"Hokage, ma'am, we found a survivior... And it isn't ours."
"Whose is it?"
"Sound's."
"We'll keep it for interrogational purposes, then. We can ask about the country. If it doesn't comply at first, we'll send it to live with someone until it will."
"What will we do with it after that?"
"Well, we can't keep it here, but we can't let it go either."
"What would we do, then?"
"Kill it."
Chapter 1: He Lives With You
"YOU'RE LATE AGAIN, MASTER KAKASHI!" Naruto and Sakura yelled as Kakashi entered the small clearing. "Whoa, wait kiddies, this time I'm not lying when I say I had something to do. One of you has a new mission today," he said. The two remaining members of Team 7 were too shocked to say anything to this for a couple of minutes, but finally Sakura said, "Who and what misson?" Kakashi paused for a minute, still not fully believing who it had been given to.
#-#-#-#-#-#Flashback#-#-#-#-#-#
"What did you call me here for?" Kakashi asked Godaime as he entered her office. "I wanted to tell you that one of your students has a new mission," she said. "What is it?" "Naruto is to house a Sound Nin for an undecided period of time," Tsunade answered. Kakashi leapt up out of his chair abruptly. "Naruto can't handle that! He's not mature enough!" he protested. "We're hoping that he'll make the Nin feel more comfortable and reveal his secrets to him. We'll tell Naruto that he'll be helping the village... That it's a step closer to becoming Hokage," Tsunade continued, ignoring Kakashi. "Since no one else lives with him, and the atmosphere of his place is so messy and normal, Naruto has the best chance of getting this Nin where we want him. Do you understand now?" Godaime asked. Kakashi sighed. "Yes, Hokage-sama."
#-#-#-#-#-#End Flashback#-#-#-#-#-#
"Naruto," Kakashi replied. "Naruto?" Sakura asked uncomprehendingly while Naruto just blinked. "Yes, Naruto," Kakashi said, then turned to the surprised boy in question. "Naruto, your mission is to take care of a captured Sound Nin. Doctor it, feed it, clothe it, just keep it happy until it trusts you enough to tell you all it knows about the Sound. Then report to us for further instructions. Do you understand?" Kakashi instructed. "Sound Nin?" Naruto said in disbelief. Kakahi sighed. "Close enough," he decided before whisling a single shrill note. For ten seconds nothing happened, but then two ANBU holding a chained, beaten, bloodied and bruised crying figure between them emerged from the forest before pushing the person down to kneel.
Because of his stature, the figure appeared to be a man. He had grey hair that reached just below his shoulders and was wearing what was the remains of a yellow something because the rags showed that colour through the dirt. Before the probably teenaged boy hit the ground, Naruto got a glimpse of dark navy blue eyes. Upon hitting the ground, the boy reached out and grabbed Naruto's ankle, whispering, "Please tell me where they are, please, tell me," but didn't get a chance to say any more before one ANBU stepped on his wrist and the other hit his head down. "Naruto, from what we can gather, this is Sakon. He'll be living with you for the next while," Kakashi introduced as the ANBU undid the chains around the aforementioned Sound Nin's feet and pulled the shaky boy back up. "His stamina and Chakra have been blocked to a certain degree, so he can't hurt you, but you still shouldn't let him out of your sight. You are dismissed for today, practice is tomorrow at 11:00 AM," Kakashi continued. Naruto nodded dumbly, then watched as everyone, including his teammates, left.
"So, you're Sakon. I'm Naruto," the latter introduced awkwardly. Looking at him uncertainly, the latter nodded. "I've seen you before, but I can't remember where," Sakon said finally. 'That's good,' Naruto thought. "C'mon, if you're living with me for the next while, then I'd better show you my house," Naruto decided, and Sakon's face brightened. "Live? No more interrogating?" he asked hopefully. "No more interrosomething" Naruto confirmed.
"Home sweet home," Naruto announced as he threw open the door to his apartment. ".....Wow," Sakon said as he took in the mess before him. "Yeah," Naruto agreed as he closed the door behind him. "You want something to eat?" "Sure," the Sound Nin replied uncertainly. "Well, you can do that after taking a bath," Naruto announced as he led Sakon to the bathroom. "The shampoo and conditioner are in here," Naruto announced as he showed Sakon a large cupboard filled with bottles. "What are these?" Sakon asked curiously as he removed two bottles with labels on them. One read 'Sakura's,' the other 'Kankuro's.' Naruto blushed. "Well, I have good smelling abilities thanks to Kyu-- er, my nose, and I smell people's shampoos on their hair often. So I buy their shampoo for the heck of it." "Cool," Sakon remarked. "Which one can I use?" "The bottles at the front that have no labels," Naruto answered, then continued, "Now, I'll go make supper while you take a bath."
Naruto looked through his cupboards, debating on which flavour of ramen Sakon would like best. "He looks like a Shrimp person," he finally decided and began to cook the ramen. After a while he heard a timid 'Err...' from behind him. He turned around to see Sakon standing there with a towel around his waist and water dripping down over his body and hair. "Um, do you have anything I could wear until I can get new clothes?" Sakon asked. "Uh... Sure," Naruto said as he took the ramen out of the microwave and walked over to his room. Sakon hovered uncertainly in the doorway until Naruto finished rooting through his dresser. "Here, you wear this until I finish with lunch," Naruto stated as he handed Sakon some clothes. On Naruto, they were a loose black T-shirt and grey loose capris, complete with a pair of someone's boxers that were in his washing machine a month ago. On Sakon, they were a tightish black t-shirt and grey shorts, complete with loose-ish maroon boxers. "Thanks," Sakon said gratefully. "No problem," Naruto replied, scratching the back of his head and smiling.
Suddenly Naruto sniffed the air and said, "Oh, crap, I'm burning the ramen!" before dashing off towards the kitchen. Sakon laughed slightly as Naruto wailed, "Noooooo!"