Hey ya, peeps!
Here is the new chapter for 'The Path'.
Same warnings apply: slow-build, we're in this for the long run, references of death and violence, emotional emotions, adjustment issues, if you want action look elsewhere, and all that jazz. I insist: this is a slow burn. I promise things will pick up soon, both the plot and the timeline, but please be patient a little while longer. ;)
This takes place right after the previous chapter, no time skip.
I want to thank all of you for your amazing support. All the following, favoriting and reviewing... This is all awesome and I'm very happy so many people enjoy reading this!
Enjoy the chapter!
:)
The Path - Chapter 4
[previously - a reminder: Naruto arrives on the alternate path and meets with the Yondaime and his team at a border outpost. We just explored Kakashi's PoV a little. Before that, we left Minato and Naruto with the discovery that Neji is Spider after a quick debrief on Naruto's situation.]
"-So, what do you want to do now?"
Minato's voice carried over into the small room. Naruto raised an eyebrow in a silent question.
"-Do you want to stay here, or go back to Konoha?"
Naruto shrugged.
"-Might as well get it over with. We've got too much to talk about to do it all in one sitting."
Minato studied his son for a moment. The younger man didn't let anything through.
A few minutes later, both blondes and the ANBU guards stood outside of the building, ready to head back to the village. It would take them a couple hours to get back running, since Naruto had informed them that it would be better if he didn't use chakra at all.
The trip back was mostly silent, the guards focused on their task, and both Namikaze lost in their own thoughts. Pain wracked Naruto's body with each step, but functioning while ignoring pain had become second nature to him through the years.
A couple hours later, Naruto stopped running, feeling the proximity of the village. This was it. He would truly step into his new life, onto his new path. His chest tightened with a well of emotions.
Minato came to stand next to him.
"-How long?"
Naruto swallowed.
"-Not counting the fight, almost four years."
His voice was rough with emotions. Minato looked at him from the corner of his eyes, his own chest tightening. Four years was a long time to be away from one's village. Even more so for someone who loved the village enough to become its Kage.
Minato truly couldn't imagine what he would feel like if he would have to spend that much time away from his home. He had been deployed many times during the last war. He had been in very high demand on the various fronts. That had resulted in him spending a decent amount of time in the village, to keep him easily mobile in between fronts, rather than have him stationed on the front lines, where he would have been more difficult to contact and be moved around.
Spending so much time in the village had made the war somehow more bearable: it had allowed him to keep his reasons for fighting at the forefront of his mind. How had it been for Naruto to be cut off from that during his war? And as a Kage on top of it? To be unable to see the people, the village he was protecting?
From what Minato understood from his son's answers, Naruto's war had lasted at least that amount of time. Probably more, if Naruto hadn't been deployed straight away or if he had been back into the village during the war.
"-Will you be ok?
-I will have to be."
Once more, determination laced Naruto's voice. Minato wanted to reach out to his son, this man who was so strong. This man who so easily disregarded his own feelings in the face of duty. Minato hoped his son would be able to remember he didn't always have to act that way now that he was back home.
"-We don't have to. We can take a back door.
-No point in delaying the inevitable. I belong here. This is my home. And I haven't seen it in a very long time."
Naruto took a step, then another and just kept on walking. Minato and the rest of the group soon followed him through the gates. Naruto's back was ramrod straight as he walked in, head held high. He nodded to the guards who saluted with a surprised smile on their faces.
Minato knew that they usually would have welcomed him back a lot more loudly, but himself being there with his full ANBU escort coupled with Naruto's posture kept them at a polite distance. It was not exactly unheard of for Minato to come to the gate and welcome back his family members after a mission, but seeing him walking in from outside the village indicated something more serious than usual, an impression only reinforced by the presence of his own guards.
Naruto smiled back at the guards and kept on walking further into the village. Around Minato, the ANBU guards noticeably relaxed. Sparrow, Panther and Spider melted into the shadows, letting Dog be their only visible escort. They both walked a bit faster to catch up with Naruto.
People in the streets were smiling at them, happy to see them. Naruto smiled back, a polite smile that Minato and Dog easily recognized as a very strained version of his public figure smile. Minato felt vaguely uncomfortable at how easily Naruto could appear perfectly calm and in control when he knew his son was feeling anything but.
At a crossroad, Naruto hesitated slightly. His falter was only noticeable to Minato and Dog because they had been looking for it. Going one way would bring them to the Namikaze house, while the flat he and Kakashi shared was in the other direction. Minato came up to Naruto and put his hand on his shoulder.
"-Go home and rest. We'll talk later. Maybe you could come for dinner tonight? Your mom will be happy to see you."
Naruto smiled, happy and relieved to take the offer. He agreed to Minato's suggestion and headed to his flat on his own while Minato and Dog took the direction of the Hokage Tower.
Naruto easily found the flat, simply trusting his feet to take him to the right place. He easily disabled the security seals and walked through the door. Finally inside, he let the feeling of familiarity and belonging wash over him. His muscles trembled a little as he let go of the control he had over his body. The pain that had been wracking his body for almost two weeks bloomed into sharp focus now that his mind didn't have any other distraction. He was absolutely exhausted.
A few hours ago he had been walking home from a war, thinking about Sakura and the Raikage, about who he had left behind. Then he'd met with the Sage of the Six Paths! And he was now in his own flat, a flat he had shared with his alive brother Kakashi for the past few years. Later he would head to his childhood home and have dinner with his living parents…
If he'd had the energy for it, Naruto would have laughed at the ridiculous situation.
Naruto's brain could barely process it all. He felt a pang of anguish as he thought about Sakura and A and all the others from his other life. He could almost physically feel their loss. Considering the dark chakra still coursing in his veins, it was entirely possible that pain was indeed also physical.
He quickly pushed the thoughts out, to be revisited when he was not as exhausted. He could not afford to slip up on his tightly controlled emotions. Not when the echoes of Tobi's chakra were still pulsing through his body and causing havoc with his own chakra. If the short episode at the outpost indicated anything, it was that his chakra network was a real danger at the moment. As long as he could keep it controlled, he would be fine.
But that meant not thinking about the life he had left behind.
Instead, Naruto focused on the feeling of peace rising in his chest as he looked at his home. The flat he shared with Kakashi had been his own little space of peace ever since they got it.
Today, this was even more so when the security seals slipped back into place, silencing the noises from the street and tuning down the chakra input in the flat. That had been a feature Kakashi had insisted they put up. He knew how good a sensor Naruto was, having inherited his father's talents and trained with him his whole life. As much as it bothered him not to have a full awareness of the people surrounding him, Naruto's wellbeing and peace had been his priority. Naruto had not been able to argue: he slept a lot better when he couldn't feel the ANBU patrols moving around the village during the night. The Namikaze house was similarly fitted with chakra-dimming barriers so that both father and, later, son could relax better in their own home.
Naruto welcomed the silence and the solitude. His body ached with exhaustion and Tobi's chakra. He headed to the bathroom and got into a hot shower. The hot water felt heavenly. He groaned in pleasure. How long had it been since the last time he had had a hot shower? Or a shower at all? Only a few days on this path, but years on his other path, where a bucket of cold water had been all they could afford. His body welcomed the heat, muscles relaxing after wounding up so tense in the streets and earlier in the day.
Walking through Konoha had been like a dream come through. Naruto was very grateful for this path's feelings towards the village. On this path, Naruto had only been gone a few weeks. The familiarity he felt towards the village, a place that was so utterly different from the Konoha Naruto had left behind, had prevented him from being overwhelmed with the life here. This was nothing like his Konoha, and yet, this was where he had grown up. The people had been so different from anything he'd ever known on the other path that it didn't even feel like the same place.
Here, people had always loved him. He was the son of their beloved Yondaime. He'd been loved and valued. Praised and encouraged. Cherished by hundreds of people. Sure, the villagers, and even many ninjas had always kept a polite distance with him, for fear of being inappropriate with the Hokage's son. At times this would make him feel very lonely as no one was willing to really get close to him in an informal manner. That loneliness though was nowhere near as crushing as what he'd experienced in his other life.
In orphan Naruto's life, people had accepted him in the end, but by then the village was in shambles and they were being hurled into a war they had no way of imagining the gravity of. People hadn't had the time to think about whether or not they liked him. He had saved them and that was enough. He had become somewhat of a hero no one truly knew anything about. They didn't know him, the real him. There had been no time to even realize that or suffer from it. Being liked had somehow fallen out of his list of things to worry about way before then. There were much more important things to do.
When he became Hokage at nineteen, he was informed his nomination as Tsunade's successor had happened a couple years into the war, before there had been any need for it. The motion had been accepted unanimously by the various leaders forming the secretive Hokage Council of Hi no Kuni. A precaution, should anything happen to the Senju princess. When the moment came, Naruto had been unable to get to the village. It was too much of a risk. He was their enemies' target. Going back to the recovering village would have meant its destruction.
He didn't really know the villagers he was technically ruling over, and they didn't know him. Nor did any of them really care, as long as supply lines were maintained and the village was protected, no matter how far away from it the Hokage was.
After a while, he had designated Shikamaru as his regent within the village proper while he commanded from the front. They had yelled at each other, Shikamaru arguing that he was more useful on the front with him. Naruto argued that he wouldn't trust anyone else with the wellbeing of the village. The decision had been taken out of Shikamaru's hands when his leg blew up in an attack that killed Choji. The genius strategist had never been the same again after that. In the end, going back to the village had saved the Nara.
Under the hot water, Naruto sighed. The village would be in good hands. A wave of renewed exhaustion hit him. He finished scrubbing himself clean for the first time in what felt like years then stepped out of the shower. When he got out of the bathroom, towel around his hips, he heard a scratch on the other side of the apartment.
Instinct took over, his body instantly getting into a defensive position, disregarding pain and fatigue.
"-Naru, it's me," came Kakashi's voice, soft and low. The man slowly walked into the hallway, hands held up in the universal sign of peace. "It's only me. Your dad thought you might feel better with me here to watch your back while you slept."
Naruto immediately felt his body relax. He sighed in relief.
"-That is actually a great idea. I need to eat first though. I'll join ya in the kitchen."
Kakashi nodded and slowly turned around to go to the kitchen while Naruto headed to his room to get dressed. The older man very carefully monitored his own chakra to be peaceful despite its instinctual reaction to a battle ready Naruto.
Kakashi's nose told him without a doubt that this was Naruto. But there was no mistaking that his little brother was different. The sense of danger emanating from the blonde just fractions of a second after Kakashi had intentionally entered the flat noisily had slammed into him like a Doton jutsu. Kakashi's own battle instincts had flooded his body with chakra before he consciously brought it back to a peaceful calm.
Kakashi's heart broke at seeing this reaction from Naruto. Minato had warned him: "Approach him carefully, Kakashi. He is still in battle mode." The Hokage had been wrong.
Naruto wasn't in battle mode. Kakashi knew Naruto. This wasn't his battle mode. No. This was something entirely different. His reaction hadn't been a battle reflex. It had been an instinctual reaction in someone used to snapping into life or death fighting within moments. Naruto was in war mode. Kakashi would know: he had been there before.
Kakashi felt Naruto arrive in the kitchen. The younger man slowed down in his approach, eyes cast down and hand distractingly drying his hair with a towel. He stopped completely and frowned at his own bare chest.
"-Uh. Figured."
Kakashi emitted a low questioning sound. Naruto raised his head, hand still in his hair. His other hand came up to point at his left pectoral, where a black seal was pulsing.
"-That. That'll have to go.
-What's wrong with it?
-It's messing up my chakra.
-I thought you put it there to help with your chakra.
-My chakra has changed."
Kakashi was about to ask how such a thing was possible when Naruto's stomach growled loudly. He pushed the questions aside and chuckled.
"-Right, let's feed you before Fluffy gets mad.
-Might be a good idea."
They settled for some steamed rice and caramelized vegetables. Nothing too big knowing they would be treated to a wonderful dinner a few hours later. They sat down comfortably at their kitchen table, Naruto finally in a t-shirt, and Kakashi's mask gone.
When Naruto took his first spoonful, he moaned.
"-This is so much better than I remembered.
-Veggies? What the hell have you been eating on your mission?!
-Hey, man, I've been eating rations for years, ok!"
Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise and confusion. Naruto's face immediately morphed into shock at his own admission. He sighed and closed his eyes, a conflicted expression taking over his traits. Kakashi put down his chopsticks.
"-You're not talking about your mission, are you?
-I… No.
-Was it that bad?
-… There… There was no vegetables. I… We kept the vegetables for the youngest, you know? I didn't need the nutrients. I forgot what they tasted like."
Kakashi's throat tightened around a painful lump. He felt completely helpless. His brother had lived through circumstances so dire he had forgotten the taste of vegetables!
Unsure how to proceed about this situation he had no way of fixing, he thought back on his own experiences with trauma – because even if Kakashi was great at denial, he was also very much aware of his own issues. He could definitely remember his own eating disorders after the Third War.
"-… Do you want a ration instead? We have some.
-What? No, no. This is great, this is fine. I… This is fine."
Naruto finished his sentence in a low voice, shoulders lowering as he picked up his chopsticks and ate in silence. He clearly was enjoying the food despite the mood, and he rejoiced after a few mouthfuls, deciding to simply enjoy the taste.
"-Kashi, stop staring at me. I'm ok.
-No, you're not.
-Fine, I'm not. But I will be, I promise. Right now, I just need food and sleep."
Kakashi studied Naruto's face then nodded. He knew Naruto would speak to him when he was ready. They finished their small meal not long after. They cleaned up then walked to the living room, Naruto continuing towards his room. As he was about to reach his door, Kakashi's voice rose.
"-Naru?
-Hm?
-Do you want me to…?" Kakashi gestured around his left eye. Naruto seemed to contemplate his answer for a few seconds before he nodded.
"-That would help, thanks."
Kakashi followed Naruto to his room, stopping a few steps away from the bed. Naruto sat down on it, simply choosing to rest above the sheets and blanket for his short nap.
"-Just a light one, yeah?
-Sure.
-Wake me up half an hour before we need to go. But hum, do it from a distance, just in case."
Kakashi nodded then lifted his headband and put Naruto under a light relaxing genjutsu. He had used that technique a few times on him when he was younger and had nightmares and nothing his parents did could calm him. Asuma told him younger siblings were sometimes like that. Kakashi had also used the technique of some of his colleagues, at their demands, when he was in ANBU and they had needed a true night rest.
Kakashi closed the door to Naruto's room and headed back into the living room. He sat down of the sofa. He closed his eyes and focused on sensing Naruto's presence. There was nothing. He couldn't feel his presence at all. He knew he was in his room, he could smell him. But he could not feel him.
Naruto's presence and chakra signature had always felt like a cocooning warmth. Like taking a nap in the sun. Now it was just as if there was no one with him in the flat. Kakashi refused to admit how unsettling this was.
Kakashi just sat there and monitored Naruto's non presence the whole time he slept. Sometimes, he would feel a flicker of barely there chakra, too quick for him to get a read on. During the blonde's nap, Kakashi thought about ways he could help his brother overcome whatever he was going through. He didn't know the details yet but he suspected Naruto or Minato would enlighten him at their family home later that day. Until then, there really wasn't much he could do but be there for him.
When the time arrived to wake Naruto up, Kakashi stood up and gently fluctuated his chakra to disrupt the genjutsu. He immediately heard Naruto's breath become quicker and more shallow, indicating he was awake. Confirming this, his voice rose up, just loud enough for Kakashi's acute hearing to pick up through the walls.
"-I'm up."
A few minutes later, Naruto got out of his room, already dressed for the casual evening. After splashing some water on his face, he joined Kakashi in the living room. The older man had prepared some tea for the both of them.
"-Thanks, I needed that."
Kakashi just hummed in acceptance, aware that his brother hadn't meant the tea. Both sat peacefully on the sofa.
"-Wanna talk about it?
-Not now. I'll talk when we're at mom's and dad's.
-Fair enough. Wanna see the pups? They missed you.
-Sure, if they remain calm, I have no energy to play right now."
Kakashi suspected that it was more about the pain Naruto was trying to hide than tiredness, but he let it slide and summoned his pack. Naruto had always loved them, and they him. He was just as much part of their pack as he was.
Unlike the boisterous heap of fur they usually turned into when summoned to see Naruto, Kakashi was baffled to see them slowly approach him and sniff him, as if unsure it was him. After a few sniffs, their tails started wagging and they jumped on the blonde as per their usually greeting. Naruto, despite his age, just chuckled and sat on the floor to offer belly rubs to all of them in turns. After getting his turn, Pakkun jumped onto the arm on the sofa, next to Kakashi.
"-He's changed, Kakashi.
-He has.
-What happened?
-I don't know yet.
-He's all right, isn't he?
-He will be.
-Hm. Kakashi, he's changed.
-You just said that.
-No, I mean he's changed. He's not a pup anymore."
Kakashi sighed.
"-Yes, I smelled it too.
-What are you going to do?
-Nothing for now. Not much I can do anyways.
-Hm."
