"Speaking"
Thoughts
Chapter 4
It was the sounds that brought me back first.
The soft cries of someone next to me.
The sounds of muttered medical terms.
That's how I knew that I was in Konoha's hospital. How many days it had been though since that day: I didn't know. My gut wrenched in thought of what happened when I was last conscious. Itachi had killed everyone! Everyone except…
Where was Sasuke?! How was he doing? Was he hurt? Who was looking out for him? Why would Itachi do this?
I had so many questions, and no one to ask since I was aware of the fact that I was in an induced coma via Mangekyo Sharingan. It was one thing that I wished that I couldn't remember from both my previous life and from now, but it was still there. The images I saw, the screams I heard, and my helplessness to do anything about it. It was my worst fear, the one way to truly torture my psyche.
My paradise had been shattered.
Konoha was meant to be a safe place. A place where Ryuujin and Sora said I would be able to grow up without any fear of persecution or harm. Well, I had certainly been harmed by a monster.
Maybe I'm not taking things seriously…
I began to think back to my life so far, and I realized how lucky I was. Mom had died, which I will never forget, but I still had a family. Ryuujin, who became the one and only father figure I had ever had. Sora, the most compassionate second mother I could have hoped to have for myself. Ichigo, the annoying but lovable and serious older brother that I always wanted. And Nami, the gentle older sister who knew what to say to cheer me up and make me smile. I really wanted my family with me right now.
And I realized again: I was so lucky. Sasuke didn't have this anymore.
I could feel my tears slowly trailing down my face, even in my sleep.
"Akina?"
Sasuke!
Desperate to see if Sasuke was okay, I attempted to breach the surface of my consciousness. Scrunching the muscles in my face, I forced my stiff eyelids to fold and open themselves so that I could see him for myself.
The light was irritating to my drowsy eyes, and everything around me was blurred from dizziness as well. I blink a couple of times to clear my vision and gaze at a checkered ceiling with azure borders. I was pleasantly surprised by the color in the room. I always thought hospitals would be stark white and smell of antiseptics, but I was glad I was wrong. As my focus shifted around the room, I became aware of the person sitting next to me with a relieved look on their face.
It took me a few moments to realize that this was Sasuke. His micro-expressions showed how tired he was, but it was more than that. He had worry lines present under his eyes, his posture was that of a tortured animal, and his hands were shaking ever so slightly like as if he knew they were shaking but was trying to suppress the impulse.
"You're awake!"
"Hi," I replied, though my voice was a little croaky from not using it for a while.
Yeah, how am I awake?
It shouldn't be possible. I remember that Tsunade was the only one to be able to revive a person who had been under the influence of the Mangekyo Sharingan since their mind was in a constant state of an induced coma due to the aftershocks of the mental torture. Tsunade wasn't in the village at this point, so how was I awake?
I look once again at Sasuke, who hadn't said anything for a little while I was trying to think of how it was possible to be awake.
"Sasuke, how are you?"
He held his head up and looked at me with misty eyes and an unbelieving expression marring his face. "How can you even ask me that? You're in a hospital!"
"Really, I had no idea."
"Don't do that! Not right now!"
"What's wrong? I can't help unless you let me in, Sasuke."
Glaring at the wall away from me, it looked like he was trying really hard to not cry or scream at me. I don't know why he was angry with me, I just wanted to know that he was okay despite his family being slaughtered… Okay, that sounded better in my head the first time.
"Look, Sasuke, I'm sorry. I should have known that you're not okay. You just lost your family, but if you want—"
"Just shut up for a minute."
The way he demanded me to be quiet with an equally hushed tone that had an angry edge to it startled me. But I guess I could understand why he would be angry. I was being insensitive.
"Do you know how close I was to losing everyone?"
Everyone? But he did…
He chuckled exasperatedly as he saw my confused face. "You idiot."
Wha—
"I was so close to losing everyone, but I didn't. I didn't lose my sister. But because of my insane brother, she was tortured and unconscious for 3 days. I could have lost her before she knew that she was the sister that I never wanted, but needed, now more than ever. That's why I'm upset."
…
Okay, wow.
That's the most words that have spilled out from Sasuke's mouth than I had ever heard come from him! EVER! I'm a little shocked, but not as shocked as I was by the content of his little speech.
"You mean I'm not the devil incarnate to you? That's my take away from your little speech. Is that right? Tell me if I'm getting warm or not."
This time, Sasuke full on laughed. I'm sure that we would be a sight if anyone were to see this right now: the boy who lost his family 3 days ago laughing and the girl who was just there teasing him. Hopefully anyone passing by didn't think we were crazy, because a white straightjacket just would not look good on me with my white hair. It is just too much white.
When Sasuke had finally settled down, he looked up at me with an amazed smirk on his smug face. "You're something else."
"Is that an insult or a compliment? Because if it's an insult, I want you to come closer so I can bop you on the head."
Holding his hands up in surrender, he smiled even bigger until his face grew somber in a few seconds. I instantly knew what he was thinking of: Itachi.
I sighed, knowing that this conversation needed to happen eventually. "How are you? No jokes, no avoiding the subject or any other tactic you usually pull, just… how are you?"
Eyes refusing to meet mine, he quietly answered, "I feel so weak."
I went to disagree, but he beat me to the punch line.
"I was so helpless to do anything, I couldn't even protect you from Itachi! I need to get stronger, so that I can beat him! I will not let him get away with this!"
"HEY!"
Sasuke's head finally snapped up to look me in the eyes. He was startled by my yelling at him: good.
"Do you really want to become like him? Because that's what you will have done if you go out and try to kill him! You will be killing the only blood family you have left," I initially shouted at him before softened my voice again. "The best way to get revenge against someone like him who was trying to tear our lives apart is to live a good life. Show him that his actions don't change who you are, and they never will. Be Sasuke Uchiha, brother of Akina Morimoto, not Sasuke Uchiha, killer of his brother."
For a few moments, Sasuke said nothing to me. Then he looked up with his usual smirk, "So I should be known as your brother and not as a badass ninja? I'm not sure that I like the sound of that."
I puffed my cheeks in frustration. "Hey! I'll have you know that title is very prestigious and is not given lightly to just anyone. So, why not flaunt it? And I'm pretty sure you need to at least have graduated from the Academy before you can call yourself badass. Stop jumping the gun!"
Silence, then…
We both burst out laughing at our own ridiculousness. And this continued until a nurse finally came in to check on me. She certainly gave us strange looks considering we were laughing like hyenas after we had just witnessed a massacre.
Oh, well! Hand over the straightjacket!
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Over the past few weeks following the massacre, people looked at Sasuke and me a little differently, but we just brushed them off. The condolences were getting old too. I mean, don't get me wrong! It's nice that people are considerate enough to say sorry to us, but we wanted to move on with our grief, not revisit it almost every single day.
Naruto was the only one who treated us the same. And when I mean the same, I mean that he and Sasuke were still bitter rivals with each other, no matter how hard I tried to get them to become civil with each other. All I would get in response to this is a "no way in hell" from Naruto and a typical "hn" from Sasuke.
Work with me a little!
Despite my efforts, they refused to budge in terms of getting along. So every time there was a sparring session, and Iruka pitted them against each other, they seemed to make it their own personal mission to beat the other into submission. Usually Sasuke won, but Naruto would have little victories. Like one time he finally landed a punch on Sasuke, and another time, he was able to fake him out once… baby steps…
I was trying to work with Naruto and Sasuke, but again, they refused to work with each other so I had to divide my attentions between the two of them.
This is going to be exhausting!
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4 Years Later…
FINALLY!
It was here: Graduation exams.
I was so excited for Graduation to happen and get under way, and this was for multiple reasons. One would be that this meant we would be assigned teams, which I was really hoping I didn't mess things up too badly by being here, and two would be because it would be the start of everything. Or at least everything that I used to remember.
I still didn't understand how I could remember everything about Naruto as a person, but I couldn't remember other things. Not the things that happen in the future to him, or anyone else. Granted, being a foster kid, I didn't get to read all of the manga since there were some school libraries that had it and those that didn't when I moved around. But I remember that there was a war. What the war was about and who was on each side, I couldn't say. I also didn't remember what events were canon! I had a vague idea of what was to come, but nothing that I would bet my life on. I remember something about a bridge in the not so distant future, but that's about it.
UGH! This is so frustrating!
I know some things have changed, but now I don't have any knowledge so that I could potentially help that change for the better. With some luck though, I'm hoping that I can at least help out in my own way. I had been training for this ever since I knew that I wanted to be a ninja. I had been training with my family, at the Academy, with Naruto and Sasuke, and I have been training in secret as well. I wanted to be the one who could protect and help my loved ones, not someone who needs saving.
And graduating from the Academy is the first step.
But we still had one more day before that would happen.
Right now, our entire class was waiting in our classroom for Iruka. All of us 12 year olds ninja prospects. Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba (with Akamaru), Ino (annoying as ever), Hinata, Shino, and grumpy as ever Sasuke were all here. There was just one exception: Naruto.
POOF!
The sound grabbing everyone's attention, the smoke cleared to reveal our sensei, Iruka, and Naruto, who was all tied up. He didn't look happy to get caught, but when he saw my exasperated expression at not being invited to pull off a prank with him, he pouted and looked to Iruka who had already started lecturing him.
"I'm at the end of my rope, Naruto. You failed the graduation test last time, and the time before that. Tomorrow you've got another chance, and you're messing up again!" You could practically see the brain aneurism begin to form from the blood vessels that were bulging on his forehead in his frustration.
Naruto never cared about getting lectured, and true to form, he scoffed at Iruka and looked away from him. Needless to say, this didn't impress Iruka.
"Fine!" He turned to everyone else and declared, "Because you missed it, Naruto, everyone will review the Transformation Jutsu!"
Complaints were heard from practically everyone in the room, and harsh words and comments were thrown Naruto's way as everyone lined up to take their turns with the Transformation Jutsu.
Somehow, I was put in the start of the line with Sasuke behind me, then Naruto, then the other Konoha 9 teams. It's like fate wanted Team 7 to happen.
"Akina Morimoto."
Here we go.
Making the correct hand sign, I channeled my chakra easily to recreate the image in my mind with my body. A puff of smoke appeared, and as it dissipated, everyone could see that I had succeeded in transforming into a carbon copy of Iruka.
"Transformed into me… Good!"
With a smirk on my face, I transformed back and turned around to look at Naruto's disgruntled face. I gave him an encouraging smile and tried to silently convey to him a hearty "good luck". Of course, I knew that Naruto had no problem with the Transformation Jutsu. He used it all the time in his pranks, especially towards guys. I just wished he didn't transform into a female version of himself. Every time he did, I would get flashbacks of fanfiction of Naruto as a girl, and that just made me uneasy…
Sasuke had already gone and performed the jutsu and it was now Naruto's turn. I could hear Ino and Shikamaru complain about having to perform the quiz, but obviously Naruto didn't care about their laziness.
"Transform!"
Smoke poofed around his form and cleared to reveal a very naked, older female version of Naruto. Everyone except Sasuke and I were shocked to see this, but no one was as shocked as Iruka. He gaped at the girl's figure with bugged out eyes and his mouth hanging open. Then, by some unseen force, he was knocked back with his nose trailing blood in his path.
Transforming back, Naruto cackled and pointed at Iruka. "Gotcha! That's my Sexy Jutsu!" He could barely contain his amusement at his prank. While I could understand Naruto's amusement, I still had goosebumps go down my spine… fanfiction…
Iruka recovered quickly though. "Cut the stupid tricks! This is your last warning!"
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It wasn't until the next morning that I saw Naruto again. He was just coming down the stairs as I passed by his building to head to the Academy.
"Hey, Naruto!"
Turning to see me walking his way, his face brightened with the smile that I love which gives away how happy he. "Akina!"
"You ready to kick Graduation's butt?"
"I sure am, ya'know!"
When we finally got to the Academy, it wasn't long before it was time to start. Both him and Mizuki sensei would be officiating the Graduation exam, determining whether we would pass and go on to become Genin, or fail and try again next year.
"We will now start the final exam. When your name is called, proceed to the testing room. The final test will be on... the Clone Jutsu."
When I heard that, I groaned internally. I knew that this was Naruto's worst jutsu, but we couldn't figure out how to fix it. I personally thought that it was because Naruto had too much chakra, resulting in his poor chakra control, but I didn't know how to fix it for him.
This is not good.
Soon enough, I heard my name called by Mizuki. He led me to a room that was spacious with only a table inside with two chairs. One of those chairs was occupied by Iruka, and Mizuki sat down in the other chair.
"Whenever you are ready…"
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I felt so bad.
Naruto didn't pass.
But I did.
I didn't understand. Naruto was meant to pass with everyone else in the Rookie 9. It just wasn't the Rookie 9 without him!
I stood beside the tree outside of the Academy as Naruto swung on the lonely swing next to me. Everyone else was just outside of the Academy's doors with their families giving them praise while Iruka and the Hokage overlooked them all.
Whispers of insults and comments reached both of our ears, and just as I was about to console Naruto, a noise sounds off beside us. Wary of anyone that might hurt Naruto, I tense until I realize that it was Mizuki.
"Naruto, can I talk to you for a little bit?"
Knowing that Naruto needed some counseling, and with Mizuki willing to give it, I said bye to my best friend and began walking home. But I wasn't so eager to get home to my empty apartment, so I wandered around the village a little.
Before I knew it, it was getting dark out and I had decided to visit Ichiraku, hoping that Naruto would be there to meet up after this long day. He wasn't, but I still had Teuchi cook me up a bowl. It was when I was eating my bowl that I heard the chatter.
"He's not here either!"
"Find him, fast!"
"Where is that brat?"
Who were they looking for?
I quickly paid for my meal and poked my head out to see what was going on. In the streets, there were various ninja who were looking in alleyways and crevices to look for their wanted kid. They took their frustration out on the dumpster they had just looked behind and went back to their search as they leaped back onto the rooftops.
It better not be Naruto…
Just on the off chance that it might be him, I decided to go to our spot. It used to be an old outpost for messages to get to the village before it expanded. Now, it was abandoned and was in a remote part of the forests surrounding Konoha, which made it a great place for Naruto and I to train without anyone finding us.
Imagine my surprise when I found not only Naruto but Iruka as well in our spot. They were talking about a jutsu when I decided to make an appearance.
"Mizuki-sensei told me— Hey, Akina!"
Spinning around to face me, Iruka sighed a little at this predicament.
"Naruto, what did you do? The whole village is buzzing with ninja looking for you, and where did you get that scroll?!"
"Well—"
"LOOK OUT!"
Iruka pushed both Naruto and I away from him just before he was assaulted with kunai from an unknown enemy. Even as we both landed in a heap on the forest floor, I stretched my chakra awareness to sense who our foe was. My eyes widened when the chakra was familiar to me.
"I see you've found our little hide away."
Iruka winced as he looked up at the perpetrator. "So that's the way it is, huh? I should've known." In the trees was the man who had just attacked us: Mizuki.
Naruto and I shared shocked expressions between us. I knew that no matter what happened that I wouldn't let anyone hurt Naruto. Mizuki was aiming for Naruto, and would have hurt him if Iruka hadn't pushed us away. This made Mizuki Enemy #1 to me at this moment, so I prepared myself for a fight.
"Naruto! Give me the scroll, now!"
"But—"
I nearly growled before I replied quietly to Naruto so that only he could hear me. "We can't trust him, Naruto. He just tried to hurt us."
"Naruto! Don't let Mizuki get the scroll! It contains Forbidden Jutsu that could put this village in grave danger. Mizuki used you to get the scroll for himself, for his own power."
Both Naruto and I prepared for anything, and I got out a kunai, ready to protect my best friend at all costs. All that was running through my head was anger at this person for targeting Naruto and planning to hurt him. I could feel my anger rising to a dangerous level.
Mizuki held out his hand in a peace offering to Naruto as he spoke next. "Naruto, Iruka's just trying to scare you 'cause he doesn't want you to have the scroll."
"Don't listen, Naruto!" I pleaded with him. Iruka agreed with me to not listen to this liar.
The traitor laughed at everyone as he continued, "Oh I'll tell you who's really lying."
Iruka's expression became one of horror as he demanded that Mizuki stop. What was going on?
"They've been lying to you your whole life, Naruto," Mizuki seemed to look so pleased with himself for what he was about to reveal. "Since the decree 12 years ago."
"What decree?" I'm with Naruto, what decree?
"Everyone knows except you. Iruka's trying to hide it from you even now. He'd do anything to shut me up."
I was growing tired of this! Despite Iruka's protests, I "Stop bragging! What decree?!"
"The decree is: no one can tell you the Nine-Tailed Fox is inside you! The Fox spirit that killed Iruka's parents, Akina's mother, and destroyed our village has taken over your body. You are the Nine-Tailed Fox!"
What? How could he possibly know about Mom?
I looked to Naruto to see that he was in shock. At the edge of my awareness, I could hear Iruka protesting against Mizuki, and I could feel something bubbling to the surface.
Something bad.
"They've all been sneaking around, hiding things from you your whole life. Didn't you think it was strange how they treated you? Like dirt. Like they hated you for just being alive!"
The bad feeling continued to bubble beneath the surface, and I realized that it was coming from Naruto. How could I have possibly forgotten that Naruto had the Nine Tails inside of him? This bit of information was key to everything that happens to him, of this I was now sure.
I watched as anger began to cloud Naruto's better judgment as he refused to believe the things that Mizuki told him. I was rooted to the spot I was standing on, I don't know what was making me falter. Why couldn't I move? Was it because I was surprised at the reminder that Naruto had the Kyuubi, at the reminder that I was forgetting everything, or…
And now, Mizuki was ready to turn the knife in our wound with his last remark. "That's why you'll never be accepted in this village. Even your beloved Sensei and best friend hate your guts!"
NOOO!
It wasn't until a second later that I realized I had screamed this out loud. I was pissed beyond belief, I refused to let Mizuki have the last laugh! I refused to let him make Naruto believe that I hated him because it couldn't be further from the truth. He is my best friend, I could never hate him!
"Die, Naruto!"
"Naruto! Get down!"
Before I could blink, Mizuki had thrown an oversized shuriken at Naruto. At Iruka's shout, he put his head in his hands and braced for impact. My heart stopped beating for a moment as I thought I had just lost my best friend…
But then I realized Iruka had put himself between the shuriken and Naruto.
I saw red and I could feel myself change. My eyesight grew sharper, my sense of smell, hearing, all of it grew. Fangs were beginning to protrude from their normal length into small fangs, and a deep flame grew within my chest. I suppressed the flames as I charged at Mizuki while Naruto and Iruka had a heart-to-heart.
Surprised at my change, Mizuki dodged away from my initial charge and grabbed a kunai from his leg pouch. My speed was increasing as I grew even more enraged, to the point that I was suddenly behind Mizuki. I roundhouse kicked him in the back which caused him to collide with a tree. But once he did, there was a poof of smoke and a log appeared! Substitution!
Turning around, Mizuki smirked at me as he punched my face which knocked me down to the ground. I was winded at the impact, but I could vaguely hear Mizuki mocking Iruka about something he had just said. Whatever it was, Naruto seemed to remain unsure of everyone's loyalties, and ran away from our spot.
I quickly performed a few hand signs and fizzled out of the clearing as well. Once I had appeared in front of Naruto again, I was immediately drained of chakra. Naruto saw this and his first instinct had him catching me before I could fall to the forest floor, again.
I shouldn't have done that. I'm not ready for that jutsu.
This was my last thought before the edge of my vision began to grow darker. My eyes felt heavy and I could hear Naruto shout my name as I faded for a short time. However, I didn't succumb to the darkness this time.
Because, damn it! I refuse to be useless weight!
"Naruto, you have to know… I don't… I could never…"
Naruto smiled slightly at me. "I know. I never believed anything Mizuki said about you because he doesn't know you, you're my best friend."
"And you're mine," I smiled back at him. We hugged and laughed lightly, relieved that we both knew that nothing, not even Mizuki, could tear us apart.
The sound of a crash caused us to look up at the disturbance. We quickly hid behind a wide tree away from the clearing. When we looked around the bark to see who was there, we discovered that it was Iruka and Mizuki. They were talking about Naruto and Mizuki couldn't shut up about how Naruto was a monster until…
"You're right."
No…
"That is how beasts are. But that's not who Naruto is." Naruto was listening in with big eyes, I couldn't help but hope that Iruka was doing what I thought he was doing. "He's nothing like that. Naruto's one of a kind: works hard, puts his whole heart into it. Sure he messes up sometimes, and everyone jumps on him... But his suffering only makes him stronger. That's what separates him from being a beast."
I was smiling from ear to ear with tears at the corners of my eyes as Iruka continued. "So you're wrong. He's nothing like the Nine-Tailed Fox. He's Naruto Uzumaki of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
I knew how much this would mean to Naruto. He always knew that I would never think any differently about him, I'm his friend. But to have someone who didn't grow up with him, someone who knew what happened with the Nine Tails. This would mean the world to Naruto.
So I let him go out there, as I watched from the background. I could see Naruto looking badass in front of Mizuki as he threatened him about harming Iruka. Mizuki had the dumb idea to egg Naruto on as he stood to protect his newest precious person from danger. With a cross shaped hand sign, I was amazed to see hundreds of clones of Naruto around and in the trees.
You little genius…
It doesn't take a genius though to know that Naruto beat Mizuki to a bloody pulp, and he was definitely proud of it despite his modest words. At this point though, I left Naruto and Iruka to have their moment where they officially become friends. He needed this time to include a new person into his family, and I wasn't going to interfere with that.
When their moment was done, Naruto ran towards me with the same smile that I love to see on his face, and a Leaf headband adorning his forehead, signifying his place in the village forever more.
And I couldn't be happier.
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Author's Note
I am sorry for the long delay in between chapters, but this last week has been chaotic to say the least. Just so you all are aware of it now, I do plan to update regularly every two weeks at least. If i get something else done earlier, then I'll go ahead and post it.
Also, since I might not post again until after the holidays, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know with a review!