Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
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'Person thinking'
"Person talking"
"Jinchuriki talking inside his head with Bijuu"
'Bijuu thinking'
"Bijuu talking"
"Bijuu talking inside jinchurki's head"
Chapter 24 – Actions speak louder than words
"Aw man, this sucks. I think I'm gonna do what the Nara guy's doing. I'm beat."
"The instructors certainly don't seem to mind it when he does it."
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go to sleep. I'll ask Kiba for the notes after class. Wake me up if you feel anything fishy. Well, aside from that agent, but I guess we just have to get used to him staring at our classroom until this whole thing is over."
"Indeed. There is no value in worrying about that which you cannot control. I will push some of my chakra through your coils to jolt you awake should something come up."
"Thanks."
BREAK
An unknown amount of time later…
"Y-..N-to."
…
"Yo, Nar-to."
"What the-, huh?"
Startled by an increasingly annoying series of nudges and callings, Naruto woke up, only for his eyes to fall on the worried look of his relatively recent friend, Kiba Inuzuka.
"Yo, Naruto, are you ok?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm just tired, is all. What's up?"
"Man, you're not just tired. You look like a zombie from those horror stories my sister Hana read to me a while back."
"Do I really look that bad?"
"Yeah... So, what's going on?"
"…I don't really want to talk about it. How long was I out?"
"It's lunch break right now, so four hours. I didn't wake you up because you looked like a dead man. Honestly, even the people that normally hate your guts were looking at you in worry."
"Huh… It's good to know that they still care. Also, no need to worry! I feel fresh now, hehe."
"Riight... Um, wanna go out and eat?"
"Umm, ok. Wait, I didn't bring lunch with me today! Oh no!" 'I was so focused on making that gift for Natsumi-neechan that I completely forgot about my food! Stupid, stupid, stupid!'
"Calm down, kid… You're ruining my nap."
"You're always napping."
"And do you have a problem with that? You know, I could just partially possess you right now and make you do a kabuki dance in front of the class."
"Haha. We both know you can't do that unless I let you."
"Sigh… You got me there. Might want to focus back on the outside though. The Inuzuka is bound to be looking at you like you're a madman by now."
"Oh, right! Sleep well, Kurama!"
"Be seeing you."
"Konoha to Naruto. Yo, you there?" To the Inuzuka, Naruto looked like his mind just froze for a few moments after he freaked out about not having lunch. This, understandably raised even more concerns for his blond friend's mental wellbeing.
"Oh, right! Sorry about that, I just spaced out for a second."
"No kidding… Look, we can share my lunch. I got plenty. You can bring some extra tomorrow and we'll call it even."
"You will? Wow, thanks, Kiba, you're the best!"
Puffing his chest in pride, he replied "Heh, don't mention it."
The two friends made their way to a tree in the school yard, in whose shade they planned to spend their lunch break. Having opened the box and split its contents between them, the two boys started munching on it with gusto.
"That was really good. Thanks, Kiba!"
"No problem."
Kiba pondered for a moment whether he should bring this topic up right now or save it for later. Being the blunt bullheaded kid that he was, he figured it was now or never. Mustering some courage and having tried to find the right words for it, he broke the silence once more.
"Yo, Naruto, why do people hate you so much? Like, I keep seeing teachers and some of the kids in class giving you these glares. I even remember a few times at the playground when some parents told their kids to stay away from you. What's up with all that? I know you well enough to know that you're a cool guy, so what's up with that?"
Suddenly, he saw Naruto's stance become guarded, as if a tabu topic was just brought up. He could smell that Naruto was afraid to even talk about it.
"Forget I asked anything. I didn't mean to upset you… Sorry."
"It's fine. I knew you'd ask that sooner or later. I don't really know myself. But yeah, for some reason many adults think I'm trouble and don't let their kids close to me."
Kiba could feel the defeated tone in Naruto's voice and realized that the boy probably knew why people hated him, but was just too afraid to talk about it. It was obviously distressing and he knew better than to push things further. It was time for a bit of damage control.
"Well, mom seems to know something about it but she didn't seem to care, so whatever it is, it's probably not that big a deal anyway. Probably just the adults being stupid."
"Hehe, I sure hope so…"
Before they could continue further, four of the civilian-born academy students made their way towards the duo, with obvious intentions to cause trouble. Seeing them come, both Naruto and Kiba got up, ready to give back whatever they were going to get.
"Hey, Kiba, what are you doing hanging out with this loser?"
"You better take that back. Naruto is not a loser."
"Well, mom says he's nothing but trouble. A 'demon' she calls him."
"What? Well, that's stupid. Naruto's no demon."
"And how do you know?" the civilian kids were smirking, thinking that they had the upper hand in this argument.
"Naruto helped me clean the Inuzuka kennels. The hounds even thought he was an alpha and loved playing with him. My clan knows dogs, and our dogs can smell foul chakras. If Naruto was a demon, they would have jumped at him and bit him. So, from what I can tell, Naruto's actually super cool because hounds don't just think of anyone as an alpha. You have to be super badass for the Inuzuka hounds to even think of you like that."
"What? Are you serious?"
"Yes. And you can ask my mom if you don't believe me. She'll tell you the same thing."
"Whoa…"
Before they could continue, Kiba decided to end their stupid attempt at bullying once and for all.
"Oh, and one more thing: Naruto is a friend of the Inuzuka clan. You know what that means, right?" At this point, the fearful realization displayed on the kids' faces made Kiba smirk with pride 'hell yeah, my clan is awesome'.
"Yeah, you got that right. You mess with him; you mess with all the Inuzuka. So, you'd better go home and tell your parents about that too."
Trying to save some face, the leader of the group caught the attention of the other boys.
"Come on guys, break's almost over."
"Right. Let's go."
With that, the boys made their way back to class, leaving a smirking Kiba and a stunned Naruto behind.
"Kiba, why did you do that?"
"What do you mean?"
"All this! You didn't have to do any of that."
"I know, but you're my friend. And you're also a friend of the Inuzuka. The Inuzuka are a pack, and we have each other's back. No matter what."
"Wait, is that for real? I thought you just said that to scare them away."
"What, you mean you don't remember?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, when mom said that you'll always have friends among the Inuzuka. That's what she meant. You're basically part of the clan. Sort of. I mean, you don't get access to any of our secret jutsu and all, but if anyone gives you any trouble, we have your back."
"…Wow… I had no idea. I thought she just said that to be nice."
"Nope. She's the clan matron and she doesn't just go around calling anyone 'a friend to the clan'."
"But, why me? There's nothing special about me."
"Well, she seems to think there is. And I think she's right. I'll be honest with you Naruto: the hounds don't view just anyone as an alpha. In our clan, there's maybe one or two in a generation that are recognized like that and it's normally people from the leading families of the clan, so believe me when I say that this is a big deal."
"Huh…"
Kiba noticed a pensive but knowing look on Naruto's face. It made him wonder what exactly he was hiding. He was still no closer to the truth, but at least he now knew that Naruto was indeed hiding something.
"Anyway, we should head back to class."
"Right!"
By the time classes ended, Naruto had written up all the notes he had from Kiba for the classes he slept through. Idly he also remembered feeling Hinata's concern for his wellbeing during his morning scan for the ANBU agent. While Kiba was very upfront about it when he approached him, she was much more subdued, but her feelings were no less potent. It made him happy that she cared about him so much, even if she still didn't muster the strength to do something about it. All in due time he supposed.
'Time to get that book on anatomy that Itachi-niisan mentioned.'
He found the book easily enough, having been guided by the librarian. Of course, he didn't mention that he was going to learn about the birds and the bees. Instead, he spun a story about how, as a ninja, he needed to know about the human body in order to be a better fighter. The librarian bought the story, much to his relief.
When he reached his apartment after training that evening, he found Itachi waiting for him.
"WHAT?! That's how babies are made?!"
"…Yes, Naruto-kun. And that's what the people in the brothel were also doing. Except they have means to prevent the women there from getting pregnant."
"But, why did some like it and some hate it?"
"That is because the act itself involves very sensitive parts of the body. As such, if one is not careful, they could easily hurt the other person. Sometimes though, the act might not hurt your body, but it may hurt you emotionally."
"What do you mean, niisan?"
"Many of the sex workers do not necessarily engage in acts that are physically hurtful, but they may still feel bad about what they are going through. That is because normally, having sex is a very intimate experience that we should share with someone we not only feel attracted to, but also feel deeply connected to them as a person. Many of the people who spend time in the brothel do not feel any emotional connection to the person they have such a contact with. As a result, while they do feel pleasure in the moment, they end up feeling empty soon after they are done. Doing that many times can cause someone to feel hollow, used and some even hate themselves."
"But if they hate it, why do they keep doing it?"
"In many cases it's because they have no other option. Society looks down upon people who work in that profession and, if you were raised in such an environment, it will become increasingly difficult to find a more respectable job, because the employers do not wish to be associated with them."
"So, they're stuck doing that, even if they don't like it? That's just not right. Can't jiji do anything about it?"
"I do not know. Maybe you should ask him next time you see him."
"I will. This is just not right. We have to find a way to help these people… Niisan, you also said that sometimes this can hurt phys-physically. Do people really do that to each other?"
"Unfortunately, yes and this offense is called "rape". There are people out there who take advantage of other people for their own pleasure, not caring how much they hurt those who they force themselves upon. In fact, as shinobi, we receive quite a few assignments that require us to dispatch of bandits that get involved in such acts."
"Well, if anyone tried to do something like that to Natsumi-neechan, I'd probably beat them up too."
"I would not be surprised if you did, Naruto-kun. I must report to Hokage-sama now. Your part in this mission is over for now, except for monitoring of the scanning of the agent surveying the academy. As such, we shall likely not see each other until the end of the operation. Stay safe and train hard. On a more personal note, please watch over my brother while I am not around. You may not have a jonin's strength yet, but knowledge is power and, as of right now, you have plenty of it."
"I'll do my best, niisan."
Not long after Itachi left, Kurama broke the silence.
"Naruto."
"Yes, Kurama?"
"I believe I have an answer to our jonin strength problem."
"No way. Are you really gonna teach me that?"
"Yes way. However, you'll only use a very limited level. You're not ready to go full power yet."
"When do we start?!"
"Right now."
"THIS. IS. AWESOME!"
"ANBU agent Crow, reporting, Sir."
"Ah, Itachi-kun. What news do you bring?"
"Naruto and I successfully finished scanning the bunkers without incident."
"That is very good. And what of Naruto's mental state? What is your assessment?"
"As mentioned in last night's report, the reconnaissance in the Red Lights district caused him significant distress, but much of that shock was overcome as a result of our subsequent discussion. As of this moment, I would say that Naruto-san is emotionally stable, though I do worry about one thing."
"And that is?"
"Being an orphan, he obviously longs for human connection and, more specifically, a family. As a result, during our conversations, he has been continuously referring to me as his "niisan". I am worried that he does not yet have the emotional intelligence and/or discipline to distinguish between and act according to a mentor-tutor dynamic versus an older brother-little sibling relationship."
"…Or that he might be aware of such differences but is pushing for the latter to happen anyway. The question is, however, why did you not stop him from addressing you as such?"
Itachi was taken aback by the question. Soon, he had to admit to himself that what the Hokage was hinting at was accurate. Defeated, he responded.
"…I did not have the heart to tell him otherwise."
Smiling compassionately, Hiruzen replied "So it would seem. Given this situation, do you consider that you'd still make a good sensei for the two of them? We both know that, while we do promote bonds forged through teamwork as a core component of our high mission success rate, having too strong an attachment towards a team member can cloud a shinobi's judgment and, in turn, compromise the mission. A balance must be kept between the two."
"I agree that strong attachments can be detrimental at times. However, given their potential as shinobi, there are high chances that we would be assigned missions together at a later date. That being the case, I believe it would be better to address this issue and develop the required emotional discipline during their genin days, while they operate in lower-risk environments."
"I can agree with that. However, assuming you do become their sensei, I will closely monitor your team's dynamic. If I conclude that your judgment as their sensei is compromised due to your attachment to your team members, I will take decisive action. Am I understood?"
"Loud and clear, Sir."
"Good."
"What is our next step, Hokage-sama?"
"We have gathered as much intelligence as we could possibly acquire for now. It is time to initiate operation Bait and Switch."