Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and I am making no profit from this story, it is only for entertainment.
Chapter Summary: In which the genin suffer D-ranks, Iruka has some tea and Kazuya confronts Naruto
Chapter 25: Use Your Words
"She's there."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure, I can smell her scent a mile away."
"You also smelled it back at the market."
"You need to let that go, Sasuke. She was totally there but she escaped."
"I didn't see her."
"Just trust me, Sakura, she is in that bush."
"Okay, Sakura, you and Rio are the closest. On my signal you both jump at her; either you catch her or drive her towards me."
"Okay, Sasuke-kun!" "I just want this over with; it's been over two hours."
"Ready…go!"
Rio leapt forward, landing on his stomach with his arms outstretched. He groaned loudly as Sakura landed on top of him. This commotion prompted the cat to bolt from the leaves, directly into Sasuke's waiting arms. His teammate lifted the cat, stroking her gently and muttering quiet assurances. Rio shoved Sakura off him gruffly and stood, fruitlessly trying to brush off the dirt and leaves from his jumper.
He stopped to glare at the fluffy, brown demon now purring happily in Sasuke's arms. Her perfectly tied red ribbon was pristine around her right ear and her glistening coat didn't have a speck of mud. It was a stark contrast to the state of his team. Even Sakura was dirty and he didn't think he had ever seen a hair out of place on her before.
"Well done, my cute little genin!" Kakashi appeared. "It only took you two hours and thirty-seven minutes!"
Rio rolled his eyes and began to walk back to the tower, Sasuke and Sakura following quickly. Things had been slightly better with his godfather since the bell test. He had only even been up to two hours late after that and he didn't play any mind games either. He was still different than he had been growing up but Rio knew he had been a bit naïve to think it would all have remained the same.
"Is that good or bad?" Sakura asked their sensei as he walked behind them.
"Well, Naruto's team managed it in thirteen minutes back when he was a genin. I don't think that record has been broken yet."
"Thirteen minutes?" Sakura's voice had a tinge of despair. "It took us an hour to even start to track her down!"
"Tora is notorious among the shinobi as the worst D-rank mission." Kakashi had whipped out his book by now. "You actually did very well in comparison to most other teams."
"If Naruto catches you reading that around us, he won't be happy," Sasuke drawled.
Rio grinned as Kakashi tensed up, waving a hand in an attempt to be dismissive.
"What Naruto doesn't know won't hurt him."
Rio continued walking to the Mission Assignment Desk, sharing a companionable silence with Sasuke as their female teammate continued to pester their sensei. He liked his team; there was a sense of unity and shared experiences that was different to his family. He felt like Sasuke and Sakura viewed him as an equal and even Kakashi didn't talk down to him. He loved his brothers more than anything in this world but Rio knew he would always be a little kid in their eyes. With this team, he felt like he was moving forward.
He didn't even care that Kakashi was late to their training sessions. It gave them a chance to stretch and work on their physical conditioning before they got into the team-building exercises and D-ranks that Kakashi had in store for them. Even Sakura now joined them in their laps and reps; what Kakashi had said must have stuck with her.
They had been forced to go hiking one day and it had gotten to the point where all Rio could hear was Sakura whining and complaining. He had known that she was weaker than him and Sasuke, she trained so much less it was a given, but it was worse than he had thought. He hadn't been sure if it was going to be him or Sasuke that would turn around and kill her but Kakashi had intervened before they could act.
"In society, those who don't have many abilities tend to complain more," he had said without even looking up from his book.
Sakura had abruptly closed her mouth and Rio had snickered at the offended look on her face. She had thankfully remained quiet the rest of the hike and the next morning, actually joined them for laps around the training ground.
They broke through the tree line and Rio eyed the cat warily; it would be just their luck that the cat would make a break for it. She seemed calm in Sasuke's arms but he had chased this cat for two hours too long to risk anything. He actually wanted to work on his taijutsu today and he was very close to convincing Kakashi to teach him more ninjutsu.
He hated D-ranks.
Naruto leaned his head on his fist as he glumly stared down at the documents on the table. Shikaku had asked him to go over recent missions to the Land of Water. They were still trying to figure out how the new Mizukage administration was affecting their missions in that country or if they needed to start taking the same measures used in the Land of Lightning. He didn't think they needed the extreme protocols in place for the Land of Earth. It didn't help that they hadn't actually met or spoken to the new Mizukage since she had come into power.
"Remind me to never get stuck in a job with paperwork."
He looked up to see Rio peering at him over the edge of the sofa.
"I don't recommend it," Naruto chuckled. "I think you would go insane if you had to sit still for this long."
"Can you not ask to be reassigned?" His brother flopped back down, out of sight. "You're a jounin; they can't waste you behind a desk."
"Sunshine, I have been working at the Desk for five years." He placed the page he was reading down. "There is a lot of information and connections that only I am privy to and it would be impossible for me to teach any one chunin what I know; especially since I'm now organizing the elite jounin missions."
He stretched his arms over his head, feeling something crack in his back and his muscles tense pleasantly.
"Plus I have to cover the missions involving fūinjutsu and I spend a good portion of my time upgrading and monitoring the security of the village. I am not wasted, Sunshine, I'm more useful here than I would be on missions."
Rio rose to stare balefully at him.
"If you say so, Nii-san."
Naruto playfully rolled his eyes. He didn't blame Rio for not understanding. He couldn't have imagined when he was a genin that he would be so deeply ingrained with the paperwork and protocol aspects of the village. He had imagined that he would be off fighting pirates, rescuing villages, determining important foreign decisions. He didn't mind though; he did like his job, even if it gave him a headache sometimes.
Everything he had told Rio was true too; he really did know too much to ever leave the Desk permanently. He knew there was a large red stamp in his personnel file that identified him as a security risk on missions. It was why he was only let out for the occasional excursion; the mission to Suna was the last time he was allowed to leave the country.
There was also the matter of his illness. It was one of the reasons he was kept in the village although only the Hokage and Shikaku knew that particular piece of information. Others that were better known among the upper administration of the village were his fūinjutsu and sensing abilities. He glanced towards the door as he felt the signatures get close to the apartment.
"You may want to hide, Sasuke."
The Uchiha looked up from his book in alarm as the front door burst open, Kazuya bouncing through the entranceway with a meeker Sakura following close behind.
"Good morning family!"
"Haven't we spoken about how much cheerfulness is allowed in the morning?" Naruto glared, despite the fact he'd already been awake for hours now.
"Yes and I have elected to ignore it." Kazuya dumped a couple of bags right on top of Naruto's paperwork. "It isn't my fault you people like to waste so much of the day. Sakura and I have got so much done and it isn't even time for them to leave for training yet."
Sakura placed her bags down more carefully before she looked over and chirped 'Sasuke-kun!' She didn't lunge towards him or start singing his praises unprompted so that was already an improvement.
"I mean, officially we start at seven but we don't really need to be there until nine," Rio grunted as Momo jumped up to land on his stomach.
Naruto bristled but Rio continued.
"It's fine, Nii-san, you don't have to talk to Kashi-sensei again. We like that he gives a couple hours on our own; we can do the training we want."
Naruto leaned back in his chair, deciding to leave that argument for now. He knew Rio didn't like him getting involved and that he wanted his independence. He didn't want to smother his little brother but it was hard. He just wanted the best for him.
"So what did you go out so early to do?" He switched his attention back to Kazuya.
"We got Sakura some decent kunoichi gear for a start," he grinned, pulling out dark articles of clothing. "This stuff is way more practical for her and more durable too."
"If you want to keep your hair long, I can show you how to tie it back properly," Naruto grabbed Sakura's attention away from Sasuke. "I don't recommend it though; that should really wait until you're confident enough in your fighting abilities that you know you can stop an enemy from using it against you."
Sakura reached up to grip the ends of the pink strands consideringly. Before she could say anything in response, Naruto felt more signatures approach.
"Kazuya, you may want to put on more for breakfast. We're going to have guests."
Kazuya raised an eyebrow even as he ditched the bags and turned to grab things in the kitchen. Naruto frowned down at the bags covering his work; looks like he wouldn't be getting anything more done this morning. He ignored Sakura's confused look as he began to clear the table.
"Rio! Naruto-niisan! Kazuya-niisan!"
Kiba jumped through the open door, Akamaru barking on top of his head. Momo leapt from her place on top of Rio and ran to greet them. Kiba laughed as he hugged her.
"Wow, she's getting so big!"
"Come in so your teammates aren't left in the hallway."
He ignored Sakura muttering to Sasuke, 'how did he know they were coming'. He also made it a point to ignore Sasuke's response of 'you get used to it, he's like a weird psychic or something sometimes'.
He smiled at Hinata and the Aburame as they entered slowly behind their teammate. Hinata had grown so much for that little girl he had met nearly a decade ago. She seemed nervous and a little quiet but anyone would seem quiet next to Kiba. Aburame was also subdued and Naruto couldn't see much of his face behind the high collar and the sunglasses.
"Are you not going to introduce us?" He asked, amused.
Kiba looked up from petting Momo and grinned. Naruto wasn't sure about the fur-lined jacket yet; it made him look like he had a lot more hair than he did. He supposed it added to the slightly feral theme that all Inuzuka had. They'd been spoiled with how clean and put together Hana had been.
"Yeah! I really wanted you guys to meet my team! That's Hinata and that's Shino!"
Shino dropped into a low bow, Hinata squeaking as she abruptly followed suit. It wasn't long before Kazuya came over waving a wooden spoon.
"None of that! First rule of the house, no formalities or bowing of any kind! Second, you are welcome any time, make yourself at home."
He moved back into the kitchen as Naruto waved at the empty spots on the couch. Kiba had already made himself comfortable beside Rio and Sasuke had moved to crouch on the side of the kitchen table eyeing Sakura warily as she sat on the side of a sofa. Hinata sat like she thought they were going to bite her for doing so; Shino sat down with a perfectly straight back and what Naruto was guessing was a blank expression. He was hard to read.
"So how is your team doing?" Naruto smiled. "You're with Yūhi Kurenai, right?"
"Yeah, she's great!" Kiba grinned before he grimaced. "She's making us do loads of D-ranks though."
"You too?" Rio groaned. "They suck so bad! We're either babysitting or painting a fence or going after that stupid cat!"
"We got taken off the Tora missions since Akamaru almost ate her," Kiba said a little too proudly.
"Hey!" Naruto raised an eyebrow as all the genin turned to look at him. "Do you know how important D-ranks are?"
He heard Kazuya mutter 'here we go' beneath his breath and he took a moment to shoot a glare at his friend.
"D-ranks simulate the higher ranked missions you'll be taking in the future," he began. "Baby-sitting is like guard duty; Tora is like tracking down an enemy nin; you get the idea."
"And fence painting?" Sakura asked dubiously.
"Some stuff is just needed for the community," Naruto shrugged, prompting a round of complaints. "It helps both the village and the genin financially too; keeps the economy ticking over and the orphaned genin who no longer have access to the Orphan Fund still have an income to live on."
"I never thought about that," Kiba said, his volume much lower.
"It's my job to think of these things," Naruto waved a hand dismissively. "D-ranks pretty much paid for this apartment and everything else when Rio was little."
He missed Rio's frown at his words.
"Really?" Sakura asked curiously. "How many did you have to do?"
"Too many to count," he laughed. "I'm pretty sure the Registry has the real number somewhere; was it two or three a day?"
Kazuya turned to face him, hand on his hip as something sizzled behind him.
"It depended on when the rent and bills were due. I think there was one winter we did at least ten a day between us for a week."
Naruto grimaced as he thought back to that week; maybe the genin had a point about D-ranks.
"So what else are you up to, Team Eight?" Kazuya continued, flipping something in a pan. "Hinata?"
The Hyūga startled and Naruto nodded encouragingly at her.
"Kurenai-sensei wants us to work on our flexibility," she said quietly, almost whispering.
"Oh you should ask Nii-san," Rio leaned forward eagerly. "He does all sorts of weird stretches every morning."
"Thanks, Sunshine," Naruto raised an eyebrow before explaining further. "My taijutsu style needs flexibility and mobility so I've been doing them since I was in the academy. It's definitely a great skill set to have beyond making sure you don't pull something."
"Oh man, was it ever," Kazuya sighed. "Genma-sensei used to do this exercise with us every morning. He would throw paint-covered kunai at us until we could dodge them for a full five minutes, which doesn't sound like a long time but I can assure you it is. Naruto was always the best since he could bend over backwards to dodge; I still think it was because he was so small."
"I've been taller than you for over a year now, Kazuya," Naruto chuckled. "Let it go."
He paused as he noticed the silence that had descended over the room. The genin looked horrified and a bit scared; even Sasuke had a look of dread across his face.
"Please never mention that training exercise to Kakashi-sensei," Rio asked desperately. "He doesn't need any ideas."
"Or Kurenai-sensei!" Kiba added quickly.
Naruto laughed as Kazuya dumped a cup of green tea and an orange on the coffee table in front of him.
"Naruto, eat this. Rio, Sasuke, Kiba, come help with the final bits and pieces."
The three boys followed him into the kitchen and Naruto took a sip, beginning to peel the fruit. He may have been able to hide the worst symptoms but Kazuya was getting suspicious. Every morning he gave an orange to him slightly more forcefully.
"I had a question about your name, Uzumaki-san," Shino said quietly. "The reason why? It is the same as the deceased son of the Yondaime and you are the right age."
"Oh, wow." Naruto buried the nerves that rose at the question. "I haven't been asked about that in a long time. The Yondaime's son was a bit older than me; my parents decided that being named the same as someone famous would be a great idea. It led to a lot of confusion, especially just after the Kyūbi attack, but he had blond hair and weird whisker marks on his cheeks."
"Blond like Rio?" Sakura piped up.
"A bit darker and he had blue eyes," Naruto supplied. "People used to talk about him a lot when I was younger. It died down after I started the academy. I can't believe people still think that."
He ignored the looks that Rio and Sasuke shot at him from the kitchen; at least Kazuya was subtle about it.
"Right!" Kazuya clapped his hands. "Everyone grab a plate and a chair and sit down."
Hinata and Sakura immediately began to protest and he could see Shino gearing up to join them. He shared a look with Kazuya as he grabbed his cup and rose to his feet. He would let him handle this one.
"Sakura, it's best you learn now that you can't escape mealtimes anymore. There will be no diets while you're a part of Team Seven and this household. Anything you eat is going to be burned off training and do you really want me to go through the nutrition lecture again? "
He didn't even stop to breathe when he turned on the members of Team Eight.
"You are on a team with Kiba and Kiba has been a part of this family since the kid was still learning how to spell. You are now honorary members of the Uzumaki household and there is nothing you can do to change that. That's part of being a genin team; you're stuck with each other now. So grab a plate and help yourself to breakfast."
Naruto grabbed one for himself as he smiled. It was always entertaining when Kazuya flipped on his mother-hen mode; when it wasn't directed at him anyway. They would learn that it was just easier to accept the food and the open door available to them.
Kazuya ruffled Rio's hair as he grinned.
"That's your first aid training done for today," he said cheerfully. "I'll be back next week so see how much you remember."
He waved goodbye as he left the training ground, heading back towards the village. He was determined to drum some sort of medical knowledge into the genins' skulls; even something as simple as chest compressions and bandages could help save someone on a mission or something. He scheduled it for a couple of hours before Kakashi actually turned up; he had work later so there wasn't any other time to do it.
As he entered the village proper, the street filling up even this early in the morning, he waved back awkwardly at a guy outside the bakery. He quickly walked by, hoping he wouldn't be dragged into a conversation. The guy had been a great hook-up, but Kazuya wanted to make sure that was all he was.
He hadn't been in a real relationship since Tetsuya-san. Not that he minded; he was following Genma-sensei's tactics of one night stands and drunken hook-ups. He wasn't sure he was ready to have anyone else in his life right now; he'd had such a hard time balancing everything the first time and he didn't want to neglect his family again. He never took them home either so he was managing to keep his love life and his family life far away from each other.
It gave him more time to notice things; about Naruto in particular. He definitely wasn't eating as much and Kazuya had come home to find him wrapped up in a blanket with Momo one too many times to be nothing. The redhead kept insisting that he was just tired from working so much and while Kazuya could agree with that, he was sure there was something else. He had his suspicions but without proof there wasn't much he could do.
"Kazuya-san?"
He turned to see a man approach and he smiled.
"Iruka-san! It's been a while."
After that first disastrous meeting at the academy, Kazuya had managed to smooth things over. Naruto could be too protective sometimes and he didn't want Iruka to think that they had it out for him. Fortunately the man had been more than accommodating when Kazuya had spoken to him alone. He was nice; Kazuya had made the effort to say hello in the year since.
"Not working today?" Iruka stopped in front of him, his own smile pulling at the scar across his nose.
"In the afternoon," he shrugged. "Since the graduation exam, we've been getting more accidents so they want me in earlier."
Iruka grimaced.
"I can imagine that some of those are my former students."
"Officially, I cannot say yes to that," Kazuya winked.
"Of course," Iruka rolled his eyes playfully.
"Hey, you don't start at the academy for another hour, right?" Kazuya said casually. "Come and get some tea with me; there's a place that does an amazing ginger and honey one nearby."
Iruka quickly agreed and before Kazuya knew it, he was sitting across from the academy teacher with his hands wrapped around a warm mug.
"So why are you roaming the village this early?" Iruka asked, taking a sip of his own tea.
"I was teaching Rio, Sasuke and Sakura some first aid. Kami knows that they are going to need it sometime in the future and it's not as if the academy taught them any."
He froze as he realised who he was talking to; perhaps he shouldn't go on one of his rants about the curriculum with the man who taught it right in front of him. He was surprised when Iruka started laughing.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," he agreed. "There is stuff that I would rather be taught in the academy but most people want them to learn it as a genin."
Kazuya continued to stare at him.
"Even the teachers can have opinions on the curriculum, you know," Iruka raised an eyebrow at him. "We just can't change it."
"Who can?"
"Someone in the education department at the Hokage offices? Or the Hokage himself?"
Kazuya pondered this.
"I could ask Naruto to speak to someone there," he thought out loud. "I'm pretty sure he's managed to worm his way into every department in some way or another."
He paused.
"For someone that is so busy with work and seals and the kids, he finds a way to get to know more people than I've ever spoken to and that's saying something. You wouldn't think so either; he's such a hermit."
He finally noticed Iruka's expression.
"Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly. "I know you guys didn't get off on the right foot."
"No, no, it's not his fault," Iruka waved a hand quickly. "He had a point; I mean, look at what happened with Mizuki."
Kazuya frowned as Iruka's face dropped at his name.
"Hey, it's not your fault either."
"He was my friend. I should have known."
"You can't know everything about your friends. I heard that even his fiancee didn't know."
Iruka scoffed.
"I doubt that."
"It's a rare day that someone out does me in gossip," Kazuya grinned, trying to bring the mood back up. "Did you hear about Yamanaka Ryugi and Takeyama Shina? Apparently they are a thing but Takeyama's mother doesn't approve so he was caught hanging from her window with his pants down."
His plan succeeded as Iruka huffed a quiet laugh.
"Sounds like a disaster."
"Oh, I know it was," Kazuya laughed. "Nothing compared to what was found in Anko's desk though."
"It's Anko," Iruka deadpanned. "Short of the Hokage's body, I don't think there's anything off limits for her."
"That's the fun part."
Kazuya continued to enlighten the academy teacher with the latest in the Konoha gossip mill. He knew it was a bad habit but there was always that spark of excitement when he heard something new about someone. He liked to reason that it was a part of being a shinobi; intelligence gathering and knowing your fellow shinobi. Naruto said he was a shameless gossip. He liked to think they were both right.
He continued to drink his tea and laughed as Iruka responded with his own observations. This was nice. It was much easier to be his friend since the kids had graduated. He hoped they could keep this in the future. Sometimes he just needed to talk to someone that he didn't live or work with.
Naruto dumped the pile of papers onto Sara's desk, prompting the receptionist to look up. She looked at him for a moment before her gaze dropped to the paperwork, her stare turning dark.
"Thanks..."
"I'm sorry, Sara," he smiled weakly, knowing the pain written across her face well. "There have been several missions resulting in injuries that are stopping us from assigning missions. We need the sign off so we can send them out again."
"It's fine," she sighed. "It's not your fault although you are usually the bearer of bad news."
"Anything that can get me out of the office for a while," Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm pretty sure if I didn't do these runs, Shikaku would probably drag me out of the office himself. At least now I can tell him that I haven't been stuck at a desk all day."
Sara grabbed the papers and tried to place them neatly into a tray but several ended up falling to the floor. Naruto watched her stare at them for a long moment, an air of deep weariness surrounding her. He could sympathise; her desk already looked like a wind jutsu had blown through. They really needed another receptionist on shift with her.
"You may have left your desk but I don't think it counts as not working." She looked back up at him. "Do you ever actually take time off?"
"Yes," Naruto frowned. "I trained last Sunday."
Sara raised an eyebrow before she shook her head, muttering about 'shinobi'. Naruto dismissed it; civilians never really understood that training was downtime for them.
"How are things here?" Naruto abruptly changed the subject. "Looks like you're just as busy as I am."
"One of the doctors is on maternity leave and another got poached for a mission so we're a bit short-staffed."
"That explains why I haven't seen Kazuya in a couple weeks."
"Naruto."
He turned to see the man himself.
"Hey, Kaz!" He grinned. "I was just saying I haven't seen you in a while. The kids might just starve at this rate; they vetoed ramen last week so I'm out of options. Sasuke is just barely keeping us going but I'm ready to veto tomatoes."
His friend didn't laugh like Naruto thought he would. He didn't even smile. He just continued to stare grimly at Naruto. It was unnerving.
"I need to talk to you."
He exchanged a confused look with Sara at Kazuya's tone.
"Okay, lead the way," he said, following Kazuya to one of the examination rooms.
His friend's body language was full of anger; his beige medical coat billowing behind him as he stomped along. Naruto stood in the middle of the room as Kazuya slammed the door shut, whirling around to face him.
"Kazuya, what's wrong?" he asked, the worry creeping in.
Kazuya remained silent for a long moment.
"Why didn't you tell me you were getting worse?"
Naruto's heart dropped.
"What?"
"Why didn't you tell me you are getting worse?"
Naruto's mouth was dry and his stomach churned uncomfortably.
"I-"
"And don't tell me you're not or that it's only small things or that I'm overreacting! Tell me the truth."
Naruto swallowed.
"How did you find out?"
"Naruto, I spoke to Team Nine. They told me about your little 'incident' that they wrote off as not eating enough." Kazuya's eyes were blazing. "I also spoke to Shikaku and Hijiri and Teuchi and with enough pieces, the picture starts to come together."
"Wait, did you ask around about me?" Naruto asked in shock. "What if one of them starts to catch on?"
"Well, it's not as if you gave me much of a choice!" Kazuya threw up his hands in frustration. "Naruto, I'm supposed to help you! I'm supposed to be the one who makes sure you don't fall into the grave earlier than you have to due to your inability to take care of yourself!"
Naruto opened his mouth but no words came out. Kazuya held his angry posture for another minute before he just deflated, the fight leaving him in a long, deep sigh.
"Please, Naruto, just tell me what's going on."
He closed his mouth, his decision already made. He owed Kazuya a lot; he knew he should have told him a while ago.
"I...I have been getting worse," he admitted quietly. "For a while now."
"How long?"
He hesitated, knowing this might crush his friend.
"Naruto, when did it start getting worse?"
"In the middle of Rio and Sasuke's third year."
Naruto felt the lump in his throat become almost unbearable at the distraught expression that swept over his friend.
"Almost two years," Kazuya whispered. "You've kept this from me for almost two years."
"Kaz-"
"How did I not notice?" Kazuya wasn't listening to him. "There had to have been signs. I can't have missed them all; I live with you for Kami's sake, how didn't I notice?"
"Kazuya!" He began to panic as he watched the guilt begin to consume his friend. "It's not your fault! I was really careful to hide everything!"
At his words, the guilt was replaced with anger once again and while Naruto hated Kazuya being mad at him, he would take it over the guilt any day.
"What are your symptoms?"
"Just tired!" Naruto shot out before his form slumped. "A lot tired. Dizzy and some aches and pains; like I've done nothing but train and not eaten for a month. I don't really eat as much either."
Kazuya sat down heavily on the examination table. Naruto considered stopping but he owed it to him.
"Coughing blood too; some vomiting."
Kazuya was silent for a long moment.
"That's everything?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
The silence returned and Naruto didn't want to be the one to break it. He knew why he didn't tell Kazuya but it didn't do anything to soften the guilt he felt. He felt like he betrayed him.
"Why didn't you tell me, Naruto? Am I really so unreliable?"
"No!" Naruto yelled at him. "No, it's not you! I just didn't want to tell you because you deserve better than looking after me! I don't need you to! You have more to do in your life than fuss over me!"
"Hiding and suffering in silence isn't helping me either!" Kazuya shot back up. "I don't want you to struggle through this on your own! I would take every difficult or uncomfortable moment any day over playing pretend like you do with everyone else!"
"I don't want to burden you!"
"That should be my choice! It's going to be hard enough when the time comes; I don't want to live the rest of my life thinking that I could have done more or that I abandoned you. Grief is hard enough to live with!"
Naruto levelled him with a firm stare.
"You are going to bury me one day in the not so distant future. I can at least try and make things easier on you when I'm still alive. I know I'm going to hurt you."
"Just because you're going to die doesn't invalidate the days you're already living." Kazuya's eyes met his in equal challenge. "You could have died randomly from an enemy nin or a seal or something, fuck you still can! The difference is you're not sitting there thinking about it every day. You're just living and you don't have to filter and hide the hard and ugly parts about you because you don't think about it."
Naruto looked away as Kazuya's gaze softened.
"We're your family, Naruto. We're going to love and support you regardless but you can't shut us out."
"Can you imagine what would happen if I told Rio? He would spend the next five years worrying about me like you are now. I want him and Sasuke and Hana and everyone to just live their lives without that hanging over their heads. It makes it easier for me to deal with."
"What do you think they will feel when they find out that you've been lying to them this whole time? Do you know how hard it is to lose someone? Can you imagine having those thoughts on top of dealing with that grief?"
"I was there when my parents died; I think I know a thing or two about losing your family." Kazuya cringed at his words. "I didn't even have time to process it or deal with it because I needed to make sure that Rio's caretakers didn't 'forget' to feed or bathe him and make sure we had clothes and a roof an a way to survive the aftermath. I know exactly how hard it is and I know if someone told me that day that they would die I would have done nothing nut think about it. All the happy and wonderful times would have been tainted with that knowledge. I don't want that for them."
"Those memories are going to be tainted anyway when they find out after," Kazuya pointed out. "You just won't be around to deal with it."
"That's not fair."
"Then why tell me in the first place?" Kazuya crossed his arms. "Why tell Shikaku or Genma or anyone for that matter?"
"Because I was seven and you are my best friend!" Naruto burst out, tears prickling at the corner of his eyes.
Kazuya was taken aback.
"Shikaku and Genma found out accidently or by something outside of my control. You're the only one I've ever told."
"Naruto." He could see Kazuya's own eyes start to glisten. "I just want what's best for you. I owe you so damn much and if I can help you live the days you have left just a little easier and happier I want to do that. You aren't sparing me from anything; it's worse for me when you leave me out."
"Okay," Naruto nodded. "I won't hide it from you anymore. I'm sorry, Kazuya; I just wanted to give you some sort of normal life."
Kazuya stepped forward and placed his hand on his shoulders.
"Naruto, a life without you, all of you, the good, the bad and the ugly, is not a life I want. I'm already going to have too many years without you; I don't want to miss out on anything right now.
Naruto pulled him in for a hug, holding him tightly. He closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the warmth and safety that always came with Kazuya. He didn't know what he did to deserve a brother like this but he was eternally grateful that Kazuya spoke to him in that academy classroom a decade ago.
"You know you can't hide this forever," Kazuya murmured into his shoulder.
Naruto just held him tighter.
"I know."
Thanks for reading!
