Pre-word: So I've been busy today.
In addition to this, I also updated my other on-going fic. The update frequency of that one is a little slower compared to this, but I want to think both ideas are equally important to me at the moment. Although, the themes and writing style are very different from this. I'm doing my best to make sure those styles don't end up clashing and I'm hoping writing two very different things at the same time will help make me more rounded a writer.
So with that, I'll let you get to it! Thanks as always!
Heart Under Shadow
Boys and Girls
The rest of the day at the Academy went by almost too fast for Naruto.
He had no idea being in school could be so fulfilling. After kicking Inuzuka Kiba's ass, no one knew what to say to him. In fact, they all seemed terrified of him. That was good. He had given them the chance to be his friend. Yet they shunned and rejected him at every turn, inheriting their parent's hate without question.
Those same parents that glared at him now, all of them waiting in the courtyard to pick their kids up for the day. In the past, those glares used to terrify him. To the point he would generally hide inside, waiting for most of the other kids to leave before finally skulking out for himself.
Today he didn't mind, matching their glares with one of his own as he walked past. Naruto was no longer afraid of them. He had no reason to be afraid anymore, because he had power now. The liberating feeling of power was literally in the palms of his hands. For the first time in his life he was able to walk with his head held high, knowing there was nothing these people could do to hurt him anymore.
Even the loneliness of seeing the other kids running into their parent's loving embrace wasn't enough to crush his spirits. That was because he wasn't alone either, no matter how much it looked like he might be. For in his shadow was the one person in the world that cared for him. That would look after him and make him stronger. The one that had shown him how to use this new invigorating power.
"We are glad to see thou are in a good mood." Kaguya, the very girl he had to thank for all this, said from within his shadow. At the moment it was impossible for her to come out. Not until night had fallen and their training began could he meet her face to face and properly speak with her. "However, do not forget that we need thy cooperation. There is much that must yet be done."
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto spoke out loud, not caring who he let hear him. It wasn't like anyone was going to pay attention to him anyways. "I just have to go to the library, right?" Apparently Kaguya wanted more information on that Hatake Kakashi guy that helped them out the night before. Naruto didn't see what the big deal was, so what if some guy finally helped him after all this time? Certainly he was an anomaly, but Kaguya seemed to be concerned about him for some reason.
He couldn't exactly ignore a request from Kaguya, even if he didn't see the point in it. She couldn't walk around by herself, after all, and it wasn't like he didn't owe her for this sudden turn of fortune. So he set out to the library at her request, making his way through the fading twilight streets of Konoha.
The public library wasn't far from the academy in the first place. Just a couple blocks away, but at this time very few people would be heading in this general direction. The path linking the academy to the library was especially abandoned, most of the leaving students and their parents taking the opposite path that would lead them to the residential areas of the village.
Of course, this made the path he walked the perfect type of place for something like what happened last night to occur. That time, he had been unprepared, but he wasn't about to let someone strike him from the rear twice in as many consecutive days.
"Our Aruji-sama." Kaguya warned, having sensed the danger approaching at the same time he did.
"I know already." Naruto said, body tensing as he prepared for combat. "Hey, I know you said not to use the Rinnegan… but just a little is fine, right?" There was no time to wait for any kind of response. Naruto had already committed himself to having to act.
A fist flew at him from behind. Naruto leapt to the side, dodging out of the way at the last possible second. As he spun to face his aggressors, he once again found himself face to face with three of them. Unlike the last time, where they had been drunk young adults, it was now his classmates. Kids so otherwise insignificant he had never even learned their names.
"Yo, Naruto." The one that had thrown the first punch greeted him, standing up straight. "You certainly seem to be in good spirits, huh?" He slowly started to stalk to the left.
"Don't start thinking you're hot shit after one good day, you bastard." A fatter boy took up a position directly in front of him. To Naruto's rear was a brick fence.
"We don't know what kind of dirty tricks you used to beat Kiba, but even you aren't going to be able to take on three of us at once." The last boy hung back from the way they all came from, completing the entrapment and boxing off any possible escape for Naruto provided he kept to flat ground. Which was fine for him, he had no intention of going anywhere.
"What's the matter guys?" Naruto asked, a confident smirk smearing his face. He had yet to draw his hands from his pockets, but he was already channeling the chakra necessary to discharge an attack at any moment. "Ain't you got to go home with you mommies?"
"At least we have moms you orphan bastard!" The same one who threw the first punch came running in again. At the same time the other two also started to charge, closing in on Naruto from three sides. In the past, such a fight would be impossible for him to win.
As he was now, Naruto didn't see how he could lose.
"Let's fucking go!" He roared, pulling his right hand from his pocket. From beneath the glove, his Rinnegan eye opened, Naruto unleashing the Bansho Ten'in on the boy that charged first. Not with enough force to move a whole boulder maybe, but instead just targeting the boy's face.
To his opponent, it simply felt like some unknown force pushed on him from the back of the head. "Whoa-" He didn't have time to react, falling forward as if tripping and flying into Naruto's right hook. Needless to say, but the two forces colliding into him from opposite directions had devastating effects. He was already unconscious before the punch followed all the way through.
"Oi!" The fat one in the middle stopped short at the suddenly unexpected and brutal one-hit knock-out. That mistake cost him any kind of chance to counter-attack, Naruto thrusting into his gut with an open left-handed palm strike. The moment Naruto's palm made contact he unleashed the Shinra Tensei.
Despite the boy's weight making it impossible for a strike of any kind to send him flying, that was exactly what happened as he was knocked airborne to the brick fence on the opposite side of the road with enough force that the back of his head cracked open against the sudden collision. He dropped to his knees, eyes rolling up into the back of his head as he too lost consciousness.
"You bastard!" The third of his assailant's voice cracked, but he committed to the attack, swinging at Naruto's face with a wild haymaker. Naruto turned his left hand on him too, once more unleashing the Shinra Tensei. Only nothing happened. He wasn't able to use his attack.
He was going to get hit.
At least, he should have been, but the last boy suddenly froze up. A quick glance down told him why. His shadow had shifted, Kaguya manipulating it to merge with his assailant's shadow and stop his movements.
"There is a slight gap of time between charges of thy Rinnegan." Kaguya answered his unasked question, explaining why he hadn't been able to use Shinra Tensei just now. "We suspect about five seconds. Perhaps in the span of life, it is but a moment; but in a battle, five seconds is an eternity. Do not forget this."
"Yeah." Naruto acknowledged, jumping in the air and delivering a spinning kick that connected to the side of the frozen boy's temple. Like the last two, he slumped down to the street in an unconscious heap. "Thanks for the save." He added as an afterthought.
The fight had lasted less than those five seconds he would have needed to recharge the power in either eye, so he understood she wasn't just saying that. It was the harsh truth. Blood dripped down from the knuckles of his right hand. Not his blood, but the blood of the boy's face he punched in.
The first two were bleeding profusely, enough so that he was afraid for a moment he overdid it. The fatty who flew into the wall looked especially gruesome, blood oozing from the back of his head and staining the street he lay on. "This might be bad for me, huh?" He asked. It hadn't been his intention to put that much power into the Shinra Tensei, but apparently he still didn't have much control over it yet.
Yet Naruto didn't feel any guilt. He thought for sure he should. No, if this had been the day before he would have definitely been beside himself with panic, wondering what he was going to do if he got caught. The him right now, however, didn't feel much of anything. Elated that he won, perhaps. But certainly not remorseful for his actions.
They had started it.
Just like those three last night and they had paid for it far worse than these three had. Was that why he couldn't feel anything looking at them now? Was the shock from last night still that much stronger than even this? He personally didn't know. How was he supposed to sort his own feelings anymore?
It felt like he was becoming a different person.
"There is someone else here." Kaguya warned him yet again. Naruto's head jerked up, eyes quickly darting back and forth to find the last intruder. Unlike the last three, he hadn't even heard anyone else approaching. He still couldn't find them even now. "Behind the lamp post." Kaguya clarified, having used her Byakugan to scan the surrounding area for witnesses.
"Hey! Come out!" Naruto turned to the nearest streetlight. A pole so slim he didn't think it was possible anyone could possibly be hiding behind it. Yet he was proven wrong as a petite girl stepped out from around the side of it, having realized she was exposed.
"...Hinata?" He asked in surprise, lowering the palm he had raised almost subconsciously, prepared to pull in whoever his last possible attacker might be. What he hadn't expected was the shy girl in his class, let alone the only other person he knew with the same eyes as Kaguya.
"Umm… sorry." The girl whispered, her voice barely loud enough for him to hear with the distance between them. "I didn't mean to spy on you… I just, I saw them coming to attack you and I…" She trailed off, eyes darting this way and that, unable to meet his gaze. As she talked, her hands had risen to the front of her chest and she pushed her index fingers together, the sign of some nervous tick.
"You came to back them up then?" Naruto growled, blue eyes hardening as he stared her down. While it was true that Hinata was one of the rare few that never bullied him, it appeared to be because she was afraid of him this whole time. So maybe she had finally seen her chance to have him taken down? That was the only assumption he could make out of the given information.
"N-no! That's not it!" Yet Hinata quickly refuted him, shaking her head and waving both hands as if to fervently deny his claim with every part of her being. "I just… I…" Even then, she still failed to give a reason. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself ever so slightly and for perhaps the first time managed to meet Naruto's eyes. "For now, please get out of here, Naruto-kun. I will go get the teacher to get these three help. And… I won't tell anyone I saw you here. I promise."
"...Why?" Naruto's shoulders went lax. Not because he was dropping his guard, but because he was generally at a loss for what was happening at the moment. This weird, gloomy, shy girl that had never helped him before was suddenly offering to cover for him? It was no wonder he couldn't understand.
"For now, it is best thou do as she asks." Kaguya advised him gently. "It is not a bad deal for us. If any of these three were to die with visible corpses it will only cause problems. In such an open area we cannot just turn them to ash like those of yesternight." Kaguya didn't need to say it, but the odds that any of them would say the truth of what happened was slim. Their pride would not allow it and they had reason to fear Naruto now.
The only concern was if Hinata would be true to her word.
At the moment, that was a risk they had to take. So Naruto relented with a nod. "Well, whatever the reason is: Thanks, Hinata. I owe you." He turned around to take off, but just before he did he couldn't help but catch the deep red blush on her face. No time to think about it for now, he left the scene behind him and took off running towards the library.
As he jogged, he couldn't help but glance down at his shadow. An image of Kaguya came to his mind, in particular her Byakugan eyes. "Is it possible she knows about you?" Naruto couldn't dismiss the possibility. "Like, maybe she's helping out because you both have the same eyes?" Kaguya was silent for several moments and he almost wondered if she heard him.
"We do not think that is what happened." Kaguya finally answered. Although she didn't offer him any kind of alternative reasoning either, leaving him to only imagine for himself. Even so, it seemed odd to him. Just ignoring Hinata, but there had been Kakashi that helped him the night before for unknown reasons as well. Both of them only coming to his rescue after Kaguya finally showed herself to him.
For now, he wasn't going to get any answers on Hinata it would seem, but maybe Kaguya was right and they could find some answers why Kakashi helped them at the library. He had just arrived too, slowing his stride to a standard trot as he entered.
It was his first time in Konogakure's public library, but he hadn't expected it to be nearly this large. Multiple floors, each one teaming with shelves stuff to the brim with scrolls. There was so much information here that he had no idea where to even start.
"Thou should ask the service desk." Kaguya advised, already having figured out why he stopped as soon as he stepped inside. Naruto grimaced at the idea, not looking forward to having to talk to anyone. None of the staff seemed to be aware of his presence yet, but he wasn't exactly hopeful for a warm welcome. Without any better options, he did as Kaguya suggested and began to approach the nearest counter.
"Umm… excuse me." Naruto asked, voice suddenly timid in a way that reminded him of Hinata from just earlier. He hated that feeling as if all his confidence from before was stripped away. It would appear no matter how much he thought he was starting to change he was still unsure of himself in new situations. His new power wasn't going to help him here either, as he couldn't just attack the staff if they didn't give him what he wanted.
"What do you want?" As expected, but the welcoming smile of the lady at the desk immediately slipped from her face as she soon realized who it was that had called out to her. Just great, Naruto had to fight the urge to sigh out loud at the expected response. There was nothing to it now though.
"Can you tell me where any scrolls with information about the Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi might be?" He asked, just hoping to get it over with as soon as possible.
The lady instead clicked her teeth. "How should I know? You see how big this place is? Go find it for yourself if you wanna know so badly. Now scram, I'm busy." As if to end the conversation there, she turned away from him and went back to sorting through a bin of scrolls she had been looking through earlier.
Naruto felt his temper flare and before he could even think about it he slammed both hands on the desk. The reverberating noise caused the lady to jump and drew the attention of every other occupant in the library. "The hell do you mean you don't know!?" He growled. "Isn't it your job to know where the scrolls are? I'm not asking you to get them for me, just point me to anything you have on Hatake Kakashi and I'll go get it for myself."
The woman sneered and it looked like she was about to tell him to go shove it when suddenly from next to Naruto and handful of scrolls was dropped on the desk with enough force to make a sound comparable to when Naruto slammed down on it.
"I also want any scrolls you have on Hatake Kakashi." Haruno Sakura said, standing up straight and folding her arms in front of herself. Her emerald green eyes had a fire in them that even made Naruto nervous. She had run off ahead of everyone else the moment class ended, leaving even ahead of him. He had assumed to race home, but apparently it had been with the intent of coming here instead.
"Aren't you the girl that just asked for everything we had on the Hokage a few minutes ago?" The librarian asked, looking back and forth between the two as if to figure out what kind of relationship they might have. "You already have quite a few scrolls as it is… you can't possibly need more." She then looked down at the impressive stack just dropped onto the desk.
"Huh!?" Sakura asked as if talking to an idiot. "Don't you know we have final exams coming up next month? Naruto and I need at least this much if we're going to compete for the top score in the class." Now it was Naruto who had no idea what she was talking about. Sakura surely knew he always scored dead-last, so why would she make up such an obvious lie?
Even if it was a lie, it seemed to get results. "I understand." The lady inclined her head, but only a little. "I'll point you in the direction of the scrolls on Hatake Kakashi." So it would seem she knew where they were after all. Not that this surprised Naruto, but it didn't piss him off any less. That wasn't enough for Sakura anymore, who shook her head.
"No, Naruto and I need to get studying right away. We'll be sitting right over there looking over what I already grabbed on the Hokage." Sakura pointed to a nearby desk before picking up half the armful of scrolls from earlier. "Bring them to us once you have them. I want every scroll you have, I don't care if he's only mentioned once in it."
The librarian's mouth flapped open and closed in disbelief at such an outrageous demand. "You can't be serious-"
"Naruto!" Sakura was already ignoring her, turning to the blond. "Grab the rest of the scrolls and help me carry them over to the desk. We got to get started before it's too late." She didn't wait for an answer from either of them, already turning around and stalking away.
"Ah, wait for me!" Naruto's mind barely had a chance to catch up with what had happened. All he could do now was go along with it, picking up the scrolls as she asked and running after her. Behind him, he heard the librarian grumbling, but it would seem she was leaving to go get their scrolls as requested. "Scary…" Naruto mumbled under his breath. He had no idea Sakura could be so intimidating.
"What was that?" Sakura shot him a dark look, having apparently heard what he said. He quickly shook his head as if to say he hadn't said anything. He began to walk to the opposite end of the desk, but Sakura pulled out the chair next to her. "Where are you going? It will be more effective to study together if we're sitting next to each other, idiot."
"Oh… ah, yeah. Of course." Naruto had no idea what was going on anymore. Sakura never talked to him. In fact, the few times he had tried to talk to her in the past she had been pretty violent in her rejections. They may have both been part of the unsociables, but that didn't make them friends. Even so, he had always felt a kind of companionship with her over everyone else. That was because she was almost just as badly bullied as he was. So long as you were only talking about within the confines of the classroom, of course. To all the adults, she was treated normally.
"Thanks, by the way." Naruto mumbled as he took his seat next to her. It seemed like he was starting to say that a lot lately. Sakura now being the third person to offer him help since Kaguya. Just what was going on with his weird string of good luck lately? He couldn't help but wonder.
"I don't need your gratitude." Sakura snapped back at him, having already unrolled one of the scrolls containing information about the Shodai Hokage on it. "If you really wanna thank me, why don't you start by telling me your big secret?" The sudden question caused Naruto to break out in a cold sweat.
"Ah… secret?" He tried to play dumb, voice hoarse. He glanced down nervously at his shadow. If Kaguya thought there was a possibility she was going to be exposed, would she attack Sakura? Turn her to ash like those three the night before? He didn't want that. Sakura wasn't his friend, but she was someone he could at least somewhat sympathize with. Also, she just helped him out. Although apparently not for free.
Sakura's emerald eyes shot in his direction and she slapped the scroll on the table once again. "Don't play dumb with me!" She snarled, pointing a finger into his chest with enough force to slightly push him back. "You've been hiding your intelligence. And I want to know why? Was it funny for you this whole time, huh? Making a fool out of the rest of us?"
Naruto opened his mouth to ask her what she was talking about, but a sudden arm gripping his ankle shut him up. He glanced down just in time to see Kaguya's hand disappear back into his shadow. "We would advise thou to go along with her misconception." Kaguya said now that she had his attention. "Thou are no longer the dead-last everyone assumed thou to be. For appearances sake, it would be wise to keep up this ruse for as long as possible."
He didn't know how she wanted him to do that. Fighting was one thing because he actually had some power now and if worse came to worse then Kaguya could control his shadow and at least offer him backup.
However, he couldn't fake smarts. Sure, he had gotten away with it in class earlier because Kaguya had literally been feeding him the information as he said it and he had something to prove. But there was no way he could keep something like that up for an extended period of time, especially in front of someone genuinely good at studying like Sakura.
For now he had no choice but to at least try. Sakura was expecting some kind of answer. He didn't have to say anything smart, he just had to say something that sounded cool, right? A lie would be enough, because no matter what he said it would be more believable to her than the actual truth anyways. Or maybe...
"It wasn't funny for me." Naruto answered, having intended to wing it as he went. "You think I liked being picked on as the dead-last this whole time? I hated it, every single moment of it. Every joke, every time someone called me an idiot was so unbearable I wanted to scream." He had meant to tell a lie, but somehow instead he started telling her the truth. His truth. Some of it, at least.
"Then why?" Sakura's gaze softened and even her voice lost the hard edge it used to have. It wasn't so much pity she looked at him with, but there was a hint of understanding. Of course, she knew what it was like to be bullied for being the smartest girl in class. If she had to choose between being bullied for being smart or being stupid, she would pick smart every time. At least that was something to be proud of.
"Do I really have to tell you why I might not want someone to see the real me?" Those next words hit Sakura the hardest. Because she knew exactly what that was like. She too had opened herself up once. It was when she tried to show others her heart, that the true bullying began.
She put it all on the line for some boy, telling him how she felt. And he acted like he hadn't even heard her. No, it wasn't an act, he truly hadn't so much as even seen her. Sakura destroyed her friendships for him and he didn't even acknowledge her existence.
"I'm sorry." Sakura turned back to her scroll, picking it up as if to start going over its contents. She knew how fake the attempt looked and there was no way she could concentrate on the studying after hearing him say all that.
"For what?" Naruto asked, his voice bitter. For perhaps the first time Sakura had ever heard, he sounded truly regretful about the past and the way things turned out. He may have been one of the unsociables like her, but she always had the impression he had been trying his best until now despite everything. There was certainly no shame in that, even if things didn't go the way he had wanted.
"I guess… I just misunderstood you this whole time. Actually… that's not true." Sakura felt herself laugh. It wasn't out of humor, but more out of self spite. "I never tried to understand you. I was afraid if I did, you would turn out to be just like Sasuke-kun." That was right, the boy she once had a crush on was the same one every other girl in the class liked. That was why she had been bullied. Because some normal girl without even a clan thought she could stand in the same ring as everyone else.
Naruto snorted. "What's so great about that jerk anyways? So what if he's a little strong? I could still beat him up." After the fight against Kiba today, Sakura actually wasn't all that sure he was bluffing. Before, she might have thought it was impossible. All the other girls definitely still did. Yet now…
"I hope you do." She said, and found herself surprised to feel that she meant it.
Naruto blinked in shock. He hadn't expected the conversation with Sakura to go so well. She was… actually being nice to him too. She didn't even laugh at him when he said he wanted to fight and beat Sasuke just now. He had assumed she liked him just like all the other girls, even if she was quiet about it. Now he wasn't so sure anymore.
However, before their conversation could go any further a stack of scrolls was dropped unceremoniously in front of them. "Everything on Hatake Kakashi." The librarian from earlier deadpanned, her voice clipped and short. "Anything else I can help you with?" She asked, but they both knew it was a mere nicety at this point.
"That's all." Sakura responded, but it was almost like she hadn't even actually heard. Her nose was still buried in the scroll she had been looking at from earlier, but it wasn't just for appearances anymore, now genuinely studying the text inside in order to memorize the information.
The librarian made a huff, but took the opportunity to go back to her other duties before Sakura could change her mind and ask for more. The whole time and she didn't even glance at Naruto. Not that he cared. He was tired of adults that didn't acknowledge him. Unlike with students who disrespected him, he couldn't beat them up… yet. He had a feeling he was getting dangerously close to slipping over the edge, however.
Burying the dangerous impulse for the time being, he started digging through the new pile of scrolls in front of him. "I don't even know where to start with all this…" He complained aloud. It would have been really nice if Kaguya could come back out of his shadow right now and just read it all for him.
"This one is probably as good a place as any." Sakura somehow picked a scroll out from the pile without even really looking at it. It was even more impressive considering she was still reading as she had done it. Naruto looked down at the scroll to see it was a list of old academy records, probably dating to around the time Kakashi had attended himself.
Without much other choice, he decided to unroll it and start reading. For perhaps the first time in his life he was willingly reading for the sake of gathering information. He had thought he would hate the idea, but somehow having Sakura next to him doing the same thing made it feel more bearable. As if it wasn't something he was doing alone, but rather with a friend. Maybe the library wasn't so bad, after all.
If it was always like this, he wouldn't mind studying more often from time to time.
Chapter End
Post-word: I should probably bring up shipping and pairs at this point, as it seems to be a thing many of you are interested in.
At the moment, I'm still not really committed to anything. I will say I'm not looking to make a Naruhina or Narusaku fic. I like Naruhina, it's probably my favorite ship... but it's also canon. So I don't real see the point of going all AU if I'm just gonna end up going the Canon route in the end. Sakura is fine, I'm just kind of finally starting to get a feel for where I'm gonna take this thing and as such have other ideas for what I want to happen with her. So that's why the final ship won't be either of them.
It's also worth saying, but I think writing romance is one of my weakest areas. So please don't be hoping for it to be an overly pervasive part of the story either.
Until next time!
