Trapped and Chained

After a few weeks of being away to work on training they come back to their old hideout. They weren’t away for a long time but decent progress was made in each of their skills. Now they need to come up with a plan for how to get away with assassinating the leaf village’s elders.

Sasuke is the main person working on coming up with a plan as he is the best at assessing a situation and how to go about it. Naruto worked on spying to see what the leaf village is up to. He’s skilled with obtaining information and is knowledgeable about where places in the leaf village are.

At the moment, Naruto is spying on Sakura, Kakashi, and Sai on a mission together. He’s unsure of the specific details. He only knows that they're trying to capture some guy because he’s been stealing from the leaf village. He doesn’t understand why three people would be needed for this mission though if it’s just a common thief. The thief must be intimidating.

Kakashi stops and the other two stop with him.

“What is it, sensei?” Sakura asks him.

“Come on out, I know you’re there,” Kakashi orders.

Damn. He’s been caught. He was unsure originally if it was a good idea to spy on Kakashi as he knows Kakashi isn’t easy to spy on. He learned that when he was on missions with Kakashi. They were ambushed many times but Kakashi always seemed one step ahead of their enemies.

Naruto gives in and jumps down from the tree he was hiding in.

“Naruto?” Sakura says disbelieving.

“Hello,” Sai greets.

“Hi,”

“Is Sasuke with you?” Sakura questions.

“Nope, he’s busy.”

Sakura’s eyes dim in disappointment. Naruto needs to get away somehow. He should’ve ran away when he was called out. But then he would know nothing about what the leaf village is up to and what ninjas are at the leaf village or not. His sense of duty kept him from running away.

“Naruto. Why were you spying on us?” Kakashi queries.

“I wasn’t spying… I was taking a nice jog through the forest and happened to cross paths with you guys.”

Kakashi gives him a blank stare. He isn’t buying Naruto’s lies. But it’s not like Naruto can tell him the truth.

“You are still suspicious,” Sai states.

Naruto shrugs. “I’m not fighting you or attempting to kidnap one of you so, what is so suspicious?”

“Fine. Our mission comes first, let's focus on that,” Kakashi says.

They were letting him go. They begin to walk away and Naruto walks with him with an unbothered smile on his face.

“Why are you still following us?” Sai asks.

“Can’t I want to spend some time with some old friends?”

“Leave him be,” Kakashi tells Sai. “It’s better if he sticks with us. When we’re done with this mission we can bring him back as well.”

Sai and Sakura listen and allow Naruto to follow them.

—

The mission is going horribly wrong. The thief has taken both Sakura and Naruto hostage. Kakashi and Sai are fighting but the thief’s hideout is covered in booby traps. Naruto’s bound by ropes as well as Sakura.

“Hey, Sakura. How’ve ya been?” Naruto asks, trying to calm the girl down.

“Is this really the time to be asking such questions!” Sakura snaps.

“So… bad? Is there anything going on in the leaf village that’s interesting?”

“You would know if you didn’t run away and become a rogue ninja!”

“Okay, okay, not in the mood to talk. I get it.”

Sai and Kakashi fall into a spider silk trap. The thief walks up to Naruto and Sakura. He looks as if he’s contemplating something before he settles his eyes on Naruto.

“Given your scars, my jutsus will have more of an effect on you. And as a rogue ninja this won’t be seen as a direct insult against the leaf village,” He states.

“Look at what you’ve done to the actual leaf ninjas. I’m sure you’ve already insulted the leaf village,” Naruto responds completely calmly.

“I simply defended myself. It’s not as if I’ve killed any of them and I only stole for a living. I’ve done nothing to deserve severe punishment.”

“But what’s the point of using a jutsu against me? What have I done to you?”

“Nothing. Don’t mistake my intentions. This jutsu shouldn’t hurt you physically. I was just born with extreme curiosity. And you’ve piqued that curiosity which is why I’m going to use this jutsu on you.”

“Don’t hurt him,” Sakura begs. “Use the jutsu on me instead.”

“Were you not listening? I already explained that this jutsu will not cause him physical pain.”

“That implies mental pain!”

“I mean that depends. I’m not sure if it will or not.”

Naruto’s never been more confused in his life. He doesn’t feel all that intimidated by this thief guy. He seems like the kind of person just to do whatever he wants no matter the consequences. But Naruto is curious as to what jutsu the man is talking about.

He isn’t curious for long. The thief uses his hand signals and directs his jutsu towards Naruto. It’s worse than anything Naruto thought it might be. It’s making him relive all of his memories. All the times he wasn’t allowed to sleep, being stabbed with a knife repeatedly, almost being drowned. There were a few good memories but they were overshadowed by the torture he endured.

When the jutsu is over, Naruto is trembling and tears are streaming down his face. It felt like going through all that torture for a second time. The thief looked as if he regretted it when he took his hand back. He stumbled away from Naruto.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how bad it was,” He tells Naruto.

“What did you think it was?! You think I got all these scars?! By being clumsy?!”

The thief felt so guilty that he let everyone leave and even gave himself up. It made the leaf ninja incredibly curious as to what it was that caused Naruto’s scars. Kakashi placed a hand on Naruto’s shoulder but he only flinched away which caused the man to take his hand back.

Naruto hasn’t stopped his silent crying. He’s still shaking. He doesn’t follow them out. Sakura looks back and notices that he’s not coming with them.

“Are you coming with us?”

Naruto shakes his head. Sakura takes a step forward and Naruto sprints away from her and the hideout. He doesn’t stop running until he sees Sasuke’s familiar face. Sasuke’s expression turns guilty when he sees him and tries to hide something behind his back.

Naruto sees it before Sasuke completely hides it. It’s one of Rio’s wine bottles. Naruto caught Sasuke drinking before and he scolded him but he isn’t feeling it today. Instead he sits besides Sasuke on the grass where they usually spar.

He takes the bottle away from Sasuke and opens it. He drinks a large gulp at him. Sasuke gawks at him as Naruto has never drank alcohol before in his life.

“Did the mission go that badly?” Sasuke queries.

“You have no idea,” Naruto replies.

Sasuke takes a drink of the wine too. “Do you ever wonder how different you would’ve turned out if your parents were alive?”

“All the time? Do you?”

“Yeah, I could’ve had a good life if my clan wasn’t completely assassinated.”

“I’m sorry, Sasuke.”

“Don’t be, it’s not like you had any part in it.”

“If I’m honest though, not all my problems would be solved if my parents were alive. I’m a jinchuriki and even with them alive people wouldn’t like me.”

“I wish you could’ve had better circumstances for a good life.”

“Me too. But we still have time.”

“Time for what?”

“To have a good life. We’re only sixteen, we still have plenty of time left. We can get married, settle down, have kids and pets.”

“Is that what you want? To be settled down? You don’t seem like the type.”

“Do I not seem like the type who wants a family? That’s something I’ve wanted since I was little.”

“That makes sense, I just never really thought about it.”

They kept drinking out of the wine bottle that they both eventually got drunk. Naruto stands up too quickly and almost falls but catches himself. He drags Sasuke along with him to the town. Being drunk too, Sasuke doesn’t question it.

When they make it into the town Naruto stops in front of a cement wall. He looks behind a trash can and finds it. The spray cans that he left there! He gives one to Sasuke who doesn’t look as if he knows what to do with it.

“I know you were *hic* the perfect student at the academy but I *hic* think you should let loose a bit,” Naruto says to Sasuke.

Naruto doesn’t wait for Sasuke and begins to spray paint a ramen bowl. A few minutes after he began spray painting Sasuke joined him and began painting his own art. With how drunk they are it doesn’t end up looking very good but it still felt nice to cause a little trouble.

That’s when they heard someone coming nearby. “Blondie! If you’re vandalizing again, you’re going to be fined.”

Naruto grabbed Sasuke’s hand and sprinted away while dragging the Uchiha with him. Naruto laughs. The adrenaline felt great! Sasuke lets out a laugh too. It was quieter than Naruto’s but not restrained like it usually is.

Naruto runs into someone. He stops running and looks at who he ran into. It’s Rio. Rio has his arms crossed and Naruto knows he’s in deep shit now.

“You two are coming home, now,” Rio orders. “Did you two not think I wouldn’t notice my wine bottle gone?”

Naruto pouts feeling guilty. Neither of them respond and Rio sighs,

“You two are too young to be drinking. You should wait till you’re twenty.”

“But you drank when you were younger,” Naruto argues.

Rio is surprised for a moment. “Who told you that?”

“Yumiko.”

Rio rubs his temples. “I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger. Just because I did it doesn’t mean you should.”

Naruto relents. Rio takes them back to his house and gives them both glasses of water and tells them to sleep. When he wakes up he has a pounding headache. When he processes everything that happened the previous day he apologizes profusely to Rio.

Rio says as long as Sasuke and Naruto do the grocery shopping they will be forgiven. They’ve agreed to it and now they’re walking towards the store. Unexpectedly, they’re ambushed by a leaf ninja. Not one either of them are familiar with.

The man takes an iron grip on Naruto’s arm. “I’m taking this one back with me. The jinchuriki is crucial for the leaf village to have.”

Because it’s an important war weapon. Naruto is pursued by leaf ninja even more than Sasuke given that he is the one who is the nine tails jinchuriki. He attempts to punch the man but his other arm is caught too. Sasuke stays out of it as he knows Naruto can fight and also that Naruto doesn’t like needing to be rescued.

But once he sees that Naruto’s healed wounds begin to bleed by the ninja’s harsh grip he can’t help jumping in. Sasuke punches the guy and beats him to a pulp. Naruto stays in one place not moving through the whole thing staring at his arms. He does say a word while the whole thing plays out.

Once the ninja is knocked out, Sasuke walks up to Naruto and checks his wounds. “These need to be bandaged. Let’s go back to the house.”

Naruto nods silently. He follows Sasuke back to Rio’s house. What was that? It was only one ninja, he’s stronger than that. But it’s like he wasn’t capable of movement when he saw his scars reopening. Maybe if it wasn’t only two days before that he relived his memories it wouldn’t have freaked him out so much.

When they get back, Sasuke immediately grabs the bandages and forces Naruto to sit down. Naruto doesn’t like feeling like a burden and he can’t help but feel like he is one right now. He couldn’t take down one ninja, Sasuke had to do it for him. He’s faced many scary things but this is when he actually freezes up. How embarrassing.

There’s no one other than them at the house. Everyone else is at work at their different jobs. Naruto felt relieved at that. He’d hate for anyone other than Sasuke to see him when he’s this vulnerable. He always tries to put up a strong front but he feels as if he’s weak. Not weak as in he can’t defeat someone in a fight because he can but in the way that he can be reduced to tears with a nightmare or a flashback.

Sasuke comes back with the bandages. He carefully grabs Naruto’s arm. He’s as gentle as he can as he wraps the white bandage around the opened wounds. When he’s done with one arm he moves on to the next.

“Naruto. What’s wrong? Did something happen when you were spying on team Kakashi?” Sasuke questions.

Naruto sighs. There’s no point in keeping it a secret. “Yeah. The guy they were pursuing made me relive all my past memories.”

Sasuke’s hand freezes with its bandaging as he takes in what that means. “That’s why you drank with me instead of scolding me.”

“Yep. Not my best decision, but it was nice to forget about everything for a little while.”

“I’m sorry. I should’ve realized something was wrong.”

“No need to apologize for that. It’s not like you could read my mind.”

Sasuke finishes up with bandaging Naruto.

—

The next few days Naruto throws himself into work. He works overtime and rarely sleeps or takes breaks. He welcomes the distraction of his job and he’s too scared to let himself fall asleep lest he be plagued by nightmares.

He’s taken to drinking coffee so he won’t drift off anytime he sits down. He’s gotten bad eyebags now because of his recent bad sleeping habits. Yumiko has expressed her concerns about him overworking but he only waved her off.

“You’re the only other worker here, I should do my best to be of help to you,” Naruto insists.

“I’ve run this tavern for several years. I can handle a couple of hours by myself before it closes,” Yumiko retorts.

“I’m not tired. I can help until closing.”

“Those eyebags of yours say differently.”

“...”

“Naruto, did something happen? If somethings wrong you can always come to me.”

“...Some guy used a memory resurfacing jutsu. He made me relive all my memories. And you already know that my life wasn’t filled with great memories.”

Yumiko frowns at the thought. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that again. Although, this makes me think you should take some time off more.”

“No! I-I mean, I don’t need it, I’d rather help you here.”

Yumiko looks skeptical. “Naruto, please think about it. I’m worried about your wellbeing.”

“Fine, I’ll think about it.”

Yumiko sighs and goes to help a customer. Naruto feels guilty at making her worry but really he’s doing fine. He may have not slept in three days besides that one fifteen minute nap that he accidentally fell into. That nap only reinstalled his fears as he had a horrifying nightmare.

Naruto focuses on his work and he hears someone enter the tavern. Usually, he wouldn’t pay any attention to it but for some reason this presence felt familiar so he looked up. Sasuke entered the tavern. Naruto gawks.

Sasuke walks up to him and holds out a cup of water. “I brought you something to drink while you’re at work.”

Naruto doesn’t stop gawking. This behavior was extremely odd coming from Sasuke. So odd that Naruto couldn’t help but ask,

“Are you drunk?”

Sasuke scowls. “No, just take it.”

Naruto takes a cup of water. Sasuke watches him waiting for him to drink it. Naruto drinks the water. He then passes out.

Before he loses consciousness he hears Yumiko and Sasuke conversing.

“Did you drug him?!” Yumiko exclaims.

“He hasn’t slept in three days, what was I supposed to do?” Sasuke deadpans.

Yumiko sighs in defeat. “I guess that’s more effective at getting him to rest than just talking to him.”

“Trust me, I know. I’ve known him my whole life. He's as stubborn as they come.”

Naruto loses consciousness after that sentence. He doesn’t dream of anything when he sleeps. When he wakes up he almost considers fighting Sasuke out of pure pettiness but he doesn’t feel all that angry about it so he lets it go. He observes his surroundings and sees that he’s in Rio’s guest bedroom with Sasuke.

“You know, I’d be angry at you for drugging me if that wasn’t the best sleep I’ve had in a really long time,” Naruto says to Sasuke.

“Oh okay, because I was half expecting you to perform a murder attempt when you woke up,” Sasuke responds.

“I thought about it for a couple seconds there.”

Sasuke chuckles. “Glad you changed your mind.”

“I know you had good intentions so I couldn’t really be mad. Just the idea of sleeping has been scaring me the past few days.”

“Because of that thief guy.”

“Yeah, I already struggle with nightmares from time to time but recently those memories come back everytime I close my eyes.”

“I understand. I’m sorry for deceiving you like that. I was just worried and didn’t know how to get through to you.”

“It’s okay, but if you drug me again, I won’t be attempting to murder you, I will successfully murder you.”

“Alright, I won't do it again. But please try to get more sleep.”

Naruto relents. “I will.”

Naruto genuinely tries his best to look after his own wellbeing after that. He knows Sasuke is bad at expressing worry but he tried and Naruto took it to heart.

—

Rio and Naruto are on a mission together. They are to obtain a sacred sword. Suigetsu really wanted to join them but Sasuke chose them instead because they are better suited for the mission.

They end up running into Kakashi who is after the forbidden scroll that is also sealed where the sacred scroll is. Rio, having never been a ninja doesn’t haven’t any bad blood with him so treats him as he would any one else around his age. Meaning he flirts with him.

“You’re rather good looking you know,” Rio tells Kakashi.

“How do you know? I’m wearing a mask,” Kakashi replies.

Kakashi is kind of dense, Naruto realizes. Naruto pushes between the two of them and sticks there. He gives a cold glare towards Rio. Rio only grins and ruffles his hair. Naruto considers biting his hand off but settles for staying between them.

Later when the mission is over Naruto begins to tell Rio not to flirt with Kakashi.

“What’s wrong with me flirting with him?” He questions Naruto.

“You only really flirt with people to get something. I don’t want you using him for your own gain and hurting his feelings.”

Rio smiled at him. “Don’t worry, I’m genuine. If I hurt his feelings in that way I give you full permission to beat me up.”

Rio sounded sincere so Naruto eventually allowed him to flirt with Kakashi. The whole Kakashi and Rio situation had Naruto noticing things more. Such as the romantic tension between his friends. He’s been blind to it till only very recently but he can see it now.

Suigetsu and Jugo clearly have feelings for each other and surprisingly Harumi and Karin. Naruto was used to those fighting but it seemed as they worked something out between them and are now closer than ever and seem to be edging to being something more than friends.

And Taro. Taro was sneaking around all the time. Naruto wasn’t sure why and his curiosity got the best of him and he ended up following the boy in secret. When Taro stops somewhere Naruto sees the last thing he thought he would see.

Taro and Sakura kissing. Naruto immediately ran away. That is not something he wants to witness, it’s clearly private. Naruto’s long over his crush on Sakura but he’s unsure how things will turn out if he’s dating a leaf ninja when they’re about to kill the leaf village elders.

He’ll keep their secret though. It’s their business not his. Once Naruto runs away he ends up running into Harumi.

“Are you going on a run?” Harumi asks.

It’s common for Naruto to go on runs for training so this question wouldn’t seem out of the realm of possibility to Harumi. Naruto, grateful for the excuse, nods.

“What are you doing?” Naruto questions.

“I’m trying to learn how to fight in heels.”

Naruto looks down and realizes that Harumi is wearing heels. He’s not sure why this skill would be necessary.

“Why?”

“Because if I’m ever at a formal event I should be able to fight even if I’m wearing heels.”

“Can’t you just take them off?”

“That would take too long!”

“Okay. But is it really that hard to fight in heels that you need to train for it?”

Harumi gives him a blank look. “Have you ever tried walking in heels?”

“No…”

Harumi sighs and gives Naruto an extra pair of heels she had with her. “Try it.”

Always determined to prove a point, Naruto puts the pair of heels on. Immediately when he gets up he slips and falls on his face. Harumi lets out a laugh at this.

“Not so easy is it?”

Still determined, Naruto picks himself up and stumbles a bit before gaining his balance. “We still need to fight with them.”

Usually, Naruto can always beat Harumi in a fight. It’s not that she isn’t strong, only that Naruto is more skilled than her when it comes to fighting. But now, Harumi is constantly knocking him down during this sparring match.

Although, Naruto will never need the skill of fighting in heels it was still fun to spar with Harumi with them on. After about a half hour of them sparring Taro stumbled upon them. Confused and amused he questions what they're doing.

“Learning how to fight with heels,” Harumi explains.

“Okay but why would Naruto need to know that?” Taro asks.

“I don’t but I told her it was easy and ended up in this situation.”

Taro spares a moment before laughing at him. Naruto pouts at that and Harumi takes the time while he’s distracted to knock him down again.

“Why does being kicked with a heel hurt so much?!” Naruto asks the heavens while he’s on the ground.

“Hey, Naruto, can I ask you something?” Taro queries.

“Hm? Yeah, sure. You can ask me anything.”

“Why do I never get to go on solo missions? I’m plenty strong enough.”

Naruto and Sasuke haven’t sent Taro or Harumi on solo missions because they don’t have the experience of being a ninja. They don’t have the skills of observing a situation and thinking up a strategy. So, Taro and Harumi have only been on team missions with them.

“Yeah, why haven’t either of us been on a solo mission?” Harumi adds onto Taro’s questioning.

Naruto sits up from where he was lying on the ground. “Neither of you are ready.”

“Do you not trust that we’re capable or something?” Harumi asks.

Harumi has always been someone to ask her suspicions straight up. She doesn’t hide when she has doubts or believes something is up. Naruto that about her even though it can cause him some problems from time to time.

“A little more time and a little more training and you guys should be ready to take on solo missions,” Naruto placates.

Neither of them are happy with this response but they don’t say anything against it anymore so Naruto takes a breath of relief. After Harumi and Naruto take off their heels, they all head back to the house.

In private, Sasuke told Naruto that he has a mission the next morning. Sasuke has taken to giving them all missions to intercept and ruin leaf ninja missions. It’s another one of his ways of getting revenge against the village. After that Naruto went to sleep.

Naruto should’ve known that Harumi and Taro wouldn’t listen. They’re both stubborn to their core. He woke up this morning to find the two of them missing. It didn’t take him long to figure out what happened. They must’ve overheard his conversation with Sasuke and decided this was their chance to prove themselves and took off.

Naruto ended up going after them. He’s angry that they didn’t listen to him but even more so worried that they might’ve gotten themselves hurt or worse. He shakes the thought out of his head. They’re not weak and at least they’re both there together.

When he enters the hideout he has an odd feeling that something’s wrong. Mostly because this hideout looks like a dungeon. It doesn’t take him long to end up having to fight with some of his hideout owners' minions. They’re rather easy to take down and he hurries on his way.

After a while he comes across a jail. His friends are in and surprisingly team nine without Guy was there too. Naruto had to do a double take when he saw them. Harumi and Taro seem thrilled to see him before he gives them an angry glare. They shrink back realizing Naruto isn’t happy that they went against him.

A man comes walking in and grins at the sight of Naruto. “Didn’t think anyone would actually come for them.”

Naruto isn’t intimidated. He doesn’t respond. The man keeps coming closer, Naruto doesn’t attack. He has an advantage that even this man doesn’t realize yet. Once the man puts a hand on his shoulder, Naruto’s cat demon, Smokey, attacks him from the back and claws at his chest in his increased form.

That man isn’t going to be getting up. Taro and Harumi who have only ever seen the sweet side of Smokey shiver in fear. Smokey then claws open the lock and then the handcuffs on Taro and Harumi’s hands.

Smokey looks at team nine then back at Naruto. Naruto realizes what the cat is asking.

“Go ahead,” Naruto tells him and Smokey unlocks team nine’s handcuffs too.

Naruto looks back at Harumi and Taro with his arms crossed. Harumi and Taro are so busy being overjoyed at being free that they didn’t notice how upset he was.

“Thank you, Naruto!” Harumi exclaims.

“Thank you for helping us,” Taro says to him.

“What the hell were you two thinking?! Running off on this mission without telling anyone?!” Naruto scolds.

Taro walks out of the jail. “Don’t be mad, I’ll buy you ramen.”

Harumi walks out right after him. “With what money. You spent all your money on comic books.”

Taro gets an idea and crouches down next to the dead man by the jail. He takes out the wallet and checks out how much money is inside. He grins and then wraps his arms around Naruto and Harumi.

“I’ll treat you both to ramen,” Taro offers.

“I’m not going to say no to free food,” Harumi replies.

Naruto looks away as a small smile graces his face. “I would never say no to ramen.”

Team nine are too wrapped up in their own mission to focus on capturing Naruto so they let them go. Naruto succeeded in sort of running their mission as it was to bring back that dead guy alive but they must need to bring him back even if he’s dead anyway. Sucks to be them.

—

“Can you babysit my son?” One lady asks.

“What?” Naruto replies genuinely confused.

“Oh, can you take care of my daughters too?” Another man asks.

What is going on? Naruto is working at Yumiko’s tavern and for some reason people are asking him to babysit their children. What is going through their head?

“I would, but I have work,” Naruto refuses.

Yumiko, having overheard the conversation, steps in. “You can take the day off.”

Naruto looks at her betrayed. Yumiko merely grins and walks away. Naruto doesn’t dislike kids or anything but he’s not sure if he’ll be any good as a babysitter.

“Sure, I’ll do my best.”

Naruto knows this is sort of his fault. He’s familiar and talkative to all his customers so they all have quite a bit of trust in him. Because of this they would trust him to watch over their kids. Naruto knows that these two are recently divorced parents who have recently begun to date. Problem is they can never really go on dates without their children which has ought to be a pain.

So that’s how Naruto ended up looking over three small children. The little girls behaved but the boy was a little troublemaker. He kept running off and trying to go back to his mother. Naruto knows this boy isn’t happy with his Mom trying to give him a new dad so he’s always trying to ruin their dates.

“Ayumu, let your mother have some time alone with him,” Naruto tells him.

“No! I already have a Dad, I don’t need another one!” Ayumu argues.

“He’s not replacing your other Dad. And don’t you want your Mom to be happy?”

“...”

“Does he make your Mom happy?”

“...yes.”

“She makes Dad very happy!” One of the little girls adds on and the other girl nods in agreement.

“I do… want Mom to be happy.”

Naruto ruffles his hair. “Exactly.”

Naruto entertains the kids until the father and mother come to pick them up. When they do they thank him and pay him a decent amount of money.

After a couple days the Mother comes to thank him profusely for getting her son to calm down a bit at the idea of her being with someone other than his Dad.

Naruto smiles in thought. He wishes he had a family. Maybe one day.