Naruto stared at the village from on top of the Hokage Monument, kicking his foot back and forth against the forehead of the Third Hokage. He'd never been good at processing his feelings, but it all seemed to be catching up to him.
With Sasuke stuck in the hospital, all he had to occupy his attention was endless D-ranks and training by himself. Even he couldn't argue with himself that he was lonely. Sakura had been pulled on by the Hokage in the last few days and without the availability of his classmates, he was stuck with his feelings.
A gust of wind rattled across the faces of the old men who'd given their everything to the village. Naruto's hair lifted off of his forehead and his orange coat fluttered like a sheet against his body.
He missed the Hokage. Whenever he'd been bored as a kid, he had planned fake attacks on the Hokage. Usually Hiruzen's retaliatory attack had been tickles and that had been his favourite. Hiruzen was the only one who treated him like a little kid or like he deserved to be loved. Hiruzen was the one who had found a tutor for him so he could actually learn to read and write after he'd discovered Naruto's teachers weren't giving him enough instruction.
Naruto had felt so special, sitting in the side office of the Hokage with the door cracked open as he learned to read. He'd never realized that it was Hiruzen making sure it was actually being taught properly to him, he'd just always assumed that the old man had wanted him around.
It was a good thing, though, because Hiruzen had often told him as much. He would often thank Naruto for the breaks from paperwork, which he often reminded Naruto was the worst part of the job.
Naruto remembered that occasionally he'd been allowed to stamp some of the papers— he'd just had to check for a few simple things and then it was no problem to stamp away with the Hokage's seal. No one had known that they were so close and it ate at him that the only person he'd ever thought of as family was not someone he could grieve openly. It would hurt him more to grieve him in private than for someone to deny their bond.
The wind blew again and he smelled leaves and sweat and pedander. Kakashi. There was a gentle rustle behind him as Kakashi stepped forward and onto the statue with him.
"You're back!" Naruto whispered, turning in amazement to see his sensei.
"Well you don't have to cry about it," mused Kakashi, tilting his head to the side with a smile Naruto couldn't see. The boy looked confused until he felt his face and realized he was indeed crying.
Naruto laughed and scratched at his head sheepishly. "Well what d'ya know I guess I did miss you."
Kakashi shrugged and held out a hand to his student. "I've come out here to cry a few times myself, nothing to be ashamed of."
The blond accepted his hand and stood. "So where are we going?"
"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?"
"You tricked me! You made it sound like we were going somewhere fun," Naruto grumbled. He was looking upon the building in front of him with great disgust.
"Maa, Maa, calm down Naruto, even the smartest ninja need to study. Besides, you have a big advantage in this area of study," Kakashi placated, patting the boy on the shoulder.
"Kaka-sensei, you do remember the part of my file that says I was… that I was… well, dead-last, right?" Naruto was mumbling now, full of shame. He stayed close to Kakashi's side as they went through the door and into Konoha's Ninja Library.
The woman at the desk leered at the both of them, though after seeing it was Kakashi she relaxed. When she didn't recognize Naruto, she narrowed her eyes again. Her glasses were an ugly pink colour and her sneer was wide and uninspiring. "Ninja I-D number, please?"
"Uh, uh— 012607!" She glanced back at her little computer, the glow illuminating her glasses and casting deep shadows into her wrinkles. He could see the little boxes showing up on her screen reflected in them. He wondered what other ninjas were close to him in ID number.
"Aha, there we go," she smiled at him. Her face was not any more beautiful for the change in expression, but he loved it all the same. He was unused to people looking at him with any semblance of kindness in public spaces. "We don't have a whole lot of Uzumaki left in the village. Welcome to the Library, child. I assume you have a plan for him, Hatake?"
Kakashi nodded, placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto looked up at him, so bedazzled by kindness he hadn't noticed the hand at first.
"Yeah, I'll be accountable for his formal introductions to Library Policy."
The woman nodded and the two began walking away. "Hatake, would you please show him where the break room is? If he's going to be spending a lot of time here, I want him to know where the food is."
Naruto marveled at her words as Kakashi steered him away into the jungle of stacks. Some of the shelves were heavy laden with scrolls and others with books. He had no idea what he was meant to study, but he hadn't had many people desire for him to be able to eat. The opposite, usually.
They walked for a while and Naruto started to feel the uncomfortable itch of insecurity as they wandered deeper into the maze. Kakashi did indeed point out the break room. There wasn't a ton of food, but it was tea and coffee and little snacks and comfy chairs and tables. There was a sign that very aggressively stated how food and drink were only allowed in that room and not outside of it. He filed that away in an easy to find location, not desiring to do anything to upset one of the few women who seemed to be willing to treat him like a normal human being.
"This is gonna be the bulk of your training for the next few days. I know Jiraiya had you guys doing D-ranks for the last few days before I got here. However, I think now is as good a time as ever to get you introduced to how to think if you ever want to move past Genin."
"Kakashi-sensei… I don't know if I'm good at learning like this."
"Have you ever tried it?"
Naruto shuffled his feet sheepishly. "I always got chased out of the civilian library."
Kakashi stared at the child, unsure of what to say. Naruto wouldn't look him in the eye so he dropped down into a squat. "Look at me."
Naruto took his time, eventually training his two blue eyes onto Kakashi's free grey one. He didn't say anything, feeling uncomfortable with the attention.
"I'm sorry that happened. You are not stupid. You can do this. Take notes, ask questions. Got it?" When had Kakashi put his hands on his shoulders? Naruto furiously wiped at the tears leaking out of his eyes, nodding and refusing to look at his teacher.
Kakashi stood up and looked around, humming to himself. "Now where to begin…"
Naruto locked his hands behind his back as Kakashi began to pace around the room, looking at various different titles. He plucked a view volumes from the shelf and one single scroll.
While Kakashi was collecting the materials, Naruto sat down at the table, twiddling his thumbs anxiously. Eventually, Kakashi sat himself down in front of the boy. Said boy looked surreptitiously at the large stack of books.
"I want you to read these this week," Kakashi said. Naruto gulped loudly. "I want you to read these three by the end of the day."
Naruto's lip trembled and he opened his mouth to protest but then couldn't think of anything to say.
"Naruto, do you think that I'm assuming you are a fast reader?" Kakashi asked, his hands resting on the table in front of him.
"You must be if you're asking me to read these all by the end of the day!" He was practically shouting. Tears threatened to spill over. This was his greatest shame, his deepest insecurity.
"You can't shout in a library, Naruto. You'll get kicked out. Also, I am very aware of everything in your file. I know you were the dead-last of your class. I am also aware of all of your skills. What skills do you possess that would enable you to get more work done than the normal person?"
Kakashi was waiting so patiently that it made Naruto's heart ache as his mind whirled, trying to answer the question. "I'm a hard worker?"
"You are. But no. Try again."
"A skill… A skill… so it's not me, it's something I can do?"
The Jonin nodded and Naruto pressed his hands against his head as he tried to think. He jolted when he realized. "Shadow clones!"
Kakashi hummed in approval. "I fully expect one of these books to be done today. But I want you to try for this stack. If you don't finish, just come back tomorrow and do it again. Alright, make some shadow clones."
Naruto did as instructed. Twenty clones popped into existence and Kakashi laughed to himself. "Cut that in half, you don't need that many."
Half of the Naruto's immediately nodded and then punched themselves in the face hard enough to dispel. Kakashi laughed again and handed every other Naruto a book. He reached into his hip pouch and pulled out tiny memo books which he handed to the other Naruto's. "This lot is on note-taking duty. At the end of the day today, send your note-takers to me. I want them to bring me summaries of the chapters that they read."
"What's a summary?" The five Naruto's chorused together.
Kakashi sighed and patted him on the shoulder. "A summary is when you take a big chunk of information and process it and spit out a shorter explanation for what the bigger thing is saying. You try it today and then we'll go over it later, alright?"
The teacher turned to the original and smiled beneath his mask. "You're coming with me," he chirped, plopping a scroll in Naruto's empty hands. He turned and strode down the halls and Naruto had to jog to keep up with his long legs.
"Where are we going? What's this?"
"We ought to pop in to visit our darling Sasuke-kun in the hospital, don't you think?"
Sasuke ignored the way the adults talked about him like he wasn't there. Kakashi and Tsunade were whispering in low tones about his seal, though he wasn't able to catch the entire conversation. He realized now just how often he used chakra for everything. If he had some to push into his ears he'd be able to catch every word. Or into his eyes to flick on the Sharingan and read their lips to fill in the gaps he couldn't hear.
He rebelled against the frustration he felt, trying to listen. He caught the phrases "chakra-eating" and "isolation" and "anti-venom" but wasn't able to peace the phrases together in a meaningful way. He glanced lazily at Naruto who was draped over the armchair next to him like a blanket, holding a scroll precariously above his head.
"What's that?" He grunted.
Naruto kept studying for a moment before dropping it down onto his chest. "A scroll about wind chakra."
"Wow."
"What's so exciting about that?"
Sasuke smirked to himself. "I didn't know you could read."
He almost laughed when Naruto threw his ninja sandal at him with great force. Almost.
"I'm sorry you want me to what?" Sakura whined, clutching at her hair.
Kakashi laughed and patted her on the head. "Listen, it's not that bad."
"I can't believe you're asking me to do this. Lee is just getting out of the hospital and you want me to train with his team? Kakashi, he's in love with me." Sakura had started pacing back and forth.
Her sensei stared at her with a mix of glee and pity, hiding his face behind his book.
"Wait a minute. You're pawning me off again. Are you planning on leaving again?" she stopped pacing to glare at him. When he didn't answer, she started pacing again with her hands on her hips.
"While I am leaving soon, it's actually a pre-requisite from Tsunade that you work on your stamina." Kakashi buried his nose further into his book.
"So what now I can't even go on missions because I'm not fit enough?" She let out a frustrated shriek and stomped her foot. The ground trembled beneath her foot and a tree nearby swayed.
They gray-haired legend finally put his book down at that, unable to pretend he wasn't invested. "I never said that."
Sakura stood there staring at him with the innocence that only children have. "Then why do I have to do this?"
"It's a prerequisite to her taking you on as her apprentice, Sakura-chan," he said, pushing his fists into his low back and leaning so he could crack his back.
"Oh." Sakura held one of her arms by the elbow, feeling bashful. Was there a sudden heat wave? Her face felt hot. "She said that?"
He nodded. She clicked her tongue against her roof of her mouth and sighed. She smoothed her skirt, annoyed to notice again how frayed it was. She still hadn't gotten it replaced. "In that case, I will meet them for practice tomorrow."
She exhaled one more time as she collected herself and patted down her hair. "Shall we?"
Kakashi giggled in an undignified way and she purposefully avoided looking at him. "Stretch first," he laughed, "because we're doing laps."
"Kaka-sensei, we run laps around the field every practice, I think I'll be fine."
"You sure?" He asked, dropping into a Cossack squat and stretching back and forth. She curled her lip in confusion, staring at him like she'd never seen him before.
"Why are you stretching?"
"The better question is why you aren't stretching, my sweet little tree," he quipped loftily.
She hastily complied, pushing her body through whatever motions he was doing. She missed her dad whenever Kakashi-sensei decide to act silly. She had the distinct feeling he reserved his silliness for her because he needed to be stern with the boys.
When he decided that she wouldn't injure herself on God-only-knew what task was next, his whole body went ram-rod straight and she stared at him in confusion. "Next stop! The village gates!"
He began to sprint away from her like a robot, his arms making ridiculous exaggerated motions as he sprang forward.
Sakura lurched after him, her feet landing like little bunny rabbit tracks next to the bounding strides of a wolf. "Why are you running like that!?"
"When you go on long runs, you do whatever it takes to make it fun. As you get better at it, you'll cut out the wasted movement. When you are great at it you can get ridiculous again."
Sakura jogged next to him and tried swinging her arms like a toy soldier. It didn't seem that fun to her.
When they got to the village gates, he didn't slow down. Sakura stared at him, trepidation eating at the back of her thoughts. "Kakashi-sensei, how long are we running?"
He was quiet for a moment. "That depends on how long it takes you to run four laps around the village, doesn't it?"
She wasn't sure if sweat or tears were streaming down her face.
Naruto sat up like he'd been struck. "An Uzumaki!? Did you know the first person to house the Kyuubi was an Uzumaki!?"
Sasuke stared at his teammate in confusion. The blond jolted again. Was he a lightning rod, receiving messages from an averagely intelligent deity? "Wow! Geometry is actually useful! You can figure out the trajectory of weapons with it! I didn't know that. And oh!" He flinched again. "Wow! Who would have thought that flowers were a viable method of communicating!"
Viable? Since when had the idiot used vocabulary that big. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Are you alright?"
"I actually have a headache," muttered Naruto. "Ow!" He flinched again.
He glanced at the window. "I'll see you in the morning, bastard, I gotta go sleep this off."
With that the blonde menace was gone, disappearing through the window next to Sasuke's bed. Sasuke sighed as the night breeze came through. He was too tired to do much, but the lack of activity in the last three days meant that he wasn't feeling tired in the evenings.
He was left to his own devices for a few moments before there was a rustle at the door as a nurse came in. She chatted easily with the guards, laughing at something Sasuke didn't hear. He ignored her the way he always ignored women that he didn't know. It wasn't pompous, just a defense against the years of girls-- young and old-- operating intrusively towards him after his family's unfortunate end.
Sasuke realized as he gazed at the open window that this was the first time he'd been alone in days. It bothered him for some reason.
There was the clink of metal on metal and the sound of something rolling. Sasuke looked over to see that the nurse was bringing the metal stand the IV drip bags hung on back over to the bed. The fluorescent lighting gleamed off of the glasses and he wondered at the fact that this woman was not very pretty at all. She had a very strong jawline.
She hung the bag on the rack before moving over to the window to close it. Off to the right, she washed her hands in the sink. She shook them dry and them snapped her gloves over her hands in a dreadful way. Unnerved, the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan kept his eye on her.
"You might feel just a pinch," the stranger murmured, pushing the needle into the back of his hand. The feminine voice was gone. This was a man. Sasuke tried to pull back but the fluid was moving into his system already. Sluggish. The world was trapped in a layer of viscous jelly. No, he realized, watching the gray-haired man move about. That was him.
"Now that I have your attention, Sasuke-kun," the man said, pushing up his glasses. "I'd like to make you an offer."
"Kabuto." He slurred, trying to pull himself upright. If the way the world was spinning at the moment was telling any kind of truth, the entire planet really did revolve around him.
"Always good to be remembered by my contemporaries and lesser mortals," the man quipped, smiling to himself as though he was truly relieved he hadn't been forgotten.
"What... do you want?" It was laborious, speaking.
"I want to make an offer, silly, I just said that. I will return in two days. What I'm pumping you full of now--" Kabuto gestured to the amber liquid in the IV drip. It swirled like oil. "is a little concoction Orochimaru and I came up with to help you recover the chakra they've blocked. You know, if Konoha was going to help you get stronger, why have you they put you in a hospital indefinitely?"
Sasuke was unable to retort. He could only move his eyes to track what Kabuto was doing. Every part of him felt violated as he remembered what Tsunade had said about Orochimaru's influence. Kabuto patted his head the way a brother should, but Sasuke could see the ugly aggression that caused tension in the corners of Kabuto's eyes and mouth. "I know, I know. I seem like a hypocrite, don't I, talking about power while you think I've taken Genin-exam after Genin-exam without success." His voice raised theatrically and he spread his arms wide like a thespian. "But that is the secret isn't it? In Konoha I am a Genin. I am the right hand of the Sound! Aside from our leader, no one tells me what to do anymore."
Kabuto laughed to himself as though he was recalling a fond childhood memory. Sasuke's whole body felt hot. Thoughts were not rational any more, only feeling. 'Terror, terror. Run, hide.'
"Don't you remember how good it felt to use that power, that beautiful little gift that Orochimaru gave you? Konoha will keep you weak and they will feed off of your efforts. They will waste your time with missions that you don't care about for people you don't care about. In two days I will send people to retrieve you and take you back to our hideout where we will provide you with the power you need. If you are unable to defeat those that I send to recover you... how can you even argue with what we are offering?"
Kabuto paused to prepare a syringe. The liquid that came out of the dark brown bottle was the deep, ugly colour of a bruise. The gray-haired man held it up so Sasuke could see. "This particular concoction is to break down the blocks they've put in place to keep your chakra from reproducing. Nasty of them to steal from you in this way, Sasuke-kun. You can't afford to keep wasting time, can you?"
There was no gentleness as the syringe plunged into the center of the seal Orochimaru had given him. Pain blossomed immediately from that place, radiating outward. The only evidence of his suffering was the ever-so-slight increase in the beeping from his heart monitor.
"Now that you're actually in a position to think clearly..." Kabuto leaned in close enough for Sasuke to see the pores covering his skin. "You're running out of time. While you are here, the man you want to kill is growing stronger and stronger. What are you doing? Playing house with your teammates? Don't you have a job to do, Sasuke? How will your family be at peace, knowing the only one who is able to avenge them has just... given up?"
Pain was shooting through his body but he was unable to react or even protect himself. Kabuto leaned even closer and he could feel his breath on his neck. Revulsion poured of him as beads of sweat along his entire body. "You've already lost so much Sasuke-kun. Do you really need to see more people die, just because of you?"
Kabuto pulled back a little ways and tapped him on the nose, like he had just told a silly little joke and wasn't Sasuke just so cute? "Your doctors--even Tsunade-- will just assume that their work is failing and they'll reassess and start the process over. But it will take them time to realize what's happened. I'm terribly sorry about the paralysis," Kabuto said, cupping Sasuke's cheek, "it is indeed not to your benefit to be screaming in pain when we need this to be our little secret. It would be a shame to have to hurt your friends for getting involved in matters that are just too dangerous for them, wouldn't it?"
Kabuto withdrew his hand and smiled sweetly at him. Sasuke's stomach turned. In the blink of an eye, Kabuto's face morphed into the mask of the woman it had been when he first walked in. Then he sauntered out, pausing at the door to laugh easily with the guards. A single tear struggled down Sasuke's cheek, the only evidence of his internal turmoil.
A/N: So I am accepting input. I'm personally leaning one way, but I can be swayed. Does Sasuke stay loyal to the village or not? Also Kabuto's a sick pup, can't change my mind. I'd love a fic where he gets redeemed but this one will not be that.