The Boy in the Park
Chapter Forty-Eight
"And so he taught me how to do this big ass swamp, Aniki!" Naruko exclaimed bringing her arms up wide. "And then he told me 'since your element is wind and I know shit about it, good luck on that kiddo!'"
"Language," he chided her.
It looked such a normal and common thing. Yet Naruko was now sixteen, and rather than barely arriving at half of his height —she had truly been a shrimp— she now was at his chin, if not a bit higher yet.
"And then we went to Iwa and guess what, I made a friend! At first she was a bit stuck up, but then I used the One-thousand days of pain on her, and we struck up a friendship afterwards."
Wasn't that the banned technique? Surely, it couldn't be that simple…
"And there was a ghost castle in the middle of nowhere, and we slept in there but there was this ghost and…"
Yeah, right.
"And then there was this big bad-ass flying city that…"
Naruko, really?
"And then we talked with a strange guy using a pipe and there was this girl who could blow things up with a tattoo on her back and…"
What else, lasers?
"And this tower that shot forth laser beams and…"
"Naruko, enough," he sighed making a small smile. "I get it, you had a very interesting trip. Something more down to earth however?"
She scrunched up her face for a moment, mulling it over. "Ah, you know they made a bridge in my name in the Land of Waves? They called it 'The Great Naruko Bridge!' and it's really big, Aniki!"
"Good to know," he began to quietly eat his own Tsukemen.
"Ehi, Ayame-nechan!" Naruko exclaimed then. "Where's my Ramen!?"
"It's a Tsukemen stall now, Naruko-chan," Ayame replied with a bright smile. "It's healthier."
Naruko growled slightly, but then grabbed both the noodles and the soup and plunged them together in the same bowl.
"Tsukemen my as—"
"Naruko," Shinku commented carefully. "Language."
"Sorry Aniki," Naruko winced. "Just, the perverted sage was crude most of the time when he went into the whorehouses," Shinku smiled as the chopsticks snapped in his hands. "You know they have really soft beds there, Aniki? And there's like, these strange long and hard thingies that vibrate and…"
Shinku's forehead sported a bulging vein of anger.
Jiraiya was glad he had decided not to follow Naruko around, especially because Joe was waving at him from afar.
"Aw, that old pervert!" Ayame exclaimed. "Naruko-chan, tell me," here Ayame's smile turned coy. "Did you find anyone who made your heart flutter during your trip? Any love?"
Naruko blinked. "Uh?"
"Come on…a boyfriend, that is…found any?" Ayame winked at the girl, who seemed to put finally two plus two together. Naruko gasped bringing a hand to her mouth and turning crimson, before shaking her head while holding on to the tip of her ponytails —fidgeting with them as she held an incredibly demurred attitude.
"Aw…no one? Poor Naruko-chan," Ayame smiled brightly. "You have your eyes set on someone in Konoha then?"
Naruko's entire frame shuddered for a moment, before she vehemently whined while shaking her head; both her hands covered her face.
She did give a careful peek to where Shinku was —who, at the clear-cut understanding that it was 'girl-talk' had most aptly decided to ignore everything and read the menu on the other side of the counter.
"You might have competition," Ayame giggled.
Naruko sputtered.
"No! That's not what I meant!"
"Oh? Better!" Ayame smiled, "One less rival! Good, good!"
After dinner, Naruko frowned as she followed Aniki up to the point where…where he took to going in a completely different direction.
"Aniki?" Naruko said, stopping him from going further. "Home is that way…"
"Ah, nope," Shinku smiled. "It's this way now, Naruko," he gestured for her to follow. "Come on, this way."
Naruko frowned, but followed. It was a relatively quiet walk, with Naruko looking around perplexedly as she took in the new roads and the new houses all around.
"This is affectionately called the 'Woody' quarter," Shinku said calmly. "The houses were all built here after Orochimaru's siege. They're all made of wood and then reinforced at a later date with concrete. It cut on the costs quite a bit and more than a few opted to transfer —even those whose houses had been left untouched."
Shinku stopped in front of a rectangular looking house on two floors. "The fun thing is, Naruko, when I became your guardian I also looked into what possessions your parents might have had. While I did find relatively little, they had a house. The house was destroyed," he swiftly added, "But the terrain was still there. So I sold it back to Konoha, added in my own loan and three years later…" he gestured towards the house as he unhooked a set of keys.
"Here you go," he threw the keys at Naruko, who caught them dumbfounded. "Home. Three years' worth of birthday gifts I hope." He smiled and winked at her.
"A-Aniki?" she croaked as she stepped inside, behind him. "It's…"
"If you start crying, I'll have to ruffle your hair."
Naruko just smiled then, wiping away the sweat from her face —clearly, she wasn't crying— and then smiled.
"Where's my room, Aniki!? No! Never mind! I'm off to exploring!"
Shinku smiled and watched her go, as he headed towards the kitchen.
There was a slightly nagging feeling of having forgotten something however…
"ANIKI! WHAT DOES THE WORD C—"
Oh.
Right.
He had hidden his porn stash in his room.
Which meant that Naruko had found it within the next three minutes.
He exhaled.
He could do this. It wasn't as if she was still a thirteen years old. Teuchi had given her the talk, right?
He'd just make his own cup of tea while…
No, he couldn't. His Aniki-instincts screamed at him to run and open the door of his room, and then yell.
"Naruko! Halt!"
He barged in the room just in time to see the girl turn a crimson shade and start to emit vapour from her ears as she flipped through another page.
"A…Aniki?" she croaked out.
He blinked and looked at the title.
"Young Sister Forbidden Love, Ultra-Hardcore Edition!"
That…
That wasn't his.
He growled.
"SAKURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Somewhere in the hospital of Konoha, Sakura grinned and chuckled as a light dribble of blood fell down her nose.
"Onii-sama must have found my suggestions," she giggled. "Oh…I hope he spanks me."
Somehow, the woman examined scuttled a bit further away from the nurse. The pink-haired nurse was really scary…and that lecherous grin…
It didn't bode well.
It didn't bode well at all.