The Twelve of Two

by silentknight021

An abrupt confession by Naruto sets the stage for a twelve hour timespan between Sakura and himself. As they learn more about each other, Sakura begins to understand what was always there while Naruto comes to a decision. NaruSaku

8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any characters related.

7:51 AM:

With sweat dripping down his chin and kunai in hand, Naruto found himself stumbling through the unfamiliar landscape of a lush, lurid forest. His jumpsuit felt hot and sticky; the sweltering humidity left his body dampened in heavy perspiration. The overhead canopy of foliage seemingly did nothing to deflect the pierce of the blazing sun. It felt as if he was trapped in a perpetual steam bath. Water seemed to drip all around him. His eyes burned in irritation.

Slicing a path through the thick underbrush, multiple branches snapped at him in sharp protest leaving red welts and deep scratches on his exposed hands and face. In addition to his misery—and roused by the disturbance, monstrous mosquitoes and pesky gnats buzzed around his greasy scalp, driven by their primitive but ravenous hunger for flesh and warm fluids. He swiped at the persisting mass every moment he could spare. The annoyances were unquestionably heinous.

But, heedless to say, there was something else… a strong sense of urgency that pushed him to run even faster through the oppressive vegetation, forced him to ignore the rashes and insect bites, forced him to ignore the drumming pulse of uncommon fear that raced through his heart. Naruto felt as if something was stalking him from the hidden depths of swaying green. From off in the distant woods, a denizen bird squawked in terror. He shoved aside a thicket of thorn bushes—

—And was caught off guard by a short set of carved steps that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Tripping over the ledge, his momentum carried him all the way over onto a clearing where he landed nose first, rocks and sharp blades of grass singed and peeled against his already raw face. He pushed himself up from the ground onto his trembling hands and knees, spitting out dirt and bits of plant that had ended up in his mouth. Shaking off the remaining twigs that were stuck in his hair, Naruto turned, looked over his shoulder—and stared in complete bemusement.

The scorching grove he had trekked through was gone; the only evidence that it had ever been there existed in the physical form of numerous bumps and bruises left all over his body. The insects were also gone, abruptly dissolved or else unable to exist in this change of habitat. The temperature had noticeably dropped to that of a pleasantly cool autumn day.

But the strangest sight of all was the fuzzy looking shape of an architectural structure, a strangely familiar foundation that looked as if it existed beyond any preceding manifestation constructed in the form of nature and wildlife. As he stared at the building in confusion, Naruto's vision seemed to straighten and, upon making the connection, was startled to realize that he was standing in front of the ninja academy. At his back, a thick, almost deliberate mist made it impossible to tell if the playground was there or not.

Confused as to its appearance, Naruto jumped to his feet and took a few bounding steps forward to get a closer look—even a glimpse inside—but the building seemed to stretch itself away like an accordion. Naruto tried running, but it simply shied away all that much faster. He just couldn't get close enough. He forced a sprint, stumbled, and came down awkwardly on his knees, eye taken off the pseudo-school for a second. He scrambled to his feet, prepared to rush forward in another futile attempt—

—And stopped just as quickly, confusion reforming and breaking over him twofold. The building had vanished, dematerialized like another particle of dust to the wind, and in its place, a transition had taken another form. Fashioned out of simple wood and constructed in the shape of a massive wooden jar, a strange looking box sat in full display no more then twenty meters from him. Upon recognizing the eerie container, a sense of dread filled him from head to toe, freezing his blood like ice water. The kunai dropped from his moist grip.

It was a burial casket.

There were no marking on this one, no talismans, thick roping, or any clues to indicate that this had been the one used to transport Sasuke. Nevertheless, Naruto's heart thumped with worry. He wanted to back away from this unsightly object but found his compelling feet shepherding him forward with a morbid curiosity that left little room for the debate of phobias. He tried to look away but could not pry his eyes from the apparition that grew in size as he approached, its inanimate patience resembling the illusion that it was just an ordinary object, but deep down he knew it was not to be.

Reaching the coffin, Naruto tried to deny the action of laying his quivering hands on the polished section closest to him. Regardless of his consent, the lid began to lift with a mind of its own. Betraying fingers pried up the loose corner and tossed aside the weightless lid like a piece of sea foam. With fresh beads of sweat dotting his forehead, Naruto gripped the edge, peered inside the case…and felt his beating heart shatter into a thousand pieces.

Swathed in a clean white blanket, Sakura sat like a body prepared for a ceremonial wake. Her porcelain face was turned away; combed hair framed her cheeks and chin. Manicured hands lay draped in her lap. There were no marks on her body, no visible wounds or injuries to indicate her passing. She looked at peace, like a blessed angel sleeping in hibernation.

His breath came out in short heaves. "Sakura-chan?" Naruto rasped in a stricken whisper. A strange resonance carried through his stricken inquiry, bouncing and rebounding the words around the fog, as if he were standing over the mouth of a gaping canyon. She couldn't be gone. She couldn't be. Not her.

Not Sakura.

Blatantly ignoring the fact that he was invading a space of sacred significance, Naruto reached forward and shook her arm gently, called her name again; a third time. Desperate tears trickled down his ashen face. He wanted her to stand up, to say something, insult him, or even punch the crap out of him—anything! He just didn't care.

How did this happen? Who did this to her? Why?! Falling to one knee, Naruto felt as if he were turning into smoldered soot, his head pressed against the shapely wood, perfectly crafted in a seamless curvature. "What did she do to deserve this?" Naruto demanded of himself. "Why did something like this…h-have to happen to her?" Grief stricken, he swung a vicious fist at the distorted ground beside him, but felt nothing that resembled the caliber of physical hurt he wanted, only a vast, numbing emptiness that consumed all traces of hope.

"Because you failed," a gravely voice whispered in answer, mockingly and acutely from somewhere in the mist. Perhaps it was the very mist itself.

Looking up in a daze, Naruto heard a soft, distinctively hissing noise next to his ear, almost like meat sizzling on a grill. He turned his head—and swore viciously. An explosive tag had been planted on the side of the hollow case. Sluggishly standing, Naruto reached down to whisk Sakura from her confines, to pull her away, but he couldn't get a proper grasp on her. It was like trying to hold on to melting butter. She kept sliding away. It was hopeless. The bomb was burning quickly, too fast. He turned to run—

—And a massive explosion, almost like a brutal push to the chest, sent him flying backwards. He landed, tumbling head over heels like a leaf in a vicious windstorm.

Flames danced before his eyes like the devils of hell. He couldn't tell if any part of his body was enveloped or not. He was still dealing with the shock of it all. A strange smell filled the air. Slowing sitting up, Naruto let out a low moan of grievance as the casket before him smoldered in an unbridled blaze. The seething glow scorched his eyes but he could not tear them away from the consuming pyre. His vision glimmered, fists quivered at his sides. His breathing was asthmatic; he was wheezing. Dark spots hovered over him. He couldn't draw a breath. His lungs burned with the effort.

"…Sa…kura…chan…"

Coming down on the back of his hands, Naruto buried his face against ruined palms, sobbing and screaming, choking on fresh spittle. Rage filled his mind, laced his fragile soul with the tragic anguish of losing a dear friend. His chest was compressing; heart tightening and squeezing like an orange trapped in a vice. He couldn't breathe—

Something cold grasped the back of his neck. Naruto's blurry eyes widened—

"Don't make a promise that you can't keep," that same foul voice, akin to a snake's hiss, gloatingly rasped in his ear, a rasp that turned into a ghastly cackling, dark and ridiculing, brazen in all of its horror.

Naruto gasped, surged forward with maddened desperation, frantic to escape from that bloodcurdling touch, to escape those disturbing accusations, that inconceivably horrible laughter—

—And finally breaking through the barriers separating consciousness and unconsciousness, Naruto woke up in an all-too-familiar precipitous frame of state, far too precipitous to realize that he was tumbling out of bed, and dragging most of the covers along with him. He crashed to the hardwood floor in a dazed heap; his back taking most of the impact from the tumultuous ride while his feet had flopped up over the side of the mattress like a slanted tower prevented from collapse. Naruto's lower limbs were tightly tangled in the comforter, probably as a result from a constant cycle of tossing and turning.

He lay there unmoving for a long dazed moment, haunted quivering blue eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling, heart pounding in the vacuum of his eardrums, chest and necklace briskly rising and falling in correlation to his desperate gasps; a probable aftereffect from the latest testament to another discordant-filled sleep. Naruto's hands felt numb and ghostly cold; he'd unintentionally bunched them into tight fists at some earlier point in the morning. They must have been interlocked that way for some time because it took a fair bit of effort and a small burst of chakra to finally pry them apart, releasing the two large handfuls of t-shirt he'd been involuntary gripping onto tightly for minutes, perhaps even hours—it was hard to tell.

But it wasn't hard to tell that his legs were getting uncomfortably warm from being trapped within the confines of his covers. Kicking himself free, Naruto slid himself backwards while simulteniously working into a sit. The airy chill of the morning air and the cold wooden floor didn't seem to register; his face was flushed, body felt smeared and sticky from the overabundance of nervous hot perspiration that filtered out of his pores and glands. It didn't help that his shirt clung to him like a second layer of unwanted skin. He peeled it off and blindly threw it over his shoulder, not caring where it landed—almost all of the clothing lying around the room was dirty and in need of being washed anyways. Hell, the whole place was just one giant pigsty. How anyone could have possibly navigated his or her way through without taking some meandering route was beyond—

…Her?

The dream…

Sakura-chan!

Bolstered into a renewed sense of urgency by the disturbingly sharp image of the fallen kunoichi, Naruto bound to his feet, blatantly ignoring the pins and needles of protesting muscles and ligaments that were still in the midst of recovering from the wild tumble and nearly unbalancing the table—and a filled glass?—in his desperation to stand; to stand and get a solid glimpse of that same girl who had fallen asleep beside him in the very wee hours of the morning. He remembered that much, and she had been very much alive at the time. So, then, now, technically, that racket, if it hadn't woken her up, if she wasn't raging and seething venomously…then she should, she should still be on the other side of the bed fast asleep!

Heart soaring with excitement, Naruto nearly toppled over clumsily in his haste to get up, but bolstered hope and the rationality behind his practical theory quickly renewed his strength, fortified his balance. Surely she had to be there now—!

—And when he could find no visible sign of her, Naruto's heart plummeted just as quickly. While the pillow she'd used had remained intact, the blanket had been completely pulled out from that side and the underlining sheets were likewise disheveled. Though he doubted that she'd also fallen out of bed, Naruto looked over just to make sure (the room was oddly dim), but there was nobody there. He hastily strafed the rest of the room with—to the best of his ability—chakra-enhanced vision, but couldn't find any trace of her presence nearby. Nothing.

She was gone.

Reeling in confusion, Naruto's head started to spin in a sudden wave of vertigo, chest unreasonably heavy, no doubt from all those precipitated motions he'd unthinkingly preformed in the last twenty seconds. An overabundance of adrenaline this early was clearly not enough to fortify the body's state of equilibrium. He hunkered down on the bed before nausea threatened to get the best of him, sitting in such a way that eliminated the possibility of falling off again, even if, in the preposterous instance, the bed were to convert from its perfectly shaped horizontal design and structure, and to suddenly take on a wild angled tilt. He certainly felt lightheaded and dizzy enough to believe in such a betrayal transpiring; believed, even believed, that he might still be sleeping—

But no, the lingering ache in his cramped fingers and lower back indefinitely proved otherwise. Naruto had never welcomed jolts of pain like he did right now in his life; the credibility was vividly existent for the most part and didn't need to be guessed, even within the parameters of his fuzzy brain. There was that sense of satisfaction, if it could be called that. It also proved that he wasn't losing his marbles.

Then again, he probably was. Retrieving the blanket and wrapping it around his goose-bumped shoulders, Naruto made light fists with his still-buzzing hands, opened them slowly and carefully, closed them just as so. Something withdrawn—subliminal, he figured—told him to catch and release his breath between alterations. It was difficult, uncomfortable, took far more time then his limited patience would have normally allowed, but he kept at it until his heart-rate began to recede somewhere along the lines of not trying to burrow its way out of his chest. He felt ragged nonetheless, and there was simply no amount of huffing and puffing he could manage that could vanquish the dry sour taste seemingly implanted in the back of his throat. The acrid feeling was comparable to what he'd been experiencing for several days now. Perhaps it would be an endless onslaught. He didn't know, but the very thought of it made him all the more despondent, all the more angry. It was akin to waging a battle against a vengeful ghost. Fighting—

—Fighting…and losing.

And Sakura had become a casualty—

"NO!" His mind screamed blasphemy.

—because of him.

Nearly galvanized to that inevitable point of losing his temper, Naruto shot his right hand out and viciously flicked on his lamp, nearly knocking it over again while reaching around his back, curved fingers frantically treading and searching through layers of fabric and material on the approximate level, tightened once he'd found what he was looking for. Anger gave way to an impending sense of anxiousness as Naruto brought the other pillow close to the light, studying its cover with purposeful intent. This dipped well into the realm of paranoia but it was the only possible way to erase any further speculations. He scrutinized one bleach-stained side, flipped it over, checked the other—

—And there it was. Upon finding the unbiased proof he'd been looking for, fervent relief stole through him like the touch of a warm wind. It only took a second, but its appearance was unmistakably candid. Among the protruding needles of feather quills, light reflected off a few miniscule trace threads bearing a dull hue of familiar florid polish. Shutting his eyes, Naruto—embarrassment aside—held the pillow up to his nose and sniffed. He didn't quite need Kiba's honed sense of smell to search and discern the subtle familiarity of tropical shampoo. It was a very faint aroma, nearly intangible, but it, along with the stray hair, was existent proof that dispersed any remaining speculation.

Sakura was here.

"Or had been," Naruto thought, his groggy gaze meeting the heavily drenched window, unable—and unwilling—to shake the twinges of disconcertment that pricked at him for running around, creating a commotion and acting like a scared little wimp in the first place; yet it was a small price to pay for the solace of knowing Sakura was probably at home sleeping in her own bed right now, safe and warm. Although it would have been nice if she'd left a note, he knew full well that she could take care of herself in almost any given situation, and wasn't just some girly girl who needed coddling—he knew that, knew it all too well; he'd been soundly beaten up enough times for trying to go in that direction, and she'd probably be doing just that to him now for waking her up, had she still been here.

Naruto smiled grimly, chuckled softly. Maybe he'd just ought to consider himself lucky that things had worked out like they had instead. Reaching under the bed for a pair of old slippers and putting them on, Naruto slid to the floor and padded across the room. His upper body felt cold, so he pulled up the entire blanket and wrapped it over his stiff shoulders. It was a cool enough temperature that the furnace should have already kicked in by now; likely on the fritz again as usual which was no big surprise (Oji-san—regarded as a real cheapskate—also kept it shut off in the summertime as a way to slash expenses, only to switch it on when his wife insisted it be switched on).

She was probably making a commotion about it now. From his vantage point, it looked downright wet and miserable. Far more then for what it normally should have been this time of year, and there didn't appear to be any break in the uniform looking clouds either. The streets below were polluted with filling puddles, almost like shimmering polka dots. He craned his neck to try and look over in the other direction, didn't get very far in doing so but pretty well imagined it looked about the same that way too. Overall, the outside world of Konohagakure was a moisture-laden domain. A few people with what must have been really important business scurried about like confused mice trapped in a maze.

Naruto quietly sighed, flexed his circulating fingers. He still should have been up, if anything just to locate an umbrella that she could have used for the walk home. Having gotten even less sleep then he had, Naruto really doubted Sakura would have had the patience—or plain brazenness—to bother looking for one, especially when he didn't even know for sure if there was one to be had or not.

"Settle down, dummy. She's not made of sugar."

"Doesn't mean she couldn't have used the damn thing," Naruto fulminated through pursed lips, but the issued retort that rolled off of his tongue felt as pointless as it sounded amidst the drum-steady tapping of water on his roof. They'd both undergone series of practices in miserable weather before as a team. There was no point in getting excited again over something so pointlessly irrational, especially since she'd probably been deliberate about not disturbing him (she probably hadn't needed to expand that much effort anyways).

Fingering the crystal on his necklace, Naruto took a slow breath, let it out just as so; the pungent medley of flourishing vegetation an aesthetic tranquilizer on his frazzled nerves, stemming from a combination of factors ranging in parameters both within and beyond his means of control, deriving more from the latter if anything. Naruto felt lousy and it wasn't just from having a real shitty sleep either. Something was very much out of place and he needed to figure out what it was soon. Maybe it was a natural reaction from the injuries he'd sustained. Baa-chan hadn't mentioned anything about mental side effects and Naruto wasn't quite willing to push his luck and ask about it period; she'd only want to poke and prod him with more medicinal needles and that was if she was in a good mood.

But he knew he wasn't astute enough to figure all this stuff out on his own, knew he needed to ask somebody for guidance, but had little idea as to what questions he wanted to ask. It felt frustrating. And, normally, so did being cooped up indoors. Lack of the sun would have perturbed him but its absence felt welcomingly appropriate today. And since it was probably unlikely he'd be receiving visits from more unexpected guests, getting a few things done in the apartment was probably a good idea. Housework was pretty far down on the list when it came to his favorite activities, but it was something that really couldn't be ignored, and it would keep him active. Plus he didn't need the landlady pitching another fit or giving one of her motherly lectures depicting the importance of tidiness and cleanliness. The plants also needed tending, watering, feeding—

It was at that point when Naruto realized how thirsty he was getting. He usually was in the mornings, but the self-induced panic he'd experienced earlier made his throat feel even fuzzier now then normal. He hoped he wasn't getting sick or anything. Turning away from the humidified window, Naruto glided across the smooth floor, stopping at his dresser to hunt for the pajama top he normally wore to bed. Moving clothes aside, he couldn't help but pride himself just a bit for having shown a little foresight to put the pajamas neatly away instead of just tossing them on the floor in a slothful pile. Some of the landlady's advice must have been starting to set in.

It was only after tossing the comforter back on the bed and absently buttoning up his shirt when he finally happened to notice the ivory-colored glass of water sitting on the nightstand next to the radiant lamp, remembered almost knocking it over. Naruto scratched the back of his head, rubbed the small of his back, wondered how that had gotten there.

Maybe that was Sakura's doing. Finishing dressing, Naruto ambled over and picked up the room-warm glass, took a careful sip, ended up draining the whole thing in one foul swoop. Considering the rush she was probably in at…well, whatever the time would have been, taking the extra minute or two to do something unnecessary like this was pretty nice on Sakura's part. Nice, and, frankly—amongst the other things—was a little unexpected.

Tracing a thumb over the rim of the glass, the corner of Naruto's mouth lowered fractionally at an angled curve, a rare look, both speculative and wary, sculpted his normally passionate face. He was almost unaware of the expression he was making until a headache started to develop over his right eye, throbbing like some painful mass of a boil. He'd come to rely on his instincts a great deal over his time spent as a budding ninja; almost as a sort of impromptu warning buzzer whenever something was out of place. While there were times where he'd labeled the purpose incorrectly, they were almost never wrong when there was something afoot.

As seemed the case now.

But before he could start sifting and interpreting the impulses, something small, square and compact shaped slipped out from beneath the cup Naruto was holding and started to flutter towards the floor in a gentle spiral. Reflexes swinging into action, Naruto's left hand swung out in a dexterous arc, snagging the makeshift coaster in only two attempts…which, at first glance, was all it turned out being: a piece of scrap paper, meticulously and elaborately folded to fit the bottom underlay of the cup, stuck there from previous condensation. Even the corners had been neatly folded in, creating the basic impression of a rudimentary-looking flower. He didn't know if she had done that merely to fit the crude thing into place, or as some sort of exercise to satisfy the artistic flair she sometimes displayed a particular prowess for.

Either way, this had been an unnecessary chore, a waste of effort on her part. The wood on the nightstand was already badly stained in several places, both from water and other products that had left similar marks and nicks. Had it not been pitch dark at the time, Sakura would have seen all that for herself. Naruto huffed at the now dry outline, the cup-sized indent that had separated and protected the glass from the table, abruptly frowned in concentration; there was something in the middle of the circle, a few marks that looked strangely familiar. He had good night vision, but brought it closer to the light anyways for a closer peek. Looked like written characters—

Then, upon recognition, Naruto's hear skipped a beat. It was Sakura's handwriting; the simple characters displaying only one word:

Open.

Despite what he thought of its impracticality almost less then half a minute ago, Naruto's hands, nevertheless, shook as he worked to unravel the hexagonal package with a barely restrained excitement—almost as if it were some birthday present. He took it apart slowly, refusing to submit to the temptation of rabid haste—almost as if he wanted to savor the surprise he knew he was about to experience. What was it that she had left him? He'd find out shortly. From rectangle to square, each unfurled side resulted in a bigger shape then the previous. Reaching the final rectangle, Naruto waited until his hands stopped fidgeting before slipping a worn fingernail under the paper and opening the sheet, revealing—

"—Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto exclaimed, nearly choking on the words.

Well, not quite. It was a doodling—one from a series of drawings, actually—that he'd whipped up for practice a few months ago in preparation for the fight against their seemingly carefree instructor. Whereas strategy and battling the paper-faced dummy had been nothing short of a breeze, fighting the real deal had proven to be a little more difficult then originally anticipated; along with humbling—he'd never dealt with an enemy more dangerous that day then that of his own hunger. It was after that embarrassing foray when he decided to keep suitable rations on subsequent trips, along with the new knowledge gained of course.

Just how deep of a hole did Sakura have to dig to uncover this little artifact? It seemed like a lot of this stuff just loved scattering to the four winds—even more of a reason to get the place half-assed sorted out, he figured. And what had the point of dragging this particular item out of the blue been anyways? Naruto's eyes slowly roamed up and down the page, not allowing the tiniest of details to go unanalyzed.

He didn't have to look very long. On the bottom of the page, situated at the bottom right corner, a few more carefully characters had been written in basic ink. Her neat, business-like writing easily stood out, while his sloppy notes and crude penmanship commonly left something to be desired. Hardly intimated, Naruto glanced at the note, recognized the meaning without a problem:

Other side.

Kakashi's voice rang through his mind like a scolding mantra: "Ninja's read underneath the underneath, Naruto." It felt as if both the drawing and message were both trying to lecture him in union. Fighting the sigh that threatened to escape his lips—and hardly succeeding, Naruto flipped the rumpled paper over, held the sheet away so that his eyes could take in the entire thing. Previously hidden, she'd written the note from top to bottom in the appropriate kanji characters at the bottom of the page, structuring and designing the text so that even he would be able to understand it without much difficulty—even though he had no doubts that she could produce calligraphy with the best of them; part of her highly studious nature no doubt. Smoothing out the crumpled page, Naruto sat the edge of the bed and, ignoring the flush of heat in his cheeks, started to read.

Good Morning, Naruto.

I hope you've received this. Did you have a good sleep?

Sorry for the messy writing, but I'm in a bit of a hurry—parents and all.

I just thought I'd remind you that I'm still taking you out for dinner today.

Don't spoil your appetite.

Talk to you later.

(^^)

Haruno Sakura.

There was nothing else. Lowering the paper, Naruto felt most of the giddiness empty out of him. While it was the first time she'd ever written a personal note for him, it was pretty much what'd he expected to find. Messy writing? Yeah, right. That proved the note wasn't a ruse—only a girl would toss in something that redundantly modest, especially an intelligent one. Contrary to what people thought of him, he wasn't completely brainless. Opening the bottom shelf on his nightstand, he stuffed the note into the drinking cup and tucked it inside the drawer where it wouldn't be damaged, promptly closed it and sat back.

Well at least this finally put everything into perspective, made it all seem practical. Naruto had never met her parents, imagined that despite her training and abilities, they would have still certainly objected to having their only daughter staying out beyond all hours of the night. She'd probably gone home to save face, cover her tracks in a meticulous fashion. Sakura was incredibly astute and resourceful. If caught, she'd have easily figured out something to say that would have smoothed over any rocky predicament. Her self-reliance was a comfort he could take a measure of relief in…perhaps even more so now then ever. She would be—was okay.

Dinner though? His mind whirled back to that pivotal moment when she'd included that generous little tidbit. Almost murky sounding words, but they did ring a bit of a mental bell. He'd been tired then—far too tired to take anything she'd said then seriously, or at face value. Even now, Naruto seriously doubted that she would make good on a promise like that—especially when he'd remembered once hearing her personally say, bordering almost on blasé, that she was cheap. And with this deluge of rain underway—

He didn't want to see her.

"What the—?"

The proclamation stunned him like a sucker punch to the mouth; Naruto nearly retched at the absurdity of it. There wasn't a single day he didn't rush over to the designated meeting spot as fast as his feet could take him, with a large stone throbbing in the pit of his stomach, in the mightiest of hopes of Sakura being there alone so that he could say good morning to her exclusively without Sasuke being around to show him up like he always did (Naruto was almost always late anyways). In minds eye, he pictured himself in that same raging run, slowing down, starting to slow down, down, down until he was in but a simple leisurely walk. The scenario felt heavily flawed, totally out of place, absolutely absurd…but on the same token the stone in his gullet felt as if it had shrank half its normal size. Naruto tapped his finger against the smiley face that Sakura had drawn above her name, imagined it was really hers; a tiny smile, a wondrous grin, a puzzled frown, an irritated scowl—

"I don't…want to see her," he dubiously whispered in midst tap, half-expecting to feel a guilty twinge of disappointment at the open comment. Instead, the empathetic stone shrank all the more in mass, nervousness detaching from him like air in a balloon. He said it again, felt a little more of the tension running off of his shoulders. It still registered wrong through the eardrums, but having not felt this detached in some time; it was hard not to relish it just a little.

But did it brand him a coward?

His stomach started to churn in an unpleasant way again. Not long ago he'd sworn an oath on his very blood that he would not run from any threat, any person, or any challenge: large or small. And while he couldn't absolutely say for sure, Naruto seemed certain that that promise included teenage girls his own age. If only she wasn't so scary at times…

As he started to consider again with a clearer conscience, Naruto's lips slowly puckered into a determined thin line. No, he couldn't be sure that it was the right thing, and yes, he had every plausible reason to believe it was the wrong way to go about it, but what else could be done? The fact of the matter might have been childish and pointedly ambivalent, but it didn't change the fact that he didn't want to see her. Not today, perhaps not for a few days. Not until he'd uncovered and dismembered the festering root that had been so devastatingly effective in sprouting such grotesque, lifelike nightmares as of late. And if he ever wanted eight hours of undisturbed sleep again, it needed to be soon.

Which drew him back to the current conundrum—or rather two to be totally accurate: To take the threat of Sakura's unlikely visit seriously, and, if so…whether or not he wanted to be present for that at all. He had no illusions persuading him to think he could avoid her forever—she already knew most of his favorite hangout spots from select occasions where he'd been persuaded to flee from her a few times for his own personal safety (it wasn't his fault she wouldn't listen to reason)—nor did he want them either. He couldn't just start cutting the important people out of his life because of some convoluted, probably foolish trepidation chalked up to a ridiculous score of panic attacks. Naruto slapped an open hand against his thigh to further discriminate the point. That sounded a little too much like something Sasuke would have done had it been him sitting here.

Perhaps that's what drove him to leave in the first place. That, or else…

The dreams…they were catching up to him again. He shook his head, trying to block out the images that were trying to slip through the barriers he'd constructed with inept efficiency, filtering through his mindset like ravenous worms bent on devouring everything that held a shred of hope, leaving despondency as its dung. Naruto gnashed his teeth furiously, but to no avail; the pictures started to amplify, sharpen, then blur into a surreal picture, an overlapping déjà vu slideshow sequence:

Being trapped in the slimy innards of that giant hungry snake in the forest of death, its salivating muscles coiling and tightening around Naruto's thrashing body, ushering him further down its rancid gullet with piteously slowly determination, chillingly callous in its animalistic viciousness. Compressed far too tightly to perform even the most rudimentary of ninja tactics, the simultaneous sound of exploding muscles and crackling bones was hideously muffled in his liquid-filled ears as the snake effectively choked the life out of him, began to feed…

"That's not what happened," Naruto growled warningly, a soft but betraying tremor in the note of his voice giving away his apprehension. He'd killed that snake from the forest with a mass number of shadow clones—far too many for a snake, even one for its massive girth and proportion, to consume in entirety. But regardless of his assurances, the sequence continued without impediment, a dark tunnel channeling him from the belly of the snake into another deadly predicament—

He was sprawling on a wide branch, having just finished mounting an unsuccessful offensive against a nightmarish Gaara, who had now completed the metamorphosis into its full tailed form, was unrecognizable—a colossal mammoth of a beast. The untamed rage and psychotic fury that had gleamed so prominently in his then human eyes burned all the more brightly in his demonic gaze. Sasuke was lying directly across from him in another branch in a bruised heap. Off to Naruto's right, Sakura was firmly entrenched against the trunk of a tree, suspended by the sand-shaped hand Gaara had used for attacking in his transfigured state, slowly tightening and crushing against her with every minute spent. They were both in trouble—no, all three of them were in the thick of it. Trying to think on the fly, he had rallied himself for another assault against his destructive foe, felt something wrapping around the ankles, numerous flakes and pebbles of grayish sand encircled the rest of his sluggish body in several convolutions. His chakra supply, nearly exhausted from creating so many fighting clones earlier made conventional escape impossible—and so was he. Countless particles swept over him like a swarm of bees, engulfing him from head to toe. His eyesight was nearly impeded but he could make out Sasuke staggering to his feet shouting, a miniature figure in the distance. He'd never make it in time to do anything practical though—not in the weakened condition he was in. The sand was fortifying far too fast, tightening like some gritty, living suit, compressing him tightly; minerals rushing up his nasal cavity, down his throat, filling his stomach and lungs, choking him, killing—

Naruto shoved off and started to pace back and forth the room, kicking miscellaneous junk aside. "I defeated him," he muttered, giving strength to the contention while trying to anchor the facts, the truth. He'd been able to turn that impossible situation around by summoning the frog oyabun, Gamabunta, and had managed to stop Gaara dead in his tracks. He'd beaten him…so why was it so difficult picturing that end result in his mind. It should have been like fitting a puzzle piece into its proper niche—knowing full well that it was supposed to match perfectly, but a deformity in the design wasn't allowing it. And the harder he forced, the worst it just got. He couldn't understand it….

Just like he couldn't understand why Sasuke had killed him in the dream, and that he hadn't been able to save Sakura; the heavy feeling of powerlessness in both of those scenarios, no, in all of them—

Naruto planted his feet hard, crisscrossed his fingers. That absolutely did it for him! If his thoughts wanted to betray him so badly, he'd have to supersede them in another way. Once he'd conjured a clone, Naruto turned his right palm up and began the rigorous process of gathering chakra while the alert clone molded and shaped the glowing energy like a frenzied artist hard at work. He'd grimly deduced that one almost had to be in order to perform such a difficult attack. His hands had ached for days after grasping the proper know-how, and he still had a long ways to go before claiming mastery. Not nearly the case this time. With less difficulty then anticipated, the rasengan was successfully completed in a matter of seconds. Naruto grunted his thanks at the clone for the participation, received the same in turn from the clone who disappeared in a quick poof.

Alone again, Naruto stared at the compressed blue flux of gleaming spherical energy, enveloping the shadows and burning the darkness away with its clean radiance. It hummed and whistled in a fierce tempo, blowing materials and junk around like a miniature-sized version of a cyclone that was taking on a life of its own. The nipping of his skin was inconsequential next to the fidelity that he was not helpless, that he could use chakra when it was needed for his own needs and/or else to defend others. That in mind, he continued to maintain control for another minute, a slightly easier feat then trying to build the spiral jutsu. Once he was personally satisfied, Naruto allowed the energy to squelch and fall apart like a dry sand castle. Light quickly flickered, the winds faded, and the room was again cast in morning shadows.

Having realized that he was breathing hard Naruto's hand automatically went to his chest, as if expecting some invisible weight to cave his ribs in. He puffed his chest out slowly, experimentally, winced at the unexpected tenderness resulting from the seemingly innocent display. Considering he hadn't used the rasengan as of late, Naruto should have figured there'd still be some unpleasant aches to take into account. He'd heard all that "don't do this, don't do that" crap from the Hokage days ago, but to actually feel this sore at this point still was something he hadn't expected. He didn't regret it, though. Just like how the opposite sex had their seemingly universal methods of dealing with problems, so did the guys. Some of the measures were, sure, a little unorthodox, unrefined, but the disclosed, speedier yield made up for that. As for always being a good thing though—Naruto sighed at this—not always the case.

But he did feel better now, a great deal more like his old self again, and that was the important thing for now. He reached over and flicked up the main light switch, finally illuminating the entire room, which by now looked like a complete derelict. Naruto held no doubts that he was going to catch shit later for making such a ruckus. Ah well. Had to take the bad with the good…or was it the good with the bad? Whatever. They both probably meant the same thing. He'd get this place all tidied up today; give it a deep cleaning that was long overdue. That included washing all of the dirty clothes, the bed sheets, the pillowcases, as well as stuff from the kitchen, the bathroom and the living room. It was a big job but it gave him everything he needed to keep busy, occupied. It was what he needed now.

A familiar cramping feeling in his stomach abruptly grabbed Naruto's attention. Uh-oh. It looked like he was going to have to make a bit of a…withdrawal first before any sort of work could be started, no doubt a result from drinking that tea in the middle of the night. He could probably do with a splash of cold water across the eyes anyways, and his teeth needed a good brushing too. He'd strip the bedding after he was done, or after having some breakfast. Nobody was going to decide when, and if he wanted to eat. Straight up.

Naruto started to leave the room, paused at the doorway, took a partial glimpse inside the room, more specifically the bed. He remembered lying on his side, being on the verge of sleep, when he'd felt the unseen touch of her gaze against his back like a pinpoint of heat. For a few particular moments, he tried to picture himself as Sakura standing in the relatively same spot he was now, wondering what she had been thinking about in that brief period. He supposed it was about as important to her then as it was for him to try and guesstimate now, which it wasn't. And while Naruto still wasn't sure if he wanted to see her or not, he wasn't going to be chased out of his home either. Not by her, not by anyone. If she did happen to show up in the next while, then he'd welcome her just as he had last night. It was that plain and that simple.

But that still didn't erase his doubts, and nature was calling. Naruto shut the bedroom light off and walked up the hallway, leaving behind the other lamp—which had since toppled over on its side from the aftermath of the rasengan—to shed its light silently.

Situated on a rooftop adjacent from the back of the apartment, in a small, enclosed shelter placed off to the side for the purposes of causal reconnaissance and general spying, Pakkun was sleeping peacefully within the tiny dwelling, having been lulled under further by the present rainfall that pattered over the baggy cover of a protective tarp to give the hiding place an inconspicuous look, when his sharply honed sense of hearing slowly jostled him into a state of casual awareness.

Presently, he was supposed to be on watchdog duty. He'd been purposely summoned and given specific instructions from Kakashi to keep an eye on his unpredictable pupil for the duration of the week while he was away on duty. More so along the lines of a polite courtesy of appeasement then an order, Kakashi had been careful to explain about the newly appointed Hokage and how she had expressed certain concerns regarding Naruto and the newly implemented law she'd formulated stating that anyone caught or else suspected of trying to leave the village with the deliberate intent of pursuing Uchiha Sasuke would then be sentenced and punished accordingly in an appropriate befitting manner. Bureaucracy was of marginal value to the kid, but those concerned knew that Naruto—after careful explanation and needful logic—could be counted on not to be intransigent concerning the matter. And while the kid did seem reckless and pigheaded, Pakkun personally doubted that he was completely dumb. Kakashi wouldn't have placed such a stake on the whelp if that were so.

Well, he wouldn't be disappointed. There'd been little to report on this assignment. Soup and exercise, soup and exercise, soup and exercise; if the twerp wasn't trying to eat his weight in food, he was tirelessly burning it off in those crazy drills and calisthenics. His passion was understandable; one track perhaps, but understandable. Kakashi had already stated that despite warnings, the boy, rather then meditation, would probably dispel his frustrations through a physical approach. Typical brash young man; the sense of satisfaction was better met at the end of a clenched fist then the attempted undertaking of a complex math question that only a mentally endowed scholar could have solved.

Poking his head out, Pakkun ignored the cold drops and sniffed the air, trying to get a sense out of the barometric pressure. He gauged that the rain would probably cease and desist by the early afternoon, perhaps sooner if the winds remained constant. While the elements did make it difficult, Pakkun could still pick up his quarry's distinctive scent. While it was highly unlikely that Naruto would be up this early; it was hardly the end of the world if he was awake and about. Such circumstances were beyond his means of control. All he could do was report mission status, as instructed, and leave the dealing of lukewarm leniency up to the capacity of higher hands.

A drop of rain struck Pakkun square on the nose, caused him to sneeze. He might yet take a bite out of that kid's slacks for having to be out here in the first place given the chance, even if it was the last day on assignment. Rambunctious punks! Always making problems for others. A nap was in order! Tucking back inside, Pakkun stretched out his short legs and curled into his favorite sleeping arrangement, cradling his head purposefully so that he could peer out quickly if needed…even though it wasn't really needed. Kakashi had taken the foresight to place the shelter so that Naruto's entrance could be eyeballed in nearly a pinch. It saved a harrowing trip across the rooftop every time he wanted to look across whenever a door opened. Grumbling again at how excessively ridiculous this all seemed, Pakkun sniffed, started to take that nap…

…and sniffed again, purposely this time, frowned. There was…a something in the air, a subtle but particular whiff emanating amongst the watery mess—particular as in a pinpoint of exposed chakra, the scent becoming thicker as the density of it increased. He paused, listened. There was an equally strange noise, a low hum that seemed to slowly rise in pitch, one that seemed oddly familiar…

Pakkun snorted in annoyance. Maybe he ought to go and check up on that kid again. Naruto and strange occurrences did seem to go hand-in-hand. Pakkun reluctantly stood up and tottered back out into the storm, further renewing his vow that he was going to bite that kid square on the ass for having to be out in this slop. Tracking them was one thing, but he had better things to do then play sitter for injured teens—job or not.

That was up until he saw the strange blue light orbiting through Naruto's window.

On full alert now, Pakkun trotted across the saturated rooftop as fast as his short stubby legs would allow him all the way up to the edge of the building, never taking his eyes off the bizarre, almost spectral-looking sight across from him. He'd only taken his guard off the runt for a few moments and now he appeared to be burning his room down. The previous hum had quickly escalated into a full-blown roar along his sensitive eardrums. A human being—even without any ninja training for accentuating the five senses—would have been able to pick up the noise from this range fairly easily. Had one been standing here, they might also have been able to see bits of junk and cloth whirling and swirling behind the window like innocents caught in the eye of the hurricane.

"That kid…just what the hell is he doing in there?" Pakkun muttered more surprised then moody as he stood just behind the ledge, watching the scene unfold with a controlled sense of both awe and curiosity. There didn't appear to be anybody else in there with Naruto, no sign of threat or any danger that would substantiate this odd kind of activity. There'd been a little of that a few hours earlier: the light being on at what must have been two or three in the morning, those odd shouts—

But what had been really peculiar was seeing that pink haired girl—Kakashi's other student, and the one who used the same brand of shampoo as Pakkun did (why she'd thrown a fit about it, Pakkun would never know)—pacing back and forth on the lower walkway several times before finally deciding to make her presence known. Pakkun didn't claim to understand human behavior, had little interest in it; his best stab left him with the impression that she'd appeared indecisive, troubled, confused. The way she'd had her head down while walking up a trench, only to look up momentarily when the range of her pacing ceased in the direction leading to Naruto's apartment, seemed to indicate some internal battle of human sorts. About what, Pakkun couldn't say. Anyways, she wasn't there now. He'd seen her leave without an umbrella a couple hours ago. Crazy kid.

And so was this one—but it appeared that things were finally settling down in there. The exotic light maintained its luminance for a few seconds, flickered and gently died out like a depleting battery. A few belongings and other objects clattered or else crashed to the floor, and the room's light came on in another moment. Everything appeared quiet, normal—continued to remain that way after seconds of careful eavesdropping. The weird tempest had apparently passed over.

Temporarily.

Pakkun sat back on his hind legs, submitting to the urge of scratching behind his ears; his smattered blue cloak feeling uncomfortably tight around his small body. He was glad that today was the last one needing to be spent on this little foray. Catching time for a nap had been an unprofitable challenge and these random events didn't help at all. And Pakkun still couldn't shake the feeling that he'd heard that noise and seen that light somewhere else before. He'd have to ask Kakashi about that. Perhaps he'd been the one who'd taught him that…whatever it was. Or maybe it had been that crazy sage—Jiraiya who'd, who'd—

And then it hit him. The two names, those two particular names, were related, swirled and intermeshed into one single person, a person who, at one point, had played both the role of student (under Jiraiya) and teacher (above Kakashi): The Fourth Hokage. And the Fourth had a particularly unique technique: the ability to take chakra and meld it into a palm-sized maelstrom of offensive properties, capable of great destruction. Pakkun knew he'd seen it before.

Rasengan.

But…even if shown, even if explained, how was somebody that young capable of executing such a difficult maneuver—an A-class technique? There were difficulties involved, difficulties that a boy of that age wasn't astute enough to overcome without needed expertise in several branches. Though considering Naruto's abilities at improvising and thinking on the fly it seemed more then likely that he'd discovered some sort of shortcut enabling him to cobble together that sort of feat. It was…very impressive.

But that still didn't explain why Naruto had chosen to exhibit that particular skill this morning. He hadn't done so any of the other mornings, so why now? Pakkun supposed it wasn't all that vital in regards to mission status, but knowing the trigger point would have been slightly intriguing. Who knew, with adolescent, troublemaking kids these days? It could also be boredom setting in. Best not to worry about it and just leave things be. Wiggling and shaking his fur, Pakkun turned, started to trot back to the dry haven of his makeshift shelter, where he could get out of this mess, confident that things were returning to a state of normalcy.

And stopped, sniffed the air experimentally; caught wind of a brackish now-painfully familiar scent: Stale, sharp, and hideously aged; a narcotic odor, belonging to a brand of cigarettes sold at any local novelty shop in the village, and one that almost seem to cling to the building and its foundation like a demented spook, its foul strength coming and going with the hours of the day—and of the ornery coot who had the stomach for the blasted things to begin with. Always with a cigarette between his lips, Pakkun knew precisely who it was, had seen him walking around the complex a couple times fixing and tinkering with the odd item, or else indiscriminately and, quite comically, cursing and frivolously swearing over nothing and everything. This round didn't appear to be any exception from what could be distinguished vocally, and from what had been distinguished, Naruto was going to be in for a swift jolt to start the day off. Speaking of which—

"Seems like Naruto could be in for a visit," a mild-sounding voice spoke from behind

"It seems that way," Pakkun grunted without turning his head, suppressing his surprise well. There were exceptional ninja in the village, but only a very scant number of those could actually sneak up on him without detection. Having been momentarily distracted, it might have worked this time had he not picked up on the dissimilar splashes of water that amplified little by little with quiet proximity; unobtrusive, well-trained footsteps that stemmed out of necessary habit. The dog turned his head up. "Did you just get back?"

Hands predictably hitched in his pockets, Hatake Kakashi nodded acknowledgment. "Yeah, just under thirty minutes ago. I had to stop at the Hokage's office and file the usual paperwork," he said, his voice perfectly audible over the standard black wrap he wore over his face. "She was a little vague on some of the more important details again though." He chuckled without ill will. "Ah, well. I guess she's still trying to adjust to her new position. How's Naruto been? Any complications while I was away?"

Pakkun tossed his head in the near equivalent form of a human shrug. "Nothing that hasn't already been anticipated, no. Naruto's acted within the boundaries ascribed by the Hokage so far without deliberately or forcefully crossing them."

"Mm, so the stakeout was successfully pointless then. Good." Kakashi added, his tone a pleased one.

"Were you the one that taught him the rasengan technique?" Pakkun suddenly pressed bluntly.

Kakashi shook his head, a scant touch of sadness swirling in his visible eye. "Jiraiya-sama was the one who showed it to him when they went together to retrieve Tsunade-sama. Was this the one and only time he'd used it since he was released?" The uninhibited glow had apparently not escaped his attention either.

"This morning was the only time, yes," Pakkun answered, wondering just how long Kakashi had been standing behind him. "I never thought a kid like him possessed that sort of control."

"Naruto can be very innovative when he wants to be. While gathering energy, he uses a clone as the fulcrum to meld it all together. He's learned how to take the resources he has at his disposal and amalgamate them for different uses. His progress over the past few months' have been nothing short of outstanding," Kakashi spoke out of personal acclaim for his student. Deep in his heart though, he secretly wished he'd been the one to teach Naruto the rasengan instead of Jiraiya, but the famed author's appearance in the village lead Kakashi to believe that a meeting between Naruto and Jiraiya had been a prelude planted in the stars for some time. No doubt set into play by that of his own sensei… "Is that all?" Kakashi asked, pulling himself away from those reclusive memories.

"Not really—well…" Pakkun trailed off for a split moment, wondering if mentioning the little girl was initially all that important where the assignment was concerned. The task of deciphering adolescence went beyond his abilities, his scope of comprehension—and he preferred it that way. Sounds of a mild rampage had reached his ears, but from he'd seen and been told, those two together were a recipe for disaster in the making with Naruto doing most of the taste testing. Why she'd been there, Pakkun couldn't say.

But they were still Kakashi's students. Perhaps it was best he knew. "The girl—your other student—was here for a span," Pakkun spoke up, scratching at his ears. "Since late last night actually. I was just turning in when the little girl showed up. She didn't leave until a few hours ago this morning, meaning she had spent the night there unchaperoned." He looked up, saw Kakashi's brow furrowed in that of a mild frown. "I wasn't sure if a matter like that was important enough to bring to your attention," Pakkun added, unsure of to make of the older man's disposition; it was always hard to tell. "But I figured that—"

"I wonder if this has anything to do with what happened earlier," Pakkun heard Kakashi mumble to himself, something he rarely did in somebody else's presence.

"What's that?" Pakkun asked.

Kakashi shook himself. "When I was submitting my report earlier, Sakura walked into the Hokage's office unannounced and cordially requested to the Fifth that she be taken on as an apprentice. She eventually concurred, and I had to co-sign a permission sheet, permitting an exchange of authority for an unspecified period of time. Sakura is usually not empowered around authority and yet she was particularly adamant about being under the Hokage's tutelage, and I had wondered from where she'd gotten that kind of motivation." He smiled beneath his mask. "You having mentioned that makes it apparent now."

"It does?" Pakkun wondered dubiously, astonished. "How so?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Nothing that needs concern. Inspiration, individuality and self-discovery have started her down the path she believes will be of the most benefit to the people around her and society as a whole. Sakura will follow in what her heart knows as the truth. I have no shred of doubt in that. In the end…all three of them will have walked their respectably similar, but very different road towards the plateau of adulthood." Kakashi stilled, looked down at the iron guards on his gloves, voice becoming a whisper, "I had only hoped that things would have turned out differently…then how they have."

Pakkun could only helplessly stare as Kakashi receded into himself with renewed guilt. It was bitterly ironic, that no matter how talented, no matter of his list of accomplishments or how much he was revered, Pakkun knew that Kakashi would forever linger in his own personal hell, branding himself over and over again with the flames of failure. "You can't blame yourself for the rebellious actions made by Uchiha Sasuke, or from being unable to protect him from Orochimaru," Pakkun chided, almost out of repetitiveness. "Teaching him chidori doesn't diminish that in any way—it probably saved his life."

"Yeah, and almost got Naruto killed in the process," Kakashi added to himself sourly, unable to draw upon any comfort from Pakkun's words of encouragement. None of that changed the fact that Sasuke been under his charge, been his responsibility. He'd seen the changes that had been slowly coming over the boy, but had been slow to reason with him until the near disaster on the hospital roof that had pulled Sakura in the middle of the fracas. But it had already been too late for reasoning then. He wished Sasuke wasn't so vindictively detached in attaining retribution for the dead. It was such a painful reminder of what Kakashi had been like then, how'd he denounced his own father after he'd committed suicide and how he had refused to acknowledge the man's spirit for the longest time until incidents had convinced him otherwise.

But then Obito's presence shone strongly within Naruto now didn't it? Perhaps that alone was enough to balance the scales of fate, balance whatever mistakes had been made. Order though would have to come on its own accordance, in its own time. Kakashi simply prayed that things would work out in the end; they always did—one way or another. And just like his pupils, he also needed to accentuate his own abilities to new heights so that he'd be able to stand by and protect them in their time of need.

Kakashi yawned, realized from his philosophizing that the exertion earned via traveling on foot for most of the night was catching up to him. He'd been going almost non-stop since Orochimaru's attack on the village had significantly thinned out the defensive ranks, and was due for a few days of rest. Whether he'd get them or not was debatable, but he had been given today off and planned to spend a good portion of it in heavy slumber. A good thing since he was soaked to the bone now. Turning his gaze at Pakkun, who was still looking up at Kakashi with expectant eyes, he finally said what the dog had been waiting to hear: "Things appear to be stellar. Your job here is done, Pakkun. Time to leave."

Pakkun nodded, shook his body. "Good to hear. Are we leaving for another mission soon?"

Kakashi shook his head no, took one last glance over Naruto's apartment. Yes—everything did appear to be stellar. "Soon…but not today, Pakkun, and I need to get some sleep. Let's go home before certain people change their minds and decide that we're valuable." Adjusting his forehead band, Kakashi and company made tracks for the house.

Naruto had just finished using the toilet and was brushing his teeth when, over the sound of the fan, he heard someone knocking—pounding being more appropriate—on his door. "Ah, jeez," he growled, glaring first in the direction of the inflicted door and then the mirror, frothy toothpaste dripping down his chin, making wet plopping sounds on the bottom of the sink. Naruto watched as some of it got caught and taken away by the tap water opening running out of the faucet and down into the drain pipe. He wished his problems could escape that easily—

'KNOCK! KNOCK!'

Not willing to deviate from the present task, Naruto quickly and irritably shouted, "Just hold on!" It wasn't his fault if the person out there couldn't use a little common sense to grab an umbrella or bother to look out a window. Huffing out his annoyance Naruto hurriedly scrubbed the rest of his molars, spat out another gob of minted mess, drank some water, gargled and rinsed. At least he didn't feel so bunged up now. Grabbing his robe off the door, Naruto cinched it around his waist, and rushed out into the living room being careful not to slip and fall, immediately noticed that it had gotten a little warmer—and it wasn't just the extra padding of clothes. He put his foot over a nearby heat register, felt a pleasant gust of heated air caress the naked skin below his pant leg; the old furnace had sputtered to life sometime over the past few minutes. Good.

Now if that person out there would just quit trying to beat his door down, the morning might just go a little smoother. "All right, all right, just wait!" He must have gotten the visitor's attention because the rampant knocking subsided, but Naruto couldn't dally in that knowledge either. And if his instincts were on the button, then he already knew who was outside.

Hand on the knob; a habitual flicker of jitters caused his stomach to flutter like a child on Christmas morning. Bred out through a sudden abundance of hope and excitement, Naruto understood the cause of it enough to let the feeling extinguish under its own foolhardy accord. It was almost like taking a daily walk that wasn't complete without tripping over the same pothole in the middle of the road. A dot of sweat trailed a path down the side of his face.

"Quit rationalizing, dummy. Don't be an idiot—you know that isn't her."

Refusing to be goaded into senseless belligerence, Naruto quickly unlocked the door, began to say: "Good morning—oomph!" Before he could complete the greeting, a large laundry basket topped with a green towel was thrust in his hands. The motion was so quick and unexpected that it slipped past and caught him in the solar plexus, knocking the breath out of him and nearly bowled him over. "What's the…big idea, Oji-san?" Naruto wheezed, turning the light on and staggering out of the porch. That brand of cigarette was a dead giveaway.

"Hell do ya mean 'what's the big idea'?" a gruff voice argued. "A pregnant sea turtle could've answered that friggen door faster then what it just took you!" Pushing the release button to fold the umbrella back together, water sloshed on the bottom of padded sandals as a lean middle-aged man of average height wearing a rumpled brown coat and black slacks stomped inside without invitation. Sparse white patches of scraggly hair ran amok his furrowed scalp like overgrown snakes battling for superiority. Without a beard, several old cuts and scars—from his past service as an active ninja—blemished his narrow face and lumpish nose. A lit cigarette nearly worn down to the filter hung between his thin, disapproving lips. Playing the role of deliveryman didn't seem to suit his particular fancy any, even though he'd played that role on upon numerous occasions.

Getting his breath back Naruto lifted the towel off of the delivered basket; quickly identified several articles of repaired and washed clothing, including the extra blanket for his couch. A freshly baked cake on a tray pan kept underneath a plastic dome completed the care package. Warm to the touch, strings of condensation on the inside indicated that this had been taken out of the oven no more then minutes ago. A hesitant smile flickered across Naruto's mouth, a smile that did not escape the disgruntled owner's notice.

"Old hen's been on the go all morning," the landlord grumbled dejectedly. "Claims she has about a hundred things that have to get done today—" paused to snort, "—hundred things I didn't know needed to be done." He took a purposeful drag, slowly exhaled, flicked the butt out to the street to be trampled and assuredly soaked on. "I tell ya, kid, something 'bout this mushy weather just gets that cluck worked up in such a damned frenzy," he prattled on. "I wouldn't be kicking up a fuss if she weren't trying ta boot me outta the room while she's in one of her 'cleaning moods'." Vapor traces of nicotine-laced dioxide flickered out through his nasal passage, which quickly receded out the open space.

Naruto glanced at the older man listlessly. It was no secret that the landlord and his significant other shared a rather precarious relationship. Grandmotherly persona aside, Naruto knew that she—the landlady—spared little tolerance for her husband's roguish shenanigans. While he assumed the role of one who enjoyed tinkering and putting his mechanical ambitions to good use, she was the one who made sure that the bookkeeping was kept in order and that monthly payments for utilities arrived on time from the other inhabitants. That natural indifference drew them together into a sturdy, and at times strained, partnership.

"So what took ya so long answering the door?" he snooped with practiced persistence. "Were ya having complications of some sort, boy? Get raveled up in your bed sheets? Did I catch ya on the can?" He became apologetic. "I hate that too. Being detained while trying to perform morning duties—couldn't piss a man off anymore if ya tried, eh, boy?"

Naruto nodded weakly, didn't know how to respond.

Abruptly, the man placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Though retired and aged, inextricable strength continued to radiate within his sturdy structure. "Everything okay, boy?" he asked, suddenly concerned. "All the downstairs plumbing working like it's supposed ta be? Nothin' clogging up the works?" He shook his head. "You're just a mite young to be havin' those kind of problems. Ya might have to—"

"I'm—I'm fine!" Naruto quickly burst out, knowing exactly what he was referring to and suddenly desperate to end this conversation. "I was just…brushing my teeth. Why didn't you just use your own key if you needed to drop this stuff off so quickly?" he peevishly demanded.

The old landlord continued to frown at Naruto—then broke out into a toothy grin, having enjoyed seeing the turmoil growing on the young boy's face. "Ah, kid," he sighed dramatically, broke out into raspy laughter while reaching inside of his coat pocket for his smokes and lighter. "Ya sure do make a man's day. Putting up about as much of a fuss now as you did as a youngling when you'd accidentally wet the bed." His voice trailed off in a mutter as he lit the smoke, took a puff. "Didn't think you'd ever grow outta that phase." He grinned again, displaying a sharp set of crooked teeth, discolored from the effects of aging and present habits; habits that weren't about to be curbed anytime soon.

Still grumbling under his breath, Naruto took the basket over to the kitchen. That first meeting with the frog hermit had almost convinced him that he was a long lost relative of Oji-san's. While never actually meeting, he could easily picture them sitting together at a bar, smoking and conversing about days of past glory over a pitcher of warm sake. Two hot heads simmering together like that in the same time and place seemed like a recipe for disaster. Stuffing the cake into the fridge in its usual crevice, Naruto changed the subject, asked, "Oji-san, was the furnace broken again?" It had proven to deliver its share of problems in the past. Naruto heard a short cough, followed by a dismissive, not entirely unexpected, snort. He felt certain that if weren't for protesting tenants, Oji-san would have kept it turned off as means to shave an expense, gain a little revenue. Even on cold nights, a kotatsu would have provided ample enough heat. Nevertheless, a paying tenant still preferred options, especially for living in that of a gaudy apartment complex, much to the man's dismay.

"Already gotten a couple complaints," the man grumbled, wishing for the simplicity of good old days. "Flame went out. No heat or hot water. Had to relight the main burner to get things back on track." He listened for a moment, nodded his satisfaction. "Sounds like everything's back in place. Yep. Couldn't be running any smoother." He puffed out his chest in absolute bravado, instantly proud of himself. "An easy task for a man of my caliber. "

The electrically generated hum of the appliance dampened the impassive sigh that crept out of Naruto's mouth. Oji-san could easily play the role of braggart when desired. With that kind of confidence, it was a wonder he didn't tear the old building down and construct a new one just to proudly say he could still pull such a project off. With him, it was hard to say. Then again, a jack-of-all-trades wasn't really a master of any. Lingering on that thought, Naruto shut the fridge door and returned to the living room. "Oji-san, that's what you always say." He then looked at the space the old man was standing in, frowned. "If you're planning on sticking around for awhile, would you mind shutting the door at least?"

The man shrugged, flicked fresh ash out on the walkway and closed the door. "Figured the smell was botherin' ya. Anyways, the whole bit about the apartment is true," he blandly retorted. "A young mind with fresh ideals could never keep this building's heart beatin' the way I do. Professional expertise from a scarred veteran and the versed ability to improvise is the only thing that gets through ta her." He eyed Naruto up and down with a critical eye. "You might fit the bill, though, boy. Maybe when you're older, I'll take ya under my wing and show you a couple tricks o' the trade. Could always use a second man to help run this place."

"When I become the Hokage, I'll be too busy looking after the whole village let alone just one building," Naruto proclaimed proudly, shaking his fist proudly in the air.

Instead of being disappointed, the older man grinned at the kid's stout enthusiasm. He'd heard Naruto use that line hundreds of times in the past, and as repetitive as it should have sounded, he never got tired of hearing it. Pigheaded as the boy could be, he had no doubts that Naruto would make one hell of a Hokage someday. Provided he did some work on the height department and matured a little bit. Hence was the subject of his next question.

"Well, before ya get all high and mighty on me, boy, there's a couple things that you and I need ta discuss." He made sure that Naruto's attention was refocused on the upcoming topic before continuing. "I've been receiving some other complaints regarding the blistering level of noise pollution from this part of the apartment complex. I know it's you because yer the only one renting over in this section," the man added sternly, leaving no room to try and place blame on someone else. Youth was no excuse; the living situation demanded respect for the current residing. He'd been warned several times already to put a damper on the racket where personal exuberance was involved.

But if the owner had been expecting that disarming grin along with the complementary head scratching, he was going to be disappointed. Naruto's frown tingled with accusation. "Noises?" he asked, confused. He hadn't done any shouting, hadn't made any real commotion. "What noises are you talking about?"

The man folded his arms impassively, frowned in return. "That's what I'd like to know. Details of the hubbub conclude that somebody was doing some shouting after midnight. Might have been some scuffling too." His eyes narrowed with false scrutiny. "Any of that ring a bell for ya, boy?"

"After midnight…" Naruto mumbled disbelievingly, trying to mentally regress backwards into that time frame, figure out what he might have been doing those accused minutes. Really, when it came down to it, there was little to think about. He would have been in bed or else talking to Sakura. Where was the scuffling in those two scenarios? "I'm sorry, Oji-san, but I have no idea what you're talking about. Honest, I really don't," Naruto replied, trying to sound more honest then hopeful. Even he knew better then to act like that. "Are you sure you're not getting me confused with somebody else?"

The owner picked at the two-day growth of accumulated stubble on his chin. "I might be a lot of things, Naruto, but, contrary to everyone's belief, deaf ain't one of 'em—'lest not yet. No, little fellah. Somebody was exercising his or her vocal cords in a mighty unpleasant way, and at an hour they ought not be exercised. Especially for us older folks and…coming back to ya now?" he asked, the slip of inquisitiveness on Naruto's face not quite subtle enough to escape his watchful notice.

From Naruto's perspective, the change in expression wasn't meant to be secretive. While probably unintentional, the use of the word 'her' prompted Naruto to consider the possibility that Oji-san might be labeling Sakura and not him as the culprit. That seemed plausible, made more sense. Naruto jogged his memory along certain points when conversing would have taken place, where incident would have given cause for shouting and scuffling. It didn't take long. Two—no, one, only one scene stood out in the end. A seething Sakura stalking him from one side of the apartment to the other bellowing threats while he'd nearly torn the very floorboards apart to try and get away was a very sharp memory indeed. All because he'd felt inspired to create a little mischief. What in the world had he been thinking?

He hadn't, but he was a little smarter now. And yesterday was yesterday and today was today. He'd been fooled, taught a lesson, given a friendly warning, and it was last night. It meant nothing then, meant just as much now. "Leave it alone. Deal with the present."

"Oh!" Naruto snapped his fingers, pretended to remember something that had been of trivial consequence. "That was probably when I fell out of bed and landed on some of my gear," he hastily explained, pulling the back of his pajama top up so that the man could see for himself, hoping that some of the marks were still evident on his back. "I don't really remember making that kind of commotion but—" he beamed with a crooked grin, "—I was only half-awake at the time." He fortified the response with laughter to validate that claim. And he really hadn't lied…much. Unspecified questions didn't actually require specified answers.

The landlord hunkered over to get a casual look but found there wasn't very much to look at; save for a few spots of superficial redness. He almost felt like scolding the stupid kid for making a ruckus over what was looked to be little more then a couple of scratches. Maybe Naruto would finally learn to keep his living space tidier—

He frowned, studied Naruto's back again with slight interest. Almost as if being blotted out by an invisible cloth, the crimson glaze was readily disappearing at an exponential rate. Not really a surprise. Just like any of the other little cuts and scrapes he'd ever seen, this one would fade in very short time; as characteristic of the seal implemented by the Yondaime.

Yes, he knew all about the existing relationship that Naruto and Kyuubi shared just as well as the next villager did. He'd received his share of injuries that infamous day when him and the countless others had been fighting on the front line in a suicidal attempt to detain the hellish, invincible beast until suitable methods could be administered. There had been success, but the price had been high, devilishly so. It had taken bloodshed and suffering, claimed so many lives of the young and old, had nearly extinguished the fire and will of the village, and had taken the precious union shared between a young father and his newly born son to inspire the decision that had summoned a miracle; a miracle that had resulted in bringing a cataclysmic battle to its bitter culmination. The wizened old fighter had never been able to find the words to try and depict those last moments of heroism—even after a decade's grace…and he doubted that he ever would. The attempts always kept him awake and restless until the hours of morning. It irked the madam to no end.

Minato…he'd been a good leader—a good friend. He, along with his beloved wife, had been sorely missed—were missed. But they would forever live on as a reflection in the heart and mind of their boy. That was painfully noticeable…as continually demonstrated time and time again.

"Ya made all that noise…just because ya fell outta yer blasted bed, boy?" he grumped in feigned disappointment, continuing the argument for appearances sake. Even with Kyuubi mending the injury, there was still the issue of noise to contend with. He wasn't about to let the boy off the hook without a little harassment just yet. "Yer lucky ya didn't land on any of that ninja shit ya got in that pigsty mess you call a bedroom." The veteran slapped Naruto's back out of both impulse and easy irritation, stood up. "Be a good day for ya ta get a little housecleaning done, ya know," he suggested, an appropriate underlay of warning mixed in there.

"Yes, sir," Naruto replied, putting on a show of sulking. Not a difficult act to perform. He legitimately hated it when the conversation rolled around in this direction, and it always did with Oji-san. There seemed little point in arguing with him this time around though. Far simpler to accept the usual criticism and blame for a little disturbance that he'd helped cause and just quell the whole thing. Better that Sakura remain anonymous and not be lumped into this matter. Hell, the old man would be clamoring for some totally ridiculous investigation if he found out that there had been a girl here. "I'll also work on keeping…some of the uproar down," Naruto muttered as an afterthought.

This seemed to satisfy the owner. Busting out in guffaws, he reached out and slapped Naruto on the back again in a buddy-buddy way, nearly sending him sprawling. "Like trying to wash the sports off an ol' leopard—I'm not gonna hold my breath on that one, kid! It's a good thing you and I have the same kinda quirks or else I'd have to think of bumping yer rent up a couple of percentages ta cover the costs for putting together a second layer of insulation.

Lubricated by abrupt inspiration, the gears in his brain started to spin, an idea drawing on a life of its own. "Maybe if I appeal to that good-looking Hokage, she could have it set up ta be a D-rank assignment for a few aspiring pups that need a mission or two under their belts." He rewarded his optimistic approach for cheap labor with a deep drag and a self-congratulating smirk. "Think she'd go along with that?"

Rubbing his eyes, Naruto simulteniously shrugged and yawned. That was a bag of worms he wasn't about to reach into. "No harm in asking," he mumbled against his warm palms, feeling sleepy.

"Yeah," the old man replied dryly, a little disappointed at the boy's ho-hum response. Perceptive as always, he then asked, "Did I getcha outta bed, Naruto?"

Naruto lowered his hands to his hips; thought about putting the man through a guilt trip by falsely insinuating that his grogginess wouldn't be so evident if he'd visited at a more sensible hour (that did seem to be the norm with people lately). "I didn't sleep very well," Naruto answered instead, then hesitantly added, "Kinda had a…rough night. Kept tossing and turning."

"Tossing and turning, eh?" the landlord echoed slowly, fixing Naruto with a solicitous look. "You're not in any pain, are ya? No aches or maladies or anything? Do ya need to see a doctor?"

Surprised by the sudden life in compassion, Naruto bumbled quickly in reply, "No, no, I'm okay," dispersing the appearance of fatigue with a shake of his head. Unless it was absolutely life threatening, he wasn't spending another day in that hospital. "Everything's fine." He struggled to think of what baa-chan had prescribed. "I, um, probably just need some more sleep. It's nothing to worry about. Really." Naruto involuntary adjusted his stance, half expecting the swipe that would catch him between the shoulder blades like a friendly bolt of lightening.

It didn't happen. Whether it was self-conscious or apologetic, the older man opted to pat Naruto on the shoulder instead. "If ya say so, kid, but put yer gumption ta good use and soak them bones in the tub. Don't be deliberately puttin' strain on your body if it ain't needed yet, or else it'll take ya all that much longer to recuperate," he warned, trying to offer up some elementary advice on injury recovery he'd received many, many years ago. He had seen the kid moving around a few times the past few days and had pretty good idea of what he'd been up to. It didn't take a genius; he'd been that age once too.

"I'll do that," Naruto promised, accepting the advice with good grace while silently resolving not to get into a pointless debacle that might lead into a lecture. He'd never be rid of the man then. "Well, if that's everything, Oji-san…" Naruto started to say with the faintest of hopes.

"Hold up there, kid. There was something else I was gonna ask…" The old man frowned in concentration while Naruto felt his stomach churn in sudden flutters of caution. Oji-san was a noted early riser who liked having a cigarette first thing. Surely he hadn't seen—?

"Only trivial, but…dammit…can't remember what the hell it was now," he muttered, sourly annoyed that his short-term memory had failed him, which was happening more often then he preferred. Seemed these days; the only useful thing that ever benefited from the effects of aging were the relics of liquor he'd taken great cares to hide away so to ferment without disturbance. While the description was a little off, the saying 'age before beauty' definitely fit the bill in that sublime context.

Apparently preoccupied with something else, Naruto relaxed a little while straining not to appear so. For an age of sixty-seven—give or take—the geezer still possessed a rather sharp mind for the most part, along with that innate ability to read people; no doubt cultivated under darker times. If it'd been in the cards, he probably could have prospered as a smooth talking salesman. "Ah, it's just one of those mornings," Naruto affirmed casually, practically ascribing to that of his own. "I'm sure you'll remember it—whatever it is—later when you least expect it."

"Oh, I reckon yer right about that," he answered in full agreement, taking a sudden interest at something on the far wall, "but I ain't about to make that foray, and I think it's about time I took my leave." He finished with his second cigarette and flicked it out to join its fallen comrade. "Gotta keep the cogs greased. Just stopped by to drop off yer stuff and ta see how you were doing." He then jerked a thumb towards the hallway. "But, ya mind what I told ya and get a good dose of bed rest," he said, swiftly assuming the role of someone who'd spent nearly a lifetime declaring arbitration in numerous quarrels.

"Sure, sure," Naruto muttered, unaffected by the heedful warning. He'd already stated that he wasn't going to overly exert himself today. What more did the man want—a written agreement? Signed? Dream on. "Um, could you please thank Oba-san for me?" Naruto suddenly asked, then quickly added, "And please tell her I'll come by to see her either later today or tomorrow sometime, okay?" Remembering his torn up jumpsuit, he said, "Um, I actually have some clothes that are pretty ripped up right now, and I was hoping she could fix them up if she wasn't busy later."

"Sure, kid. Stop on by later and drop 'em off. She'd probably like ya ta visit sometime today anyways." Gathering his umbrella, the landlord made a 'phew' sound. "Starting to get humid in here. Ya might wanna consider turning down your thermostat so ta let things even out." He reached inside another pocket for a handkerchief he normally kept in reserve, fractionally frowned. He'd found it; but there was something else there too. Smooth and thin and narrow, cylinder-shaped? His curiosity was instantly prickled and he started to pull it out in tandem with the handkerchief, wondering if it was a package of stimulant pills or an old lighter. It'd gotten about two thirds of the way out of his pocket when, seeing the first few written characters and its distinctive color, his mind did a sudden flip. This wasn't a lighter; but a—

"Well, I'm going back to bed then, Oji-san," Naruto announced in a yawn, taking no suspicion in the old man's shift of countenance or actions as he took a few steps back, wanting to conclude this visit. "I'm sure you're real busy with a lot of other stuff and I wouldn't want to take up any more of your time." Naruto tried to sound sympathetic but the toothy, obtuse smile that he copied hardly nullified the comment, and it wasn't meant to either. "I'll just go and get Oba-san's plate for you," he said, starting for the kitchen.

"Sure, kid—oh, say, kid. While I'm here, there was something I wanted to ask ya about. Nothing major, but I was wondering if you might know anything about," the landlord proposed casually.

Naruto glanced over his shoulder. "What's that, Oji-san?" he cheerfully asked without the slightest hesitation.

The old man glanced at the umbrella in his hands, looked over at the wall where the couch he'd given Naruto was stacked against. "Ya wouldn't happen ta know anything about a…certain young girl, would ya?"

Naruto froze in mid-step. Uh oh. "A-a girl you said?" he replied, trying and unable to keep the betraying quiver of suspicion from his voice.

Oji-san scratched the back of his itchy neck with his free hand. "Yeah. I was outside having myself an early morning smoke, when a young lady with real bright pink hair—about yer age—darted by. It was strange 'cause I know every face here and fro but I didn't recognize hers. She looked ta be coming from this direction—" he made a pointing gesture behind himself, "—which was also weird since nobody here has kids, and yer the youngest client I've got residing. I even asked the old battleaxe if she knew anything about it but she said no which makes it even stranger." He folded his arms and chuckled. "That little lady must have had something real important to do this morning, with the way she was movin'. Didn't have an umbrella and wasn't wearing no raincoat or nothin'. Be a real shame if she caught cold."

"Um…oh…yeah," Naruto's words locked within his constraining throat. His breath had practically frozen in his lungs once the mention of hair color had come into conversation. He didn't know what to say. He felt like an absolute clod. "What, what time did you see her at?"

Taking little notice of Naruto's hesitance, the landlord replied, "Oh, real early. Around the five-thirty mark or so would mark it pretty close. It ain't very often I see somebody that young runnin' around at such an early hour which is what really surprised me," he said, scratching the itchy stubble on his face, snickered. "Seemed like a real spiffy looker for a youngin'. Given a couple more years to fill out in all the right spots, she'll be battin' the boys away with a sharp stick," he cackled.

Naruto scowled sharply at the old man, more so for his lewd comments then for mentioning Sakura personally. "I really don't wanna hear about your pedophile fantasies, Oji-san," Naruto put in frostily, dodging the retaliatory, amiable salvo of swipes the old man sent his way, which was a normal exchange of events between the two. "Why'd you wanna know about some girl anyways?"

The landlord continued his assault until landing a strike successfully. "Ya little smart mouth!" the man scolded as he reached inside his pocket. "Reason why I wanted ta know was because she dropped this on the steps when she was makin' her grand exit, ya see," he explained, pulling the object free and showing the boy so that he could look at it for himself. As expected, Naruto took the pen, made a closer inspection.

First glance showed that it was a simple writing utensil—a blue-colored fountain pen that had seen its share of action from extensive writing and finger-use, slightly creased in places; definitely a pen that catered to a woman of letters. He'd seen that particular pen in use on several occasions, and on those several occasions tried to emulate her rapid strokes and swift neatness on assignments with his own shameless, sloppy penmanship. Any attempts at copying her answers had always, always, proven to be unsuccessful and, or disastrous. Usually it was both. A second closer look showed the small, discerning characters written along the length of the pen as an inscription.

"Live a life of love…" Naruto mumbled, reading the short string of words discouragingly, tapping it against his thumbnail. "Aw, jeez. Why'd Sakura-chan have to go and drop this?" He huffed, stuffed the pen in his pocket, and moaned out a grumpy sigh. "It just doesn't end! She's never gonna leave me alone now! Why does she have to go and take this stupid pen with her everywhere she goes?!"

"No idea, sonny boy. Probably 'bout the same reason you were carrying around those damned goggles around for the longest time," the landlord interjected, tapping him square on the forehead. "Ya conjure that pretty name off the top of your head, or were ya just makin' up fabrications and hopin' that I wouldn't be the wiser?"

Naruto shook his head, looked away. "I really don't wanna talk about it, Oji-san," he said, a guarded expression on his face. "We're on the same squad, her and I. All she did was come over for a visit and that's all. I didn't say anything because you'd just go and make a big deal out it."

The landlord leaned against the door, arms crossed, a grownup-looking frown consuming his features. "That ain't the point, boy. The fact o' the matter is that yer a minor livin' in a bachelor pad; ya can't just be invitin' young women over whenever ya feel like it. It's against the damned rules. Old lady would be kickin' up one hell of a fuss if she found out you was doin' that," he explained, his rough accent taking on a fatherly edge.

"But…but I didn't invite her over. She came over on her own," Naruto sputtered, his temper quickly seizing hold of him, driving him into annoyance. "Wha…what was I supposed to do? Ignore her and not let her in?" He felt like this was nothing more then a rehashing of the inner diatribe he'd had with his own personal contentions. Having reached a sense of temporary acceptance, Naruto felt more then a little reluctant to touch base with this debacle. His querying eyes seeking pensive justification amongst the owner's authoritarian visage.

The older man continued to stare at Naruto carefully, sizing him up as if there'd made some miraculous change made overnight and was merely trying to assimilate that into what he knew already. He stared…until his lip twitched and he burst out laughing.

"What…what's so funny?" Naruto demanded, taken back by the sudden change in mood, his fists raised in preparation for another assault. He was always unpredictable like that.

The codger slapped rowdily at his knees with his palms. "Ah, kid, kid, kid," he said in between chuckles, shaking his head. "Ya sure do know how to make a guy's day, even when the intent is or ain't there." He sighed, wiped at his eyes with the ratty old handkerchief. "Boy, if yer face turned any redder I'd have to think about tossing a pail of water on you 'case ya burst into flames. Ought to just stick to honesty in the first place; yer a terrible liar."

Naruto stared, a baffled expression on his face. "I still don't…wait a second." Naruto looked at him again, comprehension flooded his eyes. "You know her?"

Oji-san smiled. "Course I do. Who do ya think it was that tipped the little lady off when she came by ta see ya the first time around?"

"First time…?" Naruto asked.

"Yep," he replied, putting the cloth back in his pocket and pulling out his cigs, a distant look on his face. "Came by about a week ago, askin' if you were around and which room you were stayin' in. I told her that I hadn't seen ya walk in yet, but that you'd probably be back in a little while. She was real nice and polite about it, said thanks and that she'd wait for you outside." He looked at Naruto. "Ya ever meet up with her?"

Naruto nodded, knowing now what he was talking about. "Yeah, I did," he said, relaxing a little and feeling stupid for trying to play stupid to start with. "She, um, wanted to go out on a date, talk about some stuff that had been going on lately. Most of it had to do with Sasuke and that bastard, Orochimaru, but part of it was stuff I already knew, and she wasn't all that hungry to begin with…so it wasn't all that much of a date."

"Sasuke?" Ya mean the Uchiha prodigy child on your team that yer always swearing about under yer breath? Weren't that the day he left?"

Naruto tried not to roll his eyes, even though it was true. "Yeah. I wanted to walk Sakura-chan home that night, but she said that she had something important to do, said she that she'd be okay. But she must have known that Sasuke was leaving then." He looked as if he was about to add something more…but then shrugged. "Guess it doesn't really matter now."

"That the reason she came over last night?"

Naruto nodded in reply, the old man's candidness not bothering him like it tended to. "I saw her when I was coming home from the training grounds'. Stopped to talk to her for a bit since she seemed lonely and was…also sorta crying." He chuckled at himself, rubbed his mop of hair. "But I figured she'd just tell me to screw off like she usually does after a while, so I just kept the conversation short and didn't try to wear out my welcome or anything. She, um, gets a little temperamental. "

Oji-san tossed his head back and laughed. "Yeah, most women usually are a little peppy under the collar; 'specially the pretty ones. Ain't a hell of a lot you can do there 'cept to give 'em their space so's they cool down. Wouldn't hold yer breath on your girlfriend's personality ever changin' in the long run either," he said using waggling his pinky finger purposefully, wanting to see the kid's bashful smile again.

He was going to be disappointed. Naruto smiled unenthusiastically, looking downcast. "Sakura-chan's not my girlfriend, Oji-san. Just a friend," he said, an undertone of annoyance or dejection in the response. "She doesn't even like me, sir. Sakura just thinks I'm dumb and annoying like most other people do."

"Well with the way ya carry on with yer practical jokes, ain't like ya got that much room to be surprised. There really ain't much benefit to bein' the village ass." the older man chastised him, which was a waste of words on both of their behalf. They'd had this argument several times before.

"It beats being ignored," Naruto shot back, his answer predictable as it was used the same several times before in defense. "It doesn't matter all that much, anyways. She already has a thing for another guy, and he's not even here anymore," he grumbled disconsolately.

"Ya mean yer friend Sasuke," Oji-san corrected, beaming with a crooked grin. "Is that jealousy I'm hearing outta you?" he teased, knowing how pissed off he got when he was teased.

Naruto's face fell—and not in that blown up flabbergasted way that the old man had been hoping for either. He hadn't been paying much attention to the boy's body language, but he could almost now tell there was something unsettled looking in his eyes. It was as if a mask he'd been wearing was beginning to show signs of dilapidation from overexposure to specific variables. Needing sleep? Hell. It almost looked like he'd went and pulled a friggen all-nighter. The parental side of him was almost demanding that he step in, take the boy aside and flat out ask him what was going on with him. He'd never been one to circle the point and wasn't about to change now. And while it was easy to play the role of parent when him and the missus had never had the chance to do so earlier in their lives, he knew that the boy would never truly be theirs. The only line that would ever bring them together was that of their present roles: tenant and landowners. He only hoped that the boy knew that there weren't any barriers when it came to communication, that there would always be somebody around to lend an ear when he needed it.

But a lecture now didn't appear to be of any benefit. Oji-san knew from first hand experience that the boy could only be pushed so far before he would either clam up or issue a war of frenzied words—a trait he'd picked up more so from his mother's side then that of his father. Seemed like people from the land of the whirlpool were a touchy lot, and the boy did treasure his individualism. He frowned thoughtfully, glanced at the cigarettes in his hand, sighed quietly. No, it wasn't his place to say anything, and it wasn't often that the boy confided in him either. Naruto would have to pick his own time and place where that was concerned. Especially if it concerned this young lady—and he was almost certain that it did. Acting on a gamble, the landlord broke the silence. "Well, sonny boy. Much as I'd like ta stick around and shoot the breeze with ya, I got things I gotta get doing."

Naruto broke out of his funk, surprise in his eyes. "You're leaving?"

"Course." He tugged free another cigarette. "A busy man like me ain't got time to be lollygagging, not when there's work to be done. And you look like ya need a strong dose o' beauty sleep ta boot," he said with a friendly wink. "Bring that there plate over later whenever ya find it convenient," he added, pointing at the kitchen. "The missus doesn't exactly need another one of the damned things to plop more of her pastries on. If ya feel up to it, come by later and visit; she'll probably fix ya up something for dinner." He eyed up Naruto. "Alright?"

"Yeah…sure," Naruto replied hesitantly, a strange glow in his eyes. As if a light had suddenly turned itself on.

"Alright," Oji-san repeated straightening up, taking no apparent note of Naruto's change. "I guess I'll see ya around then." He opened the door and turned, began to step outside—

"Um, Oji-san?"

The man paused, looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, kid?"

Realizing that he'd unconsciously brandished his hand like some panicked child, Naruto quickly lowered it in mute embarrassment. He hated asking Oji-san for help for anything because it never came without the quintessential pint of wrangling verbiage. It seemed like there always had to be that present strand of string attached as symbolizing that the elderly man was bending over backwards for the troublemaking kid. And it didn't help that the geezer got such a rise out of the whole thing; like a bored king being entertained by a court jester.

And yet, behind all of that, the opportunity remained as golden as ever. Standing before him was a man that had been married for a number of decades and would likely remain that way until death did them part. He'd seen his share of ups and downs, had all the experience in and off the battlefield; and was a veteran of both war and life. He had to have picked up a few significant pointers about the opposite sex over the years that would merit some sort of beneficial use in his own situation with Sakura-chan. Surely there had to be some words of wisdom that he wouldn't mind sharing. While the likelihood didn't seem plausible, the shot was about as good as any. To waste such an opportunity… "How long have you been married, Oji-san?"

Oji-san quickly frowned. "Far too long for muh personal tastes'. Should have traded her in for a newer model a while ago."

Naruto glowered. "Oji-san…."

He waved his hand. "Settle down, sonny boy. The missus and me have been together for around, oh…forty-six years." He nodded confidently at the estimate. "Something relatin' along those lines anyways. Why all the interest?"

Naruto sighed, an almost painful-like sound. Why bother mincing words. "Oji-san…I need s-some advice…a-about, uh, women," he muttered, deliberately averting his eyes before the last word was even out of his mouth.

"Women?!" The landlord delivered the retort with such deliberate snappishness that Naruto visibly flinched from the weight of it. "What in the hell do ya wanna know about women for, ya crazy kid? Don't ya know nothing good ever comes out of mingling with dames'?" He slapped a hand against his forehead. "Tell me you ain't goin' soft in the head or somethin'?"

Face turning scarlet, Naruto shoved his hands deep within the warm pockets provided. "I'm starting to think so, yeah," he spoke softly, almost uncharacteristically so. "I just, um, figured…since you and Oba-san have been together for so long that, well, maybe you'd be able too…" He looked away, seemingly out of words.

"At ease, kid, I was only razing you," he said, lowering his hand, swore suddenly. He'd broken his cigarette in the midst of that little stunt. Not quite torn but bent enough that it was made unusable. "Damn thing was wet, anyways," he grumbled disgustedly in an attempt to salvage his wit. He tossed it out the door. "Guess that didn't work out like I thought it would. So what's goin' on, Naruto?"

Naruto glanced back. "Actually…it's—"

"—Don't tell me it ain't nothing when it's something," the landlord cut him off firmly, determined to maintain the advantage without resorting to flat-out prying. "Now, you've had your skivvies in a knot ever since I got here and it's obviously, from the look on yer silly face, startin' to put a bit of a pinch on those kidneys of yers." He frowned good- naturedly. "What's bothering ya, kid? You and that little lady havin' problems or somethin'?"

Naruto looked at him, swallowed visibly, his hands still hidden. "No. Not Sakura-chan anyways. She's pretty much fine. It's just…it's me. I'm the one who's having problems. I, uh, haven't been sleeping all that great lately. These really bad dreams I've been having—they've been keeping me up lately…but it seemed like they got worse when Sakura-chan was here and I don't really know why, and…and that sounds stupid, doesn't it?" Abruptly, he tossed his hand as if he were throwing aside a piece of scrap. "Actually, you know, it's really not all that important anyways. Shouldn't have even mentioned it to begin with," he said, putting far too much effort into sounding chipper about the whole matter while poking his fingers together, almost as if he were ready to demolish some pimple. "It's probably just from overeating at nights or too much spices in the soups or—"

"That's all well and good, kid," the old man interrupted, rubbing at his knees, "but I think you and I know that gut ache ain't the problem, so I'll tell ya what's what: This sloppin' mess makes misery outta my knees somethin' fierce—can't handle the change in weather, so what I'm gonna do is go sit down on yer couch, have myself a smoke and relax for, say, ten minutes," he explained, drawing up a different measure of protocol that would either make or break this nonsense. "That's more then enough time for you ta brew up a pot o' bean tea and maybe gather up yer thoughts. You go and do that, and I'll be more then happy to hear you out when ya get back for as long as ya needs to." Kicking off his shoes and standing the umbrella against the wall, the old man performed his actions exactly he'd described them: walking over to the couch and sitting in what he deemed his seat while simulteniously pulling out his cigarettes. He offered no additional instructions and issued no warning looks to expedite the situation. All he did was simply sit there, offering a window of opportunity should Naruto capitalize on it. Issuing an ultimatum wasn't really that deep where psychology was concerned but it would do a fine job of speeding up the conundrum that seemed to be affecting Naruto. He'd made a bungled attempt at speaking his mind a minute ago, but whether it was that heedless age of not wanting to subject to experienced erudition interfering or simply out of a state of nervousness—he couldn't say, although the latter appeared to fit the scene. And while Naruto might not be cajoled so easily verbally, exerting a little bit of pressure on him in the right way might just prove to work wonders. "Wait and see," he inwardly persuaded himself. The diamond merely needed to be trimmed, not shattered.

The wait was brief. Walking into the kitchen—seemingly choosing his path to proceed—Naruto took only a few minutes to prepare the landlord's favorite concoction: extra strong coffee. It was a simple drink to make and one that the old man had requested on past visits. Taking the brewing pot and grabbing two cups he walked back to the living room, handed one to Oji-san—who was smoking another cigarette, proceeded to fill his cup.

"Thanks, kid," the old man said, blowing steam off of the rim of the cup and taking a measured sip, grunting his approval. "Ah, terrific. Jus' perfect for these rainy days. Exactly what a workin' man needs."

Naruto poured himself half a cup. "Thought you said I didn't make very good bean tea," he reminded.

Oji-san shrugged. "Ya must be getting better at makin' it then. Pretty hard ta screw up makin' bean tea, though," he said while reaching over and butting out his cigarette in an empty ramen container dubbing as an ashtray. "Good thing yer plannin' on tidying this place up. That little lady probably took to the hills after seeing this here disaster," he added in a critiquing tone, gesturing with his right arm. The coffee table was littered with confetti, discarded food packages, and ninja paraphernalia.

Sitting down on the other end of the couch, Naruto didn't feel all that inclined to agree. "She wouldn't care. Besides, it's not her mess to worry about anyways," he said, giving the table a hard nudge with his foot. Some of its contents fell to the floor. Naruto sipped his drink.

The old man looked over, considered making a crack about how coffee stunts a person's growth and that he probably needed all the growth he could muster if he was ever going to be promoted from pipsqueak to giant, but thought better of it. Naruto was perturbed as it was and it definitely seemed like there was something going on upstairs. Pissing the kid off would just make matters worse and create even more alienation. Hell, he probably shouldn't have even brought up the untidiness bit again either. It was just something that came naturally in conversations. The coffee had been specifically made for a reason. He definitely needed to phrase his words a little better and use a stronger sense of tact if this was going to come off a successful discussion between men, especially when it concerned Naruto's feelings. "Y'know, kid," Oji-san murmured contemplatively. "Goin' back to what you were sayin' earlier—I'm not sure if ya know this or not but when it comes to women, us men folk have ta bare down and look out for ourselves and each other when we needs too."

Naruto glanced over, wearily wondering what new angle was going to be played here. "How do you figure that?"

"There ain't anything ta figure out, boy," Oji-san explained, putting it all on the table. "That there is just a common rule between male kinship, and it's existed since the dawn o' time. Basically, it just means that us guys can confide to one another whenever women are getting us down about their problems or whatever the hell it might be—especially women. But that's something ya gotta keep ta yerself, because women seem ta have big ears when they know we're talkin' about 'em. It's very hush-hush deal. Can't have 'em thinkin' we're, we're…" he rapidly snapped his fingers, struggled to think of a word, "sissy-footin'."

"Sissy-footing?" Naruto asked in a speculative tone. He'd never heard that word/term before.

"Yeah, sissy-footin'," The landlord grumbled at first, seemingly ashamed to have said it to start with, then began to chuckle after a few seconds. "The words don't sound very friggen manly, but ya get the general picture."

"Yeah," Naruto replied, involuntary chuckling at the sound of the other's infectious laughter, his stomach muscles unraveling a little. He knew that Oji-san was trying to cheer him up to the best of his ability, was trying to tell him that it was okay to open up without worrying that his pride would take a beating. He also felt pretty sure that the term 'sissy-footing' was a girly term for the phrase 'beating around the bush', and no person in there right frame of mind would want to be labeled with that sort of tagline; sure as hell not him. Naruto slumped back against the cushion, sighed expansively. Not him…

These actions didn't go unnoticed by Oji-san. "Kid?"

"She's giving me nightmares, Oji-san," he answered in a tired mumble, his head resting against the cushion, eyes closed in resignation, lip twisted. "I dunno any other way to put it except like that."

"She? Ya mean that pretty little lady?" Oji-san clarified. "That who yer talkin' about?"

Naruto nodded. "Sakura-chan, yeah."

"You was alluding ta something like that earlier too," Oji-san reminded Naruto. "Ya figured yer pretty friend was the one causing a bit o' grief. That what ya said?"

Naruto bobbed his head again, his manner despondent. "That's what I said, yeah. I know it sounds stupid but it really is the truth. From the time I went to bed until I got up this morning, I was having the worst of dreams. I mean, I had a few already this week, but nothing near as bad like this. Almost makes me wonder if she was using genjutsu or somethin' like that on me," he grumped.

Oji-san laughed a little. "Yer a paranoid little fellah, ain't cha? Anyone ever tell ya that? Ya honestly think somebody would wanna take the liberty of playin' with that almond-shaped brain of yers? Sounds a little elaborate, don't ya think?" He leaned forward, rubbed the back of his neck as if some old memory was trying to surface and he was trying to push it back down. "Then again, that genjutsu crap is getting ta be a hot commodity these days. Even the old bat was pretty good with that mental projection stuff back in her younger years."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly. "Oba-san?"

The old man waved his hand. "Yeah, but we're talkin' some time ago. Almost wish she wasn't so sharp mentally on both sides of the spectrum, but that's life. Anyways," he spoke a little loudly to change the subject, "I really doubt anyone would go to the trouble of weaving a mental puzzle for yer own displeasure? Especially a young lady like that, don't ya think?"

He watched as Naruto absently nodded, a faint look of hope flickering across his youthful features—only briefly. Even with its unparalleled logic, Oji-san could tell that Naruto was having a hard time buying it, maybe wouldn't even accept it. He took the pot of coffee, figured that he was going to have to openly delve a bit in order to figure this scenario out. "How 'bout we go and switch gears here a bit," he said slowly, going and pouring himself another cup. "For the sake of humoring an old man's curiosity, what about if ya went and told me a wee bit about yer lady friend—how ya came to know her and all that stuff? That way ya might get a few things off yer chest."

Naruto would have wagered that that last part was just a weak afterthought on Oji-san's part—and he was pretty well just a snoopy old man who loved sticking his nose in other people's business to begin with. The rotten thing was that Oji-san probably knew that Naruto knew that they both knew. Having put that together on his own, Naruto wondered if he wasn't getting just a little smarter after all of this time. He looked over, seen that easygoing smile on the landlord's face that almost made him want to pick a fight for every and no apparent reason; knew that the geezer wasn't going to let him slink out of this now, even if he wanted. Putting his cup on the table, relaxing in his seat, hands in his pockets as a mature gesture—his right wrapped around Sakura's pen—, Naruto cleared his throat and began to speak.

Sipping his coffee leisurely, the landlord listened intently as Naruto—slowly but with increasing confidence—talked in amazingly unordinary detail about his friend Sakura, starting from their first meeting as young children where she'd pretty well taken and bludgeoned him with her then tiny fists up until the present whereas, much to Oji-san's delight, the scenario hadn't apparently changed much over the span of time; so to of her hot and cold personality. It reminded him too much of his own excursions with his significant other. He was pretty sure that Naruto had talked about Sakura before in a quick pitch, was almost certain of it now.

Naruto also spoke candidly about her characteristics: how pretty she was, about how knowledgeable she was in a multitude of areas, how she was also considered one of the smartest students in their entire graduating class. It seemed like he couldn't do anything except accentuate all the good qualities about her—hardly unusual behavior for a young adolescent male these days. Naruto nattered on and on in the same vein for a few minutes, seemingly trying to dig out everything he knew about her from the top of his head. It wasn't until the talking revolved around Sasuke and Sakura's ongoing pursuit with him that Naruto grew apprehensive, somber. He then proceeded to talk about how she always agreed with him about everything, how Sasuke would turn around and treat her with such dispassion and disinterest a lot of the time while this did nothing but add fuel to her ambitions, making her all the more inclined to believe anything Sasuke had to say. He didn't sound completely peeved but his disposition and tone of unhappiness wasn't hard to miss either. Naruto then proceeded to summarize the majority of their missions together in a quick overview starting out with that of their earlier missions up until Uchiha Sasuke had taken his leave which was now days ago. Though it was enlightening to hear about Naruto's progress, the information there was overly superfluous—he'd already heard most of it through past brushes in bits and pieces anyways. He maintained a vigilant silence as Naruto talked about his week, about how he'd been in bed trying to sleep when Sakura had knocked on his door at the most peculiar hour in a total emotional wreck. Hearing him talk about the whirlwind escapade, the landlord could understand why Naruto felt such a need to explain the whole thing in such a circuitous manner in order to reach the crux of his confusion. Oji-san was able to formulate a fairly keen perspective on their unique little triangle by the time everything was finally said and done. "Call me crazy, kid," he finally spoke, "but any young lady who opts ta stay the night at a guy's place she claims not ta like don't exactly strike me as a matter of dislike."

The comment warranted a scowl. "Wish you'd quit saying it like that," Naruto grumbled. "It was raining too hard for Sakura-chan to walk home then, and neither one of us wanted the other person to take the couch. I dunno why she made such a big deal over it in the first place."

Oji-san grinned. "Afraid of the lightening? Maybe she wanted ta snuggle up with ya?"

Naruto whirled his head in shock, nearly spilling his coffee. "O-Oji-san!"

He put up his hands in mock surrender. "Take it easy, kid! Don't get uppity now! How d'ya know it ain't the truth?"

"Because it isn't," Naruto shot back. "I already told you that she likes Sasuke. Sakura-chan doesn't like me in any way—especially that way."

"I still find that hard ta believe. Ya actually hear her say that to ya?" Oji-san asked.

"Sure did! One time I used 'henge' to transform into Sasuke so that I could see how she really feels about me. Pretty much turned out how I expected it too," he harrumphed.

Oji-san held a breath in. Naruto wasn't going to like this part so much. "No offense, kid, but a person who goes and eavesdrops on somebody else pretty well deserves ta hear whatever it is they hear. Tryin' ta be sneaky can backfire in a heartbeat." He waited; allowed Naruto a few seconds to digest that comment and let it sink in, figured that Naruto would be more irate over the matter of opinion. Instead Naruto said nothing, offered only a curt nod to register acknowledgement.

Unsure of whether to commit that as a good or bad sign, Oji-san continued placidly: "I ain't pretending ta understand what's goin' on in yer head, but what I do know is that ya can't just turn around and start puttin' people on ignore just because some irrational trickster in yer sub-conscious gets a kick outta playin' riddles with ya. You and I both know that it ain't the right way ta deal with the situation." He then played on Naruto's convictions with a well-placed thrust that struck deeper. "It also ain't the sort of thing that would hold back an individual who'd be aspiring ta be the future Hokage," he said, knowing full well that that would overwrite everything and would get Naruto's attention, and it did just that. The two revered each with simultaneous somber looks. "Ain't I right?" Oji-san asked.

Naruto broke eye contact first; tipped his head back slowly to gaze up at the ceiling as if looking for a message to contradict the clever words spoken, found none, looked down again, daftly realized that he was hunched over the edge of the cushion which had started sometime over the paced course he'd worked out in his acting role of that as a storyteller. Now he plopped back in his seat again, feeling more tired then ever now. "Yeah, you're right. I've got a destiny to fulfill, and nothing's ever gonna change that," he said, some of the fire returning in his voice, but then it fizzled out just as quickly. "I also know that I can't go and blame Sakura-chan for anything. That'd be the easy way out." He looked at Oji-san. "I just—I wish I knew what was wrong with me. Maybe you were right about before. Maybe it is just jealousy."

Pulling out another cigarette and lighting it, Oji-san was considering an alternative when he remembered Naruto's initial question. "How 'bout…I go ahead and let you in on a bit of a secret regarding women?"

Naruto blinked. "A secret?"

Oji-san nodded to confirm the offer. "A secret, yeah. But it ain't the best one and I ain't gonna promise that you'll like how the start of it goes, but I think that you'll feel a little more at ease by the time I'm done," he said, playing it straight on his end. "Still want ta hear me out?"

The answer was almost instantaneous for Naruto. If it helped to figure Sakura out just a little more…what did he have to lose? "Uh, fine, sure. What is it?"

Ignoring the kid's blunt disregard for etiquette and manners, the landlord worked out his pitch in a manner as brutally concise as he could present it. "Okay. Since ya care about this young lady so much, I'm gonna be right upfront about this and tell it like it is. The truth of the matter is that no matter how much ya like her or whatever it is ya do for her, yer never, ever gonna be able ta persuade that little lady ta give yer rouge friend Sasuke a second thought when it comes ta her personal feelings. Ya won't ever be able ta convince her that she's wrong in those regards unless she does that herself, and she ain't ever likely ta do that either if what you've been saying is right on the button." He took a puff, blew it in the opposite direction, and then looked directly at Naruto, seen a pang of disappointment in his eyes. "I ain't looking to burst a bubble here, but that there is reality. Believe me, I've been there myself."

Naruto slowly nodded in grim acceptance. "Yeah…kinda came to that point myself sometime between last night and now myself," he said. "I told her I loved her—but that didn't really do anything except get her confused. Tried to convince myself I wasn't then, but I think I was really just doing that for my benefit more then hers. Hearing somebody else say that now just makes it even more truer." He shook his head in irritation. "All I did was screw things up like usual."

Oji-san made a 'pfft' sound. "Aw, that's ain't nothin' but a pile o' crap, kid, and you know it. You know better then ta blame yerself for doin' what ya knew was the right thing. Ya took that girl into yer home, made her feel welcome, and provided her with a place ta stay for the evening. Hell, if that little lady didn't know ya cared then, she damned well knows it now," he protested, broke off as he felt a sudden tickle in his throat, no doubt a familiar feeling from overuse in cigarette smoking—smoker's cough. He coughed harshly for a few seconds to alleviate the itch, waved off Naruto's hand and bobbed his head to answer Naruto's inquiry of he was okay. He coughed again, cleared his throat and sighed loudly, the murky feeling fading. "Gotta look at the big picture instead of piecing together all them itty bitty little details like a computer," he said, finishing his train of thought.

"Yeah, maybe. You want more bean tea?" Naruto asked, reaching for the pot.

The landlord nodded, cleared his throat and sniffed. "Sure, kid." He waited until Naruto had filled both of their cups and had a good gulp of his drink before continuing on. "But like I was just sayin', ya can't let yerself get worked up just because ya said a few things off the skim of yer noggin. It hasn't bothered ya before, and ya shouldn't let it bother ya now. Same thing goes for those dreams ya told me about too. Ya just have ta bare down; figure out what the hell's causin' the damn things and then deal with it to the best of yer ability. It's just like anything else that has ya on the ropes."

Naruto set the empty pot aside, the kindly spoken words sparking a fresh surge of discouragement that was so well defined that it felt as if a hand was pressing down on the top of his head with renewed pressure. "It's hard to ignore the feeling that I saw her dead in my dream, sir," Naruto confessed. "It's even worse to think that something like that could have been my fault if I weren't careful, or ever lost my temper." He was talking about the fox now. "I know that the Fourth did the only thing that he could do to save the village back then, but do you ever think he ever stopped and asked himself about how the person he was putting the demon fox inside would feel like I do now?"

Oji-san gazed at Naruto sympathetically. He knew that at some point or another Naruto was going to question the Fourth's judgment just as the elders had done at that crucial point in time. But unlike those pinheads, Naruto was very much entitled to that right in terms of figuring out his individuality and where he stood in society. He had always been secretly pleased that Naruto would go to great lengths to get under the villagers collars because that gave him his own unique identity instead of being epitomized as a monster. The kid was no goddamn monster, period. "I think that he did consider your feelings, Naruto," Oji-san said, picking his words carefully. "He was the sort of person who could take one look at an individual and understand exactly what made that person tick. He understood people better then they knew themselves. A lot of folks didn't like that, but that was just how the guy was."

Naruto nodded, as that was all he could do.

"The Fourth was a young man, Naruto, but he was a very shrewd individual who never did things for no reason. I have ta believe that he picked you because he knew that you'd grow up ta love and protect the village just as much as he did when he was alive. Ya also gotta remember that every person ya see have their own personal lot ta deal with. It may not amount ta what you have ta deal with, but it is somethin' that keeps 'em on their toes. Ya keep that in mind next time yer feelin' down about yerself." He didn't include the fact that Naruto was probably the only person who could suppress the power of the fox. It wouldn't do well to get him thinking about it too much. He slurped up the last of his coffee and put his cup down again. "As for yer friend, I don't think there's much I can do for ya there. Ya said she left some kinda note for you?"

Naruto sighed helplessly. "Yeah. She left it on the nightstand before she left at whatever time you'd seen her. Said that she wants to take me out for dinner today. I remembered hearing her saying that when I was going to sleep, but I didn't think she was serious about it. She's sort of a cheapskate and hardly ever does things like that. Especially not for me."

Oji-san shrugged. "Well that's sure nice of her. Maybe she's doin' that ta try and make amends for keeping ya awake. That ain't so out of the ordinary, is it? I'd also give ya a chance ta tell her about that dream-crap stuff that's bothering you."

Naruto immediately shook his head at the very idea. "No way. I'm not telling her a single thing about that." He shook his head, said in a lower voice. "I don't want her to start worrying about me. Hell, I don't even feel comfortable about seeing her right now. I'd rather she just leave me alone for a few days until I feel better."

"Yeah, but, kid, you gotta remember something here: you and Jiraiya-sama are gonna be leavin' on that odyssey of yers in the near future, and then you'll have all the time ya want ta goof around," Oji-san reminded him. "Ya don't think you'll be walkin' around sometime or another and won't start ta miss some of yer friends? Especially that little lady?"

Naruto huffed, hated it when the old man was in one of those I-told-you-so moods. Yeah, he knew all of that. He also felt pretty sure that Ero-sennin would have told him the same thing if he were this conversation with him. He almost wondered again if Oji-san and Ero-sennin both belonged to the same kin. "So, what should I do then?" he grudgingly asked.

Oji-san folded his arms around his chest. "Simple. Ya go and be the bigger man."

Having no idea what that meant, Naruto frowned expectedly. "Bigger man? What's that mean?"

The old man smiled assuredly. "It's a pretty simple concept that speaks for itself. Sums up everything I've been goin' over since ya brought up this discussion. It basically decrees that ya act selflessly in selfish times. That means ya take all of yer problems and hang-ups, roll the entire thing up in ta one big ol' clay ball, toss the bastard on some empty shelve in the corner of yer mind and that's that. Ya do yer best ta let bygones be bygones for the present and then work things out later on."

Naruto's expression didn't change. "You mean to say that I should just pretend that everything's okay?"

"Well…almost but not quite. Puttin' it in another light, it means that ya take on an understanding role in times when situations ain't so understanding. See, most people yer age hit that selfish point in their lives when they're expectin' everything given' for the price o' nothin'," he explained factually. "That sorta thing goes on until the end of their adolescence where they fundamentally start ta realize that they have ta give of themselves before they can get where they have ta. Of course, this also applies ta you but, because of yer living conditions and that ya know they ain't gonna hand the title of Hokage over ta just anyone around the block, you already have a better grasp of that concept then most people in yer age group probably do."

His particular brand of insight made Naruto squirm in his seat. He definitely preferred the geezer's nitpicking badgering over the unaccustomed praise any day of the week. Naruto groaned. "Aw, jeez. Why'd ya have to go and put it that way?" Naruto groaned.

Oji-san laughed. "How the hell other way would ya like it put ta ya—with a ribbon and wrappin' paper? Face it there, kid: You've become reliable, and people have come ta realize that about you. Ya might also think of it as takin' yer first steps on the road ta becomin' respectable. That sometimes means doin' things that'll have ya feelin' uncomfortable on the inside, but need ta be done because they help another person in need; even if they don't like ya. Nobody said that bein' the bigger man was an easy task, but puttin' yer own personal feelings aside in order ta do the right thing for the greater good is important and is also one of the most crucial parts o' being an Hokage.

Knowing that Oji-san had him by the jewels, Naruto felt a lump gathering in his throat. He gulped, felt some of the mass leave his shoulders, only to be replaced with another weight just as equal staggering. He'd always thought of himself as a valuable member of the village only in his fantasies, but to hear Oji-san put it in that perspective from his own hard-earned introspection was downright debilitating, and he would have to include the whole Hokage bit again. It was worse then having a carpet pulled out from underneath your feet and experiencing reality with a painful bloody nose. It almost felt like he'd aged ten years over the course of a morning. Naruto touched his own face to make sure there wasn't any particular stubble or any traces of facial hair outlining his cheeks.

"What the hell are ya doin', kid?" Oji-san asked, puzzled. Nothing ever escaped his notice. "Got a headache or somethin'?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, dropping his hand and putting the cup of cooling coffee on the table with the other. He rubbed his nose. "I was just thinking of those stupid dreams again, and how I need to deal with them," he lied.

Oji-san smiled tiredly, propped himself off the couch and stood up. "Ah, kid, kid, kid," he groaned, the bones in his knees popping. "Yer gonna drive yerself crazy with all that preposterous bullshit yet if ya ain't careful." He gazed down at Naruto, a kindly expression on his face. "But don't forget: Dreams are made up of dreams and reality is made up of reality. Learn how ta filter what's real and what ain't; you'll land yerself in a heap o' grief if ya start ta confuse the two." He stepped over to where Naruto was sitting and placed a sturdy hand on the boy's shoulder. "In other words," Oji-san added, "don't let one part of ya decide what's important and what ain't. Make sure everything's in a place o' symmetry—means yer mind and yer heart—before ya commit yerself ta resolution. Ya understand a little bit of that high-falutin' talk…or not really?"

Puckering his lips and nodding for pacification's sake, Naruto relayed the jagged words to himself, making a conscious effort to understand them—to really understand them. Maybe it was Oji-san's use of lackluster pronunciation, but he found that it was far easier to decipher the meaning of what he was saying rather then somebody else spouting off a confusion explanation using fancy words (his vocabulary was rather limited, even for a boy of his age) quoted out of some stupidly thick dictionary. He also found it more then a little strange that Oji-san, a man he'd basically blacklisted when it came to asking for any sort of help, was now the one who'd been lending an ear and acting as a voice of reason for the last several minutes. Not like he hadn't asked for that, but it was strange to hear him talk without that sharp element of brusqueness to taint the conversation. He almost had to wonder if this was even the same person who ran the place.

"Are ya noddin' for the sake of noddin', or d'ja actually get any of that?" Oji-san repeated, mock serious. He squeezed down on Naruto's shoulder, but not enough to hurt.

Choosing not to react to the vice-like grip, Naruto, without looking up, said, "I get all that. Really, I do. It's just…its still not easy…" he replied impishly, unable to come up with any words to mask the juvenile weaknesses he really shouldn't have been displaying. He was certain that Oji-san was going to clock him over the head now for behaving like such a wimp; was maybe even welcoming that on some level.

The old man wouldn't oblige him. Scooting Naruto over instead, Oji-san sat down next to him, stuck his feet up on the table and slung an arm over Naruto's shoulders. "Yeah, kid. I know. I know that things ain't always so simple ta deal with when the chips are down and ya feel like ya ain't got anyone ta cast yer line o' faith in. It's just as much a bastard when things are goin' on around you and ya ain't got any control over 'em. It's like ridin' a bucking horse and yer tryin' ta get a reach for the reins, only ta find someone took 'em off as only a person with all the essential ingredients needed ta makin' a complete asshole could do." Oji-san cackled at the non-discretional use of words. He didn't care.

Even Naruto, gloomy as he felt, cracked a smile at that. "You think everyone is one of those."

Oji-san chuckled again, scratched his toe with his other foot. "Well, I was jus' sayin' that ta boost up yer morale a bit. The point I'm makin' now is that life is full of times and moments where things happen that are beyond our means o' control. Not just waltzes in la-la land either, but events and situations where people do things that ya don't expect 'em ta do. Ya remember what I was tellin' ya earlier? About how people have there own personal baggage ta deals with?"

Naruto nodded.

"Well this just falls right in place with all that. At times that weight gets around ta puttin' so much stress on the shoulders that it makes a person want ta just toss it on the damn ground. I think that's what might have happened ta yer friend Sasuke." He shook his head. "I'm not sure how much ya know about it, but that whole Uchiha massacre involving that kid's older brother was a real bad deal. I mean, a person can only imagine what was going through yer friend's mind after seein' the death and destruction of his parents, friends and relatives; and at such a young age."

Naruto could imagine quite a bit. He'd heard about the Uchiha massacre, knew that Sasuke's brother Itachi was the one who'd orchestrated the whole thing, and that he was also the man whom Sasuke had flat out sworn to kill. Having witnessed Sasuke trying to battle against somebody who was far superior to him in every way and then being unable to singe that foe with the very anger that burned so deeply but so righteously bright inside of him seemed justifiably reason enough to spur such a bleak and self-seeking odyssey. "He talked about killing someone when we had our first meeting as a squad," Naruto commented. "I just never thought he was referring to his older brother though."

Oji-san shook his head gravely. "Ta hold such a deeply rooted grudge at such a young age…it's a horrible thing, Naruto. Revenge can turn a good person into just as much a monster as the one their seekin' if they ain't careful. And bein' an orphan makes the situation even grimmer because he ain't got any parental figures ta try and talk him outta acting upon his own inclinations, save for his teachers."

"I tried to knock some sense into him," Naruto muttered, the memories of their violent fight coming to light, "but there wasn't anything I could do."

Oji-san rubbed his jaw uncomfortably. "No, and there probably ain't much yer gonna be able ta do for him in the future either. A journey like that don't really invite room for derailment…or company. No, the only real thing ya can do fer yerself is ta regroup from yer losses, accept what's happened, and then find some way that'll allow ya ta make peace with everything." His voice turned quiet. "And if ya feel like ya can't manage that fer yerself, manage it fer that little lady then. I think she's the one who really needs that sense o' assurance."

Naruto felt his mouth go dry again. "I don't…know if I can really do that, sir. Not right now, not until I—"

"—I already told ya that ya can't put people on ignore, Naruto," he said, cutting him off. "It ain't right." He then stopped, tried to think of something to say that wouldn't contradict any of his earlier words, though of Naruto's feelings for the girl. "I know that givin' yer heart ta somebody only ta have it sent back ta ya ain't an easy thing ta deal with, but, unfortunately, that's the way life works. Ya just can't be goin' and feelin' sorry fer yerself over things that ain't within yer control. You'll make yerself mighty miserable doin' that. And besides, maybe one day off in the future, she'll turn around and suddenly realize that yer just the man she's been lookin' for this whole time."

Naruto shook his head out of a habit in stubbornness. "I really doubt that, sir. Besides, I think I'm through with chasing after people for a while," he deduced. "Right now I just want to recover and get better so that I'll be ready whenever Ero-sennin comes back."

Oji-san nodded, allowing the argument to stand. It was clear that Naruto didn't want to discuss his friend's particular traits, quirks or issues anymore, and he couldn't really be blamed for that. He'd provided the kid with, hopefully, a substantial amount of advice, but how he chose to deal with all of this was really, in the end, up to him. He wanted to further reassure Naruto with a reminder that he was only twelve or thirteen (he wasn't sure of the age) that there was surely a fine young lady waiting for him somewhere in the brink of his future, whether it be the girl of his dreams or somebody with an equal amount of presence to set the boy's heart afire. But perhaps that was better left unsaid.

Instead, he gently admonished him by saying: "Everything will work itself out in the end, Naruto. Whatever needs ta happen…will eventually transpire on it's own accord." He then patted Naruto on his shoulder. "I know yer a little uptight about how things are goin' right now, but that confusion don't change the fact that yer a good carin' person. Ya worry more about other people then ya do yerself, and I'm very proud of ya fer takin' that sorta approach. It feels good ta know that yer gonna be pavin' the way fer the upcomin' generations." He smiled broadly at Naruto, cackled merrily. "But then what does an old fart like me know about anything?" Shaking his head and bringing his feet up off the table, he planted them on the ground and stood up with a grunt, hiding no convictions that even that simple task was a laborious chore for his decrepit bones. Getting old certainly did bite the big one. He looked down at Naruto, said, "But, I should probably get goin', kid. The missus is gonna be wonderin' where I've gone ta and I don't think she'd quite believe me if I explained that you and I were havin' a chat."

Still reeling from Oji-san's kind words of adulation, Naruto was slow to reply, "Uh, yeah, I suppose. Um, but could you please not tell her about…any of this stuff. I really wouldn't want her to start worrying about me or even give her cause to worry about me. It's…well—"

"—A conversation between men," Oji-san finished for him, hopefully summing up what Naruto had probably intended to convey, though it probably would have been through the use of misshapen, stuttered words. He concealed a smile. Even when it wasn't on purpose, Naruto could be a real funny kid at times. "But yeah, I sure do understand what ya mean. Ya get her panties in a twist and then we're both gonna have a set o' problems ta deal with. So, I promise ya that yer fears, yer anxieties—there are all safe with me."

Naruto nodded, felt his shoulders flutter with a sense of relief that he hadn't been expecting. "Thank you, sir…for everything. I don't feel completely relieved, but I sure as hell feel a lot better then what I did thirty minutes ago. To be honest, I wasn't really expecting you to help me out with all of this," he explained to him hesitantly.

Oji-san shrugged. "I understand how ya feel. Iruka-kun's always been one of yer closest friends so I know that it's easier ta confide in him when ya have a problem that needs solvin'." His face took on a slightly perturbed expression; a look that was directed more at himself then Naruto. "I actually appreciate that you were willin' ta confide in me since I sorta regret not bein' around more often when you were just a wee fellah. Now yer taken off with Jiraiya-sama fer parts unknown in what'll probably be a short time…" He paused, briefly looked over at the window, frowned as if there was something that needed to be fixed, trying not to give strength to the puerile impression that he was averting his eyes from Naruto's curious face. It was almost that assumption that gave him means to chuckle. "But I know that yer gonna be in the best o' hands with Jiraiya-sama by yer side. His methods may be a little unorthodox but he won't steer ya wrong—'least not most o' the time," he added good-naturedly.

Naruto's smile reflected that promise. "Yeah, he's already been teaching me a few things. It hasn't been easy but I think I've been making a bit of progress." He shrugged, an almost modest-looking movement. "I'm hoping so, anyways."

Walking over to the porch, Oji-san muttered under his breath. "You'll do fine, kid. I know ya will." He went to put his shoes on, turned and said in full voice, "Oh, yeah! Since we're on the subject, there was somethin' else I was gonna ask ya ta do fer me—actually it's more for the missus's sake."

Standing up and walking over to the porch as well, Naruto's curiosity peeked. "What is it?"

Oji-san tossed his pitch. "Well, since yer gonna be buggerin' off eventually, I was wonderin'…if—well, ya wouldn't mind findin' somebody that would be willin' ta keep yer apartment tidy while yer on hiatus. Normally I wouldn't really ask ya such a question since I know that the ol' lady would be more then happy ta do that, but her legs and hips have been givin' her grief lately and I'd sorta prefer that she didn't have ta make a bunch of trips up and down the steps if she can avoid it, ya know?"

Naruto frowned in concern. "I didn't know she was having health problems."

Oji-san made an offhand gesture. "Well, ya know how optimistically stubborn she gets about things. It ain't like she's gonna come up here and just lay all her problems on yer lap; that just ain't the way she operates. Especially when it concerns her baby boy," he said, pointing a leering finger at him.

Ignoring the comment and gesture, Naruto scratched his head. "But who would I get to do something like that?" he asked.

The landlord shrugged. "Well…I was thinkin' that if ya get everything straightened out with yer cute little lady friend, maybe ya could try and persuade her ta come up once in a while and do a little housecleaning." He smiled. "She seems like the sorta person who lives a tidy lifestyle."

Naruto frowned in disapproval. "Yeah, right. She'd tell me to shove that idea up my ass. Plus, she's not the kind of person who does anything for free."

Oji-san pondered that a moment. "If she agreed, I'd be willin' ta pay her somethin' fer her troubles. It wouldn't be all that much, but—"

"How much?" Naruto demanded.

He chuckled in amusement. "That'd be somethin' her and I would have ta discuss at her convenience. I'm pretty sure I could make it worth her while though."

Naruto visibly scrutinized the old man. "Are you just saying all of that to get me to talk to her or are you actually telling the truth?"

Oji-san rolled his eyes. "Hells bells, kid! I ain't tellin' ya to move mountains or anything! All I'm askin'—and if yer comfortable about it—is if she, or somebody else, would be willin' ta do a little upkeep on yer apartment while yer away. It ain't even a big deal if it doesn't happen, but I would shore be grateful if ya could find someone."

Naruto sighed, dug the heel of his foot against the floor. "What about Oba-san? What'll she say?" he protested.

"That's somethin' I can deal with," he said assuredly. "She might not like it at first, but I know her and I know she'll appreciate the help in given time." He leaned forward, whispered in conspiracy, "And this might just work out in yer favor, too. If Sakura-san and the missus strike up a friendship, maybe you can score a few brownie points outta the deal."

Naruto's eyes widened. "How the hell do you figure that?"

"Well think about it, kid. If those two get together for tea and they start exchanging stores about you, maybe somethin' subliminal will kick in and then she'll actually start ta miss ya. They might not be the best o' stories, but then every little bit helps. Believe me, kid, this'll work out fer ya big time." He stopped to think for a few seconds. "In fact, both of us could benefit outta this," he added additionally. "While she'd be getting some company for visiting, I'd be able ta get more work done without worryin' about her bein' alone. I might even get in more time for some extracurricular activities." He chuckled mischievously. "Definitely wouldn't mind samplin' some of those vintage bottles I've been keepin' in storage over the years." He broke off his laughter and shot a tentative grin at Naruto. "But, whether any of that happens or not is yer decision."

Naruto mulled over that, decided that it wasn't worth getting into a tizzy over now. "I'll think about it," he spoke tolerantly, heartily hoping that this wasn't going to turn into another adamant debate. He'd really meant it when he said he didn't want to chase after this issue anymore. "Just don't push it," he warned, rebuffing any further attempts.

Oji-san's face cascaded into a wide, not so much triumphant grin. "Sure, kid. That sounds just fine and dandy! It ain't somethin' ya need ta figure out now, but I shore would appreciate it if ya would give it just a bit o' thought. That's all I'm askin' fer," he said soothingly. The smile remained on his face as he turned to do his coat up and retrieve his umbrella.

Naruto frowned incredulously at Oji-san's back, unable to help but wonder if that idea had really been in the works for some time now or if he'd just drawn it up on the fly after Sakura-chan's name had been brought up. He'd never physically seen Oba-san having all that much physical discomfort, certainly not enough to request a concession of the type Oji-san was asking for, but he could certainly respect his concerns if that were the case. Given the fact that they weren't asking for any room and board rent or additional monies for reserving his current room until he returned, the presented compromise could hardly be deemed unreasonable. And he simply loved that women to boot. He'd gladly stack boulders over his shoulders until she voiced her concern, and then he'd toss them away and laugh as the lecture would inevitably begin. Naruto-chan, she sometimes called him. She was probably the only person that was allowed to get away with calling him that. He was going to miss that while he was away. And her. Even Oji-san.

Naruto rubbed his weary eyes, blurring his vision. He was definitely going to have to put some thought into this idea, if only just to do a little dusting and attend to the plants. Maybe…

"Well, I'm gonna take muh leave then if everything's copasetic with ya," Oji-san announced, raised a critical eye. "Ya are okay with everything, right?"

Naruto bobbed his head in quick vertical swipes, paused, held up his hand, and nodded a little more slowly to exhibit an impression of sincerity. "Yeah, I'm—I'm good, thanks. I, uh, just needed to get a bunch of things off my chest, and it probably helped that there was somebody around to listen and offer some sort of an opinion. I'm, uh, just real sorry that you had to put up with all of my complaining and whining this whole time," he apologized, a genuine look of abashment consuming his young face.

"Well, I ain't much of a psychologist so muh time spent on issuing unqualified advice is pretty much free. Reckon I've never been much of a teacher, but I have been around the block for a long time now." Stepping forward and taking Naruto by his shoulders, Oji-san peered down at him, his wrinkled face filling Naruto's line of vision. "I was maybe a few years older then you when I headed up muh squad leader about a few things regardin' women. There was this young lady we had on our platoon. She was real smart, funny, vivacious and one hell of a looker. I'd had a thing fer her for the longest damned time and I'd finally worked up the nerve ta let her know how I felt, but…she turned me down." The old memory caused him to smirk. "On that day, kid, I swear that I could feel my heart crumbling down like a pile o' miserable bricks. She had the hots for the other guy on our team, ya see. He was yer typical Adonis: a guy who possessed every thing from brains down ta skills and had everything in between. He was a genius, and women flocked ta him like a pack o' wild geese. I tell ya, bein' in his shadow was a very hard thing ta deal with, especially for a guy like me who was pretty much a flunky at basically everything. It shore made for a miserable stint during muh early days."

"Sorta like me and Sasuke," Naruto said in slight surprise. He'd never heard this story before.

"Well, somthin' like that," Oji-san said. "Anyways, on account o' that guy hoggin' the spotlight, and with muh feeling's still stingin' from rejection, I went and headed up the squad leader and basically told him how I felt about a bunch o' the things that were goin' on—basically doin' the same thing that you just did now. He was the type o' guy that always had somethin' ta say, no matter how strange the situation was. When I was finished speakin' muh mind, he smiled, took me by the shoulders—just as I am with ya know, and gave me some of the best advice I've ever received. Ya wanna know what he said?"

Naruto swallowed, nodded for him to proceed.

"He said: 'Think about yer anxieties in terms of a shadow. People that walk this world have their own individual shadow. Worryin' about what another person thinks of you is the same as worryin' about the shadow they're projecting, which is complete foolishness. If ya live yer life with no excuses, you'll never have ta worry about havin' regrets.' After that, he simply grinned and walked away."

Naruto appeared nonplussed. "Did you understand what he was saying?" he asked.

Oji-san shook his head. "Not at first. But a few weeks later, we found ourselves caught up in a life or death struggle with a group from the stone country. Muh teammates and I were fightin' back when Shugo-kun, the guy who'd been revered as a genius, slipped up a jutsu and took a kunai right to the chest, knockin' him unconscious and in real heap o' trouble. I couldn't believe it, but I also grew up in that same instant. I had ta better myself, make sure that I was fully capable of defending the people around me and not always assume that they were gonna be on the ball. It also made me realize that when ya go and put people on pedestals, whether you like 'em or not, sooner or later that person is gonna fall from there." His eyes refocused on Naruto's face. "And they will. Havin' trust in people is important, but it's even more important that ya carry yerself with confidence so that yer capable of handlin' things when situations go sour."

"I…I will," he promised, heeding the old man's story and additional advice. It was obviously something important to him since he had chosen not to bring it up until just now.

"Good." He looked Naruto over, said, "Ya sure yer feelin' okay? Would ya like ta come downstairs for a bit, have somethin' ta eat? I'm sure the missus would be more then happy ta fix ya a meal."

Naruto shook his head no. "That's okay. I'm probably just going to have some cupped ramen and then go back to sleep for awhile."

Oji-san made a sour face. "How the hell can ya eat that shit?!" he demanded, giving Naruto's shoulders a tiny shake before releasing him. "Yer gonna get a good dose o' worms from eatin' that dried crap day in and out!" It was clear they'd had this futile argument on more then one occasion with the landlord coming out on the losing end. That fox-like grin of Naruto's could practically take him through any situation unscathed. He knew that the kid was going to be just fine. Playfully ruffling his hair once more, Oji-san stepped back, raised his hand in farewell. "See ya around then, kid." He opened the door, took his umbrella, turned to leave—

"Oji-san!"

Ignoring the feeling of déjà vu, he stopped, glanced at him peripherally. "Yeah?"

Naruto paused. "Y-your teammates: that guy, Shugo-san, and the girl. What happened to them?"

Oji-san smiled sadly. "Shugo-kun died in combat several years ago. That sly bastard, he wore a smile on his face up until the very end of his life. He would turn out to be one of my best friends. There ain't a day that don't go by where I don't miss him just a bit."

Naruto sighed. His fate would have to be a sad one. "And the girl? What happened to her?"

This time he smiled wolfishly. "Simple. I married her. Make sure ya give that pen back ta yer friend, and tell her ta mind the vocal levels as well—if she decides ta show up, that is." Then, without saying another word, he turned and ambled away into the pouring rain, shutting the door behind him, leaving Naruto standing in the porch, mind reeling in a bewildered stupor. He could scarcely believe it. They…they had both been on the same squad? Oji-san and Oba-san? Both of them? He couldn't believe it! It seemed almost unprecedented. Surely he'd only said that to try and make him feel reassured.

And yet…the way he'd grinned. Naruto padded up to the door, opened it, peeked around the corner but the duffer had already disappeared off the landing. He quickly glanced to the other side out of reflex—sparked out of past calamities—but there was nobody standing there either, no one to tease him. Nothing except the sound and feel of pelting rain, unrelentingly gusting against his face, hairs, clothes and anything else in its path. It seemed like scuba gear was almost needed to trek through this. He backpedaled hastily into the sanctity of his apartment and shut the door, looked down, noticed a few miniscule spots of water on the floor. Using his slippers, he wiped up the water until most of it had virtually disappeared. Once that was done, he then folded his arms, mildly frowned in thought. What the hell was it he'd said about Oba-san? Something about when she was younger…?

"Then again, that genjutsu crap is getting ta be a hot commodity these days. Even the old bat was pretty good with that mental projection stuff back in her younger years."

Going over the words in his head, Naruto racked the bottom of his tongue with his teeth. Oji-san, being married or not, probably wouldn't have brought up a thing like that unless he hadn't worked closely with her on more then one occasion in the past. Choosing to be disbelieving about it was one thing, but the shred of sense it made that they had been on the same team just couldn't be dismissed. And, really, why would the guy even have cause to lie anyways? There was no reason for it.

No, it had to be true. Joking instances aside, Oji-san had never been much of a liar; he was a straight shooter when it came down to it all. Even an absolute stranger would probably have drawn up the same conclusion after just listening to him talk for a few seconds. That brazen nature and brutally outspoken persona almost presented little room to think otherwise.

Naruto worked his jaw from side to side in frustration, went over and adjusted the thermostat accordingly. Okay, so they'd been teammates. Fine, he could accept that easily enough. He could also accept Oji-san's story about how he'd been a bit of a goofball himself until desperate situations had forced him to start acting like an actual ninja. Knowing that he'd faced similar conditions and had come out successful to some degree…shouldn't that have been something to take hope in? Yeah, it should have. So why was that such a vicious task at the moment? Was it just him or was there something else that needed to be addressed? For everything said, Oji-san hadn't really given him all that much direct insight to work with where the nightmares were concerned. But being that he worked with his hands and dealt more with physical problems rather then mental, it didn't seem likely that he would have been able to help him in the first place. That whole 'grin and bear it' saying had probably also been meant to be his prescribed method of dealing with that sort of torment.

And unfortunately, that's probably what he was going to have to do. Putting any more thought into it was going to make him even more bone weary then he was already feeling. And besides, he was fully awake now. It's not like they could actually hurt him physically. He needed, needed, to keep that all in check. Other wise his psyche would take even more of a beating then what it should have.

Naruto's gut started to rumble, and not in a 'make for the bathroom' kind of way. Having gone past his routinely time period for having breakfast, his stomach had abandoned all hopes of subtlety and was now sparing no expense in bringing that fact into play. Pinching up his sleeves and adjusting his housecoat, Naruto grabbed the cups and brewing pot, walked towards the bathroom and shut the fan off, then proceeded into the kitchen, early morning hunger urging him forward. Setting the coffee pot aside, he dumped the cups in the sink, turned on the cold faucet and reached for the kettle, Sakura's warning flashed in his head but he paid it little caution. Just as he'd previously proclaimed: Nobody was going to tell him when he could and could not eat. Not now, not ever. Far as Naruto was concerned, he wasn't even going to answer that door again. He filled the kettle with water until he estimated it was half-full and then placed it on a burner, turned the element on via a dial on the stove.

Waiting for the water to boil, Naruto found himself thinking again about Oji-san and what he'd said about his teammates, more specifically his friend, Shugo-san. Having being described as a genius, Naruto pondered what sort of placement he'd had within the village, which clan he'd belonged too, what kind of a person he'd turned out to be before he'd died. Naruto almost wished that Oji-san had brought that up sooner so that he could have quizzed him a little. He'd already assumed that the landlord had had his reasons for using such vagueness regarding his martyred friend (Naruto assumed he'd died a martyr). But there was something about that competitive friendship that filled him with an indistinguishable sense of something. It wasn't quite relief, wasn't quite hope; it more or less lurked in between the two, but it relieved him just the same, made him feel optimistic that maybe things would just turn okay. At least momentarily.

"Where ever he is, I hope Sasuke's okay, too," Naruto said wholeheartedly, trying to make a little light out of the situation. There was no way he'd ever fall into Orochimaru's hands without having some kind of ulterior plan in mind. He had to assume so anyways. Either way, Sasuke had chosen to subject himself to that particular plight of chaos and, rightly so, would have to deal with it on his own. It was that simple.

Stepping over and opening the pantry cupboard, Naruto reached inside and randomly dug out a cup of dried noodles made from his favorite choice name brand, having really no preference as to what flavor he was having. He tore off the wrapping and unpeeled most of the top cover, withdrew the seasoning and dried vegetables packets, ripped them both open and dumped the contents into the soup cup. His timing was nearly impeccable for no sooner had he tossed what he didn't need in the garbage the water in the kettle began to hiss and boil. He removed the pot off the burned, poured the hot water amongst the mix, resealed the top and stuck a light weight—a package of rice seasoning—over it to keep the steam from escaping, and prepared to wait those three grueling minutes for the soup to properly cook—always the hardest part when it came to cup ramen. Setting the kettle down on a cold element, Naruto walked over to the fridge and retrieved a carton of milk partially full, looked at the expiry date and winced. Three days overdue. Ugh.

Well there was no way he was getting the runs, especially not after the last time. He took the milk over to the sink and dumped it down the drain. It hadn't deteriorated enough to reach lump form but he thought it better not to take any chances. He'd have to go and buy some later today at the market; maybe a few other things too after the fridge got cleaned out. Always something to do. He headed back to his nearly ready soup, went and fished out a pair of disposable chopsticks, sighed. Hell, he was almost out of those too. He'd have to start making out a grocery list for the stuff he needed instead of just going to the store and buying whatever suited his fancy. He placed the sticks on the counter, reached over and took the makeshift weight off the lid of the cup, peeled back the skim of paper—

'KNOCK! KNOCK!'

Naruto moaned disparagingly, glared at the entrance door. "Oh, what was it now?!" he quietly growled, giving in to early morning crankiness. It didn't seem to matter if he was trying to sleep or whether he was trying to have a simple meal, somebody was always showing up to interrupt, to deprive him of his most basic needs. Dammit. He knew that wasn't the case most of the time, only lately. That still didn't mean it wasn't getting any less frustrating. He placed the ramen and chopsticks on the table, went to get a glass of water—

'KNOCK! KNOCK!'

The repetitious sound made Naruto frown all the harder. He could already tell from the sound alone that it was Oji-san again, probably wanting to harass him about something else he'd otherwise forgotten to get off his mind the first time around. If he was going to ask him about this whole Sakura-cleaning-his-apartment idea or else put him on the spot about anything, he'd be disappointed. Naruto hadn't come to any sort of decision on that and wasn't likely too for the next while either. All the more reason not to answer the door. He could only hope that he'd let matters slide, take a hint and just leave. Fat chance but whatever. Getting that glass of water, he returned to the table, prepared to eat, suddenly stopped short, heightened hearing catching something else. He thought he could hear something else…a scratching noise of some sort. Something like metal rubbing on metal—

"You stubborn old prick!" Naruto abruptly exclaimed, pushing away from the table and running back into the living room. Abandoning all courtesy of knocking the door, it seemed that Oji-san was now resorting to opening the door via his master key. What the hell was so important that couldn't wait until later? Christ sakes anyways. He was half way to the door—running on a hardwood floor in slippers was always a bad idea— when his feet found a slippery spot on the floor, causing him to stumble and pitch forward. He would have crash landed right square on his nose had he not brought up his hands in times, limbs taking the brunt of the damage, the top of the forgotten pen skimming against his abdomen. He started to get up, but his knees got caught up against the inside portion of his housecoat and Naruto ended up slipping again. Son of a bitch anyways! He smacked his forehead against the floor in total annoyance, quickly felt along his abdomen and pointed the pen away, relieved that the damn thing hadn't punctured anything important. It was right then when the door unlocked and swung open. Naruto felt the wind brush up against the crown of his head, growled against the floor, "I really hope that this is important, Oji-san, because I'm going to be royally pissed if you came here just to antagonize me about something else!"

Naruto turned up his chin, caught a pair of legs standing at the partially opened door, followed the figure up until Oji-san came into view, a mystified frown on his face. The landlord then raised an amused eye, turned and directed the expression away as he were looking at somebody else. "Is the kid always klutzy like this in the morning, miss?" he asked. As if receiving an answer, Oji-san nodded.

Confusion ransacked Naruto and he stammered at the old man, "W-who are you talking to, sir?"

The door swung open further without dramatics, and Naruto felt all of the red rush out of his face. Dressed in a colorful raincoat, holding an umbrella in one hand and a package in the other, Sakura peered down at Naruto, compassionate green eyes complementing the friendly smile that adorned her lips so naturally and unnaturally well. "Good morning, Naruto. Are you okay?" she asked.

Naruto gulped, shakily nodded affirmative at the question. He looked over at Oji-san, could plainly seen the Cheshire-like grin that enveloped his rugged features. That expression said it all right there, and if a picture was indeed worth a thousand words.…Man.

Letting his head drop, Naruto pressed his lips and nose against the floor, expanded his cheeks and, not even bothering to care how idiotic he probably looked, sighed in absolute exasperation.

This day had barely even started and he already wanted it to end.

To be continued…

Author's Note: Wow! The updates just keep getting longer and longer in-between, don't they? Each chapter also seems to be a couple more pages then the last one as well. So yeah, I can honestly say that as soon as I typed in the closing letters, I literally flopped backwards and shouted, "Oh, thank freakin' God!" Between computer problems, time issues and plot difficulties of all sorts, this chapter has been nothing short of a pain in the ass to write. I was about a third of the way through initially when my laptop decided to pull a kamikaze attack and delete everything I'd written for chapter eight. I was a little choked to say the least, and having been dumb enough not to have saved what I'd had on disc didn't really make matters all the better. Ah well. That's just the way the dice handles at times. My apologies again for the chapter being so late. Sigh…

I would have to say that the hardest sections to write in this were again the ones that involved self-analysis and questioning on the character's part. Placing Naruto in that kind of situation and then trying to validate it without making it overly outlandish really took a lot of thought and time to work out (as I'd already knew it would initially). On the other hand, I definitely liked how the Oji-san character came out and had quite a bit of fun coming up with his personality. Never really came up with an actual name for him though, so I just left it as is with the honorific to be simple. I found that part to be relatively easy since I patterned him off a few significant influences in my life. I also figured it would be kind of cool to have someone else play the voice of reason instead of the usual culprits, and at the same time be somebody that would be quite realistic. I had to figure that somebody else besides Iruka and the Third would be around to look after Naruto while he was growing up. It was also neat having Pakkun involved since I hardly ever see him with parts in stories.

But I hope everything came out legibly enough that it wasn't difficult to read or that I didn't patter on too much in parts (I find I'm often guilty of that). I would also like to say a quick yet long overdue thanks to everyone who's taken the time to check this story out so far, especially veteran writers for their much needed comments and evaluation. Knowing that there's somebody who gets a kick out of reading my quirky fiction is really encouraging. Often there's times where I forget or accidentally misplace certain tidbits about the Naruto universe, so being educated and having thing like that pointed out is super helpful. I'll try and get the next chapter rolling as quickly as I can.

Grandpa…Jim…I'm also dedicating this chapter to both of you guys. Thank you both for your patience and the memories, my friends.