The Boy in the Park
Chapter Nine
He was starting to get worried.
Naruko was nowhere in sight, and it had been two days since he had last corrected her test. She had even been happy about the positive chances of having received a high mark —really, while her calligraphy left a bit to desire, she hadn't done a horrible job with it.
He was patiently waiting to see what mark she had gotten, but when she didn't come the first day, he supposed something had come up. By the second day, he was actually worried. He slowly stood from the bench and closed his book at the same time, before heading off towards Naruko's apartment.
He reached it after five minutes —climbing the stairs was actually the most difficult part of the ordeal, as she was practically on the last floor of a complex, with her door slightly hidden in a narrow street that went through two buildings.
He knocked on the door once.
When he received no reply, he knocked again.
He frowned, and then crossed his arms over his chest. Where had the girl gone now? If she wasn't at home…he mused it over and then walked away, towards Ichiraku's ramen. Maybe they had seen her there.
Five minutes, and he was once more without a clue on where Naruko could have gone —they hadn't seen her there either. He was starting to lose his hope of finding the girl, when his gaze moved towards the Hokage's faces carved in the stone. He could see the glint of bright orange on top of the head of the fourth. He shuddered as his eyes widened in disbelief.
On one side, he was thankful the girl liked bright orange so much —it made it easier to find her— on the other, he actually hoped that dot on the head of the Yondaime was not Naruko.
Who sane of their mind would sit on the head of one of the Hokage!?
He broke into a run, which didn't last much because he had no training whatsoever. Still, by the time he finally saw the summit of the Hokage monument, he was sweating, panting, and barely holding his muscles together. He slumped down on a nearby bench to catch his breath, keeping an eye on the now far more defined blur of orange that hadn't moved from that position.
Two minutes later, and he finally reached the summit too —albeit on the side where visitors could stay safely.
He coughed once.
The girl didn't turn.
He coughed again.
The girl still ignored him. He took in her slumped shoulders and her hands clasping on something, which meant it probably was a paper of sorts.
"Naruko?" he began hesitantly. The girl froze —not literally, but he saw the hair on the back of her neck rise as she straightened all of a sudden.
Her wide eyes turned around to look at him, her hands still clutching on the paper. She swallowed and then chuckled nervously. "H-Hey, Aniki…how's it going?"
"Could you please move to the solid ground?" he asked her carefully. "You know, someplace where you don't risk slipping and falling down?"
"Ah, all right," she carefully stood up, before walking as if it was the most normal thing in the world away from the fourth's stone head and back on the solid ground behind it. He exhaled a breath he hadn't known he was holding, as he went down on one knee to be at the same level as the girl, his hands clasping around her shoulders.
"What happened?"
She fidgeted. "Well?" he asked once more.
She carefully pushed the slip of paper in his hands, before keeping her gaze downcast. He slowly brought it up and began to read it.
Apparently, the Academy was strict on comma usage.
He frowned for a second as he kept on moving his gaze through the matted red that were the mistakes, slowly but surely feeling something boil down in his chest.
"Naruko?" he said carefully. "Did you ask your teacher about this?"
She looked frightened. Then again, he supposed it was because his glare could reduce a mountain to rubble. At least, he hoped it was that.
She bit her lip and shook her head. "He always says I haf'ta study more," she mumbled, bringing both of her hands together as she fidgeted with her fingers. "I…I'm sorry Aniki, I…"
He patted her on the head. "Listen," he said then carefully. "How about you bring this to the Hokage's attention?"
"Eh?" her eyes widened. "But Jiji never listens when I say…"
"Then…" he sighed, "Let's go then," he added. "I know I have to die of something anyway," he mumbled to himself as he slowly and gently steered Naruko towards going down the path of the monument. "Taking an appointment with the Hokage over a test is just a fine way of dying," he mumbled. "Death by test," he chuckled shaking his head. "What imbecile would make a test with deaths?"
Anko Mitarashi sneezed somewhere, followed by the Kage of the villages.
Getting down from the monument was actually easier —what with not having to run upwards and actually having a sort of ally known as 'gravity'. Reaching the Hokage tower proved easy too: Naruko knew the way, even though she seemed to be fidgeting far more than him.
Well, he was nervous to begin with, but Naruko looked outright pitiful. She did have a sort of hopeful gaze on her face, which made it all the more nerve-wracking for him because if he was actually wrong about…
No, he looked at the answers the girl had given once more. He understood failing the grammar. He understood wanting only the subject, the verb and the complement in a sentence. He didn't understand why the mark had to be so low anyway.
The answers were correct.
He wasn't a shinobi, but he knew the answers were correct.
He just hoped there wasn't some sort of law against a civilian knowing answers to a shinobi-only test.
It wasn't as if he could use any of that knowledge to begin with. He looked at the stairs he had to climb with a defeated sigh —he knew that the next day he was going to pay for it, with his legs' muscles locking and whatnot. Today however was not tomorrow!
The secretary outside the Hokage's office gave a perplexed look at him, and then one at Naruko. She scoffed, but said with an uneasy voice.
"The Hokage is busy, you can't—"
And Naruko was off running inside the office before the woman had a chance to say anything.
He followed behind exclaiming "Naruko!" only to find…
Well, he was positively sure he had seen the Sandaime with an orange covered book in his hands, but then again it was gone in a flicker the next —and really, the Sandaime would never read porn.
"Naruko-chan!" the Sandaime chuckled.
"Hey Jiji!" Naruko smiled brightly. "Aniki wanted to talk with you!"
"Oh, good, I just had a few minutes of free time," the Sandaime looked at the secretary with an arched eyebrow, and the woman left in a hurry with a strained smile.
He swallowed nervously as he stepped forward.
"This…it's Naruko's last test," he gingerly dropped it on the man's desk. The dictator of Konoha's desk. He had dropped a test done by one nine years old on his desk.
He was so dead.
The Sandaime frowned for a moment, before sighing.
"Naruko…taking a zero again? Really…"
"Ehm…read it, please?" he said with a slightly choked voice.
The Sandaime raised an eyebrow, and then did just so.
The Kami of shinobi bit down on his pipe as he read the red corrections to get to the answers. He furrowed his brows for a moment, before slowly looking back at him.
"I think I see where the problem is," he commented. "Well…" he looked towards Naruko, "Indeed, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions," his voice remained friendly, even though there was some sort of twinkle in the old shinobi's eyes that promised murder.
"The overzealous teacher will be corrected on his misgivings, Naruko, don't worry…this test isn't correctly marked. I would say…it warrants a good seven or above."
The change was instantaneous. Her eyes shone brightly and her mouth opened up as she screamed a 'YES!' of joy that made him wince from the sheer volume.
"Can you wait outside for a moment, Naruko?" the Sandaime said then, keeping up the smile.
In that moment, he knew he was going to be murdered. Whom was he kidding? He was a civilian, they were going to murder him. Oh yeah, they'd smile and all…but he was sure they…
Naruko grinned and yelled. "See you outside Aniki!" before leaving and slamming the door to a close hard.
"You did a good job," the Sandaime said then, "I wonder…have you thought about what you're going to do once out of school?"
"I…Ah…not much," he replied nervously. "Maybe…a teacher?"
The Sandaime smiled briefly, as he lit on his pipe. "Good to know," the third Hokage eyed the closed door. "There is something I need to tell you, however…it is important, so that in case…" the Sandaime's voice trailed off, "these things happen again, you'll know why at least…"
And that was how he was told of the Kyuubi jailed within Naruko.
It was also how he unquestionably ended up into events way beyond his comprehension.