Much thanks to the spinchful Tavina and eloquent PoorCynic for beta-reading.
I barely avoided tripping over my own feet.
Another dream.
"What were you gonna say?" Naruto asked.
While he didn't look anywhere near as upset and miserable as he had at the end of the last dream, Naruto didn't look as peppy as he had in the previous dreams. Iruka still being in the hospital, along with Chouji and Ino, must have been weighing on him.
"It doesn't matter," I answered, trying to squash annoyance at that knowledge down.
Naruto made a face. "Fine, you don't have to tell me how training with Kaka-sensei's going if you're gonna be like that. You lucked out. He's probably teaching you all sorts of cool stuff," he complained guilelessly.
"And you're not?" We were in the village, which along with knowing that Ino and Chouji were in the hospital meant that this had to have been after the prelims- no, no preliminaries.
The knowledge I didn't want said those had never happened. All in all, only sixteen people of those who arrived at the tower in time were willing or able to fight. Since that meant there would be only eight matches to begin with, between that and the attack inside of the tower, they had canceled having preliminaries entirely. There would only be the main tournament.
Eight matches, that would go down to four, then two, then one final.
I wondered how many of those they'd manage to get through, with the invasion. They hadn't gotten very far in the original, from what I remembered.
Naruto looked annoyed. "No!" He huffed. "Ebisu and Ero-sennin both blew off teaching me anything super cool I could use!" Naruto mimed pushing up glasses. "'You should take this as a chance to work on your foundational skills since you won't be winning your match,'" he said, in what was probably supposed to be a mimicry of Ebisu's voice. "And then! And then! They're both making me work on learning kanji and stuff! Can you believe it? Ebisu is giving me homework! He actually shoved a bunch of dumb worksheets at me!" He grumbled under his breath something I couldn't quite make out. "It's awful because Ero-sennin agrees with him!"
"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" I wasn't able to avoid squinting. Weren't those needed for being literate if we were supposed to be speaking and reading Japanese?
"Why do I gotta learn that kinda thing? I can mostly get by fine," he complained. "If it's real important they have the hiragana on top or I can figure it out, mostly. The only reason I'm trying is because Ero-sennin says he might teach me fuinjutsu if I make an effort and I guess it might be kinda cool? Tenten from Gai-sensei's team showed me her storage seals while we were waiting for the last exam to finish and if I learn how to do that then Sakura wouldn't be able to complain I'm bringing too many ramen cups on missions. I don't know why Iruka-sensei told them I struggled with kanji anyway! How could he do that to me? I've been taking him ramen and even other food into the hospital!" Naruto seemed very aggrieved at having a higher level of literacy forced on him than he cared about having.
If he was hoping that I was going to side with him, he was shit out of luck. Higher comprehension skills from reading would only help him. "Won't you need to know more kanji if you become Hokage? That's a lot of paperwork to deal with." I definitely remembered that in Shippuden it hit the piled-up paperwork level of 'I have tenure and I no longer give a damn' of some professors' offices, at least.
Naruto physically cringed, before he made it clear he refused to back down. "Then I guess I'll have to learn some… But maybe I'll just have more people do the paperwork for me! Then I won't have to read as much!"
That was honestly a better solution than Tsunade's in the show.
"You'd still have to know what they're doing the paperwork for in the first place," I pointed out.
"You don't need to take their side," he complained.
"Is it really such a bad thing that they aren't training you for your first match the way you want?" I had to wonder who it was he was supposed to be facing off for the first one that no one thought he would have a chance, even with a month of training.
"It doesn't mean I want to look like I suck fighting against Haku! How am I supposed to make chūnin if I don't have anything cool to show really off?"
Well, that made sense, and I had to agree with them. Naruto was nowhere near Haku's level, a month of training or not. I doubted the only things being rammed into Naruto's head were reading and writing skills, but to him it probably didn't feel that way if everyone else had decided he had no chance in his match.
Even though it was completely true by any standard. I also couldn't see Haku deciding to throw his match to let Naruto win. Not in a 'friendly' match. It wasn't like they would have to fight to the death.
"You can make shadow clones," I pointed out. "Which you learned illegally, didn't you? It can be cool on its own if you don't end up tripping over yourself and get into arguments with your clones."
Naruto pouted. "Sometimes I just wanna complain sometimes, you know. You don't have to be so serious and so 'mature' and 'responsible' all the time." From the way he was saying it, he'd probably heard the last two thrown around.
It soon became obvious where we were going; the stall for Ichiraku's was in sight.
Naruto, however, frowned as we approached. "Where's Sakura? She said she'd be getting here before us." He looked around, clearly hoping she would suddenly materialize just by saying it.
I had no idea. I shrugged.
We waited outside of the stall for several minutes, Naruto looking increasingly impatient. I was more surprised that we were actually waiting, instead of just going ahead and eating without her.
Thankfully, Sakura straggled into view. Even though she had never had her hand forced into cutting her hair in the forest, it was still a surprise to see it was still long, somehow, made stranger still by the fact that her hair was plaited into a tight braid. Exhaustion was all over her face and etched into her body language, but so was a mix of determination and delight.
"Hey! Sakura! Hurry up!" Naruto shouted.
She did, but not the way he was hoping for; instead, she grabbed us both by the wrist and started dragging us away. "This is no time for ramen, Naruto. When I got home from training, my mom said Ino woke up! We're going to go see her!"
Naruto yanked his arm away. "That's great but uh, I still told Iruka-sensei I would bring him something to eat." He looked abashed. "The time I forgot I got scolded by a nurse since he had already turned down their food."
Sakura's expression softened for a moment, before hardening again. "Then we can grab him a bento from somewhere on the way!"
With that, she gripped onto Naruto again.
I figured it was easier to just go along with it.
Sakura at least lessened Naruto's complaints about not bringing Iruka 'real' food by paying for it, picking out a larger bento with a hearty helping of beef in it that had Naruto giving the price sticker a nervous look even after as she was handing the money to the cashier.
I wasn't sure what I expected. The inside of a dream magical ninja hospital smelled just like… a normal, real hospital. Overly clean and antiseptic in a way I was never going to feel comfortable with again, that I would prefer to forget entirely.
The receptionist in the hospital lobby ignored us entirely entirely as Sakura walked straight to the stairs, which was different. While there were two elevators nearby, there was no one waiting for them and they didn't seem to be in use, no light indicating they were moving between floors. Then again, I supposed that most ninja would be uncomfortable or just not used to using an elevator; the stairs would be much faster unless someone actually needed it.
We exited into a hallway, and Naruto immediately beelined down one way, forcing Sakura and I to follow; presumably Ino was also on this floor, since Sakura looked down the other and hesitated before going after Naruto.
Naruto came to a sudden stop at an open door, and I barely stopped in time to avoid running into him. Over his shoulder, I was able to look inside.
Iruka was in a black t-shirt and loose pants, sitting on the hospital bed inside of the room with one elbow propped up on a metal cart as a medic-nin wrapped up what was clearly a nub. There was a peek of flesh forced together by stitches before it was covered up by a thin cloth— almost see-through— that had something in ink written on it. There was another roll of bandage on the cart next to Iruka's elbow that looked much thicker.
He caught notice of us. "Oh, hey, you three." He looked up at the medic-nin. "I can wrap the rest of it once you're done with this one, Yuzuri-san," Iruka said. He managed a grin. "It's not that hard one-handed." He actually waved with the mostly-bandaged arm.
Naruto stifled a half-choked sound.
Sakura at least managed to say something, after a couple seconds had passed."Iruka-sensei… that's really not funny."
I thought it was funny. At least kind of.
The medic-nin, a serious looking woman with long brown hair in a braided bun, frowned deeply at him. "Umino-san, if you want to stay on the active roster like you insist, you have to follow the recovery plan, which includes me doing both layers of bandages."
"'Recovery plan?'" Sakura echoed. She slipped into the room past me and Naruto. Naruto followed her in. I stayed at the door frame. "You're going to stay active? Iruka-sensei, you lost a hand!"
"My non-dominant hand," Iruka told her, as Yuzuri finished wrapping the thinner cloth up, tucking it neatly in under itself and moved on to the normal bandage. "It'll take some work, but if I can learn how to manage seals with one hand it'll be fine."
"That's if you don't try anything until your arm's finished healing," the medic-nin said sharply. "That attack managed to cut through a tenketsu point and if it's not permanently sealed off, you'll risk blowing the rest of your arm off."
"What?" Naruto barely avoided squeaking. "He got his hand chopped off! How does that mean he can blow up?!"
"That can happen?" I wasn't able to resist asking.
"It's incredibly rare, but possible," Yuzuri answered. "Umino-san was fortunate there was a Hyūga medic in position. Tenketsu can be disabled, but if they're partially damaged it can be explosive if any chakra is actively molded. The inner bandage is a temporary suppression seal."
Naruto took a step backwards.
"It wouldn't be actually explosive, Naruto. I don't have enough chakra for that," Iruka told him.
"Yeah but… if it's temporary… doesn't that mean the seal on the inside is degrading?" Naruto's brow was crinkled together. "That was the word Ero-sennin used."
"You shouldn't call Jiraiya-sama that, Naruto."
"'Jiraiya-sama?'" Yuzuri repeated.
"Yeah! He's teaching me stuff," Naruto said. He seemed completely unaware of the impact those words had on the medic-nin, who straightened slightly.
"Jiraiya-sama's the best fuinjutsu user Konoha has," Yuzuri murmured, under her breath. She shook her head a bit, refocusing on her task, and soon was done, this heralded by a soft glow of light emanating from under the top bandage before she released her hold on the end of what remained of Iruka's arm. "There you go, Umino-san. It's healing well, so we should be able to apply the permanent seal without any problems soon."
"Thanks, Yuzuri-san," Iruka said to her earnestly. Iruka was a surprisingly good patient, even down a limb. Then again, Iruka was always a pretty positive character.
The medic-nin left, sparing one last glance at Naruto, who didn't seem to notice. He walked over and took the bento out, setting it on the side table. "We brought you dinner!" he said cheerfully. "It would have been ramen but Sakura-chan didn't want to wait."
"You heard Ino woke up?" Iruka asked Sakura, who nodded. "Chōji let me know. I haven't gone to see her yet since the medic-nin came in right after that. Why don't I go with you three?"
Naruto squinted at him. "Are you allowed to do that? I know you're not allowed to leave the hospital…"
Iruka chuckled. "Yes, Naruto, I'm allowed to walk around and visit people inside the hospital. It's not a prison." He looked around, before grabbing a sling that was on the end of the bed, and, with some awkward adjusting, his movements clumsy and slow, Iruka pulled it on and put it in place, before nestling his arm in it so it would be cradled against his chest. The fact he was missing a hand wasn't immediately obvious with it on. To my embarrassment, he noticed I was watching. "I don't want to shock her, Sasuke. It can wait."
He pushed his feet into the sandals sitting right on the edge of the bed, before standing up.
The walk to Ino's hospital room wasn't very far at all, but Naruto alternated between sticking right next to Iruka and dashing ahead the moment he heard anything. He glowered at anyone else who came too close to Iruka, which meant nearly everyone in the way. Naruto seemed to have decided 'too close' was anything closer than the other side of the very wide hospital corridor, at least nine feet away.
At least Iruka seemed amused by it.
Sakura hesitated a few steps away from the open door I assumed led into Ino's room. From where I was standing, I couldn't see the inside, but the room curtains didn't seem to be drawn.
The hesitance bothered me.
Before I could think about it anymore, I stepped forward, and grabbed her by the shoulder. "She's going to need her friends," I said, and before she could respond, I pushed her forward. "That's you."
Sakura had no choice but to go ahead, since Naruto broke away from Iruka to stand with me behind her. She stepped inside.
The inside of the room was crowded, but my attention was focused on Sakura, and the bed's occupant.
Ino's hair was down, and she was wearing a hospital gown, unlike Iruka. The bed had been adjusted so she could sit up, and she had torn her attention away from one side of her bed to look at us. It was a bit too intently for my comfort, but after a moment she spoke, her voice almost wobbly and unsure. "Sakura?" As though she wasn't actually sure who we were supposed to be.
The determination that Sakura had shown up until this point completely melted away, and barely choked off with a sob. "Ino!" She dashed over to the side of the bed, and pulled Ino into a hug.
As I entered the room, I looked around, averting my attention from Sakura and Ino's tearfilled reunion. Chōji, to my surprise, was in a wheelchair, by the foot of the bed, and Ino's parents were on the other side of the bed by the window. Chōji looked awful, with one leg and an arm in a cast. Neither of Ino's parents looked like they had been getting that much sleep, for that matter. Inoichi was dressed in a grey uniform like the proctors for the first exam had been, and looked exhausted and worn out. He spared a nod towards us as we entered, but his attention was more focused on Iruka.
Inoichi walked around the edge of the bed, and over to Iruka. "Iruka-sensei. I hope you're doing well."
"Inoichi-san, Suzuka-san, I would have come by sooner, but…" Iruka wordlessly tapped the slinged arm with his remaining hand. "Medic-nin don't appreciate their appointments being skipped."
"No, they don't," Inoichi agreed.
Without saying anything further, both men departed from the room, Inoichi closing the door behind him. Whatever they were going to talk about was clearly not meant for the kids to overhear, then.
Naruto eyed the door, and then the bed, before deciding to go and stand by Chōji. "Are they gonna let you out so you can go watch the tournament?" he asked. His voice was pitched slightly quieter than he usually managed.
Chōji sighed, and shook his head. "No. I'm not allowed since they think I might hurt my leg again. I won't even get to have anything from the concession stands and I heard they're gonna be making special food from Water and Wave." It occurred to me that I had no idea where Ame was supposed to be, but from Chōji's perspective it didn't seem like it mattered when it came to food.
Naruto made a face. "No one can bring you anything?" He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Kā-san's gonna be busy working and so's Tou-san. And all of you guys are in the opening matches," Chōji said glumly.
"Uh… if I don't win my match I can try to send a clone with food," Naruto answered. He sounded reluctant to even admit the possibility.
"Clones can't do that," Chōji replied. He sounded skeptical. "Besides, you weren't even able to do them in the academy."
"I learned a real cool version!" Naruto insisted. "And they're solid and stuff, too." He actually began to raise his hands up.
I grabbed one of his arms. "We're in a hospital room," I reminded him.
Naruto looked sheepish. "Oh yeah. Even if it's just a few it'd get crowded in here, heh."
Chōji's eyes widened. "So you can? I'll make sure I give you a list of food to look out for!"
Naruto swallowed. "Uh… A list?"
"I'll pay you back!"
I looked back over towards the bed. Ino and Sakura had by now mostly calmed down, and the only sign that Sakura had been crying was a bit of puffiness under her eyes. She and Ino were holding hands.
"I'm happy you're alright," I said, not entirely sure of what to say. I shoved my hands into my pockets. Sasuke's pockets. I did know that from my own extended hospital stint that it had been terrible and isolating for people who claimed to be close to me to not show up at all. At least with this absurd dream scenario I was able to encourage Sakura to make what was the right choice. That I knew what the right decision to make was. Words, on the other hand…
"Thanks," she said, giving me a weak smile.
"Will Ino be allowed to go to the tournament, Suzuka-ba?" Sakura asked.
"Hey, yeah, she should be able to go!" Naruto added, only now realizing the overly emotional moment had ended at last.
Ino's mother shook her head. "Ino-chan still needs time to recover." While she wasn't nearly as frosty as Sakura's mother had been towards Naruto, she was still very reserved. I couldn't tell if it was just how she was or because of Naruto.
Naruto squinted at Ino, before he approached to examine her closely, an almost cautious expression on his face as he did so.
Ino only looked back at him with a mildly confused expression on her face. I realized that at no point had she really looked— or acted— like her usual confident self, if she wasn't reacting to Naruto being Naruto. It wasn't just having woken up that was the cause, then, but something else?
"Uh… you didn't hit your head or anything, did you?" he asked, confused.
She shook her head. "I was using one of our techniques when something happened," Ino said, frowning in concentration. "Tou-chan says I won't remember anything from after I started it, and that it's going to take time for me to remember everything else."
"Do I need to tell you who I am?" Naruto looked completely baffled at this point.
"Um…"
Naruto took that as a yes. "We were classmates! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna be—"
"-Hokage," Ino cut him off. She was staring at him, all of her focus aimed at Naruto. "You're going to be the Hokage."
It was intense enough that it was off-putting, and I wasn't even the one being stared at.
"Yeah," Naruto said, after awhile. "I wanna be." He was clearly unsure how to take this specific kind of validation. I couldn't blame him. It was different from the last time Ino had backed him up on it, somehow.
There was an awkward silence, eventually broken by Chōji. "Why don't you tell Ino about the training you guys are doing?" he suggested, clearly grasping for a subject.
"Oh!" Sakura said. "We're not just training with Kakashi-sensei for the tournament."
Ino's eyebrows furrowed together. "You're in the tournament?"
Sakura nodded. "At least for the opening round! We made it, and so did Hinata's team. There's also a team from Ame and Haku-sempai's team."
"Um, and Shikamaru, too," Naruto said, looking at everything else in the room except at Ino.
With that, a brief moment of tension breached the surface. Chōji was in here, and so were we, but the mention of Shikamaru had Chōji, Sakura, and Naruto looking away from Ino for a moment.
"Well, Kakashi-sensei actually has friends, can you believe it?" Sakura said, her voice a bit strained with the attempt at making light gossip to keep Ino updated. "We're still doing some training with him, but he asked for help with me and Naruto. Tenzō-sensei's nice but strict. He's teaching me some kenjutsu and even jutsu!"
Tenzō. Wait. Yamato?
"He can make a creepy face," Naruto muttered. "And his eyes when he does it…" He shuddered, just slightly overdoing it.
"Kenjutsu?" Ino asked. She sounded surprised.
"Mmhm. I don't think I'll keep it up after this for real, but between my first match and then there being a kenjutsu user in the tournament, Tenzō-sensei thinks it's a good idea that I have a grip on the basics there. Apparently it isn't that common for chūnin, but a lot of tokubetsu and jōnin have some skill at kenjutsu and it's better to have some practice sooner than later, if only to know how to fight them." Sakura sounded like she had given deep thought on this.
Kenjutsu… I had, for a stint in college, done fencing. The saber was somewhere in my coat closet, tucked out of the way. Not for the first time, I felt the strong sting of annoyance at myself for giving up that hobby for my ex. I had the gear, but not the ability to do it anymore. The boyfriend hadn't bothered to stick around. Maybe I would have been better off sticking to the fencing club and not giving him the time in the first place.
"You know who your first match is?" Ino's voice shook me out of feeling sorry for myself. Sanity aside, it was probably better to be focusing on all of this, especially since it wasn't like hoping for alcohol was going to help me here.
"We all do," Naruto said, before Sakura could. "The proctor said we weren't gonna do any preliminaries at the tower 'cause of—" he caught Sakura's warning look and the free hand balled into a fist— "—all the stuff that happened especially since there weren't too too many people, but they still told us who got who for the first matches. Sakura got this jerk from Amegakure who couldn't stop talking about how cool and awesome his village is, Sasuke's match is gonna be against Chōjūrō, and I got Haku." Naruto made a face.
"That team who are a year ahead of us, with Hinata's cousin, they're in the tournament, too." Chōji added. He reached into the bag of potato chips he had, before pushing some into his mouth. After he was done chewing and swallowed it all, he started to speak again. "Asuma-sensei said this is the first time in ages so many recent Konoha genin made it this far, the last time he visited."
"You all did an amazing job, getting as far as you did," Ino's mother spoke up. Her eyes were focused on her daughter, hands clenching her knees. "Even if this exam had been normal." Her voice sounded almost choked.
"Kā-san…" Ino's voice sounded wobbly.
There was a moment of nerves in the air that was centered around Ino and her mother; a twelve year old girl crying was one thing, but I realized that Sakura, Naruto, and Chōji were wary of if Ino's mother was going to start. Twelve and thirteen year olds were still young enough that the idea of adults crying was significantly more uncomfortable and unsettling than anything else.
I scrambled for the first thing I could think of.
"Here's something interesting. Naruto's finally being forced to learn everything he skipped out on in class," I said, casually.
It worked. The moment vanished when Ino's mother let out the lightest breath of a laugh.
"What? Hey, that's no fair," Naruto grumbled, though he seemed to realize what the goal of that subject change was; he wasn't protesting as loud as he might have otherwise.
"Naruto has two people trying to train him and he's completely clueless about how much time it means is being put into him," Sakura said, taking it and going with it.
Chōji's eyebrows crinkled together. "How'd you end up with two?"
Naruto's eyes lit up at the opportunity to tell a story. "I ran into this annoying brat of a kid who turned out to be Jii-jii's grandson! Konohamaru is actually pretty okay though, I'm gonna teach him everything I know."
"Konohamaru? You like him?" Chōji sounded surprised. "The one time we met him he tried to ambush Asuma-sensei by jumping off a staircase."
"That sounds like him," Naruto agreed. "And yeah! He's a kinda dumb kid but he wants to be Hokage too! He's at the academy and has a private sensei, too. An' his private tutor, Ebisu, turns out to have known Kakashi-sensei when they were in the academy. Which figures, 'cause he's a lunatic when it comes to training, too. He thinks the best way to do water walking practice is to make me avoid cooking myself in the hot springs!
"He kept makin' me do that over and over until I looked all boiled red and he called it quits for the day an' when we were leaving we ran into Ero-sennin—"
"Jiraiya-sama—" Sakura interrupted, as an explanation.
"—Ero-sennin fleeing from the bathhouse, an' he had dropped a notebook he had been writing in, and it had a bunch of kanji in it I couldn't read but both of them looked ready to drop dead when I was looking at it, especially when Ebisu figured it was Ero-sennin's!" He stopped to laugh at that, before cutting it off promptly, to make a face. "So 'cause of that Ebisu thinks I'm illiterate and 'would be an embarrassment of a chūnin' but he also won't tell me what most of those kanji even meant. So they're both perverts," he concluded. "But because of my match they won't teach me anything really cool, but I might get to learn fuinjutsu if Ero-sennin decides my reading skills don't suck anymore."
Ino's mother coughed lightly. "Jiraiya-sama is a… very respected member of the village," she said. I was pretty sure that wasn't what she actually wanted to say.
"Fuinjutsu," Ino murmured to herself. Her attention snapped onto Naruto with the same slightly too intense focused look as before. "Both the Nidaime and Yondaime were known for their fuinjutsu," she said. "I think the Sandaime is good at it too, since he's Jiraiya-sama's sensei and was taught by the Nidaime."
"Eh?" went Naruto.
"Most shinobi aren't very skilled at fuinjutsu, but the ones who are and are able to use it in fights are rare and stand above their peers," Ino's mother explained, looking between her daughter and Naruto. "Yondaime-sama was infamous because of it. He was known as the Yellow Flash."
"Yeah, yeah, because he was so fast, right?" Naruto said. There was an eager look in his eyes, now.
"Kakashi was his student," I said. I blinked. I wasn't sure why I had let that slip.
"What?!" Naruto's eyes widened. "I could have been asking him for cool stories about the Yondaime the whole time?"
"And Jiraiya-sama," Ino added, still staring at Naruto. "He's supposed to have taught the Yondaime."
"Really?" His voice managed to crack, squeaking near the end, which made me look at him with caution. Naruto was beginning to look giddy and overwhelmed. He was starstruck, I realized, having a fanboy moment. "The Yondaime's my favorite," he announced to everyone.
Sakura glanced at Naruto with an impressive side eye, an unsure quirk to her mouth, before she finally spoke. "Naruto, calm down, we're in a hospital."
"But Sakura!"
This was apparently enough for Ino's mother to lay down the law. "Ino-chan needs to rest, before she has any more visitors come in. She's not supposed to get too stimulated." Her lips pursed together.
"Oh," Naruto went, deflating a bit. He rubbed the back of his neck, giving her an embarrassed grin. "Sorry." He turned his attention towards Ino and Sakura. "Sakura-chan, we'll leave, so you can stay with Ino, you know?"
Sakura looked torn, looking between us and Ino. "Are you sure? We haven't really spent that much time together since we all started training for the tournament."
"Stay," I said, much more sure than Naruto. "Ino needs you."
"Yeah!"
Sakura gave us a grateful look, at not being forced to choose. "Alright. I'll see you both later."
"Get better soon, yeah, Ino?" Naruto directed at her.
Ino managed a smile. "I'll try."
"I'll go with you guys to the stairs. I'm supposed to have therapy soon anyways," Chōji said, folding the top of his chip bag over and tucking it against the left arm of the wheelchair. He made a face. "I'm barely allowed to walk, but they're still making me exercise!" He waved to Ino.
I opened the door, as wide as it could go.
In the hallway, Iruka and Inoichi were still speaking, a distance away from the door, but they stopped and turned immediately.
"Leaving already?" Iruka asked.
Naruto grinned, almost self-conscious looking. "I'm too loud."
"Ino's being all intense like she's been getting since she woke up and Suzuka-ba's getting emotional again," Chōji elaborated. "So's Sakura."
"I should go check on her again before I have to leave," Inoichi said. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes, massaging at it briefly.
"You said it yourself, she'll be fine with time," Iruka said, setting an assuring hand on the older man's shoulder. "Between Chōji and me, we can keep her company so you and your wife can get some actual rest. You shouldn't be spending every moment not working here."
Inoichi managed a smile, slight as it was over all of the fatigue. "And it's saying something if I'm getting lectured by an Academy sensei, right." He looked over at us, and tilted his head slightly towards Iruka. "Even once you become chūnin, remember that Academy sensei are picked for a reason."
"How hard is it?" I wasn't able to resist asking.
"It's a very different set of standards from making jōnin, but it's much harder to become a sensei at the Academy than to become a jōnin," Inoichi explained.
"I wouldn't say that…" Iruka rubbed the back of his neck, and both it and his embarrassed grin were exactly the same as Naruto's earlier, I realized with a start.
"Because they can have a large influence on their students?" I asked, looking between Iruka and Naruto.
Chōji tried to cover his mouth to hide the snort. He had caught it too.
Naruto looked around at everyone, completely confused. "Huh? What's so funny?"
Inoichi must have put it together as well, since he was looking slightly upwards, his face carefully still with the practice of someone used to not laughing at children.
"Maybe you'll figure out when you're older," I said.
Iruka stifled a laugh now, pulling his arm away from his neck. "You don't need to tease him, Sasuke. But yes, we're held to much higher standards, in some ways." Just like real teachers and the certifications and background checks they needed, but I doubted Iruka had to shell out for all of that. At least I hoped not. That would just be too depressingly realistic. Or would it be.
Naruto made a face at me, but brightened up immediately. "Really? Then why aren't you a jōnin yet?"
Iruka mouthed 'yet' to himself, before shaking his head. "It's different standards, and most of us at the academy don't really have the chance to work on our skills enough to make jōnin, if we were even able to make it. I'm more than fine being a chūnin. Besides, I'd need a hand for that." He managed to force a grin.
Naruto groaned, and dragged his hands down his face. "Stop doing that! It isn't funny!"
Chōji grimaced slightly.
It was still kind of funny.
Inoichi seemed to find it amusing, too, at least a little, but this little gathering in the hallway was beginning to attract disapproving glances and staring from a few medic-nin and nurses, and he coughed lightly. "You two should get going," he said, to me and Naruto, before turning to Chōji. "Thank you for waiting with me earlier, Chōji-kun."
Chōji gave an abashed look, before looking away. "Tou-san says we're supposed to be there for each other, and it's Ino, and…"
"Shikamaru will figure things out eventually," Inoichi told him.
"He's gotta get being stupid out of the way, first," Naruto said with confidence. It wasn't even that wrong, kind of. "But yeah! Bye Chōji! Bye Iruka-sensei! Bye Inoichi-ji!"
Naruto sped off to the stairs, giving me just long enough to catch Inoichi's reaction before I followed; he looked completely caught off guard by that sudden appellation being given to him.
"Bye," I said, feeling self-conscious. I quickly escaped down the stairs.
Naruto was bouncing on the balls of his feet, impatiently waiting for me at the stairwell level for the ground floor.
"Hurry up, I'm starving," he said, exhaling finally.
"Then why didn't you get yourself something to eat when we had the chance?" I asked.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Because it was important to Sakura-chan!" His stomach growled, loudly, and his eyes widened. "Also I didn't think about that, earlier," he added.
I shook my head slightly. "Fine, let's get food."
He cheered, and we left the hospital, only to suddenly come to a stop just outside.
Gaara was standing in front of the hospital, staring intently at Naruto. Temari and Kankurō were there as well, looking extremely awkward.
I glanced at them, and then Naruto, who looked slightly quizzical, before he grinned.
"Gaara!"
"Naruto-kun," Gaara responded, still staring. "You were in the hospital."
"Yeah, we were visiting people," Naruto answered, walking over. "What are you guys doing?"
What the hell was this about?
I looked at Temari and Kankurō, as if they would somehow have any answers for this unexpected turn, but I was left at a loss. Both looked unsure of this, uneasy.
"We're supposed to be meeting our father and Baki-sensei," Temari said. "Remember, Gaara?" There was a half-wheedling note to her voice, tinted with repressed frustration. After years of watching people between time as a university student and my old job, I had become very familiar with the sort of tone people had in their voices when they were trying to not reveal to the person they were speaking with the fact they wanted to scream because of them.
"I wanted to see Naruto-kun," Gaara answered, dismissing what she said entirely.
"Yeah, it's funny we met each other out here, isn't it?"
I really doubted this was coincidence. Not when Gaara had all of his attention on Naruto.
"Were you stalking him?" I asked.
Kankurō suddenly stepped back and to the side, grimacing even as he shook his head up and down in confirmation; Temari also similarly split away, creating a bubble of space that left Gaara, Naruto, and me at the center of it.
Gaara's attention snapped onto me, eyes intensely locked on mine without blinking. "Why does it matter to you?"
I felt sand grit lightly against my toes. There wasn't any wind.
"He's just trying to be friendly, Sasuke." Naruto sounded put out.
"Stalking people isn't 'friendly' behavior," I said, keeping my attention focused on Gaara. It felt important to not let myself get distracted and look away. "Whatever it is you want, you're not going to get it acting like this. Unless you think making Kankurō look like he's about to piss himself whenever you do something is going to make you friends."
"Hey!"
"I don't care about him," Gaara answered. "I want to know more about Naruto."
Naruto's fidgeting brushed against me. "Uh… isn't he your older brother? Why wouldn't you care about him? You have a family." Naruto's confusion was mixed with an edge of longing.
Gaara's attention, so weirdly piercing, switched to Naruto.
"Why should I care about him? I could crush him right now."
Out of the corner of my eye, I could make out Kankurō slowly backing away more than he had already.
"Just because you can doesn't mean you should," I told him, folding my arms together. I felt like I was having to explain things to a toddler. One with more capacity for destruction than real toddlers had. "Saying and showing you don't care about people isn't going to get you real friends. It won't let you keep any for long, anyways."
Gaara blinked.
"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "There's a bunch of people who are awful jerks! It felt like for ages everyone was mean to me for no reason and treated me like I was a monster. I was alone. No one was allowed to play with me when I was a kid," said the twelve year old child. "But there were still a few people who were nice to me, like our Academy sensei. And I've even been making friends since I became a genin. It's great!"
"A monster…" It wasn't quite a whisper, but Gaara was still saying it to himself, eyes fixed on Naruto.
I had no interest in letting this become any more potentially depressing than it already was. "You're also a brat," I told Naruto. "That doesn't help."
"What? I've gotten better!"
For a moment that felt like it stretched out, no one said anything, the only thing preventing it from being completely silent was the ambient noise of everything around us, the occasional passerby focusing on their own lives. Even in a dream I couldn't pretend that the world would stop for a bunch of kids.
The terrible edge of dread slowly dulled, Gaara's attention shifting from predatory to something else, if just as hungry in a different way.
"I… want to be friends," he said, the words coming out slow and unsure.
Naruto's stomach let out a loud growl of protest.
I had not expected this to end up with us eating ramen with the Sand siblings, but that was how it turned out, somehow.
The seating arrangement turned out interesting, in a dumb way. Because the stall had been empty when we showed up, somehow Temari and Kankurō had managed to finagle it for Gaara to be seated against the wall, Naruto more than happy to sit next to him. I couldn't tell if it was out of a sense of guilt or protectiveness, but Temari sat on Naruto's other side. Kankurō had skipped that seat entirely, leaving me between him and his sister.
I couldn't exactly blame him, after earlier. He kept shooting furtive glances down the counter at Naruto and Gaara, as though he wasn't entirely sure what had just happened.
Naruto was happily chattering at Gaara— with winding explanations I could occasionally make out about why something was something you were supposed to do for friends or how Naruto had made a friend or saw others making friends— when the noren separating the inside of he stall from the outside was pushed open, letting in a stream of outside light.
"Kazekage-sama, we found them!"
Temari and Kankurō froze mid-action, Kankurō sputtering on his noodles, and Naruto stopped talking. After a second, Temari slowly set her chopsticks down.
On the other side of the counter, Teuchi paused in checking something I couldn't see.
The noren pushed aside again, and I turned.
Green hat with the kanji for 'wind'. Robes. A fringe of messy auburn hair just barely visible, and an expression that was more resting bitch face than anything, though it clearly held expectations of being ready to be disappointed on his face. He looked like both of his sons, to a degree that made me realize how much Kankurō's makeup made it less obvious. The Sand Siblings' father— whose name I was completely blanking on— didn't strike me as much an imposing figure as being a stern one already expecting people— in this case, his children— to fall short of his demands.
"I was expecting to present the three of you to the Hokage," the man said, narrowing his attention on Temari. It was the same gaze Gaara had just before.
Temari shrunk in on herself for a moment, just the slightest, but didn't cringe, before composing herself again. "Chichi-ue," she started, "Gaara made a friend."
"Gaara made a friend," the Kazekage repeated after her, and his eyes swept over us again, eyes first pausing on me, before they reached Naruto. He apparently hadn't entirely processed the seating order, or who was in here, all of his attention immediately on his eldest child.
"Yeah. Me. I'm Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said; his shoulders were set in determination, eyes squinting upwards at the new adult in the same space as him with suspicion, the same look as he had given pretty much everyone at the hospital he had deemed strangers. For all his bravado and occasional cluelessness, Naruto was mostly distrusting of adults. Being a kage apparently didn't exempt the Sand Siblings' father automatically. "I'm gonna be Hokage someday."
"The Uzumaki boy Baki mentioned," the Kazekage said out loud, half to himself, as his eyes fell on me. "And the last Uchiha that Konohagakure can claim for itself. Your final teammate, and your jōnin-sensei must be elsewhere. It isn't very often that genin from one village become notable enough for the leaders of multiple hidden villages to be made aware of them."
The tension in the small space ratcheted up a few notches as I tried to untangle that. Multiple. Was I overthinking this— the whole dream was an exercise in how much my poor head could force itself into making things more and more complicated— and the importance of choosing that word? The third Hokage. Zabuza. Him. Few enough that just saying three would suffice. Unless it was more. Could it be?
"Yeah, well, like I said," Naruto said. He was refusing to back down, like usual.
No one said anything.
The silence was broken by Teuchi. "Kazekage-sama, would you like to take a seat? I would be honored if you did. The first bowl is free, for you and your children."
The Kazekage looked at all of us for a long moment, before turning to speak over his shoulder, presumably to one of his people. "You're dismissed. I will see you all at the inn." He removed his hat, and sat down next to Kankurō, who looked like he regretted his choice of seating now.
Even with food to serve as a social lubricant, it didn't make it much less tense, or awkward. If anything, it made it moreso, as it still took time for the Kazekage to receive his order.
Naruto seemed to take the Kazekage's presence as a challenge to ignore him, and instead continued to chatter— more almost viciously happy than with his usual cheer— at Gaara, who listened to him intently. Kankurō looked miserable and Temari ate with her back ramrod straight.
Noodles did not solve everything.
Even Naruto couldn't make this drag on, and he looked sulky when we exited; at some point he somehow had decided he needed to keep himself between Gaara and the Kazekage even after they were no longer seated inside the ramen stall. Gaara's siblings and father seemed to be at a loss at how to even take that.
"You're gonna be here until after the tournament is over, right?" Naruto asked Gaara, who gave only the barest nod. He eyed the Kazekage. "I wish we could spend more time together, but I've still got a bunch of training…"
"I'm surprised you're not suggesting a sleepover," I muttered.
Naruto's eyes widened, and I immediately regretted that. "Hey! Hey! Yeah! You can spend the night at my place!"
"Are you trying to—" Kankurō started to choke out, and Temari looked alarmed.
The Kazekage cut Kankurō off, staring at Naruto as though that would give him any insight. "He is supposed to stay with his siblings."
"I don't mind! They can stay too!"
Gaara ignored his family entirely, focused on Naruto. "Okay."
The strangled wail Kankurō made merged into the noise of my alarm going off.
I swiped the alarm off on my phone with a groan. I felt awful, but not as bad as I did the other day. Nothing I hadn't dealt with before, but just as well. While my first class on Mondays wasn't until later, and my advisor was supposed to be off at a conference so we wouldn't be meeting until Friday, there was still going to be a speaker giving a lecture on oral storytelling and how they were changed by being written down that I was interested in attending, and that was going to be this morning, as part of an all-day event hosted by the Chicano Studies program. Maybe I would go to some of the other panels, after my class was over, since I wasn't going to therapy today.
I felt more alive after showering, though the ache at the base my neck still hadn't worked itself out. Still on one side, it meant I was probably going to have to see if I could massage it out later. Rather than deal with my blow dryer or straightener, I brushed my hair out and put it up into a bun, the professional solution to getting away with being lazy.
I was able to put the dreams out of mind entirely, and felt actually happy and content by the time I left the library basement auditorium. I had a nice coffee from my favorite place, I had even eaten a burrito for breakfast, I got to have a second, free coffee, and even a free muffin to enjoy while I occasionally jotted down notes from the speaker's presentation.
"Hey, Socorro!" someone called, before I reached the elevator.
I turned to look. Awkward, gangly white boy in his mid-twenties, in the plaid button-down shirt and khaki pants that was practically a uniform for the self-conscious. It took me a second to pin him down before I remembered who he was; a first year grad student, like me, but he had started this semester. While he wasn't in the English department, he was with Classical Studies, and had told a very long, rambling and boring story about how he had discovered his love for Latin and the classics through anime, somehow. I had tuned most of it out and had forgotten his name by now.
Apparently he hadn't forgotten mine.
I made an attempt to smile. I knew for a fact I had grabbed everything I had with me, thrown out my trash, and had shown approximately no interest in his plans as a grad student or human being before this. I had no idea what he wanted. "Hi?"
"I didn't know you were interested in anime," he started, leaning slightly back on his heels.
"Huh?" I felt very intelligent right now. What had prompted this? If anything, as far as I knew, I should have the opposite reputation; I had gotten a good chunk of the university's anime club kicked off of campus after I found out a bunch of them who were actually from the community college were harassing and stalking a girl a few months ago.
"Well, your tattoo," whatever-his-name was said. "At the base of your neck. It looks like, uh… Because of Naruto, right?"
I didn't have tattoos. I had exactly a single piercing in each ear and had never bothered to get more. Even my makeup was tame. I was reasonably sure that if I even thought of getting a tattoo my abuela would die of shame and then I'd get disowned by my mother, or similar, nevermind actually getting one.
"Uh, no," I said. I resisted the urge to reach for the spot my neck hurt. I was suddenly, horribly aware that the spot that ached was the same that got bit in the dream the other night.
"Oh," he said, sounding deflated. "So, um, I don't have anything to do for awhile and I was wondering if, you know, if you didn't either, if you'd like to go get a coffee or lunch or something…"
"Sorry, I'm busy," I said, before he could continue embarrassing both of us. "I'll see you at the next association meeting. I've got to go."
I left as fast as I could, leaving his awkward farewell behind me.
Inside the basement level women's bathroom— tiny, cramped, and only meant for a single person— I dropped my cane and pulled my phone out, trying to get a look at the back of my neck in the mirror without twisting around too much. I yanked my shirt collar back.
The reflection in the mirror, using the phone's front camera to get a look, showed three tomoe marks. Freshly black against my skin. Rubbing and scrubbing at it water and soap with my hand, and then with the crappy brown paper towels from the dispenser, did nothing except make the skin grow slowly angry and raw.
I didn't have tattoos, except, apparently, I did.
This was impossible, except, apparently, that didn't matter anymore.
Was I going insane?
It had to be pen, or Sharpie, or something. I was already missing hours, waking up and not remembering.
It had to be.
I skipped class.
This chapter was a breather of sorts, but there's plenty lurking under the surface, and plenty of information. I wonder what everyone's picked up on? ;) Next chapter is... the tournament itself!
As a fun thing, anyone who can make the closest and accurate guess for who wins what matches, I'll write a ficlet for, set in this fic's universe, within reason (nothing that will seriously spoil the future plot). The following is what will be round one, and how those matches will break down beyond the initial match.
Round One:
Match One: Sakura vs Shigure
Match Two: Shino vs Neji
Match Three: Sasuke vs Chojuro
Match Four: Midare vs Lee
Match Five: Kiba vs Suigetsu
Match Six: Shikamaru vs Hinata
Match Seven: Baiu vs Tenten
Match Eight: Haku vs Naruto
Round Two:
Match A: Match One Victor vs Match Two Victor
Match B: Match Three Victor vs Match Four Victor
Match C: Match Five Victor vs Match Six Victor
Match D: Match Seven Victor vs Match Eight Victor
Round Three (Semifinals)
Semifinalist One: Match A Victor vs Match B Victor
Semifinalist Two: Match C Victor vs Match D Victor
Finals:
Overall Victor
I've made attempts to try and make it as clear as possible how the tournament matches will flow for each round. Fill out your brackets with the assumption that the tournament will finish, but the ones that are the most 'correct' up to where it's interrupted will be able to claim their ficlet next chapter.