Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
...
Naruto stared at the ceiling of his bedroom while he lay on his bed, his hands tucked behind his head as he contemplated his options. He knew what his objective was, clear as day, but how could he go about making his goals a reality without it biting him on the ass.
He wished it was as simple as simply going up to the culprit and telling them to stop. While he had some friends in the clans to back him up in his request, he didn't want to lean on them. From what he knew the purple haired bully was the daughter of a civilian family, meaning that if he was to rock up with clan members by his side it in turn would seem like bullying in its own right. Hence, the numbers game wasn't going to happen.
Hanging out with the pink haired girl was an option, be there ready to defend her when the next verbal tirade was thrown her way. However, that would not necessarily prevent the issue, he couldn't be by her side constantly and they would likely find a way to tease her another way when he wasn't present.
While they could give advice, Naruto didn't want to rely on Makina, Renka or really any member of his family. He had spent all this time watching and observing everybody in action. This was his time to show that he had actively been paying attention. If he didn't actively come up with something reminiscing a plan then how could he say that he had learnt anything.
He needed to come up with a way that would prevent anything from going tits up, a phrasing he had only heard recently. Naruto did have an idea in mind, but it would require a lot of things to perfectly align and if it didn't there would be no chance of pulling it back.
It would be a gamble and he would be all in before knowing anything about his opponent.
Sounded like fun.
...
Sasuke wandered around the clan grounds, politely replying to those who spoke out to him. While he could stop and actively speak with them, he did want to try to track down his brother. Lately, Itachi had been seen a lot with Shisui and apparently the two of them had been doing a lot of training together.
Sasuke wanted to join in on the action.
Even though he was younger, Itachi was younger than Shisui so Sasuke didn't see the problem if he went and asked to join them. Sure, they could be doing something a little more complicated then what he was capable of. Just because he was one of the most skilled in his class didn't mean that he had to settle for that. His entire family were exceptional shinobi and he wanted to be just like them. If Itachi and Shisui could stop what they were doing for a couple minutes and give him a few pointers, that would be more than enough.
Surely they could grant him that.
"Are you looking for someone?" asked one of the branch members, noticing Sasuke wandering around.
"Yeah, have you seen my brother?" asked Sasuke, stopping for a moment.
"I saw him early this morning on his way out of the compound but I haven't seen him return."
"Oh, thank you," said Sasuke, his mood souring quickly at the thought that his brother wasn't even anywhere nearby. He did figure that it made sense though that Itachi would get some training off the grounds. If he was on grounds, then he could potentially get interrupted by other members of the family.
Of course, this was all on the pretense that he was even off training in the first place. While it was always good to improve and get better, Sasuke had to admit that downtime was good. Maybe Itachi was off somewhere quiet reading a book, or maybe catching up with some friends in other clans.
Did Itachi have friends in other clans?
Surely he did! He was the best big brother, surely he was friends with lots of people.
It gave Sasuke the thought process of going off and catching up with a few of his school friends. He wanted to be as strong as his Itachi but he also wanted to be as good a person as Itachi and if that meant spending time with friends then he should do so as well.
That did beg the question though of was it alright to simply meander over to a different clan's compound to catch up with someone.
Sasuke decided that maybe he should wait until he was actively back at school and organize something a little more official. Didn't want to be rude after all.
...
"Ami, may I have a word?"
The request took the young girl somewhat off guard, having not particularly expected Naruto to speak with her. While they shared the same class, it wasn't as if they interacted in any sort of way.
"Whatever you have to say to her you can say to us," said one of her friends, backing Ami up.
"For this kind of conversation, it'd probably be best that you weren't present," said Naruto as he held a binder under his left arm. It was thick with fragments of paper sticking out in all directions.
"I'll be fine," said Ami, reassuring her friends before Naruto gestured for her to follow him. She did so with uncertainty, wondering what the blond haired boy wanted with her. Part of her childish mind wondered whether he was going to say that he had a crush on her, but that wouldn't explain the book nor the calculated eyes.
"Here will do," said Naruto as they ended up in a quiet corridor, temporarily isolated from anybody else.
"So what do you want Naruto?" asked Ami, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I want you to stop bullying the pink haired girl," stated Naruto coldly, his eyes sharpening.
"Sakura?" questioned Ami, somewhat aghast that she had followed him for this nonsense. "No way! She's way too much fun to tease."
"I thought you would say that," said Naruto as he shuffled the binder into his hands. "Do you know what this is?"
"Never seen it before," scoffed Ami.
"I figured as much," said Naruto. "It is, after all, the ledger of one of the local brothels."
The shock that came over Ami's face told a story in and of it's own right. "Why do you have that? How did you get that?"
"Does it matter," said Naruto with a shrug. "What does matter is some of the names here. Names which if they were shared out with the public would do who knows how much damage to their reputation, not to mention their family? One could only imagine what would happen if a student was to pick up a random piece of paper off the ground, look at it and just realise what it was."
Ami stilled as Naruto lay his threat out. She wished she could get any sort of read on him but he had so much confidence in his poise that it made it almost impossible to tell if he was lying or not. She had to pray so. "You're lying," she claimed.
"I could be, but do you really want to take that risk?"
She didn't.
In something of an act of desperation, she lunged out to grab at the binder to find that Naruto didn't resist and she was able to grab the outstretched object and take it. Opening it up, she found that all of the paper in there was blank.
"Do you really think that I would bring the real binder to school?" joked Naruto, seemingly suppressing a laugh. "That kinda information just laying around would probably get a couple of the teachers fired. But that's not the point. Point is, if I don't hear an apology by the end of the day, well, I'll leave that to your imagination."
Ami could do nor say anything as Naruto casually walked past her, not even looking at her. The binder full of blank paper fell from her grip and crashed to the floor as she struggled to figure out whether all of this had been little more than a bluff. If there was a chance though, just a sliver of a chance that Naruto was telling the truth it could tear her family apart.
There was nobody she could speak to, nobody she could confide in because that in itself would just start a rumor which could spiral out of control. All it would take for her to ensure that everything was safe, was to apologize to Sakura. Doing so would show a sign of weakness in front of her friends but that was the lesser of two evils.
She couldn't discuss it with her parents because if it was true then it could tear her family apart.
She couldn't approach the teachers because Naruto could easily deny the allegations and she would be scolded for telling lies.
There was no one she could turn to.
The emptiness of the hallway was quickly shattered by Ami's scream of rage.
...
Sakura Haruno nervously sat alone, eating away at the sandwich that her mother had made for her that morning. Her eyes were glued to the ground as she did her best to make herself seem as small as possible. If she didn't speak up, if she didn't stand out, then maybe today they wouldn't say mean things to her.
She doubted it.
Since the first week they had targeted her, just because of the size of her forehead. She had a feeling it wasn't even about that in the first place and that her three tormentors had just spotted the first thing among her class that they could make fun of to make themselves feel better. Feel stronger. In a room full of heirs to prominent clans, they needed something to make themselves feel powerful.
Which meant that they would gang up on someone who also didn't have the backing of a clan. She had just been unfortunate to be the one selected from the the rest of the class. It sucked.
Speaking of things that sucked, Sakura could see Ami and her friends marching up to her. She really didn't want to deal with them but she knew that trying to run away would only make things worse. Gritting her teeth, she braced herself for what was to come.
...
Naruto watched as Ami shuffled in place, scratching at her arms as she said her piece out of his range of hearing. Given what she was likely saying and how possibly unnatural it was for her to say those words, Naruto could understand her awkwardness. It was difficult to say things that weren't in your normal vocabulary. Heck, he had basically had to script the entire thing that he had said to Ami in the first place and practice a dozen times in the mirror before he even thought he was remotely ready for the whole thing.
From what he could tell from Sakura's facial reactions, Ami was saying something which was taking her aback, most likely the apology. Having seen enough, Naruto got back to his own lunch with much gusto.
Yet, why did it feel somewhat empty. He had done the thing he had set out to do. He had taken a risk, one which he had calculated time after time and he had gotten the result he was after. Ami would no longer bother Sakura. He had stopped the bullying. So why wasn't he happy?
Maybe Makina would know, she seemed to be well versed in these sort of things. And at least that way as well, he would be able to tell off how awesome his plan went and how successful it was.
And then at some point he would have to remember to find a way to sneak the evidence back to the brothel. If someone of his family found out what he had hidden away in his bedroom then he could be in big trouble.
...
Hope you enjoyed.