I do not own Naruto, the Persona Series, or Puke. They belong to their respective owners.
I will also note that I did adjust the lyrics to Puke to try and get it to fit how Naruto view his disgust with recent events and discoveries.
"Persona!" normal speech
"Persona!" demon/Shadow speech
"Persona!" thought/mind speak
Chapter VII
*Dorm*
Naruto, Akihiko, and Mitsuru were sitting in the lounge in silence as they were minding their own until Naruto's phone had gone off. The blond then pulled out his phone to see that he had received a text message:
I did what you asked. Sent them back your way. –Outcast—
"What is it?" Mitsuru asked as she looked up from her book.
"Just a text." Naruto answered as the doors opened to reveal the SEES Rookies with different looks on their faces.
"We're back," Yukari said with a shamed guilt on her look, "and we learned more about that ghost story."
"I take it your trip to the Port Island allies was…" Mitsuru said as she had a firm look that dared any of the Rookies to even think of lying to her, "…uneventful."
"I wouldn't say that Senpai," Junpei answered with a slight cringe as he delicately placed a hand on his stomach, "but thankfully Shinjiro-senpai was there to save our asses."
"I hope you four will now understand just what kind of trouble following rumors can lead to." Naruto said as he stood up from his seat, "Yukari, Minato, and Kotone will talk to Mitsuru while Junpei comes with me."
Without any form of argument, the Rookies did as they were told while Naruto and Junpei went upstairs before entering Naruto's room.
"So…" the hat-wearing teen asked as he looked around the blond's room, "what's up."
"Checking on your injury." Naruto bluntly said as he pulled a seat for Junpei to sit, "I have a medical kit in my desk."
Seeing the blond pull out a small box that had 'First Aid' written on it, Junpei then said, "I'm alright, Naruto, I just got punched is all."
"Once you've suffered enough beatings like I have," Naruto said as Kichi suddenly crawled out from under the bed, "you recognize certain injuries."
"B-Beatings?" Junpei asked as he was slightly shocked, "You mean…from the Shadows?"
Naruto was silent for a moment until he said, "Not from Shadows…but from grown men."
The hat-wearing teen drew in a breath before cringing as his injury acted up at the absurd answer he had gotten.
Grown men beating up someone like Naruto?
Sensing both the shock on the internal questions, Naruto then said, "The beatings happened during my childhood…if you could actually call it that."
If Junpei was drinking something, such a statement would have cover the blond before him with said drink.
"You were beaten…" Junpei said with horror on his eyes, "…as a CHILD!? Engh!"
"Easy there!" Naruto said as he placed a trusting hand on Junpei's arm, "Let me take a quick look as I've seen some of the weapons that those thugs can have…including brass knuckles or knives."
Junpei didn't argue or fight back as Naruto lifted his shirt enough to reveal a small, but noticeable bruise starting to form.
The blond let out a hum before he said, "Looks like he didn't have any brass knuckles or sharp objects hidden in his hand. Just apply a little bit of ice, don't bother it or stretch it too much, and some rest won't cure. I'll ask Mitsuru if we have any painkillers around to help ease any future pains you may go through, and no, we are not going to Tartarus tonight or for a little while for that fact."
"Don't blame you for that call Doc," Junpei said with a light, but careful chuckle, "but seriously: Why would grown men beat up a small child? Were they drunk?"
"Some of them." Naruto answered nonchalantly as he let the teen's shirt fall back down before he started to dig through the medical box, "Most times they were sober…unless it was on my birthday, then they were either drunk to make skunks look sober or especially cruel."
"But why?" Junpei asked as he was still shocked about the information he was receiving. It was bad enough to learn that a student was being bullied right at his school, but one of his friends getting beaten up as a child by adults!?
"Reasons that only they and many more are all too willing to believe." the blond answered as he found an empty ice bag, "Now let's go get that ice so we can at least take care of some of the swelling."
"What were those reasons?" Junpei suddenly asked as he just couldn't let this go. This is one of his friends for crying out loud!
Naruto remained silent, contemplating on an idea, until he then said, "That a story for another time."
Junpei was about to press on, but he saw the slight glare on the blond's face and even though it didn't have much intimidation behind it, it still delivered Naruto's message…
Drop it.
He'll tell us when he wants to, the hat-wearing teen thought to himself as he followed Naruto and Kichi out of the room, but still…
It was late into the night as Naruto was in the kitchen fixing a quick snack after doing what studying he could get.
"I take it you sent Aragaki to keep them safe." a familiar voice said as Naruto looked back to see his cousin wearing a rust red robe over her moon white nightgown.
"He's the only one that I know to help keep the Rookies relatively safe." Naruto answered after putting the leftover materials needed for his sandwich away in the fridge, "Plus he's the only one that can take on those thugs and scare them off."
Naruto then walked to the lounge area and sat down on the sofa with Mitsuru sitting on one of the adjacent chairs.
"I plan on confronting Moriyama and your homeroom teacher about this incident with Yamagishi." Mitsuru said before a disappointed, yet guilty look formed on her face, "How could I let such a travesty like this go on without my knowing?"
"Don't beat yourself up, Cuz." Naruto said as he took a bite of his sandwich, "You can only do so much at this point as Uncle Takeharu is still in charge of the Kirijo Group. If anything, you can at least let them know of ALL of the damages done by this act, both future and present."
Mitsuru nodded in slight appreciation of her cousin's wisdom before she said, "I'm only telling you this in hopes that you won't get involved."
Silence chilled the room in an ominous manner until Naruto looked at the red haired woman and said, "I'm sorry, but I HAVE to be there considering that not only is my ex involved, but my own teacher! What if he's also a part of this?"
"I'm trying to keep you from having one of your…worse episodes." Mitsuru countered carefully as she wasn't sure if she and Naruto were the only ones up this late, "It's bad enough that Takeba and Shione were exposed to your panic attacks, but if they saw you having one of those episodes…"
"I'll be fine." Naruto bluntly countered, "But if it makes you feel any better, I can leave when I feel it coming around."
"That's the problem!" Mitsuru quickly countered as her eyes narrowed threateningly, "What if at some point something triggers an episode immediately? I can't risk your safety, Naruto. While I also care about the rest of the faculty and school, along with the rest of Port Island, my mother had made me understand the Uzumaki Creed until the moment she had died from illness."
Naruto cringed in guilt as even though he had never met his aunt, Quina was easily someone far more important than just a mother to Mitsuru. Both his cousin and Takeharu would tell the blond many stories about how Quina would sometimes be a kind and loving woman that once served as Takeharu's bodyguard and confidant, or even a ruthless she-devil that once scared the literal piss out of some thugs who would try to either hit on her or just hurt her. Another thing that both Mitsuru and Takeharu would always talk about when mentioning the deceased woman was that she was an avid believer that family should always come first before anything as she would sometimes intimidate rival companies into holding off a meeting with the Kirijo Group just so she and her family would have a nice picnic.
Letting out a sigh, Naruto looked at his cousin and said, "Listen, I need to be there to hear just why this had to happen to a sweet girl like Fuuka-chan, but I understand that I risk having one of those episodes by being there. I may not exactly represent the Kirijo Group, but I'm not going to sit by and let a crime like this ruin people's lives…especially to those I care about. I know Natsuki is a good girl and maybe something like this would be a good wake-up call to show her that every action can have consequences that no one would be able to handle. I'm going, but I WILL leave if I start to have an episode."
Seeing that there was no talking her cousin out of it, Mitsuru let out a sigh as she then said, "You're impossible to deal with…but you are family and families are always there for each other."
Naruto smiled a bit before he said, "Now you best get yourself some rest, Mitsuru, or else you're not going to be real scary with bags under your eyes."
*pomf!*
"Goodnight Namikaze." Mitsuru said as she got up from her seat after tossing one of the pillows at Naruto, "I'll see you at school."
The blond chuckled as sometimes it was just too easy to tease his classy cousin, but he knew that the confrontation with Mr. Ekoda and Natsuki would be anything but a good time.
*Gekkoukan High*
Lunch had arrived as the SEES Rookies slowly approached the teacher's lounge in hopes of letting the teacher know about what they had discovered about Fuuka.
"Alright…" Yukari said as she steeled herself for what might happen, "…let's get this over with."
Minato nodded as he opened the door and led the others in to find that Mitsuru and Naruto had already beaten them as the duo were looking down at Natsuki with Mr. Ekoda sitting next to her.
"Senpai?" Yukari asked with surprise, "What are you and Naruto doing here?"
"Same reason as you." Naruto answered as he had his eyes narrowed towards the seated duo.
"Mr. Ekoda," Mitsuru began with a professional tone, "We're here to ask you about a student named Fuuka Yamagishi."
"N-No!" a young girl with auburn hair cried out in fear before lightly grabbing her head, "I…I never thought it would turn out like this! Fuuka…"
Yukari had quickly recognized the girl from an earlier date when she and another girl were talking about bullying a student.
"What did you do to Yamagishi?" Mitsuru asked as her aura was intimidating at the moment.
Not seeing that Natsuki was talking, Naruto took a step forward and said, "What did you do to Fuuka, Moriyama-san!?"
"Now hold on!" Mr. Ekoda said as he didn't like how this was going, "This isn't an interrogation. She doesn't have to say anything if she doesn't want to; you don't want to give them the wrong idea."
Unable to handle the pressure, Natsuki then said, "Fuuka…She…She always looked so frazzled when I gave her a hard time. Then I realized that she's an honor student…deep inside, she was just like us; I knew which buttons to press."
Natsuki then began to have a panicked look as she continued, "We were just messing with her that day! On May 29th…we took Fuuka to the gym and locked her and locked the door from the outside."
"You WHAT!?" Naruto roared out, but calmed himself down after Mitsuru placed a hand on his shoulder.
"That night," Natsuki said as her eyes began to water, "Maki returned to school in fear that we might get in trouble if Fuuka had…killed herself. She never came back…and the next morning…"
"She was found lying in front of the school gate." Yukari said, knowing how the whole event caught everyone's attention.
"I went to the gym to let Fuuka out…" Natsuki said as a look of horror was soon on her face, "…but the door was still locked! I opened it and went inside to find…that she wasn't there! We began to freak out and began searching for her every night! However…each night, another one of us had gone missing…and they ended up like Maki!"
"I see…" Mitsuru said as she knew what had happened to the girls that were with Natsuki before turning her attention to the teacher, "By the way, Mr. Ekoda…all this time you attributed Yamagishi's absence to illness, but in reality, she was missing and you were aware of that…"
Mitsuru took a step in front of Naruto before she asked, "What was your intention?"
"I was thinking of the students, of course!" Mr. Ekoda said with a harsh tone, unaware of the nearby blond's hair becoming more feral than before, "You children may not understand, but we have to consider the future of everyone affected."
*BAM!*
"You mean to tell us that instead of reporting this, you decided to sweep this under the rug and pretend that none of this had ever happened!?" Naruto roared out after slamming a fist into the nearby desk as everyone saw that his looks had changed.
Naruto's blond hair now had a wild look to it while the whisker-like marks on his cheeks were thicker and curved, making look like an attacking animal. His teeth also had a sharper look to them while Yukari noticed that his fingernails had now began to look like dangerously sharp claws. It was as if the Naruto they knew before had suddenly transformed into some animalistic creature that was ready to strike at any moment.
Intimidated by how Naruto looked, Mr. Ekoda then said, "It…It was in her best interest! We can't have something like this become a stain in our records!"
*Whoo-BOOM!*
Papers and binders were scattered as Naruto had violently tossed the nearby desk to the floor, causing the table and floor to crack from the sheer impact, before grabbing the teacher by the jacket of his suit and slamming him into a wall.
"So you decided that ONE student's life isn't worth the trouble over how many others would REACT!?" Naruto roared out as his voice was becoming distorted and his eyes were glowing red, "And you call yourself a TEACHER!? If not for school regulations, I'd beat the fucking shit out of you before using your face as a fucking hammer!"
"Naruto, that's enough!" Mitsuru called out as she grabbed Naruto's shoulder and added enough pressure to get her cousin's attention.
Naruto looked back as a massive wave of Killing Intent erupted from the blond, sending the SEES Rookies into a fight-or-flight mode just by the sight of the red-eyed blond before them.
What the fuck is this!? Junpei thought as he was sure that the entire school had felt that wave of bloodlust, Is that Naruto!?
Dear God! Yukari thought as the blond before her looked like he was possessed entire by demonic rage, Is this really Naruto?
Able to find some control, Naruto roughly dropped Mr. Ekoda to the floor and began to walk out of the room.
"Naruto-kun…" Natsuki said as the enraged blond passed her, "…I'm really sorry about this."
Naruto's only response was an animalistic growl that actually sounded more disappointed than threatening as the blond exited the room while slamming the door behind him.
It was silent in the room until Junpei voiced the very thought that everyone, save for Mitsuru, had on their minds.
"What the fuck was that?"
*Mandragora*
Naruto knew that he was skipping classes for a karaoke session and he also knew that Mitsuru was going to get onto him for what he did back at school, but he didn't care at the moment…
He needed this…
…badly.
After selecting the song that best fit his current mood, Naruto walked up to the stage and took the microphone and gripped it tightly in his hands, but not enough to damage it.
"Alright everyone!" said the DJ with a smile on his face despite how the blond on the stage was feeling, "Time to give everyone's favorite singer a round of applause as he performs Eminem's Puke!"
The crowd cheered and applauded Naruto's gutsy choice of a rap song while also knowing that the blond before them had always managed to bring all of the songs he sung to life.
Naruto however picked this song for a different reason. He wasn't a fan of rap as sometimes the words would just sound confusing with how it would be jumbled up with the accompanying music. The real reason he had picked the song was because of his past as Mr. Ekoda had reminded him of one of the people that had disgusted him before his banishment…
Kakashi Hatake.
The drunken beat began as Naruto brought the microphone to his mouth and began his song.
There I go,
Thinking of you again.
You don't know how sick you make me!
You make me fucking sick to my stomach!
Every time I think of you,
I puke!
You must just not know!
You may not think you do,
But you do!
Every time I think of you,
I puke!
I was gonna take the time to sit down,
And write you a little poem,
But off of the dome would probably be a little more,
More suitable for this type of song!
Whoa!
I got a million reasons off the top of my head,
That I could think of!
Sixteen bars,
This ain't enough to put some ink-ta,
So fuck it,
I'm a start right here by being brief-a!
'Bout to rattle off some other reasons!
I knew I shouldn't go and get another tattoo,
Of you on my arm,
But what do I go and do?
I go and get another one,
And now I got two.
Ooh!
Now I'm sitting here,
With your name on my skin!
I can't believe I went and did this shit again.
My next close friend,
Now their name's gotta be Kim!
Shit!
If you only knew,
How much I hated you,
For every motherfucking thing,
You ever put us through!
Then I wouldn't be standing here,
Crying over you!
Boo-hoo!
You don't know how sick you make me!
You make me fucking sick to my stomach!
Every time I think of you,
I puke!
You must just not know!
You may not think you do,
But you do!
Every time I think of you,
I puke!
I was gonna take the time to sit down,
And write you a little letter,
But I thought a song,
Would be a little better,
Instead of a letter,
That you'd just shred up.
Yeah.
I stumbled on your picture yesterday,
And it made me stop and think of,
How much of a waste,
It'd be for me to put some ink-ta,
A stupid piece of,
Paper,
I'd rather let you see how,
Much I fucking hate you,
In a freestyle!
You're a fucking porn-addict,
I hope you fucking die!
I hope you get to Hell,
And Satan sticks a needle in your eye!
I hate your fucking guts,
You fucking ass,
I hope you die!
Die!
But please don't get me wrong,
I'm not bitter or mad.
It's not that I still respect you.
It's not 'cause I want you back.
It's just when I think of you,
It makes me wanna gag!
What else can I do?
I haven't got a clue.
Now I'll guess I'll move on,
I have no choice but to,
But every time I think of you,
Now all I wanna do,
Is puke!
You don't know how sick you make me!
You make me fucking sick to my stomach!
Every time I think of you,
I puke!
You must just not know!
You may not think you do,
But you do!
Every time I think of you,
I puke!
The drunken beat continued as the song ended, allowing Naruto to get a view of the audience. They now had disgusted looks on their faces as they thought back to those that had seriously made them mad in the past or just plain disgusted them to such a level. It was moments like these that helped Naruto express how he felt at times as the audience would somehow experience the ordeals he had to go through in life.
"Alright!" said the DJ as he and the audience began to cheer and clap for the blond, "Another great performance by Naruto Namikaze!"
At the sound of the applause, Naruto felt better than he did after today and his anger had been cooled off to a more tolerable point.
He took a quick look at his watch to find that classes were still in session and he didn't want to deal with school at the moment…and the audience was sounding like they wanted an encore.
What the hell? Naruto thought to himself with a shrug of his shoulders, The people love me.
*Dorm*
Night had fallen as Naruto walked in the dorm to find Mitsuru waiting for him with Kichi sitting next to her feet, both of them with an impatient look on their faces.
"Where have you been, Namikaze?" Mitsuru asked as she tapped her toes impatiently.
Naruto scowled a bit as he said, "I was cooling off at Mandragora; figured singing a couple of songs would help me cool down after today. So what's going on?"
"We're going to be infiltrating the school," the red-haired woman said, getting a shocked look from Naruto, "and from there, we are going to have a team enter Tartarus the same way Yamagishi had: through the gym the moment our school transforms during the Dark Hour."
"Seriously?" Naruto asked at just how crazy the idea was, "Someone's going to enter Tartarus that way? What if something goes wrong?"
"It's the only plan that we have." Mitsuru said with a regretful tone, "I know it's risky, but what other choice do we have? I'm not sure if I could find her with my limited sensory powers."
"So how are we going to get in the school?" Naruto asked as he wondered if he should bring his lock picking tools.
"Iori mentioned that he has a plan on getting us in." Mitsuru said with a slight chuckle, "We'll meet you back at the school once you grab your gear."
Mitsuru then headed towards the stairs, leaving a confused Naruto wondering just what the hat-wearing teen had planned.
*Chomp!*
"Gyow!" the blond cried out as Kichi had her teeth tightly on Naruto's hand and didn't look like she was letting go.
The vixen held on for a moment before letting go as she said, "Mitsuru had told me about how you had nearly gone berserk at school AFTER she had told you not to go with her to confront both your teach and your former potential mate. She had warned you about something like this happening and what do you do? You threatened to kill a teacher! She considered herself lucky that none of the other teachers brought it up considering that they might possibly have a dead student on their hands, and it would have been thanks to Mr. Ekoda that Fuuka-chan's blood would be on their hands."
"S-sorry Kichi…" Naruto said as he let out a sigh, "It's just that…what Mr. Ekoda had done…reminded me too much of Kakashi."
Letting out a sigh of her own, Kichi rubbed her head against Naruto's leg and said, "Kit, I've been telling you time and time again that Kakashi may not have much of a choice in abandoning you due to the council probably forcing him to teach that Uchiha brat more than you. Yes, I do wish that he could have given you a better tutor since you were going up a difficult opponent, but what could you have done to the jinchuriki of Shukaku? I'm not supporting his decision, it's just that your former sensei could have done better with his choices."
Naruto let out a distant sigh as the bite marks on his hands were slowly vanishing. Even though his chakra was sealed, no one could stop demonic chakra as it was a different league of its own as there were only certain ways to handle such powerful and destructive chakra.
"Come on Kit," Kichi said as she motioned towards the stairs, "we need to get ready."
Naruto nodded as now wasn't the time to wallow in the past.
There was a person that needed to be rescued!
What will happen as SEES initiate their plan on rescuing Fuuka? How will things plan out during their trip to Tartarus?
Now some of you are thinking: How could the demonic chakra be healing Naruto is his chakra was sealed? Well, I kind of got the idea from Jurassic World (good movie by the way) where the Indominus Rex had tricked everyone into think that she had escaped, controlling her body heat, and even removing the chip that was on the back of her neck, I was thinking that demonic chakra could act the same way.
As Ian Malcom had once said, "Life finds a way."
Don't forget to rate and review!
Ja ne.