Chapter Five: Piccadilly Circus
Naruto hugged the scroll he'd just been handed to his chest, bowing to the man who'd given it to him.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama, sir," he said fervently. This was the second scroll he'd been given, and he was standing on the end of his second week in Konoha. He was definitely enjoying this place – rather more than he should, granted, but it was so nice to sleep indoors, in a warm place, and he hadn't been chained or struck once since he'd arrived! And the food was awesome! He'd never actually enjoyed eating before…
The old human leader smiled and said, "You're very welcome, Naruto. You're doing well. I hear you have been integrated into Kakashi's team, and have been helping them with their D-ranks. Good job."
Naruto nodded, his eyes down out of habit and respect. He had been helping Kakashi-sir's kits in doing what seemed menial tasks, but he didn't understand why Kakashi-sir would make his students participate when he had a perfectly able jinchuuriki – a beast bred for menial labour – at his disposal.
Humans were weird.
The Toshi-kit and Sasuke-kit both seemed to dislike him, which made Naruto nervous. The Sakura-kit, on the other hand, almost doted on him, including him in conversations and fussing over any scratches he earned over the day, which made him confused.
All in all, it was a relief to be able to retreat from their presence at the end of each day.
Naruto waited patiently to be dismissed, but instead Hokage-sama started to speak again, this time to Kakashi-sir.
"Kakashi," the old man said, turning to the tall silver-haired jounin. "I… A mission has come up, and I want you to take it."
Kakashi shifted, surprised. "Sir?" he said, glancing pointedly at Naruto. Sarutobi nodded.
"Yes, I understand that at this point in time it might be hard for this to be arranged, but your students cannot be denied from all but D-ranks until the issue is resolved. It is unfair, especially as they are used to B- and C-ranks. I have chosen a C-ranked mission for you to take, but it is a simple escort. Naruto will be able to go with you," he pressed on, raising his voice to talk over Kakashi's objections.
"But… Hokage-sama, I don't think… Naruto is in no way ready for… something like this," protested Kakashi. Internally, he added, In fact, if I thought you'd allow it, I'd wrap him in bubble wrap, shove him under my shirt for safekeeping and never ever let him out again. "For one thing, he'll be conspicuous, and a danger to himself as well as our client!"
Sarutobi half-smiled. "Oh, I think you're underestimating Naruto," he said, "Admittedly he was trained in a manner that was… unorthodox…" Kakashi snorted with angry amusement at the phrasing, "But he was trained, nonetheless," Sarutobi said firmly. "And as for standing out, it will be just fine. You are to be guarding a travelling circus, which is headed for Snow Country. They have expressed a wish for you to be invisible, so you'll be posing as part of their lot. Naruto will fit right in."
Kakashi glared, but had to concede the point.
Eventually, after a bit more arguing, Kakashi grudgingly accepted the mission.
"You leave tomorrow. Go get some rest," Sarutobi advised. "Naruto, I'll see you when you get back, okay? This mission will probably take a little more than a week, so I'll be ready to give you your next scroll by then."
Naruto flushed and nodded, eyes on the ground and arms tightening around the scroll clutched to his chest.
In short order, they were dismissed and left, Kakashi leading his charge back to his apartment, where he proceeded to make vegetable soup a little more violently than strictly necessary, muttering oaths and curses fluently in several languages. Naruto wisely chose to retreat to his room.
What in Master's name is that?
Naruto stared, wide-eyed, at a bizarre golden huge animal settled in an iron cage. It weighed him with sharp amber eyes, and the jinchuuriki felt pinned by its gaze, shivering in a wave of fear.
"K-Kakashi-sir," he stuttered. "It's a cat… a big cat. Big, big, big… mutant cat… big teeth… big…"
Several people spoke from behind him while he felt too tense to take his eyes off the (caged) animal.
"Che. He doesn't even know what a lion is?" Caustic. Sasuke-kit.
"Oh no, it's a lion, it's going to eat us!" Very sarcastic. Toshi-kit.
"Toshi, shut up. Sasuke, be nice. God, I hate this job!" Exasperated. Kakashi-sir. "Naruto, don't worry, it won't hurt you. It's tame."
Naruto relaxed marginally at the assurance, double-checking that the cage it was held in was locked and secure.
"Hey, you there."
Naruto turned to see a human male standing a little way beyond Kakashi-sir and instantly cringed.
The human wasn't particularly big or mean-looking, really – in fact, he looked kinda funny, and he was an odd red colour, like he had spent the majority of his life hanging upside down, or drunk, or both. Even so, there was something about him that Naruto instinctively shied away from. An aura of control and unforgivingness seemed to hover around him, and Naruto took a nervous step closer to Kakashi-sir.
This man was a Handler, and Naruto knew – knew, with that animal instinct that humans seemed to lack – that to serve with this man as a master would be a harsh, iron-fisted existence. He wondered if the bizarre animals in the cages around him belonged to the pink-clad, shortish man, and fleetingly questioned whether humans had any colour-vision whatsoever.
Kakashi was aware of the way Naruto was edging behind him, slowly hiding himself completely from the man, and Kakashi didn't really blame him. This whole person screamed 'cruelty to animals'.
And honestly, there was something wrong about a man who was completely pink from clothes to hair.
"You'd be the ninja, then?" the man drawled. Kakashi nodded curtly.
"That's us," he said, his voice deceptively sunny. "I'm Hatake Kakashi, and these are my genin. And you are?"
The man scowled, reaching to tip his pink silk top hat back. "Wasn't expectin' kids when I hired ninja," he grumbled.
"And we weren't expecting a giant pink blob as an employer, but here we are," Toshi piped up, and then whimpered as Sasuke (as per instructions) elbowed him hard in some internal organ.
"I can vouch for each of my students' skill," Kakashi said easily. "Your name, sir?"
The man grumbled, but said, "Danno Maro," somewhat grudgingly.
"Ah, so you are our employer," Kakashi smiled. "Good, good. Now, we're here, we've been told, to protect you and your circus on your way to Snow, until you reach the village of Haniji. Is there anything else you need to tell us before we begin?"
Maro raised an eyebrow. "Just that I expect you to blend in and act your part. Your Hokage told me you could act as part of our troop. Well? What you got to show?"
Kakashi considered briefly. "Do you have a knife-thrower?" he asked. Maro shook his head, interest entering his eerily pinkish eyes. Kakashi allowed his own eye to close into a smile. "Well, then, you're in luck. You have just found four expert knife-throwers. We can also balance on wires and jump extraordinarily high. Sasuke there breathes fire, and I can juggle. I guarantee your civilian crowds will be amazed."
Maro looked grudgingly accepting, and grunted ill-temperedly before turning away, muttering, "Fine. We're moving out, so just don't get in the way."
"Aw, man," whined Toshi, whimpering as he held out his hand to Kakashi, "Why do we always get the grumpy old fags who hate ninja?"
"Toshi!" scolded Sakura, hitting him over the head with the wooden handle of a hammer she was conveniently holding as she helped nail down a crate lid that had worked its way loose over the day's travelling. "Don't speak like that about our employer!"
"Well?" he replied defensively, "We always do! Don't you remember that Tazuna guy from Wave? He called us all brats all the time, and he was a slobbering drunk besides. Plus, I don't care, no man who looks like he's been dropped into a vat of pink dye is pitching for this team."
Kakashi took a sterile needle packet out of his mouth where he had stowed it temporarily and tore the sealed plastic away with his teeth, spitting the wrapping away and carefully threading the needle with medical string.
"I don't know," he said lightly as he did so, "You looked pretty pink after that one babysitting mission – remember, Yusabi-san's triplet girls?"
Toshi flushed. "That was different!" he insisted, "Ow!"
"Hold still," Kakashi said in a distinctly maternalistic tone, his strong grip on Toshi's wrist preventing the boy's attempts at escape.
Sasuke grunted as he hoisted a crate back onto one of the wagons. "The mutt is right," he droned. "On both counts."
"The mighty Uchiha has spoken!" Toshi mocked instantly. "All bow before him and worship his irrefutable logic – ow! Sen -sei!"
"Look, stop squirming and this won't hurt," Kakashi sounded equal parts amused and exasperated as he quickly stitched up a deep cut to the back of Toshi's arm – Sakura was the medic, but she had been busy when he'd injured himself, and it wasn't serious enough to warrant chakra healing: it was barely four stitches. "You wouldn't even be hurt if you had followed orders in the first place and ducked."
"I didn't know our own employer was going to throw shards of pottery at me!" whined Toshi, wounded and puppy-eying for gold. Kakashi rolled his eyes and quickly twisted a bandage around the newly-treated injury.
"Now, don't let that get infected," he cautioned, wiping his hands off. He paused, his grey eye scanning the surrounding bustle that was the circus stopped for a break. "Where is Naruto?" he asked carefully. Both boys' faces darkened, and they gave identical (and hysterical) moody shrugs as they looked away. Sakura bit her lip as she considered.
"Last I saw, Maro-san was making him sort out some props," she said. Kakashi swore softly to himself.
Over the last few hours, it had become clear to the ninja that Danno Maro was not a man who liked letting even a single penny go to waste, and who was determined to make the ninja work every second they were here. Understandably, Kakashi was keenly interested in keeping him as far away from Naruto as possible, a fact Maro had obviously picked up on and resented.
"I better go find him, then," he said lightly, not letting his concern show through to the chuunin.
On the other side of the temporary camp, Naruto was struggling to obey Maro-Master with limited success as he attempted to reassemble a pile of interlocking bottles he had knocked over when he had stumbled carrying a heavy box. The pattern was proving too complex for him to manage as he fumbled again and again, trying to make them stay in their pyramid shape when all they wanted to do was tumble down. Naruto felt his chest constricting, his breath coming in shaky pants and a cold sweat beginning as Maro-Master breathed down his neck, scolding constantly – sometimes this happened when he couldn't do what Master wanted him to do and his Handlers didn't seem to realise he was trying.
Naruto felt like crying as Maro-Master hissed something in human – Naruto had terrible trouble understanding him because he had a bizarre lilt on his words that warped their sounds – and shoved him, making him drop the bottles he had collected for the fourth time.
He didn't know what to do. He didn't understand what was being asked of him, and this Master-Person was obviously getting angry, which scared him. So, frustrated, frightened and teetering dangerously between tears and hiding, Naruto was horrified when he felt his dark side twitch and begin to emerge, filling him with just a touch of anger, too.
No! Stop, he pleaded with himself, trying to push down the darkness, feeling the situation spinning more and more out of control as Maro-Master began to shout in earnest, Naruto catching words here and there like 'useless' and 'clumsy'.
I'll show him useless and clumsy, Naruto's dark side promised with a hiss. Naruto whimpered aloud, trying to contain the thoughts. Why? He's not my Master. I don't have to obey him.
He's still a Human! Naruto thought desperately. I – he – they – Master – I –
I wonder what pink tastes like…
Now terrified, gasping for air as his chest constricted further and all the air around him seemed to vanish, horrified by the images his own mind was supplying him and flinching from Maro-Master's tirade, Naruto fell back on the only thing he knew and collapsed.
Kakashi, who had followed the noise of Maro-san shouting to the spot, arrived in time to see Naruto lose his grip on what appeared to be a collection of stack 'em bottles as Maro shoved him physically, and felt a stab of anger he had to work to control.
How dare he touch Naruto?
Taking a moment to control himself, Kakashi's keen eye took in the way Naruto seemed to fall apart, panting and clutching at his chest: classic signs of a panic attack. For a moment, his odd, multi-coloured eyes seemed to flash completely red, before Naruto crumpled, falling to his knees and staying there, arms hugging his torso, shaking, staring into nothing.
Maro made as if to shove him again, but suddenly Kakashi was there, KI roiling off him and a deadly promise in his single eye and he grabbed the man's right wrist and left shoulder from behind.
"Why don't you go check on your people, Maro-san?" he said in a deadly voice. Maro froze, obviously not used to or liking the feel of killer intent. "We have been through this, Maro-san. You are to stay away from this child. He is not to be pushed around. And if you lay a hand on any of my children again, I will terminate the contract and return to Konoha. Understood?"
Maro-san nodded rapidly, and Kakashi pushed him away.
"Good. Leave," he snapped, and the vividly dressed man hurried to obey. Threat dealt with, Kakashi turned to the shivering boy kneeling before him, lowering his lanky frame to the ground to put himself on the same level as the blonde.
"Naruto?" he said gently. "Naruto. It's okay."
Naruto shook his head, eyes closed. "No," he was saying, "No, I can't. I'm sorry, Master, I'm sorry, I tried, I'm sorry…"
"Naruto!" Kakashi said again, more firmly, and Naruto's eyes jolted open, staring at the jounin. "It's okay. You don't have to do it. It's fine."
"I tried," Naruto said instantly, cringing away from him. "I promise, I tried, I couldn't-"
"I know," Kakashi said quickly, reaching to tug Naruto to his feet. "It's alright. You'll be okay. Everything is fine. Okay?"
There was a long pause, but slowly Naruto stopped shivering. When he next looked up, he was calm and reasonably sure of himself again. He gave his Handler a wobbly little smile and meekly followed the tall man back to the safety of the rest of the squad.
Naruto watched, wide-eyed and staring, through a thick line of material that shielded the area from the rest of the huge tent which was teeming with many, many humans. The jinchuuriki had never seen so many young ones in one place before, and they were all assembled in one mass that ringed the edge of the tent.
Odd smells filled the air: one that reminded him of the corn pancakes Master ate for breakfast, another eerily similar to molasses, but somehow not so coarse. Naruto's eyes flicked from person to person, trying to pinpoint the source of the smells, trying to take in all the activity and track all movements.
In the big empty area in the middle of the tent, humans were doing astounding things at the command of Maro-Master, dancing around the circle to some kind of pattern. The animals Naruto had observed the day before were taken out and made to perform – this one act alone Naruto could comprehend – though he quailed and hid behind Kakashi-sir when the frightening big-mutant-cat-lion was released from its cage.
Now, he watched as a human girl danced to an odd musical tune around a small glass cube, wondering if the reason he had been brought here was to perform for these gathered crowds. He didn't think this was likely to occur – at least not tonight, as Kakashi-sir hadn't warned him of any such happenings and hadn't attempted to teach him to respond to any commands except for 'sit at the table' and 'don't dodge the shower water'.
Naruto was jerked from his thoughts as the girl folded herself into the box and one of the men near her closed the lid. Through the glass sides, he could see that there was not a single bit of free space left for her to move – how had she even fitted in the first place?
"And I thought our boxes were small!" he murmured incredulously.
The Sasuke-kit, who was leaning on a post two feet away, looked up at him, expression sourly resentful – Kakashi-sir had ordered him to stay here and watch Naruto while the Handler did something with his other two kits.
"What?" the dark-haired kit asked. Naruto blinked, then wilted a little and shook his head.
"No, nothing, it doesn't matter," he said quickly.
The Sasuke-kit made a scoffing noise and looked away, arms crossed moodily over his chest. Naruto's keen ears picked up the word 'freak' bit out in the breath of air, and tried not to seem hurt.
He was a freak, especially when compared to this healthy human kit.
Naruto's attention was caught once more as the centre ring cleared out and Maro-Master strode out, his booming voice echoing through the stuffy structure.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, we have a treat!" he shouted, all attention riveted on his neon pink form, "Fresh from their tour of the south, I bring you the talented Haru family, performing for the first time in this, the best one-ring circus you will ever have the good fortune to see!"
Naruto winced as the tent rang with applause, and wondered for a moment why Maro-Master spoke like that. It made him sound like a simpleton.
The thought was shoved out of his head and he gasped as he saw who it was appearing before the crowds now – Kakashi-sir and the two missing kits! Their clothing had changed to colourful outfits and their weapons were gone – or at least carefully concealed – but Naruto had no trouble in recognising them.
"Sasuke-kit!" he said, turning to appeal to the human for answers, "Kakashi-sir is out there!"
Sasuke-kit looked irritated. "Yeah, no duh," he grumbled. "They're out there, pretending to be circus creeps, while I'm here babysitting you. Idiot."
Naruto frowned – he didn't understand, but he perceived that he would get nothing further from Sasuke-kit. Tilting his head, he watched as the Sakura-kit settled herself in a pose with her back to a wall, closely surrounded by several brightly coloured, air-filled sacks of rubber that Master's young one used to play with, when he was still young. They were called 'balloons', and had a tendency to explode with a heart-stopping bang at random intervals.
Humans had weird habits and playthings.
Naruto watched with interest as Kakashi-sir and Toshi-kit produced several ornamented knives and the audience went deadly quiet. He was confused, and the confusion only grew as Kakashi-sir looked directly at Sakura-kit and made a show of aiming his knife, as if he was going to –
He threw it, right at his own kit! Naruto felt the air leave his lungs in a horrified whoosh as his eyes traced the spinning blade through the air as if it flew on its lazy arc in slow motion. It was going to – no, wait, it wouldn't hit Sakura-kit, it would be a near-miss.
The blade hit the board behind Sakura-kit's back, dead-centre in one of the balloons. The bubble exploded with a bang, and Naruto flinched. Maybe the goal was to throw knives without hitting the kit? That didn't make sense, but Naruto couldn't connect Kakashi-sir with the image of this man throwing knives at his most gentle, well-behaved kit. It made no sense.
Then again, it was only slightly more sensible to throw knives around his most gentle, well-behaved kit as some form of game or exercise. Maybe the balloons were there to warn the humans when they were getting too close to her?
But no, Kakashi-sir aimed again, taking his time, and again his blade popped a balloon, this one directly above Sakura's head.
Naruto winced, but the humans made a racket, banging their hands together and whistling. Sakura-kit hadn't moved an inch, nor did she look particularly worried.
Naruto frowned as Kakashi gestured Toshi-kit forward to applause.
She was just standing there – not restrained – as her fath – no, teacher, whatever that was – and fellow kit threw knives at her while a great many of their kinsmen looked on. Perhaps this was a declaration of trust: a measure of how in tune this odd group was? That would make sense in an odd sort of way.
Satisfied with this explanation, Naruto watched with interest as Kakashi-sir and Toshi-kit quickly destroyed the remaining balloons around Sakura.
When it seemed they were done, Maro-Master took a step forwards, but Sakura-kit just bent and picked up a piece of red fruit that she had set at her feet. Naruto sniffed – through the heavy air, he could hardly discern the sweet smell of a peach, but he managed to identify it as Sakura-kit placed it in her hand and lifted it. The crowd murmured: to hit that, the knife-thrower would have to aim between her fingers.
When Kakashi-sir nodded at Toshi-kit, a louder, almost protesting murmur rang through the crowd. They had obviously expected the adult to take this shot, rather than the trainee child.
Honestly, Naruto agreed with them, and he held his breath as Toshi-kit threw his blade.
There was a splattering noise as the peach was hit, and Sakura-kit laughed as she dropped the tattered remains and reached to wipe some juice that had splattered her face away, the sound echoing and sparking a wave of relieved laughter and applause among the watching humans.
Naruto grinned – that had been cool. The applause continued, and there were a few whistles – obviously the show had been a success. Then, before the applause had even died and without warning, Kakashi-sir threw one last knife, arching it through the air gracefully towards Sakura-kit's head. Several humans screamed and Naruto froze, unable to even close his eyes to avoid the sight of Kakashi-sir murdering his girl-kit.
He needn't have worried. The knife just skipped past her head, catching the large, pretty flower Sakura-kit had placed in her hair and pinning it to the board with the burst balloons.
There was a moment of absolute silence, before noise exploded in the tent, humans screaming and calling. Even the Sasuke-kit looked mildly impressed.
"Show off," he scoffed.
"Ah, now, Sasuke," Kakashi-sir said, slipping out of the arena and into the alcove where the pair were sheltering in time to hear the comment, Toshi-kit and Sakura-kit close behind him, "We had to make it look like we were skilled enough not to be ninja, get it?"
"Not really," Sasuke-kit replied. "But don't explain: I don't care."
"How did you throw your blades like that?" Naruto asked curiously. "I've seen my Handlers do it, too, but never at their own kits."
Kakashi-sir smiled sheepishly. "Well, no, it is sort of odd to do what I just did," he agreed. "But you've used kunai before, right?"
Naruto nodded. "Of course," he said. "But never like that. Knives are for stabbing, slashing, tools when claws don't work. I know they can be thrown, but I suppose my kind don't have the…"
"Fine motor skills?" Toshi-kit suggested dryly. Naruto shrugged: he didn't know what that meant.
"Now, Toshi, that's enough," Kakashi-sir intervened. "Come on – we should change. Naruto, let that go, please."
Naruto looked up from where he'd caught hold of Kakashi-sir's sparkly new belt.
"But I like your new clothes!" he protested, saddened by the thought that Kakashi-sir was going to revert back to his dull other clothing.
Kakashi-sir sighed heavily. "Naruto," he said patiently, "Ninja do not wear sequins."