Chapter 3

Unsurprisingly, the next morning really sucked. Even though it seemed the builders had weekends off Naruto didn't get to sleep in as his bladder threatened to burst any minute. It was still dark outside and he almost made it to the bathroom before realising how much his head hurt.

"Oh my fuck… I will never drink again." He groaned to himself holding his head as he eventually lied back down in his bed. How did he even get home last night? The last thing he remembered was tequila shots, then Kiba passed out behind one of the sofas. It crossed his mind that maybe he should check his phone but before he forced himself to move again he fell right back asleep.

When he opened his eyes again he knew that his hangover has gone from bad to dire in the last few hours. Seeing as he didn't even remember coming back home he probably didn't do anything to help the situation like drinking a glass of water. He reached over for his phone, moaning as the screen light was way too bright for his eyes to handle at the moment.

He stared at the phone for a few seconds trying to decipher the display as his mind was still slow from sleep and pain. ' Nine texts and four missed calls from Sakura, one from Shikamaru, one from Ino…' he opened up the texts. It seemed he suddenly vanished somewhere around 2am without telling anyone.

He sighed dialling Sakura's number, he had to know how he got home but he knew she wouldn't be happy with him considering her texts.

"Hello?" A sleepy and rather grumpy voice answered him.

"Sakura, good morning." He briefly looked at the clock on the wall. "Or afternoon rather."

"…Naruto?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"You idiot, I should have not answered the call especially from you!" Suddenly she was much more awake. Everyone knew Sakura had little patience when it came to Naruto.

"I'd say I'm sorry, but honestly I have no idea what the fuck happened last night." He told her scratching his cheek. "And please don't shout, my head is killing me and I might puke."

"Ha, serves you right. No sympathy for you." She laughed triumphantly. "You and Kiba had so much it's a wonder you two are alive."

"Tell me about it." He winced. "What even happened last night? The only thing I remember was Kiba passed out behind the sofa. I just saw all your missed calls too."

"Oh yeah, Kiba blacking out was hilarious. After last night I don't think he has a chance with Hinata." She laughed but her tone quickly turned into a slightly accusatory one. "And you! Damn it, Naruto suddenly it was like Earth swallowed you. I think we looked for you for over half an hour."

"Sorry about that… I guess you eventually found me though?"

"Yeah, eventually. You were asleep in Neji's bed apparently, though we only found you there after someone told us where to look for you." She explained.

"Huh?" Naruto was confused. "Who told you I was there?"

"Let me think, I can barely remember last night…" she went silent for a little while. "Oh, I know. It was that guy everyone made a fuss about when he came. The one you were… Wait a minute! That was the same guy you stared at!" she exclaimed loudly. "How did he know where you were? Do you need to tell me something?!"

Naruto didn't answer. He was glad he was still lying in bed as he would have probably dropped his phone as Sakura mentioned Sasuke. Why did he overreact so much every time the guy was mentioned?! God, why couldn't he remember anything? His stomach suddenly turned violently.

"Naruto? Are you listening?!"

"Sakura, I'm sorry I really need to go!" he ended the call and sprinted to the bathroom making it just in time. Today was really going to suck.

After a whole day in bed with occasional trips to bathroom and kitchen to get some water Naruto finally felt more like himself as the evening approached. He didn't call Sakura back in the end. Truth be told, he thought about the party so much he had no clue what to think anymore, especially about Sasuke and his own weird reactions.

He unwrapped himself from the covers and decided to check his email. He logged to his inbox and noticed 3 new messages.

'Spam, spam…' he stopped before deleting the last message. 'Huh?' he looked at the sender's address which read: TKD Club. He quickly opened the message and his eyes went wide.

"Good choice. –GS."

What choice? GS? He clicked on the [show quoted text] button.

"Her's thw joinig form. Natuto."

He stared blankly at his screen. …He sent the form to the club? When? He check the time of original message, it read 3:49am. He put his face in his hands. Not only did he get smashed last night, slept in another guy's bed, was first found by a different guy who made him feel weird, but apparently he also signed up for Taekwondo after all. And worst of all - Natuto? God he could die right now. He was the worst kind of drunk for sure.

Well at least now the reply made sense. GS must have been Gaara. He turned his laptop off, he should have just stayed in bed until tomorrow morning. He switched the lights off and wrapped himself in his duvet again. He felt exhausted but just before he fell asleep again he noted that, for some reason, he was almost glad about the drunken email. Despite the recent events this was a first night in years when he fell asleep with a small smile on his lips.

"Guys, where can I buy scales?" Naruto asked his friends as they were eating lunch the next day. The builders were back with full force this morning and so it seemed Naruto's attendance would become a regular occurrence, at least for a while. The blond felt much better today, probably due to buckets of water he drank the day before and the fact he mainly napped the whole day. On the other hand Kiba still displayed a worrying shade of green and being surrounded by food did not seem to help.

"Scales? Like kitchen scales?" Ino asked him finishing her salad.

"No, no I mean like bathroom scales, to weigh yourself." Naruto's explanation earned him a few curious looks from his friends.

"Why the fuck would you need one?" Kiba finally asked confused.

"To weigh myself, duh?"

"I know what you use it for, genius." Kiba glared at him. "I'm asking why YOU need it."

"Well, I want to lose weight…" he looked away to the side suddenly embarrassed at how lame it sounded. It sounded like something a girl would say! "Or rather not lose weight but get in shape." He clarified.

Sakura and Ino exchange looks and burst into laughter, and were soon joined by Kiba.

"What's so funny?!" Naruto shouted at them offended.

"Good joke man." Kiba pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. "You love booze and food and I think your laziness can only be matched by mine!". The two girls seemed to share this opinion.

Naruto knew he couldn't blame them for viewing him this way, after all they only met him a few years back. None of them knew anything about his family as he straight out refused to talk about it. But he couldn't help but to get angry at his friends' words. Wasn't it their job to support him instead of mocking?

"Oh yeah? Well fuck you all, I'll show you who is lazy." He grabbed his bag and stormed off. He was so furious he didn't notice he almost walked into someone. What was it with him walking into people?! He was about to mutter a short apology when he realised he just walked into Gaara.

"Oh! Gaara I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going!" he said quickly to the red head who seemed to be examining him.

"Why are you angry?" Gaara asked him calmly catching Naruto off guard.

"Huh?" the blond blinked. "How do you know I'm angry?"

It was a stupid question, honestly. Not only was Naruto usually bad at hiding his emotions, this time he wasn't even trying. Gaara was still looking at him, clearly waiting for his explanation.

"It's just my friends are jerks sometimes." He sighed. "I asked them where would one get bathroom scales and they laughed in my face."

Why was he even telling the redhead about his lame problems?

"Department store near the centre."

Naruto looked at him confused.

"You can get scales in one of the stores. I was about to go there if you want to join." Gaara offered. Naruto's eyes went a little wider, as not only did Gaara not laugh but even offered company! Was this the Gaara that was considered completely anti-social and who was generally avoided because he was "scary"? Well at this moment he was nicer than Naruto's so called friends.

"Sure, sounds great!" he answered with a grin.

As they headed towards the city centre Naruto's anger seemed to have vanished as he was happily babbling about random topics to keep the conversation going. Once inside the shopping centre Gaara led him to the appropriate store. As he didn't want to head straight home Naruto decided to walk around a bit more with Gaara. It appeared that the redhead was headed for a sports store.

"Ah, I should probably get some stuff here too for training." Naruto realised he had nothing to wear for his first training session on Wednesday. He decided he should go at least once and see if he could experience the same kind of excitement he used to years ago.

Gaara looked at him questioningly.

"Do you not have a Dobok or Gi at home?"

"Uh, well yeah I do…" Naruto trailed off. Indeed he still had his parents training and competition clothes. Apart from the framed picture they were the only thing he kept. His eyes widened a little.

"Wait, Gaara why would you think I have a Dobok?" He looked at the redhead who was currently browsing running clothes and seemed to pay little attention to slight agitation in Naruto's voice. He grabbed one of the shirts, and just before he left for the changing rooms he looked Naruto in the eyes.

"Namikaze." He said simply and walked away, leaving shocked Naruto in the middle of the store.

Naruto never thought that someone would make a connection. Sure, he took after his father looks-wise. But his parents greatly valued their privacy when they were alive, and after their death his godfather advised Naruto to adopt his mother's surname to distance himself from the media mayhem.

How did Gaara figure it out so quickly?

Gaara found the blond in the exact same spot he left him a couple of minutes before.

"I won't tell anyone if you wish." He said.

"…Thank you." Naruto answered finally. "How did you even figure it out?"

"My siblings and I also train Judo. We often analyze old fights at my club. Last weekend we watched fights from 1988 Olympics." Gaara explained, turned towards the tills to pay and Naruto followed him.

"I see." Talk about coincidences, apparently his life was full of them recently.

The two of them didn't talk more about the matter. Naruto avoided the topic on purpose and Gaara wasn't the kind of person to push the issue. Eventually they decided to call it a day and went their separate ways.

As soon as he got home Naruto unpacked his new scales and put them in the bathroom. At first he wanted to weigh himself straight away, but eventually decided he'll probably feel better if he ate better for a few days and then weighed himself. There was no point in making himself depressed.

He took a brown box from under his bed. The tape he put on it almost 10 years ago was still there, untouched. He hesitated for a little while but eventually cut the tape with a knife and opened the box. Seeing the clothes his parents used to proudly wear when they were still here was much harder than he thought it would be. He took out his mother's Dobok and unwrapped it from the protective foil.

He remembered that it used to be just a little bit too big for her, which usually would play to her disadvantage yet she refused to get a different one.

"Minato gave it to me on our first anniversary. Not sure if he thought I was fatter than I was or did he expect me to grow bigger as his wife!" she used to laugh.

Of course it was of best quality, his father would not have settled for anything less for his beloved wife. Naruto hesitated again but tried it on. It was slightly on the short side but it would do. He looked back to the box. He'd definitely have to borrow a belt though, he doubted it was a good idea to show up with his mother's or father's black belt.

His stomach growled loudly, so Naruto put the box back under his bed, folded his mother's Dobok and put it on his chair. He needed to wash it before we'd be able to wear it. He quickly prepared a whole cup of ramen and he could already see the bottom of the cup when he remembered he was supposed to eat healthy. He sighed loudly. He's friends had that right, he loved food.

Tuesday passed quickly. Naruto felt guilty about the way he treated his friends and although they weren't exactly supportive it wasn't their fault that they only knew this side of him. He apologised to them and it seemed that things were fine between them again. Sakura and Ino even offered him some diet and nutrition tips which he was grateful for. He also handed Gaara his work during tutorial, only to obtain the next set of exercises.

Before he realised it was already Wednesday afternoon and in an hour his first session would start. He decided not to tell his friends that he joined the Taekwondo club. In case he decided that in the end he didn't want to do it ever again he wouldn't have to explain it to them. It was easier this way.

At 5:45pm he headed to the changing rooms by one of the sports halls to put on his Dobok. Gaara was already there. The redhead gave him an acknowledging nod and handed him a white belt.

"Figured you didn't have one." The redhead explained.

"Ah, thanks Gaara, you're awesome." Naruto grinned at him, also to hide how nervous he was. It wasn't just a training session. To him, it was so much more. It had such a huge emotional significance he could feel his heart pound in his chest. He noticed Gaara put on a red belt with a tab, which was the last belt before black.

"Gaara, what belt are you in Judo?"

"Black." The redhead replied. Naruto felt a slight, unexplainable surge of jealousy. He could have had a black belt easily by now. But the fact was that he didn't and he could only blame himself.

They made their way to the sports hall as the session was about to start. The room has huge. Gaara walked over to a group of other red and black belts, and Naruto spotted the long-haired guy, Neji, among them. He felt slight embarrassment as he remembered where Sakura apparently found him sleeping on Saturday. To his relief he noticed a few more white belts and even two people who were training in sweatpants so he joined them quickly introducing himself shortly.

"Okay, line up!" A tall, middle aged man step in front of the group in the hall. Silently, everyone formed a long row, standing straight with their arms on their sides, lowest ranks on the left and highest on the right. They bowed to the instructor in front of them and he bowed back.

"I see quite a few new faces here." The man continued. "As this is an introductory session for many of you I would like to get to know you and explain some things first. Neji?"

The long hair guy stepped from the row and bowed.

"Yes, sir?"

"As vice-captain I'd like you to lead everyone's warm up as I speak to the newbies."

Neji bowed again and called the rest of the group towards him.

"This way." The instructor lead them to a far corner of the sports hall. "Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Yamato. I'm glad you decided to join the club. Let's have a show of hands, how many of you have done any kind of martial arts before?"

Slowly, Naruto put his hand up. He realised he was the only one.

"What's your name?" Yamato asked him.

"Naruto, sir."

"And what martial arts have you trained before?"

The blond hesitated a little before answering.

"I used to do some Taekwondo and a little bit of Judo when I was little…" Well, more like a lot but he doubted he remembered anything with regards to practical side of it.

"Very good. I assume you are familiar with how sessions work, how to behave in Dojang and such?"

Naruto nodded in response as a large thud of opening doors filled the hall. This attracted the attention of new club members. Naruto's jaw almost dropped to the floor as he immediately recognised the black Dobok. How could he even forget that Sasuke was also in this club?

The black haired boy walked over towards the instructor and bowed.

"I apologise for being late."

"Accepted." Yamato bowed in response.

"New additions to the club?" Sasuke asked as he glanced at the small group. His expression barely changed but a surprise lingered in his eyes as he spotted Naruto among them.

"Indeed. I need to go through basic rules and etiquette." Yamato pointed at the blond. "Naruto apparently trained in the past so it would be a waste of time for him. Go through a warm up with him, you'll need it as well."

"Yes, sir." Sasuke bowed again.

Naruto felt a slight hint of panic as the guy in front of him looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to follow. Maybe coming to this session wasn't a good idea at all. He should have just gone home. Oh god. What did he get himself into?

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed this Chapter!

Just to explain:

Gi is a traditional outfit which is used in Japanese martial arts such as Judo and Karate.

Dojang is a Taekwondo training place, a Dojo is Japanese equivalent.

Thank you for all the reviews and follows! (Special thanks to Chocomellica, thank you so much for your kind words!)

Keep them coming, I really appreciate feedback!

J.