Everyday is an obstacle for Ninja's like us
Waking up everyday was a burden.
An outlandish, vomit inducing burden.
From Sunset to Sunrise was my only peace.
I had finally made my way to the kitchen from my “room”, which was an experience in itself (I will not be describing my method of travel, because I still have my dignity, thank you very much), however being there was twice as appalling as I had previously envisioned.
Despite my fits of rocking myself to sleep with a puffy tear ridden face, I had always come to the same conclusion; that I would have to make up my mind sooner or later. Alas, I hadn’t thought it would happen as fast as it did, and certainly not at the kitchen table.
Unfortunately, I did not crash through the imaginary wooden ornate doors with shining armour and a chivalrous grin. Hell, I didn’t even have the white stead to go with it. No, it was much more humiliating than I would like to admit. Struggling to hold myself up, I clenched the walls with dry hands, my fingers locking into whatever crevices could be found. While I hadn’t yet regained my strength from whatever anaesthetic the two evil serpent lords had thought necessary, I did find out I would make an excellent rock climber; should Ninja-ing not work out for me.
“Looks like Sleeping Beauty is finally awake.” Kabuto scoffs, eyeing my pathetic attempt to stand with scorn.
I stick my tongue out at the greying adolescent, attempting to make my way over to the makeshift wooden table that had been set up. I seat myself on the splinter ridden stool, very carefully, might I add; I have no intention of having Kabuto pull slivers out of my ass.
“Be nice, Kabuto.” Orochimaru slithers, his unfortunately long fingers snake over the tabletop, caressing the lazy woodworking job.
“Yes Kabuto. ” I taunt, “Recycling your own joke is for losers.”
These interactions were my least favourite, without any competition at all. I sit awkwardly, uncomfortably, and somewhat shamefully (?) at the table, awaiting for some type of incentive to talk, or do anything really. I fidget with my hands, my hair, and just about anything in an arm’s length distance from me (Which wasn’t much, apparently being a supervillain didn’t come with any Ikea coupons). The entire ordeal felt like a few days prior, where I had found myself having lunch with the two outlaws. My thoughts are disrupted by Orochimaru,
“So, Naru~to.”
“Have you thought about my offer, I can't just keep you here without an answer. I'm sure the fifth Hokage would prefer to have you where she can see you. And I don't fancy making an enemy of the leaf, any more so than before at this point in time.” The white skinned man leaned over the table, practically purring out my name (Yes, I said Purring ), his slitted yellow eyes focused solely on me. I rub at my temples some more, a nervous tick that I have become increasingly prone to during my time in the jungle of stone corridors.
“ I want to become noticed; I want people to wait and gawk at my appearance. I want to become Hokage, and I want to protect my friends.” I begin, my eyes are trained on the dents and edges of the table before me. “But, I can't do any of that if I'm not even strong enough to be trusted on missions. How can I expect people to rely on me, if everyone else can do so much more than I can?” Tears build in my eyes, though I'm persistent on not allowing them any further, I move my gaze to meet that of my captors.
Orochimaru glides to my side, his beady opticals peering down on me from above. “That's right, Naruto. How can you achieve anything if nobody trusts in your strength? You have to make them see how strong you are, how you deserve the recognition that you so crave.” his voice had dropped from its usual gibe to a low sibilant whisper. An unsettling, disgusting whisper, one that made my skin crawl.
“I have to make them see how strong I am.” I repeat absentmindedly, processing what I had been told.
He was right ; unfortunate and pathetic as it was, Orochimaru was right. I was old enough to know that the only way things got done was because the person in charge made them happen. I couldn’t just sit in the Hidden Leaf Village and wait for respect to be handed to me on a silver platter, I had to demand it.
“Okay.” My voice was little, but little as it was, it was determined. I wanted to make a point, I wanted to show those who had doubted me just what I could do.
Sasuke was exhausted.
So far Naruto had managed to become the priority of the ninja that were capable of tracking of any degree, as well as deplete half of the Hidden Leaf villages supplies. Kunais, swords, protein balls, you name it, just about anything of use was to be utilized in the search.
Hawk messenger birds had been on their tail since the first hour of their mission, asking about Naruto’s potential whereabouts, or Shikamaru’s plan, or sometimes both. It struck him as odd; nobody cared about Naruto when he was in the village, so why now? Why was everybody so fixated on the blubbering waste of space once he was gone? Had this been a hypothetical situation, Sasuke was sure the majority would be relieved with Naruto’s absence.
The group was resting now, their efforts had been somewhat useful in getting themselves out of the mess which was the forest- now they were town hopping. Hopeful to find a motel that remembered an idiot blondie, or some disgraceful outlaw, anything that could help their case really.
The inn that they stayed at was nice, perks of the Nara family's son leading the mission, and The Fifth Hokage's carelessness with the village's funding. They had managed to find a four bed bedroom, sleeping Hinata, Neji and Sasuke in their own beds (He had somehow managed to convince everyone he’d kill them in their sleep should they try and bed with him), and Shikamaru shared a bed with Kiba. Fortunately, there were no complaints about Sasuke's arrangement.
“So,” Kiba is the first to strike up a conversation, speaking into the dark room from his bed. “What do you think happened to Naruto? I mean, something big must be happening-right?” He questioned the empty space.
The room is silent, if anybody acknowledged Kiba it wasn’t visible; the lights were off and Sasuke was sure at least half of the shinobi inside were asleep.
“Yeah. I think this is going to be big.” Shikamaru comments, his voice is hoarse, Kiba must have woken him up just now.
“But, it's Naruto. He’s never not fine, this time won’t be any different.” Neji adds, his voice contrasting the silence that had fallen over the bedroom just previously.
Sasuke bites his tongue at the comment. What did Neji know about Naruto? The time in which the blonde had been missing was surely longer than the amount of quality time the Hyuuga and Naruto had spent with one another. Sasuke knew, he knew Naruto wasn’t always fine.
Naruto wasn’t fine when Haku had nearly killed him, or even when Haku was killed. Naruto wasn’t fine when he was put face to face with Gaara and had to share his burden as well. And most certainly, Naruto wouldn’t be fine after being plucked from his home and taken away from the only family he had ever known.
“I hope so. As much of an idiot as he is- he’s still Naruto.” Kiba comments, ending the conversation swiftly. Nobody was going to argue about the importance of Naruto towards their “ group ”, he was like the glue sticking them together.
Sakura had no idea what she had been called in for.
Actually, that was a small lie. There were hundreds of things Lady Tsunade might have wanted from her, but none could have prepared for what she did ask.
“Sakura? Are you listening to me?” Tsunade asked, waving her hands in front of Pinkett's face. “So are you up for it or not? I understand that it’s a hard ask, but I can't have Naruto’s landlords on us even more, especially after we told them he was out on duty.”
Sakura huffed. Somehow, she had been chosen to do the honours of going through Naruto’s apartment while he was gone. Supposedly he had a super strict landlord, one who wouldn’t mind kicking Naruto’s ass if there was so much as an odour wafting from the apartment. “I’ll do it.” She says solemnly, her gaze shifts; this would be hard
She wasn’t sure what was worse, going into her teammate's private abode while he was potentially kidnapped, or having to undergo actually cleaning it. Seriously, why couldn’t they have picked anybody else? Lee or Choji would have done just fine with this task.
Four flights of stairs were all it took to reach the metal handle of Naruto’s apartment. She had been there before while dropping him off, but it certainly wasn’t as nice as one would think (Scratch that. If you knew Naruto the way Sakura did, you wouldn’t expect any less than what the apartment was).
She reaches for the cold silver key in her pocket, it felt heavy and lifeless, Sakura wonders briefly if this was how Naruto felt when he came home.
She twisted the key into the lock, cringing when the door squealed as it was opened. A few glances from the right side of the room to the left were all it took to have the studio apartment mapped out, it was small, just barely big enough for a growing boy like Naruto. The apartment was practically a ramen graveyard, packets and mostly-finished bowls were littered across the hardwood floor without care, thankfully none of them had any wet contents, that would have been a nightmare. Overall, there wasn’t much else to see after she had disposed of the ramen cemetery, Naruto had little to no furniture aside from his bed, a small dresser, and a dining table for four. She checked his fridge and was less than disappointed, it contained nothing more than a measly water filter, expired milk, and a few juice boxes. How did Naruto live like this?
Sakura wiped a small dribble of sweat from her forehead, the apartment was completely spotless, shining and everything. It had taken her by surprise though, Naruto had no food (No, Ramen does not count), and no clothes aside from two hole ridden shirts, one of the mandatory fishnet shirts the Hidden Leaf provided for its ninja, and a plain black tee. It was either that Naruto had known he was going to be away for a while, or that he simply didn’t buy anything. Neither conclusion sat right with her. Not at all.
She left the building with a garbage bag in tow, she dumped it into the nearest canister at her disposal. Sakura continued, her mind replaying the contents of the apartment, or more so; the lack thereof. Though she supposed it made sense, Naruto had no parents to buy him presents, or toys, or anything of the sort. So he only bought necessities, the basic requirements to keep his body moving. She frowned at the thought, he barely had enough to do such, she supposed that's why he was so scrawny. Maybe she would have to take him grocery shopping, when their mission was successful, not if.