A Nugget Of Advice, Chapter 14
One ninjutsu later and Naruto reappeared back home, thanks to the use of the Shunshin no Jutsu. He never regretted learning that technique; instant movement was great and it made him feel so cool doing it. He bet he made Kiba and the rest of his company so jealous when he pulled that move off in the office.
After the meeting, Shikamaru had asked them to meet him at the front gate of the village at noon, so that gave Naruto about an hour and a half to wash up, gather any belongings he needed for the mission, maybe go and get some other equipment like some soldier pills, and get to the village gate to meet his team.
Naruto quickly made a clone and instructed it to do just that, while he went towards his bedroom. 'Another mission out the village. Can't say I was looking forward to one so soon. I just hope this one doesn't end up with anyone on our team in a hospital.' The blond thought sourly. He quickly took off his clothing – a black sweat-soaked shirt, and his standard orange pants he wore for training – and gathered an undershirt and underwear for him to wear after he got out his shower.
After a quick shower, he got out, and put on his shirt, underwear, and-
Hmm, wait, what the hell was he going to wear today? He had nothing readily available. His black pants and jacket he brought from a month ago were dirty. His spare orange pants that he had on were also too dirty to go out with outside the village, messed up from early today training. Besides some undershirts, his usual outfit wasn't in good enough shape to wear.
'That's what I get for slacking off on house chores and focusing on other things. Crap,' Naruto thought before sighing audibly. "Well, what am I going to wear? Just this white t-shirt?"
He looked around in his room and tried scanning for something to wear until he saw something: the black sleeve shirt and pants he didn't wear since the Sandaime's funeral. Not what he wanted to wear but… did he have a choice? His jacket was not going to be ready in an hour and a half. He walked over to the folded clothing and smelt it. It smelt fine – just a bit of ironing, and they would be fine to wear.
He shrugged and grabbed the clothing as he walked over to his ironing board.
A little bit later, he walked to his bathroom's mirror and looked at himself. He had to admit: it looked good. The chūnin vest went well with his otherwise black attire. Yeah, coupled with his black fingerless gloves and his black headband, his mission attire looked pretty good today. He also had to admit that putting on the vest with his black and orange jacket under it made him feel unnecessarily hot at times, but he had tolerated it because he quite liked his jacket still.
Naruto felt pretty cool. It was kind of like he was wearing Kakashi-sensei's outfit. "Hey, maybe I should put my headband like how Kakashi-sensei puts it." He grabbed his headband, tied to his head, and tried putting a portion over his right eye. "Hah, now I need a face mask and I can be Kakashi-sensei." He shook his head at it and stopped being silly.
After fixing himself, placing on his kunai and shuriken pouches on his person, and grabbing his backpack full of materials he thought he would need for the mission, Naruto walked out his door and locked up. No sense with wasting his energy on getting there, especially when he doubted many people would be at the village gate.
Naruto walked to the village gate and the first ones he saw there were Kiba, his dog, Akamaru, and Shino. "Yo, guys."
"Hello, Uzumaki-san." Shino nodded at the blond teen's direction. "Congratulations on your recent promotion to chūnin rank."
"Yo. Don't think I said congrats about the promotion either, but yes, congrats." Kiba greeted, holding out a fist for Naruto to bump. Naruto gladly did so, grinning at his two peers.
"Thanks, Kiba and Shino!" He smiled brightly, basking in their comments for a moment. Akamaru barked, letting Naruto know he was here too. "And hey, Akamaru!"
"Yeah, and I guess you're starting to look the part, huh?" Kiba grinned teasingly. "You're lacking your tacky-ass orange jacket today."
"It ain't tacky, mutt," Naruto shot back. There was nothing too wrong about his newer jacket. "It isn't even all that orange anymore. It's mostly black with some orange. Besides, it's dirty. Otherwise, I wouldn't have this on."
The Inuzuka shook his head. "Seriously though, Ramen-For-Brains, you look more professional with that stuff on."
Naruto scoffed. "What, and wearing a gray parka makes you the expert in looking 'professional?'"
Kiba shrugged. "Hey, man. I am still a genin; I'm sure you can look however you want when you're a genin. However, you're a chūnin – there's a reason they give you a vest. You start representing the village at that rank. Plus it's a solid gray color. Not 'Fucking Kill Me Orange.'"
"Doesn't your sensei wear bandages?" Naruto flatly asked. "I've seen a lot of people in this village wear whatever the hell they want – chūnin and jōnin alike. People just love ragging on my orange outfits."
Kiba shrugged, not even trying to refute that comment. "I'm just saying, man. It looks better." He had an amused smirk on his face. Then the dog owner looked over at the approaching Shikamaru and Chōji. "I mean, look at the lazy-ass captain of our group. He may look so lackadaisical but he's been wearing his vest since he got it!"
"Hey, can you stand to not yell so much, Kiba? You're giving me a headache." Shikamaru complained, rolling his eyes at his teammate.
"Yo, oh great leader!" The Inuzuka snapped a lazy salute to Shikamaru. "So, did y'all take a gander at this Tsunade chick we're trying to find?"
"You mean the sannin Tsunade?" Shino asked rhetorically. "She isn't some random woman, Kiba."
"Right, right, but did you check out the last picture they had on her? Damn, she was a cutie." Kiba waved around a picture that Naruto took off his hands to take a look.
He studied the woman quietly. She was depicted as a blonde-haired, brown-eyed woman with a diamond-shaped mark or tattoo on her forehead. She was dressed in a blue kimono and had a green-gem necklace on her neck. Despite the flat expression, Kiba was correct in his assessment that the woman in the picture was beautiful, though Naruto wondered how accurate that was since that photo had to be taken years ago.
"Kiba, you got the copies of the picture I gave you earlier?" The dog boy nodded at Shikamaru's comment. "Alright, give everyone a copy of the photo you were waving around earlier. Everyone's going to need one."
Kiba quickly did such, before commenting, "I have a feeling it's going to be annoying finding this lady. So, when are we leaving?"
"When the last member of our team comes."
"I have been here already for some time, Nara-san," Neji Hyūga uttered, walking up to the five others from their left. It seemed Neji was relaxing near the shade of a tree before he joined his team.
"Alright then," Shikamaru nodded at his teammates. "In case you guys forgot, we're heading out to Tanzaku Gai. We should get there around a few hours, maybe about 3 or 4 pm, which is good, since according to our information on the target, Tsunade likes to frequent gambling houses, casinos, and bars in the evening of a place she's visiting. We're going to have to hurry; Tsunade doesn't like to stay in one place for too long. According to intel, she gets up and leaves a place after one or two days."
"How is any of that good then? Ain't Tanzaku Gai a gambling town? There must be like a few dozens of those gambling spots out there." Kiba commented.
"And bars too," Chōji supplied with his opinion. "She might be gone before we find her."
"That's where most of our work comes in, unfortunately. Thankfully, we got the human battery here who can create about a dozen clones, huh?" Shikamaru then folded his arms, looking at Naruto with a lazy smirk.
"You can count on me, Cap'n." Naruto snapped out an exaggerated salute to the team leader.
Shikamaru shook his head with a sigh. "Let's get to it, guys."
The other five teens nodded, turning to the gate.
They set a steady pace as they moved through the trees of Hi no Kuni. Naruto had a good chat with almost every member in the group – even the quiet Shino Aburame had something to say to the blond when Naruto tried to coax him into a conversation. The only one Naruto didn't try to spare a conversation was Neji, who he did not like one bit. Mind still fresh from what the older teen did to Naruto's former female classmate, Naruto couldn't help but dislike him. It seemed like the feeling was mutual, as Neji didn't bother saying anything to him either.
They reached the town of Tanzaku Gai around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and immediately noticed the immediate difference between this place and Konoha. This place was big, though he doubted it was as large as Konoha. He could see a few buildings towering over the town, especially a big castle. Naruto wanted to explore a bit, but business before pleasure, as they said.
"Okay, two clones dispelled and found Tsunade in neither of the bars I sent them to around town. I got quite a few of them running around in disguise but so far, I haven't heard back from them."
Shikamaru turned to his teammates. "Alright, let's do some more scouting. Naruto, you know what to do. Make a few clones for everyone and pair up together. We'll all go around town. You guys got the radios I gave you all earlier?" The teens nodded. "Radio back when you hear something, then we'll meet up."
After a few hours of looking around the town, nothing special came up. Kiba was the first to complain over the radio. "Yo, dude. I ain't find anything on my end of town."
"Yeah, me neither," Naruto stated. He was also getting quite tired already of walking around aimlessly, looking into buildings. "This isn't easy."
"So, what's next, Shika?" Chōji asked.
The leader sighed, "I guess we should just go and take a brief break. It's about 6 o'clock. Alright, but Naruto, keep your clones scouting around. Meanwhile, let's all go take a 45-minute break, get some R&R, and then get back to finding our target, okay? Keep the line clean too."
"You had me at 'break.' Heh." Kiba grinned, his dog barking in the background of his radio. "I'm sure we can go and find something to do. I think there's a festival going on today here. Lots of good food and stuff."
"Hmm, maybe I can find some ramen here then since we're having a break," Naruto commented. The memories of all the places his clones visited entered his head.
"You guys can do whatever – just make sure to make you're back to searching by 6:45, and if you see something…" The Nara leader trailed off.
"We'll let you know, Leader-san," Neji reassured.
"Shika, let's link up. Where are you at?" Chōji asked.
Shino remarked, "I feel I must find where you are at, Kiba. Why? Because someone's got to do it, lest someone gets hurt…"
Shikamaru chuckled at Shino's dry remark. "Smart."
"Shut it, bastard. You probably already know where to find me. Probably got one of those tracking bugs on me or something…" Kiba started grumbling over the radio, but Naruto had already tuned him out.
Naruto put away his radio and turned the volume down low, not caring where his teammates were going. A hunger for ramen was already overtaking his thoughts. It's been hours since they have been traveling around this town trying to find Tsunade. Somewhere to relax and recuperate would be nice.
It didn't take very long for Naruto to find a spot to eat. He stepped to the restaurant in front and looked up their menu from a board outside the fast-food joint. It was a noodle shop, so he was hoping he could find some ramen. Sure enough, he found the section dedicated to ramen, and immediately, he went inside the stand.
"Afternoon!" He called out to the man behind the counter. He looked to be the waiter.
"Good afternoon!" The male waiter said as he passed Naruto a menu. "Do you know what you want, or should I give you a minute?"
"Nah, I know what I want. I would like to have the uh… miso ramen with the roast pork fillet, please!"
"Miso ramen with pork, " The man repeated back. "Okay, I got it! Anything else?"
"Hm, and a lychee-flavored ramune." He could go for some soda right about now.
"Lychee ramune, right. Alright, coming right up!" The man then scampered back to a chef in the back of the restaurant.
Naruto smiled. Oh, some ramen right now would hit the spot. Of course, this was true almost every day though. And plus, even though this wasn't Ichiraku's ramen, it would no doubt still be pretty good. Ooh, he couldn't wait.
"Afternoon, sir!" The waiter again called, walking back up as one of the cooks started working on Naruto's order. He had a menu in his hands. "Come on in, and when you're ready, give me your order."
"Oh, I know what I want, sir." Naruto blinked, immediately recognizing the voice. Neji Hyūga walked into the fast food place. "The herring soba, please, with some green tea."
"Coming right up!" The man walked away from them and attended to some other customers. "…And what do you gentlemen want today?"
Naruto tried his hardest not to look in the direction of his teammate, unable to understand why Neji was here of all places.
It's not like he should fuss about seeing Neji here of all places. After all, Neji could pick where he wanted to eat – just as Naruto could choose whether or not to even acknowledge the guy. And he was content to do such. Neji didn't like Naruto and Naruto sure as hell didn't like Neji. The thoughts of how he treated Hinata was still fresh in Naruto's mind.
Of course, the ignoring became incredibly hard when Neji chose to sit next to him in the stand. Again, Neji could sit where he wanted to sit – despite there being plenty of free chairs. In fact, the only customers in this joint were him and Neji.
Still, that didn't mean he couldn't-
"Uzumaki."
Fuck. "Ah, Hyūga. Fancy meeting you here…"
"Hm. Yes."
A silence began between them.
"How are you?" Neji asked, confusing Naruto.
"…Hungry?"
"Indeed. I am too."
"Good for you," Naruto said rather rudely but he couldn't care less. He was getting sick of this conversation already.
A few uncomfortable seconds of no talking between the two customers began once again. The silence was broken up by Neji's sigh. "I should stop beating around the bush."
"Yeah, you should," the blond remarked surly. "What do you want?"
"I am here… to apologize."
"…What?" The blond raised an eyebrow.
Neji looked a little embarrassed, scrunching his face like he tasted something sour. "I came here to apologize for the way I acted like in the exams. I… This is difficult for me to say, but I had my reasons…"
"'Reasons?'" Naruto scoffed. "If you call nearly killing your cousin-" He cut himself off as he got served his drink. He thanked the man shortly before returning his attention to Neji. "If you call nearly killing Hinata and belittling her 'reasonable…'"
"Yes, well at the time I thought it was reasonable, believe it or not, Uzumaki." Neji's white eyes hardened. "Don't know why I'm even telling you this but… Do you know of the story of the Hyūga Clan and that there are two parts of our clan?"
Naruto shook his head no and Neji continued talking. "There are two parts of my clan: the main house and the branch house. I hail from the branch house. The branch house's members are the servants of the main house of the Hyūga Clan. We protect them while they run the clan as our leaders. This has been since a thing since the inception of our clan. However, my people from the branch house are treated like slaves – not honored bodyguards."
Neji pointed to his forehead protector. "Under this headband, on my head, I have been branded with a seal that all branch members must have. This seal not only acts as a badge of shame. Its main function is to seal off the Byakugan when a branch member dies but during our lifetimes, it is used by the main house members to cage us like birds. At any moment, if they see any sort of disobedience from us, they can activate this curse seal and immediately inflict us with pain. With enough chakra activating the seal, it can kill you instantly.
"Imagine how it is to live with something that you have no control over, and this thing here is literally a lifeline. One mess up and your 'masters' can pull the plug, instantly killing you by destroying our brain from the inside out. Imagine that." The Hyūga teen started shaking in rage. Naruto was silent, looking at Neji with a grimace. "I had to believe in fate back then – because that was all I knew. I believed everything was set in stone; everything and everyone had a purpose. I was fated to serve the main house because that was my destiny. My father's destiny was…!"
Neji stopped and took three breaths of air. Obviously, it was an attempt to calm himself down. Naruto was really starting to feel uncomfortable with this all. "This is a hell of a tangent we're getting on, Hyūga."
"I apologize." Neji shook his head. Naruto nodded at the waiter who came to give him his food and muttered at him a soft, "Enjoy," as if he heard the heated conversation between them. "I lost myself again. Let me just stick to the topic at hand. I believed in fate and nothing else. The weak were weak because that was their nature, and the strong were strong because that was their nature. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Bad logic," Naruto sardonically uttered, taking a sip of his drink. "But yeah, I understand."
"I concur." Neji folded his hands and sighed. "I let my hardships rule over my life. I felt like a bird caged. I still do. All because of the damnable seal I wield on my forehead."
Naruto nodded slowly. He did understand honestly. It did sound like the guy had a hard life, and Naruto could be sympathetic– hell, scratch that. With all these talks of seals and being dealt with a bad hand at the start of his life made Naruto empathetic with the Hyūga. It reminded him all about the Kyūbi being in contained inside him. He wouldn't lie and say he never asked the skies why did he have this thing inside of him on some days.
Even a part of him – a really dark and nasty part of him that he has not quite shaken off yet – wants to lash out at those who scorned him for having a demon in him. However, thankfully, he had people in his life now to keep him from doing anything he would regret. Having a bad hand at life didn't excuse you for doing bad things and Neji having a seal didn't excuse what he did to Hinata. "So, why did you attack Hinata? It's not like she branded you with that shitty curse seal. It sounds like the main house people are jerks but Hinata isn't like them."
Neji released a breath of air. "I admit, I was mistaken. I was angry at her. I believe it was from years of pent up rage and anger for the main house. I… just wanted payback." The Hyūga winced.
The blond took a swig from his soda before clicking his tongue. "So, how did you go from a pissed off bastard to a repentant bastard then?"
Neji narrowed his eyes at the blond at the "bastard" remark. "As you know, Hinata-sama and I are cousins. My uncle is her father, and my father was his brother."
Naruto didn't bother questioning about that. He knew what Neji meant and he felt somewhat bad for calling the guy a bastard. He saw the way Neji clenched his fists. "In any case, my uncle, after the exams, approached me, and… correct my former misconceptions."
"By cowing you with that seal?" The thought kind of pissed off Naruto. At least his seal wasn't designed to do that. Keep him under control and, if people needed to, kill him with it.
"No. My uncle is, admittedly, not… as insufferable as the rest of the main house." Neji seemed to calm down after saying such. "Neither is Hinata-sama or Hanabi-sama."
Naruto didn't bother asking who the hell was Hanabi. Probably just one of Neji's relatives. "What did he do then to change your mind, even make you apologize to me? Actually, why the hell are you apologizing to me? If you're a good guy now, shouldn't you owe Hinata an apology? I'm just the dude who rocked your shit in the Chūnin Exams." Naruto jested, smirking a little at his joke.
"How clever of a pun for your affinity for earth release ninjutsu," Neji said, dryly. A small quirk on his lips told Naruto how the teen felt about his joke. Naruto shrugged as a grin came onto his own lips. Neji sighed. "I have already apologized to Hinata-sama. I think I owe you an apology because of the way I belittled you. And… to perhaps start over, Uzumaki."
"Yeah? Why?"
"In a way, you have shown me that fate is nothing but a crutch to rely on. Everyone can decide their own path in life, their own destiny. This is why I belittled Hinata-sama, why I belittled you. I believed that the weak were weak and that was that and I was strong. However, I now know that I was the weak one. I had let my anger get the best of me, I let it rule me." Neji stopped himself briefly, as the waiter came back with the food, he ordered several minutes ago.
"Enjoy," The man announced, quickly stepping back into the kitchen.
"Thank you," Neji nodded, but then pushed away his udon. "Anyway, what I am trying to say is this, Naruto Uzumaki, I am truly sorry and I wish to start new. Perhaps as friends."
"Friends?" Naruto smiled broadly. "Well, shit, that's great with me, Neji! Just don't pull that annoying fate shit again on anyone, and we'll be pretty cool with each other."
"And I intend to win next time."
"Eh?"
This time, the white-eyed teen smirked. "I lost because you got the better of me, but I will not lose again to you. I still have to reclaim my lost reputation after losing to a reported dead last."
Naruto growled, "Oh, how I hate people bring up my past as dead last sometimes when they need to prove how better they are than me. Well, bring it out, princess. I'll beat your ass again."
Neji chuckled, "Well, that will have to wait. I have some food to attend."
For once Naruto agreed with the older teen, finally taking that well-needed slurp of his beloved ramen noodles.
End.
A/N: One more chapter of talking and filler. Just one more. Bear with me, please.