A semi-brief and hopefully-one-time-only author's note:
This is not mandatory reading; I just want to offer a short summary of my style and purpose of writing for those wondering what they're getting into. If you're not interested, skip thirteen paragraphs down to the "Chapter 1" heading.
This is my first real attempt at writing fiction. Sure, I've done some long-forgotten school assignments and typed up random ideas at random times, but I've conceived nothing that could remotely qualify as a story. However, being a messageboard junkie, it's far from my first attempt at writing in general, and I must give special props to my two good English-major friends who have drilled and instilled proper speech and grammar into my every spoken and written word through an intense and consistent gestapo-esque regime of berating and humiliation. I love you, J and P. Now, about this story.
I write in English. I don't know Japanese, and even if I did, I wouldn't scatter fragments of it amidst a full-on English story. Expect every Japanese word with an adequate English translation to use it. I often find the insertion of random phrases to make a statement like "oh look what I learned on the internet, GO ME!", which can be distracting, especially when mandatory translation notes are located at the bottom of a lengthy web page.
My story is primarily about relations. Why relations? A few reasons.
1) I have an odd habit of creating what I would never enjoy otherwise. I love large epic movies, yet I'm planning a script about a runaway child in TV episode format. I love huge, orchestral music with hundreds of instruments, yet I write beep-bop electronica songs. I love intense mystery and surrealism in my stories, yet here I am once again, writing something I'd probably never read.
2) I've recently discovered the "foreign" section of my libraries, which led to the discovery that good drama does in fact exist. For me, it was a huge change from the plot-driven Hollywood stories with "mandatory character development time because we have to meet minimum character development requirements" to the character-driven foreign stories with occasional plot happenings to further the characters' development. I was intrigued by how films about people simply being people and "life as-is" could be so effective and engrossing when the plot could be summarized in two sentences, and I was motivated to try something similar.
3) I'm not a fan of the Naruto manga's Season 2 so far. There are very few traces of the ingenuity that drew me to the story during its early years. The story has become straightforward and predictable, concepts are rehashed, clichés abound, Naruto's "growth" is sorely disappointing, etc. etc. Most of all, the characters who had such great development, deep background stories and unique personalities and abilities have thus-far been reduced to mere chumps or plot devices to make room for sporadic power-fest fights and generic dialogues. To compensate, I felt the need to go to the opposite extreme.
As a character-driven story, I try to take the backseat as much as possible, providing only the minimal settings for the characters' interactions to take place in. Rather than tell the reader things, I want to show them through the thoughts and speech of the characters. Ideally, dialogues will be able to carrythemselves in tone and character action/expression without loads of qualifying side-descriptions.
Out-of-character-ness: There will be differences between the Season 1 and current-time personas of the characters. The time skip allowed for that, though I don't believe the current Season 2 took full (or good) advantage of that. Big changes can happen in three years. I suppose that, by default, any fan fiction will have its characters out-of-character because the writer isn't following the original plot or setting by the original author. However, they can still be in-character given their new circumstances. Plus, if an event occurs where the character's lifestyle is dramatically changed, why would the character have the same personality? I have some reasons. Will they be legitimate? See for yourself.
Are some overly mature? Compared to teens today, perhaps. But in centuries past, lifestyles were simpler and children were ready to take on their own lives at even getting married by the average age of 14, some before 12. This applies to the Naruto-verse as well. Most have been full-fledged ninja since 12. I parallel their development after 4 years as ninja to that of 4 years in the military. I draw from personal experience of 4 years of high school and 4 years of armed forces service.
As the "NaruKiba" in the description implies, this story could probably be qualified as "shounen ai". However, I would hesitate to call it "yaoi". I find most yaoi/yuri stories to not be thought out very much beyond "OMG they're so HAWT LET'S MAKE THEM SCREW!" Restricted is the antithesis to those stories. There will probably be no lemons, limes, or fruits of any kind. The story is about characters and their development through trials and tribulations, not finding the quickest way to get to the smut, and while it is primarily focused around Naruto and Kiba, it is also about all the other characters that play into their lives and relationships as well. So now you know what you're in for.
Also, I hate manga-retypes as much as the next person, but modifying and extending three manga scenes was necessary to get this story going. I promise it's all original after the first three scenes.
And finally, I won't reply to reviews in the story space. I will, however, make a clarification note if multiple reviews require it. I know of stories deleted for review responses, so if you want to carry on a conversation, email me or ask me to email you. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy your read.
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Style Index:
"Spoken Dialogue."
'Thoughts.'
Flashback, occasional emphasis in dialogue or thoughts.
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Restricted: Chapter 1
Published: March 25, 2006
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Tsunade entered the meeting room and sat across from the Leaf village elders. "You wished to speak with me?"
Koharu fidgeted slightly before answering. She was well aware of Tsunade's relationship with Naruto and wasn't comfortable presenting the elders' decision. "Truth be told, we've discussed the issue with Shizune beforehand..." She glanced at Homura, who sat at her left.
"Do not assign Uzumaki Naruto any more missions that have the possibility of engaging him with Akatsuki," he stated, more concerned for the safety of the village than for Tsunade's feelings. "Furthermore, from now on you will group Naruto with ninja of even greater skill, have him conduct missions in a four-man-cell, and improve our supervision and protection of him. Additionally, it is best to significantly limit the number of missions assigned to him, as well as restrict his area of activity."
Tsunade scowled. 'I knew it wouldn't be long before the village committee started interfering with Naruto's life. If I want to stop that, I can't even show a moment of hesitation that would allow them to get a foot in the door. React first, defend later.' She slammed her fist onto the table that separated the elders from her. "That's not happening!"
'As expected,' Homura sighed and scratched his brow. "Tsunade, Naruto is not just any kid. He's a jinchuuriki. It would be most logical to keep him under supervision and prevent him from leaving the village. It may not seem like it, but we are keeping his best interests in mind."
"While I'm all for having him act in a four man cell, we should not be imposing such severe restrictions on Naruto. Even if we keep him within the village, Akatsuki will eventually come after him, in the same way they did with the Sand village incident. In that event, the village will also end up being exposed to danger. As long as Naruto is on the move, it will be more difficult for them to find out what he is doing. And besides, Naruto has great talent to begin with. He is a shinobi destined to become a great asset of Leaf."
"Your argument lacks content, Tsunade. You speak from emotion, not rationality. Hardly becoming of a ninja, let alone a Hokage. Think: what happens when Akatsuki finally locates Naruto? Would it not be wiser to trust an entire ninja village to fight off his pursuers than to trust that his pursuers, a union of the most dangerous criminals alive, will be forever outwitted and evaded by a mere genin? The Kyuubi is the strongest of all Bijuu and is no doubt Akatsuki's top priority. When they want him, they will find him, and when that time comes, it would be wisest to have all the support possible to ensure their failure in abducting Naruto. Believe that the Kyuubi under the control of a single Akatsuki member is a far greater threat than the whole of Akatsuki as it is now, and reconsider your position on Naruto's activity."
"Naruto will... never be done in! I have faith in him... from seeing him in battle, even years ago... he fights with a passion I've rarely seen in all my years. I stand by my initial judgment. If Leaf village... if the Country of Fire were to face a crisis because of that judgment... Then I'll just protect both of them with my own life. As the Fifth Hokage."
"That will be unnecessary. While Naruto may win a battle of spirits, he is far from winning a battle of skill, and here we fight against flesh and blood, not spirits and wills. If he truly will not be done in, he can prove that here, under the added protection and supervision of the Leaf. Keep your stubborn insistence and know that if Kyuubi falls into Akatsuki's control while Naruto is absent from the village, you will bear the responsibility of all resulting havoc wreaked and be held accountable accordingly. Tsunade, sometimes things get worse before they get better. I sympathize with your concern regarding potential collateral damage in the village, but such a minor setback now may be necessary to prevent utter decimation later. We cannot underestimate the lengths Akatsuki will go to in order to attain Kyuubi. We need every available ninja ready to prevent such an occurrence. Even then, you may still have the opportunity to sacrifice yourself."
"Tsunade," Koharu spoke, "I understand your relationship with Naruto and your desire to protect an individual who means more to you than all the unfamiliar faces of Leaf combined, but remember all those people ultimately depend on you for their well-being and survival as much as Naruto does. You have to act with majority interest in mind. It is your job, but it should also be your heart. Please don't be too selfish in your decisions. There are plenty worthwhile activities for Naruto to pursue within the village. Try not to think of it as a hindrance to him; rather, an opportunity for new growth in different areas."
"Such as...?"
"The academy's student mentoring program is having its initial presentation tomorrow. This will be an opportunity unlike any he has had previously. I do not know how it may grow him, but you must. Furthermore, there he would be surrounded by the largest concentration of moderate to high level ninja in the village."
Tsunade considered the possibilities. 'The currently planned mission to the Bridge of Heaven and Earth will likely involve Akatsuki or Orochimaru. Kyuubi falling into the hands of either would be greatly devastating. At this point, it is indeed my responsibility to either put Naruto up for grabs or do everything possible to prevent it. Nothing these two have said lessens my faith in Naruto, but neither Akatsuki nor Orochimaru are to be underestimated. Naruto may fight passionately, but he's still far from an S-class ninja, as are all others available to accompany him. And, though it wasn't told to anyone but me, Naruto's transformation into two-tailed fox form does force me to question his current stability in dealing with enemies against whom he harbors intense hatred. A loss of control so great, and perhaps so often, that a seal was required and developed to suppress that loss is a threat that needs much further examination. I'll have to discuss this previously unheard-of development with Jiraiya whenever he returns from his latest spying escapade. On the other hand, Naruto's presence in Leaf does ensure the lowest probability of abduction. I don't like the thought of a repeat of the Sand incident at Leaf, but even worse would be Naruto's abduction. As for Naruto himself, the academy program might just provide him with the next logical step in his development as a ninja as well as a person. That is, if he can accept the circumstances leading to his recommendation.'
"We can allow you some time to think things over and resolve this later," Koharu offered.
"No thanks, I'll concede with your judgment... under one condition."
"Go on."
"As I was to bear the responsibility of 'all resulting havoc wreaked' if Naruto were abducted according to my decision, so shall you bear the responsibility of all 'collateral damage' according to your decision."
"Agreed," Homura replied without a moments' thought. "Koharu?"
Koharu hesitated before nodding.
"Then we have an agreement..." Tsunade stood and turned to leave "...for now," she added before walking toward the door. 'Now, how to break this to Naruto...'
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Continuing his now-futile search for new team members, Naruto ran aimlessly around the village streets in pursuit of the acquaintances he hadn't yet seen during his first brief return to Leaf. Along his way, he noticed a few standard glares, a few looks of surprise disappointment, and few looks of curiosity and intrigue, mostly from girls of a similar age, though the connection didn't register with him. 'Yep, not much has changed at all...' he noted, veering down a fenced-off alleyway with a single tree on his right side. 'Still, who do I even want to join? Iforget who was worth what, and now they're all probably way stronger too. Hehe, I can't wait to fight some people!' Naruto's face lit up in glee as he imagined himself standing victorious over a thoroughly beaten and decimated pile of his former classmates. A soft and deep voice soon called him back to reality.
"It's been a long time, Naruto."
Naruto spun around to see a pair of sunglasses-covered eyes peeking out from a bundle of clothes standing under the tree. "Who are you?"
"It's me..."
"Yeah, but who are you!"
"Even if it's been a while, you should at least remember the face of a friend. The reason being... that if you don't, it's painful for the person who called you out."
"That annoying style of speech... could you possibly be... Shino?"
"You finally recognized me."
"Hey, if you're covering your face that much, nobody's going to recognize you! Idiot! What are you doing here anyway?"
"Waiting."
"...For?"
"People."
"Who?"
"Teammates."
"Why?"
"Reasons."
"Erk..." Naruto's eyebrow twitched in frustration at the blatantly evasive string of answers that could serve no other purpose than irritating him. Soon, a frightening thought dawned on him. "Wait a second... you haven't... developed a sense of humor, have you?"
"Guh..." Naruto was debating the most effective and entertaining way of thrashing Shino into oblivion when a thud from behind caught his attention. He looked back to see a brown-haired boy clad in black pants and a black jacket, cheeks painted with red fangs, riding toward him atop a giant dog.
"K... Kiba?"
"Whoa! Naruto, it really was you!"
Naruto's face twisted in confusion.
"The smell, I mean."
"Ugh, that's how you recognized me?" Not to be outdone, Naruto decided to keep on top of things. "Hmph, well, that's how I could tell you too!"
"Hah! Don't tell me you think your sense of smell has the slightest chance of rivaling mine."
"Nope, you stink as bad as ever!"
Kiba glared and the dog barked in irritation.
"Forget that, what's with..." Realization hit Naruto as he pointed toward the dog. "Wait, is that..."
"That's Akamaru, you dolt!"
"Hey! I didn't know dogs were supposed to get that much bigger so fast!"
"Bigger?"
Naruto blanched. Was Shino contagious? "Uh, it used to ride on your head, remember?"
"Oh, true. Well I'm always with him, so I never really noticed." Kiba hopped off Akamaru and stood next to Naruto. "Speaking of bigger, you've gotten huge, haven't you? Wow!"
"Hehe, yep!" Naruto knew what Kiba meant, but decided to have some fun with him and flaunt his other 'huge'-ness. He pulled his right sleeve up to his shoulder and revealed a study in fine detail; a forearm that widened immensely from deceptively small wrists, leading up to a biceps that peaked like a large kiwi and triceps that sported the coveted horseshoe shape, all writhing like copulating serpents beneath his skin as he wiggled his hand and fingers. "Ero-sennin was merciless... and rude! It was only a few weeks after we left until he said he'd just train me in brute strength cause I had no capacity for stealth," he pouted. "I still think he was making an excuse to torture me all day, but it did stuff so now it's fine!" he grinned and pulled his sleeve back down. "I'm surprised you could tell though, I didn't think my new clothes were that tight."
Kiba let go of a breath he didn't realize he was holding and responded before his delay became suspicious. "Umm... I didn't mean like that, but, hey, cool." He glanced to Shino standing silently at his right. Even though Shino was harder to read than ever, his teammates had developed a sixth sense when it came to interpreting his body language, and Kiba could feel the smug grin emanating from beneath the bundle of clothes, as if challenging him to reclaim his rank. 'Tch, and after I'd finally established and secured my spot as the brute, this dolt comes out of nowhere and shows me up once again. I'll have to take him on soon and find out just how strong he's really become, but I can't risk losing an actual competition in front of Shino...'
"You recognized Kiba immediately, Naruto."
'Ugh, what a sourpuss.' Naruto's planned retort was cut short when a small shriek at the far end of the alley caught everybody's attention. Hinata hid around the corner, back against the fence, panting nervously. 'N... Naruto-kun...! I heard he was back in the village, but... wh... what should I do... I'm still not ready yet... we haven't met for three whole years... what should I say... my feelings... umm... umm...' Her mind was racing so fast she didn't notice Naruto peek around the corner.
"Hinata? Why are you hiding?" Naruto flinched as Hinata shrieked and passed out, landing on the roadside with a thud. "What the! Hinata, why are you falling over like that! Hey!"
Kiba and Shino gathered around Hinata's unconscious form.
"Why is it you always faint when you see Naruto?" Kiba wondered aloud.
"I see you didn't have any problems recognizing Hinata either, Naruto," Shino stated.
Naruto sagged, clenched his fists and growled through gritted teeth before standing upright and pointing at Shino. "You know what? Your family is ugly and your personal hygiene is questionable! Forget this, I don't want you on my team any more!"
Shino remained still as Naruto began to walk away. Kiba's curiosity, however, was peaked. "What team?"
"Mine!" Naruto spun around and yelled.
"...Which includes?"
'Ugh, I guess Shino is contagious!' Naruto realized. "Team Seven is back in action! I'm with Sakura in Kakashi's team but we still need a fourth member, so I'm recruiting!"
"And who gave you that privilege?"
"Um..."
"Right. Why are you even asking people who are still in their original teams?"
"Are you just partially retarded or completely retarded?"
"I... hey!"
"Never mind, we have to wake Hinata up and meet Kurenai. She wants to brief us on some new program she thinks we should volunteer for."
"Whatever! Later, dog breath!" Naruto glared one last time at Shino before running off.
"Hmph," Kiba grunted while kneeling over Hinata. "You would think with nearly three years available for training, he'd at least have invested a little of his development into his brain."
"Are you sure that's what you'd really have preferred?"
"Shino, if you're insinuating my insecurity that I couldn't stand up to his strength in a match..."
"I was merely questioning the truth of your complaint, though now that you mention your insecurity..."
"I said you were insinuating it!"
"The concept came to your mind first. I said nothing of the sort."
"Forget it... help me get her up." Kiba dug out a small jar of smelling salts from Hinata's coat pocket, popped the cap and waved it under her nose.
"Umm... umm... Naruto-kun...?" Hinata could distinguish Kiba kneeling over her and Shino leaning down to help her up, but she couldn't see a trace of Naruto.
Kiba sighed. "The dolt's as impatient as ever. He ran off just a minute ago, trying to find a new teammate to fill for Sasuke."
"...Oh..." Hinata felt the pit of humiliation open in the depths of her stomach. 'Three years I've been training... three years I've been getting stronger... three years I've been planning what to do when he comes back... how could I possibly have blown it worse?'
"Hey, c'mon now," Kiba helped Hinata to her feet. He knew how Hinata felt about Naruto. As their team grew its relations, she fully expressed her feelings for Naruto to him. He didn't see all that she saw in Naruto, but despite that, he helped her determine her approach to Naruto upon his return, so he had an idea of how she must be feeling at the moment. "Don't worry about it, he's still our beloved idiot. He'll probably have forgotten about this by tomorrow."
"R-right," Hinata nodded.
Kiba wasn't convinced. 'Still, probably the best thing to do is change subjects and let her bring it up again if or when she wants.' Kiba nodded his head to the far end of the road. "C'mon, let's go see what Kurenai wants." He hopped on Akamaru and they sped off, leaving Hinata and Shino to follow. 'Heh, good thing she didn't see him pulling up his sleeve, she'd probably be in a coma. Man that was something else.' Kiba held his own arm out in front of himself and pulled up the sleeve, observing his muscles jump around as he wiggled his fingers and clenched his fist. While no individual muscle was overbearingly large, they combined to form a formidable package and were developed well enough that all the basic definition was prominent even when fully relaxed, giving his arm a sleek and streamlined look. 'Still, even I could at least pass for human.'
Hinata trailed slowly behind Shino. 'I could still... take a look around...' Hinata checked to be sure nobody was watching her. 'Byakugan!' She located Naruto standing just few streets over, apparently lost in thought. Singling him out, she focused in on him, through his outfit and landed on the roadside with a thud.
"Kiba," Shino called, looking behind himself.
Kiba looked back. "Again?" He sighed and slapped Akamaru behind the ears. "Turn around buddy, looks like we've got a second passenger riding with us today." As the two made their way to Hinata's unconscious form, Kiba noticed a trail of blood from her nose. 'Heh, she must have taken a peek after all.'
"You look envious," Shino noted.
Kiba twitched as he yet again felt a grin emanating from Shino, one of amusement this time. "And you look like you're ready to be put in a coffin," he growled. "Help me load her up." Shino placed Hinata on Akamaru in front of Kiba, then the four wandered off to find Kurenai.
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Meanwhile, a commotion was developing at the ninja administration center.
"Look, Naruto, this is troublesome, but the Hokage specifically assigned me to referee the chuunin exams, so there's really nothing I can do, and I don't want hassle from the Hokage in addition to hassle from you. Got it?" Shikamaru's patience was the most drained it had been in three years. "Plus I told you, she was looking for you just recently. She wants to talk about your team status."
"Wha!" Naruto grabbed Shikamaru by his chuunin vest. "Why didn't you tell me!"
"I did, you moron! I just said 'I told you', that makes three times now." Shikamaru extended his shadow into dual pinpoints and pricked Naruto's funny bones.
"YEOWCH!" Naruto dropped Shikamaru.
"Now disappear before I turn you into a pincushion."
"Bah!" Naruto turned to leave, but turned back as curiosity took hold of him. "Hey, can you really do that?" No sooner than he asked, hundreds of pinpointed shadow tips, aimed at vital spots from head to toe, halted an inch away from their respective points of penetration. "Whoa, hey we're old buddies right? Heh heh..." Shikamaru held his stance. "Um... OK, I'll be on my way... later Shikamaru!"
Shikamaru retracted his shadows and sighed as Naruto waved and ran out the door. 'Why did he even want to know?'
Not more than a few steps out the door, Naruto spotted... "Choji?"
"Hey Naruto! Heard you were back in town, how's it going?"
"Great!" Naruto observed Choji as the two closed their distance. "Man, you haven't changed your eating habits huh? You're fatter than ever!" Before Naruto got a chance to repeat his prior flaunt routine with Kiba, he was four blocks further down the street than he was a few seconds earlier, now covered in the splintered wreckage of the last block's length of fence. 'Huh, guess he's not in the mood to talk right now,' he reckoned as he brushed off the wreckage and continued on his way to find Tsunade.
Choji stormed into the ninja administration, spotting an extremely perturbed-looking Shikamaru sorting through a pile of papers. Shikamaru looked up to spot Choji looking equally perturbed. "Don't tell me; you ran into Naruto too?"
"Yep."
"That was him who went flying by just now, wasn't it?"
"Yep."
"What a hassle. Sakura was right, he hasn't changed at all."
"Maybe not in the head, but he didn't seem phased by my hit. Only my dad ever continues un-phased through a pummeling like that. He's at least gotten stronger, if not more skilled."
"Great," Shikamaru groaned. "He was a big enough hassle three years ago when his fights never ended because he kept getting back up. Now you're saying he doesn't go down in the first place?"
"Hehe, well, I have some other skills to try before coming to that conclusion," Choji grinned maliciously, fantasies of pummeling Naruto running wild throughout his thoughts.
"Please, be my guest," Shikamaru relaxed slightly as a similar fantasy passed through his mind. The two continued conversing as Choji helped Shikamaru manage exam business.
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An incessant pounding on her office doors startled Tsunade from her nap. "Come in," she said, quickly rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The pounding continued. "COME IN!"
Naruto barged through the doors and slammed them shut behind him. "Hey hey, don't sound too happy to see me!"
"If you weren't making so much noise that you couldn't hear me the first time I said to come in, I just might be. Have a seat."
Naruto observed the bare office as he ran to one of the chairs in front of Tsunade's desk and sat down. 'Heh, I thought the old hag would've made this place nice and cozy by now.'
"I was looking for you earlier, after you ran off while I was in the middle of explaining something to you."
"Huh? Explaining what?"
"It doesn't matter now. Where have you been all this time?"
"Out looking for teammates!"
"Any success?"
"No! I asked a bunch of people, but they're all busy or lazy. I found most of my old classmates, but they were the worst! Shino wouldn't stop irritating me, Kiba asked if I was a retard, Hinata passed out, Shikamaru threatened to make me into a pincushion and Choji punched me four blocks down the road and through a fence! Oh, by the way, the fence four blocks down from the ninja administration needs to be replaced."
'That's right, only Naruto could ever make me feel relieved, happy, curious, amused, intrigued, frustrated and irritated in the span of ten seconds. I've grown used to consistency without his or Jiraiya's antics the last three years, haven't I?' Tsunade sighed. "Anyway, I have news regarding your team... or lack thereof."
"Eh?" Naruto stared blankly, thinking about every possible interpretation of Tsunade's last three words except the one he was certain they meant.
Tsunade could feel the anxiety emanating from him. 'Deliberation time is up,' she realized. "Naruto... I've been thinking of different ways to say this, but I don't think any amount of beating around the bush or sugar-coating techniques will change the impact... plus I know you like to get straight to the point, so I'll do just that... you're not in a team anymore, and you're not going on the mission to the Bridge of Heaven and Earth. As of today, by order of the Leaf village administration, you are restricted to the immediate vicinity of Leaf village."
Naruto froze in shock. A flurry of thoughts rushed through his mind faster than his body could keep up with. 'Who wanted this? Did every single one agree? Even Tsunade? Are they doing it to protect me or keep me under watch? What kind of watch? What else will they do to me? Is this just the beginning? What about the mission? What about Sakura? Will I get a new team? What do I do around here now anyway?' As the rush began to subside, one underlying question arose. "Why?"
Tsunade winced. She hadn't heard Naruto so weak and understated before. She had prepared to deal with a violent outburst, not emotional paralysis. "Naruto, listen to me. You need to know that I fought against this. I know you've been training for these missions. Believe me when I say that I trust you can handle yourself in them."
"...Then why?"
"The rest of the village administration doesn't. Our argument came down to a question of responsibility. I was threatened with personal accountability of all that should happen if you were indeed captured and the wrath of Kyuubi was somehow set loose. I returned to them the threat of full accountability for anything that should happen from your restriction. They agreed."
"So... you... you agreed too?"
"Yes, and I'll tell you why..."
"But," Naruto interrupted, regaining a bit of his flare, "it'll be just like Sand village, with Gaara's abduction!"
"Exactly. Akatsuki will come for you, Naruto. Listen... your restriction will not change your destined fight with Akatsuki. Your training will be put to the exact use it was intended to be. During our debate, one of the elders suggested that as long as abduction attempts are being made on you, it is best that they happen here, where the entire Leaf village forces are available to help make those attempts a failure. Because I believed him when he said he had your best interests in mind, because I also believe that having the entire Leaf village forces available to aid you in a fight is best for you individually, and because the village administration has accepted responsibility for all 'collateral damage' - as they term it - in such an event, I agreed to your restriction. Again, you will have your fight, so in that regard, don't even think of this as a restriction. As I said, I trust you to handle yourself in this. Perhaps, once Akatsuki invades and is successfully driven off, the village administration will trust you as well." Tsunade observed Naruto's dejected look of suspicion. 'Not the reaction I was hoping for.'
"And you really think the village will jump to my aid?" Naruto asked disbelievingly.
'That would explain it. Why didn't I realize?' Tsunade wondered. "Naruto... when it comes to understanding your role, the majority of the civilians may be fools in the fullest sense of the word, but among the ninja, most understand the technique the Fourth used and have enough faith in his skills that you pose no threat to them. Surely you've seen a difference in your general treatment between the civilians and the ninja?"
Naruto thought for a moment. "Yes... but still, sometimes..."
"Emotions aren't always rational. Few people alive sixteen years ago escaped that day without heavy loss. People wanted justice, people wanted revenge. For some, even the death of Kyuubi would not be enough; they lost many things that could not be repaid and relations that could not be replaced. Even their meek satisfaction in revenge was denied when it was announced that Kyuubi was still alive in you. They recognize from a rational point of view that you are yourself first and a vessel second, and strive to acknowledge you as such, but that has to be accomplished through an emotional barrier constructed from years of unresolved bitterness. It's a hard task to ask of anybody, and you'll find varying levels of success. Some genuinely acknowledge you... some have to try very hard, but try nonetheless... some remain indifferent... some don't want to have anything to do with you, though they won't act against you either... and some wish for Kyuubi's death so greatly that you dying in the process is merely an unfortunate aftereffect. Of course, there are laws to keep those people in line. However, in every case, when forced to choose between letting Kyuubi remain imprisoned in you or letting it fall into the hands of those who would unleash its wrath once again, I don't yet know a ninja who wouldn't jump to your aid. I wish I could say they did it from a genuine care for you as an individual and as a comrade, but I'm afraid you'll have to overlook the motivations and settle for the actions."
"I know. It's not like there's much I can do about it now." Naruto stared at the floor, still looking disparaged.
"The day may come when you'll have earned the approval of all."
"That's no time soon." Naruto's stare remained fixed.
"And when did you become so quick to forget your dreams and wallow in your troubles instead? You don't yet even know what you'll be doing during your stay here. Now, more than ever, may be the time."
"Heh... you're right."
Tsunade smiled as Naruto finally cracked a slight grin and looked back up at her.
"I'll take it step by step. When Akatsuki comes, I'll show the village a fight they'll never forget, then they'll have to acknowledge me." Naruto now flashed a genuine smile. "You know, you were right. Maybe this'll be my first big chance to prove myself to a whole load of people."
"Now, that's the Naruto I know," Tsunade grinned.
"Although," Naruto paused, looking worried again, "what do I do now that I'm stuck here?"
"I'm glad you asked. You know I wouldn't keep you here if I didn't have a good purpose in mind for you." Tsunade smirked as Naruto cringed. "Don't worry, though, it's not like that. You'll do the occasional in-town mission, but more importantly, I'm recommending you for a new program. You've spent nearly three years as a student under Jiraiya. Strength and skill in battle are one important area of development for every ninja, but if you wish to be, say, more than just a fighter, you need to be well developed in many other areas as well. It's time for you to take the next big step in your path to becoming Hokage." Tsunade saw Naruto's intrigue peak. 'Good, he's still as easily captivated as ever.' She continued, "this will be unlike anything you've done before, but you have the skills, you have the potential, and now you have the time, so I'll be placing your recommendation very soon. Finally, this will provide a good insight into your Hokage potential."
"Huh? What, how!"
"Simple. If you can't succeed in this, you can forget about becoming Hokage."
"NO WAY! Bring it on, I'll trounce this right away!"
"Glad to hear," Tsunade wryly acknowledged, waiting for realization to dawn.
"Uh... hey, what is it anyway?"
"I won't tell you now. There will be a full briefing at the academy auditorium tomorrow morning at ten. I want you to attend, and I want you to volunteer. I won't make you, and I won't offer anything or threaten anything for volunteering or not volunteering, but I will say I can think of no better thing for you to be doing now and I believe you'll feel the same before it's over."
"OK, I'll do it!" Naruto grinned, his Hokage fantasies running wild once again. "Oh, I almost forgot! What about Sakura?"
"She has been assigned to a team of three jounin to complete the previously planned mission. They are currently preparing and will be leaving this evening. Their scheduled time for departure is at eight o'clock. If you wish to talk with Sakura, wait at the village gates a few minutes before then."
"OK," Naruto said vacantly, his mind focused on the impending evening, ruminating over what to say when the moment arrived.
"Anything else?"
"Um... no, just got a lot to think about now I guess."
"Take some time. I realize this is all very sudden, but you're also very adaptable. Just stay focused on the positive side of things. Sakura will manage her part of the mission. Believe me, your trust in her would not be misplaced."
"I know," Naruto looked up in resolve. "She'll do even better than last time."
"I concur."
Naruto inhaled a deep breath, relieving a bit of his recent tension, but still focused on the looming farewell talk with Sakura. "I'll be on my way then." Naruto stood to leave. "Um... thanks..."
"No problem, Naruto. Let me know what happens at the academy briefing tomorrow."
"OK," Naruto turned and left.
'Well, I'm glad that concluded on better terms than I expected. He still seems awfully stressed though. Hopefully he'll have everything sorted within the next few days,' Tsunade thought as she returned to her paperwork.
Naruto mused over his meet with Tsunade as he left the Hokage tower and stopped on the road outside the main gate. 'Man, what a wreck... I need a rest.' Naruto began heading to his old apartment when he remembered it wasn't his anymore. With intent of relocating upon his return, the ownership had been transferred to a new tenant shortly after he had left. However, relocation arrangements were cut short, as was his initial return, by Gaara's abduction.
'Dang... now what?'
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Mild chatter arose from various patrons in the Jue Hong Zhou's Lucky Wok restaurant. The dining hall had a central table section that extended from the front entrance to the back kitchen, symmetrically bordered by two separate aisles that ran from front to back with booths on each side. The majority of the lunch rush had dissipated, leaving a few lingerers lounging at the tables and a group of three familiar ninja seated at a half-circle booth on the left side near the back of the right aisle.
"...And so I told him, in cases where you did something wrong but didn't endanger anyone or breaking that particular law has no effect on anyone, you need to get into a debate with the nin trying to enforce the law over whether he wants to be a simple tool of the village administration or whether he wants to become a policy maker, using his implied powers to void a law that shouldn't exist in the first place. Then club him with a log and run away," Kiba explained to Shikamaru and Ino, currently sitting to his left and to his front, waiting for their late lunch order to be made and delivered.
"What was he doing in the Forest of Death anyway?" Ino asked.
"Probably looking for rare bugs or something. Who knows? I put Shino in the 'do not question' category years ago. If he showed up to training one day in a neon pink and yellow tutu with several recent open and bleeding stab wounds singing Ninki while eating a statue of the Fifth made of cheese, I wouldn't give it a second thought."
"Hey, isn't that Naruto?" Ino interrupted, pointing at a window near the entrance.
"Huh?" Shikamaru looked to his right while Kiba looked behind himself. "Looks like it."
"NARUTOOOOOO!" Ino yelled across the dining hall at him, waving wildly as he passed by the main entrance.
Naruto snapped out of his thoughts, quickly locating the sound of the screeching inside the restaurant and waving back at whom he now recognized as Ino.
Ino noticed Shikamaru drooping under the table. "Shikamaru, what do you think you're doing?"
"Vanishing," he replied, crawling the length of the aisle toward the back of the restaurant and escaping out the back door before Naruto began walking down the aisle.
Ino's perplexion at Shikamaru's peculiar exit subsided as Naruto approached. Kiba didn't give it a second thought. He knew nobody put as much effort into avoiding any level of exertion as Shikamaru. 'Although, now that I think about it, he probably had the right idea. Combining Ino with Naruto is something even I'd call troublesome.'
"Hey Naruto! Long time no see! How ya doing?" Ino yelled as if he were still standing at the entrance.
"Uh... OK, I guess," he said, somewhat overloaded with thoughts and somewhat overloaded with the volume of Ino.
"Something bothering you?"
"Nah, I'll be fine."
'He looks like he just got some bad news,' Kiba observed. 'Maybe this won't be such a bother after all.'
"Hey, wow! Forehead was right, you did grow!" Ino stepped up to him, measuring her eyes at his chin level. "Wanna join us for lunch, big guy?" She tugged on his wrist, motioning him to the middle of the booth.
Naruto was annoyed to see Ino's antics around guys hadn't changed much, but wasn't in the mood to find out if her fury at being brushed off remained equally similar. "Sure," he replied, figuring he might be able to scrounge a place to stay, or at least a bit of guidance, from one of these two. He slid into Shikamaru's old spot to Kiba's left as Ino sat to his left. Naruto and Kiba exchanged glances, both expecting a cheap stab from the other and both surprised not to get one.
"So, tell us, Naruto! What have you been up to all this time?" Ino asked, a little too gleefully for Naruto.
"Mostly just traveling and training with Jiraiya. We covered all the major countries on the continent, though we tended to visit small towns instead of big cities, if we ever needed to visit civilization at all. There were a few times he wanted me to see all the kinds of weird traditions people around the countries have, and so we'd occasionally visit obscure villages and observe them."
"The ones with hot springs, right?" Kiba asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah... er, what?" Naruto quirked an eyebrow at Kiba, who smirked at the response.
"Your teacher's reputation is well known around here," he clarified.
"Bah! We did nothing of the sort! ... Well, at least I didn't."
"Then what did you 'observe', hmm?"
"Plenty!"
"Such as...?"
"Well, a lot of the places we visited were so out of the way that they had no idea what was going on in the rest of the world. Some of them are like that cause they hate ninja and want to stay as away from them as possible. They say ninjutsu stuff is demonic and not something people are supposed to use. Actually, a lot of people hate the hidden villages for different reasons, but they can't fight either, so it doesn't really matter. They're probably just jealous anyway. But some of them were cool! Like this one that was up in massive trees so high up you couldn't see it from the ground, where all the buildings were built into the trees and connected with miles of bridges. Or another one that was completely underground, with an underground river and everything. The coolest was a little town at the top of the continent with all its buildings and roads carved out of ice!"
"Wow, that must have been beautiful!" Ino cooed.
"Yeah, especially at night, since their only lights were fire-based and the flickering was flashing all over the place. I thought it was weird they'd allow that amount of fire in a village like that, but there were a lot weird places. Some people worship cats cause they think the dumb things are responsible for the weather and crops and stuff. I found that out when I kicked an annoying one down the street and got us chased out of this lame cat village by... probably the entire village. Somebody came after us to tell why, though. And also to say we're banished and will be killed upon return. Oh, and there was one dinky village with about two hundred people in one of the lame countries between Earth and Wind. It was surrounded by mountains, and the people didn't think the world beyond them existed no matter how much I argued. I even tried to tell some they should leave and see, but they just said I was testing their faith. They thought visitors were spirits in human form and treated them like the country lords here get treated. Heh, I wanted to stay there, but Jiraiya wouldn't allow it."
"Sounds like you had a wild trip. Nothing like the monotonous things we do," Kiba said.
"What monotonous things?" Naruto asked.
"Missions, training and the like," Kiba replied. "Don't get me wrong, there's nothing I'd rather be doing, but all our missions go like 'finish this, deliver that, protect these people, spy on those people, insert life-threatening battle in the process'; wash, rinse, repeat. It's like you say, we never really leave the ninja world. The only village I've ever visited outside of Fire Country is another ninja village, Hidden Sand."
"Hey, it's not like I was on some relaxing vacation, with all the training he had me going through..."
"Oooh! Tell me about it!" Ino interrupted.
'Damn, she's gonna milk this for all it's worth,' Kiba sighed and looked away to his right. 'Why did I tell her about running into Naruto earlier? This is probably going to end with her amusement at my expense.'
'Ugh, shoulda known she would jump on that. Why did I let that slip?' Naruto berated himself for being so oblivious. 'Normally I'd have some fun with it, but there's too much else to deal with right now. Oh well, just answer her, I suppose.' Naruto recalled the beginning of his journey nearly three years ago. "We figured out a standard plan a few weeks after I left the village..."
"See, you're loud, clumsy, obnoxious and have no patience or restraint. Everything a great ninja is not supposed to be."
Naruto scowled at Jiraiya as they wandered the countryside.
"However, all of that makes your style of fighting very unexpected and sure to catch most ninja off guard, and this is where we develop strength out of what most would consider weakness."
"Eh?"
"Back in the academy, you studied what was right and wrong when it came to being a ninja. However, in developing style, you leave behind right and wrong in pursuit of what is distinguishing and suitable to your personality. There is no satisfactory explanation of style, no point-by-point guide to developing a good one, no set rules that everybody can use to shape their own. One can give pointers, but the instant they turn into rules, they hinder true progress. In many cases, a ninja can follow textbook rules to perfection and still be an impotent fighter. The development of a style is a mystery unique to every individual, one that they must ultimately solve on their own. I can give you suggestions and cautions, but the task is yours."
The realization that his Rasengan training would probably seem like a walk in the park after this began to sink in and weigh heavily on Naruto. "Well where do I start then?"
"In your case, you are highly emotion-driven instead of rationality-driven, and you'll need to develop a style that is in tune with your character, not one that contradicts it or restricts it. Unlike the majority of ninja who try to kill their persona in vain attempts of textbook perfection, Sarutobi was aware of the strength that flowed from emotion and realized that the unity of character and style was where full potential could truly be reached. Sacrificing character is stabbing yourself in the foot when it comes to meeting full potential, and so we in Leaf build style on character. Others may mock, but Leaf's status as the largest and most prosperous hidden village, especially in light of recent events, speaks for itself."
Naruto recalled his all-too-short talk with Haku on Tazuna's bridge four years ago, but was broken out of his reverie as Jiraiya continued.
"Developing a style is usually a slow and tedious process. Your mind races while your development tries to keep up. Think of yourself as a starving hunter trying to catch fish, sometimes roaming in search, sometimes waiting for something to come at all, staying on task for undetermined amounts of time and making occasional attempts to target worthwhile selections as they do speed by, with the ultimate hope of gathering a full meal. As with fishing, you need at least a rough idea of what you're aiming for so that you know what is worth pursuing and worth letting go of, lest you overload yourself learning every available skill and miss the forest for the trees, landing yourself in endless labor... much like an old teammate of mine."
"Orochimaru." Naruto glared at his mention.
"Anyway... as I was saying, I can guide and reprove you, but the task of developing a style remains yours. I will train you in specific skills and techniques, but how you use them is up to you. After observing your performance in the various skills and drills I've had you perform during the last few weeks and familiarizing myself with your personal history, I've thought of some areas in which you should be able to excel and ultimately adapt into an effective fighting style."
"Yay! What are they?"
"Well, like I said, you're essentially worthless by textbook standards, as your academy record clearly shows." Naruto glowered before Jiraiya continued. "However, your fight record and technique collection show a contrary story. Two assets continuously lend you success in your battles. First; your physical stamina. Not only does directly charging an enemy or running straight into their attacks throw them off when you don't perform the expected dodge or block, your ability to continue on through such a pummeling will catch them at the moment they least anticipated the need to defend themselves. Combine that with Kyuubi's regenerative ability and chakra reserve, and you should be able to defeat most opponents simply by exhausting them and attacking once they're worn down. However, you won't always have time for that, which brings me to your second asset; your spontaneous way of dealing with fallbacks. After you survive attacks that should defeat you, you quickly recover with a surprisingly practical use of available resources. The problem is that you rarely think beyond the next move, which is why you end up in such dangerous situations in the first place."
"Yeah yeah... so what kind of training are we gonna work on for these then?"
"Your second asset is where we'll develop your ninjutsu. Since teaching you to plan is a lost cause, we'll focus on best manipulating your surroundings to your advantage. In other words, I'll train you to be an elemental specialist, starting with lesser and greater basic elements, then combining those to form lesser and greater compound elements, and..."
"Uh," Naruto interrupted, "what are... elements?"
Jiraiya staggered. "You know, I realize that elements are only very briefly covered in the academy because they're a specialty and not general information everybody can or will use, but even you can't be so stupid as to not have learned anything from experience."
"Hey, it's not like most of my teachers actually teached, instead of stalking young women, so now's your chance!"
"Taught."
"Whatever! What are they!"
"Actually, there are a few theories of what exactly qualifies as elements. It used to be that only physical entities qualified, but now people qualify elements based on their manipulability. As I was saying, there are lesser and greater basic elements which everybody can agree on. Lesser basics consist of air, cold, light, vibration and water. Greater basics consist of gravity, heat, dark, inertia and earth. As you might guess, each lesser basic has an opposing greater basic. A cold-based attack met with an equally-powered heat-based attack will result in the termination of both attacks. Likewise, a higher-powered heat-based attack will consume the cold-based attack and continue its path, though weakened in proportion to the cold-based attack it consumed."
"So was Sasuke an elemental user, with his fire attacks and all? Those were heat, right?"
"Partially, and that brings me to lesser and greater compound elements. While everybody can agree on the basics, not everybody agrees that their combination forms new elements. Ninja do, though, so we'll forget about the others who disagree. Lesser compounds consist of electricity, fire, ice and wind. Greater compounds consist of plasma and vacid. Unlike the basics, the opposing elements are in their own categories, rather than their opposite categories. For example, Sasuke's fire attacks are a combination of air, heat and light, so cold alone won't negate them; you're best off combining water with cold to make ice." Jiraiya could tell by the increasingly expressionless look on Naruto's face that he wouldn't get very far by explanation alone. 'I guess we won't be getting to complex elements for an awfully long time.'
"Uh... I don't really get it," Naruto confirmed Jiraiya's worry.
"Well then, let's get to the second part of your training," Jiraiya said, '...and the part which will give me the most pleasure,' he mentally added. "After spending mornings draining your chakra reserve practicing elemental skills, you'll be ready to focus solely on developing your physical stamina. There will be two parts to this. First; we'll develop your muscular endurance. You may be familiar with the weighted training Gai has his student Lee do, and that will be a fundamental in your training as well. However, in my vastly superior expertise, I've developed plenty other methods of training when it comes to boosting endurance. Now, all of this not only overloads your muscles, but your bones as well, which brings me to the second part; increasing your bone density. Your bones will grow in reaction to the extreme and sudden stress of your endurance training, but that can still be improved upon by impact training, which basically consists of bashing available bones against heavy things or bashing heavy things against available bones. Punching logs is a common practice, but again, I have a surplus of methods superior to such low-grade basics; methods which will develop every bone in your body, not just your knuckles and shins. Most will require my help, and once your chakra is drained from your ninjutsu training and your energy is drained from your endurance training, I'll administer the bone strengthening for you."
"So basically that means by the time I'm completely pooped and incapable of defending myself, let alone moving at all, you're going to pound on me for the rest of the day?"
"Yep!" Jiraiya grinned.
"Haha! Ha..." Naruto looked back up at Jiraiya, whose expression hadn't changed as it would have if he were teasing. "You're not kidding, are you?"
"Nope!" Jiraiya kept grinning.
'Damn.'
"...and so that's pretty much how we continued the entire time," Naruto finished summarizing his conversation with Jiraiya, excluding any mention of Kyuubi. Their meals had been delivered while Naruto was talking, his audience currently eating and Naruto content to begin eating Shikamaru's sukiyaki in his absence.
"And what exactly were his vastly superior methods?" Ino asked.
"Top secret; can't tell," Naruto lifted his head and crossed his arms in a mock superiority pose. A glare from Ino made him withdraw his pose. "Actually, I suppose I can tell about a few. Plus, it's not right that he gets away with what he did, so I'll complain anyway!" Ino grinned and Kiba braced himself for a long rant, though he had to admit he was interested. "Alright, like he said, I used the weights like Lee did, though he had all different kinds of straps and vests, and he'd position them differently all the time to constantly throw me off balance... usually literally. He also cast gravity binding techniques on me to make me weigh ridiculously more than normal, and he usually did it without notice, so my first big workout was getting back up. If we weren't traveling, he had me getting into screwball positions that no person should be able to bend into so that all the weight overloaded specific muscles, most of which I never knew I had. Sometimes I dragged and carried large stuff around. Usually stones. Freaking stones, you'll never realize how common they are until you've spent years wishing there was an area without them and never finding one. So we spent afternoons doing that, then once I finally collapsed, he'd start the random torture: punching me, kicking me, jabbing and clubbing me with logs, rolling steel rods across my shins, stuff like that... and of course, stones, there were always plenty of stones around to throw at me or drop on me. Just to name a few things, that is. Usually there're special training grounds for this kind of thing, but we had to 'improvise'. I spent the first month cursing him, but then I noticed, it actually was working. I eventually became satisfied with it when he decided to pound on me and snapped his fingers on my shoulder," Naruto grinned at the gratifying memory.
"So," Kiba smirked, speaking through a mouthful of sashimi, "now you're not only dumb as a rock, you're hard as one too."
"Hehe, yep!" Naruto pounded his chest.
'Three... two... one...' Kiba braced himself.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Naruto slapped Kiba up the back of his head.
Ino, disregarding the minor ruckus while thinking of a subtle way to size up Naruto, interrupted when she came to a conclusion. "Well, Kiba, it sounds like you've got competition, huh?"
Kiba looked irritated while Naruto looked confused.
"Oh, didn't you know, Naruto? Kiba's been our stamina boy in your absence. We all thought he had to have surpassed even you, but now I'm not so sure anymore," Ino said, feigning bewilderment. "How's about a little contest to settle it?"
"Ah, I'd rather not Ino. I've got a lot of stuff on my mind, so I'm not really in the mood for some kind of spar."
Ino saw relief on Kiba's face as Naruto tried to decline and knew she couldn't let this slide. "Relax! I'm not talking about some colossal battle. A simple arm-wrestle will do," she said in her most innocuous voice.
Naruto looked wary because he knew Ino just wanted to size him up. Kiba looked wary because he knew Ino would never suggest something so untwisted as a standard arm-wrestling match.
"Alright then," Naruto angled his right arm and placed his elbow on the table. 'This ought to be easy enough,' he figured. Kiba followed suit and locked hands with Naruto, waiting for Ino to start the match.
"No, no, no! Not like that!" Ino scolded as if it was the most obvious mistake they could make.
"Eh?" They asked in unison.
"That's old-fashioned and boring. I've got a way better idea. What you guys do is link your arms together so your biceps are pressing against each other, wrap your forearms around the back of the other guy's arm, then squeeze! The guy with the stronger arm crushes the guy with the weaker arm. See, it's just that simple!" Ino grinned.
"Not for the guy who gets crushed," Kiba muttered.
"Now, roll up your sleeves and hook your arms together like this," Ino instructed, holding out her arm in a V-shape. They complied, Ino barely suppressing a gasp as Naruto pulled his right sleeve over his shoulder. Naruto and Kiba re-situated themselves and linked their arms as Ino ordered. "Good! Now, get ready! Three... two... one... GO!"
The muscles in their arms rippled as they exploded into action, biceps swelling into balls, each fighting to override the other. Veins branched out over Naruto's arm like wild lightning as he poured on the pressure. Kiba grunted and heaved, teeth gritting as he tried to return the force. Despite his best efforts, Kiba was already beginning to feel his arm flatten. Naruto noticed this as well. His arm twitched as he upped the ante. Kiba's arm was beginning to tremble under the pressure. Sinews in his forearm rippled and popped to their maximum contraction as he flexed forth his best effort. Veins in his neck bulged and his face contorted in throbbing concentration. "Aww, don't tell me that's it for Mr. Stamina boy?" Ino teased Kiba, a sheen of sweat now glossing his skin from the exertion. "Naruto's not even straining yet," she said disappointedly, hoping to flare Kiba's temper to his advantage. Naruto, indeed not showing any signs of stress other than an intense look of concentration, was now aware of his impending victory and jerked his arm to his ultimate flex. Kiba yelped, face screwing in pain. "Oooh, Kiba, that looks like it really hurts!" Ino taunted. Kiba's ego prevented him from giving in, especially now that Ino was rubbing it the wrong way, but he knew he wouldn't last much longer. His already-shaking arm was beginning to cramp from the effort and his head was feeling light. "Kiba, I think you'd better surrender before your arm ends up being a useless mass of mush," Ino suggested, this time out of serious concern. Everybody knew that as hard as it was to avoid Ino's antics, it was even harder to argue with her, and Kiba's current impediment gave him no room to think about disputing. "Give!" he growled.
Naruto relaxed and sat back, taking a deep breath of satisfaction. "Hey, that actually was pretty fun!"
"Yeah... fun," Kiba muttered under his breath as he rolled his sleeve back down to hide the impending bruising and rubbed his right arm, trying to numb the ache.
"Aww, don't be a sore loser!" Ino teased, reaching across the table, poking Kiba in the arm and giggling at his yelp. "Oh, silly me! I forgot to mention, the loser's gotta kiss the winner's arm!" Both boys looked at her in surprise. "Ah well, since I forgot to mention that part before the match, we can do it later... in a more public place," Ino grinned as the boys momentarily calmed in relief before blushing and staring at their meal remains as if the morsels of food suddenly became the most captivating items in the world.
Kiba broke the sudden silence. "Back in a minute. Gotta piss."
Once Kiba was gone, Naruto turned to Ino. "Is it just me, or is Kiba not such an arrogant hot-headed snob anymore?"
"If I remember correctly, you're the last one to be calling anybody hot-headed. But as long as you bring it up, yes, he's been that way for about a year. I'll just say there was an accident in his family. He'll tell you details if he wants."
'Ino... having respect for privacy? Must be something big,' Naruto thought.
"He changed a lot," she continued. "It's taken all of us a while to get him back to how he was before."
"Hmph, and why would you want that?"
"His own good. At first, we could barely get him out of the house. It was months before he even smiled. Trust me, if you had been around then, I'm sure even you would've wanted the old over the new. Even now, he's a bit more mellow than he used to be... but, I think he'll always be like that. He still acts tough and rowdy around teammates and friends, but sometimes I catch him alone and it almost seems like he's thinking."
"There's a fresh idea."
"Yeah, maybe you could learn it from him?"
"Sure, why n... hey!" Naruto pouted at Ino.
"Point made," Ino grinned.
"Hmph!" Naruto crossed his arms, scrunched his nose and looked away.
"Lovers' quarrel?" Kiba asked, observing the discord as he returned from the restroom.
"Kiba, if you don't sit down and shut up, I'll finish what Naruto started," Ino said, holding a fist near Kiba's right arm to make her point.
"Yes sir," Kiba acknowledged and obeyed Ino, who settled for kicking him in the shin once he was seated.
For a moment, nobody said anything. Naruto decided this was a good time to ask. "By the way... I kinda forgot that my place was leased to somebody else when I left the village, so... I don't really have a place to live... so, uh..."
Ino rolled her eyes at Naruto's absentmindedness, but was more amused by the prospect he was presenting. "I'd love to have you stay with me, but our house is already packed. Plus my parents don't want me staying or living with other guys yet, for whatever reason, so they'll say no anyway."
'Whatever reason, indeed,' both boys thought.
"I don't know anybody with a spare room off-hand," Ino continued, looking at Kiba. "How's about you?"
Kiba squinted his eyes in deliberation for a minute before replying. "I can clear a... an old room for you."
"Kiba!" Ino looked surprised. Kiba nodded at her.
"Well, I was looking for a house, not a dog pen, but I guess beggars can't be choosers, huh?"
"Idiot. I'm giving you your own room. The dogs stay out back."
Naruto saw his cheap stab didn't have the intended effect. "Relax, I was teasing. I'll take it, thanks."
"Sure. I've gotta get it ready first, so come by later tonight."
"Alright. How long can I say?"
"It shouldn't take too long for you to get a place, so, not too long."
"OK," Naruto said. Another moment of silence ensued. 'Guess this is a good time to split,' he thought. "I'll be going then. Got some stuff to take care of."
"Yeah, me too," Kiba stood to let Naruto out.
"Thanks for inviting me to eat."
"Any time, big guy," Ino winked at Naruto and left to pay for the lunches.
"OK, I'll see... oh hey wait, Kiba, where do you live anyway?"
The two boys confirmed directions and split ways upon leaving the restaurant.
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'How did I get myself into this one?' Kiba wondered to himself as he moseyed the roads leading to his house. 'It's not like me to be impulsive like that.' Images of everybody he'd ever known laughing at that statement flooded his mind. 'I mean, OK, so I'm one of the most impulsive guys around, but even I know when and how to control it. I haven't let many people in during the last year. I don't even like spending more time than necessary in there myself. I guess I would've done the same thing for most anybody else. But, that would've been a simple favor, nothing more. This time, I'm actually anxious to have him over. Why the idiot, of all people?' He thought it over for a few minutes. 'I guess I'm just curious. I've been around all the other people while he was away, so I know them pretty well. Plus, they don't seem all that different because I see them all the time. I haven't seen Naruto in over three years, and I never really got to know him before then. He's changed a lot during that time. I wonder how much?' He had a few obvious clues already.
"Yeow," he winced, pulling up his right sleeve to see his arm already bruising intensely. He wiggled his fingers and moved his forearm up and down, causing throbs of pain to dart through the length of his arm. He sighed and rolled his sleeve back down. 'Why aren't I upset? I'd be plotting revenge if anybody else pulled this off on me. I don't really understand this feeling, or lack thereof. I guess it was a win well deserved. If what he says isn't over-exaggerated, he obviously had a far more rigorous training program than any of us. I wonder just how strong he really is. I haven't been around anybody with that kind of strength since...' his thoughts trailed off as he approached his house.
It was a large run-down tan building with various pipes, vents and utilities scattered randomly along the outer walls. A dilapidated wooden awning separated the bigger first level from the smaller second level. Similar wooden canopies hung over the few windows. A large tan sphere branded with the Inuzuka clan's red fang rested on four beams atop the highest point of the roof, surrounded by a haphazardly installed fence running the length of the roof. A more uniformly installed fence ran the property boundaries, keeping the dogs confined to the immediate yard when they weren't in the kennel behind the house. The place wasn't pretty, but it was functional, and that's all that concerned Kiba.
He hopped the main gate and entered into a small foyer with various closets on both sides. Stepping up three steps, he walked down a hallway spanning the depth of the house. It connected the training dojo occupying the right half of the first level with the living quarters occupying the left half of the first level and the front entry with the rear exit. The first doorway on the left led to a living room with various chairs, tables and shelves scattered around, the second doorway on the left led to the kitchen, and the center door on the right led to the dojo. Between the kitchen and living room were a bathroom and a staircase to the second level. He ascended the steps to a small hallway with two doors on each side. The first on the right led to his room, the second on the right led to his sister's room, the first on the left led to his dad's room and the second on the left led to another bathroom.
Kiba unlocked the first door on the left and walked into the old room. It had been a few months since he was last in here. It was easy to get lost. Not physically; the room was fairly small, although it was the largest of the three bedrooms. One small window was centered on the far wall, a clothing closet was accessible via the far half of the left wall, a storage cabinet occupying the space before it. A bed ran lengthwise against the far wall into the far right corner of the room and a dresser was situated next to the bed on the right wall. No room to lose an actual person. Mentally, however, it was a different story; all his dad's personal belongings were here, from his clothing to his ninja tools to his pictures of family, friends and comrades to his general and personal writings to the oft-updated family history scrolls, all arranged in their typical order and all that he didn't want Naruto rummaging through in confounded curiosity.
Kiba started selecting things to put away, but each one he selected brought to mind memories he couldn't help but dwell upon. 'Dang, there's no way I'll have this made into a guest room in time.'
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The evening sunset tinted Leaf village in fiery shades of orange and yellow while casting lengthy shadows of trees, buildings and other structures across the scenery. Sakura waited at the main gate with her new team of three jounin.
"It's nearing eight o'clock," stated a short black-haired man dressed in a black outfit and a jounin vest. "We should be heading out in a few minutes."
The other two team members agreed. Sakura hesitantly nodded in approval. 'Hurry up, Naruto!' As if telepathically willing his presence, Naruto came sauntering toward the gate, staring at the road he traveled, hands in his pockets. Sakura smiled in relief. "Yeah, just a few minutes," she told the black-haired team leader and ran down the road to meet Naruto.
Naruto looked up as the speedy footsteps approached him. "Sakura..."
Sakura stopped in front of him. Seeing the melancholy turmoil in his face, she realized she'd be doing most of the talking. "I know, Naruto. I heard from Tsunade." She closed her eyes as she sighed. "I'm sorry. The council... is stupid. Very stupid. And arrogant." Anger and frustration were quickly beginning to boil over into her expression and speech. "They forget that we're ultimately a war-oriented city and that we need a strong leader to run the village, not a democracy! The entire reason the Third chose the Fourth when he did is because he knew the village needed a new leader with new ideals and new leadership tactics to keep everybody from getting into a rut. After the Third was forced out of retirement, he was already old and had nothing new to offer the village, that's why everything was so lax. He didn't challenge the council. They gained too much power during his second rule, and even after three years of power struggle, Tsunade still has a hard time keeping them in their place. I..." she stopped her bitter ranting when she saw Naruto's slightly surprised expression. "Sorry, I'm just frustrated, I know you didn't come here for a history lesson," she apologized and lightened her mood. "But... I'm glad you came, I couldn't find you anywhere and I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't see you before leaving."
Naruto nodded, not sure to what say, but deciding the simple truth should suffice. "I was at my hiding place."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. 'Hiding place? That was random.'
"...I've never told anybody I go there, or that I even had one. But... just for later, I'll trust you with it."
"Uh," Sakura cut in, "Naruto, I really appreciate it, but..."
"No, it's fine," Naruto cut back. "I don't mind being found by you. Really, I think now, I'd actually like it. I never said it on the last mission, but, I'm so happy that you didn't stop being my friend after finding out about... my birthday. You've been so accepting and understanding of me since I came back."
"How could I not? For what you've been through... I could preach ten times longer about how stupid the Leaf residents are than how stupid the council is, so I won't even bother. You've proven what a good friend you are, and I'm proud to call you my friend and say that you always will be."
"That's why I want to share this with you. If, when you get back and you ever can't find me... check the little pond under the Hokage monument."
"What little pond?"
"It's in a small area of trees behind the storage sheds."
"Oh... I didn't know there was anything under there."
"I know, nobody does. That's why I go there when I want to be alone. It's shady and quiet. Any village activity sounds like far off background noise. I found it around the time I began the ninja academy. I used to hide there a lot when I needed a place and didn't want to go home. It's the only place I can feel all by myself in a village full of people."
Naruto's disclosure intrigued Sakura. 'Every time I've talked with him since his return, I realize how much deeper of a person he is than I ever thought he was. I wish I had time to explore him now. Damn, all of this political crap couldn't happen at a worse time! Still, if it's a hideaway spot, what did he need to do there this time?'
"I... was trying to think of what to say when I got here," Naruto continued, shaking his head. "I don't know..."
Sakura put her hand on his shoulder as he blinked back tears.
"Sakura... please save Sasuke. I know you can do this. I miss that bastard so much." Naruto let a faint smile slip at his last sentence. "I never thought I could say that, but in spite of all our fighting, he was the closest friend I ever had. The time I spent in Team Seven is the first time I really enjoyed life. I've met a lot of people, been to a lot of places and done a lot of things since he left, but none of it compares to the old days. There's just something missing without him. I'd love so much for him to come through that gate and call me 'dobe' one more time." Naruto hung his head. "I'm sorry I can't be of any use when you need me most. I've been waiting for this for three years... and now, I... I just..." Naruto startled as Sakura pulled him into a hug.
"Shhh... relax, Naruto," Sakura whispered into his ear, patting the back of his head.
He returned the hug and put his arms around Sakura. "I just want everything to be back the way it was."
"It will be," she reassured him as she pulled back, keeping her hands on his shoulders. "If you know I can do this, then you have no reason to worry. It'll just take a lot of patience. I don't know what to say about the wait, because I don't know if I could take the suspense myself. But you know this means as much to me as it does to you. I feel the same emptiness without him, and I feel the same need to heal it. All I can do is my best, and that's all I will do."
Naruto nodded and looked Sakura in the eye. "You're right. I believe you. I shouldn't have gotten upset. I guess I was just being selfish."
"Nonsense. There's no selfishness in wanting to help a friend in need. This mission could go for a while, but it should be over soon enough. Just wait it out here. I know Tsunade approved the council's decision, and when she gave me an idea of what possibilities you'll have here, I could see why she approved. If you can trust me with my responsibilities, you'll have no problem handling yours. Do you trust me?"
"Yes," Naruto said with certainty.
Sakura smiled. "Thanks. And I know you'll do great in whatever you decide to do here as well."
Naruto grinned as his last bits of worry left him. 'Sakura... you've grown into much more of a healer than just a physical one.'
"Now, it's time for me to go."
"Wait, Sakura! Um... you haven't told anybody else about me, have you?"
"What about you?"
"You know..." Naruto nodded at his stomach.
"Oh. No, I haven't. Your secret's safe with me."
"Thanks."
Sakura nodded. "Also, be careful with Kiba. I don't want to have to fix him up again when I get back," she winked at Naruto. Catching his confused look, she explained. "After I heard about you staying with him, I stopped by his place to say thanks and ask if he needed anything. He asked if I could do a quick fix on his arm. It was bruising pretty badly, but he wouldn't say why. All I could get out of him was that it was your fault."
"Ah... I see," Naruto tried to repress a mischievous grin and scratched the back of his head.
'I guess I'd rather not know.' Sakura rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Goodbye, Naruto. See you later!"
"...Bye, Sakura."
Naruto watched pensively as Sakura and her new team run through the gate. Gears squeaked as it closed with thud. He stared at the two doors for a minute. 'The two doors I won't be going through for a long, long time.' He had seen them close many times. This was the first time he felt like he was being imprisoned. He looked up at the guards to see them staring down at him. 'No doubt they already have orders to stop me if I even try getting close to the gate.'
Naruto turned around and headed for Kiba's house. 'Oh well, that's not important now. Sakura's on the mission. She'll see it through. There's no better person to trust it with.' A smile spread across his face as he refocused his thoughts on more positive matters. 'Might as well enjoy myself while I'm here. Time to go hassle Kiba!'
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Afternoon quickly settled into evening. Kiba was reading through a family history scroll when he heard pounding on the main door downstairs. 'Jeez, he's early...' He looked up and out the window, seeing nothing but black. '...Or I just lost track of time.' A startling "KIIIIBAAAAAA!" resounded from the living room. 'Ugh, I thought the door was locked.' Footsteps worked their way up the stairs. "KIBA?"
"In here, Naruto." The door opened behind him.
"Aaa-HA! Don't answer the door, you yutz! What kind of host are you?" Naruto stomped in and crossed his arms in indignation.
"Just barge right in, you dolt. What kind of guest are you?" Kiba half-heartedly mocked.
"Hmph, what's with you? A little preoccupied?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. I thought I would have this ready for you, but... I kept getting sidetracked."
Naruto made note of his surroundings. "Hey, this place is all dusty! How do you expect me to breathe in here? What is this anyway?"
"It was my dad's room."
"Oh." Naruto walked to the dresser at his right and set his pack down before a certain word jumped out at him. "Was?" He suddenly remembered Ino's words to him at lunch. 'An accident...'
Kiba rolled up the scroll, set it back on the shelf and took a seat on the bed, facing Naruto but staring through him. "He died on a mission about a year ago. It was a fluke. He and a friend were sent on an assassination mission. Some group of nobodies were pillaging small towns around here. They were going to ambush the rogues, so they were spread out preparing traps. He was finishing assembling a kunai trap when it malfunctioned and scattered kunai everywhere. A stray kunai sliced the side of his face. That wasn't a problem, but, the poison on it was. His friend rushed him back to the village, but the poison spread to his brain before they made it halfway. It should have been the simplest treatment, but all medic-nins were with teams on higher-ranked missions. If it sliced him anywhere else, they would have made it back in more than enough time for treatment. It was so stupid, how something that random could happen. Even after I went to the funeral, saw him in the casket and watched him buried, I kept waiting for the lame prank to end. But he never did come back, and the joke never ended. He's just gone... I miss him."
"Sorry..." Naruto sat next to Kiba, remembering three years ago. Pinned against the canyon's edge, Sasuke freed himself from Naruto with a kick. "You don't know how it feels to lose them!" Naruto sighed, the conversation now taking a languid pace. "I... wouldn't know about that."
"You never did have a family, did you?"
"No."
"Do you know about them though?"
"Nothing. I wish I did. Nobody seems to know. If they do, they won't tell me."
"Doesn't it bother you?"
"No... and yes. I don't have anything to miss. Nothing real, at least. It's hard to miss something that doesn't exist. Like, do you miss your little brother who drowned in the rope-walk exercise at the academy years ago?" Naruto nodded at Kiba's confused face. "Exactly. You can spend a lot of time imagining stuff, like extra family, but it's never a serious concern to anybody. They've all got their real family and that's all they deal with. Thoughts about members who don't even exist go by as fast as any other fantasy. But for me... I always saw everybody with their parents, so I knew there was something missing, something I was supposed to have but didn't. I don't know what happened to them. A little over sixteen years ago, a lot of people were lost, some without trace. They might have been soldiers who died in combat, or villagers killed while trying to escape. Maybe it was a forbidden affair and they had to get rid of the evidence. Maybe they just didn't want me and abandoned me. I don't know, and it doesn't help to wonder. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time imagining I was with parents, and that they would hug me and tell me they loved me, and put me in bed at night, and give me presents on holidays. Things I'd seen other families doing when they didn't know I was peeping on them. But by the time I was six or seven, I stopped imagining. It didn't help me get by for real."
"So how did you get by?"
"The Third watched over me until I could live on my own. He didn't actually do most of the watching, but random assistants of his took care of me and he saw that I was OK by the end of the day. I was given the old apartment when I was five. He checked up on me every few days after that. But he was always busy... and nobody else cared."
"Wasn't there an orphanage?"
"There were hardly any... and none had space."
"Oh... yeah I'm way too old for one now, plus my sister is going out of her way dealing with mission overload for enough money that we can keep this place. I'm glad to have it, but I rarely ever see her, so... I spend all my time alone in here."
"Where's your mom?"
"I never did know my mom. All I have is a quick memory of her humming me to sleep during a stormy night. She was one of the ones who died sixteen years ago."
Naruto flinched. He understood from a logical point of view that he wasn't responsible for anything that happened sixteen years ago, but emotionally he still felt twinges of guilt when hearing of a loss due to the Kyuubi attack. "So... you're an orphan too, huh."
Kiba sighed. "Yeah..."
"You still had it though." Naruto exchanged curious glances with Kiba. "What was it like? Having a dad, I mean."
Kiba closed his eyes in thought for a few seconds. This was going to be a big one. "I loved him. He was everything I admired and everything I wanted to be. I mean, I loved reading all the cool superhero stories and stuff, but even with all that, I knew they were just fantasy heroes. My dad was a real one. He knew I was impressionable and he knew how to work with that. He'd always show off or make sure I was watching when he did cool stuff; little things like folding kunai and shuriken to bigger stuff like ripping apart a wall with his bare hands for an extra room downstairs... and competing with his teammates all the time. I remember once he was actually beaten in a race here, and his buddy was teasing, until he pulled off his backpack and dropped it on the table, collapsing it and shattering the concrete floor like glass. Think back to Rock Lee at our first chuunin exam. You should've seen his buddy's face. One time on a trip to another village, the group we were journeying with needed some firewood, and he punched down the nearest tree and ripped off all the main branches into a pile along the trunk before anybody even volunteered to do the search. He'd just act casual at some of the freaked-out stares he'd get doing those things, then wink at me when nobody was looking. He knew I was digging it. I always loved seeing how he intimidated people. He didn't say a whole lot, but when he did, you listened. Specially if he was upset. Heh, he could shake the house with his yells. You definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of his anger, I'll tell you that from experience. I mean, I think he was fair, and even when it was time for the strap across the back, I can tell you now he meant the best. But that was just between us. I knew people were scared to upset him, and I really leeched off that. I belonged to him, and anybody messing with me messed with him too. Heh, I took that cocky attitude everywhere, acting all like a brute. He wasn't all brute though, he was skilled too. He knew all kinds of cool and devastating techniques, and could be quick and quiet when he needed. He could also pound most of his comrades in a spar. He wasn't S-class, but he was working toward it. I thought he was by far the coolest guy around; a man's man among a bunch of lame pansies. He did cool missions, killed strong enemies, saved innocent lives, and took care of us all at once.
"When I wasn't pretending to be like that, I was trying for real. The first time I tried to bust up a log with my head, I think I was crying for days. Piercing fang wasn't that big of a success either. I tried to clear the back yard, but after taking off I just flipped sideways and dislocated my shoulder. I knew I had a long way to go, but I also knew he'd be there to show me through it.
"But even with all that, he was friendly too. I remember when I turned five. He was supposed to go on a long mission beginning on my birthday, but he arranged to put it off until early next morning so he could spend the evening with me. That's when he got me a little kiddy kunai and shuriken set and spent the remaining time showing me how to train with them. That was my first real step toward nin-dom, and first flirting with danger too. I mean, the stuff was kinda dull and wouldn't really kill people, but you could still gouge an eye out. I was so happy; I wanted to do something back. I decided to get up before he did next morning and get all his supplies packed and ready for him so he didn't have to deal with the hassle. He wasn't really a morning person, and I figured it would be way easier if he could just get up and go. Long story short, I cut myself dropping a box of shuriken, tore a scroll, spilled the poison... I completely trashed the place and needed some bandaging myself. I heard him getting out of bed. I think the smoke bomb going off was what got him up. I knew I couldn't clean up before he came down. I started to anyway, though, and that's just when he walked in. I was probably the most upset I'd been to that day in life. After all we did last night, I pretty much sabotaged his supplies. I tried not to cry, but I couldn't hold back tears. I was waiting for the wrath, but he just looked around the room, grinned, came over and picked me up and hugged me, said things like that were why he enjoyed being a father. I wondered about that one a lot, but I was too scared to ask at the time. I eventually figured it out though; when I got Akamaru, I loved having him around and doing things with him, even if I had to clean up after him until he learned where and where not to go. That's a different story though.
"Anyway... it was like having a teacher, leader, caretaker and friend all in one. He left me a lot, taught me a lot... and he was still in the process. I realized that he'd always be years ahead of me and always have something useful to share with me every time I entered a new phase of life, and I'd always have a new side of him to explore every time I thought I had him figured out. But now, that's not going to happen anymore. I finally feel what he said... when he was warning me not to make light of relations with people who could die at any time... about 'never' being such a long time."
Naruto looked ahead with a longing smile on his face as he listened to and thought over what Kiba told him. His thought turned toward Sasuke once again. "I think I can understand that. I've wanted to go to Sasuke for nearly three years now. The thought that he might be permanently lost to Orochimaru is always crossing my mind. I know how devastated I'd feel if I found out he was. But unlike you, I'd have a way to direct the anger and frustration."
"You two really did become great friends, didn't you?"
"The best, he told me."
"So what made him try to kill you?"
"At the time I didn't know. He just told me that being his best friend was why it was worth killing me. I couldn't believe it until he tried to thrust his chidori through me. For some reason, he changed his mind before the fight was over. I later found out from Jiraiya that Itachi told him the way to awaken the ultimate level of the sharingan was to kill your closest friend."
"That's an awful way to find out you're somebody's best friend."
"Yeah... but he didn't follow through with it, so I believe deep down he's still with us, and that he went to Orochimaru as the way to get the strength to kill Itachi, instead of doing like Itachi wanted."
"You really believe that, don't you?"
"Absolutely."
"How did you two become such good friends anyway? I remember you two loathed each other back at the academy."
"Heh, I never had friends back at the academy. Everybody made fun of me. I grew into the role though. Once we graduated, and our teams went through so much training, so many intense missions, life and death situations... all the rest that comes with being a team, I don't think there was any way to avoid it. We remained rivals, but the way we rivaled changed a lot. So... yeah."
Kiba paused for a minute, thinking back to academy days. "We were really jerks to you back then, weren't we?"
"Hehe, nah you guys were just being brats like me. We didn't know better."
"Naruto," Kiba looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry." The two stared at each other for a short but awkward moment. "Look, it's way late, but... stay as long as you need, OK?"
Naruto stared a few seconds, then nodded.
Kiba nodded in return, then got up and left to go to his room. 'This night sure went way different than I expected. I guess it's no surprise though. I should've known I couldn't just put all dad's stuff away. I haven't been able to for over a year, so why would I now?' He shut his door, stripped down to his boxers and crawled into his bed. 'I was hoping to drive him off by talking about dad's accident, but that totally backfired. Though, somehow, I don't feel stupid for telling him all those things. I always figured him to be the kinda guy I wouldn't tell anything to unless I wanted the whole class to know by next week. But now... he's obviously good at knowing what stays private. He may not be bright, but he's obviously got mental strength to go for so long without family in the face of everybody's putdowns and neglect. He never brought those things up at all, but it sounds like they've always existed to him. Was he always such a good talker or listener, and we only needed to ask? Not that I would have had anything like that to talk about until recently.' Curiosity over Naruto's true character beset Kiba as he faded from consciousness.
Naruto unmade the bed and climbed in, thinking over his new relationship with Kiba. None of his peers had apologized to him before. In fact, only Iruka ever had. He'd always figured he didn't need it and he could get along fine without it, as he always had. But now he felt a new and unfamiliar feeling. It wasn't something he could identify. He soon realized that what he wasn't feeling was any negativity toward Kiba. 'Who'd've guessed Kiba of all people would turn out to be so trusty? I suppose he was always loyal, but... I never imagined him as an honest friend. I sure don't have a lot of those around right now. Another would be nice.' The possibilities intrigued him. 'I guess I was wrong. Three years really can change a lot.' He stared at the ceiling a few seconds longer before closing his eyes. 'Maybe staying in the village won't be such a bad experience after all,' he thought as he also faded from consciousness.
