Hey there everyone! Sorry for the late update had to do a lot of brainstorming to organize how the story would be moving from here but now that I've got that down the only thing left to do is update.
Thank you all so much for taking the time out to read the story, as always and like every story certain liberties will be taken for the sake of the story the only thing, I can promise is that I won't do anything too crazy and out of line and if I do I know someone will let me know lol
Thank you again for all the reviews and as always, I appreciate constructive criticism and your thoughts.
As always, I hope you enjoy.
P.S. There is Japanese that I used for a specific part I'm sure someone will mention, easy on my still learning soul :]
-Ken
{...}
Chapter 3: The Comeback Kid
"2 Palms."
"4 Palms."
"8 Palms."
"16 Palms."
The sounds of wood being smashed reverberated through the halls of the Hyuga compound while Kiba Inuzuka flinched slightly at the sounds that he could even hear from outside of it, he figured that Neji would be training but he's never heard him like this.
It made him a little nervous.
His original purpose was to come and check in on Hinata but the blows he was hearing sounded frustrated and the last thing he wanted was to run into an angry Neji, leading to his pause at the front of the entrance of the compound.
The brown-haired boy took a breath before his hand wavered from knocking again, "Ugh, damn Shino leaving me to do this alone." Kiba complained while he ran his hand through his hair before he looked at the entrance again.
Akamaru, his most trusted ally also happened to also be busy, he and the rest of the younger dogs were getting bathed making him even more nervous. Hinata was a friend and teammate he shouldn't be deterred by any angry Hyūga. Even he knew about the feelings that the girl held for Naruto so not being able to see her over the span of the past few days concerned him, he also kind of missed the guy. Naruto was kind of an idiot at the best of times, but he was still one of his friends.
It was tough but no one needed to suffer dealing with those feelings with or without Shino. He was going to try his best.
Kiba took a breath before he went to knock.
He stopped his fist just before the face of Neji Hyūga who had his usual serious expression on his face, "Neji!? Where'd you come from?", Kiba asked while pointing at the dark-haired boy who just blinked at his fellow teen.
"I live here."
Neji responded while Kiba awkwardly nodded his head in response, "Right, I was about to knock through you all probably knew that. Being Hyūga and all." Kiba commented before he scratched the back of his head Neji resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"Then you should also know that the only reason why I'm here right now is because I got tired of watching you make semi circles around the entrance for the past 25 minutes. Now did you need something?"
The Hyūga snarked while Kiba broke into a sweat, "I came to check on Hinata… It's been a while since we've seen her. It's starting to get a little concerning, I even heard that she's locked herself in her room. I wanted to see if she was alright." Kiba stated while Neji blinked at him his mild irritation slightly vanished.
"You might be glad to hear but Hinata being locked up in her room is no longer an issue."
Neji replied, causing Kiba's expression to brighten into a smile, "Seriously?! Then we'll be able to-" Kiba was interrupted by a hand being raised to his face, the white eyed boy in front of him slowly shook his head.
"However, she's requested that she receives no visitors for the time being. I'm sure she would appreciate the gesture but I won't allow you to enter against her wishes."
"Huh? What do you mean? Hinata wouldn't say something like that, we're her friends she wouldn't just tell us to leave her alone. I get you're trying to protect her and all but-"
Kiba suddenly felt a shift in the atmosphere while Neji's eyes narrowed into a glare toward the Inuzuka heir, "Don't assume for one minute because you've worked with someone for a period of time that you know them completely, don't assume the reasons for any of my own actions either." Neji looked to the side before he looked back toward Kiba.
"If you were really her friend, then you would respect her wishes. That in of itself is another gesture Hinata would appreciate."
Neji warned while Kiba gulped, "Fine… but could you at least tell her that we're here for her? Even if she happens to feel alone we'll always be there to look out for her." Kiba stood his ground to Neji who silently bowed his head before turning away from the brown-haired boy.
"...Hinata. Don't keep us all waiting too long alright? Some of us are starting to miss you too."
Kiba walked away from the compound, he noticed that he was still hearing the sound of wood smashing. The brown-haired teen turned back around toward the retreating form of Neji while he raised an eyebrow.
Wait. If that was Neji just talking to him then… who was it that he was listening to train so hard?
Kiba sat there looking toward the compound again with a curious expression on his features before he turned away from the home, the sounds still moving through the air.
"8 Palms."
"16 Palms."
"32 Palms."
"64 Palms!"
The sound of wood smashing stopped abruptly before the sound of a deep breath being taken was heard, the dirt underneath a barefoot quietly crunched while a leg gracefully moved into a grounded stance. The lithe frame in front of the mostly destroyed wooden pillar held bloodied palms in front of the damaged pillar, white eyes narrowed focused on nothing but the target right in front of them a mixture of quiet rage and frustration in them.
"128 Pal-"
"Enough."
Neji's voice interrupted while the bloodied palms stopped before making contact with the wooden pillar, the dark haired boy stepped down the small set of stairs toward the opposite pair of white eyes while a small girl watched them both a little further away.
"Oh Neji…"
The voice replied with a gentle tone followed by a bow, "That technique shouldn't be used lightly, especially by you. The strain it has on the body is great; you should avoid using it if possible." Neji wanted while Hinata looked down toward the dirt.
"He wouldn't…"
Hinata Hyuga clenched her bloodied hands causing even Neji to flinch at the sight, her hands had shown hours of training with multiple lacerations on them. Hinata's voice trembled her usual gentleness seemingly only hanging by a thread.
"Naruto wouldn't have given up."
Hinata uttered her frustration peeking through the gentle mask she tried to keep up on her face before Neji looked at her hands, he resisted grabbing her wrist to show her the damage she was causing to herself.
It's been two days since Hinata emerged from her room however the only thing that Neji has ever seen her do besides eating has been training, there was a motivation in her eyes that he had never seen before… No, that's a lie, he has seen it before.
Whenever he looked in the mirror.
However for some reason when Neji saw that expression in his cousin's eyes the way she carried it reminded him of her father and not in the way one would take pride in.
It wasn't a look he wanted to see on her face.
"Your hands."
Neji watched as Hinata lifted her hands to look at them herself, pausing at the sight of the blood, "Thank you for your concern but I'm alright." Hinata then walked over to a small fountain to rinse the blood off her hands. Neji was speechless as he watched Hinata wrap her hands in bandages before she got right back to the wooden pillar, a slave to the anger she had felt deep down that she would never let anyone else see.
Her worst kept secret.
"I wouldn't try it. I've already tried, I'll just wait for her to pass out then drag her back to her room."
Hanabi Hyuga voiced, causing Neji to look toward his younger cousin who watched her sister train from behind her bangs, her chin resting on her knees in a sitting up fetal-like position.
She was upset, something that the boy began to note about his two cousins was the fact that they were honest yet horribly dishonest. Hanabi adored her sister but her words and mannerisms would become bitter when she was worried about her.
"Hinata's sudden motivation is something we Hyuga find impressive, I myself am proud of her."
Neji and Hanabi looked back toward the Hyuga patriarch who looked on from the spot he walked to, "Father." Hanabi commented while Hiashi Hyuga stepped forward Neji gritted his teeth before the man watched Hinata train.
"Since the departure of Naruto Uzumaki, she's been more motivated than ever. If I had known the benefits of the decision we should have discussed it long ago."
Hiashi commented while Hanabi said nothing, opting to watch over her sister while Neji gritted his teeth even harder, while he himself was quick to point out the flaws in the honesty of his cousins he was almost too honest in his features.
"Is that what you think of his destiny? He's just a means to an end for Hinata's benefit?"
Hiashi looked toward Neji with a surprised look while the boy never took his eyes off of Hinata who kept attacking her invisible opponent she envisioned on the wooden pillar she had been attacking so relentlessly.
"Regardless of his destiny, Naruto Uzumaki was a dangerous existence, not only his relationship with the fox. He was also a distraction, with him being gone Hinata will benefit. One day she'll understand that this was the right thing to do."
Hiashi's tone was cold while Neji looked toward his uncle wordlessly while the man didn't take his eyes off of the frustrated Hinata.
Neji looked back at Hinata's blood from her palms on the dirt, taking him back to when Naruto had challenged him for her sake a fist full of her blood and an expression of anger and determination.
The blue eyes that had set him free from his cursed destiny.
Was this also destiny?
Was it that no matter what had been done Naruto would always have been destined to be sent away to the mercy of the rest of the world? Watching Hinata tear herself apart to express a sorrow even he couldn't understand wasn't the kind of destiny he ever wanted.
A bird circled around the open air of the training area flapping its wings to stay afloat looking down at the four Hyuga before it flew away to wherever it wanted to go, Neji watched the bird before his eyes narrowed.
Since he had control of his own destiny.
Would he be able to create a path where Hinata didn't have to tear herself apart and Naruto wouldn't have to face the entirety of the world by himself?
This question rang through the head of Neji Hyuga while his fist was clenched so hard to his side that his arm trembled.
{...}
Covers flew off a bed while Naruto quickly dashed around his new small home, it was bright and early just the time the blonde needed to be up and awake for the start of his new job that he had gotten in the Land of Waves.
It was his first day.
The blond boy quickly got ready before he dashed out of the door and toward the Tazuna house to get his day started.
"Hey Old Man! I'm here!"
Naruto yelled excitedly from outside the house while Tsunami opened the door, "Naruto, come in but please try to keep it down most of the neighborhood is still trying to sleep." Tsunami gently warned while Naruto nodded his head.
"Right… my bad."
The blonde lowered his voice to a harsh whisper, Tsunami smiled, resisting her urge to chuckle. "I've got breakfast ready so grab yourself a bowl and eat up." Tsunami allowed the excited boy into the home where he beelined to the kitchen.
"Thanks Tsunami! Hey Inari!"
Naruto gave a quick greeting to the already eating boy who gave back the greeting with just as much gusto, as much as a boy with a mouthful of food could muster.
The young ninja wolfed down his food before he was already back up and at it again, his destination this time being Tazuna's office. Naruto nearly left skid marks with how fast he dashed off to get his assignment.
"Old Man, Naruto Uzumaki is reporting for duty!"
Naruto gave a quick salute toward the older man with a couple stacks of papers surrounding him, "Jeez kid how much energy do you have? It's still super early, at least pretend you're tired." Tazuna commented while Naruto fist pumped the air.
"I'm just ready to get work! So what do you have in store for me today?"
Naruto asked while Tazuna fished a piece of paper with a list of requests on it, "This is a list from the village of things they need help getting done, good thing you're here. Cause there's plenty that needs to get done." Tazuna said while Naruto grabbed the piece of paper.
"Help Lady Tsu harvest the vegetables, Fishing, Assistance with construction. These kinda seem like regular tasks, there's nothing crazy going on?"
Naruto asked while Tazuna gave the boy a grin, "Listen if there's one thing I've learned while being responsible for the village it's that there is nothing simple about those tasks. Think you can handle them?" Tazuna pointed toward Naruto who looked at the list again before he gave the older man a wide grin.
"Got it! This'll be easy as pie!"
Naruto cheered while Tazuna smiled, "More jobs will come up as time passes but for now think of these as your regular tasks." Naruto grinned at the man before he nodded.
"Alright! See you all in a bit!"
Naruto turned to leave the residence quickly before being stopped by Tsunami who was carrying a small wrapped box."Lunch, remember ninja or not you're still a growing boy so you need to make sure you eat properly." Tsunami offered the lunch to the puzzled blonde boy before he took it gingerly, his grin widened as he looked at the bento in his hands.
"Right, I'll bring it back I promise."
Naruto's voice sounded touched while Tsunami smiled at him, "Be back soon and work hard." Tsunami said while Naruto eagerly nodded.
"Of course!"
Naruto then dashed out of the door, Inari walked out of the kitchen holding a cloth in his hand.
"Did Naruto leave already?"
Inari asked while Tsunami nodded, "Yup, I'm sure he's trying to push himself to repay us even though he doesn't have to." Tazuna sighed before a small grin graced his face.
"What a kid… a good kid nonetheless."
Tazuna went back to his work while Tsunami ushered Inari back toward the kitchen, the young boy held the cloth in his hand as if it was precious.
{...}
Naruto dashed from rooftop to rooftop looking over the village while a grin slowly broke out over his face. The first thing on his list was being part of the construction part, apparently a few new residences were being built.
Nothing good Ole Naruto Uzumaki couldn't handle though.
The blonde bounded from house to house before he eventually made it to the construction site, he looked on at the sight of half built houses and multiple men moving materials around before he sighed.
"Hey, Naruto Uzumaki is here to help!"
Naruto's hand flew up into the air announcing his presence causing multiple men to look toward his direction.
"Huh, that really is Naruto."
"He looks shorter than I thought."
"That's cause he's a kid you idiot."
"A kid? Ninja or not ain't it dangerous to have someone so young running around a site?"
A few of the construction workers clamored amongst themselves before Naruto found himself face to face with the foreman. He was a gentleman who looked to be in his late 30's early 40's with that gruff but kind vibe coming off of him.
"You must be Naruto, the ninja helper."
The older man eyed the eager boy while he nodded back.
"That's me! So what's first?"
Naruto asked while the older man motioned his head toward a large mortar pit that had been running a little low, "The mortar pit needs to be filled." Naruto only blinked at the older man's response.
"Huh? Mortar don't you mean murder? Wait, why does a construction site have a murder pit!?"
Naruto yelled pointing an accusatory finger at the older man who was unamused, "Mortar for building you Brickhead. I'll have you mixing and loading." The older man commented while Naruto looked into the pit again.
"Ohhh, so what's Mortar again?"
Naruto asked dumbly while the older man resisted the urge to face palm, the kid was an idiot exactly what he needed. "I'll give you the proper rundown the further into this we get, for right now I'll show you how to properly mix mortar." Naruto nodded in response to the older man before he followed him over to the pit, the blonde watched closely while he watched the process.
It looked really boring to do his opinion.
He thought he was going to be constructing with the other guys but they have him on brick cement duty.
Once the explanation was finished Naruto immediately got to work mixing mortar for the other guys to use. The process was exhausting but he didn't forget one important thing, he was still able to use jutsu!
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Three more duplicates of Naruto appeared, suddenly pumping their fists into the air eagerly.
"Alright let's do this!"
Naruto cheered while his clones cheered with him as they speed up the motor creating process, the older man watched Naruto from a distance before he sighed. Using his clones made the job way faster he should have just started with this, eventually he would be doing construction work with the rest of the guys.
After quickly finishing the pit, Naruto wasted no time getting back to the foreman with the good news.
"Looks like the pit is full and with record time too, I might even be able to build a house in a day too."
Naruto answered confidently while the foreman looked at the pot before he stuck a hand in, "It's loose." The foreman said while Naruto blinked.
"Huh?"
The boy gaped dumbly while the foreman took a handful of Naruto's mortar allowing it to freely run through his hands and onto the ground.
"Mortar shouldn't be loose is should be a certain thickness to ensure it dries properly to hold brick in place."
The foreman shook his hand, getting the loose mortar off of his hands while Naruto looked at it run on the ground.
"It looked good to me."
Naruto kept his eyes on the watery mortar while the older man sighed, "Do you want to know why Construction is dangerous, Blondie?" The older man motioned toward the other guys working on the brick buildings ahead.
"One might say it's the risk of falling, others may say it's the tools, hell even the amount of manual labor. However the truth is way bigger than all of those things."
The older man said while Naruto listened carefully to him watching the other men work as well.
"The real dangerous part are the lives that are placed into our hands with the structures that we build."
The older man looked at the half finished buildings almost wistfully while Naruto's eyes slowly widened, "We build homes, offices, multiple structures, places where people have to live and work. When those buildings fail then the blood is on our hands." The older man said while Naruto looked down at the ground.
"I know mixing mortar isn't the most fun but I will say it's one of the most important parts of building anything."
The foreman said while Naruto looked at the older man who blinked at the sight of his men working.
"A brick house made without mortar isn't a home… it's just a pile of bricks."
Naruto registered his words before he looked back at the watery pit of mortar he sped through with his clones. "If you want to go home now kid I won't blame you, I was a little harsh there but it's something you have to learn. This is a risky business anyway." The foreman said, patting Naruto on the back before walking back toward the office with a sigh.
"I really gotta get better with that."
The older man said to himself before he heard the sound of a loud boom, he quickly turned around while loose mortar flew past his tall frame. Naruto had thrown his shirt to the side and rolled up his pants, whatever he did to the mortar it was gone now.
The only thing that remained were determined blue eyes.
"I'll do it again!"
Naruto stood in the mortar pit below while the fireman's eyes widened slowly, "I said you could go home, the fumes are dangerous in there. It's fine, we can handle it." The foreman kept the concern out of his voice before Naruto shook his head.
"I ain't giving up Old Foreman! That goes against my ninja way, I'll make the best damn mortar you've ever seen!"
Naruto declared already dumping the mortar mix he brought in with him this time carefully mixing his work.
"This way I can help build houses that can be homes one day… homes where people can be safe."
The mortar caked boy said while the foreman nearly gawked at the boy in the pit, he had rarely seen this drive, especially for a job like this. He couldn't even help the grin that came to his face when Naruto's determined expression didn't even waver once.
"Then show me what you've got."
The foreman then left Naruto to his work and low and behold within a few hours he was indeed looking at great quality mortar and an exhausted blonde. After a short break Naruto waved at the foreman and the rest of the construction crew before he jumped off to his next job.
Fishing.
Apparently, the Land of Waves had a large quantity of fish that the village mostly relied on for their most abundant food source. Naruto had fished before but never like this, while he was used to small pond fish and the occasional frog.
These fishermen were pulling in monstrous fish and the hard working blonde?
Didn't even have a single bite.
"Gah! Why aren't these fish biting!? Is the bait bad or something!"
Naruto's frustration was getting the best of him while in the small boat his fishing partner chuckled. "You know the fish can sense emotions, right?" The young brown-haired man in the boat with Naruto chuckled while the blonde shot him a glare.
"How can they do that? They're fish, the only thing they think about is food."
Naruto grumbled while the brown-haired young man shrugged, "Yeah good food not spoiled by a frustrated fisherman." His partner chuckled again while Naruto growled.
"Yeah? Where's your big pile of fish then?"
Naruto turned back toward his rod before the brown-haired young man chuckled again, "You're scaring them away." The man responded.
"Look Naruto, you gotta stop being so hard on yourself. This is your first time fishing like this. You gotta allow yourself to be new even the pros don't catch stuff all the time. "
The brown haired man gave Naruto a nudge while the blonde sighed tugging at his bite-less rod.
"How can I help by doing nothing? If I can't catch a fish that means I'm just wasting time out here."
Naruto uttered while the brown haired man sighed, "Sometimes the best way to help is by doing nothing, you can't always force stuff to happen no matter how badly you want it to happen." The man said while Naruto turned toward him.
"Patience, good things come to those who wait. Stop trying to force an outcome and go with the flow."
The man said with a small smile while Naruto nearly rolled his eyes impatiently before he looked at the still water. The boy took a breath before he had stuck his rod into the water with a new vigor, hoping his attempt at patience would bag a big one.
Needless to say, Naruto ended up catching nothing that day.
Still a little frazzled from his last job, Naruto looked at a large plot of farmland covered in vegetation. "Remember these are living beings as well, treat the veggies with respect." The voice of an old woman said before the blonde eagerly rolled his sleeves up grinning at the task ahead of him.
"So I just gotta pull out the harvest of vegetables right?"
Naruto said with a grin before he dashed with a large confident grin on his face while the old woman sighed. The blonde boy stood in the damp dirt looking down at the top of the first radish before rubbing his hands together.
"Bring it on, Radish!"
The blonde yelled before he roughly grabbed the top of the vegetable and began to tug at it with all his strength. The radish wasn't budging at all. Naruto huffed before he tried pulling again, still to no avail as the supposed radish stayed put.
The boy looked around, starting to get a little frustrated, "Fine, I didn't want to use this but you left me no choice." Naruto threatened the vegetable before making his famous Ram sign with his fingers.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Two clones appeared before Naruto nodded at them, "Let's get to pulling!" The blonde yelled out while his clones cheered.
They proceeded to pull out the one Naruto was originally struggling with before they had worked together to pull out multiple vegetables. Naruto looked at his handy work with a tired smile, the old woman approached the blonde boy and his clones.
"Check it out lady, it looks like this whole vegetable thing was no big deal. I should be done pretty soon!"
Naruto cheerfully said before the old woman whacked both of Naruto's clones causing them to disappear. "Oi, what's the big idea!?" Naruto raised his voice before he was popped on the mouth by the old woman's walking stick.
"I remember asking you to respect the vegetables."
The old man said before Naruto rubbed his face, "Look." The old woman motioned to the vegetables he had pulled out.
Their leaves were damaged, some of them had been nicked and bruised. The blue-eyed boy blinked at the vegetables before he awaited another whack from the old woman.
Yet it never came.
"I'm sorry for hitting you, I just wanted you to listen. Vegetables and people don't have too many things that are different about them."
The old woman said while Naruto's eyes slightly widened at the apology from the old woman.
He wasn't expecting that, it was odd since he had just gotten used to being pummeled when he said something dumb before going on with his day.
It was different.
"Vegetables are living beings just like we are and just like us they try their hardest to live day by day."
The old woman gently brushed her hand over the leaves of a firmly planted radish, "We have to take their lives to keep our own, the least we can do is show them respect. Whether or not you think they understand it." The gray-haired woman then grabbed the top of the leaves before she pulled.
The vegetable came out of the ground perfectly while being held in the woman's hands.
"Sometimes all something needs is a little tug instead of a great pull. Try that and you'll see that the vegetables will make things easier for you."
Naruto marveled at the gently smiling old woman before he nodded his head. He looked at another vegetable planted into the ground, its leaves swayed peacefully in the wind.
He never thought he could relate his own life to a radish.
{...}
The blonde returned to the path back to the small house that had been his current residence.
He didn't believe it himself but he was exhausted, what he thought would have been a bunch of easy tasks had taken him his entire day to complete. From what it looked like he would have to help with several of these every day, Naruto never knew that there was so much effort in daily life.
He was used to the Leaf Village where he only had to wake up, occasionally buy food, kick butt as a ninja, and go home. Everyone here worked hard daily just to live the lives that they lived.
It was awe inspiring.
"Naruto!"
Tsunami waved from the front of his small house causing the blue eyed boy to lift a hand and tiredly wave back. Naruto was then escorted into the house revealing Tazuna and Inari with party poppers under a banner that read 'To a Great Day's Work.' on it.
The blonde looked at the message with surprise while the Tsunami breezed past the blonde.
"I ended up using your kitchen, I hope that's ok."
Tsunami said opting for forgiveness instead of permission while she returned to her post to put food on the table. "What… What is all this?" The awe was ever present in Naruto's voice while Tazuna walked over patting a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"We're celebrating your first hard day of work in the village of course, this is also a housewarming party too you could say."
Tazuna grinned at the boy while Inari bounced on his heels while looking toward his blonde idol. "Come on, Mom cooked some extra special stuff this time!" Inari excitedly tugged Naruto toward the table while Tsunami continued to place the feast on the table.
The group settled at the table before they started eating, "You were working hard today from what I was told." Tazuna took another bite while Naruto stared at his food.
"More like hardly working Old Man, I kind of sucked out there today."
Naruto absent-mindedly tapped a finger on the table, "I did nothing but screw up out there today, I couldn't make mortar, I couldn't fish, I tore up vegetables. I hardly deserve a party for any of that." Naruto expressed while Tazuna looked toward Tsunami who chuckled.
The three other people in the room began to laugh while Naruto's head shot up to look at them.
"What's so funny? I'm being serious."
Naruto watched as the Tsunami sighed, "But you never gave up." Tsunami took another bite of her food before Tazuna pointed his chopsticks at the blonde.
"Nobody's perfect kid, I hardly expected you to go out and do these tasks like you've been doing them forever. Not to mention I haven't received a single complaint about you."
Tazuna grinned while Naruto's eyes widened, his thoughts went to Sasuke, the poster boy of perfection in his eyes. That guy couldn't do anything wrong it seemed like.
Yet all he did today was screw up and no one was disappointed in him?
"But you gave me the job because you believed I could do a good job, I should've done just that and I didn't."
The blonde kept his eyes on the unwavering grin of Tazuna, "You're only one person, the point of a job is that you have your role that others can assist you with and they have roles you could one day assist with. Everyone in this village works together." Tazuna took another bite of his food.
"You're not alone anymore, Naruto."
Tsunami said gently while the blonde nearly knocked over some of his food from the shock alone.
His thoughts went to his dingy apartment, his only company being flowers, the feeling of Sasuke's hand being plunged into his chest, his best friend trying to kill him, the pained expression of Tsunade when he got kicked out of the Leaf Village.
Those were some of the moments that Naruto had felt his loneliest but now that he thought about it...
He really wasn't alone now was he?
Naruto thought of the friends that he still had all throughout the world and even still in the Leaf. His dingy apartment had been transformed into a small house, where he was eating dinner with Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari.
He barely noticed the tears that ran down his face before Inari cleared his throat getting the blonde's attention.
"So uh, you said that a Ninja needs a headband and that a headband is an important symbol right?"
Tsunami and Tazuna both smiled at the bashful boy while Naruto raised an eyebrow at him." Here. I know it's not a Leaf Village one but you're still a ninja to me so I made you one myself." Inari passed the object to Naruto who looked at it while holding it like it was the most fragile object in the world.
The band itself was a navy blue color similar to the one he had originally but darker, there was a slightly off metal plate attached to it.
The blonde rubbed his thumb over the characters that made up the word engraved on the plate.
'頑張る子... The Comeback Kid'
Naruto sniffled before he looked back up toward Inari and his family who laughed again when they saw his tear covered face.
"Come on now all that crying is making my knees hurt, chow down kid!"
"Your tears are going to make the food salty."
"Go ahead and eat up Naruto, you've earned it."
The family replied while Naruto's hand clenched the headband tightly before he sniffled again. "I swear… I swear I'll keep doing my best… I'll never ever give up…" Naruto fastened his new headband to his head slowly before he rapidly stood up pounding a fist to his chest.
"That's my ninja way!"
Naruto cheered while the rest of the family cheered with him, he got another glance at them before he smiled.
Was this…
Was this what having a family is like?
