Wretches and Kings
Disclaimers I don't own Naruto or RWBY or LINKIN PARK, please support any to all official releases.
We're back at the Uzumaki household as Kushina was there in person these last 2 days as she was required to be present during these midterm exams as someone from the county was there to hand over and administer the exam in person.
"Pencils down" said the proctor as Naruto quickly filled in the last few questions before handing the sheet over.
"Good, this concludes your midterm exams Mr. Uzumaki, I shall now take my leave, and have your grades mailed to your mother by the end of next week, enjoy your Spring Break" said the proctor as they finally vacated the Uzumaki residence.
"Thank god that's over" sighed Kushina, "You're telling me" said Naruto as he began to rub his tired face.
"Well, since I'm home for the day, want to start the weekend early and head out somewhere" asked Kushina, "Please" Naruto dramatically.
"Let me grab my purse, and we can go out to say Round Table Pizza" said Kushina, "Hell yes!" exclaimed Naruto happily as the mother and son duo began to exit the house.
Time Skip
A quick drive from El Camino Real towards Lawrence Expressway, we find the members of the Uzumaki household, getting off on Mary avenue and eating at Round Table Pizza, in a shopping plaza that's partially under construction.
"So mom, how's work" asked Naruto, "Not bad, as you can tell I know the best spot to get a Round Table Pizza without the hassle of dealing with people" said Kushina.
As a courier, Kushina was familiar with the roads within Palo Alto to Sunnyvale as she mainly dealt sending parcels and packages to a lot of these tech companies and upcoming companies.
"Anything cool though with these companies" asked Naruto, "Well, there's this one company trying to make a name for itself by having movies sent directly towards you by mail, I believe it's called Netflix" said Kushina.
"Movies sent to you by mail, that… sounds cool" said Naruto, "I thinks there's more risk to having movies sent to you by mail, after all, not all couriers are known for handling products with care" explained Kushina.
"Besides, I feel like renting a movie for movie night should be done by going to Hollywood Video and picking up a rental in person, plus they got videogames you enjoy" said Kushina.
"True" said Naruto as their pizza finally was served to them as they began to dig in, before returning home.
Days Later
Spring Break was in session, and while Naruto had the whole house to himself and could watch whatever show he wanted, and play on his Xbox, it means little to him.
Honestly Naruto was plagued with melancholy as he thought back to the spring breaks in the past, where he and Sasuke would hang together, maybe go see a movie together with their moms, go to Great America once or twice before the start of summer.
Now he's stuck here all alone, with no one to keep him company as his mom still needed to work as he stared blankly into the TV.
Turning the boob tube off, Naruto decided to step out the house and just walk around Redwood City.
This didn't make him feel any better as he felt he was alone in this wide open world of his, and having no one to keep him company.
In his numbed mind and mindless state, Naruto came across a crate filled with empty glass bottles, and decided to carry them with him as he decided to aimlessly toss them towards the back of a random business, finding some sort of satisfaction by seeing the bottle break.
This of course didn't come without consequences as Naruto was too late to react to the sound of a squad car pulling up behind him blaring it's horn.
"Oh~ crap" jeered Naruto as he really shot himself in the foot now as the officer to step out the vehicle was a man with spiky blonde hair like his , but the man was sporting a 5 o'clock shadow, he had long bushy blonde side burns and was wearing the ever popular stereotyped patrolman shades.
"Son, you do realize what you're doing is considered vandalism and destruction of property" said the officer as he began to remove his shades as he walked up to Naruto as he stood still.
Putting his hands on Naruto, the officer began to cuff the blonde, before moving him to the backseat of his squad car as they remained silent on the first half of their ride to the station.
"Son, you mind telling me why you were doing something so stupid just now" asked the officer as he looked at Naruto through his rearview mirror, as Naruto hanged his head down in shame.
"…I don't know, I was just bored is all" said Naruto, "Bored huh" the officer said in an unimpressed tone.
"What don't you got any friends to hang out with" asked Minato, "No, all my friends are assholes who abandoned me without a second thought" admitted Naruto as this got the officers attention.
"…What was your name again?" asked the officer, "It's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki" sighed Naruto as the officer went wide eye towards this revelation.
"Well Naruto, I'm sorry to hear that you don't have any friends to hang out with, but maybe you can make new friends around your school" said the officer, "I can't, I'm being home schooled" said Naruto.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that" said the officer as the duo remained silent as they came to a halt, where the officer began to punch in some buttons on his personal computer as he continue to drive.
Before long, Naruto find himself surprisingly back outside his apartment as the officer helped him out of the back seat, and proceeded to uncuff him.
"Listen, I shouldn't do this, but I feel sympathetic towards your situation, so let this be a free warning that there are consequences by acting stupid" said the officer as he was pretty much letting Naruto free this time around.
"Thanks… officer Namikaze" said Naruto as he finally read the officers name tag, "Just stay out of trouble now" said officer Namikaze as he went back into his patrol car and drove away from Naruto as he was back at home, and alone, but not without an epiphany.
The Next Day
Sleeping in, like he normally did these last few days, Naruto was woken up by the sound of someone ringing at his doorbell.
Pulling himself from out of bed, Naruto went to get the door and was greeted by the sight of Ruby.
"Morning sleepyhead" greeted Ruby with a smile, "Morning" yawned Naruto.
"If I had known you'd still be asleep, I'd stayed in bed a little longer as well" said Ruby, "No I'm- I'm good, just let me get changed" said Naruto as he excused himself.
Thinking back what happened yesterday and his time with Ruby, Naruto had to convince his mom to give Ruby a call and ask her if she wanted to hangout as friends.
While not entirely against it, Kushina only relented because Naruto has been bored by himself at home, and knew Ruby to be a responsible girl.
That and when Kushina mentioned this to Ruby, she eagerly agreed to hang with Naruto, meaning the poor girl was home alone herself, and could use some company of her own.
"All right, I've got my pants and shoes on" said Naruto as he followed Ruby outside.
"So what's on the agenda today" asked Naruto, "We're going to go see a movie today" said Ruby.
"Ooh, which one" Naruto asked eagerly, "A documentary film on Mario Savio" said Ruby.
"Who?" asked Naruto, "He was an activist who not only helped African American voters register in Mississippi, but also protested against the University of Berkeley, which at the time limited political activity on campus" said Ruby.
"You're killing me" groaned Naruto as he nearly felled over after hearing what kind of snooze fest he was suckered into enduring.
"Haha, you'll thank me as this will be the first thing I'll be testing you after Spring Break when we're back as student and teacher" said Ruby as Naruto continued to groan.
In truth, while she did intend to show this movie to Naruto, she also had plans for them to take the Caltrain from Redwood City into Hillsdale where the Hillsdale Mall was located not far from the train station.
Once they made it to the theater and paid for their tickets, the movie began to play a live recording of Mario Savio giving his famous 'Bodies Upon the Gears' speech on a pitch black screen.
"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears, and upon the wheels, upon the levers… upon all the apparatus and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all".
These words may mean nothing, if very little to Naruto, and may indirectly effect Ruby now, but within a decade or so, these words will haunt them as the society of tomorrow will be one where mankind is a machine, more than a machine, and eventually will fight against or even for being machines.
But those are stories for another day.
Hey guys, here you go again, another chapter written and updated to your liking, this one felt a little all over the place, but honestly I kinda had a hard time resonating with this song growing up, and after learning who Mario Savio is, it kinda makes me feel like I'm doubting myself towards the meaning and vibe to this song all together.
But that's my personal bit of insight while writing this chapter, but feel free to leave me your thoughts in the review section, if you want to weigh your opinion on the matter, or even what you thought about this chapter, and remember if you want to stay updated when the next chapter comes out, please be sure to fave and follow.
So until next time, be safe, be good people, be humble, and please support your local fandom communities.
This has been your Humble Narrator and official author Tobi Yaza. =3