Trapped and Chained

Naruto rushed to make it to the team seven meeting. Kichirou has had no choice but to let Naruto leave for training and missions as it would cause suspicion if Naruto didn’t. Naruto’s been in team seven for a year and it’s the happiest he’s ever been. His teammates are not like the ninja he’s come to know.

He’s even considered telling Kakashi how Kichirou really treats him. He trusts the man with his life but he doesn’t know if he’ll be believed. He doesn’t want Kakashi to start thinking of him as someone who only wishes to cause trouble.

When he makes it to their meeting spot as expected Kakashi hasn’t arrived yet. Naruto takes a breath of relief. He can’t be scolded for being late if his sensei isn’t here yet.

“Naruto! You’re late!” Sakura reprimands. “You should take your ninja training seriously!”

He takes that last statement back.

“Kakashi-sensei isn’t even here so why does it matter if I was running a bit late?”

Sasuke doesn’t bother adding to the conversation. Kakashi arrives a few minutes later.

Sakura reprimands him too. “Why are you late? You’re our sensei, you shouldn’t be the one who’s always late.”

“I… was helping an old lady with her groceries?”

“You wouldn’t phrase it like a question if that was what you were doing!”

Obviously, Kakashi was lying. Naruto smiles at the familiar exchange. This has gone on for a year. Naruto has accepted that Kakashi is always going to be late yet Sakura hasn’t.

“Moving on,” Kakashi says. “Let’s start with training.”

After their tiring training, they leave to get Ichiraku ramen. Ramen has always been Naruto’s favorite food and now that he’s an actual ninja and on a team he can have it much more often now. Because of Kichirou he was rarely allowed to have ramen but now he has missions and he isn’t always with Kichirou.

That said, he’s still tortured by the man and Kichirou has not eased up on him over the years. Naruto dreads when he finishes his ramen as it means it’s time to leave. He says his goodbyes and walks as slowly as he can to Kichirou’s house.

Thankfully, Kichirou isn’t home when Naruto arrives. The blond wonders if the man was sent on a mission. That would be a relief to him. It’s surprising though, Kichirou rarely isn’t here when Naruto is to have come back as he usually puts Naruto back in chains right away.

That evening, Kichirou comes home intoxicated. The man drags Naruto to the cell and throws the boy to the ground. He doesn’t even bother putting the chains on Naruto before taking out knives to stab into his skin.

“Damn demon. Remember that you deserve this. This is for my family!”

Naruto thrashes around to get away since he’s capable of it without his chains. However, Kichirou is strong and keeps Naruto pinned down. He doesn’t take breaks between the stabs, he rams his knife everywhere.

The drunk man eventually passes out because of his intoxication. Naruto uses his less injured right leg to kick the man off of him. He pushes his weight against the wall to pull himself up. He coughs up blood from his wounds.

Being drunk, Kichirou wasn’t thinking straight so he left the cell door open. Naruto drags himself to the door by using the wall as a cane. It takes a long time but after some time he makes it to the house door.

Kichirou’s house is right by the leaf village’s forest so Naruto walks to that. He can’t keep doing this. He can’t keep living a life like this. Becoming hokage isn’t important anymore. It’s clear that this village is never going to accept him. All he wants is for everything to end. It’s be doing himself and everyone else a huge favor if he took his own life.

Naruto uses the trees to aid him in walking to a nearby lake. It’s a cold cloudy day so no one’s at the lake. That’s for the better he decides.

In the physical state he’s in he’s not capable of swimming. Before doing anything, Naruto takes off his ninja headband and leaves it by a tree. He stumbles into the water. He walks as much as he can to get as deep in the water as possible for him at the moment. Then he submerges himself underwater.

At first he is fine but after a minute his body begins to struggle for air. He can’t thrash with the amount of pain he’s in from his injuries from earlier. He doesn’t have the ability to bring his head back up for water.

This is for the best. He passes out.

Unfortunately, he wakes up an unknown amount of time later. He’s lying on a bed and his wounds have been wrapped in bandages. He’s also in new clothes. He isn’t in a hospital though. He isn’t sure where he is.

Sasuke walks in and Naruto almost has a heart attack. He panics internally at Sasuke seeing all his scars. From the look Sasuke is giving Naruto he has a feeling that the boy already knows.

“What happened?” Naruto questions.

“That’s what I would like to know,” Sasuke replies.

Sasuke hasn’t been himself lately and he and Naruto haven’t been getting along as much. This hurts Naruto more than he will ever admit aloud. Naruto figures Sasuke must’ve found him after he passed out.

“You shouldn’t have intervened,” Naruto states.

“I shouldn’t have intervened?! You would be dead if I didn’t!” Sasuke yells.

“...”

“Did you get in a fight or something? That must be it. You lost and now you’re embarrassed that I saved you.”

Naruto sighs. “There was no fight. I got into that lake of my own free will.”

“Then why were you covered in injuries?”

“A one sided fight?”

“I don’t understand what that means but you got into that lake of your own free will? Why would you do that if you’re severely hurt?”

“Sasuke. You were at the top of the class in the academy, I thought you were supposed to be smart.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened in realization. “...You wouldn’t.”

“I would and I did. Well, I tried.”

“Now that I think about it, you had old scars when I was treating your wounds too. One sided fight, is there someone hurting you?”

“It’s none of your business, Sasuke.”

“So yes. Is it Kichirou?”

Naruto tenses at the name and that’s all the response Sasuke needs to know he’s correct. It doesn’t matter if Sasuke knows or not, either people are too ignorant to see what it’s front of them or they don’t care what happens to Naruto.

“What makes you think it’s him?” Naruto asks.

“Who else could it be? Kichirou has kept you since you were six. You’ve never liked him, that much is obvious. It makes sense.”

“You figured it out so quickly.” Naruto dryly laughs.

“I should’ve realized it sooner.”

“You’re the only one who has realized; give yourself some credit.”

“We should tell Tsunade and the other ninja’s so Kichirou can be kicked out of the village.”

“No. I’ve tried telling someone before. I won’t be believed and the other ninja despise me.”

“Because you're a jinchuriki?”

Sasuke found out he was a jinchuriki when they fought once before. Kakashi stopped them before that fight got out of hand.

“Yes.”

Sasuke contemplates something before speaking. “I’m going to leave the village.”

Naruto scrambles up from the bed he’s been laying on and sits up despite his pain. “What?!”

“I’m going to Orochimaru to get more powerful so I can defeat my brother.”

“You’re going to the weird snake guy?!”

“No, Naruto, I’m going with that nice flower shop guy, Orochimaru. Of course the snake guy!”

“He’s gross.”

“He’ll help me get stronger.”

Naruto frowns. “You’re leaving team seven.”

Sasuke nods. “And I want you to come with me.”

Naruto blinks. “Huh?”

“Staying here isn’t safe for you. If you come with me you can get strong enough to get revenge against Kichirou.”

“I don’t know.”

Sasuke sits down next to him. “You can’t seriously want to stay in this village. Have you looked at yourself, you’ve got bandages practically everywhere besides your face. The people of the village have always treated you as if you aren’t a person. Don’t you want to be free from this?”

“...I do”

“Then come with me.”

“But what about Sakura and Kakashi-sensei? And the rest of our comrades from the academy.”

“They’ll be fine without us. On the other hand you won’t be if you continue to stay here.”

Naruto contemplates it before reaching his decision. “Okay, I’ll go with you.”

Sasuke has a glint of victory in his eyes. “Alright then. We’ll leave when your wounds have fully healed.”

It takes a week for Naruto to heal. Throughout this week Kichirou has found out that Naruto is staying with Sasuke. During this week he has attempted to get Sasuke to tell Naruto to leave with no avail.

“I am the guardian of Naruto. He should be coming home now,” Kichirou insists.

“He’s injured. It’s best he stays in bed rest until he is better,” Sasuke argues.

Kichirou gets other ninjas to come by as well only for Sasuke to tell them the same thing. Tsunade says it is fine for Naruto to stay with Sasuke until he is better then he will go back to Kichirou.

This never happens as once Naruto is better, Sasuke and Naruto sneak out of the village. Naruto went back for his ninja headband where he left it before and is keeping it with him.

“Why are you keeping that?” Sasuke questions. “We’re rogue ninjas now. You don’t need it.”

“I know but I don’t want to forget where I came from.”

“If I were you I would want to forget it.”

“I don’t know.”

“I guess you can put a mark through it like other ninja. Like saying fuck you to the village for all the crap they put you through.”

“Like showing them what their actions have caused?”

“Exactly.”

“That’s a good idea. Maybe I’ll do that.”

Naruto follows Sasuke to Orochimaru’s hideout. When they made it there the snake guy seemed to be expecting Sasuke. He allows Naruto as well as a jinchuriki on your side which is extremely useful.

Naruto does end up putting a mark through his headband and wearing it like that. It looks cool. Life with Orochimaru is odd. The blond doesn’t agree with all the snake guy does. But it’s better than being tortured everyday.

He and Sasuke will often be sent off to do different tasks for the man. This time they were sent to get a forbidden scroll. They have succeeded in this mission and are now taking a rest from the walk back to the hideout. There resting by a river.

“It’s so hot,” Naruto complains.

“Then cool yourself off in the water,” Sasuke tells him.

Naruto thinks about it and decides that’s a good idea. He takes off his jacket. He walks into the shallow part of the water.

“Don’t drown.”

“I won’t!”

Naruto’s a little uncomfortable without his jacket covering his scars. He knows Sasuke has seen them before but he still thinks they’re something that makes him look ugly. He looks back at Sasuke and sees the boy has a relaxed expression on his face.

He grins before kicking a large amount of water into Sasuke's face.

“Naruto!”

Naruto cackles. Sasuke uses his chakra to stand on the water. Oh no. He uses his own chakra to get on top of the water. He runs as Sasuke chases after him. The black haired boy will lighten up on his chakra a bit to splash water at Naruto.

Sasuke may be strong but speed is Naruto’s strength. But he freezes when he sees his reflection in the water. He sees his scars and he suddenly wishes he was still wearing his jacket.

Sasuke tackles him into the water. They both come up from the water soaked. Naruto has been taken out of his stupor and begins to laugh. Sasuke lets out a small chuckle too. Both of them use their chakra to sit on top of the lake.

“Hey, Sasuke. Can I ask you a question?” Naruto asks.

“Yeah,” Sasuke answers.

“Answer honestly.”

“Okay.”

“Do you think… that my scars make me look ugly?”

Sasuke is taken back by the question. The boy contemplates the right words to respond to this.

“I think your scars make you look like a rugged man,” Sasuke replies.

“Is that good?”

“Rugged men are hot.”

Naruto is so caught off by this he bursts out laughing. Sasuke is a man of few words and this is the last thing the blond thought would come out of the boy’s mouth. He does feel better hearing this though. He still doesn’t like his scars but he’s quite a bit more comfortable with Sasuke seeing them.

“Feel better?” Sasuke queries.

“Yes.” Naruto says back.

“Alright, I think it’s time we head back to the hideout.”

Sasuke gives the forbidden scroll and they head off to sleep for the night. Naruto’s not used to having a bed so it’s been nice. However, he’s struggled to sleep. He’s so used to not getting any sleep he feels when he does fall asleep he’s going to wake up to one of those noise bombs.

And even when he does manage to let himself sleep he’s often plagued by nightmares. They feel so real and it feels as if he’s back in those awful chains in that awful place. It’s often that he’ll wake up in the middle of the night sweating from fear.

Tonight is one of those nights. He holds his face in his hands trying to calm down. His night clothes are a tank top and knee shorts. He can see so many of his scars. It serves as a constant reminder of what has happened to him. He’ll wake up and realize what happened in those dreams has happened to him before.

He doesn’t want to be left alone with his thoughts. He takes his hands away from his face and gets up from his bed. He opens his bedroom door and heads to Sasuke’s room. He doesn’t bother knocking before entering. His presence wakes Sasuke up.

“What do you want, Naruto?”

“Do you think I can stay with you for the night?”

“Why? You have your own room.”

“I don’t want to be alone.”

“Fine.”

Sasuke scoots to the side of his bed to give Naruto space. Naruto lies down next to Sasuke and finds it much easier to drift off.

This becomes a habit. Sasuke allows it as he’s learned of Naruto’s nightmares and he doesn’t mind not being alone either. It’s a comfort to know that they’re there for each other whenever needed.

Orochimaru has been training both Naruto and Sasuke. This training has been helpful but it has caused Naruto quite a bit of frustration. It’s as if Sasuke is getting so much stronger than him so quickly. Naruto’s worried one day Sasuke is going to leave because he would only be a burden to the boy if he stays this weak.

His frustration made him make a stupid decision. He went out into a town crawling with criminals and started a fight with a strong criminal. If he fights with these criminals he’s bound to get stronger eventually.

Doing this is what caused him to be bleeding out in an alleyway. He realizes now that he didn’t think this through. He also didn’t inform Sasuke of where he was going so it’s unlikely the boy will find him and save him.

A ponytail haired man walks by the alleyway and catches sight of him. The man has long crimson hair and matching crimson eyes. He wears a long black coat. He wears black clothes with it too. The man rushes up to him.

The man pulls Naruto up by the blond’s arm. The crimson eyed man helps drag him to some house that Naruto assumes is owned by him. The blond is placed on a couch. The man leaves then comes back with a first aid kit.

“Who are you?” Naruto asks.

“Rio Aki. Now want to tell me what happened?” Rio asks back.

“I wanted to get stronger. So I thought fighting someone stronger than me would help that.”

“Oh my god. How old are you, kid?”

“Thirteen.”

“You’re kidding. Kid, there are several other ways to get stronger than by getting into fights with incredibly dangerous criminals.”

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki. You don’t need to call me kid.”

“Then, Naruto, how about instead of doing that I help train you.”

“You would do that?”

Don’t get him wrong Naruto has been helped by Orochimaru’s training but it’s more focused on Sasuke’s abilities than his. Having somebody else train him may be exactly what he needs. He figures this man is also a criminal as practically everyone else in this town is.

“Yes, I would rather train you than have this happen again.”

“I’ve been wondering. This town is filled with criminals. Are you one?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t seem all that intimidating though.”

“That’s a good skill to have though, isn’t it.”

“You have a point.”

There’s a loud knock at the door. Rio finishes wrapping Naruto’s injuries and goes to open the door. The door opens to reveal Sasuke wielding his sword. He catches sight of Naruto bleeding and stabs Rio.

“Ow, fuck.” Rio says.

“Sasuke! Why’d you stab him?!” Naruto exclaims.

“Did he not injure you?”

“No!”

“Oh, my bad.”

Rio walks to his bathroom and doesn’t come out for another half hour.

“Do you think you killed him?” Naruto queries.

“I don’t know.”

“Man, he was supposed to train me.”

“But Orochimaru is training you.”

“I know but I think someone else would be a better teacher for me.”

“Alright, if that’s what you want.”

Rio walks out of the room with his shirt off and bandages covering his stab wound. He hands Sasuke his sword back.

“I’m not dead but I would appreciate not being stabbed again.”

Naruto notices familiar scars on Rio’s chest. “Rio, are you trans?”

“Hm, oh my scars gave it away huh? Yeah.”

Naruto has never met someone who’s trans in his life so it’s a bit interesting. He doesn’t say anything more on the topic as he does not want to come off as rude.

“If he didn’t injure you, then why are you bleeding?” Sasuke asks.

“I may or may not have purposefully started a fight with a powerful criminal so I could get stronger.”

“What?! Naruto, you are never doing that again.”

“Yeah, I think almost bleeding out because of it made me realize it was not my brightest decision.”

“You should’ve at least told me where you were going.”

“Wait. Sasuke. Did you follow me?”

“You were acting weird all morning so I thought something was wrong so I followed you.”

“Then shouldn’t you have known that Rio wasn’t my opponent.”

“I lost sight of you for a while and then I saw him dragging you to this house.”

“I guess I get how that makes Rio suspicious but you should still apologize to him for the mix up.”

“You know I don’t apologize to anyone.”

“C’mon, you almost killed him!”

“I usually don’t fail in finishing the job. Look, he's fine. What’s there to apologize about?”

“You’re actually unbelievable.”

Rio joins their conversation. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve been through worse.”

“We should leave now,” Sasuke states.

“Alright. I’ll be back tomorrow, Rio, so you can help train me.”

“Sounds good to me. See you soon.”

Naruto walks quietly beside Sasuke as they go back to the hideout. He gets the feeling the boy holds anger towards him not thinking something like this through. The blond doesn’t know what to say to calm him down so he simply doesn’t say anything.

“Are you sure you can trust him?” Sasuke questions.

“I think so, I mean you stabbed him and he didn’t hurt you,” Naruto replies.

“Why did you feel the need to do this?”

A question Naruto’s been expecting but didn’t know how to answer. “I want to be strong.”

“I get that but we’ve been training. We have been getting stronger.”

“No. You’ve been getting stronger.”

“You have to.”

“No, at least I’m getting stronger a lot slower than you.”

“Do you need to be stronger than me?”

“No, I need to be equal in strength.”

“Why?”

“So, I won’t be a burden if I’m to fight alongside you.”

“You won’t be a burden.”

“I will be if you have to protect me.”

“I get where you’re coming from but you should train with Rio to get stronger instead of doing this again.”

“I agree.”

The next few months Naruto has begun training with Rio. He has spoken with Orochimaru and they have come to an agreement that it is a good idea. The crimson haired man has taught him how to fight with knives. The blond has learned sharp movements.

He’s also worked on improving his speed as well. He and Rio go on runs together that last for around a half hour each time. The improvement he sees when he goes on his tasks for Orochimaru pleasing him. He’s improving much faster than he was before.

Rio also spends quite a bit of his time dedicated to teaching Naruto how to escape certain situations. This began after Naruto trusted him enough to tell him where he got all his scars and why he is a rogue ninja. It’s so if Naruto is ever put into a situation similar to that again he can escape.

He now knows how to escape from ropes and cuffs and other such things. It has given Naruto a great sense of comfort to be capable of doing these things. If he has nightmares Sasuke will wake him up and remind him that he will never not be able to escape again.

Today Rio has decided to teach Naruto how to fight in an unfortunate environment. There is mud everywhere in this place.

“Do we have to fight here?” Naruto asks. “My clothes are going to get ruined.”

“You don’t usually have the choice of where your fight will take place.”

Rio has a point but still during their sparring match Naruto does his best not to completely ruin his clothes. As difficult as that is he manages to have sort of clean clothes by the time Rio says they’re done for the day. On the other hand Rio is covered in mud practically everywhere.

“Ha! You got dirtier than I did!” Naruto teased.

Rio grinned and Naruto felt a sense of doom. The red haired man then began to chase after the blond haired boy as Naruto ran away. They both were going very slowly as they were in mud but at some point Rio reaches him and pulls him into a hug. Now Naruto is as covered in mud as he is.

“My clothes,” Naruto pouts.

Rio lets him go. “You deserved that.”

Naruto smiles. It’s fun training with Rio. The man is nicer than many of the people at the village were. However, the man doesn’t know he’s a jinchuriki yet and he plans to keep it that way. He doesn’t know how he’ll react so he doesn’t want him to know.

Rio and Naruto go their own way. Naruto gets back to the hideout. Orochimaru and Kabuto are out on their own mission so it’s only him and Sasuke here at the moment. Naruto finds Sasuke in the hideout kitchen sitting and thinking about something.

Sasuke looks up at him and has an expression mixed with having expecting this and being incredibly confused.

“You’re covered in mud. Take a shower” Sasuke says.

Naruto grins remembering earlier and getting an idea.

“You’re quite clean, Sasuke,”

There’s a glint of mischief in Naruto’s eyes that Sasuke catches.

“Don’t you dare.’

“Too late.”

Naruto jumps onto the counter and Sasuke scrambles out his chair to get away. Naruto gets mud everywhere as he chases after the other boy. His speed has improved and it’s pretty good so he manages to tackle Sasuke into a hug.

“Goddamitt, Naruto,” Sasuke says.

“I regret nothing.”

“You got mud everywhere. You’re going to clean it all up.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll take a shower then I’ll clean it all up.”

“I need one now too.”

Naruto gets up and helps Sasuke up as well. There are many different showers in this hideout so they’re both able to take a shower at the same time. Naruto takes a much longer shower which leaves Sasuke with time to make them both something to eat.

Naruto leaves the bathroom completely clean and in new clothes. He then cleans all the mud he left everywhere. That’s when he smells the delicious smell of ramen. He goes back into the kitchen and sees that Sasuke has cooked ramen.

“You can make ramen?!” Naruto exclaims.

“Yes.”

“How could I not know about this?!”

“I mean I don’t cook that often.”

Naruto takes his bowl of ramen and scarfs it down. It tasted absolutely amazing. The best ramen he has ever eaten. When he’s finished eating he informs Sasuke he has to speak with Rio about something.

Naruto sprints to Rio’s door. Rio opens the door in new clothes and it looks as if he has taken a shower as well.

Rio is surprised to see him at the door. “Naruto, why are you here? Our training finished for today.”

“I know but I need to talk to you about something important.”

“Of course, you’re always welcome.”

Rio allows Naruto into the house. Naruto sits down on the couch and Rio sits down beside him.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Is it weird for a boy to like another boy?”

“Huh? That’s what this is about?”

“...Yes.”

“It is not weird. Plenty of people like the same gender.”

“But I’m sure I like girls too. So maybe I’m just confused.”

“You can like both.”

“I can?”

“Yes, sometimes it’s not only liking this gender or the other, sometimes you like both or all. Lots of people are like that.”

“Really? Do you know anyone like that?”

Rio chuckles. “I actually like both women and men.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. But what brought this conversation on?”

“I think I like Sasuke.”

“That’s okay and completely normal.”

“Thank you, Rio. I think I’ll go back home now.”

“Alright, see you during our next training session.”

Naruto leaves for the hideout. He’s sure of his feelings now. He thought since he liked Sakura that maybe he was merely confused but that doesn’t seem to be the case. He kicks a rock. There’s no way Sasuke will ever feel the same way.

The black haired boy probably doesn’t even like boys. And even if he does, Naruto is nowhere near as good looking as Sasuke is. He’ll likely never be an option to the other boy. Then there’s all the scars he has. Sasuke may not be disgusted by them but that doesn’t mean they don’t make Naruto unattractive.

When he makes it back to the hideout he spends his time in the training area practicing throwing knives. It helps him vent his frustration out. In the middle of throwing his knives Sasuke walks into the training area.

“Are you feeling okay?” Sasuke asks.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because you look frustrated and you’re angrily throwing knives at all of the targets.”

“I’m training.”

“You trained earlier with Rio.”

Having Sasuke around doesn’t let him forget the source of his frustration. He feels as if he’s going to ruin their friendship because of his feelings.

“I’m training more now,” Naruto replies.

“Did Rio say something that upset you?”

“No. I just really want to get strong faster.”

That is true but it’s not why he’s currently upset. Sasuke takes this as an acceptable answer.

“I get that. I want to defeat my brother as soon as possible but you look like you need to rest.”

Naruto sighs and puts his knives away before leaving the training room for his bedroom. He sits on his bed in thought. Maybe he should avoid Sasuke for a while. Just until he can accept that Sasuke will never love him back.

He doesn’t stay in Sasuke’s room that night. He doesn’t talk to Sasuke at all the next day. After a couple of days, Orohcimaru and Kabuto come back. He and Sasuke are sent on a mission and Naruto does his best to not talk a whole lot, only responding when Sasuke says something.

Sasuke, of course, noticed something was amiss. He confronts Naruto.

“Are you angry with me?” Sasuke queries.

“No,” Naruto replies.

“Then why have you been avoiding me and barely speaking to me?”

“I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately.”

“Like what?”

“I…I don’t know. I'm just trying not to get in your way. If I avoid you, you won’t have any distractions.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You want revenge against your brother. I don’t want to be a distraction.”

Naruto’s feelings will merely be a burden to Sasuke. And he wants to stay with Sasuke but his feelings may get in the way. His feelings are a part of him so he’ll likely only become a distraction to Sasuke.

“You’re not a distraction. You’re working to become stronger. You’ll be an advantage I have in the future, so stop avoiding me.”

Naruto lets a smile slip. “Right.”

He can’t tell Sasuke of his feelings. He’ll have to ignore them for now so he can become someone who’s able to fight alongside Sasuke.