A/N: Hello guys! Nothing much to say really except that I had some free time this past week and managed to get this up and going. I have received a meaningful review and a few PM regarding how Naruto meeting his siblings felt rushed and forced. I'll admit it was. But now I have a few ideas on how to remedy that but I'll need your opinions on whether I should rewrite those scenes or give a summary of what was supposed to change in the author's note for next chapter?
Oh well, you came here for the story so enjoy!
Naruto never saw the three pairs of eyes watching his entire movement, wondering what he was nodding at. They had also seen Mikasa enter and the brief and silent struggle that had ensued. The glint of that knife in the moonlight had been unmistakable.
Training III: All in a Day's Work
(The Next Morning)
Cerulean eyes blinked open slowly in the morning light. Due to his lack of need for sleep Naruto tended to wake up earlier than everybody else. Despite how late he had slept the previous night here he was, unable to sleep further. The sun wasn't even up yet.
Still a little bleary eyed, he tried to blink away his hazy vision before letting out a long but silent yawn. As he tried to sit up his attention was drawn towards an increasingly familiar weight on his chest and shoulder. The smooth black hair seemed to shine even in the near darkness and the mesmerizing sight ensured that Naruto found himself captivated once again. Eren may have had a good point about the hair being a disadvantage in battle but Naruto didn't care. Even without her voicing her opinion against it he knew just how much Mikasa loved her hair, it was something that she felt made her unique and she wouldn't dedicate the amount of time she did to diligently comb it every morning and evening if she didn't care about it. Mikasa would also ask him quite regularly if her hair was just fine and Naruto would be lying if he said he didn't adore it almost as much as she did. It should have been a crime to possess such distractingly wonderful hair.
Naruto would rather die than have to see her cut it off. Okay maybe that was exaggeration but he would hate it for two reasons. His first reason was it would hurt Mikasa more than a little to have to go through with getting rid of her hair and his second was rather selfish but he loved staring at and occasionally running his hands through it. Despite her efforts however Eren didn't even seem to notice or care much about it.
As he pondered over this the sun seemed to have risen quite a bit and a beam of early morning sunlight shone through the window and onto Mikasa's face. Naruto gaped shamelessly for a moment, awestruck at the surreal sight that lay before him. He had said it before and he would gladly say it again, Mikasa was stunningly beautiful. She was snoring softly too. Naruto grinned. That in itself was cuter than a thousand bunnies. Not that he had seen any bunnies that weren't already cooked but his point still held.
He watched, fascinated, as her body subconsciously reacted to the morning light shining onto her. Her nose crinkled cutely and her eyebrows twitched while her body squirmed a little. Naruto then felt her deceptively strong arms give him an experimental squeeze as if to confirm he was still next to her. The golden haired boy couldn't blame her for reassuring herself as she had often awoken to his absence.
Knowing that he was still next to her seemed incentive enough for the black haired girl to finally open her eyes and gaze into Naruto's own. His breath hitched. Her pitch black eyes shone with so much joy at seeing him still beside her that it caused his stomach to somersault and he swallowed unsurely before he returned her soft smile. He wasn't sure if it was just the sunlight or if her eyes were positively glowing.
"Good morning," She mumbled incoherently.
Despite the weird feeling building in his gut due to having Mikasa's radiant face - quite literally in fact– mere inches away from his own, Naruto's signature grin made its way onto his face out of habit.
"About time you woke up sleepy head," He teased in a whisper, "I was up for hours now and my arm is numb. Thanks for that by the way."
Mikasa shook her head minutely before yawning and snuggling further into his side.
"I don't believe you."
He chuckled at the response before Mikasa swatted him as she complained that his shaking chest caused her head to bounce.
"Either way you need to go soon, this is still the male dorm after all," he said.
"I can pass as a male if I want to," Mikasa argued.
Naruto grinned at the girl who had now closed her obsidian eyes, intent to relax for a minute or two.
"Yeah you probably could," he lied, knowing full well knowing she wasn't in any way, shape or form able to properly mimic a male. To be honest he also doubted her ability to act as a normal female. "But I would prefer you wouldn't, I'd rather have you remain a girl. Having Eren as a brother is more than enough," he added jokingly.
A little way away Eren snored loudly.
Mikasa giggled softly. It was something only he could get her to do and he was proud of himself for it. "That never stops being funny," she replied.
"He wouldn't be Eren otherwise," Naruto pointed out, "But I really must insist, nobody should see you in here and they may wake up any moment."
Mikasa sighed deeply and tightened her arms around him once more before she sat up. She then proceeded to put her hands together and held them above her head to stretch.
Naruto was fairly certain Mikasa hadn't done that on purpose. She was even more oblivious to social parameters than he was. The cerulean eyed boy was forced to look elsewhere, the quick glance he had taken already making him uncomfortable with himself. Mikasa was growing up. With the pose she had taken Naruto had just gotten an eyeful of the woman she was becoming. The view had been splendid obviously but it was also incredibly wrong to look at your sister in that way.
The question was could Mikasa possibly be anything more to him?
He shot down that train of thought quickly. It was impossible. There was absolutely no chance. Mikasa was totally devoted to Eren and for good reason too. There was no reason for that to change anytime soon. With what Eren had done for her how could he possibly compete with that? Sure he had saved her from being eaten by a titan but Eren had saved her from a fate far worse. Furthermore what would Eren feel? Naruto had grown to love all of his siblings and he didn't want any of them to be hurt. Their happiness came before his. It wasn't like he couldn't try if he really wanted to, but he didn't want to be a cause of a rift in the only family he had ever truly had. What was worse was the possibility that he would lose Mikasa's trust and the closeness that he already shared with her.
This was why it was best to just forget about it. He stood no chance and his siblings needed an elder brother. He could sacrifice his feelings for them. They deserved each other more than he deserved either of them. He was after all, just the lonely orphanage boy that had run into them. Naruto resolved to be what they needed and nothing more, nothing less.
Speaking of being an elder brother, Naruto jabbed her lightly in between the ribs. Mikasa shot upwards with an uncharacteristic squeak. She looked startled beyond belief until she brought her hand down to slap Naruto's thigh painfully. "Don't do that!" she yelled, as she batted Naruto's face repeatedly with her fists in annoyance. The broad smile on her face said otherwise however and Naruto laughed loudly in amusement as he tried futilely to protect his face from her determined assault. This here, this was exactly what he was afraid to lose.
"Still ticklish I see!" Naruto teased before he began to tickle her again despite her almost inaudible squeal s in protest.
"Cut that racket out! Who the hell is making girly sounds this early in the morning?" A grumpy voice grumbled causing both Naruto and Mikasa to freeze suddenly.
They shared a momentary look of horror with each other as Reiner and Bertholdt started to move from right across them.
"See you in a bit," Mikasa whispered before she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before she and bolted to the window.
The black haired girl turned to give him one last smile before she leapt out of the second floor window as if it was a normal thing to do. Naruto had just enough time to force a quick smile for her to see before it disappeared just as quickly. He had made his decision and he would stick by it. He never broke his promises, and he had promised them their happiness.
A small cough attracted his attention to the corner of their six person compartment and Naruto turned to find Armin. The blond boy was sitting up in his corner giving Naruto a sad but knowing smile. Naruto wondered how long Armin had been awake but he knew the small blond quite well and Naruto suspected that Armin had been awake long enough to see the entire exchange with Mikasa.
The golden haired boy just grinned back. It was false and they both knew it. He may be closest to Mikasa but Armin understood him far better than the other two. Naruto and his youngest brother had discussed almost every decision with each other and it was the two of them who dreamt up the realistic plans. They weren't very close in the familial sense, but were very close in the sort of way that certain partners were undoubtedly loyal to each other.
There was also the rather significant fact that Armin and Armin alone was aware of every single activity that he had undertaken or would undertake. Armin alone understood his exact jutsu repertoire and their limits. Only Armin knew where he truly stood in terms of power and his weaknesses which they were trying to overcome. Furthermore Armin had been the only one to visit the Underworld alongside him.
It was Armin who had the idea of the Safehouse, the idea of giving them work and safety. The people Naruto rescued were safe there and while he was their saviour, they recognized Armin as the one who gave them life and a purpose to live.
"Where's that girl?" Reiner mumbled as he finally sat up, "The nerve to ruin my sleep where is she?"
"S-sorry Reiner," Armin apologized before Naruto could even start to think of a viable excuse, "Naruto was just annoying me."
Still half asleep and groggy Reiner scratched his head as he tried to sort out his thoughts. "No, like an actual girl."
Bertholdt sighed from beside Reiner as he stretched and rolled his eyes. "These are the male dorms Reiner. What would a girl be doing here? It was probably just Armin," the tall boy reasoned before waving to Naruto and Armin, "Just say you were dreaming of that little sister of yours that you want to marry."
The wide shouldered boy instantly lost all traces of sleep as he gaped and spluttered. "No! No way! Come on guys I don't even have a sister and I don't want one! And even if I did I wouldn't be interested in her like that!"
Only Armin caught the almost imperceptible wince Naruto gave and the small blond sighed.
Naruto could guess what was going on in Armin's sharp mind but chose to ignore it in favour of the ongoing conversation. He could dwell on it later.
"So Reiner, we know you're so eager about her but really? I can't believe you dream so hard about it you thought she was really here!" Naruto pointed out as Reiner turned bright red. The golden haired boy gave a small nod to Armin. Mikasa's presence had been successfully covered up.
"Reiner likes what?" A newly awakened Marco asked curiously.
"Nothing!" The big blond answered immediately as he shot the others a pleading look.
Naruto just grinned back savagely, "Reiner wants to sleep with his little sister."
"And what's wrong with that?" Marco asked, genuinely confused.
"His own little sister," Armin added helpfully, "To be more specific it's not the innocent type of sleep."
The freckled boy's face morphed into one of understanding as Reiner hid his face in his hands, mortified. The other boys burst out laughing at the state of their friend, consequently waking up the rest of the boys in the building. One boy right in their midst on the other hand didn't even budge and his loud snore earned five stares of disbelief.
"Now that's a deep sleep," Reiner commented, still very much surprised.
"At least he isn't having dreams about his sister." Bertholdt pointed out.
Naruto wasn't too sure about though.
"Oh for the love of… gah!" Reiner yelled before he stormed off towards the showers.
Further away from the group of noisy boys a pair of watchful eyes turned to each other. Shikamaru pulled Sasuke's arm to the side and whispered into his ear, "Gather the girls. We need to talk."
Armin knew that he was small, timid and quite obviously the weakest among his siblings. He couldn't' fight like the other three, or work on the scale they did either. His only saving grace was his mental prowess. Most of the time he could claim that he knew what to do from the very beginning and he was getting better at not letting feelings cloud his judgement.
He liked to think that maybe he was important to his family. Sure Mikasa and Eren relied on Naruto, but Naruto relied on him as a partner and therefore his other two siblings also needed him, although indirectly.
He could easily say that he was probably the closest to Naruto, maybe not in the sense of closeness between people as Mikasa had reserved that spot but in terms of trust Naruto trusted Armin the most. He valued Armin's opinion very highly and that was what he treasured. They planned everything together.
Naruto had even left Armin in charge of the Safehouse they had established. Then again it had been Armin's idea in the first place. His elder brother had a rather bothersome habit of saving anyone whom he thought needed it without thinking of the consequences. See a mother and child about to be killed, save them, then what? Stop a murder, then what? In the Underworld these situations were very common and Naruto would have been stumped if it hadn't been for him. It had been his idea to take a drug warehouse by force and to convert it into the Safehouse. They had then enforced the perimeter with enough seal tags to transform the place into a rather decent fortress good at keeping unwanted people out. Just because Armin couldn't apply the seals due to his lack of chakra didn't mean that he couldn't help design hem.
Seals were a fascinating concept that had endless possibilities and Armin and Naruto could bond for hours pondering over ideas and concepts. Mikasa understood quite a bit of what they did and they valued her input on the ones they did let her see but Eren, well he didn't really have the patience or creativity required for the complex art. That and Eren's handwriting was simply atrocious.
Speaking of Eren, the brown haired boy was a close second to Naruto. Although the bond he and Eren shared was more along the lines of actual brothers. They played together, dreamed together and sometimes just spoke together. Sure it wasn't as realistic as what he and Naruto planned but it was nice to just sit back and dream. There was no changing the fact that Eren was and always would be his first friend, the one who protected him from bullies ever since they had first met.
Armin only found difficulty in communicating with the last member of their random put together family. Mikasa was just, well, she was Mikasa. She was like his older sister no doubt and went out of her way to make sure he was okay but they didn't actually interact all that much. There just didn't seem to be a topic that they could comfortably breach.
Unfortunately now they had a problem. Armin may have been shy but he was neither blind nor anywhere near as socially retarded as his siblings. This was mostly due to the love he had for books, both fictional and non-fiction. Knowing this Naruto had amassed as many books as he could find for Armin to sort through.
The problem as he had stated earlier was what each member of his family felt towards each other. Everyday there was more and more evidence giving credence to his suspicion and it had reached a high point the night before and this morning. Armin had been awake before even Naruto himself and had witnessed everything that had occurred from there. It was undeniable now. Naruto was falling for Mikasa. In his opinion it had been inevitable, especially with how much time the two spent in each other's company.
Armin didn't really mind at all, he actually supported it. It brought a smile to his face when Mikasa chose to keep her hair despite Eren's opinion and all because Naruto voiced against it. His smile had widened even further when he had observed Naruto just admiring her in the morning light. It didn't escape his notice that Mikasa had chosen to sleep next to Naruto for comfort and not Eren.
Mikasa seemed to be very confused with what she was feeling, that or she didn't understand them very well. She wasn't the most synchronized with her feelings after all. If Armin had to guess then she was probably confusing what she felt for her first saviour and what she felt for the one giving her a reason to live.
Eren meanwhile either didn't notice and care about the situation or was very good at hiding what he himself felt. The issue was the night before Eren had pulled Armin aside to ask his opinion on Kurotsuchi, the pink eyed girl. This could either be a ploy to make Armin believe he was interested in her and not Mikasa or maybe it was because Eren was genuinely interested in her. Armin didn't have the heart to tell Eren that he and Naruto were investigating that group and would probably have to dispose of them if they were a threat. He played along anyways although he kept the knowledge to himself, either way it showed that he wasn't as interested in Mikasa as the black haired girl would like.
For all means and purposes there was nothing stopping Naruto and Mikasa, furthermore their closeness this morning had shown incredible promise. Then out of nowhere a stray thought seemed to have struck Naruto and Armin could practically read the golden haired boy's mind. He sighed heavily even as Mikasa missed the sad look that darted across Naruto's face. He was leaving her for Eren. Armin felt like banging his head against a wall. Naruto apparently loved his siblings too much for his own good and it would've been admirable in any other situation but in this case it was the wrong move. Why did everything have to be so complicated? In the end it wasn't Armin's place to interfere, he could only hope this didn't all blow up in his face later on.
Even as Naruto joked around with everyone else Armin easily picked apart the mask and frowned. Was he happy? Yes. But there was a clear undercurrent that dimmed his eyes so that they lacked their usual exuberance. Sometimes he hated being the smart one, because if he wasn't then maybe he wouldn't have to see these sides of his siblings.
Armin put these thoughts at the back of his mind as he focused on the task at hand. He slowly approached the girl he had his sights on. It wasn't because he liked her, it was more along the lines of he wanted to find out something and she happened to be the most likely candidate. It was a simple trick, but if it worked then it would confirm his theory. Normally once someone was speaking a second language, they could almost subconsciously switch in between languages without noticing and that was what he planned to check. Manipulative yes but well, people didn't stay alive by being saints.
The girl he was after was Haku, one of the quiet girls among the group that he and Naruto had temporarily dubbed 'The Amateur Shinobi'. Stupid name yes he would admit, but that was as far as his brother's naming capabilities went.
He had chosen Haku after a process of elimination. Both boys were already discounted because well, they were guys. That and Armin felt like avoiding Sasuke was a reasonable course of action.
From what he had observed the other day Temari had a temper rivalling Eren's, so she was off the list just as Sasuke was. Armin smiled as he remembered Mikasa's much simpler term for Temari, it wasn't pleasant and that said a lot about what Mikasa thought about the girl. The pink eyed Kurotsuchi wasn't that different either, at least Temari looked feminine.
The other quiet one of the group had been Samui, but her haughty expression immediately put off Armin who didn't think he would be able to look her in the eye.
Haku on the other hand had voluntarily treated injuries the previous day and that spoke leagues about her character. There just wasn't a bad vibe coming from her. Armin would have felt bad about manipulating her if he was going to do more than ask her a few mundane questions.
"U-um, hello?" Armin greeted as he approached her. He didn't really have to pretend or act as if he was shy. This was embarrassing. His hands were already sweating profusely and they were starting to shake.
Haku paused in her self-imposed duty of washing her clothes and turned to Armin, a small smile on her face as she answered him.
"Yes?"
"I'm Armin, what's your name?" He asked as politely as possible.
"It is nice to meet you Armin. My name is Haku," she replied back.
Armin wasn't mistaken in his analysis of her being polite. He ignored that and strained his ears to try and focus on the slight accent he had picked on. That further confirmed his suspicions.
"I was just wondering if you had time later, so that you could teach me," he pretended to admit.
She raised a questioning eyebrow at him and Armin once again noticed how her complexion and facial features reminded him of a porcelain doll.
"What would you like me to teach you Armin?" She asked curiously.
"I would like to learn some first aid. I saw you helping some people yesterday and figured you could help me learn."
Armin wasn't exactly lying. He did find the concept of healing slightly intriguing.
She eyed him appraisingly, as if revaluating her opinion of him. Armin flushed a bright red and cursed his body, this was unplanned.
"I do not believe I have an issue with this," Haku said after some thought, "Would you like to start today after training?"
Armin nodded, "That sounds splendid. Should see you under the watchtower?"
Haku glanced toward the watchtower before giving him a nod in return.
"Don't bring anything or anyone else," she added before she returned to scrubbing her clothes.
Armin saw his chance and took it. "{Thank you,}" he responded in Naruto's language as he turned to walk away.
"{Don't mind it,}" Haku replied absentmindedly.
Armin barely managed to restrain his successful grin. She had fallen for it and it was now fully confirmed that they spoke the same language as Naruto. And not merely spoke; she was fluent enough to revert back into it without realizing she had done so. It wasn't unreasonable now to assume that the rest of her regular company also spoke the same. Naruto would have to know about this as soon as possible.
Armin froze in his tracks however when he caught sight of a raven haired boy rapidly approaching him. He gulped nervously as Sasuke glared at him through suspicious obsidian eyes. This was bad. Maybe he could play it off somehow? His mind raced to find a solution to his predicament but the small blond gave up when he came to the conclusion that all he could do was delay until someone arrived to help him.
"Hi! I'm Armin, nice to-"
"Don't you dare play that innocent act with me," Sasuke growled, "What did you want with Haku?"
Armin took more than a few steps back in wariness as the bigger boy advanced menacingly towards him, "I-I was just asking if she could teach me something!"
Sasuke grabbed Armin's wrist to stop him from retreating and Armin winced in pain even as those terrifying eyes stared into his own.
"Look me in the eyes and say that again," he demanded.
Armin hated feeling this weak. The feeling of utter helplessness as a superior force stood over you was so overwhelming and Armin hated himself for even being this helpless. But he just had to hold out, one of his siblings was sure to see him soon and once that happened he would be fine.
"I was asking if she could teach me how to do first aid!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "I don't believe you."
The small blond wanted to shrug and say that he didn't care but his throat seemed to have forgotten how to work. Thankfully another presence appeared alongside Sasuke, one Armin was very glad to see.
Naruto grasped Sasuke's wrist, forcing the raven haired boy to release the grip he had on Armin, before he shoved Sasuke backwards with enough force to make the other boy stumble.
"What's going on here?" Naruto snapped as he glared threateningly at Sasuke who by now had regained his balance and was returning the anger in equal fervour.
Cerulean blue of the daytime sky and golden hair that shone like the sun clashed violently with obsidian eyes and pitch black hair of the darkest night. It didn't need a genius like Armin to observe the enmity radiating between the two boys. They despised each other. Armin could guess as to why. From Naruto's side, his brother had seen Sasuke harm Mikasa, knock out Eren and now threaten his youngest. That was more than enough reason to hate someone in Naruto's books. Meanwhile from what Armin could gather about Sasuke, the boy was a prideful person. So to lose so pitifully against Naruto the other day would have been a serious blow to his ego. That added to the fact that there had been hundreds of witnesses must have been utterly humiliating.
Just looking at the two boys lock eyes already made Armin giddy at the prospect of a possible rivalry.
"Why don't you ask the small one?" Sasuke hissed.
"I didn't see him do anything wrong," Naruto spat back.
Armin was about to interfere before Haku gracefully manoeuvred herself in between both the boys without her calm expression changing.
"Sasuke, enough of this," she said serenely, "Armin speaks the truth, there is no reason to behave so unreasonably."
The raven haired boy looked like he had swallowed a bitter pill at being told off and being proven wrong.
He seemed as if about to say something snarky or sarcastic before a hand on his shoulder froze him in his tracks. The pineapple haired Shikamaru looked very much reluctant to even be in the area but Armin didn't miss the sharp and foreboding gaze that the boy had given Sasuke before his face reverted to its lazy expression. Armin made note of that, he may have found the leader of the group.
"I apologize for my friend. This whole thing is rather troublesome," Shikamaru drawled lazily, "He will leave you alone from now on."
"I am scheduled to meet with Armin later today under the watchtower," Haku told Shikamaru.
The pineapple haired boy turned sleepily to face her.
"Troublesome, I don't see anything wrong with that. But you two will be left alone, that way things will stop being such a drag," he finally decided as he gave Sasuke a sideways glance.
The pineapple haired boy then gazed up at the sky and stared lazily at the clouds.
"We're going then," Naruto said with finality before facing Sasuke, "Just know this pretty boy, I was holding back yesterday. If you touch my siblings again, I'll kill you."
The threat was taken very seriously as all three of the others bristled in alarm. Even the lazy looking Shikamaru tensed and his face lost all traces of laziness. Armin knew Naruto wasn't joking and the other three must have sensed it as well. Armin studied Sasuke's face quickly as the boy seemed to be getting ready to succumb to rage before the raven haired boy suddenly froze as if he was unable to move under his own will. As he looked a little closer Armin blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things when he noticed that Shikamaru's shadow seemed to be attached to Sasuke's. Before he could further inspect the puzzling situation Shikamaru stepped closer to Sasuke and their shadows on the ground merged into one, leaving Armin unsure of what he had just seen.
"Armin. Come," Naruto ordered as he turned to leave.
Still confused, Armin fell in step beside Naruto.
"Uchiha, you will control yourself," Shikamaru ordered harshly once the golden haired enigma and his little brother were out of sight.
He detached his shadow from Sasuke, enabling the raven haired boy free movement once more.
"Hn. He wanted something with Haku," Sasuke tried to explain, "And I didn't know what it was. You saw him last night Shikamaru.
The Nara couldn't deny that. Naruto was the only person they had encountered to move with that speed and silence. He was dangerous indeed. But that still didn't excuse the Uchiha's actions.
"I know what I saw Uchiha but that is no reason to blow our cover," He snapped.
They were had been sent here by all their respective villages to try and find the power that the prophecy had alluded to. So far they had come up with nothing and the only way forward he could see was to enter the inner walls of this civilization. Their main problem was security is too high. They couldn't even stick to the walls or dig under them and the soldiers on the wall somehow knew how to detect chakra and the entire place was literally like a fortress built against shinobi! That made no sense considering none of these people were shinobi, or even knew what chakra was but they had tried every way they could think of before arriving at the military training grounds. The only reason they had even managed to enter these walls in the first place was because some insanely huge titan had already smashed it down for them. The only way to infiltrate the inner walls now that Shikamaru could think of was to graduate here and enter the Military Police. None of that was going to happen however if their cover as orphans was blown over a stupid grudge that the Uchiha had created because he couldn't control his temper or his superiority complex.
"Hn," Was the intelligent reply he received.
Shikamaru was angry. He had been put in charge of this mission and he wasn't about to have it compromised because the Uchiha couldn't keep his ego in check. His attention got turned to Haku when she decided to add her own input.
"Armin has invited me to train him in first aid later today, even if the Uchiha refuses to believe it. I plan on using this to our advantage and garner information regarding him and his apparent siblings. He may be planning to apply a similar tactic on me so I will be wary but this is the first step."
Shikamaru nodded and was relieved that at least one member of his team had a brain they were using. If only Sasuke and Temari had held in their tempers the previous day they could've even gotten closer to the golden haired enigma.
"What did we miss?" Kurotsuchi asked as she approached the group along with Temari and Samui.
Once he saw that his team was complete Shikamaru decided to tell them his new plan. Out here in the open was the safest place to discuss these matters since they could be sure nobody was listening in. He explained the situation so far and almost smiled when the others gave understanding nods.
"That girl that calls herself his sister, she may be a shinobi as well. I think both her and her brother. The small blond and the green eyed one are too unrefined. But I saw her scale the buildings as if they were nothing, that's impossible without chakra," Temari commented.
Shikamaru adopted a thinking pose. This was an unknown in the equation that he wasn't quite sure how to approach. Everyone inside these walls was supposed to be something akin to their average civilian, not prodigies like they had just encountered. He wasn't writing off Armin from the list either, just because he didn't seem able to fight didn't mean he was useless. That boy was smart, and smart opponents were the most dangerous kind. Even Naruto hadn't noticed him as he caught Sasuke in the shadow bind. If he was going to write anyone off it was going to be the Yeager brat. The boy was good sure but he was nothing unique.
Shikamaru looked once over his team before giving his orders, "Haku is going to keep tabs on Armin. She has set up her position well. Kurotsuchi, you are boyish and hot headed and the Yeager boy doesn't hate you as much as Temari. I want you to try and communicate with him in some way just do not attract negative attention from Uzumaki. Samui, you are to observe Uzumaki but do not engage, keep your distance and do not annoy him. Temari, carry on observing Ackerman. And for the love of everything good don't make this a drag and start start a fight. Sasuke you will stay by me so I can make sure you do not do anything rash."
Sasuke bristled and his eyes morphed into the blood red of his sharingan, obviously about to attack him. Shikamaru decided that enough was enough. This was going too far. All of a sudden Sasuke found that he was unable to move as Shikamaru caught him in another shadow bind. Shikamaru looked Sasuke straight in the eye even as a tendril of shadow crept up around Sasuke's neck and began to squeeze. While this went on a few more tendrils crept underneath the Uchiha's shirt and the raven haired boy felt them sharpen to the point of knives as they softly cut into his skin, all while he was unable to move. Shikamaru smiled grimly.
None of the girls moved to help the Uchiha, there wasn't really much reason to do so since Sasuke was abrasive at best and Shikamaru was sure to treat them similarly should they even attempt it.
If it was up to Shikamaru, Sasuke wouldn't have even been placed onto the team. He would much rather have Ino or Chouji along with him, not because they were his friends but because it was more practical. Ino's mastery of the mind arts would have been invaluable in this situation. Sure the sharingan could lie and deceive people but it wasn't as discreet as Ino. Chouji on the other hand would have contributed massive firepower in Sasuke's place. Few could compare to the might of a giant after all. But the people selected for the mission had been picked in a very specific manner. Each of the five Great Hidden Villages had held examinations to gather their top three children. The final round had reduced each of the village's candidates to just one champion each. Those had been the girls and Sasuke. Shikamaru however, had been the undisputed champion across all fields and had beaten every single other contestant through sheer wit and cunning. It was for this reason he had been designated the leadership position over the other five and although there had been a dispute over having two Konoha ninja, the other leaders were forced to admit Shikamaru deserved it.
Their purpose was to try and achieve the prophecy that had terrified all five villages enough to temporarily put aside their differences and attempt to cooperate. The issue was the titan threat was heightening to new levels. He wished it was the same mindless titans surrounding these walls but it was far worse. These titans were sentient, coordinated and had powers that even they couldn't comprehend. They called themselves the titans from The Order of Ragnarok and they seemed intent on utterly destroying the world. They were capable of it too. Picture a shinobi using ninjutsu but on a titanic scale, literally. For now they hadn't approached the territory of the Five Elemental nations yet but word had been received from many minor villages that had been found and obliterated into oblivion about the threat. After witnessing the evidence themselves the five Kage of the Hidden Villages took the threat very seriously.
The exact prophecy hadn't been told specifically to them but from what Shikamaru understood there was supposed to be an unimaginable power hiding within these walls that they would need if they hoped to stand a chance against a titan apocalypse. What that power was he didn't know, but that's what they were here for in the first place.
They wouldn't get there however if a certain Uchiha started getting reckless. He was powerful no doubt, but he was easily blinded by his superior eyes and the belief that as the last Uchiha he was an avenger and one that would become the most powerful in the world. Shikamaru scoffed. Sasuke could be dealt with easily enough should he ever rebel. Shikamaru wouldn't be much of a leader if he didn't have contingency plans.
This mission was vital not only for them. It was for their way of life as a whole. Couldn't this Uchiha see that there were more important things than revenge on his brother? He would try to keep the Uchiha in line as long as possible, but he could only tolerate so much. Sasuke had been a flight risk long before the higher ups had assigned them this task. Maybe he could claim Sasuke was reckless and died in battle in his report? It was tempting but no, he was still useful. He would still have to report this however. Gah, being a leader was such a drag.
Fortunately for both of them Sasuke seemed to get the point and deactivated his sharingan in surrender.
"You have your orders. It would be wise to follow them, troublesome."
"But Shika, what if this Uzumaki is the power we are looking for? Like it seems reasonable, maybe he's hiding something big," Temari suggested.
Shikamaru scoffed as he released Sasuke from his shadow bind.
"I doubt a single boy could have the power to move mountains with a flick of his tail Temari," Shikamaru pointed out, "He's strong but no human can possibly house that kind of power."
"Annie, you called?" Reiner asked as he approached. He was a little wary of his female teammate, wondering if he had gone too far the night before.
Even as she turned those piercing, cold eyes to face him he took an unconscious step behind Bertholdt. She had always scared him. Then again being the daughter of their homeland's Chief Guardian this was practically expected of her. That man was a fearsome warrior, the strongest in their homeland for a reason. He hated to even imagine what kind of life Annie must have had growing up for her to be this detached from the world. To be truthful the most emotion he had seen from her was whenever she caught sight of Naruto.
He wasn't sure what exactly was keeping her from running off or just simply disappearing into nowhere. She didn't care about much after all and it was a miracle she was still here. It wasn't like she was trying to prove anything to everyone back in the Mountains of Paradise. Most of them feared her clan of crystal titans. Sure her family served as one of their strongest defences against the Order of Ragnarok and the humans that called themselves Shinobi but that didn't mean people had to like them. Both forces were serious threat to them, attacking with no other reason than to kill.
He still didn't know what the endgame of the Order was but they seemed set on annihilating every shifting titan in his homeland. The shinobi weren't much better, they appeared out of thin air and wreaked havoc. Their only saving grace was both the Order of Ragnarok and these shinobi had no idea where exactly the Mountains of Paradise were. But they were getting closer day by day. Reiner didn't want to even think of the slaughter that would occur should his homeland ever be found. Only around a fifth of their population could safely shift and fight. Even then they were at risk of going crazy and rampaging around. This was their biggest problem. A large number of their older titans were suddenly going mad with no warning and if they didn't find a way to stop it their entire society would collapse in on itself.
That was why they had been chosen by Grisha and Odin, the leaders of their homeland. They were young and had the least risk of going berserk, added to the fact that they were prodigies of their respective clans. The prophecy that Grisha had gotten a hold of had stated that the key to solve the disease that was spreading among their population was hidden within these walls. Not only that, but there was also a great power among titans hidden here, one that could unlock the potential of every other shifter in their society. It was rumoured to be the legendary Founding Titan. Grisha suspected it was being kept hidden by the Royal Family of the walls but hadn't been able to investigate it before he had been called back to try and help his homeland. This was their goal and Reiner would be damned if they wouldn't achieve it. Unfortunately they couldn't even get past the walls and he really didn't want to have to smash down every set of walls until they got to the royal family. He wasn't that heartless.
What they had done in Shiganshina had been a spur of the moment thing since they had no other way out from getting eaten by a literal horde of mindless titans. How were they supposed to know those mindless things could sniff them out like a shark could smell blood? Grisha should've warned them at least.
And now Marcel was gone too. All their plans were out of the window now. He still felt incredibly guilty for getting himself into a position where Marcel had to sacrifice himself to save him.
But first he had to focus on more immediate matters, namely making sure Annie was still on their side. He held no illusions that he could beat her in a fight. He was only an armoured titan after all, hailing from one of the weaker clans.
"Mikasa Ackerman is dangerous," Annie said quickly.
"Yeah no kidding, I mean if she's anything like Naruto then of course," Reiner tried joking with a small laugh before he stopped awkwardly when Annie's gaze hardened even further. Okay, maybe it wasn't a good idea to try joking with her. He really should've learned after all the years they had been teammates.
"She jumped out of a two story window as if it was nothing and managed to jump the same height into the boy's dorms," she said flatly, letting the gravity of what she said sink into both male shifters.
Reiner traded an uneasy glance with his much taller friend. "That's… uh… well," Reiner said stupidly as he tried to think of something to say, "Even we would struggle to do that. Are you sure she isn't just really good or something?"
"This is too good Reiner. They might be shinobi," Bertholdt added.
Reiner frowned. His tall friend had just said exactly what he didn't want to consider, "That's impossible. It's obvious they were never outside the walls. They were in Shiganshina when we tore through that wall."
"Either way we must be careful around them," Annie interrupted, "You two continue what you are doing with the boys. I shall try to keep tabs on Mikasa."
"But what about that other group of weird people," Bertholdt asked, "They don't behave like anyone else I've seen within the walls either. And they look weird too."
Reiner had to agree with that. It was creepy feeling people watching you. And those people just gave off this unsettling vibe that the broad shouldered boy wanted to avoid as much as possible. He especially wanted to avoid the emo looking boy that seemed eager to get a piece of Naruto.
"I agree. I suggest we avoid them," Annie said with her own placid features sporting a small frown.
Reiner was surprised she had agreed with their analysis but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. He decided to ask one more important question instead.
"And what do we do about Grisha's son? Do we tell him who we are and check if he wants to join us?" He suggested hopefully. Grisha had been especially worried about his son as the boy had been in danger of shifting far too early for his age and that usually led to children going mad and Grisha wasn't sure if the injection he had given Eren had stalled the boy's shifting ability.
Annie gave him a look so condescending that Reiner actually felt like he had asked something very stupid.
"We were only supposed to check up on him. He's fine. He hasn't displayed any signs of being a shifter so far so why should we bother? And did you forget the hatred he has against titans in general? Much less us, the ones who destroyed his home? He's more likely to try and kill us than join us you idiot. Maybe if he does shift we can consider it but right now is just unnecessary and risky. What if he tells others? What's even worse, what if he tells Naruto?" Annie pointed out.
Reiner froze. He had witnessed first-hand last night the sheer hatred Naruto held towards the armoured and colossal titans. Okay maybe talking to Eren wasn't such a good idea. That and the boy was very stubborn and hot-headed. He laughed sheepishly, trying to stroke his damaged image in front of his two teammates.
"Unless necessary we will not contact each other after this unless we have a reason to, is that reasonable?" Annie asked/ordered, Reiner wasn't sure which but nodded anyways. Better safe than sorry.
After their terrifying teammate left for the mess hall Reiner turned to Bertholdt with a massive grin on his face, "Dude. I told you she was worried about what Naruto thought of her!"
Bertholdt sighed and face palmed, "I liked you better when you were scared for your life."
"Come on now don't be like that, we need some excitement around here!"
"Let's go find your sister then," Bertholdt retorted.
"Enough with that already dammit!" Reiner yelled back.
(Late Afternoon)
Eren cursed silently as he once again found the world turned on its head. This repetition of results had started to become embarrassing a long time ago. This was near the end of the day already and he still couldn't get this basic exercise down. The brown haired boy just couldn't understand why he couldn't get the hang of it like really all he had to do was balance himself. It wasn't supposed to be this hard, especially after all that time Naruto had spent helping him become a better fighter. How could he call himself a fighter if he couldn't even find his centre of balance?
He had been one of the first to grab a position on the massive training towers that he was now suspended from and he had been attempting ever since the start. Almost a third of the potential recruits had given up after realizing that they had no potential, this was after all the basic steps to properly using the three dimensional manoeuvre gear and if they couldn't pass this then there really was no hope. Eren didn't want to be one of those failures.
It didn't help that Naruto and Mikasa had managed to effortlessly balance the second they had gotten onto the equipment. It wasn't only them either, even that bastard Sasuke and his group had been similar. Heck, even that idiot Connie had gotten the hang of it after a while. He was one of the last attempting this and it was getting him more and more frustrated. He wasn't going to glance in Naruto's direction, even if he could feel the eyes of his golden haired brother on him. If there was disappointment there then Eren knew he would give up.
Maybe if he tilted a little to the right it would work? One more painful dash of his head against the ground had him rethinking that course of action.
"Eren, just relax. Maybe then you can bal-"
"Shut up Mikasa! I know what I'm doing!" Eren snapped. He couldn't help it. Why did she keep treating him as if he didn't know how to do anything? Thankfully she left soon after, probably heading back to Naruto and Armin.
Eren relaxed a little after her departure. At least when Mikasa was around Naruto she tended to forget about him and his cerulean eyed brother would keep her happy. He didn't really hate Mikasa, she was just far too overbearing as an older sister that he couldn't handle it. She watched almost everything he did and worried over every little thing, seriously he could take care of himself. In his opinion what Mikasa should focus on instead of making sure he was fine was finding a way to tell Naruto her feelings for him. He wanted them to be happy, the fact that it would also take Mikasa off his back was just a bonus. Really he didn't understand why Mikasa would waste her time pestering him when she could spend all of that time and energy with Naruto. Like, couldn't anyone else see what he saw there? He wanted his older sister to get someone and there was no one better for her than Naruto. What's worse was his brother was either incredibly stupid or blind. Couldn't that idiot sense Mikasa's feelings? Eren couldn't help but laugh that he was smarter than his brother in this field of all things. He could always just point it out to Naruto but it wasn't really his place to do so, that and Mikasa could quite possibly kill him if anything went wrong.
"Oi you idiot, you're doing something wrong."
Eren was about to shout back at whoever had distracted him as it had caused him to flip on his head once again when he caught sight of pink eyes and his breath held in his throat. It took a second for him to restart and by then he responded in his usual manner, "Why do you care?"
She smirked at him, one side of her lips tugging upwards as she crossed her arms, before she replied, "Nothing much, I just couldn't help but notice how pitiful you looked so I came over to check if I could do anything about it."
Eren felt his face flush red in embarrassment even as he stared at her, still upside down. To have someone you were crushing on say that to you, the pain was almost physical.
"It's not my fault okay! I'm good at this!" Eren protested even as he struggled to get himself the right way up.
Her grin just widened, "Evidently."
"Somethings wrong with this thing! It's not me!" Eren shot back as he finally found his footing and violently shook the harness he was attached to.
The pink eyed girl rolled her eyes, "Sure blame it on the machine why don't you?" Her eyes then narrowed as she inspected the harness closer.
"Can you try again?" she asked.
"For what?" Eren said in confusion.
"Do you want me to help or not?"
After he gave her a snort of disbelief Eren decided to acquiesce to her request and proceeded to slam his head onto the ground for the thousandth time that day.
"And what did you get from that observation o gracious helper?" Eren said sarcastically as he righted himself once more and rubbed his head, "That had better be worth it."
"Something's wrong with your harness. I just don't know what," she admitted after a bit of prompting, "Can you try it again?"
She looked up to see Eren giving her a deadpan look.
She rolled her pink eyes again and sighed, "Fine let's swap harnesses and I'll do it."
Eren grinned at her mischievously, "I'm fine with that."
"You're insufferable you know that?"
A few minutes later the pink eyed girl was strapped onto the 'impossible challenge' as Eren had deemed it and was ready to test her theory.
Eren saw her face harden into one of focus as she was lifted off the ground. In mere fractions of a second she was doing exactly as Eren had predicted. Her upper body lunged forwards simultaneously with the rise of her legs and her head shot towards the hard ground at an alarming rate. Eren's grin of retribution was swiftly cut off however when she did something that had never even crossed his mind. She tucked into herself. The fact that she hugged her knees meant her head was nowhere near to hitting the ground and she kept up that position until the momentum that caused her to spin ran out, allowing her to safely orient herself back into the starting position. No words would describe how he felt, torn between admiring her idea and disappointed why he hadn't thought of it himself.
"Okay something is definitely wrong with this harness," She muttered to herself as she got herself down. Pink eyes turned to him as she spoke, "And wipe that silly look off your face you look even worse than you usually do."
Eren shut the mouth he hadn't realized was hung open.
"You're turn. My harness is fine so unless you're completely hopeless this is pretty much your last chance," She said with a teasing smirk before a slight frown worked its way onto her face and she whispered, "And you might want to hurry too, Shadis is watching."
All of a sudden Eren felt the pressure on him build. He had heard the words last chance and that was enough to freeze him. Looking over the pink eyed girl's head he couldn't help but notice the glint of intense blue from his brother's unique eyes. Naruto was entirely focused on his position and the ball of fear in his stomach clenched so hard it felt like he was punched.
He only snapped out of his daze when a mostly smooth but slightly rough hand placed itself over his. Tracing back the arm to the face of the girl with the pink eyes a gentle smile instead of that teasing smirk assuaged his fears and he felt himself oddly calm.
Strangely reassured he managed to strap himself to the equipment and balance fairly quickly. This was far easier with a harness in good condition. All he had to do was sit, he knew it shouldn't have been that hard.
His state of calm however didn't last very long. He doubted anyone could remain in a state of calm with Shadis glaring at them, his face mere inches from theirs. To make matters worse the terrifying instructor looked like he had just swallowed something bitter before he grudgingly said, "You pass Yeager."
The sour looking instructor then stomped off, probably to go off and ruin someone else's day.
"Thanks for the help," Eren said gratefully as he unstrapped himself, "I may not have been able to do it without you."
She smirked at him teasingly once more, now that the oppressive aura of their instructor had abandoned them. "Aww you're helpless without me?" She asked.
Eren blinked before replying, "Actually not really, my big brother would've come to help me if I was about to get kicked out," he said with a shrug, "I'm just glad it didn't come to that."
Pink eyes seemed to assess the validity of the statement before she nodded and narrowed her pink eyes, "Why? Are you scared of him or something?"
Eren had a feeling she was prying. He wasn't that stupid, it wasn't as if he hadn't noticed her hanging out with Sasuke and his group. That wasn't good. But she had helped him and seemed to be genuinely nice so he would play along for a bit, but he was going to make damned sure he didn't give anything away. And she was pretty too, what a bonus.
"Oh you have no idea. He can be really scary when he wants to be," Eren pretended to admit. He could scare them a little too, assuming she did give the information back to Sasuke.
"Is he scary enough to kill people?" The pink eyed girl disguised her question behind sarcasm and laughter but she was paying full attention to detail.
Eren caught onto that instantly and grinned as he answered, "Definitely, most of them deserved it though." He admitted with a shrug, "And it really isn't as difficult as one would think, human lives can be so easy to take."
Some of his own experiences seemed to have bled through and he wanted to laugh when he saw the pink eyed girl attempt to disguise her nervousness. Yup, Naruto had told them all about his threat towards Sasuke's group earlier on and this was just to ensure they didn't try anything in future. If this girl genuinely wanted to be his friend however then it wasn't too bad, it was much harder to kill someone you considered a friend anyways and that went both ways.
"Anyways let's forget about my brother, there's still some time before dinner if you want to talk," Eren said invitingly with as much an inviting grin as he could muster. Even if he knew he was supposed to be wary around them he did enjoy the brief time he had spent with her, the atmosphere around her wasn't as oppressive as it was around Mikasa and he could just relax in her presence, almost like he could with Armin. Naruto was fun to be around but Eren was always worried one wrong move and his big brother's opinion of him would change, much as if walking on eggshells.
She smiled back, "I won't mind."
As he turned to leave he noticed Armin walking off towards the watchtower where another of Sasuke's group sat patiently and Eren wondered if this was a semi-friendly meeting such as his or if it was Armin on a mission. That little boy scared him sometimes.
He took all of two steps before he lost his footing, almost falling flat on his face, and he spun around to face the culprit. The pink eyed girl was looking at him with a false innocent expression on her face.
"Watch your step, clumsy. You can't blame your harness this time," She teased.
Eren's wore a smirk of his own as he took revenge and kicked her legs out from under her in retaliation. This was definitely better than Mikasa.
It struck him a moment later that he still didn't know her name and attempted to rectify it. He still wasn't sure which of the four names he had been given was her true name however. Yugito, Samui, Haku and Pakura, for some reason none of them seemed to fit her personality.
(Late Night)
Mikasa felt very strange about how her day had gone. She had no complains about the morning because that was absolutely spectacular but everything else after that had just been strange.
First there was Armin forming a friendship with that girl out of nowhere, even after being cautious and suspicious of their group. Shy Armin of all people had approached a girl, risked an encounter with Sasuke and had built a friendship. That was strange. Then Eren did something similar with the pink eyed girl. Abrasive hot headed Eren had accepted someone's help who wasn't Naruto and had actually began laughing with her. This was strange as well and it hurt, what did that girl have that she didn't? Then Annie just sat with her, seemingly dead to the world. That was strange too but the good type of strange. Like they were content to just sit within each other's vicinity and observe everyone around them. The last strange fact was the stalker Naruto had gained. To be fair she hadn't seen her at all until Naruto had pointed her out but that was definitely strange.
She put all of those behind her now as it was time to sleep and get rest instead of ponder about her day. Naruto had told her earlier that he wasn't going to allow her to sleep within the male dorms again. Her world had crashed for all but a moment until he explained that he had found a place for them within the forest instead. It was an empty space much like a small room within one of the massive trees around their training grounds that had a tunnel through the trunk that was barely wide enough to crawl through. Somehow Naruto had managed to get a mattress and blankets into the small space and Mikasa didn't bother trying to question. It probably had to do with one of those storage scrolls of his. Now that she thought about it further she wouldn't put it past Naruto to have simply carved out this space sometime during the day, it was far too convenient to have such a place just lying around. It was also far enough into the forest that there would be no prying eyes but not far enough that it couldn't be quickly reached. That didn't mean however that Mikasa hadn't taken care to ensure she wasn't followed. She could sense eyes on her just before she entered the forest and she just wasn't sure whose. She trusted her instincts however and right now they told her that she was alone.
She had ventured back outside the makeshift room a while back to wait for Naruto and was only now rewarded with the sight of him appearing from behind the trees. She halted her greeting when he held up a finger to indicate that he needed silence as he hid behind the trunk of the tree in front of her. Mikasa slowly ducked out of sight, maybe he had been followed as well?
She saw what he was up to when he quietly made a physical clone of himself that nodded once at its creator before it shot off in a completely new direction that led far deeper into the forest. A few moments later Mikasa barely saw her but Naruto's new stalker had dashed after the clone. Mikasa smiled. She felt a little sorry for that girl, wondering what kind of chase the kage bunshin had planned.
She didn't bother about it any further when Naruto quickly ushered her back inside.
"What a day what a day," Naruto sighed loudly once they were alone inside their tree room thing.
"Shoes off," Mikasa pointed out with a frown as she took off her own and placed them at the entrance.
She rolled her eyes at Naruto's sheepish grin as he proceeded to do as he was told. He never learned. He always forgot to do the simplest of things.
"So how was your day?" the golden haired boy asked as he dusted off the mattress and pillows.
"Turn around," she replied simply.
"Turn around? What kind of day is th-" Naruto started as he turned to face her but stopped when he noticed her deadpan face. Held in her hands were her night clothes and Mikasa smiled teasingly when realization dawned on Naruto's face.
"Alright! Turn around! Got it!" Naruto answered quickly, "I'll change too so don't peek either!"
"My day… was strange," Mikasa admitted as they changed.
"Strange how exactly?"
"You were there for the majority of it," Mikasa said with a small smile, "I think you know what I mean."
"But I like hearing it from your point of view anyways," Naruto replied as he finished folding his uniform and placed them in the corner, "Are you done?"
"That's nice of you. And yes. I'm done," Mikasa answered. This was one reason she valued Naruto as much as she did. He was always so considerate and willing to spend time with her that she couldn't even comprehend what her life would have been like without him. She and Armin didn't talk all that much and whatever relationship she had with Eren was, as always, strained to the point she didn't know what was keeping them in the same boat.
She turned to see Naruto already lying on the mattress, seemingly impatient to catch some rest as he stared at their wooden ceiling. He was such a knucklehead that it warmed her heart to see him acting so childish instead of the adult he had tried to become for them.
She joined him not long after. He was very comfortable to snuggle against after all and unlike Eren he didn't seem adverse to it either.
"Ymir and Annie were asking why I wasn't there this morning, apparently they are early risers and were surprised by my absence," Mikasa started.
"And how did you explain that?" He golden haired brother asked.
"I told them I went for a morning jog," Mikasa said simply, "When they said that I was strange I invited them to join me tomorrow morning but none of them seemed willing."
Naruto laughed in the unique way that Mikasa had come to realize was reserved solely for her. Nobody else could make Naruto laugh in the way he did just now. It wasn't exaggerated, forcefully done or fake, it was just… him. She had no other way to describe that genuine laugh.
She listened partly to the humour that was Naruto's morning as he covered up her presence with the help of Armin, preferring instead to just relax against him. Mikasa made sure to give signs she was listening however, those were important unless she wanted him to stop. She could listen to him talk all day and night, she was that relaxed in his presence. That didn't seem to be his plan however as he nudged her to give more input in the conversation after he had finished his part.
She briefly explained her confusion about Armin's actions and Naruto was quick to assuage her fears.
"Don't worry about him Mikasa, he knows what he's doing. This was just a way for him to confirm something and he knows now that they speak our language. They are quite possibly shinobi from outside the walls now, I know this much. Their leader, the pineapple haired lazy guy, might even have a bloodline limit. Armin is kind of sure he saw the boy's shadow move and freeze that idiot Sasuke. The only reason I haven't done anything yet is because I don't know what exactly they are after. Even if it's something illegal or bad it as long as it doesn't really affect us four then I don't see an issue. We're trying to leave the walls once we graduate anyways." Naruto explained, " Armin is convinced that Haku is overly friendly though and she seems to genuinely get along with him. Armin is just waiting for her to slip up in some way but he claims she is very knowledgeable in using herbs."
Mikasa frowned, "Isn't that as if he's just using her?" She didn't like what Armin was up to if this was the case.
Naruto shrugged before he replied, "I'm not sure really. Maybe he is maybe he isn't but I trust Armin enough that I believe he won't go too far."
Mikasa only hoped that was true. In her opinion Armin was too gentle to be involved in matters such as these.
"Stop frowning, I can feel it from here," Naruto teased and Mikasa felt her face flush before she buried it deeper into his side. He couldn't even see her face but he knew what she was doing.
"By the way I also noticed you made friends with the small Annie girl," Naruto pointed out as he kept the conversation going, "How did that happen?"
"I don't really know. We don't even really talk we just sit next to each other and it feels nice," Mikasa told him as she struggled to find the appropriate words to describe the situation. Was she really friends with Annie? She certainly hoped so. Unfortunately she wasn't quite sure what friendship actually entailed so she was at a loss.
"Basically both of you are socially awkward and nervous or annoyed when there are a lot of people so you both prefer to be away from noisy crowds and somehow figured that it would be better if you had someone to be socially awkward with and be crowd phobic alongside," Naruto summarized casually with a shrug.
Mikasa's jaw dropped at how insightful her cerulean eyed brother could be without even realizing it most of the time. She didn't have a proper response to what he had just said so she pinched him instead.
"Ow! Hey! What was that for!?"
"Stop being so annoying," Mikasa said matter-of-factly. She felt proud of herself for saying it the way she had, as if it explained what she did.
"Annoying? What did I even do?"
"I don't know."
Mikasa felt another smile tug at her lips with his frustrated sigh. He just played along anyways, she doubted she had ever even genuinely angered him in all the time they had spent together. That would hurt beyond all reason. It would hurt much worse in fact than Eren choosing the pink eyed girl over her.
Naruto must have felt the mood change or something because he placed his hand under her chin and slowly directed her face to look up at his. The concerned look on his cerulean blue eyes was palpable even in the near darkness. He was so worried about her that she felt her heart flutter, feeling guilty to have caused him trouble.
"What does Kurotsuchi have that I don't?" Mikasa asked seriously. It was sudden, but she just had to know from another boy's point of view. She had felt so self-conscious about herself for the better part of the evening, wondering what Eren had seen in the other girl that he was so open with her.
Naruto seemed to sense the seriousness of the situation as Mikasa felt his eyes study her face for a moment. She forced a blush back down knowing that Naruto was paying such close attention to her face.
After a moment he finally gave his reply, "Pink eyes. You definitely don't have pink eyes."
Mikasa couldn't help it. She pinched him again. Trust him to try and lighten the mood.
"I'm being serious Naruto," she warned with as much a glare she could muster in the situation.
"Well she has short hair too," Naruto added cheekily. In Mikasa's opinion he deserved the much harder pinch she just gave him.
"Okay. You want me to be serious? She's got nothing that you don't already have. You've got even more actually. You're more beautiful, she's just pretty. You're more reserved, she's too wild and boyish. You've got beautiful long hair that she doesn't. Your eyes are a natural mysterious black, her eyes are this weird pink. Your nose crinkles, hers doesn't. You're more graceful and dangerous in your movements, not at all like her. You're more feminine and demure than she is and from the looks of it smarter too. You're easier on the ears too because you don't shout. But most importantly, the best thing about a girl is if she can make a boy laugh. Good food is important too but what's the point if there is no happiness? And you know what? I can be absolutely sure she cannot make me laugh half as much as you do."
Mikasa loved it. She loved the showering of praises. She loved the sincerity she could feel from him. She loved the simple fact that his attention was reserved for her. In short this was the perfect possible ending to her day. She had him, and she loved it.
"But what if one day she makes you laugh more than I can?" Mikasa probed further, unable to contain her doubts. She was insecure about this, she knew. But she couldn't help it.
Naruto smiled softly at her before he hugged her tighter to him. "How will I be able to laugh with her, if I know that doing so will hurt you?"
Mikasa hugged him back tighter as she felt herself slowly succumb to sleep, feeling more at peace than she ever had. The pain of seeing Eren warm up to a girl that wasn't her was almost non-existent now. It still hurt yes, but it was small enough to be easily buried underneath the warmth she was feeling now from Naruto's reassurance.
"Then I'll be sure to make you laugh Naruto," Mikasa said with a yawn, "And don't worry about me. I'll be fine, as long as I have you," she admitted finally before she blissfully closed her eyes.
Naruto sighed when he felt Mikasa's breathing even out beside him as she finally surrendered to sleep. Keeping his promise was proving to be more difficult than he had anticipated.
His promise not to leave her with a clone had only been for the other night. Hopefully she wouldn't be able to differentiate when she woke up next to a clone. Naruto silently formed a kage bunshin next to him and substituted with it, leaving the clone in Mikasa's embrace. He had somewhere to be after all and mere clones couldn't handle it.
The golden haired boy decided to leave back up chakra stored within a scroll that he then hid in the tree for his clone to utilize should it require the extra chakra. He wasn't going to be back here for a while.
Hopefully his shadow clone would be able to handle the stress of all that was going on, what with all the mess going on around him. Both his brothers were now involved in some way with some of what he now deemed Shikamaru's group, finalizing that the lazy pineapple haired boy was indeed the leader of the group. What was more confusing was both Haku and Kurotsuchi seemed genuine enough in the friendships they were forming with his brothers and Naruto was confused what to feel regarding his current predicament. Especially since he had to comfort Mikasa after seeing Eren make his choice. How would those two end up together like he had planned if Eren was so set on another girl? He hoped Eren was only after Kurotsuchi for friendship, he didn't know what he could do for Mikasa otherwise.
Why was all of this so complicated? He wished it was as simple as it used to be, training during the day and sleeping at night. He pushed it all to the back of his head as he felt his personality switch.
Naruto's face hardened as he prepared himself mentally for the journey back to the Underworld. He placed on the face mask he had designed for himself, the demon etched onto it signifying his Underworld identity quite well. It was time he checked out the Safehouse once more as well as try and solve the mystery of what had become of Levi and his friends.
A/N: Hello again! Hope you enjoyed! I hope I explained the motivations of everyone clear enough and if there is any further confusion I would be glad to help out or clarify in future chapters. To the reviewer claiming he doesn't believe Levi could be on par with a chakra enhanced Naruto, all I can say is be ready to be surprised, there's a reason for that which I am curious if any of you can guess.
Anyways my editor pointed out one scene as confusing so just in case, Kurotsuchi told Eren to guess her name among the four names she gave, and her own name wasn't in the options. That was deliberate and is known as a prank, to my understanding anyways.
But on to the main point, would you guys prefer I continue the training arc? It may take a while to get the actual plot going that I have planned out if I do this and I am pretty sure I have most of the relationships built anyways. Or would you guys rather have me start the very very different Battle of Trost that I have planned and insert training scenes as flashbacks here and there? This way you guys could get a lot more of the action far quicker. Underworld flashbacks included. Let me know what you guys think so I can get to work on the next chapter while I still have some free time available.
Until next time!
