The Boy in the Park
Chapter Forty-One
"Aniki! I'm going on a C-rank!"
"Aniki, I'm going on a C-rank again!"
"Aniki, I did a C-rank and…"
Every. Single. Mission.
Every single mission Naruko took that was beyond D-rank turned into a mess of such epic proportions he actually had taken medical pills to calm down after he heard from the mission office how they turned worse. The positive thing was that the Anbu guard had finally been dropped —Orochimaru had lost interest, and the Anbu was needed elsewhere to do missions for the benefit of the village.
He was actually glad he only felt watched during the day hours now, and only by Hinata who was easy to knock out.
He did carry the dirty laundry of Naruko sometimes out of the window to dry…and there always was a fountain of blood afterwards from behind a corner.
"So, this time, you battled against a Jounin from Amegakure who fought back using the Raijin no Ken, the weapon of the Nidaime known to make the user invincible in battle?"
"YEAH!" Naruko exclaimed.
"Tell me again," he said quietly, "Who is the one assigned to giving out mission scrolls?"
"Iruka-sensei, Aniki."
Iruka suddenly felt a terrible chill throughout his spine, as he imagined a number appear atop his head and incredibly spin downwards to reach the zero. The shadows around him morphed to display frying pans, and he had the inkling sensation…he would not survive the end of the week.
"Ah," Shinku smiled. "I'll have a talk with him."
"Anyway, it was awesome 'ttebayo!" she clapped her hands, "And then I also helped Ibiki find his younger brother! Oh, but I wasn't supposed to say that so keep it a secret all right!?"
He nodded. He suspected that if someone ever captured Naruko, they'd know the ins and outs of Konoha within the next hour…provided they knew to deliver Ramen to the girl.
He looked towards the wall of the apartment, gazing softly at the board he had set up after Naruko had decided to take pictures of her missions —to show them off to him. In one, she had a heavy dose of make-up, and was making the peace sign together with the princess-actress from the Land of Snow, Yukie Fujikaze, while in another, she was making a victory sign together with the folks from the land of tea.
He exhaled in relief and then shook his head. "Oh, right," he said then. "This arrived in the mail," he carefully took out a thick carton package, which was filled to the brim with papers.
"While you were away, I had the time to compile them all," he added to the curious look of Naruko. He took out his pen and dropped it in front of Naruko. "If…if you want, you can sign these and I'll become your guardian henceforth."
Naruko's mouth hung loose for a moment, before she grabbed the pen as fast as she could and began to scribble down her name on each dotted line.
He sweat dropped. Wasn't she going to read them at least?
When the last paper was signed, Naruko looked at him expectantly. He shuffled the papers back in order, and then closed the package.
"So…you're my Aniki forever-ever now?" Naruko said with her eyes sparkling.
He smiled. "Yep."
The next moment she clung to his neck like a monkey, "ALL RIGHT!" she screamed literally in his ears, making him wobble. Thankfully, he was still sitting or he'd have fallen like a bag of potatoes —he actually wondered how fast she had moved to get to that position. "Are we going to celebrate Aniki? Wait, should I call you Onii-san now? Nah! Maybe I can call you Onii-chan? Eh? How about it, Aniki? Nah! I'll stick to Aniki cause it's cooler and Aniki's cool like that and…" he nearly choked from lack of air when Naruko hugged him tightly.
She actually began to bounce all over the place.
He sweat-dropped. It wasn't as if anything was going to change. Things would pretty much remain the same, as they always were… it just made them official.
And considering he was her guardian, while 'father' was the more apt term…he wasn't that old.
Still, to the system, it counted precisely like that…and single Civilian fathers with a shinobi or kunoichi off spring were entitled to tax benefits and discounts to buy specific goods —namely weapons, tags, and had the low percentage on loans to buy a new house in the shinobi sector.
That was still a few years along the way —he did need a higher stipend before even touching the word 'loan'— but it didn't matter at the present.
He was glad Naruko was taking the news well.
Now, he just had to tell her about her real parents.
"Oh right! I forgot!" Naruko said with a bright smile, "I've got to tell Sakura! We're family now, right!?"
That actually was true. "I suppose…she's your…"
"I have a sister now too! How cool!" and then, Naruko flew out of the door leaving him with his mouth ajar.
He chuckled to himself. Really…
Elsewhere, Sasuke Uchiha had knocked out Sakura and laid her body on a bench. Really, to go as far as claim he just needed to 'chill' and believe everything would turn out fine…
He had an older brother to kill and a clan to avenge.
He would take up Orochimaru's offer, but before that…
Naruko had dared to tell him she understood his pain. Her!? She knew nothing. She had just a fake brother who wasn't even tied by blood. What did she know of losing her family? She had none to begin with. He'd show her.
He knew where to find the man, Sakura was always so overzealous about his 'movements' that it made him retch. Really, she was far more annoying about her Onii-sama then she had been as a fan girl. His sharingan uncovered, he knocked at the door of 'Aniki'.
When the man opened the door…
He struck.
Naruko would feel the pain of losing her bonds to her family, and then, only then, would she understand his own pain…
Yes.
That was the perfect plan.
Author's notes
The entire series was just a massive sucker punch to end in angst with this chapter.
Shinku's dead. Sorry folks.
…
Joking. Though this *is* a slight variation from canon, but it's because I feel…well, Sasuke always looked to me as a 'petty' avenger amongst other things. He'd always need to one-up others, and so he is actually striking out of jealousy rather than any ill-conceived plan.