Orphans Chapter 7: Welcome, Naruto Uzumaki!
"" – Dialogue
'' – Thinking/Writing
Gotham City
January 7th, 2014
12:40 PM EST
Naruto was squirming internally.
Bound in an uncomfortable suit and confined to a seat outside of the principal's office 10 minutes after the lunch bell helped but neither was the main cause.
That would be the girl sitting to his right him fixing him with a glare that would make Darkseid himself cower.
Saying Cass was pissed at him was the understatement of the century.
The aura of death being exuded by her was offset only by the seemingly boundless enthusiasm of the blonde girl sitting to his left. She was emphatically asking him questions of the very incident that landed them in this predicament in the first place.
Speaking of that…
5 hours earlier (Approx 7:40 AM EST)
"Miss Cain, would you mind fixing Master Uzumaki's tie? He seems to be having quite a difficult time." Alfred requested, eyes not leaving the road, apart from the passing glances he sent through the rear-view mirror.
Naruto barely showed any reaction as Cass reached over to fix his tie. His mind was preoccupied with how ridiculous he looked more than anything at the moment.
Black dress shoes under long khakis held up by a black leather belt. These were paired with a white dress shirt covered by a dark blue dress coat that had the school's crest emblazoned over the left breast. The final piece to the clothing puzzle was the crimson-colored tie that completed the uniform.
All of that was perfectly fine outside of the tie, obviously, screw the tie (Naruto's opinion).
The part he was most opposed to was his hair being brushed and gelled to the point that he looked like he belonged in some cheesy romance novel.
"I thought ninjas were supposed to be good with their hands…" Cass mumbled, finishing the knot with a final pull.
Naruto's mouth moved before his mind.
"And I thought…nevermind." He relented, letting the rest of his thoughts remain a mystery as he turned to look out the window, avoiding Cass's inquisitive glance.
'What did she do before she came here?" Naruto thought to himself as he stared at the cityscape scrolling by.
Going off what he did know didn't give him very many clues, as all he knew was, she was clad in black the night he'd met her at the police station and was carrying a duffel bag with basic survival materials as well as a sword.
The easiest assumption was that she was an assassin or, at the very least, a ninja of some kind.
There weren't very many uses for a sword outside of ending someone's life, after all.
Naruto's gaze floated over to her while he collected his thoughts.
Cass seemed much more pleased with her makeover than he was. Her uniform was the same as his from the waist up, with the only main differences coming in the form of a skirt that matched the blazer's color and black leggings that led to the feminine version of the dress shoes he himself was wearing.
Cass also experienced a slight change in the facial area as she requested some make-up to cover up her scars, lest they lead to some unfortunate questions. This proved to be no problem for the man who'd almost single-handedly held up Bruce Wayne's secret identity, thus Cass's more faded scars appeared to be no more. Some were still visible if you looked hard enough, but the slight discoloration could be easily blamed on the beholder's eyes.
Finally, her hair, which had been chopped (Naruto found this to be the best descriptor) short, was now properly cut. Now, her smooth black locks much more evenly cascaded down to the nape of her neck with a side-part showing off the left side of her face proudly.
All of this to say, despite all of his lessons in how appearances shouldn't taint your perception of someone's abilities, Naruto found it hard to believe that this well-put together young woman could be capable of cold-blooded murder.
Just as he concluded his thoughts, he heard felt the gentle loss of momentum that indicated Alfred halted their ride, and upon zoning back in and noticing the building before him, he understood why.
If Naruto had to use one word to describe the building, he'd go with Gothic… the irony of saying this in Gotham City wasn't lost on him.
The wide stairs, black colored bricks, stylistically pointed towers, and overall castle-like aesthetic made Naruto wonder if Batman designed this school.
"No, Master Bruce did not design the school… Though he did partially fund its remodel." Alfred said, as if reading Naruto's mind.
…He should've been used to it after the few months he'd spent around the butler, but Alfred never ceased to amaze him.
Naruto turned to consult Cass but imagine his surprise when he turned to witness an empty seat. He could almost see the blinking outline of where his housemate previously occupied.
"Miss Cassandra saw herself out sometime between you being awestruck at the schoolgrounds and you expressing your shock at my seeming clairvoyance," Alred explained in his same even tone. "I'd suggest you catch up." He dryly added as Naruto saw himself out of the black vehicle.
…
"…Am I losing my edge…?" A stunned Naruto quietly asked himself as he followed the stream of students into the school's entrance.
Cass
From the moment she caught sight of the school, Cass couldn't stop herself from scoping it out.
'What does the inside of a school look like?'
'Do they really use people-sized lockers?'
'I wonder where the football field is?'
Such questions flooded her mind one after another, begging to be answered. Her feet could do nothing but obey as they seamlessly carried her through the crowd, the footwork required from her previous profession making such a task instinctual.
Normally, she'd have looked at a floorplan of the premises before entering. Being caught out in an unfamiliar location was something she thought she'd never want to experience.
But today was different.
Everything was shiny and new to her uninitiated eyes.
Everything from the shining white porcelain floors that graced her feet when she crossed the threshold to the filled trophy cabinet that boasted the school's excellence amazed her.
"How many trophies can one place have?" She mumbled to herself as she took in the practical wall of gold that stood before her.
Chess, soccer, football, tennis, swimming. Seemingly everything someone could get a trophy for was accounted for.
Even…
"Math…letics?" Cass couldn't help but to say aloud.
"I know, right? Doesn't that just sound wrong?" An unknown voice chimed in from beside her.
Head snapping to the side. Cass was met with the wide-faced grin of a girl with long blonde hair. Her grin was such that Cass couldn't tell the color of her eyes with the way the girl's high cheekbones forced them shut.
Standing up straight (and also noticing that she'd unconsciously leaned in to read the trophies), Cass also noticed that she and the blonde were the only ones in the hall.
It would seem that she'd gotten too caught up in her own head… again.
"I mean, I get combining 'math' and 'athletics' to try and make the nerds sounds cool, but I feel like it just has the opposite effect, y'know?" The girl continued without Cass even responding.
"Uh- "
"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Stephanie. Stephanie Brown! And I'm gonna be showing you around the school today," The girl continued without letting Cass get a word in. "But isn't there supposed to be two of you?" she asked herself, finally pausing and allowing Cass to sort her thoughts before the next sentence-tsunami rolled in.
Stephanie Brown.
The name rung a bell for Cass, as she'd heard it mentioned by the ever-knowledgeable Alfred earlier this morning. She was to be hers and Naruto's tour guide on their first day, but she never imagined the girl to be so…talkative.
Getting a closer look at her, Cass noticed Stephanie had hair about the same shade as Naruto's (but much, much longer) with blue eyes that were a couple shades lighter.
But that brought question to mind:
Where was Naruto?
"Hey, am I late?" A familiar voice said just as Cass finished her thought.
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early…" Stephanie said in response, trailing off with an expectant look that she shot towards Naruto as he approached.
A raised eyebrow is all she got in return as the young ninja moved to stand next to his black-haired friend. His hair was notably back to its untamed spikiness, a far cry from the gelled abomination (Naruto's words) Alfred had saddled him with.
"Hey Cass, who's the weirdo?" Naruto said as he leaned towards Cass with a hand over his mouth.
This gesture didn't change anything though as he said it at a perfectly normal volume for all to hear.
"You're calling me the weirdo when you haven't seen The Lord of The Rings?" Stephanie asked incredulously.
"The Lord of the who-what?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
All three of them held a stare for a couple seconds before Stephanie reached into her pockets, producing two cards.
"Anyways… Student IDs! Don't lose them, destroy them, let your dog eat 'em or anything because if you break it…" she said, trailing off again.
.
.
.
Crickets.
"Just take 'em!"
Later
Stephanie had done her due diligence. She showed them every nook and cranny in the school.
From the locked basement to the supposed-to-be-locked roof, she had shown them everything that the main school building had to offer.
Notably, she had skipped the exterior athletic facilities because in her words:
"It's too cold to look at a normal-ass football field."
After their tour had concluded, Cass had expected Stephanie to leave them to their devices. They had their schedules, and they had the layout of the school so surely, she should attend to her own duties?
Partially right.
"Whoa, looks like we've got pretty identical schedules, Cass." Stephanie said, having looked over the documents as she distributed them.
Suppressing the slight irk that came from someone unfamiliar referring to her by her still pretty recent nickname, Cass acknowledged Stephanie's statement with a small nod. She and Naruto didn't share any classes, so she'd only get to see him during lunch.
The thought wasn't too pleasant to her. She'd come into this school with only a single friend to rely on and she was already going to have to navigate most of her day without him… Definitely not a pleasant thought, but one she'd have to live with. A small frown formed on her face.
"I know that look," the subject of her thoughts spoke. "Someone ate your secret stash of Alfred's cookies, right?" He said, getting a look of confusion from the other blonde.
"No…How did you- "
"Don't worry about it," he said dismissively "but lighten up, eh?" He said patting her on the shoulder. "You've got Stephanie over there to keep you company until we get to meet up again, so you just gotta survive…math." Naruto finished with a fake(?) shiver.
"Yeah… See you later?" Cass sought to reconfirm.
"For sure," Naruto gladly supplied. "Catch ya later, Brown." Naruto said, sticking out a fist to his temporary tour guide.
"Yep," she said, responding to his fist with her own. "But ditch the 'Brown' stuff, just call me Steph-you too, Cass." She said, making sure they both got the memo.
"Mm-hm. See ya, Steph." He corrected before setting off on his own.
Naruto
Once he'd turned a corner, Naruto let the smile drop from his face as he trekked towards his class.
That cookie line, though surprisingly accurate, had been a complete fabrication.
He just had to say something-anything to get that look off her face.
A look that he'd recognized on his own face so many times in the past.
A fear of loneliness.
Stephanie seemed like a good person, and Naruto hoped she would become a great friend for Cass because if the day ever came that he had to go back to his world… He remembered the look on her face and decided the thought wasn't worth pondering.
He wouldn't let her be alone… Period.
12:30 (Lunch)
Arriving at the cafeteria proved to be the best part of Naruto's day.
Apparently, Gotham academy prided themselves on having a multi-cultural dining experience. This meant that every day would have lunch be themed around a different part of the world, and today's dishes were inspired by South Asian cuisine.
While the exact dishes were foreign to him, Naruto understood the combination of rice and curry well enough that consuming them still managed to make him feel nostalgic despite the differences in spices used.
Before long, he noticed a pair approaching his table. To no one's surprise it was the same two he'd toured the school with this morning, but there was a slight difference between them.
Steph hadn't changed at all; she was chatting to Cass about something Naruto couldn't hear if he tried on account of their sound-polluted surroundings. He noticed she'd occasionally pause to turn her head and greet someone who'd call out to her before waving them off to continue to his table. It turns out she was actually quite popular.
The real change was with Cass who, as opposed to this morning, looked a little less closed off. She occasionally nodded along to what Steph was saying and even threw in a word or two edgewise.
While that didn't sound like much progress, it was huge to achieve that in only a couple hours.
"Sup, Naruto?" Steph said as they reached his table, placing herself diagonally to him on the square table.
"Hi." Cass said simply as she sat down opposite him.
Naruto slowed down his eating for a bit and allowed them to get a few bites in before he struck up conversation.
"So? How's it going so far?" He threw out experimentally.
A blonde eyebrow rose curiously. "Aren't I supposed to be asking you that?" Steph asked in a cheeky tone. "But it's going great so far." She said before her eyes widened as she seemed to remember something. "Did you know that Cass here might be the next Hemmingway?"
"…huh?" Naruto responded dumbly.
Partially because he didn't know who Hemmingway was, but anyway.
"Yeah, she had our English teacher in awe of her skills." She said with a thumb pointed towards Cass who, to her credit, only somewhat looked like a tomato with the blush that had come over her face.
"I just defined Diazeugma…" Cass explained, as her cheeks returned to a normal color.
"Dia-Wha?"
"Exactly!" Steph exclaimed.
Just as Steph finished her statement, a somewhat loud screech played through the cafeteria. It was such a noise that the general populace of the room went almost completely silent as it gave way to a low static before a message played over the intercom.
"Would Naruto Uzumaki, Cassandra Cain, and Stephanie Brown please report to the principal's office? I repeat…"
The repeat wasn't necessary, however, as the trio had already risen and were making their way out of the lunchroom. Cass, in particular, seemed averse to moving as her unfinished food would need to be disposed of, but the eyes following the other two naturally fell on her as well, making leaving the room a much easier task than she'd have liked.
Present Time
Essentially, after some thorough grilling and damning photo evidence, Naruto was found guilty of the crime.
What crime? You may ask…
Graffiti-ing the bleachers of the football field of course!
In the pictures presented to him, he got to see his giant prank in all its orange glory. He had taken spray paint and used it to tag the concrete seats with a massive Henohenomoheji.
But when had he done it if he was with Steph and Cass all morning and had properly gone to class?
This Morning
After leaving Alfred and entering the school building, Naruto immediately found his way into the nearest bathroom.
A little water and elbow grease got his hair from looking like he was ready to inherit a planet back to its normal spikey countenance, and he couldn't be happier.
Examining himself in the mirror, Naruto noted his whisker marks and lightly fingered them.
'I guess I really didn't need to use a transformation jutsu, after all…' He thought at the fact that nobody had really made a big deal of it or stared at him too closely.
That being said, would it really be a proper 'Naruto Uzumaki' welcome if everyone didn't have their eyes on him? He thought with a mischievous smile growing on his face as he thought up his plan.
Unlike Cass, Naruto did some recon on the school. A given, considering he'd known he was coming here for a few months and his previous schooling experiences had been… Anyway, he knew the locale, so he knew what would be possible.
More importantly, he knew what would make an impact.
Entering a stall and creating a quick shadow clone, Naruto had it use the transformation jutsu before handing it the equipment.
They nodded to each other before exiting the stall and going their separate ways.
Not without attracting a shocked glance from the other occupant of the bathroom who'd seen two guys exit the same stall, but that was neither here nor there.
From there, Naruto had gone to meet up with Cass, while his clone went and spruced up the stands.
Now, the more astute members of the audience may be asking:
If his clone was transformed, then how did they know it was him?
To which I would answer: the giant arrow he spraypainted next to the face with the phrase 'Welcome Naruto Uzumaki!'
Naturally, he used temperature-sensitive spray paint as well, so his deed wouldn't be discovered until the noon's sun rays heated the concrete enough for it to appear.
Explaining this to Stephanie, of course saying he did this from last night instead of spilling the beans about his shadow clones, caused the girl's excited questioning to fade into silent awe.
"You're gonna make this place a lot more interesting, that's for sure." she said with a chuckle at the insanity of it all.
Of course, detailing this also caused the glare he was receiving from Cass to intensify (if that was even possible) and made Naruto wonder if she was angrier about this being her first day or about the food.
All he knew was that he was praying the janitor arrived with the pressure washer quick or else he might not survive to clean up his mess!
Chapter 7 End
A/N: Hello! It's been a long time since I've updated this story! I did my usual activity of writing the beginning of the chapter, thinking of what's gonna come next, and not touching it for a couple months.
A truly classic maneuver from your boy.
But! It's finally done, and I must say, I didn't expect all of the love this story has gotten. I kind of expected that this was a niche little crossover area so nobody would pay attention to it, so imagine my surprise when I checked on it and found reviews from this month.
Being completely honest it had me hyped up, so I hopped out of my bed at 3 am and almost wrapped up this chapter in order to get it out asap. I'm honestly really happy you guys are enjoying the story, so I'll definitely try(!) and be more consistent with my updates.
Anyway, discussing the story.
Stephanie Brown is in the mix! I love Stephanie as a character because she'd just a really fun and emotive character that stands out from the rest of the bat family. Naturally, she has her own baggage but for now, she gets to just be Naruto and Cass's school-savvy friend.
I immediately thought of adding her when I thought about them going to school during the day and decided it would be far more entertaining than just a filler chapter.
That being said, the next chapter begins Naruto/Kitsune's first real arc as a hero as he faces his first real encounter with a villain.
That reminds me, I read a review that saw Naruto's usage of the name 'Kitsune' as illogical given the negative connotation the name has had with his life so far. In response to that, I can't say you're wrong for thinking that way, but I viewed it as Naruto attempting to put a positive spin on something that has only ruined his life thus far.
With that, I hope you all have a wonderful day! Thanks for the likes, follows and reviews and I'll see you next time!
-Mango G.
