The night chill had set in Konoha. Far from city life, nothing of importance could be seen, except to Kushina. She could describe it as rural, silent, and full of trees and home. The Hokage tower still could be seen from here, there was almost nowhere you couldn't see it. Her meeting could wait till tomorrow, she wouldn't want to disturb her peace with the busy noises. The nightlife, she remembered, wasn't her favorite. But friends could make anything better, she smiled sadly.
A small tear could stream down her face, but she's had enough tears of sadness. And if she cried it would be tears of remembrance, when she thought of good times she was thankful she had. She had to remember that she was not alone, but it was hard when reminded of those she lost. No Mikoto to vent and snicker aboutFugaku. Both were gone.
Kushina sat on her roof. She was strong because she needed to be, for her son. He was already asleep on the living room couch, probably waiting for her to come back. She could tell he was exhausted, his clothes were dirty and sweaty. All on the couch. She'll scold him first, then she'll be proud of him. Kushina knew he would pass the test if she couldn't already tell from the grin on his sleeping face. She knew because he was strong. There was still time, though, before the real missions would come through.
She doesn't know if she's prepared for the groans and whines about cleaning through people's gutters, or annoying cats. Like really, how was that thing even still alive anyway?
For a few months, her boy would come home every night.
Her plan was to train her team in the village, but it didn't come to be. It was disappointing seeing so much potential being squashed because of petty reasons. Hopefully, Suteru can fix his temper. Maybe Ito can find himself, instead of relying on Suteru too much.
Naruto, she thought, handled himself nearly perfectly, for a Genin at least. The smoke bomb was something she thought on the spot, just to freak them out. Who knows what Suteru and Ito would've done if Naruto hadn't dragged them out.
Their confrontation between Naruto and Suteru could've gone really bad, real quick. It seemed that they resolved their differences, but jealousy can blur your reasoning. From what she could tell, Naruto was socially awkward. Not in the way where you can't put together a sentence, but more like you can really piss someone off without knowing or trying to. Not holding back and just telling it how it was.
At the beginning of their fight, he relied on his skill. Naruto was using some in-depth technique, he wasn't blazing at her with nothing but guts. In the grand scheme of things, he was still a Genin-level, a strong one through. But when she pushed him, his adrenaline and raw instinct took over.
On the battlefield, this usually got you killed. Kushina was guilty of sometimes not using plans and using only raw force to get her way. This was all in her young days, back when her temper was crazy and she was trying to prove herself. But if she could meet her young self, Kushina would smack herself right in the head. So stupid. Did she want to get herself killed? One of the things she taught her son was to use his head. Guts and luck can only get so far, for many it didn't get them anywhere but an early grave. You need to be good at something and use it to the best of your ability. Kushina wasn't the smartest woman in the Ninja force, but having a leveled head can get you far. Naruto has a good head on his shoulders.
He knew he couldn't win and still gave it everything he got. He took his sword seriously, not using it to boost his ego. The sword was on its last legs, slightly dull and losing its luster.
She could sense that Suteru and Ito weren't following the plan. Being betrayed like that must've stung for Naruto. She gave him props for trying to shake them awake, instead of abandoning them.
At the tail end of the fight, the more she pushed the more he struggled. It was good, but it didn't last too long. His mistakes were becoming more evident, and she had to end it.
Kushina felt bad smacking his sword so deep in the forest, it might've been his only one.
Her words to Naruto at the end came out of nowhere, maybe from somewhere deep down. She thought of Uzushiogakure, of Minato, and everything and everyone she lost. Had she done everything? Could she do anything? She thought of everyone she still has and everything she will have, and with gone were the self-pity and doubt.
The mission she undertook from Minato was still in the planning stage. At first, she wanted to do missions, but what would that do? Then she thought maybe taking a team was the new plan, but it didn't go as planned. Was she really taking this seriously? She needed to be focused and think.
She'll think what to do till morning on the roof.
That glow on Naruto was strange, though.
/
As he had predicted, Naruto thought of the events over the night until his brain couldn't handle it and passed out on his bed. He woke up a couple hours later, it was already the time he usually got up from bed, early in the morning. The curtains couldn't completely hide the light blue of morning.
Ask most people and they would say it was understandable to lay on your bed all day after such defeat. But Naruto wasn't like most people, he was going to be a ninja. Not today and not tomorrow, but one day, and Naruto was a patient person.
A good long shower would be a good start, more time for him to think. He wouldn't have to wait since he was the first one to usually wake up. The bunk bed at the orphanage was loud getting up, but he didn't have that problem. His stealth abilities were good. After a long shower, he grabbed however many fruits and snacks he could get from the front desk. He didn't want to wait till they served breakfast. They didn't serve much and it wasn't very nutritious, you could tell by how tall Naruto was. He was shorter than almost everyone in the academy. It may be genetics, but in the orphanage, Naruto's height was average.
Naruto went outside to the back of the orphanage, making sure nobody saw him leaving. There were strict rules on leaving without permission, and Naruto got in trouble many times for doing so. But a lot of the time they didn't seem to notice or care nowadays. A lot of the caretakers weren't even getting paid. Most of them were doing their community service or volunteering because their school required them to so they could graduate. And those who did get paid were busy trying to keep the orphanage afloat.
The decrepit storage house was surrounded by brown weeds and vines. Rarely do orphanages pursue the career of being Ninja, and if they did, all their gear would have to be put here. It was too dangerous to leave gear like that around that many curious kids. He forced open the door revealing a mischief of rats rummaging, the sight of Naruto was enough for them to flee through the small holes outside.
He grabbed his gear and began his walk toward his preferred training ground. The training ground and storage house were very similar, in the sense that it looked like nobody had given any attention for at least a decade. Trees full of scars and training dummies that had turned dark from dirt and fire. What are the chances that the ones that left those imprints were still alive and well, Naruto thought for a brief second.
His sword was nearing its end. That last strike from her had severely damaged his sword, he'll have to look at his savings to see if he could afford a used one. He swung at the air with minimal resistance. He replayed his moves from the previous day and thought of every counter he had missed and he corrected it. Naruto ignored the feeling of his body giving in; this was his way of showing frustration. He could shout and punch the withered trees all he wanted and feel better about himself, but what would that do?
He held that negative and useless emotion and crushed it, it didn't serve him any use. These emotions that made people scream and do crazy things, like what Sturu Suteru did, were common. Sadness, that emotion he could easily crush, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
When his teammates had turned their back on him, he felt for the first ever complete shock. Naruto quickly set aside it because of the grave situation he was in at the moment. But when it all had ended and he was in the middle of the thick forest looking for his sword, the feelings shot at him. It froze him and he nearly wanted to scream and do crazy things.
He finished his training and headed back to the orphanage. It seemed he had to stay for another year there. His plan was to leave once he graduated and move to the Ninja Barracks. The barracks were cramped, provided the bare minimum and the food was slop, from what Naruto had heard. It didn't sound much different from his current living situation, but Naruto preferred it.
Naruto walked through the city, dodging and maneuvering around the busy people of the village. He was still one of them, completely oblivious of the small working of Kohona protectors.
Passed the town center and the old building was the orphanage. He was hungry at the moment, so he decided to not sneak in through the back so that he could grab one of the fruits inside the waiting room. He opened the door to find a small crowd of workers and volunteers. He decided maybe he wasn't so hungry anymore and began to walk past them, trying to ignore any of their shenanigans.
But curiosity had bit him and he took a glance, and in a single perfect moment he saw something in the crowd that stopped him dead in his tracks: long, red hair.