Chapter 3: Motivation

I may not have been enthusiastic enough about living on my own. 2 years under Chiyoko's tyrannical thumb, followed by another year of getting passive aggressively ignored was more than any sane person should need to put up with.

I would have been happy with a dorm-like single room setup, but the Hokage was generous enough to house us in a 2.5 room apartment each, both outfitted with a modern kitchen and bathroom. Finally, I could clean myself in private instead of climbing into a crowded communal bath.

The only complaint that came to mind was a lack of character. Mint green walls with dark wooden panelling were pleasant enough, but a lack of adornment in conjunction with its unstocked shelves and cabinets gave the abode a bleak ambience. Thankfully, our newly introduced monthly stipend easily took care of basic necessities like food and clothing, which meant adding decorations was only a matter of time.

By far my favourite aspect of living alone was cooking my own meals. Never again would I need to come face to face with cream spinach. Or that yucky watered down porridge. Eugh. Finally, I had the chance to use some actual spices in my food. Naruto might have been the only one happier about the arrangement than I was, considering he reaped all the benefits of my cooking without any of the work.

I should teach him to cook for himself at some point. Maybe wait with that until he's older.

To be fair, he also entrusted me with most of his stipend as compensation for my endeavours. I in turn spared no effort preparing our meals. 'Quid pro quo' I'd called it. I even went through the trouble of acquiring a library access card with my first month's savings to acquire a cookbook on local cuisine.

Luckily the general library stocked multiple texts on nutrition, most of them written and published by Torifu Akimichi. In my preliminary search I also discovered The Young Actor's Handbook by Miyako Yamanaka, and The Basics of Character, an art tutorial released by Koharu Utatane.

Upon inquiry, it turned out that many informational texts written by Konoha shinobi were publicly available to–as the librarian put it–'promising young minds'. The clans seemed happy to hand out basic knowledge so long as it didn't involve the shinobi arts. In addition to the aforementioned literature, I arrived back at home with a collection of physics, biology, mathematics, and chemistry textbooks.

My newly acquired library card was already maxed out.

In the week that followed I paged through one book after another, absorbing as much information as possible. Much of the scientific knowledge was a mere refresher on my basic middle school curriculum, though biology had an interesting excerpt on the physical manifestation of the chakra network.

Then we got to physics.

"The third law (also known as Kusuke's law) asserts that infusing chakra into a closed system irreversibly alters its internal energy. Adding chakra of an inversely proportional energy returns the system's initial state."

Needless to say I read through the rest of that book. Twice. And then followed it up by exchanging my finished books with their more advanced counterparts. I didn't care how little chakra theory the books available to civilians held. I lost track of time–and possibly my grip on reality–piecing together and comparing every alien snippet of knowledge with what I recalled from Earth.

I eventually snapped from my daze at my stomach's loud insistence. It was sometime around dusk, the sun low on the horizon as it shone through my transparent grey curtains. I prepared a double-portion of chicken soba stir fry for Naruto and I, before grabbing the keys off my window sill–Wait, why's it brighter than before?

The clock read 7:43. The sun should have gone down by now.

"{Ah crap!}" I ran over to Naruto's apartment and frantically knocked at his door. "Hey, Naruto! You in there, buddy?"

He didn't answer. Why wouldn't he answer?

Quit being such a mother hen, Sato. He's probably off training by now.

I took a steadying breath. Naruto survived for years on his own in the original storyline. I could just take a nice nap and wait for him to get back. I walked back to my own apartment, glancing at the two servings of food I'd prepared.

Friends didn't break promises.

I made myself a cup of tea–what I wouldn't give for some coffee–and ate my own portion of the meal before heading out.

Two weeks after moving, Naruto and I had discovered the abandoned training ground 29 near the outskirts of Konoha, bordering the Uchiha district. The ground was cracked and the stocked training equipment rather shabby, but it was a wide open space and a lot closer to the apartment than our forest spot. Its best feature was that it didn't require me to awkwardly ferry Naruto through the red-light district for our evening training sessions.

Now, however, I ran into an unexpected problem. The training ground wasn't as abandoned as usual.

Of all days for it to happen, the one time I was looking for Naruto just had to be when the Konoha Police Force decided on a collective training drill. When I asked them if they'd seen a blonde-haired kid come by, their instructor, some old guy with his Sharingan out, just told me to, "Get lost, brat. This isn't a place for little boys."

I shivered at the twisted chakra emanating from his crimson orbs. His assembled cronies all silently staring at me with undisguised disdain only exasperated my discomfort.

I slunk off without comment.

If this was what the majority of their clansmen acted like around the general populace, I couldn't help but feel a hint of vindictive glee knowing what the future had in store for them.

I flicked my head. Those sorts of thoughts were unacceptable. 24 waking hours made me more irritable than usual. I took my mind off the irksome incident and headed for the Hokage Monument. The obvious alternative to our new training ground would be our old one.

When I arrived, all the signs pointed to Naruto having come here a while ago. I saw upturned dirt, discarded rusty kunai, and a fractured training target–those things weren't really built with real weaponry in mind.

Still, pretty impressive for a child.

Was this really the same incompetent kid from the series? Our group training hadn't seemed overly impactful to his own performance compared to mine, but we barely ever got canonical information on Naruto's early life.

It probably wouldn't change things too much. Clan kids were already trained from a very young age, and Naruto had already been training on his own long before I showed up to the party.

I pushed those thoughts aside and spread out my senses. Strange. Naruto wasn't here either. I hadn't slouched on my sensing practice, and by now I was able to locate his overwhelming reserves from a hundred metres away if I focused.

I set down the lunchbox and started to stretch. Without any alternative ideas on where he could have wandered off to, and since I was already here, a morning workout seemed like a sensible use of my time.

Beyond our usual physical routine, Naruto and I had begun incorporating some basic fighting techniques into our training plan. It wasn't anything complex–we lacked access to any training manuals or teachers–merely a rotation of punches and kicks that aimed to improve hand-eye coordination and balance.

I pushed myself to the limit and beyond, coasting on the copious amounts of delicious hormones my brain kept spilling out. By the time I finished, my muscles were screaming in protest for each and every movement. Disregarding the pain, I kicked the straw dummy one final time, knocking it to the ground.

I struck a dramatic victory pose and immediately regretted it.

What an absolute chuuni you've become, Satoya.

I wasn't sure whether this world was infecting me with its over-the-topness, or if I'd mentally regressed. Being around Naruto 24/7 probably didn't help things. Perhaps keeping him at a distance for a while might do us both some good. It would stop him from becoming completely dependent on me. Perhaps it could even revive his lust for attention.

I shuddered to imagine what a more mellow Naruto would do to Team 7's dynamic. Sasuke might actually like him then. The world would come crumbling down. Then again aren't they soul-brothers locked in a never-ending cycle of hatred? The likelihood of their dysfunctional relationship becoming functional was astronomically low.

I stretched my muscles, and got ready for chakra practice. My past exercises had generally focused on expelling chakra from my body, usually expelling small puffs of blue from my hands. I hoped to eventually proceed to the leaf sticking exercise but it turned out there was more to it than just coating your hands.

However, thanks to my recent deep dive into natural science I'd come up with an alternate goal to pursue–one that didn't require manifesting chakra outside the body.

Beyond the chakra network's primary cyclical pathway, a large number of tiny branches spread out from each tenketsu into what was called the 'interstitium'. Essentially a great big cushiony layer in between vital organs, made up of fluid-filled connective tissue.

By guiding chakra into this tissue and beyond, it may be possible to enhance my muscle function. If Gai's eight gates technique was anything to go by, an uptick in my muscle's chakra concentration should both increase the strength and speed of my body.

It would certainly explain how Naruto managed to outpace me by such a huge margin, even when we both started the day completely fresh. He probably had such large reserves they naturally leaked extra chakra into his muscles.

Damn Kyuubi-Uzumaki hacks!

It also explained why people in this world didn't all look like Mr. Universe, and yet still accomplished incredible feats of strength. Though to be fair, it could have just been a weird rule of this dimension–the Anime's stylization getting translated into a live action look.

This begged the question, if one trained without any chakra augmentation–like me–and then augmented the body afterwards, how did it impact the end result?

On the one hand, a stronger baseline might exponentially increase chakra's yielded boost. On the other hand the difference may be so negligible that additional practice in chakra enhancement far outdid the slight increase in baseline strength.

All comes down to whether chakra enhancement functions multiplicatively or additively.

I rubbed my face and huffed in frustration. If the Raikage was anything to go on, it could have some impact.

I was getting ahead of myself with all this theorising. First of all I needed to confirm whether chakra enhancement at all worked as I expected.

I pushed my chakra outwards through the pathway's barely perceptible capillaries, nurturing my arm's muscle fibres until the extremity felt like it was wrapped in a swarm of flaming bees. I punched against a nearby tree trunk. A dull thud resounded through the clearing.

The impact itself didn't hurt, but it also didn't have quite the explosive results I'd hoped for. Based on the slight indentation I'd left behind, the technique acted more like structural reinforcement than anything else. If it increased muscle strength at all then by such a small margin I couldn't tell.

I yawned. Further testing would have to wait another day. Naruto was probably home by now anyway.

My aching arm and midday sunshine bearing down on me made the walk home altogether unpleasant. My mouth watered as I passed by a food vendor selling sizzling meat kabobs. I peered down at Naruto's 'breakfast'. It had long cooled down to room temperature. I debated eating it myself and just making Naruto a fresh meal afterwards.

First let's check to see if he's home for lunch.

I winced slightly as I used my free arm to knock on his door. "Naruto?"

I sighed. Still nothing. At this point I was too exhausted to get worked up about it. I unlocked my apartment and stepped inside, only to flinch back as a rigged up rube goldberg-esque delivery system blasted a fistful of white chalk all over me.

Naruto burst into laughter from his safe spot atop my couch. "You should have seen your face when that happened!" he wheezed between breaths.

"The only reason I'm refraining from physical violence right now, is because I don't want to dirty my furniture. But just to be clear: As soon as I get cleaned up I will have my revenge, and it will be ohso sweet."

I set down my lunch–no way was Naruto getting any–and headed straight to the bathroom. Soon Naruto's laughter was drowned out by the soothing embrace of running water. I was tempted to stay there forever, if not for the real possibility of falling asleep and cracking my head against the tile floor.

As I towelled myself off, I noticed Naruto's shadow under the door gap. "Naruto, I swear to god if you spill something else on me right after I cleaned up I won't cook you any meals ever again."

"Don't worry, Sato," he said, "My hands are empty."

I knew something was up, but it didn't quite feel like he was lying. Just in case, I kept my body covered with my towel after putting on my underwear. I then very carefully creaked open the door.

"Wow Sato. You look amazing!" Naruto said with–wait since when was Naruto capable of sarcasm?

"Ha Ha, Naruto. What did you do?" I asked. I was seriously too tired to put up with his antics right now.

"Whatever do you mean, Satoya?" he said, scratching his head in mock-confusion. "I'm just happy you used the gift I bought for you today."

My body immediately tensed. "What gift?"

"You showed me how to use the shower, so I got you some special cosmetics," he responded with a far too innocent smile.

I turned to face the mirror. Who was this? Not a matte black extra. No features tying me to my family. My hair was purple. Purple!

I let out a pitiful chuckle before gnashing my teeth. "Naruto, you…" My body tensed. "{You dyed my fucking hair!}"

I leapt out and crashed into the opposite wall when he danced out of the way. "{You're fucking dead!}"

Naruto cackled like a madman as he sprinted for the window. I followed close behind. Both of us leapt straight out the window. When he noticed me landing behind him, Naruto's cackling abruptly stopped.

"Uh oh–"

"Get back here, you bastard!" I yelled as we zipped through the streets. If I'd been actively paying attention to my body I would have noted my chakra flow swirling out of control.

Naruto led the way and nimbly avoided the bystanders that thankfully dodged out of the way before I managed to plough through them with all my uncontrollable speed. If a runner's high was a 10, then this was close to 1000 on the euphoria scale–under the pretence of ignoring how angry I was.

My body was filled to the brim by squirming fire ants. Limbs practically moved on their own as the chakra yanked them forward. My previous exhaustion was quickly forgotten as energy levels shot back to the heights they'd been at before I left the house.

"Are you kids outta your damn mind!?" yelled some old geezer from his balcony.

This chase continued for a while before Naruto finally got himself stuck in a side alley with no exits.

"{This will be so so gratifying}," I hissed maliciously, slowly narrowing the gap between us.

"Sato, calm down. It's just a prank!" Naruto pleaded.

"Oh no no, I'm not just gonna let you go after hearing {it's just a prank bro}."

Naruto had backed all the way to the wall, when he suddenly sprang up ten feet and started dashing across the rooftops–a skill that he had not displayed until this point.

A skill which I–at the time unknowingly–replicated by shoving a compressed burst of chakra straight out of my feet and haphazardly launching myself through the air. Naruto built up quite the lead over the next few minutes, but it was only a matter of getting used to this new method of movement. Soon I'd begin closing the gap. Soon that little—

A roof tile cracked. My foot slipped out from underneath me. I tumbled down into the street, smashing into a cart full of cabbages.

I woke up in a hospital bed with a pained body and a strange sense of metaphysical hunger. I must have been chakra exhausted.

Great, first chakra is uncomfortable and now the lack of chakra even more so.

I looked around the room and noticed Naruto dozing in a chair next to me.

"Naruto. Pssst."

"Wha?" He flinched up. "Oh, Sato. You're awake!"

"How long have I been here?"

"Uhh…," Naruto snatched the clock off my bedside table, "Six hours. Do you feel okay? I'm sorry for the hair dye, I didn't realise you'd be so angry. It's still purple by the way."

I sighed. Why had I been so angry? "It's–I'm fine. Naruto, really. I shouldn't have gotten so mad."

"It's fine," Naruto said, shrugging it off. "Oh right! Jiji is here to see you too. Something about your old sickness? That's all he told me 'bout earlier."

"What grandfather?" I mumbled, again closing my eyes.

"My my, I thought I heard a fresh voice," came from the hallway. "Don't tell me you've already fallen back asleep."

I opened a single eye and directed it towards the entrance just in time to see Hiruzen waltz through in all his white-robed glory. I immediately shot to attention.

"Hokage-sama!"

"Be at ease, dear boy. There's no need to be so formal with me. I understand you knocked yourself out playing catch?" He chuckled. "That's not something one comes across every day."

I peered at Naruto who just motioned for me to just go along with it.

"Yes, catch," I affirmed. "You needn't have bothered to check up on me, Hokage-sama. Unless there was something you wished to speak about?"

Hiruzen looked at Naruto who awkwardly rubbed his head. "When someone barges into your office carrying their unconscious friend, it would be rather uncouth not to offer aid, don't you agree?"

I raised my eyebrows at that.

"He was very worried about you," Hiruzen added in a grave tone, which made Naruto puff up his cheeks and turn to stare out the window like a tsundere.

I snorted at his antics. "I am perfectly alright, Hokage-sama. Though I would have appreciated it if someone had at least gotten me a change of clothes."

"According to eye-witness reports you didn't seem too bothered," the Hokage said, taking a seat in the chair next to Naruto.

I went very red at that, noting that truly turning a truly different shade must have been another one of those 'Anime logic' things. "I wasn't thinking about my actions."

"You weren't?" Hiruzen asked, "How strange… I always took you for the more coolheaded of the two. Perhaps I should reevaluate." His eyes glinted with mirth.

This is bullying! I'm getting bullied by someone fifteen times my age!

"Now, let us get to why I am here," the Hokage declared, steepling his fingers. "Based on the skills you two have displayed this afternoon, I estimate you will mature into very fine shinobi one day. Should you two be willing to join the ranks of Konoha's elite protectors, I would be happy to increase your stipend and provide some training supplies. You will, of course, be evaluated before getting allowed entry to the Academy, but I doubt that poses much of a challenge for you both."

I had completely forgotten about supplemental equipment costs. Good thing that problem solved itself.

"You kidding Jiji? Of course we wanna become shinobi!" Naruto said, nearly falling out of his seat.

"My my Naruto, no need to be so hasty. There are still two years left before you're of eligible age. I suggest you think things through thoroughly," the Hokage advised, giving me a strange expression as he said it. "I also have something personal to discuss with young Satoya here. Might I ask that you give us some privacy, Naruto?"

Naruto gave me a questioning look, and I responded with a nod. He eyed Hiruzen one last time before shrugging and leaving us to our discussion. I had no doubts he'd press me for details later.

"Today marks the second time that you've received a full-body medical examination in this very hospital. Both reports were very intriguing to read through," Hiruzen explained. "I must warn you that some of this information will be rather unpleasant to hear. Would you still like to?"

"Of course," I answered. "If there's a problem, I'd prefer knowing about it."

"Very well," Hiruzen agreed. "You first arrived here with a crushed windpipe and internal bleeding. Naturally, this required immediate attention. However, your body displayed an aversion to foreign chakra so extreme it required a full team of medics to successfully administer treatment. You were later diagnosed with an extreme case of chakra intolerance. An ailment that usually hinders the subject from effectively drawing upon and utilising their chakra."

He allowed me a moment to digest his words. Inherent defence against foreign chakra sounded like a useful ability, though maybe not if it stopped me from getting healed.

"I take it this is not a unique occurrence among shinobi?" I asked.

"Not quite," he replied, "It occasionally appears within ninja bloodlines. However, those who are born with it rarely develop fully functional chakra pathways. I've personally only heard of a single instance, and the poor boy's entire childhood was plagued by intense pain. Forcing a child to train as a shinobi with such a condition would be nothing but torture."

"I am more than willing to become a shinobi despite this hindrance," I assured. "Chakra usage causes a slight amount of pain, but it's hardly intolerable. It has improved a lot over the past year."

"I see… I'd like to test something, if you don't mind," the Hokage said. "I will leak out a small amount of chakra to measure your reaction. You will need to withstand such things in your future career."

"Go ahead," I replied.

I'd already felt something similar from Chiyoko before. I expected Hiruzen's pressure wouldn't be nearly as bad as chakra laced with killing intent. I was wrong.

While intense, Chiyoko's murderous rage was undirected. Hiruzen's aura, however, was dispassionate. It pierced through any natural shielding my body provided as if it weren't even there. Rummaging around like when my dentist extracted my wisdom teeth, only spread across my whole body. I didn't dare shift an inch, didn't dare move a single muscle, took only shallow breaths. As if doing any of that could collapse the world around me.

Come one you wuss, pull yourself together;you've literally come back from the dead!

I'd experienced what it was like to slowly bleed out on the floor–to take your final breath, trapped, alone and insignificant. This was nothing compared to that–a mere illusion. The Building was perfectly safe, the Hokage would never hurt me. And even if he did want to hurt me, there were far simpler methods.

Those thoughts were easy to rationalise, but far harder to internalise. My logic wrestled for control as my instincts locked me in place.

If I didn't get past this I'd remain weak and helpless. I couldn't allow that to happen. So I wouldn't. No matter how impossible it felt, no matter how firmly my instincts screamed to flee, no matter how painful it was, I would not falter to something as simple as this.

With pure force of will I crossed my arms in front of my chest, leaned forward, and plastered an artificial smirk on my face.

"Is that all you got o-old man?" Dammit I stammered!

Thankfully the pressure subdued soon afterward. As Hiruzen's chakra retracted, it left a warm, tingly numbness behind and I comfortably sank back into my pillow.

"You showed me a lot of trust just now," Hiruzen noted. "It warms my heart that–"

The door burst open and a doctor stiffly stepped into the room. At least I assumed he was a doctor–though exempting the lab coat and clipboard he could have passed for a professional wrestler. Next to him Hiruzen looked like nothing but a frail old man.

"Sarutobi-sama, I dearly recommend you do not stress this young man's chakra coils any further," the doctor said in dry disappointment. "He's supposed to be resting. Your personal examinations can wait until after he is released from our care."

"Don't worry Kawasaki-kun, young Satoya is completely unharmed. I barely even phased him," the Third Hokage assured, a bead of sweat forming on his temple. "In fact I dare say he'll make a fine shinobi despite past assessments regarding his condition."

"Hmph. Not if he keeps damaging his body the way he has," Doctor Kawasaki said before turning to me. "Kid, what the hell have you been doing to your arms? Your muscle fibres are practically shredded."

Now it was my turn to sweat. "Uhh, I've been doing some chakra practice. Pushing it into limbs and out of my hands."

Hiruzen was about to open his mouth, but the doctor shushed him with a pointed look.

"Young man, I don't know if you just have masochistic tendencies or just want to get yourself killed, but you need to understand that chakra is not a toy. Your body can barely keep up with your expanding tenketsu as it is–"

"Wait wait, slow down–Uhh, I mean apologies for interrupting, Kawasaki-san," I said, "What's this about expanding tenketsu? And I wasn't aware I've been forcing anything. How else am I meant to practise chakra control?"

The man pinched his nose and muttered something under his breath–probably profanity.

"Are you even aware of your condition?"

"You mean my hypersensitivity?"

"No, not that," he denied, "I meant your overdeveloped chakra pathways."

"Uhh… no?"

"Of course not," Kawasaki said, eyeing Hiruzen with disapproval. "Intolerance was not the only diagnosis you received back then. Your body was getting drained of physical energy at an unsustainable rate."

I gave him a questioning look. "Sorry, what does that mean?"

"Don't you know what–," he paused to rub his forehead. "Chakra is produced from a duality of energies: physical and spiritual. These two naturally balance each other out as a person matures. Improved mental faculties growing alongside a larger, stronger body."

I saw where this was going. Lacking the body of an adult, "Mine were so out of balance that my chakra production sapped me of all my physical energy to compensate."

"Correct. I suppose I can count an increased level of understanding as one of your condition's other side effects," he said, scribbling something down on his notepad. "In addition, this meant that you've been producing a lot more chakra than normal for your age, which spurred on further growth of your chakra pathways."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"I said, for all we knew such growth was completely unsustainable. A year ago I'd doubted you'd even make it to your fourth birthday."

My hair stood on end. Just how close to death had I been back then? "Why was I not told about this?"

This time it was Hiruzen's turn to pitch in. "Satoya-kun, yours is the first such case in recorded medical history. We were uncertain of how your condition would naturally progress and could not in good conscience suggest a specific course of action. Not to mention you had just lived through a terrible trauma."

I indignantly crossed my arms, "So what, you would have just let me slowly waste away, never knowing why?"

"I initially advised against it," Kawasaki said. "However, telling you would have only added stress without benefit. We were unable to give any meaningful guidance. Exercise, for example, could have robbed you of what little energy you still had remaining."

"It didn't," I interjected. "You should have just told me."

Kawasaki scribbled more on his clipboard. "Perhaps we should have." He eyed the Hokage's slumped shoulders and lightly tapped him with his pen.

"For now, let us rejoice that your ailment has improved," Hiruzen said, suddenly perking up. "I suggest you rest up for a few days, and hold off on attempting anything more complex with your chakra until a later date. Your coils are still growing and your control will remain in flux for as long as this is the case."

"Don't worry, I don't plan on getting myself killed," I answered. Not again.

I remained in the hospital for another two days until my chakra levels had returned to normal. Thankfully my recovery rate was quite high–at least according to Kawasaki. The doctor had also been kind enough to heal my arm's torn up muscle fibres with medical ninjutsu.

"I'd tell you to take it easy, but I know your type. I only ask you not to overdo it," doctor Kawasaki intoned. "And don't even think about messing around with any half-baked chakra techniques!"

"Whatever you say, Doc," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"I mean it, brat. If I see you here again with self-induced injuries I'll decline treating you!"

"Don't worry. Spending a bunch of time chained to a bed isn't my idea of fun. And overdoing it just winds up wasting time anyway."

"Damn training nuts," he grumbled, before signing my release papers.

Ah the glorious taste of freedom.

Finally free of the smell of disinfectant that permeated the Hospital's halls, I rushed home with a spring in my step. There were books to read and Narutos to annoy. The time had come for my glorious return.

"{Heeeeeeeere's Johnny!}" I yelled as I slammed open Naruto's front door, causing him to yelp in alarm and tumble off a chair he had been standing on. He barely stopped a glass he'd been holding from smashing into the floor.

"Owww. Satoya you bastard I was this close to catching the spider."

"{What goes around comes around, Bucko.}"

"You know I can't understand you when you talk like that," he said.

"Ah, it was nothing important. Merely the answer to all of life's mysteries," I replied. "Too bad you'll never hear it again."

Naruto glared at me for all of three seconds before flashing a smile and wrapping me in a hug.

"I'm glad you're back. Your fall looked super intense ya know?"

"T'was but a scratch," I assured, patting him on the back. "I'm sorry for having worried you."

He pushed me a few feet back and defensively raised his arms. "You don't need to be sorry! I should be sorry for making you so angry."

Right. I still hadn't explained myself for that idiotic overreaction. "I acted way out of line, Naruto. I shouldn't have flipped out like that."

Naruto was about to open his mouth but I stopped him. "No, I know you're about to say not to worry about it, but I'm serious. I was threatening you over something completely harmless. It was just"–Gosh how do I explain this without sounding like I'm crazy?–"My hair is precious to me. I don't really know how to describe it…"

"It's about your past, right?" Naruto asked, nearly making my heart stop. "I heard Shizuka mention something about your last orphanage once. You can talk to me if stuff bothers you, ya know? Not just the other way around. Kuwido puro Kuwo."

"{Quid pro Quo?}" I clarified.

"Yeah, that. You oughta teach me more of that weird language sometimes."

"Trust me, Naruto. You do not want to learn Latin," I chuckled. "I'm happy to teach you English though. Maybe once you start actually learning proper Japanese!"

"Hey! Not everyone can be as crazy about books as you," he grumbled. "Did you even sleep on Tuesday? I saw your light was still on in the morning."

Oh right, I almost forgot about that.

"No… If you notice me obsessing like that I give you my full permission to smack me over the head."

Naruto squinted his eyes and gave a big thumbs up. "You got it, Sato!"

"Though, I do actually need some alone time every now and again," I quickly amended. "So only hit me if it's super late!"

"Yeah yeah," he said, "Anyway, I'm hungry. You wanna come with me to this super awesome Ramen place I found?"

Ramen Ichiraku? How could I say no?