving to relax as much as he could. "Rest is just as important, if not more so, then training past one's limits. And I trained myself half to death yesterday already." He let out a groan as he ran both his hands down his face. "It's a better idea to relax than anything."
Haku nodded, evidently agreeing with him on that. "I… I suppose I agree with you there."
"Its just… my mind's torn between so many different things. It's hard to sit still."
Haku sat down in front of him, looking at him a bit curiously.
"Well… would you want to talk about it?"
Sasuke shot him an odd look. "You're doing the Ino thing again."
"This time its on purpose." The boy shot back, smiling lightly. "Seriously, I get what it's like to stew in your own feelings. It's no fun at all. So… I'm not saying you have to, but the people at Root have been listening to me, even if its just me rambling about my feelings, and its really been helping me to adjust. So… I figure it could work for you too, no? There's no shame in turning to others to deal with your problems."
He looked down at the ground, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth as his more clever half warred with his instincts to clam up and say nothing. In truth, he hadn't wanted to deal with his problems alone, it'd been why he'd been seeking out Naruto in the first place; to vent these things. Still… there was a reason he'd sought out his best friend. He was comfortable around the teen. He was notably less so around Haku.
He couldn't deny the idea seemed sound, but…
He shook his head.
Just talk, Sasuke. He urged himself. Just speak. It's not that hard. Like he says, I'll… I'll feel better afterwards.
"I… Have a theory." He finally uttered after a minute or two of silence.
"I'm guessing it's not a theory you particularly like?"
Sasuke let out a harsh breath at being called out so easily.
"It's… To me… It seems impossible." Sasuke shook his head. "It shouldn't be possible. And yet, over and over again, for the last couple of years, I've been amassing evidence that seems to point to an almost obvious conclusion. There are pieces and parts that I'm not willing to admit might be true, but others strike me as almost undeniable fact."
Haku nodded sympathetically, which he appreciated, given the boy probably had very little reason to care of his circumstances.
"As far as I can tell…" He took another deep breath. "My brother… is working against the Akatsuki… And… He… There's a chance that he…"
Haku's eyes were wide as he looked towards him, halfway shocked, as if, even knowing the story as little as he did, he couldn't quite accept the tale that Sasuke was spinning. He understood that feeling.
He couldn't much believe it either.
"That he might be watching out for me, too."
/-/
It was late in the evening when Tenten had finally gathered enough strength to push open the door to her room and leave her and her mother's apartment. Her mom had looked at her nervously as she left, and she felt terrible for making her worry, but the woman had done enough for her already.
She needed to take care of the rest of this on her own.
Well, not entirely alone, but she at least wanted someone else to take some of her mother's burden.
And she had someone particular in mind.
She took to the streets of the Leaf Village just as the stalls and vendors were beginning to close down for the night. Some still called out to her, asking her to purchase wares and other such items, but she turned them all down as she made her way to a particular building off in the distance.
By the time she arrived, it was going on nine o'clock, and the streetlights were the only thing illuminating her path as she took to the stairs. Upon reaching her desired floor, she stepped out of the stairwell, and walked the remaining distance down the hall to a particular door.
She knocked three times.
She hadn't expected an immediate answer, and so she turned her back to the door, instead looking up at the lights hanging above her. Moths swarmed the tiny glowing bulbs, occasionally striking against them and falling to the floor below her. It was an odd display to watch, mainly because none of the other moths seemed to ever learn from their predecessors mistakes, continuously flying ever closer to the metaphorical sun hanging there in the ceiling.
The door behind her swung open.
"Oi, Sasuke, do you have any idea how late-" Naruto's eyes widened. "Wait, Tenten?"
She shot him an apologetic smile.
"Hehe… Hey." She waved with barely any energy at all. "Sorry to bother you this late."
Naruto seemed momentarily confused, though after he took a second to study her face, his own expression seems to both lighten and darken simultaneously.
"Do you… Need something?" He held the door open just a bit wider than before, as if trying to act a bit more welcoming than he had a few seconds prior.
"Uhm… I was wondering if I could… Come in?" Tenten couldn't quite meet his gaze, feeling a bit guilty knowing that he had probably been about to go to sleep. "A-actually, I'll come back some other day, sorry for bothering-"
"Nope, none of that." Naruto interrupted her, fully pushing open his door and taking a step back. "Come on in."
Naruto didn't give her the chance to say no, retreating into his apartment before she could so much as say a thing. She followed behind him awkwardly as he took her into what looked to be his kitchen. He gestured for her to sit down at the small table inside it, and even through her guilt, she acquiesced.
"You want something to eat?" He asked with his back turned to her, and his face buried in a cabinet, seemingly searching for a good meal. "I don't have a lot, but, well, if you like ramen then rest assured I've got you covered."
His joke put a small smile on her face.
"Thanks, but I already ate." She lied rather easily.
In truth, she hadn't actually eaten today. Her mother had been worried sick and tried to get her to eat something the entire day, but she'd turned her down every time. The previous day, when she'd eaten last, she'd almost immediately thrown the meal back up.
But, well, she didn't really want Naruto to figure that out. Saying she'd eaten… It made for an easy excuse.
Despite her best wishes, however, when the boy turned around, he was holding two prepackaged bowls of instant ramen.
"Somehow, I get the feeling you're not being entirely honest with me." He looked a bit sorrowfully at her, before correcting his expression, seemingly trying not to guilt her into anything, but also desperately wanting her to eat something. "C'mon, it's warm and it's not too heavy on the stomach. Have some?"
She stared at one of the twin bowls in his hands and let out a depressive sigh.
Perceptive at the worst of times, huh? She thought to herself.
"Do you… Do you have any regular packages, ones with no spice?" She asked a bit quietly. "I'm sure they're delicious," she said, gesturing to the instant ramen he had in his hands. "But… well, I'm on a diet, and…" Even to her, the excuse sounded weak. "And uhm…"
Naruto, instead of questioning her shaky excuse, simply nodded. "Yeah, I get you. I don't have any non-flavored ones, but…"
He reached into the same shelf and pulled out a bag of what seemed to be homemade noodles.
"Give me a second, I'll make you something."
She tried to protest, but once again, before she could even start, Naruto had already filled a pot with water, put it on his stovetop, and sat to work fixing her up the meal. Instead of complaining, she just sighed, and accepted his charity.
"Thank you." She muttered quietly.
She couldn't see him smile with his back turned to her, but she could hear it in his voice as he gave a quiet "You're welcome" in response.
She stayed silent for a good few minutes, not wanting to interrupt the teen's concentration, but also desperately wanting to say something… Anything to disperse the awkward atmosphere that she felt hanging around the both of them.
"I didn't know you could cook." She finally settled on.
Naruto laughed.
"Trust me, this is a skill that extends to ramen and ramen alone." Naruto gave a small laugh. "I watched old man Teuchi prepare it so many times, that I just sort of picked up the technique. Well… my first couple attempts weren't anything to write home about, but when I asked him how he did it once I'd conquered my shame, he showed me some of his method. Took me a few days, but I managed to make something I actually liked eventually."
She nodded silently, letting him continue.
"I asked for their secret recipe, so I could make some myself, but he just laughed. Said if I had that, I'd have no reason to come back all the time." He let out a breath of mirth, but she could tell there was something more in his words than just that. "I don't know if those two know it, but I'd still go back even if I had the recipe to make it myself, hell, I'd still go back even if they started charging me triple for it. I… I owe 'em too much."
She smiled, before a small wave of nausea hit her, and she placed a hand over her mouth, to keep the contents of her stomach, even if it was almost entirely empty, from escaping.
"Uhm, Naruto?" She let out past the sickness in her throat. "Do you mind if I use your bathroom? Just got a wave of-"
Naruto waved away her concerns.
"Down the hall to the left." He spoke with a quick glance at her, stirring the pot in front of him. "Sorry that you're feeling so shitty."
She smiled to let him know she appreciated the gesture, before standing up and making her way to the restroom.
She closed the door as she entered, and almost immediately ejected the remnants of the previous day's dinner into Naruto's poor toilet. It took around five or so minutes before she felt comfortable enough to stand, but as she did, she felt her head spinning.
She fell to the ground but managed to catch herself with her hands. Unfortunately, as she tried to push herself up, she was assaulted by the voices in her head, the same ones that had been haunting her for the last week. They screamed for her, begged for her help, tried with every fiber of their beings to reach out to her…
But it wasn't enough. No matter what, they would never reach her. She could never save them from their fates.
The voices died, as they always did.
For they'd already been killed.
She clutched at her head as the remnants gradually began to fade. By the time she was cognizant, it had been another 5 minutes. She managed to stand after a few seconds of trying and grasped the doorknob at the entrance. The firm wooden structure was more than sturdy enough to support her as she leaned against it. Slowly, she let her body reacclimate to her brains commands. She didn't need to waste time doing this, but she knew that if she didn't, Naruto would be able to tell that something was wrong.
He had already called her out once tonight, she wasn't trying for a repeat of that.
When she felt she was steady enough, she turned the knob, and pushed open the door. She turned right, and down the hall, from which she got a decent view of the kitchen, and also of the living room just off to her right.
"Hey, you okay?" Naruto asked her. "You were in there awhile."
Tenten rubbed the back of her neck.
"Yeah, just… girl stuff." She faked embarrassment. "You know how it is…"
Naruto turned away very quickly, a bit red in the face, and Tenten found herself smirking at his reaction.
Ah, yes. The patented 'time of the month' excuse. She snorted quietly to herself. Never fails.
Seeing that Naruto looked to be almost finished up, she initially made for the kitchen. However, a small picture on Naruto's bed in her periphery caught her attention. Perhaps she was a bit more out of it than she thought, for instead of thinking at all of the boy's privacy, she moved straight into the adjacent room, and reached out for the small photograph.
It was of a young, happy couple. In the photo, they looked to be in their mid-twenties, and were smiling as happy as could be. The woman, who looked a bit younger than the man, had hair the color of a tomato, and seemed to have exuberance to match. Her partner, on the other hand, looked to be much more mellow.
Her curiosity having got the best of her, she turned towards the kitchen, where Naruto looked to be just about finished up with the food.
"Hey, Naruto," she called out to him. "What's this?"
The boy himself turned around, holding the bowl of newly made ramen, and, after setting it down on the kitchen table, he walked into the adjacent room, and saw what she was holding. There was a brief moment where he looked to be almost defensive about her holding the photo, but the emotion was gone almost instantly, instead replaced by an almost giddy smile.
"Those…" The boy hesitated for a moment, before pushing past whatever was holding him back. "Are my parents."
Her eyes widened as she did a double take, looking back down at the photo and then back at Naruto once more.
"I thought you didn't…"
The boy smiled, the emotions hanging within it on the very cusp of sadness.
"I… just found out today." He scratched the side of his head. "Pervy sage, Granny, and Shizune told me all about them." He breathed out a laugh. "Turns out my dad used to teach Kakashi, and he was Jiraiya's student too. And my mom used to hold the Nine-tails within her, just like me."
That was…
"That's incredible!" She spoke as she turned to Naruto. "So, you were connected to all those people you already knew… That's almost like fate."
Naruto gave a light smile, though in that moment, she made a more important connection.
Namely, that she was intruding on a rather momentous occasion.
"I'm sorry!" She apologized with a bow. "If I'd known you were processing something so important-"
"Don't worry about it." He reassured her. "Trust me, I needed a break from all this any ways. First I was stuck thinking about Sakura, and now my newfound parents… It's all I've been doing all day, just thinking all alone. I could really use someone to talk to."
She could more than understand that. Gaining such important information and dealing with the loss (if impermanent) of a friend, had to have been a gigantic deal to Naruto. Processing that would take time, but she could understand… more than understand wanting a break from one's own head.
Still, the two of them had been friends for over three years now, and so she'd grown rather accustomed to the unusually bright melancholy that hung off of him. But seeing some of it, even just a little piece breaking off and dissolving in the harsh sunlight was enough to bring a smile to her face.
"Oh, right! The ramen!" Naruto took her by the hand and pulled her into the kitchen. "I almost forgot the whole last twenty minutes," He exclaimed with a goofy look on his face. "Eat up, I did a few extra things to the broth, and picked out some skinnier noodles. Oh! And I even left out the kimchi so that the broth wouldn't have any spice to it. Should be perfect for an upset stomach!"
She was astounded as she looked down at the meal before her. A simple, watery broth, with just a hint of any added flavor, and thin, easy to swallow noodles.
When he said he'd be making her something, she had sort of assumed that he'd be making a fairly regular ramen, with a few of the spices taken out. But this… This had been custom made to be exactly what she could handle right now. Not too heavy, but also substantial enough to fill her otherwise empty stomach. It was almost exactly the same as her mother had made for her the previous day.
"Naruto, you…"
He smiled, just a tiny glint of his normal sunshine poking through the proverbial clouds.
"Well, c'mon," He pushed the bowl towards her just the tiniest bit, speaking gently. "It'll get cold if you don't start eating it soon."
A soft expression found its way onto her face, even past the dark gloominess clinging to her chest.
"Thank you."
And without another word, she ate.
She ended up finishing the entire thing, setting the bowl down on the table a good ten or so minutes later. She'd decided to take things rather slowly and eat at a pace that wouldn't upset her stomach.
Even so, the meal had worked exactly as intended. Her stomach was still a little on the fritz, but it didn't seem like she be throwing the meal up, at the very least.
"Good?" Naruto asked her once she had set down the empty bowl.
"Mhm." She confirmed with a small smile. "Very."
They stayed like that for a while, enjoying the comfort of each other's silence. It was Naruto who eventually broke that silence, clearing his throat, and leaning forward as he began to speak.
"So… What's on your mind?"
She eyed Naruto cautiously.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… You came here to talk to me, right? What's bothering you?"
She recoiled slightly, having figured out already, rather unfortunately, that she didn't much want to talk about this, and internally cursed as she saw Naruto pick up on that.
"I mean, y'know… like I said, it's just girl stuff." She tried to excuse herself.
Naruto shook his head.
"I don't think that's it." He looked her in the eye. "I think you're trying to hide how you're really feeling. This…" He appeared almost regretful. "This is about what happened back at the Waterfall, isn't it?"
She felt her heart skip a beat; her skin grow pale.
"Tenten," Naruto stood from his chair and began walking over to her. "You need to understand, what happened to those people wasn't your fau-"
Her hands slammed down on the table, shocking the room into silence. Naruto didn't move, didn't so much as make a sound as she looked down at his table, avoiding any eye contact.
"Thank you for having me." She muttered under her breath. "I think it's about time I went home."
She stood and began walking towards the door. Before she could make it, however, Naruto's hand had reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Tenten, please," He stressed, taking a step forward. "All of us were there. We were all supposed to protect them, the blame for those three dying doesn't fall on you alone."
Her next breath was hard and sharp, and she rounded on Naruto with a fury that even then, lost and hurt as she was, she knew he didn't deserve.
"How!?" She shouted. "How do none of you blame me!? How do you, Shino, and Suigetsu all say the exact same thing!? You all entrusted them to me, you gave me a job, and I failed! I couldn't even protect them from a bunch of enemies you guys utterly destroyed! I didn't even hear him come in, and by the time I'd realized what was going on, I could only protect the people behind me!"
Naruto's eyes seemed to grow heavy at her confession, but she could tell it wasn't from blaming her.
She almost wished he would've blamed her. That way, at least…
"All I could do was stand there and listen to them cry out for my help!" She screamed. "I sat there, completely at a loss, as that white bastard killed them all, and I couldn't do a thing about it! So, tell me, how is that not my fault!?"
Naruto shook his head.
"Because none of us could have saved them." He stressed. "Even if it had been me there instead of you, I still wouldn't have been able to know that that building, and likely every building in the vicinity, had been trapped. Even if it had been Shino, his bugs couldn't have stopped the Zetsu before they got to those three. And even if it'd been Suigetsu, he wouldn't have been able to cut the man down fast enough to save them, either."
Tenten charged into Naruto's body, knocking him back as she pounded into his shoulders with her fists.
"That's bullshit!" She yelled as she buried her head in his chest to hide the tears welling up. "Maybe the other two couldn't have… But you could have! You would've been able to save them!"
His hands on her shoulders forced her to look up, and as he pushed her ever so slightly away from him, just enough so that he could look her in the eye, she saw in his ocean-blue orbs that he completely meant what he said.
"That's not true." He emphasized. "Even if I'd been there instead of you, the same thing would've happened."
She ground her teeth together as she looked down at the floor below her. Her thoughts were far too scattered for her to formulate any real argument, and so, as a few droplets impacted against the wood below her, a question managed to push its way to her lips before she could so much as ponder its meaning.
"Why… Why won't you tell me…?" She questioned near silently, before feeling a fury fill her once more. "WHY!?"
He was silent as she tried once more to pound on his chest, to demand an answer. But she found her limbs so incredibly weak, striking only once every few seconds, and her blows seemed to become feebler every time she struck.
"Tell me… it's my fault…" Her voice was halfway between a whisper and a sob as her arms fell to hang limply at her sides. "Tell me I killed them! At least then…" She gripped at her own heart with her left hand, crumpling her shirt over her breast. "At least then, this hate in my chest would be…!"
He shook his head for perhaps the third or fourth time.
"I won't."
"Why…?" Her voice was so horribly weak.
"Because I refuse to."
She found herself shouting again, even though her head was starting to get rather foggy.
"WHY!?"
"Because it's not true." Naruto answered her, forcefully steadying her on her feet, even past the shaking in her arms, in her legs. "I'm not going to lie to you just so you can blame yourself all the more, so you can justify the hatred you feel for yourself in your heart. You're my friend, Tenten, and I won't sit here as you bully yourself! I wouldn't put up with anyone else doing it, so why should I accept it if it's you?"
She opened her mouth to speak at that as her eyes went horribly wide. She tried to make a sound, but nothing came. Instead, she felt something break inside her, and an aching sob poured out from her mouth. She would've fallen to the floor if not for Naruto holding her up, and pulling her against him, hugging her close. She found, in that moment, that she could no longer hold back her emotions at all, and so the words poured out of her like a river undammed.
"I trained…" She murmured past the wracking sobs. "And I trained… and I trained and trained and trained and trained!" She screeched as the tear tracks on her face grew wider. "I'm supposed to be strong enough to help people now! To save them! The Akatsuki… That Zetsu bastard was supposed to come at me! So that I could… so that they wouldn't…"
"It's okay." Naruto spoke gently, awkwardly, as if he was a bit unsure how to deal with this, as he clutched her a bit tighter. "You're… you're okay."
"WHY!?" She screamed out a question to no one in particular. "Why couldn't I protect them!? Why am I so… so useless!? Why can't I do anything right, why am I so much weaker than everyone else, why am I always so fucking pathetic!? Why am I… why…"
Her body convulsed with rasping, hacking sobs as she felt her mind go blank. Her vision spun, and she could tell she was going to pass out in but a moment or two.
"I'm sorry…" She murmured as the final few tears she had left to shed trickled down her cheeks. "I'm so… I'm so sorry…"
"It wasn't your fault." She heard Naruto's voice as feeling left her.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm…"
She passed out a second later, still begging forgiveness of the dead.
/-/
Tenten's eyes fluttered open as a few rogue beams of light hit them.
Swaddled in a cocoon of blankets, and propped up by at least three pillows, Tenten had to admit that she didn't much feel like moving, even to keep the annoying sun from streaming in through her window.
Except… When did light ever stream through her window, exactly?
Actually, better yet, when did she get a window?
She finally sat up and took in the room she resided within.
Her first real thought was that this definitely wasn't her room, which sent a small kernel of dread shooting up her spine before she remembered the previous night's events. Her second thought was that she knew exactly where she was.
She was in Naruto's bed.
There was a part of her, a small, but not insignificant part, that wanted to go red in the face, fling off the blankets covering her, and go and give Naruto a piece of her mind. The rest of her, however, wisely decided that that would be a rather stupid thing to do to someone who had evidently taken care of her at her weakest. She instead decided to go and find him to thank him for his help the previous evening.
She also decided she'd let the fact that he'd taken her hair-sticks out, and let her awkwardly cut locks spill out to hang around her neck, go.
She got out of the bed and was nearly immediately confronted with a small, almost hidden note that had rested atop her blanket slid off, and fell onto the wooden floor a good foot or so from her own leg.
She leaned down, took the note, opened it up, and began to read it.
'Hey, Tenten.
So, as you've probably noticed already, you passed out after what happened last night. I wasn't really sure if I should take you back to your mom's apartment, given the whole situation. Figured you might want to keep what happened under wraps, well, at least for a while, anyways.
So, yeah. I decided to put you up for the night. If you weren't cool with that, then my bad, sorry. I went ahead and informed your mom about you crashing at my place once you'd fallen asleep. I didn't want her to worry.
I figured I would head out early this morning, just so that you could do whatever it is you needed to without feeling any pressure or anything to leave earlier than you might be comfortable with. Take as long as you need, but if you're looking for alone time, then I will say I'll probably be getting back around noon. If you're still there, then that's cool, I just wanted you to know that I was cool with that so that you didn't–
A good section after that was a mixture of crossed out and erased, and Tenten found herself giggling slightly as she took in the overall nervousness of the notes presentation. After a moment to collect herself, she continued reading.
Sorry about that, got a bit sidetracked there.
Basically, if you wanna stick around because you're still feeling down, then please do. I made some more of that ramen from last night, it's in the fridge if you want to heat it up.
Also, I just wanted to say…
There was a mark in pencil that was a bit darker than the rest of the text, which led Tenten to believe that Naruto had tapped his pencil against that spot for quite a while, thinking of what to write.
I've never gone through what you're going through right now. I can't exactly get into your head space regarding that stuff. I do know someone who could, though. Sasuke went through a lot of that same stuff when he was younger, of feeling like, because he was weak, he lost people he cared about. I think it might be helpful to talk with him some time. Especially at the moment, he's in need of company now more than ever with everything that's happened.
But even so, I want you to know that I'm here for you. You can come over any time you want, and honestly, it doesn't even have to be about any of your trauma or anything. If you just wanna talk, or just need someone to vent to, or even if you just want to enjoy some ramen together, then I'm your guy.
That sounded a lot dorkier once I'd written it out than it did in my head. Sorry about that.
She gave a quiet laugh at that, even as she wiped away a small bit of wetness by her eye.
Most importantly, though, like I said last time we talked, know that you have people looking out for you, and that you're sincerely loved. Take as much time as you need to forgive yourself; but know that every single one of us already has. And even if you don't believe that, and beyond that, even if you don't believe in yourself, as I suspect you don't, know that we'll still be by your side every step of the way.
Hope you feel better,
Naruto.
She set the note down on the floor where she'd been reading it and took a second to gather her thoughts. Several million things ran through her head, and it was all she could do to make sense of just the tiniest piece of it.
Gratitude. She was grateful, terribly so.
The only revelation she could come to beyond that was that she was far too hungry to be doing anymore thinking.
She heated up the ramen that Naruto had left for her as she reread the note more than a few times and found the warmth of both it and the noodles radiating through her entire body. That weight over her heart hadn't gone away, and neither had the slight bit of nausea, but it felt like, just this morning, a little piece of it had dissipated somewhat.
As if some of that darkness had been caught in the radiant morning sunlight.
As she finished up, she noted idly that her shirt and pants both smelled an awful lot like Naruto, which made a fair amount of sense given that he'd probably given her his normal assortment of blankets the previous night. Still, as she devoured the remnants of her ramen, and drank up the rest of the broth…
She found she didn't much mind it.
/-/
Sakura was really getting tired of waking up in evil bases.
As her eyes fluttered opened, she took stock of both her situation and her surroundings. She felt alright, give or take an ache here and there, but, well…
She'd been kidnapped. Obviously, she could be doing better.
She had been placed in a fairly simple, perfectly square ten by ten room. The entire thing seemed to be made up of some form of metal, though it wasn't like she cared to really observe it all that closely.
There were bars on the western side of her cell, which seemed to lead out into a larger prison complex. She contemplated for a moment transforming into her evolved state and seeing if those bars could handle her curse mark's strength, but ultimately settled against it. She wasn't too keen on being killed by the Akatsuki so soon after arriving, and she had a feeling that breaking out of prison would be seen as an act of rebellion.
Luckily, she didn't have to wait long for someone to come and visit.
Though the one who did might've been the last person she'd been expecting.
"It's good to see you're awake." The veritable enigma of a man who'd walked up to the bars of her cell spoke apathetically. "I'd worried about you for a moment there, but I see I had no reason to."
She swallowed on nothing as she stepped forward, getting right up next to the bars of her cell.
"Itachi Uchiha…" She felt a small amount of secondhand hate build within her. "I can't say I expected a visit."
She wasn't quite sure if she could believe her eyes, but she saw a faint, almost absent smile tug at the corners of the man's lips.
"I was not sure if I would be visiting you either." Itachi admitted without any shame. "But I'm afraid my curiosity won over the rest of me."
"Curiosity?" She asked, her eyes narrow. "About what? If you're after information about the Leaf Village, the rest assured, you don't have a chance in hell of getting that from–"
He held a hand up to silence her..
"You seem mistaken." Itachi corrected, the previously gentle smile morphing into one that looked far more at home on his face. "Any information that I desire can be taken by force, with or without your consent."
The man's left eye pulsed, and she had just a moment to swear to herself before she was sucked into an illusionary world.
She was still in a cell, but the varied colors around her seemed to have been reversed. The previously white walls were now black, and as she looked at some of her hair which had fallen into her face, she found it a dark green in color.
She turned towards the bars of her cell once more and found Itachi still looking at her beyond them. She felt fear course through her at the way his eyes trained on her, but unexpectedly, in the next moment, the feeling dissipated.
"That's better." Itachi spoke calmly. "No one will be able to eavesdrop on us in here."
She looked at him skeptically.
"What?"
He looked to her and his eyes briefly widened, as if realizing something he hadn't before.
"Oh, my apologies." The man reached out his hand, and, with nary a motion, snapped all the bars in twain, as if they were made of paper, before stepping inside her cell. "I've not been very clear with you."
She felt that was an understatement, given that she still had no idea what was going on.
"I came here for two reasons." Itachi held up two fingers. "The first…"
The murderer, slaughterer of an entire clan of ninja, of civilians, and of children, smiled almost clumsily at her.
"Was that I wanted to hear how my little brother has been doing." He tilted his head whilst looking at her. "And I'd heard that the two of you have been dating for several years now, so I figured there was perhaps no one better to ask."
She felt like she almost wished someone would just go ahead and pinch her now, because very clearly this was a dream, and not even a very good one, if she were being honest, so that she could at least be spared the rest of this nonsense.
When no one did, she sighed, reached down, and punched herself in the arm.
Her eyes widened as she realized that actually hurt quite a lot.
"What… Are you doing?" Itachi asked her hesitantly.
She looked up at him with a disbelieving expression.
"Wait… You're real?"
Itachi looked very confused.
"I… believe so? If you mean whether or not this is my physical body, then no, we are an illusionary world created by my Tsukuyomi."
She shook her head.
"That is… Very much not what I meant."
"I'm afraid that you've lost me…" Itachi seemed to stumble slightly. "What exactly are you–"
It was her turn to hold up a hand to stop the other from speaking.
"Nothing. Just having severe expectational whiplash over some things. Pay me no mind."
Itachi simply nodded, despite the very obvious confusion on his face.
"So… Past Sasuke," She spoke, wanting to get as far away from that topic as she could. "What else were you trying to talk to me about?
Itachi recovered quickly from their earlier shared confusion, nodding slowly as if still adjusting.
"The second thing was a bit more of a long-term goal." Itachi admitted, looking to her with an upmost seriousness. "In some time, once Tobi, Black Zetsu, and the rest of the Akatsuki finally figure out that we've betrayed them…"
Her eyes widened at the piece of information she'd just acquired.
"I want you to escape here with us."
End Chapter 77
Alright! Extra large chapter to make up for the bi-weekly schedule. With this chapter done, we move into our next arc! We'll see more about it from our three heroes perspectives in the next chapter, and in those to come.
So, brief talks about this fics update schedule ahoy!
I'm switching my upload day from Wednesday to Sunday! Why? ...Because I should've done it like a year and a half ago, and I figured I probably should. Its my highest traffic day whenever I don't release a chapter in a week, so I'm going to experiment. Next chapter will release eleven days from now, so next next Sunday.
Only a few more weeks (theoretically) of the biweekly schedule, though, so look forward to that!
Anyways, that's all from me, see you all in a week and a half!
EDIT NOTES:
Just realized I'm an idiot. Kakashi ISN'T in the Leaf Village, despite being in two scenes in this chapter, he's supposed to be chasing the Akatsuki along with Anko, Tenzo, and Guy (that's what I get for taking an extra week to work on each chapter, I forget a lot of shit I shouldn't be). Basically… just strike him from your memories of those scenes, I've gone ahead and written him out of them. Luckily, he wasn't that important to either of them, but still… fudge.
Anyways, if you were wondering why, all of a sudden, Kakashi isn't in the chapter anymore… well then, you know why.